Chip Kelly Will Succeed Because of Jim Harbaugh

Two years ago, If Chip Kelly had gone to the NFL, he would not have been able to succeed. He runs a highly complex, intensely disciplined attack with a laser focus, exactly the kind of discipline that professional athletes have a reputation for rebelling against. That tenor is changing.

To understand why the disciplined approach will be successful, even on a disfunctional team like the Eagles, you have to go back in time a bit, to Mike Singletary. Singletary became the head coach of the 49ers after a successful interim term. He was a disciplinarian, harsh on his players, pulling them from games and publicly berating them (see this). So why didn't it work? He didn't have an overall plan. When you are a disciplinarian and you win, it creates buy-in. If you lose, you're just a jerk. Singletary lost games, and subsequently lost his players, then lost his job.

Enter Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh is a vociferous, grimacing, toe-the-line-and-do-your-job coach. He, too, will grab someone on the sidelines and get in his face. The difference? It all has the same end in mind. Harbaugh has a way he does things: all you have to do is watch him on the field during warmups. He is just as intense about how his team warms up as he is during the game. He obviously considers the focus pre-game to matter, as opposed to many coaches who you see standing aside, talking, trusting. When you watch clips from any Harbaugh-coached team, you see a team that executes. All the time. If they fail, it is not because of preparation. And they win.

So players around the NFL see this. They watch that train-wreck at Candlestick become not just better, but fearsome. They hear the unified front presented by the entire team. They watch Vernon Davis, of all people, become a down-field blocker with a killer instinct. Was that Randy Moss taking a shot in the jaw to score a touchdown? It was. And Harbaugh inspired it in him.

So now you have the Eagles. If it weren't for the Jets, we would be laughing at them on a weekly basis. But the Eagle players know: their team is a joke. The blocking schemes, the QB play, the receivers (wasn't this the year that Maclin and Jackson were going to make the leap to elite?), all fell apart in various ways. Chip Kelly will change that.

Kelly has a simple philosophy on coaching, and an understanding of players' motivations. In any profession, employees like to know the "Why." Kelly believes in giving it, and that matters. He also believes in discipline. When you watch a Kelly coached team, the pace is so fast that it can only work if everyone understands his role, and executes it to perfection. And he has little tolerance for people that step out of line. Remember when Oregon was going to suffer because Jeremiah Masoli left the team after being disciplined and suspended? Yeah, me neither. I believe they put up something like 45 points with their back-up. The system is stronger than it's parts.

And the players will listen. This "Dream Team" didn't all go to Philly to hang out at Geno's and eat whiz wits. They went there to win. And so when a guy like Kelly walks in, they will listen, or they will leave. They will practice hard, play hard, and "finish" (one of Kelly's favorite words). No more second half meltdowns, and no more half effort. And they will do this because they have seen how it worked in San Francisco: Clear vision plus effort equals success. And the scary thing is? The Eagles have more talent than the Niners. Kelly's offense requires a mobile QB, a strong running back, and fast receivers. Check, check, and check (sorry Foles).

For more on Chip Kelly's coaching philosophy, go here. Pay especial attention to his views on practice and preparation, and you can see why he was, and will be, successful.

Michael Vick Signs With the Eagles, Which Calls for Some Really In-Depth Analysis and Soul-Searching

Stupid.

Roasted Tomato Bruschetta

4 ripe "tomatoes on the vine"

2 cloves garlic

2 slices red onion (1/2" thick)

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon salt, divided use

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/8 teaspoon oregano

1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for brushing

1 loaf good, crusty bread, sliced.

8 oz Mozzarella cheese

Fire up grill. If using charcoal, build a pyramid of coals and let burn for 15 minutes, until you can hold your hand over the fire for a count of "4 mississippis," then spread into single layer. If gas, set at 350.

Core tomatoes using carrot scraper, and lightly "mush" the insides. Cut garlic cloves in half. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp basil and 1/8 tsp salt into each tomato, then insert 1/2 clove. Skewer onion slices to keep together, brush both sides with olive oil and season with garlic salt and oregano on one side only. lightly coat bottoms of tomatoes with olive oil as well. Brush one side of each bread slice with olive oil.

Place onions spice side up on hottest part of flame. Place tomatoes oil-side-down around edges of grill. Close lid, and cook for about 7-10 minutes, or until onions have clear grill marks and are softening, and tomatoes are sizzling. Flip onions over to sear spice side, and cook until tomatoes begin to crack in their skin and are soft to the touch (3-5 minutes). Remove all from grill, and place bread, oil side down, onto grill to toast.

