Week in Review - 11/7/2011

Missouri to the SEC?  West Virginia to the Big 12?  I think I'm officially old or maybe just completely sick of all the moving because what was once kind of exciting and neato is now annoying and I just want it to go away, not unlike my kids.  Whatever.  I am just confused as to why the hell the SEC would want Missouri.  Makes little sense to me.  I get the WVU and Big 12 merger - the B12 needs to grab whoever they can (academics be damned, apparently) and WVU is a good program stuck in a suddenly dying conference after the Cuse and Pitt defections and needs to find more stable ground.  Makes sense for everyone.  But Missouri to the SEC?  I'm not even sure I get it for Missouri.  You're going to sell midwest kids by telling them they their parents can come see them play if they fly all the way to the SE USA?  I don't know.  But I know I don't know and I'm dumb about this stuff so whatever let's move on.  


WHO WAS AWESOME:

1.  MarQueis Gray.  By some kind of weird accident I ended up watching most of the Gopher football game, and I have to say Gray impressed the crap out of me and looked like a whole new player (NOTE:  we're throwing out the 4th quarter which was mostly just bad decisions and passes that made it 85% of the way to their target all wrapped up with a final pass that was 25 yards from any Gopher).  I saw him look to a second read instead of just tucking and running, and I even saw him go to a third read at one point.  And some of those throws my god who was that?  His third TD to McKnight (the one in the 3rd quarter) was an absolutely beautiful throw, and he had one on the final drive where the threaded the needle quite nicely as well.  I don't know, I've been convinced Gray had no real future as a QB, but suddenly I'm not so sure.  Of course I don't mean a real QB here, obviously, I mean a college QB.  Also I think you're racist.

2.  Michigan Wolverines.  Not the football team (although we'll get there), but the basketball team, specifically recruiting-wise, because they just secured a commitment from 2012 power forward Mitch McGary, who is basically worshiped by anybody and everybody who follows high school hoops (side bar:  can you believe worshiped only has one 'p'?  Weird.).  McGary is listed as either a power forward or a center depending on who you ask, but, since John Beilein was after him you know damn well he has perimeter skills, but unlike a guy like Pittsnoggle or those white nerds on Michigan right now, McGary has the inside game to go with it.  Really, I mean the guy is #2 overall in the class according to both ESPN and Scout and is #3 according to Rivals - this is a really really huge deal for the Wolverines and actually the Big 10 overall.  I mean, Michigan's top competition for McGary was Duke, and the other competition was Kentucky, Florida, and North Carolina.  Just a ridiculous get.  Take notes, Tubby.  Beilein has Michigan on their way (also has commits from the #34 and #79 recruits in that same class) and they're positioned to be a national contender soon.  Started in the same year as Tubby.  Just sayin'


3.  Trent Richardson.  Ok so this one might seem kind of weird because his stat line isn't all that good and he pretty much did nothing in the second half vs. LSU, but I thought this guy was kind of slow and probably going to be a flop in the NFL.  After watching the game saturday night I am fully revising that prediction to future stud.  Yeah, he's big and strong, which probably meant he'd be at least a decent NFL rusher, but he caught a couple of passes in the flat against LSU where he made a whole mess of people miss him with a little juke here and a little juke there - and LSU is an excellent defensive team.  It wasn't pretty or shifty like Barry Sanders or LeSean McCoy, but it was certainly quick enough to be effective.  Combine that with his power and he's going to be a major contributor at some point for some NFL team.  I don't know, maybe like a faster Brandon Jacobs who can catch.  Something like that but better.

4.  DeMarco Murray.  I like that Murray comes right after Richardson because I can never remember who played/plays for Alabama and who played/plays for Oklahoma.  But anyway I think it's pretty clear at this point that Murray is the goods.  After his debut as a starter, where he ran for 253 yards, you could probably talk yourself into thinking that was some kind of fluke.  Then last week he rushed for 74 yards, but did it on only 8 carries because of how the game was going.  This week he once again impressed, going for 139 rushing and another 47 receiving and just generally looking like a stud.  He's fast (enough), strong (enough), and very shifty, not to mention being a great receiver - at least according to his scouting report coming out of college.  I haven't been this impressed with a young back since LeSean McCoy.  Of course, I now have McCoy, Murray, and Ray Rice on my keeper team and we only start two RBs, so I should probably figure out something to do with all that.

