White Suburban Punk

This could be the greatest show ever created.

Maybe I should stop trying to pick college games.  All are against the spread, but I went 1-5 2 weeks ago and 2-9 this past weekend.  It seems that some years I’m uncannily tuned in to the college game and some years I’m, well, I’m not tuned in whatsoever.  There were some harsh losses last week, though.  I picked Indiana +17.5 against Iowa and they lost by 18.  Houston -7.5 against Southern Miss and they won by 7.  And Oregon State -8.5 against UCLA and they won by 7.  The pro picks have gone fairly well, though, 9-4 against the spread both weeks.  I’ll keep trying.

Rajon Rondo signed at 5 year, $55 million contract extension.  Great signing by Danny Ainge, I actually thought Rondo could get more money.  He’s still not in the top 5 highest paid point guards in the league.  If Ainge had let him go to restricted free agency, who knows what would’ve happened?  One of the teams that didn’t get Lebron, Dwayne Wade, or Chris Bosh probably would’ve dumped a plate full of cash on Rondo’s lap and the C’s wouldn’t be willing/able to match.

The supposed contenders with the Patriots for the AFC East crown are a joke.  Buffalo gets blown out by Houston, and Miami somehow beat the Jets.  Again.  Yet the Jets continue to talk.  Rex Ryan claimed that his team outplayed the Dolphins, but still lost.  Special teams don’t count?  They sure do on the scoreboard.  Miami, meanwhile, had 52 yards rushing and 52 yards passing for the game and their hero of the game, Ted Ginn, was called an embarrassment and a coward by a former Dolphin earlier in the week.  Patriots are 5-2, Jets 4-4, Dolphins 3-4.  In the AFC, Indy is 7-0, Denver 6-1, and New England, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh are 5-2.

It’s good to see that Florida head coach Urban Meyer came down hard on his player for the cowardly eye gouge on Saturday.  Suspended for the first half of the Vanderbilt game.  That’s sending a message.  And the guy who did it wears a face shield!

Wisconsin blew out Purdue, 37-0 Saturday at Camp Randall.  Purdue played horribly, with tons of dropped passes.  But when that happens, they should be shut out, and they were.  In fact, Purdue’s QB was 5-23 for 59 yards and a pick, so it wasn’t just the dropped passes.  Purdue had 141 total yards for the game; Wisconsin had 150 in the first quarter.  Nuf ced.  Next up: at Indiana Saturday.  They’ll probably still be reeling from their choke job against Iowa.  Wisconsin is now ranked 22 in the coaches poll and 24 in the AP.

One other note: former Badger and current Houston Texan Owen Daniels tore his ACL in the Buffalo game and is out for the year.

Liverpool lost to Fulham 3-1 in the Premiership over the weekend.  That’s 7 losses in the last 8 games in all competitions.  Rumors are that Fernando Torres’ injury is more serious than they’re letting on.  They’ve got a must-win at Lyon in the Champions League Wednesday and then another must-win Monday against Birmingham at Anfield, televised on ESPN2.  I guess they’re all must-wins now.  Chelsea plays Manyoo at Stamford Bridge Sunday.

It was nice to see that the Phillies held on last night to force game 6, but I’m not too optimistic.  I really don’t want them to do it against Pedro, though.

Wisconsin hockey kicked the living crap out of UNH, 4-1 and 6-1.  Not a nice homecoming for Blake Kessel.

Cliff Lee dominated the yankees last night, just dominated.  From the nonchalant catch of a pop up to his behind-the-back stab of a one-hopper, to his ten strikeouts and complete game, 122 pitch performance.  The Stadium was silenced.  A-Roid, after tearing through the division series and ALCS, went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts.  Back to the old A-Roid?  Now Pedro takes on AJ Burnett tonight in Game 2.  Burnett is an imposter, but I really hope Pedro pitches well.  I haven’t looked forward to a WS game like this that didn’t involve the Red Sox in a long, long time.  I really wonder if the fans will chant “who’s your daddy” at Pedro.  Do they remember how that worked out for them last time?  Hopefully the Phils will pound Burnett so hard that Pedro can just go six and leave with the lead.  That would be perfect.  Then Girardi can go through 10 more pitchers all while having the look on his face like he’s taking a crap.

