I. Hate. Cats!

[Jester]

...the other wild card teams are looking much better. I'm thinking of the Titans, Broncos and Ravens.

You forgot about the Steelers. And maybe even the Dolphins.

Reminds me of a joke I heard shortly after the Ravens moved to Baltimore. What's the difference between a dollar and the Ravens? You get four quarters from a dollar.

And here's another joke, but it's foul, so in white for those who don't want to read my perverted filth:

How do you keep a Houston Texan from masturbating? Paint a blue and white horseshoe on his dick and he'll never beat it again!

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

So last night, the basketball team from Irv's college of choice won a game against Duke (or as I prefer to call them, Dook) University last night. You might have heard about this.

I sincerely wish I had been able to watch this. I had to work at 4 this morning and was fast asleep well before tip-off.

So, I had to settle for watching the highlights on ESPN, and be reminded of how much the "Worldwide Leader" sucks rancid donkey ass. Their problem is they've got their sacred cows which they cover to the exclusion of every other teams (the Yankees and Red Sox being the best example I can think of. Every single time those two teams meet, the game's on ESPN). Duke Basketball happens to be one of them.

Seriously, this is how the highlights went: "Here's a Duke player stealing the ball. Here's a Duke player making a basket. Isn't he awesome? Here's another Duke player making a basket. And a Duke player blocking a shot. Isn't Duke Awesome? Aren't you so awed by Duke that you could put a bullet in your head? By the way, Duke lost 73-69 to Wisconsin."

And then some twat calling herself a blogger for ESPN takes shots at the fans for storming the court after the game. It just so happened Wisconsin was picked to suck out loud this year, and they were playing a team that out-talented them by a significant margin, one of the biggest and best names in College Basketball with a history of winning NCAA titles, and managed to somehow win the game. My humble apologies if emotions were running too high for you.

[AdminAssistant]

Yeah, everytime ESPN decides they want to feature one of my university's games, they usually have to change the game time, and then everything else on campus has to be rescheduled - because there is NO parking on campus during games. If we're lucky, we get a week's notice. Pain In The Ass, especially because our theatre is across the street from the Fieldhouse.

[Jester]

Now I saw (but did not hear) the highlights of that game on ESPN this morning. I don't know what they said, but from what I saw, it looked like they were playing up the upset of Duke by Irv's school, not so much playing up Duke. Just my impression...but that was aided by the fact that the side "headline" during said highlights was, and I quote, "HUGE UPSET".

And it was a huge upset. Props to your school, Irv! Don't let the idiots covering sports Badger you so much.

[irateguy]

thats why they call him"Duke " Vitale. UC has a big game w Pitt for the Big East Championship If they win they play the Florida- Alabama Loser in the Sugar Bowl.
The Texans did beat the Bengals this year.
Zona against ASU should be 2 good basketball games Sean Miller can coach He was Xaviers coach til this year

[Jester]

Zona against ASU should be 2 good basketball games

Hey, if the Devils win twice, the way they've won the last two years AND in last year's PAC-10 tournament, yes, those will be two good gams.

[Jester]

Crap! Shit! Fuck! Holy hell! Balls! Bollocks! And furthermore, ARGH!

It's bad enough that Arizona went 8-4 and ASU went 4-8 this year, AND that ASU lost to U of A. But now USC laid down and died and let Arizona win the last regular season game today. And Arizona is going to the Holiday Bowl. Well, I guess it's true...you cannot spell "suck" without U. S. C.

So now I have to root for whoever they face, which means, according to ESPN, the team that finishes third in the Big 12. Which means, if I read it right, either Nebraska or Oklahoma State.

Now, I can root for Oklahoma State. I have no problem with that. But if Texas beats Nebraska and that makes Nebraska third in the conference, I am going to have to root for the Cornhuskers. Blech!

Yet another game where I'd be rooting against the Cats rather than for the other team. Meh.

And so far today, every game I cared anything about went the wrong way. Ugh. Add to that the fact that my comp froze, and I rebooted it, and lost an entire CS post I was working on.

Somebody shoot me.

[irateguy]

UC Beat Pitt 45-44 In one of the most remarkable comebacks Ive ever seen Im hoping Nebraska beats Texas now

[Jester]

They almost did. And while I am not a Nebraska fan, it would have been nice to see them do it, just to throw the ridiculous BCS into total disarray.

Every college sport has a playoff, and every division of college football has a playoff, except for Division 1, FBS, or whatever the hell they are calling it these days. Idiotic. "The BCS works." Sure it does. That is why you now have five undefeated teams, and only two of them will play for the national title. Grrr....

And now it looks like I'll be rooting for Nebraska against Arizona in the Holiday Bowl. Great, just great.

More proof that Trojans are good for only one thing.

[irateguy]

I think there should be a playoff w 16 teams. The big conferences champions ( Big 10, Pac 10, SEC , ACC, Big12 and Big East) would automatically be in. Other conference champs would be in if they were ranked in the top 16. The first round would be a home game for the higher seeded team. then the other rounds would rotate every year among the " BCs Bowl" game sites.
You could still have the crappy Bowl games too like the Papa Johns Bowl etc for the teams that didnt make it

[Jester]

I have repeatedly said there should be a playoff, and they could use existing bowls to do it. 16 teams, 8 teams, whatever.

