A Dream, Act 1
Posted: January 6th, 2009 | Filed under: Other Sports | 48 Comments »
So, Monday night, I watched Texas barely escape Ohio State with a wild final drive that almost ended on fourth down and did end on a touchdown pass from Colt McCoy to Quan Cosby with 16 seconds left in the game. I saw Texas, an eight point favorite and the No. 3 team in the land according to the Associated Press rankings, play an utterly uninspired fourth quarter, until the wild finish, and almost blow the game to an Ohio State team that wasn’t especially admired nationwide.
And then, when the game ended, I saw Cosby — who seems like a fine young man, by the way — talk about how nobody expected Texas win, they have been disregarded and disrespected all year, and he hoped that this would prove the naysayers wrong.
I don’t blame Cosby: The “We get no respect†card is such a cliche now that it has become a cliche to mock it.
BUT, it did make me think that I would love, just once, to hear this interview after a game …
Sideline reporter: “Obviously it was a great game.â€
Player: Yeah, I think we proved today that people respected us too much. I mean, everyone thought we were going to blow them out. Seriously? I mean, we needed like a miracle just to win this game, and Ohio State has that quarterback who can’t even throw the ball 10 yards downfield. Man, he can run though, can’t he? Pretty sweet. And that touchdown catch he made, man oh man. But hey, we knew all year we weren’t that good. We’re pretty good, but man, people just kept over-respecting us and over-respecting us, I mean, it was ridiculous. Magazine covers. Glowing stories. Adults all over the country arguing about us. What are we ranked now? Third. Let’s be honest, we’re not that good. Nobody’s that good. I mean, did you see how much we were favored by? That’s a joke.
SR: Is that something you guys talked about?
Player: Oh yeah, absolutely, I think that was what was driving us today. We kept were saying that people need to stop giving us so much respect. What did we do to deserve all that respect? Who are we? Well, maybe now people will give us the lack of respect that we deserve.
SR: What would you say to the voters now?
Player: I’d tell them they have no idea what would happen if we played Utah or if Florida played USC or if Oklahoma played Ohio State or anything else. The whole thing’s a joke. We think we’re pretty good. There are a lot of good teams.
SR: Do you think you should be national champs?
Player: See, that’s what I’m talking about. Quit respecting us, all right? Let us play.
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Site’s looking good …
New look (if it holds) may take some adjusting, but I like it.
And that game was utterly unwatchable until about 7:30 into the third quarter
Love the post. Can’t stand this design.
I guess I got used to the new facebook, though, and I complained about that. And this site has much better content.
I also had a dream during the Fiesta Bowl. It started with Colt McCoy’s girlfriend climbing through my television screen into my living room. I guess I should leave out the rest. What a fox.
I think your dream and mine have about equal chances of ever happening.
You can dog Terrelle Pryor now, but I think he’ll be the first overall pick of the draft in three years. He’s confused as a passer now, but when he figures it out, look out.
Go Back! Go Back!!
Terrelle Pryor reminds me of what Coco Crisp or Johnny Damon would look like as a quarterback. They have the arm strength of spaghetti.
Player: And those referees? Man, they over-respected us too! To think we actually got that fourth down spot with the game on the line in the last minute! That was a gift we surely did not earn – but that’s the way it’s been for us. Man, are we blessed.
I like the new design. Hooray for change and updating.
Put me down as another who likes the re-design. Simple, clean, good content. What more can you ask for?
I dig the new site’s style, dude.
Woodsmeister: The spot was good. The Buckeye defensive scheme on that last drive? Notsomuch.
I have no idea why Texas is rated higher than USC. USC scored almost as many points on the year, gave up HALF as many as Texas, their conference went 5-0 in bowls and their non-conference schedule was not a fricking joke.
Do the writers ever pay attention? I love that their now flogged a +1 system so that instead of matching up the two most over-hyped teams in the nation, we’ll match up the three most over-hyped teams in the nation. God forbid we should let this be settled on the field by playing off eight conference champs.
One of the most beloved annual traditions as a Patriots fan is seeing how exactly Rodney Harrison will claim that nobody respects the Patriots and how nobody believes in them. Each year I think that surely he won’t again be able to muster the same level of delusion and paranoia necessary to make such a claim, but every year he comes through.
Excellent job with the new look.
You can dog Terrelle Pryor now, but I think he’ll be the first overall pick of the draft in three years. He’s confused as a passer now, but when he figures it out, look out.
Funny, that’s what everyone’s been saying about Michael Vick for the past 8 years or so. (well, not this year but hey.)
