The newly revamped NCAA tournament has completed rounds 1, 2, and 3 leaving 16 teams fighting for the College Basketball National Championship.  For the first time ever, 68 teams were included in the bracket this year, creating 4 Round 1 “play-in” games.  In the past there was only 1 play-in game for a #16 seed, which would end up being the sacrificed to #1 overall team in the bracket.  Two of the round 1 games were 16 seeds, one was 12 seeds and one 11 seeds.  The winners of the #16 games played against Ohio St. and Pittsburgh in the second round and lost by an average of 25 points.  The #12 winner, Clemson played a close game against West Virginia however fell short late in the second half losing 84 – 76.  The #11 winner however is in the midst of writing some history.  Virginia Commonwealth, VCU, not only won their second round game against Georgetown 74 – 56, they crushed a very good #3 Purdue team 94 - 76.  VCU is the first team to win a “play-in” style game, and not only win the next game, but win the next two to advance to the Sweet 16. 

image from espn.com

     Generally speaking, if the seeding system were perfect and the “experts” could accurately pick and rank all of the best teams, the Sweet 16 would be comprised of all #1 – #4 seeds of the 4 regions.  This however is rarely the case, as Cinderella teams always seem to emerge and upsets are now common place.  Of the 16 teams left in the bracket, three #1′s and #2′s remain, two #3′s and #4′s remain accounting for only 10 of the top 16 teams. 

     #5 Arizona upset #4 Texas in an exciting, nearly controversial, 70-69 finish, and will face last years Champion #1 Duke.  #8 Butler, last years Cinderella and championship runner-up, upset #1 Pitt in yet another debated finish where the game hinged on free-throw shots in the final seconds of a 71-70 game.  Butler will next face #4 Wisconsin.  The final 4 teams making up the Sweet 16, including VCU, have completed two upsets thus far.  #10 Florida St. beat #7 Texas A&M 57 – 50 and #2 Notre Dame 71 – 57.  They will take on #11 VCU, which means that a #10 or #11 seeded is guaranteed to make it to the Elite Eight.  #11 Marquette first defeated #6 Xavier 66 – 55, then rolled out another 66 against #3 Syracuse winning 66 – 62.  They will face #2 North Carolina.  The lowest remaining seed is #12 Richmond.  Richmond defeated #5Vanderbilt in the second round with a late trey 69-66.  Then they went on to roll all over #13 Morehead 65 – 48, a team that had just upset #4 Louisville.  Richmond will next face #1 Kansas, which it would seem has the easiest road to the Final 4, where the lowest remaining team in their region is a #10 seed.  The other remaining match-ups are #1 Ohio St. vs #4 Kentucky, #2 San Diego St. vs #3 UConn, and #2 Florida vs #3 BYU.    With so many upset victories thus far, this year’s tournament should have a great finish.

For some the football off-season is exciting, just to find out what new players your favorite team will bring in, or where your home-town college stars will be headed.  This past weekend was the NFL combine, which is a place for scouts to get another look at the college football stars.  The players complete a series of workouts and drills in order to show how they rank among players of their own position in hopes of raising their value in the upcoming draft and potentially gain more money.  There are 7 workouts that rank the players based on performance: 40 yard dash, bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, 3 cone drill, 20 yard shuttle, and the 60 yard shuttle.  These workouts will never be used on the football field, as in you will never see a running back do a 60 shuttle with the football, nor are any of them run with full football gear on.  So why do they even matter?  They provide a means for the coaches and scouts to rank the players based on core attributes like speed, agility, footwork, and explosive power.  These tests by no way dictate exactly where a player will fall in the draft, but they may help a coach decide between two players if they looked nearly identical on the playing field during the game, however one was much faster and more agile during the drills while the other had much more help from the rest of his teammates on the field.  It can also help a young man from a much smaller school that had no media attention, show that he is physically as good one of the top prospects. 

So who were the top performers? 

