Sports

Pitarresi: Tough guy Evashevski started at Hamilton

2009-11-04T19:52:00.001-08:00

Forest Evashevski died the other day. Evashevski was a savage blocking back for Tommy Harmon and captain at Michigan. He began his coaching career at Hamilton College in 1941, then gained famed for winning two Rose Bowls at Iowa in the 1950s. His best known player probably was Alex Karas, who went on to a great career with the Lions, then was as a Monday Night Football commentator and actor. Evashevski and Karras had an all-out fistfight when Karras played for the Hawkeyes. Not too long ago Evashevski said he got a call from Karras apologizing for his behavior – like 50 years after the fact. Which sounds just like Alex Karras.

Waterville’s Milt Jannone, Hamilton’s first All-American, played for Evashevski, and so when Jannone was inducted into the Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame in 1999, I called Evashevski in Florida to get his recollections He told me that Jannone, a great all-around athlete, was better than any back he had at Iowa. Jannone pooh-poohed that, but it was a great compliment.

Evashevski had a reputation as a very tough guy, a stern taskmaster who many players hated, but he also was revered by many as a builder of men and father figure. I know when I spoke to him – he was 81 or so at the time – he was as pleasant and as engaging as could be.

Evashevski’s College Football Hall of Fame plaque, by the way, rests in the trophy case in the lobby of the Hamilton gym. I imagine there are very few people at the college who have any idea who he was. He’s was there just one year before going into the Navy, but I guess he liked the place, which is nice to know.

Pitarresi: Kudos to the Evans family

2009-11-04T19:40:00.001-08:00

Everyone seems stunned by LeMoyne’s 82-79 exhibition basketball victory over Syracuse Tuesday.

Some SU fans see it as the end of the world, others just toss it off.

My thoughts? Congratulations to Rome’s Steve Evans, the Dolphins’ coach – and his dad, Stan “Buddy” Evans – for their victory. I think it is great. LeMoyne gets some good ink, air time, and a lot of confidence, and SU isn’t really hurt much, unless ….

Unless the Orange get off to a slow start in the regular season, in which case everybody is going to remember this game and Jim Boeheim and his players will never hear the end of it.

At the other end, Steve Evans downplayed the win, saying it was just an exhibition and that SU would be just fine. Probably so, and a smart and classy move by Steve, but he has to be walking on air. No New York State team had beaten SU in a game, exhibition game or - I'm assuming - scrimmage since about 1957.

One thing the game did was set off an eruption of comments on syracuse.com. I check in there every now and then when I want to get thoroughly depressed about the state of civility and the level of intelligence in our society, or if I want a good laugh. Today, I got a good laugh, thanks to the people discussing why LeMoyne is known as the Dolphins (a Christian symbol) and SU is known as the Orange (supposedly based on Protestant King William of Orange, although now I’m having trouble verifying that.)

Someone wrote that that there are no dolphins around Syracuse, so another guy writes that there are no oranges, either. Then another writes that SU has that name because the nickname used to be “Orangemen,” which, he claims, is another name for American Indians. What!?!? And I don't think the guy was horsing around.

Pitarresi: Williams' departure hurts SU

2009-11-02T17:50:00.001-08:00

Mike Williams has quit the Syracuse football team.

I’m not sure what his reason was, but I’ll bet you’ll read about it in the national media. For years now, every time there is a controversy involving an SU football or basketball player, the local media get stony silence from the coaches and administrators, and then someone blabs to ESPN or Sports Illustrated.

But …

I don’t care why Mike quit. I just know this is not a smart move for him and it’s a big blow to the team. Williams is SU’s biggest talent, and I think he would have been no worse than a second-round selection in next year’s NFL draft. I’m not sure what his quitting does to those prospects, but I’m certain it can’t be good. Meanwhile, the Orange are robbed of their most explosive player and the only one who has shown he can stretch a defense vertically.

Williams has been an obvious talent since he arrived from the mean streets of Buffalo in 2006. He can run, jump, catch and block. Without him, SU is much less dynamic. Maybe one of the other receivers can take up the slack, but SU has seldom has shown the desire to go deep even with Williams in the lineup. Without him, I think they might be condemned to the low-risk football that won the Akron game but is unlikely to work against Pittsburgh and the remaining Big East teams on the schedule.

I don’t know what this is all about with Williams. He was out of school last year because of academic issues. When I spoke to him in the spring, he seemed a much more mature young man, someone who learned his lesson, and knew what the score was. He said he had grown up, and it really seemed like it. And he was having a really good season until he was suspended for the Akron game last week for violating team rules. Maybe one thing led to another and he didn’t want to deal with school or discipline any more.

The bottom line is the decision is bad for Mike Williams, and worse for the SU football team.

Pitarresi: Football at the Dome: Be there

2009-10-31T18:55:00.001-07:00

Be at the Carrier Dome Friday.

New Hartford versus Whitesboro – for seemingly the 30th time in the last 10 years – and Westmoreland against Weedsport.

These are going to be terrific high school football games, and they’re for Section III championships. All three of the local teams are high energy and fun to watch. They play tough, smart, well-coached football, and it will be well worth the $5 or whatever it is to get into the Dome.

I’d be there even if I had to pay! Yes, I get in for free, but, remember, Ron Moshier, Anne Delaney have to work the whole time, slaving over hot notebooks, and while you can sit there, eat Dome Dogs – although I’d advise against that – and nachos and drink, well, I don’t’ think beer at high school games, but something.

