12-0 Hawaii's Low Ranking Proves That The BCS is Completley Out of WAC

The college football season is over, and that can mean only one thing: it's time for me to start complaining about the BCS. The Bowl Championship Series, for those of you who don't know, is the illegitimate child of a utopian idea. That idea was a way of ranking college football teams using a computer ranking system to determine the teams that are statistically the best.
At the end of the season, the two "best" teams (according to the BCS) get to play for the national title. Sometimes, it works out fine. Sometimes. Usually, it spits out a controversial match up that may leave the best teams out of the title game.

This year is no different.

The "championship" game pits the 11-1 Ohio State Buckeyes against the 10-2 Louisiana State Tigers. Normally, losing one game in the regular season eliminates a team from the national championship game. Normally. Normally losing two games drops a team out of the top ten. Normally. (Then again, normally Notre Dame's football team could beat a Pop Warner team...)

Anyway, this year, there is an undefeated team, although they have the weakest schedule in the nation (this means that while they have won all their games, they have not beat any notable opponents). So, at 12-0, the University of Hawaii Warriors are the 10th best team in the country according to all major college football polls, legitimate and BCS.

Okay, so I get it that Louisiana State and Ohio State have played much tougher competition than the junior varsity teams Hawaii has played most of the year. But the Buckeyes of Ohio State and the Tigers of Louisiana State did manage to do one thing that the Warriors did not, namely lose a game.

But it’s not as if Hawaii has squeaked by. The Warriors averaged over 40 points a game, never scored fewer than 28 (and even that it did only once) scored over 40 points eight times, scored over 50 points four times and broke the 60 point threshold twice. The Warriors average margin of victory: 22 points.

To translate that for those who don't speak football: they scored a lot of points and also usually won by a lot.

A similar situation happened last year. The Boise State Broncos, (who play in the same conference as the Warriors) finished off the year undefeated and were not in the title game also because of their weak schedule.

But last year, they (Boise State) were not the only undefeated team, so it was less absurd that they didn't play for the title game, although they were one of two undefeateds. But then again, Florida, the one-loss team that leapfrogged the Broncos last year did breeze past Ohio State to take the National Championship.

Hawaii can't entirely be blamed for their (lack of a) schedule. First of all, since they play in Hawaii, it’s hard for them to persuade other schools to make the flight out. If Hawaii had more national respect, they would be more successful getting teams to come out, but because they are five hours-plus from the West Coast, it’s a rather hard sell. Also, since they have no national respect, teams do not want to waste a home game. (Although I do suspect scheduling is slightly easier now that the school dropped “Rainbow” from its nickname).

Another thing, it's not as if Hawaii hasn't tried to schedule tough opponents. In fact, they had scheduled to play the Michigan Wolverines, but Michigan paid quarter of a million dollar fine to cancel the game and replace the Warriors with 1-AA Appalachian State, the equivalent of Venice scheduling a game against Mark Twain. If you follow college football you'll remember that that turned out to be a very stupid move when Appalachian State pulled off the upset of the century.

Maybe Hawaii will be blown out by Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on New Years Day. Maybe their first game against talented competition will be their first loss.

But what if Hawaii wins? What if the national champion is not undefeated and doesn’t have the best record in the country? For the second year in a row.

We need a playoff system in college football. Period. But what do we have? We have Bowl Games. The arguments for the 85 trillion bowl games are legitimate ideas, like the BCS, but also like the BCS, are pointless. People will tell you that having bowl games give more teams the opportunity for success, and this is definitely true, but if there was a tournament in college football it would be the mark of a successful season to reach the tournament. (Like it is in basketball). Playoffs would also crown a more legitimate national champ (like they do in basketball). But the idea of a national champion in football is largely token, given that teams only play 13 or 14 games at most, and flukes can ruin a season.

