Bleacher Report - Articles by Don-N-ABQ

Los Angeles Dodgers: Retire a Number for Vin Scully

Don-N-ABQ — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:09:39 -0500

Is it just me or should the Los Angeles Dodgers retire a number for Vin Scully?

Okay, the man has been doing the Dodger games since 1950.

Let's go get into the time machine and turn the clock back:

Give 'em Hell—Truman is president, the H-bomb hasn't been developed yet, Eisenhower wouldn't send any advisers to Vietnam for a few years, but Truman has sent a few, heck, Harry S. starts sending troops to South Korea, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel is formally opened to traffic, the comic strips Peanuts and Beetle Bailey are first published. (If some of you don't know any of these things, that might help tell you how long ago 60 years was.)

And now we're back to the future:

This was 1950 folks:

The year that Ken Griffey, Sr., Doug Ault, Lyman Bostock, and Manny Trillo, were BORN. And so was: David Cassidy, Peter Frampton, Jay Leno, Stevie Wonder, and Cybill Shepherd.

This was before any team had moved to California.

This man is a Dodger institution! How rare is it that any one person gets to work for the same place for almost 60 years?

So, before we lose the man to the great field of dreams—where the Disciples are bat boys, the L.A. Blue win every game (especially against the Yankees), the white chalk lines, and the weather, and grass are always perfect (and real)—retire a number for him.

I would like the number to be his years of service with the Dodgers.

So, to make this possible, retire No. 60 this year and after he officially stops calling games, make it that number. What if Vin passes while calling a game? I think that would be great way to go.

I would like him to be honored while he is still here and his family can be there and see it. As an additional tribute, put the number on the official Dodgers' press box.

No. 60 would be a good number, don't you think?

So, if you think it is a good idea, contact the Dodgers and tell them about it.

And to you Vin:

"Hi, everybody, and a very pleasant good career to you, wherever you may be."

"As long as you live, keep smiling because it brightens everybody's day."

"High drive into center field, and deep. Back goes Scully, a-way back, it's gone!"

"Forget it."

Thank you.

Oklahoma's Five Keys to Motor City March

Don-N-ABQ — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:27:49 -0500

Wow! How many athletic programs have three different high-profile sports teams reach the top three in a season? Football and both men's and women's basketball. Add to that those three teams have arguably three of the best, players in their sports: Sam Bradford, Courtney Paris, and Blake Griffin. Talk about ménage à trois dream fantasy heaven!

Okay, the Oklahoma Sooners have their best record (20-1) since the 1987-88 team that made it all the way the 1988 NCAA tournament championship game against the Danny Manning-led Kansas Jayhawks.

Most of us know what happened in that game: Manning turned in one of the best tournament finals performances in history—31 points, 18 rebounds, five steals, two blocked shots, and an MVP trophy in an 83-79 KU victory. (Having the game in Kansas City didn't hurt one bit either.)

Back in the 1980s, coach Billy Tubbs (1980-1994) showed up not long before a 6'9" forward from Tulsa, Wonderful Wayman Tisdale (1983-85). Before Tubbs and Tisdale, Lloyd Noble Center was place for football fans to chat about the upcoming spring practice twice a week.

But Tubbs had his best success with the 1988 team, led by Mookie Blaylock (1988-1989), Harvey Grant (1987-1988), and Stacey King (1985-1989). Two of those guys, Blaylock and Grant, would have pretty solid NBA careers. If only Wayman could have had a guard like Blaylock or Willie Warren.

2009

Fast-forward 20 years: Now it is Jeff Capel's turn. This time Blake Griffin is playing the part of the dominant big guy a la Tisdale or Manning.

If Griffin stays four seasons at OU, he will have an outside shot at eclipsing Wayman's all-time career points (2,661) mark (22.3 PPG x 35 games x three seasons + 484 points from 2008 = 2,825). But he must want to stay and not get injured, and risk of injury is good reason to get a multi-million dollar paycheck.

Now Kelvin Sampson (1994–2006) almost derailed the program into NCAA-sanctioned purgatory, so it is pretty amazing that the team of Capel-Griffin & Co. has been able to pull off what they have so far. Even if the Sooners don't make it far in the tournament of 64 that comes this March, you have to say it has been a pretty amazing run with two pretty new key elements.

