THE Sport Rant

Lets talk World Baseball Classic

2009-03-05T15:11:00.003-05:00

So lets get right into this, I'm sorry for the delay (1 month at least) but I'm going to retry to get on top of this blog. I want to talk about the World Baseball Classic. It is a great event I think, but what does it really mean on a grand scale of things? What does a World "Cup" essentially of Baseball mean for Baseball around the world?

Lets look at first the Soccer World Cup...what do we notice? Well first off qualification for the World Cup takes nearly 4 years, as soon as one is over you start qualifying for the next WC. So here is the great thing, basically every nation is in the soccer world cup, it just goes through rounds of qualification/elimination for three years until you reach the actual World Cup tournament hosted in a single nation.

When the teams (and fans) get together it is a great show of culture and many get to see a very large array of styles. Lets be honest, soccer isn't a very hard game to grasp...don't touch the ball with your hand, no cherry picking (offsides rule) and put the ball in your opponents net. Easy enough right? Now think about how many different styles there are to play the game? Even just in Europe there are divisions, if you watch Italy you'll see a very defensive and quick counter strike, a lot finesse play and great acting. Watch Germany and you see a very rigid, strict, controlled style of play and yet still very dangerous. Go over to Portugal and you see flair much like you see in Brazil, great individual play, fancy ball movement and whatnot. It is exciting I think to see all these different styles and see how they work against one another.

So lets pull it back to the Classic. Watch the Asian bracket, see the Japenese team play. They have different styles of batting and pitching and it looks nothing like the American style of play, yet they won the last Classic and the Americans didn't even sniff the Championship game. Watch the flair of the Latin American nations, the jumping up and down and dancing in the dugouts. I think its the most incredible thing to watch, we often think of baseball as just an American sport, but take a second to watch this Classic and you'll realize that it truly is growing into an International sport.

What will become of the World Baseball Classic? Well I think the IBAF (International Baseball Federation) will continue to grow into something more like FIFA and they will further take control of this competition and who knows maybe one day the fanfare of the World Cup of Soccer will be equaled by the WBC. It was a brilliant idea for MLB to start this and even more brilliant that they are beginning to turn it over to IBAF (half of the umpire crew is now IBAF umpires, half MLB instead of all MLB).

All I can say is go watch it and you'll know what I'm talking about.

So we have our Super Bowl

2009-01-18T22:17:00.002-05:00

So the CARDINALS, yes thats right the Cardinals have made it to the Superbowl...wow. There may be hope for the Lions to win a GAME next year if the Cardinals can make it to the Superbowl. But they will face a TOUGH Steelers team. Can the Cardinals luck continue? I'm thinking no...but at this point can you really bet against them?

I can: Pittsburgh 24 Arizona 17

Hockey news - The Wings had a disappointing game against San Jose, dropping it 6-5 but I have to say San Jose always chokes in the playoffs, if the Wings can take the top seed by the end of the year...I really don't see a team that can beat em. As it is, San Jose is undefeated at home and they still are only 3 points ahead of Detroit. Wings are amazing.

College hockey is a bit disappointing up here at Tech. MTU hosted North Dakota this weekend, and skated to a 3-3 Draw on Friday, looking really sharp, but Saturday they were just outplayed. One thing I've noticed is an incredibly low shot total. 15 shots all of Saturdays game won't win when you let up 30 some shots and 5 goals. Yikes. The thing is the Huskies have a good offense, but their players are still very young and they need to figure out when its the right time to shoot the puck. If they can figure that out, they should be able to improve.

More to come later...MTU Pep Band!

Quick Recap

2009-01-15T22:48:00.002-05:00

So after a long hiatus I'm back! I have moved up to Hancock, Michigan as I'm attending Michigan Tech for the next few years. I got a job working with the Michigan Tech Athletic Dept, so you can expect me to give some insight on NCAA D2 athletics. Both Basketball teams are doing very well in January, the Lady Huskies are ranked 15th in the Nation! Hockey Huskies are home this weekend hosting the Fighting Sioux of North Dakota Friday and Saturday!

In Soccer news, Dan Duggan owner of the Michigan Bucks (PDL team), is currently looking for investors in Europe to invest $7 Million in a USL-1 soccer club in Detroit. USL-1 is the level of soccer JUST below MLS, in many cases the level of play is equal to MLS. The plans include a 5,000 seat stadium possibly in Waterford near the new minor league baseball park they are planning on building to create a sportsplex. This is all tentative as of now, the stadium could be pushed up to 7,000 some believe that would be better as crowds could get to 7k easily.

In Football news, who expected the Cardinals and Ravens to be where they are now? Can you imagine a Cardinals/Ravens Superbowl? I can't and I won't...but I think it will be Cardinals/Steelers. Thats my prediction but what do I know, I hate the NFL.

The Wings continue to roll in the NHL, I have kinda ignored most sports outside of my soccer duties and MTU Huskies recently because of the move and getting settled in. My bad, i'll be back up to speed in a few days for sure!

