Paul’s Blog

At long last, the 2010 College Football Season kicked off Thursday night. In a tune-up for their big game against Ohio State, the Miami Hurricanes hosted the Football Championship Division (formerly Division 1-AA) Florida A&M Rattlers. Despite some early lapses on defense that allowed the Rattlers to keep drives alive, the Canes were solid in all phases of the game and posted a 45-0 shutout. J12, Miami’s Heisman candidate, Jacory Harris, was sharp, completing 12 of 15 passes for 3 touchdowns and, more importantly, no interceptions.

Two of Harris’s touchdowns went to senior wideout Leonard Hankerson, who scored on receptions of 19 and 40 yards in the first quarter. Hankerson looks poised to have a big year as offensive coordinator Mark Whipple’s offense is off to a great start.

The Canes looked more focused than in years past where they might not have dominated the game so thoroughly. Hopefully this will translate into exceptional performances against more formidable opponents. Miami runs an early season gauntlet against Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Clemson, and their bitter rivals, the Florida State Seminoles. If they come out of that slate unscathed, they could be in a position to challenge for their 6th National Championship.

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Jack Tatum passed away on July 27, 2010 at the age of 61. His reputation as the hardest hitting player of his era was well deserved as several of his hits on opposing receivers and running backs are still talked about today. About what other player, with the possible exception of Lawrence Taylor, can this be said?

The hit on Sammy White in the Superbowl sent White’s helmet flying upfield in such a manner that a woman sitting next to Al Davis exclaimed, “He’s lost his head!” The oft-rerun hit on Earl Campbell at the goal line when both players were basically knocked out on the play. The hit on Riley Odom in which witnesses swore Odom’s eyes rolled back into his head. And finally, the infamous Darryl Stingley hit that broke two of Stingley’s vertebrae and paralyzed him for life.

Tatum wrote one of the first football memoirs I ever read, They Call Me Assassin.
I was fascinated by the inside look at pro football and, even today, Tatum’s no-holds-barred evaluations of his fellow NFL players stands alone for his willingness to be blunt and honest. He reserves a great deal of scorn for the Raiders’ bitter rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Franco Harris is characterized as a big wimp, Jack Lambert overrated, and Lynn Swann a faker of head injuries. You won’t see any recent football books making these kinds of observations as players today are far too afraid of offending others in the “fraternity”.

Stingley never forgave Tatum for not coming to see him in the hospital and wrote about his bitterness at length in his book Happy To Be Alive. Tatum expresses regret over what happened to Stingley, but attributes much of the blame to the rules of the game that encourage the kinds of hits that caused Stingley’s injury. Tatum goes over many of the rules of the time (1978) and suggests changes such as outlawing pump faking and the quick slant. Much has been done since that fateful play to protect NFL players, so much that some people complain that the game is no longer violent enough. Due to these changes and the changes in the attitude of today’s players, we will never again see the like of Jack “The Assassin” Tatum.

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The Los Angeles Lakers defeated their bitter rivals, the Boston Celtics, in a heart stopping game 7 of the NBA Finals to win their 16th title. Despite a poor game from series MVP Kobe Bryant (6 for 24 from the field), the rest of the Lakers picked up the slack, most notably Ron Artest. Artest, who is flaky at the best of times, played effective defense on Paul Pierce and with one minute to go, unleashed a perfect 3 point shot that put the game on ice. After the game, Ron Ron gave the best post game interview in sports history, thanking his psychiatrist and talking about how he heard Phil’s voice in his head telling him not to shoot. He also found time to plug his new single, “Champion”.

Gasol hit a key shot down the stretch and Derek Fisher nailed a 3 that tied the game at 64 as the Lakers came back from being down 13 points at the 8 minute mark of the third quarter. The game ended in a flurry of 3’s as Wallace, Pierce, and Rondo all hit big shots to keep it close. In the end, two free throws by much maligned Sasha Vujacic provided the winning margin. While Kobe couldn’t score, he played tough D on Rondo and hauled in 15 rebounds. After averaging 28.6 points per game for the series, Bryant was awarded the Finals MVP award to go with his fifth NBA Championship.

