The SoapBoxers

It all started in the Rocky Mountains with the phrase. “I have no plans to leave Utah”

But somehow this honest man forgot that statement that was made and ended up moving to Gainesville Florida where he coached the Florida Tebow’s to a National Title.

He indicated there were health issues. He indicated he was leaving coaching for good to take care of his health and spend time with his family.

“I have given my heart and soul to coaching college football and mentoring young men for the last 24-plus years and I have dedicated most of my waking moments the last five years to the Gator football program, I haven’t even thought about anything after that, other than I’m a Gator and I’ll always be a Gator.”

Yep, always a Gator, huh??? I wonder what the Buckeye fans think of that comment.

And then from just weeks ago…November 11th of this year…. “I am very happy with my role at ESPN. I have no plans to return to coaching at this time.”

Yeah Urb, we get you loud and clear. No plans to return to coaching. Evidently you found four million reasons to change your mind in the next 3 weeks.

Like many other coaches in the game today, Meyer is smooth, he is polished, but he is a big fat liar.

You can name a host of others in the seats right next to him. Mack Brown – of the infamous, our own network does not give us a recruiting edge fame. Nick Saban who was never leaving LSU and then never leaving the Miami Dolphins. Bobby Petrino could fill up a book on stories he has told. Goodness knows what we might find out about Joe Paterno in the next few months in what he knew and possible covered up. Urb’s predecessor even got shown the door since he could not tell the truth at Ohio State.

Why do we, the fans and the general public, not hold these sports figures accountable for their blatant out and out lies to the media and fan bases? What the heck are these coaches telling potential recruits and the parents and families of these recruits when they are in their homes wooing them to come to the colleges that they represent. I mean it is a proven commodity that they openly lie all the time in the public forum. Do you think they instantly become honest behind the closed doors of that 4 or 5 star recruits home?

The fact is cheating is rampant in sports. There is too much money on the line. Too much fame, too many television deals and too many fans who simply don’t care about the cheating and lying as long as it helps their team win.

As for me, give me the controversial coach Bo Pelini of my beloved Huskers. He too often gets in hot water from the local and national media for being too honest – for speaking his mind too freely – for being too animated on the sidelines and he needs to be more calm, more cool, more in control. Or…do these same folks who constantly criticize him mean he just needs to lie to them more?

Wonder how long Mr Meyer will be at thuh ohio state. According to him it is one of his three dream jobs.

We will see how long it takes for that story to change.

Until Next time, stay classy Stillwater, Oklahoma!

It might be turning around for Eldrick Tont Woods.

He got blasted 7 & 6 in his first round match while being partnered with Steve Stricker.

He clinched the President’s Cup for the American side, giving Fred Couples the opportunity to do his best Muhammad Ali impersonation of shadow boxing in the beginning of the victory celebration.

Tiger Woods appears to have turned the corner. In difficult conditions at Royal Melbourne Golf Club he rarely missed fairways, showed improved bunker play, and found his putting stroke in the singles matches. This all on the heels of a 3rd place finish in another tournament down under just a week before.

Fred Couples called him the best player ever and stated there was no way you could leave that type of guy off of a team assembling the finest golfers on the PGA tour. No matter that Tiger had slipped to 50th in the World Rankings.

Tiger make Fred look wise enough with the selection. Having Tiger involved in the President’s Cup matches obviously made the television audience greater than it otherwise would have been. More importantly I saw a more balanced swing out of Eldrick, he looked in control of his shots in horrible wind condition. I think it could be a decent bounce back year for him in 2012. He seems to have his focus and now more importantly his swing appears to be back as well.

Wow what a week in college football!

Oklahoma State loses on the road in Ames to a lowly Iowa State team. Those pesky Cyclones always seem to beat someone. RG III puts one hand on the Heisman with a big upset of Oklahoma. It appears that Texas Tech loss was no fluke. The Sooners cannot defend the pass whatsoever. Speaking of not defending, the Huskers get housed at the Big House losing by an “N” barrasing 28 points to Michigan.

Meanwhile back in the SEC, the teams have claimed the top 3 spots in the BCS rankings. The real question is does anyone north of the Mason Dixon line or west of the Mississippi river even care about the SEC?

J-E-T-S – Lose! Lose! Lose! Lose!

