T.O. IS NOT TOO POPULAR, MORE MU-BIG-12-BIG EAST-SEC-IRISH RUMORS & JUST HOW IMPORTANT IS THAT BYE WEEK?
So the long awaited, much anticipated workout for NFL scouts & brass scheduled by one Terrell Owens was Tuesday morning in Calabasas California. Right on time at 11AM, T.O. made his appearance & began loosening up. Reps from ESPN & the NFL Network were on hand, in fact a satellite truck showed up to beam it back to the NFLN so they could televise it. Unfortunately for all concerned, especially Owens, not one single team was represented at the workout. T.O.'s agent Drew Rosenhaus was quick to point out his client would be "invited by several teams for private workouts." We'll see, but since the reviews of his workout weren't so hot, I hope Rosenhaus isn't holding his breath waiting for the calls. Jerry Rice, a former teammate of Owens & now an analyst for ESPN, said after watching the workout "he looks to be in shape but not in football shape." I'll admit, he looked absolutely ripped, but his cuts weren't the sharpest, I question how close to 100% his surgically repaired knee really is. Let's see how long it takes for him to get a Tuesday invite to show his skills privately.
The Chiefs released WR Jeremy Horne on Tuesday & placed practice squad FB Justin Bannon on injured reserve. That leaves two roster spot open, one on the 53-man & one on the practice squad. Since Tuesday is tryout day around the league, it's safe to say there will be two new Chiefs on Wednesday. BTW, the Chiefs are a 3 1/2 point underdog on Monday night. For decades, wise guys loved the home dogs on Monday Night Football, they covered a good percentage of the time.
The Indianapolis Colts placed quarterback Kerry Collins on I.R. because of lingering symptoms from what the QB called "the worst concussion I ever experienced." Coaxed out of retirement after Peyton Manning went down, Collins will earn nearly $2 million for playing in 2 games. The Redskins placed Pro Bowl tight end Chris Cooley on I.R. with knee & finger injuries. His post surgery knee hasn't healed properly & he sustained a finger injury that will require surgery & would have sidelined him for 6-10 weeks so Washington shut him down. The Bills placed OLB Shawne Merriman in I.R. with an Achilles injury.
Vikings cornerback Chris Cook who spent four days in jail after being arrested early Friday morning & charged with domestic violence. After being released late Monday night, the Vikes promptly suspended Cook indefinitely without pay. According to police reports, Cook choked his girlfriend & then slammed her head thru a sheet rock wall in his home. He was awaiting trial on gun charges from last spring. Cook Tweeted after his release "there's 2 sides to every story, don't believe what u hear." I'm guessin' if the Vikes slapped him with the indefinite suspension, they know the police reports are 100% right or very close to that to take the action they did. The team is currently walking a tightrope with state & local officials trying to get the funds for a new stadium. Headlines like Cook has provided is exactly what the team doesn't want right now.
If you missed the latest Mizzou/Big-12/SEC/Big East/Mountain West/Conf. USA/Irish rumors, get a fresh beverage & give this a quick read.
Mizzou hasn't made any official announcements, now that the Big-12 has forced their hand with the rumored acquisition of West Virginia, the Tigers are facing the full $28 million exit fee & they are balking at paying the full amount after lamo Dan Beebe let Nebraska, Colorado & A&M escape for less than $10 million. Interim commissioner Chuck Neinas said he expects Mizzou to compete in all sports thru May of 2013 before departing. The SEC hasn't said anything official either.
The Big East Conference made it impossible for anyone to bail out before 27-months. Pitt, Syracuse & possibly West Virginia are waiting to leave the conference for greener pastures. If these three teams do depart, it leaves a conference with a BCS automatic bid with just 5 teams, which will never do. They've thrown around names like Army, Navy, Air Force, Boise State & a few more as possible new Big East schools. Sorry to say, any conference with all three service academies has no shot at an automatic BCS bid.
The Mountain West Conference is trying to keep their newest team Boise State especially since they lost TCU to the Big-12 via the Big East. They have had preliminary talks with Conference USA officials about creating a football only conference & maybe even inviting the remaining Big East schools to join the first "Super Conference" with something like 28 schools. I doubt this will happen, the scheduling alone would require an influx of math geniuses.
