My Sportsman of the Year

What do you consider to be an athlete? A guy that can hit a ball far? Throw a ball hard or far? The ability to kick a ball? Have the ability to showcase his athleticism? Or do they just have to be showcased on ESPN?

What about sitting?

Wait, what was that? Sitting?

Yes, as in sitting in a car and driving a car in an oval.

Could the “athlete” of the year be the reigning five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winner, Jimmy Johnson?

Now maybe you don’t consider driver’s athletes, or NASCAR even a sport (personally I go back and forth myself on whether it’s a sport). That is fine if you believe that. Shoot even I had a hard time believing who I was picking.

I had full intentions of picking a player like New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees after he led the Saints to their first ever Super Bowl Championship. Maybe the Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant after his second straight title and fifth overall. There was the possibility of Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto, New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano or the St. Louis Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols in baseball.

And don’t forget the ladies. I considered Seattle Storm forward Lauren Jackson, Phoenix Mercury Diana Taurasi, University of Connecticut Maya Moore, fellow driver Danica Patrick and many more other female athletes.

No matter what I did, I just kept coming back to Jimmy Johnson.

The NASCAR season is by far the longest season in any sport, it is grueling and it is dangerous. Johnson continues to prove that he is the best, year in, year out.

If you want to call it a career award, I disagree.

Yes Johnson has won five in a row, but this one might be considered the best. The four other Johnson had the title wrapped up long before the last race. This year, Johnson went into the last race of the year, 14 points out of first. Shoot, Johnson’s pit crew chief, Chad Knaus, decided to switch pit crews with Jeff Gordon’s “team” with two races to go.

You had the feeling he would pull through, but with racing there are so many factors that you can’t completely rely on anything.

He came back and won. He accomplished the feat with a newborn baby. Parents only know how this can affect you.

I am not going to say I am a NASCAR fan, because I'm not. Or that I even know a lot about the sport, because I definitely don’t. But the guy is a machine. All he does is win. He

I would have been more comfortable talking about a guy that could zip a pass into a small window for a receiver; or a guy that could crush a ball out of the bark; even someone with the great athletic abilities of a basketball player. The typical sports are the easiest to talk about and most notable.

But this isn’t about what I am comfortable with. This is about who was the best in the sports world. Now if you can’t bring yourself to say a guy that came from behind to win it all again isn’t the best in sports, that’s up to you. But it sure is hard to argue that Jimmy Johnson doesn’t at least belong in the conversation.

The U after ESPN commentator?

After producing a record of only 7–5 in 2010, Miami(Fl.) fired head coach Randy Shannon after four years at the helm.

Only a couple of years ago, the recruiting classes that Shannon had brought to the program were being hailed as one of the best in the nation. They were expected to be in the national championship hunt this year.

Expectations were even higher after the team went 9–3 last year. They were even ranked as high as No. 10 in the nation at the beginning of this season. Then it all fell apart.

The first two loses were deemed okay due to them being against Ohio State and Florida State; both were ranked high and are considered to be two of the best in the nation.

Even the next two loses could be considered okay. Their lose to Virginia was devastating, but their starting QB was injured and were forced to play a true freshman in his place. Their fourth lose was to the extremely hot Virginia Tech Hokies, who eventually won the conference title.

What finally took the cake was the season finale lose on senior day to South Florida. This wasn’t the USF of the past few years who has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation. This was the USF who no longer had Jim Leavitt as their head coach and no longer had his talented recruits. USF even has a walk on freshman starting at QB.

This was the final straw. Shannon had to be fired.

Immediately.

On Sunday, Shannon was told that he was let go.

Hurricanes fans rejoice.

Shannon was a decent recruiter but he just didn’t seem to be the typical “Canes” coach. He wasn’t fiery and at times seemed like a fish out of water on the sideline.

So what is next for the Hurricanes?

Miami has said they want a coach that “we will focus on bringing in an individual who will lead us back to national relevance.” The tradition of the ‘Canes as a national powerhouse also makes the statement obvious, “Simply stated: winning is important at the University of Miami. Always has been, always will be.”

This means that Miami wants a high profile coach that can bring them back to national prominence. The supposed top five options are very interesting.

There are rumors of possibly stealing Miami alum Mark Richt from the University of Georgia. He denies the rumors, but we have seen people back out of the denial and jump on the opportunity. It might even be a smart move with talk of the Bulldogs moronically firing Richt.

There is also some speculation that Miami could lure TCU head coach Gary Patterson away from the horned Frogs. He has brought that program back from the depths of college jokes, and into the light of nation.

