The Mistake of Following College Sports Recruiting

     I'm a big sports fan, and as a big sports fan, I try to get any kind of information about any of my teams at the earliest possible time.  As technology continues to be a larger factor in sports information, reports and rumors from inside sources seem to be more available than ever.  These reports range from what player your NFL team is considering drafting, to in-race twitter reports form NASCAR race teams, to rumors websites about all the latest trade rumblings whispered about your favorite baseball team.

     One of the more popular sports insider information web sites is subscription sites that offer inside information on the athletes deciding where to play in college.  These sites charge a monthly fee to access a message board, run by a moderator whose job is to follow and report on any high school athlete being recruited by a particular school.  Following college recruiting is something I regret starting, because now that I started it, I can't stop.  College recruiting can be fun if your team consistently signs top caliber athletes such as Duke, Kentucky, and North Carolina in basketball, or Ohio State, Alabama, and Texas football.  If your team does not happen to one of those top end schools, recruiting can be very frustrating.  Athletes are ranked on a 5-star system, where 1 star is the lowest level prospect, and 5-star prospects are the top high school athletes in the country.  Top end schools get so many 5-star recruits, that some of them don't even start.  This leaves some of the second tier schools to fight over 3 and 4-star recruits.

     Something that's difficult to remember sometimes, is that these athletes being recruited are just kids.  The beginning of the recruiting process for the majority of high school athletes starts in their sophomore year of high school.  That means these kids are about 15 years old at the beginning of this process.  It is not a good moment when you realize you are getting all bent out of shape over where 15 and 16 year olds decide to go to college.  Like most teenagers, these teenagers tend to change their minds often.  It is not uncommon for a high school recruit to have a big ceremony to announce what school they have chosen to go to, and then days later announce that they have changed their mind and are going to a different school.

    Recruits do not automatically guarantee success however.  VCU and Butler just advanced to the Final 4 of the NCAA basketball tournament, and each team had one 4-star recruit, and two 3-star recruits as their highest rated players coming out of high school.  This can be especially difficult for teams who don't get many highly rated recruits to begin with, to have one end up being a bust when it comes time to perform on the field.

     It is also generally accepted that college recruiting is a very dirty business.  Some of the top coaches of the top programs in the country have been caught breaking the rules about providing recruits with some kind of monetary or other types of benefits, which is illegal for amateur athletes.  This kind of thing can ruin a program.  Just ask Southern Methodist University, whose football program was one of the tops in the country, until repeated recruiting violations sent them into years of recruiting sanctions, which lead to the demise of the program.  These violations were highlighted in the recent ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "Pony Excess".

     Because of these reasons, and because it's too late for me, if I were you I would just enjoy the players you get once they get to your school, rather than agonize over the college recruits that never end up coming to your school.

MLB Monday: 2011 Season Predictions

     It's almost time for meaningful baseball!  My last MLB Monday leading up to the regular season will be about my predictions for the season this year.  I feel like this is a good time to remind everyone that I am in no way, shape, or form, an expert, and these predictions are sure to be terrible.  But I do invite everyone to make your predictions in my comments section.  So here goes nothing...

AL division winners

Boston Red Sox
Detroit Tigers
Los Angeles Angels

NL Division Winners

Philadelphia Phillies
Cinncinnatti Reds
San Fransisco Giants

Wild Card Teams

New York Yankees
Atlanta Braves

First Round Playoffs

Boston def. Los Angeles
Detroit def. New York
San Fransisco def. Philadelphia
Atlanta def. Cincinnatti

Second Round Playoffs

Boston def. Detroit
Atlanta def. San Fransisco

World Series

Boston def. Atlanta

American League Awards

MVP- Robinson Cano
Cy Young- Jon Lester
Batting Champion- Robinson Cano
HR Champion- Jose Bautista
Comeback Player of the Year- Mark Reynolds

National League Awards

MVP- Troy Tulowitzki
Cy Young- Cliff Lee
Batting Champion- Troy Tulowitzki
HR Champion- Albert Pujols
Comeback Player of the Year- Carlos Beltran

Surprise Teams of the Year

AL- Baltimore Orioles
NL- Milwaukee Brewers

     There are my picks, let me know yours!

My Favorite Players Who Aren't On My Favorite Teams

     When you watch a lot of SportsCenter, you start to see a lot of players who you normally wouldn't see from just watching your own team.  Sometimes, you see these players do so well, you want them to be on your team.  During baseball seasons, I always used to have a running list of 3 or 4 players who I used to follow who weren't on my favorite team.  The first player I was really like this for was Torii Hunter, then of the Twins, and I was lucky enough to see him sign a 5-year contract with my favorite team a few years ago.  I started taking this concept to other sports too, and eventually I started to have quite a few players I followed across several sports who I liked to keep track of.  Here are some of my current favorite players not on my favorite team, and a brief description on why I like them.

Jason Heyward, OF, Atlanta Braves:

Associated Press



     These days, baseball prospects are a dime a dozen.  Every team seems to think they have the next great baseball player.  Most of them don't.  Jason Heyward had a huge amount of hype on him last year in his rookie year.  I made a point to watch the Braves opening game so I could see him.  The baseball world was anxiously waiting his debut, and for most people that pressure would be a lot to handle.  So what did Heyward do in his first at-bat?  Hammered a pitch over the right field fence.  It may have just been one pitch, but it was enough for me to know I liked this guy, and was ready to see more.  He had a decent rookie year batting .272 with 18 HR and 72 RBI, but he is poised to be a 30 HR and 100 RBI type of guy every season.

DeMarcus Ware, LB, Dallas Cowboys:

Greg Nelson/SI



     I'm a Redskins fan, so I'm not supposed to like DeMarcus Ware, but he seems to be the ideal kind of football player to like.  He's a physical beast, he plays through injuries, and he plays harder than any player in the NFL.  He's also good for at least 10 sacks every year, and is one of the most dominant defensive players in football.  From all the reports I've heard, he's also an incredible person too.  Unfortunately, it seems more rare than ever than an athlete is a good person too.  So I hope the best for DeMarcus Ware, just not against the Redskins.

