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Wednesday TIME: US | UK WEATHER: US | UK HOME THE NEIGHBORHOOD "Life in the UK" American Groups Essential Contacts Money Education Driving WHAT'S ON US Group Events Diary Dates Music Live FEATURES Politics blog SPORTS Features Sideline blog NFL Draft THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE ONLINE |
SIDELINE ARCHIVE Santa's Sackings January 01, 2009 Ready for the Turkey November 27, 2008 Making it to the Big Dance November 26, 2008 Brighter Days Ahead for Chargers? November 5, 2008 Unnecessary Hits To The Pocket / Upset: BYU October 17, 2008 Romo's Pause / Seattle Seahawks October 15, 2008 Weekend Prep: Red River and More October 10, 2008 College Football's 'Crossroads' Weekend October 9, 2008 Gramatical Error October 7, 2008 Turning The Page September 30, 2008 So Cal 'Quizzed — But Who Will Answer? September 26, 2008 3rd Tuesday Panic Button / Forté Yard Dash September 23, 2008 Two and Oh; Oh and Two September 22, 2008 No More NCAAffeine September 11, 2008 Week 1 College Football September 6, 2008 How To Spell Heisman / Chad Ocho Cinco September 1, 2008 Why the Favre story STILL won't go away August 18, 2008 Olympic Notes / Ricky's Still Relevant August 14, 2008 Committee Meetings August 9, 2008 Let the QB Battles Begin August 8, 2008 Slinging The Slinger — More Favre August 6, 2008 Welcome to the 2008 season July 28, 2008 Plus One May 27, 2008 Draft: The Morning After April 28, 2008 Draft: Thinking the Unthinkable April 25, 2008 Draft: Ready For The Long Haul April 23, 2008 Sofa–bound Sport April 16, 2008 Post–Winter Wonderland April 11, 2008 Six Impossible Things February 4, 2008 Brady's Misdirection Play February 3, 2008 Colorful Language January 23, 2008 Let the Romo–bashing begin: Dallas lost January 14, 2008 Bowl Bites: The Wrap January 10, 2008 All About The Coaches January 1, 2008 Bowl Bites 3 and A Communication Breakdown December 29, 2007 Bowl Bites 2 December 27, 2007 Bowl Bites 1 December 23, 2007 The Empty Chair - Coach Situations Vacant December 22, 2007 For Some, The Playoffs Are Now December 15, 2007 A Certain Lack Of Welcome December 13, 2007 Unrelated Notes November 29, 2007 Two Thanksgiving thoughts November 22, 2007 Halftime: NFC November 9, 2007 Halftime: AFC November 8, 2007 London, Part 2 / A Tale of Two Chads / A Game of Intimidation November 4, 2007 Damp Squib / Other London Notes October 29, 2007 Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em / Dolphins – The Aftermath October 23, 2007 The Dolphins Did What? October 18, 2007 Notes on the Defenses October 13, 2007 Habits to be Broken October 12, 2007 Overtime October 13, 2007 This Week's Starters October 6, 2007: USF: Covering The Spread / Fantastic Football September 27, 2007: Grossman: The Final Act? / McNabb, the Epilogue September 24, 2007: Eagles QB in Slight Controversy September 21, 2007: Leftwich's Parting Gift to Jacksonville? / Boos cruise September 18, 2007: Notre Dame M.I.A. September 16, 2007: Looking Beyond NFL Wk. 1 September 12, 2007: Best Hope For Heisman September 10, 2007: Coaching Hot Seats / AP Poll Feeling ’Appy September 7, 2007: The NFL’s Prime Cuts September 5, 2007: Michigan Falls to Killer Apps September 3, 2007: Look Out Couch / The Taint's On You, Bud September 1, 2007: |
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SPORTS SIDELINE 
Observations, Opinion & Occasional Silliness by Richard L Gale Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em In the absence of a dedicated baseball correspondent (please get in touch if that could be you!), it falls to me to acknowledge the impressive fight–back of the Boston Red Sox to book their place in the World Series. The final 11–2 scoreline in game 7 against the Indians might give the impression of a walk–over, but at 3–2 midway through the sixth innings, the series finally provided a tight moment in a postseason that, to that point, had been a matter of whitewashes. Scorelines of 10–3, 6–13, 2–4, 3–7, 7–1, 12–2 and 11–2 still didn't provide a lot of classic memories, even if the series went the distance, so we can only hope that the World Series is set for an edge–of–the–seat battle. Facing the Sox will be the dangerously hot Colorado Rockies — who, hopefully, you've heard about by now, despite staying under the radar for most of the season. At least, the Rockies are the hottest team in baseball if you're looking back over the past two months. If you're just looking back over the past week, it's the Red Sox, whose fight–back had them outscore the Indians 30–5 over the final three games. With a week’s lay–off, it remains to be seen if the Rockies are still hot, or like Ohio State in last year's BCS game, stone cold from waiting (see, I had to get it back to football somehow). So, what's it going to be? A cinderella season for the Rockies, or the Red Sox cementing their growing reputation as the new Yankees? Only time – and hopefully some fine, close games — will tell. Playing Nobodies Okay, before I try to stretch my football–locked mind into breaking down where Kaz Matsui sits in Colorado's batting ineup or marveling at ‘Yook’s’ postseason batting average (see, I could talk baseball if I wanted to), let's switch the subject to football. Two weeks ago, Hawaii were sitting at 15 or 16 in the polls, depending which poll you care to look at. At that point they were 5–0. With two more wins under their belt, the BCS rankings have them at... No. 17. A 