GoDaddy (et al) Can Go to Hell

The NFL needs to apply their "personal conduct policy" to their Super Bowl ads.

What a bunch of hypocrites. They rightly punish Ben Rapistburger for his abusive off-the-field actions, but condone ads that celebrate the mentality that leads to players' off-the-field problems in the first place: the objectification of women and sex.

And all while the kids are watching. I guess the Super Bowl is not fit for family viewing any more (and really hasn't been for several years now).


UPDATE
By the way, GoDaddy wasn't even the worst offender this year. No, that dubious distinction, at least in my book, goes to Pepsi Max. Jerks.

Another Reason for Me to Despise Mark Cuban ...

... he's meddling in NCAA Division 1-A football by trying to start up a playoff.

My Comments:
Hey, I have an idea, numbnuts. Why don't you focus your efforts on bringing an NBA Championship to Dallas and quit meddling in other sports?

(With owners like Jerry Jones, Tom Hicks, and Mark Cuban fouling the air in the D-FW Metroplex, thank God for Nolan Ryan!!!)

Ohio State President Apologizes and Makes Donation to Religious Order for Sticking Foot in Mouth About Non-BCS Schools' Football Schedules

From ESPN.com:

Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee says in the future, he will stick to running the university and leave comments about college football to the experts.

"What do I know about college football? I look like Orville Redenbacher. I have no business talking about college football," he said Wednesday, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

More than a week ago, Gee said teams in the major conferences such as the Big Ten and SEC are more deserving to play for the BCS national championship because they play tougher competition every week. "We do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor," he said.

That didn't go over very well at TCU and Boise State, both of which at the time were hoping to turn undefeated seasons into a case for inclusion in the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game.

[...]

Gee told the Dispatch he has since decided, "I need to keep my mouth closed."

"I'm very blessed to have the best athletic director and best football coach in the country," Gee said, the newspaper reported. "They run the athletic program and I run the university, and I should have stayed out of there. What I should do is go over to the surgical suites and get my foot extricated from my mouth."

As for the real Little Sisters of the Poor -- a Roman Catholic women's religious order serving the elderly -- Gee said he had reached out to one of the order's homes in Ohio.

"I sent a [personal] check to the Mother Superior up there and invited her to a ballgame," he said, according to the report.

The American Catholic College Football Rankings - Week 1

I'm honored to be a contributor to the only college football poll that matters:

So we’re trying a new feature here at TAC. Since we noticed we have a lot of college football fans, we thought it might be fun to start our own rankings system. This way, we have an excuse to talk college football every week in a Catholic setting. B/c we thought of it this week, this ranking is coming out on Thursday but the others should be coming out on Mondays.

Here’s how it’ll work. People will send in their rankings and I’ll assign points to them (25 for 1st, 24 for 2nd, etc.) and then average out the points and rank the teams according to that. Then I will take that score along with the computer models and…just kidding. No computer models.

My hope is that it’ll build and we’ll get more people involved (and if you want to submit rankings, let me know-you don’t have to write for TAC). At the end of the year, we may even do a special bowl pick-em thing if it seems popular enough.

Rankings follow after the jump

Since this poll is a collaboration of several writers, there are obviously some opinions as to rankings that do not reflect my own thinking and are thus, by definition, wrong.

Therefore, so that you can see the correct top-25 rankings, I am going to reveal how I voted this week:

