Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Jay

Acerbic columnist Jay Mariotti abruptly quit the Chicago Sun Times on Monday after returning from Beijing. Just last summer, he signed a big contract extension to stay at the Sun Times, but after covering the Olympics, he decided newspapers are dinosaurs and to try to find his way on the web.

You can tell from this piece in today's S-T that he's missed by almost no one. I haven't read him for years, for many of the reasons detailed in the piece, so I don't miss him either.

OIympic undies in a bunch

At the Olympics, the coach of the New Zealand men's field hockey team (I didn't know men played field hockey) was ejected from a game because his team's underwear was the wrong color.

As my hero, Dave Barry, likes to say, I am not making this up.

I'm sure NBC will be all over this story in prime time tonight.

Bears pick Orton, ND moves back to Indiana

The Bears finally cut the cord with Rex Grossman and turned the offense over to former Boiler Kyle Orton. After watching the game with Seattle the other day, Rex better stay ready. There's a good chance Orton is going to get creamed.

The offensieve line couldn't block anything and wouldn't recognize a blitz in a police lineup. If that doesn't get fixed, the QB won't matter.

In other Chicago news, the Tribune has finally recognized that Notre Dame is in Indiana. Last week, I wrote about how their list of athletes with "Illinois connections" included someone whose only connection was that she attended ND. It took them a week, but she finally dropped off the list.

Athletic, yes, but not a sport

I've always felt that one of the definitions of a sport is something where you can tell who won. Gymnastics and figure skating, which rely on judges to tell you who won, are more like athletic pageants than sports. Diving fits into that as well.

We saw another example again tonight. Nastia Liukin of the US appeared to have done a little better than He Kexin of China, but the judges ruled them tied, and He won on a tiebreaker. Another Chinese gymnast finished third, but she might have been better than the other two. Who can tell? Certainly not me, and even the announcers (who have a huge US bias to be sure) struggled with it.

He, who was below the minimum age required to compete in the Olympics before she miraculously produced a passport that said otherwise, had a worse low score that counted than Liukin did. That was the tiebreaker.

Another US-China matchup was pretty spirited as well. Today's 9-1 win for the US baseball team over China got a little intense. Five, or perhaps six (news reports conflicted), US batters were hit by pitches. Two US runners collided with Chinese catchers. One of those catchers, Wang Wei, got knocked out of the game in the 5th. Backup Yang Yang got steamrolled in the sixth, which made China's manager, Jim Lefebvre (the former Cubs manager) pretty irate. He argued the US runner's play was unnecessary and that he should have been kicked out of the game. Lefebvre was launched instead. The first batter for the US in the next inning, Matt LaPorta, was beaned and knocked out of the game. Maybe the next one too. That got the Chinese pitcher tossed along with backup manager Steve Ontiveros (the former MLB pitcher, not the former Cubs 3B).

The final act of sportsmanship came when Yang yanged one over the left field fence in the 9th for the only Chinese run. He ran the bases with his arm in the air in celebration like he hit a 10-run homer.

In the bigs, the next guy goes down and pretty much everyone in uniform gets ejected. Here, the teams just shook hands after the game.

Gotta love the Olympic spirit!

The University of Chicago at South Bend

One of my pet peeves about the Chicago Tribune sports section, and Chicago sports media in general, is that they treat the University of Notre Dame like it's the University of Chicago at South Bend. I understand that the school has a large fan base here, but I have always thought that it is a bit silly for the Irish to get better coverage than the University of Illinois. But, they do.

South Bend, by the way, is halfway to Ohio from Chicago. Milwaukee is closer to downtown Chicago than South Bend.

The most recent (and blatant) example of the geographic confusion is in the agate type on the Olympics page. There, you'll find a list of three dozen athletes with Illinois connections. There are people who grew up in Illinois, went to college in Illinois, or play professionally here. They might not even represent the US in the games, like Andres Nocioni of the Bulls, who plays for Argentina, but they all have a connection to the state, except one.

Near the bottom of the list is women's sabre gold medalist Mariel Zagunis. Her "Illinois" connection - she attended Notre Dame.

Favre and other frustrations

The Brett Favre Saga goes on unabated. The Packers have done everything they can to make Brett feel unwelcome ever since he suggested he might unretire, but Brett didn't take the hint until yesterday. Now, he says, "they don't want me back." Duh.

I can't think of any similar case where a legendary player for a team was so actively shunned. Maybe Bobby Hull with the Blackhawks back in the day.

It's probably just as well he's gone, although as a Bears fan, any distraction for the Packers is fine with me. I'm not as convinced as others that having Favre back makes the Packers better. Not if there's that much bad blood between him and the coaching staff.

A lot of folks around here would like to see Favre join the Bears, but that'll never happen. The Packers still own his rights, and there's no way they'll let him stay in the division. The Vikings would also love to have him and have made no secret about it, but once again, same division. Now, it looks like he'll be traded to Tampa for a bag of chips and a case of beer.

Kyle Orton gets to start tomorrow night's game with the Cheifs. It looks like the QB derby will be decided after the second exhibition game (which Grossman will start). It would be a shame if Grossman ends up the starter. We've already seen what he can do. Or, more accurately, can't do.

