Monday, December 31, 2007

Beer of the Week (Plus a Bonus Beer Review)

Week of December 31 2007 --- Beer of the Week

Railbender Ale





Railbender Ale will sit on the throne as the final beer of the week for 2007. Railbender Ale is the kind of beer that grows on you as you drink it (which beer isn't*), but after the first Railbender the rest were actually quite satisfying.

That is all for 2007 folks. I am going to guess that 2008 is going to get off to a pretty slow start due to all the work I am supposed to do, but I will mention football playoffs briefly and talk a little about the OSU championship game. Everything should hopefully ease up just in time for college basketball to hit the home stretch.

Happy New Year! Here is to hoping that your 2008 is better than 2007.



*I am going to go out on a limb and say that no matter how much Yeti Imperial Stout you drink it will still taste like liquid beef jerky. And even better Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout will always taste like beef jerky with a hint of vanilla.



Just look at the thickness of the beers, I am pretty sure you could stand a fork up in those.

Can I still trade for the bottle of Bailey's?

Thursday, December 27, 2007

On Tap (New Years Day Edition)

Helping you get your weekend viewing priorities straight since 2007


Almost exclusively college football, with a couple of NFL playoff implication games thrown in for good measure.

Thursday

8:00 (ESPN) Holiday Bowl - Arizona State vs. Texas. Arguably the best non-BCS bowl game of the year. ASU surprised a few people by challenging for the Pac-10 title for a little while this season, Texas had a less than ideal season (by Texas standards) but not much was expected from this team. Key Fact: Mac Brown (head coach Texas) has really struggled in big games that Vince Young has not been his quarterback.

Friday

5:00 (ESPN) Champs Sports Bowl - Boston College vs. Michigan State. From #2 in the BCS to the Champs Sports Bowl, kind of a tough fall for BC. MSU will be without their top pass rusher, which should make things tough against the prolific passing of BC QB Matt Ryan. Key Fact: After scoring a first quarter touch down, Matt Ryan will tackle coach Jagodinski in celebration taking him out for the rest of the game.

8:00 (#^%^@ NFL Network) Texas Bowl - TCU vs. Houston. A battle of former SWAC foes. TCU was supposed to be a possible BCS buster, but had a mediocre year. Houston lost their head coach to Baylor. Key Fact: TCU’s mascot is a horned frog, I am sure this is and indigenous species to Texas, but you are telling me they could not come up with a better mascot (hint: Armadillos).

8:30 (ESPN) Emerald Bowl - Maryland vs. Oregon State. The Terrapins take on the Beavers in an all aquatic battle in San Francisco. Maryland’s Ralph Friedgen challenges Mark Mangino for the fastest head coach in the FBS. Oregon State’s Mike Riley is in his second stint with the school and has not been able to attain the same BCS magic the Dennis Erickson had while he was at OSU. Key Fact: Fear the Turtle.

Saturday

1:00 (ESPN) Meineke Car Care - Bowl UConn vs. Wake Forest. Two traditional football powerhouses in a big time bowl game. Seriously though, UConn vs. WF in a post season battle, this has to be a sweet sixteen game. These teams are going to be shocked when they show up and hardwood has been laid down on top of the turf. Key Fact: This game is proof of the parity in college football these days, not too many years ago UConn was a 1-AA school and Wake Forest was like Duke.

4:30 (ESPN) Liberty Bowl - Central Florida vs. Mississippi State. Mississippi State in their first bowl game since… well I have no idea and I am too lazy to look it up. CFU, lead by notorious resume doctorer George O’Leary, had a very nice year, winning the C-USA championship and almost knocking off Texas earlier this season. Key Fact: There are too many games and I can only make so much shit up.

8:00 (ESPN) Alamo Bowl - Penn State vs. Texas A&M. Great things were expected of Penn State this season, apparently some things don’t go as planned. A&M had a pretty typical year for the Aggies, mediocre all year long and then knock off rival Texas. Key Fact: Joe Paterno is old and underpaid. He may not have won too many championships lately but what he has done for PSU is worth far more than a half million per year.

