This is one that is a tough tough call for a lot of people but Kurt Warner is a great great quarterback and he’s proven it once again to all of us. We look back and wonder why the hapless Rams benched him years ago in favor of Bulger. Bulger is a good Qb but he hasn’t won anything. We all have to admit that we may have given up on Warner too quickly.

When I look at the guys stats I compare him to a baseball player who had some great seasons and some not great seasons. He’s a guy that shows nothing statistically for years and that hurts him. On the other hand he’s a 2 time MVP winner and a super bowl winning quarterback. This is his 3rd trip to the big game and that’s saying something. In a league where Lynn Swann made the Hall of Fame simply because of his super bowl prowess then Warner certainly deserves a shot.

Where I sit Kurt Warner is a great QB who got started late. Too late. He’s not a hall of fame Qb. He’s a player who had some great seasons and will always be remembered as the guy who went from the grocery store to the super bowl and I’m happy for him. I think he’s a good example to a lot of people of what you can accomplish by not giving up. I think he’s a hall of fame guy, just not quite a hall of fame footballer.

National Signing Day is coming up quickly and I’m pumped. I love reading about these kids and the ’stars’ next to their names and all the hopes of being a freshman all american. These kids will commit to schools and come out and talk about playing early and more power to them but for 95% of them it isn’t going to happen.

Freshman come into school and are behind from the start. They go up against kids who have been enrolled for at least a year and had workout programs in place. It’s an uphill battle from the beginning and to be honest the freshman should redshirt in nearly every case. The cases they shouldn’t are obvious as the top players in the country are that good. What’s funny to me is that a kid who redshirts at USC is more than likely a starter at a ton of different schools. Perception is a funny thing.

Why i look forward to signing day is the same reason i look forward to spring training in baseball. Each signing period renews hope for the program or kills it. When spring training starts each cub fan believes that this is the year and that some new player is going to be the missing link to bring the title to Wrigley. In football i view it the same way. I view these kids as super human and create expectations that nobody could possibly meet. The internet has made these kids famous in so many ways that the expectations that come with that fame almost seem natural.

My Illini are looking at another top 20 class and I couldn’t be happier. If they can close on a couple more kids I’ll be one happy camper come the 4th.

Don’t buy this for one second. I think people can develop leadership skills but the time for Romo to declare this has come and gone. Romo has lost his team. Romo lost his team the minute he fumbled the kick that would’ve given the Cowboys an actual playoff win. Tony Romo is not the leader of the Dallas Cowboys.

I’m not trying to be harsh but how serious are his players going to take him. He has a tough group to get a hold of with TO and Marion Barber and an owner who is too hands on for his own good. To lead this team Romo needs to take responsibility for the success and failure of this team and sacrifice his own reputation to save the others from being looked at. Romo needed this 2 years ago but didn’t do it so why would he do it now?

The Cowboys are getting older and not any better. The team this season had a chance to be very special but they couldn’t get it done. What is going to change next season? Is Romo going to tell Barber to quit being a pansy and strap up the helmet? Is Romo going to get in TO’s face and tell him to not take his problems to the media when they come up? Is Romo going to get in Jason Witten’s face when he runs the wrong pattern or doesn’t read the coverage quick enough? Heck, maybe even get after Flozell for jumping offsides constantly each and every game.

Dallas needs a leader and it should be their QB, but it should’ve been their QB for the past few years. Instead, he’s got an uphill battle trying to earn the trust of people who are close to giving up on him.

Who is Detroit going to pick with the top pick in the coming draft? New gm Martin Mayhew is honestly walking into a great situation for himself because any win is improving on last year. Mayhew hired the coach he wanted in Jim Schwartz, who i think was smart in taking the job, despite others who don’t think he should’ve been given the job.

The facts are that no team has ever been in this situation before and Jim Schwartz and Martin Mayhew come into this with nowhere to go but up. They have the top pick in the coming draft and a good chance to improve on last season’s record breaking futility. I would love this chance and you can bet that these people do also and i wish them well.

I have a couple questions though and one of them is “who do you start with”? Seriously, who would you draft? You have 2 qb’s who look to be great pro’s in Matt Stafford and Mark Sanchez, but the LIons have Kitna or Orlovsky. I’m no Kitna fan at all but Orlovsky was the future of the team a couple years ago and deserves a better look this coming season. I don’t take a QB. They can’t take a wideout. They need some, but they can’t take some, not this gm. Millen took wideouts constantly and a few worked and a few didn’t. They need a line and a defense and that needs to be addressed.

Andre Smith from Alabama grades out the highest and is the logical choice as the top pick for the Lions. They are still the Lions and could surprise people but this staff is going to be taking a very safe approach to this draft and not take a lot of chances. They want to have a quiet and solid draft. The least amount of attention is the best for them and that’s how they’ll approach it.

Kurt Warner is this seasons MVP. If the vote were today Warner would be the winner. This guy has his team on his back and they are winning games that they simply shouldn’t be winning. After the defeat of the Eagles on Sunday I am not about to write off Warner just yet. This guy is a proven winner and the leader of his team and that team believes in him right now.

The Eagles were gameplanned very well by the Cards and it showed. I was very impressed with how easily Warner beat the Eagles blitz. The blitz caused all sorts of trouble for the QB when they played a few weeks earlier in the Eagles win but this time the Cards were very prepared. I loved how they tried to isolate Fitzgerald and get him in 1-1 situations but frankly that guy is a great great receiver with amazing hands. He makes Warner look very good and vice versa.

