Game of the Century: Part 2?

As we are now right in the middle of the holiday season, another crazy season simultaneously  descends upon us: college bowl season and the mess that is the BCS this time of year. Every year we seem to have the same debate when it comes to who should play for the title, who got snubbed from a BCS bowl, who is in that shouldn't be, and what to do with the BCS-busting schools. And yet year after year nothing changes in the system leaving us with the same mess year in and year out, and leaving many fans and players unhappy with the results of the somewhat flawed system.

This season the BCS is a total mess, and many teams feel they have a legitimate argument as to why they should be playing in the BCS Championship Game on January 9. There are a total of 5 one loss teams and two undefeated teams in the top 7 of the BCS standings. All of these teams believe they should be in position to play in the title game but only two can actually play in the game. The one argument that gets many of these teams in a frustrated, almost angry position is that the top two teams; LSU and Alabama, are both in the same division of the same Conference; the SEC. But where the real problem comes in is that Alabama will not be the SEC champion no matter what because of a loss to LSU in the "Game of the Century" earlier this month. Despite this loss, Alabama has a rather commanding cushion over the #3 team in the nation; Oklahoma State, in the BCS standings making it nearly impossible for Oklahoma State to pass an idle Alabama team, setting 'Bama up for an easy route to the title game, meanwhile LSU has a SEC championship game to play in which a star player may be hurt, so in a sense 'Bama is rewarded for losing to LSU by getting a bye week and still being able to play in a National Championship game.

Another situation that's not getting national attention, but caught my eye comes from the Pac-12. Oregon beat Stanford by a hefty margin this month, but yet the Andrew Luck lead Stanford Cardinal rank #4 in the country while Oregon is stuck at #9, yes I know Oregon has 2 losses while Stanford only has 1, but if you look at those losses, one of them is to #1 LSU, in a game in which was reasonably close (13 pts) and a close, tough loss to a tough USC team, I don't get how Stanford is ranked ahead of them with the soft schedule they played in non-conference games, and Oregon is in the Pac-12 title game while Stanford sits at home, like Alabama, just waiting to be invited to a BCS bowl without winning their conference.

I think that the best solution to this whole mess would be to set up a playoff system, a tournament, similar to the basketball one, in which you still have the BCS standings but the standings only seed the teams in the bracket, take the top 16 teams in the standings at the end of the year and playoff to determine the National Champion, this way these teams have a chance to prove they belong in the title game. In this system you could also eliminate the month off teams have between the regular season and the bowl games, you could still have bowl games for those not in the top 16; but i think this would be a more fair solution to determine the national champ.

That said, in the current system i believe the BCS actually has it right, i believe 'Bama and LSU are the 2 best teams in the country and should be playing in the title game, i think that's how it would work out in the playoff format, and would agree with the BCS if they had a rematch for the national title, i just see how the other teams have a legitimate argument as to why they should be in instead of Alabama.

It's a Family Thing

I wasn't really sure what to write about this week so i thought i'd write about something that is a little unique and something that i think is really cool with my family. As you all already know i am huge into bowling, what many people, even many of my close friends don't even know that i am a 4th generation bowler, it may even go back farther than that but that is as far back as i know.

I know my great grandpa Roerdink was a bowler because my grandpa has a picture of him with his team from the American Bowling Congress National Tournament from sometime in the 1950's, i was also just told this week by a member of my church that he (my great grandpa) was a pretty good bowler back in the day, unfortunately i have no memory of him.

My grandpa has been involved in bowling for a long time in his life. It started out when he got a job as a pin boy for the 4 lanes that were at the former Knotty Pine in Oostburg. His job was to set pins, clear 'deadwood' off the pindeck, and get the ball rolling back to the bowler. He has told me stories about how he knew who was bowling and who to take cover for as some bowlers threw the ball much harder and sent pins flying places, making it necessary to dive for cover to avoid being hit by flying pins.

My dad has been the biggest influence on me getting into bowling, he's been one of my coaches for as long as i can remember, even when he didn't realize i was doing things backwards at the start because i am a lefty and everything looked right from his perspective as a righty. I owe much of my success on the lanes to what my dad has taught me and supported through as i bowled tournaments and leagues and high school meets.

One of my grandpa's brothers (my great uncle) is also a bowler, as is my dad's brother (my uncle) altogether on our monday night team there are 5 Roerdinks on the roster. We have already had 3 generations bowling on the team on the same night which i think is really cool. How many other sports are there where you can have 3 generations of family competing at a high level in a sport they share a mutual love for?

I love bowling for many reasons but this is one thing that makes bowling really special for me that i take for granted way to often.
Thanks Dad and Grandpa for getting me involved in a game i now love!

