Getting the Best of Luck

We know who always wins the Heisman.  It’s usually the best player on the best team and 9 times out of 10 he’s a quarterback or running back.  This year, though, things are different.  This year we may just see something we haven’t seen in a while: a Heisman trophy going to a team that didn’t win it’s conference and isn’t headed to the BCS.  In fact for the first time ever, I believe the Heisman trophy will be finding a home in Waco, Texas.  Stop laughing.  Hear me out.

Five finalists have been invited to New York.  The best player on the best team is one of them, but the LSU “Honey Badger” Tyrann Mathieu isn’t going to win.  He’s a great defensive back and an electric return man, but if you look back at guys like this in the Heisman trophy race it’s a short list of winners and those on it had remarkable, eye-popping seasons.  Mathieu is special… but he’s not that special. 

When I hear the running back argument, it seems I hear more about Albama’s Trent Richardson than I do about Wisconsin’s Montee Ball.  That’s a shame.  Richardson has some pretty good numbers, but nothing that puts him in this type of class and Montee Ball has been in the end zone more than the guy who paints it.  Ball led the nation in touchdowns and rushing yards, but Richardson wins the Doak Walker award?  Silly.  But it just goes to the point - running back votes are split.  Neither of these guys is winning the Heisman.

So that leaves two quarterbacks.  One of them is the talk of the NFL.  Andrew Luck is the assumptive #1 pick in next year’s NFL draft and it has been alleged on numerous occasions that the Indianapolis Colts are losing games on PURPOSE to have a shot at this kid.  He’s that gifted.  I have no doubt that his skill set will serve him well on Sundays.  He has everything the scouts are looking for and my guess is that he’ll be a fixture in the league for quite some time.  Here’s the thing, though: he wasn’t the best quarterback in college football this year.

Robert Griffin III has been everything for the Baylor Bears.  People hear his name and see a couple of highlights and they write him off as a running quarterback.  Well, he does run… 500+ yards more than Luck did this year.  But the story doesn’t end there.  Not even close.  Would you be surprised to know that RG3 threw for more yards this year than Luck?  I thought you might.  Of course, yards isn’t everything.  There’s touchdowns and interceptions.  Griffin threw more touchdown passes than Luck.  Oh – and he threw fewer interceptions.  But accuracy must be taken into account, as well.  Robert Griffin III completed a higher percentage of his passes than Andrew Luck. 

The only category where Luck comes out on top is team wins and quite often that is a deal-breaker.  Stanford certainly is better-respected nationally than Baylor and the Cardinal are headed to a BCS bowl game.  Factor that into the equation with a quarterback who’s the envy of every NFL war room and usually this is a slam dunk. 

Again - this year, though, things are different.  The NFL stallion in question plays on the West coast.  The vast majority of the voters don’t live on the West coast.  Those late starts add up a much smaller audience watching Luck do his thing.  Don’t get me wrong, they see a few highlights here and there – enough to know he’s good and enough to get excited about seeing him at the next level – but they only see a couple of key games that hit primetime… and in those games, Luck was good, not great.  In some years there isn’t a truly viable alternative and the West Coast guy wins anyway.  Not this year.

Everyone watched what RG3 did to Oklahoma a couple of weeks ago on national TV, and it got him some much-needed attention.  Add to that some flashy numbers on conference championship Saturday over Texas while Luck sat on the couch and Griffin suddenly was very much on the radar.  So what’s left?  Well, if I’m a voter, I guess I need to take my first real look at the season’s stats.

One more time (you know, for the drama): Robert Griffin III threw for more yards, ran for more yards, threw more touchdown passes, fewer interceptions and did it all while completing a higher percentage of passes than Andrew Luck.

He was better.  And it’s going to shock a lot of people when his name is called to accept the Heisman trophy.

Don’t be surprised.  He’s really good.  And this time around, it’s better to be good than Luck.

The BS National Championship Game

Later today the powers that be will let us know which two teams will play for this year's BCS National Championship game.  The LSU Tigers are easily the #1 team in this discussion and their ticket to the big game is already punched. 

Pollsters then had to make a big decision: who's number 2?

Conventional wisdom tells us that the Alabama Crimson Tide will be playing LSU on January 9th.  But there is no wisdom in that outcome. 

