Today the ACC's College Football Blogger at ESPN posted a message saying, in essence, that FSU fan's should quit whining about the recently released ACC and 2011 Football Schedule. I had a bit of an issue with something she said:
"In order to be the best, Florida State -- and Clemson and Virginia Tech and anyone else who wants to join the club -- has to beat the best. Line up an SEC schedule and knock 'em down, just like Auburn did last year, Alabama the year before, Florida, LSU and so on..."
Well let's just take a look at those tough SEC Schedules:
2010 Auburn:
-Road Games? 4 road games all year.
-OOC Schedule? 2 Sun Belt teams and an FCS team (2 of those in the middle of the SEC schedule). 1 non-conference BCS opponent.
-Juggernaut Arkansas State the week before their game AT Mississippi State on short rest
-10 days of rest before Clemson their only non-SEC BCS opponent.
-Full two weeks off before Bama, their biggest rival
2009 Alabama:
-Road Games? 4 road games all year (Played a Neutral site in SEC-riffic Atlanta vs. VA Tech - who do you imagine had the home crowd feel there?)
-OOC Schedule? 2 Sun Belt Teams and an FCS team. 1 non-conference BCS opponent.
-Full offseason of rest/preparation before their only non-SEC BCS opponent.
-No short rest games. None. period.
-FCS laugher a week before their HOME game against Auburn, their biggest rival
2008 Florida:
-Road Games? 4 games all year (played a neutral site game against UGA, in the State of Florida, "neutral", right....)
-OOC Schedule? a WAC and an FCS team and really stepped up relative to the rest of the SEC and played two non-conference, BCS opponents
-No short rest games. None. Period.
-2 weeks off before road game at Tennessee (Rival), 2 weeks off after home game against LSU (Rival)
-FCS laugher a week before their game against FSU, their biggest rival
And now 2011 FSU:
-Road Games? 5 Road games
-OOC Schedule? 2 FCS Teams, No. 1 team in the nation, and an SEC team. 2 non-conference BCS Opponents
-No week off after playing the No. 1 team in nation and before playing biggest division rival, a team FSU hasn't beaten in their place in 10 years.
-3 days rest after other significant division rival (NC State) & before longest geographical road trip in the conference (Tally to Boston).
-ZERO Rest before a Rival or a Marquee opponent.
-ZERO benefit of an FCS laugher before ROAD game against biggest rival, Florida
I agree with her point as a whole. The schedule is the schedule. Play it to the best of your ability, beat who you're supposed to beat, make some breaks and beat a team maybe you're not supposed to and maybe you're in the national title discussion. But please don't get caught in the trap of throwing up other schedules without doing full research. It's clear the schedules she referenced were just not as tough as the one FSU faces this year.
However, "toughness" can be relative, so I'll just say this: none of those other three schedules she referenced were laid out as nonsensically as FSU's 2011 schedule. The SEC wouldn't and doesn't do that to their title favorites, why did the ACC?
*note: I didn't compare LSU's 2007 schedule b/c that was a juggernaut. It was the only schedule she referenced that actually helped her point. She was just blindly throwing mud against the wall and hoping it would stick with the other schedules.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Ten Things JJ Thinks He Thinks
1. Georgia Thoughts
A 1-1 week for the Dawgs and if I had to choose which game to win it would have been the South Carolina game. On Tuesday night we lost a tough game to Xavier when we did not get any breaks, but at the same time you have to create your on breaks. In the last two contests against the Musketeers, Xavier has shot 60 free throws, we have shot 20. Yes, I believe you can call that fair.
On Saturday it was a tale of two halves for the Dawgs. In what was a strange game to say the least, with Georgia cruising into the half with a 28-9 lead, only to let Carolina out score them 47-32 after the break. But after all the dust settled in the Colonial Life Center, Georgia came out on top with the 60-56 win. I have said it before and I will say it again; a win is a win is a win.
Next week gets bigger as the Dawgs will play both SEC teams from the Volunteer State. Wednesday night the Commodores visit Athens in a huge game with the winner having the inside track at the #2 seed out of the SEC East in the SEC tourament. This is important as the first two seeds in each division get a first round bye. Even more important is the fact Vandy has an RPI of 15 so a win would look good on the NCAA resume.
Then on Saturday the Dawgs make a trip to Knoxville in a game that will be broadcast Nationally on CBS. Tennessee has an RPI of 25 so again the Dawgs have a great opportunity. We should have/could have won the first game if for not a Brian Williams over the back non-call. Time to take care of business.
Here is how the SEC East stacks up for the rest of the season.
EAST ............. W-L ....... RPI
Florida ………. 9-2 ….…..11
Tennessee, at LSU, Georgia, at Kentucky, Alabama, at Vanderbilt
Georgia ……... 6-4 .…..…43
Vanderbilt, at Tennessee, at Florida, South Carolina, LSU, at Alabama
Vanderbilt …. 6-4 …......15
At Georgia, at Auburn, Tennessee, at LSU, at Kentucky, Florida
Kentucky ……. 5-5 …..... 14
Mississippi St., S. Carolina, at Arkansas, Florida, Vanderbilt, at Tennessee
Tennessee ….. 5-5 .….... 25
S. Carolina, Georgia, at Vanderbilt, Mississippi St., at S. Carolina, Kentucky
S. Carolina .... 4-6 ….....120
At Tennessee, at Kentucky, Ole Miss, at Georgia, Tennessee, at Miss. St.
2. Baseball Thoughts
a. A couple of the greatest words in the English language. Pitchers and Catchers report today.
b. ESPN Radio is doing a great job today by having a baseball guest every hour from 6:00 am to 10:00. Safe to say I will have some podcasts for the trip to Athens Wednesday night.
c. I picked on Mark Reynolds a little last week but among third basemen the last 3 years he first in home runs (104), 4th in RBI (284), 2nd in runs (264), and 3rd w/ 185 extra base hits. He is probably first in K's as well.
d. Over the past five years only one hurler has five seasons of 14 wins, 200 innings pitched, and 120 Ks - Roy Halladay. Only three others have reached those totals four times - Dan Haren, CC Sabathia and Bronson Arroyo.
e. How does Mr. Arroyo get in with that group?
f. Earlier this week Jayson Stark tweeted out his all-Unemployed team. Pretty fascinating group of players that could probably win around 70 games by themselves. Here are the players on Stark's team.
g. Starting infield on Stark's All-Unemployed Team: 1B Russell Branyan 2B David Eckstein, SS Orlando Cabrera, 3B Willy Aybar, C Bengie Molina
h. Rotation for All-Unemployed Team: Jeremy Bonderman, Kevin Millwood, Daniel Cabrera, Pedro Martinez, Jarrod Washburn
i. All Unemployed Outfield: LF Scott Podsednik, CF Jay Payton, RF Ryan Church, DH Nick Johnson
j. Bullpen for Stark's All-Unemployed Team: Chad Durbin, Manny Delcarmen, Mike Lincoln, Alfredo Aceves, Elmer Dessens, Scot Shields.
k. Wasn't Matt Lincoln a big time prospect like three or four years ago?
l. How about this Buster Olney quote: "A lot to be excited about with the Braves. Atlanta should have a strong pitching staff; the Braves just added Dan Uggla; Jason Heyward is a year older; Chipper Jones seems to be progressing well in his injury rehabilitation. The battle for the NL East title figures to be fierce, and a lot of fun." Why is that not the quote of the week?
m. Even though he pitches for the Red Sox one of my favorite players in baseball is Jon Lester. How about the stats Lester has against the AL East. He is 13-0 against the Orioles (2.33 ERA), 9-3 against Tampa Bay (3.80), 7-4 against the Blue Jays (3.43), and 6-1 against the Yankees (3.28). That’s 35-8 with a 3.19 ERA.
n. Last season, Red Sox closer and former Mississippi State Bulldog Johnathan Papelbon had a 2.12 ERA in the 16 games he pitched on no rest, a 5.40 ERA in the 18 games he pitched on one day of rest, and a 7.36 ERA when he pitched on two days’ rest. Those numbers do not make any sense.
o. I have started reading Bill Madden's book on George Steinbrenner and even though I am only one chapter in I am absolutely fascinated so far. Everyone knows that Steinbrenner bought the Yankees from CBS for $10 million dollars, do you know how much of his money was put up? Only $186,000.
p. Another thing that fascinates me about this book is the references to the New York restaurant Elaine's. The reason this intrigues me is I would walk by Elaine's on the way to lawyer Dan's. For those not familiar with Elaine's it is a restaurant/bar on the Upper East Side that is the hangout to Woody Allen, George Steinbrenner, etc.
q. Great read from LA Times writer Bill Plaschke and he discusses how he loves to eat lunch at Dodger Stadium. I have the same opportunity to do this at Turner Field every day and never take advantage. That is an awful job by me.
r. Here is one more outstanding baseball read. It is part 1 of a conversation Braves Beat writer David O'Brien had with Freddi Gonzalez. The interviewed happened after the two rode motorcycles together through the North Georgia mountains. Here is part two.
s. Only two center fielders who hit .300 last year - Josh Hamilton (.359) and Carlos Gonzalez (.336). Oddly, only one player who spent the majority of his time at DH last year hit .300, and that was the even .300 mark of Vladimir Guerrero.
t. The AL leading walk leader was the Athletics' Daric Barton with 110. That total of 110 is the same as the combined marks of Brandon Inge (54) and Ian Kinsler (56). It's also the same as the combined marks of Robinson Cano (57) and Curtis Granderson (53) OR Denard Span (60) and Vernon Wells (50).
u. Both Aaron Hill and Kelly Johnson hit 26 homeruns last season as second basemen. Hill had three fewer RBI than Johnson, 68 to 71, but there was a massive .200 point difference in their OPS - Hill was at .665 while Johnson was way up at .865, a mark that was third at the position behind only Robinson Cano (.914) and Dan Uggla (.877).
v. How did Braves get Dan Uggla for only Infante and Dunn?
w. Brett Cecil won 15 games last season despite not getting his first win until April 23rd. Cecil's win total was fifth in the AL. Amazingly, of the 14 pitchers in the Junior Circuit who won at least 15 games, seven of them were left-handed: CC Sabathia, David Price, Jon Lester, Cecil, John Danks, Gio Gonzalez and C.J. Wilson. Two more lefties also won 14 games in Francisco Liriano and Ricky Romero.
x. The league leading WHIP with men in scoring position was .79 which was posted by the NL Cy Young winner, Roy Halladay. His current Phillies teammate Roy Oswalt was third at 0.91, just behind another righty from the NL who pitches in the NL East - Josh Johnson (0.89). The best mark by an AL hurler was by the Twins... Brian Duensing (0.92).
y. Who in the heck is Brian Duensing?
z. The last Braves’ first baseman to serve with the Braves for five years or more is Fred McGriff. He was acquired in 1993 and played with the Braves through 1997. Can Freddie Freeman reverse the trend?
3. Hodgepodge of Thoughts
a. Kind of sad to see that Jerry Sloan retired as the coach of the Jazz on Thursday. What a living legend in the NBA. For those that do not think his feud with Darren Williams did not play a role then they are out of their mind.
b. Sloan's first point guard made $300,000 in 1988. His final point guard made nearly 50X more. ($14.9 million)
c. Here are a few things that existed in Jerry Sloan's 1st year as NBA coach: the scoring leader: George Gervin. The Kansas City Kings were 2nd in Midwest. and the Rookie of the Year was hick from French Lick named Larry Bird.
d. I watched some of the Heat-Celtics game Sunday and if the Heat can not beat the banged up Celtics then the Heat have some serious issues.
e. I saw this stat on Sunday and was shocked. Rajon Rondo has a .491 career shooting percentage, Steve Nash is .490.
f. College Baseball gets going next weekend. My Dawgs start the season with a visit to the alma mater of my parentals Stetson University in Deland, Florida.
g. Not sure what to make of the Dawgs next season but it is a very big and important season for Coach Perno. Everytime he has had a make or break season he has responded with a trip to the College World Series.
h. Said news on Friday when Cal announced that they would not reinstate their baseball program. A university with the resources of Cal should have a baseball team.
i. Also look for more coverage of college baseball this season as ESPN will broadcast a Thursday night game of the week. I think UGA and Vandy will play each other this season in one of the Thursday games. Also the Big 10 Network will televise 30 games on the Big 10 Network.
j. I failed to mention the games that are normally on ESPN U, CSS and Fox Sports South.
k. Another reason to hate the University of Texas. In 2012 any baseball game not televised by a network will be televised by the newly created Longhorn Network. That is ridiculous.
l. In total the The SEC has 68 games and the ACC will probably have around 25-30. Then you have the Big12, with six total televised games.
m. Safe to say that's one of about 50 reasons why you have three Big12 schools that have expressed interest in bolting to the SEC. More exposure. Safe to say that includes more than baseball, basketball and football.
4. Gridiron-NFL and College
a. I looked at a couple of different SEC teams 2011 schedules and I am very intrigued about the opportunities that the Dawgs have in 2011 as we only have four games outside the state of Georgia. This includes trips to Knoxville, Nashville, Oxford and Jacksonville.
b. In addition, dodging Alabama, Arkansas and LSU from the West certainly doesn’t hurt. Biggest negative is that the Dawgs are tied with Alabama for the most conference opponents which have bye weeks before playing, with three. However, we do get a Bye week before Florida.
c. After looking at the Gators schedule I see why Urban Meyer wanted to spend time with his family. The Gators draw Alabama, LSU and Auburn from the West this season. They
d. The defending national champions Auburn Tigers step up their schedule in 2011 with trips to Clemson, Baton Rouge, Fayeteville and Athens, Ga. Furthermore, they drop Kentucky off the schedule and add Florida. They also lose a boat load of talent.
e. Things look a little more difficult for Bama in 2011. Early season schedule is similar to last year’s, except for the fact the Tide travel to Happy Valley to play Penn State. As for conference games, ‘Bama drops South Carolina for Vanderbilt. Arkansas and LSU have to travel to Tuscaloosa (and Alabama’s bye week comes before the LSU game). Florida is a road game. They’ve scheduled Georgia Southern the week before the Iron Bowl, which can be a pain in the butt trying to prepare for that offense.
f. I also read this week where celebration will be a live ball foul instead of dead ball foul thus touchdowns now have the opportunity to be taken off the board. This is going to cost some team a game next season and it could turn into the most talked about story in college football.
g. We need to get celebration defined...how come when Tim Tebow went crazy it was not a penalty but when AJ Green looked at the student section it was a penalty?
h. What about when coaches like Auburn's Trooper Taylor do jumping jacks on the sideline all game. That looks excessive to me.
i. A lot of ploys in the NFL going on right now. I still think it is tough to ask the players to play more games and cut their piece of the pie from 59% to 40%.
j. Why did the Owners ever agree to sharing the 59% of their revenues with the players in the first place? That is ridiculous.
k. This is the first weekend without football since early in August when I was in Cincinnati watching the Braves and Reds. Man was that a long time ago. Good trip however.
5. My 5 Favorite Places in the SEC
1. Calhoun's-Knoxville, TN- On the banks of the Tennessee river are some of the best ribs and secenery. When I was a student manager for the baseball team at UGA I was always jealous that Tennessee's baseball team had Calhoun's as a post game meal. I may or may not have talked one of their managers into grabbing me a plate on getaway day in 2003. Looking forward to lunch here on Saturday.
2. Dreamland BBQ-Tuscaloosa, Al-Ain't nothing like em nowhere. This is the original where the only options on the menu are full slab of ribs, half slab of ribs or rib sandwich. Some of the best sweet tea one can taste.
3. The Hoffbrau-Fayetville, Ark- One of the best burgers and steak places in the SEC. Fayeteville is underrated as far as SEC towns go the problem is no one can get to it as it is in the middle of nowhere.
4. Mike Anderson's Seafood-Baton Rouge, Louisiana-The CBS or ESPN broadcast crew eats here every Friday night before a football game on the Bayou. Some of the best seafood I have ever eaten.
5. Otters Chicken Fingers-Nashville, Tn- One of the best chicken fingers you will find in the South. They have the best Honey Mustard dipping sauce around. An Otters has opened up in the suburbs of Atlanta but I have yet to make the trip for a Big Boy Box. I will be in Nashville next weekend and an Otter's visit is in my future.
Just missed: Rama Jamma (Tuscaloosa), Joe Bologna's (Lexington), Cheeburger Cheeburger (Auburn) and Ballywho Grill (Gainesville).
6. Halftime
This week's song that Smoak and myself used to rock out to includes Jane Says by Jane's Addiction.Last week no one knew the single season home run leaders for the Royals, Marlins, and New York Mets. Co-worker Bob did get the closest of all the entries. Steve Balboni was the all-time leader for the Royals. Gary Sheffield was the leader of the Marlins. Carlos Beltran and Todd Hundley have each hit 41 home runs which is the most in a season for the Boyze from Quinze. This weeks trivia question is name the top 10 home run hitters in Braves history. Notice I said Braves not Milwaukee or Atlanta or Boston.
