To those who will be jealous just because Ohio State is beautiful, There are three words to keep in mind.
Get over it.
Don't like that, here's five more.
You ain't seen nothin' yet.
If Coach Jim Tressel's tenure at The Ohio State University is anything like his tenure at Youngstown State, then he is just warming up. Even if the Buckeyes win on January 7 and have a mass exodus of juniors, they will still be loaded for next season. Surely they will be considered a top 5 team to start 2008.
Tressel actually got off to a faster start at tOSU, winning the BCS National Championship in just his second year. That win validated a theory about former tOSU head coach John Cooper: he recruited great athletes and didn't know what to do with them once he got them to Columbus. Tressel knew how to use the talent he inherited and led them to an improbable win over the University of Miami.
We'll see what Les Miles has to bring with Louisiana State. It should be a formidable challenge for Tressel, perhaps the biggest of his coaching career after the pasting tOSU received at the hands of the University of Florida just one year ago.
The irony is that Tressel has a pretty similar track record at tOSU as he had at YSU. He won the first time he had a team in the D-IAA National Championship at YSU and lost the second time.
After the loss he proceeded to qualify for and win two National Championships in succession to win three in a four year span.
Overall, he would win four titles total at YSU in six games and qualified for the playoffs in 10 out of 15 seasons. All four of his D-IAA titles came in a nine-year span.
Impressive, indeed.
Tressel has been at tOSU now for seven seasons. This is his third BCS title game appearance.
There is no reason to believe that he couldn't duplicate his Youngstown success in Columbus as well. He is rarely without a well-stocked and well-balanced roster of players and he addresses his needs from a recruiting standpoint very systematically. In other words, it isn't just about accumulating "talent" for Tressel; it's about getting the right talent.
If you must be jealous of anything outside of the Buckeye Nation, it is that Tressel has poured his heart and soul into tOSU at a time when coaches are mercenaries, looking, perhaps mistakenly, at their "next challenge".
For Tressel, his coaching values are very much the same as his father, the late Dr. Lee Tressel. He never aspired to a much higher level than his father had attained at Baldwin-Wallace. However, he was destined to go farther and he had enough recognition of his own talent as a coach to understand that he was capable of much greater things.
That is what the rest of the college football world is up against. Coach Jim Tressel may not run an immaculate program, which is hard to do in this day and age. But he does come close and he already has an impressive set of credentials that other college football "nations" would be well advised to emulate and not be jealous of.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
The Hypeman Trophy...Not The Real CollegeFootball MVP
The Hypeman, er, Heisman Trophy winner will be announced this Saturday night. Can somebody wake me up when it is over?
Let me tell you something...there is nothing that will ever convince me that the Hypeman will ever be a legitimate award ever again until the selection committee starts putting players on both sides of the ball and from all positions on the field into contention to win the award.
I remember when Chris Spielman, the Ohio State linebacker who would go on to have a distinguished career with the Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills, was a senior. All the hype that year, 1986, was about Oklahoma linebacker Brian Bosworth and how Bosworth was going to be All-World. He would cure world hunger, this and that, on and on, ad nauseam. The Boz could do no wrong.
Bosworth, as I remember, was a finalist for the Hypeman. Go figure. Even if he didn't win the “award.”
The reality was that Spielman had more tackles and sacks that season than Bosworth. The Cleveland Plain Dealer published a small but very telling blurb on the comparative stats of the two linebackers just before the Hypeman vote in 1986. Perhaps he should have been in the Hypeman loop, but Spielman wasn’t even on the radar screen.
Spielman may not have had a Hall Of Fame caliber pro career, but he was pretty good by any objective analysis.
Bosworth chunked out of the NFL within three years of his overrated career. He was a Grade A self-promoter and a failure at backing up his own hype if there ever was one.
That was the first time that I felt a non-skill position player should have won the award. Never mind that I thought it should have been Spielman instead, but I digress.
Since then, only one player who hasn't been a QB, WR or RB has won the Hypeman. Go figure that it was Charles Woodson from That School Up North, even though he's gone on to have just as serviceable a pro career as Spielman.
There should have been other non-QBs, WRs, and RBs in the last 20 years that should have rated higher. Orlando Pace should have won the "award" the year before Woodson. I guess being an offensive lineman ain't sexy enough for the Hypeman. That's only one example, but there have been others over the last twenty.
And that is why I say Ohio State’s LB James Laurinaitis deserved consideration this year as opposed to the usual skill position suspects. I’m not saying that the finalists for this year’s “award” aren’t good players or won’t go on to have productive NFL careers. But are they decidedly better than Laurinaitis? That is very debatable?
Don't like Laurinaitis? Why not LSU ‘s DT Glenn Dorsey? Why not That School Up North’s T Jake Long? USC’s T Sam Baker? Illinois’ LB J Leman? I could go on and on...but I'm sure you are all smart enough to get the point.
Let me tell you something...there is nothing that will ever convince me that the Hypeman will ever be a legitimate award ever again until the selection committee starts putting players on both sides of the ball and from all positions on the field into contention to win the award.
I remember when Chris Spielman, the Ohio State linebacker who would go on to have a distinguished career with the Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills, was a senior. All the hype that year, 1986, was about Oklahoma linebacker Brian Bosworth and how Bosworth was going to be All-World. He would cure world hunger, this and that, on and on, ad nauseam. The Boz could do no wrong.
Bosworth, as I remember, was a finalist for the Hypeman. Go figure. Even if he didn't win the “award.”
The reality was that Spielman had more tackles and sacks that season than Bosworth. The Cleveland Plain Dealer published a small but very telling blurb on the comparative stats of the two linebackers just before the Hypeman vote in 1986. Perhaps he should have been in the Hypeman loop, but Spielman wasn’t even on the radar screen.
Spielman may not have had a Hall Of Fame caliber pro career, but he was pretty good by any objective analysis.
Bosworth chunked out of the NFL within three years of his overrated career. He was a Grade A self-promoter and a failure at backing up his own hype if there ever was one.
That was the first time that I felt a non-skill position player should have won the award. Never mind that I thought it should have been Spielman instead, but I digress.
Since then, only one player who hasn't been a QB, WR or RB has won the Hypeman. Go figure that it was Charles Woodson from That School Up North, even though he's gone on to have just as serviceable a pro career as Spielman.
There should have been other non-QBs, WRs, and RBs in the last 20 years that should have rated higher. Orlando Pace should have won the "award" the year before Woodson. I guess being an offensive lineman ain't sexy enough for the Hypeman. That's only one example, but there have been others over the last twenty.
