A-Rod Opts Out

It was pretty lame that A-Rod & Scott Boras announced in during Game 4 of the World Series. But then, A-Rod wouldn't know about Game 4 of the World Series, let alone Games 5, 6, or 7. I'm hoping that the Yankees stand up to their position of not negotiating with him since he has opted out of his contract (the remaining 3 years would have been subsidized $21 million by Texas). I don't think that the Red Sox organization would pursue A-Rod, they seemed to start their run past the Yankees when C Jason Varitek picked a fight w/ A-Rod in late July of 2004. And when the Sox almost acquired A-Rod, part of the deal was that A-Rod was going to give back part of his salary, which the MLBPA squashed; and let to A-Rod's landing in New York. I think that A-Rod needs to get back to the West Coast where there isn't the rabid fan base on a day-in, day-out basis.

The Colts and Patriots meet next Sunday, and both are undefeated. It's CBS' 4:15 doubleheader game, but I'll have to wait for the replay on the NFL network since the Raiders have been scheduled for a home game in that time slot (and I'm not going to shell out $240 for the full season Sunday Ticket). I would buy a single-week ticket to see this game live in HD if it was available. Too bad they won't move that game up (against the Texans) to the 10:00 (PT) slot. It's not like the Raider game will sell out, even if the left the A's tarps on the upper deck!

ESPN Thursday Night Football

It is Game 2 of the World Series tomorrow night (8:XX ET FOX HD), but #2 Boston College travels to #8 Virginia Tech in a key BCS/ACC game (7:45 ET ESPN HD). While the Rockies won 21 of 22 to reach the World Series, it must be remembered that ALL of those games came against National League opponents. Their DH was batting 9TH last night! Too bad they still don't have Mike Hampton. It's too bad that the ALCS lasted 7 games and the NLCS only 4. I'm rooting for the fewest # of games for Joe Buck's voice to reach my ears. Can FOX try to get Jon Miller away from ESPN Radio? Please. For the fans!!!!

All that I remember from last year's Thursday Game in Chestnut Hill was ESPN's Erin Andrews gushing over a walk-on kicker for BC. He made 2 XPs and 2 FGs in a 22-3 BC win. The Eagles haven't played a tough team yet, and the Hokies wish they hadn't (a 48-7 loss to LSU). Virginia Tech 23 (-3) Boston College 16. Blacksburg is a tough place to get a road win, and BC isn't used to its lofty ranking and the pressure that comes with it.

The Yanks offered Manager Joe Torre a contract that he had to decline. It was for significantly less dollars, and at only 1 year in length, it wouldn’t give Torre the authority that he should have as the leader of the team. SI’s Tom Verducci and Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel have great pieces on it. Paying someone not to perform (i.e. if they chose to fire Torre at a later date) for the organization has never been something that’s gotten in George Steinbrenner’s way before. And Mike and the Mad Dog have a good interview with Torre, but you have listen to about 60 seconds of sponsorhips before they start chatting.

Additionally, what does this hold for A-Rod? The Yanks wanted 25% of Torre’s pay to come from postseason performance, and looking at A-Rod’s numbers, he’d be leaving a lot of money on the table if he had to play under the same arrangement. While A-Rod’s agent, Scott Boras, thinks he’s worth $30 Million annually, right now the Yanks are only on the hook for about $18 Million annually for the next 3 seasons (Texas pays the balance of A-Rod’s salary). Why would the Yanks pay 40% MORE for a player hitting .159 with 1 HR and 1 RBI the last 3 seasons in the playoffs (team record 4-9)? Especially when the Yankees haven’t been winning postseason series with Rotisserie Baseball Players (i.e. Sheffield, Giambi) in their lineup. They were much more successful when their lineups featured FUNDAMENTAL baseball players like 1B Tino Martinez, 3B Scott Brosius, and OF’s Paul O’Neill and Bernie Williams.

Then let’s look at stability. Torre managed 12 seasons. In the 12 seasons prior to Torre (1984-1995), the Yankees had a bunch of managers:
92-95: Buck Showalter
90-91: Stump Merrill
89-90: Bucky Dent
89: Dallas Green
88 Billy Martin
86-88: Lou Pinella
85: Billy Martin
84-85: Yogi Berra
And while the Yankees weren’t making the playoffs and winning any World Series titles in that period, they were more stable managerially than they were in the 70’s and early 80’s when they were.

The Yankees

Why is Joe Torre on the hot seat? Did he choose SP Carl Pavano? He's 5-6, 4.77 ERA in 19 starts in 3 YEARS! No postseason appearances. Or SP Jaret Wright? He was 16-12 in 2 seasons, but had a 4.99 ERA. Playoffs, he lasted less than 3 innings and took the loss in his only start. Or RP Kyle Farnsworth? He's 5-7, 6 saves w/ a 4.57 ERA in his two seasons in pinstripes. At least Farnsworth has contributed 3 scoreless innings in the last 2 postseasons. THOSE 3 acquisitions since the collapse against the Red Sox in 2004 are a big reason why the Yankees haven't played an ALCS game since then.

Sandy Berger back with the Clintons

Why is this criminal working for a campaign? This disgust me to no end. The man should be in JAIL for stealing CLASSIFIED documents from the National Archives during his PREPARATIONS for testimony for the 9/11 COMMISSION. He doesn't go to jail, but Scooter Libby does? And now he gets a job with Hillary's campaign? If they feel the need to keep him on the payroll, maybe they could have him work at the Presidential Library in Arkansas and screen potential partners for Mr Clinton.


Berger

There She Goes Again

First it was Iraq. How it’s retirement plans. Senator Clinton is making Senator Kerry look like a politician with a consistent stance on issues.

I thought Senator Clinton wasn’t for privatizing Social Security. But now she wants the Federal Government to “match” some worker’s 401k savings, up to $1,000 a year (Income levels 60K and less get the full tax CREDIT, it phases out at 100K). But wait, wasn’t the Democrat’s PRIMARY reasoning for NOT privatizing A PORTION of Social Security the premise that these lower-income investors weren’t intelligent enough to manage their own money? Why is she NOW in favor of letting all of these morons (myself included) manage our own retirement finances?

And then I read in the Washington Post that she doesn't think Social Security is in trouble.... um, there used to be a payer/payee ratio of 16:1, it's now less than 3:1 and it's getting smaller. Oh yeah, that's right. We can get those 12 million illegals on the books and let al-Qeada, Hamas, etc. right through our porous borders and do who knows what harm to our nation. SERENITY NOW!

WSJ 401k

Wash Post

Marion Jones and BALCO

So Marion Jones came clean over her use of the CLEAR, how about Mr. Barry Bonds? She'll be doing some jail time, losing her gold medals, etc. Does a similar fate await Bonds? I doubt it, he is a little older, wiser, and substantially richer. I may have to hope it comes only in the form of no contract offers for 2008. He can still produce for a fantasy team, but his salary takes up too much of the payroll (for all of the teams outside of NY and BOS) for a team to make the playoffs. I didn't see too many Giants games on TV after he passed Aaron's mark, but I wonder how many sold seats were empty seats in August and September. I hope that the management teams considering Bonds for their squads next season recognize that he was ALL OUT once the Giants communicated that they weren't going to bring him back for 2008. Very professional, Mr. Bonds. How long is Greg Anderson going to sit in the jailhouse for you?

MLB Division Series

I wasn't too sure that I would like TBS covering the baseball playoffs. But they had the courage to have the Yankees play their first Division Series Game at a time other than 8 PM ET when they slotted the Yankees for the 4:30 start time yesterday and placed the Red Sox and Angels in the 8 PM ET slot. The Yanks had always been in the prime time slot, even when they were facing the Twins, a team with revenues so low that MLB wanted it to cease operations a few years ago.

What I like - Dan Orsillo and Ted Robinson as play-by-play guys. What I don't, Dick Stockton. Has he announced a baseball game since Carlton Fisk's Foul Pole Homerun? He certainly hasn't been involved in any national productions in over 20 years and didn't seem to know the rosters of the Cubs and Diamondbacks during the Arizona games. I understand the logic in not having Braves announcers do the playoff games, but then why would Orsillo (Red Sox) and Robinson (Mets) be ok? And the Braves won't be on TBS anymore, so there isn't a conflict of interest.

Being on the west coast, I also like the 3-6-10 start times for the games. 10 is too late for the east coast fan to follow; it works in basketball because the playoffs are separated by geographic region when the 10 ET slot is used. Whether it works long term in baseball, I'm not sure (I remember the uproar in BOS a few years back when the Sox had 10 pm starts against the A's, so this isn't completely new). I haven't had time to digest the additional off-days, but generally speaking, I'm not for them. They de-value the importance of the 162-game regular season by shrinking the size of a pitching staff that a playoff team has to use.

Nevada!

I've moved to Nevada to pursue a new work opportunity, loving the lack of STATE INCOME TAX and the sight of Heavenly Ski Area from the workplace. Being 15 minutes from the slopes should make it easier to maximize quality skiing this winter. Speaking of winter, we had some snow stick on the mountains above 6500 feet. The previous accumulations haven't stayed on the ground, but it's a good start to the winter season from a skier's perspective.

If time permits after getting a house picked out and moving in, I hope to be able to resume analysis of the football season and generate some supplemental income.

Hillary's Campaign - Why We are Screwed

She proposed a 1 BILLION dollar bailout of a 1 TRILLION dollar problem in the mortgage industry. Does she or anyone on her staff understand that a BILLION is a THOUSANDTH of a TRILLION????? So her plan will delay an inevitable foreclosure for 1/1000 homeowners, er, flippers in trouble. Maybe that can be the next Reality TV craze. But what got more analysis in the mainstream press, her attire or her bad financial idea? Her attire! Two days were spent on the cleavage issue, yet no one had the nerve to question her in detail on her poor bailout idea.

Bonds' 756

I was pleased to see that Sports Illustrated ran a poll on their website asking what readers wanted to see on the cover, Bonds or the NCAA Football preview. It was overwhelming in favor of football, and even in the SF Bay Area football ran on the cover. To new Stanford HC Jim Harbaugh's chagrin, it was the USC Football team. Bonds had a small spot on the cover, but I'm glad that SI didn't run a local cover special for its Bay Area readers.

Selig and Bonds

I understand why Bud's now on the side of public opinion and critical consensus and against Barry. But Bud's about the money and there's no doubt that Bonds and the other ALLEGED juicers helped generate cold, hard cash for the business after the 94 strike. Commish, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Since you looked the other way when the records were being set and the sports media fawned over these guys, you need to continue to do so or admit that your business FRAUDED its consumers for the better part of a decade. There's got to be a lawyer somewhere that can file and win a class-action lawsuit for steriod/HGH-based fraud against baseball consumers in our country.

Bonds - Flaxseed oil, yeah right. That comes in a tablet and my eye doctor recommended it to me since I wear contact lenses. Game of Shadows doesn't leave much doubt in my mind whether he's clean or not. What bothers me the most is the position that "Baseball didn't have a policy against it, so it was OK". The crap was f#%^#@$#@ ILLEGAL. Baseball shouldn't have to have a separate policy against ILLEGAL substances! And that is why Congress was OK to get involved. Since baseball's disregard for the law was putting its employees at risk to break the law to maintain employment.

