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Behind The Scoreboard
By Claude Vinson T.O. and more Greetings,
all of you football fans from East to West. Here’s hoping that you had
a safe and enjoyable Labor Day weekend and spent a little time in
viewing the first games of the new season. First
a big thank you to Danny Duke for his more than kind words about this
column. We here at The South Reporter remain committed and excited
about the kind of news we strive to bring to you each week. Danny is
the brother of Linda Jones (affectionately called Mrs. “J” by me and
she pens the “Close to Nowhere” column each week). Danny, do you have
any tips on selecting a viable NFL team? This
last week I decided that I was going to pick a favorite before the
season started. I looked at the records from 2009 and 2010 and narrowed
my choices to the Detroit Lions and the St. Louis Rams. These two had
two of the worst records in 2009. Since I couldn’t have two (well, I
could but that could prove to be a bit awkward, right?), how to
separate one from the other? So, I decided to do it as they do at
midfield – the old coin toss. Detroit, congrats, you won! However, I am
not going to extend to you as much patience as I have in the past. I
have a team, but again T.O. (Terrell Owens) does not. T.O.’s comeback
try was snatched away before his rocket actually got off the launching
pad. Owens had been footloose and fancy-free since the 2010 season. He
was supposedly nursing a knee injury for 2011. He had earned a one-year
contract with the Seattle SeaHawks after impressing the team’s
hierarchy in workouts in early August. T.O., who
has turned 38, was at one time a valuable commodity in the pro ranks.
He caught for five teams in a 10-year career. At the time he went
inactive, he was number two in total receiving yards with 15,934; he
also ranks at the same position in touchdown catches with a 153 tally.
The controversial player has always maintained that some pro team would
find him a slot. T.O.’s problems and mine won’t
even add up to a small ant hill when they are compared to the ones
surrounding Penn State’s return to the gridiron wars aftermath to the
scandal which rocked the university and the entire college town. And it
has not subsided. There has been so much written,
said and reported about the incident that now anything seems a bit
redundant. But the weighty sanctions meted out by the NCAA (and
university), are enough to shake the most astute. When a program, with
the highest of profiles such as Penn State has enjoyed, has to forfeit
over a dozen and a half championships, that has to leave a gaping hole
in the old trophy case. Yours truly has not
completely digested this entire punishment phase, so there won’t be any
pros or cons for the type of justice. The new
head coach (Bill O’Brien) for the Nittany Lions (the first in almost
five decades) and a different cadre of student-athletes seem dedicated
to rejuvenating the program. They have a mountainous task before them.
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