Portland Is Blazing!

It was a forgone conclusion that the Portland Trail Blazers would experience a huge draft night. With the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft the world knew Portland would choose Ohio State’s freshman, Greg Oden and surmised that pick would profoundly change Portland’s basketball fortunes. What wasn’t as apparent was that Portland would conclude draft night improving the depth and quality of their team more than anyone expected.

The Seattle Supersonics traded their seven-time All-Star guard Ray Allen to the Boston Celtics for Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, and draft rights to Jeff Green, and the Charlotte Bobcats traded Brandan Wright, chosen eighth, for Jason Richardson, the high-flying Golden State Warrior. But Portland possibly pulled off the trade of the evening when they shipped the talented, but oft-troubled Zach Randolph to the New York Knicks for Channing Fyre, a second-year player with a lot of up-side. In Randolph Portland losses 23.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per contest – 15th and 12th (respectively) in the League – but in Fyre they received a player, not as polished as Randolph, but more importantly, not as troubled, who may give a greater nightly effort.

Portland’s addition of Oden (7-foot, 253-pound) and Fyre (6-foot-11, 248 pound) added to the roster that includes 6-foot-11, 240 pound LaMarcus Aldridge (No. 2 pick of the 2006 draft), 6-foot-11, 259 pound Jamaal Magloire and 7-foot-1, 255 pound Joel Przybilla gives the team from the great northwest one of the biggest frontcourt in the League. Portland also drafted Duke’s 6-foot-10, 240 Josh McRoberts No. 37 in the second round.

The horizon appears sunny for the city frequently visited by rain.

Portland is also home to Brandon Roy, this year’s Rookie of the Year. The 6-foot-6 shooting-guard averaged 16.8 points, four rebounds and four assist per game and is expected to improve upon last season’s output. Roy’s backcourt mate Jarrett Jack, entering his second season, added 12 points and 5.3 assist per game in his rookie campaign.

The Trail Blazers won’t supplant the Larry O’Brien Trophy from the San Antonio Spurs. But all those big, long, young and athletic bodies could pose a problem for the champs and their Western Conference foes. Although young with a lot to learn, Portland will win more than 32 games, as they did in the 2006-07 season. They will surpass the Minnesota Timberwolves, even if 10-time All-Star Kevin Garnett remains, and don’t be surprise if Portland moves pass the Denver Nuggets for second place in the Northwest division. Excluding the Phoenix Suns, Portland could easily finish better than the remaining Pacific division teams.

Oden, whose defensive skills remind experts of Bill Russell, will improve Portland defense (finished 14th in defensive scoring) and rebounds (finished 8th in rebounds allowed, but 29th in rebounds grabbed). But Portland’s scoring (finished 29th in scoring averaging 94.11 per points per game) will need improving to really move the franchise to the next level.

Portland Is On The Clock: Durant Or Oden?

What’s the GM supposed to do? Portland, with the #1 pick in the NBA draft this year can only disappoint one of these precious guys and some fans and even analysts. The consensus, safe pick is Oden just because it is unusual to get a big man to play as a true center in this league any longer. That is the law or the bible according to who exactly? Here in LA we’ve got the 2 year “still in limbo” experiment of Andrew Bynum who is being personally coached by Kareem…yeah, that Kareem. But of course he came right out of high school with a kid’s body and no experience playing games on a bigger stage. Oden already has a man’s body and has shown what he can do on a national scale as well as in his college conference. But all reports say that he isn’t passionate about his game; that he really wanted to be a dentist but his height made it clear that millions beckoned if he chose sports over medicine. Durant makes no bones about who he is: a young body, yet to be filled out, with the ability to be Dwayne Wade in his second season. Yup, that’s how I feel about it. He does too because if he didn’t I think he would have been with a strength coach making sure he could bench press 185 lbs. when tested at the basketball equivalent of the NFL Combine. He didn’t care that it would be broadcast to the world that he couldn’t do it. Have you seen the photos of Kobe when he graduated high school or Tiger Woods 10 years ago when he won the Masters? Skinny, lanky and unbelievably talented. But if you compare their bodies now to then you wouldn’t believe they could fill out that way. So Durant can always pack on the muscle later. Portland is afraid to be second guessed by picking Durant to avoid repeating the mistake of taking Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan in the 1984 draft. But who says that Oden will turn out the way everyone hopes? He already has some nagging injuries and we saw him struggle with foul calls in the NCAA tournament. I think it will take a while for him to be the “man” wherever he goes and he might not ever get there. Durant on the other hand is gonna be tearing it up and learning to play D against the best shooters on opposing teams. Oden will be rebounding and missing free throws. So what’s a GM to do? Get some guts, that’s what.

