Saturday, December 26, 2015

College FB '15 Dread News - Week 14

The 2015 regular season is already in the books (and the bowl season underway), and congratulations go out to the four chosen ones - the four teams who did not win quarterfinal games to advance to the semifinals of the playoffs but rather will be playing in the semifinals because they were picked (behind closed doors, of course) to play in them by a committee of people who supposedly are experts. So while Clemson, Alabama, Michigan State, and Oklahoma will be playing on New Year's Eve, it's tough luck for Stanford, the Pac-12 champion. Sorry, Stanford, it doesn't matter if your team is good enough to be the national champion. The experts have decided that it isn't, and that's that. At least you had the chance to be picked for the playoffs. That's more than you can say for the teams in the Little 5 conferences.

Oops. Excuse me, that's right, the AAC, SBC, MWC, CUSA, and MAC aren't called the Little 5. They are officially known as the "Group of 5". That's because "Group of 5" sounds less disrespectful than "Little 5". But call them whatever you want, they're the have-nots of the FBS, and no team from one of them will ever even be considered for a playoff spot as long as the playoffs include only 4 teams. The best they can hope for is to claim the one bid (out of 12 total) reserved for a Little 5 team to one of the big New Year's 6 bowl games. The Houston Cougars earned that bid this season after upping their record to 12-1 with a 24-13 victory over Temple on Dec. 5 in the inaugural AAC championship game.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

College FB '15 Dread News - Week 10

A couple of days before last Saturday's (Nov. 7) games I heard a host on some sports talk show on the radio say that if Alabama won all of their remaining games, they would be one of the 4 teams to make the playoffs. And I thought that while that might become true, it was also true that Alabama could win all their games and still not be the SEC champion. That's because entering Week 10 Mississippi and LSU were the only teams in control of their destiny in the SEC West, while the mighty Crimson Tide were going to need some help to get to the SEC championship game. Well, as you probably know by now, it was a very good Saturday for Alabama fans. The Crimson Tide emphatically took care of LSU themselves, and a few hours before that they got the help they needed as Ole Miss - thanks to one of the most bizarre plays you'll ever see - fell at home to Arkansas.

Monday, November 2, 2015

College FB '15 Dread News - Week 8

Well, it seemed like a good idea.

Expecting that it would be a competitive and exciting contest, I decided ahead of time that the game I would write about to lead off my first report since coming out of exile would be the matchup between Clemson and Miami. Since Clemson plays in the Atlantic Division of the ACC and Miami in the Coastal Division, the Tigers and Hurricanes don't often play each other. Their meeting last Saturday (Oct. 24) was their first since 2010 and only their fifth since the Canes joined the league 11 years ago. The visiting team had won all four previous meetings, with both of the games played in Miami being decided in overtime; so I was expecting Clemson (6-0) to have a difficult time remaining undefeated.

Little did I know ......

..... that not only would the game not be competitive, it would become so one-sided that the stadium would be almost completely empty with still 4 minutes to play

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Gloom Mode

I was eager to find out what my crystal ball (CB) thought about the finish to Super Bowl 49 right after the Seattle Seahawks - the team CB had predicted would repeat as champions - suffered that stunning and heartbreaking 28-24 loss to the New England Patriots back on Feb. 1. But I had to wait; because almost immediately after the game ended, steam began to emanate from CB - so much steam in fact that in less than a half hour it was so dense that I couldn't see anything, and CB had literally become too hot to handle. So I waited some more. It wasn't until a whole two weeks later that CB finally cooled off enough for me to see what it was displaying ......  ?&@*{&#!(%WTFMAN!?!?!??
Indeed, wtf, man? - the same question a lot of Seahawks fans must have been asking too.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Revenge of the Birds

