Among the press box banterings I heard the other night was that Terry Porter — the referee who tossed the much-debated flag at the end of the 2003 Fiesta Bowl national title game — is getting the grand sousaphone escort onto the field Saturday at will “dot the i” at Ohio State’s game with visiting Miami.
I doubt that will happen because Porter would either:
A — Have to leave his comfy confines in the OSU president’s suite where he is a regular.
B — Have to leave his 50 yard line seats, where he sits with his two kids, both awarded full scholarship rides to OSU
C — Pull off that big nut head and slip out of his Brutus Buckeye suit, a game-day costume he has worn quite delightedly on many Saturday’s the past eight years.
None of those scenarios is the least bit true — at least, not that I know of — but it wouldn’t surprise some diehard Miami Hurricane fans (and some other folks around the country) if they were.
As Miami and Ohio State set to square off Saturday — their first meeting since the Buckeyes edged the Canes, 31-24, in double overtime in the title game eight seasons ago — the controversial call by Porter is being revisited.
Coming into the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, the Canes were the defending national champs, were riding a 34-game winning streak and had a roster full of future pros. Ohio State, though unbeaten, was an 11 1/2 point underdog.
Together the two teams put on a gut-wrenching, see-saw battle that is considered one of the greatest championship games in history. Miami appeared to have the game won at the end of the first OT when the Canes’ Glenn Sharpe defended a Bucks’ pass to Chris Gamble on fourth-and-one.
Side judge, Derick Bowers, who was nearest the play, motioned the pass was incomplete.
Instantly, fireworks started lighting up the night sky and Hurricanes started jumping for joy and rushing the field. Miami’s Sean Taylor tossed his helmet in the air. Canes coach Larry Coker started heading across the field to shake Ohio State coach Jim Tressel’s hand.
Bucks quarterback Craig Krenzel sat on the ground, heart-broken.
Then from the back of the end zone, Porter threw the late flag. He first motioned Miami was guilty of holding, then made the pass-interference sign instead.
ABC immediately showed replays.
“Bad call,” analyst Dan Fouts said. “Bad call!”
OSU tied the game, went on to win and a long-standing argument was begun.
Did Porter make the right call? The wrong call? Was it a no call?
The call was placed No. 1 in an article entitled “The Top 10 Worst Calls of the BCS Era” on the Bleacher Report, a fan-generated website with ties to CBS Sports and Fox Sports.
Referee magazine — in a 2007 feature called “The 18 Best Calls in Officiating History — rated Porter’s call one of the best of the best.
Over several months, CBS Sports Dennis Dodd came down on both sides of the argument:
Soon after the game, he wrote:
“I saw a piece somewhere before the BCS title game on Porter and his refusal to back down from doing anything wrong. I’ve written about his call extensively over the year. It wasn’t until I saw that piece again recently that I realize how much Porter choked.
“What the piece failed to mention was that the Big 12 tried to spin it a different way. The flag wasn’t for pass interference, they said, but HOLDING. It appears that Miami’s Glenn Sharpe did hold Chris Gamble off the line, but that would make the call even more ridiculous. That means that Porter threw the flag a good 10 seconds after the snap.”
Later, though, Dodd changed his opinion and wrote:
“Terry Porter was right. Six and a half months after the most controversial call of the Bowl Championship Series era, the Big 12 field judge has been vindicated.”
But Jared Shanker on the Penn State blog — PennLive.com — recently rated Porter’s call one of the three worst calls ever in college football. He concluded:
“The call cost Miami more than a national title; it cost Miami the opportunity to be mentioned as one of the greatest dynasties college football has ever seen.”
It’s from that school of thought that several Hurricanes from that team eight years ago have talked personally to current players and sent them e-mails, text messages and phone calls reminding them that Saturday’s showdown is not just another game.
Floyd Mayweather should be disciplined the way baseball pitcher John Rocker once was.
Mayweather
He should be shunned the way Don Imus and Jimmy the Greek once were for their transgressions that were not as blatantly vile and certainly not as hateful as are his now
The unbeaten six-time boxing champ should be considered as socially toxic as Mel Gibson is now.
When it comes to homophobic and racist spewage, Mayweather has taken the title away from all those other pretenders and true claimants to the throne.
Friday, Mayweather released a a video via Ustream aimed at rival Manny Pacquiao — the Filipino world champ and budding politician — that is filled with racist and homophobic rants.
