A 'real' coach can win at Grambling

Grambling just fired Doug Williams as head coach two games into the 2013 season. I find it outrageous that it took two games for the school to see what was fairly clear to most. Williams, a Grambling legend and NFL trailblazer, wasn't getting the job done. Grambling sits right in the middle of a hotbed of football talent. Surrounded by South Arkansas, East Texas and North Louisiana, you can't tell me a coach that's serious about his job can't find players in Shreveport, Monroe, Haynesville, Junction City, El Dorado, Strong, Camden, Texarkana, etc. Coach Williams let that program drop to never-seen-before depths and that's a shame. But, Grambling is still Grambling. Any coach who is serious about being a football coach can win there. It will take some work but it won't take a whole lot of gas money. The talent is sitting all around the campus.

It's Gut Check time

It seems every sports writer is an expert on football these days. Every time I turn on the TV, some dude or dudette is telling me who is going to win a particular game or explaining why a team lost. Explaining why a team lost is easy. It's called hindsight and even Stevie Wonder is blessed with it. El Dorado lost at Camden Fairview last week because of, first, the Cardinals' speed and skill, second, the Wildcats' own miscues. El Dorado came out jittery, which is understandable with so many new faces. A mistake here, a bobble there and it's 14-0. The Wildcats never recovered because Fairview never let up. How's that for hindsight? Well, here's a little foresight. This week, I'm going to start predicting the winners of games at the high school, college and NFL level. I'm calling it Gut Check because I'm not doing any research. I'm just looking at the teams and going with my gut. Here are my predictions for the Camden News Pigskin Picks, in which I participate each week: Fairview over Hamburg; El Dorado over Southside; Monticello over Magnolia; Star City over Harmony Grove; Bearden over Hampton; Junction City over Rison; Strong over Smackover in an upset; Alabama over Texas A&M; Ole Miss over Texas and Dallas over Kansas City. My other college picks are: LA Tech over Tulane on Thursday; ASU over Troy; Arkansas over Southern Miss; Oregon over Tennessee; South Carolina over Vandy; Auburn over Mississippi State and Wake Forest over Louisiana-Monroe. My NFL picks are: Patriots over Jets; Raiders over Jaguars; Falcons over Rams, Panthers over Bills; Bears over Vikings; Packers over Redskins; Dolphins over Colts; Eagles over Chargers; Ravens over Browns; Texans over Titans; Saints over Bucs; Lions over Cardinals; Broncos over Giants; 49ers over Seahawks and Bengals over Steelers.

Random ramblings

I've been busy putting the El Dorado section of our football tab together. Ever try to fill 15 newspaper-sized pages on one high school team? It's not easy but, thankfully, it is finished. Perhaps I won't be leaving the office at three in the morning again for a few weeks. Since I've been focused on football, I've sort of skimmed the sports world recently. There were a few things that caught my attention ... briefly. 1. Okay, Johnny Manziel gets off with a 30-minute suspension (imposed by Texas A&M and not the NCAA) for selling his autograph? When it first happened, several media members expressed their outrage that the rule even existed. I found this odd. Low-income student athletes lose their eligibility when they exchange complimentary tickets for pizza money but a rich kid sells his autograph so he can buy rims for his Mercedes Benz and that's when the media says the rule stinks? 2. Whoever designed Victoria Azarenka's tennis dress for the U.S. Open should be whipped on the legs and buttocks with thorny branches. 3. Bret Bielema brought the Razorbacks' football program back to SEC-caliber. No, I know they're not a championship contender. But, the style is what I'm talking about. It's a lot more smash-mouthed than Bobby Petrino and a lot more high-flying than Houston Nutt. It's football and I don't care what the record ends up being, if the Hogs keep trying to run the ball and throw it smartly, I'll be happy. 4. WWE superstar Darren Young recently announced to the world that he was gay. I don't know if this is real or a wrestling stunt but Young, who lost nearly every match before his announcement, has won nearly every match since he said he was gay. I guess times have changed. The last time Vince McMahon had a gay wrestler, they made him wear pink trunks and a feather boa. 5. Speaking of ... San Antonio Silver Star (that's a WNBA team) Sophia Young recently announced she was for some sort of local legislation that was anti-gay. I don't know the details but the team's website, which I am a member, sent me an email saying they were changing the name of the site from Silver Star Nation as long as Miss Young was a member of the team. I don't know if she deserves credit or ridicule for taking such a public stance. Being anti-gay in the WNBA is like being a vegetarian in a butcher shop. Okay, that analogy was terrible. I'm sorry. I'm not at my best.

