Bowl Mania Day 11

I know, one game has begun yet, but my internet was down last night so I couldn't post this. What do you want from me?

Here are the picks:

Meineke Car Care Bowl: USF and Clemson- Pick: USF

Sun Bowl: Notre Dame vs Miami - Pick: Miami (reluctanly, but Jacory Harris is playing. He's got big play pottential)

AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Georgia vs 25UCF- Pick: UCF

Chick-fil-a bowl: 20 South Carolina vs 23 Florida State - Pick: Florida State

Bowl Mania: 14 - 4

Jordan Lauterbach

Bowl Mania Day 10

As I anxiously await/plot Friday’s Sun Bowl between Notre Dame and Miami (for which there will be a link to a FULL COLUMN about on Friday morning), here are some really quck picks for Thursday’s game.

Why no piece by piece analysis you ask? Isn’t this kind of less- than-600 word post for four games a cop out of epic proportions?

Both valid gripes, but when you’re 12-2, you can afford to do this once in a blue
moon.

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl – Army vs SMU

Not to be confused with the Military bowl, won by Maryland yesterday afternoon. Army may be the worst team in the post-season. That’s no lie. Sometimes it looks as if the offense (a seemingly less complex Navy triple spread option ) is too complicated for the talent they have. I wrote after Notre Dame beat Army at Yankee Stadium that Notre Dame knew what Army was doing more than Army did.

SMU isn’t great defensively, but they’ll be able to outscore the Black Knights.

The Pick: SMU

Pinstripe Bowl – Syracuse vs Kansas State

In my anger over West Virginia two nights ago, I swore off picking teams from the Big East. But I’m going to go against that already.

Nothing too scientific here. I think Syracuse will be pumped about 3 things

1. Being in a bowl

2. Being in a bowl in New York

3. Being in a bowl in Yankee Stadium

That, and an underrated defense will get them a win and the coveted title of first ever Pinstripe Bowl champion. Wow, Syracuse. Who would have guessed?

(Sidenote: remember the press conference to announce this bowl at the stadium last year (or maybe two?). Randy Levine spoke about this game like it was the national championship. I don’t know. I was still way more excited for Notre Dame/Army)

The Pick: Syracuse

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl – Tennessee vs North Carolina

No matter who wins this, it’ll be a good story. Tennessee was left in the dust by Lane Kiffin last year (who’s not in a bowl game. Thanks sanctions!) and managed to win 6 games. North Carolina had basically their entire team suspended and managed to win seven.

Tennessee would obviously be the more heartwarming of the two.

I still think North Carolina has more talent. Tyler Yates has cut down on the interceptions and is a fun quarterback to watch. Tennessee doesn’t do any one thing particularly well and was 3-5 in a down (compared to past years) SEC.

The Pick: North Carolina

Bridgeport Education Holiday Bowl – 18 Nebraska vs Washington

This will be Jake Locker’s final game in college and Jake Locker’s final game where
he’s the story. An overrated quarterback who leads a mediocre pass offense on a 6-6 team, maybe I just don’t get it.

Anyway, here’s how the last matchup between the two teams on September 18th in Washington shook out.

1.Locker: 4 completed passes, 71 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 picks

2.Taylor Martinez – 137 rushing yards, 150 passing yards, 4 combined touchdowns.

3.Nebraska 56 Washington 21

Remember, that game was in Washington

This game won’t be as lopsided, but the result won’t change

The Pick: Nebraska

Bowl Mania: 12-2


Jordan Lauterbach

Blake Griffin's Top Ten Plays So Far

Just enjoy.



FYI, Griffin fouled Gallinari on that dunk. He grabbed Gallo's wrist to prevent the inevitable block.

--Max Caster

Tyreke Evans' Halfcourt Game-Winner

This speaks for itself:



"Tyreke. Tyreke!"


--Max Caster

Bowl Mania Day 9

Thanks to a big time pick six in the Iowa/Missouri game last night, I salvaged a 1-1 record in the Tuesday double header. Here are some quick picks for today’s triple header.

Military Bowl- East Carolina vs Maryland

East Carolina was involved in one of the more exciting bowls of the year last season. They can score, ranked 7th in passing and 12th in total offense, but can’t stop a sole.

This team gives up an average of 43 points a game. Navy scored 76 points on them. Rice put up 62. Isn’t Rice a baseball school?

Maryland is capable of putting up the big number. They scored 62 against Morgan State, 42 against Florida International, 62 against Wake Forrest, and 38 against #23 N.C State.

Throw in the “win one for Ralph (Friedgen) factor and they won’t have an issue outscoring East Carolina.

The Pick: Maryland

Texas Bowl: Illinois vs Baylor-

If Illinois can run the football, they will be fine. Baylor has the 82nd ranked defense in the country, allowing nearly 30 points a game.

The Bears can put up their fair share of points, but it doesn’t do much good if you allow over 40, as they did in their final three games. The one thing you have to like about Baylor is the balanced pass/run split, but that’s one of the few.

The Pick: Illinois

Valaro Alamo Bowl - #14 Oklahoma State vs Arizona
Oklahoma State is ranked 2nd in passing yards and 3rd in total offense. They lost two games in the Big 12, both to teams ranked in the top 20.

Arizona, although Nick Foles is fun to watch (19 tds, missed two games) won’t be able to keep up offensively with the Cowboys and doesn’t have a good enough defense to stop them. Plus, a ranked team has to beat an unranked team eventually…right?

The Pick: Oklahoma State

Bowl Mania: 9-2

Jordan Lauterbach

Bowl Mania Day 8

Much to the dismay of others in the WCWP sports department, this space won again yesterday after Air Force topped Georgia Tech in one of the more compelling games of the bowl season. How ironic is it that the last too bowls, admittedly not great matchups for non – College Football junkies like myself (unless Georgia Tech being a former BCS staple floated your boat), have been some of the best?

Champs Sports Bowl – 22 West Virginia vs N.C State

Notre Dame was rumored to be in this bowl for weeks and weeks. All you heard in ND nation was “Champs Sports, Champs Sports, Champs Sports.” That all changed when the Irish beat USC in the final week of the season, opening up the door for this matchup.

Subtle subplot to this game: It’s December 28th and teams ranked in the top 25 are 1 – 2. It’s a little misleading because Utah lost to Boise State (both in the top 25), but still interesting nevertheless.
West Virginia is one of only two ranked Big East teams in the BCS. They are the only one in the AP (which makes absolutely no sense at all, but more on that at a later date.)

The Mountaineers are a hard team to score on, in fact it’s almost impossible. They have the second best statistical defense in the country, allowing only 12 points per game. Sure, that number is less impressive when you look at who they played, but numbers are numbers.

West Virginia allowed 14 points or less in each of their last four games, all wins. They would be playing in a BCS game in all likelihood had they not been on the wrong end of a 16 – 13 overtime game against Big East Champ UConn on October 29th. That was the final loss of the year for WVU, but it proved to be the final dagger in the heart of any BCS return hopes.

What’s got to hurt more, however, is the week before when Syracuse (who plays on Thursday) beat them 19 – 14.

So it was a scoring lull in the middle of the year that spells the reasons why Bill Stewart’s gang isn’t playing next week. The team that used to run the heck outta the ball just cracked the top 50 in rushing this year (49th). Noel Devine, a guy who figured to be West Virginia’s number one offensive threat as a young gun, failed to reach 1000 yards for the first time since 2007 when he only carried the ball 73 times.

No, this isn’t the Rich Rod West Virginia any more. They win games with defense.
And that’s why I like them.

N.C State, while surprisingly good this year, is fairly one dimensional offensively.

They throw the ball as well as anyone, ranked in the top 20 in the county in passing, but don’t run the ball well at all (93rd). I think a defense as good as West Virginia will be able to figure the passing game out.

But watch out for Russell Wilson. The junior threw for 26 touchdowns. He also turned it over 14 times. If WVU doesn’t let Wilson beat them, this’ll be another bowl win for Bill Stewart.

The Pick: West Virginia

Insight Bowl – 12 Missouri vs Iowa

Need something to watch late night? How about this 10pm start?
Missouri only lost two games this season, back to back drops against #14 Nebraska and Texas Tech. Other than that, it’s been all good for Missou. And that’s a bad thing.

Motivation could be an issue tonight. Here they are, 10 – 2 overall, 6-2 in a BCS conference (Big 12) and they draw the Insight Bowl? Not even a New Year’s Eve date, but the back end of a Tuesday after Christmas double header. Heck, look at some of the teams playing over the New Year’s holiday. Missou is much better than a number of them.

