Sick of the Void?

Posted on January 31, 2012 by christoph131

What is the point of Spring? (Assuming that spring starts after the Super Bowl on Sunday) And for those of you that say pre-season baseball, just stop. Can’t think of anything? Exactly. After football season, there is nothing good to watch until the Stanley Cup and NBA playoffs in June. Sure, Baseball starts in April, but it’s a long season.

There have been multiple articles about how College Basketball could easily fill that void. No one pays attention to college basketball until after the Super Bowl anyways. What if their season were to start around New Years and continue throughout the spring, with March Madness turning into May Madness. Of course there will be people that hate change (just like the BCS system) but it really does make sense. All of those students will not have to leave class for a month when their teams make it all the way. The semester will be over and they can focus purely on basketball. Also, they will only have to take one semester of light workloads, rather than both fall and spring.

“I’m partial, but I think the tournament is the greatest 3½ weeks of the sporting year. I think the tournament is powerful enough that it could be pushed back.” Says Pete Gillen of CBS Sports

I agree. I was in San Diego last year during San Diego States run in the tourney (before they lost to UConn), and it was electric. My friend and I were the only ones rooting for UConn and even then, we were scared to show it at times. However, when you’re at Hooters with a bunch of guys from the Navy, it’s hard to focus on anything but the obvious (drinks, babes, and wings).

College television ratings would sky rocket because there is nothing else to watch, everyone would be able to go out to bars and watch all the games because we would be out of school, rather than using our smartphones to get up-to-date scores, and we would have something to be excited about when we’re awaiting the Bruins to win the Stanley Cup and the Celtics to die off. What do you think?

College Weekend Round Up

Posted on January 30, 2012 by christoph131

Kentucky, Missouri, Murray State, Syracuse, Duke, Baylor, & UNC all won with ease this weekend solidifying their spots in the top 10 for at least one more week. #5 Kansas lost by 8 against unranked Iowa State, which is their first loss in the Big 12 this season. Pittsburgh beat #10 Georgetown in which I predicted would be a tough game as always. #19 UConn continued to struggle against Notre Dame on Sunday. Lastly, #3 Ohio State beat #22 Michigan in a battle of the Big Ten.

NCAA Weekend Preview

Posted on January 27, 2012 by christoph131

I am going to just skip over Friday because the only ranked game consists of #23 Harvard vs. Yale… Not even gonna touch that one. On Saturday, #1 Kentucky looks to stay perfect in the SEC against LSU, which shouldn’t be tough considering their star-studded line up. #2 Missouri looks to bounce back from their loss against Oklahoma State with a game against Texas Tech. Normally you could count Texas Tech out but the way Missouri played the other night, they could be in trouble. #4 Syracuse will face a tough test when they play always-strong West Virginia in a battle of the Big East. #5 Kansas will most likely run over Iowa State, even though they have a pretty decent record so far. #10 Georgetown plays usually-ranked Pittsburgh in a big game. Even though the Panthers are unranked, they are going to give Georgetown a run for their money at 4:00 on ESPN.

On Sunday, #22 Michigan will look to take down power house #3 Ohio State. This in my opinion will be the game of the weekend. At night, Notre Dame will look to take advantage of #19 UConn’s recent struggles. However, UConn will be wearing their new uniforms (click here) , so maybe they can find some sort of spark that they have been lacking in recent weeks.

Nike’s New Uniforms

Posted on January 26, 2012 by christoph131

We all know about the Oregon Ducks and their uniforms that change every week. Now Nike has released a new Platinum line for 9 powerhouse basketball teams (both men and womens? because everyone cares about that) . The teams that were chosen to wear the Hyper Elite Platinum uniforms are Arizona, UConn, Duke, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina and Syracuse men and the Baylor and UConn women. Being a big UConn fan, I like the idea of changing it up, maybe they can play better too! On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind seeing UNC and Duke lose in those colors, or any colors for that matter. These jerseys will debut on Sunday when UConn plays Notre Dame. Each teams jersey has a little bit different coloring, but for the most part look the same.