Can’t stand the new layout. I hate change.
The thing I can’t stand about college football is the excruciating layoff from the end of the regular season to the bowl games. Obviously Texas wasn’t particularly sharp, but they also hadn’t played a game since like 2003. How sharp would you expect them to be? Anyhoo, I think Cosby was referring to the fact that Texas wasn’t exactly expected to light the world on fire back in August (if you remember Missouri was the chic pick in the Big 12 in those halcyon days), so that motivated them throughout the season to get to this point. I do agree that the “nobody believed in us” card gets overplayed though.
You really want to compare Pryor to Vick?
Pryor has a much better body to be a pro quarterback. He’s got six inches and twenty pounds on Vick right now. Physically he’s more like Randy Moss than Michael Vick.
As a freshman Pryor completed 63% of his passes, threw 12 TDs against 4 picks, and beat out a senior for the starting job on a top ten team. Vick was redshirted in his freshman year.
Is there any standard by which Pryor isn’t a far better prospect than Vick was at 19?
Mikey: agreed on Pryor/Vick (and also McCoy’s chica, for that matter).
A. I like that you have a link to your SI columns now. (You didn’t in the past, right?) Please keep that in whatever final layout you choose.
B. ESPN’s new web site now takes so long to upload, it’s not even worth it. I’ll “google news” my sports from now on.
C. The “sidebar” is super cool as well as the “pictures” to the links of some of your favorite blog posts.
Get back, get back.
Get back to where you once belonged.
“You have NO IDEA who I am!! Yes, officer, I was driving down the wrong side of the road doing 80 in a 35 and blowing coke off of the dashboard, even though I make more than enough money to hire a full time limo driver!! I understand that you are just doing your job and I completely respect you, and the fact that everyone is equal in your eyes, but you have to understand, I can’t pull out of the club in front of everybody else lined up at the door in, what…a cab!?!? That’s completely unbecoming!! You have no idea who I am!! Furthermore, I also realize that this has absloutely nothing to do with the color of my skin, and you DON’T recognize me from ESPN last week because I had to meet with Roger Goddell after an incident similar to this last month. I respect women!! I respect authority!! You have no idea who I am!! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO I AM!!!”
Love the site, Joe, but this design’s got to go.
I’m waiting for a player to say “Yeah, I did pretty well, no thanks to that fraud Jesus. It’s only when I started actually working hard and listening to the coaches that I performed well at all.”
“Obviously, I’m disappointed. You have to credit those guys in the other locker room. They’re a great team. But really, you have to blame God and Jesus Christ for failing to come through for us today. I don’t know why God hates me and this team and our fans, but the bottom line is that we asked the man upstairs for help today and we didn’t get sh*t. I know we have a good team but for whatever reason, you know, us getting to the second round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament just wasn’t part of His divine plan.”
“With the heart and character of this team, I don’t think there’s anybody in the country who can beat us,” said McCoy…
Err, except for Tech. And even in the close games, no team can possibly beat Texas.
@Jason
How was the game unwatchable? It was good ole hardnosed defensive football. I know it doesn’t have the flash and sizzle of a spread offense airing it out all over, but Ohio State’s D stood strong the whole first half. Great game.
Unwatchable was the USC game and having to listen to Musberger gush over the Trojans.
Joe, the site hinges on your posts. Make them good and the site is good. If they’re bad, who cares what it looks like. As far as I’m concerned, if you keep making good posts, it could (and, arguably, should) just be plain black text on a white background listing the title of each post. Click on the title takes you to the post. Click on the comments button takes you to comment, first to last, all on the same page. Back always takes you to the previous page.
Maybe up at the top it could have your name in slightly larger font over each page. You could put it in red* with a posterisk.
* 09/09/09
Okay, forget that. I clicked on the Musial link, which I’d missed last summer. What a great essay. Keep the site however you like.
Mikey:
My dream was similar to yours, except it involved McCoy’s mother, not his girlfriend……I’ll take a wild stab and guess you’re younger than me.
Tampa Mike:
Agree, no way that game was unwatchable, unless you’re not a college football fan.
Still love the new design. Still waiting for more pictures of naked chicks. I KNOW I heard you could find that stuff on the web.
In lieu of said photos, it’s all about your writing, JP.
Before game: “A lot of people have been saying a lot of things about our opponents tonight, but so far as we’re concerned they are an unprofessional outfit who we won’t be taking at all seriously. We have no respect for them and their coach, who has them playing a badly organised game that entirely justifies their low ranking. They haven’t got a lot of high profile names and I think that will really hinder their performance as a team, because individual skill really is much more important than honest teamwork. Everyone says we should win easily, and we know that is absolutely the case.”
