Coincidence.....I Think Not!

Terence Cody At Combine Weigh In.

Terence (Mount) Cody failed his conditioning test as a rookie for the Baltimore Ravens. Listed at 6'6" 350 lbs. it is understandable that he is not the most cut player on the team, but for a second round pick, you would think that he would put in the effort to be in better shape coming into camp.

Andre Smith 40 Yard Dash

What I find interesting is that Andre Smith OT for the Bengals had similar issues coming into camp his rookie year (2009), albeit later due to contract negotiations. Smith missed all but one week of camp and then hurt is foot the second day he was there and missed 10 games of the season. He also missed OTA's this spring with follow up surgery on his broken foot.

So there you have it, two huge men who have come from SEC powerhouse Alabama under Nick Saban falling on there face once they have signed their millionaire contracts. Smiths contract - $42 million with $21 million guaranteed. Cody's contract - $3.385 million with $1.5 million guaranteed. Now I don't know about you but if it was up to me, I think that I would do whatever I had to do to justify an NFL team investing that kind of cash on my ass. But that's just me.

The thing that I question is the character of these kids and how did they ever get through college? From what I have seen of them is they worked their butts off playing college football, signed their deals, and now they can sit back and do the bare minimum to make earn their money on the highest level letting owners, fans, and fellow players down in the process.
You are probably wondering why I would waste my time on such a topic......well..... it still stems from the 2008 Sugar Bowl and the cocky arrogance of Saban and Alabama players. Every time I get an opportunity to knock Saban or one of the Alabama players I take full advantage of it. Remember LB Antoine Caldwell telling Stevenson Sylvester that he was going to kill him? Check it out.
Caldwell threatening Utes after coin toss

2010 MWC Season Projections

Apologies, apologies, apologies. I have not posted a blog for about a week and for that I am sorry. The news during the middle of July is very slow, coming up with content has been rough. I decided quality vs. quantity. (If you consider any of my rambling posts anything close to quality is purely subjective).

MWC media days begin in Vegas Tuesday which starts off the 2010 college football season. This is great news because we will get the media pre-season poll for the MWC and thus opening up discussion and arguments as to whether or not your team deserves it's position in the rankings. Since this is Monday and the polls have not been released I will give you my projections for the conference title.
I am not going into detail on each team because I will be breaking down each game the Ute's play and will go more in depth on the teams at that time.


2010 Mountain West Football Projected Finish

1. TCU - The returning starters on a high scoring offense gives TCU the nod...but not by much

2. Utah - Anything could happen, but Utah would have to play a perfect game to slow down TCU even  with the game at home. There are to many questions on defense to stop the them let alone out score them.

3. Air Force - The Falcons have been trying to break into the big three for quite awhile. This is the year.

4. BYU - The offense will be a work in progress. I don't care how talented Heaps is as a freshman QB there  is still a huge learning curve from high school to college....sorry Coug fans...better luck in 2011.

5. Wyoming - Austyn Carta-Samuels is the real deal and with stability at QB, the offense could surprise a few teams.

6. Colorado State - Coach Fairchild's team is on a nine game losing streak.

7. San Diego State - Perennial under achievers. I don't understand it considering the fruitful recruiting grounds in So Cal. How long has QB Lindley been playing for the Aztecs???

8. UNLV - Sorry Rebels once again you just do not have the horses to compete.

9. New Mexico - Not sold on the coaching staff and that is a shame, I think New Mexico actually has some talented players. Too bad Elizabeth Lambert got booted off the girls soccer team, as mean as she is, she could probably start.

Elizabeth Lambert from New Mexico's women's

soccer team abusing a BYU player.

Pitt Panther Preview - First Game 2010 Season

Pitt shows up September 2, at Rice-Eccles in arguably one of the biggest games of the opening weekend of college football. As I checked in on message boards and media speculation on the game it is apparent that Pitt and their fans are nervous about the non-conference opener.