Seriously, this is going to be terrific, highly competitive high school football. Be there.

Pitarresi: "Frillies" too much for Yankees

2009-10-28T20:39:00.001-07:00

I wonder what the New York Post thinks of the “Frillies” now?

Tuesday, the cover of the Post going into the World Series screamed “GOTHAM TREMBLES The Frillies are coming to town!” and carried a doctored photo of Philadelphia’s Shane Victorino in a skirt. Pretty funny.

Inside, several trash-talk stories excoriated the Phillies and Philadelphia from every possible angle. In one, Yankee fans dumped on their City of Brotherly Love counterparts for numerous sins, the chief of which seemed to be throwing beer. Yankee fans, apparently, don’t do that. A chart comparing the two municipalities marked Philly down in every category, including sandwiches, Philly cheesesteak against with a barely printable reference to Derek Jeter’s superior love life. They dragged the Phillie Phanatic through the dirt, too. Not very nice.

It was hilarious, really, even if it is 7th grade humor. It read like an edition of the World Weekly News, which I used to love to read. That checkout line rag ran outlandish stories, like the one about Adolf Hitler coming back from South America at age 100 to help Saddam Hussein fight the United States; or the lady who was kidnapped by a sasquatch on a camping trip and ended up liking him so much she refused to go back with her husband when he came to rescue her, or “Attila the Honey,” which claimed, at a time that women in combat and gays in the military were big issues, that the conqueror of Rome really was a girl.

I think Vince McNamara was jealous, and I’m sure publisher Rupert Murdoch was proud. The problem is, Cliff Lee and Chase Utley led the "Frillies" to a 6-1 victory in the opening game.

So what Yankee will the Post put a skirt on tomorrow morning?

Pitarresi: Marrone backs off, SU builds confidence

2009-10-24T19:51:00.001-07:00

I don’t know how much Syracuse’s 28-14 football victory Saturday over Akron means.

The Zips are a struggling team with a freshman quarterback, and it was clear that the Orange had more athletes. Maybe not a lot more, but more.

A win was badly needed, however, over anyone, especially with fifth-ranked Cincinnati, playing perhaps the best football in its history, coming to the Carrier Dome next Saturday. It is something to build on, for sure, and it least gives the Orange some confidence and belief.

The most interesting thing about the game was how SU coach Doug Marrone changed his offensive style. He wouldn’t say he did, but it was apparent that, with Delone Carter running 30 times (for 170 yards), and Greg Paulus and part-time quarterback Ryan Nassib taking few chances downfield, he was looking for strong, fundamental, low-risk football. The suspension of wide receiver Mike Williams had something to do with that, and it was especially true after Ryan Bartholomew, a starting guard who is filling in at center for injured Jim McKenzie, unleashed several incredibly bad snaps when SU lined up in the spread or shotgun or whatever you want to call. And Paulus, an artful dodger on the field and also of probing questions, obviously was under orders to not take chances, although he would never say that.

The Orange played it safe, going downfield only when the coaches determined that the situation was perfect.

Will that approach work against Cincinnati? Probably not, especially if the Orange let up a long return or two, as they did against the Zips, like Dashan Miller’s 98-yard TD sprint with the second half kickoff. Or if they drop another punt, as Mike Jones did in the first quarter.

However, it’s a win. It’s a positive. The guys are up. They believe a little more in themselves. So Marrone’s dial-back was a good idea.

Pitarresi: Honesty not always the best policy

2009-10-23T14:40:00.001-07:00

We all were told, when we were little kids, that honesty is the best policy.

Well, that isn’t true. Not all the time.

We all know the proof of that. It’s starts with the question, “Do I look fat in this dress?”

I don’t know if Magic Johnson is being honest in the new book he wrote with Larry Bird and Jackie McMullan, especially the parts where he derides Isaiah Thomas. Supposedly peeved because Thomas raised questions about Johnson’s sexual orientation after he revealed he had HIV in 1991, Johnson says in “When the Game Was Ours,” that nobody on the 1992 Olympic team – Michael Jordan, Bird, Karl Malone, Scotty Pippen – wanted to play with Thomas.

Thomas was left off that team, which was perhaps the greatest collection of basketball talent ever. That had to hurt, and now Johnson has made it worse.

These guys were among the greatest ever to play the game, but their day is long since past, which probably is one reason for the book. Some fans might regard it as a honest look at an exciting era of basketball, but it might just be a grab for cash and publicity. I guess it is morbidly interesting that all the big stars hated Thomas, but that isn’t exactly news.

I don’t think you have to lay everything on the line, especially if it hurts someone else, even if you don’t like the other guy. There are such things as decorum and compassion, which sometimes are as important as honesty.

I’d feel a lot better about it if Johnson had said what he had to say to Thomas’ face before it came out in a book. That would have been honest.

Pitarresi: Willis, Motley got there first

2009-10-22T19:27:00.001-07:00

Very knowledgeable sports fan Billy Richards wrote recently to say that Bill Willis of the Cleveland Browns of the All-American Football Conference, and not Woody Strode and Kenny Washington of the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League, was the guy who broke pro football color line in 1946.

I wrote about Strode and Washington earlier this month after reading Alexander Wolff’s story on them in Sports Illustrated.

