New Year's Eve Bowl Games

Bowl season finally heats up with 6 games today followed by 6 more tomorrow. This year's bowl season is bringing a familiar trend. Just about every game features a team with a new/departing/interim head coach or key players being suspended, either for test scores or crime. Here's the picks for New's Year Eve:
South Florida (-6) over Oregon. So. Florida's looking to cap off an unbelievable year for the school's football program. Oregon has looked flat out awful since Dennis Dixon went down.
Fresno St. (+6) over Georgia Tech. Tech's another team with coaching controversy.
Kentucky (-9 1/2) over Florida St. How could you take the Seminoles. You start 22 guys on offense and defense, and they have 36 players suspended!
Indiana (+4 1/2) over Oklahoma St. This game means a lot more to the Hoosiers.
Finally, the best game of the day, Auburn (+2 1/2) over Clemson. Should be a hard hitting, fun game to watch. Goin War Eagle just because they're getting points. Should be a close game decided by defense.
Happy New Year's from Pasadena!

Back on the Road....Again

Sorry I haven't been updating this site lately. I know the both of you are hurt. But, like I said before, I spent 10 days back in Nebraska for the Holidays. I can't believe how quick it went. I got to hang out with most of my friends and spend another crazy, drunk filled Christmas Eve with my family. 31 years now spending X-mas in Nebraska! I had a blast and hope everyone else was as fortunate enough as me to be surrounded by so many great people for the Holidays. I leave tomorrow again (boy my miles are really getting up there) for LA and the Rose Bowl. This will be my fourth Rose Bowl appearance. I always hated being in LA for New Year's and really have never had a really good time. Maybe, it's because I actually have to work. Whoa! OK. I mean I just have to show up a certain places at certain times. I didn't mean to mention the term work and myself in the same sentence. But, anyways, back on the road for me for about 11 days. I leave the LA and immediately go to New Orleans for the BCS. I should be bloggin from the road so stay tuned. Like I said before, I just started this blog and rarely have time to keep it updated. My daughter is approaching 10 months way too fast and she requires my undivided attention. Also, it doesn't help the fact that I'm pretty computer illiterate.
Without further ado, here are picks for the next two days' bowl games: Boston College (-5). I think Matt Ryan wants to up his stake in the Draft and showcase his skills to...the Miami Dolphins. TCU (-6). I know this game is in Houston, but hey, a lot of the TCU players are from H-Town and Houston is one of many bowl teams switching head coaches. Maryland (+5 1/2). Wake Forest (-3). I don't want to touch the Penn St. and A&M game. It's pretty much a home game for A&M, but who knows what's really going on with the coaching staff and how much they want to play to win. Also, I'm Big 12 biased and hate the Big 10.

Triple D the Hard Way

I love checking out boxscores. No, not those boxscores DEK! In cased you missed or feel like you've been secluded from the world the past few days, Marcus Camby compiled a nice triple double last night against the Memphis Grizz. Yes, the Marcus Camby who was last year's defensive player of the year, the same Camby who briefly put UMASS basketball on the map. Now in his 12th season, Camby scored his third triple D with 10 points, 11 boards and....10 blocks! How sick is that! I mean when anyone blocks 10 shots in a game is pretty rare, but when it helps a player get a triple double? Going into the Nuggets' fourth quarter blow out win, Camby had only 7 seven points. He told his team he was going for the triple and set up outside the arc to nail a three pointer.

I could really care less about what goes on in the white trash lives of the Spears', but the everlasting jokes that come with this family are hilarious. The other day on "The Jim Rome Show," Rome briefly touched on the misfortunes Britney's younger sister (I guess the misfortune is Jamie Lynn is Britney's sister.) Already falling in older sis's footsteps, we all know young Jamie Lynn was knocked up at the tender age of 15. Rome went on to rant and ask "Who's the father? The count from Sesame St?
"I knocked you up one time! Ah! Ha! Ha! Ha!" For those of you listening, you couldn't help but to laugh harder than the Count himself.

Detroit Rock City

So the Boston Celtics finally had to play some competition at home. The much over hyped Celtics lost on their homecourt for the first time this season 87-85 to the Detroit Pistons. It seems that Boston has had 20 home games and 2 road games so far this season. The Celtics have only played 2 games outside of the Easter Time Zone. The Big 3 can only get you so far. You need key bench players and maybe a better coach. (Still not sold on Doc Rivers). Last night's loss will probably be a huge momentum swing for the Celtics. Boston has yet to go on a Western Conference trip and now look like maybe the third or even fourth best team in the East. The season has yet to heat up and Boston has benefited from one of the easiest schedules in the NBA.

Good Luck to the Victors

So Michigan football thinks their back. I'll go on the record now and say Rich Rodriquez may be a hell of a recruiter, but when it comes to play calling and winning big games, hold on. True, Michigan may have landed the biggest name in the coaching carousel, but if I were in Morgantown, good riddance. It will be fun to see another Big Ten team run the spread offense and some option ball (Illinois being the other). God knows how much of a problem Jim Tressel has stopping the spread, and I'm sure this is what Michigan was thinking. But come on! Rodriquez pretty much signed, sealed and delivered the National Championship to the Buckeye's this year. West Virginia played an overrated Big East schedule.

OK, South Florida beat them when the Bulls were the hottest thing in college football. You get one mulligan. But to lose the last game of the season at home! to Pitt! I don't play that! Maybe Dave Wannstedt looked at the South Florida tape. Pat White had an injury on his non throwing hand. So what. You still have offensive juggernauts Steve Slaton and much hyped Noel Devine. Slaton finished that game with 9 rushes for 11 yards. What! These two guys should be good for at least 3 or 4 touchdowns a game.

West Virginia's excuse last year was they didn't have a defense. Everything was in place for the Mountaineers to be dancin on Bourbon St., but this monumental collapse boils down to the Head Coach. Rodriquez will easily continue to bring great talent to Ann Arbor, but his teams will still have random meltdowns to mediocre opponents.

Romeo, oh Romeo!

Maybe Tony Romo was a little nervous yesterday. Or maybe he was a little embarrased. After recently being on the cover of People magazine, Jessica Simpson sat in luxury box in Dallas to watch her favorite Cowboy showcase the most dismal performance of his career. A year ago this time, Romo's ex main attraction Carrie Underwood, sat in the same luxury box to witness Romos's collapse against the same Philadelphia Eagles team. I believe Underwood and Romo spit paths shortly after. Tony Romo, you need to produce if you want to keep your babes!!

Phins Win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow!!! With my Dolphins having one of the worst season's in the history of the NFL, it's been a long hard year. Throw in the season Brett Farve's having, replacing Dan Marino's legacy in the record books, and it's been really hard to swallow.
Yesterday, however may have been one of the biggest victories in franchise history!

The Phins 22-16 OT win against the dismal Ravens was definitely one of the top 3 Phins wins in my lifetime (the 85 Monday Night victory against the Bears is definitely up there). That's one of the great things about sports. Miami, 0-13, brought a spark of excitement to Dolphins' fans everywhere. I can't recall a game in recent memory that made me so happy and got me pumped up!

Cleo Lemon hooking up with Greg Camarillo (Who!) for 64 yards in OT, feakin awesome. Just when your down in the dumps and things could not get any worse, you get to witness one of the (strikingly odd) best moments in Dolphins history! God bless the Phins!! Now I say, bring on New England and all their cocky players. I have hope! I have faith! Next week would be huge! And if you ask me, the mighty Pats don't seem so mighty anymore. I said three weeks ago, if Miami beat the Patriots, I would streak naked down Westheimer in Houston, Broadway in NYC, or Dodge in Omaha (whatever city I happened to be in at the time).

I said I would do this if the Dolphins were still winless. Because now, I'm not so sure the Pats winning would be a sure thing. If it does happen, I'll be so drunk and happy that anything's possible. Let's go Phins!!!!!!

Back in Nebraska

Sorry I've been away. Flew back home for the holidays early Saturday morning. I have limited computer access so I'm gonna have a hard time keeping this updated. Went to Lincoln yesterday and saw the billboard next to Memorial stadium. If this doesn't get you pumped up. Took the pix in the car with my camera phone.

