Detroit takes another hit

Because it has a terrible bowl game on tap tonight. There's no way they sold as many tickets as they had planned with two teams with as small of fan bases as Central Michigan and Florida Atlantic.

As for the game, Central Michigan will roll against Florida Atlantic...it shouldn't be close. CMU 42, F(A)U 17

ND/Hawaii

I don't see why so many people think Hawaii is going to win tonight's game...how quickly people forget last year's thrashing of the Warriors by the Georgia Bulldogs. Notre Dame's had trouble winning against good teams, but, fortunately for the Irish, Hawaii doesn't fall into that group.
Notre Dame 45, Hawaii 21

Also: Merry Christmas!

Viewer Discretion Is Advised

Check out this video of a horrific football injury. If you're like me...it kind of sickens me to see this but at the same time I can't turn away. Maybe I'm just a sick person...you can be the judge (vote in the poll...)

On Vacation...

Sorry for the lack of quality blog posting recently...I'm on vacation in the mountains. I went skiing for the first time in my life today, and it was pretty fun until a 5-year-old girl swerved in front of me when I was going full speed. Not being an experienced skier...I had to make a turn that I wasn't remotely ready to do and I had a epic crash in which I lost my skis, my poles, my Titans stocking hat and a little bit of my dignity (people on the Ski Lift starting laughing). Of course, my heroic effort to avoid her meant nothing to the girl who slowly skied past me and to the bottom of the slope. Oh well.

Now, for today's bowl game. I've gotten off to a rough start so far...but I'm going to try to get back on the bike and string off a couple in a row.

Boise State v. TCU

I'm going to go against the grain and pick a plucky Horned Frogs squad over everyone's favorite non-BCS team. I'm sure the Broncos will have plenty of their sleeve in this one...but TCU's defense should prove strong enough to win this battle of highly ranked mid-majors.

TCU 24, Boise St. 21

Sunday night games

Carolina at New York

The Giants are too good to lose three straight, and I think they regain their winning form in a huge Sunday night matchup against the Panthers. Carolina's version of "Smash 'n Dash" will be limited to only a score or two while the Giants three-headed monster at running back will run wild. The X-factor for the Panthers will have to be Jake Delhomme, and I don't think he'll do enough to pull out the victory. The Giants secondary will be keying on Steve Smith, and I don't think Carolina has enough other weapons in its receiving corps to steal homefield advantage away.

Giants 28, Panthers 24

New Orleans Bowl

Southern Miss v. Troy

The Trojans come out on top in a battle between two underrated teams. Sure, they wouldn't beat many other bowl teams, but they could beat several teams from BCS conferences.

Troy 21, Southern Miss 17

rest of NFL predictions...

Cincinnati at Cleveland

-In a battle of two of the worst quarterbacks and teams in the AFC, I'm going with Ken Dorsey and the Browns over Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Bengals in a squeaker.

Browns 28 Bengals 24

New Orleans at Detroit

-Drew Brees will pile up stats against hapless Detroit to send them to 0-15 and on the brink of a dubious place history. If Brees can pass for 400 yards in this game, he'll be within striking distance of Dan Marino's passing record. Also, Pierre Thomas, the Saints running back now that Reggie Bush is out for the season, will have a monster day.

Saints 35, Lions 24

Pittsburgh at Tennessee

Full disclosure: I live in Nashville, Tennessee, and have been a Titans fan since they moved here. I think the Titans gut out a tough home victory with defense and the running game. I predict one interception return for a touchdown for the Titans and a long run for a score by Chris Johnson and Tennessee barely will get by a brutal Steelers defense in this one.

Titans 17, Pittsburgh 12

Miami at Kansas City

Miami will crush the Chiefs in this tune up for their game against the Jets next week, and Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown should both put up around 100 yards rushing.

Dolphins 42, Chiefs 21

San Francisco at St. Louis

Another battle of disappointing teams, this time in the NFC. San Francisco has been playing well of late, and St. Louis has been playing well enough to compete for the No. 2 spot in the NFL draft in April.

49ers 31, Rams 21

Arizona at New England

Kurt Warner and the Cardinals bring a high powered offense into Gillette Stadium against a Patriot team still fighting for a division crown. Matt Cassell and Warner should put up some great offensive numbers in this shootout, but I see a Patriot team will more to play for coming out on top. Plus, I'll take Bill Belichick over Ken Whizenhunt any day.

