After about a month of misfires, and hiccups Michigan announced Rich Rodriguez as their new coach on Sunday. They will formally announce it on Monday at a press conference. To take the job at Michigan, Rodriguez is leaving his post as West Virginia’s head coach, a job that he has held since the 2001 season.

During his time with the Mountianeers, Rodriguez revitalized that program and brought it back to National prominence. He is responsible for the largest turnaround in Big East history. The year he took over West Virginia went 3-8, but followed that season up with a 9-4 record, a top 25 ranking and a birth in a bowl game. The Mountianeers have been to a bowl game every year since, with 2 of the last 3 of those being BCS Bowl games.

I definitely have mixed feelings about this hire. It will drastically change the offense that Michigan plays. Michigan is and has always been a run first team. And when I say run first, I don’t mean the quarterback. Rodriguez is widely known as the creator of the spread option offense. The spread option offense is all the rage now in college football. Pundits have mentioned that it will soon be adopted in some way in the pro game. For me, that’s good and bad. I would love to see Michigan as the prototypical offense in college football. The offense that can lead the country, and be an example to all other programs. But I have to admit, I’ll miss the 3 yards and a cloud of dust. It’s what I’ve grown up with.

This also calls into question the future of Ryan Mallett, who I believe will win the Heisman trophy before he heads to the NFL. But will it be in a winged helmet? His father has gone on record that Ryan will “keep and open mind”. Already clouding the Wolverine quarterback position is blue chip recruit Tyrelle Pryor who is tailor-made for Rodriguez’s spread option. He has said that Michigan was just added to his short list of schools because of the arrival of Coach Rodriguez.

So what is my overall feeling on this? I’m a fan of this move. Rich Rodriguez has a long and proven track record of winning. I like that in a coach. I think that the Michigan athletic department could have done a much better job in filling the coaching vacancy. I would have loved to see Les Miles on the sidelines at the Big House. But all things being equal I am happy with Rich Rodriguez too. I need to see how he recruits. That will be the final test.

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A bright 46 to you. Some buddies and I are competitively prognosticating how many points the Patriots will dump onto the Jets this Sunday. Following are our geusses (at first I was going to omit the names to protect the missed guessers, but since everyone still carries a nickname in their back pocket, they are the only ones who will know who’s who). See predicted number in ‘bold’ font…

Pats Points Versus Jets
Feef - 70 (love that one)
Hoom - I can’t drive 55
Shafular - How many days does Kiefer get to spend in the clink?… 48!
Ritzer - Go ahead, I dare you to play it with The Wizard of Oz, for a ‘Dark Side of the Rainbow’ experience: Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ is exactly 43 minutes long.
Tomes - Waving his home run fair to win the game… 27!
Jedi - Wants to wake up to a score of 33. Wants to wake up to a score of 33. Wants to wake up to a score of 33 (Groundhog Day is the 33rd day of the year).
Bushes – 38 Shill’s number & the number of slots on an American Roulette wheel
T.H. - John Steinbeck dubbed it “The Mother Road’. What is Route 66?
Stoit - The Stoner 63 is a semi-famous machine gun used by the U.S. military from 1963 up until about 1971. I believe a Stoner 63 is what the Jets will need this Sunday to pull off what Stoit predicts — a win in which the Jets score seventy points of their own (or the JPVP ratio).
Eh-Prop – Because 46 in Japanese can be pronounced as “yon roku”, and “yoroshiku”（よろしく） means “my best regards” in Japanese, people sometimes use 46 for greeting.

Winner of this contest gets unmitigated bragging rights for 48 hours, to be scrupulously timed, immediately following the conclusion of the football contest.

Loser gets to step to the plate against Clemens with a cracked bat and take their chances battling the lesser known HGH-rage as he flings your shattered stick back at you on your weak nubber to the mound.

So, 46 to you and have fun watching…

So, let me get this straight. Les Miles doesn’t want to coach at Michigan, but he does want to ‘assist’ them in finding a new football coach, ‘as any loyal alumnus would’? Sounds a little fishy to me. Especially if I’m LSU AD Skip Bertman. All of this said while in the middle of a recruiting trip. One would guess he was recruiting for LSU, but who knows Miles might again be ‘helping’ his alma mater.

Of course I’m playing, and making light of it. But it does cause me to wonder. Is Les Miles going to bolt LSU after the National Championship Game on January 7th? Make no mistake, I want him as the head coach at Michigan, but it certainly does call into question the ethics of Les Miles. I would never go so far as to put him in the same category of the snake with ties to the state of Michigan (albeit Michigan State ties), Nick Saban, who left LSU after leading them to a National Championship.

Is it a matter of Les Miles’ heart strings are getting pulled too hard for him to resist? Or is he compromising his ethics?

The Cubs have reached an agreement in terms with Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome. Fukudome will most likely play right field in Chicago, replacing the dearly departed Jacque Jones. He played centerfield in Japan, but will likely move to right because of Felix Pie. The good news is that if Pie sucks again this year, the Cubs can just move Fukudome to center and find some other mope to play right. Possibly Matt Murton (not a mope). Either way, the Cubs get a solid left-handed bat in their lineup. Probably the top of the lineup. He can hit for average and he has a little bit of pop. He hit .351 with 31 home runs and 104 RBI and was the MVP of Japan’s Central League.