NCAA Assist Record

Everyone knows, this time of year, it's better to give than to receive. Just ask Grinnell College Guard David Arseneault. Arseneault dished out 34! dimes in a win over North Central University of Minnesota. The 34 assists is an NCAA all-divisions record. FYI..Grinnell College is located in Central Iowa.

A Rod still makes News

With the coming out party of the Mitchell report clogging all the airwaves, Alex Rodriquez was still able to keep his face in the limelight. Remember Game 4 of the World Series? When it was supposed to be the Red Sox's time, Arod's agent publicly declared on during Game 4 that Arod would be opting out of his contract with the Yankees. Now, over a month later, Arod signs the biggest contract in MLB history the same day as the shadow of the Mitchell Report covers the game.

Arod admitted that opting out was a "debacle." MLB would love nothing more than Arod breaking all the hitting records and being the new poster boy of the game. For the record, Arod signed 10 years for $275 million with a chance to make over $300 million. By 2013, the all time homerun king will be wearing pinstripes.

Super Mario

Thank God there was something other than the "Responses to the Mitchell Report" on TV last night. Mario Williams and the Houston Texans are starting to prove all their naysayers (myself included) wrong. Williams added 3.5 sacks to his now league leading (and franchise record) 13 sacks for the season. What a difference a year makes. This year, Reggie Bush is being called the most overrated player in the NFL and hometown hero Vince Young has fallen prey to the Madden Curse. Williams is listed as 6ft 7in and 290 lbs! What a Beast! The Texans, sporting their all red uni's, pummeled the Broncos and kept their bleak playoff hopes alive. Oh, and Andre Johnson is the most under rated receiver in the NFL.

The Mitchel Report

Some might refer to Dec 13, 2007 as the saddest day in baseball. Yeah, it's sad when dominant athletes use performance enhancing drugs to extend their Hall of Fame careers. What exactly does the Mitchell report prove or tell us. All of us know we were witnessing the steroid era in baseball. We didn't need a 409 page report costing somewhere between $24-$60 million. About the only thing we got was Roger Clemens cheated and Barry Bonds has a new buddy on that lonely mountain. Both these were well on their way to the Hall of Fame. Both were the most dominate players at their positions. Both will have trouble ever getting into the Hall of Fame. For Bonds, it was always obvious.
He didn't want to be left behind and after watching McGwire and Sosa peek and have all the stardom, Bonds needed that edge. For Clemens, how else do you explain a 40 year old going through his work out regime. What both these players have in common is their big heads (literally). Both wanted to be the best, like most athletes, and both could accept the near end of their spectacular careers.
However, I think the Mitchell report is completely accurate. The Report basically names everyone involved in the Balco scandal, no big surprises there. And then Mitchell was fortunate enough to get, what Peter Gammons refers to as "Sewer Rats." Brian McNamee and Kirk Rodomski could go down as the Sacco and Vancetti of the baseball. I find it funny how the report names 22 Yankees and 17 Mets. McGwire and Sosa weren't even mentioned in the report? How many players were left off? What if Mitchell didn't corner McNamee and Rodomski? He'd have nothing but BalCo.
Clemens showing up on the report explains a lot about the whole bat throwing incident at Mike Piazza in the 2000 Subway Series. What about that Subway Series as a whole now? Doesn't seem so glamorous. At the same time, there were many other players on other teams doing the same thing.