As for the Insight Bowl, this psychological hurdle is one that would best be overcome quickly. Iowa can score AND they have something to prove. Losers of their last three games, Iowa fell from 7 -2 and 4-1 in the Big 10 on November 6th to 7-5 and 4-4 in the Big 10 by seasons end. That’s a big drop.

Iowa’s top running back, Adam Robinson, spent the last part of the season trying to gut out an injury. He wasn’t very successful in doing so, missing two of the final four games. His backup, freshman Adam Cooker, did a good job in relief, but it wasn’t enough as Iowa lost their last three by a combined 10 points.

Cooker will be called on again after Robinson was suspended for this bowl due to a Marijuana arrest.

This is one of the more evenly matched bowl games. Cancel out the motivation factor because neither team saw this bowl as a destination two months ago and can’t be ecstatic to be playing this early. The defenses are as equal as you can get (Iowa 7th in country, Missouri 6th), so it comes down to offense.

Although the loss of Robinson hurts Iowa, I trust that Cooker can get it done. I’ll take the better quarterback in this one and that’s Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi.

The Pick: Iowa

Bowl Mania: 8 -1

Jordan Lauterbach

Bowl Mania Day 7

My buddy Brad texted me late last night. “Do you feel lucky?,” it read. At first, I thought he had turned on me and my days were numbered. Then I figured out that he was referring to FIU’s improbable victory in the Pizza bowl. Yes, it was a nail biter, but there’s no such thing as luck in bowl pick –em.

Ok…maybe there is. But, much like Rex Ryan, I’ll take it. Plus, the bowl gods owed me for the Christmas Eve Hawaii debacle.

AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl – Air Force vs Georgia Tech

It’s the spread option bowl! This may be the fastest bowl of the whole bunch given the style of the two offenses.

Like running the football? Watch this bowl.

Air force can’t have a larger pass/rush success split. The Falcons are second in the country in rushing (318 yds per game) and 117th (out of 120 programs!) in passing (120 yards per game).

So Georgia Tech – stack the box! Running back Asher Clark ran for over 1000 yards this season, scoring five touchdowns. Quarterback Tim Jefferson ran for 15 touchdowns and 769 yards.

Air Force, as they always do, was the best of the service academies. The Falcons were an impressive 8-4 and 5-3 in the Mountain West. Three out of their four losses came by a combined 10 points.

They fell to BCS bound Oklahoma by 3 and #8 Utah (back when people thought the Utes were really good) by 5. There’s not a head-scratching loss on the schedule. The best win came in week two against BYU (35 -14). They had an obligatory trouncing by TCU, but you can’t kill them for that.

Allowing 22 points a game, Air Force isn’t shabby on the defensive side of the football either. When you consider that 38 spot TCU put on them, a 22 points a game average doesn’t look bad at all.

Think Air Force runs the ball well? How about Georgia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets ranked first in the nation in rushing, racking up 327 yards a game. Senior Anthony Allen ran for over 12,000 yards and six touchdowns.

So how is Georgia Tech, with the best rushing game in the country, a 6-6 team that wasn’t yet bowl eligible when they walked into Duke on the Saturday before Thanksgiving?

Easy. The Yellow Jackets can’t stop anyone. That’s why they’ve lost four out of their last five.

They allowed 42 points to a 5-6 Georgia team in the final week of the season. Miami put 35 on them. Clemson, 27. Besides Miami, these are not good teams that are having tremendous offensive success and doing just enough to curtail this dangerous rushing game.

Georgia Tech allowed 20 points or less in only three games this year. The opponents? South Carolina State, Middle Tennessee, and Duke.

Air Force will not be the fourth. Expect a quick strike (no pun intended) from the Falcons. They’ll stop the run as effectively as is possible against a team like this and wear the Yellow Jackets down in the second half.

Last week, I went against America and won (SD. State over Navy). Today, I go with America.

And I’ll still win


The Pick: Air Force
Bowl Mania: 7-1

Jordan Lauterbach

Bowl Mania Day 6

Hope all that celebrated yesterday had a great Christmas. I know I did, even if the holiday did begin with The Impossible Dream being crushed. Yes, it’s true, I lost a game. I not only lost a game, I lost a game in embarrassing fashion. It appears I was shafted yet again by the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes (need I remind you that I write this while wearing my Notre Dame sweatshirt). Two things I take away from Christmas Eve’s Hawaii Bowl.

1. I’m never picking Hawaii to win it ever again. I’ve picked the Warriors the last two times they’ve played in this bowl and they’ve been destroyed both times. The first time, obviously, I was happy about it. The second time, not so much.

I mean, would Hawaii prefer to play an away game? Do they consider playing in their own back yard on the night before perhaps the biggest holiday in the world a nuisance? What gives? Two bowl home games. Two bad losses to statistically inferior teams. It just doesn’t make sense.

2. Which leads me to this point. The Impossible Dream of an undefeated bowl season will never happen to anyone.

Against the spread? Maybe, but not straight up.

This game is a perfect example. On paper (which is what you have to go by if there’s no head to head matchup and few or none common opponents), Tulsa had NO BUISINESS winning this game. Forget the fact that Hawaii was ranked (which after Friday night is hard to believe), but they had the number one passing attack in the game…and TULSA can’t stop anybody!

Then Hawaii comes out and turns the ball over six times, and actually has a minuet chance to win the game in the fourth and blows it again? Unbelievable!

The first loss is always the toughest.

Little Caesers Bowl – Florida International vs Toledo

Bad football. Bad football.

Look, I’m not going to sit here and pretend a lot of people care about this game. It’s a Sunday night and, if you’re like me, you’re watching the NFL or you’re not watching football. But for those Bowl junkies (not saying I won’t flip it on during commercials of Eagles/Vikings) who will be glued to the worst bowl matchup of the year, here’s some things to watch out for.

Toledo only lost one game in the MAC this year. That loss was a 65 – 30 drubbing at the hands of the offensively potent Northern Illinois. 65 points is a lot to give up to anyone, but no one could stop NO – ILL this year (unless you’re from Miami (Ohio)…oh, snap).

But here’s the thing – The Rockets might have been 7-1 in a generally weak conference, but nothing (and I mean nothing) stands out about them. The ranked 54th in the nation in points scored. That happens to be their highest ranking and thus, best side of the ball.

So, if you’re average (at best) offensively AND give up more points than you score, how do you win six games, let alone 8? Easy, you play in the MAC.

In 3 out of the Rockets 4 losses, they allowed 41 or more points. In those three losses, they scored a combined 53 points. Arizona beat them 41 – 2 in the first week of the season, maybe the coolest final score the sport has seen in decades. Boise State gave them a Boise State pounding, and we detailed what Northern Illinois did to them.

Oh, and 3-9 Wyoming beat them at home.

Excited about Toledo yet?

Let’s try Florida International. They notched up a sixth win and a bowl berth in the second to last week of the year, a win over Arkansas State. They promptly followed that up with a one point loss to Middle Tennessee and entered Bowl Mania with that ugly 6-6, just happy to be alive, mark.

FIU started the year out 0 – 4 against some decent teams (Maryland and Pitt), meaning they finished the year 6 – 2. That’s not exactly unimpressive. It’s easy to lie down and die after a 0-4 start. At that point, the post season is so far off that FIU folding would have been a shock to no one.

But they didn’t.

A 42-35 win over Louisiana-Monroe on November 6th started a season-saving four game winning streak that saved the season. This streak included an impressive 52-35 win over Troy, a team that killed Ohio in a bowl last weekend.

The Golden Panthers run the ball well for a 6-6 team. The tandem of Darriet Perry and Darion Mallary ranked 28th in the land with 189 yards a game.

They can’t stop a sole, allowing nearly 30 a game, but their 6-6 i.e, not good.

But the season will end well for FIU. They may be two games worse than Toledo, but I think they’re much better. They have an aspect of the game that they do well, Toledo doesn’t. They score more points than they allow, Toledo doesn’t.

They also played a much harder schedule. Swap the two ledgers and Toledo wins four games. FIU might have won 10. No joke

The Pick: FIU
Bowl Mania: 6-1

Jordan Lauterbach

MSG Mistakes Random guy for Jadakiss

I always look forward to Jill Martin telling us which celebrities are at the Knicks games. Towards the end of every first half, she goes through all of the stars as the cameras get shots of them. The usual names were on hand for the Christmas Day matinee; Matthew Modine and Phillip Seymour Hoffman amongst them. But one name I had never heard at a Knicks game was Jadakiss. And I guess that's because he doesn't go to Madison Square Garden, even when they think he's there:



So many questions following this segment. But I guess the best one to ask is 'Why?' *Jadakiss laugh*


--Max Caster

Happy Holidays From The Denver Nuggets

Uh, yeah...