1. Alabama - Until someone knocks off the defending champs, they're still #1.
2. Boise State - Shocker, I know, that I'm not going with Ohio State. But Boise beat a Top 10 opponent, while Ohio State beat Marshall. If the Buckeyes take care of business against Miami this week, they'll leapfrog back to #2.
3. Ohio State - See above. That said, I think that if Ohio State stays healthy they may have the team to beat at the end of the year.
4. Oregon - 72-0 (and shutting it down after the 3rd quarter or else they might have put up 100) is impressive regardless of whom one is playing.
5. Texas - Not sold on them, especially now that McCoy has moved on, and they looked pretty anemic at times on Saturday. But the cliché is actually true with respect to the Longhorns: They don't rebuild, they reload.
6. TCU - It is inexcusable that the two most consistently outstanding college football teams in the Lone Star State over the last decade don't play each other on an annual basis. But I suppose the Longhorns know they have a tough enough time with Oklahama every year to then be foolish enough to play the Horned Frogs, too. If the Big 12 ever looks to replace Colorado and/or Nebraska (or to boot Missouri from its ranks), TCU would be the perfect replacement.
7. Nebraska - Returning to glory just in time to join the Big 10 + 2 next year.
8. Iowa - The Hawkeyes, if Stanzi stays healthy (a HUGE "if" after seeing him go down again on Saturday), are the biggest impediment between Ohio State and another run to the BCS Championship game.
9. Florida - Meh. The scoreboard might not have reflected it, but they got whipped for 3 quarters by the worst Division 1 team in Ohio.
10. Miami - The one that regularly plays in Florida, not the one that went down to Florida and whipped the Gators for 3 quarters. The Hurricanes looked impressive Saturday. If they can go into Columbus and upset the Buckeyes, we may be seeing the return of "The U" to national prominence. God spare us from the thuggery.
11. Virginia Tech - Tech is not going to fall very far in my rankings after narrowly losing to my number 2 team, who had to score a last-minute touchdown to overcome the Hokies. After starting out excruciatingly slow on Monday night and falling behind 17-0, the boys from Blacksburg made an impressive and valiant recovery to take the lead against Boise State and hold it until late in the game. If they run the table the rest of the season (not unheard of), and if enough teams ahead of them lose (again, not unheard of), we could very well see a BCS championship rematch of the game we watched on Monday.
12. Oklahoma - This ranking is achieved by recruiting success and reputation only. I'm just not impressed overall with the Sooners. They are the REAL perennial underachievers every year in both the regular season and their BCS appearances. For all the crap the Buckeyes take for their BCS bowl record (which is a solid 5-3, including a National Championship), it is the Sooners who have to be embarassed by their paltry 2-5 showing in BCS bowl games, including losing 4 straight (one of them to Boise State).
13. Wisconsin - Another key stumbling block to Buckeye success this year. The Badgers never seem to get any of the hype, but they're always in the thick of things at the end of the year. An impressive bowl victory over Miami has given them momentum going into this season.
14. Florida State - Jimbo Fisher has the Seminoles back on track. Unfortunately, in the coming years, we might have to get used to seeing 3 Florida teams sitting near the top of the rankings.
15. Georgia Tech - Another underappreciated team that always seems to the last one standing among the wreckage that is the ACC over the last several years.
16. Arkansas - Not sold on them yet, but everyone else seems to think the Razorbacks have something to be excited about this year (besides their first time having a Homecoming Queen with all of her teeth).
17. Penn State - Joe Pa just keeps going and going. An impressive first game from his new freshman quarterback turns what looked like a question mark going into the season into an exclamation point going into this weekend's game against the top-ranked Crimson Tide.
18. USC - Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater. Same dirty tactics, different theater. Lane Kiffin returns to the place where he learned how to cheat at the feet of the master, and where the student athletes major in creating new and inventive ways to cheat that no one else ever thought of before.
19. Georgia - The Dawgs perennially vie with Oklahoma in competing for the underachievment crown.
20. LSU - Bayou Bengal fans should be a little worried after last week's game. It's not quite time to hit the panic button just yet, but that was one sorry showing in the 2nd half against the 2nd and 3rd team of a basketball school. Les Miles ought to be a LOT worried about keeping his job. Les ain't more anymore.
21. Auburn - The other team in Alabama has sort of dropped off the radar screen of late, having been overshadowed by its powerhouse in-state rival. This won't be the year they step out of the Tide's shadow.
22. South Carolina - A good start to the season; but let's wait to see how the Ol' Ball Coach finishes the season.
23. Michigan - A strong showing against one of the favorites in the Big East, UConn, propels the Wolverines into my top 25.
24. Notre Dame - Okay, I admit this is a reach. We'll see how the Irish do this week against Michigan.
25. North Carolina - How do you drop the Tar Heels out of the top 25 after they almost beat LSU with their 2nd and 3rd team players and their back-up point guard?

Your feedback is, of course, encouraged. Just so long as you realize that any opinion expressed that is contrary to something in my vote talley will be, by definition, wrong.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
The Most Glorious Time of Year ...

Predictions for 2010 College Football Season [UPDATED]

The Most Glorious Time of Year ...

... is just hours away.

By the way, I HATE Thursday night as the official kickoff of college football. The official kickoff should be on a Saturday. Save the Thursday games for later on in the year (or at least wait a week).

For a crash course on my views of the near-unimpeachable, quasi-immaculate greatness that is college football, and how to ensure the game achieves the perfection it is so close to attaining, be sure to see this post, among others linked below.


Annual College Football Kickoff Post



At last! That most glorious time of the year is finally upon us.

In addition to the Liturgical Calendar, I generally mark the seasons by which sport just happens to be played at that particular moment. By that measure, the autumnal quarter of the year must easily be judged the grandest of them all by virtue alone of the sumptious bacchanalia of pigskin served up across college campuses (campi?) every Saturday afternoon.

In a feast that is almost religious by nature, Every Saturday in Autumn, Americans in every walk of life go on pilgrimages to Saturday Shrines and Autumn's Cathedrals to participate in the Rites of Autumn:

Saturday afternoons in autumn. For more than a century they have stood as the showcase for what has become a true American ritual, a time reserved for one of the most richly colorful, spirited, and vibrantly exciting sports in all the world - college football.

Baseball has its summer, pro football its Sundays and Monday nights, basketball its winters indoors, but tradition and college football's passionate following have indisputably claimed that first day of each autumn weekend.

***
There are few spectacles in the sporting world to match the ceremony of an Army-Navy game, the color of a Rose Bowl pageant, the emotion when a chorus of thousands rings out with the Notre Dame fight song, the splendor of a tailgate party at a Texas-Oklahoma game, the beauty of the USC cheerleaders, or simply the great games that have been played and the extraordinary performances that have been given on college football fields over the years.
~ Richard Whittingham, Introduction to Rites of Autumn


College football has always been something very special, with its heritage, its pageantry, and especially with the intensity of competition found on all levels. It has a spirit to it that lives; it has tradition that is unshakable.

As a boy in Cincinnati I followed college football, especially Ohio State and Notre Dame. I had my heroes: Hopalong Cassady at Ohio State, Johnny Lujack and Johnny Lattner at Notre Dame, Pete Dawkins at Army, Joe Bellino at Navy. I dreamed of playing in college myself, and the dream came true.
~ Roger Staubach, Foreword to Rites of Autumn

And so, as we prepare for this evening's official college football kickoff, followed by this Saturday's fare of fall-flavored football festivities, I wish you and your school(s) of choice the best of luck (especially if your school is Ohio State, Notre Dame, UVA, or Baylor).

