scott cordischi

Missing the Score!

2009-01-11T11:09:00.000-08:00

If I had a dime for every person who has come up to me over the last 9 months telling me how much they miss the Score, I'd be rich! Every day I run into people who say that they miss the Score and that they used to listen every day which confirms my belief that the "buzz" for the Score far exceeded the quarterly ratings. I truly believe that many more people listened to the Score than the arbitron rating reflected. However, we did a poor job of branding the Score the way EEI has branded their station.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we had the same amout of listeners as EEI. But I believe that most sports fans in southern New England listened to both. In fact, many that have approached me in recent months tell me how they can't listen to EEI for a variety of reasons.

The common theme that I hear from people in RI and southeastern Mass is that the absence of the Score has left a huge void. Local college hoops talk is non-existent during the week. Caller-friendly sportstalk is also non-existent on weekdays. Many sports fans can't stand the constant political discussion in the morning or the shouting over one another in the afternoon. It's too bad because the Score was a nice alternative.

I know that I wrote this in my blog many months ago but it's worth repeating. There were things that EEI did that we could not compete with. Having Schilling, Francona, Bellichick, Cassel, etc. was impossible to compete with. I'm a New England sports fan and I want to hear what those guys have to say many times.

Where I thought we did well was tackling the important local and national sports issues with common sense and in a caller-friendly, easy to listen to manner.

Oh well!

I still believe that a local sports radio station in RI can work. Will it be #1 in the ratings? Probably not. But many people would listen to it and you could operate it at a profit.

Hopefully, there will be one sooner rather than later.

Scott

Hoops/Football/Misc.

2008-11-16T11:14:00.000-08:00

A few thoughts on what's happening locally in sports:

-College hoops is underway and PC and Rhody fans can't be thrilled about their season-openers. The Friars shouldn't lose to Northeastern no matter who the coach is! Maybe Tim Welsh's coaching wasn't the problem after all. It underscores the point that players need to make plays and the Friars didn't make enough of them Saturday night while the Huskies did. Maybe we are all guilty of overrating the talent on this Friars team. There are certainly flashes of brilliance from all of them at times, but not consistently. They can put it together and drill a good team like UConn on the road and lose to a team like Northeastern. that's maddening!

-As for URI, you all know how much I LOVE the Brown Bears, but Rhody (and any A-10 team) should be able to handle Brown (and any Ivy League team) no matter where the game is played. This was certainly not the case Friday night at the Ryan Center. Brown out-played URI for most of the game and deserved to win. Don't believe me? Read Jimmy Baron's comments after the game. Brown's inability to hit more freethrows and once official who made numerous terrible calls against the Bears prevented them from pulling off the upset. What was disturbing to me about Rhody was their undisciplined offense at times. Kaheem Seawright should NOT be spotting up for 19-foot jumpers.......period! It is also clear that the Rams have alot of work to do on improving their defense which helped lead to their collapse last year. Repeat after me, "it's a process!"

-In regard to Brown, I had no expectations entering the season given the fact that the Bears lost two first team All-Ivy guards to graduation in Mark McAndrew and Damon Huffman which accounted for about 50% of their offense last year. Add to that a new coach and a new system and I honestly did not know what to expect. If the Rhody game is any indication, I would conclude the following: 1.) Jesse Agel can flat out coach! He did a tremendous job preparing his team for URI and with his in-game coaching. 2.) The Bears should have a solid season overall and, particularly, in the Ivy League. Their starting 5 is experienced and there are a couple of guys who can contribute off the bench. Most of all, these kids know how to win and are not intimidated when they take the court against anyone. I am very excited about the upcoming season!

-As for college football, I hope we see a BIG crown at Brown Stadium this Saturday when the Bears play for the Ivy League title. Phil Estes is on the cusp of leading his team to a 3rd championship in his 11-years at the helm. Considering that Brown had won only 1 Ivy League title prior to Estes taking over, I think I can safely say that he is clearly the best coach in the history of the program! Brown hosts Columbia and 12:30 Saturday. It is fun, affordable entertainment and a great family atmosphere at Brown Stadium. plus, how many times do we get to witness a college or pro team winning a championship? Here's your chance!

-Now to the Patriots. I admit that Matt Cassel has been much better than I expected since taking over for the injured Tom Brady. Kudos to him. And kudos to the Patriots for playing well in the reigning MVP's absence. However, the loss at Indianapolis and to the Jets at home both hurt! Winning the division will be tough because the Jets have a better division record and, thus, hold the tie-breaker. If the Pats are to win the AFC East, a win in Miami next Sunday is a must! As for winning a wild card spot, that won't be easy either. Indy, for one, holds a tie-breaker over the Pats courtesy of their head-to-head win. So does San Diego. This may also be one of those years where 10-6 doesn't get you into the playoffs. We'll see!

-The Celtics look like they are more than capable of defending their NBA title. And are there any Paul Pierce haters still out there or have you finally come around to my way of thinking? I have said for years that he is one of the greatest Celtics of all-time and would make my all-time Celts starting five. The Truth can flat out play!

Many apologies for not keeping up!

2008-10-29T08:12:00.001-07:00

It has been a long time sice I updated the blog and I sincerely apologize! While it has been a busy time in my life for a variety of reasons, I still could have taken a few minutes to update my blog. Sorry!

Since I last blogged, nothing much has changed. I'm still doing the Saturday morning show on WPRO from 9-11:45am. I am also hosting a 1-hour Patriots show on AM 790 from 6-7pm on Monday nights as well and doing the Brown football and men's basketball games on AM 790.

As you all know, the economy is terrible right now and unemployment is higher here in RI than in any state across the country. Because of that, it is not an easy time to be looking to change professions.

As I have said before in previous blogs, I love talking sports for a living and would still consider doing it full-time if the opportunity presented itself locally. However, my family has put it's roots down here in RI and we would prefer to stay here which is one of the reasons I am looking for something outside of the radio biz. In addition, the lack of job security in the radio/TV/print business is another reason I am looking elsewhere.

Ideally, I could find a full-time job doing something that I like and still keep my hand in the broadcasting business on a part time basis. I have given alot of thought about getting into athletic administration and would LOVE to work for a university like Brown because of my relationship with the school, these jobs are somewhat scarce and I do lack the "experience" for them. I placed the word experience in quotations because I believe that alot of people can do alot of different things provided that they are smart, posess common sense and are willing to learn. I would like to think that I am all three. (I'm sure there's room for some wisecracks here)

Anyway, I have to run! I will try to remember to update this more frequently.

Thanks to all!

Scott

Back On The Air

2008-07-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

Many of you may have already heard by now that I will be returning to the airwaves (99.7FM - no less) very soon. Starting this Saturday - July 19th, I will be hosting a sports show on WPRO (AM 630 & 99.7 FM) from 9-11:45am each week. It's being called "Scott Cordischi On Sports," and will essentially be the same as the "Sportsbeat." Just me and you talking sports except for the fact that this will be a weekly show instead of a daily program.

As many of you know, I have missed talking sports on the airwaves for the past few months and, for that reason, I am really looking forward to my return. What's good about the once per week show is that we should have no shortage of material to discuss each Saturday morning. As always, I look forward to taking your phone calls and e-mails (tune in for the phone #'s and e-mail address). I hope that, in some small way, many of you are looking forward to my return as well. Not necessarily from the standpoint that I am returning but, rather, a local sports show for Rhode Islanders in particular.

Naturally we'll talk about the Red Sox, Yankees, Patriots, Celtics, etc. But, when something important happens with our in-state teams, we'll talk about them as well. In fact, I won't know where to begin on Saturday as I have alot of info on the PC coaching search to discuss. I'd love to give my quick 2 cents on the Celtics 17th world championship before we get into the Red Sox, Brett Favre or anything else. But I'll let you guys steer the show where it needs to go. If there's something in sports that you want to talk about, I welcome your call Saturday mornings.

It's kind of strange how things come full circle so-to-speak. In February of 1994 I was hired by WPRO where I did the "Sportsbeat" until October of 1997 when The Score was created. And now I'm back on WPRO again.

I'll be real curious to find out how many of the old "regulars" of the Score catch on to the fact that I'll be on the air Saturday mornings on WPRO. For instance, will Steve from Fall River call to irritate all of Southern New England with his outlandish points of view? What about Craig from Warwick and his 3rd place Yankees? Surely DP will have something to say about his Dolphins come September. Danny in Quincy will call to talk about the Sox. Joe the Milk Man, Mike from Connecticut our #1 Celts fan........I could go on and on and on. I miss hearing from those guys. Hopefully, they'll be back on the Providence airwaves with me.

Because this is only a part time gig, I am still am searching for a full time job which isn't easy in this economy. Along those lines, many thanks to everyone of you who has reached out to me with your kind words of support. I have tried to respond to every call and e-mail that I have received. Your support has meant ALOT to me during these past few months.

Thankyou!

Scott

It's Been A While

2008-06-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry to take so long to update the blog. Let's just say that I have even more of an appreciation for what my wife and all stay at home parents do for a living. Now that's work!

I have received a ton of e-mails from faithful Score listeners and have responded to every one of them. I can't thank you all enough for your kind words and support. While it hasn't resulted in a new job, it has meant an awful lot to me. It really makes me feel good about what I did for a living and all of the great people like yourselves who listened to the Score.

Unfortunately, nothing to report on the job front. I applied for but did not get a job for the Brown University Sports Foundation. It was an event coordinator's position which I lacked experience for. Not that I think that it would have been difficult to learn, but I respect their decision to hire someone with experience in that area.

I was targeting another possible opening with the BUSF which I believe that I would have been the perfect candidate for. However, I was told that the salary was much lower than they had hoped to appropriate for the position and I need to earn a certain minimum figure to pay the monthly mortgage and the bills if my wife is to continue to stay at home with our two young children Jack and Ellie as we both hope that she can do.

So the job search continues. And while I said jokingly, "anyone know where I can get a job?" in one of my previous blogs, I will seriously say that if anyone knows of any job openings that might be of interest to me, please don't hesitate to contact me.

A bunch of our Miami trip regulars are working on our own trip to see the Pats down in Miami this year. However, I may have to pass on this year's trip unless I find a job sometime soon. I will say that I have developed real good friendships with alot of people who went on that trip and we may have a group of 25-30 peopl go down together this year or in future seasons.

Boy do I wish I were on the air right now to talk about the Celtics. Last night's comeback in game 4 was unbelievable! When I turned it on in the 1st quarter and they were down by 20 I was so disappointed that I contemplated going to bed at halftime. I did go upstairs into my bedroom at halftime where my wife was watching something else on TV. When her show ended at 11pm, I turned back to the game in the 3rd and they were down by 12. I figured I'd stay with it for a while. I'm glad I did! That effort was as good as it gets!

Paul Pierce's defense on Koby Bryant was fantastic! His offense has been great! Ray Allen played 48 minutes of superb basketball and how about Eddie House and James Posey? I haven't even mentioned Mr. Double-Double himself KG. Wow! What an effort!

Pierce, in particular, deserves a ton of praise. He has had his many detractors amongst Celtics fans. Even his worst critics have to give him his due now. He has TOTALLY outplayed Kobe Bryant on both ends of the floor.