It looks as if Richards is right, at least about Willis. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Washington and Strode signed with the Rams in the spring of 1946. Willis and then Marion Motley signed with the Browns that summer. However, the Browns played their first game Sept. 6, 1946 and had three games under their belts by the time the Rams opened their season Sept. 29, 1946. Willis and Motley both played 13 of the 14 games, so one or the other or both played in one of the first two games. That means one or the other or both were the first blacks to play an official game after World War II. I’d credit all four – Washington, Strode, Willis, and Motley – with being pioneers, for sure.

The next year, by the way, Jackie Robinson became the first black man to play major league baseball since the 1890s. He might not have been able to if those guys hadn’t paved the way.

And if you don’t think the All-America Football Conference was big league, well, maybe not, but Paul Brown’s innovative team won the AAFC championship all four years of the league’s existence, then joined the NFL in 1950, reached the championship game six straight years and won the title three times. They were perhaps the most dominant team in pro football history.

The history of blacks in pro football goes back to the early days of the 20th century. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the first documented black pro was Charles W. Follis, a former College of Wooster player who played for the Shelbyville (Ohio) Athletic Club from 1902 through 1906. There were others through the years as the NFL developed, the most famous being Fritz Pollard, who played for and coached the Akron Pros, and Paul Robeson, the entertainer, social activist and former Rutgers All-American.

There were no blacks in the NFL after 1933, however. It took Willis and Motley and Strode and Washington to change that in 1946.

Pitarresi: Bearcats are scary

2009-10-16T10:24:00.001-07:00

I was watching Cincinnati defeat South Florida Thursday night, doing some scouting for SU coach Doug Marrone – not really, because he hasn’t shown any interest in anything I have to say so far this season – and I became very, very frightened. The Bearcats are scary.

The Orange already have lost to USF this season, thanks in part to seven turnovers, and now they are looking at a Halloween date with the Bearcats, a team that once had very little impact on the big time college football scene and now is ranked No. 8. That’s after, of course, SU plays Oct. 24 against Akron, a team that gets little respect except that it beat the Orange 42-28 last season.

I was frightened because Cincinnati lost its terrific quarterback, Tony Pike, to a wrist injury early in the second half, leading 17-10. So in comes unimposing looking sophomore Zach Collaros, who almost immediately runs 75 yards for a touchdown, showing both speed and some shake. Then Collaros – who is from Steubenville, Ohio, which I think is where Dean Martin was from, although I’m pretty sure Dean didn’t play football – throws for a long gain to his tight end, Ben Guidugli, then overcomes a Guidugli penalty to score on a 3-yard run. The kid just has a great all-around game, and pretty soon it is obvious why the Bearcats are ranked so high, and why the No. 21 Bulls aren’t going to beat them. They have just as much or more talent, all over the place, and win 37-17. This is a very good football team.

SU hasn’t beaten Cincinnati since 2004. It will take a big effort to break that string Oct. 31.

Reader “Tony Soprano,” apparently unaware that he was breaking his own code of silence, chastised me the other day because he read about the subject of a recent blog onWoody Strode in Sports Illustrated first. Of course he did. The blog was written because I always liked Woody Strode and enjoyed the story about him and Kenny Washington. I did credit SI writer Alexander Wolff, although “Tony” didn’t seem to notice.

Tbat Strode and Washington broke the NFL color line in 1946 was something I knew about only vaguely. I’m sure most SI and O-D readers knew absolutely nothing about it, and I wanted to call attention to it. Yes, Wolff wrote the story. I commented on the story. It happens all the time.

See ya around some time, Tony.

Pitarresi: Rodriguez popularity might grow

2009-10-13T15:37:00.001-07:00

Alex Rodriguez might be the least sympathetic sports superstar since Barry Bonds.

Even less. There are a lot of people who like Barry Bonds, despite his acidic personality. Rodriguez seems to get little affection even from most Yankee fans.

There are reasons for that:

The incredible amount of money he makes. The comments he made about Derek Jeter before they became teammates. His former wife’s rude T-shirt messages. His fascination with celebrity, including his real or imagined dalliance with Madonna, and his current romance with Kate Hudson. And the impression he gives, intentionally or not, that it’s his world and the rest of it are here to bring him his coffee.

Then there is his mediocre record in post-season play. That’s where you make your reputation, which is why it seems about half the guys in the Baseball Hall of Fame are Yankees. Or maybe it’s because those guys were so good they were always in the World Series.

Well, Rodriguez is now making his reputation. It is difficult to argue that he is not supremely gifted, but in 39 post-season games with the Seattle Mariners and Yankees prior to this month, he had just six home runs, drove in 17 runs, and hit .261. In this week’s divisional series victory over the Twins, he had two home runs, six RBIs, hit .500, and had a 1.000 slugging percentage.

And, in Sunday’s clincher, he came up with the biggest hit of the game, ruining Carl Pavano’s night – and attempt to rescue his own damaged reputation – with his home run way over the right field wall to tie things at 1-1.

Two things there. The Yankees, even with the Twins’ bad base running and other failures, needed that home run very, very badly. And, not too many guys would have driven that high, outside strike out of there in right center Rodriguez, with his strength, reach, eyesight and coordination, could and did.

If he continues to deliver, sympathy will grow, no matter his past failures and all the other baggage.

