While I understand that Americans' addiction to football is something that is not new, I really wonder where our priorities as a nation lie when it comes to Super Bowl week. I mean, we are given a feast of college and professional football stories from roughly mid-August to late January. And then...for 2 weeks we're given crumbs.
Why do we have this avalanche of information on the Cardinals and Steelers? There is more unimportant writing out there about these two football programs than a normal human can fathom. Heck, ESPN even spoofs itself on this topic. Mind you, they do that and still shovel this crap down our throats until everyone wants to watch the game for the ads, rather than to see if Kurt Warner can recover from being old, or if Larry Fitzgerald's hair is actually a living organism, or some stupid jargon about the Steelers.
And after that we'll have to wait for several months (and doubtless 7 trillion stories about Michael Vick, Pacman Jones, TO's ego and everything else that's wrong about the NFL) to get more crack, I mean, football into our systems.
On a totally unrelated note, tune in on Sunday for the CFR 24 hour Super Blog! I'm gonna write for 24 hours about the Super Bowl experience in Cullowhee, NC! Isn't that amazingly awesomely great?*
*Answer to this question: No.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Final Rankings Rant (of the '08 season)
Not sure why I didn't post this earlier...let's look at what's egregious in college football's final rankings!
So someone in the AP honestly thought Southern Cal deserved to be ranked over Utah and Florida? Really? Utah who, you know, BEAT Oregon State (yeah, Penn State did, too, and USC killed them. USC also played a home game for its bowl, so shut up).
Texas didn't get any #1 votes at all which surprises me, given that we've had to hear their griping for quite some time. I guess Ohio State sticking with them was a mark of shame or something? It really doesn't make that much sense. Also, was it just me or did the Big 12 look hideous in all of its big bowl games?
Sliding down...Alabama is 6th?! How is that possible? How can you lose 2 straight and still be in the top 10. If Alabama was in the Big East (or Big 10, or PAC-10, or ACC, or any non-BCS conference...) we'd have to tolerate all of the "Overrated! Easy non-conference schedule!" articles. Instead, they sit pretty at #6. I guess it's because their losses are to the #1 and #2 teams in the country. Still...2 straight losses generally doesn't equal a top 10 finish.
It's good to see TCU in the top 10. They deserve it, and its pretty awesome to see a small conference team in the final top 10 again. Wait, positivity?! What the heck am I doing?!
How is Ohio State still in the Top 10? A well played game against Texas, a spanking at the hands of USC, and a loss to Penn State gave them a 10-3 record, which is respectable if one doesn't look at where their wins came from (a sample: Youngstown State, Ohio, Troy, Minnesota, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan, and like 3 legitimately good teams). Once you look at that...this really isn't a top 10 team. Top 25, possibly, but not Top 10.
Texas Tech slides to 12, and frankly they should have slid further. I do have a question, though, how is TT still ranked higher than the team that JUST BEAT THEM?! Mississippi might not be the 14th best school in the country, but they proved, head to head, on the field that they were better than Texas Tech.
Nothing else is too terrible in the bottom half of the poll, though I must ask voters how BYU got enough votes to be 25th, while the team that beat them (Arizona) only got 4 points in the poll! The PAC-10 had a horrible regular season, including a winless team, a terrible out of conference schedule, and a friggin' 1-6 record against the MWC. Then they win every game in the bowl season, and look pretty dang good doing it. (I hate admitting that.) So BYU should NOT be ranked above California.
Aaaaand that's all I got.
So someone in the AP honestly thought Southern Cal deserved to be ranked over Utah and Florida? Really? Utah who, you know, BEAT Oregon State (yeah, Penn State did, too, and USC killed them. USC also played a home game for its bowl, so shut up).
Texas didn't get any #1 votes at all which surprises me, given that we've had to hear their griping for quite some time. I guess Ohio State sticking with them was a mark of shame or something? It really doesn't make that much sense. Also, was it just me or did the Big 12 look hideous in all of its big bowl games?
Sliding down...Alabama is 6th?! How is that possible? How can you lose 2 straight and still be in the top 10. If Alabama was in the Big East (or Big 10, or PAC-10, or ACC, or any non-BCS conference...) we'd have to tolerate all of the "Overrated! Easy non-conference schedule!" articles. Instead, they sit pretty at #6. I guess it's because their losses are to the #1 and #2 teams in the country. Still...2 straight losses generally doesn't equal a top 10 finish.
