Author: Andrew Rosenberg

USC Athletic Director Pat Haden must not sleep very well lately.  His highest paid employee, Lane Kiffin, is underachieving and bringing the spotlight back on a football program for all the wrong reasons, once again. USC football was in the news today and unfortunately it had nothing to do with their game vs. Arizona State this weekend.   A student manager for the football team decided to deflate some game balls below the NCAA regulations during the first half of the Trojan’s embarrassing loss to Oregon last weekend.  I’m not really sure the physics behind such a tactic, but it was presumably done to help USC, as a deflated ball is softer and easier to catch.  The whole idea sounds ridiculous and it clearly didn’t help out USC.  Someone forgot to tell this team manager Oregon’s Kenjon Barner loves soft footballs. Who does a team student manager work for?  I’m going to go out on a limb and say, the head coach, Lane Kiffin.  Lane Kiffin is a smarmy, arrogant brat that was handed the keys to a Ferrari before he even passed his driver’s test.  (Man that felt therapeutic to say) USC is trying to rebrand its football program after getting the hammer dropped on them from the NCAA.  Hiring A.D. Pat Haden was a terrific step in the right direction; however, allowing Lane Kiffin to continue to run this football program is proving to be a big mistake.  Experience-wise, he isn’t prepared to handle a job of this magnitude.  Lane Kiffin should be earning his stripes at a program like Fresno State.  Personality-wise, I get the sense Lane Kiffin has no presence or command of a locker room.  Have you ever heard him in an interview?  He kind of mumbles as he talks.  He doesn’t strike me as someone that can demand respect from 18 – 22 year olds.  Not yet anyway.  And his game day coaching has come into question this season as well. So what’s Lane good at that may allow him to keep a job for another season?  Recruiting.  What’s recruiting?  Recruiting is salesmanship, ‘bullshitting’ for lack of a better term.  Lane Kiffin excels in this area.  Lane Kiffin has no problem sitting in the living room of a 17 year kid, along with his parents, and telling him how great USC will be for his career.  Lane gets kids to sign on the dotted line, yet, once they put on that uniform, all bets are off.  It’s kind of like buying a used car.  You have some slick talker convince you this is the right ride for you.  You sign the papers, but once you get behind the wheel, all bets are off. Pat Haden is trying to repair a damaged football program; however, it seems like every other week it’s 2 steps forward, 5 steps back.  Lane Kiffin is not liked by, well, anybody.  It used to be, “well, at least the Trojan family supports him.”  Not anymore.  The alumni are growing restless.  The Trojans are the most disappointing team of the college football season.  From preseason #1 to #21 in the polls.  That’s not easy to do, particularly for a team loaded with high school All Americans and future NFL talent. So how do you fix the image of a football program when the leader has a terrible reputation?  That’s what Pat Haden has to ask himself.  That’s probably why he has a lot of sleepless nights of late.  Do you fire a bad character guy who is an average coach, but a strong recruiter?  I say yes.  USC is still a top10 coaching job in the country, some may say Top5.  It’s not like you will need to post the head coaching job on Monster.com to get some interest.  If you fire Kiffin, there will be half a dozen quality coaches out there that would make sense for USC.  Jon Gruden comes to mind right off the top.  Charlie Strong at Louisville has done a terrific job.  Jeff Fisher is always a logical candidate if the school wants to keep it in the Trojan family. Bottom line is Pat Haden needs to hit the “restart” button.  USC will continue to be the program people love to hate as long as Kiffin is there.  Sure, it can be fun being the villain when you are winning (see Nick Saban).  But when you are losing and people hate you, it makes you want to crawl under a rock. If I’m Pat Haden, I wait for Lane Kiffin to get under that rock, and stomp on it.   Disclosure: I am a U.S.C. alum, class of 1993.  Follow me on Twitter: @kidcue

