Baby Blog and Election Handicapping

1. Since the world of blogging has become so pervasive (as evidenced by the fact that I am now doing it), I have attached a link from Lucy Perry, who will be born next Wednesday. Lucy is the daughter of Lou and Molly Perry. (Lou was a grad student that lived in our dorm at ND.) I realize that this is not a strictly sports-related blog, but it may be interesting to some of our devoted readers and it does include some football pics. Enjoy.
http://www.lucyperryblog.blogspot.com/

2. Now that unborns can blog, do we need to call into question our national view on the A-word? (I know it's a discussion for another kind of blog, but how about that for a segue into political commentary?) Anyway, who is setting odds for the election on Tuesday? (Touching my nose.) My suggestion to keep it interesting would be to set over-unders for certain states as to when they are awarded. I just love having a reason to drink on Tuesday nights...

When did we become a gambling blog?

I really wanted to do a MAC game, but there is only one conference game this weekend with a total of three MAC conference games on national TV next Tuesday/Wednesday. But we can't have a playoff because of missed classes?

I don't care what the Tuesday night line is, take Buffalo and give the points to Miami.

Also, I really want to bet on SC, but that line opened at 43 and continues to go up (44.5 right now)

Here are my picks, remember all of them are with play money since I work in college sports and that gambling is illegal:

Missouri (-20) at Baylor -- Baylor cannot score that many points.

West Virginia (-4) at Connecticut -- West Virginia dumptrucks Connecticut every year

Auburn (+6.5) at Mississippi -- A loss by Auburn and they have five losses with Georgia and Alabama still on the schedule. That makes bowling difficult.

Tulsa (-7) at Arkansas -- Arkansas cannot keep up with Tulsa's offense

Bonus NFL Parlay
Minnesota (-4.5) vs. Houston
Denver (-3) vs. Miami
Indianapolis (-6) vs. New England

And Bill, you are already 0-for-1

Bill beats me to the punch

Here's what I like this weekend/early next week (lines courtesy of Bodog, and yes, they are all real):

Boise - 21 vs. NM St.

NM St. lost to Idaho. Do I need to say more?

Michigan St. -4.5 vs. Wisconsin.

Javon Ringer cannot be stopped. Sparty wins this by at least a TD.

TCU -14 vs. UNLV.

I love the Rebs, but will they even score against TCU's D? Randall Cunningham isn't walking through that door Rebel fans.

Maurice Green to win Dancing W/ The Stars @ 7-1.

Mo's fast, powerful feet are an asset. Add in the fact that I know him and he taught my bro how to run, and it's unbeatable.

Arizona -3 vs. StL.

Kurt Warner has Boldin back. How do they not win this by 14?

Obama winning popular vote in Montana +240.

Don't know where it's coming from, but Realclearpolitics has McCain up by 2.0 on average with Obama winning in one poll. Many Montana voters will likely go to the polls in the Best Time Zone (Mountain) with news reports of Obama's eastern victories on their mind, leading to the bandwagon effect kicking in. Everyone wants to vote for a winner.

Parlays

College - Indiana -3, MSU -4, ND -5, LSU -25.5, TCU -14
NFL - HOU +4.5, BAL +1.5, AZ -3, PHI -7

Monday's Gossip Girl will rock.

Not an actual line, but it's a given at this point. Too bad there's no line.

49ers special - Coach Singletary keeps his pants on this week -1000.

He can't do it two weeks in a row can he?

Weekend Picks: October 30 - November 2

This will hopefully be the start of a new weekly entry about the incredibly fun, but somewhat degenerate world of gambling on college athletics.

The format will be simple. I'll make 4 or 5 game picks per week and then one ridiculous parlay/ teaser bet. I'll post the odds and the bet. Next week we'll have a post-mortem from the prior week and then the next week's picks.

As long as the money lasts, we'll try to keep going.

Please remember that this is for recreational purposes only.

Recap of Last Weekend
Before we get to this week, I'll give you a quick recap of last weekend, which was a great one and has sparked my interest once again.

I took 4 games and went 4 for 4:

- Boise -7 at San Jose St - Actual result: BSU 33, SJSU 16 - WIN
Editorial Note: Boise State refuses to not cover.

- ND -10.5 at Washington - Actual result: ND 33, UW 7 - WIN
Editorial Note: The Irish have been significantly better ATS this year after a poor 2006 and 2007.

- MSU - 4 at Michigan - Actual result: MSU 35, Michigan 21 - WIN
Editorial Note: Michigan sucks.

- Oklahoma State +12.5 at Texas - Actual result: OSU 24, Texas 28
Editorial Note: I almost was going to pick OSU straight up, but held back.

This Week - 4 Games and a Big Parlay:
- South Florida -3 at Cincinnati - The Wager is 20 to win 18.18.
Editorial Note: I love the Thursday night games. Cincy looked real bad against Connecticut last week. Brian Kelly is not the genius he was last year.

- Navy -7.5 vs. Temple - The Wager is 20 to win 18.18.
Editorial Note: Navy didn't throw a pass last week in route to stomping SMU. I expect the same versus Temple. This line has since moved to -7 (see below), so that sucks.

- Boise -20.5 vs. New Mexico State - The Wager is 20 to win 18.18.
Editorial Note: Boise always seems to cover big spreads. I like any team that is playing purely for style points and trying to impress voters. Beating NMSU by less than 20 could cost Boise points in the polls.

- Georgia +5.5 vs. Florida - The Wager is 20 to win 18.18.
Editorical Note: Finally, I'm picking a REAL game. I like Georgia's defense in this matchup. The higher ranked team is the underdog and the game is at a neutral site. Florida's offense has put up big numbers on offense in their last 3 games, but I like the way Georgia's defense has played lately. I can envision Tebow and Company struggling, while Stafford and Moreno are able to move the ball.

- Fun Pick of the Week - 8 Game Parlay - 150 to 1 payout if we hit all 8
Oklahoma St -31 vs. Iowa St
Kansas -11 vs. Kansas St.
Missouri -20 at Baylor
Nebraska +22 at Oklahoma
ND -4.5 vs. Pitt
SFlorida -3 at Cincinnati
Navy -7 vs. Temple
Texas Tech +4 vs. Texas

Check back next week for the results.

Rams send tape to NFL over what they believe are missed calls

Ok I've been trying to get a word in edgewise on an ESPN blog about this headline I read (see above) but there's actually TOO MANY people talking to get meaningful constructive dialogue. I have my own comments to this, but I will reserve them for the time being. What does everyone think of this? Here's the article quote from ESPN.com;

"The New England Patriots were assessed zero penalty yards in their win over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday -- and the Rams want to know why. The Rams are sending a videotape to the NFL's offices, highlighting plays the team believes should have resulted in penalties against the Patriots on Sunday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. 'Never ever, ever, ever played a perfect team before,' Rams guard Richie Incognito said about the disparity, according to the report. 'That's all I am going to s ...'"

Derek

Willingham Out at Washington

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington coach Tyrone Willingham says he will step down at the end of the 2008 season.

The Huskies fell to 0-7 on Saturday after a 33-7 loss to Notre Dame. Willingham and athletic director Scott Woodward made the announcement at a news conference Monday.

Willingham has been under fire for being unable to turn around the Washington program. He is 11-32 overall in his four seasons. Washington currently has a nine-game losing streak dating back to last season, tied with North Texas for the longest in the country among major schools.

Woodward has said he did not want to change coaches during the season. But he said Monday's announcement ends speculation of what is going to happen and lets the team focus on the final five games.

Big XII vs SEC (cont)

So everyone has their opinions on who is the better conference - SEC or Big XII.  There's only been one inter-conference match up and Texas soundly defeated Arkansas 52-10 (which is hardly a good judgement of how the conferences would stack up since you take the best from one against the worst from the other).  That being said, I'm going to throw out there (in my view) the top six potential match ups pitting a Big XII team against an SEC opponent.  I'm going to give each game a neutral location so home field advantage doesn't come into play.

