The Headlines: Week 4 The Pac Suc, Part 2

It's official. In one short month the Pac-10 went from one of the best conferences in college football to one of the not-so-good BCS conferences.

And wtf? the Mountain West owned them last week. It's been an awful two weeks for the conference of champions, and with Southern California taking the week off, Wazzu and Stanford (?!) were the Pac-10's only saving grace.

And with Boise State upsetting Oregon at the Autzen Zoo, this year, it really is the Trojans and everyone else.

To the headlines:

• Arizona: Cats Win at the Rose Bowl, But it Wasn't The Rose Bowl
• Arizona State: Rudy Can't Do it All
  
• Oregon: Lame Ducks
  
• Stanford: This is Really a Rivalry Game?
  
• UCLA: The Football Dynasty in Los Angeles...Is Not Over
  
• Wazzu: FINALLY!
  

Hell Freezes Over in Tampa

For years the Tampa-St. Petersburg area has seen some awful sports. The Buccaneers sucked for years. Some people didn't even know that the Lightning existed. And the Devil Rays (now Rays) had been overshadowed by their fellow expansion team in Arizona.

Not...anymore.

Since the turn of the century, Tampa Bay sports have been the top of their respective leagues with the Bucs and Lightning brining home championships.

The Rays now have their chance and it seems that the whole Tampa area finally now believes in this team.

Trust me, it is kind of hard to believe. I really didn't fault the fans for not coming early in the season, when the Rays were hot and surprised everyone by snatching first place early. The team was the worst team in the majors last year, and now they're in the playoffs.

But how amazing that is, what's more unbelievable is that the New York Yankees are officially done. I think it's safe to say that the dynasty is over (it was probably over a long time ago), and we don't have to deal with all of their bullshit this postseason.

It's kind of fitting that they're about to implode the Old Yankee Stadium. The Yankees players of the past, considering the talent that this current New York squad, should be rolling around in their grave. This team doesn't deserve to play in the house the Ruth built.

Pop the champagne, the empire is over.

Like the band of Ewoks that toppled the Empire in Star Wars, the Rays finally ended the Yankees evil clutch on the baseball's playoffs.

Thank you Rays. Thank you.

The Ryder Cup, ESPN and Money

Does anyone really care about the Ryder Cup? I mean, it's just golf, and does anyone care about golf?

There are so many other things going on this weekend that I'd like for ESPN to not shove it down my throat. Please, no Tiger, no watch (like I'd watch even if Tigers Woods was playing).

You've got the SEC's stalwarts going at it in college football this weekend;MLB pennant races; the NFL and even European fans won't be able to pay attention when their ADD problems with a rematch of last year's European Cup final--Manchester United going to London to play Chelsea.

So why is it that ESPN has give the Ryder Cup, usually an afterthought to many, all this hype? The answer is simple. It's the same reason why CBS promotes CSI up the ass, NBC marks out to The Office, ABC keeps telling you to watch Grey's Anatomy and FOX overexposes American Idol.

Each of those networks owns the rights for those shows. And those networks want to make money. To make money, they need to charge advertisers big bucks. To charge advertisers big bucks, people need to watch (or the possibility of a lot of people watching) in order for broadcaster to justify charging ridiculous rates for 30-second spots during breaks.

It's the same reason why my friend Steven Dunst felt as if the NFL Draft, for years, was so overhyped and got so much more attention than the NBA Draft.

This is a generation of sports fan that gets most of its sports news and information from ESPN, the world-wide leader of sport. They dominate the competition. They try to make sure that their media brand is the only brand that people care about.

And when blogs started to take away from ESPN's readership online, bam, ESPN created blogs.

This is a network that knows how to invade and take over the lives of sports fans across the country and the world.

So, if ESPN is the sole presentation for sports information in the United States, as it is for many, then things such as the Ryder Cup, or the NBA and NFL Drafts and Arena Football will permeate throughout the country's collective sports consciousness because ESPN has a stake in all of these things getting watched on its network.

Sure, ESPN will have a somewhat objective view when it covers the sports and the leagues that it partners with. It kind of has to.

But that doesn't stop it from promoting those leagues and sports and teams and sporting events, no matter what their coverage is. That doesn't stop SportsCenter anchors from devoting extra coverage to those events.

Because I really don't think ESPN cares about whether or not Team USA can finally beat the Europeans for the Ryder Cup or if the San Jose Sabrecats win another Arena Bowl or if a guy like Aaron Rodgers spends an entire day in the green room waiting to get drafted. What they care about is whether or not people watch all of those things happen.

Hype equals money and with the sports nations' undivided attention given to ESPN, they can hype anything it wants, exploiting the viewer to gain some cash.

LT All Washed Up?