Check out this video of the Timbers Army of USL-1 team Portland Timbers. A lot of people say Detroit wouldn't support a "minor" league team. Let me remind you USL-1 is proffessional soccer, and this is a massive crowd for "minor" league, it rivals that of and is better in some cases than MLS support. Imagine this for Detroit!

A Great Week of Sports

2009-01-02T23:56:00.005-05:00

Tonight the world saw a team go undefeated, and yet they won't get a chance to play for the National Title. Why? Because Utah is from the Mountain West. As most of you know I'm a huge fan of the Mountain West Conference, this is a conference that deserves respect. And it got me thinking watching Utah completely manhandle Alabama...is this the beginning of a rise of new College Powers? The First Sugar Bowl was held between Tulane and Temple...not really the class of College football anymore.

Could we see the Mountain West replace a conference like the Big East? Its possible. The Big Ten needs to add credibility and to do that they need to add another team and have a Conference Championship game, and Notre Dame doesn't look like they are budging...Cincy or Pitt could join the Big Ten, which would spell the collapse of the Big East football conference and leave a big ole mess with the rest of the College football world. It could happen.

I love this week, there are a ton of sports on, almost too many to keep up with. But congrats Iowa on the only Big Ten win so far in the Bowls. MSU...you failed, you had the game and you choked, no big deal. But one of the most specatular sights all week was the NHL Winter Classic. Chicago did a WONDERFUL job hosting the game it was a great sight to see hockey in Wrigley Field, I almost want to see a team have all their games outdoors just because I think its such a great idea, but of course it was so great cause the weather was so perfect.

The Wings started slowly, but looked amazing in the throwbacks and a sold out Wrigley in the background. Actually falling behind 3-1 to Chicago was a great thing, it got the crowd really rocking which I was ok with, nervous but ok with. The Wings showed me and the rest of the world why they are the greatest club in the World, and came back to own the game 6-4. No matter where, indoors or outdoors, home or away the Wings are the greatest hockey team in the World right now. That being said...it would be interesting to see a Club World cup of Hockey huh? See the Wings bring in some big European Clubs or something? Mix it up instead of just NHL teams all the time? Don't get me wrong I LOVE seeing a good ole fashioned Wings/Leafs or recently Wings/Hawks game but it could be cool seeing them play ya know...Berlin or Stockholm...interesting to ponder!

For those of you who didnt get to see it, here is the intro to that Winter Classic!

Bowl Games are Unfair

2008-12-30T21:54:00.003-05:00

Have you ever noticed something about Bowl Games? The fact that they are all down South and out West? Now its obvious why, these bowl games are mega money makers, and they want to host them someplace warm where they can draw tons of people on vacation. But regardless of that fact, it is completely unfair how the Big Ten is judged based on its Bowl record every year. And its not just the Big Ten, the MAC and the Big East get screwed too.

Here is a great example, Penn State vs USC is in Pasadena...its a home game for Penn State and yet if PSU losses the Big Ten will be "weak"...even though they had to cross the country to play USC while the Trojans hardly have to cross the street. Northwestern played Mizzou in San Antonio, its not next door but its pretty much a home game for Mizzou. And what about Michigan vs Florida last year...in ORLANDO?! Michigan beat Florida in Florida and yet it was just sort of brushed aside as a weak Florida team.

Even for the MAC, Western Michigan is playing Rice in the Texas Bowl. Rice is in Texas, home game Rice. Though I will say the MAC gets a home game for the Motor City Bowl..but that bowl game hardly matters.

A lot of people say that no one would go to a bowl game in the North during January. You're right its cold, but I'm willing to bet if you put a Bowl game in New York and Chicago, the games would be sold out. Could you imagine the Fiesta Bowl (Ohio State vs Texas) in Solider Stadium in Chicago? Snow blowing around, freezing temperatures, Ohio State fans filling the Stadium...classic Big Ten football. Ohio State would be an instant favorite. Or how about USC vs Penn State in Philadelphia or New York? Virtually a home game for Penn State. Three teams in the Big Ten routinely draw over 100k (Michigan, OSU, PSU) so I don't see where people think they wouldn't be able to fill an 80k NFL stadium for a Bowl Game against a high ranking opponent.

But even if they put a bowl game in either Chicago, New York or Philly the problem would be getting a team from the South to come...none would. They all know their strengths in Bowl season is being able to stay close to home, in the relatively similar climate with huge fan support behind them. They would NEVER leave the South and give the Big Ten or any Northern teams the advantage of home field, crowd and climate. It's a shame, but think about that when you watch the Rose Bowl and see the it covered in 80% Red and Gold. Than for one second imagine it in Giants Stadium, snowing hard and 80% Blue and White. Completely different game eh?

Too bad...too bad for the Big Ten. Imagine a Bowl game like this more often...

BCS Game Predictions

2008-12-07T20:37:00.005-05:00

Well the BCS is in again, I must say they didn't screw up as bad as they usually do but I think everyone agrees its a vastly flawed system. I'm a small school guy, and I know they aren't that amazing, but what I don't get is how two undefeated teams aren't playing for the National Championship...it isn't fair to give them a shot, but without a playoff system we won't know for real. Anyway I'm not going to get into that, its time to give my predictions for the BCS games...

