Sports in Stilettos

In his Senior Day this weekend, Gettysburg College senior Cory Weissman scored his first and only point of his college career.

[Full story at D3Hoops.com]

Weissman suffered a life-threatening stroke during an offseason workout and was sidelined for three years, but he started - and finished - last weekend’s game against Centennial Conference rival Washington College (my alma mater!)

With :19 left in the game, Gettysburg was leading so they put Weissman in the game, and Washington College Coach Rob Nugent called for the Shoremen to foul him so Weissman could get to the free throw line (watch).

Washington College Athletics are very near and dear to my heart, even though I don’t always admit it. I wasn’t a varsity athlete in college (although, believe it or not, I was a basketball cheerleader my junior year…what?) but I worked for the Sports Information Department and I wrote extensively about the school’s athletics history, both as an undergrad and later, a staff member.

There have been a lot of great stories over the years, and this definitely deserves to be among them. I had the opportunity to talk to Coach Nugent at length a few years ago for a piece I did for a local news blog; he’s truly a stand-up guy, and this is 100% who he is and how he runs his program.

This makes me so proud of my school, and so happy for Cory Weissman.

What’s the Big Deal About Stefon Diggs?

Stefon Diggs, a five-star recruit from Maryland powerhouse Good Counsel, was one of the last highly-coveted high school players to announce his college decision, and Maryland football fans had their fingers crossed as tight as they could, hoping he’d pick the less-traveled route and choose the Terps over Auburn, Florida, and Ohio State.

Last night, I got a text alert from Baltimore Sun Sports:

“PRIZED WR-DB RECRUIT STEFON DIGGS OF GOOD COUNSEL COMMITS TO THE TERPS”

I saw the message, remembered I was supposed to be waiting anxiously for this news, and yelled “Whooo hooooo YES!” (It’s ok, no one else was around.)

My immediate next thought was, “Wait, why am I so excited about this??”

It’s a great thing for Maryland to bring in recruits that are so highly-ranked, because the next year’s top players will see that and follow suit and, theoretically, the Terrapins football team will start to improve. (Please, please, pretty please.)

But that’s just in theory.

Right now, Diggs is a stellar high school football player who was sought after by some of the nation’s top football programs and chose to stay home and go to Maryland, where he’ll likely be seen as one of the team’s saviors if he’s part of the group that turns things around after last year’s dreadful season.

Terps fans, at least judging by those in my Twitter and Facebook feeds, are grateful and excited that Diggs declared for Maryland. It’s not often that the Terps win recruiting battles with the likes of Florida and Ohio State, and Maryland fans are feeling pretty darn good about things now that they did.

Diggs is one of the top-ranked WR-DB prospects in the nation, but like all these kids, they’re just prospects, which is something many who follow college football tend to forget when they’re salivating over the country’s fastest and strongest 18-year-olds.

How many talented players have been weighed down by all the stars so-called recruiting experts have put on their shoulders?

They’re expected to come in and be instant superstars, and few of them are able to do that immediately, if ever. That’s a lot of pressure on kids most people couldn’t pick out of a lineup unless they were wearing a jersey with their name on it.

It’s a little sad, really, that some of these kids are viewed as disappointments before they’re even 20 years old, called “former five-star recruits” with an underlying tone implying What a waste of talent, what a shame they didn’t do more with their lives - even when they have decades ahead of them to succeed in life outside football.

That’s not to say Diggs won’t be a great Terrapin, maybe even a great pro, but rather to suggest that the exhaustive media coverage leading up to Signing Day and the breaking news text alerts are perhaps a little premature.

Will he stay or will he go?

Earlier today, reports from a “source” said Maryland quarterback Danny O’Brien met with Coach Randy Edsall to inform the coach he was transferring.

O’Brien quickly responded via his Twitter page, saying he’s still a Terp.

…But for how long?

A little over a year ago, after former Terps coach Ralph Friedgen was unceremoniously fired by the university, I wondered whether O’Brien would also hit the road. When I tweeted the news he was staying, he replied, saying that was always the plan.

I doubt that the rest of the season went as planned, though. A year after picking up ACC Rookie of the Year honors, O’Brien was forced into a game of musical quarterback with C.J. Brown. First they switched in and out, then just when it looked like O’Brien was relegated to permanent backup status, he was back in, at least until his season ended with a broken arm.

When he did play, he didn’t play nearly as well as he had as a true freshman - but he was also playing in a different scheme, under a different coaching staff. As a local reporter said on the radio early in the season, Danny O’Brien didn’t regress that much in a year’s time. What did change? The coaching staff.