-Matt Soldano

Bowl Mania Day 5

Merry Christmas Eve to all of the readers who are celebrating. I am especially joyous on this eve of my favorite day of the calendar year. Why? Two numbers….and a dash.

6-0

Yes, I intend to bring it up until I jinx myself.

Thing to take away from last night’s game: Ronnie Hillman will be scary good next year. The freshman ran for 228 yards and three touchdowns.

Hey, Ryan Matthews was the best running back in the country in ’09 and he played at Fresno State. Why can’t Ronnie Hillman earn that mark playing at San Diego State in one of the next three years? If he builds on his bowl game production, I don’t see why he can’t.

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl - #24 Hawaii vs Tulsa.

Before we dive into this year’s edition of one of my favorite Christmas week bowls (mainly b/c it’s synonymous with Christmas Eve), let’s visit the last time Hawaii played in this bowl.

It was exactly two years ago against a little school from South Bend that was struggling to find an identity. That school, Notre Dame, hadn’t won a bowl game in over a decade and was a year removed from one of the worst season in school history. When the definitive book on Notre Dame Football is finally written (hopefully by me. It’ll be called ‘Domers’ by Jordan Lauterbach), Jimmy Clausen, Charlie Weis, Michael Floyd, Golden Tate, and company will be a very small part of it. But this game will be what’s talked about. The Christmas Eve ’08 drubbing of Hawaii (for the record, I picked Hawaii in that game) is the defining moment of Jimmy Clausen’s career and maybe Charlie Weis’s.

Ah, memories.

But now for the current concoction of the Hawaii Warriors. They’re a lot better than they were two year’s ago, maybe as good offensively as they were during the Colt Brennan era. The are the number one ranked passing offense in the country and rank 8th overall in points scored.

Bryant Moniz has thrown for 36 touchdowns and over 4,600 yards. Moniz’s top receiver, Alex Green has caught 17 of those 36 touchdown tosses.

Of Hawaii’s three losses, only one of them is a head scratcher. They lost to USC in week one (when USC still cared) and Boise State on November 6th. Both are games in which you may have been laughed at for picking Hawaii in. But here’s one that’s really out of whack: The Warriors (don’t you miss the days of the Rainbow Warriors?) lost to 5-7 Colorado in week three. What’s more? They only scored thirteen points in the game.

The point totals in their wins are generally more impressive than the teams they knocked off. Besides for a 27-21 win over my new second favorite team, Nevada (I hate everything about Boise State, in case you’re new to Bowl Mania or my general line of thinking), the schedule is quite powderpuff-ish. There’s a 59-24 win over New Mexico State, a 45-7 drubbing of Utah State, and a 66-7 demolishing of Charleston Southern.

But it’s Hawaii. You have to look at them differently because of the location and consequent scheduling nightmares. Those offensive numbers, nevertheless, are impressive.

Can Tulsa keep up with them? Actually….maybe. The Golden Hurricanes are 10th in the country in points scored and can run the ball as well as they pass the ball. They are a dynamic offense that is hard to stop if it gets going

Quarterback G.J Kinne threw for over 3,300 yards and 28 touchdowns. He also was the teams leading rusher with 7 scores and 557 yards.

Can Tulsa stop anyone though? They rank 84th in total defense and have had three different teams put 50 or over on them. Those teams? East Carolina, SMU, Southern Miss.

All good offenses, but 50+ points is 50+ points.

My experience with Tulsa is the heartbreaking Notre Dame loss to the Golden Hurricanes at home on October 30th. I don’t mean to sound like a sore loser, but Tulsa had no business winning that game.

Tommy Rees, in for the injured Dayne Crist, ripped them up in the second half, leading Notre Dame well into field goal range with time running out. But maybe one of the worst college football coaching moves occurred in that game when Brian Kelly had Rees take a shot in the end zone and he turns the ball over. If there is any other non-turnover result on that play, Notre Dame wins the game.

That’s what I call a low – percentage win. That is, a game where a win or loss is the direct result of the losing team failing on a dumb play call.

Tulsa couldn’t stop Tommy Rees in that game and they won’t be able to stop Hawaii tonight.

Call it ’08 redemption for the Warriors.

Mele Kalikimaka!

The Pick: Hawaii

Bowl Mania: 6-0

Jordan Lauterbach

Bowl Mania Day 4

I think our buddy Matt Soldano put it perfectly when he tweeted last night:

People would have predicted a women's basketball team to win 89 straight games before they thought @jlauterbach1 would be 5-0 in #BowlMania

Sounds about right. Thanks to (gulp) Boise State, it’s two day’s before Christmas and I haven’t lost a bowl yet.

The biggest shocker about last night’s game: Boise only scored 23 points. That may have been the manifestation of the we – shouldn’t – be – here effect. I never though the Broncos would lose last night, but I did think that it had a chance to be a less then stellar (for them) offensive performance. It was. However, don’t discount how good the Utah defense is. Notre Dame/TCU notwithstanding, that’s a defense that can play well.


San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl – Navy vs San Diego State

I had a chance to see Navy play live this season. Sure, it was under unfortunate circumstances (the love of my College Football life, Notre Dame, getting torched at the New Meadowlands while I sat in the upper deck, almost sick to my stomach), but I was impressed with the Midshipman.

They run the triple – wishbone – option – mega – super offense with surprisingly efficiency. For a system that seams simple to stop (stick to your assignments!), it’s always amazed me how much success it has.

Navy finished 9-3, very impressive for a service academy. If not for a close, last second loss to Maryland in the first week of the season, they would have been 10 – 2. They rank fifth in the country in rushing, but that’s a little misleading. When 90% (a not so off base approximation) of your plays are rushing plays, you’re going to rack up more then a few yards. That’s not to say they don’t have the talent, 289 yards a game is 289 yards a game.

Besides Rickey Dobbs, who is one of the better option quarterbacks Navy has had in a while, Alexander Teich is a dangerous player. Teich ran for 825 yards this season, including ripping the Irish for 210 yards and East Carolina for 157. Past that, Teich wasn’t incredibly effective, but he certainly has the potential.

There’s an elephant in the room, however. Navy….wait for it….lost to Duke. Yes, that’s right. Duke. I’m sorry, but it’s hard to take any team that lost to a team that lost 7 conference games seriously.

The week after, they dropped 76 (yep, still writing about football) on East Carolina, a team that won six games. You can see why Navy is so difficult to figure out.

San Diego State is a quietly interesting team. They finished 8 -4 and 5-3 in the Mountain West, nothing overly impressive. But look at the schedule. The Aztecs beat #23 Air Force, and fell to #3 TCU and #23 Utah by a combined nine points.

They can throw the ball, ranking 11th in the country in passing yards and 20th in points. Quarterback Ryan Lindley threw for over 3,000 yards and 26 touchdowns. They rush for over 150 yards a game, boasting a 1000 yard back in Ronnie Hillman.

With two potent ways to beat them, I’m not sure if Navy can stop San Diego State. A lot of points will be scored in this game, so it comes down to what defense is more likely to make big stops.

Although Navy’s offense is funky, I’ve always viewed it as fairly one dimensional. San Diego State’s is the opposite.

Don’t discount the fact that this is basically a home game for the Aztecs.

And I can’t, in good conscience, pick anyone who lost to Duke to win a bowl game.

Sorry America.

The Pick: San Diego State
Bowl Mania: 5-0

Jordan Lauterbach

Bowl Mania Day 3

Two years and I finally seem to be getting the hang of this. 4 – 0 and counting….

MAACO Bowl – 10 Boise State vs 19 Utah

Couldn’t get into Southern Miss/ Louisville (it was the best game of the bowl season, but whatever)? I get it. Ohio/ Troy didn’t exactly tickle your fancy? Ok, that’s fine. BYU/Utep…not appointment viewing? I understand.

But, and pardon the upcoming personal attack, you are not a college football fan if you can’t get into the MACCO Bowl. I’m sorry, you’re not. Please stop reading (I’m just kidding, continue).

Not only is this matchup BCS quality, it’s better than the Fiesta Bowl matchup (Oklahoma/Stanford) and may be on par with the Orange Bowl (Stanford/VA. Tech, mainly because I don’t think VA. Tech is very good but that’s for a column in a few days.)

As a proud member of the Boise State hate club, nothing brings me more joy than to see the Broncos in a pre – Christmas bowl. I’m tired of the whining. I’m tired of the griping. I’m tired of the holier – then – thau fans who wouldn’t know the history of the program if you spotted them the Wikipedia page and gave them a direct line to Dirk Koetter (that’s right, I’m making you look him up). Finally it’s over and I couldn’t be happier.

