Yearly Archives: 2012

BCS Shakedown: Ducks and Wildcats and Leprechauns Oh My

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ImageComputer Crash: By now we all know 9th ranked Texas A&M (15th ranked during the upset) and “Johnny Football” Manziel, sent shock waves down the spine of the BCS computer ranking system, as the Aggies knocked off Alabama last Saturday 29-24 in Tuscaloosa.

With that said, here’s a check up on the new top 4 BCS Standings and Projected Bowl Predictions according to ESPN.com:

BCS Standings: Top 4 as of November 11th: 1. Kansas State 2. Oregon 3. Notre Dame 4. Alabama

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With the Crimson Tide rolling to 4th in the BCS polls it is likely that they will be on the outside looking in for this year’s national championship contest. Alabama would have to win out (including the SEC championship game) and hope Kansas State, Oregon, or Notre Dame loses, to even have a chance at the title.

This means Kansas State and Oregon will likely be on a crash course to meet up in Miami for the title game. The Wildcats remaining opponents include Baylor and newly ranked number 15 Texas, while the Ducks will face number 13 Stanford and number 11 Oregon State.

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Both programs could see upsets coming their way, ( K-State falling to Baylor or Texas, Oregon dropping either Stanford or Oregon State) but both are projected to play in the championship game for now. While we can’t count out Notre Dame, with games left against Wake Forest and USC, they simply would not outrank the Wildcats or Ducks if all were to win out. Dame, much like Bama, would need K-State or Oregon to lose.

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Predicted Bowl Projections: While there are 35 bowl games in all, I will only focus on the BCS Bowl games. Here’s the projections as picked by ESPN’ Mark Schlabach and Brad Edwards:

1. Discover BCS National Championship: Kansas State vs Oregon (both projected the same pick)

2.  Rose Bowl:  Nebraska vs Notre Dame (both projected the same pick)

3. Allstate Sugar Bowl:  Georgia vs Clemson (both projected the same pick)

4. Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs LSU (Schlabach’ pick) or Oklahoma vs Texas A&M (Edwards’ pick)

5. Discover Orange Bowl:  Florida State vs Rutgers (both projected the same pick)

Here’s a link to the other 30 bowl projections: http://espn.go.com/college-football/bowls/projections?season=2012

Final Thoughts: Seeing as how my last BCS article prediction (Oregon beating Bama in the title game) is shot out of the water now, I’d like to re-do my prediction. I whole-heatedly believe Oregon will win this year’s BCS National Championship against Kansas State, with the Ducks beating the Wildcats 30-24 in Miami.

Red Sox Sign Backup Catcher David Ross

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ImageDone Deal: The Boston Red Sox inked career backup catcher David Ross to a two-year 6.2 million dollar deal this Wednesday. Ross spent the last four seasons with the Atlanta Braves, backing up All-Star catcher Brian McCann, where he compiled 24 HR, 84 RBI, and a .268 batting average in that span. Ross is a career .238 hitter with 84 HR and 248 RBI. BoSox fans may not remember Ross, but he has played in Beantown before. He made 8 game appearances back in 2008.

ImageRoss Can Be Resourceful: Ross gives the Red Sox a viable back up option to help give starter Jarrod Saltalamacchia a break during the regular season (pending the Sox don’t try to ship Salty elsewhere this offseason). Ross, a 10 year veteran, can also help give a few catching pointers to the Sox young catcher Ryan Lavarnway (1 year of MLB experience). This inexpensive move helps bolster the position and brings flexibility to the catching depth chart.

Your Thoughts: With the Red Sox recent off-season move, what do you think their next one should be? Leave a comment below.

Throwback Thursday – Pats vs. Colts Rivalry

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I’m not exactly sure how I feel about the Patriots/Colts rivalry with the absence of Peyton Manning. Regardless, here’s a few throwbacks that will help you relive the intensity that ensued when the two AFC power houses would clash. Enjoy! … Continue reading →

C’s Keep Rolling

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The Celtics extended their win streak to 3 games after beating the Jazz 98-93 last night at the Garden. Rondo only had 6 points before leaving in the 2nd half with a hurt ankle. They said that he could come back but didn’t want to risk it. He did record 10 assists so he is still in the chase of the record, but did not hit the 11 mark.

