Can Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o win the Heisman Trophy?

Just a handful of weeks ago a big, popular website scoffed openly at the potential of Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o winning the Heisman Trophy, deriding the journalist who dared to suggest the possibility. Well, now that same website looks (even more so than usual) pretty stupid, as all the biggest sporting sites are openly discussing and indeed suggesting the validity of the young man’s candidacy.

Whisper it quietly, but Manti Te'o could just very well become the first defensive player to win the Heisman trophy since Charles Woodson. Manti’s play speaks for itself, as do his defensive statistics. 80 tackles in itself shows what kind of a demon he is on the field.

Obviously, the award is heavily weighted towards offensive players, to use that ugly old refrain, chicks dig touchdowns. However, as evidenced by the sheer weight of volume of text being put forth towards a Te’o win, it appears he really, legitimately is in with a shot.

Looking around the wide expanses of the World Wide Web, it is truly astonishing to see the growth of support for the fierce defender. First the best news. The ESPN fan ballot has Manti crushing it. Absolutely crushing it.

You do of course have to take that with a pinch of salt. That’s just fan voting and relative busts like Matt Barkley are still polling 5% because of the vagaries of said style of voting. The ESPN experts poll is probably a better measure of his actual chances, and they have him at number two, behind Kansas State QB Colin Klein.  This is of course still very respectable

USA Today is perhaps less kind to Manti, and has him second, with 23 second place votes, again behind Klein who has a whopping 35 first place votes.

Sports Illustrated also has Te’o at the two spot.

What appears obvious is that thanks to The Fighting Irish’s incredible run of success this season, Te’o is right there in the spotlight, and is seriously being touted as a possible Heisman winner. The problem is basically Collin Klein. The logical answer to the question whether Te’o can take the award or not, is that basically Klein needs to submit a couple of stinkers.

If Te’o can keep his performance levels at the lofty heights they are right now, and if he can perhaps chip in a couple more flashy plays, and if Klein slips even just a little bit, Te’o could very well be that rarity of rarities.

A defensive Heisman trophy winner.

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Notre Dame go to 8-0 but, is it all in vain?

Notre Dame appear to have something cooking this season. Defying pre-season expectations they have beaten all comers culminating in an impressive 30-13 win over Oklahoma last night, on the road, no less. Everett Golson threw for 177 yards and dove for the decisive 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. They got some serious help on the defensive side too. Just a few weeks ago some idiotic websites scoffed openly at the chance of Manti Te'o winning the Heisman, well now bigger, national sites are commenting that the young man bolstered his Heisman Trophy candidacy with a late interception. That's right, bolstered.

Notre Dame would appear to be, as they say, legit.

Here's the problem. The possibility remains of this incredible season being eventually measured as having been basically for naught, lost in the quagmire of the usual vitriolic debate over how College football should award its winners.

The fact to bear in mind here is the switch to the much anticipated playoff system doesn't come into force until next season. That means that even if Notre Dame run the table, and beats (in order) Pittsburgh, Boston College, Wake Forest and USC (on the road), the chances are they are not going to be playing for the National Championship.

How can we suggest that with such confidence?

Easy.

Alabama, Kansas and Oregon are all now 8-0 after impressive weekend wins, and are ranked higher than Notre Dame in the BCS standings. Kansas have beaten three ranked teams, including their last two victories. and have a relatively easy run-in on their schedule. Kansas should finish 12-0. If Alabama survives next week's battle with LSU, they should also finish 12-0.

Oregon faces perhaps the toughest run in, on paper at least, however USC and Stanford are not the forces they once were, and California should be easily swiped aside. Oregon's last game against Oregon State will probably decide whether they go 12-0 or not.

The bottom line is, at least two of those three should finish 12-0, and even if The Fighting Irish beat their own last four opponents, they most likely will not be playing for the National Championship.

Up to now, many great college teams have lost out of playing for the National Championship thanks to the antiquated, out-dated and frankly farcical old BCS format. Thankfully from next season four teams will have a chance to battle it out, in what should provide excellent, dramatic viewing for us the fans.

Sadly, that will most likely come a season too late for this Notre Dame squad.

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Former Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine taking chances with Ortiz comments

You may have seen former Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine’s comments on David Ortiz the last 24 hours and thought to yourself, ‘so what, it’s just Bobby being Bobby, right?’. Well, apart from the fact the Valentine now appears to be alienating one of the few Red Sox players that actually backed him in the clubhouse, Bobby is also risking legal action by his former employees.

