“DJ Gallo's Varsity Tailgate, Week 2 - ESPN.com” plus 4 more |
- DJ Gallo's Varsity Tailgate, Week 2 - ESPN.com
- Amid NCAA questions, Majok plugs away - ESPN.com
- Mischa Barton's Meltdown in Full 'View' - ABC News
- Bells toll for Flight 93 victims at Pennsylvania crash site - San Jose Mercury News
- Minn. Gov. on Health Care; 2012 Run? - FOX News
| DJ Gallo's Varsity Tailgate, Week 2 - ESPN.com Posted: 11 Sep 2009 10:40 AM PDT College Football: Take Your PickVIDEO PLAYLIST
Week 2 of the college football season is upon us. So it's time again for Page 2's new weekly feature, Varsity Tailgate. Try to pace yourself.
Game of the WeekNo. 3 USC at No. 8 Ohio State -- 8 p.m. ET on ESPN Everyone knows how bad Ohio State has been in big nonconference games in recent years. Yet, when asked about the perception that the Buckeyes struggle in big games, coach Jim Tressel had this to say: "It's fair, because it's a fact." Ohhhhhhhhh umm, self-snap? Perhaps this almost shocking level of reason and self-awareness from Tressel is his flaw as a coach. How does this characteristic manifest itself in a pregame speech? "Gentlemen, this is a BIG GAME! THE GAME OF YOUR LIVES! Let's go out there and give it our ALL! Of course, if you don't win, your friends and family still will love you, and you will retain your scholarship, which is really the most important thing, as education is imperative to success in life. Now let's take the field!"
One More Game of the WeekNo. 18 Notre Dame at Michigan -- 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC You know you'll watch. It doesn't matter how bad these teams might or might not be. It's Notre Dame-Michigan. You'll watch. Their potential badness is part of the reason you'll watch. And the name of the feeling you'll have inside? It's "hathos." I find hathos pairs nicely with chips and dip. Cupcake of the WeekTroy: Coming off a 31-14 opening-week loss at Bowling Green -- yes, Bowling Green -- Troy now has to travel to Gainesville to face No. 1 Florida. The only previous time Troy met Florida, in 2007, the Gators took a 49-7 lead into the half and went on to win 59-31. What else do I know about Troy? Let's see Troy is a university in Alabama and not that kid named Troy you kind of knew in high school. But chances are Florida is unaware of this fact. I doubt the Gators would have scheduled Troy had they known it was more than just one guy. Multiple opponents? Eleven at a time? What? That's too tough of a nonconference game. Cupcake Recipe of the WeekSound delicious. By the way, did you know that gorging on sugary desserts is a common coping mechanism for emotional pain? Unfortunately, sugary desserts do nothing for physical pain. So maybe Troy should eat half the cupcakes at halftime to try to forget the score. Then freeze the rest of the cupcakes to hold against the players' bruises after the game. Heisman Candidate in the CrosshairsJimmy Clausen, QB, Notre Dame: Don't pretend it's not happening. Sam Bradford's Heisman campaign is over, so the field has opened a bit. And when you lead the nation with a 303.67 passer rating and, more importantly, are the quarterback at Notre Dame, you become a Heisman contender. If Clausen beats Michigan this week, his candidacy will be in full bloom. Then maybe if he wins the Heisman he can mount it on one of his snazzy rings. Tim Tebow Fact of the WeekAsked in the current issue of ESPN The Magazine whether there is anything bad about him, Tebow had this to say: "I crack my knuckles a lot." So there you have it. Tebow has a flaw. He is a knuckle cracker. As we all know, cracking your knuckles leads to arthritis, and -- wait? What's this? Cracking your knuckles isn't bad for you at all?! Whew! Tebow is still perfect. The world is saved. Mascot Fact of the WeekUSC's horse mascot, Traveler, attends only home games. Makes sense. Tailgate Tip of the WeekBring along a sweatshirt We now are into mid-September. Temperatures can get chilly in the late afternoon and evening. You might think you won't wear a sweatshirt now. You're right. You probably won't. But when you're passed out on the ground, your kinder friends will use your sweatshirt to cover you up. No reason to have a hangover and a cold, right? Quote of the Week"Not everybody's the perfect person in the world. I mean, everyone kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me, whatever. I think that people need a second chance, and I've always looked up to Mike Vick, and I always will." -- Terrelle Pryor, QB, Ohio State An example of a young man just garbling his point when asked about his opinion at a news conference? Probably. Or is it an example of a football genius psyching out his upcoming opponent? Hmm. I know if I were a USC football player, I probably wouldn't want to stick my nose in a pileup with the "everyone kills people" guy. Stat of the Week3-0: That is the Colonial Athletic Association's record so far this season against Football Bowl Subdivision teams. Last week, William and Mary beat Virginia, Richmond beat Duke and Villanova topped Temple. On Saturday, New Hampshire plays Ball State and James Madison, ranked No. 6 in the Football Championship Subdivision, faces 0-1 Maryland. If the Dukes win, the CAA would run its record to 3-0 this year against its geographical neighbors, the ACC. So the question may not be the one everyone is asking: Why does the ACC still get an automatic BCS bowl bid? Maybe it's: Why doesn't the CAA get one? Charlie Weis' Hot-Seat TemperatureRoom temperature: Say what you will about Weis and his struggles at Notre Dame, but Ty Willingham didn't start his fifth season 1-0 with a win against Nevada. Mainly because he was fired after his third season. But still. Lane Kiffin NCAA Violation of the WeekNone: Again! Wow. That's two weeks in a row! Savor this. Kiffin's Tennessee squad welcomes Rick Neuheisel's UCLA Bruins to Neyland Stadium on Saturday. Will Kiffin be lured into an illegal gambling ring by halftime?
Worst Game of the WeekHoward at Rutgers Rutgers looked atrocious Monday against Cincinnati, and Howard is Howard. Nevertheless, you can watch this game on your computer at ESPN360.com. Just be aware that if you try to watch, you probably will get a few notices from your virus protection program, like: "It appears you are trying to open a terrible game. Really? Come on. Why are you doing this to yourself? To us? There are, like, 10 other better games on ESPN360 right now. Please don't make me show this one." Yo Conference Joke of the WeekYo conference is so weak, the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl signed an exclusive, big-money contract with your conference to not feature any of its teams. Name of the WeekSir Demarco Bledsoe: A Football Championship Subdivision-caliber strong safety at Youngstown State. But Hall of Fame-caliber name.  Player of the WeekTate Forcier, QB, Michigan: Notre Dame will provide a truer test, but if last week was any indication, Rich Rodriguez might have finally found himself a quarterback in freshman Tate Forcier. And Forcier's success is all due to hard work. He goes above and beyond what the coaching staff asks of him. (Not that the coaching staff would ever ask him to go above and beyond what is required of him. I'm not saying that at all. Really. LEAVE RICH RODRIGUEZ ALONE! Chris Crocker, Rich-Rod needs you!) One More Player of the WeekGreg Paulus, QB, Syracuse: Sure, he threw that interception in overtime against Minnesota. But Paulus was pretty impressive last week, considering he hadn't played football in almost five years. I remember when I took that much time away from football -- I didn't have a gaming system in college -- and I sucked at Madden for a really long time. Even on rookie level. This week, Paulus plays at Penn State. That's, like, All-Madden level. Tough. Stone Cold LockFollowing Texas' trip this week to mustache-friendly Wyoming, Colt McCoy will be tempted to grow back his tickler. But, alas, it will be too late. This fresh-faced young lad needs months to grow a lip hat. DJ Gallo is the founder and sole writer of the sports satire site SportsPickle.com. He also is a regular contributor to ESPN The Magazine and has written for The Onion and Cracked. His first book, "SportsPickle Presents: The View from the Upper Deck," is on sale now.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Amid NCAA questions, Majok plugs away - ESPN.com Posted: 11 Sep 2009 10:33 AM PDT STORRS, Conn. -- The Connecticut basketball team had finished playing pickup for at least 30 minutes Wednesday, but Ater Majok was still on the floor working on his face-up game.
