How March It Is

Championship Week is a great week.  Winter is finally over and you finally have meaningful college basketball games.  The Ohio Valley Conference led off the championship games and it was really exciting.  I wish I had picked this year to do a running diary of that game.  But much of Championship Week didn't go my way.  Let's review:

Ivy League- I wanted Yale to win because they haven't been in the tournament since 1962 and Harvard has been in the last few years.  Yale beat Harvard and had a chance to clinch the next night against Dartmouth, but they lost a heartbreaker and then they lost yesterday in the tiebreaker against Harvard.

MAAC- I was rooting for Iona against Manhattan because Manhattan made it last year.  Manhattan won, but at least they're also a Catholic school.

CAA- I was rooting for Hofstra so that we'd have a local team in the tournament.  Hofstra hasn't made it since 2001.  They led William and Mary by two in the second overtime of the semifinals, but lost on a three with 0.8 left.  Then I jumped on the William and Mary bandwagon.  They're one of five teams that's been in Division I since the tournament was created that's never made it.  And Lou Holtz coached there.  They lost to Northeastern in the final.

NEC- St. Francis in Brooklyn is another one of the five teams that's been around since the tournament started that's never made it (Northwestern, Army, and the Citadel are the three others).  After defeating the other St. Francis in the semifinals, they lost the championship game at home against Robert Morris.

Southern Conference- Furman had a chance to set the record for most losses by a team that made the tournament.  They were the 10 seed in a 10-team tournament.  They got to the championship game, but lost to the 1 seed (Wofford) by three.

America East- My former school, Stony Brook, was in the championship game for the fourth time in five years.  They've never won it.  I didn't see any of it because I was in the city all day yesterday, but they lost a heartbreaker on a Robert Horry against the Kings-esque three with 1.6 seconds left.  By the way, I have no loyalty to Stony Brook at all, I just wanted the local team in the tournament (I doubt Suffolk County has ever had a tournament team).

Atlantic 10- I'll cover this more later, but I went to the semifinals with my brother Tom, an alum of George Washington.  George Washington led much of their quarterfinal game against Rhode Island, but they let it slip away at the end.

Big East- Again, I'll deal with this in much greater detail in another post, but I was still disappointed.  I went to five of the nine games.  Last year, I went to seven of the nine games.  So that's 12 out of 18 games over two years.  And I haven't seen St. John's.  The Big East has five teams that will bring fans to Madison Square Garden.  Xavier, Marquette, Creighton, DePaul, and Butler don't have the history in the Big East and they're just too far away.  St. John's is the home team.  I want the Garden to be excited for Villanova, Georgetown, Providence, and Seton Hall, but nobody is going to get the Garden as excited as St. John's.  And theyre 0-2 the last two years with both losses coming on Thursday afternoon.  Thanks, St. John's.

So yeah, things weren't going my way.  Except for the ACC Tournament.  I saw very little of the ACC Tournament since I was at the Big East Tournament the last three nights.  I didn't watch Notre Dame's win over Miami at all.  I really didn't expect to win against Duke on Friday night.  I thought of the Lou Holtz quote before a game against Miami, "God is neutral.  He doesn't care who wins, but His mother does."  Only I thought, "God is neutral, but ACC referees in the state of North Carolina are not."  I watched a little bit of it on my phone at Madison Square Garden and then I followed the rest on the train home.  Last night, the Big East Championship Game wasn't very good.  So I watched a lot of the first half on my phone.  We looked good and went into halftime with a nice lead (I think it was five) after a Steve Vasturia three to end the half.  I couldn't get the game to play on my phone in the second half.  By the time the Big East game ended, it looked like we were letting things slip away.  North Carolina had the lead.  I figured I'd just pay attention to the score on my phone on the train home.  There was one that was about to leave right as I got to Penn Station.  I checked my phone again and suddenly we had taken the lead.  I had to find a place to watch.  I found a crappy bar in the corner of the Long Island Railroad area at Penn Station, ordered a Guinness, and watched the last six minutes or so.  It was wonderful.  If you gave me a choice between Notre Dame winning the ACC and every other conference tournament going my way, I'm picking Notre Dame without a second thought.  So it was a good Championship Week.

It tasted like sweet victory.

I think it's our most important basketball win of my lifetime.  Winning the ACC is an accomplishment.  It's an even bigger accomplishment when you have to go through Duke and North Carolina in the state of North Carolina.  It wasn't the most fun win I can think of (beating Louisville in five overtimes and beating Syracuse when they were number 1 come to mind), but it was important.  I can't think of any NCAA Tournament wins that were more important (we've only made the Sweet 16 twice in my life and never the Elite 8).  And yet, it means that we're six wins away from a National Championship.  If we had lost our first ACC Tournament game against Miami, it would have meant that we were six wins away from a National Championship.  So winning the ACC was an accomplishment, but I'd like to see us accomplish greater things.

I'll have more on the tournament later, but let me just complain about our 3 seed.  Gonzaga is seeded ahead of us only because they have three fewer losses than us.  They were 1-1 against RPI top 35 teams.  We were 6-3 against RPI top 25 teams.  Kansas is ahead of us because they played a much harder schedule.  They have three more losses than we do.  There's no logic in that.  One of those two teams can be ahead of us, but how can both be ahead of us?  I think Kansas should be ahead of us, but not Gonzaga.  If we played Kansas's schedule, we'd probably have at least eight losses too.  If Gonzaga played our schedule, they'd probably have more than five losses.

And Wisconsin is a 1 seed.  Their record against the RPI top 20 this season:  1-2 (the beat number 19 Oklahoma).  Let them play five games against Duke and North Carolina and let's see what happens.  Whatever, Jake Taylor knows what we need to do.  Go Irish!

