Posted on December 24th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Once again, it’s to check off some items on my “TIDU List” — Things I Don’t Understand:
• How copious bowl games are a good thing.
In the midst of 33 games in 24 days, ESPN stretches the definition of “Bowl Week” and our limit for mediocrity. A dozen teams have .500 records and another — Georgia Tech — is 6-7. Fans can consume 14 consecutive hours of games Dec. 29, including one at Yankee Stadium, where the forecast calls for 30 degrees and possibly snow.
The “less is more” concept should apply to bowl season.
• Why Nick Saban would stay at Alabama.
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Posted on December 21st, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
At times we forget about the humanity within our gladiators, viewing them solely as padded combatants who perform amazing athletic feats for our entertainment and pleasure.
We can grow angry when they hold out for more money or demand to be traded. We can question their effort when they come up short or sit out with “minor” injuries. We can feel betrayed when they don’t offer home-team discounts or accept competitive deals and leave for other markets.
They’re far from sympathetic figures, as many earn more in one season than most of us earn in a decade. But the notion that athletes should show loyalty to their team always has struck me as absurd. Teams are only faithful until they find better and/or cheaper options, at which point incumbents are tossed like junk mail.
Yet, it’s hard to not feel bad about Tim Tebow’s treatment in New York.
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Posted on December 19th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
In a season headed nowhere fast, the Washington Wizards‘ star is unlikely to play any time soon. With one-quarter of the campaign in the books, John Wall says his chances of returning are “50-50.”
We’re not there yet, but we’re approaching the juncture where it must be asked: What’s the point of Wall suiting up this season?
The future looked much brighter Friday when Washington released an encouraging statement about Wall’s troublesome left knee. But three days after an orthopedic specialist talked about Wall “ramping up his activity level,” the point guard took the raised expectations and tamped them back down.
“You never know how it’s going to go,” Wall told reporters Monday. “You just hope it heals the right way. You don’t want to miss a whole season, but if it comes to it, you have to. I’m not trying to think that far ahead.”
Then, please, allow me: If Wall isn’t ready about a month from now, midway through the schedule, the Wizards probably should keep him sidelined.
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Posted on December 17th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
The Big East’s chickens haven’t come home to roost. They’ve come back to destroy the place, ripping off the ceiling, knocking down the walls and smashing up the foundation. They’ve come home and created a shambles, just like the Big East has decimated Conference USA, twice.
As the old saying goes, what goes around can kick your behind on the return trip.
That’s happened Saturday, when Georgetown and six other “basketball centric” schools announced they’re breaking away from the fabled hoops league.
Once upon a time, the Big East was content to rank among the nation’s top men’s basketball conferences. Charter member Georgetown was the national runner-up in 1982 — just three years after the league formed — and won the title in 1984. The next season, three-quarters of the Final Four hailed from the conference, a feat no other league accomplished before or since.
By 1989, Seton Hall and Syracuse had reached Final Fours as well. Founding-member UConn joined the list in 1999, winning the first of its three national championships. But life wasn’t good enough for the Big East after the Huskies won the title in 2004.
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Posted on December 15th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
I was driving my youngest daughter to school Thursday when a text message appeared on my cell phone: “Sup Deron. Wats ur take on RF3 (sic). Real Brutha or a cornball who don’t wanna b a Bruhtha.” It was from a friend, ESPN commentator Rob Parker.
Not wanting to text and drive, I didn’t answer right away and actually forgot about it. But Parker called after I returned home and we chatted about the subject for 10 minutes before he had to leave. “I’m about to go on,” he said.
Moments later, he was on “First Take,” questioning an athlete’s blackness with references to a white fiancée and Republican leanings. The controversial segment outraged viewers, blew up cyberspace and earned him a suspension – with the threat of more severe consequences looming.
I imagine this is what it feels when you’re the last person to speak to someone before he or she harms themself. You wonder if your conversation was a contributing factor. You wonder if you should have done anything differently. You wonder if you could have said something to steer him in the opposite direction.
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Posted on December 13th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Someone needs to give NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a hug. Or a shoulder to cry on.
In the last week alone, he has been rocked by an unfavorable ruling in Bountygate, criticism of the league’s drunk driving policy and questions about players’ gun ownership. Litigation on concussions and tweaks to player-safety rules are ongoing concerns.
The calendar can’t flip to 2013 fast enough for Goodell. Next year can’t be any worse … unless New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma wins his defamation lawsuit.
Maybe that’s why Goodell has mentioned ideas like expanding the playoff field and eliminating kickoffs. Talking about such things helps to deflect attention from the league’s mess. But it doesn’t decrease the stench.
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Posted on December 12th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
When a big-boy school welcomes Bobby Petrino as the new football coach, in a year or two, it can thank Western Kentucky for paving the way. Until then, the Hilltoppers can thank Tennessee, Auburn and Kentucky for being phonies, hypocrites and cowards.