7. College Hoops Notes
a. Georgia Tech is ranked 305th in the nation in field goal percentage. That would be just ahead of Sacramento State....way to much talent in this state for the two flagship programs to be as bad as they have been.
b. If this does not prove that statement true what will? On Tuesday the 76ers trio of Norcross' Jodie Meeks, South Gwinnett's Lou Williams & Georgia Tech's Thaddeus Young combined for 52 points -13 more than ALL Hawks starters. The Hawks would lose 117-83 on Tuesday night.
c. If I told you one team was 6-6 in conference, 14-10 overall, 3-6 versus AP 25 and had RPI of 48. No what about this team 6-4 in conference, 17-7 overall, 1-3 versus AP 25 and had RPI of 43. What team would you think was the better team?
d. Well the team with the RPI of 48 is Michigan State and the team with the RPI of 43 is Georgia.
e. Other teams with an RPI higher than Michigan State, Harvard, Missouri State, Boston College, UAB, Cleveland State and Colorado State.
f. No idea why I am picking on Michigan State, except to say they are not the top team they are normally year after year. Also they are not a lock to get into tournament but if they do we all know they could make a deep tourney run.
g. What are everyone's thoughts on this team? 15-10 overall, 6-6 in conference RPI of 59. That would be Marquette. Another team not a lock to make the tourney.
h. How cool is The Pavilion where Villanova plays its on campus basketball games? The basketball court only takes up half the space of the building; it is expandable as an indoor track facility and recreation center.
i. How crazy was the Purdue-Wisconsin game Saturday afternoon? This is the eighth time a school has beaten the No. 1 team in both football and basketball in the same season.Who keeps track of stats like that?
j. Ohio State started the 2nd half on fire, making nine of their first 10 shots and outscoring the Badgers by 13 points to go up 47-32. The last 13 minutes were another story as the Buckeyes shot just 30 percent the rest of the way while being outscored by 19 points.
k. Baylor fell to 8-2 in its past 10 games against its three in-state Big 12 opponents.Quietly they have turned things around from the disaster that was the 2002-2003 basketball season.
l. The Morris brothers for the Kansas Jayhawks were pretty impressive on Saturday as each recorded double-doubles as Markieff had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Marcus 16 points, 11 rebounds. It's the fourth time this season the brothers have had double-doubles in the same game, and they've done it in both games against Iowa State.
m. The Jayhawks are on a roll as they heir past five games by double digits. Four of them have been by at least 20 points. Iowa State is not butter and they are not on a roll as the Cyclones have lost seven straight, its longest losing streak since dropping eight straight during the 2001-02 season.
n. I wonder if anyone is missing Larry Eustachy in Ames? Speaking of Eustachy he is now the coach of Southern Miss and has led the Golden Eagles to an 18-5 record this season and an RPI in the low 50's. Not to shabby.
o. San Diego State has won five straight games since suffering its lone loss of the season Jan. 26 at BYU. At 25-1, San Diego State is one win shy of tying its single-season school record of 26 wins, set two seasons ago.
8. College Hoops Power 5
1. Ohio State- I can not knock them off from the top spot for losing at Kohl Center. If the NCAA ranked teams they should have the Buckeyes as overall #1. Thus I have them as my top team.
2. Texas-The Longhorns are 10-0 in Big 12 play for the first time since the inception of the league.
3. Kansas-Kansas has won 24 games for the fifth straight season.
4. Duke- Duke extended its home win streak to 33 games, the longest active home win streak in the nation. The Blue Devils are 62-2 at home since the start of the 2007-08 season, with the only two losses coming to UNC.
5.Pitt- Have never made a Final Four run under Jamie Dixon, is this the year?
9. What I Read This Week
This first read of the week takes an inside look at the US Secret Service. The Secret Service known for not allowing access granted the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder unprecedented access as the Service pulls off keeping two-thirds of the world's leaders safe while they visit New York City every September. I love when I am at an event where there is Secret Service present, mostly because I am fascinated with guys talking into their watch. So awesome. This is probably my favorite article in What I Read This Week since last summer. Very fascinating.
The second article of the week comes from Tom Friend of ESPN.com and profiles William "The Refrigerator" Perry. Very sad read of what has happened to one of the great defensive players in the 80's. What makes this story even more sad is that everything is self-inflicted. Hard to believe what has happened to The Fridge.
10. Extracurricular Activies
a. I saw a screening of Just Go With It earlier last week. It was a typical Sandler movie where he out punts is coverage and somehow, someway gets the girl in the end.
b. Everyone should know what I think of Ms. Andy Roddick (Brooklyn Decker) put her acting skills were better than I had imagined going in to the movie.
c. All in all the movie was better and funnier than I thought going in. Not as fun or funny as No Strings Attached but still worth a viewing. Also, no red blooded American male will be disapointed with couple scenes of Jennifer Anniston and Brooklyn Decker entering and exiting water.
d. By the way Dan Patrick shows up like he does in all Sandler movies and he was absolutely hilarious. How many people thought he was committing career suicide by leaving ESPN years ago? That guy is on top of the world.
e. DP also hosted the Sports Illustrated Selection show on the 101 Network Friday night. It must be good to be DP right now.
f. Also on Saturday I went and watched The Fighter and it is the best movie I have watched in a long time. Wahlberg did an amazing job getting his body in shape for this movie and I am amazed how much bigger the muscle in his left arm was compared to his right arm. (I might have been the only person to pick up on this).
g. Christian Bale was the real star of the movie for his portrayal of Dicky Eklund. If he does not win an award for the job he did in this movie there should be an investigation.
h. Judging by the previews it does not look like we are having any good movies come out anytime soon.
i. I absolutely had a blast on Friday night with my former boss with the Colts was in town. He used to be a student manager for South Carolina football so a lot of good Lou Holtz stories were told.
j. I was definitely more awesome than disaster.
k. You should get what you expect with the Grammy's, at least I did. I do not understand those who excpect it to be such a great show. It never has been why should it be one now?
l. I do not get or see the fascination Lady Gaga? She has a sound similar to Madonna, the only thing is the queen of pop was talented not a nut case.
m. I think I might have sounded like a really old man in the last comment. Now you kids get off my lawn.
n. The power of twitter continues as I was able to learn that Florida QB Coach Scott Loefller had taken the position as offensive coordinator at Temple. The reason that I credit Twitter is that I was able to learn before Loeffler's cousin who is a co-worker. He was not intrigued with me breaking news about the family.
o. Speaking of twitter you all should follow me @justinwjohnson, the Captain @bigbodyss, my buddy Brice @brice2173 and my buddy Todd @toddeaston20
p. What was Cee-Lo wearing last night? Aint that some sh..................
q. Dissapointed my girl Hillary Scott with Lady A straightened and darkened her hair. Bigger fan of the curls and lighter hair but I am always a fan of the curls and lighter hair. With that being said I seriously doubt she cares or seeks my approval.
r. When did John Mayer become a dead ringer for Johnny Depp?
s. Mick Jagger absolutely rocked it on The Grammy's last night. I need to see him perform in person.
t. I got multiple comments about Hawaii 5-0 and everyone seems to enjoy the show. Tonight Nick Lachey comes out of hiding or wherever he has been for these past few years to guest star. No way I can miss that can I?
Tweet of The Week
@notthefakesvp who is the real Scott Van Pelt texted this last night during the Grammy's
I think she is just trying to dress like all portions of the grand slam breffuss. I am going to work tomorrow dressed as red velvet cupcake
Great use of breffus. I am glad I am not the only one.
Quote of The Week
Comes from Penguins owner and NHL Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux....
“If the events relating to Friday night reflect the state of the league, I need to re-think whether I want to be a part of it.”
The game he was referencing was The Islanders and Penguins contest on Friday night where both teams combined for 346 penalty minutes according to the NHL's game summary. That is the 2nd most penalty minutes in a single game since the 2000-01 season.
Text of The Week
From my great friend Brice on Saturday letting me know what Hayden (his son) was doing.
The kid is in the yard taking BP off the tee! He was on the physically unable to play list last year so he has started spring training!
Brice is right those injured last season can start spring training early. That's good parenting.
Picture of The Week
Comes from SI_Vault on twitter. He calls it the best photo of an extra point you will ever see...I can not help but agree. By the way if you are on twitter you should follow @si_vault.
A 1-1 week for the Dawgs and if I had to choose which game to win it would have been the South Carolina game. On Tuesday night we lost a tough game to Xavier when we did not get any breaks, but at the same time you have to create your on breaks. In the last two contests against the Musketeers, Xavier has shot 60 free throws, we have shot 20. Yes, I believe you can call that fair.
On Saturday it was a tale of two halves for the Dawgs. In what was a strange game to say the least, with Georgia cruising into the half with a 28-9 lead, only to let Carolina out score them 47-32 after the break. But after all the dust settled in the Colonial Life Center, Georgia came out on top with the 60-56 win. I have said it before and I will say it again; a win is a win is a win.
Next week gets bigger as the Dawgs will play both SEC teams from the Volunteer State. Wednesday night the Commodores visit Athens in a huge game with the winner having the inside track at the #2 seed out of the SEC East in the SEC tourament. This is important as the first two seeds in each division get a first round bye. Even more important is the fact Vandy has an RPI of 15 so a win would look good on the NCAA resume.
Then on Saturday the Dawgs make a trip to Knoxville in a game that will be broadcast Nationally on CBS. Tennessee has an RPI of 25 so again the Dawgs have a great opportunity. We should have/could have won the first game if for not a Brian Williams over the back non-call. Time to take care of business.
Here is how the SEC East stacks up for the rest of the season.
EAST ............. W-L ....... RPI
Florida ………. 9-2 ….…..11
Tennessee, at LSU, Georgia, at Kentucky, Alabama, at Vanderbilt
Georgia ……... 6-4 .…..…43
Vanderbilt, at Tennessee, at Florida, South Carolina, LSU, at Alabama
Vanderbilt …. 6-4 …......15
At Georgia, at Auburn, Tennessee, at LSU, at Kentucky, Florida
Kentucky ……. 5-5 …..... 14
Mississippi St., S. Carolina, at Arkansas, Florida, Vanderbilt, at Tennessee
Tennessee ….. 5-5 .….... 25
S. Carolina, Georgia, at Vanderbilt, Mississippi St., at S. Carolina, Kentucky
S. Carolina .... 4-6 ….....120
At Tennessee, at Kentucky, Ole Miss, at Georgia, Tennessee, at Miss. St.
2. Baseball Thoughts
a. A couple of the greatest words in the English language. Pitchers and Catchers report today.
b. ESPN Radio is doing a great job today by having a baseball guest every hour from 6:00 am to 10:00. Safe to say I will have some podcasts for the trip to Athens Wednesday night.
c. I picked on Mark Reynolds a little last week but among third basemen the last 3 years he first in home runs (104), 4th in RBI (284), 2nd in runs (264), and 3rd w/ 185 extra base hits. He is probably first in K's as well.
d. Over the past five years only one hurler has five seasons of 14 wins, 200 innings pitched, and 120 Ks - Roy Halladay. Only three others have reached those totals four times - Dan Haren, CC Sabathia and Bronson Arroyo.
e. How does Mr. Arroyo get in with that group?
f. Earlier this week Jayson Stark tweeted out his all-Unemployed team. Pretty fascinating group of players that could probably win around 70 games by themselves. Here are the players on Stark's team.
g. Starting infield on Stark's All-Unemployed Team: 1B Russell Branyan 2B David Eckstein, SS Orlando Cabrera, 3B Willy Aybar, C Bengie Molina
h. Rotation for All-Unemployed Team: Jeremy Bonderman, Kevin Millwood, Daniel Cabrera, Pedro Martinez, Jarrod Washburn
i. All Unemployed Outfield: LF Scott Podsednik, CF Jay Payton, RF Ryan Church, DH Nick Johnson
j. Bullpen for Stark's All-Unemployed Team: Chad Durbin, Manny Delcarmen, Mike Lincoln, Alfredo Aceves, Elmer Dessens, Scot Shields.
k. Wasn't Matt Lincoln a big time prospect like three or four years ago?
l. How about this Buster Olney quote: "A lot to be excited about with the Braves. Atlanta should have a strong pitching staff; the Braves just added Dan Uggla; Jason Heyward is a year older; Chipper Jones seems to be progressing well in his injury rehabilitation. The battle for the NL East title figures to be fierce, and a lot of fun." Why is that not the quote of the week?
m. Even though he pitches for the Red Sox one of my favorite players in baseball is Jon Lester. How about the stats Lester has against the AL East. He is 13-0 against the Orioles (2.33 ERA), 9-3 against Tampa Bay (3.80), 7-4 against the Blue Jays (3.43), and 6-1 against the Yankees (3.28). That’s 35-8 with a 3.19 ERA.
n. Last season, Red Sox closer and former Mississippi State Bulldog Johnathan Papelbon had a 2.12 ERA in the 16 games he pitched on no rest, a 5.40 ERA in the 18 games he pitched on one day of rest, and a 7.36 ERA when he pitched on two days’ rest. Those numbers do not make any sense.
o. I have started reading Bill Madden's book on George Steinbrenner and even though I am only one chapter in I am absolutely fascinated so far. Everyone knows that Steinbrenner bought the Yankees from CBS for $10 million dollars, do you know how much of his money was put up? Only $186,000.
p. Another thing that fascinates me about this book is the references to the New York restaurant Elaine's. The reason this intrigues me is I would walk by Elaine's on the way to lawyer Dan's. For those not familiar with Elaine's it is a restaurant/bar on the Upper East Side that is the hangout to Woody Allen, George Steinbrenner, etc.
q. Great read from LA Times writer Bill Plaschke and he discusses how he loves to eat lunch at Dodger Stadium. I have the same opportunity to do this at Turner Field every day and never take advantage. That is an awful job by me.
r. Here is one more outstanding baseball read. It is part 1 of a conversation Braves Beat writer David O'Brien had with Freddi Gonzalez. The interviewed happened after the two rode motorcycles together through the North Georgia mountains. Here is part two.
s. Only two center fielders who hit .300 last year - Josh Hamilton (.359) and Carlos Gonzalez (.336). Oddly, only one player who spent the majority of his time at DH last year hit .300, and that was the even .300 mark of Vladimir Guerrero.
t. The AL leading walk leader was the Athletics' Daric Barton with 110. That total of 110 is the same as the combined marks of Brandon Inge (54) and Ian Kinsler (56). It's also the same as the combined marks of Robinson Cano (57) and Curtis Granderson (53) OR Denard Span (60) and Vernon Wells (50).
u. Both Aaron Hill and Kelly Johnson hit 26 homeruns last season as second basemen. Hill had three fewer RBI than Johnson, 68 to 71, but there was a massive .200 point difference in their OPS - Hill was at .665 while Johnson was way up at .865, a mark that was third at the position behind only Robinson Cano (.914) and Dan Uggla (.877).
v. How did Braves get Dan Uggla for only Infante and Dunn?
w. Brett Cecil won 15 games last season despite not getting his first win until April 23rd. Cecil's win total was fifth in the AL. Amazingly, of the 14 pitchers in the Junior Circuit who won at least 15 games, seven of them were left-handed: CC Sabathia, David Price, Jon Lester, Cecil, John Danks, Gio Gonzalez and C.J. Wilson. Two more lefties also won 14 games in Francisco Liriano and Ricky Romero.
x. The league leading WHIP with men in scoring position was .79 which was posted by the NL Cy Young winner, Roy Halladay. His current Phillies teammate Roy Oswalt was third at 0.91, just behind another righty from the NL who pitches in the NL East - Josh Johnson (0.89). The best mark by an AL hurler was by the Twins... Brian Duensing (0.92).
y. Who in the heck is Brian Duensing?
z. The last Braves’ first baseman to serve with the Braves for five years or more is Fred McGriff. He was acquired in 1993 and played with the Braves through 1997. Can Freddie Freeman reverse the trend?
3. Hodgepodge of Thoughts
a. Kind of sad to see that Jerry Sloan retired as the coach of the Jazz on Thursday. What a living legend in the NBA. For those that do not think his feud with Darren Williams did not play a role then they are out of their mind.
b. Sloan's first point guard made $300,000 in 1988. His final point guard made nearly 50X more. ($14.9 million)
c. Here are a few things that existed in Jerry Sloan's 1st year as NBA coach: the scoring leader: George Gervin. The Kansas City Kings were 2nd in Midwest. and the Rookie of the Year was hick from French Lick named Larry Bird.
d. I watched some of the Heat-Celtics game Sunday and if the Heat can not beat the banged up Celtics then the Heat have some serious issues.
e. I saw this stat on Sunday and was shocked. Rajon Rondo has a .491 career shooting percentage, Steve Nash is .490.
f. College Baseball gets going next weekend. My Dawgs start the season with a visit to the alma mater of my parentals Stetson University in Deland, Florida.
g. Not sure what to make of the Dawgs next season but it is a very big and important season for Coach Perno. Everytime he has had a make or break season he has responded with a trip to the College World Series.
h. Said news on Friday when Cal announced that they would not reinstate their baseball program. A university with the resources of Cal should have a baseball team.
i. Also look for more coverage of college baseball this season as ESPN will broadcast a Thursday night game of the week. I think UGA and Vandy will play each other this season in one of the Thursday games. Also the Big 10 Network will televise 30 games on the Big 10 Network.
j. I failed to mention the games that are normally on ESPN U, CSS and Fox Sports South.
k. Another reason to hate the University of Texas. In 2012 any baseball game not televised by a network will be televised by the newly created Longhorn Network. That is ridiculous.
l. In total the The SEC has 68 games and the ACC will probably have around 25-30. Then you have the Big12, with six total televised games.
m. Safe to say that's one of about 50 reasons why you have three Big12 schools that have expressed interest in bolting to the SEC. More exposure. Safe to say that includes more than baseball, basketball and football.
4. Gridiron-NFL and College
a. I looked at a couple of different SEC teams 2011 schedules and I am very intrigued about the opportunities that the Dawgs have in 2011 as we only have four games outside the state of Georgia. This includes trips to Knoxville, Nashville, Oxford and Jacksonville.
b. In addition, dodging Alabama, Arkansas and LSU from the West certainly doesn’t hurt. Biggest negative is that the Dawgs are tied with Alabama for the most conference opponents which have bye weeks before playing, with three. However, we do get a Bye week before Florida.
c. After looking at the Gators schedule I see why Urban Meyer wanted to spend time with his family. The Gators draw Alabama, LSU and Auburn from the West this season. They
d. The defending national champions Auburn Tigers step up their schedule in 2011 with trips to Clemson, Baton Rouge, Fayeteville and Athens, Ga. Furthermore, they drop Kentucky off the schedule and add Florida. They also lose a boat load of talent.
e. Things look a little more difficult for Bama in 2011. Early season schedule is similar to last year’s, except for the fact the Tide travel to Happy Valley to play Penn State. As for conference games, ‘Bama drops South Carolina for Vanderbilt. Arkansas and LSU have to travel to Tuscaloosa (and Alabama’s bye week comes before the LSU game). Florida is a road game. They’ve scheduled Georgia Southern the week before the Iron Bowl, which can be a pain in the butt trying to prepare for that offense.
f. I also read this week where celebration will be a live ball foul instead of dead ball foul thus touchdowns now have the opportunity to be taken off the board. This is going to cost some team a game next season and it could turn into the most talked about story in college football.
g. We need to get celebration defined...how come when Tim Tebow went crazy it was not a penalty but when AJ Green looked at the student section it was a penalty?
h. What about when coaches like Auburn's Trooper Taylor do jumping jacks on the sideline all game. That looks excessive to me.
i. A lot of ploys in the NFL going on right now. I still think it is tough to ask the players to play more games and cut their piece of the pie from 59% to 40%.
j. Why did the Owners ever agree to sharing the 59% of their revenues with the players in the first place? That is ridiculous.
k. This is the first weekend without football since early in August when I was in Cincinnati watching the Braves and Reds. Man was that a long time ago. Good trip however.