The Bears have reportedly told season ticket holders that they will not be allowed to tailgate once the game begins. I guess a fair number of people just sit at their cars and watch the games on TV outside the stadium. What's the point of that? Wouldn't it be a lot easier to do that at home?

Our area got pounded with storms the other night, leaving a lot of damage. My house was spared, but the nearby town of Griffith, IN, got hit with a tornado, leaving a lot of destruction in its wake. You can see some of the pics here.

My DSL service is out for a few days, which is making things difficult for me. Right now, I'm getting some online time at a McDonald's, where a little girl is entertaining the crowd with a rousing version of the "I just farted" song, much to her parents dismay. Could be worse, though. Could be March, when a DSL problem would have me moving out. Also, I could be sitting closer to the little girl.

At least I have power. I live on a small street and usually if one of us has a power outage, we all do. Right now though, our house is the only one powered up on our side of the street. Very strange. Also, we're the only ones who didn't get water, thanks to a battery backup sump pump. Best investment I ever made.

Catching up

A lot has gone on since I last wrote:

I saw The Dark Knight. It was fantastic. I don't know that I have much to add beyond what most of the reviewers have already said. Heath Ledger stole the show and the story was great. If I have any complaint, it's that it gets a little speechy at times (is "speechy" a word?). It's pretty cool, as a Chicagoan, to see the way the city is used in this movie.

The Cubs keep rolling. They went up to Milwaukee and kicked the Brewers back to the Cardinals in the standings. The team didn't make any trade deadline moves, but their big trade came earlier in July when they picked up Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin, both of whom have done quite well, despite Gaudin blowing a lead yesterday. Jeff Samardzija, the former all-American WR at Notre Dame, was called up to fill Kerry Wood's spot on the roster and has done a pretty credible job as well. He's got nasty stuff, and once he nails down his control, he'll be a quality starter. That is, if they don't make a closer out of him. Rooting for ND guys is hard for me, but I guess I'll just have to get used to it.

I had another garage sale. This one didn't go as well as the first because the main road near my house is under construction, which kept down drive-by traffic. I may do one more, or I may not.

I signed up to coach soccer again this fall, but for the second season in a row, I didn't get a team. I'm starting to take this personally.

I have also been working on getting CollegeBCS.com going for the new season, so if you are a subscriber, you can find my bowl projections and commentary on the initial coaches' poll.

I also joined up with Facebook and LinkedIn. Links to my pages on those sites are on the right side of the page.

Drake scratches itchy trigger thumb again

I wrote about vacation fill-in ump Rob Drake and his itchy trigger thumb last month after a particularly bad performance in a Cubs-Sox game.

Well, he was back last weekend for the Marlins-Cubs series, and he got busy again. After blowing a call at first where he called Mark DeRosa out, he launched first base coach Matt Sinatro when he went to argue, and then threw out Lou Piniella as well shortly after he arrived from the dugout.

This guy really knows how to throw gas on a fire. Won't the game be so much better when this guy gets up to the bigs for good?

DeRosa, by the way, did one of those stupid head first dives into the base. I have no idea why guys do that, but all it does is slow you down.

Rutgers losing arms race

One of the concerns of many in college athletics is what is called the "arms race," as teams try to build bigger and better facilities to try and remain competitive. That term is also applied to the ever escalating coaches' salaries.

Rutgers seems to be falling behind. In an effort to capitalize on their breakthrough season of two years ago, they decided to expand and renovate their football stadium. However, fundraising is going very poorly, according to this story in the Newark Star-Ledger.

My favorite line comes from the Rev. M. William Howard, the chairman of the Rutgers board of governors. He says, "We're looking at everything. I mean, Jesus, that's what prudent leadership is required to do."

In case you missed it, that's a reverend who is so frustrated that he was quoted taking the Lord's name in vain.

I'm sure that kind of thing never happens at Notre Dame!

Big Ten Media Day, Part 2

The second day of the Big Ten media festivities starts with some one-on-one-or-so time for the media with the coaches and selected players. A ballroom is set up with a table for each player and coach, and media types just float around the room to talk to who they want. It's a two hour session, and there are also tables for some of the Big Ten Network types and league officiating coordinator Dave Parry.

Unless I'm writing for someone else, I usually spend my time with Parry, the Purdue folks and the Big Ten Network guys.

As an ex-official, I always find the talks with Parry interesting, even though I never worked football. This year, I had questions about the new horse collar rule and the interpretation of unsportsmanlike celebration.

The horse collar rule only applies if the player is brought down immediately by the collar. I asked Parry why it was safer to bring the player down by the collar after a few steps, and he said it is because the player gets more of a chance to brace himself, and that the defender usually ends up grabbing something else as well, making it a safer play. I'm not entirely sure I agree with that, but we'll see how it's enforced.

I was also concerned that any individual celebration of a play might get penalized. That may not quite be true, but I think we are going to see a lot more of those flags this year. In short, anything choreographed, prolonged, and/or aimed at the opponent will be penalized.

If you take a flying leap into the end zone - penalty. If you take a flying leap into the stands after a touchdown - penalty. If you sack the QB, look down on him, and say or do anything - penalty.