That’s not to say the Broncos aren’t good. I’m not naïve. They’re excellent. But, as I’ve written/ said/ tweeted/ thought for years, theirs a difference between a WAC powerhouse and a national champion. A big one. Thank goodness Collin Kaepernick and co put that to bed Thanksgiving weekend. I am forever in debt to Chris Alt.

Here’s the biggest story line for tonight: how will Boise State handle it all? When they walk onto the field in Las Vegas, realizing it’s not Arizona or Florida, or California in early January will they get discouraged or angry?

It’s the ultimate test of the we – shouldn’t – be – here letdown game theory. It’s especially interesting because of the way that Nevada ended. You could make a decent argument that they should have won it four or five times.

This will be even more relevant if some of the players believe they should be in at least a New Year’s Eve bowl. Remember, the closer you are to New Year’s Day, the more prestigious the bowl is (generally). In any case, bowl # 5, played before Christmas = major slap in the face.

And don’t let the Utah State win on December 4th fool you, the shock of not being in a big bowl had nothing to do with that game. Utah State stinks and the Bronco’s still could have had a pipe dream BCS 9 or 10 seed in mind or a good New Years Day/Eve bowl.

Now that fact is unavoidable. Everywhere they look, they are reminded that they are playing in a December 22nd bowl.

Yes, a great December 22nd bowl, maybe the best you could imagine, but still a December 22nd bowl.

But after all that, I don’t know how much it will matter. Mainly because Utah ended the season amidst a gigantic identity crisis.

The Utes were ranked 8th in the country when they played TCU on November 6th. They were soundly destroyed (47-7). The next week Notre Dame, only a team that hasn’t won a big game in about 5 years (I should know, I never miss an Irish snap), dominated them.

Wins against San Diego State and BYU to close out the year kept the Utes in the top 25, but not impressively so. It should be noted that those two victories against two unranked teams, when the team needed major showings, came by a combined five points.

Certainly not two wins that inspire tremendous confidence against a Boise State team that can put up 50 in its sleep, wake up, and tack on 10 more for good savings.

No one in good confidence can pick Utah to win this game. TCU put up 47 in Utah in one of the bigger games in school history. Boise State can easily top that by, at least, 5 or 6.

The matchup is great because it’s two ranked teams, two schools that are historically BCS busters, and two dynamic offenses. They also both have major issues to overcome entering the game.

However, unlike Boise’s issue of being sad about losing to Nevada, Utah may have real tactical issues. They lost two of their final four, scoring nine combined points in the process. They couldn’t move the ball against the best defense on the schedule (TCU) and didn’t fair much better against the ND defense that wasn’t as much good as it was suddenly hot.

Then came the nail biter with BYU, a game many believe they had no business winning. So, while Boise may be a little blue, Utah’s got real problems.

And that’s a problem.

The Pick: Boise State

Bowl Mania record: 4-0

Jordan Lauterbach

Bowl Mania Day 2

The only good thing about Saturday’s bowl openers is that yours truly is 3 – 0 for the first time in the history of Bowl Mania. But boy, did they stink. We’re still looking for our first winner that scores less than 40 points.

BYU putting up 52 really surprised me. Northern Illinois and Troy’s offensive output? Not so much.

Tuesday marks the first appearance of a BCS - conference school…and what a lame way for the big conferences to make an entrance.

Beef O’ Brady’s Bowl – Southern Miss vs. Louisville

Ah yes, Louisville. A .500 team from the BCS – detractors’ favorite conference, the Big East. I can read the text messages now.

“Why is the Big East in the BCS?”

“So this is why we don’t have a playoff?”

Generally, I don’t disagree. But lets take a look at Louisville before we make Southern Miss the favorite just by looking at the records….and having a general (justified) bias about hating Big East football.

The Cardinals actually have two shutouts on their schedule. Ok, one came against Memphis. But I’ll give you three guesses as to who the other came against.

It’s BCS bound Uconn…. Yeah, I know. Weird.

The game came midway through the season, October 23rd to be exact. Louisville held the Huskies to 87 passing yards and overwhelmed them with stellar special teams play. Their wasn’t much of an offensive output in this one, only field goals, a punt return, and one two yard TD pass, but the message was sent.

Louisville can pull weird, somehow excellent performances out of thin air. That’s a very likeable quality when analyzing a bowl game.

They may have the unappealing six and six mark besides them, but all but one of their games were winnable. Besides a 20 – 3 drubbing to Pitt (the largest enigma is the country this year), every loss came by a score or less. You don’t love some of the teams Louisville lost to ( Kentucky, Cincinnati), but its hard not to think that this team was only a play or two away from being 8 – 4.

8 -4 won the Big East, by the way. But, I know I’m not exactly helping matters when I say that. Sorry establishment. I’m still a good soldier.

Louisville can run the ball and can play defense…two things needed to win bowls.

They rank 30th in the country in rushing. Bilal Powell ran for over 1000 yards and ten touchdowns. This guy can play. He had 7 games over 100 yards, 4 over 120, and 2 over 200. He also had a 92 yard games where he averaged a shade under 6 yards a carry.

Louisville can ride Powell to a win easily.

Defensively, the Cardinals only allow 18.7 points a game, 15th in the country.

But Southern Miss can score. Still, it won’t really matter.

Ranked 15th in the country in points, the Golden Eagles have put 50 on the board in each of their final regular season games. Unfortunately, they only won one of them.

That’s right! Southern Miss can’t stop anyone. Not only are they in the lower half of the country in defense, they’re in the lower third. Allowing 29 points a game, they rank 81st.

What good is 50 points against Tulsa, if you give up 56! Who cares about 49 against UAB, the Golden Eagles gave up 50 in OT. UAB finished 4 -8, by the way.

That’s the story of this game. A good offense vs a good defense on one side and an offense with an outstanding running back against a lousy defense on the other. Both favor the Big East team.

Folks, this may be the fourth dud of the bowl season…..be patient.


The Pick: Louisville
Bowl Mania record: 3 – 0

Jordan Lauterbach

Rajon Rondo is a Boss

This picture was tweeted by Celtics Point Guard Rajon Rondo:



The message attached is, "I love my new video game. Still keeping my foot elevated." This dude is awesome.


--Max Caster

Bowl Mania - Day 1

And you thought I was gone. Well, I am, but I’m back for a little while. As you surely have heard, you can now read me here and here on a daily basis, but I felt it appropriate to come back for another year of Bowl Mania.

We’ll get to the picks in a second, but first some history. This started as an experiment when WCWP’s Matt Soldano said to me one day two years ago “Jordan, if you picked every bowl game, how do you think you would fair?” I told him I’d loose less then ten times.

I was 17 – 17 during year 1. And, if memory serves, I won my last five to get to that point. “The definition of mediocrity,” Soldano taunts me to this day.

Despite Max Caster’s constant rooting for me to be exactly .500 yet again, I was a respectable 20 – 14 last season.

Now it’s time for the only thing that gets me back in this space these days: pickin’ da bowls.

New Mexico Bowl: BYU vs. UTEP –

This game would be a lot more exciting if Max Hall was still under center for the Cougars. This is where picking Bowl games could get tricky – BYU and Utep both have the same overall record, but look what they’ve done inside their conferences.

BYU was 5 – 3 in the Mountain West, arguably the best non – BCS conference in the country. Heck, arguably better then the Big East (and it may not be that much of an argument). UTEP finished 3 -5 in Conference USA. The only two teams to finish worse then the Miners in the C – USA South was Rice and Tulane. Neither are playing in Bowls. Neither got close.

So while the two may have had the same overall record, the similarities end their.

Utep finished the year losers of 5 of their final six, including allowing 58 to Arkansas on November 13th. They rank 70th in points scored and 58th in points against.

BYU, although not the top 25 year of 2009, are hot. They’ve won five of their last seven and narrowly fell to #20 Utah in the final week of the season. The only question you’d have with BYU is if the “we shouldn’t be here” game plays into it. Disappointing loss to end the year and suddenly they are stuck on the first day of bowls. Kind of hard to get excited about.

But that shouldn’t be a big factor. BYU is way more talented then UTEP. They’re in the top 35 in defense. Expect a low scoring battle that the Cougars command the entire way through.

The Pick: BYU

uDrove Humanitarian Bowl – Northern Illinois vs Fresno State

Fresno State blew their show to win a bowl last year when Wyoming pulled one of the larger upsets of the bowl season. Here the Bulldogs are again, but this time playing a much better opponent.

Northern Illinois didn’t lose a MAC game all season. They finished on down note, being upset by four - loss Miami (Ohio) in the MAC championship game. While this has “we shouldn’t be here” (see above) potential for the Huskies, I think it has the opposite effects.

And that’s bad news for Fresno.

