Blogs like a girl

My BCS Standings -- Blame Championship Series

Blame, blame, blame and then assess a little more blame.
Blame everybody. Blame anybody.
Welcome to life after a collossal collapse of a playoff loss by your Dallas Cowboys. Everybody is looking for a "why" and nobody is sacred. Nor should anybody be after what we witnessed Sunday. In our weekly blogcast, Mr. Randy called this "a gutless pig collapse". This is a favorite term of his and normally "gutless" scares me away from dropping that label on teams. I had a hard time arguing with this assesment on Tuesday.
"Why" has been harder to come by, with so many candidates.
So I decided, college-football style and with your help, to rank blame candidates according to what we think most cost this team. This is my initial Blame Championship Series poll.

1. Coach Wade. He insisted nothing was wrong for a month. He was wrong. This failure to both note and correct said problem earns him the top spot.
2. Pat Crayton. Note to Pat, never, never, never quit on the route. Ever.
3. Casual approach to December troubles. Anybody who was paying attention saw this Cowboys team nosediving in December. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, much of Valley Ranch pretended this was a negative media conspiracy rather than real life. Maybe, they thought they could turn whatever was off come playoff time. They couldn't. This is what ultimately did them in.
4. Jacques Reeves and Roy Willy. You do not have to be a football genius to know what led every playbook of Cowboys opponents. The play was called: When JR and RW are on the field, go after them.
5. Conservative play calling. The Cowboys had won this year by flinging the ball all over the place. So why exactly did The Redheaded Genius go Ann Coulter-conservative in the playoff game?
6. Bill Parcells. He was why the Cowboys struggled in December, right? Seems I heard a lot of players and many media types saying this. So obviously he had his Jedi Mind Trick working from Miami.
7. Lack of discipline. Playoff games are all about who makes the fewest mistakes. And for some reason, this Cowboys team blinked first in this regard. Costing themselves an NFC Championship berth by failing to play smart football.
8. The offensive line. Oh my were they bad.

Your list may look different. You may be like the guy who emailed me blaming Terry Glenn. (Please do not be like that guy. Please.) Or maybe you blame Jessica or Romo or all of the assistant coaches interviewing for jobs or Jerry Jones. It is your right.
Just post your Top 5 Blame rankings and I'll compile a final poll.

Sign No. 457 This Cowboys Team Has Gone Hollywood

Always amusing when soulful crooner and Jess-ex, John Mayer, jumps in bloggy style on who Cowboy fans need to be blaming after Sunday's choke-artist loss to NYG. And, yes, that's Mayer carrying Jess on what I hope is a different beach vacation.

He's disappointed in Cowboys fans for blaming Jessica Simpson for Romo's woes despite all evidence suggesting he played pretty OK in this playoff game.
Mayer's blog begins Dear Dallas and Surrounding Areas:

"I have never known anyone to have more pride in their home state and their upbringing in it than Jessica Simpson has in Texas. I don't really follow sports, but I have played some of my biggest and best concerts in your state, and having witnessed how dynamic the spirit there is, I'm betting emotions are running high right about now. All witty barbs, blogs, and fashion policing aside, that girl loves Texas more than you know. It's one of her most defining traits as a person. So please don't try and take that away from her. (You probably wouldn't be able to, but it's less work for all involved.)"

Apparently, Mayer lacks basic sports IQ and fails to read Blogs Like A Girl because everybody, or almost everybody, is so over blaming Jessica. Anybody who watched Sunday's game realized Romo could have gone to Cabo with Big Bill, Vince Lombardi, The Redheaded Genius and a playbook and it might not have helped the Cowboys.
Everything was off.
So Jessica is off the hook but don't forget my BCS -- Blame Championship Standings -- will be released later today with all of y'all having a chance to submit your Top 5 blames for Sunday's choke job.

In Defense Of Bradie James

Cowboys linebacker Bradie James stepped into a mess Monday.
He went after us, your friendly neighborhood media types, and many of my good friends took him to task for said gaffe.

His "offending" quote was:

It's up to you guys to sell papers and to those other things and be negative. I thought from a media standpoint, we had a lot of local guys who were going against us, and we didn't understand that."

Just in case my "In Defense Of Bradie James" title failed to convey this, I have no problem with what Bradie said. I do not believe he was not trying to say the media was why the team lost to the Giants. He was being honest, saying kind of what T.O. said just without tears, about how Romo-Jess coverage had bothered them. Because, despite what many players and coaches say, they read.
Should Bradie have gone there? Probably not.
In black and white, without context, his comments sound a little like a Coach Wade excuse.