From a coaching standpoint, Tom Thibideau's defensive coaching has been outstanding! These guys have all bought into it 100%. I think that KG's effort on the defensive end is contageous and it has rubbed off on everyone else.

But how about giving Doc Rivers his due? We all had questions about how good of a coach he is. He has proved alot to me this postseason and, particularly, last night. The day before game 4 he bounced the idea of playing a smaller line-up with 5 good offensive players and shooters meaning guys like Perkins and Rondo would ride the pine. His thought behind it was that Kobe, in particular, would be able to sag off of a good shooter like he does off of Rondo to help defend. Doc thinks that Bryant is the best help defender in the league. Rivers said the reaction he received from his fellow coaches was split but that he decided to do it in game 4 anyway. Man, did it ever work out great! All the way down to the end when they spread the floor for Ray Allen to take it to the rim for the essential game-clincher.

They still have to win one more to raise banner #17 to the Garden rafters, but even without it, what a turnaround season this has been for this franchise. I only wish I could go on the air with Gresh when the Finals are over to see if maybe now he can give Danny Ainge even an ounce of credit.

What Ainge did when he took over was the right thing to do. He needed to break it down to build it up again. Did the turnaround happen as quickly as we wanted it to? No. Did he get a bit lucky by not winning the lottery and the right to draft Oden? Yes. But the fact remains that he did a great job in the draft stockpiling great young players and he used them as chips to make the neccessary trades to put this team together. And let's not forget about guys like Posey and House who have helped off the bench. Hell, even though he gave up a ton of young players to get Ray Allen and KG, he still held on to Rondo and more of his draft picks (Powe and Big Baby) have also made huge contributions to this season. Danny Ainge has done a fantastic job despite what Gresh might think.

As for the Sox and Yankees. To me it's simple. They've both had to deal with their share of injuries to key players. But Boston's young arms (Lester, Bucholz, Masterson) have totally outperformed the Yankees young arms (Hughes, Kennedy, Chamberlin). The Yankees aren't dead by any means, but they are going to need an infusion of good, young talent soon.

I'm pumped that my Syracuse Orange won their 10th National Championship in lacrosse.

I'm saddened by the passing of NBC's Tim Russert. A great political reporter who seemed like one hell of a nice person. That's the way he came across the air to me anyway. I wish more TV and radio broadcasters could be like him. Too many broadcasters have huge egos and think that their you know what doesn't stink! Russert was just a genuine, nice guy.

That's all for now. Again, if you would like to contact me, feel free to send me an e-mail to: scordischi@cox.net I would love to hear from you!

Later,

Scott Cordischi

Update / New e-mail address

2008-04-11T11:32:00.001-07:00

Thankyou again to all of you for your kind words and concern for me and my family during this difficult time. I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate it.

A quick update on where things stand for me professionally: Having set out roots down here in RI, my wife and I decided that we would rather not relocate if neccessary. In addition to that, with the recent trend of consolidation in journalism industry (radio, TV, newspaper) we have decided that it might be time for a career change on a full-time basis to something else.

I recently interviewed for a job that I hope to land. (don't want to say what it is so as not to jinx it) I also hope to continue to operate in the sports media in some capacity on a part time basis depending upon what my schedule will allow.

My top priority would to be to continue to broadcast Brown football and basketball which I love so much and, thankfully, Brown would like me to do so as well.

The people at Cox Sports have been great offering more work in the future which is a relationship I would also like to continue.

I have had some other offers as well which I am not at liberty to discuss at the moment but am hopeful that some of them may pan out as well.

I first need to find out what my next full time job will be before slotting in any of that other stuff.

Also, for those of you still trying to contact me, I have a new e-mail address. It is: scordischi@cox.net

Thanks again for your support!

Scott

Why, in my opinion, the Score died!

2008-03-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

I've been waiting for things to settle down a bit before chiming in on why the Score is no longer. So many people have asked me if I saw this coming and want to know why it happenned. I can't say for certain, but here is MY OPINION on what led to the station's demise.

Let's start by saying that if the Score's ratings and revenue were substantially higher than they were in recent months, this never would have happenned. The fact is that the ratings were fair to poor at times and inconsistent at best. Likewise, sportstalk is an expensive format to run and the revenues generated by the station did not amount to a profit that the company was happy with.

Also understand that radio stations are no longer run by radio people. It's the corporate bean counters on Wall St. that call the shots. They expect a certain profit margin ( I was told an 8:1 ratio or we couldn't do it).

Finally, it was not just one thing but a number of things that all led up to the Score folding up shop.

When the Score signed on the air in October of 1997 there was a buzz in an around Providence and alot of people (mostly men) thought that it was a cool thing. It was 790 The Score back then and it was neat being a part of it from the very beginning.

We had Coach & Gresh 6-10am followed by the Fabulous Sports Babe (which I wasn't crazy about) from 10am-noon. Jim Rome from noon-3pm and the Sportsbeat with me from 3-7pm. In my opinion, mistake #1 was splitting up Coach & Gresh. Yes, the two did not get along toward the end but it was more on Gresh's part. He just didn't want to work with Coach any longer which was his right to feel that way. However, their show worked for me. First, you had two guys who fit well together. Coach was the voice of reason while Andy was the outspoken loud mouth. I thought that the combination worked well together. Secondly, after a few years, Coach & Gresh had built a name for themselves and the show and to just pull it apart was, to me, a mistake.

I remember our former GM Andrea Scott asking me if I could work with Andy and I told here that I could work with anyone. She said that the two were not getting along and had to be split up. Shortly after that, she made the switch. Mistake #1 in my book.

There was the addition of the FM signal which was nice and then lots of changes at the top. Our original program director Ron St. Pierre was no longer in charge and it started a carrousel of PD's to follow. There was David Bernstein (great guy!). He wanted to experiment with a female voice in the AM so he hired Amy Lawrence on a 1-year trial basis. After 1 year she approached him for a contract and he informed her that it wasn't working out so he let her go. Her replacements were Kevin Winter and eventually Zo.

Bernstein was also the PD of WPRO so he could not devote his full attention to the Score. In fact, he had to be more concerned with WPRO because that station was a hell of alot more important to the company than WSKO was.

After he was let go, they decided to give John Crowe a crack at PD. Crowe was the executive producer of the Score under Bernstein and essentially ran the station. He also had a great handle on the New England sports scence. John, however, didn't seemed to have the complete support and respect of upper management which made his job more difficult. He also ruffled alot of feathers of his higher-up's because he can be very blount and to the point. He is very much a straight shooter. I think some may not have liked his frankness. Crowe did hire Bryan Morry which I will always be thankful for.

Our various line-up variations ranged from Gresh & Zo in the morning, middays with Coach, middays with Rooke & Hyder, even middays with Crowe, Chips and others.

Then Jim Brinson was brought in to be the PD. Not a bad guy, but the wrong fit for this market. In his defense, Brinson was told that Opie & Anthony was going to be his new morning show and Gresh & Zo would move to middays with me & Bryan in the afternoons. To me, eliminating local sports in morning drive was a disaster! Even worse was replacing it with a show that seemingly everyone hated! I can honestly say that with all of the line-up changes in my 10+ years at the Score, I never heard more complaints than the thousands of complaints about Opie & Anothony.

What made it even worse was that many listeners would tell me that they're dying for sportstalk in the morning on the way to work and WEEI didn't give it to them at all times because they did news headlines and various political stuff. There was a need for nothing but local sports in the morning and we failed miserably as filling that void.

Brinson was canned after a year and then, after a long search for a new PD, they decided to give Ron St. Pierre another crack at it. We were told that he would be leaving his show with Cianci on WPRO and dedicating his full time to the Score but it never happened. Not his fault!

Also, WEEI invading Providence was a huge blow to the Score! Their brand and product is very good! Their hosts are all solid (although I must admit that I miss Neumie) and their sportstalk was almost always on point and their guests are outstanding. We could not compete with that 10,000 lb. gorilla! They have great ratings and a huge budget to get the guests New England sports fans (like myself) want to hear from. I'm told that they pay the Patriots almost 2 million per for the rights to Patriots Monday to talk to Brady in the AM, Bellichick in the PM and other players in the midday. They just re-upped with the Red Sox for 10 years and 200 million. They have Francona on every week. They have Schilling on every week. We couldn't touch that at the Score. Schilling wanted $80,000 for ALS to do a weekly call-in with us in Providence. We were lucky for Citadel to come up with $12,000 to do Co Co Crisp! They were competing in the majors and we were in the minors from a budgetary standpoint. How do you compete with that?

As Billy Reynolds wrote last week, Providence has become a sports subburb of Boston. The Pats and Sox are #1 and everyone else lags far behind. WEEI had the means to provide Pats and Sox fans with much better coverage than the Score did and there was little we could do about it. Also, because the Pats and the Sox are so popular, local teams like PC, URI, Brown, Pawsox, P-Bruins, etc. just weren't enough to make a difference for the Score. We definitely provided those teams much more coverage than WEEI did. They couldn't afford to and didn't want to cover them, but people still listened to WEEI or at least that's what the Arbitron diaries say.

I also believe that turning our backs on the Pawsox and the money they spent to broadcast their games on the Score and not getting PC and their money to stay hurt the stations bottom line.

Another killer blow to the Score was cultivating a talent like Sean McAdam on the radio only to lose him to WEEI. His Red Sox reports in the morning and afternoon each day were great on the Score. His loss to EEI hurt us.

There were times in the early years of the Score when the company paid to have billboard ads on 95 and 195. We had commercial ads running on cable TV stations like ESPN and TNT. I can only speak for my show but the ratings were excellent! On many occassions my ratings in men 25-54 which was our target demographic, I was second behind only HJY. However, once Citadel went public, those marketing dollars dried up and so too did the outside promotion of the Score. That hurt us also.

For what it's worth, if I called the shots at the Score, here's what I would have done years ago:

Keep Coach & Gresh from 6-10am. Like I said, it worked for me.

I would have made 10am-noon the Providence Journal Sports Report and have that be their 2 hour show to use whatever writers they wanted to to co-host the show each day. It would have been great cross-promotion with the Journal.

Rome noon-3pm

Sportsbeat with Scott & Bryan 3-7pm.

I would have tried to cultivate a relationship with Cox Sports to put cameras inside the Score studio to televise our shows when they could like they did with DePietro years ago at HJJ. I think that it would have helped.

I also would have liked to have been given the station's budget on January 1st (however big or small) so that I could decide how to distibute the money. For instance, which contributors should we go after? Tim Kirkjian, Peter Gammons, John Clayton, Sean Salisbury, a Sox player weekly, a Pats player weekly, etc. That stuff is important to me but you have to get the right people that the New England sports fan will make an appointment each week to tune in and listen to.

