Has it been that long?

Wow. I can't believe I haven't been on here since the first of May. I guess it has been busy around here. We have wrapped up a pro baseball season and are damn near through with college football, at least for the Bearkats.

I am going to have to get on here more, because there is so much that has been going on. The Braves made a run this year and then just ran out of gas at the end. But I do like the direction they are going and think next season they have a good chance to contend for another division title.

The Cowboys are always going to be a rollercoaster ride, and frankly, it is the only rollercoaster you will ever see me on. A month ago, Romo was crap and on his way out the door and Wade wasn't going to finish the year. Now after four staright wins, people are talking a playoff run and I have even heard "Super Bowl contender" from someone in the national media.

I don't know what to think about the Cowboys. They still scare me to death. My heart was racing a mile a minute for fear they were going to get destroyed last week at Philly, and why not? What have they ever done in recent memory to make me think otherwise. After beating the Eagles I jumped up, gave a fist pump, and nearly dislocted my elbow in the process.

Penn State is playing some good ball and is in position for a New Year's Day Bowl game again. I had hopes of a BCS Bowl early in the year, but knew they my fall short on the offensive end. Don't get me wrong, Daryl Clark is a great quarterback, but it is tough to replace three senior receivers and win the Big 10.

My Bearkats have been, well, we will leave that one alone. But basketball looks to be in position for a great season, and this may be Bob Marlin's best team top-to-bottom yet. I watched practice the other day and they looked good. Can't wait to see them Saturday night. Also can't wait to get back on the air. I haven't call a game since June when baseball was in the NCAA Regional in Rice.

Looking forward to a great finish in 2009 for the Cowboys and Nittany Lions and hopefully Marlin and the Bearkats will make the first few months of 2010 one to remember as well.

And with the 151st pick of the NFL Draft …

The New York Giants select – a story line.

So Rhett Bomar is going to be in New York. For most athletes making the move from Sam Houston State to the Big Apple would be a huge shock to the system. I am sure Rhett will experience some of that.

One of the aspects of playing in New York that a lot of people seem to have problems with is dealing with the New York media. That is an area I don’t think Rhett will have any trouble with. He is certainly better equipped to handle the throng of reporters in New York than any other athlete coming out of Sam Houston State.

First off he was the starting quarterback at Oklahoma as a freshman. Since the Sooners are about as close to a professional team as you get in Oklahoma he has had a taste of what it is like being in the spotlight.

Since coming to Huntsville he faced no shortage of interview requests and the questions were all the same. I didn’t matter how good of a game Rhett had played for the Bearkats, the national media only wanted to talk about Oklahoma. ESPN’s Outside the Lines was on campus to do a feature on Rhett before he ever played a down for the Kats.

In addition, Rhett has done interviews with Sports Illustrated, LA Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Houston Chronicle just to name a few. I can’t tell you have many interviews he did over the last three years or how many we turned down because we just had a bad feeling about it.

All the interviews were the same. The guys would start off asking about life in Division II football and Rhett would have to correct them and tell them this is Division I. Then they would lob a few softball questions about how the season is going before working their way to Oklahoma. Rhett always answered the questions the same way, but each reporter had is set in their head they were going to be the one to uncover “the real story” at Oklahoma.

Three quarterbacks were selected in the first round this past weekend and they will all get the scrutiny that comes with being a first-round QB. There will be a host of other rookie quarterbacks heading to camp this weekend and they will be just like any other player new to the team. When they do talk to the media it will mostly be about what happened on the field that day.

Rhett will face the media this weekend as well. Someone will toss him an easy question about how his first day went and he will handle it like any other rookie. But unlike the other rookies, Rhett will then have to respond to questions about something that happened more than four years ago. It won’t matter how seasoned the reporter, no one will ask Rhett a question he hasn’t already heard. He also won't give an answer they haven't heard.

A few college basketball items

I posted this on the 12th Street blog as well, but I wanted to get it up here as well.

One story that has not gotten much coverage is a situation that happened this week in the America East Conference.

Voting for all-conference can be tough. I have done it for seven years and there are always varying opinions on who should make first team and who is the player of the year. Most of the voters only see a player in action once or twice in a season and have to make a determination at the end of the year of who are the most deserving 15 players.

It can be a difficult process and there is always going to be someone left out. It is the nature of the beast. But what happened in the America East Conference this week is inexcusable. Binghamton won the regular season and guard D.J. Rivera led the league in scoring. He was also top 10 in rebounding, but when the all-conference list was announced, he was not player of the year.

The problem with this story is that he also was not named to the first team. Rivera, along with a teammate were both second team selections. Apparently, Rivera was denied the honor by a group of coaches in the league as a protest to an NCAA decision to allow Rivera to play after transferring from St. Joseph's without sitting the required season for moving from one Division I university to another. Rivera was granted a hardship waiver from the NCAA and was allowed to play this season.

