The Shots archive
SHOT SELECTION
Derek Schultz
Editor's note: Besides March Madness, the college football bowl season is one of my favorite times of the year. Since there are many topics to touch on, here is a Shot Selection for this week. It's mostly college football, but I did mix in a few other points. I hope you have a happy and safe '08.
Swish: New England Patriots
A bit of the luster of the 16-0 season may have been lost because this was basically a forgone conclusion since the mid-point of the season. But really, I don’t think everyone is realizing how historic this feat really is. Thanks to the salary cap, the League is built for teams to go 8-8. It is almost impossible for a team to run the gauntlet unscathed in the modern-day NFL, but the Pats did it. New England set a new record for points scored and Tom Brady and Randy Moss had two of the finest individual seasons that any quarterback or any wide receiver has had before. People (<cough> Colts fans <cough>) have tried to discredit the 16-0 mark but really, how can you do that? The Pats beat the 14-2 Colts on the road, and they beat the 13-3 Cowboys on the road – translation: they beat the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the NFL away from home. The Eagles should’ve beaten them, but they didn’t. The Ravens were one stop away from knocking them off, but they didn’t get it. The Colts and Giants would’ve won if they held onto their leads, but they couldn’t. Would’ve, should’ve, could’ve, if, but….nothing. 16-0 is 16-0 is 16-0. Nobody has ever done it before (in the regular season) and it’ll be a long time before anyone does it again. Give them credit. Now if they finish 16-1 or 17-1 or 18-1, then that’s a different story.
The Patriots came from behind to cap a perfect regular season
Swish: Michigan
Oh, so that’s why they were ranked #5 in the preseason! The Wolverines looked like the team they were predicted to be and nothing like the team that dragged its way through the Big Ten season in their 41-35 victory over Florida. There are bowl games every year that I believe are easy money (i.e. Oregon State over Maryland, SC over Illinois) and I originally thought that Florida over Michigan would be in this category. This is a huge upset considering how ridiculously dominant and freakishly athletic SEC teams are. I mean, Florida would go 12-0 if they played in the Big Ten or any other conference in America because they are so quick and their athletes are so fast and their team speed is speedy and quick and fast. Any mid-level SEC team would easily win 10 games in any other conference…
Chad Henne, Mike Hart and Michigan finally won something significant
Brick: Arkansas
…and that includes Arkansas. This is a team that laid 50 points on LSU, the most dominant defensive unit this side of the 1985 Chicago Bears. Put the Hogs in the Big 12 and they would destroy everybody…
Ok, I’m done. The same Arkansas team that scored 50 against LSU, 45 against Mississippi State, and 48 against South Carolina got a measly 7 points in a one-sided 34-7 rout by Missouri. A supposedly unathletic and slow Michigan team put up 500+ yards and did whatever they wanted offensively in a 41-35 win over a top-ten Florida team. Sarcasm aside, we know that clearly the SEC is the best conference in America (with the Big 12 a distant second). Everybody with half a brain knows that. The problem I have is that the “experts” talk about them like their mid-level teams would win any other BCS conference. That’s just not true. Arkansas and Kentucky and Auburn would be mid-level teams in the Big Ten or the Big East or the Big 12, just like they are in the SEC.
Oh and as a side note, Missouri is without a doubt one of the top five or six teams in the country. The fact that they got left out of the BCS while teams like Illinois and Kansas (both teams that Mizzou beat) got in is an absolute travesty.
Air Ball: Illinois
The Illini were probably just happy to be in Pasedena for the Rose Bowl considering that they were coming off a last-place Big Ten finish just a year ago. It was clear from the start that this team had no business being on the same field as USC. I thought the one play that was a microcosm of the entire game came in fourth quarter when the Illini were trying to add a garbage touchdown to make the 42-10 deficit less embarrassing. Ron Zook called for an option on third and goal from the seven-yard line. Before the ball was even snapped, four USC defenders had already hit Juice Williams and blown up the play…that’s how ridiculous USC’s athleticism on defense is. I can’t think of a play that is less effective than running an option against a team with three linebackers that could start in the NFL right now. Still I have to say, Zook and the Illini had an outstanding season. That team has a lot of talent and they’ll carry it into next year.
