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Rick Gosselin notes that we throw around the phrase “future Hall of Famer” way too easily when talking about NFL greats.
 I’m hearing “first-ballot Hall of Famer” plenty these days with the retirements of Brett Favre, Jonathan Ogden, Michael Strahan and Warren Sapp. I’m hearing “future Hall of Famer” with the retirements of Steve McNair and Bryant Young. The Class of 2013 could be pumped up even further if Junior Seau decides he’s through.
The assumption is that the latest is always the greatest, so let’s rush all these guys into Canton.
 In Favre’s case, I’ll buy it. He retired as the game’s all-time leading passer with more completions, yards and touchdowns than any other quarterback in NFL history. Five years from now when he becomes eligible for Canton, Favre figures to still be atop all the passing lists.
Those are the true first-ballot guys: Favre, Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith – players who pushed the bar so high it would take years for anyone to catch them statistically.
All other “first-ballot” candidates are matters of opinion, which makes them all subject to debate.
Strahan retired after 15 seasons with 141½ sacks. First ballot? Ask Chris Doleman his definition of a first-ballot Hall of Fame pass rusher. His statistics are better than Strahan’s across the board, but he can’t even get into the room for discussion by the Hall of Fame selection committee. Here’s a comparison:
| Player |
Seasons |
Games |
Sacks |
FF |
FR |
Int |
| Doleman |
15 |
232 |
150½ |
43 |
23 |
8 |
| Strahan |
15 |
216 |
141½ |
23 |
14 |
4 |
| (FF-Forced fumbles; FR-Fumble recoveries, INT-Interceptions) |
The natural argument would be that Strahan played the strong side, where a player generally has to fight through more traffic to get to the quarterback than a weakside pass rusher like Doleman. But that argument hasn’t helped Kevin Greene. He finished his career with 160 sacks in 228 career games at his strongside linebacker spot and also can’t get into the room for discussion. Both Doleman and Greene enter their fifth year of eligibility in 2009. Both Doleman and Greene deserve discussion before Strahan. Derrick Thomas, Richard Dent and Charles Haley also belong in the queue ahead of Strahan.
Warren Sapp was an all-decade tackle for the 1990s. So was Bryant Young. But so was Cortez Kennedy. Young went to five Pro Bowls, Sapp eight and Kennedy eight. Sapp was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1999. So was Kennedy in 1992. Yet Kennedy has never been a finalist in his four years of eligibility.
McNair took a team to the Super Bowl and was an NFL MVP. Ken Anderson also took a team to the Super Bowl and was an NFL MVP. Anderson went to twice as many Pro Bowls (four) than McNair (two). He also threw for more yards (32,838) and more touchdowns (197) than McNair (31,304 and 174). Anderson has been a finalist twice and been rejected twice.
Jonathan Ogden went to 11 Pro Bowls. So did guard Randall McDaniel, who was bounced in his first trip to the finals last February.
Junior Seau went to 12 Pro Bowls in his 18 NFL seasons. Les Richter played nine NFL seasons (1954-62) as a linebacker and went to eight Pro Bowls. He was once traded for 11 players. Yet he’s never been discussed by the Hall of Fame selection committee. Maxie Baughan went to nine Pro Bowls in the 1960s. He also has never been discussed.
The latest doesn’t always translate into the greatest. Labeling any player a “future Hall of Famer” or “first-ballot Hall of Famer” is a disservice to those who have already earned their way into Canton with those designations.
He’s right, of course. Some truly great players are not in the Hall and some of today’s perennial Pro Bowlers will surely fall short.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is by far the most exclusive of those representing the major sports. There are some truly mediocre players in Cooperstown. Basketball’s hall is, frankly, a joke, seeking to include everyone regardless of what level of competition they played at, lumping NBA greats in with women’s hoopstars and international stars. Golf’s hall is simply matter of “qualifying” by winning the requisite number of tournaments and, again, it includes those who excel on the women’s tour.
Canton has gone, in my view, to the opposite extreme. A football team has 22 starters, not counting special teams, compared to nine in baseball and five in basketball. Yet, they let in a maximum of six modern era players each year. Baseball lets in anyone getting votes from 75 percent of the writers, allowing large classes if several greats retire in short order. Class sizes vary from year-to-year but typically three make it and as many as seven have in a single year. Again, in a sport with far fewer players.