What will be the keys to repeating the 1988 tournament run?

1) Three-Guard Rotation

They must get solid play from three different guards. Between Willie Warren, Austin Johnson, and Tony Crocker, the three of them must get into a solid game-rotation routine. All three of them have had some really good games and some other games where they seem to disappear.

There is no doubt that the 20-1 record has been due to Griffin on one hand and one or two of these guys getting hot on the other. A good three-guard rotation is not only essential to winning the championship, but also in just getting there.

Going forward into the tournament, these three guys must smooth out their performances a little, not counting on one of them to get 20 (Warren had 35 points in the loss to Arkansas), but the three of them getting eight to 10 points and two to four assists apiece per game. Give me three with 10 over one with 35 anytime.

2) Big-man Sub for Blake

One of the big guys (Taylor Griffin, Ryan Wright, Juan Pattillo) must step up and give Blake at least a five minute rest per half, a respite he will need to go far in the tournament. Now, one of these guys doesn't need to step up every game, but at least one of them needs to in each game. They can take turns doing it, which would be a good idea, but it will be crucial that it does happen.

3) Unexpected defenses (1-3-Man)

When they get to the tournament, they are going to get some wild defenses that they haven't either seen before, or much of. Nebraska tried it (Jan. 21, OU 72-NU 61) but didn't have the manpower to pull it off. Arkansas did (Dec. 30, L 88-96). If you take the junk defense that Nebraska ran and a team like Pittsburgh runs it on Oklahoma in the tournament, and OU is not ready, they are toast.

Teams are going to run a 1-3 zone with a man on Blake. The Sooners must pick up these changing defenses right away, or five or 10-point runs will occur, and then it will be an uphill battle to get back in the game.

4) Pressure release for Blake

Not only does Griffin need a blow each half, but while he is on the floor he can use some help. One other player per game, don't care who it is, must have his day in the sun to take the pressure of Blake.

Griffin, like Tyler Hansbrough, has opponents' coaches designing their game plan to attack him. Hansbrough has stepped up both his points and rebounds in the face of opposing teams lining up a target on his jersey, and Griffin has gone even farther in improving his production from last year (points up 7.6 and rebounds up 4.9). But this is the regular season, and when March comes it will be a lot tougher.

In order to get to the final game, at least one other teammate must step up and do something each game to get the other team to notice him, and let Griffin slip off into a shadow for a few minutes (for a nice backdoor-where-did-he-come-from), if that is possible.

5) Toughness via Capel, especially at the point

Capel must be a tough coach, like Billy Donovan at Florida (or as Larry Brown did at Kansas). Capel must come across tough and composed. So far this season he has, but OU has yet to get to the tournament. He must convey this toughness to the players, but most importantly to the point guard.

If I had one player to take off the 1988 team, it would be Mookie; if you removed him from that team, it is doubtful the Sooners get past the first round. All the players are going to have to show some of the Billy Donovan-Scott Skiles-Terry Porter-John Stockton-type toughness, but at that one position, it means the ballgame.

Now, that doesn't mean that they have to score a bunch of points; five good points and five assists will do. But they must take the contact and hit those free throws at the crucial point in the game when it is needed and not back down.

THE BLUEPRINT

All you have to do is look at Florida under Donovan for a blueprint. Great play for the 6'9"/6'10" guys, real toughness at the point, be ready for changing defenses, don't let your star carry the entire load, and all the players on the floor remaining very active and moving their feet.

Now Kansas got to play in Kansas City, so to be equal, OU should get to play the finals in Tulsa, right? So, right there you know it is going to be a tougher fit to get back the final game. I would argue that the entire tournament field will be more level this season, meaning that any team in the top 10 could win it all.

The ability of these freshmen to go to the NBA has changed the game. What if Kansas State still had Michael Beasley this season? Or Texas still had Kevin Durant and D. J. Augustin? Those two guys on the same team with A.J. Abrams and Damion James? Wow.

Capel can be the new Donovan and Griffin can be part of the "Blake and the Miracles" for the 2009 Oklahoma team. (The one thing that OU doesn't want is the following season, 1989, KU was banned from the tournament for recruiting violations of NCAA rules.)

