Sorry for the delay. Hopefully, you've already wandered over to SportingNews.com to see today's column. If not, here you go.
The lead? The NFL (mid-)season's biggest debate: Peyton Manning or Drew Brees?
But, like that creepy Enterprise car commercial, why choose? I can have the black nightie AND the red one! (Just don't ask me to tell you which player is which.)
The fact is: They're co-MVPs. If Peyton loses this weekend to the Pats, Brees will nudge ahead. If the Colts finish 15-1 and the Saints finish 14-2, Peyton will nudge ahead. It's a toss-up.
(I'm partial to Brees. Peyton doesn't need the help -- Brees is a model for every 6-foot-nuthin' QB in the world that they can dominate the NFL.)
More you'll find in today's column:
*There is not much less of a predictive outcome than the Cavs beating the Magic in Orlando last night. Show me something in May, when Orlando has their TWO stretch-4s back.
*Dan LeFevour is awesome, and it is only after he is gone that fans will appreciate the level at which he has dominated college football in his career. Last night: 6 TDs.
*I'm very very excited about TCU-Utah on Saturday.
*I'm less excited about Bears-49ers tonight.
*Brandon Jennings is getting (even) better.
*Of course the Phillies won't trade Cole Hamels.
*The joke that is Notre Dame football coaching doesn't end with Charlie Weis.
There's a lot more there -- instead of having it start your morning, have it start your afternoon? Complete column here.
(Alas: Nothing about the Tennessee football botched-burglary debacle. But presume I'm shaking my head in disbelief.)
Back to the world of sports media execs...
-- D.S.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Huffington Post Sports Launches
Huffington Post Sports launched today, edited by Whitney Snyder, introduced by Arianna Huffington and it looks like they took my advice.
Their contributors list includes the outstanding Dave Zirin, Jeff Ma and Peter Casey -- three folks I ID'ed back in late August as ideal to pitch in to HuffPo Sports.
Other contributors on Day 1: Mike Lupica(?!), agent Arn Tellem, sports stat gurus David Berri (Wages of Wins) and Wayne Winston (Mathletics and last seen working blue on TrueHoop); Chris Tsakalakis (President of StubHub); blogger Eric Angevine; athlete Shannon Rowbery; lawya Roger Abrams; and columnist Paula Duffy.
They all get it: Promotion through contributing to Huffington Post is a great way to build their brands -- the front door of HuffPo is powerful enough that links there can turn HuffPo Sports into a player.
One piece of it is landing "name" contributors. One piece of it is HuffPo's expertise in SEO and other traffic-generating site optimization. One piece of it is curating the best of what's out there on other sports sites, particularly ones breaking news.
And the other -- possibly most important -- piece is HuffPo's ability to latch onto the most popular memes in sports on any given day and inserting itself in the middle of them: The topics that transcend avid sports fans and appeal either to the casual fan or the non-fan (the recent women's soccer thing comes to mind). The site currently leads with Sammy Sosa's freakish face, which was No. 1 on Google Trends on Monday.
The site is going to be successful because the gameplan is simple and extremely effective -- it's the old Green Bay Packers "Lombardi sweep" for the Internet age.
Will it be embraced by the rest of sports media -- particularly the sports-blog universe? Frankly, it doesn't need to be.
(Update: And, in its first 24 hours, it's not. It's being mocked for the most part. One description was "Sports Site For Fans Who Don't Really Care About Sports." You jest, but that is called competitive differentiation. The landscape to reach sports fans is competitive enough as it is; if HuffPo recognizes an underserved "casual fan" audience and serves that audience well, that's to their credit.)
But if the growth trajectory of the original Huffington Post is any template, the number of contributors will skyrocket over the next few months -- sports bloggers are nothing if not happy to write for free, if it means a little extra self-promotion and the promise of new traffic -- and the page views will be fueled with help from the HuffPo.com front-page firehose.
It's a smart spin-off and a solid debut.
-- D.S.
Their contributors list includes the outstanding Dave Zirin, Jeff Ma and Peter Casey -- three folks I ID'ed back in late August as ideal to pitch in to HuffPo Sports.
Other contributors on Day 1: Mike Lupica(?!), agent Arn Tellem, sports stat gurus David Berri (Wages of Wins) and Wayne Winston (Mathletics and last seen working blue on TrueHoop); Chris Tsakalakis (President of StubHub); blogger Eric Angevine; athlete Shannon Rowbery; lawya Roger Abrams; and columnist Paula Duffy.
