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SIDELINE ARCHIVE Santa's Sackings January 01, 2009 Ready for the Turkey November 27, 2008 Making it to the Big Dance November 26, 2008 Brighter Days Ahead for Chargers? November 5, 2008 Unnecessary Hits To The Pocket / Upset: BYU October 17, 2008 Romo's Pause / Seattle Seahawks October 15, 2008 Weekend Prep: Red River and More October 10, 2008 College Football's 'Crossroads' Weekend October 9, 2008 Gramatical Error October 7, 2008 Turning The Page September 30, 2008 So Cal 'Quizzed — But Who Will Answer? September 26, 2008 3rd Tuesday Panic Button / Forté Yard Dash September 23, 2008 Two and Oh; Oh and Two September 22, 2008 No More NCAAffeine September 11, 2008 Week 1 College Football September 6, 2008 How To Spell Heisman / Chad Ocho Cinco September 1, 2008 Why the Favre story STILL won't go away August 18, 2008 Olympic Notes / Ricky's Still Relevant August 14, 2008 Committee Meetings August 9, 2008 Let the QB Battles Begin August 8, 2008 Slinging The Slinger — More Favre August 6, 2008 Welcome to the 2008 season July 28, 2008 Plus One May 27, 2008 Draft: The Morning After April 28, 2008 Draft: Thinking the Unthinkable April 25, 2008 Draft: Ready For The Long Haul April 23, 2008 Sofa–bound Sport April 16, 2008 Post–Winter Wonderland April 11, 2008 Six Impossible Things February 4, 2008 Brady's Misdirection Play February 3, 2008 Colorful Language January 23, 2008 Let the Romo–bashing begin: Dallas lost January 14, 2008 Bowl Bites: The Wrap January 10, 2008 All About The Coaches January 1, 2008 Bowl Bites 3 and A Communication Breakdown December 29, 2007 Bowl Bites 2 December 27, 2007 Bowl Bites 1 December 23, 2007 The Empty Chair - Coach Situations Vacant December 22, 2007 For Some, The Playoffs Are Now December 15, 2007 A Certain Lack Of Welcome December 13, 2007 Unrelated Notes November 29, 2007 Two Thanksgiving thoughts November 22, 2007 Halftime: NFC November 9, 2007 Halftime: AFC November 8, 2007 London, Part 2 / A Tale of Two Chads / A Game of Intimidation November 4, 2007 Damp Squib / Other London Notes October 29, 2007 Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em / Dolphins – The Aftermath October 23, 2007 The Dolphins Did What? October 18, 2007 Notes on the Defenses October 13, 2007 Habits to be Broken October 12, 2007 Overtime October 13, 2007 This Week's Starters October 6, 2007: USF: Covering The Spread / Fantastic Football September 27, 2007: Grossman: The Final Act? / McNabb, the Epilogue September 24, 2007: Eagles QB in Slight Controversy September 21, 2007: Leftwich's Parting Gift to Jacksonville? / Boos cruise September 18, 2007: Notre Dame M.I.A. September 16, 2007: Looking Beyond NFL Wk. 1 September 12, 2007: Best Hope For Heisman September 10, 2007: Coaching Hot Seats / AP Poll Feeling ’Appy September 7, 2007: The NFL’s Prime Cuts September 5, 2007: Michigan Falls to Killer Apps September 3, 2007: Look Out Couch / The Taint's On You, Bud September 1, 2007: |
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SPORTS SIDELINE 
Observations, Opinion & Occasional Silliness by Richard L Gale How To Spell Heisman Richard L Gale breaks down how to win a Heisman. But not a spelling bee, apparently! So, we head into another season of Heisman hoopla. Another season of gratuitous numbers, florid poses, over–reaction to statistical aberrations, and commentators foaming at the mouth as we try to anoint one player the very best football player in the nation just before they get selected as the 174th most desirable player in the NFL draft. But what combination of talents is the formula for Heisman success? Let's spell it out... H is for HYPE. The legend of last season, plus all the fuss from preseason, and all the media buzz as the season plays out. The Heisman race never starts from a level playing field. Last year's stats are always an influence, and some colleges spend considerable time and money promoting themselves through a Heisman contender. They can't pay him for playing, but boy, can they ever try and buy him a trophy! E is for EXPOSURE. Playing in the right conference helps. Being in a 'big six' conference is a step up over the non–BCS schools, and being in the highly–respected Big Ten or SEC is a major boost. Being in the SEC, ACC or Big East can take advantage of 'East Coast bias' as well. If a team isn't lucky enough to be in a big conference, does the schedule offer some big league opponents here and there? Put simply, are there enough national or prime time TV games? 