The song has three things that I love, harmonica, cowbell (albeit buried in the mix) and gang vocals in the chorus. An added bonus is that those shouted gang vocals are “oy, oy”, conjuring up images of various Australians including AC/DC, Jack-O and various Aussie Rules players from an ESPN promo circa 1982.

For a band that got decent air play for about a month, I could find very little about them. A Google search turned up next to nothing. Not even a wikipedia entry. There was one music site entry but it identified them as being both from Los Angeles and England. The lead singer does have a bit of a British accent when he sings, but so does the guy from Green Day and he’s from Northern California.

Lyrically the song seems to be about a fight that leads to a break-up but the chorus will always remind me of the time I had an uncomfortable talk with a girlfriend’s father. He was asking me about my intentions, giving me relationship advice and even talking about our future sex life. There’s nothing worse than a girl’s father speculating on what your sex life with his daughter may be like. More uncomfortable than “The Talk” was the fact I had to use the restroom in the worst way. The whole time my guts were churning and I thought I was going to die. So every time they sing “Oy, oy, sitting in the big chair, dying” I think back to that awful conversation.

Or if you prefer the video without the ads:

Well maybe.

Like Haven a year ago, I am giving Alphas a chance, but I stuck with Haven for just three episodes and we’ll see if I stay with Alphas any longer.

The show has a nice concept. Think X-Men, meets X-Files meets CSI.

Alphas are people with special abilities. Think mutants from the X-Men universe or the super humans from Heroes.

We learn there are different factions of Alphas, the team we are following appear to work for some unspecified government agency. Their purpose is to solve crimes that normal agencies can’t or shouldn’t. Then there is Red Flag, who appear to be the bad guys, though there are hints that things are not what they seem.

The powers are pretty standard, but they do try to put a “real world” scientific twist to them.

Essentially we have super heroes who solve crimes instead of fighting them. The first mission is a government prisoner who is killed by an assassin’s bullet in a room with no outside doors or windows.

Good concepts, but the pilot falls flat. Turns out we have a super sniper who is under control of someone known as Ghost, who essentially appears to be an OCD version of a Miami Vice villain who uses a blistered, scared hand to control people’s minds. Yup, you read that right.

Soon our assassin is working with good guys and of course saves the day and joins the team. The problem is that it takes 90 minutes to tell the story. Pacing is definitely a problem with the first episode.

The other issue is the show spends the first 10 minutes introducing some potentially interesting characters, but then thinks further character developments consists of bickering or brooding about incidents from their past that are not explained.

David Strathairn plays Dr. Lee Rosen, who leads the team. He’s their Professor X, their Dr. Niles (Doom Patrol) Caulder, their Dr. Mohinder Suresh. See he’s a doctor, so he is qualified to lead the team.

The rest of the team is made up of a strongman who has law enforcement field experience, a female  mind controller (apparently the most common power in the Alphas universe), a Middle Eastern woman with enhanced senses and young man who appears to be autistic, but can see “all electromagnetic wavelengths.”

We get hints of their problems and backgrounds that will come to play later in the series. Nina, who overrides the willpower in others, has a dark past. Nina’s enhanced senses concern her father since she can’t find a husband and ever non-Alpha believe that Gary is lost in his own world, not seeing electomatic wavelengths.

The show shows promise, but needs to get better and quick. I’ll be back for second episode, but can’t guarantee a third.

I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am. Once again you mess up and you mess up big.

I like the fact that you tweaked the Home Run Derby. I like the fact that you had two captains pick the squads. Cool idea. I would have made a show out of it. Maybe you did and didn’t promote it. Wouldn’t be the first time you failed to promote something.

Which gets me to my point. How can you have a home run derby in Phoenix, Arizona and not have Justin Upton involved?

God forbid you give the fans a hometown hero to cheer for in the event. I mean, does crowd noise sound bad on television? Do you not want the hometown fans getting behind their guy?

I know you haven’t always had a hometown guy in the event, but more often than not you have.

Was it bad when Lance Berkman advanced to the finals in 2004 in Houston? Was it bad When the Tigers’ Ivan Rodriguez finished second the next year in Detroit?