It was just a month ago that college football brought us this year's "Game of the Century" as LSU marched into Alabama for a showcase of the top two teams in the polls.  It provided a close, but extremely ugly game where neither team reached the end zone... neither team went over 300 yards of offense... each team turned the ball over twice... and there were four missed field goals.  Yes - 4.  Five field goals WERE made, however, and LSU got out of town with a 9-6 overtime win.  If you aren't a hard-core fan of one of those schools you did NOT enjoy that game.  There are actually people who claim that they want to see that rematch.  Wow. 

The purpose of the National Championship Game is to determine the best team in the country.  I already know who's better between LSU and Alabama.  You know how I know?  They already played.  LSU went into hostile territory and won in Tuscaloosa.  They also won their division, their conference and their conference championship game.  Alabama did none of those things.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys only lost one game this year.  It was also in overtime.  It was to a lesser team to be sure, but it was on the road and less than 24 hours after a tragic plane crash took the lives of two members of the OSU athletic family.

The SEC crowd is shouting loud that theirs is the best conference and a one-loss season in the SEC far outweighs a one-loss season in the Big 12.  The funny thing about that is... they're wrong in this case.

Based on where teams were ranked on the day they played them, Alabama has wins over the #12, 14, 23 and 24 teams.  Oklahoma State beat the #8, 10, 14, and 22nd rated teams.  Advantage Cowboys.

You can just hear them in Tuscaloosa... "But it's not where they are when you play them - it's where they are at the end!"

I couldn't agree more.

Based on the most recent BCS standings from last week, Oklahoma State has now beaten five of the top 25 teams.  Alabama?  Only 2.  The plain truth (cover your ears SEC apologists) is that it was harder to be Oklahoma State this year than it was to be Alabama. 

It's one thing to be a part of a great conference, but when you don't have to PLAY everyone in that conference, there's a chance that this happens.  There are 5 truly relevant teams in the SEC right now (top 25 in the BCS standings):  LSU, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and South Carolina.  Alabama beat Arkansas - their best win.  They lost to LSU and they didn't even have to play Georgia or South Carolina.  Even a diehard Dixieland supporter can't argue that beating Kansas State, Texas, Baylor and Missouri is more impressive than beating Auburn, Florida, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.  All they need to do is look at the polls.

The truth is, we should skip the National Championship Game this year and give the trophy to LSU today.  The Tigers have already earned it.

But if we're supposed to believe that the title is still up for grabs how can we send a team that already had their chance - at HOME - and lost?  Especially when there's another team waiting in the wings whose resume' is surprisingly better.  If the SEC truly wants to call themselves the best conference they should welcome this test, not cry for a re-tread of a game that has already been decided... and in disappointing fashion.

Goodbye to Texas University...

On October 19, 1894 the Texas A&M Aggies came to Austin for the very first football game with the University of Texas.  The two schools have played 116 times since then, but now we sit on the brink of what may be their last meeting for quite some time.

As the Aggies prepare to embark on this new voyage to the SEC, most of what I hear from College Station is excitement about joining this "superior" conference mixed with a little Longhorn Network sour grapes... and that's fine, I suppose.  The thing is - my Aggie friends have told me for years that what I "don't understand" about A&M is that it's a culture based on tradition and it's that tradition that makes the Aggie experience so rich.

Why, then, is so much of that tradition being cast aside so casually by my friends from College Station?

It's no secret that the Longhorn fan base dismisses much of the "Aggie Spirit" as some sort of cult-like fanaticism.  Especially when you consider paragraphs like this one from an online explanation of Aggie traditions:

Vocabulary is also restricted by class. Freshmen may not say the word "Pisshead", a nickname for sophomores.  Juniors are known as "Serge Butts", so neither freshmen nor sophomores can say any form of either word. Juniors are also the first class to be allowed to say "Whoop!" Seniors, known as "Zips" for the black and gold braid on their garrison caps, which resembles a zipper, have reserved the word "elephant" and all forms of the words "death," "dying," "shoot," or "reload" in reference to the traditions surrounding Elephant Walk.  However, saying the phrases "pass away," "decease," "fire," "load again," etc., are all acceptable substitutes.

Man, and I was REALLY hoping to say "elephant, whoop" a lot this semester. I know.  It staggers the imagination.

But there's so much more than just words, and a striking amount revolves around the game over Thanksgiving with the school's biggest rival.

