Paris Hilton has paid more dues than Lane Kiffin.

Laughed out loud reading this...

If you, like me, thought Pete Carroll leaving in the fashion that he did, and what it will mean for the program he left behind was low class.

Wait until you hear what Lane effing Kiffin has done to Tennessee

Once again, man am I glad I cheer for This Guy...


Adding...

You know how I feel about ESPN. Surprisingly, they have come down pretty hard on this. You can read Pat Forde linked above as well as This, This and This

Good for you, ESPN for not pulling any punches on this one. I read that the scene in the UT locker room when Kiffin announced to his former players that he was leaving for greener pastures was borderline violent. So UT players have been arrested for armed robbery this year, they have acted like idiots under Kiffin, and when they have the chance to actually exhibit violent behavior in a way that I would condone, cooler heads prevailed. I would have loved it if Lane had to show up for his USC press conference with a black eye from one of his players.

Face it Lane, you had it coming.

Adding More...

If the above interestes you at all...check This out

Adding More, More...

My student teaching hand book tells me to review my personal website and edit the content to make it professional. Most of the content on here is nothing I wouldn't say at work or to co-workers. And NONE of it is any worse than what is uttered by my students on a daily basis. That being said, I was mostly kidding when I said the students would have been justified in punching Lane Kiffin in the face.

I will try to be more conscious of this going forward. I would hate to stop writing here completely for the duration of my student teaching, and if I am hired to teach in the future. And I don't want to go back and edit what I have said in the past.

This is going to require some deep thinking on my part.

Labeling, Done

So I am done. I have labeled all 616 (and counting) posts that I have made in the last three years.

Clearly, I have talked about politics way too much. I blame the election.

Going forward, I think it is safe to say that politics will have a much more equal distribution with sports, family, movies, music, books, technology, my phone etc, etc...

I am excited about the changes to The Head and how I can incorporate what I do on a day to day basis with this space.

As I am typing this, ESPN Sports Center is on in the background and I am forced to listen to Mark McGuire tell, and retell what he did and did not do, and why he is the victim, and how hard this has all been for him.

Pardon me Mark, if I don't shed any tears for you. Your neck looks like that of a rooster.

You were a marginal player with a ton of "natural" power. Prove to me that you were not on something when you were hitting bombs in college...

Your career was defined by what outside substances did for your ability to hit for power and keep your breaking down body on the field.

Nothing you, or Tony La Russa says is going to get me to feel even the slightest bit of sympathy for you.

I hate what this has all done to my sport. Thank god no one in the NFL or College Football takes anything illegal...

College Football Playoff

So I meant to write about this last week when I saw it, but it slipped my mind.

I think if you are reading this you know how I feel about the BCS and the B.S. that it is.

So I stumbled across this article, written by Bill Hancock who is the executive director the the BCS.

He starts his Opus by stating that: "Perhaps the best reason for supporting the BCS can be summed up in three words: every game counts."

It is at this point that I have to decide, do I label this post under "Comedy" as well as "College Football"

The best part of the article is the comments at the end (one thing I love about HuffPost). One commenter wins the prize for best comment when they said "In what week of the regular season playoff was Boise St. eliminated, Mr. Hancock?"

Then I stumbled across this... which states about as clearly as anything I have read, how a playoff would work, and why it is necessary.

Until that day, we will have to continue to watch the games that are played, at least until Colt McCoy is hurt and I fall asleep...wait, what? You mean Texas got it within 3 points in the second half? Damn you old age...

Pete Carroll

So, I have never been a huge fan of Pete Carroll. First there was this then there was this, neither of which were a huge deal.

That being said, now there is this...

I agree completely with this post. As soon as I heard that Carroll was leaving USC for the Sea Hawks I knew something was up. I have no doubt that this was the reason for his hasty departure.

It's times like these that I am thrilled I cheer for Joe

There are so many problems with the current system in college football, I don't even know where to begin to fix them.

Playoffs and Stuff...

College Football needs a playoff and everyone knows it.

I have boiled the arguments down to this point. BCS defenders, those who cling to an antiquated bowl system state that if a playoff were put into place that it would diminish the importance of the most exciting regular season in sports.

In response to that line of thinking I say only this:

The current system, while creating an "exciting" regular season (a point I would and have argued) creates a meaningless post-season for anyone who is not SELECTED (these teams are picked based on money, make no mistake about it) to play in the National Championship game.

If you were not a fan of TCU or Boise State, or Iowa or Georgia Tech, or Penn State or LSU, none of these games MEANT ANYTHING. They may have been fun to watch, if you are simply a football fan, but there was literally nothing on the line aside from a corporate sponsored glass statue and a MEGA BONUS for both teams athletic departments.

