If you have followed this story at all, Jet's Strength Coach Sam Alosi apparently ordered 5 inactive players to stand with him as a "wall" along the sidelines during a Miami punt in the 10-6 Dolphins win in New York (New Jersey) on Sunday.  The purpose was obviously to "get in the way" of any punt coverage guys that might run down their sidelines, and culminated with Alosi sticking out a knee and tripping Miami gunner Nolan Carroll as he ran by.

The Jets suspended Alosi for the rest of the season, and he was fined 25k.  But they didn't fire him, even after it came to light that the trip wasn't just a spur of the moment reaction, but a pre-meditated act.  Alosi supposedly ordered the players to stand there with him in that line with the sole intent of interfering with the defender.

According to Jets' GM Mike Tannenbaum, the idea to do this was all Alosi's.  "This is just about Sal," he said.

Now, gunners on punts get pushed out of bounds all the time.  But it's somewhat fishy that Alosi lined up his wall at a spot right where the Jet player shoved Carroll out of bounds - almost like the Jet player was in on it too.

And if he was, that makes the idea that this was solely Alosi's action even less likely, since I'm not sure I buy a Strength Coach running around the sidelines gathering guys up and saying "Let's go form a wall!" on his own volition. 

It reeks of a cover-up; is if an order (or suggestion) came down from on-high, and Alosi is being a good soldier and taking the blame for the consequences.  Thus, the Jets will find it hard to fire a man who could go all Woodward and Bernstein on them.

It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma.

The coaching carousel in the Mid-American Conference continued Wednesday as Mike Haywood, who took Miami from a 1-11 season in his first year to an 8-4 record and MAC Championship this season, has accepted the head coaching position at the University of Pittsburgh.

The job at Pitt opened up when Dave Wannstedt resigned after six seasons with the Panthers.

There are currently four head coaching openings in the MAC – Kent State, Ball State, Temple and Miami. Doug Martin resigned at Kent and the school is expected to name his replacement soon. Alabama receivers coach Curt Cignetti is rumored to be the frontrunner to replace Martin. Ball State opened up when Stan Parrish was dismissed after two seasons and a 4-18 record with the Cardinals. Ball State is in the interviewing process at this point, and former Cardinals quarterback Mike Neu is reported to be close to receiving an offer from Ball State.

The job at Temple opened when Al Golden resigned to accept the head coaching position with the Miami Hurricanes. Golden’s announcement came last week and at a press conference yesterday Owls athletic director Bill Bradshaw announced a national search for Golden’s replacement would begin immediately.

Read more...

With the Winter Meetings complete, let the trade rumors start flying and, lest you think I'm talking about the Indians acquiring a 3B or a SP or a RP via trade...no, the rumors come in the form of other teams having interest in current Indians, with widespread interest in Carmona being the bigger news:

Greinke, of course, is the The Name among starters on the trade market right now. But sources indicated to FOXSports.com today that it’s possible even more teams have asked the Cleveland Indians about Carmona. If, for example, the Yankees are unsure of Greinke’s desire to pitch in New York, then Carmona could become a very appealing option.
Similarly, the Texas Rangers could turn to Carmona if they are wary of the Kansas City Royals’ high price on Greinke. One major-league source with close knowledge of Carmona’s market said the Indians aren’t eager to move him but are in a “listen and explore” mode because of the heavy interest following the Cliff Lee signing.

--snip--

Carmona is signed to a more favorable contract, in terms of cost and flexibility: $6.1 million in 2011, followed by team options worth $7 million, $9 million and $12 million in the subsequent three seasons, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Greinke, meanwhile, will earn $13.5 million in each of the next two seasons.

With that contract (that contains those club options from 2012 to 2014 with little to no risk assumed by the Indians after this year) and Fausto's position as the de-facto “ace” of the staff, I could understand the team's hesitance to move him. If, however, a team like the Rangers or the Yankees, both of whom were burned considerably by the Lee-to-Philly decision, is ready to overreact and offer some players that could be added to the Indians FOR THE 2011 SEASON and who would represent significant upgrades over in-house options, I don't see how you don't listen.

Don't just think that other teams are looking at the Tribe's rotation and getting ideas though as this comes from Boston:

On the trade front, they would love to deal for Justin Masterson and put him in the role he had with the Sox before the Victor Martinez deal. Very effective in that role where he can pitch two or three innings and dominate righties. The Tribe have been reluctant to move him. Joe Smith and Rafael Perez are a couple other Indian relievers who could be on Boston's radar.

Joe Smith and Raffy Perez?