The most unbelievable part of this story is the conference office is not only confirming the coaches voted with an agenda, but is also condoning it. Conference commissioner Patrick Nero said "It wasn’t a protest toward the kid at all. It was a protest toward the NCAA in allowing him to be eligible. It’s unfortunate, I don’t think it’s right. It’s unfair to the young man. He didn’t do anything wrong."

Nero should be ashamed of his comments. This should have never been made public. If Nero had any sense what-so-ever, he would have taken care of this internally. The coaches who left Rivera off should have had their ballots thrown out and never counted toward the final vote total. Rivera may still have not been the player of the year, but my guess is he would have been a first team selection where he belonged.

Binghamton and Rivera got their revenge, winning the America East Conference Tournament to grab a spot in next week's dance. Rivera fittingly was named tournament MVP.

I stayed up for all 6 OT's

When I got home from Katy on Thursday, I wasn't planning on watching much basketball. After seeing the Kats knocked out in the first round, I just wasn't up to it. But the Big East tournament game between Syracuse and UConn was on and I have always been a Husky fan so I turned the game on to watch the second half. Little did I know that would turn out to be a three hour commitment.

I was texting a few people at the end of regulation after they declared Eric Devendorf's 3 to win the game had come as the final horn was sounding. Syracuse seemingly had a victory and it was taken from them. A few people wanted to see the game end that way, but I was glad it was going to OT. I am a sucker for drama and overtime always brings drama.

Midway through the second overtime I sent out a text saying they might as well play 5 OTs. And then the fourth OT came and went and I really couldn't believe I was watching a game go to the fifth. In the fifth OT I didn't think either team was going to score. Both teams were gassed. Syracuse resorted to playing a walk-on who had a total of 60 minutes all season.

After the fifth overtime ended, I didn't see any foreseeable way either teams was going to win. It was a tournament, so someone was going to have to move one. Even though I was rooting for UConn to win, I wasn't upset when Syracuse sealed the deal in the sixth and final OT.

It was fun to watch those guys lay it on the line for 70 minutes of basketball. They were still diving on the floor and running and gunning even though you could see the guys who had been out there the whole time had nothing left.

I still think UConn is a No. 1 seed. Despite the loss in the first round, I think they showed enough in that game they deserve a spot on the top line of the bracket. Amazingly Syracuse knocked off West Virginia the next night in overtime once again, and then pushed Louisville to the brink. I always like Syracuse in the NCAA tournament. Jim Boeheim is one of the best coaches in college basketball and he always finds a way to win. I just have to wonder how much this run in the Big East Tournament will affect them in nest week's Big Dance.

The search of the "noise"

I am reading a book right now called "Bloody Confused" by Chuck Culpepper that I am really enjoying. He is a sportswriter who has become disenchanted by American sports so he spent a spring in England watching the English Premier League.

During the early part of the book he talks about the reason people love sports is for a particular moment. What he calls that noise. An moment in a game that gets the crowd and atmosphere in general to create a noise that "might swim in your ear canals and rustle your soul and electrify your skin and maybe even prolong your life."

He writes about a goal between Portsmouth and Manchester City as being that it moment for him that truly hooked him into the EPL. He was not even at the game, but watching on TV, but he could just feel the noise through the television.

As a sportswriter Culpepper has covered 11 Super Bowls, seven World Series, five Olympics, 25 major golf tournaments and countless bowl games among other events. But one he remembers most is a moment he missed. When Kirk Gibson hit his famous home run off Eck in the '88 Series, Culpepper was in the hallway outside the Oakland locker room waiting to interview the supposed winning pitcher Dave Stewart.

He witnessed one of the biggest home runs in baseball history on a monitor in the hallway at Chavez Ravine and said he only wishes he knew what the noise in the stadium sounded like.

That got me thinking about whether I have ever experienced that noise. That moment in sports that "rustled my soul or electrified my skin." Have I ever experienced a moment that some people search their entire sporting lives for? Some never find it.

I guess I have been lucky. In my 31 years of the pursuit of the "noise" I can pinpoint four times I experienced it. That moment that not only qualifies as a fantastic moment in a game, but changes the environment around you. For that reason, the finish to the Sam Houston State/Eastern Washington playoff game in 2004 doesn't qualify because the game was in Cheney, Washington. Although the silence in that stadium was awesome.

The first was in 1997 at the Alamodome at the NCAA Basketball Midwest Regional. With the UCLA Bruins trailing 73-72 to Iowa State Cameron Dollar sprinted the length of the floor after a shot by Iowa State's Shawn Bankhead scored to put the Cyclones up with 10 seconds left in overtime. Dollar floated a 3-footer over the outstretched arm of Kelvin Cato to give the Bruins a thrilling victory.

To top it off, it was the second game of what had to have been one of the most exciting nights in NCAA regional history as Minnesota had beat Clemson in double overtime the first game of the night. When Dollar hit the shot, the place erupted. I have never experienced anything like. It was my first NCAA Tournament and I loved every second of it. Probably because of that night, I have been to the Big Dance four more times.

