Author: Staff (Page 89 of 144)

      Paterno fought off efforts to remove him earlier this decade

      July 3, 2012 /

      Photo by Bill Moore. Copyright 2006 Bullz-Eye.com

      With the news that Joe Paterno may have been involved in a cover-up at Penn State, here’s a look back on an article that detailed Paterno’s “come back” in 2005 after Penn State officials tried unsuccessfully to ease him into retirement.

      This was dug up and highlighted by SPORTSbyBROOKS and it’s instructive on how Paterno had an iron grip of the football program. Nobody would seriously doubt that, but this article fills in many of the details. Paterno told them to go to hell, and then he or someone in his camp likely leaked this story as he spiked the football in their faces. After this story there was no doubt who was the king of Happy Valley, and he would leave on his own terms.

      This paragraph also jumped out at me:

      He chose unforgiving punishments for players who drank too much or skipped class, like when he cut star wide receiver Joe Jurevicius from the travel roster just before the Citrus Bowl Jan. 1, 1998. Yes, he was willing to worsen his team to strengthen his way. He donated his millions to the school library and his minutes to film study. He pledged simplicity — a blue blazer wardrobe, a modest house. He decided he would never fire an assistant coach, finding it senseless to let one go when he could help make him better. “You showed you were committed to it,” former assistant Kenny Jackson said, “and he’d die with you.”

      It’s all painfully ironic now, but the real message here was that Paterno was tough on players and others around the football program when they broke his rules. He was the king.

      Read the entire article. It’s actually creepy thinking about it now. The bottom line is Paterno didn’t want to let go, and that singular drive may be what kept him from doing the right thing when the Sandusky allegations were explained to him.

      College Football

      Danny Ferry blows up the Hawks

      July 3, 2012 /

      The local media seems pretty happy with Ferry’s demolition act in Atlanta as he dumped Joe Johnson and his monster salary on the Brooklyn Nets.

      It took Danny Ferry a week to turn a franchise going nowhere into one with room again to grow. It took him a week to reach an agreement to send Joe Johnson to the Nets for a bunch of guys whose principal value rests in the expiration dates on their contracts. It took this general manager a week to ship Marvin Williams, enduring symbol of opportunity squandered, to Utah.

      To follow the Hawks is to expect the worst, which means the initial response to this watershed Johnson deal was to figure it would be overturned on some technicality. Maybe we shouldn’t be fatalistic. At the rate Ferry is moving, he might be able to convince the NBA to replay the final seconds of Game 6 against Boston from 1988, and make it so that Dominique Wilkins (and not Cliff Levingston) takes the last shot this time.

      A week ago we wondered if/when Ferry would dare to tamper with the Core Four. On Day 1 of Week 2, we got our answer. Ferry gored the Core without having to deal either Josh Smith or Al Horford, and by offloading Johnson he turned this capped-out club into one with a hangar’s worth of financial headroom.

      Shedding Johnson’s contract was the only way the Hawks could get better. He makes $20 million per season, which is roughly one-third of what the NBA allows to fund an entire roster. It’s one thing if your $20-million-man is Kobe Bryant, but Johnson, over the two years since he re-upped, has sunk to being third-best among Hawks.

      This looks like a great move by Ferry, but then he needs to show that he can build a team back up. Ferry did a decent job in Cleveland, and it’s hard to blame him for Lebron’s emotional breakdowns that did in the Cavs in the playoffs after they won 66 and then 60 games in the regular season.

      That said, he made some big blunders in Cleveland as well (Larry Hughes). So here he has to show he can do more than wield a sledgehammer to a bloated roster.

      NBA

      Juan Marichal – The Dominican Dandy

      June 11, 2012 /

      We’ve seen a renaissance in elite pitchers in Major League Baseball in the past several years that harkens back to previous eras like the 1960s when pitching ruled. Juan Marichal was one of the best pitchers of that era, winning more games than any other pitcher in that decade. He was one of the most intimidating pitchers of his time and is also remembered for his distinctive high leg kick.

      Marichal’s stats through the 60s were incredible. Starting in 1963, when he went 25-8 with a 2.41 ERA, his next six years were 21-8/2.48, 22-13/2.13, 25-6/2.23, 14-10/2.76, 26-9/2.43 and 21-11/2.10. Yet even with those incredible numbers he didn’t win a Cy Young Award, which can partially be explained by the fact that until 1967 MLB only picked one winner, as opposed to one from each league. He also pitched in an era with Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Whitey Ford. He discusses this issue with Bob Costas in the interview clip above. Marichal was named to nine All-Star teams, however, and his All-Star Game record was 2–0 with a 0.50 ERA. He helped define an era when pitchers dominated the game.

      Major League Baseball goes in waves. Hitters ruled over the past 20 years as countless records were broken, but with stiffer drug testing the era of the pitcher is back. Pitchers today may not be as intimidating as Marichal or Bob Gibson, but the stats of guys like Roy Halladay and Justin Verlander can rival the greats like Marichal, and MLB batting averages have fallen substantially.

      This year has also been a year of no-hitters. Marichal got his no-no in 1963. Last week six Mariners pitchers, Kevin Millwood, Charlie Furbush, Stephen Pryor, Lucas Luetge, Brandon League and Tom Wilhelmsen, combined to throw a no-hitter. The umpire Brian Runge, also called the perfect game pitched earlier this year by the White Sox’s Philip Humber.

      Still, there’s nobody today with the style and flare of Juan Marichal. He was a superb control pitcher, with 2,303 career strikeouts with only 709 walks, but it’s the leg kick and intimidation tactics that we all remember. From the Costas interview Marichal also seems to be a great guy who has a healthy perspective on his career.

      MLB

      Celtics survive to even the series

      June 4, 2012 /

      Neither team played very well, and there were the usual controversial calls from the refs, but the Celtics are back in this series.

      Everyone will dissect LeBron’s big three near the end of regulation along with his pass when he held the ball with the last possession, along with Wade’s off-balance missed three in OT. But the Heat might be at the point where they need Chris Bosh back to put Boston away. The Lebron/Dwyane show was working great for a while but they couldn’t steal one on the road. Home court might be enough to take out Boston, but getting Bosh back would surely help.

      NBA

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