Ramblings from the Ultimate Sports Sentimentalist

Good Thoughts:

1.  Bad blood- You got to love rivalry games.  Aside from all the upsets that can happen, it’s always enjoyable just to see the passion stemming from a matchup between two teams who absolutely hate each other.  I probably shouldn’t be condoning unnecessary violence, but in my opinion, the bench-clearing pregame/postgame brawls best exemplify this concept.  For I think most of us can admit it’s hard not to get emotionally involved in rivalry weekend when watching things like Kansas and Missouri go at it after the Border War, USC and UCLA get riled up at the conclusion of their intra-city matchup, or Georgia and Georgia Tech engage in a good, old-fashioned pregame staredown.

2.  The South Carolina Gamecocks- The one bright spot for me personally today was SC’s big victory over Clemson in a game I attended.  Other than the opening kickoff return by Clemson, everything imaginable went right for the Cocks.  They dominated the Tigers on both sides of the ball, the crowd was as raucous as ever, and several freshman and sophomores (especially cornerback/quarterback Stephon Gilmore) emerged as promising future stars.  If in two or three years from now this squad doesn’t end up making some noise in the SEC title race, then I’m not sure it every will. 

3.  Conference championship games- Week 14 has  to be the first-time ever that five of the six BCS conferences will hold championship games on the same weekend.  Aside from the pre-scheduled SEC, Big 12, and ACC title games, two de facto championshpgames have emerged with Cincinnati and Pitt playing each other for the Big East Title and Oregon and Oregon State meeting up in Autzen for the Pac-10 Championship on Thursday night.  It’s pretty crazy that two conferences engaged in round-robin scheduling could set up a winner-take-all game at the end of the season.  Some may have foreseen the  potential BCS implications of the Pitt and Cincy matchup, but I don’t think anyone pegged this year’s Civil War as a possible Pac-10 title game.  When you add the C-USA and MAC championships to the mix, there are seven conference titles on the line in Week 14, so next Thursday-Saturday should be a weekend to remember.  Unfortunately, some of us will be watching the action with a textbook in our hands, as we try to simultaneously study for law school exams.

Bad Thoughts:

1.  The BCS- You can complain about the BCS all you want, but when push comes to shove, there really aren’t words to describe how unjust the college football postseason really is.  First of all, the debate about whether or not the BCS works should be officially resolved now.  Four or five unbeatens will enter this year’s postseason unbeaten, which should prove that the system is about as effective as Rice’s defense was against Houston on Saturday.  Boise State certainly demonstrated they are worthy of a shot at a national title by dismantling a red-hot Nevada team on Friday night.  TCU’s situation is even more perplexing.  The Frogs have officially finished the season 12-0 winning their last seven games by 27 points or more and that includes wins over Utah and BYU.  Think about that for a minute.  TCU has demolished, dominated, woodsheded, and walloped every single team  (including two ranked opponents) they’ve played since October 10th.  Unfortunately, wins by Texas, Florida, and Alabama this weekend pretty much ruled out any chance of TCU or Boise getting a shot at a national championship.  That’s truly unbelievable.  To put things in a slightly exaggerated perspective, I’d say the BCS is approaching Communism and Terrorism on the list of the most heinous institutions in human history.  We fought wars to try to get rid of those evils, so I see no reason why we can’t do the same here.

2.  Kentucky football- The Cats aren’t on this list because they necessarily committed an egregious wrong on Saturday night in their loss to Tennessee (though the offensive play calling in the last 2 minutes of regulation was a little too conservative for my liking).  Instead, I’d simply like point out that all the things you hear about rivalry games, such as “you can throw out the records for both teams” or “whichever team wants it more will ultimately prevail”, do not apply to the Kentucky-Tennessee game.  The Cats simply cannot beat the Vols, regardless of where the game is played, how good each team is, and how much does the game matters.    

3.  Rivalry week no-shows- Some teams had more to play for than others this week, and some squads had championship games next week that they were looking ahead to.  However, neither of those facts, should excuse a team from putting forth a quality effort in that squad’s huge intrastate rivalry game.  That is why the lackluster performances given on Saturday by Ole Miss, Clemson, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, and Oklahoma State all deserve to be criticized.  For it’s one thing to lose a rivalry game, but it’s another to apathetically lay an egg during one.