University of Michigan president says they shouldn't have hired Rodriguez

Rich Rodriguez is like the head that won't die around the University of Michigan. Somehow, someway his name always comes up in conversation regarding the football program even though he's been gone for almost two years.

While talking to a crowd in Flint, university president Mary Sue Coleman admitted what a lot of Michigan fans already knew. It was a mistake hiring Rodriguez. And she also told the crowd water was wet.



"We though, OK, well let's go hire the guy who invented the spread offense," Coleman said.


And it was the wrong call, she told members of the Rotary Club of Flint following a question on the topic from the crowd.


"He was a hot, young coach with a different approach," Coleman said of the decision to hire Rodriguez.


It could have worked if Rodriguez didn't have to deal with defections and taking knives out of his back. They screwed up the coaching search to begin with that led them to Rodriguez.

I'm not defending the guy but he never had a chance from the start.

Titans rookie Kendall Wright says Baylor had no playbook

Tennessee Titans rookie receiver Kendall Wright will be learning to do something that he never learned in college. Reading a playbook. Not that he has a learning disability or anything like that, it's just that he never had to read on while he was at Baylor.

Wright says Baylor coach Art Briles never used a playbook and they didn't huddle, opting for signals instead.

“At Baylor we didn't huddle. Everything we did was coming off of signals and off the sideline,” Wright said. “We didn't huddle at Baylor and we didn't have a playbook. If we had a new play or something, we'd just draw it and go out there and run it.



“I think I memorized over 300 plays at Baylor. … We had a lot of plays. We just didn't have a playbook. Coach Briles is a very smart man,” Wright said. “It was the same system. We were in that system for four years. It's kind of a different kind of learning deal. We'd see it visually and we'd just go run it. It just sticks with us when we keep running it a lot.


“We'd watch film and go over a lot of it in our meetings that we had. We'd have a lot of plays on the board, and have different signals. Whatever the signal was would tell us the play.”


Wright knows he'll have to adjust to offensive coordinator Chris Palmer's complex playbook but with the memory he has it might not be as bad as the adjustment some rookies have.


“We didn't have paper at Baylor. We have paper now. There's a lot of different wordings that tell you what to do differently for things like that,” Wright said. “I think we're the only team that didn't have a playbook.”

Brother of Vernon and Vontae Davis declared incompetent in murder case

The younger brother of San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis and Miami Dolphins cornerback Vontae Davis has been declared incompetent to stand trial in a murder case. 19 year old Michael Davis is charged with first-degree murder in the April death of 66-year-old Gary Dederichs.


Police say Dederichs was walking alone in a residential neighborhood when he was struck on the head with a hammer or similar weapon.


Davis has also been charged in two nonfatal attacks and is suspected in two additional assaults. All occurred over three days less than a mile from his home.


D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert Morin declared Davis incompetent to stand trial Friday based on a psychiatrist's recommendation. Davis will be treated at a psychiatric hospital in hopes of restoring his competency.

Marlins' Brett Hayes gets a scare

When you're enjoying some time off or running errands having a gunman literally cross your path isn't on the list of things to do.

Miami Marlins catcher Brett Hayes had the scare of a lifetime when a gunman walked by his car while he was stuck in traffic in South Florida. Hayes had no idea that the gunman had shot two police officers and had officers chasing him down.  

"The guy was walking by our car, and I made eye contact with him," Hayes said Friday. "I looked away nonchalantly and told my wife, `Don't look at him,' because it looked like he was obviously up to no good. Later I found out he had already shot two police officers."

"The creepy thing about it was that the guy looked like he was walking down the street to go to the supermarket," Hayes said. "He was very nonchalant.

You look back and you're like, `I can't believe that just happened."'

Hayes did the right thing by ignoring the gunman. Luckily for him he didn't get intertwined with the whole incident.

Pacers say they're not the underdog against the Heat

With a date with the Miami Heat looming in the NBA playoffs, the Indiana Pacers aren't about to bow down to anyone. Coach Frank Vogel and some of the players don't see themselves as the underdog going into the second  round showdown with Miami.  

“I don’t know if it’s about respect,” Pacers forward Danny Granger said. “It’s about basketball. It’s about finding out who’s the better team. We’re a good team. They’re a good team. It’s going to be a battle.”


