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Barry Bonds Indicted By Federal Grand Jury

Maybe Bonds would be willing to take an asterisk at this point. Bonds was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice Thursday and could go to prison instead of the Hall of Fame for telling a federal grand jury he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs. If he is convicted he could serve as many as 30 years in prison. When Bonds was shown papers confirming that a "Barry B" tested positive for two types of steroids in November 2000 he said, "I've never seen these documents. I've never seen these papers."

The ball is in your court Barry. You, in my estimation can do one of two things, admit you did steroids because you were jealous of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, or you could be a coward. Either way what you have done will be tarnished and rightfully so.

You Don't Want To Be Number 2

Oregon is the fifth No. 2 team to lose this season, 34 - 24 to the Arizona Wildcats. USC, Cal, USF and BC all feel the Ducks pain, especially Heisman hopeful Dennis Dixon. The stellar quarterback aggrivated a knee sprain he suffered against Arizona State. Arizona became the 10th unranked team to knock off a top 5 team this season. Depending on who you talk to the belief is is that Dixon could be done for the season. Without Dixon at quarterback the Ducks looked lost on offense. They went 3 and out six times and had only 3 drives after the 1st quarter in which they gained more than 50 yards.

If I'm Kentucky, I would just pretend that their is no polls or BCS because if history is any indication, you don't want to be number 2.

Kiss The BCS Championship Game Goodbye

Kentucky Wildcats Get Rolled On

The Gardner-Webb Bulldogs brought their bite with them to Rupp Arena. The former Division 2 basketball program held the lead throughout the entire game and dominated the Kentucky Wildcasts in every aspect of the game. The Bulldogs led by more than 10 points the entire second half.

Grayson Flittner scored 22 points to help Gardner-Webb beat the No. 20 Wildcats 84-68 Wednesday night in the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic. Ramel Bradley of Kentucky led all scorers with 24 points, including 14-14 from the charity strike. The last time Kentucky lost to a mid-major? Try November 2001 against Western Kentucky.

The Wildcats were coming off their best defensive performance since 1995 after holding Central Arkansas to 20% shooting. Against the Bulldogs however, Kentucky allowed them to shoot 53% from the field.

Navy Ends 43 Game Losing Streak To Notre Dame

It took 4 quarters plus 3 overtimes but the Midshipmen finally accomplished something they had not in 43 games prior. The final score was 46 to 44 in a game dominated by each team's running game. The combined yardage on the ground of both teams was 492 yards. Each team's combined yardage in the air was only 207 yards.

To put the streak into perspective, the last time Navy beat Notre Dame was when the Midshipmen were led by now Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach. Navy won that game in 1963 35 to 14 and wouldn't taste victory for 44 more years.

For Notre Dame, it was its school-record fifth straight home loss, another low point in a season of lows. "We lost the game. The streak doesn't mean anything to me," Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said.

Wanna Know A Coach?

I will be profiling, dissecting, and investigating present, retired, and six feet under coaches from the universe of the NBA, MLB, NFL, and NCAA (basketball / football) in no particular order.

First on the menu will be Hall of Fame college basketball coach John Chaney.

John Chaney was born on January 21, 1932 in Jacksonville, Florida. John grew up in Jacksonville with his mother, stepfather, stepbrother and stepsister. His mother worked a thankless job cleaning the homes of white families in which she earned $3.50 and car fare. From a young age John knew what a “hard knock life” was. When John Chaney entered 9 th grade his family moved to Philadelphia and thus began his love affair with the game of basketball.

On the playgrounds of downtown Philadelphia, Chaney played with the likes of Wilt Chamberlain and other playground legends who never played in a NBA arena. He honed his skill of basketball while playing under the tutelage of Ben Franklin High School basketball coach Sam Browne. John sill refers to him as “my great white father” and his coaching helped him become the public league player of the year in 1951.

His stepfather insisted that he get a 9-5 job but Sam Browne insisted that John attend college. Still in the John Crow era, Division 1 schools rarely accepted black basketball players and John wasn't any different. Sam Browne mentioned a black school named Bethune-Cookman College which is located in his home state of Florida and while hesitant at first ( mainly because of the bad memories of his childhood while growing up there) finally committed and became am NAIA All-American in 1953.

After a short stint playing in the Philadelphia circuit of the Eastern League in which he made the all-star team 6 of his 10 seasons. His basketball playing career however ended abruptly when his car was involved in a head-on car crash he severely injured his leg in. John then settled into his role as junior high school teacher. After returning to his role as a junior high school teacher, John Chaney began his ascension to Hall of Fame status as a basketball coach. From junior high, Chaney moved on to the storied Philadelphia Public League basketball mecca Simon Gratz High (alums include Rasheed Wallace, Aaron McKie, and Mardy Collins), to Cheyney State ( now called Cheyney University of Pennsylvania ) for 10 seasons, including the 1978 NCAA Division II national title. At Cheyney, John was 225-56. He didn't start coaching at Temple until 1982 when he was 50.

