Bleacher Report - Articles by Steven Resnick

Why Toby Gerhart Should Runaway with the Heisman Trophy

Steven Resnick — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:37:45 -0500

There's no question about it, Toby Gerhart should runaway with the Heisman Trophy. Some voters will punish Gerhart for being on a team that had a record of 8-4, but right now the Stanford Cardinal are ranked 23rd in the country.

When looking at the schedule the Cardinal lost to Wake Forest, lost to Oregon State, lost to Arizona, and lost to California. Three out of the four teams that Stanford has lost to are teams that have been or are currently ranked in the top 25.

Stanford also had some key wins this year in back to back weeks the Cardinal beat Oregon who won the Pac-10 title and are heading to the Rosebowl and USC, each of those teams were ranked in the top 15 in the country at the time the game was played. Stanford also defeated the Washington Huskies when the team was ranked number 24 in the country.

More importantly though when looking at the player who made the Cardinal's offense go it was Gerhart. He is the Offensive Player of the Year for the Pac-10! Gerhart finished the season with 311 carries, 1736 yards, a 5.6 yards per carry average, and 26 touchdowns. He also contributed 10 receptions for 149 yards.

What's impressive about Gerhart he doesn't look like a typical running back he's more of a fullback. Gerhart stand 6'1 and weighs 240 pounds, so he's able to move defenders when he runs because of his strength.

Gerhart will never be confused as a running back who could break a long run of 80 yards, but he is the type of running back that the Cardinal can hand the ball off too over and over again and eventually Gerhart will tire that defense out.

What's even more impressive is the fact that the least amount of yards that Gerhart had in a game was 82 yards on 17 carries against Wake Forest and the only other team to keep Gerhart under 100 yards was Oregon State who held him to 96 yards.

Gerhart's best game of the season was against Oregon in which he carried the ball 38 times, rushed for 223 yards, and had three touchdowns. The Cardinal just pounded Oregon's defense with Gehart.

The Oregon game wasn't the only time that Gerhart rushed for at least 200 yards. Against Washington, Gerhart had 200 yards on 27 carries and against Notre Dame he had 205 yards on 29 carries.

Wake Forest was the only team that held Gerhart out of the endzone. He made up for that by having five games with three or more touchdowns. Against UCLA, Oregon, USC, and Notre Dame Gerhart ran for three touchdowns and against California Gerhart had four touchdowns on the ground.

In fact in his last four games of the season against Oregon, USC, California, and Notre dame he ran for 13 touchdowns. So, half of Gerhart's touchdown totals came in the last four games of the season.

Yet, even with all those numbers the most impressive accomplishment for Gerhart is the fact that he did not fumble once this year.

Then there's the question who is actually the competition for the Heisman this year? The answer is Colt McCoy and Mark Ingram.

Looking at McCoy's numbers, he's 310-432 for 3328 yards, thrown 27 touchdowns, nine interceptions, and has contributed two rushing touchdowns.

McCoy has thrown for under 200 yards three times this year. With one of those games being a 21-39 effort for just 127 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. That was against a ranked Oklahoma team.

Oklahoma State and Baylor were the other two teams that McCoy did not throw for at least 200 yards.

What helps McCoy's cause is the fact that he like Gerhart has finished the season strong. In fact McCoy's best game of the season came against Texas A&M where he went 24-40 for 304 yards, four touchdowns, and carried the ball 18 times, rushed for 175 yards, and had a touchdown.

But, looking at Texas Longhorns' schedule it becomes even more clear on why Gerhart should be running away with the award. After today's game against Nebraska the Longhorns will have played only three teams that were ranked in the top 25.

Those teams were Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Nebraska.

Mark Ingram has 221 carries, 1429 yards, a 6.5 yards per carry average, and 12 touchdowns. He's also contributed 28 receptions for 246 yards and three touchdowns. Meaning that on the year Ingram has 15 touchdowns combined.

Ingram has had five games where he was held to under 100 yards including. In fact his worst game of the season was for 16 carries and 30 yards. Three times this year Ingram was held out of the endzone on the ground.

His most touchdowns in a game was two and that happened three times. Those games came against Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Chattanooga.

The five games where Ingram did not reach 100 yards came against Florida International, North Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Auburn.

Ingram's best game came against South Carolina in which he carried the ball 24 times for 246 yards, and had a touchdown.

His long on the season was for 70 yards and that was against Mississippi State.

Unlike Gerhart and McCoy who have gotten it done in finding the endzone, Ingram has not in his last four games he has just four touchdowns.

What would push Ingram over McCoy, but not Gerhart was the fact that Alabama had a much tougher schedule than Texas. Five times this year Alabama has played teams that were ranked in the top 25.

Including after today's game three in the top 10. Virginia Tech, LSU, and Florida.

Yet, when you're talking about the Heisman you're not talking about which player is on the best team. You're talking about which player is the most valuable to their team.

It's clear which player was the most valuable to their team and that was Gerhart.

Minnesota Vikings Make Brett Favre Look Good

Steven Resnick — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:54:08 -0500

Brett Farve's numbers this season have been eye-popping thanks to the best supporting cast that he's ever played with.

Never in Favre's career has he played alongside a running back of Adrian Perterson's caliber.

It's not that Favre hasn't ever had a running back that gained over a 1,000 yards on the ground. The fact is that Peterson offers the ability to break off a big run at any time in the game.

So opposing teams have to pick whether to stop the run or stop the pass. Either way, the Vikings will burn you on D.

Beyond just Peterson, though, the Vikings have one of the better offensive lines in the NFL as well. In 11 games, this year Favre has only been sacked 22 times or two times a game.

With the offensive line playing so well, Farve no longer has to be a gunslinger.

The two most impressive stats Favre has this year are the fact that he has only thrown three interceptions so far and he's on pace for the highest completion percentage of his career as well.

Since 2000, Favre has averaged 19 interceptions.

On top of a good offense, The Vikings' defensive unit is the best Farve has played with as well. Sure, Favre played on Packer that had some great defensive players, but never the caliber as the ones this Viking team offers.

This year's Vikings team has the likes of Kevin and Pat Williams to stop the run, Jared Allen in the pash rush, and Antoine Winfield anchor the secondary.

Cedric Griffin has come on as a cornerback, while Chad Greenway and E.J. Henderson make an excellent duo at linebacker.

In terms of special teams, Percy Harvin is the most dangerous kick returner in the NFL.

So, when you actually take a look at the Vikings with Favre coming to the team it's not hard to see why he's doing so well. At the time of his signing the Vikings were the most complete team in the NFL minus a decent quarterback.

Before trying to make Favre seem like the savior to the Vikings franchise, it's better to take a look at what the Vikings had before Favre even showed up. It's not like the Vikings were rebuilding their team. The team had the pieces together to win, it was just a matter of getting a quarterback like Favre that could truly make the team a championship contender.

How Does One Define The Greatest Hitter Of All-Time?

Steven Resnick — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:08:09 -0500

In terms of baseball and its history defining the greatest hitter of all-time is an extremely difficult task. The reason for this is that there are two types of hitters: One is a contact hitter and the other is a power hitter.

For a contact hitter there goal is to get on base anyway possible whether it's taking a walk, using their speed to get on with a bunt, splitting the gaps for a double or triple, and occasionally a home run.

There's a reason why Rickey Henderson is considered by many to be the greatest leadoff hitter of all-time. Yet, it would be hard to argue that he is the greatest hitter in baseball history.

For one the argument against Henderson is that his batting average for his 25 year career was just .279, he wasn't much of a hitter to find the gaps for a double or triple, but did possess very good power as a leadoff hitter, he finished his career with 3055 hits, and the most important trait Henderson had as a hitter was his ability to get on base via the walk, which he ranks second in MLB history.

Power hitter are generally looked at to provide drive in runs, so they're pretty much the exact opposite of a contact hitter. Instead of trying to get on anyway possible their thought process is to get that runner home either by hitting a home run, deep fly ball if the runner is on third, or drive them in with a double.

High strikeout numbers and low averages are expected from these hitters because of their purpose.

Barry Bonds will never be considered the greatest hitter in baseball history because of a few things such as the steroid controversies surrounding him, but beyond that he did not get to 3,000 hits finishing his career with 2935, and never had a season with over 200 hits.

Bonds though, has hit the most home runs in MLB history, has walked the most, and finished with a .298 batting average.

Pete Rose is baseball's all-time leader in hits with 4256, a great gap hitter, and was great and getting on base with a walk. Rose though wasn't known for his power either and finished with a batting average of .303!

What also is hard is comparing eras. Ty Cobb was also a great hitter, but during that era of baseball home runs were not part of the game.

Cobb finished his career with a .366 average which is the best in baseball history, second in baseball history in hits, second in triples for his career, fourth in doubles for his career, and was great at drawing walks as well.

As mentioned before during his era home runs were not as prevalent, yet 11 out of his 24 seasons Cobb finished in the top 10 in home runs including once leading the league.

Ted Williams could arguably be considered the greatest hitter in baseball history because of his ability to hit for power, hit for a high average, and getting on base by taking a walk.

Williams ranks fourth in career walks, seventh in career batting average at .344, and 18th in home runs. What hurt Willliams though in his numbers was the fact that he missed four years while serving in World War II.

Another player that I don't think gets the recognition that he deserves, but Stan Musial was a great hitter as well. Musial ranks fourth in hits, third in doubles, 28th in home runs, and had a career batting average of .331

Hank Aaron I would also say was underrated as well. Most of times Aaron is associated with breaking the home run record of Babe Ruth, yet there was much more to Aaron then just home runs.

Aaron ranks second in home runs, third in hits, 10th in doubles, and 25th in walks.

I guess when trying to figure out who is the greatest hitter of all time it depends on the criteria that you look at. That's why when I came across an article on Bleacher Report titled "Better Hitter: Derek Jeter or Pete Rose?" by Perry Arnold, it really didn't make sense because there's really no argument that would put Jeter over the top of Rose or any of the hitters I have mentioned.

You would also have a hard time putting Jeter as a better hitter than some in his generation such as Bonds, Albert Pujols, Todd Helton, Jeff Bagwell, Tony Gwynn, and Manny Ramirez.

I would argue at the moment that there are four players who come out as the greatest hitter in baseball history and those players are Cobb, Musial, Rose, and Williams.

Yet, regardless of who you choose as the greatest hitter in baseball history it's hard to argue against any of them. If you were to ask me personally who was the greatest I think that Musial just sneaks ahead.

Warriors-Mavericks: Despite Injuires and Illness, Golden State Triumphs

Steven Resnick — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:28:55 -0500

Coming off their best win of the year on Friday over the Portland Trailblazers, the Golden State Warriors proved tonight that victory was no fluke.

The Warriors have nine players either injured or sick, as well as their head coach Don Nelson, who missed tonight's game due to pneumonia.

As per league rules, the Warriors had to dress eight players.Those players were Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry, Anthony Morrow, Anthony Randolph, Mikki Moore, Vladimir Radmanovic, Chris Hunter, and Corey Maggette.

Maggette did not play due to a tender hamstring, and Hunter didn't play either.

That left the Warriors with six viable players.

The Warriors weren't just able to keep it close, and in the end they came out on top, beating the Mavericks 111-103 in Dallas!

Ellis lead the way in the first quarter, scoring 12 of the Warriors' 25 points, and keeping the Warriors close to the Mavericks, who had a 27-25 lead at the end of one.

Going into half time the Mavericks led 54-50.

The Warriors gained confidence when at half time they were only down by four, despite turning the ball over nine times in the first quarter alone. The Mavericks may have helped the Warriors' cause, as they had six turnovers of their own.

What gave the Mavericks the lead was the fact that as a team they made 19 of 21 free throw attempts.

But the game really didn't get exciting until after halftime.

That's when the game started going back and forth. The Warriors were even able to grab a seven point lead on a three by Anthony Morrow.

Unfortunately, towards the end of the third quarter, the Mavericks got Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitizki going, and took a seven point lead of their own.

Since I have NBA League Pass Broadband, I was listening to the Mavericks announcers. At the time they were wondering if the Warriors were going to fold up the tent.

The Warriors came back though, on a tremendous drive by Ellis who got fouled and completed the three point play to get the Warriors back within four.

The fourth quarter started sloppily for both teams. Because of this, the Warriors were able to tie the game. The Mavericks again took a lead and again it looked like Warriors were done.

That's when Ellis stepped up again. He was consistently getting to the basket and drawing the fouls or creating three point play opportunities.

But towards the end of the game Ellis started cramping.

Curry took over for Ellis attacking the rim and getting fouled. What really helped the Warriors is the fact that they were able to get into the bonus early in the quarter.

They also limited the fouls against, which allowed them to play more aggressive defensively and foul before the shot, without repercussions, in the closing minutes of the game.

This game showed why the Warriors were so high on Curry, as he scored 11 of the last 13 points for the Warriors, including the three to break a 100-100 tie.

After that, the Warriors never relinquished the lead.

In the end, with only six players playing, the Warriors were able to put in an unbelievable effort and get what is now their best win of the year.

Ellis lead the way for the Warriors with 37 points, eight assists, four rebounds, and four steals. Morrow scored 27 points including 6-for-8 from beyond the arc, and Curry had 18 points, six assists, four rebounds, and three steals.

