White Suburban Punk

Celtics:  The Celtics lost a heartbreaker/backbreaker last night, so they’re down in the series, 2-1.  It seems they can win with just two of the Big Four sharp all game, and KG delivered.  Rajon Rondo was great for three quarters, but then disappeared in the fourth.  And of course, they got absolutely nothing from Ray Allen and very little from Paul Pierce due to BS foul trouble.  If just a couple of Ray’s open looks had fallen, it might’ve been a different game.

Liverpool: Kenny Dalglish has removed himself from the committee to choose Liverpool’s next manager, indicating that he may think he is the best candidate.  I hope that’s how it works out.  He’s a Liverpool legend and he can be a caretaker until the sale of the club goes through.

Big 10:  It looks like Jim Delany has maneuvered a gun to the head of Notre Dame.  If they join the Big 10, and only them, the current national conference structure and the BCS will apparently remain intact.  Supposedly Notre Dame would join on the condition that they were the only school.  If they refuse to join, the story goes that the Big 10 will go to a 16 team superconference, the Pac 10 will raid and destroy the Big 12, and the SEC will raid and destroy the ACC.  Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Notre Dame, and a bunch of ACC and Big East schools would appear to be left out in the cold, with speculation that Notre Dame would then have a difficult time filling their schedule against teams from the superconferences.  I’m not sure I buy that, but a move to superconferences would at least theoretically increase the chances of an eventual move to a playoff, which could perhaps leave Notre Dame and the other remaining rejects out.

As a Big 10 fan, what do I want?  Sure, I would much prefer a playoff to the BCS, but just aesthetically I would rather have only Notre Dame join the Big 10 than five other schools that include Rutgers.  Football scheduling would be a mess in a 16 team league, where each school would not play seven other schools, while in a 12 team league each team would still not play three other schools.  That could result in a questionable system for a playoff, where you’re not even really sure who the best teams in each conference are. 

The bottom line is that there is no perfect system for football.  There’s just too many teams and there is a limit on how many games they can play.  I want my school to have the opportunity to win the Big 10 and go on to play the best teams from the other conferences.  Some kind of playoff system is preferable to the BCS, but in order for that to happen, we have to go to superconferences?  It doesn’t seem like a great choice to me.  Kind of reluctantly, I guess I have to fall on the side of adding five teams if that will lead to a playoff, which could provide the added benefit of screwing Notre Dame.  And actually, couldn’t all the rejects create their own conference?  The Big Reject Conference:  Notre Dame, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Colorado or Baylor, BC, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Maryland, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, and South Florida.  But that’s 18.  It makes my head spin.  I’ll just have to sit back and watch the fireworks.

Photo from Boston.com

Tottenham Hotspur clinched the final Champions League spot in the English Premier League with a 1-0 win over Manchester City, with the goal scored by Abigail Clancy’s fiancee, Peter Crouch.  Liverpool have clinched a Europa League spot as the seventh place team.  They can finish no higher than sixth.  Rafa Benitez has begun a series of meetings with Liverpool’s top brass, but there is still no word on transfer funds available or the sale of the team.  It does appear that Benitez will be staying with the club, however.

Hull City, Burnley, and Portsmouth will be relegated to the League Championship.  Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion have been promoted, and the playoffs begin Saturday for the final promotion spot.  Sixth place Blackpool will play a home and home with third place Nottingham Forest, and fifth place Leicester City will play fourth place Cardiff City.

Chelsea will clinch the Premiership title with a win at home against Wigan.  Manchester United plays at Stoke City trailing Chelsea by one point.  Everyone’s final game is at the same time Sunday, 11:00 Eastern in the US.

The Red Sox swept Orange County in a four game set and everything appears to finally be coming together, just in time for a visit from the yankees.  That game is actually third fiddle in the Boston area tonight, however, as the Bruins look to sweep the Flyers in Philly and the Celtics host the Cavs in game 3.  The loss of David Krejci could be devastating for the B’s, as he had been superb in the playoffs and the team really relies on his creativity in the offensive end.  If the Bruins can wrap it up tonight, they could get some significant time off, as Montreal tied up their series with Pittsburgh, 2-2.  Ole!

