it’s FINAL FOUR time and you’re talking hockey?

ok, so that was a direct response to shammy’s last post and should’ve been in the comments section, but this is important.

undefeated vs. $64,000.
uconn vs. stanford part II.
louisville’s first trip to the Final Four.

if there’s anything the past three weeks have taught us, it’s that the presumed oklahoma-uconn matchup is anything but secure. so enjoy the final four today, and let’s hope the games are slightly more competitive than the ones yesterday.

i can’t wait to see what tiffany appel and the cardinal have in store.

UPDATE: Tiffany Appel – good. Cardinal – bad.

In hindsight, this was a lot like the men’s final four. Everyone expected a certain matchup, UNC-UConn and UConn-Okla, between the consensus most talented team in the country and another pretty damn good team. The pretty damn good team somehow got beaten in a tightly contested game, while the consensus No. 1 romped.

Now, we’re left with two title game rematches. UNC and Mich St. played each other in Dec and the Tar Heels clobbered the Spartans by 35. UConn and Louisville have played each other twice. In the regular season, the Huskies won 93-65 and took the Big East tournament championship in similarly impressive fashion, 75-36.

I guess they stil have to play the games, though.

Gotta love Cleveland fans

The Cavs play the Knicks tonight in Madison Square Garden, so naturally it’s time to start talking about the Summer of 2010 (and if LeBron will break Kobe’s new MSG scoring record). But with fans like these in Cleveland, why bother jumping ship?

Would King James really leave behind his retinue and head to New York?

Deja vu

remember when everyone said it would be interesting to see how the lakers matched up against the celtics with andrew bynum?

guess we’ll have to wait a little longer to find out.

and yes, i remember the game on christmas day. but everyone and their mother knows how much more that mattered to LA. i think even boston fans fully expected the lakers to win that. (direct quote, shammy?)

i’m really mad at kobe right now.

AHHHHHHH

Thank god for the Arizona Cardinals

Never thought I’d hear that line, but it’s been coming up a lot lately in talking to my cousin in Phoenix who’s a die-hard Suns fan. As Chris Webber so eloquently put it, “any time a 36-year old, 7-foot 400-pound man is your best player, that’s sad.”

Thanks for the insight C-Webb. Here’s to hoping you stay on Inside the NBA through the playoffs.

Anyways, back to the matter at hand.

I’m sick and tired of boring cold weather teams winning the Super Bowl, which is why it’s really refreshing to see a team like the Cards in the title game. Eagles may disagree with me on this, but Zona really is a lot of fun to watch with Fitzy catching ANYTHING thrown his way, Kurt Warner playing like he did in 2001 (can’t go against god and puppies) and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie putting his San Diego cousin to shame.

So I’m going to call this before anyone else does. Cards 28-17.

Let the ranting commence.

Seriously?

While the Houston Comets – the most decorated team in WNBA history – folded this offseason, it appears that this isn’t a league-wide trend.

Check out the Seattle Storm, who have just signed a 10-year extension with Key Arena.

Lucky Storm fans. I mean, I can’t think of a more spirited, devoted and knowledgeable fan base. They definitely deserve to keep their team.

They have come out of the quicksand and stolen this division…

sorry I just gave away the ending.

but fun video to watch.

1<1?

The Pac-10, dubbed as one of the weakest conferences-major or not-in college football this year, just completed a sweep of its bowl games now that USC manhandled Penn State in the Rose Bowl (don’t let the 14-pt margin of victory fool you – it wasn’t that close). Granted, the Pac-10 only sent half of its conference to bowl games (that’s 5 games since the Pac-10 actually has TEN teams. think about that, big 10), but the results were nevertheless impressive.

Oregon and Oregon St. both beat teams with higher rankings, and unranked Arizona defeated a BYU team that could have been a BCS-buster had a few plays gone differently over the course of the season. Cal and Southern Cal were both heavy favorites who lived up to their billing.

(WARNING: I earlier promised to give up making a national championship push for USC. I lied.)

Granted, stellar play in the postseason doesn’t detract from the fact that this conference still boasts 0-12 Washington and 2-10 Washington St. But it does make USC’s loss to the Beavers during the regular season seem pretty respectable, at least on par with a loss to, say, Mississippi. So why does the Trojans’ loss mean so much more? USC was never in the national title discussion after that loss, but Florida jumped back in very quickly. I agree, the past two years, the Trojans doomed themseleves with losses to Stanford (2007) and Oregon State (2006), but this year they lost to a much more quality opponent, as the Beavers proved to be. But somehow, one bad weekend in September for the Pac-10 and the memory of bad conference losses in the past unfairly ruined USC’s standing in the polls, effectively ruling them out of the national title race after just three games.

Watch the Rose Bowl. USC is as good as any team in the country.

I hate the BCS.

How did eagles miss this?

It’s official, Candace Parker and Sheldon Williams are married. They tied the knot November 13 when they eloped to Tahoe (huge lake in Northern CA) but managed to keep it a secret until now. Apparently, their schedules were too jam-packed for a big wedding to materialize.

We here at talkpractice offer our congratulations to our favorite sports star and express our condolences for all those were hoping that the engagement would fall through (cough, cough eagles…)

P.S. If you don’t get the title, read our About section!

Butterfly ballots, anyone?

Texas fans aren’t likely to forget this play any time soon, because it’s what has denied them a shot at their second national championship in four years. Just in case anyone needed a refresher:

More than any other play, Michael Crabtree’s TD on a beautiful pass from Graham Harrell with just 8 seconds remaining changed the landscape of the 2008 college football season by pushing the Longhorns out of the national title game. The disbelief on Colt McCoy’s face says it all.

