Oklahoma Sooners

2015 Pigskin Picks of Profundity…..Week 2

And we’re back. It’s another exciting week in Gridironville, as the NFL starts its season. That means I’ll be spending most of my Sunday afternoons parked in front of the TV watching RedZone, undeniably one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century. In the inaugural week of the season your humble Potentate of Profundity went 4-1, while Zach stumbled out of the gate with a 1-4 mark. I can’t believe Auburn didn’t cover!! But it’s a long season, and things just get more fun from here on out. Enjoy.

Oklahoma at Tennessee (-1)
Last week the Sooners had no problem blowing out Akron, and the Vols didn’t have too much trouble dealing with Bowling Green, but both teams must now step up their game. I’m a little concerned that Tennessee’s defense allowed Bowling Green to score 30 points, and to be honest I thought a lot of the talking heads overrated them coming into the season. I think head coach Butch Jones, now in his third season in Rocky Top, will get them back to respectability eventually…but not this year. I ranked Oklahoma 13th in my pre-season poll, and now is when they have to step up and prove they are worthy. Zach isn’t buying the Tennessee hype either.

My Pick = Oklahoma
Z’s Pick = Oklahoma

Boise St. (-3) at BYU
The Broncos narrowly defeated former head coach Chris Petersen’s Washington Huskies in their initial outing of 2015, while the Cougars upset Nebraska with a Hail Mary that actually worked. However, BYU lost their starting QB in that game as well. It is really interesting that Boise is favored as a visiting team. That is rare in such a fairly even matchup. It may not be the smart call, but The Vibes are telling me that the BYU train will keep rolling for atleast another week. Zach was unimpressed by Boise St. but thinks BYU’s luck will run out pretty quick.

My Pick = BYU
Z’s Pick = Boise St.

Oregon at Michigan St. (-3.5)
This is obviously the marquee game of the NCAA schedule this week. It’s the Saturday Night Special on ABC. The Ducks put up 61 points (but gave up 42) in defeating 1-AA Eastern Washington last weekend, while the Spartans probably eased off the gas when defeating in-state opponent Western Michigan. Michigan St. has the home field, which in a game like this can be huge. I said in my pre-season preview that I thought Oregon would fall back just a bit in 2015 and not be a playoff contender. Now it’s time for that to be proven on the field. Zach thinks this will be a great game but believes that the Spartan defense will be the difference maker.

My Pick = Michigan St.
Z’s Pick = Michigan St.

New Orleans at Arizona (-2.5)
In my NFL preview I predicted that the Saints would be surprisingly mediocre…again. I’m just not impressed with any of their running backs, and trading away TE Jimmie Graham was huge. Conversely, the Cardinals are looking for another double digit win season and hope to make an impact in the playoffs as long as QB Carson Palmer stays healthy. I see no reason to go against the grain (or my own predictions) this week. Once again Zach thinks defense is the key to victory and is picking the Cards to stop Drew Brees.

My Pick = Arizona
Z’s Pick = Arizona

Baltimore at Denver (-4.5)
I predicted that the Ravens would take a step back and miss the playoffs in 2015. The talking heads seem to mostly disagree with my assessment. I also said that Peyton Manning’s decline would become more apparent this regular season but then had the Broncos winning the Super Bowl from a wildcard spot. To be honest that’s probably just wishful thinking. I’m a sucker for happy endings and seeing sports legends go out on top. As far as this game goes, Denver has the home field and I think they will indeed defend their house. As a Steelers fan Zach obviously despises the Ravens, and he’s predicting Manning will throw 5 TDs against the Baltimore defense. That’d be fine with me.

My Pick = Denver
Z’s Pick = Denver

2014 Pigskin Picks of Profundity…..Week 11

5-0 baby!! I’m almost positive I’ve never done that before.