See what happens when you rag about how a guy can’t throw the football at all, talk about how bored you are going to be watching the other team run the football.

Well…that bum from the Florida Gators moved his team 95 yards and scored the go ahead touchdown to beat your sorry green butts.

Tebow Time in Denver! Amazingly all sports fans are correct about Tim Tebow. He is a lousy NFL passing quarterback, he can’t throw a lick. He is a winner, all he does is wins games. I can’t remember such a divided sports figure as Tebow in my lifetime where the pro’s and con’s are technically both correct in their arguments, but yet still stand firmly behind their side and won’t agree with the other side of the argument.

Discount Double Check!

Overheard by me at the Detroit airport when a sports bar was showing highlights of the Packers Game on Sunday. As soon as they show Aaron Rodgers the table of Viking fans behind me dropped the “discount double check” belt move from State Farm Commercials….Classic!

Until Next time….

Stay classy Gas City, Indiana

I have been focusing on Pennsylvania State issues the last couple of weeks, so I will touch briefly on that today ( we will be on this topic I am sure for many months if not longer) but will also take time to hit some other sports highlights happening around the globe.

Mike McQueary conducted an interview with CBS the other day. He indicated in that interview that he did go to police – and spoke to the official in charge of campus policy….and that he “broke up” the alleged incident in the showers involving a young boy and Sandusky.

Sandusky in a separate interview maintains his complete innocence and that he was wrong in showering with boys, hugging them, and participating in “horseplay”

The New York Times has also reported another 10 victims alleging that they had inappropriate contact with Sandusky have come forward, and that police are further investigating these recent developments.

The saga will continue.

With all apologies to Kosmo, I will talk a bit about Major League baseball.

Justin Verlander was named the unanimous American League Cy Young Winner. He won the equivalent of the leagues Triple Crown for pitching. He led the American League in wins with 24, Earned Run Average with 2.40 and Strikeouts with 251. Only two other players have accomplished this feat in the modern era and gone on to win the Cy Young Award and the MVP award. They are Denny McClain and Vida Blue . Doubt that Verlander will win the MVP as the baseball writers today would think that voting for anyone other than an offensive player for MVP would be an atrocity.

Meanwhile down under in Australia, the President Cup Matches pitting USA golfers against members of the “world” (players not from countries that can play in Ryder Cup Matches for the European team) are getting ready to get after it.

One of the biggest controversies was Captain Fred Couples selection of Tiger Woods. Woods since all of his off the golf course issues, has been colder than a TV Dinner in isle eight at your local grocery store.

Woods showed a glimmer of light on the radar screen with a third place finish last week. To add some spark to the matches, he will be playing last in the Thursday Foursomes matches he will be paired with Steve Stricker and they will take on K.J. Choi, and (gulp) Adam Scott.

Scott has employed former Woods Caddy Steve Williams. There has been numerous words of attrition in the news, twitter, the golf channel and any other avenue possible between Tiger and Steve Williams. This will likely not turn into anything, but it adds some punch to the news story that the President Cup Matches need in order to be considered significant.

Good Luck USA in the Presidents CUP!

Until next time, stay classy, Ann Arbor Michigan.

By now all of you are well aware of the situation at Penn State. Paterno has been fired, Spanier canned, replacements – – albeit likely temporarily named.

By all accounts there is still a football game to play this weekend.

Nebraska Athletic director has called for increased security to protect Nebraska fans who are travelling there.

According to remarks from NU Regent Tim Clare “Happy Valley is a pretty interesting place on a normal football Saturday,” Clare said. “Given what’s developed the last several days, particularly last night, we have a duty to ensure that our football student-athletes, staff, coaches and our fans are safe.”

And…while that game may pale in comparison to the bigger story going on at State College. ESPN has their announcing team in place for the game this weekend.

This was the topic of lunchroom conversation at work this week. Who would ABC/ESPN bring in to cover this game? Who would WANT to cover this game. There could be many moments of awkwardness. I would even venture to say that this is the most bizarre setting for a football game since the Army vs. Navy game played a mere week after the assassination of President John F Kennedy.

Well the choice of the crew to do the game day coverage is interesting to say the least.