Sunday

1:00 (FOX) San Francisco @ Cleveland. A last audition for Derek Anderson to keep his starting job next year, in case you have not been watching he has struggled the second half. Key Fact: It almost does not matter what the Browns do in this game (see below).

8:00 (ESPN) Independence Bowl - Alabama vs. Colorado. I would like to say something good about this game, really I would. Key Fact: You really have to love college football to watch this game.

8:15 (NBC) Tennessee @ Indianapolis (NFL). If the Titans win they are in the playoffs, if they lose the Browns are in. Key Fact: The only way the out come of the Browns game means anything is if the Titans and Colts tie.

Monday

12:30 (ESPN) Armed Forces Bowl - Cal vs. Air Force. Yet another game featuring a team that was ranked #2 at sometime this year (Cal). This game also features something more common than teams ranked #2, that would be a team that beat Notre Dame (AF). The Air Force hybrid option game should give Cal fits, and with the absolute second half collapse of Cal I would not expect them to be real hyped up about playing in the Armed Forces Bowl. Key Fact: It is always a pleasure to watch the service academies play, and this game should be no different, regardless that is being played at 12:30 on a Monday.

2:00 (ESPN2) Humanitarian Bowl - Georgia Tech vs. Fresno State. Two Words: Smurf Turf. There is really no other reason to tune into watch this game other than watching that hypnotic blue turf. Key Fact: This has nothing to do with this game, but I am very intrigued to see what kind of offense Paul Johnson (formerly of Navy) will be bringing with him to Atlanta next year.

2:00 (CBS) Sun Bowl - South Florida vs. Oregon. A game featuring two teams that were #2 at some point this year. Dennis Dixon is out for Oregon making this game significantly less exciting. Key Fact: Oregon has not beaten anyone since Dixon went down. Also, Oregon barely plays defense, so USF should have a banner day.

4:00 (ESPN) Music City Bowl - Florida State vs. Kentucky. University of “we beat LSU” Kentucky and Florida “we are going to bring our JV team because all of our starters cheated on an online exam” State will be playing in possible the least exciting bowl game of the year. Key Fact: 7 years ago Florida State’s walk-ons would have probably defeated Kentucky’s first string, this year I am not sure if FSU starters could get out with a win.

5:30 (#^%^@ NFL Network) Insight Bowl - Indiana vs. Oklahoma State. Indiana is in a bowl!!!! Actually this is probably the feel good story of the year. After the passing of head coach Terry Hoepner the Hoosiers found a way to pull together and achieve Hep’s goal of playing 13. Key Fact: OK State lost their offensive coordinator to Southern Miss, it will be interesting to see what kind of effect this has on their high octane offense.

7:30 (ESPN) Chick-fil-A Bowl - Clemson vs. Auburn. Hmmm, two words come to mind when I think about this game…orange and tigers. It will be pretty confusing if the announcers continually refer to the tigers during the game. Key Fact: Tommy Tubberville and Tommy Bowden are routinely on the coaching hot seat, the loser of this game will have the pleasure of staring the season on a slightly warmer seat than the other.

Tuesday

11:00 (ESPN) Outback Bowl - Wisconsin vs. Tennessee. SEC speed vs. Big Ten power #1. Everyone seems to forget that last year the Big Ten won two of the three games like this played. I expect Wisco to just pound PJ Hill into the UT front. Tennessee has struggled against teams that show up with a physical defense. Key Fact: Unless Phil Fulmer wins (more) national titles Tennessee fans will never embrace him. I found this hard to understand until my cousin who attends Tennessee compared Fulmer to John Cooper, and then it all became crystal clear.

11:30 (FOX) Cotton Bowl - Missouri vs. Arkansas. If the Holiday Bowl is not the best non-BCS bowl, this one definitely is. Missouri was passed over for BCS spots by two teams they defeated this season (Kansas, Illinois). Arkansas will still be riding high off of their Thanksgiving weekend upset of #1 (current #2) LSU. It will be interesting to see how Arkansas will do with out the services of their former head coach (and resident wacko) Houston Nutt. Key Fact: This game features two of the 4 Heisman finalists (McFadden and Daniel) so look out for some wild individual performances from them or their co-stars Felix Jones or Jeremy Maclin.

