John Rooke - Thinking Out Loud

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

John Rooke, GoLocal Sports Editor

Thinking Out Loud…while wondering how good ol’ Karma might come back to smack someone around again next week…

• What goes around, comes around…Pitt football coach Todd Graham decides to up and bolt for Arizona State this week, saying it was too much of an opportunity to pass up. Then, he TEXTS his players at Pitt about the decision? Hahahahahahahaha! You reap what you sow, Pittsburgh…

• Guess Coach Graham isn’t too fired up about that impending move into the ACC, huh?

• NBA Commissioner David Stern said this week he never allowed owners’ opinions to enter into his decision-making process where Chris Paul was concerned. Uh, ok. So you veto a trade to the Lakers and send him to the Clippers…in the best interest of the New Orleans franchise? Which is run by the league? Nope, I don’t see any conflicts of interest here…

• One other matter here – franchises should be allowed to sink or swim ON THEIR OWN. If they’re not good enough to attract a fan base, or afford star players, they shouldn’t exist. It’s called a “real world” scenario…

• Hey, if I run a business into the ground, or put my business in a place where it might fail (like New Orleans), will the NBA take it over and run it for me?

• The Cincinnati-Xavier brawl a week ago tells me one thing – you can take some kids out of the ‘hood, but you can never completely take the ‘hood out of some kids. That’s not a knock on the kids, or the two schools. It happens everywhere. It’s the pressure of winning that forces schools to consider some kids who have no business even stepping onto a college campus…

• Lost in the headlines this week – the NCAA’s plan to give some athletes a $2K stipend may be in trouble. It seems that a petition is going around, signed by almost 100 schools, to rescind the decision to pay some athletes the stipend toward the so-called “full cost of attendance” at colleges and universities across the country…

• If more than 125 schools sign on to this petition by the January convention, you can expect that several of the major schools who can afford the stipend will begin the process of looking into pulling out of the NCAA – and creating their own governing body. The opposition is coming primarily from Football Championship Subdivision schools and those that do not play football – and not necessarily from low-budget schools…

• Seen on Twitter this week, from SI.com’s Stewart Mandel…”we’ve got $4 million coaches, schools paying $20 million to change conferences, but that $2K player stipend will be the death of us all…”

• More government waste…two congressmen (Texas Republican Joe Barton, Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen) are forming the Congressional Collegiate Sports Caucus, in an effort to force a true college football playoff and ban the promotion of the BCS “championship game” unless it is the outcome of a true playoff. Really?

• More troubles at Syracuse…here is where Jim Boeheim’s mouth should have had a gag put in it…the first two men who said they were sexually abused by former assistant Bernie Fine are now suing Boeheim and the school for defamation. Even if Boeheim was right about this story being a ploy for money, whose money are they after?

• Robert Griffin III of Baylor was the right choice for the Heisman this year. Many years, the voters don’t get it right…but this year, they did. Even if Andrew Luck might be the top NFL selection in April, RG3 was the best college player – period – this season…

• Back-to-back Big East Rookie of the Week honors for “Buckets,” PC’s LaDontae Henton. There will be more…

• Forget the URI game. The game of the year (or season) for the Friars is at St. John’s on Dec. 27. It will be the one chance for PC to start the conference schedule off on the right foot…with a winnable game. Lose it, and the Friars are staring into Big East abyss at potentially 7 or 8 losses – maybe, in a row…

• I’d still rather have Jonathan Papelbon…but the trade to bring in Mark Melancon for Jed Lowrie and Kyle Weiland was a move aimed toward getting a little younger in the pen. Melancon is 26, had solid numbers with both the Astros and Yankees over the past two years….and shows there are no burned bridges between current Red Sox management and former bench coach (and Houston manager) Brad Mills…

• Not for nuthin’…but the Astros also got the better of the deal overall, if you ask me…Melancon gets ground balls, but still has way too much of an upper-body delivery that tells me he’s susceptible to injury. He already has one Tommy John surgery to his credit…

• Hey, wait a minute. Without Papelbon, does this mean no more Dropkick Murphy’s “Shipping Up To Boston” at Fenway Park?

• For all of the talk about Daniel Bard moving into the rotation next season…didn’t he pretty much fail as a starter when he came right out of North Carolina? I know, it was “A” ball, but still…didn’t that experience put him on his current path to the pen? Just sayin’…

• Kelly Shoppach? Matt Albers? Nick Punto? YAWN…

• Now, if the Sox can make a successful play for Oakland lefty Gio Gonzalez, I’ll put a sock in that yawn…

• Lost in Tebow-mania this week is the fact that the Patriots have eight players either first or second at their positions in Pro Bowl voting. Hey, they ARE 10-3…

• I don’t have a real problem with Tim Tebow’s very public profession of faith. But as several listeners to our “Playbook” program on Patriots.com Radio said this week, it’s not his faith that bothers most of them. It’s the timing of his pronouncement of that faith. Before or after a game? Fine. Praying during a game for a play or a call to go your way? Not fine…

• Still, I’d like to see Tebow throw a changeup every now and then, rather than start EVERY interview with “I’d like to thank Jesus Christ…”

• Wonder if Tebow will be thanking Jesus Christ after Vince Wilfork has the chance to flatten him for the first time on Sunday?

• It was great to see a RI Radio Hall of Famer, and local icon George Patrick Duffy this week. At 91 years young, he’s STILL coaching at St. Raphael Academy. When asked how he was doing, Mr. Duffy replied, “Still vertical.” We hope for a long time still to come, Mr. Duffy…

• This week’s mailbag question comes from Brett in Sugar Land, TX, via Facebook: “If the playoffs started today, the Texans would be seeded higher than the Patriots? Am I nuts?” No Brett, you’re not nuts, but as the saying goes…the playoffs DON’T start today. Or tomorrow. The Texans were #1 based on strength of opponents played, and on the fact they had an 8-2 AFC record vs. the Pats’ 7-2 after last week. It can still change…

• Interested in having your questions on local RI sports (including the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics) answered in a somewhat timely fashion? Send ‘em to me! It’s your chance to “think out loud,” so send your questions and comments to [email protected]. We’ll share mailbag comments/Facebook posts/Tweets right here! Follow me on Twitter, @jrooke0722…and on Facebook, www.facebook.com/john.rooke ...
 

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