Sunday, August 23, 2009

Should Michael Vick Play in the NFL Again?

In America, we have a judicial system that takes criminals and punishes them. However, once they have served their allotted time in prison, they are released to the community to get their life back together. Why should Michael Vick be any different?

Michael Vick has done some terrible things in his life, who hasn't? I would bet that there are some other professional athletes who have done worse things than Vick and have not been caught. Vick got caught, and served his punishment till the end. He never once pulled a Paris Hilton and cried his way back home, or used his star power to weasel out of prison. He took his punishment and faced the consequences. Even when he was released, he conformed to meet with his parole officer, followed his rules of house arrest and took a full time construction job to start paying for his debt.

There are some people who get out of prison and never learn their lesson. Vick has learned his lesson. He has lost nearly everything, but still wants to chance to play again. I think he should get the chance.

To me, when his time is fully up, he is just as much of a free man as you or I. He should be reinstated to the NFL and get the chance to play, if he can hack it.

Can he physically play in the NFL? I highly doubt it. It is hard to think that, even an athlete of his caliper, can take 2 years off and not miss a beat. He was a great quarterback when it came to scrambling and moving, but his arm was already sub par at best. I personally think, if he was to get reinstated, he would not be able to comeback full swing. He will not be able to help any NFL team and his comeback will be nothing more than a one time story on SportCenter.

But I truly hope that Vick gets the chance to prove me wrong.



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Coaching Youth Football - Homecoming Or Rally Night For Youth Football

I hate homecoming games for youth football. My record with the last five teams I have coached is 1-4. What is the purpose of a "homecoming"? I believe it is for prior players and families to come back and support the team. What a bunch of hogwash! I have never seen any returning players come back to watch a game because it was a homecoming game. The other players will come back if they have a sibling playing on your youth football team.

The truth is the players get completely distracted. They want to screw around, paint their faces and pig out on junk food. Some parents want to have parties before and after the game. A double dose of BS as far as I am concerned.

Once again, we live in a democracy so I need to deal with youth football homecoming. I have found it best to use that Team Mom and depending on how she and the other parents feel about it let them have at it. I ask that the festivities be held after the game. Let Team Mom put together a committee and make homecoming as big as they want. I usually leave after the game to go scout. Some of my assistants have enjoyed hanging out after the game for the social event. I know it is for the kids so I try to keep a low profile regarding homecoming. You will want to check with your league as to what the require you to do. Make sure the Team Mom coordinates with the cheerleaders since they live and die for this day. Some years the cheerleaders have made a banner for the kids to run through. This really keeps the focus in check before the game (joke).

One youth football league I coached for had a rally night. I thought this was a good idea. They had the Youth football Rally Night before the first game. This is brilliant since all teams are undefeated at this point and optimism is at the highest level.

All the youth football teams would line up and each player had his name announced. The player would run through a large inflatable helmet. This helmet came from a local high school. Each player gets his moment in the sun by running through this helmet. I believe they even used a fog machine so the players ran through a cloud of smoke. They had one of the families donate hamburgers and hot dogs. All food was cooked and given to the players free. The league bought Gatorade which was given free too the players.

This was well run and fast. There was no youth football game following the event so the kids were able to be as crazy as they wanted to be.

Jim has over 22 years of hands-on experience as a youth coach. The system he has used with great sucess for both youth football and youth basketball. His personal teams have won over 80% of their games.



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Coaching Youth Football - Zero Tolerance Policy

I believe in adopting a zero tolerance policy for bad behavior for the football team you are coaching. I am writing in the parent section of the book so let me explain what I mean be zero tolerance. If you have done what has been suggested, and set the ground rules up front early in the year at the parent meeting, then I do not believe in second chances. There are not a lot of rules and most of them are just common courtesy.

There is no tolerance for any parent to question or complain to you in public. Coaching youth football is a voluntary position and everyone including the parents should respect you. If a parent has a question make sure, you have a way and a time for them to approach you. In a private manner, it is fine to ask any questions they may have, but not in front of an audience.

Please check with your youth football administration regarding your zero tolerance policy and have their approval before the season starts. Most youth football programs will applaud your efforts to keep things under control.

The penalties I have used for noncompliant parents has ranged from suspending them from games, suspending them from our youth football practices and kicking them out of the league. The parents need to realize that this is little kid football and we volunteers are there to give the kids as good of an experience as possible. Thankfully, most parents are aware of this.

