Didn’t get a chance to post an article last week but I have to write about the final game at Yankee Stadium. Two things stuck out to me.
First, the Yankees did an admirable job. All of the Old Yankees came out, Babe Ruth’s grand daughter threw out the first pitch, the game was played like normal, and at the end Jeter gave a good speech reminding everyone that while the stadium is important this isn’t the end of the world and that it’s the team and the fans that make the stadium, not the other way around. For someone who appreciates the history of the place and realizes that even though 99% of the world hates the Yanks that the stadium is the heart of the American sports world, they did a good job.
Second, watching on ESPN I almost got a little vibe that I wasn’t welcome. The whole night it seemed like I was imposing on a moment the Yankees were having with their fans, themselves, and their history and that from the outside there was simply no way I could truly understand the magnitude of what was going on. Of course this mentality is true of all sports fans and their respected teams. In Houston the Astrodome and the Summit are still around, but they are not the same (Astrodome is unoccupied and the Summit is now a church) and no one who’s not a Houston fan could understand how many of us feel about those venues. I just got a vibe that what was happening at Yankee Stadium was simply more important than anything along those lines the rest of the nation could go through. I guess that’s just Yankee arrogance, a by product of 27 world championships and several pope visits. At least they aren’t in the playoffs.
Texas 52, Arkansas 10
Yes there were better rivalry games this week like, Michigan-Wisconsin in the Choke at Ann Arbor, Purdue-Note Dame in the underachieving victory at a random town in Indiana with a large Catholic population, Alabama-Georgia technically between the Hedges in Athens (that’s overlooking the fact that 4,000 Alabama fans were louder than 90,000 Georgia fans), and powerhouse battle for Northeast Oklahoma-West Arkansas and the Eureka area with Central Arkansas falling to Tulsa. But no one takes the cake like this Southwest Conference throwback/blowout.
In what was actually an insanely good rivalry back when Kennedy was making fun of Texas for scheduling Rice, the two barnyard animal universities have slugged it out in dozens of great games ranging from the Game of Century with Richard Nixon in attendance to Arkansas last visit to Austin scoring a victory over the then no. 5 ranked Longhorns.
So while we all watched Houston Nutt’s Ole Miss Rebels take down no. four Florida in an afternoon thriller, we were treated to Texas obliterating their rival later that night and securing another $500,000 donation from old alums who got to pretend, for a few fleeting hours, that they were back in the good old days when they were 20, the SWC reigned supreme, and Austin traffic wasn’t a nightmare because ACL (Austin City Limits) was that weekend.
Remember how this Dallas Cowboys team was an unstoppable juggernaut that blew away the old teams of Landry and the more recent teams of Aikman, Irving, and Smith? How this season had become basically a formality before the Cowboys were handed the already inscribed Lombardi Trophy? Then don’t you remember how they weren’t?
Yes between Romo and Jessica and TO it’s easy to get caught up in the hype of America’s team and put them on a pedestal, but thankfully the Redskins reminded us how good the only real pro football rivalry truly is and just how close the NFC East truly is (Seriously, Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and Dallas…if any one of those teams right now made a Super Bowl run, would you be surprised?). Now the Skins are 3-1, with two wins to possible playoff teams in New Orleans and Arizona, a victory over arguably the best team in the NFL, and their sole loss coming 7-16 to the NYC football Giants. What’s more amazing than their rise from nowhere is the guys they are doing it with, I mean Jason Campbell isn’t exactly the star quarterback Romo, McNabb, or Manning is. Sanata Moss isn’t exactly TO or Plaxico Burress. Heck their star off-season signee Defensive End Jason Taylor is known in more households for his exile from Miami and Dancing with the Stars rather than his on field prowess. So the fact that they are going against the star studded line ups of the NFC East and winning is impressive if not a little scary.
What’s even scarier (If you’re a Dallas fan at least) is that the Skins now face the Eagles (who even though they are underrated and still very good, sport a 2-2 record), then Cleveland and St. Louis in DC then the Lions in Detroit. If the stars line up right (which they won’t, but whose counting) theoretically DC could be 8-1 by their week nine match up against Pittsburgh in DC. Did I also mention they close off all three their NFC East rivals at home (FedEx Field being one of maybe four or five stadiums where home field advantage matters in the NFL alongside Dallas, Green Bay, Oakland, Seattle, and maybe Buffalo).
