It’s not always the journey , but the first step taken on the road to that destination
Six weeks into the NFL season and what we have all witnessed within the league , just happens to be an abundance of bad coaching , with some inexplicable explanations being offered up by the players and coaches alike for their continued mediocrity. Far be it for me to suggest, but I have never impressed by claims that there is said to be parity in the league (NFL) . It is my belief , that there are good teams, moderately good coaches , but an abundance of talent , where in large part , a number of these players are overpaid and not particularly skilled or adept, much less be able to show signs of leadership . Unfortunately, a large part of the fan-base that tend to follow the sports’ scene, they would to rather discuss rather the more mundane topics in the world of sports rather than succinctly debate a topic of discussion .
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Slideshow .
A recent visitor to my site made a comment that he could not have foreseen the impact made, where the Kansas City Chiefs would have started off the season at 6-0 , remain unbeaten and would now be challenging the Denver Broncos as the best team in the NFL. From my own perspective , I believe that the groundwork had already been laid , but the only things needed, were the right coaching staff , a good enough quarterback to helm the team , along with a front office , where the executives and coaches were all on the same page . Last season , none of the aforementioned criteria were in place , with Romeo Crennel as the head coach , along with his coaching staff and Matt Cassel as the team’s quarterback . The one saving grace for the franchise, might well have been , general manager John Dorsey , having replaced Scott Piolio , has seen fit to draft players who have been able to contribute immediately to the team , while acquiring players who were ready to play .
After the Chiefs’ clinical annihilation of the Oakland Raiders , the first of their two , now highly anticipated divisional match-ups against the Denver Broncos, are the games in question that the fans and the nation now awaits , with a great deal of excitement over the contests of note. Kansas will play host to the now troubled Houston Texans in week seven at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City , Missouri, a chance to push their record to 7-0 and giving the team their best start in franchise history, now seems all the more possible, given the frailties of the Texans at present on both sides of the ball. It must be said that for a number of teams, they are now simply playing for self-respect or in a number of cases, the livelihood of the respective head coaches in question. The more things are now beginning to unravel for the Oakland Raiders , it is my belief that Dennis Allen’s days with the once venerable are numbered, with GM Reggie McKenzie now seeking to make the head coach , the sixth incumbent to be fired from his position with the organization since 2005 .
College Football heads into its eighth week with the Alabama Crimson Tide (6-0) still riding high atop of the AP Poll , with the BCS rankings due to be announced later this month. Yet for some inexplicable reason , a number of analysts and outside observers or one might describe as antagonists, are now trying to suggest that Nick Saban’s … team not deserving of being the top ranked team in the nation. Last I looked , Alabama remained unbeaten , albeit , that they have had a few scares along their schedule . In light of that however, their closest rivals in the rankings, the Oregon Ducks (6-0) in spite of their offensive prowess , have yet to show the nation that they are as equally adept on the defensive side of the ball . Granted, the Pac 12 has never been known as a conference where defense has been taught ,much less played to any degree , with the exception of perhaps one or two programs , most notably the Stanford Cardinals (5-1) . But in light of their recent slip up against the Utah Utes , defense , we can now surmise, is not now a prerequisite within the conference.
Alabama will play host to the Arkansas (Razorbacks) at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa , Alabama , this Saturday , as the Tide seeks to keep their unbeaten record intact , while further strengthening their position atop of the rankings and within the SEC Western Division . A J McCarron and his teammates will seek to use this game as a reminder why this team is still seen as a prohibitive favorite to win their second consecutive national title, Saban’s fifth , and the program’s fourth in the past seven seasons .
Living in the state of Florida where College Football is treated with such reverence , the choices will abundant with regard to the programs , yet the only ones that seemingly matter , are the Florida Gators (4-2) , Florida State Seminoles (5-0) and the Miami Hurricanes (5-0) . Having lived and worked professionally in the southern part of the state before moving northwards on 2003 , the program of choice , merely by way my association with several alumni who were students at the University of Miami . I was able to frequent a number of basketball and football games as their guests and rallying to their support in such instances . Granted, as of late, the Canes’ program has been mired in controversy , while it still awaits some form of punishment for multiple violations of the NCAA rules on recruiting , alleged , academic fraud and what are said to current and former students gaining monetarily from gifts in violation of NCAA edicts . University President Donna Shalala and recently installed AD Blake James are still trying to remove the smear and lingering stains of the school’s association with the incarcerated felon Nevin Shapiro , whose statements led to the NCAA’s investigation of the athletics’ program by the NCAA’s Infraction Committee , as ordered by NCAA President Mark Emmert . That effort and investigation was mired with a great deal of incompetency, and it seems rather impulsive to believe how any reasonable verdict can be seen as just , in light of the ineptitude shown by collegiate athletics governing body .
