Pro Football
The Saints - I suppose the writing should have been on the walls about the Saint. Super Bowl hangover, the curse of the NFC South, the Madden curse, some sort of voodoo curse they are all are there. For the second time in three weeks the Saints lost to a team that was anemic offensively. 2 losses when your defense gives up one offensive TD? Well the answer lies in Brees 8 INTs in the past 3 weeks (note last week he had 6 in the first 7 weeks). Of course the NFC seems to refuse to have a team step up with any level of consistency so it seems impossible to write the Saints off....Yet
Denver- The same can't be said for the Denver who I feel confident in officially writing off. It's seems like last year when Josh Mcdaniels was the toast of the NFL. And then the second half of the season happened. Yesterday Denver got annihilated 59-14 by Oakland. You should never give up 59 points in the NFL and you should never be beaten by Oakland. Those are two basic laws of the land for the past 5 odd years. If you do both you should be fired - out of a cannon. McDaniels gutted the Broncos but all he succeeded in doing was leaving a stinking corpse. Bravo. I hear KC has an opening on its staff for failed Belichek disciples ex-head coaches.
College Football
Cam Newton mania is in full go mode. Auburn is your new #1 in the BCS rankings after Auburn put up over 400 yards rushing on the previous #3 defense in the nation against the rush (formerly LSU). Newton is putting up Tebowesque heisman numbers. Actually better. Newton can achieve the yet to be achieved 2,000 2,000 club (2,000 yards passing - 2,000 yards rushing). Auburn appears to be on collision course for the biggest Iron Bowl (game against Bama) in decades. In fact it could put that rivalry back into the national consciousness (expect the ESPN hype train on why the Iron Bowl is the best rivalry ever to kick up if things stay as expected)
Utah - I try to avoid going after teams that are over-rated by the polls but Utah's case is too egregious to pass up. Yes they are undefeated but the combined record of the teams they have beaten is 14-39. The best win...against Pitt. Sorry beating awful horrible teams simply doesn't make you a viable top 10 team. Look for TCU to stomp them and hopefully put a stop to their paper tiger resume.
Big 10 Michigan State pulled off a come from behind, skin of it's teeth victory against Northwestern this past week. MSU controls its destiny ....or at least to the Rose Bowl. All that really stands in it's way is this week's game against Iowa. After that it's Minnesota (on it's 2nd coach), Purdue (on it's 3rd string QB), and Zombie PSU (brain dead version of the once proud Nittany Lions). It's hard to imagine the Spartans , who have not been to the Rose Bowl since 1966 in a BCS game, but a win at Iowa and it'll be hard not to imagine it happening.
Other
Since I'm trying to avoid the joys of the NBA and other Florida Gator alumni eventsa few notes on sports I'm enjoying
NHL - For those that have followed MMBSD over the years you're well aware of how I root for the BJs (both of the Columbus variety and more generally). Unfortunately Columbus is being, umm cock blocked, by an extremely competitive division. The Red Wings are the Red Wings, the Blackhawks despite an injury to Campbell are tough, but the team I've been most impressed with is Nashville. Despite their starting goalie being out the Predators are 3-0-1. So it's tough sledding for the Mighty BJs.
UFC - Cain Velasquez defeated Brock Lesnar to claim the UFC heavyweight title. That would be shorthand for Cain is now baddest man on the planet. What's more interesting is the marketing and demographics of this. Velasquez is a Mexican-American and UFC has hyped his ethnic heritage in hopes of hooking the boxing loving Hispanic community into the MMA world. It's also hyped towards younger demographics (18-30). While the numbers have not officially come out it's probable that more young people watched the UFC PPV than the Giants winning the pennant
4 comments:
"Since I'm trying to avoid the joys of the NBA and other Florida Gator alumni events..."
Hahaha! Beautiful. Well played, sir.
NFL - you know, it stinks, too. Hyperparity has made the league totally unpredictable...too unpredictable. Are there any truly good teams in the league? How does Buffalo hang with Baltimore? How does Cleveland - CLEVELAND! - beat New Orleans, and in the Superdome, no less? It's still fun to watch the games, but the total uncertainty about the teams' relative quality detracts from the overall product.
CFB - Seven undefeated teams left. Four from BCS conferences. Three from non-BCS conferences. Whatever one thinks about the Davids at BSU, TCU, and Utah...one cannot deny that they're looming as possible entrants in the title game. I still don't think it'll happen, but even the computers see TCU as the #4 team and BSU as #6 (Utah, at #10, seems too far out - unless they beat TCU, I suppose). I don't expect these computer ratings to improve, but then again, I don't fully understand the computer ratings.
If three of the big four (Auburn, Oregon, MSU, Mizzou) fall...it'll be very interesting to see what happens between an undefeated BSU/TCU and the top 1-loss teams.
I, too, like BJ's of the general variety. I hate hockey BJ's because I don't like men, Canadians or Canadian men.
@Hitman - 1) Nobody fully understands the computers as they (the algorithms) are hidden from public scrutiny. I mean in one computer TCU is #1 and in another they are #7. While TCU might be anywhere from the 1st to 7th best team in the country that's a pretty wide range. I think it does look like that TCU will pass Boise in the BCS rankings if trends continue.
Utah has the 113th ranked schedule at the moment both practically and legitimately they simply should be disqualified.
As to everything else...it's an unknown (I think we're in unknown territories as Boise/TCU are still ranked higher by the humans than Mizzou/MSU). That said I think a lot of will come down to timing and name recognition. If Oregon falls this week rather than the last week the one loss will be though of very differently. Likewise if that 1 loss team is Michigan State rather than Alabama the human's will think of it differently. Which short hand means I think TCU/Boise have real shots and honestly outside of Alabama (and maybe Oklahoma/Oregon/Auburn) I'd be skeptical a one loss BCS school will edge out an undefeated Boise/TCU. But that's just guest work...
1) i think the nfl is more appealing with the fact that you have "hyper-parity." i have no idea if that puts me in the minority, but i enjoy having no idea what's going to happen.
2) it's hard to handicap whether boise/tcu/utah can make the championship game. obviously, you need a lot of carnage for it to happen. but the key thing, as mighty pointed out, is later losses (thus limiting the votes the team receivs in the human polls).
3) Denver finished last seasons 2-6... and this season they are 2-5. That's a cleveland-esque 4-11.
4) cam newton is certainly the top heisman candidate!
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