FedEx Orange Bowl - Virginia Tech 9-4 (ACC) vs Cincinnati 11-2 (Big East)

Lets be honest, neither of these two conferences are any good anymore, I'd much rather see the Mountain West get an automatic bid over at least one of these two conferences. Regardless, Virginia Tech struggled big time early in the year but Beamer ball is back and they looked really good against Boston College in the ACC Championship game. Cincinnati on the other hand is playing good football, but in the Big East. Brian Kelly is a great coach, and he will have his Bearcats ready to go. I think it will be a close game...but close doesn't mean good. Hawai'i should have beat Cincinnati...they aren't that great.

Cincy 34 - VaTech 24

Rose Bowl - USC 11-1 (Pac-10) vs Penn State 11-1 (Big Ten)

USC gets the luxury of playing in the weak, weak, weak Pac-10 and they still lost to Oregon State. The counter argument is that the Big Ten is just as weak. It isn't as bad as the Pac-10 but there is a lot of work to be done. USC gets home field advantage playing down the road from their own campus, but JoePa should have the Nittany Lions ready to go. A big down fall for Penn State is they haven't played for two weeks, Big Ten kills their teams with ending their season so early...PSU should be able to pull this one out but it will be close.

Penn State 31 - USC 27

Sugar Bowl - Alabama 12-1 (SEC) vs Utah 12-0 (MWC)

Interesting match up here, Bama was about a quarter away from the National title game...but they don't blow opponents out. Bama is old school, dominating the game with possession and pounding the ball. The best way to beat Alabama is to score early and often before they start to take over the game. Utah could do that, they are a team that can move the ball quickly up and down the field. The game will be decided in the first quarter, early second. If Utah can put up a ton of points in the first half and hold a 14-21 point lead this could be an incredibly close game. At the same time, the Tide has a great defense, it will be a low scoring game. Upset alert right here.

Utah 27 - Bama 24

Fiesta Bowl - Ohio State 10-2 (Big Ten) vs Texas 11-1 (Big 12)

Texas has a legitmate reason to be mad they aren't in the National Title game, but they have a tough task ahead of them. Ohio State is going to be carrying the flag for the Big Ten along with Penn State. Two wins by the Big Ten in the BCS could restore a lot of hurt pride of the past couple years, and most of the lost pride has been because of OSUs terrible showings at the BCS in the last 3 years. Pride will be a big factor, but Texas is going to come out firing...a BIG win here gives them a shot at a split national title. Believe me they want it bad. McCoy and the Horns big over OSU.

Texas 47 - Ohio State 23

National Championship Game - Oklahoma 12-1 (Big 12) vs Florida 12-1 (SEC)

Oklahoma deserves this game. Yes they lost to Texas, but they have been ROLLING in every sense of the word in the past few weeks. Florida has been hot too, and the SEC is tough, but the Big 12 South is probably the toughest division in the toughest conference of the Nation. Oklahoma should be able to get the ball rolling early...a lot of BCS games this year are going to be dicatated in the early going, I see Florida keeping it close though and giving Oklahoma all they can handle...but in the end the Sooners have just too much firepower for anyone to handle. This is going to be an EXPLOSION of points.

Oklahoma 51 - Florida 42

I'll be sure to post other bowl predictions as the smaller bowls draw closer.

College Football National Championship

2008-12-06T10:30:00.004-05:00

So I woke up this morning and turned on College Gameday like I do every Saturday. Of course the first thing they talked about was "What if Oklahoma losses?" It's an interesting question and I think contrary to popular belief, it would be the SEC Champion vs USC (granted they beat UCLA today). Texas is the better team but they didn't even win their own division and that has to be screaming at pollsters. At least USC would have won their conference...granted it was the soft Pac-10.

But than something really irked me...Kirk Herbstriet brought up a new idea, "What if Alabama losses in a very close game to Florida?" They are already number one, no losses would they just fall to number two? Would we see Bama/Florida for the national title game regardless of what happens in the OU/Mizzou game? And than it dawned on me...2006 was hyped as the Greatest Game Ever played in college football, it was #1A Ohio State vs #1B Michigan. Both teams were undefeated, both teams were playing out of their minds. Michigan lost 42-39 and everyone said it was such a close game, throw in the intangable that it was @ Ohio State and the fact that Bo Schembechler died the night before, that nothing was decided. Michigan and Ohio State should play again on a neutral field for the National Title. The polls reflected that, Ohio State and Michigan both stayed at #1 & #2.

But something strange happened, because the Big Ten ends the season early with no championship game (although for many years the OSU/Michigan game was and is the Big Ten title game) Michigan actually fell in the rankings, even though they played no games to hurt their cause. IF Florida and Bama meet for the Title game I think Michigan fans will have a big reason to complain. Yes looking back we see both Michigan and OSU got smacked in their bowl games, but at the time it wasn't fair...watch out because with how much the pollsters love Florida and Bama...it could happen!

Here is that intro from that classic game, lets hope today we get another classic with the Gators and Tide.

The Lions need to go.