It's good to see TCU in the top 10. They deserve it, and its pretty awesome to see a small conference team in the final top 10 again. Wait, positivity?! What the heck am I doing?!
How is Ohio State still in the Top 10? A well played game against Texas, a spanking at the hands of USC, and a loss to Penn State gave them a 10-3 record, which is respectable if one doesn't look at where their wins came from (a sample: Youngstown State, Ohio, Troy, Minnesota, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan, and like 3 legitimately good teams). Once you look at that...this really isn't a top 10 team. Top 25, possibly, but not Top 10.
Texas Tech slides to 12, and frankly they should have slid further. I do have a question, though, how is TT still ranked higher than the team that JUST BEAT THEM?! Mississippi might not be the 14th best school in the country, but they proved, head to head, on the field that they were better than Texas Tech.
Nothing else is too terrible in the bottom half of the poll, though I must ask voters how BYU got enough votes to be 25th, while the team that beat them (Arizona) only got 4 points in the poll! The PAC-10 had a horrible regular season, including a winless team, a terrible out of conference schedule, and a friggin' 1-6 record against the MWC. Then they win every game in the bowl season, and look pretty dang good doing it. (I hate admitting that.) So BYU should NOT be ranked above California.
Aaaaand that's all I got.
Friday, January 9, 2009
National Championship blowout!
Well, the national championship came and went. Florida won the game, and in-depth analysis is for losers who get paid to write. So let's review the practically unreviewable (because everyone else beat me to it...)
The most enigmatic play of the whole game, for me at least, was early in the 4th Quarter, when Tim Tebow ran back to pass, and stopped because he heard a whistle. While this has happened before, it's interesting to note to whom it happened. You see, normally when there's a fake whistle, there's confusion amongst, oh, half the players on the field. In this episode, there was one player who was confused, and that was Tebow! The saddest part of this little affair: the commentators took his side, and not that of the other 21 guys on the field!
Since we're talking Tebow, what was up with that taunting penalty at the end of the game? I mean, he's intense and all, and that's great, but there's a HUGE problem with making the Gator chomp at someone. Especially since Timmy's the golden child of college football. Does this action make him a bad guy? No. But we must avoid talking about how wonderful anyone is, lest we turn him into some sort of mini-god. Think I'm overreacting? The following is an actual quote from the Fox announcer: "I think that might be the first think Tim Tebow's ever done wrong!" Watch it, now. That's Matt Ryan's turf.
Networks that handle college football should be the ones broadcasting it. Now, since ESPN is still not in every house in America (dang Amish...), this leaves us with ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox as our networks of choice. Problem is, NBC has an agreement with Notre Dame and no one else, so they're out. Fox doesn't broadcast college football, so they should be out. That leaves CBS and ABC, both networks with experienced college football analysts. Sure, they have their problems, but they at least know what the heck is going on (exception made for Lee Corso...). So who broadcasts four of the five most important games in college football? You guessed it: Fox! Thank you, amateur and (theoretically) unpaid college athletes! Your hard work has earned you massive ratings, which will be auctioned to the highest bidder!
As for the name of the game....why did we have to hear that it was the FedEx National Championship Game presented in High Definition by DirecTV a subsidiary of Pepsi-Cola Corporation, property of Wal-Mart? Seriously, corporate sponsorship kills the fun of things.
And while we're on the subject of corporate sponsorship, what the heck is up with those ads for the "Angry Whopper?" I'm not sure if I should be frightened by this sandwich, or simply freaked out by the bizarre ad campaign/name of the food. Who wants to eat something called an "Angry Whopper"? What's next, black-dyed, ketchup filled, emo fries? Slogan: "Emo fries: They cut themselves and bleed ketchup because no one understands them. Now available at Burger King. Free if you go cry in the corner."
Props to Percy Harvin, Florida's defense, OU's defense (The top 2 teams in the country in scoring finished 24-14. Both sides did well), and Bob Stoops. Stoops, boys and girls, is an excellent coach who doesn't deserve the "big game choker" reputation. That is a stupid label to put on a coach. A player might get nervous and fumble a ball. A coach will not get nervous and punt on 2nd down, and I don't recall seeing anything else particularly egregious from Oklahoma. Other than that stupid wagon, and that's not Stoops' fault.
