Seeping Matter

A couple of weeks ago I challenged blog and Twitter followers and Facebook friends to a pushup challenge.  After having read Stephen R. Covey’s declaration that “very few [people] can [do twenty pushups]” I was having a hard time believing that one, so I decided to collaborate with you, my reader audience, in a scientific experiment to see how well that statement applies to us.

Nineteen of you participated in the Facebook survey or told me  your results directly.  That wasn’t the kind of participation I was hoping for, but we’ll go with that anyway.

Here’s what we found out:

• The lowest number of pushups done by any participant was 10.
• The highest number of pushups done by any participant was 45.
• The median number of pushups done was 25.
• The average number of pushups done was 27.

It seems like a pretty even distribution.  Look at the chart below and you can see further evidence of this.  There’s not a lot of clumping at any given point, rather a fairly steady upward slope from 10 to 45.

If Covey’s assertion were true I would have expected one or both of the following:

• If not a clumping of people reporting results at around 5 pushups, at least a couple of respondents at that level
• A non-linear progression from the bottom toward the top

As it stands, the data appears to be a fairly representative sample, but one that doesn’t match Covey’s assertion at all.  Perhaps a number of people took the challenge and had results in the 3-8 range, but were not willing to post their results in the survey.  Or perhaps my circle of friends is abnormally fit (sorry, I don’t find that likely).  Or perhaps the people who frequent Covey seminars tend to be atypically unfit.

One final piece of interesting information.  We conducted this experiment at work.  Most of the guys on the team were good sports and dropped down to do their pushups in front of everybody.  On our team I know we have some people who are fairly fit and active, and some who are not (me).  We also have some young, energetic guys and some who are in the latter half of their life (me again).  Being young and being someone who exercises regularly seemed to help drive the number of pushups higher, which is really no big surprise.  However, the upper end of the scale was not populated exclusively by fit, young, exercising-types.  Furthermore, I know of some people who work out pretty regularly who slotted into the bottom half of the scale.

So it seems that exercising alone isn’t the only thing involved here.  Some might suggest genetics, which perhaps has something to do with it.  But I know of one case in these results where one guy outperformed a younger sibling, and in this case the younger sibling is the one who regularly exercises while the older one does not.  What about weight?  Weight is certainly a factor, but some of the people who put up high numbers are not exactly petite.

Truthfully, I would have to say some of the hardest results to explain were my own.  I managed 40 pushups, which frankly was no surprise to me — I’ve been able to do 40 pushups, give or take, for years now, and I pretty much figured that was par for the course.  I guess it is a bit better than average.  But I don’t work out regularly even though I know I need to, I’m not exactly svelte (let’s just say I’m more than just a smidgin over 200), and 40 years old.  Go figure.

Anyway, thanks for participating.  Look for another one coming up.

So after my last post on Alabama I thought I’d do a bit of research to see how Nick Saban creates such a great team.  After a bit of poking around I found it.

Within the next month or two, Coach Saban will start recruiting new football players to take an athletic scholarship and come to play for the Crimson Tide.  Come springtime, the returning players will start playing spring football.  Then comes training in the summertime in preparation for the football season which starts in September.

So it all begins with recruiting and retaining the very best.  Alabama plays in the SEC West, whose top three teams are currently ranked in the top five in the entire country.  The SEC East is no slouch either, with teams like Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia to consider.  Alabama must get the very best, train the hardest, and gel the strongest to achieve their goal of being a national champion.  Even one mistake might cost them a title.

All that’s no big secret.  The secret is at the other end of the season, when the games are all played and the trophies hoisted.

After the last game is played and all the players who are going pro have declared themselves eligible for the draft, Saban pulls all his assistant coaches and coordinators into a room.  Once there, he requires the coaches to rank all of the remaining players in each class (Junior, Sophomore, etc.) from best to worst.  A great debate ensues.  The special teams coach might argue with the quarterback coach as to whether the punter is a higher performer than the backup quarterback.  Or the offensive line coach might try to convince the defensive secondary coach that the right guard is more valuable than the strong safety.

And thus it goes, for hours or even days, until every player on the team in each class is ranked with respect to his teammates.  Once the players are ranked, Saban then terminates the scholarships of the bottom 20% of the players, who are welcome to try to walk-on the following year or transfer to a different school and play for a different team.  Saban then repeats this procedure with the assistant coaches and coordinators.  He meticulously considers each coach and tries to decide if the linebacker coach is a better performer than the wide receiver coach.  Once this is done, those in the bottom 10% are fired; the next lowest 10% are given a pay cut, and only the top 20% are given a pay raise.

Saban’s reasons are obvious, and every coach and player knows about this beforehand.  They know that they are competing with each other for their spot on the team, for the right to not be terminated at the end of the year.  They know that if they are to remain with the Crimson Tide, it will have to be at the expense of someone else on the team, and they will have to demonstrate higher individual performance than the others in order to stay.