Are the Eagles going back to the drawing board or should they? I’m a big fan of Andy Reid and a fan of any coach who can get his team to 6 NFC championship games. Sure he’s lost most of them but he has some great success. I had written this team off after they tied the Bengals and he got them this far. They may get rid of McNabb, which would be a mistake, but they won’t get rid of Reid. With Andy Reid you know exactly what you are getting and he makes no excuses. If they let him go he will simply end up beating them somewhere down the road and making them regret their decision.

I hope the Cards win the Super Bowl but they have an uphill battle against the best defense in football. Frankly it’s a good matchup when you think about it.

What is this guy thinking? He would be the top pick or top 3 pick in the draft. He would’ve made around 30-60 million of guaranteed money and has already accomplished nearly everything a player of his caliber could. Instead he’s risking it all to stay at Oklahoma.

Look, Bradford doesn’t hide the fact that he wants to be a pro and that’s it has been a dream of his but he is one hit away from having this all go away. He’s one hit away from not playing again and he’s one loss away from serious regret. When I say one loss away it is because if he loses next season at Oklahoma and they don’t win the national title then he has wasted the only logical reason he can use for coming back to play. That one I understand, but not enough to turn down money that can set generations of family up for life.

Sam Bradford is a great talent and will be a very good quarterback in the nfl but Matt Leinart was also. Leinart was sure to come out and be a top pick in the draft a few years ago. His team was coming off a title and he decided to come back for some odd reason. He would’ve gone number 1 to the 49ers instead of Alex Smith but instead he had a good senior season and slipped in the draft to the Cardinals where he has yet to lock down a starting job. By not coming out Leinart cost himself millions of guaranteed money and I know he regrets it to some degree.

Unless Bradford wins the title for OU then I know he’ll experience the same feelings.

I write this article as a caucasian who has had some experience with racial prejudice in his day. I dated a girl in high school who was african american and i had some issues as a result. I was told repeatedly to leave her alone by members of all races who didn’t think it was smart for me to get involved in a mixed race relationship. I had to leave movies early because of some threats that I would receive during the movie and those threats mainly came from people of african american descent. I had an individual pour water in my gas tank and sand after that. This was only in a 1 year period of time. So I’ve seen how these things exist from all races…

Do I believe that race plays a part when selecting or finding a coach? Of course I believe it because sadly it is still a very real factor and especially when you are talking about the politics and money involved in college football. A Florida assistant coach spoke (or rather nodded) in agreement with the same thoughts as I’m sharing with you today. That coach(who is african american) hasn’t been given a head coaching opportunity and believes it has something to do with the fact that he has a white wife and that he is black himself. Of those things I don’t know of for sure and can only speculate but I know that is plays a factor in peoples minds because I’ve seen it. Nobody can tell me that a university ‘booster’ who provides funds and support for a program doesn’t have a say in what coach is hired. Maybe they don’t directly…but that pocketbook talks and that is what drives the sport of college football. MONEY.

Recently Charles Barkley spoke out on behalf of Turner Gill. Turner Gill was a QB at Nebraska while I was growing up and I emulated him in my backyard practicing the option pitch. He is now the head coach at Buffalo and in 3 short years has turned that program from one of the worst in the country to a team that actually reached a bowl game this year. They even beat Ball st. who was undefeated heading into that game. Charles Barkley said that Turner Gill was being discriminated against because he is black and has a white wife. Again, I don’t know if that is true but it is a factor. Gill hasn’t been hired on anywhere else yet. Urban Meyer went from Bowling Green to Utah to Florida in 5 short years. Turner Gill is still stuck in Buffalo while programs all over the country hire rookie coaches to take over their programs.

At a time with so many qualified african americans and at a time when nearly 70% of the players are african american I think it is time we just gave people opportunity who proved that they deserve it.

If only it were that simple…

Prior to the Utah vs Alabama game I was very nervous for the Utes. I was worried that they wouldn’t be able to score against Alabama’s defense and that Alabama would turn out to be too much for the MWC champs. It turns out that I was dead wrong. In fact, Utah beat Alabama worse than the final 31-17 final score says. How did Alabama score? They scored on a 73 yard punt return and another drive of 25 yards after a Utah fumble. They didn’t have one sustained drive for a touchdown the entire game. The QB got sacked 8 times and Kyle Whittingham outcoached Nick Saban. Whenever Alabama thought they had it figured out, Utah would come at them with something else. Utah controlled the ball and Alabama simply didn’t get it going. The Utes adjusted but Alabama didn’t really.

Alabama went through the SEC regular season undefeated and had a great season. They beat some incredible teams but i don’t think that Utah is the only MWC team that could beat Alabama. I think TCU would beat them also. In fact, TCu should’ve beaten Utah. In made me wonder if the SEC was actually overrated this season and we will find out when Florida plays Oklahoma. I have a feeling that Oklahoma is going to put a hurting on the Gators but I’ve been wrong before.

All I know is that Utah is the only undefeated team in division 1 football. They beat the SEC regular season undefeated champs, they beat Oregon St who beat Usc. They have done all the can this year. Am I asking for a National Championship for Utah? No, but I’m asking for at least a chance at it or at least a challenge.