They may have lost the BCS National Championship, but they’ve got plenty to look forward to in Eugene. Always a trendsetter, or original at the very least, the Oregon Ducks are garnering attention for another fashion statement by one of their athletic teams. Usually it’s a crazy new jersey, but now the Ducks have taken it to the floor. The floor of “The Matt”, their new digs, full name Matthew Knight Arena. I think it’s cool to look at once, but playing on it must be a nightmare. It’s hard enough when the basketball court has volleyball lines on it, but now these guys gotta watch out for trees? Word is the halfcourt line is hard to see, if at all existent. I’ve got a feeling they’re going to have to darken that middle portion eventually to please the naysayers.
While I was growing up the A’s, Raiders, and to a lesser extent the Warriors were good. I know they were, because people hated them, and the only reason you hate a team is because they are good. Lately I’ve noticed when I tell a new found friend my sports affiliations I hear pity more than anything. Tuesday, I was watching the Cavs-Lakers game and it hit me, I needed to make an anti-power rankings, and tried to decide which is the worst team in the NBA. I used some criteria for this glorious list. One, obviously team record, and second, how much hope they have for the future with their core players.
#7 Minnesota – Kevin Love is an All-Star. Nobody does what he does. He hits threes while scoring 21.1 ppg, and pulls in 15.8 rebounds a game. If Griffin owns the air above the rim, then Love owns everything below the rim. If the second best player on that team wasn’t Luke Ridnour now that Beasley is hurt, they might have some more wins than they do. I bet if they were in the East, they’d be the 8th seed. They have a solid young front court. If Kahn can finally use these guys to build off, they might be relevant again one of these years.
#6 Toronto – They’ve been hit hard by the injury bug this year, and on second thought, maybe losing Bosh was a bigger deal up there than I originally thought. Somehow they are only a couple games outside of the Eastern Conference’s 8th seed, which shows you why there are so many Eastern Conference teams on my list. Hockey still rules Toronto, the Raptors will be extinct there one of these days up there.
The National Championship last night had it’s moments, but for the most part was a pretty boring game, and it looked like both these offenses weren’t in sync, which was the opposite of what everyone was hoping for. I wanted Oregon to pull out the win or find some way to get the game into overtime, but instead we got one of the lowest scoring, and boring bowl games of the year. Congratulations goes out to the Auburn Tigers, too bad that trophy will be taken back in the next few years and nobody will really care that it was taken back, because we obviously know something is up with money going to Cam.
After watching this slopfest of a championship game, I couldn’t help but wonder if this game would’ve been much better if they had played it slightly sooner than 20 weeks after the season. Sports aren’t supposed to be played like this. I’m the kind of guy that complains when there are too many days between games in the NBA Finals or MLB World Series games. I understand that Bowl games are a big part of New Years day, but why do we have to wait an extra ten days to put the National Championship game on? The simple answer is money of course. It’s like starting from scratch for these two teams though. We may as well have the game right before the season starts, because both teams looked like they were in week 1 for most of the game. Unless Cuban figures out some way to get us a college playoff, the only way to fight back will be to boycott the championship all together. Nobody buying tickets to the game, and nobody watching is the only way we have any hope of changing the crappy system. That being said, I can’t bring myself not to watch, so it looks like we will have to watch two rusty teams play for the National Championship every year for the rest of my lifetime…
It was the first time my Warriors headed down to Socal to play the Lakers ugly stepsister, the Clippers, so naturally I had to go. I usually avoid going to games that the dubs play the Lakers, because we pretty much know what the result is going to be. The Warriors usually play good against the Clippers for obvious sucktitude reasons over our lifetime, so every time I go to Staples Center I want at least a shot at seeing my team come in and win. Yesterday the Warriors had a horrible 2nd half performance, and saw three players foul out (Beindris, Lee, and Wright), but overall I was the most excited to just see Blake Griffin live.