Rick Ankiel, OF, Washington Nationals:

     Rick Ankiel came up through the minor leagues in the St. Louis Cardinals organization.  Except he came up as a pitcher.  He was a top pitching prospect too, and a pretty solid starter for a couple of seasons for the Cardinals.  Ankiel developed a control problem, to the point where he started setting Major League records for the amount of wild pitches he threw.  It started getting in his head, and he never could fix his control issues.  So once he got to the point where it was clear he would not be a major league pitcher, he talked the organization about back down to the minor leagues about being an outfielder.  It took him 3 years to return from his last season pitching to a major league outfielder.  For those who aren't very familiar with pitchers in baseball, they can't hit at all.  Even the ones who can hit, can't really hit.  So for Ankiel to make the majors as a pitcher, and then again as an outfielder was amazing to me.  Also, I really am holding out hope his team gets into an emergency situation where they run out of pitchers, and they bring him in from the outfield to pitch.

Tim Tebow, QB, Denver Broncos:

     I like Tim Tebow for a couple of reasons, but the first is a reason most people like a player not on their team.  This reason is of course, he's on my fantasy football team.  So mostly I like him because I want to win the caysh, but also I hate when a player does great in college football, and all of the expert analysts say they cant cut it in the NFL.  I had the same thoughts when they said Charlie Ward, the Heisman trophy winning QB from Florida State couldn't cut it because he was too short, or Eric Crouch, the Heisman trophy winning QB from Nebraska, couldn't cut it because he ran the option offense in college.  Tim Tebow got to play a little toward the end of this season, and he looked exactly as good as he did in college.  Playing quarterback by running and throwing the ball, and taking big hits in the process.  Tim Tebow being successful in the NFL could be huge for the sport, and maybe some of these college-style quarterbacks will start looking better to NFL scouts.

Any former Maryland football and basketball player:

     I realize this one isn't quite the same as the other ones, because at one point they were on my favorite college team.  I like to follow the guys through their pro careers though, because good players from a school only does good things for the program, and also because I rooted for these players very heavily in college, and I'm in general just not ready to stop rooting for them. 

Honorable Mention Favorite Players:

Cliff Lee, SP, Philadelphia Phillies
Travis Hafner, Cleveland Indians
Manning brothers, QBs, Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants
Nick Markakis, OF, Baltimore Orioles
Josh Hamilton, OF, Texas Rangers
Brian Vickers, #83 Red Bull Toyota driver
Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Saints
John Wall, PG, Washington Wizards

     If you have any players you like who aren't on your favorite team, write about them in the comments!

MLB Monday: AL Central race

     The division race I am most excited about watching this season is the AL Central.  The general consensus is that the Minnesota Twins will win the division again from what I have seen so far, but I think some other teams will be just as good this year.

     The Twins have the best catcher in baseball Joe Mauer.  The Minnesota native is virtually a lock to contend for the highest batting average every season.  When healthy the Twins first basemen Justin Morneau also is one of the best players in baseball.  Morneau is coming off a season where he missed more than half of the year from a nasty concussion, and apparently was still feeling the effects recently.  The Twins have a relatively unkown infield other than Morneau, but the Twins seem to be one of those teams that play well no matter who they put in the lineup.

     The Detroit Tigers are the team I think will have the best chance of knocking off the two-time defending division champion Twins.  The Tigers have proven veterans and power hitters in outfielder Magglio Ordonez, first basemen Miguel Cabrera, and catcher/DH Victor Martinez.  They also have two young up-and-coming superstars in outfielder Austin Jackson, and flamethrowing starting pitcher Max Scherzer.  With their offense and strong bullpen, I think the Tigers could end up being the team to beat in the Central.

Robin Buckson / The Detroit News

    The Chicago White Sox could be the darkhorse team to watch in this divison this year.  The addition of Adam Dunn will bring some power to the lineup that already includes homerun hitters Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin, and could be dangerous to opposing pitchers.  Like the Tigers, the White Sox also have a budding superstar in second basemen Gordon Beckham.  The problem with the White Sox is their starting rotation is pretty shaky with potential injury prone pitchers.  If the pitchers stay healthy though, they could be one of the best in baseball.

     These three teams will make the AL Central a fun division to watch this year.  What division races are you excited about watching this season?  Share in the comments.

Going to the game vs. Staying at home

     Through high school and most of college, I would have never thought about this discussion.  I would have said going to the game wins every time.  Nothing beats the game day experience right?  Then I had a friend in college whose father was the former Chief of Police in Washington, DC.  First of all, sports aside, this was great.  He had all sorts of great stories from that time in his career, and most were hilarious.  He was a Redskins fan also, and one day he told me about all the free tickets he was offered when he was Chief.  He told me he thinks he was offered free tickets to every single Redskins home game during his entire time as the Chief of Police.  He then told me he never went to one game.  I didn't understand this, and when I asked him about it he basically told me, going to the game would be nice and everything, but he liked that he didn't have to deal with the parking, the lines everywhere, the traffic in and out of the stadium, and most importantly, he liked that when the game was ready to start he turned the TV on, and when it was over, he turned it off, and he was done with it.  I still credit this line with ruining going to sports games for me, because he was right.  When you go to a game, it is a full day's event.

     Going to games is still fun for me, but I think I am more picky about when to go to games and when not to now.  First of all, if they were free tickets, I would have been at those games, because that's half the battle as far as I'm concerned.  It's hard for me to justify paying for the tickets, gas, parking, and food at a game, when I could watch the same game at home for free (and by free, I of course mean enjoy the sports on the programming I've already paid way too much for).

