A New Religion

I have loved sports my entire life. I'm sure that a majority of American men can probably make that statement as well. Games, no matter what sport hold so much meaning for us. They are where we are taught life lessons, learn who we are as a person, bond us as friends and family, and present us with memories that last a lifetime. It is almost part of the American dream. Every little boy relishes that first game of catch with their dad, their first MLB/NFL/NBA/NHL/etc. game, and at some point, thinks about all of those things for his own son. To many of us, sports are an idyllic world that serves our fantasies, helps create our identity, and helps create our community. They do many of the things that organized religion do without as much of the dogma and spiritualism.


As a young American male, sports became a passion for me early on. I followed almost anything that was on television and that has blossomed into a major part of my life now. It really doesn't even matter who is playing anymore, if there's a game on somewhere, I'll probably turn it on. It's also a land of dreams for me. As a guy who is active but was never good enough at any sport to come anywhere near talented enough to play past high school, I see things I wish I could physically do but get great pleasure from seeing others do. As pathetic as it sounds, I have become more attached to game schedules than almost anything else. On Saturdays in the fall, I will do just about anything to make sure that I can see both Ohio State's and Bowling Green's game. There are three TVs in my living room right now for the purpose of watching 3 games at once. To cut a long story short, I am devoted, devoted enough to declare my personal religion to be sports. The passion on game day, to me, is the same as the religious exuberance that some people experience during intense church services or other spiritual experiences. I happen to believe that I'm not the only one who feels this way. So in thinking about all of this, I hope to present documentation for those who worship at the altar of competition, who see stadiums as cathedrals, and for whom game day is a holy day. This week, I'll present our calendar, dogma, and rules for worshiping in the religion of sports.

My Bowl Projections

I haven't done this in awhile and since its a slow news day and I've got the time to kill, here's how I think the bowls will shape up. December 20-January 9 is the best time of the year, next to the first 2 weeks of the NCAA tournament. So, here's how I see this playing out.

New Mexico Bowl - Fresno State (WAC) vs. San Diego State (MWC)
St. Petersburg Bowl - Southern Miss (C-USA) vs. South Florida (BEC)
Las Vegas Bowl - Utah (MWC) vs. UCLA (P-10)
EagleBank Bowl - Duke (ACC) vs. UCF (C-USA)
New Orleans Bowl - Marshall (C-USA) vs. Troy (SBC)
Pointsettia Bowl - BYU (MWC) vs. California (P-10)
Hawaii Bowl - Nevada (WAC) vs. East Carolina (C-USA)
Motor City Bowl (Little Caesar's) - Central Michigan (MAC) vs. Michigan State (B-10)
Meineke Car Care Bowl - Pittsburgh (BEC) vs. North Carolina (ACC)
Champs Sports Bowl - Minnesota (B-10) vs. Virginia Tech (ACC)
Emerald Bowl - Stanford (P-10) vs. Boston College (ACC)
Independence Bowl - Missouri (B-12) vs. Kentucky (SEC)
Papajohns.com Bowl - South Carolina (SEC) vs. West Virginia (BEC)
Alamo Bowl - Northwestern (B-10) vs. Kansas State (B-12)
Humanitarian Bowl - Idaho (WAC) vs. Ohio (MAC)
Texas Bowl - Navy (IND) vs. Texas A&M (B-12)
Holiday Bowl - Nebraska (B-12) vs. Arizona (P-10)
Armed Forces Bowl - Air Force (MWC) vs. SMU (C-USA)
Sun Bowl - Oregon State (P-10) vs. Oklahoma (B-12)
Music City Bowl - Florida State (ACC) vs. Georgia (SEC)
Insight Bowl - Texas Tech (B-12) vs. Wisconsin (B-10)
Peach (Chick-fil-A) Bowl - Mississippi (SEC) vs. Clemson (ACC)
Outback Bowl - Penn State (B-10) vs. Tennessee (SEC)
Citrus (Capital One) Bowl - Iowa (B-10) vs. Auburn (SEC)
Gator Bowl - Notre Dame (IND) vs. Miami (ACC)
Cotton Bowl - Oklahoma State (B-12) vs. LSU (SEC)
Liberty Bowl - Houston (C-USA) vs. Arkansas (SEC)
International Bowl - Temple (MAC) vs. Rutgers (BEC)
GMAC Bowl - Tulsa (C-USA) vs. Northern Illinois (MAC)
Rose Bowl - Ohio State (B-10) vs. Oregon (P-10)
Orange Bowl - Georgia Tech (ACC) vs. Boise State (WAC)
Sugar Bowl - Florida (SEC) vs. Cincinnati (BEC)
Fiesta Bowl - TCU (MWC) vs. USC (P-10)
BCS National Championship Game - BCS #1 Alabama vs. BCS #2 Texas

In 3 weeks I'll see how I did...

R.I.P. Captain Lou

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Captain Lou Albano, the charismatic
professional wrestler who appeared in Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just
Wanna Have Fun" video, has died. He was 76.
World Wrestling Entertainment confirmed the death Thursday on
its Web site.
Albano performed with WWE from 1983 to 1996, when he was
inducted into its hall of fame. He began his wrestling career in
Canada in 1953.
Albano expanded his fan base greatly when he played Lauper's
father in the video for her hit single on a fledgling MTV in 1983.
He later claimed to be the catalyst for her success, according to
WWE.

Captain Lou was one of the true innovators in the business. Much love and respect to the Captain and my deepest sympathies to his friends and family.