Northern Illinois can score with anyone. They ranked 13th in the county in points scored and 7th in the country in rushing yards. Chad Spann ran for over 1200 yards and 20 touchdowns. Quarterback Chandler Harnish isn’t awful either, tossing 20 tds and rushing for over 700 yards.

Fresno State isn’t nearly as good offensively and can give up points to potant offensive teams. Northern Illinois just has too many weapons for the Bulldogs to contain.

If Fresno State wanted a bowl win, they should have shown up against Wyoming.

The Pick: Northern Illinois

R + L Carriers New Orleans Bowl – Ohio vs Troy

Want more on this game? Dan Weil and I will be having Ohio beat writer Vince Nairn on to talk about it on College Football Saturday this morning from 11am – 1pm. Nairn is coming on at noon.

Here’s how to beat Ohio – Make them throw. The Bobcats are ranked 105th in the nation in passing yards. Quarterback Boo Jackson has 15 tds, but 16 picks. In the final two games of the year, Jackson threw 1 touchdown and three interceptions.

Despite the poor passing numbers, Ohio won 7 of their last 8, including wins on the road against Temple and eventual MAC champ Miami (Ohio). For a team that has won 7 of 8 and doesn’t throw the ball well, they are surprisingly pedestrian running the football. In fact, they don’t really do anything well…except win.

Don’t discount that, either. The ability to find ways to win without putting up gaudy numbers is a huge advantage in a bowl game.

But Troy can score. Troy has some talent. They rank in the top 30 in points scored and have a QB that threw for over 3000 yards and 24 touchdowns (Correy Robinson). They don’t play really good defense, but does anything about the Ohio offensive attack scare you?

I like gritty teams against teams less explosive then Troy is. The Trojans have put 40 up four times. I know the theory is bowl is pick the better defense, but sometimes talent just weighs out.

The Pick: Troy

Jordan Lauterbach

WWE PPV Preview w/ Picks! WWE TLC = Totally Lacking Consistency!

Sports is driven by the angles of entertainment. Drama, at its very core, is to elicit an emotion whether it's positive or negative in its reaction. For whatever reason, instead of sports focusing on wins and losses and the team's play over a set # of weeks, the media draws up an angle or a storyline that takes away from what the match is supposed to be about in building interest in the sake of ratings. When the story is so convoluted that it takes away from what the match represents, it's an automatic channel changer that makes you turn it off, rather than tuning in.

Perfect example is the whole ridiculous "Trip-gate" situation that happened during last weekend's New York Jets/Miami Dolphins game. Taking the headlines from that game was not the horrendous offense devised by OC, Bryan Schottenheimer and awful execution by QB, Mark Sanchez. It was not how the Jets allowed the awful Miami offense 10 total points and still found a way to shoot themselves in the foot and lose the game. The headline was "Jets coach trips Miami player on sidelines as Jets show true color!" You're compromising that value of the result by an angle that has nothing to do with the end result of the game. Aka, a distraction. We drag the story into the dirt and then run it over till it's worse than roadkill instead of the next challenge ahead.

Watch the Jets lose to Pittsburgh this sunday because Rex Ryan has the bright idea to put on the pads and attempts to kick a game winning field goal because he has no faith in his offense to drive down the field and actually put up a touchdown for the first time in nine quarters.

What does that opening tangent over the Jets have anything to do with the WWE's next PPV, TLC?

When you cheapen the value of a win or loss, regardless of the circumstance or how that match was won or lost, it hurts the value of the players involved. It takes credit away from the strong defenses when you complain of how Sal Alosi was out of line for his trip of Nolan Carroll. The consistency of the personalities and their motives should be simple enough that any viewer watching understands the reasoning and LOGIC behind their actions. We watch these games and PPV's as a way that can distract us from the problems that plague our favorite teams (or players), or what we go through in every day life.

When looking over this card for WWE TLC, just based off of the sole premise to the PPV, the gimmick of tables, ladders, and chairs, matches would lead you to believe that there were heated enough matches on a cold, blistery night in Houston, Texas, to warrant these kinds of matches to take place. Alas, with the WWE's stringent policy to keep things PG, if you've followed the WWE over the last year or so you'd know there is no bleeding allowed or else they'll have a WWE Trainer stitch up the would and halt the match, even if it just started. Another little fun fact is the WWE also restricting unprotected chair shots to the head.

For the fun of it, here's a little video of what used to happen often in a "Hardcore" match in wrestling during the attitude era and other independent promotions and in some cases, TNA, in 2010.



For those wondering, Homicide (delivering the chair shot to the skull of Rob Terry) is no longer working for TNA and Rob terry is still awful beyond words in everything he does. Moving on.

Yes, it saves the lives of the wrestlers thanks to countless concussion testing from Christopher Nowinski and The Sports Legacy Institute but it also takes away from the match when everybody knows the only chair shot that can be hit is over the back instead of over the head. Instead of how dangerous the whole aspect each element of a TLC match is, the distraction the WWE is focusing on is John Cena against Wade Barrett. Instead of focusing on the new WWE Champion, The Miz, and the media coverage he's gotten, taking on Randy Orton in his first title defense, it's focused on John Cena against Wade Barrett. Instead of the poor Houston Texan fan in section 330, that paid 60 bucks for his nosebleed ticket to WWE: TLC complaining about how dumb his head coach, Gary Kubiak is, we're focused on John Cena/Wade Barrett.

Enough of those quagmires and distractions. Let's get to the picks.

Beautiful People (Lay-Cool) vs. Beth Phoenix and Natalya in a Divas Tag Team Table match. Try saying that stipulation three times fast you wood-chuckers. Anyways, this is a pretty interesting match on paper and what's really, the only angle involving the "Diva's" of the WWE. Natalya's Diva's championship is not on the line in this match. Lay-Cool is kinda the WWE's PG answer to TNA's whores in The Beautiful People. I get the feeling that Beth Phoenix (with her cake-face and brolic shoulders) will lift Layla and slam her through the table. Or Maybe if McCool is flexible enough, pull off a stunt like this...



Go to about 6:07 in the video to see how flexible Mrs. Taker could be when Beth gets her hands on her.

Winner: Natalya & Beth Phoenix

John Morrison vs. Sheamus (Ladder Match): #1 Contenders match to the WWE Title.

Sheamus just recently won the King Of The Ring tournament on one of the 3 hour editions of Monday Night Raw. He beat John Morrison in the finals. John Morrison beat Sheamus at Survivor Series. There has to be a tie-breaker in this series and this seems like the perfect scenario as a way to elevate both people. Morrison's athleticism against Sheamus and his power should make for an interesting blend for this match. Morrison is also an expert at the fitness training of Parkour. Parkour is where you jump from buildings to buildings from really high heights and can land on your feet.

Kinda like a cat.

Anyways, Morrison's hatred for bullies (Sheamus) kinda led to this match though with Morrison's dry personality and monotone speaking voice, you kinda question if Morrison even knows how to just cut a promo. Alot of this could go either way but with the way they've been elevating Morrison lately, I think Morrison will probably get the win and go to the Royal Rumble challenging The Miz as odd as that sounds for the WWE Title in 2011. If Sheamus wins, the WWE could go with the safe bet and go with Sheamus thus leading to Sheamus against Orton for the second straight Royal Rumble for the WWE Title. Sheamus did win the WWE Title this time last year at the last WWE TLC event.

Winner: John Morrison (A gamble but what a Royal Rumble singles match you can have that'd feel fresh for the World Title)

Intercontinental Title Triple Threat Ladder Match: Dolph Ziggler(c) vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger.

How is Kaval not in this match? Kaval aka Low-ki destroyed Dolph's nose at WWE Survivor Series and although he lost, this clip alone shows he deserves to be in the match with Swagger and Kingston.



Tune to about the 4:05 mark or Matt Striker just orgasmic sheerly watching the intense kick.

Anyways, this is another case of where you have a tremendous amount of talent in this match where the match will stand out for the spots they can conjure up in it. It's just a question of how much time this match will get. Kofi may do a boomdrop off the top of the ladder again and end the career of Swagger, like he did with Drew McIntyre at WWE Money In The Bank back in July. Swagger's career had taken a tumble since losing the World Heavyweight Title but he is a still a gifted wrestler and a young performer than can shine in this match. Many have compared him to being a younger and stronger version of Kurt Angle when the WWE first used Kurt Angle in the late 90's/early 00's. With Vicky Guerrero's sheer beauty, she'll distract Kofi somehow and Dolph will retain.

Winner: STILL Intercontinental Champ, Dolph Ziggler.

