Monday, November 02, 2009

Monday 11/02 Quickie: Favre, A-Rod, STFU,
Oregon, BCS, Magic, VY, Moats, Eagles

Has there ever been a bigger "STFU" day in sports than yesterday? I don't think I can recall one.

First, Brett Favre walks into Lambeau -- "Lam-boo" (to Packers fans' credit) -- and walks out having torched his old team and tortured his old fans. It was so bad that it is nearly impossible to distinguish the insult, the injury and what was added to what. I mean: It even had a die-hard Favre-hater like me shaking my head in almost-respect for the guy. I had to pick one STFU moment from the weekend to highlight in today's SN column -- and this was it.

Then, A-Rod continues what I am calling the "A-Rod-emption" -- delivering the tie-breaking (and game-winning) hit against the Phillies to put the Yankees up 3-1... a seemingly insurmountable lead, even if Cliff Lee wins tonight (which he should).

No player has done more this year -- perhaps this decade -- than A-Rod has over the last month to silence the critics, quash the haters and -- more than anything -- tell everyone to "STFU." Winning a championship probably would have been enough; that he has played such a key role in the march to that championship takes him to another level.

There are two more "STFU" moments from this weekend, both in college football:

(1) Oregon destroys USC. When you compare the resumes, Oregon deserves to be ranked ahead of Boise State, even though Boise beat Oregon head-to-head in the first week of the season in Boise. Beyond the overall stronger strength of schedule, when you consider "quality wins" -- Oregon has now beaten USC *and* Utah, two teams I'd put in the Top 12 in the country. Boise has a win over Oregon. Without a more complete resume, I would rank Boise ahead of Oregon, too -- but at some point, schedule strength and quality wins beats one head-to-head loss. Oregon passed that threshold this weekend; the computer polls have that one right.

(2) Florida clobbers Georgia. The Gators have turned a corner. Or, should I say: The Gators' OFFENSE has turned a corner; its defense has always been the nation's best. The offense finally showed some spark, particularly deep in Georgia territory. And Tim Tebow played his best game of the season -- watch that Heisman momentum tick back up.

More you'll find in today's column:
*Talking points for all the NFL games.
*Next week's CFB Games to Watch
*Why the Magic are the NBA's best.
*Carmelo is destroying people right now.
*SN snubs Villanova! (But not me!)

Complete column here. More later.

-- D.S.

2 comments:

Johnny b said...

you are aware that Georgia's defense kind of sucks right, or are you just ignoring that fact when announcing that florida's offense turned a corner?

soop said...

I'm not sure Florida has "turned a corner" since Georgia is not too far from being a 2-6 team. I'm not sure putting up 41 against a defense that is averaging 30 points against is really that telling.