This was no isolated incident, either. The Texas Tech duo lit up scoreboards all season, even against Baylor after Harrell had broken a couple fingers. Pundits are quick to laud Crabtree as the best receiver in all of college football and his quarterback threw for over 4,700 yards, which in case you’re wondering, ranks above both Sam Bradford and McCoy. And Harrell did it with a much weaker rushing attack, which gained 90 yards less than Oklahoma’s and 60 yards less than Texas’ running game.

So how did the Heisman voters forget about Harrell and Crabtree when they were inviting the candidates to New York? The award is not the MVP – it’s the best player in college football. And you don’t have to look much further than that one play to know that these two are two of the best players in the country.

I’m not suggesting that Harrell or Crabtree should win the Heisman – my vote would go to McCoy, who will probably be snubbed because he’s not playing on Jan. 8. But the committee is allowed to invite 5 people, and the gap between the three who will be in New York and the two who won’t is pretty slim.

On the subject of awards, how did LB Aaron Curry of Wake Forest win the Butkus Award? He doesn’t have the stats of Boston College’s LB Mark Herzlich, who won the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, or even Duke LB Michael Tauiliili, both of whom reside in HIS OWN conference. Furthermore, compared to players like Ohio State’s James Laurinaitis and USC’s dynamic duo of Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing, it’s an even more ridiculous pick. It’s not like Wake Forest  is some college powerhouse and Curry is being rewarded for being the best linebacker on the country’s best defense. I’d really appreciate if someone could explain this to me.

Something else to consider. Texas’ McCoy won the AP Big 12 offensive player of the year award, but didn’t make the AP Big 12 First Team. That honor went to Bradford. Go figure.

God, I hate the BCS

It’s been a while since I’ve contributed here, so I’d understand if our faithful readership has forgotten what a dear USC fan I am. But make no mistake – love, love, love  Trojan football.

So it should come as no surprise, then, that my chief business today is complaining about the teams (rather, only one team) that made that national title game. But rest assured, I’ve grown tired of trying to convince people that Florida and USC are the two best teams in the country. Although I adamantly think those two programs should be playing Jan. 8 (and btw, since when has the national title game been on a THURSDAY?), I instead presently make a case for another BCS loser – Texas.

The Longhorns may have broken my heart in 2006, but I'm not holding that against them this year.

That sentence was pretty hard for me to get out since for the last three years,Vince Young gliding into the Pasadena end zone has filled my nightmares. But, if we’re going to buy into the argument that the Big 12 and the SEC are the best conferences in college football and as such, their champions should play for the national title (which I don’t agree with, but that’s a debate for another day), then Florida and Texas should be playing for the national title. Oklahoma and Texas each have one loss -but Oklahoma LOST TO TEXAS.

I’m not buying the three-way tiebreaker with Texas Tech. A quick look at any poll will reveal that no one believes the Red Raiders are in the same echelon as Texas and Oklahoma. I’m a firm believer that losing to a bad team reveals less than losing to a good team. (For proof, USC lost to Oregon State and Penn State beat them, but the Trojans are still better than the Nittany Lions. Just wait till Jan. 1.) Sure, Texas lost to Tech -but it was on the road, on a last-second drive punctuated by a brilliant play by the greatest receiver in college football, and it was on the road. Guaranteed, if they played again, Texas would be favored and they would win. Oklahoma beat the Red Raiders in the friendly confines of Norman, OK after having two weeks to prepare, whereas Texas was closing up perhaps the most brutal stretch in the history of college football. The Longhorns beat the Sooners on a neutral site and came back from double-digit deficits TWICE. They are better than Oklahoma, and should be the Big 12 champions. Who cares if Oklahoma beat Missouri in the conference championship, Texas beat them too. Plus, Colt McCoy is better than Sam Bradford. I’m going to be so mad if Bradford wins the Heisman.

The one thing I will give Oklahoma credit for is scheduling decent non-conference games. They not only routed Big East champion Cincinatti, they also easily defeated a pretty good TCU team. We’ll ignore the fact that they also played Chattanooga and 0-12 Washington because Texas’ out-of-conference slate is a joke. I always deride the SEC and Big 12 for playing cupcakes, but Oklahoma did a decent job. (Seriously, the reason the ACC and the Pac-10 have more losses is because they play solidly good teams outside of their own leagues. Check the Sagarin schedule strengths.)

Ian Johnson and Boise State were successful in their last trip to the Fiesta Bowl, so why is the BCS denying them an encore?

While I’m at it, the BCS screwed up with Boise State. No team should be in a BCS bowl if they already lost to two bowl-bound teams. Yes, Ohio State, I’m talking about you. (And does anyone else realize that this is the third time in the past four years that the Buckeyes have played the Longhorns?) While Boise State-TCU should be a riveting Poinsettia Bowl (jeez, that’s depressing – at least they’re going to San Diego, CA) the Broncos should be playing in the BCS by virtue of their undefeated record. Utah was honored with that distinction, so why make an exception for Boise State. People point to Hawaii’s demolition at the hands of Georgia last year as a sign that out-of-conference teams shouldn’t get a BCS bowl bid, but what about the Broncos’ epic victory in the Fiesta Bowl just two years ago against Oklahoma, who is PLAYING FOR THE FREAKING NATIONAL TITLE! Come on people, let’s remember our history here.

And all of the bowl matchups are generally not compelling this year. Florida will tear up whatever Oklahoma calls “defense”, giving the SEC their third consecutive title and after the Trojans throttle the Granddaddy of them all in the Granddaddy of Them All, people will wonder what could have been.

With that said, go Buckeyes. I don’t want to hear the Longhorns complain when the Sooners lose.