“Drew Curtis of Fark.com, on the death of Gatorade inventor Robert Cade, 80: ‘Remains will be cremated, and then the ashes will be dumped over some coach’s head.'”
Reported by Sideline Chatter.
Category: Sports
Commentary and news about sports and sports teams — and media coverage of them.
The Quad
It’s kind of late for me to mention this, but The Quad college football blog from The New York Times is, I think, quite good at following college football without getting carried away about it.
The Quad is a blog about the fierce competition and engrossing culture of college football. From the Bowl Championship Series and Heisman Trophy watch, to news and features about one’s alma mater or local collegiate team, The New York Times will take readers inside America’s great fall weekend ritual with interviews, insights and analysis from the tailgates to the sidelines.
Best line of the day, so far
From the Maryland-North Carolina State game. Just listen.
Via Awful Announcing.
Update: Apparently this is now a legit call. Here’s another instance.
No Eli, throw to the Blue jerseys
Q: Why are the Peyton Manning’s Brother action figures expected to be brisk sellers this holiday season?
A: The latest version comes with a liberal return policy.
Adapted from Sideline Chatter.
Tim Tebow Facts
When it rains in the Swamp, Tim Tebow doesn’t get wet. The rain gets Tim Tebow’d.
Tim Tebow has counted to infinity — twice.
Tim Tebow doesn’t bowl strikes, he just knocks down one pin and the other nine faint.
Tim Tebow always knows the exact location of Carmen SanDiego.
Superman wears Tim Tebow pajamas.
Update: Tebow once completed a high school game with a broken leg. He completed yesterday’s blowout of Florida State with a broken right hand. (He throws with his left.)
Winningest
Driving today listening to college football (which began at 10:00 Mountain Time from Boulder) I heard a reference to the winningest college football programs. Once home I did a little research. Here are the 11 schools that have won more than 700 games, with the number of wins through Friday, November 23rd.
Michigan 868
Notre Dame 823
Texas 819
Nebraska 808
Ohio State 797
Penn State 788
Alabama 786
Oklahoma 777
Tennessee 770
USC 752
Georgia 711
Numbers three and four, Texas and Nebraska, lost Friday. So did LSU, which is next in line with 690 wins.
Michigan and Notre Dame have the best won-lost percentages too; .745 and .738 respectively.
Largest college stadiums
NewMexiKen always gets a surge in visits when there’s a nationally televised game from Michigan Stadium. Today is no exception.
It was a long wait
The students at The University of Arizona showed great patience before taking the field in celebration last night as the Wildcats beat #2 Oregon 34-24. The ‘Cats, (5-6) have a chance for their first winning season since 1998 if they beat ASU and win a bowl game.
Oregon became the fifth number two team in seven weeks to lose to an unranked opponent.
Youngest big leaguer
Cincinnati Reds broadcaster Joe Nuxhall has died. Long before he was a broadcaster Nuxhall set a major league record:
Nuxhall’s place in baseball lore was secured the moment he stepped onto a big-league field. With major league rosters depleted during World War II, he got a chance to pitch in relief for the Reds on June 10, 1944.
No one in modern baseball history has played in the majors at such a young age — 15 years, 10 months, 11 days old. He got two outs against St. Louis before losing his composure, then went eight years before pitching for the Reds again.
Why Baseball Players Might Be Underpaid
The baseball season is over and its season of free agency has begun. With Alex Rodriguez seeking at least $350 million over 10 years — which would be the richest deal ever, by far — and mediocre 39-year-old closer Todd Jones getting a $7 million, one-year deal, you might expect to hear outcries about this apparent greed in the sports pages. But two factors make these numbers, when placed in context, much less than they seem.
First, a dollar just isn’t what it used to be. When Mr. Rodriguez signed his previous 10-year, $252 million contract in December 2000, the Federal Reserve’s index of the dollar’s value relative to other currencies was over 105. Now it’s barely over 71. In terms of imported goods, his minimum desired contract is less than his prior deal. (He opted out of the last three years to seek a new one.) As Tim Marchman writes in the New York Sun, “Imported goods and gasoline are more expensive; a dollar buys less than it once did, and so people want more of them in exchange for services.”
