The Sports Guru

Michigan’s Greatest Football Coach Collapses, Dies at 77

On October 20, Bo Schembechler was doing his local TV show in Ann Arbor when he began to feel ill. Bo, tough as nails as a coach and a man, continued to do the show until it’s completion. Afterward the coach was rushed to the hospital where doctors implanted a pacemaker. As recently as this week, Schembechler said the doctors were still adjusting the unit, which he said covered half his chest. As he was in October, Bo was recording his TV show when he collapsed in the powder room. Efforts to revive him we unsuccessfull. Bo had a tremendous impact on life in both states and his loss is being felt on both campuses.

It might seem ironic to some that on the eve of the biggest game ever played in the biggest rivalry in sports that we would lose one of the game’s biggest figures. Bo Schembechler was born in Ohio, wet to Miami of Ohio where he played for Woody Hayes. Bo went to Ohio State with Hayes and coached at Ohio State before leaving in 1963 to coach at his alma-mater. In 1969 he added fuel to the Ohio State-Michigan fire by becoming becoming the head coach in Ann Arbor. It was teacher vs. pupil, and for 10 years the rivalry between coaches raged nearly as intense as the the rivalry inside the white lines. Schembechler went 4-5-1 in those 10 games, but continued on for 10 more years at UM, heading to 10 Rose Bowls, 17 Bowl games overall.

“This is an extraordinary loss for college football,” Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said in a statement. “Bo Schembechler touched the lives of many people and made the game of football better in every way. He will always be both a Buckeye and a Wolverine and our thoughts are with all who grieve his loss.”

It always seems funny to me how life seems to creep up and remind us that football is just a game, not the “life and death” struggle we try to make it out to be. The game will still be played, the winner will still play for the National Championship. Though I was too young to remember it, I am sure there was a certain something missing the first time Ohio State played Michigan after the death of Woody Hayes, and there will certainly be something missing from the game tomorrow. In life, Bo Schembechler called both Ohio and Michigan home, and in death he will always be a Buckeye and Wolverine. Let’s hope the game, and the fans coaches and players involved in it tomorrow remember a man that had so much to do with what the game is all about, and create something worth of his honor.

Rest in Peace, Bo Schmbechler!

Technorati Tags: Bo Schembechler, Michigan, Ohio State, Buckeyes, Miami of Ohio, Woody Hayes, College Football

Ohio State/Michigan Has Always Been And Will Always Be The Game

Are you sick of it yet? I ams ure you are. If you are not a fan of one of the scholls playing in the biggest game of the young century I am sure you are getting a bit tired of all the fuss. If you are a fan of, Rutgers, for instance, you are probablt saying to yourself, “This is no big deal, we are undefeated too!”. Yes, good ‘ole Rutgers fans who has been enjoying the majesty of college football for the last 5 minutes, now gets an opinion on the matter. Not quite. This is over a century of tradition at stake on Saturday at the ‘Shoe. Two of the greatest athletic programs in all of sports, pro or college, will get it on for the 103rd time, and at no point during those 7 dozen or so meetings have the two teams met as #1 v. #2. It happens this week.

But what of the hype machine? The media frenzy that has enveloped a city, a state, a region? Maybe a big deal in Louisville a couple weeks ago, or a big deal in New Jersey last Thursday, but just another walk in the park during this week, during Ohio State-Michigan week. Ya see, this game isn;t a big deal becuase the teams are un-defeated and ranked 1 and 2. No, this game has always been this big. Very rarely has one team or the other come into this game without a shot at a National Championship, or at worst a Rose Bowl birth. Michigan made a living off of ruining great John Cooper Buckeye teamas in the 90’s, twice keeping them from a shot at a title. As recently as 2000, Jim Tressel’s first season in Columbus, when the Buckeyes were young a mediocre, Ohio State went to that school up north and knocked the Wolverines out of contention. So the added excitement of the #1 and #2 stuff adds fuel to the national media fire but not to these coaches or these players.

That’s the beauty of this rivalry, it isn’t created by hype, or ESPN, or any of that, it’s created in the small towns of Ohio, and in the rural areas of Michigan. You grow up either Scarlet and Gray or Blue and Gold, there is no middle ground.

There has been alot of talk about the possibility of a re-match in the Title game should this game be a classic. A nail-biter. Let me say now that I am hoping as much hope as I can hope that it won’t happen. Don’t ruin what the third Saturday in November has become for me by trying to amp up for it again in 50 days. Sure, I am in total support of a playoff, but I think it only works if the only teams that get in are teams that win their conference. Add a couple of at-large or indepent teams that have to meet certain eligibilty requirements. Then and only then could a rematch be a remote possibility. For this year, in this B.S. sys…oh I mean BCS system, there can’t be a rematch. The loser wouldn’t be deserving and it would be unfair to the winner. Ohio State-Michigan is meant to be played in November, in chilly Columbus or frigid Ann Arbor, not in January in balmy Arizona.