In the video, Mayweather, at times, refers to Pacquiao as “Poochiao,” saying that he will “cook that yellow chump,” that he will “kick the midget a—” and “cook him up with some barbecued dog.”
Pacquiao
He also said: “Once I stomp the midget, I’ll make that mother f——- make me a sushi roll and cook me some rice.”
Using a homophobic slur, he warned Pacquiao to “step your game up f——-.”
On the issue of steroids, Mayweather said, “This mother———‘s name is Emmanuel. He got a fake name, (and is) taking power pellets.”
Floyd Mayweather may be unbeaten in 41 pro fights and have the game’s fastest hands, but he’s nobody to be proud of today.
For a long time time now he shown his ignorance and shallowness and self absorption. He’s big on slurs and disparagement.
Too bad boxing doesn’t have a Roger Goodell type commissioner to hold him accountable. The fight game does have various alphabet soup sanctioning bodies and state commissions, but most of them — while quick to stick out their hands for what they can get — turn their heads away and stay mum during times like this.
As the video went viral and the criticisms followed, Mayweather finally released an apology that seemed penned and polished by his his PR folks:
“I do want to apologize for what happened the other night. I want to apologize to everybody because everybody thought that it was a racist comment that I said. I don’t have a racist bone in my body. I have nothing but love for everybody.
“Some of my guys are Muslim, some of my guys are Jews. Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, whites, …it doesn’t matter. I got nothing but love in my heart. All I want to say is, if anybody was affected from what I said the other day, I apologize as a man. I was just having fun. I didn’t really mean it.”
It sounds nothing like him.
Some folks are saying they hope this forever sinks the much- clamored-for bout between he and Pacquiao. They say Mayweather should not be able to capitalize off his vileness.
As for me, I’d still love for the fight to happen just so I could see Pacquiao give Mayweather the long and thorough trouncing he so deserves.
Earlier this year, Mayweather — in self-absorbed delusion — likened himself to two of the greatest boxers of all time:
“I got respect for Sugar Ray Robinson; I got respect for Muhammad Ali, but I’m a man just like them and put on my pants just like they put on their pants. But what makes them any better than me?”
COLUMBUS — After Thursday’s game — after Ohio State had throttled Marshall 45-7 in the season opener at Ohio Stadium — the Thundering Herd was saluting OSU, the Buckeyes were paying respect to the Miami Hurricanes and everybody was singing Terrelle Pryor’s praises.
Here are a few comments from after the game:
DOC HOLLIDAY, Marshall head coach:
“Well, that’s a hell of a way to play your first game. Ohio State is a great football team.”
Asked about the impact of Marshall returner Andre Booker fumbling the opening kick-off and giving OSU the ball on the Herd’s 22 yard line — for what would turn into a quick, four-play scoring drive for the Bucks — Holliday minced no words:
“Book had a great camp. We stress not to put ball on ground and he hadn’t done that, but it’s unacceptable. Any time you do that and you’re playing Ohio State, you don’t have a chance. They are a great football team.”
Holliday was asked if was surprised by Pryor, who completed 17 of 25 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns:
“No I wasn’t at all surprised. He’s a great quarterback and he made some great throws. (He’s) a handful. He does some things and you just can’t get him on the ground.”
Ohio State coach JIM TRESSEL was asked about Pryor’s performance:
“I thought Terrelle had confidence in where he was going with the ball. I thought his anticipation was good. Sometimes when you’re wearing a black jersey since April and you know you can hold the
ball a little longer, you might not let it go as quickly as you need to.
“I thought he did a pretty good job of that. Now, he’ll need to do it even quicker next week, but I just thought his command and his anticipation was pretty darn good. I think he knew what they were doing out there.”
Tressel praised tailback Brandon Saine — the Piqua high grad who rushed for 103 yards and two touchdowns in the first (he had just one carry for no gain after intermission) — and he really embraced the Bucks defense, which forced three turn-overs, scored one touchdown of its own and didn’t allow any points (Marshall’s touchdown came on a blocked field goal):
“We have excellent quickness and we’ve got those veterans in there and Ross (Homan) and B. Rolle (Brain Rolle) have been there a long time there in the middle. And, of course, Cam (Heywood) is a force. Johnny Simon’s getting better all the time and Dex (Dexter Larimore) is, too.
“We’ve got a pretty good veteran group. To me their greatest strength is their quickness. And to have quickness, you have to know what you’re doing.
