Ed The Sports Fan drops some knowledge

Ed the Sports Fan does. And he does it well everyday on his website, Edthesportsfan.com. His site was the voted as the Best Black Sports blog in 2008. He's nominated again this year as well. Check him out at, http://vote.blackweblogawards.com/pick, he's number 24. Mr. Ed has blessed us with a very interesting article as well. Let me get out of his way and let the man do his thing.


The Five Greatest College QBs in the last 25 years.

by Ed the Sports Fan



This debate started on twitter, had some vile conversations with Cephas from WTFMoments.org, and had some Blackberry Messenger debates with Kenny.

So this list will be highly inconclusive, inspiring, inaccurate, mind-blowing, hateful, and truly awesome all at the same time. This "greatest" list will be qualified as the most dynamic, do-it-all, big-game winning QB in my generation. Please note that no professional success will be factored into this, so just like Christian Laettener was lame in the NBA, he was awesome in college. Same rules apply here.

With all that being said, here's the best of the rest. QB's that didn't make the top 5.

Eric Crouch, Nebraska - Probably was #6 on the list of QBs, was the dream-killer of Oklahoma in the early '00's. Crouch is the all-time record holder for total offense in the Big 12 with 7,915. He is the 13th player in NCAA Division 1-A history to run and throw for more than 1,000 yards in a season.

Josh Heupel, Oklahoma - QB of the 2000 National Champion Oklahoma Sooners. Made every big throw for the Sooners and got big time wins against Nebraska, Texas, and Florida State.

Tee Martin, Tennessee - Peyton Manning might've been the better overall QB, but Tee Martin made every big play to get Tennessee a national championship.

Carson Palmer, Southern California - Carson owns seven Pac-10 career records and such USC player records as: total offense (a Pac 10 record 11,621), plays (a Pac-10 record 1,824), passing yardage (a Pac-10 record 11, 818), passing touchdowns (72, third on the Pac-10 ladder), completions (a Pac-10 record 927), attempts (a Pac-10 record 1,569). Palmer finished his USC season with a win at the 2003 Orange Bowl where he was selected bowl MVP.

Troy Smith, Ohio State - During Smith's senior year campaign, he threw for a school-record thirty (30) touchdowns while securing a spot for his Buckeyes in the BCS National Championship Game. Following his senior season, he was also awarded the Walter Camp Award, Davey O'Brien Award, AP Player of the Year, Sporting News Player of the Year, and Big Ten Offensive Player of the year.

NOW FOR THE TOP 5...

#5. Matt Leinart, Southern California - Matt is just the third quarterback in more than thirty years to lead his team to back-to-back national championships. In the process he led USC to three championship appearances and made every big throw the Trojans needed. The prototypical pocket passer to come out of the '05 draft, he was loaded with stars (Mike Williams, Dewayne Jarrett, LenDale White, Reggie Bush) however he was the lynchpin. Will go down as maybe the greatest USC QB of all-time.

#4. Vince Young, Texas - VY10 put together maybe the single-greatest game performance in the history of college football. The 38-35 Texas victory over USC in the Rose Bowl was truly magical. After the game, former USC and NFL safety Ronnie Lott said "Vince Young is the greatest quarterback to ever play college football." That gets you in the pantheon by itself. In his career he finished with a 30-2 record, and finished #7 on UT's rushing list with 3,127 yards. In his final year Young finished the season with 3,036 yards passing and 1,050 yards rushing earning him the Davey O'Brien Award.

#3. Charlie Ward, Florida State - Ward won the 1993 Heisman Trophy and Davey O'Brien Award as a quarterback for FSU, and subsequently led the Seminoles to their first-ever National Championship when FSU defeated Nebraska 18–16 in the 1993 Orange Bowl. Charlie was a phenomenal athlete, and was the anchor on a phenomenal Seminole team that was loaded with stars like Warrick Dunn and Derrick Brooks. The simple fact that Ward never played pro football almost adds to his mystique, and his senior year he finished with a 70% completion percentage while throwing for over 3,000 yards with 27 TDs and just 4 interceptions.

