Month: January 2016

The face of the NFL

In the days after the teams for Super Bowl 50 have been set, one of the sub headlines that have been discussed in advance of the big game has been who is the face of the NFL?

One of the leading candidates for this un-official title has been Carolina Panthers QB Cam Netwon. His first four years in the NFL were not necessarily the greatest but in the 2015 season, fortunes have turned for the better for him and the team fan base.

His teammates have noticed his presence on the field and the tone he has set since the first day of the off-season prior to this breakout season.

“He’s having an amazing time, man,” Panthers defensive tackle Kawann Short said. “You see it on the field, off the field — he’s just loose. He’s himself. That’s why we love that guy. That’s why we respect that guy, and we’re glad he’s on our team.”

Short goes on to say, “What he’s got, it’s contagious.”

Newton has signed endorsement deals with various companies. For example, in his rookie season he signed a multi-year deal with Gatorade. This partnership was possible from a previous connection with Newton receiving notoriety in college with his special Gatorade blend of “Cammy Cam Juice.” Furthermore Under Armour and Newton agreed to the largest shoe deal for a rookie before he was drafted.

Newton has accomplished some impressive feats that only one football player has accomplished before. First he has a Heisman Trophy, a national championship, one announcement from winning an MVP award and one more win away from winning a Super Bowl. The other on the list of rarities is former USC and L.A. Raiders running back Marcus Allen.

Some may remember around the time he was drafted, there were many naysayers and many of those naysayers believed that other quarterbacks would have a better career in the NFL than Newton has had as of now.

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ESPN’s Darren Rovell recalled a Bleacher Report columnist quote about the prospects of Cam Newton in the NFL.

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In the past, critics had said that Newton was deemed to be a liability when it came to throwing the football in part due to the way how he releases the ball. There was a time in which he was viewed to be a bit arrogant during news conferences but that debate has shifted to whether he is having too much fun.

My personal opinion of who is the face of the NFL is a bit overrated. Yes he is an integral part of the team but his tight ends and wide receivers such as Ted Ginn Jr. and former Bears tight end Greg Olsen have also played a role in Carolina’s success. It is great to see a Heisman Trophy winner actually have success in the NFL compared to past Heisman winners. Furthermore, it is great to see him always smile and laugh when cameras are in front of him, that is what NFL fans need to see more of.

One important question one has to ask when getting involved in this debate is what is the definition of the face of the NFL? To me that definition is open to interpretation and sometimes takes away from the main discussion we ought to be having. I am a little tired of when sports media personalities get too involved in conversations like these.

Newton has some work to do because one’s success in sports is largely dependent on how many championship one wins. If Newton is on the winning team in Super Bowl 50, we can have a more robust debate on whether he is the face of the NFL or not, but lets put that off until Monday February 8 at the earliest.

How to fix All-Star voting issues

Approximately 7 months ago, I wrote about more than 60 million votes being thrown out of fear of improper voting prior to the MLB All-Star game, fast forward to today, this issue is back in multiple sports. According to Elliotte Friedman during Hockey Night in Canada‘s “Headlines” segment, the league will make changes to the voting process for next year. What they’ll do has not yet been finalized.

The fan vote results for the 2016 NBA All-Star game were released on Thursday and one person is missing in the main picture.

Experts in both the NHL and NBA have offered their suggestions on how to fix this and I will discuss which ones I feel are worthy of considering.

In any sport, there needs to be a minimum number of games that a player has to have played in to be eligible for the game. Just because the name on the back of the jersey is Bryant does not mean that automatically gives him a head start over the rest of the competition.

Tom Ziller of SB Nation believes that even when fans vote for a player like Bryant who has a field goal percentage in the 30s, so long as players have played in enough games to be a representative, he is not bothered by them being voted into the position of a starter. Furthermore, he believes that the roster should be around 15 per conference and adds that by adding a few more, there is room for players such as Anthony Davis who are vulnerable of being the odd man out in the current state of matters.

Since many players have it in their contract that increases their pay if they make an All-Star game, teams should continue to be allowed to negotiate performance bonuses at will, even though some will argue that making the All-Star team seems like an arbitrary starting point. Ziller concludes his piece by mentioning what All-Star bonuses really are for. “All-Star bonuses are akin to rewarding a player for either having a massive individual fanbase, for playing on a glamour team or for playing out of mind for the first 35-40 games of the season.”