A Rod and Barry sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G Oh the love fest that was at Pac Bell this weekend when the Yanks traveled to play the Giants for the first meaningful games since their early 60’s World Series. Did you catch the hugs between the two? Yuk. But Barry was clearly anointing A Rod as the next hated one to end up in the city by the bay. A Rod had one of those weekends in which he was unstoppable and unbelievably productive but….the Yanks lost 2 out of 3. Barry even cooperated to make sure the fans didn’t switch loyalties too soon by swatting another homer; edging closer to the inevitable passing of Aaron. Who ever thought Rodriguez would accept the torch or that Barry would like someone enough to pass it? Strange coupling for sure but I think it speaks more to A Rod’s feelings about leaving the Yankees than Bonds’ being happy to have another hated player in his stadium. I guess time will tell.

Sam Woods? If someone signed a letter to me as Sam Woods I’d think it was a guy. But not this Sam; oh no don’t make that mistake. If you already sent a gift through your representative or exec assistant and only heard the name you probably bought something in the color blue. Wrong! As some have said, at least Tiger and Elin didn’t name their daughter after a piece of fruit or a deity; both things done by Hollywood types. But Sam? Couldn’t they have settled on Samantha and never call her anything but Sam? Nah. I guess when you are a self proclaimed Cablanasian as Tiger calls himself, you do the unexpected. After all, he hated his first name Eldrick and he projected that on his daughter. OK, then.

Want more? Read my Daily Dose of Duffy column at www.incidentalcontact.com and listen to me on the Sports Journey radio show on Wednesday and Friday.

© 2007 Incidental Contact, LLC

The Road Less Traveled

If you followed college football at all throughout your lifetime, you would know that in the state of Texas, Longhorn football is not just a game. It is a way of life. If you followed college football throughout the turn of the 20th century, you know that Texas was a state divided on the choice of their starting signal caller. On one hand you have the stout 6’5” North Jersey native who was the most highly sought after quarterback in the country out of high school; Chris Simms (who also happened to be the son of former Super Bowl MVP Phil Simms). On the other, you have the immobile six foot nothing Big 12 freshman of the year; Major Applewhite.

Although the unwritten rule is that you cannot lose your job to injury, such is not the case in this situation. At the end of his sophomore year, starter Applewhite tore his ACL in the last game of the season, allowing Simms take advantage of the opportunity that he had been waiting for. It was obvious who was more physically appealing at the position. Simms with his rocket arm and unwavering field presence wound up nabbing a part of the ‘co-starter’ status that was put on both of them for the 2000 season. It only lasted 5 games before Applewhite became the undisputed starter once again. But in the ninth game of the season against Texas Tech, he again went down with a knee injury. Simms finished out the year 2-2 as a starter was known for having above average numbers against sub-par teams and couldn’t seem to win the big game. He had huge losses to Oklahoma (who he went 0-3 for his career) and Oregon. With Simms finishing out the season as the starter it left Texas with more opinions than a divorce court in mid-session.

After the season, almost every person in the state of Texas after the season believed that Applewhite should be the starter for the upcoming 2001 season. Every person but the one that mattered; head Coach Mack Brown. At this point, every major newspaper, radio, and T.V. station was trying to stir up as much turmoil as possible about the QB controversy. But one thing was for sure, Applewhite and Simms didn’t buy into it. They kept their cool and let the hemming and hawing be left for Brown. But Brown stuck to his guns. He declared Simms the starter before spring practice had even ended.

