49ers' Mess--How They Can Clean It Up

Let's ask again. Are the 49ers in trouble?

Last week I said maybe. This week, the answer is yes. There is, Niner fans, cause for concern.

First of all, the offense is mired in mud. It showed flashes of greatness in the opening week Green Bay win, with QB Colin Kaepernick passing for over 400 yards. But it's been downhill ever since, with maulings by Seattle and Indianapolis by an embarrassing total of  56-10. The Niners have scored just one TD in two weeks. Kaepernick's passing totals during this skid--277 yards, one TD, three picks and a 23rd place team-passing ranking.


This is not the same team that rampaged through the last post season, nearly winning the Super Bowl--seemingly ready to dominate the NFC for the next few years. Those steam-rolling offensive and defensive lines were second to none. Nobody pushed them around. But this season, they're not playing with the same focus and fire. The D-line got manhandled Sunday by a patch-work, no-name Colts O-line. The Niners' run defense, shockingly, is one of the worst in the league--ranked 29th.

The main problem, though, is the offense, specifically the woeful wide-receiving corps. Against the Colts, this hapless trio had a grand total of two catches for 12 yards. When Kaepernick,  a battering-ram runner, is at his best, defenses have to worry about him connecting with wide receivers. Lately, though, the deep threat has been MIA, allowing defenses to play close to the line, clogging the lanes, hampering.both the run and the short passing game. Too often recently, Kaepernick has had time to throw but had no open receivers. With no deep threats to worry about, secondaries can target mid-range-receiving expert Anquan Boldin.

One real problem. In the last two weeks, the offense has badly lost the time-of-possession battle, with an endless parade of three-and-outs. Both games were lost by fourth-quarter offensive collapses, which made the defense look worse than it is. When the offense is dragging, this puts pressure on the defense, which has been breaking down late in games.


Last Sunday the Niners sorely missed pass-rusher Aldon Smith. He was there but he really wasn't. His head, clouded by that recent DUI scandal and its looming consequences, was clearly elsewhere..Normally, facing that inferior Colt bunch, he would have been in King-Kong mode and had QB Andrew Luck running for his life. But Luck, all cozy and comfy in the pocket, generally did as he pleased.

The Niners play a division rival, the St. Louis Rams, on Thursday. You can bet the Ram coaches are pouring over films of the last two games, getting tips on how to foil the Niners.

But all is not lost. SF coach Jim Harbaugh is no dummy. He can see what the Niners need. The obvious answer is to return to smash-mouth football, the non-nonsense style he imported from Stanford a few years ago  He installed the flashy, tricky zone-read offensive schemes, suited to Kaepernick's assorted skills, but defenses don't seem to be fooled by them any more.

But this is no time for such trickery. What makes sense is a return to fundamentals. Without deep threats, the Niners have to play for short gains, hope to pile up first downs, maintain ball-control and not put the defense in jeopardy. One bright spot: the running-game did show signs of life against the Colts. The Niners have to go back to being a low-scoring, run-first, murderous-defense unit.

On Thursday, the Niners have to play like their season is on the line--and it really is. The Rams aren't very good but they always play the 49ers tough. This game won't be easy for the Niners because they'll be without at least one key player--pass-rusher Smith--and likely three more--LB Patrick Willis, CB Nnamdi Asomugha  and TE/deep threat Vernon Davis.

A loss Thursday to a so-so team, a three-game losing streak and a 1-3 record trailing red-hot Seattle--this cluster of negatives adds up to a detour down that dreaded lane labeled OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS.

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49ers in Trouble? Maybe

What the hell happened?

That's what San Francisco 49er fans are still muttering in the wake of Sunday night's battering, on national TV, by the Seattle Seahawks, 29-3. After all, the Niners are the favorites to be the NFC's representative in the Super Bowl. They looked like a shoo-in after whipping another NFC power, the Green Bay Packers, the previous week. But after Sunday night? Losing a close game when you play well is one thing, but.losing by nearly four touchdowns, while scorning none yourself, is something else entirely.

Should Niner fans be in panic mode? Maybe, but wait a week or two before pushing that button.

