Sports!!

Here’s how I propose how to fix College football’s playoff crisis, so all of you big-school presidents, please listen.

I am a big advocate of getting rid of the BCS, but all the bowl games can be used. In fact, I don’t think any bowl games should be eliminated. Are some of the bowl games ridiculously named? Yes. Are there a few too many? Yes, but it gives teams something to aim for at the same time. Maybe change the criteria to get to a bowl game to 8 wins, but that’s another topic for another time.

The big name bowls will all be used in the playoff system, but something has to be agreed upon at the outset. The Rose Bowl has its ties with the Pac-10 and Big Ten, with the champs of each usually facing each other in that game. Do the same with the others. Have the Big 12 and SEC champs faceoff in the Sugar Bowl and the ACC and Big East champs face each other in the Orange Bowl. Leave the Fiesta Bowl for two at-large bids. How are you going to determine those teams, you ask? If there are undefeated teams from the mid-major conferences, you take them first. Then you go from there looking at the best one-loss teams that didn’t win, or even make it to, their conference championship game. So, for example, last year’s matchup of Hawaii and Georgia would have probably made it here.

From these bowl game matchups, you take the winners and go from there. You could have the Rose Bowl champ against the Fiesta Bowl champ and the Sugar Bowl champ against the Orange Bowl champ…or some combination of that until you are down to two teams for the championship. If you wanted, you could even come up with fancy names for this too.

Now, this is would require two extra games for these 8 teams, but if the bowl season is started a couple weeks earlier, than it wouldn’t matter too much. You could still be done around January. The less time off would help the teams because they would still have their momentum. Some may bring up the argument of the student’s academics, but think about this. If students play during the season, they are still taking mid-terms and other tests during the season. Why would this be much different? Most players are there for football rather than academics

One other thing that would need to change is how the Pac-10 and Big Ten determine its champion. All the other big conferences have two divisions, so they need get with the program. The Pac-10 has 10 teams (obviously), so they could have even divisions. If they wanted 12 teams, well go steal from some of the mid-majors or Independents. The Big Ten usually has a lot of its team play Notre Dame, so why not go convince them to get into the conference finally. Then their 12th game would be the championship game. You may have to cut down on your cupcake teams, but who wouldn’t want to see that. Or even with the added playoff schedule, you could go to 11 games and still have two cupcakes left. Once these two conferences have this all sorted out, everything would be in place for the playoff system. The Big East also needs to adopt this and add a few teams. With these conferences adding teams, maybe it would even make some of those mid-major conferences combine a little to be a little stronger.

Let’s address the schedule one more time. All conferences (the big ones at least) have 12 teams, with two divisions. Say your Team A. Team A plays all of its opponents within its division and then 3 from the other division. You can play it on a rotation. 3 teams one year, the other 3 the next year. So, you’ve got 8 games, and then you can still have your 3 (easy) non-conference games. There should be a set bye week for every team too. It would make the polls and rankings a whole lot easier. End of Nov or Start of Dec would be the Championship games. Give everyone a week off and then start the playoffs on Sat afternoons. The other bowl games can be scheduled during the week. With this schedule, the season would still be done by the first week of January.

So, as a brief recap, the playoff system that should be adopted.

Rose Bowl: Pac-10 vs. Big Ten
Sugar Bowl: Big 12 vs. SEC
Orange Bowl: ACC vs. Big East
Fiesta: Undefeated mid-major team/At-large vs. possible second undefeated mid-major team/At-large

Rose Bowl winner vs. Sugar Bowl winner
Orange Bowl winner vs. Fiesta Bowl winner

Championship: Rose/Sugar winner vs. Orange/Fiesta winner

Will it happen? Eh, probably not, but I can dream, right?

Tags: NCAA // 2 Comments »

The MLB playoffs are here and its about time. I love this time of year bc the intrigue of the NFL and college football are just starting up and then you have the MLB playoffs right in the midst of it. These playoffs do not include the Yankees, and frankly, I don’t mind. Its nice to have some new teams in the playoffs this year. I think each and every team has a realistic shot at winning it all. Sure, there are a couple teams that stand out, but the MLB playoffs are a different season, as it is with all playoffs in sports. The White Sox battling it out for the division title with an extra game just adds to the spice of things and give the potential of an All-Chicago series. I would love to see that, but as you will read below, I don’t think it will happen.

Cubs – Dodgers: Joe Torre is in the playoffs, but the Yankees aren’t. I think that’s perfect justice with the Yankees not bringing him back last year. Although, they probably wouldn’t be in the playoffs without Manny’s heroics. Unfortunately, they don’t have the pitchers to go toe to toe with the Cubs powerful rotation. As long as Big Z doesn’t implode (him starting Game 2 should help), the Cubs should win easy. There is the potential of a sweep, but I am saying Cubs in 4.