Depending in the health and whim of head coach Phil Jackson (now the proud owner of 11 rings as coach), the Lakers may be a contender next year and for some time to come. Kobe, Gasol, Artest, and Lamar Odom are all signed for the next few years. The key will be the Zen Master — if Phil decides to tough out another year upon his courtside throne, he could end up with 4 threepeats, a feat almost certainly not to be duplicated.

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The Ringside For Youth Event, held every year in Ottawa to benefit the Boys and Girls Club, had heavyweight champion Smokin’ Joe Frazier as their special guest this year. While the years have been hard on the champ, he was nothing short of gracious when interacting with his fans. As usual, the event organizers put on a fantastic event with great food, entertainment, and amateur boxing.

Smokin’ Joe took a few minutes to sit with me and sign a few things, including this watercolor:

Former heavyweight contender Gerry Cooney was also in attendance. He was especially friendly, working the room and going out of his way to accomodate pictures and autographs. He is a great supporter of the Ringside For Youth event.

The Fight of the Century was one of the rare sports events to actually live up to the hype as Frazier and Ali battled for 15 brutal rounds. Frazier knocked Ali down and became the first man to defeat Ali when he was awarded a unanimous decision.

Click on the images and photos for larger versions. More photos from the event can be seen here.

In a game far more exciting than the final score would indicate, the New Orleans Saints defeated the mighty Indianapolis Colts 31-17 to claim Superbowl XLIV.

The underdog Saints looked the part in the first quarter as the Colts marched up and down the field to take a 10-0 lead. However, Saints QB Drew Brees found his rhythm in the second quarter and incredibly ended up completing 29 of his next 32 throws (he finished 32 of 39 for the game). The Saints held the ball for all but 6 plays in the second quarter and scored 2 field goals to make the halftime score 10-6.

Coming out of the half, Saints’ coach Sean Payton made possibly the gutsiest call in Superbowl history as he went for the onsides kick. After careening off Hank Baskett, the ball nestled into the hands of a Saints player and Brees led them to a touchdown (on a weaving catch and run by Pierre Thomas) and a 13-10 lead. The Colts responded with a 76 yard touchdown drive of their own to retake the lead 17-13. Brees led another drive and the Saints kicked a field goal to draw within 17-16 at the end of the third quarter.

Manning led a drive that ended in a missed 51-yard field goal and the Saints responded with a short 59 yard drive for the go ahead TD (on a pass to former Miami Hurricane Jeremy Shockey) followed by a two-pointer conversion to lead 24-17. And this is where it got interesting. With 5:42 left in the game, Manning had the ball and a chance to tie. He negotiated the ball down to the New Orleans 31 and it looked like the first overtime in Superbowl history was imminent. For Manning and Colts, it was not to be as his next pass was intercepted by Tracy Porter of the Saints and returned 74 yards for the insurance TD that put Superbowl XLIV in the history books.

After this win and his spectacular performance, Superbowl MVP Drew Brees must now be mentioned with the “elite” quarterbacks in the NFL. As for Manning, how does this devastating loss affect his legacy? He is certainly one of the great quarterbacks to ever play the game, but he has only a single title to show for it (of course, Dan Marino and Dan Fouts have zero). To some extent he should probably be considered a modern day parallel to John Elway. Elway led what were clearly subpar teams to the Superbowl largely on the basis of his tremendous talent alone. The Broncos of the 80’s had an slightly above average defense, but no running game or spectacular receivers. The latter Colts fall into this category (especially as Reggie Wayne’s skills diminish). What would the Colts’ record be if Manning were not under center? Would they have even made the playoffs, let alone appeared in the Superbowl? Are players like Wayne, Pierre Garcon, Dallas Clark, and Austin Collie great players or does Manning make them look great? Look how easily they plugged Garcon and Collie in this year and how productive they were. The Colts finished last in the NFL in rushing. As always, given two weeks to prepare, an NFL coaching staff will find a way to take a one dimensional team and neutralize that dimension (see Marino, Dan, Superbowl XIX and Brady, Tom, Superbowl XLI). After getting a taste of the Colts’ offense in the first quarter, the Saints’ defense allowed only 7 more points the rest of the way.

So the New Orleans Saints are the NFL champions for 2009. Hopefully, they will have recovered from what is sure to be an epic celebration in time for the start of the 2010 season.

Click on the image for a larger version. Pencil on Strathmore sketch paper.