Chop onions and 3 of the tomatoes and place in a bowl. Place other tomato and 1/2 teaspoon salt into blender and pulse lightly. Add to bowl. Pour balsamic vinaigrette and olive oil into blender, and run at high speed for about 10 seconds (you will see it just begin to "fluff"). Add to mixture in bowl and serve warm with toasted bread and sliced mozzarella.

Steroids: Enough Already!

News just came out that David Ortiz is on the list of 104 players that tested positive for banned substances in 2003. We are supposed to be shocked and appalled, again, but the truth is, this constant leaking of the list is rapidly becoming a chinese water torture. Every month or so, another name "leaks." If it is really that easy for the names to get out, why not just publish the whole list? Or better yet, let's just drop the whole damn subject. Yes, it's cheating. I get that, and understand that we are all supposed to be upset because of the "integrity" of the game. But really, let's take a look at that "integrity."

Webster's defines integrity thusly: "A firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values." So then, what is the integrity of baseball? If we assume that a moral code develops within a given group based on the standards of that particular community, we can define the integrity of that group based upon its history. And baseball's history tells us a lot about exactly how outraged we should be by these "cheaters."

Just Win, Baby

Ty Cobb was elected into the Hall of Fame by one of the largest margins ever recorded, eclipsing even Babe Ruth in that category. This from a man who sharpened his spikes so that when he slid into second, he could slide with his spikes high and stab the person covering the base. Needless to say, his stolen base records stood for a long time. Was this against the rules? It was just as much against the rules as performance enhancing drugs (PED) were before 2004. He also was a known gambler, called before the Commissioner for "fixing games," who was let off because he threatened to reveal others involved and the depth of corruption. In other words, he had his own list, and rather than let him reveal them slowly in an early precedent to today's scandals, baseball ignored it! Sound familiar? (As a sidenote, he also was one of the most infamous racists in baseball, beat up and stabbed a black porter in a hotel, refused to go to Cuba because he wouldn't play against "darkies," and fought an umpire under the stands after an argument about strikes. The fight had to be broken up after Cobb began strangling the umpire in an attempt to kill him.) But Cobb represents the "good old days," so let's just ignore all of that.

The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff

The year is 1951. The date: August 11th. The New York Giants trail the Dodgers by 13 1/2 games in the race for the pennant, when suddenly, they start to win. The late summer and early fall become one of the most electrifying pennant races in baseball history, as the Giants win 37 of their last 44 to force a playoff with the Dodgers. The teams split the first two games, so it came down to one game for all the marbles. The Dodgers led 4-1 going into the bottom of the ninth, when Alvin Dark singled, Mueller singled, Lockman doubled, and then Bobby Thomson knocked a liner over the left field wall for "the shot heard round the world." Amazing, real baseball. The kind of thing you look back on and say, "THAT is what it should be about. A team coming together to win it all." There's just one problem: The Giants were cheating.

Starting in July of that year,Herman Franks would sit in Durocher's office in centerfield with a telescope, and steal the signs of the opposing catcher, use a buzzer to signal the pitch to the bullpen, where players would signal the batter. After this practice started, Thomson's average went up by 100 points! Technically, sign stealing is not illegal; however, the use of technology to do so is, and was at the time. Of course, technically, PEDs were not illegal in 2003. But by cheating, we were given one of the most famous plays in baseball. Just brush the sign-stealing under the rug. Ignore it.

Baseball Goes Green

When Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner returned from WWII to the Pirates, he discovered that the trainer had, readily available, the same "greenies" used by GIs in the war to get an extra burst of energy. Often, before the second game of a double-header, trainers would hand out greenies to the players to give them the energy to perform. "All the trainers in all the ballparks had them," Kiner said. This was in the 1940s! All the way through the seventies, many teams would have two coffee pots in the locker room, with one labelled "hot," meaning that it had amphetamines dissolved in it for an extra kick. Realistically speaking, if it is true that every locker room had this, and every trainer had a "candy bowl" of greenies available, how can we look back on the records of Dimaggio, Williams, Mays, Maz, Yaz, and everyone else from that era without the same lingering question marks? How can we look at Roger Maris, suddenly out of nowhere hitting better than the Mick, without questioning it? If we are going to question PEDs of all types, the questioning has to go all the way back. So why doesn't it? Because, when it came to the use of amphetamines, baseball and all of its fans decided to ignore it.

Blind? Or Just Didn't Care?