A Little Early....?

I am not a person who dislikes Christmas, like some people out there. But i thought it was a little ridiculous last week wednesday when i was driving and a Christmas song came on my radio. Just past halloween, barely into November, and hardly thinking about the next holiday, Thanksgiving, and there it was, Christmas music on my radio. And then this evening, sitting at home paging through the channels trying to find something interesting to watch, since the NFL games on at the time were not close or had no significance to the Packers, and again more Christmas stuff. Dr Suess' how the Grinch Stole Christmas on one channel, Elf on another. And i again thought to myself, Christmas movies on TV already?

So i guess what i'm asking is, how early is to early? I think it is still tooo early to be airing Christmas themed shows and songs on the TV and radio, I think the proper time to start airing Christmas stuff is after Thanksgiving, whether it be the day after or December. By playing the Christmas songs and shows before Thanksgiving it almost feels like Thanksgiving is being skipped over. I also think that Christmas stuff on already brings the somewhat dreary feeling of winter that everyone is trying to put off as long as possible.

So i kinda wanna know what other people think, is it too early to play Christmas music and be playing Christmas movies on TV? And when is the appropriate time to start hearing and seeing Christmas shows and songs? Or am i kind of alone on this one and really more of a grinch than i think i am.

The Warhawk Invite

I spent my weekend in Madison watching a couple of my friends college bowling meet. I had friends bowling on the teams from Nebraska, Robert Morris University, and UW-Whitewater, I found myself also watching many of the other teams there, there were 38 total at this tournament, the Warhawk Invite. As i watched the bowling go on with my friends dad and my high school bowling coach as we focused on Nebraska (his son is bowling on the team and we're really close as we've been teammates since we started bowling) and my dad who was our assistant coach, i found myself thinking i could probably make it at this level.

I had considered going to a college with a bowling program all along, but in the end i thought it was a smarter decision to attend UW-Sheboygan to save a little money, keep my job, and i'd still be able to bowl competitively anyways. As i watched, i saw many things that made me think i could make it at this level. For one, many of the kids bowling looked as if they had no idea where their ball was going once it left their hand, and they seemed to have no idea what kind of adjustments to make as the lanes dried up and started hooking more, i also saw many makable spares missed and thought the spare shooting was not as good as it could be. I also saw that the lanes did not play as difficult as i had thought they would, i saw other bowlers there who were left handed and threw a similar shot to what i do, and be fairly successful. i have also been told by my friend that i could probably have made their team had i chosen to go to Nebraska.

I kinda feel like i'm talking up on myself and getting away from the tournament, which was fun to watch, it was also fun to get to see some friends i havn't seen in a while and will probably only get to see when they come home for break. The Nebraska team with my close friend struggled a little bit, but my other friend's team Robert Morris is currently ranked 2nd in the nation for men's bowling and won the tournament easily, they along with another 10ish teams were very good in my opinion.

All in all it was a good weekend and i had a lot of fun watching all the bowling and seeing my friends again, but it also made me think again about what i want to do after my time at UW-Sheboygan is over, i may consider going to a college where i can participate on their bowling team.

Brewers offseason outlook, NBA lockout developments, and the PBA

I've been trying to come up with topics not about sports, and come to the conclusion that this mostly is in vain. Sports are what i know and pay attention to, and i can become rather opinionated about certain situations and consider myself to be pretty passionate about my teams.

With the World Series over and the hated Redbirds winning the title, the big question in Brewer nation now is, what do we do in the offseason to get even better to go all the way next year? Many Brewer fans i talk to seem to think that the Brewers NEED Prince Fielder to have any chance to compete for a NL pennet. I tend to think the other way though, i think that the Brewers starting pitching is now good enough to keep the Brewers in games and in contention, i just think they need some help at a few positions to solidify the team and push the Brewers to the next step. Although i just stated that the Brewers starting pitching is good enough, i think the big needs lie in extending the contracts of Greinke and Marcum; yes the same Marcum who was atrocious in the playoffs. also i think the Brewers will make a push for Rangers pitcher C.J. Wilson, the acquisition of Wilson would push the Brewers over the top. i think 3rd base is a big question as well, do we stay with McGehee, Taylor Green, or do we make a push for David Wright or possibly Kevin Youkilis. and then 1st base, does Fielder stay, do we put Matt Gamel there or go into free agency for a 1st baseman.

