Thursday, November 26, 2009
Headed to the mall for Black Friday
I am about to head to the mall right now for Black Friday, and am really looking forward to it. I have always tried to have a good fashion sense, but since the spring of 2008 I've tried to step it up by wearing lots of Polo gear. Pretty much all of my pants and fancy shirts are made by Ralph Lauren. This year's going to be no different. I'm trying to wear Polo all day and all night, whether I'm going to school, the club or the golf course. I'm also trying to pick up some Burberry and Bvlgari gear to really stop playing with these Peter Cady haters. I really like Burberry's signature Beige, brown and red scarfs and handbags, and the sophistication of Bvlgari's handbags. I also may look for a new pair of Nike shoes, but thats low on my list of priorities. I'm finna get off the ball like Jeff Saturday and hit the mall, and I encourage you to do so to on Black Friday in order to help out the economy both at the micro and macro level.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Stanford can only limit Harbaugh's quest for a national championship
It is not a matter of if Stanford football coach Jim Harbaugh will leave the Cardinal.
It is a matter of when.
That reality is sad for the few passionate college football fans in the Bay Area who are desperate to see the local media cover college sports like their neighbors in Los Angeles do, but it is the truth nonetheless.
The chances of Stanford winning a national championship at some point in the next thirty years are about as low as seeing an attractive stripper at the Hustler Club in San Francisco, and that's saying something.
All realistic Cardinal fans know this, and while Harbaugh may publicly state that he thinks winning a championship is possible, in private he would acknowledge that doing so at Stanford is a stretch to say the least.
But more importantly, he realizes that the chances of winning a championship at another institution are much higher, and that he has the opportunity to be considered as a favorite for pretty much any division I college football and NFL jobs that open up in the near future.
Collectively the privileged fraternity of college and pro football coaches are like the stock market.
A coach's peak value is high, but there is also no limit to how low their stock can fall and how hungry their boosters can get.
Harbaugh's counterpart in tomorrow's Big Game knows this better than anybody.
Jeff Tedford garnered the same amount of praise that Harbaugh is receiving today back in 2004 when he led the Bears to a 10-2 record and groomed a first-round quarterback in Aaron Rodgers.
Back then reporters and analysts were quick to mention him as a candidate for high-profile college football and NFL jobs that sprang open.
That is not the case today.
He chose to stay at Cal, and is the headmaster of a stagnating program at a school whose administration doesn't value football enough to give him the support that he needs to legitimately compete for a Pac 10 title.
I don't see how that fate would be any different for Harbaugh if he stays at Stanford.
Their athletic department has won 15 consecutive Director's Cups, which is given to the school that is considered to have the best all-around athletic program.
In other words, those trophies mean that Stanford's athletic department wants all sports to do well, and isn't going to sacrifice one or two in order to put its football program in a position to be in the top ten every year.
And the Harvard of the West's admissions standards will never allow for Harbaugh to compete with USC and Oregon in the long-run either.
Harbaugh has experienced recent success in getting high-caliber athletes to come to Stanford, and beating USC by 34 points will help that cause substantially, but it is unlikely that his team's rosters can be as deep as that of the Trojans and Ducks year in and year out when his pool of prospects is limited.
And that would most likely eventually put him in the same position as Tedford; the author of perennial bowl teams, but teams whose amount of consistent success leaves fans wanting more, which is unachievable for schools that don't place football on a pedestal like Florida and USC do.
Cardinal fans still have a lot to be optimistic about though.
It is unlikely that Stanford will be without Harbaugh for at least the next two seasons.
Notre Dame has become a death wish for any coach and I doubt that he'd want that job even if it opened up, as he is the highest definition of a Michigan Man, being one who played for Bo Schembechler (that job won't open up this year, but it might by this time in 2010, and despite his opinionated comments about the school in 2007, I bet that he'd be able to get it).
He is much more likely to take the Bobby Petrino route and ride his star quarterback to a BCS game (which won't happen this year) before leaving for the NFL or a more recognizable college team, with the bowl bid and a rebuilt program serving as justification for his decision.
There are only so many coaches who have a chance to win a national championship or a Super Bowl in their lifetimes.
The 45-year old Harbaugh has been blessed with that chance, and he should take advantage of it.
That means leaving Stanford.
It is a matter of when.
That reality is sad for the few passionate college football fans in the Bay Area who are desperate to see the local media cover college sports like their neighbors in Los Angeles do, but it is the truth nonetheless.
