The Panthers had their moment in the spotlight last night and for the first time in years, they responded. The Quenn City was alive and bumping the whole day yesterday and last night. Carolina has taken hold of the second seed in the NFC and of the NFC South by beating Tampa Bay last night 38-23. It also puts them only one game behind the Giants for home-field advanatage throughout the playoffs with those teams facing off in two weeks. Sure, there are doubters but last night Carolina put itself into position for at the very least a first round bye and showed they have perhaps the strongest ground game this side of New Jersey. Since Catfish and I discuss the NFL in our upcoming podcast(to be posted soon) I am going to focus on this game and what it means to both teams, the division and the NFC playoff picture.
Before this season began there was an understanding here in Charlotte that if head coach John Fox and GM Marty Hurney did not produce a playoff team this year, they would be shown the door. In his 7th year with the team, Fox had begun to wear on Panther fans as a coach that had taken the Panthers as far as he could. He took them to the Super Bowl in 2003 and the NFC Championship game in 2005. The last two seasons had been incredibly lackluster, but with Jake Delhomme returning this year and the drafting of Jonathan Stewart and the trade for the chance to draft Jeff Otah, all the cards were on the table. Win or find another job. He has done the former, guiding the Panthers to a 10-3 mark thus far.
Fox is not a flashy coach and has never been mentioned as a mastermind on gameday, but what he is a hard-nosed coach who believes in playing strong but conservative and practicing the staples of NFL success: running the ball and defense. The formula works when you have the personnel to do it. This year Fox does have the players and the Panthers are winning where it counts, in the trenches.
The offensive line deserves as much, if not more credit than the running backs of Carolina. Jordan Gross, Travelle Wharton, Ryan Kalil, Keydrick Vincent and Jeff Otah have played magnificently all year, and especially the last couple of weeks. We can forget Jeremy Bridges for the moment, cough. Wharton played perhaps his finest game of the year last week at Green Bay as he opened up holes for Williams and Stewart and made a block that sprung Delhomme for a TD and recovered a Jonathan Stewart fumble in the red zone after he hustled down the field on Stewart's long run. Last night, the Bucs could not stop the running game even when they knew it was coming, which is something not often said about a Tampa defense. Tampa has given up big yardage on the road, but most of it was in the air, they had only allowed one rushing TD coming into last night's game.
Once the big guys up front make the hole, it is up to the backs to run through it and this year DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart have done that. Williams averaged 9.8 yards per carry last night and had two TDs. Stewart was at 7.7 and added two TDs of their own. They combined for 301 yards which set a franchise record. The Panthers have a two-headed running game again fo the first time since they used Stephen Davis and DeShaun Foster except this time I believe these two are better.
On the defensive line after wondering where the old Julius Peppers was and searching for him high and low, Pep has turned in one of his best years ever.
The big cat has 12.5 sacks on the year and in a true return to form last night, blocked an extra point and sacked Jeff Garcia 1.5 times, including one rush from the left where he simply blew through right tackle Jeremy Trueblood. Perhaps it is a coincidence that Peppers is playing so well in a contract year, but he has once again become the focal point for opposing offensive lines.
The Panthers were a bit shaky in the secondary last night if there was a weak spot in their game. Ken Lucas got burned deep twice as Antontio Bryant had 200 yards receiving and two TDs. Another dull spot in an otherwise bright performance was Delhomme's two INTs but Jake appeared accurate and hit Steve Smith on a beautiful TD pass in the third quarter. Smith who traditionally plays well against the Bucs and the rest of the NFC South had 9 catches for 117 yards.
In previous years the Panthers were seen as road warriors who struggled at home, but this year they are undefeated at Bank of America stadium and I even think I saw some people in the notorious wine and cheese section of the stadium standing and cheering. I even thought I detected some arm flailing from the affluent portion of the crowd. The NFC South's contests have been dominated by the home teams this season and if the Panthers want that number 1 seed they will have to win in New Orleans the last week of the season.
Above all this was a defining game for the Panthers. They had taken some criticism for their performances against lowly Oakland and Detroit and then for their double-digit loss in Atlanta two weeks ago. The team was on the brink of being fighting for their playoff life as they traveled up to Lambeau. With that big win on the road combined with the division win last night, the Panthers have played their way into an advantageous position in the NFC. If they can hold this momentum, the team can become a Super Bowl threat. They are certainly not the Giants, but then again the Giants were not the Giants last year. Their match-up against New York now becomes the biggest game in the conference in the last two weeks. The one certainty appears to be that Panthers will be playing January football.
Tuesday, December 9
NFL Week 14 De-Cleeting: Carolina Panthers Edition
Monday, December 8
College Football Recap: Prepare for the Theatre of the Absurd
The rankings are in and final, there is nothing we can do about who plays where come January, but we do not have to accept it. There already is and will be a rush of sports pundits coming to the defense of the BCS. Not surprisingly, many of them will come from ESPN, who recently bought the rights to the BCS starting in 2011. The debate is really unneccessary, the system is not changing now or in the near future and there is no true defense for the system currently in place. There are currently nine teams that have a legitimate argument to be able to play their way for a championship. Catfish broke down how the current system works, and if that is not enough to shake your confidence then you might just be a Sooner or Gator fan. The two teams will face each other one month from today for the BCS "title" and a crystal football. The others are left to play in games they are being told are meaningful but will maybe only have bearing on their national perception and irrational as that sounds it will play a part on how they are ranked and voted on in future seasons. A recap of the "unique" college football championship system and other intriguing bowl match-ups after the break.
Sooner or Gator
I have no contention with stating that Florida and Oklahoma are two of the top teams in the country if not the top two. But it is hardly an open and shut case and the trends it highlights in the BCS system are a dangerous president being set for upcoming years. Both teams have one major flaw about their ascension over the other contenders that is either overlooked by voters or not factored in enough by the computers. Texas beat OU 45-35 on a neutral field, and with both teams having one loss, you would think that puts the Longhorns ahead of Oklahoma for a second ignoring the third party involved. Florida lost to an Ole Miss team that has entered the rankings smply due to the SEC's national perception. Mississippi beat FLorida in the swamp which deserves praise, but after losses to Vandy, South Carolina, and Alabama, they defeated Arkansas, Alabama, and LSU. Only the Bama loss would be considered a good loss at this point. Throw in wins over Samford and Louisiana-Monroe and bam, that 8-4 record for an inflated SEC looks impressive.
Let's forget for a second where Ole Miss stands. They are a good team and will face Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl on January 2nd. The loss is still a loss for Florida. They were rewarded by losing before the first BCS standings came out. I maybe confused but doesn't college football stake its claim on every game being a playoff? Did this loss just send Florida into a fictional loser's bracket? Florida did play extremely well the latter part of the season so in the minds of voters and computers this nullifies a loss at home to a team that only recently cracked the top 25? This is not an arguement to discount the Gators and the same goes for OKlahoma; both teams deserve a shot at the title, but so do the others.
