Because we've been discussing college athletics lately . . .

Who has the least attractive cheerleaders in college athletics?

The reigning, undefeated champion - Notre Dame:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/begendoerfer/61412982/

And this week's challenger - Providence College:

We've had this discussion between us so many times, it's about time we bring this to the blog. If anyone can find a squad that rivals the winner here, feel free to bring it to the blog. Try not to search too much for cheerleaders while you're at work, even though I obviously did.

Dear Marquette fans: I'm sorry.

**BCB Edit: One woman's interpretation of my impact on the rest of Marquette's season**



For the last four months I have been a living, breathing curse on my sports teams. The Gods of Karma, with whom I maintain a tenuous give-and-take relationship, have decided that I have used up all of my good sports karma during a seven day stretch from September 28, 2008 through October 4, 2008. Recall that on October 4, Notre Dame football defeated Stanford to move to 4-1 on a promising season, the Milwaukee Brewers won the first playoff game played in Milwaukee in 26 years, and Johnathon Broxton, owner of an oustanding check for 'whatever he wants', and the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a sweep of the Chicago Cubs amidst cheers of 'Fuck the Cubbies' raining from an undisclosed Wauwatosa establishment. Since October 4th, however, my fortunes have rocketed to unimaginable depths. Let's review the tape

1. On October 5, 2008, the Brewers deemed Jeff Suppan the most fit to pitch game four of the NLCS, and the Brewers were summarily thumped by Philadelphia, thusly ending a brief playoff run. Not often do you get an opportunity to type the words 'Bill Hall would have been a better option', but based on Suppan's performance, Bill Hall would have been a better option.
2. On the same day, disgruntled with the Brewers' performance, contributor Condescendy and I turned our attention to the Packers game being televised in the concourse. The Packers blew a lead against the once lowly Atlanta Falcons, the first of nearly ten heartbreaking losses by a thoroughly disappointing 6-10 Packers squad. Surely this would be enough punishment to equilibrate the joy derived from the Brewers, right, Gods of Karma? No? Fuck a horse.
3. The following Saturday, the 4-1 Irish traveled to Durham, NC to take on the Tar Heels. Despite a two-posession second-half lead against a third-string quarterback, the Irish lost that game, along with four more of their six remaining regular-season games, including one to 3-9 Syracuse, to complete a magnificently disappointing 6-6 campaign. This must be punishment enough, righ, Gods of Karma? No? Die of cancer. I don't care if you're immortal and may or may not exist.
4. The Notre Dame basketball team entered the 08-09 season with a lofty ranking to match lofty expectations. They returned four starters from a successful 07-08 team and looked poised to be a contender for a competitive Big East title. An early win against highly-regarded Texas seemed to validate preseason expectations. However, soon thereafter, information leaked that Notre Dame only had two offensive threats, 1/2 a defensive threat, and two options off the bench and the team crumbled. They're now fighting for a spot on the bubble while players whose mothers don't regularly attend games are 0-for-the last four games. Karma, seriously, cut me some damn slack. I even omitted the fact that the attending mothers both look like linebackers. Does that count for anything? No? Piss on power lines.
5. Gambling, my sweet release. You couldn't let me down, right? Well, after the Rays were dispatched in painful fashion, I watched my sure-thing Giants lose in their first game, my stats-backed Ravens lose after getting painfully close to a payoff, and my Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets lose one of the worst bets I've ever seen, failing to cover a 3.5 point spread, instead losing by 35 to LSU. Seriously, who loses a point spread bet by 38.5? Isn't that overkill, Gods of Karma? INo? say, I say Fuck you, Gods of Karma!

So, to revisit the title of the post, where does Marquette fit into all of this? I root for five sports teams: the baseball and football teams from my home area and the football and basketball teams of my alma maters. The historical evidence all suggests Marquette is next (video interpretation below), and the ball will all but assuredly start rolling while I attend this Saturday's game against Georgetown. Beyond the obvious, the setup is perfect - I've just given up on Notre Dame as any type of tournament performer, Marquette is undefeated in conference, and Georgetown is reeling and due for a win to justify their Pomeroy rating. The only solution I can think of is to bet hard against Marquette the rest of the way and hopefully short-circuit the wiring at casa-de-Gods of Karma. Grab your ankles and bite hard, boys. It's going to be a bumpy stretch the rest of the way.

