Predictions?

This was too good to pass up. While surfing yesterday I came by the FoxSports.com prediction for the Las Vegas Bowl:I don't know just how easily it is for you to make out the Highlight of that game in the screen cap but it was Mitch Payne's fourth successful Field Goal Attempt of the game that pushed the Cougars over the Cats in Vegas. Harvey Unga's 111yds on 17 carries and 3 TDs (error in the Foxsports graphic above since the official Whatif box score was 2 TDs which makes a lot more sense) helped the Cougars secure their 3rd consecutive Victory in Vegas.

Thank God video games don't determine the real outcomes of things.

In the real world, Unga managed 30 less yards (71) on the same 17 carries and Mitch Payne's foot was less the gift of Midas and more the gift of Norwood as he went 0/2 on FG trys, and his replacement, Sorensen, didn't fare much better going 0/1.

It's also nice to know that the folks at Whatif underestimated the Wildcat Senior QB. Willie T threw for 325 yds on a 24/35 night with 2 TDs and zero INT's complete with a Tebow-like 8 yard TD scamper. Compared to the fictional numbers of Willie's CGI counterpart going 12/34 for 172 yds 2 picks and 1 TD.

The fictional versions also didn't account for my new found distaste of Austin Collie, complete with his out of bounds cheap shot in the first half.

A little later today I'll have more analysis of the Cats Victory in Vegas.

More after the jump...

An Open Letter to ESPN, Fox Sports, Versus, etc

If you know someone who works in the radio or television sports industry please pass this post along. If you know others who may be interested in pursuing this cause please pass this post on. This is a letter to the programmers who decide what we the sports fan watch on Saturday afternoons.

To Whom it May Concern,

We, the sports fans, have been more than pleased with the advent of more sports programming. Nothing is better than spending a Saturday, and I mean all day Saturday, than watching College Football. We realize we have it much better than our Fathers, and their Fathers before them who did not have access to Football, Basketball, Baseball, and Hockey Packages available for purchase. I am firmly aware that I am able to view the Golf channel when I want to watch a classic Golf Tournament and that I can choose between a multitude of games on TV.

With that said, I have a concern that needs to be addressed. College Football (in my opinion and many others like me) is better than the professional brand, and that March Madness is more exciting than the NBA Finals. Why then is it almost impossible to find any coverage of College Baseball. This is an issue that needs a resolution. With multiple ESPN channels and FSN networks that cover all major markets and regions, why am I still left searching, almost completely unsuccessfully, for College Baseball Coverage.

The 2008 season was a progressive step in College Baseball coverage. ESPN had occasional pieces covering the games. This was in large part due to the fact that ESPN Football Analyst Mark Schlereth, had a son (Daniel) playing Division I Baseball at the University of Arizona. Unfortunately though, a large portion of this coverage was not of the games themselves but of Mark on the road with Daniel and the Wildcats. This was a great segment, one I tuned into when I saw it and scoured the ESPN homepage for vid clips. In contrast, however, that was the majority of their coverage.

The programmers at the various Media outlets can say that it's just the way it is. College Baseball doesn't garner the national media attention that other sports like football and basketball do. To that I say, how can it gain any kind of following when there is no coverage to begin with. A good portion of avid sports fans who commit hours of their day to ESPN or Fox Sports, can probably rattle off all sorts of opinions about Plaxico Burress, Terrell Owens, and Tommy Tuberville's Mom. But that's because those are the stories that we read online and watch over and over and over again on ESPN.

Many of those fans probably hear about teams like Rice or Cal State Fullerton and think they are schools without any sports dominance due to their usual lack of appearance in the Football and Basketball Championship pictures. But both have been in Omaha 6 times over the last 10 years.

By comparison Football powerhouses like Florida, LSU, Miami, Texas, and many more have only been to the BCS Bowls 5 or less times over the same period. And in recent memory (06, 07, 08, and 09) those have held the top 10 teams.

College Baseball has what everyone is looking for. Teams don't typically schedule cupcakes since strength of schedule isn't as highly regarded. Small market teams aren't left out despite quality records. And they have the perfect playoff system in place. Not to mention the National Championships in Omaha are the draw, not the Bowl/Final Four atmosphere.

ESPN took a gamble about 5 years ago and began airing the World Series of Poker, which eventually spread from the Main Event to all of the different events. The post-season is still played, if you can find it, on TV. But where do we get the regular season updates. There is so much more to the Baseball season than Omaha.

There is no tab on the ESPN homepage that links to College Baseball coverage, and the ESPNU tab's top links are football and basketball recruiting. In fact, to find baseball coverage on the site you have to click the More link to get anything. And once there all you see about Baseball is this:

To the programmers at ESPN, Fox Sports, et al. I implore you. Cover College Baseball. At this point you would have pretty exclusive access. Fox Sports Arizona. Why not cover baseball in the Spring and pick up a few games. Last year the only games I recall seeing were the UA vs ASU game, and in that instance there was only one of them. Can we please get some College Baseball coverage. Look what happened when MMA started getting attention. And Baseball is America's past time.

