Sports follies

[cactuswatcher]

I have to say the biggest loser in sports last weekend was Scott Boras. Several players decided he wasn't acting in their best interests and consequently his wallet is going to be millions of dollars lighter over the next few years. It's hardly time to weep over his cruel fate, though. I do think if Boras had listened to A-Rod, A-Rod could have pocketed most of that other 7 million. The Rangers, however, will use that money; probably unwisely.

According to the media, the big winner in the Arizona-Oregon game was Missouri. Surely the big winner in the Texas Tech-Oklahoma game was West Virginia. The Tigers and Mountaineers are in a virtual dead heat for third with UWVa currently ahead on strength of schedule. The Big East is not worthy of an automatic BSC bid in my book, but barring disaster against UConn, UWVa has earned a bid anyway. Heaven help the bowl committee that chooses them if they don't get in the championship game. UWVa travels worse to bowl games (brings fewer fans with them) than any team in the nation. The championship game would sell out anyway. But, the other BCS games might well not.

Personally, I'd just as soon see Oklahoma lose to Oklahoma St. and have Texas play in the Big XII title game. Should Missouri beat Kansas, it might be slightly worse for their chances of better things in the BCS. But a possible win over a healthy Colt McCoy sounds better to me than a possible revenge win against Oklahoma with a not-so-hot second-stringer at quarterback.

The big thing you see this year in college football is teams with superior all-around athletes getting beat. Texas Tech consists of three or four good receivers, a quarterback who can throw and a bunch of fat guys who waddle backward blocking the way for the defense to get to the quarterback. Their best defensive strategy is the offense keeping their own defense off the field. But that worked fine against a team full of guys who'd beat Tech's best times in the 40 yd dash. Notre Dame has better athletes than almost all the teams that beat them this year. The sight of ND running wide trying to get the last two tying points against Navy was just painful to watch. Out-weighing Navy by a good 50-75 pounds a man on the line, ND should have been able to walk in, up the middle. But that only works if those big athletes know how to run block. How long has it been since since either Missouri or Kansas had a recruiting class to match Nebraska? Is this year bad coaching or just a dramatic change in the way the game is played? I still think the passing rules will be reined in next year, cause too many of the elite got thumped this year. But I see more calls to keep things the way they are now, from weaker teams, than I did a few weeks ago.

Comments

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

According to the media, the big winner in the Arizona-Oregon game was Missouri.

The media are silly. The various formulae had made it quite clear that any team to win out in the Big 8 (Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas) was going to jump past Oregon in the BCS Standings anyway. It's the other teams that benefitted - particularly West VA and Arizona State. As it looks now, the presumptive order is:

1. LSU if they win out
2. Mizzou/Kansas winner
3. West Virginia
4. Ohio State
5. Arizona State

In theory, if LSU, WVU, ASU all lose, and the winner of MU/KU loses in the Big XII Title, and Georgia does not win the SEC, it is theoretically possible for a title game between Ohio State and a 12-0 Hawaii team.

That is still highly unlikely.

The sight of ND running wide trying to get the last two tying points against Navy was just painful to watch. Out-weighing Navy by a good 50-75 pounds a man on the line, ND should have been able to walk in, up the middle. But that only works if those big athletes know how to run block.

Yes. But then, this years' Notre Dame is a horribly coached team. It was said that Charlie Weis inherited subpar recruiting classes from Ty Willingham. Those classes graded Top 40. This ND Team is currently grading about 99 out of 119.