Category: Sports

Commentary and news about sports and sports teams — and media coverage of them.

Football national champions

The Richmond Spiders defeated the Montana Grizzlies 24-7 Friday evening to win the national championship of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Richmond finished the season 13-3, Montana 14-2.

It’s Richmond’s first national championship in football. They defeated three-time defending national champion Appalachian State in the quarter finals. Montana has won the national championship twice; this was their fourth time as national runner-up.

Sixteen teams competed in the FCS playoffs, which began November 29th. There are 122 FCS schools.

Meanwhile back in the Bowl Championship Subdivision, Saturday will feature BYU 10-2, Navy 8-4, four teams that are 7-5, and a couple of teams that are 6-6 in four meaningless bowl games.

Richmond is the alma mater of Byron, one of the two official sons-in-law of NewMexiKen.

The best piece on the Heisman

“The lunacy of the Heisman Trophy” by Allen Barra, first published in 2003 and still right on. Key excerpt:

The Mackey, the Lombardi, the Outland, the Biletnikoff—there are more than a dozen college football awards, and all of them taken together don’t generate one-tenth of the ink given to the Heisman Trophy. Why, exactly? What is particularly puzzling is that the Walter Camp Award, presented to the “nation’s top player” by the Walter Camp Foundation, has never caught on, considering that it is named for the father of football, the man without whom none of the other awards would exist. But then, the Walter Camp Foundation is in New Haven, Conn., and the Heisman Trophy is presented by the Downtown Athletic Club in New York. Which, come to think of it, probably answers the question right there….

And, by the way, why not present the Heisman sometime in mid-January, after the bowl games have been played? Why continue the pretense that the bowls aren’t part of the “season”? Since the bowl games determine the national championship and final rankings, why do the various groups and foundations that give out trophies pretend that the biggest games these kids will play don’t matter?

Every year, sportswriters wail and wail for a Heisman overhaul, and still nothing changes. So here’s a more feasible remedy. College football would gain some credibility by simply acknowledging that modern football is a division of labor among specialists. Gather up all the various year-end awards, including the Heisman, rent a ballroom, and present them all on the same night. If we can’t get the best players checked off on the Heisman ballot, maybe we can at least get them all in the same room.

Hey Coach

As NewMexiKen was leaving the restaurant this evening, newly hired New Mexico Lobos football coach Mike Locksley was walking in — Albuquerque is a small town and it’s a well-known restaurant.

Anyway, it was too sudden for this season ticket holder to react, but I wish I had.

“No damn screen passes, Coach.”

Locksley is one of just four African-American coaches among the 119 Division I-A schools. He’s more recently an assistant at Illinois and Florida.

Woof. Woof.

Best line of the day, so far

“Who knows if President-elect Barack Obama will someday blow up Iran, but the good news today is this: He wants to blow up the BCS.”

Mike Bianchi

What President-elect Obama said on 60 Minutes:

I think any sensible person would say that, if you’ve got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season and many of them have one loss or two losses, there’s no clear, decisive winner, that we should be creating a playoff system. Eight teams, that would be three rounds to determine a national champion. It would — it would add three extra weeks to the season. You could trim back on the regular season. I don’t know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So I’m going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it’s the right thing to do.

How Unlikely Was the Historic 11-10 Score?

The Steelers beat the Chargers Sunday 11-10. It was the first time an NFL game has ended with that score. That and some other numerology from The Numbers Guy including this:

These statistics come courtesy of Doug Drinen, a mathematician at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., who maintains the Web site Pro Football Reference. Of 13,480 games played in the NFL and its predecessors going back to 1920, through Sunday, 218 ended in scores of 20-17, the most-common final score. The runner-up, 17-14, has occurred 177 times. Five times a team has won by the margin of a single safety, 2-0. No team has ever won with four points — two safeties — and just eight times has a team won with eight points, which is a touchdown and a two-point conversion or two field goals and a safety.

Sure omen

Jill, official older daughter of NewMexiKen, reports:

Well, the Redskins lost. For the first time I actually believe Obama is going to win.

(Well, maybe for the second time – the first time being when I saw the number of people at that rally last night. Unbelievable.)