More after the jump...

Stadium Expansion Plans

The Arizona athletic department has been talking for years about closing in the north end of Arizona stadium. Thanks to an anonymous person inside the department fans can have a look at what the future stadium might look like.

Apparently the building on the atop the north end expansion will hold the new football offices and the video score board will be moved atop the south wall of the stadium. No word on weather or not there will be new locker rooms as a part of this improvement, all though I hope it does as this is a major short coming of the program in recruiting.

There is no definite time table or financial numbers attached to this artist rendition. Thanks to who ever took this picture and saw fit to share it with Wildcat faithful everywhere.

BEAR DOWN


More after the jump...

Accolades all around

Following our huge victory over the scum devils on Saturday the gods of college football have begun to pour the spoils upon our beloved Wildcats...

For his performance against the summies Money Mike Thomas was named the Pac-10 Special Teams Player of the Week...as if that were not enough Money was named to the 1st Team twice as both a WR and as kick returner when the All Pac-10 Teams were announced. Here is the complete list of Wildcats that made the teams:


First Team: TE Rob Gronkowski So., WR Mike Thomas Sr.,(First Team WR & First Team PR), OL Eben Britton Jr.

Second Team: QB Willie Tuitama Sr., DB Devin Ross Jr.

Horable Mention: C Colin Baxter So., PK Jason Bondzio Sr., P Keenyn Crier So., RB Nic Grigsby So., DL Earl Mitchell Jr., DB Cam Nelson Jr., LB Ronnie Palmer Sr., DE Brooks Reed So.

Not to be over looked in the celebration is the All Pac-10 Academic Teams, here are the Wildcats that made the smart kids team:

First Team: PK Jason Bondzio(2nd Award) Grad. 3.72 Management

Second Team: WR David Roberts RFr. 3.34 Engineering, TE Chris Gronkowski Jr. 3.27 Accounting, OL James Tretheway Grad. 3.39 Economics, DB Corey Hall Jr. 3.18 Accounting

Honorbale Mention: C Colin Baxter So.

More after the jump...

Santo Misses Out Again

For far too long former Cub Great Third Baseman and current Cub Great Announcer, Ron Santo, has missed out on the Hall of Fame. 2008 should have marked the end of this ridiculous error in judgement and voting. It was announced this morning at Baseball's Winter Meetings that Santo has once again been blocked from his rightful place in the Hall which is long over due. Once again Santo has been kept from joining with Hall of Famers and former teammates Billy Williams and Ernie Banks. (Pictured Below with Manager Leo Durocher)

Santo has already been historically aligned alongside other Cub Hall of Famers (Williams, Banks, and Ryne Sandeberg) for years with their numbers, the only 4, retired in the Cubs long and storied history, but apparently the Veteran's Committee have decided that the Hall of Fame doesn't have room for Santo just yet.

The Veteran's Committee made the mistake in 2005 leaving Santo out (by 8 votes) and 2007 (by 5 votes) and had received much criticism for the act, but clearly has not learned from past mistakes. Santo has been widely regarded as the best player not in the Hall of Fame for a long time.
The anticipation and later agonizing realization of missing out on the Hall of Fame again, by 15 votes (in 2003), can be seen in the documentary This Old Cub by Ron's son Jeff Santo. Well worth a couple hours.

The Nine Time All-Star played the majority of his career suffering quietly from Type 1 Diabetes that has since cost him both of his legs in 2001 and 2002. He was told at the age of 18 he would live to about 25. As mentioned in Santo's documentary, Santo monitored his diabetes based solely on how he felt as there weren't widely available means of testing oneself at the time. There were times where he took the plate seeing double or triple due to low blood sugar. In such instances he would just focus on "the one in the middle".


Santo, winner of 5 Gold Gloves, was also the 1973 Lou Gherig Award winner. He finished his career with 5 seasons in the top 10 of OPS, slugging %, and extra base hits. He also finished in the top ten in Batting Avg (3 x), MVP voting (4 x), OBP (7 x), Runs (3 x), Hits (4 x), HRs (7 x), RBIs (8 x), and Walks (9 x). Offensively, he is most commonly compared to Carlton Fisk, Johnny Bench, Gary Carter, and Yogi Berra, all of whom are in the Hall of Fame.


Is is very disheartening to hear that Santo has once again been kept at bay from the Hall of Fame. No one from the post 1942 ballot received the 75% of votes to gain entrance to Cooperstown. I for one have been waiting years to hear Santo's name mentioned as an inductee to Cooperstown, but will have to wait two more years for that to be potentially realized. Santo has referred to the process as torture and has all but given up on his induction. I guess I might just have to finally agree with Ron that it may never happen. And it's a damn shame.