“Sometimes, you know, lack of knowledge makes you not look quick, and so they’re a bright bunch, they work hard, they prepare hard, and they know they’ve got a battle coming this weekend.”
As for Saturday’s upcoming game with the No. 13 Miami Hurricanes — who clobbered Florida A & M Thursday night — Tressel said:
“It’s going to be a whole different world next week”.
Sophomore tight end JAKE STONEBURNER — who was a great addition to the Bucks Thursday night with three catches for 41 yards — talked about Miami as well:
“It should be fun. Coach Tressel just reminded us that the last time we had a big game at home, we couldn’t get it done (against USC). So we’ll be extremely focused in our game prep next week.
Although he’s not identified, Matt Light — the former Greenville High star and a now the New England Patriots standout left tackle — was featured in a Wall Street Journal photo today wearing nothing but a Speedo and shoulder pads.
The photo was from his 2000 season at Purdue when a local newspaper convinced the Boilermakers starting offensive linemen to strip down to their swimsuits to illustrate their jobs as the “lifeguards” for Purdue quarterback Drew Brees, now the quarterback of the reigning Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints .
Tennessee Volunteers
The Purdue photo — along with one of last year’s Tennessee football players gathered shirtless and, greased in baby oil and fin some cases flexing around an orange, $120,000 Lamborghini Gallardo — was part of story today in the WSJ headlined:
“I’m Ready for My Beefcake Photo, Coach.”
The story was about preseason team photos and how — along with the traditional team shots — many players over the years also have posed for novelty shots. Many are linked to strength and conditioning.
While some of these photos have ended up on posters, many are printed in smaller numbers and given just to players. But because of the Internet, they now have been given an endless life and a worldwide viewing audience .
That draws lots of response, some supportive, some not and because of it some athletic departments end up squirming.
The Georgia Tech players posed shirtless around a Chevrolet Camaro last year. Tech’s assistant athletic director Dean Buchan told the WSJ he worries about sending the wrong message to people who take the photo out of context:
“It’s not that we’re against it, but we don’t want that necessarily out there.”
Matt Light covered in beard and shirt
As for the Purdue photo — which a decade ago produced a deluge of calls to the school — Brees told the WSJ:
“Obviously you have to be very confident of your manhood to do a photo like that.”
Light — the big-time outdoorsman, doer of good deeds for Greenville kids, two-time All Pro, owner of three Super Bowl rings and a guy with a puckish sense of humor — is just that.
BRADFORD — My column in Sunday’s paper was on new Bradford High coach Curtis Enis, who remains one of the greatest running back’s this area ever produced.
At Mississinawa Valley High — where he won All State honors three years straight, was a Parade All American and Ohio’s Mr. Football in 1993 — he ran for 5,689 yards and 71 touchdowns in his career. And he may have been a better linebacker than a running back.
In nearly three seasons at Penn State — a late season suspension kept him out of the Citrus Bowl at the end of his junior season and the Chicago Bears made him the No. 5 overall pick in the draft that coming spring — he ran for 3,256 yards and scored 36 touchdowns.
Enis wears out the defense
One of his most memorable games came that junior season when — as the above video shows — he dismantled visiting Ohio State, running for 211 yards on 23 carries and scoring the game winning touchdown in the Nittany Lions 33-27 victory.
If you watch him now at one of his Bradford team’s practices, you’ll likely see the 34-year old, 275-pound coach — caught up in the emotion of the moment — ignore his bum knee and arthritis and, at least once, sprint down field to congratulate a defensive back or receiver who made a big play.
That hands on involvement is one of several things he took from his famed college coach, Joe Paterno.
Enis last Friday night on the Bradford sidelines (photo by Jim Witmer)
“When we’d do conditioning at Penn State, we’d get toward the end and coach — he was in his 70s then — would start running with the offensive linemen to motivate them,” Enis said. “He was very active in practice. When you’ve got a coach who can still run gassers with you — and when I was there he did — it keeps the kids excited and motivated.”
Another practice he took from Paterno was filling his staff with guys who played for or coached at the school.
Three of the four assistant coaches on the Bradford staff — Jason Brewer, Greg Hale and John Cruse — are former head coaches of the Railroaders. Assistant coach Jim Canan — who has coached the Bradford players since they were pee wee players — and Bobby Floyd — director of football operations — both played for the Railroaders.