Supposedly had Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano known that Butch Davis was going to leave Miami a decade ago, he would have stayed and gotten the job back then. Schiano’s improvement of the Scarlet Knights cannot be understated. Before Schiano, Rutgers made the Duke Blue Devils look like powerhouses.

Interesting enough, Boise State’s Chris Peterson could be sought out as the ‘Canes next coach. He has a record of 59–5 in his time with the Broncos. He took over a program that was already really good, but he has taken them to a whole other level. Imagine what Peterson could do with a true national title contender.

Possibly the most intriguing rumor of coach is former Super Bowl winning and current ESPN Monday Night Football commentator Jon Gruden. He obviously might prefer an actual National Football League job, but just imagine the three coaches in Florida consisting of Gruden, Urban Meyer and Jimbo Fisher. The recruiting wars alone would be epic.

There were even reports of Gruden agreeing to a deal that would pay him more than $3 million a year. The reports were false, as of right now at least, but this could be extremely interesting.

No matter who the Hurricanes chose, we know a couple of things: the coach will be high profile, will be expected to win right away, and a new era in “The U” will begin.

NFL Headlines for week 11

This week the NFL had more surprises than typical and that didn’t even include the typical Turkey Day festivities.

The Long Awaited Return

San Diego Chargers Wide Receiver Vincent Jackson played in his first game of the season. Well if you can call it that. Jackson played The Bolts first series against the Colts (three plays), then hurt is calf and was out of the game. So much for the Prodigal Son returning.

Jackson has been out all season due to a contract dispute and then a league mandated suspension due to a DUI from earlier in the year. All week there were reports about how he looked like he hadn’t missed a beat and looked great. Then he hurt his calf.

This proves that you actually need to do the work before you play the game, Jackson.

Childress Out

The long awaited firing of Minnesota Vikings head coach finally happened when owner Zygi Wolf announced he had let the coach go. Childress had lost the locker room a long time ago, while appearing to be incompetent of the job.

In his place, Wolf promoted Defensive Coordinator Leslie Frazier to interim head coach. It could be thought that Frazier deserved the head coaching job in the first place over Childress. But Frazier waited his turn, and waited, and waited. Finally his loyalty earned him the promotion to head honcho.

In his debut game, Frazier led the Vikings to a victory over the Washington Redskins. Maybe, just maybe, Frazier has a little Jason Garrett in him. If Frazier can pull out a couple wins, he might get the interim tag removed and actually be head coach next year, as he so truly deserves.

Spygate 2.0

Remember when the New England Patriots were caught taping the New York Jets practicing? The whole “Spygate” incident a few years back. We all thought we were passed the ridiculous situation until “New England West,” I mean the Denver Broncos, were caught doing the same exact thing against the San Francisco 49ers.

The head coach, Josh McDaniels, was a coordinator on the Patriots when it happened, and the sad thing? Steve Scarnecchia, the video operations director, was the person who did it for the Broncos was the same exact guy that did it for the Pats!

McDaniels is denying seeing it. The club and McDaniels were both fined $50,000. But how does Scarnecchia still keep getting jobs?

The Emergence of Bowe

Among the elite receivers, you typically say names like Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald and Brandon Marshall. Now you can add another name to that list.

Dwayne Bowe.

Bowe this season already has 58 receptions (14th most in the league) for 885 yards (fifth most in the league) and an NFL leading 14 touchdowns.

Bowe is leading in the touchdown category by three. Behind him is the aforementioned Calvin Johnson with 11 TDs and the next closest is five others with nine. To put that even more into context, Bowe has 13 of those in the last seven weeks.

In the past three weeks (currently on a two game win streak) Bowe has 32 receptions for 465 yards and seven TDs.

Bowe joined Jerry Rice and Jimmy Smith as the only three receivers since 1990 to have at least 13 catches, 170 yards and 3 TDs in a single game with his performance on Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.

What is possibly one of the reasons for Bowe’s breakout season? He actually came to camp in shape this year, for the first time in his four year career.

With all of those numbers we now have to consider Bowe among the league’s best receivers.

Finnegan gets what he had coming to him

Tennessee Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan is one of the league’s best, while also being known as one of its dirtiest players.

There has been a devious history among Finnegan and Houston Texans WR Andre Johnson. This Sunday, Johnson had enough. Johnson and got into a scrum that can only be called violent. Ironic since it is a violent sport, but this was truly insane.

The fight lasted only 10 to 15 seconds, but both players’ helmets were ripped off, punches were thrown, and both sidelines came onto the field. Both players were ejected from the game.

In the end, I pronounce Johnson the winner. Finnegan got what he deserved and Johnson finally had had enough of Finnegan’s nonsense.