With both Florida State (Seminoles) and Miami Hurricanes , riding on the crest of a wave, their SEC counterpart, the Florida Gators have found a way to simply throw a wrench into their season , with their recent loss to the LSU (Tigers) . That defeat has now left Wil Muschamp , his staff and the team asking why things have come apart when their intent was to be a major part of the SEC championship scene, if not the national championship landscape, itself ? Two losses , this season , and suddenly we have to question the direction Muschamp has the program heading in , and the quality of his recruits over the past two years . Florida now has the unenviable task of now having to go on the road to take on the Missouri (Tigers) this upcoming Saturday, in what can be best described as a make or break game for the team , this season . Another loss would further impact their year and all that they had hoped to achieve .
Al Golden and the Miami Hurricanes ,with a top twenty-five ranking nationally, are also sitting pretty within the ACC standings , and are seen as one of the like candidates for the conference championship , with an at large bid for a BCS Bowl game, if their schedule pans out, along the lines of an unbeaten season , if nothing else . The team itself has been on a tear and certainly their best result of the season so far , had to have been their dismantling of Florida . It certainly was a telling statement and laid the foundation for what has been an extraordinary year for several players on the team , but most notably for quarterback Stephen Morris , whose growing confidence and maturity process has been highlighted with his play this season . Add in a robust offense and a tenacious defense that appears to be very athletics , and one can understand the reason why Al Golden and his staff have to be pleased by what he has witnessed this season .
From heir-apparent to now head coach , Jimbo Fisher has now been given keys to the vehicle and he is now beginning to steer it on a course of his own design , and not one set out for him by predecessor Bobby Bowden , who over the latter part of his coaching career with the FSU Seminoles , may well have been caught asleep at the wheel. Bowden suggests, that he left the program under his own steam , but in reality , when faced with the option of being unceremoniously being fired , he sought to leave , in what can be best described as a polite dismissal , but accorded , all the trappings of a celebrated head coach leaving of his own free will . The octogenarian may well have built the program into a national powerhouse, but in the final years of his coaching the Seminoles , his teams were lackluster , uncompetitive and simply not winning .
Recruiting and coaching has been one of Fisher’s greatest attributes, and with his coaching staff in tow , he is now proving how good a coach he can really be, when the right talent is in place . An unbeaten start to the season , with their being rave reviews over Jameis Winston , a quarterback , who has not been afforded the same attention given to the likes of Tajh Boyd , Johnny Manziel , Teddy Bridgewater , Aaron Murray , Zach Mettenberger and A J McCarron. Perhaps , that is not such a bad thing after-all , if he remains off the national radar , while racking up the statistics and leading an unbeaten program back to national prominence . Winston , however , has not been able to achieve this all by himself , as it has been a collective team effort along the way. The Seminoles may not be laying waste to their opponents with the mindset of Oregon Ducks’ coach Mark Helfrich . Yet , as a fan of the college game, I would rather see the ‘noles in full flight rather than witnessing Ducks’ program, whose primary forte’ is simply either an aerial or ground assault , without their being a presence of the team actually being able to play any defense . While my thoughts may not be shared by many , we simply do not how good Oregon is meant to be , because they have yet to be tested over the course of their somewhat “soft schedule” . And for this, , they are rewarded with a number two ranking in the nation and in some cases, there are claimants that they should be seated atop of the AP Poll . I guess only time will tell, what is likely to happen !
On Saturday Florida State will have a prime-time nationally broadcast game against Tajh Boyd and the Clemson Tigers at Memorial Stadium , in Clemson , South Carolina , in a contest of two unbeaten teams , top twenty ranked and with likewise BCS national championship aspirations . The winner of this game, is still likely to have inside track of being a top five ranked team, once the dust has settled on the week eight schedule within College Football, while the loser is likely to drop outside the fifteen .
