Cynthia Sperber: June 2011

Monday, June 20, 2011

WAC doesn’t add to football membership, hopes remaining members emerge

During the past year, the WAC has seen all of its best football teams leave for the Mountain West and the conference has had little retaliation.

Tuesday's vote of the board of directors was supposed to usher in the new WAC, but instead, the conference decided against adding football schools -- it did add basketball-only member Seattle -- and play with seven football schools in 2012.

Commissioner Karl Benson said the league had been in touch with 10 to 12 football playing schools, including schools from the FCS, but that the economy halted some of those schools from making the jump to the FBS.

"We will continue to look at both FCS and FBS schools and could have another member by this time next year, or possibly sooner," Benson said during a conference call Tuesday.

"We hope in the next year that the timing will be better. Hopefully a year from now there may be football playing schools ready to make a move to the WAC."

By the end of the 2011 season, the WAC will have lost Boise State. In 2012, Fresno State, Nevada and Hawaii also will be gone. Those are the four teams that essentially made the WAC a viable FBS league. Since 2007, those four teams have been to a total of 15 bowl games, including a BCS bowl by Boise State. The only team out of that group not to make the postseason every year since 2007 is Hawaii, which didn't play in a bowl in 2009.

The WAC's remaining five teams -- Utah State, San Jose State, Louisiana Tech, Idaho and New Mexico State -- have played in a total of two bowl games thanks to Louisiana Tech and Idaho. San Jose State last played in a bowl in 2006, Utah State in 1997 and New Mexico State? Well, the Aggies haven't played in a bowl since 1960.

That's why it's difficult to see this league being able to sustain itself without some new blood or an old member making a radical transformation. The WAC does add Texas State and Texas-San Antonio as football members in 2012, but it will take some time for both schools to get used to the level of competition.

Still, Benson knows for his league to continue, he needs one of the seven football schools to fill the voids left by the departed.

"It will be important this year for the five remaining WAC schools to show some success," Benson said. "It will be important for one of those five teams to contend for a WAC championship, to go to a bowl game, to carry the WAC umbrella into the postseason. I've been asked many times what the future holds and I think I've been consistent in saying there isn't any reason one of those schools or perhaps a Texas State or UT-San Antonio can't be the next Boise State.

"Ten years ago when Boise State joined the WAC, I don't think anybody expected Boise State to have the dominance it has had. Looking at the five remaining members of the WAC, I don't see a whole lot of difference between those five programs in 2011 than where Boise State was in 2001. It's very realistic that one of those five schools can indeed be the flag bearer and a national power coming out of the WAC."

In addition to losing membership, the WAC also loses two bowl tie-ins. The WAC will have three bowls for the 2011 season, but then drop to just one in 2012 -- the WAC champ will head to the Humanitarian Bowl. The WAC will be the only conference with one bowl tie-in.

It's hard to predict what the future holds for the WAC. There are some stellar FCS schools out there including Montana, Eastern Washington and North Dakota State, that all fit into the WAC footprint, but being financially stable enough to make the move to the FBS is the biggest challenge. Montana has done at least two feasibility studies and determined that it didn't have the funds to make the jump. Meanwhile, pickings are slim in the FBS. North Texas has already resisted an overture from the WAC and the other schools in the Sun Belt provide little television market help.

The WAC has a year or so to figure out its next move or it might have a hard time keeping pace, and even existing, with the rest of he FBS.

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Documents peg Tar Heels for $13K in traffic fines, but worst may be yet to come

Last year, two numbers loomed large in the NCAA's ongoing, multipronged investigation of improper benefits, academic fraud and agent connections at North Carolina: 14, the number of Carolina players who missed at least one game under scrutiny for possible violations, and 7, the number of Tar Heels who missed the entire season ? three of whom went on to become first or second-round picks in April's NFL Draft.

Today, there are two more numbers in connection to the probe: 395, the number of parking citations racked up by a group of up to eleven UNC players from March 2007 to August 2010, and $13,185, the amount those players owed ? or possibly still owe ?�as a result:

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)?North Carolina has released documents showing a group of Tar Heel football players accumulated more than $13,000 in parking citations over a 3 1/2-year period.

The school released the documents Thursday, a day after the state Court of Appeals denied the school's request to delay the release of those records pending an appeal. A Wake County Superior Court judge had ruled in April that the school withheld documents it should have provided to requesting media outlets covering the NCAA investigation into the football program.

The university said in a statement that not all of the 11 players requested by the media had received tickets. The university says student-athletes "do not receive special treatment" and "are expected" to pay parking fines like any student, though it didn't say whether fines were paid.

One of the papers that went after the records, the News & Observer, said it requested information last year on Tar Heels Charles Brown, Kendric Burney, Bruce Carter, Ryan Houston, Dwight Jones, Donte Paige-Moss, Robert Quinn, Kevin Reddick, Greg Little, Johnny White and Deunta Williams. Even discounting that not everyone in that group was fined, $13,185 among eleven players amounts to just shy of $1,200 per player, or a little less than $400 per player over the three-and-a-half-year period in question. Cliff Harris probably thinks that's chump change (and I'm certainly not daring anyone to go snooping around my old college parking records, either), but that is a large sum in fines, especially for allegedly broke college kids. Hey, maybe that's why Burney, Little, Quinn and Williams ?�all cited by the NCAA for accepting well over $1,000 apiece in improper benefits from an agent ?�needed the money in the first place.