In Oklahoma's case, racking up over 60 points in 5 straight games is impressive no matter who you are or who you play. Some of the defenses they faced though were not exactly stingy. Having watched a replay of the Kansas-Mizzou game it can easily be seen that Missouri could not cover a three-toed sloth wearing clogs in thirty degree weather. All the teams they hammered (save Texas Tech) have not been bastions of defense in college football this year. Four teams OU faced were ranked 75 or below in the NCAA in overall defense. The highest ranked Big XII team is Texas at 21. Some of that is due to explosive offenses, and some of it is due to horrible defense. Oklahoma's ascension highlights the dangerous trend of putting more and more consideration into margin of victory. This factor was eliminated from the computers years ago but in the minds of the voters it is becoming more of a tipping point. Oklahoma's crushing of Texas Tech 66-21 gave the Sooners the edge over Texas after Texas lost to the Raiders 39-33 in Lubbock at the last second. Catfish made the strong point of saying if you really look at that game between OU and Tech the Sooners were no doubt the better team that night, but the score was inflated. Tech never got into rhythm yet Mike Leach was trying to win and score the whole time. This included going for it in his own territory and continuing to pass even after the game was well in hand. On the other side, Bob Stoops knew he was going to have to make a statement, and merely winning the game was not enough so he did not call the dogs off. Is this really what we want to see in college football? "I'm sorry we kept throwing the ball all over the field coach in the 4th quarter, but you know we are trying to get a lot of votes over the next few weeks. No hard feelings but your team sucks, try stopping us next time we have computer averages to boost." It's almost becoming American Idol, and how do you like that, the two coaches who run up the score the most are in the national championship, go figure.
Lots to Prove, Lots to Lose
The Fiesta Bowl will feature the aforementioned Longhorns against Ohio State. OSU returns to the friendly confines of the Fiesta Bowl against a Texas team who feels they were robbed of a rightful place in the championship game. The Buckeyes felt they would be headed to Miami for this year's title game after dissapointing blowouts the last two seasons. If Ohio State wins, they can get a measure of national respect back for themselves and the Big Ten since they did not even win the conference. If Texas wins and wins big, it will be a statement of how they deserved the nod to play for the championship. Texas's situation is similar to Miami's in 2000. The Canes' only lost a tough road game that year at Washington and beat Florida State yet the Seminoles were placed in the national championship ahead of Miami where they promptly scored 2 points in a loss to Oklahoma. Texas Tech probably feels like Washington that year since the Huskies got no title consideration. In Miami's Sugar Bowl appearance they handliy beat Florida 37-20 in Steve Spurrier's final game as Gator head coach. There was nothing Miami could do, they made their statement and even received a few first place votes and were voted the national champion by the New York Times, whatever that is worth. If Texas wins convincingly, I expect them to get a few first place votes in the AP poll, but I doubt it will end up being a split title.
The One BCS Certainty
I know Kirk Herbstreit does not speak for the entire BCS body, but he echoed their sentiments regarding non-BCS conference schools like Utah who go undefeated: you have no chance of ever winning a national title. That's it for the Utes, take your Sugar Bowl berth and like it. The game will not be an easy task for Utah as they face Alabama in what will seem like a home game for the Tide, but Utah is not simply a finesse team from the Mountain West. Utah ranks 12 in the nation in defense, and they have a balanced attack on offense. Alabama may have a let down after fading in the SEC title game, but they are still the prohibitive favorites. If Utah wins it will be a big statement, perhaps even larger than the Boise State win over Oklahoma. If they can come into an SEC atmosphere and beat a top-ranked team, it will say a lot for the non-BCS crowd. I don't know how teams like Utah are automatically discounted from national consideration when they go undefeated, beat teams from BCS conferences, and beat tough, ranked teams within their own conference. The 6 big conferences are the bullies is what the system is saying and the best the others can hope for are some scraps from the table.
Lions in Winter...Again?
Penn State would most likely have caused complete havoc in the BCS had they not slipped against Iowa. Their loss in Iowa City is considered the worst of the one-loss contenders but Iowa currently sits 8-4 with a trip to the Outback Bowl. The Hawkeyes sit 4 spots below Penn State in total defense. The one element people often forget when factoring into the Nittany Lions' loss are the elements. PSU lost on a frigid, windy day and aside from that slip they beat everyone who came across their path. I have already stated their case before they lost this game but it is amusing to me they were completely eliminated from any kind of national title contention after their loss while other one-loss teams enjoyed the spotlight. Anyone else lining up to go play a night road game at the Horseshoe? People simply think a Rose bowl berth is enough to keep them happy in Happy Valley.
Their opponent is another team that feels they have been left out of a rightful place in the championship. USC was number one and seemingly unbeatable after trouncing Ohio State. A slip against Oregon State sent the Trojans in a free fall as far as the rankings went. No matter what USC did they could not recover from that loss. People even went as far as saying they were not scoring enough points. Hard to see that as a problem when you have the number 1 defense in all of college football. The Rose Bowl should be a defensive battle and a competitive game and the Big Ten needs one after their recent performances there against Southern Cal.
The Ratings Bowl
Following the Rose Bowl on New Year's day is the Orange Bowl. It features Virginia Tech from the ACC where no team could stand up and definitively take the title and upstart Cincinnati who conquered the equally mediocre Big East. These are two quality teams but neither packs the big punch of the best from the other four conferences. Cincinnati has equaled 10 wins in its last two seasons and coach Brian Kelly says he is not going anywhere after this year and wants to build the program there. Unfortunately we can no longer take coaches at their word so we will have to wait and see on that one. The Hokies have been dissapointing all season starting with a loss to ECU and BC, FSU and Miami in the ACC, but once again they have done it with defense and special teams. Beamer ball is not fun to watch, especially when they have so many new faces but it is effective and thanks to a couple of games that they pulled out early against North Carolina and Georgia Tech, they have the spot in the BCS game. The game may not be a sexy match-up, but it is imperative that Va Tech put a notch on the ACC's belt as far as the BCS is concerned. The ACC has not won a BCS game since 2000 and needs to raise their perception in all their bowl games this year.
Some Other Non-BCS Bowls to Look at
How will the ACC do?: As I just mentioned, the ACC has been labled a poor conference since they have no marquee team, but I think it is more of a case of a lot of decent teams that beat each other up. It is going to be interesting to see how the conference does overall and I believe they have some favorable match-ups.
Clemson-Nebraska: Gator
LSU-Georgia Tech: Chick-fil-A
Vandy-BC: Music City
Nevada-Maryland: Humanitarian
Rutgers-NC State: Papa John's
Miami-Cal: Emerald
FSU-Wisconsin: Champ Sports
UNC-West Virginia: Meineke Car Care
The conference should be able to win most of these games, with the headliner probably being the Chick-fil-A Bowl. If the Jackets can pound LSU like they did Miami and Georgia, it will go a long way for their team and the ACC. If Georgia Tech wins that game and BC beats Vandy it would mean the ACC went 8-4 against the SEC this year.
