Newz Forum: OTHER: Timmy Chang, Brock Berlin, Penn State, Drew Rosenhaus, BCS plus more...

I wrote the first of these rants for the Internet four years and ten months ago. This is the 1000th iteration. That ought to demonstrate that I do this because I enjoy it. I am a lot of things that are not completely laudatory, but I am not a masochist.

When is it better not to be drafted by an NFL team? Well, take the case of Timmy Chang (not Tommy Chang as I erroneously referred to the Hawaii QB a couple of days ago). He holds the record for yards passing in the NCAA but is not a classic NFL prospect. If the Colts had drafted him in the seventh round - just to use one example - he would have had to try to fit into a system designed for Peyton Manning and he would never play. Not a good situation at all. But as an undrafted free agent, Chang had some control over where he sought work in the NFL and he decided to sign on with the Arizona Cardinals. What's their QB situation? They have Kurt Warner who is at least four years removed from any brush with success; and last year, they played "The Three Amigos" at QB and all of them were found wanting. Does this mean Chang will make the team? Of course not. But he has a better shot here than in Indy or Philly or Green Bay...

I can make the same case for Brock Berlin and his situation. Berlin was the University of Miami QB last year; no one took him in the draft over the weekend. He surveyed the NFL landscape and signed with the Miami Dolphins. Berlin does not have to do a cross-country move and the Dolphins don't have to pay for it; this is a win/win situation already. And ahead of Berlin on the depth chart are Gus Frerotte and AJ Feeley who are probably both wonderful people, but let's not get carried away with their quarterbacking resumes to the point where we begin to use adjectives descriptions beyond "competent journeymen".

I also passed along a note from a reader who said the last time Penn State had no players taken in the NFL draft was 1959. I got another communication from another reader who identifies himself as a disgruntled season ticket holder saying that 1959 was the last time only one player from Penn State was taken and that 1951 was the last year when the Nittany Lions were "skunked" in the NFL draft. The other Penn State event of note in 1951 is that it was the first year Joe Paterno was on the coaching staff there.

You know who else got skunked in the draft over the weekend? Drew Rosenhaus. Since I didn't see him on screen or hear a report of some episode of performance art by one of his clients, I can only conclude that he did not have any of the notable players under contract.

I'm not having trouble letting go of the NFL Draft. Honest. If you think I'm obsessed, you must have missed a headline on CBSportsline.com yesterday which read:

"Future Considerations: Top Prospects for 2006"

That's right; someone was making his preliminary list of prospects for next April. Can't we just let poor Mel Kiper, Jr. go back to the Bat Cave and get some rest?

The BCS gurus are meeting soon to figure out how to replace the AP Poll as part of its ranking process. You may recall that the AP has refused to let the BCS use its poll results because the AP insists that as journalists they are in the business of reporting news and not making it. Yeah right; and Sally Stuthers is anorexic too. The BCS folks aren't quite sure what to do, so here's an idea:

Along about 15 October when teams have played about 5 games, get a bunch of football folks together and pick the top ten schools. I don't care how they do that; they can sacrifice a goat and read its entrails. Then assign a half dozen people to watch each and every game those teams have played up until then and each and every game they play from that time forward. Since these folks will now have actually seen all these teams play all their games, just shut up and let them pick the top two teams.

I know; it's much too simple. And it would be based on knowledgeable people making a choice based on actually watching all the games. We can't allow something like that to happen. We might have an outbreak of competency-based decision making related to NCAA athletics.

Greg Cote had a great perspective on the BCS system and its constant "tweaking" in a column in the Miami Herald:

"They're meeting to tweak the Bowl Championship Series formula yet again. Has anything been altered more with less pleasing results? Besides Joan Rivers' face?"

Am I shocked by the allegation that Len Dykstra used steroids? Not a bit. Am I shocked by the allegation that he may have provided gambling information to "associates"? A little - but not so much that I'll lose any sleep over it. There is a lawsuit involved and that will generate more information so I'll wait and see. But I do have two observations:

1. If indeed he was able to provide 11 consecutive winning plays on games the Phillies played as has been reported, then fixing a baseball game is not as hard as I thought it would be.

2. Remember when all this stuff would have happened. That was just after the reign of Commissioner Faye Vincent - the guy who can't resist pontificating into any live microphone about the incompetence of MLB ownership and management today. So let me review the bidding here for you. While he was fixated on Pete Rose's problems, Jose Canseco was taking steroids and others were likely following suit; labor issues abounded and he resolved exactly none of them; Len Dykstra and his buds may have been engaged in some less than noble activities. So, can we please refrain from asking this guy for his opinion on anything more substantial than whether or not "taste's great" is more important than 'less filling"?

Finally, here is an entry from Zay N. Smith's column in the Chicago Sun-Times from 4/26/05:

"Yesterday's Birthdays: Shirley MacLaine, 342; Shirley MacLaine, 291; Shirley MacLaine, 226; Shirley MacLaine, 155; Shirley MacLaine, 71."

But don't get me wrong, I love sports...

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