And let me first state that I think that the way that LeBron made this announcement is over the top and basically self centered to say the least.  But I’ll talk about that more in a minute.  First to the reactions.

Lets start with the owner, Dan Gilbert.  I don’t know the guy or anything about him.  But I feel pretty sure that had LeBron resigned, he would have called him not only “The King” but probably the greatest basketball player of all time or something to that effect.  But instead he rips him and calls him a coward and a quitter.  If he really believed he was a quitter, why wait until now?  Why be so upset that you weren’t able to sign him?

Now to the fans.  I hear the words “cruel”  “cowardly betrayal”  “deserted us”.  And they were burning his jersey in the streets.

I have three main thoughts on this.  First, why do people think that LeBron owes Cleveland anything?  As far as I know he never signed a lifetime contract.   And from what I saw, he gave the team and the city 7 great years of basketball.   To say he “betrayed” Cleveland, that he “deserted” them is just plain crazy in my opinion.  He has the right to pursue his desires, in this case a championship. And as far as I remember, he gave not only them great basketball but of himself to that community during that time. What, beyond that, does he owe?

Second, I would say that he could have handled the decision and announcement differently.  Creating the frenzy, stringing it along, having your own prime time show to announce that you are leaving, well I’m not a fan of that approach.  I do think it adds to the hurt and the sting of his leaving.  Was it narcissistic?  Was it self-promoting?  Was it a spectacle?   Probably yes to all of those.  But was it wrong, a crime, betrayal, cowardly?  Not in my humble opinion.

Last, I would ask, “What do you expect?”  While I am not a fan of the approach that LeBron took, look at how we have elevated him and other sports stars.  If you call a guy “The King”, treat him like he is, literally, a king, why would you expect him to act any other way.  Kings are never about the subjects.  They are about their kingdom and their own power.  And that is part of the problem in all sports.

We create this atmosphere, allow all types of behavior, pay them obscene amounts of money and then we are surprised by their behavior.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that LeBron is like some of the other professional athletes with their legal problems and other issues.  But I am saying that if he did handle this in a narcissistic, self promoting, self centered way, are you really, seriously surprised?

Get a grip America.

First thing is that most big time D1 (oops I’m supposed to say FBS) schools schedule patsy games for their season openers.  And the ones who don’t, like Georgia and Virginia Tech, are probably regretting it right now.   Now with the way that schedules are done, sometimes several years in advance, it can be difficult to ensure that the school will still be a patsy a few years down the road, but Alabama and Oklahoma State compared to say Charleston Southern (Florida’s season opener) well you tell me.

My question is who is better off,  Virginia Tech and Georgia who have lost early and can learn from it or Florida and Penn State who won easily early but may not know what challenges they have to fix to make a run?  I think that teams like Georgia and VT, whether by chance or by design, are, in fact, better off?  Why you might ask?

Well, in my humble opinion, teams that have question marks need to flush that out early, not when they hit their conference schedule.  Both VT and Georgia have question marks at quarterback and the Bulldogs lost a NFL first round draft pick running back as well as the #1 overall pick.  Now the Florida Gators have 2 deep all returning on their defense and Tim Tebow along with a bunch of talent on offense so I don’t think that they hurt themselves with an overwhelmingly easy win in game 1.  They will be ready when they need to be.

Next observation?  Well, when I look at the scores between ranked teams and just the overall scores from this weekend, I think that the BCS is going to be a real roller coaster again this year.  Last man standing may be hard to predict all along the way.  Maybe Florida will run away with it, but remember they play in the SEC.

So I think this football season will be a ton of fun for fans and the media.  It will probably be real tough on head coaches and on hard core fans who only enjoy it when their football team wins.  But if you really love the game, I think the 2009 edition will be a real woozy.

And that is about as much as I can figure out this early in the football season.  Looking forward to next week!

What I didn’t realize was how many coaches he developed and/or impacted. I read today how much his fingerprints are all over the National Football League. There are currently 22 head coaches who trace their development back to Walsh.

It may be that they worked for him directly or that they worked for assistants that he developed. But it is amazing when you think about it. And one of the amazing things about it is that he didn’t coach all that many years. He only coached 10 years for the San Francisco 49ers, but won 3 Super Bowls during that time.

So it was a sad day when Bill Walsh passed on. We send out prayers out for his family and know that they will get many calls, visits, and cards from all the many players, fans, coaches, and others around the game of football who were close to him and influenced by him.

After meeting for three days recently, commissioners from the football conferences around the country were advised by SEC commissioner Mike Slive to “begin thinking about the future now”. Wow, what a forward thinking guy here.
The bottom line is that they are going to stay with the current fomat at least through the end of the 2009 season. And what is signifcant about that timing? Coincidentally, the BCS current contracts for college football games ends after the 2009 seasons.
I mean how hard are these guys trying to make my point that it’s all controlled by the money. You can read my post about whether there should be a playoff here on the site at: Should there be a playoff system?
I am just disappointed that they didn’t even start to think about or discuss how to change the current bowl system for Division I college football. I didn’t expect a change or even an agreement to change. But I was maybe hoping for some kind of action to look at the issue and start to possibly develop possible alternatives. Silly me!
One final interesting note on this whole mess. Who was this making this decision? College football coaches? Input from former college players in the NFL? Nope, nothing like that; just the conference commisioners for the D1 conferences. Hmmmmm….. makes sense to me?

Why does every other football organization in the country have a playoff system other than Division I college football? I mean how else can you really name a National Champion? Isn’t part of being a true champion being able to win through a tough playoff schedule and not only play well, but take advantage of breaks and overcome adversity in game after game? It does in my book.

In my opinion it is only money that is holding this back. I haven’t recently seen any strong arguments for keeping the College Football situation the same as it is right now. But there is so much sponsor and television money at stake that I don’t think we will see a playoff at the Division I level in my lifetime.

And that is a shame for the game of football. I have seen a number of different proposals on how it could be done so I won’t go back through all of that together. Here is what I would like to see happen if the NCAA has the guts. Let’s poll the fans!

I am serious. Let everyone who follows college football vote! Fans, coaches, media, everyone. Then we would find out what the people who spend all the MONEY on football think. Will it happen? Not a chance. I don’t think that the NCAA has the guts to even discuss doing this. Too bad for college football and college football fans.

Remember Dick Vermeil when he had to retire because of burnout? As Dillon writes, NFL Coaches (head coaches) work about 70-80 hours a week and rarely take any time off. The demands of win or be gone in the NFL are unbelieveable.

I agree with Dillon that Andy Reid is doing the right thing. And if he needs more time, because of his family situation, he should take it. I really respect the men who coach football at this level. Not only are you dealing with the pressure and stress of big time National Football League football, but you also get the joy of dealing with prima donnas like Terrell Owens, etc.

Now don’t get me wrong. These guys make BIG, BIG money. But is it worth it. When you read what has happened with Reid’s two sons, you start to look at things from a new perspective and understand what is important.

Now I love football, as I am sure all the coaches in the NFL and NCAA do. But at what cost do these gentlemen pursue their dreams? And you can win and still be gone tomorrow. I mean look at Marty Schottenheimer in San Diego. I mean 14-2 and he gets fired??? I don’t know, I quit watching the NBA several years ago because of the direction that it took with its’ players. I just hope the money and pressure in the NFL don’t ruin that game and all the good football coaches along the way.

‘Till next time!