Coach2626's Blog

As NFL training camps open around the league, Marvin Harrison, one of the best wide receivers of all-time, is still looking for a home.

Sure, he will be 37 next month, but not only is Harrison the best receiver in free-agency, but also possesses tons of veteran leadership that a lot of the young receivers in the league could use.

I’ve always been a huge advocate of the “player-coach” idea, and although I don’t know Marvin personally, from what I gather from his reputation around the league, he would be a pretty good one. He has always been a consummate professional on and off the field, and even at the age of 36, he can still bring a deep threat in the NFL.

In 2008, his numbers may not have been stellar, but they weren’t terrible, either. He caught 60 passes for 636 yards, a 10.1 yard per catch average, and hauled in 5 touchdown passes. That’s as many touchdowns’ as the receiving corps of the Miami Dolphins caught, combined! (hint hint)

The only thing other than age that may be keeping teams away is the story of the man who was shot by a gun owned by Harrison. Although the man is suing Harrison, criminal charges have been dropped. Could you really envision Marvin Harrison being involved with shooting somebody?

Look, I’m not saying that you want to build a franchise around the guy for years to come, but for 1 or maybe 2 years tops, he can bring more than a serviceable receiving threat, a great role-model, and veteran-leadership to someone’s roster.

Here they are, my college football predictions for the state of Florida. (Sure to go wrong, of course)

The University of Florida Gators 12-0 (8-0 SEC)
Although it is extremely tough to go undefeated in the mighty SEC, I just can’t envision Tebow and Florida losing to anyone on their schedule. The two games that worry me are against LSU in Baton Rouge and versus Georgia in Jacksonville. While both games will test the Gators, I think they will prevail, go undefeated for the first time in their history, and become back to back National Champions.

Florida State University Seminoles 8-4 (6-2 ACC)
8-4 could be a stretch in Tallahassee, considering the ‘Noles wound up with the second most difficult schedule in the nation. They have games at BYU, Boston College, up and coming North Carolina, Clemson, Wake Forest, and Florida. Brutal! I have the ‘Noles losing three of those games, (BYU, Clemson, and Florida) and the 4th loss home against Georgia Tech. Even with this schedule, and a depleted receiving corps, I still see the Seminoles in contention for the ACC.

Florida Atlantic University Owls 8-4 (6-2 Sun Belt)
Many experts and magazines are calling for the Owls to finish 3rd in the ‘Belt, behind Troy and Arkansas State. I call for the Owls to compete with Troy for the Title, with Arkansas State ending up in third place, maybe even 4th. FAU brings back one of the most explosive, experienced offenses in the country. With FIU, MTSU, and North Texas on the rise, this should be an interesting season in the SunBelt. I have FAU losing at UAB in a revenge game for the Blazers, at Troy, Nebraska, and South Carolina. Look for the Owls to be in their 3rd straight bowl game.

University of South Florida Bulls 8-4 (4-3 Big East)
This is by far the hardest of the group to predict, considering the Big East has been the most unpredictable conference in the country, as of late. This is a year that the Bulls can really prove their worth in the state of Florida, since they take on traditional in-state powers FSU, and Miami. They should contend with Pitt and Rutgers for the Big East title, but since it’s USF, who the hell knows? I have their losses to FSU in Tallahassee, Cincinnati, at Pittsburgh, and at Rutgers. IF they can dig deep and find a way to beat Pitt and Rutgers, USF will win the Big East, but that is a HUGE if.

University of Central Florida Knights 6-6 (5-3 Conference USA)
Welcome to the wild roller-coaster ride that is UCF football! UCF has alternated winning and losing seasons the past 5 years under George O’Leary, and it appears it will be no different this year. I have them losing at Southern Miss, Buffalo, at East Carolina, Miami, at Texas, and in Birmingham against a much-improved UAB squad. UCF Boasts one of the best defenses in Conference USA, as well as a much-improved offense. If they can find a way to beat East Carolina, or
Southern Miss, they may have a shot at taking the Conference USA East.

