Thoughts on the BCS National Championship

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First off, I would like to give a big thanks to whatever idiot decided to schedule the BCS Championship on a Thursday.  After about 4 hrs sleep, it was pretty tough to wake up for work today.  Living in Gainesville, I knew the town would be real crazy.  I stayed in and watched the game with a very nervous, Tebow-loving Mrs. THRILLHO.  The game was very intense, and there was little sleep for me afterwards with all the honking horns and fireworks going off outside my window till about 4am.

As for the game….  I’m not quite sure how unbiased fans viewed the game (according to the only column I read today, it was a ‘letdown’), but I thought it was an intense chess match between two great teams and coaches.  The momentum clearly changed all game until the late 4th quarter.  I don’t think anyone will argue that Florida looked better in the first half, they didn’t.  Oklahoma left a lot of points on the field, but you have to give the Gators defense a lot of credit, holding the Sooners to ZERO points in two first and goal situations late in the second half, including a nice patty-cake interception by Wright at the goal line right before halftime.

Percy Harvin looked like a man on a mission.  If that was 85-90%, then I would take that over 100% anyone else on the field.  Around 175 all purpose yards after a serious injury.  That play where the defensive lineman yanked his ankle after the tackle was real dirty though.

Tebow's wet dream

What else can you say about Superman?  The quarterbacks on my favorite teams (mainly the Bills) have squashed my expectations.  When I see a QB throw two early interceptions, I expect it to really get in their head (Trent & JP).  Usually QBs will be more tentative with their passes and risk taking.  Tebow is the opposite, his passes get tighter, he makes more clutch plays, he rockets jump passes into tight coverage for game winning touchdowns.  The guy is unbelievable.  What else can be said?  In very critical 3rd and 10 situations, he will see nobody open and run straight THROUGH 2 linebackers.  Every time he hops up, he waves his arms, and gets the crowd going.  You would expect any other QB to lay there for a minute and be taken out for a couple plays.  He just has a combination that no other college player has.  His drive, leadership, talent, and lack of fear (not to mention his circumcision skills) are what made him the most decorated college player in history (I’m talking about his trophies, not his philipino foreskin collection)…. plus he’s like SOOO dreamy!  Anyways, before I finish my Tebow fluffing, I have to say that the guy deserves all the praise he gets, and more (including this years Heisman).  God bless!!

I have to give Bradford some credit though.  He is unbelievably accurate.  Some of his throws were just unreal.  When he was pressured, things fell apart for him.  The 2 interceptions he threw were truly great defensive plays though, and can’t all be put on him.  Both were pretty much taken away from the receivers.  I think we all saw who the best player in the country was last night, and it wasn’t Sam Bradford (*side note, Bradford looks like a douchebag chipmunk). Chris Brown had a fantastic game as well.  The Gators didn’t look ready for the run game and it opened up in a big way.  I

Dominique Franks - Maybe if his eyes weren't so close together, he could see how good Tim Tebow really is.

liked it when Franks (the guy that called Tebow the 4th best QB in the Big XII) got called out by the announcers after Tebow brought the Gators up 2 scores on a very impressive drive.  They said “that might be the dumbest statement ever made”.  Nothing like getting called out in front of the national stage WHILE getting beat down by the guy you called out.  Nice one Franks….  I believe one would call that “eating your words”…

Anyways, congrats to the Gators, they deserved it.  One point away from running the table.  However I must say that I am glad they lost to Ole Miss.  It sparked more playoff debate, and the more debate we get, the more likely a playoff will happen……. one day…….

Finally, as a University at Buffalo alumn, I can safely name the one thing I am MOST envious about regarding the University of Florida is missing class due to football (and sometimes basketball to a lesser extent) IS acceptable!

edit: the announcers treated this like any other hit, but this got the crowd PUMPED…..

here is the 3rd play from scrimmage……

edit2: someone just called me at work and yelled at me for not answering with “Go Gators”…..

Bama you are underdogs…get over it!

#1 in creepy fat old guys with body paint!

I am sick of hearing Alabama fans bitch and moan about how they are not getting enough respect. While the computer polls actually have Bama ranked at 5, 4, 1, 1, 4, and 3, the human polls have Bama at #1 and Bama has been at #1 longer than any other team this season. There is your respect! So what if the Gators are all over ESPN and mainstream media. Did you ever think there might be a reason for that. If the game was actually supposed to be close the handicappers would not have chosen Florida as 10 point favorites in the point spreads. It’s nothing personal against Bama or their fans, the sports books just don’t want to lose money. If Percy Harvin was not “questionable” the spread would be even higher.  They handicappers know you beat all your rivals and went undefeated, and they know Florida lost by 1 point on a blocked PAT to Ole Miss. They also know that behind Florida and Bama, Ole Miss is the third best team in the SEC (if you think Georgia is the third best go back and watch the highlights from last weeks Georgia vs Georgia Tech game).

College Football: Week 7

The road to the BCS Championship goes through the Big 12?

Chiggity Chase Daniel and Sultry Sam Bradford are lighting up scoreboard from Norman to Columbia to Lincoln to Seattle, both teams have led the conference on a roll that is unprecedented in my recent memory.  I have touched on this before briefly but, can any conference boast the talent that the Big XII has in the QB position?  Hands down SEC folks, the power has shifted to the Midwest.

The offensive rankings are simply too powerful to ignore.

College Football: Week 6

Something is fishy.

How does one team (USC) lose to an inferior one, which sets off a madcap weekend.  How about Florida?  How about Georgia?  How about Wisconsin?  The powers that be seem to have a sense of humor.  Is this a commentary on game preparation, or parity, or even that every game ACTUALLY matters.  In any event, the first major weekend of in-conference play was a disaster for the national title contenders.

