(“The TEN” is not a top ten but ten items worth being included in “The TEN”) LATE EDITION
1. The Cincinnati Bengals fired HC Marvin Lewis after 16 seasons.
2. UCLA dismisses HC Steve Alford after a 7-6 start. Assistant Murry Bartow will take over as interim coach.
3. The Rams beat the San Francisco 49ers 48-32 to earn a number two seed and a 1st round bye in the NFC Playoffs.
4. Cathedral beat Crescenta Valley 81-61 Saturday night at Monrovia High School to win the SGV Classic.
5. Alabama and Clemson will meet January 7th for the National Championship after they knocked off Oklahoma and Notre Dame respectively in the semis.
6. The Indianapolis Colts beat the Tennessee Titans 33-17 in a must win game to gain a berth in the AFC Playoffs.
7. Todd Bowles (New York Jets), Adam Gase (Miami Dolphins), Dirk Koetter (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and Vance Joseph (Denver Broncos) were all fired after their last regular season games.
8. The Atlanta Falcons fired OC Steve Sarkisian.
9. University of Miami head coach Mark Richt resigned and was replaced by former Miami DC Manny Diaz who had accepted the Temple HC job December 13. Miami had to pay Temple a $4 million buy out.
10. Happy New Year!
@ NWO: In the NFL, a player can get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a TD for retrieving that cellphone he stashed under the goalpost padding. However, stuff like “shooting dice” and taking selfies seems to be OK. There’s a little inconsistency there.
By the way, spiking the football after a touchdown wasn’t allowed in the NFL until around 1970. It’s still considered unsportsmanlike conduct at the high school and college levels.
Can we also get rid of the team photo shoots after a TD. I miss the simple spike of the ball by the guy who actually scored. I thought excessive celebrations were a penalty?
I think football teams should have more colorful uniforms and instead of hitting each other have a dance off in the end zones. Like the pros do. Those dance routines should be in slo mo and then broken down by the announcers.
Guru: do u suggest no more bowl games? That would change football college history=and , for example, hurt teams; upcoming teams like 13 and 0 Central Florida. They think they belong in top 4; well if they could only beat LSU today instead of dummy Dlineman getting critical game changing unsportsmanlike penalty when kicking lsu ass; changed the game. BUT if they won ; they make a statement to be considered
@ Guru: Agreed.
There are way too many college bowl games now; the number of bowl games should be cut by at least half. Teams with 6-6 and 7-5 records have been getting in, and that’s simply rewarding mediocrity.
Decades ago, bowl games were rewards for conference champions or teams which had excellent records. That’s the ideal we should return to.
As for high school football in California, the season should be capped at 14 games. The regular season should be no more than 10 games in length, and the majority of those games should be league games.
I join you in calling for the elimination of the CIF state playoff and bowl games. The postseason should be limited to four playoff rounds which result in division championships. (We could also reduce the number of divisions in the CIF Southern Section, but that’s a separate topic.)
High school kids should not be playing 15 or 16 games in a season. This is not the NFL or college ball.
The bowl games are as meaningless as the unattended CIF state playoff games. They try not to show the empty bowl game stadiums on TV but some shots get through. The top players or guys that think they are top players sit out even if they are 6th round type guys. Maybe high school guys with offers should sit out state fearing an injury could make a school rescind their offer. Go back to the old bowl system and just vote at the end of the season. And get rid of state playoffs.
The Phantoms are firing on all Cylinders. Next up Chatsworth Wed night 8pm at Cathedral. Happy New Year’s to everyone. Thank’s to The Mid Valley staff for coverage of High School Sports