Now I'm sure we all know enough about the BCS to know that it's not perfect, and for the record nothing else has been either. I am not a BCS hater, but I do have some issues with it:

The Rankings:

 1) Ohio State -

2) Michigan

3) USC

4) West Virginia

5) Auburn

6) Florida

7) Texas

8) Louisville

9) Notre Dame

10) California

Notice that Cal is in there but there seems to be a certain SEC team who is missing, a team who humiliated Cal in the opening week of the season and a team who has the exact same record as Cal. That's right Tennessee is not in the top ten, which is fine with me (for the record they are #11) because they did lose to Florida at home, and the win at Georgia isn't as impressive as it looked when it happened. However it's not like the Cal game was a toss up, Tennessee dominated Cal in every aspect of football, but somehow a computer is saying that Cal is a better team.

The Big East

The Big East conference I still can't take seriously, even though it seems there actually are some legit teams, and no not just Louisville and West Virginia. Rutgers and Pitt are having good seasons as well. However the non-league schedule is absurd and I think that is why I can't take them seriously I saw West Virginia struggle with Eastern Carolina. I know that Slaton is probably going to win the Heisman next year, but how can you accuaratley judge a team when their schedule consists of weekly cupcakes? I am looking forward to seeing the West Virginia Louisville game though. I think Louisville deserves to be ranked higher since they beat Miami, granted not the Miami of old days but still more impressive then any win West Virginia has, which brings me my next point.

The ACC

What the hell is going on there? Not one ACC team in the top ten. Clemson (#12 BCS) is getting all the attention, and after dismantling Georgia Tech this weekend, that is understandable. But what about Boston College (#17 BCS), a win over Clemson and leading the Atlantic Division of the ACC. However you want to talk about a cup cake non conference schedule (Central Michigan, BYU, Maine, and Buffalo) how are you supposed to take these guys seriously, what happened to the days where BC played Notre Dame every year, wouldn't that be a great game to watch now.  Unlike West Virginia, Boston College does have wins over Clemson, Virginia Tech, and Florida State. This brings me to my main point....

Conference Championship Games

This is my main question about the BCS, what impact do these games have on the standings. Since only two teams per conference are eligible for a BCS game, and the winner of the championship game automatically gets a bid, who gets the other one? For example, If Florida and Tennesee both win out, Florida will advance to play the SEC West Champion, most likley Arkansas, by virtue of the Gators 21-20 win against UT. Now if Florida loses this game, they will have 2 losses on the season to Tennessee's 1 loss. And with the polls seeming to follow a "what have you done for me latley" pattern Florida's loss will no doubt push them down the polls, but will they fall past Tennessee and their one loss. Probably not, I'm hoping they do, mainly because I'm a Tennesee fan but also because I want to see the BCS fail in every way possible so that there is no way it will be used ever again. The same Scenario could be used in the ACC if BC and Clemson win out, and actually is more likley in this conference seeing how Clemson is already ranked ahead of BC.  If BC makes the championship game and loses, I would imagine that Clemson would get the second bid, that is if they even invite two ACC teams.

So help me out, what are alternatives how do we fix this mess that is college football ranking system, Basketball has it's tournament, Which I realize is unrealistic for football but there has to be a better way.   

This is starting to get way out of line. A bunch (or one i don't know for sure) ####(s) who probably got cut from their college teams started a web site designed to rat out teams who have some sort of initiation party. This webiste is so high class that when I was on there you could find an attorney who help you get out of a DWI. What really bothers me about this site is that they do not do any sort of research. They take articles verbatum out of newpapers (they do reference correctly) and go on websites with photo albums (such as webshots and others) they find pictures pertaining to a University and one of its athletic teams and they post them on their websites. Recently, Northwestern Women's soccer, Quinnipiac University Baseball, and Catholic University Women's Lacrosse have all been under scrutiny due to posts on this site.

Now for all of you naive people out there. Initiation is part of college sports, like it or not and I do not agree with the over the top stuff that happens ( See UVM Men's hockey a while back) but if you have a party and everyone participates willingly there should be nothing wrong with that, it is college by the way. This web site (Badjocks.com, I'll reference it against my will) does not take anything like this into consideration. There is no mention of what happened just pictures, so no way to know if it was willing or not. There is nothing there right now that looks out of the ordinary seeing as I've been to a college party or two in my lifetime.

