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Tuesday Volleyball — Corning at West Valley, 4:30 p.m. Volleyball — Hayfork at Mercy, 6:30 p.m. Volleyball — Los Molinos at Quincy, 5:30 p.m. Tennis — Corning at West Valley, 3:30 p.m. Tennis — Red Bluff at Paradise, 3:30 p.m. NCAA— Troy at Middle Tennessee State, 5 p.m., ESPN2 Sports 1B Tuesday October 5, 2010 Time, blame flies We're halfway through the football season. I think I have to type that again. We're halfway through the football season. I can buy we're three-quarters of the way through 2010, that there are only 80 more shopping days until Christmas and even that the Mayan inspired apoca- lypse scenario is just 808 days away, but are we really halfway through the football season? C'mon now, at this rate I'm going to have to start basketball previews on Thursday. Can someone find out if Lily Brose's knee is OK? Actually, with the way time is flying by, she might be Rich Greene in college already. Before you know it, it will be Election Day. That's just four short weeks away – 28 days. There's been a lot of letters coming into the Daily News about getting rid of what doesn't work. Some blame the Republicans, some the Democrats, some the football coaches. Yes, even five games into his reign, Spartans coach John Miller has found himself alongside the other incumbents people are fed up with. With a 0-5 record, everybody becomes a football coach. Besides the brutal schedule and ridiculous injury bug, Miller has some other things working against him. First of all it, turned out he wasn't Bill Walsh. Turns out he’s just a guy with a passion for football and even more so for helping kids reach their potential. Unfortunately for him, the latter can’t be graded in W’s the way the former can. Second of all, much like our politicians, we want everything from our football coach. We want a more powerful running game, but we want to air it out. We want to take more chances, but we don't want stu- pid turnovers. We want our team disciplined and at the same time have our coaches treat the players with kid gloves. We want everyone to play, but we want to win. We want the players to be great student-athletes, but, wink-wink, we want to win. High school sports are supposed to be fun, but yeah, WEWANTTOWIN! Unless you’re some idealogue it's the same with our politicians. We want the best services possible, but we want the lowest taxes possible. Occasionally this delicate balancing act can be worked out, but more often than not it goes in cycles. Enterprise was the section champion last season. This year they're 2-3. Unprecedented economic growth was followed by recession. The final thing working against Miller is when things go sour, we have to find someone to blame. Fingers are bound to start pointing. Since, no one with a heart wants to point a finger at a kid, those fingers are going to get pointed at the adults. Sorry, coaches. Politicians, probably don't deserve all the blame either. We can blame politicians past and present, blame Wall Street, blame Europe, but is anyone stopping to blame ourselves? We bought into this credit and refinancing craze and we elected the same tired old politicians over and over again. ror. Pointing fingers takes less guts than looking in a mir- Coaches and politicians shouldn’t be let completely off the hook, but sometimes it seems we’re in too much of a rush to hang them up there. Luckily in just four short weeks we’ll get another crack at fixing our own mistakes. Luckily for the Spartans, the football season is only halfway through. I don’t think it’s wrong for parents to get so upset over the football team and to be questioning Miller this quick. I think they are wrong, I’m glad they are. It shows they care about their kids. With the football season halfway over, the seniors only have five games left. Five more pre-game family dinners. Five more times to suit up. Five more times to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their best friends with the city watching them underneath those Friday Night lights. I understand these nights are so precious, so few, that we wish they were perfect — that our boys always left the field as heroes. But let’s just remember there are things other than winning we want for our kids. We want young men who grow up with character, hard-work instilled in them and the ability to keep going even when it appears everything is going wrong. You know, the kind of people we wish were on the ballot this November. The problem is you can’t tell if Miller is doing his job teaching these traits in the Spartans on a Saturday morn- ing — not with the long faces following a loss. But that doesn’t mean they’re not there. It’s just going to take a bit longer to see the work the coaches have put into the players. The five losses, those were just five bad days. Sure five nights of winning would be better, but the other things we want our kids to learn from football last tens of thousands of days. That is unless those pesky Mayans were right. If you’d like to fear the apocalypse with Daily News Sports Editor Rich Greene you can reach him at 527- 2151, ext. 109 or by e-mail at sports@redbluffdailynews.com. MCT photo New England’s Tom Brady avoids being sacked by Miami’s Koa Misi, Monday night. New England Miami MIAMI (AP) — The New England Patriots rang up another big score, this time with little input from the offense. Patrick Chung blocked two kicks and returned an interception for a touchdown, and New England scored twice on special teams to beat the hap- less Miami Dolphins 41-14 on Mon- day night. Tom Brady threw for only 153 yards, and Randy Moss was held with- out a catch for the first time since 2006, but the NFL’s highest-scoring team still registered its biggest point total yet. The Patriots trailed 7-6 at halftime, but when Brandon Tate returned the second half kickoff 103 yards for a score, the deluge was on. Chung blocked a punt to set up a touchdown, then blocked a field goal that Kyle Arrington returned 35 yards for a score. Chung returned an interception 51 MIAMI (AP) — A look at the stat sheet clearly sug- gests Chad Henne outplayed Tom Brady. Oh, it was one-sided, all right. Just not in the way the numbers indicated. Henne matched a career- high with three intercep- tions, and the Miami Dol- phins fell apart