Finally, I will say that I accept my share of blame in the station's demise. While I worked hard at doing the best show I could possibly do each day, my efforts weren't good enough to make a difference to keep the station viable. I will say that I resent some of the bulletin board cowards who criticize me or Gresh or Zo for not working hard or for not caring or doing a good job. I respect your opinion but we worked our asses off to try to do the best show we could each day. It's not as easy as it looks. I can go to sleep at night knowing that gave that radio station, Citadel Broadcasting and you the listeners everything I had for 10+ years. I admit that I'm not perfect and have made my share of mistakes and I apologize for those. But I loved that station and it's loyal listeners and I'm still in alot of pain over the fact that it is no longer. I am also sorry that I was not given a chance to say thankyou and goodbye to you on the air but that was the companies decision. It would have been a very difficult 4 hours for me to get through.

Once again, thanks for reading this and for all of the kind words from many of you. I want you to know that I really do appreciate it!

Scott Cordischi

Thanks again!

2008-03-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm back from vacation (8 days in sunny Florida) and a trip to Athens, Ohio to broadcast the Brown-Ohio CBI Tournament game, I wanted to pass along my thanks to all of you who have taken the time to post comments on my blog.

I have read all of your comments and REALLY DO appreciate all of your kind words of support. It means alot to me, especially at this time when things are difficult for me and my family. I have even read the Journal's blog entries and want to thank all of the Score listeners who had nice things to say as well. As for those Score-haters who took their shots at the station's demise or myself, Gresh or Zo, what can I say? You're obviously happy to see the station close up shop and apparently not too concerned about any of us who lost our jobs. I respect your opinions and hope that you never have to face such a situation in your lives AND be criticized for it on internet bulletin boards. But enough about the nay-sayers.

I loved my job and the thousands of GREAT people who listened to the Score. I will miss talking to you, reading or replying to your e-mails and hanging out with you at various events. If you want to stay in touch, feel free to e-mail me at: scordischi@verizon.net
I would love to hear from you all.

As I said in an earlier blog, I do not know what is next for me professionally. I have had some offers for part time radio and TV stuff locally and may accept some of them. At the same time, I need a stable full-time job to support my wife and 2 young kids and the radio business does not neccessarily provide that stability. I have also been asked to talk to some people about full time employment which I will do shortly.

As for the person who wondered if I will continue to do Brown football and basketball, I certainly hope so! Brown has been GREAT to me and has told me that they would like me to continue doing their games. However, it will all depend upon what my next full time job is and whether or not I will be able to fit it into my schedule. Again, I certainly hope that I can.

Once again, many thanks to all of you and please keep in touch. I will try to update the blog periodically.

Thanks!

Scott

The End Is Here

2008-03-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

You probably all know by now that the Score is no longer. Nobody is sadder than me about this.

I learned of my fate and the stations at 12 noon shortly before I arrived at work when my long-time colleague Andy Gresh called to give me the heads up. He said that he and Zo had just been canned and he believed that me and Crowe were next. He was right. I appreciate Gresh dropping the dime and preparing me for what was still an unpleasant situation.

I talked to some folks and the Journal and NBC-10 about whaqt happenned and I feel no different 24 hours later. While I knew that the Score was on somewhat shaky ground from a ratings and revenue standpoint, I assumed that we would be a viable station for the immediate future because I had just signed a new 3-year deal in January. I have to admit that I wondered about the future of the Score after the 1-year stint of former PD Jim Brinson, but the GM told me in December how eager she was to sign me to a new contract so I kind of exhaled and assumed that everything was alright for the time being. Guess not!

There's no question that this was a corporate decision. At the same time, however, I have to admit that WEEI's dominance really hurt the Score. They have a great product! Plus, Providence is essentially a sports suburb of Boston and with the Sox and Pats #1, they have the budget to have Brady, Belichick, Francona, Schilling, etc. That's tough to compete with when your budget isn't even close to theirs. And let's face it, if you're a New England sports fan, you WANT to hear from those guys. I know I do!

I'm both happy and sad that I didn't get to say both thankyou and goodbye to all of the loyal Score listeners Monday. However, even if I was given such an opportunity, I'm not sure that I would have been able to handle it well emotionally.

To me, the Score and it's listeners were like one big close family. That's what made things like our annual Miami trip and the Score Pool League so great! I can honestly say that some of the best friends in my life (DP, Fitzy, Ram, Chris Humm, Tom Vierra, Joe Costa, Craig Andreozzi, Jersey Red, Bryan Morry, John Crowe and so many more) were relationships that were cultivated with Score listeners. I believe that those relationships will remain strong and never die. In fact, we're already talking about keeping our own Miami trip alive with the likes of Carl and Krista from Newport and the whole gang. I will look forward to that every year.

In closing, I do want to thank everyone who took time out of their day to either listen to or call the Score. You made the last 10+ years of my life the greatest time of my life. I will forever be indebted to you for your patronage, support and most of all your friendship.

Sincerely,

Scott Cordischi

p.s. Anyone know where I can get a job? (lol)

Still Irate!

2008-03-03T12:26:00.000-08:00

It's been 2 days since my Syracuse Orange turned in THE most pitiful game-ending performance I have seen from any college basketball team in my lifetime.

Syracuse, an NCAA Tournament bubble team, led Pittsburgh by 11 with 3:49 to play and LOST the game by FIVE! Disgusting!

After the game, Jim Boeheim talked about how it was his most disappointing loss in his 32 years as a coach and talked about how the turnovers did the team in. He said that his players should have called time outs to prevent some of the turnovers.

My response? Boeheim needs to accept a majority of the blame himself.

When you're up double digits with under 4 minutes to play, you need to tell your players to run the shot clock down to under 10 seconds on each possession before taking a shot. And if they can't do it, get somebody in the game that can and do a better job of coaching them in practice how to spread the floor and take care of the basketball.

Second, you need to make SURE your kids know that you have timeouts remaining and that they should use them at the first sign of trouble to prevent a turnover.

If that fails, coaches ARE allowed to call timeouts. How about burning a TO or two yourself Jimmy B?

Disgraceful!

This team has alot of talent and is fun to watch when they're playing well. They also have a bright future should Deonte Greene return next season. And this team may still play it's way back into the NCAA tournament picture.

Still, as a Syracuse alumnus and fan, I am still disgusted at how that game ended!

Having said that, since 1985 I have been a diehard SU fan and will continue to be one. I will be rooting just as hard for them Wednesday when they visit Seton Hall and Saturday when they host Marquette.

Thanks for letting me vent on this one!

Random Thoughts

2008-02-29T06:26:00.000-08:00

Alot has been made about Manny Ramirez not joining his Red Sox teammates in Washington DC on their visit to the White House and the Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital. Before I give you my opinion on this, you should know that I am someone whom will criticize Manny when I feel that he deserves the criticism. For instance, if he fails to hustle or refuses to play when his manager asks him to, that is unacceptable to me and I will criticize him for it. However, there are many other things that Manny gets criticized for unjustly and his non-trip to Washington may be one of them.

I've heard people speculate that Manny may not like President Bush or not approve or the war in Iraq. First of all, none of us know if any of this is true or even what his motive for not going on the trip was. So how, then, can we criticize him. Furthermore, if any of those things are true, I still don't have a problem with him not attending as it was his right as an American citizen and a human being not to go. No big deal!

Secondly, the Journal's Jim Donaldson wrote a column today on him not at least going on the trip to visit our injured veterans at the hospital which, admittedly, is a tougher one to defend him on. Still, I cannot criticize Manny for this either and here's why: I, nor does anyone else, know exactly what Manny may or may not do for charitable organizations including whether or not he ever visits hospitals to comfort sick children or veterans. Secondly, to those who do criticize Manny, how much charitable work do YOU do? I do as much as I can but still don't feel as if it is enough. Secondly, GM Theo Epstein and P Julian Tavarez also didn't manke the trip. Where are the columns criticizing them? Or do we just accept their absence as Theo being Theo and Julian being Julian. Give me a break!

Believe me when I tell you, I am as patriotic about my country as you will find. It infuriates me to see an American citizen burn our flag in protest but I begridgingly accept the fact that it is his or her right to do so. That's what makes this country so great. So count me among those who will not criticize Manny for his absence in Washington. Without knowing all the facts behind his absence, what he does for charitable work that we don't know about and given his rights as an American citizen, I'll choose to criticize him for something else.

-There's a good chance that democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will be in attendance at the Brown/Penn men's basketball game Saturday night at 6pm at the Pizzatola Sports Center on the campus of Brown University. Obama will speak at a rally earlier in the day at Rhode Island College and may stick around to watch his brother-in-law Craig Robinson coach the Bears in their game against the Quakers.

-I've seen many collapses in sports before and must say that this URI collapse is about as bad as it gets. If they make it to the NCAA tournament, however, all will be forgotten.

-Most of the PC Friar fans I talk to say that they do want a change in head coach at season's end but genuinely feel bad that things haven't worked out for the likeable Tim Welsh here.

-Get me through March Madness before I can get excited about the upcoming baseball season.

-Don't look now, but the Boston Bruins are only 6 points out of having the best record in the NHL's Eastern Conference. Something real good could be "Bruin" up in Boston!

-I'd be willing to bet alot on a Celtics/Pistons Eastern Conference Finals.

-If the Celts can add Cassell to the roster like they did PJ Brown, it will give them added depth to make a stong run at a 17th NBA title.

-With that said, Celtics fans have to be thrilled with the performance of Rajon Rondo this year at the point.

-If I'm Roger Clemens, I'm not sleeping very well at night these days.

-Ditto for Bill Bellichick until this damn Spygate II thing gets resolved.

-Speaking of that, will Matt Walsh please either hand over the evidence to the league or go away? This is getting to be real tedious.

-I never thought I'd live to see the day where Syracuse football was the doormat of the Big East conference and Syracuse men's basketball could miss the NCAA tournament 2 years in a row but that's what I'm looking at right now!

-Assante Samuel to the Philadelphia Eagles? I guess it's better than Samuel to the Jets.

-Patriots fans had to think that Tedy Bruschi would be back. I mean, really, could you picture him in any other uniform?

-WR/ST Kelly Washington has agreed to return to New England. Can he fill a hole in the WR corps?

-The Red Sox beat BC and Northeastern by a combined score of 39-0 in two 7-inning games yesterday. What's the matter, the Cranston Little League team was unavailable for action?

-They say 2-4 inches of snow are expected here in Providence overnight. I don't know about you, Tiger, but I'm getting the itch to play a little golf. Enough with the white stuff already!

-Speaking of Tiger, he is in a league of his own. My apologies to the Golden Bear but Tiger is the best golfer of all-time.

Weekend Ramblings

2008-02-25T12:39:00.001-08:00

Could this weekend have ended up any worse for our 3 local Div. 1 men's basketball programs? The Rhody Rams have officially played their way off the bubble with a 3rd consecutive home loss in a "must" win game and have now lost 5 of their last 6. PC got drubbed in Morgantown by the West Virginia Mountaineers while Brown had a nice win Friday night at Columbia only to have their Ivy League title hopes dashed the following night at Cornell.

