BCS Mess

For 10 years, college football fans have had to put up with the BCS. The system, as flawed as it may be, has always seemed to work itself out. This year is by far the muddiest and most controversial year in the brief history of the Bull Crap System, I mean BCS. There was no dominate team who clearly deserved t o play for the championship. So now we are stuck with 6 computers trying to figure out which two teams are less mediocre than the rest. Ohio State was rewarded for not playing the last two weeks of the regular season, and moved up 7 spots because everyone in front of them lost. LSU, after losing last week jumped 5 spots up to #2. Virginia Tech, Missouri, Georgia, and Oklahoma could have very easily made a strong case for playing for the national championship. Why should these teams be snubbed because a computer felt they were not one of the best two teams in the country. I have a solution to this problem, a 6 team playoff. You need a playoff to decide the championship on the football field, and more than 6 teams would drag out too long. Here's how it would work. Keep the BCS rankings, the top 6 teams would qualify for the playoff. The top two teams would get a bye in the first round. The #3 seed would play the #6, and #4 would play #5. After the first round you would reseed and the #1 would play the lowest reaming seed, and #2 would play the other winning team. Then the two remaining teams would play each other for the national championship. The first four games would take place at the 4 current BCS Bowl sites, Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and Sugar Bowl. Then the championship game would rotate between those 4 sites, as it does now. This years bracket is located at right. Now, aren't those games and possible matchups exciting, the NCAA could make loads of money because every one of these games appeal to all fans. The other 60 non-BCS bowl games out there would still operate as is, so teams with no hope of making the 6 team playoff would still have something to play for. Michigan could still play for their shot in the Capital One or Alamo Bowl. Now in this system the only team that could have a beef would be the #7 team, and does anyone seriously care if the #7 team whines about being left out of the playoffs. But under the current system teams #3-6 are crying and whining about being snubbed by the BCS. Maybe this chaos this year will finally convince the college football executives that D-1 football needs a playoff.

Quiet Strength

Lately there have been several athletes who have made their faith public. I heard Jason Hanson on an interview before the Lions Thanksgiving game say that most of all he is thankful for his salvation his Jesus Christ, and John Kitna is very open and outgoing about his faith, but there is one man who deserves our attention because he is a man of great faith. I recently finished reading the book "Quiet Strength" by Tony Dungy. I picked up the book because I had heard it was a great book and I figured that it would be about football. This book was about much more than football, it was about character, life, and faith. Excuse the pun, but it is a playbook for life. Tony Dungy says, "This book is about priorities, choices, approaches, and habits that lead to being a winner and to experience true success...When it's all said and done, you'll see its really all about Him." That quote in the introduction really sets the tone for the entire book. THE theme that is evident throughout the book is God, Tony begins each chapter with a Bible verse or significant quote, and usually ends each chapter with how his faith influenced him in that period in his life. The story was a rare kind of book, page-turning non-fiction, but it really wasn't a story of coach Dungy's life, it was a story of God guiding him through his life. God walked with coach Dungy through several points in his life, such as his marriage, choosing the next coaching job, and witnessing his faith to others. God also carried Dungy in other points of his life, such as being fired from his first head coaching job, the tragic loss of a son, and winning the Super Bowl. After reading this book I realized that our priorities in life must be straight. Coach Dungy was always able to keep his priorities straight, and is still successful. Football doesn't really mean much in the grand scheme of things, and God, family, and witnessing our faith to others are much more important than a 3 hour game of football. There is only one thing that I disagree with Tony Dungy on in this book. He always believed that being a football coach was unimportant, but coaches affect millions of people and the way he goes about his business has positively affected peoples lives. Whether they be former players, people that saw him share his faith after the Super Bowl victory, or people that have read this book they have all been positively influence by this man because he is a noble man in a position of authority. In a society where not many athletes are good role models, coach Dungy is one of the best role models out there. Whoever said nice guys finished last was wrong, coach Dungy is a terrific football coach, but more importantly a man of integrity and character. I wish that I had the strength in my faith be be like him. His blog, where he shares his love of God even more, is available here. He will always be a winner in my book, not because of his football achievements, but because of his passionate belief in Christ.

Win or go home

On Saturday the Michigan Wolverines will have one more opportunity to save their season, and for Lloyd Carr to maybe save his job. Lloyd has done a fantastic job this season, it takes a heck of a coach to have a team win eight straight games after losing their first two. Let us not forget it also takes a heck of a bad coach to have the #5 team lose to a 1-AA program. If you coach at Michigan you are expected to do three things in this order:

1. Beat Ohio State

2.Win a BCS Bowl game

3.Beat a 1-AA opponent for Pete's sake

Carr has not done those things, and if he does not beat the Buckeyes and in turn play in the Rose Bowl it may be the end of the road for Carr in Ann Arbor. After the Wolverines 0-2 start Wolverine Nation was calling for coach Carr's head, but he has done a fantastic job to turn this season around, but the bottom line is he has not done the three things mentioned above. Yes, the Wolverines do have three loses this season, but a win over Ohio State would make up for all of them. A win would give them the outright Big Ten championship and a trip to Pasadena again, but Carr hasn't won there recently either. This season has been a huge disappointment on so many different levels, and if there is any consolation it would be 2 straight wins over Ohio State and the Rose Bowl. If Carr wants to keep his job, and keep his fans, players and boosters happy he must win on Saturday. This Michigan-Ohio State game is the biggest one in years not only because it is for the Big 10 championship once again but also because it is for Lloyd Carr's job. A "Four loss Lloyd" could cause the death of his coaching career at the most prestigious program in the country. So for Lloyd Carr this game Saturday is win or go home.