Pitt is starting a sophomore QB in Tino Sunseri. If you are not familiar with the name don't feel bad, he has never started a game and has seen only mop-up duty in 2009 piling up 114 total yards on 10 for 17 passing with two touchdowns. Head Coach Dave Wannstedt is giving Sunseri the nod over Pat Bostick who redshirted last year. Starting your first college game ever, on the road, across the country, should be enough to rattle the young QB into a few miscues. Advantage - Utes.

The offensive line for the Panthers is also in flux. With two returning tackles they should be consistent on the edge, but they do have questions at center, gaurd, and tight end. With the tendency for the Utes to blitz inexperienced O-lines, Sunseri may have to get used too a bunch of red in his grill. Unless Pitt can show that they can stop the pressure on the QB, or open some running lanes for a pair of talented backs, they could be in for a long day, which is what I predict. Advantage - Utes.

Pitt will lean heavily on breakout freshman Dion Lewis who accumulated 1,799 yards on 325 carries. That is a butt load of carries and I would be surprised to see Wannstedt expect that number of carries this season. Lewis is backed up by a very talented Ray Grahm, who many thought would transfer in and effort to be a premier back. But with the changes in the offensive line and tight end, the yards will be hard to come by with Utah's front, but the Utes have also had a hard time containing small versatile backs. With the questions at linebacker for Utah, this could cause some concern especially if they get into the secondary. Advantage - Even.

At 6' 5", 225 pound wide out Jonathan Baldwin is going to be a handful for any secondary, but he could be a nightmare for the unproven defensive secondary of the Utes. His sub 4.4 speed and 42" vertical leap could spell trouble for Utah's speedy but smaller corners and safeties. If the Pitt O-line can give Sunseri time to throw the ball, Baldwin could have a HUGE day. Advantage - Pitt.

For a defense that ranked 29th nationally in 2009, expectations are high for a stellar returning group. That being said, DE Jabaal Sheard was suspended indefinitely for an undisclosed incident last weekend and will likely miss at least the Utah game. His loss takes the teeth out of a Pitt defensive front that would have been considered one of the best in the nation. They are stll returning DE Greg Romeus, LB's Greg Williams and Max Gruder with Tristan Williams pressing for playing time, and should present Utah with a formidable challenge. But Utah's spread offense and the fact they are on the road will pose problems for the young defense. The secondary returns one starter in safety Dom DeCicco who was the teams second leading tackler last season. Look for Utah to expose that inexperience and the loss of Sheard. Advantage - Utes.

Special teams return place kicker Dan Hutchins who was 23 for 29 in '09. He also converted on 46 of 48 extra point attempts. Both kick and punt returners will be back this season. Hutchins kicked two game winning field goals last year against UConn in October and once again in the Meineke Car Care Bowl against North Carolina. With Utah returning both kickers and experience in the return game it is difficult to pick a favorite for special teams. With the game being played at Rice-Eccles and this being the first game of the year. I give Advantage - Utes for that reason alone.

It is tough to predict what kind of team you have early in the season. Kyle Whittingham had always stated that they should not even do a top 25 poll until the 5th or 6th game because nobody really knows what they have until about that time. These two teams match up pretty well against each other but as noted above Utah has the upper hand with stability at QB, RB, Offensive Line, and overall defense. Add home field and Utah wins it's season opener against the Pitt Panthers 27-10.

Pittsburg Panthers have not been to a BCS game since 2004. Remember that one?

How Far They Have Come

As we get prepared for the upcoming season, (August 5th fall practice begins), I have been searching the web for significant info on the Utes. Although there is quite a bit of information, nothing really jumps out at you. I did happen upon the release of season tickets for the 2010 campaign and was amazed that the system that the university set up to sell these tickets was overloaded and could not handle all of the requests.
To be fair the school did not inform the public that it was only releasing 1000 tickets and they probably should have, but I would rather look at this from a more positive view, which is the demand for these tickets.

In 2001 the average attendance for RES was 34,458. In 2009 the stadium averaged 45,155. Of course the spike in attendance coincided with the success of the team during the past decade but I wonder how many seats the Utes could sell. With the PAC-10 inclusion coming next year, I think that they could presumably sell into the 60 to 65,000 seat range without worry. I don't know that RES could handle that kind of addition but I would think that when the new stadium was built (1997-98), the architects had to consider potential expansion as a part of the design. Chris Hill Utah's AD is on record stating that potential expansion is coming but capacity, as far as I know, has not been announced.

