Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Here's to wishing...
In all seriousness, when it is presented in this format, a college football 16-team playoff seems completely within reason. I have always been in favor of the "plus one" idea, where four potential championship-caliber teams are selected for a miniature playoff, because I always thought a 16-team one would just be too many games.
But think of it this way. Say college football cuts off one non-conference game, so people don't have to complain about the players being too tired, and it will encourage teams to schedule their NC games wisely (what's up, Michigan).
I don't know if I'm completely in favor of playing the playoff games at home fields of the higher seeded teams. Yes, they do this in the lower divisions, but in the lower divisions there aren't the same gaps in programs at the top to programs at the bottom. Perennial powerhouses would be getting extra home games every year, and that means more money for the big schools to further distance themselves from the Troys and Central Floridas of the world.
Also, putting them at a neutral site can also satisy the idea of the NCAA losing sponsorship money from the BCS sponsors. Instead of the CITI Rose Bowl make it the CITI 2nd-round playoff game. To give the higher-seeded team an advantage, which they rightly deserve, allot more tickets to their school, giving them the opportunity to make the neutral site less neutral, without compromising too much.
This format rewards teams for winning their conference, which should be the biggest goal in a football season. Then, just as in college basketball, you are guaranteed a spot at the dance. And just as in college basketball, upsets would happen, but in the end I feel that the two best teams would sort themselves out and we would have a true national championship that no one could argue about. If a team isn't the best in its conference or in the top 5 otherwise, why should they have any claim to being the best team in the country?
Is this going to happen? No. But that doesn't mean I can't dream.
Read More...
Posted by
Tim (OH)
at
11:19 PM
3
comments
Labels: college football, Playoffs
Monday, November 26, 2007
Nevermind
Okay. I take back all the adjectives I used to describe the UCLA/Oregon game.
Posted by
Ken of Troy
at
11:21 PM
0
comments
Saturday, November 24, 2007
UCLA and Oregon Deserve Each Other
So there I was, focused in on the UCLA/Oregon game that had yet to see a touchdown midway through the 4th quarter while ignoring an intense 4 OT game between Kentucky and Tennessee. And to top it all off, I found myself cheering as loudly as I could for UCLA.
Posted by
Ken of Troy
at
4:35 PM
1 comments
Labels: college football, Oregon, Pac-10, retards, UCLA
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Let the Deals Begin
Well we kicked off the baseball season with many trades and signings. Jon Garland for Orlando Cabrera (ooooh)! Jason Kendall signing with the Brewers (aaaah)! But today marks the first acquisition that many (and by many, I mean me) didn't see coming: Torii Hunter signing with the Angels.
If you look at ESPN Rumor Central and SI's Trade Rumors everyday like us here at Sons of Steiner, then you're kind of taken aback by this. The last reports I heard were that Hunter was very interested in signing with either the Dodgers (please god please please please), the Rangers (what? Are you serious! Get out!), or the White Sox (dumb move, but whatever). And then I get into LA this morning for Thanksgiving and look at the front page of the sports section, and BOOM! He's an Angel.
Fuck the Angels. And yes, I said that. Quick geography lesson: I'm from Los Angeles. Not Anaheim. The Angels are from Anaheim. Not Los Angeles. There is only one baseball team in Los Angeles: The Dodgers. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim? No dude. Come on.
So now with this deal, fuck them even more. They've got two power bats now in Hunter and Vlad Guerrero (no, Garret Anderson is never going to be a power bat again), and a decent pitching staff with the Jon Garland trade. Plus they already have a center fielder in Gary Mathews Jr., so wtf! I expect now that my boys in blue will step up their efforts and sign Aaron Rowand to lock up a center fielder (because Juan Pierre is more a toddler than baseball player).
Finally, I am excited about this deal because it may change up the Miguel Cabrera hunt. The Angels have more protection for Guerrero in their lineup, so they may be less-willing to trade for Cabrera, freeing up the chance for the Dodgers (the other frontrunners). However, since the Marlins are demanding youngin's, I have a bad feeling the Dodgers will make a bad move and sell away their entire farm system for him.
Oh well. I still love the Baseball Offseason.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! "WE'RE #1!!!!"
Ladies and gentlemen, it is official. The Stanford Cardinal has just been named the national champions in women's cross-country!! Palo Alto will be one massive party tonight.
