Yes, DI program SDSU is considering Kansas City Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards.

But it is not that SDSU but this SDSU.  That SDSU football team seems to be doing just fine without Herm “You Play To Win The Game” Edwards.  The other one isn’t.

*San Diego State University

(Hat tip Arrowhead Pride.)

I thought you Jackrabbits out there might like to see what the other side’s coverage of one of your SDSU games looks like. 

This is the Santa Maria, California Fox station’s coverage of Saturday’s Cal Poly v. SDSU (that’s South Dakota State not San Diego State) game that the Californians won. 

They had nine sacks of the SDSU QB.  That’s no way to win a game, kids.

On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being insignificant, this would be like a -179.

But because Hurricane Ike damaged Houston’s Reliant Stadium, the Houston Texans v. Baltimore Ravens game rescheduled for Monday has been moved to November 9th.

This means any Ravens or Texans players you have slated to start on your NFL FFL teams will likely be in the “bye” mode and not score any points for you this week.

So, right after you go to the Red Cross site and give a donation for disaster relief for the victims of Hurricane Ike, go to your FFL site and check your rosters.

(Hat tip to Squibkick.com)

Perhaps this will be a game changer in the U.S. Senate race.

Johnson has changed his name to Ocho Cinco.

Will Rep. Joel Dykstra use this as a campaign issue?

I think “former” Green Bay Packer QB Brett Favre is one of the great QBs in the game’s history. He’s a tremendous competitor. He plays the game with boyish zeal.

But then he gets tired and he wants to retire. Who can blame him? Despite all the money and accolades, it has to also be a grind.

But then he gets excited and wants to play again. Who can blame him? He still has his health and his skills. A competitive fire like that doesn’t go out easily.

But then there’s poor “backup” QB Aaron Rogers, patiently waiting all these years for his “turn.” And Brett did say he was retiring and the Packers took him at his word and started planning for a Brettless future.

So, what to do, what to do?

I know, have a poll asking all you fellow arm chair QBs out there what you would do!

	What Should the Packers do about Brett Favre?
	Take him back unconditionally.
	Under no circumstances take him back.
	Take him back but make him ride the pine.
	Take him back then trade him.
	Unconditionally release him so he can play where he wants.
galax online casino

Technorati Tags: Brett Favre, Aaron Rogers, Green Bay Packers, NFL, QBs, retirement, polls

Official as in "officiating."

I'm refereeing basketball at the Sioux Falls MAYB tournament at Augustana and soccer at the Dakota Gold Tournament at Tomar Park.

Three games down today, three tomorrow.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really quite stiff. Not tired, stiff. I'm thinking of taking a soak in bathtub full of Atomic Balm.

So far I've not said "play on" during a basketball game or done a ten count when the attacking team is bringing the ball up on their half of the field during a soccer match.

Technorati Tags: soccer, Dakota Gold, MAYB, Augustana College, Sioux Falls

The tragedy of philly Eight Belles’ heroic run in the Kentucky Derby—and euthanasia immediately following her two broken ankles—is not a random event in the so-called “Sport of Kings.”

Injured human athletes who perform the incredible are carried off the field.  Injured equine athletes who do the same get shot in the head.

Here’s the description from the Boston Globe about Eight Belles’ final agonizing minutes:

She didn’t have a front leg to stand on to be splinted and hauled off in the ambulance, so she was immediately euthanized,” said track veterinarian Larry Bramlage. “Catastrophic injuries are something that we occasionally see in one [ankle] - it’s not terribly unheard of. But in all my years of racing I’ve never seen it happen at the end of the race or during the race.”

Dirt tracks like Churchill Downs are literally murder on race horses, according to the blog, Kentucky Derby:

Many blame danger of dirt tracks. California had ordered softer synthetic surfaces for every track because 154 horses had to be euthanized in the 2004-05 racing season. So many horses died on the Del Mar track that trainers called it a “killing field.

And long before Barry Bonds’ head went to a size ten from alleged steroid use, trainer and owners have been doping horses for ages.  But while the human athletes can chose to destroy their bodies with drugs, their horsey counterparts have no such free will.  And doping isn’t some mobbed up thing of the past.  It still happens today.

