Big 12 Bites the Dust
If you live for college football like I do, something momentous happened this week. Just like that, the Big 12 conference bit the dust, as Colorado jumped to the Pac-10, and Nebraska went to the Big 10. This will no doubt start a domino effect which will result in the Pac-16, and leave Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Missouri out in the rain.
What it really does is open up the possibility of a playoff, as you would think the BCS is now dead. After all, that was designed to accept the winner of the Big 12 as an automatic qualifier, and now there is no Big 12. Don’t quote me on this, but I think the BCS contract expires right around the time when all this will go into effect, maybe 2013 or 2014. A playoff would be EASY to set up, and the money the NCAA would make is way more than they’re making now. You have to wonder who’s getting paid off to make sure it doesn’t happen.
Harry Kalas (1936 – 2009)
Harry Kalas, legendary broadcaster of our Philadelphia Phillies passed away yesterday afternoon, as he prepared for the Phillies-Nationals game in Washington DC. Harry has been a part of our sports lives in Philadelphia for 38 years. No summer in my lifetime has ever gone on without Harry’s smooth baritone describing to me the latest Phillies failure. Or more recently, triumph. For us sports fans in Philadelphia, this like Dale Earnhart dying for the NASCAR fan, or Princess Diana dying for women. Harry Kalas, gone at age 73, and we are the poorer for it.
NCAA Final Four Predictions
Well President Obama has filled out his bracket, so here is mine. I have in the Round of Eight, Louisville vs Wake Forest, Purdue vs Memphis, Villinova vs Florida State, and UNC vs Michigan. Out of that, I have Wake Forest, Memphis, Villinova, and UNC going to the Final Four in Detroit. From there, I have Memphis beating Wake, and UNC beating Nova in the semis. Memphis beats UNC in the final. These year, I don’t think there is one dominant team, so I highly doubt you see 4 #1 seeds advance, like happened last year.
My claim to fame in bracket predictions, is I correctly predicted in 1985 that Villinova would beat Georgetown for the title. Of course that was 24 years ago………..
A-Fraud
If you want to see a good example of a guy lying his *ss off, watch Alex Rodriguez’s confessional interview with Peter Gammons, which is on ESPN’s website. For those of you who missed it, Alex Rodriguez, 3rd baseman with the New York Yankees, and most likely to amass more home runs than Barry Bonds, has been outed has having failed a steroids test in 2003. So, now he’s admitting to doping in 2001 – 2003, in an interview with ESPN.
I admit, I expected this to be a whitewash, since ESPN is in bed financially with Major League Baseball, but I thought Gammons did a pretty fair job. Rodriguez is sooooooo sorry, and wants you to know how soooooooorrrrry he is, and that he only did it from 2001 – 2003, and hasn’t done it since. Not once, no, no, never, never, not since 2003. Riiiiiiiiiiight. Hell, Gammons asked him if he lied to 60 Minutes in 2007 when he told them, and America, no, no, never done steroids, no, no, never. Rodriguez said, “NO” that he didn’t lie in 2007. This guy can’t even remember what he took. He can’t remember where he got the roids. Bullshit. I would bet my bottom dollar this guy has been juicing all the way since the beginning when he was in Seattle. He probably transitioned over from the roids in 2004-2005 to HGH, which is pretty much undetectable. He’s juicing right now. Bet on it.
Put him on the scum list with Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, Sosa, Palmeiro, and Pettitte. Any sportswriter who votes this jerk for the Hall of Fame should be ashamed of himself.
Eric Is Back!
Well, really I never went away, other than the fact that I stopped posting on my blog. Why? Well, a number of reasons. 1) I had a rush of other safety consulting work pile up in the fall of 2008, and 2) I was training to run a marathon. No, seriously, I ran the Las Vegas Marathon in 5:01:25.
Now that might seem like a ridiculously slow time, but consider a few things. First, Las Vegas is very dry, so it’s really hard to stay hydrated for 26.2 miles in that type of climate. Second, I weigh 210 pounds; I’m not one of these skinny Skeletor guys like Lance Armstrong. They even have a classification for it: the Clydesdale division. So, I’m pretty proud of it, although it did take a huge amount of time to train for the race. Anyway, my New Years Resolution is to keep the website current, so I will do the best I can on that end. Even though I haven’t been here in 3 months, people keep posting and emailing me, so somebody must be finding this place.