Consider this. The odds were against the Niners winning that game anyway. They were 3-4-point underdogs for good reason. First of all, opponents just don't win in Seattle, which has the loudest fan base in the league, aided by a stadium structured to amplify sound. It's the grandaddy of all hostile environments. No matter how teams prepare for it, they get rattled by the noise, which really has an effect, after the constant assault, later in games. That's partly why the Seahawks didn't lose a home game last year and why the Niners were in a hole before they even started. If the Seahawks ever got home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, they'd stroll to the Super Bowl.

Despite the score, Sunday night's game was close for nearly three quarters. Then the Seahawks pulled away, thanks to the Niners turning into knuckleheads and gift-wrapping TDs. Stupid, untimely penalties and silly turnovers undid the 49ers. Make no mistake, Seattle is a very good team, but that score is misleading. The Seahawks piled up points on short-field TDs following turnovers. Whenever the 49er offense looked like it was set to shift into third gear, it would grind to a halt due to a dumb penalty.

The stats tell the story. Seattle gained only 290 yards of total offense. That hardly spells rout. QB Russell Wilson was an unimpressive 8 for19 for 118 yards. Seattle smartly fed off Niner errors and cruised to victory.

The Niners, however, do have a potential problem--the running game. It's slowed to a crawl, at just 95 yards a game, this season.The foremost ball-carrier, Frank Gore, has gained a measly 60 yards in 30 attempts in two games--a pitiful two yards per carry. In Seattle he was buried, netting just 16 yards in 9 tries. Embarrassing results for a team boasting an offensive line that's among the top five in the NFL.

What gives?

Normally the Niners, No.4 last season, are among the league's best rushing teams. The ground game is really the heart of the offense. Opponents' fear of the run propels the Niner passing game. Green Bay focused on stopping the 49er' running and did slow it down. But Niner QB Colin Kaepernick had a career day, helped by 13 catches by Anquan Boldin.

But it was different in Seattle. The Seahawks but a safety on the line to help bottle up the running game. But they have such excellent cornerbacks, they're OK with a short-handed secondary. Boldin, with one catch for seven yards, was a non-factor. So was Kaepernick, with a 20.1 passer rating for the game, the worst of his career.

If the 49er run game returns to normal, the Seattle loss is no cause for alarm. But it's up to the O-line and, most of all, Gore. Is he just off to a slow start because he didn't get much work in the pre-season or is he on a sudden downhill slide due to wear-and-tear?

Sunday's home game against the Indianapolis Colts is important. A playoff team, featuring QB Andrew Luck and brand-new addition, tough RB Trent Richardson, the Colts are no pushovers. But they do have one of the worst run defenses in the league. If the Niners, 101/2-point favorites, win, most likely the run game finally awakened, and 49er fans can relax.

But if they lose, against a bad rushing defense, and the run game is still stuck in the mud?

Then, Niner fans, feel free to panic.





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Saban vs. Manziel--Edge to Saban

Saturday's must-see match between No.1 Alabama and No.6  Texas A&M, on the Aggies home field in College Station, can be narrowed down to this: Bama coach Nick Saban vs. A&M's Heisman-Trophy winning QB Johnny Manziel, alias Johnny Football.

Here's the key question: Can Manziel beat Saban two years in a row? The answer is no, but a very shaky no. Most bettors don't think so either. That's why the Tide is favored by 7 1/2.

Insiders close to Saban say losing last November to Texas A&M, 29-24, a win engineered by Manziel, has gnawed at Saban like no other loss. Not only did the Aggies whip Bama in Tuscaloosa, but it was the lone blemish on the 13-1 season. Being beaten by a swaggering, rowdy rebel like Manziel, who tramples on the traditions Saban savors, makes that loss sting even worse.

To stop Manziel, you need a lightening quick, high-powered defense, one with speed on the ends, plenty of athleticism at the linebacker positions and skilled cover-men in the secondary. Bama certainly has that. As usual, its defense is one of  the best in college football. Of course Bama had a superb defense last year too but it was putty in the hands of master Manziel.

