BCS is B-O-G-U-S
by Kamo

In what has become a rite of fall, the running joke of college football (a.k.a. the BCS) has once again reared its ugly head and the nightmare of having numerous undefeated teams at the end of the season is becoming more and more of a possibility with each passing week. As it stands right now, there are five remaining unbeatens: USC, Texas, Virginia Tech, Alabama, and UCLA. There will be no more than four unbeatens at seasons end as USC and UCLA have yet to play one another, however, this scenario could play out: Let's just say that USC does indeed beat UCLA in their season finale and Texas, VT, and Alabama all win out. What you have is four teams from four major conferences, meaning that the road to an unbeaten season was more difficult than it would be for a team like Utah, who did it last season in the Mountain West. Whats more, all of these teams believe they belong in the Rose Bowl and how can you blame them for believing that? So I beg the question: How can you say that USC and Texas are more deserving than VT and Bama or vice versa? The bottom line is that you simply can't. So, I propose my playoff format. Its simple, it still leaves room for bowls (because, of course, that is where the money comes from) and it crowns an undisputed National Champ each season.

-- First and foremost, what any college football follower needs to know is that the bowl season will never die and to be frank, I don't think it should. Bowl games are as much apart of college football as kegs and eggs, and I will be the first to agree that the bowls should stay around. So, naturally, all 28 bowls will be played in their entirety.

-- Secondly, eliminate teams having more than one bye week. It is an 11 game season that, as of right now, stretches 15 weeks. Make it uniform that every team begins the season on the same weekend and every team ends the same weekend. Play the conference championships on week 12 and the playoffs will begin on week 13, so this season the playoffs would begin on December 10th.

-- Lets do the math: 28 Bowls would equate to 56 teams being bowl eligible. I propose a committee being formed, in similar fashion to March Madness, to pick the top 56 teams that will be bowl eligible. Like the NCAA Basketball Tournament, each conference must have at least one representative and there will also be at-large bids with the lesser bowls picking from a pool of teams. So, for example, (are you listening New Orleans and GMAC bowls?) the five bowls that payout the least get to pick from the bottom 10, the next five pick from the second to last 10 and so on. This continues until you get to the eight bowls that are on New Years Day or later, which leaves the top 16 teams in the nation (as generated by the, ugh, BCS) to be the playoff teams.

-- Now, here is where it gets tricky. Those lesser bowls I just talked about usually begin around the beginning of the third week of December and the teams playing in those bowls are typically not going to be in contention for a playoff berth anyhow so those bowls would be safe for picking those lower rated teams. However, for those bowls that are on New Years Day or later (Cotton, Gator, Outback, Capital One, & the four BCS bowls) they won't know their respective matchups until after the playoffs begin. So, here is the final proposition:

-- The first round is played on December 10th with the top eight teams having home field advantage. The eight teams that get beat in the first round are then picked up by the Cotton, Gator, Outback, and Capital One bowls which ensures that there are no rematches from the playoffs. The second and third rounds play out in a similiar fashion until only two teams remain. So if it was happening this year, the two top teams would play one another in the Rose Bowl for the National Championship. The other three bowls would pick up the other six teams that were elimnated in the 2nd and 3rd rounds to form the BCS, but with a playoff.

-- Confused? Ok, let me try and show you what I mean by using the top 16 from the BCS today:

1st Round - Dec 10th, 2005
USC vs. Florida
Texas vs. Texas Tech
Virginia Tech vs. Notre Dame
Alabama vs. Oregon
UCLA vs. Wisconsin
Miami vs. Georgia
Penn State vs. Ohio State
LSU vs. Florida State

2nd Round - Dec 17th, 2005
USC vs. LSU
Texas vs. Penn State
VT vs. Miami
Alabama vs. UCLA

3rd Round - Dec 24th, 2005
USC vs. Alabama
Texas vs. VT

National Championship - Jan 4th, 2005
USC vs. Texas


As each team drops out they are picked up by a certain bowl, thus ensuring a true National Champ and having the bowl season still be intact. Of course, this is all in a perfect world, which of course the BCS is nothing like that. Well, that is it for tonight. If you like us, email us at theirishbuckeye@hotmail.com and tell us why- we always love and appreciate praise. If you don't like us, too bad, because it doesn't really matter what you think because we are the ones who are writing this stuff. Happy Halloween.

What's on My Cranium?
by Wilson

- NBA players, shut up. Most of us have to wear "business casual" clothing for over 8 hours every day. You have to wear it for a twenty minute busride, and then for an hour after you make $300,000 playing basketball. And don't even start this racism stuff. How can the NBA be prejudiced against blacks when there's eight white guys in the league?

