Winning the Heisman Trophy does not guarantee a college football player a long and successful pro career, although every football player would love the bronze statue displayed on their mantle. Even if they do not have a successful career, they could use it like O.J. did as collateral to help pay off civil penalties.

In college football the Heisman Trophy is awarded usually to a quarterback or running back that is playing for a BCS contender. That is why most college football standouts have no chance of being awarded the Heisman Trophy. You can blame this on the American media hype machine.

USC’s John David Booty and Louisville’s Brian Brohm are two quarterbacks with the best chance at winning the Heisman Trophy in 2007. This season both of these quarterbacks lead their teams and have BCS Bowl aspirations. The winner of this race should have the edge for the Heisman Trophy.

West Virginia and Rutgers will give Brohm and the Cardinals a tough fight in the Big East this year. In last year’s Orange Bowl game and with 311 yards against Wake Forest showed that Brian Brohm has a great arm and that he is capable of making things happen. Last season Brohm missed two football games which affected his numbers, and if he starts to miss games this year his Heisman opportunity could disappear.

If you play quarterback at USC it makes you a Heisman contender by default it seems, although Booty is the real deal. In the Rose Bowl last year Booty’s immense skill shined with 391 yards and four touchdowns as they defeated Michigan. If Booty could post some big numbers with far fewer offensive weapons around him, he could get more Heisman votes, and if he gets his team back to the BSC Bowl this year, he could become the fourth player at USC in the last six years to win the Heisman Trophy.

If a quarterback does not win the Heisman, it is a running back that usually walks away with the trophy. Darren McFadden of Arkansas and Steve Slaton of West Virginia are this year’s biggest college standouts in the backfield.

Last year McFadden was the runner-up to Troy Smith, and that makes him the Heisman contender by default. Although, McFadden will have to exceed his numbers this year if he has any chance to win the Heisman Trophy. McFadden with his size, speed and power has the talent to do it this season.

Slaton who has blazing speed and a never-quit attitude, might be the best running back in college football today, and who fights hard for every yard that he obtains. This determination and drive showed up last year as he rushed for an incredible seven yards per carry. If Slaton can repeat these numbers, he should be able to help take West Virginia to the top of the Big East and earn himself valuable Heisman Trophy consideration.

Originally Written By James Murray, Amazines.com

The bottle in his hand was already half-empty, but Cole Hamels seemed a bottomless source of bubbly.

In the soggy celebration of Philadelphia’s World Series championship, Hamels stood before the plastic shield protecting his locker, giddily drenched in sparkling wine. The bottle bore the label of Domaine Ste. Michelle, a French-sounding brand imported all the way from Washington state, and the 24-year-old pitcher had been branded the Series’ Most Valuable Player.

“This will be a trivia question for the next couple hundred years,” Hamels said, happily. “And I get to be a part of it.”

Rancho Bernardo’s precocious left-hander had done nothing of note on the last night of the tournament. He was a uniformed spectator to the three-inning speed date that completed Monday’s suspended Game 5 as a 4-3 Philadelphia victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. Yet for a few batters on this brief, bizarre but rain-free evening, Hamels stood to be the winning pitcher on a night he never needed to warm up.

Jayson Werth’s bloop single scored pinch hitter Geoff Jenkins with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning to enable the Phillies to break the 2-2 tie Hamels had helped forge Monday night. Hamels was still the pitcher of record, and in line to become the first pitcher to win five starts in the same postseason, until Rocco Baldelli’s seventh-inning home run temporarily re-tied the score.

A couple of hundred years hence, trivia experts may recall that Phillies left-hander J.C. Romero was credited with the victory because Pedro Feliz singled through the Rays’ drawn-in infield to score pinch runner Eric Bruntlett in the bottom of the seventh inning. For contemporary Phillies fans, every detail of this drama will be recounted and savored for generations.

For the first time in 28 years, since Tug McGraw struck out Willie Wilson at a ballpark since imploded, the Phillies are champions of baseball.

Before Saturday’s Game 3, country singer Tim McGraw sprinkled some of his late father’s ashes on the pitcher’s mound at Citizens Bank Park. Last night, Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer prevailed on the groundskeepers to exhume the pitching rubber for his personal collection.

Hamels, who took home the shinier souvenir, confessed that the time finally hadcome for him to start a trophy case.

“This is the easiest game I ever had to deal with,” he said. “I didn’t have to do a thing, and I was in the starting lineup.”

Hamels had pitched six innings during Monday night’s deluge, and he began last night’s proceedings as the next scheduled hitter. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel chose Jenkins to bat in Hamels’ place, and the pinch-hitter responded with a full-count double to right-center field against Tampa Bay reliever Grant Balfour.

Playing at home, Manuel played for one run. Jimmy Rollins moved Jenkins to third base with a sacrifice bunt. Werth then popped a bloop single just out of the reach of Rays’ second baseman Akinori Iwamura.

“The wind played tricks on Aki big-time,” said Tampa Bay’s Cliff Floyd, the designated hitter idled by National League rules. “ . . . We haven’t played in these type of conditions all year.

“We just didn’t play the same type ball (compared to the regular season). It’s not a frustrating thing. It’s a learning thing.”

One of the harder lessons the Rays learned was taught by Phillies second baseman Chase Utley. After Baldelli’s one-out homer tied the score in the seventh, Jason Bartlett singled and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt.

Iwamura then hit a ground ball that left Utley no play at first base, but his bluff throw emboldened Bartlett to try to score from second base. Utley’s peg to catcher Carlos Ruiz resulted in a third-out tag play and erased the last Rays player to reach third base.

“I was just running hard and (third base coach Tom) Foley sent me and I tried to score,” Bartlett said. “It’s a hard baseball play. If I’m not hustling, maybe he stops me. But that’s how you should play – hustle all the time.”

Pat Burrell opened Philadelphia’s seventh inning with a double to deep center field, a 1-1 curve ball Tampa Bay reliever J.P. Howell immediately regretted. Replaying the pitch in his mind, Howell thought Burrell was “cheating” on the breaking pitch and would therefore have been susceptible to a fastball.

Bruntlett ran for Burrell, moving to third base on a groundout by Shane Victorino, scoring the winning run on Feliz’s single through the middle.

Phillies reliever Brad Lidge, whose neglected to blow a save all season, closed out the Rays in the ninth, striking out pinch hitter Eric Hinske for the final out.

Hamels was standing on the top step of the dugout when the game ended and was soon in the middle of the celebratory scrum near the pitcher’s mound. His first emotion, he said later, was relief, but there was a lot to the experience he was still trying to process.

“As I go into this offseason and each week creeps closer and closer to a new, fresh season, I might think about it more,” he said. “I know people will look at me differently, probably expect more out of me.”

For starters, they will expect him to get to work on that trophy case.

Originally Written By Tim Sullivan, SignOnSanDiego.com