Posted tagged ‘BCS’

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The fall of Troy.

November 15, 2009

Stanford 55 – UCS 21. Today might have been the most embarassing day for USC football players since they got their SAT scores.

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Of course, many people know that Trojan defenses can be overrated. They’re called parents.

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Not to say that this year’s season has been a tragedy for Trojan fans. But this year’s season video may be marketed as a sequel to the Iliad.

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Apparently coach Pete Carroll and some Trojan fans weren’t too happy about Stanford’s decision to go for two leading 48-21, because they don’t believe in piling on. Right, I guess that means that 56-3 win over San Jose State opening week was the result of some players not getting the memo…

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USC fans are taking the loss to Stanford particularly hard because down in Los Angeles they don’t have a professional football team to look forward to watching on Sunday. And Northern California fans are saying, “dudes, have you seen the 49ers lately?”

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You heard it here first, what about USC-Notre Dame in the Emerald Bowl?

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The BCS system supposedly was created to stop controversy about the National Championship. And what could happen this year? As many as FOUR undefeated Divison 1 teams. (Either Florida or Alabama, TCU, Boise State, Cincinnati.) Well, glad we got that settled.

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One regular excuse used by the BCS to justify favoring SEC and Big 12 teams over other conferences is “strength of schedule.”

Yeah, well…may I present….

University of Louisiana-Monroe, University of Texas-El Paso

Charleston-Southern, Troy

Florida International, Chattanooga.

The above pairs of football “powerhouses” were scheduled as nonconference games by undefeated Texas, Florida and Alabama respectively. Guess the University of Phoenix was not available.

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Baseball, the BCS and other rants…

October 26, 2009

So major league baseball plays a 162 game season, with often only two days off a month, to find the best and most durable teams. Then the league makes the first round of the playoffs three out of five, and schedule the rest of them so far apart that the Yankees and Angels have played eight games in the past twenty days. MLB is making the BCS look good.

Well, almost. BCS rant of the week. Okay, Alabama came a blocked field goal away from losing to a mediocre Tennessee team, and jumps to number 1? USC makes a big point of saying how they won’t get blindsided by lowly Oregon State, again, wins only by six points, and jumps from 7 to 4? And Florida doesn’t cover the spread against Mississippi State and stays at 2.

In the meantime Cincinnati with a backup quarterback knocks off Louisville by 38, and they end up falling three spots to 8.

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But yeah, we can’t have a playoff because a few extra weeks would adversely affect academics for the student athletes involved…. Right, which means the FSU players who tested at a second grade reading level would slip down to first?
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Speaking of student athletes- this Tweet was reported in the Los Angeles Times to have come from freshman UCLA football player, Randall Carroll, it was noted because of the racial slur directed against offensive coordinator Norman Chow.

“man oregon, stanford and cal should have been easy wins ,, but [expletive] thys [racial slur] norm chow dnt be trustin us ,, so it is what it is.”

Anyone really think two extra weeks of class here might make a difference? Not that UCLA is going to any major bowls anytime soon.

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“Paranormal” beat out “Saw VI” at the box office office in a battle of scary films. Although objectively speaking, the scariest film of the weekend was still probably the Raiders game tape.

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Raiders lineman Richard Seymour last week guaranteed that Oakland would make the playoffs this year. With all due respect, I’m not sure the Raiders would make the BCS rankings.

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A study conducted for League of American Voters last week said that almost 50 percent of those who watch Fox News regularly claim they are Democrats or independents. Translation, almost half of Fox viewers would never tell the truth to a “commie pinko” government survey.

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While driving towards towards the end zone for a potential winning touchdown late in the game, Brett Favre missed his receiver and the ball was intercepted and run back for a touchdown. Wonder if Favre and his offense had been having a “heated discussion” in the huddle?

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The two pilots who were unreachable for over an hour and flew past Minneapolis have been suspended. And they may lose their jobs. On the brighter side, they could be offered the chance to do promotional spots for Verizon – “Can you hear me now?”

