college football week one.... so far

College football is back and I can not be happier. It started off good for me on Thursday. CMU won our home opener 31-12. Now yes it was against EIU, but a win is a win. Also our defense did look a lot better. Our offense did what they had to do, but it looked like they didn't want to show too much for the big game next week, OK so it will not be a big game, it will just be a big win for the number one team in the nation, but hey, we will take our check and move on. As far as Saturday games I did not watch as many as I would have liked, cause I went to Detroit for the Tigers game for a friend's bachelor party, but we had a suit, so I did get to watch most the of the msu-cal game and the ILL-Mizzu game. So lets talk about a few of the bigger games, or bigger wins, yesterday.... In no order what so ever:

usc- uva- wow, I know Virgina is not the best, but they are a bcs school paying a home game and get beat 52-7. USC is sick, wow our they good. I am feeling a lot better about my pick of them to beat osu, and run the table and play OK in the title game and win.

osu-ysu- enjoy the easy win while u can, usc is going to beat them, I feel very good about that now

msu-cal- I am a cmu grad and a chip through and through, but if I had to pick a big ten school to cheer for it would be msu, so I do consider myself a fan. I watched most of the game, since the Tigers were getting killed, and I liked some of the things I saw from their offense. Ringer ran hard, and they have some big play threats. Mark dell is going to be a beast. But their defense needs to get better. A team is trying to run out the clock by running the ball, you can't give up big yards, first downs and touchdowns. Lots of missed tackles and that will have to improve. Also throwing up a pick off your back foot with 14 seconds left in the 1st half, when you are on the ten, down 10 was just a really bad move to make for a qb, especially a sr co captain, he should know better

uofm-utah- I picked Utah to win this game, so I am glad I was right, but I do feel a little bad for my friends that our Michigan fans. They have some work to do. I think they will be good again, but it will not be this year. Their defense didn't look as good as most people thought it would. Don't get me wrong, Utah is actually a good team, but Michigan will lose at least 3 more games this year, maybe more.

Ill-Mizzu- Well I was wrong on this one. Mizzu looked great, and I see them running the table and setting up a big 2 vs 3 match up winner goes to the bcs title game vs OK in the big 12 title game.

BG-Pitt- mac love, that's all

Clemson-Bama- wow, Clemson did not look good. Replacing those 4 starters on the O line hurt a lot, and they need to get CJ and Davis more, and I mean a lot more, touches. Bama looked really good, they got some great young talent, that should be a interesting team to watch this year.

There were of course lots more, but week one is mostly cupcakes, I am looking forward to watching ken-lou here today, and ucla-tenn tomorrow. I am just so happy college football is back and we are less then a week away from the start of the NFL season, thank god.

Top Ten Olympic moments

So the Olympics are now over, and I am actually a little sad. But before football starts, 10 days for the NFL, this Thursday for college, yeah, so pumped, lets do one last Olympic post with my top ten moments from the games.


10) 5 of Phelps' 6 individual races- the ones that were not close
9) May and Walsh- back to back golds, yeah for beach VB.. men won too
8) US women Basketball- gold again, they just rolled
7) Phelps last gold in the IM relay- I know the last one was the, but it was not my favorite moment, because of how close some of the other ones were
6) Usain Bolt's 100m- sick, just sick
5) Usain Bolt's 200 and 4by100 relay- he is a beast
4) US women's soccer- yeah I like soccer, leave me alone.. great game, and pay back from Brazil
3) Phelp's 100 Fly- it was so sick, and really close, but it is not number one for me.
2) US Men's basketball- the gold comes home, they played well, and it was a good gold medal game against real competition, I wish manu didn't get hurt, I don't want excuses
1) Phelps and co, mainly lensico (sp? sorry) in the 4 by 100 Free- we have owned that event, in the same way normally the 4 by 100 relay in track is ours, the 4 by 100 free is ours, and what a great comeback. I can not believe he caught him, that was sick. Plus is was Phelps first gold, and I really think that sent the tone for the rest of the Olympics for Phelps.

