16.10.03
Baseball: The Cubs should have won the series; they needed only to win one of two home games, with their two aces pitching in these games. Having said that, some thoughts:
- Florida won three more games in the regular season than did the Cubbies. And, yet, everyone thought that the Cubs were the favourite. I, admittedly, was part of that "everyone".
- Florida, from the beginning of May, have won more games than any other team in the majors.
- Since I follow (as much as I follow anything in MLB) the Reds, I must ask Bowden and Lindner one question: What the hell were you thinking dumping Jack McKeon?
- Florida sure is resilient. When Kerry Wood hammered that ball into the left field bleachers, I thought game 7 was over, even though Wood's homer tied the game. Evidently the Marlins didn't.
- The fan who "interfered" with Moises Alou's attempt to catch a foul ball in the 8th inning of game 6 isn't at fault. The ball was in the stands, not in the field (which voids any comparisons with that little shithead Jeffrey Maier and nitwit umpire Rich Garcia...this was back when I was still rooting hard for Baltimore, before I came to the conclusion that I really can't root for Maryland's team; I need a team from Washington or Northern Va. for which to root...in other words, I'm still bitter). Moreover, I probably would have done the same thing. What's more, most folks would have done the same thing. There was a poll on ESPN.com yesterday. I'll sum it up. When I first voted (it was around 2000 votes), something like 65 percent of people said the guy was a moron, where 35 percent said that they felt badly for him (after about 65,000 votes, 51% feel badly, 49% think he's an idiot). On the next question, when I first voted, 55 percent said that they'd have done the same thing (reach for the ball), and 45 percent said they'd have backed up and got out of the way (now it's about 70/30 would have done the same thing/would have backed up). By my math, at least 20 percent of respondents have to have picked both the "he's and idiot" and "I'd have done the same thing". Now, I'll admit that I'm one of the proud (at least) 20 percent. Whether those 20 percent make up the core of the 23 percent who said that the loss was primarily the kid's fault (I personally think it was Dusty's fault for leaving Prior in there too long), I don't know. Many of them may be. After all, they admitted their idiocy. And of course, in responding the way I did, I implied that I'm an idiot. Having said all that, I'm starting to feel bad for the guy, considering that they needed an armed guard to escort him out of the stadium, and his brother read a statement in front of his home, while his place was under armed guard because of fans who take it too personally.
In any case, he's not at fault. He's not the one who left Mark Prior in the game far too long. He's not the one who committed an error on what should have been a routine inning-ending double play. - The best pitcher in the series wasn't Pryor, Wood or even Dontrelle Willis. It was Josh Beckett. He pitched a complete game shutout in game 5, and then 3 days later, pitches 4 innings in relief, allowing one run (a solo homer) and retiring 12 of 13 batters. My God, what a stud.
- Kevin Wheeler said recently (I heard this on a bumper for his show, because I've gotten a decent sleep schedule back, and am no longer awake between 2 and 6 am) that Al Leiter has a future in broadcasting if he wants it, because he says things that are relevant and interesting. All true. What impressed me most is that he thanked Thom Brennaman and Steve Lyons for allowing him into the booth. Class act. I'm sure that Bret Boone will act as classy when Joe Buck and Tim McCarver reach the end of the run at the end of the World Series (or maybe they'll put Leiter in the booth with Buck and McCarver, and Boone will be out), but I think the only time that I've heard Bret Boone is when his brother Aaron is batting. And I don't think that I've heard him string more than about three words together at one time. That isn't to say that he'd be horrible, because he may be nervous and inexperienced, but certainly if they're looking for a player to be the third man in the booth, Leiter would be a far better choice than Boone.
- I was wrong in my prediction in the NLCS, when I picked the Cubs. Whoops.
Some (uninformed and, perhaps, intemperate) thoughts on tonight's game 7:
- Being a (recovering) Orioles fan, I hate the Yankees. Part of it is my animosity toward New York City; I visited once when I was in high school, took a bus trip up that way, and wasn't especially impressed. I wouldn't mind going back and taking a few days to see the sights, all the architectural and cultural attractions, but my first impression wasn't particularly positive. It wasn't particularly negative, but it just struck me as "blah". Part of it is the animosity toward a division rival (which is also true of the BoSox, but I hate the BoSox a little bit less). The hell of it (and I've thought this for years) is that most of them are good enough guys that if they wore different uniforms, I'd probably cheer for them.
- I'm not sure which would inspire the more entertaining column from the Sports Guy: A Boston win, or a Boston loss. Pros and cons of each as related to his columns.
Sox win:- Get another week of TSG columns about the roller coaster of emotions that he's going through.
- As a related theme, have another week (or so) to deal with the angst of not having won the series in 85 years.
- As a con, he seems funnier when he's angry, or disappointed, or otherwise not happy.
- We'd get to see an emotional collapse...although if they win and then lose to Florida, that collapse would be greater (and thus funnier).
- Probably would see something about Clemens (aka "Antichrist", according to TSG) and how he made a deal with the devil, or summoned the powers of hell or somesuch.
- If they lose, I'd have to deal with columns on the Nitwit Bouncyball Assn, which I just don't want to do (although I never do...to me that league isn't fannnnn-tastic).
- Pedro versus Rocket. Two hotheaded fireballers. Sounds fun. Of course, this matchup is what caused the fracas in game 3. Like I said, fun.
College Football: No Va Tech game this weekend. They next play on Wednesday, up in Morgantown. Like I've said before, midweek college football games are an abomination. It's nice (I guess) in the sense that they get 11 days to prepare for WVU, and 10 to prepare for Miami afterward, but it's garbage. It's disruptive to the university (all arguments I've made before). Though, I must say, no more disruptive than, say, a riot after a big win, such as has happened in College Park or (more to the point, considering that I'm talking about this particular rivalry) Morgantown. I once heard (about 8 or 9 years ago) an ESPN announcer mention that Pitt-WVU was the "Backyard Brawl" and calling the Tech-WVU rivalry the "Backwoods Brawl". Appropriate, considering that the biggest city between Morgantown and Blacksburg is, if I guess right, Beckley, West Va. In any case, I'll still watch this weekend. And I'll be glued to the TV next Wednesday. Anyway, on to my thoughts and picks.
- Four schools in the Big East have filed another lawsuit against officers of the ACC and BC. Okay. Doesn't change the fact that:
- BC will still end up in the ACC,
- the Big East is doing (and has done in the past) the exact same thing,
- and the judge threw out the first lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds.
One of the charges of the lawsuit is that BC breached its contract with the Big East. How, exactly, I'm not sure; from what I've seen, they've observed all of their contractual obligations to date, such as notifying the conference. If BC were to try to stiff the conference of its exit fee, then, maybe, they have a case. This seems more political, because, from what little I've seen, it doesn't have much (if any) legal merit. - Everyone has been pushing Jason White for Heisman. If OU wins out, and he keeps playing as well as he has in the first half of the season, I can't argue...too much. I still say that B.J. Symons deserves the award. The numbers he's put up are otherworldly. The only problem is that he doesn't play on a team with a particularly great defence.
- Beano Cook says that the loser of the Miami-VT game will get an at-large spot in the BCS, and that the winner will probably face Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. God, I'm glad that game is in Blacksburg. Hopefully it's colder than the ninth circle of Dante's hell on 1 November in the 'burg.
- If Kevin Jones runs on Miami and Pittsburgh like he ran on Texas A&M (180 yds), I'd be sorely disappointed if he didn't win the Heisman.
- I'm probably putting too much emphasis on an individual award. Football is, after all, a team sport.
- Louisiana-Lafayette has taken a 3-0 lead on New Mexico St. as I type this. I'm rooting for ULL because former VT offensive coordinator Rickey Bustle is the head coach at ULL.
- In the last 2 years, Ohio St. has played one non-conference game outside the state of Ohio. That would be the Fiesta Bowl. Their sole non-conference away game was at Cincinnati. I wonder if that had anything to do with the fact that they went undefeated last year. Their last non-conference road game was in September 2001, a 13-6 loss at UCLA. Between 2004 and 2006 they play at NC State, at Texas and they have one non-conference game yet to be determined. Were I a betting man (and informing myself by looking at past schedules), I'd guess that they'll schedule a game in Columbus against one of the 3,000 schools in Ohio which are in the MAC. Just a guess.
- ESPN has put out midseason ratings. Their experts also gave out awards. To answer those questions myself:
- Biggest surprise: Northern Illinois. They're still undefeated, and they have beaten three teams in BCS leagues to get there. Were Michael Turner at a school in a major conference, he'd probably be a top 5 Heisman candidate.
- Biggest disappointment: Notre Dame. How they scored 20 on Pitt I do not know, because their offence is abysmal. Their loss to Michigan seemed to have set the tone for the year, and how they come out against USC at home will tell a lot about this Notre Dame team in the second half of the season.
- Midseason MVP: B.J. Symons, Texas Tech. He's thrown for over 400 yards against everyone he's faced, save SMU. He has led his team to a 2-0 record in the Big 12 (as a side note, give the "XII" up...we're not in Rome), and a 5-1 overall record, the only loss being to a good (though disappointing) NC State team. If both teams go into their 22 Nov. showdown undefeated in conference, the Heisman may well be determined by who does better against the other's defence: Jason White of Oklahoma, or Symons. Another side note: I am intrigued by Herbstreit's pick for MVP, and he makes a good case (perhaps I just want to believe).
- Midseason Coach of the (half-) Year: Bob Stoops, Oklahoma. He hasn't failed to get his team up yet, and his team has shown itself to be (in my opinion) the best prepared game-day team in the country. This year, that includes offence as well as defence.
- Sugar Bowl-bound: Oklahoma and Virginia Tech. I think that Va Tech will win the game on 1 Nov, and I think that they will be motivated by two straight losses to Pitt (and by Pitt's intent to injure Michael Vick three years ago) that they'll win in Pittsburgh. Until Oklahoma loses, they will (and should) be number 1.
My picks for the week:
- Purdue beats Wisconsin. Wisconsin will still be focused on last week's big win over Ohio State, and Wisconsin, since 2000, is 4-9 in home conference games.
- Michigan St beats Minnesota. Minnesota will still be focused on last week's big loss against Michigan, and will play more tightly than they would had they won. Of course, I may be completely off and Minnesota may come out looking to prove that last week was a fluke. I think that this game is really beyond Michigan State's control in that the mood of the Minnesota team will dictate the way that this game goes.
- Ohio State beats Iowa. Iowa is looking to prove that it would have beaten Ohio St. last year, but (a) Brad Banks is no longer at Iowa, and (b) the game is in Columbus. I would expect a close game, but Ohio State pulls it out in front of the home fans.
- Texas Tech beats Oklahoma State. If I weren't so lazy, I'd look and see what the over/under line is on this game, and what the over/under line is on the number of yards that B.J. Symons will throw for. Whatever those lines are, I'd take the over on both of them. And Texas Tech can get into a shootout with most teams in the country.
- Virginia beats Florida State. The game is in Charlottesville. Florida State is coming off a bad loss (don't tell me the margin was only 8 points, it was a bad loss). The fact of the matter is that Matt Schaub is miles better than Chris Rix, even if Rix has better receivers. If Wali Lundy can give the Cavaliers some balance, this may get ugly. And Virginia seems to do better when it drops out of the polls.
- Oklahoma beats Mizzou. Both teams are coming off big wins, but Oklahoma has two things going for it: it's homecoming, which will cause Oklahoma not to have as much of an emotional letdown, and Oklahoma has the best gameday coach in the country on the sideline in Bob Stoops, who won't let his team have as much of an emotional letdown. It won't be as ugly as the OU-Texas game, but it's not going to be particularly pretty.
More later - Ryan
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