Wednesday, December 04, 2002

Irish ASS - Out. Well, we're fucked now, and everyone's going to have a field day with it. Get out your helmets and bulletproof vests, Irish fans, cause Monday morning every Irish-hatin' Nelson Muntz wanna-be is coming at you with a big fucking HA HA. What a fucking reversal of fortune. For 8 games we were the darling of college football; even haters were giving up some dap and starting to recognize that we were back. Now, after a nightmare loss to BC (that should still be in overtime, btw, Mr. Myopic Sidejudge), a lackluster win over Navy, and an utter, complete Chernobyl at USC, everyone gets to tell us how much we suck, how much our BCS arrangement and TV contract fucks everyone else in college football, how unfair it is that we were ever even considered for a BCS bowl against Iowa and USC and even K-State, how we get special treatment and we wouldn't be shit if we weren't "Notre Dame". Welcome to the sharp side of the double-edged sword that is Notre Dame fandom. Before, even after the 2001 Fiesta Bowl, I really thought that it couldn't happen in a season this good. Despite that loss, it seemed the 9-2 regular season record had kept the haters at bay, hiding under their slimy, no-real-team-of-their-own-havin' rocks, just waiting to leap out and scream, "Look!  Notre Dame sucks!!! Yes!!  I always hated them!!" (which they promptly did last year when we went 5-7). But those same maggots, who squirm and writhe when you ask them about THEIR teams, teams like Florida State, and Michigan, and Virginia Tech, and Penn State, and Florida, and LSU, and Alabama, and Clemson, and Michigan State, and Nebraska, and anyone else who's been on the same (or worse) roller coaster as us the last 5 years, will come crawling out on Monday morning after the Orange Bowl selects Iowa, just to say "Fuck you, you all didn't deserve it." Well, maybe we did, maybe we didn't.  We certainly didn't look like it against USC, but the schedule was stacked against us (which, admittedly, is partially our own fault). The point is, in college football, it's not WHAT you prove on the field. It's all WHEN you prove it. Colorado lost to USC (yes, the same USC) early in the season 40-3.  FORTY TO THREE. But if they get into a BCS game, no one will yell, "I can't believe Colorado got into the BCS!!  They suck!!  USC kicked their ass!!" And don't give me the 'They-earned-it-by-winning-their-conference-championship' argument. What?  Because maybe they win one 'championship' game against Oklahoma? They have a worse record than us against a very similar schedule. Despite our two late losses, all computers (except the NYT) and pollsters rank us ahead of or the same as them. How can you say they'll deserve it and we don't? Even if you could, how can you justify Florida State, that lost twice as many games as us, and whom we pounded AT their place? And don't even get me started on Arkansas, should they beat Georgia Saturday night. "Yeah, we deserve a BCS bid.  We beat ONE good team, at a neutral site. Never mind our two-touchdown losses at HOME to Bama and Kentucky." Just because you're in a conference doesn't mean you've earned it any more than we have. Regardless of how the conference championship games shake out, our schedule strength will be better than that of the Big East champion, and either Big Ten champion you like (OSU or Iowa). If Arkansas, Washington State, and Oklahoma all win their conference championships (likely except for Arkansas), then count the SEC, Pac-10, and Big XII aswell. And even though our strength of schedule can't match the ACC champ's #3, might I remind you again that we kicked their ass AT their place. So we've earned it just as much as they did.  Don't talk about rivalries in conference, please.  We've got our own, and two of them were more than happy to hand us our two losses.  It ain't no different for us.  EVERYONE, from Navy to Michigan, gets up to play us.  We're the biggest target in football. Another thing I'd like to point out is the computer rankings.  I'm not going to say that we should rank football by computers only -- god forbid -- but computers are the only ranking system that evaluate your ENTIRE season objectively, regardless of WHEN you play. Right now, by the timing-blind computers, we'd be #6 - ahead of Washington State, Oklahoma, K-State and Texas -- two of whom will likely go to BCS games (and don't forget Arkansas and FSU, who we're still ahead of anyway, that could / will also play in the BCS). But we lost our last game, the pollsters punished us accordingly, and now we're 10th. The whole point of this is that the exact same Notre Dame team could have played USC four weeks earlier in the season, still lost 44-13, then finished with the Navy win, a bye week, then a win over Rutgers, and be in much better shape BCS-wise.  We wouldn't be any better or worse of a team, and ESPECIALLY since USC is probably going to make the BCS anyway, we'd be much more competitive for a spot in the BCS against Iowa. -- Sparxxx 1:31:34 PM    comment []