Skating over to the NHL and Aaron Wrotkowski of the Lastwordonsports believes that fan voting should be for the top three scorers of every team who have played a minimum of 15 games. He argues that a rule at least similar to this will prevent a Jon Scott from being selected to the game despite playing a very small percentage of games prior to that game.

In the days leading to the game, he proposes an idea to have a skills competition on the Thursday or Friday before the game for fans in whatever city to decide who ends up in the game. He adds to this argument by saying that the player who attends the skills competition on Saturday and plays the next day are the A+ players of one’s respective team. If Scott ends up being the fastest skater with the best shot and is the MVP of his All-Star team, that is what ended up happening. Wrotkowski believes the All-Star game should reflect the fans views but that the fans should not have complete control over the process.

I agree with all of the proposals I mentioned above and I have some more that I feel would increase the integrity of the process. For years, I have believed that the coach in whatever sport should make at least 50% of the decision making of who to include on his team. This is not to say that fans are not smart about basketball or hockey but the coaches know more about the game than an average fan.

At the same time, I feel as if too much emphasis is being placed on an All-Star game which in turn has made the game un-watchable to many. Nate Scott writes in USA Today that the NHL can not say that the All-Star game reflects the best of the league and change the rules almost every year. Scott concludes his piece by saying that All-Star games should be remade into what it truly is and that is an exhibition game with the intention of selling jerseys of the likes of Kevin Durant and Sidney Crosby.

The most important rule change proposal that I mentioned was that athletes have to play a certain amount of games before being eligible for the contest. I have mentioned this before but All-Star games should not represent the athletes in their prime of yesteryear, they must represent the athletes who have earned it on the merits today. Just this week, Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs made it on the last spot on the western conference team despite averaging just under 21 points per game.

My biggest issue with not just the NHL and NBA but also MLB is that have the commissioners of the respective leagues not noticed that fans tend to vote based on a popular last name in whatever sport?

Right in front of our eyes

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When Jimmy Butler called his team out after a game in New York in December for the lack of a defensive effort, that was a moment that inserted him as the team captain in my mind.

There has been much debate lately as to who is the best shooting guard in the NBA but recently, Butler downplayed whether he thought he is the best shooting guard in the NBA.

However, one of his teammates believes that Butler is up there with the top shooting guards in the NBA. “Absolutely I think Jimmy has reached elite status in this league. You can see every game he’s getting more comfortable as far as overall,” Derrick Rose said recently. “He’s such a complete player. It’s a testament to what he does in the off season. He just continues to add new elements to his game.”

Recently, I was asked by someone whether I thought Butler would have a 50+point game and I responded by saying that is very likely. It happened last week when the Bulls were visiting the city of brotherly love.

Even as a Bulls fan, I believe that Butler is the best shooting guard in the NBA in part because compared to other guards such as James Harden, he plays defense. Plus in an NBA that has many games where both teams tend to score triple digits, you need that stopper when its crunch time.

What I like about Butler is that in the past, he has shown that he is not afraid to guard some of the best shooting guards.

In the current NBA regular season that is nearly halfway over, Butler averages 38 minutes played, he shoots the ball at a 45% rate which is slightly above average and is averaging nearly two steals per game.

While I respect what Harden and other shooting guards such as Klay Thompson have to contribute to the game, I feel as if Butler is more of a team player. Furthermore, being successful at the highest level of any sport doesn’t always measure how many points, runs or goals one scores. I enjoy watching NBA games that feature high scoring teams going back and forth but I wish more NBA players had the mentality that a Jimmy Butler has.

There will be games in which Butler is not doing as well when it comes to scoring but it is amazing how much he has matured over the last few years to being a team player. Recently, I went to a Bulls game at the United Center and before the game, he was talking to the fans about being the best fan in a somewhat humorous way. Before the NBA regular season started, ESPN ranked Butler as the 17th best player in the NBA and what’s impressive about that is that he was 70th before the start of last season.

While anyone has to be impressed by Butler’s numbers, to me the greatest characteristic about #21 is that he goes about an upcoming game from the viewpoint that, I need to do what I can to help the team win. While there have been discussions of whether the Bulls can win in the long term with their current roster, they have to be excited what #21 will bring to the table.

Saban: the greatest college football coach

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After winning his 5th national title on Monday, I have become more convinced than ever before that Nick Saban is the greatest college football coach ever.

Saban has had many things thrown at him only to come out even stronger and he is one title away from tying legendary Crimson Tide coach Bear Bryant.