In 1988 OU had Blaylock, Grant, and King, but guys like Milt Newton, Kevin Pritchard, Clint Normore, Keith Harris, and Lincoln Minor made the difference. OU had been leading the nation in scoring with 103 points per, but Kansas (like Florida) set the tempo. Newton had 15 points and hit all six shots from the field, including two three-pointers. You have to have the Newtons to step up if you want to see how sharp your scissors are on twine.

If the three guards, Warren, Johnson, and Crocker, can smooth out their play and jell in a good rotation, and be tough and clutch, there should be no reason that the 2009 Oklahoma team can't be better than the 1988 Kansas Jayhawks.

How about this: Willie Warren and the Wonders!

PS: Talk about depressing—with this economy and Detroit, OU winning the tournament may just be the bright spot of the year.

PPS: Can we also get Sam Bradford and Courtney Paris to play on this team?

California and Ohio Valley are Optimal For Recruiting...Head Coaches?

Don-N-ABQ — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:22:28 -0500

Alright, we all know that if you are a coach at a top program you have to go three places to recruit (outside of your normal area; now you don't have to get all of your players from these three spots, but you had better get some):

1) California

2) Texas

3) FloriGa (Florida+Georgia)

(NOTE: Big Ten teams traditionally had the Big Ten states locked up; PA, OH, MI, IN, IL, WI, MN, IA)

But, what if you are an athletic director and you need a new coach? Where do you go?

There are only two main stops on your recruiting trip:

1) California

2) The Ohio Valley

Now, I did not look at all 119 Division I programs, I looked at:

The top FIVE conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, PAC-10, SEC)

Plus the teams not in those conferences that are in the AP top 35 (Utah, TCU, Cincinnati, BYU, Pittsburgh, Ball State, Boise State, Ball State, East Carolina, West Virginia, Rice, Tulsa, Rutgers).

And I threw in Notre Dame (although I don't know why).

This list is by place of birth and where the coach was rasied.

On those 69 teams:

California has 10 head coaches, or 14.5 percent.

(Dan Hawkins, Rich Brooks, Jeff Tedford, Mike Bellotti, Pete Carroll, Kyle Whittingham, Mike Leach, Steve Sarkisian, Chris Petersen, Paul Wulff)

The Ohio Valley (Ohio, Western West Virgina, Western Pennsylvania, Kentucky) has 19 head coaches, or 27.5 percent.

(OHIO: Gary Pinkel, Urban Meyer, Stan Parrish, Tom O'Brien, Les Miles, Ron Zook, Jim Tressel, Jim Harbaugh, Joe Tiller, Mike Stoops, Bob Stoops, Bo Pelini, & Mark Dantonio*; PA: Dave Wannstedt & Mark Mangino; WV: Nick Saban, Rich Rodriguez, Jim Grobe, & Bill Stewart)

The state of Ohio alone has 13 (18.8 percent)!

What is in the water in the Ohio area that is putting out all of these top coaches? (I would have to give a lot of the credit to the secondary schools and coaching staffs.)

Now, lets just look at the AP top 35:

Ohio Valley has: 10 (28.6 percent; OHIO: Urban Meyer, Bob Stoops, Jim Tressell, Mark Dantonio*, Stan Parrish, Gary Pinkel, & Bo Pelini; WV: Nick Saban & Bill Stewart; PA: Dave Wannstedt)

California: 6 (17.1 percent; Pete Carroll, Kyle Whittingham, Mike Leach, Chris Petersen, Mike Bellotti, & Jim Tedford)

North Carolina: 2 (5.7 percent; Paul Johnson & Frank Beamer)

No other state has two!

Now the names on the Ohio Valley and California lists are considered pretty good coaches too.

One quarter of the Division I coaches come from a small area on the western slopes of the Appalachian and Allegheny Mountains to the Ohio-Indiana border.

Of the coaches born in other places a good number of them either coached in the Ohio Valley area (Ohio, Western West Virgina, Western Pennsylvania, Kentucky), or they mentored under another coach who came to their area from the Valley.

Next, if you start looking at the top assistants at these same schools, you see the same thing, Ohio Valley, California, and North Carolina (Of course a coach like Meyer or Stoops is going to bring in people that they know and have worked with before, or that know another assistant or mentor). Guess we need a new board game: "The Seven Degrees of Separation of Bo Schembechler"...

