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December 31, 2008

Sports Central's 2008 NFL All-Pro Team

This is the seventh time I have selected an all-pro team for Sports Central, and this column exists to explain the reasons I chose certain players, or didn't take others, and to give recognition to those who just missed my list. If all you care about is who made the team, you'll find a list at the bottom.

I choose 13 players on both offense and defense. Offenses use two tight ends or a third wide receiver more often than they use a fullback, so my team has two tight ends and three wide receivers, in addition to a fullback. Because of this trend on offense, all teams need a good nickel back, and my all-pro team has three cornerbacks. Finally, some teams use one DT and two ILBs; others use two DTs and one ILB. I have two players at both positions.

My choices are listed in order, so you'll know which receiver is my third, which tight end is my second, and so on.

Quarterback: Philip Rivers (SD)
Last Year: Tom Brady (NE)

In my mind, there are only two serious candidates. Kurt Warner (ARI) was awful at the end of the season, and Peyton Manning (IND) was shaky at the beginning. The serious candidates are Drew Brees (NO), who led the league in passing yards, and Rivers, who led in passer rating. Popular opinion seems to have coalesced around Manning, so let me explain why I don't think he deserves serious consideration. Compared to Rivers and Brees, he has: fewer yards, lower yards per attempt, fewer touchdowns, lower TD/INT differential, and lower passer rating. He's slightly ahead in completion percentage. Summing up, both Rivers and Brees have thrown for more yards and more TDs than Manning, more efficiently. And as spectacular as Manning was at the end of the season, his slow start hurt the team.

Here's my problem with Brees: he was a lion at home (20 TD, 5 INT, 114.0 rating) and a lamb on the road (11 TD, 12 INT, 80.3 rating). No matter how good he was at home, how can you pick a guy who only played well in half his games? New Orleans went 2-6 on the road, and even 4-4 would have gotten them into the playoffs. Rivers, on the other hand, took command of his team down the stretch, leading them to four straight wins and a division title. During the streak, he threw 11 TDs and just 1 interception, recording an astronomical 120.3 passer rating. Isn't that exactly what you're looking for in an all-pro QB?

Running Back: DeAngelo Williams (CAR)
Last Year: Brian Westbrook (PHI)

A three-horse race, between Adrian Peterson (MIN), Michael Turner (ATL), and Williams. Turner finished with 184 rushing yards more than Williams, but he also had 103 extra carries. I would argue that 103 attempts for 184 yards is actually a negative contribution. Williams' rushing average is better than Turner's by more than a yard. Williams also had more receiving yards, more touchdowns, and fewer fumbles. Easy call.

Peterson is clearly a phenomenal talent, and he's fun to watch. He also has substantially more rushing yardage than Williams (about 250 yards). But Williams has a much better average, twice as many touchdowns, and fewer fumbles. Are half-a-yard per carry, 10 TDs, and 9 fumbles worth 250 yards? Yes, emphatically. Williams is the right choice.

Fullback: Mike Sellers (WAS)
Last Year: Greg Jones (JAC)

Fullback is only an important position on about a third of the teams in the league right now, but Madison Hedgecock (NYG), Brad Hoover (CAR), and Sellers are the best. I prefer Sellers because of his versatility. In addition to reliable blocking, Sellers is a decent short-yardage back and a good receiver, with a nose for the end zone.

AFC Pro Bowler Le'Ron McClain (BAL) lines up at tailback about half the time, often with Lorenzo Neal playing fullback in front of him. I don't really consider McClain a fullback right now. He can play the position, but it's not really how he was used this year.

Wide Receiver: Andre Johnson (HOU), Steve Smith (CAR), Roddy White (ATL)
Last Year: Reggie Wayne (IND), Randy Moss (NE), Terrell Owens (DAL)

Johnson easily led the NFL in both receptions and receiving yards. There should be no discussion necessary on him. Smith and White are a little trickier. Lots of receivers have a decent argument this year. I went with Smith because he's a game-changer. No one, except maybe Johnson, had more big catches. There are different ways to measure that statistically. Calvin Johnson (DET) and Larry Fitzgerald (ARI) led the league in TD receptions. Andre Johnson, Tony Gonzalez, and Fitzgerald led in first downs. Smith led in catches of 20 yards or more. Sometimes the numbers lead you in circles. I watched a lot of football this year, and I just think Smith is the league's best big-play guy. Roddy White was a key contributor in Matt Ryan's development and Atlanta's playoff run.

Tight End: Tony Gonzalez (KC), Jason Witten (DAL)
Last Year: Kellen Winslow, Jr. (CLE), Antonio Gates (SD)

Gonzalez led the league in every major receiving category. Witten went through a mid-season lull and had some injury issues, but at the top of his game, was better than anyone except maybe Gonzalez. We're in a golden age for tight ends right now, but the other player who really stood out at times was Dallas Clark (IND).

Center: Nick Mangold (NYJ)
Last Year: Jeff Saturday (IND)

For most of the season, I've liked Jason Brown (BAL) at this position. At the end of the year, though, Brown fell apart. He was not impressive in Week 16 against Dallas, or in the season finale against Jacksonville. Shaun O'Hara (NYG) was the other serious contender, but I have a little trouble sorting out how much of his good play came as a result of lining up next to Chris Snee. The Giants had a good line this year, but not good enough that I think they really had two all-pros.

Guard: Chris Snee (NYG), Kris Dielman (SD)
Last Year: Logan Mankins (NE), Ryan Lilja (IND)

Snee is the best player on the league's best offensive line. Dielman, at the end of the season, stole the other spot from Steve Hutchinson (MIN). Dielman isn't flashy, but he's efficient and reliable, a steadying force on a line that struggled with injuries this season. Hutchinson, who created so many holes for Shaun Alexander in Seattle, now makes them for Adrian Peterson in Minnesota. Alan Faneca (NYJ) had a nice year in his first campaign with the Jets, and keep an eye on Justin Blalock (ATL).

Offensive Tackle: Michael Roos (TEN), Ryan Clady (DEN)
Last Year: Matt Light (NE), Chad Clifton (GB)

Tough to choose two from my four favorites, the others being Jammal Brown (NO) and Jordan Gross (CAR). If anyone is upset that I took two left tackles, either use Gross, who started his career at RT, or go with Marc Colombo (DAL). All of these selections are based on my observation of actual games, but I also have a statistical method of rating offensive lines as a whole, and seven teams were way ahead of the pack this year: Atlanta, Carolina, Denver, New Orleans, both New York teams, and Tennessee. With only five all-pro spots, I didn't fit any Falcons, Panthers, or Saints onto my squad, but Blalock was close, and Brown and Gross were very close.

Defensive Tackle: Kevin Williams (MIN), Haloti Ngata (BAL)
Last Year: Albert Haynesworth (TEN), Pat Williams (MIN)

Kevin Williams has been dominant all year. The other front-runners, Albert Haynesworth (TEN), Kris Jenkins (NYJ), and Shaun Rogers (CLE), fell away at the end of the year, through a combination of injuries, fatigue, and opponents catching up to them. The season lasts 16 games, not 12. Ngata was still making plays at the end of the season. Fred Robbins (NYG) and Tony Brown (TEN) are very underrated.

Defensive End: John Abraham (ATL), Aaron Smith (PIT)
Last Year: Jared Allen (KC), Mario Williams (HOU)

Very close calls at both spots, with no obvious must-have selections. Let's start with the one nobody is talking about, Aaron Smith. He was the best 3-4 defensive end in the league this year, the best lineman on the league's best defense. All those other guys — Harrison, Farrior, Polamalu — can't do their jobs if the guys up front don't. I wouldn't pitch a fit if someone wants Jared Allen (MIN) or Julius Peppers (CAR) ahead of Smith, but understand that picking up sacks is not a DE's only job.

Allen is a monster, and his impact is obvious when you watch him. He had 14.5 sacks and 2 safeties this year. But he plays next to the Williams Wall, which means he doesn't see as many double-teams as most elite DEs. I also wonder sometimes if Minnesota's defense is less than the sum of its parts. If they really have three or four all-pro-level players on that one unit, shouldn't the defense have been among the two or three best in the league? It wasn't.

Peppers is a phenomenal athlete who creates enormous problems for opponents. Justin Tuck (NYG) started the year on fire, but he seemed to wear down, with only 0.5 sack in the last four games. Mario Williams (HOU) picked up 12 sacks with almost no help from his teammates. Richard Seymour (NE) is great in the Patriots' 3-4. I even considered Terrell Suggs (BAL), who is usually listed at linebacker, as a way of breaking the tie at defensive end. In the end I chose Abraham, who led all defensive linemen in sacks, with 16.5, and anchored a defense with few other playmakers.

Outside Linebacker: James Harrison (PIT), DeMarcus Ware (DAL)
Last Year: DeMarcus Ware (DAL), Julian Peterson (SEA)

Two pass rushers. I would love to pick a 4-3 OLB with more well-rounded responsibilities, like Lance Briggs (CHI) or Keith Bulluck (TEN), but Harrison and Ware were probably the two best defensive players in the whole league this year. No one else had the same kind of impact.

Inside Linebacker: James Farrior (PIT), Jon Beason (CAR)
Last Year: London Fletcher (WAS), Brian Urlacher (CHI)

There were three really strong candidates this season, and I don't like leaving out Barrett Ruud (TB). London Fletcher (WAS) has also played well, but I think he was better in 2006 and '07. What Farrior and Beason — and, for that matter, Ruud — all possess is a combination of reliability and big-play talent. It's the same quality that made Ray Lewis (BAL) so impressive in his prime, and which you still see flashes of from time to time. These guys have a talent for being around the ball, they don't miss a lot of tackles, and they make the big, game-changing plays: sacks, deflected passes, and interceptions.

Cornerback: Charles Woodson (GB), Will Allen (MIA), Nnamdi Asomugha (OAK)
Last Year: Asante Samuel (NE), Marcus Trufant (SEA), Shawn Springs (WAS)

There's no one I'm enthusiastic about at this position, and it's times like this that I regret picking a nickel back. Through some combination of rules that help the passing game, increasingly sophisticated offenses, plain old down years, plus 6'5" receivers and fast tight ends, I can't recall a worse year for cornerbacks.

I suppose Woodson, who led all CBs in interceptions, interception return TDs (tied), and sacks, was the best. He's also my only all-pro corner with big numbers. Woodson plays with Al Harris (GB), who's not an all-pro, but is pretty good, so opponents have to throw at Woodson sometimes. Allen, on the other hand, didn't lead his own team in interceptions, but that's because he got thrown at less often. The extreme of the untested corner in Asomugha, who recorded all of one interception this season. At the end of the year, though, a few teams tested him with success. Still, in a down year, Asomugha earns the third slot.

Others I considered, in alphabetical order, were: Cortland Finnegan (TEN), Darrelle Revis (NYJ), Asante Samuel (PHI), and Antoine Winfield (MIN). Rashean Mathis (JAC), Terence Newman (DAL), and Shawn Springs (WAS), all of whom I've picked in the past, would have been contenders if they hadn't gotten injured.

Free Safety: Ed Reed (BAL)
Last Year: Ed Reed (BAL)

This was Reed's best season since 2004, when he was Defensive Player of the Year. No one else was close.

Strong Safety: Chris Hope (TEN)
Last Year: Bob Sanders (IND)

There were two very strong, very serious contenders for this position: Troy Polamalu (PIT) and Hope. Of the two, Polamalu makes more big plays. He and Ed Reed are around the ball more than any other defensive backs I have ever seen, with the possible exception of Rod Woodson. However, I've seen Polamalu gamble and miss on interceptions, or overpursue a running play and get lost on the cutback. He plays very aggressively, and that's why he's such a terrific playmaker, but he does have those occasional misses. Hope is comparatively conservative, if you can really say that about a player who made some huge interceptions this year. He's responsible in coverage, a solid run-stuffer, and a perfect fit for his team.

Kicker: Ryan Longwell (MIN)
Last Year: Rob Bironas (TEN)

Choosing this position has become very difficult, because kickers are so accurate now. It's gotten so that if a guy misses more than two or three field goals, he's pretty much out of the running. There's not a lot of space between the best kicker and the 10th best. I started with a list of 10 kickers and eventually narrowed it to three: Longwell, Rob Bironas (TEN), and Phil Dawson (CLE). Those guys play in very different conditions. Longwell's home stadium is a dome. Nashville isn't Buffalo, but it's not Miami, either. And Cleveland gets pretty nasty weather, this year as early as Week 2.

The argument against Longwell is basically the dome, though he also had two kicks blocked and he's nothing special on kickoffs. In his favor are six field goals of 50 yards or more, including a game-winning, playoff-clinching 50-yarder against the Giants in Week 17. Bironas is one of the two or three best kickoff guys in the NFL, but his longest field goal this season was just 51 yards. Dawson has the fewest points and the most missed kicks in my group of finalists, including two misses from under 40 yards. But he also has made more field goals than Bironas or Longwell, including a 56-yarder at Buffalo, and plays in the toughest kicking conditions.

Ultimately, I went with Longwell, the bright spot on Minnesota's terrible special teams. The difference between Longwell and an average kicker probably won two or three games for the Vikings this season, and I'd argue that they probably wouldn't have made the playoffs without him.

Punter: Jeff Feagles (NYG)
Last Year: Mike Scifres (SD)

Punting statistics can be misleading. Most people just look at the gross average, which measures how far the punts go. This actually punishes most really good punters. Which is better, a 40-yard punt with a ton of hang time and a fair catch, or a 45-yard line drive that gets returned 15 yards? At the opponent's 40-yard line, would you rather have a 30-yard kick or 40 and a touchback? In both cases, the shorter kick is better, but it hurts the punter's gross average.

Fortunately, the NFL keeps a statistic called net average, which accounts for returns and touchbacks. Problem solved, right? Well, no. Return yardage is heavily affected by the return team, and if those guys aren't any good, it hurts the punter's net. Punters on good teams frequently have to shorten up their kicks to stay out of the end zone, while punters on bad teams can bomb away. And bad weather has a huge impact on punters, so it's not fair to expect a punter in Buffalo to have the same numbers as one in Florida.

So what stats do you look at? Net average, despite its flaws, is a good starting point. Punts inside the 20 and inside the 10 are good, especially compared to the number of touchbacks. Percentage of punts returned is really good. The best punters force a lot of fair catches or kick the ball out of bounds. If you look at all of those factors, and balance them with the context of weather and team quality, you can get a pretty solid idea.

I had four finalists this year: Feagles, Sam Koch (BAL), Brad Maynard (CHI), and Brian Moorman (BUF). Feagles had the best net average in the group, ranking 4th in the NFL despite home games in cold, windy Giants Stadium. Everyone ahead of him plays in a dome or California. Fewer than half his punts got returned, and those that were didn't go anywhere (140 yards, 5.8 average). I would have liked to see him be more effective at the goal-line (only five punts down inside the 10), but that complaint wasn't enough to vault Maynard or the others in front of him.

Kick Returner: Clifton Smith (TB)
Last Year: Devin Hester (CHI)

I prioritize success on both kickoff and punt returns, and Smith was the only player to score a touchdown on both types of kick return this season. He was also the only player among the top five in both KR average (27.6) and PR average (14.1). My other finalists were all deficient in one category or the other. Leodis McKelvin (BUF) didn't return punts. Allen Rossum (SF) protected his PR average with too many fair catches and only had 15 actual punt returns. Johnnie Lee Higgins (OAK) had a blah 23.4 average on kickoff returns.

DeMarcus Ware and Ed Reed are the only players to repeat from my 2007 all-pro team.

Offensive Player of the Year: Andre Johnson (HOU)
Last Year: Tom Brady (NE)

There are legitimate arguments about who the best quarterback and running back were this season. Almost no one is disputing that Johnson had the best year at wide receiver. No offensive player was more outstanding at his position.

Defensive Player of the Year: James Harrison (PIT)
Last Year: DeMarcus Ware (DAL)

Early in the season, it looked like one of the big defensive tackles would earn this, but by season's end, the three best candidates were Harrison, Ware, and Ed Reed (BAL). I went with Harrison on consistency and pure impact. His dominance as a pass rusher created opportunities for everyone around him.

Most Valuable Player: Philip Rivers (SD)
Last Year: Brian Westbrook (PHI)

Easily the most wide-open field in my years of covering the NFL, maybe the most wide-open ever. I really wanted this to be the year I took a defensive player, and two weeks ago, I had DeMarcus Ware (DAL) penciled in. Then he tanked, doing absolutely nothing for the last seven quarters of the regular season. Harrison and Reed were also candidates, but ultimately, I couldn't pull the trigger on them, either. Harrison was one of several possible choices who suffered from shared credit. If there are two MVP candidates on a team, can either one really be the most valuable player in the league? Besides Harrison and Troy Polamalu (PIT), the most glaring example is Matt Ryan and Michael Turner (ATL).

In alphabetical order, the players I think should be considered legitimate contenders for this year's MVP are: James Harrison (PIT), Andre Johnson (HOU), Peyton Manning (IND), Chad Pennington (MIA), Ed Reed (BAL), Rivers, Ryan, and Ware. Lesser arguments can be made for a number of other players, but not, in my view, convincingly. Rivers get my vote for outplaying the other quarterbacks and leading — really leading — his team into the postseason.

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Matt Ryan (ATL)
Last Year: Adrian Peterson (MIN)

Has there ever been a better year for offensive rookies? 2006 provides some competition, but this season has been really special. The quarterbacks, Joe Flacco (BAL) and Ryan, have gotten a ton of attention, as have 1,000-yard rushers Matt Forte (CHI), Chris Johnson (TEN), and Steve Slaton (HOU). Ryan, I think, has clearly outperformed Flacco, but you could make an argument for any of those running backs as OROY.

Another RB, Kevin Smith (DET), made the most out of a bad situation, but the glamor positions weren't the only ones to produce great rookies this season. Offensive tackles Ryan Clady (DEN) and Jake Long (MIA) had terrific rookie seasons, and John Carlson (SEA) was among the top 10 tight ends in every major receiving category. Wide receivers Eddie Royal (DEN) and DeSean Jackson (PHI) also showed great promise.

Ryan's success as a rookie quarterback, though, has few parallels. I won't try to compare Ryan to early passers like Benny Friedman (1927), Sammy Baugh (1937), Bob Waterfield (1945), Charlie Conerly (1948), or even Greg Cook (1969), but I think it's reasonable to compare him to other rookies whose careers began since 1978, when significant rule changes impacted the passing game. Since that time, probably only Dan Marino (1983) and Ben Roethlisberger (2004) are in Ryan's class. I'm not going to try to put those three in order, because I think the comparison is all that's needed here to demonstrate that Ryan deserves this honor. Forte, Johnson, and Slaton have had very nice seasons, but it's not all that unusual for rookie RBs to put up 1,200 yards. It's rare for a rookie QB even to start 16 games.

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Jerod Mayo (NE)
Last Year: Patrick Willis (SF)

For all the standouts on offense, this was a pretty weak year for DPOY. I suspect Mayo will win AP's award pretty easily, but no one is going to confuse Mayo in 2008 with Shawne Merriman in 2005. I like Mayo's consistency, which is often a problem for rookies, and he clearly has the physical gifts to excel as an NFL linebacker. The other contenders were all defensive backs: Brandon Flowers (KC), Chris Horton (WAS), Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (ARI), and Aqib Talib (TB). I bet one of those guys will make the Pro Bowl next year.

Coach of the Year: Tony Sparano (MIA)
Last Year: Bill Belichick (NE)

Sparano turned a 1-15 team into an 11-5 division champ. In a year with several strong contenders — Tom Coughlin (NYG), John Harbaugh (BAL), Mike Smith (ATL) — I think the only way to deny Sparano is by deflecting credit to the invisible hand of Bill Parcells. What Smith has done in Atlanta would earn my enthusiastic vote almost any other year, and I won't argue with someone who thinks Smith deserves to win, but my vote goes to Sparano, for what may be the most stunning single-season turnaround in history.

Assistant Coach of the Year: Mike Mularkey (ATL)
Last Year: Josh McDaniels (NE)

This was a competitive year not only for Coach of the Year candidates, but for top assistants, as well. Cam Cameron (BAL), Josh McDaniels (NE), and Mularkey were wizards with their young quarterbacks this season. Kevin Gilbride (NYG), Mike Heimerdinger (TEN), and Dan Henning (MIA) quietly did a very nice job. On defense, it was the usual suspects: Jim Johnson (PHI), Dick LeBeau (PIT), Rex Ryan (BAL), Steve Spagnuolo (NYG), and Jim Schwartz and Dave McGinnis (TEN).

Out of this large, impressive group, my pick is Mularkey, who quickly and seamlessly integrated new players (notably Matt Ryan and Michael Turner) while getting career years from guys who were already there. Atlanta's turnaround on offense was monumental.

2008 All-Pro Team

QB Philip Rivers, SD
RB DeAngelo Williams, CAR
FB Mike Sellers, WAS
WR Andre Johnson, HOU
WR Steve Smith, CAR
WR Roddy White, ATL
TE Tony Gonzalez, KC
TE Jason Witten, DAL
C Nick Mangold, NYJ
G Chris Snee, NYG
G Kris Dielman, SD
OT Michael Roos, TEN
OT Ryan Clady, DEN

DT Kevin Williams, MIN
DT Haloti Ngata, BAL
DE John Abraham, ATL
DE Aaron Smith, PIT
OLB James Harrison, PIT
OLB DeMarcus Ware, DAL
ILB James Farrior, PIT
ILB Jon Beason, CAR
CB Charles Woodson, GB
CB Will Allen, MIA
CB Nnamdi Asomugha, OAK
FS Ed Reed, BAL
SS Chris Hope, TEN

K Ryan Longwell, MIN
P Jeff Feagles, NYG
KR Clifton Smith, TB

Off POY — Andre Johnson, HOU
Def POY — James Harrison, PIT
MVP — Philip Rivers, SD
Off Rookie — Matt Ryan, ATL
Def Rookie — Jerod Mayo, NE
Coach — Tony Sparano, MIA
Assistant — Mike Mularkey, ATL

Posted by Brad Oremland at 12:55 PM | Comments (0)

How to Make Golf Sponsorship Work

In recent days, the PGA Tour has announced its 2009 Fall Series schedule. Currently, it is missing two events from last season due to the departure of the Ginn sur Mer Classic and the move of the Valero Texas Open to the new Texas Swing in May.

The first real gap on the PGA Tour schedule in several years has caused the media community to go on the offensive about the Tour's woes. Lorne Rubenstein, Dave Seanor, and Gary Van Sickle have all penned pieces talking about how the Tour needs to not lose sight of rank and file golfers.

Most talk about how the Tour and its best players shield themselves from criticism under the moniker of the "independent contractor" relationship that the players have with the Tour. Others have discussed the need to revamp the 15-tournament floor to keep a Tour card. Some others have attacked problems with the Tour's scheduling and purses that have been known for years. Across the board, the writers really are saying nothing new in the criticisms they are levying. Rather, they're recycling old material in light of new particulars to the problems.

It is true that the PGA Tour is facing sponsorship issues. With many tournament sponsorships agreements ending this year and next (along with the LPGA Tour on a much more staggering scale), the PGA Tour faces a difficult environment in which to negotiate new deals.

Considering the 40% drop in the stock market this year, skyrocketing unemployment, and somewhere in the area of $5 trillion in bailout lending, the PGA Tour can be assured of a tough go at retaining all of its sponsors and tournaments. Many of the companies that are in the cauldron of this crisis are sponsors of the Tour in a big time way. General Motors is a prime example, but the Tour is also heavily leveraged in the financial sector. It is no secret where that industry is. Ginn's removal from the schedule is no shock. It would have been a bigger deal had they remained.

Still, the Tour has a track record of pulling a rabbit out of the hat. The Tour negotiated its way through the miniature recession following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In fact, the Tour managed to grow amidst that crisis.

In economic terms, though, this recession is different. It will clearly last longer – maybe two years or more – and is on a much larger scale. The contagion and its impacts are felt more globally than what followed 9/11. The amount of merger, acquisition, and bankruptcy activity is much higher.

The Tour also must renegotiate in a period of increased competition. The Race to Dubai on the European Tour has lured some of its higher profile players to more starts in Europe this season. Their schedule features 11 TBAs, has already cancelled a tournament, and is now playing for the same pool of multinational corporations that could sponsor their events as the PGA Tour.

There is no question that the PGA Tour faces a sponsorship environment unlike anything it has seen in its history. That said, the same old criticisms may not be the right ones to levy and address when trying to ensure the health of the Tour into the future. Still others are part of the problem that must be solved.

In a message delivered from Commissioner Tim Finchem to players and their agents, he pleaded with players to add extra tournaments to their schedule for the '09 year. Given that they are only compelled to play a minimum of 15 events each year, players are not required to comply with Finchem's request. The aim, though, is to give a boost to struggling tournaments by giving them a deeper, more attractive field.

Why not, instead, institute the PGA Tour version of the LPGA Tour's rule that requires players to start in each event at least once every four years or face a fine?

That solution may backfire on the Tour, which is why they resist implementing it. The biggest events — and generally with it, the biggest sponsors — get the best players consistently. If the Tour were to implement this rule, players would not consistently show up at certain stops. It would reduce the value of sponsorship to these high-end sponsors because they would not be guaranteed the Tigers and Phils of golf each season. Also, Tiger and Phil specifically would balk at the proposal and likely consider European Tour membership because of its lax minimums and policy on appearance fees.

At the same time, the Tour risks further alienation of its "second Tour" — the events in which Tiger and the best do not routinely play — by not doing something to promote a more egalitarian schedule that benefits the fans and sponsors.

The solution may be an implementation of the "one in four" rule, but with a kickback to sponsors that suffer as a result of the rule. Northern Trust would be thrilled if Tiger had to play Riviera once every four years (and still stayed on Tour). Wells Fargo, new owner of Wachovia, would be angry. The Tour would have to be willing to reduce the sponsorship cost or provide additional perks, like free ad time, to balance out the cost of not having the same atmosphere in the corporate tents. It would take several years of this practice before sponsors would be accustomed to the notion of this kind of PGA Tour.

For those that would complain that the PGA Tour players would rebel against such a requirement, I only need tell you that the PGA Tour (largely thanks to Tiger Woods) made 104 players into instant millionaires this season. They'll take their orders with a smile so long as they are being paid handsomely.

The Tour can really only pick one option between implementing a one in four rule or increasing the minimum number of tournaments for players. Finchem simply cannot increase the minimum number of events required on the schedule. Given the European Tour's easy-to-attain minimum of 12 events, the PGA Tour's minimum of 15 seems ridiculous by comparison.

Also, if one takes a look at the PGA Tour money list over the past five years, the complaints of shorter player schedules is unwarranted. Tiger Woods, Paddy Harrington, and Ernie Els were the only players among the top 30 on the money list to have fewer than 19 starts on Tour in 2008. Justin Rose was a part of the trio in 2007. For the most part, the best players start 20 or more times on Tour each year. That is a reasonable number of events for a top tier player. If the Tour were to increase the minimum, it would likely backfire into a very predictable balancing act of major championships and co-sanctioned events that would satisfy the requirements of both the PGA and European Tours.

Really, this is the heart of the whole problem for the PGA Tour. There may be many causes — too much money available too far down the money list, way too many limited-field events billed as spectaculars, and a clear-cut second-tier part of the schedule — but the problem is getting players to play more often.

The problem with the problem is how the Tour tries to solve it. It tries to do so by creating these limited field events with big purses and by throwing money at the top tier players through the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The Tour hypothesizes that players are driven solely by money (which isn't a bad assumption per se), and that the best way to compel the best to play more often is give them almost no chance to miss a cut and make a big chunk of change if they have a crappy week. The idea of the guaranteed paycheck is very appealing, but since the Tour does not allow for blatant appearance fees, it tries to do the next best thing.

The Tour's solution creates the subsequent problems that are now being shoved back in their face. Perhaps in lieu of that, the Tour should simply allow appearance fees. The reality is that the PGA Tour is a federation of events that compete with each other. Outside of the four majors, the Players, and the WGCs, each event has to compete with the other for the attention of the players.

Certainly there are characteristics of each event that compel players to get onboard — the course, the locale, the fans, and how much they are kissed up to by the tournament and its sponsors, i.e., ego stroking. The thing is, though, that the Tour's assumption about throwing money at players is a pretty good one. If players have a guaranteed pay day, they tend to show up in droves. Instead of creating events with no cuts and limited fields that really create a narrow focus on players, why not just give them the money up front and unleash them on a full field?

This solves multiple problems. First, it allows for tournaments and their sponsors to dictate how much they want any player in a particular year. Combined with the "one in four"-styled rule, sponsors could compete in a marketplace to lure in players that are looking to round out their schedules. If the John Deere Classic wants Phil Mickelson, then they should bid for him accordingly.

Second, this creates additional playing opportunities for the bottom end of the rank-and-file. While I have very little sympathy for the mid-range players that earn north of $1 million for mediocre play, there are those at the lower end of the priority scale that really struggle to make it on Tour because of the number of limited field events. By creating a marketplace for top tier talent and opening up to more full field events, these guys could have a better chance of competing for their card each year.

It would also eliminate the need for guaranteed pay day events that really exaggerate the glass ceiling between the top tier and the bottom tiers. There is a clear division on Tour between the classes of players and how they are treated among their peers, by fans, and the media. By creating a more equal billing on the course, it will likely pay dividends for the entire Tour. There are a lot of interesting guys on Tour — even if they are brainwashed to be dull on course — and exposing fans and media to these players will grow the pie, so to speak.

So, the solution to the sponsor bind that the Tour faces is pretty easy: (1) institute a "one in four"-styled rule to mandate participation across the schedule and (2) allow for appearance fees to create a real marketplace for superstars. The coupled solution will work out better for sponsors, players, and fans. Certainly, there are side effects to particular tournaments and they will suffer for a time.

Regardless, it is in the best interest of the Tour, though, to create a more level playing field for all tournaments. Then, it would simply be the job of the Tour to forge relationships with sponsors. After that, it could then be the middleman between the players and the tournaments that want most to have the best fields.

If the Tour lets the market decide, then it may be able to flourish in a difficult time.

Posted by Ryan Ballengee at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)

December 30, 2008

NFL Week 17 Power Rankings

Five Quick Hits

* Best announcers this season: Bob Papa, Mike Tirico, Daryl Johnston.

* Worst announcers: Thom Brennaman, Joe Buck, Tony Kornheiser. Brennaman may be the worst play-by-play man in NFL history.

* The debate about whether or not Jerry Jones should keep Wade Phillips misses the point. Jones wants to keep Jason Garrett, but he can't justify promoting him, so he needs to keep Phillips.

* If it were up to me, I'd keep Phillips, but fire the coordinators and clean out the locker room.

* Super Bowl XLIII: New York Giants over Tennessee Titans.

***

Were the 2008 Detroit Lions as bad as the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers? The Lions went 0-16, were outscored 517-268 (an average of 32-17), and lost by double-digits 10 times. They ranked 30th (out of 32) in offense, 27th in scoring, and 32nd in both total defense and points allowed. Their strength of schedule was .559, and they faced seven playoff teams.

The '76 Bucs went 0-14, got outscored 412-125 (an average of 29-9), and lost by double-digits 10 times. They ranked 28th (out of 28) in both offense and scoring, 24th in defense, and 27th in points allowed. Their strength of schedule was .520, and they faced four playoff teams. It's probably unfair to compare this year's Lions to an expansion team, but no, they were not as bad as the Bucs.

Not only are the '08 Lions not the worst team in NFL history, they're not even the worst team in franchise history. The 1942 Lions were 0-11 and got outscored 263-38, losing by an average score of 24-3. Since the AFL merger, the worst team is probably either the '76 Bucs or the 1-15 1991 Colts.

Now, the final power rankings of the 2008 season. Rankings are for right now, end-of-season strength. If you want a summary of the 2008 season, look at the standings. This column is evaluating each team's power at season's end, specifically. Brackets indicate last week's rank. Please check back tomorrow for my all-pro team and end-of-season awards.

1. Baltimore Ravens [2] — I think we can all agree that the Ravens, Steelers, and Titans have the three best defenses in the NFL. Out of that group, Baltimore has the best offense. They have more yards and more points, and they've been steadily improving. The Ravens led the entire NFL in time of possession and tied with Tennessee for best point differential (+141). Their only loss in the last six weeks was that controversial "irrefutable visual evidence" defeat against the Steelers. No one is playing better right now.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers [3] — Obviously, everyone hopes Ben Roethlisberger's injury this week won't affect him in the future. But is it just me who thinks that Big Ben's backups routinely outplay him? In the three games Roethlisberger has been knocked out of, Byron Leftwich has performed better than Ben did. Roethlisberger generally has not played well coming back from injuries, which would concern me if I were a Steeler fan. There will be no gimmies in this postseason, and they'll need a QB who's 100%.

3. Tennessee Titans [1] — Fine, they weren't really trying in Week 17. Neither were the Colts, and you should never lose 23-0. In the battle between Jim Sorgi and Vince Young, Sorgi dominated. The Titans showed absolutely nothing on offense, they have no momentum going into the playoffs, and they may be rusty after three weeks between real games. I understand resting guys who are banged up, but I don't like the way Tennessee closed out its season.

4. Indianapolis Colts [4] — Nine-game winning streak following the meaningless victory against Tennessee, but they drew a tough first-round playoff game at San Diego. A decent argument could be made that these are the two hottest teams in the NFL. It's the hardest wild card game to call, but I lean toward the Colts. I think they'll win in either a blowout or, more likely, a big comeback; I don't see Indianapolis winning in any sort of conventional manner. This is a really dangerous matchup for the Colts.

5. New York Giants [5] — They weren't going 100% in Week 17, but it's still disconcerting that they've lost three of their last four games. If they don't have all the key guys healthy for the playoffs — minus Plaxico Burress, obviously — I don't think they can repeat.

6. Atlanta Falcons [6] — Is this the best wild card class in playoff history? The wild cards have a combined record of 43-20-1 (compared to 38-26 for the division winners they'll face in the first round), and the road team is favored in every first-round matchup. All four are probably better than their records suggest. This year's wild cards all started out 2-2, then got hot at the end of the season, finishing a combined 17-3 in the last month. The sixth seeds, Baltimore and Philadelphia, may be the most dangerous teams in their respective conferences. I've never done this before, but I'm picking all four road teams — including Atlanta — in the wild card round.

7. Carolina Panthers [8] — It's hard to see them losing in Charlotte, where the Panthers were 8-0 this year. The worries are: Jake Delhomme, who has played well recently, but is prone to occasional very bad games; a suddenly porous defense, which has allowed more than 30 points in four of the last six weeks; and Giants Stadium, the only place Carolina might have a road game before the Super Bowl. The Panthers went 0-4 on the road against teams with winning records, losing to the Vikings, Buccaneers, Falcons, and Giants.

8. New England Patriots [9] — One of the best teams to miss the playoffs in recent memory. New England went 11-5 and finishing among the top 10 in yards gained, yards allowed, points for, and points against. The Patriots were 6-2 in the second half of the season, winning the last four games in a row. They're probably a better team than Miami, but the Dolphins earned their way in.

9. Philadelphia Eagles [11] — Five teams outscored their opponents by at least 100 points this season: Baltimore and Tennessee (+141), the Giants (+133), Philadelphia (+127), and Pittsburgh (+124). That's pretty elite company. The Eagles played a tough schedule (.514), beating the Giants, Steelers, Falcons, Cowboys, and Cardinals. This team is better than its record suggests, and is a serious threat to everyone in the NFC playoffs.

10. Minnesota Vikings [10] — Intriguing first-round matchup next Sunday, when the student hosts the mentor. Minnesota head coach Brad Childress was an assistant to Philadelphia HC Andy Reid for seven years, including four seasons as his offensive coordinator immediately before getting hired in Minnesota. I think the Vikings are a dangerous team, and I'm not sold on the Eagles' consistency, but I'll take Philadelphia in a close one. Either way, look for special teams to play an important role.

11. San Diego Chargers [14] — Became the first team in history to qualify for the playoffs after starting 4-8. They were eliminated by the Patriots in the last two postseasons, but this year, their Achilles' heel is pass defense, not the Pats. San Diego is a good team with lots of momentum, but you have to think that defense is going to be a problem in the postseason.

12. Miami Dolphins [12] — It's hard not to be happy for Chad Pennington, who just months after being cut by the Jets, returned to the Meadowlands to clinch a playoff spot for a division rival. The Dolphins have won five in a row, but I think that streak will end when they face Baltimore on Sunday. Ravens by double-digits.

13. Dallas Cowboys [7] — They went 5-5 this year when Terrell Owens had more than three receptions. When he was held to three or fewer, they went 4-2. Owens averaged 4.1 receptions in the Cowboys' wins, but 4.6 receptions in their losses. They also went 2-4 when Owens had a rushing attempt. Basically, the more involved Owens was, the less often Dallas won. This doesn't necessarily mean that Owens' involvement caused his team to lose — maybe they just passed more when they were losing — but it's interesting.

14. Houston Texans [17] — Clearly, the offense is in place. Now it's time to get Mario Williams some help. A play-making strong safety or a dynamic outside linebacker would be a good start. A complementary pass rusher could probably get 10 sacks with opponents focusing on Williams.

15. Chicago Bears [13] — We think of the Bears as a strong defensive team. This year, Chicago ranked 16th in points allowed, 21st in yards allowed, and 30th in pass defense. Last year, the team ranked 16th in points allowed, 28th in yards allowed, and 27th in pass defense. This has become an average defense with a noticeable weakness.

16. New Orleans Saints [16] — Drew Brees finished with 5,069 passing yards. One day in the not-too-distant future, someone will break Dan Marino's single-season record of 5,084. Unlike Marino, that person will not play for a 14-2 team. I suspect their record will be closer to the Saints' 8-8.

17. Arizona Cardinals [19] — I've been somewhat of a believer all season, but I don't see Arizona winning in the playoffs. The Cardinals are 3-7 outside the NFC West, and the last time they beat a team with a winning record was almost three months ago, in Week 6 against Dallas. The Falcons haven't been great on the road, but I think they'll win on Saturday.

18. San Francisco 49ers [20] — Won four of their last five under new head coach Mike Singletary, who begins his head coaching career 5-4. Singletary is the first new head coach since my updated coaching tree, and he's a Buddy Ryan guy, joining Jeff Fisher (TEN) and possibly Jim Schwartz or Rex Ryan, both of whom are hot prospects this year. Singletary also has ties to Mike Nolan, Mike Ditka, and Brian Billick.

19. New York Jets [18] — Surprised many fans by firing Eric Mangini, who had two winning seasons in three years. Brett Favre was 38 when he joined the Jets this year. He began the season by throwing for 12 TDs and 4 INT, with a passer rating of 110.8. After his 39th birthday, Favre passed for 10 TDs and 18 INT, with a rating of 71.8. This was the second time in the last four years that Favre led the NFL in interceptions. He was a great player, but he's human. Favre should have retired as a Packer, and I hope he'll have the sense to hang them up now without further diminishing his legacy.

20. Oakland Raiders [28] — Two straight wins — against decent teams! — to finish 2008, and maybe keep Tom Cable in place as head coach next season. JaMarcus Russell seemed to make progress this season, and second-year WR/PR Johnnie Lee Higgins was a bright spot down the stretch. Offseason priorities have got to be the offensive and defensive lines.

21. Cincinnati Bengals [27] — Closed the season with three straight wins. Now they should build on that momentum by getting rid of Sideshow Chad. The Bengals scored a league-low 204 points this year, so it's not like they can realistically get any worse by unloading Johnson. And if you believe that team chemistry matters even a tiny little bit, there's no way you want this guy on your roster.

22. Tampa Bay Buccaneers [15] — The injury to Cadillac Williams reportedly is not as serious as it looked, but you just don't get a good feeling about this guy's future in the NFL.

23. Buffalo Bills [21] — The wind was so strong it tilted the goalposts. Kicking and passing were almost impossible. In the first half, neither team even attempted a pass going against the wind: Buffalo had no pass attempts in the first quarter, and New England had none in the second quarter. The wind eased up somewhat later in the game, but it was fascinating to watch.

24. Denver Broncos [22] — One of four teams to choke away the playoffs. Denver lost its last three games; a win in any of them would have clinched the AFC West. Tampa Bay lost its last four games; a win in any of them would have earned a wild card. The Jets lost four of their last five. The slide that has gotten the most publicity, the Cowboys' 1-3 finish, is actually the least damning. The finale against Philadelphia was horrible, but Dallas played its last four games against teams with a combined record of 44-19-1, an average of more than 11 wins by each opponent.

25. Jacksonville Jaguars [23] — Lost six of their last seven games, including 0-4 after the injury to Rashean Mathis. The Jags were 3-3 at the bye, but now they have a top-10 draft pick next April. They would be wise to use it on an offensive or defensive lineman. David Garrard and Maurice Jones-Drew can play, but the base needs to be there first.

26. Washington Redskins [24] — The defense is unspectacular, but very solid. The offense is dreadful. The 0-16 Lions scored more points this season than Washington did. Some of this is coaching, and some of it is the players, but all of it is Daniel Snyder's fault. This will never be a consistently good team while Snyder and his personal yes-man, the contemptible Vinny Cerrato, are in charge of the team. Hire a real GM, wiz kid.

27. Seattle Seahawks [25] — Mike Holmgren has (at least temporarily) retired. He may be back in the future, but it certainly sounds as though he's serious about a year off in 2009. Holmgren is part of a contemporary group of borderline-Hall of Fame head coaches, also including Bill Cowher, Tony Dungy, and Mike Shanahan. Right now, I have Dungy in, Cowher a toss-up, and Holmgren and Shanahan out. Holmgren is not among the all-time top 10 in wins or the all-time top 20 in winning percentage, and his teams have frequently choked in big games. It will be interesting to see how the Seahawks do without him next year. I may not think Holmgren is a Hall of Famer, but he's ahead of Little Mora.