And that is why I say Ohio State’s LB James Laurinaitis deserved consideration this year as opposed to the usual skill position suspects. I’m not saying that the finalists for this year’s “award” aren’t good players or won’t go on to have productive NFL careers. But are they decidedly better than Laurinaitis? That is very debatable?
Don't like Laurinaitis? Why not LSU ‘s DT Glenn Dorsey? Why not That School Up North’s T Jake Long? USC’s T Sam Baker? Illinois’ LB J Leman? I could go on and on...but I'm sure you are all smart enough to get the point.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
NHL Season Preview 2007-2008
Welcome to BuckeyeHoppy’s NHL Preview. The Stanley Cup Playoffs last year had lots of drama and I would expect this year's run to the Cup to be even better, as the competition level in the NHL seems to be more intense than recent years.
The mode of operation here is simple: I will rate each conference separately, in perceived order of finish from worst to first. I will be writing a short synopsis on each team stating my reasons for why each team is located where it is in the pecking order.
Now, this is, more or less, an educated guess and different factors will affect the order as the season progresses. Some teams are still in obvious need of making additions and others will find it necessary to tweak chemistry or cover injuries. But, for now, this is where I believe the teams in the NHL stand to start the 2007-2008 Season.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
They Will Be In The Playoffs (If They Buy A Ticket):
Philadelphia - the Kool-Aid on the Flyers off-season acquisitions will not be drunk here. It is still a team that lacks strong goal tending or a player who is a genuine “leading man” on any line. They should be better (obviously) than last year, but will not be a factor down the stretch.
Washington - many of the fortunes for the Caps rest on Ovechkin leading the attack and Kolzig minding the net. They are a bit deeper than the past few years but still seem to be a year or two away from being legitimate contenders.
Florida - the Panthers are a team who always seem able to bring it to the net, but the blue liners don’t seem able to return the favor. This year could be different, but the chemistry needs to be there. Adding Vokoun can only help but he needs to stay healthy. There are too many question marks here to justify a pick much higher than this.
Montreal - last year, the Habs had the look and the talent to back up qualification to the playoffs but just fell short. This year features a shed of most of that talent and another looming rebuild. Carbonneau, Gainey and Company appear to have their work cut out for them as this season has the look of building for the future.
Boston - re-signing Chara and adding Fernandez in goal can only help the Bruins, but the organization is once again in flux and it doesn’t look like they have the horses to finish in the money.
NY Islanders - the Islanders have key players in many of the right spots, but another off-season overhaul after qualifying for the playoffs on the last day of the season doesn’t inspire much confidence. Ted Nolan is a great coach and is as capable as any coach at steering the ship through rough waters, but it will be too much to ask him to do it two years in a row.
Carolina - they lifted the Cup two years ago, but the ‘Canes just don’t seem to have the blue line strength to protect Ward on a night-in-night-out basis. The attack is still solid, but in today’s NHL the teams with the best balance get to dance. The ‘Canes seem to be lacking a player or two to consider them playoff worthy.
They Will Be In The Playoffs (As First Round Goodies):
Tampa Bay - this team appears to possess exactly what Carolina lacks on the blue line and having Lecavalier and St. Louis doesn’t hurt either. Playoff qualification seems favorable for this scrappy and veteran Lightning team.
Buffalo - many would think that after the free-agent losses the Sabres have taken the last two years that they would be left in an insurmountable hole. But this team appears to be re-loading and have been able to secure some quality big league ice time for the players taking over for those who have exited. Couple that with a solid blue line, a good, young goalie and some talented holdover forwards and a trip to the playoffs still seems likely.
Toronto - the Leafs always seem to be on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs. Perhaps the injury bug will keep them in the cold again, but the tea leaves say that there is enough veteran presence coupled with some savvy off-season acquisitions to propel this squad to a date in the playoffs.
Atlanta - a good young team that is another year older and appear to be poised for greater things this year. Another division crown seems likely for the Thrashers if they can hold off Tampa and should give this team home ice advantage. The Thrashers are not there yet, but will be a tough out this season.
They Will Be In The Playoffs (But Are Not Yet Ready For Prime Time):
New Jersey - the Devils have been one of the steadier teams in the NHL over the last five years. It helps to have the league’s best goalie in Brodeur and the team saw fit to equip him with a competent backup in the off-season acquiring Weekes. That should improve his ability to have legs in the playoffs and give his team a better chance to go deep. A solid, top-shelf team, the Devils could be a fooler if they get on a roll.
Pittsburgh - was there any better story in the NHL last year than the Penguins? Not really. Crosby, Malkin and Company became The Team No One Wanted To Play in last years playoffs. The big thing for this young team is avoid a letdown, but having some veterans like Roberts and Recchi around and adding Sykora to this crew will make them a handful once again.
They Will Be In The Playoffs (…And Then There Were Four):
NY Rangers - on paper, this team should win it all…and they got richer in the off-season. But the Rangers needed a strong final push last year just to get to the playoffs. This team is mystifying. They will either run the table and lift the Cup, or…they might just get run out in the first round, since their don’t seem to be any light touches in the potential playoff lineup in the East. The question: Which New York Rangers will show up this year?
Ottawa - the Senators showed last year that they were an elite team, then they were able to get over the hump and reach the finals. With minimal adjustment to an already packed roster this team has the mojo to once again reach the Cup Finals. The competition should be slightly tighter than last year for a complete Cup run, but Ottawa appears to have the strength to get past all comers.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
They Will Be In The Playoffs (If They Buy A Ticket):
Chicago - a pretty young team will hit the ice in Chicago and the results will bear witness to the rebuilding project the Blackhawks will conduct. It’ll be a year for a young team to endure their harsh welcome to the National Hockey League.
Phoenix - last year, I mentioned that the Coyotes were about a year or two away from playoff contention. That forecast still hasn’t changed, although the team has pared some payroll and will be skating with a much younger team. It’s hard not to like the disciples of the Great One, but there simply isn’t enough on the shelf yet to call this a playoff team.
Columbus - if it’s another new season in the NHL it must be another rebuilding project for the Blue Jackets. Ken Hitchcock has never coached a team for a full season and failed to qualify for the playoffs. This team will be his first in that category. They should be a solid team from the blue line, but they will have trouble scoring and you don’t win in the West when you don’t score goals.
Nashville - the Preds have never won a playoff series and losing Hartnell, Kariya, Timonen and Vokoun will be too much for a suddenly younger team to take. They still have plenty of weapons at forward, but will give as many away as Mason will be called upon to be the first-team G for the first time. We’ll see if he is up to the task in the rugged West.
Los Angeles - there are lots of good teams in the NHL West. The Kings are among those good teams. Unfortunately, it takes greatness just to be in the playoff picture in this conference. The Kings are on the right track and have really ramped up their blue line and goaltending over the last year and in the off-season. It’ll be fun to watch this team this year, but I can’t help but think that they are still a year away.
