Thursday, August 28, 2008

Fearless Predictions: College Style

FPS COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW (Part 3)

Just hours from kickoff of another college football season, which means it's time for some fearless predictions for 2008...

The Georgia Bulldogs may start the season at No. 1, but coach Mark Richt and company won't finish there. With their schedule, I think a three-loss season is within the realm of possibilities. In fact, the Dawgs won't even win their SEC division.

USC's QB Mark Sanchez is an improvement over John David Booty, but a Reggie Bush-less Trojans will still lose two games this year. No championship again for USC.

Football is becoming a game about the quarterbacks. Hence the conference with the best signal callers, the Big 12, will stand as the elite conference in 2008. I'll take Chase Daniel (Missouri), Sam Bradford (Oklahoma) and Colt McCoy (Texas) over Heisman winner Tim Tebow (Florida), Matt Stafford (Georgia) and John Parker Wilson (Alabama), any day.

Speaking of quarterbacks, the aforementioned Daniels will edge out Tebow to win this year's Heisman Trophy. It's going to take a exceptional season due to the media love-fest over the Florida QB, but Daniels is capable of doing it.

Oklahoma State coach Mike "I'm man, I'm 40!" Gundy won't have another massive meltdown. In fact, the head coach will show a lot more maturity at age 41, and with Zac Robinson running the show the Pokes should win at least eight games.

Rick Neuheisel U (UCLA, Washington, Colorado) will all show improvement on the field, but their records won't reflect it.

The BYU Cougars will be the next BCS buster and might just be able to get to BCS pay dirt with one loss.

This is the year Notre Dame wins eight games. OK, I'll be the first to admit I got bamboozled last year by head coach Charlie Weis. But QB Jimmy Clausen has a year under his belt and the Irish will really benefit from a down schedule.

The Idaho Vandals will beat a Division I opponent this year. (Utah State also a perennial WAC doormat looks like a prime candidate)

BCS BOWL PROJECTIONS

Rose -- USC (Pac-10) v. Missouri (At-Large)
Sugar -- Auburn (SEC) v. BYU (At-Large)
Orange -- South Florida (Big East) v. Clemson (ACC)
Fiesta -- Florida (At-Large) v. Wisconsin (At-Large)

National Championship -- Ohio State (Big Ten) over Oklahoma (Big 12)

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Minor distractions: Storylines in 2008

FPS COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW (Part 2)

Every fall campuses across the country come back to life and the attention starts to focus on Saturdays. That's right college football is back in full force.

Unlike its professional counterpart, the college game has richness with a plethora of new storylines each season. This year is no different.

Here's a brief glimpse at what's been going on and what will shape this season's headlines.

"The gold standard of college athletics," the conference that has won the past two BCS National Championships, the Southeastern Conference has inked what appears to be a monster 15-year deal to broadcast football games. Now, can they prove they're worth it? Fox Sport's Randy Hill doesn't think so, and I am hedging that way too.

Love him or hate him, the face of the SEC, Tim Tebow won last year's Heisman trophy. So how does a Heisman winner spend the summer? Not studying football apparently, which could be "Superman's" kryptonite.

Looking out west, the year is off to an itchy start at Southern Cal. A rash of unusual maladies and injuries at USC has struck the perennial national power early. QB Mark Sanchez suffered a freakish knee injury, the single returning starter offensive lineman has Rocky Mountain spotted fever and groin irritation is running rampant. What's next? Try a dorm accident.

Arizona State QB Rudy Carpenter has one season to define his college career. Carpenter has started 31 consecutive games and has three wins against arch rival Arizona, but is reviled by many Sun Devil die-hards. SI.com's Arash Markazi takes an in-depth look at Carpenter's image issues.

In a football season that could be overshadow by political fervor on campus, Cal defensive end Rulon Davis wants to be known for tackles and sacks, not the six months in Iraq he spent as a Marine.

On the Palouse, the Washington State Cougars were making headlines but not for good news. The Cougs lost eight scholarships after failing to meet NCAA Academic Progress standards (which are a big joke in themselves). But then the Seattle Times nailed Wazzu with an expose on the 25 player arrests over the last 18 months. Not a great start for new head coach Paul Wulff and company.