To touch on what O went off on...  I have it from very good authority (read: Orange Bowl Committee member) that Iowa has in fact sealed up one of the 2 at-large BCS bids.  That said, the BCS folks were LIVID yesterday when Delany made his statement.  They are denying anything and everything and trying to make him look like a$$.  Which basically means that ND and USC are fighting for that last and final BCS at-large spot.  From what I've been told, if Wazzu loses to UCLA, then USC goes Rose and the Irish go Orange. However, if Wazzu wins, then the Irish will be making plans to go to Jacksonville and the Gator Bowl.  The guy I spoke to said that was what the BCS is looking at. Just thought I'd throw this into the mix... -- Pimpi 11:59:01 AM    comment []

Consider this a surrogate hate target related to this week's rants on the BCS... FUCK JIM DELANY, AND FUCK THE BIG TEN. As if bowl politics hadn't gotten bad enough, the conference had the audacity to put out a release today stating that Iowa has secured a BCS bowl bid (although they have no clue which bowl). It would make sense, in theory -- the Hawkeyes are No. 5 in the BCS standings, they're 11-1 and won a split of the Big 10 title. HowEVERRR, there's one small catch -- nobody in charge of a BCS bowl will back up the conference's declaration. So either way, Jim Delany is a bigger cock. If Iowa HAS accepted an invite from one of the big four, the cool thing to do is wait until the bowl officially makes an announcement. But to go on record with it early is dick. If the BCS, in fact, has NOT yet invited Iowa in, which, according to officials, they have not -- then this is a clear case of the conference putting very public political pressure -- and ND-hating -- on the already beleaguered BCS. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, would make me happier now than to see Notre Dame seal up a BCS bid at Iowa's expense next week. It would be a true "Dewey Defeats Truman" moment, and it would be a clear, full-blown kick to the shriveled nuts of Delany, who is the single most corrosive force in college sports today. This fucking guy...talking about how his conference is so extremely high and mighty, when Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan State and Michigan have all been hit with NCAA sanctions very recently. Hard ones, too. Not some Kim Dunbar shit...some federal jury shit. Some shit that's so big that a mediocre sportswriter (George Dohrmann) can break the story, win a PULITZER and parlay it into a job at SI. And aside from Northwestern and Michigan, there's not even a good academic institution in the bunch. What do these guys have to be proud of? Sorry. I really shouldn't get off target. Delany is a cock (strange, since he lacks one), and he has taken his powerful position and used it to help put college football on a par with boxing. His pre-emptive strike yesterday, clearly an attempt to steer the Orange away from picking ND instead, is a not-so-subtle sign that he's still bitter about the Irish turning down the Big 10 (I mean 11...they CAN count, can't they?) and their repeated overtures to join. Greedy fucker. I want the Irish to get a BCS bid this year because a) they're not the least deserving team; b) prior to the USC debacle, we've been the feel-good story of the year; c) Tyrone and the players busted their ass to right the ship, and they've EARNED it. Now, I can add a big ol' D to that list... I hope we get it just to stick it to Delany and his presumptuous, sport-ruining, weak-conference-having ass. Delany is to college football what Bush is to the world...a power-hungry moron who shits out of his mouth. Comeuppance in the form of an Irish invasion would be nearly as sweet as a national title. So there you have it. Fuck the BCS, but fuck Jim Delany with a three-foot mechanical razor-blade-studded strap-on. If he went away, many of the NCAA's problems would certainly follow. He better PRAY I don't land this job in Columbus. -- O 3:01:55 AM    comment []

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