After watching a few episodes of Shaq VS this past summer—the sports based, ABC reality series—I’ve come to one conclusion—Shaquille O’Neal is an extraordinary athlete. He has obviously proved his dominance on a basketball court but after watching him lob 30 yard spirals to the end zone, pass and spike on a sand volleyball court, and swim (yes, just the fact that he swims impresses me), I boldly suggest that he may be one of the greatest athletes of all-time.

Sure, he hasn’t demonstrated world-class ability in either football, volleyball or swimming, but you have to believe that if he chose to pursue any of the previously named sports as a youngster, he may have been famous for reasons other than basketball.

Shaq is both real and bizarre. He’s down-to-earth, yet refers to others as earthlings. He’s ultra confident in his abilities, but humble enough to wear pink Speedos on national television. He places himself on a pedestal one day and runs errands like a regular Joe without an entourage on another. He cross trains and entertains at the same time. You gotta love ‘em . . . or hate ‘em.

Regardless of how you feel about him, you have to admit that he’s an outstanding athlete.

I saw the last 12 or so minutes of Washington’s pulsating defeat of USC this past Saturday. Quarterback Jake Locker did a solid job leading the Dawgs to victory. The last time I saw him play was in 2007, when the Huskies visited Hawaii and lost to the Warriors, 35—28. In that game, Locker made several big plays, but he looked a lot steadier versus the Trojans. The West Coast’s answer to Tim Tebow appears to be throwing with much more confidence and accuracy. With momentum on their side, 24th ranked Washington now travels to Stanford for a very winnable game.

Random notes: It’s always fun to witness the joy of football fans as they storm the field following a big victory. Within that rush of humanity, a handful of crazies always make their way to the goalposts with the intention of tearing it down, but not at Husky Stadium. Did you notice how sturdy those crossbars looked? There were a couple of guys perched on it, but there was no way that thing was coming down. It looked like it was built using several reinforced, steel I-beams.

Was it me or did Coach Steve Sarkisian bark at the poor on-field television reporter during the post-game festivities, yelling out something like, “Come on!” at point blank range. I can only assume that coach Sarks’ patience was wearing thin as he waited to be interviewed. Do you blame him? I’d either want to celebrate with my team or leave the field before I got trampled.

With my wife and younger children off to visit an old college friend, I took my six year old son to experience his first steps toward manhood (he only lasted 3 quarters). When my son and I entered the stadium on game night to take our seats, we quickly discovered that almost half the stadium was the Hawaii section. We hadn’t seen so many locals in one place since leaving Hawaii a year earlier. We were in a sea of green and black and could hear “da Pigeon English” being spoken all around us. It was then that I understood the term “ninth island.”

The game itself was fun with the most entertaining play being the two-point conversion run in by holder Jason Whieldon, following a blocked extra point that landed back in his hands. But ultimately, the Warriors lost to UNLV, 33–22.

Four years later, in 2007, we again made the drive across the Hoover Dam to see the Colt-Brennan-led-Warriors overwhelm the hometown Rebels, 49–14. During the game, I had no idea that Brennan had sprained his ankle during pre-game warm-ups. He played extremely well for being injured. It was also the game that defensive back, Ryan Mouton introduced himself to the Hawaii faithful, with an electrifying interception return for a touchdown. The spectators around me kept asking, “Who was that?” The answer coming after a brief glance at the game program, “Mouton, Mouton.”

My family and I would have definitely been in Vegas again for tomorrow night’s game if we were still living in Arizona. Instead, pay-per-view will have to do. It should be a hard fought game. UNLV with their handful of Hawaiian/Polynesian players are pumped, and the big Hawaii crowd will definitely motivate the Warriors. For those of you who will be in the stadium, have fun, cheer loud . . . and don’t fight!

After a 2-0 start to the 2009 season, the University of Hawaii Warrior football team is still looking for respect. Wins over Central Arkansas and Washington State have done little to impress the national media. CollegeFootballNews.com posted its week 2,  “Ranking of Every Team” and Hawaii is listed as number 107 out of 120 FBS teams. Ouch!

Hawaii’s offense showed marked improvement versus Washington State and hopes for even more when the Warriors travel to UNLV on September 19. The glaring weaknesses which still remain—turnovers and penalties. Hawaii should have scored at least two more touchdowns on the Cougars, but fumbles near the goal line gave Washington State reason for hope. As far as the penalties go, well, as coaches like to say, those kinds of things are “correctable.”

On paper it looks like Hawaii’s schedule is perfectly made for a team trying to build from week to week. After UNLV—who should have beaten Oregon State last week—the Warriors travel to Louisiana Tech for another stern test and finally return home to play a very physical Fresno State team who barely lost to Wisconsin.