Did Cardinal fans complain that Albert Pujols messed up his swing when he competed in Busch Stadium in 2009?

It’s not like Upton is undeserving. He has 14 home runs, one less than Rickie Weeks and two more than Matt Holliday (but four more when the teams were picked.) That’s right Prince Fielder selected Holliday in part because he had been in two previous contests and familiarity.

“I know these guys really well, and these are my picks,” Fielder said.

I guess it would be bad to have a new player in the contest, when we can have a player who did not get out of the first round in his last appearance. I guess it would be bad to shine the light on one of the bright young players in all of baseball. Upton is just 23 years old and will be a star in this league for 15 more years. This should be his coming out party. Baseball should feature him as much as they can during the All-Star festivities.

If it was me I’d be featuring the likes of Upton, Weeks and Jose Bautista as much as possible, but you know baseball and its media partners will instead gush over Derek Jeter and David Ortiz like they always do.

“I definitely wanted someone from the Diamondbacks to be in it,” Fielder said.

Apparently you didn’t. All you had to do was say “I pick Justin Upton.”

Again, it is not like he is undeserving. He’s been a better power hitter this year than Holliday. Holliday is having a great season, he deserves recognition, but Upton, who wants to be in the contest, should have gotten the nod.

In the end, Upton should have been the captain. It is his home field after all. Instead it went to Fielder, who bypassed Holliday’s teammate Lancer Berkman, the National League leader in home runs, and also skipped Ryan Howard and Jay Bruce, both who have 18 dingers.

Instead he picked Weeks, a solid player who is tied for 12^th in the National League and Holliday, who is tied for 24^th.

Upton and two other Diamondbacks have more home runs than Holliday. Berman has nearly double the amount, but somehow Holiday gets the nod.

Maybe Fielder made a great move. Maybe Holiday will win the contest and propel the team. Maybe Fielder really did what was best for the team. He just didn’t do what was best for baseball and the game.

Vaughn was seen as a remarkable success story when he finished third in American League Rookie of the Year voting following the 1989 season. Vaughn helped lead a surprising Indians team to the postseason after spending the past 18 months in a California prison after being convicted of stealing a car.

Vaughn, who last pitched in 1996 with the Colorado Rockies says that he used steroids to help with the transition from the California Penal League to the Indians and that he added nearly six miles per hour to his fastball.

“I was enhancing my performance a little bit,” Vaughn recently told Sports Illustrated.

“Wild Thing” and the rest of the Indians took America by storm in 1989. The team, which was constructed mostly of older players and unproven rookies, started out slow but finished the season by winning 47 of their final 62 games and tying the New York Yankees for the AL East crown and beat New York in a one-game playoff.

Vaughn was one of the more popular players on the squad thanks to his offbeat fashion sense and antics on and off the field. He struggled early, going 1-5 with a 6.21 ERA but after discovering a vision impairment, Vaughn went 11-3 with a 3.05 ERA. He was second in the American League in strikeouts and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting, losing the award to speedy teammate Willie Mayes Hayes.

Vaughn was clocked at 101 MPH during that rookie campaign.

Vaughn had a rocky career. He had a solid three-year stretch with the Indians, but was traded to Pittsburgh before the 1991 trade deadline. That next summer he signed a free agent deal with the Oakland A’s but an arm injury sidelined him for half of the season.

In 1993 the A’s traded him to St. Louis and the Cardinals moved him to the closer role. He was second in the National League in saves, with 47, six behind Chicago’s Randy Myers.

The next season he struggled, blowing four of his first 10 save attempts. After another stint on the disabled list he became the team’s set-up man.

He signed a huge two-year, $8 million dollar deal in 1995 with the Rockies who moved him back to the starting rotation. The first year he went 6-12 with a 5.60 ERA and seemed to struggle at Coors Field. The next year he began 1-6 before moving back to the bullpen. He was placed on the 60-day DL in mid July and rumors of drug use surfaced. 

Vaughn attempted to make the Boston Red Sox roster in 1997 as a non-roster invitee, but was released in spring training.