He continued for a few more minutes, doubling everyone else's workout time.
Majok, a bit of a mystery a year ago, has since become one of the more recognizable names on the Huskies -- but not for all the right reasons.
Majok is from Sudan, spent time in Egypt and eventually settled in Australia, and he wasn't able to become eligible in time for last season. He arrived in the United States this past December in time for the spring semester, and the NCAA clearinghouse granted him partial eligibility in January. He can practice with the team but won't be able to play until the end of the 2009 fall semester.
"I was just waiting and waiting and waiting," Majok said of his eligibility hang-ups. "Then one day Coach [Jim Calhoun] called me and said I was good to go. So I said, 'Where's my uniform?' I just wanted to play. But then he explained the whole situation to me that I couldn't play until next December and to do well in school." When Majok is eligible after Connecticut's Dec. 9 SEC-Big East Invitational game against Kentucky at Madison Square Garden, the Huskies will have at their disposal a developing, athletic 6-foot-10 forward who should flourish in finishing on the break but will need time to improve his skill in the post.
"I'm going to fill the needs of what Coach wants me to do, work hard, score the ball, block shots, defend and rebound," Majok said. "I can help our defense and bring energy."
If he does all that, and there are no more lingering issues with his eligibility, Majok will be worth the wait.
The eligibility issue still lingers, however. Majok sat out, and as the Huskies marched toward the Final Four, he was swept up into the growing controversy surrounding former agent/manager Josh Nochimson's involvement with the program. Yahoo! Sports originally reported that Nochimson was tied to former UConn signee Nate Miles and created the blueprint for the NCAA enforcement staff to investigate illicit phone calls on the matter, an investigation that is ongoing. ESPN.com then reported that Nochimson set up Majok's inclusion in the Kentucky Derby Festival Basketball Classic, a high school all-star contest in Louisville, in the spring of 2008. That mention prompted Majok to go through an NCAA enforcement interview about his amateur status.
"They asked me a lot of questions, and I answered them honestly," Majok said. "I had nothing to hide. I told the truth. I don't know what was going on at the time. I was really confused and locked myself in my room because everyone on campus was asking me. I kept saying, 'I don't know who this dude is. I'd never seen him.'"
Majok said he didn't know Nochimson and the agent didn't get him to Louisville.
"I met a lot of people in Louisville," Majok said. "I'm not a rude person. I said hi to a lot of people."
Majok said Calhoun asked him whether he knew Nochimson, and he answered he didn't. He said Nochimson didn't get him to UConn, but assistant coaches Andre LaFleur and Patrick Sellers did, recruiting him while he was playing on a traveling team while in the United States in 2008.
"Coach asked me and I said, 'I don't know him.' I know it's against the rules to know an agent. I don't know him," Majok said.
Majok said he was interviewed by the NCAA after the story came out in March and hasn't been approached on the subject since.
Still, Majok raised questions about whether he was running from something when he surprisingly declared for the NBA draft in April. Majok worked out during a group session at the Golden State Warriors' practice facility and then later for the Chicago Bulls. He withdrew from the draft right before the June 15 deadline.
"I learned a lot and helped my game a lot," Majok said. "I did it to get experience and thought I might as well put my name in to get better and get workouts under my belt, because I knew the Big East would be tough. I found out that I need to run hard, play hard."
NBA personnel who watched Majok said he wouldn't have been drafted if he hadn't withdrawn.
"I know I can play in the league one day," Majok said. "It takes a lot of hard work, which I'm doing."
Majok didn't say when he would declare for the last time or whether he'll stay for the rest of his college career. He said he plans to earn a law degree at some point.