What's likely to happen Saturday is that Bama will control the game via running. The key stat is that A&M is ranked near the bottom nationally in rushing defense, giving up 273 yards per game. What really makes Bama salivate is that all these yards were run up by patsies--Rice and Sam Houston State. A nobody SH State back named Timothy Flanders rushed for 170 yards in 19 carries. If lower-tier runners can trash the A&M defense, Bama's T.J. Weldon,  the best RB in the SEC, should run wild. Bama's offensive line, which lost three All-Americans, isn't the steamroller it was last year but, featuring NFL-ready Cyrus Kouandjio, it's still an elite outfit. This O line figure to flatten the A&M defense, which has looked shoddy so far against two weak teams..

In its 35-10 win over Va Tech,  Alabama hardly looked like a No.1 team. Gaining only 206 yards, the Tide offense stumbled and Yeldon, with just 75 yards in 17 carries, was largely contained. Bama's defense, however, was in top form. That unit will have to be in full butt-kicking mode to mow down Manziel.


An Aggie upset wouldn't be a surprise. The Aggies have a killer offense--high-scoring, quick, versatile, with remarkable talent at the skill positions and an unstoppable force in Manziel, who's actually improved a notch or two in key areas like footwork,  reading defenses, accuracy and decision-making. And just as important, as a team leader, he has no peer in college ball..

But in college football coaching, Saban has no peer. This game is a battle between these two giants.
The biggest advantage Alabama has is that it's powered by the iron will of Saban. Losing twice in a row to Manziel would be, to Saban, the low point of his career.. It would haunt him forever, eating away at his ego.. His players, who are dedicated to him, know that too. They'll funnel everything they have into beating A&M. On the other side, though, Manziel's effort will be just as ferocious.

But it probably won't be enough.


 

A Case For Johnny Manziel

Hurrah for Johnny Manziel!

Turns out that the Texas A&M QB, who looked like he was going to be another angelic, goody-goody when he defied the odds and won the Heisman Trophy as a freshman last year, is really an lovable outlaw. Good for him.

In that coveted Heisman-winner position, did we really need another respectable, God-fearing gentleman, the kind that avoids night clubs and bars, the kind that's buried in books and football and never has any fun? We've had too many of them already.

What we have in Manziel is a bar-hopping, skirt-chasing rogue with crazy-frat-boy instincts, a high-spirited kid who's getting in touch with his inner wild-child while adjusting to sudden fame. He's a real rebel, a guy who plays by his own rules, who's full of swagger, who treats his opponents with disdain. He's better than other players and he knows it, and acts like it.

The key ingredient is swagger. All the greats have it, lots of it. Manziel oozes swagger. He has enough to full a dozen star players. It's what separates him from the pack, what makes him Johnny Football.

Since he won the Heisman, Manziel has been working overtime to tarnish his image.Here's the list of charges against him. It ain't pretty. Yes, at times he's acted like an out-of-control frat boy. Yes, he's been boozing too hard and running around with too many women and doing way too much bar-hopping. Yes, he got kicked out of a football camp for misbehaving Yes, in last Saturday's Rice rout, he was penalized for taunting, for engaging in a trash-talking war with a couple of surly Owls. Yes, he got kicked out of the game and didn't take kindly to be chewed out by his coach, Kevin Sumlin..

Oh yes, there's that accusation of signing autographs for money. Man guilty. According to underground sources, he's been paid under the table for signing autographs, earning, some speculate, six figures. So what.  Big-time college players break this rule all the time, making cash under the table, trying to get a piece of the pie they helped bake. There's a thriving autograph business going on right under the NCAA's nose and they're too stupid to see it. Word in the underground is that Manziel was caught because he got into a beef with an autograph-peddler, who leaked details the OB's signing-for-pay to the media.

This is hardly a major crime. Even the NCAA, generally a bone-headed organization, knows it. They thought so little of this violation that they just slapped Manziel on the wrist--suspending him for the first half of the season opener against crappy Rice. The NCAA wanted to bury that mess as quickly as possible and let Manziel get ready for next week's A&M-Alabama match, one of the year's top games.