At least Marquette football can't disappoint me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYL0v9BnVYI

A winter exercise for the contributors

Please rank the careers of the following pitchers:

1. Greg Maddux
2. Tom Glavine
3. John Smoltz
4. Pedro Martinez
5. Seth McClung
6. Randy Johnson
7. Curt Schilling
8. Mike Mussina
9. Roger Clemens

I have no real agenda, I'd just like to see how out-of-touch you all are. My rankings are in the comments.

No You Can't

Marquette survives a road scare in Rhode Island, dunks in the Dunkin' Center, improves to 5-0 in conference, and gives this fur-sporting nomad a cyclops for a brother. Matthews, McNeal and Hayward carried the team on the offensive end, but the defense was subpar. Fortunately, they got just enough stops to overcome a Friars squad that shot close to 60 percent from the field.

This was only the second MU game I've been able to watch this season, and it looks like one of the biggest strengths of this team remains its poise. They clearly kept their heads when momentum and the breaks could have buried them, being down 13 in the second half. "Laser" Hayward found his stroke late and would spark the comeback. Plus they somehow got just enough stops on the defensive end to quiet Boog and company in the Donut Center. I would have liked to see our boys play more zone, but a win is a win. So I'm going to keep the complaining to a minimum. Good to see Fulce contribute too. Thoughts?

Huggy Bear as Tough as Snuggle Bear

Tough break, Bobby. We just got done whupping your old thug-hick school and now we beat the hell out of your new thug-hick school. I wish I could have been at this game to see Huggy Bear pop a blood vessel in his forehead when he got his technical. I only had the pleasure of listening to Homer and McIlvaine during the second half stomping, but it was still mighty delicious.

Anyone who was at the game, make sure to comment the shit out of this post...I want all of the juicy details.

Brewers Make Another Splash

Brewers Management: "Fuck it, we're going with one guy"

Milwaukee (AP) - Milwaukee Brewers' owner Mark Attanasio and GM Doug Melvin waited patiently for nearly a month while free agent superstar CC Sabathia mulled over his contract options. Sabathia's decision to ultimately take a contract worth 60% more in a city with, you know, stuff for black people to do cannot be held against him.

Sabathia's decision, however, left Attanasio and Melvin at an impasse. The pitching staff that had been the cornerstone of their team during the 2008 playoff run was falling apart at the seams. Salomon Torres' wife made him retire. Eric Gagne was returned to French Canada by human catapult. And former ace Ben Sheets threw out his back and shattered his hip while attempting to put his arm back in its socket.

The Brewers' initial response was satirically panned by critics who claimed, "Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin has defiantly 'bucked' the cautious trend and signed some of the highest profile free agents the 2009 market has to offer... [including] Jorge Julio, Todd Coffey, RJ Swindle, and Eduardo Morlan."

When asked for comment, Doug Melvin was apparently unaware that RJ Swindle's 2008 ERA approached 8, or that Bill James projects Julio to walk 4.5 batters per 9 IP in 2009, "And that." However, Melvin went on to say, "James' assessment surprises us. We have had our finger on the pulse of the statistical community. As a matter of fact, and that, our next move is so cutting edge, even the statheads think we're fuckin nuts"

That move, you ask? "A one-man pitching staff," Melvin replied emphatically.

(Pictured below, Brewers' 2009 pitching staff, Seth McClung)

McClung, already renowned for one 'pitching staff' for years, added thirty-five pounds of muscle to his right forearm this offseason by consuming 8-12 cans of spinach each day. "Fielder got me thinking with that whole vegetarian thing . . . that shit worked for Popeye, why not ol' Seth?" After carefully scouring the banned substance list, McClung gave spinach a try, with astounding results. "Check it out, I look like fuckin Popeye now! This is great!"

The overwhelming consensus among Brewers fans is sheer fucking joy, although there is general concern over what the team will do with able-bodied pitchers Yovani Gallardo, Manny Parra, and Carlos Villanueva. "We've already got Yo penciled in at third, and Manny is a capable left-handed option off the bench, and that," Said Melvin. As for Villanueva, "He'll be used as an emergency option in case we don't do a good enough job sweeping the rafters for snipers."

The rest of the pitchers on roster will be commissioned with various responsibilities, ranging from handling McClung's stud fees to beating Bill Hall with sacks of nickels.

When asked about the prospects of catching McClung's new 237 MPH fastball, Brewers' catcher and McClung's first mate Jason Kendall responded, "Yeah, I heard he lost a little velo on his four-seamer, but I qualify for Medicare now, so I'm not overly concerned about any injuries I stand to incur."

One thing's for certain, after his failed Presidential bid, everybody in the clubhouse knew ol' Seth could use a shot in the arm. What they failed to account for, however, was that McClung was liable to take those words literally.

