Why I Hate Nike

More than fifteen years ago I decided to switch my allegiance from Nike to Adidas. My decision was based on the fact that Nike uses sweatshops. I have been a loyal Adidas fan ever since. My only problem is that Nike has a lot of the sports teams wrapped up. Because of this I can't help but buy some Nike shirts to support my favorite teams. I hate it, but I can't help it.

My hate for Nike has grown in recent years as they have decided to mess with college football tradition and change uniforms. Now all they young kids are eager to see how Nike can change their favorite teams' uniforms. Nike's goal is to create more sales, which is genius from a marketing standpoint. I just favor tradition.

I believe they have stepped beyond what is appropriate with the University of Oregon. Their sponsorship of that team has created an unfair recruiting advantage. It is one thing for Phil Knight to give money to his alma mater, but it is an entirely different thing for his company to work for the university for free.

I hate Nike.

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Commitment

National Signing Day for college football was on Wednesday. This day has really gotten to be rediculous for these high school athletes. We have to remember that these kids are only in high school yet they are already being treated like they are superstar athletes. Some of them are great athletes, but they are still just kids.

In the last ten years or so more and more of these kids have been commiting to a school and then switching their commitment at the last minute. They cannot officially commit until National Signing Day, but they commit verbally as much as a year before they can make it official. Many times these kids who commit early change their minds and end up signing with a different school. That is not a problem unless they wait until the last moments to make that change.

I know that many people call college football recruiting a game, but there is nothing worse than a coach counting on a player's commitment and not recruiting other kids for that position and then the player changing his commitment on signing day. That leaves a hole in the coaches recruiting class that he has to scramble to fill at the last moment. That is what makes this a game. We are letting this generation of kids run this process with their lack of commitment and honor.

These kids do not need to commit to a school before National Signing Day. They can wait to make a commitment until they are sure of their decision and then stick with it. We are creating a generation of kids who will grow up thinking that it is OK to commit to something and then later not follow through. We are babying them. We are creating monsters.

There are a lot of people to blame for this problem. The media who is looking to capitalize on the popularity of college football any way they can. The college coaches who keep allowing and encouraging this to happen. The people that bear the most blame are the parents. We all know that our parenting skills have diminished as a nation. But to buy into the hype of your seventeen or eighteen year old kid is the most rediculous thing. Parents are supposed to have the level heads and help their kids make the corrrect decisions. By allowing kids to drop their commitments we are teaching them a lesson that will haunt them their entire lives.

We need to take a stand and become parents again and not allow our kids to run our lives. We need to teach them the life skills that will allow them to be successful. We need to create the next great generation.

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NFL Draft 2010

What a shocking draft this has been. I like that they put the first day in prime time, but it did create an interesting situation. Having only the first round on Thursday night meant that Jimmy Clausen had to wait overnight before he was selected. Any other year, a player like him who was predicted to go high in the first round would have just had to wait later in the day to be selected in the second round. Instead, he had to stress out all Thursday night and most of the day Friday before being selected.

Another surprise was Tim Tebow being selected so high in the draft by Denver. I think he is totally over rated for the NFL. He was a great college player, but will not be a star quarterback in the NFL. I like the fact that Denver said that if he does not make it at quarterback he will be a good H back. Why do you spend that much money on a guy you have a feeling might not make it at his natural position? That makes no sense to me.

The biggest surprise of all was the selections that Pete Carroll made for the Seattle Seahawks. I think his selections speak about the job he did the last few years at USC. All three of the players he selected in the first two rounds were from positions that there were players available to select from USC. He started out with an offensive tackle and passed on Charles Brown. He next selected a safety from Texas instead of taking Taylor Mays from USC who was rated a higher prospect by many analysts. His only pick today was selecting Golden Tate from Notre Dame while Damian Williams was still sitting there.

I think the one pick he is going to regret is not taking Taylor Mays. Taylor could have played for his former college coach in his home town. Instead he will be playing for San Francisco. Taylor will now have a chip on his shoulder while playing in the bay area. Pete will have to play against him, since they are in the same division. I know this is a business and you have to take the best player available, but Pete was Taylor's college coach and Taylor did everything that Pete asked him to do. I never heard Pete say anything negative about him and then he passes him over. All I can say is wow!

Taylor is obviously upset by not being selected by Pete and I can understand why. You trust your coach and believe everything he tells you. Taylor even returned to school for his senior year because he felt he needed to learn more. I really feel bad for him.

I think Pete is telling the entire football world that he and his coaching staff did not do a very good job of developing players that last few years. He also did not do a very good job of recruiting if there are players that are better at every position than the players he brought to USC. If I were in his position, I would be a little embarrassed about the statement I just made in the NFL draft as a criticism of my own work in my previous job.

