Fairfield-Echo.com

Jon Gruden’s Dayton past is joke fodder

By Kyle Nagel | Friday, August 8, 2008, 10:37 AM

Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden held a team practice Thursday night and met with reporters afterward. The university of Dayton came up twice in the conversation, both times for jokes.

Gruden, the former Dayton quarterback while his father was coaching the team, was asked heavily about Brett Favre after the quarterback was traded to the New York Jets. Favre had originally preferred Tampa Bay because of his relationship with Gruden.

Gruden was asked if pursuing Favre could hurt the team’s relationship with incumbent starter, Jeff Garcia. He pointed out that a team couldn’t not pursue Favre:

We’re not talking about Bill Smatz or Jon Gruden from [the University of] Dayton. We’re talking Brett Favre. He’s one of the most tremendous players of all time. It’s a [Catch 22] situation. If you don’t look into it and don’t survey the situation for yourself you really don’t get all of the information.

(Note: I can only imagine what he said instead of Catch 22, but I’m sure it was amusing).

The report ends with this Quote of the Day:

Bucs head coach Jon Gruden on if Tampa Bay will hold off playing rookie QB Josh Johnson vs. Miami on Saturday night and instead play him the following week vs. the New England Patriots.

“Yeah, we feel like we’ll let him go up against the 18-0 Patriots. I give Josh a hard time. My alma mater, the Dayton Flyers, beat Josh Johnson last year, so since Dayton beat him we’re going to give him a shot at the Patriots. That’s a good opening for Josh.”

Good to see Gruden still has his sense of humor about the Flyers.

Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment More: University of Dayton

Atlantic 10 still reeaaallly trying to get respect

By Kyle Nagel | Thursday, August 7, 2008, 01:44 PM

Kyle Whelliston, who knows as much about mid-major basketball as anyone, has put together his Atlantic 10 notebook for ESPN.com. His main point, which is obvious, is that that A-10 came very close to big-time respectability last season before falling apart late.

Brian Gregory’s thoughts:

“There’s a last hurdle we have to jump over to get to the level of prestige I think this league deserves,” said Dayton head coach Brian Gregory, whose injury-riddled team finished 8-8 in the A-10 and was the highest RPI team (32) to miss the NCAAs. “Power leagues have great nonconference records, they have quality teams and quality wins. … The next step is for people to realize that when we get into our league schedule, when you put those quality teams against each other, those aren’t bad losses. Those are good wins for the other teams.”

Plus, some praise for Dayton’s recruiting:

In addition to Xavier and its standout newcomers Frease and Walsh, the Musketeers’ bitter regional rival Dayton also increased its arsenal. Paul Williams, a shooting guard from the Detroit area, chose the Flyers over Cincinnati and Michigan and ranked as the No. 13 prospect at his position. Bruising 6-10 Josh Benson (the No. 30 power forward) attended Dunbar High, just a two-mile drive from UD Arena. Gregory credits Wright for “opening the door” to the city of Dayton after years of seeing its best recruits choose the Big Ten and Big East.

Finally, Andy Katz chimes in with his “If I were commish…” offering:

The television contract is not good. The A-10 has no regular home on television where you know you’ll find a game. The conference has to do a much better job of promoting the elite teams in this conference, especially Xavier, Saint Joseph’s, Temple and UMass in the near future.

Also, the A-10 also moved its tournament to Atlantic City. It should stay there. The conference needs to find a permanent home to start building a tradition in its event.

Scheduling teams’ three repeat opponents should be done without any subjectivity. It should be done by a computer so there is no bias.

And don’t get me going on whether St. Bonaventure should be in the league.

Television contract no good: True

Tournament should stay in Atlantic City: False

Three repeat opponents should be random: False

St. Bonaventure? Really?: True

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment More: University of Dayton

Dunbar product could save a wretched rushing offense

By Kyle Nagel | Tuesday, August 5, 2008, 05:11 PM

Texas Southern has some running game issues. Last season, while compiling an 0-11 record, the team averaged just 53.7 rushing yards per game.

Out of 116 teams in Division I-AA, that ranked Texas Southern 116th. Dead last.

As you might imagine, the coach was fired and a new coach was told to pay special attention to that rushing attack. One of his weapons could be former Dunbar stud Marcus Wright:

Two of the 65 new players Cole brought to TSU will have the first opportunity to help rejuvenate a ground game that averaged 1.9 yards per carry last season. Freshman Marcus Wright (5-11, 215) will compete with Lucas Caparerlli (5-11, 180), a transfer from Wake Forest who will give the Tigers something they sorely lacked last fall — speed.