1. Texas v Alabama - Texas: The Longhorns are rolling right now and Colt McCoy is putting up some amazing numbers against top 10 teams.  Alabama has talent, but they're still young and not going to be able to keep up, Texas is putting up on average 45 ppg and giving up 18, that's a lot of ground for Alabama to make up.
2. Oklahoma v Georgia - Georgia: Georgia can put up points and Oklahoma is having a hard time stopping anybody.  Fortunately for Boomer Sooner, Sam Bradford has the offense clicking so OU can get out to an early lead and boat race the opposition.  I realize it's a hard sell since Alabama destroyed Georgia between the hedges of Sanford Stadium, but in the long run I think Georgia is the best team in the SEC this year.
   
3. Texas Tech v Florida - Texas Tech: The Gators have woken up the past two weeks but Mike Leach is actually running the ball and the Red Raiders are dominating.
   
4. Oklahoma State v LSU - Oklahoma State: The best that LSU has on their resume right now is beating an inept Auburn team and getting blown out at home by Georgia and on the road by Florida.  Okie State won on the road against Missouri and played Texas tight - OSU gets the edge for being competitive in big games this year.
   
5. Missouri v Vanderbilt - Missouri: This is where the depth of the Big XII comes into play, good luck Vanderbilt, they might stay within 30 of Mizzou.
   
6. Kansas v Kentucky - Kansas: Kentucky doesn't have a defense like the top part of the SEC to stop Todd Reesing, Dezmon Briscoe, Kerry Meier and Jake Sharp.  KU's defense hasn't look great against Oklahoma or TTU but it's a lock they'll score more points than the Wildcats.

Across the whole conference the Big XII is putting up on average 36+ points and 442 ypg with average scoring defense of 25ppg.  The SEC is scoring 25ppg with 345 yards and posting an average scoring defense of just under 20ppg.  Basically, conference to conference the SEC will have a hard time keeping up with the Big XII head to head and the depth of the Big XII will win out if there was a showdown this year.

BCS Projections

The BCS is teetering on being absolutely terrible. I'll explain after the projections. As always, these are if the season ended today, not what is going to happen:

National Title Game: Texas vs. Alabama
Rose: USC vs. Penn State
Fiesta: Oklahoma vs. Ohio State
Sugar: Georgia vs. Utah
Orange: FSU vs. West Virginia

Yes, you could switch Utah and West Virginia. I just think the Sugar wouldn't want the rematch. It was a good game, so a rematch isn't crazy.

Now, a conference can only have two teams in the BCS. With the SEC and Big XII dominance, that severely limits the BCS pool:

1. Texas, 2. Alabama, 3. Penn State, 4. Oklahoma, 5. USC. 6. Georgia, 10. Utah, 11. Boise State, 12. Ohio State, 13. TCU. (Also have the ACC and Big East AQs)

That's it folks. Teams in the top 14 not eligible: 7. Texas Tech, 8. Florida, 9. Oklahoma State, 14. Missouri. Granted, a bowl could take Florida over Georgia, so I'm just saying the third SEC team in the BCS standings isn't eligible.

So, if Ohio State loses another game, the BCS will not be happy. Florida State is 15th this week, so they move into the top 14, effectively eliminating one of the at-large teams.

That means you have two non-BCS teams who must get selected, which would make for some interesting decisions. That's another column for another day.

World Series Thoughts

Rays in 7; I also said this before Game 1.

My favorite Random Joe Buck Thought of the Series: Rocco Baldelli is a 2004 Inductee into the Rhode Island Italian-American Hall of Fame.

And yes, I just labeled this post with a tag for the Rhode Island Italian-American Hall of Fame.

Avoiding Downfall in South Bend

Since the Irish are traveling to Seattle to take on the Vicious Animals, it's the time of year to play the "what if" game.  What if Notre Dame had kept Ty Willingham around to give him a fair shake to stay as coach longer than three years?  What if the Irish football team was allowed to go through a full cycle of Willingham recruiting classes?  I think it's pretty clear what would have been the outcome - the total dismantling of Notre Dame football.

Willingham apologists like to point out that he was 21-15 at Notre Dame through three seasons.  He was also National Coach of the year in 2002 after somehow leading the team to an 8-0 start (which was followed by the nightmare at home against BC and a drubbing on the road against USC).  What his supporters don't seem to quickly point out is that he lead Notre Dame through five blowout losses of 30 points or more, had an offense consistently ranked towards the bottom of 1-A (now FBS) schools, and his last two recruiting classes following his "standout year" ranked 32nd and 40th respectively.

Now let's look at Willingham at Washington to see where Notre Dame could have been headed.  Washington is 11-30 under Willingham, has not had a recuriting class ranked above 24 (the current one is 90th), and is the only FBS school without a win halfway through the season.  The direction Notre Dame was being led by Willingham would have put the Irish in the position where just making a bowl would have been a significant achievement and staying within four touchdowns of USC would be a moral victory.

While in Weis' first three years he finished with a comparable record to Willingham at 22-15, he did lead a record setting ND offense under Brady Quinn that is looking to return to form under Clausen (currently ranked 17th of FBS school in passing yards per game), and the Irish have gone to two BCS games with a bowl berth looming in year four.  The biggest division between Willingham's capabilities and Weis' relates to the fact that Weis has pulled in two classes ranked 8th nationally, last year's class was ranked 2nd a year ago and is putting together another great class for next year.

So where are we left now?  We play the what if game and realize that Notre Dame would be in much the same position as Washington currently is, a consistently losing school with angry boosters and a massive rebuilding effort needed to become competitive again.  Without a doubt Notre Dame is better off sans Willingham, and I hope for the sake of college football he isn't awarded the opportunity to tear apart another program after Washington.  Unless Pete Carroll leaves and he gets hired at USC, I'd make an exception.

Davieham Drinking Game

For those of you who are looking forward to Saturday night at 8 pm on ESPN2 as much as myself, this will make the game even more enjoyable.

This game will be followed, to some degree, in Buffalo by myself and Ookie. I'm not sure if I'll make the end of the game.

DAVIEHAM: The Drinking Game

Game is subdivided into two parts for the men for whom it is named. You may choose to follow the Davie Drinking Rules, the Willingham Drinking Rules, or both, as you see fit and depending upon such factors as your levels of tolerance, finances, and/or deep-seated implacable ire for one or both of the would-be destroyers of Our Lady’s beloved football program.

Davie Drinking Rules

Rule #1. Footbaw. Every time Davie says “Foot-BAW” in any context (foot-baw game, foot-baw player, etc.) take 1 drink.

Rule #2. Every time Davie says “YOUUGE” on the air (“That was a YOUUUGE play right there,” “Man, what a YOUUUUGE tackle by that linebacker”), take 2 drinks.

Rule #3. Whenever Davie introduces a comment by saying “Lemme tell you somethin…” - 1 drink

Rule #4. Any time Davie says “Excellent” – usually “Excellent point, Mark” to his broadcast partner Mark Jones – 2 drinks.

Rule #5. It is a near-certainty that Davie will bring up the game clock and either (1) criticize the coach for letting the clock run down or (2) actually say something like “As a coach, the last thing you want it to be labeled as someone with poor…clock…management.”
When this happens, everyone must immediately finish their drinks as fast as possible. The last person to finish will be excoriated by everyone else in the room, all of whom should stand up, point accusing fingers at the last finisher, and yell “POOR CLOCK MANAGEMENT!!!”

Rule #6. From this point on, this person will be labeled the “Poor Clock Manager” (or the “PCM”) and must wear a sign or label to this effect. [Also acceptable would be a large clock strung around his neck much like this guy].