He has more on value in major league baseball.
Call it the luck of the Irish
Even Notre Dame, in the midst of its worst season ever, can suddenly stake a claim to No. 1.
The Fighting Irish have beaten UCLA, which beat Stanford, which beat USC, which beat Cal, which beat Tennessee, which beat Georgia, which beat Florida, which beat Kentucky, which beat newly top-ranked LSU. Notre Dame’s long-distance claim to No. 1 could be fleeting, however: The Irish host fellow 1-and-9er Duke on Saturday.
Callin’ the shots
Last night, when the score early was just LSU 10, Louisiana Tech 7, Kirk Herbstreit, covering the Kansas-Oklahoma State game on ABC, said LSU would probably win 56-7.
Pretty close. 58-10.
Too bad Herbstreit is paired with the ever-garrulous 68-year-old Brent Musburger.
Speaking of shots.
Yet another cost of college
College towns bring together academic minds, alumni, students and sports enthusiasts, especially in the fall when football fans flock to reconnect with the nostalgia of happy college years. The reasons they come – pageantry, culture, tradition and idyllic settings – are also the reason many want to stay and become homeowners in their college town. According to the third annual Coldwell Banker® College Home Price Comparison Index (HPCI), while Ohio State may be leading the nation in the football polls, it is the Ball State Cardinals and Stanford Cardinal and their athletic conferences that hold the distinction of being located in the nation’s most affordable and expensive college towns, respectively.
The link above has all the details. Pointer via The Quad, which had this convenient summary. Price is for “a 2,220-foot, 4 bedroom 2 ½ bath home with a family room and two car garage.”
10 MOST EXPENSIVE
1. Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif. $1,677,000
2. Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass., $1,381,250
3. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif., $1,306,333
3. U.C.L.A., Los Angeles, Calif., $1,306,333
5. University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, Calif., $1,287,500
6. San Jose State University, San Jose, Calif., $1,145,000
7. University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, $843,750
8. Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., $708,000
9. Florida International University, Miami, Fla., $638,333
9. University of Miami, Miami, Fla. $638,33310 LEAST EXPENSIVE
1. Ball State University, Muncie, Ind. $150,000
2. Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, $151,250
3. University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Okla., $153,750
4. Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Okla., $162,000
5. Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, $163,250
6. University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, $163, 278
7. University of Louisiana Monroe, Monroe, La., $164,499
8. University of Houston, Houston, Texas, $169,736
8. Rice University, Houston, Texas, $169,736
10. Utah State University, Logan, Utah $172,978
The University of New Mexico is tagged at $317,319. My alma mater, The University of Arizona, at $286,667.
Interesting stuff
Single word change in Book of Mormon speaks volumes
Weighing In, Shula Has Heavy Words.
NewMexiKen still thinks the NFL should have taken the win from the Patriots if they had wanted to end this Spygate stuff.
Best false bravado line of the day, so far
“That term resignation is not in our vocabulary.”
Nebraska football coach Bill Callahan.
I’m thinking that term “fired” will be in his vocabulary soon enough though. The Huskers are 4-6.
Who’s Worst Sports Announcer?
Have you had it with bad sports announcing? Are you still miffed that the “expert” calling your team’s game both mispronounced one of your reserve’s names and botched the score, all while making a bad pun? We feel your pain. And we’re here to help. Using a field selected by AwfulAnnouncing.com, we’ve put together a fan-voting tournament that will determine the worst sports announcer in the biz. Read AwfulAnnouncing’s breakdown, then vote for the announcers you think should advance (i.e., “stink the most”).
Vote for Worst … Play-By-Play | Analyst | Studio Host | Sideline Reporter
See the brackets and vote at AOL Sports. They also have best of brackets. Sadly many of the “worst” (does Joe Buck come to mind?) got these higher seeds.
