The GBU Report :: November 27th, 2006

The GOOD :: Young’s Coming-out Party

Vince Young scored one and tossed two more TD passes to key a 24 point 10 minute 4th Quarter burst that overturned a 21 point deficit and gave his Tennessee Titans a precious victory over the Giants.

As he reads this morning’s sports pages though maybe he’ll spare a thought for those who’ve passed this way before; Oh … say, Eli Manning and Michael Vick maybe?

It’ll be a sobering moment in a heady day.

The BAD :: The Pick Heard Around the World

Eli Manning probably knew the instant he let that ball, fly that he never should have tossed it. Probably foresaw the game-winning field-goal sealing the 24-21 Tennessee win and completing their comeback from a 21-0 deficit.

He probably looked across the sidelines and saw – in Vince Young – all the dreams he yearns for; dreams that for the moment are in shreds at his feet

The guy must be under intolerable pressure. A number one draft-pick, he forced a draft-day trade from San Diego that saw the (now) world’s best running back (LT) making the opposite trip from New York to the Chargers. Oh and did we say (?) … his brother is (arguably) the best QB in the NFL and his fans think the Giants are going to the Super Bowl – every Super Bowl!

Right now Manning is Bad Santa in New York.

The UGLY :: The double finger-flip !!

Michael Vick is no frustrated rookie going through a rough patch. This is no quarterback on a learning curve.

Vick is an exciting vibrant talent yet to be harnessed. In running for an NFL QB first half record 127 yards – which he extended to 166 on 12carries by close of play – he showed just what he is capable of.

But you can’t flip the finger to your home crowd and live to tell the tale.

Was he frustrated by 9/24 passing-ratio and a posse of ball-shy receivers with dropsy? You bet.

Yet, Vick’s Atlanta adventure is beginning to look like a tale without a happy ending as the Falcons tailspin out of playoff contention on the back of their fourth straight loss. It’s a rambling tale of quarterback inconsistency and an under-achieving receiving corp; it’s all about to get very ugly.

But hey Vick. There’s a team that needs you. A team crying out for a swashbuckling leader; a rebel with a cause. A team that’s renowned for taking the wild and woolly cast-offs and moulding Super Bowl champions. Course they ain’t done it in a while … but the Raiders are calling out to you.

Is it time to cut and run? Raider-nation awaits.

Close Seconds:

• Joey Harrington’s triumphant TD tossing Thanksgiving Day return to the city that dumped him
• Ben Roethlesberger’s nine sack stuffing in Baltimore
• The Bears-Patriot’s Super Bowl priming yawn stifling Turnover-fest
• The dejected demeanour of college football’s winningest coach, Bobby Bowden, as he responded to reporter questions leaving the field at half time with his Seminoles a distant second to the Gators.

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Technorati Tags: NFL, Vick, Young, Manning, Falcons, Giants, Saints, Seminoles, Gators, Lions, Dolphins, FootballSports

vftb: Give us a Playoff …

Rematch? If USC slip up against Notre Dame or UCLA; if Florida don’t get past Arkansas, then yes please! More of the Buckeye-Wolverine dish sounds cool.

Otherwise? No-thanks. Let’s see the sunshine boys have a shot. 

But hey … for future reference … give us a Playoff! 

Give it us now.

Impossible you say?  

Nonsense, read-on and we’ll tell you how. 

Clue? It involves a top-8 and gives just ONE more game in the season for just TWO schools (four if we’re dishing consolation prizes). 

Why don’t we already have this?

We’ve asked before (here) ‘what do you want from your National Championship game ?’ because whilst we moan about the current NCAA FB formula there are dangers with the alternatives.  

The problem with the current formula is deciding who the best two teams are because the schools play such uneven and disparate schedules.

Any solution to that dilemma would require a radical shake-up of College Football. One that built a hierarchical divisional structure with an elite Premier Division at its apex . One that had each team playing all the others in its division during the season (e.g. like say the EPL). It could be done. We could expound how. But it ain’t  going to happen, so why bother?