In the 40 yard dash, in which the player runs 40 yards straight as fast as they can, two defensive backs were among the fastest.  Demarcus Van Dyke, DB from the University of Miami, set the bar at 4.28 seconds.  Two players tied for second, Patrick Peterson, DB from LSU, and Da’Rel Scott, running back from the University of Maryland, both finishing at 4.34 sec.  The fastest QB was Tyrod Taylor from Virginia Tech with a time of 4.51 sec. and the fastest WR was Edmond Gates from Abilene Christian with a time of 4.37 sec. 

In weight lifting, each participant bench pressed 225 lbs. for as many reps that they could.  Defensive lineman Stephen Paea from Oregon St. set a new record of all time in the NFL combine with 49 reps blowing the rest of the field away.  Marvin Austin, DL from North Carolina, came in second with 38 reps and Bruce Miller, DL from Central Florida, was third with 35 reps.

The vert jump is a measure of how far the player can jump straight up, and the broad jump is how far horizontally they can jump from a standing position.  Both are measures of explosive power in the legs.  The vert jump saw two players from the University of Nevada finish in the top 3.  Virgil Green, TE, finished first at 42.5 in. and Dontay Moch, DL, was tied for second with a jump of 42.0 in.  Jonathan Baldwin, WR from Pittsburgh, also jumped 42.0 in.  Green also finished third in the broad jump with a distance of 10′ 10″.  Baldwin also did well in this workout finishing tied for 5th with a distance of 10’9″.   But Julio Jones, WR from Alabama, took first with a near record jump of 11’3″, missing the record by a single inch. 

The last three workouts, the 3-cone drill, 20 yard shuttle, and 60 yard shuttle are all tests of agility.  The 3-cone drill has the players run a set pattern around 3 cones, while the shuttles are straight back and fourth dashes however the participant must touch the ground at set distances, just like the old “line drill” in basketball practice.  Jeffrey Maehl, WR from Oregon, finished first in the cone drill and set a new combine record with a time of 6.42 sec.  Buster Skrine, DB from Tennessee-Chattanooga, finished second at 6.44 sec.  These two also finished well in the 60 yard shuttle, with Skrine in first with a time of 10.75 sec. which was also a new record in this event.  Maehl finished 3rd at 10.88 sec.  Skrine rounded out another top 3 finish in agility workouts finishing tied for second in the 20 yard shuttle at a time of 3.90 sec.  First was achieved by Austin Pettis, WR from Boise St., at 3.88 sec.  Maehl came in at 4th place in this event with a time of 3.94 sec. and the other player tied for second was Shiloh Keo, DB from Idaho, with a time of 3.90 sec. 

Again these were not the only things that the players performed, many also ran a series of drills and game situations such as catching the ball or making cuts while holding the ball.  All of the coaches will take this into consideration when making their future selections in the NFL draft coming up soon.  As you may have noticed, many of these top performers were from small non-BCS schools, which means that this will only help their stock value rise in the draft.

If you were one of few that missed it, the Green Bay Packers won the NFL Championship Super Bowl.  They defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers by a score of 31-25.  For most of the first half, it looked like the Packers were going to walk all over the Steelers and end the game early.  In the first quarter Aaron Rodgers threw a 29 yard. touchdown pass to Nelson for the first score of the game.  The next play, Nick Collins returned an interception 37 yards giving the Packers a 14-0 lead.  Starting out the second quarter the Steelers finally got on the board with a field goal, making the score 14-3.  The Packers answered with a Rodgers to Jennings 21 yard touchdown pass increasing their lead to 21-3.  The Steelers fired for a quick touchdown of their own, gaining momentum and making the score 21-10 at the half.  Coming out in the third quarter, it looked like the Packers already went home and the Steelers were finding their groove, scoring on a Mendenhall 8 yard run bringing the score within 4 at 21-17.  In the fourth quarter, both teams traded touchdowns and the Steelers converted a 2-point conversion making the score 28-25 Packers.  The Packers ran down the clock and made a field goal, increasing their lead to 31-25, and giving the ball back to the Steelers wtih just over 2 minutes remaining in the game.  The Packers defense held strong, and kept the Steelers out of the endzone winning the fourth Super Bowl in Packers history. 

