The Thirsty Scholars: The BCS is Nothing More than a Cartel: Now that the official Bowl Championship Series is under way and we all start bowling for the pursuit of the National Championship, I have to give one more yell to this Hancock concoction, that when we get right down to it, is nothing more than a cartel.
We've all talked about "why" the BCS stinks, stank and stunk, and our different solutions for a playoff. But something caught my eye this week. Connecticut is going to the Fiesta Bowl (which we know is a joke and another rabbit trail to go down) to play Oklahoma. The Fiesta Bowl (like MOST Bowls) gave Connecticut 17,000 tickets to sell. There you go Husky fans and now you owe us upward of 2 point something million. Connecticut has sold 4,000 of those 17,000 tickets, and I am sure there won't be that many more ducats flying out the ticket window. But they still have to pay the Fiesta Bowl for those tickets. So right off the bat they are in the hole for a couple million. And we aren't talking about the hotel rooms and other expenses incurred. Doesn't matter, Fiesta Man gets his pay.
Not all bowls do this, but the majority of them do. Is it any wonder each year we get a few more bowls? Now we have 35. 35...are you kidding me? I wanted to name my Bowlmania Team "We have to pick how many bowl games?" but I didn't have enough character spaces. Like there are 70 deserving teams to play in these games? 70 teams better than mediocre? 70 teams we care about watching, let alone know what the frig conference they even play in? And of course they don't want to end the bowl system, they're making too much money. Realistically, it's cheaper for Connecticut to stay home. No joke. But what are they or the athletic department going to do, "Uh, no I'm sorry, we don't want to go to the Fiesta Bowl, we'll just stay home this year in the tropical splendor of Storrs."
I'm sorry but that smacks to me of a cartel. The Bowl Cartel Series.
On the first day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: Remeber Frank Solich? Once he coached Nebraska, now he's at Ohio. Remember when Ohio last won a bowl? Trick question, the Bobcats never have. But maybe they can versus Troy!
On the 4th day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: Louisville versus SOUTHERN Mississippi in the Beef 'O' Brady's. That's a bowl not an entree.
On the 5th day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: Boise State, still wishing that kick at Nevada had been good. Nothing against Utah, but this is what we get. And unless that BS kicker wins the game on a last second 50 yard kick for redemption, we won't even talk about it.
On the 7th day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: Hawaii versus Tulsa, averaging 79.6 points between them. Classic football.
On the 9th day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: Florida International in it's first bowl, that should be a big deal for the Golden Panthers, even if it is against Toledo.....in Detroit!
On the 10th day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: Georgia Tech, Air Force and a lot of hand offs.
On the 11th day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: Iowa, hoping to stop a free fall, vs. Missouri. The Hawkeyes lost their last 3 games, suspended their top running back and had a star wide out charged with operating a drug house. Happy Holidays!
On the 12th day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: Oklahoma State and their 27 year old quarterback trying to give Arizona it's fifth loss.
On the 13th day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: A bowl game at Yankee Stadium, as Kansas State and Syracuse savor winter in the Bronx. Also Nebraska (which beat Washington 56-21 in September) - playing, uh Washington. The long awaited sequel I guess.
On the 14th day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: Notre Dame versus Miami. Those wearing Catholics versus Convicts shirts from the 1980's should get in free.
On the 15th day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: Jan. 1 (which used to be the BIG end all day of games) otherwise known as New Years/ Big 10 Day. Five lodge members from a conference that can't count versus three Southeastern conference teams.
On the 17th day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: Virginia Tech's 11 game winning streak against Stanford's high SAT scores in the Orange.
On the 20th day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: Miami (the one from Ohio) and it's 9-4 record (the one that was 1-11 last year) and it's coach - the one leaving for Pittsburgh, against Middle Tennessee.
On the 22nd day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: Kentucky versus Pittsburgh in the BBVA Compass. Pitt was so eager to get there, they fired their coach.
On the 23rd day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: Boston College vs. Nevada, and I have no idea why they are waiting so long to play the Fight Hunger Bowl which I assume is being sponsored by Children's Choice.
On the 24th day of Bowl-mas the BCS gives to me: Oh yay, the actual National Championship game. Auburn will be lead by the winner of the most awkward Heisman Trophy presentation ceremony in history. All Oregon wants is a game its new uni's can be proud of.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Why Cam Newton is bad for college football
Dear Auburn Fan,
This college football season has been one hell of a ride for you. Thrilling come from behind victories, huge wins over perennial rivals, a Heisman Trophy winner and a trip to the National Championship game. There's not much more that you can ask for as a fan.