Earlier this year, ESPN reported about illegal doping being part of a multi-million dollar illegal gambling ring:

Thoroughbred owner Gerald Uvari and trainer Greg Martin were two of the 17 people indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges Thursday in Manhattan federal court as part of an alleged multimillion-dollar illegal gambling operation that brokered more than $200 million in bets on horse racing and other sports and fixed a race at Aqueduct in 2003…

The indictment said one of Uvari’s partners, David Applebaum, who formerly held a license as a Thoroughbred owner, participated in a scheme to fix a race at Aqueduct by what the indictment calls “horse doping.”

And last year in New York state court, a father and son admitted doping harness racing horses.

A father and son have admitted that they injected harness horses at Saratoga Raceway with cobra snake venom in what officials say is the first horse-doping plea in Saratoga County.  William Barrack 68, and his son, Keith, 43, of Beacon, Dutchess County, pleaded guilty to one count each of interference with a domestic animal, a felony. They were originally indicted on two felony counts of first degree scheming to defraud and fifth degree conspiracy in addition to misdemeanor counts.

 

Essentially the only difference between horse racing and dog fighting is that the exploitation of horses by white people for profit is acceptable and the exploitation of dogs by black people for profit is unacceptable.  Both are dirty, corrupt, and unrepenant sports that kill its athletes on a fairly regular basis.

Dog fighting can’t be made “clean” and humane.

And, so it seems, can’t horse racing be made clean and humane either.

It’s time to euthanize this “sport.”  How many more Eight Belles and Barbaros and lesser horses have to run beautifully but suffer horribly before we humans decide to act?

Technorati Tags: Barbaro, Eight Belles, Kentucky Derby, dog fighting, euthanize

If you’re a nut about March Madness like I am, join the South Dakota Watch Tournament Challenge on espn.com.

All you win is bragging rights but you’ll have good, clean bi-partisan fun in the process.

You’ll need to become a member of ESPN which is free.

To check out the group and join, click here.

The group is open to anyone, so if you have friends you’d like to invite, please feel free to do so.

Photo: Ramel Bradley ofKentucky during Kentucky and Kansas 2007 NCAA tournament second roundgame at the United Center in Chicago on March 18, 2007.

Technorati Tags: March Madness, South Dakota Watch, fantasy games, basketball, NCAA Final four

Recently received this in my email from the President of the Sioux Falls Soccer Association:

 

To Sioux Falls Soccer Association, 

SFSA has started preliminary talks with Dakota Gold to see if the time is right to bring the two organizations together. This effort was in line with the strategic planning goals laid out in a strategic planning session over a year ago. This effort is also consistent with providing the best possible soccer experience for ALL kids interested in playing soccer. As we did in our discussions with the Great Plains Soccer Association, we will make every effort to ensure all current SFSA members, especially the members of the current club committee, are adequately informed and have the opportunity to provide vital feedback to this potential historic process. Our intent in pursuing these preliminary discussions was relayed to the SFSA Club Committee last Tuesday. In addition, specific meetings will be held to discuss the issues as the process evolves. No decision will be made until the current Club Committee is adequately informed and has the opportunity to provide feedback. I have always stressed that when a final decision is made regarding this effort, the decision will be made in the best interest of all the soccer players in Sioux Falls. Just imagine the wonderful opportunity we have in front of us to make soccer history in Sioux Falls, by creating the largest single soccer association in the region.

As I have previously said, “Its about the kids.”

Lyle Van Hemert, President SFSA

My own experience recently with the merger of SFSA and Great Plains Soccer was that it was an unmitigated disaster. There was no planning. Coaches and parents running roughshod over the SFSA to ensure what was best for their own kids and not the kids at large. It was a mess.

The SFSA has done a great job running recreational soccer programs. But club soccer makes the recent Johnson/Kirby dust-up look like child’s play. Club soccer politics is down and dirty.

My own experiences with Lyle Van Hemert have also been less than stellar. Several years ago when my daughter’s club team was getting poached for players from another Great Plains team and ended up destroying my daughter’s team, he would do nothing to stop it or help us recruit new players. When I was trying to form a new club team this fall for my son and was getting terrible guff from an out of control parent, he wouldn’t intervene to help. I have no confidence in Lyle to lead SFSA or club soccer in Sioux Falls to greener pastures.

Great Plains was started by my good friend Marlon Mollett over ten years ago as a way to have a more democratic and kids’-centric club program compared to Dakota Gold. It was largely successful in that under Marlon and the other early founders. But it has since strayed from that mission and turned into a shell of its former self.

