In Houston, Rockets’ incredible scoring machine named James Harden just seems to keep outdoing himself lately.

I watched Monday night’s game against the Memphis

Grizzlies.  Would you believe that James

Harden scored 57 points, captured 9 rebounds, and sold popcorn at halftime of

the Rockets’ 112-94 victory?

OK, he probably didn’t sell popcorn at halftime, but he did

have 36 points in the first half alone!

Did I say that he scored 57 after playing another game just

24 hours earlier on the road in Orlando?

Did I mention that he scored 57 points without having the

Rockets’ starting center, Clint Capela (thumb injury) or starting point guard,

Chris Paul (leg) in the line-up?

Did I fail to say that Memphis came into Houston’s Toyota

Center sporting the NBA’s best team defensive statistics (102 ppg)?  As Rocket’s Hall-of-Fame analyst Calvin

Murphy pondered, “Don’t you think Memphis might have tried to double-team him”?

The most amazing stat about James Harden’s performance was

that he played only 34 minutes in the game to get his 57 points.  Harden (aka “The Beard”) scored nearly two

points for every minute he was on the floor Monday night for the Rockets. 

The Rockets’ guard is the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player.  Counting last night’s performance, James Harden has now scored thirty or more points in 17 consecutive games. 

With that, Harden’s streak eclipsed the prior longest streak (since the ABA/NBA merger) held by Los Angeles Laker legend, Kobe Bryant, back in 2003.  The NBA all-time 30 points per game streak record is held by Wilt Chamberlain (20) in 1964 followed by Elgin Baylor’s 18 consecutive games in 1961 and into early 1962.

Harden is currently averaging nearly 35 points per game and

is a whopping five points per game ahead of both Kevin Durant (Warriors) and

Anthony Davis (Pelicans – for now). 

James Harden’s sizzling hot streak has taken greater significance with Chris Paul’s being sidelined with his latest injury (hamstring) twelve games ago in mid-December.

The Rockets’ scoring machine has done his personal best to

keep the team in contention in the always-tight NBA Western Conference

standings.   Houston has moved up to fourth

place and has won seven of its last ten games.

James Harden’s critics may talk about how the Rockets’ guard

receives more-than-favorable treatment from the NBA’s referees.  An 86% free throw shooter, Harden averages

nearly ten points per game from the free throw line alone.

Harden is big enough (at 6’6”) to score over smaller NBA guards and strong enough to work his way to the basket to score lay-ups.  He leads the NBA in three point shots made (nearly 5 per game) and shoots 38% from long-range. 

Whether shooting from inside or outside, James Harden reminds me of San Antonio Spurs’ Hall-of-Fame legend, George Gervin.  “The Iceman” averaged over 25 points per game over his 14-year professional career in the 1970’s and 80’s. 

Both were gifted scorers. 

Neither player met a shot they didn’t like!

For now,

For the second straight

season, the back-up quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles rescued his team and

led them deep into the NFL playoffs.

Nick Foles replaced an injured Carson Wentz (knee) in 2017 and took the Eagles to their first Super Bowl victory in the team’s long history with a win over the New England Patriots.  Foles outdueled legendary quarterback Tom Brady and earned the Super Bowl MVP as well. 

This season, the Eagles and

Foles agreed to a new contract (more about that later) to give Carson Wentz a

chance to finish healing from ACL surgery on his knee.  Nick Foles started the first two games for

the Eagles (going 1-1), and then handed the reins back to Wentz. 

Just like the prior season,

though, Carson Wentz incurred another late-season injury (back).  And, just like last season, Nick Foles led

the Eagles on an incredible run into the NFL playoffs.

On Sunday, though, Foles came up on the short end in the second round of the playoffs as his Eagles lost 20-14 to the New Orleans Saints headed by another quarterback from his high school. 

Some guy named Drew Brees.

Brees (1997) and Foles (2007) both graduated from Westlake High School in Austin, Texas.  Brees set several school records at quarterback in high school.  Foles came along and broke most of his records ten years later.

After high school, Nick Foles

left the warmth of Texas to play college football at Michigan State.  After riding the bench for his first year,

Foles went west and transferred to the University of Arizona for his final

three years of eligibility. 

Coming into the NFL in 2012 as a third round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles, Foles’ became the back-up quarterback behind a guy named Michael Vick.  Yes, that guy.

In 2013, Foles was given a

chance to start midway through the season due to an injury to Vick, and he made

the most of it.  He led the Eagles to the

playoffs (losing, ironically, to Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints) and was

named to the NFL All-Pro Team.

In 2014, Nick Foles’ magic in

Philly had faded a bit, and his season ended early with a collarbone

injury. 

Foles was traded to the St.