1:00 (CBS) Gator Bowl - Texas Tech vs. Virginia. Solid D vs. we will throw the ball on first, second, third, and possibly fourth down. Really though this is what bowl season is all about, providing match-ups that you would not normally see, this game is one of the more intriguing games of the season. Key Fact: Texas Tech head coach (and part-time pirate) Mike Leach has been a rumored candidate for many head coach openings this bowl season. It will be interesting to see what he can do when some high profile team with NFL caliber athletes gives him a shot.

1:00 (ABC) Capital One Bowl - Florida vs. Michigan. SEC speed vs. Big Ten power #2. OK, it would seem that Florida is going to pound Michigan (honestly I would be shocked, shocked, if anything other than that happened), but there is a reason the games are not played on paper. Key Fact: Rumor has it now that Tim Tebow has won the Heisman trophy as a sophomore he will retire from football to challenge the record of the youngest man to be elected Pope.

4:30 (ABC) Rose Bowl - USC vs. Illinois. The Rose Bowl passed up a USC – Georgia match-up to preserve the traditional Big Ten – Pac Ten set up. I understand why they did this, but for their sake I hope this game is better than the experts think it will be. Key Fact: Ron Zook taking on Pete Carroll in a battle of grey haired dudes who can recruit the pants off of anybody in college football.

8:30 (FOX) Sugar Bowl - Georgia vs. Hawaii. Another WAC team with something to prove. After last year I think it would be prudent of Georgia to take Hawaii very seriously. The Warriors should be able to put some points on the board, but I will be surprised if they can slow down the Georgia offense. Key Fact: You have to love watching teams with a unique offense going up against a team that has far more talent. It is fun to watch the game planning and in game strategy that has to take place for the weaker team to win.


* there is very little respect for the word fact around here.

all times eastern


Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Fictional National Champion




Congratulations to the Oklahoma Sooners for winning the first annual IJWDBAPA college football playoffs.

On Tap (Wednesday Edition)

7:30 ESPN Motor City Bowl Purdue vs. Central Michigan. CMU and super quarterback Dan LeFevour take on the Boilermakers. Expect a few points to be scored in this game. Key Fact: LeFevour is only the second quarterback ever to pass for 3000 yards and run for 1000 yards in the same season. The other... Vince Young.

Back tomorrow with On Tap taking you through the New Years Day Bowls.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Picture of the Year?



Cover page of Sports Illustrated pictures of the year issue. A picture of Brandon Day of Carroll College, celebrating a 5th Carroll national title in 6 years. As you may know Carroll is the bitter rival of my undergrad, Montana Tech, as well as the alma mater of my sister. She is pissed that I was rooting for Carroll to lose the NAIA championship, so I post this picture as a peace offering.

Best on the Net

Scouring the interwebs to find the best stuff out there so you don't have to.

Best name ever? (Deadspin)

Is the BCS unconstitutional? (Lion in Oil)

If caught in the unfortunate situation of being attacked by a mob of 5 year olds, how many could you fend off? (Many other ridiculous time killing quizzes here as well)

Impressive streaks. (The Sports Hernia)

Some guy got sick of the bowl games so he made up his own. He actually invites teams to the game, although they never show, some teams send letters declining the invitation. (Tom Bowl)

What would your name be if you were a Brazilian soccer star? (Soccer Name Generator)

Good stuff about Michigan's new coach. (Bucknuts)


And how great is it now that the bowl games have started. Navy/Utah was a great game last night that came down to a last minute interception to seal the game for Utah. Hopefully this is the beginning of a long streak of great games.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

On Tap (Hung Over Edition)

Thursday

7:00 (ESPN) Pitt @ Duke. (Hoops)

9:00 (ESPN) Poinsettia Bowl Utah vs. Navy. First bowl game of the season. Utah has won 6 bowls in a row, and Navy just lost their head coach to Georgia Tech. Key Fact: If you have somehow not watched Navy and their triple option this year, find sometime to tune in to watch the precision they work with.