God, Country, Notre Dame: Father Hesburgh, Rest in Peace

Today was a rough day.  I found out from Louis Nix's Instagram account that Father Hesburgh died last night.  For chaperoning the 8th grade dance at my school last night, I was allowed to dress down.  I wasn't planning on wearing Notre Dame stuff today (insert joke here about how I don't have any other clothes), but I had to after learning that news.  Father Hesburgh was a great man.  He was Notre Dame's president for 35 years, he worked for nine presidents and four popes, he worked with Mother Teresa, and he marched with Martin Luther King, Jr.

At 97 years old, this wasn't a shock, but I was really sad about it.  I had work to get done today and I didn't do any of it.  I'm okay with that.  I got to school and started reading stories and watching videos about him.  I showed all of my classes two videos that totaled about 10 minutes about him (he's one of the most historically significant priests in American history and I teach social studies at a Catholic school, it's relevant).

I also thought about my memories of him.  I saw him speak at least twice.  I remember once hearing him speak in a big auditorium and once I got to see him in a smaller group (I think it was for one of my classes).  I probably shook his hand and said hello, but I never had a long conversation with him or anything.  Dennis thinks we took a picture with him at some point.  I don't remember that, but it would have been nine or ten years ago, so it's possible.  I wish I had that picture if it happened.  I can't say that I remember a lot of what I heard Father Hesburgh say, but there is one thing that I do remember.  Somebody asked him what his favorite prayer was.  He said it was just "Come Holy Spirit."  I also think I once got a haircut right after him.  I think it was the end of the spring semester which is close to his birthday (May 25) and he was saying something to the barber about how your 89th birthday means that you're starting the 90th year of your life.  He wasn't in good condition physically (he had lost most of his sight and he couldn't move around too well), but he remained mentally sharp.

The man is a legend at Notre Dame.  It felt like if he lived this long, he wasn't going anywhere.  And now he's gone.  He's without a doubt one of the greatest men that I've ever met.  As I thought about it more during the day today, I became sadder.  I'll admit it, I shed some tears.  But really, it shouldn't be a sad day.  He was called home after living a great life.  We should celebrate all that he accomplished in life.

Just now I had the thought that I feel kind of like how I felt ten years ago when St. John Paul the Great died.  John Paul II was the pope for the first 21 years of my life.  Everything I knew about Catholicism, I learned during his papacy.  I was really sad when he died, but it was his time.  Father Hesburgh made Notre Dame into the university that it is today.  He was advised by other academics to allow women in and get rid of the football team.  He made the right decision in both cases.  I guess what saddens me is that future students won't have the opportunity that I had to hear him tell all his stories in person.

I always have a quote of the week in my classroom.  I use my favorite one from Father Hesburgh the week of his birthday, but now I've moved it up to next week:  "My basic principle is that you don't make decisions because they are easy; you don't make them because they are cheap; you don't make them because they're popular; you make them because they're right."  Here's another good one:  "Notre Dame has football.  Texas has oil.  Neither should apologize."

Thank you Father Hesburgh for making Notre Dame, the country, and the world a better place.  Rest in peace.  Come Holy Spirit.

Good Bye Nassau Coliseum

I've been meaning to go to an Islander game ever since it was announced that they were moving to Brooklyn.  This year was my last chance.  So last Tuesday, I finally got back to Nassau Coliseum, the worst arena/stadium in major North American professional sports.

It got me thinking about how many times I've been in attendance for each of the four big sports.  I know I've been to exactly one NFL game in my entire life.  I remembered the Jets beating the Panthers and Keyshawn Johnson running for a touchdown.  There's a lot that I didn't remember though.  The Jets scored 48 points.  Curtis Martin ran for a 60 yard touchdown.  The Panthers started a Notre Dame quarterback (of course, I had no connection to Notre Dame at the time).  There was a failed two-point conversion attempt.  There was a safety.  And the Jets had a fullback who had 10 carries.  Although I've only been to one NFL game, I've been to 39 Notre Dame games in the last ten seasons (they're 28-11).

I don't really know how many NBA games I've been to.  I know I've been to one in Boston (the Celtics lost to a terrible Nets team and I thought they were going nowhere, but they ended up getting to Game 7 of the NBA Finals), two in Brooklyn, and several at Madison Square Garden.  I think I went to one Celtics-Knicks games every year from 2008 to either 2011 or 2012.  And I remember at least three other games at Madison Square Garden.  So that's at least 10 NBA regular season games.  I have no idea how many college games I've been to.  I didn't go to a ton of games when I was in college, but I've gone to a lot since then.  Most of the games I've gone to since college have been double headers.  Last year I was there for seven of the nine Big East Tournament games.  I've been to four NCAA Tournament games.  My guess is I've been to at least 50 college basketball games in my life.

Of course, I've been to a ton of baseball games.  Over the last ten seasons, I've been to at least 60 games.  My guess is I've been to at least 100 Major League Baseball games.

As for hockey, only been to two Ranger games (a tie and a win).  I'm not really sure how my Islander games I've been to.  I remember my dad getting tickets through work and taking my brothers and me when I was like six (nobody else remembers this, but I'm pretty sure it happened).  I remember going around the time I was a senior in high school with my brothers and their friend Alex.  Tom's recollection is that the Islanders lost and Alex blamed us for being Ranger fans.  I went to a game with my friend Andy back in 2009.  I had no idea who the Islanders played or what the result was, but I was able to look it up.  Unfortunately, I remembered that I went to that game after watching Notre Dame lose to Navy in 2009.  So it was a 6-3 win for the Islanders against a team that became the Winnipeg Jets.  There's a chance I went to another Islander game or two that I don't remember, but that might be it.