So, if you are an AD at a top college football program, be sure to vacation in the Ohio Valley soon. Christmas in Cincinnati anyone?

Footnotes:

*Mark Dantonio was born in El Paso but grew up in Zanesville, Ohio

(DISCLAIMER: I have never lived in the Ohio Valley and have no ties to it, just saw a pattern in the top D-1 coaches. A lot of them are either from there, passed through there, or got major guidance from someone from there.)

Troy Trojans Football 1969-1971

Don-N-ABQ — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:46:21 -0500

The 1969 Troy (Ohio) Trojans were a high school team in the rebuilding stage. Lead by undersized sophomores, they were having a terrible season (2-7-1). This was their fourth straight losing season in the Western Ohio League (WOL).

On the last play, of the last game of the season, with the game tied 22-22 against powerful rival Dayton Wayne, a pass was received by 165-pound Randy Walker. He was tackled 18 inches from the end zone.

After the game coach, James "Jim" Conard, ordered the entire team to walk around with a piece of cloth that was 18 inches long, until the start of the 1970 season.

After the season, Walker gave up his first love baseball. He joined the track team to build up his speed and stamina, and started lifting weights-gaining 30 pounds. He reported to fall practice at 195 pounds.

The 18-inch strip of cloth motivated the team, as Conard and Walker did not lose another game the remaining two seasons, going 20-0, and winning back-to-back WOL titles.

In 1971 they outscored opponents, 406-54, out-gained opponents 3,711 yards to 1,267, and punting only 19 times all season. The team and the defense dominated opponents, forcing 31 turnovers, and posting five shutouts (including a 35-0 victory over Wayne).

Three backs would be selected to the All-Western Ohio League team, Gordon Bell, Walker, and Joe Allen. Bell, who rushed for 3,707 yards in three seasons, ran for 1,447 yards (on 198 carries) and scored 19 touchdowns in 1971. He was named first team All-Ohio back-to-back in 1970 and 1971.

Bell could have also been named "Ohio Back of the Year," had he not finish second, to Archie Griffin (Columbus Eastmoor), in both years.

Walker, whose main assignment was to block, rushed for 724 yards, and averaged 14.9 yards per carry. Allen rushed for 544 yards on 67 carries (8.1 YPC).

David Starkey, the heart of the defense was honored as an All-Ohio defensive lineman. Elmo Boyd, a track star who played football in his senior season (1971), finished with 12 catches for 374 yards (31.2 yards-per-catch average) and seven touchdowns.

In 2001, the 1971 team was selected by a panel of Dayton Daily News sports writers as the best Miami Valley prep football team in the last 50 years. Coach Conard retired after the 1971 season to become a principal at Troy Junior High.

20 players from the 1971 Trojans would go on to play college football, 15 of those at the Division I level, and two played in the National Football League (NFL).

Bell starred for the Michigan Wolverines, running for 2,900 yards. He played four seasons in the NFL for the New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals.

Walker started at full back for three seasons for the Miami RedHawks. His team went 32-1-1, winning the Mid-American Conference title all three years. Walker was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals (1976; 13th round).

However, instead of becoming an NFL player he chose to become an assistant football coach (later head coach of both the Miami RedHawks and the Northwestern Wildcats).

Boyd went on to play football at Eastern Kentucky and with the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. Starkey and fullback Allen played for the Florida Gators. In addition, quarterback Al Mayer, played at Marshall.

References:

Naveau, Jim. - "OSU Looks to Keep Winning Streak Against Wildcats". - The Lima News. - October 6, 2001.
Begley, Bill. - "Troy of '71 Set Standard for Area Gridiron Greatness - 20 players from that squad went on to play college football". - Dayton Daily News. - August 24, 2001.
Myslenski, Skip. - "As a High School Player, Randy Walker Once Cost His Team A Victory When He Missed Scoring a Touchdown by 18 Inches". - Chicago Tribune. - December 24, 2000.
Jacoby, Steve. - "Coach Gets 'Quite An Honor' - Sidney resident Jim Conard recognized by Marshall University alumni for efforts". - Dayton Daily News. - October 17, 2002.