Another NFL off season, another NFL player in trouble with the law.
AUSTIN, Texas – Chicago Bears running back Cedric Benson was charged with failing a sobriety test while operating a 30-foot boat, then resisting arrest before being hit with pepper spray and dragged ashore by officers.
Benson faces charges of boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest after the incident Saturday night on Lake Travis, Travis County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Roger Wade said Sunday.
Benson was released from jail early Sunday on a $14,500 bond. The charges are class B misdemeanors, each punishable by up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine. A call to Benson’s agent was not immediately returned.
Benson was operating the boat with 15 passengers aboard when he was stopped by a Lower Colorado River Authority officer for a random safety inspection. He failed a field sobriety test on the officer’s boat and was uncooperative when the officer tried to take him ashore, the authority said.
Players getting arrested for DUI or being intoxicated are regular occurences. The only reason Benson stands out, is because he did it while boating. Leave it to NFL players to find many different ways to get in trouble with the law.
The California wildfires have forced half a million people to flee their homes, so football is certainly low on the totem poll of concerns in the situation. Still, the San Diego Chargers have had to deal with the effects of the fire on their families, the use of their stadium as an emergency housing facility, and travel to Arizona so that they could practice for their “home” game against the Houston Texans in breathable air. Now, it looks like they’ll have to play their “home” game in Texas.
The Chargers expect to hear today from Mayor Jerry Sanders whether they can play their scheduled game against the Houston Texans in Qualcomm Stadium, and they are narrowing down contingencies for playing elsewhere. “The Chargers are working closely with Mayor Sanders and the fire and police departments to determine how best to deal with Sunday’s scheduled NFL game at Qualcomm Stadium,” the team said in a statement. “Protecting the public safety is the mayor’s top goal, and the Chargers will continue to cooperate with the mayor to achieve this goal.”
[...]
Among the issues with playing the game at Qualcomm Stadium are air quality, the availability of police and other support personnel and the fact that several thousand evacuees are currently housed at the stadium.
The Chargers and the NFL are also considering whether playing the game in San Diego is in the best interest of the community. It appears likely the Chargers will end up playing in Texas Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, if they can’t play at home, sources said last night. The Cowboys have a bye Sunday. Dallas makes sense because the game would likely draw more fans than would a game in Arizona, which would ease the financial losses the Chargers will incur. Also, the Chargers would count on the fact LaDainian Tomlinson is from Waco and went to school at nearby TCU, as well as Dallas fans’ acrimony for Houston, to ensure the crowd is not pro-Texans.
The Chargers do have an insurance policy that covers lost gate receipts, but the deductible is extremely high. The team can generally expect a home game to bring a gate of more than $7 million.
Team President Dean Spanos has met several times over the past two days with league Commissioner Roger Goodell, as well as other league and network executives. All are in Philadelphia for league meetings.
The commissioner said yesterday the Chargers and the league are also considering playing in Los Angeles, Phoenix or Houston.
The chief issues working against the game being in Los Angeles are the unpredictability of the Southern California fires and the logistics of staging a game in a non-NFL stadium. An NFL game requires high-definition replay equipment for game officials. The same would presumably be an issue at Arizona State’s Sun Devil Stadium. The Chargers played at ASU in 2003 when the wildfires in San Diego forced them to move a Monday night game against the Miami Dolphins, but Sun Devil Stadium was then the home of the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals’ University of Phoenix Stadium is not available Sunday because it is the site of a motorcycle convention.
The game could be played at Houston’s Reliant Stadium. That would likely guarantee a big gate, but the Chargers are concerned about the competitive disadvantage in making the Texans the home team and “would like to avoid” playing there.
A wag at Football Outsiders wonders, “Is there any way we can get the NY Giants an extra home game out of this situation?”
Doug Farrar of Football Outsiders ranked the 32 NFL linebacking corps. Here are his top 10.
1. Baltimore Ravens (12)
How talented is this group? So talented that they can lose Adalius Thomas to the Patriots and still finish first in our rankings. Ray Lewis and Bart Scott man the inside. While Lewis’ best days are behind him, he’s still the leader of this unit and the man who keeps everyone in line. You’ll see the occasional superlative moment (and reasonable consistency), but he’s no longer the player who defined his position in the early part of this decade. Scott took his first opportunity as a full-time starter and enjoyed a breakout season. He finished sixth in the NFL in Stop Rate and was the Head Quarterback Terrorizer among Baltimore’s linebackers with 9.5 sacks, 11 hits and 15 hurries.