Great coaches, great players, great fans and several great games litter this rivalry over the past century. From Woody and Bo, to Desmond Howard’s Heisman pose. Howard solidified his Heisman run in this game, as did Charles Woodson for the Wolverines a few years later. Eddie George locked on up for the Buckeyes, and this Saturday another Buckeye can get his name engraved on The Trophy. Troy Smith has had monster games against the Wolverines the past 2 seasons and another would pretty well lock up College Football’s ultimate individual prize.

Lloyd Carr is starting to feel the same heat that eventually succumbed Cooper in Columbus. Alot of success, except for the one and only game that matters, this one. Carr is 1-4 against Treesel. Coope went 2-10-1 in his 13 shots, yet averaged nearly 11 wins a season while in Columbus. He was run ou of town. Tressel has become a hero in Ohio, first winning that title in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl with all of Cooper’s Seniors, then keeping the Buckeyes at or near the top of the heap in college football. For 14 years he sat as the coach at Youngstown State waiting for his shot at this job, his dream job. All he did there, at a place most athletes would never dream of playing, was win 4 National Titles. Not too bad. Now at OSU he is hot on the trail of his second title in 6 years, right on track with his YSU pace.

So many angles, so much history. Just remember as you continue to get drowned in a sea of media coverage before 3:30 on Saturday that this game means alot this year. But it always has, for over 100 years. It’s just taken that long for everyone else to join the party.

Technorati Tags: Ohio State, Michigan, Ohio State-Michigan Game, Horseshoe, College Football, BCS, Buckeyes, Wolverines, Heisman Trophy

We’ve seen this act before. Many times in fact. Bob Knight, the ultimate disciplinarian who has no discipline, who demands respect but respects noone, and requires his players to be under control and accountable at all time, though he is nether at any time. It’s happened again, this time in the shape of a small uppercut to the chin of sophomore Texas Tech basketball player. The player, already dejected for making a bone-headed mistake on the court followed by the berating that followed by his “coach” committed the un-forgivable offense of dropping his eyes to the floor, like a beaten dog, while Knight was giving him his “lesson”. What followed is undeniable. How infractious the act was is certainly up for debate.

For their part, the coach, the school, the player, and his mother, all say the same thing. It was a non-event. And in honesty I found nothing wrong with it myself. The problem is the pattern of behavior. Isn;t that the important thing? Bob Knight has an illness, a mental defect, that causes him to physically lash out at young men. We have seen it before. His own son in in the early 90’s. An Indiana player, whom he was caught choking by a secret camera, and then the final straw, a student who said, “Hey Knight” on the Hossier’s campus, that resulted in Knight grabbing the student’s shirt. It’s a patter of bahavior, and one of physical battery.

Truth is, however, Knight is a tremendous coach. He graduates well over 90% of all his players. He never, ever gets caught breaking the rules, and to am man his former players defend him to the death. This same man, only 11 victories away from becoming the NCAA’s all-time wins leader, suspended his best player last week because he wasn’t taking care of business in the class room. A true Jeckyl and Hyde character, Knight’s greatest strength is also his greaest flaw.

He demands greatness, requires discipline, expects perfection, of everyone but himself. He does so becuase he is the only person in his world that he can’t make perfect, that won’t be disciplined, that can’t maintain control. At every turn Knight himself has thumbed his nose at authority, though should any of his players do that to him, watch out. He has usurped his direct supervisors and has used petty, immatture name calling in the media to get his points across. And his lowest point, in my opinion, was during an interview with Jeremy Schaap. Schapp is the son of the late, great Dick Schapp, and during a tough line of questioning, questions that Knight didn’t approve of, the coach decided to take the low road and bully the younger Schapp by basicall saying he would never be the reporter his father was. Can you imagine someone bringing up Bob Knight’s father to him???

In the end you’ll have to decide for yourself if this latest transgression is worth any type of punishment. That act itself wasn’t that haneous, but neither is going to a bar and having a beer, unless you are an alcoholic. Bob Knight is an addict, and someone had better step in before it’s too late.

Technorati Tags: Bob Knight, hitting player, Texas Tech, Indiana, basketball, college, NCAA

Ok, so this might not be Broncos specific, but I do have the Samsung ACE and I love the service. Well, according to Money.com, the service will be no more, as soon as today. Hmmm, does that let me out of my contract???

Another Great Idea Ahead Of It’s Time.