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I have to be honest. I was really really down last weekend. My WV Mountaineers snatched defeat from the jaws of victory due to the poor decision making of their drunken head coach, and my undefeated Marshall Thundering Herd were being totally disrespected by the talking heads. I was so bummed after the WVU loss that I just turned my TV off and went to sleep at 7:30pm. The last time I went to bed that early I was in trouble with my parents. I had pretty much made up my mind to break up with sports altogether. After church Sunday I didn’t watch a minute of the NFL on Redzone, and I didn’t even watch my beloved Steelers defeat the hated Ravens on Sunday Night Football. I was prepared to end these picks as well. You see, I am a firm believer in a kind of male menstrual cycle, and as I emailed my friend The Owl Sunday evening, I was “in a very dark place” and felt “as if I could mow thru a crowded room with a machete and laugh like a giddy child.” Thankfully when the gloom overtakes me I know that if I just disengage for a day or two factory settings will be restored and I regain my emotional equilibrium. Not that I’d ever actually hurt anyone anyway. I am far too delicate for prison. I am much more likely, to paraphrase a line from the 2004 rom-com Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, to tear someone to pieces with vicious rhetoric.

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At any rate, I couldn’t abandon these picks, especially after my brilliant prognosticatory ability led me to a perfect record. I can’t let down my nephew Zach or the citizens of The Manoverse. While I was going 5-0 Zach was going 3-2, so for the season I am 30-25 and he is 28-27. There are several great college games this week that…theoretically…should add clarity to this 4 team playoff deal. Or maybe it’ll just become a bigger mess than it already is. For God’s sake I am actually starting to miss the BCS.

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Baylor at Oklahoma (-5.5)
The Big 12 doesn’t have a title game (or 12 teams), but the regular season conference champion might have a decent shot at being one of the chosen four playoff teams. The Sooners are probably on the outside looking in at a three team race between TCU, Baylor, & Kansas St., but they can certainly play the role of spoiler. This is a must win for the Bears and I am a little surprised that they aren’t favored even though they are the visiting team. Oklahoma’s two losses…to the aforementioned TCU & Kansas St…were by a total of 5 points. I’d be surprised if this game is much different, but I’ll roll the dice. Zach doesn’t think Oklahoma has a chance and predicts the game will be over by halftime with Baylor winning by atleast 4 TDs.

My Pick = Oklahoma
Z’s Pick = Baylor

Notre Dame at Arizona St. (-2.5)
The Sun Devils would need a lot of things to go right for them to make the playoff, but an appearance in the Pac 12 title game certainly seems feasible. Meanwhile, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see the Irish jump back into the national championship picture if their only loss is to an overrated Florida St. team that they clearly outplayed on a call that was dubious to say the least. Unfortunately for Notre Dame I think they receive the death blow in this game and will be eliminated from playoff contention. Zach notes that Notre Dame is “good at beating small conference schools”, which I think may be a big ol’ flip of the bird to the Pac 12.

My Pick = Arizona St.
Z’s Pick = Notre Dame

Kansas St. at TCU (-5.5)
This essentially is a de facto Big 12 championship contest. The winner would almost certainly leap into atleast being on the cusp of the playoff. I have watched both teams play this season, and in my opinion it all comes down to coaching. Kansas St.’s Bill Snyder won’t be outcoached the way that West Virginia’s head lush was last weekend. Zach believes that Horned Frogs’ QB Trevone Boykin will win the game with his legs.

My Pick = Kansas St.
Z’s Pick = TCU

Ohio St. at Michigan St. (-3.5)
The Buckeyes are too far down on the totem pole to snag a playoff spot, but they can be spoilers while also securing a spot in the Big Ten (which has 12 teams) title game. Meanwhile, the Spartans are in a dog fight for one of those four playoff spots. A win in this game would certainly help, while a loss would likely be the knockout punch. This is one upset that no one seems to be predicting, so I suppose I will be a trailblazer. Zach has a robust disdain for Ohio St. (no one knows why) and is going with Michigan St. all the way.

My Pick = Ohio St.
Z’s Pick = Michigan St.

Alabama (-6.5) at LSU
Can the Bayou Bengals do it again?? A couple of weeks ago Zach & I correctly predicted the LSU upset of then #3 Ole Miss. LSU is coming into this game well rested after a bye week. The Tide are also coming off a bye, so neither team has the advantage there. ‘Bama just hasn’t seemed to be firing on all cylinders this season yet they are a Top 5 team as usual and have won the last three meetings in this series rather handily. I think the momentum shifts back to the underdogs in 2014 and the game will be decided…one way or another…by 3 points or less. Zach concurs.

