Lost in Thought After a Busy Day in Sports

The Chargers named Norv Turner as their head coach and The Hater Nation is not very pleased with the move. But I think he's being too hard on Turner's ability to lead the Chargers. Norv is taking over for a team that went 14-2. All he has to do is duplicate that record for the next two seasons and he'll be a .500 coach for his career.

NFL Adam's stance that Norv Turner is a horrible coach is hardly a minority opinion. Many people believe that Turner is good as an offensive coordinator but lacks the qualities to be an effective head coach. Among those people is former wide receiver and tango dancer, Jerry Rice. In Rice's new book, Rice says that Turner, "was never really head coach material ... He couldn't control the players and guys like Charles Woodson walked all over him." I'll give him a pass on Woodson- nobody has been able to turn him into anything resembling an NFL player. But one thing Turner did have some control over however was Rice's streak of consecutive games with a catch, which ended while Norv was his head coach in Oakland. So while I don't doubt that Turner was never exactly a taskmaster with the Raiders, I'm also certain that Rice harbors some serious resentment towards Norv for letting that streak come to an end.

It was also announced today that Ted Cottrell and Ron Rivera will be joining the Chargers as their defensive coordinator and linebacker coach, respectively. For Ron Rivera, going from the defensive coordinator of a Super Bowl team to the LB coach of an also-ran could be seen as a demotion; but if so, it's a rather soft landing. At Chicago, he had Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher at his disposal. Now with the Chargers, it will be his job to coach Shawne Merriman- not exactly the most difficult assignment. As long as Merriman doesn't get suspended again or pull a hamstring doing his Lights Out dance, Rivera should once more look like a defensive mastermind and be a viable candidate for head coach opportunities in the 2008 offseason.

The Colts slapped the franchise tag on Dwight Freeney, thereby guaranteeing that he will be wearing the horseshoe for at least one more year. While Freeney is obviously very talented, I'm surprised by this move. I would have thought that Tony Dungy would have allowed Freeney to go free, knowing in his heart that Freeney would re-sign with the Colts if it was all part of God's plan.

Tom Brady is going to be the father of Bridget Moynahan's baby. I guess Brady wasn't using his five layers of protection that night. Maybe Brady didn't think it was necessary. He probably assumed that if his boys were anything like everyone else associated with the Patriots, they'd never be able to run the right route in a pressure moment.

I know the rankings are a "what have you done for me lately" system, but it's absurd that Ohio State is #1 in the Coaches/ESPN poll. I'm trying to figure out what it was that impressed the voters so much. Was it their loss to Wisconsin, their losing trip to North Carolina, or their 26 point beating from Florida that convinced everyone that the Buckeyes were the best team in the nation?

Alex Rodriguez confirmed that his relationship with Derek Jeter isn't as close as it once was:
"The reality is there's been a change in the relationship over 14 years and, hopefully, we can just put it behind us," he went on. "You go from sleeping over at somebody's house five days a week, and now you don't sleep over." ARod might feel a tad hurt by this development, but of course he's not going to sleep over anymore. When the choices for Jeter are ARod or: Mariah Carey, Lara Dutta, Jordanna Brewster, Vanessa Minnillo, Gabrielle Union, Jessica Alba, or Scarlett Johansson, chances are slim that he's going to be inviting ARod in to play with the XBox and drink Keystone Light all night.