Peyton "Midas" Manning (Be careful Indy)

Since his 1st day picking up a football, Peyton Manning has done nothing but have the Midas touch on whatever he touches. For the purposes of this, let's focus on his pro career in Indy, with a Colts team whose team history is best defined in 2 parts (BP - Before Peyton, WM - With Manning).  The season before Peyton arrived, the Colts were a 3 win team and the BP era led by Faulk/Harbaugh and others was mediocre at best. Obviously having the 1st pick in 1998 after another subpar season, the Colts drafted Peyton Manning over Ryan Leaf, which looks like the opposite of the Michael Jordan/Sam Bowie draft mishap. The WM era begun, and although the team had 3 wins his rookie season, they played teams close games and were on the way up. The next season the Colts had a 1st round bye with 13 wins, that + 10 in wins was an NFL record. For his remaining 11 seasons with the team, the Colts would have double digit wins EVERY SEASON BUT ONE (and an eventual Super Bowl). That is the epitome of a turnaround, the standard for consistency. This was done with an outstanding arm and with the ability to pick apart a defense like nobody we have quite ever seen. It was also done with many different pieces around him, but the crucial question right now for Indy (since Peyton is now out of Indy) should be: what has happened post-Peyton in his career? 

Here is a list of some the WRs that Peyton threw to throughout his career:  Quadry Ismail, Jerome Pathon, Marcus Pollard, Terrance Wilkins, Ken Dilger, EG Green, Isaac Jones, Torrace Small, Troy Walters, Brandon Stokley, Brad Pyatt, Aaron Moorehead, Ben Hartsock, Dominic Rhodes, Ben Utecht, Bryan Fletcher, James Mungro, Ricky Proehl, Kenton Keith, Anthony Gonzalez, Craphonso Thorpe, Devin Aromashodu, Luke Lawton, Roy Hall, Jacob Tamme, Tom Santi, Gijon Robinson, Najeh Davenport, Mike Hart, Pierre Garcon, Austin Collie, Hank Baskett, Blair White, Brody Eldridge, Javarris James. - This list speaks for itself, none of these guys have done a damn thing outside of mediocrity throughout their careers, Peyton led some of these guys to playoff games/Super Bowls.

Here are the big pieces during Mannings tenure:

Jim Mora - hasn't coached in the NFL since Indy, but did coach in the USFL for the Baltimore Stars, and has starred in commercials with his "playoff" rant.

Marvin Harrison- a WR with 1100 catches under Peyton has not played football since Indy. He asked for his release in 2008, sat out 2009, and shot up Chucky's garage in North Philly.

Edgerrin James - being regarded as one of the league's best RBs after rushing for 1500 yards 2 years in a row in Indy, he was shipped to Arizona fresh off of a Super Bowl Season with the Colts. He never showed the type of abilities in Arizona, his production dropped and by 2009 he was out of the lg.

Reggie Wayne - had his worst season in 2011, not eclipsing the 1000 yard mark for the 1st time since 2003

Dallas Clark - hasn't been healthy in years, but in 2011 he had career low numbers

Indy Colts Organization - things come full circle, the 1st season without Peyton since 1998, and the Colts have the 1st pick for the 1st time since.......1998. The team went 2-14 in 2011. The team clearly cut corners on spending on defense throughout the years and even at RB because they knew nothing mattered outside of Peyton, and as baffling as it sounds they clearly cut corners on a backup plan for the heart and soul of their team. This is part of the problem with the Colts actually flourishing in Peyton's absence, if/when they draft Luck, the rest of the team is completely dessimated and one of your only core pieces is a rookie QB, this is a recipe for disaster.

