Big Ben needs to grow up

Ben Roethlisberger, the Findlay Ohio homeboy who is the starting QB of the Pittsburgh Steelers was suspended 6 games today for violating the NFL personal conduct code after an incident in Georgia in March. While the punishment seems harsh for actions that didn’t result in any criminal action, hopefully it will serve as a wakeup call for Ben.

Ben is single, extremely rich, and hangs out with an entourage but it seems he forgot where he came from and that stupid decisions have consequences.

He needs to settle down, drop the gang, and grow up. Hopefully his 6 games off will help him do that before he does end up in the criminal justice system.

Why real life sports reporting is like my fantasy football team

This past week the Cleveland Browns traded Braylon Edwards to the Jets. Edwards was formerly the 3rd pick overall in the NFL draft and was a Pro Bowl selection is 2007. It seems some experts in sports reporting let that fact cloud their analysis of the trade.

Bob Hunter, a sports columnist for The Columbus Dispatch wrote in his Friday column:

Many of the Browns were concerned about how trading a potential game-breaking receiver, who was a former No. 3 overall draft pick, for a so-so receiver, a special-teams player and two draft picks, believed to be third- and fifth-rounders, makes a bad team better.

Bob Hunter commentary: Rumblings 

Those of us who follow the team on a regular basis know why he was traded and this fan is glad they did something with Edwards. In 2008, he had the league top spot in dropped passes at 16. It was excruciating watching time after time Edwards drop a pass. This season he seemed to be improving but he still lacked the supposed game-breaking potential and he then got into trouble at a nightclub at 2:30 in the morning the day after the team lost their last game.

I’m glad Edwards had time to party after the loss…. 

It reminded me of a long bus trip home when I was on our high school football team as a senior. We had just lost the game but from the laughs and high jinks by the lads on the bus that night you wouldn’t think we did. One of the coaches had enough he stood up and yelled “You just lost a game! Act like it…”

So how is the Edwards situation and Hunter’s reaction to it like my fantasy football team?

Well I have a habit of drafting big names from the previous season who then do squat this season and then I can’t bring myself to dump them because “they scored 10 TDs in 2008!” as if their lack of stats this season will turn around. I can’t waste time on dead weight. Its “what have you done lately” that most coaches operate on and Edwards had his chance through the preseason and 4 games to show he could do better. He didn’t and the team decided to get what they could for him on the market.

Such tunnel vision can effect even TV people paid to watch the games.

During one Browns game one of the CBS commentators complained when Brady Quinn was pulled from the game – “he’s 6 of 8 for 34 yards!” seeming to forget that 6 of 8 for 34 yards before half time is almost the same as being 0 for 8 for a quarterback. Those stats aren’t going to win the game and the coaches were right to pull Quinn from the game. The team still lost the game but Derrick Anderson seemed to spark the team a little bit more than before.

Sometimes, changing teams is better for the player. If Edwards returns to his game-breaking potential we saw in 2007 while on the Jets then good for him, but I still wouldn’t feel bad for the Browns because he wasn’t the same player he was in 2007 and it didn’t look like that Edwards was going to show up this season either.

Dear Michigan Football Fan

I just learned that due to the loss to Purdue on Saturday, you will miss going to a bowl game and will have a losing season for the first time since 1967.

Don’t be too sad. Change sucks. You have a new coach with a new system but you just didn’t have the players for it.

I know how you feel. Back in 1987, Ohio State fired Earle Bruce – old 9 and 3 Earle – as we use to call him because of the many 9 and 3 season records. OSU hired John Cooper who’s only claim to fame was beating you guys back in the 1987 Rose Bowl as coach of Arizona State.

In Cooper’s first season we went 4-6-1. That included being blown out by Pittsburgh and Indiana and not going to a bowl game.

So change does hurt but Coach Rodriguez is a good coach and once his recruits come in you will get better – but I hope not too much better…. (grin)

Hopefully we beat you this year but it would be better if you were a good team.

Good luck next season.

USC loses to unranked team and drops only 8 spots

The weekly football polls came out this afternoon and there was an interesting look to it.

University of Southern California, which was the number 1 team coming into this weekend, was listed as 9th in the AP Poll and 11th in the USA Today Poll.

The funny thing is that USC lost to an UNRANKED team and dropped the same number of spots that Ohio State (then 5th ranked) dropped when it lost to USC in week 2.

Wisconsin lost to an unranked team and dropped 8 spots too.

Basically the poll voters didn’t seem to care who the loss was against except when it was Ohio State in week 2.

I think that vote was a response to the left over hate from last season when people didn’t think Ohio State deserved to be in the Championship game.

Georgia, which was 3rd this past week, dropped 8 places after losing to 8th ranked Alabama and Florida dropped 8 spots after losing to an unranked team.

I just think a team should drop more if the loss is to an unranked team.

In 2007, Michigan was ranked 5th before they lost to a division 2 team and they dropped out of the polls.