Pitarresi: Woody Strode, NFL Pioneer

2009-10-09T13:24:00.001-07:00

The late Woody Strode was one of my favorite character actors.

He played the black gladiator who defeats Kirk Douglas in “Spartacus” and was one of the outlaws blown away by Charles Bronson in the atmospheric opening scene in “Once Upon a Time in the West.” I remember him best for two of his roles the John Ford films “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” and “Sgt. Rutledge.” In the first he plays John Wayne’s hired hand - the movie is terrific, by the way, and Lee Marvin’s Liberty Valance is one of the most imposing film villains of all time – and in the second, he is a black cavalryman who is unjustly accused of rape and murder. It’s one of the very first and very few Westerns in which a black man is the hero.

Way before that, however, Strode, of mixed black and Native American heritage, was an outstanding decathlete and great football player at UCLA. He, Kenny Washington and Jackie Robinson started in the Bruin backfield in 1939. Everyone knows Robinson broke baseball’s color line in 1947. What almost no one remembers is that Strode and Washington, past their primes, broke football’s color line in 1946. By what some say was a silent agreement, no blacks had played in the National Football League since 1933.

Alexander Wolff has a terrific story in the current Sports Illustrated on the topic, mostly centered on Washington, but with plenty of stuff on Strode, too. Be assured, being the first black players in the league in 13 years wasn’t easy.

“Integrating the NFL was the low point of my life,” Strode once said. “If I have to integrate heaven, I don’t want to go.”

Strode died in 1994 at age 80. I have no idea if he did get to heaven – I hope so – and I sure hope he didn’t have to integrate it.

Pitarresi: Covering golf tournament was a pleasure

2009-10-06T20:06:00.001-07:00

I covered the Turning Stone Resort Championship for six days, and I had a great time.

For one thing, I got to walk in inside the ropes, which is one of the perks of being a sportswriter, except it isn’t much of a perk because you are only like two inches closer to the action. I don’t even know how far you’re allowed to stray inside the ropes, so I didn’t. A couple of other guys would run over to the fairway now and then to check yardages on sprinkler heads, but I didn’t want to get hollered at. I remember the first time I covered a PGA tournament was at the B.C. Open. I was following Wayne Levi, standing right behind his caddy, looking in his bag. An official came over and told me I wasn't supposed to be there. Geez, I was embarrassed.

But, I’ve got to tell you, while covering Turning Stone is a lot of work – that’s what I told one guy who said he’d love to have my job – it’s a terrific time, too, and not just because the food in the press tent is excellent. I enjoy the banter and cooperation with my colleagues from the Observer-Dispatch, and trading barbs with Nick Sardina and Mike Doherty from cnygolfhome.com, Chris Wagner and Mike Waters from the Syracuse Post-Standard, John Kekis from the Associated Press, Marilu Lopez-Fretts from the Oneida Indian Nation and a few other people who don't understand my sense of humor. Everyone worked hard, and everyone- well, some of us - goofed around a little, too.

The Atunyote Golf Club is just sensational and terrifically maintained, even in terrible weather, by Matt Falvo and his crew – just ask the players – and the Oneida Nation staff and the people from the PGA Tour are extremely helpful. The amount of information the PGA provides – Mark Williams and Mark Stevens were on site - for each round could fill a sport section every day, and they always have an answer to your questions.

And the golfers? Terrific. Whether any of them are Top 30 money winners or not, they are incredibly gifted, tremendously professional and almost universally good-natured. The guys in the playoff, Vaughn Taylor and Matt Kuchar, were exceptionally cordial – maybe I would be, too, if I had a chance to win more than $1 million and knew if I lost I’d still get $648,000. Kuchar, who looks like a tall 16-year-old, was like an extremely polite kid next door. And it was great to see how much he loves to play, rain, cold or whatever. He had an almost constant smile on his face for 78 holes, and that grin went ear to ear after he won.

Let's hope the tournament does get moved to a better date, or pray that the first week in October will be sunny and pleasant for the next 100 years. This is a very classy production, and, yes, it is a great thing for Turning Stone, but it is a great thing for the Central New York Community in general.

Pitarresi: Point guard to the rescue

2009-10-04T10:30:00.001-07:00

Hamilton College's Lance Wilson pulled a Division III Greg Paulus act Saturday, at least for a day, making the transition from basketball point guard to football quarterback.

The 5-11, 200-pound junior from Plymouth Meeting, Pa., came into Saturday's game with Wesleyan with the Continentals down 14-6 midway through the second quarter, after starter Dan Peters took a hard hit.

Wilson, strong and agile, made a slew of big plays, completed 22 of 33 passes for 206 yards and three touchdowns, and rallied the Continentals to a 26-14 victory.

He averaged 8.5 points and 3.2 assists last winter for the 18-7 Hamilton basketball team.

Of course, Paulus, the former Duke point guard, had a horrifying day Saturday with five interceptions - not all his fault, but that's bad enough - in Syracuse's 34-20 loss to South Florida. Lance won't want to imitate Greg to that degree.

Colgate's football team is for real, again.

The Raiders rolled up 334 yards on the ground, with Nate Eachus back at tailback, backed up by Jordan McCord, and 561 in all in downing Cornell.

The 5-0 Raiders play at Princeton at 7 p.m. Saturday, and will be favored, especially after the Tigers' 30-0 loss to Columbia Saturday.

