Joe in Bugaha

The Bracket

2011-03-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

I can't make an actual bracket, but this is close enough. A couple things to keep in mind when making out this field.

First, no member of a conference should meet another member of the same conference until the Elite Eight; however, in the case of the Big East, they have 11 teams, so that is impossible to avoid. Therefore, it is permissible for Big East members to meet in the sweet 16, and I used the other criteria for the remaining conferences.

Second, no rematches in the first round for the regular season. I initially had Xavier playing Georgia so I had to change that.

In order, I rank the #1 seeds: Ohio State, Kansas, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame. If all one seeds make the final four, then Ohio State would play Notre Dame, and Kansas would play Pittsburgh.

East

1 Ohio State
16 UCSB/Alabama St
8 George Mason
9 Richmond
5 Texas A&M
12 Memphis
4 Louisville
13 Bucknell

6 Cincinnati
11 Florida State
3 Florida
14 Morehead St
7 Xavier
10 Michigan
2 San Diego State
15 Northern Colorado

Southwest

1 Kansas
16 UALR/UTSA
8 Villanova
9 Michigan State
5 Arizona
12 Utah State
4 BYU
13 Oakland

6 Kansas State
11 Georgia
3 Syracuse
14 Saint Peters
7 UNLV
10 Penn State
2 North Carolina
15 Boston

Southeast

1 Pittsburgh
16 UNC-Ashville
8 Temple
9 Missouri
5 West Virginia
12 USC/Va Tech
4 Purdue
13 Princeton

6 Vanderbilt
11 Illinois
3 Texas
14 Indiana State
7 Old Dominion
10 Gonzaga
2 UCONN
15 Akron

West

1 Notre Dame
16 Hampton
8 UCLA
9 Tennessee
5 Saint Johns
12 Clemson/VCU
4 Wisconsin
13 Belmont

6 Georgetown
11 Butler
3 Kentucky
14 Long Island
7 Washington
10 Marquette
2 Duke
15 Wofford

Big East-11
Big Ten-7
ACC-5
Big 12-5
SEC-5
Pac 10-4
MWC-3
CAA-3
Atlantic 10-3

22 One Bid Leagues

Bracketology: Bubble Chaos

2011-03-12T08:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I thought was a day that some bubble teams would separate themselves from the pack. Turns out it was the other way around as Clemson, Virginia Tech, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Richmond, and Alabama all won games. To make things worse, presumed bubble safety teams such as Illinois, Florida State and Georgia, lost.

To make things worse, as I type this UTEP is hosting the C-USA tournament and has an early 9-0 lead on Memphis (another bubble team).

So how does one sort this out today? Well, at this point, I say let the games play out and figure it out tomorrow. I will say that I do believe Michigan State has a bid, and Illinois, Georgia, and Florida State will still make the field (although that could change).

With Penn State's win, i will put them in the field and take out USC, who lost in the Pac 10 Semifinals last night to Arizona.

Friday, March 10th, Bracketology update

2011-03-11T08:50:00.000-08:00

After going over all the information this morning, I am going to backtrack on my statements that Colorado and Michigan State are "locks." I think they are in better shape than others as right now, I think 8 bubble slots remain open for the taking. Marquette, despite losing to Louisville in the Big East quarters, has locked up the 11th bid for The Big East. Georgia could find itself on the bubble if they lose to Alabama today; however, despite whatever Joe Lunardi thinks, I believe they will be in the field no matter what on selection Sunday.

As of right now the following 8 teams are in my field, but squarely on the bubble. Clemson, Richmond, VCU, and USC are on my "last Four in" list

Colorado (Big 12 semifinals vs Kansas)
Michigan State (Big Ten quarters vs Purdue)
Michigan (Big Ten quarters vs Illinois)
Virginia Tech (ACC quarters vs Florida State)
Clemson (ACC quarters vs Boston College)
Richmond (A-10 quarters vs Rhode Island)
VCU (lost to Old Dominion in CAA Finals)
USC (Pac 10 semifinals vs Oregon)

As you can see, 7 of the 8 teams in my list have games today. USC lost the most yesterday when Oregon eliminated UCLA in the Pac 10 quarterfinals, as they now have one less quality opponent they can beat. USC is 6-5 vs the top 50 RPI but have 6 losses against teams ranked with RPI's of 100+. I don't think USC can survive a loss today. Although I have them in today, I think they will need to get to the Pac 10 tournament to secure a bid.

I do think Colorado and Michigan State can afford losses today and still get in. Clemson vs Boston College is a classic bubble game. The winner is on the bubble, the loser is probably off. Richmond cannot afford a bad loss to Rhode Island today and may need to reach the A-10 finals to be safe. VCU is in a tough position. They have 3 top 50 RPI wins an additional 5 wins from RPI's 51-100. But their season is over, and they can no longer impress the committee.

ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN.

Alabama (SEC quarters vs Georgia)

Alabama needs a win over Georgia today to get back in the conversation. Their 12 SEC wins sound impressive, but it looks very unimpressive on paper.

Boston College (ACC quarters vs Clemson)

As mentioned above, they can get right back on the bubble by beating Boston College.

Penn State (Big Ten quarters vs Wisconsin)

The Nittany Lions could desperately use a second win over Wisconsin today to get in the conversation.

Saint Marys (lost to Gonzaga in WCC finals)

The Gaels had a nice year. Their lone top 50 RPI win was a season opening win versus Saint Johns and they haven't done much since. Like VCU, there is nothing more they can do, but VCU did more than them this year

Memphis (C-USA semis vs East Carolina)

All of the 4 top 50 RPI wins for Memphis came within the conference and their best nonn conference win was against Miami (RPI 68). Memphis is better off winning the C-USA auto bid at this point and can with two more wins.

New Mexico (MWC semis vs BYU)

New Mexico is not an at-large candidate, but they would steal a bid. They already beat BYU twice this year. Three times is not out of the question)

Utah State (WAC vs San Jose State)

Despite a high RPI, Utah State is no lock for an at-large. They can't afford to slip up in the conference tourney like they did last year.

No Longer Under Consideration

UAB
Colorado State
Baylor
California
Washington State
Nebraska
Harvard/Princeton loser
Ole Miss
Oklahoma State

If you don't see your team mentioned on here, and they are lucky enough to still be playing, you better hope they get an automatic bid.

Bracketology update

2011-03-07T20:30:00.000-08:00

For some reason Joe Lunardi thinks Saint Mary's with their 1 top 50 RPI win is in, while Georgia, with a much better resume (including 3 top 50 RPI wins) is out. Whatever Joe.

The field of 68, as of Monday Night (all games concluded)

Big East (11)
Big Ten (6)
ACC (6)
Big Twelve (5)
SEC (6)
Pac Ten (3)
A-10 (3)
Mountain West (3)
Colonial (2)
Horizon (2)

21 One Bid Leagues

Games to Watch: March 8th, 2011

2011-03-07T18:55:00.000-08:00

The Big East Tournament kicks off tomorrow in New York City and there is one big game in terms of bubble implications. Marquette (18-13, 9-9), enters the game squarely on the bubble and cannot afford a first round loss against Providence (15-16, 4-14). That game tips off at approximately 8:00p.m. Central on ESPN U. Should Marquette prevail, they will move on to face West Virginia on Wednesday night.

The Horizon League Championship tomorrow features Butler (22-9, 13-5) vs Milwaukee (19-12, 13-5). Right now, Butler has the profile of a bubble team but can avoid sweating out Selection Sunday with a win. Milwaukee has zero chance at an at-large bid and will need the win to secure a bid. Action kicks off at 8:00p.m. on ESPN.

Bracketology: March 1, 2011

2011-03-01T20:00:00.001-08:00

Coming into Tuesday night, I did not have Alabama or Baylor in my field of 68 while other sites did. Fortunately for me, Alabama and Baylor shared my sentiments about them as Alabama was hammered 78-51 on the road by Florida and Baylor lost a crucial road game to Oklahoma State 71-60.

Illinois fell to 8-9 in the Big Ten by losing a tough hard fought game at Purdue 75-67; however, they have not fallen out of the field completely. A win at home at Indiana on Saturday would get Illinois to 9-9 in the Big Ten. The Illini cannot afford to lose to Indiana on Saturday or to lose to a subpar team in the upcoming Big Ten tournament.

Missouri fell to Nebraska on the road tonight as Missouri finish their near imperfect off Big 12 road record (1-7). Overall, Missouri falls to 21-8 and 8-7 in the Big 12. Missouri will likely wind up with an RPI in the mid 30’s tomorrow morning and does hold non-conference wins over Vanderbilt, Old Dominion, and Illinois. A win at home on Saturday versus Kansas would go a long way to securing a bid; otherwise, they better avoid losing their first big 12 tournament game next Wednesday. As for Nebraska, they need to win at Colorado on Saturday to finish 8-8 in the conference and have a chance to be in the conversation come Selection Sunday.

Penn State had a big chance to make a statement to stay in the conversation tonight with a win at home against Ohio State. Instead, they got a giant beat down and fell to 15-13 on the year and 8-9 in the Big Ten. Penn State does have 3 wins over top 50 RPI teams and a top 10 SOS, so they are not completely eliminated yet in this weak bubble year.

Well, well, well. I didn’t hear Seth Greenberg on Saturday Night but I am sure he had some rant on ESPN about how his team deserved to make the tournament last year. Well. Tonight at home, after beating Duke on Saturday…….wait for it…….Virginia Tech………….got destroyed at home by Boston College 76-61. Unfortunately for Boston College, they still only have 1 top 50 RPI win and have a 7-10 record against the top 100 RPI. They do hold 2 wins over Va Tech, which could help them Selection Sunday. I did not have Boston College in the field yesterday and I am not quite ready to put them in yet. Therefore, no changes to the field as of tonight.

February 28/March 2 Bracketology Update

2011-02-28T19:49:00.000-08:00

With less than 2 weeks until Selection Sunday, here is my Bracketology breakdown. I am not gonna do a major blog post this week, but I will have many thoughts on the field this coming Thursday at 9pm central on Stucknut Radio (visit www.stucknut.com for more details), as I join Boatie in Pearland to discuss the field.

Conference Breakdown-

Big East (11)-Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Louisville, Saint Johns, Syracuse, Georgetown, UCONN, West Virginia, Villanova, Cincinnati, Marquette
Big Twelve (6)-Kansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Missouri, Kansas State, Colorado
Big Ten (5)-Ohio St, Purdue, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan State
ACC (6)-Duke, North Carolina, Florida State, Va Tech, Clemson, Boston College
SEC (4)-Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia
Mountain West (4)-BYU, San Diego State, UNLV, Colorado State
Pac 10 (3)-Arizona, UCLA, Washington
Atlantic Ten (3)-Xavier, Temple, Richmond
Horizon (2)-Cleveland State, Butler
CAA (2)-George Mason, Old Dominion
WCC (2)-Saint Marys, Gonzaga

20 one bid leagues

Last Four in: Colorado State, Richmond, Butler, Boston College
First Four Out: Colorado, Baylor, Alabama, Memphis

Still under consideration: Colorado, Southern Miss, Michigan, Dayton, Drexel, Virginia Commonwealth, Mississippi, Washington State, Maryland, Nebraska

February 21, 2011 Bracketology Update

2011-02-21T18:15:00.000-08:00

Conference Breakdown

Big East (11)
Big Ten (6)
Big Twelve (6)
ACC (5)
SEC (5)
Mountain West (4)
Pac 10 (3)
Atlantic Ten (3)
Horizon (2)
CAA (2)

On my right you will find my latest projection for the field of 68. As of right now, I have 13 teams on the bubble, but I would say that Washington, Illinois, Michigan State, and Florida State are closer to the "should be in" category than the bubble. The rest of the list could easily fall off the bubble with a loss; however, to be truthful, the bubble is pretty weak right now and there is still a lot of room out there for teams that are not even listed amongst the first four out (such as Nebraska) to make an impression and get an at-large bid.

One thing that the committee may have to take into consideration are some of the teams from those "one-bid leagues" that may lose their conference tournament and enter at-large consideration. I firmly believe that George Mason and Old Dominion would get at-large bids out of the Colonial should one of those teams fail to win that conference tournament. But, lets go over the profiles of some teams that I have not had to evaluate yet, but may have to in the future.

Utah State (24-3, 12-1 in Conference)
Conference: Western Athletic
RPI: 19
SOS: 106
Top 50 RPI record: 1-2
Top 100 RPI record: 1-2
Bad Losses: at Idaho RPI 156

The Aggies went on the road early this season for games at BYU and Georgetown; however, came out 6 point losers in Provo and 17 point losers in D.C. The only other game of significance was Saturday's Bracketbuster game at Saint Mary's where the Aggies came out with a 10 point win. Last year Utah State failed to win the WAC tourney; however, they had 13 games within the top 100 RPI and had a 9-4 record. Right now, I fail to see even with an RPI of 19 how Utah State gets an at-large bid; however, it could be a long 24 hours for Utah St and other bubble teams if Utah State does not secure that autobid.

Saint Mary's (20-6, 10-2 in conference)
Conference: West Coast Conference
RPI: 46
SOS: 126
Top 50 RPI record: 1-4
Top 100 RPI Record: 2-5

The Gaels opened the year with a win over Saint Johns but it remains their only top 50 RPI win of the year. Losing to Utah State but a real dagger in the at-large chances of Saint Marys. I could maybe see Saint Marys getting an at-large bid if they finish off the regular season with wins over Gonzaga and Portland and reaching the WCC title game. However, should the Gaels defeat Portland, it will probably send Portland out of the top 100 RPI, negating that win, and also, giving the Gaels a loss outside the top 100 RPI (Portland on January 29th). Gonzaga, with 13 games inside the top 100 RPI (6-7 record) probably has a better at-large resume for the WCC, despite their lower RPI (71)

Memphis (20-7, 8-4 conference)
Conference: Conference USA
RPI: 35
SOS: 40
Top 50 RPI Record: 4-3
Top 100 RPI Record: 9-5

There are still a couple C-USA teams considered on the bubble at the moment; however, right now I would probably have Memphis in the "should be in" category, so if memphis doesn't do anything disastrous on the way towards the Conference USA tournament, they should still be OK come Selection Sunday if they don't win the league tourney championship.

Horizon League Breakdown

The Horizon league is kind of interesting. Right now, Cleveland State is winning the conference with a 12-4 record and a 21-6 record overall. They have an RPI of 35 and a SOS of 108. The problem for them is that they are only 1-5 against the top 50 RPI while their conference counterpart Butler is 4-4 against the top 50 RPI. Now, Butler does have 4 losses against teams with RPI's over 100 while Cleveland State only has 1. For now, both have bids, but I would hate to be either of these teams if they do not win the Horizon League Tournament.

Bracketology Update: February 15, 2011

2011-02-15T19:56:00.000-08:00

George Mason 71 VCU 51

George Mason took a big step towards securing an at-large bid with a 20 point road win at Virginia Commonwealth (VCU) tonight. VCU has now lost 3 of their last 5 games and have just a 2-3 record against top 50 RPI teams. VCU also has 3 losses against teams with RPI's of 100 or higher including a loss at Georgia State (RPI 217). Although RPI is not the final indicator of whether a team makes the tournament or not, VCU's RPI was 61 coming into tonight and will surely fall with this most recent loss. VCU travels to Wichita State for Bracketbusters this Saturday and will certainly need to win that game to have any at-large possibilities left.

Virginia Tech 91 Maryland 83

A loss tonight for Virginia Tech at home would have done a lot more damage, but getting this win propels Virginia Tech to 17-7 overall and 7-4 in ACC play. The Hokies are a mere 1-5 against teams ranked in the top 50 RPI, but they do host top 50 RPI teams Duke and Boston College in the coming weeks prior to the ACC Tournament.

Ohio State 71 Michigan State 61

A loss on the road for Michigan State drops them to 13-11 overall and 6-7 in the Big Ten but does not end the hopes of the Spartans to make the tournament. They host Top 50 RPI Illinois on Saturday and play at two other top 50 RPI teams next week in at Minnesota and home to Purdue. 2 wins would get Sparty to 8-8 in the conference and improving upon that 3-8 top 50 RPI record.

Butler 64 Green Bay 62

Butler survives a road scare at Green Bay and improves to 19-9 overall and 11-5 in the Horizon league. The Bulldogs have a 4-4 record against top 50 RPI teams. A loss tonight would have marked a sixth loss for Butler outside of the top 100 RPI teams and seriously damaged the hopes of them getting an at-large bids. Butler has two remaining games with teams with RPI's in the 200s and will likely need to win The Horizon League Tournament to get back to the NCAA Tournament that they were oh so close to winning last April.

Saint Johns 80 Marquette 68

Saint Johns improves to 16-9 overall and 8-5 in a tough Big East conference with an 80-68 road win tonight. Marquette falls to 15-11 and 6-7 in the Big East with this loss at home. Marquette falls to 3-10 against top 50 RPI teams (that's insane by the way, 13 teams?) with an 0-3 record against top 50 RPI teams in the non conference (Duke, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt). In addition, Marquette lost to Gonzaga (RPI 72) and has zero wins out of the conference in the top 100. They aren't eliminated from at-large consideration by any means, but the margin for error is becoming slim.

Bracketology Projection #2

2011-02-14T19:38:00.000-08:00

Bracketology Volume 2.3

Please make sure to check the breakdown on the right which will give you a better idea of how I am breaking the field down. If you have a question, please twitter it @JoeinBugaha

In addition to 21 one-bid leagues, the following teams are in my field.

Big East (11)-Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Notre Dame, UCONN, Saint Johns, Villanova, Syracuse, West Virginia, Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette
Big Ten (6)-Ohio State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan St
Big 12 (7)-Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Kansas St
SEC (5)-Florida, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia
ACC (4)-Duke, North Carolina, Florida State, Boston College
MWC (4)-BYU, San Diego St, UNLV, Colorado State
Pac 10 (3)-Arizona, UCLA, Washington
Atlantic 10 (3)-Xavier, Temple, Richmond
Conf USA (2)-UTEP, Memphis
Colonial (2)-Old Dominion, George Mason

Last Four In (No order)

Michigan State, Kansas State, Baylor, Colorado State

First Four Out (No Order)

UAB, Butler, Virginia Tech, VCU

Next Four Out (No Order)

Cleveland State, Wichita State, Harvard, Ole Miss)

Bracketology Projection #1

2011-02-08T18:39:00.000-08:00

Bracketology Volume 2.2

First Look at the Potential Field

We are about 33 days from Selection Sunday, but that does not mean it is too early to start projecting the field of 68 for this year’s Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament (hell, Joe Lunardi was projecting a bracket before the season started). This year the field will come from 31 automatic bids from the winner’s of the conference tournaments and 37 at-large selections. Before giving my first field, let’s breakdown the field first to give you an idea just how many at-large berths are up for grabs right now. Please note that the field is updated for games through Sunday February 6th. I pick the field using criteria including but not limited to: Overall record, Conference Record, RPI, Strength of Schedule, Top 50 RPI Record, Top 100 RPI Record, and Bad Losses (Sub 100 RPI team losses)

The One Bid Leagues (17)

The following are conferences with their current conference leader. More than likely, these conferences will only receive one bid, the winner of the conference tournament. Should the conference leader not win their conference tournament, they will receive a bid to the NIT.

Vermont (American East)
Belmont (Atlantic Sun)
Northern Colorado (Big Sky)
Coastal Carolina (Big South)
Long Beach St (Big West)
Princeton (Ivy)
Fairfield (MAAC)
Kent St (MAC)
Hampton (MEAC)
Long Island (Northeast)
Murray St (Ohio Valley)
Bucknell (Patriot League)
Chattanooga (Southern)
McNeese St (Southland)
Texas Southern (SWAC)
Oakland (Summit)
Florida Atlantic (Sun Belt)

Potential Two Bid Leagues (7)

The following are conferences that could receive multiple bids if the conference champion fails to win their conference tournament. For now, I will project the following teams will win their own conference tournament and will not have to value them for at-large purposes.

Xavier (Atlantic 10)
VCU (Colonial)
UTEP (Conference USA)
Cleveland State (Horizon)
Wichita State (Missouri Valley)
Saint Marys (West Coast)
Utah State (WAC)

Definite Multiple Bid Leagues

That leaves these seven conferences with multiple bid leagues.

ACC
Big 12
Big East
Big Ten
Mountain West
Pacific 10
SEC

The definite locks, which include conference champions below (26)

The following are teams who I believe are definite locks to make the NCAA Tournament should the field be selected today.

ACC (Duke, North Carolina)
Big 12 (Kansas, Texas, Missouri, Texas A&M)
Big East (Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, UCONN, West Virginia, Syracuse, West Virginia, Louisville)
Big Ten (Ohio St, Purdue, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota)
Mountain West (BYU, San Diego St)
Pacific 10 (Arizona)
SEC (Kentucky, Florida, Vanderbilt, Tennessee)

Should Be In (5)

Atlantic 10 (Temple)
Big East (Saint Johns, Cincinatti)
Mountain West (UNLV)
SEC (Georgia)

The Bubble (13)

So, if we take out seven spots for conference champions above, we have already secured 54 bids, leaving 14 left to fill the field of 68. Based on the criteria above, I have included the following teams

The First Nine

ACC (Boston College, Florida State)
Big East (Marquette)
Big 12 (Oklahoma State)
Colonial (George Mason, Old Dominion)
Pac 10 (UCLA, Washington)
SEC (Mississippi)

Last Four In (A weak bubble right now)

ACC (Virginia Tech)
Missouri Valley (Missouri State)
Mountain West (Colorado State)
Memphis (Conference USA)

First Four Out
Kansas State, Butler, UAB, Michigan State

Breakdown by Conference

Big East (11)-Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, UCONN, West Virginia, Syracuse, West Virginia, Louisville, Saint Johns, Cincinnati, Marquette
SEC (6)- Kentucky, Florida, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi
Big 12 (5)- Kansas, Texas, Missouri, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State
Big 10 (5)- Ohio St, Purdue, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota
ACC (5)- Duke, North Carolina, Boston College, Florida State, Virginia Tech
Mountain West (4)-BYU, San Diego State, UNLV, Colorado State
Pac 10 (3)-Arizona, UCLA, Washington
Colonial (3)-VCU, George Mason, Old Dominion
Conference USA (2)-UTEP, Memphis
Atlantic 10 (2)-Xavier, Temple
Missouri Valley (2)-Wichita State, Missouri State

One Bid Conferences (20)

Vermont (American East)
Belmont (Atlantic Sun)
Northern Colorado (Big Sky)
Coastal Carolina (Big South)
Long Beach St (Big West)
Cleveland State (Horizon)
Princeton (Ivy)
Fairfield (MAAC)
Kent St (MAC)
Hampton (MEAC)
Long Island (Northeast)
Murray St (Ohio Valley)
Bucknell (Patriot League)
Chattanooga (Southern)
McNeese St (Southland)
Texas Southern (SWAC)
Oakland (Summit)
Florida Atlantic (Sun Belt)
Saint Marys (West Coast)
Utah State (WAC)

Bracketology 2011

2011-01-17T18:12:00.000-08:00

Bracketology 2011: Update #1

For years, people like Jerry Palm and Joe Lunardi have undertaken the task of the predicting the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament Field every year. Most years, Palm and Lunardi are right on the money, even predicting the entire field or with just one or two misses. Last year, I undertook the task of figuring out the entire field, and come Selection Sunday, I was a perfect 65 for 65 and even finished 98th in a NCAA.com "predict the field" contest scoring higher than Jerry Palm

This year, the field has expanded to 68 teams. There will be 31 automatic qualifiers from the winners of each conference tournament and 37 at-large teams. The factors that the NCAA Selection Committee evaluate when deciding an at-large selection includes but are not limited to: RPI, Overall Record, Conference Record, Strength of Schedule (SOS), Top 50 RPI Record, Top 100 RPI Record, and bad losses (sub 100 RPI). Using these factors, I was able to figure out the field last year and accurately predicted who would be left out (Mississippi State, Illinois, and Virginia Tech).

While some sites will put out an entire bracket and field right now, I will wait until the middle part of February. To me, it’s too early to predict a field, as many of the power conferences have only had the first few games of their season. However, it is never too early to take a look at some teams who need to improve if they want to be in the field come Selection Sunday.

Kansas State Wildcats

Overall Record: 12-6 (1-3)
RPI Rank: 50
SOS Rank: 30
Top 50 RPI Record (1-5)
Top 100 RPI Record (4-6)

The Wildcats were picked by many to win the Big 12 conference this year so it is big news that Kansas State has struggled out of the gate in conference play losing road games to Oklahoma State and Missouri, as well as losing their home opener to Colorado. Their lone conference win is to Sub 200 RPI Texas Tech and does nothing to help their resume. It will not get any easier for Kansas State with two of their next three games on the road (Texas A&M, Kansas). It is very possible that Kansas State will be 13-8 (2-4) in the Big 12 come January 29th. A win at either one of those places, coupled with a home win over Baylor, will help Kansas State.

North Carolina

Overall Record: 12-5 (2-1)
RPI Rank: 25
SOS Rank: 17
Top 50 RPI Record (1-4)
Top 100 RPI Record (4-4)
Sub 100 RPI Losses (Georgia Tech, 142)

Had North Carolina not gotten blown out by 20 at Georgia Tech this past Sunday, I probably would not be evaluating them right now. But between that loss and the overall health of the ACC, nobody outside of Duke is probably guaranteed a bid in the dance come Selection Sunday. Speaking of that overall health, out of the 13 remaining regular season games for North Carolina, only 5 of them are against teams in the top 50 RPI, and two of those are against conference juggernaut Duke. Many of the other opponents are against sub 100 RPI opponents or teams like Clemson (90, twice) and Maryland (91). The Heels best be careful and not have slip ups against bad teams down the stretch.
Cleveland State (Horizon League)

Record: 14-3 (5-2)
RPI Rank: 27
SOS Rank: 112
Top 50 RPI Record (0-3)
Top 100 RPI Record (4-3)

Unless they win the Horizon League Tournament, Cleveland State may have to sweat out Selection Sunday. The Vikings are off to a somewhat terrible start in league play, as they suffered two road losses to two Top 50 RPI teams in Butler and Valparaiso. Their four top 100 RPI wins have come against teams ranked between 78-99. There is not a lot of beef to this resume so their #27 RPI rating means nothing at this point. In addition, their remaining top 100 RPI opponents are against Butler and Valparaiso at home. The Vikings will also get a BracketBuster opponent who at this point, would certainly be in the top 50 RPI. But like I said, don’t let this high RPI fool you.

2011 MLB Hall of Fame Recap

2011-01-06T10:12:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, The Baseball Hall of Fame revealed the results of the BBWAA’s writers votes and it was no surprise to me that only two candidates were elected to the Hall of Fame. Roberto Alomar received 90% of the vote in his second year of eligibility and Bert Blyleven received 79.7% of the vote, finally surpassing that 75% vote total.