Finally, a hearty congrats to Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators for being the National Champions. Before the whining begins, know this: Texas and USC are both excellent football programs. Both of their conferences agreed to the current arrangement, and USC profited from this system during the 2004 season when they had to play undefeated Oklahoma instead of undefeated Auburn. Utah has a legitimate gripe as the little man being shut out. They're not in the title picture because when this system was put in place, Utah was not a top-tier team, and thus has no shot at playing in the title unless every other team loses at least 2 games while they go undefeated! Which (cue music) is why we need a playoff!
Side note: As the purpose of this blog (see title of blog) has ended until, like, September, we'll be dabbling in basketball, baseball, pro football, hockey, and potentially poking in on the filthiest part of college football: recruiting.
So keep in touch! All 2 of you!
The most enigmatic play of the whole game, for me at least, was early in the 4th Quarter, when Tim Tebow ran back to pass, and stopped because he heard a whistle. While this has happened before, it's interesting to note to whom it happened. You see, normally when there's a fake whistle, there's confusion amongst, oh, half the players on the field. In this episode, there was one player who was confused, and that was Tebow! The saddest part of this little affair: the commentators took his side, and not that of the other 21 guys on the field!
Since we're talking Tebow, what was up with that taunting penalty at the end of the game? I mean, he's intense and all, and that's great, but there's a HUGE problem with making the Gator chomp at someone. Especially since Timmy's the golden child of college football. Does this action make him a bad guy? No. But we must avoid talking about how wonderful anyone is, lest we turn him into some sort of mini-god. Think I'm overreacting? The following is an actual quote from the Fox announcer: "I think that might be the first think Tim Tebow's ever done wrong!" Watch it, now. That's Matt Ryan's turf.
Networks that handle college football should be the ones broadcasting it. Now, since ESPN is still not in every house in America (dang Amish...), this leaves us with ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox as our networks of choice. Problem is, NBC has an agreement with Notre Dame and no one else, so they're out. Fox doesn't broadcast college football, so they should be out. That leaves CBS and ABC, both networks with experienced college football analysts. Sure, they have their problems, but they at least know what the heck is going on (exception made for Lee Corso...). So who broadcasts four of the five most important games in college football? You guessed it: Fox! Thank you, amateur and (theoretically) unpaid college athletes! Your hard work has earned you massive ratings, which will be auctioned to the highest bidder!
As for the name of the game....why did we have to hear that it was the FedEx National Championship Game presented in High Definition by DirecTV a subsidiary of Pepsi-Cola Corporation, property of Wal-Mart? Seriously, corporate sponsorship kills the fun of things.
And while we're on the subject of corporate sponsorship, what the heck is up with those ads for the "Angry Whopper?" I'm not sure if I should be frightened by this sandwich, or simply freaked out by the bizarre ad campaign/name of the food. Who wants to eat something called an "Angry Whopper"? What's next, black-dyed, ketchup filled, emo fries? Slogan: "Emo fries: They cut themselves and bleed ketchup because no one understands them. Now available at Burger King. Free if you go cry in the corner."
Props to Percy Harvin, Florida's defense, OU's defense (The top 2 teams in the country in scoring finished 24-14. Both sides did well), and Bob Stoops. Stoops, boys and girls, is an excellent coach who doesn't deserve the "big game choker" reputation. That is a stupid label to put on a coach. A player might get nervous and fumble a ball. A coach will not get nervous and punt on 2nd down, and I don't recall seeing anything else particularly egregious from Oklahoma. Other than that stupid wagon, and that's not Stoops' fault.
Finally, a hearty congrats to Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators for being the National Champions. Before the whining begins, know this: Texas and USC are both excellent football programs. Both of their conferences agreed to the current arrangement, and USC profited from this system during the 2004 season when they had to play undefeated Oklahoma instead of undefeated Auburn. Utah has a legitimate gripe as the little man being shut out. They're not in the title picture because when this system was put in place, Utah was not a top-tier team, and thus has no shot at playing in the title unless every other team loses at least 2 games while they go undefeated! Which (cue music) is why we need a playoff!
