Ending the Henne Era in Miami Would Be Unwise

Because it's far too soon.

People need to calm down about Henne. If the Dolphins replace him they'll be making a mistake far too many teams have made over the last 10+ seasons. It takes time for QBs to learn an NFL system and adapt to the pro. game. Also, and I know this is STARTLING for many people, the talent around you matters. Crazy, I know. Henne just started his 23rd NFL game, a loss to the Browns. He's being blamed for the loss. Even though his play was bad today people think he needs to go. Let's check the numbers...

In 23 starts Henne is 473 of 771 (61.3%) for 5,167 yards with 23 TDs and 27 INTs. That's a 76.5 QB rating in his 23 starts, in which his team is 12-11.

Here's another current QBs stats after 23 starts. Mystery QB was 459 of 765 (60.0%) for 4,685 yards with 24 TDs and 27 INTs. That's a 73.4 QB rating in his 23 starts, in which his team was 9-14.

Anyone care to guess who the "mystery QB" is?

To spare everyone some time, and for those that don't care, "mystery QB" is Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees. Yep, performed worse than Henne overall. I think Brees is doing just fine, don't you?

So calm the hell down people. It took Brees until his 4th year in the league to start being a Pro Bowl-caliber QB.

Scouts, Inc. writers to teach divination at Hogwarts this fall

Or, at least, they should be employed by Dumbledore to do that. (Nothing like some fantasy/sci-fi reference on a sports blog). This is why.

Penn State to Start True Freshman at QB in 2010?

According to Craig Haubert and Billy Tucker of ESPNs Scouts, Incs. expect that to be the case. They believe it will be true freshman Robert Bolden - over sophomore Kevin Newsome and fellow true freshman Paul Jones - taking snaps under center come September.

Ding, ding, ding! That analysis/prediction was posted all the way back in February.

Adam Rittenberg loves it. So do I.

Here's ESPNs write-up on the revelation, which comes the same night as the Big Ten's announcement of division alignments and the 2011 & 2012 schedules.

Penn State ends up in a strong division with perennial powerhouse Ohio State and midwestern squads Indiana, Purdue, and Illinois. And, oh yeah, an end-of-the-season showdown with Wisconsin. The best part of the divisions is each team getting a cross-divisional rival. Penn State's? Nebraska.

Settle the score for '94...annually!

So excited for Saturday!!!

SOMEBODY CONVINCE ME

By Your Athletic Supporter, Jack Strap

I'm heading into what for many years has been my Summer Sports Void (SSV) which dates back to the Baseball Strike of 1994. I was upset with the millionaire/billionaire players/owners & found I didn't miss baseball during the strike, so I never went back to watching games, although there was one small exception to that about 10 years after the strike. I was on the computer & a headline popped up that the Yankees were about to playoff sweep Boston, so I tuned in to watch the poor Red Sox fans once again "wallow in the mire" (kind of like a rubbernecker at a car wreck). But to my surprise, the Red Sox dramatically tied it in the 9th & won in extra innings. So I tuned in for Game 5 and Boston won again, ditto in #6, and amazingly completed the historic comeback in Game 7. So you think that would be enough to hook, line & sinker me back in--think again as didn't have an interest to watch one pitch of the World Series that followed. Even in recent years with my hometown Philadelphia Phillies contending & winning a World Series, I didn't watch any of it although because my Mom is a Big Phils fan, followed along in the newspaper & by osmosis on sports talk radio. So with another SSV upon me, I'm looking for SOMEBODY with strong persuasive skills to CONVINCE ME to come back to Baseball.