What’s the result?  It’s obvious.  They abdicate their personal desires and goals and instead pull together to create a great, powerful, strong team, one without egos, one where team achievement is more important than personal achievement and personal stats are nothing compared to team victories.

Hmm.

Confused?  You should be.

Of course, I’m making all that up.  Whatever Saban does, it is surely not what I’ve just described.  After going through all the effort to recruit the very best he can get, after working so hard to get the very best coaching staff he can find, and after expending so much to get all these different people to work together and create a national championship winning team, why in the world would he get rid of some number of lower performers as a matter of policy?  Why would anyone compare the performance of two different people whose talents and abilities fit them for two completely distinct roles and insist that you have to decide which one is more valuable than the other?

Clearly you can’t build a strong team that way.  Surely no person trying hard to create a strong, high-performing organization would take such an approach, right?  I mean, come on.  It’s ridiculous.

Of all the football games I watched this year I would have to say that the National Championship game between Alabama and LSU was probably the one I most enjoyed, and not just because Alabama beat LSU, who I can’t stand.

Before I watched the game I thought of when they’d played earlier in the season.  I thought of what Alabama would have to do to win.  Victory would require excellent defense on every down.  They would need to avoid costly mistakes.  They would have to play consistently well on offense, find a passing attack, and prevent any big plays on special teams.  Winning was a good possibility — Alabama had outplayed LSU in the previous game, after all, even though they ended up losing in overtime — but dominating the game would require near-perfection.

Near-perfection is exactly what Alabama delivered.  It was truly inspiring to watch.  They played a complete team game, excellence in every single position, every player executing their own job to perfection.  The result was a group that together exceeded the sum of its parts.  As a team they did everything that needed to be done to achieve total victory.  Egos were left behind as players abdicated personal achievements for the good of what they could accomplish together.  It was one of the most complete and awe-inspiring football performances I’ve ever seen.

I’ve thought since about that type of a team performance.  How does an individual get a group of people to each put aside their selfish desires and execute in their role for the betterment of the group?  Most of us have seen what can happen when a group of individuals truly make a team, and many of us have even experienced it.  Yet we resist putting ourself aside for the good of the group — at work, in our community, in our church or neighborhood, or even in our families, instead preferring to wait for others to step up and make the sacrifice first.  While we wait, we know not only on what we are missing out, we also know that if everyone waits, the team will never truly form.

And thus we bid farewell to another excellent season of college football.  True, Auburn didn’t have quite the season they had last year, but USU was much better despite choking in literally the final seconds of several key games (Auburn, BYU, Ohio).  Teams come and go, but the essence of college football remains:  Great passion, energetic players, trick plays, fake punts, blocked kicks, great defenses, long runs from scrimmage, and more.  The players are not quite so skilled as they are in the pros, so they make more mistakes, and I think that is what makes the games more interesting.  Yes, they can wn the game by making this 30-yard field goal with only 2 seconds left in the game, but this is college!  There really is a reasonable chance they will miss it!

My bowl picks started off slow but I ended up doing pretty well:

