Sports Rambling

Listen: New England blew it. But they won! you say. Indeed, I watched the game and I am aware of the final score. Did you see how they took a knee late in the game? They blew it. Amid all of the "running up the score" grumblings from analysts, coaches, and players, they missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to prove their toughness. The game was dubbed Super Bowl 41-and-a-half, and The Biggest Regular Season Game of All Time. Sure, New England could have lost the ball and given Indianapolis a chance to score, but they also could have stepped up, scored another touchdown and proved their machismo proudly stating "we ain't scurred". I wonder what they would have done if they had been up by 15 or so.

My baseball predictions back in October went okay. I was able to correctly predict the outcome of the National League series, unlike any other ESPN baseball analyst, but the Yankees downfall messed up the rest of it. Oh well. Now to sit back and see where Alex Rodriguez ends up.

The only interesting story line in the NBA for me is how the Boston Celtics do. I don't really care about the NBA and usually don't even check the standings until February or so, but I'm eager to see if Boston can complete a tri-sport championship season. The Red Sox have already taken baseball, New England isn't a certainty for the championship, but they only have to beat Indianapolis at home to earn it, so it is up to the Celtics to seal the tri-sport trifecta. I kind of hope it happens.

Ultimate is a sport too, right? Maybe. I was thinking about nationals and how that one tournament was so different than any I have ever played in. Even club coed nationals and worlds could not compare to it. The reason it was different was from the "team" experience, not a personal experience. As an individual, I wasn't as effective as usual, but didn't get to play a lot of offense, which is what I feel I am best at. One-on-one, though, it didn't seem any different than the best of coed players. The "team" experience I mention is this: In coed and college it seemed like you matched up your strengths against the strengths of the other team. There was little exploitation of weaknesses. It was "here's our best, there's your best, let's see who's best is better." In this highest-level open tournament it seemed like our individual and team-wide weaknesses were shining brighter than our strengths. It was kind of like, we are both good teams that have excellent players, so what will determine who wins is not "who's strengths are stronger", but "who's weaknesses make them weaker?" The Van Buren Boys certainly had team weaknesses and individual weaknesses that weren't really expoited until nationals and a handful of games in the regular season.

Too much space devoted to ultimate. What about hockey and soccer? That's enough.

I don't know a lot about the BCS system, but it seems too flawed. A four-team or six-team playoff seems more appropriate, especially when there is so much controversy each year. This year, there could be three undefeated teams and some six or seven or eight teams that might have one loss. How do you sort it out? Well, there is a system in place to sort it out, but it is not perfect. With a four or six-team playoff, you would include the fringe teams that might have deserved to play for the championship, but were excluded because of computer ratings. You could say, "well than teams that don't get included into the playoff would complain, much as the third team left out of the championship complains." True, but it is easier to say a fifth ranked team or a seventh ranked team is not worthy of the championship when compared to a third ranked team when there is little evidence to distinguish the second and third spots. Agree?

Where did Kansas come from this year? I hope they go undefeated, but they still have to play Oklahoma State on the road, Iowa State at home, Missouri in Kansas City, and if still undefeated, Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game. They still have two games against top-10 teams at neutral sites and a tough game against OKState, but the Iowa State game should be a cakewalk, sorry to say. Good luck Jayhawks.

On Monday night football they are wearing throwback jersies. I'm trying to think of jersies that I like. The old Astros and Padres jersies were pretty sweet with their oranges and browns. I like the Penny-Shaq black Orlando Magic jersies, too. Back in grade school, Lana thought she was cool in her Charlotte Hornets Starter jacket. I've only bought one jersey in my life, it was at a Minneapolis second-hand store and was from a Yokohama Japanese baseball team that said Kazu on the back.

I'm a little bummed out that soon it will be that time of the year when only NBA basketball and hockey are on, with some college basketball thrown in. Hopefully there are some poker episodes I haven't seen yet, but that craze seems to have already run its' course, hasn't it?