The State of Sports Nov. 18th

-College Football

-Best BCS conference of the season
You have to love the SEC this year. This weeks matchup of Auburn and Alabama only is one of the countless matchups we have seen from this power-football conference. With the SEC's best offense in #11 Auburn, and the best defense in #8 Alabama. The only only problem? Alabama is near the bottom of the conference in scoring offense. They are like the Baltimore Ravens of the conference, except they have a decent running game. Auburn on the other hand also has a good defense. It could make for a college classic football game. My prediction is Auburn. A game of field goals in the beginning, and a game of field position for the last possesion. Thats the way these defensive games usually go. I will point to the Tennessee-Bama game. The 6-3 game went down to who really had the last possesion.

Other great games in this conference are South Carolina and Clemson. I pick South Carolina, because Spurrier seems to know what hes doing this year. They have beaten a highly ranked Florida team, but played the bottom of the SEC for the rest of their schedule, excluding losses to Georgia and LSU. Vandy is having a good season too. I pick them over a slumping and underacheving Tennessee team. The interresting thing about the Vols is they are the only team to beat LSU, whos only got one loss, and beaten a ranked Florida, Georgia, and Bama (last week). Florida, who may be a year or two away from taking the SEC (with coach Urban Meyers Spread Option offense), plays Florida State next week. Too bad they lost too many games vs. ranked opponents.

The SEC is hands down the best conference in football. With six teams ranked in the top 20, it really doesnt get any better than that. I think this conference may dominate when its bowl season this year.


-Worst BCS Conference of the season
Two teams out of the Big 12 are ranked. Texas and Texas Tech are two very high powered offenses in a conference that just hasnt played up to par. A conference that boasted four teams in the top 25, three in the top 20, has just not played well at all. Texas has dominated, and it might just cost Vince Young the Hiesman, because of the conference he plays in.

Texas Tech has a good offense, but very little defense. Tech dominates because they control the clock on their possesions. They have lost to Texas and Oklahoma State, who second to last in scoring defense and offense. Texas Tech plays Oklahoma this week. Oklahoma was preseason ranked #7, and then got beat in the opener to Mountain West winner TCU. Oklahoma has gotten beaten by UCLA, and Texas, but played well in the rest of conference play. The only team with one loss, may still get an end of the year ranking and a good bowl bid, if they win out. I honestly dont see this happening vs Texas Tech this week.

Iowa State opened well by beating a overrated Iowa team and went 3-0. But then dropped three strait to Big 12 North opponents Missouri, and Nebraska. And then lost to a very bad Baylor University team, as they went 3-3. Iowa State looked promising but hasnt played vs the competition. They close with Kansas. I predict a victory for Kansas. Speaking of Kansas, they beat Nebraska. The cornhuskers ususally dominate Big 12 play. This year, they are 4-3 in conference play loosing to Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Mizzou. And Kansas has also beaten Mizzou. Its just very disappointing to see a basketball school, manhandle good Big 12 football oriented schools.

A Colorado-Texas Big 12 matchup would be dissapointing, because you really want to see someone good warm up Texas, who is prob playing USC for the championship. But that just isnt going to happen.


-Other top 25 matchups
-USC vs Fresno State- Bosoxguy told me USC was going to blow Fresno State away. I disagreed with him and said that Fresno State plays a good defense, and the game would be a close one. Im not talking a 21 point close game, but maybe a 7 point close game. USC will win, but Lienhart just might have a game, because I think they will stop Reggie Bush/White.

-Ohio State-Michigan- Michigan will win this game because they want the Big 10 title more. I would love to see Ohio State win this thing, but at home, Michigan plays well. Michigans defense will step it up for its only game this season. I thought the defense was bad, but then when I mis-predicted the Northwestern game, it made me reconsider my opinion on Michigan. Ohio State might make it a close one though. I still predict a Michigan victory. A rareity for me because I like to rag on my Woverines friend, who is a die hard, going to tomorrow game.


-Penn State-Michigan State- Will Penn State beat Michigan State? Will Joe Paterno finally get the respect he deserves? I think they will. I think that Michigan State just lost it. They beat Notre Dame, and that was their season. And then they just dug themselves into a hole. If you beat someone good in the Big 10, it means you have to play up to the competition. Michigan State didnt do so here, and wont do so tomorrow.

-Im hoping BC closes out beating a dangerous ball control Maryland team. Va Tech is going to creme Virgina. LSU is gonna hopefully clinch beating Mississippi. And Oregon State will loose to Oregon.

-In other non-top 25 action, I dont know much about UTEP, but they will beat UAB. In Sun Belt action Louisiana-Monroe (4-1 in conference and 4-5 overall) will beat North Texas. the Sun Belt is an absolute joke of a conference that doesnt even use the instant replay system. They get one bowl bid a year, and usually get beaten 9 out of 10 times.


Pictures courtesy of Yahoo! Sports

The State of Sports Nov. 17th

-Baseball

-Sox concerns at Center Field
What do the Red Sox do about the center field position. Something I never mentioned when I brought up my thoughts on needs the sox need to adress. Fact is do the Sox overpay for Damon. I mean do they want to chance it with the 32 free agent? He is calling for a 7 year deal for 84 Million. The Sox have offered 27-30 million over three years. Sox would have to sign him before December 8th, or else they have to offer him salary arbitration.

Meanwhile, the Yankees look like they are really interrested in filling their gap in centerfield. Scott Boras says Damon would make "the Yankees would dominate with Johnny Damon on their team. The key component is, how do you maximize A-Rod and Jeter? [Damon] makes A-Rod, Jeter and Matsui better. (according to ESPN Insider). I dont see the Yankees signing Damon because they have a very pressing need to get younger, and another high contract might put them in the red.