While I speculated that Alomar missed the Hall of Fame last year because of those writers who never elect someone on their first ballot, it is now clear, based on the 17% bump, that Alomar was punished by some writers for spitting in an umpire’s face during his days in Baltimore. Bert Blyleven, who many argued had a good-long career, rather than a great career, finally won over enough voters with his public demands that he be a Hall of Famer (yep, even in his moment of glory, Blyleven sounded bitter when talking about being elected to the Hall of Fame). Rather than talk about the accomplishments of these players (I did that in my last blog post), I will now look ahead to 2012 and the candidates who once again will appear on the ballot and those who will appear for the first time (Spoiler Alert, no first time candidate next year should be a Hall of Famer)

Jeff Bagwell (41% of the vote, 1st time appearance)

Steroid speculation clearly is casting a cloud over Bagwell’s Hall of Fame candidacy. Despite playing in the steroid area, Bagwell was never directly linked to steroids, despite his body having the natural development of someone who used performance enhancing drugs. Despite the fact that MLB now has PED testing, I still think we are not far enough removed from the era. Potential news or admissions of steroid use, will still come from athletes. I still think Bagwell will enter the Hall of Fame some day, assuming he is never linked or admits to steroid use. The good news for Bagwell is that time is on his side, as he has 14 more chances to get into the Hall of Fame, and he is off to a solid start with 41% of the vote.

Lee Smith (45.3%, 9 appearances)

Time may be running out for the former all time saves leader. In his ninth year on the ballot, Smith failed to gain any support (and even lost some falling from 47.3% of the ballots to 45.3% of the ballots. Things that will hurt Smith in the long run is that he is now 123 saves behind all time save leader Trevor Hoffman, and that he only appeared in two postseasons, where he has a career 0-2 record with an 8.44 ERA.

Rafael Palmeiro (11%, 1st appearance)/Mark McGwire(19.8%, 5th appearance)

The BBWAA has made it very clear: they will not support someone who was either caught using PED’s during the new MLB testing era (Palmeiro) or someone who admitted to using PED’s during his playing career (McGwire). These two players will ultimately set the standard for future HOF candidates who either are caught or admit (good luck getting into the Hall of Fame Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez or David Ortiz).

Barry Larkin (62.1%, 2nd appearance)

The day’s biggest non-elected winner is Barry Larkin. Unless he is elected in 2012, there very well could be nobody from the writer's ballot next year. He went up from 50% to 62.1% this year. With a strong second year showing, Larkin will surely make the Hall of Fame someday, as soon as next year. I myself did not see enough in Larkin’s numbers and career to warrant HOF consideration, but I will take a another look again next year. The one thing I don’t understand, and people like Joe Posnanski would agree: why is Larkin getting so much Hall of Fame consideration, while Alan Trammel is not? They are both similar players. (years, hits, home runs, rbi's, obp, gold gloves)

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/larkiba01.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/trammal01.shtml

Tim Raines (37.5%, 4th appearance)

Raines was the other non-elected winner in today’s vote. He has jumped from 22.6% in 2009, to 30.5% in 2009, to 37.5% in 2010, which are half the votes needed to get into the Hall of Fame. Between 1981 and 1992 he averaged an incredible 52 stolen bases per year, while having superior OBP numbers as well. Like Larkin, I will evaluate Raines again next year very closely.

Jack Morris (53.5%, 12th appearance)

I understand Jack Morris was a great big game pitcher, as evidenced by his 10 inning shutout in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series. But, he still had a lifetime 3.90 ERA during a dead ball era. I was most curious to see what bump, if any, Morris would get this year. He went from 44.0% of the vote in 2009 to 52.3% of the vote in 2010. Had Morris got another 8% bump, it would have put him at 60% and given him a stronger chance of making it; however, I think in the end Morris will fall short once the 2014 ballot comes and goes.

2012 First Time Candidate (notables)

Bernie Williams

Honestly, next year is a weak ballot, and I am not going to go through all the names, you can look at that below, but Williams is the only candidate I could see being elected, although it will not be next year.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/hof_2012.shtml#BBWAA

2011 MLB Hall of Fame Ballot

2011-01-03T18:45:00.000-08:00

On January 5, 2011, The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) will reveal their selections for the Hall of Fame Class of 2011. The rules for the most part are simple: A candidate must be selected on 75% of ballots and one cannot be on baseball’s ineligible list (MLB). So for those who think Bud Selig needs to re-instate Pete Rose so he can go to the Hall of Fame, think again, because the writer’s made their own rule.

Naturally, I do not have a vote, but being a baseball fan, I have an opinion. Prior to reading this, I encourage you to visit the link below, which features this year’s eligible list. Once eligible (5 years after retirement), a candidate can appear on a ballot 15 times before they are taken off the ballot. The Veteran’s Committee will then have their say on candidates 15 years after they fail to enter via the BBWAA’s writers. This year, Bert Blyleven will appear on the writer’s ballots for the 15th and final time.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/hof_2011.shtml

So, without further delay, here are my selections on my mock ballot. Warning: Sabermetrics will be mentioned during some of these selections.

Bert Blyleven (15th appearance, 74.2% of ballots in 2010).
287-250, 3.31 ERA, 242 Complete games, 3701 K’s

Between 2005 and 2010, Blyleven’s name appeared on ballots but it was rather weird to see his name go up and down and then up (40.9% in 2005, 53.3% in 2006, 47.7% in 2007, 61.9% in 2008, 62.7% in 2009, and 74.2% in 2010). Therefore, one cannot assume that Blyleven will finally get that 75% total needed in this 15th and final year. However, after analyzing Blyleven and some names similar to his with the numbers he put up, I cannot argue against Blyleven’s HOF candidacy. His WAR (wins above replacement) is higher than some notable HOF pitchers such as Steve Carlton, Robin Roberts, and Nolan Ryan) and is slightly below Randy Johnson (another future HOF). It’s time to give Blyleven his due, and his plaque in Cooperstown. With Blyleven’s induction, he will no longer be the guy on the most win’s list without being in the Hall of Fame. That honor will go to Jim Kaat, who’s eligibility amongst the writer’s has come and gone (that’s another column).

Roberto Alomar (2nd appearance, 73.7% of ballots in 2010)
.300/.371/.443, 2724 Hits, 474 Stolen Bases, 10 Gold Gloves

Unlike Blyleven, I don’t forsee Alomar having an issue this year. There are a number of BBWAA writers who for whatever reason, never vote for ANYONE in their first year of eligibility. Why that is I don’t know. I mean, if you didn’t vote for Nolan Ryan or George Brett you shouldn’t have a vote (or a soul in my mind). If everyone comes back from last year, and those hard headed writers come around, Alomar will have his plaque come July 2011.

Alomar’s 10 Gold Gloves are the most amongst any second baseman and he only failed to win the Gold Glove at second base one time (1997) during a period between 1991 and 2001. When you think of the great second basemen to ever play the game, Roberto Alomar’s name belongs among them. And he deserves to have his name in Cooperstown with guys like Ryne Sandberg, Joe Morgan, and Frank White (oh wait, Frank White isn’t in, well, that’s another column...well kidding).

Lee Smith (9th appearance, 47.3% of ballots in 2010)
478 career saves (3rd all time behind Rivera and Hoffmann, 3.03 ERA)

Other relievers with less saves are in the Hall of Fame below him. Surely Rivera and Hoffmann will one day be in the Hall of Fame. So why is the man who held the all-time save record for so long not in the Hall of Fame? I’m puzzled.

Jeff Bagwell (1st appearance on ballot)
.297/.408/.540, 449 homers, 1529 RBI’s

My fourth and final name on my mock ballot is a first time candidate. I went back and forth on this; however, I believe at the end of the day that Jeff Bagwell is a Hall of Fame player. Once traded for Larry Anderson (yep, who?), Bagwell was a staple in the Houston Astros organization for 15 seasons. While he put up major numbers in the now infamous “steroid era”, Bagwell was never directly linked to steroids (unlike another first time candidate Rafael Palmeiro who was caught). Bagwell won the MVP in 1994 and finished in the top 7 an additional 4 times before calling it a career in 2005.

Apologies to Jack Morris (lifetime ERA of 3.90 during mainly a dead ball era), Barry Larkin, Tim Raines, and Larry Walker.

No apologies to Mark McGwire or Rafael Palmeiro.

Chael Sonnen channels Jay Mariotti

2010-09-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

Chael Sonnen: Channeling his inner Jay Mariotti

It is no stranger to anyone who follows The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) that Chael Sonnen likes to talk a lot of trash. In addition to calling out Anderson Silva before his August 7th title fight, he recently took verbal assault on UFC Middleweight Champion Georges St. Pierre and UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar. However, it is his verbal assault on Lance Armstrong that will now have Sonnen linked to Jay Mariotti forever.

Now, for those not familiar with Jay Mariotti, he is a former columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and currently is suspended from his current employer, AOL Fanhouse. Mariotti was a frequent panelist on the ESPN popular TV show “Around the Horn.” Mariotti had a history of bad mouthing everybody, rubbing people the wrong way, and especially calling out athletes who commit domestic violence. Mariotti got caught in his own war of words on August 18th, as he was accused of assaulting his girlfriend. Since then, we have not heard from Mariotti and a trial is pending.

So, that leads me to Sonnen. What did he do to link himself to Mariotti? Sonnen appeared on The Jim Rome Radio Show on August 4th and had some choice words for the former Tour De France winner. “Lance Armstrong did a number of things and he gave himself cancer. He cheated, he did drugs, and he gave himself cancer.” He further added, “Look here’s what I did, I screwed up, and I hope people learn from my mistakes.” Well, maybe Sonnen can use that quote to quote himself here in the coming days.

I had hope that perhaps Sonnen’s test would be false or perhaps caused by taking Nyquil or some over-the-counter cold medicine. Those hopes were dashed according to SI.com. According to an article published today, Sonnen was apparently concerned about the chance of testing positive that he told California State Athletic Commission chair (CSAC) George Dodd he used an illegal performance enhancing drug leading up to the fight. “He only indicated that he was taking it but he never indicated why”, Dodd said of a conversation he had with Sonnen during drug testing a day before the fight.

Chael Sonnen will likely lose an appeal should he request one, as he basically admitted to steroid use to the CSAC. He will likely be suspended for one year by the CSAC (which other states will honor) and a small $2,500 fine. While Sonnen will likely fight again, the bigger thing he loses is his credibility and respect from a lot of his fans and many of his fellow peer fighters. But who is the bigger loser in all of this? Well, the fans of course, who so wanted to see if Sonnen could knock off Silva in his immediate rematch, which will likely never happen.

It is my understanding Chael Sonnen does not have a nickname. Perhaps we should start calling him Chael “Mariotti” Sonnen. I’d love to hear Bruce Buffer say that name the next time he enters The Octagon.

BCS-A look back at 2000

2010-09-20T17:59:00.001-07:00

I failed to mention it in my first blog post regarding this topic, but I absolutely hate how pre-season rankings can have an effect on who plays for the “National Championship.” Nobody should judge teams until the middle of October if you want to make this process more fair. The year 2000 was a perfect example of how pathetic pre-season rankings can be. The Alabama Crimson Tide began the year #3 in The Associated Press Poll. The Crimson Tide won the SEC Title in 1999 and rode that momentum into the 2000 season. In the end, The Crimson Tide finished 3-8 and made many, if not all voters, looking foolish in the process.

At the end of the 2000 season, the BCS formula spitted out two teams to play for the National Championship in the Federal Express Orange Bowl (ah, don’t you love corporate sponsors). #1 Oklahoma (12-0), Champions of the Big 12, would take on #2 Florida State (11-1), Champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Looking back, Oklahoma was a clear cut #1 team heading into The Orange Bowl. Ranked #18 in the preseason, Oklahoma won their first four games to climb up in the rankings. It had been over a decade since Oklahoma was a National Power, so it was nice to see them doing well. Out of nowhere, Oklahoma, went from a nice 4-0 team, to the #1 team in the country by demolishing 3 top ten teams (Texas, Kansas State, and Nebraska) in the span of four weeks. After a comeback victory on the road against Texas A&M, the Sooners held off rival Oklahoma State in the annual “bedlam” game before appearing in their first Big 12 Title game. In a rematch, Oklahoma held off Kansas State 27-24 to head off to The Orange Bowl.

The battle for #2 was much more controversial and much criticism was raised into the final BCS results. After it was all said and done, this is how #2, #3, and #4 in the BCS shook out:

#2 Florida State 5.37 (ACC)
#3 Miami 5.69 (Big East)
#4 Washington 10.67 (Pac 10)

http://espn.go.com/abcsports/bcs/rankings_full/2000-2001.html

So, did “every game count” in this situation? Well, hardly. During the regular season, where like I have mentioned, supposedly every game counts, Miami defeated Florida State 27-24 during October in what is widely known as the “Wide Right III” game. To make matters even more complicated, Washington defeated Miami 34-29 during a September contest. So, in the end, #3 beat #2, and #4 beat #3.

How did these results make the regular season important? Wouldn’t putting all these teams (and others) in a playoff made more sense? I think so, but in the end, numbers were crunched and through the power of soul-less computers, Florida State came out on top.

In the end, Oklahoma defeated Florida State 13-2 in the worst Orange Bowl since 1992 (Miami 22 Nebraska 0). Miami wrapped up the State of Florida championship by demolishing Florida in The Sugar Bowl. Washington went off to the Rose Bowl and defeated Drew Brees and Purdue to finish the year with one loss. Miami and Washington were left wondering what could have been, while Oklahoma celebrated their school claiming another “National Championship.”

What could have been….if only we had a playoff that year…..then Every Game Would Have Counted!

The BCS: Does it Work?

2010-09-13T17:44:00.000-07:00

For the last twelve years, College Football fans have had to endure to the philosophy of The Bowl Championship Series (BCS). Some like it some do not. If you read my blog or my twitter, it is no secret that I do not hold the BCS in high-regard. Pure hate probably best describes how I feel about the BCS. I have not really understood how some people support the BCS in lieu of a playoff system. I do not feel it does its job. According to the BCS Web site (http://www.bcsfootball.org), “It is designed to ensure that the two top-rated teams in the country meet in the national championship game, and to create exciting and competitive matchups among eight other highly regarded teams in four other bowl games.”

Now, the BCS wants you to believe that is its goal, but in reality, The BCS, in my mind, is designed to set up a game in which a “National Championship” game pit teams ranked #1 and #2 in order to generate the most money for the member schools. The winner of the game is awarded a trophy, which is sponsored by a Corporation, in order to generate the revenue.

In addition to that Mission Statement, if you want to call it that, the official Twitter account (@EveryGameCounts) of the BCS describes the BCS as “The home for the BCS, the passion and the emotion of college football and its fans. In the run for the National Title, Every Game Counts.” In a related matter, I have had many friends of mine say that a playoff system would render College Football’s regular season meaningless.

Over the next few weeks and months leading up to what the BCS wants to believe is a National Championship game, I will be examining several case studies that will detail the flaws of the BCS and why a playoff system is the only way to go when deciding College Football’s National Champion. It is clear to me that the best two teams have not played for the “National Championship” because the BCS has not made it clear for the majority of the 12 years who is #1 and #2 at the end of the season. The first case study will examine what happened back in the 2000 College Football season.

The Slow Death of Big Sports 590 in Omaha

2010-08-27T10:31:00.000-07:00

The Downfall of One Sports Radio Station in Omaha

This past Wednesday, August 25th, 2010, marked another new era for Big Sports 590. Beginning that morning, the new format for this station, which never was switched from my radio dial, will look like this.

5:00-11:00 a.m. Todd N’Tyler Radio Empire
11:00-2:00 p.m. The Jim Rome Show
2:00-5:00 p.m. The Dan Patrick Show (tape delayed)
5:00p.m.-5:00 a.m. Fox Sports Radio Programming
(the last hour of Pat O’Brien, Petros & Money, Tony Bruno, JT the Brick)

Two years ago, the station format looked like this.

5:00-8:00 a.m. The Steve Czaben Show
8:00-11:00 a.m. The Dan Patrick Show
11:00-2:00 p.m. The Jim Rome Show
2:00-6:00 p.m. The Big Show with Matt Perrault (local)
6:00-9:00 p.m. Gametime Live with Andrew Siciliano

So how did we get from two years ago until now?

Now, if you have not noticed yet, and if you like sports radio in Omaha, I am sure you have, but starting on Wednesday, 6 hours of Big Sports 590 programming will be syndicating the Todd N’Tyler Radio Empire. Now, I knew the change was coming and Todd N’Tyler would be reappearing on 590, much like they did in their earlier syndication years, before eventually coming off the station in favor of Steve Czaben, which was to me, is the best local sports radio option in the country for the morning. In December 2009, I was stunned to hear that Fox Sports Radio would not be renewing Steve Czaben’s contract and they would be replacing him with Stephen A. Smith. I mean, seriously, Stephen A. Smith? Is there one voice in America or the world that I would not rather wake up to each morning than Stephen A. Smith? NO! I consider Smith to be one of the most annoying people on the planet. Why would Fox Sports Radio want to replace Czaben with such a blowhard? Well, from reading a blog post from Czaben, the people at Fox Sports Radio thought that Czaben and his crew was too much like Mike & Mike, which I could not disagree with more. Czaben and his crew were actually entertaining.

So, 8 months into my morning sports talk withdrawal, I find out that Steve Czaben had been hired by Sporting News Radio for their 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. time slot. I immediately fired off an email to the director of programming at Big Sports 590 explaining how frustrated I was with Fox Sports Radio with their decision to hire Stephen A. Smith and I encouraged them to work with Sporting News Radio and get Czaben back on the air. I was informed that they were not aware that Czaben was back and they were surprised to not hear from Sporting News Radio yet about Czaben. However, they did agree with me on Stephen A. Smith and they said they would simulcast Todd N’ Tyler to expose them to some other markets around the area, and without saying it, I knew Big Sports 590 signal, 50,000 watts strong, was a big part of that.

Although I was disappointed with their decision, I moved on…….until today. I confirmed what I heard a few days ago, Big Sports 590 would broadcast the ENTIRE Todd N’Tyler Radio Empire show and tape delay Dan Patrick until the afternoon. HOW DID IT COME TO THIS??? Well, I thought about it, and then it hit me. The Todd N’Tyler Radio Empire…..was no longer an EMPIRE. Now, as most people in Omaha know, Todd N’Tyler began syndicating in Wichita, KS and Springfield, MO in November 2006. Eventually, five more stations were added and the Empire seemed to be growing strong. However, times turned and programming changes and low ratings resulted in The Empire being dropped in all but the Omaha (flagship market) and Wichita. So, rather than Big Sports 590 giving us what I and what I believe many people want (Steve Czaben), Journal Broadcasting Group (the parent company of 590), chose to try to rebuild this “Empire” by broadcasting it to a larger area outside of Omaha. Now, I like Todd N’Tyler, I even occasionally listen to their show, but don’t punish sport fans in an attempt to re-build something that to me, this “Empire”, already has appeared to fail.

As irritated as I am about Steve Czaben and Dan Patrick, the thing that still bothers me, 18 months after it happened, was the decision of Big Sports 590 and Journal Broadcast Group to not renew Matt Perrault’s contract in March 2009. Now, Perrault was not a local guy when he came to Omaha. He worked in Boston and Alabama before being hired for a new four hour local sports show. Now, I am going off memory here, but I do recall Perrault mentioning that the decision had nothing to do with bad ratings or money. So, if that was not the case, then what caused it? Well, for starters, Perrault did rub people the wrong way and a lot of my friends did not take a liking to him. To the average person, he came across as someone who did not care for The University of Nebraska and was just a big homer to Creighton University. Now, Perrault did not like Doc Sadler and The Nebraska program, but he did a great job covering Nebraska football and even did an immediate postgame show after every game, whether home or away. He was the first person on air to take calls from fans after every game and I truly believed he enjoyed doing that. To me, I enjoyed Perrault’s style and I liked his out of market view to things happening locally, something I felt like I did not get listening to 1620 the Zone. I think Perrault did a good job balancing between local and national topics and yes, since I did go to Creighton, I really enjoyed the enhanced coverage he provided of Creighton Athletics, something he continues to do to this day as moderator of “The Bluejay Café” on Rivals.com. While I do think Perrault can be a little crazy with some of his comments and views towards things, I enjoyed his radio style and wish it was still around Omaha until this day. Having two local radio options in the afternoon is not a bad thing.

As for Andrew Siciliano, he got the chopping block early in 2009, as Fox Sports Radio merged with AM 570 KLAC in Los Angeles. Petros and Money now hold his former primetime slot. Siciliano has rebounded and now hosts a local show in Los Angeles, while Petros and Money, two Los Angeles guys, have had to adjust to broadcasting to a national audience. I am not a huge fan of Petros and Money, I did enjoy them in the past while filling in for Jim Rome but having to listen to Petros yell on a nightly basis (kind of like a Stephen A Smith type of annoying) is something I do not need to have on my radio dial. Oh yeah, whatever happened to Krystal Fernandez anyway? Was there any guy out there that did not enjoy listening to her when she was on the air with Andrew?

So, what is my point? While I was glad that Big Sports 590 showed up in 2006 and provided Omaha with more local programming and national broadcasting options, I am disappointed that their four year journey has led to this. Six hours of national sports programming has been replaced by a radio show that everyone in Omaha can hear on Z92 (another Journal company). After that, fans are treated to three live hours of The Jim Rome show, followed by Dan Patrick, whose show ended three hours before Omaha even gets to hear hour one! Sports fans in Omaha and the surrounding areas can only hope that Big Sports 590 and Journal Broadcasting come to their senses soon, and give us fans more options for live sports programming, either national or local, throughout the day. If they do not, I can only think that decreased advertising dollars may lead to the death of this station.

College Football Preview

2010-08-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

While the rest of the major sports and the rest of the NCAA use playoffs or tournaments to decide the best teams a fair shot at playing for a title, College Football once returns to using a formula where Coaches who don't watch any other games, Computer Dorks who have never played the game, and select media members and other distinguished individuals who may or may not watch games, decide who is #1 and #2.

I could please the few people who read this blog with a preview of who plays for the National Championship this year, but in reality, I really don't care, because the winner of that game receives a trophy and the right to claim a National Championship, something that in reality doesn't exist (IT'S MYTHICAL PEOPLE).

So it appears that according to coaches who only watch game film of their team and their opponents, Alabama and Ohio State are the two best teams in the country. Awesome to predict that considering we are only about 1 week into fall camp and nobody has played any games. But, after all, rankings are needed to sell games to big time TV networks to pay money to the business errrrrrr non-profit organization that is College Football.

So while I'll cheer on Nebraska, and hope they do well this year, I won't fret if they finish #3 in the BCS come December 5th, because if they finish amongst a bunch of teams with 0 losses, or 1 loss, and if they win that last exhibition bowl game, I can claim a National Championship, just like anyone else.

Oh, yeah, speaking of Nebraska. The coaches decided they were the #9 team in the ranking to start the year. It is nice of the coaches to reward Nebraska with such a high ranking, especially in the top 10, considering Nebraska has not beat a team ranked in the top ten since 2001. Also, does nobody else outside the state of Nebraska realize that the team has no starting quarterback yet, and that Bo Pelini has made comments to the effect that no starting quarterback may be in place by the time September 4th rolls around? I mean, is there any scarier phrase than “Nebraska returns 10 starters on offense”? I mean, the same offense that scored 7 points and turned the ball over 8 times against Iowa State (at home)? The same offense that mustered 106 yards of total offense against Texas in the Big 12 title game? The same offense that seem to be inept more than half the year against teams not in the Sun Belt? And this team is #9? Uh ok.

Midseason Baseball Awards

2010-07-25T19:54:00.000-07:00

I meant to post this like two weeks ago. Oops. do not take into account anything that has happened since the All-Star Break.

We all know that Major League Baseball writers will not pass out their awards until October when they do it over the course of a two week period, but that does not mean I cannot hand out my first-half awards.

American League Rookie of the Year

If Carlos Santana was called up by Cleveland sooner than June, he might be a more serious contender to win the award. For now, I will go with Detroit Tigers Outfielder Brennan Boesch. He was named the AL Rookie of the month for the first two months of the season and is hitting a sparkling .342 with 12 home runs and 49 RBI’s. He trails the AL batting title by only .004 heading into the break and is sure to be a contender for the title if he holds up down the stretch.

National League Rookie of the Year

This is actually a very tough call and it has come down to two guys for me that have not even been in the Major Leagues the entire season: Buster Posey and Stephen Strasburg. In just 38 games, Posey has hit .350 with 7 home runs and 25 RBI’s. Strasburg has been for the most part dominant. In his first start, he struck out 14 Pirates (yeah, I know it’s the Pirates but still, he also walk zero batters!). Overall he is 3-2, with a 2.32 ERA with a ridiculous 61 strikeouts and 11 walks in just 42.2 innings. Don’t forget about that 1.01 WHIP. For now, I’ll go with Strasburg. Apologies to Jaime Garcia and Stephen Strasburg

American League Manager of the Year

Over the last 30 games, The Chicago White Sox are 25-5 and have vaulted into first place in the AL Central; however, the AL Central is always a division up for grabs. What nobody really expected this year was for The Texas Rangers to be leading the AL West at the All-Star Break; therefore, Ron Washington gets my vote at Texas (for now).

National League Manager of the Year

There are a lot of fresh faces at the top of divisions in the National League, but none more phenomenal to me than The San Diego Padres. Bud Black has done a tremendous job getting the Padres to a 51-37 record and two game lead in the NL West despite their shortcomings. Exactly what shortcomings? Well, for one, The Padres hit .250 as a team which is 25th out of 30 Major League Teams. How do you overcome that? Well, a league-leading 3.25 ERA does not hurt, as the Padres pitching staff has been the backbone of this team since Opening Day. For the Padres to contend down the stretch, I still think they need to get another bat in their lineup, especially to provide protection to Adrian Gonzalez (I mean seriously, why does anyone pitch to this guy? His protection is Scott Hairston who hits an incredible .241!)

American League Cy Young Award

Lot of good candidates out there, but right now Tampa Bay’s David Price is tied for the league lead in wins (12) and is the leading ERA man (2.45 ERA). Combine that with a 1.20 WHIP and 100 strikeouts in 115.1 IP and you have yourself a Cy Young Award winner.

National League Cy Young Award winner

You tell me.

Ubaldo Jimenez 15-1, 2.20 ERA, 1.05 WHIP
Josh Johnson 9-3, 1.70 ERA, 0.96 WHIP
Adam Wainwright 13-5, 2.11 ERA, 1.00 WHIP
Roy Halladay 10-7, 2.19 ERA, 1.05 WHIP

I do not even know where to begin. It is very hard to overlook the 15-1 record though. It’s Jimenez for now, but this race is on.

American League MVP

The Detroit Tigers trail the AL Central by ½ game heading into the break. A big reason why is Miguel Cabrera. He leads the AL in hitting (.346), RBI’s (77) and is only 2 jacks off the home run lead. Can you say Triple Crown? That’s more than enough to override the credentials of the other contenders in this category.

National League MVP

Adrian Gonzalez (Please see above under NL Manager of the Year category)

I know the Padres backbone is their star studded pitching staff, but there is no way in hell they are in first place or even contending with Adrian Gonzalez, who somehow is hitting .301 with 18 home runs and 56 RBI’s with no legitimate hitters in front of him, or behind him.

Open Championship Preview

2010-07-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

Saint Andrews takes it turn in hosting The 150th or whatever they are on Open Championship (British Open to us U.S. Americans) on Thursday. Many classify Saint Andrews as “The Home of Golf.” I did not think growing up that the home of golf would be a place that is full of 40 mph cross-winds, dramatic temperature changes, and storms that develop without warning, but that is what golf historians tell me, so I will go with it. To me, golf is supposed to be played in nice, warm weather, with courses that do not look like they have been subject to 25 atomic bombs, but once a year, golf’s best gather overseas to decide who will win the third major golf championship of the year. So, here is a preview of things will transpire in this Open Championship.