     Another thing I've found is that with all the new technology in televised games, I miss out on a lot being in person.  I usually like the commentators for games, and I like when an announcer points out something I didn't see.  I have mentioned in a previous post that I saw Navy football play a game using the triple option offense, and most of the time I didn't know who had the ball.  With the cameramen and announcers, I know exactly what is going on.  I also like knowing what is going to happen when a play is under instant replay review.  I could swear, being at a game with an important replay call under review, sometimes it feels like those calls take up to 10 minutes to figure out.  I like pausing games and taking a bathroom break, and fast-forwarding through commercials.  I like checking in on other games/fantasy football players if my game isn't going as well as planned.

     There are other games/events where I feel like television doesn't do it justice.  I have season tickets to Maryland football games.  It makes it easier for me to have season tickets to Maryland football, because they don't sell out games, so it's cheaper for me then it would be for a Virginia Tech fan.  I feel like college football games are an exception to this rule because it's more to me than the game.  Being on campus, and being around the college-aged students makes me feel like a college student again.  Granted, I was a college student longer than most people already anyway, but that's not the point.  Tailgaiting at a college game is a lot of fun for me, because you're surrounded by everyone rooting for the same team as you waiting to get in the gates and take in the college football atmosphere.  I understand you could make the same argument for tailgaiting at pro games, but for some reason the college atmosphere feels different for me.

     My other event that is only better in person is the NASCAR Nationwide Series.  For those unfamiliar with the Nationwide Series, it is one step below the top level Sprint Cup Series, but has many of the same drivers, and usually is the night before the Cup race.  In general, I don't really care who wins the Nationwide race.  I have my rooting interests, but since it's not the Cup Series, it's not a big deal if it doesn't work out.  The reason I feel like I have to be at this race, is because you get all the fun of tailgaiting at a Cup race, but don't have to get too worried about the actual outcome.  I feel like I have to be in front of a TV for the Cup race, because I want to see where my drivers are, hear the analysis from the commentators, and see anything I would miss by not having experts explain it to me.  Let me tell you though, you have not experienced tailgaiting until you have been to a NASCAR race.  You see things which would never be acceptable at a normal sports event.  I have seen people bring garbage bags full of beer into the track (only for me to spend the whole race sneaking them out of their bag).  I have seen people walk around with a beer funnel they pass around for anyone to use.  I have seen my friends partake in this, and my advice to you would be to avoid that all costs.  Bottom line is, if you haven't tailgated at a NASCAR race yet, do it soon.

     I think overall, my opinion is that if I am watching a game because I truly care about the outcome, I'd rather be watching it on TV.  I'd rather sulk by myself if we lose, rather than be surrounded by opposing fans yelling some sort of chant in my face, and I'd rather know all of the information about the event as possible, which just is not happening when you are at a game in person.  If a game is more important for the experience, then I'd obviously rather go.  If you have any thoughts on game vs. home, share them under the comments.

Betting on Sports

     Betting on sports is a fickle beast.  About a year ago, I thought I had a genius plan.  I'm going to share this plan, and I'll bet you think I'm a genius too.  In college football there are a ton of games each week.  There are web sites you can go to and bet on them.  They say it's legal, I'm not 100% sure.  So my thought was, I don't have to bet on every game, I just have to choose the five games that I think are locks for this week.  Even out of just the five games that I thought were absolute locks, I only have to win 3 out of the 5 to come out on top for the weekend.

Walter Iooss Jr./SI

     Here was the problem I didn't think about at the time.  As it turns out, the people who make the lines for these sports bets, may possibly know more than me about these games.  It's inevitable; when they say a team is going to win by 5 points, you would be shocked how close these games seem to always turn out to the Vegas lines.  So these "locks" I thought were so guaranteed, were made just for suckers like me.  After all, these guys probably spend each week analyzing the data and history for all of these games to come up with such a good number, and I would just look at it for a second and think it was a lock.

     As you can imagine, my first weekend I lost every single game.  I still think betting on sports can be fine if you can do it responsibly.  One of the big things I liked about betting on games was that if you happened to be lacking on sports games to watch that weekend, putting a few bucks on a game can make it as exciting as your own team's game that weekend.  I remember that first week when I bet on five games, I was going absolutely nuts over a Wisconsin vs. Indiana game, two teams I couldn't care less about.

     I think you can have a good time betting on sports if you follow a couple of simple rules:

Rule 1:  Your total money betting should only be an amount of money you can afford to lose each month.

     So if you set aside an entertainment budget, part of that budget can be moved from something else like movies or going out to dinner one less night, and use it for sports games.  The thing about this rule is you have to be able to stop if you have lost that much money.  Once betting on sports gets to be stressful because you have bet too much money, it's not fun anymore.

Rule 2:  Spread out your betting allotment.

     If your allotment is $30 a week, don't spend it all on one game, even if you think that one game is a lock.  First of all, trust me, there is no such thing as a lock.  It seems like the most confident games I have ever bet on, I have lost, or they turned out much closer than I thought.  If you spread out your money into 3 games for $10 each, you can enjoy three games for the same price.

Rule 3:  Don't try to play catch-up, and don't try to ride your winning streak.

     Every once in a while I would bet on a few early games, and if I lost, I'd scramble to look for more games to try and recoup my losses.  Other times I would win the first few games, and look for more games to increase my winnings, and end up losing what I won, plus what I originally put in.  If you can't deal with losing your games, or winning your games, you shouldn't bet any money to begin with.

Rule 4:  If you can't follow the first three rules, don't bet.

     If you get into betting a few games, and you realize you are getting a little to crazy, you shouldn't be betting.  Close your account.  It's much better to enjoy the sports you already like than to take it too far, and lose money you can't afford to lose.  Here is a good website to go to for you or anyone you know who might have a gambling problem:  http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/

Reasons why college football is better than pro football

     I have had this argument with several friends about the fact that college football is 10 times better than pro football.  In fact as far as I can think of, there is only one reason pro football might be better, and I'll get to that in a little bit. 

