COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY - MIKE IN DA - SEPTEMBER 29, 2010

COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY!

Written by: Mike in DA
Date posted: 9/29/2010

CRIER'S CORNER - GAMES OF LOCAL INTEREST

SUNDAY'S GAME: HOUSTON AT OAKLAND*

Andre Johnson is so tough that he’s been suiting up for games with a high ankle sprain, the type of injury that usually sidelines players for several weeks. His ability to play with pain will play a huge role this week, as his mere presence will require Nnamdi Asomughua to shadow him across the field and leave space for Houston’s other receivers.

However, if by some chance Johnson is unable to play, the Texans will be left mostly reliant on Arian Foster against a fairly stout Oakland run defense. Bruce Gradkowski’s insertion into the line-up put an immediate spark into the Raiders' offense last week.

The biggest reasons to like Oakland this week is the revenge factor, for a 29-6 loss last year (from three lost fumbles and one JaMarcus Russell), and Darren McFadden, who has become the dependable NFL running back the Raiders envisioned when they made him the #4 overall pick in 2008. While Houston has a superficially high run defense ranking, they’ve yet to be tested by a team dedicated to the run – they won’t fare so well this week, as they face a steady stream of rushes from the Oakland backfield. OAKLAND, 21-20.

THURSDAY'S GAME: TEXAS A&M AT OKLAHOMA STATE*

Okie St. has put up Nintendo stats against cream puff D’s. The feasting stops this week. A&M isn’t known for their D, but their scheme is based on creating a lot of backfield pressure and they do that well. Cowboy QB Weeden won’t have near the success that he’s enjoyed to date and he’ll be looking for RB Kendall Hunter to hand it off to in the second half. The Aggies are the better defensive club and have a good shot to pull the mild road upset. OKLAHOMA STATE, 24-23.








BOISE STATE IS COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S ANSWER TO RODNEY DANGERFIELD - IT STILL GETS NO RESPECT!

Being a Boise State (BSU) bandwagon fan, all season long I’m going to hear from the local sports talk hosts about the ease of the BSU schedule, which is not going to go away even though everything that can be said about the schedule has already been said lots of times. Not to worry, it will be repeated a lot more times this season in case you missed it. I want to address a couple of the arguments made by people who are outraged by the BSU schedule:

How many schools from the SEC or the Big 12 have cleared space on their schedules over the next two years in order to play Boise State home-and-home? The answer to that is ZERO.

As an example, Alabama could have bought out their contract with San Jose State or Duke or Georgia State, but chose not to. That is the same Georgia State team that lost to an NAIA school, Lambuth University, a school with an undergrad enrollment of under 850. You probably don’t even know where Lambuth University is, unless you’re from Tennessee?


As another example, Florida just has to play Appalachian State because of the historic rivalry there, right?


LSU has a “rivalry” game playing McNeese State.


Texas couldn't replace Florida Atlantic on the schedule.


Nebraska’s dates with South Dakota State, Idaho, and Western Kentucky are clearly sacred.

You don’t like Boise State’s schedule? Fine. You think the SEC or the Big 12 would be too much for them to handle? Fine. Get on the case of your favorite conference teams and pressure them to schedule Boise State home-and-home and be sure to pack your lunch because they're scared to.

By the way, the network execs and the advertisers who buy time on college football games need to take note that people around the country do indeed tune in to watch Boise State. When the Broncos beat Virginia Tech on Labor Day, that game got a 7 rating on TV; that rating is 20% higher than Miami and Florida State drew on Labor Day in 2009. In fact, it was the highest prime-time rating for a college football game since college football started playing on Labor Day in 2003.

If BSU blows away San Jose State next month, I don’t want to hear from any of the SEC fans talk about what a cupcake San Jose State is - unless they knock Alabama for blowing away that team in the opening game of the year, 48-3.



Boise State is this football season’s Yates High School. No respect from Houston sports talkers, no matter how well they play!

FINALLY, HOW WE'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO SEE JIMMY CLAUSEN GET TAKEN DOWN!




FLUB OF THE DAY!

Every Monday in the Houston Chronicle on Page D1, there is a column entitled, “Inside Tips”, which lists several suggestions of things to watch during the upcoming week, such as a new movie release, TV show, concert, etc.

In this Monday’s paper, one of the suggestions was Ken Burns’ “Baseball: The 10th Inning”, an additional chapter to Burns’ lengthy documentary about the game, which is on this Tuesday (Part 1) and Wednesday nights (Part 2) at 7 PM CT.


However, instead of telling us that it is on PBS (Channel 8), the article said it was on HBO. I guess HBO and PBS often get confused.

On Monday’s (9/27) Matt Thomas Show on Sports Talk 790 (Noon- 3PM CT, daily) when Matt asked his producer/intern what the prizes were for the “Believe It or Not” segment of the show, the young man told him they had advance screening passes for “The Secretariat”. I guess the kid doesn’t know much about famous race horses or upcoming movies.  

On Tuesday morning on SR610, Marc Vandermeer was talking about NFL teams that start off the season undefeated. He referred back to last year's Denver Broncos as an example of a team that started off with a nice winning streak, but didn't make the playoffs. He said they started off 7-0, but it was actually 6-0. Why mention something, if you're not going to give the right info.