My Pick = LSU
Z’s Pick = LSU

2013 Pigskin Picks of Profundity…..Week 14

It’s conference championship week in the NCAA. A couple of the games are virtually meaningless, a couple will decide who plays in a BCS bowl and who plays in a far less interesting (and less lucrative) bowl, and a couple of them will actually determine who plays for the national title. Not a bad weekend…although it’ll be hard to exceed the level of excitement of last week’s games. Speaking of which, I went 5-2, while Zach went 4-3. I’m so glad I rolled the dice on Auburn, although I certainly couldn’t have known it’d play out as it did. Kudos to Zach for picking UCLA and Missouri. Johnny Football really let me down. So for the season we stand thusly:

Myself = 35-33

Zach = 31-37

It’s the last ride for college football…after this everything will be NFL. We might do a bowl pick ‘em kind of deal, but for a variety of reasons it’ll be a simple win/lose thing with no point spreads and I won’t count the results toward the season record. Enjoy this final week feeding frenzy…I know I will.

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Oklahoma at Oklahoma St. (-10)

As a WVU Mountaineer fan it blows my mind that our inept team is the one that singlehandedly eliminated Oklahoma State from national title consideration. Had the Cowboys came into this game undefeated it seems likely that they could have conceivably been ranked ahead of Ohio State and Auburn. They have to be kicking themselves for not taking the lowly Eers seriously (I have an inside scoop that that was the case). Meanwhile the Sooners are likely locked into the Alamo Bowl win or lose. However, all the extracurriculars can be tossed out the window when it comes to these in-state rivalries. They call this one Bedlam and it’s actually grown into an entire series encompassing all the sports played by these two schools. There’s a point system and everything. At any rate this feels like the Cowboys year to dominate their more…decorated…counterparts, and I think they’ll cover the spread. Conversely, Zach…although he can’t quite go so far as to predict the outright upset…believes that the Sooners will raise the bar and make this a close game.

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Texas at Baylor (-15)

The Big 12 doesn’t have a championship game (neither do they have 12 teams) so these two games will decide the title. If Oklahoma St. wins their game they win the conference, but should they fall then the winner of this game would secure the BCS berth in the Fiesta Bowl. Just a few weeks ago I thought the Bears looked like a legitimate national championship contender, but after Oklahoma St. spanked them and then they barely defeated TCU I must admit I was wrong. That’s not to say that they aren’t a very very good team…but they can be beaten. Can the Longhorns achieve that goal?? It would certainly put a nice exclamation point on an odd season in which many thought head coach Mack Brown was about to be canned before winning 7 of the last 8 games. To me this looks like a point spread situation in which Baylor is likely to win but unlikely to cover the points. Zach concurs.

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Utah St. at Fresno St. (-3.5)

I’ll be the first to admit that I know next to nothing about the Mountain West Conference. I didn’t even know they had a title game. I do remember that Utah State won some bowl game last year that I had given them no chance to win. However, one thing I do know is that I picked the Bulldogs 18^th in my pre-season Top 25 and they’ll need to win to secure their spot in the final poll. I can’t abandon them now!! Zach agrees.

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Bowling Green vs. Northern Illinois (-3)

I really enjoy watching MAC football. I wish my Marshall Thundering Herd had never left the MAC. Sure their teams may not be as sexy as teams in the SEC or Pac 12, but it’s just like hitting on a fat gal…give ‘em a whirl because what they lack in natural skill they’ll make up for in effort. This game is being played in Detroit so I hope the conference doesn’t go bankrupt by association. Northern Illinois has a legitimate Heisman candidate in QB Jordan Lynch, who has amassed nearly 2500 yards passing, almost 1800 yards rushing, & 42 touchdowns this season. Compare that with Johnny Manziel’s 3500 passing yards, 650 rushing yards, & 40 touchdowns. Lynch won’t win the award but if he doesn’t atleast get invited to New York for the ceremony it’ll be a darn shame. Proper credit should be given to Bowling Green’s 9-3 record, but I just don’t see any way that the Falcons get the win here, especially since the Huskies have a decent shot at a BCS berth with a victory, likely in the Fiesta Bowl against the Big 12 champion. Zach isn’t as enamored with the MAC as I am but he is also picking Northern Illinois.