Rebounding From Donagate

Over the summer, a story broke that was an absolute sucker punch to the stomach of NBA fans everywhere. Tim Donaghy, a 13-year veteran referee of the NBA, was discovered to have bet on numerous NBA games. This would have been a disgrace enough, but the story didn't end there. Donaghy bet on games that he officiated. He also released information to other bookies that was supposed to be classified, regarding player's injuries. He also released information about the officiating tendencies of other referees.
The disgraced referee allegedly fixed games he officiated by calling enough fouls to make sure that the team he bet on scored enough points to beat the point spread, or call enough fouls on the underdog to ensure that the spread was not beat, depending on how he bet.
In August, Donaghy stood before a federal court in Brooklyn and pled guilty to conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting wagering information through interstate commerce.
As part of this plea agreement, Donaghy paid $30,000 dollars to the government, the amount he received for disclosing classified information regarding injuries and other officials habits.
Now, the NBA must prove to its fans that Donaghy was indeed an isolated rogue official, something that will be increasingly difficult as reports begin to surface that there were other officials involved in the scandal.
Reports on Espn.com cite anonymous sources who claim that six officials have been disciplined by the NBA since Donagate broke in July, although the source claims that the referees were not related to the scandal and were punished for minor infractions only and did not bet on NBA games.
The NBA however, has denied these reports, but NBA commissioner David Stern did announce that the league has looked into "policy violations" committed by other referees.
So, the essentially, the NBA has said that something bad happened, more accurately, the statements from Stern and league spokesman Tim Frank have made seem as ambiguous as saying that something ungood has happened.
Which, unfortunately, sets the precedent of conspiracy that the rest of the season will carry with it.
Even if Donaghy was indeed a "isolated, rouge, criminal" as Stern has labeled him seemingly eight trillion times, it's not likely many people will buy it.
Personally, I don't know if Donaghy was truly the only one, and I doubt that Stern does either. I don't mean to criticize Stern here, but I see no way that he can know entirely.
Now, every close call made by any official in the NBA, will be scrutinized. Genuine mistakes will be evidence for indictments, and whenever a team wins a close game, the opposing fans will undoubtedly scream that the game was fixed.
Okay, so that part of it is nothing new, but now there will be reason to think they're right.
The real losers in all of this, apart from the players who lost games they may have otherwise won, are the clean refs in the NBA, who I hope to God do in fact exist. While refs have never been viewed with great respect, NBA refs in particular are now all associated with Donaghy and therefore treated as scum.
Additionally, NBA games may now resemble street ball pick-up games now, because refs will be so reluctant to call fouls that they will end up missing fouls that they should call. If that habit gets pointed out, we'll see the opposite effect within a month.
All in all, it will be a roller coaster season in the NBA.

Dodgers + September = not again

I am all talk.

I claim to not understand why people keep going back into abusive relationships.

I claim that I for the life of me don't understand how people are together if they've been beating each other for the last eight years.

I claim that if I were ever in that situation, I'd get out ASAP.

And it's a load of rubbish.

Every year, I experience a love affair with the Dodgers. Every year they build be up and build me up with the flowers and chocolates of a successfull first five months of the season. And every year my pride is bruised as the days pass in September (no really, it just fell down some stairs! it's all gonna be okay!) But then come April, every April, it's gonna be different! But as a Dodger fan I've come to know that it really won't, but I just have to live with that.

Oh well, there's always next year, although Septemeber comes every year so we're pretty much screwed then too.

Whatever.