Hence the obvious appeal of the Playoff option. It delivers a consensus champion and is very simple to implement. 

Playoffs bring their own issues though; who’s to say we don’t end up with the eighth best team becoming National Champions (TAXI! Taxi for Steeler fans).

But at least they remedy one topical issue; what to do about the upstart teams?

Those underdog outfits like oh, Rutgers or Louisville would be embraced in a playoff format much more readily than in the current vote-off. Who doesn’t love an underdog in the Final Four? 

So, how do we deliver a National Championship game without prolonging the season too much? 

The Bowl games – often cited as major obstacles – are in reality easily accommodated; indeed they’re part of the solution.

Not one Bowl game need lose out. Only the four major Bowls need to be tampered with at all … and that in a good way.

The Rose, Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls would take it in turns on a four yearly basis to host on of the following games:

• National Championship Game (e.g. Rose Bowl – Jan 8th late)
• 3rd/4th place (e.g. Fiesta Bowl – Jan 8th early)
• Elimination Semi 1 (e.g. Orange Bowl – New Years Day early) 
• Elimination Semi 2 (e.g. Sugar Bowl – New Years Day late)

So if we want to go for a top-4 playoff, then it’s all sorted, yeah?  And if we want a Top-8 playoff?  That’s easy too. See: 

• Each College schedules 11 of their 12 games in advance each season
• After all Week 11 games are complete the Colleges are ranked as now.
• The Top-8 College teams are then allocated their Week 12 games based on their ranking; so #1 plays #8 at home #2 plays #7 at home and so on.
• Thus Week-12 becomes a ‘Round of Eight’ playoff for those Top-8 teams.
• Non qualifying schools are free to play their 12th game too (these could be ‘provisionally’ scheduled and for all but the ‘bubble’ teams could be firmed-up well in advance).
• The winning Round-of-8 teams will progress to the Bowl games allocated to the Elimination Semi-final games (see above) with the highest ranked surviving team playing the lowest ranked surviving team and the mid-ranked surviving teams playing each other.
• The Semi-final winners would then square-off in the National Championship Game leaving the others to playoff for 3rd/4th place.

So, what doesn’t that solve? 

Well, it doesn’t leave room for the Conference Playoffs I suppose. 

But with many Conferences now believing these games to be counterproductive in terms of how they impact their ranking and the massive payoffs from the Championship Game, then that obstacle shouldn’t be insurmountable.

And they could always become the Week 11 games of course.

 

Technorati Tags: NCAA, Playoffs, Bowls, Football, College, Sport

Jeter what … ?

Tell me how. How can Derek Jeter NOT be the AL MVP?

Look, I’m no Jeter man, maybe it’s the Redsox streak in me; maybe I’m just a jealous guy; who knows?

But Jeter is hands down the MVP of 2K6.

How do the Yankees fare without him?

Well … and Lord knows I’ve tried to blot it out … but there’s something in this old head says he had a pretty big inning or two in a pivotal Yankees-Redsox series right before the wheels fell off the Boston wagon.

Me? I think that series turned the season for that division.

Pretty valuable, uh?

sportsRANT! Woah there Sox, Woah.

One of the few advantages of being an ‘out-of-town’ Redsox fan is the fact that you aren’t immersed in the Boston media You don’t get swept away by the prevailing public opinion: course that’s also one of the chief drawbacks, but in the ‘Daisuke-case’ I’m convinced it’s more strength than weakness.

Dice-man – as he surely will come to be known – is already begin hailed (pun marginally intended) and feted by Bostonians good and great, poor and downtrodden alike.

Yet, as we’ve stated (here) in this blog, this is a massive gamble by Lucino and Epstein. And whilst the current moth-eaten Sox are truly full of holes it’s one we’re not convinced had to be taken.

