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02/13/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - I'm not a big fan of obligation.
Albert Einstein once said "It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it." While I'm not claiming to be on the same mental plane as Mr. Einstein, I'm comfortable in disagreeing with him on this one.
I've always felt man's only obligation is to be true to himself.
Some may call that selfish but it's not necessarily. It's called free will. If you want to help others, knock yourself out. If you want to look out for old No. 1, go right ahead.
Experience has taught me when people do things out of obligation, disaster usually results.
Take me for example. Many of you know Philadelphia is currently experiencing its worst winter in history. Two historic storms in the last week have been dubbed the "Snowpocalypse," as the City of Brotherly Love set its all time seasonal record for the white stuff.
When it comes to weather, the Northeast is like the New York Yankees or Dallas Cowboys. The region gets far more publicity than the rest of the country so I get why most people could care less when we complain. But, trust me this was bad. I lived in Minneapolis for 10 years and never experienced anything remotely like it.
I happen to live in a suburb of Philadelphia and share a driveway with a neighbor that happens to own a snow blower, a piece of equipment that usually does nothing more than collect dust every winter.
Last weekend it snowed 29.2 inches in my little part of the world and that was followed by another 16-plus inches just days later, so that snow-blower turned from expensive paper weight into a very valuable commodity.
To his credit, my neighbor burst into action, helping me clear the driveway.
So what's the problem?
Well, my neighbor is a really good guy and he not only helps me, he has been paving his way to the pearly gates by plowing the driveways of everyone within shouting distance.
And I, thanks to the better half, was obligated to pitch in, a feeling that can only be described as helpless.
With the second storm looming, I did everything I could to secure my own snow- blower, knowing full well if I made the purchase I would have nothing more than a rather expensive garage decoration for the next decade. I called every Lowes, Home Depot and Sears in the county.
It was a pipe dream. All the other detractors of obligation had swiped them up and my barking back and aching knees were back out playing block captain next to "Captain Do-Gooder."
The result?
A pending trip to the chiropractor and a possible damaged liver from gulping down Advils like they were Tic-Tacs.
Obligation strikes again.
Ed Stefanski should learn from my little story because he is about to be bitten by the obligation bug.
The embattled Sixers president is seriously thinking about trading his best player, Andre Iguodala, simply because he feels obligated to do something.
A local guy, Stefanski knows his city well. When hired he correctly observed that "patience doesn't go over well in Philadelphia."
Stefanski's two big moves since taking over the Sixers, signing an injured Elton Brand to a massive free agent contract and hiring crony Eddie Jordan as head coach, have been abject failures. A disastrous season has resulted and put the bull's-eye squarely on his back.
With the trade deadline looming, Stefanski feels obligated to do something. Sure, he would like to deal Brand or center Samuel Dalembert but that seems unlikely. Brand's contract and health concerns make the veteran virtually unmovable, while a 15 percent trade kicker and Dalembert's shaky work-ethic have nixed more than one possible deal over the past year.
Iguodala is the one tradeable commodity the Sixers have.
Philadelphia's "star" swingman is in the second-year of a six-year, $80 million dollar deal and a number of league executives are salivating over the idea of adding his all-around game to their teams.
Stefanski certainly knows Iguodala is best-suited as a complimentary piece, a player that should pattern his game after Scottie Pippen -- stuff the stat sheet and help the team win a different way every night. But, the Sixers' basketball chief has been unable to get a primary offensive option opposite Iggy.
When Brand scribbled his name on an $82 million dollar deal before last season, Stefanski thought Iguodala's short reign as "Batman" in Philadelphia was over. He thought Iguodala would slip into a more appropriate role, the perfect "Robin," the Academy Award winning supporting actor that would become a daily triple-double threat on the offensive end with the ability to torture people on the defensive side of the ball.
Instead, Stefanski struck out miserably with Brand, and magnified the mistake by settling on a new mentor that coaches like a 10-year old kid with ADD.
So, Iguodala continues to be the proverbial fish out of water in Philly. He is "the guy," a role ill-fitted for the Arizona product and one that has made him more and more disliked with the team's dwindling fan base.
A fact that has the NBA's other GMs circling like sharks and smelling blood in the water.
Obligation has Ed Stefanski on the verge of making his final mistake as president of the 76ers.
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My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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