I hate The Almighty Virus!!!

OOF! Sorry that I haven't been here in a while, but my home computer picked up a virus, and I've been unable to post on here since. I know, likely story, right?

I incurred the Win32.TrojanDownloader, and that SOB not only ate up all of my memory, but it made my computer slower than dial-up when it worked at all. Any time I'd try to get rid of the virus, the computer would shut down.

It's hard to blog at work. Phone rings. Meetings, press conferences, etc. I can barely complete a thought as-is, much less, write rants. Just look at my sportscasts!!! (just kidding, boss)

On that note, I'd like to issue a statement. This is to people that not only pioneer computer viruses, but others that fund their efforts.

How on earth can you think that I'll support, or even be interested in your product if you pay to be a pop-up window on a virus? Not that I need to meet "single women in my area" or "get a degree online".

If you click through one of those pop-up pages that pay the virus people for that purpose, you might be stupid enough to get that degree at that non-exhistant university, or meet some stranger at the mall that you've been getting model-esque pictures of. Wait until you meet that person "in-person". Better yet, wait for that employer to ask you where Ardville Tech is actually located. Such a proud tradition...

I wonder if there are virus advertising sales people. "Hello Mr. Smith, I'm Joe Schmo at Moron Technologies, and we've developed what we think to be the greatest, most harmful virus to date. How would you like your product or service to be forcefully placed on millions of computers for a nominal fee?"... I'll bet that's a resume builder....

Super Bowl will be a Super Bore. I can tell you right off the bat that the highlight of the whole game will be the Super Bowl Ads, and Tom Petty at the Half. This season just needs to end. Once the Patriots got to 12-0, I lost interest as the season got anti-climactic... Pats all the way in this one, and we knew that would happen in October...

This one's for the Miners fans. Lay off Tony Barbee. Give him time. No need to be impatient. He's playing with kids. Mad at Randy Culpepper taking rediculous shots? Live with it for now. He's figuring out how to play on the next level, and we all know how special that kid is going to be.



I know they look sloppy at times, but they're called growing pains. Wait until they get that 1st conference win on the road. With that will come confidence, and improvement will follow...

However, big ups to Keitha Adams and the Miner Women. 30th in the nation in the AP. That's huge. Remember when these seniors were freshman? Remember how bad those teams were? Think about the Miner men the same way. The same will happen (if Barbee is still around by then.)

Should have the home computer back soon, and once I get it back, I'll be back in the saddle again for good (or at least until the next virus)...

Coaching... The Business

So, we all know that Bobby Petrino became the Head Coach today(or night) at Arkansas.



Check out the timeline here:

He woke up Tuesday (assuming he slept) as the Head Coach of the Atlanta Falcons, after a big loss to the Saints, 34-14, on Monday Night Football. Then, Tuesday afternoon, CALLED, yes, CALLED the Falcons to resign. Tuesday night, he was official at Arkansas.

I've always had a REAL issue with coaches that take other jobs, and not sit with their team to let them know he was leaving, say goodbye, etc. I don't care if these are grown men in the NFL, or not. If you think his players weren't put off by this, just listen to Falcon's DB DeAngelo Hall:



Let me just say this. If I had a kid in Arkansas, and Petrino wanted to recruit him to play for Arkansas, I'd present him with this:

Coaching career (HC unless noted):
1983 Carroll (GA)
1984 Weber State (GA)
1985-1986 Carroll (OC)
1987-1988 Weber State (WR/TE)
1989 Idaho (QB)
1990-1991 Idaho (OC)
1992-1993 Arizona State (QB)
1994 Nevada (OC/QB)
1995-1997 Utah State (OC)
1998 Louisville (OC)
1999-2000 Jacksonville Jaguars (QB)
2001 Jacksonville Jaguars (OC)
2002 Auburn (OC)
2003-2006 Louisville
2007 Atlanta Falcons
2008-present Arkansas

I'd then ask him, since he's only stayed at 1 place for 4 years since 1983, how on earth am I supposed to hand over my child to him when I know its' a more/less guarentee that he won't be around for his full college career???
ARKANSAS PARENTS BEWARE! A SNAKE-OIL SALESMAN IS HEADED TO YOUR DOORSTEP!

He must not have paid too much attention back in 1984 when he was a grad. assistant with Weber St. He would have benefitted by taking a class on "class" from his then boss, Mike Price...

Speaking of Price, nobody truly though he'd be leaving, did they???

And now for your "Cum Ba Yah" Christmas ad of the week:

"Having trouble picking out that perfect gift for your special someone this Holiday Season??? Why not go original, and get them a never-been-thought-of-before band with handles? You won't be sorry..."

And finally tonight... Odds on Petrino's next job...

10-1: High Risk Mortgage Broker
15-1: Contract Lawyer
20-1: Guidance Counselor
150-1: Nemesis Role as Opposing Coach in "Waterboy 2"

Talk amongst yourselves...

Didn't Get a Kick out of This...

