Concussions, Coaches for SEC and Abe Lincoln

Glad to see NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith is agreeing with a recommendation I made months ago on ESPN’s “”Around The Horn.’’ He is calling for independent “”concussion specialists’’ on the sideline during the games.  Thanks, DeMaurice.  I always believed – and said it publicly – that teams can’t be trusted, or aren’t expert enough, to evaluate their own players during the course of the game.  You end up with that “”I’m Batman’’ response joked about in the old candy bar commercial.  This is no joke.  What I said on ATH was that doctors trained to treat concussions be brought in, just like referees, from other cities each week to be on the sidelines at each game and examine players from both teams when there are suspicions of concussions – after helmet-to-helmet hits. Instead, the league put trainers from colleges in pressboxes to advise teams on how to handle players with possible concussions. In the wake, though, of concussions to quarterbacks Alex Smith and Michael Vick on Sunday, then Jay Cutler on Monday night, the players association and the league are revisiting the procedures.  If the NFL can have officials judging the games, it can hire doctors (who I’m sure would be happy to assist) for the weekend to be on hand, and make sure that players are kept out of games after head injuries.  The days of “”his bell was rung’’ was over, and we all know what’s happened to so many former NFL players who were concussed during their careers. This is a move the NFL can make almost immediately, and improve the players’ safety.
 I’ve been on elevators with a lot of sports writers after games when there has been a sudden drop, or the elevator won’t open.  Someone always says: “”If this elevator goes down, there will be several good job openings.’’  There’s no elevator involved, but there are going to be several good job openings in college football again this year.  Start with the SEC – Auburn, Tennessee, Arkansas and Kentucky.  It’s rather startling that the conference probably won’t have a team in the BCS championship, for a change, but teams four-ninth in the BCS stands are from the SEC.  So, coaches at Alabama, Georgia, Florida, the old ball coach from South Carolina, LSU and Texas A&M don’t have to worry.  Or Mississippi State. But four schools already are looking.  You’ve got to win now in the SEC, and you can’t depend on what you did, oh, two or three years ago. See Auburn.  Bobby Petrino wants to get back in the league.  Forget it, Bobby.  Too soon may be never.  Some thoughts on potential coaches:  Kirby Smart from Alabama will be grabbed by somebody in the SEC at season’s end. He’s considered the No. 1 head-coach-in-waiting.  I’d say Charlie Strong is the strongest choice for another school.  The former Florida defensive coordinator, who I brought up for the vacant Colorado job a couple of years ago, went to Louisville and has produced a very good team this season. Despite the loss to Syracuse, the Cardinals’ coach still is near the top of the list, and could wind up at Arkansas.  Gus Malzahn at Arkansas State is up for the one of the jobs.  Tennessee wanted its old coordinator, David Cutcliffe, to return to Knoxville when Lane Kiffen left, but Cutcliffe, Peyton Manning’s mentor at Tennessee, preferred to stay at Duke. He has the Blue Devils bowl eligible this year. We’ll see if Tennessee will take another run at him.  People from UTK keep talking about Jon Gruden (who briefly was at Tennessee, and his wife was a cheerleader at the university), but he’s not leaving his Monday Night gig.  Forget him.  The Vols could get his brothers, the offensive coordinator with the Cincinnati Bengals, but that won’t happen.  Three names for Auburn, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas to consider, but nobody’s talking about them. Mistake.

        Dave Doeren, the former co-defensive coordinator at Wisconsin, has a 20-4 record with Northern Illinois in 2011-12. He won the GoDaddy.com Bowl last year and will get a better bowl this year with a 9-1 record.  Doeren turns 41 next month. He’s been an assistant with Drake, Southern Cal, Montana, Kansas and the Badgers. Kentucky should go after Double D for some D.

        Tim DeRuyter, the head coach at Fresno State, should be a guy a bigger school should jump for.  He played at the Air Force Academy, so you know he’s smart.  He has been an assistant at Air Force, Ohio, Navy, Nevada and Texas A&M (where he was an interim coach for a bowl).  He was the Aggies’ defensive coordinator.  The Bulldogs are an impressive 8-3 this year, and DeRuyter is on the way up.  Remember his name.

        And Mark Helfrich?  Hell, who, you ask?  Helfrich is the offensive coordinator at Oregon.

        Quack, quack.

        If Chip Kelly leaves for the NFL, Helfrich is next in line for the Ducks’ head coaching job. So, some SEC team should make the move for him first.  Well, where has he been?  Well, he was quarterbacks coach at Boise State for three years.  How’s that for starters?  He went off to Arizona State to coach quarterbacks from 2001-2005, and then disappeared into that abyss in Boulder, Colorado, for three seasons with the Buffaloes. He reemerged in Oregon in 2009.

