Top 10 Events in Cardinals Glendale Stadiuum

Wow, the Arizona Cardinals' "new" stadium in Glendale AZ (called "University of Phoenix Stadium" by those who think corporate sponsorships matter) just opened three years ago, yet it has already hosted some awesome sporting events. Here are my top 10. Frankly the list is pretty impressive. Even better, I had tickets to every game on the list except SB42.

1. NFC Championship Game. Jan. 18, 2009. Cardinals 32-25 over the Eagles in a back and forth game that had fans on edge. Thunderous noise and joy throughout.

2. Super Bowl 42. February 4, 2008. Giants edge the Patriots 17-14 in a great game. Not #1 because it featured no local teams and was full of "fans" who didn't really care about the game.

3. Fiesta Bowl Jan. 1, 2007 Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 (OT). Huge upset with amazing play after amazing play to finish the game.

4. NFC Wildcard Game January 3,2009. Cardinals defeat Falcons 30-24. First home playoff win ever.

5. Fiesta Bowl Jan. 5, 2009 Texas 24, Ohio State 21. Great game between two traditional powers when many were predicting a Texas blow-out.

6. International Soccer February 7, 2007 62,462 fans saw the U.S. National team defeat Mexico, 2-0. Raucus, pro-Mexico crowd made the whole event a blast.

7. Fiesta Bowl Jan. 2, 2008 West Virginia 48, Oklahoma 28. Huge upset by the Moutaineers.

8. Cardinals v. Dallas October 12, 2008. Cardinals defeat Dallas on a blocked punt in O.T. Though a regular season game, this result sent notice that this was a very different Cardinals team. Alot of Cowboys fans left the Stadium as Cardinals fans.

9. BCS National Championship Game. January 8, 2007. Texas blows out Ohio State 41-14. Not much of a game, but it was the National Championship.

10. First Game. August 12, 2006 Cardinals 21-13 win over the Steelers. Pre-season, but it was long sold out and we beat the Super Bowl Champ, and was an exciting start to a beautiful stadium.

What's missing from the "dirty dozen" list?

Is it any wonder that print newspapers keep losing subscribers? The Arizona Fish wrap…err Republic is a classic example of a local paper that just doesn’t get it when it comes to covering the local (i.e., Arizona State) university football team. Putting aside that the fish wrap devotes too much coverage on weekly basis to the team from down south in Tucson, the latest example comes from a column this week about the “toughest teams to face the Sun Devils in Tempe.” http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/BobYoung/33179
The list includes a game against unranked Notre Dame in 1998 but fails to mention the classic game pitting a top-ten ranked ASU versus rival UofA (ranked #11 at the time) for the WAC championship in 1975. Game highlights included ASU overcoming a double-digit deficit and featured “the catch” in the back of the end zone by John Jefferson. Also missing were various Fiesta Bowl matchups, including an ASU victory over #12 Oklahoma in 1983 and a loss to top-ten ranked Penn State in 1977.

IAI College Rankings Week 2

IAI College Top 25 Rankings Week 1

No politics here! Just pure love of football guides our picks. Here are the week 1 rankings. All teams in this initial list are 1-0.

1. Ohio State
2. USC
3. Georgia
4. Missouri
5. LSU
6. Oklahoma
7. Florida
8. West Virginia
9. Auburn
10. Kansas
11. Arizona State
12. Texas
13. Wisconsin
14. Alabama
15. UCLA
16. Utah
17. South Carolina
18. Fresno State
19. Penn State
20. Texas Tech
21. Oregon
22. South Florida
23. BYU
24. California
25. Bowling Green

There you go. For the AP Rankings, click HERE.

College Football

Ah yes, the smell of leaves and the crisp cool winds of autumn. Well, okay... who am I kidding? It is August in Arizona and its still crazy-hot here. Anyway college football is upon us and that means good times. I'll be attending the Arizona State- Northern Arizona "rivalry" game this Saturday and I hope it stays within 14pts at least 'til halftime. I'm going courtesy of Justwinbaby, and so I plan to enjoy the free grub provided for his fancy loge seats.

Time for a quiz!

Ohio State is occasionally derided by Pac-10 fanboys for playing a weak in-state schedule before the Big 10 portion of the season kicks in. But Ohio State does occasionally lose those in-state games. Name the last Ohio school to beat the Buckeyes. Click HERE for the answer.

Good Riddance

News item: Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen plans to step down next summer. Read about it HERE.