University of Miami Hurricanes:   6-6 (4-4 ACC)

This COULD have been a good year for the young ‘canes, if it weren’t for the first 4 games. It may not be as brutal as FSU’s second-ranked schedule difficulty, but you be the judge. They open the season in Tallahassee against the ‘Noles, come back 2 weeks later to face the Georgia Tech team that posted 472 rushing yards against them last year, (and oh, yeah. There running back Jonathan Dwyer ? He’s bigger and stronger than last year) then travel  to Blacksburg to play Virginia Tech , and then  get the Oklahoma Sooners’ and Heisman winner Sam Bradford at home October 3^rd.  I have them going 0-4 in that stretch, and losing to USF and Clemson later in the season. If they can pull an upset against Virginia Tech or Georgia Tech, they may contend for the Coastal Division of the ACC.

Florida International University Panthers 6-6 (4-4 Sun Belt)

Once the laughingstock of the state of Florida, FIU is improving each year under head coach Mario Cristobal. With 10 of 11 players on offense returning, including Paul McCall at QB, and T.Y Hilton at Wide Receiver, the Panthers could easily have their first non-losing season in SunBelt play. Teams 2-6 in the ‘Belt are extremely close talent-wise, and with a few breaks, FIU could be a contender. I have their losses at Alabama, at Rutgers,in Miami against Troy, at MTSU, at Florida, and at home (or LandShark Stadium) against FAU in the “Shula Bowl.” FIU recruits very well, and can be scary in the future.

What do you think?

After the Mountain West Conference received bad news from the BCS on Wednesday, It seems as if there will never be a fair and just way of crowning a National Champion, in the current BCS format, that is. After the conference lobbied for a playoff, and for all conferences in the FBS to have a fair crack at the title, they failed.

Here is the complete statement:
“Today, the Mountain West Conference has executed the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) agreement and the attendant rights agreement with ESPN. While the Mountain West has expressed serious concerns with the various fundamental flaws in the current BCS system, our various good faith initiatives to generate reform have thus far not been accepted.

Therefore, the Mountain West believes it has no choice at this time but to sign the agreements. If a conference wishes to compete at the highest levels of college football, and the only postseason system in place for that is the BCS, no one conference can afford to drop out and penalize its football programs and student-athletes.

The Mountain West will continue its efforts for change, including a request for dialogue with representatives of the BCS. Our goal is to ensure the eventual outcome of these endeavors is what our universities and student-athletes need, what the vast majority of American sports fans want, and what is long overdue: an equitable system.”

After listening to one of my favorite ESPN radio personalities, I felt a bit insulted. Yesterday, Colin Cowherd, said this. “Any educated person realizes a team like Utah should not be able to play for a National Championship.” I consider myself a pretty educated guy, especially when it comes to NCAA football, and I could not disagree more. He even went on to make excuses like, “the only reason they beat Alabama is because they had more to play for.” Um, so? What’s your point? That’s what I like to call lack of execution and lack of coaching on Alabama’s behalf, and a great job by Utah of striking first and early. That is why the games are played, Colin.

Sadly, all of these conference powers are all in the so called FBS, and are all talented (but not necessarily deep, but I will get into this subject at some point) but none of these teams will EVER have a REALISTIC shot of winning it all: Boise State,Utah, BYU, East Carolina, Houston, Troy, Florida Atlantic, Fresno State, Buffalo, TCU.

So heres my question. If you are the head coach of any of these teams, or the teams in there conferences, how do you psych these guys up, knowing damn well that you will never be at the top of your sport? It’s just flat out not fair, and here is my opinion of a couple of solutions.

1. Have a 16 team playoff, and eliminate the preseason rankings, so everyone has a fair shot. Having 16 teams in the playoffs will give most teams a fair shot, while keeping a lot of the major bowls to generate money. The playoff games will be the bowls. But I don’t believe you can have a playoff without doing away with preseason rankings, because in the end, it will always be the same teams.
2. Here’s the one I like the most. Take the Mountain West, Sun Belt, WAC, Conference USA and MAC, out of the FBS, and make a sub-division of the FBS. Call it the FBS-2, or something to that effect, and take the lower tier bowls, and make one of them the championship game. I like this one, because they are still technically FBS teams still, they will still generate money, and there will be a championship of their own that all the conferences can take part in, just like the 6 “power” conferences of the BCS.

Neither of those are perfect solutions, but I think either of them would be great alternatives to what is going on now. I just don’t think it’s fair that more than half of the teams in the FBS automatically know that no matter what they do, they can’t win the National Championship, and to me, that makes it a flawed system.

