With the recent reports covered both by the Philadelphia Eagles and Cal Bears media regarding former Cal wide receiver Desean Jackson and the strain on his respective teams as a result of his family members' involvement, you kind of have to wonder how much is too much in terms of the parent involvement in sports.
By the way, I'm not going to spend a lot of time going recapping the articles (although I will highlight a few select quotes), you can just read them here:
Can the parents really be faulted for wanting to be truly involved in their son's life?Or does a young athlete have to at some point become his own man and do, think, and act for himself?
But we've seen parents' involvement in sports before. From orange slices, to soccer moms, to the overbearing dad at the little league game who beckons his son over after the kid has just struck out and not too gently wraps his palm around the back of the kid's neck and breaks into a three minute tirade of why the kid absolutely failed in 83 different ways at the plate.And to a certain extent, you've seen it a bit of it at the collegiate and pro level: parents who are criticized for caring perhaps a little too much:
·Papa Archie Manning refuses to allow kiddo Eli Manning to play for the San Diego Chargers in the 2004 Draft.
·The aforementioned Lebron James incident involving Lebron James telling his mommy dearest to sit her booty down when she attempted to take on the entire Celtics squad after Paul Pierce was little too rough with the King.
The list goes on. There's obviously a fine balance between parental guidance and care for their children athletes, and head shakingly bad pampering. I'm not sure Desean Jackson's situation really falls in either category. I know I'm slightly beating a dead horse here as there has already been much said about this issue, but I did feel it was worth at least briefly looking at what's been covered recently with Desean Jackson, Desean's father Bill Jackson, and Coach Jeff Tedford.
The whole discussion can really highlight by two quotes:
Bill Jackson: "His coach at Cal said we were too involved in his life. This is a real family. This ain't people in the street . . . I don't understand it. I worked hard all my life . . . we're a good family. Me and DeSean's mother, we've been separated for years, but you wouldn't know it. I'm at her house right now . . . I ain't never been in jail. I'm a good citizen, I vote. I saw on TV before the draft, about [running back] Darren McFadden's mother [having been addicted to cocaine]. I see things on the Internet about me being a bad parent.
I ask coach Tedford, 'Why not be involved with your children?' . . . I've heard Andy Reid doesn't want me anywhere near his facility. I'm like, 'Damn, what did I do?' ''
Coach Tedford:"With outside opinions and outside advice always eating at DeSean, he was in a very tough spot. He's trying to be a team guy, trying to fit in and play his role, but dealing with outside information always eating at him, and not always positive. It ended up putting him in a very difficult position. He's had to deal with a lot of different people's opinions being shot at him. That's where I think he has grown, and will continue to grow, on being his own man, using his own common sense. Being part of the meetings and the offense, he knows better than the outsiders what is going on.''
For what it's worth, I can completely understand where the Jackson family is coming from, and would say that Bill Jackson and company have every single right to be involved in Desean's life. Far too often we've seen what has happened as a result of the opposite. However, it appears that Bill Jackson's quotes indicate that they might be missing the point. I don't question for a second that Bill's a good parent or that they're a bad family. I just feel the issue is more about whether they get too involved with certain areas that they should let Desean handle himself, namely his sports career. I just can't help but feel that Tedford's comments make too much sense here.
Does Bill Jackson have the right to feel the way he does? Absolutely. What parent doesn't want to see their child succeed and flourish in competitive sports, or anything for that matter? But a parent has to also be cognizant of what type of repercussions his feelings have on the player and for his or her team when they are as vocal or as "involved" as they are. All in all, you can't blame Bill Jackson for feeling the way he does, but one can see how he may need to use better judgment about how much he allows Desean to really think and act for himself, now that Desean is in the pros. Whether Desean's actions end up being the "right" ones, time will tell, but ultimately they should be Desean's actions and decisions to make.