They all get it: Promotion through contributing to Huffington Post is a great way to build their brands -- the front door of HuffPo is powerful enough that links there can turn HuffPo Sports into a player.
One piece of it is landing "name" contributors. One piece of it is HuffPo's expertise in SEO and other traffic-generating site optimization. One piece of it is curating the best of what's out there on other sports sites, particularly ones breaking news.
And the other -- possibly most important -- piece is HuffPo's ability to latch onto the most popular memes in sports on any given day and inserting itself in the middle of them: The topics that transcend avid sports fans and appeal either to the casual fan or the non-fan (the recent women's soccer thing comes to mind). The site currently leads with Sammy Sosa's freakish face, which was No. 1 on Google Trends on Monday.
The site is going to be successful because the gameplan is simple and extremely effective -- it's the old Green Bay Packers "Lombardi sweep" for the Internet age.
Will it be embraced by the rest of sports media -- particularly the sports-blog universe? Frankly, it doesn't need to be.
(Update: And, in its first 24 hours, it's not. It's being mocked for the most part. One description was "Sports Site For Fans Who Don't Really Care About Sports." You jest, but that is called competitive differentiation. The landscape to reach sports fans is competitive enough as it is; if HuffPo recognizes an underserved "casual fan" audience and serves that audience well, that's to their credit.)
But if the growth trajectory of the original Huffington Post is any template, the number of contributors will skyrocket over the next few months -- sports bloggers are nothing if not happy to write for free, if it means a little extra self-promotion and the promise of new traffic -- and the page views will be fueled with help from the HuffPo.com front-page firehose.
It's a smart spin-off and a solid debut.
-- D.S.
Wednesday 11/11 Quickie: College Hoops,
ManBrees, Wade, Hot Seats, Northwestern
You can keep Kansas. You can have Kentucky (but not Wall!) For the most intriguing story of the college hoops season (today's SN column lead), I'll take my alma mater, Northwestern.
Why? Because they've never been to the NCAA Tournament -- and this year is their best shot ever to do it. NU even makes Sporting News' projection of the Tournament field.
This is huge. Sure, they might only be a 20-win team, not even worthy of the Top 25 (I'll take it!) But there is something compelling about the "never-been" novelty.
That's not to say Kansas won't be a great team -- or that Kentucky, as I argue, isn't the most intriguing college basketball team since UNLV 1991. (Go ahead: Name a bigger one.)
It's just that Northwestern is.... well, Northwestern.
The rest of the column today is actually loaded: I coin the name "ManBrees" to account for the NFL midseason awards co-MVP of Manning and Brees... I salute Dwyane Wade (and Joakim Noah!)... I mock RichRod and Weis (what else is new)... and I have a ton of Hot Stove.
Check it out here. More later.
-- D.S.
Why? Because they've never been to the NCAA Tournament -- and this year is their best shot ever to do it. NU even makes Sporting News' projection of the Tournament field.
This is huge. Sure, they might only be a 20-win team, not even worthy of the Top 25 (I'll take it!) But there is something compelling about the "never-been" novelty.
That's not to say Kansas won't be a great team -- or that Kentucky, as I argue, isn't the most intriguing college basketball team since UNLV 1991. (Go ahead: Name a bigger one.)
It's just that Northwestern is.... well, Northwestern.
The rest of the column today is actually loaded: I coin the name "ManBrees" to account for the NFL midseason awards co-MVP of Manning and Brees... I salute Dwyane Wade (and Joakim Noah!)... I mock RichRod and Weis (what else is new)... and I have a ton of Hot Stove.
Check it out here. More later.
-- D.S.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Tuesday 11/10 Quickie: Wishful Thinking,
Steelers, LJ, LeBron, Weis, Boeheim, Isiah
So I was inspired this morning by two bits of wishful thinking:
First, that LeBron might -- just might -- play for your contender, even if you don't have Knicks-like money to throw at him.
If winning -- not just winning, but winning epically -- matters so much to LeBron, then the obvious answer is for him to play a series of one-year, league-minimum deals with a new contender each year, racking up titles and turning himself into the living embodiment of Championship. It sounds far-fetched, but anyone with billion-dollar-global-brand aspirations like James needs to think that way. (And it would be insanely good for the NBA -- the one exception to the "wouldn't it be nice if all players stayed with one team their entire careers" blue-sky thinking.)