5. My 5 Favorite Places in the SEC
1. Calhoun's-Knoxville, TN- On the banks of the Tennessee river are some of the best ribs and secenery. When I was a student manager for the baseball team at UGA I was always jealous that Tennessee's baseball team had Calhoun's as a post game meal. I may or may not have talked one of their managers into grabbing me a plate on getaway day in 2003. Looking forward to lunch here on Saturday.
2. Dreamland BBQ-Tuscaloosa, Al-Ain't nothing like em nowhere. This is the original where the only options on the menu are full slab of ribs, half slab of ribs or rib sandwich. Some of the best sweet tea one can taste.
3. The Hoffbrau-Fayetville, Ark- One of the best burgers and steak places in the SEC. Fayeteville is underrated as far as SEC towns go the problem is no one can get to it as it is in the middle of nowhere.
4. Mike Anderson's Seafood-Baton Rouge, Louisiana-The CBS or ESPN broadcast crew eats here every Friday night before a football game on the Bayou. Some of the best seafood I have ever eaten.
5. Otters Chicken Fingers-Nashville, Tn- One of the best chicken fingers you will find in the South. They have the best Honey Mustard dipping sauce around. An Otters has opened up in the suburbs of Atlanta but I have yet to make the trip for a Big Boy Box. I will be in Nashville next weekend and an Otter's visit is in my future.
Just missed: Rama Jamma (Tuscaloosa), Joe Bologna's (Lexington), Cheeburger Cheeburger (Auburn) and Ballywho Grill (Gainesville).
6. Halftime
This week's song that Smoak and myself used to rock out to includes Jane Says by Jane's Addiction.Last week no one knew the single season home run leaders for the Royals, Marlins, and New York Mets. Co-worker Bob did get the closest of all the entries. Steve Balboni was the all-time leader for the Royals. Gary Sheffield was the leader of the Marlins. Carlos Beltran and Todd Hundley have each hit 41 home runs which is the most in a season for the Boyze from Quinze. This weeks trivia question is name the top 10 home run hitters in Braves history. Notice I said Braves not Milwaukee or Atlanta or Boston.
7. College Hoops Notes
a. Georgia Tech is ranked 305th in the nation in field goal percentage. That would be just ahead of Sacramento State....way to much talent in this state for the two flagship programs to be as bad as they have been.
b. If this does not prove that statement true what will? On Tuesday the 76ers trio of Norcross' Jodie Meeks, South Gwinnett's Lou Williams & Georgia Tech's Thaddeus Young combined for 52 points -13 more than ALL Hawks starters. The Hawks would lose 117-83 on Tuesday night.
c. If I told you one team was 6-6 in conference, 14-10 overall, 3-6 versus AP 25 and had RPI of 48. No what about this team 6-4 in conference, 17-7 overall, 1-3 versus AP 25 and had RPI of 43. What team would you think was the better team?
d. Well the team with the RPI of 48 is Michigan State and the team with the RPI of 43 is Georgia.
e. Other teams with an RPI higher than Michigan State, Harvard, Missouri State, Boston College, UAB, Cleveland State and Colorado State.
f. No idea why I am picking on Michigan State, except to say they are not the top team they are normally year after year. Also they are not a lock to get into tournament but if they do we all know they could make a deep tourney run.
g. What are everyone's thoughts on this team? 15-10 overall, 6-6 in conference RPI of 59. That would be Marquette. Another team not a lock to make the tourney.
h. How cool is The Pavilion where Villanova plays its on campus basketball games? The basketball court only takes up half the space of the building; it is expandable as an indoor track facility and recreation center.
i. How crazy was the Purdue-Wisconsin game Saturday afternoon? This is the eighth time a school has beaten the No. 1 team in both football and basketball in the same season.Who keeps track of stats like that?
j. Ohio State started the 2nd half on fire, making nine of their first 10 shots and outscoring the Badgers by 13 points to go up 47-32. The last 13 minutes were another story as the Buckeyes shot just 30 percent the rest of the way while being outscored by 19 points.
k. Baylor fell to 8-2 in its past 10 games against its three in-state Big 12 opponents.Quietly they have turned things around from the disaster that was the 2002-2003 basketball season.
l. The Morris brothers for the Kansas Jayhawks were pretty impressive on Saturday as each recorded double-doubles as Markieff had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Marcus 16 points, 11 rebounds. It's the fourth time this season the brothers have had double-doubles in the same game, and they've done it in both games against Iowa State.
m. The Jayhawks are on a roll as they heir past five games by double digits. Four of them have been by at least 20 points. Iowa State is not butter and they are not on a roll as the Cyclones have lost seven straight, its longest losing streak since dropping eight straight during the 2001-02 season.
n. I wonder if anyone is missing Larry Eustachy in Ames? Speaking of Eustachy he is now the coach of Southern Miss and has led the Golden Eagles to an 18-5 record this season and an RPI in the low 50's. Not to shabby.
o. San Diego State has won five straight games since suffering its lone loss of the season Jan. 26 at BYU. At 25-1, San Diego State is one win shy of tying its single-season school record of 26 wins, set two seasons ago.
8. College Hoops Power 5
1. Ohio State- I can not knock them off from the top spot for losing at Kohl Center. If the NCAA ranked teams they should have the Buckeyes as overall #1. Thus I have them as my top team.
2. Texas-The Longhorns are 10-0 in Big 12 play for the first time since the inception of the league.
3. Kansas-Kansas has won 24 games for the fifth straight season.
4. Duke- Duke extended its home win streak to 33 games, the longest active home win streak in the nation. The Blue Devils are 62-2 at home since the start of the 2007-08 season, with the only two losses coming to UNC.
5.Pitt- Have never made a Final Four run under Jamie Dixon, is this the year?
9. What I Read This Week
This first read of the week takes an inside look at the US Secret Service. The Secret Service known for not allowing access granted the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder unprecedented access as the Service pulls off keeping two-thirds of the world's leaders safe while they visit New York City every September. I love when I am at an event where there is Secret Service present, mostly because I am fascinated with guys talking into their watch. So awesome. This is probably my favorite article in What I Read This Week since last summer. Very fascinating.
The second article of the week comes from Tom Friend of ESPN.com and profiles William "The Refrigerator" Perry. Very sad read of what has happened to one of the great defensive players in the 80's. What makes this story even more sad is that everything is self-inflicted. Hard to believe what has happened to The Fridge.
10. Extracurricular Activies
a. I saw a screening of Just Go With It earlier last week. It was a typical Sandler movie where he out punts is coverage and somehow, someway gets the girl in the end.
b. Everyone should know what I think of Ms. Andy Roddick (Brooklyn Decker) put her acting skills were better than I had imagined going in to the movie.
c. All in all the movie was better and funnier than I thought going in. Not as fun or funny as No Strings Attached but still worth a viewing. Also, no red blooded American male will be disapointed with couple scenes of Jennifer Anniston and Brooklyn Decker entering and exiting water.
d. By the way Dan Patrick shows up like he does in all Sandler movies and he was absolutely hilarious. How many people thought he was committing career suicide by leaving ESPN years ago? That guy is on top of the world.
e. DP also hosted the Sports Illustrated Selection show on the 101 Network Friday night. It must be good to be DP right now.
f. Also on Saturday I went and watched The Fighter and it is the best movie I have watched in a long time. Wahlberg did an amazing job getting his body in shape for this movie and I am amazed how much bigger the muscle in his left arm was compared to his right arm. (I might have been the only person to pick up on this).
g. Christian Bale was the real star of the movie for his portrayal of Dicky Eklund. If he does not win an award for the job he did in this movie there should be an investigation.
h. Judging by the previews it does not look like we are having any good movies come out anytime soon.
i. I absolutely had a blast on Friday night with my former boss with the Colts was in town. He used to be a student manager for South Carolina football so a lot of good Lou Holtz stories were told.
j. I was definitely more awesome than disaster.
k. You should get what you expect with the Grammy's, at least I did. I do not understand those who excpect it to be such a great show. It never has been why should it be one now?
l. I do not get or see the fascination Lady Gaga? She has a sound similar to Madonna, the only thing is the queen of pop was talented not a nut case.
m. I think I might have sounded like a really old man in the last comment. Now you kids get off my lawn.
n. The power of twitter continues as I was able to learn that Florida QB Coach Scott Loefller had taken the position as offensive coordinator at Temple. The reason that I credit Twitter is that I was able to learn before Loeffler's cousin who is a co-worker. He was not intrigued with me breaking news about the family.
o. Speaking of twitter you all should follow me @justinwjohnson, the Captain @bigbodyss, my buddy Brice @brice2173 and my buddy Todd @toddeaston20
p. What was Cee-Lo wearing last night? Aint that some sh..................
q. Dissapointed my girl Hillary Scott with Lady A straightened and darkened her hair. Bigger fan of the curls and lighter hair but I am always a fan of the curls and lighter hair. With that being said I seriously doubt she cares or seeks my approval.
r. When did John Mayer become a dead ringer for Johnny Depp?
s. Mick Jagger absolutely rocked it on The Grammy's last night. I need to see him perform in person.
t. I got multiple comments about Hawaii 5-0 and everyone seems to enjoy the show. Tonight Nick Lachey comes out of hiding or wherever he has been for these past few years to guest star. No way I can miss that can I?
Tweet of The Week
@notthefakesvp who is the real Scott Van Pelt texted this last night during the Grammy's
I think she is just trying to dress like all portions of the grand slam breffuss. I am going to work tomorrow dressed as red velvet cupcake
Great use of breffus. I am glad I am not the only one.
Quote of The Week
Comes from Penguins owner and NHL Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux....
“If the events relating to Friday night reflect the state of the league, I need to re-think whether I want to be a part of it.”
The game he was referencing was The Islanders and Penguins contest on Friday night where both teams combined for 346 penalty minutes according to the NHL's game summary. That is the 2nd most penalty minutes in a single game since the 2000-01 season.
Text of The Week
From my great friend Brice on Saturday letting me know what Hayden (his son) was doing.
The kid is in the yard taking BP off the tee! He was on the physically unable to play list last year so he has started spring training!
Brice is right those injured last season can start spring training early. That's good parenting.
Picture of The Week
Comes from SI_Vault on twitter. He calls it the best photo of an extra point you will ever see...I can not help but agree. By the way if you are on twitter you should follow @si_vault.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Ten Things JJ Thinks He Thinks
1. Superbowl Thoughts
Halfway through the second quarter I thought we were about to see a dud of a game but we ended up seeing a pretty decent game. Was the game as good as the past few years? No. However, it was not a dud like many Super Bowls of my childhood. I am happy for the roomdawg who was able to see his team win a Super Bowl. The last two years the boys of Apt 425 have witnessed their teams make Super Bowl runs. Unfortunately my Colts lost last season. Safe to say the roomdawg will not allow any Chicago Bear to move in anytime soon.
I hate to see Charles Woodson get hurt, but it was clear that the Packers were his team and the pain and wincing he showed while trying to celebrate was unreal. Before leaving the game late in the second quarter with a collarbone injury, cornerback Charles Woodson played an important role for the defense of the Packers. Woodson was on the field for 30 snaps and was able to penetrate the offensive backfield on 7 of those plays. Against five rushes, the Packers allowed just 1.7 yards per carry and collected three tackles for loss when Woodson was a part of run-blitz pressure. None bad for a safety.
While Woodson left his mark on the game in two quarters of play Pittsburgh's marque defender did nothing to help the Steelers. Troy Polamalu has made a name for himself all season by causing havoc around the line of scrimmage. In the Super Bowl, the Defensive Player of the Year lined up within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage on only three of the Packers' 55 offensive snaps and didn't record a tackle until the fourth quarter. Polamalu was ineffective in the passing game as well - Aaron Rodgers completed 2-of-3 passes for 20 yards when Polamalu blitzed. Not good for one of the premier players in the NFL. Not good at all.
I was talking with co-worker Dan earlier on Monday and the question was asked, "who would you rather have in their prime? Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers? We both went with Rodgers. For one he can do everything that Favre can do, his escapeability is better than Favre's and he is the more cerebral of the two. A Cal guy should always be smarter than the Southern Miss guy.
Peter King in his Monday Morning QB does an outstanding job recaping the Super Bowl and complaining about the weather despite getting paid to work the Super Bowl. Intriguing read nonetheless.
2. The Business of the Super Bowl
a. It was announced Monday that the Super Bowl averaged 111 million viewers and had 162.9 million viewers in total. Nice night to sell ads for Fox.
b. Roger Goodell says Super Bowl XLV was most watched in television history which drew some good twitter response from Grant Wahl who said it was not close the World Cup final drew more viewers. I liked Richard Deitsch response, "if I had to guess, the most watched TV program of alltime is CCTV's coverage of Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies."
c. I guess that would be my guess as well.
d. Then their is this stat: 15% of televisions that were on last night in Milwaukee, DIDN'T HAVE the Super Bowl on it. Can you tell me what these people were watching? Was their a special on Marquette or the Brewers?
e. While the Super Bowl arguably might have had the most viewers it did not have the best rating. 8 Super Bowls had higher ratings than Sunday night's 46 household rating. Basically that means more people watched the Super Bowl than ever before but with more channels less percentage of people watched the Super Bowl.
f. Great stat from Darren Rovell. StubHub: Avg. Super Bowl 45 ticket sold for $3,559. Here are other averages: 44 ($2,386), 43 ($2,402), 42 ($3,536), 41 ($4,004)
g. If you are on twitter and do not follow Darren Rovell you probably should. He tweeted Friday afternoon that he had Chick-Fil-A for the first time on Friday afternoon. I cried a little bit for him.
h. Every year the length of the National Anthem is one of the bigger bets is Vegas and in the online community. This year it got tricky as Staten Island's pride and joy Christina Aguilera performance was timed by Bodog 1:53.7 (under) Bookmaker.com? 1:54.02 (over). This is a big problem when over under is 1:54. Well the people at Sportsbook.com decided to pay both the under and over bets since they could not determine a time. That will probably never happen again.
i. I think next year they will have a note on over/under bets on National Anthem that says singer must sing correct words for action.
j. Another story that received a lot of play on Sunday was the ticket snafu where 400 people were shut out from seeing the game. What a nightmare situation where a total of 1,250 seats were in affected area. 850 fans could be moved. How does this happen?
k. The NFL has done a decent job of trying to satisfy the 400 who were left without tickets by giving them a refund of three times the face value (its a shame most paid more than that) and free tickets to next year's Super Bowl. Here is a copy of the letter the NFL gave fans Sunday night. Safe to say it was put together quickly. The 400 fans were also given free food and allowed on the field for the postgame celebration. As for those 2,000 fans who had to wait until gametime to get into their seats - they'll be getting $800 back. What a nightmare.
l. All in all the NFL did a good job out of an awful situation. However, if you were bumped from your flight and missed your daughters wedding would 4 first class tickets make everything okay?
m. Seconds shown of Skechers shoes in Kardashian ad? THREE. But really who is counting anyway?
n. Northwestern Mutual in downtown Milwaukee left certain office lights on Sunday night. So awesome this must be clicked.
o. This is even better and has to be watched.
p. Sunday night my Dad emailed me and asked if Jerry Jones gets anything from hosting the Super Bowl? I know he could use the Super Bowl for some help with public financing his stadium, etc but does the NFL cut Mr. Jones a check for the use of his stadium? Does anyone know?
3. Georgia Hoop Thoughts
A 2-0 week this week following an awful 0-2 week that could have easily been an 1-1 week. The Hoop Dawgs came into the week with a 3-4 SEC record and their NCAA tournament hopes on the ropes. They didn’t earn too many style points, but they did win both games and they are now 5-4 in the conference and in 3rd place in the SEC East. The good news surrounding the Hoop Dawgs right now is we have now won back to back games in the SEC for the first time since the 2008 SEC Tournament. For those that do not recall the 2008 SEC Tournament that is when a tornado blew through downtown and the SEC moved the tournament to Georgia Tech. By the way UGA won two games in one day during that tournament.
Another huge week for the Dawgs as they have a visit to Columbia on Saturday which has never been a fun place for UGA. However, Tuesday night will be just as important even though the game is out of conference. The Xavier Mustketeers visit the Classic City and bring a top 50 RPI with them. This is a team that probably will be dancing in March so a win for the Dawgs could go a very long way in the eyes of the Committee. The more we win, the bigger the games get each week.