On Wednesday morning on SR610, during a sports flash, Brien Straw mentioned that Tampa Bay clinched the AL East with their Tuesday night win over Baltimore. Wishful thinking by Brien, but the Rays actually clinched a playoff spot. As of Wednesday morning, their magic number is five (5) to clinch the AL East over the New York Yankees.

There were a bunch of other flubs over the last two days, but I heard most of them when I was out of the house and wasn't able to jot them down.


DAILY DISH: GILL ADDS A NEW TEAM RULE!

First, Kansas football coach Turner Gill banned cell phones, now he's working on banning females. As if the rule prohibiting cell phone use 24 hours prior to kickoff wasn't bad enough, now Gill is playing with his player's libido.

The Jayhawks are 2-2, and averaging just 22 ppg, which is #82 in the nation, but the players are about to score a lot less off the field. Gill has implemented a "no girls" after 10 PM policy, seven days a week, because as we know, girls can't get pregnant before 10 PM.

I'm sure future 18-year-old recruits will love this rule. Let's see, you're the big man on campus in high school, you're dating the entire cheerleading squad, now you get to go away to college, leave your parents, but you have you to leave your date by 10 PM. 

If the purpose is to increase concentration on the field, it isn't going to work. What's going to increase is sexual frustration in young men. Come on coach, even Annette Funicello, Sandra Dee, Debbie Reynolds, and Tuesday Weld stayed out past 10 o'clock at night.



Today’s Trivia!



Who is the only player in MLB history to hit a home run off a father and his son? (Hint: You know the hitter, but you may never have heard of the father/son pitching duo.) The answer is below.

GOD SENT A SCARE TO KANSAS STATE LAST SATURDAY!

TRIVIA ANSWER!

Ted Williams is the hitter. In 1939, he hit a home run off Thornton Lee of the Chicago White Sox. In 1960, he hit a homerun off Don Lee of the Washington Senators.

SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SUGGESTION

I don’t know Black Eyed Peas from the Black Crowes, Black Sabbath, Black Flag, the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Jack Black, Karen Black, or Shirley Temple Black, but I do know that two weeks ago, the SR610 Morning Show said that the NFL will have the Black Eyed Peas perform as the half-time entertainment at the Super Bowl.

If you think there was a controversy over the infamous Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction”, wait to see what happens if Black Eyed Peas performs their song, “Let’s Get Retarded”. As I have said before, the Super Bowl is a lousy venue for a musical act and so I have little if any interest in whom they book to perform. The most fun I ever had was when “Up With People” performed at the Super Bowl, but I think they have disbanded since. Therefore, I have a suggestion for the NFL whose job it is to come up with halftime entertainment acts.


Every year, there is a football game from the SWAC (Southwestern Athletic Conference for the acronym-challenged) called “The Bayou Classic” on TV late in the season, usually the Saturday after Thanksgiving (NBC). The game pits Grambling vs. Southern University and the reason to tune into that game has more to do with the halftime entertainment than it does with the game on the field. At halftime, they do “The Battle of the Bands” between the two schools and the show is always energetic and entertaining.

I have also seen the Florida A&M, Texas Southern, and Prairie View bands perform also. They too are entertaining. So, why doesn’t the NFL give one, two, or more of these schools the responsibility for Super Bowl halftime entertainment? These historically Black schools can use the money; I doubt that Black Eyed Peas members or any of the other musical acts that have performed at the Super Bowl before are living in cardboard boxes under a highway bridge somewhere.

EVEN IN DEATH, STEINBRENNER OVERDOES IT!


Last week, at the New Yankee Stadium, the Yankees unveiled a triple-the-standard-size plaque in Monument Park for George Steinbrenner, which now serves as a conspicuous, hideous insult to the greatest Yankees in history, not to mention to the game and its fans.

Steinbrenner's sons overdid it just as their father overdid it. And now it's too late to undo it. Based on the size and prominent placement of the plaque, the greatest Yankee in history last week became George Steinbrenner over Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and the others who are also honored in Monument Park.


ODDS AND ENDS:

1. It is not unusual to find strange happenings in the Mets’ clubhouse. Last week, I read that Oliver Perez has asked the Metsies for permission to play winter ball in Mexico this year. I cannot see any reason why the Mets would object since Perez did not exactly wear himself out playing summer ball for them this year by throwing just 46 innings through 9/27.

2. Saturday, during the Stanford-Notre Dame game, a graphic pointed to this Saturday's 8 a.m. ET Ryder Cup telecast from Wales as a "Special Early Start Time."  It's special, all right. It will start on 5-hour-delayed tape after the day's matches are over. If it were any more special it would be shown next week.

3.Trent Edwards won the starting Buffalo Bill QB job in training camp. As mentioned here last week, after two crummy games,  the team sat Edwards down and started Ryan Fitzpatrick. Then they cut Edwards who has since been picked up by Jacksonville. In the span of eight days, Edwards went from starting QB to joining me on the unemployment line to another job. The Buffalo back-up at the moment is Brian Brohm and there are no QBs on the Bills’ practice squad. I do not think Trent Edwards is a top-shelf QB by any means, but this is strange enough to make me believe there is much more to this story than just performing lousy on the field.

4. Last Saturday (9/25) on ABC/ESPN, announcer Sean McDonough told us how UCLA running back Jonathan Franklin is a real-deal role model to poor kids in L.A. and a young man of deep faith.  On the next play, Franklin busted one for 35 yards then did an it's-all-about-me dance routine.

MIKE IN DA


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