-Some Euro will contend for The Open Championship on Sunday, not win, and we will never hear from him again.

Now, this happens at many majors, but it always seems like it happens at The Open Championship. Heck, even Europeans that win the Open (Paul Lawrie) are forgotten. Remember Lawrie? The guy who won the Open because Jean Van De Velde decided he did not want to? Considering most people who follow golf have probably already forgot the name of Gregory Havret (remember him? If not Google him), I do not have a doubt we will hear one name for the first and last time this weekend.

-Phil Mickelson will not win

OK, yeah, I know I said Phil Mickelson would not win The Masters, but at least now I have statistics to back this up. Mickelson has never done that well at The Open Championship. His best finish was 3rd in 2004 when he finished one shot back of Todd Hamilton and Ernie Els (Hamilton won in a playoff). His next best finish was a tie for 11th in 2000 and a tie for 19th in 2008. Last year Mickelson skipped the event to care for his wife, who was battling breast cancer (and still is); however, even if his wife Amy was healthy, I doubt he would have contended.

-Tiger Woods will contend

Tiger has done pretty well in majors this year and not so much else. However, he loves Saint Andrews and dominates the course. I cannot imagine not being in contention on Sunday. The one thing to watch out for is Tiger introducing a new putter for the first time. Most hardcore golf fans know that Tiger’s putting has slipped in recent years, which has prevented him from catching further up to Jack Nicklaus for most career majors.

-I (and a lot of people) will watch The Open Championship on Saturday or Sunday morning or both with a massive hangover.

I cannot really decide how I feel about morning sports events, but they suck if you are recovering for a hangover. I may have to end up DVR and starting from the beginning based on how blasted I get on Friday or Saturday night. Especially now since the city of Omaha has extended the bar time until 2a.m. and that goes into effect tomorrow. This is the one time of the year I wish I lived on the East Coast so I could get that extra hour of sleep.

-TV Cameras will have trouble picking up where the ball is.

Unless something changed from last year, ESPN will broadcast the event but they will not run the cameras. The BBC traditionally has done a poor job with their cameras and I do not expect to change this year. However, one thing you will be able to do is get up at 3a.m. to watch First-Round action. Now if only Augusta National would give us full TV coverage like that.

Remembering Owen Hart: 11 years later

2010-05-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

The night the WWE went “Over the Edge.”

11 years ago, May 23, 1999, World Wrestling Entertainment held their monthly pay-per-view event in Kansas City, Missouri, called "Over the Edge." One of the matches during the event was for the Intercontinental Championship, featuring The Godfather (champion) facing The Blue Blazer (Owen Hart) for the title. As fans were watching a promo video for the match, Hart fell to the ring, which led to his tragic untimely death.

As Jim Ross was talking, Owen Hart was preparing to descend from the rafters on a cord. Hart never made the descent he had planned, as he tragically fell at full speed some 90 feet from the top of Kemper Arena, snapping his head against one of the turnbuckles and falling into the ring. I remember sitting in my seat in section 217 of the arena, watching the whole thing, and wondering to myself, “Is this real?” For those 3 of you that do not know, pro wrestling is scripted. After a few seconds or so, I saw Owen’s leg flinch and WWE announcer Jerry “The King” Lawler jump up from his announce position and run over to Owen. EMT’s rushed out. Right in the middle of the ring, in front of 15,000 people, there was an attempt going on to save the life of Owen Hart. Nobody at home saw the fall as TV cameras were not focused on Owen at the time of the fall, but there were people that night that did see that fall, me included.

After several minutes, Owen was rushed out of the arena on a stretcher and to a local hospital. Now, that stunt Owen was going to attempt was performed a number of times, without any serious problems. The decision to have Owen perform that entrance did not bother me. It is what happened after the fall did. Immediately, and I mean IMMEDIATELY, after Owen was removed from the arena, Jeff Jarrett, one of Owen Hart’s best friends, along with Debra (another one of Owen’s good friends), were forced to go on camera for an interview. Jarrett, visibily shaken, and Debra (crying) said something, but I could not remember what was said. In fact, I cannot even remember who Jarrett wrestled. The fact the show was going on at this point was mind boggling.

After that match, I looked at the video screen and Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler were talking. Nobody in the arena could hear them, as the audio was cut-off, but I had a hint of what they were saying. Owen Hart had died, and nobody in the arena was going to hear that. Vince McMahon had a show to do and he did not want every fan leaving the arena if they announced it. Back in 1999, I still did not own a cell phone and none of my friends had phones either. I can recall sitting in my seat for the rest of the show and not one person around me had even mentioned Owen’s death. But everyone outside the arena knew. Anyways, the show went on and Vince McMahon even made an appearance during the show (about 10 minutes before facing the media I may add). I got home and found out the news.

I do think Vince McMahon is a smart-business man, I mean, looking at the wrestling empire he has created. But he is not a good person, and his decision to keep that show going, after what happened was the first of his two giant blunders he has made the last eleven years (The Chris Benoit tribute show, before it was revealed Benoit murdered his family, was the over). McMahon’s horrible decision could be summed up in him suggesting that the show must go on, because Owen would have wanted it that way, or something like that. Oh really Vince, too bad you were not able to ask Owen that, because he died tragically two hours earlier. Now, of course I am upset because I saw the whole situation un-fold before my eyes and the truth was never told to me that night in the arena. But the biggest victims in all of this: Owen’s wife Martha and her two kids, who were left without a husband and what many other wrestler’s referred to as a great father.

I really do not know if this has ever been discussed, but I think next year it is time to give Owen his proper respect, and that is placing him in The WWE Hall of Fame.

If you want to read more about this or watch other videos, please visit the following links:

http://homepage.mac.com/knarley/owenhart/timeline/owentimeline.html

Random Thoughts

2010-05-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

Random Thoughts

• USC May be stripped of 2004 National Championship by The BCS

I got a good laugh out of this today. A report out of USA Today suggests that there is a possibility that the BCS may strip USC of their 2004 BCS Championship, based on what the NCAA reveals in their investigation of the USC football program. My only question is this……Can you strip somebody of a title they did not actually earn in the first place? As everyone probably knows by now, in my opinion, teams do not win National Championships in College Football, you CLAIM National Championships. In what other major team sport (or any team sport) out there can there be two champions of something? Because in College Football, it has seemingly happened for over a period of 100 years and has happened as recently as 2003, when the BCS was supposed to be the model that would prevent split National Championships. The BCS can do what they want, I do not really care. Maybe Auburn will. (Remember, they went 13-0 that year, but did not get VOTED National Champion). And yes, I will admit, Nebraska has not won 5 National Championships in College Football; they have claimed 5 National Championships.

• NCAA Tournament Expansion

In what was a big sigh of relief to me and many College Basketball fans, the NCAA Board of Directors opted to expand the NCAA Men’s Tournament from 65 teams to 68 teams, not the 96 first feared. The question now remains of how the expansion is handled. Many people just assume that instead of one play-in errrrr opening round game between two 16 seeds, that there will be four opening round games between 16 and 17 seeds. Personally, I think it would be better and more competitive (and more watchable) if the last eight at-large teams in the field play for the right to compete in the NCAA Tournament. From what I have read, CBS and Turner did not pay for the rights to televise the tournament for opening round games, which could lead to the bottom of the barrel teams fighting for the right to get clowned by a #1 seed; however, I hope the NCAA sees it my way and makes the at-large teams battle it out for a spot in the final 64.

• Break up the Royals?

I was going to write an immediate column about what I thought about Ned Yost taking over as the manager of Kansas City Royals. This is the same Ned Yost that The Milwaukee Brewers fired when the team was 83-69 in 2008. The firing may have been justified, as Milwaukee was in danger of falling apart at the end of the season for the second straight season and missing the playoffs. However, so far, so good. The Royals are 5-2 under Yost and have lost each of their two games by just 1 run. Now, seven games are not even 5% of a major league schedule, so time will tell if the Royals can keep up this pace. Regardless of what the immediate future holds, Royals fans have to be happy with the start under Yost and the news that the prospects in the minor leagues (Mike Moustakas, Michael Montgomery, Aaron Crow, and Eric Hosmer) are all doing very well and may find themselves on the big league roster in 2011 and certainly no later than 2012.

• UFC 114: Evans vs. Jackson

Spike TV has done two thirty minute shows the last two Wednesdays promoting this fight. If you are a UFC fan and have not caught these episodes, I recommend you search your DVR for re-air dates because they are absolutely fantastic. I really do not know if the actual fight will live up to the verbal war these two have been one for the last year; however, it has been entertaining to see these two trade verbal jabs the last few months. If you need a taste of what, I am talking about, check out their audio press conference which was held this past Tuesday

http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=multiMedia.detail&gid=81898

• The Summer of Lebron

I don’t have much to say about this, other than I thought the Brett Favre coverage about him coming back every year was overdone. And now I got to put up with six weeks of this crap? I just hope whatever Lebron decides to do; he does it on July 1 and does not drag it out too long.

Another Royals Blunder

2010-05-16T18:50:00.000-07:00

Royals find no use for Ka'aihue in his eleven day stint with Kansas City

On May 5, 2010, Kila Ka’aihue got the call he had been waiting for nearly a year and a half. Ka’aihue was informed he was being promoted to Kansas City, as the Royals needed a bat to replace Rick Ankiel, who very not surprisingly, landed himself on the 15 day Disabled List (DL). Ka’aihue had spent all of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 in Omaha. He was hitting .304 with seven homers, and 20 RBI’s in Omaha, prior to being called up. Royals fans, such as myself, were hoping that Ka’aihue would get a fair shot in Kansas City; however, as Royals fans have come to expect over the years, Ka'aihue's reign ended in dissapointment, as he departed Kansas City on Sunday, back to Omaha, after getting one start and four at-bats, getting one hit, and driving in one run. For the second time this year, Kansas City has rendered a good bat useless on their bench. First, they gave Mike Aviles a spot on the opening day roster and after ten days on the bench, demoted him back to Omaha, before being brought back up. By the way, Aviles is now an everyday member of the starting lineup and hit second today. Oh yeah, Aviles is hitting .378 in 13 games. (NICE GOING DAYTON AND TREY!!!!!!!)

Since a team only gets so many options to bring a player up and send him back down, Royals fans can only wonder if the Royals did the smart thing in bringing Ka’aihue up to the majors (no need to think about the question, the answer is no). The only two positions Ka’aihue can play (first base/designated hitter) are played by Billy Butler and Jose Guillen. The Royals did not even bother to use Ka’aihue in key pinch hitting situations, such as Wednesday night. In what could have been the downfall of Trey Hillman’s managerial career, he elected to keep Yuneski Betancourt at the plate with 2 on and 2 out in the 8th inning, while the Royals traded 4-0. Instead of getting Kila a shot to perhaps make it a one run game, Hillman stuck with Betancourt, who calmly did nothing at the plate, and the inning (and the game) was over.

Prior to learning of Ka’aihue’s demotion, I had planned to write that Kansas City should just flat out release Jose Guillen, eating his contract (whatever is left of the $12 million) and making the young Ka’aihue the full time DH. Guillen is not likely to come back to Kansas City next year and with the season pretty much over (from a playoff standpoint), Ka’aihue should have been given a shot. That will not happen, and with Rick Ankiel due back soon, Ka’aihue may not get another shot at Kansas City until 2011, which is a shame, because he is a great hitter. To me, this is just another blunder, in a long line of blunders, made by General Manager Dayton Moore, and prior manager Trey Hillman.

So, who is taking Ka’aihue’s place on the roster? The Royals called up Bryan Bullington from Omaha, a right-handed pitcher who will bolster the Royals bullpen, which has been horrible the first six weeks of the season. Bullington joins Blake Wood (3rd round, 2006 draft), in what hopes will be improvement to the bullpen. Now, some of you baseball purists may recognize the name of Bryan Bullington. He was the #1 overall pick of The Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2002 MLB Amateur Draft. After brief stints with Cleveland and Toronto, after being dumped by Pittsburgh, Bullington struggled and has a lifetime 5.09 career ERA. Since he is still relatively young at age 29, teams such as Kansas City can give him a shot with little or no cost, in hopes he could regain that edge that once made him the #1 overall pick in the draft. Should that be successful, Kansas City may have found itself a potential gem in a bullpen that desperately needs someone to come through in a big-time situation.

Random Thoughts-May 9, 2010

2010-05-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

Random Thoughts

Tim Clark wins The Players Championship

First and foremost, congrats to Tim Clark for winning The Players Championship today. While most golf fans spend time arguing who the best player never to win a major is, Tim Clark was clearly the best player never to win a PGA tour event (he has won three on the European tour). That all changed today when Tim Clark shot the round of his life and held on to a one stroke victory over Robert Allenby. Now, for all you people out there that call The Players Championship “the Fifth Major”, I ask you please stop. Don’t get me wrong, it is one of the more important non-major events on tour, but it is not a major. I look no further back than 2008 to prove my point. Tiger Woods was injured and was on the verge of major surgery. With the U.S. Open forthcoming, which was Woods last tournament of the year, Woods skipped The Players Championship. In my opinion, if The Players Championship was a “Major”, then Tiger would not have skipped it.

When the Golf Channel was given the access to Tiger Woods for a five minute interview last month, Kelli Tilghman was summonsed to do the interview. Now, if you watch the Golf Channel, you certainly know that Lauren Thompson and Win McMurray are employed by that channel, and certainly are much more attractive than Kelli Tilghman. Perhaps the Golf Channel made the right move in not dispatching Thompson or McMurray to do the interview. Check out what happened today as Win McMurray reported on the “bulging” injury that forced Woods to withdraw from The Players Championship.

http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/video-blonde-hottie-on-why-tiger-had-to-pull-out-28330

As many co-workers certainly know, my favorite person in the entire world is former Miss Teen South Carolina Caitlin Upton. The answer was so priceless to me, that I called myself “Joe in Bugaha, U.S. American” during my days of emailing The Jim Rome Show, before it started to suck (another column for another day)

The answer she gave to why 1 in 5 children could not identify the United States on a map for priceless. This past spring, Catie (as she now likes to be called) showed everyone (in her view) that she was an intelligent person and finished in 3rd place with her boyfriend in The Amazing Race. She didn’t win a $1 million, but she won over my respect. Congrats Catie on finishing the race, and being the only woman to do so. As a tribute to you, I will never post another link or make another reference to you being Miss Teen South Carolina and having a bad night back in August 2007.

An incredible Mother’s Day story unfolded today in Major League Baseball, and roughly 12,000 people in Oakland, California were able to witness it in person. Dallas Braden, who had a 17-23 career record with a lifetime 4.64 ERA threw a PERFECT GAME on Mother’s Day, with his Grandmother in attendance. What nobody probably knew before today, Braden’s Mom died of cancer during his Senior Year of High School and his Grandmother raised him after that. Not only that, but Braden’s grandmother told Alex Rodriguez to “stick it” during a post-game interview.

Two weeks ago, the Yankees were in Oakland playing New York. Alex Rodriguez was the runner on first and had reached an area between 2nd and 3rd on a foul ball. Instead of running back to first base by touching second base first, A-Rod walked right over the mound, which led Braden to accuse A-Rod of breaking an unwritten rule and calling A-Rod and “individualistic baseball player.” After the game, A-Rod said "He just told me to get off his mound. I was a little surprised. I'd never quite heard that. Especially from a guy that has a handful of wins in his career ... I thought it was pretty funny actually." After Braden once again sounded off on the situation this past week, A-Rod responded this past Friday by saying "I think Major League Baseball reads the same articles as we do," Rodriguez said. "Now, look, I really don't want to extend his extra 15 minutes of fame." Well A-Rod, Braden joined a list of 18 other people who have thrown a perfect game in Major League History, and he didn’t need your help in getting his “lifetime” fame today. In A-Rod’s defense, time will tell if Dallas Braden will top Len Barker and Mike Witt, as “pitchers who had no business throwing a perfect game.”

Some quick thoughts on UFC 113, the best card put on by the UFC since UFC 100 last July.

• After the fights, Dana White indicated that Kimbo Slice would no longer fight in the UFC. My question is why Kimbo ever got a chance after he was beat during The Ultimate Fighter by Roy Nelson. Kimbo was gassed within 30 seconds of fighting Matt Mittrione last night and I am not sure why it took the referee so long to stop the fight.
• Considering how stacked the light heavyweight division is, I wish Dana White all the luck in the world in determining who the first person will be to get a shot at Maurico “Shogun” Rua’s light heavyweight title. Hopefully we don’t have to wait 6 months for another Rua fight, like we did for Machida-Shogun 2. Personally, I think it is only fair to give Rashad Evans the fight (if he beats Rampage Jackson); however, it is not unreasonable to believe that Machida deserves a shot at getting his belt back and having a third fight between these two great fighters.
• Josh Koscheck did his best attempt to win an Oscar last night by faking like he took an illegal knee to the face from Paul Daley. Replays clearly showed that the knee missed his face and fortunately for Paul Daley, he was not deducted a point. Unfortunately for Daley, that did not stop him from trying to fight Koscheck, AFTER THE FIGHT WAS OVER. White indicated that Daley would no longer be in the UFC after his post-fight actions. Considering White is threatening to cut Anderson Silva from the promotion, who may be the #1 pound for pound fighter in all of MMA, I would not be surprised to see White hold up his word in banning Daley from the organization.
• As if Daley’s post fight actions were not enough, Koscheck did his best to piss off the Montreal crowd by telling them that Pittsburgh would beat Montreal during the NHL Playoffs and that he will be Georges Saint-Pierre for his title. Koscheck may be right about the NHL, but good luck even getting through one round of GSP before being submitted.

What? You thought I was serious? Hell, no. Caitlin Upton can run for U.S. Senate and win in SouthCarolina for all I care, but I will always remember her for this.

Royal Blunders

2010-05-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

The Royals are 11-19 and well on their way to losing 100 games (again). Here are some quick thoughts on three blunders made by Kansas City, some which occurred this year, and one that was building up over the course of time.

1. The Handling of Mike Aviles

In 2008, The Kansas City Royals made a midseason call-up and gave Mike Aviles his first crack in the big leagues. Aviles paid off for Kansas City as he hit .325, 10 homeruns, and drove in 51 runners in just 102 games. The limited action resulted in Aviles winning Player of the Year for Kansas City and he finished 3rd in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. The good times quickly ended for Aviles, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2009 and missed most of the season.

Fast-forward to 2010 and Aviles appeared to be picking up right where he left off. He hit .471 in Spring Training (24-51) and made the Royals Opening Day roster. Surely, somebody like Aviles would get his starting job back, based on his performance; however, The Royals just sat him on the bench and after one at-bat in two appearances he was sent back to Triple A Omaha.

So, instead of giving Aviles regular playing time in Omaha in the first place, he sat useless on the KC bench for the better part of the first two weeks of the season. After hitting .271 in Omaha over 18 games, KC called Aviles back up. Well, Aviles has only hit .350 since returning, yet he still has to share time with Chris Getz and Yuniesky Betancourt.

The handling of Aviles could not have been done any worse than it was. If the Royals were not going to start him from day one due to him coming off a recent injury, he should have been in Omaha in the first place. Instead, KC made a blunder and rendered Aviles useless for two weeks. This is only one of the examples of why The Royals have been near or at the bottom of their division for 20 years.

2. Ramon Colon

I really do not think this needs much explanation. Ramon Colon was with the Royals from 2007 up until his recent release. Despite struggles, he made the Royals opening day roster. After 5 appearances totaling 2 innings and an ERA of 18.00, Colon was released by the Royals and had his contract sold to the Tigers. No, not Detroit, the Kia Tigers of the Korean pro league. So there you have it, Kansas City had a player on their opening day roster who now pitches in Korea, about one month after the start of the season.

3. Alex Gordon

It appears Kansas City may finally be giving up on their 1st round pick from 2005. Gordon was selected #2 overall from the University of Nebraska after a decorated college career. Gordon, who played 3B for Kansas City, was sent back to Triple A Omaha and will be moved to the outfield. Now, it is possible that they are just trying to get Gordon some work at outfield and try him out again in 2011, as most of the outfield in Kansas City this year is not signed for 2011, or they are just trying to make him into a fielder at another position to increase his trade value (which is none). Anyway, this information is irrelevant. I just wanted to point out who Gordon was drafted around in 2005.

1. Justin Upton
2. Alex Gordon
3. Jeff Clement
4. Ryan Zimmerman
5. Ryan Braun
6. Ricky Romero
7. Troy Tulowitzki
8. Wade Townsend
9. Mike Pelfry
10. Cameron Maybin
11. Andrew McCutchen

Outside of picks 3 and 8, every one of those players is in the Major Leagues, and a few are all-stars. Needless to say, major miss by Kansas City.

College Coaching Changes

2010-04-27T21:26:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I blogged about anything. I have been busy with school, work, and other things, but the recent chain of coaches changing teams in College Basketball has brought me out of a mini-sabbatical. Now, I went to Creighton University, so I may come across as bias to some people, but please understand that these are upfront, honest opinions on the three hiring’s made over the last four days.

Oregon-Dana Altman

For 16 years (minus one day in Arkansas), Dana Altman has been the head coach at Creighton University. During that time, he racked up 327 wins and seemed to always have the Jays winning 20 games a year and contending for NCAA Tournament bids. It seemed after he flirted with Arkansas in 2007 that he would end up coaching at Creighton until he retired (by the way, he said that in his welcome back press conference in 2007). However, if there is one thing you can never trust, it is the words out of a college coach’s mouth. The timing of this hire seems a bit strange, considering Creighton was coming off a record of 18-16, as the Jays failed to win 20 games for the first time in about ever, and missed either the NCAA Tournament or NIT in about forever.

I knew that Oregon was in the midst of a long coaching search (38 days). They reportedly sought out Tom Izzo, Jamie Dixon, Brad Stevens, and most recently, Mike Anderson. All either were just rumors or told Oregon no. I never thought that Dana Altman would ultimately end up the head coach at Oregon, but it was clear to me after this was over, that Altman needed a change, as the program on “The Hilltop” as we in Omaha liked to call it, had grown stale.

So what is Oregon getting in a coach? Well, for one, a coach who seemed to have gone away from made Creighton successful up until 2007. This was a change I was looking for at the time, as I had wanted Creighton to contend for sweet 16 appearances and not just NCAA appearances; however, this move backfired. Altman went out and recruited athletic players that he could never find a way to gel in his system. By the end of this year, Altman was subbing 5 guys out at a time, and at no point during the year did Creighton show they could be a consistently good team. There were 20 point blowouts on more than one occasion and the season ended with a semi-final loss in the CIT, yes, I said CIT.

So, can Altman go back to his pre-2007 ways and make that work at Oregon? Not likely. He’ll need to adapt to the Pac-10 style of play (well, not the conference’s play this year for sure), or otherwise, there is no chance he’ll be around once his 7 year contract ends up.

FINAL GRADE FOR COACHING CHOICE: C+ (Oregon reached, had nowhere else to go)

Creighton-Greg McDermott

By 8p.m. Saturday night, Creighton Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen had been informed by Dana Altman that he had indeed accepted the head coaching job at Oregon. At a press conference today, Greg McDermott told of a story that occurred about 7 years ago. Following a loss in the MVC Tournament, McDermott was approached by Rasmussen and told him in some aspect that if Altman ever left Creighton, that he would be the first coach contacted. Rasmussen kept his word and contacted McDermott on Saturday night. By Sunday night, Rasmussen was in Des Moines and had offered McDermott the job. After sleeping on it, McDermott accepted and what seemed about 5 minutes after Altman’s press conference at Oregon ended, McDermott was announced by Creighton as a new coach.

So, what does Creighton get in McDermott as a coach? Well, he did struggle at Iowa State the last four years. He did not win a winning season, but if you take a look at the Iowa State athletic department as a whole, it is not very good. Even Gene Chizik, who struggled as Iowa State football coach, left for Auburn, and had a very good year down there. Cael Sanderson, who is wrestling to Iowa State, left to be head coach at Penn State. So perhaps McDermott was just not a good fit at Iowa State. That does not mean he is a bad fit at Creighton. In fact, in five years at Northern Iowa (a fellow MVC School), McDermott took Northern Iowa to the NCAA Tournament in his final three years at the school, including two-at large bids during that time. McDermott knows what it takes to win in the MVC, so it does not surprise me Rasmussen went to McDermott first. McDermott will have to work quickly to secure the remainder of the team and to convince incoming recruits to honor their commitments.

FINAL GRADE FOR COACHING CHOICE: B+ (the search went a little too quick, but in reality, there may have not been a better candidate.

Iowa State-Fred Hoiberg

“The Mayor.” Ask any Iowa State fan who that is, and they will tell you Fred Hoiberg. Tonight, it is being reported that Fred Hoiberg will be the new head coach at Iowa State. Seriously, Fred Hoiberg? I know he is probably the most popular player ever to play at Iowa State, but really? This is your hire? Iowa State, you are proving my point of having a terrible athletic department. Hoiberg played 10 seasons in the NBA, retiring with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2005. Since retirement, he has been in the Timberwolves front office, most recently being promoted to the vice president of basketball operations on September 27, 2009.

So, why is it a terrible hire? Hoiberg has ZERO coaching experience. Not just ZERO head coaching experience, ZERO assistant coaching experience, ZERO graduate coaching experience. I know Iowa State was working quickly to get a coach and unite the fan base, but apparently they wanted to go all style and no substance in securing a name hire like Hoiberg. Who is the biggest winner in this? Well, maybe Nebraska. Perhaps someone else (Iowa State), will finish last in the Big 12 instead of Nebraska next year.

FINAL GRADE FOR COACHING CHOICE: Below an F. 0.00%

2010 Masters Preview

2010-04-04T19:29:00.000-07:00

Masters Preview

I will go ahead and break this down into groups of fives.

Five Who Can Win

1. Ernie Els

At the beginning of the year, Ernie Els would have been on my list of guys who cannot win The Masters. After failing to win a tournament in 2009, Els is off to a fantastic start in 2010, winning both The World Golf Championships at Doral and The Arnold Palmer Invitation. He has also logged three other top 12 finishes including a top five finish at The Farmers Insurance Open. Ernie is really feeling good about his game right now and I expect him to carry his hot start to 2010 right into Augusta National.

2. Tiger Woods

Do I really need to explain myself here? Regardless of how many women he has been in, the guy is the #1 golfer in the world.

3. Charl Schwartzel

Who? Yes, even I have not heard of this guy before today but Johnny Miller said he was legit, so I checked him out. He has only played in four events in the states this year, but he did make the round of 16 at the Accenture Match Play Championship, second at the World Golf Championships at Doral, and a tie for third at The Shell Houston Open. Not a bad start to the year.

4. Steve Stricker

Steve Stricker has elevated himself to the #2 player in the world, despite never winning a Major Championship. At age 42, he is this year’s version of Kenny Perry, as he is playing terrific golf right now. He won The Northern Trust Open, finished third at the Sony Open and has two other top ten finishes this year.

5. Camillo Villegas

I just have a feeling he is going to break out in the next two years and win a major. So why not now? Before missing the cut at The Arnold Palmer Invitational, Villegas won The Honda Classic and had three other top 20 finishes in his other three events. Look for some magic from Camillo this week.

Five Who Will Not Win

1. The winner of the Par 3 Contest

The person who has won the Par 3 Contest the day before The Masters has never taken home the coveted Green Jacket on Sunday. So I am just going to assume that this will not change.