Vaughn retired from baseball and bounced from job to job. He spent a brief time working on the campaign of New York Mayor Randal Winston, but resigned after he was caught soliciting a prostitute.

He later moved to California where he attempted a music career and did manage to sell two commercial jingles to an ad agency. After a divorce from actress Denise Richards he was rumored to date several adult film stars and has battled substance abuse problems.

Vaughn recently attempted to become a motivational speaker with mixed results.

He is not the only member of the 1989 Indians to run into problems.

Mays Hayes was convicted of tax evasion in 2001, while slugger Pedro Cerrano was assassinated after returning home to his native Costa Vista to become the island nation’s president.

Team owner Rachel Phelps declared bankruptcy in 1991 after being sued by the city of Miami, after reneging on a promise to move the Indians. She was later convicted of embezzling funds while owning the Indians.

Diaz plays Elizabeth Halsey who is forced to return to her teaching job after her wealthy fiancé dumps her. Halsey makes no secret that she couldn’t give a damn about teaching and is really only interested in being a gold digger and getting high.

She meets handsome long-term substitute Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake) and sets her sights on him when she learns that his family is wealthy. Finding out his ex-girlfriend is “well endowed” Diaz decides a boob job is the way to his heart. Over the course of the film Diaz steals, scams and embezzles money to pay for the enhancements.

The Good

The movie is funny, though Jason (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) Segal steals the show as gym teacher Russell Gettis. Segal has most of the good lines, though the best is of course shown in the trailer when he gets into an argument with a student about who is better Michael Jordan or Lebron James.

Phyllis (The Office) Smith is also very good as fellow teacher Lynn Davies, who tries so hard to fit in with the “too cool for school” Diaz.

The movie balances raunchy humor, with typical school humor and some good physical comedy. It mostly avoids cheap gross-out laughs, though a dry humping scene does occur.

The Bad

Most of the characters are not likeable. Diaz really has no redeeming characteristics until a momentary act of kindness towards a student in the third act, and even when she becomes “motivated” to actually teach, she does it out of greed.

We’ve seen the slacker-teacher character plenty of times, but they are usually portrayed with a heart of gold from the start. The best comparison would be Jack Black’s character in “School of Rock”. His character was irresponsible and greedy, but from the start we knew he was a decent guy who was going to do well by his students.

Not so for Diaz. Even in the end, when she does some good and “sees the light” she still lies, cheats and presumably steals.

In most films the slacker-teacher has people around them who are even worse. Black’s Dewey had Sarah Silverman’s Patty as his nemesis. You rooted for Black because Silverman was a shrew, his old band did him wrong and the school administration was stuffy. In “Bad Teacher” I rooted against Diaz the entire way.

The rest of the cast is just as bad. Some start out as somewhat likeable, like Lucy Punch’s Amy Squirrel, an annoying, over zealous teacher who start off as awkward and geeky but soon becomes petty and vindictive. Timberlake is a douche from the moment he is introduced.

Really, only Smith’s frumpy Lynn Davies is a likeable character. She tries so hard to fit in with the “cool kids” (Diaz and Segal) but is farm more like the milquetoast teachers at the school (Punch and Timberlake).

The Ugly

Well, it’s Diaz. Okay, her body is smoking (the car wash scene was entertaining) but facially she is not aging well. I have to admit, I have never been the biggest Diaz fan from a looks standpoint, but always found her cute or pretty enough for the roles she was cast in. In “Bad Teacher” she looks haggard at times. Her face is puffy, her eyes have bags in some scenes and look heavy-lidded in others. Her make-up artist does her no favors as well, as her eye make-up looks clumpy and her lipstick is jarring in places.

Bad Teacher tries to be “Bad Santa” crossed with “School of Rock” and works for the most part. If you don’t mind rooting against, or at least not caring for, the protagonist, then there are enough laughs to make it worth seeing.

It’s worth seeing at the matinee or with a “Groupon”.

It was standing room only, in a sports bar.

It was standing room only, in a sports bar, in June.

It was standing room only, in a sports bar, in June…for soccer.

That’s right a sports bar was turning people away to watch the Gold Cup Final between the U.S. and Mexico.

