The Curious Case of Rams WR Chris Givens

St. Louis Rams wide receiver Chris Givens turned in one heck of a bizarre statistical anomaly last season.

While doing some research for a stat-based feature in the 2013 Lindy’s Fantasy Football preview magazine, I came across the record-tying stretch that Givens enjoyed during his rookie season in the NFL. The record is impressive enough. Upon further review, however, it’s remarkable because of what he did the rest of the season.

After being drafted in the fourth round last year out of Wake Forest, Givens began his rookie season quietly, catching two passes for nine yards in his first three games. Then, in Week 4, he caught a 52-yard pass in the Rams’ upset win over the Seahawks.

That long haul was the first of a five-week run in which he caught a pass of at least 50 yards in each game. The five straight games with a 50-yard catch tied a record that had been set by one-time Olympics sprinter Willie Gault with the Bears.

Here’s the anomaly: If a receiver has one catch for 50 yards or more, you’d think that’s a good foundation to produce a 100-yard game. And yet, Givens did not have a single 100-yard game in this stretch. The most yards he had in any of those five games was 85, in a Week 6 loss at Miami. Givens had a 65-yard catch in that game, but only had two other receptions for a total of 20 yards.

Over that five-game stretch, Givens caught 11 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns. While five of those catches accounted for 274 yards, the other six receptions produced a paltry 50 yards.

Adding to the question over whether Givens is a budding big-play star or a flash in the pan: After that wacky five-game stretch, he fell off the map.

Givens had amassed 324 yards in that five-game run. After the bye week, he missed the next game with a toe injury, then started the last seven games of the season. But he only had 29 catches for 365 yards in those seven contests.

From Weeks 4-8, Givens averaged 29.5 yards per catch.

From Weeks 11-17, he averaged 12.6 yards per catch.

So which Chris Givens will we see in 2013?

Richard Sherman is an expert on ADHD (not)

It’s one thing to take a professional athlete’s quotes out of context. That’s unfortunate. It’s another thing to take what a professional athlete says about, oh, science, and assume without question said athlete knows what he’s talking about.

We are alluding to the curious case of Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman – and it’s curious for many reasons.

It started last season when Sherman was suspended for allegedly taking Adderall – a drug used for ADD and ADHD patients that is banned by the NFL without a doctor’s prescription. Sherman’s suspension was overturned upon appeal. Sherman adamantly denies ever taking Adderall. And since he obviously doesn’t know why NFL players might use Adderall as a “performance enhancer,” I tend to believe him.

Sherman appeared on NFL Network’s “NFL AM” Thursday morning to explain that a Vancouver newspaper had taken his quotes out of context when he said “half the league” takes Adderall.

That’s fine. We get that he was exaggerating. Problem is, he went on to explain to “NFL AM” that the reason players take Adderall is because it helps them get ultra-focused, thus enhancing their performance. This is wrong on two levels.

For starters, people with ADD and ADHD do not take Adderall to get ultra-focused. For these patients, Adderall is not a “performance enhancer,” but rather a performance enabler. I know this because my 12-year-old son has a severe case of ADHD. He takes a different drug, but it’s in the same family as Adderall. It helps him stay focused enough to get by. It doesn’t give him an advantage over his peers. It merely gives him a chance.

But here’s the real issue: Adderall has a different effect on people who don’t have ADD or ADHD. Adderall is a stimulant. Instead of asking Richard Sherman about it, maybe ask a doctor… like the psychologist who’s been treating my son for years:

“When people without ADD or ADHD take these meds, they act as a stimulant, like speed.”

Speed. Yeah, that’s always been a popular performance-enhancing drug for professional athletes, right? That would make it easier to understand why many players might want to find a way to have Adderall prescribed.

There’s no simple medical test for ADD and ADHD, so it’s conceivable an athlete can talk his way into an Adderall prescription. The resulting perception is not that it’s a growing epidemic; the perception is that many ADD and ADHD patients don’t really need medicine but use it to get an edge. That’s a terribly unfair depiction for someone like my son, who would not be able to keep up in middle school without the drug, let alone play organized sports at any serious level.

But go ahead, sports media, let the athletes have their say and take what is said as gospel. That’s good for business.

Rutgers' most famous alum chimes in

What would the school’s most famous alum say about the current Rutgers scandal?

“Oh, Rutgers, you’ve done it again!”

Okay, well that’s a reference to Rutgers’ most famous fictional alum – Mr. Magoo.

You remember, Magoo, right? One of the early stars of animation. One of Magoo’s traits was that he was blind as a bat, even with those giant spectacles. Had he been shown the videotape of Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice physically and verbally abusing his players, Magoo probably would have reacted the same way school president Robert Barchi did – ignorantly.

Another black eye for college athletics. More importantly, though, any big news about Rutgers is an opportunity for me to fondly recall my experience with the Rutgers/Mr. Magoo connection:

Back in the summer of 1985, I was an intern at SPORT Magazine (like Magoo, a classic that’s no longer around). Working in the research department, I was enlisted to help writer David Whitford with a story he was doing on the seemingly perennial woes of Rutgers athletics. Whitford wanted to reference Magoo, who was often pictured in the cartoons sitting alone in the bleachers, waving a pennant and chanting “Rah, rah, rah for Rutgers!”

My mission: Find out why Mr. Magoo was a Rutgers fan.

Funny thing is, this was long before the internet made such research easier – yet the information I got cannot be found in a cursory web search today.

I started making calls to anyone associated with United Pictures of America, the company that produced and distributed Magoo. It was going nowhere. Then, out of the blue, I found myself talking to a man named Millard Kaufman – the creator of Mr. Magoo. Paydirt!

Why is Mr. Magoo a Rutgers’ fan? I asked. “Because he’s an alum, of course,” was the reply. Which led to my next question: Why did he go to Rutgers?

Kaufman explained that it made sense that a lovable loser like Magoo would be from New Jersey, and he would surely stay close to home for college.

“And,” Kaufman explained matter-of-factly, “Magoo wasn’t smart enough to go to Princeton.”