Losing Football - Reading Between the Lines
It has been said that without losers, there wouldn"t be winners. That may be true, but it was a loser that said it. The grass is cut, lines painted and fields marked off. The Gatorade is in the cooler and the beer is chilling! (They occasionally mix up the two in Lincoln.) Hope abounds on football fields across this great land - just waiting for the downpour of reality to swamp the optimism of late summer. This is the time for fans and alumni to start believing that this is their year - the year their school sheds the embarrassment of losing in the NCAA"s top football division. Some of the downtrodden would settle for a single win against a decent opponent.
It s Time For College Football Again!
Today is an exciting day for college football fans. If you"re like me, you can"t get enough of the pre-season hype from ESPN and other media as the professional analysts attempt to be prophetic about the outcome of the season. I had to laugh recently when I watched Lou Holtz and others attempting to make a prediction about who would win the national championship game between USC and LSU, as if the game between the two teams was already scheduled. The national championship game is four months away. With a full season of football ahead of us, anything can happen. The outcome of the college football season is a permutation that includes so many unmeasureable and unpredictable factors, such as a team"s motivation for any particular game, injuries, clutch coaching decisions, referee calls, and so much more.
A New Season for Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys
Tony Romo"s 2006 season with the Dallas Cowboys didn"t end on a good note, to say the least. Cowboys" fans everywhere, and Tony Romo himself, are hoping that things will be different this year and that the memory of last season"s first round play-off game will soon become a very distant memory.Despite intriguing some scouts, Tony Romo out of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, went undrafted in the 2003 NFL Draft. The Cowboys subsequently signed him as an undrafted rookie free agent. Romo bided his time behind quarterback greats Vinny Testaverde and Drew Bledsoe. Although having had strong showings in the 2005 and 2006 pre-seasons, Tony Romo was barely on the radar when he took to the field last year with the Cowboys.
Fantasy Football Stock Watch - Joseph Addai RB IND Colts
Entering the 2007 football season, Colts RB Joseph Addai's name has been a hot topic among fantasy drafters. As with any fantasy football draft, RB's dominate the first two rounds and Addai will be one of many chosen among that group. The question that concerns Addai is: How high do you draft him?? and is he a true number one back? The answer to the latter question is easy so let's get that one out of the way. Yes Addai is a number 1 fantasy back who has the talent to put up good to great numbers in his second year in the league. The former question is where it gets tricky. As far as yours truly is concerned, I believe that Joseph Addai is the fifth best back in fantasy football and should be drafted no lower than that spot.
Fantasy Football Stock Watch - Tom Brady QB NE
The addition of WR Randy Moss by the New England Patriots was without a doubt the biggest offseason transaction in the league. With the Patriots being underminned by a struggling passing game in 2006, the New England front office made it a point to go out into the free agent market and address this need. The signings of WR's Wes Welker, Donte' Stallworth, and Kelly Washington surely brought a smile to the face of QB Tom Brady. The trade for Randy Moss from Oakland probably caused Brady to jum up and down on couches(a la Tom Cruise). All in all, the New England Patriots now have an incredible amount of weapons at their disposal for the passing game and has made the team the favorite to be Super Bowl champions.
A Story From The Stands - What Have Former Nebraska Football Players Learned From The Game - Tolly
HOW TO LIGHT A ROCKET Tommie Frazier may not have known the dentist working on his teeth was a Nebraska football legend, too. Both of these men were quarterbacks. Both had a part in big winning steaks. Tommie and team created one of the longest winning streaks in NCAA history and Dr. Harry Tolly and team ended the longest winning steak in conference history. "October 31, 1959 wasn't a very nice day--kind of a rainy and dreary day, " Dr. Tolly said "It was also Homecoming and Halloween." Oklahoma got the ball first and took it right down the field and scored. Most folks expected that, " he says as a smile comes across his face. "The fans didn't expect us to do the same thing.
A Story From The Stands - What Have Former Nebraska Football Players Learned From The Game - Rohrig
THE PRICELESS GIFT "That was the most perfectly formed wall I had ever seen, " said Herman Rohrig about the wall that formed on the punt return that broke Nebraska's back and heart in the 1941 Rose Bowl game. "We always punted for the sidelines but Stanford set up it perfectly and ran it back. Before that, we had them on the run." "We felt really bad about the loss but Coach Biff Jones told us not to get down. We played a good game." That's one of the lessons Rohrig learned from the game. "Life is like football. Sometimes you lose and football teaches you about winning and losing." He has put those lessons to good use. Nebraska's star high school back almost went to Colorado State.
Michael Vick is Done
It is official; Michael Vick is done with the rest of the NFL season. After deferring to his attorneys, the NFL quarterback has decided to accept a plea deal regarding the dog fighting operation. Vick will be spending at least ten months in jail for his actions. It was fairly obvious that Vick was headed to prison after a significant amount of incriminating evidence was found against him. The defense attorney (Lawrence Woodward) for Michael Vick stated, "Mike's accepting full responsibility. He's going to do everything he can personally and professionally to make this situation right." Another one of Michael"s lawyers (Billy Martin) went on to say, "After consulting with his family over the weekend, Michael Vick asks that I announce today that he has reached an agreement with federal prosecutors regarding the charges pending against him.
A Story From The Stands - What Have Former Nebraska Football Players Learned From The Game - McCord
Nebraska fans love defense, especially hard-hitting dominating defense. That's the kind of defense that makes a soft-spoken Fairbury farmer smile. His name is Jim McCord and he knows a little about dominating defense. "When Jim Ross and his wife came down to see me in 1964, I was ready to sign to play at Nebraska, " McCord said The talented Fairbury prospect had other offers. "Kansas State wanted me but they were not very good and I wanted to play in Lincoln." In the late 1960's Nebraska was playing great defense and one of the most famous defensive players in Nebraska history was also one of Nebraska's leading scorers. "I played next to Wayne Meylan, " McCord said as he remembered those days.
A Story From The Stands - What Have Former Nebraska Football Players Learned From The Game - Janssen
THE BALLAD OF AN UNSUNG HERO If you are a devout Husker fan, get out your tape of the 1972 National Championship game with Alabama. Fast foreword to the last play of the first quarter and you"ll find Johnny Rodgers galloping down the field for a 77 yard Nebraska touchdown. Watch carefully as the wall forms and three Husker defensive linemen take out seven Alabama players and spring Johnny for another of his famous "put "em in the aisles" runs. But today isn"t Johnny"s day. It belongs to one of those three linemen. His number was 55 and his name is Bill Janssen. Bill didn"t get to finish that game because he sprained an ankle in the second quarter. Janssen came to Nebraska from Red River High School in Grand Forks, North Dakota.