These idiots are going out of their way to ruin the reputation not just of the Athletes, but the entire University on nothing but circumstantial evidence. And Pujols thinks Bonds gets it bad. What makes it worse is that the mainstrem media (ESPN) is reporting these incidents like they are groundbreaking news. I know Stuart Scott is a loser and probably didn't have many friends in college but he had to have atleast seen a party once, in case you've never heard him talk he went to UNC-Chapel Hill and pretends he played sports, (a funny side note on good ol' Stu, At this years NBA Skills competition he interviewed Rip Hamilton and said "just wanted to rub it in that MY Tarheels beat UConn, Rips Alma Matter. Has there been a more awkward moment in the history of side line interviews, Joe Namath and Susy Kolbert excluded, you know that Rip must have wanted to drop the "Aren't you a sportscaster because you weren't good enough to play in college" but instead he just laughed it off, missed opportunity if you ask me.) But I digress, there is nothing new here just college kids being stupid. There are no laws being broken in these cases, except underage drinking, which is as much a part of college as going to class (By the way is the drinking age still 21, what a joke. How many high school teams throw parties that involve alcohol,) And if laws are broken let the Police, or the NCAA or the University jump in and investigate, not some nitwits who pay $20, or however much it costs, a month to have their own website.

I realize that their are times when teams do cross the line and they should by all means be punished for this, and if a website wants to cover that then that is their right. But to have a website dedicated to posting pictures (that they didn't take) and articles (that they didn't write) is stupid. For now anyone who is friends with a student-athlete do the world a favor and don't post your pictures on the internet and put this website out of business.

The purpose of this blog is not to encourage hazing, I do however encourage initiation. See "Miracle", it is activities like this that help bring teams together, and help the new players get to know their upper class counter parts and vice versa. From the pictures that I have seen all people involved looked to be having a good time, and there were no illegal acts taking place (see my opinion on the drinking age above). That is what angered me enough to write this.

Is it still baseball season. The red sox haven't played since Friday, a rain shortened 6 inning game against Texas which wasn't really a game as Texas just pretty much took an extended batting practice session off Matt Clement. Clement had complained earlier in the week about getting passed over in the rotation during the Yankee series. HMMM Beckett, Schilling and Wakefield all on regular rest, seems like a no-brainer to me. One would of thought Clement would have had a fire in his hind parts to prove he deserves to get these important starts.

Tonights game against Baltimore is on the road so that looks good and I'm excited to watch the Sox play again  As I was looking at the Red Sox website an interesting link popped up. "Papi needs fans all-star help". The focus of this being on David Ortiz being voted into the All Star game as a first basemen. Since the game is being played in a National League Ball park this year there will be no Designated Hitter. Prompting the question should Ortiz get voted into the game, seeing as he has yet to play a game at first base. As a die hard Sox fan, I would love to see Ortiz in the all-star game, but I can not justify putting him in a first base especially since there are many qualified candidates from the AL who have all actually played first base this year.

I will preface this by saying I think Ortiz should have won the AL MVP last year regardless of whether or not he played the field, seeing as he was by far MORE Valuable to the Red Sox then "Mr. March" Alex Rodriguez was his team. What Ortiz does at the plate, the confidence he gives the guys hitting around him, the fear he puts into other teams (see the Yankees bringing in Mike Myers to face him in the 6th inning last week), has infinite Value. But as far as having him play first base, well let's just say Kevin Youkilis has nothing to worry about. Voting Papi into the All star game as your starting first basemen would be the same as voting him in as an outfielder seeing as he's played exactly zero innings at either position this year. And what is the All Star game about, entertainment. So Red Sox fans need to unite and vote Ortiz in as the AL's starting Center Fielder (over Johnny Damon). Think about it what would be more entertaining, watching Ortiz chase down fly balls, or Damon?

David Ortiz is one of my favorite players in all of sports, however he will have to learn to live with playing in the All-Star game every other year. While it is hard to imagine an All-Star game without one of the games best hitters, it simply can not be justified.  Guys like Giambi, Hafner, Overbay, Shelton, and Lee deserve more votes.