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L is for Layoff

March 12, 2009

The economic crisis hit Sesame Street today as Sesame Workshop, the show’s producers, announced they would cut about a fifth of their staff.

Now Oscar is really Grouchy.

Cookie Monster may be rationed to crackers.

And Big Bird is tiptoeing quietly around all KFC locations.

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So Bristol Palin’s engagement is off. And Meghan McCain said her parent running for president interfered with HER love life.

Wonder if McCain-Palin had won if we would have had the first White House shotgun wedding?

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In a recent poll, 96 percent of Californians said the state was in “bad times.” This is shocking. There are actually four percent who think things are good?

Didn’t know that many Californians were on the payroll of Manny Ramirez.

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The Fiesta, Rose, Orange and Sugar Bowls have signed just deals to keep the BCS format going through at least 2013.

So Barack Obama may be able to fix the economy, solve global warming, and bring our troops home from Iraq. But it doesn’t look like he can do anything about the BCS

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BCS -Big Conference $

January 10, 2009

As perhaps the most contested BCS – Big Conference $ – bowl season has come to an end….should we be surprised that the pivotal contest occurred in Florida?

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Barack Obama has renewed his call for a college football playoff to avoid such contested results in future.   George W. Bush for his part believes we should use a more time-tested method to choose a winner – the Supreme Court.

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And another but not the last comment on the excuse of not having playoffs because it wouldn’t be fair to the student-athletes….  Right, like Florida wide receiver Louis Murphy, a senior majoring in  –  I am not making this up -Recreation Event Management.

(Didn’t that used to be called partying?)

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Barack Obama is now bringing his mother-in-law to Washington, so grandma will be in the White House.   Sarah Palin promptly accused Obama of stealing her 2012 campaign slogan.

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Two of the most critically acclaimed movies now out are “Doubt” and “Defiance.”  Both might do better at the box office, however, if so many Americans didnt think they were documentaries on Rod Blagojevich.

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Aother funny line from Bill Littlejohn:

 Milton Bradley donned Sammy Sosa‘s old No. 21 as he was introduced in Chicago.When someone asked him about his anger issues, Bradley suddenly couldn’t speak English”
 

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Shane Lechler, the Oakland Raiders punter, was named this week to his fourth All-Pro team.   Not to diminish this achievement, but to be fair, Lechler does get more than his share of practice.

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Stanford football coach Jim Harbaugh, who has not signed his recent (and supposedly agreed-upon) contract extension, is now rumored to have interviewed for the New York Jets job.

So if Harbaugh ends up coaching Brett Favre will he tell Stanford that he wasn’t “fully committed” to his contract extension, and that he “felt pressured to make a decision?”

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Exploited?

January 9, 2009

Sarah Palin is now claiming that people like Tina Fey and Katie Couric “exploited” her candidacy.  But the Governor does feel she will finally be able to defend herself in  her upcoming $7 million book.

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Regarding Obama’s lunch with the former presidents, apparently it was a great success, with all of them sharing their favorite Oval Office memories. There was only one awkward moment, when Carter told Clinton, “Bill, too much information.”

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SI.com headline “Favre plans to take his time to make retirement decision.”

(And their point is?)

 

From Nick Coombs.

Oklahoma has now lost their last five BCS games.  Five losses. That’s almost as bad as the Thunder in an average week.

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A case of New Year’s Whine…

January 4, 2009

As anyone who knows me or reads this blog knows, I am not a fan of the BCS system.

On the other hand, when USC coach Pete Carroll whines “Our team could beat anyone,”  it seems to me the logical response is, then why didn’t you beat Oregon State?   (Four other teams did… including the 5-7 Stanford Cardinal.)

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Back to the other side, one of the arguments against a “plus one” at least playoff system is that it means the student-athletes involved would have to keep practicing and miss another week of school.  As opposed to the current system, where most of the big games are on New Year’s Day, and the two teams in the championship game…play EXACTLY one week later.