The chances of Stanford winning a national championship at some point in the next thirty years are about as low as seeing an attractive stripper at the Hustler Club in San Francisco, and that's saying something.
All realistic Cardinal fans know this, and while Harbaugh may publicly state that he thinks winning a championship is possible, in private he would acknowledge that doing so at Stanford is a stretch to say the least.
But more importantly, he realizes that the chances of winning a championship at another institution are much higher, and that he has the opportunity to be considered as a favorite for pretty much any division I college football and NFL jobs that open up in the near future.
Collectively the privileged fraternity of college and pro football coaches are like the stock market.
A coach's peak value is high, but there is also no limit to how low their stock can fall and how hungry their boosters can get.
Harbaugh's counterpart in tomorrow's Big Game knows this better than anybody.
Jeff Tedford garnered the same amount of praise that Harbaugh is receiving today back in 2004 when he led the Bears to a 10-2 record and groomed a first-round quarterback in Aaron Rodgers.
Back then reporters and analysts were quick to mention him as a candidate for high-profile college football and NFL jobs that sprang open.
That is not the case today.
He chose to stay at Cal, and is the headmaster of a stagnating program at a school whose administration doesn't value football enough to give him the support that he needs to legitimately compete for a Pac 10 title.
I don't see how that fate would be any different for Harbaugh if he stays at Stanford.
Their athletic department has won 15 consecutive Director's Cups, which is given to the school that is considered to have the best all-around athletic program.
In other words, those trophies mean that Stanford's athletic department wants all sports to do well, and isn't going to sacrifice one or two in order to put its football program in a position to be in the top ten every year.
And the Harvard of the West's admissions standards will never allow for Harbaugh to compete with USC and Oregon in the long-run either.
Harbaugh has experienced recent success in getting high-caliber athletes to come to Stanford, and beating USC by 34 points will help that cause substantially, but it is unlikely that his team's rosters can be as deep as that of the Trojans and Ducks year in and year out when his pool of prospects is limited.
And that would most likely eventually put him in the same position as Tedford; the author of perennial bowl teams, but teams whose amount of consistent success leaves fans wanting more, which is unachievable for schools that don't place football on a pedestal like Florida and USC do.
Cardinal fans still have a lot to be optimistic about though.
It is unlikely that Stanford will be without Harbaugh for at least the next two seasons.
Notre Dame has become a death wish for any coach and I doubt that he'd want that job even if it opened up, as he is the highest definition of a Michigan Man, being one who played for Bo Schembechler (that job won't open up this year, but it might by this time in 2010, and despite his opinionated comments about the school in 2007, I bet that he'd be able to get it).
He is much more likely to take the Bobby Petrino route and ride his star quarterback to a BCS game (which won't happen this year) before leaving for the NFL or a more recognizable college team, with the bowl bid and a rebuilt program serving as justification for his decision.
There are only so many coaches who have a chance to win a national championship or a Super Bowl in their lifetimes.
The 45-year old Harbaugh has been blessed with that chance, and he should take advantage of it.
That means leaving Stanford.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Oakland Raiders on the cusp of breaking away from mediocrity
The Raiders can’t let head coach Tom Cable ruin their season, as doing so would eliminate their chance of establishing the winning foundation that they need to make the playoffs in 2010.
That may sound funny to the Keystone Light-drinking fraternity bum whose sole
knowledge of the Raiders consists of JaMarcus Russell interceptions and fumbles seen on ESPN, but the team is that close to finally overcoming their six-year period of being stuck in the Bermuda Triangle of mediocrity.
They have a running back tandem that can play with practically anybody, a decent offensive line, a scary secondary and a defensive line that can only get better with more time to mesh.
After all, Oakland would be 4-4 and thinking about a wild card berth right now if they had just made a few more big plays in their two games against San Diego.
Yes, they could also be 0-8 thanks to Russell.
But he was efficient when given a limited number of opportunities against the Chargers in their most-recent game two weeks ago, and should only get better with trustworthy receiver Chaz Schilens and explosive running back Darren McFadden likely to play this week against Kansas City.Schilens hasn’t played a single game so far this year due to a broken foot, while McFadden hasn’t left the sideline since week four against Houston with a knee injury that resulted in surgery.
And that is the biggest reason why the Raiders can’t let Cable’s issues distract them.
Right after getting the Randy Hansen situation temporarily off his back, Cable was once again the center of attention for all the wrong reasons last week with allegations surfacing that he has both physically and verbally abused his significant others in the past.
Cable may end up being suspended by the time this paper comes out, though I doubt that Al Davis will fire him.