Brewers – Phillies: These two teams are pretty similar if you ask me in their general makeup. A solid beginning of their rotation, a dangerous lineup and a smart defense. But the Phillies have Ryan Howard which will probably make the difference in this series. I am taking the Phillies in 5

Rays – White Sox: The White Sox had to play an extra game to get in, but as long as they got in, right? These Rays are probably the story of the year and have been great at home. They’re young, hungry, and out to prove they are better than everyone is giving them credit for. The White Sox have a team that is good, but doesn’t always show up. I am taking the Rays in 5

Angels – Red Sox: This is going to be a dogfight of a series with some elite pitching going head to head and each lineup being as dangerous as the other. The Red Sox probably have a slight edge in experience, but the Angels did win it all in 2002. The Angels have K-Rod…but the Sox have Papelbon. This is a toss up of a series, but the Red Sox don’t have Manny and I think that will hurt just a little. I am taking the Angels in 5.

I will be blogging after each round, but my World Series pick right now is the Cubs over the Rays. The Cubs finally get over their “curse.” The White Sox took forever between WS wins and so did the Red Sox, so its about time for the Cubs. They great story of the Rays won’t result in what they’re hoping, but they’ll come close and be back fighting for it again next year.

Tags: MLB // Add Comment »

1. Giants – What a way to climb…let the top couple teams fall first. Nicely done by the defending champs, but can they keep it up? Without Strahan and that other guy I don’t know how to spell, they are looking just like last year. Could you imagine it with them?
2. Titans – 4-0 ….. with Kerry Collins. Just let that sink in for a little ….. Ok, still hasn’t? Hopefully VY is learning a few things so he can come back bc there is no way Collins is the long term answer.
3. Cowboys – close, tough loss to the Redskins. They’ll bounce back though, especially with who they are playing their next three games.
4. Bills – the only other undefeated team. Dick Jauron isn’t known for his success but he may have found all of the right pieces now. If they make it to the Super Bowl though, they’ll probably just lose like they always do.
5. Steelers – pulled out a tough win on MNF. But with only one health RB, can Big Ben carry this team by himself?
6. Panthers – they have their best WR duo with Smith and Moose since they had….well, Smith and Moose. Teams will have to start respecting that soon which will lead to a stronger running game for them too.
7. Redskins – huge win for the Skins. Zorn seems to know what he is doing in Washington, but it will be hard to keep up in the toughest division out there.
8. Eagles – Tough loss, but no Westbrook, so I’ll give them a little credit this week. Washington comes to town this week.
9. Chargers – Didn’t turn it on until the 4th quarter, but 25 pts is still really sweet. Imagine what they could do in a whole game. Look out Denver!
10. Buccaneers – Griese is undefeated since taking over. If they don’t win their division, they’ll be a tough out for the wildcard
11. Broncos – KC is never a friendly place for them and they lost once again there. Hopefully Shannahan took some good notes in this game so they know how to fend off the Chargers
12. Jaguars – David Gerrard is carrying this team just like he did last year. Taylor and MJD need to step it up so he isn’t doing it himself.
13. Ravens – tough loss in a game they needed to make a big statement in. But this team is still performing a little better than expected, so they’ll be fun to watch.
14. Patriots – had a bye week to regather themselves. Should come out firing against the 49ers. They need the win to keep up in the division.
15. Packers – Almost had two losses in one day….if Rodgers goes down, it won’t be pretty. He is starting to get antsy, so he just needs to go back to the basics and he’ll be fine
16. Saints – they needed the win and needed Deuce back. If you were a fantasy owner of Pierre Thomas (like me) he’s no longer much of an option with Deuce being back.
17. Jets – 6 TDs?!!? Don’t think Favre can do that every week, but I think he is getting used to being a Jet know. The only question is if they can actually give Buffalo a run for their money…
18. Bears – eeked out the win against the Eagles. Now they just need more consistency from their offense
19. Colts – needed the bye to get healthy. Manning should be back in sync now. They just gotta climb back to the top of their division where they are used to being.
20. Cardinals – Kurt Warner got hit a lot…he needs much better protection if they want to keep him in as QB. Some would say this is a must win against Buffalo coming up.
21. 49ers – JT O’Sullivan is holding up so far…
22. Vikings – Gus may not be the answer either and their season doesn’t get much easier.
23. Falcons – Turner is the guy that will make this team succeed….just has to prove he can do it
24. Seahawks – hopefully they have some healthier WRs with their bye week this past week
25. Browns – finally got a win and with their bye week this week, hopefully they can readjust
26. Dolphins – shocked the world by beating the Pats….can they do it again against the Chargers?
27. Chiefs – no longer winless and LJ is starting to pick up some steam
28. Raiders – Kiffin being fired makes this team worse off in my opinion
29. Texans – not looking good for a team with a lot of promise
30. Bengals – Not looking good with Palmer, so don’t expect things to get much better
31. Lions – Firing Millen was a step in the right direction…now they just need to win a few games
32. Rams – first team to fire their coach…and Bulger is back as starter…now they just have to win

Tags: NFL // Add Comment »