The Legacy of Clausen

The legacy of Jimmy Clausen is that of a missed opportunity in Notre Dame football history.

After all, he might well be the best quarterback ever to suit up in the Notre Dame blue and gold. And yet, he leaves without ever winning more games than he lost in a regular season.

Jimmy Clausen's brilliance has been well-documented. If the Heisman Trophy could be awarded in a vacuum, without paying attention to team records, Clausen would have a really good shot at winning it and would quite possibly be in New York City this weekend for the presentation. It sounds ridiculous because he plays for a 6-6 team, but the fact of the matter is, Jimmy was the best quarterback in America this year. It really wasn't particularly close.

Statistics can't tell the story of Clausen, but they're a start. 3,722 passing yards. 68 percent passing. 28 touchdowns. Four interceptions, two of which were tipped and the other two of which were catchable balls (if poor decisions). Stats, though, don't capture the fear of God that was put into any team when Jimmy had a chance to win the game. I can only imagine what USC fans probably felt like as Jimmy was dissecting the Trojans' defense on his team's final drive on October 17th, or the relief they probably felt after Duval Kamara slipped on his route to prevent Jimmy's perfect pass from hitting him between the numbers for a game-tying touchdown that may well have turned the tide of the Irish season.

That USC game did turn the tide of the Irish season - for the worse. Although ND escaped a mediocre BC team and clobbered a hideous Washington State team in the two weeks after that, the Irish were never the same. And it was because the shine was off Clausen. It wasn't his fault, but ND's failure to deliver a victory against SC at the end put a dent in Jimmy's aura of late-game invincibility that he couldn't undo.

If it weren't for his supporting cast failing at the end of all four November games, Clausen would probably have a 10-2 record and a BCS bid to show for his efforts, but he doesn't. Clausen won ND games they probably shouldn't have won against Michigan State, Purdue and Washington with three consecutive game-winning drives, all on a painful turf toe that he did his best to pretend wasn't there (the way he walked when not being chased by defenders gave him away). If his defense had a pulse, it would've been four, as Clausen engineered what should have been a game-winning drive at Michigan. For that matter, if his defense had a pulse, ND would probably be 12-0 - ND scored at least 21 points in all six losses this year.

November made things pretty bad for Jimmy. His offensive line was so pathetic late in the game against Navy that he ended up being sacked for a safety that locked up the game for the Middies. The following week against Pitt, Jimmy was chased around by the Pitt defense while attempting to lead his team back and ended up having the chance to win it being stolen away from him by a replay official who inexplicably ruled an incomplete pass that had been blown dead well before anyone from Pitt picked it up as a fumble - one in a long line of ridiculous replay decisions that have gone against ND in the Weis era. Against UConn, everyone but him seemingly screwed up, as two late-game fumbles by Michael Floyd and Armando Allen helped UConn to OT and ultimately to the win. And in the final insult, ND allowed Stanford to score the go-ahead TD because it was the only way to ensure a chance to win it with Clausen. Jimmy once again got betrayed by his O-line but got ND within striking distance before running out of time.

Clausen will probably be shredded by the media pundits for his team's poor performance, just like Brady Quinn was (and still is in Cleveland). They'll ignore that Clausen is one of the most insanely accurate passers to ever walk this earth - I swear that more of Jimmy's incompletions than not were the product of throwaways or receivers failing to make a play on a ball they needed to make. Ultimately, he'll probably get picked behind a quarterback he's obviously better than, like Quinn was, and he'll probably get pigeonholed by whatever team takes him and unfairly benched behind someone he's obviously better than, like Quinn was. And none of that will ever take away from my memories of him - just like with Quinn.

Why Notre Dame Still Matters

The haters want you to believe Notre Dame doesn't matter. Every year Notre Dame struggles, the haters race to anoint the Irish irrelevant.

"They don't matter," say the haters.

The haters are wrong.

The Irish may not be 'mattering' for the right reasons in the last decade, but they still matter.

Why else was it a huge story when Notre Dame axed coach Tyrone Willingham after three seasons because of poor performance and even worse recruiting? The haters came up with every racist excuse in the book to try and get on the Irish for the firing. Never mind that the 2007 season - when the players Willingham recruited (and didn't recruit) were the upperclassmen - was an exercise in futility, due mainly to the fact that the Irish were forced to play a talented but not-ready-to-play-these-games freshman and sophomore class almost exclusively. The haters don't care about that. The haters didn't care that Willingham didn't even bring the team's best running back (true freshman Darius Walker) on the trip to BYU for the 2004 season opener. ND lost, a humiliating performance. A week later, Walker ran for over 100 yards in about a quarter and a half when a desperate Willingham pulled him off the bench against Michigan. He led the Irish to an upset win.

That was the thing about Willingham. Even when he brought talented players in to ND, he didn't know how to handle them. Jeff Samardzija didn't catch a TD in his first two years at the school - under Ty. Brady Quinn, who only came to ND after Quinn's HS teammate Chinedum Ndukwe's father convinced Willingham to look at him while recruiting Ndukwe, was a 50 percent passer his first two years at ND. Walker saw the second-most carries, behind Ryan Grant, even though every Irish fan could plainly see Walker should be getting the bulk of the work. Walker went on to be one of the best backs in Irish history in '05 and '06.