4. National Signing Day
a. I am absolutely thrilled to death over the recruiting class the Dawgs were able to bring in. In my opinion the addition of John Jenkins might be what we need to build something special in Athens.
b. I love this quote from Richt on Jenkins. "This guy is exactly what we need to really make this 3-4 (defense) go. John is the cherry on top (of the recruiting class). He’s a big, massive guy who can play the center of our 3-4 defense. This is the first year we had to recruit a guy like him. To get a player who I think is the No. 1 nose in America is awesome."
c. In case you were wondering, Boise State’s starting center is 5’11″ and weighs 285 pounds. (He was a first-team All-WAC selection.). (ht to the Senator and his great blog for the last nugget)
d. How tough is it to recruit in the SEC? The SEC had four of the top ten classes, seven of the top twenty classes, and nine of the top twenty-five classes.
e. As impressive as that all is, Scout.com has Vanderbilt with the SEC’s lowest rated class. The Commodores finished forty-fifth nationally. That is unreal.
f. Of the top 25 players in the state of Georgia this season, 12 signed with UGA, 3 signed with Auburn, 2 signed with Bama, 2 signed with Tennessee, 1 signed with Cal, Florida State, Notre Dame, Stanford and Georgia Tech. Also one of the top twenty-five signed with a junior college.
g. I do not care what kindof gimicky high school offense Paul Johnson runs he needs to sign more than one of the state's best twenty five players.
h. How awesome is it that Florida did not sign any of the top 25 players in the state of Georgia this year? When is the last time that has happened?
i. I wish the guys from Georgia that signed with Auburn and Bama would have signed with Florida State. When FSU really had it rolling they were signing tons of players from South Georgia. I would rather FSU get those players than Auburn or Alabama.
j. I love when Nick Saban says one thing but does another.“In the Southeastern Conference when a guy commits, that just makes them a target. It isn’t like that everywhere in the country. It’s really not, but it is that way here, so we expect it. We are not really upset about it when it happens. We just try to manage it.”
k. By the way coach Saban you have had at least one recruit the past two seasons commit to another school before signing with you.
l. If this had happened in Athens, the AJC would have a heart attack and make it seem like the world was coming to an end.“[Cornerback Marcus] Roberson took his official visit to Gainesville on Jan. 21, and he was hosted by Janoris Jenkins. Several hours into the visit, Jenkins was arrested for marijuana possession.” Roberson eventually signed with Florida, by the way.I am confident he will not have a problem fitting in.
m. On a side note it will be interesting to read some comments in the future from University of Florida writers now that Urban Meyer is not around to bully those on the Gators beat.
5. Baseball Notes
a. How great is the fact that when you all are reading this the Braves equipment truck will already be on I-75 headed to the Sunshine State. Baseball will be here before we know it and if we are ready or not.
b. Through 168 major league games Cameron Maybin is hitting .246 with 13 homers, 45 RBI, 93 runs scored and 19 thefts. Why does it seem a majority of that damage has come against the Braves?
c. Only three players have hit at least .300 each of the last five seasons.I bet we all could have named Ichiro and Pujols but Matt Holliday is also on that list.
d. Only three players have hit 20 home runs for the past ten seasons. We all could name Pujols and A-Rod. However, the real question is how many could name Carlos Lee.
e. On a side note Carlos Lee has one of my favorite nicknames in baseball in El Caballo. Do not ask why I think that is awesome, it just is.
f.. How crazy are the stats new Oriole third basemen Mark Reynolds puts up every season? Last season in 499 at-bats he hit 32 homers and drove home 85. Reynolds also hit .199 an struckout 211 times. Just as a reference Prince Fielder had 32 homers and 83 RBIs in 578 at-bats last season.
g. Buck Showalter might go crazy with all those K's next season in Baltimore.
h. Speaking of the O's they have quietly put together what could be one of the more impressive lineups in not only the AL East but in all of baseball. Here is how they matchup Catcher-Matt Wieters, First Base- Derek Lee, Second Base- Brian Roberts, Third Base-Mark Reynolds, Short Stop- JJ Hardy, Left Field- Luke Scott, Center Field-Adam Jones and in Right Field-Nick Markakis. The Designated Hitter will be Vlad Guerrero. You have speed and power and unfortunately a lot of strikeouts.
i. The O's do make a visit to Turner Field this summer. Could be a fun weekend in early July.
j. From 2008-10, Dan Haren is only of 3 to win 12 games w/ ERA under 3.95 and at least 200 Ks each yr. Others are – Tim Lincecum, Roy Halladay.
k. Peter Gammons posed this question via twitter...Michael Young has averaged 199 hits per yearr. He's 34, doesn't walk. If he averages 190 hits next 6 years, he gets to 3000. He won a gold glove at both SS & 2B...HOF?........I say he compares to Biggio who I think is a Hall of Famer.
l. I do not have any numbers to back this up but if I had to choose one for the Hall of Fame I would choose Biggio over Bagwell.
m. For those that have an auction style fantasy draft in the near future read this good article and two words...good luck.
n. Here is a really good read on Brooks Conrad. Love this quote from his mom...“Don’t ever come home in a clean uniform,”
6. Halftime
This week's song that Smoak and myself used to rock out to includes Jason's Aldean Dirt Road Anthem. (The video comes from Aldean's appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, in my next life I want to be a writer for a late night tv-show). I know I normally give songs from the late 90's or early 2000's but when Smoak and myself were hanging together in October he was all over this song and now it is becoming a big hit. You can not get a thing past this guy. Speaking of Jason Aldean, I read somewhere last week that he has an English Bulldog named "Athens" how awesome is that? Congrats are in order to the greatest kicker in Screven County History who knew that Don Sutton had the most wins in Dodgers history. This week's trivia question, name the single season home run leaders for the Royals, Marlins, and New York Mets. Because I am in the giving mood here is a hint; two people share the record for the New York Mets.
7. NFL Power 12
1. Green Bay Packers-I think if the NY Giants beat the Packers in week 16 we might have the G-Men as our number one team today. But they didn't.
2. Pittsburgh Steelers-Three Super Bowl appearances in five years is unreal. How smart are the Roney's to hire Mike Tomlin over Russ Grimm or Ken Wisenhunt?
3. New York Jets-The better of the Championship Game losers. I still think the Pats beat them 85-90 times out of 100. We can say we saw two of those 10-15 times this season.
4. Chicago Bears- A lot of people want Lovie ran out of town but if he can get a second seed in the NFC with those cast of characters he had this season, the guy can coach.
5. New England Patriots- Until this season which was uncapped the Pats always had one of the lowest payrolls in football...how come they get a hall pass for this? Especially when you consider they have not won a Super Bowl since I was a student at the University of Georgia.
6. Atlanta Falcons-The second best season in franchise history gets remembered for a choke job against New Orleans and a no show job against the Packers.
7. Baltimore Ravens- Pretty strong words from Flacco this week after they fired his position coach. This team needs to figure out how to beat the Steelers so they can get home field.
8. Indianapolis Colts- If they can cover a kickoff we get two less weeks of the Jets. Also, their special teams has been awful since I was an intern and worked with the special teams. Just saying.
9. Philadelphia Eagles- I know Kolb wants a trade but no way Andy Reid moves him this off-season.
10. Kansas City Chiefs-How bad were the West in both the AFC and NFC this season?
11. New Orleans Saints-How did they lose to the Seahawks?
12. Seattle Seahawks-I could care less they won in the first round. Do not blame Seahawks blame the NFC West for being awful.
8. College Hoops Power 5
1. Ohio State- Sullinger is the second best player in the country behind The Jimmer.
2. Texas- Texas won at Kansas thus the higher ranking.
3. Kansas- For this team to go through what they have been through the past few weeks and not skip a beat says something.
4. Duke- I watched some of their game against NC State Saturday evening and they out hustled the Wolfpack all game. Amazing how hard they play.
5. Pitt-The real question I will ask repeatedly between now and March, can Jamie Dixon get his talented Pitt Panthers to the Final Four?
9. What I Read This Week
Couple of great articles that I read this past week. This first article comes from Esquire and takes a look at NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. I am pretty fascinated by Mayor Bloomberg, for one he is a billionaire who takes the Subway to work every day. Second his annual salary is only $1 a day but when you are a billionaire, you can do that. Third Bloomberg depending the issue he is considered liberal, conservative, elitist, idealistic or pragmatic. Fascinating read and his green initiatives are in my opinion genius.
The second article of the week comes from The Wall Street Journal and does not look at finance, banking or stocks and bonds. It profiles my favorite college basketball commentator Bill Raftery. Raftery is well known for closing the hotel bar at night and opening up the gym the next morning. I want to spend one winter with this guy traveling the Big East. ONIONS!!!!!!!!
10. Extracurricular Activities
a. Thoughts on the tittle for this section?
b. Reason #2697 Twitter is so great and that you all should follow me @justinwjohnson is finding articles like this one late on a Friday night. The article in question looks at the final scene of The Sopranos and comes to the conclusion with the evidence presented that Tony died at the very end. Fascinating read that gives ton of background and makes me miss one of my favorite television shows of my adult life.
c. The first thing I learned from the article is that Sopranos creator David Chase is about 6 times smarter than me and I think I am pretty smart.
d. While we are discussing the Sopranos one of my favorite all-time episodes is Pine Barrons when Christopher and Paulie get lost in the South Jersey forest with a former member of the Russian Ministry of the Interior's special forces. Christopher and Paulie clearly shoot the Russian but we never get confirmation that the Russian died. I have always wondered what happened to the Russian? Also, what happened to Paulie's Cadillac that they drove down in to South Jersey?
e. Speaking of great shows How I Met Your Mother was brand new this week and was hilarious. Katy Perry made a guest appearance and showed their might be more to her career than singer. She is a very talented entertainer. By the way as much as I enjoy HIMYM it does not belong in the same breath as The Sopranos.
f. Ms. Perry is so hot as well. That should not have to be said, just understood.
g. I am big Real Sports fan and I absolutely loved the profile on Peter King. You should know I got the idea for the Ten Things from Peter King and his Monday Morning QB.
h. I am fascinated how King does his NBC duties every Sunday night and then heads straight to his hotel room where for the next six hours he will write the MMQB. His leaves his hotel room at 5:30 enough time to make the 6:00 Acela Express to Boston where he will put the final touches of his column before posting around 7:45-8:00 every Monday morning.
i. By the way I think the Las Vegas Hilton is the coolest place on earth to watch an NFL Sunday playout. The second coolest place might be the NBC studios with Dan Patrick, Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, Peter King and Mike Florio.
j. This past weekend it seemed like I spent more time OTP than ITP. I do not think that is a good thing.
k. I need to find a new place between Atlanta and Athens to grab quick bite to eat than Chick-fil-a in Monroe. Nothing wrong with Chick-fil-a in Monroe but sometimes it is good to change things up.
l. Am I the only one who loves Hawaii 5-0 on CBS at Monday night? Someone please tell me that they also enjoy that show, I can not be the only one.
m. I was hoping to see the Chicago Code but I missed it Monday night. Did anyone see it? Is it worth my time?
Quote of The Week
An email from co-worker Dan to BJ after co-worker Dan booked a room the two are sharing on a future road trip.
We are booked. I believe you owe me $46.46 for the room. No rush on the money the juice won’t start running for 1 week.
Tweet of The Week
This week's tweet comes from @PANTSSteve who is Steve Young the writer for Letterman not the former Niner QB.
BUSH AT THE GAME: After three bites of snack, prematurely put up "Nachos Accomplished" banner
Text of The Week
This week's text comes from Todd Easton from the Big Apple...
"If there is anything better than national signing day and national sweater vest day falling on the same day?"
Photo of The Week
Below you will find the smartest guy in Green Bay...I wish we could hold this guy to his poster and he lose his season tickets
Halfway through the second quarter I thought we were about to see a dud of a game but we ended up seeing a pretty decent game. Was the game as good as the past few years? No. However, it was not a dud like many Super Bowls of my childhood. I am happy for the roomdawg who was able to see his team win a Super Bowl. The last two years the boys of Apt 425 have witnessed their teams make Super Bowl runs. Unfortunately my Colts lost last season. Safe to say the roomdawg will not allow any Chicago Bear to move in anytime soon.
I hate to see Charles Woodson get hurt, but it was clear that the Packers were his team and the pain and wincing he showed while trying to celebrate was unreal. Before leaving the game late in the second quarter with a collarbone injury, cornerback Charles Woodson played an important role for the defense of the Packers. Woodson was on the field for 30 snaps and was able to penetrate the offensive backfield on 7 of those plays. Against five rushes, the Packers allowed just 1.7 yards per carry and collected three tackles for loss when Woodson was a part of run-blitz pressure. None bad for a safety.
While Woodson left his mark on the game in two quarters of play Pittsburgh's marque defender did nothing to help the Steelers. Troy Polamalu has made a name for himself all season by causing havoc around the line of scrimmage. In the Super Bowl, the Defensive Player of the Year lined up within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage on only three of the Packers' 55 offensive snaps and didn't record a tackle until the fourth quarter. Polamalu was ineffective in the passing game as well - Aaron Rodgers completed 2-of-3 passes for 20 yards when Polamalu blitzed. Not good for one of the premier players in the NFL. Not good at all.
I was talking with co-worker Dan earlier on Monday and the question was asked, "who would you rather have in their prime? Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers? We both went with Rodgers. For one he can do everything that Favre can do, his escapeability is better than Favre's and he is the more cerebral of the two. A Cal guy should always be smarter than the Southern Miss guy.
Peter King in his Monday Morning QB does an outstanding job recaping the Super Bowl and complaining about the weather despite getting paid to work the Super Bowl. Intriguing read nonetheless.
2. The Business of the Super Bowl
a. It was announced Monday that the Super Bowl averaged 111 million viewers and had 162.9 million viewers in total. Nice night to sell ads for Fox.
b. Roger Goodell says Super Bowl XLV was most watched in television history which drew some good twitter response from Grant Wahl who said it was not close the World Cup final drew more viewers. I liked Richard Deitsch response, "if I had to guess, the most watched TV program of alltime is CCTV's coverage of Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies."
c. I guess that would be my guess as well.
d. Then their is this stat: 15% of televisions that were on last night in Milwaukee, DIDN'T HAVE the Super Bowl on it. Can you tell me what these people were watching? Was their a special on Marquette or the Brewers?
e. While the Super Bowl arguably might have had the most viewers it did not have the best rating. 8 Super Bowls had higher ratings than Sunday night's 46 household rating. Basically that means more people watched the Super Bowl than ever before but with more channels less percentage of people watched the Super Bowl.
f. Great stat from Darren Rovell. StubHub: Avg. Super Bowl 45 ticket sold for $3,559. Here are other averages: 44 ($2,386), 43 ($2,402), 42 ($3,536), 41 ($4,004)
g. If you are on twitter and do not follow Darren Rovell you probably should. He tweeted Friday afternoon that he had Chick-Fil-A for the first time on Friday afternoon. I cried a little bit for him.
h. Every year the length of the National Anthem is one of the bigger bets is Vegas and in the online community. This year it got tricky as Staten Island's pride and joy Christina Aguilera performance was timed by Bodog 1:53.7 (under) Bookmaker.com? 1:54.02 (over). This is a big problem when over under is 1:54. Well the people at Sportsbook.com decided to pay both the under and over bets since they could not determine a time. That will probably never happen again.
i. I think next year they will have a note on over/under bets on National Anthem that says singer must sing correct words for action.
j. Another story that received a lot of play on Sunday was the ticket snafu where 400 people were shut out from seeing the game. What a nightmare situation where a total of 1,250 seats were in affected area. 850 fans could be moved. How does this happen?
k. The NFL has done a decent job of trying to satisfy the 400 who were left without tickets by giving them a refund of three times the face value (its a shame most paid more than that) and free tickets to next year's Super Bowl. Here is a copy of the letter the NFL gave fans Sunday night. Safe to say it was put together quickly. The 400 fans were also given free food and allowed on the field for the postgame celebration. As for those 2,000 fans who had to wait until gametime to get into their seats - they'll be getting $800 back. What a nightmare.
l. All in all the NFL did a good job out of an awful situation. However, if you were bumped from your flight and missed your daughters wedding would 4 first class tickets make everything okay?
m. Seconds shown of Skechers shoes in Kardashian ad? THREE. But really who is counting anyway?
n. Northwestern Mutual in downtown Milwaukee left certain office lights on Sunday night. So awesome this must be clicked.
o. This is even better and has to be watched.
p. Sunday night my Dad emailed me and asked if Jerry Jones gets anything from hosting the Super Bowl? I know he could use the Super Bowl for some help with public financing his stadium, etc but does the NFL cut Mr. Jones a check for the use of his stadium? Does anyone know?
3. Georgia Hoop Thoughts
A 2-0 week this week following an awful 0-2 week that could have easily been an 1-1 week. The Hoop Dawgs came into the week with a 3-4 SEC record and their NCAA tournament hopes on the ropes. They didn’t earn too many style points, but they did win both games and they are now 5-4 in the conference and in 3rd place in the SEC East. The good news surrounding the Hoop Dawgs right now is we have now won back to back games in the SEC for the first time since the 2008 SEC Tournament. For those that do not recall the 2008 SEC Tournament that is when a tornado blew through downtown and the SEC moved the tournament to Georgia Tech. By the way UGA won two games in one day during that tournament.
Another huge week for the Dawgs as they have a visit to Columbia on Saturday which has never been a fun place for UGA. However, Tuesday night will be just as important even though the game is out of conference. The Xavier Mustketeers visit the Classic City and bring a top 50 RPI with them. This is a team that probably will be dancing in March so a win for the Dawgs could go a very long way in the eyes of the Committee. The more we win, the bigger the games get each week.