I do have other Nassau Coliseum experience.  Tom remembered going to a Knicks preseason game there when he was in ninth grade (which would put me in third grade).  I think there might have been more than one Knicks preseason game.  I also remember going to the NBA Summer League with my dad in 1996.  I remember being excited about Nate Driggers because he lit it up for the Celtics in a summer league game (he scored 36 points in his 15-game NBA career).  The crowds for those games were really small.  There were coaches and other NBA people there and kids would go up to them and get autographs.  I remember getting Jeff Van Gundy's autograph.  My dad remembers me getting M.L. Carr's autograph.  I didn't remember that, probably because I've tried to erase any memory of M.L. Carr being the Celtics' coach (he was replaced by that scumbag Rick Pitino, so things didn't get much better).

So I went to the Oilers-Islanders game last Tuesday.  It's crazy to me that these were the two best franchises of the 1980s.  Andy picked me up from school because I was coaching a basketball game.  We got there a little late, but it was still scoreless when we arrived.  Ryan Hamilton scored first for the Oilers about halfway through the first period.  The Islanders tied it when I was getting a beer (I had a Labatt Blue, I felt like should have a Canadian beer at a hockey game).  The Islanders were outplaying the Oilers for most of the first 35 minutes or so and they took a 2-1 lead (with Notre Dame alum Anders Lee assisting on the second goal), but the Oilers tied it late in the second period.  The Oilers outplayed the Islanders for most of the third period, but Casey Cizikas scored the game-winning goal for the Islanders with less than five minutes to play.

The start of the second period

A panoramic shot

I have a couple of final thoughts.  Hockey is so much better in person than on TV.  The movement of the players and the puck looks so much more graceful in person.  It's also a great sounding game.  You really hear the skates, the puck, and the sticks when you're there in person.  Nassau Coliseum is very unusual in that there's only one concourse.  Even if you're sitting up high, you enter the seating area from ground level.  The only problem with that is that the concourse is not very wide.  At the end of the game, we walked around the concourse to the other side of the arena because it was really cold outside and we wanted to stay inside for as long as possible.  But it was so crowded that movement was pretty difficult.  And the scoreboard was so outdated.  When I watched replays on it, it was like watching a hockey game from the 1990s.  So yeah, I won't miss Nassau Coliseum, but I'm glad I got to one last game there.  If ticket prices aren't ridiculous, I'll try to get to a game at Barclays Center next year to compare.

This picture doesn't even do justice to how crappy that scoreboard is.

Happy Washington's Birthday!

Nightmare Super Bowl

Where are Eli Manning and Justin Tuck when I need them?

A year and a half ago, I wrote my Sports Hate Power Rankings.  As I noted in a comment, the Seahawks were a glaring omission.  I said they should be inserted at number 7.  Well, the Heat were at number 6 and that was mostly because of LeBron James.  So I'd move them way down the list now, which puts the Seahawks at number 6 and the Patriots at number 5.  These are my two least favorite NFL teams and now they're playing each other in the Super Bowl.

If there was ever going to be a Super Bowl that I wouldn't watch, this would be it.  I just like football too much, though.  So I will watch, but I won't be happy about either result.  I compared this possibility to a Knicks-Lakers NBA Finals.  But even though they are my two least favorite teams in the NBA, it's not a good comparison.  I would root for the Knicks without a second thought.  I hate the Seahawks and the Patriots almost equally.  The only good thing is that one of these teams is going to lose the Super Bowl.

So why do I hate these teams so much?  Let's start with the Seahawks.  Pete Carroll, Pete Carroll, Pete Carroll, Richard Sherman, and Pete Carroll.  If I did a Sports Hate Power Rankings for people, Pete Carroll wouldn't be number 1 (Barry Bonds), but he'd probably be number 1 out of football people.  Pete Carroll coached the Jets to a 6-10 record (last place) in 1994.  He was fired after one year and replaced by Rich Kotite (that worked out well).  After a couple other NFL stops (including stop as head coach of the Patriots), he went to USC.  He built his team on cheating.  The 2005 Notre Dame-USC game was the most exciting sporting event I've ever attended in person.  Notre Dame lost that game because of USC using a professional athlete.  Reggie Bush was by far the best player on the field, but he was not eligible to play in that game.  Then Pete Carroll went to the Seahawks (because he wanted to escape USC before the punishment came down) and built a team on performance enhancing drugs.  So he's been had four different college/NFL head coaching jobs.  He got fired at his first two jobs, and then he discovered cheating.

For the Patriots, it's Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.  By all accounts, Tom Brady is a good guy.  However, he went to Michigan.  If he had only won one Super Bowl to this point, I'd probably root for the Patriots.  But I really don't want Tom Brady to tie Joe Montana with four Super Bowl wins.  I'll always appreciate what Eli Manning and Justin Tuck did in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI.  Now Tom Brady has another chance to win his fourth Super Bowl and a cheating scumbag is my only hope for preventing it.  Speaking of cheating scumbags, Bill Belichick hasn't won a Super Bowl since Eric Mangini exposed his cheating in 2007.  I'd like to keep it that way.  Belichick was also named head coach by the Jets and never coached a game for them.  And the Jets were the team that unleashed Tom Brady on the NFL.  Brady was going to be good no matter what, but his career would have been much different if Mo Lewis didn't knock out Drew Bledsoe in 2001 (Brady wouldn't have won Super Bowl XXXVI that season, no way to know what happens after that).

The other thing that makes this miserable is that both of these teams should have lost already.  How did the Packers lose yesterday?  If Notre Dame ever made it to the semifinals and lost like that, I don't think I'd be able to leave my house for a month.  I was on the phone with my brother Sean early in the game and I said I hated kicking the field goals (especially the first one when they were inside the one, they were a little farther out the second time).  Maybe they wouldn't have scored a touchdown, but you have to try to get a foot and a half for four extra points.  Even if you don't get it, the Seahawks would have been pinned inside their own one.  And the Ravens should have beaten the Patriots last week.  The Patriots did a great job to come back, but the Ravens have to put them game away when you're up by 14 two different times.

