The Golden Age

College Magazine Articles

2011-09-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

Here are links to my articles for College Magazine:

Here We Go Again: Conference Realignment 2.0

NFL Week 1 Preview

Top 10 College Football Traditions

NFL Week 1 Preview

You Can’t Spell Fraud Without “The U”

2011-08-17T23:54:00.000-07:00

In the waning weeks of one of the most tumultuous college football off-seasons in recent memory, news comes out that, buy it or not, a former University of Miami booster and current prison inmate named Nevin Shapiro provided over 70 former and current Miami athletes with impermissible benefits. According to Shapiro, he even has bank statements, receipts, and photos proving that his allegations are in fact true.

The fact that Shapiro is now in federal prison for his role in a $930 million Ponzi scheme may damage his credibility. But, according to Yahoo Sports, eight former Miami football players have confirmed receiving some sort of special treatment from Shapiro, including former running back Tyrone Moss who says that he collected over 1000 dollars from Shapiro. Some of the names that have been thrown out as former players who received these benefits include current NFL All-Pros Andre Johnson, Devin Hester, Frank Gore, Vince Wilfork and Jonathon Vilma. Also listed was current Miami quarterback Jacory Harris who saw significant playing time last season and is currently in the middle of a battle for the starting quarterback job this year.

Those who have been in favor of paying college athletes all along will use this predicament as a launching pad for their argument, but I do not think that this, or any situation such as the one at Ohio State, supports the idea that these athletes should get paid a stipend, simply because they are already getting paid! Whether or not they use it to their benefit, a four-year college scholarship is worth much more than face value because it can be used for so much more in the future. If the NCAA would allow schools to pay athletes, it would not only be wasting money, it would not help the allocation of impermissible funds. Not all people are fortunate enough to go to college, let alone go for free. Paying college athletes would not only be sending the absolute wrong message, it could perpetuate a problem that supporters of paying athletes wanted to end in the first place.

One aspect of this story that is not going to be paid as much attention to as it deserves is the fact that, ironically enough, former Miami Athletic Director Paul Dee was the chairman for the Committee of Infractions concerning USC’s Reggie Bush who, thanks to Dee and his crusade, ended up giving up his Heisman Trophy after allegations of taking impermissible benefits himself. Not only is this one of the purest examples of hypocrisy that I have ever seen, it is inexcusable for an AD not to know what is going on at his school. A football coach should not be allowing this sort of behavior to happen under his nose either, but when push comes to shove, a coach’s job is to win games; an AD’s job is to make sure that the athletic programs that he oversees are running cleanly.

Talking heads will talk about what sort of penalty Miami should get for this. Should they get the so-called “death penalty” like SMU did in the ‘70s and ‘80s, or will it be a slap on the wrist? I do not know and I will not speculate.

All I know is that there is some good that comes out of this whole situation. Come September 5 when Miami comes to Byrd, I will be holding up a sign. It will be rather plain, but to the point. It will say “Nevin Shapiro.”

It was all good until...

2011-08-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

... The last sentence.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&page=wojciechowski-110812&sportCat=golf

I respect Gene, but I think he got a little ahead of himself on this one. He says that this the tree is, "where Rory lost the PGA Championship." So, if Rory did not injure his wrist on that shot, he would have automatically won? I think not. Rory is good, but not good enough to be guaranteed major championship wins before the first round is even over.

Got Our Guy

2011-07-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

Now, before I start typing this rather lengthy blog post I must make a statement. IN NO WAY DO I BELIEVE THAT THE TENNESSEE TITANS WILL RESEMBLE THE WORD "GOOD" THIS YEAR. WE DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH TALENT AND WITH A NEW COACH AND A DEPLETING DEFENSE, WE WILL STRUGGLE. ANYTHING THAT I SAY THAT SOUNDS AS IF I THINK THE OPPOSITE, IS JUST THE FAN IN ME, NOT THE SPORTS AFICIONADO. With that being said, I am incredibly delighted this morning. In fact, I am up at 10:30, and that in and of itself is rare. But, by signing Matt Hasselbeck, we killed so many birds with one stone. First off, we have someone teach Locker and take him under his wing. I can think of very few quarterbacks that would be better than Matt because most of the really good QBs in the league (I know there's Brady, Brees, Manning...) are not the world's most phenomenal citizens. Second, we will win more games with Hasselbeck than with Locker, albeit not THAT many more, but more nonetheless. I've also heard from many sources that Hasselbeck and Locker have a pre-existing relationship but that should come as no surprise as they both played ball for the last 4 (or more) years in the Pacific Northwest. Once again, I see no way we make the playoffs this year, but if things go right, I expect some great things in the future. After all, I was one of the few Titans fans that actually liked the selection of Locker at number eight. But, for Pete's sake, sign CJ to a contract. Give the man what he wants. He is the best running back in the NFL. If you say AP is the current holder of that title, come see me. I got numbers, but that's a blog for another day. I'm just excited for football.