But not everyone is reveling in your success. Cam Newton has polarized the college football community with his on-field performance and his off-field controversy, made all the more intriguing by the fact that the controversy was captained by his FATHER, and not Cam himself. (It should be noted however that he and his father are not estranged and this was not a rogue dad trying to trade in his son for cash. He did thank his father in his Heisman trophy acceptance speech, though his father was not in attendance - good PR move.)
I'm sure it's frustrating to have so many fans of the game and pundits attempting to tarnish your dream season by focusing on Cam Newton's off the field dealings. You could, of course, just ignore all of the noise and just be thrilled your playing in the BCS Championship. Or you can get up in arms and engage in the fray, rushing to the defense of your Heisman trophy winner. But before you decide the latter, there are a few things to consider.
This college football season has been one hell of a ride for you. Thrilling come from behind victories, huge wins over perennial rivals, a Heisman Trophy winner and a trip to the National Championship game. There's not much more that you can ask for as a fan.
But not everyone is reveling in your success. Cam Newton has polarized the college football community with his on-field performance and his off-field controversy, made all the more intriguing by the fact that the controversy was captained by his FATHER, and not Cam himself. (It should be noted however that he and his father are not estranged and this was not a rogue dad trying to trade in his son for cash. He did thank his father in his Heisman trophy acceptance speech, though his father was not in attendance - good PR move.)
I'm sure it's frustrating to have so many fans of the game and pundits attempting to tarnish your dream season by focusing on Cam Newton's off the field dealings. You could, of course, just ignore all of the noise and just be thrilled your playing in the BCS Championship. Or you can get up in arms and engage in the fray, rushing to the defense of your Heisman trophy winner. But before you decide the latter, there are a few things to consider.
- He's a mercenary. A hired gun. (And I'm only partially joking on the "hired" part). He's going to swoop in, spend a year at Auburn, and bolt for the NFL. He could have just as easily donned a Miss St uniform or an Alabama uniform, or stayed at Florida. But he chose you. Whether that choice was influenced by a financial transaction, we may never know. But if he wasn't wearing your uniform, you'd be crying foul.
- He doesn't meet the alleged Heisman criteria. The first line of the Heisman Trust Mission Statement outlines that the award "recognizes the outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity". Cam Newton deserves it hands down if it wasn't for the last two words. That caveat should, in effect, disqualify him. Cam Newton, while dynamic on the field in his single season at Auburn, is a college football player who first was caught stealing a laptop, left Florida before they had the chance to kick him out on allegations of academic fraud, and was surrounded by controversy almost his entire Heisman season around allegations of bidding out his services to the highest bidder. Cam Newton himself continues to refer to his decision to attend Auburn as "a business decision". If the award is going to be strictly about performance, then just leave integrity out of the mission statement and don't pay lip service to it. But to put Newton ahead of Andrew Luck and Kellen Moore and even pretend that the award has the slightest thing to do with integrity is a farce.
- He's no Tim Tebow. As much as most of us were nauseated by all of the Tim Tebow montages throughout his career, it's hard to deny that this guy was special. He was everything you want in a college football player - charismatic, passionate, a fierce competitor. He played four years at the same school, and stayed for his senior year. He performed on and off the field. While Cam Newton was stealing laptops, Tim Tebow was probably mentoring disadvantaged orphans in the Philippines. I mean, c'mon - Tebow wore penned scripture verses in his eye black. So as much as Verne Lundquist insists that Cam Newton is the second coming of Tebow, Newton is no Tim Tebow.
 |
| This isn't the first time Cam Newton's integrity has been called into question |
I have no dog in this fight, and I have no preconceived bias against Auburn. Quite the contrary - I have always thought highly of Auburn folk. I attended a national intercollegiate conference in college with Auburn students and found them very pleasant. I even traded one of them for an Auburn hat. Prior to that, I had a poster of Bo Jackson on my wall growing up, and "Bo Knows Bo" was the first autobiography I ever read. I have no reason to dislike Auburn, even though I'm admittedly annoyed by the sports establishment's SEC bias despite the fact that they rarely are able to support their alleged dominance with wins against quality out of conference opponents. (While they have performed very well in the national championship game in recent years and the top of the conference is always very good, they regular season out of conference schedule and bowl top to bottom bowl performance do not warrant the continual reverence the conference receives.) My position, and that of many others across the country, has nothing to do with our opinion of Auburn at large.