This particular bar, the Trident Bar, has been the hang out of the Tucson chapter of the American Outlaws, an official support group for USA Soccer, but even in the early stages they did not have a crowd this big.

The establishment set up several portable tables to accomidate the crowd and a number of patrons stood or sat in fold-out chairs. Five minutes into the game and the place had to turn away people. Room was at a premium.

It was an impressive showing for any soccer match, but especially a non-World Cup soccer match. Sure it was just one bar, most would have just a few people on hand for soccer, if any at all, but it shows a slowly growing interest in the sport.

Soccer in America will never be anything more than a niche sport, but we are in an age where most sports are becoming niche sports. Hockey, which made a resurgance this postseason, is decidedly less popular than it was 20 years ago. NASCAR has a huge following, but its overall numbers have declined in the past few years. Even baseball, once America’s pastime, has seen its following decline among younger demographics.

Baseball will survive of course, but it has lost its foothold to football and the NBA is far more popular with the key 18-24 demographic, but it thrives in certain areas, most notably the Northeast and Midwest.

NASCAR has expanded its popularity throughout the nation, but is still more of a Southern sport. Hockey still works best in northern, blue collar cities.

Soccer, too, has found a formula for success. In places like Seattle, Salt Lake City, Portland, Kansas City and Columbus, the MLS is thriving. It seems that mid market cities’ with colleges and just one or two professional sports franchises, and plenty of young, educated residents, have embraced soccer.

In addition, cities with large, thriving Hispanic populations also support both the MLS and international soccer, especially international soccer where many immigrants still root for their birth countries and have made America a very popular place to play international matches, especially by teams from Latin America.

It is a different dynamic than you have with many of the immigrants who came over from Europe, especially Eastern Europe in the first half of the 20^th century. My Great Uncle immigrated to American in his teens from Poland, and while he was proud of his heritage, he would never think of rooting for Poland against the United States. Of course, he came over under very different circumstances and faced different challenges once he arrived than most of those from Central America and Mexico faced.

Saturday’s Gold Cup  was a perfect example of that. Over 93,000 fans sold out the Rose Bowl in Pasadena for the game. Estimates were that 75-85,000 of the fans were Mexican supporters, with 90% of them living in America.

The same sentiment was not shared in the bar back in Tucson. While many bars catered to fans of Mexico, this was not one of them. This bar was decidedly pro-USA in the game. So much so that one patron was lustily booed by a table when he clapped for a goal by Mexico and said he was “rooting for a good game.” Though it was mostly good natured jostling, it was clear that this was not the place for ambivalence, this was a place for patriotism and rooting for one outcome.

An outcome that did not happen.

Team USA jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but it did not stand. Mexico took advantage of an early injury to US defender Steve Cherundolo. They attacked his replacement and scored four straight goals for the 4-2 win and an appearance in the 2013 Confederations Cup, an event the US played in three years ago and is credited to helping them in last year’s World Cup.

Soccer is a niche sport, but when you slap USA on the jersey more fans take notice. While the fan base does not measure when compared to the NFL or NBA, it is big and it is loyal. Extremely loyal. From Sam’s Army to the afformentioned American Outlaws, there are a number of fans who not only root for the team, pay money to support them.

In the 70’s many believed soccer would take America by storm. That did not happen. After the US hosted the 1994 World Cup and the MLS debuted, many felt it was soccer’s time. It has yet to go completely mainstream, but it has made in-roads.

Youth soccer is played in every city in America, and over 3 million kids play organized youth soccer. Soccer participation has skyrocketed in schools as not only are schools adding soccer, but other, more expensive sports are cut.

With nearly 310 million people living in the US, nearly 1% of the population is currently playing your soccer and how many millions more played in their youth? Soccer may never be the dominant sport in America, but it has its place. It has its core fans. It’s not going away.

Just ask the fans on hand at the Trident. Better yet, ask those who could not get in.

Here are the guys in this draft who I think will have solid NBA careers.

 A few things to remember.