If there are no hiccups for him, Majok has the potential to be a good player. He's still figuring out his position as a flying 4-man who can finish on the break but probably would struggle in a traditional half-court game. He's not an intimidating shot-blocker and doesn't have the beef of being a rebounder -- yet. That could come if he continues to commit to developing his game.
• During the 2008 NCAA tournament, word had spread quickly at the Denver Regional that then-Stanford coach Trent Johnson had been ejected from a game in Anaheim against Marquette. Soon after, I relayed the news to a well-respected veteran official. The official's answer was, "I bet it was Curtis Shaw [who had ejected him]." It was. Obviously you can debate whether Johnson deserved to be tossed from that game for walking out and challenging Shaw with his body language during a timeout. But other officials weren't surprised that Shaw would have a quick trigger to eject a coach.  AP Photo/Sara D. Davis Curtis Shaw, seen here handing the Florida State bench a technical in 2007, will soon be director of officiating for the Big 12. The numbers back up the point. According to StatSheet.com, which tracks referee statistics dating back to the 1996-97 season, Shaw has called 584 technical fouls and handed out 26 ejections during that time. No other official has assessed even 400 technical fouls, and only six other officials had given at least 10 ejections. Steve Welmer ranked second with 15. It's no wonder he's referred to as "Quick Draw" Curtis Shaw in some parts. During a Tulane-Rice game last season, Shaw even ejected Sammy the Owl. Yes, that Sammy the Owl. The Rice mascot. "He loves to be in control," said a coach from a major league.
"He doesn't have much tolerance," another Division I coach said.
"He doesn't mind putting people in their place, and he watches to see your reaction to him," a third coach said.
The control that Shaw exhibits in a game is exactly the reason the Big 12 tabbed him to replace Dale Kelley as the conference's director of officiating for the 2010-11 season. Shaw will observe Kelley in his final season on the job before taking over the assignment. He is forbidden from officiating once he becomes the coordinator. Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe said Shaw won't work any Big 12 games in his final officiating season as he observes the conference, but he might work for other leagues.
Beebe knew Shaw from when Beebe was the Ohio Valley Conference commissioner and Shaw worked games in the conference.
"I've observed him for a long time, and he manages the game the way it's expected," Beebe said. "He doesn't let one coach or player get away with the rules. He's highly regarded, and that's why he did the finals last year. He is a strong official who doesn't let coaches or players cross the line."
How that translates into his coordinating Big 12 officials will be a good watch. Will more technicals be called in the league in 2011? It's hard to say. But clearly the statistics back up that Shaw won't tolerate any talk back and may ask his officials to handle situations as he did.
"Curtis is demanding of the officials, like coaches are demanding of their players," Beebe said. "We feel he'll be the same as a coordinator as an official. There will be no excuses on how they should behave in calling the game. We want him coaching the officials as much as coaches coach their players."
Beebe said the coaches were well aware of Shaw's record. He said three Big 12 men's coaches, whom he would not name, were on the selection committee with himself, three athletic directors and Big 12 associate commissioner for men's basketball John Underwood.
• Mississippi State freshman forward Renardo Sidney is still waiting to be cleared by the NCAA Eligibility Center as it reviews his amateur status after a Los Angeles Times story detailed his family's high-rent living near Fairfax High in L.A. Sidney's attorney, Birmingham, Ala.-based Donald Jackson, said the NCAA continues to demand that Sidney's parents and grandparents produce additional financial information. He said they are not required to do this and will not produce the asked-for documents. Jackson also said the NCAA hasn't established that there is a violation of Sidney's amateur status, and he has requested that it produce facts that a violation has occurred. Jackson said he expects the fight for Sidney's eligibility to continue to linger.
• Gonzaga is waiting for the arrival of Canada's Bol Kong, who has been in Vancouver awaiting a visa to enter the United States. Kong is originally from Sudan and has lived in Canada since he was 7. Kong has 12 days from the start of the fall semester to be admitted and eligible. To make that deadline, Kong would have to be on campus by the end of next week.