“I think we’re just embracing the challenge,” Vogel said. “I feel like we are one of the best teams in the league. We are not viewing this in any way, shape or form like a David-vs.-Goliath type of meeting. We are not the underdog here. This is two heavyweights going toe to toe.”


At least we know the Pacers won't be in awe of Miami's big three which is good because everyone expects the Pacers to lose.

The Pacers have a good team and Vogel and Granger know it. The rest of Ameica will find out how good when the second round begins. They won't win the series but they will give the Heat a good fight.

“I don’t think we’re underdogs by any means,” he said. “Miami has more recognition, honestly, with their big three guys, but I think we’re a good team as well.”


“We know it’s a great opportunity,” David West said. “We’re going to try to maximize this opportunity that we have ahead of us. You may not get this opportunity again.”


The Pacers have been under the radar throughout the season and Miami has the stars, but we know this is the playoffs and anything can happen. This could be one of the best series of the second round.

USFL setting up for a comeback

When the USFL went out of business for good in 1987 everyone figured that it was gone forever. The league had a good run and turned out some players that were productive in the NFL. In the end it came down to dollars and sense. Some owners of the USFL didn't have enough sense and financially doomed themselves. The USFL as a whole didn't have enough sense and thought it would be a good idea to go head to head with the NFL.

Fast forward 25 years later and the USFL will be having a rebirth of sorts.


A reincarnation of the league, with an entirely different business model, plans to kick off in March. On Thursday, it included Hall of Fame receiver Fred Biletnikoff among its advisers.


Biletnikoff will consult on football operations for the league, which originally went out of business in 1987 after losing millions of dollars and, despite winning a lawsuit against the NFL, being awarded just $3 in indemnities. That version unwisely chose to challenge the NFL, while this one will be more of a developmental league.


There won't be the outrageous salaries and contracts like the ones Steve Young and Herschel Walker received. There will be no stars like Mike Rozier or Jim Kelly gracing the field. And they won't be trying to go head to head with the NFL.


“We will not try to compete with the NFL at all,” said CEO Jaime Cuadra after adding Biletnikoff and James Bailey, an executive for the Cleveland Browns and then the Baltimore Ravens for 21 years, to the USFL’s board of advisers. The board will be responsible for guiding USFL management on various areas of operations, eventually focusing on a search for the league’s commissioner.


“We will play in markets where there are no NFL teams or major league baseball teams. It’s a league for guys who are on the bubble for making NFL teams, and we will have complete open access for the NFL. We want to build a model that is sustainable.”


The plan is to have eight teams, a 14 game season and three playoff games. The season will run from March to June.

Cities currently being considered are Portland, Ore.; Salt Lake City; San Antonio or Austin, Texas; Columbus or Akron, Ohio; Oklahoma City; Omaha, Neb.; Raleigh/Durham, N.C.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Memphis, Tenn.


“These are cities with underutilized facilities at that time of year,” Cuadra said. 

Some of the same cities had USFL franchises before the league folded. The league is looking for a television partner which will be key for the league's relaunch. I like the idea of using this as a minor league of sorts, but I get the feeling we've seen this before and and already know how it'll play out.

“We have nothing lined up yet, and we are doing our research and investigating the landscape of sports television today, which is ever-changing,” Cuadra said.


On paper it looks like a good idea, but fans are fickle and are generally turned off by any kind of professional football league other than the NFL.


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Robert Griffin III trademarking RGIII

Robert Griffin III is taking care of business off the field even though he hasn't signed a contract or taken a snap in an NFL game yet.

Griffin created Thr3escompany, LLC after he declared for the NFL draft and filed for a trademark for "RGIII".

Following his declaration for the NFL Draft, Griffin hired an attorney. Thereafter, he created his own company, Thr3escompany, LLC and submitted applications to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a total of four trademarks – RGIII, RG3, Robert Griffin III, and Unbelievably Believable. The first three trademark filings were made for “Shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, pants, shorts, footwear, hats, caps, athletic uniforms.”  


That was a smart move considering all the fake RGIII material that will be surfacing around the Washington, D.C. area and other NFL cities. There were fake Andrew Luck jerseys being sold before he was even drafted.