 |
| Florida State logo |
‘Noles nail Tigers in season finale
The NCAA’s rule banning costumed mascots, especially those of Native Americans*, was exempted for Osceola, Florida State’s mounted Seminole warrior, as he led the team into the Rose Bowl for the national championship game against Auburn.
The painted horseman planted his spear near the 50 year line, the team stormed the field, and the ‘Noles, led by freshman Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston, laid claim to the title of “Destiny’s Team,” taking it from the Auburn Tigers, who had won three games with last-second miracle plays this season.
The Tigers were a good squad in 2013, though—the best team Florida State played all year—but it was the Seminoles from the weak ACC who won the title, ending the SEC’s streak of national titles at seven.
And thus ended the misbegotten era of the computer-driven BCS playoff system.
Next year, four teams will be in the playoff mix, even though eight would be better, 16 even better. The lower divisions have brackets that start with as many as sixteen teams.
It’s doable: cut the regular season schedule back to realistic ten or eleven games; cut the two weeks off that some teams take (one is enough); cut the late-season creampuff games that some teams have started scheduling (e.g. Alabama/Chattanooga, Nov. 23); cut the meaningless conference playoff games. Then the playoffs could begin in late November or early December.
In a 16-team format, the playoff teams could be the AP or USA Today Top 16, with #1 playing #16, and #2 playing #15 in the first round and so forth—the same way teams in the NCAA basketball first round regionals are paired.
Probably the only conference playoff game worth watching, the SEC game, would be eliminated, but, at season’s end in 2013, five SEC teams were in the top 16 and could have been playoff bound.
Teams not in the playoffs would still go to bowl games, teams eliminated from the playoffs would still go to bowl games. The bowls would suffer from this arrangement, no doubt, but there are too many bowl games, most of which are just venues for tourism and have nothing to do with standings, ratings or determining a national championship.
At least next year, those final three playoff games with one against four, and two against three, with the winners to play for all the marbles, will add interest to the season finale.
New Sheriff in Austin
 |
| Charlie Strong, head football coach, Texas |
Darrell Royal and Mack Brown will always be the iconic figures of Texas football. Both have achieved sainthood, even though both their tenures ended on a bittersweet note. It was scripted that way.
For football coaches, big time college football has become more and more like a Greek tragedy: a play in which the protagonist, usually a man of importance and outstanding personal qualities, falls to disaster through the combination of a personal failing or circumstances which he cannot control. Add to that, the big salaries and the unrealistic demands of alumni and fans, and the drama has intensified.
Charlie Strong, the new head coach at Texas, will not be there for many years. He is a hired gun, a new sheriff. His mission: recruit speed, develop a defense, win now, win the national championship. Anything less than that and in less than a couple years won’t be tolerated.
Strong is a capable coach. He’ll be able to recruit, he’ll improve the defense (it won’t take much to do that in Austin), and he’ll win. If he wins big and early, he’ll be smart to jump to another university or the pros. Hello SEC, PAC 12, Big 10, NFL. He has a future, but Austin will only be a stepping-stone to it.
Not everybody onboard
Strong’s hiring has drawn fire from disgruntled boosters who envisioned a more deliberate process.
According to ESPN, “Longtime booster Red McCombs is not a fan of Texas decision to hire coach Charlie Strong away from Louisville, calling it a kick in the face.
“’I think the whole thing is a bit sideways,’ McCombs said of the selection process during an interview with ESPN 1250 San Antonio. ‘I don't have any doubt that Charlie is a fine coach. I think he would make a great position coach, maybe a coordinator. But I don't believe [he belongs at] what should be one of the three most powerful university programs in the world right now at UT-Austin. I don't think it adds up.’”
Combs had lobbied for Texas to hire former NFL coach and ESPN analyst Jon Gruden and said, “I don't know what the big rush was. I was kind of pleased that [Texas athletic director Steve] Patterson already said that he'd like to get it done in the middle of January. That seemed logical to me. I'm a team player, but I think they went about it wrong and made the selection wrong."
Big bidness
Texas named its McCombs School of Business after the benefactor, and he has a statue inside Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. McCombs has donated more than $100 million to UT and is a close friend to Mack Brown.