Jim has over 22 years of hands-on experience as a youth coach. The system he has used with great sucess for both youth football and youth basketball. His personal teams have won over 80% of their games.



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Saturday, August 15, 2009

Football Defense - Pass Rushing - Part 1

The variations of the Spread Offenses puts the ball in the air more, making it more important for defenses to successfully rush the passer. This article, part 1, will focus on Swim Move, one of 4 proven pass rushing techniques that produce a more effective pass rush.

1. Swim Move:

The Swim Move is a favorite pass rushing technique of many defensive linemen and can be the most dangerous. The pass rusher has to rise up above the blocker, however if done properly it can be one of the easiest ways to successfully rush the passer. Timing is key to a successful Swim Move, the D-linemen must beat the blocker off the snap of the ball.

Next comes a jab step designed to get the blocker off balance. This is when the defender step one direction while intending to move another. This is followed by a short balanced step using the jab foot, bring it in front of the blocker in the opposite direction. Typically the blocker will follow the first step, the jab step, and find himself off balance.

At the same time the pass rusher brings his inside arm up and reaching out to the back of the blocker, pulling the O-lineman forward, exploiting his lack of balance and swim through the offensive line to effectively rush the passer.

Once the defender swims through the line, he wants to be running at the quarterback with his hands up, fully extending and waving his arms. This puts him in position to disrupt the play by temporarily blocking the quarterback's vision, tip the ball, knock the ball down, or make the pick. At the same time he is poised to make the quarterback rush his throw or sack the quarterback. If he can sack the QB with his arms raised the defender can bring his hands down with more force to attack the ball and possibly force the fumble.

There are pass rushing DVDS available that demonstrate more detailed rushing techniques and practice drills to successfully rush the passer. Please use the link in the resource box below to examine these videos.



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Tips on Finding College Football Predictions

There are tons of college football fans from your little sister to your best friend. Everyone just knows their team is going to win the championship bowl, but how can you really be sure? All you need to do is search for college football predictions on certain websites. They have the opinions of fans and professional sports commentators which will keep you informed about all of the college football predictions for the current season.

Surf to coolegefootballpoll.com. This is one of the first places you should go to look for game predictions. It contains current football polls, picks and game scores. You can find out all of the most recent comments on college fooball, including pre-game and post-game discussions. If you follow the 'standings' link, found above, resources are available to aid you in making your game predictions. Read about your favourite team by due to clicking on the teams link. The forum on this page has a lot of fan predictions. Here you will find forums called "General Discussion", "Top 25 Voters" and "Picks", so you can potentially find any game predictions. Surf to cbssports.com/. If you are searching for college football prediction this is also another good website.

CBS keeps track of the game also so head to this website, then click on the 'College FB' link under the main banner. Or go to www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/bowls/predictions for a look at their bowl predictions for the upcoming year. You can even join in yourself - find a link called can 'Post Your Own Game Prediction'. Check outcome opinions generated by other fans, and also share your thoughts. You can then watch the game that week to see if your predictions were right! Surf to msn.foxsports.com/cfb/. Another popular website where game fans can go to find college football predictions is at foxsports.

Found on MSN, the odds and predictions are stated for each college football game played each week. You can use these to make your weekly guesses, or to prove to your friends and college buddies that your team going to win this weekend's game. You may also enjoy following the popular comments section found there. Have discussions with thousands of other game fans about who you think will be the next big winner. Find people just like yourself, who want to get the predictions and the odds about their favorite college football team.



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How to Coach Youth Football

I think those who are interested in coaching youth football are admirable. Not only do you get to teach kids football fundamentals; but you teach them well-documented life lessons and become an example and mentor. A youth football coach's responsibility is to instill quality values such as confidence, discipline, sportsmanship, and teamwork. Applying these values to the game of football will help you to produce winners on and off the field. Here are a couple simple tips to focus on as you approach your first time coaching youth football.

Youth Football Coaching Strategies

Rules
• Set the ground rules for the players and their parents at the start of the season. Be clear on the rules for practices, attendance, player participation, fundraising, effort, and sportsmanship. That way everyone knows what to expect and there are no surprises during the season.

Time Management
• You have the football field for a limited amount of time. Don't waste it performing extensive conditioning drills. Use the time wisely and teach "real" football during these sessions. You want kids to have fun and learn the game. That's what they signed up for...they can run conditioning and agility drills any time.

