We Gotta Tone It Down

I didn't catch the 49ers/Cardinals game the other night on TV. In fact, I only catch bits and pieces of NFL games on TV. It's not that I don't like the NFL, I do. And if you've been reading my blogs at all you know how much I love football at any level. For the NFL I check the scores, watch ESPN for highlights and I pay attention to the standings. But I rarely sit down and watch more than a few minutes of a pro game. What I did see of the game disturbed me a little bit.

I saw a highlight on PTI (Pardon The Interruption), an ESPN news show that features sportwriters Tony Kornhiser and Michael Wilbon. I really like these guys because I think they're knowledegable, make sense, and are very entertaining. I like it when Wilbon calls me a knucklehead. Anyway, they showed a clip that disturbed THEM also. A defender on the Niners put a bone crushing hit on one of the Cardinal receivers. I mean, you almost wondered if the guy was dead the way he laid there. But the defender got up and raised his arms and did a blood curdling yell. He really played it up. Wilbon said it seemed to much like a gladiator gloating over a kill and I have to agree. It just didn't sit right. It was a legal hit, the guy DID get up and everything was OK but...

The NFL dances, shimmies, flexes muscles, gyrates, screams, and poses. I'm old fashioned, I struggle with it all. I know most fans love all the "look at me" stuff so it's not going away. But to put on a show when a guy was really laid out I say, "We gotta tone it down". Chiefpigskin.com

Arkansas Football

Something about the whole Arkansas football situation doesn't sit right. Okay, Bobby Petrino messed up, got fired, end of story. But nope, the A.D. then goes out and hires John L. Smith away from Weber State, a school Smith had only been at for four months. What about the kids and coaching staff he just left behind? He just got done with spring practice. Far be it from me to be judgmental, I've made my share of mistakes, but it leaves me uncomfortable with the Weber State situation.

Tony Kornhiser and Mike Wilbon debated it on ESPN's Pardon The Interruption (I really enjoy that show) nd Kornhiser said it was a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity for Smith. Wilbon argued that it smacked of selfishness and the college coaching profession is questionable at times. I tend to side with Wilbon although I realize a guy needs to take advantage of presented opportunities.But was this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? Smith was the head coach at Louisville, a DI program that could be called a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Then he got the Michigan State job in the Big Ten, certainly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most football coaches. And then to really make things questionable, he's only keeping the Arkansas job for one year? He’s doing all this for a one year job and is leaving his Weber State alma mater high and dry?

And what of the Arkansas A.D.? Is Arkansas football so big and important that you gotta have a big name interim coach? There was no assistant qualified to be the interim head coach? There are a lot of outstanding young assistant coaches out there who will be the next wave of talented football coaches. Big name does not always equal big results or vice versa. And this is the same A.D. that lured Petrino away from the Falcons a few years ago before the season was over. That didn't seem right either. Now, here's the same A.D. luring Smith away from Weber State after just four months.Perhaps I'm being too hard on Arkansas. Maybe this is how it should be, but I hope not.www.chiefpigskin.com