Red Tape Ball

The final straw that defines the change in the game was in the BCS National Championship game as Colt McCoy injured his shoulder minutes into the title game and never returned.

During a regular season NFL football game while with the Packers Brett Favre threw a touchdown pass than was not allowed to return to the field of play as it was determined he suffered a concussion two plays prior to his scoring pass.

David "Deacon" Jones a star for the "Fearsome Foursome" that spread terror on the gridiron in the 60's explained how he dealt with concussions........smelling salts, a nasal clearing super lemon scent that could wake a bear from hibernation. None of these ancient remedies anymore, not a chance as pimple faced trainers now determine the toughness of a player. Ronnie Lott would never have listened to a trainer on how to play football nor would Jack Youngblood.

Lott busted up his finger so bad prior to a playoff game had doctors cut his finger off rather than miss out on the experience of another run to the Super Bowl and Lott's bust now sits in the Hall of Fame. A steep price for the Lombardi trophy but when you want something so bad you pay the price of a bodily extremity that is how the great ones are made.

It's a shame, Colt McCoy the four year starter with more wins than any other quarterback in the century old history of college football couldn't throw the ball but a simple Willis Reed running of a few plays could have inspired his teammates to get tough in their 2nd quarter lapse that saw Alabama not only take the lead but blow it up based on Longhorn panic. Instead Colt will have to live with the fact he listened to guys that live to be cautious debating on whether to cut through the red tape rather than achieve greatness.

Sports icons play through the pain. Even Tiger Woods with a broken leg and torn ACL played through a 90 holes of walking the links and hitting hundreds of golf balls to win the US Open. Tiger was advised not to play and now he has further cemented his legend as arguably the greatest and certainly the toughest athlete to ever play the PGA. It's an accomplishment just to be considered an athlete while playing golf.

Luckily Tiger was able to just play golf with a broken leg and torn ACL. Jack Youngblood never thought of listening to the trainers when they suggested he sit out the 1979 NFC Championship game after breaking his leg a week earlier against the Dallas Cowboys. No Way! Youngblood told the trainers, "tape up the leg, tape it tight, we'll worry about it later!". Jack went on to play a stellar game inspiring his teammates to pull off a road upset against the favored Tampa Bay Buccaneers sending the then Los Angeles Rams to the Super Bowl.

Youngblood would go on and play a second game with a taped up fractured tibula on the exact same field where Colt submitted to his trainers in the Rose Bowl. How he played amazed his Ram teammates who understood his toughness, character and desire. Youngblood was quoted on why he played the two games with such an excruciating injury, ""The reason you do those kinds of things, or attempt to do those kinds of things, it wasn't just another football game," Youngblood said. "It's significant. Those opportunities to play in championship games are few and far between."


What must Jack Youngblood be thinking after watching Colt take the game off with a hurt shoulder? It's not that Colt is soft but he is a product of the red tape that has softened society and made the world all about caution, red tape, and fear of living on the edge for the sheltered life. It was one chance Colt, you have to live with not knowing if you could have helped your teammates, the trainers will remember this moment as the precedence for the future as they are empowered to tell ball players if they can play or not. All the work that Jack Youngblood and Ronnie Lott put into letting trainers in on the brink of extinction when Colt gave up his moment in history to prove he was a winner when he bowed to the wishes of the pimple faced trainers.

Just off the California coastline as his gym just off of Huntington Harbor Jack Youngblood must be rolling his eyes at today's players ruled by red tape rather than toughness, guts, heart and the desire to be a champion!



Desire:
"You learnt that, whatever you are doing in life, obstacles don't matter very much. Pain or other circumstances can be there, but if you want to do a job bad enough, you'll find a way to get it done.".....................Jack Youngblood

Another College Football Season in the Books

The college football season started out with a bang as LaGarrette Blount jabbed Byron Houk of Boise State and the season ended with Colt McCoy playing for an NFL career. Who can blame the Colt? Literally, Colt could make millions if he becomes a starting quarterback in the NFL. Even as a back up he will pull in just under a million bucks a year for the next 15 years. Ask former Heisman Trophy winners Ty Detmer and Troy Smith. A back up NFL QB is not a bad way to go in life. Even without Colt the Longhorns were more than game nearly pulling off the upset. Forget the final score which looks like a blowout the Longhorns were one bad shovel pass away from potentially changing the outcome of the college football season with a back up 18 year old baby faced QB.

Give credit though to Alabama. They minimized the damage to their first quarter mistakes and they took full advantage of the Longhorn mistakes converting Texas turnovers into touchdowns. Give credit also to Boise State. The Broncos completed another undefeated season. Their second unblemished record in the past four years. The Smurf turf kings were also one point away from from having three unblemished records in the past four years thanks to the Poinsettia Bowl loss to the TCU Horned Frogs which they avenged their loss on the big stage this year in the Valley of the Sun.