UNLV is believed to be a solid team this year so a win against the Rebels will bring Hawaii another step closer to gaining some much needed respect. Wait a minute. What’s this? CFN updated its bowl projections and guess who they have playing in the Hawaii Bowl? The 107th ranked team in the nation!

Boise State topped Oregon tonight in a mistake-ridden, non-conference football game that was billed, “The biggest home game in Boise State history”. I wasn’t particularly impressed with either team. I’m not sure if Boise was that good or if Oregon was just that bad. I can only assume the sloppy play was due to first game rust.

The Broncos remind me of BYU of the 1980′s and early ’90′s—they just know how to win football games. They are firmly entrenched in a culture of winning and often frustrate the crap out of opponents with their so-called “gimmicky” brand of football. Boise, like BYU of the past, has developed into a team opponents love to hate. Just ask Oregon’s LeGarrette Blount.

For Oregon coach Chip Kelly, it is imperative that he and his staff pick-up the pieces, learn, and move forward. Games like this can be potentially devastating to a season if not kept in proper perspective. It’s too early to throw in the towel, but I’ve seen it happen before.

Note: I’ve come to the conclusion that Oregon’s new uniforms look pretty sharp, definitely better than previous years.

Once college football season ends in January, spring and summer can’t go by fast enough. During those long eight months, one thing (besides Spring ball) keeps me sane: college football preseason magazines. Mind you, they don’t usually hit the newsstands until July, but it does make the final two month wait a little more bearable.

Which ones do I read? Well, first off there are a couple of publications that I won’t even pick-up anymore. For example, I’ve given up on Sports Illustrated’s college football preview, due to its lack of true national coverage and consistently wacky national rankings (I have a memory of Oregon State being ranked #1 in 2001). Then there are other magazines that I can’t even find. I guess they prefer Internet orders.

For the most part, I stick to the magazines available at the local Walmart or Sam’s Club (can’t beat the discount). I’ll occasionally make a special trip to Borders or Barnes & Noble when I’m really desperate. I’m not too concerned about how accurate the predictions are, but I do expect the team info to be correct. Here’s a list of the four magazines (in alphabetical order) I buy year-after-year and how I rate them.

Athlon Sports National College Football Edition
Design and layout: Excellent, creative, tight design; well organized; easy to read.
Information: Not enough features; love Athlon’s take on the top units; good recruiting coverage; “Sideline Spirit” is a waste of precious page real estate.
Photos: Very good; clear, sharp, professional looking photos.
Final analysis: It’s a good publication overall, but needs more features. Disappointed in Athlon’s decision to discontinue production of the Western Edition, which I have enjoyed for years. It contained in-depth information on the Mountain West and WAC. Here’s hoping for its return.

Lindy’s National College Football
Design and layout: Adequate; design looks overly manufactured; lacks cohesiveness and polish from section to section; some type problems.
Information: Great! Lots of interesting tidbits; couple of feature stories; top units; top players; top conference and non-conference games; just a lot of fun to read; token lower division information.
Photos: A little sparse and small, but nice action shots.
Final analysis: A solid mag with good info. Not up to par with Athlon or Sporting News as far as aesthetics, but still worth the $8 cover price.

Phil Steele’s College Football Preview
Design and layout: What design? Utilitarian; type often too small; literally crammed together; difficult to read.
Information: Excellent; always knows stuff the other mags don’t; not really into the gambling info; interesting, but very technical content.
Photos: OK; not much room for photos; seems like images are viewed as a hindrance, taking up precious space that could be used for more info.
Final analysis: If you want info, this is where to get it. Again, not the most user friendly piece, but if you have some patience and a magnifying glass, you can’t beat the coverage. Phil definitely does his homework.

Sporting News College Football
Design and layout: Very good but lacks punch; nice use of type; cool use of icons; comfortable to read.
Information: Similar to Lindy’s, but not as much stuff; extensive FCS, DII, DIII and JUCO info. Inclusion of previous seasons statistics a plus; “5-year Trend” chart is a nice touch.
Photos: Good photos; professional; what’s expected from a national sports publication, but like Lindy’s, a little sparse.
Final analysis: A first-class publication with a good balance of info and design. I don’t like the decision to limit info on lower-tier, Non-AQ teams to half a page. Duke, Vanderbilt and Washington State get a full page. Why not Memphis, Air Force and Hawaii?

Conclusion
If I were only allowed to purchase one mag a year, (By the way, I don’t have this problem. Thanks honey!) I would have to choose the Sporting News for its overall balance. Although, if Athlon had produced a Western Edition, they probably would have won hands down based on what they produced last year. (I’m sure Athlon will be kicking themselves when {and if} they read this post.)