Wright, who played mostly linebacker in high school last season in Dayton, Ohio, is a raw athlete who showed the potential to be a featured back, averaging 6 yards per carry in limited duty.

Wright was a first-team Division II All-Ohio player at Dunbar. In the Wolverines’ final regular-season game, even though they were 4-5, Wright piled up 277 yards on 26 attempts and four touchdowns.

But that was just the icing on the cake. Earlier in the season, he ran 42 times for 415 yards and seven touchdowns in Dunbar’s overtime win at Columbus Hartley. The total, amazingly, was only the 17th-best in state history.

Now Texas Southern needs some of that excitement. Bad.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment More: High Schools

David Price is black … and that’s a big deal

By Kyle Nagel | Monday, August 4, 2008, 03:13 PM

Interesting read this week in Sports Illustrated about David Price, the Tampa Bay Rays pitching prospect who, get this, is black.

This point is driven home in the headline, which reads, “Young, Gifted And Black,” with the subhead, “The Best Story in Baseball gets better: Phenom David Price is closing in on the majors, which will not only give the remarkable Rays a stretch-drive lift but also help a city—and a sport—reconnect with its African-American heritage.”

Is Tampa Bay leading the movement for more black major-league players? A paragraph from reporter Lee Jenkins:

Last season 8.2% of major league baseball players were black, the lowest figure in more than two decades. If there is hope for a renaissance anywhere, it is in Tampa Bay, an area steeped in African-American baseball history, with a big league team that is adding to the tradition. When the Rays summon Price from the minors, which is a virtual inevitability, they will be gearing up for the franchise’s first meaningful stretch drive. As an ancillary benefit they will also be reminding inner-city Tampa that there is still at least one place for African-American ballplayers of any position.

Even though baseball now trails other sports in black athletes, it was the sport with the most significant racial barrier until Jackie Robinson came along. But could it have been an incident with a racist baseball player making his home in Dayton who invoked an imagined story from Dayton that helped move the process along?

Here’s a story that makes the point. It revolves around Jake Powell, a former New York Yankee:

During a pregame interview at Comiskey Park in Chicago on July 29, 1938, the WGN Radio announcer Bob Elson asked Powell, a Yankees outfielder, what he did during the off-season. Powell replied that he was a policeman in Dayton, Ohio. When Elson asked him how he stayed in shape, Powell, using a common racial slur, replied that he cracked blacks over the head with his nightstick.

And then …

Powell never worked as a police officer in Dayton or anywhere else, as he had contended, though, as it turned out, he died in a police station a decade later.

The Powell incident unified those who had begun calling for the end of segregated baseball, and it put the game’s establishment on the defensive. It is doubtful whether Landis, known derisively in the black press as the Great White Father because he blocked attempts to integrate baseball, would have suspended Powell without outside pressure.

Even though Powell told his racist fairy tale years before Robinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, some historians think it so infuriated those who supported integration that it caused more action than had previously been known.

Mark it down in Dayton history.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment More: Issue Discussion

Federer-Nadal, the one and only topic

By Kyle Nagel | Wednesday, July 30, 2008, 05:32 PM

MASON — Novak Djokovic is the world’s No. 3-ranked tennis player, and he waited in the interview room for questions after he won his match against Simone Bolelli in the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters.

Question No. 1: There’s a lot of talk about the No. 1 position between Federer and Nadal …

Question No. 2: What do you think of your place in the situation?

Question No. 4: Can you use the talk about Federer and Nadal to your advantage?

Question No. 5: Given Nadal’s success, do you view them as co-No. 1s right now?

That’s four of the first five questions about a match that he won 7-6, 7-6 on his favorite surface about the two players ahead of him in the rankings. It’s been like that all week, as this tournament has become a possible launching pad for Rafael Nadal to finally overtake Roger Federer for the world’s No. 1 ranking.

The talk is everywhere. Somehow, it only took reporters until question 3 with James Blake to get to the Federer-Nadal situation, and luckily for him the question focused on how he felt about his place in the Top 10.

And, of course, Federer and Nadal have faced the questions themselves. Nadal met with reporters on Tuesday and was asked about the difference between No. 1 and No. 2.

