Hopeless Notre Dame

This video cracks me up. Notre Dame is a joke.

replacement. They didn't get that guy from Utah, A lot of ND fans are saying "Can Charlie" just like they demanded Tyrone Willingham'suhhh.... think his name is Urban something... you know that guy who won the championship last year. Him. Instead, their second choice, the Big Guy, Charlie Weis. Let's compare Charlie's first 3 years to Tyrone's to see if these ND fans have a point.

First Year
Both coaches had 10 win first season. Tyrone started out 8-0 before losing to Boston College at home. He finished 10-3 and was 4-2 against ranked opponents including a win over Michigan. Charlie also beat Michigan in his first year but lost to an unranked Michigan State the next week. He ended up going 9-3 and he was 3-2 against ranked opponents (losses to USC and Ohio State).

Second Year
Tyrone hit a speed bump in his second year. They were 5-7 and went 1-4 against ranked opponents with those losses being by 38, 13, 31 and 37 points. Bob Davie's below average recruiting was to blame and rightfully so; but with expectations being elevated the previous year, Ty's second year was a disappointment. Charlie's went 10-3 in his second year at Notre Dame but when you actually look at who he beat, it's not that impressive. He was 1-3 vs. ranked opponents and his losses to ranked teams were by 26, 20 and 27. But there is something to be said about beating who you are supposed to. He did this with the recruiting class Tyrone brought in after his 10 win season. That class consisted of all the seniors and redshirt juniors on the team. That's what good football teams do.

Third Year
Tyrone went 6-6, beat Michigan and went 2-2 against ranked opponents. He lost his last 3 games of the year though, including a 31 point loss to USC and a 17 point loss to Oregon State. Losses like that on national television were just another reason ND's AD gave when firing Ty after his third year even though the players who he brought in after his 10 win season were just redshirt freshmen and true sophomores. Charlie Weis is currently in his third season and he is having by far the worst season of this millennium for the Irish (okay, really this decade). They are currently 1-7 and are averaging only 10 point per game while they are giving up close to 30 points per game. Luckily, they have only Navy, Air Force, Duke and Stanford left on their schedule.

I cannot really say that Charlie should be fired, but this is a program that has set a standard of giving coaches only 3 years to perform. It would be unfair to Tyrone Willingham if Weis is the head coach next season. Ideally, I would love for ND's Athletic Director to say this...

"I know we only gave Tyrone Willingham 3 years but that was a mistake. We are big boys, we can say we were wrong. With that being said, we are deciding to keep Charlie on board even though the product he put out on the field this year was unacceptable. We are not going to make the same mistake twice. We look forward to better days in the future. Go Irish"

What do you think?

10 Reasons Why... Warriors Won't Make Playoffs

Some of you believed me when I said the Heat are not going to make the playoffs this year, but hopefully more of you will see the light after I explain the top 10 reasons why the Warriors will not make the playoffs this year.

10. Baron Davis is going to retire and pursue a career in fashion design because Deron Williams killed him in the playoffs last year.

9. Al Harrington is still their best post player.

8. Stephen Jackson hasn't "set it off" in Tha Town yet.

7. Everyone on the team has a shoot-first mentality.

6. Snoop's identity crisis. We don't know where his loyalties are, therefore we do not know who he will support this year. Snoop helped LA get 3 rings this decade but if he isn't backing the Warriors, ther are doomed.


5. Five teams are a lock to make the playoffs in the West, even if they have some injuries.

5A. Houston
5B. Dallas
5C. San Antonio
5D. Phoenix
5E. Utah

That leaves everyone else fighting for the last 3 spots.

4. Don Nelson's drinking problems.

3. The 3 teams who I think will get the last playoffs spots all got better.

3A. Denver - First full year of AI and Melo.
3B. Los Angeles - Derek Fisher is an improvement at PG and Andrew Bynum has developed well.
3C. New Orleans - Byfar, the most injured team last year is now a complete and healthy team.

2. Baron Davis will never play 82 games in a season and he will need to if the Warriors have a chance.

1. No Jason Richardson. Really the backbone of this franchise this decade was traded for trade bait. Anytime you lose a 20+ppg scorer it's going to hurt. You can say the development of Barnes and Ellis and pickin up Belinelli will help fill the void but you can only have 5 guys on the court at once. In the 4th quarter, they are going to have one less superstar on the court. His replacement (whichever one of the previously mentioned 3) is not as good as he is, it's actually a major drop off.

This team finished 16-5 and barely got into the playoffs last year. This year, the teams they are competing against to get into the playoffs got better and they got worse. Sorry Warriors fans, they are not making the playoffs this year.