If the Sox dont sign Damon, what will they do? They really dont have any prospects they can use. Do they want to trade for Juan Pierre (who is arbitration eligible) or Torrii Hunter? Do they sign Brian Giles, who has played 46 games in center in the since '03? Or sign the ever aging Bernie Williams. And do the Sox want to part ways with any one of their young pitching prospects to replace a center fielder, when they can just resign Damon. There is really very little in the free agent crop to choose from this year.

The payroll is not a problem for the Red Sox. They get revenue from all over the place. If I remember correctly, they were second in revenues, only to the Yankees. I dont think money is a problem. When its all said and done the Sox will sign Damon, and it will come down to the wire, just like last year with Sox Captain Jason Varitek.

Yes, we may be dealing with the devil in Scott Boras, but maybe its the best move for them to make. Center field is definately something every Sox fan should be concerned about because you need a playmaker out there. I may be pissed about Damons comment, but its something id like to see adressed before the end of the year.

-Possible crazy trades ive heard/thought of:
How about Ramirez for Puljois. I still am trying not to laugh. The Sox are so going to not trade Ramirez because his value has plummetted with him being a 10-5 player, and just being too hard to handle. I really dont see him going anywhere, unless the Sox move his large salary for someone with another big salary.

Something crazy like a three team deal with Colorado and the Mets/some other team. Where we get Helton, the Mets/some other team gets Ramierez, and the Rockies save the franchise with prospects from the Sox and some other team. I like this one, because Sox need a big bat if they try and trade Ramirez.

What about trading Ortiz. My best freind said that they should trade Ortiz's low salary for a top tier pitcher so while his value is high. He then accuses me of being to attached when I said he was crazy. I told him his idea was way off. Fact is, he knows the Sox wont trade Ramirez either, so why not trade the next best thing. I also told him I thought Schilling, Clement, and Fouke would work out in the offseason and make contributions next season. He said I was the one who was nuts.

-Other views:
-Yankees overpaid for Matsui. But, he wasnt on the cheap for a very consistent bat either. He's their starting center fielder next year. No doubt about it. He is average, but they really need someone to anchor the outfield. He was really consistent out there during the second half, and who knows who the Yankees will replace in left field.

-I think Burnett is going to either Baltimore or Toronto. Both will overpay because they have money to just burn on the free agent with the 98 MPH fastball. He has great stuff, but has never pitched in the American League. I just think its amazing how teams in the last few years have just been signing pitchers with mediocre career records for big contracts. Last year it was Pavano, Kris Benson, and Matt Clement. This year its Burnett and maybe Jeff Weaver.

-You have to love the closers on the market right now. Just crazy strait out of my rear-end predictions: Billy Wagner-Philly; Trevor Hoffman- Cleveland; Wickman- Florida; Koch to setup for Cubs and they just might want to sign Gordon; and Ryan goes to a team not named Red Sox or Yankees. I see Sox signing Guardado to replace Myers as the key leftie in the pen, but not as the specialist.

The State of Sports Nov. 16th

-NFL Football

-Comeback player of the year?
I was intrigued on Sunday to see a poll on ESPN.com that stated:
"Who is the MVP of the second half?" The responses were:
Payton Manning, Ladamian Tomlinson, Shaun Alexander, Steve Smith, or someone else.

Now, given these facts we can obviously say that Manning could be an MVP, although he's not having the kind of year he had last year. Tomlinson is a great player, but he and Brees have been splitting the job of running an offense (you also have to remember that he got stopped vs. Philly, and totally took him out of the game). And Alexander is the MVP of the midseason. Fact is he leads the league in rushing yards and touchdowns. He hasn’t been stopped all season. He is also a major factor in why the Seahawks are 7-2, right now.

Steve Smith on the other hand...he is having a very good year. You look at the Panthers receivers, and the first thing you see is that Smith has 937 passing yards, and 9 touchdowns. Wow. That’s the kind of thing you see at the end of a season. The next nearest is the backup running back Deshaun Foster, who has 255 yards and no TD's. My question to you is why Steve Smith was 4th on the votes list with 18% of the poll votes, after roughly 100,000 people responded.

I think that the real MVP on this offense is Jake Delhomme. You look at his statistics last year. Without Smith he still spread the ball out to pass for 3880 yards and 29 touchdowns. He also did this without Steven Davis, their best running back. That is amazing. That’s why I think people are overlooking this, and why i'm not surprised.

If I was to say anything about Smith, I would have to give him the comeback player of the year award. He came back from an injury that was season ending. He has come back, and is now leading the league in receiving yards. He should really get a lot of comeback player of the year consideration.

Other candidates:
-Drew Bledsoe is one of consideration. He Dallas is 6-3 in the division, and could very well win it, but they still have the rest of the NFC East to go, and Denver, KC, and Carolina. Bledsoe has been very quiet, because his other receivers have been making noise. In an offense that orients itself with running the ball (IE-Jones this and last year, and Barber this year), Terry Glenn and Keyshawn Johnson are proving that receivers 30+ can still get the job done. The only thing that’s hurting Bledsoe is the fact he has 10 fumbles, and four have been lost. Ouch!

-Joey Galloway, from the other contender in the NFC South. Where would the Buccaneers be without the play of Galloway? Although the Carnell Williams stole the spotlight early in the season, down the stretch, the 95.8 receiving yards from Galloway has been key, especially since Brian Greise went down with an injury. Galloway is this year Mushin Muhammad. Someone thought this guy wouldn’t get the job done, and here he is, helping out stabilize an offense that needs help, this season.

-Id also give a possible consideration to Carson Palmer, Michael Strahan, and Thomas Jones. For a complete list of the AP comeback players of the year award since 1979, click here.