The Patriot Act:Illegal Spying on the Enemy

The NFL’s New England Patriots are generally regarded as one of the best teams in professional sports. Their offense is so powerful, it sometimes seems that they know what defense is coming.
And there may be a reason why.
After the Patriots season opening win over the New York Jets, the NFL began investigating the whether or not the Patriots had stolen signs from the Jets defensive coaches.
The investigation determined that the Patriots had indeed cheated by videotaping the Jets defensive coordinator, and matching those signals to the defensive play.
This allowed the Patriots to make changes to their play-call based on what the defense was about to do. If the Jets called for a zone defense, the Patriots could call a play to exploit that. If they Jets called for man-to-man, the Patriots could call a play to exploit it. Whatever the Jets did, the Patriots could counter.
The key to all of this is that the offensive team has radio communication in their headsets, so the Patriots coaches can make last second play calling adjustments without signaling, instead they simply talk directly to the quarterback.
Some question what the Patriots have done wrong. Some say that “scouting” is part of the game. To an extent, they are right, but there is a limit to what is legal. The NFL’s Game Operations Manual specifically mentions that videotaping opposing coaches is illegal.
After the scandal broke, some Philadelphia Eagles players have made noise about possible incidents of cheating in the 2005 Super Bowl. The Patriots won, 24-21, and the Eagles’ starting cornerback wonders if it was only coincidence that every time the Eagles called for a blitz, the Patriots had a screen pass called--a play that takes advantage of a blitz.
Pittsburgh Steelers wide out Hines Ward also said that he thinks New England may have known what plays the Steelers had called in at least one of the times that the Steelers and Patriots met in the playoffs.
These accusations raise the possibility that the Patriots’ spying was more than a one-time thing. I’m not sure the Patriots have always spied, but I don’t think that the Jets were the only victims--it’s not as if the Jets are the toughest compettition the Patriots have ever faced.
As a punishment for spying, the Patriots’ head coach, Bill Belichick, was fined $500,000, and the Patriots will lose their first round draft pick next year if they make the playoffs, or their second and third round picks if they miss the playoffs.
While that punishment may seem harsh, it means about as much as the note in front of the unattended bowls of candy on Halloween asking sugar-high kids to take only one piece.
Belichick’s yearly salary is reported to be close to 4.2 million, and he just singed a contract extension with the Patriots, which could pay as much as $8 million a year.
So, while half of a million bucks is a lot of money, Belichick makes that much in a couple of weeks.
Penalizing the team by docking them a draft pick affects next year’s team, which will have some different players than this years’. Granted, the majority of the team remains the same, but there is bound to be some new additions to the team that are punished for something they had no control over, and if anybody currently on the team is traded, retires, or signs with a new team, they will get off without a punishment.
The sign stealing had an effect on the outcome of the game. An appropriate penalty would have been for the Patriots to forfeit the game. If they did that, the league could ensure that the punishment sent a clear message, and they would send that message to the right group of people. Really, by not making the Patriots forfeit the game, the league sends the message to kids that it’s okay to cheat, as long as you have enough money to pay the fine.
The Patriots would likely make the playoffs, but if their week one game was a loss, it would likely effect their seeding, which could affect whether or not they get a home game in the playoffs, and because of the New England weather, home games can be a huge advantage for the Patriots.
Additionally, penalizing the Patriots by docking them a draft pick means nothing because of the Patriots phenomenal coaching staff-- the same coaching staff that groomed their sixth round pick in the 2000 draft into the Super Bowl winning, Fantasy Football players’ dream, world famous quarterback that is Tom Brady.
The worst part of the punishment is that it does not involve suspending Belichick. Hello? Is this the same commissioner who claims to be tough? Is it the commissioner who wants to be known as the guy who redeveloped the image of professional athletes in a positive light? Is this the punishment of a league office that fined Chad Johnson for wearing flashy shoes?
Does NFL commissioner Roger Godell really think that Bellichick doesn’t deserve a suspension for cheating? Does he really believe that his punishment will have any effect? Or is he to afraid to stand up to the Patriot Act of spying on the enemy?

RIP

May the great title, home run king, rest in peace.

Beckham Comes Today

So I'll be watching tonight, but I would have watched even if Beckham weren't playing.

That sounds pretty unbelievable, I know, but speaking as the creator of the facebook group I LIKED SOCCER BEFORE BECKHAM CAME TO AMERICA I can legitimately say that.

Anyway, he will maybe play ten minutes and the crowd will go wild. I can't wait to hear the crowd react. Actually, I'm looking forward to that more than I'm looking forward to Beckham. 27,000 on their feet for an MLS team, this is only a marketing scheme, but it's only the beginning.

Bonds Opts Out of Home Run Derby

Doesn't it seem a little strange to you that Barry Bonds, the soon-to-be (illegitimate) home run king, opted out of the Home Run Derby.

What makes the Bonds pullout so odd, is that the compettition was in San Fransisco. If it had been anywhere else, Bonds would have been booed about as much as Osama, but in his home town he'd be treated like a rockstar.

He continues to think of new ways to piss me off, man is he talented there.

Kobe

Sorry I let you down on the Kobe thing, it was supposed to get published in the Oarsman and we ran out of space. My basic thing, he's so confused and spoiled, he'll complain if he doesn't get exactlly what he wants, but the problem is he doesn't even lnow exactly what he wants.

GBL

Wow. The Golden Baseball League is amazing.