On one hand I'm surprised Longshore made the list based on last year's second half slide and the fact that he's embattled in one of the country's biggest college QB controversies . On the other hand, this may be even more of testament to the depth of Cal's QB situation if Longshore doesn't even win the starting spot. But keep in mind, Longshore was the top junior QB in the nation last year in preseason reports, and nearly led the Pac-10 in passing and TDs the season prior. Most forget what people were saying about Longshore before the 'Callapse." You can't blame 'em. a 1-6 regular season finish will do.
No Jahvid Best? Completely understand. But to have Joe McKnight top the RB list? In my look at Jahvid Best vs. Joe McKnight, I thought both showed a lot in their freshman year. So for McKnight to deemed the best RB in the Pac-10 is a stretch at this point in the preseason, in my opinion.
Alex Mack as the best O-Lineman in the conference? Even a young Lloyd Christmas could have told you that.
No Squid on the list? Yeh, I could see that...
No surprise to see at least one linebacker on the list, considering our strength at that position. A little surprised to Worrell Williams ranked higher than Follett with consideration that Follett has gotten in preseason awards. The Ziger is undoubtedly one of the best pass rush forces coming off the edge, but you might argue that Williams has shown more ability as a complete linebacker.
Who could forget the infamous 2004 BCS Snub? Although most Cal fans would want to.
"5. Texas politickin': Brown lobbies for poll promotion over California We're a country divided into red states and blue states, so why shouldn't that carry over to college football? In 2004, Texas coach Mack Brown kissed babies, shook hands and openly pleaded for pollsters to promote his Longhorns (AP No. 6, ESPN/USA Today No. 5) past California (AP No. 4, ESPN/USA Today No. 4). When the Bears won "only" 26-16 in their season-finale at Southern Miss, Brown got enough superdelegate switches to swipe Cal's Rose Bowl berth. The postscript? Texas quarterback Vince Young then posted the first of two BCS bowl performances for the ages, in a dramatic Rose Bowl win over Michigan, and the despondent, injury-riddled Bears laid an egg in an embarrassing Holiday Bowl loss to Texas Tech."
Miller's recap only tells part of the story. He must have a bit rushed to mention that Cal had posted a 10-1 regular season record with its only loss being a 23-17 nail biting loss to the the eventual National Champions USC, AT the Coliseum. Texas on the other hand, had been blown out at home by the Oklahoma Sooners, who would subsequently get crushed by the Trojans in the National Championship game.
But as Miller mentioned, Brown worked his mojo, and the Bears watched their best chance at making the Rose Bowl in over 50 years swirl down the proverbial BCS crapper.
Read the rest of the post and comments here >>
The Cal Coaches Tour that I mentioned a few weeks ago, officially kicked off this week to record crowds and some interesting nuggets of info. I waited too long to decide on going, and the one Nor Cal stop that I was going to be able to make (Pleasant Hill) sold out the quickest. Great.
Apparently, nothing too groundbreaking came from the meetings, but to summarize: Montgomery schmoozed over the crowds, Tedford looked relaxed, and Barbour continued to be the man...Not like, looking like a man, or having the semblance of a man, but figuratively speaking in that I think she's an incredible Athletic Director. Because I don't think she looks a man. Not at all.
Ahem. Anyway. Here's the first batch of reports of what's gone so far.
Probably the most interesting tidbits to come from Okanes recap of Monday's event at Back Forty BBQ in Pleasant Hill was that the Nate Longshore/Kevin Riley (sorry Brock) QB Battle, may go into the fall--as in the games as well.
Not I'm not sure if this will be more of what happened with the beginning of the 06 season, where Nate was named the started, but Tedford did promise that Joe Ayoob would see some playing time regardless, or if it will be more of what happened at the beginning of the 2003 season, where Reggie Robertson started, but it was fairly clear to everyone that he was just getting the season started until Aaron Rodgers was ready to play. Who knows?
We do know that Tedford again reiterated that he wasn't a fan of the two QB system, but it'll be interesting to see in which manner he'll go about getting both QBs some playing time in the first game or two...or three.