Things like the entire Georgia team taking the field to celebrate a first quarter score will fall under "trespassers will be shot." Actually, that will just be something on the order of 60 penalties.

After that, I checked in with Purdue QB Curtis Painter. On his table was a bunch of calendars and videos promoting him as a Heisman candidate. That's probably a bit far-fetched, but you can't blame the school for trying.

Painter will have some new faces around him this year. In particular, he needs to find replacements for the production of TE Dustin Keller and WR Dorien Bryant.

Bryant will be easier to replace. He put up some big numbers, but was always a bit soft. Desmond Tardy will probably be an upgrade. Keller will be a little tougher. He was a first round pick after all, but Kyle Adams won't be too much of a dropoff.

As for Painter himself, he hopes to become more consistent. He cut his interceptions from 19 to 11 last year. He's looking for a similar improvement.

Joe Tiller enters his last year knowing more about his team than he usually does. That's because so many projected starters were injured in spring ball that a lot of backups got a lot more reps than they might have otherwise. That helped develop some depth, perhaps, but Tiller said he'd rather have had all his starters.

He also thought that put the team behind the curve a little bit entering fall camp. Although, it's not as bad as it might seem. Some of those 15 starters that missed spring ball were guys like Greg Orton and Sean Sester, who have been starters for a while. The missed time doesn't hurt guys like that as much.

The position of biggest concern may be linebacker. Tiller is hopeful that redshirt sophomore Kevin Green, a highly regarded prospect, has finally seen the light. Tiller said they recruited him because he was a physical player, but so far "has looked like Tarzan and played like Jane." He was much more physical in the spring, and if that carries over, "we'll have a hard time getting him off the field," Tiller said.

Tiller also talked about the situation he's in with his replacement being on staff. He said it wasn't his idea, but AD Morgan Burke's. He said he told Burke he was OK with it as long as the replacement was someone he was comfortable with.

There was a public flirtation with Wisconsin OC Paul Chryst that Tiller says probably would not have worked out for him. Neither he nor anyone on his staff knew Chryst or worked with him before, which would have made for an uncomfortable season.

Danny Hope, the man Purdue hired, was an assistant with Tiller at Wyoming and his first five seasons at Purdue. He's a friend of Tiller, so comfort is not a problem. Also, he's the offensive line coach this year, so he has an important job besides recruiting. Tiller is pleased with the way the line is shaping up under Hope, and the energy he brings to the job.

Once the media session is done, it's the fans' turn. Each school sets up a table for fans to come up and get trinkets and autographs. The Ohio St line seemed to wind all the way to lower Wacker Drive (or in that case, Wacko drive).

Following that is the luncheon, where fans get a good meal and hear each of the coaches speak about their teams. And take shots at each other.

The luncheon was hosted by ABC's Brent Musburger, who got off a few good lines of his own. He told of how the players were disappointed to see him instead of Erin Andrews. He also thanked Joe Tiller for providing the "snake oil and vinegar" dressing for the salad.

Most of the coaches introduce, or at least acknowledge, the players they brought with them, their AD, and/or their wives. Then, they talk about how excited they are about their team.

It used to be that you could tell what the coaches really thought of their teams by what they said. Coaches that mentioned their players "character" or "work ethic" usually had bad teams. Last year though, nobody used that phrase. This year, the only one who did was Tiller. Damn.

Tiller said he gets asked a lot about why he would retire back to Wyoming with it's rough weather. He said that the weather there is misunderstood. He explained that, "it's always clear and still. Snow clear up to your butt and still coming down."

He also said that since he announced his retirement, everyone has been very nice to him. In fact, "if I had known they would be so nice, I would have retired three years ago, and then came back. Then retired again, then came back."

While he was trying to welcome new Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez (a man he recently referred to as a snake oil salesman), he mistakenly called him "Rich Alvarez." He explained that he confused him with Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez because, "I need a haircut and Barry and I use the same barber."

He then decided he had to tell one story, even though he doesn't usually.

At the Ohio St game last year, the Buckeyes brought "43,000 fans with them. Fortunately, we didn't have 43,000 seats available. Out in the parking lot though, one of our long-time season ticket holders was trying to give away one of his tickets."

An Ohio St fan tried to buy it, but he was insistent on giving it away. He said it used to be his wife's, but since she died, he has no one to sit with at the game and he just wants some company.

The OSU fan asked if he didn't have any children or family who could go with him to the games. He said, "yes, but they're all at the funeral."

After the laughter died down, Tiller said that just shows the remarkable passion Big Ten fans have for football.

The only person who could follow Tiller to the dais was Joe Paterno. I can't write fast enough to keep up with him.

Commenting on Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald being elected to the Hall of Fame, he said, "it's great that he got in so young. It took me 58 years."

To Tiller: "Did I hear correctly, 'Snow up your butt?' It's going to take a lot of snow to fill your rear end."

He had the most fun though with Rodriguez.

"We played them once when he was a player at West Virginia. His wife was a cheerleader. Cute as can be! We took a picture together.

"Then he becomes a coach. Our first Nike trip together, his wife comes up to me and says 'Do you remember me?'

"I said, 'Do I remember you!' I'm old, but I'm not that old!

