Valley Sports

A few notes of interest which emerged from ASU men’s basketball media day on Thursday …

–Practice can officially begin on Friday, but freshman forward Victor Rudd probably won’t be there. He’s waiting for some paperwork approval from the NCAA clearinghouse. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, but while the vibe was it wouldn’t take long for this to be sorted out, nobody at ASU could give a reasonable timetable. It’s at the whim of the NCAA. Could be Friday, could be Monday, could be in two weeks.

Rudd is a 6-foot-7 forward from Los Angeles who played last season at Findlay Prep near Las Vegas last season before leaving the school early  following an altercation. He finished school at home (which might have something to do with this NCAA process).

–Apparently when you lose James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph to the NBA, another shake-up was required. Acording to senior point guard Derek Glasser, this will essentially be his fifth different offensive system in four years at ASU.

(Replacing those two in some form was, understandably, asked about to players and coach Herb Sendek in about 125 different ways).

–For the little it’s worth at this point, freshman Trent Lockett (Hopkins, Minn.) drew the most praise among the newcomers.

–Juniors Jamelle McMillan and Ty Abbott looked like they gained 10 pounds.

–Sendek gushed optimism surrounding center Eric Boateng, predicting an “outstanding” season for the 6-foot-10 senior.

–Assistant coach Scott Pera was not in attendance for media day.  He was recruiting big men in New Jersey.

Let’s start with the National League Championship Series:
The Los Angeles Dodgers are playing great baseball, and their bullpen is so deep and talented it could make the difference in a seven-game series. Conversely, the Philadelphia Phillies have end-of-the-game issues with Brad Lidge as closer.
That said, I think the Phillies’ top two starters - Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee - will tame the Dodgers’ bats, and Philadelphia’s lineup is just too strong for L.A.’s spotty starting pitching.
Give me the Phillies in seven.
In the American League Championship Series, I just don’t see how the Yankees can lose to the Los Angeles Angels. Their starting pitching is superior, their everyday lineup is superior and they have the unhittable Mariano Rivera to close things out.
The Angels’ only chance is if John Lackey outpitches CC Sabathia in Game 1 and changes the tone of the series. But even then, the Yankees’ power eventually will have its way with L.A.’s pitching staff.
Yankees in six.

Is it just me, or are there more unbelievably bad NFL teams this season than ever before?
The Oakland Raiders won’t win another game this season. The St. Louis Rams are unwatchable. The Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns on Sunday may have played the worst game of the past 20 years this past Sunday. Cleveland quarterback Derek Anderson completed 2 of 17 passes, and the Browns won!
I haven’t even mentioned the winless Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Usually, there’s two or three teams that are the dregs of the league. This year, we could have six or seven clubs that fail to win four games.
Conversely, there will be more clubs that finish with at least 12 wins because they have so many sure things on the schedule. The Denver Broncos, for example, play Oakland and Kansas City twice. The Saints can feast four times on the Buccaneers and fading Carolina Panthers.
The disparity makes for some dreadful Sundays. Who wants to watch the Giants drill the Raiders so badly that Eli Manning doesn’t even play in the second half?
At least the Cardinals, even with all their inconsistencies, have a chance to win almost every week. That’s more than you can say for a lot of NFL teams.

Danny Sullivan will remain Arizona State’s starting quarterback for Saturday’s game against Washington State, coach Dennis Erickson said Monday.
Erickson said Sullivan “did some awfully good things” in last Saturday’s 28-17 loss to Oregon State. “He threw it and successfully managed the game pretty well. He did nothing in that game to take away from being the starter in my opinion.”
Erickson also pointed out that, “Sullivan didn’t lose the football game by any means. Everybody was involved with that.”
Sullivan was 32 of 58 for 338 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.
Erickson didn’t rule out the possibility of freshman Brock Osweiler playing against the Cougars this Saturday. He said he would make that decision later in the week.
Sullivan was much more composed Monday than he was after the Oregon State loss. He said he received moral support from family members, friends and teammates the last 48 hours and paid no attention to what was being written or said about him.
Sullivan was appreciative of Erickson’s support - “it means a lot,” - but acknowledged that he has to improve to hold onto the starting job.
“Am I going to pick myself up and get better or continue not to play the way I want to play?” he said. “On crucial downs I’m not helping the football team win. It’s frustrating. That’s not the way I want to play. That’s not the way I intended it to be. I’ve got to get better and help this team.”
Erickson said he knows fans are clamoring for Osweiler but that, “when it comes to football decisions, I think I’ll make those.”
In other ASU news:
Defensive end Dexter Davis, the only player in the country to have double-digit sacks the last two years, doesn’t have a sack after four games this season.
Erickson said teams are keeping a tight end or running back in to help block Davis.
“If I was playing us, that’s what I would do,” he said.
Erickson said he doesn’t expect to get injured linemen Matt Hustad (knee) or Zach Schlink (knee) back this week, but center Garth Gerhart (toe) will play, and safety Ryan McFoy (foot) should be back as well.

Tonight’s dreadful offensive output has Arizona State quarterback Danny Sullivan on the hot seat.

And, as the fans who chanted ‘We want Brock’ will attest, the popular choice to replace him is strong-armed true freshman Brock Osweiler. Osweiler has ascended the depth chart and has all the measurables to become a good quarterback.