How many other all time great QBs's legacies look like this? Drafted by a subpar team, start from day1, you take them to record setting highs quickly, take them to a Super Bowl victory, make consistent chicken salad out of chicken shit, set numerous records, your supporting cast changes/coaches change, but the one consistent mainstay is you, one season without you puts your team where they were when you left. Montana? No. Elway? No.  Marino? No. Favre? No. Brady? No. I understand Peyton's true impact on the Colts will show more over time, but I think any team that signs him will be extremely lucky. We are talking about a guy who puts it all on his shoulders and takes the reigns of the offense completely, he allows you to spend less to have such an even team, including on defense. Indy did make the only move they could really make, but don't be surprised if you look up in 3 years and see "Midas" Manning flourishing for his 3rd year in a new city, while the Colts are back where they were before they drafting Manning, in the cellar.

"Hating" as it applies to sports

Nowadays, not just in sports, whenever someone opposes your opinion, it is customary to say that person is "HATING" on you; but let's apply it to sports:

By definition, from my urban dictionary, I feel that hating is when - a) Someone is denying the FACTS about the team/issue, due to their deep rooted feelings against the truth normally, b) their feelings about what are not fact based (opinions) are clouded by their deep rooted feelings or hatred towards the team/issue. 

An example of a deep rooted feeling of hate would stem from a Raiders fan towards Tim Tebow for example, a Celtics fan towards Kobe Bryant. Deep rooted feelings can also include being a stubborn mule, and not wanting to go back on what you previously said. Here is how it applies: 

Example 1 - if someone says that Tebow did not play well in Round 1 of the playoffs, they are HATING! Why? It is a fact that his team won, he threw for 300 against the best defense in the LG, and he came up big when his team needed him most. HE PLAYED WELL. 

Example 2 - I tell my boy that Jeremy Lin is a turnover machine and needs to take better care of the ball to ever be considered an elite point guard - NOT HATING! Why? For 1, I do not have any hatred towards the Knicks, am not a rival teams fan, and couldnt care less about them. And 2, I personally feel if you commit 6-7 turnovers a game, and your job is to manage the game and take care of the ball, that you are not elite.  

Example 3 - if Mel Kiper says "I still don't feel Tim Tebow is the QB of the future for the Broncos" - that is NOT HATING! That is an opinion, we do not know if Tebow is or is not, and Kiper does not have any deep rooted feelings involved, he has no horse in this race. 

Deep rooted feelings - This is the root of any hatred, but sports wise, as stated above, it can come from different places, some examples are:

-Being a fan of an opposing team

-Being stubborn about a previous opinion and not wanted to admit wrong

-Envy - (your team is eliminated or is not good, so you want to tear everyone else down)

-Organizational structure/history - (maybe you hate the Yankees bc they spend money, or USC because of sanctions etc.)

I don't know outside of these why you would hate someone/something in something as non threatening as sports, something so insignificant in most fans everyday life. If you can hate a player because of his performance, you are definitely hating on tons of people in your everyday life. Why would you hate Tim Tebow? He is a good kid, he works hard. Non rival team haters are the biggest mystery to me, I have had people tell me they hate the Lakers because "they win all the time", which would fall under the envy category. Winners don't hate winners, they salute winners. 

If I don't have these deep rooted feelings, unless I don't understand sports, there really is no way I can hate on your team/players. I don't know how many times I have to tell people "I have no horse in this race", so I can get them to understand I am looking at the matter objectively. Let's start to separate hate from opinion people! Not everyone is hating on you/your team/your fav player!

 

LIN-sanity/Player parody

"A player can only be as good as his coach thinks he is," one league executive said. "There are a bunch of guys who are one coach liking them away from being a decent player in this league. If your coach has you on a short leash and pulls you out every time you make a mistake, you're going to play like crap."

"Jeremy Lin is just like a whole bunch of guys," the executive continued. "I've seen three guys in the D-League recently who are like him. He's no better than he was two weeks ago. But he's been given an opportunity with a coach who believes in him."

The quote above is what a NBA league executive said about the amazing recent play of  Harvard alum and Chinese sensation Jeremy Lin. This view of his play is going a bit against the grain of the masses, who have all but crowned Jeremy Lin King of New York after 3 games. The more I thought about it, the more I tend to agree with this league exec (and I think anyone that has played sports can agree), but that is not really a knock on Lin as much it is a compliment to how amazing professional athletes are.

