The Couch Theory

Pete Thamel has a good piece on Urban Meyer.

Thomas Bonk has the New Orleans Saints in San Jose wondering about their city and where they'll go next.



The New Orleans Times-Picayune evacuated its offices this morning. Today's edition exists only online.

More Hurricanes

This has nothing to do with sports, but the New Orleans Times Picayune has a running blog from the Hurricane.

I tip my hat to Doug Clifford, a photographer for the St. Pete Times, who took some amazing phots for the Associated Press including this one:

Hurricane Monday

Scary weather on the Gulf Coast, thoughts and prayers with those in harm's way...


Ian O'Connor writes about how Tom Osborne's absurd leniency toward Lawrence Phillips has helped him get in position to become governor in a state with out-of-whack priorities. (link is fixed)

Kizla says the Broncos were arrogant to think they could turn Maurice Clarett into a productive football player/citizen.

Back, better

The Hartford Courant's Jeff Jacobs returned to the keyboard after a quadruple bypass. He writes about the life lessons that the experience created.

Two Texans

Michael Wilbon does a good job summarizing most people's feelings about Lance Armstrong and the allegations.

Ian O'Connor writes about President Bush and sports.

Huggins out

The end of the Bob Huggins era at Cincinnati creates a significant vacancy less than two months from the start of practice. The volataile coach seems to be either loved or loathed around the game. Columnists will debate whether this was the right or wrong move and everyone will wonder Who's next at UC and Where next for Huggins?

Paul Daugherty says Nancy Zimpher has a war on her hands now.
A Cincinnati Enquirer editorial says it was the right move.
Admit it, you were wondering what Nick Lachey thought of this (insert eye roll here).
Dustin Dow tries his hand at predicting Cincy's next coach candidates.
I'm assuming Dustin, (who I know from A-10 stuff, and respect a great deal) is spitballing and didn't get these names from a source. Some of these coaches (Prosser, Beilein, Purnell, Sendek) have better jobs than Cincy. People are going to quickly find out that Cincy was a good job because Huggins made it a good job. It's going to drop off after him. Others on the list (Martelli, Dunphy, Lavin) seem like unlikely fits. Altman and Cronin though could be legitimate.

CBS Sportsline's Gregg Doyel endorses Andy Kennedy.

Ian O'Connor applauds Zimpher too.

Dan Wetzel says it shouldn't have gone down this way.

Dick Vitale takes no stand.

Elsewhere...

Florida State wins the first mascot battle.

Games in the bomb field

Juliet Macur, a sportswriter at the New York Times, is reporting from Iraq. She has a good piece on the role of sports in soldiers lives. You can read her blog here.

Full Tuesday morning slate..

Gwen Knapp has a nice piece on 49er teammates reacting to Thomas Herrion's death.

Mike Wise looks at the scary overgrowth of linemen. Sam Donnellon things the NFL should step in.

Mike Downey has a look at the latest legal problems of Lawrence Phillips, one of the more despicable athletes of his generation.

Ready for the Harris Poll, the newest accomplice in the BCS sham? Tony Barnhardt has a look at who is voting including a territory manager for Blue Bell Ice Cream.

The New York Times looks at yet another amazing season for Roger Clemens.

Jack Curry wonders whatever happened to bench chatter.

I'm thinking David Whitley might have too much free time.

A French newspaper has a fresh set of performance-enhancing-substance allegations against Lance Armstrong. I don't know if these are more credible than the ones that came before. Miguel Indurain defended Armstrong in a BBC report.

Full Tuesday morning slate..

Gwen Knapp has a nice piece on 49er teammates reacting to Thomas Herrion's death.

Mike Wise looks at the scary overgrowth of linemen. Sam Donnellon things the NFL should step in.

Mike Downey has a look at the latest legal problems of Lawrence Phillips, one of the more despicable athletes of his generation.

Ready for the Harris Poll, the newest accomplice in the BCS sham? Tony Barnhardt has a look at who is voting including a territory manager for Blue Bell Ice Cream.

The New York Times looks at yet another amazing season for Roger Clemens.

Jack Curry wonders whatever happened to bench chatter.

I'm thinking David Whitley might have too much free time.

A French newspaper has a fresh set of performance-enhancing-substance allegations against Lance Armstrong. I don't know if these are more credible than the ones that came before. Miguel Indurain defended Armstrong in a BBC report.

Steroids, Herrion and Minor League Baseball

The New York Times looks at an often overlooked casualty of steroids.

Greg Couch thinks hte NFL has a steroid problem, we're not hearing about.

Michael Lewis has the University of Utah mourning Thomas Herrion's death.

Bad news for the NCAA, Dan Wetzel isn't even 35 yet, so it can continue to point out every idiotic move the organization makes for the next 30 years at least.

The Miami Herald is doing a series on life in the minors. Part I and II are up.

New stuff up on the Casey blog.

Ted and Tiger

Joe Posnanski has a nice appreciation column on Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe.

Mike Vaccaro writes that Tiger risked one of the most embarrising disqualifications in golf history.

Mickelson mania

I don't know if I've ever read a mediocre column by Mike Vaccaro. He's got a good one today reminding readers why Mickelson is one of the most likable guys in sport.

Adrian Wojnarowski has reflections on Lefty, and does a nice job putting Mickelson's place in golf in perspective.

Ian O'Connor looks at Phil Jr. and Phil Sr.

Sally Jenkins says Mickelson has become the player he should be.

Dave Anderson looks at the chip.