I don't think so. And neither does Kevin Acee, the uber-tan beat Chargers beat reporter for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

But Michael Silver (the former Cal alum and current columnist for the Yahoo! sports) posed the question of whether or not the years of wear and tear has caught up with LaDainian Tomlinson.

Acee seemed to take offense to the question, spitting off stats that show how awesome LT still is.

Let's just say that I agree with both, on some level. First, on Silver's (I guess) overarching point, LT is getting old. And at 29 years of age, Tomlinson is getting to the point when you trade in that old car for a newer hybrid. He's been getting nicked up, he's sat out games and whenever I watch the Chargers, I'm always afraid that the amazing LT run I just saw might be his last.

But, as Acee noted, Tomlinson is still amazing. Adrian Peterson may be ready to take the mantle of "NFL's current best running back" but I still give that trophy to Tomlinson. There's no other back in the League that I'd like to have when the game is on the line.

He is the NFL's most prolific touchdown scorer and he still has that ability to hit paydirt anytime he touches the ball.

But, I think Silver's main point, was that San Diego doesn't need LT to be Superman to win anymore. There was a time when the Chargers needed a healthy Tomlinson to win. They needed him to touch the ball 35-40 times just to stay competitive.

Not anymore. After last year's AFC title game loss, this is now Philip Rivers' team. The way Rivers plays is how the Chargers will fare the rest of the year.

It's not to say that the Chargers don't need LT altogether. Yeah, Darren Sproles can serve as a pretty legit backup. But at the end, the team will both need Rivers and Tomlinson to play well in order to get to the Super Bowl.

San Diego stay with then-undefeated New England in the bitter cold of the AFC title game with LT on the bench. Tomlinson isn't a necessity to stay competitive anymore.

Just think of what would have happened if a healthy Tomlinson was in the game.

The Chargers don't need LT to stay in games. But they need him to win, because he's still as amazing as he was a few years ago.

D'oh, DeSean...

So, I haven't found a video of Eli Manning flinging the ball with his left hand. But once I do, I'll post it promise.

But here's another video that I have to post. It's of former California receiver DeSean Jackson, let's just say, getting a but too over zealous about his touchdown dance.

He actually drops the ball before he hits the end zone.



But then, D-Jax was the guy who did this at THE high school all-start game when he was a senior. But, before you go mouthing he, Jackson did win the MVP of that game, despite his antics (he also announced that he'd go to Cal at the game too, if I remember).



And you're thinking to yourself, who is this guy? He's a guy that, at any moment, maybe even better than Devin Hester, can take the ball to the end zone. Why is better than Hester? Cause he can catch the football. Hester is a little bigger, I give him that. But he has no hands. Jackson's got some hands, and some moves, and some speed.

As evidenced by all of this:



And my personal favorite:



It was one dumbass mistake. He'll have more. But knowing Jackson, he doesn't really care too much.

Match Day 1(s) Done in Champions League, Plus Bad Banks

So, did anyone else notice that Manchester United will be wearing a different Champions League patch on their sleeve than everyone else? Yeah, Man U, in its draw with the Yellow Submarine today, was seen wearing a black patch with something to the effect "2008 Cup Winners" (not exact, but something like it).

I've never seen that before. Maybe it's happened in the past, but I really don't recall. Of course, the Red Dragons think that their special and maybe that patch separates them out.

But the bigger news of the week was that of the logo on the front of their jerseys. AIG, who bought that little space on Man U's shirts, needed the U.S. government to bail them out. It's not the first time that a corporate sponsor of a sporting something has almost gone under. Actually, plenty of corporate sponsors have gone away (Enron anyone?). This Time story kind of explains sports aspect of all these banks failing, but not really.

Champions League thoughts:

• Speaking of Man U, not even soon-to-be-world-footballer-of-the-year Cristiano Ronaldo could help United gain three points over Villarreal at Old Trattford. And the Red Dragons play Chelsea on Sunday?! And Man U is in 14th in the Premiership?! No, it's not time to panic in Manchester. But the Yellow Submarine should have stolen that game today.
  
• Speaking of Man U's group, all four teams went scoreless with Celtic and Aalborg drawing nil-nil in Glasgow. Meaning that after one day, Group E stands pat with everyone with one point. Exciting or boring? You tell me.
• Okay, I'm convinced: Chelsea is pretty awesome right now, in my opinion. But their manager is pissed? Things do not look good for Man U on Sunday.
• Roma lost to who?
• Welcome back to the premiere club competition in Europe Bayern, Juventus and Atletico. And welcome back Stevie G, you're still way better than Frank Lampard.
  

Yost Toast in Milwaukee

Desperate times calls for desperate measures, I guess.

Today, the Milwaukee Brewers parted ways with manager Ned Yost, as the team tries to get out of a slump that saw it lose 11 of its last 14 games.