Enjoy the season.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
College Football Saved from Itself ... For Now

Time for the BCS to Follow Suit

Predictions for 2010 College Football Season [UPDATED]

The NASCARification of College Football

Yet Another "Fast" Team Gets a Taste of "Slow" Big 10 Defense [UPDATED]

Dispelling Some Myths

Buckeyes Win Rose Bowl

Big 10 Defeats LSU

College Football Coaches Tend to be Conservative

That Most Glorious Time of Year is Upon Us ...

God Bless Harvey Perlman

Just One Month to Go ...

Oklahoma and Ohio State: A Tale of Two BCS Records

Buckeyes Appear Set for BCS Title Game

College Football is the Greatest Game on Earth, and How I'd Make It Better

College Football Saturday - Week 2: What I Learned Today...

College Football Saturday: What I Learned Today...

Knute Rockne, Notre Dame, and the Eucharist

Annual College Football Kickoff Post

BS* ... errrr ...BCS Poll Comes Out - Ohio State # 1

Sports Illustrated: Who's Got the Best Fight Song?

Great College Football Weekend

College Fight Songs - Comments Requested

College Football Saved from Itself ... For Now

I can't believe I'm actually going to have to admit that the University of Texas just saved college football from devouring itself.

Or maybe it's the good folks down in College Station that should get the credit, at least according to this speculation. (Hat tip: Big Tex)

At any rate, my undergraduate alma mater is breathing a huge sigh of relief right about now.

What's This About Some Big Soccer Thingy That's Going On?

Wake me when it's over.

Time for the BCS to Follow Suit

The NFL announced yesterday that the 2014 Super Bowl will be played in a cold-weather climate ... outdoors:

IRVING, Texas -- If you build it, they will come -- wearing winter coats.

The New Meadowlands Stadium, the $1.6 billion jewel co-owned by the New York Giants and Jets, will host the 2014 Super Bowl, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced Tuesday afternoon at the league's spring meeting.

"It's a historic moment for the league," Goodell said.

Saying that New York is a unique market, Goodell added: "It will be a great experience for our fans. It will be a great experience for the NFL."

The league's 32 owners, undaunted by the prospect of a wintry championship game, awarded Super Bowl XLVIII to the New York/New Jersey region after also considering bids from Tampa and South Florida, both traditional sites. South Florida and Tampa have hosted the Super Bowl 10 and four times, respectively.

One commentator notes that the namesake of the trophy awarded to the Super Bowl winner would be thrilled:

"Lombardi would love this Super Bowl"

I agree, as does my friend the Cranky Con, that this is a good move:

... I have always thought they should play the Super Bowl in a cold weather city. It is ridiculous to see the championship game of a winter sport played in balmy 80-degree weather in southern California or Florida. Not that it is always inappropriate to play the Super Bowl in warm weather cities, after all there are franchises in these cities, but this is a welcome development ...

And now it's time for the powers-that-be at the BCS to follow suit and hold a “National Championship” game in a northern city. Under the current practice, which has been in effect for the past 3 years, the title game is no longer tied to any particular bowl, so there’s absolutely no reason why this couldn’t be done.

Football is a fall/winter sport meant to be played outdoors. In the elements. On REAL GRASS. Northern teams who are built to play in cold/wet-weather conditions on soggy fields are put at a disadvantage when they must travel to warm-weather climates every December and January to play bowl games against teams built to play in more moderate and dryer weather.

Let’s see how the SEC powerhouses or Southern Cal perform in a “National Championship” game in Big 10-type weather and field conditions.


UPDATE
My preference for scheduling an occasional cold-weather BCS "Championship" Game is applicable only so long as Division 1-A college football insists on this farce of definitively crowning a "National Championship". It becomes moot as soon as they do the right thing and return to the traditional bowl alignments*.


*Surely you didn't think I was going to call for a playoff, did you?


UPDATE #2
Ignore the cries and complaints regarding the NFL's decision (and my argument that the BCS should do the same thing) by those who believe playing football in 70+ degree weather or, Heaven forbid, in-frickin-doors, is some sort of birthright.

(Especially ignore the pissing and moaning if said complainer apparently happens to believe that his NFL team's having sniffed Super Bowl success for the first time in said franchise's entire history suddenly makes him some sort of expert and/or decider on where Super Bowls ought and ought not to be played. And especially, especially ignore the pissing and moaning if said complainer is still smarting from his college team's loss in the Capital One Bowl, despite said team's much-vaunted "overall team speed", to a "slow" Big 10 team because - waaaaaaah! - they had to play outside in the cold rain and muck.)

Besides, NFL football was being played and NFL Championships being decided in cold-weather climes for decades before the first Super Bowl was even played. Ironically, the coldest Super Bowl ever played - at 39° F - took place in the home city (at Tulane Stadium) of the team just now sniffing Super Bowl success for the first time in its history.

Unanimous Supreme Court Rules NFL Not a Single Entity, But 32 Separate, Competing Businesses

This is probably the correct outcome:

... "Directly relevant to this case, the teams compete in the market for intellectual property," Stevens said. "To a firm making hats, the Saints and the Colts are two potentially competing suppliers of valuable trademarks."

American Needle was one of many companies that made NFL headgear until the league awarded an exclusive contract to Reebok. Lower courts threw out American Needle's lawsuit, holding that nothing in antitrust law prohibits NFL teams from cooperating on apparel licensing so the league can compete against other forms of entertainment.