I believe there is a ton of parody talent wise individually in professional sports, much more than most think. Aside from the elite group of top tier players in the league (8-10 players), I truly believe the rest of the guys are VERY close in talent. This can apply for any sport, but let's focus on basketball here for the sake of Lin. I believe the fantasy basketball geeks out there agree with me on this as well, let's look at some of the "replacements" have performed for guys in the NBA recently:

Player/stat line - (R) - replacement

-Kyrie Irving 18/5 -(R) Ramon Sessions 24/13

-Carmelo Anthony 22/6 -(R) Steve Novak 19/4

-Chauncey Billups  15/4 -(R) Randy Foye 15/2

-Danilo Gallinari 17/5 -(R) Arron Afflalo 26/2

-Derrick Rose 22/7 -(R) CJ Watson 15/7

It's always been amazing to me that a team can be missing a normal starter and a guy off of the bench steps in and replaces his stat line, but it happens every night in the NBA (and in other sports). It's sad that this even has to be mentioned, but everyone in the NBA is exceptionally talented, and is in some way shape or form a basketball genius. Yes, the "bum" at the end of the bench of your favorite team is actually a basketball genius. This is why I am not surprised when I see guys like Jeremy Lin, who went undrafted and has been cut from 2 NBA teams (has also played in the D-league) in his short career, flourishing when given the opportunity. When you have a league with so many talented players, confidence means everything. Golden State head coach and ex player Mark Jackson stated, "Having a coach believe in you is half the battle, so I'm a guy that believes the confidence a coach has in a player is a bigger part of an individual's success than most people think. I've seen coaches kill players by taking a guy out when he makes mistakes."

Jeremy Lin was cut from the Houston Rockets, he was beat out by Gorin Dragic and Johnny Flynn. He was also cut by Golden State, beat out by rookie guard Charles Jenkins (who I have never heard of before). If you put Gorin Dragic/Johnny Flynn/Charles Jenkins/Jeremy Lin/the vast majority of the PGs in the NBA in a gym, I'd be willing to bet you would be hard pressed to say any of them are better than the other. Close your eyes and choose randomly, flip a coin. Johnny Flynn may do the same thing Lin is doing now given the opportunity with the Knicks, as would Dragic. Is Derrick Rose better than Jeremy Lin? Of course, but not THAT much better. I think some people think Derrick Rose is 3 times better than all backup PGs in the league, it's not the case. A lot of things can separate you as a player from your competitors, but in pro sports the margin is SLIM. The best shooter in the league shoots .02% better than the 2nd best. 

The NBA executive quoted above is correct, Lin is not better than he was 2 weeks ago, what changed is the chance he was given. People act like Jeremy Lin was pulled off of a local LA Fitness floor and asked to lace them up for the Knicks last minute, and is performing a MIRACLE. Is he playing well? Of course. Let's not take that away from him at all. Culturally I think it's a much bigger story than the amazement of his actual abilities. But let's not be shocked the next time a Jeremy Lin "explodes" on the scene, let's take it for what it is: another brilliant player in a league full of brilliant players getting a chance.

Americas Most Disliked Athletes/Race in Sports

Backdrop:

Here is a list done this week (2/8/2012) of the country's top 10 most hated athletes:

1. Michael Vick (Dog Fighting incidents of 2007)
2. Tiger Woods (admitted to adultery in 2009)
3. Plaxico Burress (shot HIMSELF in the leg back in 2008)
4. Ndamukong Suh (has a history of being a dirty player, stomped on a player this past season after the play)
5. Kris Humphries (married/separated from Kim Kardashian)
6. LeBron James (left his home town team to join his friends and pursue a title, taking LESS money)
7. Kobe Bryant (Caught cheating on his wife in 2003, traded verbal spars with Shaquille O'Neal, very confident persona)
8. Terrell Owens (Confident athlete, never been in any real trouble other than his boasting in the NFL)
9. Alex Rodriguez (Admitted to using steroids in 2009)
10. Kurt Busch (is known for his temper, fighting with fellow drivers and for his obscenity laced tirades with the media, as recently as late 2011)

- 8 African African/Part African American, 1 Dominican, 1 Caucasian

"The black athlete is America's pit bull....the pit bull is the kind of animal that can be lovable, and you can sit back and relish on the strength and beauty of the animal, but as soon as he bites you in the leg, you want to put it asleep."

