With the NFL Lockout dragging on and no apparent end in sight one of the game's top analyst, Cris Collinsworth, has taken another job as a high school football coach.

Collinsworth explains at his FootballPros.com site that he’ll be coaching receivers for Highlands High School, at the invitation of head coach Dale Mueller.

"I laughed," Collinsworth writes.  "He said he was serious.  The pay wasn’t much (zero), but he promised I would have fun.  My son Jac is one of the receivers on the team, and I had already polluted his brain with most of my receiving advice.

“But what the heck, the NFL will probably miss at least half of their season anyway, I agreed.  Today is my first day.  I just got the playbook and I feel like a first year rookie all over again.  The plays are scrambled eggs in my brain, and I feel a little anxious.”

NFL cris collinsworth, cincinnati bengals, highlands bluebirds, dale mueller, nfl lockout

The Columbus Post-Dispatch broke the news on Monday morning that Jim Tressel has resigned as the head football coach at Ohio State University.

Tressel has been on the hot seat since news came out that he was made aware that five key players, including quarterback Terrelle Pryor, sold memorabilia to a local tattoo parlor owner in exchange for benefits eight months before an FBI investigation revealed the scandal, but never reported it to compliance. The FBI had the tattoo parlor owner on their radar for a drug trafficking probe.

Just last month, the paper alleged that car dealers also gave perks to OSU players and their families.

Already under a self-imposed five-game suspension by the university to start the season (along with several players), Tressel and the Buckeyes were facing an uphill battle.  Assistant coach Luke Fickell will act as interim coach all next season.

Tressel finishes his remarkable 106-22 record in 10 seasons, including a National Championship in 2002. He posted a 9-1 mark against Michigan, Ohio State’s biggest rival, and led the Buckeyes to seven Big Ten titles (66-14 conference record). He led the team to eight BCS bowl games, posting a 5-3 record (1-2 in title games). His 106 wins are the third most by an Ohio State coach, behind Woody Hayes (205) and John Cooper (111). His winning percentage of .827, meanwhile, is significantly higher than both Hayes (.761) and Cooper (.715).

While some might be surprised by the timing of the move, there wasn’t many other options for an ending. Violations of rules are one thing, but blatantly covering up the issue with no regard to policy shows a few things. For starters, it shows Tressel’s loyalty to his players and why he was a great mentor. However, it also shows one of Tressel’s greatest faults, his ego. Finally, it also shows that no program, including The Ohio State, is above the NCAA and their tight dictatorship of the sport.

College Football ohio state buckeyes, jim tressel, tressel resigns

1. Phillies (33-20) – Getting Chase Utley back healthy will help the offense
2. Indians (31-19) – Have opened up baseball’s biggest divisional lead
3. Red Sox (30-23) – The offense is the best in the American League
4. Cardinals (32-22) – St. Louis has gone 10-3 since getting swept by Reds
5. Marlins (30-21) – The Fish are a MLB-best seven games over .500 on road
6. Braves (30-24) – If the bats can get going, the Braves will be factor come October
7. Yankees (28-23) – They can score at will, but back end of rotation must step up
8. Brewers (29-24) – No place like home where the Brew Crew is 21-7
9. Rangers (28-25) – Happy to have Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz back in lineup
10. Rays (28-24) – Not sure they have the hitting to keep up with the Red Sox and Yankees
11. Diamondbacks (29-24) – Kirk Gibson’s young team has gone 18-9 during May
12. Giants (28-24) – The loss of Buster Posey is huge for NL’s lowest scoring team
13. Blue Jays (27-26) – Few teams are more fun to watch, but no chance in AL East
14. Angels (28-27) – Their pitching should keep them in striking distance in AL West
15. Reds (27-27) – A 2-8 road trip against three playoff teams shows Reds’ true colors
16. Tigers (26-26) – Detroit can score runs, but their pitching has been too inconsistent
17. Rockies (25-27) – Dropping 8 of their last 10 has caused Colorado to fall down rankings
18. A’s (27-27) – Oakland leads the AL in ERA, but 11th in hitting and runs scored
19. Mariners (26-26) – Winners of 11 out of 15, Seattle is showing signs of life
20. Orioles (24-27) – Competitive, but simply not consistent enough to avoid losing season
21. Pirates (24-27) – Pirates have won three of last four series; better than years past
22. Mets (24-28) – The team is getting healthy, but look for a fire sale to begin shortly
23. White Sox (24-31) – Baseball’s biggest disappointment through first two months
24. Dodgers (24-30) – Way too much talent for this team to be this bad
25. Royals (23-29) – Only one team in AL has worse team ERA and 6-16 road record
26. Cubs (23-28) – Winning just 7 of 20 games inside division has them out of race
27. Padres (22-31) – No team in baseball has struggled more at home (9-20 @Petco Park)
28. Nationals (22-30) – Nats have lost four straight series and are already 10.5 games back
29. Twins (17-34) – Worst team ERA in AL, and 13th in hitting equals 100 losses this year
30. Astros (19-34) – The franchise appears to have hit rock bottom as young talent fizzles