• Famous Idaho Potato Bowl - I picked USU to win this one.  At the end I wondered, will we see early-season USU who choked in the close games, or late-season USU that pulled out victory after close victory to qualify for a bowl berth?  Sadly, it was early-season USU.  0-1
• Maaco Las Vegas Bowl – I said Boise State would walk all over ASU but it wasn’t nearly that close.  1-1
• Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl – I picked Cal over Texas but this one shanked to the right.  1-2
• Champs Sports Bowl – I said Florida State would win, and I must admit they had me pretty concerned most of the game.  But in the end they managed to overcome a 14 point deficit to win.  2-2
• Valero Alamo Bowl – This game was one that you should not have missed, and if you did, you need to find it someday on ESPN Classics and watch it again.  Heck, watch it again even if you did see it.  It was a load of fun.  As the announcer said, the first team to 67 points wins, and I correctly picked that Baylor would be that team.  3-2
• Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl – Life goes much easier for you in Utah County if you pick BYU, especially when they pull it off.  4-2
• Insight Bowl – I picked Iowa because every time I pick against them, they win.  I guess Iowa just is trying to spite me with a loss to Oklahoma, or something.  4-3
• Hyundai Sun Bowl – Utah had me pretty nervous when they were down 14 in the 4th quarter, but watching them come back to beat a really good Georgia Tech team was quite gratifying, and also felt a little bit like vindication for their selection to join the PAC-12.  5-3
• Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl – I said Illinois would win because UCLA reeks.  Well, UCLA still reeks.  6-3
• Chick-fil-A Bowl – Of course Auburn won this one.  I think their comeback win over USU proved that they are a pretty strong team, and they are in the SEC, after all.  7-3
• Ticketcity Bowl – Apparently Houston is as good as we all thought they might be.  Or Penn State is still being punished for their grievous sins.  Or both.  8-3
• Outback Bowl – Honestly, Georgia is not the best team in the SEC East this year, but they did better than I thought.  Still, it wasn’t enough to hold off Michigan State, although it took three overtimes to finally decide this one.  9-3
• Capital One Bowl – South Carolina is just too athletic for Nebraska pretty-boys like Taylor Martinez.  And I must say to Bo Pellini, your furious tirade on the sidelines and the disdain with which you treat the reports does not win you fans.  I was happy to see South Carolina win.  10-3
• Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl – One of my favorite holiday traditions is when Ohio State goes south and gets trounced by Florida, which of course happened again this year.  Next year might be tough.  Can I continue to hate Ohio State once Urban Meyer is the coach there?  Hmm.  11-3
• Rose Bowl – This was another excellent game, and I have to say that Oregon’s helmets were freaking awesome.  I picked Oregon because of their helmets, subconsciously.  12-3
• Tostitos Fiesta Bowl – Yet again, the Fiesta Bowl left me kicking myself for not just driving down to Tempe to attend it.  One of these years I will do just that.  Anyway, Oklahoma State kept me wondering all game long, but they finally pulled this one out in overtime, the only time they had the lead in the entire game.  13-3
• Allstate Sugar Bowl – Up to this point I was feeling pretty pleased with myself and thinking maybe I should apply for a job with ESPN as an analyst.  I missed this pick though, having thought that Michigan’s comeback season wasn’t sufficient to beat Virginia Tech.  A strong Michigan is good for college football all around, so I’ll take it.  13-4
• Discover Orange Bowl – I was right that Clemson has superior athletes, but they are also excellent at collapsing into a shivering blob of mistake after costly mistake.  By the time they’d weathered the storm, West Virginia had scored 35 unanswered points and the game was over with 25 minutes left to play.  13-5
• AT&T Cotton Bowl – As I implied, it seems people dismiss Arkansas because they finished third in their division.  But they finished third to the #1 and #2 teams in the country.  Arkansas proved they are for real.  14-5
• Allstate BCS Championship – I threatened rebellion if LSU won.  Apparently someone wants me to be a good boy.  Alabama won in convincing, dominating fashion in one of the best-played, most complete total team effort victories I’ve ever seen.  More on this later.  15-5
• Knudsen-B-Gon Toilet Bowl – North Dakota Culinary & Drama College completely dominated this game in every way, although to be fair, Akron forgot which direction they were supposed to go to score on about half of the plays.  16-5

So, if you discount the gimme, fake-bowl, I still ended up with a record of 15-5, or an accuracy record of 75%.  That’s a little better than random, wouldn’t you say?

Okay, it was lucky.  I’m still gonna gloat.

It’s time for me to do my annual bowl picks, which I do every year, in order to invite cynical comments and snide remarks about how inaccurate my picks are.  I don’t pretend to be any good at this.

Without further adieu:

