In a Washington Post piece showcasing the differences and similarities between the Nationals’ decision to sit Stephen Strasburg at the end of last season and Redskins’ choice to play Robert Griffin III yesterday, Adam Kilgore writes:

The choices say more about the mores of the respective sports than the men making them. Football is brutal and vicious, and players are pumped with all manner of painkillers and drugs to get them through Sunday. You wonder if ANY coach would have pulled Griffin if he thought Griffin gave them the best chance to win. Baseball keeps counts on the number of pitches thrown. Baseball players are tough, but they can also walk when they are 60.

Both Griffin and Strasburg faced their dilemma with the same rub-dirt-on-it ethos. [Skins coach Mike] Shanahan said he based his decision on what Griffin told him — that he was “hurt” and not “injured.” Strasburg raged at the decision to shut him down and repeatedly told Nationals brass he felt fine. Players always want to play.

When [Nats general manager] Rizzo made his decision, he took all competitive considerations out of play and made what he believed was a purely medical decision. When Shanahan made his decision, he placed victory above all and, if Dr. James Andrews’s quotes to USA Today tell the full story, may have willfully ignored medical opinion.

More Kilgore here, while the Dr. Andrews article he cites is here.

Good morning.

Here are several go-to links to make the first Monday of 2013 a bit more bearable:

• Grantland’s Jonah Keri explains that big-league teams that have not yet signed new deals for regional sports networks may discover that future deals will not be anywhere near as lucrative as those already inked.
• Even before Lance Berkman agreed to a one-year deal with the Rangers, Paul Swydan of Fangraphs was soothing the troubled among those who root for the Rangers:

Public opinion of the Rangers’ offseason seems to have taken a negative tone — they lost Josh Hamilton to free agency, and were unable to lure Zack Greinke into their clutches. But despite these two misses the sky is most definitely not falling in Texas. Between its additions around the edges, its addition by subtraction and the trio of prospects that it will graduate to the majors, the team should be primed for a fourth consecutive pennant chase in 2013.

• In news unlikely to greatly improve the mood of Mets fans, Rich Sandomir of the New York Times explores what the owners might do with the more than $160 million they received in funds from a recent round of loan refinancing.
• SB Nation’s Rob Neyer remains doubtful that the notoriously old-school front office of the Twins is embracing analytics to a significant degree.
• Those same fans might at least chuckle about three less-than-beloved former Mets now taking up space on the Mariners’ 40-man roster: Oliver Perez, Jason Bay, and, as of last Thursday, Mike Jacobs. In fairness, Jeff Sullivan of Lookout Landing points out that Jacobs is unlikely to see much time in the majors this season:

He swings hard, he strikes out, he doesn’t walk, and he’s clumsy in the field. He can slug somewhere in the neighborhood of .500 and that’s basically going to be his job. Also, he’s a veteran, so you can think of this as being the Tacoma equivalent of the Raul Ibanez signing. Jacobs’ greatest asset might be his knowledge of how the major leagues work, and next year’s Rainiers could and should be loaded with top prospects. If the Mariners believe that Ibanez can help the young guys in the bigs, they probably believe that Jacobs can help the young guys on the verge. Maybe he will help or maybe he won’t. Maybe Jacobs will be a replacement-level player in the PCL, too.

• Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald cites a Marlins source who is adamant that the team has no intention of dealing Giancarlo Stanton.
• Is Jose Canseco really considering running for mayor of Toronto? According to Daniel Dale of the Star, the answer is, um, no. 

• Brian Kenny interviews Cooperstown Confidential author Zev Chafets on the history of the Hall of Fame’s “character clause” and how it may impact this offseason’s vote.

That’s it. Have a walk-off week!

Hey, I don’t think it’s creepy at all for the head coach of the Jets having a tattoo of his wife clad only in a Mark Sanchez jersey his arm. . .

Exit question: is she “Tebowing?“

No word on whether or not Bloomberg’s treats were low-sodium, trans-fat-free and 16 oz. or less:

Spurs forward Stephen Jackson left San Antonio’s 100-83 loss to the Knicks after spraining his right ankle when he crashed into a waitress working the sideline in front of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“Guess who just contributed to the crime rate in NYC,” tweeted New York Daily News reporter Frank Isola.

Jackson was hurt in the first quarter Thursday night when he shot a 3-pointer from the corner. The shot missed and he stepped backward out of bounds and onto the waitress, who was kneeling in front of courtside seats.

