Some two-and-a-half months after the Super Bowl and endless hours of networks trying to convince us that rumors, speculation, opinion, and conjecture is the same as real news, we’re finally ready for the first big event of the 2010 NFL season:  the 2010 NFL Draft.

Broadcast for the first time over three days (beginning on Thursday, April 22 at 6:30 pm Central), the NFL draft is the first real activity that gives an indication of the direction each of the 32 NFL teams will take in the coming year(s).

The draft analysis below assumes that no teams will trade out of their current slots, which is like assuming the NBA playoffs will happen without Paul Pierce exaggerating the severity of a boo-boo.

As the time before the draft dwindles, two things become clear:  a) Browns team president Mike Holmgren wants a franchise quarterback, and b) the only one he sees in this year’s draft is Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford.  As of Sunday morning, it’s looking more and more like the Browns are working hard to package some of their early round draft choices (they have 5 of the first 100 picks) to move from #7  in round one up to the first overall pick to take the QB they need.

If the Browns and Rams do swap first round position, look for the Rams to take Jimmy Clausen at #7 and the Bills, who are also in desperate need of a franchise signal caller, to take Florida’s Tim Tebow out of the first-round purgatory I’ve predicted and jump him all the way from out of the first round to #9.  The difference in money between a second round pick and a top-10 selection will fund a lot of circumcisions for pro-life inmates, or whatever Tebow intends do to with his money.

As is the case every year, Al Davis and his crack team of a thousand monkeys are working feverishly as they prepare to make the stupidist possible selection with the Raiders first-round pick (#8 overall).

With no further ado (but a hundred more caveats), here is the Official Smokey Joe 2010 NFL Draft Preview:

Joe Mayes NFL

Ironic, isn’t it?

Over the past month, Tiger Woods has mentioned returning to his Buddhist roots on four separate occasions.  He said he had gotten away from the values he was taught as a child and was anxious to return.

A fundamental doctrine of Buddhism is Karma, the law of moral causation.  Put more simply, Karma is the law of cause and effect in the ethical realm.

As a Buddhist, Tiger had to at least be aware that his path to redemption would lead through the karmic wasteland he created with his own…uh…hands.

While the details of Tiger’s personal “transgressions” will likely never see the light of day, it seems apparent that, at a minimum, he treated women badly.  He went through women like he went through the competition on the golf course:  he plowed through them with a blind focus on #1, with no signs of compassion or remorse.

While Tiger was walking his path of destruction, the other great golfer of our generation, Phil Mickelson, was travelling a far different path.

As most people know, Mickelson’s wife, Amy, and his mother were both diagnosed with breast cancer about a year ago.  Because of this, Mickelson has spent much of the past year away from the golf course, but for far different reasons that Woods.

Rather than extra-marital dalliances, Mickelson has been spending his time caring for his wife, mother, and his children, two of whom are daughters.

 In other words, while Tiger was treating women badly, Phil was being supporting, loving, and caring.

And on Sunday, the golf world got to see Karma in all its glory.

Of course Karma had nothing to do with Mickelson winning the tournament.  He won his third green jacket because he’s learned how to use his cowboy mentality on the course to his advantage, as evidenced by his impossible/miraculous/routine-by-Phil’s-standards shot from the pine straw on number 13.  He won because he’s learned how to keep his emotions in check and focus on the shot at hand.

No, Karma showed up after the tournament.  Following eleven months of him putting the needs of his wife, mother, and daughters (and son) ahead of his own, guess who was waiting for Mickelson at the 18^th green?  Waiting to embrace him and share in his joy were the women in his life:  his mother, his daughters, and his beloved wife, Amy (and his son, for whom he has provided such a fine example of how a man should carry himself).

Following his 4^th place finish – certainly respectable given a self-inflicted five-month layoff – the only people waiting to greet Tiger were his agent, his publicist, and a security detail.

The law of cause and effect in the ethical realm.

Tiger said he was returning to his Buddhist roots, back to the values he was taught as a child.  Turns out that his path back to Buddhism ran straight through a little town in eastern Georgia called “Karma.”

Joe Mayes General

University of Florida head football coach Urban Meyer resigned unexpectedly on Saturday.  His final game as the head of the Gator Nation will be January 1, 2010 against Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl.