NFLPA and Rev. Al Sharpton say no to Rush

Sharpton seeks rejection of Limbaugh


When I first heard that Rush was looking into buying the Rams, I admit laughing. I mean, seriously, Rush? Owning an NFL franchise? It was laughable. Until I found out that the rumor was true. Rush owning an NFL team would pretty much be a degradation of the league and the game. Never would the league have a more divisive and controversial owner on issues that have little or nothing to do with football. Yes, people have many varying opinions about Jerry Jones. But he knows how to run a team his way, is willing to pay to run a team his way, and usually doesn't stir up controversy outside of his sphere of football. But Rush can, does, and would. Think back to the 3-4 weeks he was on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, until he was fired for saying that the only reason Donovan McNabb was successful was because the liberal media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed. Oh, you can probably add the Michael J. Fox dust-up if you need another example of what kind of guy were dealing with.
Rush Limbaugh on the offensive against ad with Michael J. Fox

Rush Limbaugh being an owner of the Rams would be bad for the NFL. Plain and simple. It would bring even more unwanted negative attention to the league, when Goodell has already been working his ass off to reverse the image of the league in the face of the Plaxico Burress and Michael Vick situations.

T-minus 7 days

So next Monday, I start what should be, crossing fingers, hopefully, my last fall in school. Something tells me I won't be coming back to get a PhD. Granted, stranger things have happened but still... I'm actually rather excited for classes because dammit do I need something to do with myself. That was all that stuff last month was with the Streak for the Cash. I was just looking for something to do with my brain. That and trying to pad my hours at work, but in my defense, I'm working for minimum wage here. A large chunk of my friends are going back to school today and I actually envy them. Yes, I have another week of pretty much sitting around, doing very little, and most importantly, not studying, writing, and cramming. But I've discovered I need that kind of stuff. If I'm not juggling 20 million things at once, standing just 1-2 steps from the edge of complete collapse and breakdown, then I'm bored, complacent, and generally not a fun person to be around. That being said, I've got theory this semester, both communication and management, so this should be fun. Oh yeah, and my perspective Master's project timeline was shortened by 4 months last week by those up above me. At this point, this website is getting done by me whether or not it's my Master's project so I'm really hoping to find a sympathetic committee...

On the ginormous upside... college football starts next Thursday! BG hosts, and should promptly destroy, defending Sun Belt champs Troy. And Oregon takes on Boise State later that night. I really can't wait for that. It's real... damn real...

Streak Speak - July 29

Getting close to the end of the month and yesterday was less than desirable, a dismal 1-2. I seem to be doing well getting the first pick of the day on the board right. Dynamo Dresden took away a 1-0 win, but the tennis pick after that was close, but the American Isner won it straight sets. Then the favored Connecticut Sun get bounced by 15 at home. Note to self: stop picking WNBA games. The one win kept me on top of hte group for the month as Tim went 2-0 yesterday. So I'm still up, but just 47-46 today. I'm pretty sure we both have the first pick today as well...

Today the Auid cup starts in Munich and both openers start the day. I'm taking Manchester United over Boca Juniors, only because it looks like most of their starting XI will be playing today. They're expecting a competitive game, and as much as the draw scares me, I'm going with Man U. In the 2nd game, right now Bayern Munich Win is down in the picks 87-13 to AC Milan Win/Draw. Milan doesn't look the same as they have in past year, and this is a team that last week lost all 3 games in the World Football Challenge and drew with the LA Galaxy. Munich is also looking to get a lot of their normal starters into the mix, so I think I'm gonna go with the home team. Finally, I'll probably skip down to the next soccer match: the MLS All-Star game at 9:30. The MLS All-Starts are 5-0 against foreign clubs and Everton just started preseason training with their first match on Sunday, a 1-0 loss to River Plate. 3 soccer fixtures and at this point I'm hoping for a 2-1 day. Best case scenario I win the race to 50 today and don't have to try and scrape it out tomorrow and Friday. I'll worry about actually getting a streak going again next month because I'm officially back to the W1, L1, W2, L1, W1, L2 days of the beginning of the month. I would love a short streak to wrap the month up though. It would be really cool to end the month over .700.

Streak Speak - July 28

It seems I have returned to the up and down days of late June. Bringing a W1 into the day, I got my first soccer pick right as AGF Aarhus knocked off Randers FC on the road 3-2 in a Danish SAS-Leagen fixture, but went right back to the red as FC Porto shut out Lyon in their Peace Cup match 2-0. Hoping for one more win and hoping to put some distance between Tim and I in the monthly count, I grabbed what I saw as a lock. I hit the last prop on the board - Tim Lincecum vs. Felix Hernandez in who can get more Ks. Lincecum had another amazing night against the Pirates, fanning 15 in a 4 hit complete game. Hernandez only managed 2 K's in 5 and 2/3rds innings of work. So coming into today, I'm back at W1.

Tuesday again starts kinda late with the first pick being a German Bundasliga 3 match between Dynamo Dresden and SV Wehen Wiesbaden. From what I understand, this is like the Double-A of German soccer, but the talent difference between the different leagues is not as big as in the American minor/major league baseball system. Anyway, I've got the win/draw on Dresden and they are up 1-nil at the half. So being hopeful there, I plan on moving to the 3pm tennis pick, Benjamin Becker vs. John Isner. Becker is 0-2 against Isner, but playing far better on the hard court and the 8th seed in the LA Open. I'm gonna go with the German here. I like the Connecticut Sun over the Phoenix Mercury in the 7:30 WNBA game and if there's time, I'll try to pick the Toronto/Seattle game. Still up in the air about that one though.

The group win race is still close. I now have a 2 game advantage on Tim 46-44 and we both have Dresden, so the gap won't change no matter the result. Just 3.5 days to get to 50 and beyond. Since the group record for wins in a month is 48, we'll both probably shatter that one. Armando claims he's going to play more in the coming months, but we'll see about that one...