Lessons from the Rose Bowl.

We used to say in California that the reason the CA Bears did so bad was that at Berkeley the militants were in the street and the pacifists on the football team. Things changed since then. There are militants now in both places so California does well. Not well enough to go to the Rose Bowl though. That honor went to Stanford. I hope you watched the game.

Stanford being on the Left Coast, you would figure it's PC up to the keister. That would mean a black Head Coach, a black QB and a black running back football star. Well, Stanford has a black Head Coach, but the PC stopped there, much to the discomfort of Iowa. You see, Stanford has a white QB and a star running back/pass receiver who is also white. Not only that, but a running back that comes along once in every generation.

Christian McCaffrey comes from a family of athletes and he has terrific speed. He can be stopped, of course, but by then he may have picked up 10-20 yards. Or more. On the first play of the game against Iowa, he went 75 yards to score. Later he returned a punt for a TD.

What makes him so successful? Speed yeah, for starters. But it is more than that. Imagine that you are a linebacker or a safety, McCaffrey got a good block and is through the line and coming at you. He leans to the right (which indicates that he will try to get by on your left). So, you have three choices: 1. move to your left to block him, 2. stay put or 3. move to your right, figuring that he will cut back to his left. The problem you have is that the guy is very fast. If you move to your left to block him, he will lean to his left and goes by you. If you move to the right, he will complete his fake to move to his right and goes by you. If you stay put, that's soyonara. He is gone. So, how do you defend against such a player? You have to have a three layer backfield dedicated to stopping him. Problem is, that the other team now has an opportunity to block even better with an extra man or two. Iowa was shell shocked and was down 35 to nothing before they found a way to score.

What this game shows is if talented white players are developed they will do well. Maybe this will happen with black coaches who are not beholden to PC but want to win.

On the other end of the football divide, it was the disgrace of Trevon Boykin. He is what I call a "black quarterback" , modeled on Donavan McNabb. McNabb was a powerful running back who could throw the ball. It was very difficult to defense McNabb, because if a team had the receivers covered, McNabb could run for 5-7 yards. Boykin was groomed to be another McNabb, but he was arrested in a bar fight two nights before the Frogs were to face the Ducks. It looked for a while that the Frogs might win without Boykin, but then Oregon figured out the right defense and scored 31 points. There was no Boykin to run the ball.

The bowl season goes on and on. Forty one games so far with more to come.