     Let me start with what is currently the most obvious reason college football is better.  You never have to worry about a lockout or players strike.  I wish I could tell you that a work stoppage in professional sports is a once in a lifetime thing, but truthfully, this sort of thing happens once every few years in one of the major sports.  Over all this argument between the players and the owners splitting the revenue, neither side seems as concerned about who is providing the revenue, the fans.  It would be a real shame for the college players who left school early to jump to the NFL to waste this football season not playing in college or the pros. 

David Bergman/SI

     College football players are also much more exciting than pro football players.  Guys like Charlie Ward, Michael Vick, Reggie Bush, Vince Young, and Tim Tebow were so much fun to watch in college football.  The jury might still be out on some of those guys' NFL careers, but even if they do become top-level NFL players, they will still never be as exciting during the games as they were in college.  I remember staying up for the late games to watch what kind of nasty moves Reggie Bush would put on teams, watching Michael Vick create huge gains out of broken plays like he was in a video game, and Vince Young running for first downs at will in the 2006 Rose Bowl.  No matter how good an NFL player is, the NFL offenses are often very plain, and exciting plays are at a minimum.  In college, the offenses can have a lot more exciting plays, and have players creating their own play, which never gets old.

Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

     The option-offense is something you will never see as the featured offense in the NFL.  For those who are unfamiliar with this offense, basically it comes down to 3 plays.  Option 1, after every snap, the big fullback runs straight up the middle, and the quarterback has the option to give him the ball or keep it himself.  If the quarterback keeps the ball, the running back runs right behind him, and the quarterback has the option to run the ball himself, or pitch it back to the running back.  The best part about this offense, is that the defense knows exactly what their game plan is, and it is still crazy hard to stop.  I went to watch a Navy football game live this year, a team that runs the option-offense, and it drove me crazy seeing them do this all day, and having no idea who had the ball.  I would get excited to see a player get tackled, only to realize that actually the guy running 30 yards up the field is the guy who actually has the ball.

     One thing that bothers be about the NFL, or any pro sport for that matter is the player turnover.  In the NFL, your team drafts a player, you see him develop as an NFL player, and by the time he gets really good, he's a free agent and signs with another team.  I just don't like rooting for your favorite player, and the next year he's on your rivals' team.  In college, once you get a player, he usually sticks around for 3-4 years, and then moves on to the NFL.  It's a short time you get with these guys, but when they leave for the NFL you still get the idea that they are one of your guys.  I always like following my favorite college football players in the pros, even if they are not on my favorite NFL team. 

     I think it's only fair for me to talk about the one reason the NFL is better than college football.  College football could never pull off fantasy football, which for many people has been the best part of the NFL season.  Since I started playing fantasy football, I started watching games that ordinarily I never would have cared about.  It also gives me more knowledge about the NFL than I would have had just watching my team's games.  I'm not even sure college fantasy football is legal with the rules of using a college football player's likeness, which is why you'll never see it on ESPN or Yahoo!, but I have seen magazines try and pull off college fantasy football, and it looks like it wouldn't even be fun.  The highest rated players aren't the best players in college football, but rather the guys who play the worst opponents.

     All in all, I'll take college football over the pros any day, and unfortunately this season, we may not have a choice with the continued NFL work stoppage.  I just wonder if the NFL doesn't play this year, will more people be watching football on Saturdays when they decide to come back?

MLB Monday: Philadelphia Phillies

     The chicks might dig the long ball, but the Phillies might have the best pitching rotation of all time.  Two offseasons ago, the Phillies traded one of the top two pitchers in the Major Leagues Cliff Lee, so they could trade for the other of the top two pitchers in baseball, Roy Halladay, apparently because they thought they had a better chance of signing Halladay to a long term deal.  So Halladay signed the big contract, and pitched unbelievable for the Phillies last year, with 21 wins, a 2.44 ERA,and threw a no-hitter in the playoffs.

     This is in addition to the Phillies other ace they had last year, Cole Hamels, whose 12-11 win-loss record, really didn't reflect how good he pitched with a 3.06 ERA and over 200 strikeouts.  Hamels really started to look like the Phillies ace he was before Lee or Halladay came along.

     So, the Phillies figured even with Halladay and Hamels, they needed some more pitching power.  They went out and traded for Roy Oswalt, long time veteran of the Houston Astros.  Like Hamels, Oswalt had an average record at 13-13, but also like Hamels, Oswalt had a great ERA and high strikeout count. 

     With Halladay, Hamels, and Oswalt returning this season, the Phillies already locked in the top starting pitching rotation in all of baseball.  Still not satisfied, the Phillies signed Cliff Lee again as a free agent.  Cliff Lee has by far been the best pitcher of the last two postseasons with the Phillies and Rangers.  He also had a great season along with the other three Phillies starters.  With the Phillies starters, I don't know how other teams are going to be able to win a series against them.  The Phillies did lose outfielder Jayson Werth to the Nationals, and I think second basemen Chase Utley's injury is looking pretty bad the way people in the media are talking.  Either way, the Phillies pitching rotation makes them one of the most fun teams to watch this season.

Not Exactly An Expert NCAA Bracket Challenge

    It's that time!  NCAA Tourney March Madness is here!  To prove I'm not an expert, and see who really is, I have started a bracket group on the espn.com tournament challenge.  I'm going to send a $25 gift card to Buffalo Wild Wings to the winner!  Whether you have watched hundreds of games this year, or pick your bracket based on the mascots, everyone is welcome!  To sign up you must sign up for a free espn.com account.  The Tournament Challenge is under the fantasy sports section, and you can search for the group Not Exactly An Expert, where you can fill out your bracket.  You must have your bracket filled in by Wednesday.  Remember to tell your friends about it, and as always, check for updates on notexactlyanexpert.blogspot.com.

My Favorite Rivalries

     Duke and North Carolina advanced to the ACC basketball tournament finals for the 512th time yesterday, and will play the ACC Championship about an hour from now.  This made me think of all of the rivalries I really enjoy watching.  What really makes rivalries great to me are the tradition that goes into these games.  Players and coaches come and go, but the rivalries that are truly great stay strong no matter who is on the team, and it seems new stories are created with each new meeting.  I'm going to list a few of the rivalries that I look forward to every year.