Posted by
Ken of Troy
at
3:32 PM
0
comments
Labels: college sports, Stanford, UCLA
Monday, November 19, 2007
Weekend Update
With no time to spare, since the weekend has already technically ended and I could be posting in detail on more things. Here's a quick look at all the sports-related incidents that happened over the past weekend that people care about.
College Football:
- #2 Oregon going down wasn't enough for you, College Football Gods? You just needed to have another top 5 fall? That's right, Oklahoma took another tumble to an unranked team this year (see Stupid Colorado Fans storm the Stupid Colorado field after Stupid Colorado's football team). This time it was Graham Harrell and the Texas Tech Red Raiders, located in good ole Lubbock Texas. Did you know Buddy Holly's from there (and my bud Jesse Tow)? Anyway, Oklahoma started off strong with a pretty sick INT return for a Touchdown, but unfortunately Sam Bradford got destroyed on his first play of the game after his tailback fumbled, and he wasn't able to return. Neither was Oklahoma, falling 34-27
- Kansas and Missouri both won, setting up a Big 12 showdown of #2 v. #4 (thanks a lot for ruining the consecutive numbers, WVU). It's a matchup with major national title implications. And people still don't care!
- Some dude on Ohio State named Chris Wells owned Michigan's defense, running all over them to lead his team to at least Pasadena with a 14-3 win. I would've caught the game only it started at 9 a.m. Pacific time. THANKS A LOT FOR FINISHING THE GAME BEFORE I WOKE UP, ASSHOLES.
- Cal continued to prove itself a force of ineptitude, this time fellating the Washington Huskies in a loss. In a game that featured the same clip of a floating bridge and Dan Fouts announcing, I came closer to suicide watching this on Saturday than I ever have in my life.
- LSU started a live tiger on offense to destroy its opponent.
Professional Football:
- After the most preposterous of field goal kicks was ruled "no-good," then changed to "good," then changed back to "WHO THE FUCK CARES THIS IS THE BROWNS v. RAVENS!!!" If you do care...the Browns ended up winning the game to go to 6-4.
- Brett Favre is old but still winning games. Remember when There's Something About Mary had just come out?
- All other NFL recaps of other teams are unnecessary this season because the New England Patriots are performing crimes against humanity in every game. Today they pooped all over the Buffalo Bills (without Marshawn Lynch, clearly the reason for their loss), scoring on 7 consecutive drives in the first half, eventually winning 56-10. Brady hooked up with Moss 4 times in the first half, their defense was solid throughout, and so they decided to just sit around and do Mad Libs for the rest of the game (Not Bill Belichick. He's incapable of laughter). Although it might not look like anything can stop them, history has shown us that sometimes things don't turn out as they should. With the 0-10 Dolphins on their schedule in the second to last week, we may see the marquee win Cam Cameron's been looking for this season. Also the first win he's been looking for. Or we might just see more pooping on other teams from New England.
Professional Basketball (Nothing to report yet on College Basketball except that Stanford got upset, which is always funny to a Cal fan):
- Much like their New England counterparts (you'll remember that every sports related thing in Boston has been going pretty damn well lately), the Boston Celtics are dominating the NBA. Whenever hot chicks are wearing your stuff again, your team is doing well. Unfortunately they suffered their first loss of the season Sunday night to Orlando, but to their credit it was only by two points. If this was last year it would pain me to see the Celtics doing so well, but...
- LAKERS LAKERS LAKERS!!! Off to a 6-3 start in a season which many thought would be pathetic and devoid of a man named Kobe Bryant, the Lakers have been one of the most pleasant surprises for a Lakers fan. A surprise comparable to if you actually got one of those Lexuses with a bow on top of it for Christmas. Not only has Kobe been playing fantastic, but the ensemble cast has shown it can hold its own. I finally got to catch my first glimpse of the Lakers on TV on Friday against Detroit, and they look pretty damn good. Walton's playing like he actually deserved that contract, some of the youngin's (Whose names I am yet to learn. Wait till winter break) are kicking major ass, and Ronny Turiaf is Mufasa. Unfortunately Kwame Brown is still on the team, but nobody's perfect. But Hey, they beat the Bulls tonight. So much for Kobe wanting to play there now! All we have to do is wait for the Lakers to realize it's the middle of the season and collapse back into place like the past two years.
- Some other teams probably won, but they either feature players on the verge of crying, Nazis, or Canadians on their teams.
Baseball:
- Mariano Rivera is back with the Yankees. Great Rivera, you're just going to delay Joba Chamberlain's rise to power another year or so. Way to be a douchepickle.