Louis Rams (now in Los Angeles) beginning in 2015.  Though he received a nifty two-year contract worth

over $24 million, Nick Foles’ on-field performance hit bottom, and he was

released after only one season.

For 2016, Foles signed a

one-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. 

After a year on the bench behind Alex Smith, it was another one-and-done

year for the journeyman quarterback.

After resurrecting the Eagles

in 2017 with a Super Bowl triumph and saving the team’s playoff chances in

2018, Nick Foles and the Eagles are at now at a very unusual contractual impasse.

According to reports, the current contract calls for the Eagles to pay Foles $20 million in 2019 (if they want to keep him).  They could also trade him to another team (assuming someone is willing to give-up a draft pick or player for Foles’ expensive contract). 

If the Eagles do elect to

keep Foles and pay him the $20 million, Foles has a brief window where he can

decline the offer and opt out of his contract by paying Eagles $2 million.

Though I think he looks more like Peter Parker from the Spiderman movies, Chicago Bears’ placekicker Cody Parkey will now be known as “Double Doink” after his heartbreaking missed field goal last weekend versus the Philadelphia Eagles.

Parkey had kept da’ Bears in

the slugfest game with the Eagles by making his first three field goal

attempts.  With seconds to play, he lined

up a game winning 43 yard attempt and drilled it through the uprights! 

But wait, the Eagles had called a time-out right before the kick.

The second attempt veered to the left, hit the left upright, then bounded downward to the crossbar, bounced up and fell on the wrong side of the crossbar.  No Good!  

The Bears’ season ended with a double doink thud.

The 26-year old Parkey was

obviously heartbroken with the miss that kept the Bears from moving into the

second round of the NFL playoffs. 

It’s what he DIDN”T do after

the critical miss that has made a positive impression on millions of fans. 

He pointed upward and thanked

the Almighty for having the chance to play professional football.  From there, Parkey went to a prayer circle

with his fellow players for a moment of silence and thanks. 

Then, Cody faced the Chicago

and national media head-on after the game. 

He stayed and patiently answered every question.

As expected, Bears fans vented their anger via social media with the expected rage.  Parkey’s Wikipedia page was immediately hacked and amended in a cruel manner. 

On Friday’s NBC’s “Today Show”, Parkey was asked to talk about his experience and was praised by the morning team for the manner in which he handled himself after the season-ending loss.

Cody Parkey’s class, poise,

and character in defeat reminded many people that participation in the games

should be about competition and sportsmanship, too.  It seems to have become more of a rarity in today’s

world.

Parkey had a great four-year college

career at Auburn.  Though he went undrafted,

Cody was signed by Indianapolis, but then traded to the Philadelphia Eagles before

the start of the 2014 season. 

While in Philly (ironically,

the same team which won last weekend’s game), Parkey had a stellar rookie

season in which he converted 32 out of 34 field goal attempts and was named to

the 2014 NFL Pro Bowl team. 

Unfortunately, a groin injury

hampered his performance the following season, and Cody was released. 

In 2016, it was on to

Cleveland.  After one season along Lake

Erie, Parkey moved on to Miami to play for the Dolphins.  His excellent season in Miami was good enough

to garner the attention of the Chicago Bears.

The Bears play outdoors in

windy downtown Chicago along the shores of Lake Michigan.  Many a field goal kicker has been humbled by

the swirling winds within Chicago’s Soldier Field. 

Chicago offered Cody Parkey a four-year $15 million contract (including $9 million guaranteed money) beginning with this season. 

Is it really over now? 

After 39 bowl games (OK – 38 this

year because the First Responder Bowl in Dallas was cancelled early in the game

due to persistent lightning), the Clemson Tigers have taken home the BCS

Championship Monday night to end another season of college football.

Being the honest person that I am, it’s time to report how well the SwampSwami Top 130 (ranking all of the BCS schools) performed during the college bowl season. 

The answer?   Not as well as I hoped.  With a bowl record of 22-16 (all picks were

based on the team’s final regular season ranking of the whopping 78 bowl participants),

I was hoping for better than a 58% winning percentage. 

Oh, well.  There’s always next year.

Though your faithful

SwampSwami put a lot of stock in the University of Central Florida for the past

two seasons, it’s important to note that UCF’s 25 game winning streak was a

terrific story.  Though LSU and UCF both

had key players missing in the Fiesta Bowl, I think it’s safe to say that UCF’s

injured quarterback, Milton McKenzie, might have caused a few more problems for

the Bayou Bengals. 

Hang in there, UCF.  And a big “Good luck and get well soon” to

Milton McKenzie recovering from your leg injuries!

It’s time to salute the Army

Cadets on a fantastic season, too.  With

a resounding thumping of the University of Houston in their bowl game, the

Black Knights finished with a school record eleven wins this year. 

