2018-19 NCAA Football (Weeks 12 & 13)

Week 12
Top 25
Handled their business
(1) Alabama, (2) Clemson, (3) Notre Dame, (4) Michigan, (5) Georgia, (6) Oklahoma, (7) LSU, (8) Washington State, (10) Ohio State (shaky again but got the W), (11) Central Florida, (13) Florida, (14) Penn State, (15) Texas, (17) Kentucky, (18) Washington, (19) Utah, (21) Mississippi State, (22) Northwestern, (23) Utah State, (25) Boise State

Bad beat
(12) Syracuse (Notre Dame seems to have caught everyone at their peak ranking, right?)

(16) Iowa State (great at hanging around, just okay at actually getting wins)

(24) Cincinnati (not sure why they're ranked)

Not so good
(9) West Virginia (I knew WVU would score, didn't occur to me that Okla St would keep up, bad loss)

(20) Boston College (to Florida State? C'mon, man, blew a great chance to drop a beatdown on a conference rival)

Week 13
Top 25
Handled their business
(1) Alabama, (2) Clemson, (3) Notre Dame, (5) Georgia, (6) Oklahoma, (9) Central Florida, (10) Ohio State, (11) Florida, (12) Penn State, (14) Texas, (15) Kentucky, (16) Washington, (17) Utah, (18) Mississippi State, (19) Northwestern, (20) Syracuse, (22) Texas A&M (23) Boise State, (25) Iowa State

Bad beat
(7) LSU (7 OT's on the road? Okay, I'm gonna let that go, that's not a bad L)

Not so good
(4) Michigan (all you gotta do was beat Notre Dame and/or Ohio State; sorry, but 0-2 means you had a bad year)
(8) Washington State (hmmm, home field in a snow storm, still couldn't get it done?)
(13) West Virginia (needed to beat OU, didn't get it done)
(21) Utah State (good year, but they needed that win on the road)
(24) Pittsburgh (why were they ranked?)


Next week
Pac-12: (17) Utah @ (11) Washington (I gotta go with Washington)
Big 12: (14) Texas @ (5) Oklahoma (I see a Sooner revenge beatdown coming)
American: Memphis @ (8) Central Florida (Memphis keeps game close, UCF lost their QB, gonna be tough for UCF to keep that winning streak going)
SEC: (1) Alabama @ (5) Georgia (UGA beat Kentucky 34-17, I'd say Bama is similarly better than Georgia)
Mountain West: (25) Fresno State @ (23) Boise State (I'll go with Fresno to avenge their loss to BSU this year)
ACC: (2) Clemson @ Pittsburgh (if Pitt beats Clemson I'll eat my hat)
Big 10: (21) Northwestern @ (6) Ohio State (Buckeyes have had a lot of shaky games this year, but I'd be surprised if Northwestern gave them much of a game)
Drake @ (23) Iowa State (Look for Iowa State to run up the score)


My rankings
1) Alabama (if they lose to UGA, they're still in the playoff--who the hell else is gonna win 29-0 at LSU?)
2) Clemson (can they beat Alabama? I have no idea but I gotta at least think they've got a shot)
3) Oklahoma (wouldn't beat Alabama but that offense would at least give them an interesting game)
4) Georgia (if they can beat Bama, they're in...I don't think they will but they're gonna get a shot at it)
5) Notre Dame (yeah, they're undefeated, but I don't think they'd beat OU or UGA, so I have them #5)
6) Central Florida (may not be any good, especially down a starting QB, but I'd rather see them in than anyone else)
7) Ohio State (this is solely because somebody has to be #7; don't forget: got lucky against TCU, Penn State, Michigan State, farted around with Nebraska (who is not good), probably should've lost to Maryland, got rolled by Purdue; since I was never particularly impressed with Michigan, I'm struggling to see how the Buckeyes would even come close to having a chance to Alabama)
8) who cares? (I'd go with Washington if they handle their business this weekend, I got no need for LSU, Michigan, Florida, Penn State--this is why God invented a 4-team playoff! Don't mess with a good thing!)

2018-19 NFL (Weeks 9 & 10)

Week 9
Games I watched (some of):
Raiders 3-34 Niners
Dang, Raiders made NFL debut of 4th string QB Nick Mullens a memorable one. That dude was great! Raiders D is just awful, Derek Carr looks utterly lost out there, the Raiders don't do anything well, Gruden's return is reminding me a lot of Hue Jackson's exit. The Raiders have future considerations, the Niners are just killing tim til they get their franchise QB back next year. 

