Saving Grace

Watching Tom Watson amaze at last weekend's British Open, something hit me like a ton of bricks: where have all the graceful moments in sports gone? The game of golf is a perfect microcosm; what images do you see these days in a golf highlight? Tiger Woods, pumping his fist, cursing the Golf Gods, muttering jabs at over-eager cameramen, slamming his equipment, strolling down the fairway burning a hole in the back of his playing partner's cap. We didn't have Tiger last weekend though, he went home early after missing the cut (gasp!) I do love Tiger, but after watching the 59 year-old Watson play the round of his AARP card-carryin' life it really hit home. I, for one, have taken notice of the grace, respect, & joy that Tom Watson approaches the game. Sure, you say, "he's Tom frickin' Watson...one of the best golfers of all time...sure you'd be grinning." OK, Watson was chasing only his 9th major title, not bad for a guy not named Jack or Eldrick. However, Watson still has that smile & vigor that makes the game great. He's had two beloved caddies pass away - that would be enough for some guys to cry, "Why me?" But Watson still gave us all a thrill, right until the end. Did he slam his putter on 18 or scream at some innocent bystander for breathing? Nope. He grinned from ear to ear, even though we all knew he was ripping his guts out inside.

Some of you may have had the misfortune of seeing me golfin person. It ain't pretty I know. It's even uglier when my competitive nature creeps up to take a look and critique my game. I've only played golf for the past 8 years, picking the game up solely as a necessity related to a new job I had taken. For one reason or another I was never interested until I realized they actually let you off work to go ride around a golf course to, eh hmm, "talk business." I've also got some health reasons why I never played. I damn near ripped my left arm off in a car wreck when I was 19, and the accident has had a lot of lingering effects. I have never used it as excuse though, because I feel that through will-power alone I can make anything happen (they also call that jack-mule stubborness where I'm from). What cripples me more than my physical limitations is my temper, however. I can make a poor shot sound like a complete disaster to the group I'm playing with (and in fron of, and behind). I get frustated and make things worse, although I am my father's first son. and the apple does not fall far from the tree (heh heh). I have a vocabulary that would make a sailor blush. I have a glare that would make Tiger Woods piss his pants. Yet still, I have no golf game. Wonder why that is...?

Wonder why....Ahhh...!! It's because it's A GAME you idiot!! Go have some fun. Be thankful you're not behind some machine in 100+ degree heat for 12 straight hours. Duh... I'm so embarrased to think back at all of the pleasurable days I've ruined for my friends out on a golf course, cursing & stomping...moaning & groaning like I was some kind of PGA scratch golfer or something. I thank Tom Watson for showing that to me. And you know what...I played 36 holes last week and had a blast. I didn't necesarily play better as a whole, but I did improve. I didn't sqeeze the putter as tightly and sank some lengthy putts. I didn't overswing as much with my 3-wood and knocked'er right down the middle of the fairway. I still can't hit an iron to save my life, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day. Most impotatantly, I hope I was a joy to be around more than anything though. That's the perfect scorecard I'm aiming for from here on out.

I appreciate the golf lesson, Tom Watson. The game is much more than swing analysis & technique. It's more about life and how you affect others. Smooth & easy will get you further toward the hole, because it's damn hard to play out of the rough all the time. Keep it in the short grass, y'all.

To the Rack: True Tales from the Coach's Box

As a lot of you know, I've been around basketball at various levels for over 25-years. During that time I've had the pleasure of coaching kids from Junior High, High School, AAU, and even some international athletes that were in their mid-20's. I've also been involved in varying degrees with a handful of pretty successful college programs of which most of you are already aware. Because of these unique experiences I've gathered some pretty interesting anecdotes along the way, some funny, some poignant, some just plain dumb.

At one point I'd decided to write a blog and include all the stories I could think of, but since there are so many I decided to just post an occasional short story as it came to me.

Now, before anybody out there has a coronary, please know that I won't use any names, or I'll least change them to protect the not-so-innocent (relax, Wills). That breeze you feel is a collective sigh from coaches all over the midwest and Eastern Seaboard.

So, hopefully you'll enjoy these little tales from time to time. Careful though. You just may recorgnize yourself. So, without further ado . . .

I think it was the fall before my second year as a high school varsity coach, and I was interviewing guys for my varsity assistant position (the coach who was with me the previous year had left and for the life of me I can't remember why). After the formal interview I was walking the fellow around, showing him the facilities, and answering any questions he may have. It had become obvious to me earlier in the interview that he was a religious sort. Me? Not so much. Anyway, as we were walking by some of my players lifting weights in the Field House, the following conversation took place:

Interviewee: "Coach, what is your sideline and practice demeanor like?"
Me: "Oh, I can be pretty intense but no worse than most coaches."
Interviewee: "Do you berate your players or use foul language?"
Me: "Not too much. I try and be pretty positive."