Way back in the infancy of the house of dread, which would now be 7 years ago, one of the first things I posted - appropriately under the title of "Totally Clueless" - was the first NFL forecast of my shiny new crystal ball (CB, for short). That first year, predicting the 2008 season, CB earned an overall grade of 'D' for its picks, a mark that still ranks as its lowest ever. Instead of the CB-approved Cowboys' victory over the Jaguars in the Super Bowl (neither team even made the playoffs), it was the Pittsburgh Steelers over the Arizona Cardinals in that exciting finish at Tampa. I mention this now because when I consulted CB 9 days ago for its forecast of the 2015 season, the first thing that came up in big capital letters was "DEJA VU." No, not the clueless part; CB means the part about the Cardinals facing the Steelers in the Super Bowl. Only this time it will be the Cardinals who will prevail, avenging their loss from 7 years ago, with the smiling face of WR Larry Fitzgerald (photo above) on the podium when the Vince Lombardi Trophy is presented after the first Super Bowl played at the 49ers' new Levi's Stadium next February.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

DG159

It's tourney time!
In DG159, the last of the three dread galleries covering the 2014-15 College Basketball season, here is a look at how some of the 72 Division 1 players with dreads did in their conference and postseason tournaments.


1. Senior F Reco McCarter and the Campbell Camels didn't do very well in the Big South tournament. McCarter drives against the defense of Gardner-Webb G Adonis Burbage on Mar. 4 during a 1st round game in the tournament. McCarter finished with 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 blocked shots in his final game in a Campbell uniform as the Camels fell behind by 14 at halftime and never seriously threatened in the 2nd half, losing to G-W 72-64.

Sunday, September 6, 2015

DG158

Dread gallery #158 features action from the 2014-15 regular season in College Basketball.



















1. In DG157 I mentioned that Memphis junior F Shaq Goodwin scored the most important 2 points of the game in their victory at UConn on Mar. 5. Well, those 2 points came on this jump shot to the left of the lane over the arm of the late-arriving 6-10 F Phillip Nolan with 8.1 seconds to play and gave the Tigers a 54-53 lead .....

Friday, September 4, 2015

DG157


Before switching back into football mode for another season, there's still a little time left to see how some college basketball players with dreads did during the 2014-15 season - specifically, the 72 players on Division 1 teams that I know of who had dreads when the season ended. That total of 72 is the most ever, thanks to (as I mentioned in my first look post back in February) the large number of players who just began growing their dreads this season. None (as usual) of the 72 finished the season playing in the Final 4 of the NCAA Tournament; but there were a couple who got to raise trophies in the minor tournaments. Two of the 72 were drafted by NBA teams. Congratulations to William & Mary G Marcus Thornton and Louisville F Montrezl Harrell (photo above), both of whom were selected in the 2nd round of the NBA Draft on June 25. (Pay no attention to those dreads that Kentucky C Willie Cauley-Stein, a 1st round pick, had on draft night - which he didn't have until after the season was over - because they were already gone by the time the summer league began two weeks later.) If not for the injuries they suffered, there would have been two more players with dreads selected in the 2nd round.

Monday, August 10, 2015

DG156 - Part 1

With their first pick in the 2015 NFL Draft ..... 10 of the league's 32 teams selected a player with dreads. A new record high nine were picked in the 1st round of the draft on Apr. 30; and the next night the Buffalo Bills, who a year earlier traded away their 1st round pick in this year's draft (in order to get Sammy Watkins), took a player with dreads when it finally was their turn to select midway through round 2. By the end of the draft 38 players with dreads had heard their names called. That's way more than the 29 picked last year and also the most ever picked in a single draft.

After nobody with dreads was taken in the first 6 picks, things quickly got rolling, as 4 of the next 5 players selected have dreads. There weren't a lot of surprises. West Virginia WR Kevin White gets the honor of being the first player with dreads picked, going 7th overall to the Chicago Bears.

Sunday, August 9, 2015

DG156 - Part 2

Dread gallery #156 features the NFL's 2015 class of rookies with dreads. In Part 1 we saw the rookies with all of the NFC teams along with the teams in the AFC South. Now here are the rookies from the remaining three AFC divisions.