It's like going back in time. I really reccomend everybody go to a game.

Donavan Leaving Florida--Sort of

So much for the next Wooden. So much for dynasty. Billy Donnovan has agreed to coacht the Orlando Magic, leaving behind the Florida Gators team he coached to back to back titles.

Remember the days when people had loyalty?

PETA IS CRAZY

Okay, so we all knew PETA was a little misguided, but this is ridiculous! I totally agree with treating animals ethically, but if PETA is really concerned about animals bred in captivity, then not a single member should have a pet, and definitley not a purebred pet.

Additionally, why does PETA care all of the sudden? Do they write Sea World everytime they get a new star? What about zoos? Do they write them? No!

Although I got to admit, it does seem funny that the president of LSU said "We are going to get another tiger."

Brett Favre

To anybody who believed the rumors about Brett Favre demanding a trade, are you drunk? Listen to this statement, Brett Favre playing for somebody other than the Packers? And I don't have this reaction just because I love the Pack, I have this reaction because I have a brain. More likely, all the other players on the roster would be traded and they'd keep Brett. He's all the team's got and more importantly he's all the town's got.

More Steroids Ranting!

Baseball has been around since the late 1800s. Its longevity gives it an amazing aura, but it also frames the changes that our time has seen. The biggest example is the 500 home run club. In its first 120 seasons, MLB saw 14 players join the club. This year alone, four players are on pace to join the once exclusive club.
This is exhibit A in the murder trial of Human Growth Hormone, performance- enhancing drugs and miscellaneous steroids vs. Major League Baseball.
Granted, the increase in players who have hit 500 home runs is not quite as shocking as it would seem. Although the MLB dates back to 1887, the Live Ball Era began only in 1920. For the first 33 years, baseball was a different game, and home runs came around about once every ice age, due to differences in the ball and the way it was thrown.
Nowadays, every time a ball gets dirty, it is replaced. Every time a ball is hit into the stands, it is replaced. But it wasn't always that way.
In the old days, balls were replaced as often as public school textbooks--even rare home run balls were required to be thrown back to the field so they could be reused. Because of this, the ball, which was softer to begin with and would soften as the game went on, meaning that it would be near impossible to hit a home run.
Pitchers were also kept in for almost the entire game, so by the end of the game, fatigue would set in and batters would get no decent pitches to hit. In addition, batting was complicated because the spitball was legal, so the batter would get a shower of sweat on every pitch.
Baseball still only saw 14 players hit 500 homers through last year. It still only happened about once every five years. Not four times in one year.
Consider also that pitch speeds have dramatically increased, making it harder to see the ball.
But along with the changes in the game, have come changes in the world. Like, hmm...oh yeah, steroids!
The onset of performance-enhancing drugs in the 1980s, almost immediately began to spike home run statistics. Nowadays, steroids are showing their ugly face more than ever before, because drug tests don't scare players away, since "designer steroids" have the same effects without showing up on drug tests. The drug tests are the problem. They need to add a common sense element to the drug tests. If, and I only use Barry Bonds because he is the most obvious example, you look at a picture of the young Bonds, it would take a close look and a little bit of trust to believe he is the same player we know today. Don't believe me? Look for a picture of the rookie Barry Bonds on Google, and look at a picture of him now. Immense gains in muscle mass are not typical result of the aging process.
Another example, Frank Thomas, started out lanky, then mysteriously gained muscle mass. Mark McGwire also mysteriously gained muscle mass and lost hair due to aging at the same time. Sammy Sosa was also originally lanky. Manny Ramirez started out strong, but not as beefy as he is now.
Let's look at the other side of the coin. Babe Ruth started out fat, finished off fat. Honus Wagner (old time baseball player, considered to be the best shortstop who ever lived) was stocky, and gained weight if anything over the course of his career. To be fair, steroids weren't much of an issue in Wagner's day but he forced tobacco companies to stop circulation of his card (baseball cards were originally "prizes" given along with packs of cigarettes) because he was opposed to smoking, so I doubt he would take steroids.
I just hope that MLB gets way more strict on steroids, before I have to tell my grandkids stories about how hitting 500 home runs over the course of a career was significant. After all, baseball players are getting enough help with the longer seasons, smaller ballparks, and constantly replaced, hittable balls.

note: his was added after i recieved a comment, and is a response to that comment.
I looked up Frank Thomas and saw pictures of his rookie season. He looked pretty lanky to me. i agree, the change wasn't as dramatic as Bonds and maybe I was a little to accusitory, but what are you gonna due. Thanks for the comments.