How about a round of applause for the SEC West division. Ole Miss taking down no. four Florida, in Gainesville no less would be enough to maybe give them the edge but that wasn’t enough. LSU will move into the top three by Monday after their win over Mississippi State, Auburn signed Phil Fulmer’s pink slip which Florida delivered a week earlier, and then the granddaddy of them all came when the (Crimson) Tide rolled into Georgia and punking them in their own house.
Two wins, over top four opponents, on the road, in the SEC will tend to make your division look good even if Arkansas got blown out of the water. So congratulations to the SEC West, the best division in College football?
I’m going to tell you all something a little unsettling, so get ready because here it comes: College Football is not where it was a decade ago.
I know, shocker…
We are in the age of young gun coaches and spread offenses. An age where Missouri, South Florida, Kansas, and Wake Forest are highly ranked and respected. An age where seven major upsets occur in one day instead of one year. An age where Florida State, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Nebraska don’t make up four of the top five. An age where smash mouth power football earns you a pink slip, because you can no longer compete against speed and ingenuity.
Those being most affected by this new era are the coaches who thrived in the old school 90’s. Bobby Bowden, Joe Pa, Lloyd Carr, Phil Fulmer all are coaching legends and can still compete with the best of them. Still they’ve been completely lapped by the Urban Meyers and Les Miles of the world. Bowden and Paterno would have gotten the axe long ago had their school’s programs not owed everything to them and Carr is already discussing golf tips with Lou Holtz on the Thursday night ESPN broadcast. That leaves the 1998 National Championship (feels further away than a decade huh Knoxville?) Tennessee head coach as the biggest name still trying to maintain his niche in a changing world. Tennessee is a good program but they haven’t mattered nationally in a while, and over 100,000 fans don’t come out to watch a second rate team, even if second rate is still occasional SEC Championship appearances and good bowl games. Unless Fulmer can get the Vol’s back into the spotlight his pink slip might be delivered to him personally by the next big young gun coach if it hasn’t been already by losses to Florida and Auburn.
Somehow, someway the Big East manages to stay respectable in terms of BCS conferences. For some reason everyone loves to hate on them, but are they seriously worse than the Pac-10? ACC? Heck they might even be better than the Big 10 depending on which West Virginia and Ohio State teams decide to show up on a given weekend.
This weekend they do get the nod over the Big 10. UConn is now 5-0 with their win over rebuilding (but getting better) Louisville. South Florida is still sticking around and is 5-0 after taking down North Carolina State. West Virginia stopped the bleeding against Marshall and Cincinnati and Pitt took home victories. Granted they were against Akron and Syracuse, but the Orangemen get bonus points for all of the Ernie Davis movie commercials floating around because fighting/profiting off old racisms > losses to Notre Dame.
As an Astros fan all I want to do is blame Bud Selig for ruining the Astros’ season by scheduling that terrible “home” game against the Cubs in Milwaukee due to Hurricane Ike. However the blame really falls on no one’s shoulders, this season simply wasn’t meant to be and there are two reasons for that.
One, a freaking Hurricane mauled the city and its surrounding area. That wasn’t Bud Selig’s fault, heck it wasn’t even Al Gore and Global Warming’s fault. It’s just one of those things that happens and shatters, along with people’s homes, seasons. Don’t believe me, talk to the Baton Rouge/San Antonio Saints of 2005. This won’t be the last time a natural disaster derails a team’s season, Houston, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville, and New Orleans will be hit by a hurricane in the future, California will get hit with an earthquake, and Buffalo will be buried in snow. Welcome to Earth, geology and climatology suck here and they always have, just be thankful your not pulling C’s in an attempt to get a degree in them.