Thanks again publishers for keeping me sane. In two days, order will again be restored to the universe.

If preseason prognosticators are correct, 2009 could be a tough year for Big East football. The two major top 25 preseason polls (AP and USA Today) left Big East teams off their list, although five Big East teams are receiving votes in both polls.

The five listed in alphabetical order are Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida and West Virginia. These five seem to be somewhat of a mystery to pollsters as each poll lists them in varying orders. The only common denominator is South Florida being the lowest ranked.

Voting in a preseason poll is no more than an educated guess, but if the season does end up as predicted, we could see—for the first time in history—a team unranked in both major polls, playing in a BCS game due to the Big East’s automatic qualifying status.

This would not only expose another serious flaw in the BCS system, but would also be a catastrophic blow to the Big East and its national football image. How can the BCS justify the Big East being an automatic qualifier if this were to happen?

A lot of games need to be played before we even think about crossing this bridge, but it is something to keep in the back of our minds as we follow the top teams in the Big East this season.

After much thought, I’ve come up with three suggestions that would improve the overall FBS college football experience and give non-BCS teams a much better shot at playing for a national championship. I do not support the idea of a national playoff tournament. The basic premise of my new system would essentially be the nuts and bolts of the existing BCS system, but with a few twists. Here are the suggestions:

1. College football teams are no longer allowed to schedule games outside of their subdivision. Yes, this means no more FCS vs. FBS match-ups. According to my research, 86 of the 120 FBS teams will play at least one game against an FCS opponent in 2009. Six of those 86 will play two FCS teams this year. That’ a total of 92 games between subdivisions and that’s just not acceptable. I do understand that for FCS teams, playing FBS teams means big money (as much as a $1 million a game) and losing the ability to play these games would hinder their bottom lines, but enough is enough. FCS teams need to stop watering down major college football and stay in their own sandboxes. They should be content with the fact that they all have a legitimate shot at a national championship . . . in their own subdivision. Besides, I don’t want to see Appalachian State receiving any more votes in the FBS polls. If Michigan had defeated ASU in that fateful game, would the Wolverines have received votes in the FCS poll? Yeah right.

2. Non-conference games must be played between BCS and non-BCS teams. No more USC versus Ohio State or Arizona State versus Georgia. Those games can be played during the bowl season—if we’re so lucky. At the other end of the spectrum, nobody really cares about Troy playing Bowling Green or Nevada going up against Colorado State. This rule change would admittedly create a fair share of David versus Goliath match ups, but we’d also see a lot more BYU’s versus Oklahoma’s and TCU’s versus Virgina’s. Overall it should balance out the college football world. There would only be two exceptions to the rule: 1. Games between traditional rivals are allowed to continue (Florida vs. Florida State, Georgia vs. Georgia Tech, etc.). Most teams would need just one game, but the service academies (and a couple others), would require two, and 2. Independents will of course be allowed to schedule whomever they want within the FBS.

3. Eliminate automatic BCS bowl berths. Use the current BCS polling system and just simply pick the top ten teams in the final BCS standings to play in the five BCS bowl games. Number one and two would still play for the national championship, while numbers three through ten fill the rest of the BCS bowl lineup. My previous two suggestions would increase the likelihood of non-BCS teams actually being voted as the numbers one or two teams, allowing them to play for a BCS National Championship. Who cares if four of the top ten teams come from the same conference or if two of the top ten come from the Mountain West and WAC? If they end up being perceived as part of the best ten teams in the nation through a combination of human and computer polls, so be it. They will play in a BCS bowl.

Why this makes sense:

1. Most BCS teams have no problem scheduling FCS or even non-BCS FBS teams. They approach it like a pre-season game to help work out the kinks. It does not hurt their strength of schedule because their conference games make up for it. Teams like Liberty, Florida A&M, and Jacksonville State, could be replaced by the likes of Wyoming, Idaho and Tulane—programs that are still perceived to be “scrimmage worthy”, but at least come from within the same subdivision.

2. Non-BCS teams have been no different, scheduling FCS teams to help pad the win column. This however does not help the “fight for equality” cause. Playing Vanderbilt, Washington State or Iowa State would appear to be a step-up in competition compared to Nicholls State, Central Arkansas or Stephen F. Austin.

3. My proposed rules would allow for much more balance between BCS team and non-BCS team schedules. As BCS teams play perceived weaker non-conference schedules and as non-BCS teams play perceived tougher non-conference schedules, the college football world should start to see fairer match ups in BCS bowl games as poll voters and computers recognize head-t0-head, on-field achievement. The pretenders will be exposed and the contenders elevated.