Don’t envy this job for these guys. The setting is strange, emotions are high, there could be countless things (or absolutely nothing) happen this weekend. I think it is anyone’s best guess as to what side stories will develop during, and after the matchup between the Huskers and Nittany Lions.

Not surprisingly Tom Rinaldi is going to be at the game. He has been covering most of the story for ESPN all week so it would seem natural that he would remain “in house” and likely add some bit stories during the telecast. I just hope that ESPN does not do what ESPN often does…..try to create some sort of Emmy award winning documentary situation with every little side story that gets talked about. My only concern with Rinaldi being there is that ESPN will want to be the story, the off- field stuff will continue to get top billing and the game coverage will be a complete afterthought.

Chris Spielman will be the color analyst for the game. Spielman is one of my favorites as he has straight-forward comments, mainly stemming from his status as a great player in college (he was a two time All American at Ohio State) and his time in the NFL. I always enjoy his commentary and his presence is normally good for any telecast. Interestingly ( and not surprisingly, Jerry Sandusky recruited Speilman to play college football at Penn State. I always enjoy his commentary and his presence is normally good for any telecast.

Dave Pasch will be the play by play person covering the game for ESPN. Pasch is most noted in the broadcasting world as being the voice of the Arizona Cardinals. Pasch has reportedly reached out to some fellow broadcasters such as Bob Costas, Mike Tirico and Sean McDonogh about preparing for the strange setting at Beaver Stadium this weekend. I think Pasch may have more trouble juggling the fact that he has not one, but two colors guys in the booth this week. The other being former Florida Coach, Urban Meyer.

The only reason I can explain that Meyer is at this game is that it is a “interview” process for taking over the head coaching job at Penn State. It has long been speculated that “Urb” was the heir apparent to Paterno – if and when Joe decided to hang up the black Riddel coaching cleats. Well the time frame just got moved up….. Meyer will have the chance to be at the pulse of the situation, doing a broadcast of the most unusual of circumstances, and if all goes well, it would be a huge Public Relations boon for Meyer if he looks to move into the spot as Top Lion.

Shame on ESPN for putting Meyer on this game. But it just proves to all of the conspiracy theorists out there that when it comes to football in particular, and it does not matter if it is NFL or College, ESPN has a far reaching spread of influence that borderlines on monopolistic.

My bet is Meyer will get “ a blank check” at the end of the year to coach at Penn St. This will be his first opportunity to shine in the midst of the current maelstrom.

Let’s all hope for a safe and good game this weekend in light of all that has gone on this week.

Until next time, stay classy Gainesville, Florida

This is the last hurrah for Penn State Football coach Joe Paterno.

News of the allegations against former football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky permeate the newspapers, talk radio, and the network newscasts. I will not delve into that topic here. There is a grand jury document that can be found doing any reasonable search on line. The information is graphic, horrific and deplorable.

I will not take the time to attempt to “judge” as many are doing right now the rights or wrongs of Joe Paterno in this incident. It is clear he was made aware of a situation. It is clear that he did report the situation to his immediate contacts within the University. What is not clear, and is being questioned is why he did not do more?

Paterno will be forced to leave after this season as the football coach of the Nittany Lions. Some would argue that he would retire this year anyway, as he has finally secured the record for all time wins from College football Icon Eddie Robinson.

Unfortunately this will be the thing that Paterno will be most remembered for in his post coaching days.

We have seen it before. In no way am I trying to compare the severity of incidents between the coaches at these various programs. But legacies can be tarnished based on decisions that are made, and then become debated for years to come.

Woody Hayes was the heart and soul of the Ohio State Buckeyes, had his career end by throwing a punch at a player on the opposing team during a bowl game.

Most of you reading this are too young to remember or know, but Ohio State played Clemson in December of 1978 in the Gator Bowl. Ohio State Quarterback Art Schlichter threw an interception late in the game that was intercepted by Clemson nose tackle Charlie Bauman. Bauman returned the interception to the Ohio State sideline and upon getting back to his feet was punched in the throat by Head Coach Woody Hayes.

Hayes was ejected immediately from the game. He was fired the next day by the University.

Other college coaches have had their legacies tarnished by decisions they made. Nebraska’s Tom Osborne, who won three National Titles is still often most associated with his handling of troubled player Lawrence Phillips.