Oh and Tedford seemed to heavily emphasize that regardless of who would be starting, that we all needed to support them. Going to be hard to do, but I agree whole heartedly. Hopefully we won't have repeats of Cal fans verbally crapping on our QBs ala Joe Ayoob-USC-2005.
Finally, apparently Jahvid Best won't need surgery and is again tearing up turf. Sweet.
Albee covered the Cal Alumni Club Luncheon in Marin on Sunday, and focused his report on Mike Montgomery. And for good reason. Not only has his hiring been one of the biggest stories of the college basketball offseason, but the guy stole the show.
Giving Tedford bear hugs, showing up in casual polo tees, Montgomery has been playing it chills. And he's been showing his charismatic side as well. At Monday's event, after seeing the size of the crowd, Montgomery joked that the turnout was larger than what he had seen at Maples his first years. Zing!
And Finally...
I leave you all with a video of Tedford speaking from Monday's tour stop. YouTube quality, but you get the point.
Just a quick update on a few Cal graduating seniors who are looking to sign free agent contracts with an NFL Team (courtesy the SFGate):
"The Raiders invited 17 unsigned and undrafted rookies for a weekend tryout.
Among the notables: Stanford defensive back David Lofton, the son of Raiders receivers coach James Lofton; Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller(San Ramon Valley High); Cal defensive back Brandon Hampton, punter Andrew Larson and linebacker Greg Van Hoesen; and Stanford cornerback Tim Sims."
No word really on how they performed during the tryout, and no one's been signed just yet. Best of luck to the Bears and hope they get a shot!
Read the rest of the post and comments here >>
I guess it didn't take them too long to put a few attributes together and begin the PR blitzes. Desean Jackson...can fly on the field...is a Philadelphia Eagle...eagles fly...ummm...BOOM!
Read the rest of the post and comments here >>
Well I stumbled across a fun video (albeit not the best quality as the footage is filmed off-screen) of Desean Jackson taking on Owen Schmitt, the fullback out of West Virginia who has bragging rights as the PSP cover star. Well that's about where the bragging stops, because our boy Desean whupped on Schmitty based on the footage. Now if it were a bench pressing contest...or twinkie-thon, Owen might have the edge.
After watching the footage, there were a lot of interesting takeaways:
We got to see more footage of the new supposed Cal jersey designs that were revealed last week. What was even more interesting was that the golden yellow uniforms were shown as Cal's home gear. Sweetness. I've been waiting to see those in NCAA Football for a while now, and they look pretty good. We'll have to wait and see whether they're considered alternate jerseys, or if a blue version of the unis will pop up as Cal's home gear.
Desean Jackson is pretty good at the game. You could tell he's been playing past iterations of either NCAA or Madden for a while now. And, is it sad that I recognized most of the plays he was calling?
WVU fans will be quick to point out that Schmitt was probably spending more time in the weight room or perfecting his skills than getting good at some video game. And they're probably very correct. Schmitt's a freaking man. But he still sucks at that game.
Not only is Nate Longshore the starter. But he's a freaking star player. I kid in how much worth put into that though. I mean c'mon. At this point if you were EA, and were considering the situation from a non Cal fan standpoint, working with a time crunch, why would you not have Nate be the starter in the game? The guy's won the starting job three years in row and is a going to be a Redshirt Senior. Oh, and no one watched the Armed Forces Bowl.
Oh and speaking of Nate, apparently suffering two leg injuries in the last three years boosts your speed rating in the game, because they've given him a set of wheels in this year's version. Seriously, the guy looks like Noel Devine there in the pocket running around. I remember running the option with him in last year's version of the game was essentially using him to get clobbered by the LB before dumping it off to Forsett at the last possible second. This year, it looks like Nate's going to go all Pat White on us.
(The Real White Michael Vick baby)
James Montgomery is listed as our starting running back. As a reminder, the guy's no longer on the team. He hasn't been since early March. I know EA's rushed for deadlines, and this version of the game is probably weeks old at this point, but man, it'd be awkward playing the game this fall with him still as our starting back.