What’s happened in the last 3 months? Only the most momentous occasion in the last 25 years! No, I’m not talking about the stupid election, more on that in a minute. I’m talking about the Philadelphia Phillies! The Phillies, who have delivered us from 25 years of Philadelphia sports hell. Fantastic. I went to the parade, along with 2 million of my closest friends.
In politics, we have our first Hawaiian-American President, Barack Obama. I didn’t vote for the guy, but then again I didn’t vote for McCain either, as I really don’t think either one will be a good President. Both of them want to spend us into the poorhouse, so I guess we taxpayers just have to wait until the bill comes due. Nevertheless, I wish Obama well, as we’re all in the same boat now, like it or not. I just hope he doesn’t take my guns and Rush Limbaugh away.
Back to sports, it was another failed year for the BCS in college football. This year, it crowned the wrong team! The champion is the undefeated Utah Utes, who ended their season by whipping Alabama, on an SEC field. Yet the BCS crowned a one-loss Florida (who I did pick at the beginning of the year to win the National Championship. I will not take credit for that one, since Utah is the champion).
In the NFL, my Eagles somehow have moved within striking distance of winning the Super Bowl. Unbelieveable, after 25 years of futility, we could go back-to-back in the span of 3 months. I can’t get a feel for Sunday’s game yet. The Eagles should kill the Cardinals, but that home field worries me.
All in all, sports season is winding down, work season is beginning, so I’ll be pounding the keyboard, bringing you safety and compliance tips, and otherwise trying to entertain you.
2008 NFL Predictions
It’s here, it’s finally here! When I was a child, I looked forward to Christmas. Now I look forward to the start of football season. No more Little League World Series games, no more women’s basketball, no more golf tournaments sponsored by car-washes, it’s FOOTBALL SEASON!!!!
And what fun would football season be without predictions? For the record, my pre-season NFL pick in 2007, was Seattle over New England in the Super Bowl. So that wasn’t too awful… granted Seattle was a stretch (at least they made the Conference Semi-Finals!), but it’s more fun to try for the unexpected, than pick the chalk every time. Besides, I was right that some NFC team would win the Big Game. It just happened to be the Giants. And let’s not forget 2006, where I correctly predicted before the season that Payton Manning and the Colts would get their ring, which they did. So pay attention!
NFC East Dallas
NFC North Green Bay
NFC South Tampa Bay
NFC West Seattle
Wildcards: Philadelphia, New York
Conference Winner: Dallas
AFC East New England
AFC North Pittsburgh
AFC South Indianapolis
AFC West San Diego
Wildcards: Jacksonville, Houston
Conference Winner: Indianapolis
It kills me to put the Cowboys in the Super Bowl, just kills me. But I don’t know what else to do. They should have been there last year, but choked it away against the Giants…. a game they should have won. (The Cowboys would have easily beaten the Packers in Dallas for the NFC crown) I think the Eagles will challenge the ‘Boys, but in the end, Andy Reid will find a way to lose, probably involving either a blizzard of ineffective short passes, or a McNabb injury.
On the other side, I think you can pencil New England in as having home field advantage, as they play in an awful division. Indy, on the other hand, has 3 tough division opponents. Still, I think Indy will prevail this year, as age, and the inability to cheat will foil the Patriots.
So in the Big Game will have Dallas vs. Indianapolis, and winner will be DALLAS.
What a nightmare. Oh, well, at least it won’t be New England.
Bonus Prediction: your 2008 NCAA Champion will be…… the Florida Gators
Super Bowl Post-Mortem
WOW, what a game. Probably the best Super Bowl I’ve ever watched. Of course, I wouldn’t be saying that if the Patriots won, but they didn’t so, GREAT GAME! It looks like the Giants put to rest any talk of the “best team ever”, as they beat the Patriots up and down the field. The Pats had their big chance, and the Giants went the length of the field with under 2:00 on the clock for the win.
How about Belichick running out with :01 seconds left on the clock? The defense had to stay out there and finish, but not the coach. I guess he needed to compose his post-game remarks…. what little there were. Whatta jerk. One of the most classless, joyless individuals ever to grace the sidelines. It’ll be interesting to see if Senator Specter forces the NFL to divulge the extent of the Patriots video cheating throughout the past 6-7 years. I think it’s pretty clear 1) they were cheating, 2) some type of advantage was obtained, and 3) the NFL desperately wants this to go away. What is not clear is were other teams cheating as well, and how big of an advantage was gained.
