Laugh all you want, but the Florida State Seminoles have a legitimate shot at the BCS Title game. Sure they lost their season opener to a very good Clemson team, but losing the first game is often the best thing if you are going to lose one game all season. Michigan lost late last season ruining any chance at a title shot as did USC when they lost the last game of the season to UCLA. Losing one game is no big deal as long as it is early in the season. You can't get any earlier than game one.
FSU beat Colorado who beat Oklahoma and they will have to beat Boston College, Maryland, Miami, and Florida to run the tables. All of those are currently ranked teams and very tough opponents. Should USC lose to Cal or UCLA the door may open up for FSU. FLorida has already lost one game and may lose to LSU and then of course FSU. Boston College is unbeaten and a top 10 team so if FSU beats them it just adds to their strength of schedule argument.
Bobby Bowden may still have one more title shot left and I for one hope he gets it. A lot of cards will have to fall his way, but it is possible.
New NBA Basketball: It was a stupid decision to switch balls without consulting the players and I hope the league realizes this and just switches back. It is beyond me to think that the NFL or MLB would switch balls without getting input from its players, but yet David Stern and his minions decided to do this without input. It must be about money, but I am not sure how Spalding is making more money on this ball or its advertising. I know we all played with all kinds of balls in pick up games, but as long as I can remember we used a leather ball in every organized league and it was always a thrill to get to use a game ball to shoot around. Synthetic was fine for the pick up games on the play ground, but real leather was special.
BCS: To be honest, I would like a play off system, but the BCS has done a fair job of getting the right two teams each year. USC vs. Texas was the right match up last year and with the exception of by passing Auburn a few years back, I have had very few quarrels with the eventual champion. Sure a case could be made that one team should have a shot at the title, but even with a play off there will always be a team on the outside looking in that might deserve a spot. If you take four teams, it is the number five team out, and if you take eight teams, it is the ninth one that was considered that will have a beef. How many one loss teams deserve a shot at this title game? Boise State is undefeated and they will not even get a look at the title game or a BCS berth.
NBA: The Lakers are looking pretty good out in the west. Is it suddenly because Kobe is sharing the ball more or is it because of Phil Jackson? If it were up to me, I would say that both of those are contributing factors, but the biggest turn around is that Lamar Odom has become much more aggressive at looking for his shots. Odom is finding ways to score and he is not passing up on his shots. As long as Odom continues to be aggressive the Lakers have a shot at going deep into the play offs this year.
NFL: Look out for the Seahawks. With the return of Shaun Alexander, the Seahawks have a shot at the Super Bowl again. He was flawless last week against Green Bay and he looked to be in perfect form. If he continues to run for 100+ yards per game, the Seahawks will come out on top in the NFC. Hopefully everyone will not start saying the NFC is all that weak if they do win out because Dallas has played pretty well this year and so have the Bears and Saints.
MLB: The Red Sox are idiots for paying 51 million just to talk to a player. It’s that simple. The Cubs are making the best moves in MLB to become a real contender. Bonds will play somewhere next year and it looks more and more like it will be in Oakland every day. Big Mac deserves to be in the HOF on his first ballot. Being number 7 in home runs is enough in my book.
Florida vs. Michigan: Florida deserves the national title game and I believe the BCS will get it right. Michigan did not win its own conference. Michigan beat Wisconsin and Notre Dame while Florida beat LSU, Arkansas, TN, and Florida State in Tallahassee. Say whatever you want, but Florida has found a way to win. Last year no one gave Texas a shot at beating USC. USC was the best team in the history of NCAA football, that is if you listened to all of the sports analysts, and then Texas came out and beat them. Florida might do the same thing to OSU. In fact, I would pick Florida to win that game. By the way, Urban Meyer should get coach of the year.
There you have it. Just a few of my random thoughts on this Sunday morning.