John Cena vs. Wade Barrett (Chairs match)

To get everybody caught up. After Wade Barrett defeated John Cena at WWE's Hell In A Cell, John Cena, the face of the WWE, was a member of Nexus. For a month, Wade Barrett treated John Cena like he was a slave. Barrett gave him an out clause at WWE Survivor Series where if John Cena counted Wade Barrett the winner of the match that he'd be free of Nexus. If he didn't and Randy Orton won, Cena would be "fired." After the match played out at Survivor Series, Cena made it seem like to the crowd in Miami that he was giving his farewell to the WWE.

Week by week, we saw a "fried" individual inexcusable evade security and somehow attack Nexus member after Nexus member seemingly without any sort of security preventing this from happening. The whole fired aspect could have gone at least to the Royal Rumble towards the end of January but the WWE felt they couldn't live without John Cena on Raw or else ratings would tank. So Wade Barrett, rehires Cena in the most awkward/non-chalant fashion.

Cena beats the hell out of the wife to Jennifer Hudson, David Otunga on his first night "back." Also somehow manages to win WWE Superstar of the year during the Slammy's while he was still fired. As much as I'd like to see Wade Barrett get the victory over John Cena, it won't happen. Cena is the WWE's cash cow and it's incredible to see how talented and how much progress Wade Barrett has made in his short time on the main roster since WWE NXT season 1 in January and Nexus starting up in June but the WWE won't ever give a heel like Barrett an advantage over John Cena. This whole match has more attention than both WWE Title main events combined.

Winner: John Cena after Otunga orders Nexus to abort Wade and his orders to beat Cena down and Cena wins by trapping Barrett in an STF with his leg trapped and bent backwards by a chair.

WWE World Heavyweight Title Fatal 4way TLC Match Kane (c) vs. Edge vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio

This was originally supposed to be broken up into two separate matches. Rey Mysterio was gonna face Del Rio in a chairs match and Kane would have faced Edge in a TLC match until this was changed on the last edition of SmackDown, 2 days before the PPV to change up the match stipulation. The storyline between Edge and Kane has gone beyond the point of embarrassment to where Kane, this monster that had been built up for months, has turned soft over the abduction/kidnapping up his "father" Paul Bearer. Bearer, taken by Edge, Edge has tried to play mind games with Kane by getting Kane to search high and low for PB only to find crash test dummy's in PB's place a majority of the time after Edge would tease Kane that he'd give PB back. Edge is supposed to be the face and Kane, the heel in this program. Anyways, on last week's Smackdown, Edge put PB (who was in a wheelchair) on an elevated platform. Kane, expecting it was a dummy, wasn't gonna be fooled by Edge again and knocked the wheelchair off, only this time it was PB and he fell from the elevated height only to have no splat at the end.

It's so bad, they can't even talk about it because it implies death.

With the two other players in this match, Del Rio and Edge. One would think that this would be a nice, protective way for Alberto Delllllllllllllll Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiio to get the belt and I would tend to agree with that point. Alberto could sneak in at the last moment and escape with the belt. Setting up at the Royal Rumble for the World Title, Del Rio vs. Mysterio. Sounds like a good enough match to me. Knowing the WWE, they'll probably go with Edge in this match but I like the chances of Del Rio now that he's involved in a match of this caliber.

Winner: NEW World Heavyweight Champion, Alberto Del Rio.

WWE Title Match: Tables match The Miz (c) vs. Randy Orton.

Halfway through the match, Miz Girl will appear on the Titan Tron and with her death stare, have a Vader grip over The Miz. The lights will go out in Houston and blood will start pouring from the rafters onto The Miz and all of humanity will no longer exist!

Not actually will happen but still. Funny scenario.



Really though, For the Miz express to keep rollin through and gain more attention from all branches of the media is to have the Miz retain. Alex Riley will be the one to take the bullet for The Miz and The Miz will manage to surprise Randy Orton and put him through a table in the weakest, most non-convincing of fashion but the point is driven home. The Miz will retain and go onto the Royal Rumble where we are looking at The Miz vs. John Morrison for the WWE Title in January.

Winner: Still WWE Champ The Miz!

Crazy but it sounds so awesome. One distraction after another gives you WWE TLC.

Till next time,

I'm Nick Malone

Dunk of The Night: J.R. Smith

Crazy game in Denver last night that ended in a very controversial charging call on Carmelo Anthony as time expired. However, here was the dunk of the night courtesy of J.R. Smith.

Fauxhawk!!!!!

-Matt Soldano

Amare turns on the lights

With Amare on his scoring streak,the Knicks winning and bringing the bright lights and fans back to MSG, the song seems apropos.

-- Matt Saur

Dunk of the Night: Danilo Gallinari

Danilo Gallinari makes Ray Allen and Semih Erden look silly.




--Max Caster

New Mario Bros. Trailer

Nerds will love this:



Clearly this is not a real game. Regardless, you noobs better be pumped after that!


--Max Caster

Dunk of The Night: Demar DeRozan

Here's something special courtesy of Demar DeRozan from tonight's game:

If only his dunk contest performance last year didn't suck...

Ohhh baby. West Coast. (Ryan Pettys Voice)

-Matt Soldano

Don't Be Fooled, Lee Didn't Leave A King's Ransom On The Table

By: Patrick Creighton


Despite what the ridiculous headlines may say in the New York tabloids, don't be fooled. Don't believe the hype. There's no pot of gold that was walked away from by anyone named Cliff Lee.

While tabloids will have you believing that Lee walked away from $50M from the Yankees (like the NY Post), the reality is nothing even close to that. The Yankees best offer was a reported 7 yrs at $148M (avg annual value $21.14M). The deal Lee signed with Philadelphia was for 5 yrs at $120M (avg annual value 24M), but thats just the guaranteed money, or rather the 'official' guaranteed money.

Upon closer inspection of the Lee deal, however, it isn't just about a higher annual average. The deal also possesses an 'easily attainable' vesting 6th year, which increases the value of the contract from $120M to $135M, still an annual average value of $22.5M. The contract is written so that after the 5 years, Lee gets either the vesting option at $27.5M or if the option doesn't vest, a $12.5M buyout.

This leaves a difference between the Yankees offer and Phillies offer of 1 year and $13M. Given the state of the market for starting pitchers, this hardly constitutes leaving a ransom on the table. In fact, it appears he may have protected himself from being shortchanged,

While Lee will be 38 the year following his contract expiration with the vested year, a quick look at today's market will tell you that he will likely get a deal for more than $13M when he hits free agency again. In fact, a quick look at Andy Pettitte's contract should do the trick, as he was a 38 yr old LHP last year, and thats what Lee will be when his contract is up.

Pettitte, for 2010, signed a 1 year, $11.75M contract with the Yankees, a contract that by all means is considered a 'bargain contract'. He signed at a discount to pitch for the team he wanted to pitch for. When you add in the rate of baseball's escalating salaries and the demand for starting pitching, Lee will easily be able to sign for $14-15M, if not more, for his age 38 season, unless he chooses to take a 'discount'. That kind of money would put Lee ahead of the game from the best offer he received from either New York or Texas, and without the deferred money the Rangers contract included.

In reality, Lee didn't leave any money on the table. His money is there, he just left himself more options on how to obtain it, more flexibility on where he will obtain it, and the ability to earn more money over the 7 years than he would have made in any of the 7 yr offers he received.

Not only did he get all the money that was out there, he got it playing where he wanted to play, which turned out to be Philadelphia.

So Yankee fans, fret not. Lee didn't walk away from $50M to take someone else's lower offer. No one walks away from $50M. The fact is he didn't walk away from any money. He found a way he could make more, and play where he wanted to play to begin with.

That's just the practical financials. When you take the time to look at the practical field of play, Lee's addition to the Phillies staff gives them the kind of staff that hasn't been in baseball since the Orioles of the late 60s-early 70s. They have 4 potential 20 game winners on that staff, three of whom have already been 20 game winners in the past (Lee 1x, Oswalt 2x, Halladay 3x). The Phillies are now clearly the class of the National League, and easily outpace anyone in their division.

The road to a World Series is far easier from Philadelphia than it is from New York or Texas, where both of those teams, plus the vastly improved Red Sox, must be faced upwards of 18 times a year, plus going through the playoffs. The National League is an easier road, and also doesn't have a DH in it, which will assist Lee in putting up better numbers over the life of his contract (hence getting him a better deal for his age 38 season).

Clearly, a lot of thought, a lot of effort and consideration went into Lee's decision. In the end, he made the decision that will, in fact, net him the most money, while giving him the best opportunity to put up the best statistics. many things went into this decision, but leaving a boatload of money on the table was never one of them.

Landry Fields on The Sportswire

Here's Landry Fields of the New York Knicks on The Sportswire earlier today. Landry spoke about his fast start as a Knick, the Carmelo Anthony trade rumors and gives the guys some inspirational words.



