The Sixth Cents V - Fiesta Bowl Preview

We are exactly 6 days away from the biggest BCS game in history that WON’T decide the National Championship. Because of that, I’m restructuring my Six Cents this week to break down the Fiesta Bowl. All of the gamblers out there are aware that money has been piling up on the Irish over the past three weeks since this game was announced. This has caused the spread to plummet from OSU -7 ½ all the way to -4. I liked it before, but I absolutely love it now. Here’s why…
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1. WHAT THEY’VE DONE SO FAR

Both of these teams finished the season at 9-2 and earned automatic at-large berths to the BCS. The question of whether or not Oregon (10-1) got snubbed is a non-issue. These teams earned their way in by virtue of their BCS ranking. The Buckeyes finished the season ranked #4 on the strength of six consecutive wins, with four coming against ranked opponents. According to rules, if a team from a BCS conference finished in the top four but doesn't earn it's conference's automatic slot, it still gets in. The Irish finished #6 with five consecutive wins. The rules also state that if a non-BCS conference school finishes in the top six, just at Utah did a year ago, then it, too, receives a bid.

tOSU lost only to #2 Texas and #3 Penn State, one at home and one on the road, by a total of 10 points. Notre Dame lost to unranked Michigan State in OT and then to #1 USC in a heart-breaker, both coming at home by just 3 points. The Irish and Buckeyes had only two common opponents, Michigan and Michigan State. The Buckeyes were 2-0 in those games and the Irish were 1-1. The Buckeyes played four teams that are currently ranked, and went 2-2. The Irish played just two teams that are ranked right now and went 1-1.

Finally, Ohio State's opponents went a combined 73-51 this year and they played seven teams with winning records of 7-5 or better and six bowl teams. Notre Dame's opponents were just 61-64 and only three of those teams have winning records. The Irish have played just three teams that will appear in bowl games.

Notre Dame (9-2)
9/3 at Pittsburgh W, 42-21
9/10 at Michigan W, 17-10
9/17 Michigan State L, 41-44 (OT)
9/24 at Washington W, 36-17
10/1 at Purdue W, 49-28
10/15 USC L, 31-34
10/22 BYU W, 49-23
11/5 Tennessee W, 41-21
11/12 Navy W, 42-21
11/19 Syracuse W, 34-10
11/26 at Stanford W, 38-31

Ohio State (9-2, 7-1 Big Ten)
9/3 Miami (Ohio) W, 34-14
9/10 Texas L, 22-25
9/17 San Diego State W, 27-6
9/24 Iowa W, 31-6
10/8 at Penn State L, 10-17
10/15 Michigan State W, 35-24
10/22 at Indiana W, 41-10
10/29 at Minnesota W, 45-31
11/5 Illinois W, 40-2
11/12 Northwestern W, 48-7
11/19 at Michigan W, 25-21

SLIGHT EDGE: tOSU
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2. WHEN NOTRE DAME HAS THE BALL

This match-up is where, I believe, the game will be decided. Just how good is Brady Quinn and this Irish offense? I understand how completely biased I am, but anyone would have to agree that while they are very good, they are also a bit overrated. While they were only held under 31 points once this season, they also only played one team that could be considered even a mediocre defense, Michigan. I remember that game vividly. It took a number of Wolverine turnovers inside the red-zone for Notre Dame to hang on.

Ohio State is allowing just 14.8 points per game this season. Take away a poor first half against Michigan State and the second string playing almost the entire second half at Minnesota and it would have been closer to 12. Will the Bucks hold the Irish under 15? I don’t think so. In my opinion, the Irish probably won’t score 20-24 points without the benefit of defensive/special teams touchdowns.

The Irish will have little chance of establishing a running game. Their rushing attack ranks just 48th in the NCAA and Ohio State is 1st against the run allowing just 2.36 yards per carry. The Bucks disciplined front four of Pitcock, Green, Kudla and Patterson will over-power the Irish line creating open lanes for the best trio of linebackers in the country to come pouring through like a sieve. Whether or not Bobby Carpenter will play is still unknown, but even without him it will be difficult to run against the Bucks with Hawk and Schlegel plugging the holes quickly and hitting harder than anything the Irish have seen. Tressell has options if Carpenter isn't ready. He could go to the nickel package more often as he did against Michigan, but he has also had six weeks to work with freshman James Laurinaitis.

Notre Dame does have a cool headed QB in Quinn and two 1,000 yard receivers in Samardzija (ugliest man in college football) and Stovall. The Ohio State secondary is their weakness, but they actually match up okay against the Irish's 4th ranked passing game because they are big and fast. The Bucks are 36th in the nation and allowing only 200 yards per game. They have only allowed eight passing TDs, less than one per game. You will see the Irish make a couple of big plays down field, but the two Buckeye safeties, Whitner and Salley, will come up and hit hard. This will be the Irish’s first real physical test of the season. The Bucks also have 39 sacks on the year, so Quinn better have his track spikes on. A.J. Hawk is actually dating Quinn's oldest sister, but that won't stop the consensus All-American from hitting. I don't think anything could do that.

SLIGHT EDGE: tOSU
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3. WHEN OHIO STATE HAS THE BALL

Notre Dame gives up yards...in bunches. They’ve employed the bend-but-don’t-break philosophy that Tressell used on Miami (FL) in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl win. They rank just 97th in the country against the pass and 26th against the run. The Irish have relied heavily on timely turnovers and opponents who get impatient and go for the home-run ball too often. You won’t see this from tOSU. The key for the Buckeyes will be converting field position into touchdowns. If they have to kick too many field goals, this will be a close game. However, if Smith can continue to punch it into the end zone like he has in recent weeks, this could turn ugly for the Irish.

Very seldom will you see the Bucks in their traditional "I" or "off-set I" formations. “Tressell ball” relies heavily on ball control and good decision making, so he has slowly developed another reliable quarterback. They'll use the shotgun about half the time and a read-option package for Troy Smith giving the versatile signal caller the choice to run or pass on almost every single play. He has 11 rushing touchdowns this year and has only thrown 4 interceptions. Unless the Bucks start coughing up fumbles, which they’ve done from time to time, you won’t see the turnovers that the Irish thrives on to survive.