When Washington axed Willingham halfway through his fourth season at U-Dub for hideously pathetic performance - the Huskies went 0-12 in his last season - there was almost no talk. No one dared call Washington racist. Because just like at ND, he basically ran the program into the ground with horrible recruiting and bad in-game decisions. It is a mark of Steve Sarkisian's skill as a coach that he has taken Willingham's players and beaten USC. Although the Huskies are 2-3, their losses are to LSU, Stanford and ND - the latter two on the road. All three are solid teams, and all three will probably play January bowl games this year.

Anyway, I could talk about Ty Willingham for hours. This article is not about him.

Why else does Notre Dame matter?

The Irish have essentially decided four Heisman Trophies this decade. Unfortunately, none have been ND players.

2002: Carson Palmer. Palmer shreds the Irish, then ranked top 10 under Willingham, to separate himself from the field (Brad Banks, Larry Johnson, Willis McGahee). If you ask me, just looking at the numbers, Banks or Johnson would've been better picks. But the media hype machine surrounding ND and its opponents carried the day.

2004: Matt Leinart. Leinart shreds the Irish in Willingham's last game as ND coach to separate himself from the field (Adrian Peterson, Jason White, Alex Smith, Reggie Bush). If you ask me, Peterson should have won, but he was a freshman, so he was basically ineligible. Once again, the voting distribution was small enough that one can assume that the media hype machine surrounding ND carried Leinart to a Heisman.

2005: Reggie Bush. Bush ripped ND to shreds in the biggest game of the regular season, USC's 34-31 escape at South Bend. Media pundits, once again, caught up in the ND hype machine, basically announce the Heisman decided. Vince Young and Matt Leinart never have a chance, and Brady Quinn, the best quarterback on the field in that ND/USC game, is eliminated for his defense's failings. Now, this season, Bush probably is the best player. One can make an argument for Young, but Bush was phenomenal. But is he good enough to justify the biggest voting differential from 1 to 2 in Heisman history?

2006: Troy Smith. Smith didn't play ND in 2006. But he did play the Irish in the Fiesta Bowl the year before and enjoyed a solid performance thanks to ND's pathetic defense. The hype machine began for Smith almost immediately. Because Ohio State didn't lose a game in 2006, Smith was given the Heisman by a ridiculous margen over Darren McFadden and Quinn. Smith, facing actual defensive pressure for the first time all season in the BCS title game Jan. 8th, submits one of the worst performances in the history of the quarterback position against Florida.

In addition, Notre Dame made JaMarcus Russell the No. 1 overall draft pick by allowing LSU receivers to get wide open against them in the Sugar Bowl following the 2006 season. Russell, despite doing nothing but chuck the ball deep for wide-open receivers the entire game, despite the fact that LSU's own fans wanted Russell benched for Matt Flynn at points in the '06 season, is made the No. 1 pick by the hype machine. Brady Quinn struggles against a real defense and free-falls to pick 22. Russell is currently one of the biggest train wrecks of a quarterback in the NFL. Quinn...well...let's not talk about it.

Notre Dame still matters. They're still on NBC for all their home games. They still get talked about, year in and year out, more than any other college program. Not one, but both of ESPN's studio analysts for college football coverage are essentially there to wage war about ND (May and Holtz). And when an ND signal-caller plays as well as Jimmy Clausen has this year, they are (albeit bedgrudgingly) placed in the thick of the Heisman race.

No, Notre Dame is not irrelevant. The day the Irish win a game and no one complains or whines about it except the opposing team, or the day ND loses and the only team fan base that's happy about it is the opposing team's - that's when they'll be irrelevant.

Don't hold your breath.

Late Night Last Night

Sorry about no post this morning. Didn't get back from my 'other' job until nearly 3 am.

In the meantime, how about Pete Carroll basically tossing Mark Sanchez under a Hummer at his jumping-to-the-pros presser? I'm reading a lot about it and I'm kind of surprised. Mr. Player's Coach turning on a player? Especially a QB when USC is absolutely loaded with them? There's got to be more to this story. Keep your eye on it...

The Rundown: January 15th, 2009

NCAAB: Loads of Top 25 action.

Nothing overly notable happened last night in the world of college basketball, but there was a boatload of ranked teams in action, and it made for a great night of hoops. Syracuse fell to Georgetown in Big East play, while Pitt and Wake Forest remained undefeated.

Top 25 scores:

#1 Pittsburgh 75, South Florida 62
#2 Duke 70, Georgia Tech 56
#3 Wake Forest 83, Boston College 63
#12 Georgetown 88, #8 Syracuse 74
#10 Michigan State 78, Penn State 73
Texas A&M 84, #21 Baylor 73
Illinois 66, #24 Michigan 51

Stephen Curry also had 39 points in a Davidson win over Elon. Ho-hum.

Tonight's action: Three national games tonight. None of them are particularly great matchups, but all involve Top 20 teams on the road. So you never know. Watch UConn/St. John's and UNC/Virginia in a doubleheader on ESPN at 7, or catch Purdue/Northwestern at 7 on ESPN2.

NFL: Lots of news for a day off.