Thanks to Landry for coming on with us.

Program Alert: Landry Fields on The Sportswire

Make sure to turn in to "The Sportswire" tonight at 6 pm on 88.1 FM and WCWPSports as Max Caster, Matt Soldano, and Ryan Pettys recap the Jets loss, preview the Giants game against the Vikings and the Knicks hot streak. Speaking of the Knicks! Landry Fields will be their guest on the show at 6:30 to talk about his incredible rookie season, the Knicks winning ways, and Ronny Turiaf's beard. You won't want to miss it!

Dunk of The Night: James Harden

Thunder guard James Harden made J.J. Hickson feel a little bit less about himself after straight posterizing him tonight. This dunk is a clear nomination for play of the season. Check it!

Harden scored 19 points in 21 minutes tonight off the Oklahoma City bench. I'm telling ya'll, the only thing that is stopping Harden's career from flourishing right now is Thabo Sefolosha. "The Beard" is going to be most effective as a starter not someone who can come off the bench minutes at a time. Don't call him a bust yet, this dude is talented. Also, Harden's reaction after the dunk says it all.

-Matt Soldano

Metrodome Roof Collapses

Here's the crazy video of the Metrodome Roof collapsing. Because of this faulty construction, the Giants and Vikings will play at Ford Field in Detroit at 7:20 tomorrow night.

Pre-Planned Fights Are Fun!

Came across this in the early hours of Sunday and wished to share with the internet fam. There was a hockey game between Vityaz and Avangard (don't ask...I have no clue). They are a part of the Kontinental Hockey League (again, don't ask...I have no clue). However, seconds after the opening face-off, this transpired:

Avangard is saying this was pre-planned against their team and from that video, it's hard not to think otherwise. I'm expecting King Felix and Skittles to talk about this on "The Power Play" on Tuesday at 5 PM. You can listen here.

-Matt Soldano

Landry Fields Putback Dunk

This... is... awesome:



What did I tell you? Just when I thought Landry could not be as Landry as he already was, he proves me wrong.

Also in this video, another great reaction from Ronny Turiaf.


--Max Caster

R. Kelly Performs On Jimmy Fallon

Good lord, was this something else...R. Kelly performed a classic when he appeared on the Jimmy Fallon Show singing "When A Woman Loves" and just goes HAM! This seriously was top notch...

Absolutely incredible. Notice the dude has done away with the braids. Performance wouldn't have been half as great if he still looked like he was trapped in 2003 or in the closet. Also big ups to Kells rockin' the Nick Malone "King Kullen" bow tie!

After further watching this video, it has come to my attention that the guitarist, drummer, and back-up singer can all be mistaken for Cee-Lo Green. Has three people in the same room drawing striking comparisons to one specific person ever happen before? Seriously?!

By the way, I want to know your favorite R. Kelly song. Leave it in the comments holmes!

-Matt Soldano

Even With Madoff Fallout Nearing End, Mets Not Out Of Woods Yet...

By: Patrick Creighton

The New York Mets and the Wilpon family were sued today in Federal Court by Irving H. Picard, the trustee in charge of recapturing profits paid out by convicted Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, and redistributing that money to his victims. One of the Wilpon's many businesses, called "Mets Limited Partnership", is alleged to have profited almost $48 million, according to a report by The New York Times.

The following statement was released today by Sterling Equities, which is the real estate company owned by the Wilpons:

"The Trustee for Bernard L. Madoff and BLMIS today has filed a complaint against various Sterling partners and entities. Because the parties are engaged in settlement negotiations, the complaint is filed confidentially, under seal.

Consequently, we will have no further comment at this time. Regardless of the outcome of these discussions, we want to emphasize that the New York Mets will have all the necessary financial and operational resources to fully compete and win. That is our commitment to our fans and to New York."

Fred Wilpon has repeatedly stated that the Madoff scandal has not had any negative effect on the baseball operation of the Mets, and that it would not have such an effect in the future, claiming that "Mets Limited Partnership" was just one of many businesses that the Wilpon family operates.

It must be noted, however, that since the news of the Madoff scandal broke, the Mets have completely changed the way they go about their spending on the team, and the team has made obvious efforts to reduce spending.

New GM Sandy Alderson has previously stated that the Mets would have limited financial flexibility this year, but expected to have more next season, after a significant amount of payroll comes off the Mets books following the 2011 season, including the contracts of Carlos Beltran (18.5M), Oliver Perez (12M), and Luis Castillo (6M). He had previously alluded that the Mets would be far more aggressive next year, when there was more payroll flexibility, but he backtracked off of that somewhat today.

"I don't have any understanding about what the payroll will be or can't be going forward, but, look, let's say arguably we have like $50 or $60 million coming off next year, do I think it would even be prudent to invest that full 50 or 60 again in a situation which binds us going forward, so that we're only in the market every three years when this lump sum comes off our books? No. That's not how we want to approach it," Alderson said today, speaking from the winter meetings. "So next year if 50 comes off, it's very unlikely that we would respend the 50 and commit ourselves for another four years out for all that money and then leave ourselves with a three- or four-year dark period when we can't do anything else."


So now the question is what will the philosophy of the team be once the Madoff issue is finally put behind them?

Clearly, the team was not injured by losing millions of dollars as many have suggested in the past, but rather knew that this day would come, when they would have to make lump sum restitution of ill-begotten fruit of a poisonous tree. The Wilpons had no idea that the money was part of a fradulent scheme, but they must pay restitution regardless.

It seems the team has been holding money back, creating a reserve, because $48 million is nothing to sneeze at, even for men as wealthy as Fred Wilpon.

To put this matter behind them, and move forward, is the best news that the Wilpons can get in this case. Finally knowing the outcome, and no longer being in limbo, guessing, must be a relief, albeit a knowingly costly one. However, the statements made by Alderson are troubling.

The idea that should the Mets have large amounts of money come off the books, that once the Madoff scandal is behind them, that they will still not reinvest the money into the team is tough to accept. This is the New York Mets we are talking about, not the Kansas City Royals.

The Mets are high revenue, big market team. How can this team be talking about reducing payroll below that of the Minnesota Twins? The idea that the team isn't forecasting any increase in revenue in the immediate future (possibly due to damage the brand has suffered the last 2 years as a result of a combination of substantial injury, Madoff scandal, poor management, bad publicity from actions of players and employees, etc)is disturbing, especially considering the amount of money the team generates from its SNY network. The idea the payroll could go backwards $40 million or more from its 2009 high water mark of $148 million, despite its status as a big market, big revenue team is bad financial sign for the franchise. This gives the players around the league less incentive and desire to join the team, and further depresses an already desperate fan base.

While there's no way at this time to know decidedly what the Mets will do as an organization after it reaches whatever settlement with the Madoff Trustee that it does, one thing is for certain: this wild roller coaster ride isn't over yet.

Do the John Wall

Apparently I'm very late on this, but the awesomeness of this song supersedes the statute of limitations. It's "Do the John Wall" by Troop 41:



I guess I'll do the John Wall then...


--Max Caster

Can Mark Sanchez Recover?

By: Patrick Creighton

The New York Jets came into last nights game against the New England Patriots full of boasts and bravado. They went home beaten and embarassed, and thats being generous, because it makes the assumption they actually showed up.

Last night, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady turned Gillette Stadium into the world's largest woodshed, and took the Jets behind it and gave them the beating of a lifetime. The 45-3 final score, as lopsided as that sounds (and its sounds pretty lopsided) doesn't even scratch the surface of how much of a beatdown this game was.

The Jets managed just 164 yards passing against the league's worst pass defense. Outside of Santonio Holmes (7 rec. 72 yds) the rest of the Jets passing game was MIA. Braylon Edwards picked the worst possible time to have a relapse of the dropsies. Dustin Keller was an afterthought. LaDainian Tomlinson couldn't find any running room, and that wasn't the worst of it.