Go Fuck Yourself Cincinnati

I don't care if Bobby Huggins and his goons are long gone from Cincinnati. I don't care if the Bearcats are something like 6-89 all time in Big East Conference play. I don't care if the game today was at home and Marquette favored by 37 points. It feels really good to see Marquette kick the shit out of Cincinnati. Anyone familiar with the above picture will share my feelings. Do I hold grudges too long? No. I will always hate the Bearcats with good reason. Here's how it went down today:

Marquette didn't miss any shots. That's really simple. If you take away the grenades Dominic James launched at the basket (those had to be passes incorrectly categorized as shots), MU was 14/19 from 3-point range. The box score tells most of the story. Jerel McNeal was unreal. 7-7 from 3 point range, several of which were well beyond the line.

But this game wasn't a total blowout at first. 12 minutes into the game, MU had scored only 14 points and was tied with the Bearcats. Lazar Hayward had 2 fouls 5 minutes into the game, and it was starting to look like the Dayton game all over again. Referee Ed Hightower and his crew, as they so often do, were ruining the game in the early going. Whatever happened after that, I don't know, but it was the most impressive 28 minutes of basketball I've seen from MU since Dwayne Wade.

With Hayward sitting for 15 minutes in the first half, the bench players really stepped up and played their best game of the season. Jimmy Butler, though overly timid and a complete nonfactor on offense, at least gave a lot of minutes. Chris Otule came in, less that a week after his coach called him pitiful, and sparked the team. He played surprisingly well and earned the 13 minutes he got in the game. Make no mistake, the bench is awful. But Hazel and Otule really helped the cause today. That was the most pleasant story of the game. Well, that and Jerel McNeal putting points in Cincinnati's face. And Lazar Hayward putting 16 points in the Bearcats' face in only 20 minutes of action.

With their 3 point shooting, MU busted every attempt Cinci tried to zone them. And because Cinci was so much bigger and slower than MU, Cinci couldn't effectively play man. Defensively, MU had no problem containing Cinci's size down low. But that's because the Bearcats are not a great scoring team. MU held their leading scorer, Deonte Vaughn, scoreless. I can't remember the last time any team's leading scorer was held scoreless. Oh wait. It was Stephan Curry, and that was a joke.

I have no doubt MU can consistently generate good looks from beyond the arc, and the question going forward is whether they can continue to shoot at least close to as well as they did today. If they can, they can hang with anyone.

You know who kind of looks like my dad?

Gene Woje-what's-his-nuts from ESPN



(pictured below: Bubfather impersonator Gene Wojewhat'shisnuts)


















Favre-Rodgers saga didn't have to end this way

By Gene WojciechowskiESPN.com(Archive)
Updated: January 1, 2009, 3:46 PM ET
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The e-mails began arriving shortly after the New York Jets' season ended.
"Get ready to print your retraction," read one.

"I'll bet you don't remember me," began another. "I'm the guy who said, 'I think you're wrong about Brett Favre. I think he's washed up."'


And "[Aaron] Rodgers is, right now, much, much better than Favre -- not a little, a whole lot better."


Turns out some Green Bay Packers fans have long memories, except when it comes to the Packers' 6-10 record this season. They also have blind spots; we all do. I have one for Favre and will never apologize for it. I also have one for the Packers. It's my favorite pro team, favorite stadium, favorite helmet logo, favorite game-day experience. I grew up on that franchise.
sorry, there won't be any retractions. Just because Rodgers had a better statistical season doesn't mean the Packers were a better team without Favre.


First of all, the numbers don't always make the man. If they did, then six of the top 10 quarterbacks by passing yards and six of the top 10 by touchdowns wouldn't be done with their seasons. But they are, including Rodgers and Favre.


I wrote before the season's start that Packers management botched the entire Favre situation. I stand by that. Favre changed his mind about retirement, but the Packers just as clumsily changed their minds about Favre.


I wrote that Favre was the best QB on the roster: "Again, nothing against Rodgers, who finds himself between a rock and a legacy, but if the goal is to win as many games as possible, then [general manager Ted] Thompson has to embrace Favre's possible return." I stand by that, too.
Rodgers played well this season. He played hurt. He played in the blinding light of the post-Favre era and did so with poise and heart. If he stays healthy (he played much of the season with a shoulder injury), the Packers have themselves a quarterback.