- The Pirates now have a legit Major League manager with a history of recent success, so the focus now shifts to Dave Littlefield and Kevin McClatchy. There's a talented, young, and very inexpensive nucleus there, and with the payroll expected to go up nearly $20 million, the decision on how that extra money is spent can either save or bury this franchise. I propose a two-year plan: get over .500 in 2006 (although that's not really impressive. I mean, if the Pirates had won 82 games this year, they still would have been 18 games out of first), and then in 2007 make a serious run at the World Series. Any more lousy signings or rebuilding plans, and they'll lose the few real fans they have left.

- Good thing I don't like hockey, cause I'd sure be pissed about the Penguins dreadful start to this season.

- Even if that overrated twit Ray Lewis and properly rated beast Ed Reed would play on Monday, the Ravens still would not have a chance against the Steelers. Their running back is playing like he just got out of prison or something (um...oh wait), their starting QB is a former 3rd stringer here, and his backup may have been the most unpopular quarterback in Pittsburgh history. Great athlete, but not mentally tough. My prediction: Steelers 31, Ravens 6.

- It's scary to think that if Pitt wins the rest of their games, they'll win the Big East and go to a BCS bowl for the second straight year, where they will get annhilated for the second straight year. It says a lot about how bad the Big East is, and how ridiculous the BCS has become, when a team that got stomped by Rutgers and Ohio is still in the running for one of the four biggest bowls in college football.

- When the heck did the NBA start? I couldn't care less.

- When does college basketball start? As lousy as Big East football is, Big East basketball should be amazing.

- The USA will reach at least the semifinals of the World Cup in 2006...and 35 people in this country will care.

- I didn't get a chance to watch all of the USC-Notre Dame game cause of Gratchio's wedding, but everyone's saying it's one of the greatest games, if not the greatest game, in college football history. The parts I saw were good, but nothing will ever compare to the 2003 Fiesta Bowl between Miami and Ohio State, and I'm not just saying that because I'm an OSU fan. That was everything a football fan could want in a game: the top two teams, playing for the top prize, going back and forth into double overtime until one team finally gets it done. The only negatives from that game were the controversial interference call(which was right, albeit a little delayed), and the fact that BCS proponents can point to that game as proof the system works.

- This has nothing to do with sports, but in the past month I have seen the two greatest bands in the world live in what may prove to be the two biggest tours ever. After seeing the Rolling Stones back in September, I thought that U2 would have had to put on the show of their lives to even come close to matching Mick and company. They didn't disappoint. This past Saturday's concert was every bit as good as the Stones show. Once again I was right on the outside edge of the ellipse, which U2 used quite a lot. Being less than ten feet away from one of the greatest artists ever is quite a rush. Both shows were so good, that I'm worried about any future concerts I attend being a letdown. I don't know if anything can top what I've seen the past month, except for the next Stones tour and U2 tour!

That's it for this week, mates. We'd love to hear what you think about this little slice of heaven on the world wide web. Of course, we don't care what you think; we just like the attention. Email us with your questions/comments/complaints/turn-ons at theirishbuckeye@hotmail.com. Maybe we'll post your email, maybe not. If you do get your email posted, you win a prize: the fame of having your email read by the 8 people that read this thing. Bye!

Just Win, Baby
by Wilson

"You show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser." - Woody Hayes.

I cannot get enough of that quote. That one sentence sums up how one should approach any situation in life, and it was uttered by one of sports' greatest winners. Hayes's desire to win was unparalleled, and it was manifested in four national championships and thirteen Big Ten titles over a 20+ year tenure at Ohio State. His hatred of losing was such that after a Clemson linebacker intercepted a Buckeye pass in the 1978 Gator Bowl, he ran over and punched him. Hayes was fired after that incident, but he left behind a legacy of winning, and thanks to him OSU has been one of the top college football programs in the country for decades.

Back in Hayes's day, sports were all about winning. If a team stunk, they did not enter a five-year rebuilding program, but rather they aimed to win it all the very next year. When Chuck Noll became coach of the Steelers in 1969, he inherited a laughingstock that had not won a playoff game in its 36 year history. But he was not concerned with that; he set the goal of winning and winning immediately. He won his first game in '69, then lost the remaining 14. Still, that did not deter him from his goal, and three years later the Steelers were in the playoffs. By 1980, he had turned the Steelers from a franchise of losers to one that could boast the greatest team in NFL history, and it was because he did not accept losing or failure.