Falcons 38-24 Redskins
A little surprised to see the Falcons looking so comfortable on grass, especially the defense, but they kept making plays. The Redskins are an up/down team and they were down today, still hanging around in the East but I still expect the Eagles to take the division.

Rams 35-45 Saints
Fun game! Back and forth, Saints fumbled, felt that was gonna make all the difference, Rams miss on the fake FG (uhh, I thought he got it, not sure why he got such an unfriendly spot), and suddenly its NO's game all over again. The Rams made a game of it in the 2nd half, but Saints stole it late like always. Homefield could make all the difference if/when these teams meet in the playoffs.

Packers 17-31 Pats
Loved the Pats going high tempo early, thought they'd do a little more of that (it was successful). Dug the way the Packers hung around, though. Close game til the Packers had a 4th quarter fumble and that was all the Pats needed to pull ahead. Pats are good but not great, Packers can be good but are mostly mediocre.


Results (surprising):
Steelers 24-17 Ravens
I should not have been surprised but I really thought the Ravens would move the ball on the Steeler D. The Steelers have moments on D and that offense can always get hot but I'm not sold on this Steelers squad, I think the Chiefs and Chargers (and Colts, maybe Pats) can beat them.


Other results (not surprising):
Bills 9-41 Bears
Trubisky has a habit of piling up numbers on sloppy teams. Bills D is solid, but the O-line (still!) is the ongoing problem.

Chiefs 37-21 Browns
The Chiefs scoring points, the Browns not keeping up (but scoring some because the Chiefs D is pretty sorry), yeah, totally predictable, one of those games that was exactly what you thought was gonna happen.

Jets 6-13 Dolphins
Dolphins are better than the Jets, division teams are either the hardest or the easiest, this was one of those easiest games. With the Ravens and Bengals mailing it in, feels like the Dolphins could hang around the playoff race but I figure the Chargers and Titans/Texans snag the wild cards. The Jets suck.

Lions 9-24 Vikings
I still believe the Vikings are one of the best teams in the NFC and could be ready to stun the Rams or Saints or Eagles in the post-season. The Lions kinda seem like they're getting better but not really...which is what the Lions have kinda always been, right?

Bucs 28-42 Panthers
Bucs can score...but rarely more than the other team. The Panthers are really good when they put their minds to it, gonna be a tough out in the playoffs.

Texans 19-17 Broncos
Still not sure about the Texans, at their best they look pretty good but still not scary. But a W at Denver is another nice win for them. The Broncos are in a tail spin, that D is still good enough to play spoiler but they're out of the playoff hunt.

Chargers 25-17 Seahawks
I definitely underestimated the Chargers, they just keep chugging along, look like they can beat anybody on any given Sunday, I'm skeptical of them in the post-season, but they look well on their way to getting there--finishing ahead of the Chiefs is still on the table. I've been way more impressed with the Seahawks, too, great QB and good coach can keep a team alive, I reckon.

Titans 28-14 Cowboys
The Titans are on the high side of mediocre, the Cowboys on the lower. This result seemed about right to me.


Week 10

Games I watched (some of):
Panthers 21-52 Steelers
This game was already ridiculously out of hand before I turned it on, but this score wasn't that shocking. When the Panthers don't got it, they pack it in quick; when the Steelers are feeling it, they can run it up on anyone. So that's what happened.

Saints 51-14 Bengals
I was impressed with the Saints. You see that score and you'd probably assume there were defensive plays and special teams and turnovers, etc., but not really; the Saints just scored every time they touched the ball, their offense was absolutely flawless.

Pats 10-34 Titans
Titans came out ready to play, jumped on the Pats early and kept them discombobulated (think we've seen the secret to beating the Pats, right? Score early), and looked good doing it. Titans are a pretty-good team and the Pats have regular missteps, the sheer dominance was eye-opening but the result isn't that shocking.

Cowboys 27-20 Eagles
Just kept waiting for the Eagles to step up and take the W but they did not. The Cowboys looked pretty good on both sides, why don't they look like that more often? I still think the Eagles win the division but time is running out.


Results (surprising):
Bills 41-10 Jets
Jets suck, man. Yup, even worse than the Bills. Buffalo's problem is having no QB behind no O-line, otherwise they're pretty good; the Jets problem is they don't know how to win, so you can't really even tell what the problem is (I kinda like the rookie QB actually, I don't think he's the problem).