After game: “The scoreline may tell one story and that I just want to say that our opponents really made it easy for us out there. We didn’t have to work hard for any of our scores as their defence just didn’t compete at all. We realised from the first minute that the game wasn’t going to be any kind of physical battle, and I’m certain that with a bit more experience those guys are still going to be a really dreadful team. The great rivalry between these two teams will in all likelihood die out quite soon as I just don’t see them being competitive for a long time to come.”
I must say I hate when websites that I visit change their look. It’s irritating. I hate it when Yahoo tries out new looks. I’m frustrated that ESPN is changed.
Let’s find a look and a layout and go with it. The New York Times doesn’t change it’s look five times a year.
I do not like the sidebar hovering out. Too many tricks.
Your blog is wonderful, however.
Let me also say that perhaps I will like this layout, and I just have to get used to it.
But what’s frustrating is the change.
not that I’m against change…
…now it’s getting psychological
I’m always uncomfortable with change, and I like the new layout.
The new design is OK by me. I probably won’t vote in the polls anymore though, because I’m not likely to remember to click on that sidebar thing. I also miss those little pictures that you use to illustrate the stories.
But I’m sure that I’ll love this design as much as the last one. My memory’s bad, so I’ll likely forget the old one pretty soon.
Nate
How does one add a picture to one’s posts?
I probably won’t vote in the polls anymore though, because I’m not likely to remember to click on that sidebar thing.
agree with this. you are going to lose probably about 50% of your poll voters i would guess.
Wow. I didn’t even notice the sidebar thing. I would make a horrible eyewitness.
Yeah, if you’re taking votes, Joe, mine is for you to keep the polls visible at all times.
The new design stinks. Love your stuff Joe and I’ll continue to read, but seriously, the new design stinks.
I loved that the old design had a main page for the blog so I could see the various headlines before clicking on a blog post to read. You post a blog about everyday, yet I only visit the site every couple days, so being able to see several headlines at once (instead of having to hunt for posts be scrolling down) was beneficial. This design might work best for people who check your blog daily, but for readers like me, who hit you up a couple times a week, this redesign is a hassle.
Otherwise, though, fantastic post as usual.
Site looks great now, love this layout.
Very nice. Please give us the true inteview for Terrell Owens as well.
Tampa Mike, I’m not opposed to a good defensive battle, and Ohio State was definitely playing spirited football, but it did not keep my interest. This may have been partially due to the fact that I was both distracted while watching and I had recorded the game and started watching about an hour after real time kickoff…so I had the option to fast forward. I found myself using that option heavily to catch up to the “live” game (which coincidentally happened as the scoring began).
Re: Vick vs. Pryor….I don’t see them as being similar at all, beyond both being mobile. Pryor definitely has a better body type for the NFL, especially if he can put on weight without losing quickness, and I think he’ll develop as a passer. Vick was all speed and just had a cannon arm. I was one who thought he’d revolutionize the quarterback position, but his decision making never matured (obviously) and he never could learn to throw with anything resembling touch.
Must have missed McCoy’s girlfriend, but hopefully Tebow’s lady will make up for it on Thursday.
Jason – at least on Ffwd you missed some of the horrific Fox production. I don’t know how many plays they missed the beginning of b/c they were too busy showing McCoy’s g/f (yum!) or the Texas band, or some other random thing that wasn’t the game. It was like they didn’t know Texas could run a hurry-up offense.
Pathetic.
Wow. I love this new design. It is clean, fresh, and has some pop.
1. I preferred the old design. But whatever.
2. I was tired a month ago of hearing Texas and its fans complain (and of constant media coverage of Texas and its fans complaining). Funny how there seemed to be a lot less complaining from Texas Tech.
3. As a professional mathematician, I feel obliged to link to Bill James’s article for Slate — http://www.slate.com/id/2208108/ — urging statisticians to boycott the BCS. I concur.
This “mock” interview sounds just like one that Lou Holtz would give after every game Notre Dame won under is tenure as coach.
please change the layout
Put me thumbs down on the new design also, unless it really makes your life easier, Joe. In which case yours is the only vote that matters.
As for college football, there were more than half a dozen teams who, by virtue of their records, deserved consideration for a national title game. Texas, ‘Bama, USC, Penn State, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech all had one loss, IIRC, and Utah and Boise State were undefeated. Utah (undefeated, mind you) beat a one loss team. Texas Tech, Boise State, Penn State, Alabama, and Oklahoma all lost their bowl games, leaving four teams deserving of consideration for the national title.