I wish Pete and the Seahawks success, but I really feel like he might have stayed too long at USC. He lost his passion for the school the last few years and it was visible as he was entertaining NFL offers each year. I will not be a fan of the Seattle Seahawks, but will continue to follow the careers of USC Trojans in the NFL. After all, we are all a part of the Trojan family.

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National Signing Day

Today was national signing day for high school football players. It is the day that they can formally sign with the college of their choice. It is a day that I usually look forward to and start following as soon as I get to work. I usually keep an internet window open as I work and get updates from time to time.

Today was different. I did not even get a chance to browse the internet until about 10:00. By that time, a lot of letter of intents(LOI) had already been faxed into the college athletic departments. I only had the chance to get updates about three or four times throughout the day. I was just too busy at work.

I was looking forward to today because it was the first time USC alumni were going to be able to judge the new coaching staff. Lane Kiffin and company did not have very much time to try to rescue the Pete Carroll recruiting class and add to it with their own players. I was worried that they were going to lose a big chunk of the recruiting class.

I was pleasantly surprised with the job they did. They hauled in a couple of players who were not verbally committed to USC and virtually kept the entire class in tact. A few players slipped away, but that was expected with a coaching change. If I had to give them a grade on the class, I would go with a solid A.

They had a lot of excuses for not keeping the class complete. Nobody could blame them if it happened. The timing of the coaching change was just not ideal for them. They did not rest and did not accept any of the excuses and did a great job. I can't wait to see what they are able to do with spring practice.

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A Whirlwind Weekend Comes to an End

Wow! After the Seattle Seahawks fired their coach on Friday, rumors started to spread that Pete Carroll had accepted a deal to be their new coach. I took everything with a grain of salt since the media and Internet posters are all trying to break news. Their was no word from Pete or USC. The NFL has the Rooney Rule that requires all teams to interview minority candidates for jobs and at that point it appeared that rule had not been satisfied.

The one minority candidate they had targeted told them he would not waste his time to interview if a deal was in place. The Seahawks convinced him to interview on Saturday morning. On Sunday, Pete called the group who enforces the Rooney Rule and told them that he had not done anything to be out of compliance with the rule.

Monday morning it was officially announced that Pete was leaving USC. It was later made official that Pete had accepted the job with the Seattle Seahawks. I was glued to the Internet all day Monday. There were rumors about who would be the next coach at USC. There were rumors about who had been offered the job and who had turned it down. It appeared that the front runner, Jack Del Rio might make a decision on Today.

After meeting with the Jacksonville Jaguars owner earlier today, Jack told the media that he was staying put. Another mini meltdown happened on all of the USC message boards. Who was next in line? Nobody knew. I certainly didn't know.

At about 6:15 today an announcement came out of left field. Lane Kiffin was named the new head coach of the USC Trojans. Lane was a backup quarterback at Fresno State. After a few coaching stops he was hired by Pete Carroll at USC. He started as a wide receivers coach and quickly worked his way to offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator.

Kiffin was hired as the Oakland Raiders head coach in 2007 and fired by Al Davis in 2008. Two months later he was hired by the University of Tennessee as their head football coach. He started making waves in the SEC immediately. He was calling out other coaches and just generally being mouthy. He also had some recruiting and player issues while head coach at Tennessee. He had assembled a pretty good coaching staff with his dad, Monte Kiffin, ad defensive coordinator and Ed Orgeron as recruiting coordinator, associate head coach and defensive line coach.

Kiffin is bringing both his dad and Ed Orgeron with him to USC. Ed coached at USC and was the recruiting coordinator prior to being hired as the head coach at the University of Mississippi. Kiffin was Ed's replacement as the USC recruiting coordinator. It is great to see coach Orgeron coming back to USC. He has a fiery personality and is a great recruiter.

The rumor is that USC is in negotiations to hire Norm Chow back as the offensive coordinator. That would go a long way for recruiting. He was a great quarterback coach while at USC. He has struggled in his more recent stops, but maybe he can bring that magic back with him. We will have to wait and see.

I don't know how I feel about Lane yet. I will have to wait to see how the team does before I pass judgement. I guess I am excited about change right now. Fight On!

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An Epic Battle in South Bend

USC vs. Notre Dame on Saturday! This should be an epic battle pitting their offensive strength against the USC defensive strength. This game scares me a little as the streak has to come to an end sometime. I just hope that Matt Barkley, the stable of running backs and receivers can put everything together and break out this week.