Giants 27-23 Niners
Ehh, this wasn't that shocking, except that I thought the Niners would relish the chance to play a crappy offense in a primetime game and they blew their shot at a good W; that said, neither of these teams need to win, so Niners probably did better by fumbling the W away. Even when they win, the Giants are still doing it wrong.


Other results (not so surprising):
Lions 22-34 Bears
The Bears are getting better, the Lions are standing still.

Falcons 16-28 Browns
The Falcons looked good on the road against the Redskins, but against the revitalized Browns, they never got their offense going. Hue Jackson is gone, long live the new Hue.

Jags 26-29 Colts
This looks right to me. The Colts are about a FG better than the Jags, even though the Jags have looked pretty awful for the last month or so.

Cards 14-26 Chiefs
Seems like the Chiefs kinda took the week over and still easily beat the Cards.

Redskins 16-3 Bucs
This sounds right to me. The Bucs can score on anyone, the Redskins can lose to anyone, so of course the Redskins would easily shut down the Bucs on the road.

Chargers 20-6 Raiders
Yup, the predictable game of the week.

Dolphins 12-31 Packers
The Dolphins are not built for the road and certainly not for mid-Autumn Wisconsin, the Packers needed a W like this to kick start them for the rest of the season, they're still in the playoff hunt. The Dolphins are, too. (But I'm not seeing it for either team)

Seahawks 31-36 Rams
The Rams are better but the Seahawks gave them a good game. I'm more impressed with the Seahawks than I expected going into this season. The Rams are still the best in the league but it feels liker they've overheated and may go limping into the post-season.

2018-19 NCAA Football (Weeks 10 & 11)

Week 10 

Games I watched (some of):
(6) UGA 34-17 (9) UK
Yeah, that's about right (I predicted 31-13 before the game). You can break the game down to two plays: UGA's opening punt return and UGA 60-yard run up the middle for a TD in the 2nd half. UGA had two big plays, UK had none, rest of the game was roughly even. UK's defense is legit but UGA's O-line is just better, UGA's offense just so much more efficient, UGA winning by 2 TD's was predictable and obvious from UGA's first drive.

(13) West Virginia 42-41 (17) Texas
Great finish! Fun game! Back and forth all the way through, WVA goes for the 2-pointer at the buzzer, great stuff!

(1) Alabama 29-0 (3) LSU
Yeah, just kept waiting for LSU to do anything, something, nah, nothing. LSU's defense put up a game effort but the offense was dead on arrival. Tide uber alles.


Top 25
Handled their business
(1) Alabama, (2) Clemson, (4) Notre Dame, (5) Michigan, (6) Georgia, (7) Oklahoma, (8) Washington State, (10) Ohio State (sorta, Nebraska is not good), (12) Central Florida, (13) West Virginia, (18) Mississippi State, (19) Syracuse, (21) North Carolina State, (22) Boston College, (23) Fresno State, (24) Iowa State


Bad beat
(3) LSU (hey, man, Bama's good)
(9) Kentucky (man, they ain't as good as UGA, UK managed to filter up this high, they should still probably finish top 20)
(16) Texas (tough loss but WVA is good)


Not so good
(11) Florida (dang, they got rolled at home by Missou? Weird)
(14) Penn State (I can't help thinking Penn State has all they need to be better than they are, if they ever put it together, I think they can beat anyone, so to get straight pounded by Michigan is not a good look)
(15) Utah (lame loss on the road)
(16) Iowa (lame loss on the road (although Purdue does have a coupla crazy good W's this year))
(20) Texas A&M (to have a good season you gotta beat a weak Auburn team on the road)
(25) Virginia (sorry performance at home to Pitt)


Week 11

Games I watched (some of):

(11) Kentucky 7-24 Tennessee
(Well, on the radio) UT had big plays all through the 1st half, including a hail mary at the buzzer. These are exactly the kinds of plays that UK's defense staved off throughout the year, but the Vols rained on UK. UT piled on early in the 2nd half, then kinda cruised as UK's offense sputtered.

