Odds and Ends.

"Oh the weather outside is frightful...."

Frightful? No. Butt cold? Yes! So what does one do when the mercury does the nestea plunge? Stay inside and put pen to paper...or in this case, fingers to keyboard.

So what's happening? College football is done. Good game between the Tigers and Ducks. The SEC got it's 5th in a row (again I say...No Colt McCoy) Cam Newton can enjoy his Heisman and the National Championship!...well, until they take both away in about 5 years. Allegedly. I gotta give Gene Chizik and Auburn credit though....they played a good game and were not blinded by those really bright and funky socks.

Someone should tell Phil Knight and his boys at Nike to lay off the bong water during their brainstorming sessions. I admire the creativity but the purist in me is not digging the uniforms. My nephew, Frodo the Orange, told me..."you're not happy unless all teams have boring block numbers and no names on the back"...he said it like it was a bad thing.

Speaking of college.....apparently the University of Texas signed a contract with tha ESPN to form a Longhorn TV network

All Burnt Orange, all the time..its BEVO-TV!!

30 years, 200 million..well that should keep Bevo in food for awhile. Hey, if the four letter network is willing to pony up that kind of cash, I don't blame the Orangeblood hierarcy for taking it. Still, I am not crazy about a school having its own network. I also didn't like it when Notre Dame did its deal with NBC. (Sorry, Jeff) It, at least to me, kind of goes against the whole team concept. It's great that the lesser known sports will get some publicity but the kids in those sports at Baylor, Tech and A&M deserve the same shot. Ok, well maybe not A&M. The other side is that I am mostly about football anyway so I guess it won't affect me. Oh well, nature of the beast. Plus...its one more thing Horn haters can get pissed over, which works too.

Those of you in Lansing, no doubt have heard of the Mad Dog DeMarco morning radio show. Mad Dog is our local sports talk morning host and I contribute to the show with the occasional phone call. Dog lets me vent my conventional wisdom and drop a nugget o' knowledge or two. I have had the priveilge of meeting him and his producer Josh Lattime in person. Great guys and fun to be around. Dog, unlike many in his business, is genuinely gracious off the air, and he throws a wicked christmas party. He has dubbed me "Gunslinger"...being Texan and all. A nickname I like.

I mention his show because a recent topic was the NFL's Rooney Rule. This rule, named for Pittsburgh Steelers president and current Ambassador to Irelnd, Dan Rooney. The rule was established in 2003 and requires NFL teams to interview African American candidates for head coaching and senior football operations opportunities. A columnist for the Detroit Free Press, Drew Sharp, wrote a piece recently saying that while the rule served its purpose, it has outlived its usefulness. Sharp, an African-American, says in the article "The true measure of fairness is when diverse talent becomes an unconsciously accepted standard. This country's most influential sports entertainment entity has reached that touchstone."

I would agree.

Don't get me wrong. Racism is this country's most insisdious problem. We just celebrated a man who gave his life in the service of ending this form of hate. While I do not believe things are as bad as they once were, it would be foolish to say that racism no longer exists. The NFL was bad at perpetuating the "Good Ol' Boy network". The Rooney Rule opened the door for team owners and general managers to look beyond the usual suspects for job openings.

Minority candidates for head coaching and GM jobs were the exception, they are now part of the process. To me, that is what the rule was designed to do and it has been accomplished. If the rule is retired, pro football will not degenerate into some bubbas beer bash. Does color still play a part in hiring your team's next head coach? Absolutely. However, that color is not black or white...it's green. Owners cannot afford to even think about skin color. The NFL has evolved to a level where qualified assistants, regardless of color, will get a shot at a head coaching gig. Something else Drew Sharp mentioned, if the Steelers and/or Bears win this weekend, it will be the fifth Super Bowl in a row with a team who has a black head coach or GM. I can guarantee you that in the multi-billion dollar business that is the NFL, if a team finds a coach that will help them win they will snatch him no matter what he looks like.

I wasn't totally crazy about the rule to start with. I believe any person that has the qualifications for a job should be considered for that job but I don't like when a man is interviewed because he has to be and not because he is actually being considered for the job. The Rooney Rule was designed to not treat people differently because of race...by going through the sham of an interview when you have no intention of hiring that person..isn't that doing the same thing?

While I think the NFL has evolved past the need for this rule....college football has not. Of 120 Division 1-A schools, there are 13 minority head coaches. Unlike the NFL where all teams answer to one league, each college has to answer to its own administration. Boosters get involved, favors are no doubt traded, etc. I am not saying that schools have to hire minority candidates. Schools have the right to hire who they wish but I do believe that all qualified candidates should have the opportunity to make their case as to why they should be hired.

Now...on to the games on the field. The NFL playoffs are in the Conference Championship round. Pittsburgh hosts the New York Jets in the AFC while Green Bay travels to Chicago in the NFC. The Jets ran their mouths big time last week about their opponent, the New England Patriots, and I thought Tom Brady, Bill Belichek and the boys were going to blow NY out of the sky but I give it to Rex the Wonder Coach and his team...they went into Foxboro and punched the Pats in the mouth. However, I do believe the flight ends this week in the Steel city. I think Pittsburgh beats NY and I think Cheesehead nation sees their team knock off their longtime rival. These two have played each other for the last 89 years but oddly enough, they have only played once previously in the post season. December 14, 1941 saw a 33-14 Bears win..although i'm sure minds at the time were on other events.

It is winter and that squeaking you hear is the sound of basketball in the air. At the halfway point in the NBA season, the team with the best record is not the defending champion Lakers, the traveling sideshow that is LeBron and the Heat, nor the Magic, Celtics or (thank God) Mavericks. Yup...you guessed it..say it with me...

the San Antonio Spurs. After 41 games, San Antonio was 35-6, the best start in franchise history. Yep, while the media and the rest of the world has been salivating over stories of Kobe and Lamar, Carmelo being traded or not and the Miami Soundbyte machine, the Spurs have retooled and compiled the best record so far.

"Wait...the Spurs?!?! But..but..they're too old..and,and..boring...and..and..."

and the best team in the league, kids.
****UPDATE*****San Antonio is now 36-6 as of tonight's win over Toronto. Good win, eh?

How is SA doing it? Offense.

Whoa.

The team that hung its hat on defense for over a decade is sacrificing a touch of that Popovichian defense for added offense and it has worked brilliantly. Something else that has added to the Spurs success is the infusion of young talent. Guess who is not the oldest team in the NBA anymore? Young guns like DeJuan Blair, Gary Neal and the ever-improving George Hill have refreshed the Big 3 to a point where Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are playing at all-star levels. The other major component is Tim Duncan. However TD's impact has been different. His stats are down all across the board. Points, rebounds, blocks..all career lows...as is what is proving to be the most important stat.

Minutes played.

For his career, Duncan has averaged 36 minutes per game. This season, 29. Is he slipping, no. He is still Tim freaking Duncan and can go off when he has to but the great thing is that he doesn't have to. Duncan is doing at the end of his career what David Robinson did at the end of his. He is taking a lesser role in order to let the younger players star. Worked out pretty good for Dave and the way things are going...it could for Tim as well. Don't be fooled though, come playoff time Duncan will be there. Rested and ready. Woe be to he who dismisses this when the lights are brightest and the stakes are highest.

Campers, that is it for now, got a Super Bowl coming up, that should be fun...more later but right now this is all on my mind...well that and an approaching birthday. How old will I be? Hmm....Terence Newman, Tom Seaver and Phil Zevenbergen.

You figure it out.

Peace.