Tips for Riley Nelson

Look, I'm not a quarterback and I've never played football - unless you count BYU intramural football. If that counts, the first game I played at quarterback I threw six touchdowns and zero picks. We won. Even without that lengthy resume, I feel qualified to offer some advice to BYU's starting quarterback. I'm going to be as positive as I can, because I genuinely want the best for Riley and the program.

Here goes.

First, be a quarterback first and a running back second. It seems like you always have running the ball in the back of your mind and that leads to a lot of sacks and negative plays. In last week game at Notre Dame, you were sacked three times to end drives. That can't happen.

Second, you are two very talented receivers. Ross Apo is 6'3" 207. Cody Hoffman is 6'4" 215. Why are Apo's only receptions off of wide receiver screens? If you need to, please talk to Brandon Doman about this. BYU will never again have two wide receivers of this caliber at the same time. Throw them the ball. Have you ever played the game 500? Just throw the ball up in the air and I guarantee you they will make some plays.

Lastly, go into coaching. I'm sure many teams could use a motivator like you. It's obvious that Bronco Mendenhall loves you to death, and sadly that is why this program isn't taking it to the next level. Jake Heaps should have been the starter all last year and he should still be here. He was a quarterback. Riley, you were on the kickoff team last year. My point is, if BYU had a quarterback this year, we would be 6-2 at least.

I really appreciate all Riley has done for BYU. He's got heart, he's got enthusiasm. However, he could still have contributed these attributes to the team without having to be under center. Let's hope BYU can again return to the tradition of QB-U and find someone to provide some consistency at that position.

What is Bronco Mendenhall doing?

Let me first say, Bronco Mendenhall is doing an amazing job with the defense. They haven't allowed a TD in 15 quarters?  They have held 13 or 14 straight opponents under 300 yards of total offense. Just staggering. The defense could not be playing better.

On the flip side, the decisions that have been made on the offensive/special teams side have been atrocious. Now, who is making the decisions that I have a problem with, is it Brandon Doman or Bronco? I don't know. Let me just review a few.

1. The two-point conversion attempt at Boise State. If our center could have blocked his man, this might not be a talking point. However, based on how well his defense was doing, I don't know how he could not trust them to win. Or maybe he just had no faith in his kicking game - and why should he I guess.

2. The false starts against Utah. How many? Nine? Ten? Whatever it was, is that the coaches fault?

3. The personal fouls. Every year BYU makes so many undisciplined, bone-headed, emotionally charged stupid personal fouls. I've heard that Bronco likes them to play aggressive, and that's fine. But, is there not a way to tone down the aggression and play with some smarts?

4. The fake field goal against Utah State. Two reason I hate the call. One, just look at what happened. Two, now the field goal unit realizes you have zero confidence in them to make a 25-yard field goal. Wasn't Justin Sorensen supposed to be the kicker of all kickers. I remember hearing stories of him nailing 70-yarders in practice. Maybe he should have been practicing the 30-yarders instead.

5. Running Taysom Hill with two minutes left. The game was over, get into victory formation and end it. Instead, they kept running Hill and he injures his knee on his last running play. Now he is out for the year, rumor has it. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb.

Basically, if I WOULD do these things while playing Madden, it is not something a Division 1-A coach should be doing, and I've done all of these.

Bobby Valentine is gone - finally

I don't want to bash people. I don't want to project hate. So I won't. I will just say that I'm glad Bobby Valentine will have new employment next year. Every decision that he has made this year has been a horrible one. I can't imagine playing for him, I can't imagine others wanting to play for him. I can't imagine why he was ever hired.

So long Bobby. No more talking down his players. No more blaming his coaches. No more, no more. Looking forward to the next manager.

Replacement Refs and Obama

My first press conference question

Click HERE to see the press conference. You hear my question about 7:40 ish.

Max Hall article published on TornbySports

Please check out my article that was published on the up and coming blog, TornbySports.

Click here

If I had a jumper

What if I told you there once was a skier who won a Gold Medal at the Olympics, but he didn't know how to ski? You'd call me crazy--and probably be interested in knowing what I was talking about. I have a similar story.

I always loved the game of basketball. It was my passion as a child. I spent every day of summer playing basketball in my driveway pretending I was Larry Bird and the Celtics trying to beat Magic and the Lakers. I shot and I shot and I shot for hours. Thanks to that I became a pretty decent shooter. Actually, at my young age, I was a very good shooter. In my mind, that was a prerequisite for playing basketball and being successful. The NBA has proven me wrong. I bring you a list of 4 NBA players who have made the All-Star game in the last 5 years, who can't shoot the rock.

This picture is worth a thousand words.

Somebody might want to tell Ben Wallace his right hand is facing the wrong direction

Mutombo looks concerned. We all know why.

Rondo might want to consider using two hands.

Just as I was about to send this to press I decide to search "define basketball" on google. This is what I found: "a game played on a court by two opposing teams of 5 players; points are scored by throwing the ball through an elevated horizontal hoop". It looks like these guys are throwing the ball at the basket, not shooting.

True there are many different tasks to be performed on the court, and players are paid big bucks for specialized skills and abilities they bring to a team. But here's my take...you get paid millions of dollars to play basketball in the NBA...learn how to shoot.