Swish: Team not playing in the BCS Championship
After watching SC’s 49-17 pansting of Illinois and Georgia’s 42-10 laugher against Hawaii, is there any doubt that they could play with (and could beat) both Ohio State and LSU? I’m not going to get into an argument about how USC and Georgia deserve a National Title shot, because they don’t. SC lost to Stanford - a 41-point underdog and a team that lost to Notre Dame - at home. Georgia didn’t even win their half of the conference thus couldn’t even play for a SEC Championship. If you lose to Stanford or you don’t win your conference then you don’t deserve a title shot, period. That being said, there aren’t two teams in the country that are playing better football than the Trojans and Dawgs. I only wish they could’ve been matched-up against each other so Illinois and Hawaii could have their own pillow fight.
Both USC and Georgia looked National Championship-caliber on New Year's Day
Swish: The Mountain West Conference
I tend to be hard on some of the non-BCS conferences but the MWC proved they were legit with a 4-1 bowl record. The lone loss was by Air Force, who led Cal 21-0 before collapsing late in a 42-36 loss. As for the rest of the conference, BYU held off UCLA 17-16 in the Las Vegas Bowl, BYU beat Houston 21-13 in the Texas Bowl, Utah beat Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl 35-32, and New Mexico beat Nevada 23-0 in the New Mexico Bowl. Not too shabby.
Brick: Indiana
I went back-and-forth on whether to put them in here because this season was really special and it was about reaching the goal of “Playing 13,” not necessarily about winning the bowl game. But, the Hoosiers were beaten soundly by Oklahoma State 49-33, and the game wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. The Cowboys scored five touchdowns on their first five possessions to jump out to a 35-10 halftime lead and never looked back. IU is improving and I honestly believe that they are moving in the right direction. But their defense is still filled with MAC-caliber (with a few exceptions like Greg Middleton) talent and they are going to continue to struggle going up against big-time offenses like Okie State until they get more athletes on D.
Air Ball: Maryland basketball
The Terps 30-point win over Delaware snapped a three-game losing streak which included home losses to Ohio and American University. Maryland is just 7-6 on the season and is destined for a third NIT bid in four seasons. After hearing about their loss to American, I got to thinking: what the hell has happened to this program? In 2002, Maryland was a National Champion and had a squad full of future NBA players including Juan Dixon, Steve Blake and Chris Wilcox. Since that championship, Maryland has gone 111-63 (to put that in perspective, in that same time frame Duke has won 138 games and North Carolina has won 125 - and that includes Matt Doherty's bad 2003 team). Since the ’02 Title, Maryland has finished with an above-.500 ACC record just twice and haven’t cracked the final AP top ten and have only cracked the final top 20 once. Good news for Gary Williams is that things could be worse (see: Wildcats, Kentucky).
Lately, Gary Williams has been a bit, um...out of it?
Swish: The NHL
It’s extremely rare for me to ever mention the National Hockey League in this column. I enjoy watching playoff hockey but I believe the sport belongs in Canada or in Russia, where people have a passion for it. The NHL has significant flaws including a ridiculously long regular season, and a lack of American stars among a laundry list of problems. But, the League actually did something right earlier this week, holding a regular season matchup between Pittsburgh and Buffalo inside Ralph Wilson Stadium. Pittsburgh and Buffalo, along with Detroit are among the handful of cities that actually give a crap about their hockey team. 70,000+ people packed into the venue which is usually used only for Bills football games to see the Pens win 2-1 in a shootout. Hockey is at its best when featuring two teams in cities where people are passionate about their team. Just imagine how many people would pack the SkyDome if they could put a hockey rink in there for a Maple Leafs game? Why the NHL has two teams in Florida yet no team in Connecticut, Maine, or North Dakota – where people actually care about hockey – is beyond me. The outdoor game between Buffalo and Pittsburgh revealed that there are still people out there that care.