Left outside linebacker Terrell Suggs’ fourth season was very much like his first three: outstanding from a pass rush perspective (he’s never finished a season with less than eight sacks and has averaged 10 per year), with an additional focus on run-stopping. Suggs finished third in the NFL in yards allowed per rushing play at 2.2, although that’s partly because he plays some defensive end in the Ravens’ flexible alignment. Replacing Thomas’ versatility and athleticism will be no easy task, and it’s possible that defensive coordinator Rex Ryan will try to do it by committee. Jarret Johnson is listed as the preseason replacement, but Dan Cody and Antwan Barnes will try to shake up the second tier in training camp.
2. San Diego Chargers (3)
If we were compiling a separate list for outside linebackers, the Chargers would take the top spot in an absolute rout. Shawne Merriman led the league in sacks despite missing four games last season after testing positive for steroids. Merriman claimed the test results came from a tainted supplement, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell disclosed in April of this year that Merriman has tested clean in 19 of the 20 drug tests he’s taken. It may be difficult for some to get over the stigma, because at his best, Merriman does things that simply defy belief. When Walter Jones pushes you to the ground on a pass play, and you somehow get up, get past the NFL’s best left tackle and still pick up the sack … well, people are going to wonder.
Lost in the shadow of Merriman’s “Lights Out” persona was the job turned in by Shaun Phillips on the weak side. Phillips had 11.5 sacks of his own and didn’t miss a beat when Merriman was out of the lineup, with three sacks and 20 tackles in three November games. The questions about San Diego’s linebackers are on the inside. The Chargers lost both of their inside starters: veteran Randall Godfrey was released after the draft, and free agent Donnie Edwards returned to the Chiefs after five seasons in San Diego. Stephen Cooper and Matt Wilhelm are in line to replace Godfrey and Edwards, respectively, and that’s a lot of continuity to ask for when the “new kids” have totaled eight starts in eight seasons between them. Third-round pick Anthony Waters from Clemson could find an early place on the inside if he’s recovered from the torn ACL he suffered in his senior season.
3. Chicago Bears (2)
The defending NFC champs have had more than their share of off-season drama, and most of it surrounded the defense that got the Bears back to the Super Bowl for the first time in 21 years. The roster churn in the front four has been the big public story, thanks to Tank Johnson. But the real Sword of Damocles for the best defense of 2006 has been the battle between the team and Lance Briggs. The Bears franchised Briggs, and the elite weak-side linebacker has responded by threatening to sit out the first 10 games of the season. The Bears almost had a pre-draft trade done with the Redskins in which Briggs would be dealt for Washington’s first-round pick, but that fell through. We’re projecting him playing a full season, what with the potential payday and all. Briggs is a force no matter what is coming at him; he finished fifth in Stop Rate against the run and in the top five in Defeats against the run and the pass.
As good as Briggs is (and as improbable as his return to Chicago would be after this season), the defense belongs to Brian Urlacher. Urlacher continues the Chicago tradition of great middle linebackers, and may be the most versatile of the Bill George/Dick Butkus/Mike Singletary line. His closest antecedent of that group is George, the Hall-of Famer who played for the Bears from 1952 to 1965 and is credited by some as the first middle linebacker, a position he may have created when he dropped back from his middle guard spot in the five-man lines of the time and began defending the aerial game. George picked off eighteen passes in his career. Urlacher has long been regarded as one of the best in the modern game against the pass, and he matched his career highs in 2006 with three interceptions and six passes defensed. Though he didn’t record a sack last season, he was credited with 10 quarterback hits, the most of any inside linebacker. Hunter Hillenmeyer fills out the best 4-3 group in the NFL, though Briggs’ situation and uncertainty about the front four could see Chicago’s linebackers give way to …
4. Seattle Seahawks (4)
This was a formidable group on paper after the acquisition of Julian Peterson, but schematic issues and one key injury conspired to provide less than optimal results. Peterson put up a career year in the sack department with 10, but his versatility was the real worth behind the seven-year, $54 million contract Seattle gave him before the 2006 season. Lining him up as a rush end, as the Seahawks did frequently to start the season, overemphasized one aspect of his talent. As the season progressed and the fit began to happen, Peterson’s ability to drop into coverage became a factor. This also helped Leroy Hill, who was negatively affected by Peterson’s initial focus on quarterback pressure. In his 2005 rookie season, Hill posted 7.5 sacks and had the highest Stop Rate against the run of any Seahawks linebacker. Hill does these things well, but he doesn’t have a reverse gear, and this was made very evident from his rookie season when he found himself routinely embarrassed in coverage. Seattle’s defensive coaching staff promises to allow Hill to be less reactive and more aggressive in his third year.