The game we should not be seeing: Pontsettia Bowl
Boise State is currently undefeated and beat Oregon in Eugene. TCU has the number 1 defense in the land agaisnt the rush giving up less than 50 yards per game and their only two losses came at Oklahoma and at Utah. These teams deserve better, they deserve the chance to play a high profile team from a high profile conference. How are we going to know how legit they are if they do not get the opportunity to slay a dragon. I believe both of these teams are for real but after this match-up we will only know which one deserved the shot at a giant more.
Notre Dame gets...punished?: Hawai'i Bowl
So the Irish played a weak schedule and lost to teams they had no business losing to and were destined for a bad bowl, and Weis and company will head to the cold harsh land of...Hawai'i. Even if they lose this game who cares, their perception cannot get worse than it is now and they get to spend a week or so in Hawai'i.
Holiday...celebrate: Holiday Bowl
This game will be another conference statement contest as Oklahoma State who's only losses were to the big three of the Big XII takes on Oregon from a supposedly weak Pac Ten.
More conference reputations on the line: Cotton Bowl
Texas Tech deserves a BCS bowl, a lot more than Virginia Tech or Cincinnati, but the "system" will not allow a third team from any conference. The only thing the Red Raiders can do is flatten the Ole Miss Rebels in Dallas. If they beatdown the Rebs then they can at least say they had some argument in a BCS title appearance. The worth of having that arguement may not be much, but if they stay competitive they may gain a positive reputation with the pollsters in the future.
Turner Gil deserves some sort of award: International Bowl
I suppose college football in Toronto will go over as well as the NFL did? Nevertheless, Turner Gil has done the unthinkable at Buffalo. Eight wins, a conference title and a defeat of previously undefeated Ball State(sorry Whitlock but I liked the article). He may not get coach of the year, but the man should be getting calls from a lot of schools soon. The Bulls take on Connecticut on January 3rd.
Friday, December 5
The Night of the Blaylock
A weekly Wednesday tradition for the myself, Catfish, and Extra Medium has been going to a local pub and partaking in their trivia night competition. We are quite proficient at it and have become known as the team to beat. The prize for winning is $25 off your tab but we do it for the love of the game, and winning the title is paramount to any monetary compensation for cerebral mastery of superfluous knowledge. This week, Catfish and XM found themselves in possession of two fourth row tickets to the Bobcats' game versus the Thunder. Catfish was debating what to do when I simply told him he had to attend the game. He agreed and it seemed our team would be absent from the weekly trivia contest. Faced with the prospect of going home from work and plopping myself on the couch and watching college basketball or having a few drinks and maybe, just maybe having a good showing for our team at the pub, I chose the latter. I decided to ride solo, and what ensued that evening was one of the greatest performances, maybe ever. But not really.
The name we chose for our team was 'Mookie Blaylock'. No special reason for the name, we were(are?) all big Pearl Jam fans and that was the name they had before becoming Pearl Jam. I'm sure Mookie is glad they made the switch otherwise most people would only think of the band when his name was brought up. Before Mookie Blaylock, the band was known as 'Mother Love Bone'. I think in the end they made the right decision.
It is really a challenge coming up with a good team name and the important thing to remember is that if you want to become known as an icon of trivia, you have to come each week with the same team name. You can't go around switching names if you are going to instill fear in the competitors they have to know you'll be there everyweek on top of the leaderboard. There are certainly much more clever names out there but as we sat and tried to come up with something witty or even slightly uncouth, we decided on something that most people would probably not understand.
We used to play at another establishment but left that place for various reasons. We won the first time we played there and perhaps that kept us coming back for awhile before we had to ditch the game. It turned out the game was as crooked as a politician and it makes a mockery of what trivia night is and as we told our waitress at our last game that we would be leaving she informed us that we were not the first ones to take our game elsewhere. I do not want to call the bar out, but maybe this picture will give you a hint:
There were multiple problems with the game, the first one being the guy who ran it was a complete and utter douchebag. Every week he would solicit tips from the crowd and whine about how no one was tipping him. Maybe he should have read something into that. He had a powerpoint set-up that used the same format and categories of questions every single game. Just like anyone who had all their stock in Wachovia has learned, you need to diversify. His sports category was always some lame lay-up question and he included a top ten list you had to guess at that was the product of some subjective on-line site or survey. I guess it is not a tragedy to include these type of questions but they are worth a lot of points and can be the difference maker. Trivia is supposed to be based on facts, not top ten lists.
Our team is only three members whereas others are usually anywhere from 5-10+, but we complement each other well. I am and have always been a fount of useless knowledge including history, music and movies. Catfish is good at a variety of subjects including the more technical subjects, T.V. (where I am weak) and he is very good at anything involving words and language. XM is strong in mechanical and music, and by far the master of random pulls from the deep recesses of his brain. His most infamous one was his recollection of Count Duckula. Together we are the perfect Triangle Offense of Trivia.
By far the most egregious of acts in our previous trivia locale was the cheating. I mean how ridiculous do you have to be to cheat in a bar trivia contest. The worst part about it is they got away with it. We caught multiple teams in the act including one team that had a guy run out of the bar on his phone, come back in and share the answers he received with his team. There was one team that won pretty often that would do it in plain sight of everyone, they would sit at the bar and pull out the Iphones. As if this were not bad enough, they brought a little trophy which they paraded around and drank beer out of.
I equated this form of cheating to using steroids. It would not make you a superhuman team since you could not find every question using the devices, but it would give you a tremendous advantage in the game. The team with the trophy I viewed as Barry Bonds. They were brash, cocky and put up great numbers. Without using the devices they still would be a great team, but they just couldn't help themselves. The other teams were probably more akin to Andy Petite and Fernando Vina, they were just trying to compete. When we had had enough Catfish approached the host to let him know what was going on. He received the Rafael Palmiero response, "Those guys are not using cell phones, period." Turns out the team was comprised of this guys friends. After that night we were out of there.
We found our new setting much better all around. The clientele were more of our style and to date I have no seen one popped collar in the joint. The two guys who run the trivia have fun with what they do and the answers are submitted one at a time and they make the rounds during the time you have to answer the question. This has eliminated the cheating element and a few people have even been called out for checking their phones. The questions are also more diverse with different categories every night and the format is great as well.
So in I walked that night, hoping that maybe it would not be too crowded and that maybe I could land in the top three at night's end. The second place prize was a bucket of domestic beer and the thrid place was a bucket of mini-Bud Light's which I consider no prize at all. If I came in as a runner-up it would be myself and a bucket and sadly it would not be the first time I would have taken on a tin ice chest of ale all by my lonesome.