As for rushing, Pittman is a work horse that averages 108.6 yards per game without getting the 25-30 carries of a standard Ohio State tailback. He lacks speed, but is a punishing inside runner that can get you the 3 yards when you need it. He, along with Smith, will wear a defense down. Add in three speedy wideouts (Holmes, Ginn, Gonzalez) that can compete with anyone in the country, and you have a very balanced offensive attack. The Bucks are so balanced that their total yards are almost identical: 2366 passing, 2085 rushing.

Notre Dame's top defender is WLB Brandon Hoyte. This guy has turned into a decent pass rusher and will hit you hard, if he can catch you. The Notre Dame defense lacks both overall size and speed, but doesn't often give up the big play. Look for tOSU to go underneath with crossing patterns in an attempt to get it's far superior speed into the open field. I would like to see tOSU call their plays quickly and get to the line so as not to allow the Irish time to rest.

EDGE: tOSU
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4. SPECIAL TEAMS

This is a definite advantage for the Buckeyes, if they can exploit it. They simply didn’t take care of business here against Michigan and that is the main reason the game turned out to be as close as it was.

Kickers – D.J. Fitzpatrick is 11-17 on field goals and does not have an overpowering leg on kickoffs. Josh Houston has been a pleasant surprise in replacing Mike Nugent, going 20-24 on field goal attempts with plenty of kicks through the end zone for touchbacks.

Punters – Fitzpatrick handles those duties as well, averaging 40 yards per punt. The team has been weak with a 34.8 net (46th in the nation.) A.J. Trapasso has been solid and the Bucks coverage has been even better, ranking 13th in the nation in net punting.

Returners – Ginn is tied for the Big Ten Conference record with 5 career punt returns for touchdowns, and he’s only a sophomore. Holmes has actually averaged more yards (12.8 to 10) per punt return. Ginn has also returned a kick off 100 yards to the house this season. Notre Dame's biggest problem will be not allowing this game to turn into a track meet.

EDGE: tOSU
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5. COACHES

Here is where many people are giving Notre Dame the edge in this match-up. Give Charlie Weiss a month to prepare for a game, they say, and he will tear your defense apart. The problem is that the Buckeyes already know their weakness and Tressell will definitely find a way to mask it given the six week lay off from the Michigan game. Don't forget, this is still the first bowl game Charlie has coached in and he hasn’t had to game plan for anything like this Ohio State defense with his current personelle. What I can tell you about Weiss is this: the best game Notre Dame played all season, they lost. At home. To their biggest rival. Yes, it was the mighty Trojans, but a loss is a loss friends.

Jim Tressell on the other hand? He has gone 4-1 against his biggest rival and 3-1 in bowl games. In fact, Jimmy T is 2-0 in this very Fiesta Bowl. While the games might not always be pretty, Tressell seems to always have his team on an even keel. This allows them to perform at a top level under the most dire of circumstances. Not only that, but looking back over the last six games, the Buckeyes have outscored their opponents 234 to 95, and an impressive 68-10 in the fourth quarter of those contests. If this thing is still close late, give the edge to tOSU.

EDGE: EVEN
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6. PREDICTION

I believe this game will be close until just after halftime. Notre Dame will benefit from a big play in the passing game early and may even take a lead in the first quarter. However, Ohio State will grind the clock and take the lead going into the locker rooms. The Irish will come out hungry in the second half, but this is when the Bucks will shut the Irish passing attack down by putting too much pressure on Quinn. Troy Smith and Co. will take over in the fourth quarter and the Buckeyes will coast to an easy win.

Final Score: The Ohio State University 33 - Notre Dame 17

It's Still Rock & Roll To Me

I found this on another blog and thought I'd try it.

Choose a band/artist and answer ONLY IN SONG TITLES by that band.

Name: Cap
Artist/band: Billy Joel
Are you male or female: An Innocent Man
Describe yourself: I Go to Extremes
How do some people feel about you: Shameless
How do you feel about yourself: You're only Human
Describe where you want to be: Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
Describe what you want to be: The Entertainer
Describe how you live: The Night is Still Young
Describe how you love: All About Soul
Share a few words of wisdom: Get it right the first time

Now it's your turn...

The Minnow and it's three hour tou-, er, uh....orgy?

I'm sure you've all heard about the Minnesota Vikings sex boat cruise by now. Here are my two favorite excerpts from the criminal complaints that were filed. This site has the entire thing posted. Highest of high comedy.

Fred Smoot: Was seen holding a double-headed dildo and moving the dildo while each end was inserted into the vagina of two women who were lying on the floor near the lounge area of the charter boat. After a period of time, one of the women got up and Mr. Smoot continued to manipulate the dildo inside the other woman.

Bryant McKinnie: (McKinnie is witnessed) pick up a naked woman, place her on the bar in the lounge area and commence to perform oral sex on her. ...At a different time during the evening, (witnesses) saw Mr. McKinnie along with three other unidentified males receiving oral sex from four women while the men were seated in deck chairs on the boat.

I originally found this on deadspin as well...my favorite comment in response being this:

Fred Smoot the mastermind behind cover 2.

And how disgusting is McKinnie for going down on a hooker!? Are you nuts, man?

Rudolph the red-nosed Bengal

From Chad Johnson via the Cincinnati Enquirer:

“This Saturday, I'll be back to my old self,” Johnson said. “With Christmas being the day after, you can look forward to the celebration being part of something that has to do with Christmas.”

Asked good-naturedly for details, Johnson then said, “You know there are a lot of deer in the area. Don't laugh. There are a lot of deer in the area of Cincinnati, so if you see a deer come out the, don’t say I didn't tell you.

“I'm serious. I hit him. He's bandaged up, but he's going to come out. Don't laugh. Y'all think I'm playing. Trust me, I've got Rudolph. His nose is red. … No, on the highway I hit a deer. I kept him. He's at home in the garage. I'm going to use him for the celebration this weekend. He's a prop. They might suspend me for the last game, but I think this one is worth it.