The Celtics are 2-0 in the new season, beating the Cavs on the road and destroying Charlotte in the home opener last night.  The Celtics didn’t even play all that well last night and still cruised.  Looking good.  They’re so much deeper than last year and KG looks better than I thought he would.  The defense is intense as always, too.  And Rondo hasn’t really shown all that much yet, at least as far as being aggressive taking the ball to the hole.  I’m sure that will come soon.  Rasheed is an absolutely awesome addition to this team.

Liverpool beat Manyoo 2-0 on Sunday and looked terrific doing it.  Torres played and scored, but Gerrard wasn’t able to make it onto the field.  They did show him sitting with his lovely wife Alex several times, though.  They played with great tenacity and life, really for the first time this year.  The team apparently lost yesterday to Arsenal in the Carling Cup, but the big teams usually play a lot of youngsters in that competition.  Alberto Aquilani was supposed to make his Liverpool debut in that game and he should be able to help the big club soon.  He was one of the two big signings over the summer, and I think he’s coming back from a broken ankle.  Looking forward to seeing him play.  Liverpool now sits fifth in the Premiership, six points behind Chelsea, although Man City and Villa have a game in hand behind them.  The Reds play Fulham on the road Saturday.

Wisconsin plays Purdue at Camp Randall Saturday.  Hopefully the bye did them a world of good.  They’re on a two game losing streak right now, and are seven point favorites.  That may be a little high.  The Badgers haven’t really beaten anyone soundly all year, and we’ll see if Scott Tolzien continues to throw bad interceptions.  Maybe the kid, Curt Phillips, will see more of the field in this game.

Badger hockey hosts UNH for two this weekend, but neither game is on tv.  I wonder if there will be any arrests of UNH players, given that it’s Halloween weekend in Madtown.

The Bruins host New Jersey tonight.  The Devils were a boring team to watch before, now their coach is Jacques “neutral zone trap” Lemaire.  I plan to stick to baseball.  The Devils are 6-4 on the year, the Bruins 5-4-1.  The B’s currently sit in fourth place in the Northeast Division.

Home Calls

Three sports, two countries, but there were some extremely questionable/controversial calls favoring home teams on Saturday.  Saturday morning, Liverpool played at Sunderland in the Premiership.  Early in the game, Sunderland’s Darren Bent turned and fired a shot from relatively close.  The ball struck a beach ball and deflected past Liverpool goalie Pepe Reina and into the net.  Surprisingly (at least to me), the announcers on Fox Soccer Channel did not know if there was a rule governing such a situation, and the studio analysts at halftime claimed the goal was “somewhat controversial” and “just desserts” for Liverpool, since replays showed it was actually a Liverpool fan who threw the ball on the field.  However, the Fox Soccer website later quoted a former Premiership official who claimed that the play should have resulted in a drop ball, not a goal, due to “outside interference”.  This former official also claimed that it was a “basic law” and a rule that would be learned on an “initial refereeing course”.  Essentially, anything other than the 22 players and the referee is outside interference, whether it is an object on the pitch or a fan.  Needless to say, the goal counted, and Liverpool lost the game 1-0.

Next case is Arkansas/Florida, at the Swamp.  After Arkansas goes up in the fourth quarter 20-13 on a 75 yard touchdown on 3rd and 17, Florida benefited from two extremely favorable calls on the ensuing drive, including pass interference in the end zone and a personal foul for unnecessary roughness.  Both calls were awful.  Florida scores, game tied at 20.  Florida later gets away with offensive pass interference in the end zone, and wins 23-20.  Note: the officials have since been suspended by the SEC for the ridiculous unnecessary roughness call.