Second, that Notre Dame might -- just might -- hire Urban Meyer away from Florida. This won't happen, because ND won't think big enough. They think that if they offer him $6 million, he'd leave. (a) That's not enough of a difference from what he makes now (and Florida would give him a raise anyway), and (b) Meyer has more talent in the next three years on his roster than he's had in the past three years.
I have a very simple way the Irish can ensure this will happen: Offer him $100 million -- $10 million a year for 10 years. That's more than double the highest-paid coach (Pete Carroll) and unprecedented security, worthy of the best college football coach... dare I say: Of all time?
It seems like a ludicrous number until you realize how much impact a great coach has on a college football program. Now imagine the greatest coach at the historically greatest college football program. They'll make back that $100 mil on the next TV deal, alone. He's worth it.
(Not that Cincy's Brian Kelly is a bad runner-up: In two years, Kelly could have ND competing for BCS championships... at $3 million a year.)
Lots more today:
*Larry Johnson!
*Jim Boeheim!
*Isiah Thomas!
*Deonte Thompson and Ed Davis!
*SEC officiating!
*Manu!
*Kareem!
See the whole column here. More later.
-- D.S.
First, that LeBron might -- just might -- play for your contender, even if you don't have Knicks-like money to throw at him.
If winning -- not just winning, but winning epically -- matters so much to LeBron, then the obvious answer is for him to play a series of one-year, league-minimum deals with a new contender each year, racking up titles and turning himself into the living embodiment of Championship. It sounds far-fetched, but anyone with billion-dollar-global-brand aspirations like James needs to think that way. (And it would be insanely good for the NBA -- the one exception to the "wouldn't it be nice if all players stayed with one team their entire careers" blue-sky thinking.)
Second, that Notre Dame might -- just might -- hire Urban Meyer away from Florida. This won't happen, because ND won't think big enough. They think that if they offer him $6 million, he'd leave. (a) That's not enough of a difference from what he makes now (and Florida would give him a raise anyway), and (b) Meyer has more talent in the next three years on his roster than he's had in the past three years.
I have a very simple way the Irish can ensure this will happen: Offer him $100 million -- $10 million a year for 10 years. That's more than double the highest-paid coach (Pete Carroll) and unprecedented security, worthy of the best college football coach... dare I say: Of all time?
It seems like a ludicrous number until you realize how much impact a great coach has on a college football program. Now imagine the greatest coach at the historically greatest college football program. They'll make back that $100 mil on the next TV deal, alone. He's worth it.
(Not that Cincy's Brian Kelly is a bad runner-up: In two years, Kelly could have ND competing for BCS championships... at $3 million a year.)
Lots more today:
*Larry Johnson!
*Jim Boeheim!
*Isiah Thomas!
*Deonte Thompson and Ed Davis!
*SEC officiating!
*Manu!
*Kareem!
See the whole column here. More later.
-- D.S.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Monday 11/09 Quickie: Cowboys, TCU,
Unbeatens, Freeman, College Hoops, More
"Team to beat" is a wonderfully elastic concept -- one week, it's the Eagles. The next week, it's the Cowboys. (It's a good lead for today's SN column.)
In a sport like pro football, where any individual win or loss is not season-crushing, it's a useful construction.
In college football, it's a little stricter: It's been Texas and Florida/Alabama winner since August (if not earlier) and no Utah-style awesomeness from TCU will change that... until 2 of those top 3 lose.
In college hoops, which starts tonight, UNC was the team to beat wire-to-wire last season -- this year, it seems pretty clear that Kansas and Kentucky are on a collision course. (Obviously, college hoops regular season losses, at least among the elite, don't make a difference in a team's ability to win the championship.)
As with every Monday, it's a loaded column today -- with comments about every NFL game, a bunch of items about the weekend in college football and a lot more.
See the whole thing here. More later.
-- D.S.
In a sport like pro football, where any individual win or loss is not season-crushing, it's a useful construction.
In college football, it's a little stricter: It's been Texas and Florida/Alabama winner since August (if not earlier) and no Utah-style awesomeness from TCU will change that... until 2 of those top 3 lose.
In college hoops, which starts tonight, UNC was the team to beat wire-to-wire last season -- this year, it seems pretty clear that Kansas and Kentucky are on a collision course. (Obviously, college hoops regular season losses, at least among the elite, don't make a difference in a team's ability to win the championship.)
As with every Monday, it's a loaded column today -- with comments about every NFL game, a bunch of items about the weekend in college football and a lot more.
See the whole thing here. More later.