“He's limping, but he's alive. He's all right. This is going to be the greatest celebration of all-time, man. I actually use an animal.“I'll probably get in trouble with the Humane Society, everybody. It wasn't my fault: He ran in the road.”

The Sixth Cents IV

It wasn't a very interesting week. No touchdown dances from Chad Johnson. No crazy drunk girls or psycho ex-girlfriend sitings. No World Cup drama to speak of, unless you count the guy selling the slips from the draw on eBay and possibly getting sued by FIFA. Here you go kids, the best I could come up with for my six cents...
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1. Easily the best story out of Houston this year
Standard practice with any company, no matter what the industry, is a yearly meeting with the big boss man to discuss the year that was, the upcoming year and also any individual goals that need to be set. (No, not that Big Boss Man, although, how fun would THAT be?) Last spring, apparently Astros Owner Drayton McLane asked starting pitcher Roy Oswalt what his goals were. The response? He wanted to own a bulldozer.

The deal: if Oswalt beat St. Louis in the NLCS, the Astros would help him achieve that goal. In October, Oswalt completely dismantled the Cardinals and yesterday McLane made good on his promise, delivering a $200,000 Caterpillar D6N XL bulldozer via flatbed tractor-trailer to the Minute Maid Ballpark parking lot, complete with a big red bow.

"There are going to be a lot of jealous people around where I live," Oswalt said. Like most of the state of Texas, Roy. Actually, I'm kinda jealous. I would love to drive a bulldozer.
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2. Polar Bear hatred
Some of you have probably clicked on my link to Deadspin.com. It's an absolutely off the wall sports news website that I thoroughly enjoy. Many of the things I write I about, I find on there or on ESPN. I've even had a story of mine published over there.

For some time they've been running a "best sports blog" feature where they give props to the best team related fan blogs. Lately, they've been running the anti-blogs and today was the Chicago Bears turn. Apparently while searching for these, they came across a dude who really hates polar bears. Like, actual polar bears. I've yet to find the video he's referring to, but it sounds as though a Japanese person visiting the zoo got mauled by a polar bear.

Here is the original post that made me pee my pants, Miles Davis style:

So it's about friggin' time the rest of the world clues in on why polar bears suck. I saw this episode on the hitler channel about them. They're one of the few animals out there that have no fear of humans. It said they don't run off like other animals, they'll come right up and devour you.

See, most times if you get a human around a critter, they'll race off. See: snakes. See: spiders. Polar bears? They couldn't care less. They'll come up and rip you apart without thinking twice. Mmm, yummy food!

Back to the video. That looks like another weirdo Japanese show. I thought the bear would break through the glass and rip her apart. Well, first it would rip apart the stuffed animal seal, then get pissed off because it was tricked, then go after the girl, the camera guy, the head of the aquarium, his family, his next door neighbors, etc.

It sucks because Coca Cola had that cute polar bear campaign several years ago. So now everyone thinks polar bears are cute and cuddily. The truth? Polar bears are SCARY, and they all need to be put down. Run them all over with the Deathmobile from Animal House. That'll show those cuddily fuckers who runs this place.

A couple of responses went like this:

1. What the fuck?... Do you live next to a population of polar bears? That's the most random, stupidest shit I've ever heard...

2. That was so fucking schizo and random, I shit my pants laughing so hard...You should start a shoot the polar bears website

To which the original poster said this:

A polar bear once asked me to let him cheat off me. He had a HUGE neck, so it would have been quite easy for him to crane his neck and peer over at my Geology exam while pretending to take his own (Rocks for Jocks is an awesome class. We had 400 people in it, including most of the football and basketball teams). I said no, I had busted my ass studying for this and I wasn't about to let some big furry shithead steal my glory. So what does he do? He has sex with my girlfriend. He later told me he did it not to spite me, but because he liked girls with junk in their trunk.

Yet another reason polar bears should be gathered up as little pups, tied in a large burlap sack, and then deposited in a gypsy caravan. Gypsies eat anything, and they always pay you with rainbows.
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3. NBA freak show face-off
We all know Ron Artest's past (I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt Hot Heather) so I'm skipping all that. Recently he asked to be traded, stating that the Pacers would be better off without him. Now, realizing that it'll be tough to make a deal under the salary cap and that Larry Bird and Co. stood by him despite the melee that ensued at The Palace last fall, he wants to come back to the team.

Magic Johnson, who should probably have kept his fat ass out of it, chimed in saying that Artest doesn't deserve a second chance.

Not to be outdone, Artest, of course, responded. "Magic, should your wife give you another chance?"

Ouch.

I think I would like to change my answer to the "Who are the three people (dead or alive) that you'd like to have dinner with?" interview question. Ron Artest, Bobby Knight and Terrell Owens. Preferably all at the same table. And can we get some members of the media to join us?
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4. Playing for all the Chips - Take 3
Some of you may be surprised that I haven't mentioned the Fiesta Bowl yet. Don't fret. There will be a full preview next week and also likely a lengthy wrap-up after tOSU disposes of the drunken Irish.

After the early line was set at tOSU -6 1/2, it's already dropped to -4. Apparently the idiot Notre Dame fans think they are actually going to win this one. Interesting. Most of the experts seem to disagree, though, out of respect for Charlie Weis they seem to be saying that it will be close. Maybe it will be.

Personally, I say give the points. This has all the makings of a great game, but could very easily turn into an "I told you so." I originally said two touchdowns, but my actual prediction will come next week.
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5. Miracle On Ice (if none of the USA players keel over)
USA Hockey announced the roster for the upcoming Olympic games this February in Turin.

Although there are 12 first-time Olympians, the roster is a little over the hill. In fact, the average age of the team is over 31. Chris Chelios is 44. One of my favorite American hockey players, and current St. Louis Blues' forward, Keith Tkachuk made the roster despite missing most of this current season for three reasons. First, he was suspended for showing up to camp overweight. Then he missed a couple of games after getting hit in the stomach with a puck. Now he's out with a broken hand.