Apparently the folks at EA heard about Syd'Quan Thompson intercepting a pass pretty much every practice in Spring Ball and amped him up as well. The guy had two picks in the video from what I saw. Oh and Owen Schmitt sucks at the game. Have I mentioned that already?
Favorite part of the video? When Desean caught a long bomb and instead of running for the 3rd straight TD to make it a 3 score game, decided to run backwards and across the field to a) show some mercy b) show he was just playing with Owen at that point and c) flaunt like Desean knows how to do. My guess is that wasn't the first time Desean pulled that on someone.
I know, I know.It’s WAY too early to begin the comparisons.They’ve both only played one season (with Jahvid not even finishing his).It’s retarded to compare two players just because they’re sophomore running backs in the Pac-10.Joe McKnight is sooo much better than Best.Best is sooo much faster than McKnight…blah blah blah.
Forgive me, it’s the college football offseason, and I have to indulge in various comparisons and inane stretches of “analysis.”But some of the similarities are worth looking at, even on my blog.
Both have been compared to Reggie Bush, with Desean Jackson going so far as to call Best “Little Bush.”Both were some of the most highly recruited running back prospects in the country, with McKnight obviously having received a bit more press.Both played as true freshman and immediately got playing time, and subsequently, both made immediate impacts for their teams.Oh, and both wear number 4.
That’s enough for me to take a look at both players and compare and contrast their performance thus far, and a take glimpse at who might end up eclipsing the other when it’s all said and done.
Let’s take a quick look at a quick Tale of the Tape
Name: Joe McKnight
DOB: 4/16/1988
Hometown: River Ridge, Louisiana
Height: 6-0.
Weight: 180 lbs.
Name: Jahvid Best
DOB: 1/30/1989
Hometown: Vallejo, California
Height: 5’10.
Weight:193 lbs
Instant Impact?
Both backs began their respective college careers as the third string backups on their team. With Emmanuel Moody’s transfer to the Florida Gators, McKnight would jump to near the top of the ridiculous RB deep depth chart, backing up CJ Gable and Chauncey Washington.
Best was projected to back up senior Justin Forsett and Redshirt Freshman James Montgomery.
Both coaches Jeff Tedford and Pete Carroll recognized there was far too much talent in the players to keep them redshirted.However, it is important to speculate that a big reason why Tedford (who had typically only heavily used two backs per season in his time with Cal) would choose not to redshirt Best would be because of his skill at the punt return gunner position (more on that later).
Despite being third on each team’s depth charts, both backs were expected to see their fair share of playing time.And play they did.
At various points in the season, both players made the presence felt in numerous facets of the game (rushing, receiving, and special teams).Fans for both USC and Cal grew increasingly excited not only in what future seasons would bring, but what the 2007 season would bring, and how many ESPN highlights would go along with it.
Jahvid Best’s 1st Collegiate TD
Joe McKnight 1st Collegiate TD
Here’s a quick statistical breakdown of how they did in their first seasons.
2007
Joe McKnight
Jahvid Best
Rushing
Attempts
94
29
Yards
540
221
AVG
5.7
7.6
LNG
65
64
TD
3
2
Receiving
REC
23
13
Yards
203
74
Average
8.8
5.7
Long
32
16
Touchdown
1
1
RUSHING
As you can see, Best had significantly fewer carries than McKnight, only 30.8% as many as McKnight to be exact.He never had a game in which he saw more than 4 carries, and his injury midway through the USC game, sidelined him for the rest of the season, allowing him to only play 9.5 games versus the 12 that McKnight played, including USC’s Rose Bowl win over Illinois (McKnight did not play versus Washington).
Despite that, Best was a threat every time he touched the ball, ripping off a ridiculous 7.6 YPC to go along with 221 yards.McKnight benefited from having more than three times as many more carries as Best, but only more than doubled Best’s rushing total. It’s difficult to try and extrapolate those numbers and see what Best would have done with as many carries as McKnight.He may have gained as many yards, but the increase in the number of carries may have also adversely affected his high YPC.
