Trent's Touchdown - BCS Bowls

Well, here we are, the last Touchdown of the season. Fear not loyal readers, it will be back in August. You know what that means, more articles about poor sci-fi shows. But let’s not think about that; let’s think about the upcoming BCS bowls. Oh, they may look like lop-sided match-ups on paper, but someone slapped this all together, so it’s got to be worth something. Right? Anyone?

1) The Allstate BCS Championship Game (in New Orleans) – LSU (2) vs. Ohio State (1) (FOX at 8:00 on 01/07) – Do I have to put this as the number 1 game? If I want to see Ohio State get overmatched by a far superior team, I’ll just watch highlights of last year’s National Championship team. The only way I see OSU winning this game is if the LSU players get caught in some FSU scale cheating scandal. LSU is better in every fashion (offense, defense, special teams, coaching, female population…). I would say that OSU doesn’t even deserve to be there due to there less than stellar schedule (and that’s putting it lightly). Of course, nothing short of a playoff would be sufficient to sort this season’s mess out.

2) The Rose Bowl (in Pasadena) – USC (7) vs. Illinois (13) (ABC at 4:30 on 01/01) – I picked the second game by pulling it out of a hat. USC is basically playing a home game against a team that should be playing in the Capital One Bowl. I’m thinking Missouri should be here, but what do I know. This game may be fun for two reasons. One, USC is overrated. I mean seriously, this team got here because Dennis Dixon blew out his knee and ASU collapsed. I don’t trust John David Booty at all. Minus the cool name, the only redeeming quality he has is that he’s not Mark Sanchez. The USC defense got them here. Two, Juice Williams. I finally get to see this kid in action. If what I’ve read is true, it’ll be like watching Michael Vick (minus the “I Love Dog Fighting” tattoos). Of course, everyone gets over-hyped. Plus, Illinois has never faced a defense this fast. USC should have it sealed up early.

3) The Allstate Sugar Bowl (in New Orleans) – Hawaii (10) vs. Georgia (5) (FOX at 8:30 on 01/01) – The whole nation finally gets to see Colt Brennan without either having to stay up past midnight to do it or having to find ESPN8 on your cable system. I don’t think I’ve heard one thing about this game without Boise State coming up. Everyone wants to think that what Boise State did can be duplicated. You can’t get into a shoot-out with an SEC team and hope to win. You can do it against a Big 12 team. Brennan has never seen anything like what Georgia will throw at him. This is going to be a very good test for him. Hawaii’s strategy will be simple. It’s going to be “fire at will”. They have a slight glimmer of hope because Georgia might be feeling slighted because they didn’t get into the BCS Championship Game and might be too focused on what might have been.

4) The FedEx Orange Bowl (in Miami) – Kansas (8) vs. Virginia Tech (3) (FOX at 8:00 on 01/03) – This might actually be fun; except I don’t think Kansas can run with VT. I mean, the big Kansas game against Missouri was kind of a bust, except they made this furious comeback that made everyone sit up and take notice. Kansas can’t fall down to VT, because the VT defense isn’t going to get lit up like Missouri’s was (they learned there lesson against BC). I think Kansas can hang with VT offensively, but they may have issues on the defense side. VT is all about fundamental football, while Kansas is riding a high of easy schedules and blowouts. VT needs to control this game (which they are fully capable of doing) and play there style of football. They can’t get dragged into a shoot-out.

5) Watching Paint Dry

6) The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (in Glendale) – Oklahoma (4) vs. West Virginia (9) (FOX at 8:00 on 01/02) – Is this game going to be any fun at all? I would rather watch grass grow than Oklahoma’s “offense”. I figured WVU would make this fun, but they don’t have a coach anymore. I mean, I guess I get to see Steve Slaton and Pat White (if he stays healthy), but other than that, this is just a throw away game. However, I will stay up to watch this game, if only for the off chance that Oklahoma gets embarrassed.

Extra Point:

7) What a pathetic BCS bowl schedule. I really can’t get excited over any of these games. I mean, I like that fact that teams like Illinois, Kansas, and Hawaii got to these games, but I just don’t like the match-ups. All of these games look like walks in the park. Are any of these going to be close? I know you can’t do this, but a Kansas/Illinois or an Oklahoma/Georgia match-up would be more exciting. This proves even more why we need a playoff, because no team really stands out as deserving a shot. We had a great college football season with upsets and tremendous victories, too bad it has to end with pitiful bowl match-ups.