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Get your free football picks againt the spread and live football odds from our friends at Doc's Sports

Peter King compares Ken Anderson to Dan Marino…

Average yards per pass attempt:
Marino 7.34
Anderson 7.34

Completion percentage:
Marino .594
Anderson .593

“Neither won a Super Bowl. Both played in one. Both lost to Joe Montana. Each was two games below .500 as a post-season quarterback. I'm not saying Anderson belongs in the same breath with Marino. Of course he doesn't. Marino did it better, and for longer, and had to carry a franchise on his back for most of 17 years. But what Anderson did for 16 years in Cincinnati is rightfully getting some attention today -- as in Hall of Fame consideration kind of attention. I'm not saying he belongs -- I've always thought of him as a Hall of Very Good member -- but I have to say I'm open to the argument. This being the biggest reason: Ken Anderson was scouted and hand-picked by Paul Brown and his offensive assistant, Bill Walsh, and when Anderson got drafted, he was trained in the same basic offense Joe Montana would be trained in less than a generation later by the same coach, Walsh.”

COMPLETE ARTILCE (SI.com)

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Comedian Jerry Seinfeld sounds off on MLB...

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The Cincinnati Reds dropped their eighth game in nine tries, losing their third straight series.

After back-to-back outings on Sunday and Monday where their starter failed to make it out of the third inning and the 19-inning marathon on Wednesday night, the last thing the Reds needed on Thursday was to go to the bullpen early. However, that is exactly what manager Dusty Baker had to after right hander Homer Bailey left the game due to what was called “shoulder spasms”. The injury occurred when Bailey was at the plate during the fourth inning.

It is the same shoulder that caused the right hander to miss the first month of the season. It remains unclear whether or not it is related. Bailey will fly back to Cincinnati for further examination as the rest of the team heads to Atlanta.

“He said he just felt some discomfort on the swing when he was hitting,” Baker told reporters. “You could tell his velocity went down quite a bit after that.”

Bronson Arroyo left the road trip earlier in the week to have his back examined. Bailey has been the Reds’ best starter since his return, posting a 3-0 record and 3.00 ERA over five starts.

The is expected to call up Mike Leake, who was sent to Louisville after being ineffective earlier this month, to start Friday night’s opening game in Atlanta.  He replaces Edinson Volquez, who was also sent down to the minors in attempt to get things straightened out.

The rotation, considered to be a strength at the beginning of the season, has limited the Reds due to injuries and poor performance. As a result the team now sits just one game over .500 and has gone 21-25 since starting the year out with five straight wins.

In an effort to rest the bullpen the Reds have turned to Carlos Fisher (95 pitches) and Daryl Thompson (79 pitches) to eat up innings in emergency call-up relief assignments. The team lost both of those games.

MLB cincinnati reds, homer bailey, bronson arroyo, carlos fisher, mike leake, edinson volquez, daryl thompson

If you haven’t seen it yet, San Francisco Giants’ catcher Buster Posey’s injury during a play at the plate on Wednesday night was one of the most gruesome injuries on the field to date this season.

The play occurred on the go-ahead run in the tenth inning as the Marlins Scott Cousins barreled through Posey, who was blocking the plate. The reigning NL Rookie of the Year suffered a broken left leg and torn ankle ligaments.  Many reports have indicated that he is likely out for the season, but the team is optimistic it could only sideline him for two months. It is a big blow for the defending champions, who have struggled to put runs on the scoreboard throughout the season.