2. Phil Mickelson

The one they call “Lefty” had an awesome finish to 2009, winning The Tour Championship and a World Golf Championship event in Shanghai; however, he has failed to carry over his 2009 finish into the 2010. Lefty’s best finish was a tie for 8th at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and has just three top ten finishes in 7 starts. He nearly missed the cut at the Shell Houston Open this weekend as well. Just not the performance I like to see from Phil to make me think he can win. I would not be surprised if Phil failed to make the cut.

3. Kenny Perry

Was there anybody outside of friends and family of Angel Cabrera and Chad Campbell that did not want Kenny Perry to win The Masters last year? After nearly holing his tee shot on 16, Perry limped home with a bogey-bogey finish and lost a playoff on the second hole to Angel Cabrera. Perry is off a terrible start in 2010 with only one top 10 finish at the SBS Championship to start the year and no other top 30 finishes in 5 other starts, including missing the cut at The Arnold Palmer Invitational. Kenny’s chance to shine was last year and I’m afraid that his window to win a Major Championship may be closing for this 49 year old man.

4. Tom Watson

Do not let the near win at The British Open fool you. That tournament is more about shot accuracy than anything and Watson nearly perfected it at age 59 last year. The Masters is too long of a course for Tom to stay a consistent contender. Hopefully he can make the cut though

5. Vijay Singh

After winning the Inaugural Fed Ex Cup in 2008 (mainly due to Tiger Woods missing most of the year with a knee injury), Singh did not win in 2009 and is off to a bad start in 2010 (although he did finish in a tie for fourth at Doral). I would be surprised to see him perform well at Augusta given his track record over the past year and a half.

Five People I Want To See In

1. Y.E. Yang

The dude started the Tiger Woods tailspin by stoning him at the 2009 PGA Championship. He also lifted his golf bag over his head like The Stanley Cup after winning it. Imagine what he celebration he could do if he won The Green Jacket?

2. David Duval

The guy is still trying to come back and establish himself as a legit golfer after nearly disappearing from the game completely. He has finished in a tie for second in the US Open last year and finished second at Pebble Beach earlier this year. Hopefully David has another magical run in him.

3. Kenny Perry

I want this guy to bag a major desperately, especially after last year’s debacle. Like I said above though, he will not.

4. Steve Stricker

This year’s version of Kenny Perry.

5. Phil Mickelson

Win one for Amy!

FIVE PEOPLE WHO I DO NOT WANT TO SEE WIN

1. Tiger Woods

Yeah, dude is a jerk.

2. Sergio Garcia

See Tiger Woods explanation above.

3. Angel Cabrera

C’mon, nobody wants to see a back to back champion. How boring would that be?

4. Ben Crane

I play ready golf. That means I’m not a slow player. This guy is as slow as it comes. Rory Sabbatini once left his group after playing a hole because Crane was so slow. I want this guy nowhere near the top of the leader board on Sunday.

5. Miguel Angel Jimenez

That damn ponytail of his bothers the hell out of me.

A Perfect Final Four?

2010-03-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

A Perfect Final Four

OK, I will acknowledge something off the bat, I am not sure any Final Four is 100% perfect, but from taking a look at this year’s field, each and every team offers a unique storyline that will make this one of the more interesting Final Fours in my opinion.

Duke (The team everyone loves to hate)

As soon as the field was released two weeks ago, I immediately got a text and a facebook message that Duke was being gift-wrapped a Final Four with all the teams that were placed in their regions. Now, I do agree that Duke’s field may have been the weakest of the group; however, a team still has to go out and win their games. Remember when everyone said Kansas was given a tough field with having to deal with Ohio State, Georgetown, Maryland, Michigan State, etc? Well, they did not even get by Northern Iowa. So, Duke still had to win their games, and they knocked off teams from the Pac 10, Big 10, and Big 12 to earn their 12th Final Four under Coach K. Now, I know there is a lot of Duke Haters who hate seeing them succeed, but one must note that Duke has not been in a Final Four since 2004 (an eternity for them) and have not won The National Championship since 2001. Heck, Duke has only won one National Title since 1992. So, having Duke in the field adds a little more spice, and The Final Four could always use a little more spice. Baylor’s a nice story (considering where they came from), but they aren’t quite as exciting to watch as The Dukies.

West Virginia (Bob Huggins shot at a title)

For Bob Huggins, this is his second final four appearance (1992 Cincinnati). However, this time around, Huggins is leading his alma mater and the team he played for to Indianapolis for a shot at the title. Huggins has done a tremendous job coaching the Mountaineers this year in leading West Virginia to their First Final Four since 1959, especially since the team lost starting Point Guard Truck Bryant to injury during a practice right before The Sweet 16. His decision to play a 1-3-1 zone against Kentucky worked perfectly, and led to the upset of the considered tourney favorite once Kansas was dethroned in the second round. This may not be Huggins best team ever, as his 2000 team with the ill-fated injury of Kenyon Martin was probably the best; however, this is his toughest team, and there would be nothing sweeter for Huggins then to lead his alma-mater to The National Championship.

Michigan State (The team that Duke Haters probably need to hate more)

With all the hate out there for Duke, I wonder where all the hate is for Michigan State. Did you know this is the 6th Final Four appearance in the last 12 years for Tom Izzo and Michigan State? That’s one final four appearance every two years. That’s pretty damn good, considering how easy it is for a team to play a bad game and get run out of the NCAA Tournament. Heck, that’s pretty good considering how tough it has been for some NCAA teams out there to even MAKE the tournament lately (uhh, Nebraska, hello?) Izzo again has showed why he is a genius this tournament as he was able to lead The Spartans to The Final Four without their star Point Guard Kalin Lucas, who was injured during their 2nd round game against Maryland. Had Michigan State been able to cash in more than one title during this run, perhaps they would get that Duke hate, but for now, they’ll get all cheers should they face Duke on Monday Night.

Butler (The host school)

Never in the history of the NCAA Tournament has the host school reached the Final Four until this year. Now, some people may try to drop that Cinderella story on Butler; however, this is no Cinderella story. Butler earned a #5 seed in this year’s tournament, posting quality non-conference wins and running through The Horizon League. George Mason on the other hand snuck into the tournament as an 11 seed, gaining one of the last at-large spots available. This team deserves to be there and it would not be a surprise to anyone at this point to see Butler playing for it all, just 7 miles from their home arena on Monday Night. Should they get to Monday Night and should they win, it would mark the first time a team outside a power conference won the title since UNLV in 1990. If they do so, they would score wins against the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, and either The Big East or ACC along the way. Look for a decent home court advantage in terms of crowd support for The Bulldogs this weekend.

Predictions

Well, I’ve acknowledged to many people I stink at making predictions (I picked Ohio State, Kansas State, Kentucky, and Baylor to make it before last weekend); however, I will give it a shot.

I’ll take Michigan State over Butler in a close game, with Michigan State pulling away at the end.

I’ll take Duke, because I think they’ll shoot and defend the perimeter better than Kentucky did against West Virginia.

And on Monday Night…..well, I’ll wait for the actual matchup to make that prediction….

Sweet 16 preview

2010-03-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

I can't recall the last time that 11 different conferences were represented in The Sweet 16. The most amazing part of it is that The Big Ten leads all conferences with 3 teams represented heading into the games on Thursday and Friday Night. The Big East, Big 12, and SEC each have two representatives, while the remaining teams hail from the ACC, Pac-10, A-10, Ivy League, West Coast, Missouri Valley, and Horizon leagues. So, who's got the easiest road to Indianapolis? Let's take a look.

East (Syracuse)

#1 Kentucky vs #12 Cornell
#2 West Virginia vs #11 Washington

Kentucky got good news this week when they learned that potential Elite 8 opponent West Virginia lost starting PG Darryl Bryant. Before they can think about that, they must face Cornell, led by 8 seniors, to go against Kentucky and their fabulous four freshman. Cornell also has the luxury of playing 50 miles from home, but keep in mind, if any team travels well, its Kentucky, and their fans will be at the Carrier Dome in full force. Washington is one of the hottest teams entering the sweet 16, as they have won 9 straight games, including the disposing of #3 seed New Mexico in the second round last weekend. Don't count out Washington in this game; however, regardless of the outcome, I fully expect Kentucky to be heading to Indianapolis at weekend's end.

South (Houston)

#1 Duke vs #4 Purdue
#3 Baylor vs #10 Saint Mary's (CA)

I loved Baylor coming out of this region from the beginning. I thought they had a fairly easy draw in rounds 1 and 2, with having to either deal with an overseeded Notre Dame, or Old Dominion in round 2. Now the Bears head home to Texas to play in Houston for The Sweet 16. While Omar Sahman of Saint Mary's may be one of the tournaments two cinderella players, I don't think he will have as much success this time around, as Baylor has good size to defend him in the post. Saint Mary's will have to shoot the three ball well in order to get to the Elite Eight.

Most people didn't expect Purdue to advance past Siena in round one, let alone Texas A&M in round two, this of course due to the fact that Robbie Hummel is out for the year and Purdue got blown out of The Big Ten tournament by Minnesota. Purdue has shown they are the toughest team in the tournament, and don't count them out against the Dukies. In the end, I expect Baylor to beat Duke on Sunday and head to Indianapolis to take on Kentucky.

West (Salt Lake City)

#1 Syracuse vs #5 Butler
#2 Kansas State vs #6 Xavier

Syracuse will once again be without Arine Onuaku for their game against Butler on Thursday, leaving just 7 guys to fill the 5 spots on the floor. Now, if Wesley Johnson and Andy Rautins shoot tomorrow like they did on Sunday, Butler has no chance. What further hampers Butler (who is not a Cinderella story btw) is that they only shoot 34% as a team from three, and they will need to shoot the three against the Syracuse 2-3 zone. Shelvin Mack and Willie Veasley are the Bulldogs best bet from three.

If you refer to Xavier as a "mid-major", you deserved to get punched in the face. Led by Indiana transfer Jordan Crawford (who dunked over Lebron btw last summer), the Musketeers have not skipped a beat under Craig Mack, who took over for Sean Miller who bolted for Arizona. The obvious keys for Xavier to win this game are to stop Jacob Pullen (34 points against BYU) and Dennis Clemente. In a prediction that will make the stomachs of Kansas fans turn, I fully expect Kansas State to be playing basketball on Saturday afternoon against Syracuse, and I'll take Kansas State and Jacob Pullen and Jamar Samuels ability to shoot the three, to take down Syracuse.

Midwest (Saint Louis)

#9 Northern Iowa vs #4 Michigan State
#6 Tennessee vs #2 Ohio State

Perhaps the most wide open field, despite the fact that Ohio State is led by Junior guard Evan Turner, who at 6-8, is Ohio State's tallest player (that operates as their PG). Tennessee somehow was able to recover during the year after Tyler Smith was kicked off the team for his role in a January 1, 2010, arrest involving four basketball players. 8th year player Wayne Chism (it seems that long anyway) was on the team that blew a 21 point first half lead to Ohio State in the 2007 Regional Semifinals so you know that revenge will be on his mind Friday night. It doesn't matter, too much Evan Turner, and the Buckeyes move on.

As a graduate and season ticket holder to Creighton, I have seen Northern Iowa play many times this year, including once in person. It does not surprise me that they knocked off Kansas; however, i never in my right mind expect it to happen. The theme of Northern Iowa all year was a new player stepping up each game and Ali Farokanamesh certainly did that against Kansas, hitting the shot of the tournament so far to put Northern Iowa up by 4 with 26 seconds left. With Michigan State needing to replace star PG Kalin Lucas, who tore his achillies heel, I would normally go ahead and pick Northern Iowa to win in this case. However, I learned this week that Northern Iowa will be featured on this week's cover of Sports Illustrated. For that sole reason alone, I'll take Michigan State. I'll take Ohio State though come Sunday.

So there you have it. I expect to see Ohio State, Kansas State, Kentucky, and Baylor in Indinapolis next weekend.

Random Thoughts-Sunday Night

2010-03-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

Random Thoughts, never thought today I'd have to talk about Tiger Woods.

I thought I had a lot to blog about prior to today; however, now I am not sure I can cover all my thoughts. I guess first things first, Tiger Woods. Out of nowhere today came the report that Tiger spent 5 minutes with ESPN and The Golf Channel. Now, of course, unless those interviews were going to be with Erin Andrews or Lauren Thompson, I don’t care. I did watch anyway and nothing alarming came out of the interviews. At this point, I just want to know how he is going to perform on the course, and what the next tournament he is going to play after The Masters. My money is on The Players Championship in Mid-May.

This morning, the collective groan you heard from the north were Minnesota Twins fans reacting to the news that their closer, Joe Nathan, would undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the season. I am not surprised one bit, considering the first thing I thought of when I heard of “Joe Nathan” and “elbow discomfort” about two weeks ago were the words “Tommy John.” Now, Twins fans should not panic too much. I know Nathan has been the second best closer in baseball outside of Mariano Rivera the last couple years, but if there is any organization that can develop someone into any position, it is the Twins. Jon Rauch will likely be the closer, as he has some experience at the role, but knowing the Twins, they could always go with someone else.

This evening, the collective cheer you heard from the north were Minnesota Twins fans reacting to the news that their catcher, Joe Mauer, agreed to an 8 year deal worth $184 million with a no-trade clause. As I pointed out in an earlier blog post, it was essential this deal get done as Joe Mauer needs The Twins and The Twins need Joe Mauer. More details of the deal will be released tomorrow but I have to wonder just how much of this money is deferred and whether or not it includes an ownership option later in Joe’s life. Mauer is only 26 now so he will only be 34 or 35 when this contract is up. If Mauer is still the hitter he is then as he is today, a position change could be in order, and may already have happened by the time the contract is up.

This goes back a little bit, but Oregon suspended star QB Jeremiah Masoli for his role in a burglary this offseason. Masoli was not kicked off the team, and will have an opportunity to return to the team in 2011. This is a stunning blow to Oregon, as they were predicted to be a top 10 team this year. That likely will not happen now. The question is, do Oregon fans want Masoli back? They might, but should they want him back? His poor decision making off the field will end up costing Oregon on the field and it may take a long time for him to receive the forgiveness of the Oregon faithful.

The first four days of the NCAA Tournament…. where to start, why not just ask some questions.

Why did it take Kansas 37 minutes to press Northern Iowa?

How unconscious is Ali Farokmanesh, and how many national radio shows is he going to be on starting tomorrow?

Is anyone going to remember that Kansas State lost to Kansas three times in the regular season? After all, Kansas State is in The Sweet 16 and Kansas is now back in Lawrence.

Are the Florida Gators still having nightmares of Jimmer Frederette just schooling them for 30 minutes on Thursday?

How in the hell did Texas blow an 8 point lead in overtime with 2:30 remaining?

Out of all the buzz-beaters/last second shots, why on earth was GUS JOHNSON not involved in ANY of them? Someone should get fired for that! Bad placement!

Why were most of the buzz-beaters/last second shots on Thursday and Saturday? (Actually, that may answer the Gus Johnson question)

Do I owe the Pac-10 an apology? Sort of, good job Washington, fair effort California

Why were Notre Dame and Marquette given 6 seeds? They were over-seeded by at least two slots and it showed during their first round matchups? That being said, what happened to the Big East?

Can Michigan State continue to win without Kalin Lucas? Can Purdue continue to win without Robbie Hummel?

Could you please visit this twitter link? Someone wants to say hi to the world. http://twitter.com/OmarSamhan

Does the NCAA know their secret plan to have non-power conference teams knock each other out of the tournament this year failed in three instances? The NCAA likes to pit two-non power conference teams against each other with the winner facing a power-conference team in the second round. Perhaps we deserve more first round matchups between power conference and non-power conference teams after what happened this year.

1. #9 seeded Northern Iowa defeated #8 seeded UNLV en route to beating #1 seeded Kansas.
2. #10 seeded Saint Mary’s (CA) defeated #7 seeded Richmond en route to beating #2 seeded Villanova.
3. #12 seeded Cornell defeated #5 seeded Temple en route to beating #4 seeded Wisconsin.
4. Honorable mention, #5 Butler defeated #12 seeded UTEP. #4 Vanderbilt would have been the opponent, but they lost to #13 seeded Murray State. So in the end, the NCAA plan that I allege, did not happen.

Oh yeah, I guess on an entertainment note, Dancing With The Stars begins tomorrow night. I will tune in to see how Erin Andrews and Chad OchoCinco perform. However, if you actually call and vote for Kate Gosselin tomorrow after her performance, to keep her on TV another week, you are a giant scumbag.

Coming up later this week (or tomorrow for that matter), a preview of the Sweet 16 and UFC 111, which airs March 27, 2010, live on Pay-Per-View

My Bracket

2010-03-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

In creating these match-ups, there are two big rules I had to keep in mind. The first is that teams are not allowed to play a conference opponent until the regional final, unless there is more than 8 bids in a given league. The second is that BYU for their own reasons does not play on Sunday, so I had to place them in a regional that plays on Thursday and Saturday and the NCAA will have to also take that into account for their first and potential second round match-ups.

My overall #1 seed is Kansas and they would play #4 overall seed Duke if they made it to the final four. My #2 overall seed is Kentucky and they would play #3 overall seed Syracuse if they made it to the final four. Also, Syracuse is hosting the East Regional this year, making them ineligible to play in their home building. Regardless of whether Minnesota wins the Big 10 tourney or not, I have them in my field.

So, I can’t figure out a way to upload a bracket onto this, but here are the match-ups. I’ll try posting a link to my bracket at NCAA.com if they allow me.

The Condensed Version

1. Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, Duke
2. Ohio St, Kansas State, Georgetown, West Virginia
3. New Mexico, Villanova, Purdue, Baylor
4. Pittsburgh, Maryland, Michigan St, Wisconsin
5. Tennessee, Texas A&M, Butler, Temple
6. Xavier, Richmond, Vanderbilt, BYU
7. Oklahoma St, Clemson, Northern Iowa, Gonzaga
8. UNLV, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Marquette
9. Florida St, Old Dominion, Texas, Saint Mary's
10. Louisville, San Diego St, Missouri, Wake Forest
11. UTEP, California, Washington, Florida
12. Minnesota, Murray St, Utah St, Siena
13. Oakland, Wofford, Cornell, New Mexico St
14. Sam Houston St, Ohio, Houston, Montana
15. North Texas, Vermont, Morgan St, UC Santa-Barbara
16. East Tenn St, Ark Pine Bluff/Winthrop, Robert Morris, Lehigh

Midwest Bracket

1. Kansas
16. East Tennessee St
8. UNLV
9. Florida State
5. Tennessee
12. Minnesota
6. Xavier
11. UTEP
3. New Mexico
14. Sam Houston State
7. Oklahoma State
10. Louisville
2. Ohio State
15. North Texas

West Bracket

1. Duke
16. Lehigh
8. Marquette
9. Saint Mary’s (CA)
5. Temple
12. Siena
4. Wisconsin
13. New Mexico St
6. BYU
11. Florida
3. Baylor
14. Montana
7. Gonzaga
10. Wake Forest
2. West Virginia
15. UC Santa Barbara

East

1. Kentucky
16. Winthrop/Arkansas Pine Bluff
8. Notre Dame
9. Old Dominion
5. Texas A&M
12. Murray St.
4. Maryland
13. Wofford
6. Richmond
11. California
3. Villanova
14. Ohio
7. Clemson
10. San Diego St
2. Kentucky
15. Vermont

South

1. Syracuse
16. Robert Morris
8. Georgia Tech
9. Texas
5. Butler
12. Utah St
4. Michigan St
13. Cornell
6. Vanderbilt
11. Washington
3. Purdue
14. Houston
7. Northern Iowa
10. Missouri
2. Georgetown
15. Morgan St.

Updated Field of 65

2010-03-14T12:39:00.000-07:00

Updated Field of 65 (4p.m. est, selection sunday)

Big East (8): Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova, Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Marquette, Louisville, Notre Dame
Big 12 (7): Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Texas A&M, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma St
ACC (6): Duke, Maryland, Clemson, Wake Forest, Florida State, Georgia Tech
Big Ten (5): Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Purdue, Minnesota
SEC (4): Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Florida
Mountain West (4): New Mexico, BYU, UNLV, San Diego St
Atlantic 10 (3): Xavier, Temple, Richmond
Pac 10 (2): California, Washington
C-USA (2): Houston, UTEP
WAC (2): New Mexico State, Utah St
WCC (2): Saint Marys, Gonzaga

One Bid Leagues (20)

American East Vermont
Atlantic Sun East Tenn St
Big Sky Montana
Big South Winthrop
Big West UC Santa Barbara
Colonial Old Dominion
Horizon Butler
Ivy Cornell
MAAC Siena
MAC Ohio
MEAC Morgan State
Mo Valley Northern Iowa
NEC Robert Morris
Ohio Valley Murray State
Patriot Lehigh
Southern Wofford
Southland Sam Houston St
Summit Oakland
Sun Belt North Texas
SWAC Arkansas Pine Bluff

Last Four In: UTEP, Utah St, Minnesota, Florida (in order)
First Four Out Mississippi St, Virginia Tech, Illinois, Seton Hall (in order)

Updating the field of 65

2010-03-13T09:10:00.000-08:00

After yesterday's action, I am thinking right now there are at most 4 open spots available for at-large teams. This assumes there are no surprises in conference tournaments and there is that possibility out there. So for now, here is my updated field, which I will begin seeding here today.

Updated Field of 65

Big East (8): Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova, Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Marquette, Louisville, Notre Dame
ACC (7): Duke, Maryland, Clemson, Wake Forest, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech
Big 12 (7): Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Texas A&M, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma St
SEC (5): Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Florida, Mississippi
Big Ten (5): Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois
Atlantic 10 (3): Xavier, Temple, Richmond
Mountain West (4): New Mexico, BYU, UNLV, San Diego St
Pac 10 (2): California, Washington
WCC (2): Saint Marys, Gonzaga

One Bid Leagues (22) (clinched spot in bold, projected team non-bold)

American East Stony Brook
Atlantic Sun East Tenn St
Big Sky Montana
Big South Winthrop
Big West UC Santa Barbara
Colonial Old Dominion
Conference USA Utep
Horizon Butler
Ivy Cornell
MAAC Siena
MAC Kent State
MEAC Morgan State
Mo Valley Northern Iowa
NEC Robert Morris
Ohio Valley Murray State
Patriot Lehigh
Southern Wofford
Southland Sam Houston St
Summit Oakland
Sun Belt North Texas
SWAC Jackson State
WAC Utah State

Last Four In: Virginia Tech, Illinois, Florida, Mississippi
First Four Out: Rhode Island, Seton Hall, Minnesota, Mississippi St

Thursday Night Wrap-Up

2010-03-11T20:38:00.000-08:00

Georgia Tech did not clinch a bid with its 62-58 win over North Carolina tonight; however, they avoided the disaster that Memphis and UAB suffered earlier today. Tough year for the Tar Heels. I don’t even think they are NIT quality at this point and Roy Williams will have to decide on whether or not to accept a CBI bid, if they are fortunate enough to get one.

San Diego St barely survived an upset attempt today at the hands of Colorado State but held off The Rams 72-71. The win keeps the Aztecs in the conversation; however, they are not guaranteed a bid as of yet.

The Cinderella story of Cincinnati ended at Madison Square Garden tonight as Da’Sean Butler hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer (off the backboard) to help West Virginia to a 54-51 victory over West Virginia. They will move on to the semifinals while Cincinnati heads to the NIT. Gotta feel for Deon Dixon of Cincinatti, who turned the ball over with 3.1 seconds left, allowing West Virginia to get the final shot.

Florida has not been to the NCAA Tournament since they won back to back titles in 2006 and 2007 and they have not clinched a bid yet. I still think Florida is on the right side of the bubble and they secured that status with a 78-69 win over Auburn. The Gators get no brownie points for beating Auburn, but they don’t lose anything by beating them either.

Barring a miracle, it is this bracketologist’s opinion that the Pac-10 will have at most two teams in the NCAA Tournament. Stanford defeated Arizona State 70-61, who finished 2nd, in the Pac-10 standings, in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 Tournament. While Arizona State finished 22-10, they only have 1 top 50 RPI win (San Diego State) and lost both games to conference champion California. Their RPI (53) and Strength of Schedule (75) also do them no favors. I post this with no idea what will happen with Washington tonight, but they need to defeat Oregon State tonight to keep their tourney bubble a-float.

Updated Field of 65 (assuming Washington wins tonight)

Big East (8): Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova, Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Marquette, Louisville, Notre Dame
ACC (7): Duke, Maryland, Clemson, Wake Forest, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech
Big 12 (7): Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Texas A&M, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma St
SEC (5): Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Florida, Mississippi
Big Ten (4): Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Purdue
Atlantic 10 (3): Xavier, Temple, Richmond
Mountain West (4): New Mexico, BYU, UNLV, San Diego St
Conference USA (2): UTEP, Memphis
Pac 10 (2): California, Washington
WCC (2): Saint Marys, Gonzaga

One Bid Leagues (21) (clinched spot in bold, projected team non-bold)

American East Stony Brook
Atlantic Sun East Tenn St
Big Sky Montana
Big South Winthrop
Big West UC Santa Barbara
Colonial Old Dominion
Horizon Butler
Ivy Cornell
MAAC Siena
MAC Kent State
MEAC Morgan State
Mo Valley Northern Iowa
NEC Robert Morris
Ohio Valley Murray State
Patriot Lehigh
Southern Wofford
Southland Sam Houston St
Summit Oakland
Sun Belt North Texas
SWAC Jackson State
WAC Utah State

Last Four In: Washington, Mississippi, Memphis, San Diego State
First Four Out: San Diego State, Seton Hall, Illinois, Dayton

Bubble Brutality Thursday

2010-03-11T17:38:00.000-08:00

Thursday Afternoon Summary-BUBBLE BRUTALITY!!!

Coming into today, I had 2 Conference USA teams among my “Last Four In”, Memphis and UAB. After today, I am not sure what in the world to think as both Memphis and UAB fell in the quarterfinals of the C-USA tournament. Houston defeated Memphis 66-65 on a last second shot and UAB looked disinterested and unorganized as they were waxed by Southern Mississippi 58-55. I had Memphis ahead of UAB on the bubble line today so if anyone is going to get booted from my field tonight (likely will happen) it will be UAB.

If you have been reading my blog, you know I have been down on Marquette; however, I can no longer be on the hate side of the Golden Eagles. Marquette downed Villanova 80-76 in the quarterfinals of The Big East tournament. With the way the bubble has been exploding at the bottom, there is no doubt in my mind that Marquette is now a cinch for Selection Sunday. Georgetown held off Syracuse 91-84 in a game which featured Syracuse’s Arizne Onuaku leaving the game late with an injury. Despite the loss to Georgetown and potential loss of Onuaku, I still expect Syracuse to land a #1 seed in either the South or West region come Sunday.

Both Texas Tech and Nebraska fell in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament. Since all remaining teams are locks for the tournament, the only thing being played for at that tourney is seeds in the NCAA Tournament and a Big 12 Title Trophy.

California defeated Oregon in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 Tournament 90-74 in front of an empty arena at the Staples Center (I’m not kidding, it was empty). It would be very surprising to see California get left out of the field at this point, even without a potential top 50 RPI win, which has only happened once (Air Force, 2006) in the history of the NCAA Tournament (from an at-large status perspective).

Back tonight with a recap of the night session games and an updated field of 65.

