Urban Meyer Shocks the Football World

So you want to be a successful coach, eh? Job requirements: 16-20 hour days, even in the off season; long stretches on the road away from your family; must face and answer to media, fans, boosters (if you are in college); must always be upbeat and positive; must realize that your health and personal life become secondary in order to be succesful...

In a nutshell, that's what a coach faces. Sure there is more, like game day preparation, the pressures of winning, especially at a program or team that has a history of winning. All this pressure can weigh on one person who carries an entire program, school, or even team on their shoulders. It can lead to burnout and many health issues, most of which get ignored. Urban Meyer, head football coach of the University of Florida Gators, made a tough decision, but one that could potentially save his life.

Meyer, 45, stunned the football world on Saturday night when he announced that after coaching his team in the Sugar Bowl, he would step down as coach of Florida. No one, not even his players, saw it coming. Meyer took the Florida job in 2005, after successful seasons at Bowling Green and turning Utah into a team who is now recognized nationally. He led Florida to two National titles, one in 2006 and one in 2008. All of this coming at a price...his own personal health and well being.

While details are sketchy as of now (Meyer will hold a press conference at 4:30pm today), it has been reported that he has had chest pains and heart attack related symptoms over the last four years. It wasn't until the death of Wake Forest Basketball Coach Skip Prosser, who died of a heart attack in the summer of 2007, that Meyer started to take his health seriously. He started to go in for regular tests. He says his heart is healthy, but after the loss to Alabama in this year's SEC Championship game, he went into the hospital several times for dehydration and chest pains. After a long talk with his doctor's and family, he decided to step down as coach of the most successful college football program of the last decade.

So do you really want to be a coach? While success and National Titles heal a lot, it can also almost kill you. Just ask Urban Meyer.


UPDATE

ESPN's Chris Mortenson reports at 2:01 pm on Dec 27th, that Urban Meyer has changed his mind and will not resign. Instead he will take a leave of absence for all of next season. Assistant Coach Steve Adazzio will take over on an interim basis. 4:30pm press conference still on...

Tiger Woods & Celebrity...Should They Be Held at a Higher Standard Than the Rest of Us?

Tiger Woods had it all going for him this past decade. He won 12 Major Golf Championships (14 overall in his career), had a ton of big name sponsors in Nike, GM, Accenture, Tag Heur, Gatorade...He became the first athlete to ever earn $1 billion and was named AP Athlete of the Decade. He had a beautiful wife, two children and an impeccable image. In the early morning hours of November 27th, just a couple of hours after Thanksgiving Day, his world as we all knew it, came to a crashing end.

On November 25th, The National Enquirer, published a story about Woods having an alleged affair with a woman on a recent trip to Australia. Since it was the Enquirer who published it, not too many people gave it much thought. Little did we know that this story, in a tabloid magazine, would lead to the downfall of the greatest athlete of the 2000s.

We all know what happened in those early morning hours of November 27th. Woods mysteriously left his home at around 2:30am, proceeded to plow his car into a fire hydrant and a tree in a neighbors yard. How that incident turned into us learning that he had affairs with over a dozen women was stunning. His "perfect world" unraveling right before our eyes.

The question I have is how did we not find out about any of this until now? With the technology age, Facebook, Twitter, everyone having a cell phone with a camera and TMZ.com, who seems to be everywhere and earning more credibility by the day, it seems like he would have been caught a long time ago. The even bigger question, that I have, and that I don't think has been explored that much yet...When did Woods' "transgressions" start to happen? Was it after his father died who mentored him and with whom they were inseparable? Or was it just an ego thing where he thought he was invincible?

I would never make up excuses for anyone who cheats. I think my biggest problem with this whole thing is that, is it really our business? We all know that tabloids sell. What drives sales? Sex scandals of course. We all sneak a peak, or even buy the National Enquirer, National Examiner, Globe, etc. (Full disclosure: I do work in the magazine business and it's the sales of these magazines that help pay me my salary, however, I do not agree with what these tabloid magazines stand for). But where is the line? Is there a line that we should not cross when it comes to an athlete or a celebrities personal life? I think there is.