So I just read a recent column by a fairly respected college football writer, Tony Barnhart at CBSSports.com.  He went on and on in horrifying fashion about the possibility of a BCS National Title game without an SEC team in it. Tony asks with a straight face – might a 12-1 Alabama team be left out of the BCS National Championship game if Oregon and West Virginia go undefeated this season.  The fact that we have to even ask this question, disgusts me.  OF COURSE THEY DON’T GET TO PLAY IN THE TITLE GAME IF THEY LOST A GAME.  Last I checked, Oregon and West Virginia play in BCS conferences called the Pac12 and Big12.  They aren’t sleepwalking through the MAAC. If a 1-loss SEC school gets to play in the BCS Title game over an undefeated team in a BCS conference, then they might as well re-write the entire rule book for college football.  The first line should just read: the national championship will feature an SEC school versus someone else every year.  I know, in some respects, they did decide to re-write the rule book by having a 4-team playoff.  Of course the SEC balked at the idea of having a rule that said, ‘you must win your conference championship to qualify’, with the hopes of getting multiple teams from their conference in the final four. The reality is someone needs to pop the SEC in the mouth in a national championship game in front of a national audience.  This conference will continue to have every unfair advantage to get their teams in position to make it into that 4-team playoff until someone says otherwise.  It all starts before the college football season begins when voters throw as many SEC teams into the preseason polls as possible, well, just because. Don’t get me wrong, Alabama has earned the accolades.  Nick Saban has that program running on all cylinders.  However, the rest of the conference needs to earn it.  LSU this year, let’s be honest, unimpressive on offense once again.  Auburn, they are proving their national title with Cam Newton was nothing more than catching lightening in a bottle.  Arkansas is a complete mess.  Georgia had their annual let down early this year.  They typically wait until their game vs. Florida to blow their season.  Anybody remember way back when Tennessee was good?  I won’t mention the cupcakes in the conference (Ole Miss, Kentucky, Vandy, Miss State – yeah yeah a cute story this year) Bottom line is this – the SEC has the trophy.  They’ve kept it for quite some time.  That doesn’t mean someone has to take it from them.  This isn’t boxing (or wrestling).  If two non-SEC schools go undefeated and the SEC teams don’t – tough luck…you may have to give up the crystal ball this year.  I wonder if people in the South would even watch a BCS title game between Oregon and West Virginia.  All that scoring might make their eyes bleed. This is all speculation.  My guess is Alabama won’t lose a game during the regular season – if for the simple fact their schedule has turned to puddy.  The SEC West stinks.  They are basically sitting around waiting to see who their opponent will be at the Georgia Dome for the SEC title game.  South Carolina or Florida?  If the team from the SEC East comes into that game with 1-loss already and they beat an undefeated Alabama – while Oregon and West Virginia finish their perfect season…..let the whining begin. Follow me on Twitter: @kidcue

Atlanta is often called ‘the city too busy to hate’.  That may be true in some respects, but a more fitting slogan might be, ‘the city too cynical to believe.’  Sports franchises are a reflection of a town.  Non-sports fans may think that notion is ridiculous but, if you spend enough time in one place (10 years is probably a fair number), you’ll start to notice the personality of a city and its people go hand in hand. I’ve lived in Atlanta for 16 years.  I moved here in 1996, one year removed from this city’s first and last pro championship.  Roughly 150 seasons played by the pro teams in Atlanta have yielded one parade down Peachtree Street. They say the constant rain in Seattle has made its citizens depressed year round, well, the losing in Atlanta has cast a cloud of melancholy over this city.  For those of you not clear what melancholy is, well Webster’s Dictionary defines ‘melancholy’ as a gloomy state of mind, especially when habitual or prolonged.  Pro sports started in Atlanta back in 1966.  I’d say that qualifies as “prolonged”. I’m not going to bore you with the litany of Braves losses at Turner Field in the playoffs, or document the Hawks failure to ever win a 2nd round playoff series.  Instead, I want to focus on the one franchise that has the ability to break the spell over this city – the Atlanta Falcons. This city needs you in the worst way.  Off to their best start in franchise history, the Atlanta Falcons are creating something this city is not used to experiencing – genuine belief.  Ahhh, but lest we forget, this is the city too cynical to believe right?  Maybe not.  Something just feels different with this group.  From owner Arthur Blank down to left tackle Sam Baker, the pieces seem to be falling into place this season.  The Falcons have won games on defense.  They’ve won games on the foot of Matt Bryant and the hands of Roddy White.  There is a swagger and confidence from Matt Ryan that he’s the best player on the field every single snap. The division has conveniently fallen apart for the Falcons.  