Back in 1980, Herb Brooks' squad had an average age of 21 and even those kids got banged up. Seems to me that we have a better chance of seeing one of these guy's limbs fall off than seeing them on the gold medal podium.
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6. Ohio sports report
The Miami hockey team is on brief hiatus for the holidays, but is standing pat at #2 in the country. They will play Rensselaer on the 29th and either tOSU or Holy Cross the following day depending on the outcome of both games. Go Skins!

The Browns continued to ruin our draft pick hopes by winning yet another game, 9-7 over the Raiders. In retrospect, beating Al Davis is always a good thing since he and Art Modell are butt-buddies. Good news: I found out that the Chicago Browns Backers watch the games every Sunday just two blocks from my house at the Cubby Bear. I think I'll watch the big games there from now on instead of with the Bungal fans at Gongolapad.

The Ohio State basketball programs are also doing well. The men are 7-0 and ranked #22 and #24 respectively in the Coaches and AP polls after beating a tough Iowa State team on the road. The Lady Bucks dropped to #7 after losing to the #3 LSU Tigers.

I'd like to state for the record, that the Cincinnasty Bungals have only five playoff wins in their entire history and no championships of any kind. Basically, even though they just clinched the AFC North, the Bengals still suck.

J Crew U

Holy hell.

Thanks to my fraternity brothers Joe and Josh for finding this gem and posting it on the forum of our fraternity website. Ridiculous.

My favorite line: "So if you want a classic college campus with great academics, and you like to party with hot preppy kids, then perhaps Miami of Ohio is where you belong."

It's too bad I didn't party enough or wear J Crew when I was there...maybe I could have scored more of the sloots in this video.

Random thought

It recently occurred to me that the bums in this town are just like the program guys at a sporting event. If you go to enough games at the same stadium, you'll notice that the same program guy is in the same spot for every game, just like the bums in downtown Chicago. My favorite guy when I worked at the United Center was always located just inside gate 3 for Bulls games. My favorite bum? Madison Street sitting underneath the scaffolding on the south side in between La Salle and Clark Streets.

You see, not only are they always in the same place every damn day, but just like program guys they have their own signature catch phrases. My UC guy always yelled, "PROgrams...MEdia guides...YEAR books!" He always said it with the same cadence and the emphasis on the same syllables. He even did this little thing where he scooped the word "books" upwards as he tailed off. I ran into that guy Halloween weekend at Bernie's in Wrigleyville and had a few beers with him. That's honestly the last thing I remember from that night, but I digress.

Well the bum on Madison always says, "spare some change spare some change spare some change spare some change spare some change." He talks in a very quick tempo and seemingly never takes a breath. Unbelievable. I never give him any money, but he amuses me. Just like the program guy.

I don't think I'll ever get drunk with that bum though. If I do, please impale me with a very dull object.

The Sixth Cents III

They say that once you do something three times it can become a habit, right? That means we are good to go with the Six Cents posts...this will officially be a regular feature. Most of them won't be as long as they were last week, I promise. Some of those topics could be large columns by themselves, but I digress. We've had a fairly busy week in sports since last time and it was tough to narrow down my favorite six stories to chime in on. Here we go!
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1. I love Bush as much as the next guy, but come on Eileen
For those that weren't paying attention, Reggie Bush of the USC Trojans won the Heisman Trophy this year. I don't have a problem with this at all. He is clearly the most dominant athlete in college football, and I'm not even just talking about this year. His performance over the past two seasons has to be right up there in terms of "all-time college superstars."

My problem is this: Matt Leinart only received 18 first place votes. 18!? Is that it?

Listen, I know this was Reggie's award and all. I know that Leinart won it last year. I didn't even want Leinart to win it because then Archie Griffin of THE Ohio State University wouldn't be the only two-time winner anymore. But 18!? His numbers were better than last season and does anyone remember the throw during the final drive of the Notre Dame game that saved the Trojans' season? This guy was unbelievable in 2005. While he clearly did not deserve to repeat with the way his teammate performed this fall, I think he earned more respect than 18 first place votes.
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2. The FIFIX World Cup
If you missed yesterday's World Cup article, scroll down and check it out, or click here. If nothing else, it offers a different perspective on the United States' chances than most members of the media are presenting.

I mentioned in that article about the USA's getting snubbed for one of the top eight seeds, which is essentially the reason why we got lumped into the group of near-death. I'll say this up front though, I don't think we deserved a top seed. But then again, neither did Mexico...or perhaps even Italy.

The crazy formula that FIFA used was based on a few factors. They weigh in your current world ranking and how you performed throughout the qualifying tournaments in your region. That makes enough sense, right? But then they score your performance in the previous three World Cup Finals.

Now I understand that the most recent World Cup is weighted heavier than the others, but tell me something. How does a team's play during 1994 or 1998 have any relavance whatsoever on what they are doing in 2006? Seriously. I need someone to explain it to me. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the United States will have just ONE player remaining from that 1994 squad, and perhaps only FOUR from the 1998 version. This is a different team...as are all of the other nations in this tournament.

I believe that this formula is in place entirely to protect the traditional powers. Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, France, England, Spain, Mexico. Those are the teams that FIFIX wants, so those are the teams that FIFIX gets.

Nevermind that Holland won it's qualifying group and is ranked #3 in the world right now. They failed to qualify in 2002!

Nevermind that the United States was a quarterfinalist in 2002. Or that we played well enough to be a semi-finalist. Or that we won our qualifying group and are ranked #8 in the world. We got dumped back in 1998 with a horrendous coach that took a number of slow, over the hill guys to France.

And Mexico? MEXICO? Last I checked, they didn't win their region...WE DID. We are also 7-2-1 in our last 10 games against them since 2000. Mexico has only scored 3 goals against us, all coming at home in their only two wins over that stretch (2-1 and 1-0.) Oh yeah, and we beat them in the previous World Cup. Remember that? I know they do.
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3. Kobe can't be my Superman
First of all, any time the Lakers lose, it's fine by me. Couple that with Kobe Bryant getting kicked in the face by Anthony Carter and I might even chuckle a little bit. But what Kobe said afterwards? That just sends a chill down my spine.

