Remembering 2011

Let us not forget 2011... A year that can be described by thousands of words: scandalous, shocking, lockout, wild, epic... I would describe this year with one word: unpredictable. 2011 in sports always left us questioning and guessing about the next thing that was going to happen; what was going to happen next? There are a few good and bad things this year has for us to learn from:

NFL: The Green Bay Packers returned to prominence and Aaron Rodgers proved Lambeau doesn't need Brett Favre to become Titletown once again. During the offseason, the players and owners couldn't come to an agreement on a new deal, but the Lockout ended just in time for a full NFL season. Us NFL fans were treated with 4th quarter comebacks and countless stories from the media because of an interesting 2nd year QB with a funky wind-up: Tebow. Like it or not, this kid is something special and he's left his footprint on the great game of football. 2011 was also the year of the passer; Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Drew Brees, need I say more? It'll be exciting to see what happens in the playoffs. One Word: Unpredictable
MLB: A crazy year. D-backs make the playoffs, Boston and Atlanta miss out while St. Louis sneaks in. St. Louis upsets the dream team of Philadelphia, but Texas forces them to one out from a World Series. America's past time still has some punch, though and St. Louis used a couple of miracles to win game 6 and then win game 7. Unpredictable
NBA: The Mavericks won their first NBA title by taking down giants: Kobe and the Lakers, and LeBron and the Heat. For an underachieving franchise to win their first title by taking out heavily favored opponents in a league that has lacked suspense was great for the sport, however the lockout was not good for the sport. Why argue over money when a sport can be revived? Unpredictable
NHL: A sport with few fans needs a lot to make news, but the 2011 season for hockey had many treasures and lessons to learn from. Vancouver leapt out to a Stanley Cup lead, but in Boston, Aaron Rome nailed Nate Horton for a Stanley Cup ban. The Bruins awoke afterwards and took the series from a stunned Vancouver team. The shock led to arguably the saddest moment in Vancouver history: the riots. Unpredictable
NCAAF: A year of scandal. Penn State saw an awful end of an era as Joe Paterno himself couldn't escape the scandals in "Happy Valley". However, college football always holds surprises. The many upsets and RG3 winning the Heisman instead of Andrew Luck are just a few stories from a rich year. Unpredictable
NCAAB: A year full of talent from Kemba Walker to Derrick Williams. VCU and Butler making their presence felt in the basketball world as they both made the Final Four. Many talented college freshman stayed in college rather than going to the NBA to create another unpredictable year.
What does 2012 hold in store for all of us? Will more QBs make their impact in the NFL? Will Bryce Harper emerge as baseball's top star? Will Miami falter in the playoffs once again? Who will win the Stanley Cup in an air-tight playoff race? LSU or Bama? What will happen in March? How will the Summer Olympics play out?  Which country will win the Euro Cup? We won't know until we witness it. Welcome 2012.

Cats romp a sloppy ASU squad, 68-51

Take that ASU! Cats went into Pac-12 play as the favorites over an inferior ASU Sun Devil basketball squad and the Cats came out victorious with no letdown, whatsoever. ASU is a bad team, but they were awful as they had 13 first half turnovers and only 20 points in 20 minutes. The Cats didn't take advantage of the poor ASU team, but they didn't have to. The defense suffocated the Sun Devils and the offense started picking up late in the first half. The regulars for Arizona excelled (Solomon Hill, Jesse Perry), but the Frosh guards stepped up their game as Nick Johnson put up a few highlight dunks and 14 points against his dad's team and Josiah Turner was a spike in the Sun Devil's side as he came up with 5 steals. Cats go to the Honda Center next Thursday to take on a homeless UCLA Bruins team.

Baylor survives an Alamo shootout, beat Washington 67-56

RG3 didn't put up the stellar stats that we've grown accustomed to see, but he got plenty of support from his teammates. Baylor RB Terrance Ganaway scored 5 TDs as the Bears' offense rolled all night. Keith Price and Chris Polk of Washington didn't go with a whimper, instead they matched every punch Baylor threw at them. Many people thought Baylor would rout the Huskies, which they did on an offensive standpoint, but the Huskies' Price led the Washington offense through the air by throwing 438 yards and 4 TDs. When the score was 60-56, Baylor finally came up with a defensive stop on fourth down to contain the Huskies. When Baylor tried to run the clock down, Ganaway ran for a TD. The Washington offense was stellar as Price outperformed Griffin III, but the defensive struggles of the Dawgs proved to be too great.