Most of us love to see someone at the height of the career come crashing down, then watch them build themselves back up again. Numerous athletes have come back from such scandals, whether it be rape charges, attempted murder charges (see Kobe Bryant & Ray Lewis), or even allegations or admissions of using performance enhancing drugs (Alex Rodriguez). But when it comes down to something that directly affects an individuals family, like cheating on your wife, that is something that we shouldn't have to see in the headlines day after day. Sure it hurts Woods and his image, but what about his wife Elin and their two kids? Their images have been splashed all over the tabloids and on TMZ.com too. Is that fair? I don't think so. We have become a desensitized society. We forget that these athletes and celebrities are people too. I don't buy the argument that because they are public figures they have to hold themselves up higher than the rest of us. Is it ok for me to cheat on my wife or girlfriend just because I am not a celebrity and won't be put in the spotlight like they would? Of course not. Do I have different morals than someone who has a higher profile than I do? I would hope not. I would hope we would all strive to be the best person we can be. Just because someone is a good actor, musician, or athlete, doesn't necessarily mean they are seeking the spotlight. Sure, there are many exceptions, but look at Derek Jeter of the Yankees. You hear nothing of his personal life and he lives in New York City. He doesn't crave the spotlight.

There have been many, many people judging what Tiger Woods has done. We can think he is a horrible person for doing what he did. We do have that right. What we shouldn't do is hold him up to a higher standard than what we hold of ourselves. We all have flaws. We have all made mistakes. The biggest difference is that our mistakes are not being dragged through the 24 hour news cycle (or sometimes longer) or all over the cover of magazines. Let's give Woods, his family, and any other celebrity going through something as personal as this situation, their privacy. They are people too, just like us. They make mistakes, just like us. No one is perfect. How we overcome adversity is how we should be judged. The only person that should judge us in the end? Well, I think we all know the answer to that question...

The Granderson Trade - Right or Wrong for Detroit?

Speed...Power...Great Defense...That describes Curtis Granderson on the field. Kindness...Generosity...Philanthropy...This describes Curtis Granderson off the field. On Wednesday, December 9th, at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings in Indianapolis, the Detroit Tigers did something that their fans thought would never happen...they traded the face of the franchise for the past four years and for years to come.

As fans of the game, we all know that baseball is a business. Moves have to be made to improve a club, cut payroll, etc, etc., but when you really look closely at the Curtis Granderson trade, other things come to mind beyond the game of baseball. On the field, we all know what Granderson brings to the table, just look at his 2007 season. He became only the fourth player in the history of the game to have 20 or more doubles, triples, homeruns, and stolen bases all in the same season (Jimmy Rollins also did this in '07 but reached it after Granderson). He also brings Gold Glove caliber defense to his Center Field position. Example - 2009 where he saved a Justin Verlander pitching gem earlier in the season in Cleveland when he went over the high center field wall at Progressive Field to rob Grady Sizemore of a game winning homerun in the bottom of the 9th, preserving a Verlander win (there was one more out to go which Verlander struck out the next hitter). That catch, with the situation, was probably the best I have ever seen. On the last day of the season he made a diving catch in shallow left-center field to help the Tigers go to a one game playoff against the Twins (in which they eventually would lose). That's the Curtis Granderson we all know on the field. Off the field, Granderson, I would argue, has been even more valuable.

With the city of Detroit being hit hard by the economic downturn and with one the lowest high school graduation rates in the country, Granderson, has been a big shining light in what otherwise has been a city spiraling downward. You always hear what athletes do wrong (see Tiger Woods most recently). This is a story of an athlete that is doing right. In 2008, Granderson started a foundation called Grand Kids, which serves as an education-based organization for Michigan inner cities. The foundation collects donations for books and other school supplies, as well as starting baseball programs in areas that need them to help youth gain structure and stay out of trouble. He has been big in giving back to a community that desperately needs help (It should be noted that he was able to start the foundation after signing a 5-year $30.25 million deal with the Tigers in 2008, which ironically, is the reason why he was traded in order to cut back on payroll). With all this being said, when does a person's character and him giving back to a community overshadow the economics of baseball? That's a tough question to answer.

Like I said earlier, we all know that baseball (as well as all sports) is not just a game, but a business. I know what the Tigers' intentions were with this trade, and getting back what they got for Grandy (left handed reliever Phil Coke and rookie center fielder Austin Jackson from the Yankees, left handed reliever Daniel Schlereth and right handed starter Max Scherzer from the Arizona Diamondbacks) will help them as early as this year, however, trading a guy like him can also hurt a clubhouse and a community. Again, should a player's value to a community weigh into baseball economics? I think in some cases it should. I think what the Tigers lost...no...what the City of Detroit and the state of Michigan lost, was a great young man that could have helped slowly bring back Detroit out of its own depression by helping the kids of Detroit stay out of trouble and stay in school. I'm not saying he was the sole answer of turning Detroit around, we all know it needs more help than that but he was on his way to doing his share to help.

Granderson's departure not only leaves a big void in Center Field at Comerica Park, but a big void in the state of Michigan who really needed someone like this.