Color Me Blue

After watching the Boise State vs Louisiana Tech football game last night, I am really starting to inject negative thoughts into my mind concerning the color of the Field Turf at Boise State's Stadium. The royal blue version color matches the primary color of Boise State's uniforms. On television, it is rather tedious to track the flight of the ball during the passing game. Boise State's uniforms secondary color is an Orange version and I would rather see an orange turf field rather than the blueish version that Boise State University has. The field is totally unique and probably from 10 thousand feet in the air looking out an airplane window, it may look like a gigantic swimming pool. With all football fields being the standard color green, our vision may be deceived watching a Boise State game on this type of field. Guess what, when you have time, call up You Tube and punch in Eastern Washington University football, a 1AA program in Cheney, Washington. This program has a Red Turf Field and this field was inaugurated within the past year. As time moves forward, the college football world may see more of this change of field color. It is very unique to say the least.

2 way street

Much has been said about the helmet-to-helmet tackles that have been made in the past few weeks especially during the games on Sunday October 17th. The fines that were levied were maybe the highest of all times by the NFL especially on the Steelers James Harrison of 75 thousand dollars.

$75,000. is after tax money. I am not an accountant but Harrison would have to earn approximately 135,000. real dollars to pay for the fine imposed on him. I understand that the league is attempting to combat the concussion problems that are at the fore-front of the game of football. No problem! Let's look at the offensive side of the great game of football. Correct me if I am wrong, but I have never seen a fine levied on running back for helmet-to-helmet contact. Many running backs are playing at high speed and flying directly at a linebacker or defensive back who is standing still attempting to do what he is trained to do and that is make a tackle. The running back proceeds to lower his head which becomes similar to a battering ram and drive his body weight forward to accumulate extra yardage which he is trained to do. In many instances, there is helmet-to helmet contact created by the running back and no fines are assessed. Don't you think the NFL powers should look at this end of the helmet-to-helmet aspects? Many running backs have knock out opponents in this manner. This should be a 2 way helmet-to-helmet street. There is much evaluation on the defensive side of the ball and the NFL should look at the concussion issues from the offensive side of the ball.

P.G. Time

Relax everyone, please be patient. Ron Cook of the Post Gazette recently(2 Sundays ago)did a negative article on Coach Dave Wannstedt. I think Ron Cook has done a really good job over the years covering Sports for the P-G and he is excellent as a host on the Sports Talk Show The Fan. But as a group, we need to be patient with the Pitt Football program. Pitt went into overtime with Utah who is now in the Top 15 and Pitt played respectfully at South Bend. Last Saturday Pitt surprised a lot of people how well they played vs the Orangemen. Pitt is 3 and 3 with a rough game vs Miami. Every game is crucial here on in. Do not forget, the Panthers lost 3 real good defensive starters in injured DE Greg Romeus, OLB Elijah Fields who left the program, and ILB Dan Mason who was injured early in the season. Many fans are saying the Big East is down in 2010 and this could be the case, but the Big East is still competitive football. WVU is 5 and 1 and battled 6-0 LSU to a 20-14 contest in Baton Rouge. Next on the agenda was an article posted in High School writer Mike White's(one excellent writer covering high school sports) column a few weeks back about Woodland Hills High having 6 graduates active in the NFL being the most across the country. And this is partially correct. There were 3 other high schools with 5 active NFL players. But as the exact research surfaces, something was left out. They forgot one program named DeMatha Catholic from Hyattsville, Maryland who also has 6 active players in the NFL. These DeMatha players are DE Derek Wake (Dolphins), CB Byron Westbrook(Redskins), RB Brian Westbrook(49ers), OT Quinn Ojinnaka(Patriots), OC Edwin Williams(Bears), CB Josh Wilson(Ravens). Take it one game at a time.

Rush Time

The Pittsburgh Trib recently did a story on the WPIAl all time running back rushing leaders on October 8th. The leader of the pack was Fort Cherry High School tailback Mike Vernillo. Through the 1999 season Vernillo rushed for 7,646 yards which is phenominal. Mike Vernillo was on a local TV show I hosted on Adelphia Cable back in 1999 and 2000 and made a nice presentation. He signed with West Virginia and then transferred to Slippery Rock. As I scanned over the list on top WPIAL rushers, one name was missing. The 10th leading rusher was Beth-Center's Keith Miller 5,121 and this tailback was not even in the top 10. He is Hopewell's Tony Dorsett who was the real deal in high school, college, and the NFL. Two Pittsburgh City Schools running backs who are were the real deals were Schenley's Larry Brown, who played at Kansas State, and 8 years for the Washington Redskins. Larry Brown made the Pro Bowl 4 years. And the other was Alllderdice's Curtis Martin, who had a real good career at Pitt, and a great career for the New York Jets. Who says this area does not produce running backs? Next in line is Hopewell's Rushel Shell(only a Junior) and if he stays healthy, should easily surpass Mike Vernillo's 7646 yard total. Shell is a legit guy and I am going to compare his style, body type and explosiveness to Alabama's Mark Ingram. If Babe Ruth was alive, he would say records are made to be broken.

One Day at a Time

After 5 games the 2 and 3 Pitt Panthers are traveling to Syracuse to play the 4 and 1 Orangemen. The only loss the Orangemen have had is against Washington but have beaten Akron, Maine, Colgate, and South Florida. Syracuse has been down for numerous years and this is a real big game for both teams. Pitt needs this victory.....The 10th month of 2010 has an interesting scenario to it. There are 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays, and 5 Sundays in October, 2010. The last time something like this happened was 823 years ago.....Speaking of October and even going backwards into September, the avid golfers have had some great days to play golf in the past 45 days. Let's hope it continues......The parity in the NFL is really coming to the fore-front this season. After 5 weeks(which includes bye weeks for some teams)there is not a single undefeated team in the entire National Football League. When Michael Vick does not start for the Philadelphia Eagles and Kevin Kolb does, all 32 teams start right handed quarterbacks which really put a huge emphasis on the importance of the Left Offensive Tackle and his ability to protect the quarterback's blind side....Time is going so fast in that there are only 3 regular season games remaining for high school football.

Is it John Russell's fault

Is it the fault of Manager John Russell for the Pittsburgh Pirates going 57 and 105. Is it the fault of Coach John Russell for the Pirates having a horrible road record, one of the worst in major league baseball history? Is it the fault of John Russell for the Pirates pitching staff having a grand total of 1 complete game out of 162 pitching starts? (By the way, this could be a modern day record in baseball). Is it the fault of John Russell that the Pirates had only one player hit over 20 home runs?(Garrett Jones had 21 and 3 of those came in Games 1 and 2). Is it the fault of John Russell that the Pirates traded Jose Bautista on August 18, 2008 to the Toronto Blue Jays for a player to be named later(Robinson Diaz)? And as all the sports fans know, Bautista slammed 54 home runs this year. Is it the fault of John Russell that the Pirates traded speedster Nyjer Morgan in mid-season 2009? Morgan is a good lead off hitter and stole 34 bases this past 2010 season. Morgan would lead off, get on first and drive the pitcher crazy. There is really no concrete explanation why the Pirates released Manager John Russell. Russell in 3 years lost a total of 299 games games basically losing 100 games per season. Could that be the reason? I just wish the administrative staff would give the fans of this region a definitive reason why they fired John Russell. This team could have had Casey Stengel managing them and they still may not have won 60 games.