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Missouri vs. Auburn (-2)

Auburn pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent memory last weekend on what will likely be remembered as one of the most thrilling plays in college football history. Many folks are saying that they deserve to be #2 over Ohio State. The SEC champion has played in the last 7 national championship games, and it could be 8 if Auburn wins this one and Ohio State loses the Big Ten title game. But let’s not overlook Missouri. They have had a really solid season and would be serious national title contenders if it wasn’t for a double overtime loss to South Carolina. This game is being played on a neutral field at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. One must ponder whether it is a classic trap game for Auburn. Have they spent too much energy basking in the glow of the upset of Alabama while simultaneously arguing the case that they should be ahead of Ohio State?? I think that is entirely plausible and for that reason will predict the mild upset. Zach is still bummed about ‘Bama’s loss and thinks Auburn is more lucky than good. He also believes their luck runs out this week.

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Stanford at Arizona St. (-3)

Has the Pac 12 been really cool to watch this season or what?? Out of the 12 teams I think I have enjoyed games involving atleast 7 or 8. The Sun Devils get the requisite 3 point home field advantage, but that’s really not showing them all that much respect. Stanford’s inexplicable loss to Utah and mid-November defeat at the hands of the surging USC Trojans has really come back to bite them. If even just one of those losses hadn’t occurred they might be…well…probably not much higher on the totem pole than they are I suppose. What those losses really did was knock them just far enough off the radar that a red hot Arizona St. has stolen all the thunder. I say Stanford gets their mojo back, heads to the Rose Bowl, and finishes the season as a Top 5 team. Zach went off on such a passionate tangent about Nick Saban and The Tide that he forgot to pick this game.

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Florida St. (-29.5) vs. Duke

Look, I respect Duke for turning a perpetually blundering football program at a nationally renowned basketball school into a winner at long last. But if I am being honest I don’t really have that high of a regard for the ACC. The Blue Devils beating Memphis, Troy, Navy, Virginia, & Wake Forest doesn’t impress me, and victories over Virginia Tech, NC State, North Carolina, & Miami barely move the scale. Meanwhile the Seminoles have steamrolled thru their schedule like Kirstie Alley in a donut shop. The only hesitation anyone has about Florida St. is whether or not freshman phenom QB Jameis Winston is actually a rapist. The hammer could fall on that situation in the next few weeks…most certainly ahead of the January 6^th National Championship Game. However, there’ll be no legal stuff to impact this contest. Give me Florida State and the points. Shockingly Zach is picking Duke…not because he believes they’ll win but because he doesn’t like the huge point spread. Hey, atleast now I have a reason to pay some attention to this game. I won’t watch it but I’ll pay attention.

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Ohio St.(-5.5) vs. Michigan St.

Anyone who watched Ohio State barely defeat the Michigan Wolverines last weekend knows that those who question the validity of the Buckeyes presence in the national title game over Auburn have a reasonable point. Their defensive effort was more than lackluster. And while Braxton Miller has great feet and is undoubtedly an above average running QB his passing is a bit erratic. Michigan State has quietly had a solid 11-1 season with the only blemish being a mid-September loss at Notre Dame. This game is being played on a neutral field in Indianapolis. My vibe is that the Spartans have all the momentum while everyone has been waiting for weeks for the seemingly overrated Buckeyes to stumble. If Ohio State’s defense plays as poorly against the Spartans as they did against the inferior (atleast for this year) Wolverines then their national championship hopes will fade away. I think that is what a lot of folks are expecting. However, I just cannot imagine that a team that has won 24 straight games…even if they were largely against substandard competition…will allow themselves to fall short now when they are so close to the goal. It may not be the smart or popular pick but The Voices are telling me to stick with Ohio State. Zach seems to have some deep disdain for the Buckeyes and states that…and I quote…”Ohio St. doesn’t have a prayer. Michigan St. by 21.” Well okey dokey then.