You can't count on anything in college football, but it looks more and more that the Patriot League championship at the Football Championship Subdivision playoff berth that goes with it will come down to the Colgate-Holy Cross game Oct. 24 in Worcester, Mass.

Pitarresi: Learn from the best

2009-10-03T08:01:00.001-07:00

I am occasional golfer.

And not a good one.

I love to play, but it's often a battle between my desire to hit the little white ball, my desire to catch a 20-inch brown trout, my need to go to work and earn a paycheck, and my responsibility to mow the lawn, wash the dishes and all that other stuff.

Anyway, I do want to improve my golf game - I could hit it further and more accurately at age 17 than I can now - so I try to pay attention to what some of the best players in the world at doing this week at the Turning Stone Resort Championship.

You can pick up all kinds of things, of course, many of which won't work for you because these guys are blessed with singular talent. However, there are some basics, and here are three that havejumped out at me this week and, really, the past few years.

1. All these guys keep the left arm very straight - or the right arm, in the case of southpaws. Everyone is told this when they first start out, but many casual golfers violate the rule somewhat and some make a shambles of it.

2. The body and the head are very still. Yes, most of the pros have a big turn, but the body does not sway, and the head remains steady throughout. As with the arm thing, it's a lot easier to hit the ball square if you at wandering all over the place.

3. The club head speed is tremendous. Obviously, that's a big part of getting distance.

You can train yourself to keep that arm straight, and to be still, although you might have to watch tapes of yourself or have a friend observe you to see how you're doing. Club head speed? Not so easy, but you can find ways to get stronger and improve your coordination, and you also can think about it - accelerate as the club head nears the ball.

The next time I play, I'm going to continue to work on all those things. I'll never get into the Turning Stone Resort Championship, but I can get better, and so can you.

Pitarresi: Scarier times ahead for SU

2009-09-27T11:57:00.001-07:00

Pretty scary for the Syracuse University football team Saturday night.

And a pretty scary Saturday coming up with undefeated South Florida – a team the Orange have not beaten and really haven’t come very close to in four tries – charging into the Carrier Dome to open the Big East season after knocking off Florida State.

SU had trouble enough with Maine. I originally felt they would, but after the Black Bears lost to Albany, I figured they didn’t have the personnel to stay with a team that had just played pretty competently against three consecutive Big 10 opponents.

Wrong. The Black Bears beat a tune on the Orange in the first half, and not just because of fake punts and on-side kicks. Their defensive line was excellent, and their players talented and competitive overall. SU did what it had to do in the second half, but Maine’s early success boldly underlined several Orange problems, the most achingly obvious being the inability to defend against the pass.

SU is now ranked 117th in pass defense out of 120 Division I teams at 310.5 yards per game. Greg Paulus’ continued development at quarterback – he’s ranked 35th in the nation, is completing 68 percent of his throws, has six touchdowns and four interceptions and a healthy 11.38 yards per completion – is a terrific story. However, Paulus throws for 346 yards, Northwestern’s Mike Kafka throws for 390; Paulus throws for 270, Maine’s Warren Smith throws for 305 and Mike Bruscko 35 more, for a team that passed for 96 yards against Albany and 156 against Northeastern.

That, as Dr. Red Duke used to say, is a recipe for disaster.

I’m not sure if the Orange are not athletic enough in the secondary to cover well, whether they can’t get enough pressure on passers – they’re averaging 2.50 sacks a game, 31st in the nation – a combination of those things, or even if they have the wrong defensive concept. Whatever, the pass defense has to improve considerably, or they are going to have to win their Big East games, like, 45-42, which is not likely.

How about these scores from Saturday:

Iowa 21, No. 5 Penn State 10: There is something about Iowa. Whatever their record, they always seem tough as nails. Joe Paterno knows. Kirk Ferentz has beaten him seven of eight tries, and this was in State College.

Oregon 42, No. 6 California 3: What? Lose, okay, but c’mon. Jahvid Best had been spectacular, but the Ducks loaded up on him – 55 yards in 16 carries – and the Bears apparently didn’t know what to do in response, or couldn’t do it.

South Florida 17, No. 18 Florida State 7: How many great high school football players are there in the state of Florida? Big East all-time yardage leader Matt Grothe goes down for the season, so red-shirt B.J. Daniels comes out an accounts for 341 yards in his first start. He’ll be at the Carrier Dome Saturday.

And that proves that if you bet on college football, you’re probably better off buying an Irish Sweepstakes ticket.

Pitarresi: Mushnick makes sense

2009-09-22T20:58:00.001-07:00

I’ve always enjoyed reading New York Post sports columnist Phil Mushnick, although I don’t see this stuff that often anymore.

He gets after things that most other writers ignore, and his point of view usually is pretty interesting. Combative, sometimes, especially when he feels he is righting a wrong.

Today, I was looking for something on-line, and I came across Mushnick’s column of Dec. 21, 2008, in which he chastises ESPN broadcaster Chris Berman and then NBC golf analyst for insensitive remarks regarding Italian-Americans. Yes, it was nine months ago, but it is still relevant.