To top it off, the Lombardi Foundation announced Tuesday that Army’s head football coach, Jeff Monken, has been named the winner of its 2018 Vince Lombardi College Football Coach of the Year Award.

The award is focused on leadership skills with recognition for, among other things: doing the most with the least, overcoming adversity, creating and/or maintaining a successful environment, and playing by the rules with integrity, honor, and respect.

Rising out of the swamp in Gainesville, the Florida Gators and new head football coach, Dan Mullen, improved from 4-7 in 2017 to 10-3 this season.  Move over, Georgia!  These Gators will be dangerous in the years to come.

The same positive vibes are coming out of Austin from Bevo and the Texas Longhorns.  Coach Tom Herman’s turnaround operation in Austin has lifted Texas into the national discussion for next season after the Horns whipped Georgia in the Sugar Bowl to finish the year at 10-4. 

On the other side, the decline of the Pac-12 Conference has been incredible.  Former powers like USC (5-7), Colorado (5-7), and UCLA (3-9) have nearly faded from the national discussion.  Though Washington State’s 10-2 season mark was impressive, only two conference teams (Wazzoo and the University of Washington) finished this season ranked in the Associated Press Top 25.

I call ‘em as I see ‘em, and SwampSwami continues to shake his head at the unwavering and undeserved media love showered onto the Big Ten Conference.  Ohio State (#3), Michigan (#14), Penn State (#17), Northwestern (#21), and Iowa (#25) serve to prove my point.

The Clemson Tigers and their talented and enthusiastic head football coach, Dabo Swinney, have earned the right to celebrate.  After dominating the Alabama Crimson Tide for the final three quarters and winning their second BCS (large school) national championship in the past three years, Clemson surprised everyone but themselves with their 44-16 victory on Monday night.

Here are my ten takeaways

from the championship game:

* Happiest for?   Clemson senior DT Christian Wilkins.  Wilkins, a Bednarik Award finalist this year, became the first football player at Clemson to graduate in 2½ years, earning a degree in communications. He is currently pursuing a graduate degree in athletic leadership.  On December. 4, Wilkins was named recipient of the 2018 William V. Campbell Trophy, which is presented annually to the top football scholar-athlete in the nation.* Alabama’s kryptonite?  A team with a great passing game.  The majority of teams in the Southeastern Conference are known for their “Rock’em, Sock’em” style of play which rarely feature quarterbacks and wide receivers as talented as Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Justyn Ross. * Clemson’s defensive strategy.  Clemson kept moving players toward the line of scrimmage as if to blitz Alabama’s talented quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, on nearly every down.  Sometimes they blitzed and other times they didn’t.  Tua’s “two-a” interceptions (one went for a Clemson touchdown) gave Clemson’s defense a spark and more confidence.* Fourth down SEC trickery should be left to Les Miles. Earlier this season, Georgia lost all momentum with a failed fourth down fake field goal in a loss to LSU and, a month ago, with a fake fourth down punt against Alabama.  On Monday, Alabama surprisingly attempted a fake field goal in the third quarter against Clemson when only down by 16 points.  It failed miserably, and you could feel Bama’s momentum die along with it.  Former LSU coach Les Miles was the master of fourth down deception, but he was ultimately fired by the Tigers, too. * An enduring halftime entertainment image.  * Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is the nation’s hottest recruiter.  Clemson’s key offensive stars all came from states with the SEC’s most dominant teams.  Quarterback Trevor Lawrence (Georgia), wide receiver Justyn Ross (Alabama) and running back Travis Etienne (Louisiana) would have made a big difference for the Bulldogs, Tide, and LSU’s Tigers this year, wouldn’t they?* Ironic Moment – Alabama QB Jalen Hurts.   After starting and winning every game for Alabama last year, Hurts was benched at halftime in favor of Tua Tagovailoa, who led Bama to a late victory over Georgia in last year’s national championship game.  During Monday’s game, I thought that Alabama abandoned its bread and butter running game too early against Clemson in favor of Tua’s passing threat.  Would Coach Saban have been better off running the ball more with Jalen Hurts during the second half of this game and keeping Clemson’s offense off the field?  Just sayin’…* The BCS playoffs won’t be expanded anytime soon.  With Clemson and Alabama reloading every year with talented players, I almost wish that the NFL would simply expand to take these two teams out of the college football mix.  Though I have nothing but respect for both programs, many college football fans would say that the current BCS format (four team playoff) should return back to the best two teams selected after the traditional bowl games end.  There’s no use to expand to an eight or 16 team playoff system anytime soon.* Alabama coach Nick Saban needs to ditch his all-white coaching jacket.

On Saturday afternoon in a sold-out professional soccer stadium (18,000) just north of Dallas in Frisco, Texas, the most successful American college football team of this decade just won another national championship.

No, it was not Alabama (though they have a chance to win another title on Monday night against Clemson).