Second, at any point in this season did the Astros remind you of a playoff team? Didn’t think so. Only Lance Berkman did the team proud the whole way through. This was an average team at best that, even when they got hot, couldn’t make a realistic playoff run against collapsing Milwaukee and New York teams. At least we didn’t collapse spectacularly like the Mets did, so there’s your silver lining.
NFL Week 3, Division of the Week
No division really stood out but one did accomplish more than others, the AFC South. Tennessee secured a big win over Minnesota and Houston and Jacksonville dueled in a game that saw both teams actually come out better than where they were.
Tennessee might be the best team in the NFL and just downed a respectable Minnesota team that could make the playoffs. The Titans have a solid defense, team mentality, and despite what the critics say a good quarterback situation. Kerry Collins is a winner and will continue to keep the Titans in the W column as long as he has the reigns. Vince Young might be having some problems and his stats might not be great, but he wins. Somehow all of the Tennessee fans have forgotten that Young has taken that team from picking in the third spot in the draft to an improbable playoff spot last year and has them arguably in the AFC’s driver seat this year.
Jacksonville is an extremely solid team that now owns two close victories over Indy and Houston, two wins that should prove crucial to their playoff chances. While the wins were close it’s not like the Jags were going against scrubs, Houston and Indy are seemingly down for various reasons ranging from injuries to hurricanes but they are still very respectable teams and Indy should still make the playoffs. Speaking of Houston, they might be 0-3 but it almost doesn’t count outside of that first loss to Pittsburgh (who could make a super bowl run) due to the hurricane and caliber of schedule. The Texans are easily this year’s hard luck team, and while the playoffs don’t look realistic anymore, they are still very capable of doing damage to other teams, and unlike Indy which may be declining and Jacksonville which may be peaking the Texans are only getting better. (Silver Lining Alert) The last thing the AFC south needs is a Texans team capable of squeaking into the playoffs this year picking in the lower middle end of the draft where immediate impact players are still plentiful.
Speaking of losses to Notre Dame, the Big 10 takes home the bronze over the Big 12 south for two reasons. First, with the exception of Oklahoma, the Big 12 South didn’t play anybody of consequence, and A&M’s “win” over Army doesn’t count. Second, the Big 10 managed to shoot college football par this weekend, which for them is about all we can ask.
Joe Pa is now 5-0 as Penn State took down Illinois, yet the Illini remained respectable. Northwestern’s dream continues as they are now 5-0 with a win over Iowa. Ohio State didn’t lose against Minnesota and both teams looked decent enough. Michigan State moved to 4-1 over Indiana while Purdue played good against the improving aforementioned Irish. Finally Michigan proved the Rich Rodriguez doubters wrong with their come from behind victory over Wisconsin, which at the same time might not hurt the Badgers as bad as one might initially think.
So for saving face and coming out this weekend more or less where they were when they went in, the Big 10 gets a spot on the short podium.
There were actually a lot of candidates for this one, such as Fresno State taking down UCLA, Notre Dame beating Purdue (though technically that might count as ‘in conference’ for Notre Dame), Oklahoma crushing TCU, and Virginia Tech going into Lincoln and beating Nebraska.
However the winner has to go to Navy and their 24-17 upset over no. 16 Wake Forest.
Yes the ACC might be down and this weekend it was just dangerous to be a ranked team playing an unranked one, but this is the no. 16 team in the nation we’re talking about. And arguably the best program in the ACC over the past few years to boot.
And yet, a Navy team that has completely changed its offense and has a new coach went into Wake’s back yard and took care of business like they were expected to win.
So Bravo Midshipmen, keep up the good fight.
NFL Player of the Week
Brett Favre threw for six touchdowns in the Jet’s much needed win over possible playoff bound Arizona. Amazing how when you let your high profile hall of fame acquired player do his thing without restrictions he can be well…good. Now that the Jets figured that out they could be a force in a still up for grabs AFC East (though I wouldn’t put it past that franchise to screw this up some how). The real fun in all of this watching Green Bay squirm as they suddenly need a healthy quarterback with Aaron Rogers hurt. Did I mention that Favre is arguably the most reliable and healthiest player to ever play the game?
Pac-12?
