2008-09 College Football Bowl Schedule BOWL LOCATION DATE/TIME NETWORK EagleBank Bowl Wake Forest vs. Navy Washington, D.C. RFK Stadium Dec. 20, 11 a.m. ESPN New Mexico Colorado State vs. Fresno State Albuquerque University Stadium Dec. 20, 2:30 p.m. ESPN magicJack St. Petersburg Memphis vs. South Florida St. Petersburg. Fla. Tropicana Field Dec. 20, 4:30 p.m. ESPN2 Pioneer Las Vegas BYU vs. Arizona Las Vegas Sam Boyd Stadium Dec. 20, 8 p.m. ESPN R+L Carriers New Orleans Southern Miss vs. Troy New Orleans Superdome Dec. 21, 8:15 p.m. ESPN San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Boise State vs. TCU San Diego Qualcomm Stadium Dec. 23, 8 p.m. ESPN Sheraton Hawaii Hawaii vs. Notre Dame Honolulu Aloha Stadium Dec. 24, 8 p.m. ESPN Motor City Florida Atlantic vs. Central Michigan Detroit Ford Field Dec. 26, 7:30       p.m. ESPN Meineke Car Care West Virginia vs. North Carolina Charlotte, N.C. Bank of America Stadium Dec. 27, 1 p.m. ESPN Champs Sports Wisconsin vs. Florida State Orlando, Fla. Florida Citrus Bowl Dec. 27, 4:30 p.m. ESPN Emerald Miami (Fla.) vs. California San Francisco AT&T Park Dec. 27, 8 p.m. ESPN Independence Northern Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech Shreveport, La. Independence Stadium Dec. 28, 8:15 p.m. ESPN Papajohns.com NC State vs. Rutgers Birmingham, Ala. Legion Field Dec. 29, 3 p.m. ESPN Valero Alamo Missouri vs. Northwestern San Antonio Alamodome Dec. 29, 8 p.m. ESPN Roady’s Humanitarian Maryland vs. Nevada Boise, Idaho Bronco Stadium Dec. 30, 4:30 p.m. ESPN Texas  Western Michigan vs. Rice Houston Reliant Stadium Dec. 30, 8 p.m. NFL Network Pacific Life Holiday Oklahoma State vs. Oregon San Diego Qualcomm Stadium Dec. 30, 8 p.m. ESPN Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Houston vs. Air Force Fort Worth, Texas Amon G. Carter Stadium Dec. 31, Noon ESPN Brut Sun Oregon State vs. Pittsburgh El Paso, Texas Sun Bowl Dec. 31, 2 p.m. CBS Gaylord Hotels Music City Boston College vs. Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn. LP Field Dec. 31, 3:30 p.m. ESPN Insight Kansas vs. Minnesota Tempe, Ariz. Sun Devil Stadium Dec. 31, 5:30 p.m. NFL Network Chick-fil-A LSU vs. Georgia Tech Atlanta Georgia Dome Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m. ESPN Outback South Carolina vs. Iowa Tampa, Fla. Raymond James Stadium Jan. 1, 2009, 11 a.m. ESPN Capital One Georgia vs. Michigan State Orlando, Fla. Florida Citrus Bowl Jan. 1, 2009, 1 p.m. ABC Konica Minolta Gator Nebraska vs. Clemson Jacksonville, Fla. Jacksonville Municipal Stadium Jan. 1, 2009, 1 p.m. CBS Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi Penn State vs. USC Pasadena, Calif. Rose Bowl Jan. 1, 2009, 4:30 p.m. ABC FedEx Orange Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech Miami Dolphin Stadium Jan. 1, 2009, 8:30 p.m. FOX AT&T Cotton Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech Dallas Cotton Bowl Jan. 2, 2009, 2 p.m. FOX AutoZone Liberty  Kentucky vs. East Carolina Memphis, Tenn. Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Jan. 2, 2009, 5 p.m. ESPN Allstate Sugar Utah vs. Alabama New Orleans Superdome Jan. 2, 2009, 8 p.m. FOX International Buffalo vs. Connecticut Toronto Rogers Centre Jan. 3, 2009, Noon ESPN2 Tostitos Fiesta Ohio State vs. Texas Glendale, Ariz. University of Phoenix Stadium Jan. 5, 2009, 8 p.m. FOX GMAC Ball State vs. Tulsa Mobile, Ala. Ladd-Peebles Stadium Jan. 6, 2009, 8 p.m. ESPN FedEx BCS National Championship Game Florida vs. Oklahoma Miami Dolphin Stadium Jan. 8, 2009, 8 p.m. FOX

I actually intend to all of those games. It’s the highlight of my year…or not. And you know the sad part about all of this bowl nonsense? I’ll probably end up watching at least a portion of all these games. 