It seemed pretty clear, pretty early on, that O’Brien wasn’t going to be too successful within former OC Gary Crowton’s offense, so as much as I adore #5, I hoped he’d transfer. He’s a very, very talented quarterback, and he should have the opportunity to play for a program that’s going to give him the very best chance to succeed, in college and possible even in the pros. It was beyond frustrating to see him wasted in Maryland’s offense in 2011; I can’t even begin to imagine how it felt for him.

Crowton’s not calling the plays this year, though. Instead, O’Brien would be working with Mike Locksley, who returned to College Park in the offseason after stints at Illinois, Florida and most recently (and controversially), New Mexico. I’m don’t know much about Locksley’s play-calling style, but if it’s drastically different than what we had in 2011, I’m on board. (Not that it matters, since I’m not the one playing.)

The big question, reportedly to be decided this weekend, is whether Danny O’Brien is on board.

At any point during last season, I would’ve said O’Brien should absolutely jump ship, but now, I’m less certain. I think he’ll have a better shot at a good year in 2012, but I don’t know if it will be a better situation than he’d find elsewhere. He is eligible to graduate this spring, and if he does, he’d be able to transfer to another FBS school without sitting out a year.

So will he stay or will he go?

I assume we’ll find out very soon.

Should he stay or should he go?

I’m not sure anymore.

As cliched as it is, I just hope he does the best thing for himself and his future, whether or not that’s at Maryland. He deserves it.

nfloffseason:

Champion: Noun; A person who has defeated or surpassed all rivals in a competition, esp. in sports.

All the talk will be about “Elite” Eli, Coughlin the Coach, even Mario Manningham’s magnificent grab, & deservedly so, but take a moment to consider Mark Herzlich & his journey.

He beat cancer, after being told to forget football & maybe even walking ever again. He went undrafted. When the NFL returned from it’s lockout, he chose to sign with the Giants, making the squad out of training camp. While he may have been inactive tonight, as his teammates won the Lombardi trophy, there is no doubt that his life’s story can be defined by just one word tonight.

Champion

I couldn’t find a photo of Mark Herzlich to post immediately after the game, so here it is. This guy right here is the reason I’m happy the Giants won. I have been SUCH a fan for years and I am so incredibly happy for him. He deserves this more than anyone.

(via sbnation)

Congrats to the 2012 Super Bowl Champion New York Giants

If the Ravens couldn’t get there, at least we got a winner with a shout-out from Madagascar so I could post a clip with a zebra in it.

Thanks to my sister for the clip. You can follow her on Twitter: @T_ricks10

undercalicoskies:

whylimeee:

Tweet by UNC basketball player Kendall Marshall

I’m going to choose to ignore whatever that ellipsis is insinuating and take this as a compliment.

(via Twitter / @sunjeffbarker: Shot today in Terps” footb …)

The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Barker shared the above shot from the Maryland football locker room on Twitter Friday. I might’ve posted a photo of these before but they’re so freakin’ flashy and fabulous that this shoe-loving sports blogger can’t resist.

There are a lot of Terps fans out there who don’t have one little bit of love for any bit of the Maryland Pride football uniforms, and I admit, I wasn’t that into them at first either.

These cleats, though. I want a pair. How can you not love them?

Seriously. I’m curious. When I look at those crazy, busy, outlandish, amazing cleats, my eyes get all heart-shaped, Pepe le Pew-style and I can’t stop pondering the possibility of turning those spikes into a spike heel. I’d probably never wear them out, but that’s besides the point. There are thousands of shoes that are works of art rather than footwear intended to be worn.

I might get a little hypnotized every time I look at them, so if you’re a Maryland fan, and looking at these uniforms makes you want to squeeze your eyes closed and never open them again: Why? What am i missing?

(Forgot to post this the other night. Better late than never, especially when it’s Adam McQuaid!)

__

Fifty-four’s a fighter.

Only thing better than all those rights he landed?

That moment, that very special moment, when the helmet came off.

And the fabulous hair was set free.

How can you not love a McQuaid Mullet?

USC Football: Strapped by Scholarship Limits, Trojans Sign 12 in '12 | isportsweb »

My roundup on USC’s Signing Day for isportsweb. Love that we can sign ten fewer players than everyone else (15 instead of 25), and we only sign 12, and we STILL pull a top-10 recruiting class. Seriously. Love.

Marine pumped to join Aztecs | UTSanDiego.com »

“Justin Aysse just turned 25. He didn’t graduate from high school. Instead, he got a GED certificate and a four-year tour of duty with the Marines, including deployments to Iraq (2007-08) and Afghanistan (2009). He said he will sign with San Diego State Wednesday after getting a scholarship offer from the Aztecs to play offensive tackle.

“My entire time in the Marine Corps, I was like, ‘I just want to play football again,’” Aysse said Tuesday.”“

Awesome.

[Read the full article]

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