So, as you can probably tell, this blog post is going to be VERY heavily leaning towards both college and pro football (as it usually does) plus the Rockets shocking comeback over the Clippers in the NBA Playoffs. That having been said....
Let's begin with quite a bit of football, starting in the college game. Though it is the offseason, recruiting is heating up for National Signing Day 2016, and there are some transfers hitting the "open market" so to speak as well.
Two of the offseason's hottest transfer possibilities, Everett Golson and Braxton Miller, still haven't made their final decisions yet. In the last blog, I mentioned that there was a rumor several weeks ago that Finebaum of the SEC Network had a source who said Miller may transfer to Alabama.
Needless to say, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith doesn't see that happening, Sitting down with a reporter from Eleven Warriors, an Ohio State based website, Smith said, "No, he's not going anywhere. Where's the rumors? He never said that."
Smith further went on to say that Miller loves it in Columbus, has a child and is in a good position. Obviously, Smith is not waffling on this position.
We shall see. But the Ohio State depth chart at QB, plus him being able to play right away leaves the transfer possibility always open until we hear it from the horse's mouth.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson is also a hot "prospect" as far as transfer possibilities. The rumor was that he was going to make a decision on where he'd play football next year (he has a year of eligibility remaining and will be able to play immediately as he graduated from Notre Dame on Saturday), but it appears he will keep the college football world waiting a bit longer according to Brett McMurphy of ESPN.
In Norman, the rough waters since the 2014 Sugar Bowl continue for Oklahoma's football program, as sophomore wide receiver K.J. Young was dismissed for violating team rules, and defensive backs Tito Windham and Marcus Green are set to transfer. Those three join running back Keith Ford, who announced he would transfer last week.
Auburn has had a week of setbacks as well though they did land the services of former five-star offensive lineman (and ex-Longhorn) Darius James this week; War Eagle lost three defensive backs to transfers in the past week as Kamryn Melton will be joined by fellow defensive backs Derrick Moncrief and Joe Turner in leaving the program. Moncrief is the biggest loss of all of them experience wise, as he played in all 13 games for Auburn this past year.
From the NFL comes the most confusing thing of the day; the Miami Dolphins signed Ryan Tannehill to a six year, 96M contract extension. What they see in this guy I'll never know; he's not a bad quarterback, but I certainly don't think he's a quarterback that is worth that much money. But if they want to put all their money on a decent but not great quarterback, knock yourselves out Miami.
Also from the NFL, Justin Smith, consistently one of the best defensive ends in the game, retires after 14 seasons in the pros. Amongst consistently drawing double teams and opening up gaps for linebackers in his tenures in Cincinnati and San Francisco, he played in a remarkable 221 out of 224 games in his 14 year career (thanks to Chris Sprow of ESPN for that stat). That's just about impossible in today's NFL. Smith played his college ball at Mizzou, an old rival of the Huskers, but I tip my hat today to one of the most durable players the NFL has seen in some time.
This also continues the rough offseason for the Niners, who of course lost Jim Harbaugh after the regular season and lost their other defensive stalwart Patrick Willis, who also retired this offseason.
Elsewhere from the Shield, apparently former Denver Broncos and Washington Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan would coach again if the situation was right. Speaking at a panel discussion for a lifestyle brand founded by a former NFL player, Shanahan said,
"You go 18 hours a day for 40-something years, and then you got a year and a half to two years where you feel like you got the time to do whatever you want to do," Shanahan said. "I still study the heck out of football. I actually have more time. I study more football than I actually did before."
Listen, Shanahan is a great football mind, has been for years. But there was one decision that, to me, set back his entire professional coaching career significantly and that was continuing to play Robert Griffin III in that playoff game against Seattle (in the 2012-13 season) when it was obvious Griffin couldn't play anymore. Honestly, if anyone hires this guy after that I'll be shocked.
Also from the NFL, current Panthers quarterback Cam Newton (you may remember him as a national title winning quarterback at Auburn as well) had a great moment with a horse racing fan this weekend at the Preakness Stakes. American Pharoah won the race to bring him within a victory at the Belmont Stakes of the first Triple Crown in 37 years, but a fan who had a winning ticket got to be in a photo with Newton. That's pretty cool.
On a side note, I'd love to see the Triple Crown come true, but there's a reason it hasn't been done in 37 years; it's probably the hardest feat to pull off in all of sports.
