A Couple of Football Thoughts - and One Golf Thought

You have got to hand it to the National Football League's PR machinery. They are killing us with this "the NFL is back" slogan, and it looks like people are buying into it. Need I remind you that IT NEVER ACTUALLY WENT AWAY. The lockout forced by the greedmongers who run the NFL has not forced us to mass any actual, you know, football games.

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Oh, one game was missed, and that was the Hall of Fame Game in Canton. Peter King suggested in his MMQB column yesterday that it would be a nice gesture for the NFL to kick in $1,000,000 to the Canton, Ohio Chamber of Commerce to make up for the loss of that game. It was the businesses of Canton that really took the hit for the cancellation of this game. Would be shocked if the NFL bigdomes parted with any of their dough for the poor suckers in Canton, though.

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College football has kicked off here in western PA with the opening of training camps for Pitt and Penn State.

Pitt is all charged up over the introduction of Todd Graham's "high octane football." Pitt has even opened a highoctanefootball.com website. Now, I hope that this comes to fruition, and that the Panthers can steamroll through the Big East. However, should this not come to pass, the phrase "high octane football" has the potential to backfire and be thrown into Pitt's face much like the Pirates' incomprehensible "We Will" slogan of a few seasons back.

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Joe Starkey hit the nail on the head the other day in a column that gave kudos to Graham and to new WVU coach Dana Holgorsen for both saying that they fully intended to win the Big East in 2011, and I agree with Starkey on this. Compared to Dave Wannstadt always playing down the expectations going into every season, this stance of both new coaches is refreshing. Of course, when you say you're going to win your conference, you leave yourself wide open to criticism if you don't win. Still, good for Graham and Holgorsen on this front.

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In the central part of the state, the big news is Joe Paterno getting leveled by a player during a practice session, and sustaining "minor" fractures in the arm and pelvis. However, when you are 84 years old, is there really such a thing as a "minor fracture"? This could be a fascinating story to watch play out.

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OK, I said one golf thought. What did you think of caddy Steve Williams pronouncing that carrying the bag for winner Adam Scott this past weekend was the "best week of my life" and the "best win of my 145 wins" on the PGA Tour? Many took this to be, as Williams no doubt meant it to be, a huge "F-You" to Tiger Woods. To this I will say the following:

• Of those 145 wins, how many shots did Williams actually take? I believe that the answer to that is zero.


• When was the last time you ever saw a caddy being interviewed?


• I wonder what Scott thought about Williams taking such credit for his, Scott's, victory.


• In the years that Williams caddied for Woods, he earned, it is estimated, over $9 million and scored that Valvoline endorsement he wears on his shirtsleeve, for carrying Woods clubs and saying things like "I think an 8-iron is the shot here, Tiger." If he now feels the need to extend the middle finger to Woods right now, then perhaps Tiger was right in firing him a few weeks ago.

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One more golf thought, going into the final round on Sunday, two names sitting in the back of the pack at +1, thirteen shots off the lead, were Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Yikes!!