Therein lies my bigger problem with this Bradie backlash. He was at least out there, with his heart breaking on his sleeve, emotional, trying to answer questions that really have no answers because he understands that Cowboy fan want to know what went wrong. And yet we bash him for speaking his mind and I'm including everybody in this. I heard my favorite 3-6 sports-talk host cracking on Bradie a little during the Football Firing Line on Monday.
In reality, players like Bradie, Jason Witten, Greg Ellis, Pat Cratyon and a few assorted others deserve credit for speaking. You don't think PCrayton wanted to duck? He knew what was coming and he hung in anyway because that's what stand-up guys do.

Bonus points for Tony Romo and T.O. and Terence Newman and Marcus Spears and Leonard Davis, players who spoke after Sunday's game rather than gutlessly ducking what everybody knew were hard questions. This lead comes from Owners Jones, always willing to be face a firing squad of microphones. He understands accountability to fans.

If anybody deserves bashing for Monday, it was the guys who hid in the training room, leaving their teammates to answer for their screw ups. Yes, I'm talking to Roy Willy and Marion Barber and Andre Gurode, Ken Hamlin, Anthony, Henry, Julius Jones, DeMarcus Ware, Flozell Adams and on and on. So I have a really hard time having a problem with what Bradie said when so many said nothing.

 

The Dilemma

By now, everybody has joined ESPNTV's Ed Werder in reporting Baltimore is asking Jason Garrett to choose.
Here or there.
Them or us.
Right now or possibly later.
Of course, by doing so, your friendly, underachieving Ravens also have forced Owner Jones to choose as well. He responded resolutely when I talked to him Sunday in an emotionally charged aftermath of another Cowboys playoff failure. Coach Wade stays, he said, and to suggest otherwise was foolish. He provided himself with zero wiggle room, no caveats, no reminders that opinions change.
And no he has a choice, too:

Option 1: Keep Coach Wade. Let JG walk. And possibly be coach-less if Coach Wade fails again in playoff time next season.
Option 2: Fire Coach Wade. Hire JG.
Option 3: Keep Coach Wade. And hope like hell a truckload of cash, a wink-wink, nod-nod promise that he replaces Coach Wade and The Star keep JG in Texas.

I am torn between Options 1 and 2.
Just a brief explainer on why Option 3 is no-go in my mind. I hate "The Promise" to a coach on so many levels, namely what happens if Dallas gags again next season and JG has another "ish" play-calling day? Do you go back on your word? Or do you keep a guy who faith has been lost in? Nor does this even talk about what a joke this kind of deal makes of The Rooney Rule. And, of course, this sets up an almost weekly game of how long until JG replaces Coach Wade. After an ugly loss in Week 1? After a four-game losing streak? After a Super Bowl victory?

No, Owner Jones needs to decide and, if he's anything like me, he's torn.
Letting the redheaded genius go is the height of stupidity. Dallas has a young, up-and-coming coach who is a big reason why this team was 13-3. Owner Jones was smart enough to pry him from Miami and to let him go now, to watch another team benefit from him seems like such a gamble.

As I type this, though, I see Coach Wade and he's asking "What about me?"
Do I really deserve Cam Cameron treatment? After 13 victories?
And so as many questions as I have about whether he's capable of winning a Super Bowl for this team, whether he has enough butt kicker in him, firing his butt after this season seems a little unfair.

Of course, I will not rip Owner Jones too much if he does. I'm just glad I am not him. This is a very difficult decision with every Option having flaws.

Your turn: Advise Jerry. Which option do you think is the right one?
   

Monday Musings -- Part II

Late-night sometime-funnyman Jay Leno devoted a little sliver of his monologue Monday to cracking on QB Tony Romo and his latest playoff misfortune.

Actually, playing footage of T.O.'s crying defense of Romo drew Leno's biggest laugh. If somewhat unintientionally. He explained T.O. had been defending Romo from accusations that his Mexican tryst with Jessica Simpson had hindered his performance.

"I've got footage of their vacation in Mexico," he joked, flashing to scenes from of a cheesy 1950s Gidgette-type beach flick featuring a goofy dancing dude with blonde eye candy.

It's official. Romo is a punchline.

And get ready, Tony, because Leno is just the beginning.

He is about to find what life under the microscope is like, what going from The Next Roger to Tony Romeo is like, what being kicked in the man-parts is like.

Until about 12 seconds ago, Romo had been a universal feel-good story: a Cowboy fan favorite as well as media darling because of how much playing football seemed to mean to him and how good he was at making this game look easy.

And as an added bonus, he helped this Cowboys team win. A lot.

His happy train screeched to a halt Sunday when he lost his second straight playoff game as a starter.

What happened a year ago in Seattle was hardly an indictment of his QBing skills, an unlucky bounce really. And this season's loss to NYG had many culprits with Romo being way down in the blame-game rankings.

