CHANGING GEARS
From reading this weblog, most people might not guess that I am a devoted sports fan. Just about everything is about the various miseries we see in our national political scene. SO, time to change gears to matters of less consequence:
In order of preference, I adore the following sports and teams:
1. Major League Baseball - I am a hardcore MLB stat-head and Seattle Mariners fan (the Pacific Northwest's only major league baseball team). I also like the Chicago Cubs (I've followed them since the late 60's, and Kit is from the Chicago area), the St. Louis Cardinals (I've followed them since the late 60's, and they are one of my best friends, Martin, lists them as his favorite team), and the Minnesota Twins (used to watch them on TV when I was a kid, back when they had some of my favorite players of all time, Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, and Tony Oliva).
2. College Basketball - The Oregon Ducks (I went to UO and graduated there), the Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers (I went to EOU my first two years of college, and it's in La Grande, where I live), and the Gonzaga Bulldogs (just because). UO and EOU have rosters loaded with young players who are very talented. Eastern Oregon University is a small state-run school of about 2,400 students; they play at a level called NAIA. Their games are fun to watch, and this year they have what could be the best team they have had in years. They usually win about 30% to 40% of their games, but this year I'm thinking it may be more like 60% to 70%. I follow the womens' teams at both schools also.
3. College Football - the Oregon Ducks and the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers (see above reasons) - UO is ranked #8 in both major college polls this week (the AP poll and the USA Today coaches' poll). They have an outside shot at getting invited to one of the top four bowl games this year. I say an outside shot because they will be competing with a much-higher-profile team, Notre Dame, for one of the final bowl invites. From the end of professional baseball's World Series until the end of the college football season, I eat, live and breathe Oregon Duck football! I'm on pins and needles as I wait to find out which bowl game they will go to, and the announcement is supposed to be made December 4th.
EOU has had a history of miserable, losing football but during the past two years they have finished with winning records and have been ranked in the NAIA "top 25" polls from time to time. Things seemed to be looking up, but they fired their coach under mysterious circumstances. He led them to two consecutive winning seasons, so it must have been something icky behind the scenes, or maybe a tiff with the athletic director that got him his pink slip. Looks like the team may have to go into "rebuilding mode" again. Arrgh.
4. High school basketball - Of course it's the La Grande Tigers again! While I never did go out for football, I did go out for basketball every year. I was a good shooter, possibly one of the better in my class, but my game was strictly one-dimensional... I could shoot well, and I wasn't bad on defense under the boards despite being built like a toothpick, but if I ever had to dribble or pass the ball I was like the Human Turnover. The school kept a dozen players on the team every year, and I was usually one of the later guys getting cut. I know there are a number of smaller high schools around the area where I could have played and played often, because I had some excellent games against those schools during our summer league games. I ended up playing massive amounts of intramurals, church league and city league games from the time I left high school until I turned 42, at which time my knees and back could handle it no longer.
But that's more than plenty about my unrealized hoop dreams... this year's Tigers have a chance to do well at the state level. They have a couple of tall kids (6'7" and 6'5") who are aggressive on both offense and defense, an excellent point guard, and a great supporting cast of kids who can shoot, defend and push the ball up court. I'm anxious for their season to begin, as it should be loads of fun to go watch them play! The girls have had excellent teams for the last decade or so, and they usually go to the state tournament.
5. High school football - The fighting Tigers of La Grande High School, of course! They have made it to the "final eight" teams in their class (Oregon level 3A) this year, and last weekend they won their first state playoff game in 13 years. I will be glued to the radio when they play Phoenix, OR this weekend! The year I was a high school senior (in the fall of 1974) the Tigers won the state football championship. I didn't play... I was in the top 1/4 of my class for speed, and I could catch the ball well... but I was 6'1" and weighed only 140 pounds... I didn't want to get tackled because I probably would've been broken in half like a matchstick. I was in the marching band anyway, and we got to travel to all the playoff games that were on the road. It was a blast!
6. National Football League - Seattle Seahawks, Detroit Lions (I liked them when they had Barry Sanders, I still like them even though they suck recently, in part because they sometimes have Joey Harrington at QB), SF 49ers (loved 'em when they had Joe Montana, Steve Young and Jerry Rice).
