Scott Tobias reviews for The Onion AV Club:

Earlier this evening, NPR critic Linda Holmes (@nprmonkeysee) tweeted thusly: “I would sit here and watch five more hours of Winning Time, ESPN’s 30 For 30 airing tonight. At least five more hours.”

That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? Dan Klores’ documentary about the heated mid-‘90s rivalry between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers—made possible by Michael Jordan’s brief, ignominious sojourn into minor league baseball—has been the most hotly anticipated in the 30 For 30 lineup so far, and it more than lived up to the hype.

via “Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks” | 30 For 30 | TV Club | TV | The A.V. Club.

It was an excellent sports documentary. It pulled you back to that time, when Ewing, Miller and other NBA Hall of Famers had a brief time to step out of Jordan’s shadow and make a run for the NBA championship only to run into Hakeem Olajuwon’s Houston Rockets. I am not sure the rivalry would have been as brutal had it not been for the urgency created by Jordan retirement #1.

The 2009 Chargers were a proficient passing team and a poor rushing team. Football Outsiders reviews how teams heaviest on the pass and lightest on the run fare. The answer is pretty good.

You’ll notice that there’s nothing wrong with having a great passing game and a mediocre running game. Every team on this list except the 2008 Chargers had a winning record. The team with a losing record and the biggest gap between passing and rushing was the 2005 Arizona Cardinals (5-11) who had 10.4% DVOA passing (15th) but -30.3% rushing (32nd).

Here’s the other side of the coin, the teams where the running game was far superior to the passing game. You’ll notice that these teams, with the exception of the 2004 Falcons, all have losing records — but part of that is the fact that being better at running the ball doesn’t necessarily mean you are great at running the ball.

via FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | FO Mailbag: Pass-Run Imbalance.

I post this as an Eagles fan because a big debate here in Philly is whether or not the Eagles can win when they run as little as they do (historically under coach Andy Reid its been a 60-40 pass-run ratio). The real fact of the matter is that the Eagles are a productive run team, when they choose to run. And yes they can win passing a lot more than they run (the charts from Football Outsiders are about the efficiency of the run game, not the frequency). The real problem, even the most rational Eagles fans have, is the offensive coaching staff’s seeming unwillingness to run in certain short yardage situations. Some of that changed for a bit last season with the usage of Leonard Weaver and Eldra Buckley as short yardage options. We’ll see what happens going into next season.

Sounds like Iverson is on the same path as Employee #8:

And as the rest of us are forced to bear witness to a disintegration, the rapid decline of a career clearly lacking nurturing, the time has arrived for Iverson’s inner circle to stand up and be counted, to provide some semblance of tough love – by any means necessary.

Unless those people are willing to write his epitaph instead.

Just listening to Gary Moore, Iverson’s business manager and the person he trusts most, they may be doing so very soon.

Allen Iverson is in trouble, folks, deep trouble. The combination of alcohol and gambling – and a once-promising career in tatters because of the first two – won’t culminate in anything short of disaster if help does not arrive in short order.

If numerous NBA sources are telling the truth – and there’s no reason to believe they’d do otherwise in a situation of this magnitude – Iverson will either drink himself into oblivion or gamble his life away.

Moore, ever the protector, would never admit as much, of course. But that’s part of the problem, isn’t it?

Iverson’s wife, Tawanna, having hired some high-powered Atlanta attorney and filed for a divorce last week, does not help matters. Nor does it help that she’s already separated from her husband, with custody of their five kids and seeking both alimony and child support.

When you consider Iverson’s well-known penchant for alcohol and his banishment from casinos in Detroit and Atlantic City, if disgust and sadness don’t come to mind, at least one question does:

Where is Pat Croce when you need him? Or Iverson’s coach at Georgetown, John Thompson?

via Stephen A. Smith: Iverson needs more than a prayer | Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/07/2010.

I don’t think its fair to ask “Where is…John Thompson?”. Thompson’s player graduation rates were higher than average for NCAA Men’s College Basketball. Iverson was an exception and he may be a very awful exception to Thompson’s excellent record as a coach who built excellent basketball teams and built a program where most players ended up with a degree from Georgetown.

I do think its fair to wonder about his posse who is famous in Philly for being always present when Iverson wants to hang out and never present when a tab is due.

In the end, like Antoine Walker, its Iverson’s responsibility. For the sake of his family and kids, if not himself, i hope he can level out his life out before he spirals further into the depths of these addictions.

