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Ahh, sweet Football season. I love you so…

Roy is mad about Glenn; Honeymoon over for Phillips regime in lockerroom?
…we almost made it to the first game…

Cowboys strong safety Roy Williams expressed anger over the team's decision to release veteran cornerback Aaron Glenn.

When asked if he talked to anyone in the organization about Glenn's release, Williams said Monday, "Why, I'm just going to be preaching to the choir. It doesn't really matter. They took care of what they had to do, right."

Glenn, a 14-year veteran, was signed Monday by Jacksonville after Dallas cut him on Saturday.

Williams said Glenn was the Cowboys' third-best cornerback.

"Yeah, most definitely, he's a great cornerback for us," Williams said. "I feel that if Terence [Newman] couldn't play, Aaron would be the person that would have started."
Newman is battling a foot injury and his status for the season opener Sunday is in question.

"It's tough man, but that's how it goes," inside linebacker Bradie James said. "I don't know what else to say. Aaron Glenn was a guy who helped me in my development, but you lose those guys. This is my fifth year and this is the nature of it."

Should Newman miss the opener, Jacques Reeves, who has started only one NFL game, will get the start.

"He was a professional, a guy you could learn from," Reeves said of Glenn. "Not just on the field, but off the field."

Glenn, 35, had talked about playing until he was 40 years old, much like his mentor, Darrell Green, who played for the Washington Redskins.

Glenn mentored several players, including then-rookie Patrick Watkins last season. He also talked to players about professionalism in the business world.

"I think that he was an asset for us with his wisdom and his knowledge of the game," Williams said. "The way he took care of all these young players and myself, too, we learned a lot from him. Hopefully now, we can just go off of what he taught us and what we learned from him."

Jacques Reeves ready for the challenge …

Cornerback Jacques Reeves walked into the Cowboys' locker room Monday and was immediately put on an island.

A career backup, Reeves normally saunters in and out undetected.

But with cornerback Terence Newman still hobbled by a plantar fascia tear in his right heel, Reeves couldn't escape the spotlight of possibly being in the starting lineup for Sunday's season opener against the New York Giants.

Reeves, a seventh-round pick in 2004, was initially taken back by the crush of cameras and microphones. But he readily acknowledges the pressure to perform from inside and outside the locker room will be greater Sunday.

"I wouldn't be surprised [if the Giants targeted him]," Reeves said. "People can worry. I have been working hard. I have confidence in myself. I am ready to go."

If the Cowboys didn't have some confidence in Reeves, he wouldn't be in this situation.

Coach Wade Phillips said the Lancaster product has improved in training camp and the preseason.

Reeves enters the fourth and final year of his contract as an unknown commodity. He has one start and 27 career tackles, including only two tackles last season. Phillips summed up Reeves' history as a player who does not give up plays but does not make plays, either.

Clearly, this is not the ideal way the Cowboys wanted to open a season.

Newman hasn't practiced in more than two weeks. Phillips said he didn't know when Newman would be ready to play -- Week 1 or shortly thereafter.

It's bad enough that Newman is the team's best cover cornerback, making him key to the team's pressure 3-4 defense.

But Reeves' inexperience complicates the situation for the Cowboys, who will have to change what they do schematically. They had a veteran alternative in Aaron Glenn, 35, but chose to release him Saturday.

The 14-year veteran Glenn was not only considered to be the team's third-best cornerback behind Newman and Anthony Henry, but he was a team leader.

Newman and safety Roy Williams were among a number of Cowboys to call Glenn personally and vent.

"He was a great cornerback for us. I feel that if Terence wouldn't have been able to play, Aaron would have been that person that started," Williams said. "But somebody is going to have to step up. I have confidence in Jacques because he is on the team."

Another player said Glenn's $1.7 million base salary played a role in the team's decision.

Phillips declined to address Glenn, but intimated that his age and inability to play special teams were factors.

Meanwhile, the season opener is against the loving football family known as the New York Giants. Nothing much going on up there:
Strahan returns finally …

Seven-time Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Strahan reported to the New York Giants on Monday, six days before the season opener.

Ending a holdout that may cost him more than $500,000 in fines, Strahan arrived unobserved at Giants Stadium around 4 p.m., handled some paperwork and met with general manager Jerry Reese and coach Tom Coughlin. He also took a physical and left after 45 minutes, not making himself available for comment.

