Cowboys Win; T.O. Does Volleyball Impersonation

The Dallas Cowboys (11-1) defeated the Green Bay Packers (10-2), 37-27, last night in Texas, taking a huge advantage in the home-field-advantage race in the NFC. In a game televised only on NFL Network and thus leaving a lot of fans out in the cold and unable to see this marquee match-up, it was also disappointing that Brett Favre was injured early, meaning the NFC match of the season would not be decided by a head-to-head battle of the two QB stars.

But Aaron Rodgers surprised everyone. He actually performed better than Favre had before he left … and gave GB a real chance to win.

Terrell Owens had a great game but did another of his volleyball impersonations, clubbing a sure, short touchdown pass right to him with brick-like hands, and serving the ball gently into the arms of the Packers’ grateful Al Harris. (Shades of the time he did this as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, batting an easy catch to DB Mike Jones early in overtime with the Chicago Bears, which Jones promptly returned for a game-ending TD.)

T.O. also gave away another one that the incompetent refs covered for him on. Al Harris clearly stripped T.O. for an interception . Replay should have been able to reverse this. But we’re back to a blundering ref blowing a whistle at the wrong tim, saying “forward progress was stopped.” No way.

Will Favre return? The Pack may need him to lead them again on this same field in the playoffs.

Thanksgiving Football Games

Having just recently finished observing this honored custom of watching football on Thanksgiving, let’s reflect on these words that show not everyone in the house may have the same view of this tradition:

“Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.” (Erma Bombeck)

Sean Taylor Murder Puts Football in Perspective

Sean Taylor, the young Pro Bowl safety for the Washington Redskins is dead, shot by an intruder in his Miami home. He died yesterday after being attacked the day before. The bullet, fired into his groin, severed an artery and he lost a massive amount of blood before medical care arrived.

This puts the NFL in perspective. Though football fans treat the NFL with life-and-death type intensity it is, after all, only a game. This one act of senseless violence transcends all of the NFL’s games. Sports will go on, and the public will eventually forget. But Sean Taylor’s friends and family will never forget. Let’s keep them in our prayers.

And let’s keep football in perspective. Life and eternity are far more important.

Dolphins Go Down (in the Muck)

In shameful unprecedented muck in Pittsburgh, the Miami Dolphins had their first crack at a victory—or a tie—this year. They played the Steelers straight up for more than 59 minutes, losing 3-0 in the closing seconds on a short field goal. Most viewers not from Pittsburgh were rooting for the hitherto hapless Dolphins. But, alas, they remained hapless and went down by a margin of three or less for the sixth time in their 0-11 streak. It was the lowest scoring game in Monday Night Football history.

I was hoping for a Miami miracle (maybe 2-0 on a safety), or better yet, a 5-quarter 0-0 tie.

Consequences Escalate for Marion Jones

Marion Jones is already infamous … and a possible jail term looms. The International Association of Athletics Federation voided all of her results since September 2000, including her Olympic and world championship titles. They also told her to return her all the prize money she won for those events … some $700,000.

Jones claims she is broke.

(Read the original story.)

Cornhuskers Put Up 51 … and Lose

The Not-so-big Red lost its last chance to avoid a losing season on a day when they put up 51 points. They gave up 65 to Colorado. Both teams came in at 5-6, guaranteeing the winner a break-even season and the loser a losing record and no bowl bid.

The 116 points scored are not the result of the phony stats invoked by overtime games; they were put up in regulation. There is sorrow in Lincoln as the once proud Huskers were lit up for 60 points for the second time in a month.

What now for Bill Callahan? I’m guessing his fourth year was his last.

Lewd Practices at Giants Stadium

It has become a halftime ritual at Jets games: drunken male fans harassing women and shouting for them to expose their breasts. Some women comply. When the men don’t get what they want, they boo, spit and throw beer bottles at the women.

Feminist author Naomi Wolf said, “This is a sign of the degradation of public morality in America. I don’t want my daughter to be exposed to this.”