Edmonton - it hard not to like what the Oilers have done in the off-season, adding Souray, Sanderson and Penner. But they have a large hole to dig out of from last year and the West doesn’t give much quarter to teams that don’t quite measure up. There are still a few moves away from legitimate playoff candidacy, but the Oilers appear to be headed in the right direction.
St. Louis - speaking of the right direction, John Davidson has the Blues nearly completely turned around from where they were two years ago. The blue line and goal still need some shoring up, but this looks like a team that contenders will want to avoid down the stretch. They appear to be a year away, but appearances can be deceiving.
They Will Be In The Playoffs (As First Round Goodies):
Dallas - a very good veteran core returns for this team who lost what might have been the best series in all of the playoffs last year. How the Stars respond to the first round lost from last year will tell the tale for this year. I suspect they will treat it like another day at the office, as good teams with lots of experience do. The Stars will be a commodity not to be fooled with.
Colorado - last year’s Avs looked like they’d be all about Joe Sakic and not much else. Instead, they failed to make the playoffs with the greatest number of points for a non-playoff team ever. Not bad effort and what you have in Denver is a fairly well-balanced attack with a rising star in Budaj between the pipes. Add some well-placed FA acquisitions to the mix and the Avs should be playing until the end of April.
Detroit - the Red Wings are the Over The Hill Gang of the hockey world. How they keep doing it defies logic, but they just might have done it long enough to allow for a pretty fair nucleus of young stars to emerge. The look of the Wings now is a fairly credible mix of seasoned veterans with youngsters who have been trained well in an already successful program in Detroit. This is another team in Hockeytown who will be a handful at playoff time.
Minnesota - this squad has a stone wall for a defense and that is a good thing, since they are merely middle-of-the-road on the attack. But if it is true that defense wins championships, then the Wild will cause nightmares for any team and that will be particularly true if Gaborik can stay healthy enough to be the leader on the attack.
They Will Be In The Playoffs (But Are Not Yet Ready For Prime Time):
San Jose - this is a team that, much like the NY Rangers, is fully capable of hoisting the Cup but they can’t seem to get out of the way of themselves. The Sharks are now a team who has had lofty expectations over the last three years and have disappointed every time. They have lots of star power and should at least play into May but there are still questions in goal and that could stall a deep run in the playoffs yet again.
Calgary - this is a strong team who now has the most strong-willed of coaches with Mike Keenan behind the bench. It is a move that could bring lofty results and Keenan has been successful with his methods in the past. It is a high risk move by the Flames FO, but if GM Darryl Sutter is right about his choice of coaches, this is a team that could win it all in June.
They Will Be In The Playoffs (…And Then There Were Four):
Anaheim - the defending Stanley Cup Champions have lost a little bit from last season’s squad. But, as long as they have the Giguere/Bryzgalov goalie tandem behind a rock solid blue line and a Selanne-led attack, the losses have every chance to be overcome and the Ducks have every chance to be skating the Cup again.
Vancouver - the Canucks, like many of the teams in the West, have stone walls on defense. The awesome Luongo in goal and the Sedin brothers as a very effective one-two punch stood toe-to-toe with the eventual Cup winners before bowing out. That means they belong at the table when mentioning potential teams to win the hallowed trophy in sports.
They Who Will Lift The Cup Will Be…:
This season’s eventual winner of the Stanley Cup is hard to pin down. There are at least half a dozen teams who could be skating it at the end of the playoffs.
But I will be going out on a limb this season and calling for the dreaded all-Canadian final that the NHL’s prized demographic…Americans…is just jumping for joy about.
The Ottawa v. Vancouver match-up I see happening has two teams who have been on the doorstep for the past couple years. Both teams have had the same line up long enough that each has spotless chemistry and can overcome lapses with good line depth and strong play between the pipes.
But the match up will come down to a battle between the stellar Heatley/Spezza/Alfredsson trio and the goal play of Roberto Luongo. Defense is the surest way to win titles many times, but the trip to the finals for Ottawa is the kind of exposure any team loves and can bank on in future Cup runs. It will pay of for the Sens this season.
It’ll go the distance, but figure on Ottawa winning Canada’s first Stanley Cup since Montreal in 1993.
Game On!!!
The mode of operation here is simple: I will rate each conference separately, in perceived order of finish from worst to first. I will be writing a short synopsis on each team stating my reasons for why each team is located where it is in the pecking order.
Now, this is, more or less, an educated guess and different factors will affect the order as the season progresses. Some teams are still in obvious need of making additions and others will find it necessary to tweak chemistry or cover injuries. But, for now, this is where I believe the teams in the NHL stand to start the 2007-2008 Season.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
They Will Be In The Playoffs (If They Buy A Ticket):
Philadelphia - the Kool-Aid on the Flyers off-season acquisitions will not be drunk here. It is still a team that lacks strong goal tending or a player who is a genuine “leading man” on any line. They should be better (obviously) than last year, but will not be a factor down the stretch.
Washington - many of the fortunes for the Caps rest on Ovechkin leading the attack and Kolzig minding the net. They are a bit deeper than the past few years but still seem to be a year or two away from being legitimate contenders.
Florida - the Panthers are a team who always seem able to bring it to the net, but the blue liners don’t seem able to return the favor. This year could be different, but the chemistry needs to be there. Adding Vokoun can only help but he needs to stay healthy. There are too many question marks here to justify a pick much higher than this.
Montreal - last year, the Habs had the look and the talent to back up qualification to the playoffs but just fell short. This year features a shed of most of that talent and another looming rebuild. Carbonneau, Gainey and Company appear to have their work cut out for them as this season has the look of building for the future.
Boston - re-signing Chara and adding Fernandez in goal can only help the Bruins, but the organization is once again in flux and it doesn’t look like they have the horses to finish in the money.
NY Islanders - the Islanders have key players in many of the right spots, but another off-season overhaul after qualifying for the playoffs on the last day of the season doesn’t inspire much confidence. Ted Nolan is a great coach and is as capable as any coach at steering the ship through rough waters, but it will be too much to ask him to do it two years in a row.
Carolina - they lifted the Cup two years ago, but the ‘Canes just don’t seem to have the blue line strength to protect Ward on a night-in-night-out basis. The attack is still solid, but in today’s NHL the teams with the best balance get to dance. The ‘Canes seem to be lacking a player or two to consider them playoff worthy.
They Will Be In The Playoffs (As First Round Goodies):
Tampa Bay - this team appears to possess exactly what Carolina lacks on the blue line and having Lecavalier and St. Louis doesn’t hurt either. Playoff qualification seems favorable for this scrappy and veteran Lightning team.