I'll still be going to the games though. Please Uncle Steve.

This Weekend - 10/27 & 10/28

Boston College (JA) at Virginia Tech (BM)
West Virginia (JA)(BM) at Rutgers
USC at Oregon (JA)(BM)
South Florida (JA)(BM) at Connecticut
Florida (JA)(BM) at Georgia
Nebraska at Texas (JA)(BM)
Kansas at Texas A&M (JA)(BM)
South Carolina (JA)(BM) at Tennessee
Ohio State (JA)(BM) at Penn State
California (JA)(BM) at Arizona State

Indianapolis (JA)(BM) at Carolina
Cleveland (JA)(BM) at St. Louis
NY Giants (JA)(BM) at Miami
Philadelphia (BM) at Minnesota (JA)
Pittsburgh (JA) at Cincinnati (BM)
Detroit (BM) at Chicago (JA)
Oakland at Tennessee (JA)(BM)
Buffalo (BM) at NY Jets (JA)
Jacksonville (JA)(BM) at Tampa Bay
Houston at San Diego (JA)(BM)
New Orleans (JA)(BM) at San Francisco
Washington at New England (JA)(BM)
Green Bay (JA) at Denver (BM)

Brandon: 98-47 Overall (41-16 NCAA, 57-30 NFL)
Justin: 83-61 Overall (33-24 NCAA, 50-37 NFL)

The 2 Best Shots from 2006

Since the NBA season is about to kickoff, I figured I'd let everyone know my favorite set of shots from last season. No, they didn't come from LeBron or Kobe. No, not Nash or Gordon.

They Came from "Thunder" Dan Majerle..

Watch our predecessors discuss Majerle and let me know if you remember a better set of shots from last season:

Rookie Predictions (11-20)

A couple days ago I gave my predictions on the first 10 rookies drafted and now it's time to look at the next 10.

11th Pick - Acie Law IV, Hawks
I think he is going to end up being the next Nick Van Exel but he won't have the same rookie season that "Nick The Quick"/"Nick At Night" had in which he averaged 13/6 (started 80 games and averaged 33 minutes per game for the Lakers. He will be the starting PG in his second year in the NBA but this year he will share time with Speedy Claxton, Tyrone Lue and Anthony Johnson. Atlanta, being Atlanta, will not play him enough, and that is why they are Atlanta. I'm predicting 6ppg and 3ass even though if they were smart they could get 10ppg and 6ass out of him.

12th Pick - Thaddeus Young, Sixers
NBADraft.net has his NBA Comparison Paul Pierce. That is an insult to Young's athleticism and an insult to Pierce's fundamentals. Young is a slasher. It should be exciting seeing the best ally-opp passer in Andre Miller (don't believe me, ask any of the Denver Nuggets) in the league throwing it up to AI2 and Thaddeus Young. Korver will get minutes and so will Rodney Carney who is on the verge of being a bust. I haven't seen him in the preseason but hopefully he is on his way to gaining 20 pounds and has worked on his ball handling skills. I see him playing more as the season goes on and averaging 9ppg in the last 20 games of the season but he will average 5ppg. That's pretty much all you can expect from someone who will not average 20 minutes a game.

13th Pick - Julian Wright, Hornets
This is a hard guy to evaluate. In college, he'd score 5 points in one game and you wouldn't even notice him on the court and the next game he'd drop 30/10/5 and you'd wonder why this guy is in college. New Orleans is a great fit for him. He is currently Peja right now and Mo Pete is starting at the 2 with Rasual Butler behind him. The Hornets are set at the wing position now and with David West, Tyson Chandler and Hilton Armstrong (everything I read about him is positive) in the post, this is a complete team because you know CP3 is legit. With that said, Julian Wright will play this year because of his ability to play 4 different (1-4) positions. He will find his spots and average 6.5ppg, 4.5rebs per game. Those numbers would increase with injuries though. He is going to be a star in this league. (Random: Watch out for the Hornets)

14th Pick - Al Thornton, Clippers
This guy is like 37 so is he actually a rookie? Half the Clippers team is down and they are the in contention for the most ping pong balls at the end of the year. During the second half of the year they will look to develop Thornton and his minutes will go up. With Brand and Livingston out for the year, his will chip in with 7.5ppg and 5rebs.

15th Pick - Rodney Stuckey, Pistons
Exactly what the Pistons need. They are lucky he went to Eastern Washington because if he was in the Pac-10 he would have been a top 10 pick. He will be the first guard off the bench and can play the 1 or 2. Major upgrade over Lindsay Hunter/Jarvis Hayes/Flip Murray. Look for his to contribute right away and flourish with 8ppg and 3ass.