"I'm really couldn't care less that Rich is in our league now, no matter how much he payed to get in, but I'm sure glad his wife is here."

Then, he had Rodriguez wife stand up. Really, if Paterno wasn't so old, his fawning might have been creepy.

He also took a shot at former UM coach Lloyd Carr, who wasn't there to defend himself. "I always loved following him because he was such a lousy talker. Even his wife used to wait for me to talk."

And, it would be Joe if he didn't get a shot in at the refs. "Sometimes, in a game, you gotta wait for the refs to screw the other team, like with Purdue last year. Boy, they got screwed. That was one of the worst officiated games, wasn't it Joe (looking at Tiller)? But at least the calls all went our way."

Minnesota coach Tim Brewster seemed relatively calm, which means he was only much more wired than any other coach. He did have one funny moment when he tried to introduce his wife, but she wasn't there. "Is she here? Did she stay in the room?"

He also talked about, "change being a painful process. 1-11 is pretty painful."

Indiana coach Bill Lynch was the halfway point, and he said he'd be brief "because if you're like me, you'll have to go to the restroom soon."

He also made RB Maurice Thigpen stand up and model his fluorescent peach suit and suggested everyone come down to Bloomington for a game and pick one up for themselves in the clothing stores afterwards.

He also thanked disgraced outgoing AD Rick Greenspan. That got a bit of a groan from the room.

When Musburger introduced Rodriguez, he mentioned all the "Wanted" posters hanging up in West Virginia. Rodriguez said it's not the posters that concern him. "They sell a lot of guns in that state."

RR also told Brewster that, "change isn't just painful, it's costly."

Then, he told Lynch not to worry about Paterno. "He'll just get up and go when he has to, whether it's the middle of a luncheon or the middle of a game." Sure enough, later on, Paterno disappeared for a while.

He's also excited about Michigan fans, although he pointed out that of the 110,000 fans that show up on Saturdays, "109,000 are offensive coordinators. I don't think I'm going to hook them up to my headset just yet, though."

I'll leave you now with some of the thoughts of Wisconsin coach and comedian-in-waiting Bret Bielema.

"One thing I've learned is that the older you get, the more you get away with. One guy gets up here and talks about snow up to his butt. I didn't even know you could say 'butt' here. Another guy gets up and goes on about Rich's wife.

"I'll save some introduction time because I don't have a wife. If anyone stands up, I'm in trouble.

"One thing I'm going to miss about Joe (Tiller) is sitting next to him at these banquets. He keeps me thoroughly entertained, and he helps me translate Paterno."

As for people who think the league is down, Bielema says, "the easiest way to shut people up is to win."

Notes from Big Ten media day

Our day started with a video reviewing the officiating points of emphasis. This year, they will be focusing on targeting defenseless players and hitting with the crown of the helmet.

Also, the horse collar tackle is now illegal, but only if the player is brought down immediately with the play. They showed an example where a defender caught the guy behind with the horse collar, but it took him a few steps to get him down. That is not supposed to be a penalty. I think that's an odd line to draw.

And, as usual, there is an emphasis on unsportsmanlike conduct. In short, just about any individual celebration of a play is going to get flagged. Anything remotely choreographed will get flagged. Any goose-stepping, flying leap, or other gyrations into the end zone will get flagged. It won't be long before bands get flagged for playing the fight song. Some probably should.

I hope to as Dave Parry, the coordinator of officials, about some of these things tomorrow when he is available.

There is one other rule change that got a lot of mention today. There is now a 40-second play clock that begins when the previous play ends. That figures to speed up the game a bit. Also, when a player goes out of bounds, the clock will now start when the ball is "ready for play" instead of at the snap, except in the last two minutes of each half.

Gone is the 5-yard incidental face mask penalty. Now, only the 15-yard variety gets called. Face masks must get twisted, turned or pulled to get the flag. Also gone is the sideline warning. Now, the sideline just gets penalized for delay of game. There's no warning.

The top three teams predicted by the media are Ohio St, Wisconsin and Illinois. The preseason offensive player of the year is OSU RB Beanie Wells, and on defense, it's James Laurinaitis.

Generally, everyone in the media agrees that it's OSU and everyone else fighting for second. Penn St, Michigan, Michigan St and even Purdue are teams mentioned as possible runners up. Iowa and Northwestern are considered dangerous as well. Indiana and Minnesota bring up the rear, but neither is truly horrible.

Illinois coach Ron Zook spoke first. Like everyone (except Joe Tiller), he's excited to be here. That's because he hasn't lost yet. He is focused, as are his players, on making sure that last year wasn't a fluke. He thinks his defense could be very good, but his team still has questions. For example, who will replace Mendenhall and Leman?

He was asked about the biggest difference between playing Missouri this year and playing them last year. Zook said that last year, the coaches were still trying to teach the team how to win. This year, they know they can.

Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald was next. He spoke about how there were some positives last year, but that they were not satisfied with a six-win season. He compared it to how things were 13 years ago when he came to NU as a player. Back then, "if we would have had six wins, we would have had a parade down Central Street, shut it down and had a purple party here in Chicago. Things are changed and I'm excited about that."