As deep as the parking-related scandal could conceivably take us down the wormhole, the real damage from today's document dump where Carolina's ongoing dance with the NCAA is concerned is from the other half, which includes hundreds of pages of phone records from head coach Butch Davis, athletic Dick Baddour and (most importantly) ex-defensive line coach John Blake. Before he was forced out last September, Blake was reportedly at the center of the NCAA's investigation for his longstanding relationship with NFL agent Gary Wichard, who himself was stripped of his license by the NFL Players Association last December before succumbing to cancer earlier this year. Star defensive tackle Marvin Austin's suspension stemmed at least in part from (among many other things) a trip he took to California to work out in Wichard's gym in August 2009, a trip allegedly paid for by one of Austin's old UNC teammates, fellow defensive tackle Kentwan Balmer, a Wichard client. Blake may have also been ratted out to the NCAA by defensive end Marcell Dareus, a friend of Austin's who allegedly got a pending four-game suspension to start last season knocked down to two games by telling investigators Blake had tried to steer him to Wichard in a phone call.

It's no wonder that Butch Davis admitted last October that he regretted ever hiring Blake, a longtime colleague who once played for Davis at Sand Springs High in Oklahoma and later won a Super Bowl with Davis when both were assistants with the Dallas Cowboys in the early nineties. And he may soon regret it more, if anything in the stacks of papers currently being rifled through by reporters turns up a stronger connection between Blake and Wichard and/or implicates that other Carolina coaches knew (or should have known) about players' relationship with agents. If UNC is eventually charged with employing an assistant coach who effectively acted as a runner for an NFL agent, a bunch of traffic tickets will look like, well, a bunch of traffic tickets.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Sunday Closing Time, Interleague (Father’s Day) edition

What a better way to celebrate Father's Day than to pit two of the most storied franchises in baseball against each other? Cubs, Yankees, Wrigley Field … it's a series that pretty much sells itself.

So come join us for a live chat as we take in a classic of our American pastime on Sunday night. Festivities start at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT.

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Rich Rodriguez’s new job keeps him in the game, but much harder to find

Rich Rodriguez has never been accused of being the most charismatic guy in front of a microphone, or of cultivating a particularly good relationship with the media, in general, and he didn't seem to be having the best time earlier this year during his signing day stint for CBS College Sports, specifically. But seeing as he wasn't really doing anything this fall, anyway, he's decided to give the TV thing a shot. From a press release:

Former University of Michigan football head coach Rich Rodriguez joins CBS Sports Network as a game and studio analyst for the 2011 college football season.

The announcement was made today by David Berson, Executive Vice President, CBS Sports and President, CBS Sports Network.Rodriguez will team with veteran play-by-play announcer Dave Ryan to call games, and also be part of the Network's weekly studio programming originating from New York City .

"Rich is an accomplished, well-recognized coach with a wealth of knowledge about the game," said Berson. "Rich was an integral part of our Signing Day and Draft coverage. We are excited to add him to our already strong line-up of football talent and look forward to showcasing his analysis and insights during the upcoming season."

CBS Sports Network, nee CBS College Sports, is not to be confused with CBS's top-rated broadcast channel, which typically lands the SEC game of the week ? the former is a hard-to-find cable station in less than 40 percent of American homes with televisions that typically lands Mountain West and Conference USA games, along with Thursday night fare featuring the likes of South Connecticut State, Shippensburg, Elizabeth City State and West Texas A&M. For pure entertainment value, Rodriguez doesn't quite match last year's big "unemployed coach" hire, ex-Texas Tech boss Mike Leach, who brings the network an eccentric, occasionally short-tempered, foul-mouthed and politically incorrect wild card whose inevitable digressions on pirate society, art history, current events in light of libertarian/anarchist philosophy and modern relationships promised to be many times more entertaining than the games themselves. Rodriguez brings them a fairly nondescript personality who was 6-18 against the rest of the Big Ten and tears up over Josh Groban.

But given his past success at West Virginia and essentially scandal-free stint at Michigan, Rodriguez probably has a better chance of escaping the purgatory of a press box in Fort Collins, Colo., for an actual coaching job as offensive coordinator or even head coach at a smaller school over the next two or three years. And if not, he can always put his head down, work hard at his new craft and shoot for the big leagues when Urban Meyer starts feeling the itch.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Oregon puts Cliff Harris on ice amid internal probe, $8,500 in unpaid fines

Next to jaywalking, a speeding ticket is usually cited as the most harmless infraction on the books ? something's probably wrong with you if you�don't rack up a couple over the years. Not so with�Cliff Harris' latest speeding ticket, which has begun to unravel his short-term future in equal and opposite proportion to the force he put on the accelerator. Since being cited early Sunday morning for driving 118 in a 65-mph zone with a suspended license, Oregon's All-America cornerback/kick returner has reportedly missed a court date, sparked an internal investigation into the car he was driving and added to a staggering sum in unpaid fines.

As of Wednesday afternoon, he's also suspended for the rest of the summer and arguably the biggest game of the Ducks' season on Sept. 3:

EUGENE, Ore. ? University of Oregon cornerback Cliff Harris has been suspended indefinitely from the Ducks' foot-ball program following last weekend's incident that included citations for driving at excessive speeds and driving with a suspended license, head football coach Chip Kelly announced Wednesday. Kelly added that the suspension includes Harris sitting out a minimum of Oregon's 2011 season opener vs. LSU.

Kelly emphasized that the Fresno, Calif., native's status following the Sept. 3 game in Arlington, Texas' Cowboys Stadium would be dependent on his adhering to standards set forth by the University's football program. He added that the sanctions imposed upon Harris were based upon the information currently available surrounding more than just a single event, and were independent of any legal rulings or potential violation of NCAA rules that have yet to be determined.