Football on Thursday, I can't wait. I'm right, you're wrong

A problem or two

So today back to back I watched the US Women's softball teams and soccer teams go for the gold medal. I know a lot of people don't care about either sport, or team, but both teams are very good, two great chances for medals for the US, one, softball would have been considered all but a lock, 22 wins in a row in the Olympics, and has won ever gold medal. And I happen to actually like softball, I enjoy watching it. Soccer is a game I played for many many years, and I love soccer, and enjoy watching women's soccer just as much as men's. The soccer team had a great game, and a big win against Brazil 1-0 to win the gold, which was sweet, it was a very good game, really I thought Brazil controlled the game for much of it, but the US did what they had to do, hope solo was great in goal, and then had one great shot that found the back of the net. In softball the US feel to Japan 3-1. Now here is my only problem with this, they beat them yesterday in the semi's. I will try to explain, they beat Japan, thus Japan went on to a game where the looser got third and the winning went to the gold medal game. If that makes sense to you, please explain it to me. If japan then wins, which they did in extra innings, and then the next day they beat the Americans, wouldn't it make sense that each team has beaten the other once, each has one loss, they should play again, nope, Japan gets the gold medal. That is so messed up, either make it single elimination or double, how can it be single for one team, and double for another, when it comes to the semi's. Most people would think, the winners of the semi's play for the gold, the looser the bronze. But I guess somehow, there was a semi with US and Japan, and then the looser had one more game to get back in to the gold medal game, and the winner was there. That is messed up, and it is too bad. While I am on the subject of things in the Olympics that need to change. One, baseball and softball have to be back, with some of the stupid sports that no one watches or knows how to play is in the Olympics, softball and baseball have to be. Second, in sports with judges there needs to be more clear rules. I mean why take away the perfect ten, the thing that basically is gymnastics, and have this messed up start value, and execution scale, with throwing out the best and the worst, then the next 4 for tie breakers, and then if it still is tied, take the next lowest. How can two people get the same score, and it comes down to what their 3 lowest score was. And how can judges look at the same thing and won get a 9.1 and another get a 8.7. That is the biggest problem with gymnastics is people who don't really know a lot about it, which I will admit is me, watch it for the Olympics, or go to one of their fans meets in college or something, and see two routines that look almost the same, both are good, and one gets a mark so much higher then the other. I know there are certain things the judges look for and stuff, but in basketball, one ref doesn't see a two, while another one See's a three, or in baseball one ump doesn't call a strike, and then we go to the other umps to see if they agree, in football one ref doesn't call a hold while the other calls a face mask, and they just cancel out. It is messed up. I don't like scores in the 15's and 16's in Gymnastics, sure take the difficulty in to account. But the highest score should always be a perfect 10, and then go down from there, what was so hard about that. I do think that is what makes certain sports hard to follow, when no one knows why someone got a certain score and why someone else got another...

OK, I am done with that random tangent. Oh, one other thing Usain Bolt is a machine, I mean the guy is unreal. I loved Walter Dix reaction when they told him about the two DQ and instead of 5th he actually got the bronze medal. He didn't even smile, and just said.. who cares, I still lost. That was priceless. It shows how hard some of these guys/girls work, and how much they train for one thing, winning the gold, no true athlete, who is a competitor dreams about getting second or third. Having said that, it is still a great accomplishment and I think if he won it, instead of being given it, he may have felt a little different, but I just loved that reaction. One other quick thing.. college football starts in a week.. I am pumped. I'm right, you're wrong

you know you are popular when.....

