Hurd By The Bay

Tell me if this ever happens to you. I spend a morning listening to sports talk, an afternoon watching SportsCenter and a night watching some television --- all while mixing the purity, joy, frustration and downright exhaustion of parenthood --- and I come away wondering if Sports Illustrated was on to something when they started looking for signs of the apocalypse.

Or, to put it another way, sometimes, I just don't get it.

Examples:

--- Spent two hours watching a VH1 special on the Beatles Anthology (Part II) listening to John, Paul, George and Ringo reflect on messages of love, peace, God, enlightenment, etc., and was left with the overwhelming confirmation that good works come from caring about others. The special was followed by ... "The T.O. Show". Anybody else see the disconnect?

--- Meantime, T.O.'s former teammate, Pacman Jones will not be playing in the Canadian Football League after all. I covered hockey for two years and got exposed to the Canadian culture, and always came away feeling like those people had their heads together in a way that we in the U.S. don't. Intuition confirmed.

--- Makes me wonder what the Great White North would make of Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez". The man has had a shady beginning with the Wolverines, left West Virginia under bad terms and during his Clemson days was apparently associated with a guy who's now a banned Clemson booster and accused felon. Institutional due diligence apparently doesn't mean what it once did.

--- Speaking of which, late Michigan legend Bo Schembechler was tight for years with former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes. My former father-in-law knew Woody well from his days at Dennison University in Ohio, and as bad a rap as Hayes gets, know this: He and Bo kept tabs on every one of their former players after they left school. Think Rich Rodriguez does that?

--- Talked to Indiana hoops legend Steve Alford on a flight one time, and he intimated the same thing about Bob Knight.

--- I'm not saying Woody, Bob and Bo were perfect. I'm just saying they must've been doing something right.

--- Put it another way, none of them would've put up with T.O., no matter how good he was.

--- Would love to hear what Curt Schilling has to say about this topic. Guy has expressed interest in taking over the seat created by the death of Ted Kennedy. Not sure if that's one of the more hopeful things I've heard or one of the scariest.