Look, you take the four major bowls that exist now: Sugar, Rose, Orange, and Fiesta. Designate two semi-major bowls as major bowls. You now have six major bowls. You use those six bowls as the quarterfinals and semi-finals, rotating the designations among the six bowls. If you go with 16 teams, you use eight lower bowls for the first round. If you go with 8 teams, you just start at the quarterfinals. You have a Championship Game after the semi-finals. The bowls continue, you have a playoff, and you have a true champion. And teams like Cincinnati, TCU, and perennial Cinderella Boise State not locked out of it.

Sure, there would be some arguing about the "bubble" teams, whether you use 8 teams or 16 teams. And that would be different from the basketball tournament....how? But the improvement would be twofold: you have a true national champion, without all the argument, and you allow teams like Boise State a chance to prove themselves worthy, as Boise State did a couple of years ago against Oklahoma.

Would there would be some issues with this system? Sure. But far less issues than there are with the current one. And undefeated teams would not feel like unworthy ugly stepsisters, as they do now. I kind of wish that Nebraska had won last night, just so that the BCS would have been absolutely proven to be the joke that it is. Those people who will continue to say that "the BCS works" are going to have a tougher time doing it now, but they will still do it. Much to the detriment of the sport. Because, let's face it...the BCS clearly does not work. And if Cincinnati, TCU, and/or Boise State win their bowl games and finish undefeated, it will leave the BCS with a huge black eye.

By the way, every one of those three should be in a major bowl. And I bet you right now, not every one of them will be.

A travesty. A complete and utter travesty.

[irateguy]

TCU and Boise State play each other so there will be at least 2 unbeatens maybe 3 if my Bearcats can beat Tebow

[Jester]

Hmmm....maybe I'll go home and go to the Fiesta Bowl, and cheer Boise State on. That would be awesome, to finally go to that brand new stadium (I haven't even seen it yet), and to see BSU in person. And, of course, to go home. Hmmmm....

In other news....

Yep, Arizona is facing Nebraska. (monotone) Go Nebraska. Yay.

Bleh.

Edited to add: Just found the face value price on Fiesta Bowl tickets. Screw that!

[trailerparkmedic]

Last year was more than enough proof for anyone who follows the Big 12 that there needs to be a playoff system. How can you justify a system that relied on computers when three teams were tied?

The thing that really gets under my skin about the BCS not supporting playoffs is that they argue playoffs would be too disruptive for students. If I'm not mistaken, all current bowls occur after finals at most schools. They are all over before the new semester begins. You even have a few weeks available in January to extend the season. How would having playoffs during the bowl time frame be any worse than the basketball tournament where people seem to be missing weeks of class?

I know the BCS thing brings in lots of money, but after seeing how rabid Texas fans can get, it seems to me that extra games would result in much more money for everyone, not less.

Jester, I'm glad you're rooting for Nebraska. I don't know if I could talk to you anymore if you had to root for Oklahoma.

[Jester]

Last year was more than enough proof for anyone who follows the Big 12 that there needs to be a playoff system. How can you justify a system that relied on computers when three teams were tied?

Forget that. How do you justify a system where five teams are undefeated, but only two of them get to play for the championship?

The thing that really gets under my skin about the BCS not supporting playoffs is that they argue playoffs would be too disruptive for students.

And yet these same people support playoffs in every other competitive sport the schools are involved in, including the College World Series and the Final Four basketball tournament. And they seem to see no contradiction between what they say and the fact that at smaller schools, i.e., Division 2 and 3, they have no problem having a playoff system and still getting their classes taken care of. After all, very few Div. 2 or 3 players are going to the NFL, so generally speaking, the players NEED to take care of their studies.

I know the BCS thing brings in lots of money, but after seeing how rabid Texas fans can get, it seems to me that extra games would result in much more money for everyone, not less.

The argument is not that the BCS itself brings in money, but that the bowls themselves do. The BCS itself, outside of organizing the bowls and deciding who goes to which ones, only adds one game, the championship game, and that is a recent addition.

The fact is, as I have said here and other places repeatedly, is that you could have a playoff system without getting rid of the bowls. You could use the bowls, or at least a select few of them, as the playoff system. And what about the schools that don't qualify for the playoffs? Well, just like know, they would go to lesser bowls, if they are bowl eligible. So the best schools get to have a true playoff system and decide a true champion, and the other good and decent schools still get their post season bowl game. Bowls still bring in the money that they do now, and actually, the ones that are part of the playoff system would bring in MORE money than they do now, as they would garner more attention as they are part of determining the champion.

I am not the only person who has been advocating such a system. But just as with customer service and our jobs, apparently the college presidents and those other pinheads running the current system seem to subscribe to the philosophy that if it makes sense, it's not allowed.

As I said....pinheads.

Jester, I'm glad you're rooting for Nebraska. I don't know if I could talk to you anymore if you had to root for Oklahoma.

Actually, if Nebraska had beaten Texas, I do believe Oklahoma State would have been the one going to the Holiday Bowl against Arizona, not Oklahoma. That being said, had it been the Sooners going against the Wildcats, trust me, I would have rooted for the Sooners, too. And loudly. I root against any team that plays the Cats. Period.

Hope that doesn't disillusion you too much about me.