28. Green Bay Packers [26] — Only team with a losing record (6-10) that outscored its opponents (+39). Also, and this is strange, the only 6-10 team in the league this year. In 2007, no one was 6-10, but in the 20 years before that, there were an average of three 6-10 teams per year, with as many as six in one season (1990), and never fewer than two. Before these past two years, the last time there weren't at least two teams at 6-10 was the 1987 strike year.

29. Kansas City Chiefs [29] — A team that was explicitly rebuilding this year. I don't think giving Herm Edwards one more year to bring it all together would be the worst thing in the world, but I don't think firing him and bringing in someone new would be the worst thing, either.

30. Cleveland Browns [30] — When I was growing up, I had a coach who was fond of saying, "You can't win if you don't score." The Browns don't score.

31. St. Louis Rams [31] — In all the fuss over 0-16, we've largely ignored the historic badness of the Rams. Since the NFL expanded to 32 teams, only three teams have been outscored by 200 points in a season: the 2003 Cardinals, the 2008 Lions, and the '08 Rams. Furthermore, only three teams have 10-game losing streaks during that time: the 2007 Dolphins, plus this year's Lions and Rams. A compelling argument can be made that the '08 Rams are the second-worst team since realignment.

32. Detroit Lions [32] — Every year, fans try to draw meaningful conclusions from preseason games. The Lions went 4-0 this preseason.

Posted by Brad Oremland at 11:31 AM | Comments (1)

College Tennis' Importance Overlooked

Having been involved in college tennis for over half of my life, I have always come across players who have opted to skip this valuable step in their careers. They make the jump straight into the professional circuit, only to have reality slap them in the face, to have the rigorous and the lonely schedule of the pro-circuit take the fun away, and to face the prospect of several depressing losses early in their career, when they were told just a year ago "how successful they would be as a pro."

Sure, we can mention some rare names of those who have made it, such as Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick. However, there is no need to create an illusion with these examples: for every Roddick or Agassi, there are hundreds who suffer a moral and a financial letdown, not to mention a big hole in their ego.

Then why do we still see so many Americans take this road? The reasons for such a decision stem from a variety of factors. Sometimes they are great performers in the junior circuits, they become highly ranked, and as a result of this early success, everyone around them begins a tedious process of making the decisions for them, replacing their hopes and visions for the player with unrealistic future images of a top-10 ATP or WTA player, with financial success followed by glamour, five-star hotels, and plenty of TV appearances as the sideshow.

The parents, brainwashed by sponsors or coaches who are out for their interests, begin to believe what they hear, since what they hear happens to be exactly what they want to hear and believe. Short-term driven emotions or greedy instincts overwhelm the long-term drive and steady sounds of reason. The decision is made, the kid skips the constructive potential of a college tennis experience, and he steps from a schedule of tournaments composed of finals and trophies into a tough, demanding schedule in which losses outnumber wins. This sinking feeling sometimes lasts only a few months, the player is talented enough to pull himself/herself through the tough losses and begins to improve his results, gaining confidence every week. However, let this be clear: this optimistic outcome remains largely in the minority.

In most cases, here is what happens; couple of years later, the kid has suffered blows left and right, having lost many tournaments in the early rounds. He/she has lost confidence in his/her ability. Most of the individuals, who praised him/her couple of years earlier have either disappeared or moved on to other prospects (or should we say "victims?"). The only ones still standing by him/her are probably family who may have invested their savings into the unrealistic image portrayed by "interested parties" when the kid was winning tournaments as a junior. Hence, not having had a chance to mature, the kid is still a kid surrounded by people who are now bitter towards someone, in some cases that someone being the kid himself/herself.

Here is my advice: no matter how great you are in juniors, unless you become a top-100 player in the world before your senior year in high school, opt to play college tennis!

First of all, let's talk about the biggest value of college tennis, one that is unfortunately hardly stated explicitly to juniors and their parents. College tennis is a fantastic step between the juniors and the pros. The level of tennis is better than juniors, but not as good as the pros. Therefore, it provides a more realistic value of your talent as a player, and a more accurate idea of whether you can be successful in the pros. Most college coaches will tell you that a top-10 college player is better prepared to be successful in the pros, in terms of talent and mental toughness, than a junior top-10 player. In college, you play physically stronger players, more experienced players, and a variety of playing styles originating from players of various countries. And if college tennis, where arguments on line calls breakout more often than any other platform, does not make you mentally tough, nothing else will.

I have seen many top junior players come and go in college tennis, and not even break the top-20. That is a good sign that the player should stay in college and get a degree with the benefit of a scholarship, look back many years later and be thankful that as a top player, he/she did not get bullied into turning professional and lose the chance to play college tennis and receive a valuable scholarship for an education. Remember that once you turn pro, there is no going back. I do not have any data to back my position, but I would be willing to bet that more top-10 college players survive the professional tour than top-10 junior players.

Why not try college tennis for a year or two, and get a realistic opinion of your potential as a pro? You will be more mature, have the college experience, and still be able to progress your tennis career. Then make a healthy decision while you still have an option for an education or a professional tennis career.

Last, but not the least, college ranks happen to provide a great service for free that you would have to pay dearly as a professional: high-quality coaching. There are wonderful coaches in college tennis, many as qualified or more than those in the professional world. You can find many ex-professionals in college coaching, just as well as numerous ex-professional coaches. These coaches prefer to settle into an area to coach college tennis, not because they are not good enough to keep coaching at the highest level, but rather because they choose not to endure the grueling lifestyle of a traveling coach. As a college player, you get their services for free, the training equipment for free, the fitness instructors for free, and the facilities and equipment for free. It is not just academic education that you are getting, but also the athletic education of the highest quality possible.

Although I have pointed the discussion to American juniors, the same rules also apply to international players. In fact, foreign players seem to have discovered the value of college tennis very well, as one can find just as many foreign names in college rankings as American players. As mentioned earlier, this is precisely one of the factors that make college tennis so valuable.

Parents and players need to listen to the voice of reason and put long-term goals ahead of spontaneous decisions based on emotional needs or unrealistic dreams. The future of a 16-year-old player must not be based on hopes and dreams alone. This is not to say that you should be like Spock and act on logic and reason alone. But place your dreams and hopes where they belong; encouraging spectators of calculated reasoning of long-term goals.

Happy 2009, everyone!

Posted by Mert Ertunga at 11:01 AM | Comments (3)

December 29, 2008

In the Rotation: NBA Week 9

In the NBA world, a year runs from October to June, with a conspicuous three and a half month gap between the last day of the year and the first day of the year.

In the real world, this conspicuous gap is called "summer" and the year ends promptly at midnight on the 31st of December. As is the custom this time of year, people tend to reflect back on the year that was.

Even though I find myself living in the basketball world more and more with each passing day and my New Year's Eve is still six months away on a yet-to-be determined day, I'm not one to break custom.

We take a break from the usual rotation today to focus solely on the starting five as we take a look back at five of the most memorable and significant moments of 2008 in the NBA.

Starting Five

1. Boston Celtics win 17th NBA title

Every NBA season leads up to one thing: the NBA Finals. Thirty teams all compete for the same prize, but in the end, only one team per year has what it takes to be an NBA champion. Therefore, it wouldn't make any sense to start anywhere but the top when taking a look back at the year 2008.

The Boston Celtics not only completed the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history in Game 4, rallying from down 24 points in the second half to hang on to a 97-91 victory, but also clinched with a most impressive 39-point blowout victory over the Lakers to ensure their first NBA title in over 20 years.

Aside from winning the NBA title, a feat that alone would put the Celtics as the best of 2008, Boston went on to do even more remarkable things as the year went one. They answered any questions of a potential championship hangover by setting a franchise record with 19 consecutive wins in November and December, leading to a remarkable 85 wins in the calendar year.

At a glance, here is what the Boston Celtics added to their legendary resume in 2008: an NBA title, Eastern Conference champs, Atlantic Division champs, Defensive player of the Year, three all-stars, a First Team All-NBA player, a Third Team All-NBA player, a First Team All-Defense player, Executive of the Year, the second most wins in franchise history, the best start in franchise history, the most consecutive wins in franchise history.

All of those things and more led to 2008 easily being the Year of the Celtic.

2. All eight playoff teams in the Western Conference win 50 games.

For the first time in the history of the NBA, all of the playoff teams in the same conference finished with at least 50 wins.

Not only did having eight 50-win teams in the same conference lead to the deepest and most evenly matched first round of the playoffs in recent memory, but it also made for one of the most entertaining regular season stretch runs ever.

For a solid two- or three-week span in late-March of this year, the NBA could have drawn the Western Conference standings out of a hat each morning and no one would have been able to tell the difference.

A win or a loss on any given night could mean the difference between being in position to host a playoff series and being in position to take part in the lottery. Things were that jumbled up in the West.

It wasn't just that all eight playoff teams were separated by a matter of a couple of games that made the race so exciting, it's that each team was playing at such a high level that we were treated to such elevated intensity that it was like getting an extra month of playoff basketball.

Rarely, if ever, do NBA seasons get remembered for what happened during the regular season. Legends are made and dynasties are cemented during the playoffs, but 2008 gave us something extra: a memorable regular season.

3. Hall of Famers on the move

2008 will be remembered as a year in which more teams tried desperately to improve their teams through trade than usual, maybe more so than any other year to date. It wasn't necessarily the amount of trades but the players involved that made the trades in 2008 so noteworthy.

Surefire first ballot Hall of Famers Allen Iverson, Shaquille O'Neal, and Jason Kidd were all dealt in 2008. And it wasn't just all-time greats on the move, either.

All-stars Chauncey Billups, Pau Gasol, Shawn Marion, Jermaine O'Neal, Marcus Camby, and Devin Harris (soon to be an all-star, anyway) all changed addresses in 2008.

Since the three teams that traded for the surefire Hall of Famers (Detroit, Phoenix, and Dallas) have had less than remarkable runs since acquiring their new stars, teams may be less inclined to trade for a megastar in the hopes for a quick fix, meaning that 2008 may be the last time we see so many great players all traded in the same year.

4. Dwight Howard becomes Superman

Say what you will about the dunk contest, but it's still the most entertaining all-star skills competition in all of sports. Baseball's Home Run Derby is too long and too repetitive, everything that happens in football's Pro Bowl week is an afterthought, and since no one in their right mind watches hockey, I couldn't begin to tell you whether or not they even have an all-star weekend.

You could argue that the dunk contest had lost its luster a few years back when it got gimmicky (anyone remember the wheel? Or even worse, when they invited Birdman?), but I dare you to find one person who watched this live and their jaw didn't hit the floor.

Dwight Howard's Superman dunk goes down as the number one highlight of 2008, proving once again that the NBA's All-Star Saturday still packs the same punch that it did nearly 20 years ago when Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins were stealing the show in their own infamous dunk contest.

5. Team USA captures Gold

Okay, so it's not technically an NBA occurrence, but it might be the most significant basketball moment of 2008, so it makes the list.

The United States reclaimed its throne atop the basketball world when the "Redeem Team" defeated all comers en route to the Unites States first gold medal in basketball in eight years.

Team USA capped off it's amazing run with a once in a lifetime, you-had-to-see-it-to-appreciate-it Gold Medal matchup against Spain that featured quite possibly the best half of basketball I've ever seen from one player (Dwyane Wade's first half) and the best player in the world completely taking over the game in the final quarter (Kobe Bryant's 13 in the fourth sealed the victory for the red, white, and blue).

Any time you put the best players in the world together on one team, you expect to see greatness. What you don't expect to see is great chemistry, a commitment to defense, and all around team basketball. Those things are what made the 2008 men's Olympic Basketball team so special, and why the Redeem Team easily ranks as one of the five most significant occurrences of 2008.

Thus completes our look back at the year that was 2008.

Next week, we'll get back to the rotation as usual and start looking ahead to the conclusion of the 2009 season as we embark on a new year that, we can only hope, will be as jam-packed with basketball action as 2008.

Be sure to check back at Sports Central every Monday to see who cracks Scott Shepherd's rotation as he breaks down what is going on around the NBA.

Posted by Scott Shepherd at 1:34 PM | Comments (0)

December 26, 2008

NFL Weekly Predictions: Week 17

Note: the quotes in this article are fictional.

St. Louis @ Atlanta (-15)

The Falcons clinched a playoff spot last week, shocking the Vikings in Minnesota, 24-17. Memories of Michael Vick in a jump suit and Bobby Petrino slinking like a coward out of town have been replaced by thoughts of playoff glory. Atlanta can still win the NFC South with a win and a Carolina loss at New Orleans.

"It's comforting to know that we have a spot in the playoffs clinched," says Matt Ryan. "Nothing can be more distressing than realizing your destiny lies in the hands of another team, or a 12-person jury."

The Rams held a late 16-3 lead to the 49ers before giving up 14 fourth-quarter points to lose, 17-16. Adding to that embarrassment was the fate of St. Louis running back Kenneth Darby, who was knocked down by umpire Garth DeFelice with a forearm shiver as Darby rushed up the middle of the field.

"Hey, that just goes to show that it's not only the coaches that can 'bring down' a Ram," says Jim Haslett. "But don't knock Darby. He's still tougher to tackle than Steven Jackson, who was knocked out of the game by a first-down marker."

At season's end, the Rams will begin the search for a head coach, which will include Haslett. NFL Network personality and former Rams running back Marshall Faulk has expressed interest in the job, which has left many saying the same thing they say when they hear some of Faulk's football analysis: "Are you serious?" Atlanta wins, 38-10.

Jacksonville @ Baltimore (-11½)

With a big 33-24 win in Dallas, the Ravens kept their playoff hopes in their hands, and now need only to beat the Jaguars in Baltimore to lock up the No. 6 playoff seed and a first-round date with the AFC East champion.

"Hey, we hated to ruin the final game at Texas Stadium," says Ray Lewis. "But don't blame us. Somebody had to leave that place with fond memories. But Dallas fans can watch the demolition of Texas Stadium with pride, and hopefully memories of Tony Romo bouncing off the Stadium turf will be erased by the sight of rubble from the demolition doing the same."

"And what better way to say goodbye to the old home of the 'Ring of Honor' than with the news that the nephew of one of its members, Tony Dorsett, had to say goodbye to a ring of his own, a cocaine ring, when the feds broke up the operation headed by Anthony Dorsett in Pennsylvania. In related news, former Cowboy Michael Irvin, known for his ability to get separation from opposing corners, is having loads of trouble reaching 'six degrees' of separation from Anthony Dorsett."

Is there any doubt that the Ravens will win this game? The Ravens will take control early, and by game's end, another member or two of the Jaguars' organization will have announced his retirement. Baltimore wins, 30-9.

New England @ Buffalo (+6)

It could be an all-or-nothing situation for the Patriots. The Patriots need a win in Buffalo and a Miami loss to the Jets to win the AFC East crown. A win itself, coupled with a Baltimore win over Jacksonville, would get New England nothing, except the honor of being only the second 11-5 team to miss the playoffs.

"It's incredibly rare for an 11-5 team to miss the playoffs," says Randy Moss, "just as it is extremely rare for an 11-5 team in the AFC or NFC West to make the playoffs."

"But we fully intend to take care of business in Buffalo, and we expect the Jets to handle their end and beat the Dolphins. What's the greater danger in Buffalo? Losing to the Bills, or suffering the effects of exposure to bone-chilling cold? And speaking of 'exposure,' if things go our way, I'm gonna celebrate in our locker room like old-school Patriot Zeke Mowatt and whip out the Patriot 'mistletoe.'"

New England wins, 23-14, then Bill Belichick settles in to watch live something he's accustomed to watching on tape — a Jets game.

Kansas City @ Cincinnati (-3)

Little will be decided in Sunday's Chiefs-Bengals clash in Cincinnati, save for positioning in next year's NFL draft. The Chiefs are 2-13 and last in the AFC West, while the 3-11-1 Bengals bring up the rear in the AFC North.

"Hey, it's almost an every day occurrence when someone brings up the 'rear,'" says Herman Edwards. "And that usually involves talk of my 'ass' being fired. But, using a statement that's quickly becoming as common as 'You play to win the game,' I'm going to reiterate that 'I expect to be here next year.' If not in person, then in spirit."

Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis is much in the same boat as Edwards, unsure about his future with the team. Like Edwards, Lewis has had to endure injuries at quarterback; Carson Palmer has missed most of the season with an elbow injury, and the Bengals' passing attack has suffered. In last week's 14-0 win over Cleveland, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick passed for only 55 yards.

"It's been a long time since Cincinnati won with defense," says Lewis, "on the field or in the courtroom. And we have way too much talent at wide receiver to only have 55 yards passing. But our rushing game is clicking. I met with our wide receivers corps and told them to be ready for the 'end-around' play. Ironically, ownership met with me and informed me to expect an 'end-around' play of my own. That is, my job will 'end around' sometime in early January."

Chiefs win, 20-17.

Detroit @ Green Bay (-8)

Temperatures will likely be in the single digits when the Packers host the 0-15 Lions, who hope to avoid becoming the first team to go 0-16. The Lions' last bid at home for a win ended with a 42-7 loss to the Saints. Now the task is tougher as Detroit takes to Lambeau Field's historic turf, where the 5-10 Packers hope to close the season with a win.

"Hey, we've been dying for single digits all year," says Rod Marinelli. "In the win column. It would really put a positive end of a dark season if we could leave Green Bay with a victory. Our season highlights DVD is nearly finished; all it needs is a win, and a soundtrack. We've narrowed the soundtrack music down to two options: the 'Tequila" song, also known as Pee Wee Herman's theme music, and the Three Stooges theme.

As for Detroit journalist Rob Parker's insinuation that I hired defensive coordinator Joe Barry because he's married to my daughter, well, it's all been a little overblown. Is it that uncommon to have a 'defensive coordinator-in-law,' or have I been around football a little too long? Lions' management would quickly answer yes to the last half of that statement. Anyway, Marinelli family tradition requires that the woman in a marriage offer her soon-to-be husband a dowry. Joe's just happened to be the coordinator's job. He also got three head of cow, a sheep, and three chickens."

Packers win, 30-10.

Chicago @ Houston (+1½)

The Bears remained alive in the playoff race with a dramatic 20-17 overtime win over Green Bay last Monday. Robbie Gould kicked the game-winner after Chicago blocked Mason Crosby's 38-yard field goal with 25 seconds left in regulation. The Bears can win the NFC North with a win and a Minnesota loss, or they could snatch a wild card berth with a win and losses by both the Cowboys and Buccaneers.

"What price does Lawrence Taylor command on the motivational speaking circuit?" says Lovie Smith. "And in what currency does he require payment — dollars or grams? Because we need L.T. to give the Giants his 'crazed dogs' speech to spur them to play for the win."

What do the Texans have to play for, besides the unmitigated glory that comes with knocking the Bears out of the playoff hunt?

"Hey, we don't get any satisfaction from knocking another team out of the playoffs," says Gary Kubiak. "But it will be a new experience to win and eliminate another team from the playoffs, as opposed to winning and eliminating ourselves from the playoffs, as was the case in Week 14 when we beat the Packers, 24-21. That's what happens when you start the year 0-4."

"We're just looking to finish the year at 8-8. They've got a name for that here in Houston — it's called 'plateauing.'"

Texans win, 24-20.

Tennessee @ Indianapolis (+3)

Last week, the Titans locked up the AFC's top seed, while the Colts clinched the first wildcard spot, so Sunday's game at Lucas Oil Stadium has little to offer in the area of "implications." But the two AFC South rivals do have something to play for. With a win, the Titans would secure the NFL's best record and a season sweep of the Colts. Should the Colts emerge victorious, they would have a nine-game winning streak entering the playoffs, and their 12-4 finish would match their record from their 2006 Super Bowl-winning year.

"We've got a 'Y' by our name in the standings," says Peyton Manning, "and a 'U' on our helmets. I just hope we can find a 'D' by the time the playoffs start."

"As for Sunday's game, it means nothing to either team. And, since we'll face the Titans in the divisional round should we win our first-round playoff game, I think both teams will be reluctant to 'tip their hands' before necessary. I imagine we, as well as the Titans, will rest quite a few starters. Heck, our offensive coordinator Tom Moore might even give his reading glasses the day off. So, in the end, you could have Jim Sorgi battling Vince Young. It's been a while since our defense has seen a quarterback with Young's mobility. He's got uncanny running ability, as well as surprising 'running-away' skills."

The Titans went all out last week in manhandling the Steelers and cleaning their cleats with Terrible Towels. They deserve a rest. So fans in Indy's Lucas Oil Stadium where the sign outside reads 'Season's Greasings' expecting to see a full effort by the AFC's top team will be disappointed. That means that Tennessee's dynamic rushing duo of LenDale White and Chris Johnson, aka 'Fatboy Slim,' will see at most probably a half of action. Tennessee wins, 23-17.

NY Giants @ Minnesota (-6½)

The Giants outd-ueled the Panthers 34-28 in overtime last week to clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and in doing so, silenced those who believed New York's grasp as the NFC favorite was slipping. The Giants rushed for 301 yards against the Panthers, with Brandon Jacobs two-yard run in the extra period winning it.

"It's 'reigning' G-Men," says Tom Coughlin. "Hallelujah! It's reigning G-Men! However, for Plaxico Burress, 'it's wrecking Benz.' The idiot wrecked his Mercedes-Benz in May, three days after his insurance lapsed. Apparently, Plaxico rear-ended a woman after accidentally 'gunning' the engine."

The Vikings lost at home to Atlanta, making Sunday's game in the Metrodome a must-win situation. With a win, the Vikes take the NFC North crown; a loss, and a Bears win, and Chicago wins the North, leaving Minnesota home for the playoffs.

"The last thing this team needs," says Brad Childress, "is a most-extreme elimination. The Vikes have written the book on Week 17 collapses that have cost them a trip to the playoffs. And that book is not nearly as good a read as Kevin Williams' diary from the 2005 sex boat cruise. Not surprisingly, his diary is segmented into 'acts,' and there are quite a few, too many, and too explicit, to mention."

Vikings win, 27-24.

Carolina @ New Orleans (+3)

The 11-4 Panthers lead the NFC South by one game, but have yet to clinch the division crown. To do that, they'll need a win or New Orleans, or an Atlanta loss to the Rams. With a loss and a Falcons win, Carolina would fall to the No. 5 seed, and would have to travel to Arizona for a first-round game. So the stakes are high for Sunday's game.

"It was just a few years ago that the Saints beat us in Week 17 to knock us from the playoffs," says Steve Smith. "And we haven't forgotten what those 'mo feaux's' did to us."

"We really want the bye, but if the worst-case scenario is a first-round game in Arizona, then who can really complain?"

Although the Saints are out of the playoff hunt, they would like nothing more than to spoil the Panthers' hopes of a divisional title, strictly for selfish reasons. And, strictly for selfish reasons, Drew Brees would like to break Dan Marino's record of 5,084 passing yards in a season. Brees needs 402 yards to pass Marino.

"I like my chances," says Brees, "about as much as I like our chances to fall behind by two quick touchdowns, which will, in turn, necessitate the need to pass on every down. That way, I can try my darnedest to break Marino's record, while making it look like I'm not trying to break it. It's too bad Brett Favre doesn't play defensive back for the Panthers."

Carolina wins, 30-24.

Miami @ NY Jets (-2½)

Had the Jets won in Seattle last week, Sunday's Dolphins/Jets contest would have been for the AFC East championship. However, with the Jets 13-3 loss to the Seahawks, New York needs a win as well as a New England loss in Buffalo to claim the crown. Miami wins the East with a win over the Jets, regardless of the outcome of the Patriots/Bills game.

"This will be a historic game," says Brett Favre. "Playoff implications aside, this could be my last game, or it could be my 16th-to-last game. Obviously, we've lost some of the magic that powered us to our 34-13 win over the Titans earlier this year. Since then, we've lost three of four games. This last loss was hard to stomach, and was particularly frustrating for Shaun Ellis, who decided to retaliate when he was pelted with snowballs by Seattle fans. That's not a smart thing to do, and it only enhances Shaun's status as the 'second-worst decision-maker' on this team. As you may know, he was charged with marijuana possession earlier this year. And, just recently, he was caught with something much worse than marijuana in his car — a James Blunt CD."

For Favre's Miami counterpart Chad Pennington, a Miami win would give him a measure of revenge against the Jets, who released him upon signing Favre.

"Hey, the Jets were just doing what they though they needed to do to win," says Pennington. "They just tried a little too hard, which is exactly what Favre does. But I'm not one to seek revenge, or badmouth a former team, or taunt an opponent. That's why we have Joey Porter. I'm the quiet, soft-spoken leader on this team. So, together, you could call Joey and I 'Woofer and Tweeter.'"

The idea of momentum would certainly lend itself to a Miami win, but one would think the Jets, in such a time of need, could find the motivation to play like they did when they dominated the Titans. But who knows? Tony Sparano may have a few surprises up his sleeve, as could Eric Mangini. Let's just hope the action stays on the field, and neither Sparano nor Mangini wakes up beside a horse's head. The best surprise the Jets could hope for is a Buffalo win over New England in one of the early games. New York wins, 24-23.

Dallas @ Philadelphia (-1)

With losses last week, both the Cowboys and Eagles damaged their playoff hopes, losing games they were favored to win. Now, Dallas must win in Philly to secure a playoff berth, while the Eagles need a win and lots of help.

"The playoffs are like the end zone against the Redskins last week," says Donovan McNabb. "We can't get in. But that's not to say we won't try. I'm not even sure what needs to happen for us to qualify for the playoffs, but the league has assured me they have documentation that it is indeed possible."

As this year has shown, the Cowboys' season has been laden with drama, usually involving the actions of Terrell Owens, Tony Romo, and Jason Witten, or the loose tongue of owner Jerry Jones, or the ongoing discussion regarding Wade Phillips' future/dismissal as head coach. It's been tiresome, but for the latest bit of drama, let's thank the Cowboys. Without their constant choking, the NFC playoff slate would already be set. Thanks to the Cowboys, the drama of finalizing the playoff seeds will continue to well after 7:00 PM this Sunday.

"Hey, we're always happy to oblige," says Romo. "That's what I always tell Terrell Owens when he complains about not getting enough action, although I throw more balls his way than all my other receivers combined. When I acquiesce to T.O.'s demands, I liken it to our route of reaching the playoffs — the coward's way."

Philadelphia wins, 27-24.

Cleveland @ Pittsburgh (-14)

Due to last Sunday's 31-14 loss in Tennessee, the Steelers lost their chance for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. However, Pittsburgh has a first-round bye, and, should playoffs seeding hold form, will again travel to Nashville in late January, with the AFC championship on the line.

"If that happens," says Mike Tomlin, "let's hope Ben Roethlisberger leaves his six turnovers at home this time. You just can't hand the opposition that many turnovers. And I mean that literally. Ben was actually giving the Titans the ball. I do believe I saw a 'Please take one' sign affixed to his jersey. As our win in Baltimore and our loss in Tennessee have shown, we're going to live or die with Ben's scrambling ability."

"As for LenDale White and Keith Bullock stomping on a 'Terrible Towel,' I can't fault them for doing so. It certainly wasn't because they were unpleased with the Towel's absorption ability that day, because it sucked. But mark my words. That incident will be bulletin board material if and when we face the Titans again. But do we really need extra motivation after a 31-14 spanking?"

In Cleveland, a horrible season for the Browns continues to get worse. The Browns were shut out 14-0 last week by the Bengals, and now have gone five games without an offensive touchdown. Romeo Crenel's future is an ongoing subject, and now the team has been rocked by rumors that defensive end Shaun Smith punched injured quarterback Brady Quinn in a weight room incident.

"What's the deal with guys named 'Smith' punching teammates this year?" says Crenel. "Anyway, outsiders have been questioning the manhood of our quarterbacks all year; now, teammates are doing it. And Brady gets pretty defensive about it, probably more 'defensive' than our defense gets about anything. But simple visual inspections, as well as laboratory testing, have proven that our quarterbacks are indeed men. But I guess Smith took it a little too far when he called Brady a 'Notre Dame.'"

Pittsburgh wins, 27-0.

Oakland @ Tampa Bay (-13½)

The Buccaneers lost their third straight game last Sunday, dropping a 41-24 decision to the Chargers, and in doing so, lost control of their own destiny, which is really a mess to clean up. To squeeze into the playoffs as the NFC's No. 6 seed, the Bucs need a win over the Raiders and a Dallas loss to Philadelphia.

"It's simple for us," says Jon Gruden. "This team needs to get 'Buc-wild. Of course, nothing would be more heartbreaking than to win, and see the Cowboys win, as well. That would leave us 'Buc-wild 'n Out.'"

"We really need our defense to step up and play a game like they're capable of, and not play a game like their defensive coordinator is leaving at year's end. Shoot, I didn't realize when Monte Kiffin agreed to join his son in Tennessee that he'd stop coaching. He needs to show me some defense or my foot's gonna agree to join his rear end."

"Anyway, I know the Raiders' offense like the back of my hand, which, incidentally, is the space on which you'd need to write all the plays JaMarcus Russell has memorized."

Tampa wins, 24-9.

Seattle @ Arizona (-3½)

The Cardinals lost on the East Coast again, offering little resistance in a 47-7 loss in snowy Foxboro. This season, Arizona is 0-5 in games on the East Coast, and while their home date is set for the playoffs, the Cards have little momentum and may even be a home underdog when the playoffs start on January 3rd.

"It will be good to go back home," says Kurt Warner. "Or will it? We've lost two of our last three there. But, it will be nice to play Glendale. Luckily, there's no snow in the forecast for the retractable turf in University Of Phoenix Stadium. And, luckily for us, unlike the turf, playoff bids aren't retractable."

Seattle beat Brett Favre and the Jets in Mike Holmgren's last game in Seattle. Now, the 'Hawks will try to close their season with their third-straight win, a win which would leave the Cardinals at 8-8.

"Hey, we've already done our share to sully the reputation of the NFC West," says Holmgren. "Why not do more? If we beat Arizona, the NFL could likely have two division winners with 8-8 records. I always knew the West was three hours behind; it looks like the West divisions are at least three games behind, as well."

Cardinals win, 23-21.

Washington @ San Francisco (-3)

After a stormy week in Washington in which coach Jim Zorn called himself the "worst coach ever," the Redskins rallied at home to shock the Eagles 10-3, handing Philadelphia a loss that likely will keep them out of the playoffs. On Sunday, the 8-7 Redskins will look to beat the 49ers and head coach Mike Singletary, thus guaranteeing a winning season record.

"It's not often you see a coach throw himself under the bus," says Clinton Portis. "Although I've seen Bill Cowher do it many times."

With a win and an Arizona loss, the 49ers will finish one game behind the Cardinals. I'm not sure if that's something to brag about, or cry about, but it does say something about the resiliency of the 49ers. San Fran will close out its season in throwback uniforms, and many of the 49ers are growing mustaches, inspired by the facial hair of former greats whose photos hang in the team's headquarters.

"These guys have really taken to the throwback mentality," says Singletary. "The facial hair deal was just the tip of the iceberg. But you know how I love to start a fire under my players. Why stop at facial hair? Why not honor Joe Montana by charging exorbitant amounts for personal appearances, or be like Bill Romanowski and spit in someone's face, or recognize Ronnie Lott by excising the tip of a pinkie finger? I actually think I scared some of my guys with that talk. Vernon Davis actually volunteered to leave."

Redskins win, 22-17.

Denver @ San Diego (-9)

The Chargers finally get their chance to avenge Week 2's loss in Denver, a loss made possible by a horribly erroneous call by referee Ed Hochuli that gave Denver the win. San Diego has rallied from a 4-8 record to win three straight, while the Broncos have dropped their last two to make Sunday's "all or nothing" showdown possible. The winner goes home with the AFC West title, while the loser goes home with nothing.

"There's only one thing I hate more than getting shafted out of a win or getting shafted out of a Pro Bowl spot," says Philip Rivers. "And that's Jay Cutler. You think my quarterback rating is high? You should see my quarterback hating where Cutler's concerned."

A season sweep of the Chargers will be necessary if the Broncos are to claim the playoff position reserved for the AFC West champion.

"The quest for the West is such a tight race," says Mike Shanahan. "You hate for there to be losers in such a situation, but sadly, there will be. That would be the two teams from the AFC East that are likely to get left out of the playoffs, despite better records than the winner and loser of our game."

San Diego's three-game win streak is their longest of the year, and their offense is clicking. If they make it, they could be a dangerous team in the playoffs, or an immediate flop. It's hard to tell with the Chargers. But the revenge factor, coupled with the playoff spot hanging in the balance, should be plenty of motivation. This might be the game that LaDainian Tomlinson finally cuts loose.

San Diego wins, 34-31.

Posted by Jeffrey Boswell at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)

December 25, 2008

The Yankees Have Ruined My Christmas

I wanted to write a nice little Christmas article. I wanted to be in a good mood. I wanted to write something in the spirit of Christmas.

But I can't. I'm not in the mood.

The New York bleeping Yankees have ruined my Christmas.

The Yankees have officially ruined America's pastime. It's no longer a sport. It's become the Harlem Globetrotters and 29 Washington Generals.

Someone needs to remind the Yankees that the United States is going through a pretty bad recession. There's no recession in Yankee Stadium. The Yankees are printing money.

They've landed the top three free agents on the market. The only thing stopping them from signing the rest of the free agents is that pesky 25-man roster limit.

The discrepancy between the Yankees and everyone else financially is completely unprecedented. They've spent over $400,000,000 this offseason.

Let that sink in for a minute.

They have the four highest paid players in the game. Two of them make up the left side of their infield.

Alex Rodriguez makes $27.5 million per season. Derek Jeter makes $18.9 million per season. Mark Teixeira makes $22.5 million per season. Jorge Posada makes $13.5 million per season. Robinson Cano makes $7.5 million per season.

What does that mean? I mean, aside from the fact that Cano obviously needs a new agent?

The Yankees' infield, just their infield, will make $83 million next season. Their starting infield will be making more money than 16 other teams' entire roster.

The Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, Arizona Diamondbacks, Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays, and Florida Marlins all have 25 men under contract for less money than the Yankees are paying their five starting infielders.

Bah, humbug.

And I'm a Red Sox fan. As far as 28 other teams are concerned, I have no business complaining.

The Red Sox are one of the haves. But even the Red Sox know that if the Yankees want a player, they'll outbid the them for him.

You see, the Red Sox have limits. Eventually, they'll run out of money. The Yankees won't.

I couldn't imagine being a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. Or a Kansas City fan.

You can bash the have-nots for mismanagement all you want. You can point at the A's, the Twins, and the Rays as shining examples of how the have-nots can compete with, and sometimes even beat the haves.

But if you truly believe that, you're as naive as you are short-sighted.

The A's should still be one of the best teams in the American League, but they're not. They understand that when they bring up a player, they have five years. Once they lose control of that player, he's gone.

That's an awfully small window.

The Rays are good now because they've been terrible for so long they have a ton of high first round picks on their roster. But they know, a couple years from now all those players will be Yankees, Mets, or Red Sox.

All you need to know about the Twins is that Johan Santana is a member of the New York Mets.

Pirates fans don't have much to root for, but someone like Jason Bay at least gave them reason to show up. But Jason Bay has a year left on his contract. So instead of building around him, they trade him knowing they'll never be able to outbid the Red Sox for him.

Get the picture? Baseball is broken.

Major League Baseball needs a salary cap. They need one badly. I'm done with the sport. I'm sick of pompous Yankee fans who think it's their God given right to win championships simply because they're from New York.

The arrogant, short-sighted, greedy, scumbag owners in New York need to be knocked down a peg. Once Derek Lowe signs with the Mets, all five prime free agents this offseason will have signed with a New York team. There's one big-named free agent left (Manny Ramirez).

Any guess on where he'll eventually end up?

All I want for Christmas is a salary cap in Major League Baseball. Until I get one, I'll have to find something else to watch between the NBA and NFL seasons...

Sean Crowe is the New England Patriots Examiner at Examiner.com. He writes a column every other Thursday for Sports Central. You can email him at [email protected].

Posted by Sean Crowe at 10:14 AM | Comments (10)

December 24, 2008

Gifts For the Holidays

With the holiday season about to hit its crescendo, another highly anticipated season is about to hit us like of block of snow (especially if the New York Jet Shaun Ellis is throwing it your way). Award season is nearly upon us, with it shiny statuettes, and southern California galas, and high-priced "what to wear" outfits.

But the world of college basketball doesn't get much red carpet treatment. These gym rats get to run up and down the floors of arenas across the country. From sunny Florida to snowy Minnesota, young adults strive for the hardware, but without the extravagance of the actors, musicians, and entertainers we've all come to know and ogle over.

Here's a thought: what better way to honor these kids than at the holidays, where classes are on break and the conference grind hasn't fully developed yet?

The Rudolph: Best Point Guard

Stephen Curry is a scoring machine ... most of the time. However, the Davidson star has shifted fairly nicely into the point position on this year's Wildcat team. He leads the nation in scoring at 30.0 ppg, while increasing his assist total to 6.7 a contest.

Patty Mills is tabbed as this year's Curry. He's still got Saint Mary's in a good spot to make the West Coast Conference a multiple bid league for this year's tournament. Mills averages nearly 20 points per, and shuffles out 3.8 dimes a game. Not bad considering he should be exhausted from running with the Australian National Team this summer at the Beijing Olympics.

Ty Lawson is possibly the quickest point in the nation, and he just happens to run the whirling dervish known as the number one team in the country. The North Carolina guard pours in 15.7 points and 6.6 assists each time out.

Dark horse in this race would be Wake Forest's Jeff Teague (18.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 4.5 apg) and Baylor's Curtis Jerrells (17.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 6.3 apg), but I'd give the award to Curry for the time being. No question, he's what makes Davidson go.

The Santa: Best Big Man

Blake Griffin would probably be the early front runner in this category. The Oklahoma forward (23.0 ppg, 14.1 rpg) is putting up numbers comparable to Michael Beasley's last year. He's tailed off a bit from his blazing start (21 boards three times in the first six games and at least 15 boards in each of the first six). However, when you set the bar that high that early, it's hard to keep up.

Hasheem Thabeet is about as lanky as they come at 7'3". And that height does have its advantages. The UConn center is finally living up to quite a bit of the hype put on him the last couple of years. His numbers are pretty impressive (14.3 ppg, 11.1 rpg, 3.5 bpg), but he didn't really show up against Gonzaga last weekend. He'll have plenty of chances to redeem himself in Big East play.

One of Thabeet's counterpart in the Big East could be up for this honor, too. DeJuan Blair from Pittsburgh continues to do his best to own the inside. The sophomore is throwing down 14.7 points and ripping down 13.0 rebounds every game. And being on such a defensive-minded team, the big man has to contribute his part with 2.1 steals a game.

A couple of dark horses for this award come from the same team. While Patty Mills is the conductor on Saint Mary's train, two big bodies provide the combustion. Center Omar Samhan (15.6 ppg, 10.0 rpg) and Diamon Sampson (12.0 ppg, 11.5 rpg) are the muscle that might help send this team on a tourney run in March. In the end, though, I'd actually pick Blair for the prize. While both Griffin and Thabeet are massively talented, a big forward who has five multiple-steal games (including three with 5 steals in each) gets my vote.

The Frosty: Most Bone-Chilling Shot

There's too many plays to think of that could be worthy of this honor. But one might have some heavier implications towards selection time in March. In the semifinals of the Puerto Rico Shootout, Virginia Tech had Xavier right where they wanted them.

A tough-fought game went to overtime tied at 52. The contest was still tied late in the five-minute period. That's when Hokies' forward Jeff Allen tipped in a missed shot to put Tech up 62-60 with under two seconds to go. The Musketeers quickly inbounded the ball to Dante Jackson, who launched a three-quarter court shot that went through the rim to push Xavier to a 63-62 victory.

The shot threw Xavier into the tournament's title game, where they upset Memphis. The Musketeers started off 9-0 before losing two difficult games against Duke and Butler (the latter on Tuesday night). Virginia Tech, while still a threat in the ACC, took a bit of a hit. The Hokies lost the third-place game to Seton Hall, and have since dropped two heartbreakers to Wisconsin and at Georgia.

If Virginia Tech struggles through conference play and winds up on the outside of the Big Dance floor again, they might have that buzzer-beater to blame.

The Reindeer Gang: Best Overall Team

Connecticut has fought off Miami (FL), Wisconsin, and Gonzaga in getting to 10-0. Baylor continues to surprise folks with their 10-1 start, including wins over Arizona State and Washington State (only loss to Wake Forest). Texas has had very impressive wins over UCLA, Villanova, Oregon, and St. Joseph's, while losing close ones to Notre Dame and Michigan State. Gonzaga, as always these days, is playing a brutal early schedule. Victories against Oklahoma State, Maryland, Tennessee, and local buddy Washington State are tempered by five-point losses to Arizona and Connecticut.

But, right now, there is only one winner of this award, and that's North Carolina. They haven't just beaten ... they've destroyed quality opponents in Kentucky, Oregon, Notre Dame, and Michigan State. All the while, they do it scoring 95.6 points a game. If that's not impressive, I don't know what is. We'll see how it holds up in March.

Congratulations to this column's winners. Another couple of months with games in the spotlight, and you all might be taking home those actual trophies. But please, keep the tears to a minimum during your acceptance speech. You want to keep that rental tux as sharp as you can.

Posted by Jonathan Lowe at 12:02 PM | Comments (0)

Super Mario: Case Closed

Flash back to the 2006 NFL Draft. The Houston Texans have the first pick. An absolutely horrible 2-14 team had a need at virtually every position. Could they have used a Heisman Trophy winning, highly touted, human highlight reel at running back? Of course. Did they need a possible franchise quarterback; a Houston native who was carrying with him an insurmountable level of local popularity, as he skated in fresh off of a BCS National Championship? You bet.

But instead, they "gambled." They went for the boom-or-bust pick, the one that didn't sit well with most fans and experts. The Houston Texans chose to select a 6'7", 290-pound man-child at defensive end. His name was Mario Williams, and after much debate, it's now safe to say that they chose wisely.

