RSSEleven For Eleven
January 4, 2011
Johnny Goodman - See all 177 of my articles
Here are Johnny Goodman’s Top Eleven Sports items to keep an eye out for in 2011.
11. – Cam Newton – What will be the eventual fallout of all of the alleged financial improprieties? Will this be another case of Reggie Bush – meaning the real facts will come out years after the allegations? Will the penalties be as severe, or is everything clean as a whistle? One thing is for sure. Cam Newton proves that just like Vince Young at Texas, you can’t mess up good players even with sub par coaching
10. – Tattogate at O State. Why the heck did the NCAA not ban these players from the Bowl Game? Just shows the favoritism that the NCAA gives certain schools (thuh ohio state) while other schools (Georgia) get thrown under the bus with similar acts of conduct of players selling school issued item for money (immediate 6 game suspension for future Star NFL Prospect Green)
9. – Will Tiger Woods return to being a force on the PGA tour, now that he has apparently put all of his troubles of 2009-10 behind him? I am saying yes to this one. Woods appeared to play pretty darn well later in the year and in the Ryder Cup. I fresh start in 2011. I will lay early odds that he will be the favorite when we tee it up at Augusta this Spring.
8. – Will the Miami Heat win it all? They started the year slow, and now they are on…well….a heater. They have all the talent, all the hype and all the expectations. This will be fun to watch come August, or whenever the heck the NBA playoffs actually get over with.
7. – Can ESPN land any more deals to cover any more football games? We had to put up with the crazy schedule that had some games starting at 10 pm on the East Coast, all to fit the programming of the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. However, I sure don’t miss the constant Fox Sports showing 38 shots of the band in the stands every game.
6. – Will the big name acquisitions of the Boston Red Sox lead them to another World Series Title? They have ponied up big bucks this offseason to bring in some talent, namely Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzales. Should be another fun year in Beantown.
5. – Will The Huskies repeat again and women’s NCAA Champs? Now that the “streak” is over and we no longer have to listen to the ever spewing of Geno the hut, I am curious to see if Stanford or Baylor led by Brittany Griner can knock off the Huskies this year come tourney time.
4. – As more and more players from the “steroid era” in baseball are coming up for consideration for the Hall of Fame, will they continue to be turned away by the BBWAA?
3. – Will Hoodie and Tom Brady come away with another Superbowl Title early this year? Does it really seem like they went 14-2?
2. – Will the Nittany Lions Volleyball team win an unprecendented 5th straight title?
1. – What will happen with the new collective bargaining agreement for the NFL? Rookie contracts need to be restructured as it is ludicrous that rookies who have never played can make more than a guy like Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. Will there be a lock out? Will the league move to an 18 game schedule? All key questions for the most popular of American sports.
Sports, The Goodman File
Boston Red Sox, Cam Newton, ESPN, Miami Heat, New England Patriots, NFL CBA, Ohio State Tattoo Scandal, Penn State Volleyball, Steroids in Baseball, Tiger Woods, UConn
Jan 04, 2011 @ 09:04:56
“Will the big name acquisitions of the Boston Red Sox lead them to another World Series Title?”
I think Adrian Gonzalez is going to stun some people. He IS that good.
“Rookie contracts need to be restructured as it is ludicrous that rookies who have never played can make more than a guy like Peyton Manning or Tom Brady.”
Let me take an unpopular look at this. Are the rookies overpaid, or are Manning and Brady underpaid (perhaps as a result of the way NFL free agency works)? Shouldn’t Brady’s agent be able to point at Sam Bradford deal (or JaMarcus Russell’s) and say “hey, my guy deserves that kind of money?” Is Bradford at fault for getting his money, or are the agents at fault for not getting it for their guys?
I’m a little surprised that some teams haven’t simply taken a more affordable player, especially at the quarterback position. QB is such a crapshoot – why not spend 10M less of the second ranked QB, who just might turn out to be every bit as good as the top ranked player.
I agree with you on the Ohio State scandal. The NCAA says that they weren’t suspended for the bowl game because they received insufficient counseling at the time of the violations. Huh? It’s that’s a valid excuse, then why drop the hammer with a 5 game ban? If the violations were bad enough to warrant a 5 game suspension, then they were bad enough to warrant an immediate suspenstion.
The NCAA contends that it gains nothing from propping up the bowls, since the money goes to the school. Huh? The NCAA is an organization of those very same schools … with the intention of working in the interests of those schools (and the interests of the “student athletes”, when it’s not overly burdensome for the NCAA).
Jan 04, 2011 @ 15:23:33
The potential NFL lockout interests me the most on that list. With an NFL player’s career so short, the players seem like they have much more to lose. It would boggle my mind, really. With all the money the NFL makes, how much has to be at stake that the owners and players would risk it? Even if one side gets everything it seeks, how many years would it take to make up what they lose if the game is on hiatus for a year?
Jan 04, 2011 @ 16:03:04
Women’s Volleyball is the #2 story to keep an eye on? I’d have to disagree with that one.
Jan 04, 2011 @ 18:05:12
I put it 2nd because 5 straight division I titles in the day and age in what is likely on par with baseball on the men’s side of sports would be a colossal accomplishment.
Jan 07, 2011 @ 09:40:03
Johnny, I am suprised. No mention at all of the Huskers moving to the Big10(12).