BCS Projection # 1

My first set of BCS matchups is based on a Alabama victory against Florida in the SEC Championship Game and a Oklahoma victory in the Big 12 Championship Game.

National Championship Game: Alabama (SEC champion) vs. Oklahoma (Big 12 champion)
Rose Bowl: USC (Pac-10 champion) vs. Penn St. (Big Ten champion)
Sugar Bowl: Florida (at-large) vs. Cincinnati (Big East champion)
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech (ACC champion) vs. Ohio State (at-large)
Fiesta Bowl: Texas (at-large) vs. Utah (MWC champion; automatic bid)

NASCAR: 2008 Year in Review

Since 2008 was the first NASCAR season I've followed very closely, this is the first time I can comment with some detailed knowledge of the sport.

Driver of the Year: Kyle Busch

• He did not win the Sprint Cup championship, nor the most Sprint Cup races, but if we're talking about the best pure driver in the entire NASCAR series there no doubt that Kyle Busch is best in the business.
• 21 total wins: 8 Sprint Cup, 10 Nationwide, 3 Craftsman Truck
• He won on every kind of track there is: road course (3); short track, 1.5 mile, superspeedway

Most Improved Driver: David Ragan

• Finished just outside the Chase
• His performance probably solidifies his place at Roush-Fenway in favor of Jamie McMurray - Roush has to get rid of one team in 2010.

Most Disappointing Driver: Tie - Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon

• When you consider that these guys should have the same equipment as Jimmie Johnson, there's no good reason that they should each have multiple victories

Best Race: Spring Richmond race

• This race solidified Kyle Busch's place as the most-hated driver in the sport
• Also, nothing beats a night race at Richmond (ok, maybe a night race at Bristol)

Worst Race: Allstate at the Brickyard

• Nothing's worse than short green-flag runs and numerous cautions - this race had both
  

BCS Scenarios

As we approach the end of the college football regular season, there are many unknowns when it comes to the teams that will participate in the BCS bowl games. Probably the only sure thing we know is that Utah is in. As I currently see it, eight teams have a realistic shot of playing in the championship game. These teams are: Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, Penn State, USC, Utah. Here's how each team can get there:

1. Alabama: beat Auburn, beat Florida in the SEC championship game
2. Florida: beat Florida St., beat Alabama in the SEC championship game
3. Oklahoma: beat Oklahoma St; pray for a Texas loss to Texas A&M or hope the voters keep them ahead of Texas
4. Texas: beat Texas A&M, Oklahoma beats Okla St, voters rank them ahead of Oklahoma; or Texas Tech loses to Baylor
5. Texas Tech: beat Baylor, Oklahoma loses to Okla. St
6. Penn State: Alabama loses to Auburn; Florida loses to Florida St or Alabama; Big 12 South champion loses to Missouri in the Big 12 championship game or TX, TX Tech, OU each lose to their final regular season opponents
7. USC: beat UCLA and Notre Dame and Oregon St. loses to Oregon see Penn State's scenario
8. Utah: at least six of the seven teams ranked ahead of them finish with two losses (this still might not be enough)

Teams that definitely will not play in the national championship game
1. The loser of the SEC championship game
2. A Big 12 South champion that loses to Missouri

The most likely matchup in the title game will feature the SEC champion and the Big 12 South Champion (assuming they beat Missouri)
The SEC and the Big 12 are without a doubt the two best conferences in college football.

Chaos will ensue if both Florida and Alabama lose before the SEC championship game or if the Big 12 South contenders (TX, Tech, OU) all lose their final regular season games. The latter scenario is not likely to happen.

No England in Euro 2008 is good and bad for MLS

Good: If England had qualified for Euro 2008, Beckham would be unavailable to play for the LA Galaxy for a month. All the MLS games Beckham was scheduled to play in would be virtually irrelevant.

Bad: The league's marquee player will miss out on the second-best international squad tournament in the world. If England qualified Beckham would play a significant number of minutes and possibly serve as the team's captain. ESPN would cover every England match which would allow the American audience to see that the MLS has a world-class player as its centerpiece.

Major League Soccer

The Champions League final also proved to me how hard it will be for the MLS to become anything more than a fringe league in the United States. Unfortunately for MLS, it holds the rare distinction of being an American sports league that competes heavily with foreign leagues for television viewers. During the past year, I've personally watched many more English Premier League and Champions League games than MLS games. Trust me, if ESPN thought people in the United States wouldn't watch the Champions League, they would not be spending millions of dollars to televise the games (at least i think they're spending a lot of money, they might not be because of the traditional advertising difficulties that soccer presents).

