This is another of those times of year when several sports collide, providing TV double and triple the opportunity to prove it doesn’t matter — it can butcher games one at a time, seasonally, or all of them in tandem.
Friday on ESPN, I hadn’t yet watched one play from a college basketball game this season when I tuned to the top of Georgetown-Oregon, just as ESPN expert Jay Bilas said the challenge for supersized Josh Smith — who transferred to Georgetown from UCLA — is “he has to stay on the floor.”
Does that mean he gets in foul trouble, gets winded, often leaves games on his own accord, or tends to wander off after he’s told to report in?
And so quickly, seamlessly, one of the most ridiculous, experts-delivered terms to suddenly infest football broadcasts — “the defense has to get off the field” — has made the short, mindless trip to basketball.
Moments later, ESPN analyst Jay Williams (nee Jason Williams, Duke star) told us the question Georgetown needs to answer is: “Will they be able to score the basketball?” Nurse! Sanctuary!
The game was played on a U.S. army base Pyeongtaek, South Korea, part of a Veteran’s Day Weekend salute to our military everywhere. I didn’t connect the connection, either, but Georgetown was the perfect big-trip choice.
As Georgetown students and grads well know, there is no team of student-athletes that can more afford to leave college in the midst of an academic session to make a 15,000-mile, 30-hour round trip to play a ball game along the Pacific Rim than those from Georgetown, where admissions standards are tougher at Costco, good grades much easier than pi and degrees distributed like take-out menus.
So, as always, no one ever has to worry about academic fraud on behalf of basketball at Georgetown.
NFL gets caught in ‘gotcha’ moment
How come we never learn about teams, leagues and corporations’ “zero-percent tolerance policy” until they’re called out on something? Is there no one with, say, a two-percent tolerance policy, you know, just to be on the safe side?
This Richie Incognito/Jonathan Martin tempest has reader Stephen Yellen asking: “Would Roger Goodell have started an investigation if it had been a Native American and he’d been called a ‘blanking Redskin,’ since Goodell claims that Redskin is ‘a tribute’?”
I’m confused. I was raised to never speak the N-word; that it’s among the most bigoted, hateful words. And I raised my kids to feel the same — not that they much heard it 20 years ago. Good. An unconditionally horrible word was near death.
Now? Well, now it’s back, and it seems there’s “a good time” to speak it and “a bad time” to speak it, “a good place” to say it and “a bad place.” And it’s OK for “certain people” to call black people that word, but not for others.
And some people will lose/risk their jobs and reputations for using it — even in condemning its use — while others who use it will grow rich, famous, powerful and nationally admired — admired even by a U.S. president.
Raiders-Giants set a record for most showboating by teams with a combined 5-11 record. And either Giant Terrell Thomas slowed to preen after his third quarter INT — he was tackled from behind at the 5, ruled down before he fumbled — or he’s the NFL’s slowest or most out-of-shape defensive back.
MSG’s Al Trautwig, after the second period of Saturday’s Islanders-Jackets, noted new Isle Thomas Vanek left the game with “ ‘an upper body injury,’ whatever that means.” Yeah, what does that mean? If the stomach’s part of the upper body, mine’s trending lower body.
Man of the Weekend: Nebraska running back Ameer Abdullah, after scoring the late winning TD at Michigan, told ABC/ESPN it took a great block by wide receiver Alonzo Moore. Someone gets it!
Tout of the Week: Mike Francesa went out of his way to unilaterally, authoritatively claim undefeated Oregon, an 11-point favorite, would crush Stanford by at least “three TDs.” You know the rest. Oregon not only didn’t cover, it lost the game and WFAN lost the tape.
Congrats to CBS, which yesterday resisted temptation to give the Raiders’ third-down conversion stats before a third-and-40. Of course, that third-and-40 will still be thrown in with all third-and-1s and third-and-6s.
Memo to ESPN 2 football crew: It’s not that difficult
Accoring tw ESPN2’s Beth Mowins and Joey Galloway, a Penn State football comeback on Saturday depended on it “moving the chains” by “making a play.” And if Minnesota were to hold the lead and kill the clock, its offense needed to “stay on the field.”
And on a fourth-and-9, late and desperate, ESPN’s graphics database, perennially stuffed with stupid, indiscriminate display, told us on this day, Penn State had been “1/1, on 4th down.” Yes, at that moment, ESPN felt it important that we read that, consider it, apply it.
ABC/ESPN sideline reporter Heather Cox got a big break Saturday. With the Irish up against Pitt at the half, she had a good, easy, must-ask question for Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly before he went to the locker room.
Notre Dame star defensive end Stephon Tuitt had been ejected for a “targeting” hit on transient transfer quarterback (Rutgers, Arizona, Pitt) Tom Savage. It was a natural — a tap-in, a layup, a bunny — for Cox to ask Kelly what he thought of that decision (and for ESPN’s producer to remind her).
So Cox stepped up to the plate and asked Kelly if he’s concerned about Notre Dame’s inability to convert third downs. LOL (lost our lunch)! Only after Kelly mentioned defense did Cox bring up Tuitt — sorta — asking, “How do you compensate for his loss?”
Kelly said he’d compensate by replacing him with a substitute.
Also on ESPN, an Auburn kick return for a score against Tennessee was followed by a startling statement from analyst Brian Griese: “People kinda glaze over the importance of special teams …”
Been following football for over 40 years; never knew anyone to have thought that special teams were anything less than important.
Anyway, the best heads-up of the weekend came via email from 16-year-old Joe Liquori. Friday on ESPN, UConn’s 7-foot center from Ghana, Amida Brimah, was taken out against Maryland; he had three points, two rebounds and three blocked shots.
An ESPN graphic quickly noted Brimah has “3 pts, 0 steals.”