Hey The Reds Won

Central Division Champs...meaning the Magic Number is -1.

College Football Week 4:

Ah, College Football has really settled and the picture is forming as most teams are a quarter of the way through the regular season.  Teams have proven themselves, others leave us questioning why one would pick them to win the BCS Championship.  The week after the week after Monster Saturday was entertaining, especially in the afternoon, but once again left me winless in upset alerts...sigh:

-The tide rises, and the tide...uh rolls:  A shout out to my boy J.F. Ploehs with a remix of this line from a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, but I digress.  Alabama gets another opportunity to wave that finger at people symbolizing "Not today!" as they beat maybe their toughest test this year going into Pig Country and downing Arkansas.

-Trouble the size of Texas: UCLA is now known for beating ranked teams from the state of Texas, beating #23 Houston easily last week and making quick work of the #7 Longhorns of Texas this weeks, in Austin nonetheless.

-Ohio State can win at home: The Bucks (my risky, gutsy, bold pick for NCAA greatness this year) are 4-0 at home....and they still have 4 left, thank God for American and unfair scheduling!

-The Big East is worse than the ACC which is worse than the Big-12 which is suddenly only looking reletively bad: The Big East went 3-4 with victories over powerhouses Colgate, Western Kentucky, and Buffalo....meanwhile, where the "power" rests in the Big East, two time defending champ Cincinnati at least looked good in a loss to Oklahoma (who is in the Big-12 may I remind you!).  Pitt was blown away by a Miami team that was blown away by Ohio State (did I mention I picked them?  Trying to get word out), West Virginia put up a fight in Death Valley losing 20-14 at LSU, and sleeper Rutgers lost 17-13 to limping North Carolina (ACC!).  This will leave the Big East with zero ranked teams as the WAC and Mountain West each have 2...sigh Big East.

-North Carolina State is not the favorite to win the ACC: I would like to correct an ESPN announcer who said NC State is now the ACC favorite....I would still take teams ahead of the #23 Wolfpack..Miami Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech...NC State is deserving of recognition, but not favorite status...personally I disdain all the other teams so I hope they prove me wrong.

-Did I mention Notre Dame is not quite revived?  Okay.

-A big win this week as West Chester tops E Stroudsburg...what is up?

-My sleeper in the WAC (Nevada) is no longer a sleeper, damn you ESPN!!!  (see post #4 Boise State in August for proof)

College Football Week 3:

This was the week following Monster Saturday, but it featured some nice games in its own right.  The Michigan State-Notre Dame ending was the most exciting so far this year, UMass was the latest threat from a FCS team, and the first top 10 loss of the year:

-Notre Dame is not quite there: Brian Kelly cannot bring instant revival to ND, but people are probably not too happy with a 1-2 start.

-Oregon is really good against FCS teams: They have outscored their FCS opponents 141-0 in two games.

-Ryan Mallet reestablished his Heisman Candidacy: against a tough Georgia team, Mallet threw for 380 yards and 3 TD's without a pick.

-Virginia Tech is able to win: They outplayed both of their first two opponents, including FCS James Madison, they pulled away from Ruffin McNeil and East Carolina.

-Fortune still favors the bold: MSU faked a game tying field goal to defeat the Irish, the best game this year. Earning Sparty a spot in the top 25.

-Boise State has some competition in the WAC: it isn't the PAC-10 (or even Mountain West for that matter), but the WAC has two other teams who Boise can lose to, Nevada and Fresno State.

-The SEC is still the class of College Football: #1 Bama, #9 Florida, #10 Arkansas, #12 South Carolina, #15 LSU, #17 Auburn...need I say more?  Okay, all these teams are undefeated.  Unfortunately they have to play each other, the SEC is going to be fun to watch, happy birthday to CBS, who once again will show a bulk of SEC conference games.  (Iowa's loss and Wisconsin's escape dwindle the five-ranked-teams Big-10 chances to ever have the same dominance of the SEC)

In Conclusion: 1/5 of the way through the season, no team has predestination in the BCS or anywhere else, nor is anyone else eliminated, since conference play has yet to really stand up and walk.