#2. Tim Tebow, Florida - God's 2nd favorite quarterback (behind Kurt Warner) is truly a talent from the heavens. Heisman trophy winner, 2-time Maxwell Award Winner, 2-time All-American, and more importantly 2-time national champion winner. #15 is the first Quarterback I've seen who was much more fullback/linebacker than the tall, lean or stiff, QBs that you usually see. Trust me, there is a huge chance that if I ever do this list again, he will be #1. If he wins another title this year, or wins a 2nd Heisman...I gotta put him #1.

#1. Tommie Frazier, Nebraska - Tommie Frazier is widely regarded as the greatest option quarterback in college football history. Frazier led the Cornhuskers to the Sunshine State Triumvirate aka 3 consecutive national championship games ('93-'95) against Florida, Miami, and Florida State. Frazier quarterbacked the Big Red Machine to back-to-back national championship in '94-95, the last team to do such a feat. Frazier was maybe the best big-game QB of our generation as he is the only player ever to win MVP of three national championship games. He finished with a career 33-3 record, and maybe pulled off one of the most back-breaking plays of all-time against the Gators...


The man had blood clots in his legs, and never got to showcase what he could do in pro football, and as much as I hate to crown a Cornhusker...he's #1 on this list.

WOW...AGAIN AS ALWAYS PLEASE LEAVE YOUR HATEFUL COMMENTS, LET THE DEBATE BEGIN!

-Ed.
www.edthesportsfan.com

**Please show your support of ETSF by voting for us as the Best Sports Blog on the net! CLICK HERE to vote for Ed The Sports Fan (selection #24) today! The revolution will not be televised, but its sho' gon' be live**

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Posted By Ed The Sports Fan to Ed The Sports Fan at 8/11/2009 08:55:00 AM

My First Football Game in 5 Months

I couldn't believe what I saw. Was it true? Was it 200+ lb. men flying around and hurling their bodies into one another and break neck speeds(literally)? It couldn't be could it? Yes, Jesus and the Football gods have ended their dispute of whether or not to make football a year round sport. As usual, Jesus won the argument, but he has allowed the Football gods to continue doing what they do best, orchestrating football matches from early August to early February. Oh ya, that's REAL football they are orchestrating by the way, and I'll go in a back alley with any soccer fan to prove my point of American football, being THE real football.

The Hall of Fame game was played this past weekend. It wasn't the greatest game in the world, but the game of football was on and my eyes were glued to the TV. I realized a few things that I am going to share with you. Terrell Owens has to have some fountain of youth and is not letting anyone else have any. How can this man continue you to play with the consistency he does at his age. He did start his career with the 49ers as did Jerry Rice who played 19 years in the league. Sidenote: Yo, Michael Crabtree, you might want to sign that contract with the 49ers if you know what's good for you homie. I'm not saying, I'm just saying. Chris Johnson is fas(not a typo he just ran across the computer screen and stole the "t" off the screen and you just didn't see him.)
The biggest Vince Young highlight wasn't his TD pass, but he threw an INT and bounced back from it just to throw a TD pass later in the game.

The actual Hall of Fame presentation the previous day was cool also. As I get older, I recognize more of the players that are inducted into the Hall. I remeber Randy McDaniel always having a high rating on Madden so I'd always trade for him and have a dynasty that would win five straight Super Bowls until the computer cheated in the 6th Super Bowl. Didn't know much about Ralph Wilson to be honest other than he owned the Bills and was one of the AFL founders, did I need to know more? I knew Bruce Smith was the 2nd best DE to ever live. I knew Derrick Thomas was either 1a or 1b when it came to outside linebackers to ever play this game. I know Bob Hayes might not ever be duplicated again, unless Usain Bolt wants to play football at a Hall of Fame level, if he's even capable. I also knew that Rod Woodson was one of the greatest cornerbacks of all-time, and know that I am in denial when I say Deion Sanders was a better cornerback than Woodson was.