Leading it off, obviously, is talk from Cowboys' and league sources that T.O. may be cut for chemistry reasons. Ironically, T.O.'s theatrics in Dallas are probably less severe than anything he did in SF or Philly. The clear follow-up question: Where does he go next? (Plax's future in New York is also in question.)

Scott Pioli, the new Chiefs' czar, says that Herm Edwards may be back as head coach. The entire Chiefs' fan base would like to respectfully offer to chug a gallon of brake fluid if that turns into reality.

Anquan Boldin practiced Wednesday and plans to play in the NFC title game.

I caught a very odd blurb in Awful Announcing about Michael Irvin having a gun drawn on him, then proceeding to get sucked into a friendly discussion on the Cowboys with his assailant. This world is crazy sometimes.

In draft declarations: Sam Bradford back to OU, Mark Sanchez off to the NFL.

MLB: Owners calling for a cap?

Oh, boy. Maybe baseball would or would not be better off without a salary cap, but it seems calling for one just because the Yankees signed a ton of free agents again (literally if you include Sabathia) would strike many fans as penis-envy. In any case, nothing is likely to be done about it now: The collective bargaining agreement ends after 2011, so maybe something will happen then. I'll have forgotten about it by that point, of course.

The Last Word:

The NBA won't fine Portland for threatening to sue the hell out of anyone who signed Darius Miles (Memphis did). Let's hope that's the last time the league has to rule on "should we punish a team that threatened lawsuits against any team that picked up our horrible contract?".

The Rundown: January 14th, 2009

NCAAB: Meeks-mania!

I confess when I woke up this morning I didn't know a damn thing about Kentucky star Jodie Meeks. Considering he had already had a 46-point game, I should have. I am failing my duties as a sports fan these days.

But I sure know who he is now after he broke Dan "Go Drink Another Beer" Issel's single-game Kentucky scoring mark with FIFTY-FOUR at Tennessee to move the Wildcats to 2-0 in SEC play, 90-72. It was the highest SEC scoring game since Chris "Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf" Jackson dropped a double nickel for LSU 20 years ago.

The most remarkable thing about this performance - which got Meeks mobbed on a road court by his teammates, which was an odd sight to see on live TV - was that it was insanely efficient. Meeks attempted only 22 shots, which is fewer than your average leading scorer in a game. Meeks was aided by a red-hot 10/15 showing from the 3-point line and he netted all 14 free throws. He's top five in the country in scoring. Maybe it's time to throw this guy in with Curry, Harangody, Hansbrough and Griffin in the National P.O.Y. discussion.

Oh yeah, and Ohio State clobbered IU. Like you didn't know that would happen.

Tons of Top 25 action for Wednesday night. Three games are nationally broadcast and unfortunately, the two really worth watching will both happen at the same time. If you have to pick between #2 Duke at Ga Tech (7 pm, ESPN) and #8 Syracuse at #12 Georgetown (7:30 pm, ESPN2), watch the Big East game. Obviously. But check the Duke game at breaks. Top-ranked Pitt hosts USF too, but that should be an easy one.

Hot Stove: Braves sign Lowe for 4 years and $60 million. Wow. That's a lot of money, especially for the Braves. Not sure about that move at all for the long term, but Lowe should be pretty good - he's a ground ball pitcher in a pitcher's park (Turner Field). For now, he'll be fine. Also, Guillermo Mota signs with L.A. (the real ones, not the ones who changed their name to L.A. for no reason) and Jay "Monkey-Face" Gibbons will sign a minor league deal with Florida.

NFL Draft Declarations: Texas Tech WR Michael Crabtree, Ball State QB Nate Davis (Sniff, Sniff). Percy Harvin and Mark Sanchez are also expected to go (via ESPN), Colt McCoy, as you already know, is supposedly staying, but Sam Bradford is still undecided. Interesting.

And in other NFL news, Scott Pioli jumps to K.C. Of course, he was supposedly headed to Cleveland early this off-season. ESPN.com thinks this means the end for Herm Edwards (he should've been out anyway), with Giants' defensive wizard Steve Spagnuolo probably the favorite to replace him (he'd be a great hire).

The Last Word:

To delve away from sports, does anyone watch How I Met Your Mother? It's probably my favorite show - it's the sitcom that's not a sitcom. It's a half-hour comedy with a laugh track, but it's above most typical sitcomminess, and its callbacks to prior episodes are the best way possible to reward longtime viewers.

Last night they had an interesting episode, where Ted and Robin, exes who now live together, decide to solve their roommate arguments by having sex casually. This is a typical sitcommy plot, and I was worried that HIMYM (him-yim) would revert to typical sitcomminess with it. However, they spun it beautifully into more of a story about Barney's newfound affection for Robin than anything else, and as the narrator - older Ted - said, "Someone did get hurt. It just wasn't one of us."

I love that show. And I just bored 80 percent of anyone who reads this, but you need to watch it. Give it a look, soon.

The Rundown: January 13th, 2009

NCAAB: A very Big Monday.

It was just another Big Monday on ESPN last night, as ND and Louisville battled into overtime and Oklahoma dispatched Texas.

