A Program in Dis-Tress

Jim Tressel had it all. The head coach at one of the most storied college football programs in the country. A national champion who also had great success at beating Michigan, something that endeared him to Buckeye fans. Then, with two seemingly harmless decisions, he lost it all.

The first: Looking the other way upon receiving an e-mail informing him of NCAA violations by his players.

The second: Lying about being aware of the violations.

Tressel was 9-1 in the Ohio State-Michigan game during his tenure in Columbus. 

The coverup is ALWAYS worse than what the truth would have brought about. If the Tressel had brought this to his athletic director's attention immediately, any wrongdoing would have immediately been passed off his shoulders. The actions themselves would have been on his players, while the responsibility of handling it would have been on the Ohio State Athletic Department and the NCAA.

Listen to Raffy...an exposed cover up is ALWAYS worse than taking responsibility for your actions from the get go.

But "he was trying to protect his players," as many have said. I don't buy that as an acceptable excuse. A good coach will always err on the side of protecting his players, even if they are wrong. Protecting, however, does not have to mean lying for them at all costs. Hindsight is always 20/20, but Tressel could have saved face for both his program and the young men if they had come out about it right away and thrown themselves on the mercy of the court of public opinion. He could've publicly protected his players as good kids who made a stupid mistake. 

In addition, when he lied about his knowledge of everything, who was he protecting then? I assure you, it was not his players.

I still believe Tressel to be a good man, but he couldn't have survived this. Ultimately, the "Fab Five" violators (that's GOTTA be a dig at Buckeye nation) will emerge from this and be alright - either in the NFL or wherever they end up. Ultimately, "THE" Ohio State University will be alright, perhaps after a stint on probation.



Yeah Buckeye Nation...I went there! Stop sniffing your own farts and saying "THE" before your school's name, and maybe I'll be nicer next time. For the record, I hate Michigan just as much. Growing up a "French Canadian" Notre Dame fan, I have no use for either! 

 Tressel, however, will have a much more difficult time recovering. His integrity is highly suspect now. If he's interested in coaching again, he may need to take a hiatus for a few years before re-emerging. If there's a place in college football for George O'Leary (current head coach of Central Florida) after he lied to Notre Dame about his resume credentials, there is a place for Tressel.

George O'Leary, who has nowhere near the redeeming qualities that Tressel has, was given a second chance at Central Florida after going through one of the most embarrassing lies/coverups in college football history. Why not Tressel if he wants to coach again?

NCAA Rant

Should you feel like Tressel is a scumbag? I think not....This issue runs even deeper than all that was just discussed.
I can't take the NCAA. I challenge you to find a more hypocritical organization in America. I understand that many athletes secure athletic scholarships, which is supposed to be their "payment in return" for what they do, but let's be honest.

But there's no name on the back....it could be ANY #15 on the University of Florida's football team...

The NCAA makes some serious, serious money off of some of these guys. The money made off stars like Tim Tebow is obvious, but what about the unsung guys who may never play in the NFL, but who are part of that "must see" game marketed by the NCAA. What about the players on all the mid-majors who make the NCAA basketball tournament so great each year? 

If you ever take some time to look at the ways in which a NCAA student-athlete can violate NCAA rules, take a look. It's a tremendously long list with an abundance of petty BS violations.

So Dez...You met with Deion Sanders? ....and then LIED to the almighty NCAA about it? That's violation #692 - Suspended for Life!

In the case of Ohio State, someone was about to make money off of something that the NCAA could have made money off of. That's why this is such a big deal. Think about what these players did....

They got free tattoos in exchange for signed memorabilia. Let's call a spade a spade....it's not as if they were pulling in 100 large a season to play football. Tressel did not orchestrate a conspiracy coverup, he just made a stupid decision to lie to protect himself and his players.

Rotting from the "Core"?