The 35-year-old Strahan, who held out for more than five weeks and missed all four preseason games while deciding whether to play a 15th season or retire, will practice on Tuesday.

"It's all behind us," Reese said, sitting in his car beneath Giants Stadium. "We're moving forward and getting ready for Dallas."

The Giants have been granted a two-game exemption for Strahan, so he will not count on the 53-man roster. He can be activated any time during that period. The NFL's active sacks leader would be paid his $4 million salary during that period.

"Obviously, we are glad that Michael is back, that he wants to be back and that he wants to continue his playing career," Reese said. "As I have stated several times since the beginning of training camp, Michael Strahan is a Hall of Fame player and we are a stronger team with him."

The Giants fined Strahan $14,288 for each day of his holdout. The fine total was over $500,000 on Friday when his agent announced that he would be rejoining the team.

Tony Agnone also said the team and Strahan reached an agreement to reduce the fine. He would not disclose how much.

Teammates think Strahan will be ready for the opener.

"Considering he's put in seven or eight years more than anyone here, and he's been to more training camps than anyone here, he's fine," veteran receiver Amani Toomer said.

Fellow defensive end Osi Umenyiora said Strahan just has to get used to wearing a helmet and shoulder pads again. He isn't worried about Strahan playing in defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo's new system, noting he got a taste of it in minicamp.

Strahan's future has been the biggest question for the Giants since the team opened training camp in late July. Less than a day before players were to report, Agnone told the club his client would be holding out while he decided whether to play.

The NFL's single-season sacks record holder (22½) missed all of training camp and all four preseason games. Agnone said Friday that Strahan may play more than this season. He is under contract for this year and next.

Tiki keeps ripping …

Tiki Barber says he would still be playing football if the Giants had a new head coach.

The recently retired star running back has used his new memoir to rip Big Blue boss Tom Coughlin, blaming his former head coach for driving him from the game he loved.

"If Tom Coughlin had not remained as head coach of the Giants, I might still be in a
Giants uniform," Barber wrote in his upcoming book "Tiki: My Life in the Game and Beyond," excerpts of which were obtained by the Daily News.

"[Coughlin] robbed me of what had been one of the most important things I had in my life, which was the joy I felt playing football," Barber wrote. "I had lost that. He had taken it away."

Barber has unleashed a steady stream of verbal jabs at his former coach and teammates since he walked off the gridiron in January at the age of 31 to pursue a TV career.

Barber, who landed a regular gig on NBC's "Today" and its upcoming "Sunday Night Football" telecasts, most recently engaged in a war of words with Eli Manning, accusing the young Giants quarterback of not showing enough leadership.

Most of his vitriol in the book is reserved for Coughlin. Though he credits his former coach for helping solve a chronic fumbling problem, Barber believes his on-the-field performance saved Coughlin's job.

"It's a double-edged sword, because as much as Coach Coughlin helped me, I also helped Tom Coughlin," he wrote. Barber says he believes the Giants' win over the Redskins in 2006 - which put them into the playoffs - allowed Coach Coughlin to keep his job.

In last season's final game, Barber rushed for a career-best 234 yards against Washington. The Giants were knocked out of the playoffs the following week in his last game.

He says he came to resent the way he was being treated so much by the end of last season that he decided to quit even though his love for football never waned.

Mack Brown has certainly changed the situation in Ausin …

Texas coach Mack Brown, who is in his 10th season, has overseen the Longhorns' football program long enough to be the longest-tenured coach among the state's Division I-A colleges.

He's also the longest-tenured football coach in the Big 12, a distinction Brown called "a little scary."

"I'm the old guy now. It's really amazing," said Brown, 56, who has coached against 24 different peers in conference matchups since taking over the Texas program in 1998. For the first time, he'll match wits Saturday against TCU's Gary Patterson.
The 6 p.m. contest in Austin features Texas' winningest Division I-A programs since 1999: TCU is 65-22 in that stretch. Texas is 76-14.

Brown, who recently signed a new contract that takes him through the 2016 season, is 94-22 as the Longhorns' coach. He needs six more victories this season to become the first Texas coach to win 100 games in his first decade at the school.

The Big 12 versus Ranked Opponents = not good …last win? Vince Young versus USC in the Rose Bowl….