When I entered the place I saw that it was packed, and the usual table that our team sat in was in fact taken. Not a good sign. The Blaylock Table had been combined with another to accomodate a group of 12 middle-aged people. If there is one thing me or the other members of Mookie Blaylock possess it is age. Not a bad thing but in trivia, the older you are the more likely you are to have picked up more usless knowledge along the way. I picked out an empty table up front. One of our regular waitresses, Amy, came by with my first High Life without even asking.
Sigh, Miller High Life. A beer that I do not have a special affinity for, but yet can swill all night long. The most prominent memory of the beer goes back to my days in the dorm at Miami. Unfortunately I did not live on the 7th floor, but down on the 3rd floor of Mahoney and we had plenty of good times. The guy at the end of the hall who was disabled but also one of the coolest guys I've ever met had the extra large suite connected to his room vacant so he did what anyone else would do, he turned it into a beer pong lounge. The beer of choice was High Life, not by my choice, but everytime I have a High Life I think about that room at the end of the hall. One of the big problems I have with High Life, beside the taste is the fact that it comes in clear bottles. I'm not a fan of clear bottle beers because light is a natural enemy of beer. It's science. But at $1.50 per beer, it is the most economic in the establishment and in these troubling times I have yet to receive my bailout from Henry Paulson.
It really does make for an affordable night especially if you come out the victor because you get the tab reduced. So there I was, with my champagne of beers and my pencil, answer pad and scoring sheet ready to go. They announced the names of the teams and the host made sure to point out that the other two members of our dynasty were absent.
"And last but not least in the front, here all by himself give it up for Mookie Blaylock!"
Thanks dude, point out to everyone that I'm at a pub, drinking by myself on a Wednesday night. I had to focus though as the game was beginning. The first round of the first half (there are 3 rounds per two halves) I got 2 of the 3 questions right, but from then on I got in the zone. I was hitting question after question. Like Jordan in the first half Game 1 of the 1992 Finals, "the rim looked like a huge big bucket." 4:23 for the shrug.
By Halftime I had a 9 point lead and like Jordan I felt I couldn't miss. Sports, Music, Movies, Science it jsut did not matter I was hitting them all. The halftime question was perhaps a harbinger of the tough half that remained. The question was which 4 cities have all of their 4 pro sports teams play within the city limits. I broke down the cities by listing all the divisions in the NFL and going through them one by one by process of elimination. I came up with 3 I knew to be true and 2 I was unsure about. Chicago, Philly, and Atlanta I knew for sure. I was split between Denver and Minneapolis. I went with Minneapolis but upon further review the Wild and their hideous uniforms play in St. Paul. I missed two points for the wrong guess and an additional bonus point I would have received for getting all four cities.
The second half did not start well, I missed all three questions in the first round. A question on 'Philadelphia Freedom' by Elton John, a John Dillinger question and I was flustered. I could feel my lead evaporating but luckily by the end of the second half I was hitting all my high point value questions. By the time the last question arrived I had a 3 point lead. In the last round you can wager up to 15 of your team's points. Depending on the question, I could actually win this thing. The question came:
"What is the northernmost country in Africa?"
Wow, I knew this and I don't know why but I knew it. I wagered the 13 points that would give me the one point win even if the team of 12 (who were called 'The Pansies' but had originally chosen something more distasteful, use your imagination) wagered their full 15 and got it wrong. To my amazement I was the only person who knew the answer, which is Tunisia. I had done it, I had one solo against a whole pub full of people. I felt like leaving the hand up just a while longer, like I was in Salt Lake in '98.
The team at the table behind me asked how I just did what I did, the only thing I could do, was shrug. Since the pub has $3 Cuervo shots specials on Wednesday when Mookie Blaylock wins we throw one down and tonight would be no different. I asked Amy how much my tab was after the first shot. Oh what's that you say, only 21 and change you say? Another shot and beer later I truly was living the high life and as fate would have it Catfish and XM had just returned from the Bobcats' game. They told me an amusing anecdote about life four rows behind Larry Brown but at that point, the spoils of victory had worked its way through my blood stream. Catfish took my keys as I lurched out of my chair and out the door.
Yesterday at work, my head hurt and I had a mountain of work on my desk, but the win helped me feel better, even when Jose tried his best to say hello. I do hope that Mookie Blaylock will be at full strength next week and start an incredible winning streak through the new year. I'm not the greatest, I'm not perfect but for one night, Mookie and I took it down.
Thursday, December 4
The Season of Giving for the Bobcats
It's the holiday season again, which means once more it's time to dust off all the classic Christmas movies. One blog has already given Plaxico the lead role in a remake of A Christmas Story, so here's a little Frank Capra inspired post about our city's NBA team.
It’s a common cliché, particularly at this time of year that it’s better to give than to receive. This selflessness has been on display with the Charlotte Bobcats, both on the court and off. For Thanksgiving the team served dinner to underprivileged children and their families. This week the team has been again active in the community, with Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley visiting children of all ages in Presbyterian Hospital and providing smiles along with presents and holiday cheer. Emeka Okafor took a more global approach, kicking off a new campaign for the One Million African Lives Initiative, with a goal of saving lives in Africa by cleaning up the sub-Sahara blood supply, to prevent the spread of diseases through tainted blood transfusions. With the amount of coverage each of these acts has gotten, their work borders on altruism.
On the court selflessness has been a positive for the team as well. During their two-game winning streak more than two-thirds of the team’s field goals have been assisted. While most of the coverage has been on the resurgence of Emeka or the return of Sean May, the team’s success has been driven by playing as a team. The Cats have won four of their last six, with each victory having a different leading scorer. During Wednesday night’s game, Jason Richardson scored his 10,000th NBA point and was acknowledged by the PA announcer and the crowd (the loudest cheer of the night), but J-Rich did not stop to bask in his accomplishment. He went to the huddle with the rest of his team to listen to Coach Larry Brown. There was still work to be done.
This team may not be a title contender, but one thing they are is a quality group of young men. They deserve more than this city gives them on a nightly basis. They deserve more than their owner has given them. Many Charlotteans lament the loss of the Hornets and are unwilling to give this team a shot, but unlike this city’s other team, there are no prima donnas, they are a group of hardworking, talented young men that give of themselves both to the team and to our city. They are the athletes we decry there aren’t enough of in sport, and yet there remains a disconnect between the team and the city. If the people of this city were made more aware of the persons in those uniforms and their actions in the community, they’d be hard pressed not to fall in love with this team. As this is the season of giving, I hope that the fine citizens of our city will see fit to give this team a chance, for if they do, they’ll be proud that these fine young men represent our city.
On a personal note, I would like to extend a thank you to the gentleman that provided me tickets to see our team play. For the first time, I walked down to my seats, a thrill I won’t soon forget.