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Ann Coulter is currently slamming Michelle Obama for her style.  Isn’t being slammed by Ann Coulter for your style like being slammed by George W. Bush for your speaking skills?

 

Or isn’t being slammed by Ann Coulter for your style like being slammed by Michael Jackson for your child care skills?

 

Or – last one for today.  Isn’t being slammed by Ann Coulter for your style kind of like being slammed by Brett Favre for your indecisiveness?

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In Minnesota, where they may change the motto from “Land of a Thousand Lakes” to “Land of a Thousand Recounts,”  the Senate race goes on, and on.

At this point Minnesotans have to long for the good old days when they had nice simple elections and chose a pro-wrestler for governor.

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Tacky joke alert again…

 

When Charles Barkley was busted for DUI, he explained his driving to the police officer by saying he was in a hurry to get oral sex.  Alas he’s about eight years too late for a last minute presidential pardon.

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Barely Creditable System?

January 3, 2009

It’s not been a good year for the BCS.   Barack Obama threatened to put the power of the presidency behind a playoff system, and a number of one loss teams all had legitimate claims to being in the National Championship game.

But at least the only undefeated team in a BCS game was the Utah Utes, from the lowly Mountain West conference.  Since they were matched against Alabama, from the powerful SEC,  a team that was number one until their loss to Florida, this figured to be a no-brainer.    Oops.   Utah won this game 31-17 and is 13-0…..

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Btw, the answer to the question, what is a “Ute?”  is  – one of a band of American Indians for whom the state of Utah was named.      Although there are apparently yearly protests on campus, the Utes have been spared some of the national controveries that the Redskins, Indians, Braves and Seminoles, for example, have faced.  Not that Americans are less sensitive to the Utes – they just don’t know what they are.

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Utah, along with USC – which had a strong season with only one loss – are both claiming that BCS unfairly weighs reputations and past history in choosing winners.     On the other hand, Hillary Clinton has asked that the BCS computers be used in future Democratic primaries.

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President Bush told Barack Obama that Blair House  the president-elect’s traditional residence starting January 15, was unavailable earlier due to prior commitments.  But the girls needed to start school Monday.

Fortunately, the Obamas were able to find rooms  at the Hay Adams hotel.   Many Republicans are just relieved the accommodations don’t include a manger.

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Tacky joke alert…
A child was born on a Northwest flight between Amsterdam and Boston last week.  Big deal . On Jet Blue, a woman boarded a plane after unprotected sex the night before; by the time they took off she was in her second trimester.

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Crisis management?

December 3, 2008

Former Oakland football coach Lane Kiffin, now hired as the new head coach at the University of Tennessee said that being with the “dysfunctional” Raiders was valuable experience.  And that “you can’t go to school and learn crisis management like going there.”

Of course, by that token the most learned people in American have worked in the Bush administration.

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Automotive companies CEOs are driving their own companies’ cars this week to Washington on their second trip to ask for loans and bailouts.   Which is a nice PR move…but if it catches on?

Just wait until the airline companies need bailouts,  their executives will keep Congress waiting for hours.   And I can already hear the excuses about lost files in luggage.

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Executives from all of the Big Three automakers will drive their own hybrids to Washington.  Many in Congress think this second bid is too little too late.  Just like Detroit starting to make hybrids.-

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More BCS madness.  The system was created to avoid controversy and confusion in choosing college football’s top teams.    So in the Big 12 title game, where the winner goes on to the national championship game,  the North division champion  Missouri will go against the as-determined-by-the-BCS South Division champion,  Oklahoma.    Texas, with an identical 11-1 record, barely lost out.

Oh and that one Oklahoma loss?  To Texas. 

To err is human, to really screw things up requires a BCS.

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There’s a new Plaxico Burress cocktail.  Just one very expensive shot.

 

 

 

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Any given Saturday night, or Sunday.

December 1, 2008

Troubled New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress, already unable to play due to a hamstring injury, accidentally shot himself in the thigh Saturday night while at a New York nightclub.