A gross injustice occured last night. Yes. Indeed. Has Tim Donaghy traded in his NBA Stripes for 2 fist-fulls (held together by handcuffs, no doubt) of Lou Groza Award votes??? For those that sat through Chris Fowler's Comic Strip tryout to get to the voting, here's what you saw...



Yes, a Freshman from Arizona State won the award, beating out the best kicker in college football, UTEP's Jose Martinez. YES, he was almost 96% on field goal conversions. YES, he came back after getting a metal rod put through his leg. YES, he's from a BCS school.

But answer me this! Has he going 5 for 5 on field goals in a game? NO. Martinez has. Did he kick the 2nd longest field goal of the year at 57 yards, that could have cleared 65? NO. Martinez has. Weber only hit from 53.

Something Martinez has done that NOBODY in the country has done??? He went 4 for 4 on onside kicks this year. As my buddy Brett Bloomquist from the El Paso Times once said, "Martinez is an onside kicking savant." Indeed...

Quick Hits...

Several quick notes for you today. First, more news on the Mike Price front. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer said here that Coach Price has been contacted by Washington St., and "If they want to talk with me, that's fine," Price said by phone from Houston while recruiting for Texas-El Paso. "It's my school, and I'm a Cougar, so I would almost have to sit down and visit with them."

A former UTEP football coach is up for a Head Coaching position in Conference USA.



David Lee, currently the outgoing Offensive Coordinator at Arkansas, and the assumed future Offensive Coordinator at Ole Miss is up for the Southern Miss vacancy. Feel free to read about it here...

Sun Bowl coaches are in town. You can tell that South Florida coach Jim Leavitt is cut from the same cloth os OU's Bob Stoops, as they coached together at Kansas St. under legendary workaholic Bill Snyder. This guy is flat out, A FOOTBALL COACH. I'm betting that when he goes home at night, he's at the dinner table asking someone to "pitch the peas, please."

Mike Belotti might seem to have more polish on 1st glance, but that's because it's his 3rd time at the Sun Bowl, and he's been there, done that. Both team at one point or another were ranked #2 in the nation at 1 point. The Oregon QB's are the wildcard in this one. The 2 healthy quarterbacks have a combined game and a half experience between them. Should be interesting to see....

Buckshots...

How about good ole Bobby Knight? The Texas Tech basketball coach gets into it with a homeowner in the Greater Lubbock area for ALLEGEDLY spraying buckshot in his pool during a dove-hunting expedition.



You mean to tell me that the guys that said all of that above in the ESPN Top 10 isn't an upstanding citizen?!?!?! How dare anyone accuse the ageless Bobby Knight of such a crime!?!?!?!?

On a serious note, I did ask Knight last year, when Tech came to play UTEP in El Paso, to spin a yarn a bit about Don Haskins, and you'd have thought that the 2 had been seperated at birth. After all, when Haskins and Dan Wetzel put "Glory Road" together, Bobby Knight wrote the forward.

Only during post-game football and basketball game press conference do I wish sometimes that I worked in Lubbock. Sometimes Knight, and Mike Leach



throw in such pearls of wisdom. It'd be fun to write a book of them one day, but I might end up with buckshot in my pool if I did...

UTEP topped NMSU in Hoops the other night, 84-76. I'm told that new NMSU basketball coach Marvin Menzies honeymoon period in Las Cruces officially ended after the loss. Remember, these recruits, while highly rated, aren't his guys. Also remember, that 1 of his assitants was interviewed for his job, and was kept on the staff. Comfortable situation?!?!?!?

Keeping it with NMSU, went to Accuweather.com after watching their bloopers on Youtube. Enjoy how clueless the weatherman gives the weather for Friday's NMSU- Fresno St. game, and calls it "Loboland." Nice work, Gump.

By the way, check out the weather for the Oregon- Oregon St. game. 1 of the 2 in this game, depending what USC and Arizona St. do, will be headed to El Paso for the Sun Bowl. Oregon has the top rushing offense in the PAC 10 by a mile statistically, but that's changed since QB, and Heisman Hopeful Dennis Dixon went out of the season with a knee. With cold rain scheduled, this is anyone's game. I'd bet that the Sun Bowl Committee would like to see the Ducks win this one, considering how poorly Oregon St. traveled to El Paso last year.

Keeping it on the Sun Bowl, how refreshing is it to see South Florida coming to the Sun Bowl???? They're PUMPED about coming, and according to Sun Bowl Exec, and fellow Jos. A. Bank shopper Bernie Olivas, tickets sale have been unbelieveable from the folks out in Tampa.

Lastly, I wonder if Oregon St. Coach Mike Riley, and Oregon Coach Mike Belotti invade the others TV show before they play with a Sun Bowl berth on the line??? Whaaaa? That doesn't happen??? It did back in the day... Enjoy!



Finally, an update on the possibility of Mike Price leaving UTEP to return to his old stomping grounds at Washington St.

KLAQ Morning Sports stud Duke Keith had a sit-down with Price earlier in the week, and asked him about that. Enjoy the non-denial denial (stolen from Seattle PI writer Bud Withers).