(Guess I mostly watched soccer and basketball this weekend)


Top 25
Handled their business
(1) Alabama, (2) Clemson, (3) Notre Dame, (4) Michigan, (5) Georgia, (6) Oklahoma, (7) LSU, (8) Washington State, (9) West Virginia, (12) Central Florida, (13) Syracuse, (15) Florida, (19) Texas, (20) Penn State, (22) Iowa State


Bad beat
(16) Mississippi State (hey, man, Bama's good)
(17) Boston College (Clemson is rounding into shape)
(24) Auburn (I thought Auburn might give them a bit of a game, but UGA handled them pretty easily)


Not so good
(11) Kentucky (if UK were as good as we thought, they would've handled a so-so UT squad, instead Vols gashed that defense, UK got exposed)
(14) North Carolina State (L at home to Wake Forest on prime time? Not good)
(21) Iowa (L at home to Northwestern? Kinda surprising)
(23) Fresno State (you gotta win conference games on the road to stay ranked)


Next week's matches:
Middle Tennessee State - (17) Kentucky (Wildcats can still have a great season if they finish strong, this game might bury them)
(12) Syracuse - (3) Notre Dame (doubt this will be much of a game, we'll see)
(24) Cincinnati - (11) Central Florida (UCF's toughest match of the year, I guess)
(16) Iowa State - (15) Texas (these two should be fun)

2018-19 NBA Bric-a-brac (Week 2)

Firings
Tyron Lue (Cavs)
Lue is no longer in the running for Coach of the Year. The post-Lebron period got off to a rough start, apparently the upper management is ready to move on to the youth movement while Coach Lue wanted to milk the vets for W's. Well, neither strategy seems to be working so this parting is probably for the best for both parties. Lue had some health concerns last season so I wouldn't be surprised if he took the rest of the year off and re-appeared late in the playoffs jockeying for a job for next year. Larry Drew becomes the interim (I don't see him keeping the job, though, unless Collin Sexton wins ROY).


Trades
Bucks got Jodie Meeks, a 2020 2nd rd pick swap (actually an alteration of a previous swap that had already been arranged), cash; Wizards got...uh....nothing, as far as I can tell.
Meeks had a (brief) period of being a for-real filler-upper in the NBA but that was a while ago and for the last few years he's been more injured than not and relatively mediocre on the floor; that said, he looks to get some bench minutes as a wing scorer. The pick swap is probably pretty meaningless. Cash is everyone's favorite Xmas gift, so that's nice. As for the Wizards, not taking back anything is not really legal, is it? They needed the roster space to make room for Dwight Howard, I guess.

Pelicans get Wesley Matthews; Clippers get Alexis Ajinca
Pelicans need all the help they can get, Matthews will play whereas Ajinca was only an emergency time sub. The Clippers have already waived Ajinca (who, at best, is the poor-poor-poor man's Anthony Davis, which is to say he kinda looks like AD but has 1/100 of his game).


Signings
Suns -- Jamal Crawford (1yr/$?)
Well, they needed depth at PG but, man, I'm not a Crawford fan to begin with but Phoenix feels like the absolute worst spot for him. All of his bad habits will get plenty of time to develop, at best he's bait for the trade deadline and even if he's great, it'll make zero difference to the team. This is a desperate move for the Suns, which is awkward one week into the season.

Cavs -- Larry Nance Jr (4yr/$?)
This is a 4-yr extension, probably a good move. They entered into this deal with all the optimism that he's a future building block for them, but realistically he's probably more valuable as a trade candidate. Either way, good signing, I like Nance (I really think Lebron would've loved playing with him, too).

Bulls -- Shaq Harrison
Thought he was a better fit for the Suns but the Bulls have already had a ton of injuries, so immediate depth was needed and Shaw will get playing time.

2-way contracts: Pacers (Davon Reed), Lakers (Johnathon Williams), Kings (Troy Williams), Pistons (Zach Lofton)


Extensions
Ahh, it's that time of year, so which rookie contracts got prolonged?
Kings -- De'Aaron Fox, Harry Giles, Skal Labisserie, Buddy Hield, Justin Jackson
The Kings youth movement is well stocked and having good success early on. I think these were all no-brainers, but don't be surprised if some of these guys get traded.

Lakers -- Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma
Yup, all four of them are keepers or top quality trade bait. I think it's already Ingram's team.

Blazers -- Caleb Swanigan, Zach Collins
I liked Swanigan a lot in NCAA, not sure what kind of pro he'd make, but the Blazers seem ready to give him another year (I can see him being a great practice player, which is valuable). The Blazers supposedly love Collins seeing him as the cornerstone of their future; I'm not quite that high on him but extending him is the obvious move.