What counts is what Manziel does on the field. He's a gifted player, a skilled passer, a daredevil scrambler and a superb leader. Sources inside the Aggies camp report that the players love Manziel, that he's a fine teammate.That's what really matters. Remember, this is the guy who, as a freshman, stormed into Tuscaloosa last November and took down No.1 Alabama. You know what that took.

Manziel is a collegiate version of Broadway Joe Namath, the masterful, ground-breaking, 1960s New York Jets QB who played hard and partied harder. Manziel is Namath Jr. In the reckless style of Broadway Joe, Manziel will be in the headlines--some good some bad--for years to come..

Manziel is like a kid with a sweet-tooth who's been turned loose in a candy store. Let him have his fun..So he's not role-model material. Who cares? As long his playing skills aren't effected, there's really no harm done. One thing you can be sure of--Manziel loves football too much to let his off-field antics.keep him from bringing his A-game to every game.

 He may be a rebel and, at times, too wild, but he's no dummy.

USC Coach Lane Kiffin Is A Liar

USC football coach Lane Kiffin is a liar.

Does he think we're stupid? How does he expect us to swallow his bull about not naming a starting QB because he can't chose between third-year sophomores Cody Kessler and Max Wittek. The Hawaii game is tonight and, as of this morning, he's still playing musical chairs with his QBs..

Look at Kiffin's credentials. He learned offense under Pete Carroll during SC's spectacular run last decade. Kiffin was such a boy wonder that he was, for a time,  head coach of the Oakland Raiders. Then he fell into another prestige gig, head coach of Tennessee in the rugged SEC, before taking over at SC, where he tutored QB Matt Barkley, who's now with the Eagles. So Kiffiin, revered as this wizard of offense, is trying to make us believe that he can't see which of these two young QBs should be starting.

Lies, lies, lies....

Apparently it's not the close race Kiffin keeps talking about. Much of what goes on in pre-season at SC is done in secret. The media is shut out of practices but gets to see some scrimmaging. But players talk to assorted sources. Word gets out. Based on the entire pre-season, Kessler deserves the job. According to sources close to two players, Kessler has been the Man all along. He has superior accuracy and athleticism,  a greater grasp of the offense and is more skilled at reading defenses. In the huddle, he's a more commanding figure. The players know who's best. Most of them, say the sources, side with Kessler. Insiders say it's a no-brainer, that Kessler should be the starter.. If it's obvious to the players and those close to the team, then Kiffin, with all his knowledge, has to see it too. Yet he won't commit to Kessler.

Why?

It's simple. Kiffin doesn't want to alienate Wittek  If he knew he was going to sit on the bench all season, Wittek might transfer to a school that guarantees him playing time, If Kiffin had decided weeks ago, and  handed the starting job to Kessler, Wittek would probably be gone now. That would leave SC with no backup QB and force Kiffin to use heralded but raw freshman Max Browne instead of letting him redshirt..Mainly, though, without a decent backup QB, the season is one solid hit from going down the drain. Kiffin doesn't want SC to be in that position.

So, to keep from losing Wittek, Kiffin has to create this too-close-to-call sham, with lets him give the pair equal playing time in the early games, until one emerges as the starter. Fortunately for Kiffin, the first four games are relatively easy, so he can carry out this "experimental" plan without hurting the team's chances for a 4-0 start. Meanwhile Wittek sticks around and gets enough playing time, removing transferring as an option.

Most likely Kessler will start the Hawaii game tonight. Actually it's not starting, just being first in line to play. But the "contest" will go on, with.Wittek taking plenty of snaps against Hawaii. Unless Kessler really louses up and Wittek suddenly blossoms, this QB-by-committee could keep up through the first part of the season..

But all this is unfair to Kessler. He's earned the right to be the starting QB and should be getting the developmental benefits, like extra tutoring and the majority of snaps, that come with being the No.1.guy. Instead he has to play his role in Kiffin's game, which has to slow his progress. .

It can't be a picnic for Wittek either. The stink of his last performance, the Sun Bowl disaster, still hovers around him. He's looking to get past that but, stuck in a QB battle, that's going to be tougher. He might be better off starting over at another Division 1 school. But, at this point, transferring isn't likely.