Phillips started his junior campaign with a bang, leading the Huskers to a large victory at East Lansing, where he led the Huskers with a four touchdown, 200 + yard day on the ground. This instantly vaulted him to the top of the Heisman talk. This lasted about two days as he was arrested for assaulting Kate McEwen, a Nebraska women’s basketball player. He was suspended from the team, but brought back at the end of the season for the bowl game against the Florida Gators. Phillips had a large role in that game, left for the NFL, where he continued to get into various troubles with abuse and assault incidents even after being given chances with a variety of teams.

There are many others, that have not been so eye popping as these. The sex scandals involving Rick Pitino, the University of Colorado Football team, the player shootings at Baylor and even Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach getting fired.

The upcoming weeks and months will be interesting to say the least.

College football season is in full swing. The NFL season has just hit the halfway point. One of the craziest, most discussed, and best World Series games of all time (game 6 last week) just occurred. The NHL season is just underway, College basketball is starting to have exhibition matches and just finished up with a number of “midnight mayhem” types of scrimmages for the fans to help kick off the season.

Then there is the current NBA lockout.

If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it……

The National Basketball Association has fallen from grace. Long gone are the days of Bird, Magic, the Doctor, and then the saving grace of Michael Jordan.

Oh yes, there has been some blips on the radar. There is the always interesting Mark Cuban of the Mavericks. There is Kobe gate where the star player in the league is having inappropriate relations with women on the road, only to find himself at a press conference with his wife talking about mistakes and family, while she is sporting a diamond on her hand bigger than the ring pop sucker you kids just scooped up last night while trick-or-treating.

Shaq has retired. The league will definitely feel the impact of this. He has been a breath of fresh air and enjoyment for many years.

LeBron has become the love or hate guy in the NBA. People love or hate the villain.

It is owners versus players on this one. But the opinion of many I talk to is…..”Who Cares”

The popularity of the NBA has been waning for the casual fan over the last decade. The league has been run with by the J Edgar Hoover of league commissioners, David Stern. The owners are proposing a 50-50 split of profits. The players are hanging their hat on getting the balance in their favor 52-48.. Neither side is budging. What will happen next?

Football has taken over as the star of all sports. College is and always will be popular and the pro game has been fueled primarily by the rise and success of Fantasy Football leagues around the nation. This brings in more casual fans than ever who will watch games to see how their players do. It is 17 weeks, it is easy it is basically one game a week.

This does not work as well in other sports such as baseball and basketball. Season is way too long. The Playoffs drag on forever. We are in a generation of millennials, I generations members and (gulp) gen – xers. They want immediate satisfaction.

Football provides this immediate sports fix. It is on television everywhere, it is easier to follow. There are even numerous shows produced by Fox, The Big Ten Network, and the omnipresent monopoly known as ESPN that cover the games, the highlights, the polls, the experts discussing upcoming games, the fantasy football side of games and more. These are all on the MAJOR networks and not for just the ultra-diehard fans to have to subscribe to.

The NBA has no such following on this scale. It has been playing 2nd and now at least 3rd fiddle to the up and coming National Hockey League.

The lockout is a bad thing for fans, the workers who have their livelihood depend on these teams, and the communities that these teams represent. If the players, owners and commissioner do not get together soon to save some part of this season, this could be a blow that will take decades to recover from.

TIMMMMMMMBERRRRRRRR!

Pretty sure no one heard it.

Until next time, Stay Classy Elberton Georgia.

The college football season is roughly at the halfway point and many conference battles are starting to sort themselves out. The arguments are flying each and every way as to all the possible BCS scenarios, which team is the best, who has the toughest schedule and it goes on and on.

This week I will look at Johnny G’s Heisman candidates.

Everyone has Andrew Luck on top of their list. I do not buy into that hype. While I am a guy that fully understands his current talent, and NFL future potential, I think the Heisman trophy should be awarded to the person that is most valuable in all of college football, who is a person that is a complete difference maker as part of their teams success, and a person who basically single-handedly is a reason that teams is winning more games than they should.