Enis talks to his Railroaders team before Friday night’s game (photo by Jim Witmer)
“The way I aligned my staff is the same way Coach Paterno aligned his,” Enis said. “Each of my coaches either played here or coached here.
“And when that’s the case, there’s one thing you can be sure of. When we get ready to game plan an opponent, they’ll put extra into it because one way or another they all wore the orange and black long before this. This school means something special to them.”
Bradford — which has had just one victory in each of the past three years — opened its 2010 season last Friday night by overwhelming visiting Cincinnati Prep, 42-0.
All his shallow protestations aside about being “badgered” by James Toney until he matched him with Randy Couture — a bout between former boxing and UFC champions he now likens to “a freak show” — Dana White will be the big winner at Saturday night’s UFC 118 in Boston.
I agree with Freddie Roach — the famed boxing trainer who’s also guided several MMA fighters, including Andrei Arlovski, Anderson Silva and Dan Hardy — when he said the UFC president is “using” Toney:
James Toney
“I think they’re using James as a way to say MMA fighters are better than boxers. Usually, if they fight an MMA fight, they’re going to win, and if they fight a boxing fight, we’re going to win. They’re two totally different sports. It’s something a 40-year-old guy just can’t learn, and in James’ case, it’ll be hard to learn.”
While some are trying to bill this as being the ultimate fistic statement on which is superior — MMA or boxing — the debate, in this case, is flawed.
The 42-year-old Toney is an over-the-hill, out-of-shape boxer — a guy who has had just three fights in three years and has knocked out only one perron in his last 10 fights — and he’s stepping into the MMA octagon without any cross-training experience against a guy who just two years ago was the UFC Heavyweight Champion.
A younger, fit Toney
Vegas sees it like that — Couture’s an 8-1 favorite — but White will get what he wants out of it. He’ll make a bundle, thanks, in a couple of ways, to Toney.
Toney will get thousands of boxing fans to buy the telecast to see the former world champion at three different weight classes. And Toney has stoked the fires of MMA fans by wearing the black hat to perfection.
He’s said outrageous things about the MMA — “nothing but two guys hugging” — and especially about Couture, who, by all accounts, is one of the true gentlemen in his sport.
Toney keeps saying he will be the one who proves the superiority of boxing.
To borrow from Chad Ochocino: “Child Please.”
You know I’m a boxing guy — I love the sport — but I think Toney has almost no chance unless he catches Couture with an uppercut as the five-time UFC champ comes in for his take down.
But chances of Toney scoring that one-punch victory are slim. I don’t look for him to be that sharp.
Sure Ray Mercer knocked out former UFC champ Tim Sylvia in just 9 seconds, but Mercer later was beaten by Kimbo Slice of all people.
Randy Couture
And while the 46-year-old Couture doesn’t have the best of chins — five of his 10 losses are by TKO or KO — he’s too smart to fall into the trap Sylvia did. He’s not going to try to stand and trade blows. He’s a supreme wrestler and will take this match to the canvas has quickly as possible.
Once Toney gets flipped onto his back like some big turtle turned upside down on his shell, I don’t see him getting back up. As heavy as he is, I don’t think it’d be that easy for him just getting up off the floor — even without someone putting a choke hold on him. (And, by the way, that’s how I think Toney will lose — caught in something like a rear naked choke hold.)
Toney’s not the best representative boxing could send into the octagon. Not even close. I’d rather see a supremely-fit Manny Pacquiao, who is trained by Roach, or a rapid-fire puncher like Floyd Mayweather — (actually I’d rather see them fight each other) — matched against an equally-sized MMA guy.
But even then, the debate would be skewed.
As Dan Goosen, Toney’s boxing promoter, put it:
“UFC can’t claim supremacy unless Couture comes to boxing, and I’ll match whatever he’s making for this fight. Anything else is just James Toney showing his true warrior spirit, saying damn the torpedoes and conceding to all of the (MMA) rules.”
Artist’s rendering of Fifth Third Field as fight arena
Following the tradition of many famous baseball parks which were homes to outdoor boxing shows — from Yankee Stadium, the Polo Grounds, Ebbetts Field and Fenway Park to Comiskey Park, Griffith Stadium, Candlestick Park and Crosley Field — Dayton’s Fifth Third Field will host an impressive, 13-bout amateur fight card featuring several Olympic hopefuls on Sept. 17.