So we have two teams that I have reason to hate both as a Notre Dame alum and as a Jet fan.  The Seahawks have no Notre Dame players (at least they had Golden Tate last year) and the Patriots have two (Darius Fleming and Jonas Gray).  If the guys on the Patriots were major contributors, then that might be a reason to root for them.  But I'm rooting for the Seahawks (really just rooting against the Patriots more than against the Seahawks) for a couple of reasons.  First, the Patriots have a coach and a quarterback I despise and the Seahawks only have a coach that I despise.  I have no issue with Russell Wilson.  And second, go back to the Sports Hate Power Rankings.  Michigan was number 1.  I can't root for a Michigan guy to tie Joe Montana with four Super Bowl wins.

So Pete Carroll is a cheating scumbag, but I have to root for him against another cheating scumbag.  I guess the best possible outcome would be that a huge scandal surfaces that forces Carroll to resign before the game and then the Seahawks win without him.  That would be something I could enjoy.

The misery of winter that usually kicks in after the Super Bowl has started two weeks early for me.  I just can't wait for the Big East Tournament.

The Enemy of My Enemy

Well, I blogged almost all of the New Year's Six.  I might as well finish this off with the Championship Game.  I took a nap so that I'll be able to stay awake for this game.  Let's go:

8:29- The captains come out for the coin toss.

8:30- Oregon wins the toss.  They're taking the ball.  Brian Kelly usually takes the ball for Notre Dame.  Although I did like Charlie Weis's attitude of "Why wouldn't we want the ball," I prefer deferring.  But when you have an offense as good as Oregon's, it probably does make sense to take the ball.

8:31- We have a useless interview with Mark Helfrich by Heather Cox.

8:32- And now for the useless interview with Urban Meyer by Tom Rinaldi.  Seriously, I learned nothing from either of these and I'm completely unsurprised by that.  They should have just hired Gregg Popovich to handle Helfrich's and Meyer's part.

8:33- The game finally starts with a touchback.  8:33 on a Monday night.  This game should be on a Saturday night.  And I wanted painted end zones.  We got them tonight, but they're both black.  Oregon's should be green and yellow and Ohio State's should be red and grey.  How hard is this?  I give up.

8:34- Mariota completes for eight yards on the first play.

8:35- Oregon's running back recovers his own fumble.  Oregon picks up a first down.

8:36- Mariota fumbles.

8:37- The referee finally awards the ball to Ohio State, but this will get overturned.

8:40- The call is overturned.  That took way too long.  By the way, I like Oregon to cover tonight.  Of course, I was way off on the two semifinal games.  But I went 4-0 against the spread in the NFL this past weekend (2-2 in picking actual winners, I figured one road team that wasn't the Panthers would win, but I picked the Ravens).  I'm going to take the Packers and Patriots to win this weekend, but I've got the Colts covering the spread.  Remember, all that 4-0 record last weekend means is that I'm due to be way off.

8:42- Mariota throws for a touchdown on 1st and goal.

8:43- Oregon doesn't go for two and it's 7-0.

8:47- Ohio State runs for two on their first play.

8:48- Jones scrambles and powers past a dude to convert the first third down.

8:50- Jones scrambles, but doesn't get enough for the first down.  It's fourth down.

8:51- Ohio State's Australian punter kicks it away and there's a fair catch.

8:53- ESPNU has the game on with Mike Wilbon, Jay Bilas, and some other people as part of ESPN's Megacast.

8:55- Barry Melrose is eating something.  It's fourth down for Oregon.

8:56- Oregon downs a punt inside the 5.  I'm leaving ESPNU on for a little while.  I don't think Melrose has said anything since I put it on.  It's a little weird with Mark Schlereth with a bunch of non-football guys.

8:59- They're talking about the Dez Bryant non-catch.  My take is that the rule is pretty silly, but it was the right call (I seem to remember Michael Floyd making a catch similar to that against Michigan State that was overturned after taking two steps with the ball in the end zone).  My guess is that the NFL won't change the rule, at least not before next season.

9:00- We have a completion to the 30 on 3rd and 8.

9:01- Now we have a completion into Oregon territory.

9:03- Ohio State goes for it on 4th and 3.  It's close.

9:04- Barry Melrose gives ESPN credit for the first down line.  I'm pretty sure that started with either Fox or CBS on their NFL games.  The line here was accurate and it's a first down for Ohio State.

9:05- Ezekiel Elliott scores.  This whole ESPNU thing is a little weird.  It's a bunch of random dudes and Julie Foudy.

9:07- After a hold on the extra point, it's 7-7.

9:08- It's Wilbon, Bilas, Foudy, Schlereth, Melrose, and I just figured out the last guy is Aaron Boone.  I don't know if he's said anything while I've been watching.

9:11- ESPN Classic has no broadcasters, just stadium sounds.  You can hear the PA guy.  I like it.  I might stay with it, but it's not in HD.  The lesson, as always:  Cablevision is the worst.

9:12- We have a 3rd and long coming up.

9:13- Mariota had a man down the field, but he dropped it.

9:14- Oregon punts.  Ohio State's return man breaks some tackles and takes it into Oregon territory.  There's probably some sort of Oregon Trail analogy that could be made here.

9:16- We have a pass interference in the end zone.

9:17- Elliott takes it to the 1 and then Jones passes to Vannett for the score.

9:18- The extra point makes it 14-7 Ohio State.

9:19- I haven't talked about the uniforms yet.  Why is Oregon wearing grey?  Ohio State should be wearing grey, Oregon shouldn't.  What's wrong with green and yellow?  I think the two-color face mask is really stupid.  Change to a green face mask and get rid of the O on the back of the helmet (pick the O on the sides or the wings, not both) and the helmet would be fine.  The only good thing about Oregon's uniforms is the duck on the sleeves.  Ohio State's uniforms are pretty good, but I don't like the black numbers on the sleeves.  Speaking of uniforms, a Colts-Packers Super Bowl would be a great uniform match up.  Anything involving the other two teams just leaves a lot to be desired.