KG+LA

Prepetual Motion, Communism, and the current KG to LA deal. They actually have quite a few things in common. They all have or have had pundits jumping up and down--but most importantly, they are all utopian.

Here's the deal. If KG were to come to LA, we'd likely have to give up Odom, Kwame, Andrew, or any combination of middle of the bench kind of guys. If we did this, we'd be royally screwed if a star went out, because we'd have no middle players. Taking the middle of a bench out is like serving toast and calling it a toasted cheese sandwich. The most important part is gone.

That's not to say the deal couldn't potentially work wonders, but the key word here, and I can't emphasize this enough, is potentially. And I am afraid that the potential for disaster is far greater than the potential for success.

Baseball's Most Significant Record Is In Perilous Danger

If and when Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s record for the most home runs in a career, the most significant record in all of professional sports will mean about as much as setting a record set on a particularly unrealistic video game on the easiest difficulty level.
The fact is, that Bonds, as well as numerous other athletes, are cheating. In particular, most people believe Bonds has injected himself and taken in pill form several different performance enhancing steroids.
The classic defense used by Bonds and his fans, is “but he passes drug tests!” The only issue with saying that, is that steroids are a whole different ballgame now. Bonds and others are taking “designer steroids,” made to beat the tests.
According to the, book , “Game of Shadows,” which is the biggest piece of evidence against Bonds and other athletes, Bonds’s personal trainer Greg Anderson says on tape that he had obtained steroids for Bonds that could beat the tests.
To me, what makes this so depressing is that Bonds was not always the lying, dirty, cheating scum that he is now. I know, its a pretty powerful indictment, but I for one am not particularly fond of how steroids are turning professional baseball into a game that involves no talent beyond lying. In my opinion, the athletes should leave the lying and deceiving to politicians.
Anyway, Bonds hit the majority of the home runs of his career before he began shooting up behind the toilets in the locker room in San Francisco. Okay, I’m making assumptions there-- I have no proof where he took them, maybe he shot up in the comfort of his own home.
It really is depressing though, to look at Bonds in the beginning of his career, and now. His rookie picture shows a lanky, tall and thin outfielder with a lot of promise. Now, at 42, he is beefy, and to the untrained or lazy observer, looks like a completely different player. Consider also that his beef-ization happened after Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa also allegedly took steroids, before McGwire broke the single season home run record, which Bonds would later re-break. According to “Game of Shadows,” the record was Bonds’s inspiration. Although McGwire also broke the record with the aid of steroids, although the public outrage at McGwire was non-existent mainly because it was not known that he was dirty.
In a way, you’ve got to feel a little sorry for Bonds. It must stink to be booed more than a national enemy at all of your away games. Then again, he kinda did it to himself by ruining baseball.
Despite what it seems like, I’m making no intention to single out Bonds, it’s just that he is the only druggy that’s about to break an important record. Heck, if I found out that the reason Brett Favre, the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, has started 221 consecutive games was because he had been secretly injecting himself the elixir of life, I’d be willing to detest my hero. By the same token, if I found out that Kobe Bryant was injecting himself, I’d be ticked off at him too.
If Bonds does break the record, and here’s to hoping that he is stricken with a sudden outbreak of character and retires before he makes the title of Home Run King meaningless, there should be an asterisk next to his name in the record book. He should get credit for the mind-boggling number of homers he hit before he took steroids, and next to that number should go the asterisk, which would say that he hit more homers than Aaron, but he hit the rest when he was on steroids.


The following is a rewrite of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A Changin’” written to convey the perilous state steroids have put baseball into.

Come gather round people, wherever you roam, and admit that the number of homers has grown, and accept that soon, old records will be gone, if baseball to you is worth saving, then cheer the clean players and boo the drugged ones, for baseball’s records, they are in danger.

Roma Manchester United Mess

Now, I am a fan of the Gialorossi, which for those of you not fluent in la lingua del calcio, so to speak, that means I support Roma.

