Kevin

Kevin
Kevin Lewis is a retired NFL linebacker.

Monday, August 31, 2009

SPEED KILLS!!

College football, what is it really about? Is it about getting better as a program, developing a program, or even starting one. Let's face it, in the FBS it's about winning a National Championship. Even if your trying to get to a bowl game for the first year, the very next year the conference title will be your next goal. The natural progression after that is the National Champioship title. So, how do you get to a National title. To get that answer, I went straight to the NFL which host the best football players in the world. The latest stats were from 2005; "NFL Players State NFL Players California 199 Pennsylvania 58 Florida 179 Michigan 50 Texas 176 Virginia 49 Georgia 90 South Carolina 48 Ohio 78 Mississippi 46 Louisiana 76 Illinois 45 ." By looking at these numbers you can easily see that the top recruiting states for colleges need to be FL, CA, and TX. Now, instead of yelling and screaming about your coach, QB or bad defense. Start looking at your depth chart and see where the kids are from. More likely than not , the teams that are made up of student-athelete's from these 3 states are more likely to be playing eachother in the National Championship games than not. Why is it like this? Why are kids from these states better football players? I will answer this question personally because I have played in the NFL and reign from Florida. When I left Fl for college the consensus was we are better because we have great weather and play year round. This is true only in baseball because floridians do play little league baseball year round. I think our weather does help in that we play outside almost all year. You got to remember 60 degrees is cold to floridians, so to us we really do have a winter. The real reason for our football dominance is our competitive nature with speed. Aquianas High (FL) 52 -7 vs Upper Arlington (OH) proved how much of adavntage speed gives you. Florida kids would make moves and gain fifteen yards while Ohio kids would make moves and gain 3. It reminded me of Ohio St vs UF (41-14) national champioship game. In Fl it's not how big or strong your are. It's all about who's the fastest. Even if your the biggest kid in the neighborhood, you still have to be fast. I remeber racing on the street many of times, taking breaks as cars came by, to see who was the fastest in the neighborhood. Even at school the most prestigous award in elementary and middle school is the 50 yard dash. It's a fixation on speed there, so much so that most high school coaches "encourage" there players to also run track in the offseason. Football is also a religion in Fl. If you aren't playing football your considered "soft". You essentially prove your manhood on the feild. Basketball , track, baseball and other sports are great to play as long as you play still play football. Little league football games are very exciting. They're played on saturday's and draw big crowds and are very serious. Parents and coaches get really envolved and it's not uncommon to have very heated disagreements at games. There's no such thing as everyone plays unless your winning big. Our competitive spirit and focus on speed makes Fl one of the best states in the country for football.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

$845million, thats it.

Where did baseball go wrong? The Chicago cubs (1876) were just sold for a mere $845 million. Are u serious!! This is one of the most legendary teams in baseball. The Team that broke the color barrier, the team that no matter who your a fan of, you know the infamous song. I thought the song was at least worth $10 million. The average NFL team is worth $1billion, so has America's favorite pastime entering early stages of extinction. Let's be honest, name a espn, fox , or cbs analyst or commentator that calls a baseball game. Now name NFL or NBA analyst or comentator. Face it, unless we are talking about steroids, baseball aint in the conversation. We were all out of our seats when baseball meant something......Yeah I'm talking about that time, that now seems very distant from memory. When we all picked up a paper or watched sportcenter at least, to see if McGuire, Sosa or Bonds had hit 2 HR's the night before. It brought a whole new group of people to the ball park. But now, to see such a storied organization be sold for less than the last team brought into the NFL(Houston Texans 1.1 Billion). You must at least admit baseball has a problem.
p.s. let Barry, Sammy and Mark back in the league and I'll watch... also I realize the Cleveland Browns were last but they already had history

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Preseason Mid-Terms

Preaseason Mid-Terms

NFC-East

#1 Philly(A-) fans, the wait may be over. Easily the most active team in free agency in the division. Addressed all needs. Even bolstered a secondary after losing old faithful BDawk. The most anticipated preseason game ever will be played on thursday. Ay Yall, #7 is back in da Building.