2008-11-28T10:46:00.007-05:00

Folks, I hope none of you had the displeasure of watching the Lions epic failure yesterday. I'm sure we are all jumping for joy because the game wasn't blacked out, it was either we were jumping for joy or after the 4th play we were jumping to the bathroom to go puke. Seriously that was the worst I have ever seen any NFL team ever play...I'm not kidding the Lions are just awful. The only good thing that can come out of this is that everyone saw how TERRIBLE they are thanks to the idiots who bought the tickets to make it a sell-out, and now no one will ever go near Ford Field when the Lions are playing....EVER AGAIN!

This ladies and gentlemen is the EXACT reason why we need some sort of promotion & regulation system in American sports. Now I know most people will say, "But Marc, American owners will never go for it. They invest a lot of money to have professional teams." But people lets look at the facts, first there are a ton of semi-pro leagues for every sport around the country...baseball and hockey are the most obvious with their Minor League System, but there are minor leagues for football and basketball too.

Most of the time people who make cases against promotion & regulation are from cities whose teams aren't that bad...but seriously folks when the Tigers lost 119 games a few years back, they should have been sent down to AAA...at least. Now I'm as big a Tigers fan as anyone in the entire world, but I would have much rather seen the Tigers rebuild their proud franchise as they work they way back up to the Major leagues. Honestly that would have been easier to take than another massive losing season.

Now here is another thing I dislike about American sports. The idea that franchises can be relocated...with promotion & regulation that wouldn't happen. Lets take a look at the Seattle Sonics issue. If there was pro/reg they would have simply been regulated to say the league below NBA, but the Sonics would still exist in Seattle and after regaining their footing if they won the league they would be promoted back into the NBA. Now to everyone saying this is a stupid idea, go ask anyone in Seattle if they would rather have this happen and still get to keep their Sonics or if they would rather have their Sonics leave to just go suck in some other city? Nearly every Sonics fan I'm sure would say they would much rather have the team stay in Seattle and work its way back up to NBA.

So here is the thing, if pro/reg existed in America, the Lions would have been regulated years ago, we would have never had to suffer through this terrible excuse for a Major League franchise, Ford would have probably sold the Lions and some new owner who actually cared would have bought them and began to turn them around. I bet any money if the Lions were regulated in say 2000, they would be back in the NFL and playing respectable (notice not good, just respectable...thats all we can hope for) now in 2008. And here is why they would...

In order to get promoted back into the league above you, you have to prove things. You have to prove that you can win first off. You have to prove you have a coaching staff that knows how to push the right buttons, a General Manager who knows how to sign the right players, and an Owner who actually cares about his teams play. There are enough good football players in America that when put on a team could be very dangerous, think about how many college football players never play after college football, and there are some good ones out there. For example, whats John Navarre doing these days? Sitting 3rd string in Arizonia? Look we know he wasn't great, but could he lead a 2nd league football team? I'm sure he could and he could probably do it better than any Detroit QB right now. So you have to remember there is a ton of football talent in America...a second division would be very competitive (That is after all the teams form and begin to gel..give it a year or two). So a team being promoted into the NFL would have to prove itself worthy.

I think its a great system and this way, the Lions would have a better chance to avoid becoming the worst team every year. It may not be perfect but its better than watching the Lions look like they couldn't beat Farmington High. If you still don't believe me than fine, but enjoy a HUGE laugh after watching these Lions Bloopers...from one game.

Impact de Montreal drop MLS bid

2008-11-25T23:25:00.009-05:00

In some big soccer news, Impact de Montreal or in English...Montreal Impact pulled out what many people thought to be a sure fire bid to gain entry to MLS for the 2011 expansion. In fact the bid was so strong many people thought that Montreal would/could enter the league early in 2010. Personally I'm disapointed, Montreal would have brought a lot of flavor to the league, a huge market, an established USL-1 team, and a true Canadian Derby. TFC and Impact met already twice this year in the Canadian Nutrolite Championship, playing two intense matches in sold out stadiums (BMO Field - Toronto and Stade Saputo - Montreal). It was a great atmosphere, MLS should have catered to these folks to make sure they get in the league.

So whats next for MLS, many had considered Montreal a lock for one of the two positions in 2011. Well obviously there is a lot of positives still, we will see Seattle into the league this coming year. They will be looking fly in their new Xbox Live Green and Blue kits. Red Bull Park is scheduled to open in 2009 at the latest (hopefully) and that is in my opinion one of the nicest looking parks in all of MLS. Philly will be joining the league in 2010, but that leaves the two expansion spots still open, and now that Montreal is out, its a whole new ball game. There are a ton of senarios...does MLS go Canadian and make Vancouver a lock? Does that make the Ottawa bid stronger? If Vancouver comes in, does that mean they bring Portland in with em to increase the Northwest rivalries (Portland, Seattle, Vancouver)? What happens to St. Louis and Miami? Here is my hopes and dreams for the future of MLS expansion...