Bracketology 101 Update

2010-03-10T20:33:00.000-08:00

So far during Championship Week, most teams needing to win to help build their NCAA resume have not done a very good job. Now, there is still 4 days left of basketball and a lot can change as more than half of the conference tournaments have yet to be completed but there were a few changes I did make to my field of 65.

BIG EAST

#7th seeded Notre Dame defeated 10th seeded Seton Hall 68-56 during the quarterfinals of The Big East Tournament. I have decided to move Notre Dame from the “Bubble” list to “Teams that are Close” but let’s face it, Notre Dame is likely getting a bid to the NCAA Tournament today after that win. I did not have Seton Hall in the field before the game and I don’t after it. They finish the year 18-12 with a 6-12 record over the top 100 RPI. Things could always change (my mind that is) before Selection Sunday.

Marquette is about as close of a lock as you can get after barely holding off St. Johns 57-55, as Marquette has now won 12 total games in The Big East, the toughest conference in basketball.

Cincinnati held off Louisville 69-66 to advance to the quarterfinals of The Big East Tournament. The Bearcats had a bad finish to the year and may need wins in both the quarterfinals and semi-finals to get back in the conversation for an at-large berth. Louisville is also likely going to the tourney.

BIG 12

Barring any upset winner, the top 7 teams in the Big 12 tournament are heading to the NCAA Tournament. Even 5th seeded Missouri, who suffered a humiliating 75-60 defeat at the hands of last place Nebraska. The only teams that can steal a bid in the Big 12 right now are Texas Tech and Nebraska; who, I do not think have the staying power to stay in the tournament.

NEC

Robert Morris defeated Quinnipiac 52-50 on Quinn Pac’s home floor to win their conference’s automatic bid.

BIG SKY

Led by Anthony Johnson’s 42 points, Montana defeats Weber State 66-65 to win the league’s automatic berth.

Tomorrow’s Key Bubble Implication Games

ACC

North Carolina (16-15, 5-11) vs. Georgia Tech (19-11, 7-9)
Wake Forest (19-9, 9-7) vs. Miami (18-12, 4-12)

Big East

Marquette (21-10, 11-7) vs. Villanova (24-6, 13-5)
Notre Dame (22-10, 10-8) vs. Pittsburgh (24-7, 13-5)
Cincinnati (18-14, 7-11) vs. West Virginia (24-6, 13-5)

Big Ten

Penn State (11-19, 3-15) vs. Minnesota (18-12, 9-9)

Conference USA

Houston (16-15, 7-9) vs. Memphis (23-8, 13-3)
Southern Miss (19-12, 8-8) vs. UAB (23-7, 11-5)

Mountain West

Colorado St (16-14, 7-9) vs. San Diego State (22-8, 11-5)
Utah (14-16, 7-9) vs. UNLV (23-7, 11-5)

Pac-10

Stanford (13-17, 7-11) vs. Arizona State (22-9, 12-6)
Oregon St (14-16, 8-10) vs. Washington (21-9, 11-7)
Oregon/Washington St vs. California (21-9, 13-5)

SEC

Auburn (15-16, 6-10) vs. Florida (20-11, 9-7)

Bracketology 101: Updated Field

2010-03-10T20:03:00.000-08:00

Updated Field of 65

Big East (8): Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova, Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Marquette, Louisville, Notre Dame
ACC (7): Duke, Maryland, Clemson, Wake Forest, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech
Big 12 (7): Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Texas A&M, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma St
SEC (5): Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Florida, Mississippi
Big Ten (4): Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Purdue
Atlantic 10 (3): Xavier, Temple, Richmond
Mountain West (3): New Mexico, BYU, UNLV
Conference USA (3): UTEP, Memphis, UAB
Pac 10 (2): California, Washington
WCC (2): Saint Marys, Gonzaga

One Bid Leagues (21) (clinched spot in bold, projected team non-bold)

American East Stony Brook
Atlantic Sun East Tenn St
Big Sky Montana
Big South Winthrop
Big West UC Santa Barbara
Colonial Old Dominion
Horizon Butler
Ivy Cornell
MAAC Siena
MAC Kent State
MEAC Morgan State
Mo Valley Northern Iowa
NEC Robert Morris
Ohio Valley Murray State
Patriot Lehigh
Southern Wofford
Southland Sam Houston St
Summit Oakland
Sun Belt North Texas
SWAC Jackson State
WAC Utah State

Last Four In: Memphis, UAB, Washington, Mississippi
First Four Out: San Diego State, Arizona State, Illinois, Dayton

Bracketology 101-Tuesday Night Update

2010-03-09T20:56:00.000-08:00

FYI, I have made no changes to the bracket field I posted last night.

BUBBLES BURST!!!!

If Connecticut basketball was a publicly traded company, traders at the New York Stock Exchange would have been attempting to sell the team short today as UCONN’s small hopes for getting an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament were decimated today at the hands of St. John’s in a 73-51 blowout, up the road from the NYSE at Madison Square Garden. While UCONN fans will wonder if its team will accept an NIT berth just one year after going to the Final Four, they will mostly be concerned whether or not Jim Calhoun and his ailing health will be back for another year.

Scratch off UNC-Charlotte from teams hoping to get an at-large berth in the Atlantic 10 conference. The 49ers failed to hold off Massachusetts on its home court in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 tournament. Charlotte finishes the season at 19-12 and a 9-7 record in a stronger than normal A-10 conference; however, their RPI sits in the mid 70’s with an overall record of 3-8 against the top 50 RPI and 4-10 vs. the top 100 RPI.

BUBBLES A-FLOAT

This is very simple. None of these teams clinched a bid to the NCAA Tournament today; however, they are still in the conversation and will need to win their next game to help keep their conversation going.

Dayton 70 George Washington 60
Rhode Island 87 St. Josephs 76
Seton Hall 109 Providence 106

BIDS CLINCHED

Butler avoids making another bubble team sweat and dismantles Wright State to win the Horizon League Tournament Championship.

North Texas defeated Troy 66-63 to win the Sun Belt Tournament.

Oakland defeated IUPUI 76-64 to win the Summit League Tournament.

GAMES TO WATCH TOMORROW WITH BUBBLE IMPLICATIONS (Central Time)

The Atlantic 10 tournament takes a day off as teams gather for the quarterfinals beginning on Thursday; however, all four games in the Big East tournament have bubble implications for every team playing with the exception of Georgetown, who is definitely locked in. Things will really start to pick up on Thursday.

South Florida (20-11, 9-9) vs. #22 Georgetown (20-9) (10-8) (11a.m. ESPN)
Saint Johns (17-14, 6-12) vs. Marquette (20-10, 11-7) (1:30 p.m. ESPN)
Seton Hall (19-11, 9-9) vs. Notre Dame (21-10, 10-8) (6p.m. ESPN)
Cincinnati (17-14, 7-11) vs. Louisville (20-11, 11-7) (8:30p.m. ESPN)

Bracketology 101-Monday Night Update

2010-03-08T20:43:00.000-08:00

Siena earned the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) bid with a 72-65 Overtime win over Fairfield. Siena trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half before completing their third straight comeback victory in as many days. Siena had the benefit of hosting their own conference tournament and they needed every bit of their home crowd to earn their 3rd straight NCAA bid. Even with an RPI of 37, Siena would have been on the outside looking in on Selection Sunday without an automatic bid due to a poor Strength of Schedule and 0 quality wins to show for it. In fact, they would have been 26-7 with 0 top 50 wins. Sounds familiar, right Creighton of 2009?

While the MAAC was not a bubble buster, the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) could have been; however, Old Dominion wrapped up the league’s auto bid by defeating William & Mary 60-53. Old Dominion will be a very tough 10-12 seed to face in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Saint Mary’s was among my “last four in” when I released my field of 65 last night. Now, Saint Mary’s is safely in and will not have to sweat out Selection Sunday for the second straight year after a dominating 81-62 victory over Gonzaga tonight in the finals of the West Coast Conference Tournament. Gonzaga moves from auto-bid status to “lock” status on my sheet and I’ll replace Memphis with Saint Mary’s on my last four in list. So, nobody moves out of my field today; however, I expect that to change tomorrow.

And not to be left out, because you never what team will win an NCAA Tournament game, Wofford defeated Appalachian State 56-51 to win the Southern Conference Tournament.

Tomorrow’s Games to Watch with Bubble Implications (all times Central)

Horizon League Championship: #12 Butler (27-4, 18-0) vs. Wright State (20-11, 8-6), 8p.m. Central, ESPN.
Should Butler not be able to defeat Wright State, the Horizon League will earn two bids. Butler holds two victories over Wright State this year and won by 12 points each time.

Big East Tournament

DePaul (8-22, 1-17) vs. South Florida (19-11, 9-9) (11a.m., ESPN)
Saint Johns (16-14, 6-12) vs. UCONN (17-14, 7-11) (1p.m. ESPN)
Providence (12-18, 4-4) vs. Seton Hall (18-11, 9-9) (6p.m. ESPNU)

Basically South Florida, UCONN, and Seton Hall all need wins, otherwise their tourney hopes are likely over.

Atlantic 10 Tournament

Saint Josephs (11-19, 5-11) vs. Rhode Island (21-8, 9-7) (6p.m.)
George Washington (16-13, 6-10) vs. Dayton (19-11, 8-8) (8p.m.)

Just like The Big East teams listed above, both Rhode Island and Dayton can ill-afford to lose these games.

Realtimerpi.com updates their site once a day and you can view team RPI’s there. Keep in mind that RPI is not the sole factor in deciding who makes the tournament

Bracketology 101-picking the field

2010-03-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

Here is my field of 65, not seeded yet. Auto winners in Bold. Bubble subject to change as conference tournaments play out.

ESPN and ESPN 2 will air the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and Metro Atlantic Association Conference (MAAC) title games tomorrow. If Old Dominion and Siena were to fall, it could throw even more chaos into an already chaotic bubble. If Saint Marys wins their Semi-final game tonight, they will play Gonzaga for the WCC Championship tomorrow. Should Saint Mary’s lose tonight, I will remove them off my list and onto the “first four out” list.

Auto-Bids

ACC Duke
American East Stony Brook
Atlantic 10 Temple
Atlantic Sun East Tenn St
Big 12 Kansas
Big East Syracuse
Big Sky Weber St
Big South Winthrop
Big Ten Ohio State
Big West UC Santa Barbara
Colonial Old Dominion
C-USA UTEP
Horizon Butler
Ivy Cornell
MAAC Siena
MAC Kent State
MEAC Morgan State
Mo Valley Northern Iowa
Mountain West New Mexico
NEC Quinnipac
Ohio Valley Murray State
Pac 10 California
Patriot Lehigh
SEC Kentucky
Southern Wofford
Southland Sam Houston St
Summit Oakland
Sun Belt North Texas
SWAC Jackson State
West Coast Gonzaga
WAC Utah State

At-large (21 locks, 3 teams close, 6 bubbles, 4 (last in)=34

LOCKS 21

Maryland
West Virginia
Villanova
Pittsburgh
Georgetown
Wisconsin
Ohio State
Michigan State
Kansas State
Baylor
Texas A&M
Missouri
Texas
Oklahoma State
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Brigham Young
Temple
Richmond
Clemson
Wake Forest

TEAMS CLOSE 3

Marquette
Louisville
Florida State

BUBBLE 6

Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech
UNLV
Memphis
Notre Dame
Florida

LAST FOUR IN (IN ORDER) 4
St Marys
UAB
Washington
Mississippi

FIRST FOUR OUT (IN ORDER) 4
San Diego State
Arizona State
Mississippi State
Dayton

NEXT LIST OUT
Seton Hall
Rhode Island
Connecticut
Charlotte
Illinois

Sunday Night Bubble Update

2010-03-07T18:03:00.000-08:00

Wake Forest just wrapped its bid in my mind with a 70-65 win over Clemson. They were already on my “teams close” list so they are not taking a bid away from any bubble team that I will list a little bit later here tonight.

Northern Iowa defeated Wichita State 67-52 to wrap up the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship. More than likely, in fact, most likely Wichita State will not get an at-large berth to the tournament so the Bubble teams can rest easy for a night that a bid was not stolen away by the Valley.

Florida and Illinois were not eliminated from Bubble contention today; however, they missed opportunities to gain huge victories over Kentucky and Illinois.

Now the fun part of the night.. I have 20 teams in bubble contention for 10 spots. By the way, what that means is that the bubble sucks this year and there is not a lot of standout teams at the bottom of the at-large lists. If someone loses their spot this year to a surprise conference tournament winner I will not lose sleep over it. My first “field list” will be posted later tonight along with “Games to Watch Tomorrow” as there are still some games going on right now to determine those matchups.

Bracketology 101-Sunday Morning Update

2010-03-07T09:08:00.001-08:00

Bracketology 101 Update-Sunday Morning, March 7, 2010

Nobody was a bigger winner in the bubble race yesterday than the Louisville Cardinal, who closed down Freedom Hall by defeating #1 Syracuse 78-68. At the beginning of the day, Kyle Kuric, little known in College Basketball, was a Twitter Trending Topic after delivering a 22 point performance on 9-11 shooting. Now, Louisville does a fairly good paper resume. They have a record of 20-11 (11-7 in conference) with an RPI of 30 and Strength of Schedule (SOS) rating at 4. However, there is that glowing record of 2-8 versus the Top 50 RPI (both against Syracuse) and an under .500 record against top 100 RPI teams (8-10). Now, in the year of a very weak bubble, Louisville is probably in, considering going into today there are some fish hacks out there who think Notre Dame deserve a bid. As of now, I won’t call Louisville a “lock” as stranger things of happen, but they would be on the right side of the bubble, and probably near the top of the list if the season ended today.

Forgive me if I am missing something here, but what in the world is the love of affair with Marquette? I fail to see how they are a “lock” at this point to make the NCAA Tournament. Now, if the field was selected today, I would probably give Marquette a bid. Similar to Louisville, they have an overall record of 20-10, and a conference record of 11-7. The also boast a 4-8 record against top 50 RPI teams and an 8-8 record against top 100 RPI teams. That is good enough to finish in a tie for 5th in the Big East conference. In a year that The Big East is considered to be the greatest conference in college basketball, it would be hard to believe that any team with a winning record in conference would be left out. However, the average RPI rank of a team Marquette beat in conference is 88. The average RPI rank of a team that beat Marquette in conference is 43. If you take out Marquette’s loss to DePaul, the average RPI rank of a team that beat them is 15 (Marquette did beat Georgetown (14) at home in January. Their marquee non-conference win came against Xavier on a neutral court and they played several teams with RPI’s in the 300. Should Marquette make the field, and one win in The Big East Tournament should solidify that, I will not be picking them to go very far in the tournament.

Congrats to the following teams who picked up automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament on Friday and Saturday. The fourth team listed below is not one that someone seeded between 3 and 5 is going to want to see as their opponent in two weeks.

East Tennessee St (Atlantic Sun)
Winthrop (Big South)
Cornell (Ivy League)
Murray State (Ohio Valley)

TODAY’S GAMES TO FOLLOW

Missouri Valley Conference Championship (1p.m. Central, CBS)

Top seeded Northern Iowa, who has earned an at-large bid regardless to the NCAA Tournament will take on 2nd seeded Wichita State for the league tourney title. Wichita State has been attempting to build up its own resume as of late, but a Bracket Buster Saturday loss to Utah State hurt Wichita State severely in their attempt. A win over Northern Iowa gets them the auto-bid, but I just do not think they have done enough to warrant an at-large status. Bubble teams will closely be watching this game today and hoping Northern Iowa takes care of the job. The two teams have met twice this year with Northern Iowa winning 59-56 on their home court and Wichita State winning 60-51 on their home court.

#17 Wisconsin at Illinois (1p.m. Central, ESPN)

Despite having an RPI in the 70’s, and an overall record of 18-12, the Illinois Fighting Illini is still in line to get an at-large berth. A win over a top 25 RPI will go a long way to helping Illinois but it won’t guarantee them a bid. A loss may require Illinois to win at least three games in the Big Ten tournament to get themselves back in the conversation.

Tonight’s Update will include a new updated look at the field and my first “Last Four in” and “Last Four Out” projections

Bracketology 101

2010-03-05T11:49:00.000-08:00

With the main part of my 1st semester of graduate school behind me, I've decided to take the CBS Sportsline Bracketology challenge and try to predict and accurately seed the field of 65.

While I won't post an actual bracket until selection Sunday, I will update everyone right now on who I believe should be in the field of 65. As most know, the field consists of 31 automatic bids (from the winners of conference tournaments) and 34 at-large bids. As of my 2p.m. Central Update on Friday March 5, I believe there are currently 20 at large locks, 5 teams that are close to being in and would be if the field was selected today, and approximately 20 teams fighting for 9 "bubble" spots.

Keep in mind that should certain teams lose in their conference tournaments, they would move to "lock" or "teams that should be close" status and potentially take away another bubble spot.

For leagues that would get only 1 bid unless their champion loses in the conference tournament, teams in bold would move to "lock" and teams italic owuld move to "teams that should be close."

So for now, here we go. This will be today's only update as Northern Iowa is going to hold off and beat Drake in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinals

ACC Duke
American East Stony Brook
Atlantic 10 Temple
Atlantic Sun Lipscomb
Big 12 Kansas
Big East Syracuse
Big Sky Weber St
Big South Coastal Carolina
Big Ten Ohio State
Big West UC Santa Barbara
Colonial Old Dominion
C-USA UTEP
Horizon Butler
Ivy Cornell (no conference tournament)
MAAC Siena
MAC Kent State
MEAC Morgan State
Mo Valley Northern Iowa
Mountain West New Mexico
NEC Quinnipac
Ohio Valley Murray State
Pac 10 California
Patriot Lehigh
SEC Kentucky
Southern Wofford
Southland Sam Houston St
Summit Oakland
Sun Belt North Texas
SWAC Jackson State
West Coast Gonzaga
WAC Utah State

LOCKS 20

Maryland
West Virginia
Villanova
Pittsburgh
Georgetown
Wisconsin
Ohio State
Michigan State
Kansas State
Baylor
Texas A&M
Missouri
Texas
Oklahoma State
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Brigham Young
Temple
Richmond
Clemson

TEAMS CLOSE 5

Marquette
Louisville
Wake Forest
Georgia Tech
Florida State

BUBBLE 9 (Random order, no preference yet)

Virginia Tech
Connecticut
Notre Dame
Cincinnati
Seton Hall
Minnesota
Illinois
Washington
Arizona State
Florida
Mississippi
Mississippi State
San Diego State
Rhode Island
Dayton
Charlotte
St Marys
Memphis
UAB
UNLV

Sunday Night Blog-NCAA and Olympics

2010-02-21T19:47:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday morning, ESPN’s College Gameday crew had a discussion about which conference tournament was going to be the one a person had to watch. Now, for entertainment purposes, that is surely going to be The Big East Tournament; however, their tourney may not have the impact on the bubble that other tournaments may. As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, there are going to be a few tournaments to watch this year. With their wins over the weekend, Butler (Horizon) and Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley) both solidified their at-large berths by defeating Siena and Old Dominion. Fans of teams on the bubble are going to want to pay close attention to the Horizon and Missouri Valley tournaments as one slip-up by Butler or Northern Iowa will end the dream of a team riding that bubble line.

As for California, the main subject of my blog post from two weeks ago, I still do not see enough evidence to warrant them of at-large status. I know their RPI is 24; however, California got blown out by the worst team in the Pac-10 on Thursday (Oregon State). ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has California slotted as a 10 seed and the only team from the Pac-10 in the NCAA Tournament as of February 19. California is going to want to at-worst go 3-1 in the next two weeks and make the finals of the Pac-10 tournament; otherwise, it is going to be a rough selection Sunday for the boys in Berkley. Prior to the release of the bracket I’ll post my at-large teams and we will see how my selections stack up to the committee.

If you read my twitter, I’ve made daily bashings at NBC and their pathetic Olympic coverage. Alpine Skiing (and the 8 USA medals) has completely got the shaft from any live coverage, despite the fact that NBC or MSNBC could be showing the events alive, instead we get edited footage about 7 hours after it happened. While Canada and Europe get to see whatever they want live, Americans are treated to the crappy NBC coverage. Hey, NBC, its not 1988 anymore! With this thing called The Internet, we can find out what happened as it happens or just seconds after it happens. You can argue that your ratings are up, but the bottom line is that you are still losing $250 million on these Olympics and you are penalizing your viewers by this garbage. Even events that occur during the evening are getting tape delayed coverage, including Canada winning their first ever gold medal on its own soil in Moguls. Viewers in America saw that happen 30 minutes after completion, when many already knew what happened.

The United States beating Canada in Men’s Hockey on their home soil tonight by a score of 5-3 was the second coolest thing of The Olympics. Shaun White still holds that spot in my mind and his spot on my “5 coolest people in the world” remains secure. The win by the U.S. tonight forces Canada to now play 4 games in its effort to win the Gold Medal, while the U.S. will only need 3. With one hockey game to go tonight, it is too early to know if the U.S. and Canada could matchup in the next week. Should Canada get another shot at the U.S. and win, then this victory tonight would be rendered meaningless. Until then, let us (Americans) celebrate a victory over America’s hat.

NBA Trade Deadline: Darko Milicic traded? Really?

2010-02-17T20:06:00.000-08:00

NBA Trade Deadline Update

Each year, the NBA trade deadline comes and goes and once in awhile that blockbuster trade goes down that changes the course of a team’s season and propels them to a Championship. Then, in other years, a trade goes down at the deadline that makes you shake your head and makes a person ask questions that makes them think back, oh six or seven years.

Today, it was announced that The New York Knicks traded Forward/Center Darko Milicic to The Minnesota Timberwolves for Forward Brian Cardinal. Now, on paper this trade makes sense in a stat-wise point of view (even if the stats are terrible).

Darko Milicic 8:54 min per game, 2.0 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 0.5 ASP
Brian Cardinal 9:00 min per game, 1.7 PPG, 0.9 RPG, 0.7 ASP

Not much of a difference here. In fact, some columnists are saying this is one of the most pointless trades in NBA history. However, I beg to differ. The fact that this trade went down today gives me the reason to reminisce over one of the worst draft picks made in the history of the NBA, if not sports all together. I mean, as a casual NBA fan, I had no idea that Darko Milicic was still in the league. I thought he was out of the league three years ago! At one point, Milicic was the #2 overall pick in the NBA draft, while Brian Cardinal was the 15th overall pick in round 2 and has done a nice job of making a long NBA career (9 years) out of being a 2nd round pick.

Now, let’s go back in time here. The year is 2003; the NBA Draft Lottery is upon us. The Detroit Pistons are in the Eastern Conference Finals and have the rights to the Memphis Grizzlies 1st round pick, as long as the Grizzlies did not win the Draft Lottery. As the ping pong balls came out, it was revealed that Cleveland would pick 1st, Detroit 2nd, and Denver 3rd. Video cameras were set up to show the reactions of recent High School Graduate Lebron James, the so-called Sports Illustrated “chosen one”, Darko Milicic, a rising 17 year old star who already measured 7 feet tall, and Carmelo Anthony, a one and done college player who by the way won Most Outstanding Player at the 2003 Final Four in leading Syracuse to a National Championship. Out of the three, Carmelo Anthony at the time showed success at the highest level, that being the NCAA. Now, everyone knew Cleveland would pick Lebron James, the near hometown product, who has lived up to all expectations, short of winning an NBA Championship.

Now, you have Detroit, who lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to New Jersey sitting there with the second pick. To me it was an easy choice. You take the sure thing and there was nothing less of a sure thing in that draft other than Carmelo Anthony. By drafting Anthony, the missing piece could be put in place to lead Detroit to a title. So, no sweat, make the pick: TAKE MELO!

Of course, we all know the story, Detroit took Darko Milicic (the highlight of Darko's NBA career right above), who never panned out for them and was out of the organization after three years after averaging less than 2 points per game. Now, Darko did go to Orlando and have some minor success there; however, that minor success was short lived and after a stint with Memphis, Darko found himself on the Knicks bench most of the year. Now, this former #2 pick was just traded for the last guy on Timberwolves roster.

Now, Darko is only 24. He probably still has a long career in basketball, although it may not be in the NBA. Perhaps the Timberwolves see something in Darko, who knows. However, you can be assured that the Denver Nuggets are not losing any sleep over their decision to draft Carmelo Anthony in 2003. Oh yeah by the way, the teams who picked #4 and #5, Toronto and Miami, both made smart decisions with Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade.

So in the end Detroit loses out on three All-Stars. They did win their NBA in 2004, made another trip to the final, and had deep NBA runs since that ill-fated decision to draft Darko; however, Piston fans can only wonder just how many additional NBA titles they may have if they chose Anthony, Bosh, or Wade over that so called 17 year old star. Not that I need to, but let’s compare their career stats anyway

1. Lebron James 40 MPG, 27.8 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 6.9 ASP
2. Darko Milicic 17 MPG, 5.4 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 0.7 ASP
3. Carmelo Anthony 36 MPG, 24.6 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 3.1 ASP
4. Chris Bosh 37 MPG, 20.1 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 2.2 ASP
5. Dwayne Wade 38 MPG, 25.3 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 6.6 ASP

Even a Second Grade student could be asked the question, which one of the following names listed above does not belong with the others, and get the question right with ease.

UFC Update, Olympics and a TV viewing alert

2010-02-14T10:38:00.001-08:00

Well, I do not think it took ten minutes for the UFC to render my blog post about UFC 112 meaningless. Sometime Friday, perhaps before my blog post, it was announced that Demian Maia, fresh off a win over Dan Miller on February 6, 2009, will take on Anderson Silva on April 10, 2010. This leaves Maia a little over eight weeks to train for the biggest fight of the year against some people consider to be the best fighter in the world. Maia is a top six middleweight according to the UFC and has a victory over Chael Sonnen at UFC 95, who has earned a title fight in the near future. So big props to Dana White for keeping two title fights on their first card to the United Arab Emirates.

I stayed in Friday and caught the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. Granted, nobody will ever top what China did, but I did enjoy the following events from Friday.

The guy who tapped dance to the Seinfeld theme.
The shadow shot of the fake moon where Batman was playing the fiddle.
The Peter Pan remake.
The shot on Wayne Gretzky's face as one of the parts of the Olympic torch stand was not rising.
Wayne Gretzky standing up through the roof of a truck driving through Vancouver to the outdoor Olympic torch, while citizens of Vancouver were doing their best to channel the two dudes who ran along side Hank Aaron after he hit Home run 715.

For now, I encourage everyone to watch The Amazing Race on CBS tonight. Who wouldn't want to watch this person try to compete in this event?

Random Thoughts

2010-02-12T18:05:00.000-08:00

Bad News Kansas City Royals fans: Pitchers and Catchers report in 4 days. But there is good news. On this very blog, there will be daily updates of the Royals quest to 100 losses starting with opening day on April 4, 2010, against The Detroit Tigers in Kaufmann Stadium.

UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi was setting up to be a good card with two title fights on April 10, 2010. Late yesterday, it was confirmed that Vitor Belfort will not challenge UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva on the card, as he had to go undergo shoulder surgery. Silva has not defended his title since April and last fought in August, moving up to Light Heavyweight to knock out Forrest Griffin in the first round (one of the best knockouts ever). Silva himself was hurt pushing back this fight and now Belfort is the one with the injury bug. Chael Sonnen, who earned a title shot at UFC 109 just this past weekend, is not able to train until March 9 and suspended from fighting until March 24. One could assume that one month is not sufficient time to train for a battle against “The Spider.” That leaves UFC with two options. Have the winner of the February 20, 2010, contest between Michael Bisping and Wanderlei Silva fight Silva on April 10, 2010, with only 7 weeks between fights or perhaps move Silva up to 205 and have him fight another light heavyweight such as Thiago Silva or Rashad Evans. Dana White has said Silva will remain on the card; however, a suitable opponent for a Championship match in the Middleweight Division may be hard to come by.

Considering the Los Angeles Lakers have won their last 3 games against Western Conference opponents by a comfortable margin without Kobe Bryant, we can now scratch Bryant off as being an MVP candidate. No offense to Kobe, he is still the guy I would want the ball with the game on the line, but Lebron James is well on his way to a second consecutive NBA MVP (with Kevin Durant finishing 2nd).

I understand that Vancouver had an indoor stadium in place with the BC Lions indoor football stadium being used as Olympic stadium; however, not having an outdoor venue for Olympic stadium is a major, major, Olympic fail. Another Olympic fail is having to hear everything pronounced in French and then English. If there is one thing I really want to happen at these Olympic Games is to have The United States defeat Canada in the gold medal hockey game (not gonna happen tho).

On an Entertainment note, it may be too hard to ask Elton John and Lady Gaga to tour together; however, they could cut a record with their pianos and it would be fantastic.

Pac 10 Hoops: What happened this year????

2010-02-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

Life on the bubble is especially tough and a gut wrenching experience for many teams, especially during Championship week. Year after year, teams that normally would not qualify for the NCAA Tournament win their conference tournament and steal a bid from maybe a more deserving team. This year, bubble teams will have to focus on one conference tournament in particular, and its not a conference that Butler or Gonzaga is a member (although keep an eye on those as well). This year, the Pac 10 conference is in a position where they may only get one bid, the winner of its conference tournament.

Now, most bracketologists have slotted California as having that bid, and it is with good reason, as on paper, California has an RPI of 26 and a schedule ranked 3rd toughest in the country, according to realtimerpi. Usually a team in a power conference with these credentials is automatically included in the NCAA Tournament. However, taking a closer look at California (15-8, 7-4 in the Pac 10), shows that the Golden Bears are no lock for the big dance, even if they do not win the Pac 10 tournament.

Looking at California’s schedule shows that they have played four non-conference games against teams ranked 10th or higher in the RPI. California won none of these games and lost each of them by an average of 12.75 points. Their most impressive non-conference win was a 75-70 victory over Murray State (90th RPI) and their best wins in terms of RPI purposes was a 78-70 road victory over Arizona State (76th RPI) and a 67-59 home win over USC (80th RPI). Keep in mind that although California leads the Pac 10 with a 7-4 conference record, the difference between first and last place is just 2.5 games. The good news for California is that out of their last seven games, the four toughest will be at home. One can assume that should Cal finish 12-6 in the Pac 10 and have a decent showing in the conference tournament, finish with an RPI in the 30’s, then they will get a bid; however, that remains to be seen. California has no top 50 RPI wins and at most has an opportunity to pick up two or three more top 100 RPI wins.

Ultimately, the bracketologist in me does not see another team from the Pac 10 dancing in March if California wins the Pac 10 tournament. At that point, California’s tourney fate will be in the hands of the NCAA Tournament committee.

Other conference tournaments to watch should the league favorite lose and fall to at-large status. Bubble teams will want to root for these guys. I am not ready to slide a team from the Colonial Athletic conference in here as they have no clear leader and several teams with RPI’s from 35 to 54. I believe the first three teams are clear locks should they continue at their current pace all the way to their conference tournaments and that UAB and Siena are approaching lock status.

Missouri Valley (Northern Iowa)
Horizon (Butler)
West Coast (Gonzaga)
Conference USA (UAB)
Metro Atlantic Athletic (Siena)

Youtube Channel Launch

2010-02-05T19:50:00.001-08:00

And here is the first email I uploaded to youtube. This is from October 23, 2008.

The Minnesota Twins needs Joe Mauer and Joe Mauer needs the Minnesota Twins.

2010-02-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

I broke a smile earlier this week when news broke that Joe Mauer and the Minnesota Twins had agreed to a 10 year contract. I am not a fan of the Twins by any means; however, I have spent the better part of 20 years cheering on the Kansas City Royals, another small market team, and I was glad to finally read that possibly the greatest player to ever put on a Twins uniform was going to remain in Minneapolis for the long haul. Those reports were quickly refuted and by the end of the day no deal had been agreed upon and that is where things stand right now, just two weeks before pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training. If a contract is not agreed upon soon, Mauer will enter Spring Training without a contract past the 2010 season.

Look, I know the Twins are a small market team, and usually small market teams are not able to agree to long term deals that normally the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, and Angels can only pull off. However, Joe Mauer is a Minnesota native, spending his high school days in St. Paul, where he was a three sport star, earning a football scholarship to play quarterback at Florida State (where Bobby Bowden I believe still had that offer upon prior to his retirement). Mauer chose to pass up football and agree to terms with the Twins who took him as the overall #1 pick in 2001. Mauer quickly reached the majors and has excelled in his roll, averaging .327 since breaking into the majors in 2004.

With the Twins set to open a new ballpark, Target Field, Mauer is a must sign. There are talks that some of the money that Mauer will be set to earn could be deferred, with the possibility that Mauer could end up being in the Twins ownership group when his time as a ballplayer is done. Whatever the case, the Twins and Mauer have to figure out a way to come to terms on a deal. This must be done for Mauer, the Twins, and overall the game of baseball. I mean, could all the Yankee and Red Sox haters out there stand the thought of Mauer entering free agency in the winter of 2010 knowing that they would both be gunning for Mauer’s services? I know for one I could not, and I’d much rather have Mauer in Minnesota, playing him 18 times a year as a Royals fan, than watching him play in front of those arrogant, awful, no good greedy Yankees or Red Sox fans.

The signing of Mauer, even to a deferred contract, provides an opportunity for the Twins to build their team around him for the next decade. Baseball fans already know that the Twins have a great scouting department and are very good at developing talent. In the past, when it was time for that talent to move on for bigger paydays, they often made trades for younger players that also turned out to perform very well. Money should not be too much on an issue for Mauer, he already has more than enough. His parents are retired because of him and Mauer even has a cabin in the woods in Minnesota which also has a studio where he records rap demos (I’d love to hear some of those).

So, I doubt anyone from the Twins organization and/or Joe Mauer reads this, but please, do me and all of small market baseball a favor, and get this deal done.

From 65 to 96???????

2010-02-01T19:07:00.000-08:00

Upon opening up my Twitter account today, my jaw dropped seeing the report from Sports by Brooks that expanding the NCAA Men’s Tournament from 65 to 96 teams was a “done deal.” (Late edit to my blog post, the NCAA is denying this and saying there is "continuous dialogue about it). Considering that many people already de-value the importance of the College Basketball regular season, I myself started to think this format change would de-value it even more. However, after some thinking, I realized that there could be something positive made about of this probable change.

Currently, 65 teams are able to participate in the NCAA Men’s Tournament. 31 teams receive automatic berths, while a committee selects the remaining 34 schools. The automatic bid from each conference comes from the winner of each conference postseason tournament (usually a 3 or 4 day event) and the other 34 teams are composed of teams from power conferences (much to the delight of Billy Packer, Digger Phelps, and Jim Nantz). This potential change brings into the fold 32 more at-large selections; however, if the NCAA wants to get this right, they don’t necessarily have to have 32 more at-large selections.

Since the NCAA has taken over the National Invitational Tournament (NIT), the regular season champion of a conference that does not win its own conference tournament and is not selected by the NCAA as an at-large selection is automatically invited to the NIT. Now, fans of those “power conferences” will not like this; however, I think more emphasis should be given to those teams who win their conference in the regular season. Regardless of conference, every regular season conference champion should be invited to the NCAA Tournament in the new format.

Now, I know what you fans in the “power conferences” are thinking: “Don’t do that. All these little conferences will have their champion tank in their conference tournament so another team can get in.” Actually, that opinion would be wrong and make you a hypocrite. College Basketball coaches and players have a sense of pride and they are not going to "tank" to let perhaps a bitter rival make the NCAA Tournament.

In fact, I’ll even point you to two power conferences in 2009, where sixth seeded USC won the Pac-10 conference tournament, going from a NIT team to a NCAA team (and no, nobody tanked in order for them to win). In fact, the SEC had a similar tournament, as Mississippi State came out of nowhere to win their league’s automatic bid, and knocking another team out of the big dance. So please don’t entertain me with that thought.

In addition, I checked some records, and only four regular season conference champions in one-bid leagues in 2009 failed to win their conference tournament and were subsequently sent to the NIT: (Weber State-Big Sky, Bowling Green-Mid American, Jacksonville-Atlantic Sun, and UT-Martin-Ohio Valley). Now, I understand four may seem low, so I’ll even be more realistic and go with a number of six to eight in a normal year, but that’s still 24 to 26 extra bids available for those borderline mid-major teams that get squeezed more and more each year since George Mason’s incredible run in 2006 (OK now I’m getting to opinionated) and for any other team that made last year’s NIT. Please see the following link for last year’s NIT bracket. (http://www.gocreighton.com/pdf5/389502.pdf?ATCLID=3691532&SPSID=89381&SPID=69&DB_OEM_ID=1000).

So please NCAA, give the regular season more importance and put the NIT to bed once and for all.

I welcome your thoughts in the common section or on my twitter page at http://www.twitter.com/JoeinBugaha

Grammy Picks

2010-01-31T09:07:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to go through the whole list, nor do I konw if all of these will be announced live on the show. Its been Taylor Swift's year so far and I don't expect that to change tonight. I also expect The Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga to take home awards tonight. I also think the performance of the night will come from Lady Gaga. And yes, despite Kanye West being nominated for 3 songs in the final category listed, I am not picking him to win.

Record of the Year

Halo
Beyoncé
Beyoncé Knowles & Ryan Tedder, producers; Jim Caruana, Mark "Spike" Stent & Ryan Tedder, engineers/mixers
Track from: I Am... Sasha Fierce
[Music World Music / Columbia]

I Gotta Feeling
The Black Eyed Peas
David Guetta & Frédéric Riesterer, producers; will.i.am, Dylan "3-D" Dresdow & Padraic "Padlock" Kerin, engineers/mixers
[Interscope]

Use Somebody
Kings Of Leon
Jacquire King & Angelo Petraglia, producers; Jacquire King, engineer/mixer
[RCA Records]

Poker Face
Lady Gaga
RedOne, producer; Robert Orton, RedOne & Dave Russell, engineers/mixers
Track from: The Fame
[Streamline/Interscope/Konlive/Cherrytree]

You Belong With Me
Taylor Swift
Nathan Chapman & Taylor Swift, producers; Chad Carlson & Justin Niebank, engineers/mixers
[Big Machine Records]

I Am... Sasha Fierce
Beyoncé
Shondrae "Mr. Bangledesh" Crawford, Ian Dench, D-Town, Toby Gad, Sean "The Pen" Garrett, Amanda Ghost, Jim Jonsin, Beyoncé Knowles, Rico Love, Dave McCracken, Terius "The Dream" Nash, Radio Killa, Stargate, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Ryan Tedder & Wayne Wilkins, producers; Jim Caruana, Mikkel S. Eriksen, Toby Gad, Kuk Harrell, Jim Jonsin, Jaycen Joshua, Dave Pensado, Radio Killa, Mark "Spike" Stent, Ryan Tedder, Brian "B-LUV" Thomas, Marcos Tovar, Miles Walker & Wayne Wilkins, engineers/mixers; Tom Coyne, mastering engineer
[Music World Music/Columbia]

The E.N.D.
The Black Eyed Peas
Apl.de.ap, Jean Baptiste, Printz Board, DJ Replay, Funkagenda, David Guetta, Keith Harris, Mark Knight, Poet Name Life, Frédéric Riesterer & will.i.am, producers; Dylan "3D" Dresdow, Padraic "Padlock" Kerin & will.i.am, engineers/mixers; Chris Bellman, mastering engineer
[Interscope Records]

The Fame
Lady Gaga
Flo Rida, Colby O'Donis & Space Cowboy, featured artists; Brian & Josh, Rob Fusari, Martin Kierszenbaum, RedOne & Space Cowboy, producers; 4Mil, Robert Orton, RedOne, Dave Russell & Tony Ugval, engineers/mixers; Gene Grimaldi, mastering engineer
[Streamline/Interscope/Konlive/Cherrytree]

Big Whiskey And The Groogrux King
Dave Matthews Band
Jeff Coffin, Tim Reynolds & Rashawn Ross, featured artists; Rob Cavallo, producer; Chris Lord-Alge & Doug McKean, engineers/mixers; Ted Jensen, mastering engineer
[RCA Records / Bama Rags Recordings, LLC.]

Fearless
Taylor Swift
Colbie Caillat, featured artist; Nathan Chapman & Taylor Swift, producers; Chad Carlson, Nathan Chapman & Justin Niebank, engineers/mixers; Hank Williams, mastering engineer
[Big Machine Records]

Song Of The Year
A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.
Poker Face
Lady Gaga & RedOne, songwriters (Lady Gaga)
Track from: The Fame
[Streamline/Interscope/Konlive/Cherrytree; Publishers: Stefani Germanotta p/k/a Lady Gaga, Sony/ATV Songs/House of Gaga Publishing/GloJoe Music, Sony/ATV Songs/RedOne Productions.]

Pretty Wings
Hod David & Musze, songwriters (Maxwell)
Track from: Blacksummers' Night
[Columbia; Publishers: Sony/ATV Tunes/Muszewell, EMI April Music, Ben Ami Music.]

Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)
Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart, songwriters
(Beyoncé)
Track from: I Am... Sasha Fierce
[Music World Music / Columbia; Publishers: Songs of Peer/March 9th Publishing, 2082 Music/WB Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Tunes, Suga Wuga Music, B-Day Publishing/EMI April Music.]

Use Somebody
Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill, songwriters (Kings Of Leon)
[RCA Records; Publishers: Martha Street Music/Songs of Combustion Music/Music of Windswept, Followill Music/Songs of Combustion Music/Music of Windswept, McFearless Music/Bug Music, Coffee, Tea or Me Publishing/Bug Music.]

You Belong With Me
Liz Rose & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)
Track from: Fearless
[Big Machine Records; Publishers: Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, Taylor Swift Music/Potting Shed Music, Barbara Orbison World Publishing.]

Best New Artist
For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist.
Zac Brown Band
Keri Hilson
MGMT
Silversun Pickups
The Ting Tings

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
For a solo vocal performance. Singles or Tracks only.
Hometown Glory
Adele
Track from: 19
[XL/Columbia]

Halo
Beyoncé
Track from: I Am... Sasha Fierce
[Music World Music / Columbia]

Hot N Cold
Katy Perry
[Capitol]

Sober
Pink
Track from: Funhouse
[LaFace Records]

You Belong With Me
Taylor Swift
Track from: Fearless
[Big Machine Records]

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
For a solo vocal performance. Singles or Tracks only.

This Time
John Legend
Track from: Evolver
[G.O.O.D. Music/Columbia]

Love You
Maxwell
Track from: Blacksummers' Night
[Columbia]

Make It Mine
Jason Mraz
Track from: We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
[Atlantic]

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
For established duos or groups, with vocals. Singles or Tracks only.

I Gotta Feeling
The Black Eyed Peas
Track from: The E.N.D.
[Interscope Records]

We Weren't Born To Follow
Bon Jovi
[Island]

Never Say Never
The Fray
Track from: The Fray
[Epic]

Sara Smile
Daryl Hall & John Oates
Track from: Live At The Troubadour
[Shout! Factory]

Kids
MGMT
Track from: Oracular Spectacular
[Columbia]

If You Don't Know Me By Now
Seal
Track from: Soul
[143/Warner Bros.]

All About The Love Again
Stevie Wonder
[Hidden Beach Records]

Best Pop Vocal Album
For albums containing 51% or more playing time of VOCAL tracks.

The E.N.D.
The Black Eyed Peas
[Interscope Records]

Breakthrough
Colbie Caillat
[Universal Republic Records]

All I Ever Wanted
Kelly Clarkson
[RCA Records / 19 Recordings LLC./ S Records]

The Fray
The Fray
[Epic]

Funhouse
Pink
[LaFace Records]

Back to top
Best Dance Recording
For solo, duo, group or collaborative performances. Vocal or Instrumental. Singles or tracks only.

Boom Boom Pow
The Black Eyed Peas
will.i.am, Jean Baptiste & Poet Name Life, producers ; Dylan Dresdow, mixer
Track from: The E.N.D.
[Interscope Records]

When Love Takes Over
David Guetta & Kelly Rowland
David Guetta & Frédéric Riesterer, producers; Veronica Ferraro, mixer
Track from: One Love
[Astralwerks]

Poker Face
Lady Gaga
RedOne, producer; Robert Orton, RedOne & Dave Russell, mixers
Track from: The Fame
[Streamline/Interscope/Konlive/Cherrytree]

Celebration
Madonna
Madonna & Paul Oakenfold, producers; Demacio Castellon, mixer
[Warner Bros.]

Womanizer
Britney Spears
K. Briscoe, producer; Serban Ghenea, mixer
Track from: Circus
[Jive/Zomba]

Best Electronic/Dance Album
For vocal or instrumental albums. Albums only.

Divided By Night
The Crystal Method
[Tiny E Records]

One Love
David Guetta
[Astralwerks]

The Fame
Lady Gaga
[Streamline/Interscope/Konlive/Cherrytree]

Party Rock
LMFAO
[Party Rock/Will.i.am/Cherrytree/Interscope]

Yes
Pet Shop Boys
[Astralwerks]

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
For a Rap/Sung collaborative performance by artists who do not normally perform together. Singles or Tracks only.

Ego
Beyoncé & Kanye West
[Music World Music/Columbia]

Knock You Down
Keri Hilson, Kanye West & Ne-Yo
Track from: In A Perfect World...
[MMG/Zone 4/Interscope Records]

Run This Town
Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West
[Roc Nation]

I'm On A Boat
The Lonely Island & T-Pain
Track from: Incredibad
[Universal Republic Records]

Dead And Gone
T.I. & Justin Timberlake
Track from: Paper Trail
[Grand Hustle/Atlantic]

College Football Playoff

2009-11-15T18:12:00.000-08:00

This is a work in progress, but I am working on a proposed College Football Playoff that college football desperately needs.

College Football Playoff

HIGHLIGHTS
•20 Team Playoff featuring 11 conference champions and 9 at-large berths
•5 weeks of play featuring bowl games if needed
•12 member committee to pick at-large teams, with one representative from each conference, and another representative for the independents
•Formula similar to RPI developed to be used for guidance. The current BCS format could be used with some minor tweaking possible.
•NCAA eliminates 12th regular season game to reduce number of games teams play. This brings it back to 11 games, the way it used to be.
•No rankings are distributed until week 6 of the season. No preseason rankings basically.
•Each conference will be required to have a conference title game to make it fair all around.

NUMBER OF TEAMS
•There are 11 conferences in college football. In accordance with NCAA rules, one representative from each member conference has an automatic bid. Therefore, every team can start the year believing they can win the National Championship.
•The 11 conferences are the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, Pac 10, SEC, Sun Belt, WAC
•Each team is seeded 1-20. Top 12 teams receive byes. The lower 8 seeds will play 4 games to complete the round of 16
•Teams re-seeded after the first round of games, no-seeding the rest of the playoff
•There is no maximum number of at-large selections that could be selected from a conference
•Notre Dame would have to be chosen as an at-large team since they are not in a conference.

SCHEDULE
•Games begin the week after conference title games end. This year, games would begin on December 12, 2009. 13-20, 14-19, 15-18, 16-17 seeds.
•Round of 16 games would be played the weekend of December 19 and December 20. the higher seed will host the game. As mentioned above, teams are re-seeded and 1 vs 16, 2 v 15, etc. no re-seeding after this.
•Quarterfinal games would be held January 3 and January 4. these could be your major bowl games.
•Semifinal and final games are open to interpretation. Obviously the NCAA will want to avoid going up against NFL Playoff games.
•Teams could be forced to play 16 or 17 games in a year to win a title and they already play 14 games now. This of course would be limited to about 4 teams so its not really that big of a deal.

MONEY
•Yeah, I know, money is gonna be a big factor. I haven’t quite figured all that out yet. Perhaps sponsor the round of 16 quarterfinals, semi-finals, and final in order for this to be complete

BENEFITS
•With a selection committee choosing the teams, there will not be as stiff of a penalty, or no penalty at all, should an at-large team lose one of its last couple games.
•Every team can start the year thinking they can win the National Championship. That does not happen right now.
•We really find out who #1 is.
•You can still have bowl games for teams who do not qualify for the playoffs.

Random Thoughts

2009-10-19T18:52:00.000-07:00

The #1, #2, and #3 teams in the country this past week combined to go 3-0; however, their margin of victory over the teams they defeated was a total of 20 points. Keep in mind that #4 Boise State also struggled to defeat Tulsa by a mere 7 points. What am I getting at? Well, WE NEED A PLAYOFF. There is no dominant College Football team out there this year and I do not see how we can let a bunch of fish hacks, Sports Information Directors, and computers determine who should be #1 and #2 at the end of the year. Lets just settle this thing once and for all. In the coming days, I will unveil my solution to this mess and offer a playoff format.

With performances of 140, 172, and 246 yards on the ground over the last three weeks, Alabama Runningback Mark Ingram has vaulted himself to the top of the Heisman race. Keep in mind I think the Heisman trophy is a joke trophy anyway, but somebody has to win it each year.

Nebraska football has a lot of question marks at this point. If a QB switch is going to be made, it has to be done now so Cody Green can hopefully get some prep work in against Iowa state and Baylor before Oklahoma comes to town on November 7. Oh yeah, the Big 12 North title is still in play for Nebraska; however, they have some work to do in order to catch Kansas State. Yes, I said Kansas State. They are currently 2-1 in the Big 12 North conference.

Charlie Weis did enough to save his job on Saturday by not getting blown out by USC. Charlie Weis now has two big victories in his career. a 3 point loss to USC in 2005 and a 7 point loss in USC in 2009. Keep in mind that Weis got a 10 year extension after that USC game in 2005, so I wonder if the Notre Dame board of trustees will give him another 5 years for this performance.

The parents of the balloon boy need to be locked up for about ten years. throw away the key and send their kids to foster homes so they can live a normal life.

College Basketball practices are officially underway. Despite the turmoil in Lawrence, it is expected that Kansas will open the year as the #1 team in the country. The Jayhawks return everyone that is a key component from last year's team and have a couple new recruits who will provide the Jayhawks perhaps the best depth in College Basketball. As we get closer to the first games, I will provide my preseason top 10.

As I previously mentioned, the Yankees are going to win the World Series so I am gonna offer no further insight into the baseball playoffs.

The NBA starts next Wednesday. It will probably take until January or February before you see any actual effort from teams on the court. I was also told the NHL season has started but I have yet to see any evidence of that happening yet.

Random Thoughts........

2009-10-14T19:11:00.001-07:00

MLB has really opened a can of worms with allowing instant replay for home run calls. Now people are saying additional replaying is needed due to the poor umpiring in the playoffs. Look, I admit the umpiring has been somewhat poor (Joe Mauer's double being called foul despite an umpire 10 feet from it) but that is no reason to start overreacting. There is nothing more arbitrary in sports than an umpire's decision is to call a ball or a strike or whether or not a runner beat a throw to a bag in a bang-bang play. Baseball games take long enough already (has there been a postseason game under 4 hours yet). Human element has and always be a part of a game. Besides, Minnesota had the bases loaded with no out and still could not score against the Yankees in the top of the 11th.

Due to Quentin Castille's infatuation with a bong (allegedly) and Rex Burkhead "going to be out a while", Nebraska has become very thin at Runningback. Only Austin Ward and Lester James have seen action besides Roy Helu; therefore, if the best option for Nebraska is to burn the redshirt of Dontrayevous Robinson, then go ahead and do it.

How bad are the Oakland Raiders? Well, playing the Raiders felt like more of a practice to New York Giant’s defender Antonio Pierce. Then again, the Raiders beat the Chiefs in Kansas City during week 2. Speaking of the Chiefs, they are 0-5, and their Missouri counterpart, the Rams are 0-5. If both teams go 0-16, a mandatory additional regular season game should be played between the two teams with the proceeds of the ticket costs being donated to the Ronald McDonald Foundation. Someone should at least benefit from these two fan bases suffering.

Remember that horrible game the Broncos and Bengals played in week 1, which was highlighted by that incredible tipped Hail Mary touchdown pass from Kyle Orton to Brendan Stokley? Well, since then the two teams have combined to go 8-0. Did anybody think that would happen? If you say you did, you are lying.

I am so signed off on the fact that the Yankees are going to win the World Series I am not going to bother with anymore postseason predictions.

Nebraska basketball was picked to finished 11th in the Big 12 conference, by the coaches. Outside of Kansas and Texas, nobody is going to be proven in the Big 12 so it is not a good sign that Bill Self, Rick Barnes, and Co. do not think much of Doc Sadler’s crew this year. By the way, this year’s version of, “Which College Basketball team in Nebraska sucks the least” takes place on December 6 when Nebraska travels to Omaha to play Creighton. If you disagree with me on the title of this game, go find a tape of last years game and get back to me.

De ja Vu

2009-10-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

On a cold rainy November night in 1990, #9 Colorado traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska to take on the #3 Nebraska Cornhuskers. After three quarters, Nebraska led 12-0 before being stunned in the 4th quarter by 4 Colorado touchdowns on route to a 27-12 loss.

On a cold rainy October night in 2009, #21 Nebraska traveled to Columbia, Missouri to take on the #24 Missouri Tigers. After three quarters, Missouri led 12-0 before being stunned in the 4th quarter by 4 Nebraska touchdowns on route to a 27-12 loss.

On January 1, 1991, #1 Colorado defeated Notre Dame 10-9 in the Orange Bowl to win a share of the National Championship.

On January 8, 2010, OK, I am not going to go that far, but you have to admit that the circumstances surrounding those two games were eerily similar; however, this time around Nebraska was on the right end of the scoreboard.

Is Nebraska a National Championship contender? Not at this point; however, the Huskers do sit at #15 in the Associated Press poll and with wins at home over Texas Tech and Iowa State, along with a victory over Robert Griffin-less Baylor, the Huskers will be 7-1 and sitting possibly in the top ten with Oklahoma coming to town on November 7. It does not get any easier in November for Nebraska, with visits to Kansas and Colorado sandwiched in between with hap-less Kansas State team.

Nebraska still has issues on offense as it has only produced touchdowns in one of eight quarters against BCS eligible teams. This is not the Sun Belt anymore so Nebraska will need to be more consistent on offense if they want to compete for a Big 12 North Championship. Based on the schedules of Kansas and Missouri, Nebraska may win the North by default, but that will not make it easy for the Huskers on December 4th if they fail to have a solid offensive game plan week in and week out.

The Nebraska defense is playing about as good as any defense in the country right now with maybe USC being the exception. Nebraska is giving up an average of 8 points per game, and that includes games against Missouri and Virginia Tech. Texas Tech obviously provides the most explosive offense to date and they will test Ndamukong Suh and Co. Tech has a habit of releasing the ball right after the snap so Suh may not be as effective of a weapon this week. Nebraska’s linebackers and secondary will have to step it up this week to slow down this gimmick offense.