Duke and North Carolina Basketball

     Duke and UNC basketball might be my favorite rivalry.  I will always take a college rivalry over a professional one, because you don't get a whole lot of the switching teams other than the occasional transfer student, and most of the time transfer students will go from a small program to a bigger program, or the other way around, and there is not a whole lot of lateral movement like you might get in the pros.  The thing that makes Duke and UNC a great rivalry is that these two teams rarely have down years.  The best high school basketball players always seem to take a look at going to these two schools, so the talent keeps pouring in year after year.  Including today's game, this will be 15 years in a row that one of these two teams played in the ACC Championship, and out of those 15 games, 14 of them were won by either Duke or UNC.

Duke and Maryland Basketball

     I know, you don't have to say it.  Duke and Maryland is not as big of a deal as Duke and UNC, and everyone knows it.  You get the idea though that this rivalry gets a little nastier.  Maryland fans have known to be pretty intense with the burning couches and starting riots, either in celebration because of a vicotry, or in anger because of a loss.  In 2001, Duke forward Carlos Boozer's mother got hit in the head by a water bottle thrown by fans after Duke just finished a huge comeback win over the Terps.  Former Duke guard J.J. Redick once said Maryland is the only place in the country that he didn't want his parents to travel to the game. 
     This rivalry really started to take shape in the late 90s into the early 2000s.  Maryland started to become a national contender, and UNC happened to be going through a couple of down years, and for a few years Duke and Maryland held the top billing in the ACC.  The Duke fans often chanted "Not our rivals" at a home game after this rivalry started gaining more momentum with the national media, but players such as Boozer, and Jason Williams have admitted that while they were at Duke, it was a bigger rivalry than Duke and UNC.  The one thing this rivalry has that most don't is a David and Goliath feeling.  Most rivalries stay heated because the two teams are on equal ground, but Duke recruits far more heralded high school basketball players, while Maryland is more known for having 2nd tier high school players, but guys who have high work ethic, and reach higher levels of skill during their time at Maryland.  Duke and Maryland will never be as big of a rivalry as Duke and UNC, but it's still a big rivalry, and a game worth watching every season.

Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees
     These two baseball powerhouses compete in everything, not only with who wins the games, but also who gets the best free agents in the offseason.  I have heard stories that these teams sometimes make decisions not only to make sure their team gets better, but also to make sure the other team doesn't get any better in the process.  The thing that baseball rivalries have that other sports don't, is that these teams will meet anywhere from 15-25 times a year including possible playoff games.  Baseball is a long season, and it's nice in the dog days of the summer to have a mid-week 3 game series between these two teams, especially if your team isn't doing all that well that season. 
     The fans of these two teams might hate each other more than any other rivalry.  I once went to a 3-game series in Boston between the Angels and Red Sox, and after the National Anthem, the Red Sox fans started chanting "Yankees Suck!"  I couldn't believe that the Angels were playing, and the fans didn't even care about them, they were still chanting about the Yankees.
     I'm not a fan of either of these teams, but if I had to choose a team to pull for in this rivalry it would be the Yankees.  The Red Sox fans bother me more because they call the Yankees the "Evil Empire," and accuse the Yankees of "buying their championships" by offering free agents huge contracts rather than drafting and developing their players, when in reality the Red Sox are no different.  The Yankees at least know what they are.  The Yankees always have the highest payroll in baseball, but the Red Sox are usually right there at #2. 

Army Navy football

     There are tons of college football rivalries I could pick, like Ohio State/Michigan, Texas/Oklahoma, Tennessee/Florida, or Alabama/Auburn, but I love this rivalry because it's less about money than any other one.  Even in college games for big programs, it's about doing something to get to the pro level and get paid.  The Army and Navy players aren't going to the pros, they are going to the military.  This game will never have the top football players, but it does have a lot of history, traditions, and is rich with pomp and circumstance.  The crowd is packed with former and current military servicemen and servicewomen in uniform, and the President of the United States often attends this game, and makes speeches in the locker rooms to the teams.  The best part of this rivalry to me, is that these teams may have as intense of a rivalry as anyone, but they all know that at the end of the day, they play for the same team.

Redskins and Cowboys

     The thing I like about this rivalry, is that no matter how good one team is, it seems like these two teams always play each other close.  This rivalry is similar to the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry for me.  Like those teams, the fans hatred for each other seems to push this rivalry far more than the teams.  The owners seem to one-up each other often as well, with both wanting to have the most seats, the biggest stadium, the biggest scoreboard, or the best free agents.  These teams also happen to have a combined 8 super bowl wins as well.

USA vs. Europe in the Ryder Cup

     For those of you who aren't huge golf fans, I'll explain this one a little bit.  Every two years, the USA and Europe each have 12 representatives for their golf team, and play team matches against each other.  The best part about these matches is that they are so different than a normal golf tournament.  In a normal tournament, there are no teams, everyone is just playing for themselves, but in the Ryder Cup, it turns into a team sport.  All of the teammates are working together and helping each other throughout the match.  Also, golf is not traditionally a sport where players show a lot of emotion, and this also changes for this event.  Golfers are jumping around, getting pumped up, and high-fiving their teammates as they make good golf shots.  As far as rivalries go, I think this is the one where the rivalries mean as much to the players as it does the fans.  If you have a few minutes, watch these highlights of the 1999 Ryder Cup, and look at the golfers getting into these matches.

     These are my favorite rivalries to watch, not necessarily the "best rivalries".  What are your favorite rivalry games to watch?  Share them in the comments section.

NCAA Basketball Tournament Expansion

     Usually when I write these things, I run it by a few sports fan friends of mine before I publish it.  I did this with my friend Steven before I wrote this article, and it lead to an hour long argument.  Keep in mind, Steven and I were both Communication Studies majors in college, so in our eight years of knowing each other, neither of us have ever admitted defeat in an argument to the other. 