On the other hand, Dakota Gold is like Fascist Italy. The trains run on time but no one seems to have any fun. Everyone is told what to do and winning is paramount. But at least stuff gets done.

Further, given that long time SFSA executive director Rich Jensen has left—who I think absolutely was all about the kids having a great experience—perhaps the time has come for a merger—but perhaps Dakota Gold should be the ones in charge, as much as it pains me to say that. They got the Bubble. They’ve got a beautiful training field just west of Harrisburg. They have winning teams. They train their coaches. They have a plan.

I’ve coached and refereed under SFSA and like all the staff. I hope to continue that. The SFSA staff work hard and do a good job. Their hearts are in the right place—with the kids. However, several of the people on the SFSA Board, in my opinion, don’t have the best interests of the greatest number of kids at heart—the kids who just want to play soccer and have fun.

A SFSA/Dakota Gold merger. Maybe if the Evil Soccer Empire runs it. That’s how bad things have gotten.

Technorati Tags: Sioux Falls Soccer Association, Dakota Gold, SFSA, Sioux Falls

 

Here is the very latest on Roger Clemens’ testimony before Congress today on alleged steroid and HGH use.  Click to refresh or check back often!

Reader Blaine Wilson makes an interesting observation:

The NY Giants have now won 3 Super Bowls.  In the baseball seasons after the first 2, the Twins won the World Series.

Could this be the year for the Twins, even after they got rid of most of the good young talent?  Is the fate of the Twins tied to the Giants?

Photo: Does a victory parade in Manhattan presage a victory parade in Minneapolis?  New York Giants MichaelStrahan,Giants Head Coach Tom Coughlin and Super Bowl XLII MVP GiantsQuarterback Eli Manning at the Super Bowl XLII New York Giants VictoryParade in the Canyon of Heroes Lower Manhattan February 5, 2008 in NewYork City.  (wireimage.com photo)

Technorati Tags: New York Giants, Super Bowl, World Series, baseball, football, MLB, NFL, Minnesota Twins

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Ok, I’ll admit my bona fides are a little light football-wise.

• Last organized football played—Freshman year of high school.
• Soccer coach and ref.
• NFL games attended in person—2.

But I have loved the NFL (and before the merger, the AFL even more) since I was a first grader—over 40 years.  And God knows how many thousands of hours of NFL games and analysis on ESPN I’ve watched.

So, I am no more or less an expert than most people.

But I predict and upset today—the New York Giants 27, the New England Patriots 24.

Here are my reasons:

• The Patriots will once again need a good kicker to win the game. They let go one of our favorite South Dakotans—Kicker Adam Vinatieri—and now have a rookie.  Adam is only the most clutch kicker in the history of the game.
• Giants QB Eli Manning will not throw any interceptions and continue his near perfect play.
• The Giants pass rush will get to QB Tom Brady and disrupt his timing.
• The Patriots’ pursuit of going 19-0 finally catches up with them.
• NE QB Tom Brady’s ankle really is bothering him.  (See photo above.)
  
• The Patriots weren’t able to cheat and tape the Giants’ run-through like they did the St. Louis Rams’ in Super Bowl 36.

And speaking of the Rams.  In Super Bowl 36, they were the prohibitive favorite, had the tremendous passing attack, and were the “Greatest Show on Turf.”  The Patriots were given no chance.

Well, the tables are turned.  The Patriots will be smug, the Giants will be hungry. 

And if I’m wrong, at least their’s Tom Petty at half time.

Regardless of the score, enjoy the game!

Photo above: Tom Brady sighting on January 23, 2008 in New York City.   Tom Brady Sighting in New York - January 23, 2008.

Photo below: Actor Michael Chiklis attends the Official Super Bowl XLII Talent and Player Gift Lounge produced by the NFL and ON 3 Productions held at the Phoenix Convention Center on February 2, 2008 in Phoenix, Arizona.



Technorati Tags: Greatest Show on Turf, St. Louis Rams, Adam Vinatieri, famous South Dakotans, Tom Brady, kickers, QBs, Eli Manning, Super Bowl, Tom Petty

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This past week leads me to believe that we can never truly know what is in the heart of a celebrity.

Two examples emerge, one from politics, one from sports.

Last week prior to the New Hampshire Presidential Primary, Sen. Hillary Clinton gets verklempt about politics not being a game and she nearly breaks into tears.  By some accounts, Hillary is not a nice person.  She is one tough woman, prone to yelling at staff and often coming across as a lecturing librarian.