Vancouver should enter in 2011, and not to create a derby with Toronto, though it would bring a Canadian rivalry, it wouldn't be a Natural rivalry...it's like Detroit and Colorado in hockey, we were huge rivalries because both teams were good at the same time period and Detroit still is. Whereas a Toronto - Montreal rivalry in soccer would be much like the Maple Leafs/Canadians or Maple Leafs/Red Wings rivalry. So who comes in with them?Vancouver has a great bid and BC Place will be upgraded to be state of the art to host Vancouver Whitecaps.

I'd like to see St. Louis grab the bid, they would be a great stronghold of American Soccer, and create a nice derby with Kansas City. Hopefully they make sure their bid is together and doesn't fall apart on them, its kinda sat on the edge of collapse a few times in the past. If St. Louis fails they need to bring in Portland. Why am I ignoring Miami or any Southern teams? Cause Miami had a team and it failed...now if a team like Charleston decided to throw up a MLS bid I think they would be great!

And of course, I await patiently the day Detroit gets a team, Motor City FC would kick ass. I think Detroit gets in during the next expansion round, although I wouldn't mind them opening play within the next few years as a USL-1 team before jumping up to MLS.

As always I got a video for everyone...enjoy Toronto FC @ Impact de Montreal!

Rich Rod was the WRONG Choice!

2008-11-19T21:36:00.004-05:00

Michigan, you have failed...miserably. You hired Rich Rodriguez who was NOT the right choice, and has proved it all season long. Let me start at the beginning if you would allow me.

It all started last year when Michigan was courting Les Miles, the Head Coach of LSU. I firmly believe that Michigan had Les Miles where they wanted him and that a contract was in place, ready to be signed after the LSU season. All they needed to do was be patient and wait, Carr would continue to recruit players to the Michigan name and Miles would bring a similar offense...Michigan football would have another seemless transition and be contending for the Big Ten crown again in 2008. But things didn't happen that way. Kirk Herbstreit opened his big mouth on the set of Gameday, saying that a deal was imminet and Michigan had stolen Miles away from LSU...problem was he made this annoucement on the morning of the SEC championship game...Miles was lets say less than pleased...

How did Herbstreit know this? He was an Ohio State Buckeye...he had an "inside" source...it was news he had to break that DAY. WHY? Did someone at Ohio State find out Michigan was close to a deal with a coach that could potentiality breath life back into the Big Blue and beat their Buckeyes? That would make sense to me. Now was it all his fault, no but Les Miles panicked to keep his team focused and made a statement, and Michigan than followed by trying to find a man...any man...to make it look like they had planned it from the start. So they go out and wrestle Rich Rod away from West Virginia and fight hard to make it look like he was their first choice, saying it's time to bring the Spread to Michigan, its a healthy change, he will be a Michigan Man in the end. All Crap.

First there was no need to bring the Spread to Michigan...its MICHIGAN not Florida or any other Southern school. The South has speed. The North has big ole Farm boys. The Spread is not the long term offense at Michigan in fact I think Michigan has caught the Spread at the tailend of its popularity. So what else is Rich Rod good for if his offense could slowly become outdated? Well apparently he is a healthy change...from beating Florida in a Bowl game (with the true Midwest style football) to our worst season ever and no bowl game...great change.

And what was this about him being a Michigan Man?? A Michigan Man wouldn't have allowed his team to lose 8 games, he would have told his team to look across the line and know that you are a Michigan man and you are going to impose yourself on them...your BETTER because you are a MICHIGAN MAN. A Michigan Man wouldn't have let his team slide into complete awfulness and on top of it all a Michigan Man wouldn't have told the fans to get a life.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3710474

So you know what? I'm done, thru with this man...he is no Michigan Man, he hasn't embraced any of the Michigan Traditions and now he bashes the Michigan Fans. NO SIR, NO. You came to MICHIGAN, this is not Tulane, this is NOT West Virginia...this is MICHIGAN. We have traditions, we have pride, we have legacy and you don't care. We have every right as Michigan fans to be mad, you have all the talent in the world at Michigan there is no excuse to lose to Toledo, there is no excuse to lose 8 games. So Michigan fans, continue to show your displeasure with Rich Rod no matter what he says, he is no Michigan Man, but you are.

This was everything good about Michigan Football, its the last time you will see this for quite some time.

The Mid-8 Conference

2008-11-16T13:08:00.001-05:00

So we have come to the last of the non-BCS conferences that I have just created. Sorry this post is a day late but I think you can deal with it. I unveil the Mid-8 Conference today which was really just a jumble of teams left over from creating other conferences. I will just quickly introduce the teams.

Akron, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, East Carolina, Middle Tennessee, Marshall, Memphis, and Troy.

Now I'm sure a lot of you are kinda wondering what this Conference really will bring to the table and the truth is not a lot. When I created this I had three old MAC teams (Akron, Eastern, Kent) that really aren't good at all. In fact very easily 2 of the 3 could be regulated out of the FBS. So why create the league than? Because as of this moment they are still FBS teams. If you look to the South though, you see a little bit stronger conference. Marshall, East Carolina and Troy are all somewhat decent programs and should rise to the top of the Conference. Memphis may sneak in there and challenge for the title from year to year but I'm not sure to start they would be fighting for the title every year.