Radmanovic lead the Warriors in rebounds with 12. Moore chipped in 11, and Morrow added nine.

Just to show how impressive the Warriors win was: Three players played all 48 minutes Ellis, Morrow, and Radmanovic. Moore had 30 minutes, Anthony Randolph had 30 minutes, and Curry had 34 minutes.

Earlier I mentioned the fact that the Mavericks went 19-for-21 from the free throw line in the first half. Well, in the second half the Mavericks attempted only four.

Even more of a killer for the Mavericks though was the fact that even though the Warriors had three players playing the entire game the Warriors went 11-17 from the field in the fourth quarter.

Again, the Warriors only played six players while the Mavericks played nine players tonight.

All you can say about the win is what a great effort by the team!

The Top 10 Articles I've Read on Bleacher Report That You Should Know About

Steven Resnick — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:55:25 -0500

I've been a member of Bleacher Report for well over a year now and there have been a number of articles that have stuck in my mind. So, I decided to take a look at the top 10 articles I've read on Bleacher Report. Some of the stories were inspirational and others were more on educating the readers on a particular subject.

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It's Back To the Drawing Board for Mike Singletary and the 49ers

Steven Resnick — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:42:10 -0500

The San Francisco 49ers again did not show up in a game this time against the Green Bay Packers. While the 30-24 score represents a valiant effort in the second half by the 49ers, the question remains: What happened in the first half?

In the first half, 49ers fans were treated to the same issues that have been plaguing the 49ers all season long. That is poor offensive line play, a lack of any rational play-calling, poor tackling, a soft secondary, and absolutely no pass rush.

With those issues, it's not hard to understand how the Packers scored 23 points in the first half. I will say the defense did a good job in holding the Packers to field goals after some big plays by the Packers offense.

Other then that though, there really wasn't anything positive going for the 49ers in the first half. Offensively the 49ers ran only 18 plays the entire half, while the Packers ran 48 plays.

It also didn't bode well for the 49ers that Frank Gore only had five carries in the first half and in total had only seven carries the entire game. There's something wrong with that picture when one of the best running backs in the NFL only gets seven carries.

What's sad about that is the fact that Gore started out on his first carry with a nice 42 yard run. He was then given the ball again picked up a yard, the 49ers ran a reverse with Josh Morgan which picked up eight yards and was pretty close to a first down.

The 49ers had basically a third and inches situation. Instead of giving the ball to Gore though, it was a fullback dive with Moran Norris who actually lost yardage on the play and the 49ers had to settle for a field goal.

Not getting the ball to Gore in that situation not a great idea. What I also have a hard time understanding is why Vernon Davis wasn't utilized in the passing game either in the first half, and the same can be said for Michael Crabtree.

When the two best receivers on the team can't get the ball the 49ers are not going to be winning very many games and it's not hard to see why the 49ers were trailing 23-3.

In the second half though the 49ers offense came alive, and throughout the half the 49ers had to throw the ball. It's not hard to see why the 49ers were able to come back to make the final score look respectable.

Alex Smith was able to find Davis, Crabtree, and Gore for touchdown passes. Unfortunately for the 49ers, they were not able to come up with one last big stop to get the ball back and see if Smith could complete the comeback.

Davis finished with five catches in the second half for 104 yards and Crabtree in the second half finished with three catches and 71 yards.

Smith seems to do well when the 49ers are behind and he has to make throws. The question is, why not call the type of plays that utilize Smith's abilities? He seems to have confidence in a more hurried situation, so why not do that?

Over on the defensive side the 49ers looked bad in the first half too. There was absolutely no pressure on Aaron Rodgers, which allowed for him to throw 31 times completing 22 passes for 272 yards and two touchdowns.

At that time of the game it meant that the 49ers had allowed for 83 passes to be thrown in the last six quarters, and the defense had no sacks. In the second half the 49ers were able to sack Rodgers twice and held him to 72 yards passing.

But, that really had to do with the fact that the Packers were trying to run as much clock as possible. Ryan Grant, the Packers running back, sliced through the 49ers defense with 21 carries, 129 yards, and a touchdown.

What's frustrating is the fact that coming into the game the Packers offensive line had been bad, allowing the most sacks coming in to the game. Yet, the 49ers couldn't get to Rodgers until the game was pretty much out of reach.

So, after this performance by the 49ers, especially in the first half, fans should be worried about what's going to happen against Jacksonville. Jacksonville has one of the premiere running backs in the league in Maurice Jones-Drew, and in the passing game, Mike Sims-Walker has really made name for himself.

Does this mean the 49ers are looking at 4-7 after next week's game? Possibly. What will be interesting to see is the reaction of Mike Singletary after this loss to the Packers.

I think it's time for him to stop being so positive and it's time for him to get angry, especially with the offensive line and how pathetic it looked in the first half. There was absolutely no excuse for the play of the offensive line in the first half.

At the end of the season it just means that there's definitely going to be changes. I would say that first to go is Chris Foerster the 49ers offensive line coach.

On the defensive side of the ball, Vance Joseph and Johnnie Lynn also need to be fired because so far the most inconsistent aspect to the 49ers defense has been the play of the secondary.

Jimmy Raye the offensive coordinator should be fired at the end of the season. He has been awful and it's hard to understand at this point in the season the justification of hiring Raye to begin with.

I would say that Greg Manusky should be on the hotseat at defensive coordinator. If the 49ers defense doesn't find a way to get more pressure on the quarterback, then Manusky should be fired.

Manusky has done a great job with the defense and stopping the run, but against the pass the 49ers have been one of the worst teams in the NFL, and today's game against the Packers didn't help their cause either.

Coming into the game, the 49ers ranked 29th in passing yards allowed and 29th in completions allowed. That's not getting it done against the pass.

If the season were to end today it's obvious that there are certain assistant coaches and coordinators who are just not getting the job done and should be let go by Singletary.

49ers Offense Was Never Playoff Caliber; Neither Was the Defense

Steven Resnick — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:35:55 -0500

After the San Francisco 49ers victory over the Chicago Bears, it seemed like the 49ers had turned the corner, especially defensively.

The team forced Jay Cutler into five interceptions, but what was not stated about the defense was they did not sack Cutler once and the Bears threw 52 times.

The offense for the 49ers was non-existent throughout much of the game. Most of that is because Jimmy Raye, the offensive coordinator for the 49ers, is as incompetent as they come.

Further proof of that came in the first half of the game against the Green Bay Packers. The 49ers were facing third and six inches, instead of giving the ball to Frank Gore to get a much-needed first down and drive the ball further down the field, Raye calls for Moran Norris who hardly ever touches the ball.

This play clued in the fact that the 49ers were running the football with Norris and instead of gaining the first down, the 49ers were stopped and lost about six inches meaning it went from third and six inches to fourth and one.

Instead of going for it on fourth down, Mike Singletary elected for a field goal and at that time it was to tied the game up at 3-3. Joe Nedney made the kick and gave the 49ers the only points of the half.

Even more frustrating was the play of the offensive line. The 49ers could not stay on the field and Alex Smith had no time to throw the football. The only true weapon on offense for the 49ers was Gore.

He only attempted five carries and gained 56 yards. His first run of the game went for 42 yards. Meaning since the 49ers first possession, Gore had only four carries for 14 yards.

Again, Raye spent too many time trying to get Smith to throw then giving the football to Gore; and you can easily see why the 49ers are trailing 23-3 at halftime. Five carries for your best player isn't going to cut it at any level of football.

The offensive line again looked pathetic, not giving Smith any time to throw in the first half. Injuries have played a role, but that's still not an excuse.

I honestly could care less if the player was the 53rd man on the roster on the offensive line, when your number is called, you should be able to play at a high level.

Defensively, though that's where the defense has been bombarded, giving up big plays after big plays. The Packers threw 31 times in the half and got 274 yards passing; even more disturbing is the fact that Rodgers hasn't been sacked.

That means in six quarters and 83 attempts by opposing quarterbacks the 49ers have picked up no sacks. That's not good defense at all, but the only difference between Cutler and Rodgers is that Rodgers makes smarter decisions with the football.

Rodgers is not going to throw five interceptions; the 49ers will be lucky to get one against him. He knows how to play football and yes the 49ers made a huge mistake in passing on Rodgers in the draft.

You also have to wonder what the heck is going through the mind of defensive coordinator Greg Manusky?

Coming into the game the Packers offensive line was in shambles and struggled to protect Rodgers. Yet, the 49ers have not put any kind of pressure on Rodgers.

There was an article written on Bleacher Report titled "Singletary's Dilemma is Playoff Defense, Pop Warner Offense ." I disagree the with the notion that the 49ers have a playoff defense, I would say they have an average defense at best, but the only category that is playoff caliber is against the run.

Throughout the season, the 49ers have been able to stop the run. Only one running back has rushed for over 100 yards against the 49ers defense; that running back was Chris Johnson. It appears at the outcome of today's game, Ryan Grant will be the second running back with 100 yards against the 49ers.

Grant has 70 yards on 10 carries in the first half. So, he just needs 30 yards to bring that total to 100 yards.

If the 49ers had a playoff caliber defense the team would be forcing turnovers against the above average teams, the team would be getting to the quarterback, and the defense would certainly be more aggressive in the secondary and not play in such a soft zone as the 49ers defensive backs play.

Those are three areas of defense in which the 49ers are below average. The only time when the 49ers have actually looked above average have been against the average to below-average teams.

I would say that the best effort defensively for the 49ers this year was against the Arizona Cardinals because that effort got the 49ers a win.

Against the Vikings and Colts, the 49ers defense played extremely well, but didn't make the plays that would get the team a win, but still that's the difference between an average defense and a great defense making the plays they need to win the game.

But, I want to get back to the fact that the 49ers pass defense is terrible; that includes the corners, safeties, and the pass rush!

Just look at the rankings; it really tells you just how awful that defense is: 29th in passing yards, 29th in completions, and 17 total sacks on the year.

With the way the 49ers are playing today, that means an average of under two sacks a game for the defense. When the Rams game is taken away, the 49ers have only 12 sacks in nine games. That's just over one sack a game.

I'm sorry Gary but I hate to burst your bubble the 49ers never had a defense that was playoff caliber.

Now the 49ers defense doesn't give up very many touchdown passes and are sixth in the league in touchdowns allowed through the air and the 49ers also rank sixth in interceptions with 11 on the season.

But, nearly half of the interceptions that the 49ers have gotten this year came against the Bears.

It wasn't surprising the 49ers were able to intercept passes from Cutler because he came into the game throwing the most interceptions in the NFL.

That means in nine games the 49ers only have had six interceptions.

The question then becomes how does the offensive line gets fixed? How does the offensive playcalling get better? How does the defense get better?

Well, for the offensive line, the 49ers can't wait to develop an offensive lineman; the team needs to spend money in the offseason and bring in an established lineman.

Same can be said with going after a pass rusher because that's one of the main components of a defense and the 49ers lack that.

In the secondary, the 49ers need to look for help in the draft. Dre Bly isn't going to be around next year, Walt Harris is about done, and Mark Roman probably isn't going to figure into the picture much next year.

There are some good young players for the 49ers in Tarell Brown, Dashon Goldson, and Curtis Taylor. I believe that you'll see more of Taylor if the 49ers find themselves out of the NFC West race and the Wildcard race.

At this time, let's not fool ourselves as 49ers fans into believing that the defense was playoff caliber, when it's clear that it never was.

Caster Semenya's Story Has the Power to Educate About Intersexuality

Steven Resnick — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:30:56 -0500

Caster Semenya is a 18-year-old woman from South Africa who became headline news after winning the gold medal in the 800m World Championship race. Here's the clip of the 800m race .

The reason her story came to the forefront of the sports world was that she had an above average testosterone level after a random drug test after she won the gold medal.

It was leaked to the media that Semenya had no ovaries and internal testes. Here's a link to an article from the New York Post "Runner has No Ovaries ." The actual genetic testing will be kept confidential.

South Africa has allowed her to keep her medals and the money she earned for competing in the World Championship. This story can be found on CNN with the article titled "Gender-Test Runner Semenya to Keep Gold Medal, Says South Africa ."

I can't imagine being Semenya, who again is only 18, having to answer questions about her own gender when throughout her life she has been considered a woman.

Then a leak to the media questioning her gender is not really something that should be acceptable in the sports world.

This story it brings gender into the forefront. So, here's a question: how do you define gender? When children are little, they are taught the external parts of the body between a male or female.

As a child grows there is sexual education classes and the internal structures of both males and females is taught.

But, what is not taught about is the fact that there are individuals in this world who do not fit the definition of being male or female.

The term that is heard most is a hermaphrodite, but that's actually considered offensive.

This can be explained in the article from The Daily Beast titled "Don't Call them Hermaphrodites . Another helpful website can be found here .

Actally what the term that is used for these individuals is intersexed. According to the Intersex Society of North America's website, an intersexed individual is a term used to describe a person born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't fit the typical definition of female or male.

Here's an example of a scenario that could happen not just to an athlete, but could happen to anybody. You're in a relationship with someone that you truly love and care about and you want to have children, but no matter what you do, she just isn't able to become pregnant.