SOMEBODY CONVINCING ME would be a very tough task, but not impossible if you consider what happened this past year with Hockey & me. I had similarly given up watching the NHL after the 2004-5 strike/lockout until the end of this season. That's when I heard the Flyers were playing their old Rangers rivals in a home & home final 2 games that would decide who made the Playoffs. So I tuned in to see what would happen & found the games to be a lot more exciting than I had remembered from the years preceding my strike against watching hockey. I had heard of the NHL rule changes, most notably eliminating the 2-line pass rule, but had no idea how much that opened up the game until I saw it for myself. Prior to the Strike I had painful memories of the hated Devils "trap defense" bottling up the game in between the blue lines & rendering it boring for long stretches of time. I got to watch that final Flyers-Rangers game with my Brothers at a cook-out & they brought me up-to-speed on the Flyers roster, so I was ready for the Playoffs after that shootout win (although hate that it was decided by a shootout) knocking the Stink'in Rangers out.

The Playoffs deserve a separate paragraph as they started with the Flyers impressively knocking out the hated Devils. So I was already hooked at that point, but what happened next was the Greatest OMG Comeback in Sports History (even greater than the aforementioned Red Sox-Yankees Series) with the Flyers amazingly erasing a 3 games to zero deficit while ultimately coming back from 3-0 in Game #7. They then very interestingly as a #7 seed had the home ice vs. the Canadians and I had a flashback to the "Slap Shot--Olde Time Hockey" pre-game playoff brawl started by the Habs' Claude Lemieux & the Flyers' Ed "The Box Car" Hospodar. In this Series, another flashback was the Flyers' Michael Leighton turning into the 2nd coming of "Only the Lord Saves More Than" Bernie Parent. So then the Black Hawks stopped the Flyers just short of winning the Stanley Cup, but it was an ultra-exciting playoff run & I look forward to Hockey season again. Could that ever be the case for Baseball season, SOMEBODY CONVINCE ME.

That Is All

FLYERS STANLEY CUP SONG

It's a catchy tune, sing along @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9931L3N8wU

OUT WITH THE "OLD" & IN WITH THE NEW @ PSU

By Your Athletic Supporter, Jack Strap

This NFL-draft extended weekend represented the Changing of the PSU Guard (& I'm not talking about Stefen Wisniewski switching from Center to Guard) as it was OUT WITH THE "OLD" & IN WITH THE NEW @ PSU. It started Thursday night with Jared Odrick being selected in the 1st round by the Dolphins. Odrick was the most highly touted linemen to come out of Lebanon since John Scholes and he disappointed nobody who bleeds Blue & White. This was followed Friday night (did anyone else think extending the NFL Draft over 3 days was too-too much?) with LB Sean Lee being drafted in the 2nd round by the Cowboys & as an admitted Cowboys-hater & Lee-luver this was bitter-sweet to me. Then in the 3rd round, Navorro "Big Play" Bowman went to play for Hall of Fame LB Mike Singletary in San Fran, although not sure when Bowman's stock slipped because when he declared for the draft, the so-called experts were saying that he'd be a 1st round pick--wish he would have stayed in school. Then on Saturday, the NFL's "Black & Blue Division" welcomed in PSU TE's Andrew Quarless (Packers) & Micky Shuler Jr. (Vikings) followed by the 3rd LB selected from Linebacker U--former walk-on Josh Hull. Not that I looked at Daryll Clark as an NFL starting QB, but a little surprised he wasn't drafted late, so that's it for OUT WITH THE (not so) OLD.

IN WITH THE NEW started Saturday with Penn State's Blue-White Game with 55,000 in attendance & many more watching on "The Deuce". I guess the big story is at QB regarding who is going to succeed Clark who was an upgrade from the enigmatic Anthony Morelli. Will the next QB be another upgrade? It's hard to be too optimistic about that being the case next year as this inter-squad scrimmage saw disappointing performances from Kevin "Young & Restless in the Pocket" Newsome & Matt McGloin who combined were 15 of 35 for 160 yards, while 17-year old Paul Jones stole the show by completing 5 of 8 for 67 yards & the game's only two Touchdowns. Would JoePa really consider starting the season with a True Freshman QB? I highly doubt it, but we'll see.

