Wednesday Football Two-A-Days

Um, Coach Tressel, it's the NCAA on line one, for YOU.

The Longest Tenured Falcon Will Not Be Back

Last week, the Falcons announced some fairly regular for this time of year roster moves. They re-signed a back-up offensive lineman, Will Svitec, and believe it or not, a back-up punter, Ken Parrish. The team also announced that CB Brian Williams, whose Falcons career started off so well before he was hurt in the middle of the 2009 season (likely costing the team a few wins and a playoff shot), will not be back. The big news however, is about the other player the team announced would not be back: WR Brian Finneran.

Finneran has been on the team since 2000, and is, or was, by far, the longest-tenured Falcon. Finn has seen it all in Atlanta: the end of the Dan Reeves Era, the beginning brilliance of Mike Vick’s first two seasons as a starter (with that one, Vick-injured season in the middle), the Little Jimmy Mora Era of Disarray and the mediocrity of Mike Vick’s last two seasons, the fallout from the Vick’s despicable and sociopathic off-field pursuits, and the rebirth of the team under Thomas Dimitroff, Mike Smith, and Matt Ryan.

Finneran, a Philly kid from the tiny school of Villanova, was drafted by his hometown Eagles in 1999, but became a stalwart for the Falcons at WR over his career. His first few years were marred by untimely drops, like dropping a sure-fire touchdown that would have beaten Green Bay in Lambeau during the first game of the 2002 season, but he quickly turned his situation around, becoming Johnny on the Spot for any QB the Falcons employed during his career, especially on third downs and in the red zone.

What is most impressive about Brian Finneran is how he came back from not one, but two unfortunate knee injuries in 2006 and 2007, and was still able to perform for his team and his teammates. Yes, he was never quite the same, but Finn showed the kind of dedication to team and professionalism towards fans not often seen in today’s culture of the jaded athlete. In the offseason, Finneran has also become a beloved voice on local sports talk radio, offering keen insights into football, yes, but also into different sports, showing him to be an intelligent, all-around sportsman.

Finneran probably caught a bit of a reprieve this past season, as the WR drafted to be his replacement, Kerry Meier, suffered a season-ending knee injury of the type Finn knows only too-well, and he made the most of his limited time on the field, catching 3 touchdown passes from amongst his 19 receptions. Finneran never had a 1000 yard receiving season, playing as he did with Mike Vick during his formative years, but he was reliable and hard-working, and a great teammate and locker room presence for the Falcons.

Finn will be missed by his coaches, teammates, and fans alike. I wish him well in his next endeavor, which I know will be a success. Thank you for your dedication and efforts as an Atlanta Falcon, Brian. Wherever you go, you will always be appreciated and find a home waiting for you in Atlanta.

Ohio State's Arrogance Will Finally Be Its Undoing

Jim Tressel lied to the NCAA about when he knew about five of his players committing NCAA infractions revolving around the selling of personal team effects for profit. He told the NCAA, and the rest of the country via a press conference in December that he did not know anything about anything until December.

This past weekend we found out, thanks to a brilliant report by Yahoo Sports, that Tressel knew 8 months prior to that date in April, and he did not immediately report the wrong-doing as he is compelled to do by his contract and simple ethics. He sat on the information, and if any further digging is done, we might find out that he tried to cover up the wrongdoing. Tressel lied to a country of college football fans, he lied to the administration of his university, and he lied to the NCAA. And yet, for the magnitude of his lie, Jim Tressel was given a slap on the wrist by Ohio State in an attempt to show the NCAA they can police their own problems, no further punishment needed.

Bruce Pearl also lied to the NCAA once upon a time. The head coach of Tennessee’s men’s basketball team, Pearl lied to the NCAA regarding his recruiting practices while at Marquette, and for his lies, Tennessee saw fit to suspend Pearl from the first half of the SEC basketball schedule (8 games) and docked his pay about 1.5 MILLION per year, not some measly drop in the bucket. Bruce Pearl paid a heavy price in games missed and in the wallet for his lie.

What did Ohio State, of the “upstanding” Big-10 Conference do to punish Jim Tressel? A slap on the wrist consisting of a fine of $250,000, amounting to chump-change for one of the best-paid coaches in college football, and a two-game suspension at the beginning of the year against Akron and Toledo. This punishment for Tressel is an absolute joke compared to what the Tennessee did to Bruce Pearl for the same offense: lying to the NCAA. Big surprise that once again, the SEC does something better than the Big-10. Usually it is on the football field, but now the SEC is beating the Big-10 in justice, too.