Friday

8:00 (ESPN2) New Orleans Bowl Memphis vs. Florida Atlantic. Florida Atlantics first bowl game ever. This is Howard Schnellenberger’s third time building a program from essentially nothing (Miami, Louisville). Key Fact: I don’t even know.

Saturday

12:00 (ESPN) Georgetown @ Memphis. (Hoops)

1:00 (ESPN2) PapaJohns.com Bowl Southern Miss vs. Cincinnati. Southern Miss has been a long standing quality mid major team. Cinci is on the rise with head coach Brian Kelly. Key Fact: This bowl is not sponsored by the pizza chain papa johns, but by their website, what ever the hell that means?

2:00 (ESPN) Tennessee @ Xavier. (Hoops)

2:00 (CBS) UCLA @ West Virginia North. (Hoops) Oh my bad that is UCLA at Michigan.

4:00 (CBS) Florida @ Ohio State. (Hoops) National Championship rematch sorta. It is the same two teams, but not many of the players.

4:30 (ESPN) New Mexico Bowl Nevada vs. New Mexico. Nothing like playing an extra home game to end the year for New Mexico. Only problem is they will get beat in the extra home game. Key Fact: Yes, this is one of those bowls, that when people talk about having too many bowls, they are referring to.

6:30 (EPSN2) Texas @ Michigan State. (Hoops)

8:00 (ESPN) Las Vegas Bowl UCLA vs. BYU. In a rare rematch in a bowl game BYU and UCLA will go at each other again. Somehow UCLA ,a team that lost to Notre Dame, defeated BYU. Expect a hot BYU team to get their revenge. Key Fact: What is better than a bunch of Mormons in Las Vegas?

Sunday

1:00 (CBS) Cleveland @ Cincinnati. Holy, the Browns control their playoff destiny. If the Steelers find away to keep tripping over their own feet the Browns could even end up winning the division. Key Fact: After this game there will be 5 more dollars in my estate account (thanks Paul).

8:00 (ESPN) Hawaii Bowl Boise State vs. East Carolina. If there is any bowl you don’t want to play in it is this one. 2000+ miles from home, 1500 fans, and you can’t spend too much time on the beach because you have an unimportant game to play. Key Fact: Really this game only makes sense if Hawaii is playing in it.

* there is very little respect for the word fact around here.

all times eastern




Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Playoff Championship

Well the Championship Game of the inaugural IJWDBAPA playoffs is here

#4 Oklahoma vs. #7 Georgia

(vote on the sidebar)

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Interesting Title Game Facts

Well at least interesting to me.

Some thing happened this year that has not happened since the inception of the BCS national championship game (granted 10 years is not very long). Every division’s championship game had a repeat contender.

For the rest of this post just remember FBS stands for Football Bowl Subdivision (old division 1) and 1-AA stands for Football Championship Subdivision because I refuse to use FCS when 1-AA is so handy.

10 years of the BCS championship game by the numbers

- No repeat champions

- No team has won two BCS championship games (that will change this year)

- 3 Teams have (or will have) played in 3 BCS title games: Oklahoma, Florida State, and Ohio State.

- No SEC team has ever lost when appearing in the BCS title game (Tennessee, LSU, and Florida).

- The Big 12 has most title game appearances (5) and most loses (3).

- No current Big East team has played in a title game (Miami (2) and VT (1) before they fled to the ACC).

- The ACC, Big Ten and Pac Ten have each only had one team make the title game [ACC – FSU (3), Big Ten – OSU (3), Pac Ten – USC (2)].

Looking at some of the interesting things from the last 10 years of championship games.

- In both 2006 and 2007 six out of the ten teams playing in the championship game played in the championship the previous year. Appalachian State (1-AA ), Northwest Missouri State (D-II), Mount Union (D-III), and Wisconsin Whitewater (D-III) have all appeared three years in a row.

- As stated earlier for the first time, each championship game has at least one repeat contender. The teams above plus Ohio State (FBS) and Sioux Falls (NAIA).

- Every team competing in a championship game has played in at least one other title game in the last 10 years. Mount Union has played in the most (8).