As far as first impressions go on Blake, he is pretty freakish, and I got to see a couple of his league leading dunks. I was a little surprised how big he was in a muscular sense. The kid looked like a taller version of Corey Maggette. Fortunately, he isn’t nearly as one dimensional as Maggette. The Warriors constantly double and triple teamed him throughout the game, so I didn’t get to see many highlight reel dunks, and even with all the extra focus on Griff, we still couldn’t stop him from putting up another 20-10 game. His highlight of the game was pretty amazing to see Baron throw a lob from close to halfcourt for him, but aside from that I didn’t get to see a lot of high flying dunks. Here’s the dunk I was talking about…
DeAndre Jordan actually impressed me more than Griffin, which was probably the shocker of the afternoon. Jordan is a force in the paint grabbing 13 boards and blocking 4 shots. He cleaned up a couple of Clipper misses with thunderous dunks including an awesome off the backboard putback (can’t find it on youtube), and he also sent a few shots away including a twisting and turning Monta Ellis drive through the paint that riled up the crowd.
Baron Davis was probably the second best Clipper on the court after Jordan, which caught me off guard. Anyone that’s owned him on a fantasy team this year knows what I’m talking about. Anyways, Baron looked rejuvenated against his old team. He was sinking threes, driving to the hoop with authority, and dishing the ball like Sterling was booing him. He set up Gordon for a huge first half, and everytime Davis gave him an open look with a pass, he was knocking it down.
Eric Gordon and Blake Griffin were impressive, but for some reason Baron and DeAndre were the reasons for their dominating win.
As for the Warriors players I was very disappointed. Only two guys showed up for the contest, and it wasn’t either of our special backcourt players or our newly acquired PF David Lee. Only one of our starters played well. Dorell Wright started the game on fire, and was the only Warriors player to do anything on the offensive end efficiently. The second best player of the day for our squad was Vlad Radmanovic. Yup, I said it. He was the only guy out there giving 110% on the court. He was getting in the face of Clippers players, and throwing Baron and Eric Gordon on the ground during some hard fouls of frustration. He was in essence the only guy on the floor that I really thought was trying. There was a funny quote from Baron after the game about the little face to face stare down after Vlad threw him to the ground and both benches cleared a little. “”I told him I had mine longer,” referring to his beard over Vlad’s beard.
I also got my first glimpse at our rookie Epke Udoh. He wasn’t active in the NY-Warriors match up I went to with MCeezy and Dyslecix at Oracle. I actually kept thinking Udoh would be a solid pro when I was watching him at Baylor, and really liked what Udoh brought to the table when he was on the court for his limited minutes Sunday afternoon. He swatted a couple of shots, and actually helped them get back into the game by playing some defense, and was part of the crew that cut the lead from twenty something to eleven. Shortly after he left the game, they were down by 15 again never to come closer.
Hopefully when I head up to Staples on January 22nd when they play the Clippers again, it will be a more entertaining game with a better result, like a Warriors victory. A random Warriors fact, their team is playing with a full roster for the first time since 2008. It’s basically the first time that they haven’t had guys injured not suiting up, which is remarkable to think that it hasn’t happened since 2008. So far they are 2-1 with a full squad. Hopefully they can keep that 66% winning percentage going with a full squad.
Seattle Stuns New Orleans – Not a lot of people saw this coming, but the popular argument was that it was unfair that the Seahawks got home field advantage. Then the other three home teams proceeded to blow that ‘advantage.’ The highlight of the game for most will no doubt be the return of Beast Mode. For me it will be Bones Roadhouse in Gualala, CA. I decided to take a drive up the coast to Mendocino County to catch the game and wound up enjoying quite possibly the best brisket I’ve ever had, but at least top five. Throw in a couple of the finest offerings from the region’s best breweries (Hop Stoopid Ale by Lagunitas and Scrimshaw by North Coast) and this was a pretty solid game!