"The Core"

The Bronx Bombers were cruising along entering May, to the tune of a 17-9 start. The team was progressing as normal Yankee teams do, jumping out to a division lead while the Red Sox and Rays floundered out of the gate. The Yanks were getting All-Star production from Robinson Cano & Curtis Granderson. Mark Teixeira had one of the best Aprils of his career (albeit not a spectacular stat line). Even more notably, the team was able to weather an untimely injury to Phil Hughes via solid pitching by Ivan Nova, and by finding the fountain of youth with Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia.

Curtis Granderson has circled the bases on his own accord 14 times this season. The Vibe's preseason pick of 35 for the Grandyman is looking good!

Winning often makes people overlook or minimize things. I mean, look at Charlie Sheen.  As the Yankees were winning, some of their key players were struggling. Nick Swisher & Brett Gardner, fan favorites for their hustle and energy, slumped horribly. Fan favorites, perhaps, but not entrenched in Yankee history.

Winning can mask a lot of blemishes and chinks in the armor (see above). Why is it so hard to say the word "winning" nowadays without referencing Charlie Sheen?

Despite Rivera-like pitching from Mariano Rivera, the other 2/3 of the remaining “core” from the 1996-2000 4x World Champions was sputtering. Derek Jeter entered May with a .242 average as the Yankee leadoff hitter, with a .308OBP. He was on pace to score only 66 runs for the season. Meanwhile, Jorge Posada was making Jeter look like Ted Williams. Posada, while making no defensive contributions as the team’s DH, entered May with a .125 average and .232 OBP. He had smacked 6 home runs in April with 12 RBI, but had not done much with any of his other at-bats. Perhaps most embarrassing was that Jorge did not get a hit off of left-handed pitching in April.

And then….the wheels started to come off

I mean...do you think of anyone else when you see the expression "wheels coming off"?

The Yanks went 3-10 over their next 13 games to drop to 20-19. Three games behind the aforementioned Tampa Bay Rays. Tied with the aforementioned Boston Red Sox. Panic has set in. The Yankee party boat that had set sail towards a runaway AL East title has started to take on some major water. Of course, losses to Boston always compound things. This past weekend’s sweep served that purpose, and the panic was magnified by the childish behavior of Jorge Posada.

Now it’s a big deal that Swisher, Gardner, Jeter, and Posada have not produced. People are calling for the Yankees to trade for corner OF help – unwilling to wait for Swisher & Gardner. Jeter and Posada’s age have been called into question. A move to the OF soon for Jeter? A move to the bench soon for Posada?

It might not be too long before Jorge starts having to make himself comfortable here....during the Yanks offensive half-innings as well. A $13 million pinch hitter...who's disgruntled with his role....Yes please!

The ballclub’s reaction to everything that happened with Posada raised another issue for me. Obviously, Posada is now on notice due to what happened. However, the club’s reaction to Derek Jeter’s seemingly harmless comments on the whole issue seemed to bring Jeter on notice. It also makes me think that the team was IRATE with Posada behind closed doors. Why else would they be aggravated with Jeter for minimizing the incident? So what issue has all this brought to the surface?

The organization was unhappy with its shortstop after he weighed in on the Jorge situation. Why is it SO easy to find pictures of Brian Cashman making this face? 

Are the legacies of Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada more important than winning in the present?

No. But there should be a measure of delicacy in handling them. Posada has thrown some gasoline on his legacy by acting like a 5 year old and stinking the joint up, but Jeter’s is as important as any Yankee in our lifetime.

I have to take these as 2 separate cases. For a few reasons….1) Derek Jeter was more important to Yankee success since 1996 (not a knock on Posada, just a statement of fact), 2) Jorge’s struggles are far worse than Jeter’s, and 3) Jeter plays the field, while Jorge is strictly a DH.

Captain Clutch

It’s too early to panic on Derek Jeter. I will state the obvious, which is that he can do everything short of standing on his head and he won’t be worth (objectively) what he is making this year. No Yankee fan should ever complain about what they are paying Jeter. He deserves it. Think of it as payment for those MVP-caliber years he put up early in his career where he made $3 million a year or less. Truth be told, you could do a lot worse than Derek Jeter as your SS, both offensively and defensively. I expect Jeter to be the SS at least through the end of next season. I can foresee, however, them dropping him to the bottom third of the order if he continues along at a .250 clip through the end of the year. I wonder if he’d handle that the Posada way? I betcha he doesn’t.