Hawks -- Taurean Prince, John Collins, Deandre Bembry
Collins was arguably the most under appreciated member of last year's really good rookie class. Prince and Bembry are promising youngsters. All three of these are good moves for the Hawks right now.

Knicks -- Frank Nkilitina
I liked what I saw of Frankie, he's still a project but, hey man, the Knicks got nothing but time to groom youngsters.

Mavs -- Dennis Smith Jr
Smith had his critics last year but he was all alone on that team. Now with Deandre Jordan, Luka Doncic and a healthy Wes Matthews, he'll have more opportunity to be good (and less opportunity to be bad). Good move, he's a Mav for the foreseeable future.

Nets -- Caris LaVert, Jarrett Allen
Nice players, definitely keepers for the Nets.

Pacers -- Myles Turner
Frankly he contributed not much to the Pacers' resurgence last year, if he takes a step forward he could still blossom into a legit star.

Suns -- Josh Jackson
I thought he was the best all-around athlete in the 2017 draft, still not much of a scorer but the Suns will afford him good time to hone his game. Good move.


Waivings
Bucks -- Tim Frazier
I kinda like Frazier, thought he could be useful for some deep bench minutes for them, but I guess the Bucks are deep enough.

Clippers -- Jawun Evans
Don't know much about Evans. I can see him playing for the Hawks, though.

Knicks -- Paul Watson
I don't know who that is.

Pistons -- Reggie Hearn
The rosters get pruned at this time of year and Hearn was probably never likely to make the team.

Suns -- Darrell Arthur, Shaq Harrison, Davon Reed
I thought Harrison fit the youth movement, though Arthur absolutely does not. Reed was moved to make room for Jamal Crawford, I guess.

Pelicans -- Troy Williams
Moved to make room for Tim Frazier.

Lakers -- Travis Wear
The new Mad Dog Madsen. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in a Laker uni Summer League 2019.

Pacers -- CJ Wilcox
I would've thought Wilcox would've made the roster, guess the summer signings took up too much space.

Bulls -- Omer Asik
Why wasn't he waived months ago? There was no way he was gonna play for the Bulls this season regardless of his health.


Injuries
Out indefinitely: Zhaire Smith (Sixers), DeMarre Carroll (Nets), Nene Hilario (Rockets), Daniel Hamilton (Hawks), John Collins (Hawks), Dion Waiters (Heat), Bogdan Bogdanovic (Kings), Krystaps Porzingas (Knicks), Dirk Nowitzki (Mavs), Michael Porter (Nuggets), Brandon Knight (Rockets), Lonnie Walker (Spurs), Denzel Washington (Bulls), Lauri Markkanen (Bulls), Treveon Graham (Nets), Will Barton (Nuggets), Kris Dunn (Bulls), Bobby Portis (Bulls), Luke Kennard (Pistons)

Out for the year: Dejounte Murray (Spurs)

2018-19 NFL (Week 8)

Games I watched (some of):
Dolphins 23-42 Texans
The Texans handled their business at home, good to see, wasn't sure they had it in them. I still (kinda) believe in the Texans: when Watson is right, he's really good and when that pass rush is working, the D is really good. They can still become a really good team in time for the playoffs (took the Jags to the final four last year), but they've still got to build on wins like this. The Dolphins are middle of the pack in just about every metric. They don't suck but they're not good either.

Bucs 34-37 Bengals
What a slopfest! The Bengals ran up a big lead by halftime then just sorta quit playing in the 2nd half. I didn't see any great change or improvement in the Bucs D in the 2nd half, the Bengals just took the foot off the gas, I guess because they thought Winston was gonna keep throwing interceptions (well, he did for a while). But when the Bucs went for Fitzpatrick, the Bengals watched it all crumble in front of them and stood there waiting for it to happen. I don't get that. The Bucs tied it up late, the Bengals got a late FG to finish it off (something they could've done at any point after halftime, but they...I dunno...chose to wait til the last second?). The Bengals have a good offense and an okay defense and when they bring their game, they're not bad; but when they don't bring their game, they not any better than Ryan Fitzpatrick. Fun game for Fitz-magic but not a good showing for the Bengals (or the Bucs, for that matter).