The suspension robs Oregon of one of the most explosive return threats and cover men in the country ? Harris is on every preseason All-America team after leading the Pac-10 in both interceptions and return touchdowns as a sophomore, and widely expected to go in the first round of the NFL draft as soon as next year ?�in one of the most anticipated showdowns of the year. (Oregon was also without one of its brightest stars for the 2010 opener, but hardly needed running back LaMichael James to crush hapless New Mexico at home. LSU in Dallas is a slightly different story.) But the fallout for team and player extends far beyond one game.

For Harris, additional fines from his missed court date on Tuesday ?�the last day of a two-week grace period before the court can take action following his last missed court date, on May 31 ? brings his tab to more than $8,500 for at least 11 outstanding fines in Oregon and his hometown of Fresno, Calif., since September 2008. The offenses range from operating without a license or insurance to speeding to possession of alcohol as a minor, and the numbers continue to grow with interest since being sent to a private collection agency. The fine on last weekend's speeding citation alone is reportedly upwards of $1,500.

For Oregon, Harris' wild ride could cost the team one of its best players and�possibly result in additional sanctions with Tuesday's revelation that the rented Nissan Altima he was driving when he received the ticket was borrowed from a university employee, who turned over the keys to Harris and two unidentified teammates (who were not cited) almost immediately after driving the car off the rental lot last Friday. Oregon has already opened an investigation to determine whether the car constituted an improper benefit under NCAA rules, and confirmed that the employee ? who works in the university's business office, not the athletic department, and is not a girlfriend or any other relation to Harris, according to her interview with a local TV station ?�did rent the car for personal use.

At best, Oregon will escape serious heat from the NCAA because Harris and his teammates reportedly paid the woman at least $300 before taking the car off her hands, and Harris will escape serious heat from various agencies by coming up with some way to pay off the fines. At worst, Harris will be ruled ineligible for accepting an extra benefit from an institutional employee or representative and suspended for more games ?�possibly the entire season ?�and/or will face serious legal repercussions for his unpaid fines. Either way, Oregon's odds of returning to the BCS title game just got a little longer.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Yes, Andrew Luck is your Heisman frontrunner. But does he pass the stiffarm acid test?

The summer in college football means the onset of preview season, and previews mean an endless stream of lists beginning to trickle in. This year, any and all Heisman hype lists mean Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck at the top, in deference to both his status as reigning runner-up for the trophy last year and the the unanimous hosannas of NFL scouts who only seem to want him more now that he's turned them down.

Of course, no race in sports is official until you can bet on it. So as of today, courtesy of Bodog.com, you can bet on it. The site's early Heisman list includes 38 names, headlined by the usual suspects:

Odds to win the 2011 Heisman Trophy (Bodog.com)
1. Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford (9/2)
2. Landry Jones, QB, Oklahoma (13/2)
3. Marcus Lattimore, RB, South Carolina (7/1)
4. Denard Robinson, QB, Michigan (15/2)
4. LaMichael James, RB, Oregon (15/2)
6. Trent Richardson, RB, Alabama (12/1)
7. Justin Blackmon, WR, Oklahoma State (15/1)
7. Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State (15/1)
7. Knile Davis, RB, Arkansas (15/1)
7. Ryan Broyles, WR, Oklahoma (15/1)

As a public service to gamblers everywhere, I now advise you to excise half that list from the area of your beleaguered brain that stores "potential Heisman candidates." I'm not an oddsmaker or a scout (or a Heisman Trophy voter, for that matter), but I do know something about who wins the Heisman Trophy, and it's not just anyone who might happen to be the "most outstanding player": It's the outstanding offensive star�of one of the two teams playing for the BCS championship. If you want to get even more specific, it's the quarterback of one of the two teams playing for the BCS championship.

Since 2000, nine of eleven Heisman winners have been scheduled to play in the title the following January. (The two exceptions: USC's Carson Palmer in 2002 and Florida's Tim Tebow in 2007, for a team that had won the BCS title the previous season and would win it again the following season.) Seven of those nine winners were quarterbacks. (The two exceptions: USC running back/return man Reggie Bush in 2005 and Alabama running back Mark Ingram in 2009, both of whom led top-ranked teams in the championship game.) In eight of those eleven seasons, the championship game featured both the Heisman winner and another finalist on the opposite sideline who finished second or third.

The last three seasons have all ended with a blockbuster Heisman showdown, between Oklahoma's Sam Bradford (winner) and Florida's Tim Tebow (3rd place) in 2008, Alabama's Mark Ingram (winner) and Texas' Colt McCoy (3rd place) in 2009 and Auburn's Cam Newton (winner) and Oregon's LaMichael James (3rd place) in 2010. In 2004, USC and Oklahoma contributed four of the top five Heisman finishers ahead of their championship clash in the Orange Bowl, including winner Matt Leinart; a year later, USC and Texas supplied the top three finishers before their epic shootout in the Rose Bowl. The last winner to play for a team ranked outside of the top 10 at the end of the regular season was Texas running back Ricky Williams in 1998, who was coming off a year in which he set the Division I career rushing record with 2,327 yards and 29 touchdowns on the ground alone. The only other winner in the BCS era whose team wasn't slated for a BCS bowl game was Tebow in '07, which had at least something to do with the fact that there were no championship-caliber teams that season.

What you're saying when you list a player as a Heisman candidate on the kind of hype list that might actually make someone some money, then, is not just that a player is good. Dozens of first-rate stars whose talents are widely appreciated will always be widely ignored by the Heisman. What you're saying, beyond the requisite individual success, is one of two things: a) This guy is a high-profile star for a team with a serious chance to play for the BCS championship, or b) This guy is on the verge of a season of such outrageous proportions that it is essentially unpredictable.

