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 Michael Crabtree is ending his holdout today thus ending one of the dumbest contract disputed holdouts in recent memory and will report to the San Francisco 49ers’ training facility later today. Crabtree the 22 year old rookie wide receiver out of Texas Tech and the 10th overall pick by the Niners’ turned down a reportedly 5 year 20 million dollar offer which 16 million was guaranteed.
Crabtree’s thought process along with agent Eugene Parker was this, he should be compensated for his fall in the draft and receive the kind of money he would have received if he were picked higher. The Niners’ said no and Crabtree held out, also threatening to sit the entire season and enter next year’s draft.
Crabtree was a stud at Tech catching 97 passes last year for 1,165 yards and 19 touchdowns, but was hurt with a foot injury and sat out all of Niners’ offseason minicamps. He signed a 6 year deal that can be voided to a 5 year deal based on his performances.
My thought on this is, “Does he make a deal like this if the 49ers’ started the season at 0 – 4 or 1 – 3?” I don’t think so. Because of a 3 – 1 start, Crabtree was desperate and the Niners’ weren’t. So ends this silly saga of an almost blown opportunity. It will be interesting if he can adjust to Mike Singletary’s no-nonsense approach.
Now since Crabtree has come to his senses, when will the NFL come to theirs and adopt a mandatory pay structure for its draftees like the NBA?
When the Philadelphia Phillies open their playoff series against the Colorado Rockies this afternoon they will do so with 2008 Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee and not last seasons World Series MVP Cole Hamels. Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel’s decision on starting Lee over Hamels was a no brainer since Lee last pitched on Thursday against the Houston Astros and he will be going on 5 days of rest.
Hamels who also won the League Championship Series MVP last year pitched 3 innings on Saturday, so he would have been going on just 3 days rest. Now Manuel has the option of pitching either if the series goes to 5 games. Here’s the problem I have with this whole scenario. Loyalty.
Manuel had the option of changing his staff around during the closing weeks of the season just so Hamels could get the nod today. Last season the Phillies road Hamels throughout the playoffs and he responded with MVP performances, but during most of the regular season this year he struggled. Lee on the other hand was acquired late in July and he responded with a 5 – 0 start and a 0.68 ERA to go with it, but he struggled mightily in his last 7 starts going 2 – 4 with a 6.13 ERA. Although both struggled in September, Hamels was the more effective pitcher.
My thoughts are, you have to respect your “Ace” and show him some loyalty by naming him the Game 1 starter just like you would name him your opening day starter. I wonder how Bob Gibson would have felt if he was told he wasn’t the Game 1 starter? I hope this move doesn’t backfire?
The NBA preseason kicked off last night and the start of probably the most anticipated seasons in the history of the league has  begun, but the talk wasn’t on what the Cav’s did over the summer, or who the Celt’s brought in, or if the Lakers’ can repeat. No, the buzz last night was focused on 3 guys named CJ Washington, Trey Maddox and Deldre Carr. So you ask, who are these guys and why are they so important in the NBA? Well they are the replacement refs the NBA’s front office has brought in to work games because of the ongoing failed attempt to negotiate a new contract with its referee’s union thus locking its referees out.
Not to say I’m an expert on the matter, but I did referee college basketball for 9 years and I do know many of the locked out referees and are close friends with several. So yes, I’m a little bias on the situation. Here’s the situation, the locked out officials are at odds with the front office over the use of WNBA and NBDL referees during the regular season for training purposes and the NBA’s proposed severance package. I’m not going to bore you with the technical issues that are at hand, but I want to reflect on the use of it’s replacement ref’s or “Scabs Ref’s”.
Here’s the big issue that I have and it’s not with the league office, but with the refs or “Scabs” themselves. When I retired from officiating I started my own photography business and my primary source of income has come from the sports photography side of photography. I now cover games that I used to ref and still I see many guys’ I used to grind with in the trenches out on the floor.
 As a photographer my main enemy is the guy who just brought a camera from Best Buy who now wants to be considered a photographer and gives his pictures away. I run into these kinds of guys all the time. When I want to increase my price or decrease the amount of coverage I provide I’m in jeopardy of loosing that contract because my client always has the option of using this lesser-qualified photographer and at that point they aren’t looking for quality.
If you ask that photographer why they are taking that contract for next to nothing? Their reply has always been, “I just want to get my foot in the door.” So as long as the client has that option to use that lesser-qualified photographer, you have limited bargaining power and you can’t make any money.
That is basically what is going on in the NBA. The referees have demands, but as long as the front office has options those demands may never be met. What bugs me about this situation is this, the referee community is very small and we basically know each other from either working college games together or attending one of the many camps we have to attend each summer.
As a “Scab” you are basically telling a fellow colleague that you don’t care about his future, plus every referee’s dream is to become an NBA referee. If you are helping the front office crap on your brethren, aren’t you also helping them crap on your future as well if you indeed make it into the NBA?
That’s where my issue is and this is my advice to all the “Scabs” out there who want to get their foot in the door. Let the NBA use high school or rec ball referees. Earn your way on the floor the right way, by going to camp and working hard.
