NEBRASKA FOOTBALL: Bogey for the Course

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Little commentary from Sam about Martin's suspension but a DAMN good read nonetheless!

 

NE Statepaper

NEBRASKA FOOTBALL: Bogey for the Course

Commentary: Beebe's latest move again reflects his lack of leadership, vision

by Samuel McKewon

 

October 28, 2010

 

Not one Big Red soul should be too shocked by Dan Beebe's suspension of Nebraska linebacker Eric Martin. Not necessarily because the Big 12 commish has it out for NU – although you're tempted to make a bet at that window. The timing – practically on the eve of the league's game of the year – does seem a little too convenient.

 

You almost hope it is an Orwellian twist to this final Husker-Missouri tilt. That would mean, at the very least, that Beebe was exercising some element of forethought, malevolent as it may be.

 

But Martin's punishment is just another sign of Beebe's haphazard, capricious leadership. Shocker, right? The guy who patched together the Big 12 with nothing more than a Texas pinky swear and some vague promise of TV riches to come is just meeting his own expectations.

 

Big 12 football is an organizational mess, has been for years, and Beebe is the parent who remembers to buy his daughter's school supplies one hour after he left her in Mrs. Chatwick's home room. Constantly reactive.

 

Inequitable revenue distribution. The Big 12 South tiebreaker disaster in 2008. The zeebs marring one league game after another with so many penalties it makes your head spin. A TV contract that, just a few years ago, had conference games spread across four networks, the least of which practically had dingos in the announcing booth. And of course, the conference shuffle of 2010, when Beebe watched three-fourths of the league try to flee only so he could cave to every Texas demand, promising TV contracts not yet in existence, bound to have expiry dates that just magically coincide with UT's inevitable announcement of football independence.

 

The Big Ten's Jim Delany plays chess. Beebe can't work the lever on Connect Four to release the chips. He's Bud Selig crossed with the Beav.

 

Martin's suspension is a perfect example. Look: If you want to set precedent and crack down on safety, do it with a stern warning – announced in the media - before the year, and back it up with strict enforcement in September during the non-conference season. Put folks on notice. Sit a kid for Poor Sisters State. Or you don't do it at all.

 

You certainly don't wait until midseason to find your conscience. What? Huh? Oh! Penalty Box! Where the hell has Beebe been for the first two months, other than eating popcorn at Memorial Stadium for the NU-Texas game?

 

Or, better yet: You just wait until 2011, when it's a new league and everyone makes kissy face and pulls in the same direction for five years while Texas builds an atomic bomb.

 

Not Beebe. Like an ingenue on her first trip to the city, he lives in the moment! Romance under the bridge! Brunch in the warehouse district! Cigarettes and naughty dancing at the cabaret! A suspension to keep up with the NFL, ESPN and Ed Cunningham's “Full House” dad routine!

 

The NFL botched its handling of helmet-to-helmet hits, too, but there's at least an underlying motive: A backloaded league schedule stuffed with division games in November and December that will be full of vicious, intentional hits. NFL players absolutely want to injure, knock out, intimidate. They'll eat the fines for the reputation alone. If that means fewer receivers venture over the middle with the division on the line, all the better. NFL officials know their culture.

 

But Martin's hit on Oklahoma State's Andrew Hudson was legal enough that an official looking at it didn't throw a flag. The hit was brutal, and Martin could have been flagged for his little on-field celebration, but the intent to injure wasn't there. Martin's been flying around since he broke his first kickoff wedge last year. He's a bit of a blow-up artist, yeah. But this isn't his first – or last - explosion. And he didn't play dirty. Not here.

 

Watch the tape. Hudson's shoulder pads hit the turf before his head ever gets there. There's no whiplash effect; Hudson's entire body is sent backward like a rocket. The focus of Martin's momentum has to be somewhere other than Hudson's head for that to happen. If Martin had truly targeted Hudson's head, the hit would have, in fact, looked less violent. Hudson's neck alone would have snapped back, and he more likely would have landed on his knees, not his shoulders.

 

Like this hit on Cleveland's Josh Cribbs. And this hit on Todd Heap.

 

Beebe, I'm sure, wasn't considering the physics of the play. He was looking at Martin's momentarily inappropriate response. And listening to Cunningham's “Now Stephanie...” speechifying. And noticing the NFL's crackdown on big hits coinciding with his own decision.

 

Beebe won't cop to feeling the weight of culture around him. Of course not. But the second sentence in Beebe's statement gives it away. “This dangerous hit is one that we in the football community are trying to remove from the game." What is the “football community” and since when did Beebe speak for “we” in “it?” Is that Football Town USA? Pigskin Village? Goalpost Coffee House? Gridiron Lakes Retirement Home? Bob Costas' opening monologue from the 1993 Florida State/Notre Dame game?

 

Had George Carlin been writing Beebe's statement, that second sentence might have read: “Other stuff's been going on, and I wanted to add my stuff to all that stuff. So now there's more stuff.”

 

And he hasn't exactly been trying very hard before now. Surely this isn't the first time in literally hundreds of Big 12 games played since 2009 that a player targeted another with the crown of his helmet, even though Martin didn't do that.

 

I'd like to say Beebe opened a can of worms here and set a bad precedent, but he didn't. There probably is no plan. It's Nicole Kidman in "Moulin Rouge:" Come what may.

 

Fortunately for Nebraska, that's Delany and the Big Ten.

 

 

[roundegotrip]

*slow clap*

[knapplc]

Oh. My. God.

 

I think I have to change myself.

 

 

Perhaps the best article ever. Ever.

[The Maudfather]

Awesome read. I am still amazed that Martin was suspended for that hit.

[suh_fan93]

This is nothing more than a power trip for a major tool like Beebe. Nothing more. Let me remind everyone (NEBRASKA) who is commissioner. That's all this is. No prior warnings before the season regarding safety for players or warnings for anyone who didn't heed said warning. There wasn't one.

 

[huskeraddict]

Facebooked, tweeted, all that fun stuff. This is awesome!

[RazzinGTO]

Anyone know how the Big Ten comes to these conclusions? Do they have a board that reviews these types of things?

[papersun87]

This article is the stuff of legend. Put this in an envelope and mail it to Dan Beebe.

[Lil' Red]

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Facebooked, tweeted, all that fun stuff. This is awesome!

How did you facebook it?? I'd like to do the same

[TRIPP]

Great read!! I don't usually read full articles but after the first paragraph i became hooked and read it all. Sure makes me even more excited for the big 10!!!

[SaturnDrew]

I apologize if this was asked in the 6 page thread that already is discussing the suspension, but is there a precedent for the conference to suspend a player for a hit on the field. And actually, besides this incident with the Big XII, is it common for other conferences to do this?

[JTrain]

I don't agree with all his conclusions but the article is great. McKewon has always been my favorite.

[mturn087]

Wow, Nice read!!! The commish of the big 12 needs to read that. The only thing that should make Husker fans smile is to know he wont have his job much longer

[I am I]

bam