4. National Signing Day
a. I am absolutely thrilled to death over the recruiting class the Dawgs were able to bring in. In my opinion the addition of John Jenkins might be what we need to build something special in Athens.
b. I love this quote from Richt on Jenkins. "This guy is exactly what we need to really make this 3-4 (defense) go. John is the cherry on top (of the recruiting class). He’s a big, massive guy who can play the center of our 3-4 defense. This is the first year we had to recruit a guy like him. To get a player who I think is the No. 1 nose in America is awesome."
c. In case you were wondering, Boise State’s starting center is 5’11″ and weighs 285 pounds. (He was a first-team All-WAC selection.). (ht to the Senator and his great blog for the last nugget)
d. How tough is it to recruit in the SEC? The SEC had four of the top ten classes, seven of the top twenty classes, and nine of the top twenty-five classes.
e. As impressive as that all is, Scout.com has Vanderbilt with the SEC’s lowest rated class. The Commodores finished forty-fifth nationally. That is unreal.
f. Of the top 25 players in the state of Georgia this season, 12 signed with UGA, 3 signed with Auburn, 2 signed with Bama, 2 signed with Tennessee, 1 signed with Cal, Florida State, Notre Dame, Stanford and Georgia Tech. Also one of the top twenty-five signed with a junior college.
g. I do not care what kindof gimicky high school offense Paul Johnson runs he needs to sign more than one of the state's best twenty five players.
h. How awesome is it that Florida did not sign any of the top 25 players in the state of Georgia this year? When is the last time that has happened?
i. I wish the guys from Georgia that signed with Auburn and Bama would have signed with Florida State. When FSU really had it rolling they were signing tons of players from South Georgia. I would rather FSU get those players than Auburn or Alabama.
j. I love when Nick Saban says one thing but does another.“In the Southeastern Conference when a guy commits, that just makes them a target. It isn’t like that everywhere in the country. It’s really not, but it is that way here, so we expect it. We are not really upset about it when it happens. We just try to manage it.”
k. By the way coach Saban you have had at least one recruit the past two seasons commit to another school before signing with you.
l. If this had happened in Athens, the AJC would have a heart attack and make it seem like the world was coming to an end.“[Cornerback Marcus] Roberson took his official visit to Gainesville on Jan. 21, and he was hosted by Janoris Jenkins. Several hours into the visit, Jenkins was arrested for marijuana possession.” Roberson eventually signed with Florida, by the way.I am confident he will not have a problem fitting in.
m. On a side note it will be interesting to read some comments in the future from University of Florida writers now that Urban Meyer is not around to bully those on the Gators beat.
5. Baseball Notes
a. How great is the fact that when you all are reading this the Braves equipment truck will already be on I-75 headed to the Sunshine State. Baseball will be here before we know it and if we are ready or not.
b. Through 168 major league games Cameron Maybin is hitting .246 with 13 homers, 45 RBI, 93 runs scored and 19 thefts. Why does it seem a majority of that damage has come against the Braves?
c. Only three players have hit at least .300 each of the last five seasons.I bet we all could have named Ichiro and Pujols but Matt Holliday is also on that list.
d. Only three players have hit 20 home runs for the past ten seasons. We all could name Pujols and A-Rod. However, the real question is how many could name Carlos Lee.
e. On a side note Carlos Lee has one of my favorite nicknames in baseball in El Caballo. Do not ask why I think that is awesome, it just is.
f.. How crazy are the stats new Oriole third basemen Mark Reynolds puts up every season? Last season in 499 at-bats he hit 32 homers and drove home 85. Reynolds also hit .199 an struckout 211 times. Just as a reference Prince Fielder had 32 homers and 83 RBIs in 578 at-bats last season.
g. Buck Showalter might go crazy with all those K's next season in Baltimore.
h. Speaking of the O's they have quietly put together what could be one of the more impressive lineups in not only the AL East but in all of baseball. Here is how they matchup Catcher-Matt Wieters, First Base- Derek Lee, Second Base- Brian Roberts, Third Base-Mark Reynolds, Short Stop- JJ Hardy, Left Field- Luke Scott, Center Field-Adam Jones and in Right Field-Nick Markakis. The Designated Hitter will be Vlad Guerrero. You have speed and power and unfortunately a lot of strikeouts.
i. The O's do make a visit to Turner Field this summer. Could be a fun weekend in early July.
j. From 2008-10, Dan Haren is only of 3 to win 12 games w/ ERA under 3.95 and at least 200 Ks each yr. Others are – Tim Lincecum, Roy Halladay.
k. Peter Gammons posed this question via twitter...Michael Young has averaged 199 hits per yearr. He's 34, doesn't walk. If he averages 190 hits next 6 years, he gets to 3000. He won a gold glove at both SS & 2B...HOF?........I say he compares to Biggio who I think is a Hall of Famer.
l. I do not have any numbers to back this up but if I had to choose one for the Hall of Fame I would choose Biggio over Bagwell.
m. For those that have an auction style fantasy draft in the near future read this good article and two words...good luck.
n. Here is a really good read on Brooks Conrad. Love this quote from his mom...“Don’t ever come home in a clean uniform,”
6. Halftime
This week's song that Smoak and myself used to rock out to includes Jason's Aldean Dirt Road Anthem. (The video comes from Aldean's appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, in my next life I want to be a writer for a late night tv-show). I know I normally give songs from the late 90's or early 2000's but when Smoak and myself were hanging together in October he was all over this song and now it is becoming a big hit. You can not get a thing past this guy. Speaking of Jason Aldean, I read somewhere last week that he has an English Bulldog named "Athens" how awesome is that? Congrats are in order to the greatest kicker in Screven County History who knew that Don Sutton had the most wins in Dodgers history. This week's trivia question, name the single season home run leaders for the Royals, Marlins, and New York Mets. Because I am in the giving mood here is a hint; two people share the record for the New York Mets.
7. NFL Power 12
1. Green Bay Packers-I think if the NY Giants beat the Packers in week 16 we might have the G-Men as our number one team today. But they didn't.
2. Pittsburgh Steelers-Three Super Bowl appearances in five years is unreal. How smart are the Roney's to hire Mike Tomlin over Russ Grimm or Ken Wisenhunt?
3. New York Jets-The better of the Championship Game losers. I still think the Pats beat them 85-90 times out of 100. We can say we saw two of those 10-15 times this season.
4. Chicago Bears- A lot of people want Lovie ran out of town but if he can get a second seed in the NFC with those cast of characters he had this season, the guy can coach.
5. New England Patriots- Until this season which was uncapped the Pats always had one of the lowest payrolls in football...how come they get a hall pass for this? Especially when you consider they have not won a Super Bowl since I was a student at the University of Georgia.
6. Atlanta Falcons-The second best season in franchise history gets remembered for a choke job against New Orleans and a no show job against the Packers.
7. Baltimore Ravens- Pretty strong words from Flacco this week after they fired his position coach. This team needs to figure out how to beat the Steelers so they can get home field.
8. Indianapolis Colts- If they can cover a kickoff we get two less weeks of the Jets. Also, their special teams has been awful since I was an intern and worked with the special teams. Just saying.
9. Philadelphia Eagles- I know Kolb wants a trade but no way Andy Reid moves him this off-season.
10. Kansas City Chiefs-How bad were the West in both the AFC and NFC this season?
11. New Orleans Saints-How did they lose to the Seahawks?
12. Seattle Seahawks-I could care less they won in the first round. Do not blame Seahawks blame the NFC West for being awful.
8. College Hoops Power 5
1. Ohio State- Sullinger is the second best player in the country behind The Jimmer.
2. Texas- Texas won at Kansas thus the higher ranking.
3. Kansas- For this team to go through what they have been through the past few weeks and not skip a beat says something.
4. Duke- I watched some of their game against NC State Saturday evening and they out hustled the Wolfpack all game. Amazing how hard they play.
5. Pitt-The real question I will ask repeatedly between now and March, can Jamie Dixon get his talented Pitt Panthers to the Final Four?
9. What I Read This Week
Couple of great articles that I read this past week. This first article comes from Esquire and takes a look at NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. I am pretty fascinated by Mayor Bloomberg, for one he is a billionaire who takes the Subway to work every day. Second his annual salary is only $1 a day but when you are a billionaire, you can do that. Third Bloomberg depending the issue he is considered liberal, conservative, elitist, idealistic or pragmatic. Fascinating read and his green initiatives are in my opinion genius.
The second article of the week comes from The Wall Street Journal and does not look at finance, banking or stocks and bonds. It profiles my favorite college basketball commentator Bill Raftery. Raftery is well known for closing the hotel bar at night and opening up the gym the next morning. I want to spend one winter with this guy traveling the Big East. ONIONS!!!!!!!!
10. Extracurricular Activities
a. Thoughts on the tittle for this section?
b. Reason #2697 Twitter is so great and that you all should follow me @justinwjohnson is finding articles like this one late on a Friday night. The article in question looks at the final scene of The Sopranos and comes to the conclusion with the evidence presented that Tony died at the very end. Fascinating read that gives ton of background and makes me miss one of my favorite television shows of my adult life.
c. The first thing I learned from the article is that Sopranos creator David Chase is about 6 times smarter than me and I think I am pretty smart.
d. While we are discussing the Sopranos one of my favorite all-time episodes is Pine Barrons when Christopher and Paulie get lost in the South Jersey forest with a former member of the Russian Ministry of the Interior's special forces. Christopher and Paulie clearly shoot the Russian but we never get confirmation that the Russian died. I have always wondered what happened to the Russian? Also, what happened to Paulie's Cadillac that they drove down in to South Jersey?
e. Speaking of great shows How I Met Your Mother was brand new this week and was hilarious. Katy Perry made a guest appearance and showed their might be more to her career than singer. She is a very talented entertainer. By the way as much as I enjoy HIMYM it does not belong in the same breath as The Sopranos.
f. Ms. Perry is so hot as well. That should not have to be said, just understood.
g. I am big Real Sports fan and I absolutely loved the profile on Peter King. You should know I got the idea for the Ten Things from Peter King and his Monday Morning QB.
h. I am fascinated how King does his NBC duties every Sunday night and then heads straight to his hotel room where for the next six hours he will write the MMQB. His leaves his hotel room at 5:30 enough time to make the 6:00 Acela Express to Boston where he will put the final touches of his column before posting around 7:45-8:00 every Monday morning.
i. By the way I think the Las Vegas Hilton is the coolest place on earth to watch an NFL Sunday playout. The second coolest place might be the NBC studios with Dan Patrick, Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, Peter King and Mike Florio.
j. This past weekend it seemed like I spent more time OTP than ITP. I do not think that is a good thing.
k. I need to find a new place between Atlanta and Athens to grab quick bite to eat than Chick-fil-a in Monroe. Nothing wrong with Chick-fil-a in Monroe but sometimes it is good to change things up.
l. Am I the only one who loves Hawaii 5-0 on CBS at Monday night? Someone please tell me that they also enjoy that show, I can not be the only one.
m. I was hoping to see the Chicago Code but I missed it Monday night. Did anyone see it? Is it worth my time?
Quote of The Week
An email from co-worker Dan to BJ after co-worker Dan booked a room the two are sharing on a future road trip.
We are booked. I believe you owe me $46.46 for the room. No rush on the money the juice won’t start running for 1 week.
Tweet of The Week
This week's tweet comes from @PANTSSteve who is Steve Young the writer for Letterman not the former Niner QB.
BUSH AT THE GAME: After three bites of snack, prematurely put up "Nachos Accomplished" banner
Text of The Week
This week's text comes from Todd Easton from the Big Apple...
"If there is anything better than national signing day and national sweater vest day falling on the same day?"
Photo of The Week
Below you will find the smartest guy in Green Bay...I wish we could hold this guy to his poster and he lose his season tickets
Monday, January 24, 2011
Ten Things JJ Thinks He Thinks
1. Georgia Hoop Thoughts
Another 1-1 week for the Dawgs and if I could sign for another 1-1 week next week I would have already. This weeks games include contests at home Tuesday night on ESPN against the Gators followed by a visit to the Bluegrass on Saturday. While I still am not 100% over last Tuesday's loss to the Vols I am even more impressed with how we responded Saturday afternoon against Mississippi State. Georgia has followed up both of its conference losses this season with 22-point blowouts. This is a true credit to the character of this team and the leadership of Coach Fox. When this team has lost SEC games this year, they have not allowed a tough loss beat them in the following game. On the contrary, the Dawgs have responded with dominating performances. By the way how many times the last two seasons has our football team not responded after a tough loss? One more funny stat. UGA beat Ole Miss and Miss State each by 22 points. The Dawgs played Mississippi Valley State to begin the season and only beat the Delta Devils by 2 points. Go figure.
One more nugget, the last time UGA won back to back SEC games was March 2008 at the SEC tournament. (We all remember when the tornado ripped through town). Safe to say the Dawgs need to win a back to back SEC game and sooner than later will be a lot of fun. If you have not watched this team please do so Tuesday night on ESPN.
2. Georgia Football Thoughts
Really good week for the Dawgs and it seems like we are closing really well in recruiting. Don't like now but maybe Mark Richt still has it. With that being said there are three big recruits out there and if UGA can somehow close on them this has the opportunity to be an unbelievable class. Isiah Crowell was in town this weekend and I absolutely loved the fact the student section at the basketball game broke into chants of Isiah, Isiah, Isiah!!
I absolutely love what the Senator says on his blog Get The Picture. (UGA and college football fans need to make this place a daily visit). Georgia is in serious need of real, positive momentum and at this time of year, an engaged coach who can put together a top-flight recruiting class would make for a good place for that to start. No, getting the Rome and Mitchell commitments doesn’t mean that the Dawgs are headed for 13-0 country this season, but it’s not like whiffing on them would have helped right the ship, either.
I know September is a long ways away but I can not wait to hear the Redcoats play this song.
Sunday night's AFC Championship game was another dud until the Jets made their second half run. Despite the score getting within 7 points in the 4th quarter it never felt like the Steelers had lost control of the game. Ben Roethlisberger had a passer rating of 35.5 on Sunday. Yet, he's won all three postseason games that rank as his worst, in terms of passer rating. Watching the game you had to wonder why the Steelers ever passed except for 3rd and longs the way they were running the ball on the Jets. Steelers LB LaMarr Woodley had one sack, giving him a sack in six straight postseason games, an NFL record. Pittsburgh is 8-7 in AFC championship games, 6-5 at home. Furthermore, Sanchez fell short of becoming the first quarterback with five road playoff wins.
The Packers have opened up as a 2 point favorite and that number has moved to 2.5. The game total has also moved to 46 (46.5 at Leroy's in Vegas) after opening at 45 points.
One more note, neither team that won on Sunday scored a touchdown in second half. (ht to the Roomdawg for texting that note from a chilly Windy City.) This was the third time since the NFL-AFL merger that both conference championship games were decided by seven points or fewer. The other two: 2001- Patriots defeat Steelers, 24-17; Rams defeat Eagles, 29-24 1987- Redskins defeat Vikings, 17-10; Broncos defeat Browns, 38-33
4. This Year's NCAA Tournament
This week CBS and Turner Sports (who will be covering the tournament for the first time) made announcements concerning coverage of this week's NCAA Basketball Tournament. Because I feel like I have to read every Media column that is written I feel like an expert on the upcoming Madness. I will get to the broadcasters in a minute. First things first their is some big news concerning the play in games now that we have 68 teams. When the NCAA announced the addition of 3 more teams from 65-68 I assumed the newly created 4 play-in games would include the last 8 seeds (Your 15 or 16 seeds). However I could not have been more wrong. The four play in games will actually include teams seeded 65-68 (two games) and then the last four at-large teams (two games). This is the first time the last four at-large teams will be revealed publicly. Traditionally, the at-large teams are scattered throughout the seeding process, rarely going past No. 12, making it relatively easy to identify them. Yet the committee now will formally announce the last at-large teams by putting them in the first round. Your last four at-large teams normally come from the power conferences while the last four Automatic's tend to be your lesser known schools from the smaller conferences. For more info here is this article from Andy Katz and within the article Jay Bilas breaks down what all this means via ESPN Radio. If I did an awful job breaking this down email me and I will try to make it make more sense.
While the new format will be a little bit crazy, I actually am intrigued by this years broadcast schedule. For the first time ever every game in the tournament would be telecast on a national basis. Along with the traditional CBS broadcasts TNT (DirectTv Channel 245) TBS ((DirectTv Channel 247) and truTV (DirectTv Channel 246) will be the homes of the NCAA tournament. As far as announcers and studio host go we should have a fun tourney. As for studio programming during the NCAA Tournament, the coverage will originate from both New York and Atlanta, with the main anchor chair shared daily by CBS veteran Greg Gumbel and longtime TNT host Ernie Johnson. TNT analysts Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith will provide analysis throughout the tournament from the CBS Broadcast studios in New York alongside Gumbel or Johnson. CBS analyst Greg Anthony will also be part of the New York-based studio show. Sports Illustrated writer Seth Davis and TNT analyst Reggie Miller will join the New York studio rotation for the second week of the tournament. Davis will be in Turner's Atlanta studio the first week with host Matt Winer and Steve Smith. I am disappointed we lose Seth Davis from the New York studios because in my opinion he is one of the best analyst in college hoops.
As far as game announcers the Final Four team will consist of Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg and Steve Kerr. For the first two weekend Kerr will be matched up with the great Marv Albert. The other announcing teams include my distant relative Gus Johnson with Len Elmore, Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery, Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller and Dan Bonner, Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel, Tim Brando and Mike Gminski and Spero Dedes and Bob Wenzel. David Aldridge, Sam Ryan, Craig Sager, Marty Snider, Lesley Visser and Tracy Wolfson will serve as reporters throughout the tournament. Wolfson will work with Nantz, Kellogg and Kerr at the Final Four. How great are Johnson and Elmore? How awesome are Lundquist and Raftery (ONIONS)?