16th Pick - Nick Young, Wizards
Also a perfect fit. The Wizards and especially Gilbert Arenas know DeSean Stevenson is a hot head and they need someone to ultimately replace him. Nick Young is an upgrade on both sides of the floor and will gel with Gilbert better. Antonio Daniels being the savy veteran that he is might get some minutes at the 2 also but I see Young both the 2 and the 3 in small lineups. Look for him to average 6.5ppg. Big things next year though.


17th Pick - Sean Williams, Nets
Besides Oden, Williams is the biggest freak of nature in this class. He has the ability to change games because of his defensive presence. Williams has the potential to make viewers say "he is a man among boys" in the NBA! BUT... yea BUT... he has some issues. Anytime someone has drug problems in college and they turn pro, I am hesitant about their first year in the league. If he did drugs with no money (compared to now), what is he going to do with a million dollars? I hope he stays out of trouble but either way, I don't see minutes for him in New Jersey so he is going to be a NBDL All-Star.

18th Pick - Marco Belinelli, Warriors
Another great fit for a guard in the middle of the first round. Belinelli means Run N' Gun in Italian. With the spacing and dribble penetration based offense the Warriors run, Belinelli will flourish. If you have never seen him, check out his YouTube. It's the top league in Europe so pretend he's doing this against North Carolina, Kansas, Duke, UCLA, Ohio St., Arizona, Florida, etc. He will average 7.5ppg because there are so many wings on the Warriors. Great pick.

19th Pick - Javaris Crittenton, Lakers
I think he's a better prospect than Jordan Farmar but since Farmar has a better feel for when to find his spots (after Kobe, Kobe, Kobe, and Lamar) and the triangle offense, I don't see him having to many opportunities to showcase his abilities. With the acquisition of Derek Fisher, he moves to the #3 PG. He'll see garbage time this year and average 2ppg.

20th Pick - Jason Smith, Sizers
White boy CAN jump. All I can think about is this guy would be great on the Suns. But he is on the Sixers. The Sixers have a lot of athletes on their team and they need to run more this year. Adding Young and Smith to a team with AI2 is kind of scary (watch out for Louis Williams this year). Smith will find his spots behind Reggie Evans and Samuel Dalembert this year and average 4ppg and 4rebs. There just won't be a lot of plays ran for this guy so he is going to have to run and crash boards to get points. But he is a nice prospect, a good fit for a team that likes to run. Is that the Sixers though? I don't know.

Rookie Predictions (1-10)

With the NBA season around the corner I figured I'd let you know what each first rounder is going to do in their rookie season. We'll start with the first 10 picks...

1st Pick - Greg Oden, Blazers
Oden is out for the year so it looks like he'll have to hold himself up on crutches on leverage himself between a wall and a brunette. Either way the Blazers fans went from believing they could make the post season this year to realizing that Oden will be out for the season and Roy might miss some games because of the same heel that kept him out some games last year. Looking on the bright side, this will force Channing Frye, LaMarcus Aldridge, Martell Webster and Travis Outlaw to step up and hopefully realize their potential. Also, another lottery pick for this team might be scary if their role players get some experience this year. (Random: Kevin Prichard and Paul Allen- Great Job)

2nd Pick - Kevin Durant, Sonics
Durant has to be lickin' his chops with Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis shots up for grabs. Wally will try to take some of those but Durant is the face of the franchise now. He needs to put one some weight before and during the season. He will be the only rookie to lead his team in shot attempts which basically means he is a shoe-in for Rookie of The Year. He won't have a great FG%, but in my mind, there is no way he averages less than 16 ppg. His numbers/efficiency will increase every month of the season and he'll end up averaging 17.5ppg, 5rpg, 2apg.

3rd Pick - Al Horford, Hawks
Horford is exactly what the Atlanta Hawks need but they won't realize it this year. That's the beauty of the Atlanta Hawks. He is a natural PF but he will play both PF and C this year for the Hawks. The Hawks have been starting Zaza Pachulia who played fairly decent last year but the bottom line is that Horford need to be on the court. Marvin Williams' development, or lack thereof, will determine Horford's playing time. He will definitely be in the rotation so it is save to assume 8ppg, 6rpg, 1.5blocks.