so Saturday night was big night, Phelps was going for his record setting gold medal in one Olympics in the 4 by 100 IM relay. I happened to be in Brighton for a pub crawl for one of my buddies who is getting married in oct, but anyway. So we are going to bar to bar, drinking a few at each and moving on. But one thing I had to make clear when the time of 10:55pm was approaching... WE ARE STAYING HERE UNTIL AFTER PHELPS SWIMS. Everyone agreed and planed accordingly. So the time has come, the place it packed, everyone surrounding one of the 15 or 20 tv's that was in the place.. I had to stand up, and be ready to go, I knew I wasn't going to be able to sit the whole time, I needed room to go nuts. But right as the race stared I looked outside, towards the glass windows that are all around the bar, and what do I see? Literally 10-20 kids, who must have been under 21, and thus couldn't get in to that bar, standing outside, looking in, watching the race on one of the tv's in the bar. That is when you know you are popular, when you know the entire country is following you. When at 11pm on a Saturday night, people who can't get in to a bar, and standing outside watching it through the window. Wanting to see, wanting to be part of history... What a race it was, another gold, another world record. Amazing. A night I will never forget. We broke in to a USA chant, and then the DJ played the only song you could play at that moment and that of course was, we are the champions by queen. After singing loud during the entire song, we moved on. But for one night at least, and really for the last week and a half a swimming, that most people couldn't tell you his name two weeks ago, was the most popular person in the nation at 11pm on a Saturday at a bar in Brighton, Michigan. That is why sports is great, that is the true spirit of the Olympics and competition. One on one, you swim, or run, or jump as fast, or far or as high as you can, and I will do the same, and we will see who wins. If you haven't enjoyed the Olympics so far, you do not like sports. I also have a small crush on Shawn Johnson, and I feel bad all she did was win slivers the entire time.. I also know she is 4'9 and like 16, but she is so cute. anyway.. US basketball keeps kicking butt, and even though they will most likely have to play both Argentina and Spain again to win the gold, I now think there is no chance they will not do it. They are starting to shoot the ball better, and most important they play good defense, and they have a chip on their shoulder, and when players that talented buy in to playing defense, it is hard to beat them. Coach K deserves a lot of credit for the coaching job he is doing, and the players deserve credit for checking the egos at the door, and working hard. I see gold for both the men's and women's basketball teams easy. I also like the women's soccer teams chances in the gold medal game against Brazil. They have revenge on their mind, and I think they can do it.. I'm right, you're wrong.

NFL Preview

OK so here is what I did. I took every game, week by week and just thought who would win, and then I numbered up the wins for each team, picked from their the playoffs. So I must say, the records, are going to be a little off, cause I took each game as a separate thing, when we know during the course of the year, a team will get hot, or just have a bad game, injuries, or whatever.. but here it is... my nfl records:

NFC:
Arz: 7-9
Atl: 2-14
Car: 5-11
Chi: 6-10
Dal: 14-2 first round bye
Det: 5-11
GB: 8-8
Min: 11-5 division winner
No: 14-2 first round bye
NYG: 10-6 wild card
Phil: 10-6 wild card
Stl: 3-13
Sf: 1-15
Sea: 12-4 division winner
TB: 8-8
Was: 8-8

WC playoffs: Min/NYG, giants win. Sea/phil.. Sea wins
Division playoffs: NYG/NO- No win. Sea/Dal. Sea wins
NFC title game: NO/Sea, NO wins
ok, so NO will not be this good, but for some reason I like them this year, and I hate the cowboys, so I want them to do what they have done the last few years, good reg. season, choke in the playoffs. Oh I also think the 49ers will win more then one game, I just don't know which ones.

AFC:
Bal: 5-11
Buf: 7-9
Cin: 2-15
Cle: 8-8 wild card
Den: 8-8
Hou: 7-9
Ind: 15-1 first round bye
Jax: 15-1 wild card
Kc: 2-15
Mia: 4-12
Ne: 15-1 first round bye
NYJ: 7-9
Oak: 3-13
Pit: 11-5 division winner
Sd: 14-2 division winner
Ten: 5-11

WC playoffs: Pit/jax. Jax wins. Sd/Cle, SD wins
Division playoffs: Jax/Pats, Pats win. Sd/Indy, SD wins
AFC title game: NE/Sd, Pats win

Super Bowl: Pats/NO, Pats win 28-17.