Both also showed the ability to break the big one on a number of occasions, with both of their longest rushes being nearly identical at 65 yards for McKnight and 64 for Best.
RECEIVING
More or less the same story.Best gets fewer balls thrown to him, and hence gets fewer yards.But it’s a bit harder this time to deny that McKnight was utilized more often as a receiving threat than Best, and given the opportunity, did more when he did catch the ball. With nearly twice as many catches, McKnight almost tripled the number of receiving yards as Best.But again, given how few yards and catches we’re talking about here, the differences are almost negligible.
SPECIAL TEAMS
This is where it gets a little bit more interesting and perhaps a bit more difficult to compare because Best and McKnight were utilized heavily but very differently in a Special Teams capacity.
McKnight was used as USC’s top punt returner, returning 19 punts for 160 yards for a 8.4 YPC, and a long of 45.While he had a few breakout punt returns, specifically against Illinois in the Rose Bowl, he was a bit more quiet with the majority of his other returns.
Best on the other hand was selected for kickoff return duties alongside wide receiver Lavelle Hawkins.He returned 15 kickoffs for 405 yards (with a long of 54), and an average of 27.0 YPC, finishing second in the Pac-10 in that category.
Finally, one of the areas that might go statistically under the radar is Best’s performance as a standout punt team gunner.In 2007, he tacked on 12 tackles and a fumble recovery onto his short but impressive resume.Many argue that it was this X-Factor that ultimately pushed Coach Tedford to choose Best to play as a true frosh over other highly-recruited freshman Shane Vereen, given both were and still are, considered incredibly talented players.
2008 and Beyond…
McKnight has been declared academically ineligible…but it won’t affect his eligibility for the fall.That’s got to be a relief for Trojan fans who were hootin’ and hollerin’ at USC’s practices when they saw McKnight rip off huge plays as a receiver, tail back, and in the return game.
McKnight already has some early Heisman hype, but Desean Jackson will be the first to tell you that it doesn’t matter what you do in Spring, or even the first game.It matters what you do consistently throughout the season to even be considered.Even in a best case scenario, I can’t image McKnight being seriously considered for the award as a true sophomore, although he may set himself up beautifully to run away with it his Junior year if all goes well for him and his Trojans.
Best’s hip pointer injury has held him out of spring contact drills, allowing him to only participate in individual drills, but should be ready to go for the fall.Given the depth and youth of Cal’s running back group, the starting position is fairly open which may jeopardize the number of carries Best might receive.But having the most game time experience of the group (at a whopping 29 carries), expect Best to have the larger share of carries next year.
The good news is that assuming both players can stay healthy, eligible, and out of trouble, we’re in store for at least two more years of debate.That is of course unless a player begins to fade with his productivity on the field, but considering what we’ve seen thus far, it’s highly unlikely that that will be the case.They’ll be pushed for playing time by the competition and depth at their respective tail back spots, but as of now, these guys expect to be the featured backs in the next season or two.This will most likely be an issue that we’ll revisit more often, especially as the season breaks out and college football fans nationwide begin to see what these guys can do as main men in the spotlight.
My Opinion?
My bias as a Cal fan has naturally pushed me in favor of Jahvid Best, also because I’ve had the chance to see him play more than the few highlights I’ve been able to catch of McKnight.But more than anything, I’m excited that we may even have a true discussion of the best running backs in the conference and possibly the country in the next few years.
Was there such a thing for NCAA Football?Most self respecting Madden videogame and/or NFL fans are aware of the infamous Madden Curse with NFL pro players.For those of you not in the know, it’s been well publicized that nearly every player who has had the honor but eventual misfortune of gracing the cover of each year’s version of Madden Football, has found their career set in crap stick reverse afterwards.Sometimes it takes mere months, sometimes it takes seasons, but sooner or later, big bad John Madden is going to get ya.
So I wasn’t completely sure about NCAA’s cover stars, so I decided to do some investigating and see what misfortunes if any, have struck those who’ve been forever ingrained on the covers of past iterations of NCAA Football.
