Sports Nuts and Bolts

How It's Gonna Be

The time has come for college football. We a€™re just a few days away from the beginning of the 2008 college football season. After talking with two co-workers, I felt it was time to be bold and make some predictions:

1. Florida quarterback Tim Tebow will NOT repeat as a Heisman Trophy winner.
There are too many other contenders for Tebow to repeat and I believe that if he doesn't put up the numbers he did last year (passing: 3,286 yards, 32 TDs; rushing: 895 yards, 23 TDs), the voters may look down on that for not improving. He'€™ll have to deal with the numbers of Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell (5,705 yards passing, 48 TDs last year), Texas Tech wide receiver Michael Crabtree (134 receptions, 1,962 yards, 22 TDs), Ohio State quarterback Chris Wells (1,609 yards rushing, 13 TDs), and Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel (4,306 yards, 33 TD).

2. Notre Dame will win six or fewer games this year.
First, here'€™s the Fighting Irish'€™s 2008 schedule:
Sept. 6 vs. San Diego State
Sept. 13 vs. Michigan
Sept. 20 at Michigan State
Sept. 27 vs. Purdue
Oct. 4 vs. Stanford
Oct. 11 at North Carolina
Oct. 25 at Washington
Nov. 1 vs. Pittsburgh
Nov. 8 at Boston College
Nov. 15 at Navy
Nov. 22 vs. Syracuse
Nov. 29 at USC

Notre Dame is coming off a 3-9 season. I think the Irish can beat San Diego State, Stanford, Washington and Syracuse. North Carolina, Navy and Pittsburgh are tossup games in my opinion. I think USC and Michigan State are automatic losses.
But I'€™ll officially say 5-7. Wins over San Diego State, Stanford, Washington, Pittsburgh and Syracuse.

3. The game between Florida and Georgia on Nov. 1 will send a team to the national championship game.
These two teams are clearly the elite of the SEC. Florida holds current Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, as well as stud all-around player Percy Harvin. And never count out the mind of head coach Urban Meyer. Georgia won its last seven games of 2007, including a 42-30 victory over Florida, a 45-20 win over Auburn, a 24-13 win over Kentucky and a 41-10 thrashing of Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl. They'€™re led by junior quarterback Matthew Stafford (2,523 yards, 19 TDs last season) and running back Knowshon Moreno (1,334 yards, TDs), who burst on the scene last season as a freshman.
Both teams will have their share of tests. Florida hosts Miami and travels to No. 18 Tennessee in back-to-back games. It will host No. 11 LSU on Oct. 11 before the meeting with Georgia. Georgia plays at South Carolina, at No. 15 Arizona State, hosts No. 24 Alabama and hosts Tennessee in a four game span. The Bulldogs will host Vanderbilt and travel to defending national champion LSU before the game against Florida.

4. Ohio State WILL beat the University of Southern California.
I'€™ve heard some say that Ohio State plays a weak schedule before the USC game. On the counter of that, it plays two games compared to USC’s one. That’ll give Ohio State an extra game to work out its kinks and find out what to do with that one recruit named Terrelle Pryor.
Yes, I understand USC has the home-field advantage. Ohio State has had its tough trips on the road, including a jaunt to Austin, Texas. Ohio State returns one of the top defenses in the country, led by James Laurinaitis and Malcom Jenkins. Meanwhile, on offense, Chris Wells, Todd Boeckman and Alex Boone anchor a solid group that'€™ll be capable of putting up points.

Your thoughts?

--Josh

Nice start for Redmen

Everyone knows the Review Times reporters are under a tight deadline for their Friday night stories. We’ll hit the office after a game, arms full of notebooks, programs, roster sheets, tape recorders and half-consumed cans of pop.

Before we can get our hats off, our nice-guy editor Scott Cottos (who has turned into Simon Legree) says something like, "You’ve got 23 minutes. Did you get quotes from both coaches like I told you to? Give me the box score. You’re at that computer. He’s shaking his finger frantically while still typing at his own station "Don’t spill your pop on the news reporter’s desk like you did last week either! And speed it up, you’ve only got 21 minutes," he yelps. Geesh.

Believe me, it’s a reporter’s version of the hurry up offense. But boy, the Redmen really came through in their 21-7 win at Ottawa-Glandorf this Friday night past, and there is still a lot to talk about, and it’s nice to approach it in a quiet, civilized manner ... now that Dr. Jeckel Cottos has turned back into his mild-mannered, jovial self again. That is, until the next Friday night, when he’ll again have to navigate his ship and crew through another typhoon.

