Breaking down 15 laterals

Slate diagrams the Millsaps Miracle




(HT:SMQB)

Navy/ND

You are a Division 1 football team and you don't try a 41 yard field goal to win a game that is currently tied? So what if you miss it.

Enjoy the video











(HT:Fanhouse)

Holy Cleveland Ohio

If the Ravens can find away to knock off the Steelers tonight the Browns will be in a three way tie (5-3) for the lead in the AFC North. At worst the Brownies will be one game out of the lead half way through the season. It looks like the patience of staying the course with Fathead Crennel might finally be paying off.






As much as I would like the Browns to be tied for the division lead, nothing can bring me to root for the Ravens. Cleveland will just have to take the division lead by beating the Steelers in Shittsburgh next Sunday.

Beer of the Week

Week of November 5 2007 --- Beer of the Week


Killian's Irish Red




























Now that it is getting colder outside, well at least in Yetiland it is, we will need a little fuller beer to serve as beer of the week. Killian's Irish Red will be the beer of the week. Killian's derives its color and taste from a special caramel malted barely that is roasted at a high temperature longer and more slowly than most malts. Bet you didn't know that (neither did I, thanks wikipedia)

Dumbest thing I heard last weekend.

Trust me watching the game with 9 Penn State fans made this a pretty difficult choice.

From a Michigan State fan none the less.

“You better hope Ohio State loses a game here shortly so they are not embarrassed in the national championship again.”

Why should I hope Ohio State loses a game before the end of the year? Did it suck sitting in Pink Taco stadium last year watching Florida wipe the field with us? Yes. Would I rather sit in Ohio Stadium and watch the Bucks lose to Illinois, Wisconsin, or god forbid watch them fall to UM in the big house? A resounding Hell No!

Just because MSU had not been to the Rose Bowl since 1988 or won a Big Ten title since 1990 that is no reason to think that Ohio State fans would be happier watching their team win the Capital One Bowl than competing for the national championship.

I know it must be tough watching a team that self destructs ever year in the 5^th or 6^th week of the season, but to think I would rather have my team finish 11-1 without a shot at the national title is ludicrous.

Maybe Ohio State is over rated and maybe the Big Ten sucks. Maybe LSU, BC, or ASU would beat OSU by 14 points 9 out of 10 times (I don’t believe this is the case, but for the sake of argument) but there would be that one time. Look what the 2002 team did; no one believed they had a chance against a far superior Miami team.

That is why they play the games.

GO BUCKS!!

On Tap

Helping you get your weekend viewing priorities straight since 2007

Thursday

7:45 (ESPN) Virginia Tech @ Georgia Tech. Coming off last Thursday nights performance against BC, Virginia Tech will look to right the ship to look for a possible rematch with the Eagles in the ACC championship game. Key Fact: Beware the rambling wreck at home in a prime time nationally televised contest.

Friday

8:00 (ESPN2) Nevada @ New Mexico State. Hopefully you have something better to do than watch this game. Key Fact: Friday night WAC games have been pretty solid so far this season; this game should be the same.

Saturday

12:00 (ESPN) Purdue @ Penn State. PSU has had a tough time stopping the pass this season and playing against Purdue is not the answer to this problem. Both teams are in contention for the 3^rd bowl slot in Big Ten. Key Fact: Purdue fans better watch out for flying half empty beer cans.

12:00 (%$*^%$* BTN) Wisconsin @ Ohio State. OSU’s one conference game on the BTN. This game was supposed to be the game of the year in the Big Ten, but now all that is left is for the Badgers to prove that they are not pushovers, and ruin Ohio State’s unexpected season. Key Fact: Wisconsin has owned OSU of late, expect that to change Saturday.

2:30 (NBC) Navy @ Notre Dame. The Midshipmen have lost 43 in a row to the pillow Fighting Irish, if there was any year that the Middies were going to have a chance to get a win this is it. ND has already been eliminated from bowl contention and is now playing the rest of the year for pride. Key Fact: If Navy finds a way to pull this off I am not sure I want to talk to any ND fans that I know.

3:30 (ABC) Michigan @ Michigan State. MSU needs to win this game to prove that they are not going to get oh so close to being bowl eligible only to fall apart yet another year. UM is trying to remain on track for a Big Ten championship showdown with OSU. Key Fact: Some people think this is a bigger rivalry than OSU/Michigan, whatever.