Rule #7. For the remainder of the game, during timeouts the PCM must go and replenish the drinks for everyone else in the room.

Rule #8. If Davie makes any mention of “the difficulties” of coaching at ND due to “the expectations” or “academic restrictions” or says that ND is “kind of like a military academy,” all are invited to simply hurl empties at the PCM for purposes of catharsis.






Willingham Drinking Rules

Rule #1. Mic Flip. Every time the camera shows Ty flipping his headset microphone up or down, take 1 drink.

Rule #2. The TWSSSS. After a big positive play for ND or big negative play for UW, all should watch for the camera to show the patented Ty Willingham Stoic Silent Still Stare (™). Everyone must immediately take 2 drinks.

Rule #3. The last person to notice the TWSSSS and take their 2 drinks will earn the name “The Molder” and must continue to drink as long as the TWSSSS continues, and cannot stop until the camera cuts away.
As an identifying marker, The Molder should obtain a golf club and hold it for the remainder of the game.

Rule #4. Anytime any announcer or studio host says of Ty that “the cupboard was bare” when he got to UW, or “he didn’t inherit much,” or that “he just needs more time to get his players in,” or any variation thereof, The Molder must get up and make everyone in the room a bowl of microwave popcorn.

Rule #5. Any time Ronnie Fouch, Washington’s quarterback, lines up under center in the “poop squat,” all take 1 drink.

Rule #6. At the same time, The Molder should be keeping count of every time Ty says either “Okay,” or refers to his players as “young men,” and must add an extra drink for every “Okay” and/or “young men” reference.

Rule #7. If Tyrone Willingham refers to himself as Tyrone Willingham or “Coach Willingham,” every third person in the room must finish their drinks immediately.

Rule #8. At the start of the 3rd quarter, The Molder must go to the bathroom and remain there for at least five minutes.

Rule #9. At any reference by the announcers or studio hosts to Ty’s “integrity,” or discussion of how he “cleaned up” the programs at either ND or UW, or of his successes “Sunday through Friday,” all are invited to pelt The Molder with empties.

Prediction

Still thought this before Game One, but Tampa in six

The Phillies had to win Game One to have a chance, but I just don't think they can get it done. Not enough starting pitching in the matchups in games three and four

World Series Broadcasting

I can't decide which is more painful: sitting through Joe Buck's play by play or trying to stomach Tim McCarver's color analysis.

I think Buck is given a sheet of random facts before each game and is determined to read each one before the ninth inning, no matter how appropriate to a situation the stat may or may not be, just to fill air time. I also think he's a robot without the capacity for emotion. Jack Buck's "GO CRAZY FOLKS!" is legendary. Joe would have uttered something like "Ozzie Smith just won the pennant for the Cardinals." Dear FOX: he's not his father!

And McCarver should start calling games at a local retirement home in St. Pete while watching the game on the old television in the lounge that no longer has sound. Something tells me he'd make more sense and would be easier to listen to if I was heavily medicated and used a hearing aid that could be turned off.

Really???

Now that the Backstreet Boys have sung the National Anthem.....I'm ready for some SPORTS!!!!! The BACKSTREET BOYS?!?!!? FOR SPORTS?!?! Come on now, let's get real. Anyhow.....Go Phils.

World Series Predictions

Greetings All-

With first pitch in mere minutes, I figure now is as good a time as any to make my first contribution to the blog. Up front, let me just say that I'm thinking Phillies in 6. Also, let me just say that I'm HOPING Phillies in 5, but I just don't see it happening.

The Fightin' Phils were one of the best road teams in baseball this year, but Tampa was THE BEST team at home this year. I figure the Phils can scratch out one win(Game One) with their ace on the hill(Hamels), but there is simply no way that they'll be able to get two straight in Tampa. Can a brother get a little celebration in the city of brotherly love please??? Answer--no. The Phillies can win this series, and I do think they will. The bats are starting to come to life at the right time(Case in point- Ryan Howard, or R6 as I like to call him, stroking three hits in the decisive Game 5 against the Mannys), the pitching has been outstanding from top to bottom, and there is something to be said for experience.

The Phils got embarassed last year against the Rockies in that first round, but didn't play too poorly in any of the three losses. They're better this year than they were last year, and they're better than the Red Sox were this year. What I'm saying is that this is the best team that these Rays have played so far this year. These Rays are going to make it one hell of a series, and they won't give an inch. Kazmir figures to give Hamels a tough night on the hill, and the hitters an even tougher night at the plate. BUT---the Phils will find ways to scratch out hits, and if the top of the lineup gets going, and if Uncle Charlie hits The Flyin' Hawaiian in the number 2 spot, the Phils showed late in the series against the Mannys that they can play small ball. All season they lived and died by the homer, but late in these playoffs they showed that they can play small ball as well.

Tampa is FREAKING GOOD. Apparently all of the "baseball people" are saying that they knew the Rays were going to be this good, but that they're a year ahead of schedule. LOTS of runs will be scored, LOTS of good defense on both sides.... and LOTS of cowbell in the Trop. All that said, I still pick the Phils to win in 6 this year. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go down the street to get a cheesesteak.....

World Series Anyone?

The first pitch will be thrown soon at Tropicana Field and before the series starts I'm going to share my prediction (thanks to the power of the internet) - Phillies in six.  I had a little concern with this at first because Philly has had a few more days off than the Rays have and after seeing how the Rockies cooled down last year, it can be hard to get going again.

That being said, while the Rays are a great team and they've put up some impressive numbers this year (not just in wins, but at a basic level playing much better defense and getting stronger pitching from their bullpen), it seemed like they were starting to show some cracks against Boston.  I'm not going to lie - watching David Price pitch his way through the vaunted Red Sox hitters was exciting and impressive.  Tampa Bay is a young team with incedible talent, but now their facing another team that has a mixture of youth, talent, experience and hunger.

The difference to me between Philadelphia and Boston is the desire to win.  Winning has become and expectation and a business in Boston recently and the passion doesn't seem to be there like it was when they came back against the Yankees and then won the World Series in 2004.  Philadelphia has not seen a major sports championship since 1983 and while I've never been a fan of any team in that city (Philly fans are mostly the reason for that), I really believe the time is now for their drought to end.

If anyone wants to post their predictions, we can keep a running tally in the comments for this post.

TAKE 5

Hello boys and girls and all those who follow sports, “it’s time to call’em as we see’em.”

TAKE 1: The words written in quotations belonged to a man I used to listen to and watch when I was a kid in Southern California. Gil Stratton passed away recently and not only was he a sports broadcaster, but he was truly a renaissance man. In an era when many sportscasters are looking to work at “The Improv” or “The Comedy Store” as an end to what has started as a sports broadcasting career, Stratton had the ability to not only serve as a reporter on radio and television, but he was also a radio actor, acted on stage (Broadway) and in film. He was actually in on of my all-time favorites Stalag 17. By the way kids it is a black and white film, no one gets blown up (not completely) and has all the charm of what Hollywood was. Rest easy Mr. Stratton and the rest of us well TRY and do our best to make you proud.

TAKE 2: Monday, October 20, 2008. If you thought Chicago Cubs fans were ready to use shoelaces and belts after being swept from the post-season by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Divisional Series of the 2008 MLB playoffs, someone be sure to remove all sharp objects from the homes of said fans that hang out in America’s best three hour happy hour bar. Sunday night the Tampa bay Rays, who have existed three fewer years than Ron Santo played in his career are going to the World Series for the first time. You wanna know what is cool about the Rays going to the World Series. Everything!!! I don’t care if it is Dickie V shilling for the team or Joe Maddon, the manager of the Rays, a devoted wine drinker letting his players have fun playing the game. It is good to see new blood make its way to a place that has been occupied and quite frankly dominated by the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, with either of the two aforementioned teams combining to win October’s Crown six times. Here is a side note to the entire World Series best four-of-seven series. Rays centerfielder B.J. Upton, the brother of Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Justin Upton is the son of Manny Upton, who works college basketball games as an official in the ACC.