image from nfl.com

Just two weeks later, most Major League Baseball players have reported to their spring training camps, getting in shape and warmed up for the up-coming season.  Spring training games start in just over a week, meaning that MLB Opening Day is just over a month away.  Several headlines have been made this off-season in baseball in the way of players being moved around.  Possibly the biggest news was the future of All-Star pitching ace Cliff Lee.  The Yankees and Rangers were in quite a battle over Lee, only to see him sign for less money with the Phillies.  This now gives the Phillies the BEST starting rotation in baseball, with Halladay, Hamels, Roy Oswalt, and Lee all four guys would be #1 starters for any other team.  The Red Sox also made some big moves in signing two top tier free agents in Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez.  Gonzalez has hit more than 30 home runs each of the last 4 seasons with the SD Padres while Crawford brings speed having stole 409 bases in his just over 8 years of Major League ball.  And just this week Albert Pujols made news by having not signed a new contract with the St. Louis Cardinals essentially telling everyone he will become a free agent after this season is complete.  I hope that you are all ready for baseball, I know that I am.

image by D. Silverman c/o patriots.com

The NFL regular season is nearing completion which means that the NFL playoffs are coming, and with the playoffs, comes the Super Bowl, which everyone looks forward to.  Most teams have two games remaining and still a shot to get into the playoffs.  4 teams have clinched a postseason berth, and 20 more are still in contention.  This field could double though, with five teams needing only to win this week to secure their spot.  The teams in are the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers for the AFC and the Atlanta Falcons and Chicago Bears in the NFC.  Both the Patriots and Falcons have records of 12-2 and can clinch their divisional lead and a first round bye if they win this week.  The Steelers have only one more game (since they played on Thursday) and have a record of 11-4, while the Bears were the first team this season to clinch a divisional title with a win over Minnesota last week.  They have a 10-4 record and can also clinch a first round bye with a win this week.

The teams that can clinch this week are the New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints and the New York Giants.  The Jets, Saints, and Ravens are 10-4 and will clinch at least a wild-card spot if they win on Sunday.  The Eagles are also 10-4 and will clinch a playoff spot and divisional title with a win or a loss by the Giants.  The Giants however, can clinch their own spot into the playoffs if they win against the Green Bay Packers, in Green Bay.  The Kansas City Chiefs can win the AFC West division with a win this week and a loss by the San Diego Chargers.

Two other divisions currently have two teams tied for first place.  The AFC South has both the Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars at 8-6, and the Colts are in control of their own destiny.  All that they have to do is win, holding tie-breaker advantage over the Jaguars.  In the NFC West, the St. Louis Rams and Seattle Seahawks are tied for divisional lead with dismal records of 6-8.  At this point their are several scenarios that could play out between these two teams, but next week these two teams will face off for what should be a play for the divisional title. 

The teams that still have an outside chance, are the before mentioned Chargers and Packers.  The Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and (5-9) San Francisco 49ers have slim chances if they can get alot of help from several other teams.   So with only two weeks left of the NFL season, almost every teams does have something to play for.  This should be a great week of football.

image from fiestabowl.org

The Bowl Championship Season (BCS) for College football is upon us.  Starting next Saturday, Dec. 18th, the first of 35 bowl games will begin.  They will conclude almost a month later on Jan. 10th, with Oregon facing off against Auburn for the National Championship.  Along with these two teams, only one other teams managed to stay undefeated.  Auburn finished the season 13-0, Oregon 12-0, and TCU 12-0.  Auburn has clearly earned their spot with 5 of their 13 wins against top 20 teams.  They beat South Caroline twice, while they were ranked #12 then #19, #12 Arkansas, #6 LSU, and #11 Alabama (rankings are the team rank the week that they played against each other).  Oregon had wins over #9 Stanford, #24 USC, and #21 Arizona, while TCU at 12-0 only had wins over #5 Utah and #24 Oregon St. the first week of the season. 