More after the jump...

Fix the Big XII - and the NCAA

Can someone please, for the love of God explain this to me. Can someone explain the Big XII to me. The Big XII has made yet another confusing announcement. My Preseason Heisman pick, Texas QB Colt McCoy has been selected as the Big XII Offensive player of the year. This means that he has been selected as the best player in an offensive position. I know that sounds repetitive, and that it shouldn't be further explained. With that said.

Offensive player of the year means that he is not only the best quarterback, but he is a better Quarterback than the top Ruining Back is a Running Back (Kendall Hunter) or the top Wide Receiver is a Wide Receiver (Michael Crabtree). But in true Big XII fashion the SAME voters selected McCoy as the 2nd best quarterback in the conference. That's right, McCoy was selected as Second Team All-Big XII Quarterback. I'm starting to sense some repetitive voting patterns from those in the AP.

Quoting the ESPN report on this issue, "Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell was the only other quarterback to get a vote from the 20 voters who decided the AP's Big 12 all-conference teams. Harrell picked up four votes -- one for first team and three for second team. Thus, the race swung on whether Harrell voters picked McCoy or Bradford as their second choice.


Three of those voters went with Bradford at second team and left McCoy off the ballot."

It looks like Texas is getting screwed over again. This time on a more personal level.

Seems the Big XII can't get anything right this year. The 1st Tie-Breaker should be head to head NOT the BCS. The BCS has already been proven as the biggest piece of CRAP in the history of College Football.

Comparing the losses and why Texas should be in the Big XII Title Game and the National Championship is that they beat Oklahoma on a Neutral field. They lost on the road at the last second to the team that Oklahoma beat at home. Take the BCS out of the equation.

I for one hope Texas continues to get the votes over Oklahoma in the AP polls (1488 to 1480) and when it comes down to the vote after the season they split the title (like USC did in 2003), in the system that promised us no more split titles.

Isn't this the perfect example of why we need a playoff. Especially if Florida beats Bama, we'd see 7 teams with 1 loss and a valid argument at a shot at the title. Oh, and 3 undefeated teams with a gripe. I used to love College Football, now I just wait for November and December when we see teams getting screwed over EVERY YEAR due to the greed of the BCS, ESPN, and their supporters.

Thanks ESPN for promising us 6 more years of confusion and anti-climatic bowl seasons.

More after the jump...

Arizona Football: Will You Be Remembered?

For any of our readers that happen to live in the Greater Tucson area or have ties to anyone on the Arizona Football team, please send them to this article for the simple reason of looking at this picture for motivation.



Image from goazcats.com
More after the jump...

Duel in the Desert: Part 2

With the Big Game a couple days away it's time to get motivated. As is typical with this contest there is a lot on the line.

An Arizona win can move them up in the battle for Bowl Position.
An Arizona win can also stop ASU from reaching a bowl game for the 5th consecutive year (which would be a school record).
An ASU win would put a bright spot on the season for the Devils after coming in ranked in the top 25 before dropping 6 straight.
An ASU win would also make the Devils Bowl Eligible and they might even possibly get a better bowl bid than the Cats.

Of course the most important thing on the line is bragging rights for the next 364 days.

In honor of the late Sun Devils sportswriter Bob Moran, I bring you an updated version of his original conversation between Sparky and Wilbur leading up to the clash.

"Hello Sparky, I'm glad you could stop by."

"I felt it was only right to visit you in Tucson since last time we met you came up to Tempe." Wilbur says as Sparky enters the patio at Frog n' Firkin on University Blvd. in Tucson.

Wilbur gestured at the empty seat next to him, "I took the liberty of ordering some appetizers and a pitcher of Tempe's own Kiltlifter to make you feel right at home."

"Good choice, alcohol always helps wash away the memory of bad meetings. Is it 3 in a row we've taken from the Cats. I'm always so bad with numbers." Sparky quipped.

"I believe it has been 3 in a row, but that was just a dent into the cushion we had. 44-36 with one tie if I'm not mistaken. But then again, look who I'm asking about numbers." Wilbur rebutted. "

"I can't believe we're back down here, it seems like yesterday when we ended Arizona's bowl hopes right down here in Tucson. Wait, that was last year that we ended Arizona's hopes and it was in Tempe.....It was two years ago we ended the Wildcat hopes in Tucson, where does the time go?" Sparky said with a small grin of satisfaction.

"Well, that's neither here nor there, Arizona's got a pretty good offense this year. Freshman Keola Antolin has done remarkably well. To think we were disappointed when some little brat named Bass de-committed from U of A. And now here we have Antolin with over 500 and 10 TDs yards and Grigsby averaging 5.5 per carry. We lucked out on that one."

