Another Favre Media Frenzy

With the end of another NFL season, the question of Favre’s status in the football world has again taken the front page.

Favre’s Minnesota Vikings lost the NFC Championship to the New Orleans Saints Sunday night. The game went into overtime after Favre threw an interception into the middle of the field. He was trying to hit his key target, Percy Harvin, with 19 seconds left to win the game without extra time.

Instead the Saints won the coin toss and Brees marched his resilient Saints down the field just for second-year kicker Garrett Hartley to kick a 40 yard field goal to bring an NFC Championship to the still reeling city of New Orleans.

But while the Saints are preparing for their first Super Bowl appearance, Favre is preparing to face another offseason of contemplation. And another offseason with the vultures commonly called “the media.”

Yes, Favre does have trouble deciding what to do with the rest of his life. Should he stay? Should he retire? Staying means more fun. For Favre and for us. Fess up, you love seeing a 40-year-old football player out on that field ever Sunday….and playing well. But part of deciding when to retire is deciding if you’re going out on top. Does Favre really want to leave when he is forced out? Everyone strives to be John Elway.

But the real problem is the media frenzy surrounding it. Media outlets cover the issue everyday. Whether there is an issue that day or not. Sportscenter anchors make Favre retirement jokes at least once an hour. And the media is always speculating as to what he is going to do. One day he is staying; the next day he is retiring for good.

Even when he is retired, as he was last summer, Favre is still on ESPN every single day. Talking about throwing the football with high school guys in his hometown. Speculating as to what team he has been talking to. Can’t an extremely talented veteran of the game just talk to some teams without there being such a to do?

The media needs to back off of the story. Announce when he plans to make a press conference about it, and have a few columns about what the writer believes he should or will do. But leave it at that. The media frenzy is killing Favre’s current legacy of greatness into a legacy of indecisiveness. 

Who dat think gonna stop that Saint?

Reggie Bush

The name brings to mind various definitions:

1) The star running back at USC who won a Heisman 

2) The guy who went second in the draft when everyone believed he should have easily been the head honcho out

3) Kim Kardashian's boyfriend

And finally...

4) The New Orleans Saints running back

Reggie took over college football with his finesse running style. He easily ran through the line with jukes and flew by the college level's weak secondaries. Iin college, that running style works. But in the pros, it is more of a bruising running style that wins games. It is for this that Bush hasn't made the biggest impact in the NFL. 

Bush changed that and went from good running back to utter game changer in the Saints' NFC Divisional Playoff game against the Arizona Cardinals. He ran "north and south" with physicality instead of his normal side to side that relied on smooth moves. 

His punt return, the third longest in post season history, took the Saints to a 31 point lead with six minutes left in the third quarter. Although the scoreboard didn't have an F, players and fans on both sides sure felt like it did. Meanwhile, Bush sealed his place as a top tier running back in the NFL. 

Standing Strong

Down four with less than a minute left in regulation it looked like Pittsburgh would lose its first Big East Game. 

A key three would lead to a tie game and overtime. After being dominated by the tough Louisville defense and press, the Panthers took over in overtime and celebrated in front of the home crowd a 5-0 start to conference play. 

The Panthers are now 15-2 overall. They have shown their toughness, and now their ability to bounce back from the losing end of a very tight and extremely physical game. 

Plans Gone Awry

The Pittsburgh Panthers were supposed to rebuild this year. Jamie Dixon was supposed to take the 2009-2010 season to give his men some experience before they began Big East domination again.

No one really likes plans anyways.

After losing Sam Young, Levance Fields, and DeJuan Blair to the NBA it looked like this year would be nothing but a bust for the Panthers. Dixon would have good talent on the floor, but it would be developing talent.

That talent is sitting at the top of the Big East ladder right now, thanks to another big conference win. In Connecticut on Wednesday night, the Panthers got up early on the Huskies and were only behind once, by a measly one point.

The team grabbed the victory, and then later held on to it, in large part to foul shots. Pitt shot 85% at the line; they made six straight foul shots to close out the game and keep UCONN from making any sort of comeback.

Rebounding has also been their friend. Pitt outrebounded the Huskies 40-31 last night, and 26-13 in the second half. The sheer physicality of the group is shown at the boards as well as on the floor—quite literally. What impresses me most about Pittsburgh this year is the way in which they play the game. When a ball becomes loose, players leap on the floor to grab it. After a loose ball found its way from the sidelines to the paint, one Pitt player bounded to the center of the floor, fell on the ball, and immediately signaled for a timeout. That was probably the best play I saw all night.

Pittsburgh is 14-2 and undefeated in conference play. They have accumulated wins over Connecticut, Cincinnati, DePaul , and of course dealt Syracuse their first loss of the season. What’s even more impressive is that the Panthers have done it on the road. It is the 12th time in school history that the team has had three conference games in a row on the road. It is just the first time in school history that the team has won all three games.

So for all you who threw out the Panthers and only gave them the status of a rebuilding season, I would watch out. After being snubbed in Sports Illustrated’s college basketball preview, the Panthers have clawed their way into legitimate talk of playing deep into March.

Pittsburgh is a tough team. Get ready to fight as you’re looking up at them on the AP polls.