In spite of another season of harsh criticism for Simms, both on the field and off, the Longhorns reached the Big XII championship game. Simms had the worst game of his career throwing 3 interceptions and a fumble in the first half. Applewhite came into the game off the bench and almost pulled off an impossible victory. Almost. That loss cost them a shot at the national championship. Their next game was the Holiday Bowl, which was Applewhite’s last collegiate game. He got the nod to be the starter. Late in the game he mustered up a come from behind miracle last minute victory that would put him in Longhorn history. Do you know what he said after the game? He quoted the Bible. He said “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” (1 Peter 5:6)

In Due time. Funny he said that. Everything is supposed to come in due time. But since his graduation from the University of Texas, it has only taken him six seasons to become what a lot of college coaches set as their ultimate goal; the offensive coordinator of a top 25 caliber university. He spent the 2003-04 seasons with his alma mater as a graduate assistant. When Texas co-defensive coordinator Greg Robinson took the Syracuse job, he brought Applewhite with him as his quarterback’s coach.

The very next season when an offensive coordinator/quarterbacks job opened up at Rice, which happens to be in Texas, Applewhite leaped at the opportunity. Some would think it was foolish to leave a BCS school for one that hasn’t played in a bowl in roughly 50 years. But with Applewhite in charge of the offense, the Owls earned an invitation to the New Orleans Bowl that season. So much for a jinx.

Three weeks after the bowl and the day before Rice’s head coach Todd Graham departed to become head coach at Tulsa, Applewhite left to work with NFL accredited head coach Nick Saban at Alabama, where he is the team’s offensive coordinator for this upcoming season. Once again he will know what it feels like to be at a big time football powerhouse, to have pressure coming from all angles and not be able to do a damn thing about it. The nation’s youngest coordinator in Division IA football seems up to the challenge, he’ll be 29 in August.

The whole world seems to be at Major Applewhites feet these days. Even for a six-foot nothing kid from Baton Rouge who at one point had a storybook ending to a fairytale chronicle. A guy who at one point had the whole state of Texas behind him chanting his name. He now gets to be everything he has always wanted to be. But now he must look at the world from a whole new spectrum, with a whole new set of rules. A world where if you don’t perform, you don’t just wind up on the bench without a job…but rather on the street without a check.

Did You Know The NBA Finals Ended?

Yeah, it happened on Thursday night. The Spurs won and we can stop yawning now. Why don’t we celebrate them or watch their games? The next king of the hill, LeBron James was playing against them; he had just finished the best and most important series of his life against the Pistons to win the Eastern Conference championship. You’d think we’d have tuned in to see if he could pick up the mantle of Jordan and carry his team on his back against the mighty Spurs. Two things became manifest: the best team in the East can’t shine the shoes of the best of the West and the Spurs are blessed with 3 big scorers and one beast of a defender. Who needs Shaq, Greg Oden or any other big bodied center when you’ve got Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili? With Bruce Bowen hitting threes when he had the energy after guarding each team’s best shooter in every playoff round, you could all but guarantee the Spurs would win. It was just a matter of how many games it would take. I had a girl friend ask me why the scores weren’t higher. I told her that the Cavs couldn’t get past the Spurs’ defense and that the Spurs are like a chameleon; they play to the level of their competition. Against the Western teams who could run and gun they could score big; they didn’t need to against LeBron and company. But that still doesn’t answer the question of why we can’t learn to love the Spurs. Manu Ginobili reminds me of the old Celtics’ star John Havlicek except with a penchant for flopping that spoils his talents for me. Tony Parker is as smart a point guard as Steve Nash but doesn’t feed his mates as much; he likes the spotlight too much to revel in the assist category. He tends to favor the tear drop shot or the lay up off the glass as he gets fouled. And then there’s big Timmy; he’s a consistent double/double kind of guy, clearly loved by his teammates who look to him as a leader but…where’s the flair? The bugged out eyes every time he’s called for a foul is not a good look for a guy that you have to strain to call merely attractive. Bruce Bowen is the closest thing they have to a fire cracker you can love to hate with his sneaky/dirty moves. But one diva is more than we need to give a damn about the team. It’s just that they keep winning and winning and winning. They don’t get out ahead of the pack during the regular season, they hide in the bushes til they need to turn it on; and they do. Let’s give him their due and congratulate them for winning their 4th championship in 9 years but I had to drink a lot of coffee to stay awake while it all happened.