This is a subject I can go on and on with, and look out for more blogs like this one in the near future.

What do you think?

Pat Riley needs to take a serious look at Allen Iverson, and fast.

So far, the Miami Heat have been bystanders, lazily watching the rest of the Eastern Conference get better.

The Celtics will certainly be better if they end up acquiring Rasheed Wallace, which looks very possible.

The Pistons now have Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva, showing that the organization is at least taking some steps towards rebuilding.

Orlando gets a mixed rating from me, even after acquiring Vince Carter, because I believe the loss of Hedo Turkoglu and there back up big man Gortat will be too much to expect another run deep into the playoffs. But still, they plugged a hole, have a marquee player, and are at least trying to get better.

Shaq is now playing alongside King James in Cleveland. While I may not be a big Shaq fan, the move does add another dimension to the team, and they are now better.

And Miami? They are about as quiet as a feather hitting the ground. Are those tumbleweeds I see?

It leaked today that they at least have a “small interest” in A.I., but here is why they need to get aggressive and pull the trigger on Iverson.

1. They need a veteran point guard with playoff experience. I like what Mario Chalmers brings to the team, but at best, Chalmers should be coming off of the bench as a nice defensive change of pace at guard. Ill take A.I’s consistent 17-20 points and 6 assists over Chalmers’ shaky 10 and 5.
2. Not only will it appear that they want to win now, which will help keep Dwyane Wade around, but he will take a lot of pressure off of him in the backcourt. Iverson’s career 27 points per game would mean a lot less work and pressure for Dwayne Wade, keeping him fresh.
3. Star Power. He may be 34, but Allen Iverson is still a household name, and still has at least 2 or three solid years left in him. He will no doubt bring more electricity to the arena, and sell a ton of jerseys.
4. Like stated before, while everyone else in the East is getting deeper and more talented, the Heat are doing nothing but watch. And for a team that most likely overachieved last year, watching is just not going to be good enough.

For the doubters who say he has too much baggage, I say it’s a thing of the past. Iverson has been relatively quiet the past few years, and has definitely shown he can be more of a team player, like he showed us in Detroit last year.

What do you say, Riley? The ball is in your court. Do you pass, or do you shoot and score?

What does everyone else think?

As I sat in the stands at Land Shark Stadium a few days ago, watching the Florida Marlins beat the Washington Nationals (for the seventh consecutive time, may I add) I looked around me, and was saddened at what I saw: less than 9,000 fans at a Major League baseball game. I realize it was a rainy, muggy Monday night, but to me, it’s inexcusable. A Monday night game at Wrigley draws around 30,000 die-hard Cub fans, who are supporting a team who hasn’t won a World Series since before World War I.

Whether fans in South Florida like it or not, the Marlins have been the most successful professional team in the state over the past 30 years or so, winning 2 World Series titles. Is it not enough? Do people in south Florida just flat-out dislike baseball? I don’t think either is the case.

I attribute the lack of fans to the fact that there are just so many people here who have transplanted from other states. I was recently at a Yankees-Marlins game, in which the paid attendance was forty-three thousand and change. I would say three-quarters of those fans were Yankee fans. Same when the Mets, Braves, Phillies, and Dodgers come to town. It’s sad when the chants for the hometown team are drowned out by the supposed “visiting” fans. It’s not just the Marlins, though. Dolphins games and Florida Panther games are exactly the same.

Men’s Health magazine recently had a poll for the best and worst sports towns. Miami was where? Dead last! Number 100, with a big-fat grade of an F. Being a “homer” I have to say that this grade is not fair, for the reason stated above; south Florida has been and probably always will be considered home to people from many different areas, and hard-core sport fan aren’t going to give up their allegiance to their “home” teams. So what is the solution?

I think that the obvious solution is to market to the next generation of south Florida sports fans, which are the kids. When I say kids, I mean kids that are young enough to make their own choice as to what teams they choose to support. Not that teenagers will be impossible to market to, but I think that younger children are more impressionable. There need to be more “kid’s” promotions at professional sport’s games in south Florida, and events for kids. These kids are the future fans of the teams, and need to be made fans for life.

If the marketing is geared towards the children, the area will go from an F to a C or better in the next 10-20 years, and perhaps gain some respectability. If not, fans in the area will have to get use to being the “visitors” at home games.