2009 NCAA Football Thread

[infrared41]

Red, I love all those quotes in your sig.

Thanks. When I read what Cowherd had said I couldn't resist. I can't stand that guy. I'm going to enjoy this for a day or two then it's on to something else. It's just nice to end a season on a high note. That hasn't happened in a while.

[Jimmy!]

Red, I love all those quotes in your sig.

Thanks. When I read what Cowherd had said I couldn't resist. I can't stand that guy. I'm going to enjoy this for a day or two then it's on to something else. It's just nice to end a season on a high note. That hasn't happened in a while.

Here's hoping you keep that sig up for awhile.

[infrared41]

Red, I love all those quotes in your sig.

Thanks. When I read what Cowherd had said I couldn't resist. I can't stand that guy. I'm going to enjoy this for a day or two then it's on to something else. It's just nice to end a season on a high note. That hasn't happened in a while.

Here's hoping you keep that sig up for awhile.

Maybe I will. Just for you.

[NJTank]

Red, I love all those quotes in your sig.

Thanks. When I read what Cowherd had said I couldn't resist. I can't stand that guy. I'm going to enjoy this for a day or two then it's on to something else. It's just nice to end a season on a high note. That hasn't happened in a while.

Yeah you had to read what Colin Cowherd said, because listening to him gives you the urge to plunge screwdrivers in youre ars so you never have to hear his voice again.

[FiddySicks]

I agree with infared in that the smaller bowls are more exciting than the big ones, but why are they still playing smaller bowls in the middle of the BCS schedule? That's where I start to agree with bowl overkill, at least the timing of it. This Years Cotton Bowl is just awful.

[DEAD!]

Red, I love all those quotes in your sig.

Thanks. When I read what Cowherd had said I couldn't resist. I can't stand that guy. I'm going to enjoy this for a day or two then it's on to something else. It's just nice to end a season on a high note. That hasn't happened in a while.

Yeah you had to read what Colin Cowherd said, because listening to him gives you the urge to plunge screwdrivers in youre ars so you never have to hear his voice again.

While you're at it, you might as well sing that la-la song.

[Eye]

Red, I love all those quotes in your sig.

Thanks. When I read what Cowherd had said I couldn't resist. I can't stand that guy. I'm going to enjoy this for a day or two then it's on to something else. It's just nice to end a season on a high note. That hasn't happened in a while.

Yeah you had to read what Colin Cowherd said, because listening to him gives you the urge to plunge screwdrivers in youre ars so you never have to hear his voice again.

While you're at it, you might as well sing that la-la song.

And close your eyes.

[BrySmalls]

I agree with infared in that the smaller bowls are more exciting than the big ones, but why are they still playing smaller bowls in the middle of the BCS schedule? That's where I start to agree with bowl overkill, at least the timing of it. This Years Cotton Bowl is just awful.

I feel bad for the commentators who had to call that game.

[DEAD!]

I agree with infared in that the smaller bowls are more exciting than the big ones, but why are they still playing smaller bowls in the middle of the BCS schedule? That's where I start to agree with bowl overkill, at least the timing of it. This Years Cotton Bowl is just awful.

I feel bad for the commentators who had to call that game.

yeah, I'm sure Pat Summerall and Daryl Johnston have seen better games than that

[rams80]

None of this Rose Bowl stuff matters any more. FOX has a freaking Tebow-cam. You can go to FOX's website and watch Tebow-Cam. My girlfriend had a great line about it. She said "well at least we know we'll get a good shot of him ascending into heaven after the game."

A -ing Tebow-cam. You've got to be kidding me.

They needed to repurpose the Favre-cam somehow.

[rams80]

After hearing Leach tonight on ESPN, he cost himself a job and is "untouchable" (IMO) in terms of college for now.

First, he is not a fit for most FBS schools to begin with. However, Mike Leach immediately called the kid "la..", held back, then said, "lazy". I am more and more getting in line with the Chancellor and university. While they are facing heavy scrutiny now, it would have been worse if they let him go later the Cotton Bowl last year after a 11-1 regular season.

With Bob Knight leaving Lubbock, I think that all of Leach's actions became on the radar as opposed as under the radar as Knight was the focus. He is not willing to "play the game in terms of university politics". He is the adult in the situation and must act with more responsibility.

Leach is eccentric, very eccentric. His winning record, with the collaboration with Bob Knight, made him think that he was bigger than anyone, even the university administration. When Leach placed a player in the snow to do his homework...that was during a coach's conference.

If you can't call an adult lazy, something is wrong with the system.

As for University politics...a smarter University would learn from Texas A&M, not emulate them.

I'd love for Leach to show up at Indiana.

[infrared41]

Is it just me or are people missing the bigger point with this whack job Mike Leach? Lazy or not, a college football coach should not lock people in rooms or whatever it is that Leach did to Adam James.