9:24- Maybe Ohio State does have a chance.  I'm rooting for Oregon.  I don't like Ohio State, but I guess the enemy of my enemy is ... not as much of my enemy as my enemy is.  Or something.

9:26- It's 14-7 after one quarter.

9:27- Joe Montana drew a leprechaun.

9:30- The Internship is on one of the movie channels.  Chetty won't be having a cold one with Vince Vaughn.

9:31- Ohio State botches a hand off and it's recovered by Oregon.  That was definitely Jones's fault.  He was trying to put it back into the Elliott after pulling it away.

9:35- It's 3rd and goal for Oregon.  Mariota runs to the three.

9:36- The running back is stopped at the one.  From three yards out, take the points in that situation.  If you go for it on the one and get stuffed, I'll live with that, but take the points from that far out.

9:41- A big run by Elliott gives Ohio State room to breathe.

9:43- Ohio State completes a pass into the red zone, but they fumble and it's recovered by Oregon.

9:47- Mariota gets sacked and this will be a three and out.

9:48- Ohio State will start in Oregon territory.

9:52- We have a long pass to the six.

9:54- Jones keeps it for a touchdown, but they're reviewing it.

9:55- It's 3rd and goal after Jones was down short of the end zone.

9:56- Jones scores on the sneak and it will be 21-7.

10:00- Fowler mentions the weather.  I just checked the weather on my phone.  It's 38 degrees there, two degrees warmer than it is here.  I still wish the roof was open.

10:01- Holding negates a decent gain for Oregon.  They look terrible right now.

10:03- But now they get a big completion on third down into Ohio State territory.

10:05- Now they pick up a big 3rd and 9 conversion.

10:06- Bad throw on 3rd and 4.

10:07- They kick a field goal and it's 21-10.

10:08- Total yards right now are 307-275 Ohio State.  It doesn't feel that close.

10:13- Three runs by Ohio State, three timeouts by Oregon.  We have 20 seconds left.

10:14- Oregon calls for the fair catch at the 32 with 14 seconds left.

10:15- Oregon tries to run a trick play, but it doesn't go anywhere.  21-10 at halftime.

10:34- Dave Dameshek (host of my favorite NFL podcast) gives the uniform matchup a B-.  I'm calling grade inflation.  It feels like a C- to me.

10:38- I've said this before, but this game needs a better name.  Can we just call it the College Super Bowl?  I know that's not very creative, but we're not doing any better.  We have the World Series, Little League World Series, and College World Series.  We have the Super Bowl and the Pop Warner Super Bowl.  Why not the the College Super Bowl?

10:41- Touchback to start the second half.

10:45- Jones runs to the outside after looking like he was going to sneak it and gets the first down on 4th and 1.  Herbstreit and Fowler think that was by design.  I'm not sure about that.

10:46- Twitter thinks the referee is Bob Newhart.  After he calls a false start, Don Mattingly's nephew picks off a pass that was bobbled.  By the way, Mattingly's nephew was "committed" to Notre Dame at one point.

10:50- One play, 70 yards.  Mariota to Marshall.  Touchdown.

10:51- They're reviewing it to see if he dropped the ball too early.

10:52- It was close, but it's confirmed.  The kick makes it 21-17.

10:57- Jones is stopped short on third down.  They are going to review it.

10:59- The call stands and then Elliot runs for the first down on 4th and 1.

11:00- A Jameis Winston Rose Bowl-like fumble is recovred by Oregon.  They have great field position.

11:02- Ohio State is one turnover away from tying a championship game record.

11:03- Mariota's pass on third down is caught, but the receiver got pushed out of the end zone.

11:04- A field goal makes it 21-20.

11:08- ESPN goes commercial, kickoff, commercial.  That's some great TV right there.  Kramer is starting a Peterman reality bus tour.

11:14- Elliott is good.  He picks up another first down.

11:16- Jones scrambles and powers his way for a first down on third down.

11:17- First and goal after another nice run by Elliott.

11:18- Elliott takes it in.  The kick makes it 28-20 after three.

11:19- Kramer points out Lomez's place of worship.

11:23- Mariota completes on the first play.  He has some pretty good numbers.

11:24- Incomplete pass on 3rd and 10.

11:25- Oregon's defense needs to do something.  Elliott already has 200 yards.

11:31- Ohio State converts a big third down.  Jones had lots of time to throw there.

11:32- Elliott scores another touchdown.

11:33- The kick makes it 35-20 with 9:45 left.

11:34- Kramer's steering wheel fell off.

11:35- Newman wants to return bottles in Michigan.

11:36- Herbstreit talks about Meyer priding himself on special team.  Brian Kelly, on the other hand...

11:37- Holding during the return puts Oregon back at the 10.

11:38- Well, college football is the sport of the fall so I'm going to drink a Sam Adams Octoberfest.  I have a small stockpile (not like what I have with Summer Ale when that season comes to an end).

11:39- Mariota is shaken up.

11:40- Unsportsmanlike conduct on Oregon.  That doesn't help.

11:41- And now we have a false start on 2nd and 22 with the backup in.  An incompletion makes it 3rd and 27.

11:42- Mariota is back and it completes a pass, but it's seven yards short.

11:43- Oregon had their backup quarterback lined up as a punter, but Ohio State calls timeout.  Joe Montana doesn't have a Heisman, but he does have championship rings.

11:46- Oregon punts.  7:40 to play.  I wrote the words "game over" in my notebook.  And we just went punt, commercial, timeout.

11:47- Newman discovers that Mother's Day is the key to unlocking the Michigan bottle deposit scam.

11:51- Jones is stopped a yard short on third down.