"My nose is a little crooked, man," Bryant said afterward. "I'm normally super, super sexy. I'm just super sexy now."

I'm sorry, are you kidding me? This statement came from an admitted adulterer who was recently accused of rape. How is it possible that he thinks the American public has forgiven him? I can't believe how completely arrogant and obnoxious that comment is. YOU WERE ACCUSED OF RAPE DUDE, YOU ARE NOT SEXY.

I'm sure he was trying to be funny, but he hasn't earned that from us yet. Had that come from Shaq, Ron Artest, or Dennis Rodman that quote would have been pretty amusing. But Kobe? Nope. No free passes for scum bags.
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4. Cute, racist collegiate athlete chicks and the idiot football players that love them
This story is one that I would like to hear the conclusion of. Is there something in the water in Boulder, CO? First Gary Barnett and all of the sex scandals with the Colorado football team and now we have the adorable Zeigle sisters from the cross-country program.

Apparently a Hispanic runner by the name of Greg Castro received an email from Jacqueline Zeigle and her boyfriend, football player Clint O'Neal calling him a "river rat," a "border hopper" and a "bean eating piece of shit." Incredible stuff.

Zeigle, a sophomore, told police that Castro has an obsession with her and that he pushed her twin sister Laura at a party. Castro claims that Zeigle tried to pin a cheating scandal on him as well and that she invokes her boyfriend's name to threaten others.

The boyfriend got a slap on the wrist from the football team, as expected, but Jacqueline has left the cross-country team for personal reasons. The rumor is that the Zeigle sisters were once considered two of cross-country's fastest rising stars. There was even a magazine article written about their close friendship, devout Christianity, and promise for Olympic glory.
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5. Much Adu about his future
If you haven't heard, Freddy Adu is the boy-wonder of the American soccer scene. What you probably don't know is that he is still young, inexperienced and isn't even a full-time contributor for his club team, D.C. United. He has yet to make an appearance with the senior national team, and rightfully so. He isn't ready. But after acting extremely immaturely he was suspended by United for the playoffs.

US head coach Bruce Arena has called Adu into camp in January, but has also stated that the 16-year old is a long shot at best to make the squad for 2006. Now we have this article quoting Ghana head coach, Ratomir Duikovic. You see, Adu was born in Ghana and moved to the United States when he was 8-years old. Until he makes an appearance for the senior team, or he turns 21, he is still eligible to switch countries. Adu has said that he will only play for the Americans, but what an interesting story that would be if he suited up against us in the upcoming World Cup.

Personally, I think it would ruin his future success to play for Ghana. The United States is slowly but surely becoming a world power in soccer. While the Black Stars are considered Africa's top team, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who thinks Adu would be better served playing for them for the remainder of his career.
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6. Obligatory Miami University and/or Ohio State reference

Miami Hockey tied #15 St. Lawrence and then defeated #16 Clarkson to remain #2 in the country behind Wisconsin. However, the Badgers slipped up over the weekend, losing 4-2 to Michigan Tech before pummeling them in the return leg 7-0. Last week Wisconsin was a unanimous #1, but the Redhawks stole 14 first place votes this week inching us within just 10 points in the overall rankings of the top spot.

As for Ohio State, I can't believe I'm even going to mention this, but the Lady Bucks are ranked #4 in the nation and take on #3 LSU on Thursday night. I didn't used to consider women's basketball a sport, but for gambling purposes, there is nothing quite like the easy spreads laid down for the top 10 every year.

Group of Opportunity

"Great moments are born from great opportunity."
-Herb Brooks, 1980 USA Olympic Hockey Coach.

If you haven't heard, FIFA had it's World Cup draw this past Friday afternoon. After getting snubbed for one of the top seeds in the tournament (and rightfully so) the Americans were placed in what many are calling the "group of death" for the 2006 tournament. Others believe we are in the "group of near-death," suggesting that Argentina and Group C are the most difficult to navigate.

If you asked me what the United States' chances are over the past three days, I probably had a different answer than I do this morning. I tend to be reactionary when it comes to sports news. I'm sure this is obvious to those that know me, but I really enjoy having my opinion heard by the masses. For better or worse, often times those that speak first, and loudest, are assumed to be correct. Most people, myself included, figured that we might as well start preparing for 2010 because Italy, the Czech Republic and Ghana is just too tough of an assignment. I'm starting to think we were all wrong...and it only took me three days to change my mind.

Great opportunity. That's exactly what the US Men's National Soccer Team has when it heads to Germany for the World Cup this summer.

For the clear majority of the world, soccer is literally a matter of life and death. The World Cup is the most coveted prize in all of sports. More than Olympic gold, more than the yellow jersey of the Tour de France, and certainly more than a "World" Series. More people around the globe watched the World Cup draw than will watch the Super Bowl game this February. But most of you already knew these things.

You probably also know some of our nation's history when it comes to soccer. We've never won the World Cup. Our best showing was a semi-finals appearance in the inaugural tournament back in 1930 where we were beaten 6-1 by Argentina. In 1934, we were smacked in our only match by none other than Italy, 7-1. We shocked England in 1950, then we failed to qualify for 40 years. We re-entered the world soccer scene at Italia '90, and got drubbed by (who else?) Czechoslovakia and Italy. In 1994, as hosts, we shocked Columbia and managed to hang around with eventual champions Brazil in a 1-0 second round defeat on our nation's birthday. We fell on our faces in France 1998, losing all three matches and finishing in last place among the 32-team field. Then, in 2002, we stunned one of the top ranked team's in Portugal, beat rival Mexico in the second round and outplayed a German side that was rescued time and again by it's goalkeeper, and tournament MVP, Oliver Khan.

So how difficult is our group? According to a poll on the official World Cup website, we will have the second toughest group in Germany. I would suggest that we actually have the toughest based on the current world rankings of all four teams, but either way it shouldn't matter. Head Coach Bruce Arena said this on Friday: "It is what it is."