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Pigskin profit: Mizzou the title contender no one’s watching (nypost.com)
Picks, Predictions and Prognosis for Every Week 15 Big 12 Football Game (bleacherreport.com)
2013 FBS and BCS Bowl Projections: Week 14 (sidelinemob.com)
Are you ready for Bedlam 2013? (newsok.com)
Stewart Mandel: Bowl Projections: Get ready for a lot of postseason MACtion – SI.com (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
Oklahoma Football: Sooners look to end regular season strong with win at Bedlam (isportsweb.com)
Fiesta Bowl 2013: Date, Time, TV Info, Predictions and More (bleacherreport.com)
Chances of Two Big 12 Teams Earning BCS Bowl Bids Are Slim (bleacherreport.com)
NIU could play Notre Dame in Little Caesars Bowl (rrstar.com)
Get ready for Fresno State or Northern Illinois in Fiesta Bowl (azcentral.com)

Winning & Musing…..Volume 7.12

Okay NBA…NOW you have my attention. As we celebrate Memorial Day summer has unofficially begun, which means baseball, basketball playoffs, and 1100 glorious miles of cars going in a circle really really fast.

Back in January of 2008 I was amongst the plethora of WV Mountaineer fans simultaneously celebrating an improbable Fiesta Bowl victory over the mighty Oklahoma Sooners while also heaping curses upon recently departed coach Rich Fraudriguez. Since Rich Fraud took several of members of his staff to Michigan with him (and just look how well that turned out) the job of leading the team into the lion’s den on that memorable January night had fallen to career assistant coach Bill Stewart. Basking in the afterglow of a huge win, the powers-that-be in Morgantown handed Stewart the full time gig the very next day without conducting any sort of thorough search process. Almost immediately there were those that pegged the hiring as a mistake, but most…including myself…turned a deaf ear to such criticism. However, slowly but surely the chorus grew and even I eventually turned on Coach Stew. Despite the fact that he won 9 games for three straight seasons, it just didn’t seem good enough, especially for a team that had been on the cusp of playing for a national championship before Fraudriguez, in what would prove to be his last game on the Mountaineers’ sideline, screwed the pooch against a lowly 4-7 Pitt team. Over those three seasons there were inexplicable losses to what we fans perceived as inferior opponents like South Florida, Cincinnati, Syracuse, and Connecticut. The team seemed to lack an edge, to not have the killer instinct that great teams possess. And so change was demanded and by 2011 Stew was forced to resign. His greatest strengths as a person were seen as being tremendous weakness for a coach. You see, Stewart was a true blue gentleman, a kind soul…the dreaded “nice guy”. Bill Stewart died last week. He dropped dead on the golf course of a heart attack. He was 59 years old. He left behind a wife and a son in high school. He didn’t seem to be overweight. To my knowledge he didn’t engage in vices like smoking, drinking, or drugs. Who knows why these things happen?? What I am pretty sure I do know is that Stew is now walking the golden streets of Heaven in continuous praise of his Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. Those of us still here will continue to cheer for our team and enjoy each & every victory, but we will do so knowing that no coach can ever duplicate Stew’s unique personality and genuinely benevolent spirit. We have realized…too late…what a tremendous gift he was. Coach Stewart’s motto was “Leave No Doubt”, a mantra to which he lived up. Bill Stewart left no doubt about the kind of person he was, what his priorities were, and his love for his family, his team, his school, & his state. Maybe he wasn’t the best college football coach in the universe, and I’d be willing to bet he understood his place on the totem pole. At the same time, he was seemingly comfortable, confident, and happy with whom he was as a person. We should all be so fortunate. Godspeed Coach Stew, and thanks for being such a shining example.

Kudos to Scotsman Dario Franchitti for winning his 3rd Indianapolis 500. I’m tempted to be envious of a man who not only has drank the milk at the ol’ Brickyard three times but also gets to see the quite fetching Ashley Judd naked whenever he wants. But then I realize that he actually has to live with Judd and hear her ramble on & on & on like a lunatic and suddenly I feel better about my own life.

