Friday, November 21, 2008

Another weekend road trip

This weekend I go to the Mecca of College Football, the site of the College Football Hall of Fame, and the campus of the most storied team in the history of College Football, Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame(-20) has a big game this weekend against the power of the Big East, Syracuse. I mean, I think they are a power. They must be if they have beaten Louisville two years in a row. O wait, they are terrible just like the Cards. Louisville, on the other hand, plays West Virginia(-7). Two years ago, this was the biggest game in the country and the greatest game I have ever attended. Now, it is two disappointing teams coached by two overmatched men struggling to keep the fan base from turning. Utah(-7.5) also has a tough game against BYU. A win puts them in a BCS Bowl. The Apple Cup featuring Washington(-7) and Washington State, combined record of 1-20 should be awesome. The big game of the day is obviously Texas Tech at Oklahoma(-7). I am getting goosebumps just thinking about it. I think it is the closest we will get to a playoff semifinal. The winner will probably win the Big 12 and go to Miami (although Texas may not be too happy about being passed up for Oklahoma after they whipped them last month).

My picks- I will take Syracuse(+20) to cover because it will be cold and Notre Dame has trouble closing out games (See: Navy last week), West Virginia to run it up and try and earn a better bowl. Louisville will quit on their coach in the hopes he will get fired even though he will not. In the Battle of the Mormans I will take Utah to win and clinch the BCS bowl. The Apple Cup will be won by Washington because Willingham will not go winless. In the semifinal game, I will take Texas Tech. It is mostly a sentimental pick because I like Mike Leach, although not as much as this guy, and I want them to whip Florida or Alabama in the championship to shut up the SEC fans. Have a good weekend watching these games. I will be hanging out with this guy:

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Recap of the weekend, intro to basketball season

Well I went to two cold, boring games. Both ended in disappointment. Steve Kragthorpe continued his march toward the unemployment line Friday with a sorry showing against Cincinnati, ending a six game winning streak and handing back the keg of nail. Poor preparation, poor execution, and mental mistakes doomed the Cards. I wonder who is to blame for that?

On Sunday I witnessed an historic event. The Bengals managed to tie for only the second time in franchise history and first time since the 1960's. Hey, at least the Eagles didn't win. Kickoff temperature was 37 degrees so I am glad I got to sit there for the longest game possible in an NFL regular season game. With that, football is over. Congrats to the overrated SEC team of the year (Florida or Alabama) for winning the championship. Onto college basketball.

Louisville will win it all. There I said it. Here is a little video to get everyone pumped.



Only Padgett and Caracter are missing from those highlights. This team will dominate and go something like 33-3. North Carolina will choke because that is what Roy Williams does 99% of the time (2005 he was so loaded with talent even when he tried he couldn't lose). Pittsburgh, Michigan State, and UCLA will join them in Detroit. One team that will not, UK. They were humiliated, again, at home. If Tubby had done this, I don't want to think about what they would have done. Of course, there is one big difference between Tubby and Billy DUI and it can't be changed by better recruiting or winning titles.

I managed to get a video of his meeting this week with his coaches. Slightly NSFW because of racy subtitles.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Weekend Edition

Not much going on this week in terms of football. The Jets and Farve beat the Cheaters in Foxborough last night. I guess it is not as easy without cheating. No real college games to speak of as most teams have easy games before next week's rivalry games. The only ones of interest are Florida-South Carolina, Georgia-Auburn, and Texas-Kansas. I will take the Ole Ball Coach to keep it close and maybe pull of a stunner. He should have beat the Gators the year they won it all but they were lucky enough to have a defender jump in the exact spot the ball went twice. Totally ridiculous and flukey. A foot from losing and shutting up those insufferable SEC fans. As for the other two games Georgia will beat Tuberville and send him to the unemployment line and Colt will beat the fighting Manginos. Speaking of Mangino, here are the two(1, 2) funniest pictures of the year regarding him.

I will be attending two great games this weekend. Tonight, Louisville (hopefully) continues the Steve Kragthorpe farewell tour tonight against number 22 Cincinnati in the battle for the Keg of Nails, one of the weirdest and most meaningless trophys in college football. Three tough games and then maybe, hopefully the misery will end. I will let these guys take it from here.

Sunday I take a drive to the great city of Cincinnati for the Bengals-Eagles clash. This will be great because I get to participate in Project Mayhem and yell at Philly fans, two of my favorite things. I will have an update on Monday of how the weekend went but suffice it to say there will be drinking, yelling, sulking, and complaining about the coach and organization from both games. Thank god the Reds are the beacon of sports with their great management and on field coach. O wait. This whole site is dedicated to his incompetence. Damn

Finally, RIP FJM.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Not so Hot Stove, BCS mess

Well the Hot Stove League has begun and the Reds are sifting through the bottom of the pot. (attention FJM: food metaphor) The names mentioned are Garret Atkins, Willy Taveras, and Yorvit Torrealba. None of these players should be considered as they provide little or no upgrade over a replacement player from the minor leagues while adding payroll. I like the idea of the Reds going after a CF who can lead off but one with a .308 OBP is not good enough. While no Corey Patterson numbers, still pretty bad at 55 OPS+. Atkins seems to be another Edwin Encarnacion but a little older and Torrealba is a backup at best. Nice to hear the Reds talked about but none of these players makes sense.

Onto football where the BCS seems to be coming into focus thanks to Penn State's loss and the overhyped SEC. Florida has played well recently, against mediocre competition and everyone thinks they are the best team in the land. This is the same Florida who lost at home to Ole Miss and finished last year losing to Michigan in a bowl game. What have they done to deserve this ranking? Beat UGA, who has no signature win, whipped severly overrated LSU at home? I don't get it. Alabama's big win was at UGA(not looking so good anymore)? vs. Clemson?(no way) at LSU(no real win to speak of). And none of them play anyone out of conference so there is no chance of a good win there. The Big 12 is miles ahead.

Oklahoma lost a close game to Texas while playing a much better out of conference schedule (TCU and Cincy). Texas lost at the last minute on the road to the #2 team. Texas Tech has beaten Texas and Oklahoma St in consecutive weeks. Missouri has only lost to Texas and Oklahoma State while beating Illinois out of conference. I would take UT, TT, and OK over Bama, UF, and UGA. I would also take Mizzu and OK St over LSU and South Carolina. The top 5 of the Big 12 blow away the top 5 of the SEC. In a real playoff the two big 12 teams would play in the title. This year, an SEC team will play a Big 12 in Miami. If Florida is the representative the SEC will once again have a national title home game just like LSU's two championships. The current BCS is a joke and any person who argues for it is either a college president or an SEC fan. Those are the two people who benefit from the system.

This guy really agrees.