-- D.S.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
This Week's BlogPoll Top 25: Oreg-ugh
UPDATE: I totally forgot to add in USC. No subliminal loathing there, or anything. Anyway, sorry Navy: You're out. USC is in -- below Oregon and above Ohio State... where they belong.
For the first time in a long time, I have Florida-Texas as 1-2 in my BlogPoll ballot. Even with Florida's struggles offensively, the defense is the best in college football in a decade.
I still love TCU. TCU is this year's Utah: It will go undefeated this season, including a BCS-level bowl win over a "name" team (Alabama? Oh, the irony!), but finish the season at No. 2.
I still love Cincy -- although giving up 40+ to UConn doesn't say much about Cincy's D. Alabama has the opposite problem, although Bama's offense DID look better yesterday.
And we can all now stop worrying about the Boise-Oregon ranking situation (however, Boise fans should be concerned that TCU has the edge for the non-BCS BCS at-large bowl slot).
But, honestly, after the Top 10... I'm at a loss. I fully 'fess up it could be a mess. Check it out, with more comments below:
I dropped Penn State out entirely, even though their losses were to ranked Ohio State and ranked Iowa (I usually give a lot of credit for "good" losses). But both were at home, and the rest of PSU's resume makes Boise's schedule look good.
 | ||
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida |  2 |
| 2 | Texas |  1 |
| 3 | TCU | 1 |
| 4 | Cincinnati | |
| 5 | Alabama | |
| 6 | Boise State | 1 |
| 7 | Georgia Tech | 3 |
| 8 | Utah | 3 |
| 9 | Arizona | 9 |
| 10 | LSU | 2 |
| 11 | Oregon | 5 |
| 12 | Southern Cal | 2 |
| 13 | Ohio State | 2 |
| 14 | Houston | 1 |
| 15 | Pittsburgh | 1 |
| 16 | Iowa | 7 |
| 17 | Oregon State | |
| 18 | Virginia Tech | 1 |
| 19 | Miami (Florida) | 2 |
| 20 | Oklahoma State | 1 |
| 21 | Stanford | |
| 22 | South Florida | |
| 23 | Mississippi | |
| 24 | Arkansas | |
| 25 | Clemson | |
| Last week's ballot | ||
Dropped Out: Penn State (#12), Oklahoma (#20), California (#23), Auburn (#24), Notre Dame (#25).
For the first time in a long time, I have Florida-Texas as 1-2 in my BlogPoll ballot. Even with Florida's struggles offensively, the defense is the best in college football in a decade.
I still love TCU. TCU is this year's Utah: It will go undefeated this season, including a BCS-level bowl win over a "name" team (Alabama? Oh, the irony!), but finish the season at No. 2.
I still love Cincy -- although giving up 40+ to UConn doesn't say much about Cincy's D. Alabama has the opposite problem, although Bama's offense DID look better yesterday.
And we can all now stop worrying about the Boise-Oregon ranking situation (however, Boise fans should be concerned that TCU has the edge for the non-BCS BCS at-large bowl slot).
But, honestly, after the Top 10... I'm at a loss. I fully 'fess up it could be a mess. Check it out, with more comments below:
| ||
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | 2 |
| 2 | Texas | 1 |
| 3 | TCU | 1 |
| 4 | Cincinnati | |
| 5 | Alabama | |
| 6 | Boise State | 1 |
| 7 | Georgia Tech | 3 |
| 8 | Utah | 3 |
| 9 | Arizona | 9 |
| 10 | LSU | 2 |
| 11 | Oregon | 5 |
| 12 | Ohio State | 3 |
| 13 | Houston | |
| 14 | Pittsburgh | 2 |
| 15 | Iowa | 6 |
| 16 | Oregon State | |
| 17 | Virginia Tech | 2 |
| 18 | Miami (Florida) | 1 |
| 19 | Oklahoma State | 2 |
| 20 | Stanford | |
| 21 | South Florida | 1 |
| 22 | Mississippi | |
| 23 | Arkansas | |
| 24 | Clemson | |
| 25 | Navy | |
| Last week's ballot | ||
Dropped Out: Penn State (#12), Southern Cal (#14), Oklahoma (#20), California (#23), Auburn (#24), Notre Dame (#25).
I dropped Penn State out entirely, even though their losses were to ranked Ohio State and ranked Iowa (I usually give a lot of credit for "good" losses). But both were at home, and the rest of PSU's resume makes Boise's schedule look good.