Mushnick suggested that Italian-Americans are the last ethnic or religious group in America that can be negatively stereotyped without penalty to the stereoptyper. As examples, he submitted Berman’s description of Tampa Bay Buccaneer safety Sabatino Piscitelli’s return of a blocked punt, during which he used a thuggish, B-movie Brooklyn-Italian accent, and Miller’s genuinely dumb references to Rocco Mediate during the 2008 U.S. Open, when he said, among other things, the dark-skinned Mediate “looks like the guy who cleans Tiger’s pool” and more or less made fun of Mediate's first name.

As an Italian-American – or, as I like to say, Sicilian-American - was I offended? The Berman thing I didn’t hear or see, so I guess not, but the guy ought to know better. Miller’s words? Definitely offensive. Like Mushnick, I don’t think either guy meant anything negative. They were just being thoughtless. But, also like Mushnick, I do believe had either used similar stereotypical language in relation to African-Americans, Blacks, Jews, Hispanics or Asians, they’d have been in big trouble.

Maybe, probably, everyone is too politically correct today, but guess what? If you aren’t going to take it, I’m not going to take it, either.

Another thing Mushnick is known for is corrective history. In that same column, he wrote about the 1958 Colts-Giants NFL championship game, regarded by many as “The Greatest Game Ever Played” and the event that popularized pro football on television, where it has been the greatest show on earth ever since.

As Mushnick wrote, once a notion is repeated often enough, fact has no chance.

The “fact” that the Colts-Giants game was responsible for a huge boom in television viewership for the NFL simply isn’t true, Mushnick wrote. He quoted Steve Sabol, head of NFL Films, as saying that viewership rose only slightly the season after the big game, and not at all in 1960. Sabol’s opinion is that the Green Bay Packers of the 1960s, with Vince Lombardi, Paul Hornung, Ray Nitschke, Jerry Kramer and the rest, were the driving force behind what would become the phenomenon of football dominance of the airwaves.

Greatest game ever played? Maybe, but there are other candidates. The reason pro football took off on television? Probably not, because the numbers say it wasn’t. I watched that game with my father, mother and brother, and remember it very well, because I was a big Giants fan. But I also remember watching Otto Graham and the Browns win in 1955, and the Giants win the next year, and the Lions whip the Browns in 1957.

In any case, it is a point of view I haven’t seen elsewhere, so that’s why I still read Mushnick now and then.

Pitarresi: SU will miss Grothe

2009-09-21T17:56:00.001-07:00

The Syracuse University football team is going to miss Matt Grothe, in a way.

The South Florida quarterback went out for the season Saturday, tearing an ACL in a 59-0 win over Charleston Southern. I’m sure – I know – that the Orange didn’t want see Grothe hurt, but his absence from the lineup when the Bulls visit the Carrier Dome Oct. 3 will significantly increase their chances of winning.

Grothe can run and he can throw, and the last three seasons he’s gone off on the SU defense like a Roman candle – nine touchdown passes, a bale of rushing yards and a couple of rushing touchdowns. He’s been almost uncontrollable. He is the Big East Conference’s all-time yardage leader, having passed Pat White, the former West Virginia dynamo.

SU hasn’t beaten South Florida – a team that most Orange fans just a few years ago knew nothing about other than it is located in the southern part of Florida - in four chances, and none of the games have been close. That should be different this time around, even if replacement B.J. Daniels is supposed to be pretty good. I’m not saying a win, necessarily. I’m saying a close game. Certainly, Saturday’s win over Northwestern proves the Orange are capable of playing well.

Of course, SU has to get past Maine next week. I thought that might be a problem until the Black Bears lost to Albany Saturday. Remember, though, strange things can happen. Back in 2004, Maine defeated Mississippi State 9-7. That was not a good Mississippi State team, but the Bulldogs did win two SEC games that year, over Florida and Kentucky.

Here’s the thing, if SU takes care of business against I-AA (or FCS!) Maine, the Orange will be 2-2 when South Florida comes to town. A win that day, and SU would be over .500 for the first time since 2006, when they won three in a two to go 3-2. Could happen.

Pitarresi: A landmark game for Paulus, SU

2009-09-20T13:28:00.001-07:00

It wasn't so much the numbers.

Greg Paulus had very good numbers - 24 of 35 passing for 346 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.

Syracuse needed all of them and a lot more, including Max Suter's last minute interception of the previously impeccable Mike Kafka and Ryan Lichtenstein's 41-yard field goal as time expired, to earn its victory over Northwestern at the Carrier Dome Saturday. It's a win that could mean a great deal in terms of confidence for the Orange, although this remains a team that has considerable shortcomings, including a very leaky pass defense.

But, Paulus? He proved Saturday he can play football in a big time way against a big time team. In his two previous outings, his first two football games in five years after his distinguished basketball career at Duke, he played adequately, with several bad decisions and one egregious one thrown in. This time, he played like a champ, and there was more to him than just those numbers.

Paulus was his most impressive in the last eight minutes of the game. He completed all five of his passes for 69 yards in a 70-yard drive that tied the game at 34-34 with 6:07 to play. Then, after a very unproductive set of plays that ended with SU pushed back to its own 6 yard line, he got a chance to win the game when Suter made his sensational pick and returned the ball 22 yards to the Northwestern 39. He hit Mike Willams for eight yards, Delone Carter ran six yards, and then hit Donte Davis for seven. Then he took a few steps to his left and fell down to position the ball in the middle of the field, and then Lichtenstein, just a freshman, hit the game-winning kick.

That was great leadership, great field generalship. The kid show something there, far beyond the final numbers, which were very good.