To help provide a spark offensively the Giants have recalled top prospect Brandon Belt. It’s unclear where he’ll fit into the lineup at this point, but he tore it up down in the minors since being sent down a month ago by batting 337/.470/.525 with four homers and 21 RBI over his first 132 at-bats.

The incident has once again raised some concerns that baseball needs to consider some rule changes, but count me on the side of those that suggest such plays are just part of the game.  I thought it was particularly interesting to see what Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy, a former catcher, had to say to reporters on Thursday about the incident:

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In my three-plus decades as a Reds’ fan there have been hundreds of examples of thinking what might have been surrounding the team. Perhaps the most overlooked one during my lifetime took place exactly 30 years ago.

With the NFL Lockout now threatening the 2011 football season, the thought of Major League Baseball and its work stoppages through the years quickly come to mind. While the strike season of 1994 is freshest in the minds of most fans, the strike of 1981 hit home in Cincinnati.

Nearly two months of the season was lost by the time the dust settled so the owners decided to split the 1981 season into two halves, with the first-place teams from each half in each division meeting in a best-of-five divisional playoff series. The four survivors would then move on to the two best-of-five League Championship Series. It was the first time that Major League Baseball used a split-season format since 1892.

The Reds finished that year with an overall record of 66-42 (.611) which was tops in the National League West.  Over a 162-game season their record would have projected out to be 97 wins. That's six more than 2010's Division Champs and nine more victories than the 1990 Wire-to-Wire team managed. However, they failed to make the MLB Playoffs that year.

The team finished the first half of the season in second place with a record of 35-21, just one-half game behind the eventual World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, and one-and-a-half games behind the Houston Astros in the second half, in which the Reds were 31-21, good for second place, again.

To make matters worse, the team wasn’t even appreciated for how good it was.  It marked the end of the Big Red Machine, a team that won 98 or more games six times during the 1970’s and back-to-back World Championships.

John McNamara was the manager of the team and he had a roster mixed with mostly with aging veterans and a few youngsters sprinkled in.  Hall of Famer Tom Seaver (14-2, 2.54 ERA) anchored the rotation at the age of 36 and in his twilight.  Mario Soto (12-9, 3.29 ERA) fanned 157 batters (7.8 K/9innings) and threw 10 complete games.  Tom Hume (13 saves) anchored a decent bullpen.

George Foster provided most of the offensive spark by hitting .295 with 22 HR and RBI in just 472 at bats. Johnny Bench hit .309 with 8 HR and 25 RBI in only 196 at bats while playing mostly at first base rather than his customary catcher spot.  Dan Driessen, Ron Oester, Ray Knight and Dave Concepcion were the regular infielders. Ken Griffey and Dave Collins joined Foster in the outfield.

The team began to implode the following offseason as the organization opted to let Foster, Knight and Griffey depart and the players that did stay only got a year older. The ever-changing free agent market which the 1981 strike revolved around began to affect the team’s ability to keep players even before the decade began. The Reds would finish with a franchise-worst 101 losses in the 1982 season, ending one of the most dominant eras of baseball in the history of the game. Perhaps 30 years later it’s time to finally pay tribute to this team for they accomplished as few did then.

COMPLETE TEAM INFO (Baseball-Reference.com)

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It's hard to imagine a time without night games. It was 76 years ago that the Reds made history...

May 24, 1935 - Crosely Field
Major League Baseball's First Night Game

When local businessman Powel Crosley Jr. bought the struggling Reds in 1934, team president Larry MacPhail insisted that the ballpark be renamed in honor of the man many thought had rescued the franchise. Thus, the park was renamed "Crosley Field", and Crosley himself took the opportunity to advertise his Crosley cars. Under Crosley's ownership, the park would undergo notable structural renovations.

With the effects of the Great Depression in Cincinnati, the Reds convinced baseball owners to allow night baseball at Crosley Field. Without lights, Larry MacPhail insisted, the team would fold because of low attendance. Lights had been installed in a number of Minor League baseball parks in the early 1930s, with positive results. The major league owners acquiesced; 632 individual lamps in eight metal stanchions were erected and on May 24, 1935, the Reds hosted the Philadelphia Phillies and won 2–1 behind right-hander Paul Derringer. In attendance at the game was Ford Frick, President of the National League. In the White House, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a button that lit up Crosley Field, where a crowd of 20,422 fans, sizable for a last-place team in the middle of the Great Depression, came out to watch the game. Lou Chiozza was the leadoff man for the Phillies and thus has the distinction of being the first player to bat under the lights in a night game in the majors.