Thought for the Day
When the season started, all the talk was about whether Tim Tebow would finish his career as the greatest college football player of all time. That may have been tabled, but what was mostly overlooked -- until recently -- is that this Florida defense is not just the best in the country this season, but is on par with the legendary 2001 Miami D... perhaps even better. And, to that point, among the greatest defenses of all time. This Florida team can absolutely win the national title behind the defense, the special teams and just enough Tebow, Demps, Hernandez and Cooper. With this D, it just won't take much O. It is that good.
Sunday 11/08 (CFB) Quickie
A win's a win. At this point in the season -- perhaps in this era of college football -- "style points" are an archaic concept. Just survive, week to week. It's not that easy, as Iowa and Oregon fans will tell you.
*Florida wins without style -- just the best defense in college football.
*Alabama won without style -- in a slugfest with LSU, that's all you can hope for.
*Cincinnati won a shootout -- Collaros for Heisman!
(There's an interesting corollary to the "style points are dead" idea about Cincy: By all rights, their defense was exposed last night -- the offense may be the most dynamic in the country... it remains to be seen how it would fare against a Texas, Florida or even TCU... but the defense doesn't look like it could stop a top-tier team. I wonder how many voters will use that UConn point total against Cincy. They're still a Top 5 team; I wouldn't rank them ahead of TCU, though.)
*Georgia Tech gritted out a win over Wake.
*My god: Did you see the Houston finish?
And then there's the flip side: Iowa finally couldn't maintain the "win's a win" philosophy. And Oregon got caught in a post-USC hangover. And Penn State made themselves irrelevant. And Notre Dame... oh, Notre Dame.
It must hurt Irish fans to know that the rest of the country revels in the schadenfreude (we all nervously recognize that you're a Brian Kelly hire from being a juggernaut).
And then there was the Jahvid Best injury -- without knowing the specifics of the decision-making to let him play after last week's "mild" concussion, it now seems utterly derelict -- if not criminally, then certainly medically and ethically -- to have let him play. If Urban Meyer could be fined $30K for criticizing SEC officials and Mike Locksley could be suspended for a game for an office altercation, what would you do with the negligent Jeff Tedford?
So Florida-Alabama is set for the SEC title game as a de facto national semifinal (presuming both teams win out through then), but more immediately: TCU could virtually clinch the non-BCS BCS at-large bid by beating Utah next week, and Ohio State could virtually clinch the Big Ten title by beating Iowa next week.
BlogPoll ballot first draft coming a little later today.
-- D.S.
*Florida wins without style -- just the best defense in college football.
*Alabama won without style -- in a slugfest with LSU, that's all you can hope for.
*Cincinnati won a shootout -- Collaros for Heisman!
(There's an interesting corollary to the "style points are dead" idea about Cincy: By all rights, their defense was exposed last night -- the offense may be the most dynamic in the country... it remains to be seen how it would fare against a Texas, Florida or even TCU... but the defense doesn't look like it could stop a top-tier team. I wonder how many voters will use that UConn point total against Cincy. They're still a Top 5 team; I wouldn't rank them ahead of TCU, though.)
*Georgia Tech gritted out a win over Wake.
*My god: Did you see the Houston finish?
And then there's the flip side: Iowa finally couldn't maintain the "win's a win" philosophy. And Oregon got caught in a post-USC hangover. And Penn State made themselves irrelevant. And Notre Dame... oh, Notre Dame.
It must hurt Irish fans to know that the rest of the country revels in the schadenfreude (we all nervously recognize that you're a Brian Kelly hire from being a juggernaut).
And then there was the Jahvid Best injury -- without knowing the specifics of the decision-making to let him play after last week's "mild" concussion, it now seems utterly derelict -- if not criminally, then certainly medically and ethically -- to have let him play. If Urban Meyer could be fined $30K for criticizing SEC officials and Mike Locksley could be suspended for a game for an office altercation, what would you do with the negligent Jeff Tedford?
So Florida-Alabama is set for the SEC title game as a de facto national semifinal (presuming both teams win out through then), but more immediately: TCU could virtually clinch the non-BCS BCS at-large bid by beating Utah next week, and Ohio State could virtually clinch the Big Ten title by beating Iowa next week.
BlogPoll ballot first draft coming a little later today.
-- D.S.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
CFB Saturday Picks and Live-Comment
3 p.m.: Well, well, well. I know I hedged on today's Upset Special (N'western over @Iowa) below, but I have never been more thrilled to be "kinda right, kinda wrong." You can argue that Northwestern needed some "black swan" events -- not just an injury to Ricky Stanzi, but a fumble in the end-zone for a TD -- but Iowa had been living on the edge all season.