The Rams defense has been virtually nonexistent for the past few games. Granted, when you are an up-tempo high-scoring team, it's only natural that your defense will suffer a bit. But not to this extent. This team was scoring lots of points earlier in the season but they were also defending much better. Now, they're not. As much as we're all concerned about this team's losing skid coinciding with Jimmy Baron's struggles, I can't put alot of weight in that. The offense hasn't suffered! They're scoring a ton of points and their shooting percentages have been very good. It's the defense and, to a lesser extent, the turnovers that are killing them right not. With an RPI of 56, Rhody needs to win a minimum of 4 games (maybe 5) between their 3 remaining regular season games and the A-10 tourney to have a shot at making it to the Big Dance.

There's not much to say about the Friars other than it will be interesting to see what Bob Driscoll does at season's end. Does he stick with Welsh or let him go? The bet here is it's the latter. And who makes his short list of coaching candidates if there is a change? As for on the floor, I've had some people say to me that PC "gave up" in the 2nd half at West Virginia. I'm not going there. I just think that, among other things, this team's confidence is now gone making it twice a difficult to pull out of this rut.

The Brown Bears played a great 2nd half at Columbia Fri. night to beat the Lions setting up a huge game Saturday in Ithaca, NY where they lost to 1st place Cornell. For the Bears (3 down with 4 to go) there's still plenty to play for like a 19-win season (17 is the most wins for one season in Brown history) and a postseason berth in either the NIT or CBI. This weekend the Bears host Princeton & Penn with Saturday being senior night. Two of the all-time Brown greats will be honored that night in Barrington's Mark McAndrew (this Ivy League's leading scorer) and Damon Huffman. Big man Mark MacDonald will also be honored that night. The same night that the man who brought them to Brown (Glen Miller) returns to the East Side with his Penn Quakers. It's a 6pm start at the Pizzatola Sports Center. I highly reccommend checking it out!

Let It Snow!

2008-02-22T08:28:00.000-08:00

On the road with the Brown Bears here in the Big Apple where the Columbia Lions await our visit. The snow is coming down hard here! They're calling for 9-12" in thses parts. just talked to the wife who told me they're expecting far less back home in little Rhody.

If the Bears can pull off the weekend sweep of Columbia and Cornell, then the possibility of winning the Ivy League becomes very real. Anything less than a sweep and the Big Red will have all but wrapped up the title.

Watched the Rhody-UMass game on ESPN2 last night. A good shooting night for URI, but the turnovers (20) were a killer, particularly the one by Bitee and the one by Seawright in the games final minutes. Also, the Rams HAVE TO play better "D" or they're going nowhere. Scoring 91 is great but means nothing when you give up 98! And did anyone on URI even TRY to force Chris Lowe to his right? He obviously loves to go left and shredded the Rhody D by doing so. The Rams should have been sitting on his left hand forcing him to go right all the time. Bad job by URI there. And you have to wonder if Jimmy Baron is becoming URI' version this year of Weyme Efejuku (sp?) last year for the Friars. Remember the saying last year, "as Weyme goes, so go the Friars?" It looks like that's the motto for Rhody as of late, "as Jimmy goes, so go the Rams."

There's an article in today's NY Post about Tim Welsh possibly getting fired at season's end. Tim is very well liked and respected here in NY because of the fine job he did at Iona. They even refer to him as a great offensive coach which is hard to argue because statistically, his teams are usually very strong on that end of the floor.

Stay warm!

Talk to you later.

From the Ryan Center

2008-02-18T17:15:00.001-08:00

Figured we'd update the blog while here at the Rhody-Xavier game. At half, the Musketeers lead by 10, 44-34. I have to say that I am very impressed with Xavier having seen them in person for the first time. They move well on offense both with and without the ball. They penetrate the defense and dish to wide open shooters on the wing. They've got guys who can score inside and out. And they did a great job defending Jimmy Baron in the first half. I'll tell you what, if the Rams win this one it will be an excellent win! Even with a non-effective Drew Lavender (ankle), the Musketeers look to be the stronger of the two teams in my eyes. I hope the second half changes my opinion on that.

As for the Friars, I didn't get a chance to see their loss to Gtown yet. From following it on gametracker while doing the show down here today, it appeared that Weyme had a strong game. My big question is: why did McDermott take only 3 shots? (2-3 FG) I don't know if it was the Hoyas defense or what, but McDermott needs to assert himself to be much more of an offensive force for the Friars.

I also took an intersting call on the air tonight suggesting that I seem to be "harder" on Tim Welsh now that the Friars are no longer on the Score. Criticism accepted, but with explanation.

I must preface my remarks by saying that I like Tim Welsh, personally. He's a good man and someone who I consider a friend. For that reason, it can be difficult when criticizing the job that he does. But that is MY job - to critique the "pro" team in the state.

While I have in the past pointed out, and continue to believe, that PC is one of the toughest jobs in the Big East, I have also fairly pointed out that the Friars post season performance (particularly in the Big east Tourney) has been subpar under Welsh. This is not a new criticism that I have created.

Secondly, just as with Sharaud Curry's injury this year, there have been things like injuries to other key players in the past that have hurt PC while Tim has been here. The big difference is that this team had NCAA tournament expectations placed on it (rightly or wrongly) coming into the season and I have a hard time believing that 1 player (no matter who it is) can mean the difference between an NCAA Tournament appearance and no postseason appearance at all. If that's the case, then Curry is alot better than I give him credit for or the rest of the players aren't as good as I thought they were. take your pick.

Mainly, though, it is no secret that this was a critical year for Welsh who has 1 more year left on his contract after this season. He had delivered PC to the NCAA's twice in 9 years and the expectation was that they should be back there this year as well. His 1 win in 9 years at the BE Tourney is something that hurts his resume more than the 0-2 mark in the NCAA's. We knew that since the school didn't extend him before the season that they were taking the "wait and see" approach. If he makes it to the NCAA's or even a strong showing in the NIT, they would have likely extended him. Anything less than that and it would probably mean his dismissal. Why? Well, for all of the aforementioned reasons. Plus, Bob Driscoll would be hurting the future of the program by letting him coach out the final year of his contract. Recruiting can be a dirty business and coaches competing for the same players on the recruiting trail as PC would most certainly use his "lame duck" status against him and the school. Therefore, Driscoll was faced with making a decision on Tim's future at the end of the season one way or another. It has made this season a referendum on Welsh's coaching career here at PC.

I have taken my share of calls from Friar fans not happy with the job he's done over the past few years and I admit that I have said that a coaching change should NOT be made. Mainly because there were too many years and too much money left on Tim's contract so it made no financial sense for PC. But also because I don't think that Welsh has woefully underachieved here in Providence. His NCAA and NIT appearances have been close to on par with what I would expect out of a program like PC competing in such a tough conference. To me, it's been more about two things. The poor finish to what was otherwise a great 2003-04 season and the lack of wins at the Big East Tourney.

Now, with the fans all calling for his dismissal, Driscoll and Providence College are left with little choice. The fans want change and the College almost has to oblige. And I agree. It would be bad business not to.

Having said that, I hope that Welsh is treated better these last few home games than he has been because of what I said earlier. He is a good man. He wanted to make it work and stay here for a very long time. And nobody wanted him to succeed more than me. For a variety of reasons, that didn't happen.

I wish him well wherever he winds up.

Hitting the Local College Basketball Scene

2008-02-17T11:14:00.001-08:00

Sorry about forgetting to blof Friday. I was on the road with brown basketball at Penn in Philadelphia and didn't get a chance to do it. My bad! I also can't seem to shake this damn cold. It's been about 3 weeks and it's still with me. Found out today it's a sinus infection so hopefully the antibiotics knock it out of me.

Now that I've shared with you probably more than I should have, I'd like to give you my take on the status of our 3 local Div. 1 men's basketball programs.

BROWN: The Bears made history over the weekend sweeping Penn and Princeton on the road in the same weekend for the first time in school history. The 5 point win at Penn really wasn't as close as the final score indicated as the Bears were always in control. Saturday night, however, the bears stole one from the Princeton Tigers. Down 10 with just over 7 minutes left, the Bears managed to force overtime where they grinded out the win. It really showed the character of this team which is outstanding and it also served as another demonstration of how good the head coach is.
I'll be the first to admit that I thought it would be impossible for Brown to find a replacement for Glenn Miller that was anywhere near as good as him. Well, they did! In fact, I think that Craig Robinson may be even better! I can tell you that he has gotten more out of the same talent Miller coached at Brown. That's no disrespect intended to Glenn, just a big time compliment to Robinson.
Right now the Bears are 14-8 and 6-2 in the Ivy League. They are 7-5 on the road with their 5 road losses coming at Michigan, Providence, Notre Dame, Baylor and Yale in OT.
With an RPI of 122, if the Bears finish strong and don't overtake Cornell (8-0) for the Ivy title, a postseason berth may still be awaiting them. When Brown went to the NIT in 2003, they had an RPI in the 140's. Even if it's not the NIT, the newly created CBI tournament which consists of 16 teams after the NCAA's field of 65 and the NIT's 32 could be a logical landing spot. The tournament is run by the Gazelle Group based out of Princeton, NJ and it's president Rick Giles happens to be Craig Robinson's agent. Not that I am suggesting any type of favoritism to Robinson and the Bears. If they continue to win, they will be deserving of strong consideration and with Giles calling the shots, they should get it.

URI: To the dismay of the Rams and their fans, life in the A-10 has proven to be alot more difficult than expected. The league is full of teams capable of knocking off anyone on any given night which has caused some minor angst down in Kingston. At 14-1 after non-league play, we all had the Rams pegged for somewhere around 12-4 at worst in the league. Well, for that to happen, Rhody would have to run the table heading into the A-10 tournament which appears unlikely.
Rhode Island has 3 tough home games coming up in succession with Xavier, UMass and St. Joe's back-to-back-to-back. he good news is they're 11-0 at home this season. If they win all 3, they will have stamped their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Even 2 out of 3 would be solid.
The only thing that haunts the Rams right now is that their n on-conference marquee wins aren't as solid as they could be with Providence floundering and Syracuse looking like a bubble-trouble team. If the Orange can win a few more games against ranked teams in the Big East and get into the tourney that will help Rhody's resume' alot. They also almost got a huge boost from UAB who almost pulled off the upset of Memphis in Coference USA.

