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NFL Exhibitions for Individuals Saturday, Aug 2, 2008 By Harry King LITTLE ROCK - The History Channel offers back-to-back episodes of Ice Road Truckers and two of the more stable members of the staff recommend the show about siblings, Little Sister, or something like that. Army Wives got a couple of votes from newsroom occupants. Cold Case reruns are not bad and this week Lilly and Scotty go to Knoxville to investigate the death of a rising country singer. In Plain Sight is a little different and brand-new. If all else fails, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody is bound to be available at some point Sunday evening. Any and all are preferable to watching the Washington Redskins vs. the Indianapolis Colts in the first NFL exhibition game of the year. From a team perspective, the preseason is meaningless. Even if Peyton Manning was healthy, he wouldn't play much. As it is, the Colts' quarterbacks are Jim Sorgi and Quinn Gray. On the other side, the over-under is three series for Jason Campbell. The only plausible reason to watch preseason games is if there is an individual of interest. For instance, I can understand Arkansas fans watching Oakland to see the variety of ways the Raiders are using Darren McFadden or tuning in Dallas to check out the progress of Felix Jones as a complement to Marion Barber. For those who plan ahead, the Raiders are on Aug. 15 vs. Tennessee and the Cowboys are on a week later against Houston. Now, about that team thing. Last year, the four teams with the best regular-season records in the NFL were unbeaten New England and Dallas, Green Bay, and Indianapolis, each at 13-3. During the preseason, not one of those four did better than 2-2. In fact, the Colts were 1-3, same as Super Bowl champion New York Giants. On the other side, Atlanta, Chicago, and the New York Jets - each 3-1 in the preseason - had a combined 15-33 record during the season. This is the norm. In 2006, not one of the eight division winners had a winning record in the preseason. Last year, four of the division winners failed to crack 2-2 in the preseason. Clearly, August is about providing opportunity for young players and paring rosters. Considering my disdain for the NFL preseason, it might be hypocritical to note Arkansas' participation in college basketball's Jim Thorpe Classic. Organized by Virginia-based Russ Potts, former athletic director at Southern Methodist University, the event is to be held in Fayetteville. Word of the round-robin tournament came from Austin Peay State University which released a schedule that included an appearance in Fayetteville on Dec. 17-20. The release says that Stephen F. Austin of the Southland Conference also will participate in the tournament and that the other team has not been determined. Potts called the release premature and said that he is working with Arkansas coach John Pelphrey to move some things around. Arkansas, he said, is "definitely going to have the tournament." A check of the academic schedule shows final exams at Arkansas scheduled Dec. 11-17. Potts said the Jim Thorpe Classic has been going on for years although there was not a tournament in 2007. In 2006, Cincinnati was the host and the winner, beating Tennesee-Martin, High Point, and Howard. One of the pluses of the event is that it counts as only one game against the regular-season limit. So, for the young Razorbacks, it would mean three games for the price of one. Potts has organized hundreds of such events under a variety of umbrellas, including the John Thompson Classic in Fayetteville in November 2000. That year, the Razorbacks were upset by Southern Mississippi in the finals. ------ Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