5:00 (CBS) LSU @ Alabama. Nick Saban and his Crimson Tide have a chance to knock his old team out of the national championship race. Key Fact: Les Miles will make a call in this game that will cost his team, it may not cost them the game, but it will make it closer than it should be.

6:40 (ESPN) Arizona State @ Oregon. Nice of ESPN to pick up the game of the day so that it could be viewed outside of Arizona and Oregon. Denis Dixon continues his Heisman like season taking on the upstart Sun Devils. Key Fact: Dennis Erickson like to recruit criminals (probably not true, but look at the teams he had at Miami and Oregon State).

8:00 (ESPN2) South Carolina @ Arkansas. I don’t intend to watch much of this game, but this blog randomly gets linked to by an Arkansas blog when I say bad things about the razorbacks. So here goes: Darren McFadden is a fraud, that’s right fraud. 19 carries for 61 yards against Florida International??? (I choose to ignore the 4 TDs) Granted McFadden is having a fine season, will be a top 7 NFL draft pick and would be in the Heisman talk if he did not play for such a lousy team. Key Fact: A South Carolina win keeps the SEC East in complete disarray leaving the possibility of every team finishing 4-4 (technically a loss for USC would keep this alive, but I don’t see them getting by Florida next week).

8:00 (ABC) Florida State @ Boston College. FSU looks to knock BC from the ranks of the undefeated. Key Fact: Playing 56 shitty minutes followed by 4 fantastic minutes does not make you the Heisman frontrunner, well not in a normal year it doesn’t.

Sunday

4:00 (CBS) New England @ Indianapolis. It is like the Super Bowl in November, only no NFC team, the game is in Indy, no bye week for build up, and no Phil Simms. What? Phil Simms will be there, Damn. Key Fact: Someone will still be undefeated after this game, but since there is a playoff in the NFL it does not matter much does it?

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

all times eastern

A Crisis of Epic Proportions

There is a world shortage of hops!!!






















This means a possible increase of up to $1 per six pack.

If at minimum you purchase a sixer of the beer of the week this could mean 52 whole dollars a year. If you consume like someone of German or Irish decent this could mean hundreds if not thousands of dollars per year.

Something must be done immediately, forget planting corn to make fuel* and fill your fields with hops.

Please folks, save the beer.



* this plan is short sighted anyhow

Beer of the Week

Week of October 29 2007 --- Beer of the Week


Grolsch


























7 letters, 6 constants, kick ass bottles,
what else can you want from your beer of the week?

Best on the Net

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


A look at the monster OSU athletic department budget (Wall Street Journal).


The faces of college football and their look-a-likes (The Wizard of Odds).


Breaking down the defensive statistics of #1 Ohio State (Sunday Morning QB).


Joe Buck pulls of the Conan challenge to say "jub-jub" for a thousand bucks (Fanhouse).


Create the Caption contest turns 100 (Awful Announcing).

On Tap

Helping you get your weekend viewing priorities straight since 2007

Thursday

7:45 (ESPN) Boston College @ Virginia Tech. This is a real chance for BC to disprove their doubters and make a statement that they belong in the national championship picture. Playing VT in Lane Stadium in prime time is going to be a challenge though. Key Fact: The loudness of the stadium and the nastiness of the VT defense derail Matt Ryan’s Heisman campaign.

Friday

9:00 (ESPN) Boise State @ Fresno State. The winner of the BSU/FSU game has won a many WAC championships in the last 10 years, now that FSU has rebounded from a horrendous season this game should be no different. Key Fact: Fresno’s head coach Pat Hill has the best mustache in college football.

Saturday

12:00 (ABC) WVU @ Rutgers. Rutgers has a chance to knock off two top tens teams in a row. West Virginia is looking to keep itself in the BCS/National Championship hunt. This should be one of the better games on a great day of football. Key Fact: There should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 yards rushing in this game.

3:00 (FSN) USC @ Oregon. The winner of this game puts themselves in a prime position in the Pac 10 championship race. USC is starting to get some of their injured pieces back, but have looked less than dominant the last three weeks (beating ND by 38 is not dominant). Oregon on the other hand has played well all year (including in the loss to Cal). If there was ever a year for Oregon to finally get past USC this should be it. Key Fact:

3:30 (ABC) South Florida @ Connecticut. South Florida tries to rebound from last weeks defeat at Rutgers. Connecticut tries to keep the moment (and refs) on there side to remain in first place of the Big East. Key Fact: Connecticut is playing a home game on national TV, and no folks this is not a basketball game.