When local businessman Powel Crosley Jr. bought the struggling Reds in 1934, team president Larry MacPhail insisted that the ballpark be renamed in honor of the man many thought had rescued the franchise. Thus, the park was renamed "Crosley Field", and Crosley himself took the opportunity to advertise his Crosley cars. Under Crosley's ownership, the park would undergo notable structural renovations.

With the effects of the Great Depression in Cincinnati, the Reds convinced baseball owners to allow night baseball at Crosley Field. Without lights, Larry MacPhail insisted, the team would fold because of low attendance. Lights had been installed in a number of Minor League baseball parks in the early 1930s, with positive results. The major league owners acquiesced; 632 individual lamps in eight metal stanchions were erected and on May 24, 1935, the Reds hosted the Philadelphia Phillies and won 2–1 behind right-hander Paul Derringer. In attendance at the game was Ford Frick, President of the National League. In the White House, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a button that lit up Crosley Field, where a crowd of 20,422 fans, sizable for a last-place team in the middle of the Great Depression, came out to watch the game. Lou Chiozza was the leadoff man for the Phillies and thus has the distinction of being the first player to bat under the lights in a night game in the majors.

MORE ON CROSLEY FIELD (Wikipedia)

MLB cincinnati reds, crosley field, night baseball, mlb history

Despite the lockout, I still give a take at initially ranking the Class of 2011…

1. AJ Green (CIN) – The only downside to Green’s short-term value is the Bengals’ quarterback situation, but long term the Georgia product could have a Larry Fitzgerald-type impact. With both Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens expected to depart the Queen City, Green will immediately become a WR 1 in Cincinnati. Consider him a solid WR3 in year-to-year formats with huge upside in dynasty leagues.

2. Julio Jones (ATL) – Atlanta gave up a ton to move up and draft Jones back in April, but his fantasy value will still depend on how many targets he gets in a Falcons’ offense loaded with weapons. The team has operated with a run-first mentality in recent years and Roddy White will still be Matt Ryan’s favorite weapon. Tight end Tony Gonzalez could limit Jones’ chances as well, particularly in the red zone. Temper your expectations and Jones will not disappoint.

3. Greg Little (CLE) – Little immediately becomes the best playmaker in the Browns’ anemic passing attack. He has running back like moves after he catches the ball and he will certainly see a fair share of targets right out of the gate.  At 6-foot-2, 231 pounds Little does not live up to his name in size. Consider him a mid-to-late round picks in PPR yearly leagues and a first-round selection in rookie-only drafts.

4. Jonathan Baldwin (KC) – Baldwin is a monster (6-4, 228) red zone target and will give the Chiefs an option in the passing game opposite of Dwayne Bowe. If Baldwin breaks out the gate he could dethrone Bowe as the team’s No. 1 wideout sooner rather than later.

5. Randall Cobb (GB) – The elusive Cobb will return kicks immediately and could leap frog as high as No. 2 on the team’s depth chart if Donald Driver can’t stay healthy and James Jones departs in free agency. A nice sleeper pick regardless.

6. Leonard Hankerson (WAS) – The Redskins have few options at receiver and with Santana Moss expected to flee via free agency, Hankerson could immediately slide in atop the depth chart at the position. However, the questions at quarterback keep him down a bit on the list.  Hankerson broke Michael Irvin’s receiving records at the University of Miami and is more than capable of making an immediate impact.

7. Torrey Smith (BAL) – Smith should be a welcomed sight for strong-armed quarterback Joe Flacco whose current weapons, Anquan Boldin and Derek Mason, lack the speed to capitalize on plays down the field.

8. Vincent Brown (SD) – What happens the rest of the summer with Vincent Jackson and Malcom Floyd will go a long way towards determining Brown’s value. Regardless with Phillip Rivers throwing him on the ball he has to be on your radar.

9. Titus Young (DET) – The homerun hitter could have a role in the Lions’ passing game as deep threat, but he’ll struggle to compete with all of the Lions’ highly drafted weapons over the past few years for touches.

10. Edmond Gates (MIA) – Gates is not roster worthy in most formats, but is a guy to keep your eyes on as the season approaches as he could see early action in Miami.

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