Technically the AFC West's teams drafted the most players with dreads of all the divisions - 8; but that number is a bit misleading. I was all ready to brag about how the Kansas City Chiefs were this year's leader for the team drafting the most players with dreads. But sadly, even before they got to training camp two of the four players with dreads selected by the Chiefs said goodbye to their dreads.



















1. Having already picked three players with dreads in their first 7 picks, the Chiefs broke the tie with the Vikings for the lead for the team with the most draft picks with dreads when they picked former Southern Mississippi DT Rakeem Nunez-Roches with the last pick of the 6th round. And there was no reason to believe his dreads were in any danger as they remained intact throughout the summer practices, including the one on June 17 (photo on left).

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

College FB '14 House Calls

Listen to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-4HFr33d6g .......

Ah yes, that little tune, played by the Wisconsin band whenever the Badgers score a touchdown, is always music to my ears - but especially so during the 2014 season, because more often than not it meant that a player with dreads scored the touchdown. Far more often than not that player was junior RB Melvin Gordon; but Gordon was not the only Badger player with dreads to take one to the house. And it was those small but valuable contributions by his teammates that lifted Wisconsin to the team crown for the most TD by players with dreads this season. 


Gordon and Boise State junior RB Jay Ajayi finished in a dead heat for the individual crown with 32 TD each. That number not only led all of Division 1 this season but also is a new record for the most TD ever scored in a season by any D-1 player with dreads (surpassing the 30 scored by Ricky Williams for Texas in 1998).

Saturday, July 11, 2015

College FB '14 Dread News - Bowl Review (Part 1)

It's better than nothing - I guess; but as far as I'm concerned, the new 4-team College Football Playoff that concluded the 2014 season still falls way short when it comes to crowning a true champion. It just doesn't make any sense to me to have only 4 teams in it. There currently are 5 major conferences in the FBS of Division 1, so that means by simple math that every year the best team from one of those conferences automatically can't be included. And if two teams from one conference are good enough to be selected? Well then the champion of two of those conferences won't be playing for the title. I mean, to have a real playoff shouldn't you at least include all of the teams that are capable of winning it all? You certainly don't get that with four. I believe eight teams would be adequate, but what I'd really like to see is a 16-team playoff. That way, just like in basketball, every team in the FBS would know when they begin preseason practice that they had a chance to be playing for the championship and that they wouldn't be excluded from consideration for the playoffs just because they're a member of a certain conference.

Hopefully the excitement generated by the three playoff games this season will convince College Football's decision makers that having more playoff games would create even more interest and excitement. The inaugural College Football Playoff created the most excitement for Ohio State fans, who enjoyed watching the Buckeyes roll to the title by defeating Alabama and then Oregon - even though they were playing with their third string quarterback.

Friday, July 10, 2015

College FB '14 Dread News - Bowl Review (Part 2)

In Part 2 of my final dread news report for the 2014 season we'll look at the final dread stars list of the season as well as have a season recap of the weekly honors. But before then let's continue the dread gallery section.

The stats sheet may say that Notre Dame QB Malik Zaire and LSU RB Leonard Fournette were the stars of the Music City Bowl at Nashville on Dec. 30; but as we all know the real star was Jalen Collins' dreads. Frustratingly Collins kept his long dreads bottled up one way or another throughout the season; but in his final game in an LSU uniform he finally unleashed them.

11. As he fights off a block by sophomore WR Will Fuller with one hand, junior CB Jalen Collins tries to stop RB Tarean Folston with the other near midfield on 4th play of Notre Dame's opening drive. Collins was able to help slow Folston up, but LB Kwon Alexander (#4) got credit for the tackle after a gain of 9. Watching the play from behind is junior LB Lamar Louis (#23), who had no tackles in the game. The drive ended 11 plays later with a 12-yard TD reception by Fuller, giving the Irish a 7-0 lead.