So, of course my view of the embarssment at the Stadio Olimpico is a bit, biased, but I must point out a few details which support the idea that Roma were not at fault for the fan violence.

First of all, both Roma and Lile were made to look like brutes by Manchester United. Maybe this is the fault of Roma and Lile, but at least in Roma's case, there is
video evidencethat then violence was started by Manchester United fans attacking Stadio Olimpico security guards. The gaurds then defended themselves.

Also, although security at Italian soccer stadiums has shamed this year, the Stadio Olimpico was one of the few stadiums that actually did meet standards.

Even if it was started by Roma supporters, could the Man U fans have been bigger jerks? They recieve an offical notice from the team to avoid certain areas of Rome for saftey reasons, and then, contrarty to the agreement settled on by the two teams, 2,000 of them show up at the stadium without police escort?

For more info on the developing story, go to soccernet.espn.com, or go to espn.com and click soccer.

Smell That?

The snow and ice is melting, and Spring has arrived, and that can mean only one thing: It's time for baseball! More later on the subject.

How bout that?

I am an optimistic, unrealistic SC fan, and not even I called that one. USC over Texas, everybody's final four team out in the terrible thirty two? I guess it's fitting that Nick Young avenged the Trojans Rose Bowl loss caused by Vince Young.

TV's Hottest Drama

Imagine a reality show that has more drama than “Grey’s Anatomy,” more action than “24,” a more talented cast than the final rounds of “American Idol,” and more unpredictable twists than “Prison Break.” No wonder that March Madness is heading towards its 69th season and still hasn’t been cancelled.
The Big Dance, or March Madness, is the 65-team college basketball tournament that eventually crowns a national champion. The tournament kicked off Tuesday with the “play in game” where the 65th and 64th rated teams in the country play. The loser of the game is eliminated, and the field is trimmed to 64 teams. The remaining teams are split up into four “regional” tournaments, of 16 teams each. At the end of it all, there is a legitimate national champion and a plethora of upsets, surprises, and Cinderella stories.
The regional tournaments begin today, with first round games at several locations around the nation. Games will be televised on CBS.
What makes the tournament, and collegiate athletics in general, so wonderful to behold is the passion, the intensity, and the heart that every player on the court plays every second of the game with. They play with such emotion, because the majority of the athletes, if they are in their senior year, know that their team’s last game, will truly be their last organized game. College players may not have the talent that the NBA players have, but if talent were measured in heart and love of the game, as opposed to skill, the average college senior could take down any professional athlete, any time, anywhere.
College players truly play the game for the sake of playing the game, representing their school, and just having fun (what a concept.) They know that the name on the front of their jersey is worth a bunch more than the name on the back, something that flashy millionaire pros should really take note of as they forget how to pass the ball while receiving paychecks fatter than a walrus.
Yes, most pro players were once college players, but professional athletes just have a different mindset than they did when they were in college. The biggest difference between an athlete in the pros and in college, what they are playing for. A pro athlete represents their team, but they could easily be traded away, they have next to no choice of where they play, at least when they’re first drafted, and they rarely even live in “their city.”
A college player has a much more poetic motivation. They play for their school, their hometown (even if only for four years), and they don’t play for the money. College players don’t transfer to their rival school, the way pro athletes sometimes sign contract with teams that “their city” hates, such as baseball’s Johnny Damon moved from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees, a move that Benedict Arnold himself would scoff at.
Because the players play with such intensity, no game is ever over ‘til it’s over. Underdogs often come out victorious, despite what the rankings may show. TV analysts, columnists, and every day fans alike take part in a ritual known as “bracketology,” wherein we use a chart to try and predict which teams will win individual games, and fill out the brackets, to attempt, usually with little success, to predict the national champion.
TV stations like ESPN offer hours of highlight and statistic shows, where pundits attempt, with slightly more success than Joe Fan, although slightly being the operative word, to fill out the brackets.
This year’s tournament seems to be as promising as ever. Defending champion University of Florida started off the year hot, but then stalled at the end of the year, but will still probably earn a berth. Ohio State and star freshman Greg Oden, and Texas, led by freshman phenom Kevin Durant, both look to make a dent at this year’s tournament. UCLA just had one of its best seasons in the post Wooden era (the period of time after the retirement of legendary coach John Wooden), and also seems set to make another visit to the Final Four.
Undoubtedly, there will be some team who everybody will claim they thought would make it, but in reality nobody ever heard of, who has some success in the tournament. Last year, that team was George Mason, a small private school from Virginia who came out of the blue and made it to the national semifinal game.
The only thing you can predict about the NCAA tournament, is that it will be one wild ride. As for my predictions, I will conveniently wait until after the tournament and either boast or change the subject accordingly.