Given that b) is kind of hard to pin down before anyone has taken a snap, the first criteria leaves us with a handful of legitimate frontrunners going into the year:

? 1. Landry Jones. Now that he's fully emerged from his , Jones comes with the right numbers and right hype, and more importantly, with the right team: Oklahoma is the best bet to open the season at No. 1 in the preseason polls, and Jones is a sure thing to put up even more absurd numbers as a third-year starter as long as he's healthy. With virtually Oklahoma's entire offense back, Jones' situation in 2011 looks a lot like the one that helped propel Sam Bradford to the Heisman in 2008 at the head of the highest-scoring offense in NCAA history. No other quarterback is more likely to land in the championship game with anything approaching those kind of numbers.

? 2. Andrew Luck. Terrelle Pryor's early exit from Ohio State removed any conceivable competition Luck may have had this fall as the most recognizable player in college football, thanks largely to his default status as runner-up and the most coveted player by the next level. Luck's All-America persona ?�soft-spoken, clean-cut quarterback passes up big bucks in the draft to finish his degree ? will never go out of style with Heisman voters, either. As long as he leads Stanford past Oregon in its only really big game of the season on Nov. 12 to punch the Cardinal's ticket to the BCS Championship or Rose Bowl, no one has a wider margin error.

? 3. Trent Richardson. Richardson doesn't have superstar numbers to date, but finds himself in the same sweet spot that departed teammate Mark Ingram exploited en route to the trophy in 2009: He'll be the feature tailback for a national frontrunner, running behind a veteran offensive line and a new quarterback who won't tempt coaches to throw too much ? all opposite a rocking defense that will make the forward pass a luxury in low-scoring slugfests. The main caveat to Richardson's candidacy is whether incoming backs Dee Hart and/or Brent Calloway will siphon off too many carries for his numbers to enter the stratosphere.

? 4. LaMichael James. Increased competition for touches could also slow down James' assault on the box score, which earned him a third-place finish in last year's voting as the national leader in yards from scrimmage and touchdowns. James was also near the top of the list with just shy of 26 touches per game, a number that could come down with Oregon's bounty of blazing young backs in the wings and plenty of opportunities waiting in Chip Kelly's merciless, star-making spread scheme; quarterback Darron Thomas and multipurpose cornerback/kick returner Cliff Harris also have a chance to steal a little spotlight.

But James a known quantity and the go-to star for a high-profile team that will give him a great stage as the early favorite to three-peat as conference champion.

? 5. Brandon Weeden. All-everything receiver Justin Blackmon picked up more accolades last year in Oklahoma State's high-flying offense, and more interest from the pro scouts. But historically, prolific receivers who don't return kicks are inevitably overshadowed by the quarterback who's racking up big numbers throwing not only to them but to every other receiver. Few QBs put up bigger numbers last year than Weeden, who flew under the radar but should have more than enough profile to emerge as the face of an Oklahoma State title run.

And that's pretty much it. Kellen Moore? Unless he turns in a ridiculous effort against Georgia to start the season and Boise State's playing in the BCS title game to finish it, no. Marcus Lattimore? Unless he approaches 2,000-plus total yards for the surprise SEC champion, no. Denard Robinson? In a new, far less stat-friendly system, on a rebuilding team that lacks serious BCS ambitions? No. Baylor quarterback Ryan Griffin? On a team that's going to struggle again to break even with a bowl bid? No. Justin Blackmon? Unless his quota of eye-popping, acrobatic catches climbs into Larry Fitzgerald territory (and/or he adds big plays as a runner or return man), no. Ryan Broyles? Alshon Jeffery? Ditto.

All are good candidates to make it to New York as finalists, and the emergence of a darkhorse or two on a surprise contender (see: Mark Ingram and Cam Newton the last two years) is always a given. But the winner will almost certainly come from a contender, and if you're putting down money today, in mid-June, the disconnect between what the award says it is and what it actually is renders most of the hype wishful thinking before a ball is even snapped.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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(No) License to drive: Oregon’s Harris caught doing 118 with suspended license

Oregon cornerback Cliff Harris is known for playing fast and now he can add driving fast to his repertoire.

The All-American was caught driving 118 mph is a 65 mph zone on Interstate 5. To make matters worse, Harris was driving on a suspended license.

Harris might have gotten away had it not been for an off-duty state trooper seeing the Nissan Altima -- or a blur that resembled an Altima -- at 4:32 a.m. Sunday and clocked the vehicle at 118. The trooper chased the car down and cited Harris for exceeding the speed limit in excess of 100 mph and driving with a suspended license.

Two passengers inside the vehicle also were Oregon football players, according to a tweet by John Hunt of The Oregonian.

According to reports, the car was a rental.

No alcohol or drugs were reported; seems like Harris was just out for a joyride. Sammy Hagar would be proud.

The University and coach Chip Kelly have not yet released a statement, so it is unknown what, if any, punishment Harris will face.

According to the Register-Guard, the fine for driving a vehicle faster than 100 mph is $1,148.

Harris was named one of four consensus All-Americans in school history after having a stellar 2010 campaign. He set the school single-season record for punts returned for touchdowns with four and returned an interception for a score.

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Rory McIlroy turns in one of the greatest performances in golf history

-Follow Yahoo! Sports' Devil Ball Golf on Facebook and Twitter at @jaybusbee.-

When we watch an impressive sports event, we're prone to think that what we're seeing is exceptional, even incomparable. It's normal enough; we want to believe we're the ones lucky enough to be watching a moment of grand historical significance. More often than not, once the moment cools, so too does the belief that we've seen something transcendent. "Impressive" is not the same thing as epic; "outstanding play" alone doesn't make history.