4th Pick - Mike Conley Jr., Grizzlies
The best PG in this class went to the worst situation (actually Aaron Brooks' situation is worse). Damon Stoudamire just refuses to retire, Kyle Lowry is the type of guy who will refuse to let anyone take his minutes and Juan Carlos Navarro is Pau Gasol's best friend and EuroLeague MVP. I think by season's end, Navarro will play more 2 than PG, Stoudamire will be Conley's mentor, and Lowry will be Conley's backup and their defensive specialist. Conley stats won't be impressive but his play will be. He'll end up with 8ppg, 3rpg, 4apg, 2steals. (Random: Check his Pops kill Griffey Jr. and Neon Deion in a dunk contest)

5th Pick - Jeff Green, Sonics
The fact that the Sonics are going to play Durant at the 2 is great for Green. Jeff Green can do everything well so that will help him as the Sonics try to create their identity. Hopefully he will start (Seattle has started almost everyone this preseason) but if he doesn't his minutes will not be much lower. No plays will be ran for Green but he finds himself in the right spot a lot. He is the type of quiet player who you will go to the game, and open the paper the next day and read the box score and realize that he had 16 points and 9 rebounds and only remember a couple of his plays. He'll fit in well with his fellow DC native Durant and chip in with 10ppg, 5rpg, 3.5ass.

6th Pick - Yi Jianlian, Bucks
Unless he can play the 3 a lot better than he has proved it is going to be a long season for Yi. Bogut and Villanueva and productive players in front of him and with Desmond Mason and Michael Redd on the wings, he will not start this year. He needs to learn how to do something else besides score (so does Durant, but Durant is really really really good at scoring). He will average 6ppg and best case scenario shoot 40% from the field. I will not put any other stats in my forecast because it'd embarrass Yi. He's have an even sadder (it is a word) face than the one below.

7th Pick - Corey Brewer, Wolves
I am hoping Kevin McHale starts Foye, Brewer, Davis, Jefferson and anyone. But, Kevin McHale being Kevin McHale might put Telfair at PG, slide Foye to the 2 and there goes a lot of Brewer's minutes. This is a guy who didn't play Randy Foye until the second half of the season. If he starts who I think he should start, then Telfair (1), Jaric (1,2), McCants(2,3) , Gomes (3), Green(2,3) and Smith (3,4) will be coming off the bench. By the end of the year I am predicting Ricky Davis will be moved freeing up some more minutes for Brewer but since he isn't the type of guy to demand minutes or pout if he's not playing a lot, he'll play well when he does play and chip in with 6.5ppg, 3.5rpg, 2ass, 2 steals.

8th Pick - Brendan Wright, Warriors
Horrible situation. First of all, the Warriors didn't/don't even want this guy. They got rid of Richardson for cap space and because they picked up Marco Belinelli. Brendan Wright was a guy Kevin McHale publicly said he liked so he was acquired as trade bait. But now, the Warriors are stuck with him. I don't think he's ready for the NBA anyways. Don Nelson only likes one non-shooter on the court at all times. Ideally, he likes 5 shooters. With Baron Davis, Troy Hudson, Monta Ellis, Marco Belinelli, Stephen Jackson, Matt Barnes, Mickael Pietrus and Al Harrington on the team (8 shooters)... at least 4 of them will be on the court at all times. That leaves one non-shooter on the court, sometimes! Wright, Andris Biedrins, and Patrick O'Brian will rotate as the 5th player on the court. Taking all this into consideration along with the fact that zero plays will be ran for him, 3.5ppg, 3rpg are pretty accurate forecasts.

9th Pick - Joakim Noah, Bulls
Because he is a Scott Skiles type of guy, this is a great fit for Noah. He will be in the rotation and be the first "big" off the bench. I also see him playing a lot in the 4th quarter because of Big Ben's free throw problems. He is going to average 7ppg, 6 rpg, and 2blocks.

10th Pick - Spencer Hawes, Kings
Nice team for him to go to even though he's going to have to get a Mac Dre T Shirt and throw out that Dipset BS. Big men need to be brought along like NFL Quarterbacks. Playing behind a skinnier Brad Miller, and in a rotations with Abdul-Rahim, Kenny Thomas and Mikki Moore, Hawes will see very few minutes this year even though the Sacramento organization is very high on him and plan on building around him and Kevin Martin. Depending on his progression his stats could be higher, but for now I'm thinking 5ppg, 3rpg, 1block.

Check back in a few days and I will break down the next 10 picks. This was a very deep draft and I'll predict the guard in the middle of the first round will flourish while there is a Big Man with NBDL on his forehead.

This Weekend - 10/20 & 10/21

This weeks weekend picks come with an extra feature. One of our guest contributors 'The Truth' has a little beef with a fellow at ESPN. His commentary is in green under our picks.

