Five Random Thoughts

Here are five items that weren't long enough to be a full post...

1. I think the Terrell Pryor suspension is bogus and it's not just because he's from here.  I understand if the NCAA wants to do something to him or if Ohio State wants to negate his college credits that he accrued while attending the university.  I don't understand why the NFL has any jurisdiction.  Pryor is an adult now and he has moved on from whatever happened in college.  If any employer judged me on what I did in college right after I graduated, I would not have gotten my first job.  Or, maybe, I would've gotten the job, it's just that I would be suspended for about a year.
2. Thinking about the Pryor thing, it seems to me that we've just witnessed a very corrupt era in college football that dates back at least to Reggie Bush.  Everyone has been punished.  There has, essentially, been another SMU Death Penalty handed out.  Hopefully, that will keep everything clean for a little while.  It seems like, for the past decade or so, if you ain't cheatin' you ain't playin'.  That's bad for the NCAA, so I think they will take swift and extreme measures to fix the problem (and they already have in a lot of ways).
3. From the Captain Obvious Desk, ESPN posted an article today suggesting that the Indianapolis Colts waited too long to think about life without Peyton Manning.  Manning makes that whole team go.  For years -- basically since they started deluding themselves into believing that Jim Sorgi was a suitable back-up -- they have been one torn ACL or other severe injury away from destroying the team's season.  The time to address this issue wasn't six months ago, it was several years ago.  They needed to have a Charlie Batch on the roster since about 2007 and they didn't get it done.  Now, they face the consequences.
4. I think the new kickoff rule favors the Steelers significantly.  Not only does it even field position since they haven't had a solid kick returner in several years, but it makes it so that teams will need to drive 80 yards on the Steeler defense in order to score.  That's huge, since one of the things that wore the defense out/led to more points being scored last season, was the fact that the coverage team was not great and usually set up the opposing team at about the 35 or 40 yard line.  If Steeler kickers can register touchbacks, that sets the defense up for success.  As an aside, Peter King Tweeted last week that 79.5 percent of kickoffs were returned in 2010 and that, if that number fell to 60 percent, it wouldn't be a big deal.  That's kind of shocking, since that's taking away 20 percent of all kickoff returns.  Remember, there's one at the beginning of each half and one after each score.  Let's say, on average, there are eight kickoffs a game.  With 16 teams playing 16 games a week, that's 256 games and 2048 kickoffs a year.  Take 20 percent off that and you're taking away about 410 kickoffs a year. I would say that's a big deal.
5. I think that Clint Hurdle has done a great job as a manager this year.  Let me say that right off the bat.  I think the team is languishing about 15-20 games under .500 at this point in the season without his energy and motivation.  Having said that, he's either reading a book called "Managing a Baseball Team for Dummies" or he's playing it safe.  Since he seems like a sharp dude, the smart money is on the second one.  But, he always goes for lefty-lefty match-ups when making pitching decisions, always stacks the line-up with right handed batters when a lefty is pitching, and always bunts when there are runners on first and second with less than two outs.  All these decisions are made regardless of the situation.  They're all smart decisions percentage-wise, but decisions can't be made in a vacuum.  I've seen him bring in Joe Beimel when the starter was still going strong.  I've seen him call for a bunt with Andrew McCutchen -- the team's best hitter -- at the plate with two men on and less than two outs.  He did the same thing with Alex Presley when Presley had an OPS over 1.000.  The thing Hurdle needs to realize is that he's playing with house money.  He kept the Pirates relevant well into July and, in the eyes of the fans, can do no wrong.  He can't win the division or the wild card at this point, so he needs to focus on building the confidence of the players.  If he's confident in them, they'll be confident in themselves.  Let a pitcher work his way out of a jam.  Leave a hot hitter in the line-up even if he bats on the left side and the pitcher you're facing happens to be left handed.  Let Cutch and Presley hit.  Let your starter work his way out of a jam.  If you lose, you lose the game.  Losing games is not a new thing for the Pirates; confident players are a new thing.  Hurdle is playing it too safe and should let his guys win or lose the game based on their efforts, not what the book says.