Normally I wouldn't give a hoot about some college conference commissioner stepping down. But this is an exception. Hanson led the PAC-10 in its annoying, hypocritical fight against a college football playoff. In fact he was the #1 opponent of a playoff system --citing student academic concerns and the like. As if college football wasn't a multi-million dollar business. As if NCAA basketball and division II football (which does have a playoff) couldn't get around those concerns. No, this was about money. The money the PAC-10 made with TV tie-ins and bowl tie-ins. Total crap.

Hansen may have been a good commissioner, but his obstructionist tactics were unfair, given that the majority of college football officials wanted a playoff system. Good to see him go. Not a moment too soon.

Rubric for Evaluating College Sports Rivalries

[Ed note: This is written by DRage in response to our (other IAI bloggers) claim that he is a midwest football hater and a UCLA apologist. He has come up with a mathmatical formula for his hate. But there is no way to defend UCLA calling its girly light blue unforms "powder keg blue". I mean come on.]

DRage writes:

Yes I am a hater. But in the name of transparency here is my hater
criteria:

Location: East of the Mississpi = minus, West of the Mississippi = plus (extra negative points if you are North of the Mason Dixon line and east of the Mississippi.

Academics: Minus points for schools with no academic cred, (i.e.
Memphis, Miami - can we talk about how stupid it is to put a U on your helmet for University?), Even more minus points for schools that brag about their academic standards as if they apply to their athletes (see Notre Dame, Duke, Stanford, etc)

Private/Public - Private is negative, public good

School Size: Super large = bad, smaller = underdogs = good.

Integrity and self righteousness - these are directly related - If you are crooked but swear you are not, very bad - see Lou Holtz and Notre Dame.

Coach Obnoxiousness: Related closely to integrity and self righteousness. Admit we love watching Spurrier and Stoops turn red on the sideline.

Wussness of Conference and Scheduling

Style of play - you have to have the forward pass in the playbook beyond third down.

Uniforms - Admit it, its hard to hate on the UM Flying Wedge. I also hate red and white - get original, sorry buckeyes but Grey andred looks like you washed your whites and darks together - hate it.

Ubiquity - Am I forced to watch them every week?

Band Wagon Factor - Why is everyone in Ohio a fan of OSU, not Ohio U - can you say bandwagon. Same for SC, Notre Dame (when they don't suck).

Based on these criteria - here ismy NCAA Hater Heirarchy from best to worst.


10) UCLA - public school, sweet unis, So Cal, coach smarminess countered by academic integrity, history of excellence. HMMM HMMMM Good!

9) Pac 10 Teams
Breakdown (best to worst)- Washington, Washington St, Oregon (Nike unis only make it worse),Arizona (really who cares - they are much higher if discussing basketball and Lute Olson), ASU (such losers and chokers hard to hate, do hate the high school reject unis with the mustard non matching helmets), Oregon St. (unbearable when they win), Stanford (BS holier than thou neo con bastards allowed to drop classes during final - everyone eligible), CAL (the sleeziest recruiters in the PAC, will take anyone, last Pac 10 school to stop taking Prop 48 atheletes, paid athletes, no relationship between football and b-ball teams and academic reputation of the school, unbearable when they win).

8) USC - the worst of the PAC, cheaters, no academic credibility, will take anyone, smug, private school bastards. At least they always suck at round ball.

7) Other small west coast schools - really who cares - the WAC is wack.
Its embarassing watching ads paid for by the conference on Fox and ESPN begging them to show Mountain West games on tv.

6) Big 12 - at least no one pretends to be academic - we'rea football factory, so what? Too much red and white in the color schemes - Texas, AM, Nebraska, OU - enough.

5) Other Mid Major schoolsEast of the Mississippi - would be lower but tired of insistent argument that they deserve more respect - that and crappy running backs who lead the nation in rushing but can't play professionally (see Garrett Wolff).

4) SEC - Pussy scheduling, no academic integrity at all (makes ASU look like Oxford on the Salt River), credit for slapping down Big 10 on regular basis.

3a) ACC - more for basketball, Duke is probably one of the three most annoying teams in any sport. Acts like any of their players could have gotten in for anything but basketball.

3) Michigan - Big 10 team, fight song calls themselves champions of the West (yeah in 1850 although I think the Sioux or Apaches could have taken them easily), but damn those uniforms are sweet.