It's mind-boggling that the debate seems to center on the size of the room the kid was banished to. The act itself doesn't seem to be of much concern to anyone. Maybe I'm missing something here but shouldn't coaches at least give the impression that they aren't maniacally obsessed lunatics? There was nothing even in the ball park of normal here.

If the kid is hurt and can't practice then send him home. If he's faking it and it pisses you off then send him home and drop him to the bottom of the depth chart. All Mike Leach accomplished here was to help make sure that players with concussions aren't going to do the smart thing medically. They'll continue to come back too soon and risk permanent damage etc. And all we're worried about is the size of the room in which he locked one of his players.

I've said it before and I'm saying it again. It takes a special kind of idiot to be a football coach.

[oddball]

So true red. I have no clue why locking a player up in rooms more than once is okay to do. If a parent did that, then that parent would have that child taken away. I've always believed Mike Leach is a blow-hard, and now we are finding out that he is just one big creep. What I find amusing is that all these coaches who think they are different and do things that are well, "cutesy" always seem to get fired. Mike Leach should not be allowed around children at all. If I was Texas Tech, I'd call up Bobby Bowden and ask him to bring some class to the university. Mike Leach goes into the Rick Neuheisel and Dan Hawkins style of coaching which is all lip and little substance that is good for a few years and they shoot themselves in the foot eventually screwing up the university for someone else to clean up.

I do have to say that I was impressed, not by the Big 10 as a whole, but with Ohio State. Whatever funk or whatever the reason was that they just couldn't get it done in past big games, they seem to have exercised those demons this year. When it came to big games, they seemed to come to play. Whatever Tressel did before last year's bowl game against Texas, I have to commend him for that. And anything that makes Colin Cowherd look like more of an idiot than he already is, makes my day. I'm just waiting for the day that Michelle Beadle turns to him and says, "Dude, you are a friggin' idiot and know less than Chris Rose and Chris Meyers. Would the three of you just come out of the closet and admit to the world that you are having a threesome!"

[infrared41]

So true red. I have no clue why locking a player up in rooms more than once is okay to do.

That's my biggest problem with this whole thing. The fact that he actually locked a player in a room doesn't really seem to bother anyone. Especially anyone employed at ESPN or most other media outlets. And you are so right. Let's change Mike Leach to some high school coach. If it's a high school coach the entire -ing sports world is going to blow a collective gasket. If parents did this to their kids? It would be non-stop on every cable network on television. Oprah would do a week of specials on it. But since it's Mike Leach and he showed up with a gimmicky offense and turned Texas Tech into a decent program he's not crazy, he's just eccentric. Leach gives good quotes and he's a football genius so he must know what he's doing. Football coaches are never wrong you know.

The media reaction to this thing just sickens me. It's so absurd that it's almost funny. The reaction around here is a little disappointing as well.

[infrared41]

I know I'm beating a dead horse but here is some of the behavior that doesn't seem to be bothering anyone. I lifted this from a story at ESPN.com

According to his affidavit, taken by representatives of the university on Dec. 21 and signed on Jan. 1, trainer Steve Pincock did not agree with the treatment and said he knew of no other player ever being placed in a similar room.

In releasing the affidavits from Pincock and treating physician Dr. Michael Phy, the university said, "After coach Leach's conflicting recent media accounts of the treatment of James, the university asked witnesses to sign affidavits attesting to their original statements."

Phy told university officials in his affidavit that James "may not have been harmed," but he "considered this practice inappropriate, and a deviation from the medical standard of care."

Pincock said following James' concussion diagnosis, he showed up at practice in "street clothes, his cap on backwards, and sunglasses and began walking around the field in a very nonchalant way."

Pincock said Leach was upset by James' attitude and did not want the other players witnessing it.

"Leach told me to place James in a dark place near the practice field," Pincock said in the affidavit.

Pincock said Leach continued in an expletive-filled rant in which he degraded James and questioned his toughness.

Pincock said that at Leach's instruction, he placed James in a sports medicine/athletic training shed near the field, with all of the coolers and containers taken away, and instruction from Leach that James should not sit for two to three hours. Pincock described the shed as the size of a single-car garage, with no windows.

In the affidavit, Pincock stated he told James he was "sorry for having to place him in a dark shed but these were Leach's instructions. I do not agree with this form of treatment for anyone, and I discussed this with James."

Pincock said that two days later, instead of the shed, it was suggested James might be placed in a media interview room, which was "very dark and cold." Pincock said the media interview room contained an electrical closet, but he told James not to go into that room because of the noise level.