The thing that I really hate about the bowls are that they are the reason we do not have a playoff. College presidents and television networks (ESPN!) have such a stake in these bowls and apparently so much money is made off these craptacular games, that we will probably never see a playoff – and that sucks.

Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel has a brilliant plan for a playoff in a recent column of his:

Wouldn’t that be awesome? We’d have about three amazing weeks of college football to determine who is actually the real champion of college football and not the champion that was determined to be better than everyone else because of a computer ranking. Instead of having thrilling games to close out the college football season (and I would argue that college football’s regular season is the best in all of sports), we limp in with games such as Motor City Bowl or the EagleBank bowl. This system sucks and it isn’t changing anytime soon.

Enjoy your lovely bowl season everyone

The following is an exerpt from Buster Olney’s blog about the situation:

Sabathia will get the largest contract ever for a pitcher, Joel Sherman reports, and he is embracing the pressure of going into New York as a savior. That challenge eventually destroyed Chuck Knoblauch and confounded Roger Clemens for most of two seasons. It’s a challenge that still seems to gnaw at Alex Rodriguez.

New Yorkers want their athletes tough and able to come through in clutch situations. In their eyes, Derek Jeter is a true New Yorker…Alex Rodriguez is not. CC would probably best be wise to avoid the A-ROD philosophy on handling New York (i.e. get paid the richest contract of all time for someone in his position and not live up to expectations).

I like CC and hope he does well in NYC. He was very classy during his time in Cleveland and left on a very positive note with his letter to Clevelander’s in the Plain Dealer.

It was weird rooting against him as a Brewer whenever he would go up against my boys on the Northside of Chicago and it will probably be weird seeing him in Yankee pinstripes but I think I’ll get used to it. I just hope that the good guy CC can get used to New York and the unbelieveably high expectations placed on their Yankees.

Big Apple don’t take a bite out of him because Sabathia’s left arm just brought the Yankees that much more closer to a title

Plax was taken to the hospital and delivered the brilliant piece of information upon arrival:

According to the New York Post, the hospital, the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, failed to report the gunshot as required by law after hospital personnel recognized Burress, despite his checking in under a fake name — Harris Smith.

He also told the hospital he’d been shot at an Applebee’s restaurant, the Post reported, citing unnamed sources.

Really Plax? You didn’t think anyone would recognize you in New York City hospital? I think as a professional athlete, you’d probably get recognized in a San Francisco hospital by someone let alone the hospital in your hometown.

An interesting little tidbit about Mr. Smith’s #17 jersey…it no longer can be customized through the NFL Shop. And that’s too because you’re sitting on a gold mine here Goodell. That #17 H. Smith Giants jersey could have become a collector’s item like that #7 R. Mexico Falcons jersey (The name Michael Vick gave when he accussed of spreading herpes) - but now that dream has died.

Michael Vick? Nope that's Ron Mexico

So what have we learned about things in the wake of Plaxico Burress shooting himself? Well, first, it’s probably not a good idea to carry a loaded weapon into a crowded NYC night club. Things only get messy. Second, it’s probably not a good idea to implicate a teammate, Antonio Pierce, in your potential mess and have him alledgedly stash the weapon that just went to town on you. Third, when arriving at a hospital with a self-inflicted gun shot wound to the thigh, don’t give a fake name or tell the hospital workers that the shooting took place at an Applebees – because, I mean, who gets shot at an Applebees. Fourth, and probably most importantly, don’t go shooting yourself in the leg a day and a half before your team polishes off its 11th win in 12 games – further illustrating the point that you are not needed.

I’m going to say Plaxico has had better weeks and will have better weeks in the future…this week, not one of his best moments. I’d just say let this be a lesson to every NFLer out there…don’t accidentally shoot yourself at NYC night club or Applebees (wherever you crazy kids are hanging out during your weekend rendevous’).

32) Detroit Lions - I feel sorry for Lions fans. Former GM Matt Millen left this team in such a mess, they will probably not see a winning season for ten years…it doesn’t help that your starting quarterback was retired three weeks ago – that it’s going well right now for this team. 0-16 here they come.

31) Oakland Raiders - There are two other teams that have not reached the two win plateau that the Raiders have eclipsed – that just goes to show you how bad this team’s performances have been over the past couple of weeks.

30) Cincinnati Bengals – The game this past weekend was awful on all counts. The Eagles did everything in their power to give the game to the Bengals and the Cincinnaters couldn’t do anything with and the two teams wound up tied. Only six more games left Bengal fans.

29) St. Louis Rams - The Rams are trying their hardest to stake their claim as one of the league’s worst teams with their performances over the last couple of weeks. You can probably imagine the natives are getting a little restless.

28) Kansas City Chiefs – Is there such a thing as being a “good 1-9″? If there is, the Chiefs should earn that title. Been very competitive the last couple weeks and it looks like Tyler Thigpen is actually resembling a real life NFL quarterback – seriously.

27) Seattle Seahawks – The Seahwaks are just a mess. Injuries have ravaged the team and now they are spiraling towards a very high draft pick. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is the worst stretch of sports the state of Washington has ever seen…The Sonics are in Oklahoma City, The Mariners are a disaster and the two big time college football teams have a combined 1 win – wow.

26) Houston Texans – I really have nothing good to say about the Texans. To be fair, I don’t really have anything bad to about them either…How about we just move on.

25) San Francisco 49ers – Mike Singletary’s message might be starting to get through to the 49er players. Then again, they played the Rams…I think myself and ten other guys could beat the Rams in their current state.

24) Buffalo Bills - Rian Lindel envoked memories of Scot Norwood with his wide right late game missed field goal against the Browns. This team started 5-1 and four games later and they’re now 5-5 – yikes. Well there’s always next year…unfortunately Trent Edwards will still be your starting quarterback.

23) Jacksonville Jaguars – The Browns and the Bengals have a combined five wins on the season – The Jaguars were responsible for two of those victories for the Ohio teams. Ultimate definition of an underachieving team.

22) Cleveland Browns – How in the world did this team beat the Giants in Week 6? I think that might go down as the upset of all upsets for this season because no way should this Browns team be beating that Giants team in anything.

21) San Diego Chargers – It’s hard to imagine a team as talented as this Chargers team is, is stuck in the mud with a disasppointing 4-6 record. The morale of the story is if you can’t stop a high school team, you’re not going to be winning many games.

20) Philadelphia Eagles – The Eagles get this ranking because they played to a tie with the sorry Bengals…plus their quarterback didn’t know the basic rules of the NFL’s overtime procedure – they should be happy they’re not lower.

19) Chicago Bears – The Bears got blown away this past weekend against divisional foe Green Bay. That vaunted Bears defense continues to get shredded on a weekly basis…at least it wasn’t Rex Grossman’s fault – that’s a plus (or is it a minus?).

18) New Orleans Saints - The Saints have three players facing multiple game suspensions. I’m going to say that is probably not the best way to right the ship in front of the national spotlight when they face Green Bay.

16 Tie) Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings - These two teams are equally mediocre so I thought I’d give them both the same mediocre record.

15) Denver Broncos – Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall and whomever is starting at running back can definitely combine for a pretty good offensive attack…unfortunately for the Broncos and their fans, they have to play defense too - and that’s bad.

14) New England Patriots – Who would have thought that Matt Cassel would not be completely terrible. If he weren’t filling for one of the greatest quarterbacks we have seen in Tom Brady, I think more people would be respecting what Cassel has done this season.

13) Baltimore Ravens - Were on a pretty good roll until they ran into the Giants this past weekend…and we all know the Giants aren’t losing to anyone not named the Cleveland Browns – I’m sorry, that’s just the way it is.

12) Atlanta Falcons – Matt Ryan, Michael Turner and Roddy White have formed an excellent combination that has led to a rebirth of the Atlanta Falcons. I’d also like to mention that White’s prowess this season has helped me out tremendously in fantasy football…so a tip of the hat to you Rod.

I told him that he would do a better job for us right now taking a shower and coming back and watching the game than going out on the field

Here is video of the very memorable Singletary press conference after his coaching debut:

If that was not enough, it was determined that Singletary dropped his trousers in an effort to prove a point to his team.

I used my pants to illustrate that we were getting our tails whipped on Sunday and how humiliating that should feel for all of us.

Singletary then vowed to figure out who was airing the team’s dirty laundry into the public eye – I know I wouldn’t want be on the business end of whooping by someone nicknamed “Samarai Mike”.

Then in his second game in the national spotlight of ESPN’s Monday Night Football, Singletary and the 49ers lost to the Arizona Cardinals 29-24 after running back Michael Robinson was stopped on the one yard line as time expired.

But its clear that Singletary’s message is being heard loud and clear. Singletary has instructed that the team go with an offensive strategy more geared towards the power running game with Frank Gore. The result in Monday’s game was 100 yards for the running back. The only problem in the game against the Cardinals was the turnovers that starting quarterback Shaun Hill created. But San Francisco Chronicle reporter Gwen Knapp believes the 49ers are heading in the right direction.

I think 49er fans have got themselves a good one in Singletary. He is so passionate about playing the right way, that 49er players will have to play for him or they’ll be shown the door much like Vernon Davis was shown the showers in the first game. It’s also nice to have a coach who isn’t such a buzzkill – yes I’m talking to you Bill Belicheck and Romeo Crennel. I like that there is at least one coach in the league that shows emotion and speaks from the heart when discussing team matters – it makes Tuesday through Saturday a lot more enjoyable.

I think it’s old news and I’m sure that old guy warned our players that it has no bearing on this year’s game. It’s two teams battling for the SEC East

What’s Meyer issuing a gag order for, you ask? The answer to this question dates back to last season’s game against Georgia…

the video proof – set to the song “Celebration”

The two teams come into the game with impressive wins in their last times out. The Gators dismantled Kentucky 65-3 and the Bulldogs outgunned LSU 52-38.

In the latest BCS Standings, Georgia ranks 6th and Florida ranks 8th.

The two teams will square off Saturday at 3:30 in Jacksonville, Fl. The game will be televised on CBS…excessive celebrations in all.

Well the cat may be out of the bag, as Pro Football Talk has discovered the real reason that Winslow had to be hospitalized:

A league source tells us that the talk among the Browns is that tight end Kellen Winslow landed in the Cleveland Clinic because his balls swelled to the size of grapefruits.

Ouch! Winslow missed the Browns game on Monday Night Football against the Giants – a game in which the Browns won 35-14 for the second win on the season.

Winslow’s return in unknown at this point in time, but in the meantime Mr. Winslow I would not recommend listening to this AC/DC song:

But seriously, I hope I never experience this type of pain

Today was media day for most if not all 30 teams and training camp starts on Tuesday. The posters over at RealGM are all over media day and have a thread devoted to the subject.

As you can see, the media day is just a glorified photo shoot with a slight question and answer section where all the players pretty much say they like their team’s chances and how they want to win the championship (I’ve been to media day for college football and there is not an event where you’ll see more bland answers than a media day – the event truly is awful to cover…but alas that’s for another day).

I’ll get to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ new jerseys, the Oklahoma City Thunder situation and what in God’s name Delonte West is doing to himself later in the post, but right now I would like to get into Marc Stein’s Training Camp Power Rankings for ESPN.

Marc Stein does a great job of covering the NBA for the “Worldwide Leader” and his power rankings are always a hot button issue among NBA fans. Stein pretty much stays with the chalk for his first two selections as he projects the NBA champion Boston Celtics as No. 1 and the Los Angeles Lakers as the No. 2 team heading into the preseason. His 3-5 teams are also really not cause for debate in that everyone expects New Orleans, Houston and San Antonio to be finals contenders (that is if Houston ever makes it out the first round but the addition of Ron Artest could be end all that talk)

The six through ten slots is where the rankings really start to see some sizzle attached to them.

Stein has the Cleveland Cavaliers as the sixth-best team in the NBA and the second-best team in the Eastern Conference. You may remember the Cavs acquired Mo Williams this August to give LeBron James the help he needs. James nearly eliminated the eventual champion Celtics by himself last spring and the Cavs hope Wiliams is just the offensive spark they need.

The Pistons have been to six straight Eastern Conference championships but that really does not matter to Stein as he has them seventh. With a new coach, Michael Curry, the Pistons will have to prove that they are the same Pistons team that has dominated the regular season over the past couple of years.

Philly comes in at No. 8 and this is largely due to the fact that acquired Elton Brand this off-season. The city of Philadelphia has not won a championship in any sport since the Sixers won back in 1983 and Phila fans are hoping that the Elton Brand acquisition is just the stepping stone the city needs for that elusive championship.

The Jazz are ranked ninth but they are a very boring team and I don’t really want to talk about them.

Rounding out the top ten are the Canadiens (i.e. the Toronto Raptors). The Raptors acquired Jermaine O’Neal from the Indiana Pacers this off-season and they hope his knees hold up so that he and Chris Bosh can form a very formidable duo. Plus Canada has the best national anthem – that should get them bonus points heading into the season.

That’s all I’m going to delve dealing with the power rankings because frankly I feel like I need a nap and a cold beverage after only reviewing about 5 1/2 of the teams. I dont know how Stein ranks all 30 teams every week - the man’s a machine.

Other Media Day related goodies 

- The Seattle Super Sonics…wait, make that the Oklahoma City Thunder might have the worst uniforms in professional sports

These uniforms are the definition of ugly

The whole sitaution is a train wreck down there in OKC. But back to the uniforms for a second. When I think of thunder, I think of colors such as black or grey – I definitely do not think of blue and orange. What a disaster this team is. At least the state of Oklahoma has two top 25 college football teams because those uniforms, along with the horrid play of the Thunder will make OKlahomans want to gouge their eyes out (probably a better solution than having to look at those hideous things for an extended period of time).

- Speaking of uniforms, the Minnesota Timberwolves unveiled their new digs and, well, they look like a WNBA team. If that’s what they are going for, then more power to them (hell, Mike Miller looks like he’s ready to go try out for the Lynx). Actually I’d probably be more apt to play in uniforms that look like they were made for a women’s team than wear what the Thunder are being forced to endure (Did I mention how much I hate those wretched things and hope they are burned? I did, ok good).

_ And then there’s Cavaliers’ guard Delonte West. Delonte is going for the “scaring children look” this season – and I think he has succeeded in that. It appears that West may be growing out his hair in order to put it in corn-rows. Delonte if you are doing this, I beg of you please stop the madness right now. There’s certain kinds of people that look good with corn-rows – I’m sorry but you’re not one of them. Lighter skin and corn-rowed orange hair might cause Clevelanders to riot outside of Quicken Loans Arena. For the good of all mankind Delonte, go back to the shaved look.

Raiders coach Lane Kiffin could be in his last days in Oakland if Al Davis has anything to say about it

Al Davis, Oakland Raiders owner, may have completely lost his mind – and that’s saying something for Davis.

There are reports that he plans to fire head coach Lane Kiffin as early as today. This is coming off the Raiders 24-23 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. I think Davis in being incredibly foolish if he fires Kiffin now. The Raiders were absolute mess when Kiffin was hired before last season and they have only won 5 games during Kiffin’s tenure as head coach, but in my eyes that is not the point. The Raiders play hard for Kiffin and firing the head coach would be a huge blow to the development of this team. You don’t fire the coach after three games of a season and you especially don’t fire the coach 19 games into his tenure as head coach.

Maybe you should look at yourself, Al. Maybe its not the head coach that’s the problem…maybe for the Raiders to have success, they need to fire the owner.

This is not the first time Davis has gone off the deep end when it comes to his head coach. He fired current Denver Bronco coach Mike Shanahan in 1989 including offering up this little gem:

Say this for Davis, he’s a sweet guy. After informing Shanahan he was unemployed, Davis took time to offer career counseling. He told Shanahan his skills could be put to better use in college coaching.

Shanahan declined to listen and has since directed two Broncos squads to Super Bowl wins. Davis hasn’t won the big game since 1984, and his Raiders have traveled to the playoffs only three times since 1993.

Shanahan’s Broncos are 3-0 this season Al and he has won two championships during his time in Denver. All you’ve done in that time is hire (and fire) about nine different head coaches. So, yeah, clearly your style of management is working like a charm. Go ahead and fire Lane Kiffin – I’m sure it will work out great for you and the Raiders, kind of like it did with Shanahan…oh wait.