The two teams in the NFC with high octane offenses have struggled, in New Orleans and Green Bay.  Their greatest threat out West is the San Francisco 49ers and thankfully their division looks to be more formidable then we all expected.  I know, it’s early and we aren’t even halfway through the schedule.  However, if you look at the Falcons remaining schedule, where are the speed bumps?  If you tell me their toughest road games left are in Philly and New Orleans, I’ll take it. Look, lord knows this Falcons team has had their fair share of playoff stinkers of late.  I say enough is enough.  This is the team to break the spell.  This is the time.  Why not now?  Is it that tough to close our eyes and imagine a parade down Peachtree Street with Matt Ryan waving to the crowd sitting atop a convertible?  No more cynical.  No more melancholy.  Atlanta, the city home to Super Bowl Champion Atlanta Falcons.  Now that’s a slogan I can get behind. Follow me on Twitter: @kidcue

The Dallas Cowboys are now in the business of babysitting and the more I think about it, I don’t have a problem with it. Their young star wide receiver Dez Bryant has had his share of problems staying out of trouble. He was arrested in July for the alleged assault of his mother, reportedly got into a fight with Lil Wayne at a Miami nightclub last January, and has been sued by various creditors for running up thousands of dollars in bills on game tickets and jewelry. That’s a pretty busy 9 months. Here we are one week from the kick off of the NFL season and the Dallas Cowboys (well, Jerry Jones) have decided if Dez is going to screw up it’s not going to happen on their watch. The Cowboys have created a ‘support system’ (that’s putting it kindly) with a strict set of guidelines, which in theory should keep Dez Bryant out of trouble this season. Bryant will have a full time security team (not guard…team), he will attend weekly counseling sessions, and not be allowed to drink alcohol or visit strip clubs. Sounds like the life of most married men right? At first blush, this sounds ridiculous, however, the more I think about it, I don’t blame the Dallas Cowboys for taking this approach. Let’s not forget, NFL teams are run like a business. The players are the assets. It’s in the best interest of Jerry Jones to protect his assets by any means necessary, especially the really good ones. Keeping Dez Bryant out of trouble means keeping Dez Bryant on the field, which means winning games on Sunday. I understand the concept of self-accountability, but let’s be honest, there are some guys who just don’t get it and need a support system around them to stay clean. So what was the Cowboys inspiration for developing this plan for Dez? I can only speak as someone that has lived in Atlanta for the past 16 years. Here you need to look no further than the pro football franchise to understand how bad things can get if you don’t create a support system around a star athlete. The Atlanta Falcons have actually been through this twice: first with a young hot shot rookie named Brett Favre and of course most recently with Mike Vick. Each had their own off the field issues. For Favre it was the partying and drinking in the Buckhead bars whenever he wasn’t required to be on the football field. With Mike Vick it was sneaking away to Virginia to run Bad Newz Kennels, where he bred and fought pit bulls. Both players were eventually run out of town. Although being sent to Green Bay is a little bit different then Leavenworth Prison….so I’ve heard anyway. Imagine if the Falcons had implemented the same strategy the Dallas Cowboys did with Favre or Vick. Could it have changed the fate of a franchise? Would Brett Favre have been the Atlanta Falcons quarterback for the last 2 decades? Perhaps. What about Mike Vick? Might he still be sporting the red and black? It’s too hard to say. Everybody reacts differently to structure and discipline. For some, it’s a necessary evil on a personal path to change. For others it makes them want to rebel even more. We’ll never know how this type of program the Cowboys have created would have worked in Atlanta. There is no guarantee it works on Dez Bryant. The Cowboys are typically under extra scrutiny every season, so if this program does works, other franchises might take notice. Grown men with babysitters. How ‘bout them Cowboys! Follow me on Twitter: @kidcue