You go to a doctor in regards to the problem and the doctor does a thorough examination and finds that she has no ovaries, so she is unable to get pregnant.

There was actually an episode of House on the subject of an individual being intersexed. In the episode, Cameron Richardson plays a model who suddenly becomes ill and lashes out at other models.

Basically after running the medical tests on Richardson's character, House determined that she had testicular cancer.

There's a quote from the episode that House said which went "See we all start out as girls and then we’re differentiated based on our genes. The ovaries develop into testes and drop. But in about 1 in 150,000 pregnancies a fetus with an XY chromosome, a boy, develops into something else."

The question though becomes what if there are more and more athletes that are intersexed? Do these individuals become disqualified for tournaments based on the fact that they don't fit into the definition of a male or female?

In the case of Semenya she had an above average testosterone level for a female, but still her level isn't anywhere near that of a male, so it's not like Semenya can compete with males.

Also, when Semenya won the 800m in the World Championships, she didn't set a world record either.

I have a feeling if the situation with intersexed athletes doesn't get resolved, there's going to be more stories like that of Semenya.

In my mind, there's really one solution on what to do with athletes that are intersexed and that is to let them compete in the events they identify themselves as. So, in Semenya's case she obviously identifies herself as a woman, so let her compete against other women.

Another solution which isn't very plausible considering that intersexed individuals are a minority is too create seperate events that call for the intersexed individuals to compete in. I just don't see that happening because it would cost money.

California Golden Bears Dash Stanford Cardinal's Rose Bowl Hopes

Steven Resnick — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:54:02 -0500

Coming into tonight's game that featured the California Golden Bears against the Stanford Cardinal, most of the talk was about Cardinal running back Toby Gerhart and how the Bears were going to stop him.

Before the game even began the announcers for Versus the network that was airing the game had talked to defensive coordinator Bob Gregory of the Bears. Gregory stated that the goals were to keep Gerhart under 150 yards rushing.

In the first quarter it looked like that goal was probably not going to be in reach because Gerhart on the first Cardinal series took off with a 61 yard touchdown run on a third and two play.

The game didn't start very well for the Bears either. After three plays from scrimmage the Bears were already down 7-0. On the Bears first possession it didn't go very well either and the Bears were forced to punt.

On the next series the Bears defense was able to hold and force a punt by Stanford, but again the offense didn't look very good and were forced into another three and out. Bryan Anger came into punt and got his punt blocked by the Cardinal and lead to the second rushing touchdown of the Game for Gerhart.

So, at that moment it didn't look very good for the Bears. The team was down 14-0 and Kevin Riley and the Bears offense looked like they were in for another struggle.

But, on the next Bears possession Riley was able to get the Bears down the field into the red zone, but the Bears had to settle for a field goal. I believe even though the Bears only scored three points it showed that the Bears could move the ball against the Cardinal.

California's defense stepped up again forcing another punt for the Cardinal. Again the Bears marched down the field and got inside the red zone. Unfortunately, Riley made a bad throw to Shane Vereen and the ball was intercepted on a nice play by the Cardinal defense.

Again the Bears defense forced the Cardinal to punt. The Bears even with the interception by Riley seemed to have the momentum. Riley and Vereen helped get the Bears back down the field and this time the Bears punched their way through putting the game back to 14-10 and that's what the score was at halftime.

Since, the Cardinal elected to receive the ball to start the game the Bears got the ball to start the second half. It didn't seem like the start of the half on the kickoff was going to be good for the Bears because of a penalty that forced them to start at the eight.

But, again Riley and Vereen were able to march the Bears down the field for another touchdown which gave Cal their first lead of the game 17-14.

Although, on the kickoff by the Bears it looked like the Cardinal were at least going to tie the game up or possibly take the lead because of good return by the Cardinal and a personal foul.

Yet, another great stand by the Bears defense and a missed field goal let the Bears escaped unharmed after the penalty. Again the Bears were able to march down the field against the Cardinal and another touchdown for Vereen. Meaning that the Bears scored 24 unanswered points against the Cardinal.

Stanford finally got back on the scoreboard with Gerhart getting in for his third touchdown of the day, but the Bears took the wind out of the Cardinal sails by marching down the field again and this time Riley found Marvin Jones for a 12 yard touchdown.

That's when the game became interesting because the Cardinal were able to score again bringing the lead for the Bears to 31-28. It was the last six minutes of the game that was the most exciting or heartbreaking if you were a Cardinal fan.

It seemed like the Bears were going to go three and out and give the ball back to the Cardinal, but Verran Tucker made an oustanding catch along the sidelines to let the Bears be able to run more time off the clock and move the ball down the field.

Ultimately though the Bears were forced to put. Jim Harbaugh though made a horrific decision with just over four minutes left he chose to go for it on fourth and eight which gave the Bears the ball in great field position because the Bears were already in field goal range if the Cardinal didn't make it.

So, when the Cardinal went for it and did not get a first the Bears got excellent field position. Vereen was able to get the Bears a first down and instead of stepping out of bounds he stayed in forcing the Cardinal to use all three timeouts to stop the clock.

The Bears were only able to manage a field goal bringing the lead to 34-28. Tedford had his special team kick a short kick because of the dangerous return man the Cardinal had on the other side.

Which, mean that the Bears had to play defense with two minutes and 36 seconds left. It looked like the Cardinal were in position to win the game, but the Bears defense again stepped up with Mike Mohamed making the game changing play with an interception with just over a minute left.

The Bears were able to come out with a hard fought 34-28 victory over the number 14 team in the country.

As for Gregory's declaration of holding Gerhart to under 150 yards, the Bears did do that. Gerhart finished with 20 carries, 136 yards, and 4 touchdowns.

Vereen for the Bears acted like Gerhart as the man who just attacks the defense carry after carry. Vereen finished with 42 carries, 193 yards, and 3 touchdowns.

What was most impressive for the Bears were the four touchdown drives they went for 14 plays for 85 yards, 11 plays 92 yards, 10 plays 72 yards, and six plays 72 yards. The drive for the field goal was 10 plays 70 yards.

Meaning in those five scoring drives combined for 51 plays for 391 yards. Which also goes to show why the Bears ruled the time of possession nearly double that of the Cardinal.

Even with the time of possession in the Bears favor, the Cardinal nearly pulled off the victory. But, thanks to a great play by Mohamed on the interception the Bears came out victorious!

Monta Ellis and the Warriors Frustrate Brandon Roy and the Trail Blazers

Steven Resnick — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:37:05 -0500

Coming into tonight's game, the Golden State Warriors had put up tremendous efforts against the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics. On most nights, that kind of play would have gotten the Warriors a victory, but when facing two of the better teams in the East it's hard to come away with a victory especially with only playing eight players.

Flash forward to tonight's game and you saw an incredible effort by the Warriors.

In the first quarter though, it looked like the Portland Trail Blazers were going to take care of business.

One of those reasons was the size advantage that the Trail Blazers have on the Warriors and that showed in the first quarter. The Trail Blazers shot 68 percent in the first quarter and put up 37 points to the Warriors 29.

From the rest of the game, it was all Warriors and Monta Ellis was the main reason why playing all 48 minutes scoring 34 points, 8 assists, two rebounds, two blocked shots, and six steals. It was Ellis's defense on Brandon Roy that was the most impressive aspect of his game.

Looking at Roy's night he struggled going 6-17 from the field, with 17 points, four rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Roy's frustration boiled over to the referees where he was assessed a technical foul.

Beyond that though in the second quarter the Warriors were able to get the Trail Blazers big men LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden in foul trouble and with the two removed from the lineup until half time the Warriors took advantage.

This allowed the Warriors, specifically with Ellis and Stephen Curry, to attack the basket and either dish off to open teammates for layups or too Anthony Morrow knocking down threes.

As mentioned, the Warriors defense came to play and held the Trail Blazers to just 15 points in the second quarter because of the defense the Warriors erased that eight point deficit taking a four point lead into half time.

Starting the third quarter for the Warriors was recently signed big man Chris Hunter from the D-League. He was the unsung hero of tonight's game while most of the credit will go to Ellis and Curry for their games, Hunter made a huge impact on the defensive end especially against Oden.

Hunter also made an impact on the offensive end hitting a nice little jumper on the wing and a nice little jumper in the lane. On the night he had four points, three rebounds, a block, and a steal.

Also, with Hunter you can see he knows how to play basketball. He didn't look nervous at all in fact he looked like he belonged out there. In essence he played under control.

With Randolph you see that he has a ton of energy, but rarely is Randolph ever under control. I believe with Hunter around you'll see Randolph develop into being a more controlled player.

Besides that you won't see in the box score is the fact that while he was on the offensive boards he was able to bother the Trail Blazers rebounders enough that they were not able to grab the board and instead the ball went out of bounds staying with the Warriors and earning them extra possessions.

As for the third quarter, the Warriors were able to keep that same effort and were able to get the game to a double digit lead.

The Blazers did answer with a few runs getting the game close within six points on a couple of occasions, but the Warriors were able to make plays, never allowing that lead to get under six after gaining the double digit advantage.

The play that Curry made to hit Anthony Morrow for a wide open three, which was buried. It was a fast break, Curry was able to get past the defender and see the open court. He had two options Anthony Randolph who was running towards the basket or Morrow on the same side of the court but just past the three point line.

Curry made the pass to Morrow and as soon as the shot was released you knew the ball was going in.

In the fourth quarter, as mentioned before, the Blazers did have opportunities to get the game within reach, but the Warriors made plays. One of those plays was Ellis's move on Roy which earned Ellis a three point play because Roy tried taking a charge, but was clearly moving.

That took the wind out of the Blazers sails, and the Warriors pushed the lead up to 20. With just over two minutes remaining in the game, the Warriors had held the Blazers to only 11 points in the quarter.

At the end, the Warriors got a little sloppy turning the ball over and missing shots, which allowed the Blazers to reach 19 points for the quarter. Even with that the Warriors were still able to keep the Blazers from scoring 100 points which is the first time all season the Warriors have been able to do that.

It was really hard to find anything negative to say about the effort of the Warriors tonight. The only thing I'd mention is Maggette needs to find the open man more. There was a possession in the game where Maggette took a difficult shot, but if he had looked he had Curry and Morrow with wide open looks for a three pointer.

One other note is the fact that, hopefully, Ronny Turiaf, C.J. Watson, and Andris Biedrins can come back soon because Morrow and Curry can't play 48 minutes a night and Curry won't be able to play 45 plus minutes a night either.

Overall, this was clearly the best effort the Warriors have had this season, hopefully they can keep this kind of effort up!

Why Andrew Bailey Should Have Ran Away with the AL Rookie of the Year Award

Steven Resnick — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:57:46 -0500

Andrew Bailey should have been a near-unanimous selection for the American League Rookie of the Year Award. Bailey was by far the best rookie in the American League in 2009, and it's ridiculous that he only got 13 first-place votes out of the 28 votes that were cast.

Elvis Andrus of the Texas Rangers finished second and Rick Porcello of the Detroit Tigers finished third. The Chicago White Sox feel like Gordon Beckham should have been also near the top.

Here's the reason why Bailey won the award: He was consistent throughout the season. He didn't just have one long stretch of doing a great job while struggling otherwise. Throughout the season, Bailey came into a game and shut teams down, and only a couple of times was Bailey ever really hit hard.

The problem with Andrus and why he never was going to win the award is that offensively he isn't anything special, as he's primarily known for his glove.

Porcello came in third because his numbers of 14-9 were impressive, but his strikeout-to-walk ratio 89 to 52 and 23 home runs were less than stellar. Brett Anderson another A's pitcher won 11 games but had a way better strikeout-to-walk ratio, with 150 Ks to 45 walks, and he gave up 20 homers.

So it's easy to see why Porcello wasn't able to surpass Bailey or Andrus. Yet, I think the most questionable decision was the fact that Beckham didn't make the top three. In my opinion, he should have been No. 2.

In just 105 games, Beckham hit .270 with 14 homers, 63 RBI, 28 doubles, a triple, 102 hits, and 58 runs scored. The reason why those numbers do not surpass Bailey's season is the fact that Beckham played 45 games in the minors is defensively below average.

He appeared in 102 contests at third base and committed 14 errors in those games, for a fielding percentage of .952. Andrus committed 22 errors but had a fielding percentage of .968 because he also played 145 games at shortstop.

As for why Bailey won, like Andrus and Porcello he was up for the entire season. One part that played a role in Bailey winning is the fact that he finished No. 6 in the American League in games finished. The only names on the list that were above him were Fernando Rodney, Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon, Brian Fuentes, and Mariano Rivera.

I would call that pretty good company with Nathan, Papelbon, Fuentes, and Papelbon on the list, considering each one is an All-Star closer.

Another reason why Bailey won is the fact that his success was surprising. Coming into spring training, Bailey was a struggling starter for the A's organization. Yet in spring training he was taught how to throw a cutter and won a job in the bullpen for opening day.

It didn't take long for Bailey to win the closer's role in the season as well; in fact, Bailey didn't give up a run until his seventh game, and that came after 10.1 innings. Part of Bailey's success was his ability to keep hitters off balance, not only with his 96 mph fastball, but if he had a hitter guessing fastball, no matter if it was a two-seamer or four-seamer, Bailey could throw a curveball and just freeze the batter.