4. Boise State is again being touted as the most likely to bust the BCS this year, according to various media outlets. Let’s take a look at their 2009 schedule. If they get past Oregon in the first game, it’s a very real possibility the Broncos would go undefeated the rest of the way and be ranked high enough to receive a BCS bowl berth. Would they be worthy of a national title shot? Not with their existing schedule. The WAC is already perceived to be weak and with the addition of non-conference opponents Miami (Ohio), Bowling Green, UC Davis, and Tulsa, there’s no way. If we follow my proposed rule changes by eliminating all non-BCS teams and FCS teams from their non-conference schedule, and select BCS teams available on those dates, Boise’s schedule could look like this (amendments in parenthesis):

9/3—Oregon
9/12—(North Carolina)
9/18—at Fresno State
9/26—at (South Florida)
10/3—(Oklahoma)
10/14—at (Mississippi) In reality, this would be tricky to reschedule because of the Wednesday date.
10/24—at Hawaii
10/31—San Jose State
11/6—at Louisiana Tech
11/14—Idaho
11/20—at Utah State
11/27—Nevada
12/5—New Mexico St

If Boise went undefeated with the above schedule, do you think they would be playing for a national championship? It would be very difficult to keep them out. On the other hand, if Boise ended up going 9 and 4 with losses to Ole Miss, North Carolina and Oklahoma, we could say they have a solid team, but are still not on equal ground with the big boys. There would be no question where they or any other team stands because the arguments would be settled on the field. At the end of the season the true contenders would rise to the top.

Following last season’s success, the Arizona Cardinals are enjoying the presence of larger crowds at this year’s preseason training camp held at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. This brought back memories of my visit to the Cardinals’ camp back in 2003. Here are a few impressions of that day.

1. It was Emmit Smith’s first year in Arizona so I figured it would be cool to see him in action up close. All he did was stand around and talk to the other players.

2. I tried to get closer to the action to take some pictures by cleverly making my way through the pine trees behind one end zone. I took a couple of pictures and was promptly yelled at by the staff. “Hey! You’re not allowed to be back there!” Ooops, my bad.

3. The practice field was immaculate. I never saw such pristine grass before in my life! It was perfectly flat and not a weed in sight! George Toma would have been proud.

4. I don’t think you could find a more beautiful setting for a football practice. Besides the perfect lawn, there were pine trees everywhere and a great view of Mount Elden.

5. It was difficult to focus on any practice drills with three kids, 6 and under, in tow. It was a constant battle just keeping them off the field!

6. I bumped into Ross Shimabuku, a local sportscaster for KTVK Channel 3 in Phoenix. I don’t know him personally but I recognized him from his previous stint doing sports reporting in Hawaii. While talking to him he asked me with a puzzled look on his face, “So you like it here (in Arizona)?” I said, “Yeah, it’s been nice.” He looked even more puzzled after my response. In May of this year he packed-up and moved to San Diego.

University of Hawaii Head Football Coach Greg McMackin has been suspended for 30 days without pay for the remarks he made during the 2009 Western Athletic Conference annual football media days held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Coach McMackin said some things he should not have said, but quickly apologized. Upon arriving in Hawaii, he faced the media again, accepted his “beating”, and repeated his remorse.

It takes a lot courage to face-up to one’s shortcomings and accept punishment for one’s actions. Not only did McMackin display courage when confronting the media, his apology also conveyed a sense of honesty, sincerity, and humility towards those he offended.

Now what about those he offended? Head Coach Charlie Weis of Notre Dame admits disappointment in Coach McMackin’s attempt to publicly belittle the Fighting Irish, but made it clear that McMackin’s apology was accepted and vowed to move forward as he heads into the 2009 season.

As far as others who may have been offended, it appears that Coach McMackin’s public apology, suspension, pay decrease and vow to public service . . . is only a start. Personally, I believe Coach McMackin has suffered enough.

There is something to be said about the character of individuals who know how to forgive others. I’m not talking about forgiving others as long as they get what’s coming to them, or forgiving others if they prove certain things. I’m talking about honest, sincere, and humble forgiveness . . . right off the bat. No strings attached. No provisions. No conditions.

In this country, we are free to say what we wish, but we are not free to choose the consequences. Coach McMackin chose to say certain things and he is now suffering the repercussions.

It’s up to us to choose how we react to the situation. Do we continue to publicly humiliate this man, until he is molded and conformed into something a group of people thinks he should become, and finally find him worthy of forgiveness? Or, do we acknowledge his mistake, forgive him, allow him his freedom to choose, and have faith that lessons have been learned?

Coach McMackin has been asked to prove his tolerance, sensitivity and acceptance towards all people. It’s only fair that he be given the same courtesy.

]]> http://constantsports.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/to-err-is-human/feed/ 0 constantsports NCAA BASKETBALL: DEC 22 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl - Hawaii v Notre Dame