From Hawaii/Ft. Worth/ Houston to ??????

This time last week, we were all trying to decide whether or not the Miner football team would be bowling in Hawaii, Houston or Ft. Worth. After their heartbreaker in Houston against Rice Saturday, bowling seems like a mirage...

Rice turned the ball over 7 times, lost 2 onside kickoffs to UTEP, and were down in the 4th quarter to the Miners by 20 points. This game was OVER. As the "Voice of the Miners," John Teicher eloquently put it, the Miners "collapsed" in the 4th quarter. Rice scored 28 unanswered points in the 4th quarter, to not only take the lead, but win the game, 56-48.


The obvious problem? The UTEP defense. They've been giving up BIG yards, and BIG points all year. According to the box score on Yahoo Sports (unofficial), Rice gained 570 yards. Brace yourselves, and consider the problem officially diagnosed in this game.

Here was the REAL problem to the ending of this one. The UTEP offense went 4 and out twice, not including a missed field goal, and going 0-2 on 4th downs in the 4th quarter.




What does that translate into? A Miner defense being on the field for far too long. They were on the field for 80-90% of the 4th quarter, and were exhausted, forcing them to give up the big plays late. ALL defenses need a break in the 4th quarter.



The Miners statistically will be eligible for a bowl if they can win 2 of their last 3 regular season games, but realistically, they need to win all 3 to secure a berth. Does this team have enough character to turn it around after losing 3 straight? History says no, but this season's final chapters aren't written.... just.... yet.

Romo a Go!

Tony Romo will be a Dallas Cowboy for a while longer. Though he won't admit it, he'll bve signing for 6 years, and 67 million... A quick breakdown on QB's in the NFL, and how Carrie Underwood's Ex rates, care of the good folks at the Dallas Morning News...

Peyton Manning, IND: 7 years, $99.2 Million (AAV: $14.17 Million; Signed in 2004)
Carson Palmer, CIN: 9 years, $118.75 Million (AAV: $13.19 Million; Signed in 2005)
Tony Romo, DAL: 6 years, $67.5 Million (AAV: $11.25 Million; Signed in 2007)
Marc Bulger, STL: 6 years, $65 Million (AAV: $10.83 Million; Signed in 2007)
JaMarcus Russell, OAK: 6 years, $61 Million (AAV: $10.17 Million; Signed in 2007)
Tom Brady, NE: 6 years, $60 Million (AAV: $10 Million;Signed in 2005)
Drew Brees, NO: 6 years, $60 Million (AAV: $10 Million; Signed in 2006)
Brett Favre, GB: 10 years, $100 Million (AAV: $10 Million; Signed in 2001)
Vince Young, TEN: 6 years, $58 Million (AAV: $9.67 Million; Signed in 2006)
Donovan McNabb, PHI: 12 years, $115 Million (AAV: $9.58 Million; Signed in 2002)
Chad Pennington, NYJ: 7 years, $64.2 Million (AAV: $9.17 Million; Signed in 2004)
Eli Manning, NYG: 6 years, $54 Million; (AAV: $9 Million; Signed in 2004)
Matt Leinart, ARI: 6 years, $50.8 Million (AAV: $8.47 Million; Signed in 2006)
Philip Rivers, SD: 6 years, $50.5 Million (AAV: $8.42 Million; Signed in 2004)
Alex Smith, SF: 6 years, $49.5 Million (AAV: $8.25 Million; Signed in 2005)
Matt Hasselbeck, SEA: 6 years, $49.4 Million (AAV: $8.23 Million; Signed in 2005)
Matt Schaub, HOU: 6 years, $48 Million (AAV: $8 Million; Signed in 2007)

Romo was asked about it on his Radio Show. Enjoy his fake denial...

Several people have commented to me about the 15 laterals that happened in a Division 3 football game over the weekend... Allow me to pull a curtain back a bit, as I have Division 3 football game coverage experience.

3-5 years ago, I actually covered the 2 teams that were playing in that game.... Seriously. I was the Sports Reporter/Weekend anchor at the CBS Affiliate in Sherman, TX. Austin College, the D3 college in Sherman would play both Trinity, and Millsaps, the 2 teams in that game.

Think of it as watching 13th grade football. That's the best description I can give. The cool thing is that these guys are playing for the love of the game, period. No scholarships, no NFL (except for the lucky 1 or 2 players that were kicked out of D1 schools, and were playing at these places as a last resort). The ending to this one is fun to watch, though the announcers might be closer to D4 announcers:



I should take it easier on these guys, as they college kids.... The part that makes me laugh the most, is at the end of the video. The camera pans to the stands, and there's literally 15 people cheering... I don't miss D3 football...

The season is hardly over for UTEP. In fact, in this "rebuilding year" they're still alive for a piece of the CUSA title, and are very much alive for a bowl game. Though they lost their last 2 by a combined 6 points, if Tulsa beats Houston, and UTEP can win out, they take a piece of the trophy. Mike Price talks about it here. Thanks to the EP Times, and the GREAT Duke Keith.