Louisville clobbered ND in overtime to get a much-more-impressive-than-it-really-was 87-73 win over the Fighting Irish. The Irish were clearly gassed, scoring just one field goal in overtime after scoring only four in the final seven or so minutes of regulation. Mike Brey loves to never play his bench, but clearly, something needs adjusting. ND will get worn down by teams like Louisville every time if that keeps up. Luke Harangody put up a Herculean effort again - 28 and 13 - but didn't score in the final 11 minutes of the game. The Irish fall to 3-2 in the Big East, and both those losses could and should easily have been wins. Louisville is 3-0, one of four unbeatens in league play.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma cruised over Texas 78-63. The Horns got as close as four early in the second half but never competed after that. Blake Griffin 'only' had 20 and 10, but it was good enough for his 14th double-double, and for the Sooners' first win over Texas in seven tries.

Those were the only two top 25 games last night. Tonight we don't have any ranked teams in action, but if you'd like, ESPN has a Super Tuesday doubleheader of Indiana/Ohio State and Kentucky/Tennessee starting at 7 pm.

NFL: Dungy's gone.

Tony Dungy retired Monday. I've always thought his firing in Tampa was completely unfair - he turned a laughingstock into a contender and damn near brought them to the Super Bowl in 1999. He then took the Colts and won 87 games with them in seven years. That's productivity. I liken him to Phil Jackson, in that yes, he had probably the best player of his generation (Peyton Manning in this case) and a great supporting cast to work with. However, few coaches can keep such a group hungry enough to be a contender year in and year out. Under Dungy, the Colts went to the playoffs every year. The Colts won six division titles in his first six years. A home playoff game was almost affixed to the end of the team's schedule each year.

Tony Dungy is something that seems almost impossible to become in the NFL these days: an institution. You think of the Colts, and you will think of Dungy. For a long time to come. It's no small feat.

Other news: Marvin Harrison may or may not have been holding a gun during that shooting incident from April...Jeff Fisher calls the missed delay of game call in Saturday's Titans loss to Baltimore "unacceptable". I bet this becomes a reviewable call in 2009.

MLB: About time for Jim Rice.

Jim Rice finally made it into the Hall of Fame Monday. Along with Rickey Henderson, which of course was a foregone conclusion. Rice was a great player. I didn't watch him, so I can't make any real observations or judgments, but at this point, with idiots like Phil Rizzuto and Bill Mazeroski in the Hall of Fame, borderline guys might as well be in. What Rice's selection really does is leave Ron Santo as, pretty much indisputably, the best player not in the Hall. I join the rest of you in awaiting Rickey's induction speech, of course.

No real Hot Stove news to report. Gabe Kapler signed with the Rays, and Mike Scioscia signed a contract extension with Anaheim.

NBA: Pierce and the Celts are back?

Paul Pierce scored 39 and Boston (gasp) won a game, over the Raptors. It's a start. The Bulls got Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng back and it did no good as they lost again. And T-Mac will be out two more weeks to rehab his injury.

The Last Word:

Ok, I'm a Ball State alum, and the snakebitten bad luck of the men's basketball team is getting ludicrous. Peyton Stovall, the best player I had the privilege of watching suit up for our team in my four years, missed an entire season due to injury. The Cards lost an incredible ten games by seven points or less last year, many that came down to the last second, and lost them in just about every way imaginable. Among the close losses was a nine-point defeat to Georgetown at home in which BSU had the ball down six with a minute to go, and ended up losing by nine, with no one taller than 6'4" (or taller than me, to put it in perspective) on the floor. Considering everything that happened when we tried to hire a Thompson to coach Ball State, I can honestly say it was probably as proud as I've ever been to watch a Cardinals team play. And that still stands true now, even after the football team won all 12 regular season games this year.

Anyway, our best player, Anthony Newell, has broken his leg and will miss the rest of the season, and his career. Newell also broke a bone in his foot last year and missed most of the non-conference slate. The poor kid has been robbed of essentially a whole season of his career and won't get it back. BSU might actually have had a shot of winning the pathetic MAC this year (they're 6-7, 1-0 in the MAC), but won't do anything without Newell. At least they won't set another team record for losses, as they have the last two years in a row.

Thanks for dealing with the venting. Back here tomorrow.

The Monday Rundown: January 12th, 2009

NFL Playoffs: Um, what?

Three of the four road teams won in the divisional playoff weekend. Two six seeds beat the top seeds for the first time ever. The unanimously considered worst team in the playoffs absolutely plastered one of the believed-to-be playoff-readiest teams. Home teams have won 3 of the 8 games so far.

Yeah, it's a weird NFL season.

So here we are. The Arizona Cardinals are hosting an NFC championship game. Baltimore and Pittsburgh will meet up in the AFC title game. I think one thing you can say is that these both look to be entertaining, up-in-the-air matchups. Right now, my gut's telling me all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl. But that could change.

The Panthers were clearly not ready to play for whatever reason. It took Steve Smith nearly three quarters to get a reception. Jake Delhomme had five interceptions and probably could have had ten. The Cardinals threw to Larry Fitzgerald with impunity because Carolina was more than happy to single-cover him and see what happened, even though Arizona didn't have anyone else worth covering on their team (don't give me Breaston - as my friend Mark would say, he is a 'prospect of the system'). Gotta give Arizona their due though - they played hard-nosed defense, forced Jake into some horrid decisions, and took advantage of the mistakes. They've proved a lot of people wrong this postseason.