So what to do with this era. It's a crying shame that this happened to be the era of baseball that most of us grew up with. Looking up to all these players as role models and superstars, collecting all there baseball cards and now we're made to believe these guys were all cheaters. I don't think this is the darkest day in baseball. It's a great day for the game. What this report does tell the players is, "Hey, we're watching you. We know what you're doing and your not gonna get away with this." OK, so most, if not all, of these players will not be punished, but the players have the hardest of all to tell their families, their kids they cheated. These players will have to face future consequences these illegal drugs will have on their bodies and health.
The hardest thing for us, the fans, how we'll look back to this ear and how we will explain this difficult time to our kids, the next generation of players and fans. Yeah, Barry Bonds was a dominating player and once the all time homerun king, but he cheated, he went to jail, his life was cut short.
I love how Jose Canseco is still trying to get all the publicity. Showing up to the New York Hotel for the press conference and then not being let in. Hilarious! Then, on Larry King trying to publish a new book and then saying he can't believe Alex Rodriquez was not mentioned in the report.
View the full Mitchell Report:
http://files.mlb.com/summary.pdf
What about for the Houston Astros? Both Clemens and Andy Pettite called Houston home. And just on Wednesday, the Astros traded five players for Miguel Tejada. Funny how the Astros' home, Minute Maid Park, is also know as "The JuiceBox."

Broncos/Texans

The Donkeys/Texans game at first look, doesn't look so attractive. Two teams fighting for their playoffs. The loser, their season is over. However, Texans Head Coach Gary Kubiak will face his former team. With Kubiak being a former player and coach; and Broncos' Head Coach Mike Shanahan's son, Kyle Shanahan, the current QB Coach with the Texans, the game does offer a somewhat intriguing storyline.



This game is pretty much a toss up, but since it is an NFL game and on prime time. You gotta bet right. I would take the home team (Texans +2). Too hard to bet against the home team getting points on prime time.
Posted by Tree's Trunk at 5:10 PM 0 comments

Tebow: Heisman, Babes & Chuck Norris?

Now that Tim Tebow has another accomplishment no one else can claim (only college football player in the 20-20 club, 1st ever sophmore to win the Heisman)the stud now has the praise of Chuck Norris. Chuck (Who wins between Superman and The Flash in a race around the world? Chuck Norris) Norris!!! The guy is public enemy no. 1 in the SEC, but he also the biggest stud on the hottest campus in the country. If you've ever been to Gainesville or watched a Gator's game on TV and saw the crowd shots, you know what I'm getting at here. UF is home to some of the most hottest babes in the country. And the quantity is ridiculous! Could you imagine being in his shoes!! The only question remaining? Hey Playboy Magazine! What are you waiting for? Let's get this popular coed hottie in the centerfold. Everyone's drooled over her picture. Maybe you're wating for next year's College Football Kickoff Preview. What a great idea!!

The Legend Continues to Grow?

Yeah, I know Tony Romo (Eastern Illinois) is making his case for one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. He already has an incredible bed post. When a QB gets multiple chances to win a game, let's not swing to hard. Last Sunday's Cowboys/Lions game is just the case. I know what everyone saw and heard about the Cowboy's great come from behind win against the Lions was "the Legend of Tony Romo" continuing to grow. First off, the reliable Jason Hansen missed a 35 yard field goal in the 4th quarter which would have put the Lions up 9 points and therefore never giving Romo a final chance. Yeah, Jason Witten fumbled the ball at the one yard line that would have put the 'Boys up. However, on the Cowboy's winning touchdown drive, Romo was pressured from behind (by the Lions' defense, can you believe it!) and fumbled the ball forward. The loose ball bounced right into a Lions' linebackers hands, and instead of falling on the ball, the linebacker coughed it right back up to the Cowboys. Romo was also fortunate enough to convert on a 4th and 6. I say fortunate because Romo was facing the 31st ranked defense in the NFL. This is the same defense that allowed TE Jason Witten a career day. Coming into the final drive, Witten had already 11 receptions. You would think by now Detroit's defense would have adjusted and maybe stuck a linebacker on Witten every play. NO! Witten catches 4 more passes including the winning TD reception on this final drive. Did Tony Romo win the game against one of the worst defenses in the NFL? Or did Detroit give the game away with their own miscues? Given multiple chances to win a game, just about any QB form Eli Manning to Cleo Lemon (OK, maybe not Cleo Lemon) will make you pay for your mistake. It just gets a little old and cliche when an announcer applauds the courage and skill of a QB and neglects to point out the second chances and bonehead plays by the opposing team. Two weeks ago, Tom Brady was even more fortunate against the Ravens recieving 3 mulligans on his "winning drive."