Today's Quickie is in the post directly below (or just click here).
On those days when you don't see any upsets coming? That's when you know the upsets are coming. I've had good luck with my Upset Specials this season, but this week's pick -- Northwestern over Iowa (at Iowa) -- is half-hearted. NU has owned Iowa in Iowa recently, but I feel like that karma is about to get balanced out in a big way. And yet: Hope IS a strategy.
1 Florida over Vanderbilt - Big day for Tebow?
2 Texas over C. Florida - It's already a rout.
3 Alabama over 9 LSU -- GOTW
Northwestern over 4 Iowa -- Upset Special (Halfhearted)
5 Cincinnati over UConn -- Another rout of a decent team.
6 TCU over @ San Diego St - Look ahead to Utah.
8 Oregon over @ Stanford - Classic trap?
10 Georgia Tech over Wake Forest - GT best of ACC.
16 Ohio State over Penn State -- GOTW. Really an upset?
12 USC over @ Arizona State - ASU pays for USC's Duck rout
13 Pitt over Syracuse - Irish next week.
14 Utah over New Mexico - Look ahead, Utes.
15 Houston over @ Tulsa - Take the over.
17 Miami over Virginia - Canes need big show.
18 Arizona over Washington State - Cats keep going.
19 Oklahoma St over @ Iowa St - In Ames? Hmm.
20 Cal over Oregon St - With Cal, you never know.
21 Wisconsin over Indiana - Ugh.
22 Notre Dame over Navy - But close.
24 Oklahoma over Nebraska - Fun... in 1985
Other Games of Note
Clemson over Florida State - Bowdenfreude
Purdue over @Michigan - RichRodFail
Kansas State over Kansas - Rivalry
Arkansas over South Carolina - Sucker for Hogs
North Carolina over Duke - But only barely!
Tennessee over Memphis - Vols going over .500
Idaho over Fresno State - Boise's next opponent
Top 5 Games for NEXT Week:
(1) Utah at TCU
(2) Iowa at Ohio State
(3) Idaho at Boise State
(4) Notre Dame at Pitt
(5) W. Virginia at Cincy (Fri)
Today's Quickie is in the post directly below (or just click here).
On those days when you don't see any upsets coming? That's when you know the upsets are coming. I've had good luck with my Upset Specials this season, but this week's pick -- Northwestern over Iowa (at Iowa) -- is half-hearted. NU has owned Iowa in Iowa recently, but I feel like that karma is about to get balanced out in a big way. And yet: Hope IS a strategy.
1 Florida over Vanderbilt - Big day for Tebow?
2 Texas over C. Florida - It's already a rout.
3 Alabama over 9 LSU -- GOTW
Northwestern over 4 Iowa -- Upset Special (Halfhearted)
5 Cincinnati over UConn -- Another rout of a decent team.
6 TCU over @ San Diego St - Look ahead to Utah.
8 Oregon over @ Stanford - Classic trap?
10 Georgia Tech over Wake Forest - GT best of ACC.
16 Ohio State over Penn State -- GOTW. Really an upset?
12 USC over @ Arizona State - ASU pays for USC's Duck rout
13 Pitt over Syracuse - Irish next week.
14 Utah over New Mexico - Look ahead, Utes.
15 Houston over @ Tulsa - Take the over.
17 Miami over Virginia - Canes need big show.
18 Arizona over Washington State - Cats keep going.
19 Oklahoma St over @ Iowa St - In Ames? Hmm.
20 Cal over Oregon St - With Cal, you never know.
21 Wisconsin over Indiana - Ugh.
22 Notre Dame over Navy - But close.
24 Oklahoma over Nebraska - Fun... in 1985
Other Games of Note
Clemson over Florida State - Bowdenfreude
Purdue over @Michigan - RichRodFail
Kansas State over Kansas - Rivalry
Arkansas over South Carolina - Sucker for Hogs
North Carolina over Duke - But only barely!
Tennessee over Memphis - Vols going over .500
Idaho over Fresno State - Boise's next opponent
Top 5 Games for NEXT Week:
(1) Utah at TCU
(2) Iowa at Ohio State
(3) Idaho at Boise State
(4) Notre Dame at Pitt
(5) W. Virginia at Cincy (Fri)
Saturday 11/07 (Wall) Quickie
7:15 p.m. kickoffs make for very long Saturdays...