Who's Kiffin, with his lies, looking out for? The school, for sure. Himself, for sure. Without a solid backup QB, SC might have a losing season and Kiffin would certainly wind up jobless.What about Kessler and Wittek? Kiffin isn't looking out for them. Either one could wind up as collateral damage.

And what about the players? They see Wittek as a pawn in Kiffin's game. They know their coach is not being truthful. The respect level for Kiffin, report the sources, is way down. That's not good.

Nice going, Lane

Behind the Scenes in Yankees' Locker Room--Ugly

You think the fans hate A-Rod? You ain't seen nothing until you see what's going on behind the scenes in the Yankees' locker room. His teammates don't like him either.

Yankee players wish that third baseman Alex Rodriguez, suspended for 211 games for doping, would just go away. But A-Rod is appealing the decision and, having recovered from January hip surgery, was back on the field Aug. 5. While nowhere near the A-Rod of his glory days, he's playing respectably, hitting in the .315 vicinity. But with A-Rod comes a media circus, which is detrimental to the team. There's another problem. Opposing pitchers are using him for target practice..That drags the Yankees into bean-ball wars, forcing Yankee pitchers to retaliate, forcing pitchers to throw at other Yankees, turning them into collateral damage..

When Boston Red Sox pitcher Ryan Dempster was blatantly throwing at A-Rod last Sunday, that triggered a bean-ball war that will go on through the rest of the season. Dempster was fined for his vicious attack but everybody knows that's not going to do any good. A-Rod and other Yankees will get plunked. Do you think Yankee players like getting involved in this mess because of a washed-up egomaniac that nobody liked in the first place?


According to sources close to several Yankee players, A-Rod is, more than ever, an island in the locker room. It's no secret that the No.1 Yankee, team-first die-hard Derek Jeter, never wanted A-Rod around, with his Hollywood antics and me-me-me attitude. The breach between the two is even worse. Several players, say the sources, refer to A-Rod as the selfish a-hole. His teammates, report the sources, shy away from him and talk to him as little as possible. Some of the verbal confrontations between A-Rod and other Yankees, say the sources, have been nasty. Whatever civility you see between A-Rod and his teammates during games is apparently bogus. It's not good for a team's image to have players fighting among themselves, so they appear friendly in public. But back in the locker room, away from fans and media, it's apparently ugly, with anger, tension and resentment reigning. Intensity and focus, staples of winning teams, get snuffed out in this kind of atmosphere.


Like most baseball players, most Yankees hate steroid users. The doping scandal stains the entire sport, making any player who's having a good season suspect. So A-Rod is as popular with Yankee players as the other major doper, Ryan Braun, is with his Milwaukee teammates. The anti-steroid faction among players looks upon steroid users as despicable cheaters who are ruining the game. A Rod has nosed out Braun and become the face of steroid use in baseball, so the collective venom against doping is being showered on him.

Struggling all season, dragged down by aging and injured players, the Yankees are battling to dig themselves out of a deep hole and land in the playoffs. Burdened with all the A-Rod baggage, climbing out of that hole is even tougher.

A-Rod just announced that he's going to call off his legal attack dogs for now and concentrate on helping the Yankees make the playoffs. In other words, he's suddenly going to morph into a caring teammate. Is that possible? Can A-Rod and his blood-thirsty reps back off and bow out of the headlines? My guess is no.

Is The Eagles' Riley Cooper a Racist? Not Really

When watching the viral video, shot in June at a Kenny Chesney concert, of white Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper dropping an n-bomb during a verbal confrontation with a black security guard, one thing jumps out at you. He says the word easily--too easily. He's said it before. No doubt about it.

Cooper, though, swears he's never said it before. Don't believe it. Barry K, 34, a source close to several Eagles players, claims Cooper is no novice at using the n-word: "Guys I know, football players, tell me he's used the word before. He'll  never admit it..Why should be? Who can prove anything anyway? It's a word white guys, particularly white guys from the South, use sometimes. They grew up using it. Cooper is from the South (Oklahoma City). It's natural to them, probably natural to him in some ways. It's part of their vocabulary."


