Me and The Big Diesel, back in Florida.
The Captain and Shaquille are sailing off to brighter shores. A very enticing offer (possibly even including money!) has caused me to begin a different site, and revive and old one. So, for intensive Miami Heat coverage, please go to my new home, Crazy From The Heat. But if you're interested in commentary on all sports, amusing anecdotes about my day, occasional attacks on public figures, and even a curse word or two, go to my original site Eisenberg Sports. See you there!
Who cares who wins an exhibition game? But it was fun to see Shaq out there, and hey, there were winners and losers. Let's get to it!
Power Forward - The need for Christian Laettner became clear right away, as Udonis Haslem and Malik Allen took 18 shots in 39 minutes. Allen had more luck, going 4 for 7 and showing a nice mid-range jumper, while Haslem went 3 for 11. Of course, Haslem outrebounded Allen 5 to 1. The Heat made a nice first have run with Allen in the lineup though, so we'll give the nod to him.
Small Forward - Rasual Butler put up some nice numbers - 3 for 5 with 5 rebounds and 5 assists in 22 minutes - but continued to be less than impressive defensively. Wesley Person shot only 1 for 4 but had 5 rebounds.
The Rookies - Yikes! Between them, Dorell Wright and Matt Freije played 16 minutes, grabbed 2 rebounds, missed 5 shots, and committed 3 fouls. Not to be outdone by the kids, Eddie Jones didn't hit a shot in 25 minutes, and Wang Zhi Zhi went scoreless in 9.
Here's the current standings:
Unscathed Teams Who Have Beaten a Top Ten Team (1)
Auburn*!
All Other Unscathed Teams (17)
ASU, Boise St, Cal, Col, Georgia, Louisville, Minn, Oklahoma, Ok St, Navy, Purdue, S Miss, Texas, USC, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin
Teams With Half-Acceptable Losses (5)
Florida, FSU, Maryland, Miami*, Ohio St
Teams With 1 Acceptable Loss (7)
BC, Colorado, Fresno St, Memphis, Michigan, Missouri, Wake Forest
Teams With 1.5 Acceptable Losses (1)
WV
Teams With 2 Acceptable Losses (2)
N Illinois, Tex Tech
Teams With Unacceptable Losses Protected By The Three Weeks Rule (7)
Nebraska, South Carolina, Stanford, Texas A&M, UAB, UCLA, Wash St
There's a change at the top this week. Auburn moves to the top due to their undefeated status and their victory over a top ten team (deserving or not), Tennessee. I had mistakenly had Miami in this bracket, forgetting that they had to go to overtime to beat FSU.
Only forty teams are left now. Let's take a look at this weekend's big matchups, the playoff games (that's right, I said playoff games), and the implications for the Captain's College Football Championship (CCF).
Playoff Games
Oklahoma vs. Texas
Any game on a neutral field is a must win in the CCF. Someone big goes down today, and until the Longhorns actually win this game again, you have to like Oklahoma.
Nebraska at Texas Tech
Texas Tech is a 7-point favorite. A loss by either team will be cause for elimination.
The following are all games in which unscathed road teams are playing championship contenders who need to win:
Minnesota at Michigan
The Little Brown Jug is not all that is at stake. Michigan is a 3.5-point favorite.
Wisconsin at Ohio State
Ohio State is minus 4.
Cal at USC
USC's is a 7-point favorite. Cal can knock them out of the race for the first time in two years with a big win right here, but I like the Trojans.
Oklahoma State at Colorado
The Buffaloes are on the ropes as a 6.5-point underdog at home.
So it's a key weekend in both Big 12 and Big Ten. Lucky for me, the Red Sox wrapped up the first round last night,
freeing me for some serious clicking. Let's see what happens.
With the major South Florida papers reporting nothing about the opening of Heat training camp except that it's really hard to guard Shaq (there's a news flash), there is this one tidbit: Christian Laettner is already hurt, and missing time with a bad back. This does not bode well for any kind of significant contribution this year, but we'll see.