Sadly, this philosophy is not the dominant one in sports. A tolerance, and in some cases a support, of losing pervades it now. Why did people cheer for the Red Sox, who failed-sometimes miserably-to win a championship for 86 years, and why are people starting to jump on the similarly-unlucky White Sox bandwagon? Why is the backup quarterback the most popular guy in town, when he is nothing more than the least incompitent backup? Why does Temple continue to play Division IA football, even though they get killed every game and haven't been to a bowl since the Stone Age? Why in God's name do people still go see the Pirates, who have not had a winning season in 13 years and a title in 26? We have come to accept losing, thinking that as long as the effort is there, it's alright, and someday things will work out.

This is also a problem in our own little towns. Schools no longer let kids play dodgeball because the good athletes always take out the bad ones first and it leads to inequality. Did your Little League coaches ever say to you, "It's not whether you win or lose; it's how you play the game"? Or what about, "We're not here to win. We're here to have fun." That's a bunch of bull. I don't know about any of you, but I never had much fun losing. Even something as trivial as, well, Trivial Pursuit, I played to win, and I was royally pissed when I lost. By cheering for losers and deemphasizing victory and superior ability, we are sending children the wrong message. You think dodgeball shows inequalities? What about when these kids are 21 or 22, and one went to college and did well, while the other stayed at home and smoked weed? Are we gonna make sure they have the same type of job so as not to display superior skills? No, the smart kid will get a nice job at Highmark, while the dumbass is super-sizing the smart kid's lunch.

What people are forgetting in this whole thing is that our society, and indeed human existence, is predicated on refusing to accept defeat. In the Revolutionary War, the soldiers that would go on to become the first Americans were greatly outnumbered, outclassed, and undersupplied, but what they did have was a stronger will to win. They no longer wanted to be under British rule, and they would have rather died than go back to that way of life. Many of them did, but many more didn't, and for that reason we're American instead of Western British.

Humans have survived wars, famine, plagues, earthquakes, hurricanes, and everything else thrown at us, because we have always found a way to win. Whether it was cross-pollination of wheat, bomb shelters, or something as simple as an evacuation plan, we refused to lose and instead thought of a way to survive. So next time you put on your Red Sox hat, buy your Pirate ticket, yell for a starting QB to be benched, or tell your son that it's ok that he didn't win, you are going against everything we have done to get this far.

Instant Classic Provides Hearbreak & Hope
by Kamo

As the final three seconds ticked off the clock at Notre Dame Stadium Saturday night, the realization that my Irish had just lost the greatest game I had ever seen began to set in. I had long since crumbled to my knees after Matt Leinart pushed (oh, wait, Reggie Bush pushed) his way into the endzone, signaling the end of another classic between the Irish and the Trojans. As I watched USC celebrate, a feeling of utter heartbreak fell over me: Not once in my 22 years of being a Notre Dame fanatic had I ever felt so poorly after a game. For instance, there was 1993 whenever Boston College nailed a last second field goal to squash the Irish' chances for a National Championship. Let's also not leave out the last two years of rooting for the Irish under Tyrone Willingham, an experience that was equal parts depressing and sickening at the same time. All of these experiences rolled into one, however, could not come close to matching the feeling that came with the loss on Saturday night.

I sat in the dark for awhile afterward and thought about the game. I cried a little, I got a little angry, and then something happened, something that I had not felt in a long time in regards to Notre Dame football hit me- Hope. Something amazing happened to the Irish on Saturday between the opening kickoff and Leinart's game-winning touchdown. For the first time in a long time, Notre Dame decided it could go toe-to-toe with Goliath, only, the Irish weren't playing the part of David. Notre Dame played like they were the #1 team in college football and for 59 minutes and 53 seconds, they pushed USC around and dominated every facet of the game. But alas, the Trojans won the only battle that really matters and, for this season, proved that they are indeed the best team in the nation. But fear not, because it is indeed a special time to be a Notre Dame fan. Charlie Weis is doing some special things, the least of which is instilling in his team that each and every time they run on the field they have a chance. The days of ND being double digit underdogs and losing by thirty at home are over. The legends of the fall are back, and order is going to be restored. Don't look know but... HERE COME THE IRISH!!!