Alright, so that last answer was stretching the truth a bit. OK, a lot. But the worst was yet to come. At that point I had a bit of a brain cramp and did something stupid. I looked down at one of my players who was flat on his back lifting weights, and this exchange took place:

Me: "Roman, what was the worst thing that I said to you last year?"
Roman, looking thoughtful and without missing a beat: "Well, when we played Unioto you called me a gutless pussy."

After several seconds of crickets chirping and blank stares, I said, "O . . .K . . . moving on to our locker rooms . . ."

Believe it or not, I ended up offering the guy the job, and he took it.

True story.

Terrelle Pryor Ready for Sophomore Season

The following artice was written by Andy Staples for SI.com. Enjoy . . .

In fewer than four seconds, Terrelle Pryor saw all this ...

"I saw a Cover Two with a strongside rotation," the Ohio State quarterback said minutes after the Buckeyes' April 25 spring game. "They stayed on top. I saw Ray. He made a good move. He snuck right behind the corner. I saw the corner right there, and I was like, all right, I'm going to throw this in there."

And that's exactly what the sophomore did. With a spring-game record 95,722 watching, Pryor stepped up in the pocket and fired a laser beam over the right sideline and into the teeth of a 24-mph wind. The throw whistled past cornerback Andre Amos' earhole and into the hands of a sprinting Ray Small, who juked two defenders to finish off a 42-yard touchdown connection.

Pryor probably could have thrown that ball six months ago. But could he have made that read? "No," he admitted. "I jumped right into camp. Coaches didn't really teach me all that, because we didn't really have time. We had to go. With the spring, you go through a whole process."

That process has produced a true quarterback ready to begin utilizing all of his physical gifts. The sophomore from Jeanette, Pa., stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 235 pounds. He's almost as thick as Florida's Tim Tebow, but faster. Pryor can make the same throws as Oklahoma's Sam Bradford, but remains a threat to run. In fact, only a handful of Football Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks could have made the throw Pryor completed to Small in the spring game, and even fewer could reproduce the throw Pryor made moments earlier -- a 44-yard bomb that sliced through the gale and landed in Taurian Washington's hands in the end zone.

After a showing like that, it's no wonder Pryor bristles when he reads on the Internet that he can't throw. "The media and all, whoever, said that I couldn't throw the ball," Pryor said. "But you saw today. The world saw today. I can throw the ball."

Can't imagine where Pryor might have read such a harsh assessment. Oh, wait. Maybe he saw it on this very site. Early in 2008, when Rivals.com and Scout.com ranked Pryor as the nation's top recruit, I was asked to write a story explaining why Pryor ranked just 16th in the SI/Takkle.com rankings. The rankings came from a respected company called Offense-Defense, which used a composite opinion from several scouts.

One of those scouts, a former college (Wake Forest) and pro (Bengals, Raiders) assistant named Bill Urbanik, explained dual-threat quarterbacks are notoriously tough to assess. Then Urbanik invoked the name of one of the biggest recruiting busts of the past 10 years. "Remember a guy named Xavier Lee?" he asked. Lee was a big-armed quarterback from Daytona Beach, Fla., who never could establish himself as the No. 1 quarterback at Florida State. As a freshman, Pryor established himself as Ohio State's quarterback after the Buckeyes' third game. He started the final 10 games and finished the season with 1,311 passing yards, 12 touchdowns, four interceptions and 631 rushing yards.

In that same story, Offense-Defense recruiting director Dan Licursi said the company's scouts believed Florida State-bound quarterback E.J. Manuel had a better arm and a better pocket presence than Pryor. Manuel, who dislocated a finger and missed most of this year's spring practice, probably will spend his redshirt freshman season as Christian Ponder's backup for the Seminoles.

To be fair, the scouts probably correctly assessed Pryor's pocket presence at the time. That much was obvious during Pryor's freshman season, when he racked up double-digit rushing attempts in six of his nine starts but failed to crack 20 pass attempts in all but one game, a loss to Penn State. Pryor would be the first to admit that unless conditions were perfect for a pass last year, he scrambled.

With some time to finally digest the offense and develop a rapport with his blockers, Pryor has learned to stay calm in the pocket. He knows now that while he can do plenty of damage with his legs, his arm can carry the Buckeyes to a Big Ten title and beyond. The 42-yard touchdown pass to Small served as a prime example. The 2008 Pryor probably would have seen the bulge in the pocket and darted through the hole between the right guard and tackle for 15 yards. Instead, the 2009 Pryor stepped into a clear space, planted his feet and threw. "He's much more comfortable in the pocket," Buckeyes tight end Jake Ballard said. "He's not thinking run first."