Patriots 38, Cardinals 35

San Diego at Tampa Bay

For some reason, I still have a little bit of faith in the Chargers to win this "must-win" game to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. I mean, LT has to come alive and take over one game this season, right?

Chargers 24, Bucs 21

Buffalo at Denver

I'm not sold on Jay Cutler. I think he throws ways too many picks for all of his good throws, and that with reliable quarterback play against bad teams, Denver would have a better record. The Broncos are playing the Bills, however, so Buffalo's ineptitude on both sides of the ball will cancel out a few of those mistakes.

Broncos 31, Bills 21

Houston at Oakland

Top pick Darren McFadden should get some work here, but Houston's offense should be too much. Matt Schaub, Steve Slaton and Andre Johnson lead the Texans in what should be a comfortable win.

Texans 28, Raiders 7

New York (Jets) at Seattle

The New York Bretts need a victory in Seattle to have a chance to play for the AFC North title next week against Miami. It's Mike Holmgren's last home game as a coach for the Seahawks, so Seattle will put up a struggle. But New York is just too talented for this overmatched Seattle team, and Thomas Jones and Leon Washington should roll on the ground.

Jets 35, Seahawks 21

Atlanta at Minnesota

Matt Ryan's had a dream rookie season and seems headed for a Rookie of the Year award over the trio of talented rookie runners (Chris Johnson, Matt Forte and Steve Slaton). The playoffs, however, will probably be out of reach after a loss this weekend against Adrian Peterson and the Vikings.

Vikings 24, Falcons 21

Philadelphia at Washington

Easy pick here. The Eagles are rolling and the Redskins are reeling. Brian Westbrook and Co. should make the hot seat on Washington head coach Jim Zorn a little warmer as well as continue their push towards the playoffs.

Eagles 28, Redskins 14

Late Prediction

Kind of unfair because the game's already started...but I say the Cowboys roll in their last game in Texas Stadium. 24-14 'Boys over the Ravens.

Why? Because I just don't trust Joe Flacco. Or any of the Ravens running backs. Or any of their receivers. Basically, anyone who doesn't play defense for Baltimore is a liability for them in this game.

The rest of my NFL game predictions will come tomorrow...as will the next couple bowl predictions. Get hyped.

Gartrell Johnson = Hoss

What I learned from today's bowl games...

Never heard of Gartrell Johnson? Neither had I...until today. This stud of a running back for Colorado State not only single-handedly beat Fresno State and ruined my perfect record in predicting bowl games (I was on an impressive one-game streak), he also posted one of the most impressive stat lines I've ever seen by a running back.

For the game:

27 carries, 285 yards on the ground

5 receptions, 90 yards receiving

2 TD's rushing, including a 77-yarder to seal the game

That adds up to just your average 49-point fantasy day for your fantasy footballers out there...and the pros need to at least take a second look at this guy.

The knock on him from pro scouts is that he's not fast enough to make it in the NFL...really? If Lendale White (aka "Smash the Slow" in the Tennessee Titans' 'Smash and Dash' attack) can make a serious contribution to a pro team...Gartrell certainly will. If I were a GM and this guy slipped into the sixth or seventh round...I'd grab him in a heartbreak.

I know the competition today was a poor Fresno State defense...but the way he was bowling over the Bulldogs' linebackers and tearing through the secondary screamed pro potential. Just because he won't run a 4.4 at the combine doesn't mean he can't be productive. I would love for him to be a goal-line back/bruiser type who takes care of the ball (relevant note: he hasn't fumbled since September of 2005) for my team, and he'd be great at wearing down defenses. Fresno State defenders were literally pulling up a bit before trying to tackle him because, like Eddie George, he delivers the blow rather than takes it. He averaged nearly 100 yards per game this season, what's not to like?

Even if he only made it to third string on your favorite team...how sweet would it be to have a guy named 'Gartrell' to bring in for mop-up duty against the Lions?

Bowl Games

After several weeks of exams and then a week of limbo in which I forgot my password...I have finally returned to the blogging community (cue triumphant comeback music, and then, if you're still feeling feisty, the Rocky theme).

Today's blog deals with bowl games - who's going to win them and a short breakdown of each one

I'm going to keep a tally of each bowl game I get right and wrong...there are 34 in all, so the results should be interesting. They'll either prove I'm a hack in terms of college football knowledge or that I know what I'm talking about, so I hope I put on a good show.

