Warszawski: No reason (except greed) for college football semis on New Year’s Eve

Enter the Warzone, where the ball never drops.

▪ Sorry college football fans, but the sport’s power brokers don’t care a fig about you. That’s why they scheduled the semifinals on Dec. 31, a day most people have to work.

“We’re establishing a new tradition,” College Football Playoff mouthpiece Bill Hancock said.

Hogwash. This is more about two longstanding traditions: cronyism and greed.

▪ The semis should be played New Year’s Day, but that would require the Rose Bowl (in years it’s not hosting) to budge from its hallowed 2 p.m. Pacific time slot. Or the Sugar Bowl to move from 5:30 p.m.

And you know that’s not happening.

▪ Dave Henderson ran down fly balls like no one else: high-stepping on his tip toes with a smile that (in the words of Sports Illustrated’s Steve Rushin) “runs foul pole to foul pole.”

“Playing professional baseball bring a smile to my face,” the Dos Palos native said in 1991. “I don’t need much else to have a good time.”

It was obvious to anyone who watched him play.

▪ Henderson’s death Sunday, at 57, one month following a kidney transplant, shocked his ex-teammates and saddened his many fans.

The list of Valley living legends contains one less name.

▪ Still reeling from the Hendu news, awoke Monday to find out Meadowlark Lemon (aka the “Clown Prince of Basketball”) died at 83 of natural causes.

Someone hit the reset button on this terrible week.

▪ Tried our hardest to work up some faux outrage that Peyton Manning may have taken HGH four years ago to recover from a career-threatening neck injury.

Sorry, can’t do it.

▪ If you’re one of those typical American sports fans who believes only Russian weightlifters, Tour de France cyclists and Olympic track and field medalists take PEDs, here are two free tickets to Naiveland.

▪ Couple weeks ago we wrote Fresno State’s next offensive coordinator needed to be someone with “experience installing an offense and developing young quarterbacks” who has “schemed against every formation and blitz known to football.”

Eric Kiesau may not be a household name but boasts an impressive résumé. He would be a very solid hire.

▪ The only strike against Kiesau is that he didn’t play at Fresno State.

Only because so many Bulldogs fans can’t seem to look beyond their little prisms. Judging by emails and phone calls, Jeff Tedford, Pat Hill, Mike Martz, David Carr and Trent Dilfer are the only qualified candidates.

▪ Christmas Day takeaway from Oracle Arena: Kevin Love might be the NBA’s most overrated player. Love’s team defense is so poor, especially his rotations, that it almost completely negates his shooting and rebounding.

You get the sense LeBron James has picked up on that, too.

▪ Calling 49ers-Lions on Sunday, Fox announcer Thom Brennaman said, “When you make mistakes like we’ve seen the 49ers make in this game, it’s not a surprise that they’ve won four games this year.”

Actually, the surprise is that they’ve won that many.

▪ The Chargers fined Pro Bowl safety Eric Weddle $10,000 for watching his daughter perform during a halftime show.

Giving fans in San Diego even more reason not to follow them to Los Angeles.

▪ For no particular reason: Wesley Walls

▪ Attention parents of young athletes with visions of college scholarships dancing in your heads: Please read Barbara Anderson’s special report about the dangers of overuse injuries.

Especially the part where pediatric orthopedic surgeon Kerry Loveland says, “Everybody needs an offseason from their sport.”

▪ Browns coach Mike Pettine will have a conversation with Johnny Manziel after a video showed the second-year quarterback singing along to a hip-hop tune at a private residence.

If you think that’s bad, just wait until video surfaces of Manziel brushing with non-fluoridated toothpaste.

This story was originally published December 28, 2015 at 6:20 PM with the headline "Warszawski: No reason (except greed) for college football semis on New Year’s Eve."