Season Wrap Up: Pleasant Surprises & Bitter Disappointments are Now Taking Nominations
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Taking a Look at the Cleveland Browns’ 2011 Opponents
Has the list of people coming into Cleveland to interview for the head coaching position got you down? Why don’t we take a break and look at the Browns’ 2011 opponents? It has to be better than considering Pat Shurmur, Mike Mularkey, or Marty Mornhinweg as the next head coach, right? At first glance, the 2011 schedule has to be easier, even if you just consider that the Browns will be playing the NFC West. Even better, the Browns can finally go a season without playing the Buffalo Bills! Here is the full list of the Browns’ 2011 opponents: Home: [...]
Dawg Pound Daily | A Cleveland Browns Blog
Detroit Lions Expectations: Taking a Deep Breath
Best of 2010: Taking Her (Third) Chance
“Tennis players’ lives should be measured in dog years,” Boris Becker claimed. I think he was pretty young when he said it, but the game did seem to age him very quickly. I’m beginning to think the same should be…
Concrete Elbow by Steve Tignor
The TOB tree is taking over the ACC
Since I’ve been tracking this for a while, it is time again to look back on Tom O’Brien’s first staff. Now in the 12-team ACC 25% of the conference is coached by TOB’s proteges. Now this sort of six degrees game can be played on many coaching staffs, but TOB deserves credit for finding these guys in 1997 and happenstance deserves a little credit for all of them ending up in one conference 13 years later.
Then (1997)
Tom O’Brien. Relatively unknown coordinator from Virginia set to begin his first head coaching job at Boston College.
Frank Spaziani. TOB’s old colleague from Navy and Virginia. Had been in the witness protection program (his own joke) coaching defense in the CFL. TOB brought him back to the States to be his first running backs coach at BC.
Al Golden. BC was Golden’s first official college football job. Amazingly TOB named him recruiting coordinator too. (Can you imagine a BCS program naming a totally untested kid recruiting coordinator now?). But Golden had impressed TOB enough while a GA at Virginia to give him such a crucial role at BC.
Mike London. London had a little more experience than Golden, but it wasn’t screaming “Big Time” job. He had been a position coach at William & Mary and Richmond before TOB gave him his first DIA job working as BC’s defensive line coach.
Now (2010)
Tom O’Brien. After becoming BC’s all-time winningest coach, TOB left to be the head coach at NC State.
Frank Spaziani. Spaz moved from RB to the defensive side of the ball in TOB’s third year. From there he shaped years of successful BC defenses before becoming the head man himself in 2009.
Al Golden. The ever ambitious Golden left BC to head recruiting at Penn State. Then it was onto UVA before becoming a head coach at Temple and now Miami.
Mike London. Like Goldon, London was certainly ambitious and made stops along the way at Virginia and the NFL. He won a national championship at Richmond and is now at Virginia.
I should also note that in 1997 TOB also gave Michigan State Offensive Coordinator Don Treadwell and former BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski their first BCS level jobs.
I don’t know what it says about the ACC or TOB that all these guys got their first big break at the same time. It is also interesting to note that after building his first BC staff with young, aggressive coaches, TOB has stuck with a more mature and loyal staff since.
Your Morning Dump… Where the injuries are taking a toll
Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
Even though the Celtics have won three straight games, the effects of all the ailments can be seen in the second unit. In the win over Toronto, the starters quickly piled up a double-digit lead, but a depleted second team gave it back in the second quarter. When the starters stretched the lead back in the second half, the second unit let the Raptors chip away again.
“It’s unfair, but let’s be unfair for a second,’’ Rivers said. “The first and third quarter, they scored 35 points on our starters. And you can make that case, especially in the third quarter because they played the whole third quarter. The other two quarters were 32 and 34, and that’s our second unit. So that was the only thing I talked about after the game.’’
Similar to last year, injuries have forced players to take on different roles. A year ago, Tony Allen went from second-team defensive stopper to spot-starting for Rondo. This season, Nate Robinson has gone back and forth from starting to backup point guard. Rivers went in with the idea of using Jermaine O’Neal as his starting center, but O’Neal started only the five games that Shaquille O’Neal missed because of his own knee injury.
Globe – Injury problems a familiar blast from past
With two of the top 10 rotation guys out (Delonte West, Jermaine O’Neal – we won’t count Perk until February), it’s not surprising to see bench productivity waning. The problem is… when the productivity of the second unit decreases, Doc is forced to increase the minutes of his starters. Something no one wants to see (especially John).
Delonte’s versatility was going to allow Doc to reduce the minutes of both Rondo and Ray Allen – two guys averaging more than 40 mpg. Now he’ll have to lean on Von Wafer and Avery Bradley, in spots. We also hope Jermaine O’Neal returns before Semih Erden’s shoulder falls apart.
While the situation isn’t dire, it’s clearly not desirable.
On Page 2, the controversial bump between LeBron James and Erik Spoelstra.
Did a frustrated LeBron James go out of his way to bump Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra during the Heat’s loss to Dallas Mavericks Saturday night?
Or did a ticked-off Spoelstra deliberately try to walk through the King — sending a message both to his unhappy superstar and disappointing 9-8 team?
The third quarter incident happens after another defensive breakdown by the Heat. Spoelstra comes on to the court. James walks toward the bench. Neither man tries to avoid the other. They bump. Hard.
Maybe it’s a deliberate push by one, the other, or both. Or maybe they’re both so frustrated they’re not paying attention. Either way, the Heat called a players-only meeting after the loss.
All together now… Bahahahahahahaha!
