First of all, if you're a sports fan (I know many of my readers aren't) and you didn't watch the national championship game last night, you missed a lot. Rarely does a game live up to the kind of hype we've heard over the last few weeks, but this one did. You want big time performances? How about Matt Leinart completing 72% of his passes for 365 yards and a touchdown. Or Reggie Bush racking up the quietest 275 total yards in history, and a touchdown. Or LenDale White (who is almost as good an NFL prospect as Bush) rushing for 124 yards and 3 touchdowns.
But the star of the night was Vince Young, who accounted for an astounding 467 yards of total offense, completed 75% of his passes and scored 3 touchdowns. He said all the right things about just wanting to help his team win and what a great team USC is, but you know that he's spent the last few months getting really tired of hearing Reggie Bush's name in front of his. He was cursed to play at the same time with the next Gale Sayers, but if it wasn't for Bush we would all be talking about the historic year Young had at quarterback. He's simply one of the most unique athletes I've ever seen.
This was a great college football game, with dramatic 4th down plays, great performances all over the field and one player rising above all the others to put his name up in lights with one of the most incredible single game performances I've ever seen in any sport. And by the way, the Sports Guy kept a running diary of the game. As usual, it's hilarious.
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I'm not a football fan, but the game was on several of the tvs as I was working the Sweden vs Czech Republic World Junior hockey game last night. We only caught the end of the football game. The audio guy gave us a play-by-play of the last few seconds over the headset.
It's kinda too bad the US team can only fight for bronze; our teams have a nice rivalry going, if only in the minds of the fans. However, the Russian team is exciting to watch. I'm almost rooting for them to beat us. They're that enjoyable to see play well.
For the record, even though the US team was the top pick going into this tournament, in my opinion they haven't really played as a team. They look like a bunch of individuals on the ice and it's really hurt them. We'll see if they can figure out how to get past Finland's goalie.
Definitely a great game last night. For all the faults of the BCS, it's tough to criticize the results of this championship. Lots of exciting bowl games this year; I thought the Penn State/Florida State game was excellent also, as well as the OSU/Notre Dame match-up. They hyped the Rose Bowl to death this year, and I was glad it lived up to it. I am looking forward to going to bed before 1am though...
I know you're primarily a Duke basketball fan, but there's a huge Spartan game tonight too; will be very telling as far as the strength of this year's team.
Dave L wrote:
Well, I'm a Spartan fan as well and you're right, tonight's game is huge. In fact, MSU starts a brutal stretch of games tonight. Their next 6 games: at #6 Illinois, at #24 Wisconsin, home against #15 Indiana, at #18 Ohio State, home against preseason top 20 team Iowa (only out of the top 20 because their point guard missed several games with an injury), and at Michigan (who is deep and talented enough to beat anyone in the big ten). They also finish the Big Ten season with those teams in reverse order. If they can come out of that stretch of games 4-2, they're in great shape. 3-3 would be acceptable given how difficult it is to win on the road in the conference.
I'll definitely be watching tonight. I really think Illinois is overrated. They played a pretty easy preseason schedule. Dee Brown is a terrific player, of course, and James Augustine is a solid big man. But Jamar Smith and James McBride have to match up against Maurice Ager and Shannon Brown and those are both major mismatches. And Augustine has to match up with Paul Davis, who is having a first team all-American season so far. They're playing at home and that's a big plus, but I just don't see Illinois winning this game unless they get really hot from 3 point range and the MSU guards have a bad night.
Honestly, the two teams that scare me the most of those 6 are Indiana and Michigan. Killingsworth is a beast for Indiana and DJ White is back in the lineup and working himself into shape. MSU has a tough time matching up with two good big men at the same time. Plus their guards have been shooting the lights out from 3 point range. And Michigan is a much better team than many realize. They've got 3 very good wing players in Horton, Harris and Abram and 3 good big men in Sims, Hunter and Brown. If they get Petway back any time soon, that adds another good big man and tremendous athleticism to the team. I don't understand how they're not ranked higher. They've lost twice this year, both to top 15 teams and both were competitive games to the end.
Long time lurker, second time poster -
Before I watched the battle of #1 draft picks, I watched a "Homework Basketball" video - a series by Pistol Pete - A real treat - my son's basketball feeder team coach recommended them - EXCELLENT for anyone wanting to improve their own (or kids) basketball skills.
ALSO - EXTRA CREDIT - "The Brushback" (thebrushback.com) has a great article on the Pope sending J J Reddick hate mail. It's funny as a Fat Fundy at an AP Biology Exam!
GO ILL INI!