7. National Basketball Association - I've soured on the NBA during the last five years or so, and a large part of that is that I have been a Portland Trailblazers fan for over 30 years... that has been good, but lately it has not been good due to the doofii the team has used. Talented doofii, but doofii nonetheless, so much that it makes the team tough to cheer for at times... Even though it seems like a number of their players get in trouble with the law, I am still a devoted fan and I hope they can get things turned around. I also follow the Seattle Supersonics, as I lived about an hour or so from Seattle for 5-6 years and got to see some of their games.
8. Roller Derby - This used to be so cool to watch on TV. Where did it go? I guess it kind of closed down around 1973. The Bay Area Bombers were always my faves!
Sports I don't care about one way or the other:
Ice Hockey.
Field Hockey.
Golf.
Tennis.
Volleyball.
Soccer (although I did play soccer in college... and it was a blast to play it! Our team went 6-3-1 at EOU, and we even beat some NCAA schools: Boise State, Portland State, Washington State! I just think it's not very much fun to watch).
"Sports" I detest:
1. NASCAR. Noisy, fuel-wasting, and strongly associated with the political conservative element. I think people watch it simply in the hopes of seeing a wreck. What's exciting about watching cars go around and around on a racetrack? I guess I just don't get it.
2. Professional wrestling. I used to love to watch the local wrasslers on Portland's Channel 12... "Portland Wrestling"! What a great show. It was a laugh a minute! Nowadays, with all the glitz and glamour, it's merely a shell of what it used to be in simpler times.
3. Professional poker. Watching other people play cards? I don't see the excitement in that at all. I think it might be more fun to watch paint dry.
4. Professional boxing. This used to be somewhat enjoyable when there was only one organization, when there was a unified title. Now it seems like there are so many organizations that have heavyweight champions it is impossible to tell who's the best. Louis, Ali, Frazier, Patterson... all classic boxers, eventually replaced by the likes of "Iron Mike" Tyson. How far this mighty sport has fallen...
7 Comments:
I was really into Roller Derby for a while. The only player I remember is a rough 'n tumble blonde named the Golden Jet.
I think that when I was 14 or 15 I got turned on by those tough, muscular athletic gals. Knowing that they were attractive but that they could beat me to a pulp with one hand behind their backs was exciting somehow... sigh...
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How about table tennis or pool? :-) And I like bowling.
Don't really like to watch sports at all though, except maybe olympic ice skating.
I DID forget bowling, which I love. Because I like to bowl but I don't like watching it, it would go in my middle group (same would go for table tennis). My record game is a 183, but I consider that a fluke as I usually get a score somewhere in the 90-120 range.
I disagree on ice hockey and field hockey, because I love any sport with the potential for violence. Baseball is a game I liked to play, but think is boring to watch. Soccer is boring only if you're watching Major League Soccer. Watch the English Premier League, especially towards the end of the season, when the teams at the top are vying for the championship and the teams at the bottom are fighting for survival. As a fan of SEC football, I have a special appreciation for defensive battles, and that's the nature of the best soccer games.
In college football, my favorite teams are Alabama and whomever faces any team coached by Philip Fulmer or Steve Spurrier, and I utterly despise Pac-10 football. Football should be about gritty, defensive play, not porous defenses and scores on both sides of the field being high enough to induce nosebleeds. I mean no disrespect to your Oregon Ducks, but Pac-10 football is about as closely related to real football as darts is to boxing. USC is supposedly the best team in the nation, but out of all of the weak teams they faced, how many did they shut out or, at the very least, kept out of the end zone? They couldn't even shut out Hawaii, who was 5th in one of the weakest conferences in Division I-A. By contrast, my beloved Alabama held three teams (Florida, Tennessee, and Utah State) to a field goal each, and shut out a fourth team, all in a conference in which they are but one of FIVE nationally-ranked teams. Only the ACC and Big 10 can boast as many. Alabama, even after losing 18-28 to Auburn, only fell to second in the nation on total defense and yards allowed per game, and well within the top 10 on passing and rushing yards allowed. Look for USC in any of those categories. You may have to scroll down the page a bit.
