Monday, November 30, 2009

Sports Shorts (11/30/09)

Spanning the....OK, sorry....


Scaling the heights and plumbing the depths of suck? (Just asking)


Kubiak must Go! (Uh...yeah...what he said) (All of those 10-6 & 11-5 predictions by what pass for sports media experts in Houston are really starting to look stupid now aren't they?)


Was this article written by Justice? Or Cougar beat-writer Steve Campbell? Early on ChronBlog had Campbell listed as the author.


Look, Vince Young is proving to be an decent NFL quarterback (admittedly, a surprise to me). He's also the beneficiary of one hell of a running game, something he wouldn't enjoy were he drafted by the Texans. So let's stop with the VY man love OK? It's one thing to be a UT-Austin homer, it's another thing to let it cloud your judgement as a writer. Case in point.


Hey...this Tiger Woods news story might have some legs.


Dear ACC: You suck. Signed the SEC


Goodbye Charlie.


Goodbye Bobby


Goodbye Mark


Goodbye Al


(UH fans are now holding their collective breath that none of the schools mentioned (well, KU and Virginia, not Notre Dame and Florida St obviously) take a serious look at Sumlin)


Convince me that TCU isn't one of the top two teams in the Country. I'm listening.

For that matter, convince me that the Heisman Trophy has any relevance to reality. "Most outstanding player in College Football"? Colt McCoy? S.H.A.M.

While you're at it: Make an argument that Cincinnati is not one of the top two teams in the Country, and that Mardy Gilyard shouldn't be a top 5 Heisman contender (if not the outright winner).


If you have a terrible officiating structure, you're going to get terrible results. FIFA is probably the worst International sports body in existence.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Scaling the heights and plumbing the depths of average

It's time to face facts. This Texans team is the epitome of mediocre. They're not bad per se (in a Detroit Lions sense) but they're not especially good either. This is going to be hard for a lot of reporters covering the Texans to accept, them being the teams' biggest cheerleaders, for the Texans fans (who long ago stopped believing the hype, it should be a little bit easier.

Sure, sure, you were all told to believe. You were told by what passes for sports experts in Houston that "this was the biggest game in franchise history" and that "the playoffs were there for the taking". That's fine to say...except it wasn't and they weren't. Not by this team anyway.

Reality is there have been no big games for the Texans franchise to date, nothing with real playoff implications anyway. Even had the Texans won this game, with a record of 6-4 they would probably be in need of a 4-2 closing run to have a shot at a Wild Card. With two penciled-in losses against Indianapolis and New England on the schedule the reality is they'd have to run the table in the following four games: @Jacksonville, Seattle, @ St Louis, @ Miami. As it stands now they have to win those four games AND beat either Indy or New England. That's right, they have to go 5-1 over their last six games to finish 10-6. FWIW a 10-6 New England team missed last years' playoffs, so there's no post-season promise with even that record.

A more fitting question is this: After starting 0-6, will the Titans finish with an equal or better record than the Texans? That may sound laughable but right now the former Oilers are exactly one game worse than your Houston Texans. Vince may not have been the right pick for the Texans, but to say he can't make it as an NFL quarterback requires either an unrational hatred of UT, or a lack of understanding of winning football. Unfortunately, in Houston, many fans carry around both.

Next Sunday is Indianapolis, where it should be back to a sub .500 record for the worst expansion franchise in NFL history. Sports personalities may care about that but I think the majority of Houstonians are beyond caring. The truth is you just don't give much of a damn any more.



- Coaching not to lose: Sean Pendergast from 1560 said it best: "If you settle for a 48 yard field goal, you deserve what you get." Kubiak has a tendency to coach not to lose way too often. It's a fatal coaching flaw.

- Dead fish count: I counted 10 times that Dunta "pay me" Robinson flopped around on the filed like a fish out of water after a)missing a tackle or b)blowing a coverage. The guy's not even an average NFL CB this season.

- Beating a dead horse: How long is it going to take Kyle Shanahan to learn that this year's version of the Texans are not a running team? The well is dry. Get creative with a short, ball-control passing game or perish.

- Beaten units: The O-line is sub-par, the DB's are overmatched, and the D-line is anemic. That is all.

- We'll miss 'ya: I'm on Andre Johnson's side here. The guy is too talented to waste his entire career playing for a mediocre team out of the playoffs. He's within his rights to demand a trade. Here's hoping it's to a winning franchise. (or San Francisco, which would NOT suck)

Monday, November 23, 2009

Sport's Shorts (11/23/2009)

RIP UGA VII. - I watched part of the game. I've not seen a picture yet but the image of Hairy Dawg kneeling in prayer in front of UGA's dog house was a tear jerker.