In the affidavit, Pincock said: "I am not aware of any other player at Texas Tech University ever being placed in a darkened shed or room similar to James. Other players who have sustained concussions in the past were sometimes placed in the physician's examination room with the lights dimmed, or in the weight room or athletic training room. I feel that Leach's treatment of James was inappropriate and I did not agree with it. However, I felt I had to follow the instructions of the head coach."

Texas Tech also released the affidavit from Phy, taken on Dec. 22 and signed on Jan. 1. In it, Phy said: "I did not instruct anyone with Texas Tech to place James in an enclosed dark place for up to three hours. In spite of the fact that James may not have been harmed by these actions, I consider the practice inappropriate, and a deviation from the medical standard of care."

In that account, Pincock said James was placed in a "sports medicine garage" on the first day, and a media room as "big as a two-car garage" the second day while recovering from the concussion, and was monitored by two trainers at all times.

Let's take a kid who suffered a concussion, cuss him out, lock him in a room for three hours, not allow him to sit down, and take away all the coolers so he can't drink anything. Nothing unusual going on there right? Yes folks. This is Mike Leach everyone's favorite "eccentric" football coach. Hey at least he won games and resurrected a football program.

[Seadragon76]

You know what gets me though? Usually, this kind of crap almost always appears when a team is struggling or is losing on a consistant basis. Nothing is said when a team wins, of course.

Then you have this situation at Texas Tech, where they win on a consistant basis. Granted, the treatment wasn't exactly something a doctor would recommend (Then again, Leach was a little... off his rocker, if you ask me), but for this pop up now would mean there's more to his reign at Texas Tech then meets the eye.

[rams80]

Is it just me or are people missing the bigger point with this whack job Mike Leach? Lazy or not, a college football coach should not lock people in rooms or whatever it is that Leach did to Adam James.

It's mind-boggling that the debate seems to center on the size of the room the kid was banished to. The act itself doesn't seem to be of much concern to anyone. Maybe I'm missing something here but shouldn't coaches at least give the impression that they aren't maniacally obsessed lunatics? There was nothing even in the ball park of normal here.

He was confined to the shed for two hours. (Presumably the duration of practice.) If you insist on referring to Mr. James as "a kid", think of it as "time out". For frack's sake, his fellow students stand longer at football games. Mr. James came to practice (after being medically cleared) wearing sunglasses and complaining that light aggravated his concussion. In such a situation staying in an unlit room should be helpful, and as dorm rooms have windows, the best place to be during the day.

If the kid is hurt and can't practice then send him home. If he's faking it and it pisses you off then send him home and drop him to the bottom of the depth chart. All Mike Leach accomplished here was to help make sure that players with concussions aren't going to do the smart thing medically. They'll continue to come back too soon and risk permanent damage etc. And all we're worried about is the size of the room in which he locked one of his players.

He was medically cleared to practice. Leach's policy is that if you are medically cleared to practice, you will physically exert yourself to whatever is within your physical capabiliities. If said capabilities are limited to standing, well you are going to stand. Not get sent back to the dorm room where you can play on the Wii or XBOX, but stand. Kicking him off the team isn't an option, since all indications where that he wanted to be kicked off the team (or at least be allowed to transfer to SMU without losing a year, so as to better finish the job Daddy started there.) Dropping him on the depth chart isn't really workable either, since Mr. James was 12 on it IIRC.

Bottom line. Mr. James was cleared medically after a minor concussion. The "punishment" may have been unorthodox, but it was the one most fitting Mr. James' physical limitations on the spur of the moment.

[rams80]

I know I'm beating a dead horse but here is some of the behavior that doesn't seem to be bothering anyone. I lifted this from a story at ESPN.com

According to his affidavit, taken by representatives of the university on Dec. 21 and signed on Jan. 1, trainer Steve Pincock did not agree with the treatment and said he knew of no other player ever being placed in a similar room.

In releasing the affidavits from Pincock and treating physician Dr. Michael Phy, the university said, "After coach Leach's conflicting recent media accounts of the treatment of James, the university asked witnesses to sign affidavits attesting to their original statements."

Phy told university officials in his affidavit that James "may not have been harmed," but he "considered this practice inappropriate, and a deviation from the medical standard of care."

Pincock said following James' concussion diagnosis, he showed up at practice in "street clothes, his cap on backwards, and sunglasses and began walking around the field in a very nonchalant way."

Pincock said Leach was upset by James' attitude and did not want the other players witnessing it.

"Leach told me to place James in a dark place near the practice field," Pincock said in the affidavit.

Pincock said Leach continued in an expletive-filled rant in which he degraded James and questioned his toughness.

Pincock said that at Leach's instruction, he placed James in a sports medicine/athletic training shed near the field, with all of the coolers and containers taken away, and instruction from Leach that James should not sit for two to three hours. Pincock described the shed as the size of a single-car garage, with no windows.