According to reports from ESPN, Meyer released the following statement:

“I have given my heart and soul to coaching college football and mentoring young men for the last 24-plus years and I have dedicated most of my waking moments the last five years to the Gator football program.  I have ignored my health for years, but recent developments have forced me to reevaluate my priorities of faith and family.

“After consulting with my family, Dr. Machen, Jeremy Foley and my doctors, I believe it is in my best interest to step aside and focus on my health and family.”

Following the SEC Championship game against the number 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide, Meyer was hospitalized briefly for what was called at the time, “dehydration.”  In the light of this report, there is now speculation that the incident in Atlanta may have been more serious than previously reported.

Meyer achieved an .849 winning percentage (56-10) in his five-year run, highest in Florida school history.

UPDATE (12/28/2009): 

Meyer’s resignation was converted into a “leave of absence,” at least on paper.  Meyer said during a Sunday afternoon press conference at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans that he believes in his gut that he will be coaching the Gators in 2010.

Others are not convinced.

There has been speculation that the rapid reversal was at least in part to prevent any wholesale abandonment by Florida recruits.

With Meyer out and most of the “premium” college coaches already installed in their 2010 positions, a Meyer-less Florida program would be far less appealing to incoming recruits than what they believed they signed on for.

After a somewhat lackluster offensive performance in 2009, installing offensive coordinator Steve Addazio as interim head coach would likely have resulted in some premier recruits taking their skills elsewhere, including to SEC rivals Tennessee and Alabama.

Meyer’s Harvin-esque reversal of field on Sunday will do much to allay the concerns of recruits who might be hearing from Lane Kiffin or Nick Saban (after the recruiting dead period, of course).  The idea that Meyer will be involved in the Florida program with an eye toward returning to the sidelines will certainly give recruits some reassurance that the Florida program in which they’ll participate resembles the one they’ve watched Meyer create in five years in Gainesville.  And it will definitely give them more confidence than turning the reins of one of the nation’s premier programs were handed over to career assistant, Addazio.

All indications are that Meyer’s medical issues are real and a serious threat to his long-term health.  There is also little doubt that the first lady of the Gator Nation, Shelley Meyer, has expressed her concern to her husband.  Any married man who has felt pressure from his better half can recognize this in Meyer’s words.

The only question in my mind is not the veracity of the stated reasons for Meyer’s resignation on Saturday.  It’s the motivation for his Sunday change of course.  Was it really due to the inspiriation provided by the Gators’ players and coaches during Sunday morning’s practice, as Meyer indicated, or was it a concession to the Florida program to stem the bleeding of recruits long enough to get a name head coach in place?

Time will tell but it took a helluva bold move by Meyer to turn the attention of football fans in the state of Florida away from Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden’s final game of his illustrious career on Jan 1.

But “bold moves” are exactly what have typified Meyer’s 24-year coaching career.  And he’s got one more game left to coach.

At least.

More to come.

~Smokey Joe

Joe Mayes Florida, SEC

Florida State University head football coach Bobby Bowden announced his retirement in a statement released by the university.

Joe Mayes General

Florida State University officials have confirmed that there will be an announcement this afternoon – probably in the form of a press release — after head coach (for now) Bobby Bowden meets with the football team, scheduled for 2:15 Tallahassee time.

The school would neither confirm nor deny that the announcement will be Bowden’s retirement but three independent sources are reporting that this is the case based on discussions with “high-ranking” university officials.

All three reports are consistent in saying that yesterday’s discussion between Bowden, university president T.K. Wetherell, and Director of Athletics Randy Spetman focused on Bowden’s role with the team going forward.  The options presented were:

1.  remain as “head coach” while ceding most of the decision authority for the program to Jimbo Fisher, or

2.  step down.

All three sources report that Bowden has elected the latter option and the school will announce his retirement following the 2:15 team meeting.

Additionally, one source reports that a new contract for Jimbo Fisher, reflecting his position as head coach of the Florida State Seminoles, was completed last night as well.  No details about the contract are available at this point.

Stay tuned throughout the day for additional information on the retirement of Coach Bowden.

Will keep you posted as I get additional information.

~Smokey Joe

Joe Mayes Florida State, General

Sources close to the Florida State University football boosters have reported that one big-money booster has weighed in on whether or not legendary head coach Bobby Bowden should return for 2010.