• USC coach Kevin O'Neill was searching this summer for a point guard. He couldn't find one. So that means Donte Smith will be the Trojans' point, with two-time transfer Mike Gerrity (Pepperdine, Charlotte) as the backup once he becomes eligible in mid-December. Smith played in 24 games last season, including 12 of the Trojans' 18 Pac-10 games, averaging 1.2 points and five minutes a game. That lack of playing time is understandable considering Daniel Hackett was the starting point guard. The Trojans were caught short at the position when Hackett declared for the draft a year early and Tim Floyd's resignation depleted the recruiting class, including the departure of point guard Lamont Jones to Arizona. Meanwhile, O'Neill said sophomore Leonard Washington, who had issues becoming eligible from the end of his senior season at Washington-Marion High (Lake Charles, La.) in 2007 to the fall of 2008, isn't eligible for the first eight games of this season. Washington was a force early last season, averaging 9.8 points and 6.7 rebounds in the first 10 games before he suffered an ankle injury.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Mischa Barton's Meltdown in Full 'View' - ABC News Posted: 11 Sep 2009 10:40 AM PDT Maybe Mischa Barton can't take the heat of Hollywood. In an interview airing today on ABC's "The View," the 23-year-old former "O.C." actress opens up about her mysterious stint in the hospital after police removed her from her Los Angeles home in July. Frankly, she doesn't make a lot of sense. Barton describes her hospitalization as "silly" despite the fact that she was "completely overwhelmed." Tune in for Barton's full interview today on 'The View,' 11 a.m. ET on ABC. "I mean, really it was blown out of proportion, so it's kind of silly now to be talking about it because I'm so fine now, but it was really just a bad time for me. It was sort of one of those things that was like a perfect storm. Everything happened at once," Barton begins. "View" creator and co-host Barbara Walters then points out Barton was in the psychiatric ward, "not just the regular hospital," which sends the actress in a completely different direction, blaming her meltdown on dental work. "Right, I mean, it was just ... I was overwhelmed," she says. "I had too much work going on. I had a surgery for my wisdom teeth that went really badly. I had been in the hospital. I had two surgeries on my wisdom teeth. I had four taken out and they had gotten it really badly wrong. They had to drill into my jaw and I was just in really excruciating pain." "I had an infection and a dry socket and I woke up on a Sunday morning and there was no doctor available," Barton continues. "I was trying to take the minimum amount of pain killers and get through it because I had to go to work soon and I was getting ready to go do this show, 'The Beautiful Life,' and meanwhile I still had a schedule to travel. I was going to Europe. I was going to London. I had things to do and I was prepping to do photo shoots and I was just overwhelmed. I had so much work to do and the surgery had gone so badly for me. And I think that I was just starting to feel completely overwhelmed. It was just too much to have this surgery go so wrong."  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Bells toll for Flight 93 victims at Pennsylvania crash site - San Jose Mercury News Posted: 11 Sep 2009 10:40 AM PDT SHANKSVILLE, Pa. — Bells tolled for the 40 victims of Flight 93 at the western Pennsylvania site where the plane crashed eight years ago. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and retired General Tommy R. Franks are among those gathered at the site to remember those who died during the Sept. 11 attacks. Powell is delivering the keynote speech at the commemoration. Flight 93 was traveling from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when hijackers took it over with the likely goal of crashing it into the White House or Capitol. The official 9/11 Commission report says the hijackers crashed the plane as passengers tried to wrest control of the cockpit.