Think about the last time you screwed up at your profession. Made a mistake in the office that you regret. For 99% of us, we get to tell ourselves, “tomorrow is a new day.” For the other 1%, tomorrow is in another 4 years. Welcome to the unique world of Olympic athletes. Revenge, redemption, and 2nd chances can often seem like a lifetime away. For Americans like track star Allyson Felix, who went home with the silver medal 4 years ago in Beijing, it had to have been a painstaking long time for her moment at redemption. It all came down to 21 seconds. Waiting 4 years to re-run a 21 second race to make things right. I can’t even fathom that concept. It almost sounds like a prison inmate that appears in front of a parole board. You get one moment to shine and if you screw it up, it’s “come back in another 4 years and let’s see how you do then….” How about Felix Sanchez, the Dominican Republic athlete who won gold in the 400M hurdles? Four years ago in Beijing he not only failed to earn a gold medal, but his grandmother passed away during those games. Sanchez waited 4 years to make her proud and at 35 years old he delivered the gold and broke down in tears after the race and on the medal stand. His tears of joy and sadness were no doubt triggered by a reflection of his journey. A journey to London that Sanchez no doubt started the minute he came up short in Beijing 4 years ago. Imagine if after LeBron James and the Miami Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks in 2011, NBA commissioner David Stern declared, “The next NBA Finals won’t be until 2015. See you then everybody!” Olympic athletes don’t get their NBA Finals or Super Bowl but every four years. However, when they do come around, failure can happen fast. The Olympic Games aren’t an 8 month long event. For many of these athletes, it can be over after one race, one routine on the beam, five dives. First timers like American gymnast John Orozco, who failed to medal in any event, now must get back in line to play the waiting game, counting the days until the next Olympic Games in 2016. There must be some level of guilt many of these young athletes experience when they don’t come home with a medal. Not guilt for letting down their country, but rather a sense of sorrow for the sacrifices their parents made to allow them to pursue their dreams. Orozco’s father worked for the NYC Department of Sanitation for 24 years until he was forced to retire after suffering a stroke. His mother, a homemaker, drove him to and from practices 30 miles away every day, all so John could pursue his dream of one day winning an Olympic medal. Orozco’s ultimate goal is to become a champion and use his success to improve his family’s quality of life. Now he must wait another 4 years. Yet you get the sense athletes like John Orozco are wired differently. Most Olympic athletes are. After all, they chose practice and training over ‘being a kid’. The majority of their childhood is spent with coaches in gymnasiums, on a track or in a swimming pool. There is a unique drive that burns inside each of them. It’s a drive that knows how to turn failure into motivation. That motivation requires a lot of patience because for them, tomorrow is four years away. Follow me on Twitter: @kidcue

The best thing to happen to the NFL this season will be for Tim Tebow to suck.  (Insert sound of lightning bolt here).  Yeah, I said it.  We are only a week into NFL training camps and if you have been watching ESPN, you would think the NY Jets are the only team that had players show up.  Since the overhyped, under skilled Tim Tebow was traded to the #1 media market in America, we have been subjected to round the clock coverage of the NY Jets on SportsCenter, First Take on ESPN2, Around the Horn debate etc.  No truth to the rumor that Discovery Channel is cancelling Shark Week this summer in favor of Jets training camp coverage.  ESPN is pitting these two quarterbacks on the Jets against each other like it’s Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.  A nation is divided! Think about it. We are subjected to over the top coverage and analysis of a back-up quarterback to a fairly pedestrian starting quarterback.  The Jets starting quarterback, Mark Sanchez, has the unfortunate task of being ‘the guy’ who is preventing America from experiencing the euphoria of Tebowmania.  How dare he!  For every waking hour over the next 5 months, Mark Sanchez will be under a microscope, with many around the league hoping and praying he screws up.  Remember, the Jets fan base consists of grown men who paint their face and consider booing a draft pick as much a yearly tradition as Thanksgiving.  Mark Sanchez will enter every game each week with the pressure to not blow it.  In a normal NFL environment, starting quarterbacks get to work through some of their mistakes as a season goes along.  That’s not the case when you have a God-like figure standing in your shadows.  So how does Mark Sanchez (and America) survive this?  It’s real simple: when given his chance, Tim Tebow must suck.  It’s that simple.  All this analysis on ESPN about Sanchez or Tebow: will Tebow motivate Sanchez?  Does Sanchez feel the pressure?  Does Tebow expect to be the starter?  Why does Tebow have his shirt off?  Now that Tebow is on the Jets do they still need the team priest?  