Sorry Kurkjian...

2011-06-01T22:35:00.000-07:00

Tim Kurkjian recently published an article on the underrated athleticism of baseball players:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=kurkjian_tim&id=6614933

It's not even close, baseball players are the least athletic of the four major sports (and five if you include soccer). I know Kurkjian pointed out tons of players who were recruited to play other sports out of high school or whatnot, but you would find more players from other sports who were recruited to play sports different than their current one than those in baseball for sure, and that is purely based on the fact that they are all better ATHLETES than baseball players. I agree with Adam Jones in that baseball players could probably be more successful in, lets say, the NBA than an NBA player could be in the MLB. But that has nothing to do with athleticism. I've always contended that baseball requires the most skill (just beating out hockey) out of the four major American sports, but SKILL does not MEAN athleticism. Sure, hitting an 80 mile-an-hour 12 to 6 curveball is one of the hardest things to do in sports, and hand-eye coordination can be argued to be a part of the umbrella term athleticism, but it is not strength, speed, or agility, which I consider to be the three most important parts of athleticism. I also think that Kurkjian needs to stay away from the whole dunking thing. He cites players like Chris Young who are 6 foot 10. If you're 6'10'' (or anything above 6'3'' for that matter) and you cannot dunk a basketball, all I have to say is shame on you. I was a baseball player all my life. I claim to be an average football and basketball player, but I do not claim to be a superior athletes. There are exceptions in the MLB, but the league is not full of superior athletes.

Gary

2011-05-05T15:07:00.000-07:00

At about 4:30 this afternoon I was lying in my bed flipping between SportsNation on ESPN2 and some show on the Food Network. I flipped back to ESPN2 and instantly saw a "Breaking News" update that shocked me to say the least. Gary Williams is retiring. For those of you who are at UMD for your first year and are just starting to like Maryland Basketball, I can understand the resentment of this announcement. After all, Gary's team didn't do much at all last season. We failed to make the postseason for the first time in God knows how long, and those of us who have witnessed Gary's teams throughout the years were just as PO'ed about it as the new fans. But what those of you who are new to this University do not understand is how much Gary meant to this institution. He was more than just A coach. He was OUR coach. Even more than just winning a national championship, he did it the right way. I would love to win every year, but if there's cheating involved, it just wouldn't be as sweet. Gary did not cheat. Period. He had made it his crusade not to. By winning the right way in 2002, it was a slap in the face to those coaches who cheat (cough, cough, Calhoun, cough). But I'm not complaining about the money that Jimmy won me this year. The 2002 National Championship was great; one of my fondest memories to be honest. But, what I respect Gary for that goes even beyond that is the fact that he took the job in the first place. After the Len Bias incident and Lefty Driesell's retirement, the NCAA looked for every reason to give Maryland the so-called death penalty, and they did under Bob Wade by giving them three years probation, no postseason play for two years, and no televised games for two years. Gary stepped in to his Alma Mater at arguably the most difficult stretch this athletic department has ever witnessed, and with the help of Walt Williams, he turned a downtrodden program into one of the nation's elite once again. I grew up going to games. First in Cole and then at Comcast; even before I became a student. Now that I know that this would be my only year in college seeing Gary fist pump his way down the sideline, I wish it would have gone a whole heckuvalot better, but I am thankful for the 22 years that Gary gave this University. For a variety of reasons, it is so difficult to be successful coaching at your Alma Mater, but Gary made it work. It wasn't always pretty and there was really never a dearth of controversy, but 22 years speak for itself. To be honest, I don't want to speculate as to why Gary retired. It may or may not have something to do with Jordan Williams leaving. I don't know. If I did know, my name would be Gary Williams and I would have a nice, shiny National Championship ring on my finger.

After a (not so brief) hiatus...