 1. I am biased against European players. Since I have not seen them play, I cannot judge. I also think for every Dirk or Pau, there are five who made next to no impact. Of the foreign players in this draft (other than Canadians) the only player I have seen play is Enes Kanter in a prep school game.

 2. If  he did not rebound in college, he will not rebound in the pros. If he did not work hard in college, he will not work hard in the pros.

3. Bad guys need not apply. Even if the player was supremely talented, I don’t want bad guys on my team. Last year I would have avoided DeMarcus Cousins.

With that in mind, here are the players I like most in this draft.

Derrick Williams – PF – Arizona

I have seen more of Williams than any other player, so I have seen the good and the bad for over 60 games. Williams is explosive, a terrific shooter and a player that never stops working. Great kid off the court, he will likely be able to see action at both forward spots. Williams is a kid who was lightly recruited and has a bit of a chip on his shoulder.

Kawhi Leonard – SF – San Diego State

Another player who is a worker, and was overlooked in recruiting. A good defender and a guy who hits the boards, if he can further develop his outside shot, he’ll play in the NBA a long, long time.

Klay Thompson – SG – Washington State

A tremendous scorer and shooter. A better version of Stanford’s Landry Fields, who had a heck of a rookie season. Thompson is taller than most SG and should be able to get it off against nearly any SG in the league. May not be a star, but could be the third scorer on a very good team.

Tristan Thompson – PF –Texas

Great athlete, good size, and still possessing some upside. He can score and rebound and does not shy away from a battle.

Jimmer Fredette – PG- BYU

He has a specific skill, shooting, that will keep him in the league for a long time. Some have compared him to Mark Price or Scott Skiles, and that is probably his ceiling. The worst case scenario is that he is Steve Kerr or Tim Legler. The question is, can he be a starting PG in the league?

Kenneth Faried – PF – Morehead State

Like Fredette, Faried has one marketable skill, his rebounding. He will never be a star, but he will be a player who can play 10 years in the league. The comparisions to Ben Wallace are not perfect, but not entirely off base.

Marshon Brooks – SG – Providence

Not a complete player by any means, but he’s one of the best pure scorers in the draft. He could be a great scorer off the bench, an instant energy spark kind of player.

Nikola Vucevic – C – USC

A good, reliable big man that can probably be picked in the late first round. Athletic and skilled, he can help a good team.

Kyle Singler – F – Duke

Will never be a star, and probably not a player who should be picked in the first round, but he is a versatile, fundamental player that can be a perfect bench player.

Jeremy Tyler – C – Tokyo Apache

Tyler violates two things I do not like in a player: he can play lazy and he has attitude issues. That being said, I first saw Tyler at age 14 at the University of Arizona Elite Skills Camp and he was arguably the best player there. He has a tendency to float and got some bad advice from those who told him to go pro DURING high school. If a team with solid veteran leaders can get Tyler at the end of the first or the second round, he may be worth the risk.

Charles Jenkins – PG – Hofstra

I love Jenkins. He’s got good size, is a terrific scorer and got it done in college. He is one of the strongest players of his size in the draft and is built more like a running back than a shooting guard. He scored 19.7 points a game for his final three seasons and averaged over four rebounds and nearly four assists.

I am talking to all the talking heads in the media who keep wondering if Rory McIlroy is the next Tiger.

C’mon, it’s lazy journalism and I can say that because I’ve been hosting a drive time radio sports show the past two weeks.

They are like Pavlov’s Dogs. Anytime a young athlete does something impressive, we have to compare him to the past greats.

Guess what? McIlroy has won ONE major. One. Tiger Woods has won 14 and became an international icon.

McIlroy is not the next Tiger. Kobe is not the next Michael Jordan. Sydney Crosby is not the next Wayne Gretzky.

There will never be another Tiger Woods. There will never be another Michael Jordan and there will never be another Wayne Gretzky.

Tiger is Tiger. He was the perfect player, at the perfect time, with frankly the perfect race to shake up the nearly all-white PGA.

Woods made golf cool. Woods brought new people to the game. I doubt a curly haired kid from Northern Ireland will have the same impact.