And while Cable (who admitted to slapping his ex-wife last week) deserves any punishment he gets, the sad thing is that the team will have to spend a considerable amount of dealing with questions related to it from the media, and thus it could potentially distract them from focusing on playing football.
But Nnamdi Asomugha must keep the silver and black focused (which I expect him to do), as the squad should now be able to put their best product on the field barring a setback to Schilens or McFadden.
Russell’s 48.3 quarterback rating (which is the second worst clip in the league) and depressing two touchdowns mixed with nine interceptions as of Nov. 1 is horrendous, but it is not like he has been playing with Randy Moss and Brandon Marshall on the outside either.
His two starting receivers have been rookies Darrius Heyward-Bey and Louis Murphy, who are talented, yet in way over their heads at this point in their careers.
But that should change this week when Schilens steps back onto the field, which will give Russell another pass-catching threat that he is comfortable with in addition to tight end Zach Miller.
That may sound funny to the Keystone Light-drinking fraternity bum whose sole
knowledge of the Raiders consists of JaMarcus Russell interceptions and fumbles seen on ESPN, but the team is that close to finally overcoming their six-year period of being stuck in the Bermuda Triangle of mediocrity.
They have a running back tandem that can play with practically anybody, a decent offensive line, a scary secondary and a defensive line that can only get better with more time to mesh.
After all, Oakland would be 4-4 and thinking about a wild card berth right now if they had just made a few more big plays in their two games against San Diego.
Yes, they could also be 0-8 thanks to Russell.
But he was efficient when given a limited number of opportunities against the Chargers in their most-recent game two weeks ago, and should only get better with trustworthy receiver Chaz Schilens and explosive running back Darren McFadden likely to play this week against Kansas City.Schilens hasn’t played a single game so far this year due to a broken foot, while McFadden hasn’t left the sideline since week four against Houston with a knee injury that resulted in surgery.
And that is the biggest reason why the Raiders can’t let Cable’s issues distract them.
Right after getting the Randy Hansen situation temporarily off his back, Cable was once again the center of attention for all the wrong reasons last week with allegations surfacing that he has both physically and verbally abused his significant others in the past.
Cable may end up being suspended by the time this paper comes out, though I doubt that Al Davis will fire him.
And while Cable (who admitted to slapping his ex-wife last week) deserves any punishment he gets, the sad thing is that the team will have to spend a considerable amount of dealing with questions related to it from the media, and thus it could potentially distract them from focusing on playing football.
But Nnamdi Asomugha must keep the silver and black focused (which I expect him to do), as the squad should now be able to put their best product on the field barring a setback to Schilens or McFadden.
Russell’s 48.3 quarterback rating (which is the second worst clip in the league) and depressing two touchdowns mixed with nine interceptions as of Nov. 1 is horrendous, but it is not like he has been playing with Randy Moss and Brandon Marshall on the outside either.
His two starting receivers have been rookies Darrius Heyward-Bey and Louis Murphy, who are talented, yet in way over their heads at this point in their careers.
But that should change this week when Schilens steps back onto the field, which will give Russell another pass-catching threat that he is comfortable with in addition to tight end Zach Miller.
Sonoma State Seawolves young but good
Excitement, expectations, patience.
Those messages became clear to me from the get go last Thursday when I interviewed Sonoma State men’s head basketball coach Pat Fuscaldo about his team’s upcoming 2009-2010 campaign.
Excitement, expectations, patience.
Excitement for the Seawolves’ 11 underclassmen that are already talented and yet can only get better in the years to come, the expectation of the team being able to vie for a spot in the CCAA Tournament after finishing in the top-half of the conference, and patience when it comes to letting them learn how to play together and shake off their rust.
“We have five guys that are 18, and two guys that are 19,” said Fuscaldo. “It’s goanna take us a while (a year or more) to become a great team, and it may never happen, you never know with injuries and things like that, but if we do it’ll be exciting.”
Many fans may be anything but excited this Friday when they arrive at Seawolf Gym for the Ron Lodgsdon Basketball Classic only to see last year’s leading scorer dressed in street clothes.
Guard Ben Washington is out for the season with a severe quadricep injury, and he will be sorely missed, as he averaged 10.1 points per game for SSU last year and at times reminded me a lot of the Pacers’ T.J. Ford with his quickness, floor vision and pull- up jumper.
But it shouldn’t take long for those fans to see how athletic this Seawolves team is in comparison to past Seawolf teams of the recent future and that it could easily build off of its 12-16 record and CCAA Tournament berth that it earned last March.