2011-04-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

I'm sick of the NFL Draft. Will I watch it tonight? Yes. Will I enjoy it? Maybe. Am I a fan of all the fanfare and speculation that goes along with it? Absolutely not. As a lifelong NFL fan, I enjoy almost every aspect of the league and the sport. I love the games, and I don't even mind those mid-week predictions we see on ESPN. But, people in this country have become all-too-obsessed with the NFL during the offseason months, and as a result of this, we see this godforsaken Draft speculation. I Hate Every Part of It. The combine. The single most overrated week in sports. Literally, the combine means nothing. Sure, my favorite player Chris Johnson might not have been a first round pick without his 4.24 forty yard dash, but that is not the point. The Combine has been brought to legendary status amongst sports fans and pundits alike, and I just don't get it. Combine results rarely equate to how good a player is (see Heyward-Bey, Darrius). Then there's the "Mock Drafts" and the "Big Boards," two great wastes of space on ESPN's website. Do I read them? Once in a while. Do they mean anything? No. Once again, it's all speculation. Lastly, it is the Draft itself. Prior to a few years ago, the Draft maintained some integrity. But, with the simple switch of moving it to primetime (and having only the first round on that first day), it lost a lot of respect points in my book. The NFL is a form of entertainment, and I get that, but shouldn't the league at least attempt to maintain some of its tradition. I want to sit on my bed and watch the whole thing unfold on a Saturday afternoon, not for a few hours on three consecutive days. Players like Torrey Smith who have been projected (yeah, I know, projected. I never denied reading them. I read Bleacher Report too. I'm not saying it's correct or anything) as a borderline first round pick might have to wait an extra 24 hours to get selected. It's garbage if you ask me. So to you Mr. Goodell, before you make anymore unnecessary changes, and to you Mr. Kiper, before you put on your next coat of hair gel, think about the integrity of the sport. Do not water it down with useless and trivial fillers to pass the time. Watch some March Madness or MLB in the meantime. Just please don't ruin America's Game.

Some NFL Thoughts

2010-12-19T21:47:00.000-08:00

Two things:

1) During NBC's pre-game/highlights show before the Sunday Night game, when talking about the Desean Jackson punt return to win the game, the commentator said that this was the first time a game has been decided on a punt return touchdown as time expired. The way he said it, he was kind of proud that he was the one to say this statistic, like it was some shocking fact. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I was not surprised in the least, because frankly, nobody has ever been stupid enough to actually kick the ball in the field of play in that situation. And to one of the most explosive players in the league? I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it was not a smart move. Good try NBC, but maybe next time you will knock me off of my feet with your knowledge because today was certainly not that day.

2) I'm in a dilemma. The Titans, my Titans, although feeble and semi-awful, are still mathematically in contention for the playoffs. Do I believe they will make it into the postseason? Not a chance. But do I want to be optimistic? Absolutely. So in order for this pipedream to pan out, we would need to win out and get some help. One of the teams who we need to lose is the Jags. Just my luck, they play the Redskins next week. Great. So here's my question? Do I abandon all of my ideals, morals, and beliefs and root for the team that I despise so much, or should I be a realist and throw out any fantasies that the Titans will be in the playoffs this year? I'm not sure. Get back to me Sunday morning.