All Star Reflections

MLB's exhibit at the Moscone Center in SF was something I would have loved when I was growing up. This is the first year that I lived in a MLB city hosting an All-Star Game since they started doing that. So I can see where the host city and fans get excited over an exhibition game. (Positive)

Home Run Derby - Shorten it. ESPN listed for 2 hours, but it ran 2:40 w/ one (I think)Overtime Session in the middle round. I don't know why they have 10 outs. Baseball doesn't have 10 of anything... check that, the AL plays 10 men w/ the DH. Make it 9 outs to correspond w/ innings, and shorten it from 3 rounds to 2.

All Star Game - the thing didn't start until almost 9 PM ET! How many little leaguers watched it on DVR instead of live? Either start the pagentry at 7:30 ET or streamline it to have a first pitch by 8:25. And if FOX needs to run that many commercials, it's time for 20 second spots. If we can have 7 second abs, we certainly can have 20 second ads!

LaRussa not hitting his BEST hitter at ALL, saving him for extra innings? He must have listened to Joe Buck do a few football games last fall, suggesting that the Chargers shouldn't hand the ball to LaDamian Tomlinson until the game gets into OVERTIME! (Just to clarify, Buck only does that w/ QB's, somehow thinking that they are like starting pitchers. The similiarities end with throwing the ball. There is no equivalent to Mariano Rivera or Trevor Hoffman in the annals of backup QB's. Those guys become STARTING QB'S).

An Idea for the Border

LAND MINE IT!

Put signs in Spanish facing Mexico, French facing Quebec, English to the rest of Canada and back towards the U.S. Award teh contract to the Democratic/Liberal equivalent of Haliburton, on 2nd thought, we wouldn't be able to trust that operation. Pay the Minutemen to do it. Include sensors to provide notification when the field needs to be replenished.

It will slow the flow of illegals, drugs, and terrorists into our country and show that we are serious about our borders and soveriengty. I don't care about the Geneva Conventions, if the people crossing the border did, they wouldn't be crossing it in the first place.

We also won't spend money on a costly fence, costly people to patrol it that won't get the support that they need.

Is this war on terror really a BUMPER STICKER?

Earth to John Edwards - you might want to open your eyes and fly commercially to Scotland. At least until you get the jetway installed at your compound in NC.

Now if the guys in charge had smarts, they would send the war criminals from the Jeep with some burn cream down to Guantanamo Bay to put an end to the left's catch and release idea.

Hillary's Soprano's Ad

It was just like her political campaign and career: NO MATERIAL! Fade to black before communicating anything of substance. Did she spend more time w/ Bill during the taping then in say, 6 months?

Now she's on the record stating that we need to leave Iraq now. She was on the record 5 years ago with HER OWN independent research that we needed to remove Sadaam, starting during her time as FLOTUS, before GWB had an interest in anything other than booze, oil, and baseball. Do a search on YouTube for Hillary talking to the Code Pink group to check it out. It's a good thing that SHE or today's Congress wasn't around in 1949 (four years after WW II ended) to pull the plug on the BERLIN AIR LIFT! Europe might be speaking Russian now instead of a half-dozen different languages!

What will it take for our newsmedia to not follow her around like a bunch of rock star groupies? Oh wait, check out this MSNBC article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19113485/

Gotta love FULL DISCLOSURE! Now, if only the UNBIASED, OBJECTIVE news media will do their JOURNALISTIC DUTY that they claim they follow after leaving J-school ;)

Will the Big Stein have to trade Clemens?

The Yankees might be too far from the Wild Card by the time that Rocket Man Roger Clemens gets to NY next week. He'll arrive after the Boston series which will disappoint FOX and ESPN since they were going to transmit those games nationally. Maybe he'll start the Monday Night game... ESPN will show that game to a national audience. Will the Yanks be 15 out of the Wild Card by the time Clemens takes the mound? Maybe he can get into Carl Pavano's head and get him on the mound in less than 642 days! Now, that would be something.

The Big Stein Strikes!

He didn't take out Manager Joe Torre or SP Carl Pavano but instead canned new trainer Marty Miller with all of the starting rotation on the disabled list. Miller apparently was affiliated with 24 Hour Fitness which the Yankees are involved with in a business partnership. Perhaps Roger Clemens can be the head trainer until he's ready to take the mound!

Iraq Funding

I'm glad that the President vetoed the bill. Was their pork in any of the defense bills while the GOP controlled Congress? If so, then he should not have referenced that AND ONLY referenced the withdrawl timetable provision. If the Dems can enact a law requiring military deployments right before a Presidential election, then how come the GOP can't choose new federal attorneys? Riddle me that one, Batman!

Imus

He finally got canned for an outrageous comment.

Where's AlGore?

Was he in Cleveland last weekend when the Indians were snowed out 4 days in a row AND moved a 3-game series to Milwaukee (which has a retractable-roof stadium) to avoid falling too far behind its schedule?

MLB Extra Innings

So glad that Mass. Senator John F. Kerry threatened to review MLB's exclusive contract with Directv wrt MLB's antitrust exemption status. If MLB felt it would generate more revenue from Directv only, it should have been free to do so. I wouldn't need to switch since there still are a good number of Braves games available on TBS. Sen. Kerry should have spent his time attending Senate Intelligence Commitee Meetings, or at least enough time watching the Red Sox to know that Manny Ortez isn't on the roster; that the #3 and #4 hitters are David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez (at least for now).

Timetables

For leaving Iraq is within the next 12 months... guess we are about 58 years late leaving Germany and Japan!

Sweet Sixteen

Saturday was an exciting day with numerous overtime games and buzzer beater attempts. Sunday didn't have that drama, though the National Game of Tennessee-Virginia feaured a last-second attmept to force overtime to hook the viewers for the remaining 7 games in the second and third timeslots.

I was impressed that Texas A&M effectively won a road game against Louisville in Lexington while Acie Law IV wasn't dominating the last 4 minutes of regulation like he normally does. UCLA-Indiana: glad that I didn't get tickets to that abomniation in Sacramento. That offensive display made the 1990's Big East look smooth.

No double-digit seeds still alive: all of the top seeds understood the risks associated with a single-game elimination tournament and were ready to meet the challenge of the underdog... it's a good thing that I spent my time on the ski slopes on Thursday and Friday instead of at the Lake Tahoe sportsbooks. Spring conditions were fun, sunny all day with high temps in the 60's on the mountain.

CBS has ditched the sideline girl from their coverage... will NBC and FOX follow? I don't think that ESPN(ABC) will since Bonnie Bernstein went there from CBS and landed the Sunday Night Baseball spot and they have both Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya on the sidelines for Monday Night football.

Super Bowl 41

Indianapolis 31 (-7.5) Chicago 20. The Bears shouldn't be viewed as large underdogs, QB Rex Grossman isn't a bad quarterback, he's an inexperienced QB. They should try to hammer the Colts with their power running game. RBs Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson will take aim at the weak Colts run defense... speaking of which, the Colts did add 2 better players (LB Rob Morris and S Bob Sanders) to their starting lineup for the playoffs, which can explain how a defense that allowed more than 100 yards rushing in every game during the regular season can hold 3 straight playoff opponents under 100 yards rushing. The Colts' offense has been more ball-control than pass-happy... perhaps that's why they're playing in their first Super Bowl in 36 years! The Colts will continue the AFC run in the Super Bowl.

Wow

What a game in the AFC Championship tonight. The Colts exorcised their demon tonight. I was driving home from reserve duty and tuned in time to listen to Asante Samuel's INT for a TD to give the Patriots a 21-3 lead over the Colts. The Colts had won their last 2 meetings against the Pats, but accomplished that by taking an early lead and dictating the flow and pace of the game. When the Colts scored before halftime to make it 21-6, they were still on the edge. The Pats didn't go down easy, re-taking the lead 3 times after the Colts tied the game up. Unfortunately for them, the last 2 times, they only added field goals, leaving the Colts an opportunity to pass them. On the Colts' third attempt, they scored the TD that they needed to take the lead.

Marty-ball struck the Patriots... WR Reche Caldwell had a couple of drops, he was picked up by a teammate on the drop in the end zone, but the other one the Pats weren't able to overcome. Then, Colts DB Marvin Jackson simply went down after intercepting Brady in the final minute, not allowing Troy Brown the opportunity to take the ball away.

I was able to see part of the 1st quarter of the Bears-Saints game during lunch. The Saints had 3 turnovers, but only dug themselves a 6-0 hole. They fell further behind, but got a TD before half, and then early in the 3rd, Reggie Bush scored from 88 yards out to cut the deficit to 2. But with only 56 yards rushing, they weren't able to win the line of scrimmage, and the Bears scored 3 TDs in the 4th to pull away.

Divisional Playoffs

The Colts and the Patriots will meet for the 3rd time in 4 seasons Sunday night. It will be the first meeting in the RCA Dome though. Unlike previous postseasons, this time the Colts are playing their best defensively. Peyton Manning hasn't produced great numbers (1 TD, 5 INT), but has led the Colts to 2 wins. The long drive for K Adam Viniateri's 5th FG last Saturday was a drive that previous Colts teams didn't get the chance to execute since they played from behind in their losses to New England.

No doubt LT was incensed at the end of the NE-SD game... 4 turnovers, numerous personal fouls, dropped passes, etc., etc., etc. by his teammates. NE QB Tom Brady made the lion's share of the Patriots' mistakes, but without a running game, he was the center of their offense. Brady kept returning to the line to make the next play without thinking about getting chippy with the opponent.

Neither the Colts or Patriots are as formidable as they were in 2003 or 2004... some of the names that won't be on the backs of jerseys... IND: RB Edjerrin James, WR Brandon Stokeley, NE: DE/LB Willie McGinnest, S Rodney Harrison, and CB Ty Law. Neither team had a bye, an advantage that the Patriots had before the 2003 and 2004 playoff meetings. I'm looking forward to the late game on Sunday, the Colts had better show up ready to play; in the 2004 game they looked defeated at halftime despite only trailing 6-3.

Swamped!

I hope that Ohio St QB Troy Smith made a beeline for his Heisman Trophy and handed it to WR Ted Ginn Jr. when the Buckeyes' plane landed in Columbus. If Smith was auditioning for the Raiders' QB position for next season, well he didn't show them anything they didn't already have on their roster!

Florida was outstanding in all phases of the game after the opening kickoff. They spread the field horizontally on offense, didn't do it veritcally because they didn't need to take that risk. It was such a dominating performance, I thought Florida must have had 12 men on the field the WHOLE GAME! Were they playing Canadian Rules?

I would have liked to have seen USC's speedier defense against UF's offense. I don't think that the Trojans would have fared too much better against the Gator defense though. USC couldn't run the ball against an above-average defense, forget about an outstanding one.

BCS Championship Game

It's finally going to be played tomorrow night... I'll need to read the previews in SI and TSN before kickoff to remember the names of anyone besides Ohio State QB Troy Smith, WR Ted Ginn Jr., and Florida QB's Chris Leak and Tim Tebow. Oh, and New England WR Reche Caldwell's brother since CBS's Jim Nantz dropped that bit in during today's AFC Playoff Game.

My pick: Ohio State 33 (-8) Florida 20. The Buckeyes have been aggressive on offense this season in contrast to their 2001-2 Championship team. They've played against Northwestern's version of the spread offense and held Vince Young's Longhorns to 22 points in an early season game last year, so I think that they're more likely to contain Florida's offense than vice versa.