I would also contend that Cam Newton has gotten off pretty easy in light of the allegations in comparison to Reggie Bush. I don't view their controversies as being all that different. But I do believe the fact that Newton's came to light while he is still playing has helped him tremendously. It was much easier to deny Reggie Bush's dominance once everyone was viewing it in retrospect years latter. At the time he was defending himself, he was a multi-millionaire NFL star running back who was much easier to villanize after he had already "got his". To the contrary, Cam Newton is still out there "fighting through the distraction" as a college kid, flashing his winning smile and playing the victim in this whole situation. The media is by and large treating him as a wounded puppy, and putting on the "hey, just leave the kid alone" face and giving him a substantial benefit of the doubt.
It's got to be tough as a Heisman voter though. What do you do? Judge the kid in the court of public opinion and deny him in spite of his recent dominance? This is a hard sell, though admittedly not that hard given the circumstances surrounding his departure from Florida. Do you give him a pass because it was supposedly just his dad going after the dollars and not him? And what about the fact that there really isn't any proof that anything happened at Auburn? I ask you though, how many of you would get your car or house appraised and begin shopping it on the market, only to then just give it away? Doesn't seem very plausible, does it.
The real problem here is not whether or not Cam Newton is guilty of the allegations. The real problem is the precedent that has been created in the sport. Future college athletes now have a blueprint for how to game the system - have a close family member shop your recruitment, but make sure to maintain plausible deniability throughout. And just don't be stupid like Reggie Bush and take your payment in hard, traceable assets like a house. But even if Newton gets caught down the line, there's a blueprint for that too. Chizik can bolt to the NFL right before the decision comes down. Kiffin will be out of a job by then, and he's already proven he's perfect SEC material.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
The Thirsty Scholars: World Cup 2022
The Thirsty Scholars: World Cup 2022: "It was announced today that Qatar will host the 2022 world cup. Not only will they be the first ever Middle Eastern nation to host the game..."
I'm in Joel. I want to take one of those water taxis like freakin Helen of Troy with several vuzuvelas trumpeting our arrival. The Olympics should take notice. I recently watched "Invictus" and was compelled how small countries can do something huge. Basically Invictus was South Africa's version of our "Miracle on Ice". Loved how Qatar designed these venues. The ribbon of friendship should be called the Easter Basket. Thank you Joel that was awesome and count me in for 2-0-2-2!
I'm in Joel. I want to take one of those water taxis like freakin Helen of Troy with several vuzuvelas trumpeting our arrival. The Olympics should take notice. I recently watched "Invictus" and was compelled how small countries can do something huge. Basically Invictus was South Africa's version of our "Miracle on Ice". Loved how Qatar designed these venues. The ribbon of friendship should be called the Easter Basket. Thank you Joel that was awesome and count me in for 2-0-2-2!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
World Cup 2022
It was announced today that Qatar will host the 2022 world cup. Not only will they be the first ever Middle Eastern nation to host the games, but the country is the smallest ever to play host. At only 1.7 million people, Qatar's population is less than that of Nebraska, and only 3 times that of the least populated US state , Wyoming. To make this even more shocking, Qatar's national team has never even qualified to play in the history of the World Cup. So, why you ask were they selected to host the 2022 games? See for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcAi3GLQyOI
All I want to know is, who's coming with me?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
All I want to know is, who's coming with me?
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Why Cleveland is Angry about Lebron
[Author's Note: With the highly anticipated Cavs-Heat game in Cleveland on Thursday, I thought it would be a good time to revisit my perspective on Cleveland's reaction to Lebron's departure. I originally posted this article on Facebook on July 9, 2010 - a few days after Lebron took his talents to South Beach... ]
Before anyone gets all high and mighty and starts talking about how Lebron was right to leave Cleveland and how Cleveland fans just need to get over it, they need to understand a few things about Clevelanders:
1) We know Cleveland isn't perfect.
It's not New York or Los Angeles, Chicago or San Francisco, DC or Atlanta. It has awful public schools, obscene unemployment, above average crime rates, a shoddy public transit system, a miserable tax code that drives (or keeps) businesses away, and shortsighted public planners who turned a sublime piece of waterfront property into a concrete mess. It's a city that, occasional sparks of life notwithstanding, has been on a gradual decline since the days of the great steel mills. None of this is news to us.
2) It's still our hometown.
