Furthermore, Shaq is Still Just a Goon

People who hate the Pistons (here's looking at you, B.W.) will be excited about last night's game against the Heat. I'm the opposite of excited, because I watched the game and I see that Shaq is flourishing in D-Wade's absence because the refs figure they have to give some Miami player the egregious calls they would be giving to Wade, and that player seems to be The Big Whatever. If this means that Shaq gets to push people down and draw charges with 0.5 feet on the floor inside the 4-ft. arc for the next 3 months, it could be a very long season.

Bill Walton Is An Idiot

I just wanted to write this down before I forgot it, mostly because Bill Walton hates the Pistons so much.

And because he is an idiot. The "remove all doubt" moment was just 5 minutes ago, during the Pistons-Heat matchup on ESPN, when Bill asked this gem: "Correct me if I'm wrong, but... the Red Wings are also from Detroit, right?"

His Play-By-Play partner on the broadcast (sorry, I haven't memorized all these guys) informed Bill that he was correct, with the perfect "Holy shit, I can't believe you're on ESPN, everybody who has ever turned on ESPN for 12 seconds knows the Red Wings play in Detroit" tone of voice. (Also, the Detroit Connection was the only reason Play-By-Play Guy mentioned the Red Wings in the first place. Obviously.)

That's all. Bill Walton is dumb.

Marlin Fucking Jackson???

I can't believe it - the most overrated player in Michigan Football history just picked off the most underrated, to end New England's ownership of Peyton Manning. How fucking bizarre.

Furthermore, Marlin Fucking Jackson succeeded in accomplishing that at which Charles Woodson had failed. More bizarre.

WTF, 1/1/07-1/8/07?

So, I hope anybody who created a Facebook group about Michigan getting robbed, Florida being shitty, or Ohio State winning the Tostitos National Championship Game by 30 feels appropriately douche-y right now. I also, sincerely, hope that the dumbasses in question have figured out why it was a good thing the top bowl matchups turned out the way they did.

As I blogged something like two months ago, the bowl schedule that matched up three Big Ten teams vs. three SEC teams, plus the Pac-10 champ vs. strong Big Ten runner-up, was one of the best possible schedules for football fans. By now it should be obvious that a National Championship Game rematch would have been a travesty - what would it have proved, if the BCS had allowed Michigan and OSU to fight over Who Could Suck Less In January in a ridiculous slapfest?

It's already hard enough to say what exactly has been proven by all of this, except that Florida currently excels at the game of Winning College Sports. I think it's fairly reasonable to say that Bowl Football, even more than Big Dance Basketball, but in a similar way, is a different sport than regular season football. And this year, with Urban Fucking Meyer in charge, Florida was damn good at Bowl Football. But other than that, what are we to bring away from this? Probably nothing. The SEC brought home a trophy or two, but are they as strong up and down as they were supposed to be all year? The bowl losses to Penn State and overrated Wisconsin say no, but does that even mean anything? And so on.

The whole thing is frustrating for me, firstly because my team is the most consistent flameout at the Bowl Football game, and nextly because I know CFB's 2006 First Season (pre-December) very well, and I know that the 2006 Second Season (Bowl Football) had little to do with it, except for when they were setting up the matchups.

Don't get me wrong, the name of the game is to succeed in the regular season and then show up to play in your bowl game, so Florida wins. I'm just shocked, and a little disappointed, at the difference a month and a half can make.

I'm With Lloyd

I don't have much to say about the BCS standings that came out last night. They are; they shall be. This is what we know, and it's all we need to know.

But, if there's anything that remains to be discussed about the whole process, it's all external to the rankings, to the reasoning, to the merit. Those have had their time, there's nothing to be said or done about them.

Dan Wetzel on Yahoo! Sports has a pretty good article, with which I generally agree, mostly with the parts about Lloyd Carr's statements and actions over the last couple weeks. Dan claims that Lloyd is sticking to the old-school, Bo Schembechler, don't-dance, don't-beg style and mentality. I agree; if I were Lloyd, the prospect of convening press conferences just to jockey for votes would seem detestable to me.

I've already expressed my varying degrees of disappointment and contentment with the BCS Standings as they stand; add to those the fact that I can still count on Lloyd to keep the scores reasonable and keep his public persona classy, and I'm a pretty happy fan.

Go Blue!

Who's #2*?

Just a short little post before I get to bed... project to work on.

At this point, we all have naught left to us, aside from waiting until tomorrow afternoon, at which point we all actually have to watch this silly BCS Selection Show of theirs.

And I'm feeling reasonably well about it.

There are approximately two ways for the important parts of tomorrow to pan out - Florida #2, Michigan #3 or Michigan #2, Florida #3.