Buffalo - many would think that after the free-agent losses the Sabres have taken the last two years that they would be left in an insurmountable hole. But this team appears to be re-loading and have been able to secure some quality big league ice time for the players taking over for those who have exited. Couple that with a solid blue line, a good, young goalie and some talented holdover forwards and a trip to the playoffs still seems likely.
Toronto - the Leafs always seem to be on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs. Perhaps the injury bug will keep them in the cold again, but the tea leaves say that there is enough veteran presence coupled with some savvy off-season acquisitions to propel this squad to a date in the playoffs.
Atlanta - a good young team that is another year older and appear to be poised for greater things this year. Another division crown seems likely for the Thrashers if they can hold off Tampa and should give this team home ice advantage. The Thrashers are not there yet, but will be a tough out this season.
They Will Be In The Playoffs (But Are Not Yet Ready For Prime Time):
New Jersey - the Devils have been one of the steadier teams in the NHL over the last five years. It helps to have the league’s best goalie in Brodeur and the team saw fit to equip him with a competent backup in the off-season acquiring Weekes. That should improve his ability to have legs in the playoffs and give his team a better chance to go deep. A solid, top-shelf team, the Devils could be a fooler if they get on a roll.
Pittsburgh - was there any better story in the NHL last year than the Penguins? Not really. Crosby, Malkin and Company became The Team No One Wanted To Play in last years playoffs. The big thing for this young team is avoid a letdown, but having some veterans like Roberts and Recchi around and adding Sykora to this crew will make them a handful once again.
They Will Be In The Playoffs (…And Then There Were Four):
NY Rangers - on paper, this team should win it all…and they got richer in the off-season. But the Rangers needed a strong final push last year just to get to the playoffs. This team is mystifying. They will either run the table and lift the Cup, or…they might just get run out in the first round, since their don’t seem to be any light touches in the potential playoff lineup in the East. The question: Which New York Rangers will show up this year?
Ottawa - the Senators showed last year that they were an elite team, then they were able to get over the hump and reach the finals. With minimal adjustment to an already packed roster this team has the mojo to once again reach the Cup Finals. The competition should be slightly tighter than last year for a complete Cup run, but Ottawa appears to have the strength to get past all comers.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
They Will Be In The Playoffs (If They Buy A Ticket):
Chicago - a pretty young team will hit the ice in Chicago and the results will bear witness to the rebuilding project the Blackhawks will conduct. It’ll be a year for a young team to endure their harsh welcome to the National Hockey League.
Phoenix - last year, I mentioned that the Coyotes were about a year or two away from playoff contention. That forecast still hasn’t changed, although the team has pared some payroll and will be skating with a much younger team. It’s hard not to like the disciples of the Great One, but there simply isn’t enough on the shelf yet to call this a playoff team.
Columbus - if it’s another new season in the NHL it must be another rebuilding project for the Blue Jackets. Ken Hitchcock has never coached a team for a full season and failed to qualify for the playoffs. This team will be his first in that category. They should be a solid team from the blue line, but they will have trouble scoring and you don’t win in the West when you don’t score goals.
Nashville - the Preds have never won a playoff series and losing Hartnell, Kariya, Timonen and Vokoun will be too much for a suddenly younger team to take. They still have plenty of weapons at forward, but will give as many away as Mason will be called upon to be the first-team G for the first time. We’ll see if he is up to the task in the rugged West.
Los Angeles - there are lots of good teams in the NHL West. The Kings are among those good teams. Unfortunately, it takes greatness just to be in the playoff picture in this conference. The Kings are on the right track and have really ramped up their blue line and goaltending over the last year and in the off-season. It’ll be fun to watch this team this year, but I can’t help but think that they are still a year away.
Edmonton - it hard not to like what the Oilers have done in the off-season, adding Souray, Sanderson and Penner. But they have a large hole to dig out of from last year and the West doesn’t give much quarter to teams that don’t quite measure up. There are still a few moves away from legitimate playoff candidacy, but the Oilers appear to be headed in the right direction.
St. Louis - speaking of the right direction, John Davidson has the Blues nearly completely turned around from where they were two years ago. The blue line and goal still need some shoring up, but this looks like a team that contenders will want to avoid down the stretch. They appear to be a year away, but appearances can be deceiving.
They Will Be In The Playoffs (As First Round Goodies):
Dallas - a very good veteran core returns for this team who lost what might have been the best series in all of the playoffs last year. How the Stars respond to the first round lost from last year will tell the tale for this year. I suspect they will treat it like another day at the office, as good teams with lots of experience do. The Stars will be a commodity not to be fooled with.
Colorado - last year’s Avs looked like they’d be all about Joe Sakic and not much else. Instead, they failed to make the playoffs with the greatest number of points for a non-playoff team ever. Not bad effort and what you have in Denver is a fairly well-balanced attack with a rising star in Budaj between the pipes. Add some well-placed FA acquisitions to the mix and the Avs should be playing until the end of April.
Detroit - the Red Wings are the Over The Hill Gang of the hockey world. How they keep doing it defies logic, but they just might have done it long enough to allow for a pretty fair nucleus of young stars to emerge. The look of the Wings now is a fairly credible mix of seasoned veterans with youngsters who have been trained well in an already successful program in Detroit. This is another team in Hockeytown who will be a handful at playoff time.
Minnesota - this squad has a stone wall for a defense and that is a good thing, since they are merely middle-of-the-road on the attack. But if it is true that defense wins championships, then the Wild will cause nightmares for any team and that will be particularly true if Gaborik can stay healthy enough to be the leader on the attack.
They Will Be In The Playoffs (But Are Not Yet Ready For Prime Time):
San Jose - this is a team that, much like the NY Rangers, is fully capable of hoisting the Cup but they can’t seem to get out of the way of themselves. The Sharks are now a team who has had lofty expectations over the last three years and have disappointed every time. They have lots of star power and should at least play into May but there are still questions in goal and that could stall a deep run in the playoffs yet again.
Calgary - this is a strong team who now has the most strong-willed of coaches with Mike Keenan behind the bench. It is a move that could bring lofty results and Keenan has been successful with his methods in the past. It is a high risk move by the Flames FO, but if GM Darryl Sutter is right about his choice of coaches, this is a team that could win it all in June.
They Will Be In The Playoffs (…And Then There Were Four):
Anaheim - the defending Stanley Cup Champions have lost a little bit from last season’s squad. But, as long as they have the Giguere/Bryzgalov goalie tandem behind a rock solid blue line and a Selanne-led attack, the losses have every chance to be overcome and the Ducks have every chance to be skating the Cup again.