PROVIDENCE: Sadly, the beat goes on for the Friars who look like a beaten team and program right now. After hanging tough with Louisville for 30 minutes Saturday, the Friars couldn't pull off the upset at the Dunk and lost another Big East game. This was a team with NCAA tournament aspirations coming into the season and now they probably won't even qualify for the Big East tournament or the NIT.
The loss of Sharaud Curry was devistating. He was their leading returning scorer and their QB. he made the offense go. However, better recruiting could have lessened the blow of his absence with a half descent back-up point guard.
I've certainly given my own opinion on Tim Welsh's future on my show and have read all of the articles from the likes of Billy Reynold's, Kevin McNamara and Jim Donaldson. And while we all have brought up good points on this issue, the bottom line is that the time has come for change at the top.
Tim Welsh is not a bad coach. He's actually a good one. However, this program needs someone bordering on greatness. With all of the challenges that come along with making PC basketball competetive in the rediculously tough Big East conference, you need a great coach who can not only recruit very well, but also coach the hell out of his players. Anything less than that and PC is doomed to remain at the bottom of the Big East.
My preliminary thoughts say that there are a few guys who AD Bob Driscoll should at least consider talking to. Jim O'Brien, Jim Baron, Carl Hobbs, Travis Ford, Craig Robinson and Glenn Miller. Let's look at the one at a time.
O'Brien just got cleared by the NCAA to return to coaching after winning his lawsuit against Ohio State for getting fired over recruiting violations. While I am not excusing what happened with that European recruit, I will say that I find O'Brien to be a solid human being and a good man as well as an excellent coach. He did well at both Ohio State and BC which tells you that he can compete with the big boys in the Big East.
Jim Baron is going nowhere! He likes it at URI and would NEVER leave to take another job while Jimmy Jr. is still playing. Still, Baron is the type of coach PC needs to find. He is a great man and a terriffic coach who gets the most out of his players and whose teams play tough which is needed in the Big East.
Carl Hobbs and GW are having a down year but that should not dissuade PC from talking to him. He can recruit and he can coach. He is also from the Jim Calhoun coaching tree having played for and coached with him at UConn so he knows what it takes to win in the Big East.
Travis Ford is from the Rick Pitino coaching tree which Providence, for obvious reasons, might find attractive. He's done a pretty good job at UMass and his team gets after it. Effort is not something you question about Travis Ford's teams.
Craig Robinson has only been a head coach for 2 years but if you've paid attention to Brown, you can see just how good the man really is. Yes, he runs the Princeton offense but much more liberally than his coach Pete Carrill did. In fact, if you look at what John Thompson III is doing at Georgetown, that's what Robinson might be able to do at PC. He can flat out coach! It would simply be a matter of recruiting the talent to PC which I think he would be able to do as well.
The same can be said about Glenn Miller at Penn. He can flat out coach up his talent. The big question would be, could he bring in good enough talent to compete in the upper half of the Big East? I'd want to be sure of that before pulling the trigger on bringing him on board.

More on Clemens

2008-02-14T10:14:00.000-08:00

Having had 24 hours to let the testimony in the congressional hearings marinate, I have to tell you that I am still convinced that Roger Clemens is the big loser in all of this. While Brian McNamee was exposed and, in some cases, verbally attacked for being the lying SOB that he is, it is still Clemens who left us with the most unanswered questions. Questions such as:

1.) How does he explain his best friend Andy Pettitte's sworn testimony claiming that Clemens told him he had taken HGH in a conversation that took place in either 1999 or 2000? At first it was that he was referring to his wife's HGH use which we found our was definitely not true because here HGH use began in 2003. Then it was something about how he was simply referring to some show he watched on TV where some old men took HGH and felt much better after taking it. Then is was that Pettitte simply "misremembered" their conversation. Nice try Rog! I'm not buying it.

2.) Are we to believe that Debbie Clemens is the only member of the family to take HGH? Please! I am quite certain that Debbie probably would not have known anything about HGH or it's benefits if she didn't get the info from her hubby. Again, nice try, but it didn't work for me.

3.) Why would McNamee have told the truth about Pettitte and Knobloch and not Clemens? Roger didn't have an answer for this one. Instead, he relied on many of the republican committee members to attack McNamee's credibility. Even though McNamee is far from the most credible human being, I still can't come up with a good answer for this question either.

4.) Are we supposed to believe that noone told you about your name being in the Mitchell report before it's release and that George Mitchell wanted to speak with you prior to it's release? Clemens said on 60 minutes with mike Wallace that he did not speak to Mitchell before hand because his attourneys advised him against it. Yesterday, he claims that noone ever told him that mitchell wanted to speak to him. Whatever!

While Clemens may have been the best pitcher of many of our lifetimes, his pitch to the congressional committee yesterday was one that didn't even come close to the strike zone. It was, in fact, the worst of his career.

It is likely that Clemens will not face perjury charges simply because it would be difficult to prove. Furthermore, it is also very unlikely that he would be charged with using illegal drugs because law enforcement usually targets the dealers and not the users.

So what we are left with is the next Barry Bonds or even Pete Rose. We strongly assume his guilt which he continues to deny just as strongly. Even if he were to come clean like Rose did some 10 years after the fact, forgiveness is not an option. If that's what he wanted, he should have taken the Andy Pettitte, Jason Giambi or Rodney Harrisson route. After he was caught he should have come clean with whatever explanation or excuse he wanted to and things would have died down quickly. Not now. Not ever.

The next interesting moment in this whole ordeal will come 5 years from now when Clemens is eligible for hall of fame consideration. That's provided that he doesn't un-retire once again. What will the baseball writers do? Will they look past the alleged performance enhancing drug use and give him the needed 75% of the vote for induction or will he suffer a similar fate to that of Mark McGwire?

I don't know. But I can't wait to find out.

Clemens / McNamee Hearings

2008-02-13T11:21:00.001-08:00

Welcome back to my blog Score listeners! I apologize for getting a bit lazy and not updating it. I will try to update it daily Monday-Friday each week.

Today, a quick take on the Clemens/McNamee hearings in front of the congressional committee on oversight and reform.

-Clearly someone is lying here and could face perjury charges somewhere down the line.

-The big question is, do we have a winner in these hearings? Probably not! Both Clemens and McNamee had their credibility called into question by various committee members which was somewhat separated by party lines. The republicans seemed to suck up to Roger and attack the credibility of McNamee while the democrats went after Clemens for his inconsistent testimony things that contradicted his story.

-What we are left with is a situation where we can only form our own opinions based upon what we heard today.

-In my opinion, nothing happenned today to change my opinion going into the hearing. I tend to believe that Clemens probably did knowingly do steroids and still do.

-The most convincing Q & A for me was that of Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) who seemed to point to Clemens' best friend Andy Pettitte for the right answers. Pettitte, in a sworn deposition last week confirmed that he had two conversations with Clemens about Roger's HGH use and, in both cases, he shared those conversations with his wife who confirmed them in her own sworn deposition. When asked by Cummings what he thought about Pettitte's statements, Clemens indicated that Pettitte must have "misremembered" their conversations and continued his denial of ever having taken steroids or HGH. Andy Pettitte is no angel (he admitted in his sworn deposition that he had taken HGH in 2004 which he did not admit to after the Mitchell report), but I find him to be the most believable of everyone involved in this mess.

That's all for now! For more, join me on the Sportsbeat today at 3pm>

NFL Power 15 - thru week 12:

2007-11-29T14:19:00.000-08:00

1. New England - A close shave at the Razor Sunday night but they're still perfect and still #1 until further notice.

2. Dallas - The Cowboys pummled the Jets on Turkey Day but that was the Jets. How will they fare against the team that's just behind them in the rankings Thursday night?

3. Green Bay - Packers enjoyed their Turkey Day too winning in Detroit. I still believe that Dallas is an all around better team with a more explosive offense. Prove me wrong Pack!

4. Indy - Colts thrashed the Falcons on Thanksgiving night but they're still not healthy. If Marvin Harrison can come back soon, look out! Their defense looks like it may be able to overcome the loss of Dwight Freeney.

5. Pittsburgh - Don't put much stock in the final score (3-0) of their game against Miami Monday Night. The playing conditions were rediculous and leveled the playing field.

6. Jacksonville - Alright Jags, here's your chance. Go to Indy and win on Sunday and you'll zoom up the rankings and establish yourself as a possible threat to the NFL's best - the Pats.

7. Cleveland - Browns beat the Texans last week and travel to Arizona this week. Go RAC!

8. Tampa Bay - Bucs have an interesting game at New Orleans this week. What makes it interesting is that Jon Gruden may have to start Bruce Gradkowski or Luke McCown if Jeff Garcia (back) can't go.

9. Seattle - No DJ Hackett for the Seahawks this week. But that's okay, old friend Deion Branch is back and Bobby Engram is solid as well. Will Philly bring it this week against Seattle like they did in New England Sunday night?

10. NY Giants - What a pitiful performance by the G-Men against the Vikings. If Eli doesn't get it going soon, he will find the New York metropolitan area a very difficult place to play.

11. San Diego - Are the Chargers teasing us, or are they starting to click? I thought that they had righted the ship earlier this season only to have them go into a mini-funk again. If they are back, a win at KC is a must.

12. Detroit - Will the Lions please beat a half decent team? I'm not sure if winning at Minnesota would qualify but they need to win it anyway to stop their free-fall.

13. New Orleans - If Drew Brees & the Saints can beat the Bucs Sunday, they'll be just a game out of first in the NFC South.

14. Tennessee - The Titans forgot to show up for their game at Cincinnati losing to the hapless Bengals 35-6. If they don't beat Houston at home this week, stick a fork in them because they'll be done!

15. Minnesota/Philly - I couldn't pick between these two (5-6) teams. The Vikes were impressive in their blowout win of the Giants at the Meadowlands while the Eagles were equally impressive in a loss to the high-powered Patriots.

Missed the cut - Chicago, Arizona, Washington, Houston, Buffalo

Joke of the league - Miami - Didn't you just know that the Dolphins would find a way to lose that game in the slop in Pittsburgh Monday night? On the bright side, a home game against the Jets this week gives the Phins a chance to win their first game of the year Sunday.

NFL Power 15 - thru week 11:

2007-11-20T12:50:00.001-08:00

Here we go again. Time for this week's Power 15! Before we unviel this week's edition, allow me to clarify what this poll is all about. These rankings are about the here and now and not based on projections - which is to say, that these teams are ranked on how they are playing and how good they are NOW! This isn't a poll based upon projections and which teams I think will be good in 3 weeks. With that said, here's your Power 15:

1. New England - Did you see what they did to the Bills Sunday night? Their performance was so impressive that I have admittedly changed my tune on whether or not the Pats will go undefeated. I would now be surprised if they DIDN'T go undefeated. They are that good!

2. Dallas - Part of me wonders if Dallas is better than the 21 point loss they suffered to New England at home or if there is that much of a gap. Still, the Cowboys 9-1 record is very impressive as they, too, are kicking ass and taking names. Right now, they rate the edge over Green Bay for the #2 spot.

3. Green Bay - The Packers, too, are kicking some serious butt and playing great defense as well. We haven't seen them against the pats so there's no way to measure them against the league's elite team. However we will learn alot more about them (and the Cowboys) when they visit Dallas on November 29th.

4. Indianapolis - SI's Peter King must have been hanging out with Rickey Williams if he thinks that the Colts are the second best team in the league right now! With the way they're playing and the injuries they have sustained, they would not beat the Dallas Cowboys right now. Or the Green Bay Packers. Maybe even the Steelers. However, if they do get healthy (minus Dwight Freeney) they will pose the biggest threat to the Patriots in the playoffs.

5. Pittsburgh - A terrible loss to the Jets Sunday, but I still think that this is a good team. In fact, I thought about putting Jacksonville in this spot but I believe that the Steelers are the better team and would win if they played today.

6. Jacksonville - A win over the Chargers Sunday has them just a game behind Indy for the AFC South lead. And they've won with multiple QB's! The reason why is their defense has been stingy. In fact, they've given up only two more points (159) this season than the Patriots (157).