Now, Texas Tech is far from the team they were last year; however, they are still a formidable foe with QB Steven Schilling appearing to now be the Red Raiders signal caller for the rest of the year. Last year, Nebraska needed the perfect game plan just to force overtime with Texas Tech. I do not think that will be needed this year and Nebraska should come out on top on Saturday.

Nebraska 38 Texas Tech 24

P.S. Ndamukong Suh has to be mentioned as a Heisman Candidate right now. He is a man among boys out there right now. Also, look for College Football predictions on Thursday.

Week 6 College Football Predictions

2009-10-10T07:04:00.000-07:00

For recreational purposes only. Here are my plays for the day.

Florida 31 LSU 17 (Florida -8)

Tim Tebow or not, I just do not see Florida winning this game. Remember that Florida returned nearly every starter off their mythical national championship team for next year. Plus I expect Tebow to play anyway.

Alabama 21 Ole Miss 7 (Alabama -4.5)

Bama is the best team in the country. Ole Miss was overrated and exposed against South Carolina. I do not see Jevon Snead being able to pull this off.

Virginia Tech 28 Boston College 20 (Va Tech -13.5)

Va Tech wins, but BC covers and provides a strong challenge. Very sneak game, upset could happen.

Ohio State 41 Wisconsin 17 (Ohio State -16.5)

Wisconsin gets no respect as an undefeated unranked team traveling to the horseshoe. I don't give them respect either. do not take the beat, give the points and watch Terrell Pryor and Co Roll

Michigan 24 Iowa 21 (Iowa -8)

Big Upset in Iowa City tonight. You heard it hear first, well maybe not first, but i am calling it.

Arkansas 35 Auburn 28 (Auburn -2.5)

Auburn is 5-0, that is crap and it ends early today.

Kansas 48 Iowa State 17 (Kansas -19)

Kansas trailed Iowa State 20-0 last year before winning 35-33. no comeback needed today.

Deja Vu?

2009-10-08T22:10:00.000-07:00

In 1990, The Colorado Buffaloes came to Lincoln to take on Nebraska. After 3 quarters, Nebraska led 12-0 in a cold rainy game. In the 4th quarter, Colorado scored 4 Touchdowns en route to a 27-12 victory and a share of the National Championship. Does this sound familiar? well check it out..............

http://espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=292810142

MLB Playoff Thoughts

2009-10-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

Now that the Minnesota Twins have wrapped up the final playoff spot with a thrilling 6-5, 12 inning win over the Detroit Tigers, it is time for my divisional playoff round predictions. Due to time constraints, I do not have time to really go in depth, or probably provide great quality, but here are some thoughts.

Saint Louis Cardinals (91-71) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (95-67)

The Los Angeles Dodgers nearly completed the biggest come from ahead tank job in baseball history by nearly allowing the Colorado Rockies to win the NL West and force the Dodgers to open the playoffs on the road. Fortunately, Clayton Kershaw bailed out the Dodgers last Saturday and the Dodgers were able to close out the Rockies. While the Dodgers were going through their own tailspin, the Cardinals were as well finishing their last ten games with a 2-8 record. Both teams hit comparable (.270 avg. for the Dodgers and .263 averages for the Cardinals). Both teams feature possibly the #1 and #2 most feared hitters in the game (Albert Pujols and Manny Ramirez). Both the Dodgers and Cardinals have compliment hitters that complete their lineup (Matt Holliday and Ryan Ludwick for the Cardinals and Matt Kemp and Andre Either for the Dodgers). So to me, this series comes down to pitching. Both teams seem to have decent bullpens so I will turn my attention to starting pitching. The Cardinals have Chris Carpenter and the Dodgers do not. Carpenter will start two games for the Cardinals and could carry the team to victory all by himself and in my mind, he will. Cardinals win the series 3-1.

Colorado Rockies (92-70) vs. Philadelphia Phillies (93-71)

At 18-28 and completely out of it in the middle of May, the Colorado Rockies decided to make a managerial change by firing Clint Hurdle and bringing in Jim Tracy. Since then, the Rockies have gone 74-42 (baseball’s best record in that timeframe) to earn the Wild Card Berth for the second time in three seasons. Their reward? The defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. However, the Phillies are not the same team they were last year. Their bullpen faces major issues with Brad Lidge not being able to get anybody out after going perfect in save opportunities (regular season and playoffs) last year. Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels have had terrible finishes to the season and Jamie Moyer was lost to season ending surgery. On the other side, Jason Marquis looked like a Cy Young candidate before falling apart in the month of September, so much so that Tracy will start Ubaldo Jimenez in Game 1 of the series. I’ll ride the Rockies hot streak and pick them to win in 5 games; however, the real NLCS may have already started in Los Angeles tomorrow night.

Boston Red Sox (95-67) vs Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (97-65)

Really? Again? For the fourth time since 2004, baseball fans have to suffer through this matchup again? I only say that because the Red Sox are 9-1 against the Angels in the ALDS since then. Will history change its tune? Perhaps, and there may be reasons why the Angels can finally get over this year. For one, the Angels lead the majors in hitting at .285, fifteen points better than their opponent. Second, The Angels post the best road record in baseball at 48-33 while the Red Sox only went 39-42. Since the Angels get three home games (if needed) in this series, they will have the advantage in this area. Well, you know what, I could go on and on about why the Angels will win this series. Forget about it. Until the Angels beat the Red Sox beat the playoffs, I will not believe it. Red Sox in 4.

Minnesota Twins (87-76) vs. New York Yankees (103-59)

The New York Yankees are 7-0 this year against Minnesota. You really expect me to break this down? Yankees sweep and close out baseball’s presence at the Metrodome on Sunday.

College Football Recap

2009-10-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

Week 5 College Football Review

I spent the weekend in Kansas City at my parents place so I pretty much spent the entire today watching College Football. Since I recently opened a Twitter account, I have been encouraged to start blogging, so here I go, my first blog post in many months and what better way to start up again with some thoughts on College Football.

I have many thoughts on Notre Dame. For one, they are the only team in College Football that could either be 5-0 or 1-4; however, they currently sit at 4-1 and have a much needed bye week to prepare for their next home game against Southern California. The last four games played by the Irish have either gone down to the final minute or overtime with only Michigan being able to dethrone the Irish. What does this mean? Does it mean the Irish are back, well, not exactly; however, one could certainly say the Irish are much better. They are not getting blown out and they are very competitive; however, are these close games only delaying the inevitable firing of one Charlie Weis. What happens if Chaz starts losing more close games than he wins? The best thing for Chaz to do is get his team to start putting games away prior to the final few minutes because the minute things go back for Notre Dame in terms of losses, is the time we start hearing speculation about how much money Notre Dame is willing to pay for Urban Meyer. And yes, I know Meyer said he would never be the Notre Dame Head coach, but Nick Saban once said he would never coach at Alabama.

Trailing 20-6 with 4:33 left, I had left the Michigan Wolverines for dead. They had not moved the ball all game against the Michigan State defense; however, Tate Forcier woke up in time to drive Michigan to the game tying touchdown with two seconds left in the game. I even disagreed with Michigan State’s decision to award Michigan the ball first in overtime, as they seemed to have momentum to do whatever they wanted on offense. Then, Forcier remembered he was a freshman and threw an interception. One missed tackle later, and Michigan State was celebrating a 26-20 win. Like Notre Dame, Michigan is better but they have a long way to go to being the Michigan team that we are used to seeing (you know, good year, lose to Ohio State, lose the bowl game)

Hey Houston, the BCS called, they laughed and hung up the phone. Congrats on giving up 58 points to the same UTEP team that Kansas held to 7 points just a week later. Casey Keenum is a great QB for any chance for him to win the Heisman and for Houston to crash the BCS ended late into the night in El Paso, Texas. Speaking of UTEP, you know who their coach is right? Yep, Mike Price, the same Mike Price who was set to take over at Alabama prior to that stripper scandal.

Did you see the smiling grin on Sam Bradford’s face at the end of the Oklahoma game where they fell 21-20 to Miami? That grin was the “I should be the starting QB for the Detroit Lions and making $40 million grin.” Oklahoma can still contend for the Big 12 Championship and they will certainly needed Bradford healthy for their October 17 matchup with Texas in Dallas. Also in that game, Brent Musberger kept his streak alive as he made at least one reference to alcohol. By the way, why do they allow alcohol sales at Miami Football games? That’s the worst idea since going to a party with a……..never mind.

I fell asleep during the middle of the Georgia and LSU game; however, I woke up in time to witness a wild fourth quarter, where the teams combined for 20 points in the final 3 minutes of the game. While Georgia fans may seem unhappy with the outcome; overall College Football fans should rejoice, as this now sets up a top 5 matchup next week between #1 Florida and #4 LSU.

Remember when California was #6 in the country and had a Heisman Trophy Candidate in Jovhan Best? Wait, that was two weeks ago.

Not surprising to see Boise State drop from #5 to #6 in both polls this week. They had an unimpressive 34-16 win against UC Davis; however, what justification is there to put Virginia Tech at #5? Did that 34-26 win over Duke really impress the pollsters? Where is the love for USC? I mean, you do realize that USC has given up 3 touchdowns all year, right? More love for USC is needed. They are the best one loss team in College Football right now.

Wisconsin beat Minnesota 31-28. Do people in Minnesota even know what Paul Bunyon’s ax looks like anymore? Anyway, the Badgers are 5-0 and they have a big test this week at Ohio State. What is Wisconsin’s reward for being 5-0? Well, they are not ranked in one poll, #25 in another, and they are 16.5 underdogs at Ohio State this weekend.

I will be back later this week for predictions. Since Nebraska travels to Missouri this Thursday I will throw this one out ahead of time. Missouri is ranked #18 in one poll. Nebraska has not beaten a top 20 team in about forever. Until they do, I will go with the top 20 team. Missouri 27 Nebraska 17

Royals Off-season acquisition review

2008-12-18T16:56:00.000-08:00

The Royals have made 4 off-season transactions. Time for a quick analysis

1. Trade Relief Pitcher Leo Nunez to Florida for 1B Mike Jacobs

The Royals gave up part of their solid relief core last year to acquire a big bat that can slide in at the 4 or 5 slot of the lineup. Last year, Jacobs hit .247 with 32 home runs and 93 RBI's with the Marlins; however, his .299 on-base percentage was downright pitiful and something that is going to have to improve. Jacobs played in a bigger ballpark in Florida and comes to a ballpark with similar dimensions in Kansas City. He definitely has the potential to break the single season home run record held by Steve Balboni (36). Former Royal Kevin Seitzer was brought in to serve as the team's hitting coach and hopefully he can improve the OBP for not only Jacobs, but Jose Guillen, Mark Teahan, and Co.

2. Trade Relief Pitcher Ramon Ramirez to Boston for OF Coco Crisp

The Royals gave up yet another part of their solid relief core last year to acquire a true leadoff hitter in Crisp. General Manager Dayton Moore is hoping Crisp will provide the spark at the top of the lineup which will help the Royals improve on their 12th place finish in the American League in total runs. In 118 games for the Sox last year, Crisp hit .283 with an OBP of .344 with 7 homers, 43 RBI's and 20 stolen base. Look for the Royals to run Crisp a lot and you will see that stolen base total go up.

KEY ANALYSIS OF THE HITTING ACQUISITIONS: The Royals added two fresh bats to their lineup for about $9-$10 million in payroll. They likely would not have gotten the caliber of players in Jacobs and Crisp in the free agent market. Crisp, David DeJesus, and Mark Teahan will likely makeup the outfield this year with Jose Guillen serving as designated hitter. Oddman out? Perhaps Billy Butler, who will probably be a bench player/part time starter for the Royals.

3. Acquisition of Relief Pitcher Kyle Farnsworth for 2 years, $9.25 million.

Now, I understand what Dayton Moore is doing. He traded away two key components of his team, in order to acquire what he called cheap, quality hitters. He could then use some money to pay what some consider as "good money" to a top reliever in the marketplace. But Kyle Farnsworth? This guy may be one of the most overrated players in the history of baseball. I mean, the guy can throw 100 MPH, but his pitches have about as much movement on them as Joe Paterno on one leg. Farnsworth has a life-time 4.47 ERA in ten major league seasons, with his best season coming in 2005, when he had a 2.19 ERA splitting time with Detroit and Atlanta. Hopefully Farnsworth can rekindle the magic he had in 2005.

4. Acquisition of Relief Pitcher Horacio Ramirez for 1 year.

Dayton Moore traded Ramirez to the White Sox at the trade deadline last year but ended up getting him back in the free agent market. Ramirez was effective for the Royals last year in limited action as a reliever; however, Dayton Moore has said that Ramirez would compete for the fifth spot in the Kansas City rotation.

WHAT IS LEFT TO DO

The Royals missed out on Rafael Furcal, who elected to sign with the Dodgers. Had Furcal signed with the Royals, Mike Aviles would have moved from shortstop to second base; however, it now appears that Alberto Callaspo will be on the opening day second baseman next year. There are still a lot of free agents out on the market, don't expect the Royals to sit through the rest of the offseason in a quiet mode. After all, you never know when the next Mark Teahan trade rumor may pop up agai

JB Sez a new day is dawning in Kansas City..........

2008-12-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

Well the semester has finally ended, school is 26 days away from returning, and I got some free time on my hands. What better way to spend that time but to blog, and what better way to start the blog up again by sharing my thoughts on what transpired yesterday in Kansas City. After 20 years of serving as General Manager, President, and CEO of the Kansas City Chiefs, Carl Peterson announced he was resigning effective at the end of the season. Whether Peterson actually resigned or was fired remains a question, but the bottom line is that a new mind will be in charge of player personnel decisions in Kansas City and this decision probably should have been made a long time ago.

Now, Carl Peterson has done some great things in Kansas City. He has overseen a home sellout of every game since 1991 (well technically every ticket was sold), he went 176-141-1 as General Manager and oversaw 4 AFC West Titles and 9 playoff berths. He made a Chiefs tickets one of the hottest commodities in the country and ensured that if Chiefs fans could not go to a home game, they could watch them on TV in their home market with that sellout streak.

In the end, King Carl could not escape from the shortfalls of himself as a General Manager. In 20 years, King Carl failed to draft and develop a quarterback as a franchise quarterback. He made the ill-fated decision to release Rich Gannon and keep Elvis Grbac. We then saw Gannon take the Oakland Raiders to the Super Bowl and Grbac flunk out of the NFL. The most important stat in the Carl Peterson era was the date of Kansas City's last playoff victory: January 1994. The scene? Well, it was Houston, Texas against an Oiler team that no longer plays in Houston but rather in Tennessee. The quarterback? Joe Montana, who retired one year later after a two year stint with the Chiefs. Now, how many teams in the NFL have a longer playoff win drought than the Chiefs? Well, you cannot count the Houston Texans, because they are a recently new franchise. That leaves you with two teams: The Detroit Lions (1991) and The Cincinnati Bengals (1990). Considering that these are two of the worst run franchises in all of sports for some time (even though the Bengals have had recent success), this does not put King Carl in good company.

Lamar Hunt was very loyal to King Carl over the years. I knew as long as Lamar was in charge that a change would not be made. As great of a person to the NFL as Lamar was, he failed to manage the team he owned, only caring about making money and only money. Clark Hunt has made it a point to tell the NFL world that he is not his dad, and his first big decision, free-ing himself from King Carl, was the right one.

Now, Clark Hunt has indicated the next General Manager will be only a General Manager and there will be a separate President and CEO. Whoever the next General Manager will have the daunting task of determing if Herm Edwards is the right man to coach this team, and will likely have to sign or draft two, or possibly three quarterbacks. Regardless of the decisions made, Chiefs fans should feel vindicated, that we are free from King Carl!!!!!!

Suspension of Blog

2008-10-07T18:32:00.000-07:00

I've enjoyed blogging my thoughts over the last couple of months. Right now things are a little busy and I would rather just focus on work and school and not worry about posting a blog one time a week or so. I will leave people with my baseball predictions for the rest of the postseason. Keep in mind I was correct in predicting all 4 division series

NLCS: Dodgers over Phillies in 6
ALCS: Red Sox over Rays in 7

World Series: Dodgers over Red Sox in 6

For the rest of Nebraska's football season, I predict a 2-6 finish with Nebraska winning games at home versus Baylor and Colorado.

MLB Awards

2008-09-29T19:28:00.000-07:00

AL MVP

This was a tough call. There were a lot of good candidates, but I am going to go ahead with Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox. While many other Sox were injured or quitting on their team, Pedroia was a constant hitting .326 with 17 homeruns and 83 RBI's. Pedroia raised his batting average from .279 to .326 since June 1 and helped the Red Sox get back to the playoffs. Pedroia also led the league in hits and swiped 20 bases.

NL MVP

Albert Pujols should be a no doubter. Pujols kept the Cardinals in the Wild Card Race down the stretch by hitting .357 with 37 Home Runs and 116 RBI's. Now, Ryan Howard had a great September to help improve his mediocre average with ended up at .251 with 48 HR's and 146 RBI's. The difference between Pujols and Howard (mainly 100 points) also includes strikeouts (Howard's 199 to Pujols 54) and Walks (Howards 81 to Pujols 104).

AL Manager of the Year

Joe Madden, Tampa Bay. Is there really a need to explain it?

NL Manager of the Year

I was gonna give this award to Joe Torre. Then I realized the Dodgers only improved 2games from last year's record. So I'm gonna roll the dice and give the award to Cecil Cooper. Now, you will probably ask me, who is Cecil Cooper? Well, he is the Manager for the Houston Astros. Cooper took over last year in the middle of the year for Phil Garner and the Astros finished 73-89. This year, the Astros got off to a terrible start and even lost Carlos Lee to a season ending hand injury. All the Astros did was finish 3.5 games out of the Wild Card Slot while finishing RED HOT down the stretch. With the Cubs and Phillies expected to make playoff runs, and the Brewers firing their manager two weeks ago, I'll go with Cooper.

AL Rookie of the Year

Despite missing part of the year, Evan Longoria led all AL Rookies in nearly every hitting statistical category (.272, 27 HR's, and 85 RBI's) helping lead Tampa Bay to their first playoff berth ever en route to the AL East title.

NL Rookie of the Year

Geovanny Soto, Cubs, Catcher. (.286, 23 HR, 86 RBI's). Should be unaminous, no debate here

AL Cy Young Award

With all due respect to Fransisco Rodriguez and his 66 saves, he didn't even have the best year for an AL Reliever (Mariano Rivera did). I'll go with Cliff Lee here who went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA with 170 strikeouts in 223.1 IP. He also had a very impressive 1.11 WHIP.

NL Cy Young Award

CC Sabathia was incredible for Milwaukee. He went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA and an unreal 7 complete games for Milwaukee. Unfortunately for Sabathia, Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants had an overall superb season for a subpar team throwing 265 strikeouts in 227 innings, while going 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA

No posts this week

2008-09-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

Been a little busy this week. I'll be back on Tuesday of next week with my predictions for the MLB Playoffs and I will also rundown my picks for the MVP, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year for both leagues.

no Beanie? didn't matter....

2008-09-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

If you listened to Ohio State fans this week, they would argue that if Beanie Wells was able to play last Saturday against USC that it would have made a difference. Yeah, maybe instead of losing 35-3 you would lose 35-10. Maybe instead of recruiting one blue chip running back, Ohio State should recruit 5 or 6 like USC does. That way when one guy gets hurt, the next guy can go right in (see 1995 Nebraska for example). Now, i'm not goig to sit here and crown USC the National Champion after that performance. The Buckeyes once again showed they were slow and stale in a matchup with a big time school outside the Big 10. If USC were to make it to the BCS title game, they will likely face an undefeated or one less SEC school (which has a lot of power in speed). USC will have an easy road as all major games the rest of the year are at home. Furthermore, the Pac 10 is looking very very mediocre after their performance last Saturday.

Holy Crap. Did BYU really beat UCLA 59-0? The same UCLA team that beat Tennessee on Labor Day? Let me tell you something Vol fan, you have a home game against Florida this week. Get ready for potentially the worst home loss in the history of your program. I will have the pleasure of seeing it in person as I am flying down to Knoxivlle on Friday.

Elsewhere in the spors world. JB Sez that the Milwaukee Brewers made the right decision in firing Manager Ned Yost. Although Yost has let the Brewers from the bottom of the Major Leagues to playoff contention, it appeared that the Brewers were in the midst of giving away a playoff spot for the second straight year after getting swept by the Philadelphia Phillies in 4 games this past weekend. The Brewers looked lifeless in that 4 games series and something had to be done to shake things up. Not only is this a wake up call to the team, but it has to be a wakeup call to the players as well. The Brewers have the finest minor league system in baseball and there is a lot of young talent ready to go. With CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets likely leaving after this year, the Brewers may not have a shot to make the playoffs for a couple years when all the young minor league talent is playing too its potential.

OK, i'm going to flat out say this. The Kansas City Chiefs are the worst organization in pro football. Now, I understand that the Chiefs are committed to a youth movement, a rebuilding phase; however, you cannot go through a youth movement with no real quarterback. The Chiefs planned on playing Brodie Croyle at QB during the year, but to nobody's surprise, Croyle got hurt in week one. What happened last Sunday was embarrasing. The Chiefs trotted out three different QB's against Oakland, including someone who on the practice squad earlier in the week. What makes things worse were reports that Lane Kiffin was about to get fired as Oakland coach, yet the Chiefs were the team playing like its coach was about to get fired. If Kansas City wants to commit to a rebuilding period, they need to draft a quarterback in the first round next year and make a commitment to that QB. As long as Clark Hunt allows Carl Peterson to act as general manager, this team will go nowhere.

The Republican Party at its finest......

2008-09-09T18:43:00.001-07:00

Bravo!!! Bravo!!! Thank you Jon Stewart for running this video.

Nebraska Football Review

2008-09-09T18:02:00.001-07:00

In this edition of Husker recap, JB will review the Good, the Bad, and the downright Ugly in the first 2 weeks of Husker football. In order to start this review on a positive note, lets start with "the Good"

The Good

1. Nebraska is 2-0. Pretty short and sweet, but its important. Nebraska ended last year losing 5 of 6 games. Getting wins over anyone at this point helps build confidence in the team. Shouldn't be too much of an issue being 3-0 heading into a bye week and then a home game against Virginia Tech. Although Bo Pelini and Jeff Jamrog don't like the current schedule, its serving as a confidence builder.

2. Niles Paul as a return weapon. Paul exploded through the San Jose Special Teams Unit for a kickoff return touchdown in the 4th quarter. It took the wind out of the sails of San Jose State, setting the stage for a dominant Husker 4th quarter. Paul also has 3 additional kick off returns averaging 25 yards per return, tops on the team. Look for Paul to remain as the main kickoff return threat this fall. Its too bad Bill Callahan burned his redshirt for no reason.

3. Andy Christensen is back on the team. Christensen was reinstated to the team by Bo Pelini after he was cleared of sexual assault charges. Christensen did plead guilty to two misdemeanors and is definitely on a "one more strike and you are out policy" with the program. Christensen will sit out New Mexico State as part of his suspension but will be in the lineup for Virginia Tech. Christensen will hopefully bring some much needed depth and continuity to the offensive line, something it has been lacking.

4. Cody Glenn's play at linebacker. Now, Pelini will admit that Glenn can do better (and Glenn even admitted it himself), but Glenn has been a pleasant surprise at the position this year. He leads the team with 17 tackles including 13 solo tackles. Glenn volunteered to move to the linebacker spot, where depth is a big issue this year.

5. The kicking game. Alex Henery is 4-4 in field goals this year (all over 40 yards) and is 10-10 in extra point attempts. Adi Kunalic has 9 touchbacks in 16 kickoff attempts. Kunalic has been affected by some wind in his face, but overall is doing a good job.

The Bad

1. Barry Turner is out for the year. Now, Turner has not been himself the last two years. After a superb freshman year, he has dissapeared the last two years and struggled a bit through the first game. Don't think for a second that an injury is ever good for a team. Defensive Line is another position where Nebraska is thin and the Turner injury does not help. Right now Clayton Sievers is listed as the backup at the Right End and Left End position. Time will tell if Nebraska can continue to operate 3 players at 2 positions, especially heading into Big 12 play.

2. The Overall Play of the Defense. Last year the defense was 112th in the nation in total yards allowed. This year they have given up 351.5 yards per game, good enough for 69th in the nation. Improvement right? Um, wrong. This is Western Michigan and San Jose State doing this to Nebraska. What's gonna happen when Nebraska goes up against the likes of Missouri, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Kansas? As Carl Lewis would say, UH OH!!!

The Downright Ugly

1. The most dissapointing stat of the last weekend was 12 penalties for 103 yards, including 3 STRAIGHT FALSE STATE/ILLEGAL PROCEDURE PENALTIES. I don't care how bad the contunity is on the offensive line. You can't commit those penalties, especially at home, when the crowd is QUIET while you play on offense. Then again, if we are talking about Memorial Stadium, the crowd has the ability to be quiet when the Husker defense takes the field.

2. Offensive Line/Rushing Game. Nebraska is averaging a paltry 3.0 yards per carry if you take out the 27 yard run by Roy Helu against San Jose State and the 32 yard broken play run by Joe Ganz against Western Michigan. Nebraska has to establish some sort of running game to control the clock and help keep the defense off the field. Quick 3 and out do nothing to help time management and resting the defense. Hopefully the return of Andy Christensen helps fuel a resurgence in the offensive line.

College Football Week 2 Review

2008-09-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

I'll devote a separate blog entry to Nebraska and have that posted on either Monday or Tuesday.

Well, unless you are really out of touch with College Football, you would realize that the story of the year so far are the East Carolina Pirates. In just two weeks, the Pirates have dethroned Virginia Tech by taking a page out of Frank Beamer's playbook (a blocked punt returned for a TD) and then in front of the fourth largest crowd in school history, knocked off West Virginia and Heisman Trophy Candidates Pat White and Noel Devine 24-3. Now, its only been 2 weeks, but it doesn't take much of a football fan to know that the Conference USA is not a college football powerhouse. If the Pirates are able to knock off North Carolina State next week they will set the tone for a possible undefeated season on their way to crashing the BCS party.

Should Ohio State be concerned? They trailed Ohio 14-12 in the fourth quarter before taking advantage of some Ohio mistakes and escaping with a 26-14 victory. Was the score closer because Chris "Beanie" Wells was unavailable for the game? Perhaps the Buckeyes were looking forward to USC? Well, probably a combination of both. You can guarantee that Jim Tresell will have the full focus of his team in practice this week but for Ohio State to have ANY chance of beating USC, they will need Beanie Wells healthy.

Believe it or not, Notre Dame has actually won 3 football games in a row dating back to last season. Now, the Irish didn't really show too many signs of improvement on offense, although Jimmy Clausen did throw 3 touchdown passes verus 2 interceptions. The Irish only mustered up a paltry 3.1 yards per rush against a San Diego State team that lost to a division 1AA team last week. Throwing statistics aside, the most important thing for this Irish team to do right now is to win football games, something they have done 3 times in a row. In what is perhaps the most interesting game of the week outside of USC-Ohio State, Notre Dame hosts Michigan this week. Now, Michigan has had trouble with their new spread offense, but had a major defensive improvement against Miami of Ohio next week. Look for a low scoring affair this week but in the end look for Michigan to win a close scoring affair.