We love Cleveland, problems and all, and we aren't afraid to say so. We appreciate it for the things it does have - a sense of history, great neighborhoods, strong ethnic communities, a world-class hospital, well-respected theater and orchestra organizations, surprisingly good dining, three major sports teams (we'll get to that later), a hub airport, exceptional regional parks, great colleges/universities, pleasant suburbs, and substantial smaller cities (Akron, Canton, Youngstown) that are close enough to add value as part of an extended family.
Most anyone who grew up in Northeast Ohio will be happy to tell you great things about it. And if you decide to belittle it, be prepared for an argument. Clevelanders wear loyalty to their town like a badge of honor. Yeah, the winters can suck, but we're tough enough to handle it. Yeah, the local economy is a mess, but we'll soldier on and find a way to make it. And if there was anything we could do as one person to lift the collective spirit or fortune of our hometown, you can take it to the bank that we'd do it in a heartbeat.
3) Sports teams are like family.
If you grew up in greater Cleveland - and for sports purposes, that's a swath of land roughly from the Pennsylvania border to Toledo and from Lake Erie to Columbus - you were born and raised to love your hometown teams religiously. Fall Sundays have always been about church and the Browns game, winter evenings usually mean Joe Tait on the radio, and each spring brings renewed enthusiasm even if the Indians are staring down the barrel of another 100-loss season.
As a Cleveland sports fan, you know you are taking a bet with long odds, but that's part of the charm. You know that the Browns last won a title in 1964, the Indians in 1948, the Cavaliers never. You know that our teams break our hearts repeatedly and in ever more excruciating ways - Herb Score, Rocky Colavito, Red Right 88, The Drive, The Fumble, Jordan over Ehlo, the MLB lockout, Jose-freaking-Mesa, Art $%^@# Modell - but you stick with them anyway. We have to; it's in our DNA. It's the right thing to do. These are our teams, they represent our city, and supporting them is the most public way we can show love for our hometown. Even those of us who move to other parts of the country still pull for our Brownies, our Tribe, and our Cavs as if we had never left. And we know that someday, when that bet finally pays off, when one of our teams finally gets over the hump and brings home a title, it is going to be one of the sweetest and most satisfying days that sport has ever produced.
...
Now take all of that, and script this story: A local kid, from 30 miles down the road in Akron, with the remarkable single-name potential of "Lebron", turns out to be the most sought-after high school basketball player in a generation, maybe ever. Comparisons to the legendary MJ abound, Sports Illustrated does a cover article on him, and his high school team moves its home games to the University of Akron to accommodate the crowds. The Cavs win the draft lottery (what, a Cleveland team gets lucky?) in the year that he enters the league. They draft him, and unbelievably, he actually lives up to the hype. He helps pull the Cavs from the dredges of the lottery to a playoff team, then to the NBA Finals, to the brink of that magical championship. He adopts the moniker "King James" and becomes a global icon. And all the while, he stays out of trouble and strongly advocates for his hometown, repeatedly proclaiming his loyalty to his roots and appreciation to to those who have supported him throughout his career.
As a fan, after decades of disappointment, this has all the makings of The Team That Finally Does It. The team's management does their part and surrounds Lebron with a solid supporting cast. The Cavs become the class of the NBA regular season but falter in the playoffs. The next season, management convinces a superstar in his twilight years to come in and play second fiddle to Lebron as a key addition, then makes a deadline move to acquire what looks to be the final piece of the puzzle. The Cavs again lead the NBA through the regular season and are the prohibitive favorites to win it all in the final year of Lebron's contract.
Then something amazing happens. The Cavs lose a playoff series to Rajon Rondo and the withering remains of the Boston Celtics not despite Lebron's efforts, but because of them. Lebron misses shots, makes poor decisions, plays sloppy defense, turns the ball over, and retreats from his typical leadership role in the most critical moments of the series. It is a shocking development that calls his very status as the "Chosen One" into question.
With that disappointment fresh on his mind, Lebron has a decision to make: to re-sign with the Cavs or to take his free agent opportunity to go elsewhere.
If he goes somewhere else, he'll probably win a few more MVP awards. And he could certainly win a title or two for an appreciative fan base. Chicago definitely knows how to celebrate NBA championships. New York has been aching for one for a while themselves. Hell, Dwayne Wade won one a few years back with Miami, and it sure could be fun to go try to win a couple more with him, right?