The John Wall Era is here: 27 pts and 9 ast in his exhibition debut for Kentucky. Folks who make preseason All-America teams really need to adjust, if they don't have the best player in college basketball on there. (15 years into the one-and-done era, I can't believe that All-America voters still have a bias against freshmen. Wait: Yes, I can.)
Boise State wins again -- but, as with the Tulsa win, it's not like they're beating their creampuff schedule decisively (like TCU is). Giving up 25 to LA Tech helps show that the defensive blanking of Oregon in the first week of the season was more because Oregon wasn't ready than because Boise's defense is particularly great.
Did not expect the Celtics' first loss to come to... the Suns. Biggest surprise of the NBA season so far: Phoenix.
LeBron (33 pts) helps Cavs dominate Knicks in NYC: The game was out of reach and boring for almost its entirety. Fans were booing. Exactly the kind of vibe that will lure LeBron!
Nuggets lose for 1st time this season, too... to the Heat.
Kobe youngest to 24,000 points: More impressed that he went over 40 (41) again this season.
Tyler Hansbrough makes his NBA debut: 13 points (hey, not bad -- I try hard not to make Hansbrough-Tebow pro-career comparisons... basketball and football -- particularly PF and QB -- are simply too different. Still, the analogy extends: The impacts will be modest but there.)
MLB Hot Stove: Manny will be back in L.A. Didn't think he'd opt-out of his fat deal, and things have been good for him in L.A. No reason to think they can't win the division next year, too. (But I don't think they can beat the Phillies in the playoffs -- btw, the Phils picked up a $9M option on Cliff Lee. Obviously.)
Urban Meyer fined $30K for criticizing refs: Pocket change. Fines have never and will never be a deterrent. (It's not like they're going to fine him a million dollars.)
Today's CFB Picks coming shortly.
-- D.S.
The John Wall Era is here: 27 pts and 9 ast in his exhibition debut for Kentucky. Folks who make preseason All-America teams really need to adjust, if they don't have the best player in college basketball on there. (15 years into the one-and-done era, I can't believe that All-America voters still have a bias against freshmen. Wait: Yes, I can.)
Boise State wins again -- but, as with the Tulsa win, it's not like they're beating their creampuff schedule decisively (like TCU is). Giving up 25 to LA Tech helps show that the defensive blanking of Oregon in the first week of the season was more because Oregon wasn't ready than because Boise's defense is particularly great.
Did not expect the Celtics' first loss to come to... the Suns. Biggest surprise of the NBA season so far: Phoenix.
LeBron (33 pts) helps Cavs dominate Knicks in NYC: The game was out of reach and boring for almost its entirety. Fans were booing. Exactly the kind of vibe that will lure LeBron!
Nuggets lose for 1st time this season, too... to the Heat.
Kobe youngest to 24,000 points: More impressed that he went over 40 (41) again this season.
Tyler Hansbrough makes his NBA debut: 13 points (hey, not bad -- I try hard not to make Hansbrough-Tebow pro-career comparisons... basketball and football -- particularly PF and QB -- are simply too different. Still, the analogy extends: The impacts will be modest but there.)
MLB Hot Stove: Manny will be back in L.A. Didn't think he'd opt-out of his fat deal, and things have been good for him in L.A. No reason to think they can't win the division next year, too. (But I don't think they can beat the Phillies in the playoffs -- btw, the Phils picked up a $9M option on Cliff Lee. Obviously.)
Urban Meyer fined $30K for criticizing refs: Pocket change. Fines have never and will never be a deterrent. (It's not like they're going to fine him a million dollars.)
Today's CFB Picks coming shortly.
-- D.S.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Follow-Up to D-League Post from Yesterday
Quick follow-up to yesterday's D-League post: I did discount one factor -- a star HS player will make ~$30K for the year he's in the D-League; he can make 5-10X that for one year in college.
I'm not being sarcastic, and it's not an insubstantial factor. (That said: If the D-League succeeds in becoming the prep-to-pro pipeline, they will figure out a way to create a "Beckham Rule.")
-- D.S.
I'm not being sarcastic, and it's not an insubstantial factor. (That said: If the D-League succeeds in becoming the prep-to-pro pipeline, they will figure out a way to create a "Beckham Rule.")
-- D.S.
Friday 11/06 Quickie: LeBron, Yanks,
NFL Week 9, Buckeyes, Hot Stove
I'm a big fan of New York Times NBA writer Howard Beck, who has a nice bit of analysis today -- in honor of LeBron's one trip this season to the Garden -- questioning whether LeBron even needs New York. (Short answer: He doesn't, at least from a business standpoint.)