Being a starter for most of his minor league career also benefited Bailey as well because he had the ability to throw more than just one inning, hence why he appeared in 68 games.

Bailey finished the season with a 6-3 record, appeared in 68 games, threw 83.1 innings, struck out 91 while walking 24, and posted an ERA of 1.88 and a WHIP of 0.876. There's no doubt about it, Bailey was the best rookie in the 2009 class.

Golden State Gets Further Cap Relief, but Does It Matter?

Steven Resnick — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:45:06 -0500

I guess the most positive thing to say about the Warriors trade of Stephen Jackson and Acie Law for Vladimir Radmanovic and Raja Bell is the fact that Golden State franchise is now significantly under the salary cap.

With the trade, the Warriors are about 21 million dollars under the salary cap. That means that the Warriors could go after some of the top 2010 free agent players.

But even more troubling for Warriors fans is the rumor of Monta Ellis being traded as well.

With Ellis, the relationship between he and coach Don Nelson is all but gone.

Ellis was trying to be a leader by telling the team something and Nelson cut him off. Any franchise that actually had competent owners, would have fired Nelson on the spot.

Nelson has handled the development of Anthony Randolph with zero savvy. Randolph was supposed to make tremendous strides this season. That has not happened because Nelson uses him sporadically.

Now Randolph seems to be playing with less hustle than before. All the confidence that Randolph had last year seems to have vanished. That can be traced right back to Nelson.

Just another reason to fire the coach.

Yet, as Warriors fans, we know that's not going to happen because the team has a pathetic excuse for an owner and it has been this way for a long time.

How sad is it that in 2000 when the All-Star Game was played in the Oracle Arena, Cohan was booed and forced out of his seat when reporters were trying to ask him questions.

Even more embarrassing though for Cohan is the fact that David Stern was with Cohan when he was announced and he was booed without mercy!

But, that's really my point. With such a hated and incompetent owner, what free agent would even want to play for the Warriors?

The Warriors aren't going to win very many games this year. Plus, NBA players, coaches, executives, and owners all have seen how dysfunctional this team has been over the years. It's safe to say the Warriors aren't looked upon as a model franchise.

Anyways here's the list of 2010 NBA free agents . They include Lebron James, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer, Rudy Gay, and plenty more.

Yet, honestly would any of those players consider playing for the Warriors franchise? Well, Warriors fans already know that Stoudemire wouldn't when a rumored trade to the Suns was mentioned.

None of those players would even look at the contract given to them, there's no amount of money that could be paid to get them to play for the Warriors.

Look at Bell who came over in the trade from Charlotte. He's opting to have surgery on his wrist, the same wrist that he would have played on if he was still on Charlotte's roster. Bell will be a free agent in 2010 and there's no chance he's staying in Golden State.

Welcome to the world of being a Warriors fan. The only way the franchise will change is when Cohan finally sells the team. By that time there's probably not going to be much of a team left.

NBA Approval of Jackson Trade Continues Incompetency of Warriors

Steven Resnick — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:14:34 -0500

When Larry Riley was given the General Manager title for the Golden State Warriors, as a fan of the team, I knew it was only a matter of time before Riley would run the team into the ground. As I expected, it's happened already—just nine games into the season.

Yet, that was foreshadowed immediately during the offseason with the trades of Marco Belinelli and Jamal Crawford. With both trades, the Warriors got players who weren't going to produce much for the team.

The trade came at an unfortunate time when Belinelli was just starting to show signs of being a strong player for the Warriors especially on the defensive end. Crawford, though defensively inept, was always a capable scorer, and did much more in his NBA career than Law and Speedy Claxton who also came over in the deal.

The icing on the cake was the trade that was announced today and approved by the NBA. The trade calls for the Warriors to send Stephen Jackson and Acie Law to the Charlotte Bobcats for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic.

I get the fact that the Warriors needed to get rid of Jackson, but this was exactly what I was afraid of—getting a two players who are nowhere near the same caliber as Jackson in the deal.

Let's face it, Jackson last year averaged just under 21 points per game, averaged 6.5 assists per game, and 5 rebounds. Law showed what he could do in limited minutes for the Warriors and was one of the only players on the team that actually put forth a quality effort when he got into the games. Law, in my opinion, was just a throw into make the salaries work.

Jackson is better than Bell and Radmanovic combined and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to look at the numbers and see that.

Of course the NBA also plays a role in this for allowing the trade to be accepted. What's maddening now is that the NBA cares so much about salary cap situations that it doesn't really care about the players involved in the trade.

Need proof? Just go to ESPN.com and click on the trade machine. In theory you could put a trade there that has Stephen Jackson and Andris Biedrins going to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Lebron James.

Would the trade ever happen? No, Cleveland would never accept it, but based on salaries it would work.

That's what happened with the trade of Jackson—it was because of Jackson's and Law's salaries matched up with Bell's and Radmanovic's salaries.

Even more disconcerting is that the NBA ignored the fact that Bell is injured. He could clearly just decide the Warriors franchise is going nowhere and opt to have surgery on his injured wrist.

Well at least the Warriors are living up to the bill of their reputation as being an incompetent franchise heading nowhere!

Will Don Nelson Be Around Much Longer for the Golden State Warriors?

Steven Resnick — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:28:18 -0500

With the Golden State Warriors' pathetic effort against the Milwaukee Bucks and the upcoming schedule not getting any easier for the Warriors there's one question on Warriors' fans minds. That question is will Don Nelson be around to witness a major losing streak?

I have a feeling even Robert Rowell will finally get in gear and realize his mistake of giving Nelson a contract extension. Let's face it; General Manager Larry Riley doesn't have the courage or the power to fire Nelson because he's a pawn.

Besides that, I love the fact that Nelson is the one that instructed that Jamal Crawford opt out of his contract at the end of last season even though Nelson is not the General Manager. Another thing that Nelson does is when referring to the Stephen Jackson situation he talks about how there are talks and if they get a good enough deal it will happen.

Nelson says it as if he's the General Manager and it's really not Nelson's fault. It's Rowell's fault he is the one that took Riley from assistant coach to General Manager after disagreeing with Chris Mullin over the punishment last year to Monta Ellis.

But, as I mentioned earlier, the Warriors are going to be looking at a long losing streak and it will definitely get a few Warriors players upset. With the Warriors losing, their record fell to 3-6.

The next games for the Warriors are against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Portland Trailblazers, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic, Oklahoma City, and New Jersey Nets.

At this point the Warriors look like they are on the road to a 12 game losing streak. The team to end the streak are the much worse Nets. Other then that there's not very many games that look like the Warriors would be able to steal a victory from.

If that happens that means the Warriors record goes from 3-6 to 3-17. Again the question I posed before will Nelson be around for it? The answer is no likely because I don't see him having the patience to withstand such a bad stretch.

Most of the Warriors problems can be traced back to Nelson in the first place. It wouldn't surprise me in the bit that Rowell finally has enough of Nelson and fires him.

Gridoron Greats Has Done More for Ex-NFL Players than the NFLPA

Steven Resnick — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:28:44 -0500

NFL or college football fans know football is a violent game, a perfect example of this happened not in the NFL, less than a week ago! Jahvid Best reminds us just how dangerous playing football is. Here's a clip of what happened to Best .

There's nothing like watching on TV, and seeing a crowd in such jubilation after watching a great touchdown run by Best, and then the sudden realization that Best hasn't gotten up, or moved. I can't even imagine what it would have been like watching the play happen while in the stands, because after that the crowd went silent.

All thoughts were on that of Best. Oregon State, the team California was playing at the time, went down to their knees, and as a group said a prayer for Best.

Even with that, Best remained on the ground for 13 minutes before being carted off the field and taken to the hospital. Thankfully, Best didn't break any bones and only suffered a concussion. He is currently resting at home, ruled out for the next game, and possibly the season.

Just recently on Sunday, Tennessee Titans receiver Justin Gage suffered some fractures to his back. None of the fractures were too serious, meaning that he wasn't paralyzed, or needing emergency surgery. Just recently, though, he was declared that he may miss the Titans game on Sunday.

Regardless of what sport, there's no player that's going to be 100 percent healthy, we get that these players will play injured. Yet, in the NFL more than any other major sport in the United States, has the most serious injuries.

In the NFL you will find players with concussions, torn muscles, broken bones, sprains, and it could include multiple injuries as well.

I wrote an article on Bleacher Report titled The NFL Where Neglecting Ex-Players Happens , which is essentially about a number of NFL players who have suffered long lasting injuries and side effects all in part to the violence of playing a game they gave their heart and soul for.

It explains further just how badly the NFL Players Association has treated these players. Including the denial of disability claims by certain players, and the actual percentage of disability payments made, which is just three percent.

That means 97 percent of the NFL players that look to get disability because they are not able to work thanks to the injuries suffered while playing, do not get any disability. These players must wait until they are 55 years of age to even get their pension.

Further research shows that NFL players lifespan goes till 55 years, so it's perfect. By the time they can get their pension they are approaching the actual life span of a NFL player.

When I was reading an article, I came across a foundation that was formed to help these players in need. This group is called the Gridiron Greats, and its purpose is to help, financially, these ex-players, because the NFLPA isn't doing anything to help these players.

As the example of Brian DeMarco in the article that I wrote when he was helped by the foundation, he and his wife had only 75 cents to their name, and absolutely no food in the house.

The foundation has a website, Gridiron Greats, where you can learn more about the foundation.

Here's a quote from the website itself, "The Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund provides hands-on assistance and financial aid to help retired NFL players deal with some of the hardships they may encounter after football. Many of these players lack funds, disability coverage or pension benefits. Thus the GGAF focuses on the humanitarian side of these players, treating them with dignity, and addressing the post-football related issues in their lives."

I think the quote itself is a shot at the NFL and its lack of any kind of assistance to its former players for the most part.

Also, on the site you will find its mission statement which states "The Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund’s mission is to assist retired NFL players, who are in dire health and financial distress by providing a means to regain a semblance of dignity and quality of life that every human being deserves. The Fund will support grant applicants through a series of conventional and non conventional fund raising efforts while calling attention to those in need through partnership programs, licensing efforts and public relations events with the set goal of expanding the Funds assets through partnerships with the National Football League and the National Football League Players Association and Alumni”.

Although, I think it's the stories section on the website that gets me the most, and what this organization does for these individuals.

Here are some examples in which the Gridiron Greats foundation has assisted: The helping of former Chicago Bear William Perry with assistance fighting his Guillan-Barry Syndrome; helped a former Green Bay Packer after losing his wife; a former Jackonsville Jaguar received aid for food, living expenses, medicine, health care, and even arranged from a donor a car for him for basic transportation; and the last example is that of a former Bear and New Orlean Saints player who suffers from diabetes, chronic pancreatitis, hypertension, chronic hypertension, and severe neuropathy. He was only given $88 a month from the NFL as his pension, so the foundation gave him funds for basic needs.

Again, if you want to find more of their stories here's the link to the site . The board of directors is served by big names in NFL history, including the aforementioned Ditka, but also Greg Brown who was not a football player but is the CEO of Motorola, Jimmy Johnson, Marv Levy, Matt Birk, Gayle Sayers, and Kyle Turley.

Again it's just sad how the NFLPA has turned its back on the players that made it great. Thankfully there's a foundation like this for these players that are severely in need.

There are plenty of people who believe that NFL athletes are overpaid, based on a select few players, that don't acknowledge the fact that the contracts of NFL players are not guaranteed, only a certain percentage is.

Let's say a player buys a nice house, a couple cars, and decide to have kids. That money goes pretty fast, and they depend on that contract. If the player gets seriously injured there's no more contract, and then there's no more money coming into afford what they used to have.

Furthermore, there was a recent article about former NFL players going bankrupt. It's easy to understand why if after they retire and they can no longer to afford their lifestyle, and if there's any injuries that are going to be long term, then getting treatment for those injuries is going to take a lot of money as well.

I know if I had the money I'd definitely donate money to Gridiron Greats, and for those who are thinking of purchasing a ticket to see a game why not instead donate some money to this great cause and watch the game on TV?

Incompetent Playcalling by Jimmy Raye is Killing the 49ers Offense

Steven Resnick — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:33:38 -0500

As the season progresses the one thing that remains clear is that Jimmy Raye as a play caller and an offensive coordinator does not mix. Going further I find it odd that Mike Singletary would choose a coach that hasn't done anything as a coordinator in the last decade.

You look at the history of Raye and you will find most of his best efforts recently came as being a coach that specialized in certain aspects of the game. In the decade, Raye was the running backs coach from 2006-2008 with the New York Jets and also from 2002-2003 he was the senior offensive assistant as well for the Jets.

Raye had three coordinating jobs in the decade of the 2000's; he was with the Kansas City Chiefs, the 2001 Washington Redskins, and he was with the 2004-2005 Oakland Raiders.

If you looked at he offensive capabilities of all three of those teams, Raye's offenses were well below average; it says something when the longest stint you have as a coordinator is only two years and the longest as a specialist is three years.

This only further proves the fact that he was better off as a specialist. During his time with the Jets as the running backs coach the running game for the Jets improved. Thomas Jones last year for the Jets ran for over 1,300 yards and had 13 touchdowns as well.