But if he stays with Cleveland and wins a championship here, redeeming himself and exorcising the demons of decades of Cleveland sports futility...the payout is nothing short of immortality. Streets and children would be named after him, statues would be raised - he might even get his own holiday. Even with his eleventy billion dollars, he'd never have to buy a thing in Northeast Ohio ever again. A buzz in Manhattan that only lasts until the Yankees hit the postseason? Another trophy next to Jordan's ridiculous collection? A title in a town that didn't even have a basketball team 20 years ago? How could any of that compare to being the hometown boy who finally brought a championship after more than 45 years to the most brutalized sports fans in the country - to Cleveland, of all places? You couldn't write a better story.
And here's the kicker: Lebron knows this. He is from here. He is one of us. The choice is obvious.
...
So when he turned his free agency into a narcissistic media spectacle, created an hour-long live prime time event to announce his decision, and then proceeded, on national television, to disavow an entire fan base - his own hometown - in the interest of going down south to play with his friends, it wasn't just another player leaving because Cleveland is a mid-market town that can't afford to keep him. It wasn't a freak accident or boneheaded front office move or a team that couldn't overcome the heroics of an opposing superstar. It was personal. It was a local guy turning his back on his own people, abandoning his own city. It was an unimaginable betrayal to a Clevelander.
Don't get me wrong, we've all been preparing ourselves for the worst. We are, after all, Cleveland fans - we're accustomed to heartbreak. But deep down a part of us still believed that it was going to work out. That he got it. That he would back up his words and prove that loyalty wasn't just a sound bite. That he understood the challenge and the opportunity before him. That he bought into the dream as much as we did. That he really was one of us. That he'd do the right thing.
He didn't. And that cuts to the very core of who we are. And that's why we are angry.
Before anyone gets all high and mighty and starts talking about how Lebron was right to leave Cleveland and how Cleveland fans just need to get over it, they need to understand a few things about Clevelanders:
1) We know Cleveland isn't perfect.
It's not New York or Los Angeles, Chicago or San Francisco, DC or Atlanta. It has awful public schools, obscene unemployment, above average crime rates, a shoddy public transit system, a miserable tax code that drives (or keeps) businesses away, and shortsighted public planners who turned a sublime piece of waterfront property into a concrete mess. It's a city that, occasional sparks of life notwithstanding, has been on a gradual decline since the days of the great steel mills. None of this is news to us.
2) It's still our hometown.
We love Cleveland, problems and all, and we aren't afraid to say so. We appreciate it for the things it does have - a sense of history, great neighborhoods, strong ethnic communities, a world-class hospital, well-respected theater and orchestra organizations, surprisingly good dining, three major sports teams (we'll get to that later), a hub airport, exceptional regional parks, great colleges/universities, pleasant suburbs, and substantial smaller cities (Akron, Canton, Youngstown) that are close enough to add value as part of an extended family.
Most anyone who grew up in Northeast Ohio will be happy to tell you great things about it. And if you decide to belittle it, be prepared for an argument. Clevelanders wear loyalty to their town like a badge of honor. Yeah, the winters can suck, but we're tough enough to handle it. Yeah, the local economy is a mess, but we'll soldier on and find a way to make it. And if there was anything we could do as one person to lift the collective spirit or fortune of our hometown, you can take it to the bank that we'd do it in a heartbeat.
3) Sports teams are like family.
If you grew up in greater Cleveland - and for sports purposes, that's a swath of land roughly from the Pennsylvania border to Toledo and from Lake Erie to Columbus - you were born and raised to love your hometown teams religiously. Fall Sundays have always been about church and the Browns game, winter evenings usually mean Joe Tait on the radio, and each spring brings renewed enthusiasm even if the Indians are staring down the barrel of another 100-loss season.
As a Cleveland sports fan, you know you are taking a bet with long odds, but that's part of the charm. You know that the Browns last won a title in 1964, the Indians in 1948, the Cavaliers never. You know that our teams break our hearts repeatedly and in ever more excruciating ways - Herb Score, Rocky Colavito, Red Right 88, The Drive, The Fumble, Jordan over Ehlo, the MLB lockout, Jose-freaking-Mesa, Art $%^@# Modell - but you stick with them anyway. We have to; it's in our DNA. It's the right thing to do. These are our teams, they represent our city, and supporting them is the most public way we can show love for our hometown. Even those of us who move to other parts of the country still pull for our Brownies, our Tribe, and our Cavs as if we had never left. And we know that someday, when that bet finally pays off, when one of our teams finally gets over the hump and brings home a title, it is going to be one of the sweetest and most satisfying days that sport has ever produced.