“I don’t know, no?” Nadal said. “I really don’t know, no? For sure to be No. 1 for your career is important goal, no, especially when I have five Grand Slams already and I have 12 Masters Series (wins), 30 tournaments. So a lot of good results in all the tournaments and I didn’t have the No. 1, not yet, no?”

That’s what makes this week so fascinating to tennis fans. Nadal has weebled and wobbled Federer at the top for years, and he might finally make the current tennis giant fall down.

Federer seems to yawn at the whole situation, at least in public. His stoicism, though, is seen as one of his big strengths. He, of course, was asked about being No. 1.

“Well, it is important. But if Rafa were to get it, look what he had to achieve to get it, you know. That’s what I like to see. I would have been disappointed if I would have lost first round in Paris and Wimbledon. Then I wouldn’t be sitting here being so nonchalant about it.

“If he gets it he deserves it. He’s been No. 2 for a long, long time. Let’s not forget about that. He had his chances in the past and now he’s closer then ever just because he could really get Wimbledon. I think that was a big one for him, you know, and he’s been on an incredible roll.

“He hasn’t made it yet, you know. I’m still hanging in there, and I hope I can now get on a roll after this match (Tuesday).”

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment More: Professional Sports (Other)

Domonick Britt is big stuff at Jackson State

By Kyle Nagel | Tuesday, July 29, 2008, 08:00 AM

Some were upset when, on signing day last February, Domonick Britt penned his national letter of intent to Jackson State. The Trotwood-Madison quarterback, who had originally committed to Cincinnati, was one of three four Rams players to switch verbals on the last day possible, although that group was headlined by Michael Shaw (Michigan instead of Penn State) and Roy Roundtree (Michigan instead of Purdue).

Now settling at Jackson State, though, Britt is inspiring some excitement around the program:

Junior Tray Rutland, coming off shoulder surgery, is considered the leader to replace departed Jimmy Oliver as the starting QB. But senior Joe Hawkins, transfer A.J. McKenna and freshman Dedric McDonald are all in the mix - along with Britt.

To many, Britt is the most intriguing candidate.

When Britt emerged as a tall, strong-armed and quick quarterback as a junior, there were plenty of us who thought that, even though he had committed to Cincinnati, he might even go bigger than that. Oregon was said to be pushing hard as signing day neared, and it was rumored Michigan and Ohio State were also interested.

Not just for his quarterbacking skills, though. Britt was known as one of Trotwood’s biggest hitters and has the athleticism to play several positions.

Because he’s the quarterback, he draws a bit more interest. Centerville’s David Fleming signed with Youngstown State, but the YSU roster lists him as a safety. That leaves Britt as the Miami Valley’s single Division I QB recruit in last year’s class.

Not just that, but he has the opportunity to play right away, or so says Jackson State coach Rick Comegy (who once coaching Central State):

“If (Domonick) separated himself and showed he can lead that football team and gain the confidence in that huddle, I would have no question whatsoever (about starting him). That confidence and leadership role is going to play a major factor. You can’t have somebody out there that the kids have no confidence in.”

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment More: High Schools

Flyin’ to the Hoop update

By Kyle Nagel | Monday, July 28, 2008, 10:47 AM

Eric Horstman is famous for saying that he is “a baseball guy running a basketball tournament.” But, on paper, his tournament is definitely getting stronger and stronger.

Horstman sent out a note last week updating folks on his progress for the 2009 field, which will play at Trent Arena over Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend:

I know I say it every year, but THIS year is by far the best talent and teams (and the most teams - 23) that we have ever had. I really can’t explain how or why we are getting all of these calls from top-notch teams that want to attend (except to say that it is due to all of you in helping to coordinate and sponsor a first class event). The common theme I hear from the college coaches and media is that this event is one of the best run, most organized ones out there.

Here are some of the highlights, noted by Horstman. The event will feature:

— The presumed No. 1-ranked team nationally, Montrose Christian from Maryland

— The presumed No. 1-ranked team in Ohio, Columbus Northland

— The No. 1-ranked junior in the country, Jeremy Tyler of San Diego High School.

— A matchup between Tyler and highly ranked Jared Sullinger of Columbus Northland, an Ohio State commitment who plays on the same AAU team, All-Ohio Reds, with locals Adreian Payne of Jefferson High School and Juwan Staten of Marshall High School.

If things shape up as Horstman expects, it should be another year of his tournament moving forward in national respect.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment More: High Schools