The Astigmatic Eye

• 2001 - NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt is killed in a crash during the last lap of the Daytona 500.
  
• 2001 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He was ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Some of my friends are big NASCAR fans so they started a fantasy racing league in 2001. I joined them and my top draft pick wound up being ... Dale Earnhardt. It wasn't a good way to start the year. I wound up getting laid off in July, then there were the terrorist attacks in September.

Hanssen has nothing to do with sports. I just happened to see the movie Breach last night. I wished that it focused more on Hanssen than the folks who brought him down, but such is life.

Births
1898 - Enzo Ferrari, Italian race car driver (d. 1988)
1927 - Luis Arroyo, Puerto Rico baseball player
1928 - Tom Johnson, Canadian hockey player
1931 - Bob St. Clair, American football player
1936 - Dick Duff, Canadian hockey player
1939 - Dal Maxvill, American baseball player
1945 - Judy Rankin, American golfer
1952 - Maurice Lucas, American basketball player
1960 - Andy Moog, Canadian hockey player
1967 - Roberto Baggio, Italian footballer
1974 - Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Russian tennis player
1974 - Jamey Carroll, American baseball player
1980 - Nikolai Antropov, Kazakh hockey player
1981 - Andrei Kirilenko, Russian basketball player

Deaths
1933 - James J. Corbett, American boxer
1998- Harry Caray, baseball broadcaster
2001 - Dale Earnhardt, American race car drive
2001 - Eddie Mathews, baseball player

Yesterday was a pretty high octane day for birthdays, Today is a pretty big day for feast days.

This Day in Sports History - February 17

Events:

1924 - In Miami, Florida, Johnny Weissmuller sets a new world record in the 100-yard freestyle swimming competition with a time of 52-2/5 seconds. They can do the butterfly faster nowadays.

1968 - The Basketball Hall of Fame was opened in Massachusetts

Births:

1908 - Red Barber, baseball announcer (d. 1992)
1930 - Roger Craig, baseball player and manager
1936 - Jim Brown, American football player
1948 - Rick Majerus, American basketball coach
1959 - Neil Lomax, American football player
1962 - Alison Hargreaves, British mountaineer (d. 1995)
(I consider mountain climbing a sport)
1963 - Michael Jordan, American basketball player
1964 - Buster Olney, American sports columnist
1968 - Bryan Cox, American football player
1972 - Philippe Candeloro, French figure skater
1976 - Scott Williamson, American baseball player
1981 - TJ Duckett, American football player

Michael Jordan and Jim Brown. That's a pretty high powered birthday list.

This Day in Sports History - February 16

Events:

1972 - NBA basketball player Wilt Chamberlain scores 30,000th point. (1991 - Chamberlain scores 20,000th time off the court)

2004 - Alex Rodriguez was traded to the New York Yankees, in a deal that sent Alfonso Soriano to the Texas Rangers. (Arod gets alot of undeserved flack. He may not perform as well in pressure situations as he does the rest of the time; although, that seems to be mainly a 2006 thing. But he performs so well generally that he's still one of the top players around.)

2005 - The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004-2005 regular season and playoffs, becoming the first major sports league in North America to do so over a labor dispute. (A fun sport to watch, but I never really understood it. I remember the kids who played hockey when I was growing up had to wake up at 4 AM because that's the only way that they could get rink time. That, and the expenses involved, helped ensure that I would never play.)

Births:
1915 - Jim O'Hora, American college football coach (d. 2005)
1921 - Jean Behra, French Formula One driver (d. 1959)
1929 - Gerhard Hanappi, Austrian footballer (d. 1980)
1934 - Marlene Hagge, American professional golfer
1936 - Jill Kinmont, American skier
1943 - Brig Owens, American football player
1952 - Barry Foote, Major League Baseball player
1953 - George Martin, American footballer
- Lanny McDonald, Canadian ice hockey player
1954 - Michael Holding, West Indian fast bowler cricket
1958 - Oscar Schmidt, Brazilian basketball player
1959 - John McEnroe, American tennis player
- Kelly Tripucka, American basketball player
1964 - Bebeto, Brazilian footballer
1967 - John Valentin, baseball player
1967 - Keith Gretzky, former hockey player
1972 - Jerome Bettis, American football player
1976 - Eric Byrnes, American baseball player
1977 - Ahman Green, American football player
1980 - Ashley Lelie, American football player
1981 - Qyntel Woods, American basketball player
1983 - Tuomo Ruutu, Finnish hockey player

Death:
2006 - Ernie Stautner, German-born American football player (b. 1925)

I made a Groundhog's Day resolution to revive Astigmatic Eye. But I've been running late like I have with my other resolutions. My plan is to post a daily look at that date in sports history. I'll be using various sources including Wikipedia. Without further adieu, here's the inaugural Today In Sports History:

1953 - Seventeen-year-old Tenley Albright becomes the first American to win the world figure skating championship.