The rest of the links:
Herald – Cs strength is inside | ESPN Boston – Avery Bradley keeps positive attitude | Taunton Gazette – Shaq has been entertaining and effective | Globe – Aiming to comfort sick kids, Boston pros make rounds |
What exactly should a football recruit expect when taking an official visit?
This article was written by George Dohrmann of Sports Illustrated and I found it posted on a message board (Click here for that article). In the article, wide receiver Marvin Jones from California (Class of 2008) does a player diary throughout the course of an official visit to California. This is a good look at how college coaches pull out all the stops when they have top rated prospects in for visits. While everyone taking official visits will not have the exact same experience, this is a look at what it is like to be a highly sought after athlete. This is obviously an older article but it is worth a read regardless.
Senior WR Marvin Jones of Etiwanda High (CA), who is rated #14 in the nation at his position by Rivals, narrowed his college choices to Cal and Oregon. The 6′2, 185-pound speedster was all-state as a junior, and this season has 46 receptions for 593 yards and four touchdowns for the Eagles (3-3). Jones made his official visit to Oregon on September 29 – “I liked it even more than I thought I would,” he says – and went to Cal last Saturday. Heres how his trip to Berkeley went.
SATURDAY, 5 AM: Jones and his father, Marvin Sr., depart their house in Fontana to catch a flight out of Ontario International Airport.
9:30 AM: They are met at Oakland International Airport by Cal recruiting assistants Andrew McGraw and Kevin Parker and driven in a Suburban to the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. After checking into his room, Jones is taken to the Doubletree Hotel near the Oakland marina, where the Cal players stay the night before home games.
10:15 AM: Jones meets wide receivers coach Dan Ferrigno, and they walk along the marina. “We were looking across at the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge, and Coach Ferrigno was just telling me about himself and where he’d coached before,” Jones recalls.
11 AM: After a brief chat with junior wideout DeSean Jackson, Jones joins the Bears for their pregame meal in one of the hotel ballrooms. “Man, it was a lot of good food,” Jones says. “Chicken and pasta and potatoes.”
NOON: At a team meeting, coach Jeff Tedford introduces Jones, the only visiting recruit, and shows a video. “It was meant to get everyone hyped,” Jones says. “It was all the big plays and big hits from the season.”
1 PM: Parker drives Jones to Memorial Stadium. On a balcony above the entrance, they watch fans greet the players as they walk from the bus into the stadium, a tradition at Cal known as the March to Victory.
1:45 PM: Jones visits the equipment room, where a manager has laid out on a table all the gear that a Bears player receives – and each piece of this equipment is branded with a 3, Jones’ number. The manager describes to Jones the new jersey design that Cal will wear next year. “A mix of old school and new school,” Jones says. “Real nice.”
2:30 PM: Parker gives Jones a tour of the library, then brings him to the stadium in time to hear Tedford’s pregame speech. The coach’s message: Don’t underestimate Oregon State.
5:15 PM: Jones watches the first half from the 6th row of the stands opposite the Bear’s bench. At halftime he visits Tedford’s private skybox, where he meets athletic director Sandy Barbour and eats -in order- chicken, steak, a chicken kabob, steak, shrimp, cupcakes, and candy. He returns to the stands for the second half.
7:45 PM: After the unranked Beavers hold off a last-second attempt by Cal to send the game into overtime, upsetting the #2 Bears 31-28, Jones visits the locker room to hear Tedford console his team. Jones then meets his player-host, freshman wide receiver Michael Calvin.
8:15 PM: Jones and Calvin relax in the player’s dorm room. “It’s important that the rooms aren’t too small,” Jones says. “These rooms were big. It was more like an apartment.”
10 PM: The two meet a group of Calvin’s friends at a dorm party with the theme All Black, meaning that everyone had to be decked out in that color. “I was wearing a black shirt, which was just luck,” Jones says. “It wasn’t a big party, but it was cool.”
SUNDAY
1:30 AM: Jones arrives back at his hotel and goes to sleep.
9:20 AM: Ferrigno wakes up Jones and takes him to the stadium. They go to the coach’s video room and review footage of Cal’s pass routes and talk about how Jones would fit into the offense “Coach Ferrigno talked about things I could do now to make myself better,” Jones says.
10 AM: Jones and his father meet Tedord in his office. Tedford speaks about the value of a Cal degree; they talk about what Jones is looking for in a school. Afterward, the following conversation occurs.
Tedford: “When are you thinking about making a decision?” Jones: “In my mind, I know the decision. I want to come here.” Tedford: “So, when are you going to make a final decision?” Jones: “I just made it.” Tedford: “Is this a commit?” Jones: “Yes.” Tedford: “Wow, That just made this weekend a whole lot better.” 10:30 AM: Tedford leads Jones out of his office and announces to the waiting Farrigno, “We got a Bear here!”
11 AM: Jones returns to the hotel, eats brunch (”Seven hours later I was still full from that meal,” he says) and meets with Mark Jensen, director of football student-athlete development. “We went over my grades and talked about what I needed to do to make sure I could get admitted to Cal,” Jones says. “Mark played at Cal, so he could answer questions I had about being a student and a football player there.”
1:30 PM: On the way to the airport, Parker stops at a Cal university store, where Jones buys 3 sweatshirts, 3 t-shirts, sweatpants, and a bumper sticker.
2:05 PM: Jones boards his flight, arriving home at 5 pm.
Lasting Impression: “I visited Oregon and I like it, but it rains a lot there and it’s farther away from my family. Cal just felt like home. It was where I felt like I could have a good relationship with my teammates and with Coach Ferrigno.”
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