Bowled over
With this being the holiday season, we've decided to raid Santa's stockings a day early with a random collection of stocking stuffers. Hey, I'll do anything to stay out of the mall. First up:
Naval salute
Little Reggie Campbell turned in what will go down as one of the best performances in a bowl game this season, scoring five touchdowns for Navy in their 51-30 victory over Colorado State in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego.
Navy played in its third straight bowl game (for the first time in academy history) and it's about time head coach Paul Johnson got some national recognition. The Midshipmen were 1-20 in the two seasons before Johnson arrived with his double-slot run-and-shoot offense.
It seems like every school in the country has recently installed some form of the spread offense, from Oklahoma to Texas Tech to Purdue to Utah to Florida, etc. The difference is that Johnson has been running his version of the spread for 20 years, going back to his days as offensive coordinator at Georgia Southern.
Navy led the nation in rushing this season (305 yards per game) using the triple option, but torched the Rams on Thursday night with two long touchdown passes. At 5-6, 164 pounds, Campbell is the kind of scatback a lot of programs would consider too small, but he fits in perfectly at Navy.
Any school looking for a creative head coach who can turn a program around would be wise to give Johnson a call.
Bowling for dollars
The bloated bowl schedule features a total of 28 games this season. That's way too many, unless you're really turned on by Southern Miss versus Arkansas State.
The survival of most of these contests depends on sponsors, so some of the names of these games have become ridiculous, as in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. To make sure all the sponsors get their due, it's time to roll them all out together.
Welcome to the GMAC, Pioneer PureVision, San Diego County Credit Union, Sheraton, Champs Sports, Insight, MPC Computers, MasterCard, Emerald, Pacific Life, Gaylord Hotels, Vitalis, Chick-fil-A, Meineke Car Care, AutoZone, EV1.net, AT&T, Outback, Toyota, Capital One, Tostitos, Nokia, FedEx, Presented by Citi bowl season.
And for some great holiday fun while downing spiked eggnog, try matching each company with the bowl game it sponsors. Or maybe not.
Being Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant went off for 62 points Tuesday night against Dallas, the basketball version of shock and awe. What I thought was shocking were the people questioning Bryant for sitting out the 4th quarter instead of gunning for Wilt's 100-point mark or Elgin Baylor's Lakers' record of 71.
Bryant has been criticized in the past for being too much of a ball hog, a superstar who gets his own points, but doesn't make anybody around him better. So when he makes the intelligent decision to sit down with 62, he gets criticized? It makes no sense, but if you're Bryant, the only thing that's true is that you can't win no matter what you do.
The Damon effect
Judging from the media coverage of Johnny Damon's move from Boston to New York, you'd think this will change everything from the earth's rotation to the melting of the polar ice caps.
Yes, Damon is terrific on and off the field. He'll be missed most at the top of the Red Sox lineup and in the interview room because Johnny always makes time for the press and usually has something funny to say.
But hang on a minute – he's not Babe Ruth and as scary as the Yankee lineup looks on paper, there's still that little item known as pitching that needs to be addressed.
Funny how quickly so many have forgotten that the White Sox won the World Series in October without a collection of $10 million a year players.
Along those lines, the MLB Player's Association released salary statistics from the 2005 season. Try to guess the average salary on the Yankees this past year. Would you believe $7.3 million? Yes, average. I know A-Rod's $25 million skews that number a bit, but still, 7.3 is crazy.
The Yankees had the highest payroll in baseball last year, followed by the Red Sox with an average of $4.1 million per player. For the record, the White Sox came in at $2.9 million with the Pirates at the bottom of the list, just under a million a year.
With all that cash floating around, it's a very Merry Christmas, even if you only hit .230.