5. MLB Notes
When you are reading this on Monday morning January 24th we will be three weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting. That is ridiculously close. Even more ridiculous is the fact in 9 weeks and three days the Braves will be opening the season in our Nation's Capital. Anyone up for a weekend trip to the District of Columbia in nine weeks and change?
a. Dan Uggla is one of four players w/ a 5-year streak of 27HR, 88RBI, 84Runs. The others you might ask...well they are Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard & Mark Teixieria.
b. I know I have mentioned this before but Uggla has hit 12 home runs at the Ted, this is the most for him in any road park. Furthermore, his career batting average/on base%/slugging percentage line is .354/.399/.652. While I know that is only 199 at-bats but .652 slugging percentage is a .652 slugging percentage. Just as a frame of reference a .652 slugging percentage for a full season would be the 94th best of all-time for one season. That is real good.
c. On the other hand the Jays traded Vernon Wells to the Angels on Friday night. Wells career stats in Anaheim? .226/.267/.340 - with 3 HRs in 159 AB. He hit .182 in 6 games there last year.
d. The Yankees signed Andruw Jones this week. If I would have told you 6 years ago that Jones would sign with the Yankees and it not would have caused a stir in Atlanta you would have me put in the Crazy Ward of the hospital. What happened to that guy?
e. Jones is the only player since 1920, whose primary position was outfield or designated hitter, to have four straight seasons hitting .230 or worse. Only two players who played any position have had more consecutive seasons hitting .230 or worse (200+ AB) in the Live Ball Era (since 1920): Shortstops Ed Brinkman and Dal Maxvill (five each).
f. The crazy thing about those stats is that the two years prior to Jones last four seasons he combined to hit 92 homeruns and 257 RBI's. For his career he has 407 home runs which is 46th all time.
g. While we are picking on Mr. Jones here is this stat: Jones has 94 baseball "hat tricks," (three strike outs in a game) fifth-most among active players.
h. I was kind of surprised by the Nationals trade of Tom Gorzelanny this week. One, why would the Cubs trade a guy I think is a decent pitcher and two how bout this rotation for the Nationals? Along with Gorzelanny, Jordan Zimmermann, Livan Hernandez, Jason Marquis, John Lannan, Ross Detwiler, Yunesky Maya, and Chien-Ming Wang are other hurlers looking to nail down jobs in the rotation.
i.I am pretty intrigued with what the Rays are doing in signing former Red Sox outfielders Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez. Something tells me the Rays will not be as bad as a lot of people think.
j. Do not forget that David Price won 19 games last season and he should be nothing but better in 2011.
k. I had forgotten that Tim Hudson won 17 games last season. How special could Braves be of we get a Derek Lowe like we saw for the last month of 2010 and a 2011 Hudson similar to the 2010 Hudson.
l. I did not realize this but according to Mets GM Johan Santana will start the season on the DL and Pelfrey will actually be the Mets opening day starter. I would normally rip the Mets for the trade of Santana but look at the prospects they gave up and none have really made the Mets miss them as of now.
m. The last three notes come courtesy of Billy Ball and the Boston Globe Sunday baseball notes. From 2005-08, David Ortiz had a strikeout percentage of 16.4 and a home run percentage of 6.2. However, over the last two seasons, 22.6 percent of all his plate appearances ended in strikeouts and 4.9 percent ended in homers.
n. Here’s why Alex Rodriguez is so valuable. Last season, in 595 plate appearances, A-Rod produced 169 runs (runs plus RBIs minus homers). Also producing 169 runs were Vladimir Guerrero (643 PA) and Michael Young (718 PA).
o. Over the last five seasons, Roy Halladay led the majors with 90 wins, followed by CC Sabathia’s 88. Zach Duke led with 68 losses, followed by Barry Zito’s 67.
p. Prince Fielder was the only player in baseball to hit under .265 while posting an OBP of at least .380 at .261 and .401. Yes you read that right. Prince reached base four out of ten times despite only hitting .265. We will have more discussion on this stat and on base percentage next week. I know you are excited...I am.
6. Halftime
This week's song that Smoak and myself used to rock out to is Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. If memory serves me correctly we played the heck out of the CD back in the day. Furthermore, this is one of the more cooler videos that I have ever watched. It should be mentioned that my video viewed count can not be that high. I can not remember our last trivia question but I think it was the week of Thanksgiving and my dad knew that Philadelphia was the site of the first Thanksgiving Day. Man that was a long time ago. This weeks trivia question is What pitcher has the most wins in Dodgers history? Good luck.
7. A Hodgepodge of Notes (Hoops, Tennis, etc)
a. How sick is Blake Griffin? I absolutely love having the NBA package and watching all the Clippers games when I can not sleep at night. On Saturday against Golden State he went for 30 points, 18 rebounds and 8 assissts. Last Monday against Indiana he scored 47 points on 24 field goals.
b. By the way are the Clippers the most fun to watch 16-26 team in the NBA?
c. I know I will reference the ACC later but it is time to take a good look at that conference and how many potential bids they would get. Right now I say Duke is a lock. UNC and FSU probably make the tourney if the season were over right now but they still have to do.
d. The ACC potentially only receiving three bids could open up a couple bids for hopefully the SEC East and maybe the Mountain West conference.
e. Thanks to Darren Rovell for this stat. The number of different teams in final series/game in last 10 matchups: NBA (10), NFL (13), NHL (13), MLB (14).
f. The MLB needs to do a better job promoting its parity. While the Yankees and Red Sox do have a financial advantage the last few years I proved that anything can happen in the playoffs, you just have to get there.
g. That was a bad loss by Kansas yesterday at home to Texas. Especially after the Jayhawks jumped out to an 18-3 lead to start the game, but Texas outscored Kansas 51-28 in the second half. Even more impressive is the fact that the Texas won its first game at the Phog. The Longhorns had been 0-9 in Lawrence entering today's game and 0-7 at Allen Fieldhouse.
h. The Jayhawks had won 69 straight games at Allen Fieldhouse, losing their last game there on Feb. 7, 2007.To give that some reference, I had moved to Atlanta one month prior. Man that was some time ago.
i. I was able to see some highlights of the Villanova-Syracuse game Saturday night. That looked like a pretty cool atmosphere inside the Carrier Dome which is one of college basketball coolest scenes in my opinion. Villanova has won eight of its past 11 meetings with Syracuse dating back to 2006, with four wins coming at the Carrier Dome.
j. Not many programs can go inside the Carrier Dome like Villanova has the past few years.
k. Is now the time Jamie Dixon and his Pitt Panthers will make a run to the final four? It looks like they have one of their better teams with their only loss coming to Tennessee at Excel Center in Pittsburgh. It should be mentioned that this loss was not on their home floor on campus.
l. With Venus retiring in the 3rd round of Australian Open is her career done. She is 29 which is ancient by Tennis terms. I am not sure if she is done but I doubt we see her win another major.
8. College Hoops Power 5
1. Ohio State-The Buckeyes are 20-0 for the third time in school history. Both previous 20-0 starts resulted in Ohio State advancing to the NCAA title game.
2. Duke- Is the ACC a three bid conference with Duke, UNC and FSU? Do they get three teams?
3. Pittsburgh-How do the Vols beat this team in the Steel City?
4. Texas-The last team to beat UNC, Kansas and Michigan State in same season was Michigan in 1993. (UNC would beat Michigan in the rematch at the National Championship game)
5. San Diego State- Do not sleep on the Aztecs. Very fun team to watch and the Mountain West is a really good basketball conference. College Basketball's game of the week will be Wednesday night at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah as the Aztecs take on Jimmer Fredette's BYU Cougars.
9. What I Read This Week
The best article that I read this week takes a look at Deadspin.com Editor A.J. Daulerio. As a big Deadspin reader it was fascinating to take a look at what goes into some of the stories that they publish and why they publish these stories. I for one had no idea the paid $12,000 cash for the incriminating Brett Favre voice-mails and pictures.
The second read of the week comes from the NY Times and profiles the head of the NFLPA DeMaurice Smith. Smith does not back down in this interview saying that "We are at war" and that “Nobody gets strong without fighting, nobody stays strong without fighting. Nobody negotiates their way to strength. Nobody talks their way to a good deal. Nobody sits down and just has miraculous things happen.” A real fascinating read and we may miss some of the NFL next week.
10. Non Football or Basketball or Baseball Thoughts
a. I saw No Strings Attached for the second time this week. That is right I went to this movie twice before it premiered and no I am not a sucker for romantic comedies.For the most part no bad lines to the end which better than a majority of romantic comedies.
b. Natalie Portman is so gorgeous and enjoyable on the big screen.
c. Did anyone else allow the Tsunami warning on Hawai 5-0 suck them in last night? I ended up enjoying the show when I had no plans to watch it? Good job CBS.
d. Speaking of CBS hopefully by next years NFL season Phil Simms can get better at booth reviews and the rules. Awful job on Sunday.
e. By the way Phil Simms on Dan Patrick last Tuesday was awfully bitter. I had no idea why but he did not come off real well.
f. I watched Modern Family from two weeks ago this week and it was absolutely hilarious. I have not seen the one from 5 days ago but will watch it sooner than later. Emphasis on sooner.
g. Another busy week with work and other responsibilities. Hopefully I can use Sunday afternoon to go catch up on some movies.
Quote of the Week
DeMaurice Smith provides the quote of the week from one of our articles of the week.
“You want drama? Stand up in a courtroom and be a prosecutor with a guy who just killed four people, set his girlfriend on fire and then shot her in the back of the head twice and you know if you lose this, he goes back on the street. How do you sleep at night?
Text of the Week
From an old coach/boss. I changed the name to protect the innocent/guilty.
I'm on my way to the state wrestling tournament. Our 141 pounder told me today....Mr. Mosby I wanna fu**** kill someone tomorrow.
Tweet of the Week
This week's tweet comes from @si_damonhack who had just arrived in the Steel city for the AFC Championship game.
PA at Pitt Airport baggage claim just now: "Would passenger Rex Ryan please stop by the info booth and pick up his medicated foot powder."
Another 1-1 week for the Dawgs and if I could sign for another 1-1 week next week I would have already. This weeks games include contests at home Tuesday night on ESPN against the Gators followed by a visit to the Bluegrass on Saturday. While I still am not 100% over last Tuesday's loss to the Vols I am even more impressed with how we responded Saturday afternoon against Mississippi State. Georgia has followed up both of its conference losses this season with 22-point blowouts. This is a true credit to the character of this team and the leadership of Coach Fox. When this team has lost SEC games this year, they have not allowed a tough loss beat them in the following game. On the contrary, the Dawgs have responded with dominating performances. By the way how many times the last two seasons has our football team not responded after a tough loss? One more funny stat. UGA beat Ole Miss and Miss State each by 22 points. The Dawgs played Mississippi Valley State to begin the season and only beat the Delta Devils by 2 points. Go figure.
One more nugget, the last time UGA won back to back SEC games was March 2008 at the SEC tournament. (We all remember when the tornado ripped through town). Safe to say the Dawgs need to win a back to back SEC game and sooner than later will be a lot of fun. If you have not watched this team please do so Tuesday night on ESPN.
2. Georgia Football Thoughts
Really good week for the Dawgs and it seems like we are closing really well in recruiting. Don't like now but maybe Mark Richt still has it. With that being said there are three big recruits out there and if UGA can somehow close on them this has the opportunity to be an unbelievable class. Isiah Crowell was in town this weekend and I absolutely loved the fact the student section at the basketball game broke into chants of Isiah, Isiah, Isiah!!
I absolutely love what the Senator says on his blog Get The Picture. (UGA and college football fans need to make this place a daily visit). Georgia is in serious need of real, positive momentum and at this time of year, an engaged coach who can put together a top-flight recruiting class would make for a good place for that to start. No, getting the Rome and Mitchell commitments doesn’t mean that the Dawgs are headed for 13-0 country this season, but it’s not like whiffing on them would have helped right the ship, either.
I know September is a long ways away but I can not wait to hear the Redcoats play this song.
3. NFL Playoffs
Sunday's first game ended up being pretty weird. One it was kind of boring until the Bears decided to put their third string quarterback into the game with less than a minute to be played in the third quarter. It worked out for the Bears but what a dumb move by Lovie Smith. For one if Caleb Hanie would have gotten hurt in the final quarter the Bears could have not gone back to Cutler or Collins and would have probably have to put Hester in the wild card. I will not touch on the Cutler situation except to say that sure looked bad on Sunday afternoon. The Packers have now won three straight road games to reach the Super Bowl. The last three teams to do this were the Giants in 2007, Steelers in 2005 and Patriots in 1985. Just as FYI the Giants and Steelers won the Super Bowl those years. How werd is this stat? The Packers 21-14 win over the Bears was the first NFC Championship game since 1978 (Cowboys 28-0) that did not have a field goal made in the game. How good was the Packers defense on Sunday? The Packers blitzed a member of the secondary 13 times - the Bears' quarterbacks went 5-for-12 with a sack, 12.2 passer rating and two interceptions, including B.J. Raji's pick-six. Furthermore, Sam Shields had just one interception on passes at least 15 yards downfield in the regular season and first two playoff rounds. In the NFC Conference Championship, Shields had two such interceptions.
Sunday night's AFC Championship game was another dud until the Jets made their second half run. Despite the score getting within 7 points in the 4th quarter it never felt like the Steelers had lost control of the game. Ben Roethlisberger had a passer rating of 35.5 on Sunday. Yet, he's won all three postseason games that rank as his worst, in terms of passer rating. Watching the game you had to wonder why the Steelers ever passed except for 3rd and longs the way they were running the ball on the Jets. Steelers LB LaMarr Woodley had one sack, giving him a sack in six straight postseason games, an NFL record. Pittsburgh is 8-7 in AFC championship games, 6-5 at home. Furthermore, Sanchez fell short of becoming the first quarterback with five road playoff wins.
The Packers have opened up as a 2 point favorite and that number has moved to 2.5. The game total has also moved to 46 (46.5 at Leroy's in Vegas) after opening at 45 points.
One more note, neither team that won on Sunday scored a touchdown in second half. (ht to the Roomdawg for texting that note from a chilly Windy City.) This was the third time since the NFL-AFL merger that both conference championship games were decided by seven points or fewer. The other two: 2001- Patriots defeat Steelers, 24-17; Rams defeat Eagles, 29-24 1987- Redskins defeat Vikings, 17-10; Broncos defeat Browns, 38-33
4. This Year's NCAA Tournament
This week CBS and Turner Sports (who will be covering the tournament for the first time) made announcements concerning coverage of this week's NCAA Basketball Tournament. Because I feel like I have to read every Media column that is written I feel like an expert on the upcoming Madness. I will get to the broadcasters in a minute. First things first their is some big news concerning the play in games now that we have 68 teams. When the NCAA announced the addition of 3 more teams from 65-68 I assumed the newly created 4 play-in games would include the last 8 seeds (Your 15 or 16 seeds). However I could not have been more wrong. The four play in games will actually include teams seeded 65-68 (two games) and then the last four at-large teams (two games). This is the first time the last four at-large teams will be revealed publicly. Traditionally, the at-large teams are scattered throughout the seeding process, rarely going past No. 12, making it relatively easy to identify them. Yet the committee now will formally announce the last at-large teams by putting them in the first round. Your last four at-large teams normally come from the power conferences while the last four Automatic's tend to be your lesser known schools from the smaller conferences. For more info here is this article from Andy Katz and within the article Jay Bilas breaks down what all this means via ESPN Radio. If I did an awful job breaking this down email me and I will try to make it make more sense.
While the new format will be a little bit crazy, I actually am intrigued by this years broadcast schedule. For the first time ever every game in the tournament would be telecast on a national basis. Along with the traditional CBS broadcasts TNT (DirectTv Channel 245) TBS ((DirectTv Channel 247) and truTV (DirectTv Channel 246) will be the homes of the NCAA tournament. As far as announcers and studio host go we should have a fun tourney. As for studio programming during the NCAA Tournament, the coverage will originate from both New York and Atlanta, with the main anchor chair shared daily by CBS veteran Greg Gumbel and longtime TNT host Ernie Johnson. TNT analysts Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith will provide analysis throughout the tournament from the CBS Broadcast studios in New York alongside Gumbel or Johnson. CBS analyst Greg Anthony will also be part of the New York-based studio show. Sports Illustrated writer Seth Davis and TNT analyst Reggie Miller will join the New York studio rotation for the second week of the tournament. Davis will be in Turner's Atlanta studio the first week with host Matt Winer and Steve Smith. I am disappointed we lose Seth Davis from the New York studios because in my opinion he is one of the best analyst in college hoops.
As far as game announcers the Final Four team will consist of Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg and Steve Kerr. For the first two weekend Kerr will be matched up with the great Marv Albert. The other announcing teams include my distant relative Gus Johnson with Len Elmore, Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery, Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller and Dan Bonner, Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel, Tim Brando and Mike Gminski and Spero Dedes and Bob Wenzel. David Aldridge, Sam Ryan, Craig Sager, Marty Snider, Lesley Visser and Tracy Wolfson will serve as reporters throughout the tournament. Wolfson will work with Nantz, Kellogg and Kerr at the Final Four. How great are Johnson and Elmore? How awesome are Lundquist and Raftery (ONIONS)?
5. MLB Notes
When you are reading this on Monday morning January 24th we will be three weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting. That is ridiculously close. Even more ridiculous is the fact in 9 weeks and three days the Braves will be opening the season in our Nation's Capital. Anyone up for a weekend trip to the District of Columbia in nine weeks and change?
a. Dan Uggla is one of four players w/ a 5-year streak of 27HR, 88RBI, 84Runs. The others you might ask...well they are Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard & Mark Teixieria.
b. I know I have mentioned this before but Uggla has hit 12 home runs at the Ted, this is the most for him in any road park. Furthermore, his career batting average/on base%/slugging percentage line is .354/.399/.652. While I know that is only 199 at-bats but .652 slugging percentage is a .652 slugging percentage. Just as a frame of reference a .652 slugging percentage for a full season would be the 94th best of all-time for one season. That is real good.
c. On the other hand the Jays traded Vernon Wells to the Angels on Friday night. Wells career stats in Anaheim? .226/.267/.340 - with 3 HRs in 159 AB. He hit .182 in 6 games there last year.
d. The Yankees signed Andruw Jones this week. If I would have told you 6 years ago that Jones would sign with the Yankees and it not would have caused a stir in Atlanta you would have me put in the Crazy Ward of the hospital. What happened to that guy?
e. Jones is the only player since 1920, whose primary position was outfield or designated hitter, to have four straight seasons hitting .230 or worse. Only two players who played any position have had more consecutive seasons hitting .230 or worse (200+ AB) in the Live Ball Era (since 1920): Shortstops Ed Brinkman and Dal Maxvill (five each).
f. The crazy thing about those stats is that the two years prior to Jones last four seasons he combined to hit 92 homeruns and 257 RBI's. For his career he has 407 home runs which is 46th all time.
g. While we are picking on Mr. Jones here is this stat: Jones has 94 baseball "hat tricks," (three strike outs in a game) fifth-most among active players.
h. I was kind of surprised by the Nationals trade of Tom Gorzelanny this week. One, why would the Cubs trade a guy I think is a decent pitcher and two how bout this rotation for the Nationals? Along with Gorzelanny, Jordan Zimmermann, Livan Hernandez, Jason Marquis, John Lannan, Ross Detwiler, Yunesky Maya, and Chien-Ming Wang are other hurlers looking to nail down jobs in the rotation.
i.I am pretty intrigued with what the Rays are doing in signing former Red Sox outfielders Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez. Something tells me the Rays will not be as bad as a lot of people think.
j. Do not forget that David Price won 19 games last season and he should be nothing but better in 2011.
k. I had forgotten that Tim Hudson won 17 games last season. How special could Braves be of we get a Derek Lowe like we saw for the last month of 2010 and a 2011 Hudson similar to the 2010 Hudson.
l. I did not realize this but according to Mets GM Johan Santana will start the season on the DL and Pelfrey will actually be the Mets opening day starter. I would normally rip the Mets for the trade of Santana but look at the prospects they gave up and none have really made the Mets miss them as of now.
m. The last three notes come courtesy of Billy Ball and the Boston Globe Sunday baseball notes. From 2005-08, David Ortiz had a strikeout percentage of 16.4 and a home run percentage of 6.2. However, over the last two seasons, 22.6 percent of all his plate appearances ended in strikeouts and 4.9 percent ended in homers.
n. Here’s why Alex Rodriguez is so valuable. Last season, in 595 plate appearances, A-Rod produced 169 runs (runs plus RBIs minus homers). Also producing 169 runs were Vladimir Guerrero (643 PA) and Michael Young (718 PA).
o. Over the last five seasons, Roy Halladay led the majors with 90 wins, followed by CC Sabathia’s 88. Zach Duke led with 68 losses, followed by Barry Zito’s 67.
p. Prince Fielder was the only player in baseball to hit under .265 while posting an OBP of at least .380 at .261 and .401. Yes you read that right. Prince reached base four out of ten times despite only hitting .265. We will have more discussion on this stat and on base percentage next week. I know you are excited...I am.