In the affidavit, Pincock stated he told James he was "sorry for having to place him in a dark shed but these were Leach's instructions. I do not agree with this form of treatment for anyone, and I discussed this with James."

Pincock said that two days later, instead of the shed, it was suggested James might be placed in a media interview room, which was "very dark and cold." Pincock said the media interview room contained an electrical closet, but he told James not to go into that room because of the noise level.

In the affidavit, Pincock said: "I am not aware of any other player at Texas Tech University ever being placed in a darkened shed or room similar to James. Other players who have sustained concussions in the past were sometimes placed in the physician's examination room with the lights dimmed, or in the weight room or athletic training room. I feel that Leach's treatment of James was inappropriate and I did not agree with it. However, I felt I had to follow the instructions of the head coach."

Texas Tech also released the affidavit from Phy, taken on Dec. 22 and signed on Jan. 1. In it, Phy said: "I did not instruct anyone with Texas Tech to place James in an enclosed dark place for up to three hours. In spite of the fact that James may not have been harmed by these actions, I consider the practice inappropriate, and a deviation from the medical standard of care."

In that account, Pincock said James was placed in a "sports medicine garage" on the first day, and a media room as "big as a two-car garage" the second day while recovering from the concussion, and was monitored by two trainers at all times.

Let's take a kid who suffered a concussion, cuss him out, lock him in a room for three hours, not allow him to sit down, and take away all the coolers so he can't drink anything. Nothing unusual going on there right? Yes folks. This is Mike Leach everyone's favorite "eccentric" football coach. Hey at least he won games and resurrected a football program.

1. Mr. James was medically cleared to practice. I had a concussion 5 years ago (not really, but let's keep this as a hypothetical). Does that now give me an automatic "get out of jail free" card for any activity I don't wish to do? That'll fly in the adult world. One verbal tirade now might actually get you out of getting fired in 3 years when you have a boss who doesn't buy that excuse. Nobody else in the program ever got to go to the shed, but then I presume that everyone else who was medically cleared didn't show up in Ray Bans and say that the light hurt their eyes or something. This is especially true if this isn't your first offense, but something along the line of your 20th or 30th.

2. Water is typically needed to cool oneself down. If all you are doing is standing, you probably won't be getting too hot. Especially in the building that has been reportedly used by players to cool off in.

3. Being monitored by trainers indicates to me that in the unlikely event that complications arose, they would have been able to deal with it on the scene.

[DEAD!]

So true red. I have no clue why locking a player up in rooms more than once is okay to do.

That's my biggest problem with this whole thing. The fact that he actually locked a player in a room doesn't really seem to bother anyone. Especially anyone employed at ESPN or most other media outlets. And you are so right. Let's change Mike Leach to some high school coach. If it's a high school coach the entire -ing sports world is going to blow a collective gasket. If parents did this to their kids? It would be non-stop on every cable network on television. Oprah would do a week of specials on it. But since it's Mike Leach and he showed up with a gimmicky offense and turned Texas Tech into a decent program he's not crazy, he's just eccentric. Leach gives good quotes and he's a football genius so he must know what he's doing. Football coaches are never wrong you know.

The media reaction to this thing just sickens me. It's so absurd that it's almost funny. The reaction around here is a little disappointing as well.

Better yet, let's change Leach to a teacher/professor, because that's what Leach is supposed to be (albeit one who doesn't give academic credits). Would a professor or any person of authority at any university do this to any student? Let me know if anyone here knows one.

[rams80]

So true red. I have no clue why locking a player up in rooms more than once is okay to do.

That's my biggest problem with this whole thing. The fact that he actually locked a player in a room doesn't really seem to bother anyone. Especially anyone employed at ESPN or most other media outlets. And you are so right. Let's change Mike Leach to some high school coach. If it's a high school coach the entire -ing sports world is going to blow a collective gasket. If parents did this to their kids? It would be non-stop on every cable network on television. Oprah would do a week of specials on it. But since it's Mike Leach and he showed up with a gimmicky offense and turned Texas Tech into a decent program he's not crazy, he's just eccentric. Leach gives good quotes and he's a football genius so he must know what he's doing. Football coaches are never wrong you know.

The media reaction to this thing just sickens me. It's so absurd that it's almost funny. The reaction around here is a little disappointing as well.

Better yet, let's change Leach to a teacher/professor, because that's what Leach is supposed to be (albeit one who doesn't give academic credits). Would a professor or any person of authority at any university do this to any student? Let me know if anyone here knows one.

No, but that's because they simply ignore all of their undergraduate students. (Which is an entirely separate problem.) They might do it if they actually gave a about their undergraduate students, but the tenure/promotion system severely disincentivizes the act of giving a about individual undergraduate students, beyond the valuable tuition dollars they collectively pump into your institution.