     It's almost NCAA tourney time.  Time to get out your brackets, which is arguably the best "fantasy sport" ever.  Recently, there have been discussions about expanding the tournament field, currently at 68 teams, to 96 teams.  For a long time, I thought this idea was silly.  96 is too many, I said.  Actually, I thought 68 was too many.  I didn't really know why I thought that.  I guess I just heard 96, and in my mind I was used to 64, I liked 64, and 96 is nowhere close to 64.  I follow a college basketball team that recently has been on the tournament bubble often, meaning at the end of the season, they are very close to whether or not they will be chosen to play in the tournament.  But the reason I have started to turn to a 96 team tournament is not about my team, but about Virginia Tech.

     For the record, I do not like Virginia Tech sports.  I especially hate Virginia Tech football, for the same reason I don't like a lot of the teams that I don't like, which is that they had a moment when all of the sudden, everyone and their mothers decided that they have been fans of this team their whole life.  The Boston Red Sox are a team I also do not like for the same reason.  Around 2003, everyone was a Red Sox fan all of the sudden, because they could see the Red Sox were about to break their near 100-year streak of losing the World Series.  All of the sudden, people kept popping up, saying they have been Red Sox fans forever!  No you haven't.  You hopped on the bandwagon when Johnny Damon and Kevin Millar joined the team, and pretended to be a part of an 80-year long struggle.  If you don't know who Mike Greenwell is, you are a phony.

     The Virginia Tech magic moment revolved around Michael Vick.  Michael Vick was the most exciting football player in college football history.  You could not plan for Michael Vick.  He did what he wanted, and teams had no choice but to let it happen.  All of the sudden, everyone is a Virginia Tech fan.  Am I making this up in my head?  Impossible, because suddenly applications for Virginia Tech went through the roof over night.  Virginia Tech was a safety school, and Michael Vick rolls around, and it's one of the hardest schools in the state to get into.

     So, I hope I have proved my point that I promise I do not like Virginia Tech, so here is my actual point of this article.  Usually 20 wins in a good conference gets you a spot in the NCAA tournament.  Virginia Tech finished the season 23-8 in the ACC, arguably the toughest basketball conference year-in year-out.  Sometimes teams get left out because they have a losing record in conference play.  The Hokies finished 10-7 in the ACC by selection day.  Sometimes teams get left out because they didn't beat any good opponents.  The Hokies beat Miami and Wake Forest when they were both ranked in the top 25, and also North Carolina's team full of All-Americans, even if they were in a down year.  Sometimes teams get left out of the tourney because they have a losing record in their last 10 games.  The Hokies finished 6-4 in their last 10 games.  The Hokies however, were not invited to the NCAA tournament.

     The Hokies would not have won the NCAA tournament that year, but they earned the right to play in the tournament.  They deserved the right to try to make the Sweet 16.  They were not given this opportunity, but do you know who was?  The University of Arkansas Pine-Bluff Golden Lions.  The Golden Lions didn't win 23 games that season.  They didn't beat any top 25 teams either.  They started the season 0-11.  But the Golden Lions won the SWAC conference tournament by beating such college basketball powerhouses as Mississippi Valley State, Alabama State, and Texas Southern.  I don't even know what SWAC stands for, and I refuse to find out. 

     Each year when the NCAA tournament selection committee is selecting teams, their mission statement is to choose the best 64, or 65, or 68 teams to play in the tournament, depending on the year.  Conference tournament champions are guaranteed to make the tournament however, so UAPB made the tournament even after a 17-15 record in one of the worst conferences in Division I basketball.  I don't care how you spin it, UAPB did not deserve to play for the NCAA Championship more than Virginia Tech.  If you include these automatic bids to the tournament, there is no way the best 68 teams will ever play in the tournament.  If you include 96 teams, I think you can make a much better argument that the best 96 teams are playing.  I would rather some of these lesser conferences lose their automatic entry into the tournament, but knowing that is unlikely, I think a 96-team field is a better compromise.  Let teams like Virginia Tech get their chance to make a sweet 16, even if they never had a realistic shot to win the championship.

     A 96-team tournament would include an extra weekend of March Madness, more money for the TV stations, and if you correctly pick all the games in a 96-team bracket, than you are some sort of crazy sports genius, even though we all know the old lady in the office picking her winners based on the mascots always seems to win the office pool.  I don't expect a lot of support on this argument, but if I can get one person to change their mind on this one, I'll consider this post a success.  Write me a comment if I've showed you the light, or also if you think I've finally lost it.

Taping games annoyance

     I guess it's not taping games anymore.  I guess it's DVR'ng games, or maybe it's just recording games.  Technology has made taping games much better... and also much worse.  The reason it's better is because digitally recording games is much easier.  The technology of digitally recording the games allows for more easily adding the additional time in case of overtime, and you can tape two games at once, or tape a game while watching another important game.  More importantly, there is no danger of taping over your wedding video.

     This article however, is more about how technology makes recording games much worse, because people have trouble following proper taped game etiquette.  Getting in touch with people is far easier than ever before, which makes avoiding the outcomes of games more difficult than ever.  A few years ago, I went to a college football game where my team lost a rivalry game they weren't supposed to lose.  I think I had 3 phone calls, 6 text messages, and 10 facebook posts from friends enjoying a good laugh at me, all before I made it back to my car.  Now I was at that game, but most of these people calling or messaging me didn't know that.  As soon as the game went final, they were armed with their technological devices, ready to rub it in. 

     So, all devices need to be turned off during taped games.  People who get as crazy as me about finding out the outcome of a game before your ready have all learned this the hard way.  If I know someone is calling me, I am making assumptions about what happened in the game, even without answering it, just based on who called.  I hope no major emergencies happen while I'm recording a game, or I'm in trouble.