TAKE 3: So there I am Sunday afternoon, watching the NFL when I noticed something very peculiar on one hand, but not completely dumbfounding me. The Dallas Cowboys are possibly one of the biggest frauds in the National Football League. Not playing your quarterback because of the broken pinky finger is the right decision. If Romo was not going to be effective throwing the ball, what makes any of us think he could handed the ball off to any back that lined up behind him. The Question the Cowboys (Jerra Jones) needs to answer is what do I do now? Roy E. Williams is a solid pickup for the Boys, if you are interested in a disinterested receiver that is as tough over the middle as I am in fight with a woman…not tough at all. There is something to be said for guys that have the talent to be playmakers and Williams has the talent along with T.O. to possibly be the loudest wideout duo in the history of the NFL. As General Manager and owner, Jerra has lost his mind going out and getting Williams. It shows a sign of panic when you THINK you need to help your Pro-Bowl receiver with a one time Pro Bowler. If Wade Phillips had any guts, he would get in the grill of Patrick Crayton, suggest Crayton make catches or begin to find gainful employment at the local Sonic. Here is the problem, Phillips has no backbone and therefore Dallas really has no team that will amount to anything this season.

TAKE 4: I am not sure how many of you are hockey fans, let alone college hockey fans. However, something was awfully disturbing last week at the University of Michigan. In an off campus incident, Michigan Hockey player Steve Kampfer was body slammed the ground by a Wolverines football player. This is based on eyewitness accounts at the off campus activity. What is sad in this entire incident is the possibility of two people losing the opportunity to do what they enjoy doing. Kampfer, who was drafted by the Anaheim Ducks, will have to wear a neck brace for anywhere from eight to twelve weeks and after that, his season is still in doubt. For the alleged offender, Mike Milano, who was a walk-on football player, his future at the university is in doubt and the possibility of jail time looms depending on the way the investigation turns. Regardless, it makes for a sad time in two families and a sad time for the Wolverines family.

TAKE 5: The final take for the week is this. If you had the opportunity to watch the Tampa bay Rays and Boston Red Sox series, I hope you learned this from it. History can happen at any time. We are in the middle of a Presidential election that will make history with either the oldest Commander-In-Chief in our history or the first African-American to serve this great nation as President. Either of those things happening is a monumental event in our time, but think of all the sports you have viewed in your life and history is bound to happen when you think it won’t. What does sport give us? The Sox coming from seven down with seven outs to go to win a playoff game and keep the dream alive for a back-to-back championship; A team that has existed as long as most sixth graders around the world; the Los Angeles Kings trailing 5-0 in the third period of a playoff game and scoring five goals in the third period and netting the game winner in OT to knock of a superior Edmonton Oilers team in April of 1981; after witnessing so many baseball games in my life, I saw a no-hitter thrown in April of 2002. Don’t leave the game early or change the channel to often, because history is always a shot, pitch or pass away. And there is nothing like saying you witnessed it or that you were there.

Enjoy your sports this week and we’ll talk again next week. Thanks for stopping and taking five.

NHL Thoughts

For most teams it's five games down, 77 more to go in the NHL season.  While football is in full swing, we've been a little lacking on hockey coverage so to remedy that situation I'm going to provide some early personal reflections on the new season:

NHL Math

• Vancouver = Luongo + 2(Sedin) and following that logic Vancouver = finishing just out of the playoffs 
  
• $6.75 million+ $5.625 million = overpriced goaltending in Chicago with not much to show 
• Washington > Pittsburgh
• 32+ = average age of the Red Wings, every year this number goes up and yet there is no drop off in wins
• 552-542 = number of wins until Brodeur is the all time winningest goalie (Roy's record is 551)
  

Predictions

• Atlantic: NY Rangers
• Northeast: Montreal (sorry Sabres fans - still not a believer)
• Southeast: Washington
• Central: Detroit
• Northwest: Minnesota
• Pacific: San Jose
• Eastern Conference: NY Rangers (though if Washington slips in here, I'd be ok with that)
• Western Conference: Detroit
• Stanley Cup: Detroit

While we're on the topic of predictions, ND will win dominate the Frozen Four this spring and win it's first hockey national championship too.  I also predict that Blozar will lose a bit more of his sanity everyday that Brady is not the QB1 for the Browns.

Football Overtime

So I was watching the Oakland - J.E.T.S. game this evening that went 12:30 into overtime before Sebastian "My Coach Let Me Try a 76-Yard FG, and Now He's Fired" Janikowski easily kicked a game-winning 57-yard FG. (In a related story, Janikowski celebrated this evening by himself in his apartment by slipping himself rufees and is now passed out.) Anyway, we were one missed FG away from a likely tie for the first time in the NFL since 2002 when, (as I correctly predicted,) Kordell Stewart watched from the sideline while Tommy Maddox lacked the arm strength to throw the ball 55 yards and Plax caught the hail mary at the one yard line and was immediately tackled short of the end zone. Regardless, I had to explain to my mom over dinner how there could be a tie in the NFL, and in typical female fashion, she commented on how that made no sense and how college overtime was better...

Anyway, it got me to thinking that, while I agree that college overtime is better, I don't believe it's perfect. In fact, in typical Ookie fashion, I think I can tweak college overtime to make it (almost) perfect. I would keep the format the same, except by making one simple change:

Instead of starting each "inning" with the ball on the offensive 25 yard-line, each team should kick-off from their own goal line. Here's why:

1. My biggest issue with the college OT is that special teams does not play a big enough role. Football is three parts: offense, defense, and special teams. By including kickoffs, you can increase the impact of special teams. There's still no punting game, but it's better than what we got now.

2. My second-biggest issue with college OT is that the 25-yard line is too close...in college, you're already starting in range of some kickers (see Jeremy "Judge Lance" Ito, Rutgers) while other teams don't have guys that can kick a ball that far off the tee (see [INSERT KICKER NAME], Notre Dame). I know that this could be perceived as a contradiction to the point above, but I don't think that a team should just be handed a game because their kicker is better either. So, you figure that when kicking off from the 30 yard line (standard kickoffs), average field start position is the 25-30 yard line. Back the kickoff up to the goal line should move field position up 30 yards as well--approximately to the opposing 40-45 yard line (10 to 15 yards behind the current starting position). Now you're one first down from being in potential FG range (for a good team).

3. Eliminate the mandatory 2-pt conversion attempt. If you knock starting field position back, you're far less likely to have teams matching score-for-score, so you don't need it.

That's it--let me know what you think.

BY-Who?

Well, the BCS schools are catching a break tonight as BYU is just getting annihilated by TCU. That realistically leaves two non-BCS schools who can get into the five BCS bowls -- Boise State and Utah -- and deserve it.

If one of those teams runs the table, one will get in and should get in -- one of those teams will be in the top 12 of the BCS, resulting in automatic qualification. However, if one of the BCS conference champions, cough Big East cough, is ranked lower than 16 in the BCS standings, then a non-BCS school automatically gets in if it's in the top 16.

I don't want to see an 11-1 Utah or Boise State team in there that is ranked 16th and gets in just because the Big East is terrible.

I'll try to post by BCS if the season ended today on a weekly basis, so right now, accounting for BYU's loss, it would be:

National title game: Texas vs. Alabama
Rose: USC vs. Penn State
Fiesta: Oklahoma vs. Ohio State
Sugar: Florida vs. Utah
Orange: Virginia Tech vs. Big East Champ

Just a game, yet so much more

There come moments in our lives when we have to choose between sports and something else, and that something else can be a wedding, a funeral or any other committment.  For those that are more than just casual fans, these are the moments that you can't help but feel conflicted.   One side of you thinks, "This is just a game."  Then again the other side is probably saying, "This game could be one of the defining sports moments of my generation."  How do you reduce this conflict?  I think there are two ways to mitigate these feelings and it comes with understanding why we value the things we do and then how to balance those things.