That said ... we've just seen history made.

There aren't enough superlatives. Rory McIlroy, the Northern Ireland lad all of 22 years old, has just put the final touches on the most astonishing U.S. Open in golf history. Consider just a few of the marks he set on Sunday at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda:

? His 16-under finish for a total of 268 strokes shattered the records for lowest U.S. Open score in history, previously 272, and lowest score below par, previously 12-under.

? He's one of only five players to turn in all four rounds under par, and this is one of only six Opens where a player led from beginning to end.

? He scored higher than par on only four holes, and three-putted only once, on the second-to-last hole of the tournament.

? At 22 years and one month, he's the youngest U.S. Open winner since Bobby Jones in 1923, and over the last 80 years, there's only been one younger major winner than him: Tiger Woods in 1997 at the Masters.

? He didn't set a record for the widest distance between himself and the field -- that would be Tiger Woods' 15, set in 2000, and McIlroy was "only" eight strokes ahead -- but the outcome was almost never in doubt from sometime on Thursday.

McIlroy didn't have a single weak spot his entire week. His drives either reached the fairway or remained within reach of the greens. His approaches were so perfect that he rarely needed to putt very far. But when he did putt, he didn't miss.

He was simply flawless, this-doesn't-happen flawless, cheat-codes-in-the-video-game-enabled flawless. Indeed, the only reason why most of the golf world didn't just simply throw up their hands and give him the tournament Friday afternoon was McIlroy's infamous meltdown on the back nine of Augusta. That happened only two months ago, but it already seems like dusty history, so effective was McIlroy's demolition of this course.

Credit McIlroy's resilient mentality for this; he could have crumbled under the weight of that afternoon. But he shouldered the blame and demonstrated exceptional sportsmanship, even posing with winner Charl Schwartzel as Schwartzel wore the green jacket. And now, with one tournament, he's incinerated that "choker" label and scattered its ashes to the wind.

Generally, we're in too much of a hurry to crown players the "next Tiger," the "next Jordan," or the like. But we haven't seen this kind of domination on a major level since Woods himself. McIlroy has little in common with Woods besides overwhelming talent; where Woods is coolly remote, McIlroy is a rumpled, personable goofball. He's not the "next Tiger"; there won't ever be another. He's exceptional all on his own, and that's enough.

We may be talking of McIlroy for the next 30 years, or this may be the high point of his career. But on this day, he delivered one of the great moments in golf history. At this moment, he's the best in the game, and there's nobody even close.

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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Tiki Barber’s return to football is a treatment for depression

Professional football is not kind to running backs over the age of 30. Presumably, it's even less kind to those closer to 40 than 30 and who also haven't played in four years.

All that made it difficult to understand why Tiki Barber decided to attempt an NFL comeback. There was originally some speculation that Tiki was in financial trouble, and he needed a few NFL paychecks to pull him out of it. Now it seems like he's in emotional trouble, and is counting on football to pull him out of that.

Here's what Tiki told HBO.

Barber said football represents a necessary anchor in a life turned upside down by the depressive aftermath of scandalous divorce and disintegration of his television career.

"The game never needs you because there's always someone else to come and take your place," he said. "But right now, I need the game."

[...]

"I need to prove to myself that I can be successful at something," told HBO. "I know I'm going to be successful as a football player. I don't know why. The odds say 'No.' I'm 36 and I haven't played in four years. But I just know."

If that's the reason -- that he needs to prove to himself that he can be good at something -- going for the title of "NFL running back" in his mid-30s might not be the best choice. Maybe try gin rummy. Or Zumba.

Not that I have any interest in telling anyone what they should or shouldn't do. I honestly hope it works out for him, and if it's what he wants to do, and he's still capable, then hey, go get yourself some, Tiki.

I just have my doubts about whether or not he can find what he's looking for. If his depression is a byproduct of his divorce and not-exactly-as-envisioned TV career, then reclaiming football glory isn't going to fill the void. Those problems need to be addressed where they exist. Burying yourself in football might help temporarily, but it's not going to make anything go away.

I've got a bad feeling about this whole comeback.

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South Carolina Vs. Texas A&M, College World Series 2011: Gamecocks On Quest To Repeat As Champions

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Documents peg Tar Heels for $13K in traffic fines, but worst may be yet to come

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)?North Carolina has released documents showing a group of Tar Heel football players accumulated more than $13,000 in parking citations over a 3 1/2-year period.

The school released the documents Thursday, a day after the state Court of Appeals denied the school's request to delay the release of those records pending an appeal. A Wake County Superior Court judge had ruled in April that the school withheld documents it should have provided to requesting media outlets covering the NCAA investigation into the football program.

The university said in a statement that not all of the 11 players requested by the media had received tickets. The university says student-athletes "do not receive special treatment" and "are expected" to pay parking fines like any student, though it didn't say whether fines were paid.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Obama, Boehner play a presidential round of golf in D.C.

The best golfers in the world are at Congressional for the U.S. Open, but the most powerful ones played a few miles south at Andrews Air Force Base.

About 9:30 on Saturday morning, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner teed off for a friendly round of golf that also included Vice President Joe Biden and Ohio Governor John Kasich. Four hours later, the Obama-Boehner team beat the Biden-Kasich on the 18th hole, claiming an enormous $2 bounty.