     The worst part of recording a game, is knowing someone already knows the outcome.  Their facial expressions, their tone, and their comments, are all things that make me think they are spilling the beans.  People will give away things about the game without realizing it, and I'll give you my worst instance of this case.  Two years ago, my wife (then girlfriend) asked me to go to a movie with her Saturday night.  Normally, this would be no big deal, but this particular movie happened to be about the eternal struggle between teenage werewolves and vampires.  I was to buy the tickets when I got off of work that day, and we would watch the movie that night.  There was a problem.  We live in a town with one movie theater, and the teenage vampire-werewolf movie was sold out for that night.  I called Shannon with the terrible news, and she said that it was no problem, but to go ahead and buy the tickets for the next available showing.  But there was a problem, and it was a big problem.  The next available showing was Sunday at 1:00, the same time as the Redskins and Cowboys game.  I thought of mentioning this, and then I thought better of it, knowing we recently had a DVR system installed.  We had some friends staying in town this weekend; friends who were not interested in whether the vampire or werewolf got the girl.  They chose to stay at my house to watch the Redskins and Cowboys game.  Knowing that I get signals whenever I know someone knows the results of a game, the people staying at my house were given strict instructions, that we would call when the movie was over, and they would watch the remainder of the game at a local sports bar.

     The plan seemed bulletproof.  None of the people staying to watch the game were big pro football fans, so I was confident the instructions would go off without a hitch.  The movie ended, and I can't remember whether the vampires or werewolves won.  As promised, we called with plenty of time that we would be coming home.  I had Shannon walk in the door before me as a last-second precaution, just in case the freinds were still watching the game.  They were.  I was not happy.  I yelled from outside the door that I was not happy.  I could hear the explanation offered; that it was the last two minutes of the game, and they didn't want to miss it.  They had no idea how much information they just told me.

     By knowing there were only two minutes left, and that they did not want to leave, I knew it was a close game.  After all, if there was a 30-point difference in the score, the fact that there were only two minutes left wouldn't make much of a difference.  This also let me know that when I was watching the game, I didn't need to get too panicked if we went down a couple of scores, or too excited if we went up a couple of scores.  This made the first 58 minutes of the game much less exciting.  I watched it anyway.  The score went up and down a few times, and finally I got to the two-minute warning, with the Redskins driving the ball down the field, less than one touchdown down to the Cowboys.  This was the point I could finally get excited again.  The first play after the timeout, Jason Campbell threw an interception to Dallas, and the game was over.  As far as my excitement about the game was involved, I got one play out of it.

     If you want to avoid ruining your friends day, make sure never to talk to someone about a game unless you are sure they got to watch it live.  Wait for that person to call you, or check their facebook status to see if they are commenting on the inevitable poor performance of the officials of that game.  With that being said, I'm recording the ACC tournament game at 7 pm tomorrow night, so don't tell me about it!  If you have similar extreme measures of avoiding contact during games, or have your own story about someone ruining your recorded games, tell me about it in the comments.

MLB Monday

     I have gotten some ideas from reading some other blogs, and an idea I've seen is having themes for a day of the week.  I'm going to use this space every Monday until the beginning of the Major League Baseball season to talk about a baseball team or player I'm excited about watching this season.

     The first MLB Monday team I want to talk about is the Baltimore Orioles.  The Orioles had an exciting and unusual offseason this year, by opening up the wallet and spending a little money on some BIG hitters.  They went out and signed Mark Reynolds from the Diamondbacks, Derrek Lee from the Cubs, and Vladimir Guerrero from the AL Champion Rangers.

Guerrero picture- AP Photo/Eric Gay

     Guerrero is coming off of his lone season in Texas, where he hit .300 with 29 homers and 115 RBIs.  Guerrero's numbers were due in large part to a hitter-friendly stadium in Texas, but playing in Baltimore should be just as beneficial for him.

Baltimore Sun photo by Karl Merton Ferron  

     Reynolds is a high-strikeout, low-on base percentage, but huge power type of guy.  Reynolds is practically a lock for 30+ homers, but also a lock for 200+ strikeouts.  The plus side about Reynolds is he will also benefit from playing half of his games in Baltimore, and guys like Brian Roberts, and Nick Markakis on base in front of him when those balls he hits leave the yard.

   

Lee picture- AP Photo/Eric Gay

     Lee is also a solid on-base and power guy, and should hit 20 homers, but is getting up there in age.  He is very patient at the plate, which may lead him to hit 3rd in the order and get on base before Guerrero and Reynolds.

     In addition to the newcomers, the Orioles also bring back hitters Brian Roberts, Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Luke Scott, and Matt Wieters.  With all this talent at the plate, the Orioles have above-average hitters at every position, which will make this team one of the most fun teams to watch in 2011.  The Orioles have a lot of young, but good starting pitchers who are ready to step up, as well as veteran Justin Duchscherer, who when healthy is a top end pitcher in the majors.

     The Orioles should score a lot of runs, but may not get a ton of guys out, so I think you're going to see the birds play a lot of 9-7 and 10-8 games, but there is no denying they will be a fun team to watch.  My bold prediction for the O's this season is that they could be a lot like the Rays of  years ago, where they hang around near the top of the standings with the Red Sox and Yankees all season.  I think the O's will finish above 4th place in the AL East for the first time since 2004, and stay in contention for a playoff spot a lot longer than people are used to seeing.  Write a comment if you think I might be on to something, or you think I'm off my rocker!

I like NASCAR... here is why:

     It's March.  It's Sunday afternoon.  This means I am sitting down getting ready for a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.  This week it's the Kobalt Tools 400 in Las Vegas, and I'm excited for it to get started.  I haven't always been like this, NASCAR wasn't very popular in my area growing up.  I went to college at Longwood University in Farmville, VA (and I'm still here today), which is within a couple of hours of two NASCAR tracks, Richmond International Raceway, and Martinsville Speedway.  NASCAR was a lot more popluar with my friends from college than I was used to.  I truly didn't get the hype.  People would talk about NASCAR and I would make fun of them, and I thought I was hilarious!  My classic one-liner was, "Hey what's so special about NASCAR anyway, are they thinking about turning right instead of left this week?"  I was wrong.