One way we get UF-OSU in Glendale, and UM-USC in Pasadena (as it was meant to be, except, you know, OSU actually won the Big Ten. And such.). I'll be jealous, and I'll kindly advise any Florida fans to avoid being dickbags about the whole process, but I'll be happy that two very important matchups are occurring - Big Ten vs. SEC, Big Ten vs. Pac-10 - and I'll be very happy that a good UM team gets another crack at a (worse) USC team... like I said, the last Rose Bowl I attended has left some sort of undesirable taste in my mouth.

The other way, we get UM-OSU in Glendale, in the Super Double Extra Game of the Century. I get a chance for extreme vindication (or extreme crow-eating), My Team is in the big game. Hard for me to be upset. The other matchups mean less since they're all about 2-loss teams, but SEC vs. Pac-10 (LSU in the Rose, right?) is a good deal; Florida vs. Notre Dame or Florida vs.... Rutgers (?) could both be revealing games. Might be fun.

Update: just before press time (right before I hit "Publish Post"), Rutgers lost. Pity, that. What does that leave us with, joker Louisville? Whatever.

I didn't let myself really start to think about it until today, so I didn't consider many angles aside from Michigan's worthiness to hold the "#2" position until January (and I obviously think Michigan's claim is legitimate, if not ironclad. I won't fight you, unless you insist Michigan couldn't possibly be better than Florida and, uh, Boise State.). The other issues include... hype. We had a hypetastic week/month for UM-OSU I. Could the universe handle Hype II? It'd get rough. I'd eat it up, of course, but Florida fans might boycott ESPN. Also: Split Championship. It doesn't make any sense, but I believe that the poll machine that has had OSU at #1 all year might go ahead and leave them there if Michigan won a rematch. Everyone would yell at each other loudly, it would be a mess. Third: other conferences (well, just the SEC). I say that I haven't thought about this, and to a certain extent, it's true. I don't think I've really believed in (i.e. "expected") The Rematch all along, because I now think "Well, Florida did only lose one game. To a team that is in the Top 25 (sorry, Beavers). If they play Notre Dame and win pretty big (they would), it'd be hard to tell them they didn't deserve that chance they didn't get." Pac-10, Big XII, Boise State, and Big East get no such love, but Florida did accomplish a lot this year. And, here's the only reason this really strikes me all of a sudden: if OSU and UM are in the Big One, and LSU and Florida are both in BCS games... how do we compare the upper echelon of the Big Ten with that of the SEC? The best options available become transitive matchups (if that), and we all know those are BS.

Don't get me wrong, I really think Michigan and OSU are the two best teams in the country this year (especially after catching half of that SEC Championship. Isn't this conference supposed to be good/play good defense/not be so sloppy?), but I see a big point of contention due to lack of head-to-head Big Ten-SEC play. But, again, I wouldn't complain for my part.

One thing I'm noticing - right after today's relevant games ended, ESPN.com's SportsNation Poll on the front page was giving Michigan a 65-35 edge in voting. The gap has steadily narrowed, although the state of Florida is being much kinder to Michigan than the state of Michigan is to Florida. We sit at 55-45 right now, with 140,000 votes reporting. I'm guessing that people have gotten around to thinking about the Hype Monster and other issues, eschewing the initial gut feeling that Michigan was just a better team. Which is fine; everybody knows what we're really voting for here. Obviously, the voters in this particular poll are very unimportant; I do think they're indicative of the real polls, which will be biased in many of the same ways.

Eesh, "short little post" apparently means nothing in my language. Goodnight.

* - "#2" refers to the ranking assigned to the team which most of the poll-takers in the relevant BCS polls would prefer to see play in the National Championship Game; not to the talent or perceived talent of any team.

USC vs. OSU, 1/8/07

So by now I realize that it's time to come to terms with the inevitable: USC is going to the National Championship Game to take their shot against OSU. Whatever. As I ease out of my spirited campaign for the Rematch of the Century, I have little left to me, except to state the several reasons I wish it weren't so. Without further ado - the reasons.

First, foremost, and obviously - I want My Team to get a trip to the National Championship Game. I'm graduating in a month, but not leaving town (for the real world) yet, so this would be a perfect opportunity for me to follow my team to a BCS NCG. Really, the only opportunity of its kind. I'm not gonna lie, and pretend that this isn't the biggest reason for my wish. It is. It's there, but it's not alone. In fact, it is related and leads logically to the second reason -

I think Michigan is as good as (verily, better than) Ohio State. I don't want to take a trip to Arizona to watch my team lose one of the biggest games of my life, and I certainly don't want Michigan to get a second chance at Ohio frickin' State and lose again. By some definitions, that would make this the worst season in Michigan Football history, which sounds like a bad plan. If Michigan couldn't beat the Buckeyes, I would be all for a trip to the Rose Bowl and a Boise State matchup to make Michigan look good and make minor conference upstarts look awful. But I think Michigan can beat the Buckeyes, and I think they can do it on the field they'll play the NC Game on. I would absolutely put money on Michigan in the NC Game, if the option made itself available, because I really believe that Michigan would win.