The Chargers game was the only one that went about as expected. San Diego didn't have the answer to Pittsburgh's defense's question: How can you beat us? Expect the under on that AFC game (33 is the O/U right now).

Off the field: The Broncos are allegedly about to hire Josh McDaniels, offensive wunderkind from New England, as head coach. Gutsy move. Smart move? We'll see.

NCAAB: UNC 0-2, ND 45.

North Carolina's now 0-2 in the ACC. How about that? This one wasn't nearly as surprising as the BC defeat - Wake Forest is a top 5 team and is unbeaten. But this is still incredible. Everyone's pick to go unbeaten has gone USC football on us and dropped two in a row. The Tim Tebow of football (good player, charismatic, horrendously overrated by absolutely everyone), Tyler Hansbrough, went 3/12, but did shoot eleven free throws to tally a 17/11 double-double. Somehow, I'm not remotely surprised that "Psycho T" won his points from the line. He's basically Luke Harangody except the refs call fouls against his opponents.

Speaking of Harangody, his team stretched their nation's-longest home court winning streak to 45 games over the weekend by staving off Seton Hall by nine. The Irish were helped immensely by a stupid play by the Pirates' Jeremy Hazell. After putting Seton Hall up by four on the second of back-to-back steal-and-layups, Hazell yelled at the Irish's Ryan Ayers for no reason, drawing a technical. ND proceeded to sink two free throws, then a bucket, to tie it back up, and Seton Hall never gained control. Harangody struggled mightily at times from the floor, shooting 8/23, but scored 30 points, grabbed 16 rebounds (7 offensive) and earned himself a prickly defense from his normally easygoing coach, Mike Brey.

Brey talked after the game about the general media opinion that the national player of the year race is essentially down to Hansbrough, Oklahoma's Blake Griffin and possibly Davidson's Stephen Curry. He said, "It pisses me off. How the hell is that possible?" (Gotta say, the dude's got a point. The man's averaging something like 28 and 15 in conference play so far.)

In other business: Duke overcame a 19-14 first half (yes, that was the score) to beat FSU on the road...Clemson is still unbeaten too...Louisville edged Villanova on the road (they host ND tonight at 7 pm on ESPN)...Purdue finally won a Big Ten game over Wisconsin.

Watch tonight: Both Big Monday games on ESPN. Louisville will host ND at 7 in a huge Big East game for both (kicks off a stretch of five ranked teams in the next seven for the Irish), while Texas and Oklahoma go head to head at 9. Get a good look at Griffin, who is more than deserving to be in the discussion with Harangody and Hansbrough for national player of the year consideration.

NBA: The Bulls stink.

I'll be honest, the NBA is rapidly approaching NHL levels for me, only it's on TV so I can't avoid it. I follow the Bulls because I always have, but I can't stand to watch them these days because it's Derrick Rose and a bunch of crap. Actually, the rest of the Bulls sully the good name of crap. Chicago managed to lose - at home - to two of the worst teams in the NBA this week, Minnesota and Oklahoma City. They managed to beat two other bad teams, the Kings and Wizards, in the middle of that sandwich, but they're a joke. They've gone from team that was largely favored to win the East to complete laughingstock in just over a year. Good job, Paxson. Good job.

Other news: Al Horford's out a while with a knee bruise...a proposed three-team deal with the Mavs, Bobcats and Thunder seems to have fizzled.

Hot Stove: No real news. Pedro's talking with the Marlins, but they were supposed to get Manny too. Michael Young's apparently demanding a trade from Texas, but we'll just see what happens with that.

The Last Word:

Tim Tebow's coming back. Good for him. I was hoping he would. As I alluded to above, I think Tebow is very overrated, but it's always nice when a college star stays in college. I've grown to love college sports far more than their professional counterparts, and guys like Tebow - who, let's be honest, won't ever be a traditional quarterback in the NFL - are the reason. College allows things like Tim Tebow to happen. You can say it's lesser-quality football, and bemoan their lack of a 'true' national champion, but damn it, it's just entertaining.

Florida should be prohibitive favorites to win the national title again with Tebow back, especially if Percy Harvin comes back too, which some reports say he's leaning towards.

Happy Monday...

Divisional Playoff Weekend II

Well, that went well. I was 0-for-2 on my picks, my team got blown out of the water by a team universally considered the worst of the final eight, and that team didn't even have their top wideout. I don't know that I've ever felt quite so gut-punched by the Panthers, even when John Kasay kicked the ball out of bounds in the Super Bowl.

It felt a lot like the 2005 NFC title game, when Carolina came into Seattle as a popular underdog and just got blitzed 37-7. Steve Smith was triple-teamed the entire game, but proved his worth by returning a punt for a TD in that game. I was actually reminded of it because Mark Jones broke a couple of good kick returns but didn't take any back, and I don't think Carolina has a kick return of any type for a TD since that game.