Folk You, Vinatieri – Peyton did it again, then Adam Vinatieri did it again. After what seemed like yet another game-winner for the future Hall of Fame kicker, as Al Michaels pointed out, Mark Sanchez and the Jets drove down the field for the improbable upset in Indianapolis. I feel like the Colts would’ve have a better chance against the Patriots. Sure the Jets were one of the two teams to beat New England, but we all saw what happened in Foxboro on Monday Night, when it mattered. This one matters even more, and Tom Brady will surely be out to prove to Rex Ryan that he’s a better quarterback than Peyton Manning.
Ravens Chop Down the Chiefs – The lone blowout of the Wild Card weekend, this one started promising for the Chiefs, especially when Jamaal Charles put them ahead 7-3 with a 41 yard TD run. It was all Ravens from there though. I kept saying last weekend that the Raiders were absolutely shutting the Chiefs down – how in the world were they supposed to move the ball against Baltimore? Well ultimately they didn’t, and Cassel threw three more interceptions and the Ravens earned themselves a showdown with the Steelers next weekend.
Eagles Pack It In Early – Michael Vick and company simply didn’t show up today. The Packers didn’t particularly dazzle on offense, but their defense kept the Eagles pretty well bottled up for the majority of the game. Watching Vick survey closely-covered receivers and dance around the pocket all day, I couldn’t help but think of Tyrod Taylor hopelessly trying to keep his Virginia Tech team in the game against an overpowering Stanford. The only difference is Taylor was making things happen.
Jim Harbaugh is going to be the 49ers new coach for the next five years. Great signing for a guy who is forever embedded in California going all the way back to High School, to coaching Stanford, and now his newest job as the 49ers head coach. Solid move by the coach for choosing the Niners over the Dolphins. It was a great move to stay where his family is, and even more so because he decided to go with the NFC West over the AFC East. I think he liked beating Pete Carroll so much in college in Pete’s last year at USC, he wanted the chance to do it twice a year in the pros. I’m not a big Niners or NFC fan, so that’s all I have to say about that, maybe By will have a post on it sometime later breaking it down, because it is the biggest thing they’ve done since they beat the Giants in the playoffs.
The Raiders fired Cable a couple of days ago as Mceezy already told us. I’ve let the feelings I had on the firing set in a little more over the last couple of days, because originally, I was pretty mad since the Raiders players seemed to respect Cable so much. Now, I’m not quite as mad as the initial shock of the announcement. I’m thinking that Al hired on Hue Jackson as the OC last year, because he wanted to groom him into the next HC. Hue improved the offense by leaps and bounds this year by actually getting them into the endzone last season. I remember last year, we went through a three game stretch where all we managed were field goals, and watching the offense was painful more times than not. They might have scored a TD in that three game stretch, but it was a defensive one.
Anyways, my theory goes like this. Al was going to roll with Cable this year, and see how Hue did with getting the offense functioning like a real offense again. Both were reasonably successful, so no changes were made for the first half of the season. Al probably would’ve kicked Cable to the curb if had a crappy record at the bye week, but that wasn’t the case. Since they were still in the hunt, Al decided to let the year play out and waited through December to see if Cable could get them to the playoffs. He didn’t, and when Cable emphatically said after the season finale win over the Chiefs “we aren’t losers anymore”, that probably pissed Al off more than anything, and was the final straw in a tenure that had him switching QB’s, punching assistants, and receiving battery charges from ex-girlfriends. If they don’t hire/promote Hue Jackson who has the players respect already, then it will be another one of Al’s crazy decisions that I will never understand. The players overall were outspoken against the firing, but I think having a familiar face leading them next year would negate some of that negative energy. So the moral of this rant, if Al hires Hue then I’ll believe he really had a plan. If Al hires someone else, he’s should be checked back into the insane asylum.