As for the Jets in 2008, under Raye the rushing attack was within the top 10 in yards, touchdowns, and yards per carry.

Although 2006 and 2007 didn't have the Jets as successful with the running game under Raye, it only shows that it took a little bit of time for the Jets' players to get used to what he wanted his running backs to do when carrying the football.

Now, it's 2009 and Raye has a coordinator job again. Let's put it this way: there's very few positive words to describe the 49ers offense under Raye. I think that the game last night against the Chicago Bears proved it.

Offensively there were very few positive players for the 49ers that were called. I will give Raye credit on certain plays such as the direct snap to Frank Gore that caught the Bears completely off guard.

Yet, when you watched the game there was no utilization of any of the 49ers' weapons.

Vernon Davis wasn't used, Frank Gore even though his numbers looked good wasn't used until the fourth quarter when the 49ers had a chance to run out the clock, and Michael Crabtree was used early in the game, but only had one catch after the first quarter.

As a fan it seems like defenses know when the 49ers are going to run the football and when the team is going to pass. The most effective running play for the 49ers last night was not with Smith lining up under center it was actually out of the shotgun formation.

In the fourth quarter when the 49ers had a chance to put the Bears away by scoring a touchdown, yet had to settle for the short field goal, it clearly shows why Raye is just not the right man for the job.

The first play was good; a hand-off to Gore who took it to the one yard line. The 49ers again tried using Gore, but the Bears' defense annihilated the 49ers offensive line and Gore was pushed back for a loss.

Third-and-goal the 49ers try to pass, but the Bears got too much pressure on Alex Smith and all he could do was throw the ball away to preserve the field goal attempt. If Smith was able to elude the rush and set his feet he had Josh Morgan wide open in the corner of the end zone.

I just disagree with the play calling; why not roll out Smith and see if he could run it in from the one? How about throwing a lob pass to Davis in the corner of the end zone and allowing him to use his athleticism to be the one to make the play?

Another play that just was incompetent play calling was when the 49ers went for it on 4th-and-short. Instead of giving the ball to Gore, Raye calls for a quarterback sneak with Smith who didn't get the first down.

I would say if Smith had been playing for a long time I would believe that it would have been a better call, but with Smith not having seen much action in the regular season over the past couple of seasons, this was the time to call a run for Gore or surprise the Bears' defense by throwing a pass.

If Raye was planning on having Smith run the football, why not roll him out of the pocket then? He's much better at finding the hole and going through it then trying to push the pile; Smith is athletic, he's not the type of quarterback that's going to be able to get that push to get the first down in that situation.

One other huge problem with the 49ers? There were just too many times that the 49ers passed on first down and it became 2nd-and-10.

When you look at the end of the game though you'll see that Gore had 25 carries and the 49ers attempted 23 passes. Yet, that had to do with the fact at the end of the game the team went way too conservative.

In fact, out of the 11 plays on the last drive for the 49ers, only one was a pass and it was a little shuffle pass to Michael Robinson that got the 49ers a first down. That pass only went for four yards, while on the 10 carries the 49ers got 39 yards.

Let's not forget the 49ers got the ball with nine minutes remaining and when the 49ers did punt there was two minutes and 53 seconds remaining in the game. So, again way too conservative by the 49ers on the last drive of the game especially since at the time the 49ers only had a 7-6 lead.

Alex Smith's numbers were far from impressive; he went 16-23 for 118 yards was sacked only twice and threw an interception, which really wasn't his fault even though the ball was under thrown.

The problem again is obvious.

Davis caught three passes for 16 yards with a long of six. Michael Crabtree was sitting at three catches in the first quarter and only caught one more and ended with four catches for 48 yards with a long of 20 so before that he had three catches for 28 yards; not exactly eye popping numbers by the 49ers two best receivers.

But, combining those numbers for Davis and Crabtree, that accounted for 64 yards on seven catches.

Frank Gore and Josh Morgan combined to catch seven catches as well and that went for 45 yards, and the two other receivers to catch the ball were the aforementioned Robinson and Jason Hill. Hill had one catch for just five yards and to top it off he was given a horrible mark on that catch which should have given the 49ers a first down.

Here's a few ideas I have for getting the 49ers back on track offensively: on first down start giving the ball to Gore and see what he can do on first down.

Since Davis is one of the most athletic tight ends in the league on screen passes use him and his speed to get yards.

Finally I would like to see the 49ers make some quick throws.

The key for the 49ers in moving forward and actually winning football games is that the team needs to find the way to get the ball to their play makers: Davis, Crabtree, and Gore.

What's even more sad about the 49ers offense is that their leading wide receiver in touchdowns is Hill with two and he's only played in two games. Obviously with only one catch against the Bears he did his scoring in only one game.

Morgan is the only other wide receiver for the 49ers to catch a touchdown pass. Something needs to change to get the 49ers receivers more involved as well.

Just look at Crabtree; he has played in four games already and has 18 receptions which is only five away from Morgan's 23 catches, which lead the team from the wide receiver position.

Raye has to do a better job of calling plays that will help the 49ers receivers, even if it's just short routes that get the 49ers four or five yards. Raye knows that the offensive line of the team isn't the strongest part, so why not call plays that aren't necessarily going to be slow developing?

Just too many questions that have not been answered by Raye. So, I have one last question, and that is: when are the 49ers going to hire an offensive coordinator that actually will be around more than a year?

Chris Paul and Deron Williams Are Still Cream of the Crop at Point Guard

Steven Resnick — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:47:34 -0500

Chris Paul and Deron Williams are still the two best point guards in the NBA, no matter what the media would like you to think. Over the last few days you've been bombarded with articles about the Phoenix Suns and what Steve Nash is doing.

For example last night against Philadelphia, Nash finished with 21 points and 20 assists which just looking at that then those are great numbers, but there's more to basketball for a point guard than just passing the ball and scoring points.

If you actually looked at the boxscore you'll see another big number and this one isn't a good number to have. What number is that? The number is seven, the amount of turnovers that Nash had.

When you look at that as a ratio that means that for every 2.85 assists that Nash has he also has one turnover.

But, looking further at the boxscore Nash didn't contribute much defensively except for a blocked shot.

Looking at the season stats for Nash as well you'll see he does well with scoring points and passing the ball, but defensively he doesn't make a difference and he turns the ball over way too much.

Nash is averaging 18.3 points per game, 12.9 assists, .1 steals per game, .4 blocks per game, and shoots 52.5 percent from the floor, 48.6 percent from beyond the arc, and 92.6 percent from the free throw line.

Looking at Nash's assist to turnover ratio he is at for every 2.8 assists he has a turnover.

Now the Suns maybe the most surprising team in the league, but they are going to crash and they are going to burn. Jason Richardson is shooting lights out from beyond the arc at 57.9 percent, eventually that number is going to drop so there will be a few less assists for Nash.

Eventually the fact that Grant Hill is leading the team in rebounding is going to catch up with the Suns, but I see Amare Stoudemire surpassing him soon. Channing Frye as the center will also catch up with the Suns as well.

So far the Suns have played three teams with a winning record, the Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics, and the Miami Heat. Those teams have a combined record of 17-4 and the Suns have a record of 2-1 against those teams.

The five other opponents the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Washington Wizards, and the Philadelphia 76ers have a combined record of 11-25.and the Suns are 5-0.

What's so surprising that the Suns have played against some of the bottom feeders of the NBA?

Now looking at Deron Williams he doesn't shoot the ball nearly as well as Nash does but he's the more capable scorer of the two, he's also physically stronger, and is the superior defender of the two.

Williams has played in one less game than Nash has so far. Utah's record isn't that impressive at 3-4, but the team has also played a lot tougher schedule than the Suns have so far which I'll get to but let's look at Williams's numbers.

Currently, Williams is averaging 21.4 points per game, 10.7 assists, 3.6 turnovers, 1 steal, .1 blocks, he shoots 45.9 percent from the field, 31 percent from beyond the arc, and 80.6 percent from the free throw line.

His assist to turnover ratio is better than Nash's at 2.97 assist per one turnover.

The Jazz have played the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Sacramento Kings, and New York Knicks. The Jazz three wins have come against the Clippers, Spurs, and Knicks.

Their losses have come against the Nuggets, Rockets, Mavericks, and Kings. The combined record of those teams are 16-10. Wins have come against teams with record a of 7-15.

Like the Suns the Jazz have defeated teams with records just at .500 or below. If you take out the Jazz loss to the Kings the combined record of the opponents that the Jazz have had to face is 13-6.

Onto the best point guard that the NBA has to offer in Chris Paul. Paul has had a much greater season than Nash or Williams, yet the only thing talked about him is that he doesn't have enough players to help him win.

Well that maybe the case, but he's the clear leader of the team and he's doing his best to keep the Hornets in games. Currently the record for the Hornets is far from impressive at 3-5.

Yet, just like the Jazz have the Hornets have played a much tougher schedule than the Suns. The five losses have come against the Spurs, Celtics, Knicks, Raptors, and Lakers.For the wins the Hornets have beat the Kings, Mavericks, and Clippers.

Against the teams with the five losses the combined records for the teams are 20-16. Take out the loss to the Knicks and the record that the Hornets have faced so far this season is a combined 19-9.

When the Hornets have won the combined record of their opponents has been 10-13, so even if the Mavericks are taken out the combined record would be 6-8 so teams that were essentially close to the .500 mark.

Paul though has shown the NBA why he is the best point guard the league has to offer. Currently he's averaging 26.3 points per game, 9.8 assists per game, 2.3 turnovers per game, 1.3 steals per game, on 63 percent shooting, 68.2 percent from beyond the arc, and 86.5 percent from the free throw line.

His assist to turnover ratio is at 4.26 assists per one turnover.

With Paul you can clearly see that he does everything a point guard should be able to do he can score, he can distribute the ball, he can play defense, and he takes cares of the basketball.

Paul and Williams beat Nash on points, assist to turnover ratio, and steals. Nash beat Williams on field goal percentage, three point percentage, and free throw percentage, and assists per game.

Nash beats Paul at free throw percentage and free throw percentage. So, yes the assists per game is good, but the turnovers per game are going to catch up with the Suns especially once their schedule gets tougher.

Golden State Warriors: One Question, Where Was This Effort Last Night?

Steven Resnick — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:40:31 -0500

After Sunday night's dreadful performance against the Sacramento Kings, it seemed like a matchup against the Timberwolves would be tougher for the Warriors than expected.

Against the Kings it looked like the Warriors players had mailed it in on coach Don Nelson. There was no chemistry, there was hardly any effort, and too many one-on-one possesions.

A 13-point loss against the Kings didn't look too bad on the scoreboard, but the game was over well before the final buzzer sounded.

Flash forward to Monday's game and the Warriors resembled a totally different team. The Warriors were moving the basketball, they were not playing one-on-one basketball, they were getting into the open court, and most importantly they were playing defense all night long.

In the first quarter it seemed like the Timberwolves wanted to hang around. Johnny Flynn was hitting his jumpers, Wayne Ellington hit a few, and Sasha Pavlovic hit some as well to keep the Timberwolves close into the second round.

But, in the final minutes of the second quarter, the Warriors ran the Timberwolves out of the building thanks to a 13-2 run to end the half.

For the Warriors there really wasn't anything you could say they did badly.

If you want to get nit-picky you could say that Anthony Randolph did not have an assist. Other then that, the Warriors played a complete game.

The Warriors guards rebounded extremely well, Monta Ellis lead the way with 10 followed by Randolph's seven.

Stephen Jackson lead the passing charge with a career-high 15 assists followed by Stephen Curry's five.

As for the best stat of the night, the Warriors forced 28 turnovers and 22 of those turnovers were steals. Acie Law lead the way with five and Jackson followed that up with four steals of his own.

Also, the Warriors had nine blocked shots. Randolph lead the way with three and Jackson had two.

If you're looking for balance, eight of the 10 Warriors players who saw action scored in double figures. This includes three bench players who only saw time in the fourth quarter and all five bench players that appeared scored in double figures.

Randolph lead the way off the bench with 23 points, Anthony Morrow had 20 points, C.J. Watson had 13 points, Corey Maggette had 11 points, and Law had 10 points.

Coincidentally, two of the Warriors five starters scored below double figures. Mikkie Moore was a given with only two points and Curry added eight points.

Azubuike finished with a game high 31 points for the Warriors on 13-19 shooting. He was effective both inside and outside.

At the end of the night the team shot 57.1 percent from the floor, 52.2 percent from beyond the arc, 78.9 percent from the free throw line, had 38 rebounds, 36 assists, 12 turnovers, nine blocked shots, and only 19 fouls.

Looking at the Timberwolves, the team shot 44.7 percent from the field, 25 percent from beyond the arc, 80 percent from the free throw line, had 53 rebounds, 23 assists, 28 turnovers, seven steals, six blocked shots, and 31 fouls.

It's not hard to see why the Warriors ended up defeating the Timberwolves 146-105. Let's just hope that the Warriors can keep this kind of effort up!