There are a lot of new faces around Fitzgerald. He has new coordinators on both sides of the ball, and a new boss in AD Jim Phillips, who Fitzgerald called "a great role model for sleep deprivation." But QB CJ Bacher and RB Tyrell Sutton are back, so NU figures to score a lot of points.

Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema was having a good time. He talked about looking forward to back-to-back night games at the Madhouse saying, "Hopefully Wisconsin fans, if they have a couple more hours to relax in the stadium parking lot, we'll have a festive environment."

On Michigan's conspicuous absence from the media top three, he said it was a "misprint." After two more questions about Michigan, he chuckled and said, "it's good to be at a Michigan press conference."

He also patted himself on the back for picking Illinois as last year's conference sleeper. He hedged when asked this year, but came up with Michigan St or Indiana.

Tiller spoke next. He pointed out that 15 probable starters missed all or most of spring practice, so he knows less about this team than usual. That makes fall training camp even more important. He's glad to have a QB as experienced as Curtis Painter, so at least he doesn't have to worry about that.

He said that having his successor on the staff (OL coach Danny Hope) is not a distraction at all because Hope was an assistant to him before and because they get along so well.

He was asked about some of his most endearing relationships with coaches on his staff or other at other schools. He said that he generally gets along well with pretty much everyone. "I like to think that if you can't get along with Joe Tiller, there's something wrong with you." He singled out Penn St coach Joe Paterno, "probably because I'm the closest one to his age."

He also felt that the one thing he'd miss is the camaraderie with his coaching staff. He said that they "gen-u-ine-ly" like each other and said that how well a guy might fit in with the group is at least as important as skills when he hired assistants.

Jim Tressel hasn't read Carson Palmer's grade-A trash-talk yet, but he said things like that don't bother him. He also hasn't seen Terrelle Pryor practice yet, so he hasn't figured out how he'll be used.

He said (facetiously) that the fact that OSU is the overwhelming favorite does concern him because he thinks these picks haven't always been accurate.

Indiana coach Bill Lynch now carries the mantle of dullest speaker now that Lloyd Carr is gone. He did hint that Kellen Lewis' return to the team from a suspension doesn't mean he's a given to start at QB. He really likes backup Ben Chappell, who is more of a drop-back style QB.

He also said now that they have accomplished the goal of Play 13, the next goal is to win that game.

Lynch was also asked, given that IU plays eight home games this year, if they gave any thought to playing one of those games up in Indianapolis, where the questioner said they have a "tremendous fan base."

He said that they want to play all the games in Bloomington they can, so they aren't considering playing in Indy. However, the correct answer is that they have a tremendous basketball fan base in Indy. IU fans still don't really care about football and don't sell out their own stadium, so why play in an even bigger stadium in Indy?

After Lynch (and lunch) was MSU coach Mark Dantonio. His 15 minutes can be described by only one word: Outstanding. He used it 13 times to describe everything from his recruiting, to his schedule, to his tie. OK, I made up the bit about the tie.

When someone asked him about being the sleeper, he said his team expects to win every time they take the field and that their goal is to win the league. If they pull that off, it would be, um, outstanding.

Tim Brewster of Minnesota has figured out how to keep the media from asking him stupid questions. He doesn't leave them any time. The format of this event is that each coach has 15 minutes for some opening remarks and then some questions. Brewster is so wired that caffeine would probably bring him down. He started talking. And talking. And talking. By the time he stopped for air, almost ten minutes of his time was gone. He only had time for four media questions.

The short version is that he feels that they have to get a lot better on defense if they're going to have any success. That happens not with better schemes, but with better players.

JoePa was next. He dispensed with the opening remarks, so we all asked him Minnesota questions.

No, I'm kidding of course. We all asked him, over and over, when he was going to retire. This was after he said he got tired of answering that question because he doesn't know too many ways to say "I don't know." At one point, he got frustrated and spelled out "I D O N T K N O W"

He also chastised one writer for asking him how Terrelle Pryor would impact Ohio St. "That's a dumb question, even though you're a Penn St grad. You should ask Tressel."

He also felt honored to have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, but said, "when you've been around as long as I have, they gotta do something with you."

Iowa's Kirk Ferentz started by talking to us about the weather damage in Iowa this summer and how that has affected everyone there. Reporters were more interested in the sexual assault scandal going on there.

You can see the story here.

He did say that he hopes to hire a life skills adviser, or what he called a "Player Development Coach," to help players make better decisions.

He was also relieved that former Indiana WR James Hardy is now gone. "He doesn't have a brother or cousin there (at IU) does he? No? Good. We didn't cover him for three years. It was like he had poison ivy."

Finally, it was time for the new guy, Rich Rodriguez of Michigan. He said he was sorry he missed Tiller because he had "a new concoction of snake oil to show him."

Mostly, people wanted to know about the goings on with West Virginia. He said that they settled the lawsuit because it needed to be put to rest so everyone could just go forward. He also said that he was sorry he didn't get his day in court to clear some things up.

There were three recurring themes that most coaches were asked to address.

What do you think of the perception that the league is down based on BCS results of the last two years?

In general, the coaches all feel the league is very competitive top-to-bottom. No surprise there. Tressel in particular felt it was unfair to paint the whole league because if his team's performance in the title game the last two years.

