illtema

Florida may be the 2008-2009 champions of college football, but yet again, it’s not a unanimous outcome. The Bowl Championship Series is a computerized system that decides who the top teams are, but doesn’t have the necessary algorithm to compute a top team when other factors are involved. As far as I’m concerned Texas and USC were robbed because they both were stellar squads that had fairly good seasons, but they finished third and fourth in the final standings. Both had one loss each, but were equally worthy of championship consideration. Utah was the only undefeated team and they finished second overall, but I wouldn’t give them the respect they feel is due because they haven’t beaten enough powerhouses.

That’s a bias that can only be addressed if there was a playoff system. The one I’m proposing utilizes games that are already scheduled, but I’m pretty sure nobody watches them. I’m talking about terrible games like the San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, which only exists so everyone has a chance to play in a bowl game. I have no sympathy for teams who don’t finish in the top 8, or top 10. If you didn’t make a case for your team, then better luck next year. What needs to happen is that starting Christmas Eve, there are a series of games that actually matter. Similar to the NFL system, we’d pit the bottom four (out of six) against each other and then with the remaining 4 teams we have them play on New Years day.

I don’t know why championship games keep getting pushed further and further into January, but a week from New Years, like it happened this year, should be the end-all, be-all. That way we could see who the best team really is. In this case we’d have Texas taking on Florida (a game worth watching) and USC playing against Utah (Utah’s funeral) and then the real champ is decided by a fifth and true-to-life championship game.

I’m not saying get rid of the BCS computers, I’m just saying sometimes computers can’t think like humans, and they need help. Combine the BCS computers with our rationale and you’ll have a more accurate, less debatable (cause no one will ever be satisfied) way to decide a champion. It might even create a scaled-down March Madness type of atmosphere, which college football desperately needs. And then all these corporations wasting money on bowl games nobody watches, could still invite mediocre teams to play if they felt like burning money.

Right now there are too many bowls that mean nothing. I’m talking about the Eagle Bank Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl, the Magic Jack St. Petersburg Bowl, the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl, the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, the Motor City Bowl, the Meineke Car Care Bowl, the Champs Sports Bowl, the Emerald Bowl, the Independence Bowl, the Papajohns.com Bowl, the Valero Alamo Bowl, the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl, the Texas Bowl, the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl, the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, the Brut Sun Bowl, the Gaylord Hotel Music City Bowl, the Insight Bowl, the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, the Outback Bowl, the Capital One Bowl, the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl, the GMAC Bowl, the International Bowl, and the Autozone Liberty Bowl.

The only bowls that matter are the Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi, the Fedex Orange Bowl, the ATT Cotton Bowl, the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, and the Fedex BCS Championship Bowl. In my proposed system, one of these games (the least important) can showcase the the seventh and 8th ranked teams respectively, although they’d have no shot at the national championship.

So again we really only need to focus on 6 teams, but if we’re overrun by one-loss teams we go to 8 if necessary, so that would involve a sixth bowl game. Using 6 teams we go through 5 games played in a single-elimination, three week stretch featuring the teams ranked #3 to #6.

#3 would play #6. #4 would play #5. The team with the highest seed would play the top ranked team on New Years day in a double-header featuring the second ranked team against the winner of the #4 vs #5 game. The winners of those games would then play the following week in a real championship game.

This way there’s no doubt as to who the champion is.

As far as I’m concerned USC is by far the best team in the country and they deserve to be #1. There’s not a single team in the country that is as littered with future NFL prospects. I feel that they’d dominate any team from the Big 12 and the SEC. Their one loss came on the road against an Oregon State team that was demolished by Penn State the week before. Penn State was then embarrassed by USC in the Rose Bowl. Texas beat Oklahoma, but they were denied a shot at the title as well. There are million reasons to change this system, but it looks like it’s here to stay. Seriously, what’s it going to take? It’s a Bad Championship System no matter how you look at it.

Sports

Hockey isn’t a sport I follow. I love the Devils because they rep Jersey and play in downtown Newark, but I couldn’t tell you shit about the team. I do however enjoy the Sportscenter highlights, and last night was one for the ages.