Then after yesterday’s loss to the New York Giants, badboy Dallas Cowboys WR Terrell Owens—often listed as Exhibit A of greedy, selfish pro athletes—cries about criticism leveled at “my quarterback” and “my team mate” Tony Romo.
 

.

But what’s true and what’s cold calculation when it comes to any of us, let alone celebrities?

Back In The Day when O.J. Simpson was known as perhaps the greatest running back in the history of football and Hertz rental car ads (“Go O.J.!”), I remember being shocked like a lot of people that this seemingly friendly and jovial jock could slice two people to death with a knife.

Yet, apparently, it’s true—at least a civil jury says so as does a lot of direct and circumstantial evidence, Johnny Cochran notwithstanding.

We didn’t know O.J. We thought we did but we really had no clue. Perhaps only a few people close to Simpson—including Nicole Simpson, who had divorced him—actually knew what he might be capable of.

By the same token, was Hillary sincere? Was T.O. sincere? Were their tears real, their halting voices true?

The sunny optimist, the side of me that likes to think the best rather than the worst in people, would like to think so.

Unfortunately, that optimism and good will is tempered with what I have seen politicians and TV personalities do first hand—to try and create a reality that is an unreality—to fake sincerity—to try and fool at least some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time.

Despite the now hours of cable TV news, a gazillion blogs, and every other new marvel of information technology, there is still no real way to say who is have an actual catharsis or epiphany before us, and which ones are modern day Elmer Gantries, pulling at our heartstrings with manufactured charm—and bad intent.

Frankly, I just don’t know.

Perhaps it is as replicant Ray Batty says at the end of the movie “Blade Runner.”

“All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.”

Time will tell if what we witnessed withstands the rains of history—or not.

Technorati Tags: Sen. Hillary Clinton, T.O., Terrell Owens, tears, crying, sincerity, fake, Dallas Cowboys, Tony Romo, 2008 Presidential Election, NFL, New York Giants, New Hampshire Presidential Primary

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The following are some shots I took at the Alcester-Hudson Middle School Tournament Saturday.  My son Matt’s Harrisburg Tigers took second, losing 55 to 25 to Dakota Valley.  They defeated Alcester-Hudson 46 to 2 in the first round.

Technorati Tags: Harrisburg, South Dakota, Alcester, Alcester-Hudson, Dakota Valley, basketball, middle school

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Towards the end of last night’s 49ers v. Bengals game on the NFL Network, PBP man Bryant Gumbel noted, “Al Gore can’t get off the field!”

My son Matt and I both laughed, as did Gumbel’s booth mates Deion Sanders and Marshall Faulk.

“Uh, that’s Frank Gore not Al Gore,” Gumbel corrected himself among guffaws from Sanders and Faulk, both former NFL stars.

Perhaps Bryant would have been more correct had he said “Al Gore won’t get into the field (of Presidential candidates.)”

Let ‘s see. Al Gore, slightly pudgy, middle-aged white guy who should be President of the United States.

Frank Gore, buff young black guy who is a top running back in the NFL.

Yup, easy to get them confused.

Actually, as a former broadcaster, it is easy to make these goofy mistakes. I remember early in my TV career I was hosting a public affairs program on nursing homes—i.e., “adult care homes,” which I continued to call on the program “adult hair combs.” Try as I might, I kept screwing it up. At first I was mortified then I was almost laughing at how stupid I was.

So, it happens.

Though it would be kind of fun to see V.P. Al Gore play a few downs as an NFL running back and hear RB Frank Gore answer some questions on global warming.

(Cross-posted to SD Watch and TV Chatting.)

Very Top: Al Gore pictured at theLeaders in London International Leadership Summit on Wednesday November28, 2007 in London.The event, now in its forth year, hosted a stellarline up of international speakers discussing aspects of businessleadership to an audience of the UK an Europe’s leading businessmen.Speakers include Kofi Annan, The Hon Al Gore, David Cameron, Sir MartinSorrell and Karren Brady amongst others.

Top: San Francisco 49er running back Frank Gore in game against the Indianapolis Colts during the 2006 season.  Photo by studmufffin from Flickr.

Technorati Tags: Al Gore, Frank Gore, NFL, Bryant Gumbel, NFL Network, Deion Sanders, Marshall Faulk, 2008 Presidential election

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