Stadium capacity in the PAC-10 is quite varied. USC and UCLA have venues that handle 92,000 and 91,136 respectively. Cal, Arizona State, and Washington all boast over 70,000 with the smallest stadium being Washington State at 35,117. If Utah was to expand 65,000 we would be the fifth largest stadium in the PAC-10. Colorado's stadium holds 53,570.

I guess my point is that University of Utah football has come a long ways since 2000. The 2004 team seemed to be an anomaly. But the success that Coach Whit has brought to the table lifted the program to heights unimaginable just ten short years ago. With PAC-10 membership looming, success could be taken to another level completely.

Can you say National Championship! Not only is it conceivable......it is probable.

                                           Cummings Stadium 1884-1926

Ute Stadium 1927-1971

NO IMAGE COULD BE FOUND

Rice Stadium 1972-1997

Rice-Eccles Stadium 1998-Present

Desperate for Football - NFL Network

I spend x amount of time on the Internet searching for football news that may relate to the Utes or 49ers. My current schedule allows me plenty of time to go through the list of blogs and news articles that may offer up some information that I probably have to know about.
Unfortunately the news front is so quiet right now you may have one or two items to choose from on a 24 hour need to know basis and most of the stuff is referencing old news.

I needed something, anything. Well I found it, and believe it or not it did have something to do with the Utes in a very round about way. I will explain later on in this blog.

I turned to the NFL Network. Usually they are replaying 2009 games, top ten lists, old Superbowl's, and NFL follies, things that don't really offer anything up to fill the void left by 30 days of nothingness in July. They had been running a show called Hard Knocks, I thought it was a fictional account of the NFL along the lines of the one they did on ESPN, at least that was my thought when I clicked through the guide.

I hit the enter key on my remote to watch and was pleasantly surprised. The show actually is the real story behind various 2009 teams during training camp. This particular series of episodes, (I think there were four of them), showcased the Cincinnati Bengals from the start of the rookies first speech from head coach Marvin Lewis to the the last cuts to the 53 man roster.
I watched every episode last night. I could not turn it off. If you ever want a reality show that does not pull any punches I strongly suggest you tune in. The punishment and stress put on these players is amazing. The coaches are relentless in their pursuit of the best players and they take no prisoners. You find yourself getting caught up in the emotions of the players, coaches, and members of the organization that surprised even myself. Never....EVER..... did I think that I would watch anything to do with the Cincinnati Bengals but I was consumed with everything.

Now what it had to do with the Utes.

During the 2009 Sugar Bowl you will remember a certain offensive lineman from Alabama that was suspended from the game because he had improper contact with an agent. That's right, the Bengals drafted 6' 4" 330 pound Andre Smith, the same Smith suspended by Nick Saban in the Sugar Bowl against Utah. At the time I wondered how a player with one game remaining could do something so stupid but after watching the happenings in Bengals training camp, and their efforts to sign Smith, it was very apparent why he did it. Greedy agent and self serving stupid individual.

I don't know why Smith was in such a hurry to find an agent because unlike the other rookies who signed their contracts Smith held out until the final five days of training camp, and his agent was a jackass. During the last episode you will find out what the wait cost Smith and the Bengals.

This is great stuff and if you have had enough of the Lebron crap, the never ending MLB season, and The World Cup, click on and tune in to the NFL Networks Hard Knocks series. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Former Ute - Alex Smith

I wanted to try and clear some things up about Smith, his college career and his up and down NFL career. I read Block U today about the writers favorite Ute. I enjoy his blog and he is one of the reasons I started one of my own, but I disagree with his thoughts on Brian Johnson being the better Ute than Alex.