The Golden State Warrior Players Have Given Up on Don Nelson

Steven Resnick — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:32:10 -0500

After watching another pathetic effort by the Golden State Warriors against the Sacramento Kings, it has become clear that the Warrior players have given up on Don Nelson.

The question is, how can you blame them? Nelson is one of the most overrated coaches in NBA history. When he has the right system, his teams can be pretty competitive, when it's not the right system, then his teams are awful.

That latter description is what suits the Warriors for this season. If it were any other NBA franchise, Nelson would be fired, but since Larry Riley is basically Nelon's right hand, Warriors fans are going to have to endure another pathetic season.

So far, this season has been disgraceful. There's no rhythm to this team, there's no plays, it's mostly one-on-one moves, questionable shot selection, and careless mistakes, and it's not going to stop anytime soon.

What's even more embarrassing for the Warriors, is the fact that the team has been blown out by two of the weaker teams in the NBA in the Los Angeles Clippers, and now the Sacramento Kings.

As a Warrior fan, even though the team is going to be awful again this year, the most disappointing thing has been the lack of playing time for Anthony Randolph. I'm not buying the excuse that he's so injured that the Warriors are trying to protect him from further injuring himself.

I think it's just another excuse by Nelson not to play a young player. If you have followed Nelson enough, he does not like playing rookies, and prefers veteran players.

With Stephen Curry, so far I can honestly say he's been disappointing as well, although he has shown flashes of brilliance. Curry needs to start being more aggressive, and to look for his shot, rather than just looking for other teammates.

Defensively, again the team has no clue how to play. Against the Kings, within the first three minutes of the second quarter, the Warriors were already in the penalty, because they weren't moving their feet.

I admit, it I was wrong expecting the Warriors to start off the season well, especially since their season started off with the Houston Rockets without Yao Ming, or Tracy McGrady, I figured they'd lose to the Phoenix Suns, I had them beating the Memphis Grizzlies, which was their only victory of the year so far; the Warriors should have at least played close to the Clippers, but were blown out, and the Warriors should have beaten the Sacramento Kings, but again, were blown out.

Instead of being 4-1 the Warriors are 1-4. You can blame it on the Warriors being a young team, at worst by this point the Warriors should be 3-2. But, from the looks of things the Warriors have given up already.

The Warriors aren't even competitive, and I leave you with this: How much worse is it going to get before it gets better?

Mike Singletary Needs To Really Take a Closer Look in the Mirror

Steven Resnick — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:47:13 -0500

It's time for San Francisco 49er fans to start calling out coach Mike Singletary. It's obvious the systems in place right now are not exactly working very well for the team, and it starts with three of the coordinators.

The first one is the offensive coordinator. Singletary made a gigantic mistake in hiring such a clown as Jimmy Raye who has no clue how to run an offense. Singletary at the start of the season had stated he wanted the 49ers to be a running team.

Well did that happen against the Tennessee Titans? Nope. It's absolutely embarrassing as a fan to watch this team, that had such high expectations after winning the first three games, fall like they have and it starts with the play calling offensively.

In the last two games, Raye has not given the 49ers a chance to win. I think the biggest example of this was when the 49ers had the ball for over nine minutes and only came out with a field goal.

At the time, the 49ers were tied up at 17 with the Titans, and the field goal gave the 49ers a 20-17 lead, but the play calling by Raye...it just boggles the mind.

All the 49ers needed was 10 yards. Inserted into the backfield with Frank Gore was Michael Robinson. The first play went to Robinson for a loss of a yard on an inside hand off to him.

The second play of the series was a little dump off pass to Robinson again, which when he caught the ball had no chance of scoring whatsoever and managed to gain four yards.

Seven yards needed, and instead of finding Vernon Davis, who leads the NFL in touchdown catches, Alex Smith looks for Gore who could not make the play on what looked like a good throw by Smith.

As mentioned before, the end result was a field goal.

I think most 49ers fans were excited about the promise of a 3-0 start. Of course the fans knew the upcoming schedule—Falcons, Vikings, and Colts—would be difficult.

But for the Titans, 49ers fans felt like this should be a relatively easy win considering the Titans were 1-6 coming into the game, and the Houston Texans were a team that the 49ers I believe were evenly matched up with.

We all know what happened in the Falcons game: the 49ers were embarrassed. Against the Vikings and Colts the 49ers had chances to beat both teams, but just couldn't get it done. Against the Titans I would say it goes back to the effort against the Falcons.

Which, to me is very surprising because I thought that the 49ers team was going to be better with Singletary at the helm, but it looks like it's the same old, same old for the 49ers.

If you were to ask me what the biggest mistake Singletary has made I would say it was keeping Greg Manusky around. I'm sorry, but Manusky is overrated by 49er fans. I could care less that the 49ers have the second best defense against the run and haven't given up a 100 yard rusher all year until today.

There are other things that the 49ers continue to not show, like the ability to step up from being just a good defense against the run, but nothing else comes close to it.

Let's see, what are some things that the 49ers are constantly not performing in? Their pass rush is non existent, the secondary is a mess, the team cannot tackle, and when the defense needs to make a big play it rarely ever happens.

There's were at least two examples of this in Sunday's game against the Titans, but all are bunched together because the plays came in the same series. Chris Johnson of the Titans looked like he scored on an 81-yard touchdown run on the first play of the Titans drive.

Yet, he had stepped out of bounds around the 40 yard line. The next play was a call to Johnson again, and the 49ers sniffed it out perfectly and tackled Johnson for a four yard loss. So, 2nd-and-14 for the Titans.

Vince Young goes deep for Justin Gage and hits him perfectly. There were no 49ers players there to make the play as Gage went up to get the ball. There wasn't even a 49er defender that could be there in time to either try to knock the ball away as Gage was coming down or hit him to jar it loose.

Flash forward a little bit in the same series. The 49ers had the Titans in second-and-short situation near the one yard line. Both times the 49ers were able to come up with the stop.

Here's the biggest moment of the game for the 49ers at least defensively. The Titans ran an option play and the 49ers had a great chance to stop Johnson three to four yards short and give the ball back to the 49ers, but poor tackling allowed Johnson to escape, and not only get the first down but score as well, which gave the Titans the lead.

Look at the end result for the 49ers defense. The team gave up 152 yards rushing and 172 yards passing. It took 34 attempts for the Titans to get the rushing numbers, but only 12 completions to get 172 yards. That's 14 yards per completed pass, and to make matters worse there was only one sack by the 49ers defense.

Honestly, there's really not much to think about when you look at the offense and defensive coordinators both are terrible. Both needs to be given the pink slips, the only question is does Singletary have the balls to do it at the end of the season when the 49ers are watching the playoffs at home?

Putting Jahvid Best's Injury Into Perspective: You Can't Question His Heart

Steven Resnick — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:10:12 -0500

When an injury occurs to a player fans get curious to see just how brutal the injury actually was. You can almost find any clip of a player being injured on Yahoo. In fact Yahoo Sports just had an article titled "The 10 Most Brutal Injuries of the Last Decade " written by Greg Wyshynski.

In the article you'll find the injury to Richard Zednik, who was inadvertently cut in the carotid artery by a teammates skate and you will also find the clip of Trent McCleary being hit in the throat with a puck as he attempted to block a shot.

So, it's easy too see that fans of the game are curious to see what actually happened when there's a breaking news in regards to a player whether it's college or professional. In this case it happened to be in college football.

You will find on the front page Yahoo Sports the article titled "Cal RB Best Taken to Emergency Room ." That title alone is an attention grabber so you'll read about the event or at least try to find the clip on Youtube.

Which you can find the clip here of Jahvid Best's horrific injury. It's one of the more scarier injuries you'll see in a game. You heard from the clip that I don't know who it was for ESPN who stated this "when you see his arms extended like that the medical term is called posturing and it means that the brain has lost contact with the body."

Now, the question becomes did Best really have to jump to get into the end zone because if you look at some of the comments being made either on Youtube or on the article on the front page, you will find that question.

I think it's incredibly hard to pass judgement on Best for jumping to score the touchdown. At that moment the Bears were already trailing 14-0 and needed to score a touchdown.

Best was doing all that he could to get the Bears the six points. It's not Best hasn't jumped and dived for a touchdown before this year either. I don't see anyone complaining about it. Here's an example from the game in Minnesota. Best dives into the end zone for the touchdown.

Questioning the play made by Best isn't going to help anyone. The most important thing is the health of Best. He made a great play with great effort, but the end result was catastrophic.

Best wasn't trying to show off on the play, he was just trying to get the Bears on the scoreboard and he felt that if he jumped he was going to score no matter what. If he didn't maybe he felt like the Oregon State defense could stop him just short.

It also didn't help that the Beaver defender pushed him, which helped propel him even higher in the air and because of this he was off balance so he couldn't really land on his feet.

Also, hindsight is usually 20-20 and I think no matter how you look at the play there's no doubt that Best is going to give his all out effort and he was just doing what he felt was best for the team.

I don't think it's right to question the motives of Best on the play. In my mind Best was clearly trying to score that touchdown anyway possible. I guarantee you if it meant diving instead of jumping, he would have been diving to the end zone.

You saw Best diving earlier in the game when he was stopped in the backfield, but before he went down he dove forward to get the Bears a first down.

Second guessing Best isn't going to help. The only thing that really matters is that Best recovers from the concussion and gets to 100 percent.

Oregon State Beavers Should Be Applauded For Being a Class Act

Steven Resnick — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:48:05 -0500

Every so often in the game of football there comes a play that makes you realize just how dangerous the game is. Fans like me get accustomed to seeing players take big hits and get up or maybe miss a play or two, it's when these players don't get up is when that realization hits.

That kind of play happened in tonight's game with the Oregon State Beavers taking on the California Golden Bears. After the incident I don't think Cal ever fully got back into the game. Their attention was mainly focused on one man, Jahvid Best.

On the play Best scored on a touchdown run, but as he got close to the end zone he dove for the end zone and as a defender from Oregon State came coming to try to hit Best, he was launched even higher in the air.

When Best came down he was about five feet in the air and landed on the ground with his lower back and due to the impact his helmet went flying off. At first when I saw it I thought that he had just knocked the wind out of himself, but when he didn't get up that's when the concern for Best really came on.

After seeing the replay the realization was that the injury was going to be much more severe than having the wind knocked out him. Team doctors were out on the field almost immediately to tend to him.

As you can see with the picture, he was carted off the field on a stretcher. Best was on the field for at least 10 minutes before he was taken to the hospital.

During that time Pac-10 fans got to see how classy the Oregon State Beavers are. As Best remained motionless the defensive players on the field got down on their knees and said a prayer for Best.

If you were watching as the game progressed there wasn't much news about Best's condition. So, as a Bear fan that was rather scary because you could only assume the worst, and if you saw how he landed it could have been a life changing injury.

Best could have easily broken a bone in his back with the way he landed, but as the third quarter came maybe the best news of the night came. Best had all movement in his extremities and was diagnosed with a concussion. Obviously anytime there's a head injury the hospital is also going to keep them for observation and further testing.

Even though the Bears lost 31-14 to the Beavers the bigger news for the team is that Best has all movement. Also, the Beavers get more respect from me for being a team that is a class act.

Does Steve Nash Really Qualify As a Top 10 Floor General?

Steven Resnick — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:27:45 -0500

Hadarii Jones loves to pick interesting topics to write about. His most recent article was a slide show titled "Born to Lead the top 10 Floor Generals in the NBA " which I was intrigued to read.

His list in order went Jeff Green, Gilbert Arenas, Kevin Garnett, Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, and Chauncey Billups. To me the weakest link out of the group was Nash.

I don't consider Nash a top 10 floor general. He maybe an exceptional passer and shooter, but to me in order to be a floor general you have to be a complete all-around player.

On the list, every single player except for Nash plays defense. Certainly not all of them on the same level, but it's good enough to be considered above average. That can hardly be said about Nash.

Let's look at the players that Jones has on the list.

Jeff Green —In actuality if you were to ask me, Green was the most improved player last year for the Oklahoma City Thunder and he's been a pleasant surprise for the young Thunder squad.

In fact, coming out of Georgetown I didn't think he was going to do much damage even though he was the fifth pick in the 2007 NBA draft. Adding Green to the mix with Kevin Durant is going to be a tandem that's going to be tough in the next couple of years.

Green is a rugged small forward who can rebound, shoot the ball, and play tough defense. You can definitely see why he could be picked over Durant as the leader of the Thunder because of his all-around ability.

Gilbert Arenas —When I first saw Arenas on the list, it was questionable thanks to, in part, him missing most of the last two years thanks to injuries. But when healthy, Arenas is a complete player.

I also believe his dedication to take smarter shots will also benefit the Wizards, and so far it's been paying off for him. He's on pace to have the best shooting percentage from beyond the arc.

Arenas is underrated defensively as well, and when healthy he is consistently among the leaders in steals.

Kevin Garnett —So far on the list, he's probably the best example of a player that leads by example. Garnett is one of the most intense players in the league and he puts out a maximum effort every night.

Dwayne Wade —Another maximum effort guy who gets it done at both ends of the court. I would say at this point in time he's ahead of LeBron James in terms of awareness of what needs to be done.