When he began coaching at Temple University and was expected to make Temple a nationally recognized college basketball program. He refused to load his schedules with easy teams, and instead traveled to hostile courts to play teams supposedly brimming with talent. Speaking of talent, it was something John Chaney hardly had while coaching at Temple. That's not to say that he never had great players ( Mark Macon, Eddie Jones, and Aaron McKie), but he never had a TOP 25 recruiting class. He couldn't compete with the Duke's, the Kentucky's, and the North Carolina's when it came to recruiting. He was however possibly the greatest coach ever in getting the most out of his kids.

And one thing John Chaney never forgot was that he was coaching kids. He held 6AM practices that his players hated, but later thanked him for. By scheduling his practices so early he made sure his kids had time to attend classes and succeed academically. He understood that there is a life after basketball and that his players needed to understand that. He was tough on his players but you ask anyone one of them if they regret playing for him they will look at you like you're crazy.

While a great coach and teacher, Chaney was known to lose his temper, sometimes resulting in some very embarrassing moments. On February 13, 1994, he said "I'm gonna kick your ass!", and threatened to kill then University of Massachusetts coach John Calipari at a post-game news conference. Chaney and Calipari did makeup however and are even friends now. Chaney's most notorious moment however was what is now considered by many as “Goon Gate”.
Chaney made headlines in 2005 after ordering forward Nehemiah Ingram to commit hard fouls against Saint Joseph's in response to what he thought were illegal picks being set by the Hawks. After the game Chaney admitted to "sending a message" and stated "I'm going to send in what we used to do years ago, send in the goons." John Bryant of Saint Joseph's suffered a fractured arm as a result of an intentional foul. John Chaney promptly suspended himself for one game, and eventually suspended himself for the remainder of the regular season and the A-10 tournament after hearing that Bryant's arm was fractured. Chaney later apologized to Bryant, his family, and Saint Joseph's.

While most casual college basketball fans will relate John Chaney to Goon Gate, enthusiasts and die-hard fans will relate the name John Chaney to excellence.

• Has compiled a 499-238 record at Temple



• Has compiled a 327-108 Atlantic 10 Conference Regular Season Record



• Won his 400th game at Temple against No. 1 ranked Cincinnati on Feb. 20, 2000



• NCAA Tournaments, 1984-1988, 1990-2001 (18)



• NCAA Regional Finalists, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1999, 2001



• National Invitational Tournament, 1989, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005



• Atlantic 10 regular season Championships, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002



• Atlantic 10 Tournament Championships, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990, 2000, 2001



• Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000



• Has compiled 15 20-win seasons at Temple



• USBWA National Coach of the Year, 1987, 1988



• Consensus National Coach of the Year, Associated Press Coach of the Year



• Eastern Basketball Coach of the Year, 1993



• Won his 700th game, becoming the first African-American in history with 700 wins

While it would have been nice to see John Chaney leave in a blaze of glory instead of a negative media blitz but he will always be a favorite of people who knew him and followed him. Mark Macon said it best after hearing about John's then announcement he was retiring. "He was my mother and my father," Mark Macon, an assistant and a former star at Temple, said of Chaney on Comcast SportsNet, a cable network. "He'd tell me the right thing to do and not to. I don't have words to say what that meant to me."

East Coast Bias- October 29, 2007

Today's Headlines

- Sox Sweep, Changes in the Bronx

- NFL Rundown

- College Football Rundown



On today's show we start with the World Series and the domination by the Red Sox. We wrapup the week that was in the NFL and finish strong with our College Football Rundown highlighting the best games of Saturday. Look for the ECB NBA Preview Show this Thursday followed by our second mailbag!

Also, check out this wild finish to the Trinity vs. Millsaps College Football game.

College Football BCS Rankings - Oct. 14th

BCS Standings

1. Ohio State

2. South Florida

3. Boston College

4. LSU

5. Oklahoma

6. South Carolina

7. Kentucky

8. Arizona State

9. West Virginia

10. Oregon

11. Virginia Tech

12. California

13. Kansas

14. USC

15. Florida

16. Missouri

17. Auburn

18. Hawaii

19. Virginia

20. Georgia

21. Tennessee

22. Texas

23. Cincinnati

24. Texas Tech

25. Michigan

East Coast Bias- September 17, 2007

JASON MISH IS BACK!!

Today's Headlines

- NFL Rundown - Week 2

- College Football Rundown

- MLB Awards Predictions

- The Weekly Phil


On tap for the September 17th podcast of East Coast Bias we start with a rundown of all the NFL games on Sunday plus the preview of the Monday Night game, Eagles vs. Redskins. We then review the week that was in College Football with a roundup of the action in the Top 25. We hand out the hardware as we predict baseball regular season awards in our third segment and end the show with the crowd-pleaser, The Weekly Phil.

