9:00 PM With their come-from-behind win over the Texans and the Jaguars' loss to the 49ers, the Colts become the first team eligible for the playoffs by clinching the AFC South title.
8:17 PM The Sports Hernia spots Prince at the Metrodome Mall of America Stadium for Sunday's Vikings-Bears clash. And the artist formerly known as The Artist looks less than thrilled to be there.
Michael David Smith today @ AOL Fanhouse: “Lee Corso suffered a stroke in May, and on Saturday’s College GameDay, it was obvious from hearing him speak that he hasn’t completely recovered from it. But I admire him for staying on the air, and I admire ESPN for allowing him to stay on the air.”
(Corso picks LSU today on GameDay while Herbstreit gives Gator chomp)
I actually think there hasn’t been much dropoff in Corso’s performance to this point. And I never thought I’d say this: I miss him on afternoon and evening drop-ins. He, for me, crossed-over into a living room personality long ago - type of guy you don’t realize you miss until he’s gone. A little like Leno. Read more…
The scene: Lou Holtz’s office. Michael Crabtree knocks, and opens the door. LOU: “Ah, the pizza is here. Finally.” MICHAEL: “No, it’s me, Mr. Holtz. Michael Crabtree.” LOU: “You were wise to come to me, son. Please, sit down.” (There are no chairs in the office; only a tackling sled and a bowl of walnuts). LOU (still wearing bib from lunch): “Now what seems to be the problem, Matthew?”
The problem of course, is that the 49ers are 1-0, and Crabtree is still as far from being a 49er this season as Jerry Rice. In fact, as the ex-Texas Tech receiver’s holdout enters Week 71 (actual facts may vary), there’s talk of him sitting out two seasons before reentering the draft (which he’d have to do before being eligible for free agency).
Our favorite neighborhood coaching TV pundit thinks that’s crazy talk, of course. See the video below, in which Holtz addresses the whole mess in response to a question by Crabtree himself. Read more…
During his time at the helm of Notre Dame football, there was no fiercer, more persistent detractor of the Fighting Irish than Lou Holtz. Read that again: detractor. Nobody slow-played their team like Uncle Lou, consistently wringing his hands to the media about the problems he saw in practice and how Army could shock the world and easily beat his boys. It rarely came true, of course, and Notre Dame usually rolled to an easy victory all the same (which should tell you everything you need to know about coaches as a valid, useful source of knowledge).
(This man’s unbiased, right?)
So it’s ironic, then, that Holtz is now singing the Irish’s praises to a rather incredible length. Expectations are somewhat high for the Irish as Charlie Weis tries to rebuild the mess he made, but certainly nobody’s talking titles. Well, nobody but Holtz.
To look through the stories SPORTSbyBROOKS has written about Lou Holtz over the years is to jump down a rabbit hole into an abyss of utter insanity. In the past year alone, the Elmer Fudd of college football has conquered Japan, praised AdolfHitler’s leadership skills, dressed up as a fake psychiatrist, and stuck up for a race-baiting Dixiecrat politician. Interesting career moves for anyone, let alone one of ESPN’s premier college football experts.
Perhaps sensing that the Worldwide Leader in Sports is not the ideal milieu for the unhinged rantings of an old, rich white man, serial job-hopper Holtzis reportedly considering an all-new career that fits his personality better: Republican Congressman from Florida.
When SbB held its first 30-day moratorium poll this past week, I was somewhat disappointed that there could be only one winner. And while the actual choice (who shall not be named) was fine enough, it meant that we were still going to have to talk about what Terrell Owens is doing.
And that, today, is apparently suggesting that Roger Goodell go spend some time in prison so that he knows what Michael Vick has been through. This in response to the idea floating around that Goodell plans to suspend Vick for four games as a condition for returning to the league. Ray Ratto thinks T.O. might have some ulterior motives, but that he appears to be genuine in his support for Vick. Now, about the suspension…well, I can’t put it nearly as eloquently as T.O. can (via FANHOUSE):
“I don’t think it’s really fair for him to be suspended four more games. That’s almost like kicking a dead horse in the ground.”
