NewChief
12-21-2006, 10:48 AM
I read this article this morning, and I couldn't help thinking that this guy might be auditioning for a job with the Chiefs
http://nwarktimes.com/nwat/Sports/48408/
KNOCK ON WOOD : Armchair quarterbacks making mountains out of molehills
Terry Wood sports@nwarktimes.com
The wisdom of the way Houston Nutt has opted to deploy his quarterbacks will be debated from now until Jan. 1 when No. 12 Arkansas faces No. 6 Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl. That’s the way things are today. No decision goes unquestioned or unchallenged by those of us in the peanut gallery. We have eyes, ears and opinions and our egos tell us that our thoughts and decisions are as well-informed and on the mark See WOOD, page A 11 as anyone’s, no matter who makes the call.
Even though none of us have seen a complete practice in weeks, months or in some cases at all this season, we have a much more clear view of the situation than the men who actually conduct the practices.
By gosh, we played the game in the back yard or in junior high or high school or maybe even a little bit in college.
If not that, we’ve bought tickets, watched a ton of games on TV or at least tuned in the radio broadcast enough to know it all.
Better still, we own radios and listen to the talks shows, and we have computers with a high-speed wireless connection.
Heck, most of us can type, some of us without having to look at the keyboard.
We also have PlayStations and Xboxes where we can coordinate an offense like nobody’s business. And defense, well, who worries about defense when you can beat the computer by outscoring it.
All of that makes us experts, and the fact that we’re American gives us the right to stand in judgment of anyone about anything.
Man, we’ve got it going on.
We certainly know more about football than the guys who have made it their life’s work.
If only we had decided to be coaches and Frank Broyles had been astute enough to hire us, then the Razorbacks would be rolling in national championships in every sport, not just track and cross country.
If only...
Excuse my diatribe — or not — but I’ve about had it with the know-it-alls, whose crystal ball gives them the perfect vision of hindsight.
As this football season, which has been dominated by rumors, innuendoes and fairy tales like no other, comes to a close, I had to unleash a bit of frustration that has been building throughout the year.
While I know they are gone, I long for the days when we enjoyed sports on a more innocent but less naive level.
Instead of simply enjoying the competition between the lines, we’ve drowned ourselves in the lives of 18-year-olds or the lives we imagine for them.
We’ve turned college ath letics into some freak soap opera that we so desperately want to join but can’t.
Despite the fact we can’t play or coach, we attempt to insert ourselves into the game or the storyline — as they call it on TV — any way we can.
And when the facts of situation aren’t to our liking, we conspire to change them by injecting our own bit of fiction into the mix with supposition and conjecture.
If there is not a problem, we’ll create one. And if there is a problem, we’ll attempt to feed it until it takes on King Kong proportions.
The fact of Arkansas’ quarterback situation is that Nutt believes both Casey Dick and Mitch Mustain have earned the right to quarterback the team in the Capital One Bowl.
He’s affording both the opportunity to do so with Dick starting because of seniority and Mustain getting a chance during the third series.
That’s the story in a nutshell, but I’m sure there are more than a few conspiracy theories out there that are ready to overrun the Razorback Nation like bad batch of kudzu.
Terry J. Wood is the sports editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times.
http://nwarktimes.com/nwat/Sports/48408/
KNOCK ON WOOD : Armchair quarterbacks making mountains out of molehills
Terry Wood sports@nwarktimes.com
The wisdom of the way Houston Nutt has opted to deploy his quarterbacks will be debated from now until Jan. 1 when No. 12 Arkansas faces No. 6 Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl. That’s the way things are today. No decision goes unquestioned or unchallenged by those of us in the peanut gallery. We have eyes, ears and opinions and our egos tell us that our thoughts and decisions are as well-informed and on the mark See WOOD, page A 11 as anyone’s, no matter who makes the call.
Even though none of us have seen a complete practice in weeks, months or in some cases at all this season, we have a much more clear view of the situation than the men who actually conduct the practices.
By gosh, we played the game in the back yard or in junior high or high school or maybe even a little bit in college.
If not that, we’ve bought tickets, watched a ton of games on TV or at least tuned in the radio broadcast enough to know it all.
Better still, we own radios and listen to the talks shows, and we have computers with a high-speed wireless connection.
Heck, most of us can type, some of us without having to look at the keyboard.
We also have PlayStations and Xboxes where we can coordinate an offense like nobody’s business. And defense, well, who worries about defense when you can beat the computer by outscoring it.
All of that makes us experts, and the fact that we’re American gives us the right to stand in judgment of anyone about anything.
Man, we’ve got it going on.
We certainly know more about football than the guys who have made it their life’s work.
If only we had decided to be coaches and Frank Broyles had been astute enough to hire us, then the Razorbacks would be rolling in national championships in every sport, not just track and cross country.
If only...
Excuse my diatribe — or not — but I’ve about had it with the know-it-alls, whose crystal ball gives them the perfect vision of hindsight.
As this football season, which has been dominated by rumors, innuendoes and fairy tales like no other, comes to a close, I had to unleash a bit of frustration that has been building throughout the year.
While I know they are gone, I long for the days when we enjoyed sports on a more innocent but less naive level.
Instead of simply enjoying the competition between the lines, we’ve drowned ourselves in the lives of 18-year-olds or the lives we imagine for them.
We’ve turned college ath letics into some freak soap opera that we so desperately want to join but can’t.
Despite the fact we can’t play or coach, we attempt to insert ourselves into the game or the storyline — as they call it on TV — any way we can.
And when the facts of situation aren’t to our liking, we conspire to change them by injecting our own bit of fiction into the mix with supposition and conjecture.
If there is not a problem, we’ll create one. And if there is a problem, we’ll attempt to feed it until it takes on King Kong proportions.
The fact of Arkansas’ quarterback situation is that Nutt believes both Casey Dick and Mitch Mustain have earned the right to quarterback the team in the Capital One Bowl.
He’s affording both the opportunity to do so with Dick starting because of seniority and Mustain getting a chance during the third series.
That’s the story in a nutshell, but I’m sure there are more than a few conspiracy theories out there that are ready to overrun the Razorback Nation like bad batch of kudzu.
Terry J. Wood is the sports editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times.