Fuscaldo was quick to cite how deep SSU is and how strong its shooting will be, both of which will most likely be on display against Hawaii-Pacific and Concordia on Friday and Saturday respectively.
The star of this year’s team could very well be a true freshman in Sterling Arterberry, whose athleticism and skill set could make him an All-American two or three years down the road.
“He’s an extremely athletic player,” Fuscaldo said of the point guard from Sacramento.
“He does a lot of things well and can dunk. He’s going to do some really exciting things this year, and once people hear what he can do they’re goanna want to see him play.”
And there is also sophomore guard Steven Pratt, who caught the eye of Stanford coaches last Friday after scoring thirteen points in 28 minutes against the Cardinal.
“After the game the (Stanford) coaches were asking me, ‘where did you get this guy?’” said Fuscaldo. “I’m friends with one of the assistant coaches for Stanford, and they were watching the game on film afterwards and were really impressed.
“They were bumping him one way and he was going the other way, and he was hitting shots off of screens.”
And the team also features the proven junior forward Mike Nelson, two promising big men in seniors Chad Chambers and Kyle Shandera, and two other talented players in sophomore point guard Ashley Arnott and freshman big man Dominic Powell who haven’t played a meaningful basketball game for a long time (Arnett was slated to be last year’s starting point guard but suffered a back injury that forced him to miss the entire regular season, and Powell ran track for Cal last year but wasn’t a member of the Bears hoops team).
No one in Rohnert Park should sleep on Arizona State transfer Brenton Thomas either, a swingman who is also just a freshman.
The young Seawolves (who were picked to finish seventh in the CCAA coaches preseason poll) may not be able to outclass the veteran squads of Cal Poly Pomona, Humboldt State and CSU San Bernardino for the top-three spots in the CCAA this year, but should have a solid shot at making the eight-team CCAA Tournament yet again.
But combine the experience that this year’s team (which will remain primarily intact next fall) will gain with a healthy Washington (who will be a redshirt senior next year) and SSU could have a legitimate shot at a CCAA Championship in 2011.
“We have the pieces to win, but the players have to get to know each other on the court, and that can only come with lots of practice and lots of game experience,” said Fuscaldo.
“You can’t rush chemistry or cohesion. It’s a process that takes time.”
That process should be fun to watch this year.
Those messages became clear to me from the get go last Thursday when I interviewed Sonoma State men’s head basketball coach Pat Fuscaldo about his team’s upcoming 2009-2010 campaign.
Excitement, expectations, patience.
Excitement for the Seawolves’ 11 underclassmen that are already talented and yet can only get better in the years to come, the expectation of the team being able to vie for a spot in the CCAA Tournament after finishing in the top-half of the conference, and patience when it comes to letting them learn how to play together and shake off their rust.
“We have five guys that are 18, and two guys that are 19,” said Fuscaldo. “It’s goanna take us a while (a year or more) to become a great team, and it may never happen, you never know with injuries and things like that, but if we do it’ll be exciting.”
Many fans may be anything but excited this Friday when they arrive at Seawolf Gym for the Ron Lodgsdon Basketball Classic only to see last year’s leading scorer dressed in street clothes.
Guard Ben Washington is out for the season with a severe quadricep injury, and he will be sorely missed, as he averaged 10.1 points per game for SSU last year and at times reminded me a lot of the Pacers’ T.J. Ford with his quickness, floor vision and pull- up jumper.
But it shouldn’t take long for those fans to see how athletic this Seawolves team is in comparison to past Seawolf teams of the recent future and that it could easily build off of its 12-16 record and CCAA Tournament berth that it earned last March.
Fuscaldo was quick to cite how deep SSU is and how strong its shooting will be, both of which will most likely be on display against Hawaii-Pacific and Concordia on Friday and Saturday respectively.
The star of this year’s team could very well be a true freshman in Sterling Arterberry, whose athleticism and skill set could make him an All-American two or three years down the road.
“He’s an extremely athletic player,” Fuscaldo said of the point guard from Sacramento.
“He does a lot of things well and can dunk. He’s going to do some really exciting things this year, and once people hear what he can do they’re goanna want to see him play.”
And there is also sophomore guard Steven Pratt, who caught the eye of Stanford coaches last Friday after scoring thirteen points in 28 minutes against the Cardinal.
“After the game the (Stanford) coaches were asking me, ‘where did you get this guy?’” said Fuscaldo. “I’m friends with one of the assistant coaches for Stanford, and they were watching the game on film afterwards and were really impressed.