With all the fine finishes in the NCAA by teams like Alabama, Florida, and Ohio State plus a very game performance by the Longhorns of the lone star state the team that scares the bejeezies out of the rest of the NCAA resides in Idaho. It's time teams start to recognize Boise State as an elite program despite playing the the WAC and start playing home and home battles on the Smurf Turf. Boise State whipped their best competition in 11th ranked Oregon and 6th ranked TCU, now its time for some non-conference battles versus the best of the best. I am sure the Broncos would have no problem doing home and homes with Florida or Georgia two teams they have taken road trips to play this decade and were soundly whooped. Those were games while Boise was still building its name. Now the Broncos are getting top talent from California and dominating the Rocky Mountain states for the best recruits. Former Broncos coach though recruiting was going to be easier at Colorado but he is losing out to his former employer for the top recruits of the region. Don't expect the Broncos to have much of a fall-off in coming years. In the words of former Iowa Head Coach Hayden Frye when asked in during his first year after the 1981 Rose Bowl if his team as rebuilding he grunted, "We don't rebuilt anymore, we reload". The Broncos are on the big stage. Recruits want to win are going to Boise State. The Broncos are loaded for 2010!

Ohio State's Rosey Edge

Today's grandaddy of them all in Pasadena is supposed to be the offensive onslaught Ohio State cannot handle with the powerful and speedy Oregon Duck defense. Sportsbook.com has the Ducks listed as a four point favorite and 72% of the public is picking the Ducks to win this game. Furthermore Ohio State is missing three key non-starting contributors in their line up. So it appears Ohio State is looking at their 4th straight BCS beat down.

Unless you analyze the game.

Oregon will be playing their 4th game today on natural grass. Oregon needed some big special teams plays to out duel UCLA the last time the Ducks traveled to Pasadena. The first half of their game with the Bruins it appeared anything could happen and UCLA could hold serve on their home field but the Ducks Kenjon Barner returned the 2nd half kick off 100 yards and followed that up with a returned interception for a touchdown that made up the difference against a team recently struggled to defeat Temple in the Washington DC bowl game.

The Ducks biggest win on grass happened in Tucson, Arizona against the Arizona Wildcats in what was the game of the year in college football with the Ducks prevailing 44-41 in double overtime. The Ducks needed 17 fourth quarter points to catch the Wildcats which on paper looks impressive. Problem here is Arizona had a horrible 4th quarter defense this year gave up 116 fourth quarter and overtime points including 15 against Washington leading to a 4th quarter collapse, 15 to Oregon State in a near 4th quarter comeback, 14 to rival Arizona State leading to another near 4th quarter comeback, 9 to California in a 4th quarter collapse and the big one 30 4th quarter and overtime points in the loss to Oregon. So Oregon's Tucson grass win isn't all that impressive considering they will be facing a much more stout defense that has averaged giving up 12 points a game all season.

Oregon's only other loss on grass they were manhandled by Toby Gearhart and the Stanford offensive line. Stanford hung 51 points on the Ducks while yielding 254 yards on the ground to the Cardinal. Well the Ohio State offensive line is every bit as physical as Stanford's offensive line if not more physical. Everyone knows fast players look fast and scary on the artificial turf but on grass the speed is not quite there plus Ohio State's defense will be the best the Ducks LaMichael James will have played all year. So it's not so much what the Ducks alleged speed burners will do against the Buckeye slow footed behemoths because when you break down the game there is nothing slower on the field than the Oregon offensive linemen who will face a major problem with the Buckeye defensive line that will force Duck quarterback Jeremiah Masoli to become a passer more than a runner.

Forget the 4 points with the Buckeyes. Take the money line on this game as the Buckeyes will put a Stanford like rushing attack on the Ducks and the Ducks will see the best defense they have faced all season in Ohio State. If you have any questions about overall competition which seems to haunt Ohio State. So far this season the Buckeyes has defeated Navy and Wisconsin two bowl team winners while the Ducks have padded their win total with big bowl losers in Arizona, Oregon State, and California all teams that lost by better than two scores in their bowl games.

Final note, Ohio State has lost their last three BCS bowl games. Two of the losses were in the national championship game the toughest game to play. They were blown out in the first half by both Florida and LSU before playing even ball in the 2nd half of both games. Last year's Fiesta Bowl loss to Texas was caused by a strong Ohio State effort and poor tackling by the Longhorns. That's right if Dan "Boom" Herron does not break the tackle in the Buckeyes 4th quarter go ahead touchdown drive with less than two minutes Colt McCoy never gets on the field assuming Aaron Petry kicks the game winning chip shot as time runs out at the Buckeyes celebrate the win. But that is not what happened but it's something to note that the Bucks lost a game they had won and were not blown out. Past year's games mean very little other than one team has been on the big stage win or lose.