What’s all the fuss about? Basically in an interview on NBS Valentine called Ortiz’s desire to play through injury out. The quote is pretty damning, however, judge for yourself.

"David Ortiz came back after spending about six weeks on the disabled list and we thought it was only going to be a week. He got two hits the first two times up, drove in a couple runs; we were off to the races. Then he realized that [the team's trade with the Dodgers on Aug. 25] meant that we're not going to run this race and we're not even going to finish the race properly and he decided not to play anymore. I think at that time it was all downhill from there."

Whatever way you read it back, it would appear Valentine is throwing Ortiz under the proverbial bus. If that’s the case, it is a shocking move even by Valentine’s standards. As all Red Sox fans know, Ortiz is a proud man, and will not take these comments lightly. The manager versus player aspect will play itself out eventually, and Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe dissects it all knowledgeably here, however, there is another potential thread to this storyline that could come back to haunt Valentine.

The more eagle eyed of Sox fans will have noted how polite Valentine was as he was shown the door. He was throwing verbal bouquets at everyone and everything associated with the Sox, without as much of a snide aside tacked on. Not exactly the Valentine we became used to in his single, disastrous year at the helm of the good ship Fenway.

As it turned out, Valentine had to sign a ‘No mudslinging’ clause to his contract, meaning he couldn’t say anything bad about the club after leaving. The Red Sox front office possibly foresaw potential issues in the case they did have to jettison Valentine, and had the clause put in place. Valentine would not have got a cent of his millions of dollars of severance money had he not signed, and subsequently obeyed.

Here’s the thing, will the Red Sox see this rather obvious attack on Ortiz as an attack on Boston as a whole, and therefore a very clear break of Bobby’s contractual obligation not to slander his former club?

If he keeps this crap up, can Boston get their severance package back off of him?

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2012 World Series preview

And then there was two. The Major League Baseball season is long. Very long. 162 games, to be exact. Now, finally, the playoffs have whittled the remaining field down to a final two, and all that remains is the World Series. This column would contend that there are no better teams suited for this World Series than the Detroit Tigers and the San Francisco Giants.

The two teams are both great examples of exactly what a ‘team’ is, at least in Major League baseball terms. Much more costly, extravagant and indeed fancied teams have all been cast by the wayside on route to the final. The Yankees? Gone, along with their ridiculous $220 million a year in salaries. Texas? Gone, their big sluggers couldn’t bash their way through the playoffs. Detroit and San Francisco are arguably the most complete teams in baseball in their respective conferences.

San Francisco play great defence, have some shut-down type starting pitchers, a great bullpen, and can play small-ball when they want to, or bang home-runs when they have to. The Tigers? Detroit have a couple of the best pitchers in the game right now, and a fear-some middle of their order unlike almost any other in baseball.

Two truly great teams, very worthy of their slot in the finals.

The Giants are jam packed with high-character players. Marco Scutaro, a player that the Boston Red Sox idiotically cast off last season, is having a playoffs for the ages, the baseball must look the size of a large water melon to him right now. Scutaro is a what they call in the English Premier League, a ‘players player’, just a gentleman and a true professional. It is heart-warming to see him succeed at the highest level. The wonderfully named Buster Posey is coming back from a terrible injury last season, playing catcher for the Giants. He is their ‘long ball’ threat and when he makes contact, the ball really jumps off of his bat.

The Giants are really defined by their starting pitching, the ‘horses’ who get the ball for (hopefully) six to seven innings from the start of the game. Matt Cain is the calm, cool and collected ace in the pack, while Ryan Vogelsong is striking batters out at a incredible pace. Keep an eye out for popular and humble Tim Lincecum, a young, free spirit, with buckets of talent, trying to bounce back from an average season.

The Tigers are bringing some heavy-lumber to the party. Their batting lineup is big, bad and mean. Their fulcrum is the fearsome duo of Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder. Cabrera is fresh of winning a rare ‘Triple Crown’ which means he topped the MLB charts in runs batted in, home runs, and batting average. A truly Herculean feat. His running mate, his partner in crime is the affable  Prince Fielder, a huge man who bashes home runs like you and I swat flies.

Detroit also bring arguably the single most dominant pitcher on the planet right now. Justin Verlander is on top of his trade. He can touch triple figures on the radar gun, and his curve ball can make a batter question his very existence. He is a ferocious competitor, and really ‘gets’ what it means to be the ace, the figure head of the Tigers.