- 1-AA has had the most different teams compete in the championship game (12). FBS (11), D-II (8), D-III (9), and NAIA (7).

-The FBS has had the most different champions (9*), 1-AA comes in second (7), and all three other division have had 5 different champions.

- Longest winning streaks: Carroll College (4, NAIA), Appalachian State (3, 1-AA, current), Mount Union (3, D-II).

- Most appearances: Mount Union (8), Northwest Missouri State (5), Grand Valley State (5), and Carroll College (5).

* This will not change with OSU and LSU having already won a championship.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Weekend Sports Review

Ohio State loses another national championship game in 2007. This time it was Men's Soccer. The team made an improbable run to the championship game and even held a 1-0 lead into the second half only to fall to Wake Forest 2-1.


Rich Rodriguez is the new head football coach at Michigan. A lot of people will question whether or not his system will fit with the personnel at Michigan but if you look at the teams he coached for in the 90's (Tulane, Clemson) it shows that the offense allows for the team to throw the ball around a little bit. Also it is possible that stud super recruit Terrelle Pryor could attend Michigan next year and start from day one. Dan Shanoff called Pryor a love child of Pat White and Tim Tebow, I have heard "Vince Young Lite". Either way I think Rodriguez will do well at Michigan, I am not sure he will do better than Lloyd Carr, but I think he will have the Wolverines competing for a Big Ten title most years and an occasional national title.

Good to see Troy Smith finally getting some snaps for Baltimore, too bad someone (Kyle Boller) had to get hurt for it to happen. I can’t stand the Ravens, but it is hard to root against Smith, I hope he uses his chance to prove he can play in the NFL. Leading your team to tie the game and set them up for the game winning field goal is a step in the right direction, but losing to the Dolphins hurts.


Dynasty Alert.... Appalachian State (1-AA) wins their third title in three years. Carroll College (NAIA) wins their 5th title in 6 years.


Later today or tomorrow I will post a break down of the 10 years of the BCS title game (and other division title games).

Beer of the Week

Week of December 17 2007 --- Beer of the Week


Winter Hook




Winter Hook Winter Ale from Red Hook brewery is probably the best winter brew I have tried this season. It has all the right flavors without them being so overpowering that you can barely stand to drink more than one. If you are in the mood for a winter ale to warm you up this holiday season run out and buy a sixer of Winter Hook.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Maps

If you happen to be a sports nut mixed in with a little bit of a geography nerd you will enjoy this site. Sport Map World. Someone took the time and used Google maps to layout the locations of all the teams in different leagues around the world. It is a good place to kill 15 minutes (or 3 hours if you really don't want to be productive).

Best on the Net

Scouring the interwebs to find the best stuff out there so you don't have to.

It seems like 90% of the internets were talking about the Mitchell Report this week. Being that I could really care less who used steroids, I will totally avoid linking to it. Anyhow, here are the links of the week:


Awesome beer pong tables. (The Beer Blog)


Kick ass trout. (HT: Deadspin)


No wonder we can't have playoffs. (The Wizard of Odds)


A little Ohio State football update. (Buckeye Commentary)

Thursday, December 13, 2007

On Tap (College Football Championship Edition)

Helping you get your weekend viewing priorities straight since 2007

Friday

7:30 (ESPNU) UMass vs. Ohio State. Men’s Soccer Final 4. Key Fact: This is soccer, I expect no one who is reading this will watch this game, but I thought just in case I would let you know that it is on.

8:00 (ESPN2) Delaware vs. Appalachian State. Division 1 (AA) Football Championship game. It is fitting that App State plays a team in blue and yellow with winged helmets to end the year, now if only Delaware was coached by Lloyd Carr. App. State is playing for their 3rd title in 3 years. Key Fact: This game should be an awesome battle between quarterbacks with vastly different styles: Joe Flacco (Delaware) is a classic drop back passer with NFL aspirations, and Armanti Edwards (App. St.), a duel threat QB with 1750 yards passing and 1499 yards rushing.