Now, experience and intangibles are all that separate Pryor from Tebow, Bradford or Texas quarterback Colt McCoy. The experience will come. As for the intangibles, Pryor's already working on those. Every semester, Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel gathers the team and asks all players who earned at least a 3.0 grade point average to stand. This spring, Pryor made sure that when Tressel called, he'd be among the group. "If you have a quarterback under [3.0]," Pryor said, "you're not a leader."

Leadership seems paramount to Pryor. He returned to the subjected frequently during a 15-minute interview session after the spring game. "As a quarterback, I need to take the lead of the offense," Pryor said. "I need to think of it as my offense."

Pryor's teammates undoubtedly understand that as Pryor goes, so do they. That's why Pryor was the first player selected in the draft for the spring game. But the culture at Ohio State may prevent Pryor from officially being anointed a team leader as a sophomore. Before the spring game, senior safety Kurt Coleman led Pryor's Gray team onto the field. When the captains met at midfield, Pryor stood on the sideline. Pryor understands the climate within which his team exists, so he will try to inspire with his play rather than his words. "Just lead by example," he said. "That's all I can do right now. We have older guys. They're going to lead vocally. I'm just going to lead by example."

Though Tressel may not think Pryor's ready to be a captain, the coach certainly understands the sophomore's importance. After two quarters of the scrimmage -- one with a non-contact jersey and one without -- Tressel yanked Pryor to avoid risking injury to his most important player. "He was ejected," said Tressel, who wore a Hawaiian shirt that seemed to draw out the jokes his sweater vest typically suppresses. "I'm tired of his stuff."

Later, Tressel made an excellent point. "One thing we've always believed is that you can't win the national championship in the spring," he said. "But you can lose it by not progressing enough."

Pryor's progress will allow the Buckeyes to start the season with national-title dreams even though they're replacing more quality players on both sides of the ball than anyone else in the preseason top 20.

So go ahead. Tell Pryor he can't throw. Tell him he's overrated. The Buckeyes will probably thank you for it.

"We're going to get touchdowns all year," Pryor said. "We're going to keep working hard. We don't care about the critics."

- Andy Staples, SI.com

It's Official: The Ohio State Alumni's All-Time Football Team

Note: The following article was written by Larry Phillips and addresses the recent announcement of The Ohio State Alumni's All-Time Football Team. These are his observations. The entire list of all 26 team members can be viewed at the Ohio State Alumni Association site.
Note 2: In the photo, the guy on the left was selected to the team at tailback. The guy on the right was led away by authorities shortly after the photo was taken.

The Ohio State University Alumni Association released it's 26-member all-time football team last week to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its member magazine.

I relish reading such lists. It's a chance to engage, analyze, and educate (or be educated) about a topic that draws intense interest from so many fans throughout our region.

Jay Hansen, the former sports editor in Newark and Lancaster who often contributed to our Bigger, Better Buckeye coverage, coordinated this project. It drew nearly 1,500 votes over a four-month period ending in February.

"In general I think our alumni made the correct choices," said Hansen, director of communications at the Ohio State Alumni Association. "Then again, it was hard to go wrong with a ballot like this one."

These lists are routinely and disproportionately tilted toward more recent athletes who's exploits are fresh in voter's minds. Had this poll taken place in 1975, Steve Myers would've been chosen as the center. In 1935 it would've been Gomer Jones (and he probably deserves the honor). It's 2009, so Nick Mangold gets the nod. Similarly, tight end John Frank (1983) was an excellent player, but certainly not better than three-time All-American Wes Fesler (1930), or even Jan White (1970). Still, I agree with Hansen, the alumni did a better job than I anticipated.
Voters get a pass on Chic Harley (1919) and Vic Janowicz (1951), mostly because these guys were so good they weren't pinned to a single position. Both were the best runners, passers, kickers, and defensive players on their respective teams. Each has an excellent argument as the greatest all-around player in school history. They probably should be recognized as first-team utility guys just to get them on this roster, because each obviously belongs.

The consensus found spots for old-school guys like defensive linemen Bill Willis (1944) and Jim Stilllwagon (1970) and offensive linemen Jim Parker (1956) and John Hicks (1973). They correctly selected Rex Kern as the school's best quarterback. Kern is the winningest signal-caller in school history, led the Buckeyes to three de facto national championship games (was MVP in one of them and ran for 101 yards in another) and was twice a top-5 Heisman finalist.

But, there were conspicuous absences, too.

Probably the most notable offensive omission was at fullback, where Pete Johnson (1977) got the nod over two-time All-American and Heisman runner-up Bob Ferguson (1961). In fact, Ferguson was third behind Jim Otis (1969). Ferguson seems to be the most forgotten great player in OSU history.