Appalachian State In Top 25?

After the Mountaineers shocking upset over the Michigan Wolverines the AP decided to balk at tradition and let formerly Division 1-AA schools, now known as FCS (Football Championship Subdivision), to be included in the AP poll.

For the last 71 years of the AP poll, only teams that competed in Division 1-A were able to be ranked. However, some voters felt that if a small school like Appalachian State could compete with the big boys why should they not be included? Adam Van Brimmer, an AP poll voter, said he wanted to put Appalachian State at No. 25 after their win over the Wolverines.

Adam had covered Georgia Southern earlier in his career when they were Division 1-AA powerhouses, much like Appalachian State is now. Mister Brimmer went on to state that some of the FCS schools could compete and beat teams from the MAC and Sun Belt conferences, both of which are Division 1-A conferences.

Unfortunately for the Mountaineers this was there one and only shot to shock the world. They have no games following their win at Michigan which would propel them any higher in the AP poll should they crack the Top 25. USA Today, which also does a Top 25, said they have no intention of deviating from their rule of only considering Division 1-A teams.

Mighty Michigan Falls To I-AA Appalachian State

The #5 team in NCAA football lost this afternoon 34 to 32 to a team that isn't even a Division 1 football team. Grant it, the Appalachian State Mountaineers have won the I-AA Championship(now known as FCS) the last two years, but no one saw this coming. This is arguably the biggest upset in college football history.

The Mountaineers were down 14-7 after the first quarter but followed up with 21 points in the 2nd quarter thanks to a great effort by Appalachian St. QB Armanti Edwards. Edwards threw for 2 touchdowns and ran 1 in himself to boot. At one point during the 2nd quarter the Mountaineers were up by as much as 14 points.

Michigan finally woke up in the second half no thanks to their All-American running back Mike Hart. Hart ran for 2 scores including a thrilling 54 yard touchdown run in the 4th quarter. After that play the Mountaineers looked as if their effort to spoil Michigan's season was over.

Appalachian State however had no quit in them. After blocking the Wolverines first field goal attempt of 47 yards at the 1:47 mark the Mountaineers took the field and drove all the way to the Michigan 5 yard line. Their 24 yard field goal put them up by 2 with :30 seconds left on the clock. Michigan QB and Heisman hopeful Chad Henne connected with talent WR Mario Manningham for a 46 yard play that set up the Wolverines to win the game.

The 37 yard field goal never got more than 3 feet off the ground. The Mountaineers blocked their 2nd field goal of the day and sealed what is possibly the greatest upset in college football history. Congrats to the Mountaineers for not only taking down Big Blue, but making Penn State's Big Ten Championship dreams a better reality.

Let the Games Begin

It is almost September and "football season" is about to kickoff. But before the NFL pigskins are kicked off, September 1st marks the beginning of the college football season.

Here are some of the marquee matchups that fans can look forward to this weekend:

Georgia Tech at Notre Dame

- Last season GA Tech lost 14-10 to the Irish at home and now must travel to South Bend to avenge the loss. Despite the departures of Calvin Johnson and Reggie Ball, the Yellow Jackets should challenge for the ACC crown in 07' and will face only one tough opponent on the road this year (October 13th at Miami).

Oklahoma St. at Georgia

- High powered offense vs. a stout defense is the matchup here. Oklahoma State features speedy QB Bobby Reid, one of college football's best receivers Adarius Bowman, and RB Dantrell Savage. This is an interesting week one, non-conference game in early September between contrasting styles and SEC and Big 12 teams.

Tennessee at California

- This is easily the best game of the week with both teams ranked in the preseason top 25. Cal got thrashed a year ago in Knoxville in the first game of the two game series and hope to turn the tables behind standouts WR Desean Jackson and QB Nate Longshore. The winner will begin their season on a high note and both could make serious pushes for SEC and Pac-10 titles and BCS berths.

Florida State at Clemson

- The Seminoles will hope to rebound from a sub-par 7-6 season in 06' when they begin their season on Labor Day. The Tigers and the Noles' will compete in the "Bowden Bowl" to open their seasons, as father, Bobby, goes against son Tommy Bowden. Last year the son had the upper hand with a 27-20 road victory at FSU.

Pre-Season AP College Football Poll

In what can be considered nothing but a landslide the USC Trojans are again a top the college football pedestal. Last year's champs, the Florida Gators, placed 6th. Football season is upon and I couldn't be happier.