Are baseball players in withdrawal or still on the juice? The reason I ask is that I’ve seen more bean balls, ejections, manager tantrums and bench clearing silliness in the first third of the season than I can remember by this point in the recent past. The early pulled hammies, the dead arms of some star pitchers and the number of players on the DL just seem to be more pronounced this year. They say that ‘roids make you more prone to muscular problems and they definitely screw with your temperament. We all know how amphetamines make you crazy and coming off the juice can make you cranky too. So what’s a girl left to think? With Jason Giambi being asked to explain what he meant when he apologized for doing “stuff”, and Barry Bonds creeping ever closer to Aaron’s home run record, the Commissioner has been a busy guy in the last couple of weeks. Maybe he should just look into the fighting and injuries to get the info he says he wants to know. But then again, what would he do if he found it all out?

Is it too early to think about fantasy football? Nope, never too early to do that. But thinking doesn’t mean you should be obsessing, starting to make predictions or laying odds. Well, you can but you’d be foolish. The trades haven’t all been made, training camp has already claimed players onto the DL and lots of new coaches/coordinators mean new offensive and defensive schemes for established stars. Remember this: schedule your draft the day before the season starts and no sooner. If you don’t heed this advice, don’t cry to me if your stud is lost to you by opening day.

Want more? Read my Daily Dose of Duffy column at www.incidentalcontact.com and listen to me on the Sports Journey radio show on Wednesday and Friday.

© 2007 Incidental Contact, LLC

Why Athletes Can’t Be Happy With Sopranos Finale

Our sports stars expect to either win or lose at everything….not just on the playing fields. Especially since The Sopranos’ “fade to black” moment made them think their HD luxury flat screens with surround sound had blown a fuse. You don’t mess with someone’s entertainment systems. The uproar in the sports community about the satisfaction, or lack thereof, with the final episode of The Sopranos breaks down into 2 distinct camps. In one camp are the athletes and to a certain extent, journalists, who are conditioned to having their obsessive need satisfied to know who won EVERYTHING. They want the answer to every question that starts with the word “why”. Guess what; sometimes there is no reason why a specific thing happened. It just does. Haven’t you heard the latest dumb expression, “it is what it is”? What the hell does that mean anyway? Well I guess I’m close to finding out by being in the other camp of watchers of The Sopranos who not only was fulfilled by the ending but wouldn’t have had it any other way. That camp is headed up by many sports and other type of journalists who aren’t ex-athletes. That means that they have to observe the world or activity around them, think about what they see or hear and then write about it. Most things in life are “to be continued” anyway. Life isn’t like CSI or Law and Order or Boston Legal; shows that purport to be about real crime or legal battles and wrap up stories every week in less than an hour. Do you know any doctor, lawyer or cop who believes that shows about their chosen profession are true to life? I don’t. Well, maybe The Wire on HBO comes close but nothing else even comes to mind.

Remember when Bud Selig called off the All Star game in the wee hours of the morning when there were no more pitchers to come out of the bullpen with the score tied? The outrage in the sports community was ludicrous and there were just a few of us who had the guts to call it what it was: an exhibition game/awards show that needed no winner. It took a couple of years but most folks came around to my way of thinking and even real baseball people now call the thing an exhibition. The reaction to The Sopranos finale exceeded that sense of outrage. Most sports stars are big gamblers. That is another way for them to know who won or lost. Now I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy going to a casino here and there but I don’t regularly bet on anything, even my fantasy football team. I think that is what divides us. If you need to know who won or have to have something at stake to make it interesting, you didn’t like the finale. If you can live in suspended animation and with unresolved conflict you more than likely enjoyed the episode. Life is just a bunch of compromises, hopefully not too many moral ones, and regular life stuff like going to work, watching your favorite team on TV, playing with your kids and loving your family. Eating onion rings is optional!

Watch out, here come the Yankees. In less than 2 weeks they have narrowed their loss column standing by 5 games behind the Red Sox. Roger Clemens pitched one more inning than I believed he would and he struck out 7 while he retired the same number in a row to end his time on the mound. The bottom of the order is now hitting and hitting big and Bobby Abreu has finally awakened from a very long snooze. Are they better than they were a month ago? Yeah. Are they still fatally flawed, especially in their pitching rotation? Yes again. But they are going to make it interesting and let’s face it, if the Yankees are in the mix baseball in general perks up. It’s sad to say but no matter how well the Angels play, no skin is tingling east of Palm Springs. And by the way, they are playing fantastic baseball.