“They were bumping him one way and he was going the other way, and he was hitting shots off of screens.”
And the team also features the proven junior forward Mike Nelson, two promising big men in seniors Chad Chambers and Kyle Shandera, and two other talented players in sophomore point guard Ashley Arnott and freshman big man Dominic Powell who haven’t played a meaningful basketball game for a long time (Arnett was slated to be last year’s starting point guard but suffered a back injury that forced him to miss the entire regular season, and Powell ran track for Cal last year but wasn’t a member of the Bears hoops team).
No one in Rohnert Park should sleep on Arizona State transfer Brenton Thomas either, a swingman who is also just a freshman.
The young Seawolves (who were picked to finish seventh in the CCAA coaches preseason poll) may not be able to outclass the veteran squads of Cal Poly Pomona, Humboldt State and CSU San Bernardino for the top-three spots in the CCAA this year, but should have a solid shot at making the eight-team CCAA Tournament yet again.
But combine the experience that this year’s team (which will remain primarily intact next fall) will gain with a healthy Washington (who will be a redshirt senior next year) and SSU could have a legitimate shot at a CCAA Championship in 2011.
“We have the pieces to win, but the players have to get to know each other on the court, and that can only come with lots of practice and lots of game experience,” said Fuscaldo.
“You can’t rush chemistry or cohesion. It’s a process that takes time.”
That process should be fun to watch this year.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Potential Reasons for why the Mark Sanchez jersey was behind Manuel
If you watched the Fox postgame show after the Yankees won the World Series tonight, then you probably saw Charlie Manuel being interviewed by Ken Rosenthal. And if you did, then you saw the Mark Sanchez home Jets jersey hanging in the background.
I have no clue what the jersey was doing hanging behind Manuel in what I assume was an area located close to the Phillies locker room, and it is tough for me to definitively say why it was there.
My best guess would be that maybe somebody on the Phillies had an assistant or somebody affiliated with the team go out and get them the jersey before the game, and when they came back they found the clubhouse closed or weren't able to gain access into the locker room, or perhaps it was left by a player as a gift to a reporter or friend. Or perhaps a player on the Yankees bought the jersey for a player on the Phillies as a gift but couldn't find a way to have someone bring it into the locker room for some reason (or maybe he had it intentionally left outside the locker room so as to surprise him after the team headed out of the facility-which would have been a tremendously nice gesture by the way.
There may have also been a player on the Phillies who wanted to change outside the locker room so as to not see the sad looks on his teammates' faces and thus he or a clubhouse assistant brought his clothes outside. This sounds like perhaps the most rational reason for it.
And last but not least, I guess that somebody on the Yankees could have had a clubhouse assistant hang the jersey outside in that area if both team's locker rooms are close to each other or if it just so happened that Manuel was being interviewed away from the Phillies' locker room.
Either way, I am very interested to figure out why the Sanchez jersey was there. It is of no relevance whatsoever, but is a unique sidenote to the close of a great World Series nonetheless, and perhaps even more unique than the funny hat that Phil Jackson wore to celebrate his tenth NBA title last June.
I have no clue what the jersey was doing hanging behind Manuel in what I assume was an area located close to the Phillies locker room, and it is tough for me to definitively say why it was there.
My best guess would be that maybe somebody on the Phillies had an assistant or somebody affiliated with the team go out and get them the jersey before the game, and when they came back they found the clubhouse closed or weren't able to gain access into the locker room, or perhaps it was left by a player as a gift to a reporter or friend. Or perhaps a player on the Yankees bought the jersey for a player on the Phillies as a gift but couldn't find a way to have someone bring it into the locker room for some reason (or maybe he had it intentionally left outside the locker room so as to surprise him after the team headed out of the facility-which would have been a tremendously nice gesture by the way.
There may have also been a player on the Phillies who wanted to change outside the locker room so as to not see the sad looks on his teammates' faces and thus he or a clubhouse assistant brought his clothes outside. This sounds like perhaps the most rational reason for it.
And last but not least, I guess that somebody on the Yankees could have had a clubhouse assistant hang the jersey outside in that area if both team's locker rooms are close to each other or if it just so happened that Manuel was being interviewed away from the Phillies' locker room.
Either way, I am very interested to figure out why the Sanchez jersey was there. It is of no relevance whatsoever, but is a unique sidenote to the close of a great World Series nonetheless, and perhaps even more unique than the funny hat that Phil Jackson wore to celebrate his tenth NBA title last June.
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