Paul Pierce continued to show he can still play with 23 points, including three 3-pointers. Jeff Green stepped up big and put up 16 points in 27 minutes, while Garnett added 11 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists (one of which is worth watching if you check out ESPN today). He tossed it behind his back to Barbosa and it looked like he knew he was going to before the ball was even near him.

Speaking of Leandro Barbosa, talk about a great pick up. He hit 6 out of his 8 shots and put up 16 points while recording a game-high +13 points. The weirdest part about this game for me was that Jason Terry didn’t take one 3-pointer. I know it doesn’t matter since we are winning, but we are gonna need some outside shooters when we play bigger teams like the Lakers. The Celtics play the Nets tonight in Brooklyn at 8 p.m.

Rondo Streaking

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It seems as though Rajon Rondo has set an NBA record for most consecutive games with 11+ assists at 28 games. Everyone thought that he failed to do it after he tied the record last week, when he only got 10 assists in the stat book. However, today, the league statisticians went back and looked at the tape and saw that he assisted Brandon Bass in the 3rd quarter of that game, but the assist was given to Terry.  So its official, Rondo solely owns that record.

It seemed to end again on Monday night against the Bulls. But wait, once again it seems as though he had an assist that the scorers are looking into now. If they award it to him, he will have an active 29 game streak going.

Most people could care less about that record. He is on pace for another record, if he can keep up the solid play and I don’t jinx him. He is 3rd all-time with a 31-game streak of double digit assists. He is behind John Stockton (37 games), and Magic Johnson (46 games), probably the two best point guards of all time. The Celtics play tonight against the Jazz. Go C’s!

On a side note: Fab Melo and Kris Joseph have been assigned to the D-League with the Maine Red Claws, just as Danny Ainge anticipated.

Jets Still Talking

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Everyone knows that the Jets always talk trash. It’s in their nature. But this time, they are talking trash about one of their own. The New York Daily News polled 12 Jet’s players to see if they agreed with Rex Ryan’s decision to stick with Mark Sanchez after starting 3-6 this season. The media is all over it because they want to see Tebow and have the Tebow-mania frenzy that we saw last season.

An anonymous defensive starter said, “He’s terrible,”. This is true. The guy only completes 52% of his passes and it seems like he gets intercepted every other play when get gets in the Red Zone. Another player said there is “no other viable option”, meaning that Tebow is of little help to the offense.

Let’s hope that this can continue to pile up and eat away at the players so we can watch the Pats demolish them on Thanksgiving night. Go Pats!

The Significant Others of Pro Athletes

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Everyone can breathe easy…it’s Hump Day. The weekend’s that much closer. In the meantime, this might help get you through the work week. Here are some of the hottest significant others of professional athletes today. Boston athletes are holding down … Continue reading →

Look on the Bright Side

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Not much good news in the NHL this season, but there is one thing that Bruin’s fans can be happy about. Nathan Horton is now healthy and will play if and when the season starts. He last played on January 22nd after his 2nd concussion in just 7 months. His first concussion came against the Canucks in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals. He scored 17 goals and had 15 assists last season before getting sidelined in January.

This will be big for the Bruins who struggled to score at the end of last season. Horton is a proven scorer with a 30+ goal season and many 20+ goal seasons. Can’t wait for the black and gold to get started again.

Pats Defense Will Step Up

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So it’s clear that the Pats have some problems on defense. I don’t think there is one fan of football that would say different. Myself, along with every other Patriots fan out there, lost a few days off our lives going down the stretch in Sunday’s game against Buffalo. Although I’ve been ranting and raving about it with the rest of them, I have faith in Bill. In one way or another, unbeknownst to us, he is taking care of it. And it starts this week.

Facing off against a surprising 6-3 Colts team, a lot of people are feeling a bit nervous heading into Sunday’s game. Granted it will be weird playing the Colts without Manning, Andrew Luck has settled nicely into Indy, posing quite the threat to our porous secondary. On the other hand, Indy’s run game is nothing to rave about. With the addition of Talib and the lack of a running threat, I’m thinking our secondary will come out firing. I mean it’s hard to complain about our offense, and nonetheless, Brady has that under control. It leaves that much more emphasis on the D this week. From one of the biggest Pats D critics, I’m expecting big things this week.