Vancouver - the Canucks, like many of the teams in the West, have stone walls on defense. The awesome Luongo in goal and the Sedin brothers as a very effective one-two punch stood toe-to-toe with the eventual Cup winners before bowing out. That means they belong at the table when mentioning potential teams to win the hallowed trophy in sports.
They Who Will Lift The Cup Will Be…:
This season’s eventual winner of the Stanley Cup is hard to pin down. There are at least half a dozen teams who could be skating it at the end of the playoffs.
But I will be going out on a limb this season and calling for the dreaded all-Canadian final that the NHL’s prized demographic…Americans…is just jumping for joy about.
The Ottawa v. Vancouver match-up I see happening has two teams who have been on the doorstep for the past couple years. Both teams have had the same line up long enough that each has spotless chemistry and can overcome lapses with good line depth and strong play between the pipes.
But the match up will come down to a battle between the stellar Heatley/Spezza/Alfredsson trio and the goal play of Roberto Luongo. Defense is the surest way to win titles many times, but the trip to the finals for Ottawa is the kind of exposure any team loves and can bank on in future Cup runs. It will pay of for the Sens this season.
It’ll go the distance, but figure on Ottawa winning Canada’s first Stanley Cup since Montreal in 1993.
Game On!!!
Sunday, January 21, 2007
NHL @ The Break
The NHL has hit its All-Star break. With all the festivities happening this week in Dallas, it is now time to reflect on the surprises and outcomes of the season and predictions for the stretch run.
What's With These Teams (Disappointments):
To be sure, there has not been much to look at in regards to disappointment at this stage of the season. With 30 games left, only a handful of teams are playing toward next year. The rest are in the hunt for the playoffs and this will make the stretch run well worth watching.
That being the case, there are still a few disappointments at the break.
For those familiar with my post on Talk Freedom's sports forum last year ("Approaching 50 (Games)...A Review") this will sound like a broken record, but...Chicago and Columbus have proven (once again) to be the poorest tango partners in the NHL. These teams have been world class underachievers again this season.
In one respect, this is a tale of two teams. Columbus has looked like they could break through at any time since play started again after the lockout. This has not materialised and it has cost the head coach at the start of the season (Gerard Gallant) his job. I can't imagine that GM Doug MacLean would be far behind. If they are not noticeably better down the stretch, I would be surprised if he still had a job when Columbus hosts the Draft Day festivities in June. At least the Blue Jackets had enough sense to hire Ken Hitchcock as head coach. Hitchcock has never failed to lead a team to the playoffs in any full season in his coaching career. Next year will be a stiff test for that claim to fame.
Chicago is quickly becoming a non-factor in the west every year. The Wirtz family seemingly has no inclination to improve this team and that is highly reflective in the performance of the organisation across the board. The tradition of this team in Chicago remains strong, but the losses that continue to pile up for this organisation is making it evident that the Blackhawks are becoming the Cleveland Browns of the NHL (great fan support of a lousy product on the field). They don't look to be a factor in the west anytime soon.
Two teams in the Atlantic have performed dubiously enough to warrent mention in this section. Obviously, one is Philadelphia. I realise that I didn't pick them to be a playoff team this year. That being said, I never expected that they would have the freefall from grace that they have had. This is clearly the worst team in the NHL at present. And being 19 points away from their next closest team in the east and 11 points away from the next closest leaguewide the difference is pronounced. It is nearly safe to assume that the Flyers are on the clock as we speak.
The Rangers are in the middle of the playoff hunt, but they are the one team at this point that has underachieved and is a surprise to be tied for the final playoff slot in the east. Inconsistent defense and no real fire lit under this team in general has to be a cause for concern. There is too much talent on this team to be on the edge of playoff contention. If they fail to make it in to the playoffs heads could roll at MSG.
Pleasant Surprises
The great thing about the 2006-07 campaign is the number of teams that are vying for a spot in the playoffs. Even teams that didn't appear to have a chance at the start of the year (i.e. St. Louis, Phoenix, etc.) look to have a glimmer of hope a a chance with about 30 to 35 games remaining. It would appear that at least 90 points will be necessary to qualify for the playoffs. Two thirds of the teams in the league have 50 to this point. These teams are more than in the hunt. Another six have between 45 and 50. With a great flourish to end the regular season any of these teams could enter the second season.
The biggest surprise at this stage of the season is the play of the emerging Pittsburgh Penguins. Even with the unsettled status of the team past this season, the Penuins appear to be ahead of schedule as far as developing a winning mentality and a style of play that can match with any team in the league. This team will be a handful after this season and should be a perennial playoff team for many years to come. For this season, this appears to be a team that opponents do not want to see down the stretch.
Montreal has also been better than advertised. If the season ended today, they would have home ice for the first round. For a team in a town as religious about hockey as Montreal, the presence of the Canadiens will do the league a world of good.
Teams To Watch
New Jersey has looked exceedingly good and Martin Brodeur has been his usual HOF-bound self. The thing with the Devils is whether they will be able to get any additional scoring punch to help for the remainder of the season. It would stand to reason that unless Brodeur was to take his game up yet another notch (how would that be possible?) that the Devils may be susceptible to a team with an unusually high-powered attack (Buffalo, Ottawa).
Nashville enters the break as the clubhouse leader in team points. Now, along with Detroit, is it that these teams are really that good or are these teams getting fat at the expense of Chicago and Columbus? Detroit was a #1 seed and a first round loser last year. We have seen that result more than once from the Red Wings. Is history poised to repeat itself for the Winged Wheelers?
And what about Nashville? The Preds have looked good...very good...so far. But are they a key injury away from humility like they were last year when they lost Vokoun? Who knows. All I can say is that the Predators should be a handful in any round in the playoffs, but their opposition should be equal to the task.
That said, the western playoffs should have no light touches and right now there are at least six teams in the conference who have a darkhorse chance or better of making it to the Cup finals.
How Do I Look?
So far, it appears that I have done well at projecting the best teams in the league this year from the start of the season. Teams will continue to have high and low points, but a large factor in playoff success will be how the teams that have been there before will show up when the moment of truth startes them in the face. Buffalo and San Jose (the pre-season matchup for the finals) appears to be a good bet at this point.
Buffalo should get its stiffest challenge from Ottawa. So far, the Senators have been a reliable thorn in the side of the eastern runners-up from last year. The Sabres must get better goal keeping from Miller and the defence will need to ramp things up against Ottawa's formidable attack. The Sens, if they are to be knocked out, are going to go by taking a chunk of flesh from whoever eliminates them and they should have a fairly sizeable chip on their shoulder going in to the post-season anyway.