The purpose of the outing wasn't to solve any of the many problems facing the nation's top leaders; no, it was simply to break down a few walls and calm a little of the overheated rhetoric that dominates when politicians pound at each other via sound bite, not face to face. Whether Obama and Boehner discussed anything of note is between them, though they did share a golf cart. (Obama drove.) No word on who paid for the beers and hot dogs at the turn.

Boehner is by far the superior golfer, with a handicap of about 8.6. Obama, on the other hand, plays to about a 17.

Now, this outing will certainly prompt cries of "he should be focusing on the economy!" and the like; every president who's ever teed off has faced the same criticism. We could tell you that it's probably a good idea for the most powerful man in the world to blow off a little steam now and then, but chances are your opinions on this president or the Republican leader of the House, pro or con, are already set in stone. Which is why you weren't invited.

So all players left the course with smiles on their faces. Best-case scenario: they realize the other side isn't the devil and work toward mutually acceptable solutions. Worst case: whenever they sit down at the negotiating table, they bore the heck out of everyone else by trading stories about their round.

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2011 Tourney: Final Four Live Chat

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Rich Rodriguez’s new job keeps him in the game, but much harder to find

Former University of Michigan football head coach Rich Rodriguez joins CBS Sports Network as a game and studio analyst for the 2011 college football season.

The announcement was made today by David Berson, Executive Vice President, CBS Sports and President, CBS Sports Network.Rodriguez will team with veteran play-by-play announcer Dave Ryan to call games, and also be part of the Network's weekly studio programming originating from New York City .

"Rich is an accomplished, well-recognized coach with a wealth of knowledge about the game," said Berson. "Rich was an integral part of our Signing Day and Draft coverage. We are excited to add him to our already strong line-up of football talent and look forward to showcasing his analysis and insights during the upcoming season."

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Kinect for Windows SDK beta released: developers gesture wildly

Microsoft has released the Kinect for Windows SDK beta, as expected, allowing PC developers to use the motion-tracking accessory. A free 100MB download, the SDK offers support for the depth sensor, color camera and quad-microphone array, along with all the clever skeletal-tracking systems that Xbox 360 game developers have had access to. There’s also integration [...]

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Saturday, June 18, 2011

Michigan, Notre Dame ‘retro’ uniforms are finally unveiled

At long last the retro uniforms for both Michigan and Notre Dame have been released for the "Under The Lights" game on Sept. 10.

The game marks the first-ever night game at Michigan Stadium and the first primetime game between these two teams since 1990.

The uniforms aren't actually throwbacks like many early reports suggested. Instead, they're labeled as "retro." The Michigan uniform, according to the news release, is "a fusion of uniform design elements from different eras of Michigan football." It's a blue jersey with a quilted stitched design on both the number and the name. The winged helmets will feature each player's number for the first time since the 1960s.

The Notre Dame uniform is a white jersey with green numbers, lettering and stripes on the shoulder. The Irish will wear a shamrock logo on their helmets for the first time since the early 1960s, under the not-so-memorable tenure of coach Joe Kuharich. Also, the years of all of Notre Dame's national title seasons are stitched into the hem of the jersey.

Initially, I wasn't a huge fan of the Michigan jerseys, but looking at the photo of the entire uniform put together makes it look kind of snazzy and a little out of Michigan's traditional comfort zone. And of course Notre Dame's just looks classic. I'm pretty sure these uniforms will probably get people more pumped for the game than the actual teams and if that's the case, you can actually purchase your own retro jersey for the low, low price of $80.

And if you're a Michigan fan and really want to get into the spirit, there's an unveiling video on Michigan's official website.

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Oklahoma’s not interested in USC’s ’04 title, if anyone’s asking

Oklahoma wants the world to know that it doesn't want the 2004 national championship title that was stripped of USC earlier this week, which is good since no one was offering it to the Sooners anyway.

USC defeated Oklahoma 55-19 in the Orange Bowl to claim the national championship. Earlier this week, the BCS stripped the Trojans of that title shortly after NCAA sanctions were upheld stemming from improprieties during the 2004 and '05 seasons.

But just because Oklahoma happened to play in the game with the Trojans doesn't mean they're the national champions by default.

Bear in mind, all of this is a moot point because the BCS has already said that particular national championship would remain vacant. But for arguments sake, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops was asked for his thoughts about the Sooners' stake in the title.

"I don't have any thoughts (on USC's situation) and we're not claiming any championships," Stoops said Wednesday night.

And really, the Sooners have no claim even if the trophy were up for grabs. Sure, one could say that since USC lost the title that the game itself should have never happened and Oklahoma would have finished with an unbeaten record. OK, I'll buy that, but Auburn and Utah also had unbeaten records and both teams would have then played an extra game.

At that point, most would say the nod goes to Auburn because of the SEC gauntlet it had to face to go undefeated. Not to mention at the time, there was a lot of uproar about Auburn not getting into that Orange Bowl game over Oklahoma, which played a dubious schedule against a weaker Big 12.

Again, all a moot point, but definitely a talking point.

As for Stoops, he's acutely aware of how quickly the NCAA can change a season. In 2005, the Sooners lost some wins after quarterback Rhett Bomar and two other players were found guilty of accepting improper benefits. The wins were later restored, but Stoops knows it could have been a lot worse.

"There has to be measures for players to know the consequences for their actions," Stoops said. "So, if this sends a message for other people that all of a sudden your season didn't exist, maybe it's a strong enough message that, 'Am I going to be loyal to my team and teammates and do things right, or am I going to be loyal to myself?'"

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Strikeforce Fight Card: Alistair Overeem Vs. Fabricio Werdum

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Angels Release Scott Kazmir

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Octagon Girl Arianny really loves her Bud Light Lime

Arianny Celeste isn't just a pretty face who rolls around on a bed of limes for money. The UFC's most famous Octagon Girl really is a beer drinker! Check her out pounding that brewski right out of the can. That beer belly is right around the corner.