Case three is USC/Notre Dame, from South Bend.  On Notre Dame’s final drive, the officials bent over backwards to do everything they possibly could to allow the Irish to tie.  Two extremely questionable personal fouls and even putting one second back on the clock for one more chance after time had expired.  Despite all the help, Jimmy Clausen was unable to get the tying score with four plays inside the USC 10 yard line.  Epic fail.  And this is your Heisman candidate?  Are you kidding me?  After his wild fourth down incomplete pass, Clausen looked shocked, not for the loss, but because he wasn’t gifted another ridiculous flag.  Even with all that help, he failed.  His Heisman candidacy should be finished, but of course, it’s the most overrated college football program in the country, and the remaining schedule is BC, Washington State (neutral site), Navy, at Pittsburgh, Uconn, and at Stanford.  In fact, the best scoring defense on the remaining schedule is Uconn, and they give up 19.6 points per game, 30th in the nation.  So we will continue to hear Jimmy Clausen rhetoric for several more weeks.  Really looking forward to it.

Case four is the phantom double play that was not given to the Angels in the bottom of the 10th at Yankee Stadium in Game 2.  Obviously, this didn’t directly result in a run or the Yankee win, but it was yet another extremely questionable call favoring the home team.  A somewhat striking note about these four instances is the fact that they all took place in stadiums with “intimidating” reputations, including the Stadium of Light in Sunderland.  Clearly, the Swamp, South Bend, and Yankee Stadium qualify.  It’s something that as fans we all know we have to live with, but Saturday brought stark examples.

I’m So Bored With The USA

Liverpool’s loss, mentioned earlier, was their fourth loss in nine league games.  They lost only two Premiership games all of last year in finishing in second place, and now sit in eighth, seven points behind Man U, as Sunderland leapfrogged them with the win Saturday.  Predictably, the calls for the sacking of Rafa Benitez have begun again, this time even including Nick Webster from Fox Soccer’s website.

Rafa did prepare for this game in a rather bizarre fashion, starting three center backs.  Should a team of Liverpool’s caliber really be making radical adjustments to match up with a team like Sunderland?  The team was also hindered by injuries to Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, and Javier Mascherano had to come off the bench after international duty.  It all added up to an ugly day for Liverpool.  There was the unbelievable goal allowed off the beach ball (thrown by a Liverpool supporter – how does that happen?  He threw it in front of his own team’s goal!), but the team played extremely uninspired football.  Ryan Babel stunk, as usual, despite his incessant demands for playing time.  Youngster Jay Spearing was in the lineup and didn’t acquit himself all that well.  The team clearly wanted to rely heavily on Yossi Benayoun, but he was largely invisible in the first half and effectively handcuffed in the second.  Glenn Johnson had possession in threatening positions several times, but he would typically wait until the ball was taken away from him.  I believe Liverpool had two legitimate scoring chances all day, but after bringing on Mascherano and Voronin for Spearing and Skrtel, the team did start to show some life, just not enough.  So it’s yet another loss, and now the calls begin again for Rafa’s head.  I’ve really had enough of this.  He didn’t have his two best, world class players.  The goal was a fluke and shouldn’t have counted, anyway.  And Sunderland really isn’t that bad so far this year.  Their goalie is Scotland’s #1, they led Chelsea at the half before losing, and they beat Man U at Old Trafford.  Clearly, the top teams in the Premiership are going drop a lot more points than in previous years.  What surprises me is that world soccer fans seem to be more trigger happy than American sports fans, besides Dan Snyder and the former incarnation of George Steinbrenner.  This is at least the third straight autumn that fans and media have called for Rafa’s job.  In fact, last year, British bookies even took Benitez’s sacking off the books for a time.  They wouldn’t take the bet.  Now, I know Liverpool’s owners are idiots, but I sincerely hope and believe they’re not this stupid.  You can’t get blood from a stone, people.  Tuesday Liverpool plays Lyon at Anfield in the Champions League, and Sunday they get a visit from Man U.  Lyon leads the group with two wins in as many games, and it appears at least Gerrard will be able to play.  It’s obviously a huge week, and I fully expect Rafa to have his charges ready and I certainly expect better results.