West Virginia is said to be headed to the Big-12 irregardless of what happens to Mizzou. If they leave, the Mountaineers will replace them, if they stay, adding WVU will only enhance the conference. But they'd have to add another school to get back to a two-division conference with a championship game.
Here's one I heard yesterday, Notre Dame will join the Big-12 in every sport except football. They want out of the very unstable Big East. To accommodate the Irish, the Conference would take all the other sports provided they agree to play 4 out of conference games against Big-12 teams on a rotating basis. Word is the conference wants a 12-year written agreement on the football proposal. But how do they fill the 12th spot in conference play & not admit their other non-football sports' teams? How about BYU? They won't play on Sundays, any sports, ever. The Big-12 has many Sunday dates in hoops, softball, baseball, golf, so that won't work, but they've always been able to schedule non-Sunday dates in the Mountain West Conference. Only BYU football is independent, they'd be a natural IMO.
So in my "Perfect World" Big-12 Conference, it would look like this:
North
Mizzou
Kansas
Kansas State
Iowa State
West Virginia
BYU
South
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Texas Tech
Baylor
TCU
Four rotating out of conference games with Notre Dame for the next 12-years giving each member team two home-and-home dates with the Irish over a 12-year period. Notre Dame would be a conference member in every other sport, BYU only a member in football. The conference is instantly better in football, trading WVU, BYU & TCU for Nebraska, Colorado & A&M. Plus their FB revenues would go up with Notre Dame on the schedule. Please understand my "Perfect World" conference has absolutely zero chance of ever happening, but a guy can dream can't he?
Here's a few games I'll be watching this Saturday:
Michigan State at Nebraska--11AM on ESPN
Mizzou at A&M--11AM on FX
Baylor at Oklahoma State--2:30PM on ABC or ESPN2
Oklahoma at Kansas State--2:30 on ESPN
Clemson at Georgia Tech--7PM on ABC
Stanford at USC--7PM on ABC or ESPN2
So how big a deal is the NFL's bye week? In the past, teams coming off the bye were normally big winners the first week back. Not so in 2011. In fact it's been really bad so far, like 3-9 bad. Only the Ravens, Chiefs & Broncos have come off the bye with a win. You might keep that in mind this weekend. Coming off their bye week is Buffalo, Cincinnati, New England, NY Giants, Philadelphia & San Francisco. Five of the six have winning records so far this season, so it might be tough picking against any or all of them, especially when you look at their opponents. Only Buffalo & New England play a team with a winning record. Bye the bye, the Patriots are a 3-point favorite at Pittsburgh. Seems high too me, what about you?
The Chiefs released WR Jeremy Horne on Tuesday & placed practice squad FB Justin Bannon on injured reserve. That leaves two roster spot open, one on the 53-man & one on the practice squad. Since Tuesday is tryout day around the league, it's safe to say there will be two new Chiefs on Wednesday. BTW, the Chiefs are a 3 1/2 point underdog on Monday night. For decades, wise guys loved the home dogs on Monday Night Football, they covered a good percentage of the time.
The Indianapolis Colts placed quarterback Kerry Collins on I.R. because of lingering symptoms from what the QB called "the worst concussion I ever experienced." Coaxed out of retirement after Peyton Manning went down, Collins will earn nearly $2 million for playing in 2 games. The Redskins placed Pro Bowl tight end Chris Cooley on I.R. with knee & finger injuries. His post surgery knee hasn't healed properly & he sustained a finger injury that will require surgery & would have sidelined him for 6-10 weeks so Washington shut him down. The Bills placed OLB Shawne Merriman in I.R. with an Achilles injury.
Vikings cornerback Chris Cook who spent four days in jail after being arrested early Friday morning & charged with domestic violence. After being released late Monday night, the Vikes promptly suspended Cook indefinitely without pay. According to police reports, Cook choked his girlfriend & then slammed her head thru a sheet rock wall in his home. He was awaiting trial on gun charges from last spring. Cook Tweeted after his release "there's 2 sides to every story, don't believe what u hear." I'm guessin' if the Vikes slapped him with the indefinite suspension, they know the police reports are 100% right or very close to that to take the action they did. The team is currently walking a tightrope with state & local officials trying to get the funds for a new stadium. Headlines like Cook has provided is exactly what the team doesn't want right now.