But in the rush to anoint Osweiler ASU’s next big thing, Samson Szakacsy has been completely forgotten.

The big question mark surrounding Szakacsy is his health. Elbow problems have hindered him since high school, and I’m not even sure if he could withstand an entire season without doing more damage.

However, if Szakacsy is healthy enough to play, he’s an intriguing option for the Sun Devils.

Szakacsy will never put up consistent 300-yard passing games or be a long-bomb threat. But if you put him and Ryan Bass in the backfield, it becomes a lot harder for opponents to defend.

As it stands, the read-option that ASU does has bark but no bite, because Sullivan is not a threat to run. The same would hold true with Osweiler. While the possibility technically exists for the quarterback to pull back the ball and run it himself, Sullivan and Osweiler wouldn’t do it regularly.

But Szakacsy can beat teams with his legs, which would force defenses to stay honest. In turn, this makes play-action passes better and forces teams out of the Cover 2 packages that hinder big passing plays.

Oregon has great success using running quarterbacks in recent years. Arizona State should consider it.

Just returned to the office from Suns Media Day and thought I’d pass along a few notes:
The most interesting news was coach Alvin Gentry saying that if the season started today Channing Frye would be the starting center rather than Robin Lopez.
The Suns think Frye’s outside shooting touch will help open the floor for Amare Stoudemire, who will have more freedom to play in the lane with Shaquille O’Neal gone.
Does that mean the Suns are down on Lopez? They say they aren’t, but think about it. The team’s needs on the interior — defense and rebounding — are supposed to be Lopez’s strengths, yet Frye likely will start at center.
The Suns are going back to the run-and-gun style that defined them under Mike D’Antoni, but Gentry insisted, “We’re going to be a little more demanding defensively.”
“We don’t have to be Cleveland or San Antonio because we are good offensively,” he said. “But we have to be more consistent.”
Hmmm. Seems like we’ve heard that before.
One interesting note is that Gentry has made Stoudemire a tri-captain along with Steve Nash and Grant Hill. The Suns want Stoudemire to grow up and take some responsibility for how the team is playing, and they’re hoping being named a captain will nudge him in that direction.
Finally, general manager Steve Kerr said he never considered resigning despite suffering through “by far” the worst season of his professional life. Kerr was barbecued for some of his moves and fired his good friend, Terry Porter, after just 51 games.
“It was difficult,” Kerr said … “I definitely deserve a lot of the blame. But part of the job is accepting that and moving forward.”

Just settled into the pressbox here at the University of Georgia. It’s a great environment. The stadium sits smack dab in the middle of campus, and folks were out here tailgating when we drove up more than four hours before the game.
One odd sight: The biggest tailgating spot is a cemetery just east of the stadium. This is college football country, however, so the dead probably don’t mind.
Walked onto the field - before getting kicked off by a security guard - and took a picture of UGA’s doghouse and the statue of UGA behind the east end zone.
A couple of southern things we saw on the way into town: A Smoke and Choke shop that featured anything from incense to bongs and red brick, colonial-style homes everywhere.
Now for the weather forecast: It’s just spitting right now, but a Georgia official said two storms are converging on the area and thunderstorms are expected tonight. If it’s real wet, turnovers could be a problem for both teams.

As you might expect, Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald said Wednesday he has no problems with quarterback Kurt Warner or the amount of touches he’s gotten in Arizona’s first two games.
Fitzgerald’s supposed frustration became public Sunday when his younger brother, Marcus, tweeted that Larry was angry he wasn’t getting the ball more against Jacksonville. Fitzgerald has 10 catches for 105 yards and two touchdowns in the Cardinals’ first two games.
“Anybody who knows me and Kurt knows that he’s my closest friend on the team,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s always been there for me and I’ll always be there for him long after I can’t catch or run anymore.”
Fitzgerald said he chuckled when he heard about Marcus’ tweets Sunday, saying his brother “does what he wants to do.”

Don’t be surprised if the Arizona Diamondbacks eat the final year of Eric Byrnes’ three-year, $30 million deal and release him in the offseason.
Arizona’s top four outfielders are set next year, assuming Conor Jackson has recovered from Valley Fever: Jackson will play in left, Chris Young in center and Justin Upton in right. Gerardo Parra would be the fourth outfielder.
From the standpoint of having as much versatility as possible on a 25-man roster, it makes more sense for the Diamondbacks to use, say, Ryan Roberts, as a super utility player who can play both the infield and outfield than it does to keep Byrnes.
Could the D-Backs try to trade Byrnes’ bad contract for another bad contract? Possibly. But those deals are hard to make, particularly when the contract coming back would have to be for just one year.
The Diamondbacks will take a lot of grief if they release Byrnes. But it would be the right thing to do.

Arizona State kicker Thomas Weber will miss the next five or six games after Monday’s MRI showed a serious groin injury, coach Dennis Erickson said on his KTAR radio show Tuesday.

Weber, the 2007 Lou Groza Award winner, didn’t play on Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe and now likely won’t be back until late October or early November.

True freshman walk-on Bobby Wenzig will take over field goal kicking duties, although Erickson might look for a more powerful leg on the team to do kickoffs. Punter Trevor Hankins and linebacker Mike Nixon - who was a kicker in high school - could be possibilities.

Wenzig was 5-for-5 on extra points and connected on his only field goal attempt from 24 yards in the game against the Warhawks.