Ralph Wilson's speech was cool and it was good to see him accept his recognition being that he is 90 years old even though he doesn't act his age. There were two posthumous recognitions recognized at the Hall of Fame this year, being Bob Hayes and Derrick Thomas who were presented/accepted by Roger Staubauch and Carl Peterson respectively.

Randy McDaniel had a good speech as it also was the deepest voice speech as well.

Bruce Smith had the funniest acceptance speech of anyone with one single quote, saying that he was responsible for stealing, former Bills RB, Thurman Thomas' helmet in the Super Bowl.

Rod Woodson's speech was the most inspirational as he spoke about the struggles of bi-racial individuals in the US.

No one's speech was "memorable" ala Michael Irvin or Darrell Green of recent years but their in the Hall of Fame and I'm not so take that, take that 6Magazine.

My one issue with this past weekend's festivites is this, why do those elected into the Hall need to be presented? To be honest, I don't want a hear a childhood friend, former coach, wife, son, etc anyone present a player. Let the player be presented by his play. A great video highlight reel from high school to professional is more than enough, then skip the "presenter" and let the player get up and accept his enshrinment.

That's all I got,


Ricky Writer

"Untitled" - Forde: New world order

(the genius himself, ESPN.com's Pat Forde)










I have to name this post "Untitled" because it left me speechless when I read the article. It is quite possibly one of the most brilliant ideas I've ever heard of in my life! ESPN's Pat Forde and whoever else helped with the process have absolutely made my day. I will be starting a petition to get this proclamation in effect as soon as possible. Anyone and everyone is welcomed to sign, babies, kids, dogs, felons, immigrants, inanimate objects etc. Let it be known that anyone who stands in the way will be destroyed by the wrath of whatever high being that you choose to believe in, and if no higher being is believed in then, Big Worm from Friday will deal with you promptly.

Let me get out of the way. Read up on this article via ESPN.com's Pat Forde.

Forde: New world order

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Get ready for a new world order

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By Pat Forde
ESPN.com
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To Baylor, Godspeed. To Indiana, fare thee well. To Duke, may the road rise to meet you. And to the entirety of the Sun Belt and Mid-American Conferences, safe travels.

Now get out.

[+] Enlarge

Jeff Gross/Getty Images
Pete Carroll shouldn't have to worry about USC being selected in Tuesday's mock draft.

What we are doing here is performing a hangeronectomy -- a ruthless downsizing of the cumbersomely named and gruesomely bloated Football Bowl Subdivision. Just as in corporate America, 2009 is the time to get lean in college football. It's time to separate the wheat from the chaff, the men from the boys, the Trojans of USC from the Trojans of Troy.

Let's end the charade. The most powerful and least powerful of the 120 teams in the current FBS have very little in common. Sure, you all put on your football pants one leg at a time -- but they're faster legs and bigger pants on one side of this great divide.

Despite the occasional peasant uprising (2008 featured Toledo over Michigan, Arkansas State over Texas A&M, UNLV over Arizona State) the outcomes of Have vs. Have Not are predictable and persuasive. These two groups do not belong together. So what the NCAA has brought together, ESPN.com will now tear asunder.

We're going to remake big-time football. From now on, clueless Top 25 voters and arcane computer formulas are out; on-field competition is in. And membership in an elite conference is subject to annual renewal as opposed to being a birthright.

It starts with a live draft Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET. When colleagues Ivan Maisel, Mark Schlabach and I are finished with our cut list, we'll be down to a fast and furious 40 power programs in the newly renamed Gordon Gekko Subdivision. (Motto: "Greed is good.")

We'll be drafting the most successful programs in the nation, based on whatever criteria each of us chooses to bring to the situation room. There is no set formula for this. Wins and losses matter most -- and what you've done in the 21st century is more important than what happened in the 1930s -- but fan following and overall prestige count, too.