The Big 12 went 0-14 against ranked, nonconference opponents in 2006. Here's a look:
REGULAR SEASON (0-9)

Sept. 3:
No. 22 TCU 17, Baylor 7

Sept. 9:
No. 1 Ohio State 24, No. 2 Texas 7

Sept. 16:
No. 16 Iowa 27, Iowa State 17
No. 18 Oregon 34, No. 15 Oklahoma 33
No. 20 TCU 12, No. 24 Texas Tech 3
No. 22 Arizona St. 21, Colorado 3
No. 4 USC 28, Nebraska 10

Sept. 23:
No. 8 Louisville 24, Kansas State 6
No. 9 Georgia 14, Colorado 13

BOWL SEASON (0-5)

Dec. 28:
No. 20 California 45, No. 21 Texas A&M 10
No. 16 Rutgers 37, Kansas State 10

Dec. 29:
No. 24 Oregon St. 39, Missouri 38

Jan. 1
No. 10 Auburn 17, No. 22 Nebraska 14
No. 9 Boise St. 43, No. 7 Oklahoma 42 (OT)

This is Ryan Christian , and he scored a Touchdown for TCU on Saturday as a RB, although he is listed as a WR. I believe the injury to Aaron Brown perhaps put Christian in position to get this TD versus Baylor in the 2nd Quarter.

Anyway, the notable item here is that he appears to be a white RB in Division 1 football. Not a fullback, mind you, but a full-fledged RB who gets the ball on a pitch left. Don’t believe it is rare?

Read This: What ever happened to White Running Backs …in fact, click on the link and read the whole story from 2004…

Chicago Bears running back Brock Forsey knew they would come. He and his agent had discussed it on numerous occasions -- Forsey being white and all.

By the time he gouged the Arizona Cardinals for 134 yards in a game last season, Forsey had an idea of what awaited. People would want to ask him about being a white running back -- about what it was like to be the NFL's version of the bearded lady.
Fifty-eight years after the NFL's reintegration, Forsey had become the once-in-an-eon celestial event, a quizzical and momentary rarity in a league spinning on an axis of speed and agility. An anomaly in a sport that in 2004 features no white running backs on active NFL rosters, two white starters among the 117 Division I-A college programs and precious few legitimate I-A prospects in the nation's high schools.

This year, last year, 10 years ago -- little has changed.

That is what had reporters accentuating the pigment of the situation as Forsey sat at his locker last season.

"There were a lot of questions about, 'Is it surprising you came out and had a great game and you're white?'" Forsey remembers now. "I didn't think they'd actually come and throw it out there like that."

Reporters wondered at the irony (and oddity) of Kordell Stewart, a black quarterback, handing off to a white running back. On the other side of Soldier Field, Arizona running back Emmitt Smith, the NFL's career rushing leader, answered a question about Forsey by invoking the name of a Bears icon. A white one.

"You mean Brian Piccolo?" Smith deadpanned.

Through it all, Forsey's agent, Derrick Fox, was fielding offers on his cell phone. It seemed everyone wanted an interview: ESPN, The Sporting News, Chicago talk radio. Fox had seen it coming. "We had talked about it," he says.

Fox's client had given the people something to talk about, if only for a moment. The next week, Forsey carried three times for minus-4 yards in a loss at Green Bay. He didn't get the ball the rest of the season. Order was restored.

"They can't compete with us," says Eric Dickerson, the NFL's all-time single-season rushing leader, who dominated with the Los Angeles Rams during the 1980s. "The black athlete, especially at that position, is faster, more elusive. That's just a position made for agility.

"That's kind of like our chosen position."

As brash as Dickerson sounds, statistics are on his side:

Since Craig James ran for 1,227 yards and was voted to the Pro Bowl in 1985, 95
running backs have combined for 235 1,000-yard rushing performances over those 18 years. None has been white.

While minorities make up more than 70 percent of the NFL, running back is even more exclusive. In 2003, 98 percent of the NFL's running backs were minorities. The NFL kicked off the 2004 season Thursday night, but today marks the traditional opening weekend, and none of the 32 teams has a white tailback as a first- or second-teamer. Forsey? He was cut last week by the Bears.

A white running back hasn't led the NFL in rushing since Green Bay's Jim Taylor ran for 1,474 yards in 1962 or been drafted in the first round since Penn State's John Cappelletti was chosen 11th overall by the Rams in 1974.