...
Now take all of that, and script this story: A local kid, from 30 miles down the road in Akron, with the remarkable single-name potential of "Lebron", turns out to be the most sought-after high school basketball player in a generation, maybe ever. Comparisons to the legendary MJ abound, Sports Illustrated does a cover article on him, and his high school team moves its home games to the University of Akron to accommodate the crowds. The Cavs win the draft lottery (what, a Cleveland team gets lucky?) in the year that he enters the league. They draft him, and unbelievably, he actually lives up to the hype. He helps pull the Cavs from the dredges of the lottery to a playoff team, then to the NBA Finals, to the brink of that magical championship. He adopts the moniker "King James" and becomes a global icon. And all the while, he stays out of trouble and strongly advocates for his hometown, repeatedly proclaiming his loyalty to his roots and appreciation to to those who have supported him throughout his career.
As a fan, after decades of disappointment, this has all the makings of The Team That Finally Does It. The team's management does their part and surrounds Lebron with a solid supporting cast. The Cavs become the class of the NBA regular season but falter in the playoffs. The next season, management convinces a superstar in his twilight years to come in and play second fiddle to Lebron as a key addition, then makes a deadline move to acquire what looks to be the final piece of the puzzle. The Cavs again lead the NBA through the regular season and are the prohibitive favorites to win it all in the final year of Lebron's contract.
Then something amazing happens. The Cavs lose a playoff series to Rajon Rondo and the withering remains of the Boston Celtics not despite Lebron's efforts, but because of them. Lebron misses shots, makes poor decisions, plays sloppy defense, turns the ball over, and retreats from his typical leadership role in the most critical moments of the series. It is a shocking development that calls his very status as the "Chosen One" into question.
With that disappointment fresh on his mind, Lebron has a decision to make: to re-sign with the Cavs or to take his free agent opportunity to go elsewhere.
If he goes somewhere else, he'll probably win a few more MVP awards. And he could certainly win a title or two for an appreciative fan base. Chicago definitely knows how to celebrate NBA championships. New York has been aching for one for a while themselves. Hell, Dwayne Wade won one a few years back with Miami, and it sure could be fun to go try to win a couple more with him, right?
But if he stays with Cleveland and wins a championship here, redeeming himself and exorcising the demons of decades of Cleveland sports futility...the payout is nothing short of immortality. Streets and children would be named after him, statues would be raised - he might even get his own holiday. Even with his eleventy billion dollars, he'd never have to buy a thing in Northeast Ohio ever again. A buzz in Manhattan that only lasts until the Yankees hit the postseason? Another trophy next to Jordan's ridiculous collection? A title in a town that didn't even have a basketball team 20 years ago? How could any of that compare to being the hometown boy who finally brought a championship after more than 45 years to the most brutalized sports fans in the country - to Cleveland, of all places? You couldn't write a better story.
And here's the kicker: Lebron knows this. He is from here. He is one of us. The choice is obvious.
...
So when he turned his free agency into a narcissistic media spectacle, created an hour-long live prime time event to announce his decision, and then proceeded, on national television, to disavow an entire fan base - his own hometown - in the interest of going down south to play with his friends, it wasn't just another player leaving because Cleveland is a mid-market town that can't afford to keep him. It wasn't a freak accident or boneheaded front office move or a team that couldn't overcome the heroics of an opposing superstar. It was personal. It was a local guy turning his back on his own people, abandoning his own city. It was an unimaginable betrayal to a Clevelander.
Don't get me wrong, we've all been preparing ourselves for the worst. We are, after all, Cleveland fans - we're accustomed to heartbreak. But deep down a part of us still believed that it was going to work out. That he got it. That he would back up his words and prove that loyalty wasn't just a sound bite. That he understood the challenge and the opportunity before him. That he bought into the dream as much as we did. That he really was one of us. That he'd do the right thing.
He didn't. And that cuts to the very core of who we are. And that's why we are angry.
Monday, November 22, 2010
The Thirsty Scholars: Teams that are good enough vs. teams that deserve ...
I am hoping and praying for total chaos and bedlam to ensue to see the BCS go down in flames. I hope Auburn loses to Alabama and/or South Carolina; I too think Oregon right now is probably the best team in the country, but I'd like to see them lose to create further chaos and bedlam. (I actually live in Bedlam and vacation in Chaos, which explains my proclivity to these terms.)