Some Ohio State fans claim Keith Byars was the biggest Heisman robbery in school history, and the Dayton native should've won the 1984 trophy. The perception is Doug Flutie nosed out Byars based largely on his dramatic Hail Mary pass to beat Miami on national TV. The fact is that Heisman vote wasn't close. Flutie overwhelmed Byars' point total (2,240 to 1,251), and had 678 first-place votes to 87 for Byars.

Ferguson represents the school's closest brush with another Heisman. He was runner-up to Syracuse running back Ernie Davis in 1961. At the time it was the second-closest vote in Heisman history (824 points to 771). Ferguson easily could've won the award, and certainly would've taken the trophy the way voters view the game today. Not only did the 6-foot, 227-pound fullback outgain Davis by more than 100 yards (938 to 823), he did it in one less game. Today the clincher would've been Ferguson played for an 8-0-1 national championship team, while Syracuse was 7-3.

Defensively, it's hard to believe two-time All-American Van DeCree was 13th in the voting. DeCree is the most disruptive defensive end I've seen at Ohio State, and that includes Will Smith and Mike Vrabel, the first-team picks. Hansen said Smith edged Jim Marshall for the final spot on the team.

Linebacker has been a treasure trove of riches over the years. Randy Gradishar has long been considered the program's premier man in the middle, and his stellar pro career validated his collegiate brilliance. There's a sentimental attachment to Chris Spielman for the passion he brought to the field, and while his selection isn't a surprise, I would take Tom Cousineau and Andy Katzenmoyer over A.J. Hawk. Cousineau was the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft. Katzenmoyer's scholastic problems have clouded a brilliant career.

The secondary is incredible, too. The voters went for Jack Tatum, Mike Doss, Antoine Winfield and Shawn Springs. My only argument here is the absence of Neal Colzie, who was sixth behind those four and Mike Sensibaugh, the school's career interception leader with 22 picks. As much a I liked Winfield, Colzie was a better player. Not only was the Miami native a lockdown corner and the nation's best punt returner, he was a tremendous clutch player. A two-time first-team All-American, Colzie was part of an OSU defense that had two famous goal-line stands in a 14-11 upset of undefeated Michigan in 1972. In 1973, he picked off Wolverines quarterback Dennis Franklin in the end zone and recovered a fumble to help the Buckeyes forge a 10-10 tie. He then returned a punt 56 yards to set up the go-ahead score in a 42-21 pounding of defending national champion USC in the 1974 Rose Bowl. In the 1974 Michigan game, Colzie again intercepted Franklin in Ohio State territory during a 12-10 victory. In his final game, he intercepted two passes against USC in the 1975 Rose Bowl, one of them in the end zone. His 14.3 yards per punt return is a school record even Ted Ginn Jr. couldn't touch. Colzie also maintains the school mark for punt return yards in a game and a season. He's also fifth with 15 career interceptions.

Triggering those memories shows just how much fun such projects can be.

Grading the 2009 NBA Draft: Potential vs. Proven Value

I know, I know, it’s been a couple weeks since the draft was held. It’s just that I wanted to let it stew for a bit in my brain before commenting. Or maybe it’s the fact that I’m in the OBX and am slowly wasting away into a vegetative state. OK, I admit it’s probably the latter. Anywho, before we begin there’s something I want to get off my chest. Why, oh why, do teams draft based on potential rather than proven value? For instance, it seems that for every guy chosen without proving himself (say Kevin Garnett) who end up being successful, there are ten guys who don’t, like Kwame Brown. Shane Battier is an excellent example. Everyone pretty much knew what he could do and what kind of pro he’d be – solid, hard-worker, good defender, etc. Still, Kwame, Tyson Chandler and Eddie Curry all went ahead of him. That’s why the Euros get picked so high as well. The NBA teams fall in love with the POTENTIAL. Seems like too much of a gamble to me in most cases.

But let’s get to this year’s draft. These are just my takes, but I’ve seen most of these guys play, some more than others. Here we go . . .

1. LA Clippers – Blake Griffin. Pretty much a no-brainer, as he was obviously the best player out there. Still, it bothers me j-u-u-u-s-t a tad that he doesn’t seem to have a pull-up jumper. Seems like a real character guy though, so even the Clippers can't screw him up. Then again . . .

2. Memphis – Hasheem Thabeet. Virtually no post game, and he’s going to find out that blocking shots is a bit harder with the big boys. Sidenote: Did anybody see DeJuan Blair absolutely destroy him this year? Anyone? Bueller? Random observation – he looked like a complete prima donna/dork at that NCAA tourney game wearing his giant sunglasses indoors.