You elites will be formed into four 10-team conferences of our choosing. You will play all nine league opponents every season, with the full round-robin scheduling alleviating the need for an annoying conference championship game. Of your three nonconference games, two must be played against fellow Gordon Gekko Subdivision opponents. Only one game can be played against an opponent from outside the top 40.

When the regular season is over, the four conference champions will enter a playoff -- yes, a playoff! -- to determine the national champion. (We expect approval from the First Playoff Advocate in the Oval Office at any time.)

After our 40-program draft, there will be a post-draft champagne-and-caviar reception on the penthouse level. From there you elites can look down and wave goodbye to the Little People we're in the process of evicting.

Those of you on the 80 teams that didn't make the cut can take your small stadiums and tight budgets and step-slow players to the Greyhound buses parked outside. They're waiting to relocate you to a middle-class home of your own. You're headed to the Tom Joad Subdivision (motto: "They fix 'em so you can't win nothing"), where you huddled masses can battle each other in relative obscurity while the upper class counts its money.

Research Guide

Need some help selecting the 40 teams you think belong in our new Division I-A? Check out the numbers from ESPN Research's Prestige Rankings. They should help you make your selections.

But wait. Before you rich and powerful teams get too comfortable, understand this: You can be kicked out of the club. Think Premier League soccer relegation, and apply it to the gridiron.

Every season, the bottom five teams in the Gordon Gekko Subdivision will be booted out and replaced by the top five teams in the Tom Joad Subdivision, which will feature eight 10-team conferences. The four teams that finish last in the Gekko conferences are automatically relegated, plus one underachiever will be chosen at large for demotion. They will be replaced by the four semifinalists from the playoff of Joad conference winners, plus a fifth team that must win an at-large game against another Joad conference winner.

Consider it a play-in game. And have it in Dayton, naturally.

So those are the rules of engagement. To the rich: Congratulations on getting richer. To the poor: Let them eat cake.

If you're a Joad team, it doesn't mean your brand of football is without value -- entertainment value and intrinsic value. It just means you should be playing your actual peers instead of having your brains beaten in by monolithic programs where the strength coach makes more than your head coach.

But not all the so-called little programs really are little, and not all the so-called big programs really are big. That's where we step in to redistrict the place.

We're not just sweeping out the lowest tier of the current BCS; we're also looking to whack the bottom feeders from the power conferences and most of the midlevel league members as well. We'll take down some academically oriented schools and a few basketball schools. And with the possible exception of fast learner South Florida, just about every school that jumped into what was formerly called Division I-A over the past 10 to 15 years now is on its way back out under our format.

Sorry about that, strivers. But in case you haven't heard, life is unfair.

Look, I'm ESPN.com's resident college populist and antiestablishment crank. There are few things I love more than seeing Boise State shock Oklahoma in football, or George Mason beat North Carolina, Michigan State and Connecticut in basketball.

But I'm also a realist. And no matter what the current NCAA divisional alignment tells us, it's unrealistic to believe that Louisiana-Monroe, with 2007-08 athletic revenues of less than $8 million, according to the Orlando Sentinel, is on equal terms with Texas, with more than $120 million in revenue.

The gulf is greater in football than it is in basketball. And it's now wider than Alabama's Terrence Cody.

Which is why it's time for a mass eviction. Don't let the marching band hit you on the way out, Have-Nots.

Pat Forde is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPN4D@aol.com.

Spats and shoe freedom

The NFL uniforms compared to the college uniforms are ugly. Plain and simple, they just don't compare to how those college kids rock their jerseys. You would think that professional players would be granted a little more leeway in terms of dress code, but they aren't.

If your shirt tail hangs out, you're fined. Socks down around your ankles, fined. If you're not wearing the ugly socks, fined and the list goes on and on.

You know what NFL, you win. We understand that if you bend the rules on the NFL dress code, you'll have players sending messages through uniform modifications that may not reflect or convey the NFL properly. Cool, you don't want a player to write "Obama" on his wrist band, because that could turn off Republican or non-Obama supporters off the NFL. The players aren't the league, they are representatives of the league and they should be privileged to play in the NFL yadda yadda yadda, we know. I said you win didn't I?