The question is, how much weight does $15 million carry in Tallahassee?

The unnamed booster has reportedly offered to donate $15 million toward the construction of an indoor training facility for the Seminole football program.  One condition, however, is that Jimbo Fisher, not Bowden, be the man to coach the football team in the new practice facility.

Plans have been announced for the facility but funding remains an issue.  (Design firm Ellerbe Becket has provided the school preliminary pictures here, here, here, and here.)

Director of Athletics, Randy Spetman, has confirmed that there are some donors willing to provide what he called, “seed money.”  “We do have some [money] committed for the project and a number of interested donors, but are not at a point to announce any kind of time line.”

If my sources are correct, the reason there is no time line for the donation is there has been no time line announced for Bowden’s departure.

This appears to be yet another twist in a seemingly ever more acrimonious split between Bobby Bowden and the Florida State University football program he essentially built.  After 34 years together, maybe it’s true…there is no easy way to say goodbye.

Stay tuned for more…

~Smokey Joe

Joe Mayes ACC, Florida State

When Florida State head football coach Bobby Bowden was asked what departing defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews has meant to him during their past quarter century together, Bowden pulled a reference from Southern history.  “What did [Stonewall] Jackson mean to [Robert E.] Lee?” he said, analogizing his relationship with his longtime assistant and friend to that of the two Civil War generals.  “He said it was his right arm.”

And so it has been for the past quarter-century:  Andrews as Bowden’s right arm as the two men built, from the ground up, a Nationally-prominent football program together.

You know the records.  Fourteen consecutive ten-win seasons from 1987-2000.  Fourteen consecutive top-5 finishes in the AP poll.  More than 150 players drafted by NFL teams.

And much of the Seminoles success over the years was predicated on Andrews’ defensive schemes that transformed the football landscape from coast-to-coast.  He crafted defensive game plans to attack the opponents’ offense before the offense could attack them.  He put great athletes in positions to make big plays and created an atmosphere in which these athletes pushed the envelope of what had previously been the role of the defense.

Of course, this atmosphere resulted in incidents like those involving former Florida Heisman winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel during the mid-1990’s.  Andrews charges were accused of dirty play, of trying to deliberately hurt Wuerffel and other opposing teams’ offensive stars.

Andrews role in these incidents can be debated but what is certain is that offenses in college football had to adapt and transform in response to the Noles’ attacking, focused aggression.

This influence extended beyond the college game, too.  Andrews developed 18 first-round NFL draft picks during 26 seasons at Florida State beginning with cornerback Deion Sanders in 1989.  In total, 73 former Nole defenders have been taken by NFL teams, including stars like Sanders, Peter Boulware, Derrick Brooks, Terrell Buckley, LeRoy Butler, Sam Cowart and Marvin Jones.

“Not a single day goes by when I am coaching, mentoring or teaching somebody that I don’t use things Coach Andrews taught me,” Sanders said upon hearing the announcement of Andrews retirement.

The Nov 21 game against Maryland will mark Andrews’ final game in the stadium he helped double in size, from 40,500 seats to more than 83,000.  Just once more, he’ll send his troops onto the field named for his boss for the previous 26 years.  He’ll travel to Gainesville next weekend and, if the Seminoles are able to win one of their final two games, maybe even to a bowl game to close things out on a high note.

But after that, if head coach Bobby Bowden does decide to come back for one final year in 2010, he’ll be doing it without his right arm.

Joe Mayes ACC, Florida State

OK, I don’t care who you are, this is funny.

And if you don’t find it funny, take off your Tebow jammies, put down your Gator Crunch! cereal, take a deep breath, and get some fresh air.

Link to source. 

Happy Saturday, football fans!

Joe Mayes Florida

Forgot the Monday nighter.  Need a big win to go over .500 for the week.

Joe Mayes NFL

Bye week for Buffalo, Cleveland, Oakland, St Louis, Minnesota, and the Jets. Other than millions pining for Brett Favre, will anyone notice the Bills, Browns, Raiders, and Rams aren’t playing? Just like their first 8 weeks so far.

On to the picks. Whatever you do, do NOT bet these picks.

Joe Mayes NFL