Every year these lists come out, and every year I am reminded of how much race affects people's perceptions still in this country. In prior lists, we have seen Latrell Sprewell, Barry Bonds, Ron Artest all atop this list. This just in: black/minority athletes are not the only athletes committing adultery, doing steroids, having cocky flamboyant personalities, or getting in trouble with the law. I broke down above a summary of what these athletes are on this list for, and as you notice there are 3 athletes on this list who have done absolutely nothing in my opinion to be on this list (5,6,8). The only 2 incidents on here that occurred just this last year are from 10 and 4, and as I stated this list was made just this past week.

Let's group the offenses, let's 1st look at off the field/legal troubles. To me, these are true reasons to potentially hate an athlete, and shouldn't even be comparable to a Kris Humphries/Lebron James offense (who are both on this list obviously) . The athletes above who fall under that category are Vick/Plaxico/Kobe. Who is not on this list that would fall under that category? For one, Ben Roethlisberger. He has had 3 run ins with the law, and for what he did he served a 6 game suspension. This most recent of Ben's incidents came in 2010, which is more recent than all of these as well, it was the 2nd of 2 sexual assault allegations. I won't judge whose crimes were worse, but shooting yourself in the leg is a self inflicted crime, and came before Ben's last incident, which should be more fresh on your mind I would think.

The 2nd type of offense would be nothing off of the field, just your general personality/confidence that rubs people the wrong way. Terrell Owens/Kurt Busch/Suh/Kris Humphries would fall under this category. Who does not? Brett Favre for one, who has toyed with the NFL's owners and fans for years for his own selfish benefit, and takes no pass when having the opportunity to toot his own horn or throw Aaron Rodgers under the bus. Carson Palmer also just this past season demanded a trade, sat out of training camp with not even half of the media attention Terrell Owens received when demanding to leave the Eagles. Kurt Busch has taken his personality issues to the next level, physically getting into numerous altercations with fellow drivers, which Terrell Owens has not done (speculation vs. McNabb), so it seems his offenses are worse, and far more recent, although he is further down the list. Brett Favre also falls under the 3rd category, which is adultery/marital issues in the public (Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Kris Humphries), which is the dumbest offense to me. Tiger Woods marital issues are really none of my business, but it does grab attention, as did Brett Favre's sexts that were sent out. The 4th would be performance enhancing drugs, which per the Mitchell Report was almost common practice in MLB for a period of time, which A Rod (minority) and Barry Bonds have been persecuted for, while the Andy Pettite/Ryan Braun and Brian Cushings of the world would never make this list.

I am not saying all of these guys on this list shouldn't be there, I am saying you are naive to think that it's just by chance most of these athletes are minorities. It's your opinion as to whether Tiger sexting or Favre sexting is worse than the other, but what we can't debate is that the same rules don't apply. Kris Humphries should not be on this list under any circumstances, neither should Lebron James or Terrell Owens. These guys have done nothing against the law, and if you can find something morally wrong with what they have done I would like to hear it. Confidence should not make you dislike someone, there are plenty of white athletes with confidence (Jay Cutler/Kevin Love/Jared Allen) who are not on this list, who wouldn't make the top 150 most disliked athletes list. I am aware that media/social coverage has a lot to do with this, Lebron James "decision" to go with the Miami Heat was on national television, cameras were camped outside of TO's house during a holdout, and Kris Humphries has a weekly reality show making him look like a bad guy. Tie that in with the fact that a lot of top athletes are minorities, and there you have a lot of the problem. But fans need to take the same magnifying glass they judge all of these athletes with, and look deeper into the media coverage, at least before you vote on which athletes you dislike.