1998. Baseball had come out of a season-ending strike, and fans had moved on to other things, other sports. Attendance and TV ratings were down. There was talk that even hockey was going to pass baseball in fan interest, moving into the "Big Three" of American sports. But then Mark Mcgwire starting hitting home runs. In May, Sammy Sosa caught fire, hitting 20 home runs in one month, and the race was on. It became a huge spectacle for a variety of reasons, not least of which being that one was a Cub, the other a Cardinal. So when someone saw the Andro in Mcgwire's locker, it was a big deal, right? No. Because we were all just enjoying the race so much, and we told ourselves, "hey, it's not against the rules." Sosa was later caught with a corked bat. We didn't try to change the records from that year. No, we were so happy to have good baseball stories, we all, baseball and its fans, chose to ignore it.

2003 and Beyond

In 2003, MLB started a program of random, anonymous drug testing, an agreement reached with the MLBPA to examine if a stricter drug policy were needed. The players were informed that it would be anonymous. 104 players tested positive for some form of PED, so baseball initiated a formal policy. Of course, MLB didn't keep the tests anonymous, as they promised (THAT'S integrity), so now we are subjected to the slow torture of these revelations. But let's face the facts: We don't really care. We are TOTALLY willing to ignore it, just as we have everything else, including the above examples, Gaylord Perry's spitballs, Joe Niekro's emery board, and many other examples from the "code of moral ... values" established within the sport.

After all, as a wise man once said, "Your standards are defined by what you choose to ignore."

From Here On Out

So I've decided to change what this blog is all about. From here on out, it shall be recipes and sports, for men. The recipes will all be man-type recipes that will help to impress a woman, using tools men have handy. No foie gras here. So, let's have some fun!

Does size really matter?

I'm going with yes.

2009 Baseball - National League

Ah, the National League. Bastard son of the regular season. Low scores, less hitting, more defense, the hit and run. This promises to be an intriguing show on the non-DH side of the game, as there are fewer clear-cut winners. This whole league will be a battle to the end, but not to worry, I'm here to go out on a limb for you, both of my loyal readers.



NL West: The battle for worst regular season record to make the playoffs begins and ends here. You can't throw a quarter without hitting a team that could win this division by being two games over .500. The Dodgers had a 19-24 record in 1-run games, managed to lose most of their starting pitching, have so far failed to sign Manny Ramirez, but hey, Jason Schmidt is back for a third year. Maybe he can go for two wins this time. Love you, Joe, but you guys are the 2008 Padres. Speaking of which, how dedicated do you think Peavy is right now? The Fathers had 99 losses in '08, and then proceeded to get worse. Best indicators: 16-28 (2nd worst in the majors) in 1-run games, and then for defense, traded Khalil Greene for Mark Worrell, leaving them with a defensive platoon of Luis Rodriguez and Everth Cabrera at short. Hello, ground ball pitching staff. Enjoy that one. Rockies continue to spiral downward, trading Matt Holliday away and leaving big questions at center, left and closer. This looks like a bad offensive line-up, which is saying something when you play 81 games in Denver. The Giants are making a lot of noise in the offseason, but then not actually signing any of the guys they clamor for. Think of them as the guy that drives up bidding at an auction, and then leaves empty-handed. Pablo Sandoval was inpressive towards the end of last season, so watch for good production from him, but a team that ranked 15th out of 16 teams in walks will not get over the hump, even if Barry Zito remembers how to pitch. The one positive sign is that the Giants were 31-21 in one-run games, but that is more a reflection of pitching than anything else. Watch for that number to reverse if they don't figure out how to get on base, or suddenly sign Manny. The Diamondbacks are the most compelling team. Still the best starting rotation in baseball. Last year's team ERA was a 3.98, and this year we'll see a lot more of Max Scherzer, who had 66 strikeouts in 56 games last year. Some of the young guys are starting to come into their own, and with another year to grow up, maybe they don't collapse under the pressure of a tight race, and play more like professionals. Maybe Jon Rauch will pitch more like he did in Washinton, avoiding the 6.56 ERA, which might give them the two wins they need to beat LA. Winner: Diamondbacks.