Sure, I'd be OK with moving one of those guys, given their arbitration status and the other arms that are around (notably Sipp for Perez) or coming (Todd, Pestano, and Judy for Smith) as long as the Indians don't make the move just to make the move. As for the Justin Masterson idea, this isn't the first time that we've heard that Boston is enamored with bringing him back in a relief role, which is where he still could end up at some point with the Tribe.

Given his youth, his second-half performance and his club-control, it would take quite a bit to get me to bite on moving Masterson.

The Hot Stove in Cleveland...where we always feel burned.

Head Coach Eric Mangini spoke with media members today, stating rookie quarterback Colt McCoy would return to practice after being sidelined for numerous weeks with a high ankle sprain.

McCoy will take a “decent amount” of the first team reps during practice Wednesday, meaning he will likely start for the Browns when they take the field against Cincinnati this weekend. With the recent struggles of veteran quarterback Jake Delhomme, the move is not surprising. If McCoy can go through practice without incident, Jake will be second on the depth chart while Seneca Wallace will be third.

McCoy sprained his ankle during Cleveland’s loss to Jacksonville four weeks ago. Since his injury, Delhomme took over the starting role and led the Browns to a 2-1 record. Those wins came mainly on the legs of Hillis, not behind the arm of Delhomme. In that time span, Jake has thrown just one touchdown while tossing three interceptions.

OMG IT's A Fire...sale.   It's burning us alive!

The Indians are rolling back ticket prices all over the park.

The Indians braintrust are apparently back at their computers going over the latest stats.  They recently came across this new-fangled statistical concept that they think may help them increase attendance, the law of supply and demand.

For the less mathematically inclined, try to stay with me here.  The supply  here is the number of tickets available at a certain price (a lot), and the demand is the number of people willing to pay that price for the tickets (um...not a lot).  So, they are lowering the ticket prices pretty much across the board in the hopes that they can...you know...sell more tickets.

With the Indians finishing last season with the lowest attendance in the Majors (despite the continued existence of the Pirates and Royals), it was time to do something.  Disco Choo bobblehead night just wasn't cutting it anymore.

Special consideration seems to be going to season ticket holders.  Finally some good news this offseason for the Tribe faithful.

The Indians' ticket pitch

Among the changes announced by the team:

Full-season ticket holders, regardless of seat location, bleachers included, get a free membership to the Terrace Club, the ballpark's restaurant. Membership fees were $900 or $500, depending on the type. They also get to use a suite (with 16 tickets and three parking passes) for one game and club seats for another.

Full-season ticket plans in the ballpark's lower bowl will cost 20 to 60 percent less than the same seat bought as single games.

Bleacher seats will cost $10 for all but on Opening Day — $9 for full-season ticket plans. It's the lowest price for the bleachers since 1997. "We just feel like when the bleachers are full in this ballpark," said Mike Mulhall, the Indians senior director of ticket sales and premium seating, "there's a different buzz, there's a different feel in Progressive Field."

Upper box seats have been cut $8, to $12 to $16 per seat from $20 to $24 last season.

On Sundays during the second half of last season, the Indians tested a fixed price for parties of four. It's been expanded for the entire 2011 season, except on Opening Day. For all games except April 1, a foursome can buy four tickets, parking and four hot dogs, soft drinks and ball caps for $96.

Hopefully this gets some more butts in the seats.

Manny Acta's doing his due diligence this offseason by examining a Colon. Bartolo Colon to be exact. Enrique Rojas, of ESPN Deportes, tweeted that Acta was going to watch Bartolo Colon's Dominican League Winter ball start on Tuesday night. Colon was replaced after 5.1 IP, giving up four runs, three earned, striking out three and walking one batter intentionally.

Colon, who has not pitched in the Majors since July 2009, is being looked by a few teams, most notably, the Indians and Pirates.

He pitched in 162 games for the Wahoos, going 75-45 with a 3.92 ERA from 1997-2002.

After a late-night shocker, CP Lee finds himself back in the City of Brotherly Love to join a rotation of Halladay, Oswalt, and Hamels as the Phillies catapult themselves to the head of the NL class. While it was widely reported that only the Yankees and the Rangers were in on Lee and that the Yankees would simply outspend any competition (and drastically so) as they did with Sabathia two years ago, the Phillies were able to add Clifton Phifer back into the fold, presumably on the idea that the Phillies are a better bet to win in the coming years than the Yankees (no...seriously) and than the Rangers.

While it has been widely reported that Lee left money on the table to join the Phils, it is worth noting that it looks like he signed a 5-year, $120M deal with the Phillies, netting him an annual salary of $24M, which makes him the highest paid pitcher...earning $1M per season more than CC. The Yankees' reported final offer was for 6 years and $132M ($22M per season) with a player option for $16M in 2017, which would have lowered the AAV of the final Yankees' offer to $21M per year.

