Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
A Little Rocky
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| Petrino's injuries were evident in his news conference last week. |
Just days after announcing he would be taking an indefinite, but paid leave of absence, Petrino was fired Tuesday by the University's athletic director Jeff Long. This is just the aftermath of irresponsible relationship.
Petrino, 51, was involved in a motorcycle accident back on April 1, suffering numerous injuries that caused him to be hospitalized. However, he wasn't riding alone that Sunday evening on Highway 16.
Former Arkansas All-SEC volleyball player Jennifer Dorrell was also involved in the crash, but Petrino tired to hide her presence in what Long called "knowingly misleading" the university. Dorrell, 25, had been hired by Petrino just days earlier to be the student-athlete development coordinator, but was also engaging in an inapporiate relationship with the now-former Arkansas head football coach.
At one point, Petrino also gave Dorrell $20,000, but it hasn't been disclosed what exactly it was for. Her job status has yet to be addressed.
As for Petrino, his coaching career begin in 1983 as a graduate assistant at Carroll College in Montana. He spent 15 years in college football before Tom Coughlin hired him to the his quarterback coach in the NFL, joining the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1999.
After serving as the quarterbacks coach for two seasons, Coughlin promoted Petrino to the team's offensive coordinator, calling him an "offensive mastermind". But after the team finished last in the AFC Central at 6-10, Petrino headed back to the college game. He spent one year as the offensive coordinator at Auburn until he landed his first head coaching job at Louisville.
In his four seasons as a Cardinal, Petrino accumulated a 41-9 record, but was offered a job to return to the NFL, this time as a head coach, and ran with it.
On Jan. 7, 2007, the Atlanta Falcons made Petrino their 13th head coach in franchise, bringing him in to add to then-quarterback Michael Vick's already electric and dynamic ability. However, that failed before it even got started.
Prior to the start of the 2007-08 season, Vick was suspended indefinitely by the NFL for violating the league's conduct policy for his involvement in a dog fighting scandal.
Petrino was doomed from the start.
With the team floundering in the NFC South at 3-10 through the team's first 13 games of the season, Petrino abruptly resigned and took the head coaching job at Arkansas.
Considering the Razorbacks lost all three of their running backs (Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis) to the 2008 NFL Draft and prior to his arrival, Petrino's career at Arkansas was pretty good, continuing to win and live up this "offensive mastermind" nickname. He watched quarterback Ryan Mallett break school records, made Tyler Wilson a first-team All-SEC quarterback and the main reason why Arkasnas' offense has had the top passing attack in the SEC the last three seasons.
Petrino won 34 games during his four year stay in Fayetteville, including a 21-5 record the last two seasons.
This last season, Arkansas finished the year 11-2 after defeating the Kansas State Wildcats in the 2012 Cotton Bowl. Both of Petrino's two losses this season came at the hands of conference rivals and teams that played in this year's BCS National Championship Game, Alabama and LSU.
Those accomplishments have now been wiped way and find Petrino without a job -- a job he thought he'd have for long time after he signed a seven-year extension in Dec. 2010.
Long has said Petrino was fired "with cause", making his departure not a costly one. In other words, the University will not need to give Petrino a multimillion dollar buyout.
In the end, this is just another black eye of the NCAA.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Season Preview: National League Division Winners
Beach. Desert. Whenever your team has been the last month, it doesn't matter anymore with Opening Night upon us. With the American pastime back and playoff twist, it's time to crown a champion before a pitch has even been thrown.
National League West: Los Angeles Dodgers
It's not upstart to think the Dodgers could win this division. Los Angeles is only two years removed from back-to-back National League Championship appearances -- both in which they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games.
After struggling the first 92 games (41-51) of the season in 2011, the Dodgers showed a glimpse of the future and rallied for first-year manager Don Mattingly, going 41-28 in the second half and finishing third in the NL West at 82-79.
Last season, the team road the bat and arm of Matt Kemp and Clatyon Kershaw, respectively. And will have to do the same this season if they are to get back to October.
Kemp finished second in the NL Most Valuable Player voting after one of the best offensive seasons in baseball history. Flirting with the NL Triple Crown most of the year, Kemp fell eight points short of becoming the first NL player to earn that honor since Joe Medick did so in 1937. However, Kemp led the NL with 39 home runs and 129 runs batted in.
With Andre Ethier in a contract year, the re-signing of Juan Rivera, a healthy Juan Uribe and James Loney coming off a second half in which he hit .320, the Dodgers offense should be much better in 2012.
On the mound, Kershaw became the Dodgers modern day Sandy Koufax, baffling hitters all season long. The 24-year-old left-hander took the next step a year ago, becoming one of the game's most premium pitchers and learned the value of throwing first pitch strikes. After walking 81 batters in 2010, Kershaw nearly cut that total in half last year, issuing just 54 free passes.
He led the NL in wins (21), earned run average (2.28) and strikeouts (248), winning the NL pitching Triple Crown and ultimately landing him his first career Cy Young Award. It was the first 20-win season by a Los Angeles pitcher since 1990 (Ramon Martinez).
And while Kershaw needs a repeat performance, right-hander Chad Billingsley holds the key to the rotation's success and needs to get over his recent second half woes. Over the last three seasons, Billingsley has come out of the gate strong, but has fallen back at the finish. During that time, Billingsley is 24-15 in the first half, but only 11-18 after the All-Star Break.
Los Angeles needs him to put together a full season like he did in 2008. The the injection of youth at the back end of the bullpen of Kenley Jansen and Javy Guerra leads late look to be secure.
Remember, this is the same division that saw the San Diego Padres be at the forefront until the final day of the regular season before the San Francisco Giants shocked everyone to overtake San Diego and ride the wave all the way to a World Series title. Nobody picked Kirk Gibson's Arizona Diamondbacks last year. So, why not the Dodgers this year?
After all, there will be magic in the air.
National League Central: Cincinnati Reds
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