Why do you think the spread offense is so popular?

It's gives defenses trouble because it spreads the field. It also forces them into basic packages because you can just as easily run a four deep pattern as an option out of the same formation. You can also use it with almost any personnel. Although many run it with mobile quarterbacks, Purdue, for example, uses it with pro-style QBs.

What is retiring Purdue coach Tiller's legacy?

Zook: "He's a great football coach, he's been around and won an awful lot of games, and the things he's done with the Purdue program speaks for itself. Tiller's has come in and put Purdue in the upper echelon in the Big Ten, not once in a while but consistently. To be honest with you, I'm glad we don't play them this year"

Fitzgerald: "I think Joe Tiller will always be looked at in the Big Ten as an innovator on the football field. He'll be looked at, I believe, within our coaching ranks, as someone who has never changed who he is, his personality has always been the same, a tremendous sense of humor, and I'm very excited to have Coach Tiller move into retirement. (He's) been a tough on us at Northwestern against him. Just look at our record. I'm honored to call him someone I've had a chance to be a colleague with."

Bielema (who wasn't asked): "I'm a big Joe Tiller fan because he can walk in here without a tie. If I got up here without a tie, I'd get heckled, so I admire a guy going into his last year and can wear what he wants and no one is going to say anything."

Tiller: "I think number one, a number of people are still curious about me. Some
of the comments I've made, I'm coming here, by the way, from Wyoming and I'm going back to Wyoming to finish a little more trout fishing here before we head back to West Lafayette. I think the fact that when I went to Purdue they had 12 non-Bowl seasons and maybe 11 of the 12 had been losing seasons, what have you, to the fact where we've been competitive every year and will be once again this year, probably that's what most folks will refer to I suppose."

Paterno: "He brought in a whole new concept of what you could do, and he did it with a lot of class. I'm very fond of Joe. I'm sorry he's leaving."

Commissioner Jim Delany capped off our day. He was pretty sick with the flu, but if you only listened and didn't see him, you wouldn't know.

The one interesting thing he said was about the BCS meetings where the discussion took place as to whether or not to look into expanding the format. He said that two conferences were in favor of examining the idea - not in favor of expansion - just looking into it. He said they weren't really committed to expansion itself, at least not yet. The other five parties (four conferences and ND) weren't interested. The whole discussion took about two hours. He said that the Big Ten and Pac 10 have been taking all the heat for blocking a playoff, but really, there isn't a big movement anywhere for one. It's not just them.

More tomorrow.

Big Ten Media Day Live Blog - cancelled

It turns out that once again, internet access does not exist in the interview room. I'll post something at the end of the day. I might also get something up during lunch.

The order of the speakers today is:
Ron Zook
Pat Fitzgerald
Bret Bielema
Joe Tiller
Jim Tresssel
Bill Lynch
(lunch break)
Mark Dantonio
Tim Brewster
Joe Paterno
Kirk Ferentz
Rich Rodriguez

They start at 10:30 and go until 2. At 2, Jim Delany takes the floor for about an hour.

You can also watch all of this on Big Ten Network.

Brees gets another weapon

The Saints traded a couple of future draft picks to the NY Giants for TE Jeremy Shockey, giving Drew Brees another weapon in the Saint offense.

Brees has always been good to his tight ends. He helped make Tim Stratton at Purdue a Mackey Award winner and an all-American. He and Antonio Gates had a good thing going in San Diego as well. So Shockey can expect to get the ball if he gets open, which is what he does best.

Shockey was moved because of an attitude problem in NY. With the Saints, he's reunited with coach Sean Payton, who was his offensive coordinator his rookie year, which remains his best season, statistically. The Saints are counting on a change of scenery creating a change of attitude, and a very productive year.

Another Uggly loss for NL

Some thoughts and notes from the all-star game.

It took a record-tying 15 innings, but the AL finally pushed the NL off the Lidge (Brad, the losing pitcher) for a 4-3 win.

In terms of time, it was the longest game ever.

Every available player on both rosters got in the game.

Winning pitcher, Scott Kazmir of Tampa Bay, wasn't supposed to play, but manager Terry Francona ran out of arms.

JD Drew was the MVP, and he deserved it.

Dan Uggla was easily the LVP, and turned in quite possibly the worst performance ever by an all-star. He was 0-4 at the plate with three strikeouts and a double play. On the DP and one of the strikeouts, he had a chance to give the NL an extra-inning lead by driving in a runner from third with less than two outs. He also made three errors, all by failing to field a ground ball cleanly. He fumbled another grounder as well, but still managed to get the out. Two of the errors came in one inning, but none of them led to a run.

It was a rough night for some others too. The umps blew calls on at least two tag plays, one at second and one at home. Even announcer Joe Buck made three silly mistakes, like miscounting hits and confusing positions.

Honoring the Hall of Famers is nice, but MLB went overboard. It took longer to announce the starting lineups (and not even in order) than to play the first four innings of the game.

Tim Lincecum of the Giants missed the game because he had been hospitalized that morning with flu-like symptoms. Still, I thought they should have "introduced" him with the rest of the NL reserves, and announced why he wasn't there. Instead, they just skipped him entirely, like he wasn't even named to the team.