Saturday

12:00 (ESPN) Oklahoma State vs. Pitt. (hoops)

12:00 (ESPN2) NW Missouri State vs. Valdosta State. NCAA Division II National Championship. NWMS avenged last year’s championship loss to Grand Valley State (while also ending GVSU’s 40 game winning streak) in one of the semifinals, and Valdosta came back to defeat California (of Pennsylvania that is) in the other. Key Fact: I watched about 9 minutes of NWMS’s last game, their running back looked quite good.

1:00 (CSTV) Sioux Falls vs. Carroll. NAIA National Championship. Sioux Falls is trying to repeat as national champion. Carroll is trying to regain the throne that they held for the previous 4 years before Sioux Falls. Key Fact: I attended Montana Tech for undergrad and Carroll College was like our Michigan. Imagine watching Michigan play for 5 out of 6 national titles while rolling over OSU two times per year; how bad would that suck? Plus my sister went to Carroll. So GO SIOUX FALLS!!!

2:00 (ESPN) UAB vs. Kentucky. (hoops)

3:00 (ESPN2) Arkansas vs. Oklahoma. (hoops)

3:30 (CBS) Louisville @ Purdue. (hoops)

4:00 (ESPN) Mount Union vs. Wisconsin-Whitewater. Division III National Championship. Does Mount Union ever not play for the D-III title? That is a serious question, not that I watch a lot of D-III football but I can’t remember a year where they were not in the game. (Some quick wikipediaing has revealed since 1996 Mount Union has been in all but 2 title games where they have won 8, losing only once). This is the third straight year that the schools will face off for the title with Mount Union winning the two previous contests. Key Fact: Only the John Wooden led UCLA Bruins dynasty can even compare to the kind of dominance that has be laid down by Mount Union in the last 12 years.

5:00 (ESPN2) Ohio vs. Kansas. (hoops)

7:00 (ESPN2) Memphis vs. Middle Tennessee State. (hoops)

Sunday

1:00 (CBS) Buffalo @ Cleveland. The winner of this game will be in the driver’s seat for the final AFC Playoff spot. Key Fact: If you would have told me that at the beginning of the season I would have punched you in the jaw.

I still have not watched much college basketball. Once I have the faintest idea of what is going on, I will provide my usual limited/skewed/blatantly wrong analysis.

* there is very little respect for the word fact around here.

all times eastern

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Semifinals

After a week of voting and whopping six votes (I choose to ignore the one person that stopped by and only voted for Hawaii to beat OSU) the semifinals are set in the first annual IJWDBAPA college football playoffs.

#1 OSU vs. #4 Oklahoma

#6 WVU vs. #7 Georgia

Same as last week, vote for who you think would win (or who you would like to win)

Monday, December 10, 2007

Bowl Pick'em Contest

I usually have a NCAA Basketball bracket contest on Yahoo!, but this year I have expanded to college football as well. So to join the inaugural IJWDBAPA college bowl pick'em go to

http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/bowl

pick join group

put in your yahoo ID

and enter this information

Group ID: 19352

Password: buckeyes

(isn't that password original)

and pick away, the winner gets something. What? Yeah it's worth will depend on who wins, for example if it is me: eleventy billion dollars.

Beer of the Week

Week of December 10 2007 --- Beer of the Week

Busch Light (aka Nectar of the Gods)





Busch Light is the greatest beer on Earth. And because this is the greatest week of the year, Busch Light must serve as Beer of the Week. Also it has been proven that nothing helps you through a quarter life crisis like Busch Light (this is fact people, look it up).

Friday, December 7, 2007

Best on the Net

Scouring the interwebs to find the best stuff out there so you don't have to.

Just three quick links this week.

Grand Slam of Curling? Hell yes!!! (Lion in Oil)


The real Heisman Trophy winner (NOIS)


Cow Hunting? Awesome picture. (The Big Lead)

Thursday, December 6, 2007

On Tap

Helping you get your weekend viewing priorities straight since 2007

Thursday

9:30 (ESPN) LSU @ #21 Villanova.