In fact, the most galling part of this minor spanking is that Tressel misses two games, while his players miss five. How in the hell is that justice? Tressel and Ohio State's arrogance in last night's press conference was palpable, both parties refusing to actually admit to any wrongdoing. Lame excuses were proffered, and cringe-worthy jokes were made (by Gordon Gee) instead.

Jim Tressel, once again, escapes any kind of real punishment, for the time being. I say once again, because somehow, like John Calipari, wrongdoing seems to follow Jim Tressel like hippies follow Phish. At Youngstown State there was malfeasance being done in his program that somehow never stuck to Tressel in the national media. Of course, everyone remembers the scandals involving Maurice Clarret, Troy Smith, and now the five players Tressel blackmailed to coming back for their senior years, including his starting quarterback.

We were to believe that all of these instances of wrongdoing occurred right underneath Tressel’s nose, without his knowledge. That sounds like a man who does not have institutional control of any football program he has coached, does it not? If we were to take a common sense approach, and apply logic to Jim Tressel’s legacy of wrongdoing, we could postulate that maybe the Sweater Vest has had far more knowledge of the violations in his football programs than we were led to believe. Now that he has been caught lying, it is time we stop believing his claims of ignorance.

Here is the good thing: we will not have to postulate for much longer, because the NCAA is coming. They are coming for Jim Tressel and Ohio State just as assuredly as they came after USC and Alabama. The NCAA is probably as stunned about the limp punishment issued by OSU President Gordon Gee to Tressel as the rest of us are, and that will make their investigation that more focused.

No more striking compromises with the NCAA, Ohio State, as you did shortly before this year’s Sugar Bowl. Your arrogance has finally caught up with you. It doesn’t matter who you have your in corner (Jim Delany), you won’t be protected this time. You called down the thunder, well now you got it!

Today in History

On 09 March 1454, Amerigo Vespucci is born in Florence, Italy. Vespucci is of course important because two continents and one world super power bear the feminized version of his Latinized first name.

Amerigo was a cartographer who was a member of two post-Columbus ocean-crossing voyages for Portugal that made the serendipitous discovery of Brazil (though he would later claim 2 additional voyages that remain unverified). Amerigo helped to map out, or begin to map out the eastern coast of what would become South America. Vespucci wrote letters to speak to the new discoveries, and he wrote them in Latin, using the name Americus Vespucius, so educated people throughout Europe could understand them. These letters were reprinted and became widespread throughout Europe, and when mapmaker Martin Waldseemüller printed the first map for general use, he named the continent using the feminized name, America (a common practice at the time; think of Georgia, feminized version of George, my fair state named after the King of England).

So let us raise a glass to Amerigo Vespucci today, and give thanks. I mean, if it weren’t for Amerigo, we could all be living in the United States of Columbia! Bullet: dodged.

TV Dinner

It is March, and for our favorite shows, this month is the start of the beginning of the end. Whether you prefer shows with complex mythologies and drawn-out plot and character arcs, or like the mindless fun of shows without, March is the time when everything begins to wrap up.

Unfortunately for the people who work on Two and Half Men, they are finished now; no more episodes to shoot, no more income to earn. The last thing I want to do is talk about what is going on with Charlie Sheen, who seems to have taken the Tom Cruise train to Crazy Town, without the benefit of worshipping a pedestrian science fiction writer. Yeah, his antics are funny, and if you go for hedonism, his life sounds fun (except the hangovers must be massive), but there are people who are not celebrities, who do not act in front of the cameras, but rather operate those cameras, who are suffering the highest toll for what has transpired in the last two weeks.

Charlie Sheen has more money than he obviously knows what to do with, and the other actors like Jon Cryer will be absolutely fine. The people behind the camera, however, will be losing four episodes worth of pay (the production company for the show, WB Television, will be paying the crew for 4 of the 8 episodes that were cancelled). For crewmembers making a middle class living in the state of California, missing four paychecks was probably not in their budget. Now, with the added stress of not knowing when, or if, the show is coming back, many of these people will of course try to find new jobs, which would adversely affect any comeback attempt CBS tries to make with Two and a Half Men, as the people behind the camera are every bit as important to making a show run as those in front.

I am not picking sides between Chuck Lorre, Charlie Sheen, CBS, or whoever else has a beef with each other. Those people will all be fine, by their own definitions of fine, of course. I do, however, feel for the people working on the crew, who have been pawns in this battle of humongous Hollywood egos. They are the real victims in all of this mess.

Smart Quote

O, what a tangled web we weave, / When first we practice to deceive

Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, 1808

Hey, Check This Out!

This is for all the Ohio State fans out there in denial about what is coming their way.

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