Is Bowlmania What We Want?

-Markus Garcia

One of the most exciting college football bowl seasons ever is now over. In the 35 bowl games played, 21 teams scored over 30 points, including Baylor’s bowl record of 67 points and West Virginia handing Clemson a 70-point blasting to rebreak the record. It was a bowl season where no lead was safe, defense took a backseat, and college stars shined or collapsed in the moment.

All of this led up to the rematch of Goliath Vs. Goliath, number one LSU taking on number two Alabama. However, when the dust settled, we were left with an odd taste in our mouth. Alabama crushed the LSU Tigers, 21-0. The Tide’s stellar defense held the Tigers to only 92 yards of total offense, and the Tigers didn’t reach midfield until late in the fourth quarter. This victory gave Alabama its second National Championship in three years. Yet the game’s 21-0 score misrepresents the truth. Alabama in the first three quarters kicked seven field goals and only made five. The first touchdown of the game wasn’t scored until halfway through the fourth quarter.

Despite Alabama’s domination, the BCS National Championship Game has left everyone with more questions than answers. What would have happened if this Alabama defense playedthe explosive offense of Oklahoma State or Oregon. What about LSU? What if LSU’s game on Monday was just an anomaly how would their defense and offense rank up against these teams.There needs to be a change made in the BCS to help prove Alabama is in fact the undisputed National Champion.

What if there was a system, similar to that used in other sports, that pits top teams against each other to determine a champion. A playoff, if you will. Imagine if the BCS created a playoff consisting of the top 10 teams, giving the top two teams a bye and putting them in separate brackets. The BCS could keep its precious bowl games and TV contracts and still crown a definite National Champion. By taking the top 10 teams, it still keeps the importance of the preseason and regular season rankings. College football needs to reevaluate the current system because we are left with too many “what if” questions following the season.

2012
01/24
CATEGORY
NCAA Foobtall
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NFL Draft and NFL lockout Show

Here is a six minute show dealing with the NFL Lockout and the NFL Draft. 

2011
05/02
CATEGORY
National News
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Why Spurs fans shouldn’t be worried.

Have no fear San Antonio Spurs’ fans the Spurs are going to be just fine. This past Wednesday the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 93 to 87. The main difference in this game was Manu Ginobili. Ginobili had 17 points on the night and gave the Spurs that extra spark they were missing in game 1. And I’ve been saying it all along the San Antonio Spurs go as Manu goes. Because he runs the floor, plays excellent help defense and is such a threat on the offensive side that he allows his teammates to get wide open shots, because he is always cutting and moving without the ball. It is a proven fact that Manu makes the spurs’ better,  when Manu is on the floor the Spurs field goal percentage is 52 percent and the Spurs points for 48 minutes when Manu is on the court is 106 points, compared to the 88.3 when he’s not on the floor. 

So if Manu can continue to get to get healthy and Tim Duncan can contiune to produce at least 15 and 10 a night. And Tony Parker can keep up being an aggressive point guard and keeps attacking the rim and finding the open player than the Spurs should have no trouble taking down the Memphis grizzlies.  However the Spurs will also have to rely heavily on their bench, because as they go farther into the playoffs, I suspect that Tim, Tony and Manu will need a lot more rest and that’s where their bench is going to come into play. Can the Spurs second team keep a lead or keep a game close enough that the starters can come in and get a win. I will be doing a reaction piece to the third game of the series, so be sure to look out for that.

2011
04/21
CATEGORY
NBA
Sports
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Pawsox’s winning streak snapped.

Pawtucket—After a pop out to Yamaico Navarro  to end the sixth inning, Andrew Miller left the mound hoping for his first victory of the season. Miller pitched into the sixth inning only allowing four hits and one run. Miller’s Pitching allowed the Pawtucket Red Sox to take an early lead against the Syracuse Chiefs, with a score of three to one  going into the bottom of the sixth. But this would be the last lead the Pawsox would see.

Going into the top of the seventh with the Pawsox still leading by two, Tony Pena Junior (1-0) took over the mound and the Chiefs’ offense went off.  It started off with Pena giving up the game tying two run shot to catcher Jhonatan Solano in the top of seventh, followed by Second Baseman Brian Bixler driving in Roger Bernadina to give the Chiefs a four to three lead.

But the Chiefs’ offense didn’t stop in the seventh they would add to their one run lead in the Eighth, at the expense of Rich Hill. Who replaced Pena Junior and gave up a two run shot of his own to Shortstop Chris McConnell. McConnell’s home run would give the Chiefs their biggest lead of the game with a score of six to three.

But it wasn’t just the bullpen that struggled for the Pawsox after scoring runs in the third and fourth innings their bats went cold. A huge factor for the Pawsox’s lack of offense was Chief’s pitcher Henry Rodriguez . He threw two scoreless innings  and gave up only one hit in the  seventh and eighth inning. One the main reason the Pawsox’s had such a hard time hitting against Rodriguez was due to his fastball,  which was clocked at a maximum of 101 M.P.H.

One of the Boston Red Sox’s top prospects First Baseman Lars Anderson was one of these players that struggled; not only did Anderson go one for three on the night, but he also had  trouble  controlling and hanging onto balls that were thrown to him.

Another one of Boston’s top prospects Center Fielder Ryan Kalish had a similar night he also went one for three. And was one of four Pawsox’s players that were caught stealing in the game.

“If we win the game, nobody would question our aggressiveness.” Said Pawsox’s manager Arnie Beyeler “but because we lose, it looks like we handed them four easy outs. We like to play aggressive and see what happens.”

In regards to pitching Breyeler said this about Miller. “He did a nice job tonight. If we could have drawn it up for him to go six innings and give up one run and for us to be in the lead in the game like that, we’d take that every time.”

Andrew Miller threw three scoreless innings before giving up a double to Seth Bynum that allowed Brian Bixler to score from second. Miller has an ERA  of 1.67, but has not yet won a game this season.

The loss to the Chiefs ends the Pawsox’s five game winning streak and snaps the Chiefs’ five game losing streak. This is also the first time the Pawsox’s have lost a game this season when they are the first team to score.

“You know we didn’t get it tonight, but I think we have a short memory.” Said Ryan Kalish “You can already see a lot of the guys here, just movin on, being professional and just ready to play tomorrow.”

Tomorrow The Pawsox’s play the final game of the four game series against the Syracuse Chiefs.  On the mound for the Pawsox’s will be Brandon Ducksworth (1-0) taking on Garrett Mock (0-1)

2011
04/21
CATEGORY
Baseball
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Pillow fight Package

Here is a package on the pillow fight that took place on the Cambridge Common.

2011
04/20
CATEGORY
National News
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NFL Lockout false sense of hope

Today it was reported by ESPN that the NFL and the player’s organization are both willing to go back to mediation talks… Finally it seems like the two sides are starting to set asides their differences and working to get things done…Oh wait their not. While both sides agreed that they are willing to start renegotiating they can’t agree on anything else! The NFL said that it wants to continue its mediation talks with federal mediator George Cohen in Washington, while the players organization sent a request to the “ U.S. District Court Judge Susan Nelson on Thursday asking to begin federal mediation in Minnesota as she requested Wednesday in a hearing on the players’ request to lift the lockout imposed by owners.” Quote from ESPN. So even though we are over two weeks into the NFL lockout these two sides still can’t even agree on the smallest of things. This is why I am growing less and less hopeful about the lockout having any end in sight. Because once these two sides finally agree on where the actual mediation meetings will take place….They still have to come to an agreement on the actual major issues dealing with this lockout. Such as owners wanting to extend the NFL season to 18 games without increasing the player’s salaries, the issue with revenue sharing and how to split 9 billion dollars in revenue are the two major issues. So NFL fans fire up the DVR or the DVD player cause the only football we are going to be watching for a while are replays it seems. I will be doing more NFL lockout coverage in the future. And I plan on traveling to the New England Patriots draft to not only see how the lockout is affecting them, but to cover their draft as well.

2011
04/08
CATEGORY
National News
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Dez Bryant Warning Signs

Another civil lawsuit has been brought towards Dallas Cowboys’ wide receiver Dez Bryant. Just one day after Bryant had a different lawsuit filed against him for allegedly not paying almost a quarter of a million dollars for jewelry that he bought from a New York Jeweler.  And this new lawsuit is for the exact same thing. Bryant is being sued by Eleow Hunt, a jewelry store owner and ticket broker in Texas. Hunt says that when Bryant was about to become a junior at Oklahoma State he began purchasing jewelry and sporting tickets from Hunt totaling about six-hundred-thousand dollars. And he said that Bryant agreed to pay his bill, when he signed a NFL or Promotional contract.  However Hunt says that even though Bryant signed with Dallas Cowboys, he has yet to receive the money he is owed. Bryant and his lawyers are currently looking into both lawsuits.

Now if I am the Dallas Cowboys I am very concerned at the moment, because this is the third major incident that Bryant has been involved in this offseason alone. The first one coming from an altercation in a mall where Bryant got into an argument with an off duty police officer, allegedly the officer asked Bryant to pull up his pants, because they were hanging very low and were exposing Bryant’s underwear. When Bryant refused the two got into an argument resulting in Bryant and his friends being escorted out of the mall. And according to reports this is not the first time that Bryant has had issues in this particular mall.

Now I’m not saying that the Cowboys should cut or trade Bryant. He is way too talented to just be let go, HOWEVER this team needs to get him under control and issue someone else in the personnel to mentor Bryant and help him mature both as a player and a person, seeing how Deon Sanders said he would no longer be helping Bryant.

 

2011
04/07
CATEGORY
National News
NFL
Sports
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Titio Jackson Photos

HERE IS A SLIDE SHOW ON THE INAUGURATION AS DISTRICT SEVEN’S

NEW CITY COUNCILMAN.  Click the Picture to see slide show.

2011
04/04
CATEGORY
National News
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Have Astros struck Gold in pitching?

Have Astros struck Gold in pitching?

In addition to their new big batter, the Astros have struck gold with young prospective pitchers Jordan Lyles is a right handed pitcher and He iscurrently ranked the 31st prospect in MLB.com’s top 50 prospect list. He also has a great combination of pitches. Lyles came in as a relief pitcher for 2 and 2/3  in his latest game against the Pittsburg Pirates, where he allowed only one run and a few hits. This is very impressive for a 20 year old prospect and the Astros say after a bit more preparation in triple-A baseball. Lyles should take the field sometime in 2011.

This is not the only nugget the Astros say they have found amongst prospect pitchers. Another impressive young pitcher is right-hander Mike Foltynewicz. Foltynewicz was drafted by the Astros with their second first round draft pick in 2010. The Astros say he has performed very well during the summer games and they expect Foltynewicz to be a starter in the front of the pitching rotation within a few years. Lyles and Foltynewicz could become a very young dynamic pitching tandem for the Astros hopefully in the near future. Plus if Foltynewicz makes exceptional strides in the minors, he could be brought up to the Astros by 2014.

 

2011
03/29
CATEGORY
Baseball
National News
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ASTROS’ MAKING A WISH COME TRUE

ASTROS MAKING A WISH COME TRUE.

This past week, the Houston Astros reminded all of us of what is important in life.On Wednesday the Houston Astros invited Matt Myers, a junior from Seminole High School, to join the team for the day. The Astros’ gave Meyers a tour of the clubhouse, introduced him to the players and he was allowed to throw out the first pitch for the game against the Washington Nationals at Osceola County Stadium. What makes this story so special is that while Meyers was considered one of the top pitchers at Seminole High School, two months ago he was diagnosed with cancer. Forcing Myers to be confined to a wheelchair or crutches in order to get around and for one magical day thanks to Astros Myers was able to take the field again for the sport that he loved. After spending the day with the Astros Myers said “”It felt good to throw a ball again.” After Myers day with the Astros, Third Base coach Dave Clark said “when you see a story like that, it’s so heartfelt that you want to reach out and do what you can — even if it’s just for one day.” Reaching out to the fans and doing giving back to the community, that’s what this sport and all sports should be about. Even if the Astros have a losing season this year, this moment makes them winners

2011
03/29
CATEGORY
Baseball
National News
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