My favorite sportsguy quote:
"He's so close to Gale Sayers in so many ways, I would almost be afraid to be a white fullback on his NFL team next year. "
At the risk of finding myself "racked", I will channel Jim Rome and say that game was epic. I am glad everyone in the nation got to see why UT fans argued so strongly for Vince as a Heisman candidate -- the guy is truly special. Even more impressive than his athletic ability (which is formidable) is his poise. He just doesn't get ruffled. He's as calm and in control a player as I've ever seen, it's almost eerie the confidence he has that he will prevail and that things will work out right for him.
I feel lucky to have seen the game, and extremely fortunate to be a UT fan while Vince played for them. I've got $20 and a lunch on a bet with a coworker that VY is NFL-bound on January 15. "I've got to sit down with my family" is almost as rock-solid an indicator that he's leaving as "I am giving my GM (or coach) a complete vote of confidence" is that someone is about to get fired.
On a final note, if by some stroke of fortune the UT basketball team wins the championship this year (unlikely but not impossible -- they're very good and getting better), UT will simultaneously hold the national titles in baseball, football, and basketball. That would be something.
One thing i noticed last night was the glaring absence of Norm Chow with relation to the USC offense. He would not have called the plays that were called, and quite possibly would have made the difference. Otherwise, the end of a really fine series of bowl games all in all. Now, as the posters above have evoked--onward to bastketball.
We don't even get a DAY?! Man, if USC had won you'd hear nothing but how awesome they are for the next two weeks. Texas wins and in less than 12 hours we're off to basketball land. There ain't no justice, I tells ya!
Fortunately, I know that true Texans will never let the rest of the world forget we won, a hundred years from now we'll still be cackling over it. I mean come on, we still crow about the Alamo and we LOST that fight, you have no idea how obnoxious it can get when we WIN!
Jeff
I have to agree that Vince Young's performance was one of the most amazing I've ever seen. I watched Michael Jordan play hundreds of times, but I don't think I've ever seen any athlete in any sport dominate a game the way Vince Young dominated the Rose Bowl. As an Illini fan, I have found it hard to root for Texas ever since John Mackovic left Illinois to "win a national championship" at Texas (which he apparently could not do with Jeff George and the best defense in college football. Anyone remember Simeon Rice?). But Vince won me over.
By the way, I won't comment on the Spartans' loss last night ...
DPvE wrote:
Well, I will. I said yesterday that the only way Illinois wins is if they get hot from the outside and the MSU guards have a bad day - bingo. Dee Brown was unconscious from the outside. But I have to give credit to the Illinois defense for Ager and Brown having bad games. Their defense is a lot better than I thought it was. Give all the credit to Bruce Weber and to Dee Brown, who was sensational.
Ed, I agree with your assessment, although I withhold judgment as to whether Illinois is overrated. Truthfully, they cannot be as good as they were last year after having lost Powell, Head and Williams. On the other hand, no one took the Illini seriously last year, and look what happened. So, I'm on the fence at this point.
By the way, I love the Spartans, too. I have no connections to MSU, but since MSU fans hate Michigan in football and Indiana in basketball, I have to root for MSU. Besides, who could dislike Judd Heathcoat?! His green blazer was almost as bad as Lou Henson's orange blazer.
Dave.
Dave wrote:
I never thought Heathcote was much of a coach, but he's absolutely impossible to dislike. And not only did you have his green blazer and Henson's orange one, you had their hair! The famous Lou Do and Heathcote's forward-combed gray hair. And now Gene Keady, the last link to that old era, has retired. I remember ESPN about 15 years ago doing a feature where they put cameras on Heathcote and Keady when Purdue and MSU played and just recorded them on the sidelines. Then they played it on Sportscenter, clips of the two of them ranting and raving and smacking themselves in the head. It was hilarious. Those two were way more entertaining than the games sometimes.
"Honestly, the two teams that scare me the most of those 6 are Indiana and Michigan."
Looking like some of the team forgot about Wisconsin. Once the NFL game got out of control i stopped jumping between the two, and stayed with basketball. Damn. From tied to down by twelve and now eighteen. Sorry about your weekend ending on this note.
Ed said, "The famous Lou Do and Heathcote's forward-combed gray hair."
Neither of those hair-dos could compare to the Keady combover. That was the funniest thing on television. Plus, I don't think I ever saw him smile. He was a classic.
spyder-
Brutal week for MSU. They just collapsed completely against Wisconsin. I'm a bit nervous right now.
Ed, Illinois collapsed too, against Iowa.
By the way, jcw, I think I read somewhere that Gene Keady once played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Could that be true?