BTW, I will release how I voted in the blame-game poll Wednesday. And Romo is nowhere near my No. 1.
I am pretty much alone on this. By Monday, Romo had become a favorite punching bag of many local media types as well as national sports blog joke fodder and a welcome break from Britney for celebugossip blogs.

Even Eva Longoria jumped in with a little bit of advice for Tony and Jess.

Is this fair to Romo? Hardly.

He actually played a fairly decent game in Sunday's loss. He had his ugly moments, most notably his final pass where he had time yet forced the ball to a blanketed Terry Glenn. Mostly, though, he had zero second-half protection and spent Sunday's crucial moments battling frustration and blitzing Giants and awful drops and a player quitting on a route and abysmal penalties.

I'd also argue that doubt about whether his mind is right with ball is misplaced. Anybody who knows Romo, even tangentially, understands how badly this kid wants to be good and how hard he works to be so.

"Tony's personality, if you don't really know him, you might say he's not putting everything in, he's worried about other things, he's a celebrity quarterback and all," his best friend and tight end Jason Witten said. "But that's the furthest from the truth. More than anybody I've been around, Tony had the competitiveness to win and want to win and he has the ability to put everybody else in positions to be successful."

He brought some of this on himself, though, and that is not a criticism of his bye-weekend vacation or blaming Jessica for 21-17 to NYG. This is just a byproduct of a famous person dating a famous-er person and creating a famous-est couple requiring name smooshing like happened with Bennifer.

Is this Jessomo?

Or Jomo? Or Tessica?

Who cares? Nobody would except the Cowboys did not win a game they absolutely should have seeing as they were the better and healthier team, and they were playing at home. Aikman summarized Romo's dilemma perfectly when he noted during the broadcast: "If they do not go on to win this game, he has opened himself up to a lot of criticism."

Romo has lost a little of his accumulated goodwill with many Cowboys fans who feel like he's become more interested in being famous than winning a Super Bowl. They are used to Aikman who seemed to burn with a singular focus until he had a ring which then led to his famous-dating days.

Romo, of course, has a right to his private life.

He can date whoever, wherever. He just has to realize by his very public doings during his bye weekend
by putting himself out there he has added pressure to his already laden shoulders.

It wasn't wrong. It just was not smart.

And I blame Coach Wade for this a little. Sometimes the job of the coach is to save players from themselves. He probably needed to tell Romo that, while reality is reality, he probably does not want to create a perception that his mind is on anything except football.

Especially not a publicity hungry starlet.

He realizes this, I think. He seemed to tip his hand a little Sunday with his postgame remarks. He noted that he did not live with regrets and he's comfortable in his skin yet his word choice suggested he may choose differently if presented with such public plans next time.

He said "when I made the choice in those things, I felt like I was making a good decision."

I believe he really did think he was doing the right thing. It might have been, if they had won.

"I told you this was going to happen," Coach Wade said Monday. "If you lose, it's something like that. If you win, it wouldn't have been."

They did not win. And as usually happens, a lot of eyes turn to the quarterback. He is supposed to be the leader of the team and thereby held to a higher standard. He, along with the coach, is the guy everybody talks about when a team fails to win playoff games.

And it only gets harder from here for Romo.

Every year he doesn't win, the questions build about if he can, getting louder and louder until doubt itself becomes another thing he has to overcome. Just ask Coach Wade or Peyton Manning or John Elway. The monkey just shows up one day and everybody starts asking about him and wondering if the guy really can win the big one.

I have no doubt Romo can. And will.

What is frustrating is this year was set up perfectly for him and the Cowboys, with the bye and home-field and this is why the disappointment was so much worse than a year ago and why everybody is looking for reasons why this happened.

"It's been kind of bad luck for him that he can't win the big game," Witten said. "I don't think it's to that point with Tony. Obviously, he's put a lot of pressure on himself to like he has to be a leader and get us over the hump but I don't think that he feels like he can't win a playoff game."

And if Leno's perception comes to be seen as reality, the joke is he is too busy fawning over Jessica to care anyway.

Monday Musings -- Part I

So much for December not meaning anything.

This team had been in a long, slow, gradual decline ever since Green Bay. And while plenty of time remains for postmortems and autopsies. My trusty reporter's notebook was working overtime Sunday with problems I saw and reasons why this Cowboys team gagged away another playoff opportunity.

Let’s start with a sliver of good news: Chances of the redheaded genius leaving for another NFL job probably decreased, exponentially with every snap Sunday. If he’s even asked. Doubt certainly has surfaced after his performance against NYG.
Jason Garrett inexplicably turned into Bill Parcells.

Speaking of Big Bill: A few Cowboy players very obviously owe him an apology.
He was blamed for anything and everything, including global warming and a lack of Cowboy playoff victories. And when he bolted, everything supposedly was fixed.
Sunday basically debunked a popular offseason myth that his hard-driving style being what held this team back in Decembers past and in playoff games.