The thing is, the Brewers, which haven't been to the playoffs since 1982, still held the lead in for the National League Wild Card, though it being very slim.

It's kind of ridiculous to put this on the club's manager. Not even the Boss himself, George Steinbrenner, has done anything so bold. Does Milwaukee's suits really think that this is going to help the team get out of its slump and into the playoffs?

If you asked me, it may even worsen the situation. Why? Because now there's added turmoil on the team. There's an extra layer of drama that's not needed. And, hanging like an albatross around the Brewers' collective necks, there is the question of whether or not firing Yost was the right thing to do.

Last year, after a poor start to the Premiership season, Chelsea got rid of Jose Mourinho because team officials thought that he hadn't taken the club far enough (and with that kind of talent, I agree). But Roman Abramovich's decision to replace Mourinho came pretty early in the year for Chelsea, giving Avram Grant enough to time to enact real change to save the Blues' season.

Is two weeks really enough time to save the Brewers' season? Yeah, I guess so, with the team still clinging onto the Wild Card.

But maybe it wasn't really Yost's fault, and for the most part, I've always held that it isn't the coach or manager's fault for a failing team. Most of these guys have the same kind of knowledge of the sport. What's a new coach or manager going to do with the same talentless players or some unmotivated players? About the same.

Yost here is just the fall guy. He was the scapegoat.

I think the ultimate reason why the Brewers got rid of Yost was to light a fire under the players' asses. The team was probably complacent with it's huge lead in the Wild Card. Part of that might have been Yost's fault.

But, managers and coaches don't play the games. Too bad one was sent out to pasture because his players were in a rut.

The Week That Was Week 2 in the NFL

This lead section was going to be about how baller Aaron Rodgers was today (328 yards, three TDs, 0 INTs).

But that gets beat out by officiating and another heartbreaking loss for my San Diego Chargers.

First, can you please tell me why the review booth and all of it's technical stuff wasn't working at the beginning of the game? This isn't high school football? This is the bloody NFL. Millions and billions of dollars are spent on these games every year, and the officiating crew at Mile High Stadium couldn't get the fucking replay equipment to work to review a play?!

What happened was that Chris Chambers fumbled the football. The Chargers wanted a look and the look made it seem like Chambers was down by contact. Except the equipment wasn't working, so the Chargers got charged for a timeout because the equipment didn't work. The referee, in this case Ed Hochuli said that the two minutes for NFL replays was up and decided to let the game move forward.

That's so absurd! What a fucking Mickey Mouse thing to have happened.

But that wasn't so much the referees fault. What was happened at the end of the game, when Hochuli blew a fumble dead, giving Denver the ball back, and leading to the eventual game-winning touchdown and two-point conversion.

Ed, Jay Cutler fumbled the ball. At least he admitted that he made a mistake.

To the rest of the week:

• What I failed to mention up there was that the Chargers defense again looked atrocious. And Antonio Cromartie looked like a fool. How can you let one guy catch 18 passes like Brandon Marshall did today?
• Rodgers > Favre as of week 2.
• Also, Cassel > Favre as of week 2.
• Eli Manning is a magician. First, you have that amazing throw in the Super Bowl. And then today, Little Manning throws a LEFT-HANDED PASS?!!!!! Amazing. YouTube video is forthcoming. And oh, the Giants won.
• Not to be outdone by his little brother, Peyton Manning still has it.
• Lane Kiffin off the hotseat, at least for one week.
• I'm going to say it now: those Bills/Pats games this year will be epic, especially if Buffalo continues to play the way they're playing.
• Reggie, Reggie, Reggie. Oh Reggie Bush. I guess they didn't teach you to not taunt your opponents with a shit-load of time left in the fourth quarter. So next time, don't wave goodbye to your opponents until, well, there are four zeros on the game clock. I guess was Ray Small said about Southern California was right (but of course, being a man doesn't mean you win football games, right Ohio State?).

Extra Point:

Back to Brett Favre. I know this may sound like I'm hating on him, and maybe I am, I haven't really figured my own thoughts out, but geez, is everything really about him?

Okay, so maybe he got asked a question that prompted him to say "I'd like to come back and win every game...It's why I came back. It was fun out there today. It'd be more fun if we had won."

But still, this is probably the reason why the Packers got rid of him. He's so self-absorbed. He's soooo into himself. Dude, Brett, you've been with the team for over a month. Get over it. You're back playing professional football. Now act like a professional.

Then again, New York (New Jersey) might be the only place that would have wanted or could have handled a self-promoting, woes-me, prima donna like Favre.

Conference Power Rankings Week 3

Southern California reigned supreme, there were upsets and almost upsets. How about Mizzou? They look dangerous right now. And BYU, well maybe it was just a little motivated after how it won last week.