When Oregon State beat USC on Thursday they did more than provide a great game, they made the entire Pac-10 no longer matter in the national scheme of things. However this is same song third verse to many of us. Sadly for the conference they’ve become USC featuring nine other obstacles to trip up the only team people care about. The Pac-10 has been this way for some time now and needs legitimacy and competition if it has any hope of trying to catch the Big 12 and SEC. The solution to this dilemma is easy, add two more teams. Say what you will about conference championships but realize that they generate lots of cash, beef up schedules, and get the nation talking about your conference outside of the once a year upset loss to Oregon State or Stanford. In fact the only thing they really aren’t good at is getting your team into the national championship game, but since USC chokes in the regular season anyways that shouldn’t be to big of a deal.
Still the benefits outweigh the negatives for the Pac-10 which needs to be concerned about staying competitive on a national stage, and yes that is a legitimate concern because think where this conference would be if USC were struggling…scary huh?
Luckily for the Pac-10 there are a plethora of good BCS conference ready teams right now in the Rocky Mountains. BYU, Utah, Boise State, and TCU are all legitimate schools with good athletic programs. Not only would two of them bring more to the conference as a whole over the long run, they would provide Pac-10 football with a much needed shot in the arm, especially programs like Boise State and BYU which are potential BCS busters anyways.
Of course all of the positives mentioned above and the fairness in rewarding these non-BCS programs for trying all these years means nothing in the grand scheme of things. The Pac-10 schools need the Rocky Mountains untapped by more BCS schools other than Colorado in order to recruit those areas more successfully. Also more schools mean a tougher schedule and a conference championship game…and that would shut the wide open door USC has to the National Championship every year.
CC Sabathia has been simply a beast, pitching three times on short rest to will the Brewers into the playoffs for the first time since 82’. Manny Ramirez put the Dodgers on his shoulders and led them to the playoffs where they belong anyways for the first time in a few years. This brings up a very interesting question regarding the MVP. Now we all know that the MVP actually is “player of the year” rather than “Most valuable player on a team”, and the MVP will probably be going to NL default Albert Pujols. However, with the exception of possibly Berkman, you can argue that no two players have been more important to their teams.
CC’s and Manny’s arrival completely changed the culture and attitude of their clubhouses, maybe even cities. Suddenly LA gives a damn about baseball and the other night I saw my first ever Milwaukee sell out on TV (remember, a few years ago Brewers, ESPN, and sell out didn’t exactly mesh well together). No two players in the NL have meant more to their teams so that’s why they should be one and two in the MVP race. And for the MVP itself, the award should go to the man who willed the Brewers into the playoffs on his heroic pitching performances lately, CC Sabathia.
Stadium of the Week
Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, IA
Kinnick is the home field of the Iowa Hawkeyes. Opened in 1929 it holds 70,585 people and is the fifth largest stadium in the Big 10. Originally known as Iowa Stadium in 1972, sportswriter Gus Schrader lobbied successfully to have the name changed in honor of Nile Kinnick, Iowa’s only Heisman winner in 1939 who died in World War II. Kinnick Stadium is recently famous for the controversy surrounding its pink visitor locker room. Coach Hayden Fry who had majored in psychology had the visiting locker room painted pink to create a calming effect on opposing teams. In 2005 some Iowa professors and students protested against the pink locker room tradition citing how it was offense to women and homosexuals. They were unsuccessful in their protests.
“Rivalry” of the Week
New Mexico 35, New Mexico State 23
Known as the Battle of I-25 or recently “The Rio Grande Rivalry” this is a classic example of a historic bad team going against a historically decent team. While neither of the New Mexico teams are power houses New Mexico State has been featured in both Sports Illustrated and ESPN as one of the historically worst teams in college football while New Mexico has been to four consecutive bowl games. Also you know your rivalry is one sided (or simply overlooked) when it’s impossible to find a series win-loss record on the world’s largest source of worthless information, the internet.
Aggies, oh Aggies
the hills send back the cry
we're here to do or die!
Aggies, oh Aggies
we'll win this game or know the reason why!
And when we win this game
we'll buy a keg of booze
and we'll drink it to the Aggies 'til we wobble in our shoes!
