Super Bowl, McNabb, and Duke officiating

There are three topics for discussion today: Donovan McNabb, Duke and the officiating that accompanies their games, and the Super Bowl….

I love Donovan McNabb. In my opinion, he is a great quarterback (I had him ranked as second best in the league behind Tom Brady going into last season, which was lost due to injuries. Peyton Manning did nothing in my mind to pass him because he still cannot win in the playoffs, going 3-6 all time). He is also the only chance my Eagles have of winning the big game any time soon. If he goes in the tank, they will not win in the next 10 years. Period.

However, Donovan looks like a complete idiot this week. First, he keeps his mouth shut all year while T.O. runs roughshot over him, which makes him look weak. But now he comes out three months later to defend himself? Dude, where were you with some piss and vinegar when this was all going down. You wait until T.O. is on the plane out of town to rip him while his back is turned? Cowardly, ill advised, and ill timed.

More importantly, for his to pull the race car and accuse T.O. of black on black crime is ludicrous. Look, I understand that McNabb is rightfully touchy on the race subject since he was called out by a) Rush Limbaugh, a somehow popular talk show host who said he was considered good only because he was black, and b) the local President of the NAACP chapter, who called McNabb a sell-out to his own race. However, it is ridiculous to say that T.O. was using race here against McNabb. T.O. was not even the one who came up with the name of Favre. He was asked about Favre by a reporter, who was repeating what dopey Michael Irvin (who better not get into the Hall of Fame today or I give up). T.O. probably would have said the Birds would have been undefeated with me at QB. It was not a shows of props to Favre as much as it was to say “Donovan sucks.” Anyway, again, wrong time, wrong place, ill advised comments from #5.

Look, I hope McNabb bounces back and has a great and healthy year next year. He is just not showing a lot of sense of leadership or intelligence in how he continues to butcher this T.O. situation.

Everybody loves to complain that Duke gets every call and that is half the reason they win so many games. The BC players and coaches complained vehemently after the game on Wednesday that the refs stole the game and they should have won but got robbed (Duke shot 37 free throws to BCs 13). Of course, as a Duke guy, I think this is ridiculous. But I asked Stitzer, who is not by any stretch a Duke fan, to give some analysis on this topic. Here it is:

Criticizing Duke for getting all the calls is just sour grapes BS - when you dominate, like Duke has for the last 20 years, people are going to cry that "they get every call." Trust me, as a Yankee fan, I am used to that BS. And when that scumbag Lee MacPhail reversed the proper call on Brett's BS home run, it should have squashed that line of thinking forever.

Has Duke gotten some calls over the years? Absolutely, the ridiculous Technical Foul Call on Billy Singleton that resulted in a 6-point play in a 1990 2nd round game when St. John's had them dead to rights comes to mind. As does the NCAA sticking it to Tark & UNLV in the 1991 Semis as one of the worst officiated games ever - almost every judgment call went to Duke - the Officiating was so bad, that an impartial observer, Gene Keady, stormed out of the arena and later said he had never seen a game officiated in favor of one team. If the NCAA wanted to punish UNLV, they should have told CBS to stick it and upheld the probation on UNLV.

Has Duke been on the short-end of some calls over years? Again, absolutely. 2002 Sweet 16, duke down by 1, J. Williams misses foul shot, Boozer clearly got fouled on put-back - no call. 2004 Semis, Duke down by 2, Redick clearly got hit across the arm and there was no call - a "horrible" non-call as Bill Walton would say.

Instead of dealing with blanket statements, lets analyze last night's game, and see if BC claims have any merit. First off, just because Belichick & Kraft are in the building does not mean that you can automatically expect to get every call - like when your DBs mauled Coles & McCaerins twice over the past 2 seasons without a flag being thrown.

For the record, I watched none of the first half, and all of the second half.