Yankee Stadium drew 65,000 fans when Joe Louis successfully defended his heavyweight crown against Billy Conn in 1946.
The Dayton Dragons — in conjunction with Trotwood gym owner Milt Pearson and USA Boxing — are putting on the card in what the local baseball organization hopes will be the first of many fight shows in its ball park.
As is depicted in an artist’s rendering the Dragons are releasing, the boxing ring will be set up near home plate and the backstop netting will be taken down.
The Fifth Third Field seating bowl, the club level, and stadium luxury suites will and there will be a select number of ringside tables on the field. The video board, LED board and other promotional highlights of Fifth Third Field will be used as well.
The show will feature 2012 Olympic Games hopeful Chris Pearson — a Trotwood Madison grad, member of the prestigious United States Olympic Education Center boxing team at Northern Michigan University and Milt’s son — in the main event against Richard Gorham of Indianapolis.
Six other Olympic hopefuls from the USOEC program will be on the show.
Three boxers on the card who are trying to enhance their own name in fistic circles are the sons of three men who already have famous names:
John Mellencamp
— Hud Mellencamp, the 16-year-old Indiana boxer who’ll meet Trotwood 141-pounder Daquan Mays — is the son of Grammy-winning, Hall of Fame rocker John Mellencamp.
Hasim Rahman Sr.
— Heavyweight Hasim Raham is the son of Hasim Sr., the former world heavyweight champ, who was a 20-1 underdog when he stopped Lennox Lewis with one punch in the fifth round of their 2001 fight.
Cyclone Hart
— Jesse Hart — the USOEC 165-pounder facing Cincinnati’s Landon Johnson — is the son of Eugene “Cyclone” Hart, the hard- punching middleweight contender who fought Marvin Hagler, Vito Antuofermo, Bennie Briscoe, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Bobby “Boogaloo’ Watts and Willie “The Worm” Monroe.
The show — which will feature boxers from Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan — includes several local fighters. The bouts include both novice and open (more seasoned) fighters The tentative line-up for Sept. 17 is:
— Elijah Cunningham (Springboro) vs. Vincent Talaska (Indianapolis) in the 101-pound junior division
— Kaleb Jackson (Dayton) vs. Edgar Teran (Milwaukee) at 132 novice
— George Romero (WPAFB) vs. John Oliver (Toledo) at 132 novice
— Daquan Mays (Trotwood) vs. Hud Mellencamp (Indianapolis) at 141 novice
— Miles Jackson (Trotwood/ Wright State University) vs. Angel Balancas (Milwaukee) at 165 novice.
— Carlos Santos (USOEC, Marquette, MI) vs. David Carlton (Cincinnati) at 114 open.
— Damon Allen (USOEC, Marquette, MI) vs. Anthony Porter (Toledo) at 125 open.
— Ricky Alvarez (USOEC, Marquette, MI) vs. Yahman Phelps (Cincinnati) at 132 open.
— Manny Lopez (USOEC, Marquette, MI) vs. Robert Easter (Toledo) - at 145 open.
— Darnell Parker (USOEC, Marquette, MI) vs. Terrence Jarmon (Cincinnati) at 152 open.
— Chris Pearson (USOEC Trotwood) vs. Richard Gorham (Indianapolis) at 152 open.
— Jesse Hart (USOEC, Marquette, MI) vs. Landon Johnson (Cincinnati) at 165 open.
— Hasim Rahman, Jr. (USOEC Marquette, MI) vs. Danny Calhoun (Cincinnati) at heavyweight open.
The $10 fight tickets will be available to the general public at the Fifth Third Field Box Office, online at daytondragons.com, or via Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000, ticketmaster.com starting September 1 at 10 a.m.
Dragons’ season ticket holders, sponsors, and suite holders will get first opportunity for tickets over the weekend and early next week.
The three-hour fight show is scheduled to begin at 7p.m.
Terrell Owens: “He’s just sooooo fine.” (photo by Teesha McClam) “
After Sunday’s great success at Welcome Stadium, my guess is you’ll see the Cincinnati Bengals back here again for a preseason practice or two next year. It might become an annual thing.
And should the club ever do away with its extended training camp down at Georgetown College — some NFL teams are leaning that way and staying at their own facilities for the preseason — Dayton could become an easy one-day change of scenery for the Bengals.
