Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Reporters' Notebooks

Scott Wolf, L.A. Daily News: You get the feeling that Notre Dame's Charlie Weis and USC's Pete Carroll don't like each other.

Pat Harty, Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, whose team just completed a 6-6 regular season that included victories over Montana and Northern Illinois, talks about his $4.6 million salary in a 13-month period ending next June.

Joe Rexrode, Lansing State Journal: Central Michigan's Brian Kelly has been interviewed for the opening at Michigan State.

Doug Doughty, Roanoke Times: The 12th man. Virginia got away with an extra man on the field for a touchdown play against Miami.

Heather A. Dinich, Baltimore Sun: Maryland's Ralph Friedgen is going to open the fridge for players who can't make it home for Thanksgiving (registration).

Mike Hlas, Cedar Rapids Gazette: Covering the past weekend's action from A to Z. Subscription, so story is in comments.

Scott Carter, Tampa Tribune: A house divided. A winning essay gets a couple's home painted Florida State's Garnet and Gold and Florida's Orange and Blue.

Joseph Person, Columbia State: South Carolina's Steve Spurrier said one of his assistants broke NCAA rules.

Garry Smits, Times-Union: Sluggish ticket sales for the Atlantic Coast Conference title game have Jacksonville officials worried that they might lose the game.

Joe Walljasper, Columbia Tribune: One of the clauses in the new contract of Missouri's Gary Pinkel is for less whining, but he wasn't acting mature over a blown call by the refs in the loss to Iowa State.

Dan Hinxman, Reno Gazette-Journal: Western Athletic Conference coaches are split as to who will win the showdown between Boise State and Nevada.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

11/21/2006

The Hlist

Mike Hlas
Cedar Rapids Gazette

FIRST DOWNS
1. Winning Numbers: Yes, 4-2-3-9 were the winning numbers in the Ohio Lottery’s Pick 4 Saturday night, drawn 16 minutes after Ohio State beat Michigan, 42-39.
In Flav’s Variety Store in Toledo, six gentlemen decided at halftime that they would play the numbers from the final score. They did, and cashed in for $5,000 each.
‘‘It’s just astronomical odds (10,000 to 1) that it happened, but I’m glad they won,’’ said store manager James Foster. ‘‘Just wish it would have been me.’’
The total payout was $2,190,000. Players wagered only $347,867.
Oh, about the game . . .

2. Glory: Buckeyes running back Antonio Pittman, who had a 56-yard touchdown run, was hoisted onto the shoulders of Ohio State fans after the game.
‘‘To be in the air in this stadium,’’ Pittman said, ‘‘that means it’s big.’’
‘‘It kind of lived up to its billing,’’ said OSU receiver Anthony Gonzalez, another of the six different Buckeyes who had TDs.
‘‘I remember before the game, thinking to myself: How many people are fortunate enough to wake up in the morning and know that this is one of the most important days of their lives?’’

3. Grace: Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith will win the 2006 Heisman Trophy in a landslide. If his comments Saturday were any sign, he’ll be a gracious honoree.
‘‘I don’t care who you are. You can be the most electrifying player in college football and lose two or three games, and you’re out of it,’’ Smith said. ‘‘It’s a team award first and foremost, because our team is 12-0. I owe them everything in the world.’’
Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr showed equal grace in defeat. He was hard-hit over Friday’s death of his great friend and old boss, Bo Schembechler.
‘‘I told our team we weren’t going to use Bo and his passing away as a motivational deal,’’ Carr said.
‘‘That would have been to dishonor him.
‘‘I simply told them the way we could honor him is to coach and play in a way that would have made him proud.’’

4. Boolah Boolah: The Game, of course, was Yale’s 34-13 win at Harvard.
‘‘It can’t get any better than this. Last game, beat Harvard, win the Ivy League (co-) championship,’’ declared Yale captain Chandler Henley.
Shouldn’t Ivy Leaguers speak in complete sentences?
Last week featured the crowning of the first ‘‘Mr. Yale.’’ Gregor Nazarian, ’09, draped in an American flag and matching patriotic pajama pants, edged out 11 other contestants to win the first male beauty pageant for Yale undergraduates.
Nazarian wowed the judges with his passionate rendition of ‘‘God Bless America’’ on the harmonica.
That entertained the crowd far more than another contestant’s full derivation of Maxwell’s Law on a chalkboard.

FUMBLES
1. Rematch? Some say Ohio State-Michigan was obviously a pairing of the nation’s two best teams, and they should meet again in the national title game.
Some say Michigan had its shot, and USC or the SEC champ or Notre Dame should get the title game spot against the Buckeyes.
Some don’t care.
‘‘We should have got them the first time around, but we didn’t, so if (a rematch) doesn’t happen, that’s our fault,’’ said Michigan tailback Mike Hart.
‘‘But if we played them again, it would be a whole different game.
Guarantee that.’’
Ohio State offensive tackle Kirk Barton knows who he doesn’t want to play Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz.
‘‘I’ll be rooting against Notre Dame because I’m not a big fan of them,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m not a big fan of their coach; I’m not a big fan of their program.
‘‘They’re a great program,’’ Barton added sarcastically. ‘‘They’re Notre Dame, you know. Ooooh. They couldn’t handle us.’’
The Hlist thinks everyone knows that.

2. Scarlet Knightmare: Was it just a dream, Rutgers being 9-0 and trying to enter the national title discussion?
Cincinnati mauled the Scarlet Knights, 30-11. Wake up.
‘‘This program has to understand you have to be at your best every week and we weren’t at our best,’’ Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano said.
‘‘I don’t know what it was. I don’t know if we needed leadership . . . I don’t know,’’ said senior fullback Brian Leonard. ‘‘It’s just hitting me. I’m . . . shocked.’’

3. Kings of Kansas: The week before, Kansas State enjoyed a stunning upset win over Texas. Saturday, it was Kansas 39, K-State 20.
‘‘I wanted them to beat Texas so that would make us look even better — after they beat Texas and come and get served by us,’’ said Kansas cornerback Aqib Talib.

4. Misinformation: ESPN reported if Miami fires Coach Larry Coker, it would target South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier as Coker’s replacement. Spurrier doubted the report was accurate, replying ‘‘Who at Miami — the president, the AD or some guy sleeping under the bridge down there?
‘‘I’m not leaving unless I get run off.’’
Miami fell to 5-6 with a 17-7 loss at Virginia, which had lost 33-0 to Florida State in its previous game.
‘‘That was embarrassing,’’ Virginia QB Jameel Sewell said. ‘‘It’s like somebody pulled your pants down in the middle of the mall.’’

FROM THE PAPERS
‘‘Moments after David Irons’ interception sealed yet another Auburn win over Alabama, he was hit in the head by a liquor bottle.
‘‘It might have been Alabama’s most accurate throw of the day.’’ — Tony Barnhart, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

FINAL WORD
‘‘They made videos about us last year. That stuck in our mind. . . . They beat other teams, but the only video they made was us. . . . We’re not going to make any videos.’’ — Tennessee’s Robert Meachem, on Vanderbilt celebrating last year’s win over the Volunteers — their first since 1982 — with a special DVD.
Tennessee beat the Commodores Saturday, 39-10.

Mike.Hlas@gazettecommunications.com

Anonymous said...

check out this interview

http://www.sportsmediaguide.com/11292006-TomKeegan.asp