San Jose isn't the clear-cut frontrunner in the west like Buffalo is in the east. They have had, among other good things so far, undeniably quality goalkeeping and a platoon between the pipes that should be noteworthy in the playoffs. Anaheim appears to be in the same boat on the back line, so they are to be feared in any playoff series. One thing to take note of with the western playoffs is that the conference semis and the finals should all be dogfights. There will be one or two teams that could be reliably considered for the conference finals in the east who will knocked out of the first round in the west.
Strap in, hockey fans. The stretch run should be filled with everything that makes a great sport great.
What's With These Teams (Disappointments):
To be sure, there has not been much to look at in regards to disappointment at this stage of the season. With 30 games left, only a handful of teams are playing toward next year. The rest are in the hunt for the playoffs and this will make the stretch run well worth watching.
That being the case, there are still a few disappointments at the break.
For those familiar with my post on Talk Freedom's sports forum last year ("Approaching 50 (Games)...A Review") this will sound like a broken record, but...Chicago and Columbus have proven (once again) to be the poorest tango partners in the NHL. These teams have been world class underachievers again this season.
In one respect, this is a tale of two teams. Columbus has looked like they could break through at any time since play started again after the lockout. This has not materialised and it has cost the head coach at the start of the season (Gerard Gallant) his job. I can't imagine that GM Doug MacLean would be far behind. If they are not noticeably better down the stretch, I would be surprised if he still had a job when Columbus hosts the Draft Day festivities in June. At least the Blue Jackets had enough sense to hire Ken Hitchcock as head coach. Hitchcock has never failed to lead a team to the playoffs in any full season in his coaching career. Next year will be a stiff test for that claim to fame.
Chicago is quickly becoming a non-factor in the west every year. The Wirtz family seemingly has no inclination to improve this team and that is highly reflective in the performance of the organisation across the board. The tradition of this team in Chicago remains strong, but the losses that continue to pile up for this organisation is making it evident that the Blackhawks are becoming the Cleveland Browns of the NHL (great fan support of a lousy product on the field). They don't look to be a factor in the west anytime soon.
Two teams in the Atlantic have performed dubiously enough to warrent mention in this section. Obviously, one is Philadelphia. I realise that I didn't pick them to be a playoff team this year. That being said, I never expected that they would have the freefall from grace that they have had. This is clearly the worst team in the NHL at present. And being 19 points away from their next closest team in the east and 11 points away from the next closest leaguewide the difference is pronounced. It is nearly safe to assume that the Flyers are on the clock as we speak.
The Rangers are in the middle of the playoff hunt, but they are the one team at this point that has underachieved and is a surprise to be tied for the final playoff slot in the east. Inconsistent defense and no real fire lit under this team in general has to be a cause for concern. There is too much talent on this team to be on the edge of playoff contention. If they fail to make it in to the playoffs heads could roll at MSG.
Pleasant Surprises
The great thing about the 2006-07 campaign is the number of teams that are vying for a spot in the playoffs. Even teams that didn't appear to have a chance at the start of the year (i.e. St. Louis, Phoenix, etc.) look to have a glimmer of hope a a chance with about 30 to 35 games remaining. It would appear that at least 90 points will be necessary to qualify for the playoffs. Two thirds of the teams in the league have 50 to this point. These teams are more than in the hunt. Another six have between 45 and 50. With a great flourish to end the regular season any of these teams could enter the second season.
The biggest surprise at this stage of the season is the play of the emerging Pittsburgh Penguins. Even with the unsettled status of the team past this season, the Penuins appear to be ahead of schedule as far as developing a winning mentality and a style of play that can match with any team in the league. This team will be a handful after this season and should be a perennial playoff team for many years to come. For this season, this appears to be a team that opponents do not want to see down the stretch.
Montreal has also been better than advertised. If the season ended today, they would have home ice for the first round. For a team in a town as religious about hockey as Montreal, the presence of the Canadiens will do the league a world of good.
Teams To Watch
New Jersey has looked exceedingly good and Martin Brodeur has been his usual HOF-bound self. The thing with the Devils is whether they will be able to get any additional scoring punch to help for the remainder of the season. It would stand to reason that unless Brodeur was to take his game up yet another notch (how would that be possible?) that the Devils may be susceptible to a team with an unusually high-powered attack (Buffalo, Ottawa).
Nashville enters the break as the clubhouse leader in team points. Now, along with Detroit, is it that these teams are really that good or are these teams getting fat at the expense of Chicago and Columbus? Detroit was a #1 seed and a first round loser last year. We have seen that result more than once from the Red Wings. Is history poised to repeat itself for the Winged Wheelers?
And what about Nashville? The Preds have looked good...very good...so far. But are they a key injury away from humility like they were last year when they lost Vokoun? Who knows. All I can say is that the Predators should be a handful in any round in the playoffs, but their opposition should be equal to the task.
That said, the western playoffs should have no light touches and right now there are at least six teams in the conference who have a darkhorse chance or better of making it to the Cup finals.
How Do I Look?
So far, it appears that I have done well at projecting the best teams in the league this year from the start of the season. Teams will continue to have high and low points, but a large factor in playoff success will be how the teams that have been there before will show up when the moment of truth startes them in the face. Buffalo and San Jose (the pre-season matchup for the finals) appears to be a good bet at this point.
Buffalo should get its stiffest challenge from Ottawa. So far, the Senators have been a reliable thorn in the side of the eastern runners-up from last year. The Sabres must get better goal keeping from Miller and the defence will need to ramp things up against Ottawa's formidable attack. The Sens, if they are to be knocked out, are going to go by taking a chunk of flesh from whoever eliminates them and they should have a fairly sizeable chip on their shoulder going in to the post-season anyway.
San Jose isn't the clear-cut frontrunner in the west like Buffalo is in the east. They have had, among other good things so far, undeniably quality goalkeeping and a platoon between the pipes that should be noteworthy in the playoffs. Anaheim appears to be in the same boat on the back line, so they are to be feared in any playoff series. One thing to take note of with the western playoffs is that the conference semis and the finals should all be dogfights. There will be one or two teams that could be reliably considered for the conference finals in the east who will knocked out of the first round in the west.
Strap in, hockey fans. The stretch run should be filled with everything that makes a great sport great.
Friday, January 05, 2007
BC And The Acceptable Outcome For My Steelers
Bill Cowher, 15 years the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, has passed up the final year of his contract and announced his resignation from the team he coached to the win in Super Bowl XL just 11 months ago. It's Sunday, two days after the news of his "retirement", for now, maybe.
Now I have a confession to make to my friends in my home town of Cleveland...I have been a fan of the Steelers since the 1980s and over the years I have grown to be an increasingly hardcore fan of the Black and Gold. The Pittsburgh Steelers, on Sundays in the fall and early winter, are my team.