We will have a college football weekend preview, probably Friday night or Saturday morning. In the meantime, enjoy the playoffs.
Amazingly, all three South Florida newspapers had Heat stories today, and all on different topics, so I thought I would just leave those links here.
Gold Medal -
The Sun-Sentinel's Ira Winderman has an interview with Dwyane Wade
Heat guard Wade measures success one step at a time
Also, The Sun-Sentinel beat the other two papers to the Kobe-Shaq sex story, but that's all I want to say about that.
Silver Medal - Chris Perkins has this column in the Palm Beach Post. The title doesn't do it justice. It should say No Chance. Jordan Comeback? Wishful Thinking
Bronze Medal - The Miami Herald has a story about how the Heat are Maimi's best chance for a winner. You have to be a member to view the whole story, so I'm not linking it. You can find the paper on the right, though.
That's it. Back to the pennant races.
It took three years for it to happen, but this last week produced two scenarios that were not considered by The Captain's College Football Manifesto(over on the right):
1. The SEC admitted to Florida officials that the referees of the Florida-Tennessee game had made a mistake.
2. Pittsburgh went to overtime to beat a team from a lower division at home.
Let's take the Gators-Vols situation first. Originally I had said that I would stick with the official score, if only because I could not possibly know about every perceived injustice in college football, and so I would not rule on any. But it does seem like I can know about every league apology. I mean, that just doesn't happen every week. So from now on, any game that is followed by an apology from the conference will be open to interpretation. I've decided to give neither side credit for the victory, and to give both teams credit for a half-Acceptable Loss. This is the same scoring that would have happened if the home team, Tennessee, had won in overtime. It's not perfect, but it's certainly better than calling it a straight Tennessee victory, because everyone watching knows they lose that game without referee interference.
The Pitt situation kind of solves itself because they already had an Unacceptable Loss, and so going to OT at home to beat anybody would have eliminated them. But Furman? If it's a half-Acceptable Loss to beat a Division 1 team at home, then a home win in OT against a lower-division team must be worse, so we'll call it an Acceptable Loss.
Here's this week's standings. Teams that have beaten a Top Ten team have a * next to them.
Unscathed Teams Who Have Beaten a Top Ten Team (1)
Miami*
All Other Unscathed Teams (20)
ASU, Auburn, Boise St, Cal, Col, Fresno St, Georgia, Louisville, Minn, Oklahoma, Ohio St, Ok St, Navy, Purdue, S Miss, Texas, USC, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin,
Teams With Half-Acceptable Losses (6)
Florida, FSU, Maryland, Tennessee, Wake Forest, WV
Teams With Acceptable Losses (9)
BC, Florida, Iowa St, Memphis, Michigan, Missouri, Notre Dame*, SD St, Tex Tech
Teams With 1.5 Acceptable Losses (1)
LSU
Teams With 2 Acceptable Losses (1)
N Illinois
Teams With Unacceptable Losses Protected By The Three Weeks Rule (16)
Arkansas, Baylor, GT, KSU, Nebraska, NC St, Rice, Rutgers, South Carolina, Stanford, Texas A&M, UAB, UCLA, USF, Wash St, Wyoming
This is we're I've been:
1. Worked a 7:00 am to 8:00 pm shift on Thursday.
2. Got home from work at 4 on Friday, which gave me just two hours to hang my hurricane shutters . . .
(not me, but you get the idea) and clear out enough room in my garage to get both cars in before I
3. Fasted for Yom Kippur, and
4. Hurricane Jeanne came.
Got more water just like with Frances, and had the same tree knocked down again. Then I got internet service back up just long enough to drop fifty dollars on the Lions.
So yes, I'm thrilled to have power, and hopefully I have more time off of work. If I do, there'll be blogging for sure. But regardless, expect the College Football Weekend Review at least, and any Heat news that breaks.
Key Reserves
Others
Local Sports Pages
Hoop Bloggers (There Ain't A Lot Of Us)
Key Hoops Websites