The injury that affected Seattle’s linebackers actually happened to the front four, when defensive tackle Marcus Tubbs missed 11 games with a knee injury. Nobody was more impacted by this than middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu, an undersized Tasmanian devil who makes the defense go when he can shoot gaps and make plays. With Tubbs gone, Tatupu proved unable to consistently shed blocks at the line. Still, he continued to develop his ability to read opposing offenses as if they were cereal boxes, and he’s surprisingly adept when retreating into deep coverage. He’s also a textbook tackler, but he’ll need Tubbs (or third-round pick Brandon Mebane of Cal) to man the nose and soak up blockers.
5. Dallas Cowboys (5)
The transition at head coach for the Cowboys from Bill Parcells to Wade Phillips means that more aggressive defensive schemes will be in play. Phillips, who served as San Diego’s defensive coordinator during Shawne Merriman’s development, could have another monster on his hands in DeMarcus Ware. In his second NFL season, Ware not only increased his sack total from eight to 11.5, he also blew away all other linebackers with 25 quarterback hurries (New England’s Rosevelt Colvin was second with 20). Joining Ware this season will be first-round pick Anthony Spencer of Purdue, who will bring his disruptive abilities and self-proclaimed “Fro-hawk” to a linebacker unit already stuffed with pass rushers. Spencer is an ideal outside man in a 3-4; he’s aggressive and on point, racking up 10½ sacks and 26½ tackles for loss in his senior year alone. Optimally, Spencer could play Shaun Phillips to Ware’s Merriman, though those comparisons are a reach at this point.
Ten-year veteran Greg Ellis manned the strong side last year, but concerns about his recovery from a torn Achilles, and past struggles with his role, could have Spencer in the mix sooner than later. On the inside, fellow Purdue alum Akin Ayodele has a knack for being in the right place at the right time, ranking eighth in Stop Rate against the run and 19th in Success Rate against the pass. With Bradie James, Bobby Carpenter and Kevin Burnett available for different personnel packages, the Cowboys match their enviable frontline talent with impressive depth. Whatever the doubts about his ability to maintain overall discipline with a mercurial roster, Phillips’ influence could put this bunch of linebackers over the top.
6. Pittsburgh Steelers (1)
We ranked Pittsburgh’s linebackers number one last year for good reason — it could be argued that the Steelers went through the NFL’s four best offensive lines in the postseason on the way to their fifth Super Bowl title. The changes came quickly after the team’s disappointing follow-up year, starting with the hire of new head coach Mike Tomlin. Though Tomlin has a graduate degree in Tampa-2, he’ll defer to Dick LeBeau’s 3-4 professorship.
Joey Porter took $20 million in guaranteed money from the Miami Dolphins; now the Steelers will find out whether Porter was the defense’s soul, or just its mouth. Replacing him at right outside linebacker is James Harrison. Harrison has spent most of his time as a backup, though he did enjoy cups of coffee as a starter in 2004 and 2005. He may be good enough against the run and rushing the passer that there won’t be a decline, though Porter was one of the better linebackers against the pass last season. Looking to the future, the Steelers can turn rookies Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley loose on enemy quarterbacks. Timmons, Pittsburgh’s first-round draft pick, seems a natural for his new team — he won Florida State’s “Hines-man Award” for best overall performance.
Opposite Harrison will be Clark Haggans, a savvy and reliable veteran. James Farrior and Larry Foote have been the primary inside men for the last three seasons. Farrior’s 27 Defeats led the team, and Foote ranked 11th in the league with a 75 percent Stop Rate against the run. The concern here is that overall depth could be an issue with two rookies to rely on.
