The Hendersonville Standard Blog

The Predators are dead in the frozen water. The Memphis Grizzlies joined the Preds Sunday by losing Game 7 to the Los Angeles Clippes in their first-round NBA playoff series.

The NFL draft has come and gone. Spring practices have concluded for college football programs. Future college basketball players have decided on which school they will grace with their talent.

In other words, it is a slow time of the season if you are a sports fan.

That often prompts a flurry of various lists compiled by sportswriters around the country.

The Sporting News has released its annual list that ranks all Division I college football coaches. It is highly subjective and one of two TSN writers who compile this list is Matt Hayes. I have known Matty for years. He delights in taking jabs at fan bases known for their thin skins.

For starters, Tennessee Coach Derek Dooley is considered the worst coach in the SEC, including the coaches from Missouri and Texas A&M, who have yet to stick their toes in the SEC pool.

Not only is Dooley No. 14 in the SEC, he ranks 99 out of 124 coaches on the national list. He is one spot behind Hawaii’s Norm Chow, who hasn’t been a head coach since 1972, when he was at Waialua High School.

Other notables deemed to be better coaches than Dooley on TSN’s list would include MTSU’s Rick Stockstill (93), former Vanderbilt player and San Jose State head coach Mike MacIntyre (91), Western Kentucky’s Willie Taggart (85) and Kentucky’s Joker Phillips (90). 

To pile on, TSN has the man Dooley replaced, Southern Cal’s Lane Kiffin, ranked No. 37. I don’t think he ranks anywhere near that high on Vols fans’ list.

Dooley ranks behind Bob Davie (96). The former Notre Dame coach hasn’t coached football since 2001 until accepting the job at New Mexico.

Co-author of the piece, Seth Greenberg, called the project, “an internal exercise. … We’re pretty pleased with it.’’

I would think Vanderbilt fans would be more pleased than Greenberg.

First-year Commodores Coach James Franklin authored a 6-7 season, lost to Dooley and Tennessee, and was judged by the TSN tandem as the No. 5 coach in the SEC. 

If you think that might be high, TSN had Franklin as the 25th best coach in college football. Granted, Franklin generated excitement his first year. As TSN pointed out, Franklin’s team lost four games to Georgia, Arkansas, Florida and Tennessee by a combined total of only 19 points.

If Franklin can coax a winning season this fall, I predict TSN will have him supplanting Alabama’s Nick Saban as the number one coach on the planet. I’m not sure Vanderbilt Vice-Chancellor David Williams knew what a diamond he mined out of Maryland.

You can bet Vanderbilt will have plenty of TSN copies of the rankings sitting around for recruits to look at. Why not?

Back to Dooley. Is he that bad? This season will go a long way toward determining that. The Vols drop LSU for Mississippi State and have three cupcakes for non-conference automatics.

TSN claims Dooley has to make a bowl game this season to save his job. Vol fans would put the over-under win total to save his job at 8.

He could do that by beating Kentucky, Vanderbilt and two teams out of Florida, Georgia and N.C. State.

I know. That’s a lot to ask from the No. 99 coach in the country.

Sports Columnist Joe Biddle can be reached at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .   

Posted by Kim Duke

Kim Duke

Kim Duke is a columnist for The Gallatin News Paper

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on Thursday, 10 May 2012 in Fit for Life

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New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees joined the thousands who showed up to mourn and honor the life of Junior Seau with a paddle out on surfboards in the ocean in front of Seau’s Oceanside home.

They chanted Seau’s number, the 55 that was on his jersey throughout his 20 years with the Chargers, Dolphins and Patroits.

Seau died in his house after a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his chest. Two days earlier he had played in a charity golf tournament where he was the jovial, accommodating Junior Seau fans instantly connected with and loved.

The family is growing close to making a decision that would allow researchers at Boston University’s School of Medicine to study the impact that multiple concussions have on NFL players’ brains.

Seau is the third former NFL player to commit suicide in recent years. Researchers suspect a link between concussions and depression and dementia/Alzheimer’s disease.

Seau was only 43 years old. Former NFL quarterback Jim McMahon is 52, and he fears the worst. He is already showing signs of concern.

“(My) short term memory is not good,’’ McMahon admits. “It breaks your heart when guys you’ve known all your life don’t know who you are.’’