NFL Wildcards:
I figured that the Colts would win, but 0 first downs allowed in the first 40 minutes? Peyton had better get back on track with Marvin Harrison; they won't survive 3 INT's in Baltimore next week.

The Cowboys... John Madden tried to call for Romo to hit Witten in the back of the end zone, similar to Stabler hitting Dave Casper in OT against the Colts back in the 77.... his reminder that there's no such thing as a sure thing in the kicking game. Thus, the Seachickens were able to earn their first victory against a team with a winning record this season! Next up are the Bears, who have been showing Rex Grossman film of their 37-6 pounding of Seattle to try to restore his skills.

The Patriots pulled away from the Jets late, they will need similar balance and more big plays next week in San Diego. I'll definitely be watching that game on the wall.

The Eagles ran an awful lot, and ran effectively. It's been a few years since the Saints were in the playoffs, so I'm not sure how well they will perform. Their offense has a lot of options and creative play calling to take advantage of their skills.

Did Notre Dame deserve their BCS Berth?

ND lost decisively to 2 BCS teams, Michigan and USC. Thus, the 27-point margin of victory by LSU in its home state in the Sugar Bowl's return to New Orleans shouldn't be a surprise.

In terms of not deserving to being the BCS, lets look at facts.

1. Money drives the BCS.

A. ND is the "home" college football team for the Northeast Megalopolis from Washington to Boston. (Penn St. probably has a majority in Philly, but that is it.) How many Rutgers fans were there before this season? Growing up in NYC, the Scarlet Knights DIDN'T have highlights shown from their games, just the scores. BC has had its moments and is building a successful program, but is a "safety" school for ND applicants. Our nation's money is concentrated in the NE, so ND offers the ability to generate the money for the BCS bowls ($15 million PER bowl).

B. With the Plus-1 game and a limit of 2 teams per BCS Conference, there is a pretty good chance that a low-revenue team or two will earn a BCS berth. How many fans did Wake and its 4,500 student body bring to the Orange Bowl? Or Boise State to the Fiesta Bowl? ND could fill a bowl game in each time zone if it were to play that type of schedule during the length of the Bowl Season. A guaranteed revenue generator is needed to offset the likes of Louisville, Wake Forest, and Boise State.

C. How many regular season Division I-A college football games has NBC televised in the last 25 years that weren't at Notre Dame Stadium? ZERO. That number WOULDN'T be higher if CBS, FOX, or ABC had negotiated for the contract.

D. Of the teams in BCS Conferences that didn't make the BCS, which ones earned a spot? Texas lost twice in a row to close the season to Kansas St and AM. There was no guarantee that their BE was going to be back for the bowl game. ND beat Georgia Tech. Rutgers or West Virginia - you can't lose to the likes of Cincinnati or South Florida in November and lay claim to a BCS berth. Cal - Tennessee is still scoring Tads against them.

E. Matchups - The bowls pick the matchups. 1 v 2 in the Title Game. Big 10-Pac 10 in the Rose Bowl. ACC in Orange, SEC in Sugar, Big 12 in Fiesta. The Sugar picked first for the open slot (since it was played closest to the Title game) and picked the best money generator from Boise St, Notre Dame, Louisville, and the rest (LSU beat out the other 108 I-A teams to be their opponent as a substitution for Florida).

2. I don't like ND's "automatic" qualification for the BCS, do the Yankees get a playoff berth if they win 85 games regardless of what place they finish? That being said, ND players don't charge the field and windmill their helmets into the opposition like some players team captains do!

The answer: Yes.

From Zap2It Ratings for Tuesday Night's Louisville-Wake Forest Game:

TV viewers were more into "SVU" than the BCS Tuesday, allowing NBC to score a ratings win opposite FOX's college football.

NBC averaged an 8.6 rating/13 share for the night, scoring a fairly sizable victory over FOX, 6.4/10. CBS was a close third at 6.2/10. ABC came in fourth with a 3.9/6, and The CW trailed at 1.3/2.

In the adults 18-49 demographic, NBC's 4.1 rating was tops, beating out FOX's 3.4. CBS averaged 2.5, followed by ABC, 2.0, and The CW, 0.8.

Wednesday Night's Ratings post:

FOX won the night with a 9.0 rating/14 share among households. CBS finished second at 6.9/11, a point ahead of NBC's 5.9/9. ABC drew a 4.1/6, and The CW came in fifth with a 3.0/5.

College football also led FOX to the top among adults 18-49, where it scored a 4.9 rating. CBS finished second in the demographic with a 3.2. NBC was third at 3.0, followed by ABC, 2.5, and The CW, 2.2.

The Sugar Bowl, featuring LSU and Notre Dame, delivered an 8.4/13 for FOX at 8 p.m. "The King of Queens" and a "Two and a Half Men" repeat were second for CBS. "According to Jim" premiered on ABC with two episodes, averaging 4.6/7. NBC's "Friday Night Lights" drew a 4.3/7 in its Wednesday debut, on par with its average on Tuesdays. The season premiere of "Beauty and the Geek" on The CW earned a 2.8/4.

FOX's Sugar Bowl coverage jumped to a 9.3/14 at 9 p.m., holding off CBS' "Criminal Minds" rerun, 7.9/12. NBC moved up to third with "Deal or No Deal," 7.1/11. ABC dropped one spot with the premieres of "The Knights of Prosperity," 4.4/7, and "In Case of Emergency," 3.9/6. "Beauty and the Geek" improved a little on The CW.

The Sugar Bowl held steady for FOX at 10 p.m., posting a 9.3/15. A "CSI: NY" rerun on CBS was second at 7.1/12. "Medium," 6.3/10, put NBC in third, ahead of ABC's "Primetime."

NFC 6 Seed, Anyone? Anyone?

Can the NFL just cancel the NFC's #6 playoff seed this season? 5 teams are 7-8 heading into the final weekend; amazingly, none of them play one another. That means there could be a 7-9 playoff team for the first time in league history. And the late Lamar Hunt wanted to add two more playoff teams! It's the NFL, not the NHL!

The pretenders:

NY Giants - they have won once since November 5th, over a Carolina team that hadn't learned the best way to win with Chris Weinke at QB was to take him OFF the field on 3rd downs and run the single wing offense with an extra TE to block. The Giants are without a bunch of top players, they haven't been playing to the level of their opponent, the Redskins, the past 2 months. Outcome: LOSS.

St Louis - they face the Vikings, who amassed 3 first downs and about 100 yards last week in Green Bay. The Rams got close to that in OVERTIME last week against the Redskins. This game will be in a dome; outcome: WIN.

Carolina - last week they learned how to win with Chris Weinke at QB... bench him on 3rd downs to prevent the possibility of interceptions. He did throw a 1 TD pass for the winning margin in a 10-3 win over the Falcons. The bad news: they will need more than 1 TD to defeat the high-scoring Saints. Outcome: LOSS.

Atlanta - they couldn't extend Weinke's losing streak to 18 games because they were as bad offensively. The Eagles are due for a letdown after sweeping all 3 NFC East rivals on the road, but the division title is in sight for them and I don't see the Falcons showing up ready to play in this one. Outcome: LOSS.

Green Bay - they'll know their fate when they take the field in the PrimeTime Game on NBC. The Bears didn't play last season's "meaningless" finale to win, will they do the same this year? Outcome: WIN.

SEATTLE - they are 8-7 and clinched their division title the Mike Tice way - by losing! They dropped games to powerhouses Arizona and San Francisco before coming from ahead to lose to San Diego last week. Aizona's victory over SF clinched the division title for Seattle, will they show up to play in Tampa, on the East Coast? Outcome: LOSS. The result: an 8-8 division champion to host a 9-7 or 10-6 wild card team (PHI or DAL)!

Justin Timberlake?

What is CBS thinking having him perform next week during the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show? Don't they remember what happened the last time that he appeared on national TV with a woman not wearing much clothing, maybe even some Victoria's Secret clothing? Carolina v. New England in the Super Bowl... a Super Bowl that aired on CBS!

Baseball HOF Voting

Mark McGwire - no way. He hit a very significant portion (42%) of his career home runs between 1996 and 1999 while he was on the juice. He had to be on the juice, the only logical conclusion one could draw following his Congressional Testimony before the 2005 season "I'm not here to talk about the past." His career numbers from 1987 to 1995 weren't above average for the league. He had some nice home run totals, but didn't hit for a respectable average from 1989-91 (.235 OR LESS). He missed most of 1993 and 1994 due to injuries. When the steriod wing of the Hall of Fame opens in Tijuana (late Padres 3B Ken Caminiti's source), McGwire can be inducted in the innaugural class. Similarly, hit leader Pete Rose can go in with Joe Jackson to the Vegas wing.

Thanksgiving Football

There is a third game in the 8ET timeslot. It's Denver at Kansas City, of note is an AFC team hosting a game. It will air on the NFL Network (available in HD depending on satellite/cable service provider) instead of broadcast or ESPN (though I think the DEN and KC network affiliates will have the opportunity to air the game locally. I wonder if it will draw a higher rating than the lame Lions in the 12ET time slot.

12:30 PM ET - Miami 23 Detroit 10. I'm wondering if the NFL is going to cancel the Lions' hosting Thanksgiving football if GM Matt Millen isn't gone before the next schedule is made. Maybe they can threaten Detroit with Flex Scheduling for THEIR Thanksgiving game. I'm not too disappointed that I'll be in the car for the start of this game!

4:15 PM ET - Dallas 27 Tampa Bay 13. Tampa will have to come up with a Herculean effort to defeat the surging Cowboys. I fear having to listen to Joe Buck announce this game.

I'm not surprised by Cowboy PK Mike Vanderjagt's struggles, search for his name (CTRL-F) in my post following the Steelers-Colts game last season:

http://webjavaworld.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_webjavaworld_archive.html

2005 Playoffs - Steelers 20, Colts 17. MV missed way wide right at end of regulation (46 yds)
2004 Opener - Patriots 30, Colts 27. MV missed way wide right at end of regulation (44 yds)
2000 Playoffs - MV missed way wide right in overtime (42 yds).

Once, an isolated incident. Twice, a trend. Three times, ... Houston, we have a problem.

8:00 ET Denver 23 Kansas City 17. Al Davis can't be happy that the AFC West rivalry being showcased in this one doesn't involve his Raiders, but I can't remember the last time they won an AFC West game. OK, it was in the snow against the Broncos in 2004 (the snow is the only reason I remember that). The Broncos were ambushed by LaDanian Tomlinson and the Chargers in the second half last week, the East Coast newspaper audience had to think that the writers just changed some names and numebrs from the Cincinnati game the week before! QB Jake Plummer hasn't played well this season and needs to rediscover his 2005 form.

BCS - Michigan played well enough in my mind that they could end up behind USC, Florida, Arkansas, or maybe West Virginia should those teams win out. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, college football polling isn't like a golf competition where a low score can be posted early and hold up on its own merit. USC, Florida, and Arkansas all have games left against good (UCLA, Florida State) and excellent (Notre Dame, LSU, Ark-Fla: each other) teams on their schedule that offer the opportunity to leave a strong impression with the voters. The challengers to #2 ranked according to the probability they can pass Michigan:

USC - Still has to win two more games, and this team has been winning ugly. They called on a backup kicker to kick a 49-yard field goal to tie up Cal at 9-9 in the 3rd quarter. Their last TD came on a 4th and 2 downfield pass (I was happy to see a formation with WR's in it, unlike last year's alignment agianst Texas).