• Famous Idaho Potato Bowl – Ohio vs. Utah State:  I am so dang happy that Utah State is in a bowl game that I definitely have to pick them to win, which as a loyal Aggie I would do even if they were playing Alabama.  I will not be watching the game live, though, because both times I did that this year they had dramatic meltdowns against Auburn and BYU and ended up losing in the final seconds of the game.  Pick:  USU
• Maaco Las Vegas Bowl – Arizona State vs. Boise State:  Boise State gets reamed again this year, with one loss costing them millions of dollars in bowl payouts just like last year.  Arizona State had a losing record playing in the PAC-12 South where the best team was UCLA.  Boise will walk all over ASU, but it won’t be enough to assuage the pains of what might have been.  Pick:  Boise State
• Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl – Cal vs. Texas:  Tough pick for a pair of teams with subpar seasons for their programs.  Going out on a limb here and picking Cal.
• Champs Sports Bowl – Florida State vs. Notre Dame:  Florida State started pretty hot and then kinda had a meltdown, but I still think they are a better team than Notre Dame.  Pick:  Florida State
• Valero Alamo Bowl – Washington vs. Baylor:  Robert Griffin III deserved, and won, the Heisman Trophy this year because I think, more than the other candidates, he had the most to do with the success of the team he plays for.  I think this is enough to push Baylor past Washington this year.  Plus, one of my youngest son’s best friends is named Baylor, so he’ll definitely be pulling for them for the 5 minutes he pays attention to the game.  Pick:  Baylor
• Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl – BYU vs. Tulsa:  I don’t really care, but things will go much more swimmingly for me in my neighborhood if I simply capitulate and pick BYU.
• Insight Bowl – Iowa vs. Oklahoma:  If Oklahoma is really as bad as they looked against Oklahoma State, they are in big trouble.  Plus, every time I pick against Iowa I end up getting burned.  They’re a bunch of brawling wrestlers there in Iowa, I guess that makes them pretty bad dudes.  Pick:  Iowa
• Hyundai Sun Bowl – Georgia Tech vs. Utah:  Things will go much more swimmingly for me in my neighborhood if I simply capitulate and pick Utah.  Although, I think they’d better watch out in this one.  Pick:  Utah
• Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl – Illinois vs. UCLA:  Ah, what might have been – Utah was so close to getting to go to this bowl instead of the Sun Bowl.  They must be wringing their hands in grief that they only get to play in the Sun Bowl instead of the “Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.”  Yes, that is SO MUCH more prestigious!  Anyway, on to this pick:  Well, UCLA pretty much reeks.  Pick:  Illinois
• Chick-fil-A Bowl – Virginia vs. Auburn:  I have to pick Auburn of course, but in fairness I actually think they should be able to win this one.  They did beat USU after all.  Pick:  Auburn
• Ticketcity Bowl – Houston vs. Penn State:  Here’s a chance for us to see if Houston, who nearly went undefeated this year, is as good as we all think they might be.  Penn State is still being punished for their crimes of years past.  Pick:  Houston
• Outback Bowl – Michigan State vs. Georgia:  Now’s when the picks really start to get tough.  Georgia won the SEC East this year, somehow, but I really don’t think they are that good, or truly even the best team in the SEC East (this year that would be South Carolina).  Pick:  Michigan State
• Capitol One Bowl – Nebraska vs. South Carolina:  Speaking of South Carolina, I also think they are better than Nebraska, but this is a close one.  Pick:  South Carolina
• Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl – Ohio State vs. Florida:  One of my favorite holiday traditions is when Ohio State travels down to the south and gets pounded on by an SEC team in a bowl game.  Jim Tressel used to be part of the reason to despise Ohio State.  Now he’s gone, but I’ve still had more than I can stand of their pro-football-playing alumni declaring their alma mater as “THE Ohio State University.”  Clearly English is not one of Ohio State’s best subjects.  Anyway, I hope Florida makes THE Ohio State University bawl their little buckeyes out.  Pick:  Florida
• Rose Bowl – Wisconsin vs. Oregon:  Nike founder Phil Knight proved that you can buy a pretty sweet college football team if you are willing to pay enough.  I’m not exactly a big Oregon fan, but I don’t think Wisconsin can hang with them.  Pick:  Oregon
• Tostitos Fiesta Bowl – Stanford vs. Oklahoma State:  If Stanford is close going into the fourth quarter, they are the team to bet on.  Problem is, I have to make my pick now, not in the fourth quarter, and my guess is that Stanford won’t be close in the fourth quarter.  Winning the Fiesta Bowl won’t be quite the same as playing for the national title for Oklahoma State, but unfortunately that’s about the best they can hope for this year, other than perhaps to beat out Boise State for the “most ripped off by the system” award.  Pick:  Oklahoma State
• Allstate Sugar Bowl – Michigan vs. Virginia Tech:  This has been a good year for Michigan thusfar, surprisingly so given the new coaching changes.  I’d love to see them win this one, but I think Beamerball carries the day.  Pick:  Virginia Tech
• Discover Orange Bowl – West Virginia vs. Clemson:  I think Clemson has superior athletes and a superior team.  Pick:  Clemson
• AT&T Cotton Bowl – Kansas State vs. Arkansas:  Two losses in the SEC West are not nearly the black mark that are two losses in the Big 12 North, especially when those two SEC losses came to Alabama and LSU.  Pick:  Arkansas
• Allstate BCS Championship – Alabama vs. LSU:  LSU somehow ends up winning games even if they are outplayed the entire time.  When Alabama played them during the regular season, Alabama was clearly the better team, but LSU somehow found a way to win anyway.  Alabama’s discipline starts with Nick Saban and permeates the organization.  It’s the same thing for LSU, except instead of discipline flowing downward it is arrogance and air-headedness.  Alabama’s discipline will pay big dividends with over a month of preparation time in hand.  Plus, if LSU wins the national title, I am going to have to stop going to church for a while, or something, in rebellion.  Pick:  Alabama
• Knudsen-B-Gon Toilet Bowl – Akron vs. North Dakota Culinary & Drama College:  Akron’s only win this season was to VMI, who themselves only had two wins against Charleston Southern and Gardner-Webb.  If I keep digging I’m going to get into high school teams and neighborhood pick-up leagues, so let’s just say that Akron is pretty awful, much like how USU used to be (shudder).  ND C&D will wipe their, uh, er, noses with Akron (ah, the puns simply abound in this one).  Pick:  ND C&D

James Stewart has been referred to as the “Fastest Man on the Planet” (although that is pretty much just referring to the Supercross racing crowd – certainly anyone in a Bugatti Veyron is faster).  But his 2011 season will be most remembered for crashes, not wins.  In 18 main events this year, Stewart crashed in fully half of those main events and a total of eleven times (twice in a couple of races).  It’s bad enough when you crash once out of every two times you race, but the real problem with James Stewart is that he frequently is taking someone else out along with himself.