But still, the conference to beat right now is the SEC. And it does help that they've been playing these cupcakes the last few weeks, save, of course, of a few top matchups (like Bama beating Clemson and Florida surviving against Miami). And now, with Arizona State's loss to UNLV, Georgia's trip out west looks a tad easier. Just a tad.

While the SEC still sorts itself out, its the Trojans that have the straightest line and clearest road to the national championship. Every team left on USC's schedule is just a mere speed bump to Miami, especially if the Pac-10 keeps playing like it did Saturday.

Week 3 Standings:	Record	Winning Pct.
1) SEC	6-0	1.000
2) MWC	7-1	.875
3) Big Ten	7-2	.778
4-t) Big 12	6-2	.750
4-t) MAC	3-1	.750
6) ACC	3-2	.600
7) Big East	2-2	.500
8) C-USA	2-3	.400
9) Pac-10	3-7	.300
10) Sun Belt	2-5	.286
11) WAC	2-6	.250

Season Standings	Record	Winning Pct.
1) SEC	23-3	.887
2) Big 12	26-4	.867
3) MWC	16-3	.842
4) Big Ten	25-5	.833
5) ACC	16-9	.640
6) Pac-10	10-10	.500
7) Big East	9-10	.474
8-t) C-USA	9-12	.429
8-t) WAC	9-12	.429
10) MAC	11-16	.407
11) Sun Belt	6-11	.353

Powers Rankings:

1) SEC Last Week No. 1

• Key Wins: none
• Key Losses: none

2) Big 12 Last Week No. 2

• Key Wins: No. 6 Mizzou over Nevada, Baylor over Wazzu, No. 3 Oklahoma over Washington
• Key Losses: Iowa over Iowa State, No. 19 South Florida over No. 13 Kansas

3) Mountain West Last Week No. 6

• Key Wins: TCU over Stanford, No. 18 BYU over UCLA, No. 22 Utah over Utah State, New Mexico over Arizona, UNLV over No. 15 Arizona State
• Key Losses: San Jose State over San Diego State

4) Pac-10 Last Week No. 3

• Key Wins: No. 16 Oregon over Purdue, Oregon State over Hawaii, No. 1 USC over No. 5 Ohio State
• Key Losses: TCU over Stanford, No. 18 BYU over UCLA, New Mexico over Arizona, UNLV over No. 15 Arizona State, Maryland over No. 23 California, Baylor over Wazzu, No. 3 Oklahoma over Washington
  

5) Big Ten Last Week No. 5

• Key Wins: No. 17 Penn State over Syracuse, No. 10 Wisconsin over No. 21 Fresno State, No. 24 Illinois over UL Lafayette
• Key Losses: No. 16 Oregon over Purdue, No. 1 USC over No. 5 Ohio State, Notre Dame over Michigan

6) Big East Last Week No. 8

• Key Wins: No. 19 South Florida over No. 13 Kansas, UConn over Virginia
  
• Key Losses: North Carolina over Rutgers

7) ACC Lass Week No. 7

• Key Wins: Maryland over No. 23 California, Duke over Navy
• Key Losses: UConn over Virginia

8) Conference USA Last Week No. 4

• Key Wins: Southern Miss over Arkansas State
• Key Losses: Air Force over Houston, Tennessee over UAB, Vanderbilt over Rice, No. 12 Texas Tech over SMU

9) WAC Last Week No. 9

• Key Wins: Boise State over Bowling Green, San Jose State over San Diego State
• Key Losses: No. 10 Wisconsin over No. 21 Fresno State

10) MAC Last Week No. 11

• Key Wins: Western Michigan over Idaho
• Key Losses: Boise State over Bowling Green

11) Sun Belt Last Week No. 10

• Key Wins: Troy over Alcorn State, UL Monroe over Alabama A&M
• Key Losses: No. 24 Illinois over UL Lafayette, Kentucky over Middle Tennessee State, Southern Miss over Arkansas State
  

The Headlines: Week 3, The Pac Suck

What a banner day for the Pac-10, if you're Southern California and Oregon State.

We all saw Oregon squeak by Purdue (?!), California lost to Maryland (?!), Arizona State lost to UNLV (?!), Washington lost to Oklahoma, UCLA got thumped by BYU and supposed surprise team Arizona lost to New Mexico (?!).

What awesome week for the "Conference of Champions." To the headlines:

• Arizona: So...Goodbye Stoops?
• Arizona State: Uhhhhhhh...
  
• California: Back to Reality
• Oregon: Let's Leave on Thursdays For These Long Road Trips
• Oregon State: Things Aren't That Bad...When You Play Hawaii
• Stanford: Back to Reality, Part 2
• UCLA: Back to Reality, Part 3
  
• USC: Punching Our Tickets to Miami Already
  
• Washington: Why Us?
• Washington State: Officially the Worst Team...Probably Ever