Sunday Musings: Missing Tales, The ACC and Random

Upon reflecting on the week I noticed that the buzz over the accusations against Ben Roethlisberger where less than one would expect over a Super Bowl winning QB. Fortunately I was not alone as a number of outlets (for example here) noted that in particular ESPN was fairly low key on the matter. Whether its who Roethlisberger is, or his connections to soon to be released tv shows, his status as QB (rather than receiver) or his race the overall seriousness of the charges versus the coverage seemed way under (certainly relative to the Spurrior v. SEC fandom pissing contest over Tebow's universal acclaim) to what we've come to expect on celebrities and the law. While I'm loathe to decipher exactly why Roethlisberger gets the velvet glove its hard not to see that for whatever reason Roethlisberger has gotten a free pass


College Football and The ACC
I think (and its a bit early for predictions) that the media is looking for the ACC story. The Big 10 sucks has been played out and while the Tebow/SEC hype machine I'm sure will beyond bearable there's still at least 2% of the time to fill with non-SEC stories. In this gaping chasm the story line could go something like the ACC is now an elite football conference. G-Tech, Miami, North Carolina are all expected to be up and comers and V-Tech has the potential to be a mythical national championship contender. More importantly the ACC is involved in 3 of the biggest non-conference games (V-Tech v. Alabama, Nebraska at V-Tech, and Miami v. Oklahoma). While I actually don't think the ACC will fully break through (i.e., my prediction) if there are upsets look for the ACC is Back or ACC has arrived meme to be ubiquitous.

Other Randomness
As crazy as it sounds it's almost NFL training camp season. Training Camp is the time of year where fans get excited about a teams potential, NFL junkies get excited about the last few roster cuts and backup rookies, and NFL teams get excited that they can steal money via things called exhibitions games. Here's a few things I'll have an eye on this exhibition season: Brady's knee, the Browns' QB competition (again), Eagles Defense (sans Jim Johnson), The Rookie QBs (Sanchez, Stafford, and Freeman), Ocho Cinco hanging with Carson Palmer, injuries. What do you got?

Sunday Musings: Win Now and Other Ramblings.....

Deep Thoughts with Mr. Iguodala and Mark Price: Hopefully Coming to HBO

Win Now: While NBA can be divided many ways - The Haves and The Have Nots, The Spenders and The Savers, The Win Nows and the Win Laters but this year its become fairly clear that these cleavages have aligned themselves perfectly. If you are already on top go for broke next year, if your not close no need to improve...just wait awhile. Yes Detroit seems to be the odd exception but its becoming clearer by the day that Detroit isn't fully conscious. The Mavs double downed on age and experience by roping in Jason Kidd and Shawn Marion. The Spurs sign the AARP card holder Antonio McDyess. The Lakers opted for Ron Artest. Celtics for Rasheed Wallace. Not to bad mouth any of these players but the upside (let alone long term value) is certainly questionable. Jason Kidd had a good year last year but expecting 3 more good years of 36 year old is hardly a sane idea. It only makes sense in the win now mind set. I'm uncertain if that will continue on after the uncertanity of the looming free agencyapalooza, CBA renegotiation, economy stabilization is made clear but next year the race for who is a contender could be over by November.

More Big 10 Blues: Piling onto the why the Big 10 has struggled since 2002 is this piece out Missouri on the recruiting woes of the Big 10....as its ranked dead last among the Big 5 over the past 7 years.

Looming Labor Battles: The NBA isn't the only major sports league that seems to be facing looming labor battles. The NFL appears to be headed towards brutal negotiations 2010-2011 if not a lockout. Labor negotiations almost always go down to the last minute but shrinking monetary pies probably mean this round will be more intense.

UFC: As a living underground fighter legend I was surprised when the UFC got the Bristol Red Treatment (i.e., when ESPN tells the little people what they should do ad watch)of hyping the ultimate fighting pay per view. At well over 1.25 million buys mixed martial arts is hardly fringe anymore and quickly positioning itself among the second tier of sports. I'm never certain exactly how to gauge a sports' popularity relative to others (revenue? attendance? nielson ratings?) but its apparent that ultimate fighting is at least moving to the NASCAR will it become mainstream level of several years back.

Sunday /Father DayThoughts

Well a long week, month, quarter of work has finally wrapped up which despite that stress and lack of sleep have taken their toll a few Sunday thoughts on the world of Sports is appropriate.


Baseball: Well the number of error calls on home runs has finally caught up to baseball so they're rushing to roll out some sort of instant replay. Given that its baseball I'm sure it'll some sort of half-baked idea that will only lengthen the time and not improve the accuracy but hey its at least a step in the right direction. And slightly better than the NBA's proposed rule that David Stern watches the video and then arbitrarily gives a thumbs up or thumbs down.

College Football:

Its fairly crazy to think about the Fall but its coming up quickly. All of the big programs are signing soon to be seniors feverishly and expectations on the 08-09 season are rapidly coming into view. A quick scan of the internet tubes has OSU #1 in the Big 10 (again) with Wisconsin and Penn State as the other major challengers. Must exciting of all Trev Alberts is back on tv as he was seen crushing a small city on Fox Sports.


Golf
I'm never entirely sure how to think about overcoming injuries in golf to win but surely Tiger's performance if he can hold on to win the US Open after just coming back from new surgery has to rank as one of his all-time best performances. Just saying...

Anyway happy father's day to all you dads, possible dads and people with dads....

Sunday Wrap Up

Well a lazy Sunday after Mother's day. Must get the energy up to get back to my other job (guarding against robot attacks) so a few random Sunday afternoon posts to get us rolling into the week.

1) AL Missing Offense:
As of yesterday the AL was hitting only .257. That's not only abnormally low but thats below the NL. You know the junior league where some players (known as pitchers) try to bat while blindfolded. What's going on in the AL? Why? Is it lack of drugs? Bad weather? Great pitching? Coincidence? The precursor to invasion by robots?


2) Cool Link O'Day - Map of the US based on Baseball Fanbases

3) Co-Eds Gone Wild - And not the good kind. First ex-Florida Gator footballer, Jamar Hornsby used a dead students credit card. Yeah umm that'll even get you kicked out in Florida. Meanwhile over on the West Coast yet another ex-USCers (this time OJ Mayo) getting illegal kickbacks. Will USC ever get in trouble for this? Will this interfere with Pete Carroll's water skiing?

4) Clowns. Still Dangerous. - While Clown related fatalities has been down this year, the price of success against these demons is eternal vigilance.