The A’s new ballpark. The Oakland City Council approved spending ¾ of a million dollars into looking at a site in downtown Oakland for a new baseball only park for the A’s. I’m not really sure what this means, but I know there isn’t going to be a stadium anytime soon. I think this was a counter to San Jose trying to find a place to put the A’s, which Lew Wolff has longed for. It’s sad that the MLB still hasn’t concluded their research to decide where is the best fit for the A’s new park if there is one, after only two years of research. If they put me on that committee, I bet I could figure it out faster than two damn years!
Speaking of San Jose, how does the San Jose Hornets sound? It wouldn’t be possible till 2014 (when CP3 is gone), but Larry Ellison easily has the funds to buy the Hornets from the league and the wherewithal to make that move happen. He might do it just because he got punked when he was trying to buy the Warriors. It would be a pretty bold move to try to steal them away to San Jose, especially since the Warriors have as strong a fanbase as any in the league. I wonder if he’d just do it to take money and value away from Lacob and Gruber who bought the Warriors? Probably, because I think this guy HATES losing at anything, and I’m sure losing out on buying the Warriors is still eating at him. Five NBA teams in California seems like a little much, especially when three are in Northern California. I guess we will see how it all plays out, but I thought it was an interesting rumor nonetheless. The Kings are the most likely to move of the current teams here, so maybe there would still only be four teams in Cali if Ellison bought the Hornets.
The Lakers shenanigans leading to losing. I always love when Lakers fans start panicking after a few loses. I’m sure if I was a fan of theirs I’d be a little worried, but seriously, they still have the third best record in the west, so stop bitching Laker Nation. Even though their players are missing practices because of their IPhones, Ron doesn’t like the way Phil yells at him, and Odom is convincing teammates to sign waivers to be on his reality show, they shouldn’t be worried. They’ve gone through much worse with Kobe and Shaq, so they will right the ship. Last year just before the playoffs started, they played some of their worst ball of the season, and that sure didn’t seem to stop them from winning a championship. December and January isn’t the time to worry about the Lakers. This is a team that has been to the finals three years in a row. Sometimes you probably get bored during the season. I think that’s what is happening here more than anything…
6-0 last week. I can’t believe it took me all season to finally have a perfect week, but it actually happened! What was even better about the perfect week is that it put me over.500 for the season for the first time all season. It’s been a fun this year having By around to keep me motivated on making all these picks. Plus, it’s much more fun than caring about the Starbucks logo changing. Hopefully next year I can take By down!! Also, this week we were joined by Ryan Meehan from First Order Historians. I made the same picks over on his site if you want to check out even more reasons why I picked these teams check it out here.
I must admit, I’m a bit jealous Chaps had a perfect week, something that I was striving for all season long. But I can’t complain about a 42-35-5 record on the season, the first time I’ve made picks in which I could reflect back on from a whole season’s worth. It was real fun joining Chaps this season, and I definitely look forward to next (if there is one). According to Roger Goodell, there will be. But for now it’s money time, onto the playoffs!
Week 17 (Chap 6-0, By 2-2) Overall (Chap 48-47-3 By 42-35-5)
New Orleans (-10.5) @ Seattle
Chappy picks New Orleans -10.5. Is there any question on this one? Seattle shouldn’t be in the playoffs, and the Saints will show us all why. I understand that Drew Brees hasn’t had a career year, and has thrown quite a few picks this year, but you know what makes up for a subpar season? Winning in January. He’s shown he can do that, and I think he’ll open up a few big plays against a not very impressive Seahawks defense. Plus, the Saints have had the same problems as two other playoff teams during the regular season, injuries to the offense (Packers and Colts), but were good enough to still win 10 games. I feel like injuries were the reason the Falcons are widely conceived to be a much better team. Now, Brees has most of his weapons back at the right time, so we will soon see who is best, I think they’d play next round.