These are a few storylines for this 2008 NCAA football season, but it's really just a scratch on the surface.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Major Impact: Defining games in 2008

FPS COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW

Hard to believe but the college football season is already upon us.

Last year was one of the most topsy-turvy seasons from start to finish in recent memory. It was a season that witnessed Kansas (yes the Jayhawks!?!) not only play in a BCS game but win. A season in which South Florida achieved a No. 2 ranking only to be one of six teams ranked in that spot victimized by unranked opponents. And of course, it was another year with championship melodrama.

So while the pundits didn’t expect the Stanford-USC or Appalachian State-Michigan games to have any meaning, here’s a quick look at five (or so) games that will impact the 2008 season…

5) BYU at Utah, Nov. 22 – The “Holy War,” as its nicknamed, may have no higher stakes than this year. Both teams have BCS-busting aspirations, as the Cougars are 22-4 over the past two seasons and the Utes were red hot winning eight of their last nine games a year ago. This should be the non-BCS conference game of the year.

4) Florida vs. Georgia, Nov. 1 – When the Dawgs challenge the Gators it’s one giant cocktail party. This year, the national hype surrounding the game will probably be off the charts. While Florida has won 15 of the past 18 years, someone’s national championship hopes will be gashed.

3) SEC “Armageddon” Day, Sept. 20 – Can Georgia survive a trip to Arizona (State) and the desert heat? What happens when Florida and Tennessee clash again in a battle of orange? And you can’t forget about the Tiger-Tiger match up? It’s the biggest day of reckoning for the SEC. LSU at Auburn is probably the most important conference game, the winner of that match up has gone on to claim the West Division title in six of the past eight seasons.

2) Oklahoma vs. Texas, Oct. 11 – The Red River Shootout should live up to the name this year, although the game probably means more to Oklahoma and their title-race ambitions. Whoever wins will have the inside track to another Big 12 championship (as five of the past six crowns have been split by ‘Horns and Sooners).

1) Ohio State at USC, Sept. 13 – Some think this game could be a preview of the national title bout. But it’s safer to say the game is about credibility. USC wants to show the nation it’s the preeminent power in college football, while the Buckeyes want to show they belong after being run off the field in big games. No matter who wins we’ll see a lot of those players again, on Sundays.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Olympics gone in a blink and a Bolt

The 17-day run that was the Beijing Games came to end with another spectacular party in the Bird’s Nest. What a fitting end to an Olympics that witnessed a second week of competition equal to that of the first week.

Michael Phelps, and his eight gold medals, passed the baton off to Jamaica’s Usain Bolt who fittingly sped into the spotlight. Bolt was electrifying in a double-gold performance in the 100 and 200 meters sprints. The Jamaican erased world records and proved to be the fastest man on earth. Who knows had Bolt not thumped his chest in triumph the last few meters during the 100m, his 9.69 second mark could have been untouchable.

Where Bolt and the Jamaicans flourished, the U.S. Track teams floundered. Both the men’s and women’s 4x100 teams dropped the baton in the preliminaries. The men’s team won only four gold medals and big name athletes like Tyson Gay and Jeremy Wariner failed to defend their titles from 2007 world championships. Still the Americans took home 23 medals from Beijing – most of any country on the track.

However, the most crushing blow on the track came when China's Liu Xiang dejectedly walked away from 110m hurdles due to a leg injury. Liu was the most popular athlete in the country and his failure to compete clouded the second week of the Games for the Chinese fans.

Story lines away from the track included U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo getting redemption. Solo carried her squad, bailing out her teammates again and again as the U.S. topped Brazil 1-0 to claim the gold medal in women’s soccer for a third time. This victory came a little over a year after Solo was ostracized by her team for comments she made following a sound U.S. defeat by Brazil in the women’s World Cup.

Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor were golden again becoming the first pair, male or female, to repeat as Olympic champions in beach volleyball. And the American men’s indoor volleyball team downed Brazil in an emotional capstone match, after the father-in-law of U.S. coach Hugh McCutcheon was stabbed to death in Beijing at the start of the Games.