Mario Williams' 29.5 career sacks don't say enough about what he means to a football team. After he was drafted, it was a known fact that it would take some time to mold his abilities and harness his freakish skill level. However, the impact he is having this quickly is the type of thing that people only hoped for at the time.

Offenses are constantly scheming away from him, developing their game plans to avoid him. Yet despite their best efforts, Williams has been completely disruptive on his side of the field. He currently ranks in the top 10 overall in sacks this season, and ranks sixth among defensive linemen alone; a more telling stat, which excludes the 3-4 outside linebackers. In addition, he also ranks in the top 20 in tackles (51) for defensive linemen.

Mario no longer just engages the offensive lineman, he has learned how to use technique which makes his power that much more effective. He plays the run extremely well, always pushing his blocker backwards two to three yards, and disrupting the play if aimed his way. He is constantly getting pressure, and if he can't sack the quarterback, he has learned to do a nice job of forcing fumbles from the quarterback's blindside (4 so far on the season).

All of this, mind you, he is doing virtually alone. Great pass rushers almost always have great counterparts along the defensive line to compliment them, to provide a push from a different direction, which leads to more tackles and sacks for everyone. Mario is doing this by himself. Below is a list of the five defensive linemen currently ahead of Mario on the total sacks list this season. All except one, John Abraham, has had significant help this season from his counterparts in the trenches.

As a 6'2", 245-pound defensive end, the Indianapolis Colts only ask Robert Mathis to do one thing; get after the quarterback. His 11.5 sacks tie a career-high for him, but would he have been nearly as effective this season if teams weren't concentrating on Dwight Freeney and his 10.5 sacks on the other side of the line?

Justin Tuck has really made a name for himself with the New York Giants these last two seasons, compiling 22 sacks in that span, 12 of which have come this year. While he has been busy achieving a career-high in sacks, fellow defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka has also been busy getting to the quarterback 8 times this season, for a career-high, as well.

Julius Peppers is known as a long-time sack artist, and this season he too has achieved a career-high at 13.5. However, while that was going on, fellow Carolina Panthers teammates Charles Johnson (6) and Tyler Brayton (4.5) have done enough to keep the offense honest on the other side of the ball.

The Minnesota Vikings got exactly what they were looking for when they traded for Jared Allen in the offseason. His 14.5 sacks have absolutely terrorized offensive coordinators this year. It has to be nearly impossible for them to decide who to key in on for their blocking schemes, however. Do they choose Allen or defensive tackle Kevin Williams, who's 8.5 sacks are the most he's had since 2004? Ray Edwards has chipped in 5, as well.

As for Mario, well Tim Bulman has 4 sacks ... and that's really about it. What, you've never heard of Tim Bulman?

Meanwhile, the other first overall pick possibilities aren't fairing quite as well. Reggie Bush has no doubt shown glimpses of stardom after being selected second overall by the New Orleans Saints, but along with those glimpses there have been long stretches of mediocrity. His inability to stay healthy the last two seasons has hurt his productivity, as well. Although able to amass 9 touchdowns this season (3 on kick returns), he has recently been placed on injured reserve due to a sprained left knee, causing him to miss the remainder of the season. A knee injury caused him to miss significant time last year, as well, and by seasons end, he will have missed a total of 10 games during the span. Although the will and effort have been there, Bush has yet to crack more than 600 yards rushing in a season, averaging 3.7 ypc in his career.

And then there's Vince Young. The Houston fans would have loved him. Well, at least for a season or two that is. After being taken third overall by the Tennessee Titans and getting off to a hot start, the "Vincanity" has cooled quite a bit. Despite taking over the starting job during his rookie season, and even leading the Tennessee Titans into a first round playoff appearance last year, some off-the-field issues have left Titans fans uncertain about their quarterback's future.

Furthermore, some would even argue that the Titans made the playoffs last season despite Vince Young's play, not because of it. After a solid rookie campaign, Young was handed the starting job. But by the second season's end, he had posted a 71.1% passer efficiency rating, including just 9 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.

But after a 138-yard, 1-interception, 3-sack loss to San Diego in the first round of the playoffs, the Vince Young honeymoon had officially ended. This year, Young lost the starting job to Kerry Collins. Despite this, his team currently has the best record in the league.

And as for the Houston Texans, they're currently sitting at 7-8, outside looking in for the playoffs this year. However, it wasn't but a couple of weeks ago that Young watched from the sidelines as the Texans handed the Titans their second loss of the season. Mario Williams recorded 4 tackles on the day, and a week later, he was being named to his very first Pro Bowl appearance. As for Vince Young and Reggie Bush, their careers aren't over, but any debate over the 2006 first overall pick surely is.

Posted by Kenneth Dean at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)

December 23, 2008

NFL Week 16 Power Rankings

Five Quick Hits

* Sammy Baugh died on Wednesday. A strong argument can be made that Baugh was the best football player in the history of the game. He revolutionized NFL offenses and was one of the greatest punters ever. We'll miss you, Sammy.

* Cris Collinsworth seems to be under the impression that Bill Walsh called nothing but passes. For his head coaching career, Walsh passed just 52% of the time. In every one of his Super Bowl seasons, the 49ers ran more than they passed. The Niners had three top-three rushing offenses under Walsh. He ran a lot.

* Not much sense of urgency from some of the playoff contenders this weekend. The Buccaneers, Eagles, and Jets all laid down and watched their postseason chances shrink.

* Worst Pro Bowl selections: Brett Favre, Le'Ron McClain, Joe Thomas, Walter Jones, Chris Samuels, and Shane Lechler. Robert Mathis is a good pass rusher, but he's not even a starter.

* If you don't have NFL Network, switch from cable and get it. This channel is worth it just for the "big heads" segment.

***

Saturday night, the Dallas Cowboys played their last game at Texas Stadium, losing a wild, back-and-forth game to the Baltimore Ravens. Most fans expected a great defensive battle, and for three quarters, that was largely what we got. Entering the final period, Baltimore led 16-7. In the fourth quarter, the teams scored 17 points each. Baltimore's two fourth-quarter touchdowns came on 77-yard and 82-yard runs, both on first downs right after the Ravens got the ball. It was unbelievable. The closest I can remember to something like that was in 2005, when Santana Moss burned the Cowboys — in Texas Stadium — for two late touchdowns and an upset victory.

However, with all due respect to Baltimore's running backs and offensive line, the real stars of the show on Saturday night were Derrick Mason and the Ravens' special teams. Mason, who aggravated a dislocated shoulder in the first quarter and left the game three times, returned to recover a key fumble, catch a touchdown with one arm, and lead the Ravens in receiving. All in all, a very admirable performance.

While it was impossible to miss Mason's heroics, it would have been easier to overlook the impact of special teams. Baltimore executed a fake field goal in the fourth quarter, with holder Sam Koch running nine yards for a first down. The Ravens scored a touchdown two plays later. Koch and the Cowboys' Sam Paulescu each punted five times during the game, but Koch had an advantage of 68 net yards. After Koch's punts, the Cowboys' average starting field position was their own 18-yard line. The Ravens started at their own 37 when Paulescu punted. Getting that kind of advantage from your punting game is huge. The Ravens also kicked four field goals, and the Cowboys only one. Give some real credit to Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh, who led the special teams in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, rookie RB Tashard Choice had another big game for Dallas. I don't see how the Cowboys can keep Marion Barber, Felix Jones, and Choice on their roster next season. All three of those guys have the talent to be starters, and the team should probably trade one of them. But which one? Barber is a proven commodity, a guy who brings an intimidating attitude to his runs and is reliable in short-yardage situations. Jones looked incredibly explosive in limited action early this season. And Choice has given the offense a late-season spark, with the bonus of a very salary cap-friendly contract. Something to keep an eye on. For now, we'll move ahead of the power rankings. Brackets show previous rank.

1. Tennessee Titans [8] — I remain concerned that they've lost two of the last five, but they're 13-2, they beat last week's top-ranked team, and they should be healthy for the playoffs. Great game on Sunday from rookie Jason Jones, who tallied 3.5 sacks in the victory. I didn't like LenDale White stepping on that yellow towel at the end, though. If you want respect, don't disrespect your opponents.

2. Baltimore Ravens [2] — I love flex scheduling, but it's disappointing that both Jets/Dolphins and Ravens/Jaguars are in the late slot in Week 17. It would be nice to see both games. Jason Brown, the Ravens' center, is a major Pro Bowl snub.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers [1] — So, in the last couple of weeks there's actually been a lot of talk that Ben Roethlisberger might deserve NFL MVP. That is crazy, and no one who believes it should be taken seriously as an NFL analyst. Big Ben probably isn't among the three most valuable players on his own team, much less the whole league. He ranks 14th in passing yards, but leads the NFL in sacks taken. He's not top-10 in touchdowns, but he's top-five in most interceptions. He ranks 21st in passer rating, behind Trent Edwards and David Garrard. He's a good quarterback having a bad season. This year, Ben is just an average QB on a great team, and he is not close to being an MVP candidate. Let's be serious.

4. Indianapolis Colts [3] — A lot of AFC teams are going to be rooting for the Broncos to upset San Diego next week, but no one more so than Indianapolis. The Colts have a 2-0 playoff record against Denver in the Peyton Manning era, winning both games by more than 20 points. They've lost three of their last four games against the Chargers, including last year's playoff defeat. The Colts would love to draw Denver, and they'd hate to get San Diego.

5. New York Giants [7] — What a game. What a Week 16, with several great games and playoff implications around every corner. Even with Justin Tuck sick, several other starters playing hurt, and I don't know how many dropped interceptions, the Giants avoided a three-game losing streak and earned homefield advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. Other teams can win at Giants Stadium, but I don't know if the Giants could have won in Carolina, where the Panthers went 8-0. Now the road to the Super Bowl runs through the Meadowlands.

6. Atlanta Falcons [9] — In the last month, they've beaten the Panthers, Chargers, Buccaneers, and Vikings. No one else has beaten four teams that good in the past five weeks. Many fans and analysts expected the Falcons to be the worst team in the NFL this year, but now they're in the playoffs, and they look like a real threat. Matt Ryan's success as a rookie has been incredible, and he probably should have been voted to the Pro Bowl instead of Eli Manning.

7. Dallas Cowboys [5] — Dallas might be the only place this could happen. I think the job of Wade Phillips, the current head coach, is safer because his team has played so badly at times this season. The failures of the offense have made Jerry Jones much less eager to install offensive coordinator Jason Garrett in Phillips' position.

8. Carolina Panthers [4] — Probably should be higher than this after their strong showing on Sunday night, but I don't know where to fit them in. The Giants shut down Steve Smith in the second half, and Carolina's offense couldn't put together first downs with any consistency. DeAngelo Williams had his sixth TD run of 30 yards or more, joining Jim Brown (7 in 1958 and 6 in 1963) as the only players with so many in one season. But Jim Brown only played 12 games in '58, and just 14 in '63. Still, elite company. Williams has been incredible down the stretch.

9. New England Patriots [12] — Has anyone had a more impressive performance this season than Matt Cassel in the snow on Sunday? I don't remember ever seeing a quarterback have that kind of game (345 yards, 3 TDs) in that kind of weather. If the Patriots, Dolphins, Ravens, and Chargers all win next week, the 11-5 Pats will miss the playoffs and the 8-8 Bolts will get in. Doesn't seem right, does it?

10. Minnesota Vikings [11] — Adrian Peterson has a fumbling problem. Two to four fumbles is normal for a featured runner. Less than that is good, and more than that is bad. Peterson has eight, which is really bad.

11. Philadelphia Eagles [6] — Yes, I know this is higher than anyone else has them ranked. What this team lacks in consistency, it makes up for in potential. The Eagles are an extremely dangerous team, and when they're hot I think they can beat anyone. Philadelphia is a scary opponent. Still, it would have been nice to see a little more focus and passion on Sunday. After playing with real fire for the last three weeks, I don't know if the Eagles took Washington for granted, or ran out of steam, or what.

12. Miami Dolphins [14] — Greatest single-season turnaround in NFL history. No NFL team has ever won 10 or more games one season after going 1-15. Chad Pennington is a Pro Bowl snub, but I guess it balances out with Ronnie Brown (859 yards, 4.2 average) going instead of Houston's Steve Slaton (1,190 yards, 4.8 average).

13. Chicago Bears [17] — It's a good thing Brian Urlacher wore his helmet to the overtime coin flip. I've never seen a player get bonked on the coin toss before. Even more important, though, than the coin deflected off Urlacher's helmet, were huge plays on special teams. It constantly amazes me how many coaches put up with sloppy special teams play. It's a huge facet of the game, frequently the difference in close games, and sometimes the difference in games — like the one on Monday night — that otherwise would not be particularly close.

14. San Diego Chargers [20] — It is an absolute travesty that Philip Rivers didn't make the Pro Bowl. Rivers owns an NFL-best +21 in TD/INT diffential. Compare that to the actual AFC Pro Bowl QBs: Peyton Manning (+14), Jay Cutler (+8), and Brett Favre (+2). Like Manning — but unlike Cutler and Favre, who have fallen apart down the stretch — Rivers is carrying his team towards the postseason. For the last three games, he's averaging 282 yards and 3 TDs with a 116.2 passer rating. Now, try to name a wide receiver for the Chargers. Rivers is doing this without a ton of help.

15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers [10] — Three losses in a row, including their first of the season at home, and the defense is falling apart. This abrupt slide coincides with the news that longtime defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin is leaving the team. During its 9-3 start, Tampa Bay allowed 280 yards and 17 points per game. Since then, the team is 0-3, allowing 400 yards and 31 points per game.

16. New Orleans Saints [18] — Ranked first in both yardage (410 per game) and scoring (28.8), but they have no Pro Bowl starters. Drew Brees is the only Saint going to Hawaii, and he's a backup. Where is the love for an offensive line that has allowed the fewest sacks in the conference?

17. Houston Texans [20] — Last week, they looked like one of the hottest teams in the NFL, riding a four-game winning streak and coming off a win over the Titans. Then they turn around and lose to the Raiders by double-digits. Any given Sunday. Andre Johnson had a season-low two catches for 19 yards.

18. New York Jets [13] — Couldn't protect Favre and couldn't get to Seneca Wallace. They've lost three of four since that big win in Tennessee, the only victory being that strange come-from-behind affair against Buffalo last week. I don't understand why little Leon Washington doesn't get more touches. He had three carries and no catches this week. He averages about seven offensive touches per game. This kid is a dynamic player, and he should have the ball in his hands more often than that.

19. Arizona Cardinals [16] — Scored a meaningless fourth quarter touchdown to make it 47-7. I feel bad for the bettors who had New England -41.

20. San Francisco 49ers [21] — Won three of the last four. Isaac Bruce has finally won me over. He's a future Hall of Famer, or should be. Bruce hasn't had a lot of outstanding seasons, and he peaked in 1995. But he's been incredibly productive over the years, catching 1,000 passes and moving into second place on the all-time list for receiving yards. He has an outside shot at 100 TD receptions. Receivers have a tough time getting into Canton, but Bruce will have my support.

21. Buffalo Bills [24] — Trent Edwards has missed most or all of four games with injuries. The Bills lost all four. They're 7-4 when Edwards plays the whole game.

22. Denver Broncos [19] — Blew what looked like an easy chance to clinch their division, surrendering a fourth-quarter lead and losing to the skidding Buffalo Bills. The Broncos have lost four of their last five home games, beating only the 2-13 Chiefs. Denver opened this season 3-0, and since then is 5-7. As a side note, the Broncos lost two more running backs this weekend. They have seven RBs on injured reserve. I'm not kidding.

23. Jacksonville Jaguars [22] — Since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule, has any running back put together a more impressive three-year stretch without a 1,000-yard season than Maurice Jones-Drew? He averages 850 yards, 4.8 per carry, with 500 receiving yards and 13 TDs, plus he's a good kick returner (26.0 average, 2 TD). We usually measure RBs by their rushing yardage, but Jones-Drew brings a lot more than that one statistic measures.

24. Washington Redskins [25] — They're lucky Walt Coleman wasn't reffing this week's game. I'm sure Mr. Coleman saw absolutely, 100%, indisputable evidence that Reggie Brown scored a touchdown at the end, and the game would have gone into overtime.

25. Seattle Seahawks [28] — I know Seattle fans will be glad to have Matt Hasselbeck healthy for next season, but if he struggles early, there could be a quarterback controversy here. Wallace is 3-4 as starter (compared to 1-7 when he doesn't start), with 9 passing TDs and just 1 interception. His passer rating is 90.9; Hasselbeck's is 57.8.

26. Green Bay Packers [23] — Before the game, I decided that my over/under on the number of times Tony Kornheiser would say "Favre" was seven. I counted at least 12, but I might have missed a couple, and that doesn't include at least three mentions before the game started. I heard him say [Aaron] "Rodgers" 11 times, and [Kyle] "Orton" zero, though I'm pretty sure I remember him briefly talking about the Bears QB, so I probably missed one.

27. Cincinnati Bengals [29] — Can you feel the momentum? The red-hot Bengals have two wins in a row. Ryan Fitzpatrick went 5-of-9 for 55 yards and a TD against Cleveland. I can't remember the last time a team went a whole game without throwing double-digit passes. The Bengals have gotten mysterious production out of Cedric Benson lately, including an average of 166 yards from scrimmage in the last two weeks. With another 39 rushing yards next week against Kansas City, Benson will surpass his previous single-season high.

28. Oakland Raiders [30] — Best game of the season for JaMarcus Russell (236 yards, 2 TDs, 128.1 rating). Johnnie Lee Higgins scored back-to-back touchdowns in the third quarter, on a 29-yard catch and an 80-yard punt return. Higgins leads the NFL in punt return yardage and set a team record with three punt return TDs in a season.

29. Kansas City Chiefs [27] — They're 2-13. More than half of those losses have come by seven points or less. They've lost by seven to the Patriots, Broncos, and Dolphins, by four to the Jets, by three to the Bucs, and by one to the Chargers (twice). Between all the close losses (to good teams) and all the young players here, you have to think Kansas City is a team that could improve dramatically next season.

30. Cleveland Browns [26] — Five losses in a row, tied with Green Bay for the longest losing streak this side of the Rams and Lions. In 2007, the Browns were a top-10 offense. Now they're bottom-five and getting worse, with no offensive TDs in a month, and their first shutout loss in more than two years. Let's not pretend this is all Ken Dorsey's fault, but he has 7 interceptions and no touchdowns this season, with a passer rating of 26.5.

31. St. Louis Rams [31] — They're lucky there are the Lions to distract people from their awfulness. St. Louis has lost nine in a row.

32. Detroit Lions [32] — Clearly, Rod Marinelli has not been successful as a head coach, but he is a professional and a gentleman. The wolves at his press conferences are neither, and they should be ashamed of themselves. That's not journalism, it's bullying.

Posted by Brad Oremland at 11:51 AM | Comments (2)

Dock Ellis, RIP: The Edges

What you probably remember is the militant stare down from the mound, the strangling slider, the no-nonsense posture — against batters, against managers, against, well, just about everyone he thought stood athwart his mission — and the mammoth bomb off the Tiger Stadium light tower he surrendered to Reggie Jackson in the 1971 All-Star Game.

You might also remember that, five years later, wearing an American League uniform, he drilled Jackson upside the head as payback for that All-Star ICBM. Not to mention decking Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and Dan Driessen in the first inning in a 1974 game, before throwing behind Tony Perez's and Johnny Bench's heads ... because he took umbrage over the Reds' speaking less than respectfully of the Pirates in spring training — and over what he thought was too much lack of life on that Pirate team.

You might remember above all his confession (in his autobiography) — and to this day there are those who debate whether he spoke the truth or whether he exaggerated just a tad — that he no-hit the San Diego Padres in 1970 while under the influence of LSD.

You might even remember his first season as a Yankee, swapped there in the deal that also made a Yankee out of a kid named Willie Randolph, because the Pirates had finally had it with his act, climaxed by a nasty clubhouse scrum with manager Danny Murtaugh that got him a siddown-and-shaddap for the rest of 1975.

Everyone who thought he'd be vapourised under the Billy Martin regime got a shock when he thrived under it. They had in common being men under the influence who hated losing even more than they could stand facing the days or nights stone cold sober. He put up one of his best seasons, beat the Kansas City Royals in an American League Championship Series, and scrummed with George Steinbrenner over what he thought was overdoing the leaning upon Martin.

Now, here's what you may not remember about Dock Ellis, who died at 63 of liver failure (he was actually due for a May 2009 transplant) 19 December: he left an awful lot of people surprisingly warm by the man he actually was beneath the drug addling and away from the heat of the mound.

"Dock Ellis was my first client in baseball, and he gave me as much joy as anybody outside of my family," said his longtime agent, Tom Reich. "He was so unique. He was viewed by some people as an outlaw, but he was far from that. He was so ahead of his time. He was so intuitive and smart and talented and independent. And he wasn't about to roll over for the incredible prejudices that existed at the time. He was a very special person and he had an absolute army of fans and friends. He was at the cutting edge of so many issues, and he never backed down. I was proud to be his friend and stand with him."

Dick Young of the New York Daily News called him "irreverent," writing it as though it were a terrible crime.

He turned up for one last try, in the short-lived Senior Professional Baseball League. I couldn't possibly improve upon Peter Golenbock, writing in The Forever Boys: The Bittersweet World of Major League Baseball as Seen Through the Eyes of the Men Who Played One More Time, a book that shouldn't be lost.

One of the most dramatic moments of the season occurred early in the season, in Dock Ellis's first game. As he had against West Palm Beach, he had come into the game in the ninth inning against the Orlando Juice to try to save it.

Dock Ellis alone was aware of the drama. For the first time in his entire professional pitching career, going back to 1964, Dock was pitching straight, without the influence of alcohol or drugs. Mortals don't scare Dock Ellis. But the possibility of using drugs or alcohol again scares him to the bone.

To the fans who came to the games, Ellis had appeared to be the old Dock. He pitched deliberately, taking his time between pitches, glaring like Malcolm X, acting as though he hated the world. He would turn and stare out toward the outfield, holding the ball, making the batters wait on him.

After getting two outs, Elis temporarily lost control, walking two batters, but he threw a nasty slider past the next batter to end the inning. In his first drug-free inning, his first opportunity to pitch in anger since 1979, he had been a success.

... "When I first went into the game, I didn't know what was going on. The thought was there: I'm going in, and I'm not going to be high. The adrenaline was flowing, and my mouth was dry like it was when I was high. My whole body was like that. I'd wipe my head and my lips because when I was high my lips were dry, and I used to have to rub my lips on my arm because I got a dry mouth. So my body was reacting like I was high, but I knew I wasn't high. So I acted like I was high. I was walking around the mound, not doing nothing. I was looking over here, looking over there, which is what I used to so. It was strange."

After the game, Ellis went to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting in the Tampa-St. Pete area. He said, "It doesn't look like anybody here knows anything about baseball, but I play baseball. I used to, and now I'm back at it again," and he started talking about what was bothering him. He told the gathering, "I'm afraid."

Dock said later, "In the meeting fear is okay. But that fear was only because I was remembering the old times. It's like saying, 'I'm going to go into a room where they're doing cocaine.' Sure, I can go in, but I'm going to be frightened."

An addiction counselor in Los Angeles and, for several years, for the Yankees; and, and a transition counselor for Pennsylvania inmates about to leave prison, Ellis — who also helped launch the Black Athletes Foundation for Sickle-Cell Research — probably needed more courage to admit fear than he ever needed on the mound. That he found it says more than any of his prime-time act could have said.

***

Something else you probably don't know or remember about Dock Ellis: he's the only player in major league history to play for seven managers in a single season. It happened in 1977. The play-by-play:

* April 27: Ellis opened with the Yankees under Martin, made three starts, and was swapped to Oakland in the deal that made a Yankee out of Mike Torrez.

* June 9: Oakland owner Charlie Finley fired manager Jack McKeon and replaced him with Bobby Winkles.

* June 15: Then the non-waiver trade deadline. Ellis was sold to the Texas Rangers, managed at the time by Frank Lucchesi.

* June 22: Lucchesi was fired to be replaced by Eddie Stanky.

* June 23: After managing the Rangers to a 10-8 win over the Twins, Stanky quit in an unexpected bout of homesickness. (He'd been hired by the A's from the University of South Alabama.) The A's replace him with Connie Ryan.

* June 28: Ryan having expressed that he didn't want the job on a full-time basis, the Rangers replaced him with Billy Hunter.

Seven managers in one season? How does seven managers in three months grab you?

Posted by Jeff Kallman at 11:31 AM | Comments (1)

December 22, 2008

In the Rotation: NBA Week 8

If you're a sports fan (and you're here, so I'm guessing you are), you learn to equate every holiday with the sporting events that take place on them.

Thanksgiving is for NFL football. New Year's Day has college football. The Fourth of July provides baseball. Father's Day is usually the final round of the U.S. Open.

However, the calendar saves the best for last: NBA basketball on Christmas Day. While I'll admit that NBA games on Christmas Day aren't as ingrained in the day's events as the football games are on Thanksgiving, for a diehard NBA Fan, Christmas Day is like, well, Christmas.

Whether it's the two best players in the league squaring off for one of the only times that particular season, an NBA Finals rematch, old rivalries renewed, or some combination of all three, the NBA always delivers the goods on Christmas Day.

In this week's Starting Five, we hitch a ride back in time with the Ghost of Christmas Past (you were expecting Doc Brown?) and revisit five of the greatest games ever played on Christmas Day.

Starting Five

1. 2004: Kobe vs. Shaq I

It was one of, if not the, most anticipated regular season game in NBA history. For the first time since their very public and very messy separation, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal would play against each other.

The hype leading up to the game rivaled that of an NBA Finals matchup, with seemingly more focus put on whether they'd shake hands before the game (they did, sort of) than as to which team would actually win.

The game, as impossible as it might have seemed, actually lived up to the hype.

Shaq put Kobe on the floor with a moderately hard foul early in the game and the individual matchup ice was broken. The head-to-head matchup took a backseat after that and a great basketball game broke out.

Kobe scored 42 for the Lakers, but Shaq's 24 points and 11 rebounds, with some help from Dwyane Wade's 29 points and 10 assists, was enough for the Heat that day.

The Heat pulled off a two point overtime victory as Kobe's potential game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer rimmed out.

Kobe vs. Shaq has happened a total of six times now, with the series spilt at three wins apiece.

2. 1986: Jordan's Christmas Debut at the Garden

This was Michael Jordan before he was the Michael Jordan, playing to a sold out Madison Square Garden on Christmas Day against Patrick Ewing and the Knicks.

Jordan didn't disappoint, scoring a game-high 30 points, but it was Patrick Ewing who spread the most holiday cheer as his eight-foot tip in at the buzzer gave the Knicks the 86-85 victory. He finished the game with 28 points and 17 rebounds.

The game was one of the few bright spots for the Knicks that season, as they finished with just 24 wins, their third consecutive season with no more than 24 wins.

3. 1990: Passing the Torch

The Detroit Pistons had beaten the Chicago Bulls in each of the previous three postseasons, and were the two-time defending NBA champs.

Michael Jordan had led the league in scoring the past four seasons and taken his team to the brink of the NBA finals twice, only to fall short to these same Detroit Pistons in the last two Eastern Conference Finals.

On Christmas Day in 1990, the Pistons visited Chicago and were sent a clear message: your reign at the top is over.

Jordan controlled the game with 37 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals as the Bulls walked away with a 98-86 victory over the champs.

The game signaled the end of the Pistons recent dominance over the Bulls. The Bulls went on to beat the Pistons in seven of the eight remaining games the teams had against one another that season, including the infamous four-game sweep in the conference semis in which the Pistons walked off the court without shaking hands with the Bulls.

Chicago went on to win their first of six NBA titles that season.

4. 1984: Bernard King Scores 60

Two of the biggest “what if” stars of the NBA in the 1980s (a decade that featured plenty) squared off at the Garden Christmas Day as Bernard King and the New York Knicks matched up against the Michael Ray Richardson-led New Jersey Nets. Ironically, the troubled stars had been traded for one another three seasons earlier.

King scored a still-standing Christmas Day record of 60 points, but it was Richardson's Nets who walked away victorious defeating the Knicks 120-114.

King would suffer his catastrophic knee injury a few months later, and never truly regain his scoring form.

Richardson would play only one more season in the NBA before being banned for substance abuse.

It was one of the last times these two infamous legends of the '80s would meet, and it remains one of the all-time classic Christmas Day games.

5. 1985: The Knicks Comeback

I know, another Kicks game. However, when you've played a record 45 Christmas Day games, you're bound to play in some memorable ones.

This one came during Patrick Ewing's rookie season, when the Knicks trailed 58-33 in the third quarter to the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics.

Led by Ewing's 32 points, the Knicks mounted a furious comeback and tied the game on a Trent Tucker three-pointer that forced OT. After playing to another tie in overtime, the Knicks ran away with the game in the second OT, completing the biggest comeback ever by a team on Christmas Day, defeating the Celtics 113-104.

In the Rotation: Christmas Day 2008

This year, the NBA is hoping to create some more holiday magic with a record five games being played on Christmas, featuring teams with nine of the top 13 records in the league right now (plus the Wizards).

Headlining the very intriguing slate of games is the NBA Finals rematch between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center. The Celtics win streak currently sits at a franchise best 18 games, and if they take care of business at home against Philly Tuesday night, they will be looking to make the Lakers victim number 20.

The other Christmas Day games: Chris Paul takes his record of 107 games (and counting) with a steal into Orlando to battle Dwight Howard and the surprising Orlando Magic; the Spurs and Suns renew their newly formed rivalry in the desert; the Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards have met in the first round of the playoffs each of the past three seasons, so the NBA probably wasn't expecting the Wizards to have the second worst record in the league ... nonetheless, the Wizards will travel to Cleveland to take on the Cavs on the first game of TNT's doubleheader; in the late game, Dallas travels to Portland to play the Trail Blazers for what could be a very important game down the road if these teams end up battling for the eighth seed out West.

Out of the Rotation: Christmas Eve

And we can add Thanksgiving and New Year's Day to the list while we're at it. That's because there are no NBA games on any of these three days. I know the league is spoiling us with five games on Christmas, but they can't even throw us a bone on these days?

There will be over 1,000 NBA games played this season, yet there will be three days in a six week span where there are no games at all. To an NBA addict, that is just unacceptable.

Inactive List: None

Have a heart, it's Christmas. There are 51 other weeks in the year for us to call out NBA players for doing something stupid, so I'll take it easy on everyone this week in light of the holiday spirit.

Plus, I'm afraid that karma might be catch up to the In the Rotation enterprise. After you voted unanimously (thanks to all that voted) that Glen "Big Baby" Davis was to be named inactive last week for crying on the bench, he suffered a concussion in a car accident on the way to the arena Sunday afternoon and had to be hospitalized.

I'm pretty sure that the blizzard in Boston had more to do with the accident than what we have going on here, but just to be safe, we're sparing everyone this week.

Merry Christmas, and enjoy the games!

Be sure to check back at Sports Central every Monday to see who cracks Scott Shepherd's rotation as he breaks down what is going on around the NBA.

Posted by Scott Shepherd at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)

Bowl-Palooza: The Games to Watch

I have a confession to make: I love bowl games.

Excuse me?

There's no denying it. If college football were like high school, then the talk of playoffs would be the new hot girl at school and the bowl system would the old girl that was really hot when she first got to school a while ago, but has since lost her luster. This is mainly because of the situations that we've run into almost every year since the BCS's inception about who should be playing in the BCS bowls and most importantly, who deserves to play in the title games. All are valid arguments, but beyond the politics and controversy that the BCS garners, the non-BCS bowl games, also known as to some as "The Others," still provide great matchups.

We have to face facts. Recently, the BCS bowl matchups have left a lot to be desired once the actual games are played on the field. The hype for most of these games has been great, but the product that follows sometimes can be less than satisfying. And while the masses have their eyes set to the big money bowls on New Year's Day and thereafter, there are usually some good bowl games to keep an eye on. Here's a look at a few that should be entertaining going through Christmas, through the ball dropping up to most people getting over hangovers on the morning of January 1, 2009.

Poinsettia Bowl: No. 9 Boise State vs. No. 11 TCU

Qualcomm Stadium; San Diego, CA; December 23; 8 PM

Quite possibly could be listed as the "BCS Busters" Bowl. Both the Broncos and Horned Frogs have done their damage to favored opponents in BCS conferences in recent years. Boise State, led by '07 Fiesta Bowl hero Ian Johnson, is looking for their second perfect season in three years, while the Mountain West runner-up Horned Frogs look to get to 11 wins. Both teams have high scoring offenses and underrated defenses.

Meineke Car Care Bowl: West Virginia vs. North Carolina

Bank of America Stadium; Charlotte, NC; December 27; 1 PM

This has the potential to be an extremely exciting. Pat White looks to cap a brilliant career, including upset wins in two BCS bowl games, with his fourth win as the Mountaineers' signal-caller. Sophomore star Noel Devine had over 1,200 yards for the Mountaineers after splitting time in the backfield with Steve Slaton in his rookie season, but only found the end zone three times.

Meanwhile, it didn't take long for Butch Davis to get North Carolina back in the discussion in ACC; the Tar Heels are headed to their first bowl since 2004. Hakeem Nicks had a great season with just over 1,000 yards receiving and 10 total touchdowns. Carolina's T.J. Yates, who missed five games this season, is expected to be delivering the ball to Nicks and the rest of the receiving corps, but it's possible that backup Cam Sexton, who took the snaps while Yates was sidelined, could see time, as well.

Holiday Bowl: No. 17 Oklahoma State vs. Oregon

Qualcomm Stadium; San Diego, CA; December 30; 8 PM

This game could have huge offensive fireworks. Both teams tout top 10 offenses in total yards, rushing yards and scoring. There is no shortage of talented skill players in this game. The Cowboys will be lead by quarterback Zach Robinson (24 passing TDs), largely overshadowed in the QB-rich Big 12, his number one target All-American wideout Dez Bryant (1,313 receiving yards, 18 TDs), and the dangerous Big 12 leading rusher Kendall Hunter (1,588 rushing yards, 6.7 avg. per carry, 14 TDs).

The Ducks will be lead by a pair of Jeremiahs, quarterback Masoli (12 passing touchdowns, 7 rushing TDs) and running back Johnson (1,082 rushing yards, 12 TDs). Johnson's backfield of LeGarrette Blount rushed for 928 yards and set a school record with 16 rushing touchdowns. The only talk about defense in this ballgame could very well be the one that makes a big play to stop the other offense. This bowl game historically has been a high-scoring and often exciting one to watch over the years.

Chic-Fil-A Bowl, LSU vs. No. 14 Georgia Tech

Georgia Dome; Atlanta, GA; December 31; 7:30 PM

A bowl game that features two teams that moved in the opposite directions of expectations. The defending champion Tigers had some embarrassing losses this year, including blowouts at Florida, at home against Georgia, and a crushing second straight defeat to Arkansas. Add in the near catastrophe against Troy, and LSU and Les Miles became the first defending national champs to play in the Chick Fil-A bowl and are looking to rebound a year after winning it all to end the season on a high note.

The Yellow Jackets in their first year under Paul Johnson really came on late in the season. Teams had a whale of time containing the triple-option as Jonathon Dwyer (1,328 rushing yards, 12 TDs) became arguably the most explosive player in the open field in college football the last four games of the season. Tech stayed competitive in the ACC and came within a early season Virginia Tech loss of the ACC championship game. The Jackets have a virtual home game with the Georgia Dome less than two miles away from Bobby Dodd Stadium.

Capital One Bowl, No. 15 Georgia vs. No. 18 Michigan State

Florida Citrus Bowl; Orlando, FL; January 1; 1 PM

This year turned out to be a huge disappointment for the Bulldogs, who were ranked No. 1 in the polls before the season. Expected to contend for the national championship this year, they faltered in their big name games against Alabama, Florida, and Georgia Tech. Matthew Stafford had a decent junior season with 22 touchdowns. Knowshon Moreno led the SEC in rushing with 1,338 yards and 16 touchdowns and Mohamed Massaquoi and super freshman A.J. Green combined 102 catches, more than 1,800 yards, and 16 touchdowns. Georgia's defense was a huge disappointment in the second half of the season, with poor tackling displays against Florida and Georgia Tech. They will need to tackle better against the overachieving Spartans, led by senior super back Javon Ringer (1,590 rushing yards, 21 TDs) who had a stellar final season in East Lansing.

Are there too many bowls? Absolutely! But there are some dandies on this year's bowl schedule. It really is the most wonderful time of the year and if you really love college football, these are the times you enjoy the most. Plus, you have all the offseason and next year to drum back up the playoff debate. I'll think I'll stick with old hot girl for now.

Posted by Brian Cox at 11:20 AM | Comments (1)

December 18, 2008

NFL Weekly Predictions: Week 16

Note: the quotes in this article are fictional.

Indianapolis @ Jacksonville (+6½)

After their 31-21 win over the Lions, the Colts are 10-4 and currently hold the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoff race. A win in Jacksonville on Thursday would be huge for Indy; it would keep them ahead of the several five-loss teams vying for a playoff spot, and it would avenge a Week 3 loss to the Jaguars in Indianapolis.

"While our reign as AFC South champions has ended," says Peyton Manning, "we'd like to keep our streak of playoff appearances intact. And really, who needs a first-round bye to win the Super Bowl? Certainly not the Manning brothers. And speaking of my brother, Eli, where's all that talk I heard earlier in the year that Eli was the better quarterback? That was just a bunch of 'knee jerks reacting.'"

"Anyway, my knee is fine. The two surgeries slowed me down earlier this year, but all is well now. I've got one more hole in my leg than Plaxico Burress, and I'm still on the playing field. As you've heard me say many times this year, 'If it's shot with a Sony, shouldn't you watch it on a Sony?' In Plaxico's case, 'if it's shot with a Glock, you can't even watch from the sidelines.'"

The Jaguars have been eliminated from playoff contention, but that hasn't diminished their desire to throw a wrench into the Colts' playoff plans. Jacksonville just ended a four-game losing streak with a 20-16 win over Green Bay, and Jack Del Rio was pleased to see some life out of his players.

"I'm not sure if what I saw was 'life' from my players," says Del Rio, "or simply 'less quit' than the Packers. In any case, I challenged my players — you're either with me, or you're against me. That emptied out the locker room faster than the time John Henderson forgot to take his Beano. But I've eased my ways since the Mike Peterson incident. The only things banned from the locker room now are rebels, anarchists, mutineers, Jerry Porter's contract, and Matt Jones' credit cards."

The Colts have something to play for on Thursday, and Tony Dungy never has problems with motivation, nor is there ever internal strife in the Indy locker room. That's probably due to the glory of his righteousness. Colts win, 23-19.

Baltimore @ Dallas (-5)

You have to admire the resilience of this year's Dallas Cowboys. With a new controversy emerging almost daily, the Cowboys have brushed aside the bickering to remain in the playoff hunt. Right now, Dallas has the No. 5 seed, and they control their own destiny; by winning their last two games, Dallas would remain in the #5 slot.

"Let's see," says Tony Romo. "We've got an owner who questioned our toughest player's toughness, a coach who in his winter parka looks like he may float away at any moment, and a wide receiver whose mouth is open even more than he claims himself to be open. Now that's open! But I can't fault Terrell Owens for being jealous of my relationship with Jason Witten. Heck, Jessica Simpson is jealous of our relationship."

"But for all his whining, bitching, moaning, crying, complaining, and other various forms of qualities you normally abhor in a teammate, T.O.'s contributions are imperative to the success of this team. He's a big-play receiver, not to mention one of the best quotes in the league. How can you not love a guy who calls Emmitt Smith and Keyshawn Johnson 'dumb and dumber?' But let's give Emmitt credit. He's made the Monday Night Football pre-game show the highest rated show in the 'viewers who like to play drinking games' demographic. You absolutely cannot get wasted if you drink every time Emmitt mispronounces a word or name."

The Ravens dropped another heartbreaking loss to the Steelers, again losing a second-half lead as the Steelers took the AFC North division crown. Despite the loss, Baltimore is still in line for a playoff bid; they currently hold the #6 seed.

"When I looked into our locker room after the Steeler game," says John Harbaugh, "I saw guys in tears. In other words, there was 'indisputable visual evidence' that our guys were upset. And, if I'm not mistaken, I think that was the only instance of 'indisputable visual evidence' that occurred in M&T Bank Stadium last Sunday."

"I've tried to be very diplomatic with my comments about the officiating on the Steelers touchdown play. It's a very touchy situation. I don't want to be fined for critical comments about the officiating, but most of all, I don't want my comments to end up as fodder in a Coors Light commercial. Brian Billick may not mind his sideline histrionics being lampooned to sell beer, but I do. And that's a fact, Jack."

When you talk about the Ravens, you have to start with their defense. They always bring the pressure. And so does the Baltimore offense, which pressures the Baltimore defense to win games for them. Three field goals won't cut it against the Cowboys. Dallas wins, 22-13.

Cincinnati @ Cleveland (-2)

Nothing says "meaningless December football" like a Ryan Fitzpatrick versus Ken Dorsey matchup in the Dawg Pound with nothing on the line save for bragging rights to the state of Ohio. Two teams that began the season with potential have fallen into the scrap heap of teams more concerned with offseason personnel changes than winning games. The Browns, 10-6 last year, were supposed to contend in the AFC North, while many expected the talent in the Bengals skill positions to place them, at the very least, in the playoff hunt.

"It's been tough to watch it all unfold," says injured quarterback Carson Palmer, "and be helpless to do anything about it. We haven't delivered the goods this year, on the field or off. It's an understatement to say we haven't met our expectations. I mean, come on, there hasn't been one Bengal arrested all year. Not a single DWI arrest, gun violation, or possession charge. That's an amazing tidbit, made even more amazing by the fact that Chris Henry was on the team. It's sad. The most talked about 'joint' on this team has been my elbow. There's been more talk of 'quarterbacks' than 'quarterbags.'"

In Cleveland, Romeo Crenel's job security is in question as the rumors of Bill Cowher and Marty Schottenheimer arriving in Cleveland float in the air like a fluttery Ken Dorsey pass. The Browns were stomped 30-10 on Monday night by the Eagles, as Dorsey was sacked twice and threw two interceptions.