NCAA
South Florida at Rutgers (BM) (JA)
Tennessee (JA) at Alabama (BM)
Michigan State at Ohio State (BM) (JA)
Florida (BM) (JA) at Kentucky
California (BM) (JA) at UCLA
USC (BM) (JA) at Notre Dame
Texas Tech at Missouri (BM) (JA)
Miami (FL) (JA) at Florida State (BM)
Kansas (BM) (JA) at Colorado
Oregon (BM) (JA) at Washington
Virginia at Maryland (BM) (JA)
Michigan (BM) at Illinois (JA)
Auburn at LSU (BM) (JA)
Brown (BM) (JA) at Cornell

NFL
Baltimore (BM) (JA) at Buffalo
Minnesota at Dallas (BM) (JA)
New England (BM) (JA) at Miami
Atlanta at New Orleans (BM) (JA)
San Francisco at NY Giants (BM) (JA)
Arizona at Washington (BM) (JA)
Tennessee (BM) at Houston (JA)
Tampa Bay at Detroit (BM) (JA)
Kansas City (JA) at Oakland (BM)
NY Jets at Cincinnati (BM) (JA)
Chicago at Philadelphia (BM) (JA)
St. Louis at Seattle (BM) (JA)
Pittsburgh (BM) (JA) at Denver
Indianapolis (JA) at Jacksonville (BM)

Brandon: 79-38 Overall (31-12 NCAA, 48-25 NFL)
Justin: 64-51 Overall (24-19 NCAA, 41-32 NFL)

Kirk Herbstreit How Do You Have a Job? You have been flat out wrong numerous times in the past year and wrong real bad.
August 2006: “I predict Miami will the win the national championship” -Kirk Herbstreit
- Miami finished 7-6

December 2006: “They should just get rid of the Coaches poll. Guys like myself, Lee Corso, Mark May watch 10 to 15 games a weekend. Coaches just cannot watch that many games. They are not voting accurately. When you talk about who is the better team Michigan or Florida, MICHIGAN is the better team. They lost by 3 at Ohio State, on a neutral field they can win the game maybe even be favorites." -Kirk Herbstreit
-Ohio State lost in the national championship 41-14 to Florida.
-Michigan lost in the Rose Bowl to USC 32-18 .

It really bothered me this morning when I put on ESPN and saw Kirk Herbstreit disagree with 76% of the country. 76% of the country thought if South Florida ran the table they deserved to go to the national championship. Herbstreit disagreed. He thought a one loss LSU deserved to go ahead of USF. That does not sound that bad.

Next 78% of the nation thought there should be a playoff, naturally Herbstreit disagreed with that also. That does not sound that bad either. Now let me break it down to you. USF right now should be the Number One team in the nation, they won at Auburn (currently #17) and they beat West Virginia (currently #9). That is two quality wins. Did I mention Auburn won at Florida and has beaten Arkansas.

Ohio State has not won a game against a team ranked in the current top 25 and their only game remaining against a top 25 is Michigan (# 25), who we all know lost to a 1-AA team at home. Shouldn’t we be calling for Ohio State not to be in the national championship, not USF. If USF wins out they would have to beat Rutgers, Cincinnati and Louisville. They have enough quality wins to make their case, Ohio State does not.

Next where is this myth coming from that if they have a playoff it will diminish the regular season? That could not be further from the truth. First if there is an eight team playoff teams will be fighting for spots. The games will still matter. While a loss right now by BC, Ohio State or USF may take them out of the national championship hunt, a loss by them may put them on the cusp of making an eight team playoff. The games still matter. Also if you forgot college basketball has a playoff March Madness with 64 teams and it is the best 3 weeks in sports. Having a tournament like that does not affect rivalry games in the regular season like Carolina Duke. Also the conference tournaments which, I would equate to rivalry weekend in college football are some of the toughest tickets to get. If anything an 8 or 16 game playoff would provide more meaningful games for college football. Many of the rivalry games in the last week of the season would be for playoff bids or playoffs seeds rather than just a mere bowl invitation. I would propose a sixteen team playoff starting on the weekend of December 14th. This would eliminate the meaningless 40-60 day layoff teams had before the national championship and the season would actually end sooner than it does now. From the rankings today it would look like this.

#16 Missouri @ #1 Ohio State
#15 Florida @ #2 USF
#14 USC @ #3 BC
# 13 Kansas @ #4 LSU
# 12 Cal @ #5 Oklahoma
#11 VT @ #6 South Carolina
#10 Oregon @ # 7 Kentucky
#9 WVU @ #8 ASU.

Naturally these match-ups would change but it would call for some very interesting match-ups, especially in the second round with games like Florida/Oregon and USC/South Carolina. A playoff needs to be implemented immediately and let the players decide the best team on the field, rather than sports writers voting on the best team. It is an outright joke that there is not a playoff as college football still remains the only sport where the season ends with controversy, with writers instead of players determining the national champion.