Texas downs Cal in the Holiday Bowl, 21-10

If someone told me that David Ash would outperform Zach Maynard before the Holiday Bowl, I wouldn't believe them. I was surprised David Ash got the start. Most people thought that Case McCoy (Colt's little brother) would get the starting nod since he's thrown three times as many TDs than Ash and only half the INTs, but head coach Mack Brown let Ash start instead. Both defenses showed up early in the ballgame as the Longhorn rushing attack was stifled in the first half, while Cal put up only a FG. Texas drew up an end-around where WR Jaxon Shipley (Jordan's little brother) threw a 4-yard TD to Ash. The Golden Bears would finally break out of their offensive slumber as Isi Sofele scored a TD, but Texas would pull away with two more TDs and the Longhorns left with the Holiday Bowl trophy.

Toledo tops Air Force in a wild Military Bowl, 42-41

The Toledo Rockets and Air Force Falcons headed into Wednesday's match-up in the Military Bowl with a victory on their minds. By days end, Toledo emerged victorious as they imposed their passing offense against a run-happy Air Force offense, but the Falcons gave the Rockets everything they could handle in a classic shootout. Air Force's game plan was quickly altered once they fell into a 21-7 hole in a wild display of first quarter offense. Tim Jefferson, the Falcon's option QB, started throwing the ball with efficiency in the last three quarters and the shootout was on. The Falcons tied the game at 21, then Toledo scored a TD, which Air Force answered with a TD of their own. This pattern carried on till there was 1:32 left in the game. Jefferson threw a TD, but Air Force opted to do a trick-play FG option-run, which was fumbled in the end zone and Toledo held on for the victory.

Oregon's new Rose Bowl unis are pretty scary

I understand that a Duck isn't the scariest animal of them all, but these new Nike Pro Combat Uniforms for the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl are frightening. The good guys at Nike have given the Ducks tons of interesting uniforms, but a Darth Vader-esque jersey with wings on the helmet and a big "O" on the back don't seem to fit into the Rose Bowl theme. Look at the Wisconsin Rose Bowl jersey for example. Adidas decided to put a "rosy" pattern on the numbers. There's nothing scary about it, but then again, there doesn't have to be. Perhaps both teams thought that a different jersey would change their previous fortunes in the Bowl (Oregon lost to Ohio St. in 2009 and Wisconsin lost to TCU last year), but only one team can win "The Grand-daddy of them all".

BCS (Bull-Crap System)

The series of BCS bowl games is right around the corner. The five annual bowls features some intriguing match-ups as the #1 LSU Tigers take on the #2 Alabama Crimson Tide in the National Title game, two teams from the same conference and even the same division. Another interesting match-up is the Fiesta Bowl, which features the #3 and #4 teams in the country, OSU Cowboys and Stanford Cardinal. These two games should produce the new #1 and #2 teams in the country, but a true number one would be clear if the winners of these two games played each other to produce a true National Championship in Final Four fashion, after all Oklahoma State barely missed out on a title game berth. The rest of the BCS games don't pack as much punch; the Rose Bowl features the #6 Oregon Ducks against the #9 Wisconsin Badgers, the Orange Bowl features the #14 Clemson Tigers against the #23 West Virginia Mountaineers, and perhaps the worst match up, the Sugar Bowl, features two unworthy "at-large" bids, the #13 Michigan Wolverines against the #17 Virginia Tech Hokies. The Sugar Bowl points out exactly why the BCS system should be eliminated: there are five teams ranked ahead of Michigan and seven ahead of the Hokies that did not recieve a BCS Bowl bid, including the smaller rivals to the Wolverines, the MSU Spartans. Michigan State earned a higher ranking than the Wolverines and won their division, but since they almost nearly won the BIG 10 title game only to come up short, they earn a bid in the Outback Bowl. It seems to me that the only way to resolve the BCS and cure the obvious money factor that prevents smaller schools such as Boise St. or even Michigan State is to establish a top 8 team playoff system. #1 will play #8, #2 will play #7, #3 will play #6, and #4 will play #5 (almost like the seeding for March Madness). More games and more anticipation for a champion and even an upset will make millions of Americans watch a new BCS playoff system. Many schools are left out since larger market college teams may be invited, but more games is more money and even if a school such as Ohio St. is in the top 8 and becomes a true champion, that is equivalent to 3 standard BCS game earnings for the school. The BCS is already open to a top 8 system since the independent Notre Dame is invited to a BCS bowl as long as they finish in the top 8. Just because they don't have a conference, they have more lee-way. I feel that all non-big 6 schools should be treated like Notre Dame if the current BCS system were to stand. Boise St. finished #8 in the AP polls this year, but instead of being chosen for the Sugar Bowl, they were invited to the Maaco Las Vegas Bowl against an inferior ASU team. The current BCS system is flawed since they don't invite rightful college football teams, so the current system of playing five BCS bowl games should be eliminated. With a playoff BCS system, the top 8 college football teams will be invited to play in a seven game tournament, which would eliminate the money factor for college football and produce a true National Champion.