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Minn. Gov. on Health Care; 2012 Run? - FOX News Posted: 11 Sep 2009 10:40 AM PDT This is a rush transcript from "Your World With Neil Cavuto," September 10, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: Well, the full-court health care press continues, the president talking to nurses today, heading to Minnesota on Saturday for a huge rally at the Target Center. Is he targeting the guy that runs that state. Governor Tim Pawlenty, a rising star in the Republican Party, he's getting tons of buzz on a possible presidential candidacy in 2012. But that's year off. The governor joins me right now. He's coming to your neck of the woods. Is this just by design or accident or what do you suspect? GOV. TIM PAWLENTY (R), MINNESOTA: Well, I don't know, Neil. I doubt he's coming here because of me. I think he's probably coming because he's traveling the country trying to sell a bad product. His speech last night was essentially the public policy equivalent of leftover cold pizza. It was the same thing that the country's already rejected with a few minor exceptions. So I don't think he's advancing the ball. CAVUTO: Well, you might feel that way, and, you know, who am I to second guess polls, but most of the polls afterwards seemed to indicate that more people felt comfortable with what he was talking about than they did before. You think that's going to be at best short lived, right? PAWLENTY: Well, I think the American people are reacting to the notion of the federal government, first of all, busting the budget again with this proposal. I think they're increasingly concerned about a White House and a Congress that has no boundaries when it comes to spending. They're concerned about programs that they're going to take over, not be able to afford, and then potentially ration care in the future, and things like that. Those are not irrational concerns. Even though his speech last night was soaring rhetoric, it's going to come into collision with reality, and the reality of it is it's a bad idea and the country can't afford it. CAVUTO: Governor, I know you don't want to talk about politics or 2012 and all the buzz about you, nor will I. I know you suffered through those questions. But I have actually thought about how Republicans then would try to take on someone as popular personally certainly as the president, when even Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, is saying, we can't keep being — I'm paraphrasing here — the party that says no to health care, the party that says no to this, we have to come up with ideas of our own. So if those ideas are no to more government spending and more to the kind of things that — everyone likes the idea of a free lunch and getting another program and not seemingly having to pay for it — how do you counter that argument? In other words, what do you present as a more appealing alternative to that? PAWLENTY: Well, Neil, that question has the right premise, which is we should all acknowledge, Republicans, Democrats, independents, something else: that the current system is broken, it is unaffordable and has other problems. So we need to fix it, but we need to set aside those things that we can't agree on and focus on the things we can. They include these. We got to take — make reform so that doctors aren't afraid of getting sued to the point where they're ordering all kinds of unnecessary procedures. We need to prohibit preexisting conditions. We need to have portability of health care so you don't risk it every time you change jobs, and people are changing jobs a lot. We need to require or encourage electronic prescribing and electronic medical records. We need to have tax equity so the tax treatment of your medical care is the same whether you get it through your employer or you buy it individually. We got to quit paying for volumes of procedures and pay for performance. We shouldn't limit choices in purchasing to three choices, like in Minnesota. CAVUTO: Well, you know, Governor, I don't want to interrupt your train of thought... (CROSSTALK) CAVUTO: ... because that is something I heard from a lot of Republicans yesterday while I was in D.C. And the problem is, you guys are vastly outnumbered in the House and the Senate, so you're not going to get what you want. And you're only going to go down in the record, as the president tried to frame it yesterday, as the party that just rejected everything he said. PAWLENTY: Many of those things are in his — some of those things are in his plan, Neil. So I don't think he's rejecting e- prescribing. I don't think he's rejecting electronic medical records. I don't think he's — he's at least opened the door to medical malpractice reform. He talks about paying... CAVUTO: So you think you still have a shot in the debate there with him? PAWLENTY: Here are the flash points for Republicans. CAVUTO: Real quick. PAWLENTY: We can't — we can't have the federal government take this over. It can't bust the bank. CAVUTO: All right. PAWLENTY: And we want private sector choices and consumer choices, not the government taking it over. CAVUTO: Governor, thank you very much. Content and Programming Copyright 2009 FOX News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2009 CQ Transcriptions, LLC, which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon FOX News Network, LLC'S and CQ Transcriptions, LLC's copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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