Does Cooper using the n-word mean he's a racist? "Of course not," Barry K replies. "I use the n-word sometimes and I'm not a racist. Just last week I was driving in Chicago and this car cut in front of me and I almost had an accident. It was a black guy driving. I gave him the finger and called him the n-word. I was angry in the moment. Am I a racist because of that? No way. My best friend is black. I've used the n-word in front of him. Most white people who say they've never used the n-word are lying..And white people who have used the n-word aren't all racist."


Cooper, Barry K insists, isn't the only NFL player to use a racial slur;. "I've been around pro football players and pro football locker rooms for years. These are down 'n' dirty guys. These are tough, violent people who swear all the time.You expect them to talk like angels, like school girls? They talk street talk. Racial slurs are part of street talk. Racial slurs fly around all the time in locker rooms and on the field. There's no hatred behind this talk. It's just words..I've heard black players talk about kikes. I'm a New York Jew and it doesn't bother me. Black guys use racial slurs talking about white guys. White guys and black guys talk about beaners, referring to Latin guys. I remember once a famous white quarterback was sitting in the locker room and one of his black buddies dumped a pail of water on him. It was all in fun.The quarterback said:: 'Nigger, get your black ass out of here!' Everybody was laughing. It was just locker-room foolishness. But if somebody had a video of that, the quarterback would have been ruined forever.".

Cooper, though, dropped the n-bomb outside the locker room context and is being crucified for it. "He had a few drinks and he wasn't careful about what he was saying, "Barry K explains. "He didn't know he was being recorded. He got ambushed and he's paying the price."


Barry K explains that Cooper, though being trampled as a racist, is one of the good guys: "According to people I've talked to around the league, he's well-liked. He's decent. Everybody--blacks and whites--likes him. If he was an ass, a racist, it would be different. He'd be getting what he deserves. He doesn't deserve what he's getting."

Cooper, Barry K laments, is doomed to wear that scarlet R--for racist--forever: "He'll be haunted by this for the rest of his life. Using the n-word that one time means he'll always be the guy who hates blacks. He could join the NAACP and donate money to black causes for years and years and it still wouldn't make a difference to most people. Black fans will target him, boo him, curse him. He's permanently branded. I feel sorry for the poor guy. You couldn't pay me to be in his shoes.".

Kansas Coach Charlie Weis--An Insensitive Jerk

No doubt about it. Kansas football coach Charlie Weis is an insensitive jerk, a crude big-mouth who's too much of an ass to see that he's crossed way over the line.

At Big 12 Media Day last week, he was the center of attention with his rants about his 1-11 team last year, which he cruelly dissed as "a pile of crap." Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Many members of that team are back this season. How does that "pile of crap" dagger make them feel? Clearly that didn't occur to Mr. Sensitivity.

Weis boasted that he used that angle to recruit players, saying the team is such a "pile of crap" that, if you come to Kansas, you have a good chance to play right away. That's a ridiculous recruiting tactic on many levels. First of all, if I was a parent and this blowhard was in my living room trying to convince my son to come play for him by viciously demeaning his current team, I'd kick his fat butt out the door. Why would parents turn their sons over to someone who demeans his players so viciously in public? Wouldn't parents  fear that, one day, he'd trash their son the same way?. That kind of talk indicates that Weis has the sensitivity of a warthog.


Secondly, doesn't the team being that bad say something about the coach? How good can a coach with a 1-11 record be?. Yes, when Weis started last season, he inherited a bad team, but he did nothing to make it better. By calling the team a pile of crap he puts the blame on the players, suggesting that he'd have a better record with a more talented roster. But, if he's any kind of a coach, couldn't he have eked out more victories, even with so few quality players?

Talking so nastily about your players in public says something about a coach's character. Only a heartless boob would do that. Would you hear such trash talk from Urban Meyer or Nick Saban or David Shaw or any of the best college coaches? Hell no.


For years, Weis has been on a roll--downhill. After getting run out of Notre Dame, following a so-so 35-27 record in 2005-2009, he didn't do much as offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2010. Then he spent a year, at the same position, at the University of Florida. Their offense, reeling when he arrived, actually regressed. Gator fans cheered when he abandoned Gainesville for Lawrence, Kansas, to clean up with mess left when Turner Gill was fired at the end of 2011. In Gill's last season, Kansas was 2-10. The bar was set low but Weis couldn't top it, debuting last season at 1-11. The team opened with a 31-17 win over lowly South Dakota State and then embarrassingly stumbled to eleven straight losses.

