**As I was writing this post the news in Paris came
across my screen. I struggled to finish this post. I was about halfway through
the 4th point in my blog and found myself at a loss for words. The tragedy in
Paris forces us to think twice about the way we live our lives. Take a moment
to realize the world we are living in. It is an imperfect society. Terrorism is
not linked to color of skin, homeland or religious creed. Terror impacts
everyone. Just as 9/11 impacted everyone, this too will change the world we
live in. Pray for the people in Paris. Pray for the innocent people who will be
wrongly accused of causing this tragedy. Pray for our world.**
Wellllll, after a long hiatus from the blogging
world I have decided to dip my toes back into the crazy sphere of inter-web
blogs. Now that I've officially announced my return I want to introduce My
Friday Five. This weekly posting will highlight the five
biggest/attention-grabbing topics in my humble and unbiased (probably not)
opinion.
This week has introduced the next edition of the
crazy thing we call the College Football Playoff Rankings, the talking head of
Jerry Jones, the Missouri football team expressing how powerful college
athletes can be and another slew of MLB Awards being handed out.
1. The College Football Playoff Rankings have been announced for the
second week with no shortage of outrage and confusion stemming from the
committee's decisions. Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame are NOT the
best 4 teams in college football. How the committee makes decisions on the
rankings?? I have no idea... Alabama, ranked 4th last week, beat #2 LSU by 14
points, but the game was never that close. Should we view this as a significant
victory? Maybe... LSU and the "Mad Hatter" Les Miles came in with a
game plan that was centered on god's gift to Baton Rouge, Leonard Fournette.
After the first half and maybe the first quarter I think everyone watching the
game knew that the running game wasn't working against the tanks on the Bama
defensive front. LSU stuck with the plan of running into the brick wall and
thus exposed its greatest weakness (and a weakness of the SEC in general),
Brandon Harris needs a running game in order to succeed. Generally speaking, QB
play in the SEC is down from what it has been in the past so it will be
interesting to see how Alabama holds up against Mississippi State's Dak
Prescott, arguably the best QB in the SEC.
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| (Photo: AP) |
2. I'm fine with Clemson at #1 they've faced all of their tests and come
out on top. Ohio State can stay in the top 4. An undefeated defending champion
deserves the benefit of the doubt until they lose. As for my Irish. I will be
the first person to tell you that they should not be in the top 4. The
committee has backed themselves into a corner. How can you put ND in the top 4
and make a case to remove them later in the season if the Irish win out? If ND
wins out and somehow drops out of the playoff, Irish nation will be crawling
from the woodwork to go burn down the committee. We will never hear the end of
it, and I for one, do not want to listen to people complain for the rest of the
year. At this point my top 4 would be Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma
State. Teams vying for spots 5 and 6 would be Notre Dame, Baylor and Iowa... at
this point flip a coin. Hopefully this all works out, but I'm gathering my
nonperishable foods in preparation for the football apocalypse.
3. In today's edition of "Jerry World" the man, the myth, the
legend, Jerry Jones, has once again awed the sporting world calling Greg Hardy
a team leader. My problem with this situation is not with what he said, it is
about what he didn't say. When Hardy's name came up as a potential signee for
the Cowboys, Jones should have simply said NO. After being initially critical
of Roger Goodell for his handling of early domestic violence situations, I will
applaud him for trying to suspend Hardy for 10 games this season. All factions
in society should take the issue of domestic violence seriously, especially in
the nationalized and globalized lens of the NFL. It is a sad situation for all
parties involved and an unfortunate society in which we live, where people who
have athletic talent are rewarded and "forgiven" for shortcomings and
faults.
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| (Photo: espn.com) |
4. Speaking in just the realm of college athletics, what the Missouri
football team accomplished truly exhibits the power of athletes. Before the
Mizzou team expressed support for the protests taking place on campus the
events of racists tendencies were only recognized by a small portion of the
population. After head coach Gary Pinkel took to social media to share his
support of his African-American players, channels like ESPN, FoxSports, and
NBCSN drew their attention to the ongoing protests. College athletes have
power, they always have. When they threaten to boycott a football game and cost
the university millions people will listen. Should people listen without a
boycott?? Of course. Racism of any kind needs to be eradicated and discussion
and understand is the first step towards a solution. I applaud coach Pinkel and
more importantly, I applaud the African-American players who took a stand
against the silenced oppression.
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| (Photo: mlb.com) |
5. Major League Baseball handed out its Gold Glove winners for the 2015
season and as always, I had to scratch my head and ask why. I must admit that
there were fewer surprises for me than I have seen in the past. This points to
a better process in handing out the award and I believe this is largely due to
the increase in analytics used by teams and reporters. That being said, I still
wonder why Yadier Molina won his 8th Gold Glove. Yes, I know Yadi is the
equivalent of a catching god. Yes, I know Yadi has arguably been the most
important Cardinal over the last 10 seasons. And yes, I know Yadi has been the
best defensive catcher in the MLB over the last decade. I just think Buster
Posey had a better overall year on the defensive end of things. Posey had
better analytical numbers in steal prevention, blocking pitches, bunt defense,
etc. (you can look it up). I admit it is difficult to not give Yadi an edge
based on longevity and historical reputation, but this year, I think Buster got
snubbed. My second issue is with the way OF is judged. Why can't we just group
all the roaming-ball-catchers in one collective group?? How can you not give a
Gold Glove to Kevin Kiermaier (did win), Kevin Pillar and Mike Trout?? All
deserving candidates who dazzled defensively in center field. I understand why
we have voting by position in the outfield because each position is different.
I just wish we could have Oprah hand out the awards... You get a Gold Glove and
you get a Gold Glove! EVERYONE GETS A GOLD GLOVE!!!
