Bruce Pearl

Bruce Pearl is the Head Coach of the Tennessee Men's Basketball Team. On Monday night Pearl was at a game between the Tennessee Women's Team and the number one ranked Duke team (as pictured to the left). Many people have a problem with the fact that a Head Coach is sitting in the stands with students and is shirtless and body-painted. They feel that since he is the coach he needs to lead by example and not do juvenile thing like this. They say that Bobby Knight would never do this, neither would Coach K or Roy Williams. That may be true but that doesn't mean what Pearl is doing is wrong.

I would like to say on the contrary how wonderful it is what Pearl is doing. Firstly in many colleges the men's teams and women's teams are at odds with each other and one coach wouldn't be caught dead at the other's game. Here Pearl is cheering vigorously for the women's squad. Secondly he's showing the kids that he is not one of these coaches who only care during practice and game time, here he is during his off time socializing with the students. Thirdly, it's not like he's doing anything illegal, like drugs or alcohol. He is being a positive role model and having some fun while he's at it .

So I say to Bruce Pearl keep up the fun and keep up the winning, unless of course you are playing Ohio State and then just keep up the fun.

Marty Schottenheimer

With the Chargers recent loss to the New England Patriots, Marty Schottenheimer's playoff record has dropped to 5-13. In the past everyone has been weary of his teams playing "Marty-Ball" down the stretch of big games. What I can't understand is why in the second half of the game against the Pats he didn't give the ball to L.T. Tomlinson is not Earnest Byner, he doesn't fumble on the 2 yard line, but most importantly he is a touchdown scoring machine.

Of course there were many other costly mistakes in the game, like the challenge on the Marlon Mcree fumble or the wasted timeout later in the game, and we can't forget the stupid penalty on Drayton Florence.

Another problem that I had with the game was when the Chargers were driving down the field at the end of the fourth quarter, when Phillip Rivers spiked the ball to stop the clock, he got hit by one of the defensive lineman and no flag was thrown. For every ticky-tack roughing the passer penalties called this season I can't fathom why the refs didn't throw the flag. If they add the 15 yards on that penalty, Nate Kaeding's 51 yard field goal would have been only a 36 yard field goal and the game would have gone into overtime.

My Top Ten Favorite Ohio State Buckeyes Players

With Monday January 8th being the BCS National Championship Game, I decided to make a list of my top ten favorite Buckeyes. Some of them went on to have great NFL careers, while others were only good in their college days. Ohio State has a rich history and it is thanks to Head Coaches named Hayes,Cooper and Tressel even if some of them were never able to beat the Wolverines from Michigan. Well here goes the countdown:

10. Antoine Winfield-CB: Was a solid defensive back with Nate Clements and Ahmed Plummer.

9. Andy Katzenmoyer-LB: "The Big Kat" never panned out in the NFL but was one of a long line of great Ohio State Linebackers.

8. Joey Galloway & Terry Glenn-WR: These speedsters did wonderful in college, especially if you consider that they didn't have such good Quarterbacks throwing the ball to them.

7. Nick Mangold-C: The anchor of the Buckeyes' O-line is now anchoring for the New York Jets.

6. Pepper Johnson-LB: The NY Giants got Pepper in the 2nd round of the 1986 draft. He won Super Bowls with the Giants and was a major reason why the Cleveland Browns made the playoffs in 1994.

5. Robert Smith-RB: His NFL career was cut short due to injury but was a good player and a great teammate.

4. Troy Smith-QB: With his 3-o record against Michigan and a Heisman Trophy to his credit, all he needs is a win Monday Night against Florida, and he'll be moving up this list.

3. Eddie George-RB: Another one of Ohio State's Heisman winners, had a great pro career with the Oilers/Titans.

2. Chris Spielman-LB: Spielman was recently on the Mike & Mike radio show and said, "if not for Ohio players Michigan would be Iowa." 'nuff said.

1. A.J. Hawk-LB: The team's defensive leader, has passed the torch on to James Laurinaitis as the next great OSU linebacker.

Other players receiving votes: Lou Groza; Tom Tupa; Bobby Carpenter; Orlando Pace; Keith Byars; Jeff Davidson; Mike Vrabel; David Boston; Shawn Springs; Archie Griffin; Mike Nugent.

So hope you enjoyed the list and that you will enjoy the game which airs Monday Night at 8:15 on FOX.

Pesach

Now that it is the 11th day of Teves, we have to keep in mind that in only a drop over 3 months will be the first day of Pesach. Some will say "we still have three months to take care of everything", well I'm here to tell you that that's not the case. If one wants to be properly prepared, one must work on getting ready. So Moshe, Shlomo, we need to start working on our Hagadah. The earlier we start the better it will be.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year.