Blogs

The Boston Herald is staying ahead of the curve adding blogs to its site. After the success of Mike Reiss' now defunct Patriots blog, it has launched Clubhouse Insider, a Red Sox blog, updated every day right before the game starts as well as at other times. The Rap Sheet is a newsy blog from throughout sports.

Now is as good a time as any I guess to mention that I'm going to be doing a UMass sports blog. As most readers here are aware, I cover the Minutemen for the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and we're adding more content online including the blog. It's not connected to the site yet, but it will be soon. I've started updating it already to get into the rhythm of it. There will be some similarities to this one, but it will have more of my opinions and extra UMass stuff.

In addition to the blogs on the rail, I look at these sports related ones often:

Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle has a very good one.
Buster Olney of ESPN's is good as well. (Need a subscription)
I like this one, but I wish it was updated more.
I read both Greg Doyel's and Andy Katz's college hoop blogs.

Forde, Rudy, Charlie

Pat Forde has a nice piece on Charlie Weis at Notre Dame.

Dan Dolfelmier writes about athletic pursuits of soliders in Iraq.

More mascot

I keep wanting to move on from this topic, but I keep finding good columns on it.

Gary Shelton says that the problem is grouping all the Native American mascots together instead of looking at them case-by-case.

Linda Robertson says now everybody is offended.

A good addition

I'm enjoying ESPN's George Solomon in his role as ombudsman for the network.

More mascot stuff

Jon Saraceno takes a thoughtful approach to the topic.

E&P calls out sportswriters

Allan Wolper writes that sportswriters ignored the steroid issue until they couldn't anymore.

Gammons predicting more offenders

Gammons says another big name is going to be nailed for steroids soon.

Bob Knight reality

Further signs of the civilization decline: ESPN and Bob Knight are doing a reality show together.

Stealing from Justice

Anyone who reads Richard Justice's blog will recognize that I stole these links from him...

Mike Wise's steroid column is excellent and different than most of the ones I've read.

The Wisconsin State Journal has a nice Brett Favre column

Morgan vs. Moneyball

The SF Weekly hammered Joe Morgan and his ignorance about Moneyball.

It created this quote by Moneyball author Michael Lewis:

"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Joe Morgan can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy. Short of that kind of thing, there is no level of stupidity that he could express on ESPN that would get him canned, because he's Joe Morgan. What are you going to do about it?"

NCAA's crusade

The NCAA has banned Native American mascots and nicknames from its postseason competition beginning on Feb. 1. Not surprisingly it has sparked some opinions from columnists.

Bill Plaschke thinks the NCAA is doing the right thing. He actually talks to some Native Americans, a voice that is usuaully conspicuously absent from this debate.

Bob Ford doesn't necessarily think its a bad idea, but not a terribly practical one.

Kevin Blackistone says the NFL should follow suit and get rid of the Redskins.

Mike Downey's Notre Dame comparison to the current NCAA Native American situation is a little tired.

Dennis Dodd tries some of the same rationalization, saying that Fighting Irish, Ragin' Cajun and even Aggies might be offensive to some. Note to all columnists if you want to defend the use of Native American mascots, and be taken seriously doing it, use the historical honor angle. The Notre Dame comes off sounding idiotic and desperate.

Central Michigan is reviewing its Chippewa nickname.

UNC-Pembroke will be the exception.

Beisbol

The New York Times Magazine looks at the Mets appeal to the Latin American community.

Mariotti fires back

Jay Mariotti defends himself against Scoop Jackson's accustions of racism. The origination of this feud is a few posts below.

Juan Dixon in Oregon

John Canzano has a nice story on new Blazer Juan Dixon, although I'm not a huge fan of the voice he uses.

Gammons reflects

New Hall of Fame honoree Peter Gammons reflects on the experience and sneaks in some behind the scenes stories from trade deadline.

Thanks to Brian Moritz for the suggestion.

Mariotti vs. Scoop

Jay Mariotti wrote a column suggesting Dusty Baker quit if he doesn't like it in Chicago.

Scoop Jackson says Mariotti's sentiments are racist.

I'm guessing this feud will continue.

Supplements of Mass Production

"Rafael Palmeiro is a friend. He testified in public and I believe him, the kind of person that's going to stand up in front of the klieg lights and say he didn't use steroids, and I believe him. Still do."

-- George Bush on whether he believed Palmiero had used supplements of mass production.

Peter Shmuck looks at Baltimore's shame.

Jim Reeves is disappointed in Palmiero.

George Vescey says Palmiero's credibility is flushed.

Tom Verducci has a Q&A with himself. He doesn't ask if Viagra will drop him as a pitchman or whether, there are steroids in Grecian Formula's mustache dye. These questions remain unanswered.

Richard Justice takes on the issue in his blog.

Woj says Palmiero's legacy is forever tarnished.

Jay Greenburg talks to Hall of Fame voters.

Palmiero shamed

I'm sure there will be more links on this tomorrow, but here's some early reaction to Rafael Palmiero's steroid suspension from Buster Olney and Tim Keown.

More Gammons

Ted Williams used to tell me, hey Bush, some day you want to walk down the street and have people say, you have the greatest job in America." Ted, it happens almost every day. For that I thank all of you, every one who read or listened to me, allowed me to try to be your eyes and ears, that allowed me to find what I love and hold on to it long enough to experience this, the greatest day of my professional career.
Thank you.

-- Peter Gammons, Sunday in Cooperstown

Bob Ryan, who started at the Boston Globe the same day Gammons did, praises his former co-worker's career on the day Gammons won the J.G. Taylor Spink Award.

The Chicago Tribune's Teddy Greenstein, Jeff Horrigan and the Oneonta Daily Star also look at Gammons' contributions to the game.

The text of his speech is here.