Basically, there is no use crying over spilled milk. Just shut your mouth and cover it up with a newspaper. Crying only makes us look that much more inferior to the rest of the world. The bottom line is that we've proven we can play with anyone, so why should this time be any different? I think what the United States have is a tremendous opportunity to prove our critics wrong this coming June. If we fail to move on, it's expected. But what if we manage to steal the group? Combined with our efforts in 2002 and throughout 2006 qualifying, it could mean nothing but respect.

If you go strictly by the numbers, we're probably doomed. I believe Michael Davies of ESPN Page 2 said it best, "Check a map." These are basically home games for the Italians and Czechs. American teams are 0-7 all time in World Cup matches played in Europe and have been outscored 19-4 in those games. Overall, we've only won 11 games (11-33-6) in our nation's history on European soil and, to my knowledge, none under head coach Bruce Arena. To make matters worse, we drew a fast and physical Ghana side. They are the African team that everyone was hoping to avoid.

On the bright side, there is no doubt that each and every European nation was hoping to avoid the United States as well. We are very well conditioned. We are young and fearless. Our youth has plenty of experience. We are also well coached, having gone 13-3-4 in 2005 and 65-26-26 since Bruce Arena took over for Steve Sampson after the 1998 disaster. We won our qualifying group, CONCACAF, for the first time ever just this past summer. And let's not forget that the entire world is hoping we'll fall flat on our faces. If that isn't enough to motive our boys over there, I don't know what will be.

Let's break down our first round opponents so everyone knows exactly what we're up against.

Game One
June 12 - 11:00 AM CT
Czech Republic
The Bad News: Currently ranked #2 in the world, they are actually my favorite for the top spot in Group E. They scored more goals in European qualifying than any other nation. In Euro 2004, they lost in the semi-finals to eventual champion Greece despite playing what was widely considered the most attractive soccer of the entire tournament. Bruce Arena voted midfielder Pavel Nedved one of the top three players in the world a few years ago.

The Good News: Their top goal scorer, Jan Koller, suffered a serious knee injury and he may or may not be back in time for this match. For the most part, this team is getting old. Nedved came out of retirement to help his countrymen qualify this past summer when they needed to win a playoff against Norway in order to enter this tournament. Many have said that the Czech first division is right on par with MLS, so their home grown talent isn't considered top-class. In the 2000 Olympics, the USA's U-21 team drew with the Czechs 2-2, and many of those players will be participating in this match for both teams.

Game Two
June 17 - 2:00 PM CT
Italy
The Bad News: Name recognition alone; after all, these are the three time champions. Known as the Azzurri, the Italians are defined by their superior defending. Through Euro 2004 qualifying they allowed just 4 goals in 8 matches. They are considered one of the top teams in the world despite their current 12th place ranking by FIFA. Italy has only failed to qualify for the finals one time, back in 1958 at Sweden. They finished 7-1-2 in European qualifying after overhauling the line-up with young, eager players that are ready to make their mark.

The Good News: They are ranked just 12th, we are ranked 8th. They were the last of the top 8 nations to secure a seed, finishing just one point ahead of the United States based on FIFA's ridiculous formula. They have occasionally fallen on hard times over the past 20 years since last winning the Cup in 1982. They lost to Brazil on US soil in the 1994 Cup on penalties, and more recently exited the 2002 Cup in the second round to co-host South Korea. Traditionally, they do not play their best soccer in the opening round-robin portion of the tournament and are susceptible to upset ties and defeats. They like to get a 1-0 lead early and then use their superior defensive skills to hang on in matches. If we can get up on them early, it could frustrate them and allow us to sneak away with a very valuable point, but I couldn't fathom getting three here.

Game Three
June 22 - 9:00 AM CT
Ghana
The Bad News: They are considered the Brazil of Africa for good reason; they're fast, physical, and well disciplined. Nicknamed the Black Stars, they have won four African Cup of Nations titles and two U-17 World Championships. Their captain, Michael Essien, is one of the top players for the best club team in the world (Chelsea of the English Premier League.) Many of the top footballers in African history hail from Ghana. As I already mentioned, they are the one African team everyone in the tournament was hoping to avoid. Lucky us.

The Good News: This is their first appearance on the world's biggest stage and hopefully that inexperience will haunt them. Ghana's coach, Ratomir Djukovic, made no mention of the United States in his opening statement after the draw. Clearly he doesn't respect us as much as the Czechs or the Italians. This is also our final match of the first round so we'll have plenty of time to get a look at what they are capable of and put together a pre-match strategy.

Here is what the World Cup draw looks like for 2006, with current FIFA World Rankings in parenthesis:

Group A
Germany (16)
Ecuador (37)
Poland (23)
Costa Rica (21)

Group B
England (9)
Sweden (14)
Paraguay (30)
Trinidad & Tobago (51)

Group C
Argentina (4)
Netherlands (3)
Serbia & Montenegro (47)
Ivory Coast (41)

Group D
Mexico (7)
Iran (19)
Portugal (10)
Angola (62)

Group E
Italy (12)
Czech Republic (2)
United States (8)
Ghana (50)

Group F
Brazil (1)
Croatia (20)
Japan (15)
Australia (49)

Group G
France (5)
Togo (56)
Switzerland (36)
South Korea (29)

Group H
Spain (6)
Ukraine (40)
Saudi Arabia (32)
Tunisia (28)

I'll hold back on making predictions until we get closer to Germany. At this point, nobody knows for sure what players will be on any of the squads and who will be in top form come June. For now, I'll answer just two questions for you.

Did the United States get the most difficult draw for 2006? It could have been worse, but yes, I think we certainly have the toughest road to the second round.

Is it out of the question for us to advance? I honestly don't think it is.

Finally, I would like to thank Fergie for putting me in my place and getting me to write about the sport I care most about, "The Beautiful Game." Thankfully, it didn't take the Nordic Track of Doom this time.