The Redsklns predictor has worked in 17 of 18 elections since the first time there was a Redskins, in 1936. Every one except 2004.

As I told Byron, that PROVES the Republicans fixed the voting machines in Ohio in 2004.

World Serious

In case you’re kind of interested, but not really paying attention, Game Five of the World Series resumes tonight at 6:37 PM MDT with the Phillies coming to bat in the bottom of the sixth inning and the score tied 2-2. This is the first time in World Series history that a game has been suspended (Monday night due to rain).

If the Phils win tonight, they win the Series, so it might be an exciting three innings — which often enough is about all the baseball one really wants to watch.

And more than too much of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. I think I’ll watch Fox but listen to Jon Miller and Joe Morgan on ESPN Radio.

Redux best line of the day

Originally posted four years ago.

It has long been believed that the source of Boston’s sorrows is the legendary Curse of the Bambino, brought on by selling young Babe Ruth to the Yankees. This is untrue. Boston is actually cursed because the Red Sox took an unconscionably long time to get around to hiring any black players.

— Teresa Nielsen Hayden

The Red Sox were the last baseball team to integrate; they did so in 1959.

NewMexiKen is old enough to remember this — and that the Washington NFL franchise was worse, not integrating until 1962. I’ve pretty much rooted against these teams ever since.

World Serious

The 104th World Series began last night. The Phillies have the fewest world championships (1) of any of the 16 franchises that have been around since the first World Series in 1903. The Rays have none.

In all, 22 franchises have won at least one World Series (which means 8 teams have not won any):

  • Yankees 26 (in 39 appearances)
  • Cardinals 10
  • Athletics 9 (5 in Philadelphia, 4 in Oakland, none in Kansas City)
  • Red Sox 7
  • Dodgers 6 (1 in Brooklyn, 5 in Los Angeles)
  • Giants 5 (all in New York)
  • Pirates 5
  • Reds 5
  • Tigers 4
  • Braves 3 (one each in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta)
  • Orioles 3 (none as the St. Louis Browns)
  • Twins 3 (two in Minnesota, one as the Washington Senators)
  • White Sox 3
  • Blue Jays, Cubs, Indians, Marlins, Mets 2 each
  • Angels, Diamondbacks, Phillies, Royals 1 each

Appeared in a Series, but haven’t won:

  • Padres (twice)
  • Brewers (once, while in American League)
  • Astros
  • Rockies
  • Rays

Never been (and year began play):

  • Mariners (1977)
  • Expos/Nationals (1969)
  • Senators/Rangers (1961)

Which will move up the list this year, the Phillies (their second) or the Rays (their first)?

The World Series began in 1903, but there was no Series in 1904 or 1994.

Not much fun (to watch)

When it got to 49-0 we left. It was halftime.

New Mexico beat San Diego State this evening 70-7; a 4-4 team over a 1-6 team. You’d think it would be fun to see, but somehow you just knew from the first touchdown it would be a blowout.

Indeed, I have witnesses to my prediction there would be 69 points just like USC over Washington State. I made my prediction when it was still only 14 to nothing early in the first quarter.

I hope the New Mexico players enjoyed themselves more than we did.

Know nothings

NewMexiKen watched the Phillies-Dodgers game before turning to the debate. Even in the first half-hour or so I grew tired of Tim McCarver and Joe Buck going on and on about how Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels was high in the strike zone, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Imagine my pleasant surprise to tune back in more than 90 minutes later in the 7th inning and see Hamels still pitching, beating the Dodgers 5-1.

Not yet anyway

Name the major league teams that have never been to a World Series.

Washington Senators/Texas Rangers (48 seasons)

Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals (40 seasons)

Seattle Mariners (32 seasons)

Tampa Bay Devil Rays (11 seasons)

Go Rays!

(The Rockies left this list last year in their 15th season.)

Redux line of the day

“Now when I try to watch there is so much scrolling and popping up that I can’t see the play on my television. I don’t care that LaDainian Tomlinson has two receptions for 8 yards in the first quarter of another game that I am not even watching.

“There’s a reason why people watch TV — because they don’t want to read.”

Comedian Lewis Black on “Inside the NFL” on HBO quoted via Sideline Chatter.