I’m sure after a couple of lackluster scrimmage outings (and tough assessments by coach Tom Grine published in the R-T) FHS fans were wondering what the heck was going on. But on Friday night, the Redmen overcame a big miscue at the start of the game and played with all the qualities coaches like — toughness, discipline and tenacity. Micah Hyde took the first snap and rolled back and to his right then lost control of the ball, fumbled it backwards and watched the Titans recover at the Redmen 4 yard line. That set up O-G’s only touchdown of the night, a 1-yard sneak by Taylor Kuhlman.

But on the next possession, FHS drove 81 yards on 14 plays to even things out, with Hyde scoring on a 1-yard run. That statement-making, near perfect march signaled that the club was more than ready to play good ball. Naturally, Hyde is going to be the headliner for the squad but I thought Jon Ramirez made the Redmen go that night. Ramirez went both ways in the unusual combination of nose tackle/tailback. In the first drive, Ramirez carried the ball three times and caught a pass, converting it for a first down. Ramirez seemed to have a knack for moving the sticks at crucial times, as he converted four carries into first downs for the game.

On defense, Ramirez absorbed the brunt of the Titan running game, which featured stocky tailback Logan Kaufman pounding away up the gut to the tune of 165 yards on 28 carries. The 6-foot-1, 235-pound Ramirez hung in there on an extremely muggy night and came up with five solo stops, a tackle for loss and a huge fourth quarter fumble recovery at the O-G 7 that set up FHS’ lockdown third touchdown.

After the game, Ramirez commented on the club’s turnaround from a disappointing preseason. "Mentally, we weren’t there,: he said. "We were slacking in practices. We were actually scared of running sprints. And we shouldn’t be doing that. We have to have that mentality to pick it up and do what we have to." Linebacker Anthony Costilla contributed to the Redmen cause with nine solos stops. "Over this past week, we’ve been working our butts off," Costilla said. "We had to come back here and show O-G who we are after they beat us in the playoffs last year." Speaking of his own style of play, Costilla added: "I want to be known as a hard-working senior leader. That helps me get motivated."

Coach Tom Grine deflected any accolades attributed to him and his staff for getting the players ready to lay down a 48-minute solid performance. "The kids just made plays," Grine said. "We made plays when we had to. That’s what successful teams do — they get the athletes out there and they make the plays. "Our kids understand now that we have to work harder in practice. Our focus wasn’t there before. But tonight the kids played so well, they made the coaches look good."

Possession reciever Jordan Bulkowski, a junior, made some nice cuts after catches and gained 41 yards on six completions, while senior Derrick Pullom hauled in three balls for 33 yards, including a 6-yard touchdown pass. On that play, with Hyde backpedaling and buying time, Pullom ran in the back of the end zone and broke open to make the go-ahead scoring snag with 32 seconds left in the first half.

But FHS wasn’t through manufacturing oppurtunites for itself before the break. On a pooch kickoff attempt, the Redmen caught O-G napping and speedy sophomore Tyrell Tucker nearly came up with the free ball around the Titan 30 but was ruled out of bounds. Tucker later made his presence felt, on the last play of the third quarter, by hustling under Hyde’s 57-yard punt and downing it at the O-G 1. On the play, Tucker slipped down inside the five but jumped up to dive on the ball before it rolled into the end zone.

--Bill

Baseball Firsts

I can't help but wonder if tonight's Angels-Rays game marked the first time in baseball history that both the winning and losing pitcher were named Shields.

Gotta be.

And you know who only in the last few years gained the first alphabetical listing in the Baseball Register? David Aardsma. Somehow it seems wrong that a journeyman pitcher pushes the great Henry Aaron to No. 2.

Another thing, and totally unrelated to the above. In my last blog, I gave shout-outs to all of those who helped me finish our preseason high school football edition -- except one guy, and it was totally unintentional. Big thanks to the work done by Chris Morit, another veteran of my staff who year in and year out produces nice previews on the Tiffin schools. Chris even does his work for me while residing in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood. That's dedication with a capital D, and I do appreciate it. Sorry to have left you out, man.

--Scott

R U Ready?

I've been more than ready for some football for quite a while now. I've been knee-deep in it.

I'm not seeking any martyrdom, but I'm fresh off a load of annual work that goes toward producing our annual football preseason edition -- a.k.a., the football tab, known as such because of its tabloid size.