What is the deal with Detroit Lions DL Nick Fairley?? He was a monster at Auburn, and could form one of the most imposing lines in football alongside Ndamukong Suh, but he has now been arrested two times in two months. The first time Fairley was speeding & smoking pot. The second time he was speeding, got a DUI, and ignored the cops & wouldn’t stop. This is the kind of stupidity that ends careers prematurely, because no matter how talented you are there’s always another gifted athlete just around the corner, so at some point a team will cut a player loose after he embarrasses them too much and refuses to be a mature adult.

For a very brief period of time I was truly convinced that the Indiana Pacers were going to pull off the impossible, that they were going to oust the hated Miami Heat and The Whore of Akron Lebron James in the 2^nd round of the NBA playoffs. The Pacers were up 2-1, Heat star Dwayne Wade was playing more like Dwayne Wayne (alert!! – obscure 80’s TV reference), and the impact of Miami’s Chris Bosh being felled by injury was greater than anyone had imagined. For a couple of days the talking heads seemed unanimously swayed that a cold front was about to end the Heat. Unfortunately for Indiana Wade woke up from his Jimmy Carter-esque malaise and all the sudden…for maybe the first time ever in the playoffs…Lebron James seemed to realize “Hey…I’m Lebron Freakin’ James!!”. So now it is on to the Eastern Conference finals, where I have to rely on the geriatric Boston Celtics to take out the garbage. Let’s just say I’m not holding my breath.

Just in case you were wondering…

My Pittsburgh Pirates are in 3^rd place, 4 games out of the division lead. Not bad for a team that ranks near the bottom in every single hitting statistic. I think the front office has concentrated so much on pitching for the last several years that the system has failed to develop anyone with any kind of pop in their bat outside of Andrew McCutcheon. If they could somehow get ahold of a couple of guys able to hit .300-ish and drive the ball out of the park on a regular basis the Pirates might actually begin to resemble a legitimate team.

More kudos, this time to Kasey Kahne, for winning the annual Coca-Cola 600. As usual I was rooting for my man Tony Stewart, but he just never got it going.

One basketball team that is no longer actively participating in this year’s playoffs is the Los Angeles Lakers. There is much debate about what kinds of changes need to be made to get one of the NBA’s most celebrated franchises back on top. Please allow me to pontificate. First of all, Mike Brown ain’t gonna cut it as a head coach. He failed in Cleveland, and now he’s proven his mediocrity in L.A. Secondly, I don’t care how solid of a player he is, I’d get rid of Ron Artest in a heartbeat. He’s been trouble everywhere he’s landed. Dennis Rodman was an eccentric weirdo…Artest is nothing but a wacked out ghetto thug. And yes, I absolutely refuse to refer to him by the asinine name which he prefers. Next I’d jettison both Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum while both still have trade value (especially the 24 year old Bynum). From what I’ve seen Gasol oftentimes doesn’t play full throttle and can’t be counted on to be the force that a 7-footer really should be. Bynum simply has shown an unwillingness to grow up, plus most of the time he makes Gasol look like a workhorse in comparison. I’d go out and grab now former Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy (unless one could coax Phil Jackson out of retirement), then use Gasol & Bynum to add pieces that’d complement an aging Kobe Bryant. Of course I expect the Lakers will do absolutely none of that.

I’ve grown sort of weary of the whole football/concussion debate. After the unfortunate suicide of former all world linebacker Junior Seau this issue once again became a hot topic, especially after retired QB Kurt Warner said that he might not want his children to play football knowing what we all know now about the injury risks. Predictably tough, crusty, old school players of all ages attacked Warner for insulting the game that had changed his life, providing him a plethora of opportunities and presumably a certain level of financial comfort after he had once been a stockboy at a grocery store in Iowa making minimum wage. As with most things, I have tried to understand both sides of the debate and cannot understand why folks seem unwilling to meet in the middle on this one. On one hand I think it is wonderful that technology & medical science allow us to have a much better understanding of head injuries, and certainly an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. However, football is an inherently dangerous & violent sport. Players understand that and are well aware of the risk. I do not want to see the game watered down by typical PC “good intentions”. As for folks like Warner, I have no problem with him espousing his opinion and raising his children the way he sees fit. After all, it’s still a free country…for now.