College Football with all of its , niceties , oddities , corruption , the biggest farce remains the naïveté of the BCS Committee and the major conferences that its present format of determining a national champion now requires a little tweaking . Well that is akin to the present administration , House of Representatives and the Senate reaching a bilateral agreement on the debt-ceiling as well as the fiscal waywardness of the Congress altogether . Needless to say, with idiots such as , Ted Cruz , Eric Cantor , Rand Paul , John Boehner , Paul Ryan , Marco Rubio , Harry Reid , Nancy Pelosi , Chaka Fattah , Max Baucus , Bill Nelson , and Charles Schumer as well this weak-willed President, Barack Obama have created such a cluster ##ck , that now the finger-pointing and name calling carries on unabated, without either side having a goddamn clue, as how best to proceed. The same can now be said of the premise, behind the new format to adjudge and determine how a new national champion will be decided along the lines of a playoff format . If the news being released by the BCS is to be believed , a panel of twelve to eighteen individuals will be seated to discuss the issues and then come to an agreement , to have a format in place with a seeding system, all in place for the 2014 season.
Courtesy of USA Today
NEW YORK (AP) — A person with direct knowledge of the process tells The Associated Press that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to be part of the selection committee that will pick the teams for the College Football Playoff next year.
The person also said a former Air Force Academy superintendent and a former NCAA executive who worked with the basketball tournament, are expected to be part of the new 12-to-18 member football panel.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the selection process is still ongoing.
The committee is expected to be comprised of current athletic directors and former college athletic administrators and coaches.
Last year, Rice and business executive Darla Moore became the first two female members of Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters.
GOOD FIT: Rice more than qualified for committee
The makeup of the College Football Playoff selection committee is expected to be set by the end of this season. Potential committee members have been asked to keep their involvement confidential until the announcement is made, but College Football Playoff Executive Director Bill Hancock and Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said the names wouldn’t be a surprise to many.
“You’ll know almost all of them,” Hancock said recently.
Although Hancock and several commissioners have taken to referring to the selection committee as “the most prestigious committee in sports,” its business – and its members – will also be the subject of intense scrutiny.
“If they’re gonna be scrutinized the way they’re gonna be scrutinized, we’ve got to be ultimately careful and do every bit of due diligence,” Delany said recently. “You can expect that media – new media, old media – when someone says, ‘Oh, that guy voted that way for that reason,’ they’re gonna be under a fine-tooth comb. We’ve got to make sure, for everybody’s sake, that we’ve done everything we need to do to understand that.”
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Now while on paper, this all seems feasible, the nuances of this all , will be derived upon which individuals, are invited to be part of the process , provide their expertise and the experience that each will bring to the table. In the midst of this all, a public announcement was made that one of the committee members, will be none than former NSC member and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice . Her expertise on Soviet Bloc politics, while unquestioned , her scope on a great deal of international diplomacy, bordered on being inept , but it should be remembered that the Commander-in-Chief at the time her tenure, was none other than George W Bush , whose geographical , political , international diplomatic knowledge and business acumen could be written on the back of a first class stamp and sent to Timbuktu , for all of the use that it would do. Likewise, has to be the case, in naming Condoleezza Rice to be a part of this committee.
The BCS and the major conference commissioners, clearly lack intelligence if they believe that Rice adds legitimacy to the panel. Much like an idiot, once suggested to me that former Vice Admiral James Stockdale should be treated with reverence, because he was a war hero . At the time, our discussion took on the fact that Stockdale, whose war service record was impressive , his inclusion in the political arena was about as welcomed as a sexually transmitted disease . He simply was clueless on wide range of political subjects, including the country’s domestic and foreign policy, as well its economy . This came at a time, when Stockdale was asked to be the Vice Presidential running mate of then Reform Party candidate , Ross Perot , whose own rise to fame, had more to do with his connivance and being able to have the government to subsidize many of the corporate entities he would simply plunder, as a part of an asset stripping exercise. Yet, all of this was somehow overlooked by the individual, whose lips must have been at one time, firmly pressed on James Stockdale’s sphincter. Is this really the stupidity of the US electorate at work, or merely the ongoing apathy that has been the norm over the past three decades ?
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Picture gallery .