A former Division I football player alleges in a lawsuit against his alma mater that school personnel injected him repeatedly with a generic version of the potent painkiller Toradol without informing him of the potential side effects:

Controversy surrounding the drug has grown this year following claims by former USC lineman Armond Armstead that he suffered a heart attack after the 2010 season, at age 20, following shots of generic Toradol administered over the course of the season by the team doctor and USC personnel.

“I thought, you know, can’t be me, you know? This doesn’t happen to kids like me,” Armstead told ABC News.

The manufacturers’ warning label for generic Toradol (ketorolac tromethamine) says the drug is not intended for prolonged periods or for chronic pain and cites gastrointestinal bleeding and kidney failure as possible side effects of the drug.

In addition, like other drugs in its class, the generic Toradol label warns “may cause an increased risk of serious cardiovascular thrombotic events, myocardial infarction (heart attack), and stroke, which can be fatal.”

“This risk may increase with duration of use,” the so-called black box warning reads.

In a lawsuit against the school and the doctor, Dr. James Tibone, Armstead claims the school ignored the stated risks of the drug and never told him about them.

“He was a race horse, a prize race horse that needed to be on that field no matter what,” said Armstead’s mother Christa. “Whether that was a risk to him or not.”

Armstead says he and many other USC players would receive injections of what was known only as “the shot” in a specific training room before big games and again at half-time.

“No discussion, just go in. He would give the shot and I would be on my way,” Armstead told ABC News.

Armstead said the shot made him feel “super human” despite severe ankle, and later shoulder pain, and that without it, he never could have played in big USC games against Notre Dame and UCLA.

“You can’t feel any pain, you just feel amazing,” the former star player said.

USC declined to comment on Armstead’s claims, or the use of Toradol to treat Trojan players.

An ABC News crew and reporter were ordered off the practice field when they tried to question USC coach Lane Kiffin about the use of the painkiller.

Later at a news conference promoting the Sun Bowl, where USC was defeated earlier this week, Kiffin said he had no idea when or if Toradol was being used on his players, or about its risks.

“Well, if that was the case then, yeah, I did not know that until you told me,” Kiffin said. “You educated me, thank you.” [empashis mine]

A NCAA spokespeson told ABC News that the college-sports governing body “has no such requirement to regulate or even track the use of painkillers.” The article’s authors point out that the NFL, NHL, and NBA permit the use of Toradol but have stringent oversight requirements, whereas a New York Times piece April 2012 portrays MLB’s apparent lack of oversight of the powerful drug.

We’ll see if this goes anywhere as Penn State isn’t party to the actual lawsuit. If I were Governor Corbett, I’d be a little concerned about what other information the NCAA has that they can put out there as well as what the NCAA can ask Penn State for during the discovery process:

The commonwealth will sue the NCAA over the sanctions imposed on Penn State resulting from the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Gov. Tom Corbett will announce Wednesday that he is filing a federal lawsuit against the NCAA for its sanctions against Penn State, according to a news release from the Governor’s Office.

Corbett will hold an 11 a.m. news conference Wednesday in the Alumni Fireside Lounge of the Nittany Lion Inn.

The state is acting without the university in preparing the lawsuit. Penn State spokesman David La Torre told the CDT that the university is not aware of the lawsuit.

University trustee Anthony Lubrano also said he didn’t have much information on the lawsuit.

“If true, I’m glad that the governor has finally come to agree with my point of view that the NCAA had no authority to intervene in this matter,” he said Tuesday. “I do wonder why it took him so long to come to that point of view.”

The rest here.

University of South Carolina’s Jadeveon Clowney absolutely blows up Michigan’s Vincent Smith in the Outback Bowl. Apologies to John J. Miller:

The year 2012 presented us with many great soccer goals: Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s bicycle kick in a friendly (an exhibition game, that is) against England from 30 yards out, Cristiano Ronaldo’s cheeky backheel goal against Rayo Vallecano in La Liga, Lionel Messi’s Maradonaesque success against Brazil. All of them can be found here. Enjoy! Many more to come in 2013.

Good morning.