That being said, McIlroy will be the next star in the PGA. Because of his collapse at the Masters, he was already the talk of golf. By all reports he has one of the sweetest swings in the game. He has now shown that he can dominate a tough course, albeit one that the weather made easier, in a tough event.

The sky is the limit for McIlroy, I just don’t think he will win 14+ majors and be a household name.

McIlroy will not be the next Tiger, but he is one of the first descendents of Tiger. Kobe was not the next Jordan, but he was inspired by Jordan. He emulated Jordan and became a great player in his own right.

McIlroy was inspired as a kid by Woods. After winning the U.S. Open video of McIlroy as a child on a Northern Ireland talk show surfaced. On the show McIlroy, who is nine or 10 in the clip, admits that his favorite golfer was Woods. And he is not the only one, he is just one of the first to be inspired by Woods to win a Major.

He won’t be the last, just as Bryant was not the only Michael Jordan fan to win an NBA Championship or an MVP.

Let’s not jump the gun. What McIlroy did was incredible, but that does not make him Tiger. Remember when Sergio Garcia was the next Tiger? How about Ty Tryon? How is that working out for those two?

McIlroy is good. He has a chance to be great, but let him win at least a few more majors before we compare him to one of the best of all time.

The show that had moments of brilliance combined with moments of blandness, left viewers with a cliffhanger that was more frustrating than thrilling.

The show was wonderfully acted, looked stunning and was poorly paced and inconsistently written.

The season finale was one of the better episodes overall, especially when it involved the actual police investigation of the murder of Seattle high school student Rosie Larsen, or at least it was for the first 55 minutes.

The other aspects of the show, Seattle’s mayoral race and time spent with the family dealing with the grief of the murder of a child, did not work as well. It was a good idea, ambitious even, but the political race started to become less and less interesting as even the idealistic candidate became, at best, wishy washy and, at worst unlikable.

The grieving family gave us amazing performances by Michelle Forbes and Brent Sexton as Rosie’s parents, but how long can we watch Forbes lay around depressed, and Sexton go from extreme sadness to rage? Both actors were fantastic, and I liked the idea of showing the family grieve after the shocking murder, it was a concept that we have not seen before, but maybe there is a reason shows do not focus on it. Far too much screen time was devoted to it, and it really led nowhere. If we learned something, grief does not make compelling television. Not for 13 weeks.

The most frustrating part of the case was the lack of consistency with the pacing. We’d have an episode where the two detectives discovered next to nothing, then have an episode where there was an avalanche of evidence. At times it seemed as if the writers had 10 episodes of ideas but had to fill 13 episodes of time. No episode summed this up more than episode 11 where Detective Linden spends the entire day trying to find her missing son, only to have him turn out to be spending the day with his as of now unseen father. (Author Note: The worst thing about that episode is show creator Veena Sud thinks it is a great episode where we learn so much about Linden and Holder. Sadly, we learn next to nothing about them. The development of the characters in the episode could have been done in less than 15 minutes, not 60)

Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman were unusual choices for the leads as the two detectives involved, but I like the fact they did not look like your traditional “more attractive than most” police detectives we see on network television. Enos dressed down, in heavy sweaters and went without much make-up or a hairstylist, while Kinnaman looked every inch the former junky he was supposed to be. They were as gritty and grungy as their setting.

In the end we are left with more unanswered questions than answered ones. The twist ending is cool, but seems inconsistent with actions and events earlier in the season, so either it will need to be explained or it is going to be one of those forced twists we see from shows that are written on the fly and don’t always work. Holdeer’s actions do not jive with his earlier actions (i.e. the wire tap) and Richmond’s dark secrets seem forced as well, especially in light of how he ran his campaign and how he attacked the Mayor.

While the cliffhanger certainly leaves me wanting to see more, mostly so I can get some resolution not because I am hooked, not everyone will be back. I certainly was not thrilled with all of the unsolved mysteries, and others I know who were watching have already pledged not to return. Although the show creator has been quoted as saying we might not get a solution to the crime until season two, the show was not renewed until a few weeks ago and AMC made it seem over and over as if the season was a self contained mystery.  Worse, in interviews Sud claims this was the ending for season one all along, whether it was renewed or not.