First posted here three years ago today.

Stupidest, least self-aware, line of the day

“We had guys out of position. It has to do with our structure and getting our kids prepared. I think our coaches have to take some of the responsibility for that.”

Arizona football coach Mike Stoops.

Yes coach, structure and getting the kids prepared is pretty much up to the coaches. Are you just figuring that out after going 21-31 over 4-1/2 seasons?

The second least competent person in Tucson is Coach Stoops. The least competent person is Tucson is the guy that didn’t fire Coach Stoops last November.

Tough schedule

Number 5 Texas plays #1 Oklahoma, #2 Missouri, #17 Oklahoma State and #7 Texas Tech in the next four weeks. I’m wondering if anyone has ever played four ranked teams in four weeks before (and three of them top 7 teams).

Rankings from USA Today poll. Texas also plays #15 Kansas later in the season.

The Woman Who Struck Out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig

“I learned plenty of strange facts this weekend at the Baseball Hall of Fame. But by far, the most amazing story I heard was this one: about a 17-year old girl who struck out two of the biggest names in baseball, only to be kicked out of the sport.”

Read all about it at the mental_floss Blog. I’d never heard about Virnett Mitchell before, had you?

Even the lobo has stopped howling

In my 10th year in Albuquerque, NewMexiKen buys season tickets to University of New Mexico football. And what happens? Two of the six home games have been played already and the Lobos are 0-2. And not that good.

First, a 26-3 loss to TCU, then yesterday a 28-22 defeat by a mediocre Texas A&M team. And two of yesterday’s New Mexico scores came in the last six minutes when the game was likely out of reach. Earlier two interceptions led to two A&M TDs; a fumble lead to another. Ugly.

And the crowds have been small (70% of capacity yesterday) and listless (as one might expect in games where the home team is down 16-0 and 14-0 early. Some dental group sponsors shots of fans flashing their smiles during breaks in the action. Any UNM fans smiling yesterday should have been tossed from University Stadium.

This Saturday a third home game, this time against NewMexiKen’s very own alma mater, The University of Arizona, off to its best start in years. I’ll be wearing red again this week, but it’ll have an A on it, not a NM.

(A little boy about 5 or 6 sat in front of me yesterday with his dad. The kid watched the action on the large TV on the end zone scoreboard. To my knowledge he didn’t look at the field once. A few more games like the first two and that may be true for all of us.)

Recommended

NewMexiKen has finished with last week’s New Yorker and three items that are online merit your consideration.

Anthony Lane writes about the second week of the Olympics in Letter from Beijing. It’s a superb piece, especially as a counterweight to the TV coverage. Strongly recommended.

Ryan Lizza writes about politics in Colorado and the new Democratic party in The Code Of The West. Insightful.

And Janet Frame’s 1954 short story Gorse Is Not People is as sad a piece of short fiction as you’d ever care to read.

Maryland My Maryland

“Katie Hoff, with her three swimming medals, and Michael Phelps, with his eight golds, call the same Baltimore suburb home,” pointed out Bob Molinaro of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. “If Towson, Md., were a country, it would rank among the top 20 medal winners.”

Sideline Chatter

NBC sucks

Once again NBC shafts half the nation by tape-delaying the USA-Argentina basketball game.

It’s live, but only in the eastern time zone.

The Olympic Games

Precisely.

Most people will stay home and watch the events on TV, having no other option, but be warned: what NBC chooses to broadcast is not the Olympic Games. They offer selected clips of selected American athletes, largely in major sports, sometimes hours after the event, whereas, if the bruised Olympic ideal still means anything, it means loosing yourself, for a couple of weeks, from the bonds of your immediate loyalties and tastes. It means watching live sports you didn’t know you were interested in, played by countries you’ve never been to, at three o’clock in the morning—not just watching them, either, but getting into them, deluding yourself that you grasp the rules, offering the fruits of your instant expertise to anyone who will listen (“I think you’ll find the second waza-ari counts as ippon”), and, most bewildering of all, losing your heart.

Anthony Lane from Beijing. It’s a good article — and even if you disagree with the above, which is almost an aside, you may well appreciate Lane’s review of the first week.