Fla - They cleaned up on Western Carolina last week. I-AA opponent? This week's game against FSU shouldn't be a difficult victory, even if it's a rivalry game.

WV - Their one loss was on the road to Louisville, stud RB Steve Slaton was injured in the second half, they fell behind while he was out. If they beat Rutgers at home they might (unlikely based on current BCS rankings) challenge the Wolverines.

Ark - They lost 50-14 to USC, and their SEC road wasn't as challenging as Florida's.

ND - They won't be able to overcome their 47-21 loss to Michigan; the Wolverines are in the BCS clubhouse ahead of the Irish.

BCS Analysis and Forecast

#1 Ohio State v. #2 Michigan - The winner is in the title game, the loser goes to the Rose Bowl unless every other Division 1 team has at least 2 losses. The loser might be #2, but I don't think that it has distinguished itself so much from the other 115 Div I-A teams to get two shots at the #1 team before the other 1-loss teams get a 1st (save for ND v. Michigan rematch. If Ohio State is competitive w/ the Wolverines and ND is 10-1, then I would consider a rematch since ND was trounced by Michigan).

#3 USC - I think that they are correctly ranked here. I am a fan, but believe that their non-conference schedule of likely SEC West Champ Arkansas, likely Big 12 North Champ Nebraska, and Notre Dame (see #5) more than overcomes the difference between the Pac-10 and the SEC, Big 10, etc. That being said, I don't see this team winning its reamining 3 games in LA. Cal, Notre Dame, and UCLA are all much better than the triumverate of Arizona State, Washington State, and Washington, all of whom were within a TD of USC in the 4th quarter and had possession of the football.

#4 Florida - They have stumbled since their loss to Auburn but have avoided a second loss. Non-conference schedule: Florida State (which hasn't lost LESS than 4 games since 2000), Southern Miss (ok), Central Florida (?), and Western Carolina (??). No non-conference games against a quality BCS conference team? Did Bill Snyder of Kansas State make this schedule?

#5 Notre Dame - Beat Georgia Tech, tops in ACC. 3-1 against the Big 11, but was mauled by Michigan 47-21, so I don't like the idea of putting them in a rematch. 2-0 against the Pac 10 w/ USC remaining. 2-0 against the Service Academies w/ Army remaining. They might want to look into playing SEC teams more frequently to take away some the SEC fodder "it's the best conference"... they don't (need to play) Army and Air Force every year.

#6 Rutgers - This probably is where they should be until we see them play West Virginia. Before any of their supporters point out that they defeated Illinois by 33 while Ohio State won by 7, they only beat a horrific North Carolina team by 5. The Big East is easliy the weakest of all the BCS conferences and Rutgers' non-conference schedule isn't that tough (Hey Florida, at least it has some BCS conference teams!): North Carolina, Illinois, Ohio, Howard, and Navy. Navy is the only team heading to a bowl, but they don't earn many of the required 6 wins against BCS conference teams.

#7 Arkansas - They were taken behind the woodshed by USC in their opener 50-14. The rest of the non-conference slate: Utah St. (?), SE Mo St.(??), Lousiana Monroe (???). They are probably even with Notre Dame in my mind.

#8 West Virginia - I think that they will defeat Rutgers at home. Many BCS suits will be pulling for them as well to prevent the playoff talk that will erupt if an undefeated Rutgers team is displaced in the title game by a 1-loss USC, Florida, or Notre Dame team.

This season is a great example to me of why a playoff isn't in college football's best interest. USC had 1 too many turnovers against Oregon State and had no shot at the championship game until FOUR 1-loss teams lost last Saturday. Florida's lackluster non-conference schedule has it behind a similar 1-loss USC team. Rutgers is undefeated, but there might be more than 3 undefeated Div I-A teams if they played the Scarlet Knights' schedule. I'd be intrigued by a 12-0 Rutgers team, I need to see that first.

Forecast:
#1 Ohio State over Michigan (Jim Tressel owns the Wolverines the way they owned John Cooper).
#3 USC loses at least once to Cal, ND, or UCLA.
#4 Florida wins out over Western Carloina, Florida State, and Arkansas.
#5 Notre Dame wins out.. If the over/under for USC is in the 50s, go under. The two offenses will try to limit the amount of time their defenses are on the field.
#6 Rutgers - loses to West Virginia.
#7 Arkansas - loses to LSU and Florida.

Title Game - Ohio State v. Florida (****FOX, PLEASE SPARE US FROM JOE BUCK. JUST ONCE!****)

R.I.P. John F. Kerry

This JFK is a complete IDIOT. I've heard hime attempt to tell jokes and his delivery of "Stuck in Iraq" doesn't sound at all like his joke-telling delivery, honed over the course of his 60-year (estimated) life. I'm not satisfied with our current President, but every time a reporter puts a microphone in front of Kerry, he gives me another reason to be satisfied with the 2004 Presidential Election result. Listening to JFK explain the losers, dummies, and disadvantaged that serve in our military, I have no idea how our military was able to win WWI or WWII. The way that JFK sees things, our military is the equivalent of the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, MLB's Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and the NBA's/Isiah Thomas' New York Knicks. But our country TRULY VALUES patriotism, something that clearly escapes JFK. MY QUESTION: How does he not grasp the concept of patriotism after serving in the Armed Forces and then holding office in our national government for the past 20+ years? "Reporting for Duty" at the 2004 DNC Convention, YEAH RIGHT! He ought to retreat to one of his mansions NOW and spend a lot of time fishing, windsurfing, skiing, golfing, SUV touring, etc. What are the Jerry Lewis Telethon info-babes at MSNBC going to do with this one? Especially since JFK won't apologize! They had better find some cheerleading outfits complete w/ pom-pom's if they aren't going to report this event with zeal. Stick a fork in you JFK, you are done. Will Massachusetts have the dignity to run a different candidate for Senate in 2008 when JFK's term is up? Too bad it's a rhetorical question.

The Dark Season is Here

The end of Daylight Savings means that the sun goes down to early. I'll be ready to spring ahead in a couple of weeks!

World Series - The Tigers finally played their age and experience level. They didn't need the DH, they needed a DF... their pitchers set a record with 5 errors in 5 games, 1 in each! National TV ratings were down, I'm not surprised since neither DET or STL is a huge TV market, and the Tigers certainly haven't been maintaining their fan base over the past 15 years. Add in the 8:30 first pitch times, Joe Buck (I've never liked), Tim McCarver (I like him but I know that most don't), 2:30 between innings and pitching changes, and it's no surprise that ratings are down. Next year the WS starts on a TUE, I'm figuring that there will be a 3-day shift to the right to include a travel day in between games 4 and 5 in the first round. The other 2 days, I guess 1 before the start of the playoffs and 1 between the LCS and the WS. I've heard that TBS will have an LCS and FOX will have one similar to the NBA arrangement w/ ESPN and TNT; hopefully that will be an improvement.

NFL Sunday Ticket should be comp'ed for any fan that goes to 1 Raider OR 49er game in person. The 49ers fell behind to CHI 41-0 in first half before making the final score a respectable 41-10! The Niners must have been blinded by those orange jerseys. The Raiders were sacked more often than they completed a pass (6 to 5). They finished with 14 yards passing, 98 yards of total offense. Their offense earned more first downs (5) by penalty than by actually gaining yardage (4). Most importantly, their defense had 1 less catch (4) than the offense (5) and OUTGAINED that offense on one play! Two INT returns for TDs (100, 24) were enough to beat the Steelers 20-13. I listened to the DEN-IND game on the radio to remember what a quality NFL game sounds like.

Good Games This Week:
NCAA: #3 West Virginia at #5 Louisville 7:30 ET Thursday on ESPN HD
NFL: Indianapolis (7-0) at New England (6-1) 8:00 ET Sunday on NBC HD

Kenny Rogers Pine Tar Roasters

What bothers me the most about this escapade is how soft we've become. It was ok, since he washed the stuff off his hand after the first inning. The Cardinals didn't complain... why? They didn't want to offend the other team's fans? These are the fans that burn their cities, incite riots w/ NBA players, etc. Manager Tony LaRussa should have bolted from the dugout moments after FOX slow-mo'd the close-ups on Rogers' hand. It was apparent in SD that he had something on his pitching hand. I know that it was football weather and not baseball weather, but then document the rules properly for substances allowed on pitcher's hands when the game time temp is less than 40F in swirling rain, sleet, and snow at night. Until then, no hitter should dig in lest one of those pitchers not be able to grip his pitch through the windup to the release point.

West Coast College Football Rant

HD Football availability on the West Coast for ESPN on ABC.

Is essentially 0. While the rest of the nation was able to watch Texas v. Nebraska in HD last Saturday, the West Coast was stuck w/ San Jose St v. Nevada in SD. Is there any means of allowing/enabling/encouraging the West Coast affiliates to air HD Sports feeds on their HD Channels, for both broadcast and cable/satellite providers? I checked the cartoons that were on at 9:30 am PT; those weren't in HD, so it's not as if any alternative programming would be diminished by airing HD sports in its place. That's just one example. Most of the regional 8ET/5PT games have the west coast game in SD and the rest of the nation able to see HD. (Check the map at http://espn-att.starwave.com/espntv/topics/coveragemaps/map102106_12.jpg) The HD games should be simulcast in HD on the west coast affiliates when the regional game won't be broadcast in HD. An HD set, tuner, and subscription is an expensive investment, and the inability to watch HD programming because a viewer lives west of the Rocky Mountains is ridiculous. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Kenny Rogers Roasters

Detroit is turning to the 41-year old who hasn't allowed a run in his 2 postseason starts to even the World Series at 1. The game tonight figures to have some interesting plays in it because of the wintery conditions (snow flurries, rain, sleet?, temps in the low 30's). I think the Tigers will win, I don't see their bats being stymied by the Cardinals rotation over the duration of the series. I'll miss Scott Spezio's Cardinal Red Goatee after the series ends.

Oakland - The A's pennance for not taking the tarps off the upper deck of McAffee Colesium was losing in 4 straight. It's too bad that Raider owner Al Davis didn't force his team to win a game before ok'ing sodding over the infield dirt.

New York - The Corey Lidle tragedy took the attention away from 3B Alex Rodriguez. The Mets got to Game 7 of the LCS despite losing SPs Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez right before the playoffs and LF Cliff Floyd during them. Unfortunatley, PH-1B Julio Franco was starting to look his age (48) at the plate in the playoffs.

NCAA - What was Miami HC Larry Coker watching during the fight between his team and FIU? He needs to check the tape to see what really happened? Did he need binoculars to see a helmet being used as part of aroundhouse right to an opposing player? Does he rememeber broadcaster Keith Jackson's comments during an on-field fracas between Miami and Colorado 10-15 years ago "If this is what college football is about now-adays, I'm not sure that I want to be associated with it". The Hurricanes barely beat Duke this weekend, and if the Orange Bowl would be 75% empty for a couple of games that would be nice (it was half-empty for the FIU game).

NBA - Stephen Jackson of the Pacers fired his handgun after leaving a men's entertainment club in the wee hours of the morning. This guy doesn't seem to have had success improving his judgment skills since charging into the stands behind Ron Artest at the Palace a couple of years ago.

