Can I Get A Do-Over?

When you are a promising young player from a family with a historically good pedigree it seems impossible to mess up your career, doesn’t it? I mean, your father was a legend at Ole Miss and a successful pro. Your older brother might go down as the best quarterback to ever play the game. Seems like you got it made in the shade. And actually, you had it made in the San Diego shade, but you didn’t want to play there. You wanted to play anywhere but there because you felt that organization didn't run things so well (3 years after it dealt you away they were 14-2 and coming off its second AFC West Championship). So you demanded to be traded before you signed a deal with the Chargers and here you are in New York. Smart move. You demanded a trade from a city that barely booed Ryan Leaf to a city that launches the boobirds at Alex Rodriguez relentlessly. You are Eli Manning and it looks like you made a big old mistake on draft day three years ago.

It began to be floated around last year that Eli Manning made a large mistake on draft day 2004. But now with Tiki Barber retired I think about how his decision seems to get worse by the minute. He could be handing the ball off to LaDanian Tomlinson, perhaps the best football player ever, instead, he’ll be handing off to Brandon Jacobs (who?) if the Giants don’t land a back in the draft or make a trade.

Not to mention the fact that the Eli deal has made the Chargers into one of the premiere teams in the league. They not only landed current quarterback Phillip Rivers but also the most disruptive defensive player in football in Shawne Merriman in return for giving up Manning. (Merriman came from the 2005 pick the Giants dealt the Chargers to get Manning).

And then I heard the most awful words that I could hear for the sake of Eli Manning the other day. An ESPN analyst (and I’m not sure who because I wasn’t paying that close of attention) said, “the Giants offense is squarely on Eli’s shoulders.” Not exactly what you want to hear in New York when you have a career 73.2 passer rating.

I’m not saying that Eli is bad at all. He has a lot of potential and a great chance to be something, but I don’t think New York is the best place for him to try to do that. In New York they boo the guy that is the reigning AL MVP after he strikes out once, that guy might be the best baseball player to lace them up. If they can boo him, I have no doubt they will be quick to boo an average quarterback for making average mistakes.

Hindsight, for right now, says Eli made a bit of a mistake. If only we could get do-overs in real life.

Observing Oregon

One thing some of you may not know about yours truly is that I have always had an eye for sports uniforms. They fascinate me. I like to see the changes, I like to see which ones look cool and which ones look hideous. It is just an interesting part of the game. I enjoy that side, the more casual side, almost as much as I enjoy the games. (And sometimes, like in the case of the NHL, I enjoy the seeing the uniforms more than I enjoy the game.)

Anyway, as I was watching the Sweet Sixteen games this evening, something hit me. Nike's founder and CEO Phil Knight graduated from Oregon back in the day, and recently he has turned Oregon's football team into his pet uniform project. They have received new uniform combinations in just about all of the last four seasons. And they have grown more bizarre with each entry, but I do admit that some combinations look cool, and the set they had about four years ago was awesome.

What this relates to is the Oregon basketball team. I don't understand why they haven't had the same treatment as the football team. Is Knight just not a basketball fan? I don't know. Don't get me wrong, Oregon basketball still has some pretty snazzy uniforms, but, unlike the football team, they are not the only team with that template. Uniforms tend to go in a template trend, where there are a few patterns and team choose which one they like and the manufacturer puts the colors in the right places. No other college football team sports the same template Oregon does, but some college basketball teams do have the same one as the Ducks do.

What I am really surprised about it that Nike just unveiled a new type of basketball uniform, but Oregon was not one of the schools to receive it. Syracuse, Ohio State, Florida and Arizona were the four teams that were recipients of Nike's new "System of Dress" uniforms. You may have noticed, but these uniforms have very tight, Under Armour-like, tops combined with extremely baggy shorts.

I don't understand why Oregon wasn't included in this new Nike revolution. But I would keep an eye out for them to be wearing some snazzy new uniforms on the hardwood in the near future. Especially if their basketball team continues to win this March. Oregon is already in the Elite Eight. Would a Final Four berth be enough for Knight to have his designers drum up something special for the Ducks?

And this is a link to the new basketball uniforms incase you have not noticed them on TV. http://www.systemofdress.com/

Not Raining on My Parade

You know what's a great feeling?

After being holed up in a classroom, without any windows to daydream out of, being able to walk outside of the building said classroom resides in and notice that it has rained. Not is raining, but has rained while you were inside. I think this feels wonderful. Somebody out there got rained on in the last hour, but not me.

When on a college campus, rain presents a medium to large sized problem. Classes are often a long walk away. And even if they are a short walk away, you still have to go outside, and you are still going to get wet. And who wants that? Nobody. It isn't like high school where everything is in the same building and you might get wet once walking in and once walking out at the end of the day (although rain usually doesn't last for eight straight hours). In college you can get rained on going in, rained on going out, rained on going in again, coming out again, waiting for the bus, walking to your car....

I'd put missing out on getting rained on in the Top 100 or so great feelings. Not the greatest, not even close to the greatest, but it is something that can brighten an otherwise dreary, desolate, overcast, off and on showers kind of day.