The Bud Light Lime promotion serves as a primer for UFC 132. Bud Light has stepped up its support of the UFC, including a massive promotion to give away trips to the September UFC card in New Orleans.

On a side note, the new video is easily the best Arianny YouTube appearance since the pancake extravaganza.

Tip via MMAFix

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Holgorsen’s inevitable promotion puts West Virginia back on the curve

West Virginia: You've just fired a winning head coach in the middle of June for a successor with no head coaching experience of any sort, as the direct result of a sordid melodrama that left the program gasping in a toxic atmosphere of uncertainty and betrayal. So why does it seem like Bill Stewart's rocky, unplanned ouster has everyone in Morgantown is breathing such a huge sigh of relief?

There was the one thing upon which everyone could agree, even if they weren't made aware of what had happened. The dynamic that existed with [Bill] Stewart and Holgorsen working together was uncomfortable. The suggestion Stewart wasn't making matters any better, whether true or not, had the players concerned.

"It relieves the tension a little bit, I guess," said senior cornerback Keith Tandy. "With Coach Stewart and Coach Holgorsen around, it was hard to figure out who to listen to and who was in charge. Now it's more clear cut and we can get back to work."
[…]
"I had questions and a lot of my teammates were the same way ? 'Is Coach Stew the head man or is Coach Holgorsen the head man?'" Tandy said. "It's good the distraction has been eliminated. When you're out there playing football, you want to focus on that and on making plays and not on worrying about which coach you're supposed to listen to.''

Tandy's relative candor will probably be as close as anyone in the program comes to publicly dissing the decision to hand Stewart a pink slip with 52 weeks' advance notice last December: If the experiment was so doomed that even the players spent the last six months waiting for the other shoe to drop, better it come down sooner rather than later. And ? soap opera notwithstanding ? the end result is exactly what Luck had in mind when he lured Holgorsen from Oklahoma State in the first place. (For a sizable chunk of WVU fans, Stewart's permanent ouster should have been the original result, and by the end of last week the anti-Stewart opinion was practically unanimous.) The timetable has just been accelerated by a few months.

If Holgorsen track record makes him Mr. Excitement, though, that has at least as much to do with the fact West Virginia's offense produced so little of it last year. Three years removed from fielding one of the most terrifying attacks of the decade, the Mountaineers languished in 2010 at 67th nationally in total offense and 78th in scoring opposite one of the best statistical defenses in the country, failing to top 14 points in any of their four losses. The 23-7 bowl loss at the hands of N.C. State was an all-purpose catastrophe consisting of four punts, three fumbles, two missed field goals, an interception, a turnover on downs and, with one lonely touchdown on the board, the final nail in the coffin of outgoing offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen. After three years on Mullen's watch, the prolific "spread 'n shred" he inherited from Rich Rodriguez had devolved into a generic scheme that strived for balance and achieved it by excelling at nothing in particular.

Whatever issues Holgorsen has off the field ?�and they are not insignificant by any stretch ? "forging a clear offensive identity" has never been a problem on it. Including his "Air Raid" days on Mike Leach's staff at Texas Tech and a two-year stint overseeing Case Keenum's record-breaking pace at Houston, Holgorsen has been a key element in the brain trust of offenses that finished among the top three nationally in both passing and total offense each of the last four years, with three different quarterbacks at three different schools. Last year, Oklahoma State was almost unanimously tabbed to finish at or near the bottom of the Big 12 South in the wake of massive attrition from arguably the most hyped team ever out of Stillwater in 2009, headed for a third or fourth-tier bowl game for 6-6 stragglers at best. Instead, the decision to bring in Holgorsen to resurrect a unit that imploded at the end of '09 paid off with one of the most prolific attacks in the nation and, with the bowl win over Arizona, the most prolific win column in OSU history.

That part is the no-brainer: Holgo got to install his system in the spring with a relatively experienced quarterback and seven other returning starters on offense, for deployment in by far the most offensively challenged conference in America. (The highest-scoring outfit in the Big East in 2010, Cincinnati, finished 57th nationally at 27.1 points per game). The hard part is his adjustment to the administrative side, where he finds himself suddenly tossed into the deep end of all the daily details that distinguish a head coach from a coordinator ? Holgorsen's never been the boss (a role that will obviously take some growing into), and an apprentice season under a mentor who actually bought into the "coach in waiting" arrangement instead of actively attempting to undermine it may have done him and the program a lot of good toward easing into the full-time role next year.

Given the reality of an apprentice season under a wounded, resentful lame duck, on the other hand, it's hard to see how there was ever any other answer that didn't end with the Mountaineers dropping the pretense and getting on with the learning curve.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Pryor apologizes to Ohio State, Tressel, but doesn’t explain why

Terrelle Pryor spoke to the media for the first time since, well, quite possibly spring football, but what he had to say -- all 97 seconds of it -- didn't quite live up to what folks were hoping to hear.

In a prepared statement, Pryor, flanked by his agent Drew Rosenhaus, apologized.

And apologized.

But he never really explained what he was apologizing for, just a general apology that vaguely acknowledged wrongdoing.

"In terms of Ohio State, I'd like to say sorry to the coaching staff, say sorry to my teammates, say sorry to all of Buckeye nation and all Buckeye fans across the country," he said during the press conference Tuesday. "I never meant to hurt anybody directly or indirectly with my conduct off the field and I am truly sorry."