Tread carefully: The Barbarian had a really impressive game Sunday, gaining tough and physical yards as he owned the first half. It is the kind of running that leads to silliness like calling him feature-back material.
He lacks the breakaway speed necessary, the wiggle the great ones all possess and his style is prone to wearing down. In a season. And in a game. Just look at his Sunday numbers:
* First half: 16 carries, 100 yards.
* Second half: 11 carries, 29 yards.
What everybody learned is Barber is not nearly as dominating when he’s not a fresh set of legs going against an exhausted defense. Nor should his missed block be ignored. Obviously, he’s back and a big player. He just has to be part of a tandem.

From the “Tell Us What You Really Think” files: Giants players obviously took umbrage to Patrick Crayton’s trash talk and T.O.’s repeated use of that stupid popcorn line.
So defensive end Michael Strahan taught them a lesson in how to really do trash talk.
“We hope T.O. has his popcorn ready,” he said. “Maybe him and Crayton can sit in his home theater and watch us next week.”
Not to be outdone, Giants running back Brandon Jacobs also took shots at his big-mouthed nemesis, Patrick Crayton. He had been talking all week, all season really, including a few pointed jabs at Jacobs. He responded with his
“The Cowboys are a great football team,” he said. “They might have had a chance to win if Patrick Crayton didn't drop the two key passes. There was a lot of talk. But it’s over with. We won the game. They're chillin’ and we're going to Green Bay next week."
Unfortunately, for Crayton, he has to just shut up and take this. He has zero room to talk after his game that included a huge drop and giving up on a route, the Cowboys second-to-last play.

Why football is not hockey: Captain means something in hockey. It means when the worst happens, when a team loses unexpectedly, said players steps up and talks.
None of the Cowboys captains talked Sunday. Nor were they alone.
Too many players took the gutless way out and left a few stand-up guys to answer for what happened. Terence Newman, Tony Romo, T.O. and a few others had to handle everything. And that is not fair.
Crayton needs to be especially shame-faced since he talked all week and had plenty of explaining to do for his drop and for quitting on that second-to-last route.

See ya, Jacques Reeves: Can you take Roy Willy with you?
All kidding aside, this is a serious issue for this team. What to do with Roy, not Reeves. He really is gone. Roy. His money makes cutting him unlikely.It is not so easy with
His almost complete transformation into a non-factor makes him untradeable. He had a tackle Sunday, one, in limited duty. He has been the pink elephant in the room all season.

Adding insult to injury: Antonio Cromartie, the Chargers cornerback who was causing fits for Peyton Manning while Reeves and Co. were getting torched, was taken with the No. 19 pick in 2006.
Or with the pick right after the Cowboys took Bobby Carpenter.

Miss you, Bruce DeHaven: The Cowboys special teams were garbage Sunday, except for kicker Nick Folk and punter Mat McBriar, two players who basically took care of themselves.

Lies and statistics: Nobody loves stats more than Coach Wade. He has a statistical rebuttal for every criticism for his team, all year. So he had to love Sunday’s Giants game where the Cowboys dominated every stat except the final score.
Stats were good offensively.
Stats were pretty good defensively.
The problem was the Cowboys just were not that good. Period.

The exception: The Cowboys have scored four touchdowns in the last sixteen quarters. Talk about the stat that made the difference.

Housekeeping notes: Look for further Monday Musings, especially Romo-related later ones, this afternoon as well as my Page 2 column in Tuesday's paper. Lots of good locker room stuff, as well as Coach Wade, to come.

Monday Musings

I try not to be purposefully controversial in this space. I always hated those columnists growing up, the ones who said the opposite of what everybody knew to be true not because they believed it but rather to be unique.

So I truly mean this when I say: Don't underestimate the Giants.

Reading my esteemed Star-Telecolleague, Charean's offering, this a.m., had me thinking I had watched a different game than her and apparently everybody else. Popular opinion seems to be landing an Eli Manning-led Giants team rather than say 'Skin or Buc' was a fortuitous bounce, a layup drill into the NFC Championship game.

Coach Wade even floated possibly holding T.O. against NYG in preparation for a possible NFC Championship game, like a date with Green Bay is a foregone conclusion.

Say what?

Let's forgo another long, tedious debate on Cowboys and December and whether this team is indeed rolling into playoff time or stumbling. Instead, let's spend a minute on NYG and specifically the other Manning. He looked good to me Sunday, surprisingly good actually, especially when compared to Todd "Oh, That's Why I Sat For So Long" Collins and Jeff "Never Won Squat" Garcia. Obviously, in light of where he had been drafted and what N.Y. gave up to land him, Eli came with bigger expectations than Tweedle Bum and Tweedle Bummer.

And Eli failed all of them. Or he had been until Sunday.