That final aspect touches on perhaps the best part of this World Series.

It was really pathetic watching the Yankees play their home playoff games, as Detroit put them to the sword. The disgustingly priced $2000 plus seats behind home plate were only half full, and Yankee stadium itself was basically only three quarters full. Worse yet, the Yankee fans jeered their team more than they cheered them. It was ugly.

No such problems in this Series, you can bet.

These two teams really mean something to and in their respective communities. Their fans really love their teams, both playing in front of adoring, packed houses on a nightly basis. The Giants stadium is really a sight to see, arching high into the San Francisco night sky, with a swaying, colourful crowd jammed into every available seat. The Tigers, meanwhile, perhaps mean even more to their City (and that’s saying something). Detroit and Michigan has had a tough few years, and the Tigers do an incredible job giving their City and State something to be proud of, and something to cheer for. You can really feel the connection between the team and its fans every time they play ball.

Who’s going to win? It is a very tough call. Each game should be closely contested. San Francisco have some fabulous players and characters, and Marco Scutaro is a man on a mission right now. However, you simply can’t ignore two men in particular for the Tigers. Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander are once-in-a-lifetime type talents, and for me, they will swing the series towards Detroit.

Playoff baseball is a beautiful thing. Elegant, electric and to those that love it edifying, do yourself a favour, catch a few of the games, even if it means going into work a little late the next day!



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Making sense of the Patriot's 29-26 win over the Jets

The Patriots squeaked past the Jets last night 29-26 in a thrilling game that had a little bit of everything. Patriots fans were left on the edge of their seats as the secondary leaked like the Titanic post-iceberg, and the offence struggled to do anything right for long periods. The win did come, eventually, and Patriot nation exhaled. Whilst no one is jumping into the Charles this morning, the warning signs are there that the natives are restless. There was plenty of base, knuckle-dragging ‘booing’ throughout the night in New England. Once again, we are reminded, the ridiculous 2007 season ruined the expectations of Patriots fans World wide

 One thing you really have to understand and grasp onto as a Patriots fan is that you can’t win every single game 52-21.

Before 2007/2008 the Patriots were a blue collar, hardworking team  that managed to find ways to win close games. They were not generally a team that blew you out. They did the little things, they ‘did their job’ as the mantra goes. Just one season of blowing the doors of all comers right up to the Superbowl, and it would appear many Patriots fans have not adjusted as yet to winning games by a field goal, or indeed less.

Well, it is time to take stock of last night’s result and frankly, apart from that awful secondary, most of the analysis should trend on the positive side.

The Patriots sit top of the AFC East on a 4-3 record, having just beaten a fierce divisional rival. Make no mistake, Rex Ryan has not been lying all these years, the games against New England are indeed the Superbowl for the Jets. Ryan says it all the time, and you can see it from how his players conduct themselves. The two games against the Patriots are the Jets two biggest games every season. This means New England have to weather the storm of someone who is trying that little bit harder to beat you.

Last night? Job done. Storm weathered.

The 4-3 record is misleading, it may seem very ordinary, however on closer analysis, the Patriots have probably achieved more than their record describes. Take their three losses first. Those three ‘L’s were by a combined four points. No, seriously, look it up. That’s sensational, and means that the Patriots have, to some extent, been a little unlucky. Those teams that beat the Patriots by those combined four points are 17-12 against all their other opponents, in other words, they are above decent.

The wins have been pretty impressive. The improving Titans were hammered by 21 points. The Bills were annihilated after a slow start. The broncos scored a few in complete-garbage time to make the score look closer than it was.

The Jets? The Patriots found a way to beat them, in that old-fashioned Patriots way their fans used to be so used to.

If you find yourself, as a New England fan, worried that your team didn’t win 65-0 last night, a couple of tips.

First, calm down, and don’t be an idiot. Nobody likes self-entitled sports fans. Just ask anyone what they think of those moaning, whining Red Sox fans that are in abundance right now. The Patriots will win more than they lose, calm down.

Second, enjoy it! It’s kind of nice to see the Patriots working hard in all aspects of the game to scrape out a win, like their 2001, 2003 and 2004 clubs. Instead of letting Brady hock it up to Randy Moss every couple of plays, New England are utilising their entire roster, and it is refreshing to see.

