Category — Pete Carroll

You wonder why brothers don’t trust the so-called “criminal justice” system? Brian Banks is just 1 example.
Sporting News

Jim Harbaugh relishes his bad guy role. Just ask Pete Carroll. But this doesn’t top going for 2 when you’re up by 30 with less than 2 minutes left in the game.
S.F. Chronicle

According to Forbes, Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez is the NFL’s most overpaid player.
Forbes.com

Granted, Sidney Rice and Tarvaris Jackson will figure prominently in the plan, but Zach Miller will have a huge impact.
Think Pete Carroll’s magic continues to work with the Sea Chickens? Bet on it. Plus, it never hurts to have Miller, particularly if you’re laying your chips on Jackson.
And of course any club can win this division. Even the punk-ass Cubs.
SI.com

The image above is a figment of your imagination. The 1 on the right is imagination at its finest.
It seems ironic that the USC fiasco is put to bed about the time the 1 at Ohio State is shifting into high gear.
Two programs steep in tradition and frequently at the center of the battle for national championships are stripped of their powers at what seems to be the height of such things.
The BCS made it official Monday, yanking the 2004 national crown right off the head of Tommy Trojan.
Gone is the Heisman Trophy won by Reggie Bush. Gone is the national championship of that 1 season, but so too is gone all the major players in the debacle.
Bush has long since made millions in the pros. Pete Carroll, seemingly blinded by the glitz of leading USC back to the top of college football’s mountain, is gone as well.
Even Mike Garrett, the AD who looked the other way, is also gone, though he was shoved out the door while others raced through it.
USC and its players who had nothing to do with the troubles are left to clean up the mess of others.
Same thing at Ohio State. Jim Tressel hit the eject button just as it was about to be pushed by the administration. The star quarterback will likely do the same for his own good.
When all the damage is done, it will be those who remain left to pay the tab.
That is the problem with college sports. Others are forced to take out the garbage the morning after, and many of those weren’t invited to the frat party that turned into a college sports orgy.
And don’t think it is just college football with this egg on its face. Look at problems at Memphis after John Calipari fled to Kentucky.
Or after he left UMass.
This is an old tale but one that keeps getting updated. This is also the real challenge of the NCAA police.
Forget about the BCS, what makes somebody a real student-athlete or even the bigger discussion as to should college players be paid.
The NCAA has to figure out one thing first; how to police itself.
They need to get a handle on the problems that exist before they hit the front page of sports sections. They also need a way to push those who break the rules — that’s the individuals and not just the institutions.
This will not be easy. The NCAA is understaffed when it comes to investigators. It has also trouble getting the help needed from those who are under investigation. Nobody tells the truth the first time the NCAA cops come calling.
And why should they? It might take 6 or 7 years before anything is determined, and by then those folks are off to greener pastures, or bigger paychecks.
Big dilemma. The NCAA has no real teeth except against the schools themselves. That needs to change.
But until it does, there is no hope of keeping everybody in line.
Party on. Somebody will clean up the mess.

Imagine being Marshawn Lynch. From Buffalo to Seattle. Granted, both cities are scenic spots, but please don’t tell us you’re picking Buffalo? It’s a nice place, but it ain’t Seattle.
Lynch had one of the greatest runs of playoff history in a stunner over the Saints.
So what’s he got up for the Bears?
Yahoo Sports

Who dat? Dat be Matt Hasselbeck.
Guess we can’t call them the Sea Chickens today. Not after knocking off the defending champs.
Hasselbeck hadn’t thrown more than 2 TDs in a game all season. Today he throws 4 and tosses a monkey wrench in the Saints’ bid to repeat. Dats dat for the Saints.
Seattle PI
Jets 17, Colts 16: Unlike the Sea Chickens (oops, sorry), the Jets’ victory doesn’t surprise us. Peyton and his boys have been one-dimensional much of the season.
Plus, wouldn’t we all enjoy another round of woofing between the Jets and the Pats?
N.Y. Post

The Lakers think they’ve covered the market, but the 49ers have their corner of it in the Bay Area. I guess when you can’t win the NFC West, you probably deserve your hat and coat, no?
Jim Harbaugh anyone? Him and Pete Carroll again? What’s your deal?
ESPN.com

How great thou are.
Pat Haden, with many in the L.A. media riding shotgun, struts in on a white horse to save USC’s athletic program from itself. As he does, the Trojans proudly proclaim they’re whitewashing the Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo eras as if they never occurred. How’s that for perception and reality?
And the Tim Floyd era? Pete Carroll’s? Oh no, the Trojan brass isn’t touching those episodes. Why would they?
Shamelessly, Carroll hawks his new book and passes blame on anyone but himself while the sins of the Trojans are coming out of every nook and cranny. Theirs aren’t any different from many college football programs. They just finally got caught.
And for Pete’s sake, wasn’t it Carroll steering the ship? Floyd? Wasn’t he the one caught red-handed in the Mayo mess? And how foolish was he, turning down a better job at Arizona only to return to SC and get caught with his pants down a year later?
Seriously, I’ll be the first to say it’s extremely difficult to keep a high-profile program on the straight and narrow. With the large number of sleazy agents and anyone with a pulse looking to make a buck off big-name players, the temptations for the players are great and plentiful and eventually some of them are going to snatch the bait.
But to dump all the blame on the players is extreme. It’s a cop out. Do you really believe Carroll didn’t know? Do you really believe Carroll never noticed all those SUVs in the parking lot at SC?
It’s not rocket science. When Bob Stoops started babbling about how he didn’t know about quarterback Rhett Bomar getting paid for not showing up for work at a Norman car dealer, I found it so ironic. Ironic because more than 30 years ago when I was cruising the OU campus, this was the same car dealer rumored to be supplying a few extra benefits to football players. It wasn’t any secret.
And if you happened to walk through the parking lot outside the football dorm, you might notice 25 or 30 cars parked side by side, all from another popular area dealership. Surely, it was a mere coincidence.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe Carroll is a wonderful person and contributes much to the less fortunate. His charity work and his pleas for peace in the inner city are to be applauded.
Still, despite the wacky world of college football, the politics and the archaic rules that govern it, if you get caught, you pay the penalty. And if you’re going to take Bush and Mayo to task, you smack Carroll and Floyd too.
To use the “I didn’t know” and have it universally accepted is weak. To put all the blame on the players is even worst.
Image courtesy of USC Trojans.com

Former USC safety Taylor Mays was drafted by the 49ers with the 49th selection only hours ago. Most kids would be pleased playing in San Francisco and living in the Bay Area.
Mays? He used his first comments to the media to diss Pete Carroll for not taking him with the 14th pick. Seattle took Earl Thomas of Texas instead.
“I understand it’s a business, but with it being a business, you just need to be honest, and that’s all I was asking for,” Mays said.
He’s got a lot to learn. First, he might digest that a business decision was the reason he was taken 35 picks below Thomas, who was rated a shade below Eric Berry, who went 5th. Two, Carroll made a business decision that Mays isn’t as good as Thomas. You’d think Carroll might know better than anyone, no?
Let the rookie hazing begin. I’m sure Mays’ new teammates will be ecstatic to hear he wanted to play for the SeaChickens instead of the 49ers.
FanHouse.com