Friday

8:00 (ESPN2) Richmond @ Appalachian State. Football Championship Subdivision (1-AA) semifinal #1. App. State is the two time defending 1-AA champion. Last week Richmond beat Wofford who beat App. State just 3 weeks after their dramatic upset of then #5 Michigan. Key Fact: If Jerry Moore (App State Coach) were 10 years younger he would be picked by a 1-A school about 2 hours after his team’s season was over.


Saturday

12:00 (ESPN) #24 Arizona @ Illinios

2:00 (ESPN) DePaul @ #3 Kansas

2:00 (CBS) Michigan @ #7 Duke

2:00 (ESPN2) Dayton @ #11 Louisville

3:00 (FSN) #9 Pitt @ Washington

4:00 (CBS) Kentucky @ #15 Indiana

4:00 (ESPN) Delaware @ Southern Illinois. 1-AA semifinal #2. Southern Illinois is the only seeded team (#4) left in the playoff. Delaware knocked off #1 seed Northern Iowa last week to advance to the semifinal. Key Fact: Delaware’s mascot is the Blue Hens, if that does not get you fired up to root for a football team I don’t know what will.

Both the NCAA division II and division III will be holding their semifinal games this day. I could not find if there are any national (or local) broadcasts for these games, but that is due to a complete lack of trying.

(Update: Grand Valley State @ Northwest Missouri State is on ESPN2 at 9:00 PM)


Sunday

4:00 (CBS) Cleveland @ NY Jets. Cleveland is coming off a debatable loss at Arizona and the Jets are coming off a whooping of Miami. This game is key for Cleveland’s playoff hopes. Key Fact: Romeo Crennel vs. Eric Mangini would probably be the best head coach sumo wrestling match up imaginable (NFL only, cause Mark Mangino, Kansas head coach, would obviously handle them both).




Notice the complete lack of information about the college basketball games. I have yet to watch more the about 5 full halves of Ohio State games and about 31.5 combined minutes of other hoop action. Once I have the faintest idea of what is going on, I will provide my usual limited/skewed/blatantly wrong analysis.

* there is very little respect for the word fact around here.

all times eastern

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Playoff

If you look to the right you will see some polls have been added where you can vote for who you think would win in the fictitious playoff match ups posted earlier.

Here at IJWDBAPA we will crown our own mythical national champion.

So vote early and vote often.

Oh Yeah


Today is Repeal Day!!!


On December 5th, 1933 the US government officially repealed prohibition. I can't think of a better reason to crack open a beer and celebrating.



Repeal Day

Playoffs?

The playoff the Yeti would like to see.

Quarter Finals

#1 Ohio State (Big 10) vs. #8 Hawaii (Mid major) (Citrus Bowl)

#2 LSU (SEC) vs. #7 Georgia (at-large) (Cotton Bowl)

#3 Virginia Tech (ACC) vs. #6 WVU (Big East) (Peach Bowl)

#4 Oklahoma (Big 12) vs. #5 USC (PAC 10) (Rose Bowl)

Semi Finals

OSU/Haw vs. OU/USC (Fiesta Bowl)

LSU/Georgia vs. VT/WVU (Orange Bowl)

Championship

Semifinal winners (Sugar Bowl)




The playoff includes 6 BCS conference champions and 2 at-large teams. Undefeated mid-majors are automatically qualified (unless more than 2, then go by BCS rankings). If no qualified mid-majors, at-large bids go to the highest ranked remaining teams as determined by the BCS. Seeds based on final BCS standings (BCS conference champions always get the 6 highest seeds).

Monday, December 3, 2007

Back For More




Ohio State will once again (3rd time in 6 years) be playing for the BCS title. They will be taking on LSU in their backyard (New Orleans).



More impressive than Tressel leading the Buckeyes to the championship game 3 times in 7 years is that in his 22 years as a head coach he has finished the season with a championship game NINE times.


All hail coach Sweatervest.


Beer of the Week

Week of December 3 2007 --- Beer of the Week

Samuel Adams Winter Lager





It is not quite winter yet, but it is cold enough outside to be enjoying beers that have winter in their name. Since I almost thought about drinking a Samuel Adams Winter Lager yesterday, it will serve as this week's beer of the week.