Kansas has only itself to blame. The coach-hiring committee didn't do its homework. They could have done much better than Weis. The word has been out for years about him in high-school and college-football player circles. Players aren't crazy about Weis. They didn't like him at Notre Dame and really were turned off by him at Florida. He's an egomaniac and a bully, an arrogant loudmouth who doesn't know how to relate to players. A self-absorbed, pompous cold fish, he talks down to players. Eventually they tune him out and don't play hard for him.

The future isn't really bright for Kansas. With Weis' bone-headed recruiting ploy, how is he going to attract any high-quality players? Why would any 4-or 5-star stud sign up to be abused by him? What he's mostly going to get is lesser players who can't do any better than sputtering Kansas. So far, he hasn't proved to be a good enough coach to make a winner out of a modestly talented team.

Kansas' prospects for this season? More of the same say the Big 12 forecasters--another bottom-of-the-barrel finish. But what else could you expect from a team headed by a "pile of crap" coach?

A Native American Defends The Racist Redskins Logo

You'd think, for obvious reasons, that all Native Americans would scorn the Washington Redskins. But, surprisingly, some are dedicated fans. .

A member of this unlikely minority is Jonathan Harris, whose mother has deep Cherokee roots. Don't dismiss him as some self-loathing kook or dimwitted right-winger or misguided loser. Actually he's a young (23 years old), smart, ultra-liberal leftist who went to Penn State. Harris, who grew up in the Washington area, is essentially saying that being a Skins fan is more important to him than the fact that their logo offends most Native Americans--his people. His mother, he says, hates the team. But his late father, a Boston native of German-Irish descent, was a life-long Skins fan. Harris sided with his father.

"I've lived through this controversy at home all my life," Harris recalls. "My father turned me into a Skins fan, in spite of my mother. She says supporting the team is dishonoring Native Americans and catering to racists. But my dad always said that being a Skins fan was in my blood, because it was in his blood, and told me not to fight it..We even went to a lot of games--and getting those tickets has never been easy."

Harris explains why his dedication to the Redskins is dominant, why any problems with the logo are secondary: "When you're a true fan, you really love your team. They're under your skin, in your head, in your heart. You don't think about logos and what they mean. I don't think of Redskins as having anything to do with a racial slur against Native Americans. It's just a word, a name, like Hawks or Cougars or Panthers or whatever. I realize that to most Native Americans, the name Redskins has all sorts of ugly stuff attached to it. It's a nasty, horrible word to them. But when I think of Redskins I think of football. I don't think of political correctness."

Apparently he's not the only Native American who's a rabid Skins supporter."There are hundreds of us out there. I've met quite a few. We're like a secret society. We can't be vocal. We keep quiet about it. I don't even feel comfortable talking to you about it. My stance on this issue hurts my mother and I hate hurting her. Our parents and relatives can't deal with us supporting the Skins. We all got sucked in somehow. My father got me into loving the team but with those guys,  I can guess what happened.You see the team on TV all the time and hear them on the radio and all your buddies love them and slowly you get hooked. The team's name may be offensive but to a fan, that's not that important."

Native Americans' distaste for the word redskin, Harris speculates, is partly generational:
"Older Native Americans feel more strongly about it. They experienced racism much more than the younger generation. They grew up on the outside looking in. That wasn't my experience or the experience of a lot of Native Americans in my generation.We don't feel that strongly about the word redskin. People say it's as bad as the n-word but it's not.When it comes to racial slurs, the n-word is the worst. The r-word, by comparison, really is mild. It doesn't even bother me that much."