He had been basically been written off, including by yours truly, as a JAG, Just A Guy, after losing to Dallas in November and very rarely do road playoff teams win with JAGs as QBs. Winning playoff games period with such QBs is crazy talk, the Trent Dilfer exception notwithstanding.

And all of this sounds really good for Cowboys chances on Sunday except Eli did not play like a JAG in Tampa. In fact, I daresay he looked a little Phil Simms-ish against a very good Bucs defense, underwhelming raw numbers yet an impressive enough game to free himself from N.Y. media buzzards at least until he reverts to disappointing form in Dallas.

Anybody banking on early or easy capitulation by New York or Eli is sadly mistaken, despite what is being sold locally and by Vegas oddsmakers this morning.

Not many Cowboy players showed for locker room time Monday. Those who did, though, say this Giants team bares very little resemblance to the one they saw in November and Eli's resurrection is Reason 1 behind this turnaround. In fact, linebacker DeMarcus Ware's exact words were "Not at all" followed by a lot of Eli love.

And, unlike certain "What me, worry? We're 13-3" voices at Valley Ranch, players admitted this team was not playing its best in December. As Ware noted, however, how a team is plays in January is what matters. And how this team plays against Eli has a huge bearing on how they play period.

A couple of Cowboys coaches said you usually get a good idea what kind of game you are going to get from the other Manning by how he handles the first two series. If he is nervous or off early, it has a tendency to lead to a funk that lasts all game. Whereas if Eli has a little success early, he tends to build on this.

And if this happens, this is not a Giants team to be taken lightly.

 

Give 'Em Hell, Part 2

Meet Miss Auburn, circa I have no idea.
What does she have to do with bringing the BcS to its knees? Nothing really. But she went to a university that knows the ugly side of this BcS system. They were robbed of an opportunity to play for a National Championship despite going undefeated. In the SEC. Not cool.

So our email target today is Auburn President Jay Gogue. You can read about Jay here.

His email is: jgogue@auburn.edu.

Talking points:
* Congratulate his school on another big victory against Alabama.
* Remind him how Auburn was lumped in with Utah and Boise State in 2004-05 and denied a chance to play for a National Championship and instead had to watch Oklahoma get drilled by USC. You may also want to ask him to ask 10 Auburn alums how they feel about the system.
* Drop in a very parental sounding reminder that universities are there for the students and, by not fighting this silly system, he is not doing right by the student athletes at Auburn.
* Sign your email War Eagle, with possible :). To warm him up.

Remember Jay is a possible ally so be kind.
Until later,

jengel

Give Them Hell, Part 1

What does my English Bulldog, Miss Ellie, have to do with bringing the BcS to its knees one email at a time? Nothing really. I guess, technically, she is no less qualified to pick who plays for the national championship and in The BcS Bowls than some of the idiot holes making the decisions.

So here is my plan. It is actually kind of simple.

Every day, I am going to give you the email address of one of the principle butt-kissers/enablers of a system that is slowly sucking the soul out of college football. Every other level of football -- from Pee Wee to the NFL -- uses a playoff to determine its champion.

I will also give you a few talking points to enable you to send them a nice, brief email suggesting a change is needed. Like now. Immediately. Before another season is ruined.

We are starting with my personal fave, SEC commissioner and BcS coordinater Mike Slive Slime. Be nice. He sounds a little sensitive in this Q&A with reporters Sunday.

His e-mail is mslive@sec.org.

Here are a few suggested talking points:
* When you were Conference USA Commish, did you find this system to be fair? What changed your mind?
* How can you argue the BcS works when every year ends in controversy?
* How is Mizzou ranked No. 6 in the final BcS rankings and yet not in a BcS Bowl?
* How can a team from a mid-major conference, i.e. Hawaii this year, feel like they have a shot at winning a championship?
* How can you look yourself in the face every morning, knowing you perpetrate this crime against all that is good and holy.

OK, the last one may be a little harsh. Stick with the salient points, namely "Give Us A Playoff".

Hugs and kisses to all and happy e-mailing.

jengel

As Tony Romo Turns

Seeing as for many of you PopSugar.com may not be a bookmarked web address, as it is with me, you may have missed details from Cowboys QB Tony Romo's big weekend with Jessica Simpson.
In LA.

For a birthday party.

Walking in with JSimp.

Notice that blond walking ahead of him, ready to go up the stairs, that is Simpson and all reports are that she is in love. Remember, of course, Romo apparently spent a late Thanksgiving with the Simpson clan.

Unfortunately or luckily, depending on your perspective, the lovebirds are not going to be able to spend as much time together with the Cowboys playing weekend games from here on out and that whole little playoff thing likely to take up some of his time.

Of course, I think this definitely vaults Romo ahead of Pats QB Tom Brady in terms of ability to land starlets. Thoughts?