1. I go with Russell Wilson – Wisconsin – The free agent hired gun who played most of his career in the SEC graduated thereby not having to sit out a year in order to transfer and winds up at the land of cheese and honey. The Badgers have no chance to be in the National Title hunt this year with a first time Freshman or redshirt Freshman quarterback. Wilson also provides an element of elusiveness that has never been seen before for WISCO. This guy is the reason they will go undefeated this year and he gets my vote.
2. Robert Griffin III- Baylor – What is Baylor without Robert Griffin? They are bad. He makes them a top 25 type of team. His statistics are sickening with a 78% completion rating. 22 touchdowns to just 2 interceptions and a passer rating of 200….yeah…I said 200. If you didn’t see this guy when we was a Freshman- pre knee injury, you just don’t get it . While Griffin is fast, before the injury he had world class speed (actually was at Baylor for Track and Field as well as football).  His “slower” abilities are still eye popping.
3. Andrew Luck – Stanford – Hey the guy is good, but I am not sure he adds as much for his team as the two guys I have mentioned above. Not trying to slight Luck as in the media’s eyes (and hey isn’t it the media ( errrrr…..ESPN….. that basically “announces” to the world who should win the Heisman anyway?) He is the poster child this year. Something special in reality will have to happen for someone to overtake him.
4. Kellen Moore – Boise State – I think Moore is good, really good, the problem is he gets to pad stats against teams that are mainly soap scrimmage caliber while he is surrounded by a lot of NFL talent on his roster. His games are like the varsity playing against the jr high teams. This makes it tougher to put him any higher up on the list.
5. The Medical staff at the following Universities – Oregon, South Carolina, and Michigan – Players that were on “the list” including Le Marcus James, Marcus Lattimore, and Denard Robinson all get moved off of the list due to getting nicked or dinged up, (some worse than others) James and Lattimore’s immediate future is in question and Robinson proves again that he is fast, he is cagey he can put up huge stats against MAC teams, but when it hits BIG 10 conference time, he is somewhat of a glass Joe.

6-10) In no particular order some folks to keep an eye on include: Trent Richardson from Alabama – Justin Blackmon from Oklahoma State – Case Keenum from Houston (everyone has forgotten about this statistical hound) Ryan Tannehill from Texas A&M – and Frank Broyles from Oklahoma who this past week set a number of career receiving records and still has many games to play.

Until next time – Stay Classy Roseville, Minnesota!

If you ever take time to notice my mug shot with the articles (I hope you don’t spend TOO much time) you can’t miss the ball cap for my alma mater and favorite team. The University of Nebraska Cornhuskers.

So to celebrate my 100th article on this site, I am going to write about my gameday in Lincoln to open the Big 10 Conference at home, and a player that ALL of you need to know about…if you don’t know already.

First off, this past weekend in Lincoln was a big day. For you non-husker types – – every day that is a football game on the schedule is a big deal. The downtown Lincoln area is packed with a couple hundred thousand people – many who travel from well out of state and far off lands – – known as wherever the visiting team is from.

This Saturday was special. It was the first home Big 10 Conference game for Nebraska. Excitement was in the air. The forecast was for wind and rain. Poncho sales were brisk. I had all the good intentions to provide live “Tweets” from the tailgate and the game for the matter. Unfortunately for me, Verizon, who happens to be the “official” phone of the Huskers somehow cannot provide cell phone service that is worth a darn anywhere near the stadium (and coincidentally worse IN the stadium) on a game day, so no live updates on game day.

Our tailgate was our largest ever, we had the neighbors in the parking lot who bring their mobile brick pizza oven share in the fun to have one seriously large combined tailgate. It was borderline out of control at times, and we were over-run with people as kick off neared. We ran out of beverages well before planned. A thirsty tailgate party is not necessarily a happy tailgate party. …but no uprisings occurred for us on South Stadium drive.

The game was an electric atmosphere. The Buckeyes got off to an early lead, milking half of the first quarter away. The teams traded blows, in the first half Nebraska was not the better team and found themselves in a large hole to start the 2nd half. They promptly got behind by yet another touchdown to trail 27-6 and the outlook for the Cornhuskers seemed bleak.

The defense made a couple of big plays. The Ohio State quarterback, Braxton Miller got injured, the momentum had swung. The crowd was back in it. The defense was playing with more and more confidence and reckless abandon. The offensive line was starting to make better blocks. The passing game was clicking and the running game was churning out on a gutsy performance in the 4th quarter on the legs of a guy wearing #22.