Week 14 NFL Mr. Green Locks
Just like the last couple of weeks I have been swamped at work and not able to do too much blogging during the day. It is quite frustrating, and with a game again tonight on the NFL network, my picks are due in on Thursday. I had planned to regale the readers with a tale of yesterday eve, but those plans have to be put to the side in order to finish my work at my paying job and get these picks in and actually give them some thought. I am pretty miffed that the network that most of the country doesn't get chooses to play these Thursday games this often in the year. I expect teams can't be too happy about having to cut their week short and when you factor in the travel for the away teams (like Arizona going all the way to Philly in 4 days) and then the teams they play in subsequent weeks are at a disadvantage because their opponents have 3 extra days of rest. Beside the point, the picks must be made and read on after the break for this week's edition.
Last Week: 10-6
Season: 117-74
OAK at SD: Chargers- They won't be flocking to the bars to see this one.
CLE at TEN: Titans- I have a soft spot for Ken Dorsey and I certainly don't envy him this week. I know he has never worked out as a pro and probably was not going to materialize into something special but his one shot as a starter was with a putrid 49er team and now he gets to face the Titans pass rush and defensive backfield with the Browns of this year. Ken may have never become an NFL legend, but to us Hurricane fans he will always be the man. I went to the Tennessee-UM game the year after Dorsey graduated and while I was sitting in the student section a crowd of people came out on the sidelines right in front of us. It was a bunch of former players and P Diddy who was sporting a mohawk. Diddy got a nice cheer from the student section, especially when he started gyrating to some timeout music, but then out walked Ken Dorsey. The whole section and then the rest of the Orange Bowl erupted. A chant of "Dorsey, Dorsey" started throughout the stadium. It was a great thing to see especially since UM lost that game due to horrible QB play from Brock Berlin. That was also the Kellen Winslow Jr. "I'm a soldier" game. Good times but what I was trying to say in that inane babble was that Dorsey is a nice guy, a hell of a college QB and I wish him well this Sunday, I'll be rooting for him.
JAC at CHI: Bears- The Bears need this game badly and I presume it will be cold in Chicago this weekend since it is here in Charlotte.
MIN at DET: Vikings- Daunte needs the rest of his team to have their head to the grindstone, but unfortunately the Lions' collective heads are in the guillotine.
HOU at GB: Packers- So badly want to take the Texans, but something is holding me back.
CIN at IND: Colts- Can this game be any uglier that the Colts-Browns game last week?
ATL at NO: Falcons- The Falcons are rolling and the Saints are all but out of the playoff conversation.
PHI at NYG: Giants- This team has no Burress, this team needs no Burress.
NE at SEA: Patriots- If only the Patriots and Deion Branch had made up....
NYJ at SF: Jets- The Jets are not going to be as accomodating as the Bills were the Niners last week.
KC at DEN: Broncos- Denver has found its feet and now can focus on getting obliterated in the wild card round of the playoffs.
MIA at BUF: Dolphins- Beyond Skydome.
DAL at PIT: Cowboys- Two fan bases and franchises I can't stand, but I cannot wait to watch this game.
STL at ARI: Cardinals- Cardinals should be well rested.
WSH at BAL: Ravens- The Redskins have taken a wrong turn this season.
TB at CAR: Panthers- This is the biggest regular season game for Carolina in its history. National audience, primetime game, division rival, and playing for the lead in the NFC South. It's the perfect storm for the city to get hyped and hopefully they represent the town well. Maybe even the club level crowd will put down their wine and cheer for the whole game.
This week's Clue factoid centers on Bill Henderson who plays a cop who comes to investigate the dinner party. He is quite inept at his job as he allows himself to walk by a bunch of dead people and then get himself locked in the library and subsequently hit over the head with a lead pipe. So in a sense he was a lead pipe lock to be one of the victims in the movie....I'll show myself out.
Wednesday, December 3
Do You Know Who's Picking Your National Championship?
We're on the record supporting a twelve team playoff, but since college football still doesn't have one, we turn our focus to the BCS. Every college football fan understands that the BCS rankings rule the roost, but most couldn't name half of the computer polls that annually can play a tremendous role in the selection of a national championship match-up. All but one of the polls are shrouded in mystery regarding their selection process and more often than not, they produce some questionable results. With the systems being "secret" there exists no checks and balances to ensure proper results. It's with this skeptical eye that we took a look at each of the polls that comprise the BCS and quickly found many glaring flaws. More after the break...
The Harris Interactive Poll is, “[c]omprised of former players, coaches, administrators and current and former members of the media who have committed to submit rankings for the top 25 college football teams each week. These panelists were randomly selected from among more than 300 nominations submitted by the 11 Division I-A Conference offices and the independent schools. The panel has been designed to be a statistically valid representation of all 11 Division I-A Conferences and independent institutions.”
Individual Harris poll voters have found themselves routinely criticized at the the end of the season (the only time votes are made public). This week, a Harris voter, Pat Quinn, was quoted as saying, “I think Alabama and Penn State will probably play for the national championship. They're the only two undefeated teams, aren't they?” Harris Interactive attempted to apply a standard practice that could counter error or bias, but were denied by the conference commissioners (and the Notre Dame AD). The Harris Interactive poll accounts for one-third of the BCS standings. A full list of voters can be found here.
USA Today Coaches Poll – Composed of 61 D-1 coaches, the poll accounts for one-third of the BCS poll. Of the 61 head coaches, eight or 13% of the voting pool will not be coaching their team next year. Tommy Bowden, Joe Glenn, Ty Willingham, Jeff Genyk, Sylvester Croom, Phil Fulmer, Rocky Long, and most recently Hal Mumme have all been fired or resigned. Hal Mumme, no longer the coach at New Mexico State, was the coach that last season voted Hawaii number 1 heading into the bowl season. A point of intrigue with the poll, Oklahoma edged Texas by a mere one point with two first place votes to none for the Longhorns. The two votes for Oklahoma in the top spot appear to be from Mike Leach and Sooners head coach, Bob Stoops EDIT:Stoops had a vote last season, but does not have one this year (HT: CGB). Mack Brown also has a vote, but chose Alabama at the top spot. Had Mack been self-serving, the teams would've been tied in the poll. Of note, Urban Meyer does have a vote, potentially explaining the one top vote the Gators got. A list of voting coaches and a conference breakdown can be found at the end.
The final third of the BCS rankings are composed of six computer rankings, with a team's highest and lowest ranking being thrown out before computing their ranking.The six computer ranking providers are Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin and Peter Wolfe. After issues with teams with weak schedules having an advantage, each ranking now has a strength of schedule element.