Updated College MVP

Posted on January 24, 2012 by christoph131

A little over a month ago, I took a poll to see who everyone thought the MVP of college basketball was. Jarred Sullinger received the most votes, with Perry Jones III came in second. I thought it would be fun to take it again to see how players have grown (or fell off). I used the same exact players that I did a month ago, with updated stats and ranks. I think that many things have changed since the last poll. UConn completely fell off and I don’t see Jeremy Lamb as being a top 5 player anymore. Even though Kansas has lost 3 games, they are still one of the top teams thanks to their superstar Thomas Robinson, who averages a double-double and is a beast on both ends of the floor.

Just about everyone’s stats have dropped off a bit, but that is to be expected with the heart of the season playing out. So who do you guys think is the MVP of the league so far, just over halfway through the season?

Complicating Finish

Posted on January 23, 2012 by christoph131

This is clearly old news by now but an article of this magnitude deserves a lot of careful thinking rather than just my normal routine of writing down the first thing on my mind. Former Penn State Coach Joe Paterno has passed away due to complications from lung cancer (AKA Jerry Sandusky inadvertantly murdering him after touching children (allegedly, but totally happened)) Joe Pa lived just over 85 years and coached a 46 seasons for a total of 409 victories. He now holds the record for most wins by a BCS coach when he won his 409th game on October 29, 2011. So at least he finished on top. Sort of. Unfortunately, he will forever be linked with the scandal that we are all sick of hearing about.

I believe that he should be remembered as one of the greatest coaches of all time and the face of NCAA football for years to come. Keep in mind, he didn’t molest anyone, he was just protecting a friend that he believed was innocent. If someone told me that my best friend touched a little boy without any evidence, I don’t know that I would report him either. I do not agree that he should have kept it a secret, but to blame him completely for this is just absurd.

Years from now, no one is going to remember that Sandusky douche. They are going to remember Joe Paterno, the winningest coach of all time, as a man who is linked with the molestation of a child. This is certainly not fair. Obviously I have my opinion and you will have yours, but I am just curious where everyone stands on the subject. If you just select the latter answer because of the media and negative connotations towards him, just forget it. I would like to see how many people believe that he was really a bad person or not.

Weekend College Round Up

Posted on January 23, 2012 by christoph131

Tough weekend for top teams as #1 Syracuse was handed their first loss by unranked Notre Dame. This loss means that only #10 Murray State is undefeated in the top 25. #3 Baylor was handed their second loss in as many games in a one point battle against #5 Missouri (their other loss was last Monday against #7 Kansas), so chances are they will still be top ten or at the very least top thirteen.

Florida State is quickly becoming my favorite team with victories over my two least favorite teams (Buzzer beater 3 pointer over #4 Duke this weekend, and over #3 North Carolina last weekend)

#7 Kansas barely snuck by unranked texas with a 3 point win over the Long Horns. Unfortunately for any Husky fans (like myself) #11 UConn was handed their fifth loss by a sub-par and sub-.500 Tennessee team

Getting a little off topic, I hope everyone enjoyed their break and is ready to see Boston Sports Blog do big things and I hope you all keep up with us, as we will try to bring you the best of the sports world every day.

College Recap

Posted on January 16, 2012 by christoph131

For those of you too focused on the NFL playoffs this weekend, you missed a pretty good weekend in college basketball. #5 Ohio State defeated #8 Indiana in a battle of the Big Ten powerhouses. #6 Duke came back against unranked Clemson to upset them late in the second half. More importantly, #3 UNC got smoked by 33 points against unranked Florida State (FSU). I only put that because we all know what FSU stands for and thats exactly what they did. #16 UConn handed Notre Dame their first home loss in 29 games, and #1 Syracuse and #2 Kentucky both held on to keep their top rankings in tact.