[Editor's Note: Using the Curse Rating System. 1 = No evidence of a curse at all, 10 = living proof of a curse]
NCAA Football 08 – Jared Zabranksy.
Zabransky was the second athlete featured on the cover that was not drafted in the NFL following his senior year of college.So why was he even featured in the first place?He just happened to be the QB who led one of the most amazing finishes to one of the most amazing games in college football history. That's all.
Zabransky was signed as a free agent with the Houston Texans last year, before he was eventually cut in September.In February, he has reportedly signed a two-year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Curse Rating: NA
NCAA Football 07 – Reggie Bush.
The "most electrifying player in college football" pre-Desean Jackson, has done okay in the NFL in his short two years. Only rushing for 565 yards for 6 TDs (3.6 YPC) in his rookie campaign,he however, caught 742 yards receiving, with two TDs.While not having the type of rookie impact that Adrian Peterson or even Marshawn Lynch would have a year later, Bush was an important part of the Saints’ turnaround.
Bush would have a more disappointing 2007 campaign with just 6 total Touchdowns, and 581 yards rushing, 3.6 YPC, and only 417 yards receiving.The numbers while comparable to his first year's, mask the fact that more was expected of Bush coming into his sophomore campaign.People began getting nervous when Mario Williams had as many sacks last season as Bush had touchdowns in his entire career.Umm…
Where the emergence of a curse really begins brewing though is in the allegations that Reggie Bush received $291,000 in illegal cash, a car and other goods from sports agent Lloyd Lake in his time at USC.Don Yaeger’s Book, Tarnished Heisman gives a detailed breakdown of what is believed to be the events surrounding the case.Bush will have to give his deposition in June, and if he is found to be guilty of the charges, the proverbial crap storm would fly in a lot of people’s faces.Heisman trophy gone.And if USC is found to have known about all this?Eesh.National Championships, gone.Winning seasons, gone.
So this one is pending, but if it is true, Bush could become the NCAA Cover Curse Cover Boy.
Curse Rating: 8/10 (Pending)
NCAA Football 06 – Desmond Howard.
Desmond Howard?WTH?Didn’t he win the Heisman back in 1991?Well EA’s new Race for the Heisman mode that year prompted them to go old school, and pick a Heisman winner from back in the day.And who better than the player who actually struck the Heisman pose late in the season after returning a punt for a touchdown?
Unproductive as a receiver, Howard would go on to only net 123 catches for 1,597 yards, and 7 TDs in his 11-season career in the pros.To give you some context , Randy Moss had 98 catches, 1,493 yards, and 23 TDs last season.However, Howard excelled as a punt and kick-off returner on special teams, with his most notable return being his 99-yard kick-off return in Super Bowl XXXI that sealed their victory against the New England Patriots. You can catch him now on the College Gameday Set with Herbstreit, Corso, and Fowler.
Curse Rating: 5/10.
NCAA Football 2005 – Larry Fitzgerald
Already a multiple time pro-bowler, Fitzgerald has become a franchise wide receiver. Benefiting from a pass-heavy offense with the Arizona Cardinals, Fitzgerald has already had league-best receiving seasons. While he hasn't quite put himself in the same echelon as receivers like Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, or Marvin Harrison, Fitzgerald has put himself on that path quite quickly in his short career.
Curse Rating: 2/10
NCAA Football2004 – Carson Palmer
Carson Palmer has done almost everything you could expect of a Heisman trophy winning quarterback and a #1 overall draft pick. He's become the face of the franchise, and has the records to back him up.
There are 2 factors though that have the Curse Gods getting a tad bit excited:
1) Palmer's working on a bump knee after tearing it in the 2005 playoff game against the Steelers. While he's bounced back well, he's one bad hit away from hanging it up for good.
2) He plays for the Bengals. It's becoming increasingly evident that this team isn't really going anywhere. And his wide outs are flaking. Big time. Chad Johnson? Chris Henry?
(Dane Cook voice) "Ummm...hello?"
