I think Peyton Manning will win...

...but I am rooting for the Saints!  

You'll notice I said Peyton Manning, and not the Colts.  I think I could put him on any team in the the league, up to and including the Raiders or Lions, (that's right, I don't think even Al Davis could screw him up.) with any coach, (in the league or not!), and he would have them in the Super Bowl in two years, max.  

The guy is terrifying.

'Nuff said!

The BCS Championship...

...ah, what might have been.  In a way, I feel for Alabama, the rest of the country will always look at this game with an asterisk.

Too bad.

What's with the Officiating? And stay in your seat!

Yesterday's Cowboys - Giants game.  Tony Romo is being pursued, throws the ball, incomplete.  47 seconds later, with some encouragement from the Giants fans and coaching staff, the ref throws a flag for intentional grounding.

Wow.

So, I guess from now on the refs are just there for show, maybe the occasional false start call.  Delay of game, too, those are easy and usually non-controversial.  But, if there is a judgement call to be made, w-e-l-l-l, let's not be too quick to judge.  

Why the hell are some of these clowns are being paid is beyond me.

Part Deux

Went to the USC - Arizona game at the coliseum on Saturday.  Had our tickets, got our munchies, sat down for kickoff.  Had to stand up 107 times during the game to let hungry and thirsty morons with bladder control problems in and out of our row.  (I'm assuming that's what they were doing/where they were going.)

You read that right.  107

About 20% of them during a play!

OK, I'm gonna break this down for you dummies.

You are not at home.  There is no DVR, so you can't rewind to catch the plays you missed.  (Scratch that, the plays WE missed.)  Your up and downs and ins and outs of the row pisses off the people who  went to the game to actually watch the frickin game!

Here is the proper procedure, for those clueless idiots;

When you go to a game, you go to the john, and then buy your drinks and grub for the first half.  If you can't stand to go that long without food or drinks, there are vendors that will come to you.  If t you can't go that long without a bathroom break, don't buy the drinks, wear a Depends, or STAY HOME!

Wait till halftime.  Go pee.  Buy more eats and drinks.  Stay in your seat till the end of the game, unless you are standing up to cheer.  

Game over.  Leave.

Took a while, but I finally figured it out, most of these nimrods were not actually seated in our row, thew just wanted to improve their seats till the people who actually had tickets showed up.  So, next football game I'm at, I'm going to be ticket police.  I usually get aisle seats, so I'm gonna demand to see tickets before I let anyone into our row.  

Shame it has to come to that.

Lead By Example

I am ashamed of the coaches of both USC, and UCLA, and they should be ashamed of themselves.  To recap;  USC was leading the game, 21 - 7 with :56 left in the game.  USC had just taken over on downs.  The USC QB takes a knee, you'd expect one more, and the game is over, no hurt feelings.  

Not quite the way it went down.

No, coach Neuheisel of UCLA opted to call his timeouts.  Now, coach Carroll could be the bigger man, and just take his three knees, punt if necessary.

Oh, no.

Since Rick was going to call timeouts, Pete had his QB throw a meaningless touchdown.

Now, to my way of thinking, this could have been a teaching moment.  And I am reasonably sure that coaches are supposed to teach, particularly sportsmanship, in addition to winning football games.  Coach Carroll could have just taken another knee, whereupon coach Neuheisel should have realized it was better to let the game end.  Of course, Coach Neuheisel could have not called the first timeout to begin with.

So, two grown men, who are being paid millions to stay cool in the heat of the moment, got carried away, and turned what could have been a lesson in sportsmanship into a manhood measuring contest.

They both came up short.

The Official screwing of Ol'Miss

The SEC officials strike again!

The LSU - Ol' Miss game sure looks like it was bought and paid for.  In the first quarter, Ol' Miss goes out to a three point lead.  An LSU pass is picked off for a touchdown.  Oh, but there is an illegal block in the back.  And an Un-sportsman like conduct penalty for diving into the end zone unnecessarily.  Except for the fact that a tackler had his hand on the runner as he is going into the end zone.  So, a touchdown is marked at the 35 yard line.

OK, so Ol' Miss ball on the 35.  A few plays later, the receiver is sprinting upfield, the cornerback shoves him out of bounds.  He makes a spectacular catch over the safety, touchdown.  Except the official rules the he ran out of bounds on his own.  No score, and loss of down.   The field goal attempt is blocked, and LSU runs it back for a touchdown.  No penalties on THAT play, of course.  

So a 10 - 0 Ol' Miss lead turns into a 7 - 3 LSU lead.

Watch the replays, I'm sure they will be posted online somewhere.

I have no interest in either of these teams, I just object to the screamingly bad calls that seem to be peppering collage ball this year.  The replay system needs to be changed to where boneheaded officiating mistakes can be challenged.

They can fine the coaches for questioning calls, but private citizens are immune.

Two dismal calls.

Statistically Unfair

OK, here are the sports things that annoy me this week.

1  Jimmie Johnson.  

From the way he spells his name, to the fact that he is boring, right up to him beating 42 drivers I'd rather see win every week.  NASCAR wants to know why ratings, ticket sales, and sponsorship dollars are down?  Look at who is leading the standings.  One of the Old Navy super-mannequins would be more interesting.  Domination is boring, why do you think so many people hate the Yankees?

2 Bad calls, stupid rules.

Illegal formation, ineligible man downfield.  Really?  Anyone wanna tell me why these rules exist?  Throw it to the center if you want, games would be a lot more interesting.  And if you want a formation to spell out your team name like the band, knock yourself out.  And why is it that a call everyone in the country can see, indisputably!, the instant replay official can't make a decision on.  Or makes the wrong decision.  C'mon!

3 Quarterbacks get a raw deal

If a quarterback hits a receiver right in the hands, and he drops it, it's an incomplete pass, and counts against the QB.  If it hits a receiver in the hands, bounces off, and is intercepted, THAT goes against the QB.  Dropped balls and rebound passes should be on the receiver that dropped/rebounded them, and not on a QBs stats.  If baseball can decide the difference between a throwing error, and a catching error, football should be able to work this out.

That's all for tonight, go to bed.

A new word...

...Uselesstat, (n)- a statistic of, to be charitable, dubious importance.  Usually seen, (but by no means confined to), in NFL night games.

ie; "Tony Romo is thus far undefeated in the month of November, tying him with a record set in 1950"

Really?  And why is it that the day game play-by-play men don't feel compelled to regail us with these delightful tidbits of info that are seldom going to effect the outcome of the game?

Coming soon to a night NFL game near you, "This will be the second-longest field goal ever attempted by a left footed kicker playing on his birthday in a Monday night home game."