I do make this request let us have the socks and shoes please. That's all we want is the socks and shoes! The godfather of 6Magazine, Deion Sanders, once said, "If you look good you feel good, If you feel good you play good, If you play good they pay good."

To the NFL player, their occupation is a great career, a very lucrative and enjoyable career, but still a career. There are tons of people who have careers that love/like/enjoy them. They enjoy them better when they have a cool CEO that allows the employees to be themselves a little bit and not be so buttoned up. Companies that allow casual work environments are great and often very successful. Employees are chipper, having fun, and this makes them want to work ten times harder for their CEO because they are giving them some room to be who they are.

Too often in the business world, an employee's main focus is blend in and represent the company. The NFL capitalizes of players all the time, I mean you know the real reason why although Chad Johnson's name was legally changed to Ocho Cinco, he still had to wear the Chad "Johnson" jersey last season right? Well if you don't, in short, the NFL did not have any printed "Ocho Cinco" jerseys and they would have lost money by not selling the "Chad Johnson" jerseys and by making new Ocho Cinco jerseys. Pure business move.

An even better business move, give the players more leeway with their socks and shoes. You could keep it uniformed and only allow players to wear socks and shoes of their team colors or designated shoe color. Let the players wear colored shoes, of their team colors of course. Allow the players to tape their shoes with tape of the same color. This would elimnate the ugliness that plagues NFL jerseys, those damn ugly ass socks. I admire players who find a way to make it look good, but the rule is stupid, there is no need for a white sock.

Why is this a better business move? The players will look good, they will feel good, they will play good, and if they play good, the NFL will get paid good. Fans will be into new look and feel of the NFL. High school and college kids will be more entranced by the game. Imagine a fresh tape job on a New Orleans Saints uniform or even the Miami Dolphins. Of course, the players will be playing at an all time high, feeling free to be who they truly are and look fresh at the same time. NFL records will be broken by the droves and the NFL will be caked up with more money that it ever imagined. Heck, the NFL could even brand the socks and the tape, much like the NBA does with their socks.

Mr. Goodell, you're a fine owner, leader, and a great business man. Make a fashion statment. Give the players their sock and shoe freedom back!

That's all I got,


Ricky Writer

One Year Anniversary

Yo, yo. We are one year old today. Lol, 6Magazine is a training camp baby. Thanks to everyone who has supported us and expect much more to come in the future. Football season is right around the corner. Get ready to go in. We're gonna celebrate tonight, so see you guys bright and early on Monday!

General Goodell reinstates Vick

Michael Vick has been conditionally reinstated to the NFL. Duh. You know that already. Let me just tell you my reaction when I got the news last evening.

When I first heard the news, I was much like everyone else. He's suspended 5 more games. WTF! Why, that's not fair. But I didn't hear all of the loop holes laced(forgive me I had to lol) in Vick's conditional reinstatement.

Goodell was quoted in a conference call saying, "This is not a suspension, this a plan for Michael Vick. We want him to succeed, not fail."

So with all that said, I can live with Goodell's decision. I know Vick has suffered enough, and initially I was livid with his conditional resinstatement. But we have to listen to details behind the decision and be optimistic. If you speak it into existence it will happen.

Goodell said he would make a ruling by Week 6. This does not mean Vick is out 5 games. The decision could come sooner than Week 6. Word on the street is that the decision will be made anywhere from Week 2 to Week 6. I've also heard that Vick will petition the commissioner for full reinstatement after the preseason so that he will be available to play Week 1.

