MARLBORO, NY – In case you missed it (and I did), the NFL Preseason kicked off on Thursday with the Hall of Fame game, in which Baltimore beat Chicago 17-16. Now, I don’t get excited over the exhibition games like I used to when I was a gambling fiend. Yes, it was a sickness of mine but today, unless some star player ruins his season with a serious injury, wake me when the regular season starts. Today, football items are the topic of conversation here on MeetTheMatts.com
Urban Meyer & Thee Ohio State University failed to get ahead of a domestic abuse case against recently-fired wide receivers coach Zach Smith three years ago (see Junoir Blaber’s from yesterday). Think about how long three years ago is people and this is just making news today? Meyer is now facing scrutiny of what he knew and when he knew of things surrounding this crime. Bottom line is a woman was physically assaulted and even as a Buckeyes fan, this can not go unpunished from top to bottom within the University’s Board of Trustees to the Athletic Department to the football coach. Alas, NCAA football and basketball is big business and foots a large portion of the bill for other collegiate sports programs within a given university. Meyer is one of college football’s winningest coaches and is heavily compen$ated due to National Championships and big Bowl Game wins. Meyer is also a state employee, however. The complexity of Ohio politics, big time college sports business and morality are all about to collide at a point in time where the #NoMore movement campaign against domestic abuse is taking hold. It doesn’t bode well for the University or more so, Meyer.
Johnny Manziel & The Montreal Alouettes were steamrolled the other night by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a Canadian Football League game. Why is this news? The quarterback formerly known in the States as Johnny Football threw four interceptions before being benched in the fourth quarter of the loss. Johnny Manziel is looking to resurrect his once promising football career but I was never impressed with his overall game. Yes, he could move around and make plays but this was in a spread offense that most colleges employ today and can mask shortcomings in a quarterback. The arm strength in my opinion was never there and let’s not even talk about how much of a head case this guy is. The next step is the Arena League for Manziel after he fails out of the CFL and then onto the United Football League and lastly as a head coach in the Lingerie Football League.
That’s all I’ve got for today, as I anxiously await the Little League World Series tournament… and DJ Eberle’s goods tomorrow.