Now with all this being said it wouldn't shock me to see Ortiz make the team whether he's voted in or if Ozzie Guillen takes him as a mangers pick.

Ottawa vs Buffalo

The debate hasn't really existed as far as people coming out and saying that you should or shouldn't go about it one way, but the pros and cons of this decision have been talked about quite often. I'm talking about putting a forward on the point for the power play. Daniel Alfredson has been a forward, and a great one at that, throughout his whole career. However, Saturday night Ottawa hung him out to dry. Buffalo recognized his lack of experience playing "D" and attacked him, turning a harmless 1-2 shorthanded rush into a series ending goal.

Granted the reason for the goal was 3-fold. A) Alfredson not knowing how to handle a 1-1, from the defensive aspect. B) Emery playing too deep in his crease and giving the forward the room to get all the way across the crease. C) The other defensemen not helping in time, which also allowed the Buffalo forward to get to his forehand and beat Emery.

You could argue either way for putting Alfredson at the point in that situation. On one hand you need to win, being down 3-1 in the series, so you want a playmaker running the powerplay, fine. However, being down 3-1, you can not afford to lose. When you have so many quality defensmen, which Ottawa does, why would you take that risk. Obviously hine sight is 20-20, and the Sens would have been better served having a defensemen to stop any sort of counter attack, but this is not what lost the series for them. Emery played a subpar series in net, the forwards were unable to establish any sort of constant pressure. I know that Ottawa outshot Buffalo in most games, but as I've heard many times, shots on goal is the most overrated statistic in hockey. Ottawa was unable to create traffic in front of Miller, with the Sabres collapsing having 4 players in front of the net for most of the series, and doing a good job of not allowing Senators players to collect rebounds.

The mark o####ood team is how you fare in one goal games, I'm sure the Senators won their fair share of them during the season, however every game in the series was a 1-goal contest, and the Sabres looked like the team who kicked it up a notch, rather than playing conservative and not to lose, like the Senators. Point being, a Stanley Cup Contender should not go 1-4 in One goal games at any point in the season, and obviously not in the playoffs.

The style Ottawa played also wasn't very smart. I feel like a guy such as Patrick Eaves, who has a big body, and good offensive skills, should have been playing a key role. While you can't deny the offensive skills of Alfredson, Heatley, Havlat and others. You need to win one on one battles every where on the ice, not just in open ice. I feel like Eaves could have been used a lot more in the corners and he has the ability to set up these guys around the net. Unlike a guy like Chris Neal, who would be out there to "irritate" the other team, he would be able to go in the corners, but lacks the ability to create scoring chances from those situations.

Basically every aspect of Ottawa failed, and that's what needed to happen if they were to lose. I honestly feel that they were good enough to win, as long as they were clicking on one or two cylinders.

Sabres quest for Lord Stanley

The Sabre's will get solid goaltending, but after watching the Hurricanes regain their early season form in the first two rounds, and dismantle the Devils who pride themselves on playing great defensive hockey, I'm picking the Carolina(ford) (Whaler)'Canes to beat Buffalo. Miller is going to see shots from everywhere on the ice, just ask Marty Brodeur. While shots from the corner seem harmless, they can create crazy bounces, or good rebound opportunities, as a rebound off a shot from the corner ussually comes back in front of the net. The 'Canes seemed to follow the rule there is no such thing as a bad shot, and when given odd man rushes their skilled forwards will finish most of the time. This is a bad combination. However, I feel that the line with Drury and Grier will be able to generate scoring chances, and if the other lines follow suit Buffalo could make it interesting. I don't know how successful guys like Briere and Affinegenov will be. While I think they are great players, they will have to play out their element (more physical) then they are used to in order to get quality chances.

Refs

A new aspect has crept into this years playoffs. Due to the new rules, teams are getting a large number of powerplays. We saw the Devils fail to convert on four first period power plays and end up losing 4-1 yesterday. Special teams will play a huge role in this series, and I think Carolina has the advantage on the power play. 