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports argues that Saban is the greatest college football coach ever

He mentions that both men worked in different eras of college football with less schools being able to compete at the highest level and more scholarships to supply talent.

In the 21st Century, we live in an era with scholarship caps, widespread exposure and a rarely satisfied public fed by a 24/7/365 media cycle makes matters considerably more difficult.

After the game vs. Clemson, people were talking about the gutsy on-side kick that Alabama recovered changed the momentum in the Crimson Tide’s favor. “I felt like if we didn’t do something, we wouldn’t have a chance to win,” Saban said.

Some of his players talk about Saban’s ability to relate to kids and the way how he conducts himself behind the scenes. “He’s makes a lot of funny jokes,” wide receiver Calvin Ridley said. “He’s pretty funny.”

Even with the accomplishments under his belt, he still lives his life with the fear of failure still a possibility but still intends to try his best to do even better. Recently he was asked about what his legacy will be when his coaching career is over.

“After somebody asked me [about legacy] the other day,” Saban said, “the first thing that came to my mind was my first game at Michigan State [in 1995] when we played Nebraska, when Tom Osborne was the coach, and we got beat [50-10] and I’m saying, ‘I may never win a game as a college coach.’

“And I remember running across the field and Tom Osborne, I think they won the national championship the year before and maybe that year, too, he said, you’re not as bad as you think,” Saban continued. “So I learned a lesson that day. And you know, as long as you do this, it’s always about your next play. It’s always about the next game.”

Over the course of a decade span, 8 instances have occurred in which an SEC team has gone on to win a national title and the fact that Saban’s teams in Alabama have won 4 titles in 7 years is impressive. Furthermore, over that period of time, the SEC has been an extremely competitive conference and Saban’s teams have played more than 5 games vs. ranked opponents during those championship years.

I can go on and on to mention why I think Saban is the best college football coach of all-time but what impresses me the most is how a coach deals with turnover after some either stop playing or get drafted by an NFL team. In an extremely competitive conference, going into hostile environments can take its toll on teams after a while but that is nothing for the Crimson Tide. Saban has won 5 titles in a very short period of time while for the legendary Bryant, it took him nearly 40 years.

Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post asked, “Does it sound like Nick Saban is winning because he’s at Alabama, or that Alabama is winning because it hired Nick Saban?”

“People sometimes will say, ‘Well, anybody can go win at Alabama,’ ” Dabo Swinney, the coach at Clemson said earlier this week. “Well, no, that’s not the case. Not everybody can coach a great player, and I think he has a gift to be able to do that.”

The most important factor that has contributed to Saban’s success is that with him leading the effort, there is a way how to play the game of football and we will not deviate from that at all. To be a successful head coach, while its important to be laser focused on your next opponent, I honestly believe as if a coach sometimes needs to not overwork his players. There is a way to train your players to be successful without overworking them and I think that there have been head coaches who think to be successful, you have to overwork your players.

I agree 100% with Kilgore that Saban has made Tuscaloosa the standard for college football and I do not see this being replicated after his coaching days are over. To be successful in a coaching position in whatever capacity, you need to have a personality that can be seen by some as having an ego.

While I believe Saban is the greatest college football coach of all-time, you have to credit his players with buying into his philosophy. A coach can say all he wants but if his players don’t buy into his philosophy, what the coach says means nothing. At least in recent times, Saban has exerted a greater amount of positive influence on his teams in Tuscaloosa. This factor has put Saban over the top in my view.

Coming to you from North Central College

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During my days being a part of the North Central College community, there had been no shortage of people involved in North Central athletics that I spoken to. One of my favorite moments had to be in October 2014 when I had the chance to walk on the field after the homecoming football game. I was surrounded by fans and members of the media covering the game and had the chance to speak to a couple of the players and coaches. Furthermore, I was able to do what a journalist does and that is of course to ask the athletes questions pertaining to the game. It was a surreal experience and having the chance to see how big a football field is while standing on it was surreal as well.

During my time working for WONC, I had the experience to cover games from a slightly different view. While, I would’ve done this a few more times, I had the chance to sit in the radio booth during a few North Central baseball games and having that view from atop was something special as well. I’ve watched baseball for many years and when you are watching the game on TV, you have to trust the announcers to tell you what is going on when the cameras are not catching everything. I also had a chance to sit in on the radio broadcast for softball games, and the sport is very similar to baseball. Considering the knowledge I have in baseball, the minor differences that occur in a softball game were not too much for me to adjust to.