The general public does not forget about what minority athletes do, and are not very forgiving at all. Michael Vick had a MVP type season last year, his great play since the incident obviously hasn't made people forget about what he did, which was no doubt terrible. The CEO of the Humane Society has forgiven him and applauded him for his work speaking out against dog fighting since then. Athletes like him and other minority athletes, having to bend over backwards to rebuild their image, community service and charity work is just the tip of the iceberg for them, although the work goes unnoticed.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

-Would a black sports commentator be allowed back on the air 3 years later after sexual assault and sodomy charges? (Marv Albert)

-Would a black head coach be allowed to coach the next week after a DUI charge and keep his job? (Gary Pinkel)

-Would a black athlete be allowed to knock up a Hooters waitress while he is married with hardly any media attention? (Chipper Jones)

-Would a black athlete be able to use heavy drugs like cocaine/meth/heroin and not have his image tainted? (Chris Anderson/Matt Jones)

-If a black player flips off the crowd during a game, would he NOT be suspended or  leading every sports segment? (AJ Hawk)

-If 2 black coaches got into a physical altercation after a game would there not be an attack on their judgment or suspension? (Jim Harbaugh/Jim Schwartz)

-Would a black Olympian caught smoking weed on camera still be America's gold medal darling? (Michael Phelps)
-Would a white athlete be one of America's most hated athletes just from getting a separation from his wife? (Kris Humphries)

 
I believe the black athlete is indeed America's pit bull, and I believe the stereotypes that are still there about minorities in general affect people's perceptions of minority athletes, and it's just that simple. I don't believe this will ever change, a black athlete will get caught with a gun, and the perception that we all carry guns will be thrown in. Don't be naive to it people, the perception of black athletes is just ONE of the many examples of perceptions still alive today.

NBA Superstar Placing

Backdrop:

The largest NBA markets by city are: 1. New York, 2. Los Angeles, 3. Chicago, 4. Philadelphia, 5. Dallas, 6. SF/OAK, 7. Boston, 8. Atlanta, 9. Washington DC, 10. Houston, 11. Detroit, 12. Phoenix (COMBINED 54 NBA TITLES; 34 of them from Boston/LA)

The smallest NBA markets by city are: 1. Memphis, 2. New Orleans, 3. San Antonio, 4. Salt Lake City, 5. Milwaukee, 6. Charlotte, 7. Indianapolis, 8. Portland, 9. Orlando, 10. Sacramento, 11. Denver, 12. Miami, 13. Cleveland, 14. Phoenix, 15. Minneapolis. (COMBINED 7 NBA TITLES)

Top 10 Current Players right now (in no order, S= small market, L= large market): (S) Lebron James, (L) Kobe Bryant,  (S)Dwayne Wade,  (S) Kevin Durant, (S) Dwight Howard, (L) Derrick Rose, (L) Chris Paul, (L) Dirk Nowitski, (L) Carmelo Anthony, (L) Deron Williams.

Small market owners vs. Big market owners, how much did we hear about this war during the NBA lockout this past year? I decided to look a bit further into this, and explore NBA superstar placement/parody. This breakdown could be done for any sports, but superstar placement is CRUCIAL in basketball, where 1 superstar can have such an impact on a game/team. You really cannot win in the NBA without a superstar or 2 (or 3). So it begs the question, how do superstars get placed? The NBA draft gets 1/10th of the attention of the NFL draft, and most of the time your 2nd round pick is fighting for a job, but the draft is very key. My statement is this: THE NBA DRAFT IS THE ONLY ROOT OF SUPERSTAR PRODUCT PLACEMENT OUTSIDE OF BIG MARKET TEAMS. 