On a breakaway Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals beat three players, (four including the goalie) with three moves on his way to the goal, in spectacular fashion. This picture was this crossover move he did on the last defender (which he leaves frozen and clueless as the puck goes right by him). Ovechkin (in the red) in a flash, went from left to right by putting the puck through the defender’s legs and then shot it in the net. I know the goalie had no chance. I must’ve rewound that highlight a good twelve times–it was off the chain.

Sports

Stephon Marbury is a professional franchise ruiner. He’s been the story of this early NBA season for pissing off his coach, his GM and then his teammates, for doing all in his power to be uncooperative. He’s been suspended and fined by his team and today a resolution is expected so that both parties can go their separate ways. Marbury maintains that he never refused to play, despite being offered the starting shooting guard job for the remainder of the season–an obvious flip flop caused by a decimated roster. To give Marbury the benefit of the doubt Coach D’Antoni told all the Knicks that Marbury wasn’t in the team’s plans this season. So that definitely makes it a prickly situation. The best part of this story is waiting to see what pathetic organization is willing to commit franchise suicide, by signing him when the Knicks buy him out and release him. NBA analyst Derek Quiam does some venting while shedding light on the situation for all concerned parties.

As the Stephon Marbury saga continues, it was reported that the Knicks have asked him to play for a second time. What was the outcome? It was exactly the same as the first time. A big fucking NO! Steph, yet again, has pulled out his fist and has extended his middle finger to the organization and the city that he claims to love.

Some people do not completely understand the situation while most NBA fans have some grasp on what is happening in New York. However, some people will stand by Steph and his actions. Since the beginning of the season, Steph hasn’t seen any playing time in a Knick uniform. According to coach, Mike D’Antoni and upper management, Donnie Walsh, Marbury isn’t in the Knicks’ future plans. This is most likely the reason for his exile. Can you really blame the organization though? The Knicks have endured enough of this guy’s selfishness and antics. Time and time again the Knicks have catered to his requests. He has received everything and anything he has asked for. If Marbury didn’t like someone, they were traded or gone(Tim Thomas). We have seen coaches crash and burn based on the belief that Marbury didn’t have chemistry with them. I mean let’s just cut the shit. This guy is a career fucker-upper. He has ruined players’ and coaches’ careers and he seems set on extending that karma onto his own career.

Let’s just go back in time to see exactly what I am talking about. We can go back as far as the Kevin Garnett incident in Minnesota. We all remember in the mid 1990’s when Marbury had a phenomenal rookie year as a Timberwolf out of Georgia Tech, and he was playing with Mr. KG. Sounds like a pretty crazy duo with a bright future, right? WRONG! Marbury requests to be traded because he didn’t want to share the spotlight with Garnett. Ridiculous, yes, but it did happen.

How about the time when Marbury was traded to the New Jersey Nets and was playing for Coach Byron Scott? Yet again we see Marbury put up great numbers but the Nets as a team were damn stinkers. Then Marbury gets traded to Phoenix for Jason Kidd(who was no model citizen himself–caught up in domestic violence scandals with his wife), and all of sudden the Nets have new life and they make the playoffs almost every year including two consecutive NBA Finals appearances.

Why did that happen? Well it’s probably because having a “the world revolves around me” attitude can’t get you team success.

Then finally we can even go to the Isiah Thomas era in New York. Marbury is brought in in 2005 (from Phoenix where he played for Coach D’Antoni) to resurrect a franchise that’s spiraling downward. Mind you this is the franchise he grew up idolizing as a kid in Coney Island, so it’s a dream job for Marbury, but as we’ve seen in 2008, New York is still six feet in the ground, taking a dirt nap with Elvis. I haven’t seen the Knicks have a winning record since the year 2000. Even when we had the winning-est coach in basketball, Lenny Wilkens, we were still bonafide losers.

Guess who couldn’t get along with Lenny Wilkens, Larry Brown, and Isiah Thomas as coaches? If you answered someone else other than Stephon Marbury, you need to stop reading now, go into the kitchen and run yourself into a knife.

Seriously that is 3 different fucking coaches.