But the high court turned away that theory and sent American Needle's antitrust lawsuit back to the lower court.

"Decisions by NFL teams to license their separately owned trademarks collectively and to only one vendor are decisions that 'deprive the marketplace of independent centers of decisionmaking ... and therefore of actual or potential competition,' " Stevens said.

Just because NFL teams have a single organization, the National Football League Properties, to jointly develop, license and market its logos does not mean it can escape antitrust scrutiny, Stevens said.

"If the fact that potential competitors shared in profits or losses from a venture meant that the venture was immune from" antitrust law, Stevens said, "then any cartel" could evade the antitrust law simply by creating a 'joint venture' to serve as the exclusive seller of their competing products." ...

My Comments:
One NFL owner who is somewhat vindicated by this is Jerry Jones. He'll make a killing on separate licensing agreements of Dallas Cowboys paraphenalia.

Ditka! [UPDATED]

Mike Ditka rips idiot Miami Dolphins general manager who asked wide receiver Dez Bryant if his mother was a prostitute during draft interview:

Mike Ditka was a guest on Miami sports-radio station 790 The Ticket and blasted Ireland. When Ditka was coach of the Chicago Bears in the 1980s, Ireland was a ball boy. Ireland's grandfather, Jim Parmer, was the Bears' college scouting director at the time.

"Somebody ought to whack him in the head," Ditka said of Ireland, according to a blog by Palm Beach Post reporter Edgar Thompson. "You don't ask that question. If you think you know it, you know.

"What are you going to confront a young man with that situation for? He probably loves his mother no matter what she is or who she is. Why would somebody do that? I don't understand things like that. Maybe I'm naive or I'm old. I don't understand that.

"What do you get from asking that question? What's it all about? Every bit of information has to be spread out on the table now? Is that it? Everybody's dirty linen has to be out? I disagree with that. I'm sorry."

UPDATE
I didn't realize that the idiot who asked Bryant about his mom is the same Jeff Ireland with whom I went to Baylor (I had classes with the guy in the Business School):

... But hey, people make mistakes. Can you name the 1991 Baylor kicker who missed three field goals, including a 27-yarder, against Rice, helping the eighth-ranked Bears lose by three to a 20.5-point underdog? The kicker who was roundly hated and booed but went on to become a well-respected man in professional football?

Jeff Ireland.

You learn something new every day.

Quote of the Day: Washington Post Columnist Sally Jenkins on the Tebow Ad

From a self-described "pro-choice" columnist at The Washington Post:

... Apparently NOW feels this commercial is an inappropriate message for America to see for 30 seconds, but women in bikini selling beer is the right one. I would like to meet the genius at NOW who made that decision. On second thought, no, I wouldn’t...

[Read the whole thing]

She goes on to talk about how Tebow is exactly the sort of responsible young man with a social conscience that women should be praising and celebrating. Definitely worth a read.

(Hat tip: Ed Morrissey)


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Feminist Hypocrites at NOW Attack Tebow Ad

Feminist Hypocrites at NOW Attack Tebow Ad

NOW President Terry O'Neil says:

“CBS: Do the right thing. Pull the ad. Let's focus on the game.”

Because, you know, radical feminists would NEVER distract our focus away from the game by using the Super Bowl to push a particular agenda (especially an agenda that relied on "facts" that turned out to be completely bogus).

Nah, they would NEVER do that.


UPDATE
And now the feminist hypocrites are going on the attack against Tebow's mom. Disgusting.

Predictions for 2010 College Football Season [UPDATED]

Well, another year of college football is now in the books. The Alabama-Texas "National Championship" game hardly turned out to be the classic everyone hoped for, given Colt McCoy's early exit to injury on Texas' 5th offensive play. Nevertheless, a job well done by the Alabama Crimson Tide and a well-deserved "championship". Congrats to Nick Saban and his crew.

Now for some preliminary predictions:

'Bama will obviously finish the 2009 season ranked #1. The big question is where 14-0 Boise State will finish. No worse than 3rd (behind Florida), but possibly at #2, with Florida at #3.

For 2010, the Tide will be ranked the preseason #1 and will never lose that ranking throughout the season, finishing undefeated and once again winning the SEC Championship game, probably against a 1 or 2-loss Florida.

Boise State will begin the season with a top-5 preseason ranking. The Broncos will also finish the 2010 season undefeated. Bowl prediction for Boise State momentarily.

The Big 10 will begin the season with 3 teams ranked in the top 10: Ohio State, Iowa, and either Wisconsin or Penn State. Two of those teams - Ohio State and Iowa - will finish the 2010 season ranked in the top 10. The Buckeyes will finish undefeated at 12-0 (yes, there's a little wishful thinking going on here, but it's not completely unlikely), and the Hawkeyes will finish with only 1 loss, which will come to Ohio State in a close game in Iowa City.

Wanting to avoid yet another Ohio State vs. SEC matchup in the "National Championship" game, the pollsters will finally give Boise State the opportunity to prove themselves in the big game against Alabama. The easy pick is Alabama to win, but I've learned not to bet against Boise State and it is very difficult to repeat as "National Champion". I'm making this one a tossup.

Ohio State will return to the Rose Bowl for the second straight year to play either USC or Stanford. I'd like to pick Ohio State to win, but the PAC-10 will be gunning for them after what Ohio State did to their champion in this year's Rose Bowl. Again, I'll rate this as a tossup. If the Buckeyes match up against Stanford, and the Cardinal (what a stupid mascot name - why not "CardinalS") manage to beat Ohio State, Michigan will end the Rich Rodriguez experiment, after RichRod's Wolverines finish the regular season at 7-5 and lose to some 8-4 team in one of the "lesser" bowl games, and will hire Jim Harbaugh to be their new head coach.