"Look, I've got no problem with the Cowher and Schottenheimer coming to Cleveland," says Crenel. "Heck, I'll even include them in the open tryouts for quarterback next year. But seriously, this team has some difficult decisions to make. The toughest among those would have to be choosing this team's most valuable player? Joshua Cribbs or Phil Dawson?"

Bengals win, 23-20.

Arizona @ New England (-9)

What better way to celebrate a division crown and first-round home playoff game than to lose your next home game, badly, at that. That's exactly what the Cardinals did. After clinching the division and a home-field game in Week 14, Arizona was trucked by the Vikings in an uninspired 35-14 beating. Now, at 8-6, the Cards could very well wrap up their season at 8-8.

"I guess you could say we were 'flat and happy,'" says Kurt Warner, "which also describes my feelings about breast augmentation. I'm sure Matt Leinart feels otherwise. Speaking of Matt, has there been a Leinart spotting lately? Outside of a hot tub?"

"And if we can't get motivated for a home game, how will we get up for a game in Foxboro, where the playing conditions in December are as harsh and unforgiving as a 'tuck rule' interpretation in a snowy, 2002 AFC divisional playoff game? The last time I met the Patriots when they were in a must win situation, they stymied me in Super Bowl XXXVI, indoors, on turf. Just imagine what they'll do to me on natural grass, outdoors, in the New England chill. Everybody knows that in December football, Cold Miser always trumps Heat Miser."

The Patriots left Oakland with a 49-26 win and their playoff hopes intact. Matt Cassel threw for 4 touchdowns, two to Randy Moss, as New England whipped the Raiders in Moss' first game in Oakland since being traded in 2006.

"Four touchdowns," says Randy Moss. "That's awesome. It was definitely a jaw-dropping performance from Matt. And that led to a pants-dropping performance by me, with 2 touchdowns. I'm not stupid, though. I know better than to even simulate a mooning anywhere near the end zone seats in the Black Hole, where pants are optional, and wedgies are mandatory."

"And speaking of simulated moonings, I see that Joe Buck has entered the ranks of paid endorsers. He's pitching Enterprise Rent-A-Cars in commercials that Peyton Manning wouldn't even think of doing. The commercials are not remotely entertaining, much like Buck's commentary. But it's good to see Buck come out of the booth. I'm just wondering when he's gonna come out of that other room."

Will the Cardinals even show up on Sunday? Their playoff seeding is practically set, and they haven't exactly packed their "A" game in four previous trips to the East Coast. So, I doubt even Paul Revere would notice that the Cardinals have shown up in town.

The Pats strike with a balanced offensive attack, rushing for 195 yards and recording 210 through the air. New England wins, 27-20.

San Francisco @ St. Louis (+5½)

St. Louis lost at home 23-20 to the Seahawks last week, but did an official use the Jumbotron in the Edward Jones Dome to call a momentum-changing offensive interference call on Rams receiver Torry Holt?

"He sure did," says Holt. "It's stunning that an official would tarnish the integrity of the game by using a giant video screen to make a call. It's even more stunning that someone would intentionally watch a Rams' replay. I was taken aback by the boldness and brashness of the official, especially when he taunted me by pointing to the giant screen and saying 'Do you see what I see? Way up in the sky, little lamb.'"

The 49ers' chances at an 8-8 season ended with last week's 14-9 loss in Miami, but rest assured, Mike Singletary will have his squad motivated come Sunday against their division rival. Singletary has instilled a warrior-like mentality among his players, which is a direct reflection of his playing style as a hard-hitting linebacker for the Bears.

"I ask nothing of my players that I wouldn't ask of myself," says Singletary. "But I would highly discourage them from ever recording a silly rap song, because you'd think that people would have had enough of silly rap songs. But I look around and see it isn't so."

"Anyway, my goal is to return this team to the glory the 49ers franchise enjoyed in its heyday. I want this team's accomplishments to someday rival those of the great 49er teams of the 1980s and early-'90s. I want players like Shaun Hill, Patrick Willis, and Vernon Davis to be comfortable chatting with Jerry Rice, or shaking hands with Joe Montana, or giving Ronnie Lott a 'high 4½.'"

San Francisco wins, 27-17.

Pittsburgh @ Tennessee (-1)

In what could very well be a preview of the AFC championship game (assuming the Titans regain the form that renders them capable of winning a playoff game), the Steelers head to Nashville to face the Titans, who suddenly don't seem like the fearsome team that stormed to a 10-0 record this year. Tennessee fell 13-12 last week in Houston as a sputtering offense and an uncharacteristically forgiving pass defense led to only their second loss. Compounding those issues, defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth and defensive end Kyle Vander Bosch are out until the playoffs with injuries.

"Hey, I'm gonna take a page from Mike Tomlin's book," says Jeff Fisher, "and refuse to admit I made a mistake even when it's painfully apparent I did make a mistake. Sure, I should have had Rob Bironas kick the field goal for the win, but I didn't, and I feel bad. Trust me, after that decision backfired, I wanted to run away and hide under a rock. But what do you know? Vince Young was already there."

Pittsburgh can clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with a win and Tennessee, as well as complete a tough three-game gauntlet that started in Week 14 with a win over Dallas. The Steelers overcame hated division rival Baltimore last week, holding the Ravens to three field goals and only 202 total yards.

"I think that our last three wins have made us not only favorites in the AFC," says Mike Tomlin, "but favorites in the Super Bowl, as well. I think we've separated ourselves from the everyday, run-of-the-mill teams out there calling themselves 'contenders.' If you're referee Walt Coleman, I guess you could say we've broke 'plain.'"

Even with Haynesworth and Vanden Bosch, the Titans would be hard-pressed to beat the rolling Steelers. The Pittsburgh defense is healthy, meaning the speedy Chris Johnson and the rumbling LenDale White, Tennessee's duo known as 'Dine and Dash' in some circles and 'Fasting and Eating' in others, likely won't see much running room. You want to make a smart decision, Jeff Fisher? Concede home-field advantage throughout the playoffs to the Steelers, and submit a bogus injury report listing several other starters. Get healthy for the playoffs, and start scouting your likely second-round opponent. Pittsburgh wins, 20-9.

New Orleans @ Detroit (+6½)

While the 7-7 Saints chase incredibly long playoff odds, the 0-14 Lions are chasing something, as well. Unlike the Saints, though, the Lions care not to catch the 1976 Buccaneers, the only NFL team to finish a season without a win. Although they have technically equaled the Bucs' loss total, Tampa Bay did it in a 14-game season back in 1976.

"Dad gummit, then!" says Rod Marinelli. "We can't win for losing! I guess that's stating the obvious. But we'd love to win one for the home crowd. Especially since it's easier to win at Ford Field now than it would be to pull out a victory in the frosty climes of Lambeau Field, where I'm pretty sure 0-15 teams have never won a game."

"Anyway, this city deserves a winner. Think about it. You've got the Pistons, Tigers, and Red Wings losing at least 16 games every year. If we can cut our losses to 15, this city would have something to be proud of."

The Saints have lost two of three since Week 12's 51-29 destruction of the Packers. In that game, Sean Payton elected to go for two after a touchdown while the Saints held a 22-point lead.

"The only thing I regret is not converting," says a cocky Payton. "Anyway, as the Lions chase history, tickets to their final home game have become a hot commodity. I haven't seen a ticket frenzy like this since the 'Showtime' Lakers came to town to face the 'Bad Boys' of Detroit back in the 1980s. Let's face it, though. This ain't 'Showtime.' Now, it is close to being the Showtime network, and I believe the top-rated show is Rod Marinelli's coaches show, called 'The L-Word.'"

The Lions' faithful do show up for Detroit's final home game, and they show their unconditional support by joining together for a spirited singing of "O-16 Come All Ye Faithful." Some sarcastically cheer with shouts of "Rah, humbug!" Then, in a final act of defiance, Lions' fans pelt the Saints Reggie Bush with their shoes. New Orleans wins, 30-21.

San Diego @ Tampa Bay (-3)

With a stirring comeback from an 18-point deficit, the Chargers beat the Chiefs in Kansas City to keep alive their slim, but improving, hopes for the AFC West division title. A San Diego win in Tampa, coupled with a Denver loss to the Bills, would set up a final-week showdown pitting the 7-8 Chargers against the 8-7 Broncos.

"We can't allow ourselves to look ahead," says Norv Turner, "unless you're talking about next year. But I'm proud of this team for sticking together and fighting until the end. I think it says a lot about a team when they continue to work hard, even with a record of 6-8. It's not often a 6-8 team is still mathematically alive in the playoffs, so our players are going to make the most of this opportunity, as will I. Is there a better way to justify keeping the head coaching job than boasting how you've led a 6-8 team to the brink of the playoffs, even though said team was an early-season Super Bowl favorite? I think not. For all of those naysayers who think I should be fired, I've got two words for you: go Bills!"

Tampa has lost two in a row, but still holds the sixth-seed in the NFC playoff standings. Earlier this week, it was confirmed that defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin is leaving at year's end to join his son Lane's staff at the University of Tennessee.

"That's two Kiffins lost to the University of Tennessee this year," says Jon Gruden. "I'm kind of stunned that Monte's leaving now, but in fairness, like a true gentleman, he did give me two weeks notice. It will be tough to replace a man of Monte's caliber and defensive experience. Once thing's for sure — his replacement won't be coming from San Diego."

"When our season ends, I'm sure we'll have a big going-away party for Monte. I see no reason why we shouldn't have it on the big pirate ship in our end zone. NFL boat parties are always fun, and imagine the look on Monte's face when out of one of those giant cakes pops his special surprise. I'm talking about Warren Sapp, of course."

Tampa wins, 24-17.

Miami @ Kansas City (+4)

If Miami wins in Kansas City and the Jets win in Seattle, Week 17's contest between Miami and New York in the Meadowlands will be for the AFC East crown. The Dolphins have won three in a row to position themselves in the center of the East race, and while it's impossible not to look towards that Week 17 matchup, it could be disastrous to overlook the Chiefs in Arrowhead, where the Chiefs are always tough in December.

"Hey, I've got no reservations about playing the Chiefs in Arrowhead," says Ricky Williams. "Where there's Chiefs, there's peace pipes. And I'm guessing there will also be 'smoke signals,' which is what I used to call phone calls to my dealer. But those halcyon days of youth are behind me, as are the days of waking up by a campfire on a beach in Tahiti and wondering how I got from that opium den in Shanghai to Tahiti in the first place, in two hours!"

"It's all part of life's great journey, as is the Dolphins' road from 1-15 last year to a possible AFC East title this year. The only difference is that I'll remember this leg of the journey."

In Kansas City, general manager Carl Peterson resigned in the wake of the Chiefs' 2-12 record, which included last week's stunning 22-21 loss to the Chargers in which the Chiefs blew a 21-3 lead. Chairman of the Board Clark Hunt said the future of head coach Herman Edwards would be determined at a later time.

"Herman's job is safe for now," says Hunt. "There's only one scenario I see in which Herman won't finish the year, and that's if he miraculously acquires the ability to 'take a hint.'"

Will the chilly temperatures forecast for Sunday at Arrowhead hinder the effectiveness of the warm-weather Dolphins? Probably not. Miami's power running game and short, efficient passing attack is built for below-freezing weather. Heck, it gives Ricky Williams a warm feeling of good times past when he can see his breath. Miami wins, 23-9.

Buffalo @ Denver (-7)

Is it possible for an official not to reverse a call on a Jay Cutler fumble? It seems to be a league-wide conspiracy amongst officiating crews that every Cutler fumble should be reversed and called incomplete. Last week in Charlotte, a Cutler fumble was reversed under the ambiguous definition of the "tuck rule," even though the ball clearly traveled backwards when Cutler released it. Now, I'm no expert on the tuck rule, but should the tuck rule even apply in that situation? How can a pass be declared incomplete when it travels backwards?

"Hey, I'm no fool," says Mike Shanahan. "You think a red challenge flag is all I carry in my back pocket? I've got referees back there, too. If you want a clarification of the 'tuck rule,' then good luck finding it. The 'tuck rule' can't be clarified, simplified, or quantified; it can only be deified. It's taken on a mystical-like quality; the more people try to explain it, the less sense it makes, and the more its legend grows. Show me a 'tuck rule' expert and I'll show you someone who can legitimately talk out his ass."

In an instance of mysterious play-calling last week against the Jets, the Bills called for a J.P. Losman roll-out when a running play seemed the wiser option. After all, Buffalo held a 27-24 lead with the two-minute warning approaching, and the Bills had been successful running the ball. Losman fumbled, and the Jets Shaun Ellis picked it up and returned it for the game-winning score.

"That defeat is on my shoulders," says Dick Jauron. "I overruled my offensive coordinator on that call. I'd say it was the most unwise football decision by the Bills organization since the front office signed me to a contract extension earlier this year. But I can't dwell on that anymore. We have the Broncos in Denver to worry about. I going to go up there and coach like it's my last game."

Bills win, 22-21.

NY Jets @ Seattle (+3)

Brett Favre and the Jets head to Seattle with the hopes of keeping their playoff aspirations alive. A miracle finish last week gave the Jets an unlikely 31-27 win over Buffalo, as Shaun Ellis' 11-yard return of a J.P. Losman fumble late in the fourth quarter gave New York the victory.

"Wow!" says Favre. "Ellis sure did leave the stadium buzzing. No, seriously, he was high as a kite when he left here. And I was feeling no pain myself."

"But I'm excited to play in Mike Holmgren's last game in Seattle. We made sweet music together when we both were in Green Bay, and we won a lot of games. Most of all, though, I'm excited to travel to Seattle because I believe our flight path from LaGuardia goes directly over Green Bay. It's not that I need another reason to look down upon Green Bay, but I'll take it anyway."

"I don't expect Mike and the Seahawks to make it easy for us. They're professionals, and come on, what professionals just lay down and give something away?"

For the opening coin toss, injured Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is rolled out to midfield in a wheelchair. Hasselbeck calls tails and wins the toss, then excitedly announces that 'we'll defer to the second half and we're going to win the game!" Then, Favre's first pass is intercepted by Marcus Trufant and returned for a touchdown. Seattle wins, 20-17.

Houston @ Oakland (+7)

With an upset 13-12 win over division rival Tennessee last Sunday, the Texans have won four in a row, evening their record at 7-7. Wide receiver Andre Johnson recorded 207 receiving yards and a touchdown against the Titans' tough pass defense, and leads the NFL in receptions and receiving yardage.

"We're peaking at the right time," says Johnson. "Unfortunately, we bottomed out much too early for a four-game winning streak this late in the season to matter. But we've embraced the role of spoilers, which is a role we'll have to temporarily relinquish in Oakland, because the only thing to 'spoil' in Oakland is the warm glass of milk beside Al Davis' sleeping quarters. No, the milk's not there for Al to drink; it's supposedly there to ward off rival mummies. Yeah, it sounds crazy. But that's what you get when you accept advice from a two-bit, faux-gypsy, county fair, carnival fortune teller as gospel. I think that's where Al also gets his team management advice from."

There isn't much the Houston "Spoilers" can deny the Raiders, although denying the Raiders the chance to improve to 4-11 would really get me excited. Who will the Texans kick harder? Themselves, for their 3-7 start, or Oakland? Houston wins, 26-22.

Atlanta @ Minnesota (-3)

At 9-5, with a one-game lead over the Bears, the Vikings are in the driver's seat for the division crown and a first-round home-field playoff game. And with two home games remaining, one against the Giants, who will have nothing to play for after Sunday's game against Carolina, Minnesota's playoff chances look very bright.

"Hey, there's a lot to be said about home-field advantage," says Brad Childress, who, despite being afflicted with male pattern baldness, seems to be having a lot of "good hire" days lately. "And, there's even more to be said for home-court advantage. That's what you get when a Minnesota judge extends the injunction of Pat and Kevin Williams' suspensions. I think Pat and Kevin have learned that only one thing beats a good diuretic, and that's a good lawyer."

While Roger Goodell has been making a list and checking it more than twice, the 9-5 Falcons have been checking the playoff tie-breaking procedures. Right now, Atlanta is out of the playoff loop, trailing the Cowboys and Bucs in the wild card race.

"Nothing comes easily in Minnesota," says Mike Smith, "except controversy. If it's not a 'sex boat' controversy, it's a drug scandal. If it's not a drug scandal, it's a courtroom drama. If it's not a courtroom drama, it's a near-naked Visanthe Shiancoe frolicking in the Vikings locker room. So, as you can see, 'controversy' in Minnesota is like the hired guns on a Lake Minnetonka carnal cruise — sandwiched between naked Vikings."

Meanwhile, tickets to the "Visanthe Shiancoe Toga Party on Lake Minnetonka" are sold out.

Vikings defensive tackle Pat Williams is out for 2-6 weeks with a fractured shoulder. That may give Michael Turner a little room to run, but probably not much. For Atlanta to win, Matt Ryan will have to do it through the air, and he's capable. Atlanta wins, 27-23.

Philadelphia @ Washington (+5)

With their 30-10 win over the Browns on Monday night, Philadelphia remained on the cusp of the playoff picture. To qualify, the Eagles need to win their remaining two games, and need either an Atlanta or Tampa Bay loss.

"I don't want to even imagine the implications of an Atlanta or Tampa game ending in a tie," says Donovan McNabb. "I'm sure our playoff possibility will come down to a tie-breaker. Luckily, I've been studying up on NFL playoff tie-breaking procedures, and believe it or not, the 12th tie-breaker is 'quarterback's knowledge of whether or not regular-season games can end in a tie.' If it comes to that, we're screwed."

While the Redskins are still technically alive in the playoff hunt, their recent performance on the field has not reflected that. Washington has lost three in a row.

"Hey, just like Redskins Pro Bowl voters," says Jim Zorn, "we've 'packed it in.'"

Washington wins, 23-21.

Carolina @ NY Giants (-3)

In the NFC's battle for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, the streaking Panthers head to the Meadowlands to face the Giants, who have lost two straight. New York's troubles began with Plaxico Burress' inadvertent shooting, and with the passing game devoid of its most dynamic weapon, the G-Men have sputtered on offense, and failed to score a touchdown in last week's 20-8 loss to the Cowboys.

"Sure, we miss Plaxico," says Eli Manning, "but it's no reason to go ballistic. The foundation of this offense is still solid. Everyone, including our offensive linemen, as well as Plaxico's gun, is guilty of a false start every now and then. We all must learn from our mistakes. That goes for Plaxico, as well. Personally, I'd want to forget the time I nearly blew off the family jewels, but not Plaxico. He's going to wear his bullet wound like a badge of honor. And, in true thug fashion, he's having the words 'Slug Life' tattooed across his abdomen."

The Panthers are hitting on all cylinders, with their running game clicking and Steve Smith showing why he is arguably the most dynamic wide receiver in the game. In three weeks, Carolina has gone from a team unsure of its playoff future to a team on the verge of clinching home-field advantage.

"I think we've provided the blueprint for a successful year," says Jake Delhomme. "What's the secret? I'll tell you. Go ahead and get your 'loose cannon' incident out of the way early in the year. Steve Smith made his mistake by punching Ken Lucas at the beginning of the year. I think Ken would be the first to tell you that he'd sacrifice his face if the only other option for Steve to take out his frustration was shooting himself in the leg. Unlike the Giants, we can't do without our Steve Smith."

"We realize the magnitude of this game. If we win, we're 'number one without a bullet."

Smith catches eight passes for 95 yards and a touchdown, and John Kasay kicks the game-winner in the fourth quarter. Carolina wins, 22-20.

Green Bay @ Chicago (-4)

The 8-6 Bears are hot on the tails of the 9-5 Vikings in the NFC North race, and by game-time, they'll know whether the Vikings won on Sunday. Either way, Monday night's game is a must-win for the Bears.

"We'll have to go out there and play Chicago Bears football," says Lovie Smith, "and hope that doesn't keep us from winning. We are desperate for a spot in the playoffs. The only way to get it is to play your way into it. Unlike Illinois Senatorial seats, playoff spots can't be bought for six figures. Not that Governor Rod Blagojevich hasn't tried to sell it to me. He's also tried to pawn off on me a collection of pictures involving President-elect Barrack Obama in compromising positions. Despite its tasty title, 'The Obama Sutra,' I've politely declined."

The Packers are officially out of the playoff race, and now, all that's left is the crying, and the identification of a scapegoat. Green Bay players spent much of last Sunday's 20-16 loss in Jacksonville trying their best to locate that scapegoat, with a lot of finger-pointing, arguing, and accusations.

"The players aren't to blame for our failures," says Mike McCarthy. "If you want to blame someone, don't look at them. If you want to cast stones, you need to look firmly, squarely, and directly in the direction of Brett Favre. Hindsight is 20/20, which in this case means than 20 out of 20 Packers fans would love to witness the sight of Ted Thompson and I getting our hinds kicked. It's not that Aaron Rodgers hasn't played well. It's that Favre never would have allowed this team to quit. His departure has had 'Favre'-reaching implications, and if you believe in miracles, it's not too 'Favre'-fetched to think that Brett will return to Green Bay."

Matt Forte rushes for 115 yards and a touchdown, and the Bears keep their North title hopes alive with a 30-23 win.

Posted by Jeffrey Boswell at 11:30 AM | Comments (0)

December 17, 2008

Praise For the Heels, X-Men

This is always the weirdest time of the season in college basketball. On one hand, you have teams that, for the most part, have a quarter of their seasons done. Yet, there's also been a dearth of conference games, giving the accurate impression that we haven't seen a whole lot yet.

As fans of sports, we need organization in some way, or multiple ways. This is why every website that covers any or all major sports has to have about three sets of polls or power rankings every week, despite the fact that all of those said sports have standings. In college basketball right now, with the exception of a few conferences (kudos to the conferences that do), there are no standings.

The other bit of organization that has yet to fall into place is the RPI. There's no rule where fans can only start looking at the RPI after New Year's, but taking too much of it into account now could lead to very dangerous assumptions like Northwestern being a Top 10 team. So, the only thing left, then, to do at this point is to actually look at teams and how they've been performing.

In my season preview, I almost dismissed how great North Carolina could be, and quietly thought that surely they couldn't live up to the hype and absurd undefeated season predictions some gave them. They've somehow exceeded those expectations thus far. This was seen especially in the Maui championship game a few weeks ago, a 15-point win over Notre Dame that is also the Tar Heels' closest contest of the year.

In that game, you got the feeling like the Irish were doing just about as well as they could offensively, and sometimes defensively. Yet, when the Notre Dame defense slacked off for a couple possessions, North Carolina took advantage and kept taking advantage well after the Irish got their bearings back on. It also helps for the Heels that Luke Harangody plays possibly the worst defense of any top player in the nation and was absolutely eviscerated by Tyler Hansbrough.

Seeing as how I am a skeptic when it comes to the topic of potential greatness in this sport, you have to wonder if it's a case of too much, too soon. I usually am of the opinion that Roy Williams takes an unfair amount of blame for not having more titles, but his record with teams that look similar to this in the early stages of a season (Kansas in '97 and '98, Carolina last year) speaks for itself. And if there's one thing 2008 has shown us in sports, it's that nowadays, you absolutely can not afford to peak early and then hope that your 80 percent is better than the 100 percent everybody will be throwing at you.

(By the way, let's put aside the whole undefeated thing. If they win at Wake Forest on January 11, and then at Duke a month later, let's talk.)

One team I didn't expect to be nearly as good as the Tar Heels, or even their 2007-08 selves, is Xavier. Last season, Stanley Burrell, Josh Duncan, and Drew Lavender were all seniors for the X-Men in their Elite Eight run. Guard C.J. Anderson, as well as forwards B.J. Raymond, Derek Brown, and Center Jason Love were all part of the team that was a game away from San Antonio, and have all stepped up to fill the void.

Last year's Musketeers were an excellent offensive team, averaging 1.12 points per possession (the national average is right around 1). This year, though, Xavier is really getting it done on the defensive end, allowing just 0.84 per possession. And the part reason for that comes from the team's size. With the exception of freshman guard Terrell Holloway, every player that gets significant minutes on the Musketeers is 6'5" or taller.

The way that Sean Miller (and to a degree, Thad Matta before him) has been able to turn the Crosstown Shootout with Cincinnati into not only an annual Xavier win, but the far and away better program as well has been remarkable. Everyone remembers how good Cincinnati used to be, but it's been over half a decade since the Bearcats were as good as Xavier is now. Of course, it couldn't have helped when Cincinnati had that disastrous period of PR that culminated in having three head coaches in just over a year.

Posted by Ross Lancaster at 11:29 AM | Comments (1)

December 16, 2008

NFL Week 15 Power Rankings

Five Quick Hits

* Soap opera-level drama with this whole Terrell Owens/Ed Werder conflict. Owens sure isn't mincing any words.

* Interesting exchange on NFL Network, with Rich Eisen defending Werder: "I worked with Ed Werder for seven years. He's not a liar." Deion Sanders comes back and basically says, yes he is, then Steve Mariucci chimes in: "Well, I worked with T.O. for six years." Intense.

* Man, Tony Romo just can't play in December, can he? What a choker.

* I don't follow Arena League Football, but I was sad to see that they've suspended the 2009 season. Here's hoping for a full comeback in 2010.

* Two very good NFC teams are going to miss the playoffs. The Buccaneers, Cowboys, Eagles, and Falcons are fighting over two spots.

***

I don't know whether Walt Coleman is incompetent or evil. Until this week, Coleman was most famous as the referee of a snowy postseason game played in New England on January 19, 2002. More generally, fans who care about this sort of thing frequently mention him as the worst referee in the NFL. I tend to agree with that, mostly (but not exclusively) because Coleman has very strange ideas about what does and does not constitute "indisputable visual evidence."

Early in the Ravens/Steelers game, Baltimore challenged the spot of a play that resulted in a Steeler first down. The television announcers, Jim Nance and Phil Simms, were in absolute agreement that the spot would be overturned. They were wrong, and at the time, I was dumbfounded that Coleman thought the tuck rule was indisputable, but this was not.

Coleman wasn't finished, though. He had saved the grand finale, which you've probably seen by now. With 50 second remaining in the game, the Ravens were up 9-6. Pittsburgh had a third down on the four-yard line, with one timeout remaining. Ben Roethlisberger, after some scrambling, tossed a pass to Santonio Holmes. The receiver caught the ball with both feet clearly in the end zone, but he was leaning out of the end zone to catch the pass, and fell forward as he made it. The line judges on both sides of the field ran in, each one signaling the ball down at the ½-yard line.

The replay booth correctly initiated a replay challenge, but multiple replays didn't show clearly whether Holmes had possession with the ball breaking the plane of the end zone. It was a textbook case of a replay that did not constitute "indisputable visual evidence" — whatever the call on the field was, it had to stand. Not in Coleman's world. I've seen the replay two or three dozen times, and I still don't know if the ball broke the plane — it's very, very close. Reasonable people can disagree about the correct call. What was not reasonable was to overturn the call made by a line judge who initially ruled the ball down in the field of play.

The notion that the goal line play at the end of the game featured indisputable visual evidence, and the replay in the first half did not is absolutely not credible. To make matters even worse, when Coleman announced that he was overturning the call on the field, he didn't mention anything about the ball breaking the plane. It raised questions about whether Coleman even knew the rules. I don't know whether Walt Coleman is incompetent or evil, but he's at least one or the other. This man has no business being a referee in the NFL.

Brackets indicate previous rank.

1. Pittsburgh Steelers [3] — I am really uncomfortable with ranking them first after a game they might or might not have deserved to win. But I don't know who else to put here, and in the last three weeks, Pittsburgh has beaten three 9-5 teams. Plus, this defense deserves to be mentioned among the best of all time.

2. Baltimore Ravens [5] — What a game from punter Sam Koch, who put four punts down inside Pittsburgh's 10-yard line. Koch is on my short list of all-pro punter possibilities. The Ravens play at Dallas on Saturday night, and if they lose, they probably won't make the playoffs. That would be a shame, because this is a very good team. It's certainly better than anyone from the AFC East or West.

3. Indianapolis Colts [4] — NFL-best seven-game win streak, but they've mostly been beating up on weak competition since their victory in Pittsburgh at the beginning of November. Peyton Manning has posted a passer rating over 90 in six of those seven games. It's a little disconcerting that Indianapolis was the only team all season not to record a sack when playing the Lions.

4. Carolina Panthers [6] — Based on the last two weeks, they could be ranked first, and I suspect a lot of other power rankings will put them there. But can they do it on the road? Carolina was 8-0 at home this season, outscoring opponents 234-111. On the road, the Panthers are 3-3 and have been outscored 153-119. Their best road win was at San Diego in Week 1. If they beat the Giants in New Jersey next week, I'll put them in the top two.

5. Dallas Cowboys [8] — The defense has been fantastic recently. The Cowboys had eight sacks on Sunday night, their most in 11 years. DeMarcus Ware posted his second 3-sack game in the last three weeks. He now has 19 sacks and a realistic shot at the single-season record of 22.5. I really think it would be a mistake not to keep Wade Phillips as head coach.

6. Philadelphia Eagles [9] — Wow. Chris Berman thinks Donovan McNabb is better than Norm Van Brocklin, Joe Namath, and Brett Favre. He's the "greatest quarterback ever to wear green and white?" Van Brocklin was a nine-time Pro Bowler, Hall of Famer, and league MVP. I have always liked McNabb, but there is absolutely no way that (as both Mike Tirico and Berman said on Monday night) he is the best QB ever to play for the Eagles. Van Brocklin is.

7. New York Giants [1] — If you look at successful teams through NFL history, most of them stay unusually healthy, and for most of this season, the Giants were really healthy, with no significant injuries since the start of the regular season. Now they're missing Brandon Jacobs, Plaxico Burress, and Fred Robbins. They lost two starting offensive linemen on Sunday night. Speaking of that, why on earth didn't the Giants give some help to poor Kevin Boothe, who got repeatedly schooled? Eli Manning has been sacked 23 times this year, more than half of those against the Cowboys.

8. Tennessee Titans [2] — I heard Jeff Fisher explaining that windy conditions influenced his decision to go for it on 4th-and-3 instead of trying a game-winning 50-yard field goal. But Tennessee's offense had struggled all day, and they tried a high-risk pass instead of giving a shot to one of the best kickers in the league, who had already nailed a 51-yarder earlier. Still, I might have ranked them as high as first if Albert Haynesworth were healthy. Reports say that Haynesworth sprained his MCL, and will miss the last two games, but should be ready for the playoffs.

9. Atlanta Falcons [12] — Third triple-sack performance of the year for John Abraham, who has a career-best 15 for the season. Running back Michael Turner had another huge game (32 att., 152 yards, TD), but I remain concerned about his workload. The Falcons should prioritize finding a secondary back this offseason. They need someone who can be for Turner what Turner was to LaDainian Tomlinson.

10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers [7] — Run defense got burned for the second week in a row, and now ranks 20th in the NFL. That's going to be a real problem if the Bucs make the playoffs. Tampa can still win the NFC South by winning its last two games, both at home, against the Chargers and Raiders. Carolina would have to lose its last two games, at the Giants and Saints. That's not out of the question.

11. Minnesota Vikings [15] — This could be a really dangerous team in the playoffs. Minnesota is 6-1 since its bye, and in the last four games, the Vikings are 4-0 and have more than doubled their opponents' score. Jared Allen has three straight games with multiple sacks. It will be interesting to see how much the injury to DT Pat Williams affects Allen and his teammates.

12. New England Patriots [13] — Wonderful performance by Matt Cassel, whose father passed away earlier in the week. The Patriots will make the playoffs if they win their remaining games (against Arizona and at Buffalo), and Baltimore loses to Dallas. If the Ravens win in Week 16, New England's path to the postseason is more complicated and much less likely. The Pats are not going to make the playoffs if they finish 10-6, but they could miss out even at 11-5.

13. New York Jets [11] — Horrendous tackling in their near-loss against Buffalo. The Jets had a really good three-game run (Weeks 10-12) and haven't looked particularly strong since. Kris Jenkins, after his huge start to the season, has really slowed down, and the rest of New York's defense has gone with him.

14. Miami Dolphins [16] — The masters of close, unimpressive victories. The Dolphins have won seven of their last eight games. Four of the wins have been by less than a touchdown, and only one was by double-digits. Against the 49ers, Miami had fewer yards, barely half as much time of possession, and fewer than half as many first downs as their opponent.

15. Houston Texans [20] — They have a very real chance to finish this season with a six-game winning streak. Houston has won four in a row, including their first defeat of the Titans since 2004. Andre Johnson leads the NFL in receptions (103) and receiving yards (1,408).

16. Arizona Cardinals [10] — Tim Hightower averages 2.9 yards per carry, the lowest of anyone with at least 125 attempts. J.J. Arrington is averaging 5.9 yards per carry. Forgive my stating the obvious, but that's more than twice as much. He should be starting ahead of Hightower.

17. Chicago Bears [18] — Impressive performance from Devin Hester as a receiver on Thursday night. He only had 4 catches for 46 yards, but drew 2 penalties for 77 yards, setting up a touchdown and the game-winning field goal. With Matt Forte banged up, Hester was the difference for Chicago's offense.

18. New Orleans Saints [14] — They're 5-1 at home and 1-6 on the road (plus 1-0 in London, which I refuse to count as a home game). I don't understand how a team's play can change so dramatically based on the setting.

19. Denver Broncos [17] — Offense ranks second in yards and 15th in scoring. That's a really nasty failure to turn yards into points. The Broncos commit too many turnovers, and they seldom get good field position because their defense and special teams aren't any good. They can clinch the AFC West with a win against Buffalo in Week 16, or a Chargers loss in Tampa.

20. San Diego Chargers [19] — Beat Kansas City by one point again. This was San Diego's fifth game this season decided by 1-2 points. With Tomlinson useless (15 carries, 39 yards), quarterback Philip Rivers put San Diego's offense on his back and led them to a must-have comeback victory. Rivers actually has a decent argument to be this year's all-pro QB. He's fifth in passing yards (3,515), tied for first in TDs (28), and leads the NFL in passer rating (101.4). With Drew Brees and Kurt Warner coming back to the pack a little bit, Rivers deserves real consideration.

21. San Francisco 49ers [22] — One of the few teams that seemed to deal pretty well with that much-hyped West-to-East travel this season. Granted, the Niners were 1-4 outside the Pacific Time Zone (pending this week's visit to St. Louis), but they had pretty close games against decent teams.

22. Jacksonville Jaguars [26] — Where has Dennis Northcutt been all season? With leading receiver Matt Jones suspended for the rest of the season, Northcutt filled in by leading the team with 127 yards and a touchdown, plus 1 carry for 9 yards. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams reportedly will not be retained next season, which is not surprising when you consider his recent performance, but is a pretty shocking fall from grace for a guy considered one of the top two or three HC prospects in the league three years ago.

23. Green Bay Packers [21] — Officially eliminated from playoff contention, and they've lost four straight after starting 5-5. If the Packers drop their last two games, at arch-rival Chicago and home to Detroit, I think Mike McCarthy may need to look for a new job in 2009.

24. Buffalo Bills [25] — See, this is why I couldn't be a head coach. Up by three with 2:06 remaining, the Bills were running out the clock on an upset victory. They were running the ball effectively, not for 15 and 20 yards, but they were picking up first downs and the Jets couldn't stop them. Then, inexplicably, they put the ball in the hands of backup QB/turnover machine J.P. Losman. He fumbled, and the Jets ran back the recovery for a game-winning TD. I couldn't be a head coach, because I would have fired whoever called that play on the spot. Actual head coach Dick Jauron took the responsibility himself.

25. Washington Redskins [23] — The inmates are running the asylum. Clinton Portis has more influence, both in the locker room and with the owner, than head coach Jim Zorn. Santana Moss did a showy touchdown celebration while his team was losing to the Bengals by double-digits. It's about the individual personalities here, rather than the team. The defense continues to perform decently, but I don't think the offensive players respect their coaches.

26. Cleveland Browns [24] — I did about three double-takes on Monday night before I got used to hearing Tirico call Cleveland's quarterback "Kenny Dorsey." Whether you call him Ken or Kenny, Dorsey did not have a good night. For the season, his completion percentage is 47.8%, but even more remarkable is his dismal 3.3 yards per pass attempt. Dorsey's passer rating is 37.4. In comparison, Josh Cribbs, whose one pass attempt was incomplete, has a rating of 39.6.

27. Kansas City Chiefs [27] — Carl Peterson, who runs the team's football operations, will leave the team at the end of this season. That could also spell the end of the line for head coach Herm Edwards, with whom Peterson had a very good relationship. Whoever coaches this team next year will have a promising, but very young, group of players.

28. Seattle Seahawks [28] — Got their third win of the season, but only one of those three wasn't against the Rams. It will be really interesting to see whether the Seahawks field a real team in 2009. Injuries aside, this is basically the same group that won a playoff game last season.

29. Cincinnati Bengals [30] — They're 1-2-1 against the NFC East, and 1-9 against everyone else. Even the two losses were close. They took the Giants to overtime in Week 3, and scared the Cowboys in Week 5, trailing by just one point halfway through the fourth quarter.

30. Oakland Raiders [29] — Lane Kiffin's role model among ex-Raider coaches is obviously Mike Shanahan. Kiffin hired away Oakland's offensive line coach, James Cregg, for his staff at the University of Tennessee, and Kiffin's replacement, Tom Cable, is — in his own words — "pissed." Contrast this with the graciousness which has surrounded Doug Marrone's exit from New Orleans. Marrone, the Saints' offensive coordinator, is leaving to become head coach at Syracuse, and the good will between Marrone and the organization he leaves behind is enough to make you a little nauseous. Dallas is a poor imitation of Oakland, the NFL's real dysfunctional family.

31. St. Louis Rams [31] — Donnie Jones is averaging a gross of 50.2 yards per punt, which would be the second-highest single-season mark in history, but Jones is not one of the ten best punters in the NFL this year. He kicks in a dome, which is a huge advantage, and Jones has absolutely no hang time. Of his 70 punts, only six have been fair caught, worst of any regular punter in the league. His punts get returned an average of 10.8 yards, which is also one of the worst figures in the league. The goal is to get good field position, not to hit line drives that look good in the statistics.

32. Detroit Lions [32] — Calvin Johnson had a hand injury this week and was listed as questionable on the injury report. He did end up playing, though, and had a pretty nice game: 9 catches, 110 yards, and a touchdown. Steve Mariucci said on Sunday night, "Calvin Johnson's gonna be a great player." Mooch, he's already a great player. Johnson is one of the 10 best wide receivers in the NFL.

Posted by Brad Oremland at 11:54 AM | Comments (0)

2008 Tennis Christmas Wish List

Yes, it's that time of year again. Thank you so very much for all taking time out of your busy schedules to read my column, and thank you for visiting Sports Central in 2008.

I have gotten a lot of responses this past year, and I enjoy each and every one of them. I have gotten some suggestions for my wish list, and I have read them carefully and considered each one. So, if you see something here that you suggested, well, then you got through this thick skull of mine just in time. Here we go:

Dear Santa,

I have been relatively good this year, even though Venus and Serena are mad at me. I tried not to be too judgmental, and I really, really tried to be good. So, if you think I qualify, pleases grant these 10 wishes for me and for tennis this holiday season:

10. Less Maria Sharapova commercials. Yes, we know that she is a top player, and she did inherit the throne from Anna Kournikova, but please, can we see less of Maria? Not because I don't love Maria, or how she plays, but I am really tired of seeing that dog, "Dolce." He's not her real dog and well, he can't even fit a tennis ball in his mouth.

9. The survival of all the tennis racquet manufacturers, big and small. The world economy is hurting. Even though you deliver a lot of tennis products during the holiday season, things are bad enough that possibly some of the bigger companies and definitely some of our smaller ones may not be able to weather the storm. From the biggies, Babolat, Prince, Head, and Wilson, to the nichies (is that a word?) like Avery and custom manufacturer Vantage, please keep our industry alive and maybe even vibrant. The last time our world economy was down, tennis took off.

8. More Serbians. Okay, I said it. The best thing to happen to tennis in a long time are Novak Djokovic, Jelena Jankovic, and Ana Ivanovic. Fun, interesting, workhorses, and just great stories from a tiny country that less than a decade ago was tearing itself apart. Lets see them finish in the top three in 2009, please.

7. More Dinara Safina, no more Marat Safin. Despite the obvious backlash I'll get from the Marat Mafia, Marat will never, in my opinion, truly meet his great potential. Little sister Dinara, however, really came into her own at the end of 2008 and I think she can dominate on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in 2009. She is colorful (though not as colorful as her big bro) and has a great game to complement it. Maybe a Safina/Ivanisovic 2009 Aussie Open final to start the year?

6. An American to finally figure out how to play top-level tennis on the ATP Tour. My good friend Eugene King seconds that and adds, "How about more top-level American tennis players, period?" Now before you listen to everyone on this, please, Father Christmas, understand that I really do love watching James Blake play. Alas, I think James has hit his peak. Lower top 10 is the best he'll do. Andy Roddick, well, he now has to compete with some of the younger players who have found their games. Is there anyone waiting in the wings that can make me forget about Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe?

5. More Andy Murray, and please, Santa, let him get the title at the Big W in 2009. After the bombshell news that badminton is now the number one racquet sport in England, it's clear he stands alone, no matter what the LTA has tried. Tennis needs some history, and wouldn't it be grand for England to have a home champion on the green lawns finally? Oh, and Andy, get a hair cut for 2009, as well. You are in the top four, time to look the part.

4. A serve for Elena Dementieva. Somehow, she managed to finish number four in the women's world tour and still hasn't developed a usable serve. Hey Elena, Jimmy Connor's serve wasn't a big weapon, but he was consistent and learned how to use it. You should hire Jimmy to teach you how to serve or at least use what you have more effectively. I'm rooting for you in 2009. I always hope that you can be number one some day.