        Helfrich certainly knows what’s going on with the Oregon offense, and he has one of the best quarterbacks in the country, and probably the best running back.  I’d take him in a Tennessee minute or a Hog Heaven second if I were the Vols or the Razorbacks.

Want to see an Academy Award-winning movie? “”Lincoln’’.  Daniel Day-Lewis, one of the best actors in the world, if not the best, will win best actor for his portrayal of the President, and Steven Spielberg should get the director’s Oscar. Best movie can’t be far behind.  I can’t get enough of Abraham Lincoln, the country’s greatest President.  I recently read Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard’s best-selling book “”Killing Lincoln’’ and learned more than I ever knew about the assassination. For instance, his only bodyguard (from the D.C. police; there was no Secret Service until after) was supposed to sit outside the box in the Ford theatre; instead, he went next door to a bar to drink. After the assassination, when the police officer saw what was occurring, he sneaked away and went home, and wasn’t fired or even suspended. Incredible. (Acknowledgement:  O’Reilly and I used to work at the same time for a Denver TV station. He was an investigative reporter then, before become O’Reilly the O’Ranter.  He’s calmed lately.)  Last week I even watched the movie “”Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.’’  That was one of the worst movies of all time.  

Bring Back the NHL!

Does anybody care if the NHL returns?  I do. And so do about 20,000 people in every NHL city.  But not many others. The lockouts in football and basketball caused uproars.  This is barely causing a whisper.  The owners squeezed the players and the fans out of a full season before, and now they’re squeezing so more.  Is there a sillier group than these guys who wear red shoes and get out of clown car?  At some point, the world will totally stop caring.  Maybe it’s time for another hockey league. Bring back the World Hockey Association.

Phil Jackson to Coach Lakers Again?

Is it possible that Phil Jackson could be coaching the Lakers again this season?  After the Lakers’ 0-8 preseason and the opening-game loss at home to the lackluster Mavericks,  present coach Mike Brown said it might take until the All-Star game for the Lakers to get together. If that happens, Brown won’t survive until the All-Start game.  This is a team without an offensive attack _ triangle or rectangle.  Who could make the Lakers NBA champions again?  Jackson already has a record 11.  In a recent roundtable discussion Jackson praised new center Dwight Howard.  He’s got to be feeling the itch to have Kobe, Dwight and Steve Nash on the same team and get himself a dozen titles. Brown was brown shoes with a black tuxedo from the start.

NFL MVP Candidates are Brothers

Random thoughts wandering in my mind today, and I’ll elaborate over the weekend:  Aren’t Peyton and Eli Manning 1-2 for MVP at the moment?  Eli has the better record at the moment and more passing yardage and completions, but Peyton has the higher passing rating and the better completion numbers.  Peyton has more touchdowns and fewer interceptions.  If they keep this up, they’d be the top two choices for MVP.  Peyton already has won four, and is a cinch for Comeback Player of the Year.

You say an NFL city? I say cheeseburger.

I was thinking of that the other night in San Diego when I had my usual In-N-Out Out Burger double-double, animal style.  (If you don’t know animal style, you don’t know their secret menu.) I’ve been traveling NFL cities since 1974, and I have favorite restaurants in most _ Joe’s Stone Crabs on South Beach, Faidley’s for crab cakes in Baltimore, Legal Seafood in Boston, Uncle Jack’s kobe beef steaks in Manhattan, Giovanni’s on The Hill in St. Louis for Italian, Geno’s East for deep-dish pizza in Chicago, Columbia Restaurant for Cuban food in Tampa’s Ybor City and Jacques-Imo’s for blackened redfish in New Orleans. But I also love cheeseburgers. You may scoff at some, but I always have to have the original sliders at White Castle in a bunch of cities, the Whataburger in Dallas, the steakburger at Steak ‘N Shake in St. Louis and Tampa, Ollie’s Trolley burger in Washington D.C., any butter burger in Wisconsin, the signature burger at Minetta Tavern in Manhattan, the burger served late at night at Holeman & Finch in Atlanta, Dyer’s Burger in Memphis (my hometown, so I’m making an exception although the Oilers/Titans played there for a year; the burger is cooked in a cast-iron skillet in grease that they’ve used since I was born) the original Big Boy burger still served in Detroit, the beefburger at Craigie on Main in Boston, the six-inch cheeseburger at Grandpa’s Burger Haven in Denver, B-Spot Burgers in Cleveland, Blanc Burger in Kansas City (I know it’s a barbecue town, and there are some great places), the Butcher Burger in Philly (but I eat the cheesesteaks at Pat’s every time in), Shake Shack in Miami Beach (the original is in New York City, and among my favorites there, too), Yo Mama’s burger off Bourbon Street in New Orleans and Grover’s Bar and Grill burger in Buffalo (although go to The Anchor for the original and best buffalo wings).

        You can beat those?  Let me know what’s the best burger I missed, or in the cities I left out, and I’ll try ‘em next time.