Iowa will play the Tebow-less Gators in the Sugar Bowl, and will once again surprise the Big 10 naysayers with a Stanzi-led touchdown drive in the 4th quarter to pull out a win.

That's my predictions for now. I reserve the right to change them as the 2010 season approaches.


UPDATE
Some more predictions:
2010 will be a down year for the Big 12 and the Big East, and the ACC will continue to struggle, but will show some improvement from former perennial powers Miami (who, by the way, plays Ohio State in Columbus) and Florida State. The PAC-10 will show overall improvement from their performance in 2009, with USC and Stanford (in no particular order) being the top performers (see Rose Bowl prediction above).


UPDATE #2
Well, the AP voters have already proven me wrong on one of my predictions, and by extension, likely on a couple of other predictions for next year.

It appears that the ESPN voters - Fowler, Herbstreit, James, et al - conspired to deprive Boise State of the #2 or #3 slot in the final poll. Surprise, surprise. ESPN has a vested interest in keeping their golden boys in the SEC and Big 12 untainted and leaving Boise State on the outside looking in.

Given that voting pattern, it appears that the voters would have no qualms about sending an undefeated Ohio State to another BCS "championship" game over an undefeated Boise State, contrary to what I predicted above.

(Hat tip: Tito at The American Catholic)


UPDATE #3 (11 January 2010)
Developments over the weekend indicate that my prediction for the PAC-10 may be off, at least where USC is concerned. Good thing I reserved the right to alter my predictions.

;-)

Word is that USC coach Pete Carroll has tendered his resignation and will be announced shortly as the new head coach for the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. There is speculation that Carroll is getting out of Dodge one step ahead of the law, as NCAA sanctions are expected against USC's football program in the wake of the Reggie Bush scandal.

Without one of the top recruiting head coaches in the country, with high school prospects renegging on their commitments to USC, and under the cloud of an NCAA investigation and probable sanctions, I don't see how USC is going to be the powerhouse it was in previous years. And I don't know what coach with the ability to maintain that tradition would be willing to risk coming to USC and facing NCAA sanctions not of his own making.

The NASCARification of College Football

I don't think it's any coincidence that, with the Southeastern Conference's rise to college football prominence (and, it could be argued, preeminence) over the past several years, that the sport has been influenced by a sort of NASCAR mentality.

I mean, when did rooting for conferences (as opposed to rooting for teams and against arch-rivals) become so widespread? It happened when SEC fans became so vocal in promoting their conference at the expense of every other conference in the country. It wasn't enough for the favorite team - say, Florida, Alabama, or LSU - to win; a fan of one of those schools also hyped the conference as superior to all others. A Florida Gator fan or LSU Tiger fan, for example, became an SEC fan.

Similar to the way NASCAR fans root for not only their favorite driver, but also for that driver's make of car (and against drivers of other makes of car). The Southeast and Mid-Atlantic are the regions of the country where NASCAR is most popular, so I find it not the least bit coincidental that the same mentality has spilled over into how fans from that part of the country root for football. This has led, in turn, to fans in other parts of the country - in defense of their own teams and conferences, which have become objects of scorn as the sports media has bought into the SEC hype - adopting a similar posture.

I don't like it. I mean, Michigan fans should NOT be rooting for Ohio State to win the Rose Bowl, and vice versa. It's just unnatural. But it's the result of the NASCARifation of the sport.

However, the mentality remains most prevalent among fans of the SEC. Tonight, we will see Auburn fans rooting for hated archrival Alabama to win a "National Championship". WTF? And LSU fans who rightly detest Nick Saban will also be pulling for him to win another crystal trophy, only this time for the Crimson Tide instead of the Bayou Tigers. And those same fans, I will almost be willing to guarantee, were rooting for the Big 10 to go 0-7 or 1-6 or 2-5 in their bowl games so they could have another year of trashing the conference as "inferior".

I would not be surprised in years to come to see cars in the Southeast sporting - right next to stickers of the SEC university of their choice - stickers like this, only with "Big Eleven" (their derisive term for the Big 10) instead of the Chevy logo as the urinary recepticle:

I suppose it is a mark of how I, myself, have been influenced by this NASCAR mentality that I will be rooting tonight for the Texas Longhorns - a team I have been bred since birth to despise - to win another "National Championship".


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Yet Another "Fast" Team Gets a Taste of "Slow" Big 10 Defense [UPDATED]

Dispelling Some Myths

Buckeyes Win Rose Bowl

Big 10 Defeats LSU

Yet Another "Fast" Team Gets a Taste of "Slow" Big 10 Defense [UPDATED]

Iowa 24, Georgia Tech 14.

That's a quite respectable 4-3 bowl record for the Big 10, including 2 BCS victories by Ohio State and Iowa. And I hate playing the "woulda, coulda, shoulda" game, but Northwestern and Minnesota should have won their respective games against Auburn and Iowa State. And Michigan State, after hamstringing itself with over a dozen player suspensions, put up a heckuva fight against Texas Tech.

All in all, some measure of redemption for the conference after last year's bowl fiasco. And look for Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State, and Wisconsin to make strong appearances in the Top 10 during the 2010 season.