Incidentally, Harris knows all about the racist history of the Washington Redskins, recounting it in detail. The word redskin, he explains, stands for the scalps of Native Americans. Bounty hunters used to murder them and bring their scalps--redskins--to government offices for money. The team's founder, George Preston Marshall, a hard-core racist, purchased the team in 1932, when it was the Boston Braves. He changed the name to Redskins, supposedly to honor the first coach, who was reportedly part Souix. But actually he changed the name so the football team wouldn't be confused with the Boston Braves baseball team. Marshall, who moved the team to Washington in 1937, always vigorously championed racism in the league, boosting the policy that banned blacks, which finally ended in 1946. Not surprisingly, Washington was the last NFL team to sign a black player, clinging to that racist ban until the government forced integration in 1962. Marshall, who died in 1969, hated nonwhites so much that, in his will, he specified that no money from his foundation could be used to promote racial integration.

Isn't this racist history enough to keep a Native American from supporting the team? And what about current owner Dan Snyder (who's Jewish, by the way), who refuses to change the logo?. "Marshall was racist scum and Snyder is an idiot," Harris replies. "But I put all that in the corner. It's a black mark. I don't like the logo. It's another black mark. The football team and how they play and wins and losses and how RGIII (quarterback Robert Griffin) plays and if he's healthy, and getting to the Super Bowl, that's what important. The rest? I put it out of my mind. I'm a fan first."

Assessing The Damage--The Lakers' Bleak Future

 The Lakers are a complete, unadulterated mess, a franchise skidding toward the cliff--with no brakes.

They were desperate to get free-agent center Dwight Howard to sign a long-term contract. He was the savior of the franchise, the player they needed if they had any chance to be competitive for the next few years. But Howard saw the future. Peering into that crystal ball all he could see was dark clouds and the sour puss of coach Mike D'Antoni.That was enough to make him pack his bags and go house-hunting in Houston.

Without Howard, the Lakers are the west-coast version of the Charlotte Bobcats. Where are they going with a second-rate coach like D'Antoni? With his idiotic, race-horse system and indifference to defense, D'Antoni is the main reason Howard left. D'Antoni has never won a championship and he never will. Even with a team loaded with talent he'd find a way to screw it up. Howard, who doesn't like DAntoni, personally or professionally, knows that. To him, any ship captained by D'Antoni is the Titanic.

The Lakers are no dummies. They had to know Howard hates D'Antoni, that he wouldn't sign as long as D'Antoni was coach. So what do they do? They ignore the negative coaching situation and even include D'Antoni as part of the team trying to convince Howard to stay. That made absolutely no sense. It was like they were sabotaging their own efforts. Owners Jim and Jeanie Buss can't be that stupid--can they?

If D'Antoni can't get anywhere with a talented team, what is he going to do with a group made up of flotsam and jetsam? The team's best player is a broken-down Kobe Bryant, due back a few months into the season after rehabbing an Achilles-tendon break, the kind that ends careers. Between age and injury, it will be a miracle if Bryant is 75% of his old self. The Lakers' big man is Pau Gasol, who is not only battling age and bad knees, but he's a horrible fit for D'Antoni's uptempo system. Point guard Steve Nash is running on empty, creeping up on 40. Metta World Peace, once a defensive monster, is a shadow of his former self.

And the rest of the bunch--Jordan Hill, Steve Blake and journeyman center Chris Kaman, who was just signed? Nothing special, none of them. The Lakers are talking about signing 33-year-old Lamar Odom who, with the Clippers, spent half of last season out of shape. When he was finally in shape, he was mostly ineffective. If he was any good, do you think new Clippers coach Doc Rivers would let him go?

Here's a sobering question. On this Lakers team, who's the defensive stopper? In fact, which of these players is any good at playing defense? The scary answer? Not one of them.

In the tough Western conference, this ragtag crew, led by a lousy coach, has just an outside chance of making the playoffs. Next season will be a lost season. The Lakers be piling up cap money to make a run at some of the big time free agents who will be available the following season. The big prize is LeBron James.

Then the Lakers will be coming off a bad season, in total rebuild-mode. Will LeBron look at the Charlotte-Bobcats West and be enticed to abandon Miami and sign up? Maybe, or possibly some other superstar will  be lured to LA, seeing something rosy in the franchise's future, something Dwight Howard didn't see..

Meanwhile the Lakers will stumble along, in tatters, a horrible mess.







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