Also, stop being negative. If everyone keeps on saying Goodell is being unfair by suspending Vick for x amount of games, then Vick will sit out a few games. Speak positivity into the air people. One thing about Roger Goodell is that you cannot peg him. Everyone that Brandon Marshall was going to be in more trouble than a felon with 3 strikes in Cali, but Marshall kind of got a hand slap. You can make the argument that he is innocent until proven guilty, but Pacman was never convicted of anything and suspended for a full season. People also thought since law was so light in the Donte Stallworth case that Goodell would follow their suit, nope wrong homie. Stallworth was like that lil boy who got spanked by his mama and she warned him, "wait til yo daddy get home, it ain't over", and your pops come home from work in the middle of the night to wake you up to a nightmare of a an ass whipping for the ages. Goodell is as misunderstood as Adam Jones, you're never going to guess his next move, so stop.

The good thing is that Vick was reinstated period, which is the most important thing. The plan of success set in place for Vick has his best interest at heart. More often than not when people leave the prison system they are on some type of probation or parole, which is conditional on the premis they don't screw up again. I agree to gradually ease Vick back into the NFL is the best way to do so, but it couldn't come at a worse time because teams are already taking a gamble with Vick and its even more of a gamble if they don't know when he will play. Also, Goodell could wait until Week 6, and say Vick will stay suspended for the entire year as he did with Pacman in Week 10 of the 2007 season, but that is highly unlikely. Teams looking to sign Mike Vick want some type of certainty on his availability, and they don't have that with Goodell's up in the air date of Vick's full reinstatement.

Let's focus on the good and control what we can. Vick is back support him as much as possible if you're a true fan.


That's all I got,


Ricky Writer

23 months down, The rest of your life ahead

Free at last, free at last. Michael Dwayne Vick is now free from prison. His 23 month sentence ends today. The man has paid his debt to society and there is nothing you nor I can do about it. So for those that feel his punishment was not long enough, I say to you what my mother told me as a young child, "tough titties".

I heard many people say they were going to move to another country once President Obama was elected, and I'm almost positive that 90 percent of those people are still here. Those who can't stand Michael Vick etc, blah blah blah, will still be football fans and still watch his games as well.

Moving on, with all that said. What is next for Mike Vick? He owes a lot of people money. He hasn't played the game he loves in over two years, that very game which brought him fame and millions of dollars. I'd be safe to assume he'd love to play some football again and pay back those debtors he owes. The NFL is his best bet, duh. There is one person standing in his way, Roger "Strict Ship" Goodell(gulp). Goodell is a fair man, for as tough as some of his penalties have been, looking back on it he has been correct every single time. Goodell will have a tremendous amount of pressure from those for and against Vick's reinstatement to the NFL. Goodell will make the right decision as he always does. If I had to put money on it, I'd say Vick is reinstated by the middle of next week.

The next hurdle for Vick is convincing a team to give him a workout and sign him to a contract. The team that decides to take that chance will face the PR pressure from those for and against Vick playing football again.

Once he is signed to a team which I have full confidence he will be, he has to prove to them that he can still play quarterback. People doubted Vick's quarterbacking skills while he was a starting quarterback in the NFL. Now that he has sat out two years and the Wildcat formation has come to fame it seems as if the only positions people think he can play is wildcat quarterback, running back, or wide receiver. I find it funny and typical of mainstream mostly white media to say Vick will not be a good quarterback anymore. I live for the day we see the next Doug Williams, but this is about Michael Vick and not what people think black quarterbacks can and cannot do.

The battle for Vick is uphill. Scratch it's more mountainesque, not so much Everest more like Rainer. Nevertheless, after dealing with different offensive coordinators, head coaches, and receivers allergic to the ball, Vick will succeed in the NFL. Will he be a pro bowl star, lead a team to Super bowl, or a 1st ballot Hall of Famer? I don't know.

I do know that Michael Vick is only 29 years old. He hasn't played football in two years which means, he is rusty, but once the rust is gone he will be fresher than any other quarterback right now. I also know that there will be 32 starting quarterbacks on opening day, and not all of those quarterbacks will be better than Michael Vick. And thanks to all those sentence filled detentions in high school, I know that patience is a virtue and the mountain of success that Michael Vick will eventually climb back too will take time.


That's all I got,



Ricky Writer


PS - for now, check out this great piece via NFL network