Danny's Media Participation Blog: My (Potential) Future in Journalism

2010-11-29T15:23:00.000-08:00

I have always been a writer. For as long as I can remember, I have loved the entire process. The pen hitting the paper, my fingers hitting the keyboard; it doesn’t matter. Coming in to college, I had two interests: writing and sports. I wanted to be like Mike Wise or Michael Wilbon (minus the television part of his career).
While I understand that the entire landscape of journalism is changing, and simply being a writer would be nearly impossible in this day and age, it becomes a null point because I have found a new passion: the radio. By volunteering and being a part of WMUC Sports, I now see myself going in that direction. Honestly, I chose to volunteer there because I love sports and it was the most direct means to be involved with something related to sports. Little did I know that by mid-November, I would now see myself speaking for a living. But, being on the radio does not simply involve talking, which, to me, is the beauty of it. Being on the radio takes preparation and by that I mean writing, which is the best of both worlds.
Along with volunteering to produce games for WMUC Sports, I also co-host my own sports talk show, and both have shown me that I can utilize my journalism skills while still talking to consumers of information instead of writing to satisfy their need. When I produce games for WMUC Sports, I can tell that the broadcasters have prepared many things to discuss during the games. The play-by-play person has to have the gift of painting a picture with words, and this comes from being an effective communicator. Only a journalism degree can effectively teach this to someone. The color commentator needs to be someone who has thoughtful insight. Some of this is hand-written before hand while some is impromptu. Either way, being familiar with your craft and executing your ideas with words is something that listeners often take for granted. I can already tell that it is an acquired skill that takes time to perfect. The better one writes and scripts prior to the broadcast, the smoother and more insightful it will be.
My talk show also teaches me some of these same lessons. My co-hosts and I sit down each Monday night and loosely write the script for the show on the following Tuesday (at three o’clock if you want to listen!). This way, we have an outline for what we will be discussing, but at the same time, we can be creative during the broadcast. This leads to intuitive conversations about sports.
As I said before, my main interests going in to my first semester of college consisted of writing and sports. Now that I am headed into my second semester, radio can be added to this list. Journalism is the only field that can satisfy all of my interests, and that is why I find journalism so very fascinating. I know how to talk in a microphone and run a soundboard, which is acceptable for now, but I am eager to learn even more about different positions within the radio station, whether that station is WMUC Sports or somewhere else. It is an exciting feeling, knowing that I am this enthusiastic about a field, and I want to continue to learn and be a part of it for the rest of my life.
I thought it was impressive that I was my high school newspaper’s Sports Editor my senior year, but now I know that holding in that position was me simply dipping my toes into the ocean that is the field of journalism. I have moved on from that phase, to hopefully bigger and better things.

I'm Lovin' It

2010-11-15T19:22:00.000-08:00

This is a beautiful thing. The great Washington Redskins are down 42-14 with less than a minute left in the first half, with David Akers lining up to add three more. He just snuck it it, so now it's a 31 point lead. I personally cannot wait for the talk radio tomorrow here in DC. The excuses will be classic and the finger-pointing will be inevitable. Let the ridiculousness ensue...

Oh, Maryland. How You Toy With My Emotions.

2010-11-10T19:11:00.000-08:00

I just got back from Maryland's 75-74 defeat over the College of Charleston and I don't know what to make of it. On one hand, we played semi-poorly and went down to the wire against a team from the Southern Conference but on the other hand, we just proved resilient against a Bobby Cremins-coached team that beat then-ranked #9 UNC last year. We started off sloppy ... again. We need to cut down on turnovers, especially those caused by our point guards picking up their dribble and forcing it in to Jordan Williams. And then there's free throw shooting. 5-18 in this game. That's right, 5-18. This is one of those occasions where it is actually apt to say that, "I could make more than that with a blindfold on." I thought that free throw shooting would be a non-issue this year. But, the more I thought about it, I realized that losing Vasquez and Hayes (Two 90% or better free throw shooters) can take a toll in that category. I know Gary will have them working on that, so I will let that be for now. Then again, it was nice to se Pe'Shon step up at the end. I'm sure the play was supposed to go to JWill, but if it goes in, it goes in. We have a few more (hopefully) easy tests before heading up to the Madison Square Garden. Hopefully we can get those wins, work on improving every game, and beat Pitt in a week or so. Man, I was not expecting that this early. I guess this is one way to get me ready for ACC season.

The (Evil) Allure of the Pinstripes

2010-11-09T20:16:00.000-08:00

After the MVP and Cy Young Awards, the Golden Glove is the most coveted award in all of baseball. It measures who, in the voters estimation, is the best at fielding their position in their league. Players such as Pudge Rodriguez and Greg Maddux won upwards of ten straight of these things. It is one of the most prestigious awards in all of sports. Well, until now. My opinion of the award has now been shot. The 2010 American League Gold Glove winner for shortstop was Derek Jeter. Mediocrity does not even begin to describe his fielding prowess. He, time and time again, makes the routine play look difficult, and he has one of the smallest ranges as far as shortstops go in his league. He plays deep on every pitch and hopes that the ball is not rocketed past him. He is the "proud" recipient of the Danny Golden "Most Overrated Play Ever" award in which, in the playoffs against Oakland, was caught entirely out of position and got lucky when he cut a ball of and flipped it to the catcher. He was on the first baseline, and, trust me, that was not out of instincts. Those who are Jeter supporters will make the claim that having a fielding percentage of .989 makes him deserving. No. In my estimation, a Gold Glove-winning shortstop (arguably the most important position on the field) has to actually try on slow-rollers and balls deep in the gap. Jeter won because he is Jeter, a word synonymous with another dirty word: Yankee.