Side note: As the purpose of this blog (see title of blog) has ended until, like, September, we'll be dabbling in basketball, baseball, pro football, hockey, and potentially poking in on the filthiest part of college football: recruiting.
So keep in touch! All 2 of you!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
News: BC Defensive Coordinator fired for saying "hi" to man in Detroit Lions Shirt
Not really. Just pointing out, however, that the firing of Jeff Jagodzinski is a simply idiotic maneuver by the Boston College Eagles. Had he gotten the Jets job, yes, he would be axed. Duh. But to throw him out for interviewing?! That's insane!
Look, the ultimate goal of any good football coach should be to succeed at the highest level. There's probably thousands of high school coaches out there right now who would LOVE to win a Super Bowl. If Jagodzinski winds up in New York, he'll have that chance! Of course he's going to interview! If you're a fry cook at McDonald's, and the local Burger King has an interview for a manager position, you'll interview! It's a better job!
He had time left on his contract and is, I quote ESPN here, "a long shot" for the Jets job. He took the team to 2 ACC Championship Games (albeit with players he didn't recruit...) and had a pair of good seasons. With all that knowledge, how are you going to fire the guy?
So, in conclusion, good luck to Jagodzinski, since he might need it. If he can't get the Jets job, maybe he can get a position somewhere else. I mean, he did get near Matt Ryan, which automatically qualifies him for CEO positions in most businesses.
Look, the ultimate goal of any good football coach should be to succeed at the highest level. There's probably thousands of high school coaches out there right now who would LOVE to win a Super Bowl. If Jagodzinski winds up in New York, he'll have that chance! Of course he's going to interview! If you're a fry cook at McDonald's, and the local Burger King has an interview for a manager position, you'll interview! It's a better job!
He had time left on his contract and is, I quote ESPN here, "a long shot" for the Jets job. He took the team to 2 ACC Championship Games (albeit with players he didn't recruit...) and had a pair of good seasons. With all that knowledge, how are you going to fire the guy?
So, in conclusion, good luck to Jagodzinski, since he might need it. If he can't get the Jets job, maybe he can get a position somewhere else. I mean, he did get near Matt Ryan, which automatically qualifies him for CEO positions in most businesses.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Texas/Ohio State mashup/matchup/thing
Oh, it's 2009. Oops. See, real sportswriters have an advantage over bloggers in that bloggers have jobs that don't entail writing and aren't paid. That said, I will not be attempting to review the previous bowls, though I would like to say that going to Miami for the Orange Bowl was pretty awesome.
But now, for the review of the Fiesta Bowl....
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Texas-24, Ohio State-21
The Buckeyes have nothing to be ashamed of here, as this is the best bowl that they've played in recent memory. Plus, were it not for an absolutely, shamefully bad "roughing" of Colt McCoy on the first of Texas's 3rd quarter scoring drives, we might have seen a different final score.
If there's a rule in college football that must be amended, it's the 15 yard roughing the kicker penalty. 99 times out of 100 that flag is thrown because the kicker treats a defender's accidental tap as if it were a gunshot wound. If there's a second rule that should be amended, it's the 15 yard roughing the passer penalty.
Quarterbacks need to be protected. To deny that would be, well, stupid. But QBs ARE football players. Getting hit is a part of the friggin' game, just as much as it is for any other player at any other position! When you release a football and are hit 3 seconds later, of course it's roughing! The defender had time to stop. When you're hit half a second later, it's not roughing, because the defender couldn't stop. And, back to the Texas/OSU game, when you're NOT hit in the head, it's NOT illegal contact!
Meanwhile, the Big 12's performance in Bowl games has been shoddy at best. Thus far, the conference's only bowl wins have come against the Big 10 (2 close ones and Kansas's crushing of Minnesota) and the ACC (Nebraska's comeback against Clemson). Since football pundits (including me) spent all season talking about who was better, Big 12 or SEC, I think we've gotten our answer...
