College Football Playoff Possibilities

Now that the college football regular season has mercifully wrapped up, the playoff picture is finally coming into focus. If the playoff were held today, we'd be looking at Clemson vs Iowa and Oklahoma vs. Alabama, and lots of insane ranting from Ohio State fans (because somehow OSU's loss to Michigan State shouldn't count) and Pac-12 fans (because East Coast bias) and Michigan State fans (because they haven't yet figured out that 1 loss is more than 0 losses) and SEC fans (because it's not a real playoff unless there's multiple SEC teams in it, and damn both Les Miles and the torpedoes).

But we still have that one week of conference championship games, and here's how things stand heading into them:

113 stadiums and counting (aka Ga Tech's football team once beat Cumberland 222-0)

Do I love football more than my family?  Maybe.  Probably.  I don't know.  Well, really I do know but I am (kind of) afraid to admit it!  Good thing my mom is not rich otherwise I would have to worry about her writing me out of her will...

Why The Eagles Stink And Why ESPN Is Wrong About It

Not in any way, shape or form responsible for the Eagles' collapse

Thursday night, ESPN radio personality Robin Lundberg attempted to defend beleaguered Eagles coach Chip Kelly. "Point to one move," Lundberg sputtered, "That was that bad". The logic being, of course, that since there's no "disaster" move the definitively turned the playoff-bound Eagles into Tulane, there's nothing to see here and the Eagles' collapse can most likely be blamed on pixie dust, too much sushi, or the sudden difficulty in finding certain pieces of the Hooters' back catalog.

Thanksgiving at Duke

This Thanksgiving, on national television, we will get to watch the latest chapter in the Greg Hardy saga play out. A man who committed unrepentant acts of domestic violence, scooped up by a narcissistic vulture of an owner for the greater glory of his investment, shielded by the weakest of claims of concern and vetting. But hey, Cowboys games on Thanksgiving are a tradition, and the show must go on.

112 stadiums and counting

So I was sick for most of last week, but since I can't help myself, on Friday afternoon I left my house in North Carolina at 6 pm, and drove all the way to the Alabama state line, where I stopped for the night.  The next morning I continued on to Hattiesburg, MS to see Old Dominion take on Southern Miss.  The game was back and forth well into the 3rd quarter, until So Miss recovered a fumble (which led to a TD) and then on the next series batted a pass at the line (around Old Dominion's own 3 yard line no less) which become a pick 6 - So Miss ended up winning 56-31, much to the delight of the home fans.

111 stadiums & counting (aka, 3 games in 3 days across 3 states, part 3)

So after watching UTEP beat Rice by 3 on November 6th, I spent the night in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and then took a long, lonely drive up to Albuquerque to see New Mexico take on Utah State (also a close game).  The weird thing about driving in New Mexico is they have these border checkpoints really far north, a lot father north than you might expect, perhaps America's second line of defense against illegal immigration?

110 stadiums & counting (aka, 3 games in 3 days across 3 states, part 2)

For the second game in my (not quite) road trip, I flew to El Paso to finally see the Sun Bowl, which was #110 on the list.  The Sun Bowl is a stadium I have been looking forward to seeing for a long time, since I have been told numerous times it is unique as it was literally carved out of the mountain.  While this is a little bit of an overstatement, it is a decent stadium.  Very small crowd though, so I even said in my review this stadium may be best seen for the bowl game in December.  I didn't realize this until I went there, but the Sun Bowl was actually BUILT for the express purpose of having the bowl game, b/c their old stadium just wouldn't suffice.

Bad Year For Philly

This is how it was supposed to go this year for Philadelphia sports fans.

The Phillies were going to be terrible, but we knew that, and at least they'd finally embraced the notion of the rebuild. Sure, old favorites were going to get shipped off, but we'd see fresh talent brought in, and there would be some glimmerings of hope for the future.

On Terrible Football

If there has been one recurring theme this NFL season, it is this: terrible football.

Politics and Sports Redux

So.

A suicide bomber attempts to make his way inside a stadium where the French and German national teams are playing a "friendly", with the President of France in attendance. He is turned away and detonates himself on the street, the explosion audible inside the stadium. The choice of targets was not accidental.

The Dustypocalypse

Now that everyone in DC is done freaking out, eight thoughts on the reality of Dusty Baker as manager

109 stadiums & counting (aka, 3 games in 3 days across 3 states, part 1)

For those following along at home, I am on a mission to see all 129 FBS stadiums - eventually this will be all current stadiums, by the by, but for now I am satisfied to say I have seen 111 of them play at home, plus some stadiums only used for bowl games & other special match-ups, like the Red River Rivalry (including all the NFL stadiums along the way, b/c every NFL team has a college team nearby, so you can see both in the same weekend).

