bmags

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Dec 5, 2011 -> 06:51 PM) Yeah, but who really cares? Other than the NC game, the other bowls are basically just for pride. Getting into a BCS bowl nets you some more $$$, not surprising that popular teams expected to generate more interest and revenue would get them. I think every fan base cares. BCS get prime TV slots where everyone will watch their team play.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Dec 5, 2011 -> 06:25 PM) There are 10 available BCS slots. Six go automatically to the champions of the six BCS conferences. Two more automatically went to Alabama and Stanford for finishing in the top 4. That left two slots where the bowls could actually pick from among eligible teams. The Sugar Bowl ended up with both of those picks and took #11 Virginia Tech and #13 Michigan. #6 Arkansas and #9 South Carolina were ineligible due to the SEC already having two BCS teams. Eligible teams passed over were #7 Boise State, #8 Kansas State, #12 Baylor, and #14 Oklahoma. I'm not in any way a fan of the Big 12 (minus 2) but they really got doubly screwed over by the BCS this year by not getting OSU into the championship game and by not getting a team ranked #8 into any BCS game. Just as a matter of principle, I'm going to make it a point to watch Boise State and Kansas State's bowl games and not the Sugar Bowl. First of all because the Sugar Bowl didn't pick the most-deserving teams and secondly because Virginia Tech really blows and will probably lose by 20+ points. Sugar bowl was a joke with selections. I don't feel these bcs bowls should get extra significance if they are just going to pick whoever they feel will make the most money rather than reward the best teams that year. That's great Michigan, you made a BCS bowl...because your fans travel more than Kstates. Great resume.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Dec 5, 2011 -> 06:15 PM) I just don't think you're finding a competent QB that's gonna be any better than Hanie at this point. And I honestly thought we'd still end up at 13-3 before these 2 terrible losses, but not anymore, this offense is a disaster without Cutler and a stubborn Martz You know, Hanie is just too susceptible to imploding on scoring drives. We've had too many drives get in FG or TD positions just implode for 0 points. If Hanie isn't going to get us 3rd down conversions and is also going to implode in the red zone, quite a few qbs can improve on that.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 5, 2011 -> 06:08 PM) I recognize that the SEC is the best conference, at least at the top...but jeesh, I miss the SEC with the high flying Florida teams and a Tennessee team and an LSU team that can move the ball up and down the field. I don't think anyone really doesn't believe that the SEC defenses are the best in the country, but their offenses are lackluster at best, if not pathetic, and it's just not even entertaining to watch. You know what I think is what's pissing me off. It doesn't have to do with Big 12 bias, obviously. But as a fan of a school very similar to oklahoma state in prestige, it really sucks that when you have that amazing season, that 1-in-100 season, you get beat out by Alabama after just beating a #10 team on the last week of the season and Alabama has lost to the #1 team already, didn't win their division, and didn't play that week. It's a vicious cycle that when these schools do build up a great team, they have to also fight against the bias of writers sticking with what they know.

QUOTE (vandy125 @ Dec 5, 2011 -> 04:04 PM) I have the $79 Kindle as well as the Kindle Fire, and I just bought my mom a Kindle Touch for Christmas. What kind of questions do you have? So far we love them. The limited space on the Fire is an issue for plane flights or when you are not near wifi and want to watch movies, but I think I've found a solution for that. Mostly that I got it as a gift and want to upload a book on it. But, if I register their email address on it, will they get an email saying "hey thanks for registering your kindle." Is there a sneaky way to load it up? Can I buy kindle books onto my computer and load it on there?

To be fair, the reason Texas looks like not a quality win anymore is because they are on like their 5th runningback on a team that was designed around their running backs. I think it's bulls***. I think the writers decided that this should be the matchup and didn't budge. I'm sick of teams being rewarded for not making their conference championship game. It's absolute horses***.

fun for the fans too.

Whoa, lets see how much its' for before signing on to that statement.

if anyone here has a kindle do you mind answering a few very boring questions?

QUOTE (danman31 @ Dec 1, 2011 -> 08:50 PM) Mizzou won't release a schedule because I think they're still in the 'can get sued' range. However, there is a rumor of their possible SEC schedule (in no order): Home against Kentucky, Vandy, UGA, A&M. At S. Car, Florida, Tenn, Ole Miss. Thanks

Jim and Pam getting together ruined it. They tried to be the exception, but there is nothing interesting about a perfect relationship from an outside perspective. Well, there is, see Friday Night Lights, but they didn't have the chops to really dive into it.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 2, 2011 -> 07:26 PM) it would be interesting if Financial Times had proof of Madoffs ponzi scheme 8 years prior to the scandal breaking and chose to do nothing with it. The bottom line is that peoples lives have been affected, and the self riteous entity that is espn is pointing their fingers at McQueary/Curley/Paterno and at the same time saying "we didnt know what we should have done with it" about the Lauri Fine tape. It is bulls*** I totally get that. But it would be more like if Financial Times had a source saying that Madoff was doing that, with damning piece of evidence they couldn't verify, and then sat on that and found out later it was all correct. They are being smug about it. But I don't think that if I was reporting the case and couldn't find it to be true, that my instinct would then be, well I should give it to the police if they weren't even investigating at the time. I would probably encourage them to use the police, however.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 2, 2011 -> 07:06 PM) I still have a very hard time with sports reporting being considered journalism for the purposes of reporting laws. I sort of disagree because this is "sports reporting" only due to the fact that it deals with a basketball coach, but there's no real difference beside that. I don't think espn acted entirely above water...but I worry some self-righteous politician will make a short-sighted law out of this. If espn didn't know about the 2004 investigation, then who knows if they assumed that this tape was given to authorities as well. But I doubt they really didn't follow that investigation (if it was public). But no, I don't think they have a responsibility to give law enforcement that tape. And just keep in mind there are some major differences in this case and paternos.

All that withstanding, it's a terrible idea to force journalists to report crimes.

You all ready for Mizzou vs. Northwestern ST? go mizzou.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Dec 1, 2011 -> 10:05 PM) You're right on both counts. They gave up pretty much every asset to get Carmelo and because they paid Melo and Amare a full max, they can't offer Paul one as well even if they gut their roster. The Knicks also aren't nearly as scary, in part because the Heat probably have the two best players, in part because their D is a lot weaker and in part because they would have even less around their stars than the Heat have. The only way you could REALLY put a scare in the current top teams IMO is if you could pair Dwight with an elite perimeter player or two. That team would be a much much more fun version of Golden State.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Dec 1, 2011 -> 10:23 PM) You can't really have true competitive balance in the NBA. Either you have a superstar player that can carry you deep into the playoffs or you don't. The last 10 years has there been a single team with only 1 superstar, or at least...star? Basically we only have the pistons with Billups, but Wallace was far and away the best d center at the time.

this is getting me really excited.

Iowa has a reasonable way of doing redistricting.

Totally. I'm probably overly optimistic about Josie and Franklin next year. But our defense might get absolutely shredded, so who knows.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Dec 1, 2011 -> 04:22 PM) Well sure, if you don't really want to see basketball until 2014. Come on zoom, the sign and trade wasn't exactly "53% or we don't play" line in the sand.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Dec 1, 2011 -> 04:13 PM) Money. The superstar thing was among the many side issues. It also appears that they did make it a bit more financially disadvantageous to switch teams between new sign-and-trade and extend-and-trade rules and at least for now the lower max salary when switching teams (all of these guys have salaries higher than $14.5 mil right now, so they can still get raises if they stay). They should have eliminated sign and trade alltogether if they wanted to keep incentives high for that fifth year.

I have to say again, what the hell was the reason for this lockout? Wasn't it to prevent these superstars forcing trades to where they wanted to go?

sigh...what was this lockout for again?

The bulls aren't going to make 2 huge trades in the month leading up to the season.