UPDATE
From ESPN.com:

... Considering that the Big Ten's one win in the 2008 bowl season was brought up repeatedly for an entire year -- along with the conference's overall struggles in BCS games -- the Big Ten's bragging rights should extend for at least that long. The conference had gone 4-11 in BCS games in the past nine seasons, but Iowa and Ohio State did their part in helping reverse that trend. Ohio State earned a marquee win with its 26-17 win over Oregon, which gave the conference its first BCS win since 2006.

Iowa cheered for Ohio State and the Hawkeyes aren't afraid to admit it.

"Not at all," linebacker Pat Angerer said. "If they're going to beat us, I'd rather have them win the Rose Bowl, you know?"

So would the rest of the conference.

Ricky Stanzi tossed two touchdown passes in his return to the Iowa lineup.

Penn State, Iowa, Ohio State and Wisconsin all defeated teams that were supposedly faster and more athletic. They were the myth busters of the BCS, scoffing at the "power vs. speed" plotlines. Georgia Tech and Oregon had the sexy offenses, but the Big Ten teams won with the time-tested formulas of defense, special teams and just enough offense...

(emphasis added)


UPDATE #2
Big Ten bowl winners do it with defense:

... Did anyone else get tired of hearing about Oregon's high-powered zone read spread or Georgia Tech's unstoppable triple option?

In the end, Big Ten defenses made those offenses look pedestrian. All four Big Ten bowl winners faced teams boasting high-powered offenses and/or supposedly superior skill players. And all four bowl winners played lock-down defense.

While the Big Ten received surprisingly strong quarterback play in the bowls -- more on that later -- it regained some national respect because of its defensive performance. Sound fundamentals and strong preparation trumped tricky systems.

Here's a look at how Big Ten defenses stepped up to win bowls:

WISCONSIN

Result: 20-14 win against No. 15 Miami in the Champs Sports Bowl

Opposing QB: Jacory Harris completed 16 of 29 passes for 188 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. He had nine rushes for minus-1 yard.

Defensive superlatives:

Recorded five sacks and nine tackles for loss as seven players contributed TFLs

Allowed only 249 yards (Miami came in averaging 412.5)

Allowed only 61 rush yards on 23 carries (Miami came in averaging 144.4 rush yards)

After Miami scored on its first play from scrimmage, the Badgers blanked the Hurricanes for the next 58 minutes

Held Miami to six drives of nine yards or fewer

PENN STATE

Result: 19-17 win against No. 12 LSU in the Capital One Bowl

Opposing QB: Jordan Jefferson completed 13 of 24 passes for 202 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He had eight carries for 11 yards.

Defensive superlatives:

Allowed only three points, 67 yards and two first downs in the first half. LSU gained 54 of those yards on just two plays, as Jefferson twice found wideout Brandon LaFell

Held LSU to 41 yards rushing and a season-low nine first downs in the game

Kept LSU out of the end zone for the first 44:47

Recorded two sacks and six tackles for loss to go along with two takeaways

OHIO STATE

Result: 26-17 win against No. 7 Oregon in the Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi

Opposing QB: Jeremiah Masoli completed only 9 of 20 passes for 81 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. He had just six carries for nine yards and a touchdown.

Defensive superlatives:

Held Oregon well below its season averages in points (17 vs. 37.7), total yards (260 vs. 424.7), offensive plays (53 vs. 69.3), 20-yard plays (3 vs. 6) and possession time (18:23 vs. 28.12)

Held Oregon to season lows in passing yards (81). Oregon's total yards total was its second lowest of the season, and its 12 first downs marked a low for a Ducks bowl game.

Held Oregon to just 2 of 11 on third down

Forced two turnovers, giving Ohio State 35 takeaways for the season

IOWA

Result: 24-14 win against No. 9 Georgia Tech

Opposing QB: Josh Nesbitt completed 2 of 9 passes for 12 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. He had 20 rushes for 46 yards

Defensive superlatives:

Georgia Tech had season lows in points (14), total yards (156) and first downs (9)

Iowa forced Yellow Jackets punts on their first six possessions after Tech had gone 22 consecutive possessions without a punt

The Hawkeyes held Georgia Tech to 32 yards of total offense in the first half, marking Tech's lowest first-half total in at least 20 years

Georgia Tech's scoreless second quarter marked just the eighth time in 55 quarters that the Yellow Jackets failed to score

Iowa recorded three sacks, five tackles for loss and an interception

(emphasis added)


UPDATE #3 (7 January)
NY Post: "Best and Worst of the Bowls"

It only walked away with a 4-3 record, and perhaps that will keep the offseason buzz tempered, but what the Big Ten did during this bowl season should not be soon forgotten.

“Too slow around the outside,” “too conservative on offense,” “not enough depth on defense,” pick your criticism of this beleaguered conference. But over the course of two weeks, seven of the league’s 11 teams did their best to change those images.

“There’s been a lot of Big Ten bashing going on,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “I think perception tends to get exaggerated a little bit.”

He should know. After all, his Hawkeyes just capped a tremendous season — one in which many kept waiting for them to fall — with a workmanlike 24-14 victory over Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl Tuesday night.

The Yellow Jackets? The ACC champions? With the unstoppable triple-option offense? How did the Hawkeyes stop them?

“We had time,” said Iowa defensive end Adrian Clayborn, who had two sacks in the win. “We had a lot of time to prepare.”

Perhaps the same can be said for Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin, who all took on speedy teams from the other BCS conferences . .. and walked away with wins:

*** Ohio State, with quarterback Terrelle Pryor hosting his coming-out party, defeated Oregon, 27-16, in the Rose Bowl.

*** Penn State, through the muck and mire of Orlando’s old Citrus Bowl stadium, let an early lead slip, but still had enough to defeat LSU, 19-17.