7. Oakland Raiders (26)
Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan put together one of the most remarkable coaching jobs in recent memory; the Raiders defense ranked ninth in our DVOA stats even though the offense was pathetic. This defense faced the fewest pass attempts (410) and most rushing attempts (542) in the league. That may make an offensive strategy easier to discern, but the mental wear of playing at that level with nonexistent hope on the other side of the ball must be astonishing.
Middle linebacker Kirk Morrison is the star of this unit, an oft-ignored product of the same 2005 draft that produced Merriman and Tatupu. He ranked sixth with a 67 percent Success Rate against the pass, the highest among inside linebackers. His 33 Defeats tied him for third with Brian Urlacher and Cato June. Rookie Thomas Howard impressed on the weak side, though his run-stopping skills need to improve. Sam Williams and Robert Thomas alternated on the strong side, with Thomas proving to be the better player. Morrison and Howard have a world of talent, excellent coaching and an extremely solid group around them. If they had an offense that wasn’t reminiscent of the 1927 Dayton Triangles (link: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/day1927.htm), there might be some relief in store.
8. Miami Dolphins (9)
Zach Thomas led the NFL with 174 plays, and had a Stop Rate of 61 percent, one of the best percentages for any inside linebacker whose responsibilities comprised more than just staying at home in a 3-4. Add in nine passes defensed and three sacks and you have an amazing season from a 33-year old who didn’t fade out no matter how often he was targeted.
To complement Thomas’ abilities, the Dolphins threw a great deal of money at Joey Porter. Porter will try to put a somewhat disappointing 2006 behind him, but his seven sacks are still more than the 5.5 that Miami’s entire linebacker corps managed last year. The Dolphins will need continued improvement from strong-side linebacker Channing Crowder. He ranked fifth in Stop Rate against the run, but his Success Rate in pass coverage was just 32 percent, one of the worst of any linebacker.
9. Cleveland Browns (21)
The Browns haven’t posted a winning season since 2002 and suffer from several positional shortfalls, but their linebackers aren’t part of the problem. Cleveland drafted Kamerion Wimbley to get after the quarterback on the weak side, and he did so with abandon, racking up 11 sacks, 16 hits and 19 hurries. On the other side, 14-year veteran Willie McGinest might split time with Antwan Peek this season. Houston’s switch back to a 4-3 left Peek as a man without a position, but he could surprise in Cleveland. On the inside, D’Qwell Jackson and Andra Davis are players who work well in this system and would have much better numbers with better linemen in front of them. Chaun Thompson provides good depth.
10. New England Patriots (13)
The dominant linebacker sets of the recent Super Bowl years are a memory; at this point, Bill Belichick is balancing the value of experience against the effectiveness of pure athleticism. As usual, the Pats come up trumps when presented with such a conundrum. This time, they split the difference between veteran know-how and pure talent by signing free agent Adalius Thomas, formerly of the Ravens. Thomas will be a perfect fit in his new system, because Belichick may have a greater appreciation than any other coach for players who can do many things well. Thomas isn’t just another mid-level “Swiss Army Knife” guy, either. He managed to stand out in Baltimore’s ridiculous 2006 group, and fared better than any teammate when considering all aspects of linebacker play. Thomas’ prominence will increase in New England, because the talent around him is starting to fade a bit.
The names you know — Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Junior Seau (post-temporary retirement version) — are still here, but there will have to be a serious re-set sooner than later. The Patriots finished eighth in Defensive DVOA last season, but remember what we’ve said about dominant front lines skewing linebacker performance. New England’s improved ranking here is almost all about the new guy. Bruschi and Vrabel are still strong against the run, but suffer in pass coverage. Rosevelt Colvin, the other outside linebacker, is an excellent pass-rusher, with nine sacks, 19 hits and 20 hurries.
Due to a lack of depth, The Patriots can’t be ranked higher. Larry Izzo is mostly a special-teamer, and Eric Alexander’s first start in his three-year NFL career (a good portion of which has been spent on the practice squad) was in the 2006 AFC Championship Game. Dallas Clark has your learning curve right here, Eric.
These comparisons are a little strained given the different ways NFL teams use linebackers. Certainly, it’s easier for linebackers to dominate in a 3-4 than a 4-3, where the main rush comes from defensive ends. Still, if the Cowboys can live up to this #5 ranking, they should be much improved over last year.