Utah ran the table and in their bowl game beat what was once a #1 ranked Alabama team. So by virtue of those two things, I see no reason why they aren’t national champions.
USC played for a conference that went 5-0 in bowl games. They crushed Penn State, with Pete Carroll (again) refusing to run up the score on a team that was dominated so badly the game was over by halftime. It’s *hard* to win by 30 points when all you are doing in the second half is maintaining a more than two score lead (until the final gun) by running all the time to keep the clock moving. I doubt anybody who watched that game felt that Penn State was in any way in that game. USC’s non-conference record was three BCS conference teams (if you include Notre Dame); Ohio State was ranked #5 when USC played them as game #2, and was in a BCS bowl game against Texas. Notre Dame was in a minor bowl, beating Hawaii.
Texas built its national title resume by playing Rice, Florida Atlantic, Arkansas, and UTEP out of conference. This hardly is a championship schedule. Florida did a little better, playing Miami and Hawaii (both bowl losers who at least reached minor bowl games, a combined 14-13) and The Citadel, which was a losing team from a dreadful conference. Florida beat Oklahoma in the final game, but it was by no means over after the first half.
On the face of things, Texas had the closest bowl game against the weakest opponent based on final record, and clearly deserves no consideration for the national title. USC and Florida both lost one conference game to an eventual 9-4 record and bowl winner. The Pac-10 had a better conference bowl record than did the SEC (5-0 to 5-2). USC played a much tougher non-conference record than did Florida. It would seem that if Utah is not going to be the national champion, that USC has the edge over the SEC.
However, as has happened many times before, the eastern media bias often is against the western schools. Many reporters don’t watch West Coast games that may begin as late as 10:30 p.m. Eastern time. They ignore strength of non-conference schedule and say only that the conference is stronger. But consider, for example, Kentucky, the worst team in the SEC division with Florida. They went 4-0 non-conference, playing no schools from any major conference (Louisville, Norfolk State, Middle Tennessee State, Western Kentucky) which got them into a bowl game against East Carolina. Washington was the worst team in the Pac-10 this year, but their non-conference games were Brigham Young (then ranked #15), Oklahaoma (Bthen ranked #3), and Notre Dame, all three bowl game participants. I am pretty sure that if you switched the non-conference opponents Kentucky would have finished 2-9 instead of 6-6 and Washington would have been 4-8. This repeated practice of playing weak teams, teams so bad that ones star players won’t have to risk injury by being on the field for more than a quarter or two, is why the SEC and others seem to be a much better conference. They are why Florida played for the national title instead of USC, not because Florida played a better schedule, but because every team in the SEC packs in weak opponents and thus the conference seems stronger than it really is.
And now we come to the real inequity of the BCS. Time was a great minor school like Brigham Young, Utah, or Boise State could run the table, win its bowl game against a solid opponent, and if they were the only undefeated team, they’d get the national crown. That can’t happen any more. Before Utah gets to prove that it deserves to be in the national title game, it needs to defeat Alabama in its January bowl game to prove that it is no fluke. The problem is, that bowl game means that Utah, BYU, et all, will never be given a chance to play for the national title unless there is at most one BCS team with only one loss. Thus, taken as a group, the BCS conferences have guaranteed that the BCS winner will come from a BCS conference. They may let an undefeated crash the party of eight, but they’ll never let them play for the title any more.
I see no reason why Utah did not win the national title this year other than the BCS has cheated them. I think USC was cheated out of its BCS title game appearance by virtue of playing in a conference that schedules real games, not fake games. I think Florida should be ranked third, and Texas fourth. A Plus-Two schedule would enable us to say, okay, we have four contenders. Maybe the top 8 would have played a different mix of games, but after those four games we’d have four teams with 0-1 losses, and that’s only two more rounds.
Yeah, I know that the Pac-10 commissioner is one of the firmest against a playoff, screwing USC. And I think that Obama has more important things to do than push for a football playoff. But I think we, the viewers whose eyeballs drive the advertising dollars that drives the revenues that makes the NCAA rich without one legitimate dime making its way to the athletes whose bodies are put on the line for our entertainment, we viewers deserve a playoff. And maybe the final four would be Florida (over Texas Tech or Ohio State), Okalahoma (over Utah), Texas and USC. Or maybe Utah would have pulled the upset. But Utah was never given the chance, will never be given the chance, and it’s not fair to Utah or to us fans. This needs to change.