As a side note, PTI was talking about the Texas/OSU matchup and felt the need to rip the Orange Bowl. Allow me a moment for rebuttal:
The Orange Bowl featured the champion of a muddled, highly competitive conference who everyone wrote off as crappy (Virginia Tech of the ACC) and an upstart squad who had the best season in school history (Cincinnati of the Big East). Now, we had to put up with fawning and "oooh"s and "ahhh"s over the Fiesta bowl, which featured a 2 loss Ohio State team against a just-shafted out of the title game Texas. Cincinnati had two losses! AND the Big East had a winning bowl record, compared to the 1-6 Big 10! Texas Tech finished in a 3-way tie (with Texas!) for first in the conference, and lost its bowl to an SEC team that was 4th in its conference! Virginia Tech finished in a 4-way tie for first in its conference and beat a Big East team that was first in its conference!
So let's play a little reversal. Let's put Ohio State and Texas Tech against one another. Seems fair. There would be so much hype surrounding these two teams, and if Texas Tech won? Well, then we'd have to put up with news that the Big 12 was superior and that the ACC and Big East certainly didn't deserve to be in such a prestigious bowl.
Am I saying that Cincy or Virginia Tech deserved a BCS berth? No. But if you're going to market the wonder of an Ohio State/Texas matchup, you'd best not bash a Virginia Tech/Cincinnati matchup. Especially since, inevitably, we are going to have to tolerate a spate of "USC is the REAL national champion!" articles in the coming future.
I, for one, look forward to mocking them...
But now, for the review of the Fiesta Bowl....
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Texas-24, Ohio State-21
The Buckeyes have nothing to be ashamed of here, as this is the best bowl that they've played in recent memory. Plus, were it not for an absolutely, shamefully bad "roughing" of Colt McCoy on the first of Texas's 3rd quarter scoring drives, we might have seen a different final score.
If there's a rule in college football that must be amended, it's the 15 yard roughing the kicker penalty. 99 times out of 100 that flag is thrown because the kicker treats a defender's accidental tap as if it were a gunshot wound. If there's a second rule that should be amended, it's the 15 yard roughing the passer penalty.
Quarterbacks need to be protected. To deny that would be, well, stupid. But QBs ARE football players. Getting hit is a part of the friggin' game, just as much as it is for any other player at any other position! When you release a football and are hit 3 seconds later, of course it's roughing! The defender had time to stop. When you're hit half a second later, it's not roughing, because the defender couldn't stop. And, back to the Texas/OSU game, when you're NOT hit in the head, it's NOT illegal contact!
Meanwhile, the Big 12's performance in Bowl games has been shoddy at best. Thus far, the conference's only bowl wins have come against the Big 10 (2 close ones and Kansas's crushing of Minnesota) and the ACC (Nebraska's comeback against Clemson). Since football pundits (including me) spent all season talking about who was better, Big 12 or SEC, I think we've gotten our answer...
As a side note, PTI was talking about the Texas/OSU matchup and felt the need to rip the Orange Bowl. Allow me a moment for rebuttal:
The Orange Bowl featured the champion of a muddled, highly competitive conference who everyone wrote off as crappy (Virginia Tech of the ACC) and an upstart squad who had the best season in school history (Cincinnati of the Big East). Now, we had to put up with fawning and "oooh"s and "ahhh"s over the Fiesta bowl, which featured a 2 loss Ohio State team against a just-shafted out of the title game Texas. Cincinnati had two losses! AND the Big East had a winning bowl record, compared to the 1-6 Big 10! Texas Tech finished in a 3-way tie (with Texas!) for first in the conference, and lost its bowl to an SEC team that was 4th in its conference! Virginia Tech finished in a 4-way tie for first in its conference and beat a Big East team that was first in its conference!
So let's play a little reversal. Let's put Ohio State and Texas Tech against one another. Seems fair. There would be so much hype surrounding these two teams, and if Texas Tech won? Well, then we'd have to put up with news that the Big 12 was superior and that the ACC and Big East certainly didn't deserve to be in such a prestigious bowl.
Am I saying that Cincy or Virginia Tech deserved a BCS berth? No. But if you're going to market the wonder of an Ohio State/Texas matchup, you'd best not bash a Virginia Tech/Cincinnati matchup. Especially since, inevitably, we are going to have to tolerate a spate of "USC is the REAL national champion!" articles in the coming future.
I, for one, look forward to mocking them...
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