Non-Revelation of the Day

Mark McGwire finally admitted today that he used steroids throughout his baseball career, including the 1998 season when he hit 70 home runs. I think this qualifies as the non-shock of the century, but at least it's out in the open now. Interestingly, McGwire apparently wanted to come clean in 2005 when he was called in front of Congress, but was denied immunity. That denial led to McGwire's infamous declaration that he did not "want to talk about the past" at the steroid hearings that amounted to a defacto admission of steroid use and invocation of his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination.

The interesting part of this story, however, is what McGwire is saying about his steroid use. McGwire's excuse echos what Andy Pettitte told reporters when he came clean about steroids-- that he used it to heal from injury and not to increase his power output. McGwire went so far today as to deny that steroids really helped him hit more home runs, but instead attributed it to his God given gift to hit the long ball.

While McGwire is a talented hitter and steroids can't help hand-eye coordination, its is absurd for McGwire to claim that he only used steroids to recover from injuries and not to hit home runs. McGwire hit a home run every 10.6 at bats-- better than anyone in history. Just looking at the evolution of McGwire's body over his career combined with the accelerated rate at which McGwire hit home runs at the time in his career where he should have been on the decline seemingly defeats McGwire's argument. Also, the rumors about McGwire that have been circulating are much more vicious than his story. It's been alleged that McGwire used the kinds of steroids that body builders used-- testosterone, drugs used by horses-- not stuff to simply heal. It's hard to dismiss these rumors given the accuracy of the previous rumors swirling around McGwire.

It's great McGwire came clean. There's a good argument he should be in the Hall of Fame despite his indiscretions. But I've got a feeling he's coming half-way clean in an attempt to salvage his image. The only person who knows for sure is Big Mac, but if he still isn't telling the full story or is in denial about the implications of what he did then its unfortunate for McGwire and baseball fans everywhere.

Chalk It Up

Pete Carroll is officially becoming the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. This makes me 1 for 1 on predictions made on this blog. Booya. This obviously means I should test my luck and make more predictions, so here we go:

1- USC stands for University of Scandal Coming.

As I said earlier, Pete Carroll leaving USC guarantees the NCAA is going to drop the hammer on the football program. Given the number of times Pete Carroll scorned NFL teams in favor of remaining at SC, the best reason to make a jump now is that something is wrong at USC. It's not like the Seattle gig is something special, at least more so than the Falcons or Dolphins. Although Carroll says the Seattle offer was "too good to pass up," it's not like the offer was that much better than what was on the table in the past.

Plus, there is more evidence piling up that the NCAA is about to come down on USC. In particular, rumor has it that USC apparently asked for some self-imposed sanctions on its football program that were rejected by the NCAA. That really only happens if the NCAA doesn't think those sanctions are hard enough and wants to investigate more itself. Also some are questioning the harsh sanctions SC put on their basketball program (no postseason play), arguing maybe they are a way to deflect criticism of the more popular and lucrative football program. It's also not like there haven't been rumors about SC for a while now-- including hundreds of thousands of dollars allegedly given to Reggie Bush and Joe McKnight driving a Land Rover that didn't belong to him.

It seems like it's all coming to a headway...and I predict some kind of sanctions against the USC football program.

2- Pete Carroll Doesn't Lead Seattle to the Promised Land.

Pete Carroll is an excellent college coach, but I doubt he can lead a team to a Super Bowl. He did take the Patriots to the playoffs twice-- but came up short each time. Bill Belichick took that same Pats team and won a Super Bowl a year after Carroll left. It's never all the coach in a situation like that and Belichick is pretty damn good, but it just illustrates Carroll wasn't in the category of coaches that can lead a very capable team to the Big Game. That's a pretty strong indictment.

The reason is simple- as Tony Dungy said, Pete Carroll has the perfect attitude to reach 19 year old kids, but not to reach 26 year old millionaires. Being a nice guy with an upbeat personality can motivate college kids, but isn't the best attitude for controlling some of the ego-inflated players in the NFL. Carroll is a player's coach and being a player's coach in the NFL is dangerous when you are dealing with players like Brandon Marshall, Terrell Owens, and Deangelo Hall who think they run the show and want all the attention, fame, and fortune. No amount of Will Ferrell visits and singing "Lean on Me" will get guys like that into shape. The charisma, stunts, and "keep it loose" attitude generally don't work in the NFL.

Playoff Power Rankings

Now that the Aaron Rodgers Show (aka Green Bay Packers) are out of the playoffs there's a big shakeup in the playoff power rankings. Here's how I rate the remaining teams in the playoffs and why:

1. San Diego Chargers: Winners of 11 straight games makes them the hottest team in the NFL. Phillip Rivers is tossing the ball all over the field and the defense looks revitalized. Plus, with Darren Sproles in the return game they're a threat in all three phases.

2. Indianapolis Colts: Yeah, they're on a losing streak, but I'll chalk that up to Curtis Painter and not playing the starters. This team could be undefeated and would be number one if they didn't take their foot off the gas at the end. Defense is fast, and they've got this guy named Peyton Manning. He's pretty good.

3. Dallas Cowboys: 2nd hottest team in the NFL, dominated a pretty good Eagles team two weeks in a row. DeMarcus Ware scares the hell out of me and I'm just watching the game on TV. Tony Romo looks sharp and Dallas has 3 legitimate starting running backs on the roster. Clicking on all the right cylinders, but can they overcome their previous playoff failures?