Saturday, May 9, 2015

2014 College Football Dread All-America (Part 1)

Sorry to have kept you waiting for so long, but here finally is my list of the players who were on the field during the 2014 season with dreads you couldn't help but notice - dreads you didn't need your binoculars to see no matter how far away from the field your seat was. Choosing this season's dread all-Americans was harder than ever, as there continues to be a multitude of players with sick dreads in uniform on Saturdays. Indeed even as long as it has taken me to finish this, I still have not gone through the entire rosters of all the teams in Division 1; so there might be a player or two omitted from the team simply because I never saw him. If I did miss somebody who you think I should have mentioned but didn't, please leave a comment so that we all will know about him.

In Part 1 we'll take a look at the best dreads on (the more familiar) teams in the FBS, while Part 2 will focus mostly on the FCS. Of the 48 players on last year's (2013) FBS squad, 26 were seniors (including 7 who would make it to the NFL), three (Rannell Hall, Jazz King, and Ferrington Macon) cut off their dreads, one (Cassius McDowell) transferred to a Division 2 school, and 7 others simply didn't make the the team this year. That means there are 37 roster spots filled by players who weren't on the team last year, and I am thrilled to announce that one of them was filled by Colorado WR D.D. Goodson (photo above), who makes his first appearance on the team.

Friday, May 8, 2015

2014 College Football Dread All-America (Part 2)

In Part 2 of this season's edition of the Dread All-America team we'll look at the best dreads on teams in the FCS, I'll present the 2014 all-dread sideline team, and there will be a couple of extras. For a while I was considering combining the FBS and FCS schools together and just having one team, because I feared there weren't enough FCS offensive linemen with sick dreads to have an FCS team. There were only 20 O-linemen with dreads that I know of on FCS rosters in 2014, and several of them have short dreads; but I decided to do a separate FCS team anyway, realizing that while the 1st team O-line entirely has sick dreads, it's a lot harder to see the dreads of the 2nd teamers when they have their helmets on.
 
The same as with the FBS team there are not many repeat selections from last year. Nearly half of last year's team were seniors (25), with two of them - Isaiah Crowell and Billy Turner - making it to the NFL. There were three ex-dreads, two players whose whereabouts were unknown, and four others whose dreads just weren't great enough for them to repeat. Also one more spot became available when Georgia Southern and Tray Butler moved up to the FBS. That leaves only 13 players who repeated, and I'm very pleased that one of them is Richmond RB Jacobi Green (photo above).

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Toast of the K-Town

By the time I remembered it was already after I had posted my preview of the 2014 NFL Draft (the post titled "Know Your Muck"), and the damage was already done - I forgot the music. How can I have a final jeopardy and not play the music? Please forgive me for being such an idiot. I won't make the same mistake twice. So after you read the final jeopardy answer that leads off this year's draft preview, you may, if you like, click on the link beneath it and listen to that familiar little 30-second tune while you try to come up with the right question.

There is no long, three-section quiz this year; we go straight to final jeopardy.
The category: The NFL Draft.
And the answer is ....... They are the only pair of high school teammates ever to both be selected in the 1st round of the draft in the same year.
Good luck ..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3lLYOGDsts

Actually the correct question depends on when you are reading this. If you're one of the early birds who are viewing this before the draft, then there is no correct question. It has never happened before. Not yet. But come the end of the 1st round this Thursday night there's a very good chance history will be made.

A hint is located in the photo of the map above. And those of you who are not too geographically challenged will recognize that the star is not pointing to Chicago or Milwaukee but rather to about halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee - right where you will find the city of Kenosha.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Cutch's Cut

I knew the day was coming; but for real I was hoping it wouldn't come for a couple more years or so. I knew it was coming because he said it was coming, hinting in the past that he wasn't going to keep his dreads forever. But even the advance warning wasn't enough to lessen the disappointment I had when I found out the day indeed has come. Watching baseball won't be as much fun for me in 2015, and my guess is that never again will it be as enjoyable as it has been watching telecasts of Pittsburgh Pirates games these last 6 years.