The U.S. leaves Beijing with 110 medals in the overall medal count, surpassing the previous record from the Barcelona Games (108). However, the Chinese dominated the gold-medal tally with 51. The U.S. gold medal total, 36, matched the American count from Athens in 2004 and included a resounding gold in men's basketball.

A notable gold medal that the U.S. team did not capture was in softball. Team USA was stunned 3-1 by Japan in the sport’s last appearance in the Olympics for at least eight years – maybe forever. Why softball is being dropped as an Olympic sport, but glorified ribbon twirling (aka rhythmic gymnastics) remains, is just mind boggling!

The Beijing Olympics were stunning, and I can’t wait for Vancouver in 2010 and what lies beyond.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Gymnast age controversy not a big deal

Jessica E. Davis is a guest columnist to For Pete's Sake Online. She recently returned from five months aboard in Asia, including more than one month in China. She is a reporter for City News Service in San Diego, Calif.

The girls on China's gymnastics team may not be as young as you think.

Two media sources and one hacker have apparently discovered discrepancies in the reporting of the girls' ages on the Internet:

  • A New York Times article three weeks ago raised initial suspicions about the underage gymnasts. The Times reported that even though He Kexin and Jiang Yuyuan are listed as 16 on their passports other sources state otherwise.
  • The Associated Press also found evidence on a Chinese state media Web site identifying He as 13 only nine months before the games.
  • A blogger apparently discovered on a Chinese sponsored state Web site Wednesday that several of the Chinese gymnasts are under the Olympic age limit.

Two points I would like make:

  • The criticism has mainly come from western media.
  • The proof has come from online sources.

The United States may be making an embarrassing mistake; the same mistake I made four months ago.

I often questioned the ages of women I saw in China while I studied abroad in Asia for five months at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

When I first arrived in Hong Kong, I often mistook my classmates as high school or grade school students. I believe Asian women hide their age better than Caucasian women.

I traveled to Shantou in Southern China to teach English in March. I knew I was supposed to teach high school students, but they seemed like eight year olds instead of 16 and 17 year olds.

I asked one young girl, "How old are you?" She thought for a moment and said, "18." I had thought she was closer to 10.

The more time I spent in China, the more I realized that Chinese women show age differently, mainly on their necks and hands.

Before U.S. media condemn the Chinese, maybe they should step back and make sure they are not making the same mistake I did.

You can read more about Jessica's travels in Asia in her blog at http://reportingfromasia.blogspot.com.

Questions? Comments? E-mail Jessica at jdavis08@gmail.com.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Golden moment for Federer

Roger Federer is leaving Beijing with gold.

It wasn’t the gold medal that was expected of the most dominant tennis player in the world, but in the midst of a frustrating year it’s an important milestone.

“Sort of a dream-come-true moment,” Federer said. “Maybe it comes around once in a lifetime. It’s almost disbelief, to some degree.”

Disbelief has set in now that Federer’s Grand Slam total is stalled at 12 and his 4½-year reign atop the ATP Tour rankings just ended. French champion, Wimbledon champion and now Olympic champion Rafael Nadal completed his ascension to the world No. 1 ranking.

After all, Nadal showed an unrelenting determination in July stopping Federer from winning a sixth straight Wimbledon title, ending his 40-match winning streak at the All England Club. Soon after, many columnists started to question what’s wrong with Roger, questions that reemerged with fervor after his Olympic quarterfinal loss.

Federer has been venerable this year, no doubt about it. But, SI’s Jon Wertheim brought up a good point; a lot of players ranked No. 2 still win majors. There's still one major left and Roger is showing championship mettle.

Finally in 2008, Federer was able to celebrate a big victory. He had some help from countryman Stanislas Wawrinka in toppling Simon Aspelin and Tomas Johansson of Sweden 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3.

But for the first time in three Olympics, Federer is a medalist, standing atop the podium.

That’s something for the Swiss to smile about.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

NBC wins the gold

One week into the 2008 Summer Olympics and the biggest winner out the water may be NBC Universal.

After paying $900 million for the rights to broadcast the summer games, NBC’s primetime ratings have been huge and the online coverage just as strong. Nearly 25 million people have visited NBCOlympics.com, viewing 456 million pages. After the amazing U.S. comeback in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, people watched the video replay 1.7 million times.