The locals had kind of hit-and-miss games. Kosuke Fukudome, Geovany Soto, Carlos Quentin and Joe Crede were a combined 0-9. Aramis Ramirez batted once and walked. He immediately came out of the game for a pinch runner (who was caught stealing). The pitchers fared better though. Carlos Zambrano faced six hitters in two innings. He got a double play after giving up a hit in the third, and picked off a runner in the fourth. He was in line to pick up the win for the NL before Drew's HR tied the game. Ryan Dempster struck out the side in the 9th and Carlos Marmol struck out two of the four hitters he faced in the 13th. The only runner against Marmol reached on an Uggla error.

Washington SS Cristian Guzman played 3B for the rest of the game after pinch running for Ramirez, even though he has never played the position in the big leagues.

Colorado pitcher Aaron Cook pitched three adventurous innings, but didn't get scored on. In the 11th, he faced five hitters, the first four of which reached base. One was wiped out on a caught stealing and another was thrown out at home. Both of those calls were questionable.

Pretty bold of Budweiser to go on with the ad campaign referring to Bud as the Great American Lager, don't you think?

I could go the rest of my life and never hear another word about Yankee Stadium. And I like the place.

Billy packs it in

Billy Packer is gone from the airwaves of college basketball. CBS and Packer mutually agreed to end their relationship, and Packer will not broadcast ACC games on Raycom either. Packer says he is working on other college basketball projects.

Presumably, that will not involve learning about the tournament selection process. For a guy who was supposedly intelligent, that was a subject upon which he was woefully ignorant. I suspect that was by choice. I used to dread the part of the selection show where he would get to interview the selection committee chair because he would usually beat the drum for some completely irrelevant cause. My favorite was a couple of years ago when he whined ad nausem about the selection of several non-major at-large teams instead of middle-of-the-road ACC teams because the ACC had a better tournament history. As if that had ever mattered.

I have to say, I never really enjoyed listening to him call games either, mostly because he didn't seem to enjoy it. He seemed to be knowledgeable on the air, but there was no joy in his work.

Fortunately, I didn't watch him much because I have been to the last several Final Fours in person.

You may have noticed that I said he seemed knowledgeable "on the air." Off the air was different, and I say that from personal experience.

I met him when I was working at Michael Jordan's charity golf tournament in Chicago the summer before Glenn Robinson was to start playing for Purdue. I asked him if he thought the addition of Robinson would make Purdue a contender in the Big Ten and he said, and I quote, "I don't know. I never watch Purdue." He was a bit surly about it too.

I was floored. He has a reputation for being unpleasant off-camera, and he did not disappoint in that regard, so that's not why I was surprised. I could not believe a major national basketball analyst like him would admit to knowing nothing about Purdue.

I suppose he could have just been blowing me off, but it's not like I asked him about Prairie View A&M. You know, as annoying as Dick Vitale can be at times, he could tell you something about Prairie View. He has a passion for the college game. I just never got that from Packer - on air or off.

He'll be replaced by Clark Kellogg, who will be an improvement. Kellogg has always been one of my favorite analysts and it will be great to have him back courtside. Not that he was bad in the studio, but he should be doing games.

Team charter gets no break

The Cubs added a NL record-tying eighth all-star to the roster today when recent whipping boy Carlos Marmol was selected to replace Kerry Wood, who will miss the game with a blister.

Marmol was selected because he had the highest vote total among relief pitchers on the players' ballot. He is the only pitcher on either roster who is not a starter or a closer.

The last team with eight all-stars was the 1960 Pirates. The 1958 Yankees had nine. Of course, two Cubs will not play because of injury (Wood and Alfonso Soriano) and a third, Ryan Dempster, may not be available because he pitched today.

The Cubs go into the break with a 4.5-game lead over St. Louis in the division and are tied with the Angels for the best record in baseball.

Oh, and let's not neglect the White Sox, which are also in first. They have a 1.5-game lead over the Twins at the break after both teams lost today.

It's the first time since 1977 that both teams were in first at the all-star break. Neither team made the playoffs that year. Here's hoping both teams get it right this time.

Cub All-star count falling

Cub All-stars are dropping like flies hit to Brant Brown.

Alfonso Soriano was officially replaced on the roster this week by Mets' 3B David Wright after Wright failed to win the final fan vote. Colorado's Matt Holliday will take Soriano's spot in the starting lineup.

Now, Kerry Wood has a blister on his finger and won't be able to play. He has not been replaced on the roster yet because the injury was only discovered yesterday.

By the way, that does not excuse Lou Piniella for leaving Carlos Marmol in to blow a five run lead against the Giants in the ninth inning yesterday. When Marmol is good, he's unhittable, but when he's bad, nobody is safe out there. Not the hitter, not the catcher, not the umpire, not even the guy in the on-deck circle. It's not hard to tell when Marmol is off his game because he misses the plate by feet, not inches.

Marmol hasn't been good much lately, and yesterday was no exception. Piniella did have the sense to get Sean Marshall up in the pen, but even after Marshall was ready, he left Marmol in to implode. Marmol's last outing was the other night against Cincinnati. He had a four run lead when he took the mound in the ninth. After getting the first two guys out, he lost it. He gave up a hit, threw a wild pitch, and walked two more before Wood came in and got the third out. This time, Lou didn't pull the trigger, and the lead went away.