I did some quick research on RacerX’s website last night, glancing over this year’s race reports.  Here’s the list of people Stewart collided with in 2011 main events:

• Houston – Chad Reed, Justin Brayton, Chris Blose.  Stewart came into the turn too hot, couldn’t make the turn, and plowed across the field, taking Chad Reed and the other listed riders out with him.
• Houston – Jason Thomas.  Later in the main event, as Stewart was trying to make up ground, he jumped his bike right on to the back (literally) of Jason Thomas, taking Thomas out of the race.
• Atlanta – Chad Reed.  With both competing for the win on the final lap, Chad Reed dove inside the leading Stewart in a 180 degree right hand turn, taking the line away.  But Stewart tried to take the line anyway, and both Reed and Stewart went down.  After the both got up, Stewart forgot about racing and tried to take Reed out again, but this plan backfired on Stewart as Reed found a way around for third.  Stewart went from first to fourth on the final lap.
• Jacksonville – Michael Byrne, Matt Goerke.  On the first lap of the main event coming into the first rhythm section, Stewart was, in my view, too committed to jumping through the rhythm section when he was bumped by Michael Byrne.  Stewart shot clear across the track from the right to the left, collecting Matt Goerke in the process, taking them both out of the race.  It seems like some other riders were also involved, but the race report doesn’t say for sure.
• Toronto – Ryan Villopoto.  After a poor start by both Villopoto and Stewart, Stewart and Villopoto both got together in a 180 degree right hand turn, and both riders went down.  This crash was oddly like the Reed/Stewart incident in Houston, yet it wasn’t on the last lap for the win, yet nobody was getting up in arms over Stewart’s “dirty riding” tactics for this one, unlike how things went for Reed.  At least not yet.
• Dallas – Chad Reed.  Stewart was trailing Reed coming into a whoops section.  Stewart came through the whoops fast and eventually out of control, crashing into Reed in the turn at the end of the section.  Reed was sent over the top of the berm and crashed onto the concrete.  Stewart went on to take 4th.
• Las Vegas – Kevin Windham.  Having taken the lead from Windham just laps ago but still under intense pressure by Windham, Stewart went into the whoops section, lost control, and crashed in the whoops right in front of Kevin (who, despite popular belief, was NOT following Stewart’s line through the whoops – Stewart crashed into Kevin’s line).  It happened so quickly that Windham had nowhere to go other than to run right into Stewart’s bike.  Both Stewart and Windham were out of the race.

These were in addition to his crashes in Los Angeles, Daytona, and Salt Lake City (twice) where he somehow managed to not hit anyone else.

So, Stewart crashed eleven times involving at least ten other riders besides himself, three of those times involving Chad Reed.  It was odd that Reed was so criticized for his pass attempt for the win at Atlanta, in an agressive but legal move.  Yet this pass only cost Stewart one position; Stewart’s stupid antics for the remainder of the last lap cost him more points and more positions than the crash with Reed.  What people don’t remember is that Stewart also crashed into Reed on two other occasions, along with Villopoto, Windham, and others.

Somehow, when a rider under control makes an aggressive but legal move for the win and a crash ensues, that rider is a dirty rider, especially if the rider is Chad Reed and the rider being passed is James Stewart.  But when a rider is riding out of control and crashes people out of the race, it is not dirty.  I don’t get that.

It isn’t my intent to suggest that Stewart intentionally crashed into all those people.  You don’t win a championship that way, and Stewart wants to win.  It’s just that the guy rides out of control, assumes he can do whatever he wants, and cares so little for the safety of other people in the race that it doesn’t matter to him if he hits anyone else or not.

To make matters worse, of the ten other riders he crashed into this year, at least three of them — Thomas, Goerke, and Windham — paid a visit to the hospital as a result of their crash with Stewart.  The first two had season-ending injuries, joining other riders like Ivan Tedesco and Chad Reed in the list of riders whose seasons have ended due to a collision with James Stewart.

All of this was in addition to his off-track problems.  He was arrested in Florida for impersonating an officer when he used flashing red and blue lights to pull another vehicle over on a highway, a vehicle which just happened to contain off-duty policemen.  Somehow, this felony arrest doesn’t merit any disciplinary action from the AMA, whereas Jason Lawrence got suspended for a year for his misdemeanor a couple of years ago.

I hate that Kevin Windham was racing so well in Vegas only to end the night at the hospital with internal bleeding.  But in a way, I’m kinda glad it happened.  Stewart rides without any respect for the safety of other riders on the track, and has done this for years.  I can’t recall any other top rider who has had more collisions involving other riders — even Ricky Carmichael is among the list of riders who have been victims of Stewart’s wrecks.  In the past this has seemed to get by without too much fan attention, but Kevin Windham is different.  He’s the most adored rider in the whole paddock.  And maybe, just maybe, this time it will incite enough ire from the fans to get the AMA to do something about it.  I hope they do, because one of these times he might be ending someone’s career.