3:30 (CBS) Georgia @ Florida. The loser of this game will have three SEC loses and somehow will still be alive to play in the SEC championship. Key Fact: This game will always be known as the "world's largest cocktail party", no mater what the PC people have to say about it.

7:00 (ESPN2) Kansas @ Texas A&M. Holy crap Kansas is still undefeated, and they even left their home state to get a win. A&M is still fighting for their coach’s job and would like nothing more to knock of the Big 12 north upstart. Key Fact: Kansas starts a quarterback who is rumored to be around 5’9”, all of these teams losing to a team with and Oompa Loompa at quarterback should be ashamed of themselves.

7:45 (ESPN) South Carolina @ Tennessee. Phil Fulmer is shaking in his shoes at the thought of the Head Ball Coach coming to town the week after he lost to another important rival. USC is coming of a miserable performance against Vanderbilt and will look to exploit the dominance of Spurrier over Fulmer. Key Fact: Game in Knoxville = too much orange.

8:00 (ABC) Ohio State @ Penn State. What is that you say? A test for Ohio State? Well some on air talent said the same things last week before the MSU game and as soon as the game was over went back to the “Ohio State has not been challenged”. I would agree they have not been challenged, when you are significantly better than your opponents the game should not be a challenge, just ask (Michigan, California, USC, ….). Anyhow, OSU has not done very well playing in Happy Valley, the crowd alone should give PSU 7-10 points. Look for this game to be a struggle. Key Fact: The last time OSU and PSU faced off JoePa had to run off the field to take care of “business”. Hopefully this year he does not have the same problem if he is out with the tailgaters (339 portajohns for 100,000 people).

10:15 (FSN) California @ Arizona State. ASU gets a mad Golden Bears team coming to town. California has lost two straight and has started to play their way out of the Pac 10 race, a win here will start to correct that, but they will need help from others. A win for ASU will keep them right in the national championship picture, and upcoming games with Oregon, USC, and UCLA could move them front and center. Key Fact: This game starts just late enough to be ending right at the time of a drunken stumble home from the corner bar, you have to love that.

Sunday

1:00 (FOX) NY Giants vs. Miami. Why should you watch this game? Because the game is in London and that is the only reason. The Dolphins barely resemble a professional football team these days and Elisha Manning should tear the Dolphins D apart. Key Fact: I predict at least one person vomiting from consuming too much warm beer with their fish and chips the night before the game.

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

all times eastern

BCS Ramblings

Ah the BCS....




















As someone who grew up in 1-AA territory the BCS does not sit well with me. I would love to see at least an 8 team (or larger) tournament like all the other divisions do, but since we can't have that, we get a lot of bitching. And because I am told that bitching is what I do best here is mine for the week.

Is Ohio State the best college football team in the country? Well that is a very debatable question. If you believe the BCS, or the human polls the answers is yes. If you believe the computers the answer is no, they have the Buckeyes ranked 3^rd. I ask you this: if OSU is not number one who is? Lets look at the next few teams in order of BCS ranking.

#2 Boston College (8-0). I would have no problem if you called Boston College the #1 team in the country. They have taken care of business and beaten every team they were supposed to. Unfortunately for them they, like OSU, have not played any particularly good teams (good teams defined by national perception). The good news for BC is the computers think they are number 1. If Boston College wins out they play for the National Title. The Eagles have a tough test Thursday night at #8 Virginia Tech, a win here and BC will be perceived as a legitimate title threat.

#3 LSU (7-1). Experts feel that LSU is probably the best team in the country and deserves to be #1. There is one key thing that makes me disagree with them being #1; they have a loss (to current #14, two loss Kentucky). If everyone wants to talk about how great college football is cause the regular season is a playoff and every game counts when you lose you should fall behind the teams that have taken care of business this far. If you want to keep LSU in the championship discussion while there are multiple undefeated teams still out there stop calling the regular season a virtual playoff. LSU’s current BCS situation is very favorable for them, this is of course assuming that they take care of business and don’t lose to any more teams that they are favored to beat.

#4 Arizona State (7-0). I would also have no problem if you wanted to deem ASU #1. They have also not lost a game this year. Once again the common thing among all of the undefeated teams is that they have not played anyone good. ASU’s resume is solid in my opinion , they defeated Colorado (who beat Okalahoma), Stanford (beat USC), and Oregon State (who beat Cal). I know you can’t use the transitive property in football, but those teams can not be too terrible if they all beat teams that were ranked in the top 5 for multiple weeks this season. ASU has a great chance to prove their title game worth in the next four weeks with games against Cal, Oregon, UCLA, and USC. If they go 4-0 they deserve to play for a championship.