Drills
Yes, you need to run conditioning drills but limit them in your practice. You should be teaching your kids life skills such as developing the discipline to work out and perform interval training on their own. Develop the child's love of the game first, but keep them accountable.
• Moreover, there are many elaborate football drill libraries on the Internet such as those at Weplay. While a coach should select a variety of age-appropriate drills for coaching his team, focusing on these basics and making them fun for the team will often lead to greater success.

Morale
• End your practices on a high note. Too many coaches run sprints or laps at the end of the practice and the players dislike them. Instead, run special team drills such as kickoff returns or punt coverage for your end-of-practice conditioning drills. You'll get them in top shape while making it fun and teaching valuable football skills at the same time.

Playbook
• In youth football, its better to run a few plays really well than run many plays poorly. Pick four or five plays as the core of your offensive strategy and practice the execution until the players can run them in their sleep. Only then, should you start introducing new plays.

With a focus on some simple basics, youth football coaches can successfully start down their path. By teaching youth football and the life lessons of discipline, self-motivation, sportsmanship and fair play, a coach's experience can be both enjoyable and meaningful. The integrity that you insist they use on the field will follow them off the field.



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Sunday, August 2, 2009

How to Purchase College Bowl Tickets

One of the greatest things that you can do is to go to a College Bowl Game and if it is your favorite team it is even better. Getting tickets that you can afford is the key to seeing a great bowl game this season. There are some tips to finding deals online.

The first thing you want to do is to try to get tickets with ticket masters the day they are released. There is usually a small amount of tickets up for grabs so you may want to get online or the phone early to try to get your seats for the game. Do not worry if you strike out because there are other ways to get tickets.

Next you should use Craigslist or your local newspaper to have an ad that states you are looking for tickets you may be surprised that there could be an alumni that had something come up and they are willing to sell there tickets at face value. Make sure that you have a price in mind that you are willing to spend.

Lastly check online ticket dealers you may find some place such as stubhub that you can get tickets form a ticket holder at a good price. It is a better solution than going to a regular ticket broker who in most cases will over charge for the tickets. eBay is another great solution to find tickets to your favorite bowl game. You want to find someone who has good feedback to purchase great seats from.



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Cardinals - One Hit Wonders Or Threat to Repeat?

This year the Cardinals are projected to win 8.5 games, are 15/2 to win the NFC Championship game, and 15/1 to win the Super Bowl. Are these Vegas odds making your head spin? Well, to summarize, the odds that the Arizona Cardinals are going back to Super Bowl, or even the playoffs, are not good.

At first glance, the Cardinals chances seem great. Pro bowler Kurt Warner, despite his age of 37, is still arguably one of the top QB's in the NFL. Safety Adrian Wilson leads a much underrated defensive unit that played great down the stretch last year. The Cards also have one of the most lethal receiving cores in the game. Locking up Anquan Boldin would make everyone feel a little better about the 2009 season, but the fact he wasn't traded is a good sign. Larry Fitzgerald is an elite playmaker who needs Boldin in the line up to free up double (even triple) coverage.

The NFC West was a walking band-aid last year, and should not be considered as weak as many people think. With some of the improvements made this off-season, there is no way any one team will win the division with ease. The Seattle Seahawks grabbed Houshmandzadeh in free agency, helping a laughable receiving core get better quickly; key players Deion Brach and Matt Hasselbeck are both returning from injury. A fresh start with new coach Jim Mora could also be good for some of these seasoned Seattle veterans. Not since the 1992 season have the Seattle Seahawks had such a low win total. The shocking 4-12 season will be huge motivation to improve quickly and challenge for a playoff spot.

The Rams lost playmaker Torry Holt and veteran LT Orlando Pace, but look somewhat strong after bringing in the New York Giants Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to lead the pack. The Rams had an excellent draft and even made a few solid free agent signings.

The San Francisco 49ers, who were ghosts in free agency, came away laughing after Oakland passed on Texas Tech wide receiver Michael Crabtree at the NFL Draft in April. The only question now is who's going to lead this young team? The right quarterback might have the 49ers finally pulling out of the repair shop with a serious muscle car.

The Cardinals didn't get to the Super Bowl by default, they knocked off three strong offensive teams: Falcons, Panthers, and Eagles. With each playoff win the team grew more confidence, but an off-season of headaches may hurt the Cardinals 2009 season. Top teams always get picked apart in free agency, although losing as many starters as Arizona did hasn't sat well with the loyal fan base, not to mention losing both their defensive and offensive coordinators Clancy Pendergast and Todd Haley.

