My Fall break : Kenny, not Kyle Dillingham…

For the last two weeks, I relaxed in Durango, Denver, New York City, Fort Collins, and Santa Fe. Cars, planes, and subways are not the wrong way to take a break. Hanging with childhood friends, our four grown children, and Bogey, the dog(except for NYC) recharged my batteries. Three Broadway shows were one of many highlights(Hell’s Kitchen photo here), but the most significant move on my part was finding a way not to pick up my phone or open a laptop for days at a time. I succeeded on that front more than I initially thought. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t aware of the news cycle. It’s hard not to read the ticker in Times Square and see that Antonio Pierce was given an eight-year show-cause penalty(I chuckled) for cheating while at Arizona State. The Cardinals were trashed for an awful showing against Washington when I left. When I returned and checked email/social media, almost everything was cured because our hometown heroes of the gridiron beat the 49ers. Brent Brennan had Arizona heading in the right direction when I left after a convincing road win at Utah. Two weeks later, I wonder if T-Mac and Noah Fifita will get back on the same page. The beatdown at the hands of BYU on Saturday was an anemic performance at best. When I left, Arizona State was trying to figure out what went wrong at Texas Tech; two weeks later, students were storming the Sun Devil Stadium field after beating Utah. Kenny Dillingham’s participation in a post-game mosh pit may have brought in more national attention than the victory itself(how do you not like his enthusiasm?). 

What is wrong here? 

I make typos, have free-flowing thoughts, and am not afraid or ashamed that this is NEVER a perfect work of art. I work in the media biz, so when I see something as egregious as what happened not once but twice in a national broadcast Friday night, I am not as forgiving as a local broadcast production. Our industry continues to cut back. There were no announcers in the stadium for an FS1 broadcast of an ASU game earlier this year. The flight, hotel, rental car, and meals, I guess, were too much. Or laziness is the correct answer. It’s disrespectful to Kenny Dillingham and Arizona State; getting the head coach’s name wrong isn’t an “oopsie” moment…

My friends at the ASU-Utah game said the student section was electric, but there were plenty of open seats. I don’t do much on fan noise and attendance, but if you don’t think the damage from the cheating scandal didn’t impact the grownups in the Valley, you’re not in touch with reality. Kenny and his staff are trying to turn around the Titanic and are doing an excellent job of avoiding the icebergs, but all they have done is what they’ve expected to do. Keep their heads down, do their job, and block out the nonsense and hype. Storming the field is all good for the students, but to be among the elite in college football, you don’t play games where networks get the head coaches’ names wrong or do not have announcers in the booth. I’ve visited with Kenny and some of his staff enough to know that “hype and hope” aren’t part of their DNA. Nor should it be…

Yes, Cam Skatteboo is on my Heisman ballot, though we aren’t allowed to say where we have a player until after the award is handed out. So are Ashton Jeanty and Travis Hunter. Of course, anyone with a vote in the East or South won’t even know about the players out here. The quarterback at Alabama, Oregon, or Miami of Florida will get a lion’s share of the attention.

 When the Hometown Nine fired their pitching and bullpen coaches after missing the playoffs by a game, I wonder what this off season will bring. The future of the stadium lease has taken a nasty turn too…