Did Lee pass up a guarantee of more money from New York?

Yes, but he'll actually earn more per year in Philly and he'll become a FA two years sooner, with his thought process perhaps being that he can earn more on the open market prior to the 2016 season than he would have signed away by joining the Yankees.

Regardless of whether that decision is a prudent one or not, Lee will join the better team in the Phillies for a higher annual salary than the Yankees were willing to offer. Whether the Yankees were unwilling to go above $23M (CC's salary) is up for debate as Sabathia can opt out of his Yankee deal after next season, which he very well could based on the demand for Lee. While the fact that Lee will not be donning the pinstripes in the Bronx gives some measure of satisfaction, he WILL be donning pinstripes of another color in Philadelphia for a team that is quickly making it's claim as the Yankees/Red Sox of the NL.

From an Indians' perspective, Lee ($24M) and Sabathia ($23M) are now the two highest paid pitchers in MLB, three years after each started the season for the AL Central defending champs in 2008, a team that is now only remembered for what never was...

After the Big Ten expanded to 12 teams this past summer, we all knew the conference was going to split into newly formed divisions starting next year. We also knew the Big Ten logo, which has the number 11 discreetly embedded into the design, would need to be updated. Yesterday afternoon, Jim Delany and the Big Ten conference released the names of the divisions and the new logo. They are awful.

The Big Ten logo (pictured above), is a basic block letters design. The “i” in the word Big was changed to a “1” and the “g” was made to look like a zero -- apparently a move that was made to honor the original ten members. No need to feel like outsiders Penn State and Nebraska, it’s not like your conference logo went out of its way to exclude you.

Oh, it’s not over. The names of the new divisions, you ask? Legends and Leaders. The conference had nearly half a year to think of division names, and they came up with Legends and Leaders. Why not just name the divisions Dumb and Dumber? We could design the field that the football championship game will be played on next year around the tuxes that Lloyd and Harry wore to the charity event in the movie. One end zone would be neon orange and the other would be powder blue. The trophy for the championship game could be named “Pretty Bird”. It would be a huge trophy with the top made in the likeness of the bird that Harry sold to the blind kid that had its head taped onto its body.

The possibilities are endless.

With his brother's success with the Jets, and his success with the Browns defense this season, Browns defensive coordinator Rob Ryan's name  continues to pop up as a possible head coaching candidate somewhere next season.

When asked in Friday's press conference as to whether or not he's heard from the Broncos about their now open head coaching gig, Ryan admitted that he had heard from them, but danced around the question a little.

“I’ve heard from the Broncos,” the Browns defensive coordinator said. “A great buddy of mine is their defensive coordinator — Don Martindale. It’s his first time coordinating. He’s putting up numbers that are pretty God-awful.  The thing is he’s coaching his butt off. I taught him how to prepare. That team will be all right if they keep him there. If they don’t, they’re losing out on a (good) coach.”

The University of Akron advanced to its second consecutive Men’s Soccer National Championship Game with a 2-1 victory over the Michigan Wolverines in a national semifinal game played in Santa Barbara, California.

The Zips broke a 1-1 tie in the 73^rd minute when Kofi Sarkodie headed in a free kick struck by Michael Nanchoff from the right of the penalty box across the mouth of the goal.

Sarkodie was unguarded and calmly flicked the ball with his head into the back of the net. The Zips, after the goal, were able to kill the clock by passing the ball around the pitch while the Wolverines gave chase. Michigan did not have another serious scoring chance.

The Wolverines (17-5-3)  scored the first goal of the game just two minutes into the contest. Senior Justin Meram scored his 17^th goal of the year from near the top of the circle outside the penalty area, driving a hard shot into the upper-left corner net past the sprawling Akron netminder, David Meves.

Michigan held the 1-0 lead until the 33^rd minute of the game when Zips freshman Perry Kitchen drilled a shot from 35 yards out that beat Wolverines goaltender Chris Blais. Akron out-shot Michigan 14-4 in the first half, but could not take the lead due to a number of critical saves from Blais.

The teams played even until the 73^rd minute when Scott Caldwell was fouled from behind by a Michigan defender. This led to the free kick that Sarkodie was able to head home.

The Zips (21-1-2) will face Louisville, the top seed in the tournament at 20-0-3, who defeated North Carolina 2-1 prior to the Akron win.

Last year Akron was unbeaten heading into the championship game against Virginia. The Zips and Cavaliers played to a 0-0 draw, but Virginia claimed the title on penalty kicks, 3-2. Akron will be looking for its first national championship in any sport, and will have to defeat a familiar face to do so. Louisville coach Ken Lolla left the Akron program after the 2005 season to take the head job at Louisville. He was replaced by current Zips coach Caleb Porter.