One for the little guy

I promised Id go over the first round of my playoff that I talked about in my previous. Unfortunately, due to some website issues, I do not have the information in front of me so till have to wait until next week.

FOr this first post of 2007, Id like to comment about one of the wildest games I ever witnessed. on New Years night. If you were not near a television between 7:30 PM Monday and about 12 AM Tuesday, then you missed Boise State University in one of the finest (and craziest) offensive displays ever in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl vs Oklahoma. The Broncos, champions of the Western Athletic Conference, came into the game as huge underdogs. But anyone who has had a chance to watch Boise State the last couple years (as I have) knows that they were not going to roll over for the Sooners just because they came from the big bad Big 12 and were one of the winningest programs in college football history. After 2 quick scores (one off an OU fumble), it looked like this game would turn out much like the last time a team from a "non-BCS" conference played in a BCS game (2005 when Urban Meyer, now the head coach at Florida, and the Utah Utes from the Mountain West Conference crushed the Big East's Pittsburgh 35-7). But Oklahoma showed why they are one of the top teams in college football and took a 35-28 lead in the 4th quarter. What happened next came straight out of pickup games in the street or in the park. Facing a 4th and 18 at midfield, Brocos QB Jarad Zabransky hit Drisan James on a 15 yard cross. James then lateraled the ball to Jerard Rabb as they crossed, and Rabb ran the final 35 yards for the game tying touchdown. The schoolyard antics didn't end there. After giving up a touchdown to Oklahoma in overtime. Boise State scored their touchdown on a wide receiver pass, and then used one of the oldest trick plays in football, the "statue of liberty" to score the game winning two point conversion. Boise State proved that they belong in the discussion of the top programs in the country, as well as the fact that the distinction between "BCS" and "non-BCS" schools is really not much of a disticntionm plus they gave many proponents of a playoff system ammunition for further debate. Whether anything comes from that, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Its the most wonderful time of the year...

Well here we are again. The BCS announced the participants for the 4 BCS bowl games (FedEx Orange Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl presented by Citi, Allstate Sugar Bowl) as well as the first BCS National Championship game:

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Boise State University vs Oklahoma
Allstate Sugar Bowl: LSU vs Notre Dame
Rose Bowl: USC vs Michigan
Fed Ex Orange Bowl: Louisville vs Wake Forest
BCS National Championship: Ohio State vs Florida

Now the only reason we have this scenario is because UCLA decided thy weren't going to roll over and play dead for the men of Troy and upset them 13-9 yesterday

This could be an interesting bowl season based on these matchups, but I am still a big fan of a playoff system. Here is what I have come up with (after consulting with a friend of mine):

Here are the 6 BCS conference champions:

ACC: Wake Forest
Big East: Louisville
Big 12: Oklahoma
Big 10: Ohio State
Pac 10: USC
SEC: Florida

There are 10 at large bids in this playoff and they go to the top 10 non champions in the BCS (which I still think is BS but it made this easy to set up) so here are the 10 at large teams:

Michigan (Big 10)
LSU (SEC)
Wisconsin (Big 10)
Boise State (WAC)
Auburn (SEC)
Notre Dame (Independent)
Arkansas (SEC)
West Virginia (Big East)
Virginia Tech (ACC)
Rutgers (Big East)

So here are the 16 teams in my Heisman Bowl Championship:

#1 Ohio State
#2 Florida
#3 USC
#4 Louisville
#5 Oklahoma
#6 Wake Forest
#7 Michigan
#8 LSU
#9 Wisconsin
#10 Boise State
#11 Auburn
#12 Notre Dame
#13 Arkansas
#14 West Virginia
#15 Virginia Tech
#16 Rutgers

Ill overview the matchups from the first round in the next post.

As the seasons change...

I look out my window and its raining...but there is a happiness in my heart as not only do the seasons change weatherwise (although round here they change about every couple days), but the seasons are changing in sports as well. College football is quickly approaching bowl season (and the cries for a playoff are up once again), the NFL is past its halfway point, NASCAR's "Chase for the Nextel Cup" is in its final weekend, and baseball has a new champion (Congrats to the St Louis Cardinals).

But now our focus turns to hockey as the NHL is well underway along with the NBA. The NHL has had new rules last year and this year the fruit is showing. There is more scoring, the play is faster paced, there is more excitement, not to mention there is a greater parity among the teams (I mean the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup last year).

The NBA has some changes this year as well. The most talked about of the changes is the new ball. The ball this year is made of a composite material as opposed to the rubber ball that was used for many years (well most of my life if I think about it). Many players have expressed displeasure with it, often calling it the "toy ball" But a fairly large number of players do not have a problem with it.

Now here is where my editorializing comes in. The players on the disagree side are superstars like LeBron James, while folks that agree with the new ball are largely roleplayers like Larry Hughes, (BTW all the best to Larry as he recovers from the injury he suffered last night against Portland). Its the superstars complaining that I have a problem with (much like my friend and former editor Matt Baer did in his column for the school paper this week). These boys make millions upon millions of dollars and they complain about the new ball...they complain about not being able to argue bad officiating calls, heck theyd complain that their locker doesn't have a gifty basket waiting for them when they arrive at each city. Look, change is inevitable. There is a quote, "The only constant in life...is change". Instead of being all uptight about the new ball, why don't you boys just go out there and play. The boys from teh NHL sure aren't complaining about their new rule changes...they just strap in, go out there and pound the heck out of each other chasing that disc of frozen rubber. Why don't you guys learn from them and just shut you yappers and do what youre grossly overpaid for.