Well folks that does it. All the new Non-BCS conferences have been released, and the Mountain West should be a BCS conference. So now everyone can take a look and vote in the poll, which conference do you think is the best?

As always heres your video...not the greatest quality but enjoy watching Troy beat Oklahoma State.

The Gulf Coast Conference

2008-11-14T23:23:00.001-05:00

So the cloak comes off, the first of the 2 new Non-BCS conferences are announced tonight! I bring to you the Gulf Coast Conference (GCC) a mixture of old C-USA and Sun Belt teams.

It is an interesting Conference to say the least, dominated by 4 Louisiana teams (Tulane, Louisiana Tech, UL-Lafayette, UL-Monroe) and 3 Florida teams (Central Florida, Florida International, Florida Atlantic). Since this is a new conference, I don't have to run down the list of an old conference for you so here you go here is the 2009 Gulf Coast Conference:

Southern Mississippi, Tulane, Alabama - Birmingham, Central Florida, Louisiana-Lafayette, Arkansas State, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana Tech.

So as I've done with every other Conference I'll list a few strong points here and there. First biggest point is that there are a lot of rising teams in this conference. FAU and FIU are both on the rise after making the leap from no program to FBS. Grouping the 4 Louisiana schools together will bring HUGE instate rivalry, similiar to the directional schools in Michigan (Western, Central, Eastern). You could hope that would spur one of the 4 or two of the 4 to rise above with the increased competitive instate recruiting.

This wouldn't be a very strong conference at first, but Southern Miss has been a traditionaly strong program. They may headline the conference to start. They could pick up 3-4 bowl games per year. Depending on if they could pick up enough bowl eligable teams that is.

Ok now here you go, the video of the day comes from Southern Miss. Enjoy it and remember tomorrow is the FINAL installment of the new Non-BCS conferences, stick around!

The New Western Athletic Conference

2008-11-13T18:32:00.001-05:00

Folks here we are, we have reached the 3rd installment of my reworkings of the Non-BCS conferences. So here is the new and improved WAC!

The re-worked WAC is a regional power, and sitting around 2nd strongest of the Non-BCS...remember the Mountain West is now a BCS conference! Read the first installment and catch up if you didn't know that! So here is the 2008 WAC before I present the NEW WAC:

Boise State, Fresno State, Hawai'i, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Utah State.

The reworked WAC will look radically different as they will retain only 3 of their current schools (Boise State, Fresno State, New Mexico State, Idaho and Utah State leave for the new MWC and Louisiana Tech heads to the new Gulf Coast Conference). This whole sale change is the largest to any of the conferences left with their previous names. The radical split up was to regionalize and beef up the MWC, while leaving the WAC (the lesser of the two Non-BCS conferences in the West) to pick up the scraps. The new WAC would look something like this:

WAC West: San Diego State, Hawai'i, Nevada, UNLV, San Jose State

WAC Central (Or the Texas Division): Rice, SMU, Houston, UTEP, Tulsa, North Texas

What positives would come out of this restructed WAC? One thing that would happen is they would gain a STRONG hold on the whole state of Texas which would bring a huge boast to ratings and attendance. Bringing UNLV and San Diego State pulls rivalries for Nevada and San Jose State, solidifying Nevada as WAC country. Obviously the Division are EXTREMELY regional in this group, there is no doubting that, but it could allow for one of two things. Either the Conference championship game would be a HUGE class between West Coast and Texas, both areas of the country that are huge into football. OR the Texas teams will take huge advantage of the almost endless talent pool in Texas/Oklahoma and dominate the West Division.

There is a strong potential that to start, a team like Tulsa, UTEP and Houston would dominate the conference. Hawai'i and Nevada could be stronger teams out of the West but who knows if they would be able to hang with the Central Division teams. The WAC would for sure be a Non-BCS conference, but it shouldn't be taken lightly in the new world of College Football.

Alright folks, tomorrow is the 4th installement of the series where I unveil the first of my two new conferences. We will see the Gulf Coast Conference come into existance!

BUT FIRST! VIDEO TIME! Here is a highlight tape from Hawai'i's undefeated season in 2007...

The New Mid-American Conference

2008-11-12T21:28:00.000-05:00

Alright folks here it is, the 2nd installment of the 5 part series on how to re-align the current Non-BCS conferences. So here she is, the new MAC conference.

The reworked MAC is the second strongest of the current Non-BCS conferences. I assumed last night that the new MWC would become a BCS conference due to my dropping of Independents and thus getting rid of the "Notre Dame" clause. That would leave a new MAC on the edge of becoming a BCS conference or mearly a really strong Non-BCS. For now I'd leave it as a Non-BCS. Here is the 2008 MAC conference...

MAC East: Akron, Buffalo, Bowling Green, Temple, Kent State, Miami (OH), Ohio

MAC West: Ball State, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Western Michigan

The MAC currently is a conference that has its ups and downs. This year the MAC has 4 wins against the Big 10 (Toledo over Michigan, Central and Ball St over Indiana, and Western over Illinois) along with a nice win by Bowling Green over Pittsburg. It has been a decent year for the MAC, and it could be the best of all time if someone in the East Division would just win! The problem with the MAC is that the Division each have different swings, one is hot when the other is cool or cold. This year the top three teams in the West (Ball St, Central and Western) have combined for 24 wins, matching the win total for all 6 teams in the Eastern Division.