- Truth

Has Ali Taught Them Nothing???

Between 1992-95 Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield had the best three-part boxing trilogy I've ever seen.
That ended 12 years ago.

Yes, 12 years ago.

Just last weekend, days before his 45th birthday, Holyfield (42-9-2, 27 KOs) lost to a Russian. Just looking at the Sultan you know that he would not have beat the "Real Deal" a decade ago.

So I ask: Evander, you've done this for 23 years, you've beat Mike Tyson, Larry Holmes, George Foreman and Lennox Lewis, you've lost an ear, you've made the money, you've got the girls (and the children), why the hell are you still boxing?

I must question the motives of "Big Daddy" Bowe, too.

The 40-year-old (42-1, 33 KOs) wants another trilogy; this time with heavyweight champion Andrzej Gołota.

Bowe was lucky to have won his previous bouts against Golota, who couldn't keep his punches above the belt as was disqualified both times they met (fast forward to 3:00).

"Big Daddy": it wouldn't be a good idea to get in the ring with Golota again -- especially if you want more babies.
You've lived a full life. You've only lost once in your career. You've kidnapped your ex-girlfriend. You've gone to jail. You've filed for bankruptcy. You've sued your lawyer for over $600,000. You've done enough to let us know you're not serious about boxing.

So JUST STOP IT. PLEASE JUST STOP. STOP BEFORE YOU END UP LIKE CASSIUS CLAY.

Evander and Riddick, I leave you with words from boxing trainer Freddie Roach:

"You've got a lot of money, but what's that worth if you can't count it?"

10 Reasons Why... Heat Won't Make Playoffs

That's right. I do not think the Heat are going to make the playoffs. Here are my top 10 reasons why.

10. Jason Williams, Smush Parker and Chris Quinn are the point guards.

9. The Refs only cheat for D-Wade in the NBA Finals.

8. Since D-Wade in 03, they haven't had a first round pick who has panned out.

7. After being the 27th best 3 point shooting team with Kapono, they will be the worst 3 point shooting team in the league this year. That means... more people hanging all over Shaq in the paint, and more people in the key beatin' up on D-Wade when he gets into the paint. Hack-A-Shaq is back!

6. Alonzo Mourning gets significant time on the Miami Heat. If that's sentence isn't convincing enough, check this video out. Top 10 Dunks on Zo.

5. Penny Hardaway. You know you are desperate when you are taking leftovers from the New York Knicks. I think they'd be better of signing Lil' Penny. Remember him? That was about 10 years ago, he should have grown a little bit since then.

4. Shaq's divorce, age and his injuries will take it's toll on the Big Man.

3. McDavid hasn't come out with a full body bubble suit that which allows a natural shooting motion.

2. They are one of the few teams in the Eastern Conference who got worse in the off-season.

1. Antoine Walker - He is probably happy that Kapono is on the Raptors now because he thinks he is now the 3 point specialist. Also with James Posey in Boston now he'll play more minutes (which is bad). And if Shaq/D-Wade is hurt, he'll think he needs to single handedly make up for their point production. Let's just hope they are never both out at the same time, it'll be the Antoine Walker show. I don't really wanna see this fat boy shimmey anymore.

This Weekend - 10/13 & 10/14

NCAA
Georgia Tech (JA) at Miami (FL) (BM)
LSU (BM) (JA) at Kentucky
Boston College (BM) (JA) at Notre Dame
Wisconsin (JA) at Penn State (BM)
Washington State at Oregon (BM) (JA)
Missouri (BM) (JA) at Oklahoma
Louisville (BM) at Cincinnati (JA)
Auburn at Arkansas (BM) (JA)
Washington at Arizona State (BM) (JA)

NFL
Minnesota at Chicago (BM) (JA)
Miami (JA) at Cleveland (BM)
Washington (BM) at Green Bay (JA)
Cincinnati (BM) (JA) at Kansas City
Tennessee (BM) (JA) at Tampa Bay
St. Louis at Baltimore (BM) (JA)
Houston (JA) at Jacksonville (BM)
Philadelphia (BM) at NY Jets (JA)
Carolina at Arizona (BM) (JA)
Oakland at San Diego (BM) (JA)
New England (BM) (JA) at Dallas
New Orleans at Seattle (BM) (JA)
NY Giants (BM) (JA) at Atlanta

Brandon: 64-29 Overall (24-9 NCAA, 41-19 NFL)
Justin: 55-38 Overall (20-14 NCAA, 36-24 NFL)

Survival of the Fittest

Who ever can last in college football will be in the national championship game. Let's look at the rankings of the teams who have lost in the last two weeks...

