Strange week when the College Football Regular season comes to an end. It seems like on old friend is gone. We get set into this week to week routine of watching our favorite college teams play. Then all of a sudden it is over. There was still some college football on. Some of the loss was filled in. There are lower divisions that somehow figured out how to have a true playoff. Teams with players that truly do need their education since chances are very slim that they will make the NFL. Yet some how they figure out how to have a playoff. There was the Army Navy game. That is always an interesting game and the Heisman Trophy presentation. Why we need an hour long show to give out one trophy I am not sure but yet there it is. It has been that way for a while. Ever since we allowed ESPN to take over some of those shows. In the end it is up to us. If we did not watch them then they would not show them. There was snow in the South and clear and calm in parts of the North. Strange Week in the Week that Was.
The Heisman No Surprise
There was not a strange week with the Heisman. Except maybe how ESPN decided to treat one of the three finalists on College Game Day. For some reason even though there was three finalists they decided to only interview two of them on set. Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa. The Third nominee. Dewayne Haskins was not invited to the College Game Day stage. While Haskins was a long shot to win. It is still a bit strange of ESPN to leave him out since he was invited to the ceremony by the Heisman Trust. Really it is just ESPN being ESPN and doing strange things. Becase, well they can. While Still being a huge award the Heisman Trophy has become more of a popularity contest than the award given to the best college football player each year. The last time a player other than a Running Back or Quarterback to win it was 1997. That was the year the lone Defensive player won in Charles Woodson from Michigan. I am ok with the Heisman being a popularity contest but then they really need to stop advertising it as given to the most outstanding player in college football. Since clearly it is not.
College Football Playoff – Not that one
It still amazes me that Division III college football manages to have a really playoff in football. There are 16 teams involved. They start playing in the third week of November and finish before Christmas. What does this say about Division I? It says that they are afraid of change and that they have no idea what they are talking about. There is plenty of space for most of the current Bowl System to still be played and have the real playoff. Heck most people are just interested in having eight teams in. As you know we are alright with that as well. Lets just get past what we do now and have eight teams in. At least for part of it the team selections would make perfect sense.
The Strange Week in the NFL
Strage week indeed. The Patriots show that they are human. A few key mistakes lead to a fail in Miami. They have had quite a few fails in Miami. Nothing quite like this though. At the end of the first half Tom Brady had a huge brain fart. The kind that a rookie has that led to a sack and no points at the end of the first half. That turned out to be huge as Miami used a shoots and ladders play at the end of the game to score the game winning touchdown. This loss by the Patriots and the losses by the Texans and the Steelers really shake things up in the AFC. As strange as it sounds. With three games to go in the season the Browns could still win the AFC North. Really who out there had the Browns winning 5 or more games this year? Oh wait we did. We had the Browns winning 6 games. While still not putting them in the playoffs Browns fans have to feel really good about how this year has gone and what things are looking like for the future.
Clinched Playoffs
Three teams cliched playoff spots this weekend. In the AFC the Chiefs. This is hardly a surprise with the type of season that they have been having. In the NFC there is no surprise either. The Saints and the Rams clinched playoff spots. How ever in the NFC while we were thinking earlier in the year that those two teams would be meeting for the NFC Championship there are now two other teams that are on a roll. The Bears with that defense are pounding teams into submission. While you can win deep into the playoffs with Defense. You do have to have at least some kind of offense. The Cowboys are also winning with defense. They are also winning with with what is tuning out to be one of two amazing trades this year. No surprise the trades were the ones the Bears made for Mack and the Cowboys made for Cooper. Mack has been a wrecking ball for the Bears and Cooper has been the spark that the Dallas Offense has needed. Cooper has come back to life and is making up for the Dak deficiency. It really has made a difference. The kicker in this trade is that the more Dallas wins the worse the trade was for the Raiders.
The rest for worse
It is always better to make the playoffs in the NFL. Even if you are the last team in. If you are not going to make the playoffs then you want to finish as bad as you can. Which in this case bad is good. As in getting a better draft pick. The Lions have had a lot of trouble with this. While I never fault a team for truly trying to win. In true Lion fashion they won this past weekend. They won against a team that they are battling for a better draft spot. The Cardinals have not been good. Except for last week when they beat the Packers. So they had to get that spot back. Bam lose to the Lions. In one weekend the Lions went from picking 8th to picking 10th. This will not be their final resting spot. They can still move down a bit. It will be a difficult road for them now.
NCAA Basketball Getting Close
Bashing ESPN is one of our favorite things to do. Saying that. Even though I do not watch much ESPN I do listen to a lot of ESPN radio and read a lot on their web site. There is good content there is bad content and there is – content. In one part of their content they are doing a weekly bracketology. There is nothing wrong with them doing this. We know they have to fill content. Just like we try to do. They do it better since they have more people on staff. So they come up with new ideas to have more content. Filling out a full bracket is a bit of a stretch. Probably nuttier than pre season poles. Saying that. Kudos ESPN that is a job I would love to have. So Bully for you Joe Lunardi for coming up with a silly idea that you get paid for. I love it.
The top four this week in Bracketology are Kansas, Duke, Virginia and Michigan. The beautiful thing here is that it really does not matter. There is no right or wrong answer at this point in the season. You truly can say what ever you want. If someone were to disagree with you it does not matter or they can just do their own. I have no problem with those teams being the one seeds. It is very possible that at least two of them and possibly all four will end up as one seeds. I am still a firm believer that the NCAA Basketball schedule really does not matter till after January first. So at this point we are just in the fun season. Fun as in getting to the important part.
Strange Week Going on in the NHL
After awarding Seattle the 32nd franchise in the NHL Last week. There has been several stories about how the NHL should expand its playoffs. As it is with 32 teams half the league would make the playoffs. On first glance I was against the idea of playoff expansion but then I came across a really smart plan for playoff expansion. The idea is to add two one shot play in games. Similar to what MLB is doing with the Wild Card.
The Wildcard play in game has generated a lot of excitement adding games to the playoffs with out adding much time to the playoffs. There is some blow back from the traditionalists out there. They get on the one game is hardly fair. While they may be correct. I have a solution for that. Don’t finish in the wild card. Finish above that. Which in the case of the NHL would be in sixth place or better. So you would have teams 7,8,9 and 10 play in the same night. Team 7 and 8 would get home games and teams 9 and 10 would be on the road. One game. Winner takes all. For that they get to play either team one or team two. But then it is better than not getting into the playoffs at all. I like it and am all for the expansion to the NHL playoffs.
The Season goes on
Tampa Bay is on a roll. They have now won seven games in a row. They are starting to run away with their quest for the Presidents cup this year. That would be a pretty nice thing for them after Yzerman left the team earlier this year. This is the type of team that he build and they are showing it. The closest team to Tampa is Toronto. They are 8 points behind at this point. This only matters for the Presidents cup though Toronto is on a mission this year to win a cup. This could and probably will change a lot over the next few months. As we say over and over and over and over the NHL season it super long.
Entertainment Round up
The Strange Weed in my entertainment viewing this week was that nothing much really happened. As much as I like the holiday cooking and baking challenges and they do pass the time. It is pretty much the same from year to year. Different people and they make slightly different items but over all it is the same. Not complaining about it just stating a fact. After the winter break things to get back to normal and the viewing gets much better. At least over the next few weeks. We will get more NFL games. That is always a good thing. At this point in the season it is a great thing. Teams fighting for that last playoff spot. Maybe we should do something like that with the Television shows. They show episodes that face off against each other. The viewers vote on which show wins the slot. Reminder – Send note to TV executives.
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