The BCS Committee and the major college football conferences had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century , very much in a similar vein as Major League Baseball had to drag its dumb ass along the way and adopt what Bud Selig still believes to this day, baseball has the toughest drug testing policy in all of professional team sports. Unfortunately, baseball’s commissioner , has never been looked upon as being one of the most intelligent individuals , never mind , in all of professional sports . The same can now be said of individuals such as John Swofford and Mike Slive , whose imprints are all over the current and sad state of affairs as it relates to this whole process , never mind the fact that final arbiter here will not be the panelists themselves but the major broadcast outlets , who now more than ever before, will be the ones with the real power , because if any part of this format is not to their liking, does anyone truly believe that this whole premise will ever see the light of day and actually be adopted in whole or in part ? Chime in, with your thoughts on this and anything else you believe pertinent to the topic at hand .
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Picture and slideshow gallery details below .
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(1) Wide receiver Justin Blackmon #14 of the Jacksonville Jaguars makes a reception as cornerback Champ Bailey #24 of the Denver Broncos makes the tackle at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on October 13, 2013 in Denver, Colorado. Denver would defeat Jacksonville 35-19 , dropping the Jaguars to 0-6 , tying them with the New York Giants (0-6) for the worst record in the league this season . Getty Images North America / Doug Pensinger ….
(2) Jacksonville Jaguars new head football coach Gus Bradley , left, smiles as he answers questions from the media during an NFL football news conference on Friday, Jan. 18, 2013, in Jacksonville, Fla. Team owner Shad Kahn looks on. AP Photo/The Florida Times-Union, Will Dickey ….
(3) Jan 14, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs general manager John Dorsey (left), chairman & team owner Clark Hunt , and coach Andy Reid pose for photos during the press conference at The University of Kansas Hospital Training Complex. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
(4) DeAndrew White (2) of the Alabama Crimson Tide runs with the ball while defended by Nate Willis (21) of the Kentucky Wildcats during the game at Commonwealth Stadium on October 12, 2013 in Lexington, Kentucky. Getty Images / Andy Lyons ……..
(5) Head coach Will Muschamp of the Florida Gators holds up one finger following a touchdown during the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on October 5, 2013 in Gainesville, Florida. Getty Images / Sam Greenwood ……
(6) University of Miami President Donna Shalala is seen with here with the AD Blake James . In the aftermath of the Nevin Shapiro scandal, during which the now incarcerated felon , disclosed payments made to players on the program’s basketball and football teams. A number of coaching staff members were implicated in the allegations , including the current football coach Al Golden and a number of members of his coaching. However , the NCAA’s findings, are tainted , after it had been revealed , that evidence collected by the investigators from the Infractions’ Committee , were in fact of no use and littered with fabricated inaccuracies , after the original documents were either mislaid or inadvertently destroyed . Kyle Perry / Miami Herald …
(7) Head coach, Jimbo Fisher of the Florida State Seminoles talks to head coach Randy Edsall of the Maryland Terrapins … pre-game on October 5, 2013 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida John Gammons / Getty Images …..
(8) Republican legislators , from left to right Mitch McConnell , John Boehner and Eric Cantor are at the forefront of their party’s wish rescind the President’s healthcare initiative as well Barack Obama’s wish to raise the debt-ceiling limit . As contentious as the situation appears to be neither side seems intent in showing any bilateral compromise . AP Photo / Richard Carter
(9) Barack Obama is seen here alongside Harry Reid (center) , Nancy Pelosi and House Representative Jim Clyburn . AP / REUTERS / Tim Heller …
(10) Ross Perot who twice sought the US Presidency as a third-party candidate is seen here with Vice Admiral James Stockdale (background) . A Medal of Honor recipient , Stockdale seemed to be out of touch with the political environment and many of the issues adversely affecting the country. Time Archive …
(11) Condoleezza Rice , a former NSC (National Security Council) member , adviser and Secretary of State during the second term of two term President George W Bush . Rice will amongst a group of panelists who will be adjudging the programs eligible for the new BCS playoff format that will be adopted in 2014 . As to whether not Condoleezza Rice’s inclusion adds legitimacy to the panel , can be adjudged in how one views the process in its entirety. AFP/ Photo / Peter Hamilton ……
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NFL team stats and players’ stats
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NCAA Football week eight schedule
NCAA Football week seven results
NCAA Football Conference standings (FBS)
Quarterbacks’ completion percentage , yards , touchdowns and yards per attempt .
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Ewa Sonnet