2 USC
3 Oklahoma
4 Florida
5 West Virginia
5 Wisconsin
7 Texas
8 Kentucky
9 Florida
10 Rutgers
11 Oregon
12 Georgia
13 Clemson
21 Rutgers
22 Clemson
22 Alabama
24 Kansas St.
25 Nebraska

College Football has been crazy this year. I haven't really been paying that much attention to pro football because you know, then Colts and the Patriots are going to win every week, and there is a 90% chance they will end up in the AFC Championship and the winner has a 90% chance of winning the Super Bowl. College football on the other hand is crazy. Unlike the NFL, if your cable were to go out over the weekend and you couldn't watch any games or highlights, you would have no idea who was now in the hunt for the National Championship. There is nothing more unpredictable than college football... that's why I'm asking you to predict it!

Who is going to lose to who? Who will keep winning? Will anyone end up undefeated? What big games (and outcomes) will change the college football landscape? Who will win their Heisman? Which one loss teams will be on the outside looking in?

Here is my GUESS...

LSU Wins Out... They are in the Ship.

Cal is not used to being mentioned in National Championship talks. Their players are loving life right now and going hella dumb riding the short yellow bus in the Bay. Translation: They are enjoying the increase in groupie love. Translation: Their #2 ranking will go to their head and they will party a little too hard a slip up against a southern California school. Even if they beat them, the Big Game doesn't look like a cakewalk anymore. Stanford love even more to ruin Cal's season. Don't think it's not possible either. USC was #2 last year before UCLA beat them, that's why Florida ended up in the Championship.

Ohio State will be 9-0 but playing Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan will be too much for them. Best case scenario is they lose one game, but it's late in the season so they aren't in the national championship.

BC has a touch last 5 games plus an ACC championship. If Matt Ryan can continue to play like he has though and have a great game on national television, he's your Heisman.

South Florida is a good team... but Cinderella's slipper will fall off soon. Just ask George Mason hoops.

If Oklahoma can get past Missouri (which I will predict won't happen just so I can say I called it), they won't play a top 15 team the rest of the year. In the BCS Championship game they will either play Missouri again, get redemption against Colorado, the Nebraska White Shirts, or Kansas (WOW, Big 12 is horrible). This is my pick to play LSU in the Championship.

Even if South Carolina wins the rest of their games, they won't beat LSU in the Championship game. They're out. But for the time being, why aren't they the highest ranked 1 loss team? They lost to LSU, they #1 ranked team. Can we move them ahead of Oklahoma please? Thank you.

West Virginia would need everyone to besides LSU to lose 2 games for them to go to the ship. I don't see them winning out anyways. Slaton hasn't shown up in a big game in a while. Plus Pat White hasn't been healthy.

Oregon... first of all, why aren't they the second highest ranked 1 loss team, they came 6 inches away from going to overtime vs. they current #2 team. Can we fix that? Thank you. Either way though, they are going to lose either a tough game vs. Jack Locker (Washington), or when they host USC or ASU.

USC hates Booty. I hate Booty. We all hate Booty. He can kiss that (above) goodbye. They have never been in this situation and they don't have a leader of the offense to get them back on track. Road games at Oregon, Cal and Arizona St. before the UCLA game won't help either. Les Miles' preseason comments about USC having an easier road are completely false (not saying Stanford is good). There are two 1 loss teams in the SEC and they are Kentucky and South Carolina. Come on Les.

Other than that... I see the other teams all losing again so they are even further out of contention then they already are.

So it looks like I have LSU vs. Oklahoma (have to beat Mizzou probably twice for this to happen) in the championship. This is hard for me to type right now. I hate Oklahoma. They have been the biggest choke artists this decade. So i hate writing this because of the probability that it is wrong but also because I'd hate watching that championship game.

GIVE ME YOUR FORECAST FOR THE REST OF THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MY PREDICTIONS?