Adam “Pacman” Jones. You, are getting a ride on the short bus because you let that Lawyer of your’s speak for you.
LAS VEGAS — Adam “Pacman” Jones’ lawyer urged authorities Thursday to file criminal charges or stop trying to link the Tennessee Titans cornerback to a strip club melee and triple shooting.
Attorney Robert Langford said no evidence tied Jones to the shooting, and DNA comparisons failed to show the NFL star was responsible for a bite injury reported during the February mayhem. He termed what happened, a “glorified bar fight at best.”
Here’s the dumb part. He termed what happened as a “glorified bar fight at best.”
Are you kidding me? This glorified bar fight, left one bar employee paralyzed and two other people wounded. Does someone have to die? I am completely sickened by this comment. Pacman! Please, find someone to better represent you.
Although, he is right about one thing.
“It is really unfair to Mr. Jones that they continue to assert some investigation when they can’t come up with any more evidence,” Langford said.
Jones cooperated during three Las Vegas police interviews and underwent two DNA tests that cleared him of accusations that he bit a club bouncer. Unless, they have anything else. It really is unfair.
source:ESPN.COM
A Chinese gymnast has been paralyzed after a training accident.
Chinese gymnast Wang Yan is expected to be paralyzed for life following a fall from the uneven bars during the national championships, a key warmup for the Beijing Olympics.
Wang fell headfirst Sunday during the final in Shanghai, breaking her neck and losing consciousness. Doctors said she was fortunate to have survived at all given the severity of her injury, the Shanghai Daily reported. “The patient could not react to stimulant under the chest bone, and both hands lost their capability to move,” Jia Lianshun, a bone specialist with the People’s Liberation Army medical corps, was quoted as saying.
Wang, whose age was given as 15 or 16, was second in the Chinese national all-around competition in 2005.
Tragic.
UPDATE: Xinhua has a bizarre report under the awkwardly translated headline “Chinese gymnast Wang on track of sentience recovery” that appears to offer good news.
Wang Yan, who dropped from uneven bars and lost consciousness on Sunday, revived the feeling of right foot and were back on track of sentience recovery, said Gao Jian, the chief of gymnastic administration center, here on Thursday.
According to Gao, Wang is getting stronger physically and the right foot regains the ability to move. “I visited Wang Yan in hospital yesterday. Wang expressed her will to cooperate with the doctor and hoped to get well soon. I suffered similar injury when I was a gymnast in 1968, so I encouraged her by taking me as an example,” said Gao.
“I can sit first and then to walk, even to continue my gymnastic career as an athlete four four years further after that injury. I had the spinal fracture in the fifth and sixth bones, while Wang is in the second and third bones, but it’s somewhat a similar case,” added Gao.
JJ Cooper laments the fact that his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers are following the rest of the league in adopting marketing gimmicks.
There are a lot of reasons to love the Steelers, but one of the biggest reasons is that they aren’t afraid to be charmingly old-school. The Cowboys can have 12 different uniforms, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and a faux dome with a hole in the roof. The Steelers are the team that doesn’t have a need for cheerleaders, no need for mascots and no need to succumb to the goofiness of throwback uniforms.
Well, until now.
To celebrate the team’s 75th anniversary, Pittsburgh will don throwback uniforms that honor the Steelers uniform of the 1950s. I can live with that. It will be the second time the Steelers have done throwbacks, the first was the horrendously awful 1930s uniform during the 1994 season, but that was because the NFL mandated it. I wish that if the Steelers were going to go to the throwback they’d at least go to the horrendous Bermuda Triangle uniform of 1967.
I take JJ’s point although it’s ironic that he chose the Cowboys, whose uniforms have remained essentially the same since their third season, as his counterpoint. Jerry Jones has had some marketing boondoggles, including the hideous “double star” alternate jersey in 1994-95, but the team’s uniforms have been instantly recognizable since the days of Dandy Don Meredith.
It’s true, though, that the Steelers have been more Old School than most. Indeed, the reason they had to drag out the 1930s unies during the NFL’s 75th Anniversary gala was because their uniforms for the past several decades have, like the Cowboys’, been amazingly similar.
But my big question is why do the Steelers have to go all goofy on us and come out with this horrendous new mascot. You’re the Steelers guys, you haven’t needed a mascot for the past 75 years and you don’t need to change that now.