Packers 27-29 Rams
Really thought the Packers had a shot at winning this game (and I can't say I'm shocked the fumbling kick returner got traded immediately). The Rams seemed kinda sluggish for much of this game, they won by inertia, they've become used to winning every week (which is a good place to be). But if Aaron Rodgers had had that shot at a final drive, I believe he could've gotten them the W. Bad beat for the Packers, still a good W for the Rams.


Other results (surprising):
Seahawks 28-14 Lions
The Lions seem to get it up for some teams (Pats, Packers) but not for others (Jets, Niners), so are they a good team that disappoints or a bad team that plays above themselves at times? I dunno. I'm still convinced the Seahawks are going backwards but they've got a good QB and solid head coach, so they'll continue to win games on their down.

Saints 30-20 Vikings
I caught a little of this game (I was still watching baseball), but it seemed to me that the Viking WR's made mistakes that kept the Saints in this game. I can't say the Vikings should've won but it seems like they should've shone out a little better at home. That said, the Saints are good, they are legit Super Bowl contenders and this is not a bad loss for the Vikings.


Other results (not so surprising):
Eagles 24-18 Jags
I hate the London games. I hate the Toronto games, the Mexico City games, I hate the Thursday games (outside of Thanksgiving and opening night), every team should get 8 home games and shipping the teams off to expand markets should be internally frowned upon. The NFL should be looking to expand their profits by making their product more scarce instead of less and these efforts at reaching out to new fanbases is watering down the product and creating more injuries. And, yeah, the Jags still suck.

Jets 10-24 Bears
On the one hand this is a rookie QB on the road against a top notch defense; on the other hand, it's a spunky underachiever going up against Mitchell Trubisky. This is the NFL: even though it seems like a no-brainer that the Bears are better than the Jets, this game is really a lot more even than you'd think. Or maybe not, the Bears won pretty easily.

Broncos 23-30 Chiefs
Division games, man. You'd think the Chiefs would destroy the Broncos, who are pretty terrible on the road, but when a team plays the same team over and over, they learn tendencies and they can create surprises. I'm still convinced the Chiefs are way better than the Broncos.

Redskins 20-13 Giants
I thought the Giants would take this one and it looks like the Redskins tried to give it away late. Division games, man, are unpredictable.

Browns 18-33 Steelers
I kinda thought the Browns would keep them close but it wasn't to be. The Steelers defense has the amazing ability to incite penalties on the other team and/or commit a ton of penalties at the same time. They play with such an uncontrolled ferocity that it inspires panic and creates stupidity. Not sure that'll work against every team but against a rookie QB with a fired coach (and fired OC), it worked just fine. I'm still shaky on the Steelers.

Ravens 21-36 Panthers
Ravens on the road are just not that good. Panthers are up and down, they decided to be up this week--good for them!

Colts 42-28 Raiders
The Colts are spunky, man, they play hard and they can move the ball. Their record is probably not gonna be good enough to get them to the post-season (although their division is a total mystery, so maybe they got a shot), but I'd love to see them in the playoffs just because they play hard and can be dangerous with playground plays. The Raiders, on the other hand, seem bent on stockpiling draft picks, which means more L's are way more valuable than W's.

Niners 15-18 Cards
When two bad teams get together you can count on bad football. But when they're division rivals, anything can happen. Kinda felt like the Niners were gonna pull it out but the Cards just wanted it more, I reckon.

Pats 25-6 Bills
Oh yeah, perfectly ordinary late season Pats performance in Buffalo: they kinda floundered around for a while because they're eager to show as little as possible but still comfortably covered the spread by the end of the game.

2018-19 NCAA Football (Week 9)

Games I watched (some of):
(9) Florida 17-36 (7) Georgia
Not close. Thought this was similar to Georgia's over LSU the week before: UGA's offense just kept grinding while the other side just kept spinning its wheels. Georgia broke it open in the 2nd half but realistically it never felt like Florida was in this game.

(12) Kentucky 15-14 Missouri
I didn't see any of this game but I listened to it on the radio while watching the Gamecast. The 1st half was a typical one for UK fans and most of the 2nd half was, too, with one difference: man, UK's defense is really good and they held Missouri to zero 1st downs in the 2nd half (yup, zero). UK's offense is hamfisted at best but the D kept it close enough for a special teams TD to make a huge difference. A miracle final drive pulled out the W as Missouri went down in a most Kentucky-like fashion. (Funny: the Gamecast flaked out on that last untimed down, it couldn't comprehend that even though there was no time on the clock, the game was not over--ESPN even changed the records of the teams and the SEC standings, while I'm sitting there going, 'No, dude, there's still another play left!) Does Kentucky have a chance against Georgia this week? Ehh, I'm not seeing it. They'll need a lot of UGA turnovers to keep this one alive, otherwise UK just does not have enough offense to outscore Georgia.