Anderson & Hester – They boast the last original and unchanged computer ranking used in the BCS. They also claim to have the most accurate strength of schedule and conference strength rankings. The strength of schedule component makes their rankings even more curious. They have Utah ranked at number 2, behind only Alabama. The top two schools have SOS rankings of 56 and 61, while number 3 Texas and 4 Oklahoma have the fifth and seventh ranked schedules. Despite having such a pronounced advantage in strength of schedule, Utah earned the nod solely for being undefeated. Looking at Texas and Oklahoma's schedule, the lone ranked team that Texas faced that Oklahoma did not was Missouri, and they played no team of note in non-conference games. Oklahoma, on the other hand played TCU and Cincinnati. Another flaw appears when looking at the conference rankings. They have the ACC being the top conference, with the Big 12 second, the SEC third, and the Big East fourth. Most glaringly the rankings place the SEC closer to the Big East and the Big Ten than either the Big 12 or the ACC. Another telling sign of the flaws is the ranking of Oklahoma State. They're 9-3, with all of their losses coming to teams that were at one point in the season ranked number one. They find themselves ranked 19 and behind the likes of Georgia Tech and Michigan State who have the same records, but without facing that level of competition. They also find themselves behind Missouri, who has the same record and who OK State defeated in Missouri.
Jeff Sagarin – The computer poll with the most name recognition currently has Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech as the top three. According to Sagarin's poll, three of the top ten teams have not defeated a top ten team this season: Boise State, and the two SEC heavy hitters Alabama and Florida. The top four SOS rankings all come from the ACC: Virginia, Duke, NC State, and Wake Forest. Texas and Oklahoma are the only two top ten teams with SOS rankings in the top 20 (12 and 17, respectively). Consensus number one in the human polls, Alabama's SOS (73) is only three spots higher than TCU's (76). The biggest gripe against Sagarin's rankings this year: FCS top team James Madison is currently ranked 24th.
Richard Billingsley – Billingsley implements a starting ranking for teams, that can impact their rankings similar to the human polls. Billingsley, a self-proclaimed Oklahoma fan, did start the season with the Sooners at a higher ranking than the Longhorns. The only computer other than Anderson & Hester with Alabama at the top spot, followed by Oklahoma and Florida. Texas comes in at four, despite a tougher schedule and their one loss coming on the road to a top team, as opposed to Florida who lost at home to an unranked team. The glaring errors appear in the 9 and 12 spots. Number 9 is Ohio State, one spot above Penn State despite the Nittany Lions win in Columbus. At 12, Billingsley currently has BYU. They're ranked above TCU, who has the same record and destroyed BYU 32-7 in October. He also has conference rankings posted with the Big 12 at number one. Curiously, though he has the SEC at 2 and the ACC all the way down at five, behind both the Big and Pac 10. What's so curious about the ACC's ranking, they have 11 teams ranked in the top 53. Conversely, half of the SEC is ranked 55 or lower. Clearly, this system is heavily biased towards conferences with an elite team. The individual SOS rankings are also cause for concern. He understandably has Baylor at 1 having faced all three of the Big 12 south teams, but 2, 3, and 4 all come from the SEC: Mississippi St, Georgia, and Florida. This is largely because Billingsley gives credit for the opponent's ranking “at the time”. This led to Florida getting credit for beating three top ten teams this season. Their wins over LSU, South Carolina, Hawaii and Georgia all appeared to be more impressive at the time. A ranking like this does not provide an accurate assessment of a team's schedule.
Colley's Matrix – The only open-source computer ranking has Texas ranked number one, followed by Oklahoma and Alabama. Texas's SOS of 4, seems high compared to Oklahoma's 13 which was discussed before. Alabama's SOS of 82 is by far the highest of any top 10 BCS conference school. Colley has the Big 12 as the top conference, followed by the ACC, who barely edged out the SEC. Interestingly, the Pac-10 is far closer to the MAC than to the Mountain West. As a fan, these rankings appear to most closely resemble my sensibilities. It would have Texas in the Big XII championship and assuming victory facing the winner of the SEC championship.
Massey Ratings – Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Texas serve as the top three, but Utah comes in at four ahead of both Alabama and Florida. Most concerning about this poll is the fluctuation. Teams regularly jump multiple places (up or down) even at this late time. Georgia Tech and Boston College jumped 7 places, Boise St and Utah 3 spots into the top 10, but Florida and Florida State both remained unmoved after their game. Georgia was number 7 until their loss to Georgia Tech. Florida sits at 6 and Georgia at 7 weeks after their game? Sigh, these are the people picking our championship game.
Dr. Peter Wolfe – The Big 12 triumvirate reigns with Oklahoma at the top. Alabama and Utah round out the top 5. With Boise State finishing ahead of Florida. Another poll that seems to have difficulty dealing with undefeated teams, regardless of quality of opponents faced. These rankings have Florida closer to BYU than Texas Tech. OF note, at 16 and 17 Georgia and Georgia Tech with the same record, and Georgia Tech having just defeated Georgia.
Most of the people behind the computer rankings will acknowledge that they're just a piece of the puzzle and not a fail safe solution, but there are far too many glaring weaknesses in the majority of these rankings. They seem to be in the ballpark, but fall well short particularly when trying to gauge undefeated teams. If we assume they're 95% accurate, that's far from acceptable. If a doctor performs surgery and it's 95% successful, it probably wasn't successful. If that seems too extreme, if you go to a drive-thru window and they get your order 95% correct is that acceptable? These computer ranking by and large have major flaws and no other billion dollar business would accept such shoddy work out of people working on the companies golden goose. Again, the only logical move is to a twelve team playoff. Annually, the BCS fails some conference and some team. This year is setting up to be no different.
For more on the computers, this recent article gives background and additional insight.
USA TODAY Coaches Poll voters:
Fired
Tommy Bowden, Clemson
Joe Glenn, Wyoming
Ty Willingham, Washington
Jeff Genyk, Eastern Michigan
Sylvester Croom, Miss. St.
Phil Fulmer, Tennessee
Rocky Long, New Mexico
Hal Mumme, New Mexico St
ACC (6)
Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech
Bobby Bowden, FSU
Tommy Bowden, Clemson *
Butch Davis, UNC
Jim Grobe, Wake
Tom O'Brien, NC St
Big 10 (7)
Jim Tressel, Ohio State
Bret Bielema, Wisconsin
Mark Dantonio, Mich. St
Bill Lynch, Indiana
Rich Rodriguez, Michigan
Joe Tiller, Purdue
Ron Zook, Illinois
Big 12 (7)
Art Briles, Baylor
Mack Brown, Texas
Gene Chizik, Iowa St.