5.  Green Bay Packers.  God damn it.  These fuckers are going to go undefeated, aren't they?  And I'm going to have to sit here and choke on it.  After beating San Diego, which should have been a completely losable game, they are now 8-0.  Looking at the schedule there are three games they can't possibly lose (vs. Oakland, vs. Minnesota, vs. Chicago) and another one that is essentially unlosable but because it's on the road I can't quite call it that (@ Kansas City).  So that's a guaranteed 12 wins.  Two of the other four games they'll be a pretty good sized favorite, maybe around a TD or so (vs. Detroit, vs. Tampa), and one other (@ New York Giants) they'll be probably around a 3 point favorite.  The only game where they might be an underdog is @ Detroit on Thanksgiving, and god help us all if Stafford can't pull that one out because I'm pretty sure I can't survive in a world where the Packers go undefeated and win another Super Bowl.  Seriously my hatred for Green Bay makes my hatred for the Badgers look like my hatred for chicken wings which is weird because I don't care about the NFL all that much.  I think if the Packers were a college I'd probably go all Charles Whitman on it. 


WHO SUCKED

1.  Alabama Kickers.  What the mother hell was that?  Four missed field goals in the biggest game of the year and probably your career?  Just brutal.  Although I guess asking college kickers to make field goals of 40-50 yards is pretty ridiculous, so it's not like the Tide was exactly putting their dudes in positions to succeed.  I don't know, the whole thing was just ugly and ridiculous and kind of funny.  I was actually looking forward to them trotting out the kicker each time they went for a field goal.  And seriously, bringing that dude out for a 52 yarder in OT when he'd already missed two on the night?  Nobody, and I mean nobody, thought that one was going to go through.  Kickers, lol.  Probably should just amend the rule book to get rid of field goals in college, Chip Lohmiller be damned.

2.  Denard Robinson.  And this is why, no matter how successful your run first QB is in college (and Robinson has already been benched this year so there's that) you can never feel comfortable with a dude who can't really throw.  Michigan, down by 8, ball on the 3, first down, 30 seconds or something left.  First play - some kind of mini-up-and-out on the outside - receiver marginally open - Robinson throws it completely out of bounds.  Second down - floater in the middle of nowhere, throw without really even looking at the defense - still almost caught but receiver was out-of-bounds.  Much like the pizza at Donatelli's.  Third down - little scramble play - throw comes up short - actually probably should have been caught.  But I've typed too much to turn back.  Fourth Down - hike and throw timing play with no options which is actually really stupid because if you have a dude like Denard you want there to be a lot of options and this play has zero.  This should probably be ripping on whoever the Michigan coach is.  But 1.  I don't know who that is and 2. I'm drunk on Saturday night whilst typing this and I don't feel like doing whatever. 

3.  Philip Rivers.  He always puts up monster numbers, like his 385 yards and 4 TDs against Green Bay on Sunday, but he's just a train wreck of inconsistency, as his 3 picks with two brought back for Packer touchdowns attests too.  He's not like Romo, who will always choke in a big game, but he's just all over the place and will always make just as many terrible throws/decisions as he does good ones. Seriously, he throws interceptions in the playoffs/big games like that's his actual job, he just masks it by also throwing for a couple TDs and 350+ yards so nobody really notices.  Seriously, if you had to pick a "good" QB to start a game that he had to win or you would die Rivers would be the second worst guy you could pick, behind Romo of course.  Because he's a big time choker.  Like that dude from Kung Fu or Albert DeSalvo (supposedly). 

I have nothing to add.  I just like this picture.