Dont hop off the Lions bandwagon...yet

Contrary to popular belief the Lions are not out of the playoff race. Dont let my fellow blogging compadre, Brian, fool you. (shame on you Brian) The Lions started out 6-2, and teams that are 6-2 make the playoffs 76% of the time. Now the Lions do have the thoughest remaining schedule in the league, but they only need to win 3 more games their remaining schedule consists of NY Giants, Mr. Rohde's Packers (X2), Vikings, Cowboys, Chargers, and Chiefs. That is a though schedule, but 9-7 will get them into the playoffs in a very weak NFC. They are two games out of the division, but can make up ground with 2 games against Green Bay. The Giants will most likely grab one of the wild card spots, and the Redskins are the only team that could challenge the Lions for the other wild card spot. The Lions are one game up on Washington and the Redskins play in the though NFC East. So while many people are jumping off the Lion's bandwagon, I'm still hanging on by a finger. I'm just hoping that the Lions who beat Denver show up every week, and not the Lions that lost to Arizona. The Lions can win at least one game against the Packers, the game against the Vikings, and against the Chiefs. If they win those three games they should be playing football in January, not watching it. Any other weeks if they decide to show up and play they could win. All of their games are winnable, its just a matter of whether they show up or not. Now, if they want to make the playoffs or have any success in the playoffs these things must happen
1.Establish the run
2.Establish the run
3.Be more balanced on offense (or in other words, establish the run)
4.Create turnovers on defense
5. Offensive line must protect Kitna
6.Play more consistent week in and week out
If they do those 5 things they will make the playoffs. So, I'm still hanging on to the bandwagon by a finger, (I shouldn't say that because I'm a true fan not a pansie bandwagon fan and have always supported the Lions even during the 2 win seasons) but I will be able to more accurately judge them in their next 2 games. Have we already forgotten how much this team is improved since last season. They have already doubled last season's win total and last season we would be ecstatic to win 6 games. The attitude has already changed from let's lose so we get a good draft pick to playoffs or bust. So dont hop off the bandwagon yet, wait and reevaluate the team over the next two games.

My near death experience

So, after this weekend I have a new outlook on life. I had a near death experience. Now I almost wish that I would have died so I didn't have to watch the pathetic football played by my U-M Wolverines and my Lions, but unfortunately I survived. So I was having some fun launching model rockets with some chums of mine. After about 2 launched we got bored of having the rocket go straight up and straight down, so we attached E engines to a A rocket, which is about the equivalent of a NFL linebacker next to a Jr. high kid who hasn't yet hit his growth spurt. The rocket shot up about 2000 feet doing spirals through the air. It got a good laugh out of us but we wanted more, so for the next launch we aim the rocket at a 45 degree angle. It shot so far I think it is still going. Wow, that was great but we just needed to launch one more rocket. As we hooked it up there was one little problem. We were out of ignitors. So, a very wise friend of mine suggested "Lets just light it with a match". "Sounds great", replied the rest of the stupid crowd. However, in our stupidity we were smart enough to not light it with our hands. We tied three matches to the end of a pole and lite those matches. But, the engine would not ignite. The little plastic rocket did ignite. We knew eventually that the fire would reach the engine and it would explode. So we waited and waited and waited. We thought how cool would it be if it shot off like a flaming fireball through the sky. Unfortunately, it did not. So we waited and waited and waited some more. Just when it looked like the entire contraption had disintegrated we walked towards it to stomp on it and put it out. When we were a step away someone said, "How funny would it be if right now it just wen BA-!" Before he could finish the word BAM it exploded. We all hit the deck. The shooting fire scorched the hair on my arms and legs. After the inferno had died down we got up and counted everyone to be sure that they were still there. Thankfully everyone had survived, but if that rocket had waited one more second to explode I probably wouldn't be writing this right now. So, if I learned anything from this it would have to be a burning rocket engine will explode.

The way the game was meant to be played

For years I have been a die-hard NBA fan, watching every game I could, playing fantasy basketball, and rooting on my beloved Pistons, but this year I am turning a cold shoulder to the NBA. The Tim Donaghy scandal was the last straw for me. During the NHL lockout ESPN replaced their scheduled NHL games with college basketball. I fell in love with the college game. It is much purer basketball. The players play for the name on the front of their jersey not the back. In college there is actual fundamental basketball being played, something that is missing in the NBA outside of Tim Duncan. I think we all love March Madness, but if you watch college basketball you would know that there is madness all season long. The regular season doesn't matter in the NBA, it's 82 games long and everyone knows who will make the playoffs before the season. No on can predict the college season, no one would pick the Oakland golden Grizzles to make the tournament, or George Mason to advance to the Final Four. Anything can happen any game. In fact, I happened to catch and exciting game between Michigan Tech and Michigan State the other day. MSU pulled away in the last 2 minutes, but that game could have ruined their season. That is why I love the NCAA, every game counts. The emotion in the players and fans is something that can be found nowhere else but college basketball. No where else will Adam Morrison be crying at half court after a huge loss and the student sections are unrivaled, the IZZONE, Maize Rage, Cameron Crazies all add excitement and emotion to every game. So while you drag yourself through the long, meaningless season of one-on-one isolation basketball and then watch the playoffs that are stretched out so long by the Final you forgot about the first round, I'll be hanging on the edge of my seat watching bubble teams fight for their lives, mid-majors knock off perennial powerhouses, and see another Cinderella story in the big dance, and enjoy basketball the way it was meant to be played.