Women's sports, here we go again

As a champion for girls and women in sports for more than twenty years, I watched with much interest ESPN's documentary, Branded, Tuesday night. Every ten years or so, ESPN will do a piece on women's sports and why they're not as popular as men's sports. This was just the network's latest offering. I find it amusing that ESPN would rather use its considerable resources to tell us why we don't like female athletes instead of introducing us to female athletes we might like. Just yesterday I saw a delightful 17-year-old named Victoria Duval at the U.S. Open. There's a woman named Alysa Kleybanova who is returning to the court after undergoing cancer treatment. A young woman named Elena Delle Donne is totally renovating the WNBA and soccer player Alex Morgan has everything it takes to be a bonafide super star. If ESPN truly cared about the popularity of women's sports, it would show us features on these women, tell their stories and the stories of so many other outstanding female athletes. But, I digress. Branded came to the same conclusion every other ESPN-produced show has discovered - men don't enjoy watching women play sports. That's true, to an extent, but the real problem from what I've seen in my two decades of covering female athletes is, women don't support female athletes. I can't tell you how often I've heard girls and women say, "I like to watch the guys. I can't stand watching the girls play." I've talked to college-caliber female basketball players who admit they've never watched a WNBA game. They watch the NBA but have no interest in the WNBA, can't name one WNBA player. San Antonio Silver Star Shameka Christon gave a free clinic to girls at El Dorado a few years back. She gave them an opportunity to ask any question they desired. The questions were, "Have you met Tracy McGrady? Have you talked to LeBron? What's Kobe Bryant like?" Not one question about the WNBA. Not one question about her career or what she had to do to get to where she was. I've heard people on TV ask up-and-coming female tennis players who they idolize and, more often than not, the answers are Federer, Nadal or Djokovic. Here's the question ESPN should send to its female audience - if women won't support women's sports, why would you expect the men to support women's sports? Yeah, there's a large segment of the male population who like sex appeal. Hell, I'm a member of that group. I like pretty, athletic females. I liked the Lingerie Football League. Sue me. But, I liked that league in part because of the intensity of the competition. I liked the Lingerie Football League because they were playing football - hard-nosed football. I ain't watching no Lingerie Pillowfight League. But, yeah, sex sells in sports and, fortunately or unfortunately, women are judged as much on their appearance as their athletic skill. That explains some of the lack of male viewership. It doesn't explain why the women aren't watching and that is the question that needs to be answered. If women supported the WNBA the same way they support the NBA and NFL, we'd have a whole different story. But, they don't so we won't and I'm pretty sure that's just the way ESPN likes it.

FoxSports One, a distant number two

I had high hopes for a new sports show called FoxSports One mainly due to my increasing annoyance with ESPN's Sportscenter. My problems with Sportscenter are vast. A big one is its insistence on focusing only on the big three sports - NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball. I guess you could say big four sports if you include Tiger Woods. Notice, I said Tiger Woods and not the PGA. Anyway, rather than see a one-hour Sportscenter that includes forty minutes on Tom Brady or LeBron James or Kobe Bryant or Johnny Manziel, I was hoping to see an alternative that covered more sports. Sadly, I'm afraid FoxSports One is going to try to out-Sportscenter, Sportscenter. It's a similar format except for couch breaks for very short discussions between host Charissa Thompson (formerly of Sports Nation) and former athletes, including Gary Payton, Donovan McNabb, some other random retired NFL dude and Andy Roddick, who looks and acts as out of place as Riley Cooper at a Soul Train Reunion Special. I actually like Charissa Thompson. Nevermind her obvious attractiveness, she has wit and personality. You could pair her with a mime and she'd still be entertaining. I hope they find a mime, soon. I was disappointed. I liked the original Sportscenter thirty years ago and the way they finished off one sport's highlights before moving to the next. They did American League, then National League, then NFL, etc. If I wanted to see how the Orioles did, I had an idea when that information was coming instead of their random all-over-the-place crap they do now. FoxSports One does the same mess. I understand they don't want viewers to tune out after they get the highlight they're seeking but, for once, why not make it viewer friendly. And, the show focuses on the same things Sportscenter does with the exception of more MMA and soccer ... so far. I've only seen one show so I'm sure they'll evolve into something better. But, it's not off to a great beginning.