Here are several go-to links to add a bit more joy to your New Year’s Eve:

• The Red Sox fortified their bullpen in a six-player trade that netted them Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan. SweetSpot’s Christina Kahrl gives the Pittsburgh front office kudos for the haul they received in return.
• Brad Johnson of the Hardball Times suggests that those free agents who have yet to sign with a club consider talking with the Astros or another seemingly hapless team.
• Also at the Hardball Times, Bruce Markusen writes about the tragic tale of Ryan Freel.
• Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs looks at 2012 strike zones based on pitch type and concludes:

The results are probably about what you’d expect. Fastballs are the easiest pitches to receive, getting the more favorable strike zones. There’s little difference between the sinkers, the two-seamers, the four-seamers, and the cutters. As pitches move more, we see less favorable strike zones. Of course it’s challenging to catch a knuckleball — nobody knows what the pitch is going to do. Of course it’s challenging to catch a big curveball, and maybe especially an A.J. Burnett curveball. Catching those pitches might require more movement on the catcher’s part, and of course the break can be deceiving. Pitches with more movement will be more difficult to locate, too, and there’s presumably a strike-zone benefit to pitching around your spots instead of unpredictably all over the zone.

• Meanwhile, Beyond the Boxscore’s James Gentile observes data from 1993 to 2011 to determine which pitchers hurt their teams least with their walks. The top three are Rick Reed, Greg Maddux, and Steve Trachsel.
• Trish Vignola of Full Spectrum Baseball profiles the late Tom Cheek, the 2013 Ford Frick Award honoree. Cheek worked in the Blue Jays’ radio broadcast booth from the franchise’s first game in 1977 through late into the 2004 season.
• Joe Posnanski of Sports on Earth shares his fond childhood memories of a 1976 Boog Powell baseball card.
• The power-hitting outfielder known as “Godzilla” has called it quits. Hideki Matsui played ten big-league seasons in Japan and another ten in the States, posting a .282/.360/.462 slash line with the Yankees, Angels, A’s, and Rays.

• Above you will find selection No. 5 in “Baseball Nation’s favorite GIFs, part XII,” courtesy of Grant Brisbee. Oof!

That’s it. Have a walk-off 2013!

Yes, these amazing kicking tricks performed by 28-year-old Norwegian soccer player Harvard Rugland are legit:

“It started this summer vacation and we made a trick shot video of me kicking a football,” Rugland told ABC News.

The video now has more than one million views on YouTube since it was originally posted in September.

“I think it’s around 1.1 [million], actually, now,” added Rugland.

Pro football’s New York Jets were among those vast amounts of views. Since Tim Tebow couldn’t answer the prayers of the beleaguered franchise, officials apparently went looking overseas to Norway for a savior.

“They had watched the video and they liked what they saw and they wanted me to go to tryouts,” said Rugland.

It was a pretty great accomplishment for Rugland, who may have been kicking a soccer ball his whole life, but only started kicking a football a year and a half ago.

And the tryout went well for Rugland.

“Out of 20 kicks, I made 16, 17, I think,” he said.

Alas, the Jets’ incumbent kicker, Nick Folk, has been successful on 78.3 percent of his field goal attempts this season, including three of four from beyond 50 yards, and has converted all of his extra point tries during his five-year professional career.

In other words, don’t expect the Jets to retain the services of both L.A. native Folk and Aalgaard resident Rugland.

That would simply be an unafjordable luxury. [ducks]

Because there are too few examples of good news about athletes. Via Deadspin:

The NCAA allows bowl participants to accept sponsors’ gifts up to $550 in value, and for players competing in Friday’s Russell Athletic Bowl most of that value came in a $470 Best Buy gift card. That’s valuable potential swag for most college kids, but Hokies defensive back Antone Exum—caught up in the spirit of the season, perhaps…

Good morning.

Here are several go-to links to make your Christmas Eve a bit less hectic:

• According to the defensive-runs-saved metric (DRS), created by John Dewan of ACTA Sports, the Blue Jays and Braves were the top teams in the field in 2012, while the Rockies had the most porous defense.
• Nick Swisher agreed to a $56 million, four-year contract, including a fifth-year vesting option, with the Indians. Let’s Go Tribe’s Jason Lukehart appears cautiously optimistic based on current player valuations.
• The Cubs inked Edwin Jackson to a $52 million, four-year deal shortly after giving Carlos Villanueva a two-year gig valued at $10 million. CSN Chicago’s Patrick Mooney points out:

Jackson is still young enough that he can be a factor when the Cubs project they’ll really start being contenders. But this at least makes the next two bridge years more interesting.