This Weekend - 10/6 & 10/7

NCAA
Wisconsin at Illinois (BM) (JA)
Oklahoma (BM) (JA) at Texas
Georgia (JA) at Tennessee (BM)
Arizona State (BM) (JA) at Washington State
Virginia Tech (JA) at Clemson (BM)
Florida at LSU (BM) (JA)
Ohio State (BM) (JA) at Purdue
Cincinnati at Rutgers (BM) (JA)
Notre Dame at UCLA (BM)(JA)
Nebraska at Missouri (BM) (JA)

NFL
Miami at Houston (BM) (JA)
Atlanta (JA) at Tennessee (BM)
Jacksonville (BM) (JA) at Kansas City
NY Jets (JA) at NY Giants (BM)
Carolina at New Orleans (BM) (JA)
Arizona (JA) at St. Louis (BM)
Cleveland at New England (BM) (JA)
Seattle at Pittsburgh (BM) (JA)
Detroit (BM) (JA) at Washington
Tampa Bay at Indianapolis (BM) (JA)
San Diego (BM) (JA) at Denver
Baltimore (BM) (JA) at San Francisco
Chicago (BM) at Green Bay (JA)
Dallas (BM) (JA) at Buffalo

Brandon: 46-23 Overall (17-6 NCAA, 30-16 NFL)
Justin: 39-30 Overall (13-11 NCAA, 27-19 NFL)

All-Time Top 20 Two Sport Athletes

1.a. Jim Thorpe - Pick any two. He played Pro Football, Baseball and Basketball. Oh, and he was an Olympic gold medalist in the Pentathlon and Decathlon
1.b. Jackie Robinson - A Legend. The fact that he broke baseball's Color Line is just one of the many things he'll be remembered for.

• Pac-10's leading scorer in basketball.
• National long jump champion.
• All-American running back at UCLA.

3. Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson - College sprinter and first man named an All-Star in Pro Football and Pro Baseball - Bo knows athleticism.4. Jim Brown - Pro Football and College Lacrosse Hall of Famer.


5. Deion Sanders - College sprinter and Pro Football and Baseball - Only man to appear in both World Series and Super Bowl.


6. Wilt Chamberlain - Pro Basketball Hall of Famer and College High Jump Big Eight Champ at Kansas.

7. Michael Jordan - Pro Basketball Legend and Minor League Baseball Lemon.
8. Shawn White - Carrot Top lookalike and Olympic and X-Game gold medalist in snowboarding and skateboarding.

9. Dave Winfield - Baseball Hall of Famer and only man drafted by four leagues (MLB, NBA, ABA and NFL).
10. Bob Hayes - Pro Football and Olympic Sprinter. He once held the title of world's fastest man.11. Jackie Joyner-Kersee - Won three Olympic gold, one silver and two bronze medals in the Heptathlon and Long Jump. All-American basketball player for the UCLA Bruins.
12. John Elway - Pro Football Hall of Famer and Minor League Baseball draft pick.
13. Tom Glavine - Future Pro Baseball Hall of Famer and NHL draft pick.
14. Sheila Young - Two-time double world champion in two sports: Speed Skating and Cycling.
15. Hale Irwin - Pro Golf and All-American College football player.
16. James J. Jeffries - Heavyweight Boxing Champion and Amateur Tack & Field star.
17. Brian Jordan - Pro Football and Baseball player.
18. Svetlana Feofanova - Olympic Gymnastics and Pole Vaulter.
19. Charlie Ward - Pro Basketball and College Football player (1993 Heisman Trophy winner).
20. Bob Golic - Yes, the same guy from Saved By The Bell: The College Years. He was a three-time NFL Pro Bowler and two-time Heavyweight Wrestler at Notre Dame.

Missed the Cut: Marion Jones*, Raghib Ismail, Jeremy Bloom, Julius Peppers, Todd Helton, Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez, Quinton McCracken.

I'm sure I left someone OUT. Tell me Who?

RunningBacks 2 JoggingBacks

Last year, the top 5 runningbacks in the league were LaDainian, Larry Johnson, Frank Gore, Tiki Barber and Stephen Jackson. They were the only runningbacks to average more than 95 yards a game. This year... ANOTHER STORY!



5 Runningbacks average more than 95 yards per game right now. Go ahead think. Highlight the black area below and it will reveal their names.

1. Travis Henry - 108 ypg
2. LaMont Jordan - 106 ypg
3. Joesph Addai - 102 ypg
4. Willie Parker - 101 ypg
5. Adrian Peterson - 96 ypg

Exactly! Not saying those guys aren't great players, but before the year we thought LT, LJ, Gore and Jackson would be the leaders. They've been running in quicksand this year. Look at their stats...

Jackson - 77 ypg
Johnson - 66 ypg
Tomlinson - 65 ypg
Gore - 63 ypg

I mean come on guys. The Oakland Raiders back up running back (Justin Fargas), is averaging 65 ypg even while the starter, LaMont Jordan, is getting 20+ carries a game.

I have some questions for the readers...

Who will end up being the NFL rushing leader?

Forcast the rest Jackson's, Johnson's, Tomlinson's and Gore's season. Who will have the most yards. Rank them.