Boston University has studied the brains of 19 former NFL players. All but one was found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

By virtue of Seau’s status as a player, his death could shine even more of a spotlight on the NFL to increase financial responsibility to support players past and present who are affected.

Commissioner Roger Goodell knows the NFL is a violent game. With players getting increasingly bigger, stronger and faster, concussions and head injuries are not going away. They will increase if the NFL doesn’t accept its culpability and put stronger safety measures in the rules and work on making the equipment more safe and protective.

They have come a long way since McMahon played in the 1980s.

“Back then, you just taped an aspirin to your helmet and you (went) back in,’’ the former Bears quarterback said.

McMahon is one of seven former NFL players who have sued the league over these health issues they believe are results of concussions and other brain injuries.

Seau’s family could help move the process forward by allowing his brain to be studied by the experts in the field.

He was not a player who missed games with concussions. At least we don’t know whether he kept personal issues to himself.

Seau’s ex-wife, Gina, says it would be wrong to assume he never had concussions.

“Of course he had,’’ she told ESPN. “He always bounced back and kept on playing. He’s a warrior. That didn’t stop him. … It’s not ballet. It’s part of the game.’’

Seau was 6-3, 248 pounds. He could get from sideline to sideline or take running backs head-on. The former Southern Cal All-American always played at the highest level.

You can’t understand the speed and intensity of an NFL game from even the closest seats in the stands. TV doesn’t do it justice. Stand on the sidelines, however, and the picture becomes clearer.

It is a problem that will not go away. It would help if players went back to tackling with their arms instead of their heads. For too long, they have been allowed to use their helmets as weapons.

The tragic consequences have got to stop.

Contact Sports Columnist Joe Biddle at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

Now we will see what the Nashville Predators are made of.

They find themselves on the short end of a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-seven series with Phoenix.

Losing the first two games of the series wasn’t easy for the Preds. They just made it look that way.

They managed to lose the first game in overtime after outplaying the Coyotes all over the stat sheet. In a must-win Game 2, the Preds left their defense at the team hotel as they allowed Phoenix to score five goals in a series in which hockey analysts predicted would be a low-scoring affair due to outstanding credentials of both teams’ goalies.

Are the Preds suffering from a Red Wings hangover?  Are they still living off ousting their big brothers from the playoffs?

The hole they dug for themselves is deep, leaving no margin of error for the next two games at the Big House on Broad. The only way they climb back in the series is by protecting home ice the next two games.

That would even the series and create some doubt in the minds of the Coyotes.

All along we were told the Coyotes could not hold late game leads. They must have found a Medicine Man in the desert that cured their ills because such has not been the case against the Predators.

The Predators have been chasing the Coyotes since the first puck dropped. It was especially true in Game 2, where Phoenix took advantage of a sloppy defensive effort to eventually take a two-goal lead that would hold up and put the Predators behind the 8-ball.

Preds Coach Barry Trotz has his work cut out for him before Game 3. This is a time that the normally mild-mannered, soft-spoken Trotz needs to expand his vocal chords.

He has to snap his team out of this funk they seemed to have fallen into while in the Valley of the Sun.

This team is good enough to go deeper in the playoffs. But Predators goalie Pekka Rinne can’t do it all by himself. He is human and would welcome any help his teammates could extend, especially from those whose job it is to keep the puck out of the Preds zone.

Such was not the case in Game 2. The Coyotes double- parked in front of the Predators goal and Rinne came away shell-shocked by the onslaught of 39 pucks.

Five of them found the mark, more than enough to put the Preds in dire straits. Rinne has given up nine goals in two games against Phoenix. He surrendered five in five games in the Detroit series.

Strangely enough, it was some of the Predators top players who were clearly off their game in the 5-3 loss.

Shae Weber, Martin Erat, Ryan Suter and David Legwand were all out of sorts in Game 2. And, what was that move Legwand made when he gloved the puck behind the Preds net and, in a brain cramp move, tossed it off the net into the crease where Phoenix scored.

All is not lost. Yet. The men who play in Smashville know the math. They have to even the series and make it a best two-of-three.

Phoenix did it. Is Nashville capable? Sure. But not playing the way they did in Phoenix.

Phoenix is showing the Predators what blue-collar hockey is all about. And rubbing their noses in it.

Contact Sports Columnist Joe Biddle at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

So Kentucky’s national championship team scattered to the winds after hoisting the trophy.