Dan Hawkins, Colorado
Mike Leach, Tx Tech
Bo Pelini, Nebraska
Gary Pinkel, Missouri
Big East (4)
Greg Schiano, Rutgers
Randy Edsall, Uconn
Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville
Jim Leavitt, S. Florida
Conf. USA (6)
Neil Callaway, UAB
Todd Graham, Tulsa
George O'Leary, Central Florida
Mike Price, Texas-El Paso
Mark Snyder, Marshall
Bob Toledo, Tulane
MAC (6)
Jeff Genyk, Eastern Michigan*
Turner Gill, Buffalo
Butch Jones, Central Michigan
Doug Martin, Kent State
Shane Montgomery, Miami (Ohio)
Frank Solich, Ohio
Mountain West (4)
Joe Glenn, Wyoming*
Rocky Long, New Mexico*
Gary Patterson, TCU
Kyle Whittingham, Utah
Pac-10 (5)
Mike Bellotti, Oregon
Rick Neuheisel, UCLA
Mike Riley, Oregon St
Jeff Tedford, California
Tyrone Willingham, Washington*
SEC (7)
Steve Spurrier, S. Carolina
Sylvester Croom, Miss. St.*
Phil Fulmer, Tennessee*
Urban Meyer, Florida
Les Miles, LSU
Mark Richt, Georgia
Tommy Tuberville, Auburn
Sun Belt (4)
Mario Cristobal, Florida International
Todd Dodge, North Texas
Howard Schnellenberger, Florida Atlantic
Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee
WAC (4)
Pat Hill, Fresno State
Hal Mumme, New Mexico State*
Chris Petersen, Boise State
Dick Tomey, San Jose State
Independents
Charlie Weis, Notre Dame
The Referees Just Cannot Help Themselves When Ohio State and Miami Get Together
I guess it should come as a surprise to no one, but yet again the refs got involved in a game between the Buckeyes and the Hurricanes. This time there was no national title on the line and the whole country was not watching. The impact of the call however was significant. With over ten minutes remaining in the first half, Jack McClinton held the ball on the wing in front of the Ohio State bench. OSU guard Anthony Crater swiped at the ball and hit McClinton in the face. In the heat of the moment Jack gave the ball back up top and returned the favor by tapping Crater in the face. The refs did not see it and play resumed until Crater went down to the floor. That's when the Ohio State bench starting lobbying for the refs to do something about their player getting hit. The refs went to the replay monitor and saw what happened and promptly ejected McClinton. You can see the video replay here. Just like that Miami's leading scorer and best player was tossed out of the game. Ohio State went on to win the game 73-68 in the contest that was part of the ACC/Big Ten challenge. More on the call after the break.
First off, if you need to revisit the infamous call that field judge Terry Porter made in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, here it is:
That of course has nothing to do with how the call was made last night but it is relevant to the background of the match-up between these two schools. There should be no mystery of why the McClinton call is drawing ire from the Miami faithful.
Back to the McClinton play . I don't believe Ohio State was calling for a ejection, they just wanted McClinton penalized for hitting Crater. It was a dumb decision by Jack, who has to control his emotions in games. This is not characteristic of McClinton though, a first team All-ACC selection last year, he usually is pretty level headed and was clutch for Miami last season. In a case of referees always seeing the second hit, McClinton never should have retaliated. Was this mistake worthy of ejection though? As announcers Dave O'Brien and Steve Lavin of ESPN tried to make sense of it all, O'Obrien stated that McClinton was being ejected because he drew blood but then received word from the OSU training staff that no blood was drawn.
It was not like this was a haymaker or that McClinton was going after Crater with a closed fist. It was just a swipe at his face in the heat of the moment. I can't understand how the refs can go back to the video and see something they missed and then immediately eject the player. A call needed to be made on McClinton because he was definitely in the wrong, but it should have been a technical foul, (which also counts as a personal) two shots and Ohio State's ball. This would clearly send the message that that kind of play would not be tolerated and if McClinton did anything else the rest of the game it would be a second technical and ejection.
The play robbed the game of its validity. Ohio State won the game, they had more points in the end and came back in the second half from a double digit deficit, but both teams deserved to face each other at full strength especially if a fight did not break out.
Let's take a look at an example. Tyler Hansbrough, last season's player of the year in college basketball. In a game a few seasons ago during an ACC contest against North Carolina State, Hansbrough took a slap at Brandon Costner. He was assessed a technical foul, no blood was drawn. The video quality is shoddy, but here is the play:
Another play involving Hansbrough occured when Gerald Henderson of Duke performed a open-handed slap on Tyler in the final 15 seconds of a game in February of 2007. On this play, Henderson came in with viscious intent and slapped Hansbrough hard in the face. This flagrant foul drew blood and Henderson was ejected. The video is below:
Is there any doubt what McClinton did was more on par with what Hansbrough did against NC State and not what Henderson did to Hansbrough? Would this kind of play drawn an ejection if it was Hansbrough or one of Coach K's players? This to me is indicative of ACC officiating through the past years and what to expect this year. Either missed calls or horrible interpretations of existing calls. I hope this game only ends up mattering in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and not in whether Miami gets in the tournament or not come March.
Tuesday, December 2
NFL Week 13 De-Cleeting: Lo! The Horizon!
With just a quadrant of games left in the 2008 NFL season, the playoff picture is beginning to become more lucid. There are only 5 teams that are officially eliminated from contention: Kansas City, Cincinnati, Seattle, St. Louis and Detroit. The one surprise there are the Seahawks but the others' fanbases are not shcked by their mathematical elimination I am sure. There are a few clingers at the bottom of the "still alive" pile but unless some twisted BCS system can vote the Raiders in if they beat New England by 44 in a few weeks. More thoughts from the action I observed in week 13 after the break.
Steve Smith saves the day.
Steve Smith plays the game of football with a lot of emotion. It is evident to anyone who watches a Carolina Panthers game that this is the case. A catch made results in a contortion of his frame around the grass until he points to the sky and returns to the huddle or sidelines. Sometimes I think it is a bit too much, but Smith has been fighting odds his whole life and if the man needs to get his juices going by having a seizure of expression even if he makes a 7 yard reception, jiggle on I say. Of course we have all seen the negatives associated with his emotion when it overcomes his intellect, but the bottom line is that he is one of the premiere receivers in the game when he gets his hands on the ball. And that is precisely what he did on a critical 54 yard catch late in the 4th quarter to set up the winning score in Carolina's win in Green Bay 35-31.
Smith did not have a catch the whole first half but finished with 105 yards on the day in a game that both teams desperately needed. The Panthers came out looking sharp but in typical John Fox fashion, they came out flat and timid in the second allowing Green Bay to take over. The defense made a key goal-line stand and then Jake Delhomme connected on the long pass to Smith. DeAngelo Williams took the ball in a few plays later for his 4th rushing TD of the game. Williams has quietly become one of the league's best backs and it is a good thing for Carolina because rookie Jonathan Stewart has been dealing with injuries.
The loss drops Green Bay to 5-7 and two games behind division leading Minnesota. The Packers have a relatively easy schedule the rest of the way so they still have realistic life but will need to win out and have Minnesota trip up. The Panthers kept pace with Tampa Bay who beat New Orleans setting up a MNF beauty next week between two 9-3 NFC teams in Charlotte.
Browns share their pain with the viewing audience.