A lot of talk is circling around college football standout, Rhodes Scholar and NFL hopeful Myron Rolle. Its been rumored NFL scouting staffs have been reticent to rank him high on their draft boards until they figure out where his head is at.

FSU S Myron Rolle. He has been out of football for a year after attending Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. But now he wants his shot at the NFL. He is in the right physical shape — you would be hard pressed to find an ounce of body fat on him. But there are some draft pundits who wonder whether his year off will hurt him simply because coaches want to draft guys who eat, sleep and breathe football. Rolle has grander pursuits in mind.

via Orlando Sentinel – College Gridiron 365 Blog.

Coaches who want academics to be a secondary pursuit to football isn’t new to Rolle.

In a recent interview in Sports Illustrated (SI.com), Myron told reporters he chose Florida State “because it was the only school that was committed to aiding me in reaching my goals as a standout student…” In keeping with tradition, Mr. Rolle has exemplified achievement at every turn in his collegiate career. As an Exercise Science/Biology Pre- Med student, Brother Rolle has maintained a near perfect GPA of 3.75.

via Kappa Alpha Psi Member Named Rhodes Scholar.

But at the NFL level it isn’t necessarily unfair.

The NFL wants players who are smart about football and smart enough off the field. I’ve gotta agree with G.D. at PostBourgie when he says that Rikyrah of Jack and Jill Politics opinion that a white player wouldn’t be scrutinized like this isn’t true.

Tim Tebow is the toast of college football. Every Saturday where he played was an almost unbearable chorus of football analysts professing him a titan among men. He has been for 4 years. Just another strong jawed, quick smile, god fearing, linebacker flattening, “role model”.

During the college offseasons, he didn’t fix what his mechanics, see Tebow has what scouts call a looping throwing motion that is just too slow for NFL play. As a result, the QB that is perfectly fine for college, is the first QB football people doubt can make it in the NFL. Too many people whose paychecks depend on them knowing football thought Tebow couldn’t be a pro quarterback after his college football career and they definitely wouldn’t give him the benefit of the doubt after his Senior Bowl performance. Tebow often summered in the Phillipines to do missionary work with his family. Scouts don’t doubt his dedication to football, he never took a year off, but scouts do wonder about his dedication to being an NFL quarterback. His whiteness nor his Hesiman Trophy have saved him from this criticism.

Rolle has basically had a year off. There will be some basic rust and a learning curve to adjusting to the NFL level of play. The way I see it, Rolle has already showed something by playing high level football while excelling at academics. He demonstrated he could handle reality and life while being a top level football player. Rolle started 3 years at a BCS conference school, graduated early so that he would have a graduate degree within 4 years and be ready to play NFL ball immediately after only one year away. In the NFL, he would not have to deal with academics, but and would be able to focus all of his time on playing football.

A lot of hay is being made over a staff member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, rumored to actually be head coach Raheem Morris, who allegedly asked Rolle, during combine interviews, how it felt to “desert his team” in reference to his year away studying at Oxford.

Former Florida State S Myron Rolle, who spent the last year away from his Seminoles teammates while studying at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, is scheduled to meet with the media tomorrow at the NFL scouting combine.

Should be a cakewalk in light of some of the queries he got at the Senior Bowl.

According to Yahoo!, Rolle was asked last month by a member of the Buccaneers coaching staff how it felt to desert his teammates to advance his studies.

“I hadn’t heard that one before,” said Rolle. “My initial reaction was a bit of confusion. It never was anger, but I was more bothered by the question because if anyone knew my involvement with my teammates, how much they care about me and how much I care about them.”

via Ex-Seminoles S Myron Rolle already fielding tough questions from NFL execs – The Huddle: Football News from the NFL – USATODAY.com.

The Bucs staff alleges that Morris asked Rolle “If he felt like he deserted his team” while studying abroad. Neither version changes the fact that in these interviews, the NFL team coaches and staff want to push prospects off of their interview script or rehearsed answers with unconventional questions. Rolle definitely has the maturity to deal with an off beat interview question and he even notes that the interviewer, Raheem Morris, had pulled him aside at the Senior Bowl and told him he was proud of his accomplishments.

“(Bucs coach) Raheem Morris has been my biggest advocate,” said Rolle.

“I don’t feel any animosity toward the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.”

via Myron Rolle: ‘I don’t feel any animosity toward the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ – The Huddle: Football News from the NFL – USATODAY.com.