So what?

All five starters – three freshmen, two sophomores – declared for the upcoming NBA Draft. That included National Player of the Year Anthony Davis.

Cats Coach John Calipari never shed a tear. Instead, he was a proud papa at their press conference, in which he participated.

Conversely, Coach Cal realizes it is today’s system and embraces it. While he says he doesn’t like the NBA rule that prohibits a player to declare for the draft until they turn 19, Calipari is miles ahead of the curve on college coaches who have not adjusted to the rule.

Calipari is King of One and Done. He sells recruits a ticket to the NBA after one year. It is not a recruiting ploy. He backs it up. Calipari pushes the baby birds out of the nest and watches them fly.

Kansas Coach Bill Self gives credit where credit is due.

“Calipari is the best salesman our sport knows,’’ Self said prior to his team losing to Kentucky in the Final Four championship game.

“He recruits good players, but he coaches good players. He gets them to buy in. … Nobody recruits like him and nobody has coached better, considering how many young kids he has and how he gets them to play for one purpose.’’

You may find it hard to believe, but Calipari’s Cats are considered by Rivals.com to have the top recruiting class in the country this year. If it holds up, it will mark four straight years he has ruled the recruiting wars.

He has commitments from three of the Rivals.com top 15 players, including 6-10 center Nerlens Noel. Noel is considered by recruiting services to be the No. 1 or 2 prospect in the country.

Joining Noel is Clarksville Northeast star Alex Poythress, a 6-8, 215-pound small forward ranked No. 7 by Scout.com and No. 8 by Rivals. They also landed Archie Goodwin, a 6-4, 180-pound shooting guard out of Arkansas. Rivals ranked Goodwin No. 14. They will add 7-footer Willie Cauley, a 4-star recruit ranked No. 40 by Rivals.

It went down to the wire for the consensus No. 1 recruit, Shabazz Muhammad, a high-energy 6-6, 220-pounder who can play all over the floor. Muhammad decided to stay home, and will play at UCLA. If anyone was ideal for Calipari’s dribble-drive system, it was Muhammad.

The Cats are still in the hunt for other blue chippers and will add point guard Ryan Harrow, who transferred from North Carolina State and is eligible this season. He started 10 of the last 15 games as a freshman at State. Harrow was highly recruited out of Marietta, Ga.

Not only does Calipari’s message resonate with recruits, he has the resume to substantiate his sermon.

He saw five Kentucky players drafted in the first round of the 2010 NBA draft. The five players who are coming out early this year are all projected as first-round selections, with Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist projected to go in the first five picks.

Over the last four years, Calipari has coached eight of the 33 one-and-done players taken in the NBA draft. The closest coach to him is Texas coach Rick Barnes, with three.

Of Calipari’s top-10 recruits since 2007, five have been top-five picks in the NBA draft.

The beat goes on in the Bluegrass.

Contact Sports Columnist Joe Biddle at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

I always thought college basketball coaches had a screw loose.

See Billy Gillispie. He lost the best job in the business, Kentucky, because he had a habitual drinking problem.

Or Bruce Pearl, whose bright future at Tennessee came crashing down after he told NCAA investigators he did not recognize some people in a picture they showed him. Not only did Pearl fail to identify one of his assistant coaches, he could not identify his own house. Cheatin’ and lyin’ don’t pay. 

Another fall from grace case was Louisville’s Rick Pitino, who came close to the firing line after his sexual fling with a woman in a Louisville restaurant. It made headlines all over the country. The female went to prison, but Slick Rick managed to keep his job at the expense of his reputation.

I believe their football-coaching brethren may be catching up in the demolition derby.

Recently fired Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino had everything going his way. His Hogs won 21 games the last two years, including 11 wins last season and a BCS Sugar Bowl victory that left Arkansas No. 5 in the country.

But $3.5 million a year and multiple perks apparently was not enough to satisfy Petrino. The father of four had an itch he had to scratch.

The administration failed to recognize that Petrino and his 25-year-old mistress, Jessica Dorrell, exchanged more than 4,000 text messages and 300-plus calls on his company cell phone during a seven-month period. I stand mystified how that was allowed to go unquestioned.