Curse Rating: 3/10
NCAA Football 2003 – Joey Harrington
Joey Joey Joey. Example of Tedford student who can't put it together in the pros. Franchise Savior to 1st Round Draft Bust. NFL Journeyman QB. Joey Harrington is a lot of things to a lot of different fans and players.
In my personal opinion, Harrington hasn't had a real fair shake with any of the teams he's been with. You can look at a lot of reasons why Harrington hasn't been able to find consistent success with his teams. Crappy teams. Bad coaching. Being thrust into starting roles when not ready. Who knows. It's easily disputable as to whether Harrington is just not cut out to be an NFL starting QB or whether the circumstances have never panned themselves out for him. Even so, it's still hard to give the guy anything lower than a 6.
Curse Rating: 6/10
NCAA Football 2002 – Chris Weinke
Chris Weinke had the unfortunate displeasure of being thrust into a starting role with the Carolina Panthers in his rookie season. The good news was that he would go on to win his first game. The bad news was that he would go on to lose the next 17. That's an NFL record. Even Joe Ayoob's 10 straight incompletions in the 2005 Sacramento St. game thinks that's intense.
Yeah...Weinke wouldn't see to much playing time after that. Serving in a backup role, he would fill in for an injured Jake Delhomme here and there. Weinke was last cut from the San Francisco 49ers. If the 49ers don't need a QB, then man, I don't know who would.
Curse Rating: 7/10
NCAA Football 2001 – Shaun Alexander
The only player to be on both the NCAA and Madden's cover, Shaun Alexander avoided the EA curse the first time. Shaun Alexander was the man. Rushing records, leading his team to the Superbowl, pro bowls, an MVP award, Offensive Player of the Year, record contracts, he had it all.
Then he decided to ask test luck again and appeared on the cover of Madden 07...and broke his toe in the 3rd week of the following season. And broke his wrist the following year. And then he got cut by the same Seahawks who only two years ago had signed him to a league-high 8 year $62 million contract. On the field, it was all gone.
I think Shaun MIGHT still have a good two or three years left in him, but you might need to stick a fork in him. He was lucky to have gotten by for so long. Like the George Dubya once said, "Fool me once..."
Curse Rating: 7/10
NCAA Football 2000 – Ricky Williams (RB, Texas).
Ahh Ricky Williams.The first thing you need to know about Ricky is the price that teams have paid to get him, specifically draft picks.Mike Ditka and the New Orleans Saints gave up all of their 1999 Draft picks to get him, as well as their 1st and 3rd round picks the following year.When that didn’t work out, the Dolphins traded for him three years later for two first round picks.Eesh, you could build an eventual Superbowl contender with all those picks.
Fortunately, Williams would be incredibly productive with the Dolphins, leading the NFL with his first year with them with 1,853 yards, and earning Pro Bowl honors.While Williams could be productive on the field, he couldn’t stay healthy or clean off it.Diagnosed with depression and social anxiety disorder, Williams officially retired from the NFL in August 2004, after failing a number of drug tests.He then revealed his plans to study Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of holistic medicine.Let’s just say even the Manning brothers and their Double Stuff Racing League thought that was a dumb idea.
(We're making history!")
Needless to say the whole holistic medicine thing didn’t work out.Williams would return a year later, to split carries with his successor Ronnie Brown, to have a moderately successful year.Then, Williams failed the NFL drug policy for the fourth time, getting suspended for the entire 2006 season.
After spending a season in the CFL, Williams worked hard to get reinstated by the NFL.And by reinstated I mean smoking 3 bulbs daily, instead of regular 6.Playing.He was reinstated in 2007, only to get injured after a lineman stepped on his shoulder in his first game back, ending his season.The Dolphins have apparently renewed his contract though, so hopefully he gets it right on his fourth, no wait fifth try—ah forget it.
Curse Rating: 9/10.
NCAA Football 99 – Charles Woodson (CB, Michigan).