To Watch or Not To Watch, That Is The Question

Last week, in order to spread Christmas cheer to sci-fi geeks far and wide, the USA Network cancelled “4400” and “The Dead Zone”. I, being a sci-fi geek, knew of these shows but never watched them (minus the occasional “Dead Zone” episode). My buddy Seamus on the other hand was quite put off (and by put off, I mean belligerent). He went on to inform me that he had all of last years “4400” on DVR, and was questioning where to actually watch it or not, seeing as it ended with a cliffhanger. So, should he watch?

This is a very interesting debate. On one hand, you have a full season of a show you know you enjoy. On the other, you know at the end you’re going to get screwed by the network. But haven’t we all watched a show and just known that it was going to get screwed (or as I like to call it, “get FOX-ed”). When we all sat down and started watching “Firefly”, “Miracles”, “Wonderfalls”, “John Doe”, “Invasion”, and “Reunion”, didn’t you know it would be lucky to last one season? It wasn’t that the writing was poor; it was just that the slack-jawed viewing public is more in love with cookie cutter crap like CSI and reality shows than anything that might actually be new and fresh. Of course, the other issue is that shows are considered “sci-fi”. You can put a new and fresh spin on the same old crap, and people will think its gold (see “Grey’s Anatomy”). So why do we keep coming back? I think it’s the ingrained hope in all of us. We see something we really like and just hope that this time, it will survive. Unfortunately, most of the time, natural selection takes hold and the wounded gazelle is mauled by the lions. Hey, we can’t blame the networks for wanting to make money; I just wish I could have gotten some resolution to some things.

So, what do you do? Well, I was faced with the same dilemma last year when “Jericho” was cancelled. I went ahead and just deleted it off my DVR. However, I’m going to go against that and tell Seamus to watch it. If he enjoys the show then he should enjoy the final season of it. Who knows, maybe Sci-Fi Channel will pick it up. God knows their Sci-Fi Friday needs all the help it can get, but that’s a rant for another day.

Trent's Touchdown - Non-BSC Bowl Week

Welcome to the best time of the year. No, I don’t mean the time to exchange all your crappy Christmas gifts for cool stuff (yeah, loved the sweater). I’m talking about college bowl time. It’s the time when mediocrity in college football is rewarded with millions of dollars. This week, we’ll just go with the non-BCS bowls, and then right before the BCS showdowns, I’ll give my breakdowns on those big games.

1) The Pacific Life Holiday Bowl (in San Diego) – Arizona State (11) vs. Texas (19) (ESPN at 8 PM on 12/27) – This game is going to answer a lot of questions. Is ASU overrated and Texas underrated? (possibly). Did ASU deserve a BSC bowl bid over someone like Illinois? (definitely). Is Colt Brennan a good quarterback? (not really). Even after the gag job against USC, I think ASU is being unfairly maligned. They are a good team that came together at the right time under the right coach. Are USC and Oregon (with Dixon) better? Definitely, but they are still the class of the Pac-10 this year and deserve to be rewarded. Texas took advantage of a soft Big 12 (it’s always soft) to get where they were going, it’s just the Kansas and Missouri took better advantage of it.

2) The Chick-Fil-A Bowl (in Atlanta) – Clemson (15) vs. Auburn (23) (ESPN at 7:30 on 12/31) – Everyone wants to talk about the Clemson offense against the Auburn defense. I want to talk about the Clemson defense against the Auburn offense, since this will be the key to the game. Will Clemson’s offense put up points? Probably. I just don’t think Auburn will score on Clemson’s defense. That is probably the must underrated facet of the Clemson football team. They are a bunch of speedy ball-hawks who will knock people around. Auburn’s offense has been sketchy all year. You didn’t know if they would have a great game or stink up the joint. I think Clemson wins, but they have a knack of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

3) The Outback Bowl (in Tampa) – Tennessee (16) vs. Wisconsin (18) (ESPN at 11:00 AM on 01/01) – Brace yourself everyone, but I’m going to finally admit it. Erik Ainge isn’t that bad of a quarterback (get me to say the same about Drew Weatherford, and it just might be the end of the world). He managed the game very well in the SEC Championship and his defense kept them in it. Wisconsin is tailor made to lose to Tennessee. They are a one trick pony (the run game) and once you take that away from them, you have them beat. A competent defense should be able to beat them (which explains why they only had 3 conference losses).