By picks Seattle (+10.5). What!? I stated how much I hate Pete Carrol before right? So why the contradiction here? Why would I pick his team to win? Quite simply put, this game can only head in one of two directions. Either the Saints completely mop the floor with the Seahawks winning by some 40 points, or the Seahawks pull off one of the greatest upsets in playoff history by dethroning the champs. There’s no in between in my eyes. There’s no Seahawks lose a tight one. And as much as I love Drew Brees and despise Cheat Carrol, I’m hoping Seattle shows some NFC West pride and represents our division well. Otherwise the NFL might have themselves a BCS like controversy in terms of how they decide playoff participants going forward. Seahawks have nothing to lose here, which makes them dangerous, I like their chances.
Meehan picks New Orleans -10.5. The Seahawks ended the year with a -79 point differential, and to make matters even more depressing, lost every one of those nine games by 15 points or more. Yikes. Later on, I’ll discuss why this upsets me so much. The Seahawks shouldn’t get their “12th man” advantage, because this game should be in New Orleans. They didn’t beat anybody good and all of the good teams they played they got smoked. Now, I’m picking the Saints, but I will say that if an upset this weekend has to happen it’s this one here. Prediction: New Orleans Saints 32, Seattle Seahawks 15
Brett Favre is getting sued as I’m sure you’ve heard by now. Ran across this little re-enactment from a news team in Taiwan not to be confused with China, since censorship there isn’t as high on the governments priority list. Anyways, if you haven’t seen this yet enjoy!
As the 2011 NBA lockout comes closer to a reality it got me wondering who we might see retire rather than continue on with their career since there are a lot of players out there that are old and still performing at a very high level. That being said the dinosaurs of the NBA might not want to take less than they are already making when the new CBA is reached. Thanks to a Wikki search they listed the ten oldest players in the league right now, and I will go through the seven oldest, and put a percentage on their chances of sticking around to play after the strike is over.
Shaquille O’Neal, 38 years old. Shaq might actually be helped out by this lockout. He hasn’t played a full 82 games since 1994, so I’m guessing that the lockout could actually keep him fresh. At the same time, if he knows that there won’t be basketball being played, I’m sure he’s going to eat himself into retirement. Look for him to have a waist growth spurt and remind us that people can be as big as Refrigerator Perry. Odds of returning after a lockout: 5%
Kurt Thomas, 38 years old. I actually forgot Kurt was still in the league, but he’s alive and well in Chicago filling in for the many injuries they’ve had to their frontline. He’s one of those guys that teams just keep picking up making the Bulls the 8th team of his career. I feel like he has some solid value for teams because he’s seen it all and isn’t a distraction. Odds of returning after a lockout: 80%
Grant Hill, 38 years old. Grant found the fountain of youth with his teammate Steve Nash.
Is Sprite the fountain of youth or is it the fountain of knee surgeries?
The guy is having his best year since he was in Orlando statically. If there’s anyone you think would stay in shape of these old guys during a lockout it would be Grant. He’s also the Suns best defensive player, which I can’t tell if that’s a good or bad thing for the Suns. Odds of returning after a lockout: 90%
Juwan Howard, 37 years old. Honestly I thought Juwan would have hung up the sneakers by now, but the Heat needed some bodies to fill up the roster and he got a call. Sure, he started some games in Portland last year, but we all know about that injury factory in the pacific northwest. If Miami doesn’t win it all this year, Howard is very expendable. Odds of returning after a lockout: 10% unless someone takes a chance on him.
Jason Kidd, 37 years old. I’ve always had a soft spot for the wife beater from Oakland. He’s been declining this year, but mostly because there’s so many other talented guys around him so he doesn’t need to be as great as he was. I think Cuban rides him until he’s shooting 20% from the floor. Odds of returning after a lockout: 99%
Theo Ratliff, 37 years old. He hasn’t really made an impact anywhere over the last few years. I don’t see him really making an impact on the Lakers except replacing Adam Morrison on the bench as the best towel waiver. This feels like his last season to me. Odds of returning after a lockout: 1%
Steve Nash, 36 years old. He’s better than Kidd, but the thing I worry about with Nash is what if the lockout happens and he signs with the MLS in an effort to ignite some support for his one true love, soccer. They can’t pay him as much as he’d make in the NBA though, so his odds of returning after a lockout feel like 99%, but you never know with a real footballer.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted that the Raiders have informed Tom Cable they won’t be picking up his option. Don’t worry everyone, I don’t follow Schefter, or anyone for that matter, on Twitter. I just happened to catch it on their tweetfeed…..