If you missed the latest Mizzou/Big-12/SEC/Big East/Mountain West/Conf. USA/Irish rumors, get a fresh beverage & give this a quick read.
Mizzou hasn't made any official announcements, now that the Big-12 has forced their hand with the rumored acquisition of West Virginia, the Tigers are facing the full $28 million exit fee & they are balking at paying the full amount after lamo Dan Beebe let Nebraska, Colorado & A&M escape for less than $10 million. Interim commissioner Chuck Neinas said he expects Mizzou to compete in all sports thru May of 2013 before departing. The SEC hasn't said anything official either.
The Big East Conference made it impossible for anyone to bail out before 27-months. Pitt, Syracuse & possibly West Virginia are waiting to leave the conference for greener pastures. If these three teams do depart, it leaves a conference with a BCS automatic bid with just 5 teams, which will never do. They've thrown around names like Army, Navy, Air Force, Boise State & a few more as possible new Big East schools. Sorry to say, any conference with all three service academies has no shot at an automatic BCS bid.
The Mountain West Conference is trying to keep their newest team Boise State especially since they lost TCU to the Big-12 via the Big East. They have had preliminary talks with Conference USA officials about creating a football only conference & maybe even inviting the remaining Big East schools to join the first "Super Conference" with something like 28 schools. I doubt this will happen, the scheduling alone would require an influx of math geniuses.
West Virginia is said to be headed to the Big-12 irregardless of what happens to Mizzou. If they leave, the Mountaineers will replace them, if they stay, adding WVU will only enhance the conference. But they'd have to add another school to get back to a two-division conference with a championship game.
Here's one I heard yesterday, Notre Dame will join the Big-12 in every sport except football. They want out of the very unstable Big East. To accommodate the Irish, the Conference would take all the other sports provided they agree to play 4 out of conference games against Big-12 teams on a rotating basis. Word is the conference wants a 12-year written agreement on the football proposal. But how do they fill the 12th spot in conference play & not admit their other non-football sports' teams? How about BYU? They won't play on Sundays, any sports, ever. The Big-12 has many Sunday dates in hoops, softball, baseball, golf, so that won't work, but they've always been able to schedule non-Sunday dates in the Mountain West Conference. Only BYU football is independent, they'd be a natural IMO.
So in my "Perfect World" Big-12 Conference, it would look like this:
North
Mizzou
Kansas
Kansas State
Iowa State
West Virginia
BYU
South
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Texas Tech
Baylor
TCU
Four rotating out of conference games with Notre Dame for the next 12-years giving each member team two home-and-home dates with the Irish over a 12-year period. Notre Dame would be a conference member in every other sport, BYU only a member in football. The conference is instantly better in football, trading WVU, BYU & TCU for Nebraska, Colorado & A&M. Plus their FB revenues would go up with Notre Dame on the schedule. Please understand my "Perfect World" conference has absolutely zero chance of ever happening, but a guy can dream can't he?
Here's a few games I'll be watching this Saturday:
Michigan State at Nebraska--11AM on ESPN
Mizzou at A&M--11AM on FX
Baylor at Oklahoma State--2:30PM on ABC or ESPN2
Oklahoma at Kansas State--2:30 on ESPN
Clemson at Georgia Tech--7PM on ABC
Stanford at USC--7PM on ABC or ESPN2
So how big a deal is the NFL's bye week? In the past, teams coming off the bye were normally big winners the first week back. Not so in 2011. In fact it's been really bad so far, like 3-9 bad. Only the Ravens, Chiefs & Broncos have come off the bye with a win. You might keep that in mind this weekend. Coming off their bye week is Buffalo, Cincinnati, New England, NY Giants, Philadelphia & San Francisco. Five of the six have winning records so far this season, so it might be tough picking against any or all of them, especially when you look at their opponents. Only Buffalo & New England play a team with a winning record. Bye the bye, the Patriots are a 3-point favorite at Pittsburgh. Seems high too me, what about you?
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