REDS MAGIC NUMBER COUNTDOWN!

7

REDS MAGIC NUMBER COUNTDOWN!

STILL 10!!

Heismans and Reds

One subject that has been taking over ESPN and other sporting networks (such as....uh) is that of Reggie Bush.  Bush was charged with accepting gifts while at USC.  Rumors flared that some of the benefits had actually been given to Bush by the University, but you know how rumors go (I LOVE RUMORS!).  Anyway, Bush decided to forfeit his Heisman Trophy, probably hoping to silence everyone and get this all over with so he can focus on winning games for the New Orleans Saints.  This is simply a prologue to get to the main bullet point of this article.  This is the decision by the Heisman Trophy Trust to keep the 2005 version vacated.  It always seemed odd in the first place, Bush winning the trophy, that is.  The 2004-2005 USC Trojans were thought of as being the greatest College Football team...ever.  They had Bush and Matt Leinart, the winner of the 2004 Heisman.  The Heisman is equivalent to the MVP of the National Football League.  In the context of MVP, the person must be the "Most Valuable Player".  This was not Reggie Bush, nor Matt Leinart.  Both Bush and Leinart were great college players, but the real 2005 Heisman was Vince Young.  The voters made a mistake giving the 2005 Heisman to Bush, and after the Rose Bowl everyone knew it.  God, however, showed favor on the unfortunate voters, and offering the opportunity to give Young the Heisman.   The Trust, unfortunately, has decided they will vacate the title and leave it as such, but why?  What is accomplished by simply vacating to the award?  All that does is leave Bush's name forever connected to the award.  When they could make it Young's title, instead it will always be Bush's title*.  The ungodly asterisk rears its ugly head.  People will forever attach Bush's name to winning the Heisman.  Even those who wanted the award to be given to Young cannot say it "is Vince's award".  It only exacerbates the problem.  No accomplishment is made by vacating the 2005 Heisman.  It is as if an Olympic Runner won the Silver and the Gold medal was vacated, but instead they said, "Yeah, we just aren't going to give it to anyone."  In theory, theoretically, if Bush had not been there to win the Heisman, Vince Young would have won it, correct?  So with Bush out of the running, it belongs ro Vince Young, probably in everyone's eyes but the Heisman Trophy Trust's....qui est de la merde.

Now, to more important business, the Cincinnati Reds.  I have been getting email after email about how I need to write about my hometown boys, and so I will. Quite simply, the Reds are about to be the most shocking team of the 2010 playoffs.  They are the equivalent of the 2008 Rays, making everyone wonder, "Wha?".  MVP Joey Votto will lead the Reds into the playoffs, along with an astoundingly good rotation featuring Bronson Arroyo, Johnny Cueto, Edison Volq-uez, Travis Wood (r), Homer "the Savior" Bailey, and a plethora of young arms.  Here are some fun Reds facts:

-42 comeback wins...3rd in the majors.

-21 wins in their last at-bat...2nd

-53-23 versus losing teams, but a mere 29-39 against winning teams, lem'me change colors, here.

-The Reds lead the NL in hitting, runs, hitting with runners in scoring position and fielding percentage

-They have the least amount of errors in the NL

-The Reds are 42-25 in the divison

-Aroldis Chapman has made eight appearances for 7 and 2/3 innings, racking up a 0.00 era

-The Reds are 12th in the NL in attendance

-The Reds lead the Cardinals in the NL central by 7 1/2 games.

-The Reds have MVP Joey Votto: batting average-.320; HR-34; RBI-104;

-The Reds have Laynce Nix...forearms equivalent to a size 32 waist.

-The Reds are second in batters hit-by-pitch

-The Reds are 13th in the NL in groundballs hit and 2nd in fly balls hit.

REDS MAGIC NUMBER COUNTDOWN!