It's always nice to have this bear done so I can bear down on day-by-day activities, which are starting to get aplenty around here with high school sports getting back into a full swing.

I hope you find the tab informative and useful, not only now but throughout the season and perhaps longer. For a small staff at a small paper, we try to do some big-time work.

On Page 3 of the tab, you'll see the names of some of the people who have done things toward getting the project completed.

But there are many more who pitch in whose names don't appear in that space, so I'm going to indulge myself and them with some shout-outs. I'm certain I thanked them at the time of their contributions, but I really can't thank them enough.

Joan Nelson, who does a little bit of everything in the newsroom, was again invaluable in getting photos downloaded. Staff writer Addie Curlis pitched in with some of that, as well as proofreading and chatting gymnastics with me. Our now-departed intern, Kelly Pickerel -- she didn't die; she's just on her way back to Kent State -- did a lot of proofreading and put more information about football into her brain than she had ever aspired to.

News editor Joel Sensenig also did some editing for me, while features editor Mariah Mercer showed me how to stroke my computer just so to make it cooperate.

Staff writers Sandra Whitta and Chandra Niklewski, as always, took big doses of my needling and returned some snappy replies.

Managing editor Linda Woodland was on the DL, but the tab-time wisdom she's imparted in the past has remained with me.

And a big shout-out goes to Rob Ledwedge of Picture Perfect, who helped get me out of a self-dug hole.

I can't tell you all how fortunate I am to have the part-time staff of sports writers that I do. Jim Woessner, aka Mr. Track, has been with me longer than he cares to admit, so to call him venerable would be an understatement. Bill Schaffer and Josh Morgret have been so helpful through recent years that I only wish I had time to treat them to more chicken wings. Tessa Sibley came on board last fall and has done nothing but great things for us.

Now it's time for more football. And cross country, golf, tennis ... To steal a recently turned phrase from elsewhere, let the games begin!

Local boy makes good

One of the things I've found to be pretty cool since I've worked for the Review Times is the fact that I've been able to follow some local athletes to the pinnacles of their sports.

When I got here, Elmwood graduate Chris Hoiles was already a standout catcher with the Baltimore Orioles.

As Hoiles finished his career, Fostoria graduate Damon Moore was going to the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL after having starred at Ohio State.

A few years later, another FHS grad, Richard "Skiddy" Newsome, went on from Michigan State to play a season with the New Orleans Saints.

Last year, Arcadia alumnus Jerry Blevins made it to baseball's "Show" with the Oakland A's, and I was able to make it in to Cleveland to visit with him just before the end of the season.

Blevins is back in the bigs this year, and while the A's are sinking slowly into the AL West it's not because of our local boy. He's been very effective as a left-hander out of the bullpen, and it looks like he might be one of general manager Billy Beane's building blocks for the future.

Assuming all goes right, we should have some insight from Blevins in Saturday's  edition of the Review Times. Mark Heiman from our sister paper, The Courier,  is heading up to Comerica Park in Detroit Friday night and plans to talk to Blevins before the game and file a story for both of our papers as the game is played.

Considering how things have gone for the Indians, Tigers and Reds this season, it's nice to have one good thing about baseball in this area this late in the season.

--Scott

It's all about me

Having lived in Green Bay as a kid, I have something of an idea of what the good people of that city feel for Brett Favre. Bart Starr was the coach of the Pack when I lived there, and though his teams had little success, he could do no wrong as a coach in the fans' eyes because of what he'd done as a player.

Brett Favre could break every commandment and then some tomorrow and the fans in Green Bay would still want him to play quarterback.

But to many of the rest of us, including myself, he's sacrificed his dignity by playing cat-and-mouse and waving his legend status in the Packers' face to return to a job he willingly left only months ago.

This, in my mind, puts him at the top of the current rankings for most selfish athletes on earth.

No. 2 is Barry Bonds only because he's lying low these days, in part because no team wants any part of the B.S. he's brought onto himself over the years. Ordinarily, he'd rank No. 1, and he just might be that for all time anyway.

No. 3 Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson. This guy just can't get enough of himself, whether it's seeking more passes thrown his way, more money thrown his way or more touchdown celebrations that he can perform. It's a good thing he gets in the end zone every so often or who knows what he'd be doing for the sake of doing something.

Let's hear what y'all think about this issue. Who else in the world of sports has such a Me Complex that it makes you do a slow (or fast) burn?