Team brass were stunned by the huge turnout here Sunday. Close to 15,000 people — everybody from high school football teams like Dunbar, Thurgood Marshall and Meadowdale and peewee teams like the Dayton Flames to three generations of families — showed up to watch a 90-minute preseason practice.
Mike Brown liked what he saw Sunday
While team owner Mike Brown recalled the team’s last foray into the area — holding practices at Centerville High in 1997 and 1998 — he said, “They were well attended…. but nothing like this….We’ll sure think about doing it again in the future.”
For several months now the Bengals already have had a marketing person set up in the Dayton Dragons offices to to find ways of partnering up with the ultra-successful minor league franchise., which helped put on Sunday’s session.
And Brown admitted he has a soft spot in his heart for Dayton:
“On the way up here I explained to Paul (his son and the Bengals vice president) that when we first built Riverfront Stadium, one of the issues was whether to put it midway between Dayton and Cincinnati. For reasons that were political and economic and other reasons, it ended up on the riverfront….But I always thought of Dayton as part of our market and this certainly shows it.
“When we first came here ( back when the team began in the late 1960s) we had to contend with the Browns. (Dayton) had a lot of old Browns fans from watching them on TV over the years. Heck, Cincinnati at one point was Browns’ territory, too.
Cedric Benson lets his hair down Sunday (photo by Teesha McClam)
“I think we’ve managed to get by that some here….. I’m very happily surprised today. I didn’t dream we’d have almost 15,000 people watching practice. It makes me proud. Very proud.”
Sunday at Welcome Stadium there was a real love-fest with the Bengals.
There were fans like Nicole Cross, a Krogers cashier, who showed up with her husband, sister, brother and nephew . She wore an orange halter top, red nails and held up a sign that read :
“CO…T.O….Child Please.”
“Chad enjoys Welcome” (photo by Teesha McClam)
“From Chad’s (reality) show,” said Nicole, ” that’s his phrase: ‘Child Please.’”
She said Ochocinco is her favorite Bengal. but T.O. “is getting there…They’re’ Bonnie and Clyde.”
Behind the Bengals bench was Theresa Casey. She wore stylish sunglasses, orange sandals and a long print dress: “I’m trying to go with as much orange and black as possible…and still look like a lady.”
Her son Jamil was back in the crowd some where. Her nephew Noodles knelt at her feet, but she had her sights set on someone else.
“This is like a dream come true. I’m not a football fan. Just a T.O. fan,” she said of Terrell Owens. “It’s been like that since the first time I saw him. He’s just sooooo fine.”
If he came close enough, she had something to tell him: “I’d say, ‘I love you. I wish you the best in your career and your love life.’ And I’d say I got a niece — Satoria — who’d be the perfect girl for him.”
Another fan who showed up was 47-year-old Tom Bryant of Trotwood, who 16 months ago fell down a stairs and suffered, he said, a traumatic brain injury:
“I wasn’t expected to live — basically it was the same injury Chris Henry had — and I was in a coma a month. But I did survive and when they told me it would be Christmas ‘til I’d get out (of the hospital) I said, ‘You watch.’ Football season was coming up and I’m a huge Bengals fan.
“They motivated me to push ahead and I was out of the hospital June 26.”
Although he’s not able to work, he still follows his favorite football team. Until this season — when lack of funds cost him his season tickets — he said he had missed only one Bengals home game since at Paul Brown Stadium opened.
“I love the Bengals — they helped me get better,” he said. “I just want to say thank you.”
People showed up for lots of reasons Sunday — Centerville’s John Erbaugh was there to see his cousin Mike Nugent, the Bengals kicker out of Centerville High — but they especially came because it was a chance, as coach Marvin Lewis put it, “to get up close and personal with the team.”
And that was never more the clear than when thousands of fans swarmed the field afterward for an impromptu autograph session with the players.
“I haven’t seen anything quite like that — they just kept coming and coming and coming,” said running back Cedric Peerman. “You just had to weather the storm and sign away. That’s the least we could do. They had been so good to us.”
And that’s a big part of why the Bengals will be back.
CINCINNATI — He has kicked all across the NFL, in college football stadiums coast to coast and all around southwest Ohio as a prep player.
And yet Sunday Mike Nugent enters new territoty.
Mike Nugent
Sunday, for the first time ever, Nugent will kick at Welcome Stadium.
The Cincinnati Bengals kicker — who prepped at Centerville High and then starred at Ohio State before five pro seasons with the New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Arizona Cardinals — will join his new teammates for a practice in front of 11,000 Dayton fans.
