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Vince Young stock to drop?After reading the newest edition of the Sporting News, they published a mock-draft article.  They mentioned Young’s poor decision to participate in a college QB all-star challenge, where he was not very impressive.  My personal opinion is that Young’s showing should not diminish his stock; sometimes teams put too much emphasis on combines, 40 yard dash times, and silly obstacle course tests, but not of actual game footage.  Let’s not forgot how impressive he has been throughout his career at Texas as a whole.

Sporting News had Young falling all the way down to the 10th spot, in the Arizona Cardinals lap.  This would definitely make Coach Dennis Green happy.  This mock draft didn’t even have Young as the first Texas Longhorn picked; they had S Michael Huff going ninth to the Detroit Lions.  Well that throws the logic of some people’s thinking right out the door.  Conversely, the Sporting News likes to publish some of e-mails fans send, and one Vince Young fan points out “If you want to win games, pick Reggie Bush in the NFL draft.  If you want to win championships, pick Vince Young.  Use your own judgment and common sense on draft day, and hope your team’s GM makes the right decision.


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Tom PendersEveryone at some point in their life has wanted to kill the ump.  This is beyond a bad call or even bad moral judgment.  Tom Pender, Houston’s coach, collapsed on the floor Monday night with 52 seconds left in the first half.  Officials thought that he was reacting to a call that had been made as UAB’s Wen Mukubu drove to the basket and was fouled by Oliver Lafayette.  It has been a ritual in the past that coaches have made spectacles of themselves on the hardwood after a whistle.  In those cases a technical foul is given.  So the initial response of the officials was the correct one.

But what happens when the coach in question is 60, has cardiomyopathy, a congenital heart condition, and has a defibrillator implanted in his chest? Pender was carried off in a stretcher, thankfully returning in the second half.  Houston officials attributed what happened to Pender to his heart condition and dehydration.  Knowing this, why didn’t the officials reverse the Technical Foul imposed on him?  I mean, even the meanest boss won’t keep you at work when you’re sick.  Hopefully they will get their reputations smeared all over the media.  You can include me in that group.


St. John's Red Storm logoGeorgetown Hoyas logoDuke lost their first game of the year to the Georgetown Hoyas and Pittsburgh lost a close game to the St. Johns Red Storm.  The only undefeated team left standing now is Florida of the SEC.  Duke and Pittsburgh were both playing on the road.  Georgetown faced Duke in the MCI (AT&T) center, home of the Washington Wizards and sold out the building, only the second time since the building opened in 1997.  Georgetown had a double digit lead throughout the game and almost let Duke tie the game as time expired, but Duke turned the ball over and was unable to attempt a game tying shot.

St. Johns had a tribute to the top 10 of their greatest players and coaches with a “Basketball Legacy” honor.  Players including Mark Jackson, Walter Berry and the late Malik Sealy, notable players not included were Felipe Lopez and Ron Artest.  St. Johns have now two quality Big East wins over Pittsburgh and Louisville, and can play a big role as spoiler this year and might be a contender in the Big East themselves next year.


Oklahoma takes itThis game caught my eye last night, I’ve been hearing that the Ducks were being disrespected by not being invited to a BCS bowl game. With the result, the bowl selection committee was correct. The final score 17-14, with the Ducks threatening to score in the final minutes, already in field goal range, Ducks quaterback throws an interception to end the game.

Funny notes towards the end of the game: Brady Leaf (Oregon) threw an INT with 33 seconds on the enemy 10 yard line.  Brady is the younger brother of failed NFL QB Ryan Leaf - who oddly enough is well known for throwing lots of INTs. After the play, the linebacker Clint Ingram was called for a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for celebrating.  On the insueing play on offense, Oklahoma QB Rhett Bomar was called for the same penalty after spiking the ball in celebration, which stopped the clock. On the next down they needed to take a knee again and let time expire, Oklahoma now was almost at their own endzone, almost causing a safety or fumble. Don’t blame it all on Leaf though, he was orginally the third-string QB.


Glory Road indeedThe Media Giant, aka Rulers of the Free World, aka Disney will hit us up with “Glory Road” on January 13th of ‘06.  Granted they want the strongest possible audience, so it was a good call dodging “The Chronicles of Narnia”, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” and of course “King Kong.”  Jerry Bruckheimer produces the film adding to his long line of successes, but while he’s mostly known for blockbusters, how did he come on to this project.  Surely this will be a sappy story about a topic that has been beaten to death so many times: the 1966 All-Black Starting lineup of Texas Western.

Don’t get me wrong, this was a great moment in Black History.  Don’t you think the African American community, as well as the rest of the movie going audience deserve a Martin Luther King Jr. movie by now?  Disney is even releasing the movie on the weekend we observe his Birthday.  He will surely roll over in his grave that Friday when he sees Matthew McConaughey lookalike, Josh Lucas, portraying a revolutionary white leader, Don Haskins.


Pat RileyNot only do the USC Trojans have to worry about the Texas Longhorns in the Rose Bowl, but they are trying to be stopped by NBA coach Rat Riley’s lawyers. Coach Riley came up with the phrase and actually has a trademark on its use: If anyone else uses “threepeat” or “3peat”, he can demand financial reward for infringement. Anyone who wants to manufacture clothing with the term “3peat” will need to get a license from Riles & Co.

Read More | ESPN


Duke just finished off Texas today at the Meadowlands, 97-66.  Both teams were coming in at a record 8-0, and were ranked #1 and #2. They were paced by a career high from J.J. Redick with 41 points, on 9-16 from behind the 3 point line, the highest point total by a Duke player since Cleveland Cavalier GM Danny Ferry.

Duke

Not today fans, today Redick had the last laugh!
Thought this was supposed to be a close match, guess not.  Duke might just run the table the rest of the year, barring any major injury.


Matt LeinertTo the casual football fan, Saturday was a day to tune in to college football.  The day ended with two huge blowouts, USC winning over UCLA 66-19, and Texas defeating Colorado 70-3. Both teams now end the regular season standing at a perfect 12-0.  Fans yearning for the yearly debate of implementing a play-off system will have to wait another year.  This year the BCS computer rankings will not cause any controversies, because the undisputed #1 USC Trojans will face off against the undisputed #2 Texas Longhorns for the National Championship. 
This match up is going to interest even fans that are only into the NFL.  Between the Texas and USC match up, you could possibly end up watching the top 3 players in the 2006 NFL draft.  Texas are led by QB Vince Young, who remind some scouts of a young Dante Culpepper, and USC boasts last years Heisman trophy winner, QB Matt Leinert,  and possibly this years Heisman winner, RB Reggie Bush.


ESPN.COM has come up with a fictional all-time bracket to decide which schools’ program has had the best players, and who would take home the crown.  The tournament has dwindled down all the way to its Final Four: Georgetown, UCLA, LSU, and North Carolina.  This is a great read for those that haven’t caught the college basketball buzz yet, which doesn’t happen for most fans until around January or February. 

Check it out and relive some of your old favorite players from the past.  It doesn’t matter if your guys only stuck around for a year or two and went pro.  Can anyone stop the speed and shooting of Georgia Tech’s 3-point guard attack of Mark Price, Kenny Anderson and Stephon Marbury?  Can the Michigan’s Fab 5 take it all the way now they have some outside shooting help thanks to Glenn Rice?  Shaq couldn’t get the job done in his time with LSU, but now he has help with Pistol Pete Mavarich from the past. 

Read More | ESPN


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