Does that mean Hue Jackson will be taking over or are the Raiders going in a completely nonsensical different direction? Nothing would surprise me at this point….
There’s not much to say about Marty Conlon. He played for 8 teams in 9 years. His best season came in 94-95 when he put up 9.9 ppg and 5.2 rpg for the Milwaukee Bucks. 20/10 is the benchmark for great power forwards, but a 10/5 guy is a rich man’s Marty Conlon. I got to enjoy him in his 2nd year in Sacramento when he was only a 5/3 guy, so I didn’t quite get to see him in his prime. He once had 9 pts, 5 reb, and 3 ast in a playoff game. Oh wait, those are his career playoff numbers….
Marty was born in the Bronx, went to high school in White Plains, and played college ball in Providence. (see a them here?) His other NBA stops came in Seattle, Charlotte, Washington, Boston, Miami, and of course the obligatory stop with the Clippers. But this all what makes him Random and Forgotten. Let’s get to why he’s an RFP! Behold Exhibits A and B…..
Nope, Dorell Wright didn’t get a minor in possession. He’s 25 years old, so there’s no way he could even get one at this point. Dorell isn’t a household name, and unless you were a Heat or Warriors fan you still might not know that he even exists. The Warriors acquired him over the offseason for the next three years at a fairly cheap $11M. I had no idea what we got when we signed him, and have been in many a texting frenzies with the blog mates on how awesome he is for many of the Dubs games this year. I thought he was more of a defensive guy since all the reports that I read said that’s all he really was at the time the Warriors acquired him. Somehow, some way, he’s morphed into a knock down shooter (in best Mark Jackson voice). He currently leads the NBA in three pointers made (85), and is making up for the scoring punch to ab offense that lost Morrow, Azubuike, and Maggette this past season. So far this season, Dorell has gone up in every major category making him my hometown bias pick for, the most improved player. As his minutes went from 20 to nearly 39 per game he has doubled up in his averages in every major category. His points have more than doubled (7.1 to 15.7). His rebounds have nearly doubled from (3.3 to 6.2). His assists have more than doubled going from (1.3 to 3.1). His steals have gone up from (0.7 to 1.4). People might knock his field goal % dropping 5 points, but my reasoning for that is he’s taking a ton of threes (averaging 6 per game), which would lower anyone’s percentages a little. With all those threes he’s taking, he is 27th in the league in 3PT percentage, which makes me not care that his FG% overall has taken a little dip. There’s no signs of him slowing down since the W’s have no bench. Another reason to hand the award to Dorell is that he came out of nowhere to relevance this season. All the other guys I’m about to mention were all at least relatively known at the beginning of the year.
I guess there are some other candidates out there, but in my eyes none of them have improved from last season to this season as much as Dorell, but here are some that I think are in the running. Kevin Love is a beast that should be considered for the award, but at the same time we saw some of what he’s doing this year towards the end of last year, so does that really count as improved now that he’s getting the minutes and already showed us that he could do this? I say no, but it’s arguable. Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose are on the same plane in my book. Rose has had an amazing season, and shown that he is indeed fantasy relevant instead of just a good player he has been boosting his stats in nearly every area. Westbrook developed a jumper this summer and is scoring more, but both of these guys were stars already, and I commend them for their improvement, but it just isn’t significant enough of an improvement to earn the MIP award. I’d put Raymond Felton slightly above them, because he is improving tremendously in every category much like Dorell, but being in D’antoni’s system jumpstarted that more than anything. We all knew that Felton was solid, just not this good. An honorable mention for a guy on the radar is Paul Millsap. He started off the first month of the season like he was going to win the award, but has fallen back to earth a little now that Al Jefferson has figured out the Utah offense, and mans the post keeping Paul away from this award. Michael Beasley also made the honorable mention list. He was a bust in Miami, and now is a main cog in Minnesota and hasn’t had any legal troubles thus far. If he keeps it up he should be on the list with his teammate.
