The Music Equivalent of Greg Paulus

This Greg Paulus as Michigan quarterback thing is just plain bizarre to me. In case you haven't heard about this yet, you can read the story here. The bottom line is that Paulus, basically a four-year starter on the Duke basketball team, was a high school All-American football player, still has one year of athletic eligibility left (in a sport other than basketball), and does not have to sit out a year as long as he enrolls as a graduate student at whatever school he decides to play football at. He has said that Michigan has offered to be that school.

Dont' get me wrong. Though I'm no Paulus lover, I can't fault him for wanting to continue his collegiate athletic career, and potentially setting himself up for a career in the NFL. If I had the chance to do that, I'd jump at it.

I just find the prospect of it extremely puzzling and far-fetched.

First off, there's Duke's head football coach, David Cutcliffe, saying there was "no way" he could compete for Duke's starting quarterback position after such a long layoff. So how is he not even in the mix at Duke, but is going to start at Michigan?

Second, he hasn't played for four years! And this isn't a minor transition like, say, moving from point guard to shooting guard. This is moving from playing against "guys who are trying to stop you" to "guys who are trying to kill you." Big step.

Third, he doesn't strike me as a great athlete. And I don't want to hear about how hard he plays or how well he moves or how deceptively quick he is. Or that this type of thing has happened before because I don't think it has, at least not on this scale. Woody Paige made a comment on Around the Horn the other day about how Chris Weinke played minor league baseball for six years before winning the Heisman Trophy at Florida State. Two huge differences: 1) No one had ever heard of Weinke before Florida State, and 2) Weinke had 3 years of experience before he won the Heisman. His freshman year, he played in 2 games and went 7-13 for 82 yards and 2 TDs.

And Paulus is no Pat White. If that's what RichRod is thinking, he should submit his resignation now. Pat White was 10 pounds heavier (and didn't he always look so small on the field?), lightning fast, and had a good arm that got better every year.

But for the sake of argument, let's assume Paulus will be as good as Pat White was as a freshman. That year, 2005, White was 65 for 114 (57%) for 828 yards, 8 TDs, and 5 INTs. He also ran for 952 yards and 7 TDs. And the team went 11-1 and beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. I'd be willing to give Paulus the passing stats (which are not bad, but certainly aren't amazing), but there's no way he matches White's ground gains. And let's not forget that (aside from the supremely athletic White) West Virginia had a few other playmakers too, like Steve Slaton and Darius Reynaud...playmakers that I don't think Michigan has.

But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Paulus will be just as good as White. I just don't see it.

Anyway, it got me thinking...what is the music equivalent of a move like this? A situation where an established artist makes a huge switch to another genre. Here are a few I came up with:

Everlast - original front man for the group House of Pain. Smash hit in 1992 with "Jump Around," now immortalized by the University of Wisconsin student section during home football games:



House of Pain disbanded in 1996, and Everlast went solo. Released the hit "What It's Like" and follow-up top 10 song "Ends." Got into a lyrical feud with Eminem (not smart) and has not had any recent success. Advantage: House of Pain.

Jessica Simpson - came to prominence with the bubblegum pop style of the late 90s, along with (although not as popular as) Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Had a number of hits on the Billboard Hot 100 ("I Wanna Love You Forever," "I Think I'm In Love With You," "Irresistible," "With You"), married Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees, and starred in the movie remake of The Dukes of Hazzard, which inspired one of the greatest videos of all time. In 2008, she attempted a move to country music, had a hit with "Come On Over" (but hasn't had one since), was openly booed at the Country Music Festival in Wisconsin, and contributed to the collapse of the Dallas Cowboys' Super Bowl hopes after becoming romantically involved with Tony Romo:



Advantage: This is a tough one. That Dukes of Hazzard video is so strong...but as a Redskins fan, I have to go with her post-pop career. Advantage country music Jessica.

Vanilla Ice - born Robert Matthew Van Winkle, Vanilla hit it huge with "Ice Ice Baby" (even if he did steal the beat from Queen's "Under Pressure"), briefly dated Madonna, and starred in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II. Then it all went south. Vanilla attempted suicide, became grunge/punk, made a rap-metal album, and had this infamous appearance on MTV:



[By the way, how about that MTV cast: Chris Kattan, Jon Stewart, Janeane Garofalo, and Denis Leary...wow.] Anyway, advantage definitely goes to Vanilla over "Rob."

And lastly, there's Mark Wahlberg. He goes from not acting here [and methinks the backup singer is lip-syncing]:



to acting here:



Definite advantage to acting Mark.

So I guess it can work out after all...good luck, Greg.

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