11:52- Ohio State takes a delay of game.  I would have gone for it there on 4th and 1.  With 4:23 left, the game is definitely over with a first down.

11:56- Nice throw and catch for Oregon, but there's a holding.

11:57- Third and long coming up.

11:58- The pass is dropped.

11:59- Incomplete on fourth down.

12:00- It's midnight on a Monday night.  Or I guess it's Tuesday now.  And this game isn't over yet.

12:02- Oregon used one timeout, but now they're not calling a second timeout.  Why?  By the way, Mariota wasn't bad.  The rest of his team, however...

12:03- Oregon jumps offisde on fourth down.  It's 1st and goal.

12:06- Elliott scores his 15th touchdown of the game.  Or something like that.  It's 42-20.

12:10- The game is over.  Ohio State wins.  Urban Meyer is a great football coach.  There's one challenge left for him at the college level.  He could stay at Ohio State for a long time and win lots and lots of games and compete for many more championships.  He's done it at Florida and now he's doing it at Ohio State.  That's easy.  If he wants a challenge, it's time for him to start thinking about the job that he said was "still my dream job" in 2008.  Yep, I'm talking about Notre Dame.  Urban Meyer was the wide receivers coach there from 1996-2000.  He might be coaching at Notre Dame now if not for Bob Davie telling him not to take the job.  Yep, it's going to be harder than it was at Florida.  It's going to be harder than it is at Ohio State.  But do you think you're a better coach than Bob Davie?  Um, yes, most Division I college football coaches can reasonably say that.  It certainly takes better than Bob Davie at Notre Dame, but if I'm being honest, Urban is even better than the first head coach he coached under at Notre Dame.  If Lou Holtz could do it, Urban can make Notre Dame a champion again.  If Brian Kelly can't get it done, I hope Urban Meyer is our next coach.  If Kelly can't get it done, it's time for Meyer to fulfill his dream.  Of course, he could have before so I hope Kelly fulfills all Notre Dame fans' dreams.  Less than eight months until we take on Texas.  Go Irish!

Birthday/Quarterback Ramblings

Well, it's my birthday.  Last year, I was dreading my birthday.  This year, I just don't care about turning 31.  I actually forgot about it yesterday until a parent wished me a happy birthday after our basketball game.  If you didn't know, I'm coaching girls basketball this year.  It's the first year our school has had a team and it shows.  We're 0-9.  But we played our best game yesterday.  And all of my best players are 6th or 7th graders except for one 8th grader.  They had played no organized basketball before this year so they had a lot to learn.  We did not get called for a single foul in the first game.  When I told the team that, they thought that was good.  I had to explain that it meant that they're not being aggressive enough.  Yesterday, I had a player get called for four fouls for the first time.  I took her out when she got called for her fourth.  I told her I was going to put her back in, but she couldn't foul again.  Secretly, I was hoping she would foul out (we weren't going to win and it would have been funny), but she managed to play the last four minutes or so without fouling.  So that's how girls basketball is going.  Practices are more fun than games for me, but we haven't had a practice since before Thanksgiving (packed schedule combined with limited gym availability).  I think after the season ends, I'm going to practice with them once a week and try to get them ready for next year.  They don't know basketball, but there are some decent athletes on the team so hopefully next year will be better.

My students were much more excited about my birthday than I was.  They brought in ice cream cake that we had during recess.  I greatly would have preferred this workplace birthday celebration recognition.  I'm totally serious.

Random thought:  I've had enough of winter.  It took until January 7.  I don't mind cold during Christmas (it would be really weird to be in Australia where it's summer for Christmas), but after that it's just annoying.  Summer is easily the best season and winter is its opposite.  I really should just move to southern California.

Famous people I share a birthday with:  Kate Middleton, Richard Nixon, Chad Johnson, Pope Gregory XV, Dick Enberg, Mehmet Ali Agca, Muggsy Bogues, and Joey Lauren Adams.  You probably know my feelings about the royal family so Kate Middleton does nothing for me.  If you know about my interest in history and politics, it might surprise you that I don't have any strong feelings about Richard Nixon.  The Jets beat Chad Johnson (it might have been Ochocinco back then) in the playoffs on our birthday five years ago so that was fun.  I don't know anything about Pope Gregory XV.  I do like Dick Enberg, but it's not like he's my favorite play-by-play guy.  Mehmet Ali Agca is the guy who shot St. John Paul the Great so that's lame (but of course, John Paul II forgave him, he was awesome).  I can't say I was ever a big Muggsy Bogues fan, but I have to respect anybody that was several inches shorter than me (and I'm not tall) who played 14 seasons in the NBA.  And Joey Lauren Adams was in Big Daddy, which was a fantastic movie.

But I left out my favorite famous person that I share a birthday with.  He's the answer to this question:  Which quarterback has the highest career quarterback rating in the postseason?  Surely it must be somebody that's in the NFL today in these pass wacky times, right?  Tom Brady?  Drew Brees?  Peyton Manning?  Aaron Rodgers?  Nope.  Maybe Kurt Warner, he put up some big passing numbers, right?  Close, but no.  Then it has to be like Joe Montana, John, Elway, or Terry Bradshaw, right?  Nope.  It's Bart Starr.  I know quarterback rating is a little bit of a silly stat (Why is 158.3 a perfect rating?), but that says something.  If you look at the all time regular season leaders, seven of the top 8 are still active because it's so much easier to pass today than it was decades ago.  Tony Romo is second at 97.6.  Tony Romo might have had a great season and maybe sometimes he gets criticized too much, but he's nowhere close to the second greatest quarterback of all time.  John Elway ranks 65th all time at 79.9.  John Elway is much much closer to the second greatest quarterback of all time than Tony Romo (some people might even put Elway at 1 or 2 on their lists).  Bart Starr is tied at 56th with the immortal Jeff Hostetler at 80.5.  Chad Pennington, Matt Schaub, Carson Palmer, David Garrard, Andy Dalton, Jay Culter, Brad Johnson, Jason Campbell, and Kyle Orton all rank ahead of Starr.  But Fran Tarkenton, John Elway, Johnny Unitas, Bob Griese, Terry Bradshaw, and Joe Namath all rank behind him.  Bart Starr is also the all time playoff leader in lowest percentage of passes intercepted (1.41%).

