Hondo's Blog

Hello folks!

Once again thanks for taking time to read the blog. I am here at Williams’s arena and I can feel the seething frustration of the great one: Tom Izzo! The team seemed to lack any emotion today and that in and of it self is frustrating. No issues however, there is a lot of basketball left and like Coach Izzo said in 2004, it is not about wins and loses it is about championships!

Here are some more thoughts for today’s blog!

• Sources very close to the Dolphins have told me that the players on the team are not at all happy about Miami’s willingness to even consider T.O. Make it clear that absolutely no one has an ego as big as Saban (and he has earned the right to have one) and he feels he can do anything (accept recruit against Michigan) like getting his team to accept T.O. One thing is certain however, that Saban values nothing more then winning and if he thinks T.O. can bring that, don’t be surprised if he pulls the trigger on a deal. Nick is not the kind of guy who will care what his current players think, it is a roll of the dice but Nick has never been afraid of taking a chance.
• I talked in the last 2 days with 3 NFL scouts and all three think that the pressure on the Texans ownership may force them to select Vince Young. Even though the team has done everything possible to make it clear that Carr is the guy, the outside pressure from big money folks is a tremendous weight.
• The scouts that I mentioned that I spoke to, from 2 different teams also told me that they feel Vince Young will far exceed any accomplishments that Mike Vick (Joe Mexico) will ever achieve. They feel that his adjustment however will be to the speed of the NFL, but that won’t keep him from being a very successful NFL QB. That said, all three agree that with the situation they are presently in, the Texans should take Bush.
• The Lions hiring of Mike Martz makes it very clear, that the Lions are giving Marinelli what he wants. When the discussions broke down, it was because Martz came back looking for more then had “been bantered about” but that in the end, he was Coach Rod’s man and he got him.
• Martz and former Kansas City Coach, (Martz former boss) Dick Vermeil was an outspoken supporter of Joey Harrington. That is an early sign that the Lions may want to keep Joey. That said, he is due a several million-dollar roster bonus and if he is unwilling to restructure his deal, then money could make the decision.
• When I talked to Joey about his situation in Detroit he was very blunt as usual. Joey wants to “take a look” at the direction of the team and it’s direction before he “makes a decision” if he wants to come back. Joey would love to “finish what he started’ in D-town, but he would also like to have the chance of playing for someone who actually wants him.
• The “mood” or perception in Minnesota is that Culpepper is probably out. Make no doubt about it, that if the Vikes decide to let him go and pursue a trade, the first call he makes is to Arizona and his former coach and friend Denny Green.
• MSU head football coach John L. Smith continues to get some love from very important people who think that his finally hiring someone with MSU ties, in new QB Coach Dan Enos was great. The issue now however is winning next season. His tenure at MSU is clearly on the line and one coach is not going to be the deciding factor. It was however a great move on his part.
• The Tigers are not out of the race as far as acquiring more talent for the upcoming season. Although the Tigers moves have been marginal at best, with the entire surplus of young talent, they could make a move if the right option came available. Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski told me that one good thing about this last off-season that showed the Tigers that they were on the right track is the amount of young talent the Tigers had and others wanted. One trade that I had heard about from a Boston source was that with the loss of Johnny Damon to the hated Yankees that the Red Sox really wanted to acquire the Tigers Curtis Granderson. A young and powerful center fielder. Dombrowski confirmed to me the red Sox interest, but the Tigers avoided the quick fix mentality and kept him. That was a good move by the GM, in the past; the Tigers have given away to much young talent for a quick fix.

O.K. folks, that is all for today, thanks again for reading and we’ll see you for Mid-Michigan’s most sports every weekday from 6:15-6:30 and on Hondo’s House on
Monday’s and Fridays at 7:30!

Thanks,

H