Anyway, take two:

Eagles at Giants (1 pm, Fox)

The two teams split the regular-season meetings, and the Eagles owned the Giants the second time around. New York just hasn't been the same since Plaxico Burress and Antonio Pierce went out clubbing. Except for one game (oh, against my Panthers, of course), they really just have not been the offensive team they were prior to that incident.

Meanwhile, the Eagles are one of the hottest teams in the league. They are 5-1 since the McNabb benching and were about a half-yard away from having a chance to be 6-0. Brian Westbrook is the best player on the field in this game, and I'm a big proponent of picking the team with the best player on the field unless there is a compelling reason not to (like, say, Tarvaris Jackson). That's why, in an upset, I'm taking the Eagles. Meaning Arizona will host an NFC title game. Oh, boy.

Chargers at Steelers (4:30 pm, CBS)

If San Diego were to win this game and Philly wins theirs, two teams that were a combined one game above .500 in the regular season would host conference title games, which would probably be the single most insane thing to ever happen.

But I don't see it. I don't see Darren Sproles ripping off 300 yards of yardage again. I don't see Phil Rivers being able to dissect the Pittsburgh defense, certainly not in that mud heap Pittsburgh plays on. I don't see Pittsburgh folding in a big spot like the Colts did in overtime and to a lesser extent, in the fourth quarter. I don't see "Seven" making a game-changing mistake or getting rattled by pressure. And I don't see San Diego beating the Steelers today. After all, at least one home team has to win, right?

More later, including Mike Brey's unusually prickly defense of Luke Harangody and UNC possibly going 0-2 in the ACC (???). Enjoy the games.

Divisional Playoff Weekend

Well, this should be fun.

Ravens at Titans (4:30 pm, CBS)

This is probably the game I'm least sure about for the weekend. The Ravens' defense is really, really good, but I don't trust rookie quarterbacks on the road in the playoffs. Ed Reed is ridiculous. This is all stuff you've heard before.

If you make me pick someone, I'm taking the Titans. I think Kerry Collins will do just enough to win, and I'll take Chris Johnson to have a decent game against Baltimore's D, which is about as good as you can ask anyone to be. That one is about to start. We shall see. As I type this, Pac-Man Jones is on the CBS pregame show to talk about his being 'wronged' by ESPN, and he looks a little like Kimbo Slice. Without the giant beard anyway.

Cardinals at Panthers (8 pm, Fox)

This is my team - the Panthers. And I'm nervous. Everyone in the world thinks Carolina's going to kill the Cardinals because of their 8-0 home record, because of the Cardinals' East Coast ineptitude, and because of our running game. In my experience, when there's an on-paper playoff mismatch, it never turns out that way (18-0 Patriots, for example).

However, I still think the Panthers win. I'm just a little nervous that everyone thinks the game is over already, that's all.

I'll be back later today most likely with a post about today's college hoops action.

The Rundown: January 9th, 2009

Today's top stories:

NCAAFB: Chomp, Chomp...the Gators are kings again.

So it wasn't a shootout. It wasn't even particularly well-played. But when the dust settled, Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow had their 2nd national title in 3 years, 24-14 over Oklahoma.

Heisman winner Sam Bradford became something like the 35th Heisman winner in the last 37 years to lose his bowl game (I exaggerate. Slightly), and threw two interceptions against only two scores and 256 yards - pedestrian compared to his usual numbers. Tebow also threw two picks, but history will remember his jump-pass game-clinching TD to David Nelson and his most outstanding player award.

I find it interesting that the Gators have now won three national titles - and all three seasons have included a loss. Maybe Florida should go ahead and lose a game next September just to get it over with?

There's going to be a lot of talk of whether Tebow will go pro after this game (and to a lesser extent whether Bradford still should - it seems to be assumed that he will). If you ask me, Tebow - if he has a brain, and all indications are he does - should know that he's probably never going to be a true NFL quarterback. His best bet to take snaps would be in a system like the one he was in with Chris Leak in 2006, as a modified Wildcat-type QB. Therefore, why not come back? After all, no quarterback in college football history has ever been on three national championship teams. That seems like a pretty ideal goal for Tebow to shoot for - and with the talent the Gators will have coming back, it's more than possible.

Come back, Tim. Shoot for three!

MLB Hot Stove: Hoffman to Milwaukee.

Hope for the Brewers' sake that this works out better than their last attempt to sign a closer that was past his prime... one year, $6 million with an option for 2009, according to ESPN sources. Seems like a pretty good deal for Milwaukee if Hoffman does in fact have anything left. At worst he can't be worse than Milwaukee's pen last year...can he?

NCAAB: Minnesota pulls it out 52-49.

The Gophers needed to beat Iowa - probably more for their own confidence than anything. Should be interesting to see how they respond now, given the Big Ten looking like it may be more competitive than last season. Minnesota was down 13 in this game - sign of tenacity for coming back or sign of weakness for being down 13 in the first place?

Other Top 25 action last night:

#16 Arizona St 69, Oregon St 38 (ouch)
#18 Xavier 70, St. Louis 44
#20 Butler 64, Wright St 48

No Top 25 games scheduled for Friday night.

NBA: A.I. is back in Denver tonight with the Pistons.

