Divide And Conquer

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!

Heat vs Rockets

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.

College Football Weekend Preview

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.

No News Is Not Necessarily Good News

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.