NFL - 8:30 ESPN MNF Dallas (-3) 27 NY Giants 20. The home team generally wins this series, TO is happy (at least for a week), and the Giants have a bad tendency this season to fall far behind early in the game.

Division Series Observations

The Yankees face an elimination game against the Tigers and have shaken up their lineup a bit. Highest-paid free agent from the 2001 off-season, 1B/DH Jason Giambi ($119M/7 yrs) is on the bench. Highest-paid free agent from the 2000 off-season, 3B Alex Rodriguez ($250M/10 yrs) is hitting 8th. A-Rod hasn't hit 8th since his first full season in the major leagues. I wonder if George had Torre ask Sheffield if he wanted to try 3B again (his position when Julio Franco was only in his 30s).

The A's broke their ALDS jinx, the tarps over the upper-deck in McAffee Colesium must have been the key. They don't plan on taking the tarps off for the ALCS either. I don't understand it from a financial standpoint, the lower 2 levels sold out right away for the ALDS.

The Padres finally took a lead today, they even retired 1B Albert Pujols in a couple of dangerous situations to keep their lead through the 8th.

Auburn lost to Arkansas this afternoon when the Tigers couldn't prevent big plays, add them to the list of teams that need help to reach the BCS title game.

TO returns to the field in Philadelphia tomorrow with Dallas. The fans who booed Santa Claus will provide plenty of entertainment for the viewers and temptation for TO, how will he respond?

October Baseball

The first postseason since 1991 that won't include the Atlanta Braves begins tomorrow. The last time that happened, I was in college, Ross Perot wasn't a household name, Julio Franco was an everyday player winning a batting title, ESPN2 didn't exist, let alone ESPNEWS, ESPNU, or ESPN360! SP John Smoltz was the only player on all 14 division winning teams, and his long-time Braves teammates Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine wil face one another when the Mets and Dodgers play Game 2 of their division series. Television note of interest: the Yankees-Tigers series will be at 8 ET for all 5 games, why wouldn't FOX try to get the top 2 media markets (NYM vs. LAD) into the prime-time slot instead of all Yankees all the time. I mean, Tim McCarver is aware that other baseball teams exist. He's not former Yanke broadcaster Phil Rizzuto who talked more about Italian dinners than baseball during 1980's casts. It's too bad that the Tigers limped to the finish line one heartbeat faster than the Cardinals and will likely only play 3 games in October.

NY Mets over LA Dodgers in 5 - I can't remember teh last meaningful games that the Mets played... can they?
SD Padres over StL Cardinals in 4 - If the Cardinals and Tigers played a game right now, would either team win?
NY Yankees over Det Tigers in 3 - See above.
Minnesota over Oakland in 5 - The Twins are a solid team and can score runs more ways than Oakland can.

NFL - Titans DT Albert Haynesworth should have been suspended for the rest of the season for Leattnering an opposing player with his cleats in the head. The bandage on the Cowboys player was the size of a PGA putting green!

Patriots - not dead yet. They Cowboy'ed up and took out the Bengals to stay ahead of the rest of the lackluster AFC East. Maroney ripped off some good runs, Brady had his mind in the game, and the defense silenced the powerful Bengal offense.

TO - was quiet off the field and all posts pertaining to him will be of that varitey. He brought it upon himself, he's now a circus attraction with a sideshow for 3 hours on a Sunday afternoon.

Mr. Clinton and some light fare

I was able to view Mr. Clinton's appearance on the Fox New Channel Sunday in between the NFL games and was disappointed and unsurprised. He expressed the same anger as when asked about Monica Lewinsky and wagged his finger at Chris Wallace as only he and 1B Rafael Palmeiro can. Then he went on and on about trying... when in reality under his command the U.S. never responded to continuing attacks by the Islamic fascists. WTC in 93, Khobar Towers in 96, African Embassies in 98, USS COLE in 2000. His idea was to try the first batch of WTC bombers in court, as a legal matter, not a military one. That didn't do much to deter future attacks. Killing the people responsible would, that is what we are doing now, and it is necessary. Would courtrooms have been successful against the Japanese or Germans? This post would be in a different language if we tried that strategy.

On the lighter side - watched Studio 60 this week. They are poking fun at all things conservative, don't know how long I'll be able to watch the show. I'll remind myself that it's healthy to laugh at oneself.

KAS - thanks for the link to prompt this post. MSNBC - I'll have it on when they have one of their attractive info-babes (Roback, Witt, Brewer, etc) reading the news for a pleasent background noise. Olbermann is interesting talking about sports but why he can't apply the same logic when thinking about current events is an unsolved mystery.

NFL - The Patriots are vulnerable, but Miami isn't taking advantage with new QB Daunte Culpepper struggling. The Jets and Bills are surprisingly strong so the AFC East may be an interesting race.

TO - I heard the 911 audio and don't buy his explanation. Best commentary that I heard was from SF radio host Ralph Barberi - TO's therapist should be the one talking but the problem is that TO doesn't have a therapist. The man needs help, is he smart enough to seek it and follow it?

NCAA - Auburn edged South Carolina tonight 24-17 to stay undefeated. Of note, South Carolina ran 0, that's not a typo, zero, offensive plays in the 3rd quarter. Auburn ran 4 in the 4th quarter, the 4th being the kneel down after stopping the potential game-tying drive at the 6 yard line in the final seconds.

MLB

Couch Potato Saturday

NBC HD 3:30 ET Michigan (+7) 20 Notre Dame 16. The Irish got things untracked last week against Penn St, now continue the Big 10 portion of their schedule against Penn St. Michigan HC Lloyd Carr is on the hot seat and it's been a few years since his team has played well against the Irish.

ESPN on ABC HD 3:30 ET Miami (+ 4 1/2) 23 Louisville 20. The Hurricanes aren't that good, but the Cardinals are without star RB Michael Bush (season-ending injury). Pretty soon ESPN will be supplying all of the announcers to the ABC games.

CBS HD 3:30 ET Auburn 16 (-3) LSU 10. What was I thinking buying Navy tickets for the Stanford game on this day? I should upgrade the projector to a multi-input model for this time slot!

CBS HD 8:00 ET Florida 30 (-3 1/2) Tennessee 24. The Gators have owned the Vols in recent years and will offer a tougher opposition than the Cal Bears did.

ABC HD 8:00 ET Nebraska 20 (+19) USC 35. The Trojans got off to a slow start (for them) against Arkansas a couple of weeks ago, but after losing Leinart, White, and Bush, there's no surprise or shame to that. They stopped covering big spreads about the halfway point last season, and I haven't seen their defense improve enough to feel confident giving away more than 2 TDs.

NFL Week 1

This year offers the biggest change for the TV viewer since FOX grabbed the NFC in 1993 and added the score box for out-of-town games that now includes updates for fantasy football players.

NBC - I like Cris Collinsworth and Sterling Sharpe. I think they'll offer some critical sarcastic humor to the highlight/pregame show before the Sunday Night Game. I'd like to see them do their show a little bit more like NFL PrimeTime and a little bit less like FOX's Terry Bradshaw.

ESPN - Get Ron Jaworksi into Joe Theismann's chair. NOW! He offered the first criticism of Raider WR Randy Moss that I've heard. On a play where the CB covering Moss left him to defend the ball, Moss held his arms up in disgust for not being thrown the ball depsite being open. Jaworksi correctly pointed out that Moss wasn't open until the CB reacted to the ball being thrown to somebody else! Jaws has done some great work using the NFL Films library for ESPN's studio and pre-game shows; I'm ready to listen to him do live games. I'm also inclined to think that Tony Kornheiser will work in the booth, he's very entertaining on PTI. I especially liked his line to getting Monday Night players on his fantasy team so that he'll maintain interest in the game he's being paid to broadcast! I miss Chris Berman and Tom Jackson doing NFL PrimeTime before the Sunday Night game, they did the highlights of a few games in the NFL Blitz segment that was woven into SportsCenter at 11 ET, but it wasn't as good as the old PrimeTime. ESPN has SuperBowl-like pregame show planned for every MNF game, they have some opportunity for PrimeTime highlights, but at a day old in today's information age, I don't know how entertaining it could be.

CBS - I didn't get to see any of their coverage.

FOX - Get Joe Buck off the air. I just don't find his attempts at humor marginally funny and when he does play-by-play he doesn't seem to recognize that he's at a football game instead of a baseball game.

ABC - I noticed that the Ohio St-Texas graphics had an ESPN-on-ABC logo to them; Interesting branding.

NCAA Viewing Guide

2006 Football is here!

The NCAA season got started last night with ESPN opening in Starkville, MS. Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks opened with a 15-0 win over Mississippi St. His punter had the big play of the game, running for a first down after deciding he couldn’t get the planned punt off. South Carolina continued that drive for a field goal and a 2-possession lead.

Saturday 8:00 ET ABC HD Notre Dame 34 (-6 ½) Georgia Tech 24. The Irish return QB Brady Quinn, WR Jeff Samardzija, and a whole cast of others from last year’s successful team. Their defense will need to contain Georgia Tech WR Calvin Jackson, who has the skills that USC’s receivers have been displaying under Pete Carroll.

8:45 ET ESPN HD Arkansas 20 (+7 ½) Southern Cal 24. The Trojans have to replace their entire offense except WR Dwayne Jarrett, or so it seems. Last time they had to do that, the replacements were Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, and LenDale White. Will lightning strike twice for Pete Carroll? I don’t think so, but USC will find a way to collect victories.

Monday 8:00 ET ABC HD Miami 19 (-3) Florida State 13. The Seminoles lucked out last year when they clearly lost the line of scrimmage but managed to win an ugly 10-7 decision because their special teams weren’t as bad as Miami’s. The Seminoles aren’t what they were in the 90’s and it will show in this game.

The Red Sox

The Sox didn't win any games against the Yanks in that 5-game set... losing some late leads, unable to get runs across versus Rivera, had a bullpen ERA over 12, it was ugly. Saw them play Monday in Oakland, and it looked more like a spring training lineup - no Manny, No Ortiz, No Manny Ortez, the 2B and SP were wearing #'s in the 60's, castoffs Carlos Pena and Eric Hinske were in the lineup, etc., etc. etc. I saw on ESPN's news crawl that Ortiz was experiencing irregular heartbeat symptoms, so his injury concerns are whole-life, not baseball (don't try to separate the two when speaking to Red Sox fans).

In the National League, none of the teams seems willing to take charge. 8 teams are within 3 games in the loss column, 10 within 5. Even the Marlins with their $14 million payroll are in that group after winning 8 in a row. Consider this: Take SP Dontrelle Willis' salary ($4.35 million) off their books (which might have been attempted in July), and the teams payroll drops below $10 million! The Yankees pay 11 individual players more than that and will pay about $28 million to the leauge office in payroll luxury tax! I wonder how much of that $28 million the Marlins are getting... My Braves didn't make the summer run towards the Wild Card that I thought they would, but any of the teams within 3 in the loss column has a near-equal chance to take the last postseason berth.

NCAA football starts this weekend, and the NFL the following weekend. QB Jeff George is on an NFL roster again, and WR Terrell Owens is vintage 2005, not 2004 for the Cowboys. His response to HC Bill Parcells wanting to see him on the field before playing him: "There's 10 years of film". Actually, TO, there's only 9 1/2. PK Mike Vanderjagt hasn't been on the field in the Dallas games that I've watched; I interpret that as not a good sign for a team where Owner Jerry Jones had more influence in selection of those players than Parcells would have liked.