*** And Wisconsin, with a deliberate yet dynamic running game, blasted Miami, 20-14, in the Champs Sports Bowl, in a game that was hardly as close as the score.
“We needed this, just for the Big Ten as a whole in general because we battle each other all year long, but we're also playing for each other because it's a rep,” Pryor said. “We're playing for each other, and when schools like Penn State are playing in other bowls, we pull for them. It's a reputation for us. It was huge for us to get over that hump and win this game, and we've just got to keep on winning.”

The bowl season wasn’t without disappointment for the Big Ten, however, as three programs came up short:

*** Northwestern, in one of the season’s better games, dropped a dramatic 38-35 overtime decision to Auburn in the Outback Bowl.

*** Minnesota, after a late fumble in the red zone, lost the Insight Bowl to Iowa State, 14-13.

*** And amid suspensions, Michigan State, despite a fourth-quarter lead, lost to Texas Tech, 41-31, in the Alamo Bowl.

But the conference could have easily posted a 7-0 mark, and with teams like Iowa and Ohio State — who should both be in the Preseason Top 10 — bringing back a wealth of talent next season, perhaps “The Little 10” will be no more.

[Read more]

(emphasis added)

The Sporting News: "The Big Ten's Death Has Been Greatly Exaggerated"

After the Orange Bowl, FOX's Chris Myers provided a fitting denouement to FOX's consistently condescending coverage of college football by asking Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi what this meant for all the fat, technically non-Canadian people in the middle of the country. As you've no doubt seen by now, Stanzi owned the moment.

Stanzi now takes his place amongst the pantheon of Real American Big Ten Heroes next to Red Grange, Tom Harmon and J Leman.

That brief exchange was a microcosm for the Big Ten bowl season, in which the much-maligned conference took down two conference champions and four top 15 teams en route to a -- gasp! -- winning record for the first time since 2002. You may be a slick-haired goof from someplace warm or rich or both, Chris Myers, but you have no idea what to do when you find yourself between some Faygo Redpop and a charging herd of rhinos who are technically not from Canada. Except die.

While 4-3 might not seem world beating, the close scores obscured shocking domination on a down-to-down basis:

Wisconsin outgained Miami 430-249 and held the ball for almost 40 minutes.

Penn State held LSU to nine first downs and outgained them 340-243. they also held the ball for nearly 40 minutes.

Ohio State outgained Oregon 419-260, more than doubled the Ducks in first downs, and held the ball for over 40 minutes.

Iowa outgained Georgia Tech 403-155 and also more than doubled GT's first downs.

The only fluke in the Big Ten's bowl season is that they didn't blow out those four top 15 opponents. The four winners obliterated the opposition.

Even the losses weren't particularly embarrassing. Minnesota lost to Iowa State by a point and played them essentially dead even in yardage. Northwestern outgained Auburn by 200 yards (!) but lost in overtime because of six turnovers (to Auburn's four; it was the season's craziest game) and their kicker's inability to hit two chip shot field goals down the stretch. And Michigan State led Texas Tech in the fourth quarter despite missing 15 players due to a team-organized, inexplicable assault on mechanical engineers. The Spartans would eventually lose by 10 and get outgained considerably.

The final score is four dominating performances against excellent teams, a couple coin flips that went the wrong way, and one poor performance by a team missing 20% of its roster. The Big Ten has earned an offseason reprieve from the shallow end-of-the-Midwest column. Remember this gem from the aftermath of the Ohio State-Iowa game?

The only less impressive "winner" than Ohio State on Saturday was the Big Ten, which is worse than anyone thought -- and most of us thought it was pretty bad -- if this squeamish, gutless bunch of Buckeyes is the best the conference has to offer. Maybe next year the Rose Bowl should court the champion from the MAC. Or the best team in Division I-AA. Anyone but the Big Ten, if this is what Big Ten football is all about.

Suggestion for the Big Ten banner: a white flag.

For the record, that's Gregg Doyel. But take away 50% of the vitriol and that's a sentiment expressed thousands of times by people of Doyel's ilk since Ohio State's televised disemboweling at the hands of Florida three years ago. Ohio State's back to back craters and USC's tendency to blow a game against a mediocre Pac-10 team set the conference up for a long run of poor bowl performances and goofballs chanting "ESS EEE CEE" when their midlevel team doesn't get hammered by, say, UConn. It got so bad that when the Big Ten announced it was looking to expand and I was trawling Pitt and Syracuse and Rutgers blogs for their takes on potential expansion virtually everyone was complaining about having to watch Big Ten football. Syracuse! Rutgers! Aigh!

Since the last thing that happened is the thing that will always happen forever, everyone is required to leave us in peace until next year.

Bleacher Report: "So, About That Whole "The Big Ten Is Slow, Weak, Ancient, Etc." Thing..."

A funny thing happened on the way to the Big Ten embarrassing itself in the 2009-2010 bowl games.

It didn't even come close to happening.

Even the three "worst" teams repping the conference played well overall.

[More]

UPDATE #4 (7 January)
Mainstream Media to Big Ten Conference: "Our Bad":

For three-years the mainstream media has treated the Big Ten like an inferior race, taking charge at every occasion to reinforce general stereotypes about the conference's competitiveness. And why not? The media hates the Big Ten and a conservative, punishing brand of football that rarely sends the scoreboard past 30 points. After all -- to the untrained eye -- it's a lot more fun to watch gimmicky, laser-light show offenses shoot up painfully undersized and undisciplined "defenses."

Stereotypes turned to monikers (i.e. "Slow-hi-O"), and drew dichotomies (i.e. SEC = Fast, Big Ten = Slow) across the sport. "Team Speed Kills" became a lazy explanation for the Big Ten's bowl struggles.

Nevermind that the conference's model most closely mirrored the NFL. Or that college football is perpetually cyclical.

Guess what's being served in the ESPN Cafeteria today?

Pat Forde predicted that we would go 1-6 in bowls this year. Colin Cowherd proclaimed that there was "no possible way" Penn State could hold its own against LSU.

The pundits huffed and puffed, and now find themselves holding the bag after Big Ten teams stormed the bowl-season Bastille, kicking ass, taking names, and collecting the scalps of Top 15 darlings.

Don't hold your breath. The media isn't about [to] it admit that it was wrong. But writers are starting to fall on their own swords the only way they know how: by saying nice things about the conference they threw under the bus.

[More]

My Comments:
I hope you'll forgive my force-feeding a little crow to all the Big 10 bashers (mostly Ohio State bashers) out there.

Now, I don't want to be guilty of going to the opposite extreme to which all the bashers have gone over the past 3 years. The Big 10 record this year is one of a respectable showing. No more, no less. The 4 bowl wins against Top 15 opponents - including 2 BCS wins - is impressive, but the conference is not now some "super-conference" or "God's gift to college football" (as some other conferences out their proclaim themselves to be) on the basis of this showing. But what the Big 10 has done is to prove the so-called "conventional wisdom" regarding its alleged inferiority to be nothing more than a lot of hot air.

Just remember: conventional wisdom is, by definition, nothing more than institutionalized intellectual laziness.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Dispelling Some Myths

Buckeyes Win Rose Bowl

Big 10 Defeats LSU

Dispelling Some Myths

Myth No. 1: The Big 10 - with teams like "Slowhio State" - can't compete with the "fast" teams in the other conferences.

Somebody better tell Miami, LSU, Auburn, and Oregon that their teams aren't "fast".

Myth No. 2: Ohio State finally overcame it's "BCS curse".

What "BCS curse"?

At this time 3 years ago (prior to playing Florida in the so-called "National Championship" game), Ohio State was 4-0 in BCS bowl games, including a January 2003 "National Championship" win against a "fast" Miami team (who hadn't lost in close to 3 years). After yesterday's win, Ohio State is now 5-3 in BCS bowl games. There are a lot of other "elite" teams out there (see Oklahoma with its 2-5 BCS record) who would like to be similarly "cursed".

Buckeyes Win Rose Bowl

Ohio State - 26, Oregon - 17. Way to go, Buckeyes. And congrats to Rose Bowl MVP Terrelle Pryor on an outstanding performance.

All in all, a big day for the Big 10! My Ohio State Buckeyes beat Oregon in the Rose Bowl; Joe Pa and the Nittany Lions beat LSU (heh!) in the Capital One Bowl; and Northwestern takes Auburn to overtime, losing by a field goal in a game that Northwestern should have won, having outplayed Auburn.

Now, hopefully, the Cincinnati Bearcats will make it a big night for the state of Ohio and knock off the defending "national champion" Florida Gators.

Big 10 Defeats LSU

Go Joe Pa!

That is all ... at least until the end of the Rose Bowl.

Digest of St. Paul State Championship Posts

Community Celebrates St. Paul's State Title

Storybook Ending

Champs!

Norwalk St. Paul Flyers are State Football Champs!

Community Celebrates St. Paul's State Title

From today's Norwalk Reflector:

MASSILLON - Saturday’s Division VI state championship for the St. Paul Flyers culminated with a wild celebration at Whitney Field.

The Flyers, 24-21 winners over Delphos St. John’s, were greeted by hundreds of well-wishers as the team buses pulled into the Whitney Field parking lot.

Whitney Field’s lights were turned on and the scoreboard read “24-21” and the time said “20:09.”

The bleachers were packed and the St. Paul High School band pumped out the fight song.

Head coach John Livengood, who is often very serious, smiled as he carried the state championship trophy on to the field.

The players and coaches took the trophy on a victory lap.

Livengood said in Saturday’s post-game press conference the victory “hasn’t sunk in yet.”

Livengood, in 19 years as head coach, has posted an overall record of 181-49.

His teams have captured 13 Firelands Conference titles, been to the playoffs 13 times, advanced to the state semifinals six times and finished as runners-up three times.

Now, add to that the 2009 Division VI state championship. Norwalk Mayor Sue Lesch has proclaimed Tuesday as “State Champion Flyer Football Day.”

The Flyer football team will be honored with a “Night of Champions” at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the St. Paul Convocation Center.

Norwalk city council has moved the time of its work session from 7:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday so council members and city officials can attend the celebration.

Saturday’s St. Paul win was special in several ways.

First, the Flyers upended the undefeated defending champs.

Second, Delphos St. John’s had never lost a Division VI title game (5-0) and had only lost one time as a Division VI playoff team.

That’s right.

Marion Local’s 24-20 over St. John’s in the 2000 state semifinals was the only time before Saturday the Blue Jays had lost in Division VI.

The Blue Jays were Division V from 2001 to 2004.

St. John had won titles in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2005 and 2008.

The 1997 and 1999 wins were both over St. Paul.