4) The AT&T Cotton Bowl (in Dallas) – Missouri (6) vs. Arkansas (Fox at 11:30 AM on 01/01) – Oh boy, when you talk about one dimensional teams, Arkansas has to be at the top of the list. And when you talk about teams getting screwed out of a BCS Bowl, Missouri has to be at the top of the list. Missouri is a team that used the softness of the Big 12, coupled with the bias shown to the Big 12 to its advantage. Unfortunately, they lost to Oklahoma twice and everyone fell in love with Kansas. When it comes to Arkansas, you have to talk about McFadden, Jones, and their running game. Yeah, they beat LSU, but lost to Alabama, Kentucky, Auburn, and Tennessee. They beat most teams but slugging it out offense to offense. Missouri is not going to let you do that, as their offense is too prolific and Chase Daniels is too good.

5) The Capital One Bowl (in Orlando) – Michigan vs. Florida (12) (ABC at 1:00 on 01/01) – I think more people would have believed this to be the National Championship Game at the beginning of the season instead of the Unfulfilled Expectations Bowl. Both teams had there problems. Michigan had hubris and injuries going against them. Florida had hubris and a lack of talent (polished talent, not athletic talent). All you really needed to do was just watch both teams to realize they didn’t have it. Michigan just seemed off all year, and Florida was great the first few games, then just sort of leveled off. As much as I would want Michigan to win this one, I don’t think they can, for one reason. Tim Tebow. Say want you want about the Heisman Trophy winner, but Michigan has shown all season long that they can’t stop a running quarterback. Thankfully for them, they were able to mask that in the Big 10. Put them in the SEC, they would have lost 8 games.

6) The Brut Sun Bowl (in El Paso) – South Florida (21) vs. Oregon (CBS at 2:00 on 12/31) – Welcome to the Your Bubble Got Burst Bowl. South Florida came out of the shoot and beat teams like Auburn and West Virginia and climbs to number 2 in the polls, then they lose three straight and no one cares about you anymore. Oregon came out and beat Michigan, USC, and ASU and get to number 2 in the polls, then Dennis Dixon blows out his knee and the Ducks lose three straight and no one care about you anymore. With USF, it was just because they weren’t that good talent wise, but smart play let them exploit people. With Oregon, the injury to Dennis Dixon was the worst possible thing to happen at the worst possible time. He wasn’t only the quarterback; he was the emotional heart and soul of that team. When he went down, the whole team crumbled around him. If Dixon stays healthy, he’s the Heisman Trophy winner and the Ducks are in the National Championship Game.

Extra Point:

7) Minus my joke at the beginning, I like the lesser valued bowls outside the BCS Bowls. They give us all one last shot to see our favorite teams. To lament one or two bad breaks and to celebrate the classic plays and victories. To see the teams that burst on to the scene and made us believe that a nobody could contend for a place on the big stage. To see players play for that one last shot at glory. To see fans bonding one last time as they watch their team play one more game for one more victory. I’ll be watching the Chick-Fil-A Bowl on 12/31. I’ll be sitting on the edge of my seat, rooting for Clemson, watching them beat the crap out of Auburn. Lamenting the loss to BC, but celebrating the victory over FSU. Years from now, I won’t remember that Clemson played in some bowl named after a fast food restaurant; I’ll remember that they played another game in a very good season. This is an experience I’ll share with ever fan of a team not in a BCS Bowl.

Tony Romo Shouldn't Take His Dates To Work

For the first time, I’ve found a reason to write about the NFL. Now, I’m a big time Pats fan. I’m not one of those idiot bandwagon jumpers either. I lived through the 1-15 and the 2-14 seasons. I remember when Hugh Millen was the first Pats player to make $1 million a year. I remember when there was serious talk of moving the team to St. Louis (it was so serious; I actually had a conversation with my Dad asking if we would still be Pats fans). Anyway, since the Brady/Belichick era, those days are gone and its all milk and honey. With that all said, I’m going to go ahead and rip on Tony Romo.