Cancer got another victim this weekend unfortunately; this time it was former Miami Dolphins kicker Garo Yepremian, who was a part of the 17-0 Dolphins perfect season. My thoughts are with him and his family at this hour. Also, my thoughts are with Seattle defensive tackle Jesse Williams, who will undergo surgery for kidney cancer.
Chargers owner Dean Spanos stepped away from the day to day operations of the Chargers on Monday, ceding control of the team to his sons, John and Alexander Gus. Hopefully the Spanos boys can work with the NFL to keep the Chargers in San Diego; I would hate to see them become an LA product.
And finally, from the NFL Captain Obvious department, Joe Buscaglia of WKBW in Buffalo reports that unless E.J. Manuel makes significant progress in the offseason his time with the Buffalo Bills could be numbered. Uh, yeah, Captain Obvious. They wouldn't have gone and picked up Matt Cassel if they were totally confident in E.J. Manuel's ability.
Now, let's get to the NBA Playoffs, and more specifically, the return of the Clutch City Rockets, who became just the ninth team in NBA history to wipe out a 3-1 series deficit and just the second NBA franchise (joining the Boston Celtics of 1968 and 1981) to do it twice. Which, I might add, I believed had no chance of happening approximately one week ago. In fact, I said on this very blog one week ago that until they got some tougher players this was as far as the Rockets were going to go in the playoffs.
Ha. Maybe I should have said that about the Clippers. Who, by the way, reminded us all that they are still the Clippers and will forever be the little brother to the Lakers in Los Angeles.
I think, though, that you have to give a ton of credit to Kevin McHale and also to his assistants T.R. Dunn and J.B. Bickerstaff. In particular, it was the insertion of Josh Smith into the starting lineup in Game 5 last Tuesday in Houston that changed the momentum of the series. The biggest difference in the series was two factors; one, it's that McHale outcoached Doc Rivers as he did Rick Carlisle of the Mavs in the previous round. Both of those men, by the way, have won NBA titles as a coach.
The other is plain and simply that the Clippers have no bench and really are average outside of Blake Griffin and Chris Paul. It was something I thought might catch up to them earlier in the series with them having been through a seven game bloodbath with the Spurs, but it ended up happening right at the end of this series. Once the Rockets shut down the three main Clippers role players (Matt Barnes, Jamal Crawford and JJ Redick) the Rockets had the advantage.
To wit, in game 5, the three Clippers shot a combined 6 for 30. In the incredible Game 6 comeback in which the Rockets rallied from 19 down late in the third, those three men shot a combined 12 for 38. And yesterday, those three shot 10 for 32. I think most who watched that series knew that Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, James Harden and Dwight Howard would get their points but this series was decided in large part by role players. In the three Clippers wins, Redick, Crawford and Barnes all played very well.
In contrast to the Clippers, the Rockets are a much deeper team; they had eight guys who played 20 or more minutes yesterday. And it was a key reserve, Pablo Prigioni, that sparked the decisive run of yesterday's game.
I believe the mentality of this Rockets team is very strong and it is a find-a-way mentality; I don't think at this point that they feel they are out of any game. That was never more evident than last Thursday night where they wiped out a 19 point Clipper lead late in the third. The team has been that way all year; they had to go without Dwight Howard for the majority of the season, and they've lost two key starters including their starting point guard who hasn't played in two months.
Speaking of said point guard, Patrick Beverley, he finally got his cast off today for his surgically repaired wrist and despite the slim possibility that he'll be able to play, he has said he wants to try to suit up against Golden State in the West Finals. Will that happen, I'm not sure but it's something to keep an eye on.
As far as that matchup goes, would I pick them to beat Golden State, probably not. But after what they did against the Clippers, I'm not sure I'd bet against them either. It's a pretty good time to be a Houston sports fan right now with the Rockets in the West Finals and the Astros having the best record in baseball.
As far as the Clippers go, that's a series that franchise won't be able to forget for some time. All the bleach in the world can't blotch that series out. Up 3-1, a game away from their first ever conference finals, and up 19 in the third quarter of Game 6 and they lost it all. The only way the pain of this series can be erased is if some day the Clippers get to the NBA Finals, and maybe win it all. This one's roughly equivalent to the pre-2004 Red Sox collapses, specifically 1978, 1986 and 2003.
There are a lot of guys responsible for this collapse, but most significantly this loss lands at the feet of Doc Rivers. It's sad because I like Doc after he led them through the Donald Sterling mess last year, but fact is he is the general manager and the coach. That he didn't have the bench to counter Houston's depth is in large part his fault. The Clippers really have only six guys I would consider threats, which isn't enough in the playoffs.
Until next time....
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