It is with deep sadness and regret that I have to announce that the house has lost one of its most prestigious residents, as earlier this week - Wednesday, March 25, to be exact - Pirates CF Andrew McCutchen cut off the dreads he had been growing for the last 8 years and that he has had for every game in the first 6 seasons of his sensational MLB career. With the college basketball season reaching its climax, I have been paying little attention to baseball this month. But there it was, hitting me like a ton of bricks and impossible to ignore, in the bottom right corner of the last page of Thursday's Chicago Tribune sports section -  literally the very last thing in the section - a paragraph reporting that Cutch's dreads were gone and would be auctioned off for charity.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

2014 College Football All-America with dreads

You may argue I did so incomplete a job of covering the 2014 season that I'm not qualified to pick the season's best players with dreads. And you would be correct. But I'm not going to let a minor detail like that stop me. So here we go with my 7th annual All-America with dreads team. The 2014 team includes many of the 133 players with dreads who earned all-conference honors in their respective leagues. That total of 133 is 16 less than last season's 149; but the number of 1st team honorees remained the same - 50 - and the number making the Associated Press' (AP) All-America teams (FBS and FCS) actually increased from 10 to 16.

I was hoping to be able to include a photo of Wisconsin RB Melvin Gordon holding the Heisman Trophy at the beginning of this post. But despite having one of the best seasons a running back has ever had, he finished 2nd in the voting for the Heisman; so you'll have to settle for a pre-game photo (above) of him from the Badgers' Week 4 game against Bowling Green instead.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

College BB '15 - First Look

From the moment in late November 2010 that I saw them pictured as part of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's preview of the 2010-11 Milwaukee area high school basketball season, I have been looking forward to the day I would be writing about Elgin Cook and Jameel McKay in this blog. Little did I expect that day wouldn't come until more than 4 years later. Although the preview was the first I had ever heard of McKay, I was a little bit familiar with Cook from the previous season, when he was named City Conference player of the year while playing for Hamilton HS. Led by the 6-foot-6 Cook (top two photos on right from March 2010) and 6-8 Darnell Harris (lower left photo on right from the same game), both juniors, Hamilton was pretty much an all-star team in 2009-10, winning the conference championship and making a rare (for Hamilton) appearance in the state tournament. But neither of them was around a year later, when Hamilton made a repeat trip to the tournament; and neither they nor McKay, the 6-7 forward from Pulaski HS (lower right photo from a February 2011 game) would begin their college careers at Division 1 schools in the fall of 2011, as they (and I) had hoped.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Where there's a will, there's a .... Williams

As I went through the recaps of the Division 1 College Football games every week this season (actually it was more like every other week), it was impossible not to notice it - there sure seemed to be a lot of teams with a player with dreads named Williams on their rosters. Heck, there were 8 such teams in the SEC alone. So, out of curiosity, just as I did near the end of the 2010 season after noticing a lot of players with dreads named Harris, I went through my entire notebook to find out just how many Williamses with dreads there actually were. The result was almost astonishing.

When I did my "Harris Family Reunion" post in 2010, I was really impressed that there were at least 16 Harrises with dreads on D-1 teams. But that number is completely dwarfed by the three dozen players with dreads named Williams this season.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

College FB '14 Dread News - Week 15

It looked like it was going to be a storybook finish for East Carolina on senior night in the first game of the week on Thursday night (Dec. 4). But that was only until the Pirates made a complete mess of the final 2 minutes of their game against UCF. Indeed the Pirates have nobody to blame but themselves that they and their fans were in stunned silence after the final play of the game, and that the Knights were celebrating wildly after pulling out a miraculous 32-30 victory at Greenville, NC, that clinched a share of their 2nd straight AAC championship. UCF's victories this season have come with a lot less drama than they did during their 12-1 season in 2013; but this victory surely tops any of the several great escapes the Knights made last season. It was fitting that QB Justin Holman and junior WR Breshad Perriman were posing with the trophy in the locker room after the game (photo below), since they were two main participants in the play that won the trophy.
After watching a little bit of the 3rd quarter, I decided to turn to another channel, even though ESPN had just displayed a graphic that showed that throughout this season the 4th quarter was East Carolina's strongest quarter.