For one day, the NHL and Hockey fans everywhere had something to be proud of
Brick: Minnesota Vikings
Just two weeks ago, this team was sexier than Jessica Alba. The Vikes were coming off five straight victories and controlled their playoff destiny. The Vikings averaged 31.8 points per game and almost 139 rushing yards per contest during their five-game winning streak. Then Minny got throttled by Washington 32-21 and they followed that up by losing to a bi-polar Broncos team that had nothing to play for 22-19 in overtime. In the Washington game, Minnesota trailed 22-0 at halftime and in the Denver game they trailed 19-3 in the third before rallying late. The Denver game ended up being meaningless because the Skins beat Dallas, but their effort was uninspired for virtually three quarters of that game. They had their hands around the jugular of a playoff berth and let it slip away.
Air Ball: Bobby Bowden
FSU was without 36 players for their Music City bowl loss to Kentucky earlier in the week due to a widespread academic cheating scandal. One of the funny things about the cheating is that it took place in a music appreciation class - wow, that sounds super tough. Bobby Bowden's response? "It's a dadgum music class, gee whiz." Oh Bobby, when you talk all Southern and cute like that, it's hard to get mad at you! It's hard to blame you for the widespread cheating that has likely gone on for many years at your football program. It's even harder to blame you for recruiting players that get into bar fights with police officers or
beat their girlfriends or
steal shoes or
get tasered or
burglarize teammates' homes or
carry concealed handguns and smoke weed or
solicit prostitutes, slip date-rape drugs into drinks, fight with their neighbors and batter their lovers. Get a freakin' clue. This Florida State program has been an example of everything that is wrong and everything that is dirty in collegiate sports today. What makes Bowden culpable is that by just slapping players on the wrist, he is
allowing these kinds of things to run rampant at FSU. Talk about the prisoners running the prison. The only reason that this is suddenly a big deal is because the FSU program has gone in the toilet since the turn of the century. Bowden should do himself a favor and just retire and go away. He may eventually have the wins record but the man will never be a legend - he has done way more harm to college football than good.
FSU has had 'dadgum' criminals for football players
The Shots FANTASY Update:
Isiah Groped Me def. reggiemiller4prez, 6-3 – Fantasy NBA
Isiah Groped Me is back over .500 at 32-31 after a season-high 6-3 win last week. Jason Richardson went crazy, hitting 13 three-pointers and scoring 86 points during the week. It felt good to beat the crap out of a team named after a player that caused me so many unhappy childhood moments. I picked up Grant Hill two weeks ago and he’s been great ever since. I think the addition of a veteran presence in the Isiah Groped Me locker room was big, and Hill has been a bit of a mentor to Ronnie Brewer, who is one of the young leaders of my fantasy team.
It’s not enough to just have a make-believe Fantasy NBA team, I have also like to make up stories and pretend like the team is real. It’s like a five year old playing “house,” the only difference being that I’m 24 and have a Gerald Wilkins poster in my apartment. I even sat Zach Randolph for one-game last week for violating a non-specific team rule.
I benched Z-Bo for one game this week due to lack of hustle
This is depressing that I only have one team to update you on. Fantasy NASCAR can’t get here soon enough. Also, stay tuned for fantasy golf!
The Shots Blast from the Past: from The Shots Week of December 3
“Air Ball: Joe Gibbs
Oh Joe, has the game really passed you by? In a classic move that only a person that spent over a decade away from football would make, Gibbs called back-to-back timeouts in an attempt to ice Buffalo Bills kicker Ryan Lindell with the Skins holding on to a 16-14 lead. This is against NFL rules and resulted in a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty giving Lindell a chip-shot 36-yarder for the win instead of a much tougher 51-yarder against the wind. The Redskins had a chance to even up their record at 6-6 and be in the driver’s seat for a potential Wild Card berth in the NFC. But, with the loss and a remaining schedule that includes road games at the Giants and Vikings and a home game to the 11-1 Cowboys, they have almost no realistic chance of rallying to make the playoffs.”
This is further proof of how amazing this playoff run has been for the Washington Redskins. I (and many others) left them for dead after that loss to Buffalo but they really responded in the past few weeks. Todd Collins, who hadn’t taken a snap as an NFL starter in a decade, has won all three of his starts for the Skins. It can’t be overstated how outstanding Collins has been since taking over for the injured Jason Campbell. Collins has thrown for 888 yards, 5 touchdowns and ZERO interceptions and has a QB rating of 106.4 over the four games (three starts) in which he has played. It is speculated that Campbell could be healthy enough to return this week but the Redskins would be absolutely crazy to sit Collins at this point. He deserves to keep the job. I hate the Skins (like I do Philly and Dallas) with a tremendous passion, but it’s hard to not get behind them with all that they’ve went through this season.
The Shots What to Watch this week:
Valparaiso at Butler, Saturday
As good as Butler has been, some people that I have talked to believe that Valpo could be the best team in the Horizon League. Remember that the Crusaders knocked off Wright State on the road, a team that handed Butler their only loss so far this season. Much like Butler, Valpo is extremely balanced offensively with four players averaging double figures in scoring, and six players averaging eight points a game or more.
Boston at Detroit, Saturday
The Celtics may be 26-3 but they are just starting to get into the meat of their schedule. The C’s were impressive in back-to-back road wins in Utah and over the Lakers in L.A. in their first two real West road tests of the season. The Pistons are white-hot coming off a 15-2 December and have won nine straight as of Wednesday, including a 87-85 win in Boston two weeks ago. Boston can prove their worth this month. They play Dallas, return to Orlando (site of one of their three losses this season), and also take on Toronto and Portland in the next four weeks. The Pistons are still the team to beat in the East, and possibly the entire NBA.
Jarvis Hayes has sparked the Pistons on their lastest hot streak
Washington at Seattle, Saturday
NY Giants at TampaBay, Sunday
Unlike in the AFC where San Diego and Jacksonville should both win easily, both of the NFC Wild Card matchups are virtual toss-ups. The red-hot Redskins travel to Qwest Field which has been a house of horrors for most Seahawks’ opponents. The Giants have to be feeling good about themselves after laying a couple haymakers on the unbeaten Patriots and lasting all 12 rounds before losing on a decision.
The Shots YouTube clips this week:
Sports related - http://youtube.com/watch?v=uJmsCsb9hUA
You had to know this was coming....Darrell Reid's special teams hit from Sunday! That was easily one of the top five most vicious hits I've ever seen.
Non-sports related - http://youtube.com/watch?v=N2zpyBX7qyY
An extremely underrated scene from one of the better movies of all-time. Disclaimer: neither The Shots nor ESPN 950 or any parent companies condone the activities taking place in this YouTube clip. I'm not sure if I had to put that in there, but I just wanted to make sure...
The Shots Chick Pick this week: Jes Rickleff from Rock of Love with Bret Michaels
Those that know me well, know that I’m a reality TV junkie. With the possible exception of The Real World Las Vegas in 2002, I can’t think of a more entertaining reality season than the Rock of Love First Season. Jes was the only non-trashy chick on the entire show and she was possibly the only one that wasn’t a former stripper. I’m not usually into the punk-rock tattoo chicks but this girl is smoking hot. Definitely up there with Lauren from The Hills, Irulan from Real World, Cara from Road Rules on the Mt. Rushmore of Reality TV hot chicks…oddly enough, all three of them have been previous Chick Picks.
With the writer's strike going on, what the hell else am I gonna watch?
See you next week.