And that's pretty much the same as the third reason - I would hate to see this season end with an OSU rout of USC, followed closely by declarations that Ohio State might be "the best College Football team ever." It's bad enough that Ohio State came away with a very slim victory two weekends ago, and analysts all over the country have ignored the closeness and circumstances of The Game to come to the conclusion that Ohio State is undeniably better than any other team in the country. Ohio State proved that they could beat Michigan at home. What if Michigan won by 3 in Ann Arbor sometime this month in a hypothetical game that you will dismiss as a ludicrous conceit? Such a Michigan victory would throw this whole Ohio State supremacy into question, but does it seem that unlikely? I say no. How tragic would it be for Michigan if history praised these Buckeyes, while forgetting an equally good/better Michigan team? Unbearably tragic.

Another reason is purely my enjoyment of Bowl Season this year. USC-OSU is a great, Pac-10/Big Ten matchup that might be entertaining, and might be lopsided because USC is not really very good. But what else will be worth watching? Who will Michigan face in the Rose Bowl? Notre Dame? No thanks. Boise State? Please, no - if Michigan wanted to play a high school team, they could call up East Grand Rapids and schedule a scrimmage on Pioneer's field. Rutgers/Louisville/any ACC team? Maybe for comedic value. I find that most of the surefire BCS teams so far aren't really very good.

The teams I would like to see Michigan play probably can't come; Florida will either beat Arkansas and be unavailable, or lose and be a 2-loss team. I wouldn't mind revenge against Nebraska (for 1997 plus the Bullshit... I mean Alamo... Bowl) or USC (for the only Rose Bowl I have seen in person... ouch.), but the Trojans are obviously predisposed, and if Nebraska makes it out of the Big XII, they're locked into the Fiesta Bowl. LSU might get an invite, but I don't believe in 2-loss teams, especially when they play games as stupid and ugly as whatever you call that game against Arkansas.

And now, some things I don't like, but instead dislike.

I hate "What have you done for me lately?". I hate watching the polls every year and knowing that the voters will somehow vote just as though they've forgotten what happened a few weeks prior. I hate USC losing a month ago and taking Michigan's place because Michigan lost a week ago. And I hate, hate, hate poll inertia that keeps teams like USC on top all year, because voters appear to have no individual minds. In short, I hate everything that has helped USC to reach #2 in all the polls. But I don't hate them for this reason; I hate them on principle. Seeing the same things I hated to begin with come and bite My Team... it's almost too much.

One more thing I hate: USC. I hate Pete Carroll and his smarmy press conferences. I hate USC's 30-plus-game home winning streak that exists because USC plays Pac-10 teams and beats them all at home because they're not that good. I hate teams that lose to lousy teams but go to the National Championship Game anyway, especially if there are better-qualified teams who could go instead. I hate all of USC's smug players who keep talking about what they deserve and what they've earned, when both of those things equate to nothing.

And now, my case for Michigan's inclusion.

What is the whole point of the BCS? Is it to match the #1 team in the country against the #2 team in the country? Or is it to create some matchup that might or might not have been impossible before the BCS existed, which satisfies various coaching and media personnel? I ask because I had heard a rumor that the former was the answer, but as far as I can tell, the latter is the case.

There is a nationwide conversation brewing about the BCS standings and the #1 vs. #2 matchup that they will produce. Everywhere in the College Football Universe, fans, commentators, and analysts are discussing who ought to go to the National Championship Game. Almost none of them are debating which team is better. It's clear which team is better. Michigan won 11 games and lost to Ohio State, perhaps one of the best teams of all time (ha, ha?). USC has won 10 games and lost to Oregon State, perhaps one of the 50 best teams in NCAA Division I-A this season. Teams are defined by their losses, and great teams do not lose to lousy teams.

If everyone who filled out a ballot that will have some bearing on the final BCS standings decided to honestly follow the instruction, "rank these teams in order, from best to worst," Michigan should be a near-consensus #2.

I think that's enough.

If you don't agree with my second paragraph, you'll probably disagree with most of this post. Fine. I understand your motivation and I respect, at least, your right to feel the way you do. If you care to try and explain the way you feel in the comments section, go for it. My request is that you refrain from the use of the argument "Michigan had their chance," since USC, Florida, Oklahoma, LSU, Arkansas, Texas, and others had their chance to remain undefeated this season, and they all passed. My demand is that you never mention Boise State as a serious National Championship contender in this century.