At my very first referee’s camp one of the clinicians told me that this business will always have problems as long as we stab each other in the back. He also gave me this little advice, “Those who reach the top by hook or crook, will always be the one’s who fall to the bottom by hook or crook as well.”
Basically telling me if I cheat my way to the top, there will always be someone willing to do the same to me.
 A few minutes ago while reading a friend’s blog (Robert Littal), he was encouraging fellow bloggers to change the look of their sites in support of the NFL’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. That was easy, so if you haven’t noticed, my site is now accented in pink this month. But it also brought me back to thinking about how this disease is wrecking havoc amongst families across the world. I lost a very close cousin last year to this dreaded disease and a co-worker who is a dear friend lost her Mother 2 years ago too.
During games between October 5th and the 27th the NFL has designated all their games as “Breast Cancer Awareness Games”. Each team will do their part during this month with pregame activities and also participate with local groups and charities.
Players will be permitted to wear pink spikes, wristbands, gloves, towels, captain patches and helmet decals. You will also see the baseball caps in pink and the field logo will be the pink ribbon as well.
 Anything worn that is pink will be autographed and auctioned off at NFL Auction, with proceeds going to the American Cancer Society and team charities. You can also purchase pink merchandize from the NFL Shop online and at the stadiums too with a portion of the proceeds also going to the American Cancer Society and team charities.
The NFL Referee’s Association will also donate a portion of their game fees to breast cancer charities during the month as you will see the officials don pink accented caps and pins.
As a sports photographer I primarily cover all college athletics and the NCAA throughout the years has done an outstanding job in bringing awareness to this dreaded disease as well. Last season football officials carried pink penalty flags in their pockets and basketball officials wore pink whistles around their neck and in each case donated a portion of their game fees too.
 As I close I can’t talk about what the NFL is doing for Breast Cance r Awareness without some how mentioning North Carolina State University Women’s Basketball Coach Kay Yow. I had the pleasure of covering Coach Yow during her last 3 ACC Women’s Basketball Tournaments. I also had the pleasure of speaking to her at her last ACC Legends Basketball Luncheon something that I will always cherish.
After a long battle with this dreaded disease on January 24th of this year, Coach Yow lost that battle but she is truly winning the War.
When I heard that Brady Quinn had lost his starting job as the Cleveland Browns signal caller and was being replaced by Derek Anderson, I kind of felt bad for him because he just can’t seem to get a break. Was he the product of bad coaching or bad luck?
 In college he was recruited by former Notre Dame Head Coach Ty Willingham only to see Ty fired after his freshman year and replaced by New England Patriot QB Tom Brady groomer Charlie Weis. Each year under Weis, Quinn seemed to get better and according to who you were listening to, he could have gone as high as the 1st pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. Now mind you Quinn was exploited badly by the LSU defense in the 2007 Sugar Bowl, and he was also a no-show in games against Michigan and Southern Cal that same season as well. I think in those games Weis was out coached and unprepared, a common site now, so bad coaching gets the nod here.
Who can forget Quinn sitting in the greenroom during the draft as his name slipped from pick to pick then finally getting his named called by the Browns’ with the 22nd pick after they traded a couple of picks to get him. That scene of him sitting and waiting half dressed and chewing gum was an all time classic and ESPN kept showing him fidgeting pick after pick.
Quinn was now being called the Browns’ quarterback of the future and their franchise guy. But someone forgot to tell Anderson because he had a Pro-Bowl year during that 2007 season and put Quinn’s franchise QB appointment on hold. Last season Anderson struggled out the gate which led to Quinn being called on to finish out the season as the starter, but he broke his finger soon after and the job was returned back to Anderson. Some luck huh?
This year during the preseason both Quinn and Anderson struggled and Browns’ new head coach Eric Mangini decided to play games with the media and not announce his starting QB until right before their 1st game against the Minnesota Vikings. Although he didn’t perform that bad in the 1st game, his week 2 performance against the Denver Broncos raised eyebrows. In that game against the Broncos’ he completed 18 of 31 passes for 161 yards, no touchdowns and 1 pick in a 27 – 6 loss.
 Last week after completing 6 of 8 passes for only 34 yards and a pick in the 1st half and down 20 – 0 against the Baltimore Ravens‘, Mangini had seen enough and pulled the plug on their franchise guy. Why do coaches seem to think that by pulling their starting QB at halftime against the Ravens will solve their problems? Anderson kindly came in and threw 3 second half picks as the Ravens’ went on to crush the Browns 34 – 3.
So now after an 0 – 3 start the Browns’ are going with Anderson as their starter as the word panic seems to be creep’n into the Mangini camp. Is Quinn being punish for just plain ol’ bad play calling and a non existent running game or does he just have plain ol’ bad luck? I say bad coaching.
For the past few days reports out of Philly were that fan favorite and one of mine too Jeremiah Trotter was being worked out for a possible return to the Eagles and sooner not later was being thrown in the reports as well. It became official yesterday and my first thoughts were of how he last looked in “Midnight Green and Silver” during that 2007 playoff lost to the New Orleans Saints when the Saints set a franchise post season record with 435 total yards on the Eagles.