Congrats Moody

Acording to Head Coach Angelo Gasca, Pete Carrol personally phoned Venice High School before Junior Day in regards to Moody McNeal. After Carrol called, Moody went into the office, and Gasca called Carrol. Carrol then personally offered McNeal a scholarship.

Again!

What in the name of basketball does the NBA have against Kobe Bryant? They suspended him for fouling Marko Jaric on a play that even Jaric said he thought was unintentional! What is wrong with these No Brain Association people?!

Rex Grossman Stinks! In Other News

When I think of the Super Bowl, I think of many things, football, commercials, Janet Jackson, but pretty colors and weird music are not among them. Neither are you Prince.
You have the most manly, good old “American” four hours of television of the year, and you fill it with Cirque du Soleil?! Honestly, I can’t imagine what the Super Bowl coordinators were thinking. When people watch the Super Bowl, they do not want to see anything un-American, least of all French. It’s not that I have anything against the French, but, to quote British comedian Eddy Izzard, “they do have a tendency to be, you know, French”
Actually, I have a lot of respect for the performers in Cirque Du Soleil, it takes a great deal of coordination to do whatever it is they do. Still, that does not mean that I condone their performance during the pre-game show of a Super Bowl.
As for the football aspect of the Super Bowl, and yes, those of you who may watch the game solely for its commercials, it is actually a football game, not only a commercial filled halftime show.
I can sum up the reason why the Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl 41 by a 29-17 score in two words: Rex Grossman.
I can sum up his performance in two words: gross, man!
Actually, if you look at Grossman’s quarterback stats, he wasn’t all that bad. He only threw eight incomplete passes, compared to twenty complete, and if you count the one which he happened to throw to the wrong team, he had two TD passes. His QB rating of 63.8 beats his season low by 63.8. (Grossman recorded the NFL’s first-ever 0.0 quarterback rating on New Year’s Eve against the Green Bay Packers.)
Oh, let’s not forget his two fumbled snaps. If I was being kind to Grossman, I would say that fumbling the snap is about one percent the fault of the center. But that would be too kind for Grossman.
Actually, I gotta hand it to him (what’s the point, he’d drop it anyway). He did provide me with a boatload of laughs. (Speaking of a boat, the teams on the field could have used one with all the rain that fell over the course of the game)
Moving on to more examples of how Rex Grossman just plain failed. On one of the snaps which he dropped, he tried to pick it up, and it actually fell through his legs a second time. That was really, really funny.
The Super Bowl as a whole however—not too funny. This is sad, considering it had so much potential, so much firepower on the field. And yet, the rain doused the firepower. This was the most evenly matched Super Bowl in as long as I can remember, and it ended nothing short of a blowout. Although it was really only a 12-point game, as far as momentum and domination are concerned, it might as well have been a 1,200-point game. It wouldn’t have made a difference.
But what else is new? Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre is returning for another season (his 17th season, and 16th as a starter for Green Bay), Rex Grossman choked in a big game, and the Bear’s Devin Hester ran back a kickoff for a touchdown. (In a related story, the sky is blue.)

Suspended?

Wait, let me get this straight. Kobe got suspended because he whacked a guy in the face? Whether or not it was intentional isn't even the issue, entirley. Last year,when Raja Bell slammed Kobe to the floor, by his neck, he was suspended for one game, and the league heard an appeal. Now, Kobe probably accidentily whacks a guy in the face, isn't even whistled for a four, let alone a tech or a flagrant, and is suspended for one game, and the league refuses to hear an appeal. Huh?

Rest In Peace

Six starts, six wins, one great horse. Rest in peace Barbaro. Rest in peace.