The game opposite the Carolina-Green Bay contest was this gem between the Colts and Browns. To say the game was hard to watch would be something of an understatement. The final result of Indy winning 10-6 on a 37 yard fumble return was painful for me to watch and I'm sure the equivalent of Cleveland passing a collective kidney stone as a city as the 2008 season went down the toilet. When you play the Colts and hold them to 3 points on offense and Peyton Manning to 125 yards passing, you should win the game. The inefficiency of Derek Anderson made it clear Brady Quinn will be the quarterback beginning next season. Quinn ambled around in a jacket with his earpiece in throughout the game. Anderson hurt his knee on the last series of the game after taking a sack that sealed the Browns fate. It was like watching a horse being put out of his misery as he was helped off. Ken Dorsey now takes over, I don't envy you my fellow Hurricane. The Colts are virtually a shoe-in now since 3 of their 4 remaining games are against Cincinnati, Detroit, and Jacksonville.
Patriots drop the ball...literally.
A week after New England seemed to be hitting on all cylinders, they looked rather inept in the Steelers' 33-10 trouncing in Foxboro. The game began well for the Pats as Mike Vrabel intercepted a pass to set up a touchdown. It was tied 10-10 as the Patriots moved the ball inside the Pittsburgh ten when all of a sudden the Patriots lost the ability to play football it seemed. Matt Cassel threw behind a wide open Randy Moss in the endzone and then on the next play Moss dropped a touchdown in the same spot. After a third attempt at the same play was almost intercepted, Stephen Gostkowski came out and missed a point-blank field goal. The second half was all Steelers as Cassel fumbled the ball twice, threw two picks, and overall just had a horrible day. A week after people were ready to annoint him free-agent pick-up of the coming off-season, Matt returned to planet Earth. The Patriots offensive line had trouble with protection while the (cliché alert) much maligned Steeler O-line gave Ben Roethlisberger time to complete his passes.
The Steelers currently sit alone atop the AFC North, but Baltimore is right behind them and face off with them in two weeks. That game could decide the division especially since the Steelers host the Cowboys this week who need the win badly. The Patriots on the other hand are most likely going to be left out of the playoffs. Of course this will induce no crying from the rest of the NFL which is understandable, the Patriots have become a symbol of contempt around the league. Their 7-5 record is decent enough to be in the running but they lose out on the important tiebreakers. All 5 of their losses have been to AFC teams and they have two losses in their division. They also hold a head to head loss against Indy which would break that tie.
On another note from this game, safety Ryan Clark hit Wes Welker on a pass attempt late in the third quarter. Welker left the game and did not return. The play drew a flag as it rightfully should. Some Steeler fans and others in the media will argue that the hit was simply a part of the game. Well it is a part of the game that has been taken out to prevent players from ending up physically like current NFL veterans. The ball had been tipped and was behind Welker with no chance he could catch it. Welker stopped his route, slowed down, relaxed his body and stopped playing when Clark came in. Clark took a free shot at Welker, so does that make him tough? Pittsburgh and its fans love to say how tough their teams are, but I don't think hitting a defenseless receiver after the play makes you tough. We all know how Catfish feels about Hines Ward and to a certain extent I agree, but his hit on Rivers was legit even though some deem it unneccesary. The problem I have is saying you are big and bad just because you knock down people while their attention is elsewhere and furthermore in Clark's case, doing it as a cheap shot. Toughness should be displayed on the field by players like James Harrison who make big plays by beating offensive linemen face to face, not players that pop off after a play is over. Last year Pittsburgh had plenty of popping hits, but the team that eliminated them, the Jaguars, were tougher where it does and should matter, in the trenches, during the course of play.
The worldwide leader copes(poorly) with a crappy game.
Scheduling games before the season starts can be a dicey proposition, especially when it ends being two 4-7 teams like Houston and Jacksonville. I do have to give the Texans' fans credit as they made lots of noise in cheering their team to a 30-17 win on Monday night football. I am all for spreading the small market love around, but when the two teams will not make the playoffs, it is hard this late in the season to get excited. In typical ESPN fashion they tried to hype it as much as possible. I cannot for the life of my figure out why ESPN wasted time advertising for this game. It is as if they think someone will see the commercial and say, "Wow, I had no idea there was NFL football on Monday nights. And oh look! It is the sweet match-up between the Texans and Jaguars. The man with the voice says it should be a critical game. I wasn't planning on giving the game a chance but now, I can't wait."
At all times, they are promoting their games and their programming, it really is disgusting to watch. But again, we have no choice. XM and I sat there in a trance watching the Jags get spanked, Tirico doing his best to try to make the game seem relevant, and Kornheiser discuss nothing in particular. My favorite moment was the promo for the Big XII championship game. Just in case you didn't notice which wuld be impossible if you don't watch sports, the Big XII championship is on ABC this Saturday! Congratulations ESPN, you have shrunk the world of college football into two conferences. By the way thanks for the interview with piece of shit agent Drew Rosenhaus at halftime, which (surprise) told us nothing new on the Burress situation.
Quick note getting back to the game: I am very high on the Texans for the future. If they can get a consistent signal-caller they have a great foundation with Mario Williams, Steve Slaton, Dunta Robinson, and Andre Johnson. Depending on what they do in the draft and free-agency I think this is a playoff team next year.
Here is a link to this year's playoff race where you can scroll over the teams to view their remaining games. [CBSSportsline]
Same Old Same for VT, Somehing New for Duke in ACC/Big Ten Challenge
Tonight five more games will be played. Duke will head to Purdue in a rare true non-conference road game for the Blue Devils. It will be the first time Duke will play on a ranked opponent's campus, since 2005 when they faced #17 Indiana in Bloomington.It's their first time facing a top 10 team on the opponent's home court since 2003, when they fell in Lansing to #5 Michigan State. The last time Duke faced a ranked opponent not in the ACC/Big 10 challenge was in 2000, when they faced #17 Temple in the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. Clemson and Illinois meet for the first time in challenge history. Ohio State and Miami will face off in a rematch of the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. The Hurricanes will be well-served to interfere with new freshman phenom BJ Mullens if they hope to win. Virginia heads up north to Minnesota, and Cavalier husbands would be wise to keep an eye on their spouses heading to the bathroom. The Iowa Hawkeyes face off with The Tyrese Rice five at Boston College.
Tomorrow, North Carolina and Michigan State meet in Detroit's Ford Field. It will be the first time a North Carolina school has been to Ford Field since Davidson and Stephen Curry's historic run last March. It also represents the one chance for a Michigan-based team of any sort to get a win in Ford Field this year. The probation-riddled Hoosiers of Indiana will limp into Winston-Salem to face Ish Smith and the Demon Deacons. Michigan and Maryland will battle for relevance in College Park, while Florida State will be at Northwestern in the battle of Rhode Scholar schools. Georgia Tech faces a familiar challenge foe in Penn State. The last two challenge home games for the Jackets have been against the Nittany Lions.
The ACC has won all nine previous ACC/Big Ten challenge Commissioner's Cups and 56 of the previous 86 contests. One of the primary advantages enjoyed by the ACC has been homecourt advantage, going 33-4, compared to 23-17 for the Big Ten.