With Trotter in the middle the Saints chewed up 206 of those yards on the ground and threw in his direction repeatedly. That was a common site that season and the late Jimmy Johnson would often replace Trotter on passing downs something up until then would have never been thought of.
 Now he’s back in Philly and the more I thought about it made more since. When middle linebacker Stewart Bradley was lost for the season when he tore his ACL in training camp my first thought was the Eagles’ need to bring in former Tampa Bay Pro-Bowler Derrick Brooks because they were talking about now splitting the duties between Joe Mays and Omar Gaither. Then after Mays didn’t pan out they gave the sole job to Gaither who ironically was the main reason the Eagles let Trotter go that summer after his disastrous effort following that Saints loss.
The problem with Gaither is he only weighs 230 pounds and he’s not a run stopper as evident on how this year’s version of the Saints averaged 4.6 yards on the ground and destroyed the Eagles 48 – 22.
Here’s the thing, every team in the division can run the ball very well. The Eagles start divisional play with their Monday Night game with the Washington Redskins on October 26th. With the loss of Johnson and team leader Brian Dawkins the Eagles need Trotter for that sole purpose of being that leader if anything else. If he plays decent it will be a plus, but leadership will take this team a little deeper in the playoffs. So I think the Eagles made a great move in bringing ol’ Axe back.
Known as the Single-Wing or Wing T formation in the early 20’s, legendary coach Glen “Pop” Warner used this formation to turn tiny Carlisle Indian Industrial School into a national power house. The formation was still popular throughout the 30’s as Notre Dame Hall of Fame Coach Knute Rockne ran a variation of this high powered attack with much notable success.
The success of the Wing T came to a crashing halt when teams started running the straight “T Formation” which was popularized by the Chicago Bears thrashing of the Washington Redskins in the 1940 NFL Championship game (they didn’t have the Super Bowl back then) 72 – 0. Bud Wilkinson’s Oklahoma Sooner’s set a record by winning 47 straight games running the T Formation thus putting the Single-Wing to sleep.
During both the 95’ and 96’ seasons, Kordell “Slash” Stewart dazzled us with another variation of the Single-Wing as he passed, ran and caught his way into renaming the position the Slash Position. Kordell though, hated everything to do with that position and lobbied to everyone who would listen to be considered a Quarterback. He even feared that when he arrived at camp his number would be changed from 10 to something in the 80’s.
 During the 2006 and 2007 season, Houston Nutt then head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks tore up the Big 12 Conference as he implemented his version of the Wing T with featured running backs Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. This version was named the “Wildcat Formation” because it was used in the late 90’s by Kansas State University Wildcats with quarterback Michael Bishop running the show.
On September 21, 2008 the Miami Dolphins unleashed it’s version of the Wildcat as plays by Ronnie Brown and Rickey Williams wrecked havoc all over the New England Patriots as they smashed the Pats 38 – 12. New England never knew what hit them. With the Dolphins success and various notable colleges also having success with this offense, owners, GM’s, coaches and offensive coordinators thought, “What if we could pass out of the set too?”
With this in mind, Miami drafted Pat White an athletic quarterback out of West Virginia mainly because he holds the NCAA record for rushing yards for quarterbacks with 4,480 yards on the ground. Not to mention he also completed 507 of 783 pass attempts (64.8 pct.) with 56 touchdowns and 23 interceptions, but I only hear “Wildcat” when his name is mentioned.
 Michael Vick while in prison was being mentioned as a “Wildcat” quarterback as well. No one cares about his stats of throwing for 11,505 yards or completing 930 of 1,732 passes thrown or his 3,866 yards gained on the ground. When you heard Mike’s name, “Wildcat” was always mentioned as if it was his new last name. Not to mention that although Mike claims he was the originator of the position. He hates being referred to it.
Is the position killing the development of our young Black quarterbacks? Will this position bring back a stereotype that plagued Black quarterbacks in the 60’s and early 70’s? Will GM’s start to only draft Black quarterbacks for that position and that position only? Will colleges not develop Black quarterbacks because they run this system?
Take for instance freshman quarterback Denard Robinson of the University of Michigan. During a 3 year career as quarterback at Deerfield Beach High School in Deerfield, Florida, Robinson threw for 4,784 yards while completing 262 of 576 passes and 44 touchdowns. He also rushed for 1,132 yards on 217 attempts with 13 rushing TDs too. Rich Rodriquez the Michigan coach was very successful at West Virginia and Pat White as his quarterback and now he has Robinson running a variation of his “Spread” out of the Wildcat Formation.
What are Robinson’s stats through 4 games at Michigan this year? He’s completed only 6 of 11 passes, but he’s rushed for 216 yards on 27 attempts. Including an 80 yard performance on 11 rushing attempts and a touchdown in Michigan’s 31 – 7 blowout of Western Michigan in their first game this season.
Will this new fad ruin the growth of our Black quarterbacks? Only time will tell.
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