On the side, I feel like the refs have done a good job enforcing the new rules all year, even in the playoffs. I do miss the "Old Time Hockey" playoffs, I feel like the Stanley Cup should be decided with as much 5-5 hockey as possible. However, teams were aware that they would need a solid powerplay to succeed this season, so if you didn't build a team that can score on the power play (not to beat a dead horse but see the ::cough:: ::cough:: Boston Bruins) you won't be an elite team.

We're early into the season, I'll give you that. For me once the Patriots lost to Denver in the playoffs, I was counting down the days until pitchers and catchers reported to spring training. Don't judge me, you don't know me. I'm from Boston, and while we like the other Boston teams, a true Boston sports fan LOVES the Red Sox. Maybe it was the way they teased us for 86 years coming so close, but eventually breaking out hearts. Maybe it's the atmosphere at/outiside of Fenway Park on the day of a Sox game. Whatever it is people in this town live for baseball season. That is why I am nervous about the season in mid-April. The Blue Jays are good, the Orioles arent bad, the Devil Rays are better then they ussually are, and the Yankees are well...the Yankees. Having to play each team in your division 19 times a season, I am not very confident that the A.L. Wildcard is coming out of the East this year. Why does this scare me, you say the Red Sox are in first place? Well, I'll explain the best I can. I am a Red Sox fan, therefore by definition I am a pessimist, yes even after they won the World Series. The only way I see the Red Sox making the playoffs is to win the division, and well the Yankees have done that 7 years in a row. In the past I might have been somewhat satisfied if it came down to a close race at the end of the year for the division, not any more, after three straight years of playoff baseball, I'm an addict,give me the crack pipe and light it up because I'm hooked baby. If the Yankees are the only team to come out of the AL East and make the playoffs, they may have to reconsider the plans for the big dig and somehow provide roads that you can not only drive on, but that protect suicidal red sox fans when they jump off the highest point they can find, I don't think the Tobin bridge would suffice this year. So anyway here is my early season review of the division, and why I think it will be so tough.

Boston Red Sox (12-7) First Place

Despite being in first, my beloved sox have looked shaky at times. Mainly with starters 4-5 (insert Matt Clement, David Wells or Lenny Dinardo). Clement is 2-1 and has probably looked the best out of the three, but he's been knocked around a lot and been lucky to get out of some innings. After seeing Willie Mo Pena do nothing for the first few weeks, Bronson Arroyo is looking better and better. The bullpen has looked sharp. The offense has had some struggles getting runners around to score, but there is enough pop that it shouldn't be much of a problem.

Baltimore Orioles (11-9) Second Place 1.5 GB

If you remember the Orioles were the team to beat coming out of the gates in the AL East last year, but pitching let them down in the second half. I don't see much of a difference this year. Kevin Millar is their starting first basemen, and will get to play in the outfield on days he's not playing first. That's never good, theres a definate 3-50 slump in there somewhere. Daniel Cabrera has been up and down, he has the stuff to win 20 games, but he can't hit the strike zone. If he ever settles down though, the O's could become a contender.

New York Yankees (9-8) Third Place 2 GB

 Ahh too bad I'm not that  naieve enough to enjoy this anymore. The Yankees are not in trouble, not yet any way. They still have some questions like what is wrong with Randy Johnson, is he injured or is he still suffering from mullet withdrawal. He leaves a game after 87 pitches in the 5th inning, then proceeds to get smoked his next start, everyones curious, then he goes 8 innings giving up 1 run last night. He seems ok to me. Obviously they are going to score runs with that line up, the question is will guys like Chacon, Wong, and Aaron Small (when he comes back) be able to give the Yanks as much as they did last year.

Toronto Blue Jays (9-8) Fourth Place 2 GB

Watched them play this weekend, they are good. This isn't quite the Blue Jays team of the early 90's, but it's also not the Blue Jays team of recent years, where a trip to Toronto was a sweep or atleast a series win. Their Line up is for real (see Vernon Wells, and Troy Glaus), but AJ Burnett, their major off season aquisition was put on the DL this weekend, if he doesn't recover soon the Jays just might be too far out of it come the summer to make a legitimate run.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays (8-11) Fifth Place 4 GB

Baby steps are being taken in Tampa. They have a ton of young talent, but need some more pitching. Baldelli coming off the DL would help out also. I could see them coming together and maybe finishing fourth ahead of Baltimore. But who knows?