Woodson hasn’t really suffered anything close to a curse in his time in the pros, having a Hall of fame ballot entry level pro career.A multiple time pro bowler, and still playing and contributing with the Green Bay Packers, he’s been about as successful as you can be as a top NFL corner, with the exception of the Superbowl Ring.
Curse Rating: 1/10
NCAA Football 98 – Danny Wuerffel (QB, Florida).
After winning the Heisman trophy, he didn’t do much else in the Pros.A journey man QB in the NFl, Wuerffel played seven seasons with 4 different teams, before having his career highlights come in winning the MVP honors of the NFL Europe World Game 2000.
Curse Rating: 8/10.
Final Curse Rating:5.6
At the end of the day though, it’s really hard to call it a curse.The Madden Curse is one thing: when a player has already seen incredible success to warrant a cover only to watch his career spiral down the drain.
But it’s harder to ascertain whether it’s a curse for college players who are makinghe difficult jump to the pros. Who's to say it's a curse and not just the fairly common case of a spectacular college athlete, end up being less than mediocre or less than mediocre in the NFL?
With that said, it’s still fairly interesting to analyze. The story isn't over for a lot of these players, only time will really tell. But if I had a dime for every time someone walked into Gamestop and saw NCAA 2002 sitting in the bargain bin with no idea who Chris Weinke was...
I was pretty surprised to stumble across the following Nyan Boateng Spring Highlight video.
Why? Well for one, up until this point, I haven't seen any footage of any Cal practices, and found it interesting that I found one that actually used official sideline and endzone angles. (By the way, I definitely suggest watching the video in high-res, if you decide to play it in a separate window.)
Secondly, it's no secret that Cal has been incredibly hush-hush in regards to making sure they don't reveal too much information about the team and its practices during the Spring. The absence of a true Spring Scrimmage. The closed practices. The strict prohibition of any photos or media taken of formations. Bob Gregory's refusal to outrightly state that we're switching to the 3-4.
The list goes on.
What I'm not surprised about is Boateng's athletic ability. The guy shows some good speed, and makes some nice grabs. I am however, a little concerned about how open he was getting on some of those plays. I know our defense has outplayed our offense for the most part this spring, but I still break out in hives whenever I see flashes of receivers breaking away from our corners like that (Curse you Robert Meachem).
So how long until the Cal Athletic Department asks that the video be removed? Even though I'm sure it's a private video, hosted on a public forum, I'd be surprised if you all were able to still view this video come this time next week.
[EDIT: The video has already been removed. Sheesh. It didn't even make it a whole day.
I feel bad that you guys came all the way to my site to check out a video that's been deleted, so here's a new Nyan Boateng highlight video, showing off clips from him in HS (playing basketball as well) in addition to some short clips from him at Florida.]
For a few weeks now, there have been mumblings and grumblings in the Cal Football fan community of new uniforms to be revealed this upcoming season.No one had really been able to get any confirmation of this or nab any photos of what these might look like.
Until now.
Okay.Not really.The only real “evidence” I found was when I was looking at some gameplay video of NCAA Football 09.In a video highlighting Cal vs. Florida State, we got what may potentially be the new uniforms, in rendered video game form.Take a look for yourself.
More pictures and the video itself after the bump.
Here's a video of actual gameplay action.
As you can see, looks like Cal is going for the single gold stripe on top of the solid Yale blue.And doing some funky stuff with the gold stripes on the pants as well.As if there wasn’t enough reason to think our unis looked a lot like West Virginia’s.
Not sure what I think about it at this point.The Cyberbears at the message boards seem to be pretty much against it at this point.I remember thinking the golden yellow uniforms were a bit strange at first, and now I think they’re pretty sweet.The fact that we haven’t lost in them doesn’t hurt as well.
So if these screenshots indeed prove what our new unis are going to look like this upcoming year, what do you all think?
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With the recent reports covered both by the Philadelphia Eagles and Cal Bears media regarding former Cal wide receiver Desean Jackson and the strain on his respective teams as a result of his family members' involvement, you kind of have to wonder how much is too much in terms of the parent involvement in sports. 