• 37 Foul Shots to 13. On the surface, this would appear that calls were one-sided. First, knock about 6 off that tally and make it 31-13 - BC intentionally fouled 3 times while playing catch-up in the last 30 seconds. From what I saw of the game, Duke was hit a lot more around the rim when they had the ball then BC was when they had the ball. BC took a page from Georgetown's offense and put their center at the high post and tried to take advantage of Duke's tendency to over play the ball; when that happens, you end up with uncontested lay-ups; BC had a bunch of those - there is usually not contact on uncontested lay-ups.
• Craig Smith did not take a foul shot. That is nobody's fault but Coach Al Skinners. He put smith at the high post to draw Shelden Williams out of the middle and to take advantage of Smith's passing skills. What you sacrifice with that strategy is Smith's prescience down low. Smith also settled for jumper 3 or 4 times rather than take the ball to the hoop.
• The 2 Blocking Calls that were 5th fouls on Marshall & Smith. First off, Marshall should have fouled long before - the gutless Zebras swallowed their whistles when Marshall chest-bumped and trash-talked Reddick when BC started to make a run - there is no place for that crap in the game, and it will unfortunately continue to be a part of the game until the NCAA and Refs shows some balls (can you imagine if I ran down the hall getting in people's faces because I successfully posted 3 consecutive Journal Entries? Would Vitale defend me by saying "ohhhhhhhh, Finance has to be played with passion and emotion baby!!!?). The call on Marshall was the proper call - he was not set. The call on Smith was a poor call, he was set. Case closed. It is ironic that BC's best or 2nd best player fouled out while successfully taking a charge, as Duke has been the pioneer program in taking charges all over the court for the past 20 years. The Refs got 1 right and 1 wrong.
• Shelden Williams clearly hammered Hinnant with :07 left and BC down 3. Do not know how a foul was not called there. What was a dumber play: BC not taking a 3 there or Williams not just giving Hinnant an uncontested 2? Even if they call if a foul there, the best BC could hope for is a make and either a) a second make and miracle 3 to either tie win game b) a miss, offensive rebound, and put-back. Proper play is to take 3 with less than :03 left - if you score, you leave Duke no time.
  
  In my opinion, the Refs had little or no impact on the outcome of last night's game. The foul shot discrepancy was a product of the offensive strategies of both teams.
  
  One final note: Vitale and Patrick have officially reached "mute" status - just like the Patrick/Theismann/Maguire crew has. And it is more due to Patrick than Vitale! Patrick yells at you for 2 hours and is the master of making shit up. Case in point. Weird miss off a foul shot, BC guys had committed to the air and ball took a weird bounce and falls right into the hands of McRoberts and Patrick says "great hustle by the freshman." Huh? Not everything has to be a great play. Do not sensationalize everything - you lose credibility for the times when you sensationalizing is warranted.
  
  If other programs want to catch Duke, they better figure out how Coach K gets lottery picks to stay 4 years.
  
  Now onto Super Bowl XL, where the seemed to go so far as name the game after Xtra Large Jerome Bettis. You gotta love the NFL marketing machine.
  
  Seems like the public likes Pittsburgh. They are the ones getting all the attention as you would think Jerome Bettis was Mother Teresa. In the meantime, would anybody be surprised if Joey Porter goes on a mass murder shooting spree in a mall one day. You just cannot be surprised that this guy missed time when he got shot in the rear end a couple years ago.
  
  Seattle offensively has a great line that should help contain Pittsburgh’s blitzing schemes. In addition, the running game with Shaun Alexander and the improved play of Matt Hasselbeck should a) make Pittsburgh hesitate before blitzing like crazy, and b) enable Seattle to hit some big plays when they do.
  
  Pittsburgh on offense should move the ball as well. Roethlisberger has proved to big a very good young quarterback, and Ward, Randel El, Morgan, Parker, and the rookie tight end from Virginia Heath Miller give him enough weapons to use.
  
  I look for Pittsburgh to strike first, as Ken Whisenhunt has designed beautiful opening drives throughout the playoffs. 7-0 Pittsburgh on a Roethlisberger to Hines Ward touchdown pass. Seattle will fight back and take a 14-13 halftime lead. Seattle will have an extended rive with Shaun Alexander taking over in the third quarter, and hang on late to win when Grant Wistrom makes a huge sack on Roethlisberger to preserve the win.
  
  Final Score: Seattle 28, Pittsburgh 23.

Enjoy the game...