That poor decision cost Rich Harden a win in his debut with Cubs. He pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out 10. It was a hot, humid day and he threw 96 pitches, so that's why his day was a little short.

The Cubs did come back and win in the 11th with a rally started by a lead-off single by Marshall, so the only victim of Piniella's slow hook was Harden.

However, Marmol's ineffectiveness has to be a concern going into the break. In his last 12 appearances, dating back to June 19 at Tampa, Marmol has retired every batter he has faced only four times. Keep in mind that he rarely pitches for more than one inning. In the other eight trips to the mound, he has given up 14 runs, 13 earned, 11 hits, 10 walks, 4 hit batters, and has watched his ERA balloon from 2.09 to 4.13.

Probably no Cub needs the all-star rest more than Carlos.

Decluttering my life

I haven't written for a few days because I have been very busy preparing for, then executing, a garage sale.

There are two parts to a garage sale, deciding what to sell, and pricing it. Deciding what to sell is pretty easy for us. With four kids, and no more expected, we can try to get rid of clothes, toys and other things our youngest has outgrown. We also have a lot of furniture that we have acquired over the years, so we put the stuff sitting in my basement out as well. And then we grabbed a handful of things that we no longer used out (ok, junk) to see if we had any takers.

Pricing things is harder. Some of our furniture came from my grandmother and is pretty old, if not outright "antique." Some of it is in better shape than others. Some of the things we wanted to get rid of pretty badly, and some we wouldn't be disappointed to keep.

We ran our sale for six hours each on Friday and Saturday, and I was surprised that we made about the same amount of money each day. I thought Friday would be slower because it was a work day, but it was just as busy as Saturday. We did not sell any of our larger furniture items (couch, dining room set), but we did dispose of a dresser and some smaller tables and chairs. We were also able to find a home for a lot of our baby items, including a crib, bassinet and pack 'n' play.

And, amazingly, just about every knick-knack and piece of junk we were hoping to get rid was sold. We got rid of things like an old shake machine, a stationary, recumbent bicycle, and a couple of plastic, indoor trees.

One of the things I was least looking forward to was haggling, but even that wasn't too bad. Sometimes, people would ask if I would take a specific lower price for something (which I would accept or not based on how badly I wanted to be rid of the item), but most people just payed whatever I asked, or left it.

My expectations for this experience were pretty low. I didn't think I'd move very much. I didn't think I'd make enough money to make it worth my time. I was leery of having so many strangers traipsing about my place, even on the outside. I have to say though, it was a lot better than I thought. I can't say that I was "hooked" and that now I'll become one of those garage sale junkies, like the people down the street from us who have garage sales almost every week. I will probably try another one though. Just not this week. I need a nap.

Cubs answer Milwaukee

The Cubs went out and got one of the top starting pitchers in the AL when they acquired Rich Harden from Oakland.

The right-handed Harden is 5-1 with a 2.34 ERA in 13 starts. He has 92 strikeouts and 31 walks in 77.2 innings. He missed most of April with an injury, and that's the rub with Harden. He seems to be a bit fragile. He has not made more than 12 straight starts since he did that in 2005. That might concern the Cubs a bit since his current streak is 11.

The good news about his injuries is that he hasn't had surgery. Yet. But when healthy, he's been one of the best in the American League.

The Cubs also got Chad Gaudin, a righty who made six starts early in the season, but has been in the bullpen ever since. He is 5-3 with a 3.59 ERA.

Gaudin will probably be middle relief/setup, a similar role to that of Bob Howry and Scott Eyre. Obviously, he could spot start as well.

The Cubs gave up Sean Gallagher, a young guy who could have a promising future. They also gave up journeyman OF Matt Murton, OF/2B Eric Patterson (the Cubs also traded his brother Corey a couple of years ago), and minor league C John Donaldson, who is expendable because of the emergence of Geovany Soto. Donaldson played Ryne Sandberg at class A Peoria.

Harden, by the way, is from Canada. One of the Cubs best pitchers ever, Fergie Jenkins, is also Canadian. He will make his Cubs debut Friday or Saturday against San Francisco.

You'd be hard pressed to find a better top three starters than the Cubs have in Zambrano, Harden and Dempster.

The Cubs have also reportedly signed their top draft choice, TCU P Andrew Cashner.

Cubs better watch their backs

The Brewers picked up CC Sabathia from the Indians (for a ton of minor league talent) yesterday, sending a message to the Cubs and Cardinals that they intend to be in the Central race for the long haul.

Sabathia and Ben Sheets become one of the best 1-2 starter combos in the league. They're right up there with Brandon Webb and Dan Haren of Arizona, and the Cubs' Zambrano and Dempster.

There was talk that the Cubs would be in the market for Sabathia, but the Brewers made them an offer of minor leaguers that the Indians couldn't refuse and that the Cubs likely wouldn't have matched. The big name going to Cleveland is AA star Matt LaPorta, who already has 20 homers and 66 RBIs this year. LaPorta was Milwaukee's first round draft choice last year.

The Indians also got two other minor leaguers and a third as a "player to be named."