• In the press conference following Seibu Lion Hiroyuki Nakajima’s signing a $6.5 million, two-year contract with the A’s, the 30-year old shortstop revealed that he was interested in Oakland because he found general manager Billy Beane “extremely sexy and cool.” Perhaps he had the Moneyball general manager confused with Billy Bean?
• The Diamondbacks agreed to terms with Cody Ross in an agreement worth $26 million over three years, to which the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro sagely responds, “Huh?”
• In other select free agent news, Ichiro Suzuki elected to remain in the Bronx, Francisco Liriano signed with the Pirates, A. J. Pierzynski joined the Rangers, and Raul Ibanez will be on the Mariners roster for a third time.
• There were two trades of note over the past several days: Seattle sent Jason Vargas to the Angels in exchange for Kendrys Morales, while Joel Hanrahan went from the Pirates to the Red Sox in what appears to be a six-player deal. As to the fomer deal, Albert Chen of Sports Illustrated notes the Mariners’ offensive woes — the team scored a miserly 619 runs last season — and comments: “[General manager Jack] Zduriencik wasn’t going to find a power hitter of Morales’ caliber on the free-agent market, so this was a move he had to make.”
• I’ll have what Tim Marchman of the Wall Street Journal’s having: “The Mets Lineup Can Compete With Dodgers . . . Stop Laughing.”
• This is über-cool: On his personal site, Mark Willis dreams up what the AL East uniforms would look like if they were actually soccer jerseys.

• Via Nationals Enquirer, is that really you, Santa Danny Espinosa?
• According to Jacksonville police, former Reds player Ryan Freel, 36, committed suicide last week with a shotgun blast to the head. His big-league career as cut short by a series of injuries, including several concussions. May his memory be for a blessing.

That’s it. To those who celebrate, have a walk-off Christmas!

Miami New Times:

“I’m dangerous,” 23-year-old Garrett Holeve warns as he bounces around a bedroom in his parents’ suburban, single-story house, throwing punches and kicks. A pungent combination of protein-powered farts, dirty laundry, and ball sweat permeates the air.

“I’ll hurt a guy real bad,” Garrett brags. “I’ll be covered in too much blood, and I’ll keep hurting him. Kick him in the mouth so hard the mouth guard flies out.”

The words don’t roll off his tongue. They bunch up in his throat and pour out in a slurred manner that’s difficult to understand. This is just one of the ways Garrett’s Down syndrome manifests itself.

“Oh, umm,” he stammers frequently when looking for an answer. “Finding a fight takes time. My friend Chris is going to get me a fight.”

He carries other telltale physical characteristics of the genetic condition: small ears that look like half-hearts, almond-shaped eyes, wide hands with short fingers, and a small, round mouth. Further affecting his health is rheumatoid arthritis that afflicts his right knee.

Garrett stands five feet tall and weighs 136 pounds. But he can drop to 125 pounds in a few days to make weight for his beloved sport, mixed martial arts. His black wifebeater reveals the tattoo of a black Punisher skull engulfed in black flames near his left shoulder. His neck and arms are solid muscle, large enough to make clear that his fists could permanently alter the alignment of an opponent’s nose.

The rest here.

Report: Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton worked as high-priced escort.

I’ve hit on this theme before, particularly with respect to publicly financed stadiums. It bears repeating:

During the recent presidential race, Mitt Romney was pilloried for his surreptitiously recorded remarks that “47 percent” of Americans are “dependent upon government,” believe that they are “entitled to … you name it” and will never be persuaded to “take personal responsibility and care for their own lives.” Romney was wrong about the 47 percent. (Disagree? Send your hate mail here before going Galt.) But he was right about the country hosting a system-gaming moocher class, an entitled, irresponsible, parasitic piglet subset, lazily suckling from the public teat, pulled up by shiny new bootstraps purchased with government giveaways, forever hiding in plain sight.

To find them, just flip on ESPN.

Or better still, visit any sports stadium.

