geoffism.com

Oh god. Can I say “Here we go again?”. C’mon Sox. Don’t go down like this.
I got to chase some demons when the Sox won it in ‘04. Yeah, there might have been a tear. Does finally winning it make losing in the playoffs a little more palatable? I got to sit next to a Yankee fan during game 4 of the World Series in ‘04 (and clincher) and he kept on throwing out the “well, the run had to come to an end sometime” and “red sox just got lucky”. He also managed to ramble on about how the Yankees with A-Rod were going to win multiple World Series titles. Yuh-huh. All this guy wanted to talk about was game 7 of 2003. Hey buddy, I was in a NYC bar with about 70% Yankees fans for game 7 in 2003 (Aaron F*cking Boone). I saw it. Lets move on.

Anyway, fast forward to the present and my mobile phone is slowly burning through my allotment of monthly text messages. Guess who they are coming from? Yeah, Yankees fans. Who obviously aren’t watching their team, because the Yankees are busy playing golf. C’mon guys. Is it really that bad for you? Your team has other issues. Go figure out who your coach is going to be next year. Remind yourself that the Sox won the AL East. And you didn’t. You got crushed in the playoffs because A-Rod Houdini’ed it. Again. He carried you almost all year. And all you want to do is run him out of town.

Well, I just squirmed through game 4, and tried to remain emotionless as possible. Tough to watch Wakefield pitch (hard to argue against his success) because seeing that 65 mph butterfly roam across the plate is a one-eye-open fan activity. 5th inning was tough (a Cleveland touchdown). You’ve been there.  All you can do is lie motionless on the couch, praying to the baseball gods. You want to change the channel, but you can’t.  Maybe a nervous laugh or two. I got a small answer with Yook, Ortiz and Manny (very cool to see) but of course, that was it. Game 5 is Thursday night. Can Beckett get the series back to Boston? Simple answer now, you have to win the rest. All the cliche’s.  One at a time, right coach? Your work is cut out for you.  Gotta win.  No matter what. Hey, capture game 5 in Cleveland and then get it back to Boston. Win out at home. Right? You never know. More improbable things have happened. 2004 - Yanks kill the Sox 19-8 to take a 3-0 lead in the ALCS. Exactly one year ago. We all know what happened next. I find myself in small superstitions hoping that I will somehow affect the result of the game. Never works. Strange.

I do love the story of the Colorado Rockies. I mean, losing once in 15 games to finish the season, winning the 1-game playoff just to get in (extra innings no less), then sweeping Philly and Arizona. Very cool. Now there is something I want to see - snow in the World Series. This is when baseball matters. When games count. I know, the other 162 games “count”, but going on a 4-game losing streak ends your season here.

Until its over, I’ll shut my mouth (promise).

This is tough to write about. I love college football and I’m a big fan of big games on Saturday. My girlfriend says I preach about this too much (she’s probably right, but I think she agrees with me). Fix The Rankings. Its not the BCS that is the problem with CFB, its the early rankings. The BCS can say they are doing it right since they are creating their system from a WIDE array of rankings - NYT, ESPN, USA Today, Harris, etc… you get the idea. But the problem here is that all these rankings are predicated on what the teams are supposed to do - everything starts in the preseason, and you have to be perfect throughout. Teams that don’t start the season in the top-25 have a huge mountain to climb just to get noticed (ex: Boise St in 2006). This preseason “ranking” is based on what, the teams upcoming schedule and the players they have coming back (Let’s hear it for Michigan at #5). All we really get is the sportswriters that sit back and very Nostradamus-like prophecize how the season will play out.

Well sportswriters and experts, lets take a look at how you are doing so far, 5 weeks into the season (and remember, most of the big school pad their early schedule with cupcakes and girl scouts and the serious games come in the second half). In comparing to the preseason polls, you’ve got 5 teams (USC, LSU, FLA, Wisc, OK) still in the top-10 but only USC, LSU, Wisc are still undefeated. Three additional of the teams in the top-8 (KY, USF & BC) weren’t even in the preseason top-25 and are currently undefeated. On top of that, you have 5 more teams not previously ranked and now in the top-25 who are undefeated (Hawaii, Purdue, ASU, Cinn, & Mizz), for a total of 13 undefeateds. There is the serious potential for more than a couple undefeated teams in CFB this year, but anything can happen. Couple of the current undefeated teams will probably cancel each other out (USC, ASU & Cal and USF & Cinn all still have to play each other).

So, my small suggestion to the CFB gods. Since you don’t want an 8-team winner-take-all tourney - don’t start ranking until week 5. This will give you a small chance to separate the pretenders from the contenders. It would give a team like Cincinnati (brutal remaining sched, but if they happen to run the table, who knows, doubt it, I think I have more of a chance being president in ‘08), KY, or USF a legitimate shot at a national title. Punishing teams because you don’t get a chance to see them play, research them enough, or rank them high enough in the preseason is not fair. I know the BCS is supposed to take the subjectiveness out of the system (ha - the LSU/USC flip flop this week), but take a step back and start fresh in week 5 or 6. I can dream, right?