7. NY Giants - It wasn't a thing of beauty, but the G-men got the job done in Mowtown. They should pick up their 8th win this Sunday at home against Minnesota, even without former BC Eagle Mathias Kiwanuka.

8. Tampa Bay - It's time we all stopped sleeping on the Bucs. They ARE the team to beat in the NFC South. John Gruden's job was reportedly on the line coming into this season and it looks like he has a playoff-bound team on his hands.

9. Cleveland - Wow! What a finish to the Browns game at Baltimore! Phil Dawson's game-tying FG hits the left upright and then the bar over the crossbar holding up the goalposts before bouncing out! After originally being ruled no good, the refs got it right and Cleveland won in overtime. That's taking advantage of a fortuitous bounce.

10. Seattle - Seahawks have been playing better as of late beating the Bears this past weekend. They face a healthier Rams team in St. Louis on Sunday.

11. Tennessee - The Titans couldn't get it done against a down Denver team Monday night although Vince Young did play like an NFL QB this week. If they want to be a playoff team, they have to beat a pitiful Bengals team this week in Cincinnati.

12. Detroit - The Packers still haven't beaten a good team making their Turkey Day match-up with Green Bay a must! Based upon what I've seen from both team this season, I'll take the Pack.

13. Houston - Andre Johnson's return to the line-up is huge for the Texans who beat the surging Saints last Sunday. A big game this week for the Texans as they visit another surging team - Cleveland this weekend.

14. Philly - Eagles, without a hobbled Donovan McNabb, sent the lowly Dolphins to their 10th defeat on Sunday. From an (0-10) team to the (10-0) Patriots this Sunday night. Now let's see how good the Eagles are.

15. Washington - The Skins hung tough with Dallas on Sunday and, let's face it, play in the toughest division in the league. (sorry AFC South) Washington may have a make or break game this weekend in Tampa.

Missed the cut: Arizona, San Diego

Bottom of the barrell: The (ha, ha, ha, ha) Miami (ha, ha, ha, ha) Dolphins (ha, ha, ha,ha)

2007-11-13T13:06:00.000-08:00

NFL Power 15 (thru week 10):

1. New England - It's hard to believe that without playing the Pats could create more separation between themselves and the rest of the pcak, but that's exactly what happened! Thanks to Manning's 6 int's at San Diego, the Pats are now head and shoulders above the rest. Let's hope there's not letdown Sunday night in Buffalo.

2. Dallas - The Cowboys only blemish was their loss to the Patriots. Other than that, they've been pretty dominant. Winning at Giants Stadium Sunday was impressive and, along with Green Bay, they have seperated themselves from the rest of the NFC.

3. Green Bay - Now I believe in the Pack! I was uncertain about this team because of their lack of a running game but with Ryan Grant running all over one of the league's best run defenses in Minnesota, I'm convinced. The Pack is for real!

4. Pittsburgh - I was rooting hard for Romeo's Browns to pull off the upset in Pittsburgh but it wasn't meant to be. Give credit to the Steelers for coming back to beat Cleveland. Big Ben's having a solid season and the Steeler's defense is pretty damn good. Let's give new head coach Mike Tomlin alot of credit for replacing a coaching legend (Bill Cowher) and not missing a beat.

5. Indy - My, how the mighty have fallen! Injuries, shmingeries! Even with the help of the guys in striped shirts, they couldn't beat the Patriots 2 weeks ago. And this past week, 6 Manning interceptions and a missed Adam Vinatieri chip shot FG cost them a win in San Diego. Plus, they may have lost Dwight Freeney for the season. Sorry Bill Polian!

6. NY Giants - The G-men lost a game they needed to win on Sunday if they wanted to win the division. Now it's all about a wild card berth for the Giants. Still, this is a talented team that can play with anyone when they're at their best.

7. Jacksonville - How about the Jags going in to Tennessee and slapping the Titans around Sunday? Even with the immortal Quinn Gray at quarterback!

8. Cleveland - The Browns gave the Steelers all they could handle Sunday proving that they are for real. If they really are for real, they'll need top beat a down Ravens team in Baltimore this weekend.

9. Seattle - Seahawks impressive shutout of the 49ers Monday night may be an indication that Seattle is on it's way back. If they can get Shawn Alexander and Deion Branch healthy, they could make a little bit of a run in the NFC.

10. Tennessee - I've been kind of tough on Vince Young this year, but I think rightfully so. If the Titans are going to be a force in the AFC, they flat out need better play from their QB.

11. Detroit - The Lions lost a game that a playoff-bound team would have won. They have a HUGE game this weekend with the NY Giants paying a visit to Ford Field.

12. Washington - Redskins have their work cut out for themselves this week when they visit Dallas. The loss to Philly last week might sting for while.

13. Tampa Bay - The Bucs defense has been solid this year and their offense is in good hands with veteran QB Jeff Garcia. The Bucs should win at Atlanta Sunday.

14. Buffalo - Bills may have been guilty of looking ahead Sunday as they survived a scare in Miami. J.P. Losman will QB the team Sunday night. Can they hang with or possibly even upset the Pats? Nah!

15. New Orleans - Are the Saints really back or are they just an average team? The answer to that question will come in the next 7 games starting Sunday at Houston.

Missed the cut: San Diego, Kansas City, Chicago

The worst of the worst: The Miami Dolphins are now on the clock!

NFL Power 15 - thru week 9:

2007-11-06T12:41:00.000-08:00

1. New England - For 3 quarters Sunday I was thinking that the Colts would occupy the top spot in this week's poll. Then, Tom Brady and the Patriots decided to finish strong. And finish strong they did! Great 2nd half performance by the Pats D which forced 2 turnovers and allowed only 1 Indy score.

2. Indy - You wonder if things would have been different if Marvin Harrison played? We'll never know. Still, I'm very impressed with the speed and execution of the Colts D. See you in Foxboro in late January!

3. Dallas - They exorcised their demons in Philly Sunday night with a convincing win over the Eagles. Along with Green Bay, they are the class of the NFC.

4. Green Bay - The Pack had no problems in KC on Sunday. It's fun to see Brett Favre playing well and winning again.

5. Pittsburgh - After that unbelievable performance on both sides of the ball against the Ravens Monday night I was tempted to move this team higher in the polls. My colleague Tony Cornetta certainly wants me to! However, as the great Bill Parcells said on ESPN this past weekend, any team that loses to Arizona and Denver this year shouldn't be considered a threat to win in Foxboro.

6. NY Giants - A bye for the Giants after the win over the Dolphins in London. Hopefully they put that extra week to good use because the high-flying Cowboys visit the Meadowlands this weekend.

7. Tennessee - I am not impressed with this team yet they are 6-2 and a game behind the Colts in the AFC South! Vince Young is not playing well but the Titans defense is.

8. Detroit - Break up the Lions! Like the Titans, they are 6-2 at the midway point and 1 game behind Green Bay in the NFC North. Matt Millen is a genius!

9. Cleveland - How about some love for Romeo? His Browns are 5-3 with a QB that nobody had heard of before the season started.

10. New Orleans - Don't look now but the Saints are on their way back. They are a half game behind the Bucs in the NFC South. And, one of my favorite former Patriots - David Patten - had a big game for them Sunday.

11. San Diego - The Chargers were on their way back until they hit a bump in the road in Minnesota Sunday. Still, the talent on this team is too good to ignore.

12. Jacksonville - Jags lost at New Orleans Sunday. They gave up 41 points to the Saints who racked up over 500 yards of total offense against the Jags normally stingy "D". That won't happen this Sunday but they will have their hands full in Tennessee where the Titans just find ways to win games.

13. Washington - Not exactly the bonce-back type of performance I expected coming off the Patriots loss. Still, they managed to rally for the OT win despite trailing the Jats the whole way.

14. Tampa Bay - Bucs took care of business against the Cards to move to 5-4 heading into their bye week. If Carolina and New Orleans win this weekend, there will be a 3-way tie atop the NFC South.

15. Kansas City - With Larry Johnson's foot injury, Priest Holmes will carry the load offensively. The problem with the Chiefs is the QB position where former Patriot Damon Huard has not played very well. Seconf year man Brodie Croyle may be close to taking over the offensive reigns.

Missed the cut: Buffalo - On second thought, the Bills should be in my top 15!

Bottom Feeders: Miami - Somebody ask Don Shula if this year's soon-to-be 0-16 Dolphins team will negate the 17-0 '72 Dolphins? And tell him to stick that asterisk up his #$@!

NFL Power 15 - thru week 8:

2007-10-30T13:01:00.001-07:00

1. New England - The 8-0 Pats have just been rediculous on offense. They are on a record pace and have been virtually unstoppable. Last week against Washington, the defense stepped up and answered some questions that we had about them. Now for the big test - at Indy Sunday. Is the Pats offense more high-powered than the Colts? And can the defense stop Peyton Mannin & Co.? Fasten your seatbelts because Sunday afternoon's game should be one for the ages.

2. Indy - The 7-0 Colts are the defending Super Bowl Champs, they're undefeated, they've beaten the Patriots 3 straight times and they're at home. Yet, somehow, they're 4 point underdogs! Why, you ask? Because, unlike New England, they have not thoroughly dominated every opponent this year like the Pats. This is a chance for Indy to make a big statement. We'll see if they're up to the task.

3. Dallas - The Cowboys only hiccup was against the Pats. Other than that, they've been the most solid team outside of NE and Indy. Sunday's game at Philly should present a solid test for the 'Boys as they have had trouble winning in the City of Brotherly Love.

4. Green Bay - I must admit, Monday night's OT win at Denver made a believer out of me. The one question I had about them was the running game and rookie Ryan Grant rushed for 104 yards against the Broncos. But the best part about Monday night's win was that Brett Favre's performance got Bryan Morry to admit that he was WRONG when saying that he was all washed up last year.

5. NY Giants - The Gints outlasted the hapless Dolphins in the slop at Wembley Stadium in London. Brandon Jacobs is healthy and running like a bull. It was a tough day for the passing game, but the rain had alot to do with that. Circle week 10 when the Giants play the Cowboys. That will tell us where the Giants really are as a team.

6. San Diego - The Chargers are back! They're winning, and winning big! Should Pats and Colts fans put their AFC Championship plans on hold? Naaaaah!

7. Pittsburgh - Steelers beat the hapless Bengals on Sunday. They'll face a much better defensive team Monday night when Baltimore visits Heinz Field. The problem for the Ravens is that their offense isn't anything close to Cincinnati's.

8. Jacksonville - Big win for the Jags at Tampa Sunday. They'll have another good road test Sunday at New Orleans.

9. Tennessee - Vince Young has been horrible but yet the Titans are 5-2! They can thank the defense for that. Still, at some point, Young and the offense are going to have to do something more than what they done thus far.

10. Detroit - Okay! The lions finally got my attention by winning in Chicago. Granted, the Bears aren't the powerhouse they were last season, but the lions swept them and that is a trmendous accomplishment for an organization that hasn't been able to get out of it's own way.

11. Washington - We'll give the Skins a pass on what happened in Foxboro Sunday because the Patriots are doing that to everyone including good teams like Dallas and San Diego. They should be able to take care of business against Manginius "The Rat" and the Jets Sunday at the Meadowlands.