Too many times fans (me included) get too caught up in the wins and losses on the field. Sports provide a lot of excitement for those of us who are fans. At the end of the day we need to remember and reflect that the players that we idolize and that we emmulate and root for are people just like you and me. This is true weather you are talking professional sports or college sports. At the end of the day, there are bigger things than wins and losses on the field of play. But sometimes a player is special both on and off the field, and one Nebraska player deserves special mention in my mind.

For those who have watched or follow Nebraska you know all about Rex Burkhead. He played quite a bit as a true freshman, he was an integral part of the squad last year.

Burkhead is a fan favorite. He is not the biggest guy, not the fastest guy, my guess is if you met him on the street you likely wouldn’t peg him as a Division I football player.

Husker Faithful love this guy. He is scrappy, always play hard, he runs tough. He hands the ball to the official when he scores touchdowns. He smiles alot. He is humble and softspoken in front of the press.

What’s not to like?

There is a lot more to like than most of you know.

Recently Randy York who writes for Huskers.com wrote an insightful article on Rex Burkhead. I would suggest you read it by following this link, and I would encourage you to share it with your friends. 

 I know there are hundreds of similar stories on many college campuses and pro sports towns around the country. The problem is we hear about all the times players get in trouble, or they play poorly, or they say something to the media that they might regret later.

I vividly remember Charles Barkley saying that “I am not a role model” on Nike commercials in my much younger days.

My son is a huge Rex Burkhead fan – mainly because he is 5 1/2 years old and has a Burkhead jersey (#22) . But after reading York’s article I am going continue and try to raise my son in a way so he might grow up to be like Rex…not as a football player, but as a person.

I normally don’t ask people who read my article to forward it on, but in this case I urge you to do so. Spread the story of a nice young college athlete, it doesn’t matter if you are a Nebraska fan or not, but we should all aspire follow the example set for by Rex Burkhead.

Sorry Chuck. I’ll take my chances with guys like number twenty two for the scarlet and cream. He IS a role model.

Until next Time – – – Stay classy Plano Texas!

Johnny G will move from his normal run down of sports articles this week and take a quick look at what he enjoys on Sundays and Mondays

Fantasy Football

Here is a re-cap of some of the high and lows of the Fantasy season so far.

Biggest Fantasy Bust thus far:

There are always a lot of candidates here, mostly due to injury. Anyone who drafted Peyton Manning is still hating their pre-draft listing or wishing they had one less adult beverage at draft time.

Miles Austin the #1 wideout for the Cowboys has been injured and he was sure to go high in many leagues. Matt Ryan has been underperforming from a statistical standpoint as well. Most any Philadelphia player outside Michael Vick, has their owners talking as the defense, Jeremy Maclin, Deshaun Jackson, and yes even Kicker Alex Henery have not performed up to the hype of the dream team.

Biggest Surprise thus far:

Has to be Cam Newton. Not only are the Panthers competitive, Newton has put up gigantic numbers for fantasy owners, the jury is still out as he is only four games in, but in 20+ years of fantasy football leagues I cannot remember a rookie that has had this much impactful scoring right out of the gate.

The Safety Play that has worked the best:

Hopefully you took Aaron Rodgers high in drafts, and if you did, you have been rewarded mightily. The weather is still good in Wisconsin and the Packer Scoring juggernaut is in high gear. We shall see if this trend continues if the weather starts to get colder at the frozen tundra.

Best RB thus far – There is a lot to choose from but I am taking Matt Forte from the Bears. He has exceeded all expectations of all owners and is in a contract year. He wants to be shown the money and I am confident that he will continue to put up good numbers as long as the Bears give him the ball more than 15 times a game.

Rookies to keep watching:

Julio Jones and A.J. Green. Both guys are large receivers and seem to be quickly becoming the go to targets at the wide out position of their respective teams. Mark Ingram has not shown that the Saints have a good enough line to block for him so I would be an interested “seller” if someone was looking for him.

Throw Him the Ball More ….Please!