It's not like this is due to small sample size.  There weren't as many rounds of playoffs, but the Packers were always there.  Starr went 9-1 in the playoffs.  Among quarterbacks with at least three starts in the playoffs, that's the best winning percentage of all time.  Now, the Packers had the greatest NFL coach of all time and I'm sure that they were loaded in those days, but that's impressive.  Check out his postseason game log.  He completed 61.03% of his passes in the playoffs and had 15 touchdowns and only three interceptions.  Bart Starr won five championships (three NFL championships and two Super Bowls).

Add all that up, and I think Bart Starr is the most underrated quarterback in NFL history.  If you asked football fans who the greatest Packer quarterback of all time, they'd probably say Brett Favre (or maybe Aaron Rodgers).  I think Starr is the best and it's pretty close between Favre and Rodgers for second (I think Rodgers will eventually do enough to pass Favre pretty easily and maybe even enough to pass Starr).  Here are Bart Starr's regular season stats.  Yes, I'm telling you a guy who never threw more than 16 touchdown passes or 2,438 yards is better than a guy who has thrown for more yards than anybody else in NFL history (Manning will pass Favre next year as long as he doesn't retire and stays healthy).  As I already covered, it's a different game today.  Starr led the league in completion percentage, lowest interception percentage, and quarterback rating three times.  He led in yards per attempt twice.  His 1966 season was outstanding (14 touchdowns, 3 interceptions, led the league in completion percentage, lowest interception percentage, yards per attempt, and quarterback rating).

There are all sorts of rankings of quarterbacks that you can find.  The most recent one that I found when I googled it had Favre number 5 and Starr not in the top 10.  I don't know where I'd rank Starr all time (I never saw Unitas or all sorts of other Hall of Famers and I don't remember Montana or Marino until the ends of their careers), but I do know I'd rank him ahead of Favre.  I saw him throw enough terrible interceptions to not rank him as high as a lot of folks would.  That list also has Favre ahead of Johnny Unitas and Peyton Manning.  I know Favre ahead of Manning is ridiculous.  I haven't looked closely at Unitas's career, but a lot of people would rank him number one so I'm pretty sure having Favre ahead of him also is ridiculous.  Let's finish up with my quarterback power rankings.  I'm only ranking quarterbacks that I can remember watching in their primes:

12.  Eli Manning
11.  Drew Brees
10.  Ben Roethlisberger
9.  Jim Kelly
8.  Kurt Warner
7.  Steve Young
6.  Brett Favre
5.  Troy Aikman
4.  Aaron Rodgers
3.  John Elway (you might make the case that I don't even remember him in his prime, but I remember him winning two Super Bowls, I don't remember any of Montana's Super Bowls)
2.  Peyton Manning
1.  Tom Brady

If I were to dig deeply into the greatest quarterbacks of all time, I'm starting with Joe Montana and going from there.  I just did some quick googling and there are only five quarterbacks a National Championship in college and a Super Bowl in the NFL:  Joe Namath, Ken Stabler, Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, and Tom Brady.  Stabler split time in college, Aikman started four games at Oklahoma in 1985, but then he was injured.  Tom Brady was the backup for the half championship that the forces of evil won in 1997.  So that leaves Joe Namath and Joe Montana as the only two legitimate starters for both a National Championship team and a Super Bowl winning team.  Pretty cool.

Happy Birthday Bart Starr!  I'm sorry that scumbag Brett Favre gets more recognition than you.

Happy Birthday Lou Holtz!

I have the good fortune of sharing my birthday week with one of my favorite people in the entire world, Louis Leo Holtz.  He is the last great Notre Dame football coach.  I hope Brian Kelly joins him in that category, but as of right now, Holtz is the last one.  But besides his great success at Notre Dame, the thing that I love about him is his belief in Notre Dame.  As he once said, "If you've been to Notre Dame, no explanation is necessary.  If you haven't been there, no explanation will suffice."  I was reading his autobiography and he discusses the spirit of Notre Dame that makes Notre Dame a special place.  He felt that and I felt that.  If Ohio State was found to have all sorts of rules violations and they were ruled ineligible for the championship game and were somehow replaced with Notre Dame, Lou would absolutely be convinced that Notre Dame would beat Oregon.  Even though he was never a Notre Dame student, Lou Holtz understood Notre Dame.  I fear that Brian Kelly does not.

Anyway, my birthday week and the Baseball Hall of Fame elections make me think of my birthday two years ago.  It was my first day back at work after the National Championship Game in Miami.  That day and the day after the Celtics lost Game 7 to the Lakers in 2010 were the two days that I've least wanted to go to work in my entire life.  The one thing that cheered me up two years ago just a little bit was the fact that nobody was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Today four people made it in.  They should have just voted Ken Griffey Jr. in this year even though he's not eligible yet.  How would I vote for the Hall of Fame?  First, just think about it.  There's no doubt about some players.  If I have any doubt, then I go to the numbers.  And nobody who cheated or bet on baseball gets in.  Here's my hypothetical ballot:

1.  Ken Griffey Jr.- I'd write him in a year early.

2.  Randy Johnson- No doubt.  He had a very long run of dominance.  I don't need to go through his numbers, I just know he belongs in.

3.  Pedro Martinez- Again, no doubt.  He wasn't dominant for as long as Johnson.  But at the top of his game, he was even better than Johnson.

