Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Wednesday 09/17 A.M. Quickie:
USC, Rays, CC, Manny, Vols, TK, More

I lead today's SN column with a theory about USC's "inevitability" for the BCS title game. Can't stand this. I appreciate USC as a fantastic team, but if the Big 12 and SEC champs both go unbeaten, both would be more worthy for the BCS title game than USC -- if resume matters. Anyway, there's a stand-alone post about that you can find linked in the column, but popping at the top of the blog around 11 a.m. ET.

Meanwhile, I think CC-for-Cy might be over with his first NL loss yesterday -- not to mention the Brewers' playoff collapse. He pretty much had to go unbeaten in the NL to have his shot AND have the Brewers make the playoffs. There's still time -- a few more starts. We'll see -- hey, the Brewers are now competing for the Wild Card with the Mets, and you know how THAT goes.

I am willing to concede Albert Pujols as NL MVP -- he is having a sick season -- if folks would be willing to concede Manny Ramirez as runner-up NL MVP. His NL-only stats are sick: .400+ BA, more RBI than games played, a higher OPS than Pujols... can we make a deal here?

The Rays' walk-off win didn't thrill me as a division-race thing as much as it, combined with the Twins loss, put the Rays up another game for a Wild Card spot with one fewer game to play.

I enjoy the Florida-Tennessee rivalry. I was at the game last year in Gainesville where Percy Harvin went crazy (and the Vols, perhaps, gave up). But my first distinct memory of life as a Gators fan was in the fall of 2001, when a rescheduled UT-UF game (postponed by 9/11) at the end of the season cost the Gators a shot at the national title. Tennessee played brilliantly, I was crushed -- as crushed as a 28-year-old fan on their first 3 months of new fandom could be -- and it would soon prove to be the end of the Spurrier Era, just as I was getting started. All that said: LSU-Auburn is a much bigger game in the scheme of the national scene... if destined to be a low-scoring slugfest that is hardly fun to watch.

Couple of bonus posts coming today: The first on this USC Theory of Inevitability at 11/11:30 and the second about Erin Andrews at 2-ish. No, it's not link-baiting...

Complete SN column here.

-- D.S.

3 comments:

slaskaris said...

That game in '01 was postponed due to 9/11...I remember as I was a junior at UT and had tickets to that game. I stupidly sold my tickets to a friend for the re-scheduled date. It still kills me to miss what many Vol fans consider one of our best games ever!

Precourt said...

How soon we forget. The game was postponed due to the terrorist attacks. Not September weather.

It was also Spurrier's last year.

bird said...
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