Eaglebank Bowl: Wake Forest vs. Navy

Wake Forest lines up against Navy in a rematch of a regular season affair in which Navy won 24-17. The Demon Deacons fell behind 17-0 in the first half of the two team's first games, but don't look for a repeat performance from Wake Forest. Quarterback Riley Skinner threw four interceptions in that contest (he only threw seven all season) to doom his team and basically hand Navy a game that the ACC power should have won. The win was the Midshipmen's first victory against a ranked opponent since 1985, but it'll be tough for them to beat the Demon Deacons twice in the same season. Wake Forest will be looking for revenge for the home loss, and they'll end up winning by a narrow margin.

Of interest in today's game is that these are two of the better rushing attacks in the country. Navy has only rushed the ball a handful of times compared to most college football teams (remnants of Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson's triple option offense) and Wake Forest is tops in the ACC in rushing.

The pick: Wake Forest 27, Navy 24

(updates to come later for the rest of today's games)

New Mexico Bowl: Colorado State v. Fresno State

The pick: Fresno State 31, Colorado State 21

Magicjack St. Petersburg Bowl: Memphis v. South Florida

South Florida 45, Memphis 14

Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl: (16) BYU v. Arizona

BYU 28, Arizona 27.

Online Article

I'm always a little bit disappointed when my articles go online instead of in the paper, and that happened today.
I know I shouldn't be because today's paper was didn't have any space for sports sides (other than the football side) and the Internet's the future of journalism...but I thought my article today actually had a pretty interesting tidbit.
Anson Dorrance, the UNC women's soccer coach, somehow got possession of another team's scouting report that analyzed North Carolina's strengths and weaknesses, and he corrected some of the Tar Heels' defensive deficiencies with its information in Saturday's NCAA tournament game. Anyways, if you want to check out the article...it's here.

Required Reading:

A quick survey of a couple interesting sports reads.

My articles in the publication I work for (SportSaturday) that comes out before UNC home games.
-One on the N.C. State/UNC game's impact on recruiting.
-The other on the player that torched the Tar Heels today, Russell Wilson.

Some other interesting articles I found surfing the web during the Oklahoma/Texas Tech game.
-Notre Dame's fans throwing snowballs at their own players.
-Someone might actually beat ESPN's Streak for the Cash contest. Getting 25 games right in a row is almost impossible ( and major props to him if he makes it.
-This box score of Florida vs. The Citadel. I know the Gators were playing a very bad team, but scoring 10 touchdowns (and being stopped only once...and that was in the fourth quarter). 705 total yards of offense in one game is incredible. The Florida-Alabama SEC championship will be an incredible matchup of a great defense against a near-unstoppable offense.
-Florida State's Myron Rolle won the Rhodes Scholarship, which is extremely rare for a anyone, let alone a top-caliber athlete on a Football Bowl Subdivision Team, to get. He could play in the NFL or accept the scholarship, and it will be interesting to see what he does.
-Dr. Z's power rankings. He's been around football for about 100 years and he knows what he's talking about.
-NFL.com's preview of professional football weekend action. This gives a good rundown of all of the matchups for Sunday, and click on the videos next to the games for some in-depth analysis.

Giddy

The life of a sportswriter is strange. So far I've worked long hours for little to no pay in honing my skills at the Daily Tar Heel, and I've covered sports that not many people immediately rush to look for in the paper.

I can't express enough just how frustrating it is not to have people read your work and give you constructive feedback on it. It's even more maddening to think that all the work you're doing might be for naught, since the job market for sportswriters is getting weaker by the day due to the economy.

But today, on what perhaps was the busiest sportswriting day of my career, I forgot about all that and just wrote. I started out preparing questions for my football cover story on the N.C. State/UNC rivalry and its potential impact on recruiting, but then my day took an interesting turn. The Associated Press called the UNC sports desk, looking for a writer to cover tonight's women's basketball game.

Though I had way too much to do today already (interview players for story, write story, call the UNC and Illinois women's soccer coaches for a story, write that story, then go to the library and write a political science paper), I jumped at the chance and accepted.

Now it's almost 11:30...my political science paper is still unfinished...and I'm really pleased with what I accomplished. I felt like I wrote a good cover and I successfully finished the AP story on deadline (I had to turn in a short version of my story 10 minutes after the game and then submit a finished story one hour later).

You know why? Because it's pretty damn cool to see the story you wrote in places like here. And here. Writing for the AP was awesome, and writing on its deadline gave me an adrenaline rush like nothing I'd experienced before.

Whatever doubts I might have had about sportswriting...they've disappeared. I'll gladly take a chance in the competitive field to do for a living what I did tonight.

UNC Women's Soccer rolls through NCAA tournament

This weekend the UNC women's soccer team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament with wins against Western Carolina and UNC-Charlotte. The combined score of the two games was 9-0 in favor of North Carolina, which only scraps the surface of its dominantion this weeked. The Tar Heels, who earned a No. 1 seed in the tournament, face off next against Illinois on Saturday, November 22 at 5:30 at Fetzer Field (which is in Chapel Hill, NC).

I mention this because I'm a beat writer for the team this season. I work for the Daily Tar Heel, the school newspaper for the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill). I'll expand a little bit more about some of the perks (and drawbacks) of my job in a later posting.

It's been fun getting to know the UNC players this season and watching them gel together on the field, but it's a little odd to not be able to cheer them on. There is "no cheering in the press box," and I am supposed to remain objective at all times when covering the team. I'm never supposed to pull for any team against another, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't rooting for UNC to earn a trip to the College Cup, the final four of soccer (but maybe that's because I'd want the front page story that goes with it...). Realistically I'm always going to have a little bit of blue blood running through my veins, but I try not to let it show in my writing.

Anyways, here's a link to my article recapping Sunday's game against Charlotte. Enjoy, and let me know what you think if you'd like.

Weird Ending in Pittsburgh and its Impact on Vegas

There was a strange end to the Chargers-Steelers game today in which Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu appeared to score a touchdown at the end of the game. The TD would have pushed the final margin to 17-10.

When it happened, I immediately thought that it might have had implications for people who had wagered on the game. I whipped out my laptop and looked up the betting line, which was listed at 4.5. I laughed because my inclination was correct and thought of just how many people were furious at San Diego for allowing a defensive touchdown of a doomed-to-failure multiple lateral attempt, therefore costing them whatever they had bet on the game (and vice-versa for those who put their money on Pittsburgh).

But then things got just plain weird. Officials went to the replay booth with the clock showing 0:00, trying to see if the meaningless touchdown (the Steelers victory was ensured either way) would count. As Scott Green went to the replay booth, little did he know that thousands of dollars directly depended on his decision.

I can only imagine the faces of those previously joyous gamblers turning to dismay and anger as Polamalu's score was taken away and the final was 11-10.

Now, hours after the game wacky finish, another juicy nugget has emerged. Green said that the final play was reversed incorrectly. The final score of the game most likely won't be changed back (even though the incorrect call was made and no plays were run after it), so the admission of officials that they made the erroneous ruling only will serve to frustrate those who lost money even further.

Football and Basketball's Tug of War

An interesting event occurred Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill...a North Carolina basketball and football game's times intersected. While no one would mistake the popularity of the (as of 11/16/08) No. 25 football team in the NCAA with unanimous preseason No. 1 basketball team, it was interesting to see how the once-obvious distinction has been blurred. On more than one occasion I've been asked to consider if I would rather North Carolina be a football school or a basketball school. And while my answer has usually been basketball due to UNC's traditional finishes in the two sports, the 2008 UNC pigskin action has begun to wet my appetite for becoming a football power.

But I digress.

Many UNC fans were left with a choice: basketball or football? This weekend's choice was a fairly easy one, even if it was the first game of basketball season. Picking to watch North Carolina at Maryland, what some were calling "the most important game for UNC in five years" or "the biggest game for UNC this decade" was the right call since the men's basketball team faced a creampuff (the Penn Quakers). It's become a bit of an overstated cliche to say these things since the exact same things were uttered for the Virginia Tech and Notre Dame games earlier this season, but the sentiment was understandable since UNC seemed to have an ACC Championship appearance within its grasp. It was definitely odd, however to hear "flip it back to football" and "let's see if the commercials are over" when the basketball game was on.

It would have been far more interesting the see what the consensus would have been had the basketball game been a more interesting non-conference matchup (say Kentucky, Michigan State, Texas or Notre Dame), but it was interesting enough to see a sport other than basketball take precedence, even if it was for just one day.