Again, it has to be said. Whatever the rest of the season looks like, whatever mistakes he might make, Paulus' almost unprecedented transformation from basketball point guard to starting football quarterback is not a stunt or a ticket-selling gimmick. The kid can play.

My favorite score from Saturday? Washington 16, Southern Cal 13.

I'm not really sure why I can't stand USC or Pete Carroll. Maybe it is the 51 percent graduation rate, one of the worst in college football. Maybe it is that they've just won too much. Maybe I just like Washington better. I'm just glad the Trojans lost.

Pitarresi: Sick loss for the Bills

2009-09-14T19:55:00.001-07:00

I am very, very sick right now.

Sick to death about the Buffalo Bills losing to the New England Patriots tonight.

Maybe I would have felt better if the Bills had just gotten blown out, instead of having blown a 24-13 lead in the last couple of minutes. No, not really. A one-sided loss would have been pretty depressing, a probable indicator of another long, lost season. I don’t know that a close loss is much more comforting, but at least they were in the ballgame against one of the NFL’s premier teams, piloted again by one of the great quarterbacks of all time.

Which, now that I think on it again, does make it worse. You’ve battled like crazy all game, you score a touchdown that appears to put things on ice, then you give up a long drive for a score, and then you fumble the kickoff. Oh, boy, do I feel badly for Leodis McKelvin, who had the ball stripped from his arms. Get down on the ground? Yeah, sure, but I think he was trying to. The Patriots held him up, that left him vulnerable, and there goes ball.

So now, you give it to Tom Brady 30 yards from victory with two minutes to play. There is no such thing as a lock, but that is as close as you can get. Game over. I’m not sure there ever has been a quarterback better at surgical last ditch drives than Brady. Remember Super Bowl XXXXII? The Giants didn’t beat Brady. He rolled right down the field on the Patriots’ last drive and put them ahead. Then David Tyree came up with the catch of the century, and the rest is history.

I’m a native Western New Yorker and I love the Bills, but I’ve written here before that I try not to invest a tremendous amount of emotion in the team. It tends to wear me down. Right now, though, I see I was talking – or rather writing – through my hat. I did invest at least a little emotion in the Bills, and now I am, as I say, very, very sick.

Pitarresi: SU lacks offensive explosion

2009-09-12T17:02:00.001-07:00

I don’t know if even the most dedicated Syracuse University football fans expected the Orange to win at Penn State Saturday. Some might even have expected a one-sided loss against the No. 7 Nittany Lions.

It wasn’t a complete blowout at 28-7, but, gosh, 200 yards in offense? That’s 457 in two games. Greg Paulus had a modest game at quarterback (14 of 20 with two interceptions for 105 yards and a touchdown). Too modest, and this team lacks explosiveness. There is little for opponents to fear, even with Mike Williams at wide receiver, and little threat of a big play. The Orange had only a couple of 15 yards or more against the Lions. The defense hasn’t played too badly – better than I thought it would in terms of total points and total yards – but the offense isn’t doing its part. That has to change or it is going to be a long, long year.

Another thing:

Don’t ever wish for a story in Sports Illustrated on your favorite team. At least not until the season is over.

That jinx is real.

Last week, SI put Oklahama State on the cover and wrote about how the Cowboys, with Oklahoma bowing to Brigham Young, were now the No. 1 team in Oklahoma.

Or, they were. Houston, unranked but very good offensively, defeated the fifth-ranked Cowboys 45-35 Saturday. Not good.

And another thing:

I was trying to watch Notre Dame-Michigan here at work – and got chastised for it, can you believe it? – and I’m pretty sure the Irish got tagged with an excessive celebration penalty after they went ahead with a few minutes to play. They had to kick off from the 15, which significantly changed field position and helped the Wolverines score the winning touchdowns.

I don’t like excessive celebrations, but I don’t like excessive celebration penalties, either. There is way too much judgment there.

The Irish might have lost anyway, but those 15 yards really helped pave the way.

Pitarresi: NFL overtime rule stinks

2009-09-11T15:11:00.001-07:00

The NFL’s overtime rule stinks.

The Pittsburgh Steeler’s 13-10 overtime victory over the Tennessee Titans Friday just underlined it again. The Steelers won the toss, and they won the game. That happens over and over and over again. The team that wins the toss wins the game 60 percent of the time. If you don’t think that’s a lot, I’m sorry, it is.

I was listening to Boomer Esiason do the game on the radio as I drove home from work, and he says he’s against changing the overtime rule.

“The guys on defense are getting paid, too,” he said. “Make a play. Stop them. Better yet, get a pick and run in and score a touchdown.”

Yeah, sure. The only way the team that wins the toss loses is by making a major mistake or by being the decidedly inferior team in the first place. If winning the toss wasn’t so important, and going on offense wasn’t so important, why is it that you’ve never heard of a team that elected to kick off in overtime? It has happened, but only a couple of times out of more than 150 in the last 10 seasons.

Some people don’t like the college rule, with both teams getting a renewable series of downs from the opposing 25. I do. It is a bit artificial, but you are playing football under conditions that approximate the game. And if you’ve seen it work in college, you know it is exciting. The NFL version is not exciting. Whoever wins the toss wins, again, 60 percent of the time. That’s baloney.

The NFL’s overtime rule stinks. Change it.