12. Cleveland - How about a little love for Romeo Crennell? RAC is a great guy and has done a good job with the Browns this season. What a find Derek Anderson has been for the Browns. Brady Quinn who?

13. Seattle - Seahawks visit Cleveland coming off the BYE week. Is Seattle still a legitimate playoff contender or a team on the decline?

14. Baltimore - A win in Pittsburgh could really help the Ravens establish themselves as a true playoff contender in the AFC.

15. Kansas City - As we all know, Herm Edward's teams "play to win!" Can they beat the Packers at Arrowhead Sunday?

Missing the cut: Tampa Bay, Carolina, New Orleans, Philly

Bottom Feeders: Miami, St. Louis and Atlanta. It's a battle for the #1 pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. My money is on the Dolphins.

NFL Power 15 - Week 7

2007-10-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

1. New England - The only 7-0 team in the NFL continues to drill the opposition to the point where some question whether or not they are "running up the score" on their opponents. Bill Belichick denies that that's the case. Then again, if I had the whole world questioning my coaching ability and my team's accomplishments like he has following "videogate," I'd probably do exactly what he's doing and that is leaving NO doubt in anyone's mind how good he and his team really is!

2. Indy - An impressive Monday night win at Jacksonville against a team that has given them problems in the past. November 3rd remains the date we're all wating for when the Colts host the Patriots.

3. Dallas - Cowboys bounced back after the Pats loss by beating a good Minnesota team. Dallas is still the class of the weaker NFC.

4. NY Giants - I think that this is the team that will challenge Dallas for NFC supremacy, not Green Bay. The Giants have back-to-back BYE weeks with a game against Miami in London this Sunday and no game the following week.

5. Green Bay - The Pack was off this week and will travel to Denver Monday night. Can this team run the ball? In the end, that may hold the key to their success this season.

6. Pittsburgh - Losing to Denver wasn't good Sunday night but the Steelers are still a good football team. They should be able to beat the Bengals in Cincy this Sunday.

7. San Diego - The Chargers righted the ship a few weeks ago and are a very talented team. They WILL win the AFC West when all is said and done.

8. Washington - Can the Skins hang with and possibly upset the Pats this week? Naaaaah! But, they do have the best secondary that this high-powered passing offense of the Patriots has faced thru 8 weeks.

9. Tennessee - Are the Titans better with Vince Young or Kerry Collins at QB? Jeff Fisher says Young should be ready to go this week at home against the Raiders.

10. Jacksonville - They didn't look great Monday night but their performance as a whole hasn't been bad. We'll find out more about how good they are when they visit Tampa Sunday.

11. Tampa Bay - The Bucs suffered a tough loss at Detroit Sunday and need to beat the Jaguars at home this week if they want to be serious playoff contenders in the NFC. While Carolina leads the division, I'd be worried about New Orleans which has won 2 straight.

12. Chicago - I'm back on the Bears bandwagon after their win in Philly this past weekend. While they are clearly not as good as they were last year, I think that they, not Detroit, will challenge the Packers in the NFC North.

13. Detroit - Speaking of the Lions, that was a good win over the Bucs Sunday. Now go prove me wrong by winning at Chicago Sunday.

14. Baltimore - Losing at Buffalo is another indication that the Ravens are more of a flawed team than they were a year ago. They're still offensively challenged.

15. Seattle - An impressive win over the hapless Rams. Can this team re-join the NFC's elite this season. If they do, it's only because the conference is so weak.

Missed the cut: Carolina, Cleveland, Denver

Bottom Feeders: Miami and St. Louis will battle it out for the #1 draft pick in 2008. The Dolphins rate the edge not that Ronnie Brown is out for the season.

NFL Power 15 (thru week 6)

2007-10-16T04:48:00.001-07:00

1. New England - The league's only 6-0 team dismantled previously unbeaten Dallas on the road and has blown out every opponent this year with their closest game being a 17-point victory over Cleveland. They couldn't lose to winless Miami this week, could they?

2. Indy - Colts bye week came at the right time as Addai, Harrison and others can rest a and recover from injuries. That Nov. 3rd game against the Pats is looming large on the horizon in just 3 weeks.

3. Pittsburgh - Steelers also had the week off but have looked impressive all year with the exception of a brief hiccup in Arizona. They shouldn't have a problem in Denver Sunday night against a struggling Bronco team.

4. Dallas - There were times when they played the Pats tough and were actually the more physical team. However, their secondary can be exploited and Romo will make a mistake or two that will hurt them. Other than that, Son of Bum has done a nice job taking over for the Tuna.

5. Green Bay - The Pack had a good test against 3-1 Washington Sunday and passed the test despite a down day for Favre. If they can win games when he doesn't play well, that's a good sign for Green Bay.

6. Jacksonville - Don't look now, but the Jaguars are quietly dominating teams on defense and their offense has been decent under David Garrard. Don't sleep on the jags!

7. NY Giants - I think that this might be the team to challenge Dallas in the NFC. Eli has arrived and Plaxico is a stud. Consistent play from their defense will make this a dangerous team.

8. Tampa Bay - Garcia and the Bucs are off to a nice start at 4-2. If they win at Detroit this week, they should be in the chase for a playoff spot in the NFC for the long run.

9. Baltimore - The 4-2 Ravens have played dominant defense the past 2 weeks as they are known to do. the problem is, it's still pretty much the same old Ravens offense.

10. Carolina - Any team that can win with a 43 year old QB signed off the street the week of the game gets love from me. I have to admit that I'm happy for Vinny Testeverde.

11. Tennessee - Titans lost to the Bucs this week and lost Vince young to a quad strain. Even when healthy, he wasn't playing well. He needs to be more effective for them to win consistently.

12. Washington - Lost a tough one at Green Bay but should bounce back at home this week against Arizona.

13. San Diego - The Chargers look like their back and should crack the top 10 soon. They have a bye this week.

14. Cleveland - Romeo Crennell's team gave the Patriots their toughest challenge and should be 4-2. By the way, who the heck is this Derek Anderson guy anyway?

15. Detroit - The 3-2 Lions need to beat Tampa to validate their belief that they have arrived this year.

Missing the cut: Houston, KC, philly, New Orleans, Seattle

Bottom Feeders: Miami and St. Louis are the worst of the worst. Case closed!

Sox lose game 3 4-2

2007-10-16T04:33:00.000-07:00

Sharing some thoughts after last night's game 3 loss:

-In my opinion, the game was lost in the top of the 2nd when the Sox failed to score with the bases loaded and nobody out. Varitek popped out to shallow left and Crisp grounded into a double play in what was a pitiful display of hitting by the bottom of the Red Sox order. Boston's 6-7-8-9 hitters are awful!

-I just can't handle J.D. Drew anymore! The next time he comes up with a big hit for the Sox it will be the first! What a bust at 14 million per year!

-Ditto for Eric Gange who cost the team about 5 games in the regular season and made the division race with the Yankees alot closer than it needed to be. He also was the losing pitcher in game 2. What a disaster he's been!

-Another key moment for the Sox last night was in the 4th when Big Papi made a bonehead baserunning mistake by running into Manny's grounder to short. He was on 2nd with no outs and ran into the first out of the inning.

-Was it me, or did the Sox seem kind of dead last night? I just didn't see the fire or passion in them last night. It was more a look of frustration.

-Now for the rest of the series. There is no doubt in my mind that the right thing to do tonight is to start Beckett on 3 days rest. Even if Wakefield pitches a gem and the Sox win, I will stand by those comments.
It's very simple, for the Sox to win the series, they need to win 3 out of 4. If you can have Beckett pitch 2 of those 4 games (and only 1 game on 3 days rest) why wouldn't you do that?
Beckett has a solid history of pitching on short rest. He has over 20 innings of work and an ERA under 2.00.
I'd rather go down swinging with my best if I'm going to lose. I hope that this decision does not prove costly for the Sox.

Bears Win!

2007-10-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

Brown 33 Princeton 24

The Brown Bears got back on the winning track today defeating the Princeton Tigers on Homecoming day at Brown University. Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week Michael Dougherty threw for 360 yards and 2 TD's to lead the offense while Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week Steve Morgan booted four field goals while adding another league record to his impressive resume.

Dougherty hit WR Bobby Sewall (Portsmouth, RI) for his first TD of the game on a 12yd strike. He also connected with WR Buddy Farnham on a 43 yd TD in the 2nd quarter. Farnham finished with a team high 8 catches for 128 yards and 1 TD. Paul Raymond was next with 7 catches for 116 yards.

Morgan, who set the Ivy League record for career kicking points last week in the Bears' loss to Holy Cross added another record to his list of impressive accomplishments. His 3rd FG of the day from 22yds away gave him 46 for his career which is more than any other placekicker in league history. Morgan would add a 21yd Fg for his 47th career 3-pointer in th 4th quarter to seal the victory.

This was also a day for the Brown defense which had come off of two tough outings against URI and Holy Cross. The Bears D was stingy against the run yielding only 1 big play to Princeton - a 64 yd TD run by QB Bill Foran. For the rest of the game, the Tigers managed only 57 yards on 30 carries.

Brown evened it's Ivy League record to 1-1 with the victory and will travel to Ithaca, NY to take on the Big Red of Cornell next Saturday.

2007-10-09T14:47:00.000-07:00

Power 15:

Here's this week's Power 15 in the NFL:

1. New England - The 34-17 win over the Browns was the shakiest of the season for the Pats which is saying something. You bring you "C" game and still win by 17! This just in: the Pats are good!

2. Indy - No Joeseph Addai. No Marvin Harrison. No problem! Maybe the Colts should be 1-A in the standings because they're dominating too!

3. Dallas - The only other unbeaten in the NFL and they shouldn't be. Buffalo let them off the hook Monday night. If Romo turns it over 6 times against New England, I guarantee the Cowboys will not win!

4. Pittsburgh - The Steelers righted the ship with their dominating win over Seattle Sunday. Are they as good as NE and Indy????? I don't think so.

5. Green Bay - Packers lost their first one to division rival Chicago on Sunday. Can the Pack bounce back vs. a good Washington team this weekend?

6. Washington - Why not? A battle between 5 & 6 has the Skins at Lambeau. After the hurting Washington put on Detroit last weekend, I'm starting to believe a little in this team.

7. Jacksonville - The Jags went to KC (a tough place for raod teams) and handled the Chiefs. I guess they didn't need Bryon Leftwich after all.

8. Tennessee - Vince Young played very poorly Sunday. Fortunately for the Titans, they were only playing the Atlanta Falcons and won anyway.

9. NY Giants - I am crowning the Giants as the best of the (3-2) team right now. Eli is playing well. Plaxico is a stud and Jacobs is healthy giving them a pretty good RB tandem with Ward.

10. Tampa Bay - Yes, they lost to the Colts. Now the question becomes, can they sustain the loss of another RB to injury? We'll see.

11. Seattle - Wow! After getting smacked in Pittsburgh, I am having some serious second thoughts about this being an elite team in the NFC.