- Tom Glavine is coming full circle back to his happy days with the Braves. Unfortunately for him, he's washed up. Let's hope he doesn't have to retire midseason.
MLS:
- Houston Dynamo repeat as MLS champions. They beat the New England Revolution. I take back what I said about every team in the Boston area being the best at sports. Extra points for anyone who can tell me what a Dynamo is who isn't in engineering or a physicist.
NASCAR:
-Jimmie Johnson wins something. The only person who cares is Tim. Nerd.
What to be excited for this week:
- A pretty good matchup of Arizona State v. USC on Thursday. Both teams were on bye last week, and the Pac-10 title will pretty much be decided with this game.
- A not so funtastic matchup of Boise State v. Hawaii on Friday. In a year filled with Cinderella teams, there will be no BCS David v. Goliath story this time. Sorry Chris Peterson, we can't have it happen again.
- THANKSGIVING! Enjoy yourself a wonderful Madden Turducken!
Posted by
Cal at Cal
at
12:57 AM
0
comments
Labels: baseball, Basketball, Cal, college football, Kobe, NFL, Pac-10, Patriots, retards, Ronny Turiaf, USC, Weekend Review, wtf
Saturday, November 17, 2007
In Memoriam: Attractive Uniforms
Classy, simple, and strong. Those are words you want to describe your uniform. Not gaudy, schizophrenic, and it looks like you're wearing a bra.
Posted by
Ken of Troy
at
6:30 PM
0
comments
Labels: college football, jerseys
Friday, November 16, 2007
Go Crazy Tuscon!
I'll be honest, I'm not 100% UofA is actually in Tuscon, and I've been on campus for a weekend. That'll give you an idea of how memorable and exciting that place is.
It's literally like all the stereotypes. I saw cacti and tumbleweeds everywhere, and I'm pretty sure my friend stole one of those cattle skulls you always see in cartoons. I kept waiting for the roadrunner to whiz by the Dunkin' Donuts there.
Anyway, that aside, I will say that no one rushes the field quite like the Wildcat fans do. (See: Arizona vs. Cal last year, Arizona vs. Oregon this year at the bottom of the post.) Hell they even rushed the field against UCLA on homecoming this year! Yeah, it was an upset, but UCLA wasn't even ranked!
The 'Cats have so much experience that everyone in the student section knows the standard operating procedure: climb over the railings onto the field at the end of the 3rd quarter (at least that's the way it seemed), get uncomfortably close to Mike Stoops and try to get him to call your plays/sign your boobs, and then have every man, woman, and child swarm the field the second the game ends.
Big props to the guy at the 1:30 mark that rushes the field hopping on one leg while swinging his crutches around in the air.
Oh and because it's physically impossible for me to think about anything outside of how it affects the Trojans, thanks to Arizona I've become an Oregon State fan because USC needs to not only win out, but get either the Beavers or the Bruins to beat Oregon in order to send the Men of Troy to the Rose Bowl with at least a share of the Pac-10 title. Honestly, UCLA has a better chance to beat Oregon, but that violates my morals to root for them, and I don't want to rely on the UCLA Jekyll and Hydes for anything since they have even odds of beating Oregon by 74 and suffering the same fate as Shasta the Cougar.
Posted by
Ken of Troy
at
5:22 PM
0
comments
Labels: Arizona, college football, Oregon
It's not Baseball season...It's DUCK HUNTING SEASON
BREAKING NEWS FROM ESPN: BARRY BONDS INDICTED! FACES 4 COUNTS OF PERJURY AND 1 COUNT OF OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE. COULD FACE UP TO 30 YEARS IN PRISON!
BREAKING NEWS FROM ESPN: ALEX RODRIGUEZ SIGNS RECORD 10 YEAR CONTRACT WITH YANKEES WORTH 275 MILLION DOLLARS! INCENTIVES INCLUDED IF HE BREAKS HOME RUN RECORD!!!
Yet after watching Sportscenter for the 5th time this past night, I'm kind of tired of these stories (It's that point where I can repeat all the jokes Scott Van Pelt will make, and know what clips they're showing). Plus Ken beat me to the punch on the Barry Bonds indictment, and I'm still trying to formulate an angle on the ARod signing, but really hoping someone else does something. However, if you live on the east coast, then you might not have stayed up late enough to see the last bit of Thursday night's breaking news trifecta.