This week’s game of the year
This week’s NFL game of the year actually is the game of the year — it’s the first time two undefeated teams have met this late in the season. The Patriots are 8-0; the Colts 7-0. The game is in Indianapolis.
Pick ’em. Brady or Manning?
{democracy:20}
The Kick Is Up and It’s … A Career Killer
Michael Lewis writes a fine piece on NFL kickers.
“Thus the first step in the rise of this kicker: he proved he could run and hit just like a real football player. He was not an ordinary hobbit. He was Frodo Baggins.”
If at first you don’t succeed . . .
Haven’t heard announcers get this excited since that blimp blew up.
This game was yesterday, October 27. Best estimate: 14 laterals.
[Update: If the video hasn’t loaded, try here.]
Best Max McGee story of the day, so far
Fun-loving receiver Max McGee, who died at 75 last week, was notorious for sneaking out after curfew, but Packers coach Vince Lombardi’s threat to double the fine — first $125, then $250 — had no effect. Wrote Packers guard Jerry Kramer in “Instant Replay,” when coach encountered truant in the locker room after a third infraction:
” ‘MAX!’ Vince said. ‘That’s $500.’ Coach was really shaking; he was very, very upset. He seemed to be fighting a losing battle … Vince turned purple … ‘If you go out again, it’ll cost you a thousand.’
“The room was totally silent, hushed. Lombardi stopped shaking and actually managed to grin a little. ‘Max,’ he said, softly, ‘if you can find anything worth sneaking out for, for $1,000, hell, call me and I’ll go with you.’ ”
Uh oh, God has the same baseball issues Hillary and Rudy have
Hillary grew up with the Cubs but said she was a Yankees fan while running for Senator in New York. Rudy loves the Yankees but says he’s rooting for the New Hampshire Red Sox in the Series.
Well, it seems God has the same problem.
The Colorado Rockies and Boston Red Sox will play for the World Series starting Wednesday night. Colorado and Boston aren’t just the best teams in baseball—they’re also perhaps the two most faith-based organizations in the game. The Colorado Rockies’ emphasis on Christianity was first reported by USA Today in 2006 and has recently received more coverage. In recent years, the Red Sox have also had an abundance of evangelical Christians in their clubhouse, including Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield, and Jason Varitek.
Weis vs. Willingham: The numbers might surprise you
Jon Wilner takes a look at the past and present Notre Dame football coaches. He begins:
In my estimation, Weis’ numbers are no better than Willingham’s and quite possibly worse.
He has that 34-31 loss to USC on his resume. (Has any coach ever gotten more mileage out of a loss?) But Willingham did better against Michigan and significantly better against ranked opponents.
Elsewhere Pat Forde doubts the unbeatens.
Start with the Perfect Five, noting that they are perfect in record only. The Dash has to ask: Is this the worst collection of unbeaten teams ever?
None has a victory over a team currently in the BCS standings. None plays in what Jeff Sagarin’s computer ranks as one of the top two conferences (SEC and Big East). And none has even played what Sagarin says is a top-three team in its own conference.
In other words: You’re on borrowed time, gents.
The Fall Classic
The 103rd World Series begins Wednesday night in Boston’s Fenway Park, weather permitting (showers are forecast).
{democracy:19}
Best ‘yeah, right’ line of the day, so far
“There will be interest in Beckham over here that exceeds everything else. The U.S. will never have dealt with an athlete who has had this kind of international impact. Tiger Woods has that international appeal, but with due respect to Woods and Michael Jordan, David Beckham is at an entirely different level.”
Alexi Lalas, a few months ago, quoted by T.J. Simers. Beckham played 252 minutes and had zero shots on goal.
Hokies national champions
Move over Hokie football, there is another Virginia Tech team in the national spotlight this week.
The Bass Fishing Team at Virginia Tech is a national champion.