KFDM COOP Posted April 20, 2008 Report Posted April 20, 2008 This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Charles about to be Port Arthur's 21st NFL draft selection When Jamaal Charles' name is called out during ESPN's coverage of the NFL draft next weekend, he'll become the 21st player from a Port Arthur high school to be selected in the annual pro football talent grab. Among the previous 20, two — Lincoln's Joe Washington (San Diego) and Aaron Brown (Chiefs) City) — were taken in the first round and three more — Lincoln's Jonathan Babineaux (Falcons) and Tom Smiley (Bengals) and TJ's Cotton Speyrer (Redskins) — went in the second round. Seven others, headed by Lincoln's by Lincoln's Tim McKyer (49ers), SFA's Duriel Harris (Dolphins) and TJ's Gary Hammond (Jets), were selected in round three . . . While most mock drafts continue to project Charles in the early to mid part of the second round, Rick Gosslelin of the Dallas Morning News, who is one of the most tuned-in NFL writers, came out with a mock draft Friday that had Tampa Bay taking Jamaal with the 20th pick in the first round. His comment was that the Bucs are desperate for somebody who can break long runs . . . For those of you planning to monitor the draft on TV, a major change has been made that will speed things up. Instead of 15 minutes between picks in the first round, teams will have 10. That drops to seven minutes in the second round. The draft starts shortly after 2 p.m., so it probably won't start to get interesting on Charles until in the 5 o'clock hour. That's also about the time the Texans and Cowboys, barring a trade up, will go on the clock. Lamar University athletic director Billy Tubbs is so secretive about the school's search for a football coach you would think it's a clandestine CIA operation. Tubbs, however, did respond to Tom Halliburton's grilling Thursday with an in-jest remark that, "Hey, you know the Port Arthur News and Beaumont Enterprise will name the coach anyway." To which I say that might not be a bad idea. If Lamar had taken my recommendation to hire Ronnie Thompson instead of Ray Alborn in the early 1980s, the football program probably would not have had to be shut down. And if LU had hired Tim Floyd to succeed Tom Abatemarco in 1988, as suggested here, the basketball program wouldn't have endured such a lengthy swoon. The seed for bringing Tubbs back as basketball coach was also planted in this space several years ago, Bottom line, Billy, the Port Arthur News has made better choices than Lamar has, so if you need help I've got the name of the guy who should be the next coachwritten on a sheet of paper in my desk . . . In Wednesday's column about the forthcoming book from CBS' Jim Nantz — Always By My Side — I wrote that the cost of the book would be $26. Actually, it can be purchased for $17 in advance of the May 6 release date on the Barnes and Noble website (www.bn.com) and at www.amazon.com. Nantz, incidentally, will make his annual guest appearance on my Sportsrap radio show Monday night. Among other things, we'll be talking about the book, about Tiger Woods' knee surgery and about the NCAA basketball tournament. Jim, for those who might be interested, will be doing a book signing May 21 and 22 in Houston. One of my pet peeves with major league baseball as it's played in this era is the way managers automatically bring in their closer in the ninth inning, no matter how well the starter is pitching. It blew up big time on the Astros Cecil Cooper Monday night in Philadelphia when he removed Shawn Chacon following eight scoreless innings. New closer Jose Valverde, who looks like he may make Astro fans wish they had Brad Lidge back, promptly blew a 3-0 lead. With a shutout and a three-run cushion, why not at least let Chacon start the ninth? If he runs into trouble, then you make a move . . . Color me amused at how many in the Houston media are implying it's no big deal that new Astros' shortstop Miguel Tejada has been lying about his age since he signed with Oakland in 1993. The difference between 31 and 33 might not seem significant with Tejada swinging a hot bat, but would the Astros have given up so much in a trade with Baltimore had they known the truth. At 33, he's not all that far from where players tend to start going downhill. Let him boot a few ground balls and endure a prolonged slump and the big lie will become a bigger issue . . . Charles Barkley rubs a lot of people the wrong way with things he says, but there is no question the former Phoenix Sun and Houston Rocket has a big heart. Barkley, who made a $1 million donation to help rebuild homes wiped out in Hurricane Katrina, recently wrote a check for $100,000 for victims of last summers's wildfire in Lake Tahoe. That was a followup to a dinner he hosted for 100 local firefighters who battled the blazes that destroyed 254 homes. Next to playing quarterback for the Cowboys and courting Jessica Simpson, Tony Romo's biggest interest is his golf game. The golf was on display Saturday at the revamped TPC Four Seasons at Los Colinas where Romo was chosen to be part of a foursome to re-open a course which has been basically rebuilt since last year's Byron Nelson Classic. Romo, who says he's going to try to qualify for the U.S. Open, was paired with Trip Kuehne against PGA Tour members J.J. Henry and Harrison Frazar . . . Thumbs up to Tiger Woods for the low-key manner he handled his knee surgery last week. If Tiger had made the announcement immediately after completing play in the Masters, it would not only have sounded like an excuse, but it would have completely stolen the thunder from Trevor Immelman's victory. By waiting until Tuesday to put word out on his website, he gave Immelman plenty of time to bask in the glow. An orthopedic surgeon in LA, by the way, predicted Woods is going to have a chronic problem with his left knee and will require more surgeries in the future . . . Hard to believe the ratings conscious NFL signed off on a 2008 schedule that has the Cleveland Browns making three appearances on Monday Night Football and the Dallas Cowboys getting only one. Cleveland also has two other prime time appearances. The more I look at Tracy McGrady's shooting statistics, the more I shake my head at him being lumped with the NBA's upper echelon players. McGrady finished the NBA regular season averaging 21.6 points, but did it while shooting 41.9 percent from the field, 29.2 on three pointers and 68.4 at the foul line. He can be awesome when he's in the zone but he's way too inconsistent. If he doesn't improve on the shooting numbers, the Rockets won't get beyond five games against Utah . . . Minor league baseball teams, in the spirit of the late, great Bill Veeck, have long been known for wild and wacky baseball promotions. Taking the tradition a step further are the Kansas City T-Bones, who have scheduled May 28 as "Michael Vick, Welcome to the Neighborhood Night." With Vick incarcerated in the nearby federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan., the May 28 promotion involves a warning track parade of dogs up for adoption from 10 area animal shelters. Plans call for the T-Bones team to wear black-and-white prison style jerseys and the visiting Gary SouthShore RailCats to be decked out in orange jumpsuit jerseys. Sounds like this one could backfire. I'll be surprised if somebody doesn't pull the plug . . . What is the most "miserable" sports city in America, based on a criteria of heartbreak and gut-wrenching losses by teams good enough to raise expectations? According to Forbes.com, it's Atlanta. Houston is No. 6. Rounding out the top five are No. 2 Seattle, No. 3 Buffalo, No. 4 Phoenix and No. 5 San Diego.
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