Closing the book on another free agent signing gone awry

I don't have a problem with free agency at it's core. It's a system that was entirely necessary and actually came about much later than it should have (Thank you Curt Flood.) As someone who worked in the business, I understand changing teams and going where the best offer is. You would do the same if your company wasn't paying you what you were worth, right? Or if another company came along and wanted to pay you 150% more than any other company, you would take it.

However, athletes and the agents that represent them...that is the problem with free agency in baseball.

Trevor Hoffman had no intention of ever leaving San Diego. He certainly did a great job of convincing everyone he was coming to the Indians though. They drafted a contract, took a physical, wined and dined, toured the city....and then he went back to San Diego and re-signed with them. It's forplay for forplay's sake.

This is like the girl who wants to make her boyfriend commit (I'm talking about the forever type of commitment here) but he just doesn't seem like he's there yet. So she starts hanging out with an "old friend" from college just to make him jealous. She tells the boyfriend how sweet this guy is and how she wants to set him up with a great girl because he's so perfect. She tells the old friend how wonderful he is too and that she "absolutely adores him." He starts thinking, "hmmm, what if I get her to break up with this other clown, then I could have her for myself!" Meanwhile, the boyfriend doesn't think anything of it, until his boys keep telling him that this dude is moving in on his woman. One day she calls and says that they need to talk about something and the next thing you know the boyfriend is down on one knee with a ring the size of a walnut and a whole in his wallet that you could drive a truck through. The other guy, he's left with the what-the-hell-just-happened face.

Surprisingly (note the sarcasm), the Padres upped their offer after they realized the face of their organization was "serious about leaving." Of course, he probably wasn't serious, he just wanted more money from the team he was with and used the Indians to get it. Good for him. That's how the system works and the Tribe let themselves get played as a result. This isn't the first time that an athlete has spurned the city of Cleveland in free agency for a bigger market or a place with warmer weather.

It's great for me though. This just gives me one more athlete to hate. One more thing to bitch about.

Thankfully, Bob Wickman agreed to a one-year deal last night. Still, I'd rather have had Hoffman who is arguably the second most reliable closer in baseball history. We all thought Wickman was going to retire, but I guess he'll wait until next winter. I just hope his arm doesn't fall off first. If it does, I know who I'm going to blame.

The Sixth Cents II

I hope everyone had a great weekend; I apologize for the lack in posts over the past few days. I've been working on a big post that will probably come out either Wednesday or Thursday of this week. In the meantime, I'll hit you up with my Six Cents for the first week in December...
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1. Hail to the Victors!
Congratulations are in order again to our Miami University hockey program. After sweeping Bowling Green over Thanksgiving weekend they moved up to #8 in the country. Then, this past weekend they faced #3 TSUN (Michigan) and handed the Wolverines their third and fourth consecutive losses during a series sweep in Oxford, Ohio. It was our first sweep of TSUN since 1998 during my freshman year!

Senior captain Andy Greene won CCHA Defensive Player of the Week honors on the strength of his game-winning goal capping a 4-3 comeback win.

Also, sophomore netminder Charlie Effinger earned CCHA Goaltender of the Week honors. He turned aside 33 shots in Friday night's 4-2 win and shut TSUN down for the final 39:02 of the contest. He also extended his personal unbeaten streak to 10 games (9-0-1) dating back to the end of his freshman season.

After the polls were released early Monday afternoon, Miami (12-2-1 overall) came in at #2 in the NCAA, trailing only Wisconsin (13-1-2). The Redhawks also increased their lead in the CCHA standings (10-1-1) and now have an 8-point lead over second place Ohio State.

(Note: this is the only sport that I will actually root against the Buckeyes.)
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2. Playing with the house's money
It was reported on Sunday that the dreaded New York Yankees finished the 2005 season in the red. Congratulations to Brian Cashman for assembling a team that would not only lose in the first round of the playoffs, but would also lose his owner, George Steinbrenner, somewhere between $50 million and $85 million. Guess the $200 million payroll didn't quite pay off, huh Georgie?

I wonder if George is still happy with that contract extension he just gave Cashman. Seriously, if you have unlimited resources like that, there is no excuse for not going to the World Series every year, is there?

My favorite analogy in sports for some time has been from one of the Sports Guy's readers: "Rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for the house in blackjack." Looks like those MIT guys showed up and counted some cards.
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3. Playing with the house's money, part deux
As is the typical Sunday tradition, several members of the crew ventured over to Gongolapad for afternoon NFL football. When they bought the new condo almost two years ago, they also bought a big screen TV and installed the Direct TV Sunday Ticket. Recently, they upgraded it for HDTV. Let me just say this, if you have never seen the difference between regular and high definition, well, you're missing out. It's so sick, it's sick.

This past Sunday was the big AFC North showdown between the Cincinnati Bungals and the Pittsburgh Steelers, two teams that under most circumstances I would root heavily against. Growing up in Cleveland you are supposed to hate the Steelers, but after the move to Baltimore and Pittsburgh's acquisition of Big Ben, I have decided to wish him and his teammates well until the Browns' return to prominence. I mean, I have to hate Art Modell more than Pittsburgh no matter what ESPN and it's "Top Five Reasons you can't blame..." show tells me about poor Art.

Clevelanders have always been a little apathetic in their rivalry with Cincinnati though, and even more so recently. But if you go south of Columbus you'd realize that the hatred towards the Browns (and the entire city of Cleveland in general) borders on homicidal down there. Further, I just can't stand listening to the "Who Dey!?" chants from the Bungal fans. At the very least, I give them credit for sticking with these guys even though they haven't had a winning season since 1990.

Back to the point: December 4th will forever be known as All-In Day. Our buddy, who has earned the nickname "All-In" due to his wagering, and losing, all of his chips in the first hand of several poker tournaments, had a most impressive gambling day. Not only did his fantasy teams win, not only did he win a few bucks playing poker online while watching the games, but he also won over a grand in football wagering thanks in part to the 5-team parlay he nailed last night when the Seahawks smoked the Eagles 42-0. He also won several exotic bets including "longest touchdown from scrimmage" in the Bengals-Steelers game. For one day at least, the boy could do no wrong.
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4. But All-In's boy couldn't make good on his guarantee
I've always been against the whole end-zone celebration thing. Maybe I'm one of the few young people who is old school in that sense, and this probably sounds fairly hypocritical from a soccer player, but as my dad always told me, "Act like you've been there before." In college, I certainly participated in a couple of celebrations, but mainly they were when our team came through with goals in huge spots. In my soccer leagues now, I do as my father told me and just get my butt back in position for the restart.