Tommy Maddox... You Suck
The Steelers loss to the Jaguars on Sunday was a tough one to swallow. Point blank, with Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh wins. With Charlie Batch, Pittsburgh wins. Hell, with Brian St. Pierre or even Rod Rutherford (ok, maybe going a bit far), Pittsburgh wins. Maybe I am missing something, but I thought the idea was the throw the ball to the guys wearing the same colored jerseys. Apparently Tommy "Gun" (what a loser) forgot that because he completed over 1/4 as many passes to the Jaguars (3) as he did to his own receivers (11). His quarterback rating of 30.1 was clearly lower than Bill Cowher's IQ on Sunday and afterwards Maddox said of getting booed, "I was disappointed in that, I'd be lying if I said no. When you have a track record in a city like I do here, I was disappointed." Hey, moron, you had 4 turnovers Sunday and in your last 22 appearances you have accounted for 28 turnovers total. It is a wonder that someone hasn't thrown you into one of the three rivers yet. Besides all that the underlying issue is this: Without Ben, the Steelers are in trouble. If you doubt that anyone manages a game better than him look no further than Sunday, and oh yeah, Tommy- YOU SUCK.

Well, that's it for tonight. If you like what we put, IM us and tell us why- we always appreciate compliments. If you don't like it, too bad because we are going to write what we want so go get the herp from Ron Mexico.

Who Needs to Be There?
by Wilson

"Art Ditmar [sic] throws. There's a swing and a high fly ball going deep to left. This may do it! Back to the wall goes [Yogi] Berra! It is . . . over the fence, home run, the Pirates win! Ladies and gentlemen, Mazeroski has hit a one-nothing pitch over the left field fence at Forbes Field to win the 1960 World Series for the Pittsburgh Pirates!" – Chuck Thompson, October 13, 1960.

It is a moment that will forever be the greatest play in Pittsburgh Pirate history, and probably the most memorable home run ever hit (don’t even try to say Bobby Thompson’s is better. The only reason people remember that is for the radio call). Pirate fans still go to the remains of Forbes Field in Oakland every October 13 and play the entire radio broadcast of the game at the same time the game itself was played. Pittsburghers of all ages know the story, from the baby boomers that listened to it on the way home from school, to their kids that are told about it every time they go to PNC Park. It truly is a great moment not just in Pittsburgh sports history, where it ranks up there with the Immaculate Reception, but in the great history of baseball and indeed sports in America.

And you can’t find a tape of the game anywhere.

Back in the 50s and 60s, film was very expensive, and rolls were often used several times, thus eliminating some great shows and moments from the early days of television. Game seven of the 1960 World Series is an unfortunate victim of this, as only bits and pieces remain. Luckily, the best part was saved, and it can be viewed and cherished forever.

We now live in an era where we no longer have to worry about missing our favorite game, or not being able to watch it. We have ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN U, ESPN Classic, DirecTV, Fox Sports (insert region here), and about twenty other channels on which we can see any sport imaginable. If you can’t watch your game, it’s not being played. Sadly, this overexposure is killing sports, and in turn killing the very networks that show them.
ESPN, once the only all-sports network on TV, has become a shell of the great channel it once was. SportsCenter has become The Stuart Scott “Boo-ya!” Hour, featuring all the latest news on the Yankees, Red Sox, Patriots, and Terrell Owens. After seven straight showings of the same episode, we are treated to an afternoon of…fishing and the World Scrabble Championship? How do sitting in a boat drinking beer, and freaking Scrabble constitute sports? After these debacles we get an hour of smart and informative sports writers giving their opinions on a wide range of sports topics. Oh, wait, it’s a bunch of loudmouths screaming about the Yankees, Red Sox, Patriots, and Terrell Owens. While Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn were good shows at first, the act got very tired after the first 75,000 times they did the same thing over and over again, and now it’s not worth watching that while waiting for yet another SportsCenter.

After that, you’ll get to spend the evening with – surprise! – the Red Sox or the Yankees! While ESPN has many flaws now, including covering all the unsavory characters in sports and the crimes they commit, they all pale in comparison to the flagrant East Coast bias that its managers desperately try to deny. A few days ago, when the Angels defeated the Yankees and eliminated them from the postseason, did SportsCenter lead off with a story on them winning? No, we instead got a sad story about the poor $203 million Yanks experiencing heartbreak again. If George Steinbrenner sneezes, it gets more attention than the assassination of the President would. The Red Sox, who “only” spent about $130 million in each of the past two seasons, get similar treatment, as if their story about buying good players and still messing up is supposed to elicit sympathy from fans. The Patriots, winners of three of the past four Super Bowls, are suddenly the only thing that has mattered in the 86-year history of the NFL, even though they were outplayed in their first two title victories and had to rely on last-second field goals to win.

The hype surrounding events has gotten horribly out of hand in recent years too. The Yankees and Red Sox is bigger than the Allies vs. the Axis Powers, a star player going back to play against a former team is bigger than Jesus entering Jerusalem, and every Saturday you can watch College Gameday give an early September game between Minnesota and Prairie View as much analysis as the Super Bowl.