My second it moment was another college basketball game (this is going to be a theme here.) This is my only Sam Houston game on the list. It was the 2003 Southland Conference Championship game. In overtime, Donald Cole hit a 3-pointer with 18-seconds left to beat Stephen F. Austin.

I was sitting on press row right next to the Bearkat bench. The final moments of that game are a blur. To noise in Johnson Coliseum was indescribable. I have since watched the shot again and it looks nothing like I remember it in person. I had been to the NCAA Tournament two times before, but that shot meant I was going to see my Bearkats in the Big Dance. That was one of those moments.

The next one stings. Simply known as the 18-inning game. The 2005 playoff between the Astros and the Braves. As a Braves fan the game was absolutely gut-wrenching to watch. I don't remember what inning it was in, maybe the 15th or 16th, but the Astros hit a ball that looked like it was in the Crawford Box, that just drifted foul. For a moment I thought I was going to puke.

After getting stop after stop and forcing yet another inning, I just kept feeling like the Braves were finally going to break through and get a run. And then in the bottom of the 18th Chris Burke of all people hit a bloop that managed to find its way into the seats.

The Minute Maid crowd erupted. It was easily the most energy I had ever felt from a stadium. I don't think I even saw Burke cross home plate. As soon as the ball dropped in the Crawford Box I was out of my seat and heading to the exit.

The thing I remember the most is being in the concourse afterward and heading down the escalators. We were the only two people out there as you could here the noise out in the stadium. There was an eerie clam heading down the escalators. Little did I know at the time, but that is the last time Atlanta has walked off the field in the postseason.

The final moment for me was this past year at the Final Four. My fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament and my first Final Four. I was assisting the media services staff and had the fortunate pleasure to watch the games courtside. I was standing just off the baseline on the opposite end of the court when Mario Chalmers hit the 3-pointer to force overtime in the National Championship game.

Once again, the energy in the Alamodome that night was indescribable. While there was still five minutes of overtime to play, you just had a feel there was no way Kansas was going to lose. Before the game started a friend sent me a text and asked me who I thought was going to win. I sent back and said I didn't care, I just wanted to see the greatest game in NCAA Championship history. I think Chalmers certainly gave me a chance to make that claim.

All of these moments are ingrained in my memory not because of what I saw, but because of what I felt in that moment. Culpepper says these are the moments in sports that "rustle your soul and electrify your skin" and I have never thought about it that way before, but it is so true. Now here's to hoping they also help prolong my life.

One more video clip

Here is one more clip that I was able to get together. This is probably not one of my finer moments on the sideline. I honestly have no idea why I did it. I guess I was just pissed we let them score right before the half.

Video by request

I was asked to put this clip up on the web so here it is. This is during the 2001 SFA game. Obviously at the time I thought this was a horrible call and reacted accordingly. Looking back on it I think the ref made the right call.

The Greatest Pitcher You'll Ever See

It was kind of sad the other day seeing Greg Maddux hang up his spikes for good. For so long Maddux was a big part of the Braves and one of the best pitchers to ever lace them up.

I always think back to the Sports Illustrated cover from 1995 saying Maddux was "the greatest pitcher you'll ever see." Being a Braves fan I got to see a lot of him, just about every fifth day.

Unlike some of the top pitchers in the past, Maddux didn't have the overpowering fast ball he could resort to if the other stuff wasn't working. Maddux wouldn't blow the ball past any one. Instead he had to out think the opposing hitters. More often than not, that is exactly what he did.

For that reason, he never had the huge strikeout numbers that some people use to judge a pitcher's career. He didn't have a no-hitter in his career either like some of the top throwers in baseball did. But he was about as efficient as a pitcher who ever took the hill.

Maddux went one season nearly having fewer walks than wins in the season, finishing the 1997 campaign with 19 wins and 20 walks. Two years earlier he put together one of the best single seasons for a pitcher going 19-2 with an ERA of 1.63 and an astonishing WHIP of 0.81. In fact, even with some down years at the end of has career, he still finished with a career WHIP of 1.14. Only Johan Santana has a better career WHIP (1.10) among active players.

His years with Atlanta were clearly his best, although he did win a Cy Young with Chicago. In 10 years he went 194-88 and twice had an ERA under 2.

I don't know how many times I saw Maddux pitch in person, but there is one game I remember specifically. It was two days after I graduated high school. Maddux went seven innings against the Astros without giving up a hit. Jeff Bagwell was leading off the 8th and I looked at my friend and said if he can get past Bagwell he has a good chance to throw the no-no. Bagwell then took him deep. Maddux then retired the next six hitters for a one-hitter. It is the closest he ever got.

Maddux will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer and that will be a speech I don't plan on missing. I figure I have seen more than 200 major league baseball games and have watched guys like Randy Johnson, Nolan Ryan, Dwight Godden, Roger Clemens, Kevin Brown, Andy Pettitte, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine toe the rubber and I still can't argue with SI, Maddux is the greatest pitcher I will ever see.