Five sports-type things you may want to know

It’s been awhile since my last post, and am I ever feeling it.  My sports pun skills have faded to the point that I had to resort to using two of them in the headline alone, just to make sure at least one of them worked.  I think my plan failed because I like neither … but what can you do?  If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the electronic media, it’s that everything on the Internet is permanent.*

* This is another bad joke.  I apologize now, before we get any further.

Anyhow, here are some of my observations of the sporting world and some of things that are probably the least anyone should know about sports right now.

1. Tiger Woods is a man-whore — Yeah, I know, you already knew that.  But the latest head count puts the man’s “indiscretions” at a whopping FOURTEEN. That’s not just man-whore territory, it’s Wilt Chamberlain territory.

At least he’s still got his career though.

Whoops.

2. Notre Dame gets their man — For probably the first time in at least 20 years, Notre Dame hired the man it appeared to actually desire in the form of Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly.  Kelly, the “hot” name in coaching circles the past two years or so, got snatched up by the Irish in remarkably smooth fashion, though of course there was the typical fretting over Kelly’s abandonment of his former team.

I will say I think that talk is mostly ridiculous.  For better or worse (mostly worse), the BCS has created a system in which every game that isn’t the championship game is essentially meaningless.  Oh sure, Cincy gets a heck of a nice payout for making the Sugar Bowl in the first place, and you’d have to think they’d improve their standing in the national perspective some with a win over the dirty Gators, but what the heck else does this game mean?  Nothing.

This is what the power-brokers have created.  A postseason that’s meaningless?  Check.  A recruiting schedule that demands coaching changes in December?  Check.  Incalculable heartbreak for players and fans around the country?  Check.

If they really want to focus their energy on something, his former players should probably cut him a break and focus on the real enemies here: the collection of university presidents, coaches and college football power brokers that have created the system they’re now stuck with.  That’s the enemy, folks, not Brian Kelly (though with Kelly now coaching the Irish, he could quickly climb the villain ladder, I think).

3. The Big 10 still can’t count — The Big 10, which is comprised of 11 teams, is exploring the possibility of expanding to include a 12th team (which could very well be Notre Dame and coaching villain Brian Kelly).

At last count, 12 teams is still not 10, and it’s even more than 11.  Methinks they’re going in the wrong direction here.

"Breesus" and the Saints are off to a heavenly start.

4. 26-0 and still counting — The New Orleans Saints are 13-0.  The Indianapolis Colts are 13-0.  It’s quite possible both teams could have a loss by the time Sunday rolls around (Indianapolis plays Jacksonville Thursday night; the Saints take on the Cowboys Saturday), but it’s still damn impressive each club has gotten this far.

The conventional wisdom says the Saints have the better shot at finishing the regular season 16-0, and I can’t say I disagree with that notion.  The Colts, with home-field advantage in the AFC locked up already, have very little to play for the next three weeks and three capable opponents in Jacksonville, New York and Buffalo (okay, TWO capable opponents).  The Saints, on the other hand, still have the Vikings breathing down their neck, and they have what look like three winnable games left (home against Dallas and Tampa Bay, on the road against Carolina).

The Colts, who will be resting their starters liberally, could easily lose over the next two weeks (though if they don’t, I think they clobber Buffalo in the final week to preserve history).  Conversely, I like the Saints to win their next two but all bets are off for a cold-weather game against the hard-running Panthers.

My best guess?  Colts finish 15-1, Saints 16-0.  (Just keep in mind I’m very bad at this.)

5. Ndamukong Suh is the third-coming of Christ — After the second-coming, Tim Tebow, fell to the status of somewhat mortal this year, the media needed to find a third savior of mankind to put on its gigantic, hulking pedestal of doom (and Breesus, for whatever reason, has not been deemed worthy to date).  Fortunately for the media, Suh, the dominant defender from Nebraska, has made his presence known in a very big way.

For anyone that didn’t witness his demolition of Texas a week and a half ago in the Big 12 Championship Game, well it’s easy to see why he’s been deemed a deity.  The Heisman voters very nearly cemented that status, voting him into the top four for that award.  And of course it doesn’t stop with college football pundits either … most NFL writers, taking a break from their normal Favre-worship, are now touting him as the top pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.

Savior indeed.

I’ll advise caution in this case, because I’ve seen way too many players fall apart at the next level despite carrying as many “can’t-miss” labels as you can find.  Suh is good.  Nay, Suh is great.  But let’s go ahead and wait a bit before we get going too far with the hero worship.

After all, as any number of NFL writers will be sure to remind us in the coming months, it’s not like he’s Brett Favre or anything.

Tags: Big 10, Brett Favre, Brian Kelly, Indianapolis Colts, Ndamukong Suh, New Orleans Saints, NFL Guy, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Tiger Woods, Tim Tebow

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 8:00 AM and is filed under Guy with Eyeblack. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.