I can’t explain it but I am pretty sure somehow Pete Carrol called the NCAA and the two of them are behind these shenanigans.

Since upset Saturday seemed to occur last week, one would assume it won’t happen again, yet dear readers anarchy is probably going to take place so that USC will still be in the hunt at season’s end.  My point is that there are still too many teams with unblemished records out there!

College Football Week 5

Big brother is ad savvy

I know what you are thinking.  Idaho University has had two glaring wadrobe malfunctions this season AND are one of the worst teams in all of D1A.  But before we get into that, let’s just get back on this whole bullshit FBS and FBC blasphemy.  FBS or Football Bowl Subdivision is less simple than D1A, and might say less in fact.  In the whole of the NCAA, everything is written as Division I, Division II, or Division III.  Lucky for us, the powers that be (possibly sponsors and higher ups in charge of making money) have decreed that we can no longer refer to football the same way we refer to the rest of college athletics.  I guess it is pointless to discuss the merits and detractions of this argument, but at the same token why confuse the American public that is already engrossed in your product?

College Football Week 3

My picks have been off lately and I am not sure why.  I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with the head trauma that I have gotten over so it must be this new job which forces me to work instead of waste my days writing blog posts and analyzing each individual piece of each individual game.  In any event, I have spent my nights this week on the phone and analyzing statistical data which may, just may lead me to a .500 week in the third one of the young season.  But first some political talk.

Lab Boy Begins

After successfully surviving a late night incident involving a Chrysler 300 and some bats with THRILLHO and LWN, I (LAB BOY) have been given the go ahead to begin contributing. While there are so many things happening in the world that need to be discussed there is not the space, time, nor interest to discuss them all. However, there are some people out there who go above and beyond the call of duty, and I have decided to applauded them in what I have coined “Props from Lab Boy”. So here we go…

This Weeks ‘Props from Lab Boy’

1. Props to you Chinese race walker Song Hongjuan! While most of the world does not know (or care) that race walking is a sport, you are pushing the limits of how fast the human body can walk. To most people race walking is to the olympics what Colt Brennan is to the NFL…worthless and boring. But not to Song! And I know what all you readers are thinking, “LAB BOY, didn’t Song fail a drug test for the endurance enhancing EPO?” But who are we to judge? We aren’t the one’s that have go out and walk everyday. Honestly, I don’t know if it is even physically possible to do training walks everyday without the assistance of endurance boosting drugs.

2. Props to Usain Bolt, for slowing down at the end of olympic 100m! Finally an athlete is smart enough to realize that if you shatter a world record at the olympics you are going to get drug tested like crazy for as long as you have that record. Is Bolt on drugs? I can only make an educated guess. Sprinters using drugs is like regular people breaking the speed limit; it’s illegal and you might get caught, but you and everyone you know continue to do it. Bolt knows he could have shattered the world record, and run substantially faster than any man in history (including those who took drugs). If Bolt doesn’t play his cards right he could end up in the ever growing elite group of pharmaceutical assisted athletes. Lets look at brief list of some of the greatest sprinters who have have recieved bans for performance enhancing drug issues.

Name…Time…Interesting Note
Marion Jones…10.65…Hired Johnny Cochrane in high school (for her performance enhancing drug scandal)
Tim Montgomery…9.78…Marion Jones’ Baby Daddy
Ben Johnson…9.79…Once raced a race horse and a stock car
Justin Gatlin…9.77…Former leading spokesperson against drug use in sports
Carl Lewis…9.86…One of 100+ Americans involved in (supposed) US drug “cover-up”

3. Props to Russian high jumper Ivan Ukhov for combining my two favorite things, world class sports and drinking.  Like a rockstar Ukhov was seen drinking Redbull and Vodka during a European grand prix track meet last week.  The video of his incredible performance can be seen here.   Aparrently one of the other high jumpers snitched on Ukhov to the officials.  I assume the only reason this backstabbing snitch reported Ukhov is because he lost to him.  Hey snitch, if your losing to a drunk Russian maybe your not cut out for the high jump!!!

4. Props to you (former) Iowa City Community College President Robert Paxton for showing students what college is really about…partying.  Not only did you get caught literally pouring beer from a coors light mini-keg into a bikini clad coed’s mouth, but you got a $400,000 resignation package.  Well played sir.  While I consider Paxton one of my hero’s we was semi-defensive after the ‘incident’ stating, “The beer keg was broken and wasn’t dispensing beer into the young woman’s mouth”.   Additionally, just to set the record straight about his 19 year-old son who was arrested for second-offense drunken driving early the next morning Paxton stated, “He was in the boat but was not drinking.”  Again, well played.

 

5. And finally, props to you University of Miami football coach Randy Shannon for refusing to shake University of Florida coach Urban Meyer’s hand after Meyer decided to kick a field in the closing minutes of the Gators 26-3 victory over the Canes.   As Shannon said, “Sometimes when you do things and people see what kind of person you really are, you turn a lot of people off.”  So what if you (Shannon) were a member of the UM team that ran up the score and beat Notre Dame 58-7 in 1985…that is not relevant here.  The point is that for many years the University of Miami football program has been know for their class and sportsmanship both on and off the field.  I defy you readers to find 1 time the Canes ever acted classless!  Lucky for Canes Tebow wasn’t on the field for this final score…I assume becuase he had to get up early the next morning for church service/ending world hunger/curing cancer.   Shame on you Urban Meyer for not giving pity to that poor ACC team!  Urban, the University of Florida didn’t hire you to dominate football games, they hired you to be a nice friendly guy on the field!