7:30 PM Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Cortez Kennedy said how during his Miami Hurricanes days, teammate Randy Shannon would stay in his apartment & watch the refrigerator to keep Kennedy from eating late at night.
If the Bearcats were in the championship game, there is one certainty — Notre Dame would have had to wait to name Brian Kelly its football coach if the university wanted him to lead the Irish.
Kelly returned to Cincinnati this weekend after being introduced as Notre Dame coach last Friday.
Based on the nature of Kelly’s abrupt departure as Univ. of Cincinnati Coach to Notre Dame in the same capacity, I doubt this news surprises anyone. In fact, a Bearcat football player foretold the possibility of a local backlash on the day Kelly announced to the team he was leaving for Notre Dame. Read more…
Last night Univ. of Cincinnati receiver Mardy Gilyard accused his former coach Brian Kelly of not being completely truthful with the team in the past about how much interest the coach had in the Notre Dame job.
Ryan Ernst of the CINCINNATI ENQUIRER reports on what UC quarterback Tony Pike said about the prospect of coach Brian Kelly accepting the Notre Dame coaching job before the Bearcats banquet on Thursday:
“He told us from the get-go that we’d be the first people to know whatever he decides,” senior quarterback Tony Pike said Thursday evening before the team banquet. “We’re going to keep him at his word. We’ve trusted him this far and we’re going to believe what he says.”
Oops!
Turns out the UC players were the absolute last to know, relegated to learning the news via ESPN television reports while their former coach slinked around banquet’s host hotel hallways flanked by security guards. Read more…
Thanks in part to David Haugh of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, Neil Hayes of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE and Tim Keown of ESPN.com, Brian Kelly’s personal stance on abortion is suddenly a topic of conversation in the main media as it pertains to his candidacy for the football coaching job at Notre Dame.
Haugh today:
The toughest ones have nothing to do with his well-documented background working for Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart 25 years ago or Kelly’s alleged pro-choice beliefs.
At this moment, those are the only three main media sources reporting about Kelly’s view on abortion. Did anyone actually consider picking up the phone and asking the coach? Or using their handy media credential to query him in person?
Apparently not.
I searched online media archives all day today trying to find one reputable media reference to Kelly’s stance on abortion. I found none. That isn’t to say that the coach isn’t pro-choice, but if his view on such a polarizing subject in our society isn’t immediately clear, why is anyone in the main media speculating on the impact it would have on the Notre Dame football coaching job? Read more…
One of the marks of a good college football coach is what he encourages his players to do off the football field. No, check that - what his players actually do off the field. It’s not like coaches at discipline-troubled schools actually tell their players to commit crimes and cheat on test. But a coach who has his players acting right and making a difference in the community? That is a good coach.
Brian Kelly, for example, is a good coach. Aside from the Bearcats’ considerable success on the field (21-6 for the last two seasons, Orange Bowl bid in 2008, 5-0 and ranked 8th this season), the program is squeaky-clean, a welcome development after the eyebrow-raising regime of Bob Huggins on the Cincinnati hardwood. So as they prepare for their biggest game of the season - a road test at #21 South Florida tonight - they do so with the help of Mitch Stone, the 12-year-old cancer patient that they’ve “adopted.”
It’s been disconcerting to see the rather muted appearances of a college football fixture like Erin Andrews this season. Yes, she’s been around, and yes, she’s certainly got an excuse for a decreased presence, but we’ve been a little disheartened all the same. Has this whole peephole stalker thing really gotten to her?
If we had to guess, we’d say “yes, it has.” That’s because in her recent interview with FANHOUSE, Andrews still had good things to say about her job; she just also had good things to say about things that weren’t her job, namely cutting back her work and, in her words, starting a family.
When you’re in a conservative city on the border of the South and the Midwest, and that city has not one but two significant college basketball programs chock full of recruits from around the country, there are bound to be cultural conflicts between the city’s traditional base and the teams that are now a significant part of the city itself. That’s exactly what’s happening in Cincinnati, and the results are getting ugly. The latest proof? Conservative radio host Bill Cunningham opined this morning that University of Cincinnati basketball players are, “poppin’ those things (illegitimate children) out like cherry pits out of one’s mouth.”
