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.

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.

BSB Pick of the Day

Posted on January 4, 2012 by davecouture

Okay so it hasn’t been a great start to this whole new pick of the day thing, but I’m confident I’ll get back on track and hopefully it starts right here. The Orange Bowl between West Virginia and Clemson looks to be one of the more exciting games of the bowl season. With the spread at 3 so far this game is definitely a toss-up for me, so I’m gonna go with the over of 63 on this one. The teams combined average over 68 points per game this season and I see it continuing as neither team has a top-tier defense. I’m going with the over of 63 as my pick of the day.

College Round Up

Posted on December 29, 2011 by christoph131

Wednesday was not a good day for undefeated teams in college basketball. Both #4 Louisville and #13 Indiana lost their games, leaving only Syracuse, Baylor, Missouri, and Murray State as the undefeated teams in the top 25. (Keep in mind that Murray State has not played any high ranked teams, and won’t for the rest of the season so it is tough to tell how good they are) Baylor barely slipped by #14 Mississippi State in the final seconds of a close match.

#1 Syracuse, #2 Ohio State, & #3 Kentucky all won by more than 20 points, and with Louisville losing just their first game, they will most likely still remain in the top 8. #9 UConn rode Jeremy Lamb’s 22 points to a slight win over USF. As much as I hate to admit it, UNC will most likely move up to the 4^th rank and Duke & Baylor will round out the next two spots, due to their weak upcoming schedule.

College Athlete Contracts

Posted on December 28, 2011 by christoph131

There is much debate over whether or not college athletes should be receiving multi-year contracts, or if they should stick with their one-year renewable scholarships that they have now. Many schools have objected to this new NCAA ruling, which means it will be put on hold until they can reach an agreement. There are pro’s and con’s to each side.

Players- Even if they are injured on the field, or they fail to produce the highest numbers, they will still be able to attend school with their original financial help. This means, if there is a freshman star quarterback, the team will still need to cover the costs of the sophomores, juniors, and seniors, even though they are not playing.

Teams- These are mostly cons. They are stuck with players even if they have bad conduct issues, bad performance, as long as they can obtain the minimum GPA. Players have all the power, they can leave and opt out at any time for professional leagues.

I don’t know if it will go through but the board of the NCAA seems to be pushing it pretty hard. It would not be implemented for at least another year or two but it’s a good thing to think about.