10!!!!

College Football Week 2:

This was supposedly "Monster Saturday" for College Football.  It was disappointing, due to the lack of anything really exciting happening.  There were upsets (James Madison anyone?), but did anyone really care?  The games people wanted to see (Bama-Penn State, OSU-Maimi Florida, Okla-Florida St.) were victories were the...uh, slim? favorite won by annihilating the opposition.  Nonetheless, there are still things to learn from even a week where people where Mace was disappointed.

-It is still the "Feature Programs":  People like Boise State (some people, ones who don't understand that to go undefeated in the WAC is like beating 8 Washington State-i every year, but I digress) and TCU because they interrupt the power programs....or do they?  The traditional programs have won like the last 30 National Championships.  The most recent one I recall is Auburn being co-champ in '04, and they were not technically the winners.  More officially, thanks to the magic of the internet, I can confirm the most recent non-traditional team to win the National Championship Game was Washington in 1991.  So while people hope to see Boise and TCU in the title game, it is unlikely they get there, much less win.

-You have to play every gam: Virginia Tech lost to James Madison

-Turnovers still hurt you a week later: Miami threw 4 picks against Ohio State and lost, by only 12.  Without the lost opportunities which were handed to OSU, it could've been a different story.

-The ACC is worse than the Big-12, which is bad:  The top of the ACC Hierarchy went 0-4 with UNC idle.  Va-Tech, Georgia Tech, Florida State, and Miami Florida all lost.  Congrats, Big-12, you pulled yourself above two power conferences now.

-Denard Robinson is the Heisman favorite: If Michigan can keep winning (relatively unlikely, but their competitions has been nothing to sneeze at) than Robinson deserves some consideration.  He has 885 total yards in two games and single-handily brought joy to Cincinnati fans everywhere by defeating Brian Kelley.

In Conclusion: "Monster Saturday" would've have been so disappointing had it not been the most hyped week of NCAA Football ever.  By the way, I went 0-3 in upset alerts, holy crap.

Upset Alerts

New Upset Alerts are ready for week 2....forgive me for the Oklahoma-Florida State pick...I know it isn't too much of an upset, but I needed a 3rd game.

College Football Week 1:

There is usually very little to learn from Week 1 in College Football when all the "good" teams schedule all the "cupcakes", but there are some things to been learned from Week 1.
What we learned:
-Maybe most importantly we saw that Boise State can at least play one game (like a BCS National Title Game, perhaps?) versus a top five caliber team.  Virginia Tech, my dark horse for this year's BCS National Championship Game, all but handed Boise State a 17-0 lead, but when life hands you lemons, you need to make some goddamn lemonade.

-Almost as importantly, we saw that Boise State is not too good.  Many people are looking at this as an upset where Boise proved they are forreal...they are #3, right?  Boise State didn't play well at all after Va-Tech handed them 17 points with mistakes.  A phantom call and phantom no-call gave Boise the opportunity to go ahead 33-30.  Not to take too much credit away from the Broncos, but if anything, I am less impressed by the Boise.

-The Big-12 is not very good: Texas, my pick for this years National Champion, certainly didn't dominate.  Oklahoma had to hold on against Utah State.  Missouri, thought to be a strong Big-12 team, won by only 10 against Illinois, a Big-10 bottom feeder.  Kansas lost to FCS North Dakota State.  Nebraska looked strong...against #120 Western Kentucky.

-There is no Heisman favorite: Terrelle Pryor?  He looked nice with 247 passing yards, but only rushed for 17 yards.  Mark Ingram...he didn't play.  Case Keenum even?  Under 300 yards passing for the guy is supposed to eclipse 6,000.  What about Ryan Williams?  21 rushes for 44 yards.  Kellen Moore?  only 215 yards.  Moore may come out the winner, thanks to a (cough) big win and 3 TD's to no INT's.

-There is still hope for FCS teams:  No one against the big time schools, but what about Jacksonville State beating Ole Miss?  That was fun.