Does this really mean anything? Anymore, guys make return visits to their former teams every other game. Iverson is hardly known as a Nugget. I think the real story here is Chauncey Billups, Denver's hometown boy, hosting HIS former team, the Pistons. You want to bet the Rocky Mountain fans will come out in force to re-emphasize that Billups is theirs now?

Oh, and: Boston/Cleveland tonight (8 pm, ESPN). Not quite the same luster since the Celts have dropped six of eight, but the Cavs are unbeaten at home. This is a good measuring stick for Cleveland - currently boasting the best record in the East. Big game for LeBron and Company...

The Last Word:

Check out Dana O'Neil's profile of Kent State's Tyree Evans. As a proud MAC alum, it's nice to see a MAC school getting some national play, even if it's for taking in a troubled recruit. And anything to take the conversation away from the 0-5 MAC football bowl showing...

Happy Friday!

Not a whole lot else going on in the sports world today, friends. Have a good Friday.

The Rundown: January 8th, 2009

Trying something new here. The biggest stories for your morning, delivered the night before!

Today's top stories:

NCAAFB: The FedEx Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game is tonight!

And don't try and say that whole event's name before the game begins. The champ will be crowned before you're finished.

There's been plenty of intriguing discussion back and forth on this game. I think most would agree that, if nothing else, it's the most up in the air title game we've had since probably the 2003 LSU/Oklahoma(/USC) tilt. People forget this when breathlessly calling the 2005 USC/Texas game the best ever, but a lot of people, myself included, figured USC would win that one rather easily. This time around, the general opinion seems to be that Florida will win (ESPN's vote, I believe, has the Gators favored about 60/40), but I'd say most of us don't really know what's going to happen. Florida has a very good defense and a very good offense, led by the speedsters Jeff Demps, Percy Harvin and Chris Rainey, and that guy who won a Heisman once too. Brandon Spikes leads the Gators' D, and he's also the one taking part in the back and forth smack talk with Oklahoma. ("Sam Bradford hasn't faced an SEC defense." "Well, Tim Tebow hasn't had to beat a Big 12 quarterback!")

Oklahoma counters with this year's Heisman winner, Sam Bradford, and the highest-scoring offense in college football history. Oklahoma scored 60 pretty much every time they stepped on a field this year, but I really doubt they're expecting that to happen against Florida. However, Oklahoma is incredibly formidable offensively, and they're absolutely loaded with weapons. DeMarco Murray, Chris Brown, J

Seriously, though: When did conference pride become such a big deal? I don't remember a lot of this prior to 2006, but ever since Florida crushed Ohio State in that year's title game, it seems like every conference's fans go overboard trying to outdo each other in the trash-talk department, with SEC fans generally agreed to be the most ridiculously over the top.

Anyway, tonight's game (8:30 pm, Fox), should be a very good, very close game. I'll take the Gators to win. My bowl confidence picks (which are in shambles), have five confidence points on the Gators, with a tiebreaker score of 35-31. So I'll go with that. Should be a heck of a show.

Other news: BC fired Jeff Jagodzinski after all after he interviewed with the Jets...Urban Meyer says he's in favor of Mack Brown of Texas, Kyle Whittingham of Utah, Pete Carroll of USC, and pretty much anyone else who feels like it voting their own team #1 in the coaches' poll after the national title game even though it violates their agreement...Georgia's Matt Stafford and Knowshon Moreno, both first-round locks in the NFL draft, are going to jump...Navy's coach, whose name is impossible to spell, got a contract extension.

NCAAB: The Big East rules the roost in college hoops.

Now, in college basketball, the conference pride thing becomes a much, much bigger deal. Your schedule has a huge effect on where you're seeded, which can have a direct effect on your chance to win the national title. Yes, it's true that in college football your conference plays a part, but for the most part, teams can control that by simply winning all their games. In college hoops, you can be a top-of-the-heap team in your league (say, the SEC), but you're still probably not going to get thought of as highly as a 5th or 6th place team from a better league (the Big East or ACC, most years).

That's why I feel comfortable saying that the Big East rules the roost in college basketball. During the Duke/Davidson game last night, the ESPN ticker for in-progress games involving ranked teams was all Big East teams except for Boston College's game with Harvard. (Which the Eagles lost, giving the Crimson their first-ever win over a ranked team. Good job.) Of course, with nine ranked teams in the league, ESPN has little choice but to run such a ticker. Nine of the top 22 teams in the country, in fact, hail from the Big East. Oddly, no other teams from the league are receiving votes in either poll, but seriously: NINE.

All that needs to be said on the subject is that Georgetown opened Big East play by visiting Connecticut, hosting Pitt, and traveling to Notre Dame, all in the period of a week. All those teams are in the top 13. The Hoyas are 1-2 in league play after that stretch. Care to wonder how often that happens with other conferences? Another "the Big East is ridiculous" note: Notre Dame will play seven out of eight games during one month-ish long stretch against ranked teams! (Full disclosure: One of those is against non-league foe UCLA.)

It should be very entertaining to see what develops in this war-of-attrition league. League teams will have a few breaks in between the gauntlet (Rutgers, DePaul, South Florida, St. John's), but even those are not gimmes. (ND has already lost to the Red Storm, and the Scarlet Knights gave top-ranked Pitt a fight.)