Sports are important and become more than just a game when they become symbols. Our sports represent a part of us, it can be a childhood memory or our college experience.  We cheer for our home town teams because they remind us of our roots and family.  We cheer for our college teams because they represent a common bond that we uniquely share with others that went to that school.    We cheer for our national teams and watch as sports transcend our individual differences and unite us as a country.  If you think this is an exaggeration, look at men's swimming in the Beijing Olympics and the "Proud to be an American moment" when the relay team beat the French for gold.  This American victory comes at a time when as a country we are struggling to find our identity in a world filled with anti-American protests and a stumbling economy.  In a way the teams we cheer for and the sports we love define a part of who we are and it's hard to turn your back on sport and say "it's just a game" because in a way that's like turning your back on a part of yourself.

However, it's dangerous to only find your definition as a person in sports.  Some fans can become excessively fanatical (I'm talking about Raiders fans that think everyday is Halloween and like to throw batteries at any opposing player with a helmet off, Latin American soccer fans chasing a referee off the pitch for making a bad call or those t-ball parents that forget they aren't watching the World Series).  Moderation is the key to equilibrium and I'm pretty sure the sun will come up on Sunday if I miss the ND football game on Saturday because I'm attending a funeral.

There is a lot more to life than just sports, but that doesn't mean that sports aren't still an important part of life.  What is important is finding the balance between emphasizing the role of sports in our lives and balancing that role with our relationships and other responsibilities (something I really learned this weekend).

On a closing side note, girls - don't plan weddings for Super Bowl Weekend (unless your soon to be husband is a Browns fan, then it won't matter), March Madness, or really any Saturday between the end of August and mid January.

  

Weekly Rant

Alright another week of sports has once again left my brain, including my sense of logic, in disarray. Not only did we see one of the best college football games of the season so far, we also got to witness that undeniable fact that the NFL is the best professional sports league. On top of that I found one instance where I don't mind watching NASCAR (or any racing sport for that matter).

1) The Red River Bowl was incredible. Texas got a well deserved win to an extremely good Oklahoma team. That being said, I don't NOT understand Texas jumping all the way to #1, but I'll save that for someone else to talk about. Another wonderful sight to see (and not because I have any disdain for either team) was both LSU AND Missouri losing. My god college football is incredible. Unfortunately we all know how it's going to go: both USC and Ohio State are going to win out the rest of their season, while all the teams atop right now falter at some point, and face each other in the BCS title game AGAIN and Ohio State will blow is on a national stage AGAIN. This bodes well the question of whether or not a loss in the beginning of the season is the best time to lose? Of course NOT losing at all would be the best. I bring this up because while I believe Texas, Alabama, and Penn State are great teams anyone can have a bad week. If that bad week happens now it's goodbye National Title game. If it happened in the beginning of the season (like it did to USC) you feasibly have time to work your way back into it.

2) The NFL is phenomenal. So how do we feel about Derek Anderson after last night? Also, how can it be said, this goes out to you Matt, that Brady Quinn (and for the record I'm a Brady Quinn fan based solely off his Myloplex commercial) is one of the best athletes of all time. That's like me telling you Matt Cassell is a fantastic college quarterback. Quinn hasn't proved anything yet. I agree he will be, and should be, the franchise QB of the Browns, but give him time.
It was great to see Atlanta win, Houston win, St. Louis win, the Giants lose, the Cowboys lose, the Redskins lose, and this has nothing to do with the fact that I either like/dislike any of the aforementioned teams. It just makes for GREAT competition. That being said, I will stand corrected and proclaim that the Browns/Giants game was great to watch and worthy of MNF.
Let's talk about some people that SUCK: TO sucks, Tony Romo's pinkie finger sucks, OT rules in the NFL suck (it should be like college), the Cincinnati Bengals suck...big time, the Pats defense sucks (we can talk about not having Brady but that doesn't have anything to do with allowing 30+ points per game), PacMan Jones sucks, the broadcasters (not Joe Flacco himself) who keep proclaiming how much Flacco is improving even ofter he consistently has a QB rating of 60.6, Anthony Siragusa sucks (He is so annoying and when I saw him on the field this weekend in sunglasses that would fit a 4 year old, sweating profusely, I almost turned the game off) Last but not least...the 1972 DOLPHIN's SUCK. I hate them and now it's only a matter of time before we see their stupid faces when the last undefeated team of the 08-09 season falls. Every year I want to see all of them slip on the champagne they pop open and break something.

3) It must suck to be an Angels fan
4) The only time it's fun to watch any NASCAR (or other racing events) is when I'm watching on the Discovery channel's "Destroyed in Seconds" where all they show are the most incredible wrecks. Other than that, it sucks. I highly recommend the show though. It's pretty awesome.

I'm sure there's more that I missed in the world of sports this past week so please feel free to comment and/or add to this list. I'll be watching the Sox/Rays game tonight.

Derek

ND vs. UNC Game Blog

I'm watching the game at home alone this afternoon, so I decided to keep a blog during the game. For space purposes on the main screen, I'll post my blogs quarterly as comments to this post.

BCS Bashing

Hello everyone. My name is Nick ("Hi, Nick!"), and I'm a BCS enthusiast. Please don't judge me. It's not my fault--it's a disease. And I'm fighting the good cause. With you're help, I've been clean and sober from bashing the BCS for 247 days...

I know you've all heard the arguments for both sides. You've probably heard most of the BCS complaints about 20 times each, and most of the supporting statements only thrice. Well I had too, or I thought I had. And then the trump card was played (on ESPN of all places, where you are more likely to hear the third-string special teams gunner from the 1986 SMU team complain about the BCS format than you are to see more than 3 highlights of last night's MLB playoff game) by Tim Cowlishaw in early September on Around the Horn. And I'm paraphrasing here, but it went something like this:
"Welcome to the biggest and best sports tournament of the year. No, it's not March yet. No, I don't mean the MLB playoffs. The college football SEASON has kicked off."

That's what the BCS is. You don't know a 64 or 16 or even 4 team playoff--you already have it. Think about it--if you lose, you're out. So don't lose.

I'm not saying that the system is perfect. It certainly needs to be tweaked (e.g. eliminating preseason polls and pollsters rewarding difficult schedules), but I think that most of the imperfections are due to the polls, and not the BCS format. Even if you went to a post-season tournament, you'd still have to use some sort of judgment to determine the teams that qualify, no matter if your tournament is 2 teams or 32.

So when you're watching college football this weekend, think about this: what is a bigger game--LSU vs. Florida or Ohio St. vs. Purdue? Give me a 16-team tournament, and it's not. LSU and Florida are guaranteed spots in the field, and this would only be a battle over seeding. Ohio St. could be fighting for their tournament life. Which game do I want to watch more? Which game do I want to matter?

I'm thankful that tOSU isn't in position to "get hot" in December and make a tournament run for another national championship. I'm thankful that LSU/Florida IS a game with national championship implications. Ohio St. already had their tournament run; it's Darwinism, and sports, at its best.

Brady Quinn Apologist

You can call me a Brady Quinn apologist, I will even admit to having a man-crush on him. See my authentic No. 10 Quinn jersey.

Anyway, I cannot stand Derek Anderson as the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, a team that I love. I understand it's mind-boggling that I can love my team so much but actively cheer for Anderson to fail.

Now, I know I'm biased, with Quinn being one of my all-time favorite athletes. However, Anderson stinks. I think the last 12 Browns game support that fact, especially this season when his QB raiting is lower than everyone not named Thigpen (Tyler, not Bobby. That's not good). He's the same quarterback that he was in college -- an inconsistent gunslinger who has good games and bad games, with the bad games being really bad. That's not what you need in the NFL.