Now, I have nothing personal against Romo, he’s a good QB, but he’s not great. He’s not a top tier QB, and he should never be mentioned in the same sentence with Tom Brady, unless the sentence is “Tom Brady is significantly better than Tony Romo.” Throw all the stats out the window for a minute, and let’s talk about ability to get it done. Brady, in his second year in the league, he lead his team down the field in the Super Bowl with less than 2 minutes left to set up his kicker for the game winning field goal. He also did it in his second Super Bowl appearance. Brady has proven over and over again that he gets it done in the clutch. Romo is a different story. In the NFC Wild Card game last year against the Seahawks, Romo botched a simple hold on a field goal attempt that would have won the Cowboys the game. Plus, he had a horrible game with Carrie Underwood in the stands rooting for him. Just when you thought he might have got it under control, Hurricane Jessica rolls through town. Jessica Simpson, decked out in her pink Tony Romo jersey, attended last weeks Cowboys game. To put it mildly, Romo stunk up the joint. Someone should have waved a skunk at him. It was so bad; you have his number 1 receiver saying that she should stay away from Texas Stadium. The man can’t play when a cute girl is cheering him on.?!?! Brady has gone on the Tara Reid express (a popular ride for NFL QB’s), dated and impregnated Bridget Moynahan, and is currently dating Gisele Bundchen, yet he keeps rolling along.

Romo is soft. If he can’t play well when an American Idol winner and a Publicity Whore are rooting for him, I would hate to see him in the Super Bowl. Actually, if he’s playing the Patriots, I wouldn’t mind seeing him, and neither would the Pats secondary.

As a side note, due to the holiday season, I won't be posting again until next Thursday, when I will do a rundown of all the bowl games. I know you care.

Communism Sounds Good In Theory Too

I figured sooner or later I would need to throw my 2 cents in on the writer’s strike, so let’s have at it. The main point of contention is the Internet. The Writer’s Guild of America (the union) wants residuals for “new media” (basically, the internet). The companies want more time to study the situation, but are willing to set up Internet sales the same way DVD sales are set up now (0.3% of gross profits). The WGA feels they got douched with that deal, and want 2.5% of the distributor’s gross for new media sales and distribution. Basically, that’s what all the hub-bub is about. But let’s break this down scientifically.

Most people support the WGA. Most people are sheep. They see the hard working, underpaid writer versus the evil old corporations. This is the view presented to you by…..a bunch of writers. True, 95% of them turn out swill like “CSI” or “Cavemen”, but there are a few good shows out there. These people can spin a yarn if they want. Also, the public as a whole wants to put up the front that they care about others, that they are compassionate. It’s like the have some guilt complex, where they have to feel guilty if things are going there way. Or it’s a simple transference thing, where your life sucks and these people’s lives suck, so you relate to them. These people make money for doing a job they love. How many people can honestly say that? It’s not like they graduated college and was like “Damn, I can’t get that entry level office job, I guess I’ll have to write a sitcom now.” Basically, they feel they don’t make enough money doing their dream job. While the companies, on the other hand, are run by old white people. These people treat technology like my parents, they know it’s out there, they know they can make money off it; they just don’t know how to do it or how much they can make. So, the writer’s are asking rich people (who didn’t get rich by giving money away) to sign away a percentage of gross profits, yet no one knows just how much those gross profits will be tomorrow or ten years from now. Does that make sense to anybody?

Now, on to the union system as a whole. As my title suggests, it’s good in theory, but in actual practice, it’s a cess pool of human greed and corruption (much like communism). Actually, in the beginning, it worked as it should. The unpaid employees were able to bargain with the companies on a level field to get better wages and safer working conditions. I mean, we all want that. Now, unions are nothing but a figurative criminal with a gun to the head of big business, demanding more money and benefits or work stoppages and smear campaigns will begin. Do unions even have a place in today’s society, since with the Internet and well organized worker first groups, workers have the bargaining chip of bad publicity. Look how Wal-Mart is maligned on a daily basis. Employers do have one trump card in all this, and it’s the card that the companies in this dispute may play shortly. They can move their business overseas, or in TV’s case, they can get into production agreements with entities such as CTV in Canada or BBC in England (the wheels are already moving here). Nothing would please me more than having the writers get the rug yanked out from under them. I, for one, want these production deals to take place because now we get reality shows like “American Idol”, “So You Think You Can Dance”, and “Generic FOX Reality Show That Panders To The Lowest Common Denominator”. That’s not reality and it sure isn’t entertainment, it’s what the writers have given us. Can you support them now?

The BCS Screwjob

Everyone wants to find fault with the way the BCS shook out this year. However, no team this year would make the BCS Top 5 Screwjob List, which I have just created as it’s much better than doing any real work. Anyway, on with the list.