Question Of The Day: The BcS Edition

Apparently, I am not the only one a little miffed at the BcS this morning. Read here and here and here and, of course, me right here. Yep, media and fans and coaches are mad as hell and we're not going to take it any more.

Except, we will.

We will watch because, despite this sham of a system for determining an overall champion (see that kid above, Colt Brennan, he is one of the kids who got jobbed), college football games are wildly entertaining and what else are you going to watch on New Year's Day?

So this has me wondering this morning if my righteous indignation is wasted and I'd be better trying to help Al Gore as he single-handedly tackles global warming. Or are college football fans angry and bitter and looking for a leader to take on BcS commissioner Mike Slive?

Your turn: Does the BcS system turn you off to college football?

Please Don't Read This Blog ...

... because this technically makes you a witness if the BcS decides to sue for defamation of character. And they might by the time I am done with them.

I hate the BcS.
I hate BcS commissioner Mike Slive.
I hate the Big 12.
I hate the Big 10.
I hate the Rose Bowl.
I hate Ohio State and Illinois.
Who else do I hate?
Oh yeah, I hate the Big 12 commissioner whose name I will not mention because he is such a nonfactor.
I hate the BcS standings.
I hate the American Football Coaches Association and its spineless members who say they hate the current system but do nothing to change it.
I hate the university ADs.
I hate BcS Daddy Roy Kramer.
I hate the university presidents.
I hate the power conferences.
I hate the Orange Bowl.   
I hate Orange Bowl executive director Eric Poms.
And I really hate Kansas.

As you probably guessed by now, I am a product of that famous Mizzou J-School and, if saying Chase Daniel and his Tigers teammates got ... well, a verb I am not allowed to use ... by the Orange Bowl and the BcS on Sunday qualifies me as biased, well, I'm OK with that because they were. How do I know this for sure? Because even Mr. Hate, a KU grad, believes Mizzou got BcSed. They were not invited to a BcS bowl, which is funny because they ranked higher in the final BcS standings than Illinois (9-3) and Kansas (11-1) and three other teams who gobbled up invites. Did I mention the Tigers (11-2) beat both KU and Illinois? Including whooping Kansas to reach The Big 12 Championship Game that ultimately led to their snub.

What exactly is the criteria for selection -- what happens on the field? Puh-lease. How silly of anybody to think how a team plays determines anything. Money and greed and back-room deals determine who wins everything in college football. This system stinks, a fact evidently not lost on Mizzou tight end Martin Rucker.

Listen to what Rucker told StL-PD columnist Bryan Burwell:

"I don't know if you need a playoff system to see that it doesn't make sense that one team (Illinois) lost three games and lost to you, and you only lost two games, and they're going to a BCS game and you're not. I don't think we need a playoff system to understand that, do we?"

How do you look a kid like that in the face, Mike Slime Slive? Or what do you say to coach Bob Stoops, whose Sooners defeated the  No. 1 team in the country while Ohio State sat on their keisters, only to watch Buckeye Nation backdoor into another national championship game?

Where Rucker is wrong, 100-percent dead wrong, is that this latest Mizzou slight does not scream "playoff, Playoff, PLAYOFF". It does. And this is not simply about Mizzou because Oklahoma and Hawaii and Georgia and USC and Virginia Tech were also hosed.

Let's stick with Oklahoma because, well, Stooper and Co. qualify as local and his post Big 12 Championship pleading had a big hunk of truth mixed in with his whine.

Oklahoma deserves a chance to play for an NC.
So does USC.
So does Georgia.
So does Hawaii.
So do Ohio State and LSU.

And the only way to accomodate everybody is a 16-team playoff, not this chaotic mess dictated by a bunch of old dudes in bad jackets and whom they feel like inviting to their antiquated bowls. Blame the bowls for giving a big, fat Heisman to any talk of change. They need things to stay the way they are so they can all travel the country on their junkets watching games and having their butts kissed under the guise of "determining who fits their bowl".

I feel I need to note that I have hated this BcS system since conception, a firm believer that college football needed to be like every other real American sport and have its champion decided in head-to-head competition on the field rather than being figure skating on turf where style points and judges decide who wins.

I screamed when the BcS jobbed Auburn.
I complained when the BcS dissed USC.
I have hated this BcS system for forever.

Now, however, they have really made me mad and they are not going to like me when I am mad because my goal is to make you mad, to make you hate them, to make you hate them so much that you join me in forcing them to change the system.

Starting Monday, Dec. 3, we begin 365 days of Operation: Give Them Hell. Details to follow.

Thanks LBOHers for letting me vent.
Hugs and kisses to all, except, of course, for those BcS butt-kissers mentioned above.
I think you know how I feel about you right now.

jengel

Live From The Alamodome, Part IV

I find myself, for the second time in three days, wondering why in the *&%$ sports have instant replay. It rarely never manages to correct the play. It was obvious during the Cowboys game, on the should have been catch and fumble by T.O. and in the Big 12 Championship game where Mizzou QB Chase Daniel scored a touchdown. Everybody who saw the play and then replays on TV saw that he clearly crossed the line. He was ruled down and, despite the fact every play is supposed to be reviewed and refs buzzed if there is a problem, it stood.

So either do replay right or don't do it. I do not care. But quit with this pretending like replay is doing anything except extending games.

Live From The Alamodome, Part III

In 15 minutes of football, I

* heard at least 10 people go Wizard of Oz on me, saying: "Mizzou, you're not playing Kansas any more." Obviously. And if Kansas ends up playing OU in a fraudulent Fiesta Bowl*, I have an ugly feeling for my Jayhawk friends and spouse.

* watched OU rack up six penalties. Six. Mizzou was the Big 12 virgin and supposed to be prone to such problems, not Oklahoma. Of course, from my vantage, I'm guessing such shenanigans are over because The Stooper just chewed the butts of guilty Sooner and a few innocent bystanders.

* wondered what happened to the Mizzou offense. They are better than this. I know OU's defense is good but this is certainly not the Chase Daniel I have seen all year.

* complained about how loooong TV timeouts are. They absolutely destroy the flow  of a game.

Live From The Alamodome, Part II

So this whole Les Miles indignant act -- I am staying at LSU and why would anybody suggest any differently -- is grating on my last nerve. I say this not to defend the media or the reporting of Kirk Herbstreit. I have no way of knowing who told him what, although, I am struggling to think he just yanked this out of his you-know-where for laughs.

Why, if Miles was so wedded to LSU, did he not kibosh Michigan rumors earlier?

Oh yeah, because he wanted (a) The Michigan job or (b) To at least use that job to pry more money from LSU. None of this makes him unique among college coaches or coaches in general or really human beings. What this always reminds me of is how unbelievably unfair college sports is to college athletes who do not have the same ability to bail on a commitment simply because somebody else is making them a better offer.

They have to stay, not matter what and no matter where the coach who recruited them and promised them undying loyalty during recruiting decides to go. This to me seems like the height of hypocrisy.

Your turn: Do you think college coaches, like players, should have to sit out a year if they want to go elsewhere?

Live From The Alamodome, Part I

This blog is brought to you by my respected Star-Telecolleague Wendell Barnhouse. Me, being my idiot self, left my power cord at home and currently borrowing his to charge what had been my dormant computer.

I am alive and in Santonio, waiting for Oklahoma-Mizzou to begin at what I am pretty sure is a game that begins at quarter til midnight. And may end a week from Tuesday. If I am lucky.

I keep promising a blog/column/note on my feelings about this game. I have just had a hard time wrapping my brain around Mizzou being ranked No. 1 in the country and playing in a Big 12 Championship game, with a victory sending them to the National Championship game. This program has been so bad for so long that I have to go back to my dad's days at Mizzou to find No. 1 rankings and hoopla and happy. He says those were lovely times. My memory is jammed with fifth downs and kicked balls and mainly just pain.

And now I am here, sitting about 10 feet from Brent Musberger as he talks about who he thinks deserves the Heisman and tells stories from games past and generally entertains us scribes with his thoughts on Mizzou-Oklahoma. (I hope it is not rude that I'm blogging while he talks.) Anyway, this all seems a little surreal, that they or I got here.

 

Question Of The Day: The T.O. Edition

This is not to bash T.O. for his inexcusable bobble that led to an interception in the end zone. That has been handled here and probably 1,000 other places that I am too lazy to look up.

It was a stupidly bad play by T.O.
He also had seven catches for 156 yards and a touchdown Thursday.

This dichotomy leads to the inevitable brain squeeze of which portion of his performance sticks in your brain, the screw ups or the dominance. Again. I am leaning toward his dominance but I probably could be swayed by a good argument.

Your turn: Which part of T.O.'s Pack performance stands out to you?

 

Question Of The Day, II: The Big 12 Edition

I have a lot of thoughts on this Big 12 game and promise to blog them up (or is down, like in jot it down? I need to remember to ask Cuban this next time I see him since blogging is his domain) when I settle my stomach enough to think about this game.

Yes, I am dying wondering if Mizzou, a team my love and money has gone to since forever, is capable of beating Oklahoma. Consensus around the sportswriting country is no and heck no. Of course, I do not like that answer so I bring it to you, the people, the biased Longhorns, Aggies and Red Raiders who have dealt with years of Stooper heartache.

Your turn: Do you think Mizzou wins?