The practice has been reported only at Jets games, not Giants games. Some fans have been kicked out, mostly females for indecent exposure. It is said the abusive male fans are hard to pinpoint.

I’ve been to my share of games where drunken fans interfered significantly with my enjoyment of the game. The Jets have to stop this now, before violence accompanies the sexual abuse. This kind of performance has no place anywhere, and people who purchased tickets have a right to enjoy the game without drunken perverts spoiling it.

Red Raiders Amaze, Stop Sooners

Oklahoma is just the latest top-5 team to be defeated by an unranked one. Sooner QB Sam Bradford was knocked out of the game early with a concussion making a tackle on a fumble return and never returned to the game, won by Texas Tech, 34-27.

Graham Harrell seized the opportunity to become the game’s centerpiece, throwing 72 times with 47 completions, including two touchdowns. He also ran for a score.

The game against the #4-ranked Sooners was not as close as it seems by the final score. The Red Raiders once sported a 34-10 lead and seemed in command before a frantic comeback by the Sooners fell just short.

Amazing, surprisingly dominant Red Raiders!

Sports Soaps Top 5 of the Week

The U.S. sports scene has been providing a bumper crop of soap operas.

1. Barry Bonds: Finally indicted.
2. A-Rod: Mr. Not-October slinks back to New York.
3. O.J.: Is America ready for another trial?
4. Stephon Marbury: AWOL egoist pays.
5. Ricky Williams: Desperate Dolphins tap sober former-superstar.

Dishonorable Mention:

Joe Glenn/Kyle Whittingham: Coaches prove they can be less mature than the students they coach. [story]
Michael Vick: Continuing saga.
Belichick/Patriots: The coach fans love to hate.

Bonds Indicted: Career Over

Barry Bonds has been indicted for multiple counts of perjury and obstruction of justice four years after his testimony before the grand jury that he did not knowingly take performance-enhancing drugs. The baseball world is wondering, Why now?

Did they wait for him to break the record? What do they suddenly have now that they didn’t have before?

Regardless, his career is certainly over. A debatable value as a DH, most likely in nearby Oakland for the A’s, Bonds has lost his options. No g.m. is going to want to add a circus to their 2008 schedule. And, of course, he may not be at liberty to play anyway.

It’s a sad day for baseball. Some fans, mostly in San Francisco, were holding out hope of his innocence. And while those hopes have not been entirely dashed—he could still be found innocent—most expect a guilty verdict to be inevitable.

Now we can look forward to months of news dominated by the Bonds and O.J. cases. Remember when sports were what mattered in the sports world?

Marbury Soaps

The New York Knicks fined Stephon Marbury more than $180,000 for missing Tuesday night’s game at Phoenix.

Marbury says he has something on Isiah Thomas and threatens blackmail.

What will happen in the continuing saga of Stephon Marbury?

Get rid of him. This guy is a loser. It’s the same Marbury who defended Michael Vick’s dogfighting as a “sport.” Now he’s playing loose with his team commitment.

Which will be the next team to be afflicted with him?

Is the NFL Ready for Ricky Williams?

“NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has decided to reinstate Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams after a suspension that lasted 18 months because of Williams’ violation of the league’s substance abuse policy, sources told ESPN.”

Is the football world ready for this?

Will Williams have anything left in the tank?

The One Thing the Patriots Don’t Have

October 28 final score: New England Patriots 52 Washington Redskins 7.

Embarrassing? Yes. For both teams.

The ’Skins’ Randall Godfrey, after the close of the game, reportedly confronted Bill Belichick. “You need to show some respect for the game,” he said, referring to the Patriots obvious running up of the score. Here’s what he told NBCSports.com he said:

“I told him, ‘You need to show some respect for the game.’ You just don’t do that. I don’t care how bad it is. You’re up 35 points and you’re still throwing deep? That’s no respect….