You need a Brady Quinn-type quarterback -- someone who can manage the game and plays well when it counts. Yes, his team never got that "signature win" while at ND, but you can't argue that he played poorly in big games. Just look at the '05 USC game where he was a Bush Push away from one of the greatest drives in Notre Dame history.

I will be at the Browns-Giants game on Monday night. The Browns might be able to pull this out as everyone is jumping on the Giants' bandwagon, the Eli is better than Peyton talk is coming out and Plaxico is a minor distraction. The Browns will be fired up, in front of the home crowd and on MNF for the first time in five seasons.

If they win, it will just be delaying the inevitable -- Brady Quinn as the franchise quarterback of the Cleveland Browns.

And Pro, Jimmy Clausen is the real deal. Don't hate.

(W)PBA

Yep, that's right. There's a "W" in "PBA" now. Whilst working from home today I took a quick smoke break to turn on ESPN.

Sure enough I was greeted with 10 pins and a nicely waxed wood floor. Then the camera panned out. And a well dressed, fairly attractive, slender young lady wearing a skirt hucked a ball down the lane with great form.

Maybe it was attractive only because it was unexpected, who knows, but it struck me as something that could catch on.

10 minutes later I still hadn't seen a single strike and only one spare.

And the love affair was over as quickly as Kimbo Slice got knocked out on Saturday night.

UPDATE:
I kept watching, because as much as I try not to, I still rubberneck a bit when passing a car wreck on the highway. Two strikes and a great spare pick up on a 3,5,10 split. So okay, Lisa Leslie can dunk, too. Does that mean I watch the WNBA? Nope. Does this mean I'll watch the WPBA, nope. But it sure beat reading emails and looking at spreadsheets.

Turns out women have been bowling for a while. The "U.S. Women's Open" they call it. Go figure! Does that ever confuse anyone? Isn't that what the women's golf tournament is called?

Why Fantasy Football is Bad for the Game

Raise your hand if you've ever had any of the following thoughts (substitute player names as appropriate):

1. Kurt Warner is my QB in one league where I'm losing, but I'm playing against him in my other league where I'm currently winning my match up so I need him to do well but not that well.
2. The Broncos (or any childhood favorite team) just scored a touchdown to beat the Raiders (or any hated team) but it was a run instead of a pass so I get no points and I'm disappointed.
3. One of my receivers, Santana Moss, is playing against my defense, Dallas, and I need him to get a lot of receptions and yards but not score, but if he does score then I need my defense to sack Campbell a few times or better yet make Portis fumble because the guy I'm playing is playing Portis.

Okay, so if you've played fantasy football, you probably have your hand up right now.  You can put it down because I can't see you helping me make my point and your co-workers are probably wondering why you have your arm waving in the air.

Originally I liked the idea of fantasy football because suddenly I had a stake in almost every game, which should make every game interesting in one form or another.  Instead, all I can think about while watching games now are complex scenarios of "if he does this, then I need to have this happen, but then this might happen so then I'll need that to work out."  Ridiculous!

Additionally, fantasy football stats are like trying to bet on the over/under for points in a game.  The team and players don't care about your CBS Sportsline just like most coaches (outside of Steve Spurrier) aren't actively trying to break the over every week.  If you like football because it's football, shouldn't it be enough to just watch the games and enjoy them for what they are instead of furiously calculating 0.1 for every rushing yard?  Shouldn't you just be happy your RB broke 100 yards in the game because that's a good sign your team is doing well rather than being happy because you get a bonus point?

Maybe I'm slowly becoming a purist in my old age, it is what it is - but next year I'm looking forward to a season where my only angst is if the Broncos lose to the Chargers.  Until that time though, I hope Steve Slaton keeps having a good year.

Top Ten People Who Could Benefit From A Good Punch To The Face

1) Jimmy Clausen. He's played well this season; but seriously ND Nation, the guy really needs to be slapped around a bit. You are no Joe Montana, son. Nor are you Ron Powlus.

2) Philip Rivers. No, you are not Tom Brady. This guy needs a swift punch to the face.

3) Jonathan Papelbon. No drunk half naked dancing on the infield. Here comes the fistagon.

4) George Karl. The smug coach of the Nugs could benefit from coaching a little D, players who will play some D, and a punch to the face.

5) Todd Bertuzzi. Right to his ugly mug. And some pucks.

6) Jared from Subway. A perfect example of how to parlay your fifteen minutes into a career (and free sandwiches). A wonderful accomplishment Jared. Here's a free knuckle sandwich.

7) Travis Henry. A graduate of the Shawn Kemp School of Parenting. And now we know why you started running for the white powder of the sidelines. A good honest punch to his grill could be beneficial.

8) O.J. Simpson. They got him! Really. Enjoy prison, Heisman Trophy winner. Now a fist. And return my memorabilia.

9) Nancy Grace. The CNN host could use a firm slap or two. Lady, you are a better fit for the 3:30 a.m. slot on the home shopping network. POW!

10) Child molester Jake Plummer. Mountain man Jake Plummer was awesome. But that moustache tells me you have a court order to introduce yourself to the neighbors when you move in. Just a quick jab could jar his common sense, and his sense of dignity.

Weekly Rant

1) I hate the fact that there's no way to change Sunday night and Monday night football games (or any games for that matter) to appeal more towards the masses. Last night, Vikings-Saints (who cares) next week, Giants-Browns (no contest, the Browns are awful) . Right there we have 2 weeks of Monday night football that are useless and no one cares about. I'd rather watch Tina Fey impersonate Sarah Palin for 3 hours than watch either of those games

2) I love the Red Sox and the way in which they on last night. I equally love watching the entire city of Chicago fall into deep depression...call me a sadist. Baseball in October is great. It can get boring in the middle of the season when things don't seem to matter as much, but come on. Who can tell me they wouldn't like to see L.A Dodgers (with Manny and Torre to boot) vs. the Red Sox. It would be a cataclysmic event: Manny leaves the Red Sox only to meet them in the World Series. He is coupled along side Joe Torre who was run out of NY by management (but is still loved and revered by most Yankee fans) facing the Red Sox who, if they manage to win this year, could be in line to make run like the Yanks did in the 90's. That's some good sports drama.

3) I don't like NASCAR. I don't know why, but it's just not cool. The idea is cool (going real fast in cars and trying not to crash, while people who aren't actually participating in the race get hammered) and the sponsorships are cool. What other sports throw in a mixing bowl of advertisers like Tylenol, the National Guard, Mountain Dew, Budweiser, DirectTV, Dominoes Pizza, Old Spice, NicoDerm, and Allstate (anyone else see the irony in having a car insurance provider as your sponsor in NASCAR?). The girls are usually dumb and hot, which adds bonus points. However, even with all that it is just BORING to watch, at least on TV. "Ohhh blal blah wins the NEXTEL Cup." Who cares.

4) Hockey season has begun and I look forward to actually being able to root for a team (Washington Capitals) who have a legitimate shot at being a contender. Realize that I'm from CT where were continuously disappointed by our old NHL team, the Hartford Whalers (now Carolina Hurricanes) so this opportunity is a big step for me.

5) Bowling is only fun when you're getting drunk and the Bowling Alley looks like a disco. Other than that is it lame. There should be a rule that, at the very least during football season, I should NEVER turn on a sports channel and see bowling being portrayed as a sport. Name me one bowler in the, I'm not kidding, PBA? You can take bowling up with Curling, Synchronized Swimming, and the WNBA for sports I could care less about.

I don't have the energy for more right now. I'm tired from a weekend of watching disappointing and uninteresting football (I'm not a Redskins fan otherwise the weekend could have been salvaged).