Indeed, the Cowboys subsisted without an official mascot until the unveiling of “Rowdy” in 1996. The late, great Wilford “Crazy Ray” Jones was around from 1964 until his passing last month, but he was just a Super Fan, not a cartoon character.
ABC News is reporting that, thirteen months into one of the most notorious criminal prosecutions in memory, all charges will be dropped against three players from the Duke Lacrosse team.
 The office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper will announce that he is dismissing all charges against three Duke Lacrosse players, ABC News has learned from sources close to the case. The three players, Reade Seligmann, David Evans and Collin Finnerty, were facing charges of first degree kidnapping and first degree forcible sexual offense. The charges stem from an off-campus party on the night of March 13, 2006.
In the hours after the party, one of two dancers hired to perform for the players claimed she had been violently raped in a bathroom by members of the lacrosse team. The players had also been indicted for first degree rape, but that charge was dismissed on Dec. 22, 2006.
Special prosecutors from the Attorney General’s office took over the case after Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong recused himself in January, citing charges of unethical conduct filed against him by the North Carolina Bar. Since then, Jim Coman and Mary Winstead have examined the case from scratch, interviewing key witnesses and working through reams of evidence.
The reasons that will be cited for the dismissal are not yet known, though the case has been riddled with criticism and colored by controversy since its early months. Defense attorneys released documents showing the accuser changed key details of her story in the weeks and months after the alleged assault.
Legal analysts and forensic experts have criticized what they call a critically flawed photo identification lineup — a lineup that led to the identification and indictment of Evans, Finnerty, Seligmann. No DNA evidence was found matching any lacrosse players with samples from the rape kit, while DNA from unidentified men was found on the accuser’s body and clothing.
The complete lack of evidence, prosecutorial misconduct, and lack of witness credibility might have has something to do with this. One hopes Nifong and the accusers wind up in prison.
It seems clear from this an a few other high profile cases involving athletes and other celebrities that the penalties for bringing fraudulent criminal charges are far, far too low. Were the penalties commensurate with those the falsely accused party would face, these incidents would drop precipitously.
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Cooper | Sunday, April 1, 2007 |
In reference to an article by Clark Spence in the April 1st edition of MiamiHerald.com on Miguel Cabrera, I wanted to take the deeper look. The good folks at Baseball-reference.com have a database that lists the following players as ‘Most Similar’* of Cabrera for each of the three years he’s been in the league by age. Therefore, in his first season, at age 21, the player who had the most historically similar season to Miguel at age 21 was Hank Aaron in 1955.
.
At 21 At 22 At 23
Hank Aaron Hank Aaron Hank Aaron
Ruben Sierra Frank Robinson Orlando Cepeda
Sam Crawford Orlando Cepeda Frank Robinson
Dick Kokos Tony Caligliaro Joe Medwick
Mickey Mantle Mickey Mantle Mickey Mantle
Joe Medwick Joe Medwick Andruw Jones
Whitey Lockman Hal Trosky Ken Griffey, Jr.
Mike Tiernan Ken Griffey, Jr. Hal Trosky
Andruw Jones Albert Pujols Vladimir Guerrero
Greg Luzinski Cesar Cedeno Al Kaline
There are obviously a number of interesting ways you can begin to compare players of different eras, but believing the numbers as interpreted the most interesting dissimilarity between these players and Cabrera is that it appears Cabrera will play at 3B for a number of seasons. Of the top 10 prospects listed in the Marlins system by Baseball America only Chris Coghlan plays 3b. He was ranked 9th in the system in an article by Mike Berardino. Last year Coghlan split time between the Gulf Coast League Marlins (Rookie) and Jamestown (A) – he played 30 games and hit .297/.373/.372 with 0 HR. In three years at Univ. of Mississippi he played in 189 games, hit over .350 twice and hit 13 HR. Baseball America notes Coghlan playes “3b/2b” and he certainly does not seem to have the power stroke yet – if ever – to play the hot corner.