1. USC (162)
2. LSU (2)
3. West Virginia (1)
4. Texas
5. Michigan
6. Florida
7. Wisconsin
8. Oklahoma
9. Virginia Tech
10. Louisville
11. Ohio St.
12. Cal
13. Georgia
14. UCLA
15. Tennessee
16. Rutgers
17. Penn State
18. Auburn
19. Florida St.
20. Nebraska
21. Arkansas
22. TCU
23. Hawaii
24. Boise St.
25. Texas A&M

Others Receiving Votes : Missouri 128, Georgia Tech 94, Boston College 75, Oregon 73, South Carolina 69, Miami (FL) 68, Alabama 66, Oregon State 42, Wake Forest 40, South Florida 28, Arizona State 17, Brigham Young 14, Southern Miss 12, Notre Dame 11, Virginia 7, Clemson 6, Oklahoma State 3, Texas Tech 2, Purdue 1, Houston 1, Kentucky 1, North Carolina State 1

The Big 5: Here Lives College Basketball Nostalgia

On November 23rd, 1954, University of Pennsylvania president Dr. Gaylord Harnwell announced at Penn's Houston Hall, the formation of the Big 5. The Big 5 consists of Temple University, University of Pennsylvania, Saint Joseph's University, Villanova University, and LaSalle University, all within a 17 mile radius of each other.

The Big 5 began it's round robin series of games in 1955, thus ushering in the modern era of basketball into the city. The Big 5 is a tradition that I feel honored being a part of. The corner of 33rd and Walnut has more significance to me than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will ever have. Nothing to me was more exciting for me than cramming into the best place to see a basketball game ever, The Palestra. No luxury boxes, no special seating, and no matter where you sat you could see the game. The guy or girl next to you was your best friend, not because you knew them, but because they rooted for your team. Last year the Big 5 celebrated its 50th anniversary and in those 50 years there have been some great players, great coaches, and great games.

With names like Guy Rodgers, Jameer Nelson, Randy Foye, Larry Cannon, Mark Macon, Lionel Simmons, Corky Calhoun, Doug Overton, and Randy Woods, the Big 5 has never lacked star power. Some coaches that have walked on to Big 5 hardwood include Jack Ramsay, Rollie Massimino (who I'll mention later), Jack McCloskey, Chuck Daly, John Chaney, Speedy Morris, and Jack Kraft. As for some of the greatest games there is the triple overtime game that took place in 1958 between eventual winner La Salle and Villanova. The 111-105 contest is still the highest scoring output in any Big 5 game. In 1966 St. Joe's guard Steve Donches hit a 29 foot jump shot to beat Villanova 71-69 in what many consider one of the greatest Big 5 game of all time.

Even in this era of basketball we live in you still overhear basketball enthusiasts saying, "That guy plays like a Philadelphia guard." I mean, who wouldn't want to be labeled as a Philadelphia guard. Temple guards, Guy Rodgers and Hal Lear, were the prototypes and still to this day are considered the greatest back court the Big 5 has ever seen. Rodgers was unselfish and strived to make everyone around him better, and nobody was more thankful for that than Hal Lear who went on to win the NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player in 1956 after both players led Temple to the Final Four. Big 5 guard play was evident even in today's era as Villanova's starting lineup this past season included FOUR guards.

Earlier I mentioned I would talk about Rollie Massimino once again. It's not because of any great accomplishment but in fact I bring him up because he almost destroyed the Big 5. If you were to ask hoops fans in Philadelphia why the Big 5 round-robin went on hiatus in the early 1990's, almost all of them will reply with one word, "Villanova". Former Villanova coach, Rollie Massimino, was nailed to the proverbial cross for taking 'Nova out of the Big 5. The Wildcats were labeled as snobbish Main Liners who didn't appreciate what really mattered to true Philadelphians. In Philadelphia there are two things you don't dare do, you don't say "with Whiz" when ordering a cheese steak and you don't mess with the Big 5. Suffice it to say Rollie hit a nerve and woke up the "horror" that is pissed off Philadelphia sports fans.

Until Villanova hired head coach Jay Wright, Big 5 fans still had a sour taste in their mouth whenever brought up the Wildcats, but with the hiring of the Berks County native that all thankfully changed. Wright has worked his tail off to erase all of that. He has been one of the biggest supporters of the Big 5 and sees it as a part of Philly history, part of the city's fabric. He remembers seeing games at The Palestra and Convention Hall. He remembered the camaraderie, the double headers, and the fan fare that is the Big 5.

The Big 5 has always meant something to me. My father teaches at Temple University and my grandfather attended Penn. I've never gone a trip after seeing one of them without hearing a Big 5 story or us debating who the greatest Big 5 player of all time was ( it's Guy Rodgers). Hopefully in the future when I have kids I can teach them the value of what the Big 5 means to the city of Philadelphia and to me. The spirit of the Big 5 lives on in me and I will always bleed Cherry and White.