Cancel the season, Brady's hurt

Did you hear the shocking news? New England quarterback Tom Brady got a boo boo in practice the other day. He didn't get hit but two other guys were engaged and fell into the Golden Boy's knee. Oh the horror! Did you hear about it? If you have ESPN, of course you did. Over and over and over. Brady getting hurt in practice was the lead story on every ESPN show. I think they mentioned it during the Little League softball broadcast, too. The thing is, he walked off the field under his own power and will be at the next practice. How is this a major story? On Twitter, I saw tennis players talking about Marion Bartoli. The reigning Wimbledon champion announced her retirement. In the history of the world, how often has the current Wimbledon champion called it quits? I honestly thought someone at ESPN Sportscenter would throw up a quick graphic to tell me that it's never happened before or perhaps once back during World War II or something. Nothing. Not a peep. Not a word. Not a sniff. Not a clue. All because Tom Brady got a scratch on his leg. Before you claim, 'Tony Burns talking about women's sports again when no one else cares.' It's not about that at all. Not this time. I'm not even a Marion Bartoli fan. I'm glad she's retired. She got on my nerves. My problem is this new "Star super syndrome" that ESPN is tripping on. Players get injured every day in practice. Check the NFL Network and you'll hear about a whole bunch who have already been listed as out for the entire season. You didn't hear about them on ESPN because they're not "stars." Only the "stars" matter. When I was a kid, I gravitated toward the other players. I liked Fred Biletnikoff, not because he was a star. I liked his game. I liked Greg Pruitt and Chuck Muncie and, believe it or not, Jim (Freaking) Hart. My favorite baseball guys were Amos Otis and Ken Singleton and Sixto Lezcano. I loved Charles Barkley until he became a "star." Then, I no longer liked his attitude. The great thing about sports is it teaches teamwork. Not everyone can be the "star." Someone has to do the dirty work. I fear that ESPN with its "star" obsession, is giving young athletes the wrong ideas about sports. Pretty soon, kids will be telling their pee wee coaches, "If I can't play quarterback, then I'm not playing." And, who could blame them? In the ESPN world of sports, if you ain't what they call a "star" you ain't nothing. The only thing lower than nothing is the poor sap who missed the block and got pushed into Tom Brady's leg during practice. Congratulations Nate Soldier. You finally made Sportscenter.

Griner's gay? No way

I'm trying to be patient but it's difficult. Brittney Griner came out of the closet. Actually, she did it in such a cool, nonchalant manner, "coming out of the closet" isn't the best way to put it. She was never hiding in a closet. She was out in the open, dressing the way she wanted to dress, acting the way she wanted to act, being the person she wanted to be. Griner acknowledging she was gay was about as newsworthy as revealing that she can dunk. Griner? A lesbian? No way. Gee, never saw that coming. Obviously, I don't have an issue with her speaking honestly and openly about her sexuality. I mean, the media is asking her these questions. The fact that she is an openly gay athlete is fine. The problem is, now, the media insists on making it into a bigger deal than it should be. If I read another sports columnist write about, "she's so brave" or "what an impact this is going to have" or "she's paving the way for others like her." You know what would be really cool? It would be nice if the media and everyone else would treat Griner being gay the same way she did. It is no big deal. You asked the question. She answered the question. Next question. I'm going to assume gay athletes want to be treated like any other athlete. Seeing Griner's face on every sports website and reading columns talking about her "gayness" probably does very little to convince others like her to follow her path. Griner has said her parents know and support her lifestyle. Others aren't so lucky. We have to get to a point where it's not front page news for an athlete to speak up. Griner is gay? Really? Do you think any other WNBA players are lesbians, too? That's sarcasm, folks. Let's move on from this. Did you hear, Griner came out of the closet? No, she was never in a closet. But, a lot of us still have our heads in the sand.