Ok in different leagues I have both Calvin Johnson and Dez Bryant. Neither guy is remotely defendable. Would someone tell Stafford and Romo to throw them the damn ball (my best Keyshawn Johnson impersonation)

Still Sleeping….I like Daniel Thomas from the Dolphins. I think he could be poised to have a good year if he stays healthy and the fish can figure out an offensive identity. I also am encouraged by Curtis Painter as he stepped up in the Monday night game against the Bucs and will sure to have the waiver wire lighting up this week. Lastly how about Jacoby Jones with the uncertainty of Houston Texans Wideout Andre Johnson. Hamstring issues have a way of lingering, and Schaub has to throw the ball to someone.

Until next time..Stay Classy Battle Mountain Nevada

Two years ago I attended the Solheim Cup in person at Rich Harvest Farms Golf Course in Illinois. This year it was time for the 12th installment of the Solheim Cup Matches.

These are patterned after the Ryder Cup matches and were first organized and sponsored by Karsten Solheim, of Ping Golf Club manufacturing fame. The matches were held for the 12th time this year and as always alternating between the United States and a European venue. This year the matches were held in Ireland at the Killeen Castle Golf Course.

Europe has not won the Cup since 2003 but turned the tide against the Americans winning by the narrow margin of 15-13. There will be a lot of controversy in the matches this year as there is always is for the losing side.

But this year is way more about courage than any shortcomings of the players this week.

It basically came down to the match with Michelle Wie versus Suzann Petterson. Wie made a birdie on 15 to go 1 up in the match, but then Petterson birdie each of the last 3 holes to secure a 1 up win basically gaining the cup.

One of the picks of Captain Rosie Jones was former Big Break participant and UCLA collegiate golfer Ryan O’Toole. She played extremely well up until a month or so ago on the LPGA tour, routinely being in contention, but had disappeared like the Dodo Bird recently in tournament play.

Jones took a lot of heat for putting O’Toole on the team, and she held firm, never losing a match. She did however fail to close out a match she had under control eventually ending up with a half of point for the tied match with Caroline Hedwall after losing the last 2 holes. This on the heels of the Petterson win, and this put the final verdict as the best the Americans could do would be to half and share the cup.

At that point the Europeans need just one more half at that point to get the cup. Spain’s Azahara Munoz birdied the 17th hole to go 1 up on Angela Stanford and guarantee Europe’s victory.

More heat will be sure to be on Captain Rosie Jones for not sitting American stalwart Kristie Kerr. Kerr who had an injured write played in all 4 matches on Friday and Saturday was unable to go for the singles matches on Sunday, giving the European team an automatic full point. Kerr taped her write and tried to gut it out all week, but was just flat unable to play and really even hold a golf club as she attempted to warm up on the range for Sunday singles play.

Kerr is a gamer, no different than a basketball or football players saying to their coach “tape me up and get me back in there” But everyone has point where they can no longer breach the pain threshold.

Paula Creamer seemed extra nice for the TV camera, but failed miserably getting boat raced 6-5 in the pole position match of the day against Catriona Matthew. That set a poor tone for the American side, which coupled with the WD from Kerr ended up being too much to overcome.

The train wreck twosome of the day ended up being Juli Inkster against Laura Davies. Davies is somewhat the LPGA version of John Daly – she can bomb it anywhere and often does, but when the lady is getting up and down from parking lots and trash cans, opponents beware, and she had one of those days on Sunday. Inkster on the other yipped short putt after short putt allowing a match to end in a half that should have been a definitive USA win.

To me the biggest news of the week was seeing Sophie Gustafson doing her first ever television Interview. I have always been a fan of Gustafson, but I did not know what most anyone now knows that watched the Solheim Cup. Gustafson has a severe stuttering issue. She did a sit down interview with prepared questions on note cards for the Golf Channel telecast. The first opening when she was explaining her issues with stuttering you could tell that she was exceedingly nervous which just enhanced the stuttering. After taking some time to gather thoughts and just talk about golf, she seemed much more at ease and did pretty well in my opinion.

You could tell the video was edited in points but I am sure this was much more of a daunting task for Gustafson than any 4 foot putt she ever had to make to win a golf tournament.

Most people don’t know that long time CBS golf announcer and US Open Champ Ken Venturi also struggled with stuttering issues in his youth.

Here is hoping that the take away we all have from this sporting event is not to bicker and moan and look at the decision coaches made, or the play of individual players but instead look at the courage that occasional shows itself in the world of sports.

Until next time, Stay Classy Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida!