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12.31.2004
Happy New Year! Have a great 2005!
The BCS was right?: One of the few things that gets everyone agreeing around the Outsports office is: the college football Bowl Championship Series sucks. For example, there were howls of outrage from fans and pundits about #6 Texas getting a Rose Bowl bid instead of #4 ranked Cal. If Cal had gone to the Rose Bowl, it would have restored the traditional Pac 10 v. Big 10 rivalry in the traditional New Years day game, as Michigan was invited as well. Wouldn?t you know it though?the BCS is now looking like a work of genius after Cal?s Bears stunk up the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, getting smacked around in a 45-31 loss to #23 Texas Tech. The game wasn?t even that close, really, as Cal were simply outplayed by the bigger and stronger Red Raiders. "We didn't lose the game tonight because we didn't go to the Rose Bowl," Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. "It had nothing to do with focus and preparation because we didn't go to the Rose Bowl". Um, okay; that?s as good an explanation as "We got our ass kicked".
Maybe so, maybe not:What the New York Yankees want in terms of players, their financial muscle usually allows them to get whatever they want. A three-way trade between the Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers that would have brought Cy Young winner Randy Johnson to the Bronx collapsed recently. It was announced Thursday that the Yankees will indeed get Johnson in a trade from Arizona, without the Dodgers involvement. The deal isn't finalized, but the Diamondbacks said that the paperwork will be finished after New Years day. After the Yankees flamed out of the playoffs last year, it seemed like it was time to rebuild and go for a youth movement, but with this team that?s not possible; the brutal New York tabloids and fans wouldn?t put up with mediocrity for long for a future payoff.
12.30.2004
Atlanta orders gay rights at golf club: A golf club in Atlanta, Ga., Druid Hill Golf Club, has been fined $90,000 by the city for not extending to same-sex partners the same rights afforded to spouses of members.
"Atlanta has a proud history of promoting and celebrating diversity," Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin wrote in a recent letter to the club's president, Kent Smith. "Given the club's failures to address the issues internally I am compelled to act."
The action came after complaints by members Randy New and Lee Kyser that their partners were not given the same rights and priviledges as spouses. In fining the club, Franklin invoked legislation passed four years ago that protected human rights.
"The dispute has now ranged over more than a year - it sure would have been better if the mayor had done this earlier," New told the Associated Press. "The club was under the impression she wasn?t going to do anything to them - we?re hopeful they will change their mind."
The club has said it will fight the fine.
12.29.2004
Vandy RB killed: Vanderbilt running back Kwane Doster was shot and killed Sunday after he and a group of friends trash talked about their car to another group of men.
The discussion, according to authorities, centered on whose car was better. The two parties went their separate ways, but the gunmen apparently then followed Doster and his friends. When they stopped at a sandwich shop, a gunmen got out of his car and opened fire. Doster was the only person injured.
Athlete or not, it's just terrible to hear these stories of mindless death. It's hard for many of us to comprehend how an argument about whose car is better can lead to someone dead. We can only hope that Doster's death is not in vain - and that his teammates and friends will learn something about the volatility of some people in this world.
12.28.2004
UCONN Headed for Greatness? The University of Connecticut football team joined Division 1-A just a couple years ago, but they've already been to their first bowl - and posted their first big bowl win. The Huskies blew out Toledo on Monday night, 39-10, in the Motor City Bowl and improved to an 8-4 record that the rest of the nation should take notice of.
The score was the most lopsided in the eight-year history of the bowl, played annually in Detroit. UConn quarterback Dan Orlovsky was named the game's MVP after throwing 239 yards and two touchdowns.
NFC Wild Card Still Wide Open: The St. Louis Rams' victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football has kept them in the hunt for a playoff spot in the weak NFC. Had they lost, they'd be planning their winter vacations early.
The Rams won the game, 20-7, behind the coming-out party for Steven Jackson, the heir apparent to Marshall Faulk. Jackson carried the bulk of the load Monday night with 148 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. While the Rams are still alive, they'll need some help from Minnesota, Carolina and/or New Orleans to get in.
12.27.2004
Reggie White Dies: Reggie White, the All-Pro defensive lineman who helped the Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl in 1996, died at his home in Houston. He was 43 and the cause of death was apparently respiratory failure related to sleep apnea.
On the field, White was a ferocious pass rusher and was the league's defensive player of the year in 1987 and 1998. He also was chosen for the Pro Bowl a record 13 consecutive seasons.
White was an ordained minister who worked with young people in the inner city. But he was also a nasty, unrepentant homophobe who in a 1998 speech before the Wisconsin state legislature called homosexuality ?one of the biggest sins in the Bible.? White never backed down from those comments and made these others about gays:
"Homosexuality is a decision, it's not a race. People from all different ethnic backgrounds live in this lifestyle. But people from all different ethnic backgrounds also are liars and cheaters and malicious and back-stabbing. "
"Now, I believe that one of the reasons that Jesus was accused of being a homosexual is because he spent time with homosexuals. I've often had people ask me, would you allow a homosexual to be your friend. Yes, I will. And the reason I will is because I know that that person has problems, and if I can minister to those problems, I will."
"I'm offended that homosexuals will say that homosexuals deserve rights. Any man in America deserves rights, but homosexuals are trying to compare their plight with the plight of black men or black people. In the process of history, homosexuals have never been castrated, millions of them never died. "
Far from apologizing for these remarks, White and his wife, Sara, defended them. When White missed out on getting an announcing job with CBS, Sara White said the network was ?too scared of the Sodomite community.?
12.25.2004
Packers Win Division: In a hugely entertaining Christmas Eve game, the Green Bay Packers scored 10 points in the final six minutes to beat the host Minnesota Vikings, 34-31, and win the NFC North Division and an automatic playoff berth.
The Vikings took a 31-24 lead in the fourth quarter on a 15-yard Chris Claiborne interception return, but then neither the Vikings offense or defense could make a play down the stretch. Packers quarterback Brett Favre threw a short, fourth-down touchdown pass with less than four minutes left, then moved the Packers 76 yards on their final drive to set up Ryan Longwell?s 29-yard field as time expired.
The game was typical of the Vikings disappointing season. In the second quarter they scored three touchdowns on three consecutive offensive plays, but were only able to score three offensive points in the second half. This mirrored the team?s 5-1 start this season before heading into a 3-6 slide. For the Packers, they started the season 1-4 but have won 8 of their last 10 to claim the division title for the third straight year.
Happy Holidays: Cyd and Jim want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a terrific 2005.
12.24.2004
Bertuzzi gets off: One of the more depressing sports stories of the year was the vicious hit by the Vancouver Canucks? Todd Bertuzzi on Steve Moore of the Colorado Rockies in a March 8 game. Retaliating for a hit that Moore delivered on Cauncks captain Markus Naslund three weeks previously, Bertuzzi inflicted some serious damage on Steve Moore. Moore suffered three fractured vertebrae and a severe concussion among other injuries and it?s highly doubtful he?ll ever play pro hockey ever again, even if the NHL ends its strike. On Thursday, the jurisprudence side of the story came to a conclusion: Todd Bertuzzi, charged with assault, was put on the Canadian equivalent of probation and ordered to perform 80 hours of community service.
While we understand the legal reasoning for Bertuzzi taking a plea bargain deal that the prosecution offered because they felt that a conviction was not a certainty, it seems like a slap in the face to Steve Moore. To compound this, the deal was struck so quickly that Moore didn?t have time to fly to Vancouver to read a statement in court; the judge overruled an extension of the sentencing. While Todd Bertuzzi hasn't been completely untouched by events--he's lost over $500,000 in salary and has been banned from playing in Europe?he most likely ended a fellow player?s career with a mugging, a mugging that has ongoing consequences for Steve Moore. Getting off with a relative wrist slap just seems wrong.
12.23.2004
Does anyone care about bowl games? The bowl-game season is well underway, believe it or not. Despite being over 10 days away from the national championship game, three bowl games have already seen three teams assert their dominance.
Southern Miss clobbered North Texas, 31-10, to kick off the season. What's unfortunate is that Cal was punished for winning at Southern Miss by only 10 points in their last game of the regular season.
Georgia Tech destroyed Syracuse on Tuesday, 51-14, and Bowling Green beat Memphis in the - are you ready for this - GMAC Bowl.
Does anyone care about these bowl games anymore? Before the BCS came along, each bowl game seemed to matter. Now, somehow, much of the magic has been gone. It's been replaced by companies aiming at every opportunity to get their name in front of potential customers. Outside of the fans of these two schools, is anyone planning their Thursday night around the Cincinnati-Marshall match-up? Will anyone seriously put their holiday plans on hold for UCLA-Wyoming? Not likely.
12.22.2004
AP Says Screw the BCS: In possibly the biggest step yet to dismantling the Bowl Championship Series, the Associated Press has sent a cease-and-desist letter to BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg, saying that it is unlawful for the BCS to continue to tarnish the AP's reputation by using its poll in the BCS.
"The Associated Press has not at any time given permission to the Bowl Championship Series to use its proprietary ranking of college football teams," the AP said in a statement Tuesday. "This unauthorized use of the AP poll has harmed AP's reputation and interfered with AP's agreements with AP poll voters. To preserve its reputation for honesty and integrity, the AP is asking the BCS to discontinue its unauthorized use of the AP poll as a component of BCS rankings."
In a statement, Weiberg has said the BCS will seek alternatives to the AP poll, but the repercussions are huge. While the BCS has come under heavy attack from critics in the last couple of years for teams that have gotten left out of big bowls, the groups within the BCS have stayed tight-knit. With the most reputable source for determining the seedings - the AP poll - pulling out, it leaves the future of the bogus system of determining a college football national champion up in the air.
We can only hope this is the beginning of the end of the biggest sham in all of sports.
12.21.2004
Collosal Collapse: The defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots were up by 11 points with just over two minutes left. In 32 straight games, they had not lost a game when leading at halftime. Yet, somehow, the Miami Dolphins found a way to stun the Patriots, 29-28, on a chilly night in Miami.
The Dolphins have complained for years that they game at New England was always scheduled for December. This year, the league did them a favor by putting their December intra-division match-up in Miami. The weather turned out to be one of the coldest ever for a game at Pro Player Stadium, with the kickoff temperature at 52 and dropping.
Despite the favorable weather, the Patriots let Miami score back-to-back touchdowns in the final 2:10. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had one of his worst games ever as a Patriot, throwing four interceptions including one that set up Miami's final go-ahead touchdown.
The loss almost assuredly gives the Pittsburgh Steelers homefield advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. And, with one more loss, the Patriots could lose their first-round bye.
No Spandex for Andy Reid: Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens will miss the rest of the regular season with torn ligaments in his ankle. His status for the playoffs is uncertain.
While he'll miss his top wide receiver, Eagles coach Andy Reid must be breathing a sigh of relief in a way. Reid had told TO before the season that he would don tights if his stud receiver caught 15 touchdown passes in the regular season. TO's total was stopped at 14.
12.20.2004
Hot Stove Action: Days after trading Tim Hudson to the Atlanta Braves, the Oakland A?s continued to break up their terrific starting rotation by trading Mark Mudler to the St. Louis Cardinals. The A?s and their general manager Billy Beane (not the gay Billy Bean) defended the moves as economically necessary. "We've had to reinvent ourselves every year," Beane said. "This is probably the most drastic reinvention, but I still think it is a very solid foundation. . . . We're not dismissing 2005 at all." He might not dimiss 2005, but a lot of Oakland fans will.
Meanwhile, the three-team, 10-player deal that would send pitcher Randy Johnson to the New York Yankees is taking longer than most Middle East peace conferences. One hangup is that Shawn Green, who has a no-trade clause in his contract, has not yet agreed to be traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Can?t say we blame him?you try living in Phoenix in the summer.
Hornets Lose Again:In this era of sudden change, it?s nice to know there are some things to depend on, like the New Orleans Hornets losing. In falling to the Sacramento Kings by 36 on Sunday, the Hornets are now 2-21. The hapless Hornets have scored only 100 points in a game this season, and in that one they needed three overtimes to do it in.
NFL Week 15:Sunday was another wild day in the NFL. Check out our notebook, including which referee has the biggest guns.
12.18.2004
Carter to Nets: It's interesting sometimes to watch the trajectory of an athletes career. For NBA player Vince Carter the trajectory was something like: started out great, hasn't been so hot the last few years. What once had seemed like a career that had unlimited potential had stalled recently, as Carter has battled injury problems and his Toronto Raptors struggled. Vince Carter gets a chance at a fresh start though, as he was traded from Tornoto to the New Jersey Nets for three players and two number 1 draft picks. It's a high price for the Nets to pay for a player who has had a number of injuries and indeed is currently shelved due to an Achilles problem. Carter will team up with his former 2000 Olympics teammate, Jason Kidd to form a potent 1-2 punch for New Jersey--if Carter stays healthy.
12.17.2004
Major League Baseball is lame: How lame are the people that run major league baseball? A lot, it seems. The way Commissioner Bud "Beelzebud" Selig and the owners have handled the Team Formerly Known As The Montreal Expos for the last few years has been disgraceful. Add another chapter to the long list of screw ups: after announcing with much fanfare the relocation of the team to Washington DC and their subsequent rebranding as the Washington Nationals, the whole thing is close to collapsing, leaving major questions about the judgement of Selig and his cronies. The Nationals were supposed to play in a renovated RFK Stadium while a new stadium was being built. Season tickets were sold, caps were on the market and the new uniforms were to be unveiled this week. Instead, a DC city councilwoman named Linda Cropp put all that on hold Tuesday night when she pushed through an amendment to the agreed-upon deal that would have required the new owners to pay for roughly half of the new stadium.
While it?s true that a deal was agreed upon in principle, the deal sucked to begin with. The District of Columbia is in severe financial straits, unable to provide a decent level of basic services to its residents. The idea that a bunch of wealthy men would take desperately needed DC funds to build a baseball stadium is obscene. Washington DC was intent on issuing a staggering $500 million + in bonds to pay for the RFK renovation/new stadium and costs certainly would have risen. It was a bald-faced money grab by Selig et al; the San Francisco Giants build their stunning ballpark with private funds, so it can be done. Unless something can be worked out soon, the Expos/whatever they?re called will again be homeless. What will happen next is anyone?s guess, but given the history of this sorry story, it doesn?t figure to be good.
12.16.2004
Thou Dost Protest . . .: There's an old saying about men who say they're straight and say hateful things about gay men: they protest so much, one has to wonder what exactly they're hiding.
Track star Marion Jones has filed a defamation lawsuit against BALCO founder Victor Conte for telling a national television audience on 20/20 that Marion Jones took performance-enhancing drugs. The lawsuit seeks $25 million in damages. On the show, Conte said he helped Jones plan her schedule of drug-taking and even watched her inject them.
In an e-mail to the Associated Press, Conte said that the filing of the lawsuit was "nothing more than a PR stunt by a desperate woman, who has regularly used drugs throughout her career. I look forward with all confidence to the court proceedings as I stand by everything I said on the `20/20' special."
Jones is the latest star to be embroiled in the BALCO steroid scandal. Yankee Jason Giambi has already admitted to using steroids, and San Francisco Giant Barry Bonds has said he may have used them, but did not inhale.
12.15.2004
BCS getting legal scrutiny: If the Republican leader of the California State Senate has anything to say about it, this will be the last year for the BCS. Sen. Dick Ackerman, a 1964 graduate of the University of California - Berkeley, has proposed a bill that calls for the dissolution of the Bowl Championship Series. And Ackerman is only half-kidding.
"The BCS has proven in its seven-year existence that it is a failure," Ackerman said. "It has failed at the expense of California and other Pac-10 teams that have lost millions of dollars in revenue."
Texas lept over Cal in the final BCS poll for the #4 spot, giving the Longhorns a trip to the Rose Bowl in January instead of Cal. Other Pac-10 schools - namely USC and Oregon - have been kept out of the college championship game by the BCS, though many thought they were deserving of a spot in the game.
The BCS has also caught the attention of U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who last Friday sent a letter to BCS coordinator Mr. Kevin L. Weiberg listing three suggestions:
"First, why not make all of the polls public? Second, if coaches or media from a given state decide to give their state an advantage in the Bowl selection process, then they should have to so state. That is the only way we will know if such an alliance of votes is part of the problem. Third, the BCS should create an appeals mechanism for schools to utilize when the margin of difference in rankings is very small."
Boxer just might get her first wish. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fort Worth Star-Telegram, both citing state open-records laws, have requested that USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll ballots be released to the public.
Any way you cut it, with five undefeated teams and only two playing for the title, the BCS is getting more heat this year than ever before. And it's about time.
12.14.2004
Pedro Heads to New York: The New York Mets, not their cross-town rivals, have made the biggest splash yet of this young postseason for Major League Baseball, signing the Yankees' nemesis, Pedro Martinez. While specifics of the deal have yet to be announced, it seems to be a four-year deal for an undisclosed amount. The Boston Red Sox now have to figure out life without their three-time Cy Young Award winner.
"He was a great member of the Red Sox team for seven years, and a certain Hall of Famer," Red Sox president Larry Lucchino told The Associated Press in an e-mail. "He will be missed, and we are disappointed to have lost him to the Mets and the National League."
This could be a great signing for the Mets. They were in contention for the NL East crown until the All-Star break, after which they collapsed. If he can stay healthy, Martinez will absolutely add several wins to the Mets' record next season and could add some consistency that they were sorely lacking last year.
Plus, they'll get some positive front-page New York media coverage for the next week - something they haven't gotten in a while.
Coaching Carousel Continues: Notre Dame finally has a replacement for fired coach Tyrone Willingham. New England Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weis was announced as the new Fighting Irish coach, bringing the latest hope to a resurection of the once-storied football program. Weis has been the architect of the offenses of two Super Bowl-winning Patriots team, and now he brings that mind to South Bend. He will stay with the Patriots until their postseason is over.
Willingham found a new coaching gig for himself, landing at the University of Washington. That will mean an annual match-up against his former school, Stanford, which he led to the Rose Bowl during his coaching tenure.
12.11.2004
Cities announce intentions to bid for Gay Games & OutGames: While some in the gay sports world have begun devising plans to unite the two major international gay sports groups, cities have already begun announcing their intentions to bid for the right to host the next round of separate events.
One of the cities, Berlin, had previously been trying to bring the two organizations together at a meeting. While GLISA, purveyors of the OutGames, had accepted the offer, the Federation of Gay Games have opted to host their own "state of the gay sports movement" meeting elsewhere. Meanwhile, Games Berlin, in a 16-4 vote, has decided to bid for the OutGames 2009.
With much of the support for GLISA and the OutGames coming from Europe, it seems to make sense that the organization would opt to have their second event hosted in Europe. The first OutGames will be in Montrela in 2006.
Berlin is also rumored to be making plans to bid for the 2016 or 2020 Olympic Games.
Johannesburg, South Africa, the site of the annual Federation of Gay Games meeting where Montreal initially won the bid to host the Gay Games, has announced its intentions to bid for the 2010 Gay Games.
While South Africa would be a wonderful place to visit, it would be a disastrous location for the Gay Games. When the 2002 Gay Games were hosted in uber-gay-friendly Sydney, Australia, participation plummeted from the previous Amsterdam Gay Games from 14,000 to 10,000. With the plurality of the participants in the Gay Games coming from the United States, that number would drop again - potentially even more significantly.
Other cities quietly rumored to be planning on bidding for the 2010 Gay Games include Paris and Cologne - the latter of which would place both events within a couple hundred miles - albeit one year apart - from one another again.
12.10.2004
NHL players propose a pay cut: Here?s something we?d never thought we?d see: a pro sports players union proposing a pay cut for its members. The National Hockey League is in the midst of a bitter player lockout and it was looking like the labor dispute had fallen off the face of the sports earth. In the first meeting in almost three months, the players are proposing to take a 24% pay cut. Of course, with these two sides, it could all fall apart in an instant: management wants the salary cuts AND a salary cap, which the players will not stand for. The proposal could save NHL owners potentially half a billion dollars in three years, but they also want structural changes to happen to revenue sources. Something needs to be done soon as it?s reaching the point of no return for a reasonable season to be played. If the season is cancelled, it would be the first pro season in North American sports to be lost to a labor dispute.
Pacers, fans charged: As expected, both players from the Indianapolis Pacers and fans of the Detroit Pistons were hit with legal charges stemming from the basketbrawl that took place November 19th. Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, David Harrison and Anthony Johnson of the Pacers were charged with single counts of assault and battery, a misdemeanor; Pacer Jermaine O?Neal was charged with two counts of assault and battery. After reviewing the video evidence, seven fans were also charged, including Pistons player Ben Wallace?s brother David. Fan John Green was identified as the guy that threw a beer at Artest that sparked the ugly scenes iinside The Palace; Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca fingered Green from the tapes because they used to be neighbors in the Detroit area. Another fan was charged with felony assault for throwing a chair. This incident is far from over as the expected lawsuits, especially by the fan who was wrongly singled out by Ron Artest as the cup thrower, haven't been filed yet.
12.9.2004
Aussie Football Commentator Slams Gays: Australia's No. 1 footy commentator is catching some heat - and may get some sanctions and a lawsuit - for comments he made on air about gay people in Melbourne. Sydney man Gary Burns has lodged a complaint with the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board and Newman now faces a $40,000 fine or jail.
Some of the comments that have Newman in hot water:
- "Do we want to have hordes of lisping, parading people wandering all over the country, all over the state adding absolutely nothing to it?" he said.
- "Do you want to have a sister state named Gay-bo Island or rename the train up in the Emerald hills Poofing Billy?
- "If people want to have a sexual expression they will. Why do we have to, pardon the expression, ram it down their throats?
- "Why do we have to have the whole state infested with people we don't necessarily want?"
Roland Rocchiccioli, Newman's close gay friend, has come to his friend's defense, telling the Herald Sun in Melbourne that the comments were meant to be light-hearted.
Uh, yeah. Pretty funny. We're laughing.
12.8.2004
Mayor Bloomberg Courts Gays: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg showed up at the annual Toys for Tots party on Sunday. The party is an annual holiday fest where (mostly) gay men are invited to bring a toy for a kid and get free wine and alcohol. This year, about 2,200 people attended.
Bloomberg addressed the crowd, sharing the dancing Elmo doll that he donated. He also addressed the citywide battle that he hopes will bring a stadium for the Jets to Manhattan. Talking about what he would like for Christmas, the mayor had this to say:
"On a less serious note, I would take the Olympics and maybe a convention center stadium on our West Side ? absolutely not a football stadium. It is a retractably covered automated convention extension exhibition annex. It may also be used eight Sundays a year by a groups of very large athletic men wearing tight pants."
He obviously knew his target audience.
12.7.2004
Cowboys Win a Wild One: The Dallas Cowboys, down by 10 points with less than two minutes left, staged a furious rally to beat the Seattle Seahawks, 43-39, Monday night in a wildly entertaining game.
Dallas scored a touchdown with 1:45 left, then recovered and onside kick, then scored the winning touchdown on a 17-yard run by Julius Jones with 32 seconds left. The first touchdown in this sequence, a pass to Keyshawn Johnson in the back of the end zone, should have been an incompletion as Johnson?s arm hit out of bounds before he had two feet in. But, for some reason, the game officials did not review the called touchdown (which they do in the final two minutes), even though the first replays showed Johnson was clearly out. It was a blown call. The win lifted the Cowboys to 5-7 and dropped Seattle to 6-6.
Murphy Acquitted of Sex Abuse: NBA Hall of Famer Calvin Murphy was acquitted Monday of sexually abusing five of his daughters more than 10 years ago. Murphy was facing up to a life sentence.
"To hear that people believe in me and found me innocent of those charges, my heart just swelled up and started beating very fastly in my body," Murphy said after the verdict. "I cannot say enough for what they have done to give me my life back."
Murphy was a guard for the Houston Rockets from 1970 to 1983 and was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 1993.
USC Fires Bibby: USC has fired men's basketball head coach Henry Bibby just four games into the season, having posted a 2-2 record. On the outside, it is a surprising move. Bibby amassed a 131-111 record at USC, with three NCAA tournament appearances including an Elite Eight run in 2001. However, rumblings of player dissent undermined him in the end.
12.6.2004
The BCS Sucks: Ultimately, big-time college football is the lamest sport in the world. It is the only one that uses computers and pollsters to determine which two teams will play for the ?national championship,? with its stupid Bowl Championship Series. Every year, the BCS manages to piss almost everybody off and satisfy no one and this year is not exception.
The BCS formula has determined that unbeaten USC will play unbeaten Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, with the winner being crowned No. 1. Both teams have had terrific seasons and each deserves a shot at the title, but the problem lies in the fact that three other teams?Auburn, Utah and Boise State?are also unbeaten and also deserve a chance. But all three get screwed this year, just as teams in other years have.
In addition, Cal got royally shafted, when the Bears were passed in the rankings by Texas, which whined to enough pollsters to get the votes and a bid to the Rose Bowl. How can a team, Cal, win its final game on the road by 10, and still get passed by a team that?s idle?
Texas coach Mack Brown certainly bitched and moaned enough all week, and the publicity he got likely made the difference to pollsters. ''I thought it was a little classless how Coach Brown was begging for votes after the (Texas A&M) game,'' Cal QB Aaron Rodgers said. ''I think a team's record and the way you play should speak for itself, and you shouldn't have to complain about the BCS system. Coach [Jeff] Tedford isn't going to, although he's frustrated just like we are. I think we're a bigger team, classier than that.''
Cal finished 10-1, yet misses out on a BCS bowl to the likes of two-loss Virginia Tech and three-loss Pittsburgh because those two teams won their conferences and automatically get a bid. Crazy? Yep. Satisfying? Nope. That?s why the NFL is million times more interesting than college football. In the pros, the title is decided on the field.
12.4.2004
More baseball steroids fallout: Jason Giambi's admission that he used steroids for at least the last three years (see yesterday's entry) sent shockwaves through baseball on Friday. For the first time, it seems, the issue can't be swept under the carpet, as much as the owners and especially the players would like it to be. Giambi's leaked testimony before a grand jury had people questioning the activities of the best player in baseball, Barry Bonds. For years, people have suggested that his amazing burst of home run power was aided by steroids, a fact hotly denied by the San Francisco Giants left fielder. However, more leaked testimony arising from the grand jury impaneled to hear the case of San Francisco Bay Area company BALCO shows Bonds admitting to using steroids without his knowledge, in the form of creams and so forth. The reaction in fan polls and with baseball pundits has been interesting. Some, like us, are of the "Well, duh" category that think the use of steroids in baseball has been obvious for years (see: Brady Anderson), but it?s funny to see the tone of "I?m shocked, shocked I tell you" from some quarters. Perhaps this will be the turning point where the sport takes steroids and all their implications?both the warping of play and the health risks to users?a little more seriously than it has in the past.
12.3.2004
Juicin' Giambi: New York Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi had a bad 2004 campaign. He was injured most of the season and when he did play he was ineffective. His bad year was capped when it was revealed that he admitted to a federal grand jury investigating steroid abuse by a range of athletes that he'd been using steroids for at least the last three years. Giambi described how he injected human growth hormone in his stomach and testosterone into his buttocks, among other things, in testimony obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle. This contradicts Jason Giambi's claim that he'd been drug free but the steroid problem in baseball probably just got a poster boy for what's wrong. Other baseball players are implicated in the widening BALCO investigation and it'll be interesting to see who else comes clean.
12.2.2004
Illini Win Biggest Game of the Year: No. 5 Illinois won the biggest college basketball game of the young season Wednesday night, topping No. 1 Wake Forest in a 91-73 rout. It was the first time the Illini beat a No.1 team in 25 years.
While Illinois will surely be touted by some as the undisputed #1 with such a huge win over the Demon Deacons, that is one of the big problems with ranking college basketball teams. More than any other major sport, homecourt advantage is huge in NCAA basketball. It would have been surprising if Illinois had lost at home to Wake.
For the next few days, though, Illini fans will get a hoot out of claims that they are the best team in the country.
Gumby Packs His Bags: It didn't take long for the only openly gay castaway on The Real Gilligan's Island to get sent packing. In the first elimination challenge, aired Tuesday night, Professor Eric Anders, aka Coach Gumby, lost a challenge to the other professor on the show, which eliminated him from contention.
Gumby had to pick one person to help him in the challenge, and he chose the Millionaire on his team. Unfortunately, it was the millionaire's wife who had been complaining of staying on an island with a gay person. We can only wonder if the millionaire didn't sabotage Gumby's chances.
12.1.2004
Coaches Get the Boot: Two high-profile football coaches got sent packing Tuesday - both of them with games remaining on this year's schedule.
Notre Dame head coach Tyrone Willingham, the first black head coach of any sport at the school, got his walking papers just three days after the Irish's miserable 41-10 loss to No. 1 USC, dropping the team to a 6-5 regular season record. While Notre Dame accepted a bid to the Insight Bowl, to be held Dec. 28, several players are rumored to be considering not playing in the game.
Stanford, where Willingham was a successful head coach before Notre Dame, leading the school to the Rose Bowl, fired head coach Buddy Teevens after three straight losing seasons.
While it's being billed as a "resignation," it was no secret that the Cleveland Browns were not happy with head coach Butch Davis' performance this season, leading the Browns to a 3-8 record. Rumors are swirling that Davis could be eyeing the head coach position at the University of Florida, which would be a return to the Sunshine State for the former University of Miami head coach.
11.30.2004
Favre Hits 200: Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre started his 200th consecutive game, a league record he has had for several years since he broke the old record of 116. Favre looked all the future Hall of Famer he is revered as, throwing for over 200 yards and three touchdowns in leading the Packers over the St. Louis Rams, 45-17, on Monday Night Football.
It was Rams quarterback Marc Bulger, though, who was eye-popping in his stats, hitting 65% of his passes for more than 400 yards. But the Rams self-destructed, with Bulger throwing one interception and receiver Isaac Bruce losing two fumbles that were returned for scores.
The game also probably marked a change of the guard in St. Louis as running back Steven Jackson got one more carry for 33 more yards than Marshall Faulk. While it's hard to believe Rams coach Mike Martz would ever bench Faulk, a hastened exit for the former League MVP seems to be imminent.
While Packers ball carrier Ahman Green sat on the sidelines with an ailment, Najeh Davenport rushed for a career-high 178 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries. Green, however, is not in jeopardy of losing his starting job to anyone.
11.29.2004
NFL Week 12: It was a long NFL weekend. Check out our weekly look, including the teams we'd least like to face in December, fantasy woes and our uniform appreciation.
Couples Wins Skins: Fred Couples won a four-hole playoff against Tiger Woods and took home $640,000 in winning the Thanksgiving-weekend classic Sunday. Tiger Woods finished second with $310,000; that's more money than he had won in his previous four Skins appearances.
Annika Sorenstam, who made a splash in the Skins game last year, was held without a skin this year. Aussie Adam Scott won two skins for $50,000.
Woods was jovial after his playoff loss to Couples, walking arm-in-arm with the victor. If we had his career earnings, we'd probably be pretty jovial in a $310,000 loss too.
11.27.2004
Dumb athletes: You would think that after all the controversy about the recent Indiana vs. Detroit melee that has a put a spotlight on fan and player interactions, players in all sports at all levels would be aware that now is not the time to be mooning fans and making obscene gestures in the stands. That's exactly what minor league hockey player Dan Sullivan did at a game in Wheeling, West Virginia. Sullivan is a player for the Reading Royals in the ECHL who was not playing on Thursday. For reasons that aren't clear, he dropped his pants and mooned the Wheeling Nailers crowd. He was immediately suspended by Reading.
11.26.2004
Thanksgiving NFL: One of the traditions of Thanksgiving is watching two NFL games. For as long as we can remember, it's been a game in Detroit and a game in Dallas. On Thursday, Peyton Manning and his incredible core of Indianapolis Colts receivers tore apart the Detroit Lions in a convincing 41-9 win. The Colts offense right now is a thing of beauty: quarterback Manning is on pace to shatter multiple season records, largely because he has at least six players that he can have utter confidence throwing to. It seems every week, a different receiver steps up; on Thanksgiving, Marvin Harrison and the adorable Brandon Stokley each caught three touchdown passes each. Whoever had those two in fantasy got some major points. Add in one of the best running backs in the game in Edgerrin James (105 yards on Thursday) and it seems the only thing stopping the Colts is their somewhat suspect defense.
In Dallas, however: After watching the brilliant Colts offense, it was painful to watch the subsequent Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys game. To say that both teams have quarterback problems is an understatement. The game was grim, featuring a mind-numbing 19 punts by both teams. The Cowboys started rookie Drew Henson, but Bill Parcels likes to win, so he pulled Henson for Vinny Testaverde. The Bears QB situation is even worse: another rookie, Craig Krenzel, is awful and after he got hurt Thursday, backup Jonathan Quinn was awful as well. The one bright spot in an otherwise abysmal game was Cowboys running back Julius Jones. He looked impressive in gaining 150 yards but both teams are in trouble at the single most important position on a football team. Peyton Manning of the Colts is worth every penny of his 7-year, $98 million deal at this point.
11.25.2004
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Mickelson Caps Magical Year: The guy who couldn't win the big one ended the year with an exclamation point, winning the two-day PGA Grand Slam of Golf with a 13-under 59 on the second day of competition. It was only the fourth time someone shot a 59 on the men's tour, though Mickelson's round won't land in the record books because the tournament isn't an official event.
The event pits the winners of the four major tournaments against one another. Mickelson finished five shots ahead of second-place finisher Vijay Singh.
It's nice to see Lefty finally have a year he can point to 20 years from now as a shining jewel in his career. Good for him Tiger Woods had another off year.
11.24.2004
Spurrier is a 'Cock: Steve Spurrier will replace Lou Holtz as head coach of the South Carolina football team, it was announced Tuesday. His deal is worth almost $9 million.
Spurrier spurned openings with his old team, the Florida Gators, and another foray into the NFL with the Miami Dolphins to follow another potential future Hall of Fame coach with the Gamecocks.
One advantage he should bring to South Carolina is his knowledge of the teams in the SEC. His success at the University of Florida in the 1990s was unparalleled at the school, and unrivaled in the 90s in the SEC. He has a tough act to follow, though. Holtz turned around a program that went 0-11 his first year and eventually earned a school-best 17-7 two-year record.
And when Spurrier's Gamecocks play Florida in the coming years, you know there will be blood to pay. Spurrier's departure from Florida, and the ensuing hiring of Ron Zook, has left the program a shadow of what it once was.