The pitching matchups for the Sox series are: Josh Beckett vs. Phil Hughes Friday night, Clay Buchholz vs. CC Sabathia 3:10 Saturday, and Jon Lester vs. AJ Burnett 8:00 Sunday.

We were on the receiving end of a crazy week of weather here in New Hampshire, USA last week.  It knocked out power to over half the state and White Suburban Punk just got it back this morning.  There was a foot of heavy, wet snow Tuesday night through Wednesday night, and then heavy rain and high winds Thursday and Thursday night.  Power went out at WSP World Headquarters Thursday night.  Friday was fairly calm, with snow showers.  I was able to drive around and assess damage — pretty severe.  Trees down everywhere, poles snapped, driveways blocked by branches.  The Piscataquog River nearby was in flood stage and it was a pretty impressive, though frightening sight.  The river was super high and flowing fast, with large chunks of ice forming dams.

Friday night we received five more inches of wet, heavy snow and all day Saturday there were heavy snow squalls that would last for 30 minutes at a time.  By Saturday night, it was getting really old.  Losing power doesn’t seem like a very big deal when you think about it, just a minor inconvenience.  But during the winter it sucks.  You’re cold and wet, and nothing dries out.  Even with a generator, you’re still essentially camping in your house.  It gets very boring, too.  Physically exhausted from snow removal, I read a lot, but eventually I get sick of it.  Listen to the radio, put on music.  Drink some wine.  Inevitably, the mind wanders.  Nostalgia, regrets, depressing thoughts.  Wake up cold in the dark, no idea what time it is.  Isolated.  I roll over in bed at 5:00 this morning and thought I saw a light through the woods.  I get up and sure enough, I’m back on the grid.  It was only two and a half days, but it seemed like an eternity.  I’m alive again.  There’s no way I’m going back to sleep.  Up at 5:00, making coffee, trying to get caught up on the world.  Earthquake in Chile.  Badger hoops blows out Indiana (their worst home loss since 1914).  Liverpool comes from behind(!) to beat Unirea and advance in the Europa League (Skrtel injured, Lille is next in Europa League, Blackburn in Premiership today).  Badger hockey sweeps Michigan Tech, holds second place in WCHA, last regular season series is next weekend vs. Minnesota. USA Hockey blew out Finland, will face Canada for Gold today.

There’s more snow coming — today, tomorrow, and Tuesday.  But tomorrow is March.  NCAA Tournament is just around the corner.  Baseball is right after that.  Daylight savings starts in two weeks, spring in three.  We will get by.  Il faut (d’abord) durer.

The US v. Canada game last night was simply awesome, great, great hockey.  And that was the best empty net goal I’ve ever seen.  US will play the winner of Switzerland and Belarus, while Canada has to qualify against Germany and then will have to play Russia.

What a hit Alexander Ovechkin put on Jaromir Jagr, and it set up a goal.

Way to go for New Hampshire’s own Bode Miller.  After all the grief and insults he’s gotten from the media, it’s great that he was able to shut them up.

The Patriots win an ugly one in Buffalo, but a win is a win at this point.  Especially on the road.  Randy Moss’ comments after the game were hilarious.  I wonder if there will be any talk that Wes Welker quit on the team after his quiet day.  Laurence Maroney continues to look good, really fighting for yards.  I had to admit I was worried after the Bills’ first drive, but then they reverted back to what they are, and the Patriots defense played well against an awful team.  Jacksonville is up next, and supposedly New England still has an outside shot at the #2 seed if San Diego loses its final two games.  I still can’t figure out the Patriots offense, though.  The same personnel as 2007, but it sure doesn’t look like it.  Is it all Brady?

Liverpool lost to last place Portsmouth, 2-0, over the weekend.  They now sit in seventh place.  Javier Mascherano got sent off for a bad tackle, and he managed to strain his MCL on the play, as well.  So he’s suspended and injured.  I don’t know if it can really get any worse for this team.  Wolverhampton is next in the Premiership on Saturday.  They drew a Romanian team in the Europa League, which will start in February.

The Champions League draw also took place, with Inter Milan getting Chelsea, The Chosen One’s current team and former team.  And AC Milan drew Manyoo, David Beckham’s current team and former team.  Should be interesting.

The Landon Donovan loan to Everton went through.

So Mike Lowell is back with the Sox.  Both player and team must be thrilled.  If he’s going to be ok by Spring Training, why didn’t the Rangers just go through with the trade?  They’d only be paying him $3 million.

The Cubs traded Milton Bradley to the Mariners for Carlos Silva.  So the M’s continue to improve, while all the Angels have done is sign Hideki Matsui.  That also means that Jason Bay will not be going to Seattle.  I’ve got to think that he’s not real psyched to play for the Mets, with the big ballpark and circus atmosphere.  I hope I’m wrong, but I still think the yankees are going to swoop in.  Speaking of, Brian Cashman claims that the yankees will “almost certainly add a starter by New Year’s,” according to the New York Post.  But no one seems to have any idea who that would be.

Coco Crisp is going to the A’s.

Bill James projects your Opening Day first baseman, Casey Kotchman, to hit .272 in 372 at bats (122 games), with 9 HR and 52 RBI in 2010.  His best year was 2007 with the Angels, when he played in 137 games, hit .296 with an OBP of .372 and slugged .467.  He finished that year with 11 HR and 68 RBI.  The next year he was traded (with a prospect) to the Braves for Mark Texeira and hit his career high 14 HR.  He was considered a top prospect by Baseball America for a number of years; in 2002 he was ranked 22nd, 2003 13th, 2004 15th, and 2005 6th.  He’ll be 27 years old in February.

Glen Davis will supposedly return to the Celtics in early January.

Everyone’s favorite whipping boy, the Big 10, has seven teams in bowl games.  Only two are favored to win, Minnesota by 2.5 over Iowa State, and Penn State by 2.5 over LSU.  The other five are underdogs.  Wisconsin is 3 point dogs to Miami, Ohio State 3.5 to Oregon, Iowa 4 to Georgia Tech, Northwestern 7 to Auburn, and Michigan State 8 to Texas Tech.  Does the fact that 5 of the teams are underdogs prove the conference sucks, or if they have another bad bowl year, can Big 10 fans say, “yeah, but 5 of the teams were underdogs?”

In the wake of the Mike Cameron signing, rumors persist that the Red Sox would consider sending Clay Buchholz and Jacoby Ellsbury to San Diego in exchange for Adrian Gonzalez.  I can understand Padre GM Jed Hoyer asking for Ellsbury, but I seriously doubt Theo would bite.  Ellsbury is the only legitimate speed on the team and should continue to progress into a consistent lead off hitter.  The only move Ellsbury should make is to left field.

According to FanGraphs.com, 36 year old Mike Cameron was the third best defensive center fielder in baseball last season, based on Zone Rating, or UZR, at 10.0.  This measures the number of runs above or below average a fielder is in both range runs, outfield arm runs, double play runs, and error runs combined.  Jacoby Ellsbury was last in baseball, at -18.6. 

Offensively, Cameron may not be as much as a drop off from Jason Bay as the media projects.  2009 statistics:

Admittedly, Cameron’s stats are from the National League, but it’s not as big a discrepancy as one would think.  And Bay’s 2009 zone rating was -13.0.  It looks like he’s going to disappear into the abyss that is the New York Mets.

Meanwhile, what the hell is happening to the Disney Angels?  They’ve lost their ace, John Lackey, their sparkplug, Chone Figgins, and apparently will lose their aging superstar, Vlad Guerrero.  They did sign Hideki Matsui, so I guess all is well.  Their division rivals, the Mariners, have taken Figgins from them and added Cliff Lee to King Felix.  And the Mariners led the AL in ERA last year. 

Liverpool beat Wigan yesterday at Anfield, 2-1.  Once again no clean sheet, after Wigan scored one minute into second half added time.  Liverpool goals came from David Ngog and Fernando Torres, who came off the bench.  Ngog is looking better and better every game.  The team played with much more spirit and verve, unlike the seemingly indifferent play in the Arsenal game.  It was a very entertaining game, pretty open, chippy, and lots of scoring chances.  Torres now has 35 goals in 37 league games at Anfield.  Next up is at Portsmouth on Saturday.  Liverpool still sit in sixth place, 13 points behind Chelsea.  By the way, Fox Soccer has “upgraded” their website, and it’s a total disaster.  It was obviously done by people who have never surfed a sports website in their lives.

The US will play Honduras in January in a World Cup tune up.  Fine, but they would be much better off playing teams they haven’t played before, non-CONCACAF teams.

Wisconsin basketball beat Cal Poly 90-42 last night.  Not quite like in football in 2008, when Cal Poly took UW to overtime and only lost because they missed two extra points.

More Randy Moss analysis: From Merril Hoge, via Michael Vega at Boston.com: 

John Lackey and Mike Cameron to the Sox.  Sweet.  Lackey as a #3 starter?  That’s pretty freaking good.  It’s great that Theo kept these moves so quiet, too.  Just last week I wrote that I wished Lackey was more on the Sox’ radar, and it turns out he was.  I guess Theo isn’t writing off 2010 after all.  Lackey will fit in great with Beckett, Youk, Pedroia, and Victor Martinez.  I really like this plan of attack — there’s no way we’ll ever be able to outslug the yankees, but we could outpitch them.  And improving the defense is key to that.  Jason Bay never seemed like a particularly bad outfielder to me, but the defensive metrics apparently say otherwise.  And Mike Cameron is unquestionably an excellent defensive outfielder.  He can play any of the outfield positions, too, allowing Tito great flexiblity to sit Ellsbury or Drew against tough lefties.

I would also be fine with Adrian Beltre at third base.  Again, excellent defensively, but don’t expect too much with the bat.  If the offense is as bad as the Boston media says it will be, they can always try to add something during the season.  I’m afraid to mention it, but Big Papi claimed he was going to come into camp next year in the best shape of his life.  Just sayin’.

I guess an Adrian Gonzalez deal could still be in play, maybe even more so since they’ve added a quality starter without giving anything up.  It seems that would create a very left handed heavy batting order, though, without a real right handed power hitter.  Still, that would be a nice problem to have.

Ah, Randy Moss.  Sixth in the NFL in receiving.  Opponents double team him so much that it allows Wes Welker to have an absolutely crazy day.  In fact, Welker is #2 in receiving yards and Moss #6 in the league.  And Moss is #5 in the NFL in receiving touchdowns.  Not bad for a quitter.  Sure, his production Sunday definitely didn’t pass the smell test.  So he had a bad game, but the team won.  It appears the coach is behind him, the QB is behind him, and the rest of the team is behind him.  He’s still a captain.  As the Young Fresh Fellows say, everything’s gonna turn out great.

The Patriots should retire Kevin Faulk’s #33 when he retires.

The Celtics have won 11 in a row and have the best record in the NBA.  When is Big Baby coming back?  I thought it was supposed to be December.  Anyway, the only win over an elite team was opening night against Cleveland, but they’re definitely beating the teams they should beat, and looking good doing it. 

Big 10 to add a twelfth team?  I think it would be a good thing at this point.  It could even help in recruiting, and of course an elite conference shouldn’t be sitting home watching everyone else play.  But divisions will be awkward, especially for football.  Do you go east/west, or north/south?  I would think that Michigan and Ohio State have to be together, but then do you include Penn State with those two?  And who exactly is the twelfth team?  Notre Dame, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Missouri?  Don’t even freaking joke about Rutgers.

Liverpool lost to Arsenal 2-1, this weekend, and the misery continues.  They didn’t even look passionate, which is extremely worrying.  So far this year, they’ve really risen to the occasion against the big teams, but not so in this game.  The Europa League draw is Friday.  Juventus and Marseille joined Liverpool in dropping out of the Champions League.

Flight of the Conchords is over after two seasons.  Great show, but probably a good decision.  How far could these guys really go before things got tired?  It was just too creative to go on for too long.  Hopefully they’ll come up with some one-off type stuff, and maybe some HBO specials.

On another TV note, Friday Night Lights has been incredible this season.  Best show on television, bar none.

The news from Patriots camp is pretty insane, with the two losses in a row, the inability to win in someone else’s stadium, the four players being sent home, Adalius Thomas essentially blasting BB, and now Brady supposedly has a rib injury.  Things really seem to be falling apart, but BB has four games to rally them.  It’s been a confusing year.  They still have so much talent on offense, but stunningly can’t execute, especially in crunch time.  I think Bill O’Brien has to get a lot of blame for the play calling.  It seems that whenever they start running the ball effectively, they immediately go away from it.  Please come back, Charlie Weis.  The defense has probably played about as well as anyone could have expected, with the youth and all the new players.  Adalius Thomas and Derrick Burgess appear to be bums, and the lack of a pass rush is killing them.  Any secondary would look bad put in that situation.  It’s incredible that they’ve already lost as many games this year as last year, especially considering how Matt Cassel has played this year.  Four games to get their act together, get back to basics, and PLAY TO WIN THE GAME.

The Sox are reportedly close to consummating the deal trading Mike Lowell to the Rangers.  Great guy, 2007 World Series MVP, but the team just has to have better defense on third base.  Of course, they now have to replace his bat, too.  I would think they’re either going to trade for Adrian Gonzalez or sign Adrian Beltre.  If they trade for Gonzalez, Roy Halladay is obviously out.  My guess is that Jason Bay will re-sign here, but if not, I don’t think they’ll get Matt Holliday.  LF would probably end up being a platoon between Jeremy Hermida and somebody like Xavier Nady. 

Is everyone excited about Marco Scutaro?  No.  Boof Bonser?  No, but I’ve actually always liked him.  He was a first round pick in 2000, and is now coming off shoulder surgery.  Good risk, but probably not lots of upside.  After the yankees traded for Curtis Granderson, if they get Bay or Matt Holliday or, god forbid, Doc Halladay, just forget 2010 and 2011.  Although Doc is probably out for them now after trading away one of their top prospects in the Granderson deal.  They could sign John Lackey, though, which would be almost as bad.  I’ve always liked him; it’s too bad the Sox don’t seem to be looking at him any closer.  Theo did have a comment about 2010 being a “bridge” to the future, and it’s getting to the point where no one will be able to compete with yankees next year anyway, so why bother.

The only good news this offseason has been the report that Peter Gammons is leaving the four letter network to join MLB Network and NESN.  Welcome home, Commish.

Badger football doesn’t get a New Year’s Day bowl game after the Outback Bowl bizarrely picked Northwestern.  Sure, they beat the Badgers, but we had a better overall record.  Anyway, I much prefer the matchup against Miami.  Better team than Auburn, and Miami is a team I truly hate.  Incidentally, ESPN’s 30 For 30 show is doing “The U” this Saturday night.  I’ve watched all the episodes so far of this thing, and it’s really good.

Badger hoops got themselves ranked after beating Duke, and then lost in OT at UW-Green Bay.  Harsh, but it looks like UWGB is actually a pretty good team, so hopefully that loss won’t look so bad later in the season.  Marquette is up this Saturday at 6:00 Eastern on ESPN2, in Madison.  Gotta win that one.

Badger hockey is on a nice roll, and they look like they could be for real this season.  They’re #11 in the country now, and they play at #3 North Dakota this weekend.  Friday night’s game will be televised on the NHL network, and I think they usually use the Badger announcers for those games.  The trend this year is for the Badgers to massively outshoot their opponents, at least with shots that reach the goalie.  Five of Wisconsin’s six defensemen have been drafted in the first two rounds of the NHL draft.

Liverpool finished up their Champions League schedule with yet another hard luck loss, this time to Fiorentina at Anfield, giving up the game winning goal basically at the death.  They play a huge game against Arsenal Sunday at Anfield.  I think it will be televised on Fox Soccer Channel.  It looks like Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard will both start for the first time since October.

Everton is supposedly in talks to get Landon Donovan on loan from the MLS.  Hopefully it happens, but I’m skeptical.  The league owns all the contracts in the MLS, and they have a history of asking for exorbitant sums for players on loan.  It would be great for Landycakes, though, and I would be really curious to see how he performs in the Premiership.

That’s all I got.

Wrapping up the weekend, Liverpool tied Man City 2-2 at Anfield Saturday.  The Reds got goals from Martin Skrtel and Yossi Benayoun, who returned from what looked like a severe hamstring injury in the previous game.  He received treatment from a woman in Belgrade with horse placenta.  Yes, horse placenta.  Steven Gerrard played the whole game, but he still looks rusty after missing so much time.  Fernando Torres is still out and will miss the Champions League match with Debrecen Tuesday, and probably will miss the Everton derby next weekend.  The Reds need to beat Debrecen and hope Fiorentina does not beat Lyon tomorrow to have any hope of continuing on the Champions League.  They are still seventh in the Premiership.  The World Cup starts in 199 days.

Wisconsin basketball has their first real test of the season tonight at midnight eastern in Hawaii against Arizona.  Remember these were the two last at-large invites to the tournament last year, but both proved they belonged.  Wisconsin is generally picked seventh or eighth in the Big 10, and are not projected to make the tournament field.  However, they have never missed under Bo Ryan and the strength of this year’s team is two senior guards, Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon.  If Jon Leuer becomes the force they were hoping for, I think they’ll be in the mix again.  Unusually, most prognosticators are saying that the Big 10 is strong this year.  It sounds strange when all you hear is Big 10 bashing all the time.

The Sanchize didn’t look to good in Foxboro yesterday.  In fact, he looked absolutely bewildered.  Maybe we can add a Sanchize face.  8-21, 136 yards, 4 interceptions, and 1 fumble.  And I haven’t heard much mouthiness from them since the game, either.  That loss effectively knocked them out of the playoffs so Rex The Mouth Ryan will have to find another way to motivate his team the rest of the year.  Crying failed, what else you got?  Wes Welker was awesome and the defense only gave up 1 score.  The hype for Monday night in New Orleans has already started, and I’ll be interested to see what the line is.

Wisconsin football lost at Northwestern, 33-31, a game I was frightfully afraid of.  I haven’t still haven’t watched it, and I’m not sure if I will.  The Badgers apparently had three possessions to win it and punted once and turned it over twice.  At Hawaii in two weeks, and then wait for the bowl assignment.  They deservedly dropped out of the top 25 in both polls, although it still looks like a New Year’s Day bowl in Florida.  Tennessee would be interesting matchup.

Les Miles completely bungled the clock in LSU’s loss to Ole Miss, and then lied about it after the game.  He claimed he didn’t know who told his QB to spike the ball with 1 second left, but TV cameras showed him making the arm motion.  Plus he let 17 seconds go off the clock before he called a timeout.  It’s hard to believe that national championship was only two years ago, when he blew off Michigan.  Speaking of Michigan, Rich Rod managed to blame Lloyd Carr for his team sucking the last two years, saying that they’ve had bad Februarys the last four years.  The guy just seems like he’s over his head in Ann Arbor.  Jim Harbaugh is a Michigan man, isn’t he?  Although he will probably be considered the favorite for the Notre Dame job after they fire Charlie Weis.  I wonder if Charlie will come back to the Patriots.

I actually went 8-0 on my college picks against the spread, so I would’ve doubled my money if gambling were legal.  But I don’t live in Vegas, so it’s not.  I was actually kind of curious about this, so I did a bit of research.  Here’s what I found out:

Sports betting had been left up to the states until The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, which effectively outlawed sports betting nationwide, except for a few states.  It passed overwhelmingly in both the House and Senate.  Sports lotteries in Oregon and Delaware were exempt, as were licensed sports pools in Nevada.  Then in 2006, the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act was passed and signed by President Bush, which had an online gambling measure called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.  It prohibits the tranfer of funds from financial institutions to illegal internet gambling sites.  The Congressional supporters were Republican Jim Leach of Iowa and Republican Robert Goodlatte of Virginia.  Republicans Bill Frist and Jon Kyl are credited with ensuring passage in the Senate.  The Bush Administration had previously stated that it would not finalize any rules after November 1, 2008, but the final regulations were issued on November 12, 2008 and came into effect on January 19, 2009, the day before President Obama took office.  Democrat Barney Frank introduced a bill in May, 2009 seeking to overturn the gambling aspects of the Act, and he also introduced a bill to delay the implementation of the Act for one year, until December 1, 2010.  Neither have been acted upon.

I’m not touching any more of the Belichick fallout.  Let’s just say it’s been a tough week to live in New England as a sports fan.  The sports talk radio has been especially vicious, and add to that the predictable savage hatchet jobs from the columnists, especially Shaughnessy and CTRL-C Borges.

We’ll know the entire 32 team field for the World Cup at the end of the day today, with the final leg of the six playoff matchups.  Greece is at Ukraine tied 0-0.  Portugal plays Bosnia at Sarajevo with a slim 1-0 lead.  It appears Portugal will have Bruno Alves (who scored the goal in the first leg) and Deco for the game, but no Ronaldo.  Apparently Ronaldo will be back from his ankle injury for Real Madrid’s ”clasico” against Barcelona on Nov. 29.

In the other matchups, Ireland plays France in Paris, with France up 1-0, Russia is at Slovenia with Russia ahead 2-1, Algeria plays Egypt in Sudan with Egypt up 2-0, and Uruguay hosts Costa Rica ahead 1-0.

The final draw for the World Cup is December 4.

Liverpool plays Manchester City at Anfield Saturday.  Glenn Johnson, Daniel Agger, and Steven Gerrard are expected back from their injuries, while Fernando Torres, Yossi Benayoun, and Albert Riera will continue to be sidelined, although Benayoun and Riera’s injuries may not keep them out the full four weeks that was originally expected.

Wisconsin scored the most points they’ve ever had vs. Michigan Saturday in the 45-24 win.  Michigan came in as the #1 rush offense in the Big 10 and got only 71 yards.  The Badgers struggled in the first half, as Scott Tolzien had an ugly interception and fumble, but Michigan only got 7 points off the turnovers thanks to a blocked field goal.  The Badgers then scored on all four of their second half possessions, with 3 touchdowns and a field goal.  John Clay rushed for 150 yards, Nick Toon had 5 catches for 98 yards and 2 TDs, Brad Nortman had one punt all day, and Scott Tolzien became the first UW QB to win Big 10 offensive player of the week twice in the same season.  He finished 16-24 for 240, with 4 passing TDs and 1 rushing TD.  I’d say the game was a small measure of payback for what Michigan has dished out to Badgers fans over the years, although we all remember the punch in the gut losses more than the wins. 

Wisconsin is now ranked #16 in the BCS, #14 USA Today, and #17 AP.  Collegefootballnews.com has them at #10 in their overall rankings.  The bowl picture is still very unclear, but the Outback Bowl vs. an SEC team seems likely, as long as they win the downright scary game this week in Evanston against Northwestern.