Weekend Wrap-Up Volume 2

Sports: This week had lots of great NBA games and storylines, but most of you have probably heard all of the information more than enough times, so I thought I should inform you of some College Football n:ews that went relatively unnoticed, but will make a big difference this year. The College Football Coaches Poll makes up 1/3 of the BCS rankings. As if the BCS isn't already messed up enough, now the NCAA decided that the coaches selections for the Top 25 Coaches Poll will now be a secret, instead of public record. In a perfect world, where coaches are moral human beings at all times, this would be fine. Unfortunately, we are far from that, coaches are accused of cheating on a daily basis, will do whatever it takes to win, and are not exactly the most trustworthy people. Now that they have no checks and balances in their voting process, no one can hold them responsible for voting for their team every week or voting for teams on their own schedule, just to try and boost their strength of schedule. I have no idea why the NCAA thought this was a good idea, and I'm pleading: Please, Barack, follow through on your promise to scrap the BCS and make a playoff system for us, because right now, things are only getting worse.

Music: This week's top billboard album was Eminem's Relapse. After listening to the album, I thought it was good, but not great by any means. I wish Eminem should have brought it harder than he did. A lot of the tracks were trying to be funny as he used his Slim Shady persona, and the few tracks that he tried to bring hard and be serious, I found kind of gross (For example, the song Insane.) Overall, I enjoyed the album and it is worth getting, but it isn't my favorite Eminem record by any means.

Youtube Clip: I was reading one of my personal favorite blogs, Club Trillion, and I saw a hilarious clip that he had posted. Being a huge Chicago Bulls fan made this clip even more enjoyable for me. Without further ado, I present you, "Benny the Bull on Jerry Springer"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PE9gQwlQ0E

Sports Updates

Alright, it's been awhile since the last blog so there's a lot of catching up to do. First off, a story close to most of our readers homes, Vander Blue. The Junior, Madison Memorial guard recently withdrew his oral commitment to the Badgers. Usually the Badgers Basketball don't get much national publicity, but I found a great article about it on CBS Sportsline. It's definitely worth checking out. http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/11776517
As a Badger basketball season ticket holder, Blue was the first recruit I've been excited about since Alando Tucker, and it appears that us, (The Fans,) played a large role in Wisconsin losing him.


A couple NFL Power Rankings were recently released and here's how they shaped up:

Peter King's (Sports Illustrated) Power Rankings:

1. New England
   
2. Pittsburgh
3. New York Giants
4. Chicago
5. Indianapolis
6. Philadelphia
7. San Diego
8. Baltimore
9. Dallas
10. Tennessee
11. Atlanta
12. Arizona
13. Houston
14. Green Bay
15. Minnesota
16. New York Jets
17. Miami
18. Carolina
19. Seattle
20. Denver
21. Jacksonville
22. Buffalo
23. Washington
24. New Orleans
25. San Francisco
26. Tampa Bay
27. Oakland
28. Cincinnati
29. Kansas City
30. St. Louis
31. Detroit
32. Cleveland

ESPN's Power Rankings:

1. Pittsburgh
2. New England
3. New York Giants
4. Philadelphia
5. Indianapolis
6. Baltimore
7. San Diego
8. Tennessee
9. Arizona
10. Carolina
11. Atlanta
12. Chicago
13. Dallas
14. Minnesota
15. Miami
16. New Orleans
17. Green Bay
18. Houston
19. Washington
20. New York Jets
21. Buffalo
22. Seattle
23. Cincinnati
24. Jacksonville
25. Denver
26. San Francisco
27. Tampa Bay
28. Cleveland
29. Kansas City
30. Oakland
31. St. Louis
32. Detroit

Personally I am more in favor of the ESPN poll, let me know what you think...