All the frickin' BCS gives us is a NC game of polling a 1 and 2 team. They give us meaningless bowls. Do you think anybody cares who plays in what used to be the Peach Bowl, now the Chic Filet Bowl? The Sun Bowl? Nobody cares. Bowl games were supposed to be special. They aren't. They have eliminated that aspect. And that mediocre teams with 6 wins can go helps in that rendering.
Everything is cyclical, and right now the Big East is pathetic and ACC's not far behind. They should have some stipulation that an AQ from a conference must at least be in the top 10 or top 8. That Connecticut or Pittsburg gets in over Alabama, TCU, Stanford and a host of others is laughable. And that's all the BCS has become is a system they keep having to tweak. Well here's a clue fella's, you don't have to tweak a playoff.
Then the bowls leading into the NC game would not be meaningless. They would all mean something as some team is advancing. So for the sake of dissolutionment I am praying for chaos, bedlam, and possibly their cousin mayhem to show up at the BCS party.
All the frickin' BCS gives us is a NC game of polling a 1 and 2 team. They give us meaningless bowls. Do you think anybody cares who plays in what used to be the Peach Bowl, now the Chic Filet Bowl? The Sun Bowl? Nobody cares. Bowl games were supposed to be special. They aren't. They have eliminated that aspect. And that mediocre teams with 6 wins can go helps in that rendering.
Everything is cyclical, and right now the Big East is pathetic and ACC's not far behind. They should have some stipulation that an AQ from a conference must at least be in the top 10 or top 8. That Connecticut or Pittsburg gets in over Alabama, TCU, Stanford and a host of others is laughable. And that's all the BCS has become is a system they keep having to tweak. Well here's a clue fella's, you don't have to tweak a playoff.
Then the bowls leading into the NC game would not be meaningless. They would all mean something as some team is advancing. So for the sake of dissolutionment I am praying for chaos, bedlam, and possibly their cousin mayhem to show up at the BCS party.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Teams that are good enough vs. teams that deserve to go...
It seems that the elections killed this blog.... back to football... and back to Boise State vs. the world!
I was listening to ESPN radio on the way to work and a guy framed the argument perfectly. Basically, BSU is a team that looks like it is good enough to play for a national championship. They've absolutely destroyed everybody in the WAC and it is clear that they are a team that looks as though they could beat anybody on a neutral field in a one-for-all-the-marbles scenario if they play well. On the other hand, you have Auburn... they are a team that has played and beaten the #5 ranked schedule in the country (and that includes their win against 1-AA Chatanooga last week). Auburn has a couple of convincing wins and a bunch of relatively close wins, but they have won every game against a schedule that is just about as tough as it comes. So who should play for it all? The team that is good enough? The team that deserves to go? Of course, there's also TCU that put a serious beat-down on ND's next victim (please don't let my homerism for the Irish ruin my credibility... I'm aware that we just lost to Navy and Tulsa, and conventional wisdom has us losing badly this weekend... I just don't want my call of 5-7 after the Stanford game to come back to haunt me). Anyways, TCU is kind of a hybrid of Auburn and BSU... They've played a better schedule than BSU (but still not as tough of a slate as Auburn), and they've blown out just about everybody (but not as convincingly as BSU). This season continues to scream for a playoff. I've always tried to look at this situation as if ND were in the positions of these teams. If ND ran through a schedule as poor as BSU's, and we were left out of the NC game in favor of a team that played the 5th toughest schedule in the country and also went undefeated, I would undoubtedly be pissed, but I would probably be able to swallow that jagged little pill since the other team played a schedule that was so much tougher than ours. Conversely, If ND went undefeated against the #5 schedule in the country and got left out in favor of a team that played a bunch of complete patsies, I would NEVER get over it. It would be similar to '93 FSU getting the national championship over ND... the same ND that BEAT THEIR ASSES by 2 scores! The same ND that missed out on a national championship when Miami beat us in '89 and lost the following week but the voters said that the head-to-head matchup was the tipping point... God damnit... that was bullshit, but I digress... where was I... Oh, if ND were left out after defeating the #5 schedule in the country. This is why I would want to see Auburn in the game (assuming they are undefeated at the end of the year, and Cam Newton isn't found guilty of recruiting infractions... can anybody defend the SEC against my allegation that it is the dirtiest/scummiest conference in college football?). Oregon looks like the best team this year, the other team for the big game is completely up in the air...