Such schools won’t mind being fired upon in the near future, but only because WKU stepped forward to take the first hail of bullets.
Petrino’s previous sins won’t be less egregious a couple of seasons from now. He’ll be the same former Arkansas coach who hired his mistress and lied about her presence on his Harley when they crashed. He’ll be the same former Atlanta Falcons coach who left a note in each player’s locker before fleeing in the midst of his first season. And he’ll be the same former Louisville coach who interviewed for a job that his mentor still held, got a big raise from the Cardinals and still bolted for the NFL.
None of that will matter when the next major school hires him; there was no reason to pretend that it matters now. Petrino has been called a lot of things (sleazeball, jerk, bad guy), but he enjoys universal acclaim for his coaching prowess, good for top-10 rankings at Arkansas and Louisville and a career record of 75-26.
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Posted on December 10th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Losing back-to-back games — on the final play of regulation last week and in overtime on Sunday — is no way to begin your stretch run. It’s also no way to bolster your argument for consideration as an elite quarterback.
That’s where the Baltimore Ravens and Joe Flacco find themselves after a 31-28 loss to the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field on Sunday. They’re good enough to be contenders and good enough to be on the verge of victory, but not good enough to seal the deal, at least not lately.
In a game heavy on playoff atmosphere and postseason implications, the seasoned Ravens figured to have the edge. These situations are as normal to them beginning contests with midfield coin tosses. But it was the upstart Redskins who found a way to win, while the more-experienced Ravens failed late for the second consecutive week.
“It’s how you start, not how you finish,” said halfback Ray Rice, who rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown that gave Baltimore an 8-point lead with 4:47 left. “I don’t want to be known as ‘If we get them close in the fourth quarter, the Ravens will give it away.’ That’s never been us and it’s not going to be us.”
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Posted on December 5th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Santana Moss reached the playoffs in three of his first four NFL seasons, all with the New York Jets. After Washington acquired him in 2005 for Laveranues Coles, via a straight-up trade, Moss advanced to the postseason in two of his first three years with the Redskins. He was accustomed to such success, having lost just eight times in three seasons at Miami, going 3-0 in bowl games.
But he hasn’t been part of a winning team since Washington went 9-7 in 2007. With a good chance to end that streak over the next four weeks, Moss says this season felt the same as his others in D.C., whether the coach was Joe Gibbs, Jim Zorn or Mike Shanahan, and whether the quarterback was Mark Brunell, Jason Campbell or Donovan McNabb.
“Every team, I’ve felt like we had enough players to go out and compete against anybody and be one of those teams that goes to the postseason,” Moss said Monday after Washington’s 17-16 win against the New York Giants. “When [Shanahan] came and we didn’t go the first two years, my mindset was still the same. I’m not going to sit here and lie and say I knew something was going to be different this year.”
There would be more flash and pizzazz with Robert Griffin III at quarterback, though that wouldn’t necessarily translate into more wins. Cam Newton dazzled while setting rookie records for rushing and passing last season, yet the Carolina Panthers finished 6-10. Considering the Redskins’ concerns on the offensive line and in the secondary, a similar record with RG3 wasn’t out of the question; it actually would be an improvement from the Rex Grossman/John Beck campaign (5-11).
But RG3 is the Redskins’ most obvious upgrade and most significant factor in Washington’s resurrection from 3-6 afterthought to 6-6 contender. The only thing more impressive than his ridiculous numbers (17 touchdowns, 4 interceptions and a 67 percent completion rate) is the way his presence inspires and energizes the team. The results are more evident now, after three consecutive victories, but the raised expectations were in effect even before that.
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Posted on December 4th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
The won-lost column doesn’t include moral victories, which allegedly are nonexistent if you ask coaches and players. But most of us can find some satisfaction in defeats, especially when your team exceeds expectations. If it plays well and remains competitive throughout a game against a championship-caliber opponent, that often suffices if it’s more than you imagined.
The Washington Redskins were in that position Monday night, playing on the NFL’s prime-time stage, facing the defending Super Bowl champions in a December game with postseason implications. Only the wildly optimistic could have envisioned those circumstances three weeks ago, let alone three months ago when the season began.
In that sense, the Mike Shanahan era was vindicated before kickoff at FedEx Field. Entering his 44th game as Washington’s coach and grand pooh bah, Shanahan had led the Redskins to late-season relevance for the first time in his tenure and the first time since they 2008, when they finished 8-8 under Jim Zorn.
So beating the New York Giants and moving into the thick of the playoff race was gravy. The 80,246 fans who chanted “RG3!” throughout the game were able to carry the cheer into the parking lot after Robert Griffin III engineered a 17-16 victory
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