A win is a win is a win.

Enjoy it, in the NFL they are hard to come by.


Just ask the Jets.

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The New York Yankees lose a game, a series and a dynasty

How easy was that? The Detroit Tigers simply swept the over matched Yankees aside, like dirt off their shoulders. The MLB International coverage was very good last night, something those of you Stateside don’t get to watch or hear, which is a shame. One very interesting note came late on, as they pointed out that with their season on the line, it was bemusing to see most of the Yankees slumped back in their seats. Ichiro Suzuki and Raul Ibanez were taking it like men and standing on the top step, however the rest of the Yankees were sulking back on their bench, quite literally as far away from the action as they could be without being in the club-house.

Losing is one thing, being embarrassed and not facing it like a man is a whole other issue. This Yankees team looked beaten all series long, and now has the toxic air of a broken down vehicle that has no use bar the scrap yard.

The Yankees now face a series of issues, the gravity of which does not appear to be sinking in for their own front office. Their problems are basically three-fold. First of all, they are old, Mike Illitch old. Secondly, those same old players, many of them are tied into huge salaries, the value of which would startle Donald Trump. Finally, those same players’ salaries are not only exorbitant, they are also long, long like a Miguel Carbera homerun.

Check out this list of the oldest Yankees players. This isn’t an ‘issue’, it’s an epidemic.

• Hiroki Kuroda 37
• Derek Lowe 39
• Andy Pettitte 40
• Eric Chavez 34
• Derek Jeter 38
• Alex Rodriguez 37
• Raul Ibanez 40
• Ichiro Suzuki 38

Even the Yankees ‘younger’ stars are ‘young’ only compared to the walking zombies in the group above.

• CC Sabathia 32
• Mark Teixeira 32
• Curtis Granderson 31

In terms of salaries, the Yankees as a group cost $200 million a year in pay. That’s big. In a lot of cases, it is their oldest players receiving the highest figures. Kuroda is getting $10 million. They are paying CC Sabathia, who looked older than 32 even last night, $24 million a year. A-Rod, Jeter and Teixeira combined are 107 years old are are earning a cool $68 million a year (22 each).

The New York Yankees are paying $130 million in salaries to a bunch of players who will be 30 or over for the 2013 season. That’s even removing Swisher, Lowe and Suzuki’s salaries, those three will presumably not be in pinstripes next season.

As for the length of those dead-weight, anchor  or indeed anvil like contracts, the poster child for this topic has to be good old A-Rod. The Yankees are paying A-Rod $30 million dollars a season every season until the year 2017.

Read that above sentence to yourself again and let it sink in. The guy they sat on the bench for the crucial part of the ALCS. The man once called ‘The Cooler’ by his own team-mates in Texas (for his ability to cool off rallies). The man mercilessly booed by his own fans, and completely slaughtered in the press by Donald Trump, that’s the guy they are paying $30 million a year until 2017.

You think they have a snowball’s chance in hell of trading the big lug to anyone? Even the LA Dodgers are not stupid enough to take that kind of cash on board.  New York is stuck to their broken down, head-case (who hands out baseballs to women in the stands looking for phone numbers during the AlCS?!) of a strike-out machine.

Worrying for Yankee fans is their General Manager appears to have his head buried in the sand.

"A lot of people are pointing to this team, and saying we're old and that's the reason we're not getting anywhere," Cashman said. "I'm like, 'Hey, we got there and we are old.' You know, if you're old and still good, it's not an issue."

What Cashman appears to be missing is that you can beat up second tier pitching all year long. You can mash homeruns at a record pace in the dog days of summer, and build inflated numbers in-spite of the relative old age of your squad. However, when October hits, your team best have energy and stamina (something that is more present in, let’s face it, younger players) and you better be ready to hit the best pitching in the Majors.

That Tigers rotation absolutely sliced and diced the Yankees aging bats. It was a no-contest. Max Scherzer almost no-hit the Yankees in a crucial, potentially season ending game for the latter. Think about that for a second. He almost no-hit them!!

The Yankees simply had no defence.

Most worrying of all, on top of all the points above, is that the rest of the AL East is primed to simply move on without New York. Tampa is young, talented and run on a very impressive low budget, allowing them to grab free agent parts at the right time. They have a great manager and deep, talent laden rotation. The Orioles are perhaps even more deeply loaded with young talent. They also have a good manager and baseball is once again buzzing in Baltimore, the City has taken to their team again, and they don’t want to let go. The Blue Jays are a much better team than their last season, the injury bug decimated them and they will be back with a bang in 2013.