3. A free home makeover by V Starr Interiors, done by Venus Williams herself. Venus, if you are reading this, I'm trying to sell my three bedroom, two bath beach house, but in this economy, I need something extra. I know I've been a critic in the past, but maybe you can bring some of that "calm, pleasure, joy and peace" to my home. Make it sell fast. If you are still too mad at me, maybe the man in the red suit can convince you to send one of your team instead.

2. More great tennis matches. You really couldn't get much better than Roger Federer/Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, and there really wasn't a really bad big match in 2008. For tennis' sake, please bring some huge television-happy matches with the stars and also some really great matches with the up-and-comers. More tennis on network television, please. I can't get the Tennis Channel by itself, and I can't afford in this financial times to buy 600 hundred hockey games, 300 college football replays, and all the sports I don't want to see just to get the Tennis Channel and most of the tennis coverage. NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX, please, can you help Santa give this to me and the tennis world in 2009? I thought so.

1. Mirka Vavrinec a wedding ring. There, I said it. It's not like you don't act married, it's not like you aren't the only woman in Roger's life. He isn't number one anymore, so he doesn't have to worry about the "marriage curse." Roger is a legend, and maybe the greatest male player to step on a court. But it's time. Roger, you don't need Santa for this one. Mirka gave up her tennis career for you. She is by your side 24/7. She has paid her dues and more, and well, you are the first couple of tennis, as close to tennis royalty as it comes. You are the king. Be a man, make her your queen.

So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed it, and feel free to add to my list by commenting below. From the team here at Sports Central, have a happy, healthy holiday season and keep coming back for more in 2009!

Posted by Tom Kosinski at 11:23 AM | Comments (3)

December 15, 2008

The Top 10 Coaches of 2008

It's bowl season in America.

It's the time for some programs to revel in their team's success, enjoying the fruits of their labor as they head to a warm, sunny locale (well, Boise doesn't count) for one last hurrah of the season. For Florida and Oklahoma, naturally, it means much more than that.

However, it's also that time of year when athletic directors are at their busiest, working at all hours of the night to secure extensions — or buyouts — and state their direction for the future of their program.

With that in mind, it's time to name the 10 best coaches of 2008. Some should be looked at hard by athletic directors with "vacancy" signs posted on the office door of their football coach. Others can't be touched, but should be looked at for how they run a program, as well as the assistants that they hire.

So, with a final laugh to Auburn, here we go.

10) Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern — He took over during difficult circumstances at his alma mater, and has done nothing since but move the program in a positive direction. NU went 9-3 in the regular season, and the young Fitzgerald seems to have learned quickly how to build a successful football program.

9) Gary Patterson, TCU — It seems as though every year, very quietly, Patterson and the Horned Frogs end up with a solid year. Don't think lightly of TCU, whose only two losses were to Utah and Oklahoma, who both are headed to BCS games. The Frogs also were the only team besides Texas to hold OU to 35 points. This guy is the real deal, and should be getting a lot more looks than he is.

8) Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State — Seems as though there is a big jump between 40 and 41. Gundy went from yelling, "I'm a man!" to Cowboy fans yelling, "He's the man!" The Cowboys had a solid season, earning their way into the upper echelon of Big 12 teams. A lot of that had to do with Gundy, who let the players do the talking on the field, especially Dez Bryant. The road win at Missouri was outstanding, and Gundy has made the Bedlam game one to watch for years to come.

7) Chris Petersen, Boise State — It's not easy to keep winning with a large target on your back. Peterson, however, does just that. Boise State went undefeated again, and in the process, took out Oregon in a fantastic early-season shootout. Unlike the three coaches before him, though (Houston Nutt, Dirk Koetter, and Dan Hawkins), Petersen is more than happy to stay in Boise, which is the best news Bronco fans could ask for.

Side note: I never thought I would say this, but I am pumped for the Poinsettia Bowl. Boise State and TCU? That's going to be a great one!

6) Bobby Johnson, Vanderbilt — Vandy is going bowling. Repeat that. Vandy is going bowling. The impossible statement is now a reality. Bobby Johnson did something that no one in the South could ever imagine possible. Vandy is no longer the doormat or cupcake of the SEC. That alone speaks to the quality of his coaching tenure.

5) Kyle Wittingham, Utah — Everyone was looking at in-state rival BYU to run the table, but it was Wittingham's Utes who stormed through the Mountain West undefeated. Sure, the Michigan win didn't carry the usual magnitude, but Utah is going to a BCS game for the second time. And how about that win over BYU? That was a surprisingly easy win for Utah and proof again that Wittingham has easily stepped out the shadow cast by one Urban Meyer.

4) Mike Riley, Oregon State — After they lost to Stanford, I said no. After Penn State slaughtered the Beavers, I said no chance. But the miraculous fact that Oregon State was playing Oregon at the end of the year for a chance at the Rose Bowl says more than enough about Riley's ability to quickly gel talent into a solid team. Jacquizz Rodgers is going to be a star under Riley, and the future looks bright for Oregon State. Riley has also made Corvallis the most feared place for Trojan fans everywhere.

3) Brady Hoke, Ball State — If you hadn't read the article by Jason Whitlock, it will say plenty about why Brady Hoke is one of the best coaches out there. This guy had no office to work from, he was being paid less than the women's basketball coach, and he still goes out and produces one of the best mid-major teams in the country. Hoke will be at San Diego State next year — just think of what Hoke can do for the Aztecs now that he'll have an office!

2) Turner Gill, Buffalo — Buffalo was the biggest joke running in FBS football until Turner Gill started roaming the sidelines. The Bulls won the MAC in incredible fashion, and are finally getting the chance to play in a bowl game (they declined their first invite). The Bulls have an exciting offense, and a very opportunistic defense (ask Ball State). Gill should move up to a BCS conference school in the near future, but regardless, the foundation that Turner Gill built for the Buffalo program will keep the Bulls among the MAC's best for years to come.

1) Nick Saban, Alabama — Last year, they finished 7-6 and lost to UL-Monroe. This year, they went 12-1 and were minutes away from playing in the national title game. Saban has been worth every penny to the Tide faithful. He turned John Parker Wilson into a decent quarterback, he made the 'Bama lines some of the best in the country, and he recruited some incredible talent for the upcoming years, most notably WR Julio Jones. To run the table in the regular season in the SEC is difficult enough, but Saban pulled it off with just nine scholarship seniors on the team. That's right, nine. Love him or hate him, the guy knows how to build a football program, and this year, he showed the football world that Alabama is back.

Posted by Jean Neuberger at 11:44 AM | Comments (2)

In the Rotation: NBA Week 7

'Tis the season for a lot of things: roasting chestnuts, being bitten by Jack Frost, etc.

It's also the season for making wish lists. Whether you wish for world peace, a rebound in the economy, or a shiny new bike, nearly everyone has a holiday wish list made out by now.

NBA fans are no different. Whether it's wishing for an NBA record (Carmelo Anthony's 33 points in the third quarter last Monday), a hot start (Boston is a franchise best 22-2 to start the season), or a blockbuster trade (Jason Richardson to the Suns isn't exactly A.I. or Chauncey Billups switching teams, but is significant nonetheless), NBA fans have been wishing for, and receiving, a great NBA season so far.

But not every wish list is the same. While most lists are usually packed full of items you don't already have. My list is just the opposite.

In today's Starting Five, I break out my holiday wish list of five NBA things that I wish I'd never seen again.

Starting Five

1. No More Jump Balls

How silly is it that each game still starts with a jump ball? It never goes smoothly. Never. Either the ref throws the ball too high, not high enough, or someone ends up stealing the tip. We need to do away with it completely.

I suggest a good old fashioned "shoot for it." You take two starters, sort of like choosing who shoots the technical foul free throw, and put them at the top of the key to shoot three-pointers until someone misses. First player to miss, the other team gets the ball. It's that simple.

If we're being honest here, who wouldn't benefit from this? The teams have the luxury of having their best shooter heat up directly before the game starts. The fans have the privilege seeing a shooting display that will elicit "ohhs" and "ahhs," as well as generate a bit of excitement before the game even starts. And the league does away with the one aspect of the game, the jump ball, that the referees have the hardest time with.

It's a win-win-win situation. Yet when you turn on the games tonight, they will all surely start with some sort of botched jump ball situation where the end result is basically "screw it, we'll just play on from here."

2. No More Fan Voting For the All-Star Starters

I understand that this isn't exactly a ground breaking revelation, but it never gets old.

As if we needed further proof that the fans rarely get it right when selecting the all-star starters, Allen Iverson has enough votes as of right now to be a starting guard for the Eastern Conference. The same Allen Iverson that is averaging below his career averages in points, assists, steals, rebounds, and field goal percentage. The same Allen Iverson who ranks in the top 15 in just one statistical category (A.I. currently sits 14th in the league with 1.6 steals per game). The same Allen Iverson who trails Devin Harris in virtually every statistical category.

I realize that John Q. Basketball Fan would rather see an aging superstar with a big name start over an up-and-coming star, but nobody, not the league, not the players, not the fans, not the All-Star Game itself, benefits from having better players sit behind more popular players during the All-Star Game.

It's inevitable that at least one player who has no business even being an all-star will end up starting the game (I call it the Vince Carter rule), but it never becomes easier to accept.

3. No More Games in Standard Definition on the NBA League Pass

I don't understand how this works. Sometimes the games are being broadcast in HD locally, the League Pass has available HD channels that aren't being used, yet for some reason, subscribers of the League Pass can't get the game in HD.

At least once or twice a week I'll scroll through the list of games, only to be disappointed that the best game of the night is not available in HD. Then, in an attempt to kick me while I'm down, the announcers will without fail talk about how the game is being broadcast in crystal clear HD courtesy of some local sponsor.

Not from where I'm sitting.

It's a problem, and I hope the league finds a way to fix it sooner rather than later.

4. No More Talk about the Summer of 2010 This Season

We get it; there could be some big name free agents in July of 2010. Really, we do. In the meanwhile, we're going to crown two NBA champions, two MVPs, 10 first-team All NBA players, and so on.

I'm as guilty as anyone, writing just three short weeks ago about the potential free agent class of '10, but it needs to stop. The transaction game within the game has the real possibility of overshadowing the next two NBA seasons, and it would be a real blow to the league if people are so caught up in the LeBron sweepstakes that they forget to admire the immense talent that has the whole world buzzing in the first place.

It's already started, with the ratio of stories about LeBron headed to New York compared to the Cavs' record-breaking start sitting at about 50-to-1 right now. Hopefully as we near the stretch run and the races for MVP and playoff seeding heat up, the 2010 hot stove talks cool considerably.

If not, fans might miss out on some of the finer points of the game, you know, like who actually wins the next two NBA titles.

5. No More Job Security For Bad Coaches

Okay, so this is one wish that has already come true. Since last week, we've lost two more head coaches, Randy Wittman and Mo Cheeks, putting the tally at five NBA coaches that have lost their job already this season.

I mentioned last week that the record for coaching changes midseason is nine, so we are halfway there. And with Hang Time's Reggie Theus and Memphis' Marc Ivaroni just an inevitable four-game losing streak or embarrassing home loss away from being the next victim, we're pretty much already at seven.

That means that we're just three coaches away from setting the record. We can do this. The question isn't will we have 10 coaches fired? It is who will be the record-setting 10th coach fired this year?

Will it be an in-over-his-head first-time coach (this means you, Vinny Del Negro), or a savvy veteran coach who is obviously keeping his job based on reputation and not on success (Mike Dunleavy, Sr. anyone?).

It could be someone you wouldn't think about at first, maybe the coach of an underachieving playoff contender gets the ax to light a fire under the team with a month or two to go in the season (Byron Scott?).

Whoever the unlucky head man ends up being, he can take solace in the fact that even though he lost his job due to overall ineptitude, he was able to do so in record setting fashion.

In the Rotation: Darko Milicic

Finally, Darko shows signs of life. I don't care that he's seen a decline in virtually every major statistical category from a season ago; we've finally seen something impressive out of Darko.

I can't imagine how tough it is to rip an NBA jersey right down the middle like that, but I like to assume it ranks somewhere close to tearing a phonebook in half.

Darko will go down as the worst draft pick in NBA history and undoubtedly finish his career somewhere overseas, but his impressive feat of strength lands him in the rotation for the first (and almost certainly last) time in his underwhelming career.

Out of the Rotation: NBA Fan Night on NBA TV

I've held off for as long as I could, but I can remain silent no more. The combination of Gary Payton and Chris Webber has to rank as the all-time worst tandem in television history. They make Joe Buck and Tim McCarver look like Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon.

NBA TV has taken the Turner Sports approach of a host and two analysts having unscripted banter, put their own spin on it, and this happened.

TNT has the perfect mix of Kenny "The Jet" Smith and Charles Barkley taking shots at each other between the valid points they make.

On NBA TV, you've got Gary Payton, with one arm the desk and cocking his head back and to the left like he's taking direction from Kevin Costner's character in "JFK," making ridiculous statements. (This week's gem came when he said Tony Parker wasn't an elite point guard because he missed a potential game-winning jumper. For the record, Parker has shot 48% or higher in each of the last five seasons. Payton accomplished that only five times in his 17 NBA seasons.).

All the while, C-Webb is trying to talk over Payton to get the last word in, resulting in nearly every segment ending with the two of them laughing and forgetting what the topic was, then Ahmad Rashad uncomfortably sending it to commercial.

Unfortunately for the NBA, this Tuesday night train wreck has become, for better or for worse, must-watch television for all the wrong reasons.

Inactive List: You Decide: Glen Davis or Kevin Garnett

In case you missed it, here's what happened: during a timeout Kevin Garnett ripped into Glen Davis to the point that it ended with Davis in tears at the end of the bench. Here's the video.

However, I'm completely torn on who should be made inactive after that exchange.

On the one hand: why the hell is Kevin Garnett berating his teammates in front of everyone with a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter? Yeah, he's an intense guy, or he wears his emotions on his sleeve, or whatever. Call it what you want, but it's completely classless to rip a teammate like that on the floor. Take issue with him in the locker room, or at film session, or somewhere where 20,000 people and infinite TV cameras aren't watching you treat your teammates like garbage.

On the other hand: Glen Davis is a grown man! How on earth can you stand there and listen to someone belittle you to the point where it causes you to burst into tears without telling him to stop? At no point, in any walk of life, is it acceptable to have another grown man yell at you in public and respond by putting a towel over your head and crying.

I can't decide whose behavior is more worthy of this week's inactive list, so I'm leaving it up to you, the reader.

The question is simple: who should be made inactive this week, Glen Davis or Kevin Garnett?

Leave your answer in the "comments" section and we'll let the fans decide who spends the week shamed by being put on the inactive list.

It's not as much responsibility as, say, voting for the all-star starters, but at least there's a chance we'll get it right.

Be sure to check back at Sports Central every Monday to see who cracks Scott Shepherd's rotation as he breaks down what is going on around the NBA.

Posted by Scott Shepherd at 11:35 AM | Comments (6)

December 12, 2008

How John Swofford Killed the BCS

This is another column whining about how college football needs to reform its Division I postseason. But it's got a little more sauce to it than that, a proposal that means it has no chance of becoming reality, as opposed to the normal slim chance.

I'll get to John Swofford in a minute, but first, let's get something out of the way: I really dislike the BCS. In this column, I will argue for a playoff, but I also believe that the traditional bowl system is superior to the BCS. The current system makes no one happy. Well, no fans, anyway. It's my understanding that the people making millions of dollars on it are fairly content.

The BCS title game — to say nothing of the other BCS bowls — has had a major controversy almost every season. Having said that, the BCS is the basis for my playoff proposal. I want to keep the BCS as a basis for choosing playoff teams, using the top eight teams, with one exception: any team that is undefeated and has at least ten wins against I-A opponents (or whatever you want to call them these days) automatically gets in.

For example, this year my playoff would include Oklahoma, Florida, Texas, Alabama, USC, Utah, Texas Tech, and Boise State. The first round would look like this:

Oklahoma (12-1) vs. Boise St. (12-0), Florida (12-1) vs. Texas Tech (11-1), Texas (11-1) vs. Utah (12-0), Alabama (12-1) vs. USC (11-1)

Those are all exciting matchups, I think. In a rematch of the instant-classic 2007 Fiesta Bowl, Boise St. gets a chance to prove its undefeated credentials against number one Oklahoma. Florida and Texas Tech is a really interesting matchup, and an early test of the Big 12/SEC debate. Texas gets an immediate challenge against the best undefeated team in the country. And Alabama/USC is a coin-flip, maybe the most compelling and competitive game in the bunch.

The winner of OU/Boise gets the winner of ‘Bama/USC, and the winner of Florida/TT plays the winner of Texas/Utah. Champs advance and play for a national championship decided on the field.

Now, if you're a fan of the Big Ten, Big East, or ACC, you might notice something missing from my playoff scenario: any of your teams.

Let's start with the ACC. Virginia Tech, the conference champion, is 9-4, ranking 19th in the BCS, 21st in the AP poll, 19th in the Coaches' Poll, and 22nd in the Harris Poll. There is no reasonable argument to be made that four-loss VT deserves to compete for the national championship. In fact, this conference hasn't produced a BCS-worthy team in almost a decade.

The last eight ACC champs have all lost their bowl games. In the last seven seasons, the ACC champ's average BCS ranking has been 11th. What makes the ACC champ more worthy than the best teams from Conference USA (East Carolina, 9-4, beat VT), the MAC (Ball St, 12-1, beat Navy), the Mountain West (Utah), or the WAC (Boise St.)? These days, the Mountain West and WAC produce top teams just as frequently as the ACC.

Don't believe me? Let's look at the 2004-08 seasons, every year since Boston College, Miami (FL), and Virginia Tech joined the ACC. Renaming them Conferences X, Y, and Z, let's look at their highest ranked teams every year for those five seasons. In each case, I've used the final AP poll (most recent for '08).

	X	Y	Z
Best	5th	7th	4th
2nd	9th	9th	6th
3rd	12th	10th	11th
4th	19th	18th	14th
Worst	—	21st	16th

Which conference looks best to you: X, Y, or Z?

Conference X looks the weakest, since there's a year where no team from that conference made the final Top 25. Conference Y is the only one with three top-10 teams, but hasn't gotten anyone higher than 7th. Conference Z looks best to me. It's second-best team ranks higher than Y's best, and its worst finish, 16th, is better than the second-worst finish of X or Y.

Conference Z is the Mountain West.

Even if you don't think Z's top teams are better than the top teams from X (WAC) and Y (ACC), it's obviously pretty close, and that's the point. The ACC champ doesn't stand out from the MWC and WAC champs any more. Top-to-bottom, the ACC is still better, but it hasn't produced a serious national title contender since Florida State in 2000, and it doesn't deserve an automatic bid. The point of a playoff is to get championships decided on the field instead of in the corporate offices.

What about the Big East? It rebounded surprisingly well from losing its three best teams, but it's not much better than the ACC.

	WAC	MWC	Big East
Best	5th	4th	5th
2nd	9th	6th	6th
3rd	12th	11th	6th
4th	19th	14th	12th
Worst	—	16th	25th

Again, I think this is pretty close. Maybe you give the edge to the Big East, maybe you give it to the Mountain West. But even the WAC is close here. The Big East doesn't stand out. Look at the average ranks for the best teams in these conferences: Mountain West 10th, Big East 11th, ACC 13th, WAC 14th. That's about even.

I'm not saying teams from the ACC and Big East can't or shouldn't compete in the playoff. I'm just saying they have to earn their way in. In fact, I'm saying the same thing for every conference. The SEC looks so strong that it's hard to imagine a year when no one makes the top eight, but if that happens, so be it. Don't lose twice next year.

That's where the Big Ten is this season. Do I feel weird that Penn State (11-1, 6th in AP poll) isn't in my hypothetical playoff? Yeah, I do. But I'd rather leave out Penn State than Texas Tech or Boise.

Boise State is undefeated. The Broncos dealt Oregon its only home loss, won at Nevada, and whomped Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, Hawaii, and Fresno State by a combined 151-27. Those are four bowl-bound teams they blew out. The Broncs are ninth in the the polls, but there's simply nothing more they can do. They beat everyone on their schedule, routing most of them. You can't leave Boise State out of this process.

Everyone agrees that Oklahoma, Florida, Texas, Alabama, USC, and Utah need to be in this, and Boise makes seven. That leaves Texas Tech or Penn State for the eighth and final spot.

Texas Tech can make an argument for being just as good as Oklahoma and Texas. The Red Raiders are 11-1 against a tough Big 12 schedule, including wins over Texas, Oklahoma State, and Nebraska. Their one loss came against top-ranked OU in Norman. They clearly have a case here.

Penn State has also had a nice season. Like the Raiders, they're 11-1. They beat Ohio State in Columbus and destroyed Oregon State and Michigan State, beating both by more than 30 points. Their loss came in a road game against Iowa.

So why are the Nittany Lions behind Texas Tech? Because the BCS computers hate Penn State. The Nittany Lions rank sixth in all the human polls (AP, Harris, Coaches), but they're ninth in the computer averages. A distant ninth, even. Texas Tech is fourth in the computer rankings. And in a case like this, when two pretty equal teams have identical records, I actually trust the computers.

Humans see a Big 10 champ who won in Columbus and the third-best team in the Big 12, favoring the former. The computers, seeing a team that lost to unranked Iowa and a team whose only loss came against the best team in the country, prefer the latter. What the computer averages show is that Texas Tech played a significantly harder schedule than Penn State this season. The Red Raiders faced some extremely soft out-of-conference competition, but they also played two of the top three teams in the country and three of the top 15. Penn State faced the 10th-ranked Buckeyes and the 18th-ranked Spartans. Jeff Sagarin ranks Penn State's schedule as 61st in the nation. The top of Texas Tech's schedule — which is the part of the schedule that really matters — is mucher tougher than Penn State's.

Penn St			Texas Tech

at #10 Ohio St		at #1 Oklahoma

#18 Mich St		#3 Texas

#24 Oregon St		#13 Oklahoma St

at 8-4 Iowa		8-4 Nebraska

at 7-5 Wisc.		at 7-5 Kansas

5-7 Illinois		at 7-5 Nevada

5-7 Temple		at 5-7 K-State

at 4-8 Purdue		at 4-8 Texas A&M

at 3-9 Syracuse		4-8 Baylor

3-9 Michigan		1-11 S. Methodist

3-9 Indiana		I-AA E. Washington

I-AA Coastal Carolina	I-AA Massachusetts

Do I believe that Texas Tech is definitely better than Penn State? No, I do not. But I believe they've earned a rematch in the Big 12's three-way tie. More to the point, though, who cares about the eighth team? In a given year, there are probably no more than five or six teams who can legitimately claim that they deserve a shot at the national title. We only invite eight to get a round number. You want to get into that top eight? Don't lose to Iowa. Besides, is either team likely to beat Florida, much less win three straight for the national championship? Uh-uh.

What I'm proposing isn't just an eight-team playoff. It's the end of conference privilege. Everyone has to earn their way in. No more automatic bids, for any of the major conferences, any of the mid-majors, or any of the independents.

So how does John Swofford play into all this? Swofford is the Commissioner of the ACC and the former Chairman of the BCS. He's the one who stole BC, Miami, and VT from the Big East. Somehow — and don't ask me why, because I don't know — adding those teams made the ACC worse. It also caused the Big East to dramatically re-tool, primarily by raiding Conference USA, which was the sixth-best football conference in the early 2000s. The C-USA realignment led to additional conference realignments affecting most mid-major football conferences.

Since that time, traditional ACC/Big East powerhouses like Florida State and Miami (FL) have stagnated, while teams like Boise State, BYU, Hawaii, TCU, and Utah have become important players on the national level. If anything destroys the BCS, I believe it may be watching undefeated MWC and WAC teams repeatedly passed over — not only for the pretend national championship, but for any BCS bowl — in favor of mediocre conference champions.

And if that happens, fans across the country — the estimated two-thirds of us that want a playoff at the highest levels of college football — will have reason to thank Mr. Swofford, the man who helped kill the BCS.

Posted by Brad Oremland at 11:55 AM | Comments (3)

The Green-and-Golden Age Renaissance

Green vs. Yellow means a lot to us NBA nuts. The 2008 NBA Finals was the most anticipated, most hyped championship series since the Bulls and Jazz in 1998 and with good reason. The Lakers and the Celtics are essentially the Hatfields and McCoys of any NBA Finals index. Thumb on through the list of matchups from 1959 on and you'll see Lakers vs. Celtics an astonishing 11 times.

The 1970s were essentially skipped over, with the two teams winning titles, but missing each other in the Finals, while the '90s saw little success from either team and only one Finals appearance from the Lakers in '91.

When the teams did meet often, the 1960s and '80s, they were two teams that defined their respective eras and the NBA as a whole. The Elgin Baylor/Jerry West (and later, Wilt Chamberlain) Lakers of the '60s were essentially basketball's Brooklyn Dodgers, perpetually coming up just short in all six encounters against the equivalent of the New York Yankees in Bill Russell and Bob Cousy's Celtics.

The Larry Bird/Kevin McHale/Robert Parish vs. Magic Johnson/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar/James Worthy battles of the '80s gave us three heavyweight fights akin to Muhammad Ali/Joe Frazier. The Lakers took two of the three head-to-head series in 1985 and '87, while the Celtics' win in '84 was nothing short of a seven-game masterpiece.

So we salivated in 2008 to see a new generation of faces on each side. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett vs. Kobe Bryant with the supporting cast of Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol. The series sure would have been tougher for the Celtics to pull out had the Lakers held on to their 24-point lead in Game 4. As it stands, The Comeback became the Celtics' signature moment, and with a 39-point blowout win in Game 6 for the clincher, it left many feeling the Lakers' effort for the series was lacking.

At the time, we saw it as a rare treat. Tired old San Antonio and Detroit had dominated play in each conference over the last few years and it was kind of a jolt to see a reprise of the classic matchup when both teams had been lost in the doldrums just a year before. Yet now it is quite possible that this could be a reoccurring trend.

Anyone could see the Celtics would defend the crown with the same ferocity with which they earned it. Garnett and Pierce have enough fire to burn down the city of Boston brick by brick, and the even-keeled Allen has enough ice water in his veins to balance the equation out. The team-first approach (say it with me now ... umbuntu!) so successfully employed by coach Doc Rivers ensures that they will not lose sight of the goal. By the way, Boston has come out 20-2 at the quarter mark of this year's season.

The Lakers were favored going into the Finals last year, but after they were dusted in Game 6's 131-92 debacle in Boston, it was only natural to question the team's heart as well as if these were the right pieces in place around Kobe Bryant. If they were to come out flat in 2008-09, few would be surprised. Instead, they used the defeat to fuel them to return to the top and have come out to an 18-3 rampaging of the Western Conference. They almost certainly have their Christmas day rematch with the Celtics at Staples marked on their calendar.

Certainly, it doesn't hurt them to have a healthy Andrew Bynum at their disposal, a weapon they could not count on in their 2008 playoff and Finals run. Bynum's emergence has bumped center Pau Gasol to the power forward slot and relegated former Kobe sidekick Lamar Odom to sixth-man duties. Odom joins Trevor Ariza, Sasha "The Machine" Vujacic, and Jordan Farmar as perhaps the most talented second unit in the NBA.

Developing alongside this story is the fact that the West suddenly does not appear to be the same power conference it was in last year's playoffs. Sure, Denver and Portland are much stronger. Denver having traded out the cancerous Allen Iverson for team leader Chauncey Billups and his NBA title ring while Portland has thrived with its young nucleus and a healthy (relatively speaking) Greg Oden finally showing the world his big man skills.

But these are teams with relatively little experience in winning. Denver regularly makes the playoffs and all but plans out their first round loss while Portland has yet to reach the round of 16 in quite some time. So what about the traditional powers? The Suns have faltered with former coach Mike D'Antoni in New York. Amare Stoudemire is considerably frustrated as the offense now runs through old man Shaq. San Antonio is not off to the dominant start they are used to due to injuries to Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, who have since recovered. While the Spurs can be deceptively quiet in the regular season, it is possible that this long-running Spurs core could be on its last legs.

The Celtics, meanwhile, have to worry about Cleveland and Orlando as the LeBrons are challenging for the best record in the East, as well as the league. Having taken the Celts to the absolute limit in last year's Conference Semis, the Cavs may have the best shot to dethrone the champs. However, they may still have to shed the image of the one-man team in order to do that. The Celtics still get the edge to repeat out East.

So one quarter into the season, when faced with the question who are the league's two best teams, you'd still be hard pressed to say anything but the Celtics and Lakers. In a league where upsets don't come often, the chances of another Celtics/Lakers Finals in 2009 seem bright. When faced with the question of which team is better right now, the answer to that may be your greatest Christmas gift of all.

Posted by Bill Hazell at 11:26 AM | Comments (1)

December 11, 2008

NFL Weekly Predictions: Week 15

Note: the quotes in this article are fictional.

New Orleans @ Chicago (-3)

The Saints and Bears are both 7-6 and alive in the extremely tight NFC playoff race. Despite being last in the NFC South, the Saints could pull out a wild card berth, but would need to win out, and would also need help from several teams, as well as some higher powers, such as the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy, for example.

"Basically," says Sean Payton, "we need every team ahead of us in the NFC standings to lose every one of they're remaining games. Sure it's unlikely, but when hoping for such unlikely events to happen, it helps to have faith in such entities as the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy."

"As for the Bears, it's always difficult playing at Soldier Field in December. It will be cold and dreary, with no signs of pink pull-ups or painted fingernails. One thing's for sure: Chicago is a difficult place to play, if you're the opposing team, and it's a difficult place for a boy to become a man, if you're Brian Urlacher's son."

Chicago trails the Vikings by a game in the NFC North standings, and with the North likely to send only the division winner to the playoffs, the Bears can ill afford to fall two games behind.

"We're not in a position to look for help from anyone other than ourselves," says Lovie Smith, who insists on being addressed by his nickname, "Lovie," as opposed to his given name, Mrs. Thurston Howell, III. "Although we surely won't turn down help from the office of the commissioner in the form of the upheld suspensions of Minnesota's Kevin and Pat Williams, and the Saints' Deuce McAllister, Charles Grant, and Will Smith. Those would all benefit us. Hopefully, the NFL will have its way and Roger Goodell will prove that he not only 'wears the pants' in matter such as this, but also keeps those pants up with 'suspenders.'"

Saints win, 27-24.

Tampa Bay @ Atlanta (-3)

A week after losing the battle for first place in the NFC South at Carolina, the Buccaneers take to the road again, this time facing the Falcons, whom the Bucs beat in Week 2. The Panthers avenged an earlier loss to Tampa by rushing for 299 yards and 5 touchdowns. Atlanta's hopes for revenge lie on the legs of Michael Turner, while the Bucs' game plan is intent on stopping him.

"It's unconscionable that we gave up 299 yards on the ground," says a perturbed Jon Gruden. "That's not Tampa football. I'm not sure if Monte Kiffin's head was completely into the Carolina game. It sure didn't look like it. It seemed to me that Monte's thoughts were somewhere else, which makes me want to put my foot 'somewhere else.' If Monte wants to go to Knoxville, it's only common courtesy to give me fair warning, and any other Van Halen albums he chooses. I'll really miss Monte if he leaves, particularly his defensive knowledge, but mostly the smell of mothballs and Old Spice. Monte's old and faithful, and just like 'Old Faithful,' he's a 'geezer.'"

Turner was held to 42 yards on the ground in Atlanta's 24-9 loss to the Bucs in Week 2. In most of their victories this year, success on the ground by Turner has opened up the passing game. If Turner, the NFL's second-leading rusher, can find success early against the Tampa defense, Matt Ryan should find more one-on-one matchups to exploit in the passing game.

"That's called 'Turn' and Burn,'" says Ryan. "Now, in Atlanta, when someone says 'Turner,' Michael's is the Turner to which they're referring. In times past, when someone said 'Turner' in Atlanta, it was often in reference to 'Ted,' or sometimes in reference to a 'trick,' depending on one's vicinity to a sleazy juice bar or a Waffle House."

Turner rushes for a short score, and Matt Ryan hits Roddy White for a touchdown pass. The Falcons get their revenge, 23-19.

Detroit @ Indianapolis (-16½)

With the NFL's longest winning streak at six, the Colts are positioning themselves for a playoff push that will likely start on the road against either the AFC East or AFC West champion. Indy is 9-4, and with a 10-6 record not necessarily looking good enough for a wild card spot, the Colts would like to register two more wins just to be sure. One of those victories will likely come against the winless Lions.

"We're more than happy to be hosting the Lions in the comfortable confines of Lucas Oil Stadium," says Peyton Manning. "Did you hear that? I just pitched Lucas Oil and didn't even realize it. And I didn't even get paid for it, which is truly amazing. Anyway, we've started a tradition in our new home in which the name of every team we defeat is placed on our 'Wall of Victims,' which is also unofficially known as getting 'lubed up.'"

"But seriously, we're in good position as far as seeding goes. Obviously, we'll be a No. 5 or No. 6 seed, which puts us in line face either Denver or the AFC East champion, which may not be determined until late in Week 17. I'm confident we can go anywhere and win, and win 'going away.' However, I would be a bit apprehensive about a January trip to snowy Foxboro, although knowing that Tom Brady is somewhere cuddling with Giselle Bundchen and not on the field of play eases my mind a bit."

Detroit lost 20-16 last week to the Vikings in a game the Lions could have easily won. The Lions took the lead into the fourth quarter, but Ryan Longwell's field goal sealed it for Minnesota.

"Hey, let's not read too much into Dominic Raiola's obscene gesture to our fans last Sunday," says Rod Marinelli. "I don't think he's going to win over any fans acting like that. It's just another case of a Lion going winless. But Dominic meant no harm. He was just indicating where we'll be selecting in the 2009 NFL Draft. I guessing we'll take a quarterback, unless Matt Millen uses the same evil mind games that kept him around for eight years to trick us into taking a wide receiver. Of course, if they asked me, which they probably won't, although I wouldn't be surprised if they asked me to leave, I'd say pick Georgia's Matthew Stafford, if he declares for the draft. He's got all the skills you'd want in a young quarterback, although he lacks the brute strength and adorable smile of a Tim Tebow. But we're looking for a franchise player, not someone who looks good with a baseball cap and a clipboard."

Indianapolis wins, 38-13.

San Diego @ Kansas City (+4)

The Chargers were impressive in Thursday night's 34-7 win over the Raiders, but it is probably a case of "too little, too late." San Diego is 5-8 and trails the 8-5 Broncos by three games. If the Chargers win their next two games, and the Broncos lose their next two, then the season's final week could see a Denver at San Diego game with the division title on the line.

"That's the matchup everyone wants to see," says Philip Rivers. "A Chargers/Broncos matchup is already a huge rivalry. Plus, Jay Cutler and I hate each other's guts for reason unbeknownst to us and anyone else. Toss in playoff implications, and referee Ed Hochuli suspended in a cage high above the stadium, and you've got the makings of a classic."

To even get to that point, the Chargers needn't look past the Chiefs, who have been slightly more deadly at home (1-5) than they have been on the road (1-6).

"I know it's been a frustrating year for the Chargers," says Herman Edwards, "just as it has been for us. But I'm a 'glass half-full' kind of guy. Ask the right lady in a local bar, and she'll tell you the same thing about Larry Johnson, while she wipes the other half off her face."

San Diego wins, 20-10.

Buffalo @ NY Jets (-7)

What's going on with the Jets? After upsetting the undefeated Titans in Week 12 and being anointed Super Bowl-caliber, New York has lost two in a row, including last week's 24-14 loss in San Francisco.

"I wish I could explain it," says Brett Favre. "Not our two-game losing streak, but the definition of the word 'anoint.' Is that what Shaun Ellis with a lisp would make with some rolling paper and marijuana? However, unlike those times when I discuss retirement, I'm at a loss for words to explain our troubles. It's times like these that the word 'retirement' starts creeping back into my head. Boy, if I had a nickel for every time that happened."

"Against the Bills, we'll have to control the clock with our running game, which is apt to produce longer gains than our pedestrian passing game. Against the 49ers, we lost the time of possession battle. Winning the time of possession battle is usually a good indication that you'll win the game. Now, as far as Ellis' arrest for marijuana possession, he'll tell you that 'time of possession' apparently wasn't long enough to smoke it. Otherwise, he wouldn't have 'possessed' any to be charged with 'possession.'"

With last week's 16-3 loss to Miami in Toronto, the Bills joined the Chargers as the only teams in the NFL to lose in two countries this year. Buffalo totaled a paltry 163 net yards, and has lost six of seven after a 5-1 start.

"I guess you could say we've gone 'down the river' since our 5-1 start," says Dick Jauron. "But at least we're not headed 'up the river,' like O.J. Simpson. The 'Juice' is headed to prison in Nevada for a long time. The good news: there's a much better chance he'll find the 'real killers' there. The bad news: instead of worrying about the recovery of souvenirs, O.J.'s likely to become one."

Jets win, 20-12.

Seattle @ St. Louis (+3)

NFC West bottom feeders face off as the 2-10 Seahawks visit the 2-10 Rams, with the winner getting out of the division cellar. It's the final year for Mike Holmgren as Seattle coach, and in an injury-riddled year, it hasn't been the "ride off into the sunset" that Holmgren had hoped for. Assistant coach Jim Mora, Jr. will take over for Holmgren in 2009.

"Oh, there's been plenty of rides off into the sunset," says Holmgren. "They've just been on injury carts. But I'm not one to make excuses, although I do have this laminated, color-coded, 8x11 sheet listing several, should you be interested in hearing some."

"But I have the utmost confidence in Jim Mora's coaching ability, despite the fact that here in Seattle, he's even closer to the University of Washington, which happens to be his real 'dream job.'"

In St. Louis, the Rams have lost seven in a row, and like the Seattle coaching situation, there is likely to be a "passing of the torch" in the near future. Jim Haslett's prospects to maintain the head coaching job grow dimmer with each loss. And it doesn't help that Haslett has a chilly relationship with running back Steven Jackson, the Rams best player, a loosely defined term.

"Hey, torches are best used for one purpose," says Jackson. "In the hands of enraged villagers when they want to run a monster out of town. Just ask Frankenstein. Coach Haslett doesn't have bolts in his neck, but he is one hard-headed son of a gun. Me? I have the talent to be a one-man wrecking crew. The problem is, I'm never sure whom I'm going to wreck — the opposing team with touchdown dashes, or the Rams with fumbles and the inability to play hurt."

Suffice it to say the Rams are neither "great," nor a "show," although they are definitely a "spectacle." And "turf" would care not to be associated with them anymore. The Rams are in a sad state, which brings a tear to Dick Vermeil's eye. Then again, what hasn't?

Jackson sucks it up, and the Rams play the kind of inspired football that led them to wins over the Redskins and Cowboys earlier in the year. Jackson rushes for one score and catches a touchdown pass from Marc Bulger.

St. Louis wins, 27-20.

San Francisco @ Miami (-6½)

The Dolphins have won two straight and again share the AFC East lead with the Jets, who have lost two in a row, and the Patriots. Should they claim the division crown, Miami will have completed a remarkable turnaround from a 1-15 season last year. Quarterback Chad Pennington has made all the right moves at quarterback, and linebacker Joey Porter has anchored the defense and leads the NFL in sacks with 16½.

"When the 'Tuna' talks," says Bill Parcells, "people listen. At least that's the case in a downtown Bangkok, Thailand X-rated cabaret show. Or so I'm told. When I talk, people listen as well. I've resurrected the careers of Pennington and Porter. Pennington doesn't make mistakes; he doesn't throw the ball far enough to. And Porter finally realized that listening is just as important as being heard. He still doesn't know when to shut his mouth, though. That's earned him the nickname 'The Miami Sound Machine.'"

The 49ers have won three of their last four games, including last Sunday's 24-14 win over the Jets. Interim head coach Mike Singletary has made a strong case to have the "interim" tag removed and be officially named San Francisco's head coach.

"If I don't get the head coaching job," says Mike Singletary, "then I'll be forced to take legal action against the 49ers administration for their failure to hire a minority. That minority being a coach who likes to drop his pants in the locker room as a coaching tool. Hey, I'm a hard-working guy. I'm no slacker, although I am a 'no slack'-er. If they don't give me the job, then I'll drop my trousers again. This time, I won't be facing them."

The AFC East title is up for grabs. It all comes down to which team, the Dolphins, Jets, or Patriots, is willing to go 3-0 down the stretch, then bask in the spoils of victory, which likely will include a home date against the Baltimore Ravens, a pummeling that, if it doesn't result in an outright loss, will certainly render the victor weary for a road game in the second round.

Miami wins, 23-20.

Green Bay @ Jacksonville (+1)

In lieu of the pre-game national anthem, both the Packers and Jaguars have agreed that it would be fitting if Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' "Free Fallin' filled the public address system before kickoff. The visiting Packers have lost three straight and watched helplessly as the Vikings and Bears have pulled away in the NFC North race. Jacksonville has dropped four in a row, and the team seems increasingly ambivalent as the season winds down.

"In most situations," says Jack Del Rio, "I love Tom Petty. For example, there was the time I banished Mike Peterson while 'Don't Come Around Here No More' blared in the background. That was classic."

"But let's be serious for a bit, which, ironically, is something I've been telling my players for weeks now. I don't know if they're just being 'careless,' or if they could 'care less.' Honestly, though, nothing has gone right for us this year. If it wasn't injuries on the offensive line, it was insubordination, or losing to the Bengals. Now, to compound things, our best receiver, Matt Jones, has been suspended for the final three games after his appeal of his substance abuse suspension was upheld. That's ridiculous. No, not the fact that his suspension was upheld. But the fact that the NFL doles out harsher penalties than the legal system. There's a message for the kid in this story — if you really want to do cocaine, become a white NFL wide receiver."

In Green Bay, a season that started with lots of promise has quickly disintegrated in the midst of a defense that has been unable to stop the run. The Packers are also 3-4 in storied Lambeau Field, and lost to the Texans, a warm-weather team, even as game-time temperatures hovered in the single digits.