So that's my outlook on the division as I see it so far. Obviously it's too early to tell anything I'm just excited it's baseball season again. However like I said earlier, I only see one team going to playoffs from this division that should add to the excitement level throughout the season with n o wild card to lean on. Here is how i see the division at the end of the year.

1 Boston (94-68)

2 New York (93-69)

3 Toronto (87-75)

4 Baltimore (85-77)

5 Tampa Bay (75-87)

The 2005 College Football season has been over for a while now, but the dissapoitment of last season for my Tennessee Volunteers still hasn't gone away. Predicted to challenge for the National Title with USC, the Vols ended up challenging Kentucky for last place in the SEC East. The Vols failed to make a bowl game for the first time in 19 years, and lost to in-state rival (?) Vanderbilt for the first time in over twenty years. All in all it was embarrassing, dissapointing, anything but successful.

Let's be honest with all those predictions by the alleged experts, were pretty much without merit. They entered the season with 2 quarterbacks (again), this time it was different. Whereas in the year before, Schaffer and Ainge had different styles, Schaffer being a scrambling QB, and Ainge being more of a pocket passer. Last season the QB battle was between two guys with very similar styles, and also no experience. While Ainge stepped up in his limited time (both due to rotation, and injury) his Freshman year, he definatley didn't have the sort of experience that the leader of a National Title contender needs. Same goes for Claussen, despite the legacy of his older brother Casey (which varies widely depending on who you talk to), Rick had played decent football but definatley not enough, and definatley not against the level of competition he would be asked to face if the Vols were going to make it to Pasedena. This led to one of the most in-ept offenses to ever grace Knoxville. The fact that Gerald Riggs went down with an injury, and the numerous fumbles and turnovers in the red-zone also didn't help.

Not only was the talent overrated, the schedule last season was brutal, even harder than a typical SEC schedule. The Vols had to play all of their hardest games on the road, with the exception of Georgia (Florida, LSU, Alabama, Notre Dame were all road games). This is not the ideal situation for a young offense to gain any confidence.  They managed only  one win, a miraculous comeback at LSU, but the easily could have gone 0-4 in that stretch.

I don't know how familiar you are with the South Eastern Conference, it is easily the hardest conference to play in. Not only because of the talent level, but it is comparable to the ACC in basketball, every road game you are going into an extremely hostile atmosphere. This year the Vols have the Neyland advantage. They will play Cal (opening weekend), Florida, LSU, and Alabama all at home.  While last year wasn't sucessful on the field, you could argue that by playing all those road games the Vols learned a lot about what it takes to win those sorts of games. Eric Ainge (I am assuming he wins the starting job from Jonathan Crompton, a promising red-shirt freshman) will have another year (or so) of experience under his belt. David Cutcliffe, the new Offensive Coordinator who has coached both Peyton Manning,at UT, and Eli Manning, at Ole Miss, should bring some new energy and insight to the disgrace of an offense he inherited.

The one upside of last year was the defense. However, most of those guys are gone (Kevin SImon, Jesse Maholouna, Jason Allen etc...). So this season could be the exact of oppisite of last season, if everything goes to plan. Expect some shootouts at Neyland next year.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not predicting a miraculous run, circa 1998, but I won't be surprised to see the Vols turn the ship around dramtically this year and finish near the top of the SEC, and back to the level of football that all of Rocky Top has come to expect.

So come September, look out for the Big Orange.

I'm talking about all aspects of a franchise here, management, players, coaches, farm systems etc... and the dubious winner of this award, the Boston Bruins. Oh where do I start?

Well let's take it from the time that the NHL lockout became official almost 2 years ago now. First thing the Bruins did, release almost all of their players. On paper not a bad move, they played the salary cap card correctly and had the most cap room OF ANY TEAM heading into the next season. That was the last decent thing they did until this January when they called up Tim Thomas. But I digress, while having the most cap room they failed to sign another big name player to go along with Joe Thorton and Sergei Sampsonov. They failed to address their biggest weakness, defense. Instead opting to sign the likes of Alexi Zhamnov and other second tier players. Nothing against those guys as they are decent players and could be solid second line guys, but again they left Thorton hanging by himself on the first line. Which led to him underachieving, atleast in Boston, and again probably not his fault as he was pretty much forced to carry this team.