The green and gold clad North Dakota State University Bison (pronounced “Bizen” by their boisterous and faithful fans) just took home their seventh national championship trophy in the last eight years participating in the NCAA’s college division for smaller schools (formerly called Division 1-A but now known as the Football Championship Subdivision or FCS).

NDSU (from Fargo, ND) withstood

a late challenge by Eastern Washington University (near Spokane, WA) to claim

this season’s title with a 38-24 victory. 

The Bison completed an

incredible 15-0 perfect season after plowing their way through the FCS playoffs. 

In case you were wondering, the

NCAA’s smaller division football playoffs are comprised of a whopping 24 teams

where the top eight seeds (NDSU was ranked #1 and Eastern Washington #3)

receive a first round bye.

Even with the first round

bye, North Dakota State had to win four playoff games against Montana State

(52-10), Colgate (35-0), South Dakota State (44-21) prior to getting the win in

Saturday’s finale against Eastern Washington.

It seems like a brutal road

to a championship, but most of these teams played “only” eleven regular season

games.  By contrast, many of the upper

level universities now play a 12-game regular season game, and, for the

winners, a 13th game for the conference championship.

Couldn’t the larger schools

adopt the same playoff model as the smaller division schools? 

As usual these days, the real

answer is money.  The extra regular

season game (#12) in the large-school group generates a lot of money –

especially for those teams who will not be participating in the conference

championship game or the current four team BCS playoffs.

By winning on Saturday, the North Dakota State University Bison have the most FCS championships (seven) in history and have displaced Georgia Southern University (six) at the top. 

The head coach of the Bison, Chris Klieman, has accepted a new job to become the head football coach of Kansas State University.  He replaces legendary successful coach, Bill Snyder, who recently re-retired at K-State at youthful age 79.

With a record of 69-6 in his

five seasons at NDSU, Klieman knows how to win and also knows how to recruit in

the Midwest. 

Klieman’s long-time defensive

coordinator, Matt Entz, will take over the reins of the Bison next season. 

Both universities’ football

programs appear to be in very good hands.

With seven championships in

eight seasons, Fargo, home of the North Dakota State University Bison, is

becoming the new “Title Town” in the upper Midwest.

According to information released this week, the National Football League has eight head football coaching job openings for the league’s 32 franchises.  That is a 25% turnover rate in one season.

Think about that number as it applies to your office.

If a quarter of your company’s staff was replaced every

year, most of us might believe your company would seem to be a rather unstable

and risky place to work.

So, with eight NFL franchises tossing their current head

coaches overboard, why would anyone want to jump in to replace them?

Three primary reasons come to mind.  Money, control, and ego (plus a new job title

on your resume).

Let’s start with money.  According to some reports, NFL head coaching annual pay in 2018 ranged from about $10 million (Bill Belichick, New England and Jon Gruden, Oakland Raiders) down to about $3.5 million at the lower end.

From the NFL owner’s perspective, paying the team’s

strategic leader this kind of money is pocket change in comparison to the team’s

player payroll of about $200 million per season.   If things don’t work out well, a slump in

ticket sales alone can justify making a coaching change.

Now, let’s look at the control aspect.  Some coaches like being in control of the

entirety of the team instead of just one side of the ball on offense or

defense. 

The most consistently winning franchises will have a good

balance on both offense and defense.  A successful

head coach will try to get both sides of the ball playing to their maximum

potential.  The selection and supervision

of assistant coaches by the head coach are tantamount to success.

From the owner’s perspective, NFL coaches usually have some

input to player selection.  However, the

ultimate decision on players rests with the team’s general manager.  A great coaching staff with only mediocre NFL

players will usually result in mediocre team records, too.

Finally, let’s examine the ego side of becoming an NFL head

coach.  For all football players and most

coaches, the National Football League marks the pinnacle of success in the

sport of football. 

Though many coaches are content to make very good money (and

have lower stress) by remaining a successful assistant coach, the internal drive

(ego) will lead certain coaches to try their hand at driving the ultimate

thrill machine – an NFL franchise.

Even legendary college football coaches like Nick Saban and

Steve Spurrier felt the need to try their hand at the professional level.  Though these two coaches ultimately returned

to college coaching, the need to achieve can become a never-ending quest. 

A good question was posed to me this week by my

daughter-in-law.  “What happens to all of

these eight coaches after they have been fired? 

Do they just recycle them and get picked by another team?”

Generally, most NFL coaches will be paid the remainder of

their contract after being fired. 

Hue Jackson (Cleveland), Mike McCarthy (Green Bay), Dirk

Koetter (Tampa Bay), Todd Bowles (New York Jets), Vance Joseph (Denver), Adam

Gase (Miami), Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati), and Steve Wilks (Arizona) were