To try and get back into the swing of things here as the dog days of summer (hopefully) dwindle and camps start up on campuses across the nation, what better than a list of bold predictions to get some people talking? I’ve been slowly taking in the college football previews between pages of law books and business trips. I’m starting to get back to that happy place where I can converse better about, say the effect of a late-game no huddle offense on the substitution pattern of Wisconsin’s defensive backs than the difference between rule and statutory interpleader. So, we’re making progress.
Anyways, we sit at about the 2 month marker before college football season kicks off, so I’ll kick off MATW’s 2008 discussions with this list, of 10 way-too-early bold predictions for the year. Basically, the thought process for this list came down to a little bit of statistical/logical analysis, a little bit of the college football ‘unpredictability’, and a lot of gut feeling. So…here we go.
1. Ohio State will travel to Los Angeles and beat USC. So this is kind of a shock for a Michigan blog, I know. Yet I’ll set aside my hatred for all things Ohio (at least for about 45 seconds) to spell this one out. I’m not alone in pointing at this game and saying “Ha! USC is gonna pants the Bucks! Woo Hoo!!! But, looking at it objectively, we have an OSU team that’s taken an unfair amount of criticism for their last two appearances in the MNC game. OSU wasn’t as bad as either of those teams made them look. Sure, USC’s loaded. Sure the game is at the Coliseum. Yet USC is breaking in a new (5-star) QB, OSU is a veteran team who doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, and can control the game with Beanie Wells. I think the Buckeyes get it done and ascend to #1 early in the season.
2. Ohio State won’t play in the national championship game. Sure, the Bucks will beat USC, reach #1 in the nation and have hopes of the third time being the charm. But they won’t make it to the title game because…
3. Michigan will be better than advertised. This is a lot less of a homer pick than it seems. In fact, most M fans I know are down on the squad. I think DickRod’s inaugural Michigan team will have some early growing pains, but end the season at 9-3. I also think they’ll head down to Ohio in November at 8-3. There’s no logic behind this other than its pretty much how college football works, right? UCLA beat USC in 2006 when they had no business doing so. I’m still laughing (while crying inside) at Tressel’s “310 days in Ann Arbor” speech in 2001. Sure, OSU is better than those teams. But anything can happen, and could we really be seeing the year that OSU is looking past Michigan? Somehow, Michigan gets it down. If not, at least I can make myself believe it for the next 5 months.
4. Clemson will be this year’s most overrated team. The Tigers are sitting in several pre-season top 10 polls. Every year the ACC has a trendy choice to make a run at the national title (ironically, it’s often Clemson) that falls flat on their face. The problem seems to be that the ACC Atlantic Division looks horrible. It’s tough to see FSU or BC winning that division. Clemson has to play FSU, BC and Wake on the road, the 3 of whom are the top contenders to knock them out. The Tigers also play Alabama and South Carolina in the non-conference season, both strong SEC teams in 2008. With top 10 aspirations, it’s easy to see Clemson falling short of their goals again.
5. Tennessee will win the SEC. It’s been a decade since the Vols last won the SEC title. In 1998, following the departure of Peyton Manning to the NFL, the Vols surprised behind Tee Martin and won not only the SEC, but the national title as well. Tennessee has a week 2 bye, followed by 9 straight games that include trips to Auburn, Georgia and South Carolina as well as home dates with Florida and Alabama. The SEC East seems setup for Florida or Georgia, especially since the Gators only leave the state of Florida three times on the year. But, one of those trips is to Neyland Stadium, where I predict the Vols will shock the Gators. Florida also has Georgia and LSU, which leaves Tennessee and Georgia in the drivers seat in the SEC East early on. There’s a lot of talent in Knoxville, headlined by all-world Eric Berry in the defensive backfield. Arian Foster will become Tennessee’s all-time leading rusher this season and if Jonathon Crompton can make plays under center, it’s going to be a good fall in Knoxville.
6. Tim Tebow won’t win a second straight Heisman Trophy. Archie Griffin’s record will be saved…by another Ohio State running back. Beanie Wells takes home the trophy in December.
7. West Virginia will miss DickRod. The Bill Stewart hire will look quite foolish as the Mountaineers fail to live up to preseason hype in the horrible Big East, dropping 2 games including being throttled in Morgantown by Auburn. This will prove to be WVU’s last chance, and the program will drop off considerably when the season is over.