(Meet the new Don Imus: Now with even more overt racism!)
He really said it, folks - we’re not making this kind of bigoted trash up, as you can see and hear at this FAN NATION post. In fact, the entirety of Cunningham’s quote was a lot more inflammatory than that. Here it is, though you might want to brace yourself to hear every rash, racist “player” stereotype that can get thrown out about African-American athletes. You can also hear it in a video clip right after the jump. Ready? OK, here we go:
“How many illegitimate children does the UC men’s basketball team have? I heard it’s more than a half dozen.” Cunningham responded to himself, ignoring his producer’s conciliatory reply. “So there’s some hangin’ and bangin’ going on at the Shoemaker Center after the game. … [T]hey’re poppin’ those things out like cherry pits out of one’s mouth.” Cunningham openly mused.
Clearly, Cunningham has gone way beyond the bounds of reasonable comedic radio journalism. In fact, he’s gone way beyond the bounds of taste and, in our opinion, employability. Clearly, he’s forgotten Don Imus and how his “nappy-headed hos” comment went down over at Rutgers a couple of years ago.
It started so well for Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl against Virginia Tech. On their first drive of their first-ever BCS bowl game, they marched down the field and scored a touchdown thanks to a pair of big receptions by TE Mardy Gilyard. It was an instant 7-0 lead and a sign to anyone switching over from the dog that was the Rose Bowl that this game could be good.
And then…pfft. Cincinnati spent the rest of the game playing like a team that was scared to death of being on the big stage. Meanwhile, the Hokies were being the Hokies - physical, methodical, boring - and just doing enough to salt the game away. The end result? A 20-7 Virginia Tech victory that was moderately more fun to watch than the Sun Bowl. (Hey, at least El Paso had The Village People!)
Meanwhile, in Japan…well, it’s your usual assortment of weirdness from the world of K-1. Specifically, their latest fight card was headlined by Bob Sapp, who combines the physique of Butterbean with the MMA fighting skills of Kimbo Slice into one freak show package that the Japanese can’t get enough of even if no one in the US cares. (Sort of like Cheap Trick.)
His latest opponent? Um, some guy in a wrestling mask that Sapp outweighed by 140 pounds. And oh yeah, the guy he fought was based on a cartoon character named Kinnikuman. Basically, it’s like if Brock Lesnar fought against the actual Captain Crunch. No, I don’t get it either, but I don’t get most Japanese things (Shonen Knife, sushi, Bobby Valentine). CAGE WRITER has analysis of the card and video of the Sapp/Fictional Character match:
Here’s what else was happening while you were breaking some to all of your New Year’s Resolutions:
Bad news for Florida Gator fans: AWFUL ANNOUNCING says that according to Fox, Tim Tebowhas apparently decided to transfer to Cincinnati. And play right tackle. And convert to Islam. Either that, or the graphics department at Fox is a mess.
UTEP back-up QB Jeken Frye was attacked on New Year’s Eve by a group of known gang members who came to the house he was at armed with crowbars and metal water meter covers. Not to make light of a serious situation, but honestly - metal water meter covers?
The roof of the Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center at Indiana was damaged by careless welders (wasn’t that a Wham song?), according to the AP. It’s named after the former school president from the 1930s and 1940s who favored strict segregation. Chuck D. says to let the sucker burn.
In case you missed it (and frankly, I can’t imagine that you did), video has finally been posted of David Hasselhoff’s triumphant National Anthem performance at the Las Vegas Bowl. And you know what? He’s not quite Marvin Gaye, but it wasn’t a Carl Lewis-style meltdown, either.
CAGE WRITER has another UFC fighter doing a Rampage Jackson impersonation: Josh Neer was arrested after leading Iowa police on a lengthy, high-speed car chase. Yeah, but it wasn’t a monster truck, and he sure didn’t have his picture on the side of his car.