Most questions about player commitment get answered at the combine. A player that shows up in good shape and deals with interviews well, by demonstrating football knowledge and desire to play, usually helps answer any doubts regarding their commitment to the sport. Rolle should be drafted in the NFL or he will be a definite free agent post draft signing.

At the last practice before the final Rhodes interview, his teammates gathered around him at practice. They didn’t know what exactly he was interviewing for — some texted him good luck on the “Roads” — but they knew it mattered to their brother. So they all put a hand on him and everyone said a prayer. “Someone asked me, ‘Where do you feel more comfortable, in the locker room at FSU or around the Rhodes scholars?'” he says. “Probably my locker room. We didn’t talk about politics or medicine or world health care or world peace. It was just laughing. Here you got to be on your toes. What do you think about Gadhafi’s speech to the UN? What do you think about the legislation that was passed in Indonesia?”

via ESPN – OTL: The Burden of Being Myron Rolle – E-ticket.

Many retired players talk about how they miss being part of a team when they leave the NFL or college football. It seems Rolle misses his team after his year away from the game and still feels that he belongs on a football field. I would bet his mind is in the right place. He will have an opportunity to prove he is physically in the right place between now and the opening of NFL training camps.

Regardless, he made the right choice in delaying the NFL for Oxford. The real concern is that he doesn’t wreck his body beyond repair playing football and ruin a chance to pursue a career neurosurgery.

Javon Walker spiral downward from being a top flight wide out to also ran began soon after his teammate, Broncos corner Darrent Willaims was shot, and he died in his lap early New Year’s Day 2007. He may not be the only Broncos WR that has trouble coping with Williams murder.

Marshall stated last fall that his disenchantment with playing for the Broncos wasn’t about owner Pat Bowlen not giving him a robust contract, and I believe him. Marshall wants money, sure, but he’d rather get his paycheck from somewhere else.

Marshall also said during Super Bowl week that he has no personal misgivings about Broncos coach Josh McDan- iels, and again, I believe him. It’s true, Marshall didn’t care for the way McDaniels publicly called him out at season’s end, but the former Central Florida star has survived far greater punishment.

“I come from the George O’Leary methods in college,” Marshall said. “And it doesn’t get any tougher than that.”

Used to getting yelled at, then?

“Not just yelled at — degraded,” Marshall said. “You do something wrong, ‘Hey, bear crawl 200 yards. Wake up at 5 in the morning and do this.’ ”

Does that mean McDaniels isn’t a monster?

“No, Josh isn’t a monster,” Marshall said. “Josh is actually easy to talk to, easy to work with.”

A deeper truth about Marshall, though, is he has been left emotionally scarred by Williams’ murder in the wee hours of Jan. 1, 2007. Marshall was with Williams minutes before his Broncos teammate and good friend died almost instantly from a bullet wound to the neck.

via Klis: Williams’ murder big reason Marshall wants out – The Denver Post.

If Marshall seems to fear for retribution this may even explain his holdouts and erratic behavior. If it does, the next question is: is Marshall being actively threatened?

Under the tutelage of none other FOX NFL Sunday analyst and MMA enthusiast/fighter Jay Glazer:

An increasing number of NFL players have turned over the past few years to the field of Mixed Martial Arts to prepare for the grind of the football season.

One of the latest guys to adopt the training regimen is Eagles defensive end Trent Cole. He recently told PhiladelphiaEagles.com that he will be working with FOX’s Jay Glazer.

Glazer has been tutoring various NFL players over the past few years, including Vikings defensive end Jared Allen, Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart, and 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis.

via Trent Cole takes up MMA training | ProFootballTalk.com.

Glazer obviously gets two bonuses from this:

• Access to players. Access that increases his utility as an NFL insider (Pam Oliver, Adam Schefter or John Clayton is not going to be teaching Julius Peppers how to use their hands to better stun a 300 plus pound offensive lineman out of a three point stance anytime soon).
• A budding side business. NFL players are always looking for regimens to make their bodies more resilient and their play more violent. A few more sacks, 10 more tackles and a player becomes a pro bowler, collects bigger signing bonuses on the next contract and riser bonus are triggered in their current contract.

That being said, its a great idea. Martial arts pugilism, wrestling leverage, boxing footwork and core strengthening is great for what a defensive end needs to do to fend off an offensive lineman and disrupt the quarterback.

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, a unique window into a vital chapter of American history that the late Buck O’Neil helped open 20 years ago, could be in trouble.