The new MAC would drop some of the weaker teams (Eastern, Akron, Kent State) and add 3 teams (Navy, Army and Western Kentucky) and be reshaped like this...

MAC East: Buffalo, Miami (OH), Ohio, Temple, Army, Navy

MAC West: Ball State, Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Western Kentucky, Western Michigan

The restructered MAC would bring in more of an Atlantic Coast audience to the conference, which could boost TV ratings with New York (Army) and Maryland (Navy) based teams. This new boost of ratings could lead to greater exposure and bring in more revenue for the teams to continue to build programs which in most cases aren't that far off from BCS programs. The greater exposure could also bring in better recruits pushing the MAC teams further up towards the BCS status. Now in reality...the MAC conference has been actively pursuing Navy and Army for that exact reason. So I'm actually not grasping at straws...I think if the MAC really could Eastern Michigan would be the first team to be dropped but hey Im out here saying it should happen now.

So where would the MAC be left, probably in a nice position filling 5-6 Bowl Games per year and on the cusp of BCS.

Stick with me, tomorrow is the 3rd installment of the series and I will unviel the new Western Athletic Conference!!

And now...heres your video....Its about CMU...cause those are the only good MAC videos on Youtube...gay.

The New Mountian West Conference

2008-11-11T22:31:00.000-05:00

Alright now its time for me to begin what will be a 5 part series. I have taken all Non-BCS teams and re-worked the Conferences to be a bit more regional in some cases, with an eye towards creating the strongest Conferences possible. I have created 5 new Conferences, 3 were reworked (Mountain West, Mid-American, Western Athletics) and 2 brand new Conferences (Gulf Coast Conference and the Mid-8 Conference). So each night for the next 5 days I will unviel the new conferences that I created.

I will start tonight with what in my mind would be the strongest of the new Conferences, the Mountain West. The new MWC would become a power conference and a BCS conference in my mind based on the play recently of most teams in it. Currently in the MWC in 2008 are these teams:

Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, TCU, UNLV, Utah and Wyoming.

It is a strong conference as it is right now. Utah obviously is a really strong team the past 4-5 years and proved so by winning the Tostitos Bowl 35 - 7 over Pittsburg in 2005. TCU has been another extremely strong Non-BCS team, and of course BYU has surged recently. Air Force is always a good team as well. As of this moment the MWC has 3 teams in the top 25, #7 Utah, #17 BYU and #18 TCU. The Mountain West has turned out a 6-1 record this year against the PAC-10.

SO...here it is my NEW Mountain West Conference...

In the Mountain West East Division:

Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, New Mexico State, TCU and Wyoming.

In the Mountain West West Division:

Boise State, BYU, Fresno State, Idaho, Utah, and Utah State.

The additions of Boise State and Fresno State bring in some power to the Mountain West Conference from traditional Non-BCS powerhouses. Idaho, Utah State and New Mexico State were also added from the old WAC Conference to provide natural in conference rivalries that should help the programs grow and intensify the regional rivalries. In a matter of a few years the three teams programs could be up to par with most lower-mid teams from any other BCS Conference. Taking a look at the new MWC you see that it has now 4 ranked teams, #7 Utah, #9 Boise State, #17 BYU and #18 TCU. Lets not forget Fresno State, they are usually quite a tough opponent, beating Rugters in New Jersey this year, and nearly upsetting Wisconsin in Fresno. Granted looking back neither of those are very impressive games NOW but at the time they were hailed as HUGE games, and lets also not forget that Fresno plays extremely tough in Bowl Games.

So this new Conference brings a more regionalized Conference and intensifies in-State Rivalries, at the same time it brings more power into the Conference. The new MWC would have 2 teams in the BCS top ten. The Big Ten has 1 (Penn State), PAC-10 has 1 (USC), ACC has 0, Big East has 0. In the BCS top 25 the new MWC would have 4 teams. The Big East has 2 teams (Pitt - 21, Cincy -22), ACC has 3 (Wake - 24, FSU - 19, NC - 16). With the newly reworked MWC you'd have to say they would become a BCS Conference....also note I did away with Independents so I moved Notre Dame to the Big Ten getting rid of the silly "Notre Dame has to go to a BCS if they are good enough" clause.

Alright so thats the new Mountain West...tomorrow is the new Mid-American Conference! Now enjoy this video of the 2008 MWC Preview highlighting all the teams. (Note in MY new MWC San Diego St and UNLV are dropped).

What will become of MAC Football?

2008-11-10T20:51:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't know, I'm a big fan of Non-BCS schools seeing as I almost went to Western Michigan...I spent a lot of time there visiting my cousin and feel in love with MAC sports. But MAC football in general has a big problem. The West Division is by far the superior division in everything they do. And there is the problem, there has become such a disparity in the levels of the programs that its hard to even say the MAC West is even in the some atmosphere as the MAC East.