6. Halftime
This week's song that Smoak and myself used to rock out to is Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. If memory serves me correctly we played the heck out of the CD back in the day. Furthermore, this is one of the more cooler videos that I have ever watched. It should be mentioned that my video viewed count can not be that high. I can not remember our last trivia question but I think it was the week of Thanksgiving and my dad knew that Philadelphia was the site of the first Thanksgiving Day. Man that was a long time ago. This weeks trivia question is What pitcher has the most wins in Dodgers history? Good luck.
7. A Hodgepodge of Notes (Hoops, Tennis, etc)
a. How sick is Blake Griffin? I absolutely love having the NBA package and watching all the Clippers games when I can not sleep at night. On Saturday against Golden State he went for 30 points, 18 rebounds and 8 assissts. Last Monday against Indiana he scored 47 points on 24 field goals.
b. By the way are the Clippers the most fun to watch 16-26 team in the NBA?
c. I know I will reference the ACC later but it is time to take a good look at that conference and how many potential bids they would get. Right now I say Duke is a lock. UNC and FSU probably make the tourney if the season were over right now but they still have to do.
d. The ACC potentially only receiving three bids could open up a couple bids for hopefully the SEC East and maybe the Mountain West conference.
e. Thanks to Darren Rovell for this stat. The number of different teams in final series/game in last 10 matchups: NBA (10), NFL (13), NHL (13), MLB (14).
f. The MLB needs to do a better job promoting its parity. While the Yankees and Red Sox do have a financial advantage the last few years I proved that anything can happen in the playoffs, you just have to get there.
g. That was a bad loss by Kansas yesterday at home to Texas. Especially after the Jayhawks jumped out to an 18-3 lead to start the game, but Texas outscored Kansas 51-28 in the second half. Even more impressive is the fact that the Texas won its first game at the Phog. The Longhorns had been 0-9 in Lawrence entering today's game and 0-7 at Allen Fieldhouse.
h. The Jayhawks had won 69 straight games at Allen Fieldhouse, losing their last game there on Feb. 7, 2007.To give that some reference, I had moved to Atlanta one month prior. Man that was some time ago.
i. I was able to see some highlights of the Villanova-Syracuse game Saturday night. That looked like a pretty cool atmosphere inside the Carrier Dome which is one of college basketball coolest scenes in my opinion. Villanova has won eight of its past 11 meetings with Syracuse dating back to 2006, with four wins coming at the Carrier Dome.
j. Not many programs can go inside the Carrier Dome like Villanova has the past few years.
k. Is now the time Jamie Dixon and his Pitt Panthers will make a run to the final four? It looks like they have one of their better teams with their only loss coming to Tennessee at Excel Center in Pittsburgh. It should be mentioned that this loss was not on their home floor on campus.
l. With Venus retiring in the 3rd round of Australian Open is her career done. She is 29 which is ancient by Tennis terms. I am not sure if she is done but I doubt we see her win another major.
8. College Hoops Power 5
1. Ohio State-The Buckeyes are 20-0 for the third time in school history. Both previous 20-0 starts resulted in Ohio State advancing to the NCAA title game.
2. Duke- Is the ACC a three bid conference with Duke, UNC and FSU? Do they get three teams?
3. Pittsburgh-How do the Vols beat this team in the Steel City?
4. Texas-The last team to beat UNC, Kansas and Michigan State in same season was Michigan in 1993. (UNC would beat Michigan in the rematch at the National Championship game)
5. San Diego State- Do not sleep on the Aztecs. Very fun team to watch and the Mountain West is a really good basketball conference. College Basketball's game of the week will be Wednesday night at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah as the Aztecs take on Jimmer Fredette's BYU Cougars.
9. What I Read This Week
The best article that I read this week takes a look at Deadspin.com Editor A.J. Daulerio. As a big Deadspin reader it was fascinating to take a look at what goes into some of the stories that they publish and why they publish these stories. I for one had no idea the paid $12,000 cash for the incriminating Brett Favre voice-mails and pictures.
The second read of the week comes from the NY Times and profiles the head of the NFLPA DeMaurice Smith. Smith does not back down in this interview saying that "We are at war" and that “Nobody gets strong without fighting, nobody stays strong without fighting. Nobody negotiates their way to strength. Nobody talks their way to a good deal. Nobody sits down and just has miraculous things happen.” A real fascinating read and we may miss some of the NFL next week.
10. Non Football or Basketball or Baseball Thoughts
a. I saw No Strings Attached for the second time this week. That is right I went to this movie twice before it premiered and no I am not a sucker for romantic comedies.For the most part no bad lines to the end which better than a majority of romantic comedies.
b. Natalie Portman is so gorgeous and enjoyable on the big screen.
c. Did anyone else allow the Tsunami warning on Hawai 5-0 suck them in last night? I ended up enjoying the show when I had no plans to watch it? Good job CBS.
d. Speaking of CBS hopefully by next years NFL season Phil Simms can get better at booth reviews and the rules. Awful job on Sunday.
e. By the way Phil Simms on Dan Patrick last Tuesday was awfully bitter. I had no idea why but he did not come off real well.
f. I watched Modern Family from two weeks ago this week and it was absolutely hilarious. I have not seen the one from 5 days ago but will watch it sooner than later. Emphasis on sooner.
g. Another busy week with work and other responsibilities. Hopefully I can use Sunday afternoon to go catch up on some movies.
Quote of the Week
DeMaurice Smith provides the quote of the week from one of our articles of the week.
“You want drama? Stand up in a courtroom and be a prosecutor with a guy who just killed four people, set his girlfriend on fire and then shot her in the back of the head twice and you know if you lose this, he goes back on the street. How do you sleep at night?
Text of the Week
From an old coach/boss. I changed the name to protect the innocent/guilty.
I'm on my way to the state wrestling tournament. Our 141 pounder told me today....Mr. Mosby I wanna fu**** kill someone tomorrow.
Tweet of the Week
This week's tweet comes from @si_damonhack who had just arrived in the Steel city for the AFC Championship game.
PA at Pitt Airport baggage claim just now: "Would passenger Rex Ryan please stop by the info booth and pick up his medicated foot powder."
Monday, January 17, 2011
Ten Things JJ Thinks He Thinks
1. Georgia Thoughts
A 1-1 week for Fox's hounds with both games on the road. By the way a loss at Vanderbilt with Dores shooting 20 more free throws than the Dawgs is not the worst thing in the world. On Saturday in what was a very important game the Dawgs probably played their best since Jim Harrick was coaching em up. The Dawgs shot 63.5% from the field as a team, had five players score in double-figures and only had one player (Donte Williams) shoot under 50% from the field. Furhermore, Mark Fox’s Bulldogs dished out a season-high 26 assists, while limiting themselves to only 7 turnovers.
This week we have home games against Tennessee tonight and Mississippi State on Saturday. Next week we continue the home stand with a home game next Tuesday against the Gators and on the road the 29th against the Wildcats. Needless to say if we can handle our business at home this team can be in a very good place with when they fly to Lexington in 11 days.When counting conference wins a week ago I had Georgia around 9-10 conference wins. That looks good as of right now. It's interesting that Ken Pomeroy lists Georgia as roughly a 39% chance to win 10-12 SEC games based on current data models. Pomeroy and RealTimeRPI both have our most likely scenario as 9 conference wins. (Thanks to Georgia Sports Blog for the RPI numbers).
This is the most giddy I have been about the Basketball team since Jim Harrick. Hopefully Jeremy Schaap can stay away from campus.
2. College Football Wrap Up
a. Late on Friday I saw a tweet that did not get much mention, the NCAA grants Case Keenum a 6th season of eligibility. The Houston QB who is one of my favorite college QB's becomes the first true Heisman candidate for 2011.
b. I have read a couple of places where people are saying that Tennessee is a sleeper for the SEC East in 2011. What am I missing about the Vols? I know South Carolina won the East this season but I still feel it is Florida's to win every season.
c. I am glad I am not a Maryland fan. For one they get rid of one of their own for a guy I think is a great coach, but not a step up in my opinion. Then Maryland hires Gary Crowton as their offense coordinator.
d. Here is more on Crowton, the 53-year-old coach had come under heavy fire for what could be charitably described as inept offenses during his past two years with the Tigers. LSU was 45th (29.7) and 76th (24.8) in scoring offense, and 86th (341.3) and 112th (304.5) in total offense. Most embarrassing was an utterly limp passing attack: 107th (155.6) last year, 97th (181.8) in 2009.
e. Somehow, Crowton turns into a new three-year contract at Maryland, where he’ll be paid $100,000 a year more than he was getting at LSU. Whoever Crowton’s agent is, that’s somebody who’s earning his keep.
f. I saw these stats related to the SEC football season and was surprised how big of a difference turnovers make on the game.49 conference games in 2010, 12 times both teams had the same amount of turnovers.
Thus 37 times one team won the turnover battle.In those 37 games, the team that won the turnover margin won 32 times.That’s a 32-5 record in SEC games in 2010 for the teams that won the turnover battle.
g. Georgia’s 2010 record in games in which it won the turnover battle was 6-1, which means the Dawgs didn’t win a single game this season when they didn’t finish in the black in turnover margin.
h. It’s a strange world we live in when ESPN fires Ron Franklin, yet keeps Craig James on the payroll.
3. College Football Coaches Year 2
In the past couple of years I have noticed a trend with College Coaches and their teams making a big jump in year two under a new coach. Let's look at some numbers.
I do not know what all this means but Jimbo Fisher is in his second year at FSU.
4. 2010 Power 5
1. Auburn- They might go from 14-0 to 5-7. A year where all the stars aligned for the Tigers. Everything went their way.
2. Oregon-23-3 last two seasons. Beat a very, very, very good Stanford team by 20 points.
3. TCU- Very good season but no way they beat Oregon or Auburn. This team will be heard from for a long time as they move to the Big East in 2012.
4. Stanford- How does this team lose by 20 to Oregon. That might show how good the Ducks and Auburn Tigers were this season.
5. Ohio State-I am still dumbfounded how they had all players eligible for the Sugar Bowl.
5. 2011 Top 5
1. Oklahoma- The Sooners have 14 players coming back who have starting experience on offense and 15 on defense. This is after they finished 12-2 and won the Big 12 for the 7th time in 11 years. How unreal is that? They have to make trips to Oklahoma State and Florida State.
2. Oregon-Under Chip Kelly the Ducks are 23-3 with the loses to Boise St, Stanford and Auburn. Clearly the class of the Pac-10. The Ducks have the toughest first two games next season in the country when they play LSU and Nevada.
3. Florida State-Should return 9 starters on offense and defense. They play Oklahoma at home which is going to be an unreal spectacle. They get a big scheduling break because they don't play Georgia Tech, North Carolina or Virginia Tech during the regular season.
4. Alabama-Waited to the last game of 2010 to put everything together. They lose Julio Jones and Mark Ingram along with QB Greg McElroy. Four starting offensive linemen are returning, and linebacker Dont'a Hightower and safety Mark Barron should be better after battling injuries this past season. The Tide play a nonconference game at Penn State
5. LSU- They seem to go 10-2 every year. One of the most talented and consitent programs in the country. Very intrigued who they hire as offensive coordinator, because if they fix that side of the ball.....look out. They play Oregon to start the season in Arlington, Tx. They also have two very difficult road games at Mississippi State and Alabama.
6. Wildcard Weekend
a. How boring was the first half of the Bears-Seahawks game? If you did not have a rooting interest I do not know how you didnt take a nap in the second half. I sure did.
b. While I still do not trust Cutler in a big spot he was outstanding on Sunday. Jay Cutler became the second quarterback in NFL history to throw for two touchdowns and run for two others in a playoff game.Otto Graham is the only other person to accomplish this fact.
c. In fact, Graham did it twice once in the 1954 NFL Championship Game and again the following season in the 1955 NFL Championship Game. The NFL Championship Game is the precursor to the Super Bowl.
d. The last Bears quarterback to rush for two touchdowns in a playoff game was Jim McMahon in Super Bowl XX. Additionally, Cutler was the first quarterback to throw a touchdown on his first career postseason pass since Chad Pennington did so for the New York Jets in 2002.
e. I was shocked in what happened Sunday afternoon in Foxboro. In fact, if you find yourself bored at work visit some Boston websites and the humor is priceless. It is almost like the Patriots have not won 3 Super Bowls in the last 10 years. It is almost like the Red Sox have not won 2 World Series since 2004. It is almost like the Boston Celtics are not the second most successful NBA franchise.
f. This is the worst Shaughnessy column I have ever read. What a joke. Then their is this. I wonder how bad all the bandwagon New England sports fans felt Monday morning?
g. Among quarterbacks with at least 75 attempts, only Matt Ryan and Tom Brady did not throw an interception against a 3-4 defense during the regular season. On plays when the Jets used the 3-4 defense formation Sunday, Brady completed just 3-of-7 passes for a 28.6 passer rating, including his first interception since Week 6 against the Ravens.
h. How good is Rex Ryan as a head coach? The Jets are the first team in NFL history to get at least 2 road wins in consecutive postseasons.
i. I am still in shock in what happened Sunday evening. Mark Sanchez is just the third quarterback to throw for 3 TD against Bill Belichick's Patriots in the postseason (since 2000). The others? Jake Delhomme and Donovan McNabb. Both Delhomme and McNabb did it in the Super Bowl. Maybe Sanchez is that good. I know I did not believe it going into the playoffs.
j. The Saturday game between the Steelers and Ravens was so much fun to watch. How does Baltimore blow that lead with that defense? Can you pick a worst time to have your first fumble of the season Ray Rice? How about all the talk we hear from the Ravens receivers and then all they do is drop passes in big spots.
k. Joe Flacco handled extra pressure well in the 2010 season, but the Steelers' pass rush rattled the Ravens' quarterback Saturday. The Steelers employed the 5-man rush on the last four plays of the game, forcing Flacco to throw three incompletions and take an 8-yard sack.
l. The Steelers home dominance in the playoffs continued Saturday. With the win, they move to 12-1 at home in the divisional round since 1970, averaging 25.5 PPG. They are just 3-6 on the road in the divisional round.
m. With the win Saturday, Ben Roethlisberger improves to 9-2 in the postseason. His .818 winning percentage is the 2nd-best in NFL history among QBs with at least 10 starts. He sits behind Bart Starr who went 9-1 in his postseason career.
n. How scary good are the Packers? They were unreal Saturday night. Everybody in Atlanta wants to point fingers and figure out what went wrong Saturday night. What went wrong Saturday is that Aaron Rodgers got on the team plane Friday night and flew to Atlanta.
o. As quarterback of the Packers, Rodgers has directed two of the three highest-scoring performances by a road team in NFL postseason history. Aaron Rogers had the second-highest completion percentage in a 300-yard passing game in NFL postseason history Saturday.
p. How has Tony Gonzalez never won a playoff game?
7. MLB Thoughts
a. I had no idea they kept this stat but Jose Bautista scored 11 of 16 times from first on a double; Carl Crawford was 11 for 19.
b. New Rays reliever Kyle Farnsworth was third in the majors in appearances from 2001-10 with 640. Mariano Rivera (646) and David Weathers (644) were the leaders.’’
c. Joe Maddon led AL managers last season by pinch-hitting 174 times, a remarkable 44 more times than runner-up Jim Leyland. Tony La Russa led the majors with 292. Is anyone shocked that La Russa led that category.
d. Here is a crazy stat in regards to Kyle Farnsworth. Against the teams that finished with a .500 or better record, Farnsworth finished with a 2.09 ERA, .611 opponents OPS, and a 5.3 strikeout-to-walk rate. Against teams with sub-.500 marks, he had a 5.19 ERA, .670 opponents OPS, and 2.23 strikeout-to-walk rate.
e. Adam LaRoche is one of just three first baseman to hit at least 20 homers and 25 doubles in each season since 2005. The others: Mark Teixeira and Albert Pujols. I still would not mention LaRoche in the same breath as those two.
f. Matt Stairs signed a minor-league deal with the Nationals in December. If he hits a home run for them, he'll tie Todd Zeile's major league record by hitting a HR for his 12th team.
g. Last season Ryan Howard 31 bombs with 108 RBI, but it was the 1st time in 5 yrs he failed to go deep 45 times with 136 RBI. The .505 slugging percentage was also a career low. Those are still some sick numbers.
h. How come this story is not getting mentioned more? It is January 18th and the Nationals do not have a pitching coach.
i. Also Damon, Manny and Andruw Jones do not have jobs yet either.
j. Word came out late last week that Showtime was producing a Hard Knocks type show on the San Fransisco Giants. Am I the only one who can not get enough of the behind the scenes type shows. They are so entertaining.
k. 27 days until Pitchers and Catchers report for the Braves (February 14th) 38 days until the first spring training game. Let's get excited!