4.  West Virginia.  The Mountaineers lost their exhibition game versus d-2 Northern Kentucky on Saturday, which doesn't necessarily mean disaster for the season but it's kind of hard to think of this as a good sign.  No, they weren't the only team to lose to a D-2 team this week - Butler lost to Northern State and Arizona lost to Seattle Pacific - but everyone else had mitigating circumstances that could at least explain it.  Butler lost their top 2 players from last year and have to deal with that while Arizona is trying to break in a freshman point guard and lost their do everything player, but WVU shouldn't have those issues.  I mean yeah, they lost last year's leading scorer in Casey Mitchell, but with do everything Kevin Jones and point guard Truck Bryant back there's no reason for them to lose this game.  Most troubling is they allowed Northern Kentucky to shoot 52% from the floor for the game.  I don't know if this is a fluke or a terrible sign and harbinger of doom, but it ain't good.

5.  Jim Thome.  Tell me this isn't completely bizarre.  I mean the contract makes total sense - 1 year for $1.25 million with AB incentives that can push it to $1.5.  Perfect for everybdoy.  And I even get how Thome likes Philly from when he played there before and Philly likes Thome because if you don't like Thome you're probably evil in your black heart.  Again, makes sense.  But let's think about this, and realize that Philadelphia is in the national league and unless something changed they don't have a designated hitter in that league.  Thome proved with the Twins that he can't field - at all- which is why Mike Cuddyer, Luke Hughes, Trevor Plouffe, Joe Mauer, Matt Tolbert, Brendan Harris, and Jose Morales have all played 1st in the last two years.  So he's signing on to the Phils to get a max of 162 plate appearances next year.  I mean sure, he'll probably get all 162 since it's the NL, but I can't see any way he gets more than that unless there's a rule change allowing double pinch-hits.   I mean maybe that's what Thome is looking for now, it's a pretty sweet life making seven figures to eat some seeds or chew some Redman before taking a couple hacks late in the game, but I always got the impression he wanted to start once in a while.  Also this probably doesn't belong in the "who sucks" thing but I didn't really want to make another post about it so fuck it. 



Three Final Things:

1 .  The greatest sport in the world starts tonight with college hoops kicking off with the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.  Three games tonight (Valpo @ Arizona, William & Mary @ St. Johns, and Eastern Kentucky @ Mississippi State) and then three more Wednesday (Duquesne @ Arizona, Liberty @ Texas A&M, and Lehigh @ St. John's) get us all kicked off leading to the big day on Friday when there are 126 games.  I'm stoked, and if you're looking for a wager tonight the only game I have a feel for is Miss State -17 vs. EKU, so just do it.  Also, here is my fantasy college basketball roster:

G - Dee Bost, Miss State
G - Allen Crabbe, Cal
G - Abdul Gaddy, Washington
G - Andre Young, Clemson
G - Glen Rice, Georgia Tech
G - Faisal Aden, Wash State
G - Lorenzo Brown, NC State
G - BJ Young, Arkansas
G - Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Georgia
G/F - Drew Crawford, Northwestern
F - Trevor Mbakwe, Minnesota
F - Drew Gordon, New Mexico
F - Chris Johnson, Dayton
F - Brandon Davies, BYU
F - Malik Cooke, South Carolina
F - Dwight Powell, Stanford
C - Josh Smith, UCLA
C - Andrew Smith, Butler
C - Meyers Leonard, Illinois
C - Krys Faber, DePaul

I smell championship.

2.  Since I'm feeling generous here is a kick-ass soup recipe, which you can make as either beef or chicken:

1 lb. chicken breast or stew meat cut into cubes (depending on if you want chicken or beef soup, obvs)
2 potatoes, cubed
2 small carrots, diced
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. chopped celery
1 1/2 c. frozen corn kernels
2 T horseradish mustard (dijon works too)
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. salt
2 1/2 c. vegetable juice like v-8
1 1/2 c. chicken broth (or beef if making beef soup)

Combine and cook in a crockpot for 7-9 hours.  Hell yes.

3.  I got distracted and I can't remember what #3 was now.  Ok then bye.