Here is the even larger problem, with the MAC East sinking while the MAC West is rising...what will become to the MAC? One of the biggest problems with the MAC is the attendance rule. In order to maintain FBS status a team has to draw at least 15,000 people on average over the course of a 5 year period. Unfortunately the MAC hardly floats above that 15,000 level, but the worst is the MAC East. Here is the attendance averages from last year for all the MAC schools:

119. Eastern Michigan - 6,810 (MAC West...also dead last) 2-8 Overall
117. Kent State - 8,999 (MAC East) 2-7 Overall
116. Akron - 15,978 (MAC East) 5-4 Overall
115. Ball State - 13,085 (MAC West) 9-0 Overall (beat Indiana)
113. Buffalo - 13,568 (MAC East) 5-4 Overall
108. Bowling Green - 16,080 (MAC East) 5-5 Overall
107. Miami (OH) - 16,186 (MAC East) 2-7 Overall
103. Northern Illinois - 17,864 (MAC West) 5-4 Overall
100. Central Michigan - 18,771 (MAC West) 7-2 Overall (beat Indiana)
99. Ohio - 16,500 (MAC East) 2-8 Overall
91. Western Michigan - 19,494 (MAC West) 8-2 Overall (beat Illinois)
89. Toledo - 18,668 (MAC West) 2-7 Overall (beat Michigan)
81. Temple - 28,859 (MAC East) 3-6 Overall

The rankings are based on total attendance through the year, so I'm not going to change it but you get the gist...

Temple is the obvious exception, they used to play in the Big East and play in a HUGE stadium so even drawing 28,000 some they only fill 40% of their stadium...and Ball State is drawing HUGE numbers this year because they are undefeated, Central will get a huge boost from hosting the Central/Western game which was the largest crowd ever at Kelly-Shorts Stadium and Western has drawn nearly 2,000 more fans this year than last year.

So what you may say right? Well I could easily see the MAC West breaking away from the MAC East in terms of competition and creating another league while allowing the MAC East to slip into the Football Subdivision and taking Eastern Michigan with it. Seriously folks it could happen and sooner than later. With the rise of the Non-BCS schools (Utah, BYU, TCU, Boise State, Ball State) we could see two new conferences rise up to BCS level. But thats for another blog post (look for it tomorrow!)...so if all that is the case, what becomes of the MAC you say?

Well after the East falls away it would be an awfully small Conference but I would expect the MAC to send invites out to Army and Navy to join the leauge. Navy has been traditionally strong, and Army has seen a recent semi-resurgence. On top of that, Western Kentucky has moved up to FBS with the intention of joining the MAC. The league would initally have 9 teams which might not be bad for a Conference that usually beats themselves up and ruins their BCS chances.

Could this happen? Its really possible. There have been lots of rumbling about Western running of to join the Big East as they have had a strong program recently, Temple has joined the MAC recently, but if their program improves they will most likely rejoin the Big East. They want to leave for one reason, the MAC East is dragging them down...so simply solution, cut what is holding you back.

Tomorrow keep your eyes open for my post about new possible BCS conferences that could form out of the current Non-BCS conferences. It should be an intriguing one, sorry if this post kinda rambled a bit, but thats what I do...ramble.

One thing I will do is leave a video that has something to do with what I just rambled about for your enjoying pleasure. Today are highlights from the Western Michigan vs Central Michigan game in Kalamazoo in 2005.

Welcome one and all!

2008-11-10T10:03:00.000-05:00

Welcome everyone to my first blog page ever!! I know I'm way behind the 8 ball here in this whole concept of Blogs but I never had a use for it to be honest. But now I do...everyone who knows me understands that all I ever do is rant and rant about stupid idiotic things, but those are usually touched off by a comment made somewhere by someone, and I can't duplicate that on a blog.

What I can duplicate are my sports rants...and I thought of this last night as I was falling asleep I told myself that I need to find a place where I can make my opinion known about sports. ALL SPORTS! And than it dawned on me...BLOGS! So welcome to the 21st Century Marc Sanko and everyone else look out. I am going to tell it like I see it, complain A LOT and hopefully make some pretty insightful arguments that make people want to comment or at least scratch their heads a second time.

So whats with the name you're probably saying? Well first off, I'm not that creative, come on people it took me this long to get a blog but one of my BIGGEST pet peeves is the school down south calling itself "THE Ohio State University". Is it REALLY necessary to put so much emphasize on "THE"? No it isn't so the title is made to mock that.

Now what can you expect as a reader? Personally, I have written columns for the Michigan Journal (Michigan - Dearborn's Campus newspaper) and I've worked as the marketing/website/sports information/athletic director intern at Michigan - Dearborn. On top of that I played football for 10 years, Rugby for 3, Basketball for 6 and threw Shot Put and Discus for 4 years. I'm a soccer nut, just was never any good at it, and I love watching hockey, just never could afford to play it. So I have experience in pretty much everything but immediately you can expect a good deal about College Football, Soccer, Pro Football (or just Lions bashing), Hockey both college and pro, a bit of NBA and some Rugby.

So sit back and enjoy, I'll try to get one of my rants up later today or tonight so stay tuned!