Too Much Information

I was watching the UConn vs. South Florida football game last night and a graphic came up that I had to address here.  It wasn't a booming hit or a trick play or a one-handed catch - it was about a South Florida Bulls football player, and I did you all a favor by rewinding my television and taking a picture for your viewing pleasure.  I am not sure why they chose to discuss this on the air and try glorify how hard this kid works or whatever else they might have said.

This picture says it all - in fact, the first bullet point says it all:

(Courtesy of ESPN2)

There is no need to mention his 3 children under the age of 4.  My question is how the hell does this guy have time to practice, watch film, workout, and bring his grades from failing to a 3.0.

Here's a little about this kid, who actually is pretty good:
He leads the team in tackles with 68.
He has 9.5 tackles for a loss.
He has 2.5 sacks for 27 yards.
He has 1 interception for 12 yards.
He has 2 passes broken up.
(www.gousfbulls.com)

I am not trying to pick on this kid, I know a lot of college athletes have children, but why in the hell would ESPN2 choose to discuss this on the broadcast.  Good for you Jacquian, I am sure your kids are great and you're a hell of a football player, but there's just some things that the entire viewing public do not need to know.

UCONN won the football game, 19-16, with a last-minute FG and is going to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS bowl for the seventh year Division I program.  It will face #9 Oklahoma.  The Big East had a rough year for football and many are questioning why the conference gets an automatic BCS berth.  I don't.  It's a major conference and deserves to get a bid. 

No one was bitching when Cincinnati went to the Orange Bowl after the 2008 season and got stepped on by Virginia Tech, 20-7.  No one was saying the Big East sucked when they went down to the Bayou for the Sugar Bowl following the 2009 season, and got smoked by Florida, 51-24. 

Just because UCONN has 4 losses doesn't mean they don't deserve the bid.  Just because the Big East had a down year doesn't mean they don't deserve to send a team to a BCS bowl.  Virginia Tech is probably going to the Orange Bowl and lost to James Madison, who's in the Championship Subdivision and wound up with a 6-5 record.

Good for you UCONN.  Just don't go embarrass yourself out there.

Thursday Night Football

Andre Johnson is a man!  Six catches for 149 yards four days after his boxing match with CF.  No touchdowns though.  Matt Schaub played a pretty tough game too - his head looked like a rubber handball bouncing off the wall when he was sacked late in the game - he finished with 337 yards passing.  Tough SOB.

The Eagles won 34-24, partly because Michael Vick is playing like a man possessed (302 yards passing, 48 yards rushing).  Vick became just the fifth quarterback since the merger to pass for 300 yards, throw for 2 TD's and rush for 1 TD in a season TWICE.  (Tony Romo '07, Steve Young '98, Warren Moon '89, Ken Anderson '82).  He's also the first to do it after serving time in prison.  What a guy.

Going to dinner tonight and then to see American Idiot.  Looking forward to a good night ahead.

OK, one for old time's sake:

TKO (AP Photo)

Numbers Game - #11

#11 has its place in history as well as in sports.  First, we'll go back about 40+ years.

Apollo 11, the first manned spacecraft to land on the moon, back in 1969, commanded by the one and only Neil Armstrong.

Giants legendary QB and two time Super Bowl champion Phil Simms

2022 World Cup is Where?!?

Let me preface by saying that I can care less about all things soccer - amateur, college, pro, and women's.  I happened to be in Dallas for this past summer's World Cup.  That might have been the only time I've ever really taken in an entire soccer match.  And I'll admit, it wasn't as bad as I had imagined.

From what I have been told, we were in contention for hosting the 2022 World Cup.  Morgan Freeman, a great actor and activist, was sent to speak on our country's behalf.  So was Bill Clinton.  But take a gander at the mistake Morgan Freeman made right around the 7:00 mark.  (In his defense, it was pretty dark in that room).



Qatar actually got the bid, which I am not all that upset over.  They do have a 5-star airline.  But seriously, why do we need to host a sport that our country gets excited about once every four years?  The answer:  we don't and won't.

Qatar.  All 4,416 square miles of it - that's just a little smaller than the state of Connecticut (the third smallest state in the US).  From the pictures I've seen of the Qatar, it looks like a pretty neat place to be from, if you're into oil.

June and July are the months in which the World Cup are generally held - the average high temperature in Qatar during those months is 106° and 115°, respectively, with zero precipitation.  I hope they have a lot of water and ambulances on the sidelines, because people are going to be dropping like flies.  And I ain't talking about taking a dip in the Persian Gulf.  Professional athletes have rarely, if ever, been asked to perform regularly in temperatures exceeding 105°.  It's almost inhumane.

Their natural resources are petroleum, natural gas, and fish (cia.gov).
The terrain of Qatar is mostly flat and barren desert covered with loose sand and gravel (cia.gov).

Overall, it sounds like they really knocked this one out of the park.  SIKE!

(The 2018 World Cup is being held in Moscow, Russia - no qualms here.  Pack your vodka.)

Numbers Game - #10

Now on to double digits.  It starts with the single greatest number on earth, according to my lovely wife - 10.  Here's a few #10's for the record books - some stats are included for your reading pleasure.

SU Field Hockey great Lindsay Darcy (my wife).  I couldn't dig up any stats, but I know she scored the game-winner against Ohio State.  I saw the video.  She's still competitive as a mo-fo.

This former Reds and Tigers manager led Reds to two World Series titles and the Tigers to one.  He amassed over 2,190 wins as a manager and was inducted into the HOF in 2000.  His #10 is retired by the Cincinnati Reds, Sparky Anderson.  (Photo courtesy of AP)

"The Scooter" Phil Rizzuto, born in Brooklyn, helped lead the Yankees to seven World Series titles in his 13 seasons in pinstripes.  He was then a staple on the idiot box, calling Yankees games for many years, throwing around his signature, "Holy Cow!".  (Photo courtesy of NYTimes)