A-G-G-I-E-S!
Aggies, Aggies, go Aggies!
Aggies, oh Aggies
the hills send back the cry
we're here to do or die!
Aggies, oh Aggies
we'll win this game or know the reason why!
What the MLB Playoffs Should look like…
What if baseball decided to be reasonable and let the best teams in rather than the best regional winners? Suddenly the playoff picture looks a little different.
The 97 win Cubs will take on the 89 win Mets while the 92 win Phillies take on the 90 win Brewers while the 84 win Dodgers are the odd man out. In the AL it would be the 100 win Angles against the 89 win White Sox while the 97 win Rays take on 95 win Boston in a mega opening series.
Let’s take this further, the NBA and NHL let in almost every team and even the NFL lets in multiple wild cards, let’s add two more wildcard teams from each league.
Now we have the Cubs against St. Louis in a big rivalry series. The Phillies take on the Astros and the Mets take on the Brewers. In the AL the Angles play the Twins, Tampa Bay plays the Yankees (Yankee Stadium hosts playoff games for the last time), and we get a battle of the sox as the White and Red Sox go against each other.
Baseball is a weird sport and playoffs have recently become nigh impossible to predict but it’s fun to think where things could be and whose teams could have snuck in. Just keep that in the back of your mind while the AL duels it out to see who wins the World Series formality game against the NL this year.
Tradition of the Week
The Mississippi State Cowbell. Despite an SEC ban on artificial noise makers the Mississippi State Cowbell remains an integral part of the Bulldog football tradition. Begun in the early 1900’s when a cow wandered onto the football field and Mississippi State won the game, the cow and more importantly the cowbell became a symbol of good luck. Students now take cowbells to the games which make Mississippi State’s Davis-Wade stadium just another of the SEC’s tough stadiums to play in.
This website shows dozens of the ornamental and elaborately decorated cowbells taken to past MSU football games.
Brings a Whole New Meaning to the term t.u.
For those who don’t know I’m a student at Texas A&M university and during some article related research I came across something that made me chuckle. A little background information before we start, Texas A&M was opened in 1876 as the Agriculture and Mechanical College of Texas which is the basis for the Texas “A&M” we know today.
Since Texas A&M was the major land grant university of Texas but only allowed male students that served in the ROTC “Corp” program this facilitated the rapid growth of the open to all University of Texas at Austin, the two schools became rivals, and a tradition at A&M is to call the University of Texas at Austin simply t.u. to make light of the fact that they are not Texas’ major land grant university contrary to popular belief.
We’ll it turns out that former A&M president James Earl Rudder and the 58th Texas Legislature changed the name of the “Agriculture and Mechanical College of Texas” in 1963 to Texas A&M University with the A and M meaning nothing and being purely symbolic. Technically speaking Texas A&M is actually Texas University.
I’m sure I’ll catch heat for that but if you can’t poke fun at yourself in a season where Arkansas State beat you at home and you almost lost to Army, then what can you do?
College Football Look Ahead
Boise State over Louisiana Tech: La Tech will play a good game but Ian Johnson and company know they have potential to do something this season, they won’t blow that chance this early.
South Florida over Pitt: Bull’s coach Jim Leavitt has been nothing short of brilliant at South Florida. Dave Wannstedt on the other hand has been nothing but shaky.
Utah over Oregon State: Let down came for the Beavers over a very good Utah team.
BYU over Utah State: BYU should take care of business in this Mormon on Mormon game.
Georgia Tech over Duke: Duke will still be high from their win over Virginia; the option will put them in their place.
Iowa over Michigan State: Hawkeyes are one of those teams that just seem like they should win these games while Michigan State is one of those teams that seems like they will choke away these games.
Boston College over North Carolina State: Jim O’Brien used to coach BC, now he coaches NC St. I believe the old saying is “Hell hath no fury like a Golden Eagle scorned”.
Penn State over Purdue: Joe Pa and crew get to 6-0 in a tough one.
Florida over Arkansas: An angry Florida team takes out their frustration against a bad Arkansas team. This one should be ugly.