DDT’s advice to Strong: “Have fun. It’s not reality. It’s big-time college football, a big-budget movie scripted like a Greek tragedy, and your character gets killed in the end, anyway—you know that—so enjoy it, and take the money and run, man. Take the money.”
 |
| J. Football |
Johnny Manziel, aka Johnny Football, the copyrighted quarterback for the Texas State Boys and Girls Home for Farmers and Mechanics these past two years, has, to no one’s surprise, announced his candidacy for the NFL draft.
J. Football is probably the most over-hyped player in the history of the game, and all the miracles of special effects and high-tech digital technology were brought to bear again—proving the point—during his recent bowl game against Duke.
DDT watched the game from a beer joint in Terlingua, where a large screen TV provided patrons with a silent view of the contest. Watching without the benefit of sound gives the game another perspective. What we saw was two teams playing football. On-screen graphics gave the score and time remaining in the game, and cutaway after cutaway, little videoettes, showed Manziel’s formal portrait with action shots of him and captioning to the effect that he was “Johnny Football.” We saw these videos at least a half dozen times.
There were none of other players, just Mr. TD. If you didn’t know what game you were watching, you might have gotten the impression that it was some kind of reality show about one player, with a supporting cast of characters.
Much ado about another player from Kerrville
Several years ago, DDT was a sports announcer and broadcast Kerrville Tivy’s football games on local radio. One year, Tivy, which by coincidence is Johnny Manziel’s high school alma mater, had an outstanding running back by the name of John Shaw. He consistently ripped off big gainers on big play after big play.
At one point, DDT was prompted to say, “It’s the John Shaw Show.” And it was said more than once. This did not sit well with parents of the other players, several of whom expressed their displeasure to our broadcast crew.
We continued to call the games the way we saw them—parents be damned—as Shaw led the Tivy Antlers to many victories.
After seeing the Aggie’s game with Duke in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl and the way the network showcased J. Football, DDT was reminded that sometimes fans and players and parents of other players get tired of seeing one guy get so much publicity and that J. Football’s departure from College Station might be welcomed by some.
However, DDT was hoping he’d come back and, assuming that Kevin Sumlin can put together a defense, something he has never done at either Houston or TAMU, we would get to see if the Ags could stay in the Top 10, displace the powers in the SEC, and make a run at National Gold.
Not to be. Sayonara Mr. Touchdown. But if the Farmers learn to play D, they may be good in 2014, anyway. We'll find out Aug. 28, when they open the new season at South Carolina.
Say it ain’t so Brent, er-uh Kirk, that is Brent
 |
| Left to right, Kirk Herbstreit and Kirk Herbstreit |
The gentleman has a grand sense of humor. Imagine having the juevos to put a national viewing audience on with a switcheroo like that. Kirk was amused, not to mention surprised, as he turned smiling at Brent even though he didn’t respond to the joke. But, he might not have been sure if Kirk, er-uh Brent, was kidding around or was going off his rocker.
This little gag prompted many e-mails to DDT. “Did you hear what I heard, or am I losing it?” wrote a reader.
DDT: No, you’re not losing it, you heard it right.
Now the question becomes, is Brent, er-uh Kirk, that is Brent—whomever—losing it or was he just having us on?
Musberger has long been considered by many as sort of the Walmart greeter of sports announcers. But millions shop at Walmart and millions have heard Brent call the games over the years. Like Walmart, it looks like he’ll be around for a while, even though his producers may have to put his opening, complete with his name, on teleprompter.
* Many Native American groups do not agree that the use of Indian names honors their culture, traditions and fighting spirit. Under pressure from the NCAA, North Dakota dropped the mascot Fighting Sioux,* and others like Stanford and Miami of Ohio are no longer The Indians.
But others like Florida State remain the Seminoles. Central Michigan is still the Chippewas, and Utah remains the Utes. In the case of Florida State, much financial assistance is given to students from the Seminole tribe.
At a recent Taos Pow Wow, DDT took the opportunity to interview several Native Americans who were wearing logo hats and shirts of the Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Indians. None were offended by the use of those nicknames. Obviously. They were wearing them.
According to a Sports Illustrated article, 83% of American Indian respondents to an SI poll said that professional teams (Indians, Braves, Redskins) should NOT stop using Indian nicknames, mascots, or symbols.
Others challenge those findings, and the controversay continues.
But, like or not, the national champions in college football are the Florida State Seminoles.
* North Dakota currently has NO mascot for their athletic teams and state law prohibits them from naming a new one until 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment