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It has been a great year for college football and the end is near for this season.  Despite surprises and ups and downs this season looks to be headed for a pretty simple ending.  Here is how it looks to be shaking out as I see it.  The BCS final will have Florida as the number one team taking on the number two team, the Texas Longhorns.  Yes, both teams have not looked as strong as some expected but they both have continued to win.  Do you want to pick against Tim Tebow or would you prefer to pick against Colt McCoy?  I am leaning towards Texas to win it at this point.  Of course I would prefer to see a playoff and wouldn’t it be great to see a tournament with TCU, Cincinnati, Boise State and Oregon in the mix?

 Would someone please explain to me why we do not have a playoff, and come on, convince me.  No lame, it can not be done because of time away from their studies.  No lame, a playoff would take away from the regular season.  Give me a break.  This BCS system has made teams with two losses irrelevant as well as the bowl games.  We all know that the only bowl game that matters is the BCS final game and this year in keeping with “tradition”, it will be played January 7th at 5pm.  Is that really a Thursday night at the Rose Bowl?  That is just great tradition.  The only interest in the other bowl games will be alumni and fans of a particular school and the school getting paid to be in those bowl games. 

Watch the games and see how many empty seats there are.  How many empty seats would there be in a playoff system?  Tell me how many of these bowl games will you leave work early to see:  Meineke Car Care Bowl, Motor City Bowl, Insight Bowl, Brut Sun Bowl or the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl.  You had better soup up your Tivo or DVR. I counted 34 bowl games and if I am off my a game or two, well forgive me.  That means there are 68 teams playing in bowl games, over half of the 120 teams in FBS.  When did the term FBS come into play?  I hope the other schools that do not make it at least get nice participation ribbons.

The Heisman race looks to be a simple call as well.  The top four candidates come down to Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, Mark Ingram and a late push for Toby Gerhart.  I think Ingram will finish fourth.  He has had a great year 1,429 yards, 12 touchdowns and a 6.5 yards per carry and his team is undefeated.  He is a great player but they will lose to Florida and he will lose his chance, plus he is only a sophomore.  Something I learned this week is this storied program of the Bear, Joe Willie Namath and Kenny Stabler has never had a Heisman Trophy Winner.  I was stunned!!  Toby Gerhart of Stanford came on strong late, 1,736 yards rushing with 26 touchdowns and a 5.6 average.  His team is 8-4 and they will not give it to a team ranked that low.  So in my book it comes down to Tebow and McCoy.  They have both had very good years but McCoy’s year is not as good as last years and Tebow’s is not as good as his Heisman winning season two years ago.  It is a  toss up.

I said at the beginning of the year that I was for McCoy and I will stand by that.  His touchdowns to interceptions is 27-9, 3,328 yards passing and he has a 71.8 percentage completion.  He ran for two touchdowns and 368 yards on the ground.  Tebow has 17 touchdown throws with 4 picks and a 66.4% completion rate.  He has thrown for 2166 yards, rushed for 796 yards and 13 touchdowns.  That is a great year for anyone but Tebow.  His sophomore year he was ridiculous.  He threw for 32 touchdowns with only 6 interceptions and he ran for 895 yards and 23 touchdowns.  Remember these two players should not have to be judged by their previous seasons.  They are competing only against other players and only for this season.  You can not go wrong with either one but I think McCoy wins a close one.

I said at the start of the season that I love college football and only a playoff would improve the game.  The athletes are great, there are great fans all over the country and there are many amazing coaches at so many schools.  If we could just get the big mucky mucks and this is a nice term for them, to see how great a playoff system would be.  Other college sports have playoffs and so do other divisions in football.  Pigheadedness, power and money are the only things stopping it from reality. 

Locally congrats to Marshall Sperbeck at Sacramento State as the Hornets finished 5-6 and beat rival UC Davis for the second straight year.  Sperbeck has the program headed in the right direction as he is getting more local recruits to stay home.  The UC Davis game at Sac State was the third largest home attendance mark.  The fans here are starved for a winner and I believe he will provide that soon.  Kudos to Dannie Walker the head coach at Sacramento City College who in his first season as the head coach guided his team to a 6-5 season and a bowl victory.  Coach Walker and his staff have a solid foundation on which to build for next season and also down the road.  Finally, speaking of coaches, my next entry will be about two old guys that have taken heat and deserve better.  So be ready to tell me why Paterno and Bowden must go.

What is holiday tradition? For most of us at my house it is getting up early and watching one of the oldest rivalries in the NFL. And here are a few facts about this Thanksgiving game:

- One of the NFL’s oldest rivalries takes to the national stage as the Green Bay Packers head to Detroit to face the Lions on Thanksgiving. - It is the 33^rd NFL game on Thanksgiving for the Packers franchise. All-time on the holiday, Green Bay is 12-18-2, including a 6-11-1 mark on Thanksgiving in Detroit.

- No other NFL teams have played every year since 1932, when the Packers and the Lions, then known as the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans, began their yearly home-and-home series.

- The rivalry actually kicked off in 1930 at City Stadium in Green Bay, a 47-13 Packers win. Some two seasons later, the teams began a yearly series. Thursday marks meeting No. 161 in the all-time series.

- Now rivals in the NFC North, Green Bay owns an 87-64-7 advantage over the Lions in the regular season and has won both playoff matchups.

- Green Bay’s current eight-game winning streak over Detroit is the longest in the series in over 50 years, dating back to Detroit’s 11-game winning streak from 1949-54.

Ah yes the Packer game with Jim Taylor, Bart Star, Boyd Dowler, Barry Sanders and yeah a few stinkers and clunkers along the way. You knew every Thanksgiving it would be the PACKERS and the LIONS and a few of us, BEN ROOT included, couldn’t wait for that game. But then the NFL had to mess with tradition and America’s team had to be on Thanksgiving. Okay I guess some of us could deal with a minor change in tradition. Then the NFL network had to get involved and who knows what game you’ll get from those guys. Leave it alone TRADITION IS GOOD. It is Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie, stuffing, cranberry sauce, vegetable casserole and mounds of pies that fill you up so much you can’t move and yes the PACKERS and the LIONS.

The original Skins Game has left the sports landscape, maybe for good. That’s right for some of you others out there that are not football fans, another traditional sports event for the Thanksgiving weekend is also being left off the dessert menu. The Skins Game for the first time since it became a Thanksgiving tradition in 1983, when Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Tom Watson played in a made-for-TV sensation will be disappearing from television.

Not only is football missing the boat with the PACKERS and LIONS not being the only game in town, but the PGA has just gotten another bogey with the viewing audience. For the average golf fan there was not a better holiday golf special than watching Jack, Arnie, Gary, Tom and occasionally Lee playing in the Skins game. It is easy to blame the demise of the Skins Game on the players it attracted. The years of Palmer, Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Fuzzy Zoeller and Fred Couples gave way to Fred Funk, Rocco Mediate and Brett Wetterich. But come on it is still the Skins game. So spruce it up a little team Arnie with Tiger, Jack and Sergio, Michelle with ..

So come on folks enjoy the traditional holiday with the traditional meals, allow the traditional games to be played in their traditional setting and if you must like the meal you are eating for this day, just slightly spice up the traditions that we are so use to on this day. By the way could you pass the pie, I am trying to watch …

Final 2009 

1.   Jimmie Johnson  200.38 (1) - 2009 Champion

2.   Tony Stewart  172.14  (2)

3.   Jeff Gordon  170.28  (4)

3.   Mark Martin  166.15  (3)

5.   Denny Hamlin  163.80  (5)

6.   Kurt Busch  124.93  (6)

7.   Kyle Busch  111.57  (7)

8.   Juan Pablo Montoya  92.88  (8)

9   Greg Biffle  92.51  (9)

10. Kasey Kahne  89.49  (10)

11. Carl Edwards  82.60  (13)

12. Matt Kenseth  79.45 (11)

13. Ryan Newman  79.14  (12)

14. David Reutimann  61.01  (14)

      Brian Vickers  61.01  (16)

16. Clint Bowyer  60.41  (15)

17. Jeff Burton  50.96  (19)

18. Kevin Harvick  49.59  (19)

19. Joey Logano  45.36  (17)

20. Marcus Ambrose  43.15  (18)

Denny Hamlin wins the last race of the season for FedEx, but Jimmie Johnson already was the 2009 champ.  There was some movement in the standings as they finalized.  Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon couldn’t catch Tony Stewart for second place, but Gordon did move past Martin to take third.  Hamlin’s victory put him within 3 points of Martin, however he still had to settle for fifth.  Some signs of life from Carl Edwards as he went by Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth, but couldn’t get into the top 10.  Jeff Burton finished strong and passed a couple of drivers to get to 17th.

Only three drivers led more than 1000 laps in 2009:

Jimmie Johnson     2238

Denny Hamlin       1380

Kyle Busch             1157

Top teams (this was over months ago)

Hendrick Motorsports    532.90

Stewart-Haas                 325.31

Roush-Fenway               300.91

I need to say this right up front, I am only joking about firing these guys.  These guys are all excellent coaches and Joe Paterno is an all time great.  I am not the type of fan that calls for guys losing their jobs very often.  Anyone that chooses to go into coaching gets the utmost respect from me.  Think about what is involved with being a college coach and only the most successful get credit.  Even the most successful coaches of all time like Paterno and Bobby Bowden are not immune to ridiculous criticism.

To begin with the college football coach is dealing with young athletes that are usually 18-24 years old.  He must recruit and coach athletes that are supremely talented and they know it.  He also must do the same with athletes that are not supremely talented and they do not know it.  He must follow all of the crazy rules that the NCAA has on the books, including do not visit with Deion Sanders.  He must organize a coaching staff that consists of coaches with varied talents, experience and motivations.  Some of these assistants may be eying his job.  He must answer to an athletic director, school president,  board of trustees, the media and alumni.  Then he goes out and puts his product on display in front of thousands and in the case of a top bowl game, before millions counting tv viewers.

How would you like people watching you at your office and yelling each time you made a move or having it taped and played later that day over and over.  Work highlights or low lights and let’s run it over and over and check out different angles as you type on your keyboard.  Remember the Peyton Manning commercial, Cut that meat, cut that meat.  Then, not only are you trying to have your team accomplish its goal, there are other guys trying to stop you from getting there.  Again imagine you need to call a client by one but you must first get past eleven people surrounding your phone.  Whew, I am tired just thinking about it.  I know, some of you will respond, well that is what they chose to do and what they get paid for.  With that said let’s check out what the above guys got paid for.

Pete Carroll and his Trojans come back after losing to Oregon with a resounding victory over ASU 14-9.  Kirk Ferentz and his undefeated team lose Ricky Stanzi and lose to power Northwestern.  With Stanzi out, I am afraid the Hawks will lose this week to Ohio State.  Big Game Bob Stoops loses 10-3 to Nebraska.  The old Sooners under Stoops used to score more than three points before the anthem had ended.  The great Joe Paterno (many of you think Joe is too old to get it done) his Lions lost to Ohio State.  Then there is new head coach Chip Kelly that was headed for the genius status after pasting USC, the Ducks lost to power house Stanford.  Stanford had not been bowl eligible since 2001.  The Sports Dr. loudly proclaimed last week that Oregon could play with any team in the country.  Sports Dr., they can play with any team except a team from a conference that is not part of the BCS and another team whose mascot is a menacing tree!  The Pac 10
has many good teams but no BCS quality team this year.  They will probably do well overall in bowl games but there is not standout team.  So good luck to the aforementioned coaches in the what have you done for us lately world of college football.

What a job Jim Harbaugh is doing at Stanford.  His first head coaching job at San Diego University he went 29-6.  You have to love his attitude and enthusiasm.  Did you know he went to Palo Alto High School?  Some more facts about Harbaugh I was not aware of.  He played 15 years in the NFL and ranks 35th all time in completions, 39th in pass attempts and 48th in passing yardage.  His redshirt freshman quarterback Andrew Luck is the son of Oliver Luck.  Oliver Luck for those of us old enough to remember was a back up quarterback for the Houston Oilers.  His tailback is Toby Gerhart from Norco High School and last week rushed for a record 223 yards.  We will find out if they are for real this week as they play the Trojans.

Other games to watch for are undefeated TCU colliding with 8-1 Utah.  These teams are led by two great coaches in Gary Patterson and Kyle Whittingham.  Two more great coaches have their teams squaring off: Pat Hill of Fresno State and Chris Ault of Nevada.  I have great concern for Jahvid Best and his health and future.  Last point, I  said it earlier and I will say it again now.  When is the last time Charlie Weis was called a genius?

My father and his friends were young men when World War II came along and they like many others never hesitated to serve their country through a horrible time in history. Some of my father’s friends came home, some did not.  But to see the pride in their eyes every time they reunite, it makes you feel as if you are standing with a group of nineteen year old Marines who are ready to serve their country once again.

To those friends of mine who served in a time of history when being in the military was the most unpopular thing a young man or woman could have done I hope to honor you and say thank you from the many who never uttered a word on your behalf when you can home from Southeast Asia.

And to those who serve today, who volunteer to serve, protect and defend our nation, I do not know you but I cry when I see you, because you are my son, my niece, my friend’s children when I view your faces.

To all who have served this country no matter where your spirit travels in the history of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, I shout: “thank you”

All football coaches know that for them the past is truly only history and ancient history at that.  They must answer the question of what have you done for us lately.  So Pete, what you have done lately is lose two games in one season and last week your team was throttled by Oregon 47-20.  In keeping with the BCS standards (that is where the games are played on paper and on computers) let us take a hard look.  The Trojans lost to Oregon by 27 and the Ducks were defeated by Boise State 19-8 so on paper a Boise State-USC game would have the Broncos winning by 38 points or so.  That will not get it done Pete.  USC has higher standards than that for crying out loud.  The patient alumni will not stand for it.  I can hear the cries for Ted Tollner and Paul Hackett now.  What is John Robinson doing these days?  I know coach McKay is gone but maybe we could get anyone with the last name of McKay be it Bob or Steve.

So Pete do you have anything to say in your defense?  Do not bring up that you have a higher winning percentage than Bobby Bowden and everyone’s favorite Pa, Joe.  What have they done lately?  Those guys are old and should have left a long time ago.  Do you really want to be like Joe Paterno, Pete?  Do you really want to represent all that is good in college football; have kids graduate, have a winning program and numerous players in the NFL? Is that what it has come down to? 

The good people at USC deserve BCS Championships and even when they do not win they deserve to think they should have won it.  If your team loses another game even they cannot say they were the best team at the end of the year.  I know you have won 7 Pac Ten titles in a row and have played in 7 consecutive BCS Bowl games.  Yes you have gone 6-1 in those games and only one of the greatest performances ever by Vince Young stopped you from being 7-0.  Okay, I will give you the 3 Heisman Trophy winners you have coached and possibly another one in a year or two. 

You have gone 16-2 against Notre Dame and UCLA in your eight plus years as the head coach.  Probably should have left this last one out because really how good are those two schools.  Let’s move on, in November you are 27-0 and you had an 86% winning percentage coming into the season.  You have also had 53 players drafted by the NFL, however if the Raiders drafted them they really shouldn’t count.  Hmmm, I guess you have had some success and maybe I have been too harsh in my initial assessment of your job.  So let’s leave it at this.  Pete if you win out the rest of your games and can somehow salvage the season at 10-2 along with a bowl victory then you can stay.  Should you lose three games we will have to talk.

For fans of football played in the state of California I have an interesting cap per to the USC-Oregon game.  You have heard all of the stories about people in Oregon hating Californians for a variety of reasons, right?  I counted 63 players on the Oregon roster from our fine state of California and did not find one player from Oregon on the USC roster.  So the people of Oregon may hate us for whatever reasons but they like our football players.  Imagine if those kids stayed home.