As far the NFL goes, most of these clowns are obnoxious, but for one reason or another I've always enjoyed the antics of Chad Johnson. The riverdance thing was hysterical, the CPR thing was the most creative celebration I've ever scene... But the golfing? Hmmm... he seems to get alot of credit for this when it wasn't completely an original.

For those that didn't see it, after scoring a touchdown a few weeks ago, Johnson picked up the pylon from the corner of the endzone and pretended it was a putter. Seems to me that a similar celebration has been going on in soccer for years. In soccer it's done like this: a teammate runs to the corner flag and puts his hand on it. The goal scorer then comes up takes a shot with his "air-putter." As the imaginary ball comes towards the flag, the teammate plays the role of a caddie and lifts the pin out of the ground. The golfer then celebrates with a "Tigeresque" fist pump.

Back to Johnson. He promised us before the Steelers game this past week that he would give us his "best touchdown celebration yet" because he felt his team had to "iron" some things out against the Steelers. The Bengals won, although you could see the discomfort in Big Ben's throwing hand after injuring his thumb last week. Ben threw three picks, and even though his boys came through, Chad was extremely quiet and did not score. I can't believe I'm saying this, but too bad. I guess we'll have to wait until next year (or perhaps the playoffs?) to see what he had planned for the Steelers.
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5. Bark like a Dawg
The Cleveland Browns lost again on Sunday, this time to the Jacksonville Jaguars after taking a 14-3 halftime lead. We Dawgs are in the strange position of having to root for our team to play better and show signs of life, but continue to lose to ensure a decent enough draft pick. I think we're out of the running for Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, however, with the play of Charlie Frye and Reuben Droughns in Sunday's game I think this might be a blessing in disguise. Clearly we would like to further booster our defensive talent pool after switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4 this year under rookie head coach Romeo Crennel.

Another rookie, quarterback Charlie Frye from Akron University, got the first start of his career just three days after his Zips won their first ever conference championship in the MAC title game against Northern Illinois. He went 13-20 for 226 yards including 2 touchdown passes to yet another rookie, wide receiver Braylon Edwards out of TSUN. Frye started strong in the first half, but was put under pressure and sacked five times in the second half as the Browns couldn't hold off the 9-3 Jaguars.

It was also a big day in Cleveland for running back Reuben Droughns, who we acquired from Denver during the off-season. Droughns became the first Browns back since 1985 to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season. In '85, Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner both broke the 1,000 yard barrier for the Brownies despite the team finishing 8-8 and losing in the first round of the AFC playoffs.
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6. WARNING: Conservative Political Comment Below
When I speak of watching the news, I usually mean ESPNews. But there wasn't much going on yesterday in the sports world so I flipped on Fox News Channel. Now, I know that the liberals out there are probably tuning out already and everyone knows how much yawl complain about how conservative FNC is. Big deal. Every other media outlet is liberal, so quit complaining and leave us our one place where we can see and hear positive things about our party.

Hannity and Colmes was on when I flipped to FNC, which, for those who haven't seen it, is an interesting show. Alan Colmes is a hard-hitting liberal and actually has his radio show syndicated by FNC (and you thought it was ALL conservative.) Basically, he and Sean Hannity conduct a live show debating various political and social topics. It's nice because it's just the two of them and they occassionally have guests on. Most political debate shows have a single host and then both a conservative and liberal guest. Whichever way the host leans, the debate leans, because they can tag-team the opponent and not allow him to speak. With H&C, there are two hosts so this rarely happens.

Last night, I had to hear about John Kerry's opinion on the conduct of our troops. Recently he went as far as to call OUR troops terrorists, saying that our boys are over there raping and pillaging throughout most of Iraq and Afghanistan. This man was seriously almost our Commander in Chief, are you kidding? Let's just say that there is a reason that our troops overseas voted the way they did in the past election. The final tallies were Bush 78% - Kerry 14%.

By continually demoralizing our troops and throwing the entire cause under a bus, Kerry and most democrats are creating an environment in the Middle East where Iran can get away with building a nuclear weapons program. They know that the general public isn't happy with our continued presense in Iraq right now and this is allowing Iran to push the envelope and almost dare us to attack them.

Congratulations John, you have successfully managed to get the general public against our President and put our troops even further in harms way.

Format change

This morning I decided that my blog template was rather elementary and frankly, too much like my sister's. Made the change and as luck should have it, I found a scarlet and grey one! Well, red and grey anyways.

Last night, I went to one of my favorite bars with some of the boys called Finley Dunne's. If you live on the north side of Chicago and haven't been yet, I definitely recommend it. If the garlic bun on the Ryan Burger doesn't satisfy you, then ask the bartender for a "Shock and Awe."

While we ate our burgers we ran through the usual male chit-chat; poker tournaments, new year's plans, college football, beer, bitches and hoes.

In the background the TVs were all turned to the various games in the Big Ten/ACC challenge, which if you don't know, is a series of college basketball games played between schools from the two conferences. Not much of a challenge in my opinion. In the six years they've been doing this thing since 2000, the ACC has yet to lose the series to the Big Ten. A few years it has been close, including this year (6-5), and there are always a couple of good games. For the most part though, we just get our collective butts whipped.

The bright spot (for me anyways)? That's right. The Ohio State Buckeyes (3-0) took a big lead at halftime and then ran away from Virginia Tech late in the series opener en route to a 69-56 victory. BTW, does anyone remember who gave the Illini their only regular season loss a year ago? It also appears that next year we've locked down 4 of the top 30 high school recruits in the nation. I'm starting to love Thad Matta almost as much as Jim Tressel. Almost. Let's win a title first.