I look at Friday's developments with the Steelers as the passing of a era. I developed a much greater affinity for the team under Cowher's leadership. I grew to admire his tenacious coaching style and the way he dealt with his players. He was very much a player's coach. He was a coach that, to a man, the players loved. He enjoyed a mythical, god-like status in Pittsburgh and among the Steeler Nation.
The Proof Is In The Outcome
The thing that created the human Bill Cowher was his lack of success in the truly big games (AFC Championships and Super Bowls). He was 3-5 in those games. He split a pair of SBs and was 2-4 in AFCCs, 1-4 on home field in those games. It seemed like he could never get over the hump in those games. It created a legion of naysayers in Steeler Nation and sullied what would have otherwise been an excellent reputation.
My view, until the 2005 season was this guy had a very real "proof problem". Cowher's problem was that he really needed what I would term as "the acceptible outcome" to a season, any season, to be considered among the upper echelon of all-time NFL head coaches. He needed to prove that he was worthy of the legend of the truly great coaches.
My mantra for the 2005 season was simple..."there is no acceptable outcome to this season short of a Super Bowl championship". The Steelers, without a Super Bowl win in the 2005 season, would be a suspect team with an increasingly suspect coach.
As the Steelers 2005 season became 12 games old, the 7-5 record they had to that point suggested an impending failure of "no acceptable outcome". The unacceptable was about to become a very real probability, particularly in the light of the almost freakish AFC playoff race.
That was when the Steelers threw the proverbial switch on their season. Four consecutive wins to finish the season only guaranteed them the final playoff spot in the AFC. The 2005 Steelers, in order to reach "the acceptable outcome" would need to become "the road warriors".
They would face Cincinnati in the first game. The good news was that this was a road game. The Steelers had beaten the Bengals on their home field four consecutive times. A slow start worked its way to a robust finish and a decisive Steelers win. One down, three to go, next stop...Indianapolis.
The Colts drove the Steelers into the ground like a rental car in the regular season Monday night meeting. For the Steelers, the fact still remained that there would be "no acceptable outcome...". For the Steelers, this would be a required road win at the scene of an unspeakable mugging only two months earlier.
The Steelers played that game from the opening kickoff like someone set their rear ends on fire. How come they couldn't have played like this in the regular season game? Despite efforts to give away the game with time expiring, the Steelers would get revenge for the obscene display of the November matchup with the Colts. The Steelers were now halfway to the goal line of "the acceptable outcome".
The road warriors would write chapter three in the Rocky Mountains. To Denver they would go.
Would this game be like almost all the other AFC Championship games? They were favorites every time if for no better reason that they were the home team. This time, the comforts of home would elude them. They must have one final road win to get the matchup they needed. No team had ever won three straight on the road to reach the Super Bowl.
For the Steelers and Bill Cowher, there would be "no acceptable outcome".
They would play one of their more convincing 60 minute stretches of football of the 2005 season. They would go into the no-man's-land of Denver and , to paraphrase the legendary Pittsburgh Penguins announcer Mike Lange, they "beat the Broncos like a rented mule".
The "acceptable outcome" was one win away.
For the first time, a NFL team had won three road games to reach the Super Bowl. It was only for one reason this happened...there would be no acceptable outcome for the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers and for the career of Bill Cowher.
They would play the Seattle Seahawks, a team making its first ever appearance in the NFLs showcase game. They would be playing the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers, making their sixth Super Bowl appearance six hours from home in the Motor City. Detroit, Michigan. For two weeks, Detroit would become the nerve center for Steeler Nation.
The Steelers had sixty minutes of football left. For the team and their coach to fight off their backs and to get this far would mean a far more unacceptable outcome if they would come this far and lose.
From the gritty play of Ben Roethlisberger to the flair of MVP Hines Ward and sensational running of Willie Parker...an undrafted free agent, this combination would add up to the end of the futility of Bill Cowher's quest for football's ultimate prize.
As the final seconds ticked away, I would be heard to say "I accept this outcome!"
The Legacy of Bill Cowher
The Steelers would add a fifth Vince Lombardi Trophy to the case at team headquarters...and William Laird Cowher pulled a huge monkey off his back.
Eleven months later, the coach has decided to put impending legend on ice after the struggle of a .500 season, hardly the way a winner should top off an accomplished career.
For me, I will always want Bill Cowher to be the coach of the Steelers and only the Steelers. Unless the Steelers fire his successor to bring him back to the fold once he is ready to come back it is unlikely he will ever coach his hometown team again.
Will Bill Cowher coach again? Odds are good that he will. He is 49 years old. He has proclaimed himself to not be "burned out". He wants to enjoy the comforts of his new home in Raleigh, NC where he attended college at North Carolina State. He would like to watch his daughters play hoops.
Many speculate that he will be on the sidelines for only a short time. That he will have a new job come 2008. In my opinion, I wouldn't be so sure that will happen. He may decide that he actually likes retirement. It happened to John Madden. It nearly happened to Joe Gibbs. Both are Hall of Fame coaches.
Will Cowher follow those two to Canton? Perhaps. Although it is my feeling that Cowher still needs another Super Bowl win, or about five more years of successful head coaching to stamp his ticket. If he were to stand on his accumulated record to this point, I get the impression that it might be enough, but he certainly wouldn't be considered on many first ballots outside of Western Pennsylvania. I feel he needs another trip to the Super Bowl to be a sure first ballot inductee.
The legacy of Bill Cowher in Pittsburgh has been one of success. The only coach in Steelers history who doesn't have to look up to the standard he set was a guy named Chuck Noll. His teams won four Super Bowls. Needless to say, he is enshrined in Canton. Cowher may one day join him. Between these two men is 37 years of mostly unfettered excellence. Between these two men, they have carried the fortunes of half of the Steelers history to the one of the most sustained legends of any team in the National Football League.
Whoever's Next...I Wish Him Luck
The next coach has a nearly impossible standard to keep up with. There are many candidates for this job, now an elite situation for any aspiring NFL coach. One of the few things more rare than a coaching search in Pittsburgh is an NFL Championship search for the Cardinals (one championship in 85 years in existence).
Whoever it is, they will be inheriting a team that is one season removed from the NFL title. Many of the components of that team will still be present in 2007. Whoever the Steelers select will be well-fortified for success from his first day on the job. The rest of what he inherits will be up to him. No pressure at all. He'll only be succeeding two head coaches who are already in the Hall of Fame or an excellent candidate to be in one day.
Whatever happens next and whoever guides the Steeler Nation there I know only one thing...that I will be along for the ride to the next acceptable outcome.
Now I have a confession to make to my friends in my home town of Cleveland...I have been a fan of the Steelers since the 1980s and over the years I have grown to be an increasingly hardcore fan of the Black and Gold. The Pittsburgh Steelers, on Sundays in the fall and early winter, are my team.