No, the worst of it was the play of 'franchise' quarterback Mark Sanchez, who, for the first time this season, really appeared to be intimidated by the size of the moment. Sanchez was dreadful, going 17-33 for 164 yds and 3 INTs - again vs the league's WORST pass defense. Sanchez frequently locked on receivers, telegraphing his passes. He appeared to be hurrying when he didn't need to, often described as 'the game was moving too fast'. He never even looked before he threw the pass that cemented the loss for the Jets, intended for Braylon Edwards, straight into the hands of Brandon Spikes. To demonstrate how ghastly this play was, let me describe it for you in scrumptious detail:

On the opening drive of the second half, down 24-3, the Jets were finally driving the ball, and looking to restore order to the game. A touchdown would get them to within 24-10, certainly a deficit that is not too great to overcome, but would create a huge momentum swing in their favor. On 2nd and 8 from the NE 9 yd line, with a chance to change the direction of the game, Brian Schottenheimer decides to get fancy and calls a play action pass. The Jets fail to sell the play action in any way, shape, or form, and after the fake handoff, Sanchez turns and fires a pass towards the middle of the back of the end zone for Braylon Edwards. Not once did Sanchez look at his receiver. Not once did Sanchez attempt to look off a defender. Why, you ask? Its simple, really - Sanchez never looked, period. He just fired the ball, and fired it right at a defender. Of course, if he had looked, he would have seen that Edwards was being covered by FOUR defenders. Yes, four. Couldn't make it up if I tried. Now, when four defenders are covering one receiver, there must be someone open. Sanchez didn't find that open receiver because he never looked.

This is what I mean by the moment was too big, too fast for Sanchez last night. It was the first time this season that he looked every bit the 2nd year QB (who should really be a rookie) that he is. It came in the biggest game on the biggest stage. The rub on Sanchez has always been that he played for a big school, and played in big games on the big stage (even if it was only 1 year as a starter), and that he isn't intimidated by the big moment. Last night, that all changed.

Clearly, the loss of Jim Leonhard was a big impact, as Erik Smith was brutal in coverage. Antonio Cromartie, who played like Darrelle Revis in the first matchup between these two teams, played more like Elvis Patterson in this one. Drew Coleman would need to improve upon his play from last night just to get to Patterson's level.

There is still an APB out for the Jets' pass rush. Soon its going to hit milk cartons and Amber Alerts. Tom Brady had enough time to have a cup of hot cocoa before throwing the ball to whatever receiver wasn't being covered by Revis, because they were all open.

This beatdown on national television won't sit well with Rex Ryan, and I would expect the defense to circle the wagons and get back to playing far better ball. The worry is the scars on Sanchez, who in two Foxboro starts has looked like a deer in headlights. The only way for the Jets to fulfill their goal of getting to the Super Bowl, is to go to Foxboro and beat the Patriots, who have won 26 consecutive regular season home games.

The biggest question is going to be can Sanchez recover from the scars and nightmares in time, because a month is not a long time in the NFL to exorcise your demons. The size of the game and the moment only gets bigger from here on out, and the games move faster on the field. Sanchez' ability to overcome this beating and take control of the Jet offense will be the biggest determining factor of the Jets postseason success.

This Week In The NBA 11/29-12/5

Although WCWPSports brings you daily Knicks content on the Sportswire every weeknight, I wanted to try something different here on the blog and see what response it gets. Every Sunday night/Monday morning (spare me, Sunday Night Football ends late), I'm going to post a "This Week In the NBA" blog, where I basically recap some of the highlights of the week or teams to look out for along with a weekly awards watch. Hope ya'll enjoy.

• Let's start with the local team, the New York Knicks. An organization that was once 3-8 is now 12-9 (shocking the only loss in that streak, Max and I were at). What has changed? Well it started out West, but specifically this week, Amar'e Stoudemire has been an absolute bro, averaging 35 points and 11 rebounds a game. Felton and Chandler continue to play off the charts along with rookie Landry Fields who recorded his sixth double double today against Toronto. Their next three games are against Minnesota, Toronto, and Washington before a horrid end to the calendar year where there only "easy" game is against the Cavs. Also, reports are that the Knicks are dangling Bill Walker in hopes of a trade to acquire a back-up point guard. Makes sense, Toney Douglas hasn't played well the past few weeks and is best suited playing besides Felton. The Knicks are flooded with two's and three's as is, they really need a true backup point guard.

• Lebron's return to Cleveland was a successful one. Was I rooting for him? Hell. No. But I was happy to see him post up 38 points at the end of the game because to be honest, I thought the crowd was really going to mess with his head. The Heat have looked pretty dominant since that win so maybe they are on to something. Again, they can beat as many of these bottom feeders as they want by 20 points but they still have yet to prove themselves against the top teams.

• The Lakers 4 game losing streak finally came to an end on Friday when they savagely beat the Sacramento Kings. For other franchises a four game losing skid is nothing unordinary but for L.A. it drives me insane. Gasol looks very tired and was playing with a sore hamstring. Hopefully the return of Andrew Bynum in a couple of weeks will take some pressure off Gasol but AB should be brought back slowly.

• Dallas continues to roll over the competition winners of 9 in a row. In terms of teams in the West that scare me, the only two are the Thunder and Dallas. I truly believe they are going to end up with Iguodala at some point this season and he fits perfectly with Kidd and Nowitzki. Also, Dallas is finally getting it done defensively, giving up the third fewest points in the NBA.

• Carlos Boozer returns from injury and plays three games this week. He ended up missing the first 15 games of the season and the Bulls held their own, posting a 9-6 record. Boozer has looked okay averaging 14 points and 5 rebounds so far but broke out against Houston going for 30 and 9. The Bulls were my pre-season pick to face the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals and I'm sticking to that. Watch Rose and Boozer together in a few weeks, it's going to get scary. Plus Taj Gibson as your reserve is never a bad thing.

Awards Watch!

MVP:

1. Russell Westbrook (OKC) - Call me nuts but when you are averaging 24.4 ppg, 8.5 reb, and 5.5 asts AND your team is 13-6 you are going to be up tops for MVP. Notable performances, out-dueling Rondo with Durant in Boston for a win and scoring all 13 points in triple overtime to defeat New Jersey.

2. Dwight Howard (ORL)

3. Kobe Bryant (LAL)

4. Deron Williams (UTA)

5. Derrick Rose (CHI)

Rookie of the Year:

1. Blake Griffin (LAC)

2. Landry Fields (NYK) - I love Fields as much as anyone. Remember, I've been on this guy's bandwagon since Stanford and I understand people saying how can a guy who is on a team with 4 wins be ahead of a second round pick who has started since day one and leads all guards in rebounds. Simple, Blake Griffin has been killing people on a nightly basis. He's averaging 21 points, close to 12 boards a game and has given a whole new meaning to the phrase "Mozgov'd". Take Griffin off the Clips and add Fields, do they have more than 4 wins? No.

3. John Wall (WSH) - Wall has been excellent when he's played, problem is, he has missed some time recently.

4. Al-Farouq Aminu (LAC)

5. Derrick Favors (NJ)

Sixth Man:

1. Wilson Chandler - But if he keeps starting he's going to be giving this award up to probably Jason Terry or Shannon Brown.

Most Improved:

1. Kevin Love

2. Michael Beasley

3. Roy Hibbert

4. Paul Millsap

5. Wilson Chandler

-Matt Soldano

Million Dollars - Big Sean (Video)

More music posts for ya'll. Max and I have been hyping Big Sean for quite some time now and if you've been up on Kanye's G.O.O.D. Friday's you'd hear this dude's verses on a good amount of the songs. Here's a video from his first "Finally Famous" mixtape called "Million Dollars". Enjoy it.

-Matt Soldano

Put That Woman First - Jaheim

Despite the fact this song is nine years old, it cannot be over-looked when you think of classic R&B. "Put That Woman First" by the dude Jaheim is an absolute favorite of myself and Max and was actually played on the Sportswire tonight. If you've never heard it or totally forgot this song existed, do yourself a favor and bless your ears.

-Matt Soldano

Andre Johnson Mic'd Up

Interested in finding out what was being said by Andre Johnson about Cortland Finnegan in the moments leading up to their little tussle this past Sunday? Luckily for ya'll, 'Dre Day was mic'd up and here's a pretty sweet video Johnson during pre-game, during the game, the fight, and post-game, all wired up.

I just wanted to hear him "Diggle"...

-Matt Soldano

David Lee Gets Disrespected

Matt Soldano sent me this video. Just watch:



Wow, Richard Jefferson. Wow. It's cool that you can dunk, but you can't ride someone's shoulders. Especially not David Lee...

Something tells me it wasn't entirely intentional. I mean, what 200-something pund man is going to surprise a 6'9" saint by jumping on his shoulders? You're risking an injury, not just a fight. However, RJ did propel himself towards D. Lee, so I have to think he did it on purpose.


--Max Caster

WCWP Interns Pick Week 13

Our interns Zach (a.k.a. Z-Bo) and Matt (a.k.a. Silk) are ambitious young fellows. They are aspiring sports broadcasters like the rest of us. Here's the boys picking the NFL Week 13 games:



These guys are good!


--Max Caster

Programming Note: CW Post BBall vs. Bloomfield Replay

Yesterday's 89-84 win for the CW Post Basketball team over the Bloomfield Deacons will be replayed this afternoon and all week. Listen today at 12pm EST and 2:30pm EST on WCWPSports.