Just in case you need a reminder as to why the Bombers are paying these two what they are...

Hip Hip

I spoke much about Posada in my last blog, so I’m not going to belabor the point too much. He’s got another month of leash before he should be considered a full-time pinch hitter off the bench (and not against lefties….as he is still 0-for-THE SEASON against southpaws). To look at it in a purely objective light, he is a 39 year old DH making $13 million and hitting .165. He makes no defensive contribution (even if not by his choice). Moreover, he stirred the pot big time by pouting out of the lineup last weekend. I honestly hope that he turns it around, but I’m not confident at all. For the record, I think he deserved the contract he got as well. I also think, thought, that he should know his placeThis could be his last season in NY – one way or the other.

"Hip-Hip..."

Or should I say…”Back-Back…”

Yankees designated hitter and 5X World Champion Jorge Posada has been in the crosshairs of the Vibe for a few weeks now. Carrying a batting average south of the Mendoza line for a few weeks as a regular for the New York Yankees will do that for you. Things came to a head for Posada on Saturday night, as he mysteriously removed himself from the lineup prior to the team’s game with the Red Sox.

Posada (see above, 2003 ALCS Game 7) has had his share of big moments in the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. Saturday night was not one of those moments.

Posada-gate

Speculation ran wild as to why Jorge took himself out of the lineup, thanks to “diarrhea of the mouth” GM Brian Cashman, who issued an in-game statement during Saturday night's game:

“Around 6:00, he came into Joe Girardi’s office and removed himself from the lineup. It’s not an injury situation. That’s all I can say about it right now“

Cash... you make us feel this way sometimes with some of the stuff that comes out of your mouth. Everything that comes out of his mouth about Pedro Feliciano shoves his foot deeper and deeper in there. He's also made some puzzling comments about Joe Torre and, of course, Derek Jeter.

This open-ended declaration set the stage for Joe Buck incessantly discussing possible reasons for Jorge being out all game long.

Posada’s wife tweeted (probably in response to what Joe Buck was saying on TV) that Jorge “loves being a Yankee” and that his “back stiffened up” prior to game time.

 

WINNING! Just to make sure all blog readers are aware. Jorge's wife, Laura Posada (of the "back stiffness" tweet), is the one in this picture who is not Regis Philbin. This is a classy blog, so I'll stop right here. If you want it to be more of a tasteless blog, insert your own "stiffness" joke here, and have yourself a good laugh.

 Girardi, speaking calmly with reporters after the loss, downplayed everything…indicating that Jorge came to see him and told him that he “needed a day.” He indicated that he expected Posada to be back in the lineup and part of the team moving forward.

Posada, on the other hand, seemed irked at the tone and delivery of Cashman’s statement in the post-game. He echoed his wife’s claim that his back stiffened up “from taking ground balls at first base,” but also indicated that he did not mention anything to Girardi about it when he spoke with the manager. Something doesn’t seem just quite right with that assertion.

Jorge once took Joe's job when he was a young buck and Joe was approaching the twilight of his career. Is Joe one of the reasons that Jorge might now be losing his? 

Incidentally, word came out that the Yankees were docking Posada’s pay for last night’s game, citing breach of contract. I’m wondering if Jorge’s back might have started stiffening up once he heard that they would be docking him pay.

The speculative explanations for why Jorge removed himself from the lineup range from the noble “he knew he wasn’t helping the team” to the sinister “he was pissed when he saw he was batting ninth.”

OK, so which jumps out at you more...Jorge being listed 9th, or the .165, 6, 15 line next to his name. 
(Jim Mcisaac/Getty Images)

I tend to believe that the latter is not true, as it came out a few weeks ago that Jorge actually thanked Joe for sticking with him despite his lack of production. This is a little different from the A-Rod batting 8^th drama. Jorge recognized that he was not hitting. Prideful or not, I feel like hitting 9^th would not have been the reason he pulled himself.