Yankees v. Red Sox

It's a 5-game series this weekend with the opener on ESPN @ 1pm ET Friday afternoon. The Sox are without C Jason Varitek and OF Trot Nixon while the Yankees have received good production from trade deadline acquisitions P Corey Lidle and OF Bobby Abreu. RP Octavio Dotel was jsut activated from the DL to setup CL Mariano Rivera. Unlike recent years, the Sox have to sweat the Wild Card race. The White Sox and Twins are much hotter than any of the teams the Sox have had to beat out for the Wild Card the past 4 seasons. There will be plenty of opportunity to catch $320 million payroll during the weekend on national television:

Saturday 1 PM ET - FOX
Sunday 8 PM ET - ESPN
Monday 1 PM ET - ESPN2

Good news for these two: The White Sox and Twins play each other in a 3-game series this weekend.

MLB Trading Deadline

Well, the Yanks added some pop by getting OF Bobby Abreu from the Phillies. No SP changed teams was better than Corey Lidle, so the Bombers didn't lose any ground in that department. My question, who among Sheffield, Matsui, and Abreu goes into the rotation when they're all healthy enough to play? We know Damon can't reach the plate from the pitcher's mound, so it won't be him!

The Braves are done in the NL East. I was tempted to write them off at the end of June, but their bats were on fire into and out of the All-Star break. But Chipper Jones is on the DL and star SP Tim Hudson is getting hit as hard as a slow-pitch softball pitcher. The 1-5 homestand against the Marlins and Mets closed the deal on the Braves' amazing run of 14 straight divison titles. ESPN.com hailed Leo Mazzone as the best assistant coach of all-time, it should be noted that this year's Atlanta staff is among the league worst in ERA, WHIP, and blown saves. It's too early to pass judgment on new pitching coach Roger McDowell (Hudson didn't come to Atlanta needing Mazzone and #3 and #4 starters Mike Hampton and Horacio Ramirez have spent more time on the DL than J. D. Drew) but Mazzone always seemed to get enough production out of his staff.

Playoff Predictions:
AL: Yankees, Tigers, A's. WC: Red Sox.
NL: Mets, Cardinals, Padres. WC: Braves.

Last Man on the Plane!

I just completed my 2-week annual training aboard the USS O'KANE out of Pearl Harbor. Spending some extended time underway on the surface allowed me to realize that the submarine force was the right service selection for me.

I was all set to return this afternoon when the gate agents announced that the plane needed a mechanical part that was located on the mainland. They were trying to rearrange the flight schedules to limit our delay but speculated on a 5-hour delay. I attempted to change to the American flight leaving about 30 min later, but wasn't able to do so over the phone. So I hustled to the gate where the agent said that they were full, but to wait by the gate in case something opened up. Luckily it did when former NFL LB Bill Romanowski upgraded to 1st class and freed up a seat for me. He looked a bit thinner, and older in the face than I'd expect. I didn't get an opportunity to thank him since he was busy w/ his laptop and cell phone at the gate right up until it was closed. This was the 2nd straight year that I got the last seat on an airplane flying east over the Pacific!

Turns out that I may not have been too far eff recommending Laura Ingraham for the CBS News Anchor Chair. Katie Couric told Access Hollywood that she wouldn't go to the Middle East to cover the news becuase "it's dangerous there". Shouldn't Katie have moved over to Access Hollywood if she only wanted to report news from "safe" places? Does "If it bleeds, it leads" ring any bells to her? Was she listening to any of the news headlines that Ann Curry was reading on the Today set? Can CBS get a discount on the $15 million that they're going to pay Katie since now they have to send someone else to go to those "dangerous" places? Leadership by example is strong; as Managing Editor, I deduce leadership is expected/warranted/part of that title, I'm observing some great leadership, Katie.

I'm Keith Hernandez!

What the heck was Keith Hernandez thinking when he chastised the Padres for having a woman in the dugout during their game against the Mets last wekeend? She's a member of the training staff, something that Hernandez thought unfathomable before he opened his mouth. I loved the clip of broadcast partner Gary Cohen "I think you should stop talking now" trying to get Hernandez to end his rant. I don't think that Hernandez's comments were in line with today's thinking, but he's entitled to his opinion. He didn't say that a woman couldn't do the job, just that if it were up to him, a woman wouldn't be doing the job... which is why I don't think an apology (he rambled through one later in the game) was necessary.... anyone who heard his rant understood that he just didn't realize he was broadcasting a game in 2006 and not 1906. And it sheds new light on his Just For Men hiar dye commercial... he might actually think that real life plays out just like the script!

Why Katie? Why not Laura Ingraham?

It's been too long since I've posted, but hopefully I'll get some regular opinions on the board.

Katie Couric replaces Dan Rather at CBS... doesn't make much sense from a business standpoint. There is one news outlet that caters to conservative viewers (Fox News Channel) and a slew of them catering to liberal viewers (to varying degrees: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, PBS). With the populace's ideology split pretty evenly between the liberal and conservative camps, why would CBS continue to compete against 5 competitors instead of 1? It would make sense to compete against only the Fox New Channel for conservative viewers... CBS would generate higher ratings, which translates into more ad dollars!

I've been following the real estate market on the blogosphere and in the local news. A 1-BR 722 sq ft Condo down the street from me went for 400K! Supply and demand will eventually determine the outcome of the recent price increases, but rising interest rates and prices will damper both investor and occupier demand for homes.

Super Bowl XL, not “Blue Man Group”

Type/Last Week/Season
NCAA/0-0/11-9
NFL/0-2/30-31-1
Invest/-3.0*/-3.1*

6:30 ET ABC (6) Pittsburgh 31 (-3.5) (1) Seattle 24.

** over 47
** Total FG by both teams under 3.5
* Shaun Alexander under 92.5 yards rushing

When Seattle earned its Super Bowl berth, I thought, at least its an even-numbered Super Bowl, so the Steelers will pick to wear their black jerseys, and the Seahawks won’t be in their Blue Man Group uniforms. But Steelers HC Bill Cowher chose to ride the road success Pittsburgh has sustained and the Steelers will wear their white jerseys. The Steelers are aiming to be the first #6 seed to win the Super Bowl in the 16 seasons of 12 playoff teams. They defeated the top 3 seeds in the AFC playoffs. Closer inspection reveals that they aren’t a typical #6 seed. First is their 11-5 record instead of the average 9-7 mark. Second, they lost 2 games to directly attributable to horrible backup QB play by Tommy Maddox (who hasn’t been the same since suffering a neck injury at Tennessee in 2003). Change those 2 losses to victories, and the Steelers are 13-3 and the #2 seed. Third, they posted impressive victories during the regular season over San Diego and Chicago. Finally, they were 15-1 last season, and their only significant free agent loss was WR Plaxico Burress.
Pittsburgh has had success in the playoffs starting the game with a downfield passing attack. That has enabled them to take quick leads the last 2 weeks at Indianapolis and Denver. I expect Seattle to open defensively keying on that instead of stacking the line to stop the run. RB Willie Parker hasn’t had much success against good defensives this season, Jerome Bettis might get some carries outside of the red zone if Parker continues to struggle (including fumbling the ball).
Seattle followed its poor performance against Washington with an outstanding one against Carolina. QB Matt Hasselbeck has played 2 great games in the postseason. He has moved out of the pocket and spread the ball among his wide receivers and tight ends, making it more difficult for defenses to stop the Seahawks offense. RB Shaun Alexander had his first 100-yard game in the postseason last week. Of the Steelers 3 postseason opponents:
1. The Bengals eventually suffered after All-Pro QB Carson Palmer was knocked out of the game on the first play from scrimmage.
2. The Colts refused to play physically when the Steelers went with speed to counter the Colts’ spread offense.
3. The Broncos’ Jake Plaummer reverted to his historical tendencies in the AFC Championship game.
Of Pittsburgh’s 3 playoff opponents, the Seahawks offense is most like the Bengals’. Matt Hasselbeck isn’t as great downfield as Carson Palmer is (few are), but he has had strong seasons 3 years in a row. RB Shaun Alexander has been the most productive back in football over the past 5 seasons. He isn’t the power runner that Cincinnati’s Rudi Johnson is, but has more speed and better vision to find holes. Seattle doesn’t have any WR that is as explosive (in any form) as Chad Johnson is, but they do get solid production from Darrell Jackson, Bobby Engram, and Joe Jurevicious as a unit. Jackson and Engram missed significant parts of the season due to injury; but both are healthy now, and don’t have as much wear on them because of the time that they missed.
I expect the Steelers to win the game, but they need to play from ahead. If Seattle gets the lead and forces Pittsburgh to be a one-dimensional passing offense, then the result will be like the 38-31 game that the Bengals won at Heinz Field in December.
Propositons: Even though this game is in a dome, teams don’t tend to kick field goals in Super Bowls. Last week’s game against a Carolina defense that was on the field for the whole game was the only time that Alexander has even gotten close to 90 yards rushing in a playoff game. I’d consider Willie Parker’s under, but expect the Seahawks to open the game pushing the Steelers to run the ball because Roethlisberger has been so effective so far in the playoffs. Thus, Parker could get off to a strong start and make 61 yards on the ground.

NFC Championship

6:30 FOX HD (5) Carolina (+4) 27 (1) Seattle 20.
Both of these teams have uncertainty at RB. Seattle’s Shaun Alexander suffered a concussion last week against the Redskins. He is expected to play against the Panthers. Carolina RB DeShuan Foster broke his ankle last week against the Bears; he joined fellow RB Stephen Davis on the IR list. Backup RB Nick Goings has almost 100 yards in Carolina’s two playoff games; he had 3 100-yard games for the Panthers last year during their 6-game winning streak when they surged into the NFC playoff picture after a 1-7 start. While he wouldn’t be the RB to carry the load over 16 games, Goings should be capable enough for the 2 games (at most) the Panthers have left this season. The Panthers are playing their 4th straight road game, but I think that they’re up to the task. The first 2 games were over by halftime (Atlanta, NY Giants), and they were able to play from ahead last week at Chicago. Seattle survived its divisional round game last week against Washington despite 3 fumbles and Alexander only gaining 9 yards before suffering a concussion. QB Matt Hasselback carried the offensive load, throwing for 1 TD and running for another. While the Seahawks contained Resdkins RB Clinton Portis (41 yards), they didn’t seem interested in covering WR Santana Moss or TE Chris Cooley. They better have a different plan for Panthers WR Steve Smith. He caught 12 passes for 218 yards and 2 TDs last week. He also carried the ball on end arounds a couple of times. If Carolina can get Smith 15 touches (receptions, punt returns, rushes, direct snaps, etc.), they should generate enough points to win the game.

AFC Championship

Type/Last Week/Season
NCAA/0-0/11-9
NFL/2-2/30-29-1
Invest/+0.9*/-.1*

The Seachickens less than impressive victory got the investment selections in the black for the season, but the Patriots didn’t score enough points to get their game over so I’m slightly in the red. I thought that Brady and company had 1 TD drive left in them when they took over inside their 20 at the 4-minute mark, but didn’t like seeing the deep throw so quickly. (It was intercepted by the Broncos triple-deep coverage.)