Also of note from last night: How about Michigan coming back from down 20 to take down IU in overtime? The Hoosiers have now played pretty well in a losing effort twice in league play. You have to figure the wins will come, but this was nothing less than a choke job on their parts. The Wolverines have as many good wins as anyone in America, but playing like this is a good way to keep them out of the big dance. Luckily for them they stole the win anyway, thanks to IU shooting 2/7 from the line in the extra frame.

Last night's Top 25 scores, with the home team in bold:
#2 Duke 79, Davidson 67 (Steph Curry had 29 points)
#3 UNC 108, College of Charleston 70
#9 Syracuse 85, DePaul 68
#15 Marquette 81, Rutgers 76
#21 Louisville 71, South Florida 57
Harvard 82, #24 Boston College 70
Gonzaga 89, #25 Tennessee 79 (OT)

Game to watch tonight:
#19 Minnesota at Iowa (7 pm, ESPN2). Not a lot going on tomorrow in the world of college basketball, but if the Golden Gophers want to be taken seriously nationwide, they need to win games like this: where they're clearly the better team but are playing a league road game. Tubby Smith's done a good job rebuilding Minnesota quickly, and starting 2-1 in the Big Ten would be a good way to get things rolling in preparation for what they hope is a berth in March.

NBA: What's up with Boston?

The Celtics were not only roundly considered the best team in the NBA and favorites to repeat after the first month and a half of the season, but talk was that they'd break the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' record of 72 wins after they won 19 in a row at one point. Well, that's down the drain after they lost yet again last night, this time at home to Houston and some guy named Von Wafer who hit a game-winning trey. It's their sixth loss out of eight and sends them to eight losses overall, so talk of record-breaking is up in smoke. In fact, Boston is in danger of falling to the 3 seed in the Eastern Conference if the season ended today. They're already behind Cleveland and are only a half-game up on the best team no one knows, the Orlando Magic.

If you ask me, it's not a big deal. The Lakers won three straight titles without really trying in a game before April, so a few regular-season losses aren't going to kill Boston. It's worth asking the question of whether it may affect their playoff aura of invincibility, but then again, this team was taken to seven games by an under-.500 team last spring.

Other NBA notables: Danny Granger had 37 points and the game-winning three to single-handedly beat Phoenix out West...Randy Foye scored 32 and led Minnesota (?) to their fourth win in a row...Dwight Howard fell just short of a 20-20 game, but his team beat Atlanta on the road anyway.

What to watch for tonight:

Only two games tonight, and neither of them are of note (Knicks at Dallas; Clips at San Antonio). Take the night off if you're an NBA fan I guess.

NFL: The Mangenius got another job already.

Eric Mangini was unemployed only about a week until the Cleveland Browns snapped him up. After their short-lived Bill Cowher hopes went away, Mangini was probably the best option Cleveland had left. He can't really be judged on last season in New York, if the reports that he wasn't a big fan of the Brett Favre thing all along are true. It is humorous that Cleveland replaced the former Patriots' defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel with...another former Patriots' defensive coordinator.

Cleveland was an underrated soap opera last year (as a Brady Quinn fan, I kept a close eye on the situation). It wasn't quite as bad as Oakland, but between the Derek Anderson fiasco, Kellen Winslow, Jamal Lewis saying his team quit, Braylon Edwards dropping anything that came his way, and Phil Savage dropping f-bombs on e-mailers left and right, it was quite the circus. I sometimes wonder if Braylon dropped his bottle of 5-Hour Energy numerous times during filming of his incredibly wooden commercial for the product.

Despite all this, there's talent there. A lot of it, in fact. There's a reason Cleveland was supposed to be good. You know, before failing to score an offensive TD in the final six games of the season (!!!). Mangini has a franchise QB, a good wideout if he ever learns how to catch, and one of the league's most explosive tight ends, in more ways than one, to work with. We'll see what he can do.

Other news: The Pac-Man era is over in Dallas: he was released...Tomlinson almost certainly won't play in Pittsburgh this weekend with a torn groin tendon...Anquan Boldin may miss the Cards' round 2 game in Carolina...Brian Westbrook is a go for the Eagles/Giants game.

MLB's Hot Stove: Smoltz to Boston.

At this point, it's just getting ridiculous. Any remotely desirable free agent appears to be a lock to go to Boston or New York. If you ask me, as long as neither team makes the World Series, as occurred in 2008, they're not overly relevant. The Sawx are also apparently going to sign Rocco Baldelli, which is an interesting move. Baldelli's well-publicized condition should make for interesting material as he heads to Press Heaven, Boston.

Other signings: The Dodgers may grab Trevor Hoffman...Jason Giambi's headed back to Oakland!...the Reds sign Jerry Hairston Jr...and Baltimore imports a Japanese pitcher.

Last Word:

Sadly for the NHL, the Jarko Ruutu biting incident isn't even a new low for the league. Ruutu was suspended two games for taking a bite out of the Sabres' Andrew Peters. Does anyone even notice anymore? Apart from the Winter Classic (a fantastic idea), the NHL just doesn't seem to matter anymore. That's too bad, because hockey is fun as hell to watch in person.

Enjoy your day, everyone.