JORDAN: Professional sports athletes far from perfect on The Murfreesboro Post

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JORDAN: Professional sports athletes far from perfect

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By: JEFF JORDAN, Post Sports

Posted: Sunday, December 25, 2011 5:04 am

I haven’t been a fan of the Colts since Unitas left, for San Diego of all places, and Raymond Berry, Alan Ameche and Lenny Moore retired.

But they are in the news today. Their record is terrible and the injured Peyton Manning may or may not play again. Everyone’s giving the Colts advice as to what to do with Manning: trade him for prospects and draft picks or keep him.

It is possible Manning is the best quarterback ever – I said possible.

One media member even wanted to make Manning the MVP because it’s clear how valuable he is to the team. That’s silly because he hasn’t played a down, but I get the point.

The Colts are on pace for the No. 1 draft pick and they will likely draft Stanford’s “can’t miss” quarterback Andrew Luck.

If they do, they better keep Manning and here’s why: There are no can’t miss prospects.

Do you remember these Heisman winners and other can’t miss quarterbacks?

Terry Bake of Oregon State, Steve Spurrier of Florida, Matt Leinart from USC, Chris Weinka of Florida State, Ryan Leaf of Washington State, Gino Torretta from Florida, Charlie Ward from Florida State, Eric Crouch at Nebraska, and Heath Schuler from Tennessee.

Throw Chris Young in there too if you wish.

I’m aware the jury is still out on Leinart and Young.

All were can’t miss. A few had some limited success, but in the end, all missed stardom.

However, Ward did have considerable success as a point guard for the New York Knicks.

My best advice is to keep Manning.

Professional basketball begins with five games on Christmas day.

Our long 200 day lockout and strike nightmare is over.

The players will never get the money they lost but the owners will do better.

The only winners here were the workers in the stadiums and the 10 or so owners who were losing money. They finally figured out a way to split up billions.

Will you watch today?

As near as I can tell, few in Murfreesboro care one way or the other. In large part, I’m afraid – rightly or wrongly – the NBA is regarded as a league of tattooed millionaire thugs who walk and foul their way through the season. They also appear to play at about 75 percent speed until the last three minutes of the game, or until the playoffs begin.

Your winner this year, in this shortened and compacted season, will be the Miami Heat.They have talent and young legs.

The Celtics will contend along with Orlando, the Bulls, Lakers, and Spurs. I don’t think the Mavericks can keep their title but they will definitely contend.

On to college football: Just about every team, except LSU, messed up this year.

Every team with a great shot at the championship game lost at some point. Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Boise State, Oregon, Arkansas and Wisconsin all went down at least once, and USC is on probation with one of their best teams in years.

Alabama had the good sense to lose but only to LSU – hence, the rematch.

That leaves me with two questions.

1. Can Alabama win this time?

2. How long will the powers that be keep this system in place when the SEC wins it so often?

Your answers: Yes and not much longer.

Next week, I’ll be previewing the 7AAA Basketball District race, all 12 teams, and where they will likely finish. MP

Tagged under Jeff Jordan, Sports

Member Opinions:

By: VictorRojo on 12/25/11
Eric Crouch was a can't-miss QB? Nobody, and I mean nobody, thought he was NFL quarterbacking material. (He was drafted in the third round as a wide receiver.) Also, who is "Chris Young"? And "Terry Bake"? And "Chris Wienka"? Congratulations, you got Gino Torretta's name right, but he played for Miami, not Florida.