1 is for ONE. Okay, I'm cheating a little here. But a successful Heisman run means a player having the limelight to himself when his team wins, if not at first, then at least by voting time. Featured backs have it easy. Quarterbacks have it harder if all that flinging is to one key receiver who's racking up record numbers himself, and of course, every touchdown scored by a receiver is just part of what the quarterback fed him. S is for SENIORITY. Despite Tim Tebow's win last year as a mere sophomore, every other Heisman in the history of the award has gone to a junior of senior. It usually isn't a one–season award, whatever is claimed, so a year or two of building a reputation helps. There may also be the thought amongst voters that, hey, the kid can wait for next year, this guy over here needs it now, before he heads to the NFL. M is for MAGIC. A Heisman winner needs to perform the impossible, to astonish beyond reason. There needs to be some 'wow' plays, some come–from–behind victories, tackle–defying moves, or games where they defy the odds. They need to produce some signature moments for the highlight reel. It usually helps if they do some stuff that is outside the standard for their position: QBs who run, RBs who catch, WRs who return kicks, CBs who play offense. A is for A WINNER! [are you sure? — Ed.] A great player on a great team, a contender to the end. Quarterbacks usually get blamed when their teams lose games, running backs sometimes get shut out of the game plan when their teams fall behind. As long as their team is a contender, they're still in the national headlines come late November. So a Heisman winner more often than not comes from a team with very few losses. It's rare that a loser is a winner. N is for NUMBERS. Preferably offensive numbers — pass yards, rushing yards, combined yards, touchdowns. Interceptions is good, but the only defender ever to win the Heisman had to tally some offensive numbers too. However, big numbers in small conferences are treated with suspicion, as are great statistics from a 'system' where every previous QB put up the same numbers (before sinking without trace as a pro). Okay, so this year's Heisman winner will most likely be a lone superstar, senior or junior, quarterback or runningback, from a roughly 1 or 2–loss team in a BCS conference. Or in other words, Tim Tebow, Mark Sanchez, Juice Williams, Chris Wells, Todd Reesing, Chase Daniel, or Cullen Harper. So out of 10,000 competitors, we've got it down to a short–list of seven before we even start. Can we vote yet? I'd hate for the likes of sophomore Knowshon Moreno, receiver Michael Crabtree, or a loser like Rice's Chase Clement to get us all muddled now. Chad Ocho Cinco Speaking of spelling things out, you may have read that Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson has officially changed his name to Chad Ocho Cinco, so that no.85 doesn't get fined again by the NFL when he wears his nickname on his back, sideline or not. This has, of course, roused the Chad haters. I don't get the anti–85 thing. What has Ocho Cinco actually done other than entertain. He's a distraction, yes, but wow, the Bengals have had bigger distractions than that over the past two–years. To my knowledge, Chad hasn't been arrested, suspended, shown up fat, hasn't held out into the season, has never criticized his fellow stars, and has never played less than his best. Which is, by the way, is pretty good — he has more yards, more scores, more 1000 yard seasons, more yards in a game and more yards in a season than any other Bengal ever. I think it's funny he's changed his name. I find most things funny that he gets fined for. I just wish he would change his name to Chad LightenupNFL. He's the best thing about the Bengals and I hope he stays there, doing this stuff. And I'm a Pittsburgh fan. |
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