Sparky looked surprised, "We actually wound up getting Ryan Bass to carry the ball a few times this year, 4.6 per carry."

"I thought you weren't much of a numbers guy."Wilbur returned, "Taking nothing away from Bass but the Sun Devil running game hasn't been that impressive. 7 total rushing touchdowns this year? I'm pretty sure our True Freshman backup QB and 3rd string Running Back actually combined for 7. Heck our other two backs are both in the double digits, and Antolin didn't even have a a carry against New Mexico or UCLA."

"Speaking of New Mexico, I forgot to call you, that must have been a tough break, dropping one to New Mexico...again." Sparky returned.

"That's for sure, rough weekend. But really when it all comes down to it we were on the road, our guys were a little over confident after putting up 111 points over the first two games, and we lost by 8. On the plus side our guys bounced back and won a couple games, didn't ASU drop a game to the MWC that same weekend?" Wilbur coyly responded.

"We lost a close one that week to UNLV, who I might add beat the same New Mexico team that defeated you." Sparky announced, clearly aggravated.

"Well that's all in the past anyway, and you can't really compare who beat who in that context without sounding moronic. Who do you guys have on your list of coaching candidates?" Wilbur asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"I'm sorry, I'm confused. I could have sworn it was Stoops who has been on the Hot Seat the last couple of years"

"Well, after getting the Cats to Bowl Eligible and cleaning up the mess that Mackovick left behind after destroying one of the top programs in the 90s, his seat has cooled off. But you didn't answer my question about Erickson."

"Well, I'm still a bit confused. ASU is not typically the program that gives up on a coach after one down season. I think Dennis will be in Tempe for the long haul."

"Hmmm. That's interesting. I wonder if the guys at Idaho, Wyoming, Washington State, Oregon State, and Idaho, again, thought the same thing. Oh well, I'm sure I'm just letting my imagination wonder it's not like there have been 3 NFL coaches fired during the season as well as countless other college positions opening up. I'm sure that there won't be available job opportunities galore in the coming months. Erickson will probably stay in Tempe. After all, he's only been there 2 seasons. He's only left after 1 or 2 years 4 times. You're probably right."

"Good point, but Erickson has promised to bring winning back to the Valley." Sparky responded.

"I'm sure his word is as strong as the Dennis Dome practice facility he got ASU to build." Wilbur shot back, well it's getting late and that pitcher is empty. I suppose it's time for you to head back to the hotel and wait for Saturday night."

Sparky got up and reached into his wallet but Wilbur stopped him, "Sparky, your money is no good here."

"Well thanks Wilbur I appreciate it." Sparky kindly responded.

"No, Sparky, what I meant is your money is no good here, don't you have a couple bucks or a credit card. They don't take Sun Dollars in Tucson."

More after the jump...

The Duel in the Desert

As the big game approaches my skin crawls with hatred for the scummies. I can not tell you how much venom I have deep in my heart for those classless chuckle heads from Tempe. To quote a dear friend of mine, "The two easiest things to get in Tempe are STD's and a Degree."(Thanks Dom)

This weekend means everything to the true Wildcat fan. A zero win season could be wiped away with a victory over the hated scum devils. We represent one of the longest standing rivalries in college athletics with games being played since 1899. The Territorial cup is the oldest rivalry trophy in college athletics being handed out since 1899 as well. I remember vividly Chuck Cecil's 100+ yard INT return for a touchdown in 1986. That win was the middle of the amazing 9 game streak over the nothings from up north. Check out this awesome video from goazcats.com - It should help you get pumped up a bit.


I warn all my conservative friends and family to stay away from me this week. I swear like a sailor, drink like an Irishmen and fight like a drunk Irish sailor all in anticipation for the game.

This year brings a special prize for true Wildcat fans. I will spare us the discussion of the last few Duel in the Desert results, however I will acknowledge that the Wildcats failed to clinch a bowl berth the last few years as a result of losing the game. This year however the tables are turned. We have the opportunity to keep the scummies from being bowl eligible with a win. Nothing could make the bowl berth we have all ready clinched any sweeter then if we ruined the season for the Dirty Dennis and his band of Felons.

If you need help getting the hatred motor warmed up check out this site...
Zona-Defenders

I leave you with this question, How do you get an asu(cks) grad off your front porch?

Pay them for the pizza!
More after the jump...

The Store is Open

We have decided to re-open The Beardown Shop, your source for gear that we find humorous and stylish. Stop by and check out some of the designs and be on the lookout as more will be added in the near future. And keep an eye out for the specials. To benefit our loyal followers we will occasionally be having sales on the gear for lower prices. Sometimes with a bonus code and sometimes for limited times so check out the site for updates. You can also click the shirt and check out the aisles right now.


More after the jump...