'not–ranked' response from the computer aspect of the BCS doesn't help: how useful IS a computer factor that can't assign a value to a 7–0 team? Meanwhile, even the humans won't rank them higher than 14th. Now, I understand the argument that 'Hawaii hasn't played anybody', and I've witnessed (at least through audiocast, which is the best we can hope for over here in the UK) Hawaii struggling to beat Louisiana Tech and San Jose State. And I'm not about say that Hawaii should be in the top 10 just because they can put 66 points on Charleston Southern with their back–up QB. But what does concern me is that every now and again, somebody suggests that the BCS rankings could be integrated into a 16–team playoff compromise. The fact that a team can go 7–0 and not even figure in that top 16 is a problem. You play who you play, and as things stand, the Warriors' only ranked test may end up being Boise State – whose 19–1 record over the past two seasons isn't worth a mention in the top 25 as of this week. So, not much hope for Hawaii. If you can't find sympathy for a team with that bad of a defense, try the Kansas Jayhawks. They're in a BCS conference, they've kept all but one of their opponents to two touchdowns or less, they're averaging 45 points a game of their own, and they are also unbeaten. And they're ranked No.9 (one place outside a 'top 8 playoff', compromise fans). There's five teams with a loss ranked above them. The excuse for ranking Kansas as low as 11th in one poll: 'They haven't played anybody'. And at this point I call 'foul!' The Jayhawks have at least beaten Kansas State, who were a top 25 ranked team when they played them and might still be ranked with a 5–2 record if they hadn't lost to the Jayhawks. How can you play ranked opponents if you're the one stopping them from getting ranked? Okay, not definitive evidence, and their regular season schedule avoids Texas and Oklahoma. I heard one radio analyst comment 'If the Jayhawks can beat Missouri, they can prove how good they are in the Big 12 title'. So they have to prove how good they are in a post–season game? Er... surely that's what the playoff lobby is saying, isn't it? But let me cry foul again, louder (and slightly more convincingly): Every NFL power ranking out there, from ESPN to Fox to Yahoo has the New England Patriots ranked ahead of the equally–unbeaten reigning champion Indianapolis Colts (who, by the way, beat the Patriots in both meetings last year). Can somebody tell me why? Because they're beating up on people? Whatever happened to strength of schedule? The Patriots play in a division with the Bills, Jets and Dolphins. Those three rivals have managed 3 wins between them in seven weeks, and only one of those wins was against somebody other than the other two! The Colts play in a division where the worst team is only a fieldgoal from being above .500 and whose combined 8 losses in seven weeks were to each other save for two road games. As much as the Patriots beat the Cowboys and the (then–disoriented) Chargers, the Colts are the team playing quality opponents week after week. I can only presume that the people compiling these power rankings are fantasy owners (oh, here he goes – pinning it on the fantasy guys again) and don't pay too much attention to defense. They didn't, for example, notice the 55 points New England conceded the past two weeks, including 28 points engineered by Cleo Lemon and half a Ronnie Brown. They didn't, for example, take note when Indianapolis held then 4–1 Jacksonville to a single touchdown. Yes, I do know that David Garrard was knocked out of that game, but I think that the host of Colts swarming into the Jaguars backfield may have influenced that a little. The Colts, it might be argued, are the team with the defense here. And reigning champions (I mentioned it before, but that was a whole minute ago, so if you're a poll voter, you might have forgotten by now). Of course, I know what happens next: the Kansas Jayhawks will lose to Texas A&M this week, the Patriots will beat the Colts the week after, and Fresno State will end Hawaii's tenuous run the week after that. Probably NOBODY will end the college season unbeaten, and the whole 'playoff' thing will kick off again big–time. But for now, I'm just trying to work out how an unbeaten reigning champion who has dominated a solid, talented division gets to be anything other than No.1. Dolphins – The Aftermath: To some extent mirroring the argument above, somebody asked me this week how I could say for sure the 'Fins are the worst team in football with the Rams about. Good question. The answer is 'talent'. As inept as St. Louis are, we know there's an explosive offense hidden in amongst the garbage of their results. Marc Bulger, Torry Holt, Isaac Bruce and Randy McMichael still add up to experience and talent. Steven Jackson is a stud runner, and would be showing it if OT Orlando Pace wasn't gone for the season. If you were going to make a talent–tally for the Dolphins, you'd have to be suspicious of the age of the previously–dominant defensive. And now Ronnie Brown, the one great thing about the Dolphins' season, is gone for the year with a torn ACL. Ironically, the report of Brown's status came just a few hours too late for The American's print deadline, which still carries the tone of 'at least Fins fans have Ronnie'. Oh dear. Ah well, at least Fins fans have Jesse Chatman. |
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