in the second half of what became a 41-14 loss to the New England Patriots on Monday night. Henne completed 29 of 39 passes for 302 yards and two touchdowns, only to get yards for New England’s final score. Another unexpected contribution came from linebacker Rob Ninkovich, who had the first two interceptions of his five-year career. Chung and Arring- ton scored their first career TDs, and reserve fullback Danny Woodhead scored on an 11-yard reception. New England (3-1) moved into a tie with the New York Jets for first place in the AFC East, while the Dolphins (2-2) dropped to third place with their second divisional loss at home in eight days. The Patriots scored 17 points in a span of 2:16 bridging halftime to take command. They are averaging an NFL-best 33 points per game. Miami’s Chad Henne was 29 of 39 for 302 yards and two scores, but he was yanked with 6 1/2 minutes left after tying a career high with his third interception. Tyler Thigpen finished up at quarterback but went only 2 of 6. Ninkovich’s picks set up two field goals, and New England held Ronnie Brown to 27 yards rushing. pulled midway through the final quarter in a fast-empty- ing stadium. Brady finished 19 of 24 for a mere 153 yards. Easily good enough to win the game, though. ‘‘Overall, you know, it’s my fault, and I’ll take it as it is,’’ Henne said. When he throws more than one interception, the Dolphins are 0-4. Though this wasn’t totally on Henne, not by any measure. Special teams were anything but for Miami: The Dolphins gave up a kickoff return for a Tate took the second-half kickoff in the end zone, cut toward the right side- line and scored untouched, giving the Patriots their first lead. Miami went three and out, and Chung blocked Brandon Fields’ punt. Two plays later, BenJarvus Green- Ellis scored on a 12-yard run. When the Dolphins lined up for a 53-yard field goal attempt that would have cut the deficit to 10 points, Chung again broke through to block the kick, and Arrington recovered with nothing but the end zone in front of him. As a result, the Patriots didn’t need Moss. He was targeted only once, when he stretched for a pass in the end zone, but the ball deflected off his hands and New England settled for a field goal. Brady was sacked three times but finished 19 of 24 with no interceptions. Ricky Williams turned a swing pass from Henne into a 28-yard touchdown, helped by a downfield block by Bran- don Marshall. Henne also hit Davone Bess for a 19-yard score. In Brady-Henne matchup, numbers didn’t tell story score, and then got blitzed by a triple play of Patrick Chung — who blocked a punt to set up a touchdown, blocked a field goal that was returned for a TD, then capped Henne’s night with a 51-yard return that gave the Patriots a 27-point lead with 6:30 remaining. Henne spent the rest of the game watching from the sideline. A night that began with such promise ended amid a mess. Henne completed his first seven passes and Miami was rolling in the early min- utes, outgaining New Eng- land by a huge margin and controlling the clock with ease. But he was intercepted twice by Rob Ninkovich — a former Dolphin — in the first half, miscues that set up two New England field goals. And when Henne was picked off again by Chung midway through the fourth quarter, the game was sealed. Wide receiver Bran- don Marshall took the blame for that one, calling it a miscommunication, which Henne appreciated. Giants reach the playoffs without a Bonds-like star San Francisco Giants SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Aubrey Huff and Freddy Sanchez have never been to the playoffs in a com- bined 20 major league seasons. Pat Burrell and Jose Guillen were let go by their former clubs this year only to make good on second chances. The San Francisco Giants reached the playoffs without anything close to a superstar, a far cry from the last time they advanced behind home run king Barry Bonds. This team’s run has been refreshing for all involved, from second-year managing partner Bill Neukom to gen- eral manager Brian Sabean. It’s taken creativity, especially by skipper Bruce Bochy, to end a six-year playoff drought. ‘‘I think it’s kind of a lesson in Base- ball 101, in some cases humility in that A, we don’t have a superstar and B, we really don’t have a team of stars and C, we’ve got enough talent, whether young or old or experienced with peo- ple who have won the World Series and also depth,’’ Sabean said. ‘‘It’s truly a team that knows that on each given day they’ve each got to do their job and somebody will step up and help us win a game.’’ It took them until the final day to do it. The Giants beat the San Diego Padres 3-0 on Sunday in their third attempt to clinch the club’s first divi- sion crown and playoff berth since 2003. San Francisco opens the division series at home Thursday night against the wild-card Atlanta Braves. ‘‘It’s a credit to the guys. It’s a cred- it to the organization and the makeup of the group,’’ said Burrell, who signed a minor league deal May 29 and began at Triple-A Fresno. ‘‘No. 1, if everyone has the same goal, which is to win, then it’s really easy for everyone to get along.’’ San Francisco’s roster looks totally different than it did when players reported to spring training back in Feb- ruary. There’s Burrell in left field, Guillen in right and rookie catcher Buster Posey behind the plate. None of them were around on opening day for the Giants (92-70). Same goes for newcomers Mike Fontenot and Cody Ross on the bench, and Javier Lopez and Ramon Ramirez in the bullpen. All the changes made by Sabean in recent months — some cer- tainly looked at as risky from the out- side — made this work for the Giants. ‘‘These guys have done such a great job with the roles they’ve played,’’ Bochy said. ‘‘It’s made us a different club. I’m grateful Brian went out and got these guys.’’ Seven players hit 13 or more home runs. Aaron Rowand added 11 homers and he lost his starting job in center field to Andres Torres midway through the season. Torres, who spent more than a decade in the minor leagues and was passed up on by a handful of other teams, emerged as a reliable leadoff man and defender. He also showed some determination, returning from a Sept. 12 emergency appendectomy See GIANTS, page 2B Special teams give Pats a lift