We hear a fight song that's all about Texas.  We hear tales of their biggest community event of the year - a bonfire built every year for a century - representing their "burning desire to beat the hell outta'" our team.  Seniors perform the "elephant walk" every year as a farewell to their college days... always taking place the week of the game with the University of Texas.  Hell, they won't even SAY "the University of Texas."  They refer to the school in Austin as "t.u." as some sort of insult, claiming that it's not THE Univesity of Texas... it's just some texas university.  In so many ways it's a part of their very identity.  Football season in College Station exists primarily for the pursuit of beating Texas.

But now, all that goes away.  UT has their Longhorn Network and the Aggies are picking up their toys and going to a new home.  Forget for a moment that Texas offered A&M a partnership in the Longhorn Network.  Forget that there's more than a century of history and cooperation between the two schools in the classrooms and state legislature.  No, the Aggies would rather leave Austin, Lubbock and Waco behind in favor of places like Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Oxford, Mississippi just so they can put an end to playing second fiddle in their own back yard.

But in the end this is really just a "biting your nose to spite your face" move.  I wish this rivalry would continue, but it's hardly devastating to the Texas football program.  Ask any Longhorn fan and they'll tell you that it's been at least a decade since this was the biggest game on the Texas schedule.  Look at the all-time record and it's clear that Texas/Oklahoma is a much better rivalry than Texas/Texas A&M.  But not in College Station.  In College Station there's only one game a year that really matters.  I've heard Aggie friends say "I don't care if we go 1-11 this year as long as we beat t.u."  That's really saying something.  And what it says the most is this:  the Aggies need this game a LOT more than Texas does.

What happens when the Longhorns are nowhere on the A&M schedule?  When the Aggies are playing a game against Vanderbilt next year will they still fire up their fight song with "Goodbye to texas university... so long to the orange and the white?"  Will they call Tennessee "t.u." or is it ok that the folks in Knoxville name their own institution?  Will they still sing the part where they quote OUR fight song when they make a big play against Kentucky?  "The eyes of Texas are upon you."  They ACTUALLY sing that.  And perhaps the most important question: where will all that hatred go?    There are an awful lot of Pissheads and Serge Butts who need to direct their insecurities at someone.  Get ready Arkansas - I bet they're looking at you.

No matter how Thursday's game turns out, the Longhorns will walk away having won twice as often over the history of the series... and next year will roll around with the OU game still circled on everyone's calendars.  And don't cry for us on Thanksgiving.  Texas Tech is frothing at the mouth to jump into that spot on our schedule.  We've played them for more than 80 years, too.  Don't get me wrong - I am actually sad to see the Texas/Texas A&M tradition go.  There's a lot of history there, and it seems like it was thrown away far too easily by the folks in College Station... especially considering that I'm constantly told that history and tradition mean so much more to Aggies than they do to the rest of us.

So cherish this last installment... because one of the great rivalries in college football is being cast aside simply because the largest inferiority complex in the history of sports has finally bubbled over.

Say It Ain't So, Joe

I know how I'm supposed to feel.

You tell me that there was a child molestation sex scandal involving a college football program and I immediately want everyone who in any way had any involvement or information about it to be gone.

Black and white.  Plain and simple.

But what if one of those people is Joe Paterno?  What if one of those people is that lovable grandpa of college football - a guy who for over 60 years embodied all that was right about a game that occasionally went so wrong?

Penn State University is one of only four schools in the major conferences that has never had a major NCAA violation.  Never.  In a world where linebackers drive Escalades, safeties are dealing drugs and quarterbacks are "making it rain," Joe Paterno's program shined as an exception to the rule.  When they are finished playing football, Penn State kids are ready for the world, posting graduation rates around 90% when some programs hover in the 20's - and they didn't sacrifice relevance to do so.  Penn State is one of the elite programs in the sport.  800 wins, two national championships (both under Paterno) proving that "win" and "clean" are two words that actually CAN go together. 

But now, all that has changed.  If it's true that one bad apple can spoil the bunch, then Jerry Sandusky just took down the entire North American crop.

I have no confusion about what should happen to Sandusky if these allegations prove to be true.  The man is a monster.  The rest of his life should be spent in a cell.

But what about Paterno?  At best, Joe Paterno is guilty of not doing enough to put an end to Sandusky's behavior.  At worst he is complicit in a coverup that directly led to the rape of dozens of children.  We don't know what he knew and when he knew it.  We DO know that he knew enough to have done more.

One mistake doesn't erase 60 years of good works... but 60 years of good works don't allow you to look past a mistake like this.  Joe Paterno dedicated his life to doing things the right way - a longtime motto of his teams is "success with honor."  He helped mold thousands of young men, teaching them to win with integrity... but when that moment came for Joe - that "practice what you preach" decision that would mean so much to so many - Joe did the minimum.  Joe dropped the ball.  Maybe it was to help a friend who he thought would change his ways - maybe it was to protect a program and a legacy that suddenly seemed so fragile.  It doesn't matter.  It was just plain wrong.

So this is how Joe Paterno goes out?  Fired in an horrific scandal - one small piece of controllable justice while we wait for the real hammer to fall.  So why does my heart break a little to see him go?

I know how I'm supposed to feel.  I'm supposed to be glad he's gone.  But I've spent my entire life being SO glad that he was there.

Game 6

One strike away.

4 days ago the Texas Rangers stood one strike away from a World Series title.  Twice.  It was a meltdown of epic proportions.

The emotional roller coaster the fans were riding was previously unthinkable.  You know why?  Because what we just witnessed is the single worst moment in Dallas sports history.

The previous generation will talk to you about Jackie Smith - the Cowboys tight end who dropped a pass in the end zone.  He was all alone - nobody there to make a defensive play - and the ball hit him right between the numbers...  in the Super Bowl.  They had to settle for a field goal and Dallas would end up losing Super Bowl XIII by those 4 points.  But that play wasn't as the clock ran out.  There were 28 points scored AFTER that happened.  No contest.

Cowboy fans also would be remiss if they didn't mention "The Catch."  In January of 1982, Joe Montana found Dwight Clark in the back of the end zone on a heart-wrenching TD play in the final minute of the NFC Championship game.  I'll say that again - the NFC Championship game.  This wasn't the Super Bowl and this was simply a good play by the other team, not a disaster.  Next?

The Mavericks had a meltdown of their own in 2006.  Their first trip to the NBA Finals and they were rolling over the Heat.  Dallas had won both games at home and was dominating in Game 3 in Miami when suddenly it all collapsed.  The Mavs blew a 13-point lead in the final six minutes.  They didn't win another game.  If that had been game 4, we'd be in the same stratosphere here, but the Mavericks had plenty of time to right this wrong.

No, the Metroplex has never seen this type of heartbreak and they never will again.

Because it's impossible.

Sports gives us incredible drama and wonderful moments.  But only baseball gives us this.  The game was over.  A fly ball off the bat of Ryan Freese was in the air and going to land in the field of play.  If Nelson Cruz gets over there and catches it, the Rangers are World Series champions.  He didn't... and they aren't.

This is a Hail Mary jump ball TD as time expires in the Super Bowl.  This is a full-court heave at the buzzer of NBA Finals game 7.  But this is worse, because there's no clock to force this action... only white-knuckle, nail-biting eternal moments that only the national pasttime can provide.

This is the reason true fans love baseball so much... and also the reason they hate it.

It is impossible to come any closer to winning than the Rangers did.

So take some solace here, Dallas sports fans - it will never be worse than this.  It literally can't be.

Home Field Disadvantage

The Texas Rangers will play game one of the World Series tonight, but they’ll play it in St. Louis.  Texas had a better record than the Cardinals…  six games better.  The Rangers are a divisional champion…  St. Louis is a wild card team.  So why do the Cardinals get home field advantage for the final series of the sports’ season?  Because the commissioner overreacted.

In 2002 the MLB All-Star Game was a wonderful mid-summer spectacle.  Barry Bonds, fresh off a record-setting season, had a home run stolen over the wall on a gem of a play by Torii Hunter.  Then he belted a 2-run bomb later in the game to get his revenge.  The National League went up 4-0.  Then the AL stormed back and led 6-5.  In the 7^th inning the lead changed hands twice and finally in the 8^th inning Omar Vizquel tripled in the tying run to make it 7 to 7.  This one was headed to extra innings. 

All-Star games are designed to get everybody in the game.  Folks in San Diego don’t have a lot to cheer for – they’d like to see Trevor Hoffman get in there and strike somebody out.  The American League used all 9 of their pitchers.  The National League had 10… all made it into the game.  But the score was still tied.  This IS an exhibition and nobody wants to see guys overused or get hurt, so Bud Selig made an executive decision:  after 11 innings, he called it off.  7-7… a tie… in a baseball game.  The fans in Milwaukee let him have it and Milwaukee is ground zero for Bud Selig.  This was HIS town.  Popular opinion started raining down – the All-Star game wasn’t what it used to be... it didn’t matter anymore...  it was SO inconsequential that the commissioner didn’t even care if it ended in a tie.

So the following year, Selig started a bold experiment.  Whichever league won the All-Star game would get home field advantage for the World Series.  It made no sense.  It was a desperate attempt by the commissioner to win the fans over – to loudly shout “I DO care about the All-Star game!”  So much so that he tied a VERY important piece of the World Series to an exhibition game often decided by a guy off the bench.  The fact that it happened once was laughable.  The fact that it was renewed twice and made a permanent part of the game is a disgrace.

 
Of COURSE the higher seeded team with the better record should have home field.  And this is no small thing.  This means an extra game where the pitchers have to hit (an area in which the Rangers are not well-versed)  Plus there was no American League team better at home this year than the Texas Rangers.  So far this postseason the Rangers are an .800 team in Arlington.  4-1.  That all-important extra home game has been taken away from Texas.  Why?  Because the commissioner put his own popularity ahead of the sport.  Ironic considering his popularity was never much to start with.  The steroid era took shape, blossomed and even flourished under his watch.  A few years ago Selig announced that he would retire after the 2009 season.  Then he didn’t.  Now he says he’ll retire after the 2012 season.  Let’s hope this time it sticks… and the new regime retires this home field travesty along with him.

Below Average

Last night was arguably the greatest regular season night in the storied history of Major League Baseball.  But not at Citi Field in New York.  And really, it could have been.  While playoff spots were being won and lost all over the country, a different race found its epicenter out in Queens: the National League batting crown was on the line. 

Entering the night Jose Reyes of the Mets was hitting .336.  The Brewers’ Ryan Braun was at .335.  These are the statistical battles that make baseball unique – a game that normally wouldn’t mean that much suddenly takes on new life as the drama unfolds and people watch the scoreboard and do frantic math. 

Reyes led off the game for New York with a bunt single.  His average went up to .337.  Reyes did some math of his own and knew that Braun would have to go 3-for-4 against the Pirates to top that, so Reyes took himself out of the game.  In Milwaukee, Braun played out his final game, but went 0 for 4.  Jose Reyes wins the league batting title. 

September 28^th was also the 70^th anniversary of an amazing baseball moment.  On this very same night in 1941, Ted Williams was on the brink of history.  It was the final day of the regular season and his Boston Red Sox had a doubleheader scheduled against the Philadelphia Athletics.  Williams had a batting average of .39955 heading into that day.  It would round up and go down as a rare .400 season.  Very few people in the modern era can claim that feat.  So manager Joe Cronin visited with his star player and told Ted that he didn’t have to play.  The Sox weren’t going to the playoffs.  This day wouldn’t change that.

Ted Williams refused to sit.  He said that if he didn’t hit .400 the ENTIRE season, then he didn’t deserve it.  Then he went out and tore it up.  8 at-bats.  6 hits.  By the end of the night Williams had NOT hit .400 after all.  He had hit .406.  You know how many people have hit .400 since then?  Try zero.  Not one.  That’s how big a deal this was.  But Ted Williams’ respect for the game wouldn’t let him sandbag it.  If I can’t do this all the way, then I don’t want to do it at all.

Mets fans booed their own player when he came out of the game last night.  Reyes’ answer?  “They have to understand, too, what's going on. They have to feel happy about it if I win the batting title.”  They don’t HAVE to, Jose.  Not when you do it that way.  Jose Reyes was a coward.  He saw an easy path and he took it... and in the process he disrespected the game and showed a complete lack of confidence in himself.  He already had a hit!  I want the guy on my team who says, "I'm gonna' win this batting title by a boatload!  I'm gonna' get three more hits today and run away with this thing!"  Instead the Mets have a guy looking for the path of least resistance.

Ryan Braun’s reaction was full of class.  “I'm not going to judge him. I respect whatever decision he decided to make.” 

Respect.

Ted Williams had it.  Even Ryan Braun had it.  Hard not to lose a little of it for Reyes today.