4. Minnesota Vikings: Although they didn't finish strong, they looked good in the last game of the season. Their defense is getting Pat Williams back at tackle, and they still have a potentially dominant defensive line-- although the secondary has been getting pushed around a bit. The offense has one of, if not the best, running backs in the NFL, and Brett Favre is still tossing it around. But the looming question is can Favre prevent the gunslinger in him from throwing 3 INTs in the near future?

5. New Orleans Saints: Lots of weapons, but struggling over the last 3 games. 3 weeks ago I'd have them ranked second, but the inexplicable loss to the Bucs and the thrashing by Dallas really makes you wonder. The defense is a big question right now, but with all that firepower and a bye they could put it back together.

6. Arizona Cardinals: The Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde factor means they have to be ranked lower. When their offense is clicking they are SCARY good (see 51 points vs a good Packers D). Kurt Warner is at the helm, which always gives this team a shot. But can the defense stop anybody?! Sometimes yes, sometimes no...which is why you never know what you're going to get with the Cards.

7. Baltimore Ravens: Getting back to their old school ways of running the football, Flacco hasn't had to do much lately (see 4/10 passing Saturday). Their defense can get pumped and get it going and if they play like they did against the Pats again they are scary. But again, this team has been inconsistent all year, so who knows how they come out against Indy.

8. New York Jets: The Sanchize didn't hurt them last week, but that's the big risk with this team. The defense is dominant and they can run the ball to win-- IF, and that's a BIG IF, they don't turn it over.


Also, this doesn't mean I think one of these lower ranked teams won't win-- that's about the matchup, which I'll be talking about later in the week, and this is about momentum and talent in a vaccum.

Mike Leach Got "Swift Boated?"

There's an interesting little twist to the Mike Leach firing story out there-- apparently the same PR firm that was responsible for the sketchy "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" campaign against John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election was hired by the James family before they went public with the accusations against the Pirate. The issue then is whether this political connection somehow calls the accusations against Leach into question.

The answer--don't think so. The founder of Spaeth Communications, the firm in question, indicated that Craig James called the firm to help figure out what to say publicly about what happened to his son Adam. The fact that Craig James hired a PR firm to help deal with disclosing the allegations to the public probably just indicates that he feared a backlash and media war over Adam James's complaint. That's understandable given that Leach was an extremely popular coach down in Lubbock (although apparently not with all the players). Also that feared backlash did happen despite what the James family said to the media--Adam James was mercilessly booed Alamo Bowl by Texas Tech fans.

While the firm choice may seem questionable given their history, there was still an abundance of evidence that Adam James was in fact locked in a shed and electrical closet with a concussion for hours on end. If any of the kids who levied accusations against Mark Mangino in Kansas or Jim Leavitt at USF had the resources the James family has, I have no doubt they would have tried the same thing.

Bascially this doesn't say anything about whether Leach's firing was legitimate or not. Leach may be right that Texas Tech wasn't happy about the amount of money they were paying him and found an excuse to get rid of their eccentric head coach. On the other hand, you don't mess with concussions and basically imprison 18-21 year old kids alone in the dark to treat them and then refuse to appologize for it. This story is far from over as Mike Leach is suing Texas Tech for defamation and wrongful termination. But so far, it doesn't look like Leach was "Swift Boated."

Pete Carroll Deal "Going Down"?!?!

ESPN's reporting that a deal to make Pete Carroll the coach of the Seattle Seahawks is "going down" according to a USC source. Carroll is supposedly gathering a coaching staff that includes Jeremey Bates, the former Broncos QB coach who's also been linked to the Bears offensive coordinator vacancy. Since Pete Carroll always seems to pop up as a coach this time of year (see, e.g. Dolphins), here's some reasons it could be for real this time:

1- That's a pretty quick hook for Jim Mora, Jr (not to be confused with his "Playoffs?! PLAYOFFS" father), who was tapped as Mike Holmgren's sucessor in February 2008 and signed a five-year deal that would make him the head coach. How do you not give this guy a year as head coach unless you have somebody lined up ready to go? Given how fast Carroll popped up as a name, and the general surprise over Mora's firing, it seems possible Carroll is in fact ready to go. In fact, it's being reported that Carroll was stealth interviewed by the Seahawks under the guise of a trip to LA as part of the Seahawk's GM search earlier this week. Sounds fishy to me.

2- If there's a time to leave USC this is it. No BCS bowl appearance, no top 10 finish, Reggie Bush can't keep the alleged recruiting violations surrounding him at USC under wraps through mediation much longer....seems like a good time if there was one. If Carroll leaves, I guarantee a big SC football scandal is to follow, why else leave being on top of the college football world and the warm Southern California weather? Unless...

3- Carroll still wants to prove himself in the pros, and Seattle will give him what he wants, which is total control. Seattle doesn't have a GM currently, so why not let Pete run the show and have final say on personell decisions. Also people talk about Carroll like he was a bum in the NFL with the Jets and Patriots, but he has a winning record (33-31) and made two playoff appearances. He can shut up all the naysayers and doesn't even have to leave the West Coast to do it. Plus you could do worse than start with a Seattle team that still has Matt Hasselbeck (although over the hill), TJ Housh, John Carlson, a fiesty Justin Forsett, and some playmakers on defense like Lofa Tutupu and Aaron Curry.

Plus, getting Pete out of the way will help Aaron Rodgers' former team, the great California Golden Bears. I say Pete's gone, and happy trails.