(L) As you see above, the big market teams historically have been much more successful over time, who doesnt want to play in a big city/big market? Just recently, Carmelo Anthony has left a small market team to go to a big, as has Deron Williams, Chris Paul, and possibly in the future Dwight Howard (who has made it clear he wants to be in a big market city for his personal reasons). This needs no breakdown. The big markets a lot of the times are not your teams with your early picks as they tend to be a bit more successful, but when free agency time comes, that is where these teams get better. This is why the Lakers have stayed consistent for so many years, and of their 3 best players 2 of them came through the draft, 1 of them in 1996 (Kobe), one in 2005 (Bynum). This is an example, vs. a team like the San Antonio (small market) who have drafted all of their contributors over the past 15 years. Why? Because it's not an attractive place to play, this will never change.

(S) The key to small market teams, who may not be as consistent, is to draft well, and win quickly. The draft can help you in a number of ways: 1) you obviously get players who have no choice but to come to your team regardless of the city size, 2) those players you draft may attract other players. These are the only 2 ways teams stay competitive, example 1 above is the OKC Thunder, example 2 above is the Miami Heat. The backfire of being a small market team is getting your future piece in the draft, and having him leave once free agency comes (big market time) before you can surround him/win with him (Lebron/CP3). The only way to have a small market team stay competitive consistently is to have your high draft pick you took that had no choice but to come to your small city lure superstars just to play with them from other teams (Miami), or to have a nucleus of draft picks that have no desire to go to a big city which is EXTREMELY RARE (San Antonio Duncan years). *Miami is a small market team with big market attraction, so I almost exclude them at times from this side of the scale. What OKC has going right now is similar to what the Shaq-Penny Orlando Magic had, you keep hitting on the draft making superstar picks, and while those guys are under contract you win quickly, which is asking a lot of a young team. Basically, the Thunder have to win NOW, chances are as history as shown that Westbrook will not be there long, maybe not even Durant. Los Angeles may be an attractive destination for Westbrook in the future, maybe Houston for Durant, who knows. Basically, the draft pick is your everything....it's your present, your future, and your bargaining chip for free agents, and probably the only way you get a baller in your city.

The moral here is the NBA owners were correct, it is tough for small market NBA teams to compete, but OKC is showing it CAN be done! At the end of the day, as long as free agency is around, this battle will always be there, players can choose where they want to go. But it is in the GM's hands to a certain degree for big and small market teams, make great decisions, you get great results. There is no denying that the path to success is very different.

Bret Bielema/Big 10 Recruiting

“I can tell you this,” Bielema told Hayes. “We at the Big Ten don’t want to be like the SEC—in any way, shape or form.”

When I read this earlier today, I was baffled. The context of this quote, in Brett Bielema's defense, was a reporter asking Bielema, Wisconsin's head football coach, about new Big 10 coach and recruiting extraordinare Urban Meyer "flipping" recruits in his first 2 months in the conference. What "flipping" a recruit is, is continuing to recruit a recruiting prospect after he is committed to another school, and getting him to come to your school. Let's back up a bit, here is a bit more backdrop on this:

*Urban Meyer spent 2005-2010 in the SEC conference at Florida and stocked up on talent, winning 2 national championships, while also hoarding all of the speed/talent in the southeast (Tim Tebow/Percy Harvin caliber kids). He came aboard the Big 10/Ohio State University Nov. 23, 2011, and in 2 months put together a top 5 recruiting class.

*The Big 10 conference is known for it's power/slow/smashmouth football, and although a powerful conference, it has not taken the big step in winning national championships due to lack of speed/highly rated recruiting classes. Part of the issue is location, as it is a mideast based conference that lacks many of the top prospects. The  majority of speed is in the southeast and west.

*Brett Bielema has not had a top 40 recruting class since he has been at Wisconsin, but has been VERY successful still winning games, and making the most out of his talent (the conference as a whole has done this). Wisconsin is just not an attractive place to attend school for most kids in FL, TX, CA.

*Recruiting is a nasty BUSINESS at times. Colleges/coaches' livelihoods depend upon getting the best kids to their school. The best schools get the best players, it's just that simple. It can be deemed as a win/win for the kids and the coach, the kid gets recruited hard and knows all of the selling points of a school and can find the best fit for him, and the coach gets more talent.