It’s a shame Burress isn’t a member of the Buffalo Bills or the bullet would have missed “wide right.”

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A bit of explanation for all non-college football junkies regarding yesterday’s post.  The BCS bowl system is so messed up that the University of Texas, who finished in second place in their own division of the Big 12, could yet end up playing in the BCS national championship game if the division winner, Oklahoma, loses in the Big 12 final next week… thus leading to the next joke.

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The University of Texas, runner up in the South division of the Big 12, could yet end up national champions if Oklahoma, the team that defeated them, stumbles in the league championship round.  And Hillary Clinton wonders — is it too late to have the BCS run the Democratic party?

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The San Francisco 49ers upset the Buffalo Bills Sunday to move their record to 4-8.  Amazing.  With two more wins they could be Division 1 Bowl eligible.

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Bowl controversy series?

November 30, 2008

So for anyone who needs one sentence to sum up the BCS mess, here it is:

This season, a team could win the national championship game, and not even win their own conference.

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This year Alabama is undefeated, but could lose to Florida next week.  Florida, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Penn State, and USC all have only one loss.  And Ball State, Utah and Boise State, all Division 1 teams, are also undefeated.   So why was the BCS created, besides of course money?

To resolve situations when more than one team could claim to be number one. 

Yeah, that’s working out real well.

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The Golden State Warriors lost to the New York Knicks 138-125 Saturday night.  The Knicks had actually scored 82 points at the HALF!  

Warriors coach Don Nelson reviewed the game tapes with plans to criticize his team’s defense.  But he found insufficient evidence.

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Barack Obama is not only planning to name Hillary Clinton his Secretary of State, he has reinstated Samantha Powers on his foreign policy team.

Wonder if this means the State Department will be known as Monsters Inc?.

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Senator Joe Lieberman will keep his committee chairmanship and remain in the Democratic caucus, despite his maddening peformance this year.   But at this point Barack Obama and the party have decided it would be too costly to let him go. 

Making Joe sort of the Charlie Weiss of the Democratic party.

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Notre Dame followed their embarrassing upset by Syracuse at home, with a complete thrashing by USC in the Los Angeles Coliseum.  The game, in fact, ended up keeping the Trojans’ slim national championship hopes alive.  Well, at least the Fighting Irish got to play before a crowd that was thrilled to see them.

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Turkeys of the Year…

November 27, 2008

It’s not a terribly original idea, but why mess with a winner?   In a year with so many contenders, here are my choices for a few of the turkeys, and turkey moves, of the year….

Sports first.

Whoever had the bright idea of spending over $4 million – including a buyout to his old school, West Virginia, to hire Rich Rodriguez as the new Michigan football coach.  While many expected a transition year, few expected a 3 and 9 record.  On the bright side, no one’s talking any more about that loss in 2007 to Appalachian State.

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The Oklahoma City Thunder.   Group effort, players and management.  Besides stealing the team from Seattle. management came up with a silly name,  and made the Warriors give up their Thunder mascot.  As for the players, well,  1-14 speaks for itself.  Some sympathy here for the citizens of Oklahoma City who have never had a major professional team before.  And they still don’t.

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The BCS – probably a Hall of Fame contender in any top turkey list.  But this year they could outdo themselves, with a strong possibility of seven strong one-loss teams, and two undefeated smaller conference teams (Ball State and Indiana.)  Barack Obama wants a college playoff system – had he announced this before the election he might have won the South too.

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Politics.

Mark Penn –  for so many reasons, the capper being perhaps the fact that he didn’t know that the California Democratic primary was winner take all.   And for taking a  New York Yankees level type payroll and getting  New York Yankees type results.  (Although campaigns don’t even have to pay a luxury tax.)   On the other hand, if Hillary likes the Secretary of State job she can thank him for helping her get in that position.

Bill Clinton  – for deciding the week of the South Carolina primary to remind everyone that Barack Obama was black.  Like we wouldn’t have noticed.

Ralph Nader would have won, except nobody cares anymore.

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