8. Hoops Power 5 (before games played 1/17)
1. Ohio State- Is Jared Sullinger the player of the year?
2. Syracuse- The less Scoop Jardine shoots, the better the Orangemen play.
3. Kansas-Can the Bid XII get 8 teams in the tournament?
4. Pittsburgh-Huge win at home against number 2 Syracuse. Expect the Panthers to be higher next week.
5. San Diego St-If you are an insomniac like me, watch the Aztecs. Very fun team.
9. What I Read This Week
Read a bunch of articles this week but here are the two best. The first one takes a look at Billy Donovan, John Pelphrey and Anthony Grant and the bond these three share. I feel I follow college basketball pretty good but I had no idea these men went through these ordeals. The ladies will probably appreciate this article more than the gentlemen.
The second read comes from Outside Magazine and profiles Michael Ferrara. Ferrara is a first responder in Aspen and brings attention to a little-known problem: post-traumatic stress disorder among the people who save our lives.
10. Non Football or Baseball Thoughts
a. I am down on the show How I Met Your Mother and the fact is decided to kill of Marshall's dad. What was the purpose of that. Did the writers forget this was a comedy show not a drama. I watch to laugh. If I want serious I would watch something else.
b. Last night's episode was not that much better. I wonder where they are going with this sub-plot? When are we going to meet Ted's wife?
c. With the Snow Days the roomdog and myself have caught up a lot on the DVR. Eastbound and Down is ridiculous. So funny. Kenny Powers is out of his mind.
d. I absolutely love Bored to Death. Ted Dansen's character is unbelievable. It also makes me miss the little things about living in the big apple.
e. Hopefully, we can get the show picked up for a third season.
f. I have not had time for a halftime the last couple of weeks. If I did I would have given everyone this sick song by Zac Brown Band. My buddy Smoak told me about it weeks ago. Again why is he not a country music executive.
g. I watched bits and pieces of the Golden Globes. I thought Ricky Gervais was hilarious. Again I am not an uptight Hollywood executive or actor so I would think that.
h. I have not seen all the Movies to comment on the winners and losers. I do know I need to see The Fighter, The Social Network and The King's Speech.
i. I have heard good and bad things about Black Swan...does anyone think I would enjoy?
j. I am not a Gleek so I do understand how Glee won best comedy or musical over 30 Rock, Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory. Can someone please explain.
k. Thanks to the snow and other holidays the last Monday in which I have worked a full day was December 13th. Next week when I have to work 5 days I am going to be in trouble.
l. The other night when I could not sleep I watched CMT's Top 40 Songs of the Decade. You can view the list here. Personally I think a majority of the songs in the top 40 are to slow for me personally. I need some more energy in my music. Furthermore, I think "Austin" by Blake Shelton should be higher than #29. Also "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum is not the 10th best song of the decade. It is not even their best song in my opinion. I like American Honey better.
m. Interested to get Smoak's thoughts on the list.
Have an awesome week.
A 1-1 week for Fox's hounds with both games on the road. By the way a loss at Vanderbilt with Dores shooting 20 more free throws than the Dawgs is not the worst thing in the world. On Saturday in what was a very important game the Dawgs probably played their best since Jim Harrick was coaching em up. The Dawgs shot 63.5% from the field as a team, had five players score in double-figures and only had one player (Donte Williams) shoot under 50% from the field. Furhermore, Mark Fox’s Bulldogs dished out a season-high 26 assists, while limiting themselves to only 7 turnovers.
This week we have home games against Tennessee tonight and Mississippi State on Saturday. Next week we continue the home stand with a home game next Tuesday against the Gators and on the road the 29th against the Wildcats. Needless to say if we can handle our business at home this team can be in a very good place with when they fly to Lexington in 11 days.When counting conference wins a week ago I had Georgia around 9-10 conference wins. That looks good as of right now. It's interesting that Ken Pomeroy lists Georgia as roughly a 39% chance to win 10-12 SEC games based on current data models. Pomeroy and RealTimeRPI both have our most likely scenario as 9 conference wins. (Thanks to Georgia Sports Blog for the RPI numbers).
This is the most giddy I have been about the Basketball team since Jim Harrick. Hopefully Jeremy Schaap can stay away from campus.
2. College Football Wrap Up
a. Late on Friday I saw a tweet that did not get much mention, the NCAA grants Case Keenum a 6th season of eligibility. The Houston QB who is one of my favorite college QB's becomes the first true Heisman candidate for 2011.
b. I have read a couple of places where people are saying that Tennessee is a sleeper for the SEC East in 2011. What am I missing about the Vols? I know South Carolina won the East this season but I still feel it is Florida's to win every season.
c. I am glad I am not a Maryland fan. For one they get rid of one of their own for a guy I think is a great coach, but not a step up in my opinion. Then Maryland hires Gary Crowton as their offense coordinator.
d. Here is more on Crowton, the 53-year-old coach had come under heavy fire for what could be charitably described as inept offenses during his past two years with the Tigers. LSU was 45th (29.7) and 76th (24.8) in scoring offense, and 86th (341.3) and 112th (304.5) in total offense. Most embarrassing was an utterly limp passing attack: 107th (155.6) last year, 97th (181.8) in 2009.
e. Somehow, Crowton turns into a new three-year contract at Maryland, where he’ll be paid $100,000 a year more than he was getting at LSU. Whoever Crowton’s agent is, that’s somebody who’s earning his keep.
f. I saw these stats related to the SEC football season and was surprised how big of a difference turnovers make on the game.49 conference games in 2010, 12 times both teams had the same amount of turnovers.
Thus 37 times one team won the turnover battle.In those 37 games, the team that won the turnover margin won 32 times.That’s a 32-5 record in SEC games in 2010 for the teams that won the turnover battle.
g. Georgia’s 2010 record in games in which it won the turnover battle was 6-1, which means the Dawgs didn’t win a single game this season when they didn’t finish in the black in turnover margin.
h. It’s a strange world we live in when ESPN fires Ron Franklin, yet keeps Craig James on the payroll.
3. College Football Coaches Year 2
In the past couple of years I have noticed a trend with College Coaches and their teams making a big jump in year two under a new coach. Let's look at some numbers.
| Coach | School | Year 1 | Year 2 | Notes |
| Nike Saban | Bama | 7-6 | 12-2 | Went undefeated regular season |
| Nick Saban | LSU | 8-4 | 10-3 | SEC Champs |
| Bob Stoops | Oklahoma | 7-5 | 13-0 | National Champs |
| Mark Richt | UGA | 8-4 | 13-1 | SEC Champs, #3 Final Rating |
| Urban Meyer | Utah | 10-2 | 12-0 | Beat Pitt in BCS |
| Urban Meyer | Florida | 9-3 | 13-1 | National Champs |
| Paul Johnson | Navy | 2-10 | 8-5 | |
| Paul Johnson | GaTech | 9-4 | 11-3 | ACC Champs |
| Chip Kelly | Oregon | 10-3 | 12-1 | National Runner Up |
| Gene Chizik | Auburn | 8-5 | 14-0 | National Champs |
| Jim Tressell | Ohio State | 7-5 | 14-0 | National Champs |
| Steve Spurrier | Florida | 9-2 | 10-2 | SEC Champs |
| Steve Spurrier | South Carolina | 7-5 | 8-5 | |
| Bobby Bowden | FSU | 5-6 | 10-2 | |
| Pete Carroll | USC | 5-6 | 11-2 | Orange Bowl |
I do not know what all this means but Jimbo Fisher is in his second year at FSU.
4. 2010 Power 5
1. Auburn- They might go from 14-0 to 5-7. A year where all the stars aligned for the Tigers. Everything went their way.
2. Oregon-23-3 last two seasons. Beat a very, very, very good Stanford team by 20 points.
3. TCU- Very good season but no way they beat Oregon or Auburn. This team will be heard from for a long time as they move to the Big East in 2012.
4. Stanford- How does this team lose by 20 to Oregon. That might show how good the Ducks and Auburn Tigers were this season.
5. Ohio State-I am still dumbfounded how they had all players eligible for the Sugar Bowl.
5. 2011 Top 5
1. Oklahoma- The Sooners have 14 players coming back who have starting experience on offense and 15 on defense. This is after they finished 12-2 and won the Big 12 for the 7th time in 11 years. How unreal is that? They have to make trips to Oklahoma State and Florida State.
2. Oregon-Under Chip Kelly the Ducks are 23-3 with the loses to Boise St, Stanford and Auburn. Clearly the class of the Pac-10. The Ducks have the toughest first two games next season in the country when they play LSU and Nevada.
3. Florida State-Should return 9 starters on offense and defense. They play Oklahoma at home which is going to be an unreal spectacle. They get a big scheduling break because they don't play Georgia Tech, North Carolina or Virginia Tech during the regular season.
4. Alabama-Waited to the last game of 2010 to put everything together. They lose Julio Jones and Mark Ingram along with QB Greg McElroy. Four starting offensive linemen are returning, and linebacker Dont'a Hightower and safety Mark Barron should be better after battling injuries this past season. The Tide play a nonconference game at Penn State
5. LSU- They seem to go 10-2 every year. One of the most talented and consitent programs in the country. Very intrigued who they hire as offensive coordinator, because if they fix that side of the ball.....look out. They play Oregon to start the season in Arlington, Tx. They also have two very difficult road games at Mississippi State and Alabama.
6. Wildcard Weekend
a. How boring was the first half of the Bears-Seahawks game? If you did not have a rooting interest I do not know how you didnt take a nap in the second half. I sure did.
b. While I still do not trust Cutler in a big spot he was outstanding on Sunday. Jay Cutler became the second quarterback in NFL history to throw for two touchdowns and run for two others in a playoff game.Otto Graham is the only other person to accomplish this fact.
c. In fact, Graham did it twice once in the 1954 NFL Championship Game and again the following season in the 1955 NFL Championship Game. The NFL Championship Game is the precursor to the Super Bowl.
d. The last Bears quarterback to rush for two touchdowns in a playoff game was Jim McMahon in Super Bowl XX. Additionally, Cutler was the first quarterback to throw a touchdown on his first career postseason pass since Chad Pennington did so for the New York Jets in 2002.
e. I was shocked in what happened Sunday afternoon in Foxboro. In fact, if you find yourself bored at work visit some Boston websites and the humor is priceless. It is almost like the Patriots have not won 3 Super Bowls in the last 10 years. It is almost like the Red Sox have not won 2 World Series since 2004. It is almost like the Boston Celtics are not the second most successful NBA franchise.
f. This is the worst Shaughnessy column I have ever read. What a joke. Then their is this. I wonder how bad all the bandwagon New England sports fans felt Monday morning?
g. Among quarterbacks with at least 75 attempts, only Matt Ryan and Tom Brady did not throw an interception against a 3-4 defense during the regular season. On plays when the Jets used the 3-4 defense formation Sunday, Brady completed just 3-of-7 passes for a 28.6 passer rating, including his first interception since Week 6 against the Ravens.
h. How good is Rex Ryan as a head coach? The Jets are the first team in NFL history to get at least 2 road wins in consecutive postseasons.
i. I am still in shock in what happened Sunday evening. Mark Sanchez is just the third quarterback to throw for 3 TD against Bill Belichick's Patriots in the postseason (since 2000). The others? Jake Delhomme and Donovan McNabb. Both Delhomme and McNabb did it in the Super Bowl. Maybe Sanchez is that good. I know I did not believe it going into the playoffs.
j. The Saturday game between the Steelers and Ravens was so much fun to watch. How does Baltimore blow that lead with that defense? Can you pick a worst time to have your first fumble of the season Ray Rice? How about all the talk we hear from the Ravens receivers and then all they do is drop passes in big spots.
k. Joe Flacco handled extra pressure well in the 2010 season, but the Steelers' pass rush rattled the Ravens' quarterback Saturday. The Steelers employed the 5-man rush on the last four plays of the game, forcing Flacco to throw three incompletions and take an 8-yard sack.
l. The Steelers home dominance in the playoffs continued Saturday. With the win, they move to 12-1 at home in the divisional round since 1970, averaging 25.5 PPG. They are just 3-6 on the road in the divisional round.
m. With the win Saturday, Ben Roethlisberger improves to 9-2 in the postseason. His .818 winning percentage is the 2nd-best in NFL history among QBs with at least 10 starts. He sits behind Bart Starr who went 9-1 in his postseason career.
n. How scary good are the Packers? They were unreal Saturday night. Everybody in Atlanta wants to point fingers and figure out what went wrong Saturday night. What went wrong Saturday is that Aaron Rodgers got on the team plane Friday night and flew to Atlanta.
o. As quarterback of the Packers, Rodgers has directed two of the three highest-scoring performances by a road team in NFL postseason history. Aaron Rogers had the second-highest completion percentage in a 300-yard passing game in NFL postseason history Saturday.
p. How has Tony Gonzalez never won a playoff game?
7. MLB Thoughts
a. I had no idea they kept this stat but Jose Bautista scored 11 of 16 times from first on a double; Carl Crawford was 11 for 19.
b. New Rays reliever Kyle Farnsworth was third in the majors in appearances from 2001-10 with 640. Mariano Rivera (646) and David Weathers (644) were the leaders.’’
c. Joe Maddon led AL managers last season by pinch-hitting 174 times, a remarkable 44 more times than runner-up Jim Leyland. Tony La Russa led the majors with 292. Is anyone shocked that La Russa led that category.
d. Here is a crazy stat in regards to Kyle Farnsworth. Against the teams that finished with a .500 or better record, Farnsworth finished with a 2.09 ERA, .611 opponents OPS, and a 5.3 strikeout-to-walk rate. Against teams with sub-.500 marks, he had a 5.19 ERA, .670 opponents OPS, and 2.23 strikeout-to-walk rate.
e. Adam LaRoche is one of just three first baseman to hit at least 20 homers and 25 doubles in each season since 2005. The others: Mark Teixeira and Albert Pujols. I still would not mention LaRoche in the same breath as those two.
f. Matt Stairs signed a minor-league deal with the Nationals in December. If he hits a home run for them, he'll tie Todd Zeile's major league record by hitting a HR for his 12th team.
g. Last season Ryan Howard 31 bombs with 108 RBI, but it was the 1st time in 5 yrs he failed to go deep 45 times with 136 RBI. The .505 slugging percentage was also a career low. Those are still some sick numbers.
h. How come this story is not getting mentioned more? It is January 18th and the Nationals do not have a pitching coach.
i. Also Damon, Manny and Andruw Jones do not have jobs yet either.
j. Word came out late last week that Showtime was producing a Hard Knocks type show on the San Fransisco Giants. Am I the only one who can not get enough of the behind the scenes type shows. They are so entertaining.
k. 27 days until Pitchers and Catchers report for the Braves (February 14th) 38 days until the first spring training game. Let's get excited!
8. Hoops Power 5 (before games played 1/17)
1. Ohio State- Is Jared Sullinger the player of the year?
2. Syracuse- The less Scoop Jardine shoots, the better the Orangemen play.
3. Kansas-Can the Bid XII get 8 teams in the tournament?
4. Pittsburgh-Huge win at home against number 2 Syracuse. Expect the Panthers to be higher next week.
5. San Diego St-If you are an insomniac like me, watch the Aztecs. Very fun team.
9. What I Read This Week
Read a bunch of articles this week but here are the two best. The first one takes a look at Billy Donovan, John Pelphrey and Anthony Grant and the bond these three share. I feel I follow college basketball pretty good but I had no idea these men went through these ordeals. The ladies will probably appreciate this article more than the gentlemen.
The second read comes from Outside Magazine and profiles Michael Ferrara. Ferrara is a first responder in Aspen and brings attention to a little-known problem: post-traumatic stress disorder among the people who save our lives.
10. Non Football or Baseball Thoughts
a. I am down on the show How I Met Your Mother and the fact is decided to kill of Marshall's dad. What was the purpose of that. Did the writers forget this was a comedy show not a drama. I watch to laugh. If I want serious I would watch something else.
b. Last night's episode was not that much better. I wonder where they are going with this sub-plot? When are we going to meet Ted's wife?
c. With the Snow Days the roomdog and myself have caught up a lot on the DVR. Eastbound and Down is ridiculous. So funny. Kenny Powers is out of his mind.
d. I absolutely love Bored to Death. Ted Dansen's character is unbelievable. It also makes me miss the little things about living in the big apple.
e. Hopefully, we can get the show picked up for a third season.
f. I have not had time for a halftime the last couple of weeks. If I did I would have given everyone this sick song by Zac Brown Band. My buddy Smoak told me about it weeks ago. Again why is he not a country music executive.
g. I watched bits and pieces of the Golden Globes. I thought Ricky Gervais was hilarious. Again I am not an uptight Hollywood executive or actor so I would think that.
h. I have not seen all the Movies to comment on the winners and losers. I do know I need to see The Fighter, The Social Network and The King's Speech.
i. I have heard good and bad things about Black Swan...does anyone think I would enjoy?
j. I am not a Gleek so I do understand how Glee won best comedy or musical over 30 Rock, Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory. Can someone please explain.
k. Thanks to the snow and other holidays the last Monday in which I have worked a full day was December 13th. Next week when I have to work 5 days I am going to be in trouble.
l. The other night when I could not sleep I watched CMT's Top 40 Songs of the Decade. You can view the list here. Personally I think a majority of the songs in the top 40 are to slow for me personally. I need some more energy in my music. Furthermore, I think "Austin" by Blake Shelton should be higher than #29. Also "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum is not the 10th best song of the decade. It is not even their best song in my opinion. I like American Honey better.
m. Interested to get Smoak's thoughts on the list.
Have an awesome week.
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