Oddly, T.O. has a bit of a point. Vick’s livelihood was taken away while he was in prison, so why would Goodell feel the need to tack on a token suspension that is the same length as one for a first violation of the league’s drug policy? I mean, if he really considered the prison time as separate from the league’s punishment, then you would think the suspension would be harsher, like a year or something. Otherwise, isn’t being out of the league for two years and going bankrupt serving the same purpose? I don’t think Goodell has to give him four games off to prove that the NFL doesn’t approve of dogfighters. I think that’s pretty well understood, considering you get in trouble for wearing your socks wrong in that league.
Don’t be fooled by that 5-0 win by Mexico over the U.S. in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final yesterday at Giants Stadium. The Americans have been playing this entire tournament with a second-tier squad made up mostly of players with little international experience. The Mexicans, meanwhile, put a much better team out on the field, as was shown by their dominance throughout the tournament. And, while it was sad to see the U.S. team fall apart, the way Mexico dismantled our guys in the second half was quite a thing to watch (the game was scoreless at halftime). Get ready for goooooooooooools-a-plenty:
The U.S. was somewhat fortunate to advance this far, struggling to a tie with powerhouse Haiti and needing extra time to beat Panama. So a loss was to be expected, though the magnitude was larger than anyone thought. It’s the worst loss for the U.S. since 1985. Perhaps it was for the best that it was only on in English on the tiny Fox Soccer Channel.
If anything, this was a moral boost for the Mexicans going into the huge showdown on August 12th between the two countries in World Cup qualifying in Mexico City. None of the players the U.S. used yesterday are likely to play in that game, while a couple of Mexico’s players will probably see action. But I can’t imagine that this game is really going to have much impact on the qualifier. The NEW YORK DAILY NEWS’ Filip Bondyseems to think that the credibility the U.S. earned in games against Spain and Brazil is diminished by this result, but anyone who follows the sport closely (ie. everyone in the world besides Americans) knows that the U.S. lineup was a shell of the team that made waves in South Africa.
The NEW YORK TIMES seems to have grasped this, and notes that all of the goodwill Mexico earned yesterday could be lost if they can’t beat the Americans in August. The U.S. is 0-22-1 all-time in Mexico, but a win by the Americans would be devastating to the hosts, who are fourth in the qualifying group (only the top three automatically make the World Cup). The U.S. is currently in second place behind Costa Rica.
• Lou Holtztook a Notre Dame alumni team over to Japan, where he coached them to a 19-3 win over the Japanese national team. No word on whether or not “Dr. Lou” made an appearance on Japanese television.
• Dwyane Wade is tweeting to Lamar Odom, trying to coax him down to Miami. What he doesn’t seem to realize is that a bag of Jolly Ranchers will do the trick.
• French president Nicolas Sarkozy can’t stand the heat. Literally. He collapsed while jogging yesterday in Paris, but he’s going to be just fine. Which means we can run this picture of his wife without any guilt:
If we were to tell you that Lou Holtz is doing something very weird, you’d probably think something like, “Oh God, he’s dishing out sex advice on those “Dr. Lou” segments, isn’t he? Oh, and it’s terrible advice, like ‘chicks who have been to prison will do anal,’ isn’t it? It was only a matter of time.” But no, this news is weirder than that. He has taken to the Internet to announce that he’s returning to coaching. And recruiting old Notre Dame players to play as Notre Dame. To play against Japan. In outer space*.
(Wait, this is real?)
WITH LEATHER, which last I checked doesn’t even sell leather, has the bizarre story. It looks like there’s some Notre Dame alumni meeting in Tokyo**, and to mark the occasion, Lou Holtz is bringing over a bunch of the Golden Domers to play an exhibition football game against some Japanese all-star team. But little do they know… Japanese football is actually this! Well, okay, no it isn’t.
There’s a particularly surreal video of Dr. Lou trying to recruit these alumni, via YouTube, after the break. Read more…
What words of wisdom could the coach be bestowing on his throngs of millions of fans? Submit your suggestions in the comments section listed below. Winner will be announced in the end-of-the-day recap.
Good luck! And Rece Davis could only hope to ever be so stylin’.