"Hey, theories abound as to what our problem is," says Aaron Rodgers. "Is it me? Is it the defense? Is it the curse of Brett Favre? It could be any of those. But there's one unexplored explanation that hasn't received any publicity at all. Could it possibly be that it's the coach, Mike McCarthy? Could it be that instead of 'jetting' Favre, this organization should have 'jetted' McCarthy? Maybe there's something to Favre not wanting to play for McCarthy. Could it be that the enjoyment of a 'Lambeau Leap' was outweighed by Favre's desire for a 'Lambeau Leave?'"

Who will show up for this game? Definitely not the character known as "playoff implications." He's busy elsewhere. The strength of the Jags, their running game, certainly plays to the weakness of the Packers, their rush defense. But with Jones suspended, Green Bay will be able to commit a little more to stopping the run. And Donald Driver and Greg Jennings will put up points for the Packers. Green Bay wins, 27-22.

Tennessee @ Houston (+3½)

Tennessee clinched the AFC South division title and a first-round bye last Sunday, beating the Browns 28-9 as Chris Johnson and LenDale White combined for 235 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns. Now, the Titans have their sights set on home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and can move closer to that goal with a win against the streaking Texans.

"Streaking Texans?" says Jeff Fisher. "If I'm not mistaken, that's the name of the swingers club of which Bum Phillips is a member. Of course, he's the only member."

"As far as home field advantage goes, I've always preached patience with this team. When we lost to the Jets, we didn't panic and stuck to our philosophy. If we don't clinch home-field this week, we can always do it next week when the Steelers come to town. See, there's no hurry. Good things come to those who wait. That's a lesson Kerry Collins has learned, not only in a quarterbacking sense, but also when he waits patiently beside an oaken cask while his favorite whiskey slowly ages. That's patience. And Vince Young needs to show that same type of patience, whether he's waiting his turn to play, or healing from a thumb infection, which I believe he contracted hitching a ride out of town after a particularly depressing day. I've got a feeling we'll need both of those guys when the playoffs start."

Who's playing for respect here? The improving Texans, who want to prove they'll be a force to be reckoned with next year, or the 12-1 Titans, who are merely 3½-point favorites over the 6-7 Texans? Tennessee wins, 22-10.

Washington @ Cincinnati (+6½)

If it's any consolation to the Bengals, the Redskins are, like Cincinnati, a last-place team. The 'Skins have lost two in a row, and four of their last five, to drop to the bottom of the NFC East. And, there's a little friction brewing in a Washington mini-controversy. In the second half of last week's 24-10 loss to the Ravens, head coach Jim Zorn benched Clinton Portis in favor of backup Ladell Betts, and Portis was not pleased.

"Look, the last thing I want is a player-coach feud," says Portis. "Correction. The last thing I want is a player-coach feud that ends with me kissing Coach Zorn. He's a fairly good looking fellow, and it is the season of donning gay apparel, but it has to stop with a 'benching.' There will be no 'bedding' of Clinton Portis."

Washington wins, 26-14.

Minnesota @ Arizona (-4)

After nearly a month of trying, the Cardinals finally clinched the NFC West division crown, beating the Rams 34-10. As Kurt Warner and the other Cards whooped it up in the locker room afterwards, former coach Dennis Green was the first to call with congratulations.

"I want to crown them, so I'm gonna crown their asses!" says Green. "As division champs. That's something I couldn't do as Arizona head coach, so they let me off the hook!"

Poor Dennis. He was never one to play his Cards right.

The Vikings edged the winless Lions 20-16 in Detroit, boosted by the services of Pat and Kevin Williams, who had their suspensions blocked when a Minnesota judge issued a temporary restraining order against the NFL. The NFL is currently working fervently to overturn the judge's ruling.

"Good luck with that, NFL," says Kevin Williams. "The league will find out that blocking an injunction is like blocking a Williams:' a fruitless endeavor. Pat and I find it hypocritical that we can be punished for ingesting a substance that we were not even aware was in the product, while Jacksonville's Matt Jones can do cocaine and get off virtually scott-free. Also hypocritical: Jared Allen complaining about a dirty hit."

While the courts sort out legal matters, the Williams' will be on the field, with the intentions of pressuring Kurt Warner up the middle. Playing without the Williams' is something Brad Childress does not care to even think about. As you know, games without your dominating interior linemen can cause withdrawals, also known as the "DTs."

Childress has been non-committal about naming a starter for Sunday's game. Is that by necessity, or design? Tarvaris Jackson was effective coming off the bench against the Lions. Maybe Childress doesn't want Jackson to feel the pressure of knowing he's starting.

"Gus Frerotte or Tarvaris Jackson," says Ken Whisenhunt. "It doesn't matter to us. If Frerotte starts, he'll get hurt at some point. Should we fear Jackson? I don't think so. Tarvaris hasn't been relevant since 1977's 'More Than a Woman,' which, incidentally, is something that can't be said of Frerotte.

Arizona wins, 34-27.

Pittsburgh @ Baltimore (-1)

In one of the AFC's fiercest rivalries, the North division-leading Steelers head to Baltimore to face the Ravens, who are chasing a wild card spot as well as the division crown. Pittsburgh won 23-20 at Baltimore in the teams' first meeting, and the Ravens are out for revenge as well as a piece of the division lead.

"I love the smell of hatred in the afternoon," says Ray Lewis. "It smells like victory. There's no doubt that this will be a physical game. I expect hard hits, trash-talking, and lots of bruising. And that's just my pre-game ritual. If you don't have a bounty on your head, then you don't deserve to play in this game."

The Steelers are 10-3 after last week's comeback win over the Cowboys, and while Pittsburgh is unlikely to catch the Titans for home-field throughout the playoffs, they'll certainly in the driver's seat for a first-round bye. That is, if they can beat the Ravens in Baltimore.

"Boy, am I fired up for this one," says Hines Ward. "I've got a hop in my step, a bounty on my head, and a target on my back. Call this 'Bounty Bowl 2008.' I love games like this, and I love it even more when my offensive coordinator calls plays just so I can get in a dirty block. However, I've told Bruce Arians not to call a crossing pattern for me under any circumstances. If the NFL wants evidence that bounties do exist in this league, then they show go take a tour of the Baltimore locker room. That place is wall-papered with my wanted posters, which brings a smile to my face. But what doesn't?"

Will there be any bounties collected on Sunday? Heck yeah, probably before the game even starts. I'd say the number of bounties in this game will probably be greater that the quarterback ratings of Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Flacco. Combined. There will be lots of sacks, lots of punts, and lots of run calls on third and long. The defense that is caught napping for that one big play may end up costing its team the game. Baltimore wins, 15-12.

New England @ Oakland (+7)

Randy Moss returns to Oakland, where he stagnated for two years before being traded to New England for a fourth-round pick in 2007. Moss and the Patriots are in a three-way tie for first in the AFC East, and will need the contributions of the Moss on Sunday as well as for the remainder of the year if the Pats are to make the playoffs.

"Hey, it will be great to go back to Oakland," says Moss. "I'm gonna give the fans in Oakland something they've never seen from me in McAfee Coliseum — effort. While I'm there, I'll have to give a shout out to my peeps, who will all be watching at home because they didn't make the effort to get a ticket."

The Raiders are 3-10 overall and 1-5 at home, but have had 10 days off after last Thursday's 34-7 loss in San Diego. And you know, when you give the Raiders at least ten days to prepare for something, they make brilliant decisions, like, for example, trading Moss for a fourth-round pick, or drafting JaMarcus Russell, or signing Javon Walker.

"I'll admit it," says Tom Cable. "The Raider black and silver really doesn't strike fear into the opposition as it used to. Neither does Davis' negotiating skills. He tosses money around like it's going out of style. When you're still using Confederate currency, I guess it really is."

"Our passing game is really ailing. We can't get vertical, and our quarterbacks are always horizontal. The intersection of a vertical and a horizontal axes gives you an 'X,' which often marks the location of 'buried treasure.' For this franchise, 'buried treasure' can be only one thing: Al Davis' grave."

The Raiders limit Moss, thanks to the coverage skills of Nnamdi Asomugha, who, unlike the Raiders, is unbeatable. Fortunately for the Patriots and their playoff aspirations, Wes Welker is there to take up the slack. Welker has 12 catches for 126 yards and a touchdown. Matt Cassel throws for 289 yards and 2 touchdowns, and also learns the finer points of the 'tuck rule,' when an obvious third-quarter fumble is overturned. New England wins, 27-16.

Denver @ Carolina (-7½)

Denver has all but clinched the AFC West crown, holding a three-game edge on the Chargers with three games remaining. Barring a monumental collapse, or catastrophic injuries, or a total betrayal from referee Ed Hochuli, the Broncos will be sole representative of the AFC West when the playoffs commence on January 3rd. The only thing up in the air for Denver is their playoff seeding.

"We're not worried about seeding at all," says Mike Shanahan, who, if you ever saw him really angry, you would even say he glows. "What I'm most concerned about is Travis Henry continually showing up at my doorstep under the guise of Christmas caroling 'Let it Snow,' when obviously all he wants is some cocaine. Well, Travis, you, I, and everyone knows that you 'blow' chances like you cherish chances to do 'blow.' If I was just a tad more unscrupulous, I would do my best to sign you, because heaven knows, we need a running back."

If the Panthers can rush for 299 yards against the Buccaneers, then there's no reason to believe they shouldn't have great success against the Denver defense. DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart give Carolina probably the most potent one-two rushing punch in the league.

"We certainly had a lot to cheer about last Monday," says John Fox. "Even 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair was loving the action, not only because of the win, but also because his album collaboration with the Wu Tang Clan, called 'Enter the Woo,' just dropped."

"We can't afford a letdown against the Broncos, because we want next week's showdown in Giants Stadium to be for all the marbles. That will be our most important road trip of the year. I'll make sure all my guys, especially the gun owners, 'pack' carefully."

Carolina was 'scary-good' last Monday. Williams and Stewart were 'good,' and Jake Delhomme and his two interceptions were 'scary.' A horrible day by Delhomme, and a 400-yard day by Cutler, are the only things that give Denver a chance. Panthers win, 38-34.

NY Giants @ Dallas (-3)

Despite losing to the Eagles, New York still clinched the NFC East when Dallas fell at Pittsburgh. In the wake of the Plaxico Burress shooting incident, the Giants seemed distracted and unmotivated as Bryan Westbrook recorded 203 total yards and 2 touchdowns. Not only is the loss a blow to their psyche, the loss also opened the door for the Panthers to join the discussion for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

"Hey, I said to my players what someone should have said to Plaxico Burress and Antonio Pierce post-discharge," says Tom Coughlin. "'Don't panic.' As you saw against the Eagles and Bryan Westbrook, Pierce's 'coverage skills' leave as much to be desired as his 'covering-up' skills. It's unfortunate that Burress got him into this mess. He's spent a career in football beating safeties. Then, in one moment, he let a 'free' safety get the best of him. Now, he's 'shot and bothered.'"

After former Cowboy and semi-analyst Emmitt Smith categorized the Cowboys as "mediocre," Dallas spent three quarters in Pittsburgh proving him wrong. The Cowboys took a 13-3 lead into the fourth quarter, then gave up 17 unanswered points, losing on DeShea Townsend's touchdown return of Tony Romo's third and final interception.

"I'm amazed," says Romo, "that Emmitt can even pronounce 'mediocre,' much less describe the Cowboys as such. Anyway, even with the loss, we're still in second place in the East. I guess Dallas Stars controversial left winger Sean Avery would call that 'sloppy seconds.' And who wouldn't want a piece of that?"

"As if we needed more controversy, Jerry Jones had to go and question Marion Barber's decision not to play against the Steelers. That's a great way to alienate one of your best players, Jerry. In Jerry's defense, at least he didn't taunt Marion by saying 'this little piggy went 'Wee! Wee! Wee!' all the way home.'" Dallas wins, 29-24.

Cleveland @ Philadelphia (-8)

While the Eagles are battling for their playoff life, the Browns are falling further and further away from last year's promising 10-6 finish. After being thoroughly dominated by the Titans in a 28-9 loss, the Browns are 4-9, and a regime change is imminent. Already, in the span of a week, discussions have progressed from Romeo Crennel's rumored firing to Marty Schottenheimer's rumored hiring.

"Look at all these rumors, surrounding me every day," says Crenel. "I just need some time, some time to get away. Until someone tells me otherwise, I'm not going anywhere. I'm no quitter, and neither are ... never mind. So far this year, we've had an outbreak of staph infections. The last thing I need is an outbreak of staff defections. We're 2-0 on Monday Night Football. Apparently, this team really cares about impressing Tony Kornheiser."

The Eagles currently sit in the eighth spot in the NFC playoff race. They'll need to run the table to have any shot at the postseason.

"That tie in Cincinnati may come back to haunt us," says Donovan McNabb. "So, should we fail to make the playoffs, my extra time will be spent reading the rule book to find any other obscure rules that everyone else on earth has been conspiring to keep from me."

"But our run to the playoffs starts here, in Philly. We'll be fired up. The defense already has a sack dance prepared, called the 'Ken Dorsey-Doe.' Hopefully, Braylon Edwards won't have a big game and keep the Browns in it. Hey, if Edwards was an Eagle, what would you call him? 'Bird droppings.'"

Philadelphia wins, 30-14.

Posted by Jeffrey Boswell at 11:51 AM | Comments (4)

Sorting Out the AFC Playoff Picture

Remember the days when the AFC was far superior to the NFC? Those days ended last year when the Giants knocked off the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

Now, instead of a bunch of Super Powers battling to see who gets to beat up the NFC's sacrificial lamb, the AFC consists of a bunch of flawed teams hoping not to get blown off the field by the Giants or the Panthers.

My how the times have changed. It's amazing what a Tom Brady injury can do to a conference.

There are a few things we know about the AFC playoff situation already.

The Steelers and Titans are the two best teams, and they'll both have the benefit of a first round bye. The Titans are a tremendous story, but the Steelers are the team to beat right now.

Love the Titans' defense, just not as much as I love the Steelers' defense. And I'm not ready to call any team quarterbacked by Kerry Collins a sure-thing in the playoffs.

The Broncos are the best of the garbage that's been spewing out of the AFC West. The wild card team that draws the AFC West champion might as well be the third AFC team with a bye.

The Colts are a lock as the top wild card team. They're on fire right now, and would be the best team in the AFC right now if the Steelers' defense didn't exist.

The Ravens are looking pretty good as the other wild card. However, their spot is not yet set in stone because they still have to play the Cowboys and the Steelers. They're as close to a lock without actually being a lock as you can get.

That leaves the AFC East.

The Patriots, Jets, and Dolphins are currently tied at 8-5.

All three teams can't run the table, as the Dolphins and Jets play each other in Week 17. If either the Dolphins or Jets run the table, they win the AFC East.

The Patriots, even if they win out, lose the tiebreakers with both teams.

The Dolphins play the 49ers at home, then the Chiefs and Jets on the road. The Jets have the Bills at home, Seattle on the road, then finish with Miami at home.

If both the Jets and Dolphins falter, the Patriots need the beat the Raiders on the road, the Cardinals at home, then the Bills in Buffalo.

The Dolphins and Jets both have easy schedules. The AFC East will almost certainly come down to week 17. The winner of the Jets/Dolphins game will likely win the AFC East. The Patriots, as it stands right now, will likely be the odd man out.

Assuming that plays out, the AFC playoffs would look like this:

1) Titans (bye)
2) Steelers (bye)
3) Broncos
4) Dolphins/Jets
5) Colts
6) Ravens

Of course, this entire scenario is preposterous. Were this to happen, the 11-win Patriots and the 10-win Jets/Dolphins would both miss the playoffs. That has never happened before. Ever. In NFL history.

A 10-win team could miss the playoffs. An 11-win team might miss the playoffs. But both an 11 and 10-win team missing the playoffs in the same season in the same conference?

Not likely.

The 1985 Denver Broncos won 11 games and missed the playoffs. Since then, every 11-win team has made the playoffs. As a matter of fact, only four 10-win teams have missed the playoffs since 1990.

My point is, there's no way the AFC is going to play out the way the schedule would suggest it's going to. Something strange is going to happen. It always does.

With that in mind, here's how I see it playing out.

The Ravens will go 2-1 down the stretch. More than enough to lock up the final wild card spot.

The Jets are playing terrible right now. They also have yet to win a game on the West Coast this season. They have to travel to Seattle the week before their huge showdown against the Dolphins. It's a classic "Brett Favre throws a bad pick and we lose a game we never should have lost" game for the Jets.

The Dolphins have the same scenario on the road against the Chiefs. Kansas City is a tough place to play, even against the two-win 2008 Chiefs. The Dolphins will lose, tying them with the Jets at 9-6 going into the final week of the season.

The Patriots will beat the Raiders. They'll beat the Cardinals, mostly because the game's in Foxboro.

The AFC East will come down to this: if the Patriots beat the Bills, they win the AFC East. If they lose, then winner of the Jets/Dolphins game wins the AFC East.

And if we've learned anything these past few years, it's that the Patriots don't lose big games in December.

And the revised standings will look something like this:

1) Titans (bye)
2) Steelers (bye)
3) Broncos
4) Patriots
5) Colts
6) Ravens

Which means, once again, we'll get Patriots/Colts in the playoffs.

Think I'm wrong? Post your AFC predictions in the comments.

Sean Crowe is the New England Patriots Examiner at Examiner.com. He writes a column every other Thursday for Sports Central. You can email him at [email protected].

Posted by Sean Crowe at 11:22 AM | Comments (3)

December 10, 2008

The Big Ten's Big Move

A funny thing happened over the weekend.

Fresh off of North Carolina's drubbing of Michigan State and Duke's dismissal of Purdue in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, I was preparing to use this space to pronounce an early December demise for the Big Ten. These are dark days in the Midwest, as the conference's vaunted football programs have suffered the dreaded slide into mediocrity. The golden child, Ohio State, has been thoroughly bashed from coast-to-coast, and one-loss Penn State not only never figured into the national championship discussion, but it'll be considered a successful trip to Pasadena if they stay within two touchdowns of USC.

The same gloominess looked certain to carryover onto the hard courts. Once a March Madness mainstay, the Big Ten has held less than a dozen entries into the last two NCAA tournaments combined. For a conference that long boasted gritty, physical teams from one through 10 (err, 11), the recent fall-off in depth was staggering.

The first days of the 2008-09 season looked to be just a continuation of the backslide, as conference favorite and preseason top 10 elite Michigan State not only got embarrassed in Detroit by the Tar Heels, but also lost on a neutral site to an unproven Maryland squad. Combined with that, the Hoosier state, the traditional breadbasket of the conference's hoop dreams, offered consecutive losses by highly touted Purdue and a 4-4 start by Indiana, including a horrific two-point win over Chaminade in Maui.

So it only made sense as I watched the conference I knew best struggling to prepare a eulogy. I was willing to overlook an encouraging five-win showing by the Big Ten in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. And I was expecting, Duke and Notre Dame to pile on the last few shovelfuls of dirt against Michigan and Ohio State, respectively. But then that funny thing happened.

The Wolverines controlled the Blue Devils all afternoon in Ann Arbor. John Beilein's funky 1-3-1 zone and a poor shooting day for Coach K's crew led to the day's first upset of a top-10 team by an unranked Big Ten underdog. And then the Buckeyes, with sophomore Dallas Lauderdale holding Luke Harangody at bay for most of the day, sounded the second blast. Hmm, maybe the funeral was too early?

At that point, I looked back the ACC/Big Ten games I dismissed so readily and the evidence pointed to a different angle. Sure, the ACC's top two throttled the Big Ten's. But wouldn't that be the case with most conferences? Do you think Oklahoma and Texas would do much better against two of college basketball's blue bloods?

But beyond those two blowouts, the Big Ten handled itself fairly well. The aforementioned Buckeyes won at previously ranked Miami. Minnesota, the Midwest's best-kept secret, handled a wild card Virginia squad and has since moved to 8-0. Iowa, a team far more dangerous in their home whites, fell a few free throws away from pushing Boston College to overtime in Beantown. And the surprise of all surprises, doormats Northwestern and Penn State found their own wins in the Challenge.

While the Big Ten is at least taking steps toward being "back," let's not get ahead of ourselves. The Spartans, and to a lesser extend the Boilermakers, did plenty to undermine their credibility as national players in their losses to this point. And intra-conference attrition will certainly take its toll once league play starts.

But beyond those black eyes, the conference looks much deeper than it has in at least three years. There are at least seven teams that can cast credible glances toward the Big Dance at this moment, which is well ahead of where the league has found itself come the last couple of Selection Sundays. Big Ten fans, our national shame may be coming to an end.

Now, if only the guys in the league office in Chicago could figure out that whole football thing.

Posted by Corrie Trouw at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)

Not-So-Extreme Makeover: BCS Edition

Enough already with the constant pleas for a playoff system in major college football. Folks, as much as it may pain us all to accept, we're stuck with this system for no fewer than six more seasons, despite President-Elect Barack Obama's alleged involvement in pressing the issue. It is far better we learn to live with the imperfection, much like we cope with a nasty spousal snoring habit or a co-worker's annoying tick.

The more vexing issue, at least from my perspective, is the bowl selection process itself.

I will spare you from another full-blown commentary on the evil that is the BCS and its oft-criticized ranking system. Having made that clear, though, I will submit a brief comment on this subject: using the USA Today and Harris polls as they do just makes no sense. Roll those polls into the computer rankings and go with those results. That eliminates the unjust power these polls hold over the system (without eliminating the polls altogether) and helps remove a bit of the criticism that can be interjected relative to coach cronyism or media bias.

Moving past this minor suggestion, the BCS ranking system has done just fine since its inception in 1998. There will always be "should have been" and "could have been" scenarios, as there is this season with Texas, but for the most part, you can't argue against the logic of the ranking system and its results at least don't miss the mark by much.

Of much more importance is the relatively arbitrary yet all-too-predictable method of each BCS bowl selecting the actual game participants. To me, this particular item needs to be visited if for not other reason than to bring fairness and a sense of satisfaction into the equation for all those fans desperate for a system that gives a shot at glory to all those that deserve it.

If one was to assess the BCS bowl landscape in 2008, one would see some very disconcerting things, regardless of school affiliation. For example, that Orange Bowl matchup of Cincinnati and Virginia Tech surely doesn't whet the appetite of most casual fans looking for a high-level contest. Not to take anything away from either school's accomplishment in winning their conference, but neither the ACC nor the Big East deserves a BCS-seeded team. Surely, there has to be a more effective way to eliminate sub-standard performing conferences in a given year than the current mechanism — which for the record is some nondescript language in the BCS by-laws that allows a major conference to be dropped based on some subjective assessments of past performance (seems that for whatever reason a league should be judged based on history rather than what has occurred in a given season these days, but I digress).

At the root of this issue are two totally unnecessary culprits. The first is the BCS qualification guidelines. The second is the team-selection procedures. We'll start by looking at the former.

BCS Qualification Guidelines (Automatic Qualification)

The parenthetical element in the heading above truly sums up the problem here: automatic qualification. While I fully understand the sensitivities around the move to the BCS in the first place — particularly those relating to the almighty dollar — it just makes no sense to guarantee bids to all those league champions. The first flaw in this logic is not all of those conferences play a conference championship game. The second is that there are no guarantees that a given conference will be good in a given season. The only guaranteed qualifying condition should be finishing in the top 10 of the BCS rankings.

This solution would create a pool of teams that were eligible; the top eight remaining teams in the BCS rankings after the title game was set. You could allow for certain conditions, assuming they are met by this pool of teams (i.e. if one of those eight is the regular season Pac-10 champion, then they play in the Rose Bowl), satisfying the contractual elements the bowls have with the conferences. Not only would this methodology restore some trust with the fans that the NCAA really does care about putting the best possible product out there for your viewing pleasure, but it would also hold conferences accountable for remaining competitive. I can assure you that the first time an ACC school is not part of a BCS bowl, that conference will be greatly improved the following year; you can bank on that.

Team-Selection Procedures

These dovetail with the aforementioned issue of qualification, however, to allow a bowl game brain-trust the freedom to select whomever they wish (providing a team is BCS bowl eligible) is asinine and compromises fans' trust for the system. For Ohio State to be selected to play the third-ranked team in the country is simply ridiculous and an obvious pandering to the piles of monies that Buckeye Nation brings to a given contest. I get it, OSU has a large, strong, prideful following of fans and alumni across the nation, but this does not make them more deserving of a BCS bowl game berth against a top-drawing opponent than teams that are quite clearly better than they are. Utah, a champion of their own conference and an undefeated unit, deserved a shot at Texas. Period. There should have been no other team put into this game, which should be billed as the third-place game and for Ohio State to usurp the publicity and grandeur of playing against the 2008 Longhorns simply because of a greed-filled money grab is an insult to the process.

To fix this issue, as I mentioned, you let your BCS system create a pool of 10 and only 10 teams — the BCS top 10 (you'd think that would make sense to most logical folks). You drop the stipulation of only two teams from a given conference being afforded the right to play in a BCS bowl (which I want to point out also has a loophole that could potentially allow three from a given conference anyway, but that's so confusing that it is a different article in and of itself). The top two play in the BCS National Championship Game. The Rose, Sugar, and Fiesta get their contractually committed teams, should they qualify. Having lost the ridiculous "automatic berths" for conference champions that fall outside of the BCS top 10, you free up tons of possibilities without over-complicating the whole thing, which coincidentally is a large part of the current problem. Bada-boom-bada-bing, problem solved.

While I would love to leave this article at that, I just know that would leave a void within any self-respecting reader. What about all those loose ends? If, Heaven forbid, my advice were taken by the BCS, what would this year's games look like? Well, I'm fully prepared to answer that question and have done just that in the lines that follow:

BCS National Championship Game — Seriously, do I have to put this one in there? Um, yeah, in case you weren't paying attention, it would stay the same.

Rose Bowl Game (presented by Citi) — Even by my "fuzzy math" and "broken logic" (just anticipating some of your comments), this still pits the fifth-ranked Trojans of USC against the ninth-ranked Nittany Lions of Penn State. The grand tradition of Pac-10 versus Big Ten lives on and we don't have to see Ohio State get creamed in another national championship game. 2008 was a good year after all.

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, part one — They get first pick, having lost out on their "contractually obligated" Big 12 champion (and based on some other BCS-mandated stipulations about the date their game is played on relative to the BCS title game). They pick Texas.

Allstate Sugar Bowl, part one — They get next pick, having lost out on the SEC title holder (and also subject to those same BCS mandates). They pick Alabama.

FedEx Orange Bowl, part one — No ACC champ equals no obligations. They pick Ohio State (see earlier diatribe about Buckeye-related monies).

Fiesta Bowl, part two — While I would absolutely reward Utah here if I were the bowl organizers, I am clearly not. Who could resist a Texas/Texas Tech rematch on a neutral field? They pick Tech.

Sugar Bowl, part two — Utah is undefeated and Alabama was at No. 1 for some time. Let's test those Utes. They select Utah.

Orange Bowl — Boise State is the one team still left out there, and the Orange Bowl could do far worse than an Ohio State/Boise State showdown.

Final Bowl Matchups

BCS Championship: Oklahoma vs. Florida
Fiesta Bowl: Texas vs. Texas Tech
Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Utah
Rose Bowl: USC vs. Penn State
Orange Bowl: Ohio State vs. Boise State

The very purpose of running through the exercise of playing out my scenario was to demonstrate the point of my argument: the BCS isn't far off from where it needs to be, but remains miles away from creating a trustworthy system.

As you can see, three of the matchups would stay exactly the same as they currently are in the "real world." Only now, the "red-faced test" is passed. That bowl favorite Ohio State, a team that quite literally remained in the BCS top 10 by the skin of their teeth (and some very generous ranking in both the Harris and USA Today polls), remains in the mix, but now plays in a game much more representative of their in-season performance. They wind up playing a team that would present a far more intriguing game and certainly one that would be more competitive than the stomping UT is going to put on them. A team like Boise State gets another shot at a perennial college football juggernaut, which they certainly deserve.

Even using this method, the major conferences are well-represented and the smaller conferences that the BCS is so sensitive to "guaranteeing" a berth to actually place two teams. The only losers here are the ACC and Big East and frankly, they don't deserve BCS money in 2008 based on their on-field product. Those three Big 12 teams could quite easily be three SEC teams in 2009 or three ACC teams in 2010, but the onus gets put on the conferences and schools themselves to ensure they meet the requirements that they have to meet to gain the rewards of a BCS bowl showcasing. By any measure, this would create a solution that, while not perfect, could be lived with.

It is true that we have to live with the BCS and its imperfections, zits, and warts for at least the short term. But that doesn't mean we can't give it a makeover, dress it up nicely, and make it feel pretty once in a while.

Posted by Matt Thomas at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

December 9, 2008

NFL Week 14 Power Rankings

Five Quick Hits

* Last week, Michael Phelps was named as Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year. That's the best selection I can remember.

* I'm tired of the NFC East. Like many fans, I saw Giants/Eagles early, followed by Cowboys/Steelers, then Washington/Baltimore. I live on the East Coast, so most of my Sundays look like that. I'd like to see other teams once in a while, particularly from the two South divisions.

* Cowboys owner Jerry Jones called out Marion Barber and questioned his toughness for not playing on Sunday. It's guys like Al Davis, Daniel Snyder, and Jones who sometimes make me wonder if Mike Brown, Bill Bidwill, and John York aren't so bad after all.

* Happy trails to Greg Maddux, the best pitcher since Tom Seaver and an exemplar of the way the game should be played.

* Tom Jackson says that Ed Reed is "maybe the biggest big-play safety in the history of the game." Reed has 39 career interceptions; Paul Krause had 81. Reed has 7 defensive TDs; Rod Woodson had 13. Instead of "maybe," Jackson should have said, "not."

***

These first few paragraphs address problems in this week's MNF broadcast. If you're not interested, please skip ahead to the power rankings. Brackets show last week's rank.

The single biggest problem with MNF is the tumor in the booth, the unnecessary third man, Tony Kornheiser. And the biggest problem with Kornheiser is that he doesn't follow football. Shortly before this week's broadcast, he admitted to having ignored both the Panthers and Buccaneers all season. For some reason, this is supposed to be the appeal of having Tony in the booth: that he brings a "typical fan" perspective to the broadcast. I would dispute (1) that Kornheiser, a millionaire and a celebrity, really brings a "typical fan" perspective, (2) that Kornheiser knows as much as an actual fan, and (3) that anyone wants to listen to commentary from someone who admittedly doesn't know what he's talking about.

Compounding the problem, several times each game, Kornheiser delivers very authoritative statements, or arcane facts you know someone else looked up and told him to read. You can't have it both ways. Either Kornheiser is the guy on the barstool next to you, or he's an expert. When he pretends to know what he's talking about, it has no authority, and he's frequently wrong. This week, Kornheiser said that Jon Gruden has "had nine starters in the past three years at quarterback." Sounds like a lot, right? The actual number is six, not nine. And contrary to what the announcing crew implied, most of the changes were due to injury, rather than Gruden's itchy trigger finger.

Kornheiser also intoned, very seriously, "The one significant change on offense is getting Jake Delhomme back ... He's the difference on the offensive team." With no apparent sense of irony, Tony said this right after Muhsin Muhammad's second consecutive first down catch. Maybe Tony just doesn't think getting Moose back was important. Apparently, he's also not impressed with rookie RB Jonathan Stewart or starting RT Jeff Otah. Yeah, none of those guys are significant to the offense. Right. Starting guard Keydrick Vincent is also a new addition this season.

No one is disputing that Delhomme is an upgrade over Vinny Testaverde, but Kornheiser clearly does not know what he's talking about. The notion that Carolina's offense would look this good without Muhammad, Stewart, and Otah is ludicrous. I doubt that Kornheiser is really so clueless he thinks guys like Muhammad and Stewart aren't significant. I think he's so clueless he doesn't know they weren't in Carolina last year.

Tony also glibly slipped in, "[Monte Kiffin's] got a bunch of future Hall of Famers." Derrick Brooks is certainly a future HOFer. John Lynch, Ronde Barber, and Warren Sapp are all maybes, though only Barber is still with the Bucs. And that's it, unless you want to make really bold predictions about some of the young guys. Is four really a bunch? This isn't terrible, except that once again, Kornheiser just doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm not even going to get into him thinking Bill Parcells still coached the Giants in the late '90s and early 2000s. All this stuff is from one night, a single show.

Also, please stop missing the beginnings of plays, and please make Stuart Scott go away. He is intolerable. Anyway, power rankings.

1. New York Giants [1] — They've played a brutal schedule (seven straight against winning teams), and were bound to lose at some point. That said, the Eagles really dominated them in a way the score doesn't show. Without too much going differently, this game could have been 26-0 in Philadelphia's favor. Despite the loss, the Giants clinched the NFC East on Sunday, and they remain the team to beat in the NFC.

2. Tennessee Titans [2] — Clinched the AFC South and a first-round bye. Tennessee hasn't played the same kind of schedule as the Giants, but has the NFL's best record (12-1) and point differential (+148). For all the hype Pittsburgh's defense is getting, consider that the Titans have allowed only one more point this season than the Steelers.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers [3] — Four wins in a row, and they can clinch both the AFC North and a first-round bye with a win at Baltimore in Week 15. I'm running out of good things to say about James Harrison and Troy Polamalu, but let's at least note the obvious: Pittsburgh beat the Cowboys with defense. Outside linebackers have become today's impact players on defense, and this season, none is having a bigger impact than Harrison.

4. Indianapolis Colts [5] — Five sacks, three interceptions, and a fumble recovery against the hapless Bengals. But why did Bob Sanders play in this game? Did the coaches think they would need Sanders to compete with Cincinnati? Every time Sanders starts to heal up, the Colts rush him back into the lineup, and then he gets hurt again. He hasn't played in three consecutive games all season. Let the man get healthy for the playoffs.

5. Baltimore Ravens [6] — Hero worship is pervasive among NFL announcers. When Ray Lewis got called for a penalty on Sunday night, you just knew John Madden was going to come up with an excuse for him. And he did! This happens most frequently for Brett Favre and Lewis, but plenty of other superstars get it to a lesser degree, especially on defense. Brian Urlacher. Champ Bailey. Polamalu. These guys are so good, apparently they are incapable of doing something wrong.

6. Carolina Panthers [10] — The Panthers looked good on Monday night, but I believe the ESPN crew was too quick to draw sweeping conclusions from Carolina's victory. We already knew that the Panthers were very strong at home, where they'd beaten the Cardinals and Bears and crushed both the Falcons and Saints. We also know that the Bucs have struggled on the road this season (3-4). I don't think it's a given that Carolina, which presently loses tiebreakers, will win the NFC South, and it's certainly premature to suggest that they'll beat out the Giants for homefield in the playoffs.

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers [7] — Kornheiser did get one thing right on Monday night: "Nobody ever said Tampa Bay had a great offense. The story of their game is the failure of their defense." The offense looked awfully poor outside of Antonio Bryant, but the unit that really failed to meet expectations was the Tampa defense. The Bucs showed pretty much everything you don't want to see from a defense: missed tackles, mental mistakes, lack of effort, poor discipline, you name it. Ugly game.

8. Dallas Cowboys [9] — The defense gave them every chance to win, and the offense gave Pittsburgh every chance to win. There was something I noticed on the sidelines this week. I don't mean this to be unkind, and I wasn't even going to mention it. But then I heard Rich Eisen back-handedly refer to it, and Google easily confirmed that Rich and I were not the only ones who thought this. In his puffy coat, Wade Phillips looked like a big blue Michelin Man on Sunday.

9. Philadelphia Eagles [13] — Almost gave the game away with penalties and special teams. In the first 20 minutes, Philadelphia already had five penalties, three of which resulted in first downs for New York. Two gimme field goals were blocked, and one was returned for a Giants touchdown. I loved the way the Eagles controlled the clock, but they need to be careful about overusing Brian Westbrook. This is a guy who's been struggling with injuries all season, has only been all the way back for two weeks, and you're giving him 33 carries? That doesn't seem like a good idea. Give a few of those late, grind-em-out handoffs to a backup.

10. Arizona Cardinals [11] — Clinched their first division title since 1975, and their first home playoff game since 1947. The 33-year gap between division titles is the longest since the 1970 merger, and 61 years between hosting playoffs is almost inconceivable. Arizona currently owns the fourth seed in the NFC playoffs, which is better than the third seed. The fourth seed will probably play either Carolina or Tampa, and the game will be at home. The Panthers and Bucs have been barely average on the road this season, so that looks like a nice matchup. The third seed will play the other wild card, probably the Cowboys, Eagles, or Falcons. No thanks to that. Give me the fourth seed.

11. New York Jets [4] — It's time to let Brett Favre be Brett Favre. If you hand the reigns to a legendary gunslinger, don't ask him to dink and dunk. Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery combined for two catches on Sunday, while the running backs had nine. Favre is averaging less than 10 yards per completion this season, joining Ryan Fitzpatrick as the only QBs with such an ugly average in at least 200 attempts. Let the man throw downfield.

12. Atlanta Falcons [8] — Roddy White leads the NFL in receiving yards (1,249). Is any receiver getting less attention for a great season? Matt Ryan and Michael Turner deserve plenty of recognition for their play this year, but I feel like White isn't getting the same kind of love. He's been about as good as any receiver in the league this season.

13. New England Patriots [12] — I feel really bad for not taking Wes Welker on my Pro Bowl ballot. Welker only has one TD this year, but he's third in the AFC in receiving yards (1,002), and he leads the entire NFL in both receptions (96) and yards after catch (567). Fan voting ended today at noon, but Welker deserves a trip to Hawaii.

14. New Orleans Saints [16] — Sunday was the first time, during Sean Payton's three years as head coach, that they have successfully executed a fourth-quarter comeback. Prior to this week, Payton's Saints were 0-17 when they entered the fourth quarter behind on the scoreboard. That's amazing on a team with an offense that seems built for comebacks.

15. Minnesota Vikings [14] — I'm of two minds on the diuretic suspensions of Pro Bowl DTs Pat and Kevin Williams. I sympathize with the NFL's position, because the policy is clear and the players union agreed to it. I also sympathize with the players, though, because the banned substance was not listed among the ingredients of the product they used. Ultimately, I think the NFL needs to enforce its policy, but a four-game suspension is simply way too harsh. Common sense says that this is the wrong punishment for something that barely qualifies as a crime.

16. Miami Dolphins [15] — After witnessing a miserable offensive performance on Sunday, I suspect Toronto fans will be happy to stick to the CFL Argonauts from here on out. On the other hand, the Dolphins would probably be happy to return to the domed Rogers Centre. The team traditionally struggles in cold weather and hasn't won in Buffalo since 2003. Now the Dolphins are in position to win a division title, just one year after going 1-15.

17. Denver Broncos [17] — Controlled the clock against Kansas City, grinding out first downs (9/14 on third down) and winning the time of possession battle by nearly a full quarter (36:38/23:22). The bad news is that they killed another running back. Peyton Hillis strained a hamstring and will not play again this season. Hillis joins Anthony Alridge, Andre Hall, Michael Pittman, Ryan Torain, and Selvin Young among injured Bronco RBs. Underwear thief Tatum Bell is expected to start in his place.

18. Chicago Bears [19] — This week, Matt Forte broke Gale Sayers' team record for yards from scrimmage by a rookie. Forte has been very good, but his 2008 season doesn't really compare to Sayers in 1965. That year, Sayers ranked second in the NFL in rushing and led the league in scoring. His rookie record for touchdowns (22) still stands. Sayers was also the best returner in the NFL, scoring two return TDs while averaging 14.9 on punt returns and 31.4 on kick returns. He led the NFL in all-purpose yards and was a first-team all-pro. Forte simply is not having that kind of season.

19. San Diego Chargers [21] — Thursday night, the Chargers played the way we expected them to all year. They dominated the game easily, to such an extent it was almost boring. This is doomed to be a what-if season for San Diego. Change that bad call in Week 2, and the Bolts would be 6-7, in control of their own destiny. Seven of their eight losses have come by a touchdown or less. San Diego (+43) and Green Bay (+36) have the worst record, 5-8, of any team that has outscored its opponents.

20. Houston Texans [22] — Got the ball at their own three, tied at 21, with 1:49 remaining and one timeout. Then, facing a team that supposedly has one of the best pass defenses in the league, Houston drove 75 yards to set up a game-winning field goal. If this team could limit itself to a normal number of turnovers, it could compete with anybody.

21. Green Bay Packers [18] — Packer fans, I apologize for giving your team the kiss of death. Two weeks ago, I made the case that San Diego had a strong chance of winning the AFC West. That week, the Chargers lost a game they needed to win, and the rival Broncos won a key upset. Last week, I wrote that the Packers could still win their division. Well, not any more.

22. San Francisco 49ers [26] — Three wins in their last four games. Quarterback Shaun Hill was 2-0 as a starter last year, and he's 3-2 this season. That means that in the last two years, the 49ers are 5-2 with Hill and 5-17 with anyone else. Hill's passer rating this season is a sterling 95.5, compared to J.T. O'Sullivan's 73.6. He's also been sacked about a thousand fewer times than O'Sullivan.

23. Washington Redskins [20] — Injuries were an issue on Sunday night. Seeing Clinton Portis on the sidelines caught everyone's attention, but losing both of your starting tackles during a game is pretty tough to overcome. Washington is 1-4 in its last five games. It's time for people to stop thinking of this as a good team.

24. Cleveland Browns [23] — Three straight games without a touchdown. I didn't like their offensive play-calling (45 passes, 18 runs) in a game that wasn't out of hand until the fourth quarter, but I also don't like the very public rumors about Romeo Crennel's firing. His team has heard those, and besides being pretty crass, having this in the open is not going to help. Wayne Fontes was the exception, not the rule.

25. Buffalo Bills [24] — Last week, I wrote, "A nation of teenage girls mourned the groin injury to Trent Edwards." After receiving an email complaint, let me assure my readers that women of all ages hope for the best regarding Mr. Edwards' groin.