“You look at all the great head coaches … I’m just disappointed,” he said. “You gotta show some class, show some respect. Joe Gibbs? We wouldn’t have done that. Bill Walsh? You wouldn’t see those types of guys doing that stuff. I’ve never seen nothing like that. Most teams, you get up like that you sit on the ball and try to run the time out. They’re up 30-some points and they’re throwing deep. That was blatant disrespect. I hope we can see them again, definitely. You don’t see Joe Gibbs doing that. You can’t even imagine that kind of stuff coming from him. Joe Gibbs. Bill Walsh. Bill Parcells. This isn’t like college going for power rankings. This is the pros you show some respect, show some class.”

I have to say Godfrey is out of line on most of this. Spare us your sour grapes when you’ve just been obliterated on the field. Losers don’t get to cross examine their conquerors.

But there was definitely some lack of respect shown by the Pats, like Wes Welker’s in-your-face playground-like spiking after scoring the TD that led to a 45-0 lead; and Matt Cassell celebrating by winding up and spiking for his touchdown in garbage time. (That’s like some NBA scrub doing a dance for getting a meaningless lay-in as time expires.)

Tom Jackson said the Pats were getting “frenzied” as they poured it on the hapless Redskins. “They want to pound people into submission,” said Steve Young (who once did a kneel down on the Niners’ opponents’ 1-yard line at the close of a game).

Even the Pats’ owners appeared uncomfortable with the run-up. They have felt embarrassed by video-gate; now their scrubs are doing dances late in a rout?

There is another reason we could expect Belichick to lay off.

”It’s risk/reward,” said Bill Cowher. “How long do you want your starters to play? You want to be careful. At some point, if this continues, someone is going to take a cheap shot. Is that worth subjecting your players to if it comes to that? The risk [Belichick] is taking is that guys could get hurt in those situations. That’s his decision as a coach, and he has a right to do it.”

Players and coaches should all react with the same class Joe Gibbs did, who took the high road. He said he had nothing against what the Pats did. And you can’t argue. They have every right to run up the score. It’s just that previous dynasties didn’t do it. But that’s up to Belichick. Belichick still looks cowed and sheepish at his press conferences. He gives curt, mumbled answers and gives every appearance of a shame-faced malefactor who can only talk on the field, not eye-to-eye.

The difference between Gibbs and Belichick? One word: class. Gibbs has it; Belichick doesn’t. I doubt he even knows what it is. The great coaches of the past had it; that’s why, though Bill B. will be on the same level as many of the great coaches of the past, he will never be in their class.

So the Patriots do indeed have almost everything. The one thing they don’t have is class.

Incentives Gone Wild: Schilling Discloses Conflict of Interest

Here’s a sports and ethics nightmare. Curt Schilling has disclosed an alarming conflict of interest/incentive in his contract. He gets $1 million for each 2008 Cy Young Award vote, including second or third place votes.

There are 28 baseball writers in the Baseball Writers Association of America who vote. That’s not many, but still, it’s enough that fixing a vote result should be impossible.

But what about a relatively insignificant third-place vote? Not saying Schilling would do this, but this possiblility exists for unscrupulous players who might score similar contract provisions: Influencing one third-place vote that wouldn’t be much noticed and dividing a million dollars could be easy for a complicitous pitcher/writer duo.

This is a bad idea. Many publications already ban their writers from voting for the Cy Young, fearing subjectivity/potential conflicts of intersts. MLB needs to step in and put an end to this ethical nightmare.

Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com reported this:

Schilling jokingly acknowledged the possibility of such high jinks in an e-mail Tuesday — and seemed to revel in the idea.

“I need to win enough games to get a ‘Well, I gave him a third-place (vote) out of respect for what he’s done,’” Schilling said. “And then (get) an e-mail stating that writer’s dream car, and I am all set.

“You get a Cy vote? What do you drive?”

In certain years, I do have a Cy vote, yes. But I replied to Schilling I will not accept a bribe of even a Hyundai, thank you very much.

[http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7416282]

I’m sure CS was joking, but still, it gives one pause.