Astronomers Discover Shiny New Star In LA Galaxy

Why would David Beckham, possibly the world’s most famous football player sign with the LA Galaxy, an okay-at-best team in a mediocre league?
I can give you 250 million reasons why.
Other than his record-breaking five-year, $250 million deal, Beckham and his beautiful wife Victoria are a perfect fit for LA, considering his star status (oh the irony, a star playing for the Galaxy) and his gobs and gobs (and now 250 million more gobs) of money.
But what does this mean for the Galaxy organization? I’ve come up with a list of several things this means for them.
For one, the addition of Beckham to the roster probably means that the team’s female fan base has just quadrupled. This probably means that the owners of the Galaxy’s stadium, the Home Depot Center, will have to double the number of women’s restrooms.
It also means that since Beckham’s wife will probably be attending multiple games and therefore may appear on the stadium’s big screen, possibly doubling the team’s male fan base.
The players also must to brace themselves for the attacks of the English press, who will undoubtedly be jumping at every opportunity to expose the team for what it really is: mediocre.
Perhaps the biggest thing the Galaxy has to prepare for, is the date that Beckham retires, and people resume not caring about football in Los Angeles. The Galaxy must take a lesson from the former North American Soccer Association, who experienced a jolt in popularity in the late 1970s due to the hiring of football legend Pele, along with other stars from around the world.
Pele played for the New York Cosmos, ironically another astronomically talented player playing for a team with an astronomy-related name. Although the Cosmos, and the rest of the league did enjoy temporary popularity which rivaled the other New York (American) football teams, they league folded in 1984, almost immediately after Pele and co. retired.
One also needs to wonder where in the world the Galaxy came up with $250 million. Beckham’s ginormous salary is equal to 25 times what the rest of the team is making...combined.
Here, the Galaxy should look to the Cosmos for advice. Before hiring Pele, the Cosmos played on a field which was more dirt than grass. Actually, they spray painted the field green for Pele’s arrival to try and make him think he was playing on grass. Somehow the Cosmos found enough money to pay Pele, so maybe the Galaxy can find an extra 250 million laying around.
What does this mean for the quality of play the Galaxy will put on the pitch (American translation: field)? It means that their right attacking midfielder (if that’s where Beckham will play in LA) will be amazing, and the rest of the team will continue to be, well, the LA Galaxy. We can probably expect to see an increase in scoring, due to Beckham bending inch perfect crosses like, well, Beckham.
In addition, we may see an increase in diving by the Galaxy players, since their shiny new toy that is David Beckham is so precise on free kicks. We should also be prepared to see corner kicks as they were meant to be taken.
So far, it seems like the Galaxy will benefit from Beckham, but will probably fall to the ground hard when he retires. But my biggest hope as a fan of the Galaxy is that I never have to hear the reunion tour of Beckham’s wife’s group the, Spice Girls, singing the national anthem. Not because they aren’t American, but because hey—who really wants to hear the Spice Girls?


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Should He Stay Or Should He Go?

Should He Stay or Should He Go?

That was the question pondered by thousands of Chesseheads and humans alike on New Years Eve as Brett Favre played in what may have been the final game in his long and, to say the least illustrious career.

If you ask me, that question really applies to Bears quarterback Rex Grossman.

And he [Grossman] should go now! I can understand no TD passes in a half, (after all Favre didn't throw any in the second half), and I can even understand a three-pick half. Its bad yeah, but at least it has happened before. But a goose egg in the passer rating, and more picks than completions?! Thats an insult to football. Of course, I and the rest of Green Bay took great joy in watching Grossman's gross performance, it was an insult to the sport of football.

Moving on, Favre should stay. He is one victory away from tying John Elway on the all time wins list. And I know, I know, he isn't in this for the stats, but come on. For once in his career, let him be greedy.

He is also seven TD passes away from no. 1. (And like 4 INTS. Hey, Cy Young is the all time leader in wins and losses in baseball)

I also just don't know if the Packers can handle having Favre leave.

But again if Favre doesn't want to, he really doesn't need to. He shouldn't stay if he doesn't want to.

Lets recap our bottom line, which may actually satisfy Packers and Bears alike:
Favre should stay and Rex should go now!

Oh my god

I am lost for words. Rest in peace Darrent Williams.

For those of you who did not know, Williams was shot to death in a drive by shooting. I am really lost for words. This is a tremendous blow to the sport, and the Broncos organization.