The game is in South Bend, so I expect some shenanigans again. I expect that their grass will be a little taller than usual to try to stop the speed of USC. Who knows what else Charlie will come up with to try to save his job? I believe that he is really on the hot seat this year, especially if he cannot beat USC.

Charlie has recruited well during his tenure at Notre Dame. He has had his guys in place for a few years now, so he has no excuses for them to underperform. JC is his quarterback and has three years of experience now. He has a good group of wide receivers to throw the ball to, even with the injuries. Their defense should also be improved with Manti working his way onto the field.

I think the USC defense can contain ND’s potent offense, but I do have some doubts. I hope the USC secondary can just shut them down and force them to run the ball. I think the front seven can contain their running game very well. I am just afraid that the secondary may let JC pick them apart a little bit. I hope I am wrong.

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Football Season has Begun!

Today was the official start of the football season with the first game for USC. It was a beautiful day at home, but I really wish I would have been at the game. I need to get to at least two games this season because it has been so long since I last attended one.

I really thought it was going to be difficult for USC to cover the spread. I don't even remember what the spread was, but with a true freshman starting at quarterback it really did seam unreasonable. The game started and after the first quarter I thought it was going to be a long day.

USC got off to a really bad start with some sloppy play. San Jose State seemed to be doing a lot more right than USC. I thought at that point that it would be impossible to cover the spread. In the second quarter USC really started to hit their stride and began to simply dominate every aspect of the game. The running game was on fire and it did not matter which tailback was in the game. After the half, even Stanley Havili who is a fullback took some reps at tailback and had a lot of success. Stanley was a tailback in high school and that experience really showed.

In the end, USC covered the spread easily and looked much better than next weeks opponent, Ohio State. I really hope we keep things going and just embarrass Ohio state next week in the horse shoe. I think Pryor is overrated and I hope we expose him for the fraud he is.

On a side note, both Cal and Oregon State look to be legit this year. I hope we keep things together and can make a run for the national championship. The game is played at the Rose Bowl this year, so it would be nice to have a home game for all the marbles.

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Michael Vick is Back!?

So, Michael Vick played QB for the Atlanta Falcons until he was charged with a felony for operating an unlawful six-year long interstate dog fighting venture known as "Bad Newz Kennels" at a house he owned in Virginia. He was sentenced to 23 months in prison. He served 18 months of his sentence before being released from prison.

On August 13, Vick signed a 1-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles that will pay him $1.6 million this year with an option for the 2010 season worth $5 million. This past Sunday, sportscaster James Brown interviewed Vick for 60 Minutes. In the interview Vick stated that he was sorry that he did not step up as a leader and put a stop to the dog fighting, torture and killing. He said he was sorry for how it impacted his family, friends and team. He seemed very concerned with how it affected his life, but not really genuinely remorseful for what he did to the animals and for breaking the law. The excuse is that this was the life he was surrounded by growing up, so we need to give him a break.

If I was the one who was convicted of a felony charge and served time in prison, I would not be able to come back and get the same or similar job that I had before serving prison time. Does he deserve to make $1.6 million this year just because he is talented on the football field? Why then should I not be able to get a similar paying job after serving time for a felony conviction? Does this mean that he is better or more valuable than me, or any other regular working person? I don't think so and am ashamed that the NFL let him back into the league so soon.

Everybody has a right to resume their life after serving the required time for their crime. The problem is that regular people do not get that luxury. Only celebrities and wealthy people do. This is just not right!

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Football Season is Upon Us.

As the oft quoted Hank Williams Jr. might ask, "are you ready for some football?" I sure am. It has been a long off season. I even watched parts of the Hall of Fame Game on Sunday even though I had just a little interest in the teams playing. I had no interest in watching T.O. play for his new team, Buffalo. When it comes the NFL, I follow players rather than teams. I must confess that I do have some interest in the Tennessee Titans because both Jeff Fisher and LenDale White are Trojans. It was great to see a slimmed down LenDale and the Titans pick up where they left off last season and I loved the fake punt run for a touchdown.

I really want to make it to a few USC games this year if I can. I have not been to a game in over 10 years and I am really starting to miss the game day atmosphere. I have been to both college and pro games and I just love the college game and fans much more than the No Fun League. The Coliseum also got a cardinal and gold update to the exterior rim and some other updates this summer that were long overdue.

I made it to a spring practice last year and cannot believe the size of the players that Pete Carroll is getting to play for USC now. The players were big when I was there in 1989-1993, but now safeties and receivers like Taylor Mays and David Ausberry are as big as some of the linemen back then. It is just amazing!

FIGHT ON!

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