Trent Green finds a home and Daunte Culpepper skulks away. Only 3 years removed from having one of the best seasons a quarterback ever had, Daunte Culpepper is a man without a home. Get him in touch with Steve McNair. McNair who was humiliated and locked out of the Titans training camp prior to his trade to Baltimore, can teach Daunte a thing or two. First of all, Culpepper should get an agent. I’m a lawyer and even I don’t represent myself when I need to negotiate a contract or am involved in a dispute. What makes him think he can do a better job than Drew Rosenhaus? Second of all, he should consider himself lucky to get the hell out of Miami. It’s going to be a while til it’s a good enough team to even make it to the Wild Card game. Look at their division: the Jets got better in the draft and the Patriots are looking like the Yankees of old: they will not lose this season unless someone seriously important gets injured. So Daunte: listen to all comers, get an agent and ease yourself out of Florida. It’s too small a market for you anyway.

Want more? Read my Daily Dose of Duffy column at www.incidentalcontact.com and listen to me on the Sports Journey radio show on Wednesday and Friday.

© 2007 Incidental Contact, LLC

Marsalous Johnson Duh-Duh…Doh!!

Let’s face it, we all make mistakes. I like to call them “decisions we did not fully think out beforehand.” Like when you put your hand on a piping hot stove for example. Stealing something, mocking someone, or doing something that started out to be a joke, but in the end turns out to be something that you would never dream of doing again. Most of the time, the end result comes to be a slap on your wrist and ends up being not much more than a harmless emergency room visit; or three. But sometimes people make mistakes that are placed in a higher category, taking it to another level. I like to call these “decisions we immediately regret.”

This is a day where college football players take money from boosters, cheat, lie, and steal…and then go out and showcase themselves on Saturday to hopefully one day make it to the country’s beloved Sundays in the National Football League (where all is unsoiled and righteous, right?). These kids get in trouble with the law and their coaches are in full knowledge of what had happened, but decide to do nothing. It is a common occurrence across the college football nation in a world of take, and then take some more. But for some respectable coaches, it doesn’t matter what went down. They don’t care if you are convicted or innocent. Because they told you right off the bat that you represent the University and family first, no matter what. Phillip Fulmer is one of those stand-up guys.

Marsalous Johnson, a redshirt sophomore cornerback at the University of Tennessee made one of those immediately regrettable decisions. On July 30th, 2006, while driving down I-40 near Cookeville, Tennessee, Johnson though it would be a good idea to wave a toy semi-automatic Uzi weapon at cars driving by him on the highway. Pretty funny huh? I am sure he thought it was until he passed off-duty sheriff’s deputy Mike Hoover. Hoover immediately contacted an on-duty sheriff who in turn pulled over Johnson’s vehicle.

Shortly thereafter, Johnson was being booked on charges of aggravated assault. You can see where there might be some feeling of immediate regret here. One minute you are speeding down the highway with a fake gun, next thing you know you are in cuffs with a man who has a real gun…and probably isn’t laughing at your joke. Afterward, the charges were pled down to simple assault, but the damage had already been done.

The charges were sent to a grand jury, and Johnson, who was vying for a starting spot in the upcoming season, was suspended four games by Coach Fulmer. “As for Marsalous” he said “he has been suspended from the football team for the first four games regardless of the outcome of his court appearance for not following my instructions to walk away from any potential trouble. When classes begin (Aug. 23), he will be required to move back into the dorm and return his car to his home as well as performing 50 hours of community service. His practice status on the team will be as a member of the scout team.”

Now forget about the arrest for a second. There aren’t many worse things that can give you more embarrassment than becoming part of the dreaded ‘practice squad’. But all jokes aside, Johnson paid his debt in full. He had his name sprawled across the web and newspapers for months (the matter wasn’t resolved until late last month). He is also slated to start at CB this upcoming season. So things might not turn out to be as bad as Johnson thought. In the end, you know what Fulmer said? “I am certain he has learned a great life lesson. I may have been hard on him, but at the time I felt it was the right thing to do.”