Badgers

Ouch.  That one’s going to leave a mark.  Again.  WSP was very confident in the Badgers coming into this game.  After essentially dominating Ohio State at the horseshoe last week, I figured Bielema’s boys would return to Madison and play “Wisconsin football” and handle Iowa rather easily.  Iowa has pretty much done it with smoke and mirrors so far this year, and that continued Saturday.  What exactly is that team even good at?  They don’t pressure the passer, they’re not that great against the run, they hardly have an explosive offense, and they don’t run the ball all that well, either (1 100 yard rusher this season).  Bielema was 15-0 in 11 am games in Madison and Wisconsin was 34-3 at home in the last five years.  Kirk Ferentz was just 5-5 vs. the Badgers.  The first half was essentially all Wisconsin, yet they only led 10-3.  The dominated in total yards, 172-79, first downs 11-3, plays of 10+ yards 7-2, and had caused five negative Iowa rushing plays, to just one for Wisconsin.  Neither team had turned it over, and Wisconsin had survived what at first appeared to be a devastating knee injury to John Clay.  Montee Ball replaced him and got his first career touchdown to cap an excellent 92 yard drive. 

But the second half was all Iowa.  UW quarterback Scott Tolzien threw a terrible pass for an interception on UW’s first possession, which Ricky Stanzi turned into an Iowa TD with a 25 yard pass play while on the run on 3rd and 7.  Clay had returned, but looked tentative the rest of the day.  Wisconsin managed to get a turnover on a strip sack of Stanzi, but Wisconsin couldn’t get anything.  Tolzien was nearly picked on 2nd down, and Nick Toon dropped a pass in good coverage on 3rd down.  Philip Welch then missed a 38 yard field goal attempt.  Iowa responded with a quick drive for a TD and a 17-10 lead.  That was pretty much it.  Wisconsin couldn’t run at all in the second half, as Iowa kept eight men in the box.  Tolzien threw two more interceptions, giving him six in the last three games, and Wisconsin has scored one offensive touchdown in the last two games.  After a promising start to the season, Tolzien has been exposed, and it’s eerily similar to last year’s quarterback debacle with Allan Evridge and Dustin Sherer.  These guys just aren’t that good.  Wisconsin goes into a bye next week, and calls have started for redshirt freshman Curt Phillips to run the show.  But can Bielema really bail on his starting quarterback for the second year in a row?  I doubt he will.  Next up, Purdue in Madison on Halloween.

Upsets

Purdue at Ohio State (-13)

Colorado (home) Kansas (-9)

Kentucky at Auburn (-13)

Texas Tech at Nebraska (-6)

Close Calls

I picked Arkansas to beat Florida, banking on a major hangover for the Gators after last week’s rousing win at LSU and the return of the Chosen One.  With major help from the officials (see above), Florida managed to escape.  Watching the fourth quarter of Arkansas/Florida and USC/Notre Dame, I think I tied my record for saying “what the “&%$#” for the most times in one hour since Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.

Patriots

Wow.  Just wow.  Was it the snow that got Brady to focus more?  Whatever it was, dial it up.  He looked absolutely vintage 2007.  Maroney even looked great for once and all the offensive weapons were clicking.  The interesting story was on the defense, where Adalius Thomas was a healthy scratch and Shawn Springs and Leigh Bodden didn’t start.  Result?  Shutout.  That Belichick guy is really going to make it in this league.

Charissa Thompson

WSP fave and Big Ten Network sideline reporter extraordinaire Charissa Thompson will be, uh, sidelined, with a broken foot and ankle and will be on crutches until at least November 1.  We at WSP will miss her terribly, especially after reading this interview and the following quote:

You host a show called Big Ten’s Best.  What would you say is the Big Ten’s best city to travel to, best fight song, best gameday environment, and best fan base?

Thompson: I hope no one gets offended, but my favorite school to visit and do a game at is Wisconsin.  The town, Camp Randall, the fans…all of it.  I love Badger football games.

God bless her and here’s to a speedy recovery.

October 13, 2009

Well, that sucked.  Badgers lose to Ohio State for their first loss of the season, Red Sox lose game 3 at Fenway to get swept by the Angels, and the Patriots blow a lead and lose at Denver in overtime.  Ouch.  That’s gonna leave a mark.