Anyway, I think the Patriots with this Super Bowl loss, and the cheating, have been relegated to the 2nd tier of great NFL teams. They do not belong in the same category as the Troy Aikman Cowboys, or Joe Montana 49′ers, or Chuck Noll Steelers…. none of which ever lost a Super Bowl. Maybe if that 4th wide receiver doesn’t catch the ball against his helmet they would be in that group…. but he did, and they’re not.
For me, this wraps up the worst year I’ve ever had predicting football. Maybe I’m spending too many hours at my day job. For the record, I predicted before the season that the Giants would go 3-13. Hee-hee! That sucks. Well, this is why I gave up gambling.
Super Bowl 42 Prediction
Well, this has been one of the worst years for me in terms of predicting games… and for that matter, who I want to win. The Eagles stink, I detest the Patriots, and don’t like the contenders to the throne much better. Anyway, I’m hoping to salvage something here with a correct prediction on the big game.
As I mentioned, I hate the Patriots. I hate them so much, if the Cowboys had made it to the Super Bowl, I was going to root for the Cowboys. Now I’m from Philadelphia, where he say to ourselves every morning when we get out of bed, “I hate the Cowboys”, then go on about our day. So that’s how much I hate the Patriots, I was ready to root for the Cowboys over them.
So, that being said, I think the Patriots are going win, and win big Sunday. The Giants have put on a nice little surge here at the end of the year, and beaten some tough teams in their backyards. If you listen to the talking heads, the trendy pick is the Giants to be competitive. But the fact remains the Pats are better than the Giants. Significantly better. The Pats have been pointing to this game for 3 months, this is their chance to make a historical statement, and I doubt they’ll let it slip by. If you go back into Super Bowl history, most of the great teams win their titles with a big exclaimation mark. Whether it be the Joe Montana 49ers, the Chuck Noll Steelers, or the Super Bowl Shuffling Bears, the great ones usually put up some big numbers in the Big Game. And that’s I’m looking for here. On a fast track in the desert, I expect a boatload of points. The Giants will score a little bit, but they won’t be able to stop Tom Brady and crew. As the score mounts, the Giants will press, make mistakes, and it’ll be Blowout City, baby. I’m rooting for the Giants, and would love to see a historical upset of Joe Namath proportions, but I’m calling it: 45-24 Patriots.
NFL Divisional Playoffs
Well, about the best thing I can say about my football predicitions is my preseason Super Bowl pick of Seattle beating New England is still alive. I am now reduced to rooting against the Patriots and the Cowboys.
seattle +7.5 over GREEN BAY I think the Seahawks win the game outright. Hey there has to be at least one upset, right?
NEW ENGLAND -13 over jacksonville I’ll lay the big points, nobody is going to stop the Patriots. Unfortunately.
INDIANAPOLIS -10 over san diego No way Norv Turner wins in Indy when it matters. No way.
DALLAS -7.5 over new york giants Giants shot their wad last week at Tampa. Dallas can score, score, score, so it’ll be a much different game than that Tampa Bay snoozer.
NFL Playoff Predictions
Well, again, I had been having such a bad year making football predictions, that I let the cat pick the games, and then eventually gave up. But here it’s Wild Card Saturday, so let’s recap. My Super Bowl prediction was Seattle defeating New England. Well, one half of that looks pretty good, although I’m not too excited about Seattle. Did I tell you I correctly predicted Indianapolis before the start of the 2006 season? I’ll live off of that for another 5 years. I think I have a pretty good bead on this weeks games though:
TAMPA -3 over new york giants
Tampa has been resting its players for a month in preparation for this game, so you’d think they’d be ready. Tampa has a good coach, a good quarterback, and good defense. You may know nothing about them, as most people don’t, but they should win this game easily.
washington +3.5 over SEATTLE
The Redskins are on a roll. Whereas this will eliminate my Super Bowl pick Seattle, at this point I do think the Skins will win. Well, maybe they’ll lose by 3 points, then I can be right on both counts.
tennessee +10 over SAN DIEGO
Norv Turner, nuff said.
Pick of the Week is PITTSBURGH +2.5 over jacksonville….. I’m getting points at home in the playoffs? Oh I know, the Steelers haven’t been lighting the world on fire, and lost to Jacksonville in Pittsburgh last month, but making the Jaguars a favorite in Pittsburgh is too much. The Steelers fire it up on Saturday night! Here we go Steelers!!!