8. North Carolina will win the ACC Coastal division. Yes…it’s still football we’re talking about. Butch Davis is quietly adding quite a bit of talent to his team in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels competed last season and in year two of the Davis era seem ready to make some noise. They’re aided by a ridiculously easy schedule which sees them miss FSU, Clemson and Wake Forest and BC and Virginia Tech come to Chapel Hill. Beating the Hokies at home would vault UNC into the drivers’ seat for the right to play in the ACC title game.
9. Notre Dame is still going to suck. I’ve seen them as high as 16 in some preseason magazines. Yeah, they still blow.
10. Missouri and Kansas don’t live up to their preseason hype. It’s one thing to be the surprise of the college football season. You have the nation rallying behind you, the underdog story is played every week and you can live on the emotion and excitement from week to week. Unfortunately, once you have that type of a season, the next year you wear the target. Suddenly, you’re not so cute and loveable anymore with that giant top 10 bulls-eye on your back. Don’t get me wrong, both of these teams should have good years compared to the norm in Columbia and Lawrence. But a repeat of 2007 just won’t happen.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Bill Simmons is a Terrible Doctor
SPOILER ALERT: Bill Simmons can be an ass. And his analogies don't always make sense. I wouldn't usually point out something he gets wrong - being nitpicky in the blogging world is annoying as hell when anyone does it - but he's committed two similar offenses and I feel this needs to be addressed.
You see, I'm finishing up medical school and I can't frickin' stand when Simmons makes retarded medical analogies that don't make sense. In today's "Mock Draft" versus Chad Ford, Simmons tells him to eat pineapple because Ford repeated a joke, and therefore his blood sugar must be low.
What the fuck? Not that you need to be a doctor to figure this out, but if your blood sugar was low, you'd faint. You wouldn't have dementia or whatever Simmons was going for. In another column he claims Ricky Davis and Mark Blount can lower your white blood cell count by staring at you. Is that an AIDS joke? Or a liver disease joke? White blood cells are essentially your body's immune response...and Davis/Blount make you more susceptible to disease? What am I missing here?
Dammit.
It's like he read WebMD one day when he had cramps and now uses the buzzwords for his columns. Maybe he thinks he was being obscure and nobody would catch on that it makes no sense. What, was he sick of using 80's movie comparisons?
Hack.
(I do like his NBA stuff in general though, I must admit. Too bad nobody else does)
You see, I'm finishing up medical school and I can't frickin' stand when Simmons makes retarded medical analogies that don't make sense. In today's "Mock Draft" versus Chad Ford, Simmons tells him to eat pineapple because Ford repeated a joke, and therefore his blood sugar must be low.
What the fuck? Not that you need to be a doctor to figure this out, but if your blood sugar was low, you'd faint. You wouldn't have dementia or whatever Simmons was going for. In another column he claims Ricky Davis and Mark Blount can lower your white blood cell count by staring at you. Is that an AIDS joke? Or a liver disease joke? White blood cells are essentially your body's immune response...and Davis/Blount make you more susceptible to disease? What am I missing here?
Dammit.
It's like he read WebMD one day when he had cramps and now uses the buzzwords for his columns. Maybe he thinks he was being obscure and nobody would catch on that it makes no sense. What, was he sick of using 80's movie comparisons?
Hack.
(I do like his NBA stuff in general though, I must admit. Too bad nobody else does)
Monday, June 16, 2008
New Unis
Adidas unis are due out any day now as the new gear heads into campus retailers such as Moe's and MDen as they gear up for the fall. In the interim, there's speculation about what the new unis will look like. As I accurately predicted one year ago, the home unis are the same style (modified to Adidas's template, of course, removing the horrible diaper-look) with the Adidas logo under the collar.
The road uniforms, however, have drawn speculation from fans awaiting the release. I saw a mock-up last January which looked basically like the ND road unis in maize and blue, but without a collar logo. It appears that perhaps the new look will have some DickRod influence. The last design I saw looked like the mock-up below. I wouldn't bet against this being the final product.
The road uniforms, however, have drawn speculation from fans awaiting the release. I saw a mock-up last January which looked basically like the ND road unis in maize and blue, but without a collar logo. It appears that perhaps the new look will have some DickRod influence. The last design I saw looked like the mock-up below. I wouldn't bet against this being the final product.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Face of the Program
ESPN has a new idea...
I'll go ahead and submit THEEE Ohio State "Face of the Program:"
Every football school has a Face of the Program, that iconic image you think ofwhen talking football on campus. Here's your chance to help define who or what that is. Is it that fabled coach? A legendary player? A memorable play? A unique mascot? SportsNation is taking all suggestions as you help decide the Face of the Program.