-Michigan is reviving: It may not be Ohio State, but Rich Rod gave the University a good reason to keep him around as Michigan dominated a good UConn team in the Big House.  Denard Robinson made a showing for (gasp!) the Heisman.

-You can play better and still lose to a team you are better than:  What in the world am I saying?  Turnovers...turnovers...turnovers.  Va-Tech gave away the ball to Boise State too many times and Navy owned Maryland, but neither could win because of problems keeping possession.

-Having fun is watching big points: Boise State-Va-Tech was no doubt the most hyped match-up of week 1.  It was also the 2nd best game to watch.  The only one better totaled 100 points as East Carolina def. Tulsa 51-49 in a game that featured a scoring drive on every possession in the 4th quarter, 1,117 yards, and 47 points in the 4th quarter alone.

In Conclusion: There is not much to say at this point, everyone who was supposed to win won..hehe, cept you, Ole Miss.

US Open 2010...The Tennis One (a.k.a. The Better One)

The US Open is one of America's more exciting sporting events.  A bracket that 128 players, meaning the champion has to defeat 7 others in the sweltering New York heat during late August and early September.  This year's US Open features one big time watch, Rafael Nadal trying to obtain his career Grand Slam.  Nadal carries in momentum after winning the last two majors, but as always, people are trying to dethrone the world's number one.  What does this year's tournament hold?  Here is my preview:

The Favorite: Roger Federer...the greatest player of the past decade, and maybe of all-time, won the Aussie Open on hard courts this year in straight sets.  He may be getting older, but he proved with a recent win in Cincinnati that he still has something left.  He is still (probably) the better hard court player (this year) between himself and Nadal.

The Dark Horse: Andy Roddick...He has tried to compete competitively at the level he was once at for so long.  He now gets an opportunity to play on what is probably his best surface.  He has a great draw, even with #3 Novak Djokovic in his quarter....Roddick beat Djokovic on a hard surface in Cincinnati.

The Cinderella: John Isner...he has become the new hope for American tennis with Roddick's slow deterioration.  He may not have as much natural ability, but he proved at Wimbledon in his marathon match he has the heart.  Plus, on the hard courts, he has the big serve.

The Quarterfinals: #1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. #10 David Ferrer (ESP)...#2 Roger Federer (SUI) def. #10 Marin Čilić (CRO)...#9 Andy Roddick (USA) def. #3 Novak Djokovic (SRB)...#4 Andy Murray (GBR) def #18 John Isner (USA)


The Semi Finals: #1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. #4 Andy Murray (ENG)....Murray and Nadal were suspected to be the two best players entering this season.  Federer silenced the critics a little with his win in Australia, but Nadal has since brought those critics back to life.  If Murray wants to finally vanquish his own nay sayers in Good Ol' England, he will need to defeat the man with all the momentum and currently the best player in the world...but he won't, bloody hell!

#2 Roger Federer (SUI) def. #9 Andy Roddick (USA)...The Federer-Nadal rivalry has become the grandest in tennis, simply because they are so good and always meet in the finals of majors, but the Federer-Roddick rivalry may have more fuel on its fire.  Roddick and Federer both claim mutual respect, but so do the players from Duke-North Carolina or Yankees-Red Sox (I don't mean to belabor)  Roddick has always been critical of Federer, including his remarks after their great match in the 2009 which included two tie breakers (both won by Rogah!) and a 16-14 final set.  Roddick will, unfortunately, fail to decimate the demons within and Federer will smugly move to the finals...a must watch match here.

AND THE WINNER IS:
Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. Roger Federer (SUI)...Rafa gets the nod because Federer is yet to prove he can beat the younger, quicker, more athletic Spaniard.  Federer won this years Aussie Open...against Andy Murray.  Nadal beat Federer on grass (2008, Wimbledon) and Hard Courts (2008 Aussie), finally he will prove he can win in America...oh, this match is, undoubtedly, a 5-set match.