The post season in college football is meaningless, regardless of how "exciting" the regular season is.

I am a change guy. I think, like the Baboon in the Lion King, that change is good, but it isn't easy.

In a universe where I was god, there would be a massive realignment of conferences, schedules, rankings and the post season.

The symmetry of the NFL is one of it's best characteristics. 32 teams, 2 conferences, 8 divisions.

Break up the conferences and realign them so they are balanced. Each conference (Big East, ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, and two smaller conferences such as Mountain West or MAC) consists of 12 teams, two divisions, with a championship game in November. 8 automatic bids into a playoff, allow for some at-large bids for surprise teams. That we are arguing over who the 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th best teams in the country are, not 1 or 2.

Force teams to play better competition out of conference. Penn State has no business playing Temple, Akron, Coastal Carolina ect. Or at least no more than one of these types of teams.

This system is so broken that the fixes would have to be monumental to fix what is wrong.

And with that being said, enough of the "Big Ten sux" talk.

Ohio State over Oregon
Penn State over LSU
Iowa over Georgia Tech
Wisconsin over Miami
Northwestern ALMOST beat Auburn


That means wins (and almost wins) over very good teams from the Pac-10, SEC, and ACC.

Has the Big Ten gotten embarrassed in recent years? (and yes, that includes Penn State getting stomped in last year's Rose Bowl)...Absolutely.

Are we as a conference as bad as the national media would make us out to be? No nearly.

Keep in mind this was a down year for Ohio State, whose defense was almost completely rebuilt this year, as well as Penn State who had five new starters on the O-line, and Michigan who is still getting used to Rich-Rod's system.

Very exciting stuff for Big Ten football fans...now if only we can add that 12th team, and a championship game...

My Heisman Choice

The Major League baseball writers got it right this year.

They ignored arcane ways of chosing the major awards winners, chosing instead to look at actual stats to decide who was most deserving. In years past, we would have had the leader in wins in both leagues honored with the Cy Young, because in the past, if you won games, you were the best pitcher, because sports are about winning.

This year the writers decided maybe that isn't the best way to decide who is the best. Considering even in the National League, where pitchers hit, they have almost zero impact on the number of runs their team scores, and if their team doesn't score, they cannot win.

Wins are a borderline meaningless stat in judging the effectivness of a pitcher, a fact that it would appear the writers realized this year.

The problem is, as the BCS has shown, College Football is way behind the times.

There have been drastic changes that have taken place in recent years in College Football, and no factor has had a larger impact that the widespread broadcasting of games on Cable.

If you are determined, you can find virtually every game on TV on any given Saturday. This has been a major cause for recent success of smaller programs in Florida, Texas and Califorina to name a few. Why would a kid choose to go to College in Indiana, or Iowa, when they can play for South Floria and play in SOUTH FLORIDA, getting the same amount of major coverage, and having an equal opportunity to play at the next level (The Dallas Cowboys best defensive player went to Troy).

Because of this, we have greater access to players who are having HEISMAN type seasons that may have flown under the radar in the past.

This year, the two best players in the country were Stanford's Toby Gerhart and Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh.

But neither of them plays for Florida, or Texas, or Alabama, so neither of them will walk out of NYC with the hardware tomorrow night. Even if they deserve it more.

The Heisman voters need to do what the Baseball Writers have, and catch up with the times. Award the most deserving player, not the guy who plays for the best team.

VOTE FOR SUH



This is my guy.

Please Tampa Bay, Draft this dude.

Really Quickly

I just listened to the Director of the BCS on the Scott Van Pelt show on ESPN Radio

Both Scott and his co-host Ryen are all for a playoff, and they pulled no punches with their questions for the BCS douche.

I was happy to see that all of his reasons for why the BCS is the greatest thing ever were exactly what I cited Here...

He had the "It will ruin the most exciting regular season in sports" excuse

He had the "We talk to the commishoners of the conferences and this is what they want" excuse"

He had the "No system is perfect but this what we have" excuse

I have two points in response...

a.) How effing exciting was it knowing for the last 3 months that if Texas won out they played the winner of Alabama/Floria in the National Championship game.

b.) Why don't you ask Boise State, or Cincinnati, or TCU how exciting their regular seasons were, because they could have sent out the god dammned JV team the last 6 weeks for all the difference it made in their ability to control their own destiny and play meaningful games in November and January.

This system is a joke, and the morons who cling to it, continuing to parrot the same b.s. excuses for why this is what we have and there is nothing we can do about it can blow me.