New Year’s Day isn’t quite what it used be, but at least a few Bowls have remained committed to the tradition. There are still six games on the January 1 schedule, but the fact that there are seven more games after today really says something. Nonetheless, I’ve been glued to the TV today and plan to be for the remainder of the holiday. It’s always fun to see what games you end up watching versus what you were anticipating the most. I figured I may as well chime in with my observations periodically throughout the day….
TicketCity Bowl – Northwestern vs. Texas Tech – I don’t even know if I get ESPNU, because there’s never been a game on the channel that I’ve wanted to watch. This game was a pretty good matchup on paper, but I wasn’t going to go out of my way to watch it if there were better games on. Looks like there’s plenty of offense though. Taylor Potts seems to be making a case to be included in the “Year of the Quarterback” group. I’ve got it on in the background now, if nothing else just because it’s the latest into the game. Northwestern has the ball down 14 with 6:21 left right now.
Capitol One Bowl – Alabama vs. Michigan State – I might have been most excited for this one. Michigan State looked pretty good this year and Mark Ingram and Julio Jones would surely go out in style. The game’s turned out to be a lopsided affair, but it’s still been entertaining, despite the score. 35-0 Tide in the 3rd quarter.
Gator Bowl – Michigan vs. Mississippi State – I’ve ended up here a lot as a result of the aforementioned game being a disappointment. Denard Robinson is always entertaining, and the atmosphere’s been a electric. Mississippi State has taken a huge step forward this year, and win over Michigan would cement a Top 20 finish for the year. The Bulldogs lead 31-14 early in the 3rd.
Outback Bowl – Florida vs. Penn State – This one’s had the most hype. It’s Urban Meyer’s last game after six whole seasons. It’s also Joe Paterno’s 114th last game as head coach of Penn State. I don’t care too much for the coaching storylines, but I do hope Paterno coaches Penn State until he dies. I know the administration is pretty ready for some new blood, and I know they were pretty bad for a few years there, but despite a 7-5 down year, they’re still coming off three 11 win seasons in the last 5. They went 9-4 the other two years. Most schools can only dream of that kind of success. Who’s going to take them higher than they already are? Having said all that, this game’s turned out to be the closest of the bunch. Therefore, it will likely remain in sole possession of the TV screen for the duration of the final 22+ minutes. Tied at 17 now.
Rose Bowl – TCU vs. Wisconsin – I’m still pretty bitter this wasn’t a Pac-10 / Big Ten matchup. Sure Oregon got the BCS nod, so they weren’t obligated to have a Pac-10 team, but Stanford was right there for the choosing. TCU could’ve played in the Orange Bowl against Virginia Tech. All complaints aside though, this was still a pretty good matchup, and certainly the main event. I can’t imagine Oklahoma and UConn is going to blow people away. The Rose Bowl lived up to the hype though. After a fast start, the scoring become fewer and farther in between, and it ended up coming down to the last drive for Wisconsin.
Fiesta Bowl – Oklahoma vs. Connecticut – Yep, just like I thought. This game is teetering right on the border of too boring to watch, but too close to turn off. Now that the NHL Winter Classic is over, it’s not like there’s anything else to watch instead. Part of me wants Oklahoma to destroy UConn so it’s that much more obvious to the BCS the Huskies have no business being in this game. The other part of me wants them to at least make it respectable. I guess I’m pretty much getting both right now. Whether or not UConn pulls off a miracle is yet to be seen, but should they lose, as expected, they can find a consolation in the fact that they’ve put up a better fight than major conference schools like Florida State, Texas Tech, Baylor, Colorado, and Iowa State.
By
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Doin Work 