Dan Weber’s Just Sayin’: Ken A all the way, BB battle goes Mustangs’ way
After the way the whole NFL Hall of Fame selection process has gone for good guy Ken Anderson, the “most important Bengal” of all time, Paul Brown called the quarterback who made Ft. Mitchell his home for his career here, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised.
Ken Anderson (Photo provided)
Shouldn’t be surprised that a know-nothing ESPN analyst like Damien Woody would connect the shocking failure of Bill Belichick to get a first-ballot selection to Canton on Ken, who has been a finalist three times since 1991 and should have long ago earned his gold blazer.
That’s because another good guy, Kansas City sports columnist Vahe Gregorian, who has been covering the NFL for more than four decades, instead of hiding out, explained his vote for Ken, and the other two veteran players, and not voting for Belichick, who will certainly make it next year while there’s no guarantee about Ken and the other players in the Hall of Fame’s screwed-up voting that had the three players, Belichick as a former coach and Patriots’ owner all up for three of five spots.
“There is no world where Ken Anderson should get a vote over Bill Belichick,” Woody tweeted, showing how just much he doesn’t get it. Of course, Belichick should get in although none of the outraged columnists slamming the vote never bother to tell you that neither John Madden nor Bill Walsh got in on the first ballot either.
But Anderson should have been in decades ago. For those who forget, which is the way so many national folks do when it comes to the disrespected Bengals whose ownership has often earned that disrespect, here’s Kenny’s resume.
Ken Anderson during Bengals Ring of Honor induction (Photo form Augustana College)
How about 1981 NFL MVP, 1981 Offensive Player of the Year, 1981 Comeback Player of the Year, 1975 NFL Man of the Year, 1981 First-Team All-Pro, 1975 Second-Team All-Pro, four-time Pro Bowler, four-time NFL passer-rating leader, three-time NFL leader in completion percentage and two-time NFL leader in passing yards. He retired as the highest-rated passer in AFC history and the highest-rated in post-NFL merger history with a 93.5 rating.
But there’s more, much more. In that infamous 59-below wind chill “Freezer Bowl” AFC championship game against San Diego that I covered and still get the shivers thinking about, Ken set the NFL record for passer rating in a championship game as well as the record for highest completion percentage in a Super Bowl and for 27 years, his single-season completion record of 70.6 percent was the NFL’s best ever. And in one of those technical categories for quarterbacks — era-adjusted Rate plus career mark, Ken’s 114 puts him right between Tom Brady (115) and Patrick Mahomes (113).
And back in our Kentucky Post days, Ken would invite broadcaster Dale McMillen and yours truly up to Wilmington each year to do a number of radio shows for Northern Kentucky sports fans from Bengals’ camp. And that makes him more than a Hall of Fame guy in my book. And all we can hope is that’s good enough when the full vote comes out.
In a battle of the BB’s, this one goes to Bishop Brossart
There was no doubt on this Friday night in Taylor Mill in in a 37th District seeding game between a visiting Bishop Brossart team scrambling to get back to .500 on the season but without a district loss and the homestanding Scott Eagles, with a new swagger now that Ben Brown is back from Vegas, one or the other would be the story.
Scott High School’s Ben Brown (Photo by Dan Weber)
Ben Brown, you ask. Isn’t he just a freshman? Well, yes. But after a mere five games since becoming eligible after transferring back to his original home after a half-dozen years in Las Vagas with his family now that they’re back home, the 6-foot-3, 190-pound freshman was the No. 9 scorer in Kentucky — and No. 1 in Northern Kentucky — averaging a red-hot 26.0 points a game. As a freshman.
You want more. After hitting all four free throws Friday, he’s now made 28 of 29 on the season. If Ben were in the NBA, his 96.6 percent would be good for No.1, just beating out the 96.0 of Kawhi Leonard. And if he were in the NCAA’s Division I, he’d also be No. 1, ahead of the current national leader, Columbia’s Kenny Noland, who’s at 95.3.
He is, as they say, a threat. The kid’s legit. But so was the Mustangs’ defensive effort and offensive athleticism of power forward Carson Hesse, who was just “getting downhill, attacking them, using my speed” and finishing with a game-high 23 points in Brossart’s 83-74 win to go 2-0 in the district after upsetting Campbell County four weeks ago.
“We’re one win away from No. 1 (seed),” Franzen said, “but we still have Calvary Christian (Tuesday on the road).” When did the Mustangs last finish with a No. 1 seed? Franzen has no idea. “The last time we won the district was 2013.”
As for how Brown’s arrival has changed the equation in the 37th District? “Obviously they’re a better team with him,” Franzen said. But Brossart always knew where he was. “We did, it’s not a secret,” Franzen said. “You have to know when to key on him . . . He makes everybody around him better.”
Just not better enough on this night. Not that Brown didn’t try, although he wasn’t pleased with his 15-point effort on five-of-10 shooting while hitting his lone tree-point attempt and all four free throws. “You caught me on the wrong night,” he said of that 26.0-point average. “I played bad today.”
But when you ask Brown, who played the first semester at Las Vagas’ Mater Academy East and was ranked Nevada’s No. 2 player in the Class of 2029, what his true position is, he makes it clear — “point guard.” Not shooting guard despite that gaudy scoring average. And that’s how he played it on this night in coming up second in scoring to teammate Ty Cook’s 17. Brown hit five of his 10 shots, made his only three-point attempt and those four free throws.
But time and again, Brown played the point guard role, sharing the ball instead of shooting it, taking just three shots in the final quarter when the closest the Eagles could get was three points, 69-66, with 2:43 left. “I didn’t want to force anything.” That dishing the ball did help get four Eagles into double-digits, with Jayden Dodd adding 13 and Jordan Clemons 12. But it didn’t get them the win.
One thing that did get the win, Franzen said, was the way the Mustangs have developed their depth with eight players contributing to the scoring with four more in double figures in addition to Cook. Drew Steffen added 14, Nicholas Cozzi 13 and Brady Boruske 12.
But if there was a single difference-maker in this one, it was Brossart’s ability to knock down end-of-quarter near-halfcourt buzzer-beaters in the first two quarters with Steffen doing the honors first then Boruske. Those six points provided the cushion for the second half.
“We work on those every day,” Hesse said, “we call ’em ‘deep threes’.”
SCORING SUMMARY
SCOTT 14 16 20 24–74 BROSSART 16 20 20 27–83
SCOTT (11-8): Jordan Clemons 3-1-3/4-12, Casnellie 0 0 0/0-0, Cook 5-1-4/7-17, Brown 4-1-4/4-15, Dodd 1-3-2/2-13, Jonathan Clemons 0-2-0/0-6, Hardy 1-0-0/0-2, Boyd 4-0-1/2-9: TOTALS: 18-8-14/18–74.