While Spence discusses the comparisons to other players hitting stats he does not mention any other player’s positions. Of the players above only Cepeda (1B), Trosky (1B), and Pujols (1B/3B) had a primary position that was not in the outfield. Of the 571 games Cabrera has appeared in he has played 348 in the outfield and 221 at 3B, he appeared as a designated hitter in 2 games as well. While defensive prowess is clearly not at the forefront of Spence’s article – the only mention of position made in the whole article is noting that Cabrera was an ‘18 year-old shortstop’ – it is interesting that there are no 3b to compare him with.
Other ‘slugging’ 3b like Mike Schmidt and George Brett had their breakout seasons after the age of 23. In 1974 at 24 Schmidt hit .282/.395/.546 with 36 HR; in 1979 at 24 Brett hit .312/.373/.532 with 22 HR.
It is worth noting that both Brett and Schmidt had played in the majors for a number of seasons before their ‘breakout’ years. If Cabrera is still in search of his ‘breakout’ it may be a season for the ages.
3b is changing. As SS has evolved from Ozzie Smith to Miguel Tejada, the other infield positions are also seeing power jumps. While Cabrera is certainly putting up numbers that would seem ‘hall worthy’ – a shift in the type of players at the position may change who and what is required for entrance.
*As is written on baseballreference.com:
Similarity scores are not my concept. Bill James introduced them nearly 15 years ago, and I lifted his methodology from his book The Politics of Glory (p. 86-106). To this there is a positional adjustment. Each position has a value, and you subtract the difference between the two players position. James just uses primary position, but I computed an average position for players who had more than one primary position.
Police believe that Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s cricket coach, was murdered.
Pakistan’s cricket coach Bob Woolmer was strangled in his hotel room after the team’s shocking World Cup loss to Ireland, police said Thursday. Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas said in a statement that the pathologist report found Bob Woolmer’s death was due to “asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation.”
 The statement, which was read by a police spokesman at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel where Woolmer died on Sunday, said police were now treating the case as a murder investigation. Police said they were seeking witnesses to the crime. “It is our belief that those associated with or having access with Mr. Woolmer may have vital information to assist this inquiry,” Thomas said in the statement.
Woolmer, 58, was found unconscious in his blood- and vomit-splattered hotel room in Jamaica on Sunday, a day after his team’s upset loss to Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day sealed Pakistan’s ouster from the tournament. He was later declared dead at a hospital.
Pakistan cricketers were fingerprinted and interviewed on Thursday by police investigating his death. They were allowed to leave the hotel in the afternoon and travel to Montego Bay. No arrests have been made and there are no suspects in the case, police said.
It was not clear if the team would be asked to remain in Jamaica pending the investigation, but Mark Shields, a deputy police commissioner at the press conference, said the players have pledged full cooperation whether they are on the Caribbean island or back home in Pakistan.
Earlier Thursday, Assistant Police Commissioner Les Green, formerly of Scotland Yard, said the team was fingerprinted as part of standard procedure “to eliminate persons from fingerprints which would be found in the room.” “After a thorough investigation, fingerprints not belonging to Mr. Woolmer were found in the room,” he told The Associated Press.
[...]
Woolmer’s wife, Gill, said Thursday in an interview from South Africa with Britain’s Sky TV that she had not ruled out that her husband was murdered. “I mean some of the cricketing fraternity, fans are extremely volatile and passionate about the game and what happens in the game, and also a lot of it in Asia, so I suppose there is always the possibility that it could be that (murder),” she said.
Former Pakistani player Sarfraz Nawaz speculated earlier in the week that the coach was killed by gambling interests. But his widow said her husband had not recently mentioned anything about match fixing. He had been South Africa’s coach in the 1990s when the team’s captain, Hansie Cronje, admitted taking money to fix matches and was banned for life. Woolmer was never implicated.
Woolmer’s death has caused a sensation in the proper world of cricket and left the Pakistan national team in tatters and tears. Team captain Inzamam-ul-Haq announced his resignation and retirement from one-day cricket after Woolmer’s death, then led Pakistan to an emotional victory Wednesday against Zimbabwe. A fan at the match hoisted a sign saying: “Do it for Bob.”
The burly, bearded team captain left the field weeping after the victory he dedicated to Woolmer. “He’s not in this world now and every Pakistani and every cricket lover is sad,” he said.
Woolmer, who is British, was born in India, played for England and recently split his time between Pakistan and South Africa. He is being accorded hero status in Pakistan after his death. Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said he would be awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, or Star of Excellence, for his contribution to sport.
How awful.
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