Big games this week are LSU at Alabama, Oregon at Stanford and Penn State at Ohio State.  I know that the national media wants to believe that they only real football is played in the SEC.  Is anyone else rooting for Iowa, Cincinnati, Boise State and TCU?  Wouldn’t a playoff this year be great?  Wouldn’t a playoff next year be great?  Wouldn’t a playoff before I am dead be great?  I will keep dreaming.

Ah it is that spooky time of year with the holiday’s right in front of us. So it is time to spew out the ridiculous, outrageous and just plain stupid thoughts. Remember to always forgive those of us who loose our mind this time of year.

First, is it not time for the federal government to regulate sport salaries the way they want to regulate CEO’s salaries of major corporations. Should not government intercede for us poor fans that are paying these outrageous ticket prices for subpar sporting events? They should step in on our behalf and state that an athlete should not make over $5,000,000.00 a year and that the owners of the teams should pass on the savings to us unaffordable ticket prices.

Second, when is everyone on a professional TACKLE football team going to be fair game on the field? You can’t hit a quarterback in the head, you can’t hit a quarterback in the knees, you can’t push a quarterback after he has just thrown the football and you can’t try to tackle a quarterback low even if you whiff on the tackle. But if you are a running back lining up in the quarterback’s position and run with the football you are fair game to have your head ripped off. And if you are a quarterback and a running back reverses his run and heads back towards the quarterback, you the quarterback can drop and roll into a defensive lineman’s knees, ankles or the back of his legs.

FOOTBALL IS A VIOLENT GAME FOR EVERYONE BUT…?

Ah why should we stop now? Good question because the greatest sleight of hand game is back on the air. That’s right, the No Boundaries Allowed game is back. Talk about a game that defies the world of magic? Chris Angel would like to cross from one end of a basketball court to the other without moving his feet or dribbling a basketball as well as some of the current all time greats playing the game today. Plus, I have now discovered

that people should realize how to tell time, because I am never late when I tell them I will be there in a few minutes. Realize that if three seconds is this long, one………..two……….three, then a few minutes could almost be an eternity. Yikes!!!

And then there is the ANGELS. enough said.

Please explain to me what is wrong with NASCAR, the good old boys sport that is supposed to be that sport all us drivers can relate too. NASCAR take a look at our freeways. There are more women out there than men and they drive faster, smoother, colder and more calculating than any of my friends (except Mr. Neyland). Guys open up the gate, the CHASE would be much more exciting if it were a road race across the country and you had to stop at a Walmart and Target in each city. The object would be to purchase the BLUE Light Special in each store and make the best time from L.A. to Nashville.

Now for the older generation, the only reason you should own an over grown tennis racket is to help strain a large pot of pasta at the Vidal Cup. I just discovered today why Agassi needed one and I am not sure it had anything to do with tennis and speaking of oversized …My goodness how BIG does the head on a golf club need to be? Square grooves, vee cuts, deep curve, open face, closed face, 15%, 40%,90%, stainless steel, graphite, steel, chromoly . Guys /Gals if you cannot work a shot, if you can’t putt, if you

Don’t understand that there is a fairway and rough and you are suppose to be in the fairway, then don’t play. Plus if you can’t play with a little distraction, quit. If the conditions are not ideal, go home. If the money purse seems a little short, come work with the rest of us. By the way, none of us get appearance fees.  OK, so we would pay a few people to stay away.

Let us also remember boxing is boxing not a beer brawl with a paraplegic.

Poker is not a sport.

A professional athlete is not someone knocking down beers at the sponsor’s tent during the event.

Old, old, old coaches should not fade away, they should mysteriously disappear.

B.C.S-Blatant Corruption of System …

And there are other teams besides ….Yankees, Lakers, Cowboys, Canadians, Fighting Irish, Petty racing, Packers.

So sit back, relax, pass out candy, start stuffing your turkey and spend it like you have it, because it’s time for the holiday rush and that time of year is where we all start to lose our ….