There are 117 colleges playing Division I-A football in 2004, and none was scheduled to start a white tailback this weekend. Two schools -- Nevada, with Chance Kretschmer, and UAB, with Dan Burks -- have starting white tailbacks who are injured. Kretschmer, who rushed for 1,732 yards and 15 touchdowns as a freshman in 2001, received no scholarship offers and attended Nevada as a walk-on. Burks was a star high school player in Birmingham who was thought to be too slow to play for any "major" school.

With the State Fair arriving soon, Time to Deep Fry Cookie Dough …

After some people complained last year that Abel Gonzales Jr.'s Fried Coke creation just didn't taste enough like cola, the State Fair of Texas concessionaire vowed to return to the fairgrounds this year with a new fried treat that explodes with undeniable, greasy goodness.

And he's done it, at least according to the judges at the third annual Big Tex Choice Awards, where the best new foods of the upcoming fair are first introduced to the hungry world each year. Judges on Monday chose Mr. Gonzales' Texas Fried Cookie Dough as the best tasting among the new fair foods at their Fair Park contest.

"This year, I decided I was going to make something that really tasted good to me, and I really like this cookie dough," Mr. Gonzales said soon after being given his trophy, an Oscar-esque statuette with a Big Tex plastic head glued on top.

A panel of local celebrity judges picked the Fried Cookie Dough – a chocolate chip, pecan and coconut cookie base that's battered and fried – from among seven competitors.

Email:

Bob:

I am a longtime P-1 and fan of BaD radio, though I literally never listen (due to work). Your blog is part of my daily internet routine.

My brother in law, Rick Henry, attended the casting call at Stonebriar Mall for The Tontine reality show. You may recall doing a remote at the casting call and talking to "Boston Rob" about the show. Rick was asked to submit a video to YouTube to explain his qualifications for the show. Among Rick's qualifications: he was Forrest Gump before there was a Forrest Gump -- he ran from Chicago to L.A. and ran 26 marathons in one month.

Supposedly contestants on this show are asked to risk everything they own to be on the show. In other words, if you aren't the last one standing at the end of the show, you lose everything. Rick and his wife, my sister in law, are willing to risk it all despite that she is 6 mos pregnant. Is this crazy? Yes. But, this is precisely the type of train wreck television we all enjoy watching.

Rick needs help getting the word out to watch and comment on his video. As a favor to a good P-1, would you mind embedding the video into your blog? Here is the link:



Additionally, if you have any desire talking to Rick about his video or his desire to risk it all in front of a national television audience, please let me know and I will make it happen.
Thank you, Sturminator.

Court Smith
Frisco, Texas

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This one from someone who found a pre-draft Bobby Carpenter scouting report:

Doesn’t sound like a high draft pick

Bobby Carpenter LB 6’3 255 Ohio St.
By: Robert Davis

Bobby Carpenter is a part of arguably the best linebacking group in the country. He teams with A.J. Hawk and Anthony Schlegel to form the heart and soul of the Ohio St. team this season. As a sophomore in 2003, Carpenter played in a part time role, but still managed to finish the year with 37 tackles, 6.5 for loss, and 4.5 sacks. In his first year as a starter in 2004, he was in on more plays, tallying 93 tackles, 6.5 for loss, 2 sacks, and 3 interceptions. As a senior this past season, Carpenter tallied 49 tackles, 10.5 for loss, with eight sacks.

Carpenter is a jumbo linebacker at the college level. You do not see too many 250+ linebackers that are quick enough to play in space. But Carpenter can. He is a good athlete, moves around the field fluidly, and closes very well on the ball. He plays hard on the field, and does not shy away from contact. He is strong and can take on a block, get off and bring down the ball carrier.

There isn’t much to not like about Carpenter. He may not be the 6’3 listed, but that’s being picky. Even though he is a good athlete, he does not always display it in coverage. He can have trouble when isolated in space. Carpenter will also need to have his ankle examined. His season ended early on in the Michigan game after breaking his ankle.

Bobby Carpenter doesn’t have the upside of a lot of the linebackers in this draft, but he looks like a safe bet to be a solid NFL linebacker. As long as his ankle checks out fine - and it should - Carpenter will be a Day One selection and should move on to a successful NFL career.

Ohio State Fans seem to like Appy State.



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