I don’t know if Petrino was more arrogant, or ignorant, to think he could get away with cheating on his wife with Dorrell, an Arkansas football department employee that he hired. A motorcycle wreck that put Petrino in the hospital led to his downfall. Instead of coming clean, he lied. Lied to his boss. Lied to the administration. Lied to his family.

His alibi fell apart like a seersucker suit in a house fire. His next coaching job should be in the Lingerie League. It’s about the last straw for Bobby Petrino – a great coach, a bad person.

Now it appears football coach Urban Meyer was not totally up front when he was coaching the Florida Gators to two national championships before shocking the world by stepping down. Meyer wanted to spend more time with his family. (I wish coaches who quit or are pushed out would find a new excuse. That family thing is getting old and unbelievable.)

Meyer turned tail when Ohio State called. All of a sudden his family was pushed to the back of the bus. It was a dream job for Meyer.

Orlando Sentinel columnist George Diaz proclaims that it is Steve Spurrier, not Meyer, who is Mr. Gator to the majority of Gator fans.

Spurrier is known for speaking his mind. He recently was asked his thoughts on playing Georgia the second game of the season.

“I sort of always liked playing them that second game because you could always count on them having two or three key players suspended,’’ Spurrier poked.

Spurrier spares no one. He took on Alabama icon Nick Saban recently.

“If he wants to be the greatest coach or one of the greatest coaches in college football, to me, he has to go somewhere besides Alabama and win, because they’ve always won at Alabama,’’ Spurrier theorized.

Vanderbilt would be an ideal place for Saban to prove his point.

Spurrier is brutally honest. I’ll take honesty over sleaze any day.

Sports Columnist Joe Biddle can be reached at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

As much as a number of fans have relished Tiger Woods’ personal and professional demise, the golf world needs him.

Woods is the Babe Ruth, the Muhammad Ali of golf. He set the golf world on fire when he won his first of four green jackets, symbolic of the Masters champion. He was 21 years old and smothered the field by a whopping 12 strokes.

For years he dominated the game. When he showed up on the first tee, everyone else was playing for second. Some players publicly acknowledged it to be true.

After accruing 14 major titles, Woods’ house of cards fell on top of him like an avalanche. He was labeled an adulterer. His marriage dissolved. He lost valuable face time with his two young children. He was mocked by late-night comedians.

He is now 36 years old, beset in recent years by a variety of health issues. His knee. His Achilles. His head.

He parted ways with longtime caddie, Steve Williams. He split with swing coach Hank Haney, whose book on Woods was recently released and paints him in some unflattering lights. There is a pornographic movie released early this week that features three or four of the girls Tiger allegedly cheated on his wife with. They reveal more of whom the real Tiger Woods was, far from the Teflon-coated image constructed by his close circle of management and PR types.

He seemed rejuvenated three weeks ago when he won on the Tour for the first time since 2009, winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational by five strokes. Was this the real Tiger? Or was it fool’s gold?

Augusta National will go a long way in deciding the answer to those questions this week. It can bring even the best golfers in the world to their knees.

Woods has not won a major since the 2008 U. S. Open, which he won basically on one leg at Torrey Pines.

Woods enters a comfort zone at Augusta. It is his favorite course in the world. He knows the greens and danger spots equally well. His game appeared sound coming into this week, but golf is a sport that provides unexplained surprises just when you think you have it conquered.

The Masters champion must hold up through the final nine holes on Sunday. Even the best have tripped and fallen on their way to the green jacket ceremony. Greg Norman felt Augusta National’s wrath two years in a row.

The Australian could not stop a 46-year-old Jack Nicklaus from getting his sixth green jacket as Nicklaus caught fire on the back nine on Sunday to win the 1986 Masters. Norman returned the following year, only to lose in a playoff when homegrown and raised Larry Mize sank an improbable chip-shot on the 11th hole in a playoff, leaving Norman in shock.

Based primarily on resume and the recent win at Bay Hill, Woods has been installed by Las Vegas wiseguys as the favorite in this impressive world-class field.

Eyes will be on young Irishman Greg McIlroy to see if he can overcome a monumental Masters meltdown a year ago. They always wonder which Phil Mickelson will show up. Names such as Lee Westwood and Luke Donald are expected to be on the daily leaderboards that dot the course.

But the story will be Tiger Woods. Whether he succeeds or falls short, it is his story we all want to read.

Contact Sports Columnist Joe Biddle at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .