Atlanta Thrashers...er...Winnipeg Jets

The Atlanta Thrashers were sold to True North Entertainment and they moved to Winnipeg. At the NHL Draft, it was announced that the team would be called the Jets, in recognition of the old WHA/NHL team that was once in Winnipeg and is now in Phoenix. Seriously, hockey somehow didn't make it in Atlanta, but the NHL, and Gary Bettman, strove to keep hockey in Phoenix.

Anyway, since there is now a Winnipeg Jets franchise once more, I decided to play with some jersey ideas.

Jersey #1 (seen to right) is just the road jersey. Based off the early 1980s models, the color scheme changes from red-white-and-blue to white-gold-brown with black trim. For some reason, I'm feeling the need for a brown/khaki hockey jersey at the moment, as you'll see in the next brown-tinted images. Note that this jersey maintains the old Jets logo, just colored to match the prevailing hues of the jersey ensemble.

Jersey #2 (left) is based off the same old jersey style, but with an updated color scheme. The white and brown stays in place on the road jersey, but instead of gold, we use khaki/tan. Also, the same logo from jersey #1 is still in play. The pants for the road jersey are khaki with black trim and brown highlights.

The home version of jersey #2 is predominantly khaki with brown and white striping down the sleeves. On both jerseys the number is brown with black trim, and the logo on both jerseys is white lettering on a brown background with black trim.

The pants for the home jersey a brown with khaki highlights and black trim.

Jersey #3 (to the right) differs greatly from the first two versions. The road jersey is white with brown and khaki piping on the sleeves. The logo is a fan-created design that I had absolutely nothing to do with. My play on the logo on the road jersey is brown lettering and a brown jet with khaki highlights.

The pants for both jerseys admittedly, need some work. I showed this to a fellow hockey fan at work, and his thought was "The khaki codpiece just doesn't work." I agree, but if that is the least of the changes required here, then I'll be happy.

The home jersey here is again predominantly khaki with white and brown highlights and trim. On this jersey, the logo is solid brown and the nameplate is solid brown with white letters, in homage to the Philadelphia Flyers jerseys.

Jersey #4, seen to the left, might be my personal favorite, after the jersey designs on #3. The road jersey is white with blue and khaki trim. The logo, once again the fan-created design, is blue lettering and khaki highlights. The piping on the sleeves is blue and khaki as well. The pants are mostly blue with khaki highlights.

The home jersey is blue with a khaki nameplate and blue lettering. The number on the back is white. On the front, the logo is solid khaki and the piping on the sleeves is white with two smaller khaki stripes.

I would love to hear any feedback from anyone about what your thoughts are, or if you have your own designs.

Sports Post

F1 Stuff

It is two weeks until the German Grand Prix. It was about this time, three years ago, that I was swept up into the Formula 1 fever. That hot summer day the fast cars were at the Hockenheimring. Two weeks from now they'll be at the Nurburgring...no, not the famous track in Germany, but the F1-specific purpose-built track at the famous track. How about that? My F1 fandom is a toddler.

In today's Grand Prix at Silverstone, Fernando Alonso won by a margin of over 16 seconds. In the NASCAR race at Kentucky last night, Kyle Busch won by 0.179 seconds. More often than not, you'll see the NASCAR boys crossing the line in very tight packs, and more often than not you'll see F1 displaying a pretty vast (relatively) margin of victory. The trick to accomplishing this? NASCAR creates their own drama by throwing cautions late in races to keep the cars bunched up. In F1, if you get a big lead, chances are you'll get a big win.

A Far Too Early College Football Preview

It looks like college football is being swept up in a wave of corruption, lies, and fraud. Oregon is under the microscope at the moment. Ohio State has already "fired" Jim Tressel, vacated last year's victories (including the Sugar Bowl win), and is hoping that the NCAA doesn't come down any harder.

UGA has also had its share of troubles. RB Caleb King has been ruled academically ineligible. RB Washaun Ealey has transferred.

Georgia starts the season against Boise State in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic.

So to keep with the theme of Way-Too-Earliness, let's predict some big college bowl games...

BCS National Championship Game: Alabama vs Oklahoma

Alabama will enter this game after beating Georgia for the SEC Championship. Oklahoma will win the somewhat depleted and completely misnamed Big XII.

Rose Bowl: Oregon vs. Nebraska

*Assuming that Oregon is not stripped of the right to go to a bowl game by the NCAA

Fiesta Bowl: Stanford vs. Oklahoma State

Stanford's last run with Andrew Luck should be fun to watch. How many NFL teams will tank part of their season to get a chance at Luck. OK State has one of the best WRs in the country.

Sugar Bowl: LSU vs. Notre Dame

LSU won't play the SEC Title, but they'll be a dangerous team. Notre Dame finally returns to the spotlight.

Orange Bowl: West Virginia vs. Florida State

FSU looks to rise back to the top of the ACC. WVU should win the Big East pretty easily.

Capital One Bowl: Georgia vs. Penn State

Georgia loses the SEC Title to Alabama, and as a reward gets to face Penn State in the CapOne Bowl. I don't recall the Dawgs and the Nittany Lions playing in my lifetime.

Cotton Bowl: South Carolina vs. Texas A&M

South Carolina takes on a team that was once predicted as a potential newcomer to the SEC.

Chick-fil-A Bowl: Florida vs. Virginia Tech

Florida and Virginia Tech would be a really good game. The SEC plays pretty good football on both sides of the ball. The Hokies play fantastic D and Special Teams.

Hockey

That Atlanta Thrashers are now the Winnipeg Jets. I'll be posting some ideas that I had for what the Jets jerseys could look like. I may even email them to the Jets front office. Who knows...

Is this a glimpse into the political mind?

If you have paid any attention to the news lately, you'll know that our country is in an interesting place. Our government, going back over the last...oh, every President of my lifetime, has spent too much money. And yeah, I know people will tell you that Clinton had a massive surplus, but that statement is based on Congressional Budget Office estimates and forecasts. Personally, I don't give the CBO much credit. Yeah, they're a pretty smart group, but part of the modus operandi is that they never account for changes in consumer behavior. They are bound to a static view of economics wherein a consumer will not change their economic behavior no matter what their taxes are.

Of course, under George Bush, our country was attacked by Al Qaida. In the aftermath of the attack, the Dow plummeted, gas prices went up, and the housing market collapsed. Of course, the housing market collapse is more a result of the Clinton Administration's desire to put people in houses, even if they could not afford the mortgages.

Since the economy stayed in a downturn for so long, in the last couple of years of the Bush Administration and the first two and a half years of the Obama Administration, we've seen government stimulus packages. According to members of the Obama Admin, if we passed the stimulus then unemployment would not go above 8%, but right now the unemployment rate is hovering around 9% or so.

The current national debt is $14.2 trillion. In other words, we are way too far in debt. And yet, for all that, Joe Biden says we need to spend more. This is Keynesian economics, which in an extremely over-generalized view says that if you have no money, you should spend money and more money will magically appear.

The Republicans have pushed for some budget cuts. Some Democrats have joined them. Remember, this is a Democratic Party that has controlled at least one if not both houses of our government for the last four years, and has not passed a budget for the last 22 months. One of the funniest things I've heard lately is my liberal friends complaining about the GOP not passing a budget in the last six months, but they won't put the same scrutiny on their own party.

But to get back to the title of this blog post, I was amused to hear from John Conyers (D-MI). Conyers is a long time Democratic Representative out of Michigan. He's supplied us some wonderful comments lately, especially concerning the health care law. He was asked what portion of the US Constitution allows Congress to force individuals to purchase health insurance. His response: "The Good and Welfare Clause." There is no Good and Welfare Clause in the Constitution.

Now, Conyers has delivered some insight into the political mindset, I think. Speaking of those in Congress who are seeking to cut billions of dollars from the budget, Conyers delivered this statement:

“This is the first time that I can remember being confronted by members of the Congress, my colleagues, who say, ‘I don’t care if I get reelected or not, I want to cut the budget by $100 billion or whatever.' I’ve never seen that kind of a member before. … It’s a dangerous point of view from my perspective.”

If I'm understanding this comment correctly, Conyers is saying that congressmen who seek to serve their constituency without worrying about getting reelected are dangerous. Really? I thought that, as a public servant, you were supposed to serve your constituents. If you served them well, they would reward you with reelection. According to Conyers, your job as a congressman is to get reelected. If you follow your heart, regardless of your election status, your are a danger.

Personally I think Conyers's point of view is dangerous. We need more politicians who don't care about their reelection.

NHL Realignment?

So, a few days ago I wrote about the possibility of Major League Baseball realigning. We also knew that the NHL would have to realign with the Thrashers moving to Winnipeg and being renamed Jets. Gary Bettman, the weasel...er, Commissioner of the NHL, has stated that the league will realign, and not just in minor ways. Bettman wants to divisions per conference. Since there are 15 teams in each Conference, there would be a seven team division and an eight team division.

So I started thinking about how the NHL could properly realign without completely destroying existing rivalries and renewing some old rivalries. I tried to stay as geographically sensible as possible. I, for one, am completely understanding of Red Wings fans who have to watch their team play conference opponents three time zones away.

So, here's my proposed realignment for the NHL:

West:

Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose, Vancouver, Phoenix, Colorado, Edmonton, Calgary

Central:

Dallas, St. Louis, Nashville, Detroit, Minnesota, Winnipeg, Columbus

Atlantic:

Florida, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Washington, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Toronto

Northeast:

Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York (Rangers) New York (Islanders), Boston, Montreal, Ottawa

In this scenario the conferences go away. For the playoffs, the Division winners are seeded 1-4, and then seeds 5-16 can be filled out one of two ways:

1. The next best 12 teams get the spots.

2. The next 3 teams in each division get in.

The first round becomes a best of five, with each round after being best of seven.

What do you think?

Formula One Review, Preview

For the first time in nearly eight months I'm sitting down to write about Formula One. This season is shaping up to be a paradox. After seven races, Sebastien Vettel has a 60 point lead over Jenson Button. In other words, the earliest that Button could mathematically take the points lead is 24 July at the Nurburgring. Even then, that requires Vettel to score less than 15 points over the next three races and Button must win every race.

So it seems like this should be boring, right? I mean, Vettel is seemingly walking away with the title. But the races this year have been exhaustingly exciting. At the Canadian Grand Prix Vettel had a 5 second lead with about five laps to go, but Button had the best car, the oddly designed MP4-26 (seen at right). Vettel actually crumbled under the pressure of pushing his car so hard, spinning out on the last lap and allowing Button to pass for the victory.

Prior to that, Lewis Hamilton gave Vettel an insane challenge at Circuit de Catalunya. In fact, there has been an oddly low number of runaway victories this season. Yes, the Red Bull RB7 is a dominant car, but McLaren is coming after them. All of the major teams have been in the points, and of the backmarkers, Lotus is pushing hard.

The Bahrain Grand Prix was finally officially canceled. This should have happened from the start, but Bernie Ecclestone, who is after every single dollar he can get, risked a PR black eye to give the island nation a chance to settle their political unrest. They did, in a way, and just as soon as Bernie said the race would be held in October the teams started saying no.

And there have been some pretty exhilarating accidents, as well. The scariest, obviously, was Sergio Perez's hard shunt coming out of the tunnel at Monaco, slamming hard into the barriers on the other side of the chicane. At Sepang, Renault driver Vitaly Petrov had what looked like a rather funny accident (note photoshopped picture to the left), but in hindsight it was quite scary, because when the car hit the ground again, the drive shaft broke, which has actually caused fatalities in F1 before.

So the next race is this weekend at Valencia, a boring, processional course with lots of 90-degree turns. Probably not going to be too interesting, but with the way this season is going, who knows...

Finally Ranting about the Atlanta Spirit Group

The Atlanta Thrashers flew town for the much colder, bleaker confines of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The buyer, True North Entertainment, was looking to buy a team. The Phoenix Coyotes looked like a good bet. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had been on the ground in Phoenix trying to diffuse the situation. The league wanted the team to stay, so the city stepped up and floated the team a $25 million loan to stay. So True North turned their attention to Atlanta.

Here in Atlanta, the Atlanta Spirit Group, the owners of the Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Thrashers, and Philips Arena, were battling each other like spoiled children. The consortium of owners purchased all three entities, and from almost day one began looking for a buyer for the Thrashers. Meanwhile, the started sinking more and more money into the Hawks. This last season, the Hawks were 8th out of 30 in NBA in payroll. The Thrashers were 28th out of 30 in the NHL. So it's obvious that the owners cared more about the NBA.

Enter True North, who was willing to shell out $170 million to take the team to Winnipeg. The ASG was all too willing to take the money. So for the second time the city of Atlanta loses an NHL franchise.

The metro Atlanta area houses about 5.5 million people, many of which are northern transplants. Winnipeg is home to 785,000. Nothing wrong with that, just a much smaller market. People continually railed against Thrasher fans for not showing up, blaming low attendance numbers. The Thrashers averaged 86% capacity last season, or around 15,000 fans per game. The arena in Winnipeg only seats 15,000. Even if Winnipeg sells out every game they will barely beat Atlanta's attendance numbers.

To make matters worse, the ASG spent most of their time in court, suing each other because Steve Belkin didn't like the trade for Joe Johnson. So once again, the NBA takes up so much of the ASG's time that the NHL becomes an afterthought. So no marketing is done. No one in Atlanta can name anyone on the team because the ownership keeps trading away the good players and forcing the GM to operate on a shoestring budget. Then, the ownership has the cojones to blame the fans for not showing up.

Yet, people will continue to throw money at the ASG because they want to see the Hawks. Meanwhile, the Thrashers are in Winnipeg, the Thrasher fans are sick to their stomachs, and the NHL has a PR black eye because of it all.

The Atlanta Spirit Group will never get another dollar of my money. So help me God I'll never attend a Hawks game or go to Philips Arena again until they are gone from Atlanta forever.

MLB Realignment?

That's right, I'm back, and it's a baseball post. It's hard to believe that it has been six months since my last post, and boy was I wrong about those Falcons. But now we move on to the sport currently being played around the country: baseball.

The talk going on at the moment is that baseball may realign. The last time this happened was the split into three divisions per league, and the move of Milwaukee to the National League from the American League.

I'm of the opinion that the product has gotten stale and this is evidenced by the somewhat sagging attendance numbers and ratings. So, how would I fix it?

My idea requires six teams to swap leagues, and one team to switch divisions. Here is the current layout.

American League

East: New York Yankees, Boston, Baltimore, Toronto, Tampa Bay

Central: Minnesota, Cleveland, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City, Detroit

West: Oakland, Texas, Seattle, Los Angeles Angels

National League

East: Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York Mets, Florida, Washington

Central: Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh, Houston, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee

West: San Francisco, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego, Colorado, Arizona

It is a known and publicized fact that Seattle is a beaten-down outlier in the AL West, and Toronto is sick and tired of being in the shadow of the three-headed Tampa-Boston-New York Cerberus. So those two are up for moving around, and their dancing partners will be revealed shortly. The third team swap that I would pitch is Kansas City to the NL and Pittsburgh to the AL. Both franchises have been mired in mediocrity that switching leagues may just be the spark they need.

Now, the talk at the moment is that the Union wants to have 15 teams in each league, which seems good and balanced until you realize that such alignment would require either continual interleague play throughout the year, or two teams having entire series off.

I would maintain the league names and division names. So here's what my MLB would look like. Teams switching leagues are in bold. Teams switching divisions are in bold italics.

American League

East: New York Yankees, Boston, Baltimore, Washington, Tampa

Central: Cleveland, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Detroit

West: Oakland, Los Angeles Angels, Texas, Houston

National League

East: Atlanta, Philadelphia, Florida, New York Mets, Toronto

Central: Chicago Cubs, St. Louis, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Colorado

West: San Diego, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco, Arizona, Seattle

Washington moves to the AL East, and into a natural geographic rivalry with Baltimore. The Pirates join the AL Central. Houston leaves the NL Central and joins the AL West and a natural rivalry with the Rangers.

The Blue Jays get out from under Boston and the Yankees, but still get to play divisional games in New York, and also get the Braves and the Phillies coming to town. The Royals move into the NL Central, as do the Rockies. You might as why, but several Central division teams are closer to Denver than San Francisco is. The Mariners move into a much more logistically friendly division in the NL West.

We keep the 16/14 alignment and maintain four playoff teams per league. Some people are suggesting to up the number of playoff teams, but look at the NHL and the NBA. Their playoffs last nearly two months. The NFL has six teams per conference in the playoffs and they barely go five weeks.

Other options being bandied about include contracting two teams, or splitting into two divisions per league instead of three. Obviously, I prefer my idea.

About this Atlanta Falcons Team...

I've not written much about the NFL this year, because college and Formula 1 have been so interesting. But now there are a mere two weeks left in the regular season, and two teams have separated themselves from the pack. For so long a general parity reigned in the league, as a few teams soared higher in the win total, and other rocked around the .500 mark.

Now, with all teams having played fourteen games, a group of six teams sits at 10-4 (New Orleans, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and the NY Jets). Now, 10-4 is not a bad record, but all six teams sit two games behind the New England Patriots (no surprise there) and the Atlanta Falcons, who are both 12-2.

These Falcons, by virtue of winning against Seattle last week, now need only one win in their last two games to guarantee themselves home-filed throughout the playoffs. Remember, these are the same Falcons who are 19-1 under Matt Ryan at home. To me, that says if Atlanta beats either New Orleans Monday night, or Carolina on January 2nd, the only time they'll have to go on the road again would be to travel to Dallas for the Super Bowl.

Three years ago, standard knowledge was that the Falcons would need upwards of five years to rebuild. Mike Vick was in jail for dog fighting and interstate gambling, Coach Bobby Petrino snuck out of town in the middle of the night to coach Arkansas, meaning the team was left coachless and quarterbackless. But then Thomas Dimitroff was hired as the General Manager. One of his first moves was to hire Jacksonville's defensive coach, Mike Smith.

As the new office regime was installed, the Draft rolled around. Many people felt that the Falcons would draft Glenn Dorsey, a defensive tackle out of LSU, but the need for quarterback was too great. With the third overall pick in the draft, the Falcons took Matt Ryan, the QB out of Boston College. Several other key picks, and the free agent signing of Michael Turner, RB from San Diego, made the Falcons a playoff team in one year.

Then the Falcons traded for arguably the greatest Tight End in the game, Tony Gonzalez. Bringing in CB Dunta Robinson this year further solidified a core of talent that is not sexy. They aren't flashy. They just win. With the exception to to games in Pennsylvania, the Falcons are undefeated. They've beaten New Orleans, Baltimore, and Green Bay. They've not lost since mid-October.

At the pace they're playing, these Falcons are poised for a deep run into the playoffs. Maybe we should buy plane tickets to Dallas in February...

Football Future-see: Bowl Edition 2010-2011

So after all these years of doing this bit, I finally had a perfect week. Of course, it comes at a time when my readership is essentially on life-support. So let's see what we have for the Bowl Edition.

22 December Maaco Bowl Las Vegas

19 Utah vs 10 Boise State

It's not often that you get this kind of ranked match-up before New Years Day, much less before Christmas, but this is what happens when you don't have a large following of fans. Utah is tough, but squandered a game or two down the stretch. Boise State kicked themselves out of the Rose Bowl, and after this game they have to look forward to a Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic game with UGA to start the 2011 campaign.

FINAL SCORE: Boise State 24, Utah 20

27 December AdvocareV100 Independence Bowl

Air Force vs Georgia Tech

If you still cling to the antiquated notion that the forward pass ruined football, then this is the game for you. Both teams run an option offense that keeps the clocks moving. Vegas actually has the over/under on this game at 56 minutes.

FINAL SCORE: Air Force 26, Georgia Tech 21

31 December Hyundai Sun Bowl

Notre Dame vs Miami (FL)

Catholics versus Convicts, the rematch, part 87. Seriously, these schools are getting ready to revive their rivalry, why match them up here. Oh, right, money. Forgot.

FINAL SCORE: Miami 27, Notre Dame 24

31 December AutoZone Liberty Bowl

Georgia vs. 25 Central Florida (UCF)

Central Florida won the... whatever conference they are in. Sun Belt? Big East? No that's not right. Westville High won the Big East... Anyway, the 25th ranked Central Floridians are going up against a 6-6 UGA team that could be caught looking ahead to August, when they face Boise State. But probably not.

FINAL SCORE: Georgia 34, UCF 17

31 December Chick-fil-A Bowl

20 South Carolina vs 23 Florida State

South Carolina played in the Georgia Dome at the start of December, losing mightily to Auburn. But Steve Spurrier knows a thing or two about beating Florida State. Will the curse of the chicken catch up to Darth Visor?

FINAL SCORE: South Carolina 24, FSU 20

1 January Rose Bowl

3 TCU vs 5 Wisconsin

TCU has one of the best defenses in the country. That said, Wisconsin had a run earlier this year where they rolled off conference victories of 83-20, 48-28, and 70-23. TCU has not seen an offense that potent this season.

FINAL SCORE: Wisconsin 36, TCU26

1 January Fiesta Bowl

UConn vs 7 Oklahoma

Westville High School... er, I mean, UConn, comes into their first ever BCS game. Oklahoma returns to the house of horrors, where Bob Stoops turns into SpongeBob BowlFlop. There is something about putting Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl...

FINAL SCORE: Oklahoma 40, UConn 17

3 January Orange Bowl

4 Stanford vs 13 Virginia Tech

The Hokies dropped back-to-back games to start the season, losing to Boise State and James Madison. Then they won eleven straight, claiming the ACC (which, let's be honest, is like winning the Least Ugly contest). Stanford has been near the top all year, and only had their train derailed by Oregon. Andrew Luck is probably the #1 pick in next year's draft.

FINAL SCORE: Stanford 28, Virginia Tech 24

4 January Sugar Bowl

6 Ohio State vs 8 Arkansas

I don't know if they did this on purpose, but most of us in the southeast know all about Ohio State's trouble with the SEC in BCS games. Now, the Buckeyes get to face Ryan Mallett and the Razorback offense in New Orleans. I think this might be one of the best games from the BCS.

FINAL SCORE: Arkansas 31, Ohio State 24

10 January National Championship Game

1 Auburn vs 2 Oregon

The belief is that this game might be the best title tilt we've seen since Texas-USC five years ago. Oregon's blur offense has troubled every team they've played, but they've not faced an SEC defense this year, and until someone proves otherwise, the SEC is the king of this mountain.

FINAL SCORE: Auburn 38, Oregon 35

Football Future-see Week 14

RECORD:

Week 1 ....... 7-1

Week 2 ....... 4-1

Week 3 ....... 4-1

Week 4 ....... 2-3

Week 5 ....... 4-3

Week 6 ....... 2-3

Week 7 ....... 3-2

Week 8 ....... 4-1

Week 9 ....... 4-3

Week 10 ..... 3-2

Week 11 ..... 4-2

Week 12 ..... 2-3

Week 13 ..... 7-3

Week 14 ..... 5-0

TOTAL ..... 55-28

Well, here we are, the last week of the regular season. I've been close to perfection several times this year, and I've also been downright wrong. Championship week is usually tough to predict, so if I go 5-0 this week I'll be ecstatic.

**UPDATE: I went 5-0! Finally. After three years of doing this stuff, I've finally got my perfect week.**

2 Oregon at Oregon State________CORRECT

A win in the Civil War locks Oregon into the BCS National Championship Game. The Badgers are 6-5 on the year, the Ducks, with their blur offense, are undefeated.

FINAL SCORE: Oregon 42, Oregon State 20

1 Auburn vs 19 South Carolina (SEC Championship)________CORRECT

This marks the second time this season that Auburn and SC have played. The Tigers got the better of the first game, and they now have a cleared-to-play Cam Newton.

FINAL SCORE: Auburn 28, South Carolina 20

21 Florida State vs 15 Virginia Tech (ACC Championship)________CORRECT

Honestly, this doesn't feel like a title game. The ACC really needs to up their game.

FINAL SCORE: Virginia Tech 30, Florida State 17

9 Oklahoma vs 13 Nebraska (Big XII Championship)________CORRECT

This has all the makings of a great game, which is why I'm predicting such a close score.

FINAL SCORE: Oklahoma 21, Nebraska 20

Connecticut at South Florida________CORRECT

UConn is on its way to a BCS game, even though they have four losses. The Huskies will pretty much clinch a spot, likely in the Orange Bowl, possibly Fiesta, with a win over the Bulls.

FINAL SCORE: UConn 24, South Florida 21

BCS Bowl Predicitions

Orange: Virginia Tech vs Ohio State

Fiesta: Oklahoma vs UConn

Rose: TCU vs Wisconsin

Sugar: Arkansas vs Stanford

BCS National Championship: Oregon vs Auburn

Football Future-see Week 13

RECORD:

Week 1 ....... 7-1

Week 2 ....... 4-1

Week 3 ....... 4-1

Week 4 ....... 2-3

Week 5 ....... 4-3

Week 6 ....... 2-3

Week 7 ....... 3-2

Week 8 ....... 4-1

Week 9 ....... 4-3

Week 10 ..... 3-2

Week 11 ..... 4-2

Week 12 ..... 2-3

Week 13 ..... 7-3

TOTAL ..... 50-28

2 Auburn at 11 Alabama______INCORRECT

I would not be at all surprised with either team winning this game. At the moment, though, I think there is too much controversy around the Tigers.

FINAL SCORE: Alabama 31, Auburn 30

21 Arizona at 1 Oregon_____CORRECT

Oregon puts a stamp on their case for the BCS National Title Game.

FINAL SCORE: Oregon 40, Arizona 17

4 Boise State at 19 Nevada_____INCORRECT

The Wolfpack puts up a fight, but it’s not enough. The Broncos would love to crash the BCS party.

FINAL SCORE: Boise State 34, Nevada 17

Michigan at 8 Ohio State_____CORRECT

This game is never close. I cannot state that clearly enough.

FINAL SCORE: Ohio State 38, Michigan 14

Colorado at 15 Nebraska_____CORRECT

Close game with usually a bunch of points scored, but the Huskers should win.

FINAL SCORE: Nebraska 31, Colorado 26

Georgia Tech at Georgia_____CORRECT

I think Georgia is looking for a chance to lay a serious beating on someone.

FINAL SCORE: Georgia 34, Georgia Tech 13

13 Oklahoma at 9 Oklahoma State_____CORRECT

Sooners win a tight road game, but it’s not a surprise of OK State wins this one, though.

FINAL SCORE: Oklahoma 24, Oklahoma State 21

5 LSU at 12 Arkansas_____CORRECT

Mallett has a big day slinging the ball around, Hogs pull the upset.

FINAL SCORE: Arkansas 28, LSU 24

Notre Dame at USC_____CORRECT

Not even sure what the line is on this game, but the Irish are slowly building back up.

FINAL SCORE: Notre Dame 20, USC 17

17 Texas A&M at Texas_____INCORRECT

This counts as an upset, but I think the Longhorns have a trick or two up their collective sleeve.

FINAL SCORE: Texas 13, Texas A&M 10

Football Future-see Week 12

RECORD:

Week 1 ....... 7-1

Week 2 ....... 4-1

Week 3 ....... 4-1

Week 4 ....... 2-3

Week 5 ....... 4-3

Week 6 ....... 2-3

Week 7 ....... 3-2

Week 8 ....... 4-1

Week 9 ....... 4-3

Week 10 ..... 3-2

Week 11 ..... 4-2

Week 12 ..... 2-3

TOTAL ..... 43-25

7 Wisconsin at Michigan_____CORRECT

Badgers at the Big House. This should be a fun game. Michigan can score a lot of points, but Wisconsin has one of the better defenses in the Big Ten.

FINAL SCORE: Wisconsin 27, Michigan 17

9 Ohio State at 20 Iowa_____INCORRECT

Iowa can pull the upset here. Let's get that out of the way. Ohio State needs a win to stay Rose Bowl eligible. Win you want something really bad, you can make mistakes along the way.

FINAL SCORE: Iowa 24, Ohio State 21

16 Virginia Tech at 24 Miami_____INCORRECT

I can't really explain why I like Miami at home against the Hokies. Virginia Tech just doesn't impress me that much. They're good, but the Hurricanes are looking for a signature win at home.

FINAL SCORE: Miami 26, Virginia Tech 24

13 Arkansas at 21 Mississippi State_____CORRECT

The only SEC game on the Right Wing schedule this week. Arkansas is seeking a good bowl this year, and Ryan Mallett is trying to pad his draft status. For those reasons alone Mississippi State doesn't stand much of a chance in this game. Close in the first half, Arkansas will put it away in the second.

FINAL SCORE: Arkansas 30, Miss. State 20

8 Nebraska at 19 Texas A&M_____INCORRECT

The only Big XII match-up features a Nebraska team that still has an outside chance at the BCS National Title game, even though that requires a lot of chaos. Texas A&M would love to upset the Huskers, and while the Aggies may have an early lead in this game, they won't be able to hold it. Nebraska is just too good.

FINAL SCORE: Nebraska 31, Texas A&M 21

Football Future-see Week 11

RECORD:

Week 1 ....... 7-1

Week 2 ....... 4-1

Week 3 ....... 4-1

Week 4 ....... 2-3

Week 5 ....... 4-3

Week 6 ....... 2-3

Week 7 ....... 3-2

Week 8 ....... 4-1

Week 9 ....... 4-3

Week 10 ..... 3-2

Week 11 ..... 4-2

TOTAL ..... 41-22

14 Utah at Notre Dame______INCORRECT

Utah was embarrassed at home by TCU and Notre Dame just is not good. This really shouldn’t even be close, as the Utes are looking for revenge on someone and the Irish don’t even seem willing to get it together.

FINAL SCORE: Utah 31, Notre Dame 14

Georgia at 2 Auburn______CORRECT

Knowing the history of this series, I’m really tempted to call for the upset here. In 113 meetings, the aggregate score for both teams is Georgia 1778, Auburn 1722. That’s 56 points of separation in a series that has been played almost consistently since 1892. Auburn enters this game as the best team in the SEC. Georgia enters this game looking for any chance to salvage a lost season.

FINAL SCORE: Auburn 26, Georgia 23

23 South Carolina at 22 Florida______CORRECT

The Curse of the Chicken finally comes to an end. The dream of Spurrier has been to lead the Gamecocks to an SEC title game. A healthy does of Marcus Lattimore will get them there.

FINAL SCORE: South Carolina 24, Florida 21

19 Mississippi State at 12 Alabama______CORRECT

The Crimson Tide is angry, coming off a loss to LSU. Mississippi State is the highest ranked it has been in some time. Still, Alabama is a really tough home team.

FINAL SCORE: Alabama 31, Miss State 13

USC at 18 Arizona______INCORRECT

USC has absolutely nothing to play for, and it’s the same account next year. Arizona is still playing for a better bowl game. That’s incentive enough.

FINAL SCORE: Arizona 24, USC 21

10 Oklahoma State at Texas______CORRECT

Nebraska could really benefit from a Texas win in this game, but I just don’t see it. That said, teams named the “Cowboys” haven’t exactly played well in Texas this year. But all the joking aside, Texas is not a very good team this year, and OK State is playing better than I expected.

FINAL SCORE: Oklahoma State 35, Texas 17

F1: Wanton Stupidity or Wanton Disregard

Today's Formula 1 Grand Premio Do Brasil (Brazilian Grand Prix) will not necessarily be remembered for any particularly great racing. Nor will it be remembered for Vitantonio Liuzzi's "rather comprehensive" shunt that sheared off half of his Force India.

It will, however, be remembered for Red Bull Renault's stubborn refusal to implement, even secretly, team orders that would've put Mark Webber in front of Sebastian Vettel. As the points stand now, one week out for the final race of the season, Fernando Alonso holds an eight point lead over Webber and fifteen points on Vettel. Lewis Hamilton is a distant twenty-four points out. Had Red Bull ordered Vettel to relinquish the lead today at Interlagos and let Webber in front, the Aussie would've been a mere one point back from Alonso.

The main reason that this presents a problem for the Red Bulls: Alonso has, in essence, a fresh engine for Abu Dhabi.

So the debate became a simple two-point question. Which of these makes you more upset with Formula 1 at the moment:

1. Wanton disregard of the rules

or

2. Wanton Stupidity in spite of the rule

Let's look at both points individually.

***

Point one, wanton disregard of the rules.

At the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, Ferrari used some rather obvious codes to tell Felipe Massa to get out Fernando Alonso's way. Once Massa was removed, Alonso cruised to victory, with the only conciliation to Massa being Rob Smedley's forlorn "Good Boy. Try to keep up. Sorry."

The incident caught the attention of the stewards, who fined Ferrari $100,000(US) after the race. The Scuderia was then brought before an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sports Council. Forgiving the fact that almost every meeting of the WMSC is considered extraordinary, the WMSC ruled that the penalty given after the race was sufficient. This ruling set off a firestorm from the many teams claiming that everyone would use team orders now.

Granted, most fans already knew that team orders still play a major factor in racing, with the orders usually decided before a race and not blatantly disregarded the way Ferrari did.

***

Point two, wanton stupidity in spite of the rules.

Red Bull Renault was faced with the chance to put one of their drivers in an even better position to win a driver's championship. The driver was NOT Sebastian Vettel. Mark Webber, the veteran Australian, has never been so close to a driver's title. If Vettel had been told prior to race start that he should yield to Webber, then no one would've said a word. RBR clinched the constructor's title today, so that championship would not have been effected.

Now, with Vettel winning at Interlagos, Webber rolls into Abu Dhabi eight points back instead of one point back. Fernando Alonso has a very lightly used engine for the Yas Marina Circuit. That'll make him tough to catch.

It all goes back to a lack of intelligence on Red Bull Renault's part. They could've locked one of their drivers into a much closer spot, but they've steadfastly refused to use team orders.

***

If you got to any one of the many Formula 1 websites out there, you'll find a plethora of comments on this issue. Some are just plain funny, some angry, and some sad.

Robert said he wouldn't really be bothered by Vettel, Webber, and Alonso taking each other out in turn one at Abu Dhabi and then Lewis Hamilton driving to a championship.

One comment I saw that was particularly unfavorable to Red Bull stated that, if Alonso was leading Webber at Abu Dhabi, with Vettel running third, Red Bull would probably order Webber to crash out Alonso and take himself out so that Vettel (or as this writer called him "the anointed one") could win the championship.

Personally, I would love to see Webber win, but I hate the idea of a Red Bull driver winning the Driver's Championship. In the end, this has solidified my fan-craziness for McLaren.

Football Future-see Week 10

RECORD:

Week 1 ....... 7-1

Week 2 ....... 4-1

Week 3 ....... 4-1

Week 4 ....... 2-3

Week 5 ....... 4-3

Week 6 ....... 2-3

Week 7 ....... 3-2

Week 8 ....... 4-1

Week 9 ....... 4-3

Week 10 ..... 3-2

TOTAL ..... 37-20

21 BAYLOR AT 17 OKLAHOMA STATE_____CORRECT

Baylor is coming off a victory over Texas, which makes them confident. If Baylor wins this game, then a late November match-up with Oklahoma is all that stands between them and the final Big XII championship game ever to be played. Of course, OK State is in the same boat. Boone Pickens Stadium is a tough place to play.

FINAL SCORE: OK State 34, Baylor 24

6 ALABAMA AT 10 LSU_____INCORRECT

The Tigers welcome in the Crimson Tide in this battle of current and former LSU coaches. The Mad Hatter, Les Miles, has problems with clock management. Nick Saban, of the Tide, doesn’t. Saban also has a fantastic running game. LSU may struggle stopping the run.

FINAL SCORE: Alabama 28, LSU 20

3 TCU AT 5 UTAH_____CORRECT

The big game of the weekend features two top-5 teams. This year is ripe for a Non-AQ team to reach the title game, assuming neither Oregon nor Auburn falter. Utah is a good team, and is playing host to the Horned Frogs. TCU, though, is slightly better, and salts it away at the end.

FINAL SCORE: TCU 27, UTAH 23

NORTHWESTERN AT PENN STATE_____INCORRECT

I think this could be one of the better games of the weekend. These are two fairly evenly matched teams. This one should go down to the wire, but a late NU field goal seals it.

FINAL SCORE: Northwestern 17, Penn State 16

IDAHO STATE AT GEORGIA_____CORRECT

Georgia will be lucky to play in a bowl game this year, and the cries of regime change grow louder around Athens. The Dawgs are coming off a heart-breaking loss to Florida, and Idaho State is rolling in to Sanford Stadium at a bad time. The last lower tier team to play Georgia only lost by 48. Look for a repeat, if not worse. The Dawgs need to blow off some steam. Idaho State is getting paid $525,000 to allow that steam to be blown off.

FINAL SCORE: Georgia 52, Idaho State 10