News flash, Griz fans. You didn’t have Johnny Manziel out there. In fact, Jordan Johnson was no Johnny Manziel — at least not after that Sac State loss in 2011, am I right? But in 2012 there was no Jordan Johnson, either, and so the Montana Grizzlies came at the world with Trent McKinney and Shay Smithwick-Hann [...]

No, this isn’t about a blues song that goes, in part, “What’s the price? Thirty twice.” It’s not the version by Stevie Ray Vaughn, although he’s amazing enough to take me completely off task (so here’s something from Jimmy and Stevie Ray’s “Family Style” album). Where was I? Oh, yeah, this blog post links you [...]

First Caleb McSurdy went down with a torn Achilles during practice with the Dallas Cowboys, and then came Marc Mariani’s gruesome broken leg suffered in Tennessee’s game against Arizona. The good news for McSurdy’s injury is one that people have come back from. I’m thinking here of Griz product Lex Hilliard, who is in camp [...]

Colt Anderson was recently voted the Philadelphia Eagles’ special teams player of the year by his coaches and teammates – this despite missing the last four games with a torn ACL suffered at Seattle on Dec. 1. The Butte Missile is still deserving, and his injury was bad on several levels. For one thing several [...]

The Griz are concentrating on Cal Poly this week, but it’s not too late to include this snippet KECI’s Kayla Anderson took of Jabin Sambrano’s run-in with the foundation of Neyland Stadium. Pretty good concentration. I’d also like to add that Mike McCord made an NFL-caliber hit (the TV commentators’ words) on a UT receiver [...]

I don’t know about you but the prospect of seeing Chase Reynolds and Marc Mariani returning kickoffs in the same NFL exhibition game hadn’t occured to me. When I caught up with Reynolds on Friday he said it could happen: he’s suiting up for the Rams Saturday, against Mariani and the Tennessee Titans. He joked [...]

The Denver Post referred to him as “Muff Mariani” in its Sunday edition, and the Tennessean, the Nashville paper that covers the Titans, wasn’t any easier on Marc Mariani after he couldn’t hang onto a pooched kickoff late in Tennessee’s 26-20 loss to the Broncos. Is it just me, or did nobody ask enough questions? [...]

Here’s a blog post from ESPN.com’s Paul Kuharsky on the AFC South, division of the Tennessee Titans. Enjoy the nice words about Marc Mariani, Griz fans. And a picture, too? The Havre flash is making a splash. Apologies accepted, Paul. Here’s also something from a Falcons’ blog on the improving fortunes of safety Shann Schillinger, [...]

Here’s a link to a story from the Tennessean about Marc Mariani, the Griz receiver/return man turned Titans draft pick. In it Mariani fields questions about the fact that it was Griz teammate Brandon Fisher, son of Titans’ coach Jeff Fisher, who called and told he’d been taken in the seventh round. Interesting story, though [...]

So I’ve been wondering where Marc Mariani, the subject of my Wednesday column, ranked in the annals of FCS title games with his two 170-yard outings in 2008-09. The NCAA doesn’t do such a great job with its record books, so it seemed it was up to me to find out. So I found out. [...]