1990 - MLB owners lock out the players

1998 - Dale Earnhardt wins the Daytona 500 after 20 years of disappointment.

2004 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the Daytona 500 6 years to the day when his father won his only Daytona 500.


Births:
1895 - Earl Thomson, Canadian athlete (d. 1971)
1929 - Graham Hill, British race car driver (d. 1975)
1939 - Ole Ellefsæter, Norwegian cross-country skier
1940 - John Hadl, American football player
1948 - Ron Cey, American baseball player
1949 - Ken Anderson, American football player
1957 - Jimmy Spencer, American race car driver
1960 - Darrell Green, American football player
1964 - Mark Price, American basketball player
1972 - Jaromír Jágr, Czech hockey player
1973 - Kateřina Neumannová, Czech cross country skier
- Amy Van Dyken, American swimmer
1974 - Seattle Slew, American racehorse (d. 2002)
- Ugueth Urbina, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- Alexander Wurz, Austrian race car driver
1975 - Serge Aubin, National Hockey League player
1979 - Alenka Kejžar, Slovenian swimmer
- Josh Low, English footballer
1983 - Russell Martin, American baseball player

Death:
2002- Mike Darr, American baseball player

Alot of birthdays, but a slow news day other than that. It should pick up later on this week.

Here are the final 2006 stats and total career stats for the 9 QBs that I tracked:

Date	Name		Team	GS	Att	Comp	Pct
2003	John	Beck	BYU	4	145	73	50.34
2004	John	Beck	BYU	10	343	192	55.98
2005	John	Beck	BYU	12	513	331	64.52
2006	John	Beck	BYU	12	417	289	69.30
Total	John	Beck		38	1418	885	62.41
2004	Brian	Brohm	Loui	0	98	66	67.35
2005	Brian	Brohm	Loui	10	301	207	68.77
2006	Brian	Brohm	Loui	11	314	199	63.38
Total	Brian	Brohm		21	713	472	66.20
2003	Kevin	Kolb	Hou	13	360	220	61.11
2004	Kevin	Kolb	Hou	11	353	198	56.09
2005	Kevin	Kolb	Hou	12	419	253	60.38
2006	Kevin	Kolb	Hou	14	432	292	67.59
Total	Kevin	Kolb		50	1564	963	61.57
2003	Chris	Leak	Fla	9	320	190	59.38
2004	Chris	Leak	Fla	12	399	238	59.65
2005	Chris	Leak	Fla	12	374	235	62.83
2006	Chris	Leak	Fla	14	365	232	63.56
Total	Chris	Leak		47	1458	895	61.39
2003	Jordan	Palmer	UTEP	6	198	98	49.49
2004	Jordan	Palmer	UTEP	12	366	213	58.20
2005	Jordan	Palmer	UTEP	12	434	258	59.45
2006	Jordan	Palmer	UTEP	12	427	280	65.57
Total	Jordan	Palmer		42	1425	849	59.58
2003	Brady	Quinn	ND	9	332	157	47.29
2004	Brady	Quinn	ND	12	353	191	54.11
2005	Brady	Quinn	ND	12	450	292	64.89
2006	Brady	Quinn	ND	13	467	289	61.88
Total	Brady	Quinn		46	1602	929	57.99
2004	JaMarcus	Russell	LSU	4	144	73	50.69
2005	JaMarcus	Russell	LSU	12	311	188	60.45
2006	JaMarcus	Russell	LSU	13	342	232	67.84
Total	JaMarcus	Russell		29	797	493	61.86
2004	Troy	Smith	OHSt	5	122	68	55.74
2005	Troy	Smith	OHSt	10	237	149	62.87
2006	Troy	Smith	OHSt	13	311	203	65.27
Total	Troy	Smith		28	670	420	62.69
2003	Drew	Stanton	MISt	0	3	2	66.67
2004	Drew	Stanton	MISt	7	220	141	64.09
2005	Drew	Stanton	MISt	11	355	236	66.48
2006	Drew	Stanton	MISt	11	269	164	60.97
Total	Drew	Stanton		29	847	543	64.11

At Espn.com, they show Scout Inc.'s Top 32. 4 QBs are on it: Quinn at 4, Russell at 7, Brohm at 13, and Smith at 28. This was before the title game, so I'm not sure how much Leak's stock and Smith's stock went up or down. Quinn has a lower completion percentage than the other 3, but he also started for four years; giving scouts more opportunities to observe him. If I understand David Lewin's work correctly, this probably means that the scouts aren't too high on the other four year starters like Beck, Kolb, or Palmer. It also means that teams may not have seen enough of Brohm, Russell, and Smith to form an accurate opinion of them.