I'll go ahead and submit THEEE Ohio State "Face of the Program:"
Georgia Sucks
I don't know how many drunken fall Saturday nights at Scorekeepers I've spent going back and forth with MATW commenter extraordinaire "DJ" about our bandwagon SEC teams while watching the CBS night game. I'll toss on the Rocky Top shirt, DJ sports the UGA jersey and we have some fun following the Michigan game. That's not really relevant except for the fact that it's June 9, the NHL is over, college football is a couple of months away, and NFL camps don't open for another month. So, I just wanted to post and let DJ know that Georgia sucks.
In the book, former Georgia coach Vince Dooley describes beating Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1965. "I didn't just hear from Georgia people," he says, "but from people all over the South. To go up there and invade the North and come back a winner was the greatest thing for a lot of people. It was as if we had had a chance to go to Gettysburg again."
Sunday, June 08, 2008
DickRod Makes a Statement
Friday, June 06, 2008
Howrt! Howrt!
You're probably still reeling from the news that nobody in Ohio can spell, but we here at MATW have to report to you another shocking story: that West Virginia University officials are incompetent and corrupt. It's true!
It seems their president got caught in some shenanigans involving giving an undeserved Master's degree to the governor Joe Manchin's daughter. They didn't directly link the president to changing her transcript, but um, yeah. I'm not putting this past either he nor the governor.
You might remember Manchin as the douche who used Rodriguez's departure as a political tool, which is ironic because that is exactly what the governor himself is. He also tried to pressure RichRod into staying/signing the contract extension through his position of power. If you don't see this as a problem, then to you, Arlen Specter, I say that lawmakers don't belong anywhere near the football field. They belong in an airport bathroom.
Christ on a cracker.
Ohio can't spell and West Virginia's leadership gives away free post-grad degrees. It's as if Michigan is superior in every way to their hated rivals.
Howrt!
We have another entry in the already long list of reasons why Ohio sucks so very, very much. In a move only Woody Hayes would approve of, a Cleveland area high school gave out diplomas to its graduating students, misspelling the word "education." We all knew they can't spell their own state's name, but now they've apparently moved into the ironic. Way to go, Bucknuts. Now all that extra paper used for the reprinted diplomas will make your shitty state smell even more like a paper-mill.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
DP Jinx: ALIVE AND WELL
Wow.
Plaxico Burress, 13 yd pass from Eli Manning (Lawrence Tynes kick is good),0:35. Drive: 12 plays, 83 yards in 2:07.
Talbot batted a goal line puck past Chris Osgood with the Wings 35 seconds away from winning the Cup.
OT
That was one of the most incredible hockey games ever played. For all of the haters that hockey has out there, anyone who didn't tune in to that game missed one of the greatest days in sports. It was a magnified version of what this series has been- the two best teams in the sport going back and forth. Such a fast pace, exciting, energetic, wow. It's been a while since sports has produced a championship series quite like this. Great shame on those who had the ability to tune in and didn't. If hockey ever is going to make a comeback, to become what it was during the peak in the US in the mid-90s, it's games like last night in a series like this that will do it for the game.
Some initial thoughts:
1. I earned so much respect for 3 Pens players yesterday: Fleury, Malone and Gonchar. For Malone and Gonchar to come back and play hurt like they did was amazing. Shit, if Malone played baseball he'd be on the 60 day DL right now. His face looked horriffic yet he just used cotton to soak up the blood on the bench and then headed back out shift after shift. Then there's Fleury who put together the best performance I've ever seen in a big game. He was basically the Anti-Sauer. Pittsburgh had no reason to be in the game and from the midway point of the second period through the end of 1OT, the Wings fired shot after shot at this kid and he came through with remarkable saves. Huge. People will talk about that for years.
2. The mental toughness of both teams. For the Pens to come out like they did and jump on a Detroit team that had their head in the clouds was something. For Detroit to turn it on, was something else. Then, once Detroit basically was toying with Pittsburgh, had the lead and half a minute left, for the Pens not to pack it in was remarkable, too. I know I was ready to see the cup on the ice.
3. The penalty calls in OT were atrocious (save the last one of course.) I'm glad neither team capitalized because for one of them to lose on a bad call would've been bad.
4. Hudler=jackass of the day. Enough said. Keep your stick down, d-bag.
5. The Wings got lazy as the OT progressed. They started just holding up the men as the pucks were dumped into the corners, and the Pens would end up winning a lot of those battles in the Detroit zone. That really had me on edge, as did a lot of the lazy clearing attempts and missed passes.