SUNDAY (All Times ET)
**3:00 CBS HD (2) Denver 23 (-3 ½) (6) Pittsburgh 16. *under 41.5
Three straight road victories is almost impossible for an NFL team to win. That has to be magnified in the playoffs. (My introduction for the Washington-Seattle game last week). Pittsburgh is on a real roll right now, their winning streak is at 7 games. They used a Patriots-style defensive strategy (maximize LBs, minimize DLs) to beat the Colts last week. Pittsburgh has balance on offense with Fast Willie Parker and Jerome Bettis at RB to punish a defense in different ways (speed, power). QB Ben Roethlisberger is the best QB that HC Bill Cowher has had during his tenure. The Steelers will go down the field through the air to get points on the board. Roethlisberger injured his hand or arm in the 2nd half of last week’s game, that may have factored into the Steelers running the ball all but 2 plays (about) after leading 21-3. The Broncos are getting great play from QB Jake Plummer. He made fewer mistakes than Tom Brady last week, even with the Patriots doing an outstanding job against the Broncos running game. Denver’s home field advantage is among the best in the NFL and the Steelers have to be road-weary at this point.

Divisional Round Reflections

Thoughts on last weekend’s games:

How do the Seahawks fumble the ball 3 times after practicing in the rain for 27 straight days while the Redskins don’t fumble once? I saw FOX’s Tony Siragusa show buckets full of water on the Redskins’ sidelines, but that couldn’t have been that effective.

I hope the Seachickens don’t plan on leaving S Michael Boulware alone on Panther WR Steve Smith the way they left him alone against Redskin WR Santana Moss last weekend. That strategy won’t work 2 weeks in a row.

Denver forced New England into some turnovers and took care of the football when they had it. They got a couple of breaks to get 2 TDs (Pass interference call against CB Asante Samuel and ruling CB Champ Bailey’s fumble out of bounds at the 1). The Broncos defense always had the full field to work with against the Patriots offense and usually was able to force a mistake before the Patriots reached the end zone.

The Colts didn’t play well against the Steelers’ rush, which often went small. Indy was very late to adjust to it. TE Dallas Clark didn’t move to the backfield too often. RB Edgerrin James didn’t get that many carries. QB Peyton Manning had happy feet from the early moments of the game. Perhaps the Colts should have played their regulars about a half in each of the final 2 regular season games.

The officiating in the 4th quarter had two horrible calls. The “no-call” on the false-start/encroachment should have been one or the other. And S Tory Polamalu’s interception shouldn’t have been overturned. I couldn’t help but think that the official in the booth notified that the Steelers should have been hit for the false start and thus were able to run another 4 to 5 minutes off the clock after the 4th down conversion instead of punting.

Colts K Mike Vanderjagt should be looking for a new employer soon. He might be one of the most accurate kickers of all time, but he has only one type of kick in the clutch. So far wide right that he wouldn’t have won the kicking job at Florida State! Vanderjagt has had two other attempts of similar significance in his career. 2000 Playoffs, wild card round at Miami. Overtime, 49 yards. Wide right by about 20 yards. 2004 opener, at New England. Final play of regulation, 48 yards. Wide right by about 30 yards.

So what was QB Peyton Manning thinking on his 3rd down throw to Reggie Wayne. The pass wasn’t close, the defender actually had a decent chance at an interception. Manning should have checked down to James to get the first down and get the idiot kicker a little closer. I understood the 2nd down pass to Wayne in the end zone. The Steelers’ blitz was picked up, and Wayne was one-on-one with no safety coming over. The play to the end zone was the right decision there. But the 3rd down throw should have been shorter, especially since the Colts still had 2 timeouts.

The Bears and Panthers played much better offensively than expected. Rex Grossman was great the last 30 minutes, but would he have started 3 for 15 (for 2 yards!) if he had played some in the regular season finale to get sharp?

My Joe Buck rant of the week – How come he and Troy Aikman didn’t notice that Chicago WR Justin Gage caught the ball with a knee on the ground in the 1st quarter and that the replay overturn would be as easy as the Polomalu overturn was difficult? Buck and Aikman (and their spotters) never considered the possibility until after the referee announced the overturn, and they were stunned!

Seahawks or Seachickens?

Type/Last Week/Season
NCAA/0-1/11-9
NFL/3-1/28-27-1
Invest/+2*/-1.0*

SATURDAY (All Times ET)
**4:30 FOX HD (1) Seattle 27 (-9 ½) (6) Washington 10.
Three straight road victories is almost impossible for an NFL team to win. That has to be magnified in the playoffs. Seattle has balance on offense with NFL MVP Shaun Alexander at RB and Pro Bowler Matt Hasselback at QB. Seattle has earned its designation as Seachickens in recent years, but this year’s defense is playing markedly better.

8:00 CBS HD (4) New England 27 (+3) (2) Denver 20, *over 44.5
New England has won 10 straight postseason games with HC Bill Belichick and QB Tom Brady. Many Patriots that didn’t dress for the October game will be on the field for this one (DL Seymour, RB Dillon – at what speed though?, LB Bruschi – see Dillon ?, CB Samuel). The number that struck me looking at the box score of the first game was that the Patriots did a pretty good job against RB Mike Anderson (15 carries, 57 yards). I think that New England will do a much better job against the Denver WRs and just can’t convince myself to pick Denver QB Jake Plummer to outduel Tom Brady.

SUNDAY
1:00 CBS HD (1) Indianapolis 27 (-10) (6) Pittsburgh 16. The Colts flipped a switch at the start of the regular season, starting 13-0 after an 0-5 preseason. The offense didn’t score much during the first month of the season against some strong defenses (24 v. Baltimore, 10 v. Jacksonville, and 13 v. Cleveland), but the Colts won those games because their defense started the season at a high level. The Colts are just too fast for the Steelers on both sides of the ball and the Steelers may not be able to stay in the game while waiting for their running game to take its toll on the smaller Colts defense.

4:30 FOX HD (5) Carolina 16 (+2 ½) (2) Chicago 13. I think that this Bears team is better than the 2001 unit that had a similar regular season. The Bears did win 13-3 in the regular season game, sacking Panthers QB Jake Delhomme 8 times. It was one of 7 games that the Bears won with their offense scoring 1 TD (or less). What I didn’t like about the way the Bears finished the season against the Vikings was that starting QB Rex Grossman didn’t play. He has started 7 or 8 games in his 3-year career. He didn’t need the week off. He needed the game action to prepare for the playoffs. The key to this game will be avoiding turnovers in their own territory.

Wild Card Weekend

What an outstanding performance by Vince Young for Texas Wednesday night. But I have to ask, why didn’t USC close the running lane outside to the right? Did they watch any of the tapes from Young’s performance in the Rose Bowl last year? I think Pete Carroll did the right thing going for the first down on 4th and 2… his defense hadn’t stopped Young all night… why would that change? Texas only needed 1 timeout on their winning drive. I would have like to have seen some WRs on the field instead of the 2 TE look… Texas had 9 men in the box against RB LenDale White.

SATURDAY (All Times ET)
4:30 ABC HD (3) Tampa Bay 23 (-2 ½) (6) Washington 20.
Because of turnover margin (+3), the Redskins won this game with an offense that produced 120 yards in 60 minutes.

**8:00 ABC HD (4) New England 27 (-8) (5) Jacksonville 13.
The Patriots played a solid game against the Jaguars, reducing their offense to one dimension. WR Jimmy Smith didn’t have a good night, and the Jaguars are still looking for their first postseason touchdown in New England.

SUNDAY
1:00 FOX HD (5) Carolina 27 (+3) (4) N.Y. Giants 16. New York QB Eli Manning has had some impressive moments in his second season, but threw the most interceptions this side of Green Bay QB Brett Favre. Giants RB Tiki Barber will need to have the success that Cowboy RBs Marion Barber and Julius Jones enjoyed 2 weeks ago. Carolina QB Jake Delhomme has had his own interception issues and the Meadowlands can be a difficult place to throw the ball in January.

4:30 CBS HD (6) Pittsburgh 26 (-3) (3) Cincinnati 13. The Steelers won 4 straight to make the playoffs after losing successive games to Cincinnati and Indianapolis. The key to the winning streak (mostly against the lackluster NFC North) was the reliance on the running game with RB Fast Willie Parker outside the 10 and Jerome Bettis inside the 10. Cincinnati wrapped up the AFC North in Week 15, then lost to Buffalo (close) and Kansas City (rout) to close the regular season.

Texas v. USC is finally here

Type/Last Week/Season
NCAA/0-0/11-8
NFL/1-0/25-26-1
Invest/+2*/-3.0*

WEDNESDAY
8:28 ABC HD #1 USC 27 (-8) #2 Texas 17. I don't like the 8:28 ET kickoff time. That made the 3 OT game between Penn St. and Florida St. end too late for me... on the WEST COAST! After a month of waiting and media attention, the Trojans aim for their 3rd straight national title (or portion of) against the Longhorns behind QB Matt Leinhart (2004 Heisman), RB Reggie Bush (2005 Heisman), RB LenDale White, and WR Dwayne Jarrett. Texas QB Vince Young is as dangerous as USC RB Reggie Bush because he touches the ball on every play while Bush is limited to taking handoffs, catching passes, or returning kicks. Texas’ defense was better statistically than USC’s, but there are more offensively challenged teams at the bottom of the Big 12 than the Pac 10. USC’s offense is so sophisticated (for the college level) that I can’t see Texas being able to shut it down for the whole game unless USC doesn’t set its alarm clock. Halftime won’t cut it for the Trojans as it did at Oregon and Arizona St.

Week 15 Observations (a bit late)

The Chargers brought the Colts’ undefeated season to an end. They contained RB Edgerrin James and forced QB Peyton Manning out of the pocket where he isn’t as efficient. But the win comes a week too late for the Chargers. They lose the tiebreaker to the Steelers for the 6-seed in the AFC and while they face two quality teams to close the season (at Kansas City, Denver), likely Wild Cards Pittsburgh (at Cleveland, Detroit) and Jacksonville (at Houston, Tennessee) face teams that don’t seem interested in winning.

Too bad FOX doesn’t have another play-by-play announcer to be its #1. Joe Buck just isn’t a football announcer. Sometime during the first half of the Cowboys’ 25-7 debacle in Washington, Buck suggested that Dallas pull QB Drew Bledsoe with next week’s game against Carolina in mind. Despite the fact that a QB throws a ball, the quarterback position is not similar to a starting pitcher in baseball. The QB is the offensive unit’s leader. Oriole SS Cal Ripken Jr. didn’t take innings off for seasons at a time in the mid-80s. At the end of the game, Buck and former Dallas QB Troy Aikman wondered out loud why HC Bill Parcells was still calling timeouts in a 35-7 defeat. The answer is quite simple to anyone who has watched a Parcells-coached team for any length of time over the past 23 years (18 as HC). Parcells was upset that his team didn’t come to play a game that it had to have in order to make the playoffs. His coaching method was to force them to endure the stink of their effort for as long as he could. Parcells isn’t a “nice” coach; he coaches through toughness, and his style isn’t that difficult to comprehend. Dallas was so bad on Sunday that I think Washington could have won the game had they dressed the San Francisco roster in Redskins uniforms.