Date	Name		Team	GS	Att	Comp	Pct

21-Oct	John	Beck	BYU	1	23	18	78.26
28-Oct	John	Beck	BYU	1	31	23	74.19
2006	John	Beck	BYU	7	229	162	70.74
Total	John	Beck		33	1230	758	61.63

21-Oct	Brian	Brohm	Loui	1	26	18	69.23
2006	Brian	Brohm	Loui	5	137	83	60.58
Total	Brian	Brohm		15	536	356	66.42

21-Oct	Kevin	Kolb	Hou	1	30	20	66.67
28-Oct	Kevin	Kolb	Hou	1	34	22	64.71
2006	Kevin	Kolb	Hou	9	297	200	67.34
Total	Kevin	Kolb		45	1429	871	60.95

28-Oct	Chris	Leak	Fla	1	28	14	50.00
2006	Chris	Leak	Fla	8	201	124	61.69
Total	Chris	Leak		41	1294	787	60.82

21-Oct	Jordan	Palmer	UTEP	1	30	19	63.33
27-Oct	Jordan	Palmer	UTEP	1	37	21	56.76
2006	Jordan	Palmer	UTEP	8	269	183	68.03
Total	Jordan	Palmer		38	1267	752	59.35

21-Oct	Brady	Quinn	ND	1	45	27	60.00
28-Oct	Brady	Quinn	ND	1	25	18	72.00
2006	Brady	Quinn	ND	8	303	193	63.70
Total	Brady	Quinn		41	1438	833	57.93

21-Oct	JaMarcus	Russell	LSU	1	19	15	78.95
2006	JaMarcus	Russell	LSU	8	193	135	69.95
Total	JaMarcus	Russell		24	648	396	61.11

21-Oct	Troy	Smith	OHSt	1	23	15	65.22
28-Oct	Troy	Smith	OHSt	1	21	14	66.67
2006	Troy	Smith	OHSt	9	215	145	67.44
Total	Troy	Smith		24	574	362	63.07

21-Oct	Drew	Stanton	MISt	1	37	27	72.97
28-Oct	Drew	Stanton	MISt	1	22	10	45.45
2006	Drew	Stanton	MISt	9	237	144	60.76
Total	Drew	Stanton		27	815	523	64.17

Ouch! Saturday, against Indiana, Stanton was replced mid-game. I'm not sure if he was hurt or not.

I figured that I'd get this out of the way early this week. John Beck and Brady Quinn we're on bye this week while Brian Brohm returned from an injury. Drew Stanton got hurt during the Spartans-Buckeyes game, but should return next week.

Date

Name

Team

GS

Att

Comp

Pct

2006	John	Beck	BYU	5	175	121	69.14
Total	John	Beck		31	1176	717	60.97

14-Oct	Brian	Brohm	Loui	1	37	20	54.05
2006	Brian	Brohm	Loui	4	111	65	58.56
Total	Brian	Brohm		14	510	338	66.27

14-Oct	Kevin	Kolb	Hou	1	38	22	57.89
2006	Kevin	Kolb	Hou	7	233	158	67.81
Total	Kevin	Kolb		43	1365	829	60.73

14-Oct	Chris	Leak	Fla	1	17	9	52.94
2006	Chris	Leak	Fla	7	173	110	63.58
Total	Chris	Leak		40	1266	773	61.06

14-Oct	Jordan	Palmer	UTEP	1	29	22	75.86
2006	Jordan	Palmer	UTEP	6	202	143	70.79
Total	Jordan	Palmer		36	1200	712	59.33

2006	Brady	Quinn	ND	6	233	148	63.52
Total	Brady	Quinn		39	1368	788	57.60

14-Oct	JaMarcus	Russell	LSU	1	18	15	83.33
2006	JaMarcus	Russell	LSU	7	174	120	68.97
Total	JaMarcus	Russell		23	629	381	60.57

14-Oct	Troy	Smith	OHSt	1	22	15	68.18
2006	Troy	Smith	OHSt	7	171	116	67.84
Total	Troy	Smith		22	530	333	62.83

14-Oct	Drew	Stanton	MISt	1	16	8	50.00
2006	Drew	Stanton	MISt	7	178	107	60.11
Total	Drew	Stanton		25	756	486	64.29

Before I take off, get a load of Colt Brennan's stats. He's a junior at Hawaii and IIRC, June Jones uses that crazy run and shoot. I have no idea if he's a pro prospect (Timmy Chang set records for the Warriors), but he's got a QB name.