November 14, 2006

As I started to write this blog, I realized that I had a multitude of items to write about. There is an NFL recap, the start of the college basketball season, Tiger Woods losing his first golf tournament in months, and fresh hot stove material from baseball. However, after watching SportsCenter, it has become clearly evident that I have to start this blog talking about Bobby Knight.

By now, mostly everyone has seen the video of Knight “slapping” one of his players, Michael Prince, under his chin. I have watched clip after clip and heard analyst after analyst state their opinion on the subject and while I agree with most of their opinions, here is my take on the subject:

Bobby Knight has become like Terrell Owens in the public’s eye, meaning that anything he does will get a reaction. Whether this action is right or wrong is irrelevant, the bottom line is that any questionable action that he does will be scrutinized and talked about endlessly. I also feel that this is much ado about nothing. The kid and his parents found nothing wrong with it so neither should anyone else.

Now back to the rest of the world in sports. Week 10 of the NFL season ended last night as the Carolina Panthers defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-10. The victory moved the Panthers to 5-4 and right back into the playoff hunt. The Panthers have been one of this years most confusing teams. Even in the game last night, the Panthers played very very poorly in the first half and needed a turnover by the Bucs to jump start them in the second half. I think the Panthers have a star WR in Steve Smith, a stud defender in Julius Peppers, and a great coach in John Fox. But for whatever reason, they can’t run the ball and they do not play particularly well in the fourth quarter. For those two reasons primarily, I think the Panthers will make the playoffs but probably lose somewhere around the second round.

From the better late than never files, we have the first start of Jason Campbell this week. Campbell, a 2005 first round draft pick of the Washington Redskins, is taking over a 3-6 team with a lousy defense, and now he gets to show off his arm in Offensive Coordinator Al Saunders’s offense. I think its absolutely crazy that Campbell has not a least played in mop-up duty to make this start a little easier Though that didn’t happen, I think the kid will be ready and play a good game overall.

In baseball news, the Washington Nationals have named Manny Acta their new manager. While I don’t know much about Acta, the few articles I have read about him, have held him in high regard. With a young manager, a new stadium in 2008 and a young budding star (third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, 2006 NL Rookie of the Year Runner Up) the Nationals appear to be moving in the right direction. Well that’s all for now. Until next time, peace.