NFL Draft: Boring?
On Thursday evening the NFL Draft got kicked off in prime time, and while at first I was pretty excited about the new format, I quickly became turned off by the idea. What used to be a long and drawn out two-day event became a long and really drawn out three-day event. So, needless to say, I’m not a fan of the new NFL Draft format.
UC players drafted
But that’s not to say I didn’t try to pay attention. On Saturday it was a big day for three UC Bearcats, as Mardy Gilyard, Tony Pike and Ricardo Matthews all got drafted. Gilyard was the first pick of Saturday, and he’ll be playing for the St. Louis Rams. Pike fell to round six, but he’ll have an opportunity to battle the highly touted Notre Dame product Jimmy Clausen in Carolina. Matthews got picked by the Indianapolis Colts in the final round. Good luck to all the former UC players; it was fun watching them on the field, now let’s see what they can get done in the pros.
Mardy Gilyard will be playing in St. Louis next NFL season (Cincinnati Enquirer file photo)
UC football alums golf outing another great success
Former UC football players and other notable alums hit the golf course for the 16th annual Jim Kelly Sr. Letterman’s weekend golf outing on Friday. They dodged some rain drops and overall had a blast. If you saw my video on FOX19’s “The Final Quarter” on Friday evening, you’d have caught a short glimpse of the outing, which was fun to be a part of yet again.
And just a note, UC head coach Butch Jones might need to work a little bit on his golf swing. But he’s not getting paid to golf, he’s getting paid to coach football, so I guess we can all be happy that the UC football team is getting a coach dedicated to them, not golf.
UC football team shows off new style of play in spring game
Jones and the UC team showcased their skills and talents on Saturday evening in a rainy Bearcat Bowl IV at Nippert Stadium. Zach Collaros threw 20 passes, completing 18 of them for two touchdowns and over 200 yards through the air (more on Collaros later today). D.J. Woods even got in on the passing game, taking a reverse pitch and heaving the ball down field to former USC wideout Vidal Hazelton on a play called from the stands.
Woods showed that he can catch...and throw on Saturday evening (Cincinnati Enquirer file photo)
I liked getting the fans involved in the spring game, and hopefully the idea of letting fans call plays was just a spring game thing. Ok, well, we might be able to let them call a few when we play Indiana State on September 11th but beyond there, I say coach Jones keeps the playcalling to those on the sidelines.
Basketball season finishes
Yet another year of girls basketball is down and out for me, and my first year of being the head coach didn’t exactly work out the way I planned, but we did win one game. The girls on my team definitely showed some improvement over the season and we played two of our best games at the end of the year.
The only beef I have with our league is the competition level. I understand that at a place like St. William I’ll have a limited number of players and practices to get ready, but we lost at least three games this year by 25 points. The teams that beat us in those games could have been playing in the league above ours and still been competitive. But, I guess life ain’t always fair, so we’ll live and learn from those beatdowns, and come back ready to go next season.
In a letter to the parents of my team I noted that next year is still up in the air for me, but told them if I have the time, I’ll be back like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Other news and notes
-I had some fun filming the Youth Football Mini Camp before the spring game on Saturday. Most of the camp I had a camera hooked up to the video board in Nippert Stadium, and followed around UC’s director of football operations John Widecan with a microphone as we “interviewed” kids for all the parents in attendance to see. It was definitely a fun time.
-The March of Dimes went off without a hitch again as quite a few folks made the trek through Paul Brown Stadium where I was working on Sunday morning. The volunteers who run the event are some of the happiest and most energetic people I meet on a year to year basis, and the lady who is in charge of the volunteers made sure she thanked us for working and told us she looks forward to seeing us every year.
It’s moments like that when I feel I’m just another piece in the puzzle, doing my job, making everyone feel awesome. That gives me a smile
-I didn’t catch much of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wreck fest that is Talladega, but I did catch the final two restarts. Happy to say that Mark Martin came through everything unscathed and finished fifth in the No. 5 car. He got a tremendous push from the No. 6 car—that’s right the same car he drove for years and years in the Cup Series—to finish in the top five. David Ragan finished sixth in the No. 6 UPS Ford and Kevin Harvick nipped Jamie McMurray at the line to win in exciting fashion.
An exciting race with an exciting finish unfolded on Sunday afternoon in Talladega. Packs like this group--taken during Friday's practice--made yet another Talladega race memorable (Getty Images)
I’m just thankful FOX didn’t replay the video of Harvick’s last win before Sunday. Mentioning the 2007 Daytona 500 on air was enough to tick me off (http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/02/1-day-til-daytona-nuts-and-bolts.html)
I’ll be back later today with some UC football news and notes beyond what you see here. Have a good rest of the day, and check back tonight for more.
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