Catching Up

Let's start off with my record now for college basketball picks. I got all 7 games right on Saturday. However, I totally whiffed on saying the rest of the ranked teams would have no problem winning. KState and Georgia Tech made me look dumb. And for that, I will take an extra loss.

Monday, I went 1-1 by missing entirely how good of a team UConn is when they have Thabeet playing like a lottery pick. He changed every aspect of Louisville's offense and that is why the Huskies won. At least I got a W from my Jayhawks.

On the subject of the KU basketball game, Fran Frashilla is probably the worst color commentator on the planet. He picks a catch phrase for the night and sticks with it the whole game whether or not it makes any sense (he used North/South last night). And he totally falls asleep when announcing important facts. Sherron Collins had made 33 consecutive free throws and then Fran lost count. He did get to 35, but Fran didn't notice and he still didn't notice when Collins missed. Terrible.

Ron Franklin (the play by play guy who is almost as bad by having diarrhea of the mouth and saying things before thinking about them - he was wrong on foul calls about 8 times) has resorted to introducing FF as "A former Division I college basketball coach". I can only presume this is because everyone thinks FF is a complete fool and knows absolutely nothing about the game of basketball.

My favorite quote from last night courtesy of FF:
"It looks like he just violated the principle of verticality there!"

Some key points about this quote:
-If there is a principle of verticality, FF made it up.
-If someone violated the principle, I have no idea how because, again, it is made up.



Reaction to the Suppppppppppper Bowl (Hooray for avoiding copyright infringement!)

My pick was wrong.

But at least it was close.

I thought (as did anyone who really thought about the game) that the Cards would make Rothy throw the ball to win the game. I was right. 256 yards and a game winning touchdown coming through the air is a pretty decent game. The Steelers had a total of 61 rushing yards and Gary Russel (who scored the only rushing TD of the game) ended the game with 2 rushes, -3 yards and 1 touchdown. Go figure.

Arizona threw the ball all over the field and ended with 3 passing TD's and 377 passing yards (all from Kurt "too bad my kids won't get a puppy now" Warner). This was against a defense that had only given up 300 TOTAL yards in game once during the regular season.

Random thoughts from the game:

-The first half was kind of boring. Until the 100 yard interception return, not much had happened.

-I never realized how much challenges slow down the game. It was painful to have Al Michaels and John Madden tell us about the result of the challenge for 5 minutes before hearing it from the referee.

-The Cardinals offense is terrible at defense. I know sounds dumb, but they let James Harrison run 100 yards for a touchdown. When a 242 pound linebacker outruns a 4 wide set with a running back, almost gets caught by an offensive lineman (which was totally weird, especially because it was around the 15 of the cardinals- 80 yards from the line of scrimmage) in the process and looks like he was going to need more oxygen during the halftime show than Bruce Springsteen, you know there is no way he should have scored.

-Any joke about TurDuckEn during a game broadcast by John Madden is hilarious. Congrats to Mary for making Dave stop saying the word for the entire second half and still making a joke about it for just as long. TurDuckEn. TurDucken. TurDuckEn. TurDuckEn.

-I can't but help feel gyped that:
1)The refs totally missed Santonio Holmes TD celebration using the football as a prop (automatic 15 yard penalty)
2)The refs didn't review the "fumble" with 5 seconds left in the biggest game of the year
3)We didn't get to see one last hail mary attempt to Larry Fitzgerald/Anquan Boldin/Steve Breatson.
I think the refs totally blew the game in important times and almost none of the national media cares. If the Steelers had the ball last, were down and Big Ben "fumbled" the streets of Pittsburgh would have been a riot zone and the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and all Rent-a-Cops within a 12 state area would have been called in to control the damage.

-I have decided that I want Haley (the Offensive Coordinator of the Cards) to be the next Chiefs coach. After the go-ahead TD for Arizona, I swear he was still coaching Larry Fitzgerald by telling him not to look up and watch the scoreboard, but to finish the run.

Let me say that again.

This guy was still coaching intensley with a lead and 2:30 left in the NFL championship game when his offense just took the lead for the worst run franchise in NFL history! That's discipline. I want that. I WANT THAT! WE CAN BUILD ON THAT!!



Final Notes on Tuesday:
- I am glad Derrick Thomas got into the Hall of Fame. He was what I remember of Defense when I was growing up. Neil Smith was a good compliment, but DT made the Chiefs Defense. Game in and Game out. When I watch highlights of him getting 7 sacks in one game (!!!!) on the Seahawks, I wonder if I really understood how good he was. He had 116.5 sacks in the 90's, the most in the NFL.

- Congrats to KState's Clemente. Dropping 44 on Texas in Austin is no easy feat. Nice work.

- Just saw the Rivals.com rankings of football recruiting classes of the Kanasas City area teams and Kansas has the highest of the 3 (KU, KSU and MU) at 31. Delicious.

- I took the over (47) for the NFL championship and came away victorious. I'm still over 6 bucks and reeling! Watch out Vegas!



Still trying to figure out the principle of verticality,
DDSF