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Bowling
and Rolling The BCS sucks...most college football fans with a brain can agree with this notion. But until a true college football playoff is created in the Football Bowl Subdivision (F'n BS), we'll have this ridiculous debate. But now that the regular season is finished and the conference championship games have been played, we're down to a mere 34 bowl games, with only one game that matters...the showdown in Miami between Oklahoma and Florida should provide us a fascinating game for the national championship. I'm sure there will be arguments from all corners of the country, given the number of quality one-loss teams this year, but the match-up between the champs of the Big XII and SEC seems ok to me. But could you imagine an eight-team playoff this year? USC, Texas, Penn State, Bama...the list goes on and on. It would be incredible. So, the Florida Gators become the sixth different team to get a taste of #1 in the poll, and they'll try to win the third consecutive BCS championship for the SEC. To do it, they'll have to defeat an Oklahoma team that has been scoring at will against the defenseless Big XII. Both teams can score in bunches...I suspect the team that plays the best defense will win the game, and I'm assuming that they both can play D from time-to-time. Both Bob Stoops and Urban Meyer have held the crystal football as the national champ and now one of them will become the first two win it twice. While we're talking about a playoff system, there is one in place with the Football Championship Subdivision. For the past three years, Appalachian State has dominated and reached glorified air. Along with three straight titles was also a target the size of Tweetsie Railroad on their chest. The dream of winning four in a row was smashed by the Richmond Spiders. The 33-14 home loss included seven turnovers and it snapped a 13-game post season win streak. It has been a long time since App State experienced a loss in the post-season....2002 to be exact. Despite the disappointment, ASU fans should be proud of an incredible run....one that we might not see again for quite some time. The ACC has experienced a very interesting year on the football field. Despite an impressive 4-0 mark vs. Big XII and a 6-4 mark against the SEC, the conference is still looking for some national respect. Unfortunately, there isn't an elite team to be found since Georgia Tech is the highest ranked team, but still didn't qualify for the conference title game. Amazingly, ten of the twelve league members qualified for a bowl game, but it is in the national spotlight where the ACC has been putrid. The ACC is still winless in the BCS this century, but maybe Virginia Tech can change that this year when they hook-up with Cincy in the Orange Bowl. The league's image took another blow when the conference championship game was moved from Jacksonville to Tampa. The aerial shot last year of a near empty Gator Bowl during the championship game was brutal. This year in Tampa it looked like a repeat of the game, itself. Until the title game makes the move to Charlotte or can guarantee Miami or Florida State in the championship game in the Sunshine state, the ACC and its title game will look like a second-class citizen in the college football world. O.J. Simpson is one of the greatest running backs in NFL history. In some sense, he's been running ever since he retired from the game he loves. His days of running are almost over. Last week, a Nevada judge ruled that "Juice" is headed behind bars for a minimum of nine years for a case of stupidity. Say whatever you want about Mr. Simpson, but there's no way you can defend his actions this go around. It also makes you wonder how the 61 year-old Simpson will cope in prison...one thing is certain: he won't be running much longer. I've got to give some props to East Carolina and their gregarious coach, Skip Holtz. The Pirates, a 17-point underdog to Tulsa, captured their first conference championship since 1976 and in the process accepted a Liberty Bowl bid. While the Pirates dance in the streets of Greenville with their title, they will also keep an eye on the future of their football coach. Holtz has been rumored as a leading candidate for the open Syracuse job. Personally, I have no idea why Skip would want the job in the dump known as Syracuse. Given the talent returning next season in Greenville, the Pirates and Holtz can claim another title and the coach can add to the leverage of landing another big-time job. If Holtz does return, he'll open the season at home against Appalachian State....in what will be a very entertaining and highly anticipated match-up. There was a healthy debate last week on whether the UNC Tar Heels could go undefeated this basketball season. We haven't seen a team pull that trick since Bob Knight's Hoosiers did it in 1976, but Roy's boys are capable and talented enough to make it a fun debate. One team that won't run the table will be Midas Krzyzewski's 2008-09 Duke team. The Blue Devils faced the Michigan Wolverines for the second time this year, and fell to the Wolverines in Ann Arbor. I couldn't help but smile at Coach K's remarkable comment that his team's energy was zapped due to the trip and the fact that his team is preparing for their upcoming exams. Last I checked, Duke doesn't actually play a non-conference road game without the approval of Midas himself. How can you blame the travel schedule and exams when you're in total control of the schedule? Pretty weak from Coach K....so was the three-point shooting. How can you win many games when you can't throw it in the ocean from the 3-point line...Duke was 7 of 33 from beyond the arch. We've seen this before from Duke. When the outside jumper doesn't fall, Duke is susceptible to many teams, and that's true if it's December or March. Finally, the NASCAR crowd held their awards banquet in New York City. It was a chance for the Top 10 drivers to make more money than the automobile companies that supply their cars...well, that's true except for Toyota. I laughed my rear end off last week when NASCAR suit Brian France claimed that he wanted drivers to show more emotion and not be concerned about offending any sponsors.....yeah, right. Who is buying that garbage? This, coming from a sport that fines drivers for talking to their crews in private conversations during a race. I mean, Tony Stewart gets fined for sneezing the wrong way. I guess this all comes from the fact that current three-time champion Jimmie Johnson is so boring and non-descript that the sport is looking to jumpstart his image and television ratings. Johnson is a great driver...he wins races and championships. Dale, Jr. is a great pitchman...he doesn't win races, he sells product...so, let's leave it at that. But if you think NASCAR is desperate to create a stir in the sport, you haven't seen or heard anything, yet. The sport just hired actor (and musician?) Kevin Costner to play music and make appearances for 2009. Costner has a band (who knew?) named "Modern West", and they plan on being a part of the NASCAR scene next season. I'm trying to think what would be more painful to listen to...Kevin Costner the musician, or Jimmie Johnson the comedian? |
Packman
on Sports Commentary
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