26. Jacksonville Jaguars [25] — On the CBS pre-game show, Boomer Esiason asked, "Is there a more disappointing team than the Green Bay Packers?" Evidently, Boomer is unfazed by the Jaguars, Chargers, and Seahawks. Last year, Jacksonville went 11-5 and won a playoff game. Many fans expected the Jags, not the Titans, to dethrone Indianapolis in the AFC South this season. Instead, they're 4-9 and look worse every week.

27. Kansas City Chiefs [27] — This offseason, they traded their best player, DE Jared Allen, for draft picks. Last year, with Allen, Kansas City had a pretty good defense, ranking 13th in yards and tied for 9th in sacks. This season, minus Allen, KC is last in the NFL in both yards and sacks. In fact, KC's six sacks are less than half the total of 31st-place Cincinnati (13).

			2007		2008
Yards Allowed		13th		32nd
Points Allowed		14th		30th
Pass Defense		5th		29th
Sacks			t-9th		32nd

28. Seattle Seahawks [29] — Seneca Wallace had a very good performance in the loss to New England: 20-of-28 for 212 yards and 3 TDs, a 128.9 passer rating. Wallace also led the Seahawks in rushing (47 yards, 15.7 average), and he did all of this without starting LT Walter Jones. This season, the Seahawks have been substantially better with Wallace at QB.

29. Oakland Raiders [28] — I would rather be a Lions fan than a Raiders fan. At least the Lions have some hope that they might improve in the future. The Raiders are only going to get worse until Al Davis no longer runs the team.

30. Cincinnati Bengals [30] — Outscored by more than 30 points for the second week in a row. The Bengals scored three points in each game.

31. St. Louis Rams [31] — League-worst point differential of -225. A team has to be really terrible to get outscored by 200 points in a season. The last team to do so was the 2003 Arizona Cardinals (-227). St. Louis looks like a lock to beat that. In fairness, the Lions (-194) and Bengals (-191) are also pushing -200. What's that you were saying about parity?

32. Detroit Lions [32] — I am not a Lions fan. I'm not from Detroit, and I don't have family or friends from Detroit. I've never even been to Detroit. But I want the Lions to win a game more than I want anything else in the NFL right now. It is torture watching their early leads slip away week after week.

Posted by Brad Oremland at 11:59 AM | Comments (2)

The Punishment Should Match the Crime

Last Tuesday, I received word that the time had come for me to write an article on the NHL. On that very same day, Sean Avery was punished for comments that he had made earlier in the day. As a result, Avery became extraordinarily big news, as everyone wanted to voice their opinion on the story. For that reason, I didn't want to follow the herd and write about the story that has dominated the NHL all week long. Nevertheless, no matter how hard I tried to look for a compelling story elsewhere, I kept being drawn towards Avery.

I am sure that the majority of you reading this will know what Avery said in order to get his suspension, but for those that don't, here goes:

"I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds."

Like me, a lot of people believe that this comment is hardly worthy of a suspension. It is clear that Avery was just trying to be funny, but the saddest thing of all is that his comments were not the slightest bit amusing.

The fact that his comment landed him time off the ice is not really what has baffled me the most about the events surrounding Avery this week. What I can't understand is why the very same comments that earned Avery a suspension have been published and across various forms of media, including the NHL's own website. The league clearly suspended Avery because they deemed the comment to be inappropriate, yet the NHL sees fit to repeat these controversial words.

Let's face it, the NHL hardly has the greatest of reputations when it comes to behavior and etiquette. After all, ice hockey is a sport where fighting is more or less a daily occurrence. In fact, players resort to brawling on such a regular basis that the great comedian, Steven Wright, once said, "Last night, I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out." Now, that may only be a joke, but its sentiment rings true with an awful lot people around the world. If the NHL wants to be taken seriously when it comes to disciplining players, then they have to clean up the basic image of the sport.

Some of you may well be saying that the participants in a fight are punished, and you are right. However, when compared with other sports, the punishment doesn't fit the crime. If you are caught fighting in basketball or soccer, for instance, your time away from competition will span weeks, not minutes. As the leading ice hockey league in the world, the NHL should lead by example and try and rid the sport of needless fighting, because when it comes right down to it, fighting is inappropriate behavior.

Getting back to Avery, he has become a victim of the NHL's chronic inability to punish people accordingly. You can't help but get the feeling that the NHL has been waiting to throw the book at Avery for a very long time now. Sadly, it's not hard to see why. Wherever the talented forward has been, he's been plagued by controversy his entire career. If he just settled down and played hockey, he has the potential to be great.

His most famous incident was in the in last season's playoffs when he stood in front of New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur with no intention of playing the puck. Avery then persisted to wave his arms in the face of Brodeur to obstruct his view. At the time, this act was by no means against the rules. Many, however, thought that Avery's actions showed a blatant disregard for sporting etiquette. Come the end of the series, Brodeur refused to shake hands with the then New York Rangers player. The day after Avery employed such incredible tactics, the NHL decided to change the ruling on such behavior, in what is now affectionately known as "The Avery Rule."

It's often said that it doesn't matter how much talent you have, if you don't have the right mind-set for competition you will never reach your full potential. With that in mind, I think I am safe saying that Avery epitomizes everything about that statement. His career seems to be in turmoil as the Dallas Stars they don't want him back on the ice after his suspension and it seems unlikely that any other owner would be willing to pay for a player who is so disruptive. So, this past week has shown to shortcomings in the NHL. Firstly, the temperament of one of its finest young stars who continues to play by his own rules, and secondly, the ridiculous discipline system that the NHL insists on maintaining.

Posted by Luke Broadbent at 11:03 AM | Comments (1)

December 8, 2008

Where the BCS is Truly Flawed

Many people have problems with the BCS because of the lack of a playoff in college football. While I agree that a playoff system would be exciting in many ways, it does not truly depict the biggest flaw of the BCS. The current BCS matchups look like this:

Rose Bowl: Penn State vs. USC
Orange Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech
Sugar Bowl: Utah vs. Alabama
Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State vs. Texas
BCS National Championship: Oklahoma vs. Florida

Doing the best we can with the current system, there are three main unfortunate things.

1. Texas has no shot at a national title.

Okay, yes, if Texas blasted Ohio St. 84-3 and the Oklahoma vs. Florida game ended 13-10 with 6 turnovers per team, there might be some sympathy votes for Texas, but let's face it, whoever wins the Florida vs. Oklahoma game is the champ with very little dispute and Texas has no say.

2. Texas Tech lost one game — game to the potential national champions — and they aren't even in a BCS game, while Ohio State, a two-loss team, makes it in.

This is the result of the ruling that there cannot be three teams from the same conference in BCS bowl games. I think the most unfortunate thing about this situation is that what happened in the Big 12 was dependent upon the schedule more than anything. Oklahoma lost to Texas, then Texas lost to Texas Tech, then Texas Tech lost to Oklahoma. If the order of those losses had been reversed, it is very likely that Oklahoma would have been out of the BCS and Texas Tech would have been in the championship game (perhaps Texas, it's not possible to know for certain). Losses being more detrimental in November than in September seems silly to me.

3. The absolute worst thing about the BCS in this season is the fact that Ohio State was chosen over Boise State.

Let us be serious. Boise State is ranked above Ohio State in the BCS rankings, so why would Ohio State get the nod? Could it be because the BCS selection committee is biased toward the Big Six conferences? Unfortunately, the answer is yes.

If I would have been part of the selection committee, I would have lobbied for the following schedule of events:

Rose Bowl: Penn State vs. USC
Orange Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech
Sugar Bowl: Utah vs. Boise State
Fiesta Bowl: Alabama vs. Texas
BCS National Championship: Oklahoma vs. Florida

Can you imagine two SEC vs. Big 12 games? That would have been fantastic. How about the two undefeated BCS busters taking each other on? I would have loved a Utah vs. Boise State showdown.

The choosing of Ohio State over Boise State or Texas Tech is very disappointing and I think it came into being simply because Alabama lost to Florida. It is my belief that the BCS does not want to have an undefeated team winning a BCS bowl game that is not the national championship. If Utah beats Alabama and Florida beats Oklahoma, Utah will have a very compelling argument that they should be the national champs. It won't get them anywhere, but it will be compelling nonetheless, especially if they win big.

But I don't think I can overstate the sympathy I feel for Boise State. How can they do any better? They go undefeated and aren't even rewarded with a BCS game even though they own the biggest upset in BCS history by defeating Oklahoma on January 1, 2007 in the Fiesta Bowl.

While the entire state of Texas will beg for a playoff, I will simply ask for this: no more restrictions on who is in the BCS. Virginia Tech at 9-4 does not deserve a BCS game. Texas Tech at 11-1 and Boise State at 12-0 do deserve a BCS game. There should be no restrictions. The top 10 teams should be taken and matched up, plain and simple. There should be no automatic bids for conference champions or a limit how many teams in a conference can get in. Until there is a playoff instituted, it should be the top 10 teams and that is all, no regulations required.

Posted by Andrew Jones at 11:58 AM | Comments (2)

In the Rotation: NBA Week 6

I've used the same ice-breaker/bar conversation starter for years. It's unisex, easy to understand, and the answer takes some thought.

"If you were to go on Jeopardy, what would you and Alex Trebek talk about for 30 seconds during his little segment where he interviews the contestants?"

If you have kids, it's easy. Every parent loves to tell funny stories about their kids or tell the origin of their kid's unique name.

But what if you're single, in your 20s, and with no kids? It's not so easy anymore.

I've got a ton of hilarious stories that I can be convinced to tell after a few spirits, but neither the content nor the language is exactly suitable for the 7:30 PM time slot.

And judging by some of the yarns I've seen spun by contestants over the years, I'm not the only one who would have a hard time finding something interesting to talk about.

Yet, episode after episode, people chose to suffer through the awkwardness of Alex's half-hearted questioning in order to compete for cash and prizes.

Why? Because people love trivia.

And so do I. Therefore, as we are about to pass the quarter pole of the NBA season, today's Starting Five is broken down to test your knowledge in five categories: Team Success, MVPs, League Leaders, Rookies, Individual Game Records.

Consider it your Quarterly NBA Exam.

I'll give the questions first, followed by the answers. If you need some extra time to think about the answers, I suggest clicking here.

Starting Five

1. Team Success

Q. The Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics currently have the two best records in the league at 17-2 and 20-2, respectively. Who were the last two teams to meet in the NBA Finals and finish the following season with the top two records in the league (2 points, all or nothing)?

2. MVPs

Q. With only 25% of the season complete, the early favorite for MVP (though it's obviously up for debate) is LeBron James. LeBron's numbers through 20 games have been staggering, but what may be most impressive is that fact that he's putting up these video game-type numbers playing a career-low 35.0 minutes per game.

That leads us to our next question: what player has averaged the fewest minutes per game in an MVP season and how many minutes did he play (1 point for the player, 1 point for the correct minutes played, 1 bonus point for the year)?

3. League Leaders

Q. Dwyane Wade leads the NBA in scoring right now, averaging 28.9 points per game. Wade also ranks seventh in the league with 7.7 assists per game. Only eight times in NBA history has a player won the scoring title and finished in the top 10 in assists per game. Name the last player to accomplish this feat, and the only player to do it twice in his career (1 point per correct response; Bonus: name the only two players to lead the league in both categories in the same year; 1 bonus point per player).

4. Rookies

Q. Derrick Rose is averaging 18 points and 6 assists through his first 20 games (18.5 and 6.1 to be exact). Only five players have ever averaged at least 18 points and 6 assists per game in their rookie season. Name these five players (1 point per correct answer).

5. Individual Game Records

Q. Earlier this season, Tony Parker scored 55 points in a win against the Minnesota Timberwolves. In the last 20 years, there have been 149 instances in which a player has scored at least 50 points in a game. Name the only three franchises in the league history to have never had player score at least 50 points in a game (1 point per team).

Bonus Round: Coaching

Q. There have already been three head coaching changes in the NBA this season. At this torrid pace (three coaching changes per month), we are marching towards an NBA record 15 coaching changes this season. While we're as likely to see half the teams in the league switch head coaches as we are to see Stephon Marbury in a Knicks uniform, we could still be headed towards an unprecedented amount of coaches being relieved of their duties midseason.

What is the record for most coaching changes in one NBA season?

Answers

1. Team Success

A. The San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons met in the 2005 NBA Finals (also the last Finals to go seven games), then followed it up by finishing the 2005-06 NBA season with 63 and 64 wins respectively, good for the top two records in the NBA. It is the only time this decade that this has happened. It happened twice in the 1990s and a record five times in the 1980s.

2. MVPs

A. In the 1977-78 season, Bill Walton of the Portland Trail Blazers played a record low 33.3 minutes per game en route to his only league MVP. The Sultan of Superlatives averaged 18.9 points, 13.2 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.5 blocks, and 1 steal per game while leading his Blazers to a league best 58-24 regular season record.

3. League Leaders

A. LeBron James is the most recent, adding an 8th place finish in assists to his only NBA scoring title last season. Wilt Chamberlain is the only player to lead the league and finish in the top ten in assists twice, doing so in the 1963-64 and 1965-66 seasons.

The other players on this list: Allen Iverson in '04-'05; Michael Jordan in '88-'89; Nate Archibold in '72-'73 (led the league in both categories); Jerry West in '69-'70; Oscar Robertson in '67-'68 (led the league in both categories).

4. Rookies

A. The five players are: Oscar Robinson (30.5, 9.7), Allen Iverson (23.5, 7.5), Steve Francis (18.0, 6.6), Magic Johnson (18.0, 7.3), Damon Stoudamire (19.0, 9.3). All but Magic were named Rookie of the Year. Ironically enough, only Johnson's Lakers went on to win the NBA title.

5. Individual Game Records

A. The Charlotte Bobcats, Memphis Grizzlies, and Minnesota Timberwolves have played a combined 2,947 regular season games in the history of their franchises, yet none of the three has had a 50-point scorer to their credit.

Bonus Round: Coaching

A. The record for most coaching changes in one NBA season was set back in the 2004-05 season when a record nine coaches were fired. Since 2000, there have been 36 midseason coaching changes (excluding coaches who defined "interim" and coached less than five games before being replaced by a more permanent coach). That leaves us just one change away from setting the record of most coaching changes in a decade, held by the freewheeling 1980s, who had a (for the moment) record of 37 coaching changes midseason.

In the Rotation

If you scored between 10-15, consider yourself in the rotation. You clearly know your basketball history, and there's always room in the rotation for someone who knows his or her stuff about the NBA.

Out of the Rotation

If you scored 5-9 points, you're out of the rotation this week, but fear not. Just because you may not be a student of the game it doesn't mean you can't enjoy the best athletes in the world competing at the highest level night in and night out. It just means you've got some research to do.

Inactive List

If you scored between 0-4 points, are you sure you're in the right place? There are plenty of NASCAR and college football articles on the website worth reading.

Special thanks to Basketball-Reference.com for providing the stats used in this article.

Be sure to check back at Sports Central every Monday to see who cracks Scott Shepherd's rotation as he breaks down what is going on around the NBA.

Posted by Scott Shepherd at 11:42 AM | Comments (1)

December 4, 2008

NFL Weekly Predictions: Week 14

Note: the quotes in this article are fictional.

Oakland @ San Diego (-10½)

With a 4-8 record and a three-game deficit to the AFC West-leading Broncos, the Chargers are a team in turmoil. San Diego's AFC title game appearance last year was supposed to be an indication that the Bolts were serious Super Bowl contenders, but shoddy defense and an underperforming running game have victimized the Chargers.

"We've lost twice as many games as we've won," says Norv Turner. "That didn't seem to be that big of an issue when we were 1-2, now did it? Ah, how I long for the good old days ... of September. I'm guessing general manager A.J. Smith's bass-ackwards view of head coaching performance may keep me around. He fired Marty Schottenheimer after a 14-2 record. By that rationale, with a 4-8 record, I should be signing a contract extension pretty soon. From what I hear, though, the fans still 'like' me. In fact, my 'likeness' is very high right now. By that, I mean my 'likeness' is hanging from the left goal post, as it burns in effigy."

Any momentum the Raiders built after their 31-10 win in Denver was lost in their 20-13 home loss to the Chiefs. The Raiders killed themselves with two lost fumbles, and quarterback JaMarcus Russell regressed after a nearly flawless performance against the Broncos.

"We've been plagued by inconsistency," says Tom Cable, sure to be the next victim of Al Davis' reign of 'fire.' "Inconsistency has negatively affected this franchise from the bottom up, from Russell's inconsistent decision-making to Al Davis' inconsistent breathing, heart rate, and deluded belief that this team can return to glory under his watch."

With time running out on their season, the Chargers have to win out to have any chance of winning the West. That's not likely to happen, and fans and front office executives alike will be calling for coaching 'Turn'-over. It's funny how many people are now expressing their fondness for 'Marty-Ball,' an expression which sounds eerily similar to what Smith would have to do to convince Schottenheimer to return: "fondle Marty's balls."

Is it legally permissible for a 4-8 team to be a 10½-point favorite? It must be, and if he were alive today, Jimmy The Greek would be all over the Raiders for this game, because, you know, that son of a gun was bred to gamble. Chargers win, 24-22.

Atlanta @ New Orleans (-3½)

After a big 22-16 win at San Diego that improved their record to 8-4, the Falcons now head to New Orleans, where the 6-6 Saints await. Rookie sensation Matt Ryan threw for 207 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Chargers, and is the leading candidate for NFL Rookie of the Year.

"Matt's calm, cool, and collected under pressure," says Mike Smith. "That's why they call him 'Matty Ice.' Of course, he's been known to answer to the name 'Vince Paraguay,' usually when he's seeking treatment for STD's in local health clinics."

While Drew Brees chases Dan Marino and an NFL MVP award, the Falcons are chasing a playoff spot. Ryan, Michael Turner, and Roddy White are too much for the Saints to handle. Atlanta wins, 31-23.

Cleveland @ Tennessee (-14)

What do you call a "Thanksgiving Day Massacre?" LenDale White eating a turkey? Or the Titans' 47-10 destruction of the winless Lions? Either would be correct. White and running mate Chris Johnson torched the Lions for 231 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns.

"I think losing to the Jets was the best thing that could have happened to us," says Jeff Fisher. "It took the pressure of maintaining an undefeated season away from us, and, more importantly, it stopped those harassing phone calls from Garo Yepremian, Jim Kiick, Mercury Morris, and other rotary phone-dialing members of the 1972 Dolphins."

"As for the speedy Johnson and the rotund White, whom we like to call the 'Speed Bump,' we absolutely have to have their contributions if we're going to maintain our status as the AFC's top team."

Sources in Cleveland have indicated that head coach Romeo Crenel needs a "miracle" finish to keep his job. The Browns are 4-8 after a 10-6 loss to the Colts, and will be without quarterback Derek Anderson, who tore his MCL, for the rest of the year. Brady Quinn was declared lost for the year last week after suffering a broken finger.

"Hey, I witnessed a miracle last Sunday," says Crenel. "Braylon Edwards caught two passes. And here's another miracle: Ken Dorsey is our starting quarterback."

Tennessee has had nine days off since their Thanksgiving win. The Browns haven't been "on" since handing the Giants their lone defeat. The outcome of the game is not in question. The only thing left to determine is who has the biggest head? Albert Haynesworth or Shaun Rogers?Tennessee wins, 27-6. And it's Rogers.

Houston @ Green Bay (-4½)

If the Packers are to mount a charge to the NFC North title, they'll have to start by addressing their rush defense. In last week's 35-31 home loss to the Panthers, Green Bay surrendered 130 yards on the ground, including five one-yard rush touchdowns, four by DeAngelo Williams and one by Jake Delhomme.

"Any time you give up a rushing score to Delhomme," says Mike McCarthy, "you know you have problems. Offensively, I have no complaints. Aaron Rodgers has been carrying this team. I have no regrets of letting Brett Favre go. It seems, though, that Favre took his rocket arm, his enthusiasm, his veteran leadership, and our defense when he left. Rodgers shows all the traits that Favre is famous for, like a strong arm and impressive toughness. However, Rodgers brings something to this team that Favre did not — Aaron is the Packers' hardest hitter."

The Texans are 5-7, fresh from a 30-17 Monday night win over the Jaguars. With the playoffs a highly unlikely result, Houston can work on building for next year, with a nucleus of solid players intact, including Andre Johnson, Steve Slaton, and Mario Williams.

"If the Packers are planning on running another quarterback out of town," says Gary Kubiak, "I'd be interested in landing him here."

It's December, and the Packers are undefeated so far this year in that month. And we all know what December at Lambeau Field entails — cold weather and a playing surface electronically regulated so as not to harden in the arctic Wisconsin winter. That's what I call "tradition."

Aaron Rogers throws for 3 touchdowns, and the Packers defense forces three Matt Schaub turnovers. Green Bay wins, 26-15.

Philadelphia @ NY Giants (-9)

The Giants are running away with the NFC East division crown, and are well on their way to locking up home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The G-Men easily handled the Redskins 23-7 to improve to 11-1 and look to remain perfect in division games with a win over the Eagles.

"Thanks to Plaxico Burress," says Eli Manning, "you now have to be more specific when using the term 'G-Men.' Do you mean 'Giants football players' or the 'agents investigating Plaxico's self-inflicted gunshot wound?' Plax has gone from being my favorite target to being his own favorite target. In any case, Plaxico will have problems on his hands, and is facing criminal charges in addition to a four-game suspension. But those are the least of his problems. His real problem is being referred to from this point forward as the 'Barney Fife' of the NFL. Unfortunately, Plaxico doesn't live in Mayberry, so his punishment will be a little more severe that just being locked up for a night to 'sleep it off.'"

"Plaxico has a long and arduous journey ahead of him. It's ironic that he's now begging someone else to 'just shoot me.' But I'll be there for Plaxico, supporting him along the way, especially in the courtroom, where I'll be leading the 'defense' chants throughout the proceedings. When not there in person, I'll be watching it all on ESPN's new, 24-hour station devoted entirely to boneheaded professional athletes, called 'ESPN-Carcerated.'"

The Eagles were impressive in a 48-20 win over the Cardinals, but their ugly tie in Week 12 to the Bengals likely cost them a chance at the playoffs.

"Hey, Plaxico Burress simply made a mistake," says Donovan McNabb. "And I know all about 'accidental discharges.' Sure, I may not have been aware that games could end in a tie, but I've known for some time now that games can end with me vomiting on the field. One of these days, I'm going to use that ability to my advantage. Maybe this Sunday is the time to start. Yeah, the Giants are the big, bad wolf of the East, but how will they react when I threaten to 'huff and puff and blow chunks?'"

I'm sure they'll call your bluff (and huff and puff), Donovan.

With a win, New York clinches the NFC East. A loss, and they don't. A tie, and McNabb's got some explaining to do. New York wins, 26-20.

Minnesota @ Detroit (+9)

Detroit's 47-10 Thanksgiving Day loss to Tennessee left little, if anything, to be happy about, although "Black Thursday" was a nice lead-in for Detroit-area shoppers anxious to spend on "Black Friday." The Lions have four more chances to claim a victory, starting with Sunday's contest against the Vikings, who lead the NFC North.

"Despite the lopsided loss," says Rod Marinelli, "we found out a lot about ourselves. That being that in addition to Sunday's, we can lose convincingly on Thursday's as well."

The Vikes hold a one-game lead in the North over the Bears, with the Packers two games behind. A brutal three-game stretch awaits following the Detroit game, as Minnesota will face Arizona, Atlanta, and the Giants.

"I'd like to say we control our own destiny," says Brad Childress. "But that's not the case. Our destiny is as much tied to the office of the commissioner as it is to our performance down the stretch. We've anxiously awaited word from Roger Goodell about the fate of Kevin and Pat Williams, who may be suspended for using a banned substance. I guess we'll get one of two answers. Either 'ur-ine' or 'ur-out.' Well, word just came down that they've been suspended for four games, a result which can only be described as 'leaving us pissed.'"

Is this the break that the Lions needed to pull out a victory? The Williams' suspensions are a bigger blow to the Vikings that 2005's "sex boat" scandal, and that's saying something, as big blows go. If ever there was a time to run the ball on the Vikings, this is it. Daunte Culpepper could use a shortened play book; it looks like he's got the words to War and Peace written on his wrist bands. Detroit pulls the upset and wins, 27-24.

Jacksonville @ Chicago (-6½)

The Bears fell to second place in the NFC North, dropping a 34-14 decision to the Vikings in the Metrodome. Chicago has now lost its last two division games by a combined score of 71-17, but in the unpredictable North, they are still very much in the playoff hunt.

"Hey, we can talk about our defensive inadequacies," says Brian Urlacher, "which are very much real. Or, we can talk about my fathering inadequacies, which are very much overblown and over-reported. You've probably heard that the mother of my son complained that I dressed him in pink pull-ups and painted his toenails. What's the big deal? If he wants to be a ''Maiden of the Midway,' then so be it. It's ridiculous. It doesn't make him any less of a boy. Besides, it will prepare him well for his future as a Bears' defender."

After Monday's 30-17 loss in Houston, Jacksonville is 4-8 and in last place in the AFC South. Although the Jags' downfall started earlier in the season, it seems to have reached the boiling point with the loss to the Bengals, followed by Del Rio's disciplinary stance against Mike Peterson. So, if you could go back, Jack, would you do it again?

"I totally resent questions asked in the form of lyrics to Steely Dan songs," says Del Rio. "You'd be surprised how often that happens, though. Ironically, I've banned all Steely Dan's from the locker room. Not the band, mind you, but the sexual tools. Anyway, I guess if I had it to do over, I would have held me temper a little better. For a while there, it wasn't 'Jacksonville;' it was 'Jack's enraged.' But it's too late, to turn back now. I believe, I believe, I believe I've lost this team. Personally, I'm ready for this season to end, so we all can do what I told Mike Peterson to do a month ago: 'go home.'"

Bears win, 27-16.

Cincinnati @ Indianapolis (-14)

The Colts are riding a five-game winning streak, and will be gunning for a sweep of AFC North teams when they host the 1-10-1 Bengals, who were thrashed 34-3 by the Ravens last week. Indianapolis is battling for a wildcard spot, and can't afford to slip against a clearly inferior opponent.

"Who dey, who dey, who dey think's gonna not beat them Bengals?" says Peyton Manning.

"I guess you could say we 'willed' ourselves to the win against the Browns, which is what you say when you want to sugar-coat a 10-6 win over a 4-7 team. Much of the blame falls on me. I only threw for 125 yards, with 2 interceptions and no touchdowns. Those are dismal quarterbacking stats. Luckily, I'm on television so often hawking product that my Nielsen ratings more than make up for my pathetic quarterback rating. Raise your hand if you're sick of hearing 'If sports are shot on a Sony, shouldn't you watch it on one?'"

The Bengals' problems are numerous, but surprisingly, one of those problems has not been off-the-field behavior. Just as they have been off the field, Cincinnati players have been even more compliant on the field.

"We've gotten a bum rap this year," says Chad Ocho Cinco. "Say what you will about this team's criminal history, but I'm proud of the fact that all of the thugs on this team have sense enough to discharge their weapons outside of their pants."

Indianapolis wins, 31-21.

New England @ Seattle (+4½)

In the losers' bracket of the Dallas/Seattle/New England/Pittsburgh four-team tournament, the Patriots make the long trip to Seattle to face the 2-10 Seahawks. New England was soundly beaten 33-10 last week by the Steelers, as Matt Cassel suffered through a four-turnover day.

"Matt's play certainly gave me a weak-in-the-knees feeling," says Bill Belichick. "Which I'm sure is something Mike Holmgren can relate to. Matt Hasselbeck has been battling a nagging knee problem all year. While not as serious as Tom Brady's season-ending knee injury, it's been the catalyst for Seattle's downfall. Between the two, Brady and Hasselbeck have seen a number of knee specialists. Now, if Cassel turns the ball over four times again, I'll be scheduling him a visit with a team of knee specialists, known mostly for their work on behalf of Tonya Harding."

It's a long plane ride from Foxborough to Seattle, especially with the pains of a 33-10 thrashing from the Steelers still being felt. But this is a must-win game for the Patriots, who have to keep pace with the rest of the AFC East. And the Pats won't lose a must-win game to a 2-10 team.

"Besides," says Randy Moss, "I only get 'jet-lagged' when I slip a copy of Jet magazine inside my play book and doze off during a receivers meeting."

"I'd like to address the belief that I tend to shy away when teams defend me physically. I don't want to get 'pigeon-holed' as a receiver who's afraid of physical contact. When you try to 'pigeon-hole' a 'corn-rowed' receiver, that's awfully close to being 'corn-holed.' And I really don't like the sound of that."

New England wins, 24-17.

NY Jets @ San Francisco (+3½)

The Jets' short run as AFC darling came crashing down last Sunday, as New York turned the ball over five times in a 34-17 loss to Denver. After emotional wins over New England and Tennessee the previous two weeks, Brett Favre and the Jets must rebound to protect their one-game lead in the AFC East race over the Patriots and Dolphins.

"We're obviously not as good as we thought we were," says Favre. "But if you want to crown us, you can still crown our asses. We know we blew our chance to take a two-game lead in the division, but we just didn't come to play. But seriously, the Jets in the Super Bowl is not that tough a sell. What's a tough sell? The Broncos in the Super Bowl, or Plaxico Burress leading a gun safety class, or Tom Cruise as an eye patch-wearing German."

While Favre is comfortable in his Wranglers, 49ers head coach, the beady-eyed and bespectacled Mike Singletary, is equally as comfortable out of his Wranglers. Singletary has the 49ers playing tough and gritty football, and is making his case to remain San Fran's head coach.

"What I've tried to do here is create an atmosphere of determination and bravery," says Singletary. "I try to motivate these cats in ways they'll appreciate. For example, just the other day, in my best Dirty Harry impression, I said to the guys, 'Do you feel plucky? Well do ya', punks?' In this league, it's 10% perspiration, 85% motivation, and a 5% lawyer's retainer fee."

The Jets bounce back with a solid game. Favre throws for a score, and the New York defense forces 3 turnovers. Jets win, 19-13.

Kansas City @ Denver (-9½)

The Chiefs went to Oakland last week and handed the Raiders a 20-13 loss, as Kansas City quarterback Tyler Thigpen engineered a 91-yard, fourth-quarter scoring drive that culminated with a Larry Johnson touchdown run. It was only the Chiefs' second win of the year, and an emotional one for Herman Edwards, who always seems to teeter on that fine line between a coach on his way out and a coach given one more year to turn things around.

"Just when I thought I was out," says Edwards, "they pull me back in. What could be stranger than me quoting an Al Pacino line from The Godfather III? I'll tell you what. Al Pacino saying 'You play to win the game. Hoo hah!'"

"I just hope I'm around next year. This team is young, has shown lots of potential, and we should have a nice pick in April's draft. Hopefully, we'll select a young stud who'll become a superstar, and we'll look back on his drafting as a 'hot Chief injection.'"

"As for Thigpen, he was very impressive on the game-winning drive. I wouldn't say he reminded me of Joe Montana, but I did see a little bit of Joe Mantegna in him. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Mantegna still has more game-winning, fourth-quarter drives than Thigpen. That's such a useless statistic. I played defensive back, and even I've got a game-winning, fourth-quarter drive to my name."

The Broncos are riding high, with a seemingly safe three-game lead in the AFC West over the Chargers. The Chiefs beat the Broncos 33-19 in Week 4, ending Denver's three-game winning streak to start the season.

"This team will only go as far as Jay Cutler takes them," says Mike Shanahan. "You know me. I'll hop on a quarterback and ride like my life, and coaching legacy, depended on it."

Broncos win, 27-23.

Miami @ Buffalo (-1)

The Dolphins and Bills meet in Toronto's Rogers Centre in the NFL's first regular-season game in Canada, and it will be a homecoming of sorts for Miami's Ricky Williams, who played with the Argonauts in 2006 while under suspension from the NFL for substance abuse violations.

"'Substance abuse' is such a misleading term," says Williams. "I much too concerned about the plight of substances to even consider abusing them. I've devoted too much of my life to them. In fact, you could say I 'lived and breathed' them. Mostly breathed, though."

"As for Toronto, I have nothing but fond memories of that place. It's a perfect place for an NFL player to detox. Hey, they don't call it 'Canada Dry' for nothing."

Buffalo is the home team for Sunday's game, and it's a possibility that the Bills will call Toronto home in the near future, as the NFL looks to expand globally.

"A Buffalo football game indoors in Toronto?" says Lee Evans. "A Buffalo hockey game outdoors in Buffalo? It's all very confusing. But not as confusing as it will be for Donovan McNabb when he finds out there's a former Toronto hockey player name 'Tie' Domi."

Miami wins, 27-22.

St. Louis @ Arizona (-13½)

Arizona returns to the confines of University of Phoenix Stadium after a 48-20 loss at Philadelphia on Thanksgiving night. In four trips to the East Coast this season, the Cardinals are 0-4, and have been outscored 155-95.

"There's no place like home," says Kurt Warner. "There's a lot to be said for sleeping in your own bed, Matt Leinart's predatory sexual proclivity notwithstanding. I bet Matt wishes he could trade places with me. And I with him."

"Honestly, I can't explain why we're so terrible on the East Coast. They say home-field advantage is worth three points. Then I guess we give up three points for every time zone we cross. God forbid the NFL ever schedules us a game in England."

The Rams are 2-10 after last week's 16-12 loss to the Dolphins. St. Louis has now gone two games without a touchdown.

"We really haven't given the home fans much to see at home this year," says Jim Haslett, "unless you count a middle finger from Richie Incognito. I can't blame our fans for booing us, or pulling the wool over their eyes. We're trying our best to bring home a win, which should appease those 'bleating heart' fans who've tolerated us this year."

Warner throws for 328 yards and 4 scores, and Arizona wins, 31-21.

Dallas @ Pittsburgh (-3)

The Cowboys have won three straight games to break back into the playoff picture. Dallas' 34-9 Thanksgiving win over the Seahawks improved their record to 8-4. Right now, the Panthers and Falcons hold the two wildcard positions, but the Cowboys are surging at the right time behind the play of Tony Romo and an attacking defense.

"As for the playoffs," says Romo, "we're on the outside looking in, which is exactly what you can say about Jason Witten when he tags along on a romantic Mexican getaway with me and my main squeeze Jessica Simpson. But we'll be totally prepared for the Steelers and their blitz-happy defense. MRI's on Marion Barber's toe and DeMarcus Ware's knee were negative, and Pacman Jones hasn't tested positive for anything as of yet. Pacman knows he's down to his last chance, and he's on his own. No more security detail provided by Jerry Jones. Now, we did have a stripper pole installed in the locker room to get Pacman through the tough times. And we've also asked Pacman to shadow former Cowboy Michael Irvin and steer clear of trouble by seeing what Irvin does, then doing the exact opposite."

Romo will have to deal with a Steelers defense that last week sacked Matt Cassel five time and forced four Cassel turnovers. Dallas tackles Flozell Adams and Marc Colombo will have their hands full with Steelers linebackers LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison.

"That ringing in Cassel's ear," says Harrison. "That's what you get from listening to too much 'death metal,' which is what we call this version of the Pittsburgh defense. We plan on pressuring Romo and breaking his rhythm, if not with sacks then by making sure his follow through lands on a helmet. This in turn should take Terrell Owens out of the game. T.O.'s gone one whole game without 200 yards receiving. One more, and he's likely to snap and start that whining about 'not being involved in the offense.' Hey, T.O., if you want to become more involved in the Dallas offense, buy the team and become the owner."

Steelers win, 27-20.

Washington @ Baltimore (-4½)

The Ravens have battled back from an early-season three-game losing streak to win two straight and post an 8-4 record, good enough to put them in the playoffs if the regular season ended today. The Ravens have outscored their last two opponents, the Eagles and Bengals, by a combined score of 70-10. After the Redskins visit M&T Bank Stadium, the Ravens host the Steelers in a huge AFC North showdown.

"This defense is ferocious," says Ray Lewis, "when it's not being exposed by a good offense. Defense is always a constant in Baltimore. Whether it's me lighting up a running back or Ed Reed returning an interception from underneath the goal posts, we'll rock you like a Hurricane. But, despite what you hear, there are other non-Miami players on this team, including our rookie quarterback Joe Flacco, whom I believe went to some community college in Delaware. I'm not sure if that's a state or a city, but it sure produced a fine quarterback. Joe's started 12 games this year, which is a streak that would make Steve McNair and Kyle Boller envious."

With another Hurricane, Washington running back Clinton Portis, likely out for the game, the Redskins will be even more dependent on quarterback Jason Campbell. If Campbell can find an early connection with another Hurricane, Santana Moss, and give the Redskins an early lead, Washington has a chance. Playing from behind, Washington will fall right into the clutches of the Ravens' attacking defense. Baltimore will post a defensive score along the way in this one. Ravens win, 26-12.

Tampa Bay @ Carolina (-3)

In a game that could very well decide the NFC South title, the 9-3 Bucs visit the 9-3 Panthers in Bank of America Stadium, where Carolina is undefeated this year. Tampa dominated Carolina 27-3 in Week 6, and the Panthers will use that defeat as motivation.

"They really took us out to the woodshed for a sound beating last time," says Steve Smith, who, in addition to 'hands of stone', has 'fingers of glue.' "And, as you know, the Tampa 'woodshed' is much like a Tampa sports bar bathroom stall— it's a dark, confined area where someone takes a 'licking.'"

"I've got to give credit to Jake Delhomme for having the guts to throw that last pass in Green Bay. Jake thrives when he puts the ball where only I can catch it. It may take a while, but Jake and I will eventually hook up, if not on the field, then in an amateurishly-produced Bojangles chicken commercial."

In Tampa, rumors are swirling that defensive guru Monte Kiffin will leave the Bucs to take a position with his son Lane, who recently accepted the head coaching position at the University of Tennessee.

"Hey, Monte's no fan of the spotlight," says Jon Gruden. "If he wants to go to Tennessee and supervise a dominating defense while a younger, less experienced head coach basks in the subsequent glory, then that's his prerogative. He's already well-experienced doing that here in Tampa."

"As for me, I'm happy right here where I am. Jeff Garcia has proven himself once again that he's a warrior, and together, Garcia and I form the 'Tough/S.O.B.' player/coach combination."

The revenge factor will be large for the Panthers, as will a liquored-up Monday night home crowd. Carolina will be motivated to win and take the lead in the South, so, in true Panther fashion, they can blow it a week or two later. Carolina wins, 22-14.

Posted by Jeffrey Boswell at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)

Scouting the Poker Tours

I used to write a lot more about golf here than I do now. I used to watch and care about golf a lot more than I do now.

But when I was interested, I wrote a great deal about different tours, like the Asian and Australian Tours, that have outstanding golfers but are overshadowed by the PGA, European, and Nationwide tours.

I found such things interesting because I like variety. If you are an pro football fan, the NFL is pretty much the only game in town (CFL isn't on U.S. TV anymore in most markets, and Arena Football is a different sport). Same with baseball and basketball as far as your high level viewing options, for the most part.

In poker, though, I count no less than six multi-country poker tours. And the similarity to golf to end there. In both, the events have both players who bought in directly and qualifiers (lots more of this in poker, to be sure, than Monday qualifiers of a PGA event).

The World Series of Poker Circuit is still the most prestigious. With main events both in Las Vegas and London, they also make stops in Atlantic City, Lake Tahoe, Indiana (suburban Chicago), San Diego, New Orleans, Mississippi, and Iowa.

Unlike the other tours, the WSOPC does not allow online qualifiers. Instead, offers you see online promising WSOP qualifiers are actually just going to give you the cash equivalent.

Then there's the World Poker Tour, which is struggling financially and on its third TV home (now FOX Sports Net) in the last few years. That said, they are the first entity people think of when they hear "poker tour." They might benefit by cutting the costs of their main events down to under $10,000 to enter, as most other tours have for most of their events.

The next three are all run by Poker Stars, which has seemed to find a very profitable format for running poker tours, as they are constantly birthing new tours and existing stops on their existing circuit.

Their flagship tour is the European Poker Tour, which visits 12 cities this year. The Season Championship is in Monte Carlo and used to be known as the Monte Carlo Millions. That, the Aussie Millions (not a part of a tour), the WSOP Main Event, and the WPT Championship are the de facto four majors of poker.

Poker Stars also hosts the Asian Pacific Poker Tour, which is about to wrap-up its second season. It spans from Oceania (Sydney, Auckland) to the Far East (Macau, Manila, Seoul).

Finally, they just added the Latin American Poker Tour, which held events in Brazil, Uruguay, and Costa Rica in their inaugural season, and started Season 2 almost immediately after, with Costa Rica again, Mexico, and more sites TBA.

I can't really count it here because it's just one country, but just two days ago they also started the Russian Poker Tour, with two stops announced: St. Petersburg in January and Moscow in February. In case you were wondering, the average January temperature in St. Petersburg is just shy of 20 degrees. It's the northernmost metropolitan city in the world. Qualify today.

Finally, there's the confusion-engendering Asian Poker Tour (not Poker Stars Asian Pacific Poker Star), which has staggered two events in some APPT cities (Manila and Macau) and are returning to Manila in 2009.

Those are the tours that are established enough to have staged events in multiple countries. A handful more are trying.

The Poker Tour of the Americas is run by a penny stock company, but seems to be trying in earnest to get a series of events going, which would visit Costa Rica, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Canada (Vancouver).

The Latin Series of Poker has already run an event, their "Main Event" in Costa Rica, and hopes to return there as well as hold events in Chile and Colombia. Dates TBA, however.

Finally, I'd love to give some props to the International Poker League. They have a host of events listed on their website all over the word, including the African Open, Aussie Open, UK Open, and Asian Open. Too bad their website hasn't been updated in over a year.

Posted by Kevin Beane at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)

December 3, 2008

Rodgers or Favre? The Debate Continues

In true parliamentary style, I will immediately declare an interest. The Green Bay Packers are my NFL team and have been ever since I started watching football 25 years ago. How can you not love a historically great team from a small town in the middle of nowhere that doesn't even have some filthy rich old white guy as an owner?