6. I was convinced for a while that Drake would net the winner to spite me because he was god-awful out there last night.
7. There isn't a team more dangerous from the side of the net than the Pens. I was convinced that the winner would come from the side of the net and trickle right over Osgood. I'm still not sure why he wasn't hugging the post on that last goal, but it's tough to put the blame there. The puck should've been out of there.
8. Yeah, it probably just delayed the inevitable and winning on home ice is definitely sweet. But I sure respect Pittsburgh a lot more after that.
That's all I got. I'm spent. I also just got sent to the box for goalie interference.
Some initial thoughts:
1. I earned so much respect for 3 Pens players yesterday: Fleury, Malone and Gonchar. For Malone and Gonchar to come back and play hurt like they did was amazing. Shit, if Malone played baseball he'd be on the 60 day DL right now. His face looked horriffic yet he just used cotton to soak up the blood on the bench and then headed back out shift after shift. Then there's Fleury who put together the best performance I've ever seen in a big game. He was basically the Anti-Sauer. Pittsburgh had no reason to be in the game and from the midway point of the second period through the end of 1OT, the Wings fired shot after shot at this kid and he came through with remarkable saves. Huge. People will talk about that for years.
2. The mental toughness of both teams. For the Pens to come out like they did and jump on a Detroit team that had their head in the clouds was something. For Detroit to turn it on, was something else. Then, once Detroit basically was toying with Pittsburgh, had the lead and half a minute left, for the Pens not to pack it in was remarkable, too. I know I was ready to see the cup on the ice.
3. The penalty calls in OT were atrocious (save the last one of course.) I'm glad neither team capitalized because for one of them to lose on a bad call would've been bad.
4. Hudler=jackass of the day. Enough said. Keep your stick down, d-bag.
5. The Wings got lazy as the OT progressed. They started just holding up the men as the pucks were dumped into the corners, and the Pens would end up winning a lot of those battles in the Detroit zone. That really had me on edge, as did a lot of the lazy clearing attempts and missed passes.
6. I was convinced for a while that Drake would net the winner to spite me because he was god-awful out there last night.
7. There isn't a team more dangerous from the side of the net than the Pens. I was convinced that the winner would come from the side of the net and trickle right over Osgood. I'm still not sure why he wasn't hugging the post on that last goal, but it's tough to put the blame there. The puck should've been out of there.
8. Yeah, it probably just delayed the inevitable and winning on home ice is definitely sweet. But I sure respect Pittsburgh a lot more after that.
That's all I got. I'm spent. I also just got sent to the box for goalie interference.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Thank You, Cindy
Tonight, the Detroit media is making it out to be that the Wings' dynasty will continue with another Stanley Cup for these great champions. I say that is hogwash. The Detroit media is clearly missing out on what this entire series stands for: Cindy Crosby. Sure, one could say that she has but two goals this series. But, those two goals SAVED HOCKEY! Don't you understand? With every shift, Cindy is SAVING HOCKEY! When she whines and cries after being handed her ass by Kronwall and forces what used to be a knowledgable fan base into complete foolishness thinking that everytime she hits the ice it's a penalty she SAVES HOCKEY! Her press conference failing to give Zetterberg credit for possibly the greatest shift of any player in the playoffs this season (the 5-on-3 on Saturday) stating that "anyone could do that" was another example of her SAVING HOCKEY!
I think that after Bettman awards the Wings the cup tonight, he should halt the celebration and announce a BIGGER, BETTER award for SAVING HOCKEY that goes only to Cindy. He can then call Cindy to center ice and present her with a much larger trophy and direct the fans at Joe Louis Arena to cheer louder and quick head out to the concourse to purchase their CINDY: 2007-08 HOCKEY SAVIOR caps and t-shirts.
I'd just like to take this opportunity today to thank Cindy, on this the last day of the NHL season, for SAVING HOCKEY. If it weren't for her, I would never be able to enjoy this championship that the Wings are about to win.
I think that after Bettman awards the Wings the cup tonight, he should halt the celebration and announce a BIGGER, BETTER award for SAVING HOCKEY that goes only to Cindy. He can then call Cindy to center ice and present her with a much larger trophy and direct the fans at Joe Louis Arena to cheer louder and quick head out to the concourse to purchase their CINDY: 2007-08 HOCKEY SAVIOR caps and t-shirts.
I'd just like to take this opportunity today to thank Cindy, on this the last day of the NHL season, for SAVING HOCKEY. If it weren't for her, I would never be able to enjoy this championship that the Wings are about to win.
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