Another thing that came up was that BSU (or some other VERY deservant team) could be left out of a BCS bowl due to the obligation that the BCS must include the Big East and ACC champs. Just think... 4 of the 6 AQ conferences stand to send 2 teams: The big 10 (from the pool of OSU/Wisc/Iowa/MSU). The Pac 10 (Oregon/Stanford). The big 12 (Nebraska, OK State). The SEC (Auburn, LSU, Alabama). The BCS has 4 bowls and the NC game. Let's assume the NC game is Oregon/Auburn. That leaves 8 slots that must be filled. The SEC and Pac 10 champs will be represented in the NC game. Now we have 4 AQ teams (including two awful teams from the Big East/ACC) and 4 at large bids. Let's say that two of those go to BSU and TCU... this could leave a real possibility that a team like Stanford (who looks GREAT this year) could go to the Alamo bowl... another possibility would be that BSU gets left out in favor of teams from the AQ conferences due to monetary reasons... either way, this STINKS! I actually hope that the season turns out this way so that the BCS will have even more reason to go down in flames.
I was listening to ESPN radio on the way to work and a guy framed the argument perfectly. Basically, BSU is a team that looks like it is good enough to play for a national championship. They've absolutely destroyed everybody in the WAC and it is clear that they are a team that looks as though they could beat anybody on a neutral field in a one-for-all-the-marbles scenario if they play well. On the other hand, you have Auburn... they are a team that has played and beaten the #5 ranked schedule in the country (and that includes their win against 1-AA Chatanooga last week). Auburn has a couple of convincing wins and a bunch of relatively close wins, but they have won every game against a schedule that is just about as tough as it comes. So who should play for it all? The team that is good enough? The team that deserves to go? Of course, there's also TCU that put a serious beat-down on ND's next victim (please don't let my homerism for the Irish ruin my credibility... I'm aware that we just lost to Navy and Tulsa, and conventional wisdom has us losing badly this weekend... I just don't want my call of 5-7 after the Stanford game to come back to haunt me). Anyways, TCU is kind of a hybrid of Auburn and BSU... They've played a better schedule than BSU (but still not as tough of a slate as Auburn), and they've blown out just about everybody (but not as convincingly as BSU). This season continues to scream for a playoff. I've always tried to look at this situation as if ND were in the positions of these teams. If ND ran through a schedule as poor as BSU's, and we were left out of the NC game in favor of a team that played the 5th toughest schedule in the country and also went undefeated, I would undoubtedly be pissed, but I would probably be able to swallow that jagged little pill since the other team played a schedule that was so much tougher than ours. Conversely, If ND went undefeated against the #5 schedule in the country and got left out in favor of a team that played a bunch of complete patsies, I would NEVER get over it. It would be similar to '93 FSU getting the national championship over ND... the same ND that BEAT THEIR ASSES by 2 scores! The same ND that missed out on a national championship when Miami beat us in '89 and lost the following week but the voters said that the head-to-head matchup was the tipping point... God damnit... that was bullshit, but I digress... where was I... Oh, if ND were left out after defeating the #5 schedule in the country. This is why I would want to see Auburn in the game (assuming they are undefeated at the end of the year, and Cam Newton isn't found guilty of recruiting infractions... can anybody defend the SEC against my allegation that it is the dirtiest/scummiest conference in college football?). Oregon looks like the best team this year, the other team for the big game is completely up in the air...
Another thing that came up was that BSU (or some other VERY deservant team) could be left out of a BCS bowl due to the obligation that the BCS must include the Big East and ACC champs. Just think... 4 of the 6 AQ conferences stand to send 2 teams: The big 10 (from the pool of OSU/Wisc/Iowa/MSU). The Pac 10 (Oregon/Stanford). The big 12 (Nebraska, OK State). The SEC (Auburn, LSU, Alabama). The BCS has 4 bowls and the NC game. Let's assume the NC game is Oregon/Auburn. That leaves 8 slots that must be filled. The SEC and Pac 10 champs will be represented in the NC game. Now we have 4 AQ teams (including two awful teams from the Big East/ACC) and 4 at large bids. Let's say that two of those go to BSU and TCU... this could leave a real possibility that a team like Stanford (who looks GREAT this year) could go to the Alamo bowl... another possibility would be that BSU gets left out in favor of teams from the AQ conferences due to monetary reasons... either way, this STINKS! I actually hope that the season turns out this way so that the BCS will have even more reason to go down in flames.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)