This next part i guess would be my "Jim Rome is Burning" opinion. Earlier this week reports were heard that the NBA would probably have to cancel another 2 weeks of games. Then the very next day it all sounded as if a deal was close at hand, just to take that back two days later and cancel two more weeks of the season and say that talks had broken down. i wanna know how you can be in a room discussion the proposed deal for 15 hours and not get any closer but in fact take a step or two backwards and put yourself farther away from reaching an agreement than when you started the day? I just don't get it.

Being a bowler myself and a person who enjoys watching the PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) i am kind of finding it a little depressing with the fact that the PBA season hasn't even started yet, when no more than 5 years ago they would have 3 tournaments in by this point, the first of which was in Milwaukee for a 4 year period. I also am not a huge fan of the way the PBA has structured its "World Series of Bowling" where 6 tournaments are held within a two week period and the TV broadcasts of the finals of these tournaments tape delayed. i always enjoyed going to the PBA website to watch the live scoring updates of qualifying and match play when the tournaments were bowled on a week to week basis and all of the TV broadcasts were live.

I would look for the Brewers to make a splash in the free agency market upcoming, the NBA to not have games till after the new year (anything before that would be a bonus), and for those of you with nothing to watch on sundays when the packers play the late game, starting Dec. 4 flip to ESPN at the noon hour and watch a PBA tournament, you may not find as interesting as i do, but its still gotta be more interesting than watching golf or tennis.

The Jet is on the Runway..............?

With the Brewers out of the playoffs and my interest level in the World Series waaaay down for the fact that the Cardinals are in it and not the Brewers...actually i wouldn't mind if it was anyone except the Cardinals, but i know find myself on weeknights i'm home looking for something to watch. It is about this time of year i start watching my favorited NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks, just out of boredom because the NBA regular season isn't really all that interesting, but the NBA is currently in a lockout and the stand off between the players association and the owners doesn't look to have a light in the end of the tunnel yet.

But let's think for a second...who is really hurt by this lockout? No, not the players, i'm sure LeBron is still doing just fine with his shoe endoresements, and many of the players have signed contracts to play overseas during the lockout. The owners? Ya...not so much, they're all rich businessmen who can suffer to take a little bit of a hit from the postponement of the season at this point. i think the people that are really hurting from the lockout are the teams employees. The people who work the ticket offices and the various venders of refreshments and memorabilia. While LeBron is off endorsing his shoes for Nike and chilling at some vacation home many of these people have no work to do right now, forcing them to search for another job until this whole dispute is over and players are back on the court and tickets can be sold.

Unlike the NFL lockout in which there was a legitimate shot at working out a deal before the season, the NBA has already cancelled the first two weeks of the season and are not making any progress toward a new deal. All along everyone new this lockout would be worse than that of the NFL, nobody really expected to have any real games before the new year, but now it is beginning to look like there may not be a season at all. It's not like i live and die with the Mavericks like i do with the Brewers or Packers, but it's gonna be a bummer not being able to watch a team as fun like the Mavericks do what they do.

In a typical post about the NBA, I'd end it with a sign off of LET'S GO MAVS!! but as there is no NBA and the Packers rolled again to go 7-0, I'll have to end it with...
GO PACK GO!!!!!

UGH......

With lots of stuff going on in the sporting world today, i still cannot get away from what is really bugging as i write this right now...the Brewers game. I could write about the Packers dominating to move to 6-0, or the tragic death of Indy Car driver Dan Wheldon in a race today in Las Vegas (R.I.P. Mr Wheldon), or even the Badgers standings in the first BCS standings of the season. The Brewers play so far tonight even has this die-hard fan feeling the life of another season slip away wondering...why?

My first question is what exactly happened to our starting pitching that had been soo consistent the entire regular season? In the playoffs the Brewers have really only had 3 good starts by the starting pitchers, Games 1 and 5 in the NLDS by Yovani Gallardo and one by Randy Wolf in game 4 of the NLCS. Other than that the starting pitching has been average in some games (mainly Greinke's starts) and downright awful in the other games (Marcum's starts.) and when you really look into it it hasn't only been the starters, the middle relievers from the bullpen has also had its struggles.

The other thing leaving me scratching my head about this team is the defense. Yes, i know we are not an exceptionally well fielding team, and i never said we were, but there have been a few games this postseason where plays that HAVE to be made simply havn't leading to extra outs for the opposition and regularly leading to runs putting us in a hole.

One bright spot in the postseason has been the play of Jerry Hairston Jr. i really wasn't a fan of his before the postseason, but he has showed that he is a solid player, who might give McGehee a run for his job next spring training. It's been a great season with the first division championship since '82 but right now it looks like we'll be just a little bit short. Not sayin its over yet, im still glued to the tv hoping for a comeback but looks like we'll hafta get 'em next year!
GO BREWERS!