Smith is 21-1 while starting for Utah, was fourth in Heisman voting and  busted the BCS for the first time since it's inception, winning that Fiesta game against an underwhelming Pitt team. The 2004 version of the Utah Utes as far as I am concerned was the best team ever produced, (there may be some old timers that would probably disagree but for arguments sake lets consider the last thirty years). Teams that year included, Texas A&M 41-21, Arizona 23-6, North Carolina 46-16, BYU 52-21, and Pitt Panthers in the Fiesta Bowl 35-7. The 2008 version won four games (Michigan, TCU, Air Force, and Oregon State), by 11 points combined. No team from 2004 got
within 11 points of the Utes.
Back to Smith. His grasp of the offense during that 2004 season was impressive to say the least, that being said it gives you some perspective of what happened to him in the NFL.

2005- Smith was drafted by the 49ers #1 overall and was expected to lead them back to the promised land. The only problem with that scenario is the 49er team Smith inherited was terrible. They had a new head coach that was tasked to turn the team around. The problem was the entire team had to be rebuilt. There was no quick fix after being saddled with salary cap hell by the previous management.

As expected, he started nine games his rookie season struggling with one touchdown vs. eleven int's.

2006 - Offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy fled to Green Bay the next season and Alex was forced to learn a new system under Norv Turner. Smith progressed nicely under Turner and had a respectful 2006 campaign starting all 16 games, (the only 49er QB in team history to have done that), and it was generally felt that Smith has taken the next step. Then Turner left for the head coaching gig in San Diego and boom, a third offense to learn in as many years.

2007 - Jim Hostler, the QB coach in 2006, was named OC. He had never been a OC before and was given the chore of running a pro football teams offense for the first time ever, the disaster that followed was epic, and with Smith trying to lead the team with a patchwork offensive line ended up costing him his season. On Sept. 20 in a game against the Seahawks d-lineman Rocky Bernard slammed his 320+ pounds on top of Smith driving his throwing shoulder into the turf causing a grade three separation effectively ending his season. Although Smith tried to endure without surgery and actually played through the injury in a few games, it was apparent to everyone, (except his head coach), that Smith was injured badly and should not be playing. 2007 Season done, Smith was placed on IR and had surgery on the injured shoulder.

2008 - Same old story same old song and dance, the 49ers fire Hostler and replaced him with Mike Martz. Martz was the OC of the "Greatest Show on Turf" of the Rams during their Super bowl season. He was fired by the Detroit Lions after failing to improve the lowly Lions offense.

Nolan and Matrz started a QB competition circus with JT OSullivan, Shaun Hill, and Smith battling for the starting nod. OSullivan was from Martz days with the Lions and knew Martz system, Smith and Hill were at a distinct disadvantage. It was apparent that something was still effecting Smiths throwing and he was spurned for OSullivan as the starter, on September 10th Smith was placed on IR for a broken bone caused by the initial surgery. 2008 done.

2009 - To stay with the team and not have the label of "bust" attached to him forever in San Francisco, Smith restructured his contract from 24 million the remaining two years to 8 million for the same duration. Essentially being paid backup money to try and redeem himself to the organization and fans alike.

He was starting the season under a new OC. That is five offensive coordinators in five years.

Once again Smith faced the indignity of not being named the starter. The only bright spot is that Mike Nolan was fired as head coach and Mike Singletary was hired as the full time coach for the upcoming season. Singletary had witnessed all of the crap that Smith had gone through because he had been an assistant with the 49ers starting the year Smith was drafted.

Smith was a good soldier and waited for his opportunity which came in week 7 when Shaun Hill was ineffective and saddled with a 21-0 halftime deficit, Smith replaced Hill and threw for three touchdowns almost bringing the 49ers back for a win over the Houston Texans.

Smith was named the starter for the remainder of the season and finished with respectable numbers yet failing to get the team to the playoffs.

2010- Smith is the starter going into training camp July 30th. He has the same offensive coordinator for the first time since college. In contrast Peyton Manning has had the same OC his entire NFL career. Smith has had to deal with a team with NO talent around him, five OC's, an injury, a coach who messed with his head and undermined him behind his back, and a fan base in SF that remembers the Montana and Young days and has a short fuse when it comes to Smith.

