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College Football Predictions - Bowl Season

Pro Football Predictions - Week 17

-Kanan

College Football is a Privilege, Not a Right

Let me summarize the coverage and ‘analysis’ of the Ohio State scandal: “I am absolutely outraged that the NCAA is not suspending these players for the Sugar Bowl, this shows the NCAA is only about money!  And by the way, why shouldn’t these players be able to receive some kind of compensation, the universities are obviously making money off of them!” 

Mark May even went as far as to suggest that in a dictionary they should add ‘(NCAA)’ next to their entry for hypocrisy.  Might I humbly suggest adding ‘(ESPN)’ as well?  Nah, there’s nothing hypocritical about spending so much energy condemning the BCS, which they also spend so much time and money trying to sell us, that’s just business, and there’s nothing wrong with business… unless you’re the NCAA.

I actually wrote about why we shouldn’t pay college athletes, I encourage you to read it as it is one of my better thought out entries (as opposed to this crap).  Obviously these players violated the letter of the law and should not play in the Sugar Bowl, but where the fuck was this outrage with Cam Newton?  That blew over pretty quickly.  In fact the running joke throughout ESPN’s programming was ‘they should’ve said their dad did it,’ well I’m glad we can joke about that now.

What actually upsets me is this painting of college athletes as victims who need to resort to breaking the rules to ‘help their families.’  Did Terrelle Pryor’s mom really need a tattoo for her son?  These cookie-cutter analysts insist there should be a way for players to be compensated, arguing at the unfairness of Ohio State receiving royalties from selling player likenesses.  They couldn’t be more wrong!

Playing College Football is a privilege, not a right.  If players don’t feel a full scholarship is fair compensation for their services, then don’t fucking play.  It is the National Football League that requires players to be two and a half years out of High School to be eligible to play, not the NCAA.  If players don’t find that fair, maybe they can sue the NFL, it worked wonders for Maurice Clarett.

College Football Predictions – Bowl Season

Pro Football Predictions – Week 16

-Kanan

The Five Stages of Grief

The Kübler-Ross model, commonly known as the five stages of grief, was first introduced by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book, On Death and Dying.  Applying this model to the College Football coaching carousel we get:

1. Denial – "There’s no way Will Muschamp would ever leave Texas, it’s just a rumor."
2. Anger – "I HATE YOU, WILL MUSCHAMP, I HOPE YOU AND YOUR PRECIOUS GATORS LOSE EVERY FUCKING GAME!"
3. Bargaining – "Okay, we got a lot of money, we’ll make Will Muschamp a good offer and Mack Brown will agree to step down after next season."
4. Depression – "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?  Football is dead to me!”
5. Acceptance – "Oh well, guess this is what it’s like to be a Notre Dame fan..."

If you haven't yet, join my College Football Bowl Pick 'Em league on Yahoo, its fun and free, no password required! http://y.ahoo.it/F8ddHadi

College Football Predictions – Bowl Season

Pro Football Predictions – Week 15

-Kanan

The Greatest Rose Bowl That Never Was

Seems like even the staunchest BCS bashers are okay with the Auburn and Oregon National Championship Game. Part of me is disappointed that the pro-TCU ranting wasn’t anywhere nearly as loud as the pro-Boise State was prior to their loss to Nevada. I think that is because deep down, pundits know TCU recruits better athletes, has a championship history, and has “sold-out” to the BCS by agreeing to join the Big East.

But I digress. There should be outrage about the BCS this year, and it’s not being written about because it is a non-AQ doing the screwing. You see all the bitching and moaning about the BCS made an impact on the BCS team selection guidelines. The revision came in 2009 and it makes the Rose Bowl automatically select a qualified non-AQ team if the Rose Bowl loses a team to the National Championship Game. That is how we ended up with TCU playing Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.

That clause that sent TCU to Pasadena just happened to rob us of a traditional Pac-10/Big Ten Rose Bowl, which this season would have matched Stanford and Wisconsin, the 2 most exciting teams in College Football not named Auburn or Oregon. Not that TCU and Wisconsin isn’t a good matchup, but considering TCU showed defensive vulnerability late in the season against San Diego State, the Badgers may run all over the Horned Frogs. 

Which matchup would you rather see? Vote on the poll on the right!

It wasn’t just the Rose Bowl that was affected; the TCU selection trickled down to give us unexciting matchups in the Fiesta Bowl (oklahoma vs UConn) and the Orange Bowl (Virginia Tech vs Stanford). Under the old provision we would have likely ended up with the following matchups: Rose Bowl – Stanford vs Wisconsin, Fiesta Bowl – oklahoma vs TCU, and Orange Bowl – Virginia Tech vs UConn, the Sugar Bowl and National Championship Game remaining the same. All of which would have been more evenly matched!

Oh well, all we can do now is sit back and enjoy the bowls. And to enjoy the Bowl Season even more, I invite you to join the Kanan Sports Bowl Pick ‘Em game. To join simply go to http://y.ahoo.it/F8ddHadi and sign up with your Yahoo account, no password is necessary.

Pro Football Predictions - Week 14

UFC 124 Predictions

-Kanan

Confession: Good for the Soul, Better for Eligibility

I don’t like the NCAA’s ruling Cam Newton eligible after finding that his father did try to get payment for Cam to go play at Mississippi State, I’m certainly not in the minority in this opinion.  The idea that Cam isn’t guilty because he didn’t know and wasn’t involved in his father’s scheming opens a dangerous precedent, and comparisons to the Reggie Bush situation are inevitable.

Maybe, just maybe, Newton deserves a lighter penalty than Bush for the simple reason that the Newtons collaborated with the investigation.  I don’t buy for an instant that Cam didn’t know what his father was doing, but for what it’s worth, he didn’t vehemently deny any wrongdoing the way Bush did.  Reinstating eligibility was the plea bargain for the confession.  Personally I just miss the days when rich white families adopted talented underprivileged kids and steered them to their university.

I think South Carolina is going to win the SEC Championship game, but I’m having trouble telling if it simply is what I wish will happen.

The news that the USA didn’t get awarded the 2022 World Cup surprised me more than it should have.  We’ve spent 16 years kinda, sorta, but not really caring about soccer and it really shouldn’t surprise us that soccer kinda, sorta, doesn’t really like us. 

Soccer’s popularity is slowly and steadily increasing in this country, and as demographics shift, who knows what could happen, but in the next 12 years I don’t see the sport gaining level of cultural relevance that puts it anywhere beyond 4^th best after football, basketball, and baseball.

Also, check out the stadiums that Qatar is building!

College Football Predictions – Week 14

Pro Football Predictions – Week 13

-Kanan