ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 8, 1997 TAG: 9701080022
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
The midweek buffet:
It may have been a watershed weekend for the NFL, and not just because Generation Ex - expansion - franchises fill 50 percent of the Super Bowl semifinal slots. The conference championship games also are about emerging quarterbacks.
It's overdue. The slow development of young quarterbacks to replace the not-so-Steve Youngs has been a kicked-around subject in the league for more than a few years. In Sunday's NFC and AFC finals, the graybeard among the four starting quarterbacks will be Green Bay's Brett Favre, who turned 27 during the regular season.
The playoff bright lights also belong to Jacksonville's Mark Brunell (26), New England's Drew Bledsoe (24) and Carolina's Kerry Collins (24), but among under-30 quarterbacks, Minnesota's Brad Johnson, Philadelphia's Ty Detmer and Cincinnati's Jeff Blake ranked with Favre, Brunell and Bledsoe among the league's top 11 in passing this season.
The Panthers' Collins is 17-9 as an NFL starter. He's also three months younger than a fellow eastern Pennsylvanian with an NFL future as a quarterback, Virginia Tech's Jim Druckenmiller.
NOT SO FAST: After the quick success of the Jacksonville and Carolina franchises, don't be surprised if the NFL club owners not only up the ante on the next expansionists - Cleveland and Los Angeles? - but don't allow the clubs to become so competitive so soon with extra draft picks and full salary-cap status.
SHORT LIST: The writers were overdue Monday in electing Phil Niekro to the Baseball Hall of Fame, but if Don Sutton and Tony Perez don't have the credentials for Cooperstown, who does? The baseball writers are creating a huge debate in the future, when today's zillionaires retire after shorter careers and a lack of numbers comparable to the game's greats. Who gets elected then?
If Sutton and Perez don't make it next January, they may have to wait for the Veterans Committee to install them. The 1998 first-time eligibles include Robin Yount, Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Carlton Fisk.
GOOD YEAR: The NFC has won 12 straight Super Bowls, but can the AFC break the streak later this month? In the regular season, the AFC had a 32-28 edge on the NFC, the AFC's top victory total since a 33-19 interconference record in 1980. That was the next-to-last season the AFC won a Super Bowl.
PETE'S LEGACY: Call it parity or mediocrity, but late NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle would have loved the 1996 season. Of the 30 teams, only seven finished with a record worse than 7-9. Thirteen teams were 9-7, 8-8 or 7-9.
YEA, NAY: Delegates to the upcoming NCAA convention will consider hundreds of pieces of legislation. One proposal would create a committee to study the potential move of the college baseball and softball seasons to a later finish, with the College World Series in late June. It's a good idea, and such a move would help more teams be competitive in improved weather.
A proposal that should be voted down is one to add a 14th scholarship in men's basketball. It would take one more player from the recruiting pool of mid- and low-major schools. No basketball team needs a 14th man anyway.
GET REAL: Bobby Ross coaching football at his alma mater? It was more likely that VMI would have a winning season next year. Maybe the Keydets should contact Joe Gibbs, Mike Ditka, Jerry Glanville, Wayne Fontes, Dan Reeves and Rich Kotite.
Hey, wake up you dreaming alumni! It's not a great job. It's taken VMI three weeks to try to hire a new coach, and the sad part is school officials know they're not going to find anyone who would be a better fit than the man who resigned, Bill Stewart.
PRICE RIGHT: With the resignation of Dale Brown at LSU, one basketball coach who will be given serious consideration for the job - and deservedly so - is Virginia Tech alumnus Tic Price, who has done a superb job in the state, at New Orleans.
DEMONIZED: Whatever happened to DePaul basketball?
LENGTH: Medium: 74 linesby CNB