Pitarresi: Johnson hits it a long, long way

2009-09-09T13:24:00.001-07:00

We – meaning the Central New York media - got a chance to talk to Dustin Johnson today by speakerphone.

The 2008 Turning Stone Resort Championship winner is having a great season, and he was fun to talk to.

Johnson won Turning Stone last year by birdying the 613-yard 18th hole, edging Robert Allenby by a stroke. One of the longest hitters on tour – he’s averaging 307 yards right now – Johnson nailed his drive 357 yards.

“That’s as far as I can hit it,” he said.

He followed that with a 2-iron that flew the green - so that was another 256 yards - then chipped back and sank a short putt for a closing 69.

“I think the wind was blowing pretty good,” he said, and he was indeed hitting West to East, with a tailwind. “If I had it to do over again, I think I’d hit a 3-iron instead of a 2.”

Think about that. The guy hit driver, 2-iron on a 613-yard hole and goes over the green!

You can read more about Johnson when our Turning Stone Resort Championship tab comes out Sept. 27.

Pitarresi: College football is a growing game

2009-09-02T19:32:00.001-07:00

I’m a football guy, and I have been since, as far back as I can remember.

My father was a player and a coach, and I can remember being on the sidelines with him, staring up at those players who I thought were gods, when I was just four years old. It’s been close to six decades, and the game has been a constant for me as a ballboy, waterboy, player, coach, fan, and sportswriter ever since.

We also played baseball, basketball, pond hockey, volleyball, golf, wrestled and even boxed – did some of those things reasonably well and some very badly – and loved them all, but football always was the biggest deal.

So, it was gratifying to read the National Football Foundation’s report that 17 colleges plan to add football by 2013. Five of those schools will take the field for the first time this season, including two of Utica College’s opponents this season, Anna Maria College of Paxton, Mass. and Castleton State of Vermont. Among the schools that will start next season is Georgia State in Atlanta, which will be led by Bill Curry, the former Green Bay Packers all-pro center who was head coach at Georgia Tech, Kentucky and Alabama.

This is on top of a score of new teams in the last decade, including UC, and frequent Pioneer opponents Becker and Husson.

Why is this happening? Colleges are desperate to attract male students for one thing. And, as the NFF points out, the game also can energize campus life, increase media visibility, and build alumni support. There are a lot of colleges – say, Notre Dame, Boston College, Colgate, Williams, Amherst – that have made hay with their football programs in just those ways for a century or more. It can be good business in a many ways, and it can be a very positive experience for players, students, and the communities the colleges serve.

Archie Manning, chairman of the NFF, pointed out that there are more than 1 million high school football players in the United States, but that only 66,000 are playing at the college level. There obviously is room for growth.

The addition of 17 teams will bring the number of colleges playing the game to 742 – 120 in Division I-A (Football Bowl Subdivision), 126 in Division I-AA (Football Championship Subdivision), 149 in Division II, 238 in Division III, and 92 in the NAIA.

Pitarresi: Yes, Paulus can sell tickets

2009-08-31T12:58:00.001-07:00

There are people who still think Syracuse University football coach Doug Marrone is starting Greg Paulus at quarterback to sell tickets.

As I’ve written before, that’s just nuts. Marrone wants to win football games, and that is why Paulus is his starter.

However, that doesn’t mean that Paulus’ startus as a starter hasn't sold tickets for SU. Associate athletics director Scott Sidwell said there definitely was a spike in season ticket and single game sales when it was announced two weeks ago that Paulus, a former Syracuse CBA star who hasn’t played football since 2004, would be the starter.

As of noon, today SU had sold 36,317 tickets for Saturday’s opener at against Minnesota. Sidwell still is hoping for a sellout – the nominal capacity is 49,262 – but whether or not there is one, it appears that a very nice crowd of 40,000 is likely and a 45,000—plus is a possibility. SU topped 45,000 in attendance just once in the last five seasons, against Penn State (45,795) last year.

Part of the surge is a new beginning under Marrone, and part of it, yes, is because of Greg Paulus. That’s a good thing.

Pitarresi: Floyd Little should be in Hall of Fame

2009-08-26T20:32:00.001-07:00

Floyd Little has been named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Great stuff and about time, I’d say.

Little was a great college player at Syracuse and nearly as good a pro with the Denver Broncos. His stats say so in both cases, and his style says so, too. Little was an exciting player, capable of suddenly exploding into the open and going all the way. It didn’t hurt that for at least part of his career, SU wore those tear-away jersies that really did tear away, sometimes leaving defenders with a handful of thin cloth while Floyd sped his bowlegged way down the field.

Little was, well, not big – 5-feet-10, 196 pounds during his NFL days – but he played very large. He could run and catch – I’m not sure how well he blocked; I don’t really remember and I don’t know how much he was asked to – and he made plays. He was the NFL’s seventh all-time leading rusher when he retired, which says something, and he did that on a team that was a perennial also-ran or worse.

I was in high school and then my first year of college when Little was at SU, and he was a great favorite of mine. I finally got to meet him at agame maybe 10 years ago, and found him easily approachable and more than willing to share his opinions on the school, football, sports or anything at all. He still usually comes to at least one game a year, he’s still affable, and still looks like he could play, with a broad chest and a back as wide as a barn door.

So, I like Floyd anyway, but he certainly deserves to be in that Hall of Fame without any endorsement from me.