Emptying My Notebook, Cowboys Edition

My notebook worked overtime in Thursday's 37-27 Cowboy beatdown of Brett Favre and his Packers. In my protracted on-field and lockerroom time, I

* had Owner Jones teasing me mercilessly for my Sunday big-girl offering. I am pretty sure his first words were "Hey Mrs. Hyperbole ... I could shoot you". He said this while throwing an arm around my shoulder and smiling and laughing so my life seemed pretty safe. What I, and everybody else who covers him, absolutely adores about Jerry is his sense of humor about himself and his famously thick skin. He really is one of my Fave 5 players/coaches/owners I have ever covered. Anyway, while waking up the tunnel, we were talking about what this game possibly signaled -- an NFC Championship berth? Super Bowl berth? Super Bowl, period? -- when he became very circumspect.

Him: This was good.
Me: Just good?
Him: I don't want to be Mr. Hyperbole.
Me: Good point.

* learned what all of the noise coming from the locker room after the game is. It is actually a cheer led by, wait for it, Coach Wade. Yes, the head coach of the Cowboys has a weekly postgame ritual where he yells "Let's hear it for ... " and his players go crazy. This was how it went Thursday.
Coach Wade: Let's hear it for the fans.
Players: Cheering.
CW: Let's hear it for the special teams.
Players: Cheering.
CW: Let's hear it for the offense and defense.
Players: Cheering.
CW: Let's hear it for the owner.
Players: Cheering.
This is where observers say Coach Wade became a little giggly. Into this din, he screamed, "Let's hear it for the coaches", at which Cowboy players went absolutely zoo. Is Coach Wade a little Golly-Gee-Whiz-ish, like Mr. Randy says? Definitely. Players love him and his little quirks, though, so who cares.

* talked to Cowboys offensive line coach Tony Sparano afterwards and, frankly, I expected a bigger smile from the leader of the group who did not allow a single sack of Tony Romo and had been singled out for praise by Owner Jones, myself and anybody watching. "It was a good rush and I thought we did a good job against them," he said.
So why this tempered enthusiasm? Was it the false start penalties?
"No," he said. "I'll take a couple of those if it keeps them from getting to Tony."
What I finally figured is Sparano is well aware of the Cowboys' December history. He has lived it. He plans to stay on his offensive linemen because, as good as Thursday felt, it is not their end game. Not even close. He did hint that, maybe, his players might get Nice Tony on Monday. For a little while, at least.

* spent a little post-podium time with Coach Wade. Now, I have to be a little careful here, not to do too much back-patting simply because I was one of the few media types calling for the Cowboys to hire him rather than Norv Turner. Did I mention I said Coach Wade? Anyway, I asked him afterward if he had an "I told you so" waiting to be  unleashed on everybody who predicted failure on this hire?
"No," he said. "That's not me."
I wish it were less me but, alas, all I can think about is every Buffalo Bills fan who flooded my inbox this offseason telling me what a disaster Coach Wade was going to be. To them, I bring a stat: 25-3.
That is Coach Wade and his defensive coordinator, Brian Stewart's, record in the last two NFL regular seasons.

OK, believe it or not, my notebooks is still teeming with unused nuggets that may interest only me. 
More to come later.
I must hustle, though, or I'll be in Austin traffic for approximately 27 hours trying to reach San Antonio.

Fourth-quarter observations

* DeMarcus Ware has a knack not only for big plays but timing his big plays really, really well.

* Remember my love letter to the junk butts from earlier? I think we may need to see other people. I'm just not so sure after three false starts, a hold and a delay of game. 

* Nobody is a bigger backer of Julius Jones than I. Yet even I was wondering why he, not Marion Barber, was in during that crucial series with about 10 minutes left and the Cowboys nursing a field-goal lead.

* Did you notice who the Cowboys started going to when the game was on the line, when they absolutely, positively needed a catch? Jason Witten. Of course, he was absolutely abusing the aforementioned A.J. Hawk, not that a linebacker should be judged on his ability to hang with Witten because that's pretty close to impossible.

* And then, boom, to Patrick Crayton, another hands guy, for what should be a victory-sealing TD. Notice my use of should-be and their use of Crayton.

* Why do I think we will have some Whine to go with our Cheeseheads about the pass interference call on the Miles Austin reception. It was close ... but I can see why Pack coach Mike McCarthy might be a little suspicious. These guys were A-W-F-U-L all game.

OK, I realize this game is way too close to bail on, especially with GBP marching downfield, but .... I am Ms. Quote Runner for Team Star-Telegram so I need to get downstairs or your Friday paper with have nobody saying nothing. Let's make a date, though, shall we? Let's convene back here tomorrow, in the a.m. and talk about my special Friday Musings and What's Left In My Notebook and about a certain Big 12 Championship Game.

Hugs and kisses. Love to all,

jengel