Attendance and revenues are down, and a decision by new management to distance itself from O’Neil has splintered many of its most loyal supporters.

What’s more, the recession has cut deeply into donations. After posting its first loss two years ago of about US$30,000, the museum is looking at what one staffer termed “a monster loss” that could approach a quarter of a million dollars when the final accounting for 2009 is complete. For a relatively small museum that has always depended on the kindness of others, $200,000 is seismic.

Much of the revenue loss is traceable to a drop in licensing revenue. No one is predicting the museum’s imminent demise, but everyone agrees the trend must be reversed.

“For museums all over the country, dollars are becoming hard to find,” said Greg Baker, who took over as executive director a little more than a year ago. “We are challenged by that. We’ve got to raise money to keep going and if we don’t, we’ll end up closing our doors.”

If it shuts down, the country will lose the only museum dedicated exclusively to black baseball’s unique contribution to American culture and the vital role those men played in the long and painful march toward equality.

via The Canadian Press: Buck O’Neil’s Negro Leagues Museum threatened by discord, financial problems.

Sad news for a museum that chronicles an important part of American history.

I haven’t watched much of the Aussie Open, but this match is turning into a very good battle so far. Federer is attempting to re-establishing his complete dominance of men’s tennis in the wake of Nadal’s body failing him while the Scottsman Murray is trying to win a rare men’s major title for his country and the United Kingdom (the UK hasn’t had a men’s major champion since Fred Perry in 1936).

UPDATE:

Federer is beginning to dominate Murray. Murray has to turn it around in the 2nd set and start to attack or its pretty much a wrap.

Currently 6-3, 3-1 Federer. AD Murray. 3-2 Federer.

Peter King watched New York Jets corner back Darelle Revis as Revis’ team upset the San Diego Chargers Sunday evening.

A cornerback can’t play much better than Darrelle Revis did Sunday.

“We’ve got a ton of respect for Revis,” Philip Rivers told me Friday at the Chargers’ training facility, “but we’re not going to avoid him. We’ll take some shots at him.”

Oh really? Rivers went back to pass 45 times (40 passes, two sacks, three runs after being chased from the pocket), and I charted Revis’ coverage pattern on every one of Rivers’ pass-drops. By my count, Rivers threw four passes into the zone where Revis had primary coverage, or to the man Revis was playing man-to-man. One was complete, to LaDainian Tomlinson, for a loss of four yards. One, to Legadu Naanee, was batted down by a diving Revis on a cross route. One, to Vincent Jackson, a deep pass up the left seam, was overthrown, with Revis and Jackson running stride for stride. And the fourth, to Jackson, was up for grabs between the two, with Revis coming down with a juggled ball for an interception in a spectacular play.

[…]

I don’t care if you’re Deion Sanders or Night Train Lane. Revis put on a clinic, a masterful display of clinging coverage and bump-and-run when the situation called for it.

via Darrelle Revis’ perfect game; ageless Brett Favre; NFL playoffs – Peter King – SI.com.

Charles Woodson got the award on name recognition. Revis removes whoever he is covering from that play, that reciever, whomever it may be, is surrounded by a black hole. Along with coach Rex Ryan’s pressure schemes aka Buddy Ball Jr. and yes Marty ball Jr., its the reason why the Jets are in the playoffs this far. I can’t see them being the Colts, but I thought (and dreaded) that it would be the hated Cowboys vs. Chargers in the Super Bowl.

I couldn’t bear to see another NFC East rival with a shot at the championship. So I made my deal with the devil and cheered Saint Favre the Great against the Cowboys. I don’t have a dog in the race anymore, but I think Jets/Saints would be fun, and Vikings v Colts would be unbearable.

Coates links to Michael Irvin cross hosting w/Philly guy Mike Missanelli on ESPN Radio

The Michael Irvin Show: 1/12

HOF QB Troy Aikman joins the show to talk about Dallas ending the post season drought. Mike, Nate and Kevin simulcast with 97.9 (In Philadelphia) The Fanatic in Philadelphia to rub g…
via The Michael Irvin Show as heard on ESPN Radio 103.3 FM.

Great Soundbite (and I hate to give Michael Irvin props but this was “The U” quality smack right here):

• Michael Irvin to Eagles fan in Dallas named Tyrone: “Tyrone, what they need…is a fan like you! We gonna send you home by yo’ crib, Pack up and GET OUT!, that’s what you do! You pack up and get out and go to Philly wit those losers!”