Now I'll get to the big trade, Thorton to San Jose. I personally think this trade made the Bruins a deeper team, although not neccesarily better. Brad Stuart has become the number one defenseman, with Nick Boynton being out for most of the season. Marco Sturm complimented the Bergeron and Boyes line well, and Wayne Primeau turned into a pretty solid addition to the checking line with P.J. Axellson. However this is where my biggest gripe with the off the ice operations comes into play. After trading a player who had the presence of a Joe Thorton, on and off the ice, you can not continue to run the same commercials showing Joe score goal after goal on TV, and almost rub salt into the wounds of Bruins fans all over. The Bruins continued to market the team as if Joe was still here, they failed to capitalize on the fact that these new players were going to be able to contribute, it was almost as if they just wanted to see how long it would take fans to realize he wasn't on the team any longer. It seems to me that while the players they aquired did end up helping the team, it was not expected by management and their production went unnoticed. Wayne Primeau for instance, scored one of the nicest goals in the NHL this year, the only way you would know that was if you watched the game, or caught the highlights the next morning. Wouldn't you want to repeatadly show something like that, maybe it will spark interest, get people thinking "wow those guys they got for Thorton can play, maybe I'll watch more, or even better maybe I'll buy tickets". Not the Bruins.

Now the Sampsonov trade. Not as shocking as Thorton, as Sampsonov has been a good offensive player deep in the zone. I do not like the way he plays. I feel like he takes too many risks with the puck in areas where you least want to turn the puck over (IE at the offensive blue line when he is parralell with his defensemen, and giving up breakaways). But, I also feel that they knew they wanted to trade him before he became a free agent, I also feel that had they traded him earlier they could have gotten a lot more for him. Nothing against Marty Reasoner (he isn't very good but a former Boston College player, so I can't hate him) and Jan Stasny (who has a lot of potential but the Bruins have had tons of "potential" over the last thirty some odd years). It's time to stop looking for potential and build a team that can win soon, or else the hundred or so Bruins fans that are left (myself included) might stop coming.

Mike O'Connell (GM) got fired. Was it his fault, in part maybe but why fire him after you've been eliminated from the playoffs (technically they weren't officially eliminated but it was imminent). Why not make a move like that while you still have time to make a run, energize the team show you are doing something to make them better (again, not neccesarily the right thing but making an effort at least).  Mike Sullivan (head coach), I am not sure how he fits into the failures of the season. On one hand I want to throw him under the bus, on the other hand you can't blame him entirely for trying to turn sub-par players into a Stanley Cup Conteder. Regardless, he will be gone next season, the brand new management will probably clean house and start over at every position.

Now there were a few bright spots, the play of Patrice Bergeron and Brad Boyes was a nice breath of fresh air, however they need help around them (just like anyone). Tim Thomas played out of his mind in practically every game.  I don't know his stats off the top of my head.  I would guess that they aren't anything to get excited about, unless you got the chance to watch him play. However, don't get too excited Bruins fans, remember Blaine Lacher and Byron Dafoe, and even Andrew Raycroft. Now don't get me wrong, I hope Tim Thomas sticks around and plays well next year but I won't be surprised if he doesn't.  Oh and don't even get me started on Hal Gill, he will get his own article.

This point pretty much sums up how poorly the Bruins are run. Ray Bourque requested to be traded to a stanley cup contender, when he finnally won the cup, instead of calling him a traitor and turning on him (IE Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, insert any former Boston Athlete who has won a title in another city) Bruins fans embraced him, and even attended a celebratory rally in Govenment Center in which he brought the Stanley Cup with him. It's gotten so bad in Boston, we just want to be able to say hey that guy used to play here.

MESSAGE TO BRUINS FRONT OFFICE: People in Boston will not be angry if you win a Championship, in fact we will be very happy, we will buy more jerseys, tickets, concessions at games whatever you want, PLEASE BRING ONE HOME. I'm sick of watching highlights of great Bruins teams from before I was born and saying wow I can't even remember the last time the Bruins were any good.