NL Central: Wow, I can really spend a lot of time breaking down the Pirates. HAHAHAAA! Whew, that was a good one. The Pirates were a slim pick last season, and the only thing that got fatter this year is Pedro Alvarez. The only hope there is if he took in some of Mo Vaughn's skills when he ate him during the off-season. The Brew Crew lost two starters, and are now anchoring their rotation with Jeff Suppan, Dave Bush and Chris Capuano. Now, with the hitters they have in their line-up, they could surprise, but I wouldn't count on it. Watch for them to be more like the Brewers we all love: Stomped. Oh, and as a side note, F-You, Selig. Everyone seems to forget that the Astros made a pretty strong run last season. However, they do that a lot. They also depleted their farm system, failed in their bid to get Randy Wolf, and signed Aaron Bleepin' Boone. From watching their hitters last year, we can all agree on one thing: None of these guys is using steroids. Their starting catcher finished the season batting .137. I think I might be able to do that. The Reds are improving methodically, at least on paper. Trouble is, Dusty Baker doesn't believe in what shows up on paper. So he'll run Taveras out at lead-off so he can strike out all season long, get nobody on base, run his pitchers into the ground, finish last, and go back to broadcasting. Remember folks, you heard it here first: 1-and-done for Dusty. The Cardinals will contend, because they are the Cards, and it's what they do. They have a great farm system, Dave Duncan handles pitchers incredibly well, a problem with too many potential closers, and oh yeah, the best player in baseball in Albert Pujols. Maybe Chris Carpenter stops being Kevin Brown (20 1/3 innings at $19 million), and they can contend the whole season. Saving the best for last: The Cubs. Oh, you lovable losers. The Cubbies should have the easiest road in the Majors to the post-season. They added Milton Bradley to give a little more left-handed power, finally cut ties with Kerry Wood, still have D-Lee and Ramirez, can still trot out a hellacious rotation, and now look to Kevin Gregg to close. NOTHING stand in these guys way. Except that they are the Cubs. I'm setting the over/under on Rich Harden's first injury as April 7th. Who's in? Winner: Cubs.


NL East: Say what you will about the East, it is the only division with a sure thing: The Nats will finish last. They will be the worst team in baseball. Jim Bowden has made Bill Bavasi look like Theo Epstein this year. Picked up Daniel Cabrera, Scott Olson and Josh Willingham. Your team loses 102 games and the only competition you have in spring training is between Ronnie Belliard and Anderson Hernandez at second base? 20-29 in one-run games, so make Joel Hanrahan (who?) your closer? I'd love to read the long-term plan here. Probably reads like Ulysses: incomprehensible. The Braves missed out on most of their big off-season goals, but can still put a competitive rotation on the field. Unfortunately, the team that scores more runs wins 100% of the games, and unless 37-year-old Chipper "The Entire Offense" Jones can manufacture an additional 40 runs this year, they will not compete. The Marlins have a lot of young talent, but none of them are settled in a position except for Hanley Ramirez. I imagine the line-up being decided daily by a game of musical chairs, to the tune of "At least we aren't the Nationals." Jefrey Loria probably has the same kind of plan he had in Montreal: Build up young players for cheap, never sign anyone to a long-term deal, and then bitch about losing money. See you next year, Florida. Maybe. The Phillies are the defending World Champions, but gave up Pat Burrell and signed Raul Ibanez. Ibanez had a dismal year in Seattle in '08; then, so did everyone. Perhaps he rebounds. Hamels is still the best young pitcher in the NL (sorry, Lincecum), Jamie Moyer is still evidently alive, so they can still trot out a decent rotation, but it's difficult to repeat in MLB, and even more so as an NL team. Trouble here: Most of their guys got that long-term deal reward, so the only guy playing for a contract is Brett Myers. Then we have the Mets. This team does more choking than a Chuck Pahlaniuk novel. But here's the thing about the Mets: If all games ended after 7 innings, they would have won more than 100. This year, they picked up J.J. Putz and K-Rod. In effect, most games will be over after the seventh inning this year. The starters are solid (Santana raising the average to almost brilliant), the offense is good, the defense is there, and now they have a bullpen. If they can keep their hands from around their throats when Philly makes a run, they're in. Winner: Mets. Wild Card: Phillies.

NL Playoffs: Diamondbacks have the right rotation for a five-game series, but will have the worst record for a division champ. That will put them against the Mets, where anemic hitting meets Santana (twice, if necessary), so they go home in a few low scoring games. Phillies face the Cubs, and after a "here we go again" moment in Chicago, the Cubs remember that they're good, and chase them away. Cubs meet Mets in an heroic series: Seven games, extra innings, a few brawls, sarcastic press, inside pitches and beer, and a Cubs victory. NL World Series Rep: Cubs.

World Series: Cubs vs. Red Sox: Both have the pitching, hitting and defense to make this a great series, and since the Sox have rid themselves of the "curse" they should be an easy pick. But something funny has been happening in Chicago: For the longest time, they set out trying to find Jesus, who could come in and single-handedly win for them. They never found their Jesus, but they finally have 12 Disciples in place. As long as none of them starts to doubt, this is the year. That's right, Chicago Residents, prepare to flee the riots in Wrigleyville! CUBBIES WIN!!!