Yup, another fucking #2 ranked team fell for the umpteenth time during this college football season. And this time it was those retard ducks from Eugene. There are 14 weeks in the regular season. 5 different teams have fallen from the #2 ranking through 12 weeks, all to unranked opponents. Is it possible we can bump it up to 7 and go .500 for the season on #2 upsets?
I walked out Thursday afternoon for classes not able to catch the end of College Football Live when Robert Smith made his pick on the Oregon/Arizona game. I was hoping he'd have enough brains/testicular fortitude to go with Arizona, the team with a more impressive record in November than USC's 234,581-0 record under Pete Carroll. Arizona had gone 3 straight Novembers knocking off a ranked team. A shit school that's only good at basketball (I'm looking at you too, UCONN) has knocked teams out of the national picture, with Arizona State in 2004, UCLA in 2005, Washington State and Cal (gulp) in 2006. So what's to say they wouldn't do it for a 4th month? Well, besides Robert Smith and the majority of the country, both who didn't think this through though and picked Oregon. Congratulations idiots. You picked a team with history not on its side. And with a water fowl as its mascot.
All my doubts about the Arizona curse were practically assuaged after Oregon's opening drive. Dennis Dixon (an Iguana right down to the lips, teeth, tongue, and green suit) on 4th and 3 found a 6 lane freeway devoid of traffic to scamper on down into the endzone. But being the cocky douchebags that Oregon's team is -- remember how you lost to Cal? Yeah, look where we are now! -- they went for 2. On the OPENING PLAY! Where have we seen such skullduggery and full-on-wankery before?
Meanwhile Arizona looked like it has the other months, sucking it up and punting away, and Oregon was driving again looking like a #2 team. And that's when things started to crumble. Iguana-man was intercepted in the endzone (granted his receiver showed the same hands as Kwame Brown) which was eventually converted for a touchdown. This wasn't a real blow to the Ducks, but they would eventually end up the lame ducks (get it?!??!). On an option play Dixon decided to keep it and roll out left from the pocket, only to fall down untouched and crumple into a symbolic heap of crushed Heisman Trophy and BCS title dreams. Watch the replay. You can hear my roommate going "OUCH. He just destroyed his MCL. Happened to me once, and it killed me. He's gone."
It wasn't just the Reptile that was gone. That play literally caused Oregon to implode. If you were to write out the equation, it would look like this:
Team Centered Around Really Good Athlete - Really Good Athlete = Average Team at Best.
So without their offensive centerpiece, in came Brady Leaf (harbinger of mediocrity and interceptions...AKA not Heisman Frontrunner), and out came Antoine Cason and the Wildcats ready to rip out the hearts of the Ducks. Unfortunately the Oregon Ducks don't have hearts, so Arizona had to settle for an annihilation instead, taking a 17 point lead at the half and ultimately winning 34-24.
With Oregon's collapse, we're at 5 for fallen #2's. What's more distressing about that #2 statistic is that 3 of those 5 teams are in the Pac-10. And my Golden Bears are the only ones who are completely out of a BCS bid (sigh). ASU is in control of the Pac-10 title right now, but they've got Rudy Carpenter as QB. Translation: Fucked. When USC beats them, it'll launch Oregon back into the Rose Bowl bid if UO wins out. Translation: USC kinda Fucked (unless they can do this again). The only hope for USC is that Dennis Dixon is in fact dead or terminally ill, because that will mean a member of the Brady will have to play QB again. Translation: Anyone related to Ryan Leaf is genetically bad at sports related activities.
I feel bad because a Pac-10 team will no longer compete for the BCS national title. And I was going to enjoy saying "Hey look, Oregon lost to us. And my neighbor's Alex Mack!" Now I just get to go "Oregon sucks," while I pray to god that we don't see LSU v. Kansas in a national title game. However, this'll put Tim Tebow (aka that guy who makes every damn shot in beirut games) back into the Heisman race. Clearly with all those statistics he's accumulating, he deserves it over Dixon who's just had praise -- some deserved, most not -- heaped on him by analysts and ESPN everywhere. Sorry, stupid fucking Iguana.
Posted by
Cal at Cal
at
2:38 AM
0
comments
Labels: Alex Mack, college football, HAHA, Pac-10, Pwned, wtf
Thursday, November 15, 2007
And to think, I thought we were going to have get him on tax evasion...
Posted by
Ken of Troy
at
4:28 PM
0
comments
Labels: Barry Bonds, baseball, HAHA, steroids