#1 Syracuse looks to stay perfect against unranked Pittsburgh tonight in a battle of the Big East. Another good game to watch for those of you who don’t wanna watch the Bruins win and the Celtics lose, is #4 Baylor vs. #10 Kansas, where Baylor looks to stay undefeated in a conference battle.

Gone Bowlin’

Posted on January 3, 2012 by TOB$

Two great BCS Bowl matchups yesterday. #5 Oregon edged out #10 Wisconsin 45-38 and #3 Oklahoma State amazingly figured out how to kick a field goal through the uprights and beat #4 Stanford 41-38 in overtime.

First off, Nike never fails to impress by putting out incredible uniforms game after game for Oregon. Oregon sported shiny numbers and mirrored helmets, both of which matched pretty well with the trophy thier program earned from its first Rose Bowl win in the last 95 years.

Their game was highlighted by monster runs from speedster De’Anthony Thomas, and three passing touchdowns from Darren Thomas. Despite 621 yards of total offense from Oregon, Wisconsin had a solid chance to win the game in its final minutes. After Jared Abbrederis caught a 29 yard pass from Russell Wilson, Oregon forced a fumble to recover the ball at their own 27. Wisconsin got the ball back and charged 62 yards downfield to Oregons 25 yard line, where they failed to spike the ball before the clock ran out, ending the game.

As if the Rose Bowl wasn’t chaotic enough, the Fiesta Bowl proved even better for those who stayed up to watch it. It was two great college teams, with two of the best NFL prospects on the field. Wide Reciever Justin Blackmon of Oklahoma State came up big everytime his team needed a play and ended the game 8 receptions, 186 yards, and 3 touchdowns. On the other side, consensus future number 1 draft pick Andrew Luck, quarterback of Stanford, completed 27-31 passes for 347 yards and consistently put his team in a posistion to win the game.

Unfortunately for Stanford, the game came down to their redshirt freshman kicker Jordan Williamson. The kid just didn’t have it in him. After Oklahoma State called a timeout to ice him before a potential game winning 35 yard chip shot, the entire audience could clearly see he was going to blow it. It was a storybook choke for Oklahoma State, the kicker tried to kill the ball and hooked the ball way left.

Overtime went almost as expected after that. Stanford went first and after a few runs, a false start and a short pass (which I thought was horrible playcall- 2nd and 10 you need to put the game in the hands of Luck, who went 5-5 in the final drive of the 4th quarter), Williamson missed a 43 yard field goal to the left. (To Williamson’s defense, the second snap was not the best and the holder left the laces in, which is very distracting and harder to hit for a kicker.) Oklahoma State settled for a chipshot 22 yarder for their kicker and won the Fiesta Bowl.

Unless LSU beats Alabama and ends the season with an undefeated record, there once again will be the question of whether or not there should be a playoff for Division I football. Although I think LSU is clearly the best team in college football this year, I think all four of these teams could have contended with Alabama and LSU and made a playoff very interesting.

RG3 Gets the W

Posted on December 30, 2011 by nolankartholl

In case you missed the defensive battle last night in the Alamo Bowl, I suggest you check out the highlights because this one provided some fireworks. By defensive battle, I mean that Baylor and Washington combined for 123 points and 17 TDs (holy hell). Surprisingly, I don’t think RG3 was the story of the game, nor do I think Baylor’s running back, Terrance Ganaway, was the MVP. I’m talking about Washington sophomore quarterback, Keith Price. This guy threw for 4 TDs, rushed for another 3 and dropped 438 yards on the Baylor D. I was watching the highlights on Sportscenter last night and they totally passed him over. I mean he legitimately almost beat the #12 ranked Baylor single handed. He made virtually no mistakes, out performed the Heisman winner and broke multiple bowl records. I am an enormous fan of Sportscenter, but if they have one flaw its really focusing on superstars and not top performances. This should have been the real story of this game, even though Baylor hoisted the trophy, and he got almost no air time. I mean Price is probably 19 years old and he’s already looking like a high first round draft pick in the upcoming years. Oh, and he’s from Compton. Straight G.