How do I explain to my child in 30 years when someone finally wises up and allows teams to Play Out who is the best in the country "well Avi, you see, back in 2009, we thought it would be better to maintain an arcane, nonsensicle bowl system because of the nostalgia of it, than to do what made sense (AND MONEY) for everyone"

I'm in a foul mood.

Heisman Candidates Announced

Last night the Heisman trophy candidates were announced. There are some familiar names, as the ESPN headline reminds us.

It would be safe to assume that I think that Timmy is the least deserving candidate for this year's trophy.

I love Colt McCoy and Mark Ingram, but I do not think either of them are the best player in the country...

My vote (as if anyone would care) would go to either Toby Gerhart:



or Ndamukong Suh:



who I also hope is the first pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next April.

Of course I will be watching Saturday. Any chance to see Gods Chosen Quarterback© cry is a win for me.

BCS, B.S

One nice thing about the continued existence of the BCS is that there is a ton of new images that I can use for my yearly "The BCS Sucks" post.

This time a year ago I wrote This which stated in no uncertain terms my hatred of the system that we have.

This year is no different. In a way, this year is worse.

Defenders of the BCS will state that it has accomplished its ultimate goal of pitting #1 vs #2 in a battle that will end all battles. In this sense, yes they succeeded.

But in their success, we see the failure of this system, the short comings that define why we need a playoff.

Are #1 and #2 playing each other, yes. But are the two best teams in the country playing each other, I do not know.

The BCS claims that if we had a playoff, the "most exciting regular season in sports" would be ruined (Roo-eeend of course). I say bullshit. I say this year's regular season was boring, we knew 5 weeks ago that if Texas won out they would be playing either Alabama or Florida in the National Championship Game. There has been zero drama (until Saturday when both Pitt and Nebraska threatened to throw the whole thing into chaos).

Really, the regular season means nothing, because if you are not one of the anointed teams, one of the chosen few who if you win, you go, you are going to be left on the outside looking in.

TCU, Boise State and Cincinnati might as well have not played a game this year, because winning all of them meant nothing. It meant NOTHING. And what if Texas looks like it did Saturday (which was terrible) but squeaks out a win over Alabama. And TCU crushes their opponent in their game. What then? Is Texas the National Champion because a computer says so, or does TCU, or Boise State, or Cincinnati deserve a share?

The system is a joke and it does not work. I am thrilled that Penn State did not go 11-0 this year, because you can bet your ass if they had, I would be screaming my effing head off for the next month about how we got screwed, because there is no way they would be playing Alabama instead of Texas.

We need an 8 team playoff. It simply has to happen. Thank good I am not the only one who thinks so

I enjoyed this season. I am disappointed that PSU (I am looking at you Daryll Clark) crumbled under the national spotlight.

I am looking forward to New Years Day, Penn State plays LSU (yes Kate, LSU) in the Capital One Bowl (so at least I know where all my money goes with those insane interest rates). I am also excited for the Rose Bowl, which is traditionally my favorite bowl (my second favorite Civil Engineer...sorry, random movie quote) and watching Oregon complete their comeback from their opening Thursday night embarrassment at the hands of Boise, you remember this one for this:





I will be looking for Oregon to embarrass Ohio State in yet another BCS meltdown for the sweater vest.

Because everyone knows, if there is one thing I hate...It's Ohio State.

I am happy for Oregon, and I really hope that LaGarett Blount has turned his life around.

And yes, I realize the irony of my loving Penn State in part because they have remained true to their very boring, very traditional uniforms. While at the same time, loving Oregon, whose uniform changes are borderline schizophrenic.

The next few weeks will be interesting. No doubt about it.

Colt McCoy wins the Heisman, even though Mark Ingram and Toby Gerhart are more deserving.

The Golden Boy

It is no secret that I hate Jimmy Clausen. I think he is a whinny little prick. I have thought he was overrated and overhyped from the day his spiked head stepped out of the Hummer strech limo on national television to announce that he was going to save Notre Dame from the doldrums of Division I futility.

In three years he has done nothing of the sort. ND has lost big game after big game, but somehow, because they are Notre Dame, and people grew up watching their dads watching Notre Dame, they remain in the national spot-light, every year.

Following Saturday's thrilling last second victory, the conversation was not about Stanford and their Heisman Trophy candidate running back Toby Gerhart...



What was left out of this highlight was Gerhart absolutly Beasting the saftey for Notre Dame that left the young golden domer searching the field for his displaced dignity.

I enjoy few things more in sports than watching Notre Dame suffer. This was awesome.

That black eye is symbolic of all the unfufilled promises of Jimmy Clausen's tenure with the Irish.

Here We Go Again