2) Big 10 - Big 10 but 11 teams= academically suspicious; crappy, over rated teams every year; still have not discovered the passing game; Wisconsin owns UCLA in bowls (dammit); Too much red and white (Wisconsin, OSU, Indiana), too many crappy never competitive teams (Indiana, Northwestern, Illinois, Minnesota),

1a) OSU - I think we have covered this ad naseum, plus Todd is right - it's fun watching OSU fans go all apoplectic when you mention Maurice Clarret, their stolen victory over the Canes, Tressels sweater vest, hee hee hee. It's too easy.

1) Notre Dame - The standard by which all other hate is measured - they are a ten on every critera Location, Check, Check Academics - check, double check for claiming that their recruiting problems are a factor of their academic scrutiny - please didn't Randy Moss originally play at ND? Brady Quinn, yeah he's a rocket scientist private school - check school size - definitely not small or underdog integrity and self righteousness - Lou Holtz flat out paid players, atty my wife worked with who attended ND told story about football player having sex in front of audience in dorms despite "honor code", LB admitted a couple years back to dating head of the booster club and recieiving cash benefits - let's just say check coach obnoxiousness- check - fat guy tries to sue for his failed gastro by pass surgery - how about trying to by pass the buffet - extra loser points for hatable qb - Jimmy Clausen the third in the line of mediocreClausen brothers (two played at Tenn. - they are like thespecial ed Mannings) showed up at signing conference in limo wearing his threeCA statechampionship rings and promised to win more at ND - douchebag spent hisFRyear on his ass running the worst offense in the country (don't mention the UCLA game) Wussness of Conference and Scheduling - check - it is not 1950, Purdue, Navy and Army let alone Michigan State are jokes. Just join the Big 10 and shut up Uniforms - I have to admit the blue home uniforms are slick but how about a logo?; Style of play - hard to say - like what I saw last year; ubiquity - no team should have their own TV deal or guaranteed BCS slot, check; Band Wagon - theirs is the absolute worst - being a catholic apparentlymeans you haveto automatically root for ND. Luckily they have been horrible so the band wagon is limping.

But back to USC. We didn't all see this one coming? Carroll runs one of the sketchiest programs in the country despite the west coast laid back appearance. Quick run down:

Leinart's family paying for wr Jarrett's rent in a $4000 a month apartment The Ting twins leaving the school amid allegations of steroid use Two players having thousands of XTC pills in their apartment for sale. Winston Justice Mc Knight academically inelligible and Bush involved in his possible illegal recruiting Multiple players and cheerleaders taking spanish classes at a local tech school to keep their academic ratings up. This year's starting qb, Sanchez accused of rape, mysteriously dropped Three white players startingracist my space page - no punitive action by Carroll Multiple arrests by key players - no discipline by team We won't even talk about OJ I and their willingness to display his memorabilia in heritage hall.

Add on OJ II - if you have been following the story, the sleezy agent rep who brought the money was persona non grata at USC since he pulled the same crap with a player in late 90's/OO's. They knew the guy was trouble. It is a bad sign when a player is investigated for amateur violations prior to being signed. It's also a bad sign when no major program will offer a schollie to the "best" player in the nation - except for Bob Huggins who graduated all of 0 players during his tenure at Cincinnati. Just read the story of his "recruitment" facilitated by Gilloury. Also don't forget that their starting line ups average age was like 21 despite not having any seniors on the team (I think Mayo was a
21 year old freshman as was Davon Jefferson) - they will take anyone to be competitive.


SC is out of control. My guess is that they will get a slap on the wrist under the argument that the school should have known, but really this was the athletes fault. The NCAA needs a west coast power for ratings. It is also interesting to note that the first year USC won the title (the year they split with LSU), SC received the largest one year donations of any school in the country (Ivies included) - this is big business at SC just like OSU. They need to go down hard but it won't happen.

Of course the one mitigating factor for SC, is that unlike OSU, when SC cheats it pays off, two titles,4 and one in BCS bowls (and the wins weren't closeor relied on bail outs by the refs like OSU needed)includingtwo routs of the Big 10.OSU cheats and still gets steamrolled, it's one thing to sell your soul, but at least get something in return.

My hope is that SC gets busted in two years when the investigations are done which gives slick rick time to get UCLA out of the doldrums to take SC's place as the West Coast Super Duper Power. Yeah right.

DB

East Coast v. West Coast

Okay, more like West Coast v. Midwest. Several guys who allege they'll post on this blog like to throw the smack around. This came up during the 11th annual KJBowl.com tourney. Some bitterness about Ohio State, as usual.