Next up, a little college hoops talk. Memphis has the NCAA investigating some violations that occurred while Coach John Calipari was there. I feel terrible for Tigers fans; as if it wasn't bad enough that Calipari took all their recruits with him, now this happens. There is a good possibility that Memphis will have to forfeit their NCAA Final Four banner and games, and I think Calipari needs to take a lot of the heat. This is the second time major violations have come down on his programs, just as he moves onto the next one. Calipari was alerted of the violations via a letter from the NCAA before he took the job at Kentucky. That might have made the decision to leave Memphis even an easier one than it already was. He needs to be punished just as much, if not more, than the University of Memphis should be. He may be one of the best recruiters of all time, but how often does he cut corners and break rules to do get athletes?

The single thing I am looking forward to this coming college football season, is watching Lane Kiffin and the Tennessee Volunteers. I have never sat down just to watch Tennessee before in my life, but after seeing all the drama and bad-blood Kiffin's caused just in the off-season, I can't wait to see what happens when players actually start getting their pads on and hitting each other. He's already stolen great coaches away from other SEC teams, grabbed recruits from other SEC teams at the last minute, and called out other coaches and programs (Even if the program didn't do anything wrong, cough, Florida, cough.) Just when I thought things had died down for awhile, audio has been released of a confrontation between South Carolina coach, Steve Spurrier , and Lane Kiffin while waiting for an elevator. Its nothing too spicy, but still worth a listen:
http://www.4shared.com/file/108262296/a3d5ac06/Spurrier_asked_about_Kiffin_apology_remark_confronts_him_by_elevator.html
As if SEC football already wasn't the most fun conference to watch, the addition of Kiffin just makes it that much better.

Stay Ferocious,

Riles P

Streak For The Cash

Time to give some credit to the members of our "Streak for Cash" group on ESPN.com. Everyone is encouraged to join by following the link on the right side of the site. Right now punkrabbit aka Max has the longest streak with a whopping 3, but J-Clark and I are tied for the most correct picks, each with a record of 10-7. Let's get someone in our group to double-digit wins consecutively. Good luck everyone. By the way, I have to give props to J-Clark and Maxi for correctly picking a Cricket game this morning. Impressive.

Stay Ferocious,

Riles P

DRAMA in the Sports World

TNT boasts its slogan "We Know Drama," endlessly during their programs. Usually it is referring to their TV shows; however, as the NBA playoffs continue to progress, it seems the TNT slogan fits their sports schedule as well. There have been several overtime finishes, some great game seven's, and many heroic performances. But that isn't the drama that I'm talking about. I'm talking about the flagrant fouls, technical fouls, and war or words being exchanged. The Bulls vs Celtics started the drama with the Hinrich vs Rondo fight, and the countless Rondo flagrant fouls. Then the Lakers vs Rockets added some drama with a Derek Fisher close-line that I can't watch enough. Great hit. Now, Mark Cuban decided that drama shouldn't be something just the players get to create; he wanted to get in the mix, and boy did he choose a great way to contribute. On Mother's day, of all days, he turned to Kenyon Martin's mother and said to her, "Your son is a punk!" Nice...I think it's safe to say Cuban is the only owner, in any sport, that could possibly get into an altercation with a player's mother.

By the way, as I type this I am attempting to watch a full NHL game on TV. It is a feat I have yet to accomplish, but the BlackHawks vs Canucks game is keeping me entertained so far. I will let you know in my next post if I actually make it through all 3 periods. Since we're talking about the NHL for the first, and most likely last, time on this blog I thought I would share a statistic of just how few Americans watch it. Staggering statistic...

Most Watched Sports In The United States

1. NFL
2. College Football
3. MLB
4. NBA
5. College Basketball
6. Figure Skating
7. Extreme Sports
8. Nascar
9. Boxing
10. PGA Tour
11. Mixed Martial Arts
12. Horse Racing
13. NHL

A few quick thoughts on this list: Firstly, I am shocked to see that the NBA is watched by more people than college hoops. I constantly hear people ripping on the NBA and talking about how college basketball is much better, so that was surprising. Also, Figure Skating number 6?? Really??? Watching people skate on ice, hitting around a puck is boring enough, so if you took the puck away, I know I definitely couldn't make it through. I'm out.

Stay Ferocious,

Riles P

SNL

Aight, if anyone missed SNL last night I consider it my duty to let you know Justin Timberlake put it down AGAIN. He is definitely the best guest host of our generation. Check out the clip of Andy and JT making magic as usual. Enjoy.

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Sports Updates

Ferocious Gentlemen-It's been awhile since the last post so a lot is on my mind. 1st off, the Cleveland Cavaliers are unstoppable. In the playoffs so far no team has been within single digits by the time the game was over. Lebron James is the best thing since Michael Jordan and we need to cherish every game he plays because who knows when another "Chosen One" will come around. Now, some of you may be thinking, "What about Kobe Bryant?" I admit, Kobe is also an unbelievably great player that we should be thankful for, but I truly think Lebron has him beat. Kobe's supporting cast is much, much better. Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol were superstars on their own, before they teamed up with Kobe. Andrew Bynum is another great teammate that helps Kobe along the way. Lebron has many more similarities to MJ than Kobe does. (I'm not just talking about wearing number 23.) Lebron, like MJ, makes everyone around him better. Mo Williams is definitely a good ball player, but he is the only other star Lebron has to help him. The rest of the team are roll players that benefit greatly not only from Lebron getting all the defense's attention, but also from the Chosen One creating plays all over the court. Lebron carries his team completely. He leads his team in every important statistical categor: points, rebounds, assists, and even blocks (An impressive accomplishment with Ben Wallace on the team.) When you look at the Lakers, Kobe only leads in 2 of the 4 categories, with his two star teammates, Odom and Gasol handling the other two for him. I know the Lebron vs Kobe topic is argued a lot, and I think these statistics prove pretty clearly why exaclty Lebron should win the argument every time.

The whole Manny Ramirez situation has me confused. Why and how did someone who has passed 15 tests in his career suddenly fail 1...Perhaps his doctor's excuse is actually legitimate...Although how many times have we heard that excuse before. I suggest that the MLB creates a program for players, where they can ask about any and every prescription or over-the-counter drug they are considering taking. The MLB would tell them if it is allowed or not, and that way we would never let an athlete use the excuse, "The doctor gave it to me and thought it was okay, I didn't know." ever again.

I saw an interesting list today and I wanted to share it. It was a poll taken by CBSsportsline, and it was asking who people's favorite sports movie characters are. Comment about what you think of the list. Do you agree? Did someone get snubbed? Here it is:
10. Ray Kinsella-Field Of Dreams-Kevin Costner
9. Shooter McGavin-Happy Gilmore-Christopher McDonald
8. Jimmy Dugan-A League of their Own-TomHanks
7. "Nuke" Laloosh-Bull Durham-Tim Robbins
6. Rudy Ruettiger-Rudy-Sean Astin
5. Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaugn-Major League-Charlie Sheen
4. Roy Hobbs-The Natural-Robert Redford
3. The Hanson Bros-Slapshot-The Hanson Brothers
2. Rodi Tidwell-Jerry Maguire-Cuba Gooding Jr.
1. Carl Spackler-Caddyshack-Bill Murray

I think it's a good list but personally I would have to put Denzel Washington somewhere on the list for his role as Coach Boone in Remember the Titans. Also, maybe an honorable mention shout-out to Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn for their roles in Dodgeball. (It's a sport to me.)

As always, stay ferocious,
Riles P

Music

Ferocious Gents! I'm sick of all the Brett Favre talk, so let's focus on music for a little bit. I wanna hook you guys up with some tracks that I am loving right now. Some I'm sure you've all heard of but hopefully I'll introduce y'all to some new stuff as well.
Gentlemen's HitList:
1. I Poke Her Face-Kid Cudi ft. Lady Gaga, Kanye West, and Common
2. Ice Cream Girl-Wale
3. Beggin'-Madcon
4. Be By Myself-Asher Roth
5. A Yo-Method Man and Redman
6. Jimmy Recard-Draphy (Shout out to J-Clark for showing me this Aussie rapper)
7. Sickology 101-Tech N9ne ft. Crooked I and Chino XL
8. Will I Stay-Colin Munroe ft. Wale
9. We Made You-Eminem
10. Do What You Do-Marz ft. Pack and Mummiez (Sweet music from Kia Soul Commercial)

Enjoy!

Riles P