Wade's problem though is because he's so fearless at getting to the hoop, he has been injury prone. I think as Wade gets older he's going to improve his mid range jumper and start doing what Kobe Bryant does so well to get to the line, which is pump fakes that get the defender in the air and create the contact to get to the line.

Chris Paul —Paul just gets it done regardless of what end of the court he is on. The knock on Paul though is the lack of strength he has to defender a bigger guard and as well being a gambler on defense.

I don't know if the gambler on defense could be considered a negative towards him considering the fact he has led the NBA in steals. Sure, does that mean he could get beat? Yes, but I believe that Paul weighs the risk and if he feels like he's got the edge then he's going to go for the steal.

Offensively there aren't really many negatives in his game and at least this year he's shot the lights out from beyond the arc, currently hitting at 80 percent. It's not going to last, but he may have the best season of his career hitting threes.

Deron Williams —Fans rank Williams higher than Paul because of his strength. I personally believe that Paul is the better player, but it's hard to argue that you lose much with Williams either.

So, what it really means is that Williams doesn't tend to gamble on defense. Williams also plays in a system that has shown to be effective for years under Jerry Sloan. The pick and roll they run works to perfection.

Steve Nash —Nash doesn't belong on the list, end of story. There is only one thing that Nash is good at, and that is running the ball up and down the court. When he's forced to slow down, he can barely function as a point guard.

Kobe Bryant —when I first read the slide show, I figured he would have Bryant at number one, I was wrong. Bryant can pretty much do it all on the court whether it's drawing a foul to helping out on defense.

Most recently you've seen him in timeouts basically coaching his teammates to where they need to be, which has shown how Kobe has matured over the years.

Jason Kidd —Kidd has always been one of the most well-rounded player in the NBA. What makes Kidd unique is the fact that he's a point guard that's strong enough to guard shooting guards.

The only knock on Kidd throughout his career was his inability to shoot the basketball, but he makes up for that by being one of the best rebounding guards ever, and one of the greatest passers in NBA history.

Chauncey Billups —The Billups selection was interesting. I don't know if you could put him as the number one floor general, I think the biggest thing though is Billups influence on Carmelo Anthony.

Since, Billups has come to Denver, Anthony has been one of the best players in the NBA. Also, with Billups leadership abilities it helped mold the team together for a strong showing in the playoffs.

He's also known for his ability to hit clutch shots. His field goal percentage it isn't even close to some of the players on the list. It's the fact that he can hit the big shot and shoot for a high percentage from beyond the arc that helps him.

Billups is an excellent defender as well, and I think that also rubbed off on the Nuggets when he came over last year from the Pistons. The Nuggets at the time were not really known for their ability to play defense. They were more known for being a talented offensive team.

As mentioned earlier, it was definitely an interesting subject to bring up, but Nash does not even deserved to be mentioned on the list. There are other players would would be a better representation of what a floor general is.

Here are some examples.

Brandon Roy —Roy has come along way from when he first came into the league. He's now more of a player that will attack the rim rather then just trying to find an open teammate. The biggest knock on Roy when he was a rookie was that he didn't look for his shot.

Roy has become the face of the franchise in Portland. He isn't, by any stretch of the imagination, a lock down defender like Bryant is, but he's still above average. Also, Roy has the ability to come up with hitting clutch shots or making clutch plays down the stretch.

Baron Davis —He's always being looked over. I think the main problem is the fact that he's been injured a lot throughout his career. Last year didn't help when he missed games and didn't seem to have the will that he showed as a member of the Golden State Warriors.

Well, this is a new year and he seems to be back. Davis, like Kidd and Williams, is big enough to guard opposing shooting guards. The one knock on Davis is that he can take questionable shots, but in the clutch he also comes through.

Allen Iverson —I still think Iverson has a lot left in the tank. There's no substitute for heart, and after watching him the other night against Golden State, it looks like he can still bring it.

When you have Iverson getting 18 points and seven assists off the bench, it tells you he can still get it done.

Derrick Rose —He's an up and coming player in the league, but his play in the playoffs and his ability to lead the Bulls was impressive. I didn't think he really was going to do much as a rookie, but he certainly showed that he could play.

So, far he hasn't gotten off to the best start, but he also has been fighting off an injury as well. He's also a very good defender.

Andre Iguodala —Constantly overlooked, but Iguodala is an incredible talent for the Philadelphia 76ers. He's not the most dominant scorer by any stretch of the imagination but he can fill up a stat sheet. He's a superb defender, he can rebound, and he can distribute the ball as well.

Now, I would also say there are three players off the top of my head that are on the outside looking in. LeBron James is number one, Dwight Howard is number two, and Stephen Curry is number three.

LeBron James —The reason why James doesn't make the list is because he still relies way too much on his athleticism to get him places rather then choosing a spot. A perfect example was Thursday night when he turned the ball over with .02 seconds left on the clock with a chance to win the game.

James problem on the play was the fact that he tried going for a layup with two Bulls defenders coming right at him. He had no chance to put up a shot and the ball wound up being lost by James and the Bulls hung on for a victory.

Dwight Howard —Howard defensively is at the top of the charts whether it is rebounding or blocked shots. The problem for Howard though is offensively, like James, he relies too much on his athleticism.

Howard doesn't really have a dominant post game, so he doesn't have the ability to score in a variety of ways like a Garnett or a Pau Gasol. If Howard ever learns how to use his feet and develops a jump hook from either hand he could be unstoppable. The only other thing with Howard is his free throw shooting. If he fixes that, which it seems like he's doing a lot better this year, he could be dangerous as well.

Stephen Curry —Maybe it's just me being a homer, but maybe it's not. I think Curry will eventually win the Rookie of the Year award based on his abilities. Defensively he's a pest, but he does tend to reach which gets him in foul trouble especially if he's facing a bigger guard.

But, he also moves his feet very well. As an example, in tonight's game against the Los Angeles Clippers he drew a charge on Baron Davis because of his ability to move his feet.

Curry also has imparted his ability on his teammates as well. He's helped make Monta Ellis into a passer, and evidence of that was in the Warriors win over the Grizzlies. In that game, Ellis had 12 assists.

Before Curry becomes one of the better floor generals in the NBA, he does need to work on creating his own shot. There was a point in the game where Curry had a wide open jumper from the free throw line that he missed.

As his game matures, he would have realized that he had plenty of room to take a few dribbles and either drive to the rim and hope to draw a foul for a three point play or get a much shorter shot and bank it off glass.

With the examination of these players, it's becoming pretty obvious that Nash does not belong for a variety of reasons.

You could hardly qualify Nash as an above average defender, in fact you could hardly argue that he's an average defender, in fact the only argument for Nash in terms of defensive abilities is below average.

Nash thrives in a system that forces the action up and down with very little stoppage of play. When Nash plays in a half court set and the game is slowed down, he struggles offensively, doesn't make good decisions, and ends up turning the ball over.

Another issue with Nash being on the list is the fact that he, along with Amare Stoudemire, refused to buy into Terry Porter's system last year. Porter's system emphasized a slower pace and more defense, which neither Nash or Stoudemire were willing to do.

In fact one of the reasons why coach Mike D'Antoni did not go back to the Suns was the fact that general manager Steve Kerr wanted D'Antoni to practice defense not just offense and D'Antoni didn't want too.

The real floor general of the Suns team during their playoff runs was not Nash. It was Shawn Marion, and there's really not much of a debate here. Marion was the man who defended the oppositions best player from point guard to power forward.

Along, with his defense, he was the Suns best rebounder, he could hit the outside shot, and he could score in a variety of ways.

Which, brings me back to my point, a floor general does much more than just one thing well and because of this Nash does not qualify. There's more to basketball than just being able to run a fast break.

LeGarrette Blount is More of a Man Than Brandon Spikes Is

Steven Resnick — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:20:30 -0500

There have been plenty of articles written on the subjects of LeGarrette Blount and Brandon Spikes. One player was suspended since after the first game of the season and one is going to be only suspended for a game.

What's sad if you look at what happened with each situation one is clearly worse than the other. Blount reacted emotionally after a hard fought loss to Boise State, while Spikes acted as a coward in a cold calculating play basically what Spikes did was premeditated.

You've also got to appreciate the fact that almost immediately after the incident involving Blount a punishment was handed down. Was the punishment harsh? Absolutely! Could it be argued that it was too much? Yes.

Some people will argue that the punishment was just right because of the fact as he was being escorted off the field he wanted to go after the Boise State fans and had to be restrained by police.

Again as I mentioned before it was an emotional game for the Ducks and it didn't help after the infamous sucker punch was not only played multiple times on the video screen, but fans started throwing things at Blount.

It still doesn't excuse Blount's actions, but when you look at what happened throughout the series of events the unfolded you can understand that Blount let his emotions get the best of him.

Spikes on the other hand his story is a bit different his play was extremely dangerous and could have caused a player his football career and long term eye damage. When you watch the play over and over again you realize just how disgusting what Spikes did.

If you haven't seen the clip you can find it easily on youtube. What makes it worse is the fact that Spikes repeatedly tried to gouge the eyes of Ealey. What's worse is the fact that the suspension for Spikes was only a half a game, but since has been changed to one at the request of Spikes.

In the article "Florida Increases Spikes Suspension to Full Game " written by Mark Long a AP sports writer, Spikes is quoted as saying “I really don’t want to be a distraction to the team. I want the guys to prepare without any negative things going on, and I feel like if I would play, it would be a big thing going on. I’m just trying to stay out of the way and just motivate the guys.”

I find it interesting that nowhere in the article by Long did Spikes actually take accountability for his cowardly actions. Instead it was about the team and not being a distraction.

What I've also seen in comments recently have included he did it because of a late hit that Tim Tebow took, Georgia running backs spit in the face of Florida players, and that Spikes was upset over another incident where he may have been accidentally poked in the eye.

Regardless of what is said about what happened it still doesn't excuse what Spikes did. Furthermore, Spikes lacking the ability to take accountability for his actions has shown that he hasn't learned anything from the situation.

Yet, when you take a look at Blount's situation he has done things to help himself. Here's an example of what being accountable actually means. This is from the article titled "LeGarrette Blount Formally Apologizes " by Michael David Smith.

Smith takes an exerpt of the letter Blount wrote to the Daily Emerald which is the University of Oregon student newspaper.

"There is no justification for my behavior—not the 'heat of the moment,' not the 'agony of defeat,' and definitely not anything said or done by an opponent.

Being a student-athlete at the University of Oregon should be about being a good student working to positively represent the University and its football program under coach Chip Kelly, and handling both victories and defeats with sportsmanship, class, and character.

That night, I used poor judgment and lost self-control. My actions reflected poorly upon my teammates, our football program, and our University. And for this, I offer my sincerest apologies and heartfelt regrets."

Can you see the difference? Blount says that his behavior was not acceptable, but Spikes' concerns were more about the uproar of the lack of punishment handed down to him. It really shows the true character differences between Blount and Spikes.

Also, during the suspension which is still going for Blount who could possibly return sometime this season after Chip Kelly put forth a set of conditions that Blount follow so he can possibly return before the end of the season and Tony Dungy assisted with helping Blount.

Spikes could learn a lot from Blount especially on what it means to being a man and owning up to your mistakes instead of placing blame on someone else for your actions.

Warriors Earn First Victory of the Year With Outstanding Guard Play

Steven Resnick — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:42:25 -0500

The Golden State Warriors picked up their first win of the season tonight at home against the Memphis Grizzlies. In the first quarter it looked like the Grizzlies were going to run the Warriors out of the gym, and at one point held a 13 point lead. Before the quarter ended, the Warriors were able to cut it to 10.

In the first quarter though ,when you look at the 29-19 deficit the Warriors faced, it didn't look too bad considering the fact that the Warriors couldn't buy a basket. The team missed layups and wide open jumpers.

On top of that, it didn't help the Warriors that Andris Biedrins picked up three quick fouls in the opening minutes and against the best rebounding team. It seemed like that would present some problems for the Warriors and it did throughout the first half.

I will say this—the third foul on Biedrins was not a foul, he basically gave Marc Gasol a layup because he wasn't going to play aggressive with two fouls and with Ronny Turiaf out the Warriors were shorthanded in terms of big men.

But, even with that it, was only a matter of time before Biedrins did eventually get his third foul. So, the Warriors had to go small and that helped the Grizzlies build the lead in the first quarter.

Another problem for the Warriors were the cheap little fouls that were picked up and the only saving grace for team was the fact that the Grizzlies did not shoot free throws very well tonight. As a team the Grizzlies went 24-36 from the line.

In the third quarter it looked like Rudy Gay was going to take the game over. He was making every shot he took and ended up going 5-6 in that quarter.

Although, the biggest concern looks like it will be closing out games. With a couple minutes left in the game the Warriors had a 12 point advantage—all the team needed was a couple of made shots and the game would have been done.

Instead, the Warriors missed a couple of layups, turned the ball over four times, and picked up fouls allowing the Grizzlies to go to the free throw line to earn points.

One more thing to add before I go to the positive things the Warriors did. Anthony Randolph needs to play more minutes because he only saw four minutes in the first half and three minutes in the second half.

As for one of the positive things for the Warriors was the play of Mikki Moore. His line wasn't impressive—two points, four rebounds, two assists, and a block. Moore did very well defensively really changed my perception of him as he was a pest defensively on Gasol or Zack Randolph.