It’s been called the greatest Supercross season ever.  That’s a statement that’s perhaps a bit tough to argue one way or the other.  There have certainly been great Supercross seasons in the past (e.g. 2004, 2006, and 2008), but 2011 was definitely one to remember.  Having a field where there are five or six riders capable of winning every time you race really makes for an exciting series, especially when the points battle was as tight as it was this year.  Every race, every jump, every corner, and every start counts in a season like that.  That’s what we had this year, and if you didn’t tune in, well, you really don’t know what you are missing.

With a season like that, winning the championship has to be that much sweeter, and so you gotta give it up for Ryan Villopoto, this year’s champion.  After horribly breaking his leg at St. Louis last year, he healed up, came into a fully stacked field featuring three former Supercross champions, and went out there and took the title for himself.  I mean no disrespect, but Ryan Dungey’s title last year was a bit by default.  Reed and Stewart were both out from the start of the season, Villopoto’s season ended in St. Louis, Canard wasn’t even racing in the 450 class, and Windham took half the season to find his groove.  This year, everyone was on it from the beginning, and all but Canard were in it to the end.  Villopoto reached out there for the title and took it away from everyone else.  It’s a well deserved title and he has to feel pretty sweet about it.

Of course, I gotta spend some time talking about my favorite rider, Chad Reed.  With just a few weeks to go before the season began, Reed still didn’t have a contract and ended up creating his own team, TwoTwo Motorsports.  He funded his own title campaign with very little factory support from Honda, and ended up taking second in the title chase, just four points behind Villopoto.  Reed is a very talented rider and a good sportsman.  It was great to hear him give credit to the other riders throughout the season, and particularly to hear him genuinely congratulate Villopoto on his championship.

Reading some of the online forums this year, particularly with respect to Reed, has been interesting.  There’s a lot of fans that think that Chad Reed is a dirty rider and are willing to carry that flag wherever they go.  Frankly, I’m just not seeing it.  There’s really only one rider that Reed rides a little bit harder than the rest, and that’s James Stewart.  There’s years of history behind that though, years of experience with Reed getting the raw end of the deal due to Stewart’s aggression.  I think a lot of these fans are either newcomers or have short-term memories.  I’ve been a fan for a long time, and trust me, whatever Stewart’s taken recently, he had it coming to him.

The one guy I would have liked to see win who didn’t this year is Kevin Windham.  He just may retire with the dubious distinction of being the best ever rider to not win a championship.  He looked like he had it in Houston and again in Las Vegas if not for some rotten luck.  I’ll tell you what, though — watching Kevin Windham in the opening ceremonies itself is worth the price of admission.  Nobody does such epic stoppies, and the transition jump he did in Vegas was just sick.  I heard it was about 120 feet in the air.

Unfortunately for Windham, he added himself to a pretty sizable list of James Stewart crash victims at Las Vegas.  James Stewart, the “Fastest Man to Hit the Planet”, seemed more about crashing than anything else this season.  But more about that in a separate post.

All in all, it was a pretty fantastic season.  I can hardly wait until next year.

Today’s post sparked by a comment on a RacerX article about last week’s Indy Supercross:

The lap chart only track [sic] the individual time for laps 2 – 20. With [James] Stewart having a bad start and [Ryan Villopoto] getting into first early we can safely say [Villopoto] had the faster 1st lap.

Uh, yes.  But why make it so complicated?  Since all twenty riders lined up next to each other at the start, but Villopoto was in the lead at the end of lap one, that pretty much should be enough to say that Villopoto had the fastest lap time on the 1st lap.

I don’t think you need to use deductive reasoning when you can rely on facts.

Ah, college football:  My favorite team sport.  Is there any other?

I mean that, seriously.  I hear there is pro football on TV, but I haven’t actually seen any this year; I’ve been too busy watching college football.

Anyone who knows me can imagine how pleased I must be at the season overall.  My alma mater, USU, beat BYU, which constitutes a successful season for them regardless of the outcome of any other game.  And my Auburn Tigers rose from relative obscurity this year, racking up one improbable win after another, and ended up taking home the BCS Championship, which brought a fifth straight title to my favorite college football conference.

All in all, it was pretty great, although I must say I don’t think God really cares who wins the BCS Championship, despite what Auburn says.

As far as the Utah teams go, Utah announced their plans to move to the PAC-10, started off well, but seemed to end their season in a bit of a slide which was topped off with a good old-fashioned whipping at the hands of Boise State in the Vegas Bowl.  BYU announced their intention to become independent, then laid an egg the first part of the season, which surely cannot help their scheduling efforts moving forward.  USU destroyed BYU but did not play Utah.  BYU did play Utah, however, and lost to them, but only by 1 point.  This clearly makes USU the best football team in Utah this year, so all in all it was a great year of Utah football for me.