They’re the team owners sitting in luxury boxes built with taxpayer dollars, charging PSL fees for seats constructed with the same. They’re the athletes writing off fines for bad behavior. They’re the multimillion-dollar professional leagues, Ozymandias-shaming college athletic departments and — ahem — charitable bowl games all enjoying lucrative and dubious non-profit status. Their ranks include Tiger Woods, whose namesake foundation once received a $100,000 federal grant; the Baseball Hall of Fame, which pocketed $1.57 million in federal funds between 2002 and 2006; and the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame, which seven years ago was given $75,000 as part of a larger appropriations bill funding the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development. (Additional point of incredulous outrage: The Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame doesn’t even include Jim Brown.) They are the undeserving beneficiaries of inappropriate, unnecessary public subsidy, feathering their overstuffed nests of downy-soft private profit, adding to America’s astronomical charge card bill all the while. They are the Welfare Kings (hi again, Jeffrey Loria!) and Queens (rest in peace, Georgia Frontiere!) of sports, crying poor while grifting and lifting society’s collective wallet, perpetually grabbing for more, more, more.

Victor Cruz of the NY Giants found out Jack Pinto, one of the murdered children from Friday, was a huge fan. Cruz honored him on Sunday and has been in contact with the family:

Good morning.

Here are several go-to links to make this mid-December Monday a bit more bearable:

• Dave Cameron of Fangraphs explains why, although the pending trade of R. A. Dickey to Toronto might look awfully similar to Kansas City’s controversial acquisition of James Shields, the former was a shrewd move by Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos:

The 2012 Royals were 72–90 and were outscored by 70 runs. The 2012 Blue Jays were 73–89 and were outscored by 68 runs. The talent exchanges are similar. The cost and team control of the acquired pitchers will be similar, assuming Dickey signs an extension with Toronto, which seems like a pretty strong bet. So, if we ripped the Royals for the Shields trade, how can we not rip the Blue Jays for making a similar trade?

In this case, the prior [offseason] moves make all the difference in the world.

• Grantland’s Jonah Keri offers a thorough analysis of last Tuesday’s three-way deal between the Diamondbacks, Indians, and Reds, which includes a questioning of Arizona’s offseason moves.
• The Red Sox inked starter Ryan Dempster to a two-year contract totalling $26.5 million. While hardly overwhelmed, Marc Normandin of Over the Monster is satsified:

Dempster will be 36 in 2013, but has been as good as his younger brethren on the free agent market whether you look at the last five years, three years, or whatever number of years. Considering the alternatives on the market — worrying about Shaun Marcum’s elbow, Kyle Lohse’s transition to the AL, and Anibal Sanchez’s overzealous contract demands — Dempster might not be perfect, but he’s likely the best relative fit, especially given it’s for two seasons.

• Writing in SB Nation, Normandin also explains why Anibal Sanchez will remain a good fit inside the Tigers’ rotation, even though the $80 million, five-year contract is hardly a bargain.
• With ground-ball southpaw John Lannan now in Philadelphia, Crashburn Alley’s Bill Baer posits that perhaps a defensive platoon at third base would be a smart move for the Phillies.
• Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times was the first to reveal that Matt Bush, the No. 1 pick in the 2004 MLB amateur draft, may serve at least three years in prison following a plea deal with prosecutors over a DUI hit-and-run charge. The Devil Rays’ draft choice had been arrested in March for allegedly hitting a motorcyclist with his car and then leaving the scene before police arrived.
• Via Tom Tango of Inside the Book, Kincaid of 3-D Baseball discovers that in 2011 there was a position player in the American League who enjoyed a better season than Miguel Cabrera’s 2012 Triple Crown MVP season. The position player’s name? Yup, it’s Miguel Cabrera.

• Clubhouse Confidential host Brian Kenny puts Josh Hamilton and his $125 million, five-year contract with the Angels “into the Shredder.”

That’s it. Have a walk-off week!

ESPN has announced that contributor Rob Parker “has been suspended until further notice.  We are conducting a full review. The comments were inappropriate and we are evaluating our next steps.”

In case you missed it, Parker said on air Thursday morning, during a discussion of Redskins rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III, “Is [Griffin] a brother, or is he a cornball brother? He added, “We all know he has a white fiancé. There was all this talk about he’s a Republican, which, there’s no information [about that] at all. I’m just trying to dig deeper as to why he has an issue.”

Parker got himself in trouble, and the responsibility for his suspension and potential career jeopardy is on him.