Even with the additions of RB Beanie Wells and Safety Rashad Johnson in the draft, this team has the look of being dubbed a one hit wonder. Too many losses on defense and the shake up of the coaching staff will mean the offense will be forced to win games in a shoot out fashion. This is great news if you have fantasy players, but hard to rely on down the stretch of the NFL season. The Cardinals schedule isn't easy, playing 4 out of 5 road games starting in the middle of November, while going up against many up and coming teams such as the Jaguars, Texans, Bears, and Packers. Gridiron Experts predicts anywhere between a 6 to 9 win season.



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Orgins of the BCS - How College Football Got in This Mess

Other NCAA sports tournaments started holding post-season play-offs in the 1930's and 1940's to determine their national champion but college football was already very popular by this time. Because travel was both time-consuming and expensive, post-season playoffs were difficult to support. The bowl system that was adopted started in 1902 with the East-West game held in Pasadena, California.

In conjunction with the Tournament of Roses, the East-West Game was held on New Year's Day between a top-rated team representing the West Coast and a team from the East of the Mississippi River. The timing was perfect for fans to travel and take-off from work or school to witness the games due to the holiday season. The new stadium was shaped like a Rose thus; the game was renamed into the Rose Bowl in the late 1920s. The Cotton, Orange, and Sugar Bowl which followed a decade after showcasing the teams representing each region of the country were also held on New Year's Day.

Contracts were signed during the 1940s by the College Football Conferences tying their championship with a certain bowl. Commitment between the Big Ten Conference and the Pac Ten Conference formerly known as the Pacific Coast Conference agreed to join their winning teams in the yearly Rose Bowl. This agreement is still being honored under the BCS. The top two-ranked teams had only played each other for a total of six games since the final poll in the bowl games was released in 1968 right after the system raised the probability of hindering the teams from playing each other. This also increased the possibility of having a divided national championship which has already occurred on many instances.

A great example of this would be the case of the two leading teams in 1991: the University of Miami Hurricanes and the University of Washington Huskies who had to share the national championship title. Because the Huskies were tied in the Rose Bowl in the role of the Pac 10 Conference against the Big Ten of Michigan, while the Miami Hurricanes were tied to the Orange Bowl, there was no way that they could compete with each other. The Miami ended up gaining the Associated Press Poll and the Washington Huskies winning as the number 1 team for the Coaches' Poll.

To remedy the existing problem, a Bowl Coalition was created in 1992 by the joint forces of five (5) Conferences, six (6) Bowl games and the dominating independent Notre Dame. The intent of the Bowl Coalition was to cause a movement for the top two teams to compete in a National Championship game. The Bowl Coalition disregarded the participation of all the other conferences, and made it impossible for a non-bowl coalition team to triumph in a National Championship. Although the traditional tie-ins remained existent between conferences and bowls, the system continued from the period of the 1992 season until the 1994 season. In the need to bring about a championship game, a team would be freed to play in another bowl with the exception of the Big Ten and Pac 10 champions who were already required to play in the Rose Bowl. The Bowl Coalition failed in its attempts to convince the Rose Bowl to free the Big Ten and Pac 10 champions if the need arises for a championship game. In the case of 1994, Penn State never got the chance to play Nebraska in a championship game, both undefeated champions in their respective bowls.

It was during the 1995 season that the Bowl Coalition was reorganized into the Bowl Alliance now with the involvement of five conferences which was reduced to four in the 1996 season; and the Fiesta, Sugar, and Orange Bowls. The Pac 10 and Big Ten champions, the Rose Bowl and other non-bowl alliance teams were still not included in the rotation of the championship game among the three bowls.

The 1998 season once again saw reformation from the Bowl Alliance to the Bowl Championship Series. This time, the Rose Bowl operated by the Tournament of Roses Association had agreed to free the champions of the Big Ten and Pac 10 for the National Championship game as necessary. Because of this agreement, the Rose Bowl was placed as an addition to the annual rotation of the national championship and was able to retain its exclusive exposure on a television time slot during the afternoon of New Year's Day. But at the start of the 2006 season, the BCS National Championship Game held a week after New Year's Day was played at the same location as a host bowl and as a separate event.

The man considered to be behind the creation of the BCS is former SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer. Teams from mid-major conferences are now given an opportunity to participate based on their performance and standing. Although none have made it to the National Championship game.



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