In fact reading some of the reactions and comment in the online Boston press and fan sites this week has only fuelled my apprehension.

Not 10% of Redsox fans have seen this guy sling in anger and fewer still can attest to his durability in a Major League rotation and a goldfish-bowl media market.

I’ve got to say I had to avert my eyes. It all felt kind of distasteful; like the way I felt after some of those massive Yankee deals; kinda sleazy.

I’d hoped Boston were above that; pawning their silver to live-large today. Though I guess the Johnny Damon and the Hanley Ramirez deals oughta killed that thought dead: oh look, and there goes another one – so-long Alex Gonzalez, nice seeing ya.

I guess it’s a little like the age-faded rich dame getting all tarted-up for the bloke from ‘Boras Classy Escort Services‘. There she goes, credit card loaded. Now she’s dusting her face and laying on the foundation. Soon she’ll be dousing with that special old-lady perfume that always makes you sneeze (from like a block away!).

Oh how she hopes it’s that nice young man who turned up last time, he touched ‘all’ the bases did Pedro (or was it Curt? Ah memories). But she can’t be sure … it could turn out to be that bricklayer from Pawtucket and he couldn’t find home plate if shed stuck a neon sign over it.

So, whilst I reserve the right to jump up on the couch and cheer like a loon if the Diceman cometh and turns into a 20-game Cy-Younger, I just want you to … Wake up Sox!!

The Matsuzaka dream is consuming you.

Take a cold one and check in on planet earth.

Can you truly not find a less-risky more longer lasting way to invest a hundred million dollars?

Technorati Tags: Daisuke, Redsox, MLB, Baseball, Yankees, Boston

The GBU Report 20Nov2006

The Good:
College Football. It served up some great, gripping action this weekend, highlighted by Ohio’s victory over Michigan and underlined by USC’s battle with Cal.

The Buckeyes-Wolverines was a classic offensive battle as Chad Henne and Troy Smith slugged it out, with a massive contribution from running back Hart.

In the end it swung on a helmet to helmet clash with Smith. The ensuing ‘roughing the passer’ penalty helped Ohio dodge a 4th and 15 in midfield and allowed Smith the chance to throw 13 yard touchdown pass to Robiskie, with the PAT opening a 42-31 lead in the 4th quarter.

Although Henne pulled eight back with a touchdown and two-point conversion, Ohio held out to claim their place in the national championship game.

And USC? Well they fought off a stern challenge from Cal to keep their challenge on track. But more than that they showed they’d unearthed another gem at running back, freshman CJ Gable who stepped into the breach with a massive 159yd game and a big hearted performance that bodes well for next year.

The Bad:
Enough has been said of the passing of Bo Schembechler; his loss is football’s loss. Now the team must pick up his message and carry it on.

My ‘other’ bad is the NFL, which served up some stinkers this weekend. Myself? I tried to sit through the sloppy Cowboys-Colts clash. It was hard work.

And in the end it underlined what we already know about Payton Manning. He’s groundhog-daying Dan Marino’s NFL career.

Manning continues to struggle against the 3-4 defence and the Colts can’t stop the run. So someone with a 3-4 D and strong running game (oh, say New England) is once again going to bring the Colts to a shuddering halt in the playoffs.

The Pats know it and the wily Bellichek knows … that’s why they kept their powder dry in the regular season matchup. Now Dallas have gone and let the cat right out of the bag.

The Ugly:
National Championship Rematch arguments. It’d prove nothing. At best it would confirm Ohio better than Michigan at worse it would leave the title split with each team having bested the other one.

So, as long as we have this rock-paper-scissors formula for deciding our champs and if scissors (Ohio) have beaten paper (Michigan) then at least lets see Rock (perm any one from USC, Florida, ND? and maybe Arkansas) get its shot in.

Personally, I think USC knock Ohio over, but whichever way, I’d rather see that matchup than see a stale Buckeye-Wolverine shoot out after both sides come off a 50-day lay-up.