4.  John Smoltz- If you were an Atlanta Braves fan and you had a big game to win, this was the guy you wanted on the mound.  And you had Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine on your team.  Those two guys got in easily and they were better regular season pitchers than Smoltz, but being better than those two in big games has to get him in also.

5.  Curt Schilling- Sorry, John.  Schilling was pretty much as good as Smoltz as a big game pitcher.  He had a short run when he was teammates with Johnson and he was just as good.  And even when he wasn't at the top of his game, you wanted him pitching a big game (the bloody sock game comes to mind).

6.  Mike Mussina-  I have no doubt about those first five guys.  I had some doubt about Mussina.  One of my favorite Mike and the Mad Dog bits was when they would go through a player's seasons and decide if they were Hall of Fame seasons or not.  I'm giving him eight Hall of Fame seasons (1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2008).  Combine that with several other solid seasons and it's enough to get in.  I know his ERA wasn't always the prettiest, but keep in mind that he spent most of his career in a really bad place to pitch (and Yankee Stadium wasn't a great place to pitch either) and he pitched in the height of the Steroid Era.

7.  Edgar Martinez- Probably not as surprising as the next player on my list, but hold on, we'll come back to him.

8- Fred McGriff- Fred McGriff?  Yep, Fred McGriff.  Hold on, we'll come back to him too.

Here's a list of guys I wouldn't vote for:

1.  Tim Raines- There's an asterisk here.  I don't remember Tim Raines in his prime.  Some guys love Tim Raines.  I would abstain on him (if that were an option).  I just don't remember him well enough to say whether or not he belongs in the Hall of Fame.

2.  Craig Biggio- He's from Kings Park, New York, but no.  I think there's some suspicion of steroids.  And if he was on steroids, he's out for sure.  But let's assume he's clean for a minute and give Biggio the Mike and the Mad Dog treatment.  I'm giving him four Hall of Fame seasons (1994, 1995, 1997, 1998).  He had some other really good seasons.  But it's not the Hall of Really Good.  He got in because he stuck around for 20 years and compiled numbers.

3.  Mike Piazza- I'd be shocked if he wasn't on steroids.

4.  Jeff Bagwell- Again, I'd be shocked if he wasn't on steroids.

5.  Barry Bonds- We know he was on steroids.  He got 202 votes more than he should have.

6.  Roger Clemens- We know he was on steroids.  He got 206 votes more than he should have.

Here's why I hate the guys that used steroids.  They killed part of the greatest game in the world.  Baseball is a game of numbers.  755 (Hank Aaron's career home run total), 714 (Babe Ruth), 660 (Willie Mays), 61 (Roger Maris's single season home run record), 511 (Cy Young's career wins), etc.  So you could say Barry Bonds murdered several of these numbers (and McGwire and Sosa before him in the case of the single season total).  But it's not just Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa.  It's Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez, Gary Sheffield, David Ortiz, Jose Canseco, Jason Giambi, etc.  Players who had great careers are made to look ordinary in comparison to these cheaters.

And that brings me back to Edgar Martinez and Fred McGriff.  Like I said, my first test is just thinking about a player and whether or not he's a Hall of Famer.  Edgar Martinez passes that test.  In a big spot, I would have been scared to death of Edgar Martinez and not so much of Rafael Palmeiro.  But they played in the same era and Edgar Martinez's 309 career home runs looks like nothing compared to Rafael Palmeiro's 569.  And when I check the numbers, I get eight Hall of Fame seasons for Edgar Martinez.  He was David Ortiz before David Ortiz, a DH that scared you to death minus the steroids (I think, and if I'm wrong, Edgar Martinez doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame).  As for Fred McGriff, one number really stands out:  493.  He hit 493 home runs.  You know who else hit 493 home runs?  One of the five greatest hitters of all time, Lou Gehrig.  Of course, Fred McGriff is not Lou Gehrig, but he had some great seasons.  Again, his 493 home runs doesn't seem like a big deal because Rafael Palmeiro was playing at the same time and hit 569.  If all these scumbags weren't cheating when Fred McGriff was playing, his 493 home runs would really stand out.  Instead, they get lost in a sea of cheaters.  I have nine Hall of Fame seasons for McGriff (1989-1994, 1999-2001, and 1995, 1996, and 2002 are very close).  Again, this is assuming that McGriff was clean.  But I feel really bad that dominant players like Edgar Martinez and Fred McGriff can't get into the Hall of Fame because they happened to play at the same time as a bunch of scumbags.

Now that I've gotten myself angry with the cheaters who ruined part of baseball, let's go back where I started and finish this on a positive note.  Here my list of favorite coaches/managers from my lifetime:

10.  Al Groh- He's one of exactly two Jets head coaches with a winning record.  Sad, but true.

9.  Mike Brey- I used to be a big critic, but we could be doing a lot worse.  He needs to have some more success in the tournament, though.

8.  Gregg Popovich- He's a great coach.  I was always happy if he beat the Lakers or Heat.

7.  Tom Coughlin- He won my two favorite Super Bowls of all time.

6.  Brad Stevens- I want to be Brad Stevens.  I'm was a big fan going back to his Butler days.  I really want to see him successful with the Celtics.  Danny Ainge needs to turn all these draft picks into some good players for him.

5.  Bill Parcells- He's the other Jets head coach with a winning record.  He took the Jets from a laughingstock to a Super Bowl contender.

4.  Joe Torre- I liked Torre before he went to the Dodgers.  He led the Dodgers to their first playoff series win since 1988.

3.  Doc Rivers- I'll always remember him for beating the Lakers in 2008.

2.  Tommy Lasorda- He's the only Dodger manager to win a World Series during my lifetime.  He's kind of the Dodgers' version of Lou Holtz.

1.  Lou Holtz- I already covered Lou, but I'll just point out the National Championship in 1988 and the National Championship he was cheated out of in 1993.  I love Lou!