What a travesty in the Pacific Northwest. In case you missed it, Washington trailed #15 BYU 28-21 with seconds left. Washington QB Jake Locker scored a touchdown with 2 seconds left and flipped the ball in the air in celebration. One official thought this was too much and called an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for excessive celebration. Now, in NO WAY was Locker trying to show up BYU. He was just happy to put his team in position to tie the game. Instead, the referees make Washington kick a 35 yard extra point and it is blocked. the game ends, 28-27 Washington. I don't know if the referees will be reprimanded in anyway, but I think a suspension is warranted for the one who made that stupid call.

College Football Predictions

2008-09-07T17:36:00.000-07:00

just saving my predictions for this year's season.

JB Sez..........
That Kansas will follow up its 12-1 campaign in 2007 with an 8-5 record this year. Kansas lost key players in CB Aqib Talib and OT Anthony Collins to the NFL and also inherit Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech to their schedule, with two of the three games on the road.

That Florida Quarterback Tim Tebow will not win the Heisman Trophy for a second time. His money is on Chase Daniel, Chris "Beanie" Wells, or Graham Harrell.

That Notre Dame will improve but will still end up with a 6-6 record, but they will lose their bowl game and finish the year 6-7.

That Baylor will not finish last in the Big 12 south. That honor will go to Texas A&M.

That Tommy Bowden will finally lead the Clemson Tigers to the ACC Title.

That Appalachin State has no chance to beat LSU on August 30th. Nobody will ever take them lightly again.

That this will be the final year for Kirk Ferentz at Iowa.

That Alabama desperately needs a season opening win against Clemson to show the College Football world they are ready to be among the elite again.

That South Florida will finally win the Big East.

That Michigan will surprise people and go at least 8-4 this year.

That the Sweater Vest will once again own Michigan.

That Tennessee will lose at least 5 games this year, including the season opener at UCLA.

College Football Week 1

2008-09-02T17:49:00.000-07:00

Normally I would try to have a review of each week up by Sunday; however, I wanted to wait for the outcome of last night's UCLA-Tennessee game in the Rose Bowl. In my "JB Sez" column to the right, I predicted that Tennessee would lose 5 games, including the season opener at UCLA. Well, if you watched the game last night, you witnessed my "shot heard around Omaha" as I successfully predicted the 27-24 overtime upset. What a way for the Rick Neuheisel era to begin at UCLA and certainly Phil Fulmer will once again land on the "hot seat" for this performance. Don't look now, but Florida (and myself) roll into Knoxville in 2 weeks and Fullmer has never needed a win over Florida this bad since the 1998 season. As for UCLA, that win did not "end the football monopoly in Los Angeles" but it certainly sent a message to Pete Carroll and Co.

For the last few years, the Big East conference has taken flack for being a terrible conference. Well, that's over now, because the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is now the worst conference. Check out how the ACC fared this past weekend in some of their big matchups. The ACC has not won a BCS game since 1999 and I do not expect that stat to change this year. Whoever wins that title this year can drop an asterik on it.

Alabama 34 Clemson 10
East Carolina 27 Va Tech 22
South Carolina 34 NC State 0
USC 52 Virginia 7

What in the world is Jim Tressel thinking? Why are you even playing Chris "Beanie" Wells in the 3rd quarter of a 26-0 blowout of Youngstown State? Wells went down in the 3rd quarter of the contest and has been ruled "doubtful" for this weeks contest against Ohio. Even if Wells thinks he can play, he won't, as the Buckeyes need him 100% for any chance to beat USC in 2 weeks in Los Angeles. Did Jim Tressell make the coaching blunder of the year by continuing to play Wells? Stay tuned...

We knew Missouri was going to score points (52) but if they want to be considered a National Championship contendor they are going to have to shore up that defense as they surrendered 42 points to Illinois on Saturday.

Ok, fine, I was wrong about Michigan. They are not going to go 8-4 this year. But, I said Alabama desperately needed a win over Clemson and they got it with their 34-10 throttling of the Tigers. I also said LSU had a 0% chance of losing to Appalachin State. I was right. I may want to re-think Clemson winning the ACC.

As for this next week, I am interested in seeing how Notre Dame looks against San Diego State and I will also blog about Nebraska after their second game against San Jose State.

Who is my Heisman pick after week 1? Well, Mark Sanchez, 338 yards and 3 TD's in USC's 52-7 win against Virginia. USC is off this week but if Sanchez has a great game against Ohio State, his name will move to the top of a lot of people's lists.

Nebraska Football Preview

2008-08-27T16:14:00.001-07:00

Over 4 years ago I was sitting in a New York City Hotel Room when word came that Bill Callahan was hired as head coach. My buddy was in the same room and within 15 seconds we were battling over if it was the right hire. I applauded the hire, he hated it. Well 4 years later, he was right, I was wrong. The Callahan experiment is over and the Bo Pelini experiment begins.

Pelini enters Nebraska with some good talent left behind by Callahan. While at Nebraska, Callahan loaded up on recruits that were highly ranked by recruiting services; however, he failed to coach those recruits into superstars. Oddly enough, one little known recruit will open the season as Nebraska's most dangerous weapon.

Joe Ganz opens the season as Nebraska's starting quarterback. For four years, Ganz studied, practiced, and waited, and waited, and waited. Then last year, when starting quarterback Sam Keller went down, Ganz was thrown into the fold and all he did was pass for 15 touchdowns and 1,400 yards in three games including a school record seven touchdown passes against Kansas State. Ganz will need to cut down on the interceptions (7) and will not have as many experienced receivers to throw to. Ganz is also mobile and we saw that mobility shine in last year's game with Colorado when Ganz took off for a 29 yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Marlon Lucky, a once heralded recruit out of Southern California, returns for his senior year to Nebraska to lead a trio of running backs which also features sophomores Roy Helu, Jr. and Quentin Castille. Pelini did not name a starter after fall camp; however, Lucky has the most experience and has also shown he can catch the ball coming out of the backfield. Look for Lucky to get the most carries and action early on.

Like Ganz, Senior Wide Receivers Nate Swift and Todd Peterson enter their fifth year in the Nebraska program. Only Swift returns as a bona-fide starter although Peterson has shown signs of excellence. A plethera of talent wait in the wings including Juniors Menelink Holt and local Omaha product Niles Paul. At this point, there is no wide receiver like big, strong, wideout like Maurice Purify on this team, so Ganz will have to make do with this group this year. Hunter Teafatiller was counted on to lead the Huskers tight end corps this year but two DUI arrests have led to the dismissal of Hunter. Sophomore Mike McNeil will likely start the year, but expect others to get a look.

Going into the start of the year, Nebraska is moving on without Senior Guard Andy Christensen, who is on trial in Lincoln for sexual assault charges. Although Christensen has not been convicted of the sexual assault at a bar, he did plead guilty to two misdemeanors and will likely not play this season, convicted or not. The good news for Nebraska is that four starters return on the offensive line, led by Senior Left Tackle Lydon Murtha. Sophomore Mike Smith, a converted defensive end, came out of nowhere in fall camp to grab the other starting spot at tackle.

There was no denying that Nebraska could score points last year. In fact, in their last three games of the season, Nebraska averaged 51 points per game, even though they lost 2 of the 3 games. The points may not come in those number this year, as Nebraska is expected to control the game more on the ground, hoping to keep its own defense off the field. When needed though, this offense can turn it on in an instant.

As for the defense....well....that's the main reason that Beau Bridges stunt double is out and Bo Pelini is in. Last year, for the first time in about ever, Nebraska was ranked near the bottom of the country in total defense. Even Kansas racked up 76 points on Nebraska, which is more points than in one game than Kansas scored on Nebraska during the entire decade of the 70s and the entire decade of the 80s. Pelini will have a challenge on his hand as inexperience reigns all across the defense. As of posting time, Pelini had yet to award any blackshirts to players.

The defensive line is the one area of the defense that actually carried experience. Nebraska returns all 4 starters on the defensive line that had major trouble getting to the quarterback last year. Barry Turner returns for his senior season at defensive end. Turner had a fabulous freshman year but has been non-existent the last two years. The most talent player, Ndamukong Suh, returns to anchor the defensive tackle position. At 6-4, 300, Suh has the size to block up the middle of the field and the speed to get to the quarterback at the same time. Among other plsyers returning that have seen significant action the last two years include Clayton Siever, Pierre Allen, and Ty Steinkuhler. Look for Baker Steinkuhler, the gem of Nebraska's recruiting class (and who also ran down Terrell Pryor in the US Army All American Game) to redshirt this year.

This year's Linebacking corp is as Carl Lewis would say..."uh oh" Out of three starters, one is a former walk-on, and one is a former runningback. Only Phillip Dillard returns with any experience and its limited at that. Dillard, another former heralded recruit, has potential to be a great Nebraska linebacker. Cody Glenn moves from the runningback position and earned himself a starting spot in spring ball, and then held onto it in the fall. Look for Tyler Wortman to start at the other linebacker spot, with true freshman Sean Fisher and Will Compton seeing significant playing time.

THe last four years you have probably noticed Nebraska corners and safeties face guarding wide receivers. Throw that philosophy out the window. This year the players will be taught to turn to look for the ball, in an effort to force more turnovers. Expect a lot of more interceptions and a lot more consistency among Husker defensive back this year. Out of the top 8 listed on the depth chart, only two starters return in Armando Murillo at corner and Larry Asante at strong safety. Rickey Thenarse is a star waiting to be born and he will anchor the free safety position this year. Anthony West won the other starting cornerback job in fall camp but expect to see Eric Hagg and Prince Amukamara see extensive playing time.

So, how will Nebraska do this year? I'll say 7-5. Here is my breakdown of the schedule

Western Michigan-win
San Jose State-win
New Mexico State-win
Va Tech-loss
Missouri-loss
at Texas Tech-loss
at Iowa State-loss
Baylor-win
Oklahoma-loss
Kansas-win
at Kansas State-win
Colorado-loss

College Football 2008

2008-08-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

From today through Wednesday, I'll be updating my blog with College Football predictions for 2008. I'll preview the Nebraska Cornhuskers specifically on Wednesday. For now, JB will break down his top 10 teams and will also provide some predictions for the season in the "JB Sez" column. Without further ado, here is my top 10 (the top 10 will be updated through Tuesday).

1. Southern California-A favorable scheduele for USC this year features all tough non-conference and conference games at home (including a September 13th showdown against The Ohio State University). Quarterback Mark Sanchez, who was injured in fall camp appears to be healthy and ready to take the full reigns as the next great Trojan QB. He is surrounded by tremendous talent which include Wide Receiver's Patrick Turner and Vidal Hazelton (former five star rivals recruits) and tailback Joe McKnight (another former five star rivals recruit.) Brian Cushing and Rey Maulauga lead what is undoubtedly the best linebacking core in college football Stoday and both could be top 10 picks in the NFL Draft come next spring. With it becoming ever harder to go undefeated in college football, it would be hard to argue that a one loss USC team would not belong in the BCS National Championship game.

2. Ohio State-In reality, Florida or Georgia should probably be #2, but the SEC is the toughest conference in the country, and this is the year I think they will finally all cancel each other out and keep each other out of the national championship game. Ohio State is clearly the class of the Big 10 and they return 9 starters on offense and defense including Junior Runningback Chris "Beanie" Wells. Terrell Pryor, the consensus #1 recruit in the country, will arrive on campus this fall and is expected to provide an immediate impact to the Buckeyes. Don't expect him to start, but his role could be similar to what Tim Tebow did in Florida in 2006.Expect the Buckeyes and Trojans to have a rematch in the Orange Bowl in Miami this coming January.

3. Florida-All day I debated between Georgia and Florida for this spot. In the end, I chose Florida thanks to a softer schedule and the presence of defending Heisman Trophy Winner Tim Tebow. Florida does have some issues on the defensive side of the ball (see Michigan torch the Gators in the Citrus Bowl); however, Florida overhauled their defensive staff and return at least 9 players who started on defense last year. I don't know if Florida will beat Georgia on November 1; however, a softer schedule bodes well for Florida to return to the SEC Title game on the first Saturday in December.

4. Georgia-The Bulldogs were undoubtedly the best team at the end of the college football season last year. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they had some tough losses early on and failed to qualify for the SEC title game. The Bulldogs return key offensive players at all positions, lead by QB Matthew Stafford and RB Knowshon Moreno. What could doom Georgia is a tough tough schedule which features road games at LSU, at Auburn, along with the traditional Jacksonville contest with the Gators.

5. Oklahoma-Although the Sooners flamed out in the BCS, they yet again won the Big 12 title, handing Missouri their only two losses in the season, including a 38-17 thrashing in the Big 12 title game. The Sooners are loaded on the offense side of the ball, returning Sophomore QB Sam Bradford and RB Demarco Murray, who is a star waiting to be born. The Sooners also return all 5 starters on an experienced offensive line. With the offense in place, defensive minded Bob Stoops should have no issue getting his defense in order, along the way to another Big 12 title. Its a definite possibility that as long as Oklahoma can avoid losing more than one game, they have a good shot at the National Championship come this January.

Rest of the Top 10.

6. Missouri-Heisman Trophy Candidate Chase Daniel and All American Candidate Jeremy Maclin return to lead the Tigers. With Kansas having the toughest schedule in the north, and no other contendor in site, the Tigers will have no problem returning to the Big 12 title game.

7. Clemson-Features the best Runningback combo in College Football with James Davis and CJ Spiller. Can Tommy Bowden finally cash in on a weak ACC conference?

8. West Virginia-With Pat White returning to run the offense and super sophomore Noel Devine, the Mountaineers should see no immediate drop off in their first year with Rich Rodriguez as Head Coach

9. LSU-The Tigers have a lot of talent, but a lot of inexperience. Its still unknown who will be the QB for LSU, but don't count out Les Miles making stars out of his loaded recruiting classes.

10. Texas Tech-10 starters return on offense including QB Graham Harrell and WR Michael Crabtree, who both are likely Heisman Trophy candidates. Tech's commitment to defense slide them into my top 10 for the first time ever.

New York.....New York.....

2008-08-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

On Friday, August 15, I arrived in New York City uncertain if I would fulfill a goal of mine in seeing a game at Yankee Stadium. The forecast for rain and thunderstorms was 80% and the radar around New York City showed a line of storms to the west. With the first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. eastern, my dad and I headed up on the 4 train for the Bronx. We arrived shortly before 5:00 p.m. and decided to head into the park to see Monument Row. After several failed attempts to walk down to momument row, I headed to get a beer ($9.50 for a 24 oz) and head to my seat. As i sat down, someone next to me said, "you know, we are under a tornado warning." I figured the threat wasn't too great, as they were not evacuating the stadium, but nonetheless I kept an eye on the sky. Nothing happened and the rain was still pouring and the tarp covered the field at 7:00 p.m. Things looked bleak, but the rain stopped and baseball began at 8:30p.m. Finally, a game at Yankee stadium featuring my favorite team, the hapless Kansas City Royals. It was a very good game with both teams leaving a lot of runners on base. About the 7th inning we left our seats down the right field line in search of better seats. We eventually snuck down about 25 rows behind the third base dugout and sat in these padded seats, which probably retail for $200 or more.

With the score tied at 3 heading into the top of the 9th, "enter sandman" began to play, meaning only one thing, Mariano Rivera time. Now, Rivera has not been his best this year with the game tied, so I held out hope the Royals could scratch across a run; however, I was less than optimistic with the bottom of the Royals order coming up. To my shock, Esteban German doubled in the right field gap with 1 out and moved to third on an infield single by leadoff hitter Mitch Maier. Mike Aviles stepped to the plate with 1 out and on the very first pitch, Rivera threw a wild pitch (his 2nd in 6 years). The ball bounced behind the catcher, and German scored from 3rd. The bottom of the 9th was very dramatic. Jakim Soria, "the mexicutioner", came on and walked the leadoff batter but was able to somehow pick the runner off 1st. After getting the 2nd out of the inning, Soria gave up a single to Derek Jeter, a walk to Bobby Abreu, and a little dink infield hit to A-Rod. From my vantage point, Soria had plenty of time to throw out A-Rod, but probably didn't trust his fielding ability. With my heart pounding, Jason Giambi lined an 1-0 pitch to center, Mitch Maier made the catch, and the Royals celebrated a well earned 4-3 victory. After the game, my dad and I took the times square as we partied near the 4 a.m. bar closing times.

We spent Saturday in New York City, visiting Central Park, Times Square, and what may be my new favorite bar, McSorley's Pub, located near New York University. I recommend everyone go there to try out their light and dark beer. Sunday was the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, where I took a lot of good pictures, with some great artificats (see the links below). Monday, may have been the best/worst day of the trip. It started out with a visit to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, where special connections got me to the floor (no public visits are allowed, just invited guests). After that, my dad and I headed to Times Square and then took a trip to visit the Hello Deli, located right near the Ed Sullivan Theater, home of Dave Letterman. I took a photo with Rupert G, the owner of the place, and then made a quick visit to Shea Stadium.

Then, about the worst thing happened. Some douchebag mechanic from United somehow incorrectly filled out the fuel tank of the plane incorrectly, thus ending that flight for the night. I tried so hard to get on standby with other flights to Chicago, but to no avail. Finally, at 8 p.m. I got on to one, but I missed my connecting flight. Needless to say, I wasn't thrilled about spending the night in Chicago. United was nice enough to put me up in the Hyatt at O'Haire and I headed there. Now, I knew the WWE was in town at Rosemont for Monday Night Raw. I figured there was a slight chance they may stay at the Hyatt and when I arrived at 11p.m., several wrestlers and announcers were hanging at the bar. I got some very good photos including John Cena and Harley Race and got to briefly see Vince McMahon. It was a nice consolation prize to end a horrible day.

So, what happens the next morning? Delayed again!!! This time there's a pressure problem with the plane. I was able to get on a plane with American (at United's expense) and get back to Kansas City, to drive three hours back to Omaha. What a mess. No wonder United is always bankrupt. They are always delayed, and always having to comp people. What a terrible airline. I am never flying them again. Overall, it was a very great trip and I want to get back to NYC soon (just not on United)

Check out the links to the photos

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056226&l=566ef&id=32503236

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056227&l=d2ea6&id=32503236

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056229&l=46fbc&id=32503236

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056231&l=ec9b7&id=32503236

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056232&l=bd959&id=32503236

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056233&l=0b2bb&id=32503236

Wow I smile terribly in that last one

Off to New York

2008-08-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

I'm off to New York until next Monday. i'll blog about it Tuesday night. Yankee Stadium Friday, Cooperstown on Sunday, and perhaps something good on Monday, don't want to jinx it though.

JB Sez No Tiger? No problem........

2008-08-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

Padraig Harrington has shown this year that he can pick up the slack with a Tiger-less PGA Tour. Harrington shot a 3 under on the back 9 today at the PGA Championship to win by two shots over Sergio Garcia and Ben Curtis. In addition to winning the PGA and British Open this year, Harrington finished in a tie for 5th at the Masters and has had two other top three finishes on tour this year. Its clearly the best year of his career and it gives the European Ryder Cup Team a very very hot golfer heading into the Cup next month, something the United States just does not have right now. Although it was nice to see Padraig win, wouldn't it have been better to see Sergio win? That way everyone can clown on Sergio for winning his one major, in an event that did not have Tiger Woods. To me, it would almost be better for Sergio to get his major without Tiger, than with him. Time will tell if this young, stubborn Spaniard will ever put together four solid rounds in a major to take home one of golf's most prestigious prizes. If I'm Sergio, I'm making a trip back to the putting green tonight. The difference in today's tournament was Harrington making three clutch putts on 16, 17, and 18 while Garcia missed puts on 17 and 18 which could have kept him in the tournament.

Brett Favre is now a New York Jet. I don't think there's a happier person to have a resolution to this matter other than me. I was at a point where I was not going to listen to any sports radio, visit any sports Web site, or watch any Sportscenter. For one month we were subject to "Brett Favre all the time" and it drove me nuts. That being said, I don't see the media circus ending anytime soon, but it should die off a little bit. After all, the NFL season is upon us and there are 30 other teams not named the New York Jets and Green Bay Packers.

I'll probably have some more thoughts later in the week prior to my trip to New York to watch the Yankees play the Royals. I need to make sure I visit Yankee Stadium once, before they move to the new park.

For now, enjoy this video. This is one of the best pranks I have ever seen. Check it out.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Non-Youtube of the day

2008-08-06T18:59:00.001-07:00

A few things on my mind....

2008-08-04T19:06:00.001-07:00

Right now I am in the midst of a research project that I hope to have posted this week. It involves Oakland Athletics and their General Manager Billy Beane and his "Moneyball" philosophy. For now, just a few thoughts on my mind.

Big Brown defeated a field of six inferior horses to take the $1 million Haskell Invitation on Sunday. Big Brown struggled throughout the race but finally came on strong at the end to take the race by a length. There are still concerns in the Big Brown camp, as Big Brown did not initally respond to the jockey's commands to "go" and Big Brown drifted to the center of the track as he came down the stretch. More than likely, Big Brown will not run until The Breeders Cup Classic on October 25th before being retired to stud.

So far The Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers have benefited from the trade last Thursday. Manny is 8-13 in 3 games with Boston with 2 homeruns, helping L.A. take 2 of the remaining 3 games in the series versus Arizona. Jason Bay scored both runs in a 2-1 win Friday night and hit a 3 run homer on Saturday as Boston swept Oakland last weekend. We'll see how things turn in the long run. So far, so good.

Green Bay Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy was still meeting with Brett Favre as of 9:15 p.m. Central Monday Night. Nobody is sure what is being said but I'm sure McCarthy is pressuring Favre not to come back. Unfortunately for the Packers, Brett Favre holds all the cards because he has 3 years left on his contract and if he wanted to come back, NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell had no choice but to reinstate him. The sooner this gets cleared up the better, as the Packers franchise is in major turmoil. Then again, as a guy who hates the Packers, I am enjoying this.

The PGA Championship is this week. Does it really mean anything with Tiger in it? Well, no, but I'll still watch. Who's gonna win? I have no idea, but I'll pick KJ Choi for the hell of it. A lot of "no-names" will play in this event too, so watch out for one of those "no-names"

Back later this week, for now, enjoy this youtube video

The Non-Waiver Trade Deadline Has Come and Gone.....

2008-07-31T17:29:00.000-07:00

and JB Sez he was right!!! Well, kind of right. Two days ago I posted that the Boston Red Sox should trade disgruntled Left Fielder Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers in an attempt to get an outfielder and prospects in return. Well, Boston traded Manny Ramirez to Los Angeles as part of a three way trade which sent Pittsburgh Pirates Outfielder Jason Bay to the Sox and a bunch of players, including Brandon Moss, to Pittsburgh. As part of the trade, Boston agreed to pay the remaining $7 million of Ramirez's salary for the year. The Dodgers did not have to give up any of their very talent young prospects, and the Pirates, well the Pirates will suck with or without Bay.

Now, most people would argue that a contending team should try to improve their team at the trade deadline. From a statistical standpoint, Boston did not get better. Although their numbers are similar, Jason Bay is not Manny Ramirez. He's a quality outfielder that will do his best to fill the void by Man Ram, but it won't quite be what Manny gave to Boston. Now, on the contrary, Manny was being a pest. He was angry. He was rude. He was lazy. He was causing chaos amongst the Red Sox locker room and Red Sox management was tired of it. They had no choice but to trade Manny. Four years ago Theo Epstein made a huge trade to send an unhappy Nomar Garciaparra out of Boston. The Red Sox ended up winning the World Series thanks to that trade. Will this be deva vu all over again? We shall see, but in the end, the Yankees and Rays can breath much easier knowing that Manny won't be in a lineup to face them the rest of the regular season.

Quick question. Tell me, where Ken Griffey Jr will start in the Chicago White Sox lineup? Um, he won't? Yep, right answer. The White Sox made a deadline deal this morning acquiring the 600 homerun man and in all likelyhood, Junior will be a bat on the bench. The White Sox already have an outfield that consists of Carlos Quentin, Jermaine Dye, and Nick Swisher. Not to mention, Jim Thome is serving as the designated hitter and Paul Konerko plays first. Now, Swisher is struggling at the plate this year and you may see Junior fill in at center once in awhile. Keep in mind that Junior is no longer a defensive presence in the outfield and is more likely a defensive liability. The bottom line is that Junior will not have a chance to win the World Series, something he has never won, yet along participated in one.

And as Shaquille would say, Hey Milwaukee, tell me how our ass tastes. Sincerely, The Cubs.

Quite possibly My 2nd favorite video on YouTube

2008-07-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

MLB Trade Deadline is upon us........

2008-07-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

and JB Sez that the one deal that has to go down before 4:00 p.m. eastern on July 31 is Manny Ramirez being traded to the L.A. Dodgers. Now, before talking about the deal, let me give you a little background on this. Manny Ramirez is not happy. He's pretty outspoken about it. He wants a new contract. He does not like how he is in the final year of an eight year deal with club options for 2009 and 2010. Boston has had not commented on whether or not they will exercise their club option and all indications are they will not. So what does Manny do? Well, Manny goes Manny. He allegedly fakes a knee injury and pulls himself out of the lineup last Friday in the 1-0 loss to the Yankees where Joba Chamberlain and Co. combined for the shutout. Manny returned for the final two games and has been in the lineup for the last two games versus the Angels. Tests down on Manny's knee showed no injuries. So, was that the final straw? If I'm Theo Epstein, I'm making this deal. Manny has publicly commented that he would not mind being traded and I'm sure Red Sox management and some fans are put up with this. Now, can you get equal value for Manny? Probably not, but the one team out there that can provide them the goods is the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The likely scenario if the trade occurs would be Manny going to L.A. for either Outfielders Matt Kemp or Andre Eithier and some prospects. Boston may ask L.A. to throw in a relief pitcher, considering their bullpen is looking gassed at this time of the year. The key factor in all of this is Manny accepting a trade. Would Manny be open to playing for Joe Torre and reuniting with Nomar Garciaparra? In addition, Frank McCourt will have to be open to taking on more salary this year as the deal will likely result in an increase in payroll. Will the biggest trade since Alex Rodriguez went to the Yankees go down? Stay tuned.

I was also going to write tonight that the Anaheim Angels need to trade for Atlanta Braves first baseman Mark Texiera and just this afternoon the deal went down. Texiera was sent to Anaheim for 1B Casey Kotchmann and another prospect. The deal now gives Anaheim the bat they need to contend in the AL Playoffs this year. Anaheim appears to have the AL West all but locked up; however, their lineup was not nearly solid enough to compete in the playoffs.

Want a disgruntled outfielder? Well apparently Jose Guillen wants out of Kansas City. Sources close to the situation indicate that Guillen does not get along with Manager Trey Hillman and wants out. Guillen is in the first year of a three year, $36million deal that he signed in the offseason. I questioned this signing, as Guillen has always been a clubhouse cancer; however, GM Dayton Moore took a flyer on Guillen hoping he could provide a spark to a lineup and clean up his act. The spark has not really been there all year and its clear Guillen has not cleaned up his act. Good luck finding someone to take on Guillen, unless you are willing to eat at least half his contract. The Royals may also trade left handed relief pitcher Ron Mahay who has one year left on a two year, $8 million signed in the fall. Left handed RP's are coveted and the Royals should move Mahay if they feel they can get decent prospects.

YouTube Video of the Day

2008-07-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

I will post daily videos from YouTube that I enjoy. This is my #1 video ever.