Part of NBC’s primetime success can be attributed to the Phelps-effect. That’s right U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps has been the story of the Beijing games. What else can be said about him, Phelps is a human-performance machine.

The quest for golden history nearly ended in Phelps' second race, but teammate Jason Lezak turned in an epic performance to edge the French. Then chasing Mark Spitz’s record seven golds Phelps delivered in a legendary way.

While Phelps has been so dominant in the water, the U.S. women’s team was anything but. Katie Hoff had high Olympic hopes and was expected to pull in six medals (most ever for a female swimmer). Instead of achieving greatness, Hoff earned just three medals – one silver and two bronze.

After watching her swim, I think there was something wrong with Hoff. She faded down the stretch of nearly every race and ended up huffing for air after hitting the wall. On top of that she did not look surprised by her results. Swimming slower than her personal bests in four of five individual events, Hoff was a disappointment. Speaking of pool disappointments, what happened to Athens gold medalist Amanda Beard?

Yahoo’s Fourth-Place Medal Blog has been tackling the many mysteries of the Olympics. Staying in the Water Cube, they addressed one of the most perplexing aspects of diving. Why do divers head to the showers right after completing a dive? Fascinating answer, and it’s not to wash off the chlorine. Fourth-Place Medal also uncovered the identity of the gorgeous athlete from Paraguay, among other Olympic mysteries.

And with gorgeous mostly young athletes in top physical shape, the close quarters of the Olympic Village appears to be full of love. Olympic organizers are providing 100,000 condoms for these games, as they have distributed condoms since Barcelona in 1992. Greg Boeck examines if there’s any harm in that.

One final thought about the starlet of the Opening Ceremony, Lin Miaoke. If you actually thought the Chinese government would let a 7-year-old sing “Ode to the Motherland” live in front of 91,000 people and a worldwide TV audience, you’re a fool. It comes as no surprise here, that Lin lip-synched the song. I feel sorry for Yang Peiyi who’s crooked teeth disqualified her. But the Olympics are part of China’s coming out party, they are striving for perfection be it taped or not.

Enjoy the games!

Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Let the games begin!

The world witnessed stunning precision, size, scale and profuse color as China opened the 29th Olympics games. An epic display covering 6,000-years of history demonstrated that the new China intends to be a global player.

The Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics tend to drag on and can border on bizarre like Yoko Ono singing in Torino or monster trucks showing up in Atlanta. But, Beijing’s show was a thrilling artistic display incorporating a human pyramid, synchronized drummers, levitating dancers and an athlete running on air to light the Olympic torch.

Plus the firework display was phenomenal. It’s fitting that a Chinese invention would be celebrated throughout the evening, filling the skies of Beijing. As the golden footprints marched toward the Bird’s Nest, this Olympiad is undeniably China’s.

This should be a spectacular show.

Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images. And for more images from the Opening Ceremonies head to NBCOlympics.com.

Friday, August 1, 2008

A 'Wie' little mistake

We’ve reached another weekend of golf and there’s no sign of phenom Michelle Wie.

Wie failed for the eighth time to advance past the opening rounds of a PGA Tour event at the Legends Reno Tahoe-Open Friday. She shot a second round 80, which included a quintuple-bogey 9, missing the cut with a 9-over par 153.

This latest tourney letdown came days after Wie had to deal with an embarrassing disqualification at the LPGA State Farm Classic. Just one shot off the lead, LPGA officials discovered she had left the scoring area without signing her card garnering an automatic dismissal.

Michelle has the raw skill to compete at a championship level, but there’s another more important aspect of her game that’s lacking. Wie’s mental makeup is disparaging.

She continues to make poor choice after poor choice on the golf course. If that continues, Wie won’t crack into the top tier of LPGA Tour.

Wie often says she’s a “work in progress” and maintains an optimism that she can turn things around.

“I think if I played a couple (PGA events) in a row, it would be a different story,” Wie said. “It’s just hard to play one and then one maybe a year later. I think if I played eight in a row and I missed all eight, that would be a different story.”

The benefit of the doubt for Wie is quickly fading. Soon the only story about Michelle Wie will be that she is a non-story.