Things like that are what are really killing sports. We have become desensitized to great games and moments, because we hear about them constantly in the weeks before and after it. The NBA slam-dunk contest, once the event of the year in pro basketball, is now an afterthought and was even discontinued for a few years. The reason? SportsCenter showed every dunk in every game, and they were no longer remarkable feats. The same thing with great defensive plays in baseball. Between Web Gems, The Ultimate Highlight, and Plays of the Week, we’ve seen them enough times that we might be able to replicate them. And who cares if you can’t get a ticket or you’re working when the game’s going on? Tivo it! Being at a game no longer impresses someone with HDTV, surround sound, and that NFL package where you can watch 8 games on one screen. Heck, the viewer probably had a better experience than the person that actually attended the game.

It’s sad to think that we may never again feel the excitement those Bucco fans felt 45 years ago today. We can no longer go running down our streets screaming the outcome of the game for those that could not watch it. We will not be able to tell our kids how we saw a great moment in person without hearing, “Yeah, I just downloaded that play yesterday.” One of the great things about being a sports fan used to be how we could live vicariously through our favorite team or player. We wanted so bad to be part of the action, to be really involved and immersed in the game. Well, it looks like we got our wish, but we paid a huge price for it.


On a side note, I want to say how excited I am to be working on this Blog with Kamo. Even though we argue immensely on college football (he being a Notre Dame fan, and me being an Ohio State supporter...hence the name of the blog, stupid), I consider him a good friend and very wise in the way of sports. I hope you all enjoy our wild views on the world of sports, and if you don't I hope you contract the bird flu.

Welcome to Irish Buckeyes
By Kamo

With this being the “opener” so to speak of IrishBuckeyes, I wanted to take the time to say that this is a great opportunity to have this blog with Doug and it should provide more reading material and an even greater supply of sports knowledge to all who should glance across this. Doug and I are slightly different in who our college teams are, but we do have some things in common; Drinking violations, Aurelius Hall 5^th Floor, and the Stillers. So, if you love us, IM us and let us know- we always appreciate compliments. In contrast, if you don’t like us, too bad… we’re going to write whatever we want and there is nothing you can do about it so go get the herp from Ron Mexico.

Football Player’s Death Should Open Some Eyes

Among the many highlights of the Penn Quaker’s 53-7 rout of Bucknell last Saturday was the play of the Ambrogi brothers. Kyle Ambrogi, a senior backup running back had his best game, rushing for two third quarter touchdowns. In the second quarter, his brother Greg scooped up a Bucknell fumble and returned it for a touchdown. It was a seemingly glorious day for the entire Ambrogi family as Donna was in attendance to witness her two sons score touchdowns in the same game and Greg would say afterwards, “…We, as brothers, got to score in the same game and did so on different sides of the ball. It was awesome."

It all seemed to good to be true; two brothers playing at a respected Ivy League school coming off the best games of their respective careers. That was until Monday whenever Kyle Ambrogi ended his life at the tender age of 21 by committing suicide at his home in Haverton, Pennsylvania. This is a tragic occurrence that should have big time football programs doing more to help its players with whatever mental health issues they may have. It is frightening to think of how many student athletes are going through the same thing that young Kyle Ambrogi was and it is my hope that school administrations will look into this problem and prevent this from ever happening again.

Is it Saturday yet?

I am going to be honest… I love college football. I mean, I would rather watch a bad college game (Kent State vs. Ohio on Nov 4^th anyone?) than watch a “great” NFL game. Other than my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers, the NFL is too bland and too boring. Give me the spread offense and a Tuesday night game featuring two WAC teams and I am a happy camper. With that said, I ask the question: Is it Saturday yet? Now, I am a huge Notre Dame fan and by huge I am saying that if my father weren’t on call this weekend I would spend $2000 on tickets to the USC game. This game will be closer than people think, but because the last game I actually made a prediction on was Michigan State I am going to refrain from making a pick this week. Just make sure to be tuned into NBC at 3:00 EDT on Saturday to see what I am talking about. With that said, I do want to predict a few things for Saturday:

1. Texas will beat Colorado by 3 TDs. Vince Young is the best player in college football this season.

2. The Big East “showdown” between Louisville and WVU will show everyone why that BCS bid they are playing for should be given to the SEC as an automatic bid for its second place team. The thought of WVU playing in a BCS bowl is sickening.

3. Michigan is going to beat Penn State. The Nittany Lions are good, but after last week they are going to be hungover in the Big House- not good.

That’s it for tonight… enjoy the football weekend and HERE COME THE IRISH!!!