Sports Quick Hits 2

1. Michigan Hires Rodriguez
The University of Michigan hired Rich Rodriguez as head football coach this weekend. Rodriguez will be leaving West Virginia University, the school he has led to two BCS games. I have a complex reaction to this signing.

First off, I'm upset Michigan didn't hire Les Miles from LSU because I would have had some SERIOUSLY hot sports opinions on this. From a blogger's perspective, Miles abandoning LSU would have been a dream.

But here's where it gets really complicated for me. There's no question Rodriguez is an excellent coach. In truth, after Miles turned the school down the first time, I'm not sure why Rodriguez wasn't the next choice. But Rodriguez brings with him a very distinct and fairly unique offense which has been coined the Spread Option. It will take YEARS to adapt the program to his brand of offense. I'd be willing to bet not a single player on the Michigan roster has ever played in the Spread Option or anything close. Michigan has a highly recruited, highly talented sophomore quarterback (Ryan Mallet). How he and Rodriguez work together will be a big question. As an Ohio State fan, I'm excited to think the school will likely be out of serious contention for the next 2 to 4 years.

On the other hand, however, if Rodriguez can get through a few tough years, Michigan could be a real force to be reckoned with. No one in the Big 10 runs anything even remotely resembling the Spread Option. That makes Michigan a matchup nightmare each and every week, assuming Rodriguez gets the players he needs. The nation's top high school QB recruit has already said he's considering going to Michigan now to play for Rodriguez. He'll fit the offense like a glove. I have a feeling that if Michigan can suffer through the transition, they'll be an extremely dangerous team before too long.

So here's hoping Ohio State pulls in a title or two before Michigan turns the page.

2. Rory Sabbatini
This weekend Tiger Woods hosted his annual Target World Championship golf tournament, which he ran away with once again. The participants are generally the best 18 or so golfers in the world and I believe are personally invited by Tiger (though the final list is pretty much the top 18 money winners of the year). It's supposed to be a fairly fun, relaxed event as the PGA is out of season right now anyway.

But one golfer decided to take this opportunity to take another shot at the world's best player.

Rory Sabbatini, 6th on the money list, was in last place going into the final round. He trailed Tiger by a whopping 28 strokes. Rather than show up for the final day, however, he disappeared (taking the courtesy car with him) and had his agent phone in a bogus injury notice just before he was supposed to tee off. It would later be discovered that Sabbatini had grabbed a flight to Maui, apparently unable to finish out his debacle of a tournament.

First off, it's pretty poor sportsmanship to just up and quit like that because you are sucking. It's a friendly tournament, there are tons of fans who paid big money to see the best players in the world, and even last place gets you $170,000 bucks.

But more importantly, it was a slap in the face to Tiger Woods. This was Tiger's tournament. He hosts it, he is the face of it. Not showing up for the final round reflects poorly on Tiger. This is the second time Sabbatini has taken a thinly veiled shot at Tiger after earlier this year claiming Tiger was "as beatable as ever."

Far be it from me to judge Rory. If you want to be a jerk, fine. But to quote Jim Croce, "you don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind, you don't pull the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger" and you don't piss off the most competitive and dominating player in all of professional sports! Dude! What are you thinking?! As if Tiger wasn't good enough, now he'll be playing with a chip on his shoulder. He'll literally be trying to rip out Sabbatini's heart and drive it 300 yards the next time these two meet up. The odds of Tiger going 4 for 4 in the PGA majors this year just shot up and you have to believe every other player on tour will be looking to "accidentally" hit a few shots Rory's way as a "thank you" for giving Tiger one more reason to pummel the rest of the tour into the ground.

3. Clemens
I've got a full length diatribe on the Mitchell Report in the works but very briefly, let me say that the "shock" so many express over the fact that Roger Clemens has finally been outed for his steroids is absurd to me. The exact same circumstantial that was used to convict Barry Bonds in the court of public opinions was right it front of anyone who wanted to pay attention to it concerning Clemens. The added size, the resurgence late in his career, the amazing ability to avoid injury despite his age. Some will play the race card here and I think that's valid in this case. If Barry was white I'm not sure he would have had the same coverage. The truth of the matter is, however, that the media didn't want to see it with Clemens. While Barry has admittedly been a jerk to the media since day one, Clemens has been a hero to so many in the sports world. But the signs were there had anyone been looking for it. It's a traveshamockery that the steroid craze focused so severely on Barry and ignored his most obvious counterpart, Clemens.

4. Dolphins Win
After starting out 0-13, the Miami Dolphins finally picked up a win Sunday, beating Baltimore 23 to 16 in overtime. Though I have absolutely no love for the Dolphins, I was mildly pleased to see them pull out a win. It's got to be extremely frustrating to go through an entire season knowing you have no chance of winning.

But, it should be noted that not all the glory should go to the Dolphins for this win. A great deal of it should go to Baltimore coach Brian Billick for doing everything he could to lose the game. In overtime the Ravens had third string rookie quarterback Troy Smith running the show because Kyle Boller went out with a concussion. Smith was playing well and had the team moving up the field. Once the Ravens moved into the fringe of field goal range, however, Billick started to play not to lose rather than to win. They ran the ball on dive plays on three consecutive plays, settling for a 43 yard field goal. Now, it should have been made. 43 yards in the NFL on a sunny day should be good. But it's not a given. The team was playing well, Smith was moving the ball, and they were starting to get into a rhythm. It was an IDIOTIC choice by Billick to play for the field goal instead of playing to get the ball in the end zone and it cost his team the game.

In addition, it will probably cost Billick his job. In the last three weeks his team lost because of a mental meltdown against New England, gave up 28 first quarter points en route to a 44-21 shalacking by the Colts, and gave Miami what will likely be their only win of the season. After the decisions he made this weekend, he deserves to be fired and good riddance. But congratulations to the Dolphins are in order. Way to win a game!

5. Weather
Lastly, I just want to thank the blinking weather on the East Coast for ruining my fantasy football season. I built my team around Tom Brady and the Pats and have been ROLLING all season long. I was 12-2 going into the playoffs, with one of the losses coming while the Pats were on a bye week. Unfortunately, the weather in Massachusetts this weekend was that of the North Pole. Snow, rain, wind, sub zero temperatures. I'm pretty sure at least one player lost a hand to frost bite. (I made that up.) As a result, New England, who have probably attempted 10 running plays in the last month, ran the ball a ton of times and Brady completed only 12 passes. No touchdowns for the first time all season. And so, in the fashion I have become accustomed to in fantasy sports, my team was handed a resounding loss by an inferior team. I'm sure next week, when my team plays for 3rd place, Brady will throw for 350 yards and 5 touchdowns. But alas, it will not save the Fighting Ferrets 07.