Evidently, in the Big 10 conference, there was a "gentleman's clause" before Urban Meyer got there, to where if a kid commits to a school, the other schools in the conference can't continue to recruit this kid. Well, an agreement of sorts that Urban Meyer never agreed to, and will never agree to with good reason. Kids in high school are unsure about what school is best for them, I was one of those kids. I even had to transfer from one school to the next during college to find the right school for me, these truly are KIDS here. 

It does a kid no harm to give a verbal commitment to a school and hear sales pitches from other schools, they have signed nothing yet obligating them to a school. A verbal commitment to anything from a 17 year old kid aint worth shit, they can't even commit to what they want for breakfast in the morning. Anyone that has been recruited knows coaches pressure you into verbal commitments, you could commit to a school just because of this or any other reasoning. Maybe during your trip a pretty girl told you she would blow your balls off if you commit now, you commit, and get home and come to your senses, who knows! I wish more schools had recruited me after I verbally committed, it may have saved me a year at a school that was not best for me. Bret Bielema also added that recruiting a kid committed to another school was "pretty unethical", hmmm would you call it ethical to go for a 2 point conversion up 4 touchdowns with 6 minutes left? How about hanging 83 points on Indiana? (Both which Bielema has done). Life is not fair! There is no rule enforced in NCAA football that outlaws recruiting kids who have given VERBAL commitments, no matter what VERBAL conference agreement was in place that evidently not all of the coaches agreed to (and there are a ton of recruiting rules in place that are very specific). New Michigan coach Brady Hoke stated, "It's recruiting. It's competitive. It's a part of it. There is no legislation against it," That is the attitude of a guy with a great recruiting class, a competitive coach not looking for excuses, not a coach who needs a meaningless gentleman's agreement to hide the fact that he doesn't recruit tirelessly like the top recruiters. Urban Meyer added, "We will continue to comply with NCAA rules and recruit with relentless effort, especially the great state of Ohio." He is exactly right, and he will succeed. 

1 more thing to think about is, if a kid decided to play for Michigan when competitor Ohio State had an interim coach at the helm, in the midst of a coaching fire/recruiting controversy and a lackluster season, do you not think that things change BIG TIME when a young coaching juggernaut comes into Ohio State? It's the same thing as when a coach gets fired and a kid de-commits, when a new coach gets hired to a school, a kid shouldn't be frowned upon for now considering this school, nor should the coach be for recruiting that kid. A lot of times kids pursue a school not the other way around. Also, sometimes 1 college coach may have a higher grade on a kid than the previous coach, hell maybe a kid wasn't even recruited by a school until a new coach comes in. Things change, as long as a verbal agreement in in place, all is fair within NCAA guidelines. To Bret Bielema and other coaches who feel the same way he does: RECRUIT YOUR KIDS UNTIL THEY SIGN, AND IF THEY TRULY ARE SOLD ON YOUR SCHOOL, THEY WON'T LOOK ELSEWHERE. DO YOUR JOB WELL AND YOU WON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE BIG BULLY URBAN MEYER TAKING A 17 YEAR OLDS VERBAL COMMITMENT FROM YOU. Take care of your business in house, don't look for another coach with his family's livelihood on the line to do you any favors.

Lastly, Bielema stating he doesn't want the Big 10 to be like the SEC in any way is ridiculous for another reason, the SEC wins! The SEC has won the last 6 national championships, the last Big 10 national championship was Michigan in 1997 (share of title)! A conference known for being non-athletic and overachieving needs to try as hard as possible to be MORE LIKE the SEC, and Urban Meyer is part of the new influx of the NEW Big 10 - Hoke, Pelini ,Meyer- that will hopefully get the conference off of it's mediocre states of mind Brett Bielema and other coaches have. Recruit on Urban! Flourish my boy!


(Link to radio discussion - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAYYOnZAl9g)