Top 25
Handled their business
(2) Clemson, (3) Notre Dame, (7) Georgia, (8) Oklahoma, (12) Kentucky, (13) West Virginia, (14) Washington State, (17) Penn State, (23) Utah

Bad Beat
(9) Florida (they were ranked a little high, they're not as good as Georgia)
(18) Iowa (Penn State at home is still a tough out, even when the Nittany Lions are playing wounded)

Not so good
(6) Texas (I thought they were ranked a little high but I also thought they'd get it done at Oklahoma State)
(15) Washington (the scoring dried up in Berkeley, not a good look against a down Cal side)
(16) Texas A&M (the SEC West is a meat grinder, A&M got ground)
(19) Oregon (ouch! Destroyed at Arizona, I think Oregon has been as up and as down as anyone all year long)
(20) Wisconsin (their anemic offense was not enough to sneak past Northwestern)
(21) South Florida (got rolled at Houston)
(22) North Carolina State (gave up a lot of points in Syracuse)
(24) Stanford (they should probably be better than Washington State, especially at home, but this Stanford team is hardly vintage)
(25) Appalachian State (rolled by Georgia Southern, not good)


Next week's interesting matches:
(6) Georgia @ (9) Kentucky
(13) West Virginia @ (17) Texas
(14) Penn State @ (5) Michigan
(1) Alabama @ (3) LSU

2018 World Series

Red Sox over Dodgers in 5

If you don't like baseball, you'll never get how much tension and drama the game creates--even when nothing is happening! If you don't like baseball, you just see nothing; but baseball lovers came away from this World Series with a new admiration of Nathan Eovaldi, a guy that expertly did almost nothing for 9 full innings, and it was a joy to watch (even though he ended up taking the loss).

I thought the Sox's advantage was the weird dimensions of Fenway Park and the frigid temps of New England in October. So when they took the first two games at home I didn't chalk it up to the Sox being wildly better than the Dodgers. Indeed, I was actually pretty impressed with how the Dodgers played in those first two games and thought they had a good chance to sweep the LA games and head back to Fenway looking to close out the Sox (though even then I still would've liked the Red Sox chances of taking the final two games). And when Game Three went an epic 18 innings (normally I pay little/no attention to TV commentators but on this night I kinda pitied how fucking tired they must be just sitting in the same chairs for all that time), I thought it portended well for the Dodgers. Not unlike the NLCS when an extra inning game warped the Brewer bullpen, I thought the Sox that would pay the price for the unexpected time on the field. Nope, not so much. It was the Dodger bullpen that couldn't get it together in the next coupla games.

I'm cool with Steve Pearce being the MVP, he had some big hits and was definitely a major contributor. But really I thought the Sox lineup all played pretty good but not great, including Pearce. I would've gone with David Price as MVP, I just thought his Series was great, he did everything that needed to be done despite his poor playoff history and rocky time in Boston. And given that in the clinching game, he gave up a homer on the first pitch...and then nothing after that...was something special and should've been rewarded. Also, symbolically Price was the guy that has been there the whole time and endured a lot of criticism who shook off his doubts and performed at a high level when no one thought he could, whereas Pearce is a journeyman who just joined the team, might not be back next year. Pearce is a fine choice but I think Price was the better story and I'm surprised the voters missed that.

Obviously the Red Sox were the best team in baseball this year. With 108 regular season wins and relatively easy victories over the Yankees, Astros and Dodgers (*), it seems like the discussion will soon turn to whether this team is one of the best teams ever. I'm not in on that. This team was good but their pitching was hardly one of the greats of all time and the lineup struck me as good but not great, good at getting timely hitting (dare I say 'clutch'?) but not overpowering or unbeatable. This team just had the ability to outlast their opponents. Huzzah for the Red Sox. They won it all and they deserved it. And I enjoyed it every step of the way because I love good baseball and this was good baseball.


(*) The Red Sox became the first team ever to defeat both of the prior World Series participants to win the championship. Weird, that doesn't seem like it would be that uncommon.