But Favre played well, too -- not as often as Rodgers did, but well enough that the Jets were 8-3 after beating the then-undefeated Tennessee Titans on the road. You remember: That was the same week the Packers got beat 51-29 by New Orleans to drop to 5-6 and start a five-game losing streak. Weird. I don't remember getting any "Favre's washed up" e-mails then.


Turns out Favre played hurt, too. No surprise there. But a now-diagnosed torn biceps tendon affected his arm strength down the stretch.


His critics say he looked old. Duh -- he's 39. But isn't there the possibility that he simply looked injured? Big difference.


The mistake people make is trying to compare Rodgers' season with Favre's. Rodgers had more passing yards, more touchdowns, fewer interceptions, more rushing yards and a higher passer rating -- so he's clearly the better quarterback.


But do wins count for anything? Favre's Jets had nine compared to the Packers' six. They beat three playoff-bound teams; the Packers defeated one. Favre's Jets gagged away their division lead in the last month, but they still had a chance at the playoffs. The Packers were officially eliminated with two weeks remaining in the season.


Do divisions count for anything? Favre's Jets played in an AFC East in which two teams finished with 11 wins and the worst team finished with seven. Compare that to the mediocre NFC North, home of only one double-digit-win team (the Minnesota Vikings) and the 0-16 Detroit Lions.



One-third of the Packers' victories came against the losingest team in the history of the NFL.
Do circumstances count for anything? Favre didn't have the benefit of a full training camp or a full playbook. Everything was a work in progress with the Jets -- and stayed that way. (And yes, I know Chad Pennington made a similar transition from the Jets to the Miami Dolphins and thrived. It was a remarkable season for him. Pennington deserves much of the credit, but it helped that he was in Jets/Dolphins camp for the entire time. And it's clear now that Tony Sparano and his Miami staff were more nimble and better prepared for the transition than the Jets' Eric Mangini and his staff.)


Rodgers had the pressure of replacing Favre, but he also had an entire offseason and training camp to prepare for it. And there can't be any debate that the Packers' skill players, especially at wide receiver, were better than the Jets'.


Anyway, the move from the Packers to Jets doesn't absolve Favre from throwing a league-leading 22 interceptions. Some of those INTs were killers. But the same goes for Rodgers, whose late-game interceptions in Week 14 against Houston and Week 15 against Jacksonville ended comeback attempts. In fact, Rodgers was 0-8 in comeback situations this season.


The simple truth is we'll never know if the Packers would have been better or worse with Favre this season. That's because it was never an option.


All we know for sure is that the inconsistent and underachieving Packers moved on. Did they move forward? I don't know -- is 6-10 moving forward after playing in an NFC Championship Game with Favre a season earlier?


I'm not blaming Rodgers for the mess. He wasn't perfect, but he also wasn't the problem -- just like Favre wasn't the main problem with the Jets. I see why Thompson was willing to make a leap of faith with Rodgers, but Favre's departure could have -- and should have -- been handled better by Packers management.


What I don't see is why it had to end this way, with some Packers fans reveling in the Jets' failures and Favre's injury and struggles. It's as if they can live with a 6-win season as long as Favre and the Jets suffer, too. Dumb.


So no retractions. Favre did what he could. So did Rodgers. As it turns out, neither was enough.

(**Editors note: they did away with the word verification at the end of posts. I hope the removal of this barrier to posting encourages more posting from all of you during the slow winter months.)

"Senior Leadership" Gets MU Past Villanova

So Fran Fraschilla was, at one time, a candidate to sit on MU's bench as an assistant coach to Tom Crean, but I couldn't really stand listening to him yesterday during that game. He knows basketball and can break down plays, but he falls into the same sportscaster trap of saying that experience wins games over a number of different factors.

How about the fact that MU's guards are just better than Villanova's? MU's starting 5 is better than Nova's at every spot other than the 5 spot (Dante Cunningham is light years ahead of Burke). Scottie Reynolds is solid, not great...same with Stokes and Fisher.

Either way, MU looked shaky with the ball (19 turnovers), without any real ball pressure from Nova, and still came out with a win. Free throws were the difference down the stretch and MU fans across the country I'm sure were ecstatic that Dom James didn't touch the ball in the last 90 seconds. It's a great start to a ridiculously tough conference season, but with their next five games against Cincinnati, Rutgers, West Virginia, Providence, and DePaul (with only the Rutgers and Providence games on the road), this could be the best start ever for MU in the Big East...and yes, I know they've only been in the conference since 2006.

I'll be praying that this team doesn't rest with this victory and can really put the rest of the Big East's balls in a sling.