In the past, I have attended Men’s and Women’s Basketball and I have covered the team in a couple different ways. As with the football homecoming game, I had the opportunity on a few occasions to step on the court at the end of games to speak to coaches and members of the teams and to ask questions. I always used an audio recording device to hear the athletes in their own words because there are times in which to get your point across, you have to do that by using the individual’s words. On a couple of occasions, I took some pictures of game action on my phone and eventually sent it to the social media person for the Chronicle to eventually post.

Even as my days at North Central are over, I still visit campus to speak to people involved with athletic teams. In the days before the men’s and women’s basketball teams began their seasons, I interviewed both team’s head coaches. Having the chance to ask questions about how their teams prepare for games against CCIW opponents and hear their answers gave me an insight into what it is like to be a head coach.

Recently, I had the chance to interview Vince Kmiec and I got everything I expected in material from which to work with. One of the more revealing moments was when I asked him what makes Division 3 basketball unique? He told me that some of the best college basketball head coaches come from Division 3 including former Wisconsin Badgers coach Bo Ryan.

I have also covered teams that may not garner as much attention as others. This month in fact a new sport is set to begin playing and that is men’s volleyball. I have noticed that not many colleges have men’s volleyball as a varsity sport. I have done a number of projects covering the new team and having the opportunity to hear some of the athletes speak about the sport is something that can give this sport some traction.

While I covered the main sports for the newspaper, I also did profile interviews for teams such as the women’s golf and men’s and women’s swimming and diving team. In general, being able to cover individual athletes was a chance to see what it was like being in the shoes of a student athlete and to hear them speaking in their own words, which often puts an individual story in perspective better than anyone could possibly do.

One of the things I tend to notice when I cover individual sports is that when I speak to people, they tend to mention me by name during discussions and interviews. Being known by quite a few people involved with North Central athletics gives me a feeling that I am welcome to cover athletic events on a regular basis.

What does 2016 have in store for me? At this point, I don’t know how many events I will be covering but I am looking forward to getting a little out of my comfort zone and do something I haven’t done as much in the past. In the near future, I will likely be doing more audio podcasts doing athletics related profiles. In the meantime, I will always be looking at what more I can do to improve myself when it comes to covering North Central sports now and as a freelancer but hopefully in the near future, something even bigger.

Give it a chance

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Even with a team like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers having a down season and firing head coach Lovie Smith, I contend as if many NFL teams are firing their head coaches way too early. In the last 4 years, more than 20 teams have fired their current head coaches and quite a few have done this more than once.

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said that it took until 2003 to implement his winning philosophy and that was 4 years after he was first hired by the team.

“The coach that comes in usually has a different philosophy than the coach that left, so you have to try to implement that philosophy,” Belichick said. “That means you’re going to turn over a high percentage of the roster because the players that the other coach had don’t fit the new philosophy, so a lot of the players are going to have to change in part because of the philosophy and probably in part because of the scheme.”

He went on to say that it is common for newly hired coaches to be on one-contracts these days but believes that it is impossible to build a winning program in one season.

Looking back at recent history, some of the best head coaches in the NFL. Before winning two consecutive Super Bowl Championships in the 1990’s, then Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson was the coach of a Cowboys team that lost 15 of 16 games.

To me when teams that fire their coach at least most of them, it is often a knee jerk reaction. This saying applies to any sport and that is sometimes to win you first have to experience what it is like to lose. Furthermore, I believe as if the people making these decisions tend to expect way too much real quickly and don’t put everything into context.

I was watching one of my favorite TV shows called Garbage Time with Katie Nolan and she suggested a new rule. That proposal is that after a team has fired a head coach every few years, the next person to be hired shall have no coaching experience. When I heard that, it got me thinking, this is something that could be considered but I do not agree with that being a new rule. NFL teams should not be dictated by the league whether they can hire a person with 20 years of coaching or just one.

Each team has unique characteristics about themselves that are different and imposing such a rule like what Nolan is proposing is not the way to go. I have a better idea: no rule should be put into place but teams need to take some time and not be in a rush to make changes days after the season ends.

I also contend that team records should not be the lone predictor whether a team should keep or fire their head coach. Furthermore, I believe that records can be a misleading number, it is imperative that teams who have a coach that could be on the hot seat to look at how a team lost games that led to a record of 6-10.