Technorati Tags: ESPN, ESPN Mobile

With news coming from Here and Here, the story of former Ohio State star Maurice Clarett has reached pathetic stage. Already in trouble for alledgedly robbing 2 men behind a Columbus nightclub, his trial date is rapidly approaching, Clarett led police on a high-speed chase early this moring in Columbus. That isn’t the worst of it. Clarett was carrying 4 loaded guns and a hatchet. Police tried to subdue Clarett with a taser which was unaffective because Clarett was wearing a bullet-proof vest. The police used mace instead, and even after getting Clarett in the paddy-wagon he continued to kick the door and try to escape.

Four guns, one a loaded AK47, a hatchet, wearing a bulletproof vest, drunk on vodak, it is easy to see that Clarett was up to something big and the end result would not have been pretty. The underlying theme though is just how sad of a story this is. I wrote a column yesterday about Lenny Cooke, and basketball phenom that was led down the wrong path by the advice of people who supposedly “cared” about him. Cooke has been to hell and back and now seems to have his life back in order. I talked about LeBron James, and the positive influence his support group had on him growing up. We can see the end result of that.

Maurice Clarett, who graduated high school the same year as LeBron, sadly has followed a path similar to Cooke’s, but the fall has been alot farther, alot faster. Clarett entered Ohio State in the spring, graduating early to get a head start on his college career. He was the starter at tailback from day 1 and it looked like he was going to be the next great running back at Ohio State, the next Archie Griffin, the next Eddie George. As a freshman Clarett garnered Heisman consideration before injuries cut his playing time. He was healthy by the the the Buckeyes faced Michigan, and Clarett made several huge plays enabling the Buckeyes to play for the National Championship. In that game, Clarett scored the winning touchdown in 2OT as the Buckeyes upset the Miami Hurricanes. The world seemed to be Clarett’s oyster, until the summer of 2003.

At the same time that friend LeBron James was signing a $90 Million shoe deal, Clarett was detailing cars at a local used car dealership, probably making $10 an hour. Clarett often compared himself to LeBron. Fact is, Clarett picked the wrong sport. The NFL had rules prohibiting underclassman from entering the NFL draft. Players had to be a full 3 years out of high school. Clarett was extremely jealous and bitter about that. His first trouble started that summer when a car he was “borrowing” from that car dealership was broken into and the audio equipment stolen. Clarett filed a false police report, then lied to the NCAA about it. Ohio State was already beginning to distance itself from Clarett after he was critical of the University for not allowing him to attend the funeral for a gang-banger buddy of his from hometown of Youngstown the week of the Fiesta Bowl.

It’s at this point that the story turns sad. Clarett was receiving advice from somewhere, and it was bad advice. If he had come clean, he probably woould have been reinstated and resumed his football career. Instead, more allegations arose involving Clarett receiving special treatment in classes. Ohio State then suspended Clarett for the entire 2003 Season. He was not aloud to practice with the team or workout at the team facility. In my opinion, a mistake by Ohio State. Sure, he made a bunch of mistakes, but it was obvious Clarett needed help. Instead of setting up a support system and helping Clarett, Ohio State turned it’s back on him.

More bad advice, this time from Jesse Jackson and others who used Clarett to forward a political agenda against the NFL. Clarett sued to be included in the 2004 NFL draft. After initially winning the case, hiring an agent and losing college eligibility, the ruling was overturned and Clarett was left with no where to play. There was talk of Canada, but again, Clarett was advised againt it. Instead, Clarett sat out 2004 and waited.

His chance finally came in 2005 at the NFL Combine. Clarett once again runined an opportunity. After running a poor 40 Clarett quit the combine and left, further fueling the fire about his toughness and willingness to work. He held a private workout for teams later, and was impressive. There seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel. At the 2005 NFL draft, the Denver Broncos surprised everyone when they drafted Clarett with the last pick of the 3rd Round. Was there a better situation for a running back than the Denver Broncos?

Things soured quickly in Denver. Clarett signed an incentive laden contract that included NO signing bonus. That left no liability for the team. After a couple of practices Clarett injured his groin. Even after given a clean bill of health by the training staff Clarett refused to practice. Teammates begain to question Clarett. Denver wasted no time and cut Clarett outright. Once again, Maurice was out of football.

There were rumors of tryouts, but Clarett once again blew an opportunity, on January 2, 2006 the same day Clarett was due to sign an NFL contract he turned himself in to Columbis Police regarding an Armed Robbery charge. He was released on $50,000 bond. On July 26, just weeks before Clarett’s trial was to being he fired his legal counsel, again on the advice of his “advisors”.

This all leads back to early this morning and the latest arrest. Has anyone so high fallen so far, so fast? In January 2003 Maurice Clarett was on top of the world. Just 3 1/2 years later he is looking at serious jail time and the end of a promising career and life. It is true that Clarett is a man and is responsible for his own decisions. But there were people and establishments along the way that could have stepped in to help someone that was crying out for it. Instead the system chewed him up and spit him out. A sad, sad story indeed.