“Unbelievably I’ve never played a game at Welcome Stadium,” said Nugent. “My junior year in high school we lost to Elder in the second round of the play-offs on a Tuesday night. We were supposed to play Wayne there right after that.”
Nugent — who has been contending with a nagging groin injury while vying with Dave Rayner for the Bengals kicking job that opened up when Shayne Graham was sent packing — is looking forward to his Dayton visit:
“I hear the place sold out in an hour. Growing up in Dayton, I was a big Bengals fan so this is real special coming home. It’s great we can come up there and pay tribute to the fans and just say ‘thank you.’”
CINCINNATI — Here are some observations from the Friday night’s Bengals-Philadelphia Eagles’ preseason game — eventually won by Cincinnati, 22-9 — at Paul Brown Stadium:
THREE MIAMI VALLEY prep products were on the field tonight.
Trent Cole
— In the first half, Eagles defensive end TRENT COLE out of Xenia High and the University of Cincinnati, gave Bengals massive left tackle Andrew Whitworth more than he could handle at times. On more than one occasion, Cole was draped all over Carson Palmer, who just managed to dump the ball off incomplete both times. This was typical Cole. The two-time Pro Bowler has averaged 68 tackles and 11 sacks over the past three seasons.
— Kicker MIKE NUGENT from Centerville High (and Ohio State) — hoping his training camp groin injury hasn’t put him too far behind fellow kicking hopeful Dave Raynor in his bid to make the Bengals final roster — finally got a chance to kick a field goal in the preseason
His first attempt — a 52-yarder early in the second quarter — was submarined by yet another pre-snap penalty, this one a false start by Bengals guard Nate Livings‚ and Marvin Lewis then decided 57 yards would be too long and punted instead.
To end the first half, the Bengals sent Nugent out again for a Hail Mary-like 59 yarder that he pulled left. It would have been short even if on line.
— Eagles rookie safety KURT COLEMAN out of Northmont High ( and OSU) spent the first half on the sidelines, but got some action after intermission and had a special teams tackle.
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THE MOST HOTLY CONTESTED job on the Bengals roster has to be for the punt returner.
Lemar Parrish
JORDAN SHIPLEY had a 63-yard return in the first preseason game against Dallas. And he, ADAM JONES and QUAN COSBY all had returns of 20-plus yards versus Denver.
But Friday night it was Jones who was center stage early and I think he stated his case that he can give this team the most electric return man it has seen since early ’70s sensation Lemar Parrish.
After bobbling one catch midway through the second quarter, he reversed field and went 24 yards.. Even more impressive was a 40 yard kick return near the end of the second quarter.
That said, Cosby returned a kick 41 yards to end the third quarter.
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IS IT TOO EARLY to make this point: TERRELL OWENS is showing he’s the No. 1 receiver on the team?
Terrell Owens
I say, “Yes.”
Although Owens had three first-half catches for 67 yards — including a 43 yarder down the right sideline to set up the Bengals lone first half score — and CHAD OCHOCINCO had two catches for 29 yards, everyone involved (at least publicly) says CARSON PALMER is especially working on getting his timing down with his new diamond-studded receiver.
Owens has nine catches for 108 yards through three preseason games. Ochocinco has just three receptions, but said that doesn’t matter. He said he and Palmer know each other like twins and this prep time is better spent with T.O.
One thing the 36-year-old Owens dispelled: Those folks who say he can’t run by anybody anymore should take a look at the way he blew by Eagles cornerback Joselio Hanson on that 43-yard catch.
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THE ACHILLES HEEL of this team so far has been its penchant for penalties. The Bengals were whistled for eight penalties in the first half and Philadelphia accepted six of them. In thir three preseason games the Bengals now have been penalized 29 times for 269 yards.
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Jermaine Gresham
ANDRE SMITH, the overweight, oft -injured former first-rounder, took his first snaps of the season and looked out of shape and sometimes lost out there.
Conversely, tight end JERMAINE GRESHAM — the team’s first round pick last spring — had three catches in the first half. His hands seem like first basemens’ mitts. And for a big guy — 6-5, 260 pounds — he showed some real moves after his catches.
Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.
Labor Day celebrations
Tribute to former Ohio AG
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Miami football 2010
Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.
Latest comment
get over it….miami lost and they were supposed to be the BEST EVER. call or no call, OSU beat