As far as my other favorite non-AQ schools are concerned, TCU played an outstanding Rose Bowl game, eking out a victory against a very excellent Wisconsin team.  Boise State’s hopes for crashing the BCS party were dashed when they choked against a good Nevada team, but they showed everyone it was a fluke when they destroyed Utah in the Vegas Bowl.

Looking forward, I expect Utah to be reasonably competitive in the new PAC-12, but it will be a few years before they are a true contender — but I think they WILL be a major contender in that conference in the latter part of this decade.  BYU worked out a pretty sweet TV deal with ESPN for their future as an independent school, which should help them out as they try to fill their schedule with strong opponents.

Of all the movers, I think TCU made out by far the best.  They will soon be moving from the Mountain West, a stronger, non-BCS conference, to the Big East, a much weaker, BCS conference.  If TCU can go undefeated in the Mountain West, coming through the Big East unscathed should be no problem, relatively speaking, and will almost surely lead to a championship game invitation.

Boise State, on the other hand, pretty much got hosed in this whole deal.  Despite changes in the PAC-10, Big-10, and Big-XII, nobody would pick up Boise State, probably because nobody wants to play them.  They ended up going to the Mountain West, surely in an attempt to move to a stronger conference than the WAC.  But then the strongest teams from the Mountain West all announced plans to leave as the Mountain West replaced them with the strongest teams from the WAC.  Boise State may have made the move, but it isn’t going to do much for their strength of schedule problem.

Bowl Picks

I did NOT do well on my bowl picks this year.  Let’s take a look and see how it went:

• New Mexico Bowl: I picked UTEP out of spite, but BYU played a really excellent game.  0-1.
• Las Vegas Bowl: I picked Boise State in a complete blowout.  Utah scared me a bit by scoring first, but it ended up being their only score of the entire game.  It was a blowout.  1-1.
• Insight Bowl: I picked Missouri, who seemed all game to be the stronger team, but just couldn’t put it together to beat Iowa.  1-2.
• Alamo Bowl: I picked Oklahoma State who handled Arizona pretty easily.  At this point I was not doing great but not doing horribly either, but it’s about to get a lot worse.  2-2.
• Holiday Bowl: I picked Nebraska because Jake Locker is so overrated.  Then Jake Locker decided he might as well have a decent game before he goes pro.  2-3.
• Liberty Bowl: I picked Georgia and said if they ended up losing, Mark Richt might be looking for a new job.  I think he’d better dust off that resumé.  2-4.
• Chick-Fil-A Bowl: I picked South Carolina because, you know, they are from the SEC.  Oops.  2-5.
• Outback Bowl: I picked Penn State because of Florida’s dumb QB strategy.  I didn’t count on Urban Meyer announcing his “retirement” which obviously gave Florida something to play for.  2-6.
• Capital One Bowl: I picked Michigan State because of their awesome offense.  I should have realized it wouldn’t matter against an SEC defense.  2-7.
• Gator Bowl: I picked Mississippi State because of the SEC again, which finally paid off.  3-7.
• Rose Bowl: I picked TCU in a close one.  Finally got one right.  4-7.
• Fiesta Bowl: I picked Oklahoma, because, I mean seriously.  UConn is from the Big East, which is seriously not as good as probably 2 or 3 non-BCS conferences.  5-7.
• Orange Bowl: I picked Virginia Tech, but it was against my better judgment, as I’d initially wanted to go with Stanford.  Always trust the gut.  5-8.
• Sugar Bowl: I picked Arkansas because I can’t stand Ohio State.  Arkansas was clearly the better team, but I think Ryan Mallett just couldn’t stand the thought of winning.  5-9.
• Cotton Bowl: I picked Texas A&M because I can’t stand LSU.  I was forced to puke again; I can’t afford a new TV.  5-10.
• National Championship: I picked Auburn, and in a really excellent game where I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, Auburn pulled it off on the last play.  6-10.
• Toilet Bowl: I picked ND C&D who subbed in the second string in the second half, the third string in the third half, the cheerleaders to start the fourth, and by the end they were letting the fans play.  This didn’t stop them from destroying SJSU 119 to -12.  7-10.

It’s that most wonderful time of the year again — time for the NCAA Football bowl games to begin.

As many of my long-time readers know (if there are any), for as long as I can remember I’ve been doing annual bowl picks (where “as long as I can remember” means “at least one other time”).  Last year I tried picking every single bowl.  I am not going to do that this year.  Also, last year a friend who personally did not do any picks pointed out that my ratio was only slightly better than random.  I reserve the right to adjust my picks between now and, say, a month from now, in 1984-style, if necessary to preserve a better-than-random ratio.