Speaking of the 49ers, they are really bad. They only managed 5 offensive first downs over the course of the game on Sunday in Jacksonville. For the 7th time this season they didn’t score a touchdown. But their defense was solid, holding Jacksonville to 10 points. Bay Area football fans can take pride in their teams’ efforts Sunday: Jacksonville 10, San Francisco 9 and Cleveland 9, Oakland 7. Thankfully the Raiders didn’t sell out and Cincinnati’s rout of the Lions was televised there.

The Bears had a typical first half Sunday Night. 2 first downs, 4 3-and-outs, and about 60 yards … and a 6-3 lead over the Falcons. Former starting QB Rex Grossman replaced rookie Kyle Orton and led the Bears to 10 points in the 3rd quarter and the final 16-3 winning margin. The Bears could be dangerous in the playoffs; they are 3-0 against the strong teams in the NFC South.

Type/Last Week/Season
NCAA/0-0/11-8
NFL/6-2/24-26-1
Invest/+2*/-5.0*

INVEST
**9:00 ABC HD New England 26 (-5 ½) N.Y. Jets 9. ABC’s Monday Night Football sure is going out with a bang! No beer will be sold in the stands during the game, but plenty will be consumed in the parking lot beforehand. The Patriots are on a roll right now, just in time for the playoffs. I don’t expect the Patriots to change their approach in the final 2 regular season games even though they can’t do much to improve their playoff seeding. HC Bill Belichick prefers to keep his teams in top form, and since they’ve only had key players like RB Corey Dillon, LB Tedy Bruschi, and DL Richard Seymour in the lineup for a couple of weeks, Belichick will want those guys to be sharp for the playoffs.

Patriots Rounding into Form

Type/Last Week/Season
NCAA/0-0/11-8
NFL/0-1/18-24-1
Invest/-1.1*/-7.0*

INVEST

SATURDAY (All Times ET)
**1:30 FOX HD New England 24 (-5) Tampa Bay 16. The Patriots are starting to get their key performers back. LB Tedy Bruschi has been back for a month. DL Richard Seymour returned last week. The RBs in Buffalo last week weren’t Patrick Pass, Heath Evans, or Mike Cloud, but regulars Corey Dillon and Kevin Faulk. QB Tom Brady had another strong game despite suffering a leg injury in the 1st half. Tampa Bay has rebounded to win 3 in a row after the San Francisco debacle, but young QBs rarely play well against Bill Belichick coached defenses.

5:00 CBS HD N.Y. Giants 30 (-2 ½) Kansas City 24. The Giants got an important road win at Philly last week and return to the Meadowlands for their 9th game there this season. QB Eli Manning has not been as efficient the past few weeks, and needs to avoid interceptions. Kansas City is running the ball better with RB Larry Johnson subbing for an injured Priest Holmes. The Chiefs lost to Dallas last week and fell 2 games behins division leading Denver in the AFC West.

8:30 ESPN HD Denver 26 (-8 ½) Buffalo 10. Skip it unless you are a diehard. The Bills go back to Kelly Holcomb at QB with J.P. Losman sidelined with a head injury. RB Willis McGahee also has a head injury, but his is more like former Ealge WR T.O. than a medical one.

SUNDAY
1:00 CBS HD San Diego 24 (+7 ½) Indianapolis 27. The Chargers have their backs to the wall in this one. They have playoff aspirations but have lost a number of close games (Dallas, at Denver, Pittsburgh, at Philadelphia, Miami) this season. Three of those five losses came at home; the Chargers had 4th quarter leads against the Cowboys, Steelers, and Eagles. The Colts are attempting not to appear interested in pursuing an undefeated season, preferring to focus instead on staying healthy for the playoffs. I think they’ll be gunning for the 16-0, despite what WFAN’s Mike Francessa thinks.

1:00 CBS HD Pittsburgh 24 (-3 ½) Minnesota 20. The Steelers mauled the Bears last week to stop a 3-game losing streak. They will continue their roll through the NFC North. RB Willie Parker should see the bulk of the carries on the artificial turf of the Metrodome. Minnesota has won 6 straight after losing QB Daunte Culpepper for the season to a knee injury. QB Brad Johnson has avoided mistakes during his second stint as Vikings QB. All victories count the same, but the Vikings’ six have come against Green Bay, Cleveland, N.Y. Giants, Detroit (twice), and St. Louis. Only the Giants are still in the playoff hunt, and the Vikings offense posted only a FG in that one, watching and punting while the defense and special teams scored 3 TDs (PR, KOR, Int Ret).

4:15 FOX HD Dallas 23 (+3) Washington 16. Thankfully this game swapped timeslots with the Eagles/Rams game. I don’t think that Washington WR Santana Moss will get behind S Roy Williams this time, but Dallas will have to tackle Moss on the flanker screen. The winner stays alive in the NFC East race while the loser probably only remains mathematically alive for a playoff berth.

7:30 ESPN HD NFL PrimeTime Chicago 16 (-3) Atlanta 10. If Falcons QB Michael Vick wasn’t prone to turning the ball over, I would take the Falcons here. Atlanta should study the films of last week’s Bears-Steleers game. RB T. J. Duckett can run the plays that Jrome Bettis did and Warrick Dunn can run the ones that Willie Parker did. When QB Ben Roethlisbreger threw, Vick should run a bootleg. The Bears can be beaten if a team chooses not to risk the football, because the Bears won’t move the ball more than about 25 yards on an offensive possession. Rookie QB Kyle Orton understands the value of the punt in the NFL regular season. It’s a big reason why the Bears lead the NFC North.

9:00 ABC HD Green Bay 16 (+3) Baltimore 13. Skip it unless you are a diehard. Packer QB Brett Favre is struggling with interceptions but has a RB he can trust in Samkon Gado. The Ravens are playing Kyle Boller at QB, who is struggling after returning from a leg injury. ABC sure would like to switch this game out for one with playoff implications. NBC will have that option on Sunday nights next fall.

VT - Stands for Vick's Team

Type/Last Week/Season
NCAA/2-2/11-8
NFL/1-5/18-23-1
Invest/-2.2*/-5.9*

INVEST
*9:00 ABC HD New Orleans (+10 ½) 20 Atlanta 26. What was ABC thinking scheduling the Saints for a MNF game after November 15th? They have been an entertaining team under HC Jim Haslett and QB Aaron Brooks, but they’ve only had one 10-win season in their 6 year tenure in New Orleans. Atlanta QB Michael Vick makes this game worth watching, and the Falcons need to win this one to stay in the playoff hunt in the NFC, where it’s looking like 10 wins might not be enough to earn a playoff berth. The Falcons will earn the win, but are too inconsistent to be giving any team besides San Francisco 10 ½ points.

The Colts are 13-0 and have wrapped up home field throughout the AFC playoffs. I think their toughest game will be this coming Sunday vs. the Chargers. San Diego sleepwalked through the second and third quarters and wound up losing to Miami. The Chargers are a desperate team and have the offensive balance and players to run with the Colts. Indy can take a huge step by knocking out the team they don’t want to play in the playoffs (after the Patriots, of course) in the regular season.

SF Bay Area NFL coverage on network television stinks. Two weeks ago we were subjected to San Francisco v. Tennessee early and Jacksonville v. Arizona late (the Raiders didn’t sell out as usual). I should have checked the local ratings for the late game. Outdoor Life probably outdrew it with an NHL game. The NFL should establish a new rule for two-market teams (SF, NY). If each franchise wins less than 6 games the previous season, they should have to play at the same time at least 4 times the next season. Yesterday it was a little better. Oakland v. N.Y. Jets early followed by San Francisco v. Seattle and Miami v. San Diego (non-HD) late. The doubleheader game (Mia-SD) was entertaining, but it wasn’t in HD, and Kansas City v. Dallas was on in the same time slot and wasn’t picked by the CBS affiliate in SF. I painfully tune into the NFL Network’s Sunday Drive telecast of a radio show for cut-ins to red zone coverage of other games. I’ve yet to hear any cut-ins to 49er or Raider games. Hmm.

BCS Qualifiers

Notre Dame almost lost out on $15 million with its 4th quarter letdown against Stanford. I don’t know why HC Charlie Weis sent the injured PK (after 2 missed kicks, 1 XP and 1 FG) onto the field after the backup had made a FG. It almost cost the Irish big time.

Colts: 11-0 and looking unstoppable.

Vikings: 4 game winning streak after losing starting QB Daunte Culpepper for the season, the boat party, the Whizinator, HC Mike Tice selling Super Bowl tickets, original new ownership faked being a former NFL player on his resume. With a win over the Lions, the Vikings could actually be tied for the final wild-card spot in the NFC.

Type/Last Week/Season
NCAA/0-2/9-6
NFL/3-3/17-18-1
Invest/+1*/-3.7*

INVEST
**#12 UCLA 30 (+24) #1 USC 45. The Trojans haven’t slowed good offenses recenctly… Fresno State put 42 on the board 2 weeks ago. Southern Cal should win, but I can’t see them covering, they’ll need to get into the 60’s to do that.

SATURDAY (All Times ET)
1:00 ABC HD #2 Texas 58 (-27) Colorado 2. Why are they even playing this game? Iowa State tanked it in the 4th quarter at Kansas and gave Colorado its spot back.

2:30 CBS HD Navy 30 (-6 ½) Army 23. This series is going to move back to a field goal spread soon. Army HC Bobby Ross is restoring the program. Navy might be distracted after earning a 3rd straight bowl appearance, to the Pointsetta Bowl in San Diego.

4:30 ABC HD #1 UCLA 30 (+24) USC 45.

6:00 CBS HD #4 LSU 23 (-1) #13 Georgia 20. Because it’s on TV. LSU might be able to move into the title game if either Texas or USC falters earlier in the afternoon.

SUNDAY
1:00 FOX HD N.Y. Giants 27 (-3) Dallas 23. Both teams suffered tough overtime losses last week and the winner takes sole possession of first place in the NFC East. NY QB Eli Manning is playing better than Dallas QB Drew Bledsoe right now.

1:00 FOX HD Atlanta 19 (+3) Carolina 16. Atlanta QB Mike Vick hasn’t been that consistent throwing the ball; Carolina QB Jake Delhomme is turning the ball over than the Panthers can allow. Incompletions are better than interceptions.

1:00 CBS HD Pittsburgh 24 (-3) Cincinnati 16. The Steelers can effectively take a 2-game lead on the Bengals in the AFC North with a victory in this one. They will need to run the ball much better than they did on MNF against the Colts. RBs Bettis, Parker, and Staley were all active, but none was effective. QB Ben Roethlisberger looked rusty against the Colts but his presence is needed to give the Steelers offensive balance. The Bengals can win if they get a solid outing from QB Palmer, RB Johnson, and WR Johnson.

4:15 CBS HD Denver 24 (+3) Kansas City 20. The Chiefs have a great December home record in recent seasons and need this one to pull within 1 game of Denver in the AFC West. The Broncos get RB Tatum Bell back this week and have had 10 days to prepare for this one.

7:30 ESPN HD NFL PrimeTime Oakland 24 (+11) San Diego 31. The Chargers will keep rolling towards the playoffs but the Raiders will cover the points as WR Randy Moss finds the end zone in a prime time game.

9:00 ABC HD Philadelphia 22 (+4) Seattle 17. The Seachickens haven’t proven their toughness yet and the Eagles aren’t ready to quit just yet.