Derek

Drinking the Kool-Aid in DC

Alright, so I'm not going to pretend I'm a Redskins fan by any means.  Actually, I've generally enjoyed it when the Redskins lose because fans around NOVA/DC/Maryland seem rather insufferable everytime they win.  Plus Clinton Portis and company take up valuable extra pages in the sports section that should be reserved for Ovechkin.  Five games into the season all of a sudden Jim Zorn has his team sitting at the 4-1 with a legitimate chance to make a run for the NFC East, mostly based on back to back road wins in Dallas and Philly as well as an offense that seems to be clicking under Jason Campbell.

The word on the street around here is that the Redskins are Super Bowl bound.  The Giants were unlikely candidates last year, so I'm not going to rule out any team's chances - but let's be serious Redskins fans, the Giants are still the team to beat in the NFC until someone proves otherwise.  It's easy to throw in a number of other teams that could throw a wrench in the Redskins plans.  Dallas is still lurking with a lot of football to play, Carolina isn't looking too bad, and if you don't have homefield advantage in the playoffs do you really want to go down to Glendale and have a road game against Arizona?  (*Note: this only applies to a road game in AZ which is possible with AZ winning the division and considering that the rest of the NFC West is currently a combined 3-10.)

Advice to Redskins fans - enjoy the last four games, don't expect to go 15-1 and be happy you seem to have an offense again compared to the last few years of the Joe Gibbs regime.

Take 5

First of all kids, these are takes from yours truly to you. Please use them in the spirit intended. Unless of course I become pretty striking toward your team, school, favorite player etc... this is about fun (sometimes).

Take 1: Your boy Kimbo Slice stepped into the cage the other night and was smashed like a Halloween Pumpkin in 14 seconds. Do you realize what I can do in 14 seconds? Let me count the ways: 1) Breathe in and out five times; 2) warm up a blueberry muffin in the microwave; 3) send a substantial, yet short text message to someone I care about or dislike (sidebar note: please stop saying, "I TEXTED my friend the other day." When did TEXTED become a word? Try saying, "I sent a text or text message to my friend the other day." It irks me just as much as people who say, "I was at my work." Cut it out!!!) Now, back to the Slice. 4) Look at an awfully attractive woman, walk up to her and tell said woman that she is attractive and go on about my day; 5) Make oodles and oodles of money off a network willing to pay me to get knocked the heck out.

Mr. Slice, you may not be an athlete or even an MMA cat, but to blacken the eye of the network that that is the “Eye”, that is pure Americana.

Take 2: Admittedly, I am a Los Angeles Dodgers (Born and raised on Dodger Dogs) fan and I am happy to have seen them defeat the Chicago Cubs in three games with a 3-1 win Saturday night. But what gives me even more joy is watching Cubs fans remove belts and shoelaces so they are not hanging themselves from the beams of Wrigley Field or from the basket on the outfield wall at the aforementioned ballpark. Many Cubs fans come off as obnoxious and are really a pain to put up with. There are two exceptions: 1) Bowling Green State University Head Hockey Coach Scott Paluch. Pooch is a nice guy and understands the reality of the Cubs, even though he wants them to win badly; 2) a guy named Andy I met in a bar as James Loney belted a grand slam to put the Dodgers up 4-2 in game one and give them a lead they held on to for the remainder of that game ad the next two. When he agreed Cubs fans were obnoxious, he hurt me a smidge to let him know his team was going down. I couldn't say that out loud. I was the lone Dodger voice in a bar room of Cubs fans. I cheered loudly and made sure they all heard me. Go Dodgers!!!

Take 3: I would like someone or NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to answer a question for me. Why are teams that play in western time zones made to play early games in the east? Granted, the Seattle Seahawks stink, but a 1 PM game at the Meadowlands is a 10 AM start in Gig Harbor, WA. I realize that television makes the NFL the spectacle it is and there is nothing like being able to grab a little breakfast while in one's boxers and watch NCAA or NFL football, but teams that fly across country should be given some type of break. What's wrong with making those games 4:15 (ET) starts. It is then only early afternoon in the bodies of players from teams based in the Pacific Time Zone. The way I count it, there are five teams in the (PT). What will it hurt the NFL to allow these teams to start road games in the east at 4:15? Aside from that, there is only one team that really matters out west and that is San Diego. Although, the Arizona Cardinals are making a push for later start times when they travel east. Roger, pick up the phone when I call and let’s remedy this situation. The Seahawks would have lost 44-6 to the Giants yesterday anyway, but allow them to wake up and witness the nightmare live instead of having to sleepwalk through it.

Take 4: Apparently, the alleged best team in baseball, the Los Angeles Angels, were revived yesterday in their game three win over the Boston Red Sox. Regardless of yesterday's win, the things that have hurt the Angels in the post-season since winning the world series in 2002: 1) Vladimir Guerrero not showing up offensively; 2) the Boston Red Sox. Remember how George Steinbrenner used to own the Sox before Boston exorcised its ghosts with a spectacular seven game series win after trailing in the series 3-1. The Angels appear as though they are going to have to do the same thing. Anaheim is a good team, but when it comes to the Red Sox in the post-season, they are in need of the Heimlich maneuver if they are ever going to taste a good or bad bottle of champagne again. This means K-Rod can not give up long distance phone calls to hurt players like J.D. Drew and singles can't be the way to offensively attack, unless you are chasing down a woman in a bar or you’re online.

Take 5: Just a piece of information for you. When you read this and I have to say that I am appreciative that you do, please know this. I will find five topics to drone on about each week and I am even willing to take topics to write about if you feel something in your sports life is being slighted. In addition, I will do my best to keep the topics related to sports, However, if something comes up that I feel needs to be discussed (written about), I will drop it in the blog. Finally, "Take 5" is a classic jazz piece performed by Dave Brubeck. If you are not into Jazz, I understand. But do yourself a favor and just take a listen to Take 5. I enjoy it each time I hear it and I hope you enjoy Take 5 each time you read it.

Good viewing, listening and sporting this week!!

 

USA Soccer - Not Taking Cuba Lightly

I'm not going to lie, I was excited when I heard that the US National Team was going to play a World Cup Qualifying match in RFK Stadium...and I was even more excited when I got tickets.  I think the excitment just escalated to a new level today when the roster was announced for the game:

GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Troy Perkins (Valerenga).
DEFENDERS: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Danny Califf (Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock).
MIDFIELDERS: Freddy Adu (Monaco), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Danny Szetela (Brescia), José Francisco Torres (Pachuca).
FORWARDS: Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Brian Ching (Houston), Charlie Davies (Hammarby) Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy).

A win on the 11th for the US in this group maintains momentum and will allow Bradley to bring in some younger players if he wants for the last two games because the US will have clinched a spot for the fourth round.  Looking at this roster I get the impression that Bradley wants to keep the pressure on and isn't going to take anything for granted even in later rounds of the CONCACAF WC qualifiers.

Point being, the 2006 FIFA World Cup was disappointing for the US (or at least it was for me as a fan).  Maybe our ranking was a bit over the top, but we did only score one goal on our own in three games (OG v Italy - though it was a great game).   USA Soccer is moving past the point where it's great to qualify, now momentum is building behind the next generation of expectations - to make it consistently out of the group stages and that outings like South Korea are commonplace and not a surprise.  The road to South Africa continues next Saturday as the United States will trounce Cuba with its democratic ideologies and allows 4 Cubans to defect.

Let's be honest

The Big East is a joke.

Take your average Big East team and match them against any Pac 10 team not paying their players with third party gifts and you'd have one epic pillowfight.

This conference slips into the back door of the BCS every year. I'll give West Virginia their deserved respect after the last few years, and every year a new team turns the corner, but a good Big East team should not be viewed as a BCS contender. Granted, the BCS does has it's flaws, but that's for another day. Today is all about defining why the Big East should have no more say in the BCS than the Mountain West.