Word is that he’s a mix between Ichiro and Hideki Matsui. Umm… Ok. Yes please. If you can mention this guy in the same breath as Ichiro, I want him on the Cubs. Ichiro is the best pure baseball player I’ve ever seen play (Jerome Walton notwithstanding). Ichiro gets on base all the time, he can pick it wherever he plays in the outfield and Hideki Matsui just produces runs. If Fukudome can do those things for the Cubs, they have just improved their lineup in a huge way.

There are a couple things that scare me about Fukudome. He’s 30 and he’s coming off elbow surgery. Definitely makes a Cub fan nervous.

I wrote extensively about my distaste for the NFL Network and the general crappiness of charging extra for games.  Turns out, The NFL wants it’s service bundled within standard cable packages, and many (most?) cable, satellite, etc., carriers are doing just that.  In this area, Cox Communications and Verizon FiOS both offer the NFL Network as a standard bundle.  It’s neither higher nor lower than having ESPN.  Since ESPN carries every Monday night game, I cannot carry that grudge.

 So, from my perspective, my ire is turned towards the growing behemoth that is Comcast — but, before shaking this giant, I’m going to do a little more research on the ongoing dispute between the NFL & Comcast — for it is upon this dispute that the pass to play service is being instituted by Comcast.  For now, I’ll have to just say, ‘Booooooooooooo Comcast’ and change my cable subscription.

Well that certainly puts a dent in plans to bring Miles to Ann Arbor. Apparently Miles had no interest in the position. According to Skip Bertman, LSU’s Athletic Director, Miles never held that over their head. He sure could have. I’m glad to see that he didn’t.

One thing that causes me pause… Why? Did he know he could make better money and sit in a hotbed of talent? If that’s the case, what does it say about Michigan? Are they not willing to spend the money? If we ever find out down the line that money was a factor in this at all, I’m gonna be pissed. Michigan has the money.

So, who are the leading candidates for the coaching vacancy in Ann Arbor? Kirk Ferentz? Bobby Petrino? Cam Cameron? Jeff Tedford? Greg Schiano? Bob Stoops?

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I’ve said it before, multiple times. The NFL Network Sucks! And this time I am not able to watch the beloved Bears because of their greed. It’s one thing to deprive a man of a good football game, it’s another thing altogether to deprive a man of watching the Bears.

Some might say that it’s actually a blessing to not have to watch the train wreck Chicago Bears. They just don’t get it. I don’t watch them because they’re good. I watch them because they’re my team. And tonight… I don’t watch them at all.

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Omar Infante’s time as a Cub wasn’t even long enough for him to don a uniform. He and lefty specialist Will Ohman (6-8, 4.33 ERA for his career) were dealt Tuesday to the Braves for pitching prospect Jose Ascanio (1-1, 5.06 ERA in 2007). Ascanio is a 22 year old right hander with a “power arm”.

This trade will affect the back end of the bullpen for the Cubs. Ascanio could emerge as a setup man for whoever closes games. I like this trade. I’ve never been a fan of Ohman. There was a period of time this year where he seemed to be the pitcher giving up crippling runs. Of course he also got guys out when he needed to down the stretch. But I’m glad he’s gone.

As for losing Omar Infante, I liked him giving the Cubs depth in the infield, but I would rather have a solid arm at the tail end of the bullpen.

Gonna try something new around here. Gonna run a College Bowl game pick’em contest. We’re gonna use ESPN’s “College Bowl Mania” application. Click here to fill out your entry and join our Vigilante Sports group. We’ll have a banner on the sidebar here to click through to the contest page. Share this with your friends.

Let’s see who really knows what they’re talking about this College Bowl season.

The week of blown opportunities.

Devin Hester might be the best return man in the game, but he’s not even close to the top 4 wide outs that the Bears have. And that is not because the Bears receiving corps is anywhere close to good. They’re not. They’re actually not very good at all. Bernard Berrian is fast but had trouble holding onto the ball (except last week), Mushin Muhammed is old, a step too slow and rarely can be found at the end of a game, Rashied Davies is fast, and might be good (but probably not), Desmond Clark can disappear and Greg Olsen is probably the best threat the Bears have, and he’s a rookie tight end. Throwing Devin Hester in the game expecting that he’s going to make a difference on offense is just silly. He is definitely fast, and has wiggle that you can’t teach, but realistically, he’s Az Hakim. Unless, he can learn how to run routes, run under the ball, and eventually HOLD ONTO IT.

But all that about Devin Hester doesn’t explain the loss to the Giants. I think that Roberto Garza, Terrence Metcalf, John Tait, and John St. Clair might help to explain it, but I haven’t seen them around in a long time. They definitely didn’t show up on Sunday afternoon. Rex Grossman was sacked 6 times, and was under pressure the entire game. The offensive line is the problem with this football team. Even though Adrian Peterson ran well against the Giants, Lovie and Ron Turner didn’t seem to have the confidence to run behind that line very much as the game wore on. Terrence Metcalf cost the Bears at least 2 first downs, possibly 2 touchdowns because he couldn’t get his feet moving to plant his body in between Adrian Peterson and the guys in the white shirts. Perfectly executed screen plays, timed perfectly, called at the right time in the game, but the offensive line could not execute.

Before the game Tom Coughlin mentioned that it was going to be a field position game. It was, and the Bears won it. They did not capitalize. If it wasn’t a sack by the porous offensive line, it was a penalty. Converting any one of their many red zone visits into a touchdown would have iced the game. I’ve said it before and let me say it again. Please don’t think that the position that needs fixing most in the off-season is the quarterback. It’s the offensive line. No doubt about it.

And with that said, I think all Bears fans can look forward to the 2008 season. Because folks… this one is over.