I look at Friday's developments with the Steelers as the passing of a era. I developed a much greater affinity for the team under Cowher's leadership. I grew to admire his tenacious coaching style and the way he dealt with his players. He was very much a player's coach. He was a coach that, to a man, the players loved. He enjoyed a mythical, god-like status in Pittsburgh and among the Steeler Nation.
The Proof Is In The Outcome
The thing that created the human Bill Cowher was his lack of success in the truly big games (AFC Championships and Super Bowls). He was 3-5 in those games. He split a pair of SBs and was 2-4 in AFCCs, 1-4 on home field in those games. It seemed like he could never get over the hump in those games. It created a legion of naysayers in Steeler Nation and sullied what would have otherwise been an excellent reputation.
My view, until the 2005 season was this guy had a very real "proof problem". Cowher's problem was that he really needed what I would term as "the acceptible outcome" to a season, any season, to be considered among the upper echelon of all-time NFL head coaches. He needed to prove that he was worthy of the legend of the truly great coaches.
My mantra for the 2005 season was simple..."there is no acceptable outcome to this season short of a Super Bowl championship". The Steelers, without a Super Bowl win in the 2005 season, would be a suspect team with an increasingly suspect coach.
As the Steelers 2005 season became 12 games old, the 7-5 record they had to that point suggested an impending failure of "no acceptable outcome". The unacceptable was about to become a very real probability, particularly in the light of the almost freakish AFC playoff race.
That was when the Steelers threw the proverbial switch on their season. Four consecutive wins to finish the season only guaranteed them the final playoff spot in the AFC. The 2005 Steelers, in order to reach "the acceptable outcome" would need to become "the road warriors".
They would face Cincinnati in the first game. The good news was that this was a road game. The Steelers had beaten the Bengals on their home field four consecutive times. A slow start worked its way to a robust finish and a decisive Steelers win. One down, three to go, next stop...Indianapolis.
The Colts drove the Steelers into the ground like a rental car in the regular season Monday night meeting. For the Steelers, the fact still remained that there would be "no acceptable outcome...". For the Steelers, this would be a required road win at the scene of an unspeakable mugging only two months earlier.
The Steelers played that game from the opening kickoff like someone set their rear ends on fire. How come they couldn't have played like this in the regular season game? Despite efforts to give away the game with time expiring, the Steelers would get revenge for the obscene display of the November matchup with the Colts. The Steelers were now halfway to the goal line of "the acceptable outcome".
The road warriors would write chapter three in the Rocky Mountains. To Denver they would go.
Would this game be like almost all the other AFC Championship games? They were favorites every time if for no better reason that they were the home team. This time, the comforts of home would elude them. They must have one final road win to get the matchup they needed. No team had ever won three straight on the road to reach the Super Bowl.
For the Steelers and Bill Cowher, there would be "no acceptable outcome".
They would play one of their more convincing 60 minute stretches of football of the 2005 season. They would go into the no-man's-land of Denver and , to paraphrase the legendary Pittsburgh Penguins announcer Mike Lange, they "beat the Broncos like a rented mule".
The "acceptable outcome" was one win away.
For the first time, a NFL team had won three road games to reach the Super Bowl. It was only for one reason this happened...there would be no acceptable outcome for the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers and for the career of Bill Cowher.
They would play the Seattle Seahawks, a team making its first ever appearance in the NFLs showcase game. They would be playing the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers, making their sixth Super Bowl appearance six hours from home in the Motor City. Detroit, Michigan. For two weeks, Detroit would become the nerve center for Steeler Nation.
The Steelers had sixty minutes of football left. For the team and their coach to fight off their backs and to get this far would mean a far more unacceptable outcome if they would come this far and lose.
From the gritty play of Ben Roethlisberger to the flair of MVP Hines Ward and sensational running of Willie Parker...an undrafted free agent, this combination would add up to the end of the futility of Bill Cowher's quest for football's ultimate prize.
As the final seconds ticked away, I would be heard to say "I accept this outcome!"
The Legacy of Bill Cowher
The Steelers would add a fifth Vince Lombardi Trophy to the case at team headquarters...and William Laird Cowher pulled a huge monkey off his back.
Eleven months later, the coach has decided to put impending legend on ice after the struggle of a .500 season, hardly the way a winner should top off an accomplished career.
For me, I will always want Bill Cowher to be the coach of the Steelers and only the Steelers. Unless the Steelers fire his successor to bring him back to the fold once he is ready to come back it is unlikely he will ever coach his hometown team again.
Will Bill Cowher coach again? Odds are good that he will. He is 49 years old. He has proclaimed himself to not be "burned out". He wants to enjoy the comforts of his new home in Raleigh, NC where he attended college at North Carolina State. He would like to watch his daughters play hoops.
Many speculate that he will be on the sidelines for only a short time. That he will have a new job come 2008. In my opinion, I wouldn't be so sure that will happen. He may decide that he actually likes retirement. It happened to John Madden. It nearly happened to Joe Gibbs. Both are Hall of Fame coaches.
Will Cowher follow those two to Canton? Perhaps. Although it is my feeling that Cowher still needs another Super Bowl win, or about five more years of successful head coaching to stamp his ticket. If he were to stand on his accumulated record to this point, I get the impression that it might be enough, but he certainly wouldn't be considered on many first ballots outside of Western Pennsylvania. I feel he needs another trip to the Super Bowl to be a sure first ballot inductee.
The legacy of Bill Cowher in Pittsburgh has been one of success. The only coach in Steelers history who doesn't have to look up to the standard he set was a guy named Chuck Noll. His teams won four Super Bowls. Needless to say, he is enshrined in Canton. Cowher may one day join him. Between these two men is 37 years of mostly unfettered excellence. Between these two men, they have carried the fortunes of half of the Steelers history to the one of the most sustained legends of any team in the National Football League.
Whoever's Next...I Wish Him Luck
The next coach has a nearly impossible standard to keep up with. There are many candidates for this job, now an elite situation for any aspiring NFL coach. One of the few things more rare than a coaching search in Pittsburgh is an NFL Championship search for the Cardinals (one championship in 85 years in existence).
Whoever it is, they will be inheriting a team that is one season removed from the NFL title. Many of the components of that team will still be present in 2007. Whoever the Steelers select will be well-fortified for success from his first day on the job. The rest of what he inherits will be up to him. No pressure at all. He'll only be succeeding two head coaches who are already in the Hall of Fame or an excellent candidate to be in one day.
Whatever happens next and whoever guides the Steeler Nation there I know only one thing...that I will be along for the ride to the next acceptable outcome.
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