OK, so the records are messed up, but in the AFC, I basically see the pats, indy, jags and SD above the rest. I am not sold on the browns, and I think the Steelers will win that division. I also want to put cinci better, but when chad told us on MNF he was going to go Dane county on us, I am afraid for that lockeroom. He might put up big numbers, I just don't think that is a good football team right now..

OK.. have at it.. lets here those comments about how stupid I am. I'm right, you're wrong

2 down

I have to be honest, I am really starting to get in to the Olympics. Of course I will follow basketball, but so far swimming has really caught my eye. I was actually going to write a post about how unfair it was that 3 of the 4 swimmers who swam in the 4 by 100 freestyle semi's would not swim in the final. Since the US, like other teams as well, save their big guns for the finals. Well in the semi's we set a world record. Then 3 of those guys would not get medals. Well what happens. The US destroy, I mean destroy the world record that was set only a few hrs earlier by their teammates and make one of the best 50m comebacks in the history of the sport to win the gold medal, set a new world record and keep phelps' chances of passing Mark Spitz individual golds in a Olympics alive. In basketball we cruised in the second half against China in what was a rather entertaining game, and my boy CK, playing for Germany, went 10-12 for 24 points. I look forward to the rest of the Olympics. I am really enjoying it so far. I think every sports fan should follow it. Great athletes who work so hard for that one moment, that one chance, they do it for all the right reasons. Needless to say, I have caught Olympic fever.
Tigers won today as well, so it was just a great day all together. Back to more Olympics to watch, and time to get some sleep, since I have many more days of 12hr plus of coverage a day. I'm right, you're wrong.

just in time

football is here, yeah only preseason but still, and it couldn't have come at a better time. Even though they did afford the sweep and beat the white sox 8-3 yesterday the Tigers are still 7 and a half back, and all but done. Yeah there is still a small chance, I mean stranger things have happened, but it isn't looking good. The NFL is back and I am pumped. For one my Giants are super bowl champs, which means I will give them at least a year or two before I get on them again, cause I am still so happy about them winning, and if we go by history they will not make the playoffs, since they didn't the year after their first two super bowl wins. The best part about their first preseason games was it was against the Lions, which meant it was on TV here in Michigan and I got to see it. Now I wish I could have been there, but going out with a few of my best friends, one who was in town and haven't seen see march, was the next best thing. I don't care that they lost, it's the preseason, it was just good to watch football again. We are also only 19 days away from cmu football's opener. Hopefully we can win out third mac title in a row. Besides football something else is started today, officially. The summer Olympics. I am not a big Olympic fan but I am going to try my best to get in to it this year. I mean I love basketball, soccer, baseball, softball, and the swimming and track events are always fun to watch. I also don't mind gymnastics, at least girls. So hopefully the US will do well in those events. We should win softball, and soccer for the girls, even though they lost their first game 2-0 to Norway, which was a big surprise, but hopefully they bounce back. With the men, soccer and baseball will be harder, but lets hope for a strong showing. Basketball we should win both, but I would be more surprised if the women didn't win then the men. Since if teams slow the game down, and our guys miss shots from the outside, very good possibility, we could lose. Our basketball team is of course the most talented, but that doesn't always mean Gold. I hope it will. I am also looking forward to following Phelps trying to win all those golds, and all sprinting events are great to watch. So I am in the process of catching some Olympic fever. And with the Tigers bullpen finding new ways to give away games each night, it couldn't have come at a better time. I'm right, you're wrong.

Why

I never liked baseball. I never played it, never watched it. IN fact, I guess you could say I hated it. Thought it was boring, slow, and just a waste of time. It was a sport that wusses played during my lacrosse season. Then I went to college, and basically all of the people I have lived with since, except of course now cause I am living with my fiance, loved baseball. They played it in High School, some were good enough, or so they say, to play in college at a D2 school, and walked on to cmu, but didn't make it.. cause, you guessed it, the coach didn't like them. Anyway, so being around lots of people all the time who watched, played, and talked about baseball, I slowly was broken down. I started to follow it a little. I got a few players and teams to follow, The Tigers in the Al of course, and then the Cubs in the Nl. I went to my first game my jr year of college, which would have been the late summer early fall of 2003. I went to Wrigley for a cubs-reds game, and I was hooked. D lee hit a grand slam and became my favorite player not on the Tigers, and reminds so today. it is just a great place, it is hard to be there and not like it. I then started to go to two or three Tigers games a year, and I have become more and more of a fan.