All of these questions go away if Tim Tebow comes into a regular season game and stinks it up.  All the talk has been about what happens if Mark Sanchez has a bad game or an awful first half of a game?  Well, why is it a guarantee that if Tim Tebow comes in, he plays out of his mind?  Who is to say that Tebow doesn’t get in there and start throwing his bounce passes into the ground?  What happens if Tebow tries his cute little quarterback sneaks and gets stuffed for a loss?  Throws a pass high out of bounds?  Goes an entire game without any blood on his face?  Imagine the horror!?  Contrary to what you might believe while in church on Sunday, Tim Tebow just might not be the Jets savior every single time he comes into a game.  If that is the case, then what do the Jets do?  Cue Greg McElroy?  Smart guy, not an NFL quarterback.  So, now you have a starting quarterback with a fragile psyche to begin with, upset about being pulled and a backup quarterback that you realize isn’t exactly taking command of the offense.  The big question is: was what we saw in Denver last year nothing more than a team catching lightening in a bottle or signs that Tebow is improving as a player?  John Elway didn’t want to wait around and find out.  Jets fans, it’s now your dilemma.  Just be careful what you wish for.

Since free agency began this summer in the NBA on July 1st, most of the attention has been on a handful of teams: The New York Knicks, the Brooklyn Nets, the Los Angeles Lakers & Clippers, the Miami Heat, and the Boston Celtics. Big cities, in big TV markets on the coastlines of America…welcome to the new NBA. Small market, Middle America: you have pretty much been relegated to the role of the Washington Generals for the aforementioned teams. Back in 2010, NBA commissioner David Stern brought up the ‘C’ word – Contraction. It’s a word that makes small market fans like myself shiver (I grew up in Milwaukee and continue to root for the Bucks). Commissioner Stern said all last summer that he didn’t want to talk about contraction again until the new collective bargaining agreement was finalized. If you look closely in the new CBA agreement, it states the league reserves the right to contract (reduce the number of teams in the league) if necessary. The league needs to provide the players association with written notice of any decision to contract, and the two sides will negotiate to agree on the effects of contraction on the players and the procedures to be followed. While the players will certainly be against contraction for the simple reason that fewer teams means few jobs, however, the superstars in this league aren’t helping that cause. Look at free agency over the past couple summers, where are all the stars landing? Miami, Boston, New York/Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Heck, the Clippers have even become a hotbed of late with players choosing to sign there over the Lakers. Funny, you never hear free agents talking about forming their own big three in Minnesota or Sacramento. Memphis anyone? Even the city I currently live in today, Atlanta, has a tough time staying on the map of relevancy. Joe Johnson took a leap of faith and came to this city years ago. The flood gates weren’t exactly blown open with other free agents clamoring to follow.  Players today, for whatever reason, not only want to win, but want to win on the big stage. There is something sexier about winning a championship for the city of Los Angeles or Boston. A parade in South Beach sounds more exotic then one down South Tryon Street (downtown Charlotte reference). The bigger the city, the greater the notoriety. It applies to other careers across the board. The morning drive disc jockey in Sacramento probably wants to land a gig doing morning drive at KIIS-FM in Los Angeles. The weather man in New Orleans probably wouldn’t turn down a job Miami. Bigger is better and the NBA and commissioner Stern better pay attention, because his employees are definitely practicing that mantra. The tough question is which fan base gets screwed? Does the NBA ask teams in markets 20 through 30 to disclose their P&L (Profit & Loss) statement? Should it be based on attendance? Compare revenue from season tickets and corporate suites and sponsorship? Bottom line is while contraction might be an evil word in pro sports, there comes a time when it might just be necessary. ‘Trimming the fat’ is an expression often used in corporate America. You know when you read about companies like Best Buy announcing they are closing 50 stores across the country? That’s called contraction. The NBA can’t continue to have under-performing franchises. It’s bad for their overall business model. If the star players continue to migrate to the major markets, we might be looking at a much different NBA very soon. Follow me on Twitter: @kidcue