Now, on to the picks:

• New Mexico Bowl — BYU vs. UTEP: Let’s face it:  BYU should not even be playing in a bowl game this year.  They lost a game to overrated Utah that they should have won (admittedly, with some help), and got completely creamed by 4-8 USU.  It just seems wrong that mediocre teams even get to play in a bowl game at all.
  • My Pick:  UTEP out of spite.
• Las Vegas Bowl — Utah vs. Boise State: Boise State gets the trophy for “we got ripped off the most of anyone this whole year.”  This is not even a close contest.  (And to think:  me and my buddies nearly bought tickets to this game, but one of us couldn’t go, and the rest didn’t fret much because, I mean, is Utah really gonna play anyone GOOD???  Dang.)
  • My Pick:  Boise State in a complete blowout.
• Insight Bowl — Missouri vs. Iowa: Missouri only lost two games this year to tough opponents, and beat this year’s Big XII champ Oklahoma who was ranked #1 at the time.  Iowa… also ran in the Big 10.
  • My Pick:  Missouri.
• Alamo Bowl — Oklahoma State vs. Arizona: Similar theme as the Insight Bowl.  Oklahoma State only lost the Big XII south due to voter prejudice.  Besides, PAC-10 also-rans are generally not a strong pick for bowl game wins.
  • My Pick:  Oklahoma State.
• Holiday Bowl — Nebraska vs. Washington: Washington really should stay home from this one.  It is going to ruin their holiday break.  Jake Locker, the most overrated quarterback in the country, cannot save them.
  • My Pick:  Nebraska.
• Liberty Bowl — Georgia vs. Central Florida: This is a tougher pick.  Georgia has the poorer schedule, but outside a squeaker loss at Colorado, all of their defeats came at the hands of teams that either are ranked or were ranked at some time during the year.  UCF?  Not so much.
  • My Pick:  Georgia. But if not, Mark Richt might be looking for a new job.
• Chick-Fil-A Bowl — South Carolina vs. Florida State: Another tough one, but I think South Carolina has the tougher team.  Stephen Garcia is a fighter.
  • My Pick:  South Carolina.
• Outback Bowl — Florida vs. Penn State: Florida’s current strategy of “why have only one quarterback when you can have three???” just isn’t working.  I like Florida but it isn’t their year.
  • My Pick:  Penn State. I think.
• Capital One Bowl — Alabama vs. Michigan State: Alabama is a strong team, but have not fared well against good offenses this year.  Michigan State has a good offense.
  • My Pick:  Michigan State.
• Gator Bowl — Mississippi State vs. Michigan: Michigan went 3-5 in the Big 10; Mississippi State was one of five nationally ranked teams in the SEC West.
  • My Pick:  Mississippi State.
• Rose Bowl — Wisconsin vs. TCU: Wow, this one is gonna be a great football game.  Wisconsin might have the most underrated offense in the country, averaging over 43 points per game this year, including a pasting of 83 on Indiana and 70 on both Austin Peay and Northwestern.  But, outside of Hawaii, BCS busters have a pretty good record against BCS teams in bowl games.
  • My Pick:  TCU.
• Fiesta Bowl — UConn vs. Oklahoma: Oklahoma is the Big XII champion, UConn is… from the Big East.  (Aside:  THIS is the game we ended up getting tickets to instead; I’m pretty stoked.)
  • My Pick:  Oklahoma.
• Orange Bowl — Stanford vs. Virginia Tech: Another tough pick.  After a slow start, VT walked through the ACC to earn the Orange Bowl berth.  The Cardinal lost only once, to Oregon.  I think VT’s loss to James Madison was just a lapse; so do all the Boise State fans.
  • My Pick:  Virginia Tech.
• Sugar Bowl — Ohio State vs. Arkansas: If I have to see another victory interview with Jim Tressell in his ridiculous sweater-vest, I think I will either puke or be forced to break my television.
  • My Pick:  Arkansas (oh, please, let it be Arkansas)
• Cotton Bowl — LSU vs. Texas A&M: If I have to see another victory interview with Les Miles in his ridiculous baseball cap, I think I will either puke or be forced to break my television.  Twice.
  • My Pick:  Texas A&M.
• National Championship — Oregon vs. Auburn: DO NOT miss this game, it should be great.  Especially if Auburn wins.  War Eagle!
  • My Pick:  Auburn Tigers, the 2010 NCAA Champions. Ooh, I like the sound of that.
• Toilet Bowl — San Jose State vs. North Dakota Culinary & Drama College: USU has been a staple at the Toilet Bowl, but with USU clearly the best team in Utah, it just wouldn’t seem right for them to get a Toilet Bowl invite.  The bowl committee tried for BYU instead, but they got invited to the New Mexico Bowl instead, due largely to their optimistic fan base.  So the bowl committee had to settle for the worst Division 1 team in the country.
  • My Pick:  ND C&D will wipe their booties with SJSU (pun intended).