NFL Stadium Boondoggle Reaches A New Low

Not Actually NFL Spokesman Eric Grubman, though the confusion is understandable

As part of the ongoing St. Louis/Los Angeles/Oakland/San Diego stadium mess, it's the NFL's job to shake down municipalities for as much money as is possible. It's what the NFL does, in much the same way that parasitic fungi bore into ant brains, make the ants behave in ways contrary to their own survival, and develop useless structures that benefit no one but the parasitic fungi themselves.

108 stadiums & counting

On a mission to see all 129 FBS stadiums/see all 129 FBS teams play at home.  Currently I have been to 111 of them, but I am still a little behind so this post is all about 108.

So we are over 2 months into the college football season.  As of the end of last year, I had been to 100 of the 129 stadiums, and here are the numbers so far for this season:

This Year's College Football Highlights So Far

Things I am thankful for thus far this college football season:

1. No game has been described as "the game of the decade/century". Seeing as we've gotten an average of about six a year of those so far this millennium, that's a marked improvement.

Very Simple Math

If you are in fact horrified by the pictures of what Greg Hardy inflicted on his then-girlfriend, if you are tired of the NFL ham-fistedly covering this stuff and teams doing the absolute minimum due diligence to allow them employ the Greg Hardys of the world in good conscience, if you do not want to reward those who reward Greg Hardy, then the math is simple.

107 stadiums and counting

On a mission to see all 129 (soon to be 130) FBS teams play at home.  For #107 I traveled to Phoenix (technically Tempe) to see the Sun Devils lose abysmally to Oregon.  Didn't these guys watch the Superbowl last year?  When you have 1st and goal from the 3, run the damn ball!  Don't throw an interception, especially not on 2nd down when the previous pass was almost intercepted.  What an anti-climactic way to end the game.  The euphoria of overtime, only to lose on a bonehead play.

And this is why I get mad at most of the coaches for being sissies.  At the end of the 2nd half, they had 10 seconds left, and just knelt down.  Why not try a long bomb and maybe kick a field goal for the win?  What is it about coaches that makes them think they have a better chance in OT?  Never will understand it.  My buddy says it's all about momentum, but I am not so sure.

On the Miami Miracle

Let us leave aside for a moment the sheer blissful irony of Duke fans up in arms about an undeserved call going another team's way and costing them a game. (True story: I once watched a Duke basketball game with a Duke alum who literally did not know what a foul was.) This, my friends, is called "karma", and it looks fabulous on you.

Would you rather your team go to a crappy bowl and win, or a good bowl and lose?

This isn't so much a post as a question.  Which would you prefer?  I am curious what people will say.  Better bowl equals more money, but losing sucks.

Too many bowl games?

So I recently noticed that there are 41 bowl games this season, up from 37 or so last season - a couple new ones have been added in obscure cities, some of them being played at baseball parks.  I actually went to one of those last year (BYU lost the inaugural Miami Beach Bowl which is played in Marlins Park).

On some level I don't mind "new" venues, b/c I am all about visiting stadiums, so any chance I get to visit a stadium I have never been to and watch a college football game I will take.  But now I think they are overdoing it.

106 stadiums and counting

For those of you following along, I am on a mission to see all 129 (soon to be 130) FBS teams play at home.  To date I have seen 108 of them, so if you paid attention to the title you will notice I am a couple posts behind.  Sorry.

So for 106, a week and a half ago, I drove to Muncie, IN to see Central Michigan take on Ball State.  I am having the worst luck with weather this season, BTW.  I have already been to two games this season that were delayed by lightning (one until the next day), and multiple games where it has rained.  But these are all over the country, so no idea what the common denominator is - unless it is just me of course.

More World Series Math

In a previous post, I (teasingly) criticized my brother-in-law about taking his kids to Game 3 of the World Series.  At a $1000 per ticket, and 0 chance of seeing them win even if they won, I argued for the statistically most probable 7th game, if he couldn't see all of them.  Turns out I was wrong - he managed to pick the one game the Mets won, and he is a die-hard Mets fan so I am sure he enjoyed it.  Kudos to him for picking right.

Eleven Takeaways From The World Series

With a hearty congratulation to the Kansas City Royals, a "that was a hell of a season" to the New York Mets, and a "oh crap, 108 days until pitchers and catchers report" for the rest of us:

1. It doesn't matter how good your pitching staff is, it really, really helps if your fielders remember how to catch the ball.