Games like last night make me wonder why I ever did. In a game that took a little more then 5 hrs I watched the team that I know live and die with for 162 games during the year go up 2-0 in the first. Have the white sox score a run. Then go up 6-1 in the 5th, and then it all went terribly wrong. The sox scored one in the 6th, two in the 7th, one in the 8th and 9th to tie the score at 6. After awhile I just want the game to be over, since with my 8 month old I wake up usually before 7am every day. I kept trying to get myself to go to bed, but I know I couldn't sleep, or live with myself if I went to bed before the game ended. Then finally in the top of the 14th a two run homer by Poly, Tigers up 8-6, yes, we are going to do this. The Twins lost, and we could be only 5.5 back on both of them. My Tiger Joel Zumaya is coming in to close, I can get fantasy points with some strike outs, and get the close. Not to mention a BIG Tigers win to start a big 3 game set. Then I started getting mad. With runners on 2nd and 3rd a ground ball should have been the second out but Edger kicked it for a E6, everyone safe, it's now 8-7 with jim thome up and now still only one out, and runners on the corners. Zum zum comes though, and strikes him out, two outs now, and it is up to swisher who came in in like the 10th or 11th or something. He takes a pitch low, and goes down and gets it, for a 3 run walk off HR to win the game 10-8. I was so pissed, used lots of words I will not type here. I caught myself thinking, why do I bother. I just wasted over 5hrs of my life, it is 1:15am, and I will be woken up by my daughter before 7am. What the hell is wrong with me. Why would anyone want to be such a loyal sports fan? Why do we do this to ourselves? I am almost done with the team. Not that I will stop watching, or that I am not a Tigers fan anymore, but instead of 5.5 back, we are now 7.5 back, and I am thinking that a loss like that will be really hard to come back from. We had so many chances to win the game. God, why, why do this to me?..........( At some point soon, something good will happen, and I will write the other version of this post, the I love being a fan post.. stayed turned... I just hope I can write it soon.) I'm right you're wrong

missed some things

It has been awhile since I have posted since i had a busy week working my 5th and final basketball camp of the summer. Lets recap just some things:

baseball trade deadline I can't believe so many things happened, how cool. I am shocked the sox traded manny, I think it makes the Angels the clear cut favorite now to win the world series. one they got the bat to help vlad, and then the sox trade their best hitter, and their best clutch hitter, and big pappi's protector, just so they can try to show they can win without manny, well I don't think they can, jason bay is a good player, but I think that move caused the red sox another title, we shall see... it does make me feel better about picking the dogers to win the west, I like their chances a bit more now. My Tigers traded pudge, which made me sad, mad, swear, drink a lot, then if you look at it, it isn't too bad they traded him, he was in his final year of his contract, and we were not going to resign him, but to trade him for kyle F ing Fransworth, didn't we learn the first time we had him it was a bad idea, did we forget, thought we would give him another chance... super......of course today, in a 3-1 game in the 8th with the Tigers up, Kyle Fransworth came in and gave up 3 runs, and we ended up loosing 6-5 in 10. Now 7 games back, to the Twins who are now in first with the white sox falling fast, I am almost ready to throw in the towel as far as the playoffs go, and just hope some of the young guys get some good pt. Don't get me wrong, I have not given up all hope, it could still happen, there is still a lot of games to go, but I am not counting on it... Thank god for football. Preseason started today, which reminds me, I got to go watch the end of the game and see if the players who will not make the colts can beat the players who will not make the skins. preseason football.. it's fantastic.. I'm right, you're wrong.