IN WITH THE NEW @ PSU on Defense means having to replace Odrick & all the starting Linebackers. Well overall I certainly expect some drop-off there, but not too much drop-off as DT Devon Still has shown glimpses of great potential & now he gets his big chance surrounded by (3) starters from last year including Ollie Ogbu-u-u-u-u-u-u and Jack "The Ripper" Crawford. Linebacker U is re-loading with Michael Mauti (who probably would have started ahead of Josh Hull last year) returning from injury, Nate Stupar who has made some big plays the past 2 years in somewhat limited action, and the fairly experienced & cooly named Bani Gbadyu. On Offense, Andrew "Buy a Vowel" Szczerba who had a great Blue-White game last year will step in for Quarless & Shuler. The top RB's & WR's are all back led by Evan "Blue" Royster "Cult", the speedy Stephfon Green, Derek Moye, and WR Graham Zug who is also the back-up Punter after graduation & an underage drinking incident.

So what does all this OUT WITH THE OLD & IN WITH THE NEW @ PSU mean for next year? Now your guess is as good as mine, but it all will be clearer after PSU travels to National Champions Alabama in early September.

THE MADNESS FROM A to Z

By Your Athletic Supporter, Jack Strap

THE MADNESS has been upon us for over a week now & there's still over a week to go so enjoy that & this A to Z tribute to that MADNESS:
A = Alex Herrmann, the autistic teen from the Chi-town burbs who picked 48 straight games correctly in his MADNESS Pool before The 'Cuse let him down; Honorable Mention: my son Andrew who leads 100 bracketologists in our Relay for Life Pool
B = Big East Busted MADNESS Brackets B-B-B-B-Badly
C = Champions--Who are the Champions My Friends? TBD, but it won't be my pick Kansas
D = Do you believe there were no teams in the 65 team MADNESS field that begin with a "D"? No, there was & still is Duke
E = Ekpe Udoh from the surprising to some Baylor Bears (not me, have them in my Final 4) who will take on those Dukies in the Elite Eight
F = Florida & Florida St. both went out in Round 1--this ain't Football
G = Greenie & Golic's (Mike & Mike's) "Sheets of Integrity"
H = Houston's Aubrey Coleman easily led the Nation in scoring (anybody remember Phi Slamma Jamma?)
I = Interestingly this year, Iowa wasn't the best team in Iowa--it was the Jayhawk Giant Killing Panthers of Northern Iowa
J = Johnathon Jones of Oakland (not Da Raiders) had as many assists/game as the more well known Wall, John
K = Kentucky is the Favorite now that Kansas was upset, but don't forget about Coach K and/or Kansas St.
L = Lehigh Mountain Hawks (didn't they used to be the "Engineers"?) which was the closest team to me to make the Tournament
M = MADNESS: Murray St. #13 Seed Buzzer-Beats #4 Seeded Vanderbilt; Honorable Mention: Robert Morris #15 who took #2 'Nova to OT
N = New Mexico was a #3 Seed & like New Mexico St. was an early-out
O = Orange-men of Syracuse #1 Seed are now Out courtesy of those Butler Bulldogs
P = Purdue Boilermakers shared the Big 10 Title & then without their best player made it to the Sweet 16
Q = Quincy Acy of Baylor made over 70% of his shots in the Regular (Non-MADNESS) Season
R = Red, Big of Cornell--the Ivy Champs out-smarted Temple & Wisconsin
S = Sweet Sixteen didn't include the Siena Saints like it said on my MADNESS Pool
T = Three Point Shots: St. Mary's Mickey McConnell led the Nation hitting a Terrific 51.7% & Turner, Evan from Ohio St--the 2010 National Player of the Year
U = University Tennessee defeated Evan Turner & Ohio St. to reach the Elite 8
V = Villanova who was Samhan-dled by Omar's 32 Points in St. Mary's Victory
W = West Virginia--the only Big East team still standing, at least until tonight vs. KY
X = Xavier had a nice MADNESS run before losing to K-State in a great double-overtime game
Y = Your MADNESS Bracket on Yahoo or CBS Sports? Yummy or Yucky?
Z = Zags of Gonzaga--those former Giant Killers are now Giants, but they ran into that Syracuse 2-3 Zone
That's THE MADNESS FROM A to Z!!