The "conduct off the field" is something that has come under great scrutiny the past few weeks and was ultimately what prompted Pryor to leave Ohio State last week. Pryor has been linked to selling his memorabilia in exchange for tattoos, driving suspicious vehicles that may or may not have been loaners and signing memorabilia for a man named Dennis Talbott for upwards of $40,000 a year.

But he didn't mention any of that. In fact, Rosenhaus made sure none of the specifics were broached.

Rosenhaus said Pryor had expressed "tremendous remorse" and is "responsible for the mistakes he has made. He has owned up to them. … But the past is now the past."

The past may be the past for Pryor, who acknowledged he was going to enter the NFL's supplemental draft in July, but it will ultimately be the future for Ohio State. The school and its current and future players will have to pay for Pryor's conduct.

However, Pryor seemed genuinely remorseful, especially when it came to former coach Jim Tressel, who resigned on May 30 in part because of the actions of Pryor and four other teammates who traded memorabilia for tattoos and in part because of trying to cover up the scandal.

"To coach Jim Tressel, a special shout-out, I'm sorry for all I've done," Pyor said. "I apologize with all my heart. I love you just like a father. You taught me a lot. I apologize for being in a situation that [has taken] you out of a job and a place that you loved to be. I regret the fact that you're not there anymore, and I regret that fact I'm not there anymore."

Rosenhaus said he spoke to Tressel about Pryor before bringing him on as a client and that Tressel supported his former top recruit.

"I was very moved with what Jim Tressel had to say to me," Rosenhaus said. "I don't know that I've ever heard a coach speak more fondly of a player than Jim Tressel spoke about Terrelle. He talked about him in the same way you would talk about a son. They talk every day four or five times a day. There's no way that I would be representing him, working with Terrelle, without Jim Tressel's involvement."

Pryor said he also planned to return to Ohio State to get his degree -- he's nine credits short of graduating -- and, he also said, "One of my goals is to be the best person I can possibly be off the field, be the best role model I can possibly be off the field."

It's hard to determine whether Pryor is serious about change or is pandering to the NFL. Earlier in the day, Chad Ochocinco, another Rosenhaus client, tweeted about Pryor's ability to be an NFL quarterback after a workout Tuesday morning.

"the media said @tpeezy2 isn't NFL type QB, after running routes n seeing great timing n arm strength I beg to differ."

The whole exchange seemed more like a way to increase Pryor's value as an NFL quarterback than an honest assessment of Pryor's skills.

So, when Pryor tried to give his heartfelt speech, but declined to take questions or cite specifics, the whole press conference seemed a little thin as well. Especially after Rosenhaus abruptly ended the event.

"I think I've said it all," Rosenhaus said after about six minutes. "So I'd like to thank everybody for coming. Guys, we're going to shut it down right now and I appreciate your time. Thank you."

Rosenhaus said he hoped Ohio State could come to embrace Terrelle Pryor again, but I think it's going to take awhile for the wounds to heal. While not everything that went down was Pryor's fault, he was complicit in a lot of it and, as noted earlier, it could ruin Ohio State football for some time.

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Octagon Girl Arianny really loves her Bud Light Lime

On a side note, the new video is easily the best Arianny YouTube appearance since the pancake extravaganza.

Tip via MMAFix

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Guessing the Seeds 2011: My Entry (Part 2)

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Raiders’ Routt has no fear of constant man coverage

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Recently, we revealed the folly of underestimating Oakland Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, still one of the best in the league. But if the Raiders are more comfortable letting Asomugha go in free agency (whenever that begins), it's because Stanford Routt, the second-round pick out of Houston in 2005, finally grew into his position as a starting cornerback and put up some of the best numbers in the league.

According to STATS, Inc., Routt (who was one of the league's most-targeted cornerbacks, as enemy quarterbacks were desperate to throw away from Asomugha) put up some of the NFL's best numbers in 2010: a 42 percent catch rate allowed, which was better than any qualifying cornerback in the league not named Darrelle Revis. Routt also placed among the league leaders in yards per attempt and completion percentage allowed. He gave up just four touchdown passes in 2010, which amounted to�just under�5 percent of all passes thrown his way.

Routt recently went on SIRIUS NFL Radio to talk about the man-heavy scheme the Raiders are well-known for playing. Oakland ran a lot of single-high safety looks in 2010, with Michael Huff up top and Routt and Asomugha as the cornerback combo for the most part. With so much man coverage, even if a nickel back is involved, those "islands" you keep hearing about can be a problem if you're not used to it and on top of your game.

"Basically, you just hit it on the head. We basically play man every damn down," Routt told hosts Tim Ryan and Pat Kirwan. "If we play 60 snaps on defense, at least 56 of those are going to be man coverage. Everyone in the league knows what our game plan is," he said. "It's hard as hell to do that."

But in another recent interview, Routt clarified his comments. "We're a solid team and we live by 'no excuses'. No matter the situation, we always find a way to make it happen," he told Steve Wyremski�of Pro Football Focus.�"The scheme isn't going to change and most of the time the play calling isn't going to change, so it's all on you. There's no long distance on the island. You can't call for help."

And that makes sense if further comments are taken in context ? in that SIRIUS interview, Routt (who's apparently been slammed a bit for his take on�Oakland's scheme) talks about the advantages and what he likes about it. "For the most part, they want us to be in the receiver's face and disrupt them off the ball," Routt said. "It's just the way we do things. We believe in cutting down all the air. From playing tight coverage and seeing up close, the quarterback is going to have to be pinpoint accurate."

We've had Routt on Shutdown Corner before in podcast form, and we hope to have him on in the near future to talk about these comments and a host of other things.

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