I also loved Brett Favre, through the MVP seasons, the Super Bowls, the single-handed victories, the starting streak and despite the pain-killer drama, the frustrating picks in crucial games, and the fact that he seems to be friendly with the odious Peter King.

But no man, even Favre, is bigger than the team, particularly a team as important to the NFL as the Green Bay Packers. It was time for Favre to retire and he did so with the best wishes and thanks of everyone in Green Bay and football in general. The team rightly moved on to Aaron Rodgers, who had waited patiently and with grace for his time to come.

Predictably, as all great ones do, Favre quickly wanted to unretire and, without any of the grace Rodgers had shown as his deputy, made a complete fool of himself (as did his wife) in the process. The Favre entourage and a lot of his admirers expected the Packers hierarchy to either trade him to the hated Vikings or welcome him back and dump Rodgers and all in the time it takes to throw an overtime playoff interception. When it didn't happen, they threw a collective hissy fit.

The Packers had no obligation to Brett Favre other than he was contracted to the team (which paid him a handsome salary) and he was theirs to play, trade or bench. Quite rightly, they traded him for a fair return and even found an AFC home for him so he didn't immediately have the opportunity to bite them in the ass.

Favre has revitalized a struggling Jets team and that's a great story. He's put up numbers that put him on the fringes of MVP talk and his team will likely make the playoffs.

None of that makes the decision of Packers GM Ted Thompson to go with Rodgers a mistake. The Packers have almost no hope of making the postseason after their recent collapse, but even that shouldn't throw Thompson's decision into question.

Rodgers has been impressive in his first season as a starter, so much so that he owns a QB rating of 91.2, higher than Favre's 90.4. Not that QB rating is the be-all and end-all of measuring a QB, but it illustrates that Rodgers hasn't been the reason why the Packers couldn't win a mediocre NFC North.

The reasons the Packers likely won't make the post season is that they:

• Can't stop the run (27th in the NFL).
• Can't win close games (three of the last four losses have been by four or less points) because of a porous defense and bad coaching decisions — the decision not to go for it on 4th-and-goal in the Carolina game was mind-numbingly stupid.
• Can't generate a decent pass rush, especially late in games.
• The team is young, without an obvious leader, and is unaccustomed to pressure situations. They will improve, but this year is too soon. None of these issues reflect badly on Aaron Rodgers, who has had a great year in a difficult position. To say Brett Favre would have given them slightly more at QB might be true, but it's a complete stretch to say he would have taken them into the postseason. Rodgers has years ahead of him as a NFL starter; Favre has until the Jets are eliminated, then the whole will-he-won't-he saga starts again.

Anyone who watched, as I did, the MNF telecast of the Packers/Saints game must have got sick of the sound of squeaky-voiced "analyst" Tony Korn(ball)heiser flogging the "would Green Bay be better with Favre?" dirge until even one of his co-hosts could take no more. At one point, I thought Jaws, who was getting increasingly irritated and letting it show, was going to hang a right hook on Kornheiser's cretinous face.

Here lies the basic problem with NFL broadcasts. Men like Jaworski, who can actually analyze football games for an informed and intelligent audience, are sidelined or crushed into submission until they toe the company line and peddle the "storyline" garbage that no one apart from the likes of David Hill at FOX cares about.

Hence we get the "so-and-so comes from a poor family of 76 children and didn't eat a proper meal until he got to college" or "this guy is dating this Z-list celebrity singer having previously dated another equally dismal reality show contestant" or the "will he retire or won't he?" drivel. Joe Buck has made a lucrative career out of grinding out this crap for FOX.

It's an insult to fans that love (and understand) the game and it's almost unheard of in college football broadcasting, where the standard of analysis is much higher.

I thought MNF couldn't sink any lower than Dennis Miller, but sadly, I was proven wrong. At least Miller approached the job as a comedian and had no pretense to being an analyst, though his style wasn't to everyone's taste, including mine.

Kornheiser's laboring under the illusion that he's a bona-fide expert and twitters on endlessly with his inane "observations" and opinions. He's a low-level talking head that's out of his depth — a bald Jim Rome, an old and white Stephen A.S.S. Smith, Jay Mariotti with a jumper and jacket instead of an Armani suit. It's enough to make you yearn for the days of Dan Dierdorf.

According to nfl.fanhouse.com, Kornheiser mentioned Brett Favre 18 times during the Saints/Packers telecast, compared to 16 times for Rodgers and nine times for one of the NFC's best QBs and a likely MVP candidate, Drew Brees. Ridiculous.

Completely passed by in this Green Bay/Jets/Favre triangle is Chad Pennington, who was unceremoniously dumped by the Jets to make room for Favre.

Pennington had a hard time in New Jersey, but always appeared brave and dignified despite the criticism. He has a better QB rating than either Rodgers or Favre at 92.8, he's only thrown 6 picks, and has fumbled the ball just twice, with neither recovered by the opposition. I don't expect Tony Kornheiser has noticed that.

From a comedy journalist to the greatest living NFL writer, Paul Zimmerman, otherwise known as Dr. Z.

Zimmerman was hospitalized last week after suffering two strokes. He is recovering, but so far hasn't been able to communicate, according to hospital sources.

Dr. Z is the perfect example of how to conduct yourself as a professional sports journalist. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of his subject, laces his articles with wit and amusing anecdotes, respects his colleagues and subjects, and offers forthright opinion backed up by facts. He's also an NFL media dinosaur, in as much as he is prepared to take on the suits in the NFL establishment and call them out on what they do wrong. No other NFL writer can even make a half-hearted claim to that.

It was with great sadness that I read of his illness. If we've seen the last of his work, there will be a gaping hole in sports journalism. I'm sure I'm not alone at Sports Central in wishing him a speedy recovery and praying for his family in difficult times.

Posted by Mike Round at 11:50 AM | Comments (12)

65 Reasons and the BCS Ain't One

It seems there isn't one person in all of America who doesn't have an opinion about the latest debacle regarding the BCS and its attempts to continue to monopolize college football. Recently, however, it has started to affect big-name programs. Will it affect the BCS? Probably not.

This is just one of the reasons why college basketball is far superior to college football. From March Madness to Never Nervous Pervis Ellison, here are 65 reasons why college basketball is better than college football.

65. The BCS. No BCS in college basketball, which means, guess what? No controversy, 65 teams play for the title.

64. Preseason tournaments. Did anyone catch the Maui Classic this year?

63. The band: both college football and basketball have bands, but the in the gym, you've got a drum kit and an electric guitar ... winner!

62. Larry Eustache. Some recruit and coach, others party. College basketball: where partying with opposing team's coeds happens.

61. Coach/player relationship. I don't think this is what Eustache had in mind, but because of the smaller rosters, you can feel the bond players and coaches form.

60. Pat Summitt. A head coach in a cheerleaders uniform, haven't seen it yet on the gridiron.

59. Rumeal Robinson rose from living on the street as a child to hitting two free throws with three seconds left to give Michigan the 1989 national championship. You won't find that type of pressure in college football; unless you're talking about kickers, but they're not real players.

58. Pervis Ellison, or Never Nervous Pervis, was the first of freshman phenoms to lead a team, rarely seen in college football.

57. Automatic bids. Do you want to see a team fight and scrap? Forget the three months of the college football season, watch a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championship Game and you'll get an idea.

56. Blue chips.

55. Point Guard U. Yes, I'm biased, but the University of Arizona needs to be on here somewhere.

54. Indoors is where I want to be during the winter months.

53. "Send it in, Jerome": one of the best lines ever uttered in a college basketball game, by...

52. Bill Rafferty's lines are legendary.

51. St. Joseph's. Do you think a school of 7,500 enrollment would ever contend for a national championship in football?

50. Grant Hill to Christian Laettner.

49. A game everyday.

48. Stephen Curry.

47. Conference tournaments. See automatic bid.

46. The matchup zone.

45. Adam Morrison. Tom Hanks once said, "Are your crying? There's no crying in baseball!" Morrison obviously never saw this movie and left his emotions out on the court against UCLA in a regional semifinal match.

44. Selection Sunday.

43. Midnight Madness.

42. Freshman phenoms. From Carmelo Anthony to Kevin Durant, freshmen make more of an impact and provide more buzz in the college basketball game than they could ever do in football.

41. Indiana's old-school warmups.

40. Carolina Blue.

39. Lew Alcindor, the greatest college basketball player ever.

38. Jerry Tarkanian biting the towel.

37. Bob Knight.

36. Garbage time. You want to see 15,000 fans go wild, watch garbage time. You want to see 15,000 fans go wild at a college football game during garbage time, head to the parking lot.

35. Chaminade vs. Virginia.

34. 12 vs. 5.

33. UCLA's dynasty.

32. Bracketbuster Saturday. It's mid-majors pitted against each other with at-large berths on the line. Drama!

31. Princeton offense.

30. Bracketology.

29. Villanova.

28. Michigan's Fab Five.

27. Dick Vitale.

26. Cameron Crazies.

25. Student sections.

24. The V Foundation.

23. The crowd.

22. Ashley Judd.

21. Las Vegas. Head there for March Madness and I promise you it will be better than your 21st birthday.

20. Roy Williams, Jim Boeheim, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Calhoun. The Four Corners of current college coaches.

19. Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble. They scored by the buckets and when Gathers died unexpectedly, Kimble honored him.

18. Bench antics. From crossing arms to dances, sometimes there's more energy on the bench at a college basketball game than on the court.

17. Cutting down the nets.

16. Second chances. You never know when the opportunity will come to beat a team that took you down earlier in the season. Revenge is always prevalent.

15. Texas Western.

14. Marquee non-conference matchups.

13. A loss isn't the end. In college football, you lose and more than likely, your hopes of a championship are dashed, but in college basketball, it can make you stronger.

12. Duke vs. North Carolina. The greatest rivalry in sports hands down.

11. Notre Dame football. This is not a typo. Notre Dame Football is a joke and has hurt college football the last decade more than it has helped.

10. Larry vs. Magic.

9. The buzzer-beater.

8. Office pools.

7. One shining moment.

6. Cinderella.

5. Tobacco Road.

4. McArthur Court, home of the University of Oregon, built in the 1920s. These intimate arenas are what make college basketball so special.

3. John Wooden. The greatest coach ever and his pyramid of success not only helped basketball players, it continues to aid human beings.

2. March Madness. It is the greatest three weeks in sports with 65 teams all scrapping it out, leading to what college football will never be able to offer in the current format...

1. A true national champion.

Posted by Wailele Sallas at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)

December 2, 2008

NFL Week 13 Power Rankings

Five Quick Hits

* The Hall of Fame has announced this year's semifinalists, and it's a pretty good list. My favorites: Cris Carter, Terrell Davis, Dermontti Dawson, Chris Doleman, Kevin Greene, Russ Grimm, Lester Hayes, Bob Kuechenberg, Randall McDaniel, John Randle, Shannon Sharpe, Bruce Smith, Paul Tagliabue, Steve Tasker, and Rod Woodson.

* Why does ESPN put a microphone and a national TV audience in front of scum like Drew Rosenhaus?

* The Buccaneers and Patriots have been assigned next year's London game. The Bucs "host," which is the NFL's way of saying Tampa will lose a home game.

* Dear TV people at all stations: please don't miss the beginnings of plays.

* My best wishes to Dr. Z. Have a speedy, full recovery, doc.

***

For the first month of the 2008 season, there was near-unanimous agreement that the NFC East was the strongest division in pro football. But if the season ended today, only one team from the East — the New York Giants — would make the playoffs. Dallas went through a midseason slump, punctuated by Tony Romo's month-long absence. Philadelphia has been up-and-down all season, repeatedly on the wrong side of close games. But perhaps most dramatic has been the stunning decline in Washington. After opening the season 4-1 and sitting at 6-2 midway, Washington has fallen to 7-5 and looks worse every week.

The defense — sixth in both yards and points allowed — is not the problem here. Washington is 28th in the league in scoring. Cincinnati (1-10-1), Detroit (0-12), and Washington share the distinctions of being the only teams not to score 30 points in a game this season, and the only teams not to win by double-digits this season. More on this later. For now, let's get to the power rankings. Brackets indicate last week's rank.

1. New York Giants [1] — If Plaxico Burress is convicted of illegal possession of a firearm, he faces a minimum of 3½ years in prison. I don't know if he'll do the time, but SI's Peter King has already said that "it's highly unlikely he'll ever play for the Giants again." You know what to do with guys who stop bringing it after they get the contract? Trade them to the Raiders. If Burress doesn't land behind bars, I hope he lands in Oakland, where careers go to die.

2. Tennessee Titans [2] — I like Jeff Fisher, but what was he doing, throwing the challenge flag when his team was up 47-10? It wasn't even a scoring play or an obvious bad call. There's a certain point — and that point comes before 47-10 — when you just say to yourself, "Okay, we'll let this one go."

3. Pittsburgh Steelers [4] — Committed 8 penalties for 88 yards and 5 first downs. No problem, with this defense. They forced 4 turnovers by Matt Cassel, all in the second half, powering Pittsburgh to an easy 33-10 victory in New England. Troy Polamalu has been playing at a very high level the past few weeks, but the star of the show is OLB James Harrison. On Sunday, Harrison led the team in tackles, got 2 sacks, and forced 2 fumbles. He's the best player on the best defense, and he deserves serious consideration as Defensive Player of the Year.

4. New York Jets [3] — The fumble return for a touchdown looked like the wrong call to me. But when a team loses by 17, it can't complain too much about one bad call. I think the Jets were due for a letdown, and they had one. It would be wise to rely more on Thomas Jones (16 carries for 138 yards, 8.6 average) and less on Brett Favre (43 passes for 247 yards, 5.7 average).

5. Indianapolis Colts [5] — Injuries are an issue, but they have five straight wins, and the remaining schedule is forgiving. It would be a surprise at this point if the Colts do not qualify for the playoffs. If they do, Tony Dungy will pass Tom Landry, the legendary Cowboys coach, for the most consecutive playoff appearances by a head coach (10).

6. Baltimore Ravens [8] — Won six of the last seven, losing only to the Giants. Opponents should be concerned that Baltimore's offense seems to be coming around. The Ravens have scored more than 30 points in four of their last five games. Mark Clayton had the game of a lifetime this weekend, making two sick catches and throwing a pretty TD pass. He finished with a career-best 164 receiving yards.

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers [6] — Sources report that longtime defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin will join his son Lane at the University of Tennessee next season. I don't know about the dynamic of a son being the boss of his more accomplished father, but whatever. If the rumors are true, current Lions head coach Rod Marinelli would be an interesting possibility as Kiffin's replacement. Marinelli was an assistant with Tampa prior to his hiring in Detroit.

8. Atlanta Falcons [9] — Michael Turner leads the NFL in rushing attempts (282). Whether you prefer Increased Risk Games or The Curse of 370, it's pretty clear that heavy workload can ruin the career of a running back. Turner has had five straight weeks with at least 24 carries. The Falcons can't ask him to keep that up.

9. Dallas Cowboys [11] — They walked all over the Seahawks, and the injuries to Marion Barber and DeMarcus Ware don't seem serious, so maybe I'll just write about the Jonas Brothers instead of their game. If Joe Buck can spend more time talking about the Jonas Brothers than football — during a Thanksgiving football game he's supposed to be announcing — then maybe I should write about Miley Cyrus instead of the Browns.

10. Carolina Panthers [10] — Can you win a game with only four players? DeAngelo Williams (4 TDs), Steve Smith (105 yards), Julius Peppers (2 sacks), and Jon Beason (11 tackles, game-clinching INT) made pretty much all the plays in Sunday's win over the Packers. Williams had an especially notable performance, because red zone offense (5 TDs in 5 trips) was the difference in the game.

11. Arizona Cardinals [7] — I'm starting to think Ken Whisenhunt is a Tony Dungy type of coach, in the sense that he's a pretty good coach who sometimes looks like a very bad coach. Dungy has always been a winner, and I think he brings what we sometimes call a "culture of winning" to his teams. Whisenhunt seems to have done that in Arizona. But both sometimes make mystifying mistakes with regard to in-game strategy and playcalling.

12. New England Patriots [12] — Cassel leads the NFL in sacks (39) by a pretty wide margin. Turnovers killed them against Pittsburgh, and pressure on Cassel directly contributed to four of those (two picks and two sack-fumbles). One of the things that made Tom Brady special was his ability to deal with pressure, and Cassel doesn't have that right now.

13. Philadelphia Eagles [15] — From 2000-04, the Philadelphia Eagles had a collective record of 59-21 and played in four consecutive NFC Championship Games. Over that span, Donovan McNabb made the Pro Bowl every year. During those years, McNabb averaged 429 rushing yards per season, about 30 per game. Since then, McNabb has an average of 14 rushing yards per game and the Eagles have a record of 30-29-1. Good things happen when he runs with the ball.

14. Minnesota Vikings [18] — Four wins in their last five games. Adrian Peterson had another great game, and Gus Frerotte had that long pass completion to Bernard Berrian, but Minnesota's defensive line absolutely owned this contest. Jared Allen had three sacks, Pat Williams seemed to disrupt everything up the middle, and Kevin Williams ate double-teams on almost every play. I'm sure Ray Edwards and the guys who rotate in played well, too, but those three were huge on Sunday night. Actually, Pat (317 lbs) and Kevin Williams (311) are always pretty huge.

15. Miami Dolphins [13] — Next game is against the Bills in Toronto. The Dolphins, who traditionally struggle in cold weather, catch a break: Toronto's Rogers Centre is a dome. Bills fans are petitioning to have the retractable roof opened for the game, but I wouldn't count on it. Little things like this could affect whether Miami makes the playoffs.

16. New Orleans Saints [17] — In home games and London, Drew Brees has 17 passing TDs and 4 interceptions, with a passer rating of 119.9. In road games, Brees has 7 TDs and 10 interceptions, with a rating of 76.7. I'll do the math for you. Home: +13 TD/INT, Away: -3 TD/INT. Differences of -16 in TD/INT and -43.2 in passer rating are enormous. The Saints can be officially eliminated from playoff contention if they lose to the Falcons in Week 14.

17. Denver Broncos [20] — In the last three games, they have beaten the 8-4 Falcons and Jets, but lost to the 3-9 Raiders. I don't know what to expect when they play the Chiefs next week. I guess they'll either lose, or win by 40.

18. Green Bay Packers [14] — Fourth loss by four points or less. In comparison, Green Bay hasn't won a game by four or less all year. Their losses have been by an average of 7.6; the wins by an average of 18.4. Even at 5-7, the Packers aren't dead yet. If they win out (which is a real possibility, looking at the schedule), they would probably still get in.

19. Chicago Bears [16] — Congratulations, Bears, you just put Gus Frerotte in the record books. Frerotte completed a 99-yard TD pass against Chicago's defense, tying a record that can never be broken. That means Frerotte will always have a place in history. The last 99-yard pass came in 2004, from Jeff Garcia (then with Cleveland) to Andre Davis. I thought punter Brad Maynard had a pretty good game on Sunday night.

20. Washington Redskins [19] — With the defense playing well and Clinton Portis having another fine season, it is as clear as ever that Jason Campbell is the biggest problem. John Madden said on Sunday night, speaking about Tarvaris Jackson, that he was trying too hard to be perfect. Campbell has the same problem. I remember reading in 2002 that Mike Holmgren had told Matt Hasselbeck to throw some interceptions. Campbell could benefit from the same advice. Obviously you don't really want to throw picks, but a quarterback does need to take chances. That means he'll throw some interceptions, but he'll probably throw some touchdown passes, too. Right now Campbell isn't doing either one. "First, do no harm" is a doctor's job, not a quarterback's.

21. San Diego Chargers [22] — They're finished. I wrote differently last week, but San Diego needed to win on Sunday, and Denver's upset of the Jets really changes things. I've developed this unfortunate habit of quoting Deion Sanders, and here's his take on the Chargers winning the AFC West: "Anything can happen ... but not this."

22. Houston Texans [24] — A team that may be better than its record. Their losses have come against opponents with a combined record of 55-29 (counting the Colts twice). Rookie RB Steve Slaton and former number one draft choice Mario Williams both had big games on MNF, and both will probably make the Pro Bowl.

23. Cleveland Browns [23] — Finished with six points for the second game in a row. The top two QBs are both out for the season, so Ken Dorsey is the new starter. He's off to sort of a poor start: 0-for-3 with an interception. Rumors say Romeo Crennel is out as head coach, just one year after getting a contract extension. I don't like it. Give him another season.

24. Buffalo Bills [21] — A nation of teenage girls mourned the groin injury to Trent Edwards. The Bills have lost five of their last six games, and with a moderately tough remaining schedule, it wouldn't be shocking if they don't win again all season.

25. Jacksonville Jaguars [25] — After the game, a sad-sounding Emmitt Smith opined that the Jags have lost the desire to compete this season. A slightly more feisty Steve Young concurred, "I've never seen a more disinterested team." Maybe when you're a preseason favorite, it's hard to get fired up to try for 8-8 instead of limping home at 4-12. That's something coaches need to address.

26. San Francisco 49ers [27] — Four wins this season. They've beaten Detroit (0-12), St. Louis (2-10), Seattle (2-10), and most recently, Buffalo (6-6). This could mean that the Niners are getting better, or it could mean that Buffalo has gotten really, really bad. San Francisco has a realistic chance to finish 6-10.

27. Kansas City Chiefs [30] — How about Tony Gonzalez? On Sunday, he went over 750 receiving yards for the 10th season in a row. Gonzalez got off to a slow start this season, averaging 4 catches for 39 yards, but since the bye, he's averaged 7 catches for 88 yards. He leads all tight ends in receptions (73), yards (806), and TDs (tied with Antonio Gates, 6). This guy is a really special player, and he's one of the five best TEs of all-time.

28. Oakland Raiders [28] — JaMarcus Russell completed 10 of his 28 pass attempts on Sunday. Sadly, that grisly 35.7% completion percentage is not his worst, or even second-worst of the season. In fact, it's the fourth time that Russell has been below 40%. The league average is about 61%.

29. Seattle Seahawks [26] — The head coach in waiting is Jim Mora, Jr., the secondary coach. Seattle is 31st in the NFL in pass defense. Is the guy in charge of the pass defense really the guy you want taking over this team next season?

30. Cincinnati Bengals [29] — Possibly the most pathetic offensive performance of the season. The Bengals had 155 total yards and just 6 first downs. They only had one turnover, so I guess there must have been another game more pathetic, but this team is really bad. Since tying the Eagles, they've lost by a combined score of 61-13.

31. St. Louis Rams [31] — They've scored 20 points in a game just once all season, against Dallas in Week 7. You know who I feel bad for? Torry Holt. He's having a decent season, considering he plays for the Rams. Holt leads the team in receptions and receiving yards, and he's tied for the team lead in receiving TDs. Holt can still play, but this will be his first season with under 1,000 yards since his rookie year in 1999.

32. Detroit Lions [32] — I'm starting to think they've mailed it in, and they're just waiting for 2009. The Lions went 0-for-11 on third downs this Thanksgiving. Believe it or not, they have two very serious Pro Bowl contenders, WR Calvin Johnson and K Jason Hanson.

Posted by Brad Oremland at 11:54 AM | Comments (0)

MLB Invests in First Indian-Born Players

There was some good news pertaining to India during the last week of November 2008. In spite of it being victim to abject terrorism and unfathomable loss of life in Mumbai, there remains hope for the second most populous country in the world amongst its people.

In fact, the story here, were it not documented as being true, could cause one to think that it was a crazy idea for a reality TV show. But wouldn't you know it? It was a reality TV show. And you can be the judge of whether or not it was a crazy idea.

So what happened? Well, the story involves the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates. The same club that tied the Major League Baseball record by the end of the 2008 season for the most consecutive losing seasons of any MLB team ever, totaling 16. And that even surpasses consecutive losing seasons by any other major league sport.

But now, the Pirates also have the sole distinction of signing two non-drafted free agents from India. Not only are the players the first Indian-born signed players from that country by MLB, but also for any other major league sport outside of India.

But what makes this signing so intriguing is the back story of how it came to be and who exactly these players are.

It all started with Jeff (J.B.) Bernstein, of Pro Access Inc., a Miami-based sports marketing agency, which also represents Barry Bonds, once a Pirate himself. Bernstein produced the idea for a Million Dollar Arm. And that is what set the stage for the Million Dollar Arm television show, broadcast on Indian television in March 2008.

The goal of the show was to award one winner from a group of 26 finalists aged 16-21 years old. The one who threw a baseball faster than 85 mph would win up to US $1,000,000 and a trip to the United States, with the opportunity to train with a former MLB pitcher and pitching coach for six months and be given a shot to try out for MLB scouts.

Tom House, the former MLB pitcher and also a former MLB pitching coach, agreed to work with the winner. He was previously noted by Nolan Ryan during his Hall of Fame induction speech for being one of those people who helped him most in his career while with the Texas Rangers. Presently, House is the pitching coach at the University of Southern California (USC) for the Trojans' baseball team.

But even more remarkable than how this Cinderella story played out is how the winner of the Million Dollar Arm competition turned out to be signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates, along with another of his countrymen.

20-year-old Rinku Singh, a left-handed pitcher, won the Million Dollar Arm competition and won US $100,000, but unfortunately did not qualify for the whole million. He threw 87 mph. And another young man named Dinesh Patel, 19, who came in second in the competition, won US $2,500.

Bernstein, so impressed with Patel in addition to Singh, also granted Patel a trip to California to train with Tom House. Patel's pitches had averaged 90 mph at the time, but apparently he did not have his best stuff during the competition that day back in March.

Most notable, however, is that neither pitcher had ever picked up baseball a year ago and had never even seen a baseball game before. Both were known for throwing javelin in high school and Singh had started out playing cricket as a youth, the country's most celebrated sport.

Both Singh and Patel headed to the USC campus in Los Angeles in May 2008 and began their six-month training as charges of Tom House. They got to observe their first glimpses of baseball games by watching the USC Trojans. There, they began familiarizing themselves with the basics of playing baseball, much like kids do in little league.

The six-month training period was the foundation for the workout before MLB scouts, as part of the deal. And on November 6, 2008 in Tempe, AZ, approximately three dozen scouts from all 30 MLB teams showed up to watch.

Singh and Patel were received quite well, according to their new agent, Jeff Borris, who also represents Barry Bonds as his managing agent, and signed the two Indian nationals. Even Allard Baird, assistant to Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein, made sure he attended.

Patel, now hurling the ball up to 93 mph, is now the harder thrower of the two, and is developing a circle changeup. Singh now throws 90-92 mph and has a split-finger changeup in his repertoire.

As the result of the tryout, the Pirates showed the most interest in signing each of the players for US $10,000. Each also received an invite to spring training in 2009 in Bradenton, FL. They will first report to the Pirates' Sporting Complex in January 2009 in preparation for spring training. Thereafter, the two prospects hope to develop enough to be able to join the rookie level Gulf Coast League in June 2008.

Pirates Senior Vice President and GM Neal Huntington made the announcement on November 24, 2008. "The Pirates are committed to creatively adding talent to our organization. By adding these two young men, we are pleased to not only add two prospects to our system, but also hope to open a pathway to an untapped market," Huntington said.

And that "untapped" market refers to potential future MLB players amongst India's 1.1 billion people.

Rinku Singh is from the small town of Holepur in the state of Uttar Pradesh, in northern India. Singh is the youngest of seven children. His father, who had been a cement truck driver for 35 years, retired just six months ago at age 50. He has been interviewed by the Indian press and has been quite candid in stating that his family at times has lived in abject poverty.

Patel, from the town of Varanasi, close to Singh's home, comes from a family of five children. His family also comes from extremely modest means.

Had the two pitchers not been discovered through the competition, they would have joined the Indian Armed Forces. Two of Singh's brothers are presently serving in both the Indian army and India's Border Security Force (BSF) on the Bangladesh and Pakistan borders, at a time when terrorism envelops that area of the world.

Given the Pirates' budget constraints and recent non-investment in international players, their renewed interest in foreign players caught some around MLB by surprise, while others thought they had little to lose.

The Pirates only see this scenario as having tremendous upside and Borris expects Singh and Patel to require 3-4 years of training in the minor leagues prior to being ready for the big league level. Huntington added, "We are intrigued by Patel's arm strength and Singh's frame and potential."

But in spite of this feel good rags-to-riches story, it, still begs an important question: are two college-age men from northern India with no prior exposure ever to the game of baseball, including limited athletic experience, good enough to even be considered for baseball's minor or major leagues? If that is the case, then why not consider the youth from the inner cities across America, too?

The knock against pursuing such young men from our city streets, according to MLB's scouts and instructors stateside, is that they have not had enough exposure to the game as youngsters, given few playing opportunities for them.

The excuse heard over and over again is that by the time they reach high school, it is too late for them to learn the fundamentals of baseball. But these two guys from India pass the test? Gotta wonder...

Posted by Diane M. Grassi at 11:47 AM | Comments (2)

December 1, 2008

In the Rotation: NBA Week 5

In Hollywood, award season is just around the corner. Soon we'll find out who will be awarded the top honors the music, television, and movie industry has to offer.

In the NBA, we're nowhere near finding out who will take home top honors.

Still, we've seen a big enough sample from each team to be able to make early assessments, even if we don't have any clue what is in store for any of these teams for the remainder of the season.

With November officially in the rearview mirror, what better way to look back at the first month of the NBA season than by handing out a little hardware of our own.

In today's Starting Five, we take a look at the best that the first month of the NBA season had to offer.

Starting Five

Best Team: Los Angeles Lakers

The Celtics may be the defending champs, and the Cavaliers may look like they will be a force to be reckoned with, but the Lakers have been far and away the best team in the NBA this season.

Though their schedule has been favorable (just five road games), the Lakers have rolled through the competition with little to no resistance in the first month. Their 13.7 points per game differential is by far the best in the league (Cleveland is the only other team over 10.0). If it weren't for the shocking-to-say-the-least 11-point home loss to the Pistons, the Lakers would be beating teams by an average of 15 points per night.

The Lakers have been so much better than everyone else in the league that it hasn't been close. Literally. The Lakers are the only team in the league that has not played a game decided by five points or less. In fact, the closest anyone has been able to get to the Lakers is seven points, a "feat" accomplished just four times by opposing teams the first month of the season.

I know that it's still very early and that anything can happen with still four and a half months left in the regular season, but there is no denying that there is something special about this Laker team so far.

I promised myself I would use the "s" word with this team until after the first of the year, but let's just say that this Lakers team looks like it has the best possible chance to post a 12-loss season that the NBA has seen in a long, long time.

2. Best Player: LeBron James

Let's forget for a second that LeBron is averaging a ridiculous 27.8 points, 7.2 boards, 6.4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, a career high 49% from the floor, and doing it all in a career-low 35 minutes per game, all while his team is off to the best start it's had since he arrived in 2003.

You want to know how good James has been this season? He's been so dominant that some teams have actually been able to convince their fans that it's okay to give up on the next two seasons because LeBron will be a free agent after that and they will take a run at him.

Putting up monster numbers on a fast starting team is usually good enough to win you a player of the month award, but putting up monster numbers on a fast starting team and single-handedly altering the future of the sport, well that earns LeBron my vote for Best Player through the first month of the season.

3. Best Rookie: Derrick Rose

The biggest, and most pleasant, surprise of the NBA season so far has been how talented the draft class of '08 has been. Already we've seen no fewer than 10 rookies come in and have immediate impacts on their team.

And with all apologies to O.J. Mayo and Michael Beasley, both of whom have been spectacular, Derrick Rose has been the best of the bunch so far.

It's not just the fact that the number one overall pick has gotten off to a fast start, 18 points, 6 assists, and 4 rebounds per game in his first month as an NBA player certainly constitutes as a fast start, but it's how he's gotten there that sets Rose apart from the other rookies.

Playing alongside one of the worst supporting casts in the league, Rose's leadership and efficiency has been able to lead the Bulls to a respectable 8-9 start. Sure, being under .500 won't get you very far in this league, but take Derrick Rose off this Bulls team, and I'm not sure that this group could win 20 games.

Rose has shown the ability to get anywhere he wants on the court at any given time with his lightning quick ball handling (ask Andre Miller), but has also shown the maturity needed to play the point guard position at this level with his shooting percentage at an amazing 49% and his turnovers per game at a manageable 2.6 per game (not terrible for someone who handles the ball as much as he does).

Combine Rose's great start with O.J. Mayo showing off his unlimited range in Memphis and Michael Beasley showing flashes of what made him a 20-10 guy every night at Kansas State, and we could be watching the second best draft class of the decade start to blossom right before our very eyes.

4. Best Breakout Player: Devin Harris

Harris erased all doubt that this award should go to anyone else with his amazing performance Sunday night against the Suns in Phoenix.

After scoring 21 first half points and adding 5 more in the third, Harris exploded for another 21 in the fourth quarter to finish with a career-high 47 points and lead the Nets to a come-from-behind victory on the road in a city that the Nets haven't won in since 1993.

Harris has now scored at least 30 points in six of the 13 games that he has played this season. The most remarkable part of that stat is that in the 276 games that Harris had played prior to this season, he had never reached 30 points in a game.

Harris' 47-point outburst Sunday night may have finally put him on the national radar, which means that hopefully Sunday's performance won't be his one and only trip to Phoenix (host of the 2009 All-Star Game) this season.

5. Best Breakout Team: Portland Trail Blazers

It was a toss-up here between the Hawks and Blazers, and really you can't go wrong either way. But after watching the beatdown the Trail Blazers put on the Pistons in Detroit Sunday afternoon, it's hard not to consider this team to be a real contender out West.

Brandon Roy, aside from being one of the most clutch performers in the league, is also one of the best one-on-one players in the game. He has the perfect mix of playmaker and scorer in him and it leads to a lot of high quality possessions for this team.

Meanwhile, LaMarcus Aldridge has the best inside-outside game the Blazers have seen since Rasheed Wallace, without the 43 technical fouls that Rasheed was bringing to the table.

And Greg Oden, living under a bigger microscope than those other two players combined, has been everything that the Blazers have needed him to be down low, rebounding and playing defense like a number one overall pick should, accumulating five double-doubles in the 11 games since his injury on opening night.

Combine the contributions of those three players with some unbelievable bench play from Travis Outlaw and rookie sensation Rudy Fernandez and it all adds up to a 12-6 record for Portland, good for first place in their division and the second best record in the Western Conference.

In the Rotation

San Antonio Spurs

I wrote in my season preview that, "It doesn't matter a whole heck of a lot that Ginobili is out (he missed some time last year, too), the Spurs will again reach the 50-win mark for the ninth straight season."

Sure enough, the loss of arguably their two best players (though let's face it, this team goes as Tim Duncan goes) for a majority of the month hasn't affected the Spurs.

Though their 9-7 start to the season is far below the bar they have set for themselves over the last decade, being able to play over .500 for the month despite getting a whopping two games with all of their big three together spells trouble for the rest of the West.

The Spurs enter December having won four of their last five games and play seven games against surefire lottery teams this month, meaning that by January 1st, expect to read plenty of "The Spurs are back!" articles as the world once again realizes that the Western Conference championship will go through San Antonio.

Out of the Rotation

Oklahoma City Thunder

I don't know what to call the situation in OKC right now. "Rebuilding" implies that they are actually leading up to something, and right now that doesn't look like the case.

They've fired their head coach, shuffled their starting lineup, tried different groups of guys together, and nothing works.

One of the things that I've noticed from watching the League Pass this year is that the Thunder have a great crowd during home games, but the only way to ensure that fans stay on your side is to win and win consistently, and this team is nothing short of a miracle from making that happen.

I'm not going to embarrass them by printing out their stats for the year, but I'll say this: dating back to last season, the Thunder/Sonics have lost 35 of their last 41 games, which includes losing streaks of 11 and 14 games.

Either Kevin Durant needs to step up and become a go-to player night in and night out or GM Sam Presti needs to start over and bring Durant lots and lots of help, quickly. If not, the Thunder are in danger of losing the one and only thing they have going for them right now: a passionate fanbase.

Inactive List

Allen Iverson

We're talking about practice. Not a game. Practice.

Again.

I actually had the conversation with my family on Thanksgiving about how despite the fact that the Pistons have gotten off to an understandably slow start with Iverson, he's been the ideal teammate, saying all the right things and playing hard every night while they try to find their new identity.

Then, basically minutes later, I find out that he is the only Piston to miss a mandatory practice Thursday morning, will incur a "hefty fine," and be removed from the starting lineup for the following night's game.

Then, to top it off, I get a phone call in the wee hours of Saturday night that Iverson has been at a local Detroit casino drinking and gambling for several hours, despite the fact that the Pistons have an unusually early 3 PM start the following day (the aforementioned beatdown the Blazers put on Detroit).

The honeymoon is officially over.

Look, I could care less what players do with their free time, and I'm sure Iverson isn't the first or last NBA player to take advantage of the 24-hour Vegas-style legalized gambling in Detroit, but when A.I. says one thing (he was quoted the local paper this week as saying that all the Pistons need is a little more practice time to gel) and does another (skips a mandatory practice), every step and misstep he takes will be met with a fair amount of scrutiny.

The fact is, since Iverson arrived in Detroit the Pistons have lost five games by double-digit margins. That's already half as many as they had all of last season.

We all know that "practice" is already in Allen Iverson's vocabulary. Now, he needs to make it part of his daily routine, or he will quickly find himself in the doghouse of a fan base that demands, and has gotten, excellence from its basketball team for the better part of the last 20 years.

So please, save the trips to the three-card poker table and practice skipping for next year when you are someone else's problem. The city of Detroit has enough problems as it is right now, we don't need a superstar basketball player whose heart isn't in the right place to kick us while we're down.

Be sure to check back at Sports Central every Monday to see who cracks Scott Shepherd's rotation as he breaks down what is going on around the NBA.

Posted by Scott Shepherd at 11:55 AM | Comments (1)

Changing Conference "Championships"

As usual, college football's quest for a champion is a train wreck. For once, the BCS isn't what caused the derailing. Seemingly, it's not anyone's fault but a fluke three-way tie that no system would have resolved without casualties.

But there is fault, or at least negligence. And unsurprisingly, the culprits are the major conferences and their myopic quest for revenue.

And the conferences (and as far as I've seen, the entire media) ignored not only the symptoms, but also a painfully obvious solution: remove divisions from the championship game equation.

As it is, either Texas or Oklahoma (looking like Texas) will sulk off to the Fiesta Bowl. And that team will have a legitimate gripe that they should be in the national title game instead. Barring a Missouri upset of Oklahoma in the Big 12 "Championship" Game, there isn't going to be any new separation established before Oklahoma heads off to Miami for the BCS title game. And the BCS has one thing right: the gap between the two is thinner than the ice Charlie Weis is skating on.

It was just a matter of time, too. By definition, the current conference championship format (two six-team divisions, winners meet for the title) is flawed. Statistically, the best and second-best teams, all things being random and equal, are going to be in the same division nearly half the time (about 45 percent, to get technical). In the Big 12, imbalance is inherent based on traditional program strength in the South, so it happens even more that an undeserving team (from the North) plays in the title game. It happens at times in the SEC and ACC, too.

So cut the crap and just put the top two teams in the conference in the title game. Texas vs. Oklahoma. Done. BCS and Big 12 settled.

Seriously, why not? What argument could there possibly be? That Missouri deserves to be there? They are, maybe, the fifth best team in the conference and everyone knows it. Especially in the Big 12, where the title game hasn't been within two touchdowns since 2001 and the South is 8-4 overall, including four in a row. Maybe a shakeup is in order?

Sure, a rematch becomes slightly more likely without divisions. So what? It's going to be a rematch half the time even with divisions anyway.

As for scheduling, the divisions give teams in the same division five common opponents and reduce travel. But even as is, the scheduling will never be balanced anyway, and you could keep the scheduling the same if you really wanted to save the money.

Even if you have to be stubborn and keep divisions, at least install a rule that if a second-place team finishes two games ahead of the other division winner, they go to the title game. Divisional strength isn't going to be the difference between 7-1 and 5-3. The 7-1 team is probably better. Show me one example where this wasn't true.

Ironically, this cloudy sky happens in a year where the SEC title game is the clear, one-vs.-two tilt that the game was designed for. But here's the thing; under a no-division format, guess what still happens? Florida still meets Alabama in Atlanta. That's called having cake and eating it, too.

Is Texas getting hosed? To me, Oklahoma has an edge, but the distinction is one we shouldn't have to make. Oklahoma has been the best team in football since that fateful loss to Texas in the Cotton Bowl. Their recent performances against Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, the other two top-15 teams in the division, were both superior to Texas'. They also beat down a good Mountain West team in TCU and Big East champ Cincinnati out of conference. And Oklahoma's one loss came against a higher-ranked team.

Unfortunately, that team was Texas. Texas beat Oklahoma. Neutral field, too. They have the same record as Oklahoma. Their only loss came against a team that also went 11-1, and it was on the road in a stadium no other team won in, either. Texas has been dominant, not lacking style points either, at least since their lapse in Lubbock. As a reward, they have to pray the fifth-best team in the conference upsets the Sooners.

(Sorry, Texas Tech fans, you don't have a quality road win, and were absolutely throttled in a way neither of the other two were.)

The point is you can make a strong argument either way. I won't even bother comparing their ludicrously impressive statistics or margins of victory. This kind of over-analysis is for meaningless chat room trash-talk fodder, not choosing a national title game participant. Yet this over-analysis and argumentation will determine who goes to Miami.

We expect this from the BCS and inter-conference debates, but not from within a single conference that played it out.

Some voters will manipulate ballots to maximize the boost they give to the team they believe should go. Meanwhile, coaches tightrope-walk the line between fighting for their team and shameless campaigning. And you thought election season was over.

This could all be avoided with a simple rule change that improves competition and fairness, creates more entertaining games, and doesn't touch a bottom line. After all, the purpose of a conference championship game is to DETERMINE A CONFERENCE CHAMPION. And love the conference championship game or hate it, the Big 12 sure could use one right now.

Too bad they aren't going to get one. Like Texas, the conference will have to wait until next year to get satisfaction. And I like Texas' chances better.

Posted by Kyle Jahner at 11:17 AM | Comments (5)