I saw that piece AFTER I filed this morning's SN column, which leads with the opposite question: Does New York even need LeBron?
Would he make the Knicks better? Absolutely. But does the town need LeBron as an attraction? Hardly. And, the bigger question in light of the Yankees winning the World Series: New York brooks no losers -- is LeBron even up to the challenge of winning a title?
The only reference point we have is last season, when the Cavs were the No. 1 seed in the East -- and, really, missed winning the NBA title by a fairly wide margin, given the expectations. You have to put at least some of that on LeBron, who (or whose marketing campaign) has never shied away from putting Bron above the team, the individual brand above the championship goal.
But, honestly, that was the bracket for a larger (typically superlative) point I wanted to make: No team this decade -- in any sport -- was under more pressure to win a championship than these Yankees... and they did it.
On the one hand, it's easy for me to say "Well, they SHOULD have won it." On the other -- no matter how I feel about their anti-competitive spending, their fans' triumphalism, etc. -- I may not have any greater respect for a champ that was EXPECTED to be a champ.
It's actually an interesting debate: It's easy to love the team that unexpectedly wins a title -- it's hard to like a team that SHOULD win a title (and does). But it's easy to respect them.
More you'll find in today's column:
*NFL Week 9: The Game of the Week is Cowboys-Eagles, but I am mostly intrigued by the Vince Young-Alex Smith showdown.
*CFB Storylines: I am no fan of Ohio State, but I think they win the Big Ten title this year, starting with a win at Penn State (and continuing with a win next week vs. Iowa). Speaking of Iowa, my Upset Special is Northwestern over Iowa, but I know that's folly. (An Iowa win combined with an Ohio State win would also set up the Big Ten Game of the Year next week.) By the way, don't sleep on LSU at Alabama -- the toughest game on Bama's schedule before the SEC title game.
*The Tim Lincecum jokes are too easy. (Let's focus on the Red Sox getting reclamation project -- at Age 26! -- Jeremy Hermida from the Marlins.)
*I like West Virginia as a college hoops upstart, rather than a Top 5 team -- Huggins has always done better as the aggrieved outsider.
As always on Fridays, there's a lot more there. Would love your take on those opening ideas in the Comments. More later.
-- D.S.
I saw that piece AFTER I filed this morning's SN column, which leads with the opposite question: Does New York even need LeBron?
Would he make the Knicks better? Absolutely. But does the town need LeBron as an attraction? Hardly. And, the bigger question in light of the Yankees winning the World Series: New York brooks no losers -- is LeBron even up to the challenge of winning a title?
The only reference point we have is last season, when the Cavs were the No. 1 seed in the East -- and, really, missed winning the NBA title by a fairly wide margin, given the expectations. You have to put at least some of that on LeBron, who (or whose marketing campaign) has never shied away from putting Bron above the team, the individual brand above the championship goal.
But, honestly, that was the bracket for a larger (typically superlative) point I wanted to make: No team this decade -- in any sport -- was under more pressure to win a championship than these Yankees... and they did it.
On the one hand, it's easy for me to say "Well, they SHOULD have won it." On the other -- no matter how I feel about their anti-competitive spending, their fans' triumphalism, etc. -- I may not have any greater respect for a champ that was EXPECTED to be a champ.
It's actually an interesting debate: It's easy to love the team that unexpectedly wins a title -- it's hard to like a team that SHOULD win a title (and does). But it's easy to respect them.
More you'll find in today's column:
*NFL Week 9: The Game of the Week is Cowboys-Eagles, but I am mostly intrigued by the Vince Young-Alex Smith showdown.
*CFB Storylines: I am no fan of Ohio State, but I think they win the Big Ten title this year, starting with a win at Penn State (and continuing with a win next week vs. Iowa). Speaking of Iowa, my Upset Special is Northwestern over Iowa, but I know that's folly. (An Iowa win combined with an Ohio State win would also set up the Big Ten Game of the Year next week.) By the way, don't sleep on LSU at Alabama -- the toughest game on Bama's schedule before the SEC title game.
*The Tim Lincecum jokes are too easy. (Let's focus on the Red Sox getting reclamation project -- at Age 26! -- Jeremy Hermida from the Marlins.)
*I like West Virginia as a college hoops upstart, rather than a Top 5 team -- Huggins has always done better as the aggrieved outsider.
As always on Fridays, there's a lot more there. Would love your take on those opening ideas in the Comments. More later.
-- D.S.
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