For posterity, here are their rants. Some good stuff in there.
Click Here to read rants.

About. Damn. Time.

Two news stories today caught my eye. One is that the BCS is looking at a "Plus One" bowl to take place after the top 4 teams play each other in the top BCS bowls --for a real national championship. This year that wouldn't have worked because Kansas (orange bowl winner), Georgia (Sugar Bowl winner), and of course LSU would have had a claim to 1 of the 2 spots. Nevertheless, even better news is that Georgia (bitter about having to play Hawaii after getting stiffed in the BCS standings the final week) is calling for an 8 team playoff. Read the story here. Basically the top 4 bcs bowls would be the quarter finals and then there would be two semi-final games and a final after. I'm not sure why the quarter-finals couldn't be assigned to bowls as well, but I'm happy about the proposal. Georgia is right, there were shenanigans going on in the BCS process. Plus the Rose Bowl was downright silly for picking Illinois. Far better to have a playoff to see who is the best -whether it be 4, 8, or 16 teams.

It is time for the networks and bowls to quit deciding who gets in and who is out --let the teams decide it on the field.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Yeah, the BCS stinks. It was stupid that the BCS didn't allow Oklahoma to play Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. Yes, we need a playoff. But in the meantime, we have 32, yes THIRTY-TWO College Football Bowls between tonight and the BCS Championship. That is alot of football goodness. Yes, the Keith Jackson Bowl Pool is back for the 11th year. Yes, I plan to finally win the damn thing. Since we started these contests have grown in popularity --so much so that now Yahoo, ESPN and countless others have similar confidence pools.

Every sports site around has previews and predictions. Here's one for tonight's Poinsettia Bowl between Utah and Navy by Rivals.com. I picked Utah over Navy with a confidence value of 22pts (out of 32pts). But the schedule just keeps on coming. So when you're bored by the writers' strike or at a bar drinking beer w/ pals, there's almost always a game on. Good times!

POINSETTIA BOWL
San Diego
Dec. 20, 9 p.m. (ESPN) Utah (8-4) vs. Navy (8-4)
Last season: No. 25 TCU 37, Northern Illinois 7
NEW ORLEANS BOWL
New Orleans
Dec. 21, 8 p.m. (ESPN2) Florida Atlantic (7-5) vs. Memphis (7-5)
Last season: Troy 41, Rice 17
PAPAJOHNS.COM BOWL
Birmingham, Ala.
Dec. 22, 1 p.m. (ESPN2) Cincinnati (9-3) vs. Southern Miss (7-5)
Last season: South Florida 24, East Carolina 7
NEW MEXICO BOWL
Albuquerque, N.M.
Dec. 22, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN) New Mexico (8-4) vs. Nevada (6-6)
Last season: San Jose State 20, New Mexico 12
LAS VEGAS BOWL
Las Vegas
Dec. 22, 8 p.m. (ESPN) BYU (10-2) vs. UCLA (6-6)
Last season: No. 19 BYU 38, Oregon 8
HAWAII BOWL
Honolulu, Hawaii
Dec. 23, 8 p.m. (ESPN) East Carolina (7-5) vs. Boise State (10-2)
Last season: Hawaii 41, Arizona State 24
MOTOR CITY
Detroit
Dec. 26, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN) Central Michigan (8-5) vs. Purdue (7-5)
Last season: Central Michigan 31, Middle Tennessee 14
HOLIDAY BOWL
San Diego
Dec. 27, 8 p.m. (ESPN) Arizona State (10-2) vs. Texas (9-3)
Last season: No. 20 Cal 45, No. 21 Texas A&M 10

CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL
Orlando, Fla.
Dec. 28, 5 p.m. (ESPN) Boston College (10-3) vs. Michigan State (7-5)
Last season: Maryland 24, Purdue 7
TEXAS BOWL
Houston
Dec. 28, 8 p.m. (NFL Network) TCU (7-5) vs. Houston (8-4)
Last season: No. 16 Rutgers 37, Kansas State 10
EMERALD BOWL
San Francisco
Dec. 28, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN) Maryland (6-6) vs. Oregon State (8-4)
Last season: Florida State 44, UCLA 27
MEINEKE CAR CARE BOWL
Charlotte, N.C.
Dec. 29, 1 p.m. (ESPN) UConn (9-3) vs. Wake Forest (8-4)
Last season: No. 23 Boston College 25, Navy 24
LIBERTY BOWL
Memphis, Tenn.
Dec. 29, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN) Mississippi State (7-5) vs. UCF (10-3)
Last season: South Carolina 44, Houston 36
ALAMO BOWL
San Antonio
Dec. 29, 8 p.m. (ESPN) Penn State (8-4) vs. Texas A&M (7-5)
Last season: No. 18 Texas 26, Iowa 24
INDEPENDENCE BOWL
Shreveport, La.
Dec. 30, 8 p.m. (ESPN) Colorado (6-6) vs. Alabama (6-6)
Last season: Oklahoma State 34, Alabama 31
ARMED FORCES BOWL
Fort Worth, Texas
Dec. 31, 12:30 p.m. (ESPN) Cal (6-6) vs. Air Force (9-3)
Last season: Utah 25, Tulsa 13
SUN BOWL
El Paso, Texas
Dec. 31, 2 p.m.(CBS) USF (9-3) vs. Oregon (8-4)
Last season: Oregon State 39, Missouri 38
HUMANITARIAN BOWL
Boise, Idaho
Dec. 31, 2 p.m. (ESPN2) Fresno State (8-4) vs. Georgia Tech (7-5)
Last season: Miami 21, Nevada 20
MUSIC CITY BOWL
Nashville, Tenn.
Dec. 31, 4 p.m. (ESPN) Florida State (7-5) vs. Kentucky (7-5)
Last season: Kentucky 28, Clemson 20
INSIGHT BOWL
Tempe, Ariz.
Dec. 31, 5:30 p.m. (NFL Network) Indiana (7-5) vs. Oklahoma State (6-6)
Last season: Texas Tech 44, Minnesota 41 (OT)
CHICK-FIL-A BOWL
Atlanta
Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN) Clemson (9-3) vs. Auburn (8-4)
Last season: Georgia 31, No. 14 Virginia Tech 24
OUTBACK BOWL
Tampa, Fla.
Jan. 1, 11 a.m. (ESPN) Wisconsin (9-3) vs. Tennessee (9-4)
Last season: Penn State 20, No. 17 Tennessee 10
COTTON BOWL
Dallas
Jan. 1, 11:30 a.m. (FOX) Missouri (11-2) vs. Arkansas (8-4)
Last season: No. 10 Auburn, No. 22 Nebraska
GATOR BOWL
Jacksonville, Fla.
Jan. 1, Noon (CBS) Virginia (9-3) vs. Texas Tech (8-4)
Last season: No. 13 West Virginia 38, Georgia Tech 35
CAPITAL ONE
Orlando, Fla.
Jan. 1, 1 p.m. (ABC) Michigan (8-4) vs. Florida (9-3)
Last season: No. 6 Wisconsin 17, No. 12 Arkansas 14
ROSE BOWL
Pasadena, Calif.
Jan. 1, 4:30 p.m. (ABC) USC (10-2) vs. Illinois (9-3)
Last season: No. 8 USC 32, No. 3 Michigan 18
SUGAR
New Orleans
Jan. 1, 8:30 p.m. (FOX) Hawaii (12-0) vs. Georgia (10-2)
Last season: No. 4 LSU 41, No. 11 Notre Dame 14
FIESTA BOWL
Glendale, Ariz.
Jan. 2, 8:00 p.m. (FOX) West Virginia (10-2) vs. Oklahoma (11-2)
Last season: No. 9 Boise State 43, No. 7 Oklahoma 42 (OT)
ORANGE BOWL
Miami
Jan. 3, 8 p.m. (FOX) Kansas (11-1) vs. Virginia Tech (11-2)
Last season: No. 5 Louisville 24, No. 15 Wake Forest 13
INTERNATIONAL BOWL
Toronto
Jan. 5, Noon (ESPN2) Rutgers (7-5) vs. Ball State (7-5)
Last season: Cincinnati 27, Western Michigan 24
GMAC BOWL
Mobile, Ala.
Jan. 6, 8 p.m. (ESPN) Tulsa (9-4) vs. Bowling Green (8-4)
Last season: Southern Miss 28, Ohio 7
BCS TITLE GAME
New Orleans
Jan. 7, 8 p.m. (FOX) Ohio State (11-1) vs. LSU (11-2)
Last season: No. 2 Florida 41, No. 1 Ohio State 14

This is good. Gives us all hope