For a sport to be considered truly "Major League" their finals have to generate some buzz. Hell, I follow football and I forgot the finals were Sunday....

Rah! Rah! Sis-Boom-Bah!

If there's a greater threat to the legitimacy of MMA than the UFC in its current state I'm not aware of it. This is an organization that needs to get it's act together. Too many boxing like controversies from an organization that used to steer clear of them.


Oh yeah: The Texans play tonight, so we're all supposed to be fired up about that (or something). As for me I'm so tired of talk radio and others trying to guilt me into rooting for this mess of a team that I'm probably going to boycott this game. I actually heard Vandermeer say, on the radio, that the fans had some responsibility for this game....what??


Side note: Stop gritching UH fan. If you're outside the top 12 where you are in the AP doesn't matter.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The stupidest comment in the entire history of stupid.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner:
TOR says:

TCU fan should be grateful for the opportunity to be "worked up" over a perceived slight by the BCS. As soon as Patterson bolts (i'm guessing sometime in, ohh, say, JANUARY) and the booster money stops flowing into all that 'recruiting' (you really think they're getting all that speed because tcu is a great college setting?) the frogs will sink back into the muck of 4-6, which is where they belong.

Same thing can be said to a lesser degree for UH- Coach Sumlin is probably already packed for whoever makes him an offer.

Good day.


The sad thing is, such stupidity was in response to a pretty good take-down of the "UT is better" argument by Sean Pendergast in response to another display of idiocy by Richard Justice. It's gotten so bad that the Sean & John show is losing credibility every time they call Justice an "expert".

Back to the comment...

It's one of those rare instances where elitism is coupled with a total lack of facts, hidden behind the shroud of cowardly anonymity. "Heyuh..Hey Maw! Watch theeus. Look whut I wrote on the big computer thing!"


TCU suffering when Patterson leaves? Funny when Franchione left TCU faced that same question. What they did was have a candidate in place and move forward. Or, the same thing they'll do this time.

It's not as if this script hasn't been written before. Boise State faced the same dilemma when Dan Hawkins left, all they did was continue to improve under Chris Peterson. Even UH, who were wondering where to go after Art Briles departure are going to be OK should Sumlin leave.

It's one thing to be stupid, that's almost understood from Texas fans. It's another thing to not have an understanding of the facts, yet to continue talking about them with your identity hidden. If nothing else, people know who Justice is, where he is and how to get in touch with him should they disagree. (If they even want to bother with it) That's more than can be said for those who post anonymously on message boards.

I won't even go into how bad the Big xII is this year.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Is the Big xII the new Big Ten(leven)?

You know the jokes. "Not Ohio State again, PLEASE...anyone but them!"

To give the Big Ten(leven) bashers credit, they have a point.

Up until you realize that they're from the Big xII and...well....Uh...


"Wait!" Big xII fans will say. "We've got BIG GAME Bob Stoops and the Sooners!" a powerhouse of a team with first round draft picks and.....


Blowout losses by LSU & Florida preceded by a loss to Boise St.


Sorry...try again.


"OK" you say "We've got Texas with Mack Brown and Vince Young Colt McCoy and...


A schedule that would make even the bluest of Texas blue-bloods cry. Your signature win? Over a 3-loss Okie State team caught up in a scandal involving their best player. Yes, yes, yes we know. You beat OU, and UTEP who beat Houston which means that according to six degrees of football seperation you can keep calling UH "Cougar High" for another year. We get that.

But the fact remains that your chest-thumping, bong-water drinking this season has been relegated to the argument that Case Keenum doesn't deserve the Heisman because he plays for a small school.....That's right, your QB and his attached-at-the-hip-roomate/buddy top passing target aren't even in the picture. And Case? Well...he's had better stats against common opponents. Deal with it Horn fan. You're still on probation for giving this guy a degree. Any reputable institution would have never let him out of the gate. You're responsible for that Longhorn, so deal with it. Last year you barely beat the team you like to make fun of. That's right, you're three points better than Ohio State.


The point I'm making here is that the Big xII is quickly morphing into what used to be the Big Ten(leven) a team that could beat up on each other and beat regional teams to the point that the disinterested media (who pay little attention to the actual games) get fooled into thinking that a 30 point win over UTEP is somehow equivilent to a 10 point win over Clemson. This illusion holds up until the point Miami (OH) UofH comes in and beats two or three of your tier 2 teams. Suddenly the entire ball of wax begins to melt and you're stuck with K-State in the Big xII championship game because Nebraska likes to fumble, Colorado has no speed, and coach Mangino ate the starting defense by accident after the last practice before the season.

That's what is happening to the Big xII right now. We're starting to see them for what they are: A regional conference, much like the Big Ten(leven) who's desperately trying to remain competative with the SEC. Heck, even Cincinatti is probably better than Texas this year, and they're a Big (L)East school. The Longhorns struggled to beat a 4-loss OU team that was overrated all year long. Even Cincy understood how to handle Rutgers.

What this means is that the real National Championship game is going to be played December 5th between Florida and Alabama. Unless, that is, Texas somehow loses to either Baylor, aTM, Kansas or (presumeably) K-State in the Big xII championship game allowing Cincinatti, TCU or even the loser of that game to sneak in the back door. Then we might get something resembling a championship. Sure, Texas fans won't like it, but all they have as an argument is that...well...they're Texas and, despite the fact that their schedule is weaker than Maddoff's defense, that should be overlooked because (and I'm not making this up) "Mack Brown is a really nice guy."

But, and we all know this, it's not going to happen that way. What's going to happen is that Texas is going to walk over what's left of their weak-sister schedule and be in line to play the winner of Alabama/Florida. All that will be left is a bunch of useless media run-up to what's surely to be a lop-sided game. The B(C)S will have their champions (again hailing from the SEC) and t-shirt Texas fans will have something new to run out and buy....


The rest of us will dread the coming of NEXT year, when the Big Ten(leven) will again be deemed "weak" by pundits hailing from Big xII land.

Monday, November 09, 2009

Sports Shorts (11/09/09)

Talk about your "Thrill of victory and agony of defeat..."

Call it the miracle in Tulsa, call it Coach Graham (or, as Rice affectionately knows him: Coach Douche) not knowing how to properly align to defend an onside kick. Call it whatever you want, but don't forget that the Cougars now control their C-USA destiny. They didn't deserve to move up in the polls (13th is about right) but they shouldn't move down either.

I'm not a fan of the B(C)S, but at least they got TCU right on this one. Sorry Boise, but there has to be a price to pay for playing one of the weakest schedules known to man. True, you can't control your conference, but playing UC Davis, Miami (OH) and Tulsa? TCU is the better team. Sorry.

This is what happens to Texans fans, you start to buy in and they break your heart. Still, they're on schedule for the record that most (credible) experts had them pegged at before the season started. 8-8 or 9-7 is about where this mediocre group is going to wind up. They're not "one step away" and they're not "about to turn the corner". They're average, period end of story. *The questions after the season should focus on what Kubiak's ceiling is.

Say what you want about horse racing....Zenyatta's performance in the Breeder's Cup Classic was one for the ages. Now, about that showdown with Rachel Alexandra?

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

The Gospel According to Tebow.

Commandment One: Forget all that twiddly stuff Jesus did and listen to me....

You may have heard about Florida linebacker Brandon Spikes trying to gouge out the eyes of Georgia Running back Washaun Ealey. Like me, when you heard of it, you figured the player in question would be suspended for a couple of games, issue an apology and by-gones would be by-gones. Football, after all, is a violent sport. Were that all that was involved in this story then I wouldn't even be blogging about it. To be honest, I could care less about the internal disciplinary goings-on over in Gainesville.

That is, until the Great one spoke up and practically took a dump on his Christian faith in the name of they started it?

[Ft. Myers News-Press]
Florida quarterback Tim Tebow said on Monday that Georgia players were doing some of the same stuff that got Gators linebacker Brandon Spikes suspended for a half in last Saturday's 41-7 win against the Bulldogs.


Got that? Mr. Christian's fed up with all of that "turn the other cheek" crap that Jesus talked about. Nope, according to the Gospel of Tebow (the chosen one) retaliation is fine....IF you're a Gator starting linebacker that is.


I don't have any problem with Tebow the player. He's turning out to be one of the best College quarterbacks ever, the numbers don't lie. What I am tired of is all of the blather about Tebow the leader, about the promise, about the Gospel of Tebow and about what a fine young Christian man he is. You see, that's all a bunch of PR generated crap.


Jesus wouldn't lie to win a game, and if I remember my Bible right he had his disciples healing those that couldn't see, not gouging out peoples eyes.


Just play the game Tebow, and then shut up about it. Don't act as if, because you've been out on missions, that you're somehow morally superior to the rest of us. You're a quarterback....go throw a touchdown already.