In the end it was a great looking show, even if the rain was a bit overdone, a well acted show, but an incredibly inconsistent show.

NOTES: I was often distracted at Forbes’ resemblance to Sela Ward, who starred in the ABC drama “Once and Again” with Bill Campbell, who played Mayoral candidate Darren Richmond.

When the show was announced the description of the plot sounded a lot like “Twin Peaks” and several of the plot twists, especially about Rosie Larsen’s secret life, mirrored the ground breaking show.

Dana Holgorsen was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State last season. Photo by Matt Strasen-US PRESSWIRE

I think to some degree we all saw this coming. Few outside of West Virginia Athletic Director Oliver Luck thought that hiring Dana Holgorsen to be the Mountaineers “coach in waiting” this season while Bill Stewart remained head coach fro one more year was a good idea.

“Bill, good news and bad news. The bad news is we’re letting you go. The good news is that you to stay on for one more year and train your replacement.”

It was the second curious idea by the Luck family early in the year. Son Andrew decided to forgo the NFL Draft, where he’d be the top overall pick, to return to a Stanford team missing several key players and breaking in a rookie head coach.

They call them lame ducks for a reason, except Stewart was not going to be lame. He was not going to go down without a fight. And because of that, he is no longer the coach at West Virginia.

Even if he had remained it couldn’t have worked. Half the staff was still Stewart guys, while half the staff was made up of Holgorsen guys. The dynamic had to have been strained and strange. In reality Luck either needed to fire Stewart or wait a year to hire Holgorsen, and risk a bigger program swooping in and hiring his guy.

It would almost be like foreclosing on a house, but allowing the family to continue living there for a year, but also moving a new family in.

Basically he asked Stewart to train his own replacement. Any success this season, and the Mountaineers are expected to do well, would be credited to Holgorsen. Any failures would be placed on Stewart.

It reads more like the plot of a bad novel. Stewart was dismissed for trying to dig up dirt on Holgorsen.

Just three weeks it was Holgorsen that was in hot water. He had been kicked out of a Casino for bad behavior.

Who knew it would be a prudent career move?

Let me repeat. Holgorsen got kicked out of a Casino at 3 a.m. and a month later got the head-coaching job at a BCS university.

Back in December, Stewart had asked reporters to dig up some dirt on Holgorsen. Holgorsen has been linked to alcohol incidents in the past, most notably a minor confrontation while an assistant in Houston. In addition to the incident in the casino last month, there have been other media reports of other incidents at West Virginia. though other than a few media reports, no official reports of the incidents have been verified. I have heard there is a lot of speculation, were these reports made public because of Stewart? Or was Stewart aware of these potential issues back in December? (Author’s Note: The original column had an unclear timeline of events in regards to Stewart’s contact with the reporters.)

Why would Stewart ask reporters to dig up dirt? I am not sure. Did he think that West Virginia would allow him to stay? Would you want to stay at a school where the athletic director did not want you?

It was obvious that Stewart was never going to be Luck’s guy. Stewart was 28-12 in three seasons in Morgantown, including three consecutive 9-4 season. 

Stewart was a good coach, but Luck wanted more. He wanted great. He believes, and it is not an entirely off base idea, that the WVU football program should be a consistent 10+ game winner. Stewart showed, at least early on, that he was not quite up to that task. No, all he could do was win nine a year.

Stewart was the feel good choice after Rich Rodriguez left them for Michigan. Stewart was a players’ coach. He was a West Virginia guy. He just wasn’t Luck’s guy.

Maybe Stewart’s motivations are altruistic. Maybe he had genuine concerns with Holgorsen, concerns that were not being listened to by the current administration. While Stewart is not a WVU grad, he is a native of the state and has been at the school since 2000.

Or maybe he is just petty. Maybe he resented Holgorsen and Luck. Who wouldn’t have some resentment? He had to know digging up dirt on Holgorsen would paint Luck in a negative light as Luck took the chance to hire him.

Only the incident painted Stewart in a bad light. It gave Luck the opening to get rid of Stewart and give Holgorsen the job.

Now it is Stewart who is gone. Luck gets his man, warts and all.