A-Rod had much more of a gripe with Joe Torre when the skipper batted him 8th against the Tigers in the 2006 ALDS. He was 30 years old and in his prime as one of the best hitters in baseball. Posada, 39, is at the end of his career and his production has severely declined.

At least I’d like to believe that. I’m not naïve enough to think that Jorge is incapable of acting that way. As important as he’s been to the Yankees over the years, we know that he has a short fuse, bad temper, and can act childish at times when he doesn’t like something. We remember the lack of grace with which he handled the Randy Johnson personal catcher fiasco. He’s never been accused of being even-keeled.

With all of these rumors swirling, some even suggested that Jorge was going to retire, a thought which was shot down quickly by Jorge. Lack of production at age 39 coupled with "opting out" of a game (whatever be the reason) will cause that speculation.  

Moving Forward

Will this all blow over? The answer to that depends on whether you think Posada is going to start to hit or not. This could blow over without incident, or it could get so much worse. It’s no secret that Posada is not happy with the organization for bailing on him as the starting catcher. He’s not a fan of Brian Cashman….there’s no way he is. This could be the requisite fuel needed to make this a more volatile situation.

What the hell happened? They used to be such good friends...

Or….Posada could step right back into the lineup and start to produce. Winning and success cures everything.

Personally, I have said all year that I want to give Posada into the middle of June to see where he is before pushing the panic button. It's definitely an adjustment for him. You hear all these cliche claims about how he goes from being in the game every pitch (as a catcher) to only batting 3 or 4 times as a DH.

All this talk of catchers being moved got me thinking about other cases of catchers being asked to change positions. Who can forget the Todd Hundley OF experiment in 1998? Of course, there were different reasons for Hundley's offensive demise. It's worth noting that he's a glaring omission from the Vibe's All-Juice Team.

As a former catcher, I can tell you. It runs much deeper than that. As a catcher, you are seeing pitches all game long. You are picking up release points, breaking ball rotations, and making reads from 60ft. 6 in. all game long. Even though it's your own pitcher (not the same pitcher you are facing as a hitter), you are still processing pitches, which makes you see the ball better as a hitter. Going from doing this for 15+ years to not catching a single inning has to be an adjustment. 

I’m still willing to give him until the middle of June, but I will admit:

The boat is taking on water faster than I anticipated.

Jorge DID hit .248 last year. The window of YES announcers being able to say “Well, Jorge’s average is low…but his power numbers are there” is starting to close. I feel like he’s had 6 HR and 15 RBI for a month now. And the middle of June is a month away. If conditions don’t improve, the Yankees will have three options:

Option A: Ride Jorge out the rest of the year

Option B: DH platoon of Andruw Jones/Eric Chavez

Option C: Trade for another corner OF who can DH

Based on how the Yanks usually operate, I’m going to be that Option C becomes a reality if it gets to that point. The problem is, it looks as if pickin’s will be slim for a bat come July 31^st. As is usually the case, it will be an interesting summer in Yankee Stadium. 

Jorge's replacement as Yankees DH?



Osama been Tweetin'

I would be remiss if I spent three sick days at home without blogging about the biggest news story of this year.  This weekend, the United States successfully raided a compound in Pakistan, found, and killed the #1 fugitive in American history – Osama bin Laden. As this is a sports blog, I can only speak of this from an athletic standpoint.

We all remember where we were on September 11, 2001. We all remember the feeling of national insecurity, the uncertain well-being of loved ones, and the week that followed – in which time stood still. The world sought answers, healing, and closure. Activities of recreation and pleasure seemed of little importance.

Post-9/11 patriotism at sporting events was the norm in the months immediately following the attacks.

However, it needs to be stated that sports were a part of the healing process for the nation. That may sound as if it minimizes the importance of the healing process, but where else was there an opportunity for 10’s of thousands of Americans to come together? Sporting events resumed with fans having a heavy heart, but drawn together and united behind the red, white, and blue. We remember flag-covered NFL fields and chants of U-S-A…U-S-A…U-S-A! Fans in New York remember the home run by Mike Piazza that shook Shea Stadium, and the World Series heroics of Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius a month and a half later.