Annual rant on the BCS

Well I went off about the BCS last year (even though I will admit the championship game was decent) and now its time for me to have at it again.

Ohio State leads the standings and has since they first came out a couple weeks ago. This year they have teh 4 BCS bowl games plus one "national championship game after the BCS bowls which will be played in Glendale AZ in the Arizona Cardinals' new football stadium.

Now this is a step in the right direction but I still think that the national champion should not be determined by a bunch of biased sportswriters and computers. The national championship in I-A football should be determined just like with any other national championship sport: on the field of play. a playoff system has worked in Div I-AA (of excuse me, the "Championship Division"...oh brother...), Div II, and Div III for as far back as I can remember. The only reason that Div I-A football does not use a playoff system (even though every OTHER NCAA sport uses some competition based sort of playoff or tournament or something) is one thing: $$$$$ All these guys want to do is line their pockets with the green stuff. Once they go to a playoff system, these guys lose one of their biggest cash cows, so they want to maintain teh status quo, even if it leads to more BS matchups like Oklahoma and LSU. Now as it stands right now, there are 7 undefeated teams in all of I-A football: Louisville, Rutgers, West Virginia (from the Big East), Michigan, Ohio State (from the Big 10, which actually has 11 teams but who's counting...), USC (from the Pac-10 ) and Boise State (from the WAC) Chances are if more than 2 of these teams in undefeated (Lousiville and West Virginia square off this weekend), that could lead to some very interesting discussions as to jsut who deserves to play for the national championship.

I have a better idea. How about we just go to a 16 team playoff. Have the 11 conference champions and use a formula similar to the BCS used to decide the 5 at large. the formula would focus on strength of schedule, number of wins, quality of wins, opponents strength of schedule, and rankings.

As things stand right now here are my 16 teams for the mythical playoff (based on overall and conference record):

Clemson (ACC Champion)
Texas (Big 12 Champion)
Louisville (Big East Champion)
Michigan (Big 10 Champion)
Tulsa (Conference USA Champion)
Central Michigan (Mid-American Conference Champion)
BYU (Mountain West Conference Champion)
California (Pac-10 Champion)
Arkansas (SEC Champion)
Arkansas State (Sun Belt Champion)
Boise State (Western Athletic Conference Champion)
USC (Pac-10 At Large)
Florida (SEC At-Large)
Auburn (SEC At Large)
West Virginia (Big East At Large)
Ohio State (Big 10 At Large)

Which would then be reorganized this way:

Texas vs. Arkansas St.
Florida vs. Boise St.
Arkansas vs. Tulsa
West Virginia vs. Central Michigan
USC vs. BYU
California vs. Ohio State
Auburn vs. Michigan
Louisville vs. Clemson

Watch this space next month for the first round winners

Ahh Fall...

Ahh yes with the passing of Labor Day, summer has come to a close. With that comes the transition from summer to fall and with that...


FOOTBALL SEASON!

Yesterday was the official kickoff of the 2006 NFL season with 13 games. Its this time of year I look forward to the most. its these weekends that fans like me live for. I mean, Friday night, going and watching great high school action, then getting up Saturday and watching or listening to college football all day and night, and then coming home after church and sitting in teh recliner for a day of nonstop football and analysis.

Add to that the Chase for the Nextel Cup, not to mention the run for October in MLB and the impending start of the NHL season and you can't help but be excited for the coming of fall. I know I sure am...

Well folks its been about a year since my last entry here but Im back again, and there has been plenty that has happened since my last entry:

Barry Bonds passed Babe Ruth for 2nd on the all-time home run list
Texas beat USC for the National Championship in the Rose Bowl
Justin Gatlin, Marion Jones, and Floyd Landis have all been cited for doping violations
the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl
Jimmie Johnson won the Daytona 500
the Chicago White Sox won the World Series
the Miami Heat won the NBA title
University of Florida won the NCAA Men's Basketball title
Maryland won the NCAA Women's Basketball title
Tiger Woods...well...was Tiger Woods winning two majors and drawing closer to Jack Nicklaus in that category

So plenty has happened in the last year. Hopefully about twice a month I will be able to offer up some perspective on leading sprots stories (and maybe some cheap laughs too. Hope you enjoy reading the Sports Page

Where are the heroes?

Ok there are so many things that have happened this week that I COULD write about...Officials screwing Notre Dame out of a victory over the number 1 team in the nation...two teams finally fulfillims the dreasm of their longsuffering fams and making it to the World Series...but one thing that REALLY set my teeth on edge was the story about the Minnesota Vikings.

There are reports that a few members of the team that rented a boat for a little party. Now that I do not have a problem with. Nothing is better for team unity than having times of fun and fellowship. What I have a problem with, is what was said next. Reports from the company that rented the boat to the team said that there was rampant drinking, strippers and public sexual acts. That's right...PUBLIC sexual acts. People were openly giving and receiving sexual favors.

Now its situations like this that indicate the extreme lack of moral responsibility in sports today. Athletes are basically going out and doing everything short of murdering people (oh wait, scratch that, they do that too) and people are practically falling over themselves. Athletes need to own up to the fact that they are ROLE MODELS...setting an example for the children that watch them each Sunday and Monday night. What happened to moments like that classic Coca-Cola commercial where "Mean" Joe Greene tosses his jersey to the fan. Players need to not only take personal responsibility for their actions, but everyone involved should pay dearly for their actions. They need to see the consequences of what they have done.