What’s going to really pain Yankee fans is their arch rivals the Red Sox removed their problems like a surgeon removing an unwanted growth, biting the bullet and giving away the 2012 season in order to be competitive next season and beyond. The Red Sox are young, baby young compared to the Yankees, and have the financial freedom to rebuild their club in any manner they see fit.

The Yankees are an old, decaying team, and they are tied to the weighty contracts of those same players for many years to come. There is no wiggle room.

Where does that leave the Yankees?  The answer might be, out in the cold, looking in, as the rest of the AL East blasts off without them. The Yankees didn’t just lose a game last night, or a season either.

They lost their dynasty.

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After disgraceful scenes at under 21 football match Serbia must be banned by UEFA and FIFA

First things first, apologies if any normal, polite and reasonable Serbian football fan or regular Serbian Joe Punter person takes offence to the below, this is not directed at you, this is directed at your brethren who can’t contain themselves, and your football federation, who won’t contain them.

On to the matter at hand. Our American readers are going to find the pictures and videos on this piece shocking. You just don’t see this level of hate and violence in organised sport in the USA. Now, our Irish and European readers are going to think ‘Sure, seen this before, it’s just Serbia being Serbia’. However, enough is enough. No more excuses. No more warnings. This has to be the final straw. It is time to kick Serbia out of all FIFA and UEFA competitions for a good period, preferably ten years. FIFA needs to act now, and show its members, show the World, that FIFA does not condone racism, violence and thuggery at any level. At this stage there is absolutely no alternative, and FIFA has to stand up to these disgusting Serbian bullies.

Throw. Them. Out.

Now.

A quick recap on last night’s Serbian indiscretions.

• England beat Serbia 1-0 in a crucial Under 21 match last night – meaning England went through and Serbia were knocked out. The end of the match saw the English players and coaches quite literally fighting, scrapping for their lives as some Serbian coaches, officials, players and fans attacked them
• Other Serbian fans hailed missiles in the form of bottles, cans and other paraphernalia at the English players and backroom staff
• England coach Martin Thomas was head-butted by a Serbian coach after the game (No, seriously, check the picture out above)
• English player Danny Rose was racially and violently taunted all night long 'Two stones hit me in the head when I went to get the ball for a throw-in and whenever I touched the ball there was monkey chanting.’

Serbia, as they say, has priors. Last year UEFA president Michel Platini threatened Serbia with expulsion from Euro 2012 and their clubs with exclusion from European competition if they did not sort out their hooliganism and racism problems. Prior to that Serbia were fined £16,000 in 2007 by UEFA after England defender, Nedum Onuoha was abused by fans at the 2007 Under-21 European Championship in Holland.

Enough is enough.

Check this video out. Watch as the missiles start to rain down, the crowd chants aggressive, racist slogans and slander, and then the fights break out amongst the players and staff.



There is absolutely no excuse for last night, and Serbia has a back-list of priors, so there has to be a line drawn under this. Toss the book at them, and make them an example to all who would try to bring hate, ignorance and aggressive bullying to the stadium. The excuses being set forth so far are completely pathetic. History, colonialism, cultural differences, excuse me but that’s just pathetic. Take responsibility, Serbia. No one is picking on you, this is your problem. Stop lashing out and blaming everyone from Imperialist Britain to Bosnia to Obama’s America.

This is your problem, take responsibility and deal with it. No one forced your fans to throw missiles at the English players last night, and certainly no one forced the idiots amongst your fans to make monkey noises at Danny Rose, the young, talented English player. Look at yourself in the mirror, Serbia, and ask yourself, ‘Is this acceptable?’ No it is not.

This video gives an even more graphic portrayal of events last night (not sure how long it will survive before being taken down however)




At best, Serbia look simply like sore losers, throwing missiles on the field after England beat them 1-0 with a dramatic late goal from Sunderland’s Conor Wickham. At worst, Serbian football supporters look like hateful, spiteful, ignorant and dangerous racists. They have priors, they have been doing this for years and FIFA and UEFA has warned them over and over.

Until their football federation is brave enough to do something about their disgraceful behaviour, Serbia has to be banned from World football.

There is simply no place in the modern World for their knuckle-dragging behaviour.
 

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