5) Kansas State – 1998 season. K State is the only team on this list that didn’t get screwed out of a National Championship shot, but makes the list because they had a rule named after them. K State was ranked third in the final BCS poll prior to the bowl games, but got regulated to the Alamo Bowl, while Ohio State (4) and Florida (8) got BCS Bowl bids. They instituted the “Kansas State rule” stating that teams ranked third and fourth in the BCS will get automatic bids to BCS bowls. Amazingly, something about the BCS started to make sense.

4) Auburn – 2004 season. Auburn came into the season undervalued in the polls because they had been overvalued the year before. What happened? Auburn ran the table. Unfortunately, so did USC and Oklahoma, who had been ranked ahead of Auburn all year long. Auburn’s strength of schedule did not come into play because that stat had been diminished in the BCS prior to the season. Auburn went on to beat Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl while USC dominated an overwhelmed Oklahoma team.

The next 3 are really tough, considering they were all pretty egregious.

3) USC – 2003 season. At the end of the 2003 season, USC (Pac-10 champs) had one loss, but was ranked number 1 in the AP and Coaches Poll. However, the computers deemed that USC has a weak schedule. LSU (SEC champs) also had one loss and was ranked number two in both polls and had a stronger computer ranking than USC. Oklahoma, previously ranked number 1, had lost their only game in the Big 12 Championship Game, dropping them to third in both polls, yet still number 1 in the BCS. Thanks to this genius, LSU played a team that didn’t even win their conference in the National Championship Game. You think they would have made a rule after the first time this happened (we’ll get to that later). So, LSU went on to beat Oklahoma and USC beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl. So, the AP kept USC at number 1 and the BCS gave LSU its number 1 ranking. So we get a split National Championship, something the BCS was created to avoid. Once again, Big 12 bias ruins college football (which is the theme in the next screwjob) as anyone with a brain would have had USC play LSU. Interesting footnote on this, 3 coaches actually violated their contractual obligations by voting USC number 1 in the Coaches Poll.

2) Oregon – 2001 season. At the end of the 2001 season, Oregon finished as Pac 10 champs with only 1 loss and was ranked second to undefeated Miami. Nebraska was ranked fourth in both polls with one loss, that being the final game of the season to two loss Colorado by 26 points. With that win, Colorado, not Nebraska, won the Big 12 North Division and went on to play and win the Big 12 Championship Game. Despite all this, Nebraska jumped ahead of both Oregon and Colorado to the number 2 spot in BCS polls. So, a team that didn’t even win its division jumps ahead of 2 conference winners to play in the National Championship. To add a little extra insult to Oregon, Nebraska beat out Colorado (with 2 losses) for the number 2 spot (by 0.05 points), and Oregon finished fourth. But have no fear, Miami went on to beat Nebraska for the National Title (no one was beating Miami that year) and Oregon went on to destroy Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl in a “how do you like me now!” statement game.

1) Miami and Washington – 2000 season. One of these teams was screwed, I’m not sure which. The case I’ll make for Miami is the same as for Washington. Oklahoma was undefeated and number 1, but there were 3 one loss teams with their claim to play Oklahoma. You had one loss Florida State, which actually ended up playing Oklahoma. The problem with FSU was that they lost to Miami (who was ranked number 2 in both polls at the end of the year) earlier in the year. The problem with Miami was that they lost to one loss Washington, the Pac 10 champs. In my mind, Miami got screwed, but Washington had their claim too. Anyway, both Miami and Washington won their bowl games, and Oklahoma beat FSU. Thanks to this debacle, we got the “Miami rule” which added a “quality win” bonus for beating a top 10 team.

Did You Ever Wonder.....

Whatever happened to S Club 7?

How did Seth Cohen choose between Anna Stern and Summer Roberts?

If Cameron Diaz ever thought about marrying James Cameron, just for hilarity’s sake?

Why does the music of rock bands suck after they get happy (I’m looking at you Staind)?

Is Canadian and Australian TV as good as British TV?

While you can explain why Obi-Wan and Yoda were able to appear to Luke through the force (in “Revenge of the Sith”), how did Anakin pull it off?

How is “Borat” funny?

Why the best show on TV is a “reimagining” of a cheesy show from the 70’s?

How do musicians justify bitching and moaning about things like Napster being a bad thing, yet keep quite when record companies collude to raise prices of CD’s?

Why you can’t find the caber toss on ESPN anymore?

How in God’s name did Eric Gagne get $10 million from the Brewers? Do they not have NESN in Wisconsin?

Does the Patriot’s offensive coordinator draw up plays after watching kids playing in the school yard?

How come Samantha Sanders never had any paparazzi following her around in 90210?