Giants (B-) - will need at least the top five defensive team(with a questionable secondary) in the league to make a push into the post season. Is Eli really a $100 million dollar man? We'll c!!

Redskins(D-)- fans pray 4 an uncapped year and just mayb if Snyder will spend like Steinbrenner (NYY Onwer), washington will have a chance. CP is your only hope, a 2500 yd season should do it. Yeah right!!

Cowboys(C)-Great Stadium!!! Tony Romo's team...... Good Luck! P.S. Great Stadium

NFC -North The 2nd most competitive division in the league.

Bret Farve- Vikings (B)- here in lies their biggest problem 2 much will b put on Farve's shoulders. Just letem manage the game and they'll play n the NFC championship game. N E thing more and they'll b the laughing stock of the NFL because of high expectations.

Chicago(C)- No proven recievers- Mineosota should have been in the Jay Cutler sweepstakes and the lombardi would've been a wrap. Jay's a winner and with a good defense behind him. It could get very intersting. He may have 2 tight-ends as leading recievers on offense. Very strong running game.

Greenbay(B+)- Solid defense and good offense. This has 2 b the year that Rodgers makes his mark on the division and leads the Packers to a divisional title.

NFC -West Terrible easily a tie for the worst division in the league

Arizona (B)- They kept Anquan, best move in the nfl. They'll do it again. Opportunistic on defense and unstoppable on offense. As long as Kurt can stay upright, they'll easily make a playoff push.

Anything other than saying these teams are bad will b an understatement.

49ers(D)- I like Mike-if not for him, i would have given them an F.

Rams-F What else can I say.Oh yeah Steven Jackson..

Seattle(D+)- Boy, we sure miss Shaun Alexander.

NFC South
Tampa Bay(D+)- New team, new direction, same philosophy? That's at least what the head coach says. They addressed some needs. Went younger so they'll have to go thru some growing pains. Kellen Winslow will help comback player of the year Byron Leftwich. At least he better b or his starting career in the NFL is over.

Carolina(B-)- Should win the division. Should win 12-13 games. Should play in the NFC championship game. But, the most important need on this team was to get a star QB and they got'em. Your right, Jake Delhomme AGAIN. What do u do to a player who completely self destructs and loses a game single handledly. U got it, give him $42.5 million ext. Go Panthers.... P.S. Best RB duo in the league.

Saints(B)- Addressed needs on defense. They should b solid. Offensively, TRADE REGGIE BUSH!!!! Get another offensive weapon for Drew Brees. He's the 3rd best running back on the team behind, Pierre Thomas and Mike Bell. If they waist carries on Bush they're in trouble. Next year NFL, think Reggie Bush before drafting CJ Spiller

Atlanta (C+)- Matt Ryan recieved a lot of credit for the Falcons season.Rightfully so, he's played as good as superbowl QB Big Ben and MVP Eli Manning, and ofcourse Tony Romo with T.O. Having Michael Turner in your backfield (last years best free agent pick), can't hurt either. Ryan will continue to progress and adding a security blanket like HOF Tony Gonzalez will only make Ryan that much more comfortable. Defensively, the falcons have the largest questions. No one to really hang your hat on.

AFC West- The Co-Champion 4 the worst division in the league

Chargers(B)- Kept their core together- Oustanding offense- Above average on defense. Stay healthy and focused and they won't lose a divisional game.

The rest.....

Cheifs(D-) - Even though they over paid an unproven QB - They have question marks at every position. Even at RB where u don't know how much more trouble LJ will get into.

Raiders (F)- I have 42 catches 609 yrds and 5 TD's-U wasted the #7 pick in the draft on me, I ruined Michael Crabtree's 1st training camp, Who I am? Ur right, No one knows except raider fans. And thats the problem. 5 wins will be a success. Quickly turning into the Clippers of the NBA. Poor Darren Mcfadden....

Broncos (F)-U found a way to get rid of the best player on your team(Jay Cutler), while angering the new best player on the team, who now wants out. Josh McDaniels U R the weakest link ... GOODBYE!!!! Shanahan be happy your name ain't on this debacle.