I know of no other NFL QB that has had to go through the indignities that Smith has dealt with. From not being named starter to restructuring his contract the ego deflating laundry list goes on and on yet Smith perseveres.

Not only are the San Francisco 49ers my favorite NFL team, but Alex Smith is my favorite Ute and player in the NFL. Brian Johnson gave us thrilling games but Johnson's story is over as far as his playing days. Smiths story has just begun.

Just A Thought On My Favorite Sports Movies

After talking with some friends about sports movies and their likes and dislikes I was surprised to find out that they did not have a favorite. What was even more surprising was they have not seen quite a few of the more popular or off beat movies which have been on my list of favorites for a long time.

So I decided to list my top ten sports movies of all time. My list will generally lean towards fictional stories because I want to have fun watching a movie or be moved in one way or another. Dark depressing movies bring me down and I would rather not watch those types of shows.

So here is my list starting with number one with a few thoughts of why I enjoyed them. Feel free to comment on your favorites if they did not make my list.

1. Tin Cup

Hands down a kick in the ass fun ride from start to finish. Whoever cast this movie hit the nail on the head. The story line is so off the beaten path that it surprises you as the story progresses. I have no other show that I reference quotes in my day to day happenings as this movie. If you have not seen this movie I say run, don't walk, to your nearest Blockbuster. "Greatness courts failure Romeo" - Roy McAvoy

2. Bull Durham

It is no surprise that Kevin Costner is in three of my top ten sports movies but the actor is not the reason I love these shows. I think he saw great scripts and seem to fit the part perfectly. Bull Durham like Tin Cup is one of the many shows that I will come across while clicking through channels and even if the show is partially over, I will watch to the end again.

3. Hoosiers

This one speaks for itself. Everyone loves an underdog and this is the ultimate underdog story, in my humble opinion.

4. Invincible

I had no idea what this movie was about at the time I watched it. I happened upon it while channel surfing and did not even know that it was a true story. The cast was spot on and the music came from my high school era. Another underdog movie but the fact it was true made it even better.

5. A League of Their Own

Tom Hanks. What a great story but even better than the story was Hanks acting. They keep saying that he is the Jimmy Stewart of our time and I could not agree more. If you don't have this movie in your top ten you may need to watch it again to appreciate the job Hanks did.
Rosie Odonell makes perfect sense now that we know which gender she prefers. Watch her and it answers a lot of questions.

6. Remember The Titans

Great movie, wonderful story. The racial stuff was a bit overblown but understandable considering the story line. Still a feel good movie.

7.  Field of Dreams

Would have been higher but Costners wife in the movie irritated the hell out of me. But all the same a great movie. More about the relationship between father and son than baseball but was brought together in a very unique way.

James Earl Jones is fantastic along with Burt Lancaster.

8. The Longest Yard

The original was very well done. Out of all of the Burt Reynolds movies this has to be considered one of his best. The casting once again was wonderful. The start of the movie has Reynolds taking off in his girlfriends Jag to the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd set the tone for the show and did not let up until the end. Very good fun stuff!

9. Cinderella Man

This sometimes moody boxing movie keeps giving. It's rags to riches to rags story is so well told and Russel Crowe is great. This one is a must see.

This is the only boxing movie in my top ten, (or even top fifty), because the Rocky movies were shallow, it was amazing they made five sequels. Raging Bull was way to depressing for me to enjoy.

10. Talledega Nights - The Legend of Ricky Bobby

Ok this is my guilty pleasure pick. If you can't escape your worries for a few hours watching this show there is something wrong with you, (my wife hates

Will Ferrel and won't watch this with me...hmmmm).

If you want to laugh your ass off you have to watch the extra features on the DVD. The outtakes are some of the funniest you will ever see.

Turn off your brain and enjoy this one!

That's the list, let me know your favorites in the comments section at the end of this blog.

Others receiving consideration would be Caddy Shack, The Natural, Friday Night Lights, We Are Marshall, Slap Shot, and Brian's Song. I have not seen Pride of the Yankees so I could not list it.