December 4, 2011: Just Another Day in Sports

Where do I even begin to write?

Do I start with the clusterf**k that is the BCS and Heisman Trophy race? What about Aaron Rodgers and my man-love for Tim Tebow? Or the fact that something interesting actually happened in the PGA and MLB? I think it would be a crime against humanity if I did not start with college football first, so here we go...

The BCS
Here we are again. It seems that almost every year since the BCS's inception we are at the point where we are at now. A deserving team doesn't get into the National Championship game, a team has no clue how it made it to a BCS game, a team has no clue how it didn't make it to a BCS game, coaches continue to accept "the system", etc. It's like an Adam Sandler movie. You know that it's going to happen once a year and you know that you're not going to enjoy it.

Beginning with the National Championship game, obviously LSU was in because of their SEC Championship victory over Georgia. But people were saying before the game that it was just a formality and an exhibition game and they were in no matter the result. So if that happened, it would have been LSU-Bama in the championship with no team winning their own conference? In what reasonable world does that make any sense. Speaking of not making sense in a reasonable world ESPN put up this nugget during their BCS Selection Show.

The ranked teams that Alabama beat were Penn State (22) who has shown its  shortcomings of late, a pretty good Arkansas team (6), and Auburn (25) who hasn't been relevant once this year. Oklahoma State beat Texas (24), Baylor (12) and possible Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III (we will visit this later), Kansas State (8), and ended the season with an absolute pillaging of Oklahoma (14) on national television. Oh and Oklahoma State also beat another 3 teams that were .500 or better to put the icing on the cake. But no that wasn't enough to put them ahead of Alabama. The current National Championship game is equivalent to a rerun of a recent Family Guy episode. We weren't happy with how it turned out the first time, why do I want to sit in pain and watch it again? (Sidenote: Step up your game McFarlane. South Park has officially made you obsolete.) Forget about Oklahoma State getting the shaft. What about Boise State? There is no chance that Virginia Tech who was physically assaulted by Clemson for the second time this year gets a BCS bid over the Smurf Turfers. Two fun facts of the day for you before my head explodes from this incompetence; former SEC Commissioner and Harris Poll voter put 5 SEC teams in his top 11 and 80 year old George Wine, another Harris Poll voter, ranked Oklahoma State 6th behind Houston at 5.

Heisman
So much for my head not exploding. I thought I was done yelling at my computer while in the library when ESPN put up their projected Heisman finalists based on their voters and "experts."

RG3 should win the Heisman and in reality it shouldn't be that close at all. No problem with that at all. But then I looked who was below RG3. Listen, I am all in the bandwagon that Andrew Luck will be a super-duper star in the NFL. But he really didn't show me a whole bunch this year that made me say, "Woah!" The same goes with Trent Richardson. He did very well against teams he was suppose to run over and only had 89 yards and no touchdowns against their best opponent: LSU. To win the Heisman he needed to rush for 100+ and 2 TDs. Didn't happen.

And that is why Montee Ball should finish second and Tyrann Mathieu should finish third. Ball led the NCAA in rushing with 1759 yards, had 6.4 yards per carry and scored 38 total touchdowns. Let me say that one more time so you know that is not a typo. Montee Ball scored 38 touchdowns this year. For Wisconsin. Who is a top 10 team. Who is playing in the Rose Bowl. I'll let you digest that for a second. (You ready now or is your head still spinning?) He did not score less than 2 touchdowns in any game this season. He is 2 touchdowns away from breaking Barry Sanders' all-time record for touchdowns in a season. (Raises hand) So how is he FIFTH, not even fourth or even third, but FIFTH in the Heisman race? Like a Tootsie Pop the world may never now...

The reason for Mathieu is simple; he's the best player on the best team. It started the first game of the year against then #3 Oregon in Jerry's World. He pulled off the defensive trifecta (forced fumble, fumble recovery, touchdown) en route to victory. Against #3 Arkansas, after LSU was down 14-0, Mathieu returned a 92 punt for a touchdown, forced 2 fumbles, and had 8 tackles. He also threw in a 62 punt return for a touchdown for good mesure in the SEC Championship after LSU finished the first quarter down 10-0 to Georgia. Yes he was suspended for one game. But that does not take away from the fact that he is the best defensive and special teams player in college football on the best defensive and special teams team in college football. One last reason: because Honey Badger said so!


NFL
On to another topic that makes people's head spin Exorcist-style: Tim Tebow. I feel like Skip Bayless and I are the only two people on Earth that like what is happening here. He is now 6-1 in actual NFL games that count this season and has thrown one interception this year. That now puts his interceptions  per pass attempt at 0.6% which is actually half of what Aaron Rodgers is currently at. I know what you are thinking right now. It's probably something like, "Who is this idiot who is trying his best to make Tebow look better than the quarterback who is having the greatest season ever?"I'm not so just stop the nonsense. Rodgers needs to replace Albert Pujols in that "This is SportsCenter" commerical. Tebow needs to replace "The Most Interesting Man in the World" guy. Not a day goes by where something is either written or said about him in some format. And you know what?

I love it.

Never has someone been as polarizing and confusing as he has been. I watched just about every game he started while at Florida. I saw how those guys always believed that when it mattered most, he was going to carry them to the Promise Land (religious pun intended). I don't care that he throws 12 times a game. I don't care that they run a "college" offense. Go look at some Cam Newton highlights and tell me you don't see speed options and read options. I dare you. I double dog dare you! People are mad and angry and puzzled because it is simply different. That's all. Who made the rule that you can't take what you have and make an offense that works for that player? That would just make too much sense.

I can see it now. Robert Griffin III gets drafted in the top 10 and the coach tries to put him under center and run a "pro" offense. He will be benched halfway through the year for not performing in the system. Question. You drafted him because he excelled in the "spread" offense correct? So you make him become a pro-style quarterback because....? This is how I view 90% of NFL coaches.

Tiger (because that's essentially what the PGA should be called)
Golf poked its head in the spotlight for all of 5 seconds on Sunday when Tiger Woods won his first tournament in 2 years. I only knew about this because it started trending on Twitter. And then it stopped trending and that was the end of it. Sorry but unless its a major event no one really cares. It was buried so deep in SportsCenter that night that I needed that Chilean mine contraption to get it out. Good for him for showing us that he still has a little left in the tank but how dare he impeded us from more of "The Blitz."

Mets
And last (again, and again, and again...) but not least is the first major move of the MLB off-season when Mets star shortstop José Reyes ditched the Mets for the Miami Marlins at a tune of six years and $106 million. Everyone is asking how this big move will shake up the baseball landscape. Pump the brakes (unlike Ndamukong Suh). Say "hi" to the Philadelphia Phillies. Sources say that the Phillies are still in the NL East. The Marlins are playing for second place. If they somehow land Pujols as well, then it will get a little interesting. But nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, they do will make up for this Fisher-Price toy of a homerun display. And as for Mets fans, well, you already know what's coming.