The right thing to do it was coach. The last thing you need is to lose the respect of your players by letting them run wild. No matter how serious or irrelevant each individual case might be toward the gridiron, the same stern result will come of each matter at Tennessee. It is why Phillip is a class act and has been the Volunteers’ coach for his upcoming 15th year (posting a 137-41 record and a .770 winning percentage over his tenure). In fact, he is such a great coach that he buys all of his players Christmas presents during the holidays. You know what I heard he was buying Johnson? A pink super soaker with a dual action sprayer, just so he doesn’t get it confused…again.

Sloppy Seconds

If you are the Orlando Magic do you want Billy Donovan any more or do you take sloppy seconds? Of course you still want him but you don’t want to make him stay and not be his one true love. It’s always about whirlwind dating, marriage and preparing for the ultimate divorce…all business arrangements can be that way. There is immediate chemistry, a short dating period where neither party is really acting like themselves and then the sudden Vegas wedding when the contract is signed. Life begins for real and you’re scratching your head saying, “What did I do?” The one who scratches his/her head first is the one that’s got to take the risk of breaking up and being painted as the bully. The other party might be hurt or might be relieved. In this case, the Magic aren’t relieved, they hadn’t scratched their head nor awakened from the Vegas haze. But now that Billy the kid (what’s with that crew cut….huh?) has said it was a big mistake, the Magic have to save their pride and let him go, sign Stan Van Gundy and gush about why this time it’s REALLY LOVE. You know, like Brittany Spears. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try, try, try again; if you are the Orlando Magic you should be used to it. Van Gundy is a good fit in Orlando since he had success with the divas named Shaq, Wade, Payton, Mourning and Riley; so much success that Riley pulled him out of there when he smelled a championship coming. Van Gundy can handle Dwight Howard and J J Reddick don’t you think? Stan’s brother is rooting for him since he’s out of the Houston job and could work with his brother. Anything’s better than waiting for the next TNT/ESPN season to begin in November.

LeBron IS the man. Well, it happened in Game 5 and then again in Game 6; LeBron came of age. What you say? In Game 6 he was outscored by a skinny rookie. Yeah, but who fed the kid when he was doubled and tripled? LeBron of course. Boobie Gibson (notice how we only found out about his nickname AFTER he was a big hit?) was told that he’d be the go to guy when everyone in the world knew that Detroit wouldn’t let James pull that act again. If they were gonna go down it would be at someone else’s hand; it just happened to be Gibson. Within one week LeBron went from a giver to a taker and frankly that’s the way we like our superstars. They aren’t supposed to be gracious and spread the ball around, unless they are a true point guard. Even then, we want them to shoot and shoot well; like Steve Nash. But Game 6 was the exception just because you knew that Detroit would deny him. So he set up his teammates, especially Gibson and pulled a Kobe, except with people who can actually shoot. He was smothered and still got to the rack enough for double digit rebounds. He dished off 8 assists and scored just enough when it counted for us to still have that afterglow from Game 5. Welcome to the big show LeBron. And I love the shots of your son running up and down the court in his little braids. He’s got the joy in him that you seem to have too. Keep it up.

Kobe is lost. Yup, you heard me. He’s a lost soul in a sea of bad or mediocre talent. But so is his coach, the Hall of Famer Phil Jackson and apparently it was only Phil that could get him to shut up about demanding a trade. Here we were in the midst of the Cleveland upset of Detroit and the only story that mattered was Kobe. Ray Allen is laughing somewhere. After the bloodbath of 2004 that saw Shaq and Phil out of the Laker’s picture Allen predicted that in 2-3 years, Kobe would be miserable and crying about not winning. Roll the tape forward to today. Allen the soothsayer has been kind enough not to gloat yet in public. Who knows what he’s saying in private. The truth is that the owner kicked Shaq out of town and GM Mitch Kupchak got squat in the trade for him; but the owner said OK. He got Kwame Brown for Caron Butler and got 1/3 of a season out of him. He drafted Andrew Bynum and got a month or two out of him. Kupchak or Buss has got to go or change the way things are done out here. In the meantime, Kobe is miserable and looking into his future as a guy who had a great early career and just as he was getting better as an individual player he had no team to celebrate with. Life sucks and then you die, says the bumper sticker. For Kobe, life was great, then it sucked and he’s trying like hell not to die. Good luck on that one.

Want more? Read my Daily Dose of Duffy column at www.incidentalcontact.com and listen to me on the Sports Journey radio show on Wednesday and Friday.

© 2007 Incidental Contact, LLC