Say what you want about the fight and violence, but this was the second straight week an incident occurred were “punches” were thrown. Last week in the Raiders vs. Steelers game, Raiders veteran defensive lineman Richard Seymour was ejected for “open–hand” punching Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

I hope it doesn’t become a trend.

Do the Heat suck?

Are the Miami Heat even good?

Coming into the 2010–2011 season for the National Basketball Association, the most hyped team was not one of the two teams that had reached the NBA Finals the year before.

Nope, not the two most complete teams in the entire league.

Not the two time defending champion, who had been there the past three years. Not the team that has been to two of the last three and won it all three years ago.

The two teams I am talking about are obviously the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.

They are by far the best in the league, yet they were overshadowed in the offseason by one team that had been blown up and rebuilt within a few weeks.

That team would be the Miami Heat. At one point in the offseason, the Heat only had two players on their roster, Point Guard Mario Chalmers and Forward Michael Beasley. And even Beasley was soon shipped out of town.

So with technically one player left on the roster (Beasley was going to be shipped out regardless of who the Heat signed), Pat Riley and the Miami Heat re-signed Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. That was already the beginning of a team that was believed that could compete for a title.

Then there was the decision.

The most ridiculous one hour special where former Cleveland Cavalier Small Forward LeBron James announced on national television he was going to “take my talents to South Beach.” He proved that he is one of the most egotistical athletes ever.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t that he did it for the Boys and Girls Club (what a joke of an excuse); the main problem with the situation was the fact that James did not let the Cavs know ahead of time. They had to find out with the rest of the world. His “hometown team” and employer for the past seven years, weren’t given the courtesy of a simple heads up and thanks for the opportunity.

I digress.

With three superstars, this team was hyped up to such proportions, that former NBA head coach Jeff Van Gundy said that the Heat could beat the 72–10 record of the 1995–1996 Chicago Bulls (though it has been thought to be a jab at the Heat for forcing his brother Stan to resign as head coach back in 2007).

So far this season, the Miami Heat are 9–8 and third in the Southeast division and fifth in the Eastern conference. Looks like expectations were a little high.

Despite having obvious reason to believe they aren’t that good, to this day it is breaking news on ESPN that the Heat have lost another game. Like its some big surprise.

Unbelievable.

So what is wrong with the Heat?

Could it be the trio of James, Wade and Bosh killed the team’s chances?

Yes I said it. Did the new big three of the NBA in fact kill the Heat’s chances of being good for at least the next near future? Also, has their enormous egos prevented them from playing up to their own abilities?

Yes they have three of the best players in the NBA (or so be thought about Bosh), but their salaries are so exuberant that they were only able to sign one other player that could be in the rotation among the Celtics and Lakers. That player would be Mike Miller.

And the interesting thing about Miller, where is he going to play when he comes back from an injury? He is a SF or Shooting Guard. Those are the positions James and Wade play. So where does Miller exactly fit in? Maybe that signing wasn’t exactly thought out very well.

So after the acquisitions of James, Miller and Bosh and the re–signing of Wade, what else did the Heat do? They signed a bunch of nobody’s, has–been’s and never–were’s.

The lack of a point guard and a C that is big and willing to do the “dirty work” for Bosh has crushed the Heat.

They have experimented with LeBron playing the PG or Point Forward; roles like Scottie Pippen or even the Magic Johnson, a big tall player who feed the ball to teammates and could score on his own. He has frowned upon the idea, and his play has shown it.

The Heat recently signed Eric Dampier after weeks of speculation that he was going join, but he has injury concerns and now has a guaranteed contract. Will he be good enough that their only lacking piece would be a point guard?

The best case scenario for the Heat is for LeBron to embrace the Point, Wade at SG, Miller at SF, Bosh at PF and Dampier healthy at the C.

It might not what be what they have planned, but until they can get better bench players a new PG and C, this is their best chance to win. Sure Miller starting would take away from bench scoring, but who else is going to start at PG or SF?

Carlos Arroyo or James Jones? That has obviously proved to be the losing combination.

Some people have started to blame the head coach (most prominently the ego named LeBron), Erik Spoelstra. This is a hilarious insight. Sure he is young, and might not be able to handle the egos.

But who is going to save the day? Pat Riley? Maybe he even believes the Heat are too far past gone. And if they were to fail, who is his scapegoat?

It appears for now that the Heat might just be stuck. They don’t have the assets to acquire another all-star, and there are no viable free agents out there that could truly upgrade their roster.

But this much is for sure, it appears that we got too far ahead of ourselves, well at least ESPN did.

Just look on their bottom line when the Heat lose, again.