AFC North

Ravens (C)- Joe Flacco was in trouble until GM Newsome figured out a way to convince Mason(leading reciever) to unretire. Now that's settled lets talk about the real Baltimore Ravens, the DEFENSE. It's not the same the secondary will be run by and have trouble this year. They'll will stop the run though. Remember, never count the will and leadership of Ray Lewis...

Bengals(C-)- Does ocho-cinco want to play this year. If so, they'll be dangerous with Laverneous Coles alongside at Z on offense. Defensively they have struggled, and this will continue.

Browns (F)- Mangini did so well with the Jets, that he was fired and picked up with the Browns. Didn't work for Herm Edwards won't work for Mangini. Oh yeah there's a QB battle here............This is easily the deepsest position on the team, and that's not good.

Steelers (A+)- Title Town, to be the Champ you have to beat the Champs. Lead by their defense with a more than capable offense. They continue to prove that offense get's all the credit but defense wins games and championships.

AFC South

Colts(A-)- Nothings changed, Payton is still the best in the league. Bob Sanders will still play in about 10 games. They'll be a playoff team and we'll see what happens from there.

Titans(A)- Everyone's still trying to figure out how the Titans did it last year. Contray to popular beilef they're balling on Defense. They turn u over and get off the feild on third down. The running game will continue to carry the offense. Oh yeah, Vinvce, shut up, work hard, and prove yourself.

Houston(D-)- Is this the year they make a playoff run. Is Matt Schaub really the guy they thought he was..... I don't think so, I don't belive, it might be time for a new head coach. Kub's not getting it done.

Jaguars (D+)- Just when everyone was ready to be Jack Del Rio fan they falloff the map. We all still love to watch Jones-Drew. Other than that they're in trouble and Del Rio's on the hot seat.

AFC-East

New England(A+)- They don't rebuild, they reload. I can name all their stars, but for what, u already know them all. P.S. Brady's back

Miami (B)- Chad Pennington is ready to continue his smart, effeicient play. The running game behind Williams and Brown may possess a 2000 yrd season between them. Defensively , attitude, stingness, and hitting the QB is the name of the game. This looks like your Dad's Dolphins.
Jets(C-)- Buddy ball is back. They'll be dominate on defense. This will give them an opportunity on defense. However very surprised Rex didn't go after Vick to solidfy an almost weaponless offense. He'll start Sanchez, but he will be bad because of the lack of offensive talent.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Who said cheaters never prosper????

Who said cheaters never prosper???? If ur a professional or college coach, this rule doesn't apply. Try Kelvin Sampson coach with multiple recruiting violations. Left Oklahoma, after building a very credible program, in recruiting violation shambles. No he didn't vanish off the big college coaching scene like one might've expected. But lands a job at what was once one of the most elite programs in college basketball, Indiana. So of course he would straighten up and try to turn over a new leaf while getting the old proverbial 2nd chance. “But wait, there’s more,” Sampson does it again. Recruiting violations this time gets him fired with 750k for his troubles of course. How about Bill Belichick, found to be stealing signals from his opponents by using video. Big Deal? Well think about this, I know every time you’re going to blitz on defense and where u like to send it. Or, your hot reads on offense when shown a blitz. Surely he was suspended indefinitely and forced to go speak in the community about the pitfalls of cheating. That would be to predictable, so instead he’s fined 500k (he makes 6-8mill a yr) and almost has a perfect season but loses to the Giants in the super bowl .Ask any media outlet or journalist who r the best coaches in the history of sports. He’s bound to make their top 10 list. John Calipari continues his climb into college basketball’s elite while leaving his former coaching jobs littered with NCAA violations. Remember UMASS final 4 run, yep that was Calipari. The biggest news there sense that was the NCAAviolations he left. And his most recent gig, Memphis. Yep, Derrick Rose team the one that should’ve beat Kansas by 20. Calipari left them with more than a championship choke. He also has left there program with NCAA violations. What did he get for his obvious misunderstanding of the NCAA rule book………… U got it, one of the top 3 most coveted college basketball jobs. The UK job. So before you tell ur kids cheaters never prosper, ask them what they want to be when they grow up. P.S.
Rick Patino………nah let me leave Rick alone he’s going through a lot right now.