But some of this brouhaha stems in part from ESPN’s desire/need for storylines, and the need to turn the sports figures it covers into arguments. Discussing the network’s obsessive coverage of Tim Tebow, the former Denver Broncos star who’s now a bench-warming backup for the New York Jets, The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay wrote:

Tebow was a contentious, unsettled question. When an athlete is undeniably good, it doesn’t take long for the conversation to fade into a dull haze of superlatives. (Listening to announcers discuss Tom Brady is like listening to newlyweds talk about a Hawaiian honeymoon). Tebow, on the other hand, was far from a sure thing—even his own team questioned his viability as a pro QB. ESPN was happy to stir this debate. The network already had done the same with other prolonged over-shares like Brett Favre’s post-Packers un-retirement and LeBron James’s escape to Miami. Tebow fit the blueprint. He wasn’t a player. He was an argument.

A large chunk of ESPN’s programming is a combination of columnists, anchors, and former players in suits sitting around a table and arguing: “Around the Horn”, “Pardon the Interruption”, “First Take,” “Mike & Mike” and some segments of SportsCenter. That’s fine; the audience watches it, and it echoes the arguments made by men around water coolers and bar stools and couches across the country. I’ve been listening to sports radio since the early days of “Mike and the Mad Dog” on WFAN up in New York.

But the ubiquitous sports talk format encourages a particular kind of participant, the “provocative,” “controversial” “edgy” voice. This is also a very easy voice to develop; take a major sports figure, and decide that they are the root of all evil or source of all goodness: Jerry Jones, Robert Snyder, the NHL players or owners, etc. Calling for a national ban on oatmeal is provocative and controversial. It’s also pretty dumb. But this ”provocative” style gets attention, and it keeps the conversation impassioned and moving, because the other participants are spurred to express how strongly they disagree with the “provocative,” voice.

So far, Robert Griffin III is playing exceptionally well for a rookie at the game’s most challenging position; the lone controversy around him is whether he should play this week after last week’s injury. You can only talk about lateral collateral ligaments for so long, so some producer at ESPN saw discussion potential in Griffin’s comments:

“For me, you don’t ever want to be defined by the color of your skin,” Griffin said. “You want to be defined by your work ethic, the person that you are, your character, your personality. That’s what I strive [for]. I am an African American, in America, and that will never change. But I don’t have to be defined by that.”

“I am [aware] of how race is relevant to [some fans]. I don’t ignore it,” Griffin said Wednesday. “I try not to be defined by it, but I understand different perspectives and how people view different things. So I understand they’re excited their quarterback is an African American. I play with a lot of pride, a lot of character, a lot of heart. So I understand that, and I appreciate them for being fans.”

And once the panel or producers decided to discuss his comments, one of two things would happen. Either the entire panel would agree, and it would be a boring segment. Or someone would disagree… and controversy would inevitably ensue.

Via ESPN:

USA Today interviewed Robert Griffin III’s father, Robert Griffin Jr. on the incendiary comments made by ESPN’s Rob Parker.  The father’s answer:

Robert Griffin II said he isn’t taking offense with disparaging racial comments made by an ESPN First Take commentator Thursday, because “it’s not going to benefit” anyone.

[. . .]

Griffin II said his next steps were to dismiss Parker’s remarks.

“He needs to define what ‘one of us’ is. That guy needs to define that,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it’s racism. I would just say some people put things out there about people so they can stir things up.

“Robert is in really good shape on who he is, where he needs to get to in order to seek the goals he has in life … so I don’t take offense.”

I wonder if Rob Parker will now question RGII’s blackness?

And there’s no secret why RGIII is the man he is today. This profile of his father in 2011 in the Military Times is a great read. An excerpt:

Just about any dad who’s taught a son how to throw a pass has secretly harbored dreams of gridiron glory.

Griffin says if you’re serious about your kid’s success, both in the classroom and on the field, his secret is simple.

“Get involved with your child. Spend more time with them,” he says. “Don’t let your kids be raised by the television. Take time to work with your children to show them wisdom.

“That’s what I do even now. I showed him people who had tremendous talent, but lost it making poor decisions. That keeps them humble.”

That’s one of the reasons he’s spending time right now researching Heisman winners who did not go on to do well professionally, so that he can help his son explore the common pitfalls.

Meanwhile, he says, developing strength of character is just as important as developing a strong body.

As he continues to train military kids at Fort Hood, he says “we don’t measure success by medals, or by how fast they run or how high they jump. We measure in character-building. You can’t measure that at the end of a stopwatch.”

Maybe Rob Parker should sit down with RGII when this is all said and done and maybe get some advice to turn his career around.