There is always a battle between schools from non-BCS conferences like TCU, Boise St., and Nevada and how good they really are and wether or not their wins mean as much as schools from BCS conferences like Oregon and Auburn.  The champions of BCS conferences automatically make it to a BCS bowl that is worth millions of dollars for those schools.  BUT, they only allow one non-BCS school into these prized bowl games.  This year that is TCU since they are ranked so high.  But this year, 6 schools from non-BCS are in the top 25 and most of their losses came from top 25 teams.  Boise and Nevada are 11 – 1, Utah is 10-2.  #11 Boise lost to #15 Nevada which only lost to #24 Hawaii, and one of Utah’s losses was TCU.   

Each year there is huge debate and huge demand for some type of collegiate playoffs, and I would have to say I would love to see this as well.  Unfortunately for the time being we have to live with these 35 bowl games, for 70 teams.  The biggest problem with having a football playoff is that football is only played once a week, where other sports are played several times a week.  The bowl season is already 4 weeks long.  You could take the top 8 teams, and have them play it out.  This year that would be #1 Auburn, #2 Oregon, #3 TCU, #4 Stanford, #5 Wisconsin, #6 Ohio State, #7 Oklahoma, #8 Arkansas.  All of these are good programs, but two Oklahoma and Arkansas have 2 loses, and 3 teams (Michigan State, Boise State, and Nevada) are all 11 – 1 and left out.  One loss means the difference between a National Championship, making it to a BCS Bowl, or winning a conference title.  There is no easy answer, and no easy fix.  All we can do is enjoy these last few weeks and always wonder what if . . .

Hey all!  It has been a long while since my last post due to writing projects at work.  But no worries, I am doing fine and ready to kick back and relax.  A lot has happened in baseball since my last post, so I will try and sum up the biggest headlines.  

First off, if you have not heard, the San Francisco Giants won the World Series Championship.  Not only did they win, they made the Texas Rangers look bad in doing so.  They proved the old saying, that good pitching trumps good hitting any day.  And pitching was all the difference in this series.  The Giants took full advantage of Texas’ poor bull pen by scoring late and in bunches.  The World Series lasted only 5 games, with the Giants winning the first two games at home in San Francisco.  The Rangers would win the next game at their home in Texas, only to be shown up at home for the final two games both won by the Giants.  The Giants scored a combined 18 runs in the 7th and 8th innings, innings generally pitched by the bull pen.  The Rangers scored only 1 run in this same block of innings, though they did score 3 runs in the 9th inning of the first game, but the score was already 11-4 when they entered the 9th.  The Rangers had the better batting line-up, with HR sluggers Hamilton, Cruz, and Guerrero batting in the 3, 4, and 5 holes, but they were pretty quiet.  All of the Rangers were quiet for the most part, getting shut out twice in the 5 games and scoring 1 run in the final game.  Outside of the first two games where the Giants scored a total of 20 runs, they would score 4 runs or less in the final three games, however their pitchers came through.  Aparently good pitching does generally win.   

Roy Halladay

Several awards were also given out in baseball between both leagues.  MLB announced the MVP, Cy Young Award, Manager of the Year, and the Rookies of the Year winners.  For the American League, 3 of the 4 awards were won by members of the AL West.  The fourth award was Manager of the Year, won by Ron Gardenhire of the Minnesota Twins.  The glorious (choke) AL East was left out of the most prestigeous awards.  Josh Hamilton, OF Texas Rangers, won the AL MVP.  Neftali Feliz, also of the Rangers, won the AL Rookie of the Year as the closer, racking up 40 saves.  Felix Hernandez, pitcher for the Seattle Mariners, won the AL Cy Young proving that wins are not everything in this award.  He had only a 13  – 12 record, but led all of baseball in ERA and innings pitched, and was second in strikeouts.  

Felix Hernandez

The NL MVP was won by Joey Votto, OF for the Cincinnati Reds, besting year to year favorite Albert Pujols.  Roy Halladay, won the NL Cy Young pitching for the Phillies, becoming just the fifth pitcher in history to win this award in both leagues.  Buster Posey, catcher for the Giants, won the Rookie of the Year and Bud Black won the NL Manager of the Year, despite his team, the San Diego Padres not making it into the playoffs.      images and stats from mlb.com