Stephen Jackson provided solid passing and actually did very well with the baskeball. He only forced a couple of shots, but made some pretty nice moves as well. In fact he came alive in the second half. In the first half, he didn't really do much in terms of scoring and actually did more in the passing game by picking up four assists and a couple rebounds.

Jackson finished the game with 20 points, six assists, two rebounds, two steals, and a blocked shot.

Corey Maggette came on as well. At first it looked like another game that Maggette was going to struggle, but some nice plays by Stephen Curry setting Maggette up near the rim improved his confidence and he got going. Maggette ended up with 20 points before fouling out with less than a minute remaining in the game.

In the third quarter, as I mentioned before, Gay looked like he was going to take over the game. Well Anthony Morrow had other ideas, because he actually outscored Gay in the quarter.

Morrow went 6-6 from the field including three three pointers. What was more impressive were the two pointers that Morrow hit. The first one he drove to a spot and pulled up and swished the basket in, the second came on a nice drive to the hoop, and another was him posting up on Marcus Williams and banking in the basket.

Defensively Morrow impressed me with his ability to stay on Gay and force him into tough shots. Morrow's line for the game 24 points on 10-12 shooting which included 4-4 from beyond the arc.

Maybe the biggest positive for the Warriors was the play of both Curry and Monta Ellis. Curry is proving why the Warriors were smart in drafting him because he has rubbed off on Ellis as well. Both players took care of the basketball and distributed the ball very well.

Biedrins also did well in the fourth quarter coming up with big rebounds and a nice dunk off a great feed by Jackson. Biedrins best play of the game came on grabbing an offensive rebound off an Ellis missed layup. Instead of taking the ball back out like he normally does, he just went back to where he was and hit a nice layup himself.

In the fourth quarter, Biedrins contributed four points and seven rebounds and was part of the reason the Warriors outrebounded the Grizzlies in the second half.

One of the best plays of the game was in the first quarter when Ellis drove to the rim and kicked the ball out to a wide open Curry from beyond the arc. Curry hit the three and with that it adds another dimension to Ellis's game.

Combined the two went for 30 points, 21 assists, 12 rebounds, only two turnovers, and seven steals. That's not a bad night for the Warriors backcourt at all.

Adding Jackson's totals to that then the three combined for 50 points, 27 assists, 14 rebounds, nine steals, and a blocked shot.

The Second-Rarest Accomplishment for an NBA Player

Steven Resnick — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:21:19 -0500

There's an accomplishment in the NBA that has only happened five times in its entirety and only four names belong on that prestigious list. The name on the list are Hakeem Olajuwon, Nate Thurmond, David Robinson, and Alvin Robertson. Olajuwon is the only player to make the list twice. Now one may wonder what is the rarest accomplishment in the history of the NBA? The answer to that is averaging a triple double for an entire season. That has only happened once and that was the legendary Oscar Robertson. But, for the NBA the second rarest accomplishment is the quadruple double. It's extremely rare and the last quadruple double happened over 15 years ago.

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Where Cowards Are Made: Brandon Spikes' Lack of Punishment Shows SEC's True Colors

Steven Resnick — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:01:41 -0500

Brandon Spikes is a coward! There's no other words to describe what he did to Washaun Ealey during the Florida Gator's game on Saturday. Some Gator fans think it was a spur of the moment type of play and one person I've ran across and has written article claims that Spikes was going for Ealey's chinstrap, no one buys the excuses. The evidence is overwhelmingly against Spikes there's no way a rationale person can say that Spikes was trying to take Ealey's helmet off from the chinstrap. But, even bigger news is the fact the lack of punishment of such a cowardly play by not only Urban Meyer but SEC commissioner Mike Slive. Who seems like he cares more about protecting his officials then the actual players in the conference.

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Mike Slive Has Turned the SEC Into the Biggest Joke of 2009

Steven Resnick — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:33:50 -0500

Mike Slive is the commissioner of the SEC conference and he has turned it from one of the most dominating powerhouse conferences in the NCAA, but lately Slive has been in the news lately and it hasn't been for good reasons.

The first issue Slive has created for himself was his decision to start penalizing SEC football coaches by giving them bigger fines and if it gets to a certain point even suspending the coaches for calling out bad calls made by officials.

But, the funny thing about that is the fact that the SEC itself went ahead and suspended an officiating crew for a game after the SEC had ruled that the call on the field that was made was wrong.

I get the fact that Slive wants to clean up the SEC from coaches criticizing officials, but he may also want to fix his officiating problem as well. In fact the rule is now jokingly referred to as the "Lane Kiffin rule." Kiffin had been calling out officials for not calling an unsportsmanlike penalty when a player removed their helmet before the game was actually over.

Though the penalty wasn't called it still wouldn't have changed the outcome of the game for Tennessee.

Now, we may have the biggest joke and that is the fact that Slive accepted Urban Meyer's punishment of Brandon Spikes. The punishment for the eye gouge to Washaun Ealey was for one half of the Florida Gators next football game.

It was easy to call out Meyer for not having the guts to suspend his star linebacker Spikes, but not it's time to call out the joke of a commissioner that the SEC has in Slive. There is absolutely no way that Spikes should have been given a suspension for a half game.

There's nothing to justify the rationale of Slive for accepting the punishment that Meyer gave to Spikes.

In fact it's so easy to compare the case of LeGarrette Blount and Spikes. Both players did something incredibly stupid in the heat of the moment. Blount sucker punched a Boise State player and Spikes eye gouged Ealey.

In fact the University of Oregon Ducks within 24 hours of the incident had already suspended Blount for the remainder of the season, hence ending his career as a Duck. Was the punishment too severe? Absolute? Will Blount be able to get back on the field before the season is over? Absolutely.

But, that's what makes the punishment on the end of the Ducks so good is the fact that they didn't kick Blount off the team and instead gave him things to do and work on to hopefully be able to be reinstated from the suspension.

Although, he hasn't been reinstated yet, Blount should be playing again very soon. I don't think it's going to be against Stanford but it's a possibility after the Stanford game he'll be able to play again.

Spikes, on the other hand, didn't even receive any kind of punishment. In fact from what I read in an article is that Meyer's wife was the one that mentioned what happened and Meyer then reviewed what happened.

So, Meyer was unaware of the situation and when he found out he didn't do his job. He failed not only his Gator's team, Gator fans, himself, his wife and family, but also the NCAA and the SEC.

Slive is also just as guilty for doing that as well. If this is the SEC and how it will handle punishing of players then this is not the conference that the SEC makes it out to be.

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports wrote an article titled "http://rivals.yahoo.com/Florida's Punishment of Spikes Doesn't fit the Crime " in the article it has a poll which asks "Is Brandon Spikes' first half suspension punishment enough?

There has been 18,353 votes on the subject. 91 percent said the punishment wasn't enough and only 9 percent said that it was enough.

With nearly 20,000 votes I think it's safe to say that Slive is clearly wrong and he needs to admit that he made a mistake for accepting the punishment handed out by Meyer.

He then needs to go and fix the mistake by suspending Spikes for more than just one half and one game would be too lenient as well. The punishment should be at least two games and maybe even for the rest of the season.

Congratuations commissioner Slive you have turned the SEC into a joke and so has Meyer!

Again in my opinion a coach is there to be a leader, a teacher, to administer discipline, and to hold his players accountable. If the coach fails at that that's when the SEC or the NCAA must step into fix the situation.

The lack of a punishment to Spikes by Meyer doesn't hold him to any kind of discipline in fact it's rewarding him even allowing him to play in the Gators next game. The nation now knows just how pathetic Meyer really is and same goes with Slive.

The NCAA and SEC Must Overrule the Suspension of Brandon Spikes

Steven Resnick — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:28:33 -0500

The NCAA or the SEC needs to overrule the suspension of Brandon Spikes because the penalty that was handed down by the University of Florida football coach Urban Meyer is an absolute joke. Spikes will be suspended for one half for gouging the eyes of Georgia running back Washaun Ealey.

After watching PTI on ESPN discussing if the suspension was fair or not and actually seeing the replay, it is clear that Meyer failed the Florida football team and the NCAA by suspending Spikes for only a half.

Michael Wilbon tried explaining that there are things that happen under the pile that would be considered dirty or not very legal, but that really doesn't take precedent here.

Yes, Wilbon is correct things happen in a pile and just because it does happen there doesn't make it right. It wasn't like Spikes was discreet about it either, it was blatant and it was an attempt to injure someone.

I don't even think one game was justifiable at this point. It should have been at least a two game. When a defensive player purposefully sticks his hand through the helmet of an opposing player and tries to take out their eye and all that's handed down is a half game suspension, it doesn't reflect well on the player, the coach, the university, and the NCAA.

That is why the SEC either needs to take control of the situation, and if the SEC decides that Florida's actions where sufficient enough then the NCAA needs to step in and address the situation.

Spikes' actions that he took was despicable. Yet, the inaction of Meyer to truly punish his player is truly even more despicable. The actions by Spikes itself is worse than the sucker punch thrown by LaGarrette Blount.

If I'm the SEC as well I'd be questioning the officials for not ejecting Spikes after that play.

Also, it's fair to say that Meyer has failed the Gators football team by not suspending Spikes for a longer period. It shows that he does not have control of the team and that he indeed has failed at his job.

Sure, he's won National Champions with the Gators, but with a lack of discipline the football team has had over the years under Meyer and now the inaction of Meyer to take appropriate measures on a player that deserve them is why the Gators are becoming a joke.

A coach is supposed to provide leadership, discipline, and respect. None of those things apply with Meyer's actions. That is why the SEC needs to step in and make it clear that they do not feel that Meyer's decision to suspend Spikes for a half is an appropriate discipline for his actions.

Here's the clip of the eye gouging incident. It is clear that it was a purposeful attempt to injure the Bulldogs running back and going for the eyes of a player doesn't reflect well either.

Another aspect of this story is the fact that Spikes draft stock is going to take a huge hit and it should. A few weeks ago I was watching the Gators play and he level an absolute cheap shot while a player was out of bound and was called for the late hit while the player was out of bounds.

To make it worse, it wasn't even the player with the ball.

The Difference Between a Good Defense and a Great Defense

Steven Resnick — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:34:25 -0500

The San Francisco 49ers had a good defense against the Indianapolis Colts. In the game against the Colts, the 49ers did a good job of getting pressure on Peyton Manning and frustrating him.

Yet, there's going to be one play that stands out in the mind for 49ers fans that you could arguably say would have helped the 49ers maybe defeat the Colts—the dropped interception by Dre Bly.

If Bly makes that interception he would have had an easy chance of taking the ball back for a touchdown or even if he was tackled immediately the 49ers would have had excellent field position because even if the 49ers went three-and-out they would have been in field goal range.

On another player, which I believe that Ed Hochuli got wrong, even after the play was reviewed and overturned—Dallas Clark fumbled the football.

If you didn't see the play, Clark caught a pass from Manning and fell to the turf on his own, and was basically was already on his knees but tried moving forward while on his knees to get some more yardage, as he was doing that a 49er defender hit the ball out of his arms.

The ruling on the field was that Clark's knee was already down when the fumble occurred. Yet, Hochuli ignored the fact that Clark fell on his own and was moving forward trying to gain a little extra when a 49ers player before touching Clark hit the ball out of his arms, therefore Clark was never down by contact.

Orginally the play was ruled a fumble and it was the correct call with the 49ers recovering it. Like the missed Bly interception it would have given the 49ers great field position as well.

Against the run, the 49ers defensively were excellent, holding Joseph Addai to 62 yards on 20 carries which went for an average of 3.1 yards per carry.

Since the Colts weren't really able to get the running game going Manning was forced to throw often, going 31 of 48. However, Manning did not throw a touchdown in the game. The only touchdown through the air was from Addai who found a wide-open Reggie Wayne on a trick play.

Manning had 347 yards passing, but he was sacked three times. For his career, Manning has only been sacked once every 30 pass attempts, in this game it was once per every 16 attempts, which is great news for the 49ers because the team hasn't really been known for getting after the quarterback.

There were some really nice plays on defense with the 49ers able to break up passes, but there were times when the secondary played way too soft. I think the perfect example of that is when the Colts had a 3rd and 20 and the Colts at their own 16-yard line, which would have given the 49ers a chance to get pretty good field position.

Instead Manning was able to find a wide-open Pierre Garcon for a 32-yard gain. With the help of that play the Colts were able to sustain a drive and end up kicking a field goal.

Also, another situation where the 49ers had the Colts deep in their own territory this time at the 13 yard line, the 49ers allowed for a 40 yard reception. Luckily this time though the Colts were not able to score any points.

I saw an interesting graphic on the Fox telecast that showed the Colts scores at half time and in the last four games the Colts had 21 points at half time in each of those games.

So, it was definitely an impressive showing for the defense of the 49ers against the high powered offense of the Colts. Considering the Colts as a team averaged 30 points per game coming into the game against the 49ers.

But, as I mentioned those little breakdowns are what seperate the great defenses from the good ones. The great ones make the interception that Bly dropped, they get the fumble recover, they don't bite on the trick plays, and don't give up big plays when their opposition is inside their own 20.