To start with Badgers, what a bizarre game.  Wisconsin basically dominated the game, outgaining OSU 368-184, owning the time of possession 42:47-17:13, and only turning the ball over one more time than the Buckeyes, 2-1.  But the team that dominated got blown out.  Killed.  Destroyed.  Annihilated.  Both Wisconsin turnovers were returned for touchdowns and the real killer was the kickoff return for touchdown in the third quarter after UW had cut the lead to 21-13.  That was all she wrote, despite the statistical imbalances.  The encouraging thing for Badger fans is that there is no doubt that UW belonged on the field with Ohio State.  Matt Millen kept repeating (and repeating and repeating) that UW was losing the battle at the line of scrimmage, and maybe they were on certain plays.  But taken as a whole, Wisconsin moved the ball extremely effectively all day, and Ohio State simply did not.  Wisconsin had 22 first downs, Ohio State, 8.  Terrelle Pryor: 5-13 for 87 yards, 1 TD and 1 interception.  Of course, the touchdown was huge, coming right before the end of the first half, and really the only time all day that Ohio State moved the ball offensively.  The bottom line is that Ohio State made big plays when they absolutely needed to, and that won them the game.  Ouch.

The Red Sox, on the other hand, simply got outplayed for three games.  The Angels were just as good as the Red Sox last year, but they essentially choked late in games (remember, they were all close).  This time, they didn’t choke, and if anything, the Red Sox did.  At least, their closer chose an awful time to not be clutch.  But really, the Angels weren’t really lacing the ball off Papelbon, they were more Texas Leaguers that showed that it just wasn’t the Sox’ year.  Now, next year is probably the last run for this group of core players.  Ortiz, Lowell, Beckett, and Victor Martinez, are all free agents after next season (although Sox have 2011 club option on Ortiz for $12.5 million).  One would have to believe that Theo and company will try to extend Martinez this winter, but it’ll be interesting to see what they do with Beckett.  Clearly, he is among the best pitchers in the game and he is 29 years old.  Do the Sox risk letting him play out his contract next year, or try to extend him this winter?  My guess is they try to extend him, but it will be costly.  He made $10.5 million in 2009 and is due for $12.1 million in 2010, relatively a bargain for a starting pitcher of his caliber.  Of course, the big question immediately is Jason Bay.  How aggressive will teams like the Giants, and, yes, the Yankees, be in going after one of the only outfielders with thump who is on the market this winter?  The top of the minor leagues is now essentially bereft of talent, so can we really expect the Sox to improve over this season?  Right now, it doesn’t seem likely to this observor.  For this reason, I believe the Sox will be aggressive this winter in trying to trade for a young, impact player, be it Adrian Gonzalez, Felix Hernandez, or Prince Fielder.  If that doesn’t happen, I think it will be a while before the Sox approach 95 wins again.

Ah, the Patriots.  It seems so bizarre to be worried about the offense when Brady and Moss are both healthy.  And this talk that the offensive struggles were due to Welker being out appear to have been overblown.  Yes, Fred Taylor is out now, too, but this is football, for crying out loud.  Somebody is always hurt.  Remember, in 2007, this offense overcame absolutely everything to win and win and win.  So what’s wrong?  I’ve got to come down on the quarterback play, although the offensive line doesn’t look the same, either.  I have every confidence that the quarterback play will improve as the season goes on, and the Patriots will be a dangerous team come playoff time.  Super Bowl?  I don’t know.  I was very confident before the season started, but now this team just doesn’t look like the old dominant Patriots.  And there are some much better teams in the AFC now, as well.  The Colts are playing as well as they ever have, the Broncos are one of those teams that plays good defense and doesn’t make mistakes, Baltimore is good, and you’ve got to believe that Pittsburgh and San Diego will be there at the end.  I guess I’d even have to put the Jests up there.  I think we’ve got parity here, folks.  Of course, it’s only week 5 and things tend change rather gradually between now and the playoffs.  Teams that look unbeatable now will look very beatable in January.  And hopefully for the Patriots, the opposite will be true as well.