Mets fan or not...It's pretty hard to forget how Piazza energized Shea with his September 21st home run against the Atlanta Braves. Sporting event or not, there was arguably no more unifying moment for the city in the days after the terrorist attacks.

The connection between sports and 9/11 is one that cannot be ignored, and came to the forefront this week with the death of bin Laden. With the popularity of social media being at an apex, fans were immediately able to gain access into athletes’ opinions on anything and everything. This can be good at times, and bad at times. As illustrated below…

The Tasteful:

“USA USA USA!!” – Lance Armstrong

“So they have bin Laden's body. Never thought we'd see the day. Figured he would be like Hitler and commit suicide or just disappear.” – Drew Brees

“God Bless ... all the Troops and Civilians that serve our country at home and overseas!!” – Michael Strahan

Strahan might not have much sense when it comes to dental hygiene, but he showed a lot of tact in reacting to the news of bin Laden's death.

The Head-Scratchers:

“Since we caught Osama do I still have to take my laptop out at security?” – Steve Nash

“You can't tell me they just now finding bin Laden. We prolly found him years ago and he wasn't giving us no info and we got tired of it.” – Grant Hill

Now would be an appropriate time to remind everyone that Grant Hill has a Duke education.

The Mendenhall Take:

And of course, the most controversial athlete tweet of the weekend – Rashard Mendenhall.
 

"What kind of person celebrates death?" Mendenhall wrote. "It's amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side..."

And later…

“We'll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style," he tweeted.

OK. Let’s dissect this for a minute. I’m actually with him on the first point that he makes. I had a hard time feeling the need to celebrate (hootin’ and hollerin’) about somebody dying. I embrace what happened as closure for many people, and the end of a long mission for the U.S. Armed Forces. And I must say, I did not lose a loved one on 9/11, but if I had, I couldn’t imagine the death of bin Laden making me want to celebrate. It would make me feel very satisfied that justice was served, and would likely result in my quiet reflection on everything. Hell, this is basically what I did anyway. I sure didn’t feel like jumping around as if the Yankees won the World Series. I will say, it was a nice moment at the Mets-Phillies game when the crowd (mix of both fans) began a “U-S-A…U-S-A….U-S-A!!!” chant.

Fans at the Mets-Phillies game showed unity as Americans with a goosebump-inducing "USA" chant after hearing the news.

As for Mendenhall, he should have STOPPED after that first sentence....but he continued:

 “It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak.”

Are you kidding me? What profound thing would Osama have been able to say to justify the killing of thousands of Americans. Mendenhall writes this as if Osama could have given a speech to the American people and afterwards have people say “Gee, I never saw it that way before.”

Maybe Mendenhall was using the South Park depiction of bin Laden to drive his opinion. I mean, maybe if we just LISTENED to the guy . . .

But, instead of stopping with one dumb statement, Mendenhall continued to dig himself in deeper:

“I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style.”

Well, are you blind, or were you just not watching TV that day? I mean, I know that you were only 14 years old. And that you lived in Illinois. But show some sense, dude.

We can't even be sure they have TV where Rashard grew up in Illinois.

He has since issued a well-written “apology” that seems to reinforce his support for the USA and to express his sorrow for offending anyone. In order to keep this blog short and manageable, I will not post the apology blog that was written. However, I will post the unsolicited comments made by his agent after the apology, which are slightly more entertaining:

 "This was truly, word for word, Rashard's thoughts," Rob Lefko told ESPN.com’s James Walker. "It was not written by anyone else and not crafted by anyone else."

So, without even being questioned about the authenticity of Mendenhall's apology, his agent releases that statement.

HEY….EVERYONE……LOOK WHAT RASHARD WROTE…..ALL BY HIMSELF!!!

Sometimes I guess it is nice to hear some recognition for doing something "all by yourself"....

*This blog was intended to lighten the mood around a very important and serious situation. It was in no way intended to minimize any loss or devastation. There was no offense intended to anyone (except Grant Hill and Rashard Mendenhall).

God Bless America!