My fav teams in the NFL are the Vikings and the Steelers, though my fav owner is Art Davis of the Oakland Raiders. Also, I have a lot of respect for the Eagles as a result of their treatment of T.O. and find inexplicable Arlen Specter's support of that putz. Davis had legitimate cause, as evidenced by the verdict in USFL v. NFL, to testify that the NFL comprised an illegal monopoly. T.O.'s case was a labor dispute, and the outcome was obvious weeks in advance by anyone with even a passing familiarity with the case.
MC, I did some checking at www.ncaa.org, and you are certainly right about Alabama's defense. They are 7th against the rush, 5th against the pass, and 2nd overall! Pretty incredible! By contrast, USC is 24th, 77th and 46th respectively, and the Ducks are 43rd, 71st and 49th. In points per game allowed, USC is actually pretty good at 29th (21.5) while UO is fair at 48th (23.7). Alabama is 2nd, with an amazing 10.7!! Their defense must have pro scouts drooling. Looking at a few other defensive stat categories, Oregon is 26th in sacks, USC is 43rd and Alabama is 66th... not much to argue about there... but an area where Alabama really does well is on special teams in kickoff return defense 38th, and punt return defense 43rd. Sadly, UO is 98th and 76th respectively, while the Trojans are 86th and 117th! Yoiks!! Those rankings are hideous, and may help explain the higher amounts of points allowed by USC and UO, assuming that if you give the other team good field position when they get the ball, they'll get more points? Quite possibly. All three of the teams are pretty good when it comes to turnover margin... USC is 1st, UO is 9th, and Alabama is 21st.
When it comes to scoring margins, USC is at 27.1, the Ducks are at 12.7, and the Tide is at 12.1. UO is 69th in rushing, 7th in passing, and 16th overall... pretty danged good. USC is 1st overall, at 7th in rushing and 5th in passing, while Alabama is pretty far down the list at 74th overall (66th in rushing, 71st in passing). In points per game, USC is 2nd with 48.6, and UO is 9th at 36.4, while Alabama's average is 22.7, kind of right where UO and USC's points-allowed averages are. This would suggest to me that while UO and USC might have somewhat porous defenses, their offensive lines must be pretty danged good for them to score so much... and I don't think there is anything wussified about a good offensive line... I think the pro scouts must be drooling over the Trojans' and Ducks' lines like they must be after the Tide's defense.
If one places any stock in Sagarin's ratings from USA Today, the Pac-10 is ranked 3rd and the SEC is ranked 5th as far as conferences go (the Big Ten and the ACC are ranked 1-2). Sagarin rates strengths of schedules as follows: Michigan is 1st, while USC is 21st, Oregon 31st, and Alabama 64th. Auburn's schedule is ranked at 66th.
I think if the BCS standings indicate USC 1st, UO 7th, Auburn 10th and Alabama 15th, if might be a fairly accurate depiction. I don't think the Ducks are quite that good, but I would say they're definitely in the top 15 as Alabama and Auburn certainly are. One of the things the BCS takes into account is the Coaches' Poll, and if the nation's coaches rank UO and USC so highly, maybe there is something to it.
As for my thoughts on defense, I value defense to the point that it does what it has to do to win games. To have a good defense, a team doesn't need to shut out most of its opponents, it just needs to do what it takes. USC doesn't have to have a great defense to win, because their offense is incredible. During the Mike Bellotti era, the Ducks have used what some refer to as a "bend but don't break" style of defense (which I don't like because sometimes it bends a little too much for comfort), but if they can go 10-1 with that kind of defensive philosophy and a rather tough schedule, their defense must be pretty good, even though it "broke" too many times against the Trojans.
I love high-scoring games, whatever the sport. I also love a good smear, even if it's my team getting creamed (I have this perverse thing about cool-sounding scores, like 77-0 in football, 97-33 in hoops or 18-2 in baseball, etc.) I have only noticed a few pro hockey or soccer scores ever reaching 10... tsk tsk...
For the record, I detest the Trojans and always have. Same goes for UCLA... The USC-UCLA game in any college sport is one of those I could least care about re. who wins. Arizona-Arizona State is another. There are some other teams I get tired of seeing ranked highly in the polls year after year, including Alabama, Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, etc. BUT... I am starting to understand some of the joys of being a fan of such successful programs as my Ducks have gained a sort of prominence in the last ten years. I'm learning not to begrudge fans of successful programs, and for guys like you who are fans of a successful program such as Alabama... all I can say is, fantastic! Go for it!
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