For example, in 2015, while the Bears had a 6-10 record, there were quite a few games in which they lost that they could’ve easily won. Add to that, John Fox will likely be the coach for the Bears in 2016. The better thing to do is look at ways how a team lost a game that ended in a field goal or a touchdown and evaluate what if any free agents or draft picks a team can sign to win those close games.

Ultimately, it is all too common for teams to scrap the foundation of a team while they are learning the ropes of what it takes to win. As a result, doing that often ensures that a team will spend another year well under .500 as opposed to letting the system work itself out. Going through the pluses and minuses could have led a team such as the Tennessee Titans to a playoff appearance when they fired Mike Munchak after the 2013 season in which the team finished 2nd in the AFC South.

Unfortunately for Titans fans, they went in a different direction and finished 2-14 the next season. I contend as if they had given Munchak a chance to succeed for at least another season, the Titans may not be where they are today, looking for a permanent head coach. Add to that scenario, working to figure out what it takes to win but after all of the moves, the Titans are no where closer than they were when they actually had something in place whether they knew it or not.

2015 Chicago Bears in review

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The first year under the new regime led by GM Ryan Pace and head coach John Fox ended with the team missing the playoffs in which they have been absent for 8 of the last 9 seasons. While many expected the team to finish around where they ultimately ended up at 6-10, the monsters of the midway had a few games go down to the wire only to lose most of them.

One of the stats that hurt the Bears was their home record, they won just one of their 8 games at Soldier Field and could have easily lost all 8 of those games.

One lingering question that hovers over the team is whether star running back Matt Forte will be back in 2016 as he is a free agent. If indeed Forte’s Chicago days are over, he intended to send a reminder of what his days in the windy city were like.

In his 8 years with the Bears, Forte has racked up over 8,600 rushing yards, over 4,000 receiving yards and has scored 64 touchdowns.

Another factor in this is that Michigan State running back Jeremy Langford and he made strides in 2015 and the arrow is pointing in the right direction for 2016.

Another interesting point of discussion during the season was that quarterback Jay Cutler had a respectable season in which he nearly cut the amount of interceptions thrown in half. He also finished the 2015 season with a career-best 92.3 quarterback rating and that was with offensive coordinator Adam Gase. However, Gase is being sought for vacant head coaching positions and if Gase is not with the Bears in 2016 and the chances of Gase being with the Bears next season are very low.

On the other side, tight end Martellus Bennett suffered an injury in week 11, returned two weeks later and shortly after that was placed on injured reserve. People who cover the team say that it is very unlikely that Bennett will return for next season. In 11 games, Bennett had 53 catches for 439 yards and scored 3 touchdowns. Before the injury, Bennett had made it clear that he was not pleased with his role in the team’s offense and like Forte is under contract for 2016.

In 2015, the team made an improvement in points allowed per game from 2014 albeit by a field goal but they improved from 31st to 20th. If this trend continues next season and they allow something like 21 points per game, that could earn them another win or two. On the offensive end, the Bears averaged nearly 21 points per game but that was 23rd best in the NFL. As with the offensive numbers, moving the rank from 23rd to the teens combined with improved defensive numbers could win them a couple more games.

Many expected the team to not compete for the playoffs but as I mentioned earlier, there were quite a few games that they lost that left a somber feeling for Bears fans. My goal back in September was for the team to make games interesting at the very least and that criteria I set was met for the most part. I also believed the team would win 7 games and I remember hearing people predict as low as 3 wins. The way how the Bears lost games vs. the likes of Minnesota, Detroit and Denver was very difficult for them to overcome and I think made it more difficult for them to actually win a close game the more it happened.

I remember there was some talk about whether the Bears could make the playoffs after winning a barn burner in Green Bay on Thanksgiving night but there was a let down in the weeks after.

There are times in which to win you first have to experience losing games in a difficult way like Bears fans saw many times in 2015. This offseason, the team has to focus on being able to finish games in which they have the lead. The team has to do much better against their own division because of the way the schedule is constructed. I have mentioned this before, but I remember the days in which teams feared coming to Soldier Field. Over the last few seasons that fear has not existed and the Bears will not do well next year if they win just one or two games at home, that number has to be at least at 4 and the higher the better.

One of my biggest issues over the last few years was that with the history of the Bears, they can suddenly win games giving up 4 touchdowns on a regular basis. I don’t think the Bears necessarily have to be in the top 5 in fewest points allowed, but being in the 20s or 30, 31, and 32 is not a winning recipe for a franchise that is known to score occasionally but is known more to be stubborn on the defensive side of the football.