Kansas over Iowa State: Iowa State is better but the Jayhawk offense should take care of business.
Oklahoma over Baylor: Baylor is better, and might even give the Sooners a game if things line up right. However with that Oregon State upset still fresh in everyone’s minds, OU will come out of next weekend still number one.
South Carolina over Ole Miss: Let down game for the Rebels against the Old Ball Coach.
Notre Dame over Stanford: The Irish, and more importantly, Charlie Weis know this year is crucial to their long term stability. Win in games like this are a must, but are still no guarantee.
Arizona State over California: Sun Devils gave Georgia a bit of a game, until proven otherwise they should do even better against the Pac 10.
Illinois over Michigan: Illinois is to good to keep losing to all of these ranked teams and Michigan is still all over the road with that new offense, despite the win over Wisconsin.
Alabama over Kentucky: Wildcats could give Bama a game but the Tide will be on the lookout for the letdown upset.
Texas Tech over Kansas State: That pass attack is to much for K-State, Tech should also be pumped by a top seven ranking after this week.
Miami over Florida State: Miami has looked solid while Florida State hasn’t, simple enough.
Navy over Air Force: A let down game for Navy after the win against Wake.
Auburn over Vanderbilt: Vandy can upset, but Auburn cannot afford another loss in the SEC if they want to keep pace with LSU and Alabama in the west. If the Tigers lose, their season is done.
TCU over San Diego State: TCU vents against the Aztecs.
UConn over North Carolina: Butch Davis will put up a fight but at the end of the day UConn is 6-0.
Oklahoma State over Texas A&M: On the road, to many injuries/inconsistencies, and a very good Cowboy offense are A&M’s downfall. More interestingly, if the Aggies get blown out and improvement is still not seen, Sherman’s seat might actually start to already get warm.
USC over Oregon: USC takes revenge on Oregon State’s bigger brother.
Texas over Colorado: Longhorns know a special season could be falling in their lap; they just need to be careful and not get to carried away looking forward to the games against Tech, Missouri, and especially the week after against Oklahoma.
Ohio State over Wisconsin: Theoretically, the Buckeyes are too much for the Badgers, but this is the Big 10 and we all know that conference doesn’t make sense.
Missouri over Nebraska: Mizzou should pick up its first win in Lincoln in forever and a day but Bo Pelini will find a way to make a game out of it.
Fresno State over Hawaii: The Dawgs continue to climb in the polls with a win over the warriors.
NFL Look Ahead
Chicago over Detroit: The Lions are in shambles from the front office to the playing field, Chicago is maybe the most underrated team in the NFL. The defense will shut them down and give the Bears a nice win.
Green Bay over Atlanta: Green Bay is better than the way they are playing, expect Aaron Rogers to get a much needed win over the young Falcons. This game will be closer than it should be.
San Diego over Miami: The Chargers will be on red alert after that upset of the Pats.
New York Giants over Seattle: Seattle is falling off suddenly this season while the Giants are proving the doubters wrong, again.
Philadelphia over Washington: NFC always finds a way to remain close, Washington in a let down game and Philadelphia in a revenge game means an Eagles win to keep them right in the thick of things. If DC pulls out the win, look out for the Redskins.
Carolina over Kansas City: Carolina saw the Chief’s upset of Denver and will not be taken by surprise.
Baltimore over Tennessee: The Raven’s D finally stops the Titans and brings them back down to Earth a little.
Indianapolis over Houston: The Texans can win this game but this season seemed doomed from the moment ESPN Magazine put Mario Williams on its NFL preview cover and indirectly incited the wrath of Poseidon.
Denver over Tampa Bay: If the Broncos are as good as advertised, they should bounce back even though the Buc’s are overachieving.
Dallas over Cincinnati: Cowboys should bounce back in a blowout.
Arizona over Buffalo: No way the Bills stay undefeated this long.
New England over San Francisco: I know everyone has forgotten but, the Patriots are still a good team.
Pittsburgh over Jacksonville: Two good teams, the Steelers are better.
Minnesota over New Orleans: This should be a close one but the Saint’s lack of defense is their demise.