What kills me is the brazen ignorance of my fellow Philly fan, Tyrone. Tyrone said we need a “Reggie White type of lineman”. They need the reincarnation of the best interior lineman ever to win the championship? WTF. Hold your breath and wait for that clone to be football ready Tyrone. I would rather have the guys we have now be healthier toward the end of the season (namely 3/5 of our offensive line). Because the Eagles o-line couldn’t block, the offense couldn’t run plays, and by extension sustain drives, and our defense played the bulk of the game against one of the best offenses in the league.

Another off season and another long wait for training camp and new hope. Another winter and spring filled with “dump McNabb”. The truth of the matter: McNabb probably stays. Without an extension, heading into an uncapped year, it doesn’t make sense to trade McNabb. He pretty much has all the leverage right now. There are many teams who would take him as he is when he becomes a free agent. He is still a much better than average QB. I think the Eagles front office will try and move Vick, keep Kolb and McNabb as the starter.

Either way, here’s hoping the Cowboys lose.

The NFL universe is buzzing about the Indianapolis Colts resting their players in Week 16 and completely sacrificing the chance to go finish an undefeated season. Bill Polian and coach Jim Caldwell are completely right to say: the goal is to win the Super Bowl and the best thing to do at season’s end is to try to keep their starters as healthy as possible.

The fans were livid. Not only do they want their team to take a shot at being the team that goes 20-0 and by extension a team that becomes the best of all time, if they had tickets for schedule weeks 16 or 17, they got to see Painter instead of Manning. They only have to look at the Patriots, who played starters until Wes Welker blew out his knee and Tom Brady’s go to safety valve WR went from being a guy with league leading 123 receptions to a capable rookie Julian Edelman. I am sure Patriots coach Bill Belichick would have rather had Welker and Edelman to help out Brady and Randy Moss going into this weekends AFC divisional round.

I was in New York the Tuesday (Dec. 28th I believe) after Welker went down for 6 months, and after the Jets had played the Colts’ backups for one of two wins they needed to get to the playoffs and a cabbie was tuned in to sports talk radio as I rode in a taxi from Penn Station to the East Side. The hosts were calling the Jets illegitimate and though the hosts could be wrong, the point was made that the Jets were being man handled by the Colts before Peyton Manning was benched. All of this, along with many other Week 17 duds, left NFL commissioner Goodell with a bad taste in his mouth.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is thinking about creating a special incentive for teams to play their starters in every game of the year even if the last few games of the season cannot change the playoff picture for this team. While NFL starters clamor to not play in pre-season games, are pulled during “garbage time” and an injured starter can be the difference between a team being a playoff contender and missing the playoffs completely (see Brady, McNabb and Palmer season ending knee injuries), he wants to find an incentive to make playoff teams play players in meaningless regular season finales. I doubt he can offer enough money and or resources to make it worth the teams’ or players’ sacrifice. The goal of the regular season is to make the playoffs and the goal of the playoffs is to make the Super Bowl. There is nothing Goodell can do that would be fair and enough to motivate teams to go all out in garbage time.

A quick and dirty way to attempt to create a more meaningful last two weeks of the season matter is to make the last two weeks “rivalry weeks” or only intra-division play. So a typical NFC EAST end of season would be:

• Week 16: Redskins at Eagles, Cowboys at Giants
• Week 17: Giants at Redskins, Eagles at Cowboys

As of week 16, 3 of those teams were in the running for a playoff spot, and I believe all three had to win out for the divisional crown. As it turned out in Week 17, the Eagles could have been 2nd or 6th seed in the NFC, the Cowboys could have been 3rd or 6th. We know how that turned out. It may not have changed the Colts situation, but it may created more meaningful match ups in week 17.

The second reason I think divisional play is good at the end of a season, is that misery loves company. The Browns were the loss that took the Steelers playoff destiny completely out of their own hands. Browns WR/KR/Wildcat QB Josh Cribbs was interviewed after the game and intimated that even though the Browns had a bad record, beating the arch rival Steelers was the next best thing to going to the playoffs for his fans.

Another reason Goodell may be especially pissed is that this makes his plan to extend the regular season look especially stupid. Welker and Charles Grant, a dominating defensive end for the NFC 1st seed New Orleans Saints, went down in meaningless football games in week 17. One less game and both of these teams have these players for the 2009-10 playoffs. One more game tacked on to a long brutal season, who else would have been hurt in a game that didn’t matter?