#5 Oregon (6-1). Two weeks ago it could be argued that Oregon had the best 1 loss resume in the country and then the upsets started to pile up, and Cal (only team to beat Oregon) lost twice. Oregon has upcoming games against #12 USC and #4 ASU, winning these two games and making through the rest of the Pac 10 schedule unscathed will probably put the Ducks in the title game (this is of course dependent on some other things happening that the Ducks can not control, but with the way this season has been, winning out will probably get the job done).

#6 Okalahoma (7-1). Much like Oregon, if OU wins out there is a better than average chance enough of the teams in front of them will slip up some time in the next few weeks. Unfortunately for the Sooners they did not look good last week against lowly ISU, hopefully for them it was an off week. Possibly three tough games remain @ Texas Tech, OK State, and the Big 12 championship.

#7 West Virginia (6-1). WVU is pretty far down the list but they guys at College Football News have picked them to reach the title game. They will be favored in every game left on the schedule, but Rutgers will be looking for revenge from last years defeat and Louisville will be looking to ruin WVU’s season while making their disaster a little more bearable.

#8 Virginia Tech (6-1). Only loss is to # 3 LSU. This was a young, inexperienced team trying to help a university recover from tragedy early this season. VT is really coming on strong late in the season and the schedule sets up nicely for a run at the top. #2 BC comes to Blacksburg this Tuesday and the season finale at Virginia should be a fantastic game putting the winner into the ACC championship. If VT wins out in the regular season they will probably see a still highly ranked BC again in the ACC championship and a win there might be enough to push them past a few teams possibly still ranked ahead of them.

#9 Kansas (7-0). Yeah, yeah, yeah Kansas has not played anyone good. Blah, blah, blah. They are a Division 1 team in a BCS conference, remaining undefeated for the whole season deserves some respect no matter who your 12 opponents are. Fortunately for the BCS, Kansas will probably lose 1 or 2 games the rest of the way, but should the magic remain and Kansas is the undefeated Big 12 champion they deserve a chance to win the championship, no? You mean to tell me that the champion of the Big 12 conference could be undefeated and left out of a title game that would possible feature two one loss teams? That to me would be the ultimate travesty of the 10+ years of the BCS.

With Ohio State sitting at #1 right now it is win out and you are going to New Orleans (regardless about how you feel about them). Ohio State has four tough, but winnable, games left on the schedule. If the Buckeyes get through undefeated they definitely deserve to play for the national title under the current BCS structure. If there was a 8 or 16 team playoff at the end of the season I am not sure I would put my money on OSU to win it all. (Note: this playoff will never happen because the NCAA thinks they would lose money, there will be a whole post about this and how to save the other Bowl games some other time when I feel like writing 3000 words)

I think the major problem with the discussion about who is #1 at this point in the season is people seem to be thinking teams with a loss to a mediocre team are better than teams that have beat every mediocre team they have faced. If you want to be #1 win every game you play or hope that everyone else loses, but until you have the same number of loses I am not sure you should rank teams based on their opponents.

Tribe Time Next Year?

Well that was not fun.


The only thing that can make it even a little better is if the Rockies sweep the World Series.

Beer of the Week

Week of October 22 2007 --- Beer of the Week

Keystone Light













Whether you are trying to avoid bitter beer face, or looking for a beer that you can purchase a pitcher of for less that $3.50 Keystone Light is the beer for your. In honor of D Funk breaking his 5 weeks of sobriety two nights in advance of his marathon by getting tuned up on Key Light, I hear by declare Keystone Light Beer of the Week.

Game 5 Recap

Josh Beckett is scary good.
C.C. was left in the game too long.
That is all.

Game 6 Saturday night in Baston.

27 Outs Away

ALCS Game 5.

Tonight at the Jake: C.C. Sabathia and Josh Beckett square off for round two. C.C. has had two less than ideal playoff outings thus far and I can see him really coming up huge (and not just because he is 6’7” 300) and getting a gutsy win to get the Tribe to the promised land. The Indians bats are going to have to find a way to solve Beckett though. There have been grumblings of Beckett being in less than ideal physical form due to the high amount of innings he has pitched this year (supposedly this is what kept him for pitching game 4 on three days rest). Hopefully the Tribe can touch Beckett up early and get into the Red Sox pen. This game should start as a pitchers dual and then open up later in the game.

And since it worked so well the last two games,

Final Score Tribe 7 Red Sox 4.