12. Arizona - This is a BETTER team with Warner at QB.

13. Baltimore - They barely beat the undermanned and injury-riddled 49ers on Sunday. What happened to this team this offseason. Did the loss of Adalius Thomas hurt the Ravens that much?

14. Detroit - We'll give the Lions a mulligan for that performance at Washington Sunday. Especially since they have to chew on that loss for an extra week during their BYE.

15. San Diego - Something tells me that this team will be "Charging" up these standings fast. They're too talented not to.

Missing the cut: Houston, Philly, Chicago

Bottom Feeders: Miami, St. Louis, New Orleans...........A combined 0-14 for these three teams...........OUCH!

Tribe Scalps Yanks!

2007-10-04T19:29:00.000-07:00

Wow! Just watched the ass-kicking that was the Indians 12-3 win over the Yanks. I must say that I was shocked. Wang has been the Yankees most consistent starter and he got shelled! Sabathia lacked command of the strikezone and the Yankees were able to get his pitch count up to get him out of the game early, but they could not do enough dammage in the way of hits and runs against him. it was like role reversal. The Indians looked like the team with the best line-up in baseball.

Also, like most teams, NY must get quality starts because if you get to their bullpen before Joba and Mo they're in serious trouble.

Is game 2 a must win for the Yanks? maybe not, but it's pretty damn important.

Sox Roll! / MLB Playoffs

2007-10-04T09:09:00.000-07:00

How good was Josh Beckett last night? The dude is a postseason stud a la Curt Schilling, Orel Herscheiser, etc. If the Sox win Friday with Dice-K, it's over. The Angels will not rebound from being down 0-2.

Yanks/Indians starts tonight and that should be a good one. 7 out of 10 ESPN "experts" pick the Tribe to win this series. Not me. Clemens has pronounced himself ready to go for game 3 so I'll take the playoff experienced Yankees over the inexperienced Indians. This does have the makings of an excellent series if Sabathia and Carmona can bring their A-games to the mound in games 1 & 2.

Colorado continues to roll as they beat the Phillies in game 1 of the NLDS. Francis pitched great! The Phillies need to take game 2 before heading to Coors Field.

I picked the D-Backs over the Cubs in the other NLDS because I love Brandon Webb. After watching him pitch last night, what's not to love?

MLB Playoffs in High-Def!

2007-10-04T09:05:00.000-07:00

Check it out Rhode Islanders! With TBS now the home for all of the MLB Division Series and the NLCS, you can now get TBS in High Definition on Cox Ch. 736. You must be a Cox Digital subscriber to receive it. Baseball in HD is outstanding! And if you have an HD television but don't subscribe to Cox Digital cable for High Def, what are you waiting for? Watch the Sox/Angels and all of the Division Series on TBS HD on Cox Ch. 736.

2007-10-02T15:28:00.000-07:00

NFL Power 15: (thru week 4)

1. New England - They're kicking ass and taking names. But spare me the (16-0) talk until after they visit Indy on Nov. 4th.

2. Indy - Defending champs got banged up Sunday which could have an impact on them this week when they face Tampa. Still, I think that they are on top with New England right now.

3. Dallas - Impressive start for the Boys! I will admit that with a coaching change I wasn't sure how Dallas would respond. I guess I have my answer.

4. Green Bay - Brett Favre may or may not be the greatest QB of all-time, but he's right up there! And right now he's carrying the Packer offense which can't run the ball.

5. Pittsburgh - Their loss to Arizona not withstanding, the Steelers appear to be back this year and better than expected.

6. Seattle - Big game for old friend Deion Branch vs. the 49ers. Seahawks still one of the favorites in the NFC.

7. Tampa Bay - Are the (3-1) Bucs really this good? No more Cadillac for the rest of the year but it may not be a big loss the way he was running.

8. Tennessee - Titans have really impressed me this year and I'm starting to buy into the Vince Young hype! I loved what he did in the National Championship vs. USC a couple of years ago and he's proving to be a winner in the NFL as well.

9. Jacksonville - Excellent D. Suspect offense. Can David Garrard lead this team to places that Byron Leftwich could not?

10. Detroit - Break up the Lions. Like everyone's been saying for years, there's no GM I'd rather have than Matt Millen.

11. Washington - Still not convinced that the Skins are the real deal. We'll see.

12.-15 Insert your favorite (2-2) team here because I can't differentiate between them! Denver, KC, Oakland, Houston, NY Giants, Carolina, Arizona, San Francisco. I don't know who's better than whom!

Bottom Feeder: Miami (0-4) - I never, ever thought that this once proud franchise would sink to such depths. They look pitiful right now!

2007-10-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

Fantastic NL Wild Card play-in game last night in Colorado. Although I have to admit that it left me thinking that MLB needs to consider adding instant replay to review crucial calls. Some say that it should only be used to determine homeruns and whether or not they were fair or foul or over the wall. I say that it should be expanded to any close call like the play at the plate in the bottom of the 13th. Holliday was out and McClelland got the call wrong! Replay clearly showed that his hand never crossed the plate because Barrett did a great job blocking the plate. As great of a finish that Colorado had to the season (14-1) in their last 15 games, are they really the team that deserves to be playing Philly in the NL Divisional Series? I'm not sure because I don't know if they would have won that game or not had the correct call been made at the plate in the bottom of the 13th. As for the "it will slow down the game too much to use replay," I say that there are ways to make sure that this doesn't happen. For instance, why not give each manager 2 challenges to use whenever he wants? I think that baseball at least needs to consider the idea of using replay this offseason.

Tony really is a half-wit!

2007-09-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

My esteemed (ah-hem!) colleague Tony Cornetta who felt it neccessary to take shots at me and my co-host apparently hasn't heard of the phrase, "those who live in glass houses, shouldn't throw stones."

Given the list of this year's candidates for the NL MVP award, his suggestion that Hanley Ramirez is in the top 2 is laughable at best! He has NO shot to win it!

I would give the Matt Holliday argument some creedence if he didn't play 81 games in the Mile High City of Denver. Check out the numbers:

Holliday (overall) .338 36 HR 132 RBI
(home) .374 25 HR 77 RBI
(away) .301 11 HR 55 RBI

As a team, the numbers are similar for the Rockies:
(overall) .278 165 HR 788 RBI
(home) .298 100 HR 435 RBI
(away) .260 65 HR 353 RBI

They can talk about keeping the baseballs in humidors to negate the thin air, but the numbers speak for themselves. The stats of Rockies players need to be examined closely when considering them for postseason awards. Apparently, Tony didn't take the time to do that.

Now I ask you, who's the moron?

Prince Fielder is your NL MVP.

Win 4-Pack of Brown/URI Tix

2007-09-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

Brown football coach Phil Estes is now in his 10th season coaching the Bears. In his first 9 seasons, he has had 3 players win Ivy League Player of the Year honors. Name 2 of the 3 players who won that award.

The first two people to call 437-5000 and correctly answer this question will win a 4-pack of tickets to Saturday's Brown/URI football game at Brown Stadium where the Governor's Cup will be on the line.

2007-09-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the blog! A few years ago when we wrote a weekly column on our website scoreamfm.com, I published my NFL Top 15 each week. Now that we're blogging on the website, I have decided to resurrect it. So here we go! Here's you first NFL Top 15 according to yours truly. Enjoy!

THE POWER 15:
1. NEW ENGLAND (3-0) We knew that the Pats' offseason additions were good, but did anyone think that they would have this big of an impact right away? The "old" Randy Moss is back! Wes Welker is a great slot receiver and punt returner and Adalius Thomas is a MAN on defense. It's all good right now!

2. INDIANAPOLIS (3-0) The defending champs look good thanks in large part to Joseph Addai who looks great! Yes, they got a scare from Tennessee in week 2 but the Titans played them tough twice last year. Circle November 4th on your calendar when the Colts host the Pats.

3. DALLAS (3-0) While your at it, circle October 14th on your calendar as well because that is when the Cowboys host the Patriots. My co-host thinks that Pittsburgh should be ranked ahead of Dallas in these rankings. I say, "no way!" What the Cowboys' offense did to a great Bears defense Sunday night said alot to me about this team.

4. PITTSBURGH (3-0) I've always said that you never want to be the guy that succeeds "the man." You want to be the guy that succeeds the man that succeeded "the man." No problem so far for Mike Tomlin.
Bill Cowher left some pretty big shoes to fill and the new Steelers coach is having no problem filling them.

5. GREEN BAY (3-0) I must admit that I'm still slightly skeptical of this undefeated team. Still, give Brett Favre his due. He tied Dan Marino with his 420th career TD pass Sunday and is playing well. And it's
not like they've beaten Oakland, Cleveland and Atlanta. They defeated Philly, the Giants and San Diego.

6. TENNESSEE (2-1) Monday night thrashing of the Saints shows that nthis team is for real. In fact, (2-1) could easily be (3-0) as they had a chance to beat the Colts in week2.

7. SEATTLE (2-1) It's not east separating the rest of these (2-1) teams but I think that the Seahawks may be the best of this group. 100 yards for Alexander Sunday and a TD catch for our old friend Deion Branch.

8. BALTIMORE (2-1) They held on to beat the Cardinals Sunday. The question with this team (like the Bears) will always be, do they have the offense to support their defense? We'll see.

9. TAMPA BAY (2-1) I definitely don't think that the Bucs are a top 7 team in the NFL but they're playing like one right now. They've scored 61 points thru 3 games and given up only 37. And Cadillac Williams would like
to know where this guy Earnest Graham came from?

10. JACKSONVILLE (2-1) I couldn't put this team behind the Broncos beacuse they won AT Denver Sunday. I still worry about their offense which is averaging 15 points per game.

11. HOUSTON (2-1) Even without Andre Johnson they still played the Colts tough. Maybe this will be the year that the Texans make it to the postseason for the first time in franchise history.

12. WASHINGTON (2-1) The Skins lost some of that momentum by handing the Giants their first win of the season in Washington. I'm still not sure if Jason Campbell is going to be a great QB or just a good one.

13. CAROLINA (2-1) Like alot of these (2-1) teams, I'm not overly impressed with the Panthers. But I did pick them to be an NFC Wild Card team before the season so I'm hoping that they prove me right.

14. SAN FRANCISCO (2-1) They ran into a buzzsaw Sunday in Pittsburgh. Still, the Niners might have enough to challenge Seattle in the Mild, Mild West.

15. DETROIT (2-1) So much for the feel good start to the season. After going (2-0), the Lions get hammered by the Eagles whose retro uniforms looked like UCLA's practice jerseys. This team definitely does have the
weapons on offense.

15. CINCINNATI (1-2) Tied for the 15th spot because they do have a potent offense. Now Marvin Lewis has to figure out a way for his defense to stop opposing teams. Hopefully he doesn't figure it out this
week.

MISSED THE CUT: Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego, NY Jets
An impressive list of also-rans. Most of these teams were not only in the preseason Top 15, but near the top of it! There's still time for many of them to get right back into the thick of things.

BOTTOM FEEDERS: Miami (and I'm lovin' every minute of it!), Atlanta, St. Louis, Buffalo. All are (0-3). If you're a fan of anyone of these teams I have a few words of advice for you: "Wait till next year!"