The Finger and the Run-Up: Two Coaches Make Very Bad Decisions in Same Game

Wyoming coach Joe Glenn made a very bad decision in the midst of his team’s 50-0 drubbing at the hands of Utah Saturday. Moments before, Utes coach Kyle Whittingham had also made a bad decision.

Ahead 43-0 and kicking off following a field goal, the Utes executed an unsuccessful onsides kick, an obvious attempt to run up the score. Glenn flashed his middle finger at Whittingham, a surprising loss of good judgment for an NCAA coach.

Glenn had more than one reason to be embarrassed. Besides being down 43-0 at the time, he was clearly replaying in his head the tape of him guaranteeing a victory over Utah at a school function earlier in the week. This is also a surprising loss of good judgment for an NCAA coach.

Glenn was reprimanded by his conference. Today he apologized. He initially claimed he didn’t remember the gesture, but eventually acknowledged it. “I met with my team on Sunday and apologized to them for the gesture I made toward the Utah bench during the game,” Glenn said. “I also want to apologize to all fans for that action. Football is an emotional game, and I let my emotions get the best of me. I felt it was appropriate for me to let my team and all fans know that I am truly sorry for that emotional moment.”

For his part, Whittingham also acknowledged the onsides kick while up 43-0 was indeed a “bad decision.”

Both of these coaches get bad marks for character. Forgiveness, when asked, should be given. But both of these guys need to make some kind of positive contribution to the character of the young men they lead, to make up for the bad influence their actions conveyed.

NCAA coaches are big boys. They should know better. And they should care more about making a positive impact on young lives than throwing an obscene tirade at an enemy or trying to grind a guy’s face in the dirt for something he foolishly said.

Now, having apologized, Joe Glenn and Kyle Whittingham need to do some “community service.” They need to make some kind of clear positive contribution to make up for their childish antics. And they both need to grow up.

Refs Strike Again, Negating Sessions’ Near Field-Length Return

Rookie linebacker Clint Sessions scooped up the first of his two interceptions Sunday as it bounced off two teammates in the Colts’ end zone, and in one motion rolled to a standing position and took off, never having been touched. He motored all the way to the Chargers’ 7-yard-line.

But wait! That bane of NFL fair play strikes again … the inadvertant whistle. On the replay you hear it blow while Sessions is running, just before he exits the end zone. Why on earth would it blow then? The call on the field was an interception. This could have drastically altered the game, which San Diego won by 2 points. As it was, the Colts, starting on their own 20, didn’t score at all on the possession.

I know, I know. The Colts beat themselves, with Peyton Manning being very un-Peyton-like, throwing 6 interceptions, a club record, and Adam Vinitieri, that paragon of all football kickers, missing two field goals, including a chip shot that should have won the game in the closing minutes. Still, with all they did wrong, had the official not blown this call the Colts could have—probably would have—won.

I’m not a Colts fan. I am just a fan who is tired of referees deciding games and robbing NFL fans of exciting plays due to their bungling incompetence.

Manning’s performance (or lack thereof) is a huge story, as is Vinitieri’s meltdown. Tony Dungy, with typical class, cited a myriad of reasons the Colts didn’t win the game, portraying it as their own fault. And that it was … for all but one play … the Sessions end-zone interception.

The Chargers jumped out to a huge lead early, riding the coattails of great defense and special teams (two kick return TDs) play. Philip Rivers and LaDainian Tomlinson did not play well.

But neither did the Colts. Still, even though Indy was minus Marvin Harrison and other key players, they almost pulled it off. And they would have, if that errant ref had been competent.

Sports and Ethics Is Back

Look for new articles beginning Monday. In Spain I came across a surprising current, relevant sports and ethics issue that has some parallels to the Michael Vick dog-fighting issue in the U.S. I will of course have more on the Pats and Bill Belichick.

Thanks to those of you who visited the site while I was on vacation. Blog stats show me that readership remained strong despite no new entries for two weeks.