Look, I don’t want to sound like Marbury doesn’t have talent. He is a very talented player. I have seen games where he has torched teams for twenty to thirty points. We know what he can do and what he is capable of, but what most people don’t understand is why he would sacrifice his career like this? Steph is in a contract year, meaning this is the last year on his contract. However, he continues to ride the bench like a lost soul. I mean I understand that he might be standing for what he believes in but there comes a time when you have to put all that aside. If you want to be traded or play for another team, the teams have to be impressed with how you perform, especially under pressure. By turning your back on your teammates and refusing to play just shows how stubborn and self-centered you are. Mr. Career Fucker-Upper has lost what little respect other players had for him.

For the second time in consecutive years, Marbury has abandoned his teammates. The first time, I thought he was a little bitch because he acted like one when Isiah Thomas told him he wouldn’t be starting anymore. Now this time he is acting much worse. He’s that c-word that rhymes with the word “punt”. I really don’t know how people can walk by him without saying something insulting to him. I guess the NBA has rules but I would treat him like that retarded kid that sat at your lunch table in high school. I would eat half my fries and throw the rest at him. The way I see it is that no one in their right mind would sign up to get cancer. This is exactly what teams should expect with Marbury. This disrespectful ass deserves no acknowledgment from any team. Knicks forward Quentin Richardson said it best in a fit of frustration. He said, “I don’t look at him as a teammate…” and I would have to agree with him.

Sports

Damn those athletes who show their human sides, by making bad decisions.

Tatum Bell was released by the Detroit Lions and decided to steal the luggage of the player who took his spot.

I felt bad for Running Back Rudi Johnson when he was cut by the Bengals, because they were trying to trade him but found no takers. Then I heard he was headed to the Detroit Lions, and I was pleased with that news because all reports stated that he was in great shape and ready to go. So it was cool that he found a job.

The thing about this time of year when it comes to the NFL is that people have to get cut in order for other players to make the roster. Not everyone takes that news well and Tatum Bell, formerly of the Detroit Lions was cut to make room for Rudi Johnson. Unfortunately he stooped to a new low by stealing Johnson’s luggage and then having a female with no ties to the situation return it with the contents missing.

Bell maintains that he was asked by another player, Defensive End Victor Degrate, who was also relased by the Lions, to pick up his bags and while doing so he confused Johnson’s bags for Degrates. That being said, if it was such a misunderstanding Bell could’ve returned the bags himself with the contents enclosed and addressed the situation with Johnson. The worst part about the situation is that they knew each other. Johnson had been speaking to Bell after games and even spoke to him hours before the theft occurred. So understandably Johnson was beside himself when the security director for the Lions showed him the video tape of Bell casually walking off with his bags. Now Johnson knows for whom the Bell really tolls.

These two college champions’ poor judgement made them poster boys of how not to behave, for the rest of the NBA rookies.

Earlier this year I was genuinely pissed off that Ty Lawson, guard for the prestigious UNC college baskeball program, screwed his future when he got a DUI the night before he was going to meet with the Denver Nuggets so that they could tell him he was going to be selected by them in the first round with the 20th pick.

At the time I asked myself “Why couldn’t he just wait for the news, and then party?” The only answer I had was that he was human.

Perhaps the same can be said for National Champion Kansas duo Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur–except they were already drafted and Chalmers had been anointed by the Miami Heat as the guard who ought to start next to Dwayne Wade. Arthur mightve been buried on the Memphis Grizzlies bench, but unlike Lawson he didn’t have to
return to college and he actually had a well-paying job.

Yesterday at the NBA’s Rookie Transition Program they were caught in their hotel room with women (no visitors allowed) and marijuana (none of that allowed either). At the Doral Arrowwood resort in Rye Brook, N.Y. security discovered their private party, but the only real sanction so far is that they’ve been kicked out and must repeat the program next year.

Maybe it’s contact, but I still smell a set-up. The Transition Program is intended to teach NBA rookies what they can expect in their new lives as NBA players. The very subjects they’re being taught are threats (beguiling women and drugs among other things) are the exact same things they were busted for.

Like Lawson I’m asking myself “Why couldn’t they wait to party?” And with Bell, I’m asking “Hasn’t he heard of surveillance?” He’s not a rookie anymore.

Both questions have a really simple answer. They knew better, but didn’t care.

Sports

Team USA plays China Sunday morning at 10 AM EST. This is most likely going to be the most watched game in the history of Basketball.

Current Events, Sports