The MLS has a two-fold problem: (1) Trying to attract more Americans to the game of soccer; and (2) Trying to attract American fans of European soccer to MLS.
Solutions to Problems:
- The televising of the World Cup, Euro 2008, and the Champions League on ESPN gets more soccer on tv
- Getting more European players to play in MLS during their prime (i.e. younger David Beckhams)
- Successful US national teams (deep run in 2010 World Cup and Beijing Olympics; good performances in international friendlies)

Champions League Final

What a great ending to the second-most important match in world soccer. The heavy rain and the fact that the match stretched into the early morning (Russia time) made it even more dramatic. Until yesterday, I've never had the chance to see a penalty shootout that went past the first ten kicks. John Terry's miss essentially and United's subsequent victory saved Ronaldo from losing his "best player in the world" status. Ronaldo will surely be named FIFA World Player of the Year later this year. However, he really needs to consider getting rid of his pre-kick "hitch."

Utah vs. San Antonio - The NBA's worst nightmare

I'm pretty sure that David Stern and the other big wigs at NBA headquarters were not pleased with today's playoff results. Both the Lakers and the Hornets had a chance to put their series out of reach but failed to do so. If the Lakers and Hornets had won today, the NBA was on the verge of getting their second-most ideal Western Conference Finals matchup (Lakers vs. Suns was probably their first choice) . It would be great for the NBA to get one of its glamor teams (Lakers) against the young, upstart team from the city that's still trying to rebuild after a devastating storm.

Unfortunately, we could be stuck with a team with the most boring superstar in NBA history, the Spurs, and a team from a city with less than 200,000 people and little, if any fanbase outside the state of Utah. If this matchup occurs, good luck finding any sponsors willing to spend the big bucks to advertise during the series.

Is Kyle Busch the "real" Dale Earnhardt Jr.?

Dale Earnhardt Sr. earned his nickname "The Intimidator" because of his willingness run over other drivers that wouldn't get out of his way. Kyle Busch has used this same tactic the past few weeks. In Mexico City, radio transmissions indicated that Busch wanted Scott Pruett to "get the f..." out of his way. During a truck race in Martinsville, Busch wrecked a guy that was in front of him with less than five laps to go. Maybe I haven't watched enough races, but I've never seen Dale Earnhardt Jr. use the aggressive driving techniques that his dad and Kyle Busch have used.


I appreciate Kyle's determination to win every race, but sometimes he takes this too far. He's also somewhat of a hypocrite because he loses it every time some other driver hits him from behind.

The NFL Needs a Rookie Salary Scale

While I typically don't support policies that restrict the amount of money people can make, the NFL seriously needs to a plan that limits the amount of money rookies receive. It's ludicrous that Jake Long is now the highest paid offensive lineman in the NFL and he hasn't even played a down in the league. The current system rewards college success and NFL potential, not actual NFL production.

I don't have a problem with guys like Jake Long or Jamarcus Russell making $50 to $60 million over five years after they have played to a level that warrants this kind of money.

American Men in Monte Carlo: Missing in Action

I just looked at the draw for the Monte Carlo Masters Series event and was disappointed to see that only one American male (Sam Querrey) had the guts to make the trip over to Monte Carlo. I'm sure Andy Roddick and James Blake gave the ATP Tour some excuse to avoid being fined. I guess these guys have officially given up on trying to win clay court tournaments outside of the US.

I miss the old days when we had Jim Courier, Michael Chang, and Andre Agassi, three guys that could actually contend for titles on red clay. Neither Roddick nor Blake have ever advanced past the third round at the French Open. Courier, Chang, and Agassi have combined for 4 French Open titles and eight appearances in the final.

Why the drop-off? The biggest reason is that Courier, Chang, and Agassi were just simply better tennis players than Roddick and Blake. Also, Roddick and Blake aren't as patient as the other three.

Interesting Factoids:
* Many people probably don't realize this but Jim Courier is actually the last male tennis player to win the first two legs of the Grand Slam, back in 1992.
* Michael Chang was the youngest male Grand Slam winner ever - he was 17 when he won the French Open in 1989.