I'm back for a minute

12/18/2008

I decided last week that out of spite/frustration/anger I would no longer publish a blog on this Web site. It was announced I was being laid off from The Blade, and I had no desire to help the company generate web hits from something I do out of pure enjoyment. I have since come to my senses and have decided to man up. The Blade is made up of truly good people and I ll miss each and every one of them except for the jerks who don t remove their trash from the company vehicles. Anyway, the layoffs were determined solely by seniority, and I ain t got much of it.

Let s get down to business discussing recent happenings in the sports world as I contemplate whether to spit on all of the drinking fountains during my final day of employment on Dec. 27.

-The big news over the last 24 hours is Gregg Brandon is heading to Virginia to be the Cavaliers offensive coordinator. Nice gig for GB. I don t think I m alone when I say Brandon is best suited in a coordinator role and not as a head coach. This is a nice job for him, although

-He could be out of a job after next season. UVA head coach Al Groh is coming off a 5-7 record and one must think that unless things shape up quickly he will be out the door. If I m Brandon I probably don t accept this position without at least a two-year contract to operate under. My guess is this was addressed during the interview process.

-Whenever I think about Virginia football I have to pull up this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RidU6ILUQNE

Followed by this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zKxcXfKYgY&feature=related

-New BG coach Dave Clawson has retained Doug Phillips (defensive line/recruiting coordinator) and John Hunter (running backs) from Brandon s staff. Both of these moves make sense to me. Phillips is the guy with the recruiting knowledge, so Clawson would be silly not to kiss up to him. Imagine you re hired to run a million dollar company. Wouldn t you want to buddy up to the person in possession of all the top secret files? As for Hunter, he s a BG grad so if nothing else this is a solid PR move.

-Ball State is about to make a horrible decision in promoting assistant coach Stan Parrish to head coach. First of all, why the rush? BSU needs to conduct a thorough national search, and if Parrish emerges as the best candidate, then great. If not, then send him on his way. This decision is clearly being made out of emotion, kind of like the time you had a wonderful first date and then found yourself telling the girl you love her a week later. How did that line of thinking work for West Virginia? Or the Miami Hurricanes? Or depending how you view Gregg Brandon, Bowling Green? It s rarely a good decision to hand over the keys to the long-time assistant.

-Did I mention Parrish is 62 years old! And that he hasn t been a head coach since 1988! Ball State just went from being an incredibly exciting program to an incredibly stupid program. Good luck, Cards.