The CINCINNATI ENQUIRER has word of a girls high school basketball player who is suing her school because she was injured while scrimmaging against men. But the good news is that the way her shoulder separated was very fundamentally sound.
Eastern Washington head basketball coach Kent Earlywine missed out on coaching his team against Boise State on Monday, according the SPOKANE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW, because he had been popped for a DUI that weekend. But he was able to watch the game online. I guess he had his “wine” a little too “early,” huh? (Insert rimshot here.)
The MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE says Minnesota Golden Gophers head hockey coach Don Lucia is suffering from an “undisclosed illness” and might miss his first-ever game in 22 years of coaching the team when they take on Brown tonight. I once went a whole three weeks at my old job between missing time with an “undisclosed illness,” otherwise known as being hungover.
The SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE debunks the latest Manny Ramirez rumors, saying “it would be a mistake to put too much stock” into rumors that have the slugger coming to the Giants next season. Still, if you think Dodgers fans hated Barry Bonds…
Don Larsen might have pitched the only perfect game in World Series history, but the SEATTLE TIMES says his flight from Idaho to New York to tape a segment for the new MLB Network was a perfect mess, turning a 60-hour trip into six days of travel hell.
The conventional wisdom is that the Pac-10 was having an exceedingly down year. In fact, that’s probably the main reason that USC was left out of the National Championship discussion: their one loss against a Pac-10 school was far worse than a loss to an SEC or Big 12 team.
So what do we make of Oregon’s 42-31 victory over Oklahoma State in last night’s Holiday Bowl? Yes, the Ducks featured an explosive offense, which you would expect from an Oregon team and is apparently mandatory to play in the Holiday Bowl. But the story was their defense in the second half, which put the clamps on the Cowboys’ star QB Zac Robinson.
It was just a big day all around for Oregon sports teams. Along with the Ducks winning the Holiday Bowl, the Portland Trail Blazers did the improbable on Tuesday night, taking out the defending champion Boston Celtics 91-86 without the services of injured All-Star guard Brandon Roy.
Keeping in mind it might be foolish for the Celtics to start panicking now - they are still 28-5 - but they have lost three of four. Oh hell, where the fun of having a sense of perspective: between this, the Patriots missing the playoffs and the Red Sox getting rejected by Mark Teixeira, let’s start wildly speculating about the end of the Boston sports dynasty.
Other sports news that happened as you prepare to get your drank on tonight:
LeBron James’ birthday wasn’t as successful as he would have liked, as he lost his showdown with Dwayne Wade’s Heat 104-95. Somehow you excuse me if I’m not too sympathetic. Still, the game was a lot of fun to watch - NESW SPORTS has highlights of some impressive blocks each superstar had during the game:
Most coaches are petrified of their players getting distracted by the glitz and parties that surround bowl games, especially if they are some place exciting like Miami. Which explains why the CINCINNATI ENQUIRER says Bearcats head coach Brian Kelly is debating moving his team from the hotel they are staying at ahead of the Orange Bowl because Sean “P. Diddy” Combs is having a New Year’s Eve party there.
DIME WARS has awesome video of the Pistons’ Rasheed Wallace doing what he does best: taunting and baiting NBA referees. What can you say? The man is the best of all time.
Wrestling legend/sock afficianado Mick Foley is upset with a Sports Illustrated review of the new movie “The Wrestler” that compared him to a homeless person, and he’s written an open letter on the TNA WRESTLING Web site about it. And then, for some reason, he fell 30 feet through three flaming tables to prove his point.
The LA TIMES reports that UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker, long considered to be a prime candidate for a head coaching job somewhere, is finally going to get his chance at New Mexico State. Of the seven African American head coaches in the FBS, two are in the state of New Mexico.
More from the Danny Villa mess: the BOSTON HERALD says that his wife has filed divorce papers against the disgraced former NFL player and HS football coach accused of raping an underage student. Hope he has a good divorce lawyer.