When the BCS began, the five major conferences (Big XII, Big Ten, SEC, ACC, and Pac 10) were all granted automatic berths. The next most major conference, the Big East, was only allowed at the big kid's table because of one, maybe two reasons: Miami and Virginia Tech.

If you've forgotten, the ACC was a meager nine teams until 2004. Wanting to add a conference championship game and the money that comes with it, the ACC decided to expand to twelve teams. Miami and Virginia Tech - the Big East's two best teams and two legitimate national powers - were immediately invited. A year later Boston College (who along with West Virginia would be the Big East's next best team) joined. So three of the Big East's best football programs, and the only real reasons the Big East was granted a BCS bid, had jumped ship to join a real BCS conference.

What was the BCS to do? Demote the Big East to the level of the MAC? Why no, they just had to plug the voids with new teams, paving the way for South Florida, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Connecticut to think they deserve a shot at the national championship because they were BCS schools now. All they'd have to do is run the table in their weak conference.

I do think going undefeated is an incredible accomplishment, in any conference, and should warrant a BCS berth and possible national championship consideration. Utah were given their due respect after going undefeated in the Mountain West (and were rewarded with Big East champ Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl). But maybe the BCS should have originally considered Miami like Notre Dame, admitting the historic program to the party if they've had a good year even if they aren't in a major conference.

After the exodus, the Big East was left with West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Rutgers from their original BCS members (Temple also left the conference to join the MAC). South Florida, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Connecticut all slipped in. Aside from UConn, the other three had plied their trade in the mighty Conference USA previously. UConn, in fact, was in Division I-AA when the BCS was formed. Now THAT is the fast track to the BCS!

So subtract Miami, VT, and BC...add USF and three basketball schools...and you're still supposed to be a BCS conference?

I know every conference has down years and has their runts and the little sisters - like Baylor in the Big XII, Duke in the ACC (or Virginia if you're drinking The Doob's koolaid), or two thirds of the Pac 10. But the new Big East teams are akin to football powerhouses like NC State, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt (though the latter two are currently undefeated and ranked, this is a far cry from their usual positions as whipping boys).

I have to confess, I've been very happy and relieved the past few years when teams like Rutgers, Cincinnati, and USF finally lost their first game. Not because I don't like the nice story of the little guy playing well and being ranked, but because of the inevitable "this team could play for the championship" talk. SOUTH FLORIDA WAS RANKED NUMBER 2 LAST SEASON! If a Big East team goes undefeated it's like when Utah (MWC) or Boise State or Hawaii (both WAC) did. If the Big East gets an automatic BCS bid, I think it's only fair that the Sun Belt Conference does as well.

If the BCS was formed with the conferences aligned like they are now, I guarantee the Big East is not given an automatic berth. The flaws of the BCS are numerous, but I think the hypocrisy with the Big East is perhaps the greatest.

In the post-Miami-and-Virginia-Tech Big East, West Virginia and Pittsburgh have each represented the conference twice in BCS bowls, with Pittsburgh beating somehow-ACC champ Wake Forest once and getting annihilated by Mountain West pride Utah once. West Virginia is an impressive 2-0. So that's one of the Big East's better teams before the ACC poached their competition representing the conference well and one of the others not.

With all this being said, I'm obviously glad South Florida fell to Pitt last night. I wish Big East teams success only if they promise not to expect me to think of them like a BCS contender after week five.

Almost Saturday!

Alright boys and girls we have another wonderful week of college football ahead of us. It's already shaking up to be another good one with Pitt (somehow) beating USF. I'm going to open up my hate mailbox now:

1) The Terps aren't that good, and Maryland fans are starting to creep up there with Philadelphia fans in my book. They're annoying and need to settle down. You wanna know who else beat two ranked teams? East Carolina and look how well they've been doing in the past 2 weeks.

2) No team other than USC is really that good in the PAC-10 so I don't want to hear how beating someone in the PAC ten automatically gives you bonus points (This is in concurrence with Duve's previous comment about UGA on this one)

3) The ACC sucks now. Period. (There's a little College BBall frustration in there being a UCONN fan and all)

4) The SEC is a better conference than the Big 12. Oklahoma Beats 'Bama, LSU beats Missouri, UGA beats UT (ok that's arguable so we'll have to see how UGA fares this weekend) FL, Kentucky, Auburn, and Miss. in my opinion beat the next top four teams in the Big 12. What, are you going to throw someone like Nebraska at me? Yeah they've won a couple games but come on. They haven't had a winning season in 10 years(not sure on this, but it's been a long time) That's like when Redskins fans tell me they're making it to the Super Bowl this year. Come on guys you had an OK season last year, but other than that...not so much in the past decade.

5) If UCONN wins out the season, beating both USF and Pitt they are deserving for a BSC game

Let the hating commence!

J.C. Saves

Clever idea from Tweedlet, but can we assume this happened before the Kansas City game this past weekend? Can we also assume that the wrath of J.C. will not flare up for his name and likeness being used and sold?

Don't get me wrong, Denver's still the best team in the AFC West, but anyone who has ever followed the Broncos should not have been too shocked to see the Broncos go into Arrowhead stadium a runaway favorite and completely lay down.

That being said, I still think the Broncos may have the widest discrepancy between "most electric offense" and "most absent defense" in the league.

Is UVA the next Duke?

Now that David Cutcliffe is leading the Blue Devils in what seems to be a pretty weak ACC, it seems like Duke is a team on an early upswing.  For those unfamiliar with Cutcliffe's history, he coached at Tennessee and Ole Miss, is an offensive mastermind and coached Peyton and Eli Manning.  Granted it's early in the year, but Duke's only loss was a close one to a currently undefeated Northwestern team and with a 3-1 record they've eliminated the chance of a fourth 10-loss season in a row.

Now for UVA, the Cavaliers have been outscored 128-20 so far this year and are about to play a Maryland team that ripped Cal at home and beat Clemson in Death Valley.  Head to head this year, Duke held UVA without a touchdown and covered the spread.  That's right...Duke was the favorite.

Maybe the jury is still out on Duke going into this weekend's matchup against Georgia Tech, but then the question is if Duke is pushing past UVA or UVA is fighting to takeover the bottom.  I think I'd put my money on Cutcliffe over Groh anyday.

Rankings ramblings

The jury is still out on OU, but given the alternatives, I'd say they are currently worthy of the number 1 spot.

People who voted for Alabama in the 1st or 2nd spots should pack up and move to Mexico, because they know football about as well as you do down there. Go debate with Javiar and Jose, they might have some meaningful insight for you. Are you kidding me? Since when did beating an overrated team catapult another team above other good teams? Don't get me wrong, I am all for the resurgence of traditional powers, and they probably deserve to kick *ss since they were wronged by Frantastic Franchione and humiliated by Mike Price, but they will not be worthy of the number 1 or 2 ranking for at least another month- if they dominate LSU. The schedule between now and then is cake- Ole Miss and Tennessee are the "big changes".

I will remain silent on the others in the top ten, because there are too many overrated teams in there to even warrant discussion- but I will say this, USC lost a game it should have won, but are you telling me that USF, UG, and BYU are better than them. Understand that I am not a Left Coaster in fact I hate the Pac-10, but let's be realistic, those three teams would get their butts handed to them by the Trojans.

I am still curious as to how good Texas Tech and Mizzou are, but that should all work itself out.

That's my rant, thanks to the folks who put this together- kudos. You are a testament to college football fans everywhere.

Blogger Virgin

This is my first ever posting to a blog. As a matter of fact, I believe this is the first time I have ever even looked at a blog. So thanks to my future little brother for dragging me into the blogasphere. I have a question on posting etiquette, should I respond to postings with comments or with my own postings?