     I grew up a Redskins fan, and as far as I knew, Joe Gibbs was the greatest coach, and human being of all time.  I had heard he got into NASCAR but at the time didn't think much of it.  In 2004, I started trying to figure out what all the fuss was about.  I started by casually flipping to the channel I knew the race was on, and checking in on the Joe Gibbs drivers positions during the race, which would scroll across the screen.  Each week, I would check in more and more often, and eventually this turned into watching the whole race.  I was hooked.  I was watching each lap and following the #20 Home Depot car driven by Tony Stewart, and #18 Interstate Batteries car driven by Bobby Labonte, both cars owned by Joe Gibbs.

     I started doing quite a bit of research about NASCAR, and before I knew it, I knew as much about NASCAR as any of my friends.  I have had other friends suddenly get into NASCAR since I have, and I learned one funny fact.  If you want to ask someone about NASCAR, ask someone who just got into the sport, because it doesn't take too long for them to start learning all of the ins and outs.  My new found affection for NASCAR coincided with my graduating college, and I was able to write my senior thesis on advertising in the sport, which is impossible to avoid in a NASCAR race.  My professor Dr. Bill gave me a B on the paper, I'm still slightly bitter over that.  It was a solid B+ paper.  Once you start doing research on NASCAR, which new fans inevitably do, it doesn't take long to find the impact Dale Earnhardt had on the sport.  Earnhardt died 10 years ago on the last lap of the Daytona 500, while he was running 3rd, as the two cars leading the race were both cars he owned, driven by Michael Waltrip, and his son Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Deaths in sports happen often, but none have had near the impact of Dale Earnhardt, not only because of his faithful following still 10 years later, but also the changes his death has made in the overall safety of the sport.

     One of the criticisms non-NASCAR fans have, is that people only like NASCAR for the wrecks.  I'll admit that the wrecks are pretty crazy, but the people who really like NASCAR are not watching for the wrecks, they are watching the passing more than anything, which really makes a good NASCAR race.  The best part about the race, is that the post-game interviews are done immediately as the drivers get out of the cars.  This format has lead to some hilarious reactions in a sport where the athletes wear their emotions on their firesuits right next to their primary sponsors.  Just imagine interviewing the losing player of a football team seconds after giving up the game winning touchdown.

     Another reason you need to get into NASCAR, is the experience of going to a NASCAR race is unlike any other sporting event.  People who go to the NASCAR races make longer than a weekend out of it.  The tracks are covered in RVs, campers, and pick-up trucks, having the world's largest barbecues.  In a culture where stadiums thrive on dirivng up the prices on concession sales, NASCAR tracks let you bring your own cooler into the races.

     For all these reasons in more, I'm glad I came around to being a NASCAR fan, and if you haven't already, try it some time soon and I'll bet you'll thank me later!  Speaking of bets, you can't hate the 5/1 odds on Kyle Busch today!

Rules for Sports Fandom...

     Before I start this post, let me make this very clear:  Sports is about your entertainment, you should feel free to like whatever teams you want.  If you want to sit home and root for the Yankees and the Red Sox at the same time, by all means be my guest.  The problem occurs when you go hang out with your buddies, or go to work, and talk about how great all your favorite teams are, then you are subject to the rules of sports fandom.  Most of the people I talk to about sports break at least one of these rules, including myself.  Some offenses are worse than others, but multiple offenses has the potential to severely hurt your credibility as a sports fan.

Offense #1- Claiming allegiance to sports teams for no reason.

     People who talk about sports get very defensive about why they like the sports teams they follow.  By default, local teams are automatically acceptable as a favorite team.  The further you get away from where you live, the more questions you need to answer about why you like this team.  This rule is mentioned often in sports conversation, and everyone needs to have their backstory ready whenever anyone is called out on sports allegiances.  You especially need to be ready in case this team happens to be doing well at the time. 

     For un-biased and full disclosure purposes, I will admit that this is the one sports fandom rule that I break.  I was raised as a Baltimore Orioles fan growing up in Alexandria, Virginia, right on the Virginia side of the Maryland/Virginia border, and close to Washington, DC, which at the time of my sports fan birth, was Orioles country.  At a very young age, I made a decision that my favorite team was no longer the Orioles, and from then on, it would be the California Angels.  This happened so long ago, that I can't remember why I made the switch.  I recently asked my brother Donnie, a year and a half older than me, if he could remember why I made the switch.  He thinks it had something to do with the release of Billy Ripken from the Orioles.  Billy Ripken was never an above-average baseball player, but like me, he was the little brother, and I think if you ask around, many DC-area little brother sports fans had a connection to Billy Ripken.  I can't remember if that's exactly the reason I made the switch, but I feel like that would be a reasonable reaction.  As for why I chose the Angels, I think it was a combination of thinking Chili Davis was a funny name, and that they were the first team to appear in my Sega baseball video game.  Somehow, the Angels stuck with me into adulthood.  All of the other teams I follow are the local sports teams of the DC area in each sport.  I hope that this single offense hasn't completely ruined my credibility with my soon to be captivated audience.

Offense #2-  You have a favorite college football team, and a different favorite college basketball team.

     In my opinion, this is by far one of the worst sports fan no-nos.  There is nothing worse than someone who gets real annoying on how great Ohio State football is, and then in November they start bragging to you about how great Duke basketball is this year.  As far as I'm concerned, if you want to brag about Duke basketball, you have to suffer through Duke football

Offense #3-  You woke up one morning, looked at the standings, and your favorite team in every sport was the best team that day.

     I don't think this annoys most people as much as it does me, but this is my blog, so it's going in as a rule.  I have several friends like this, and they all have different crazy reasons for why they like each team.  Your favorite teams are the Dallas Cowboys, the Atlanta Braves or New York Yankees, Jeff Gordon, and Duke Basketball?  You aren't fooling anyone buddy, we know what you did, and you should be ashamed of yourself, and you should be forced to keep your sports fandom to yourself.  At a conference basketball tournament a few years ago, I saw a man wearing a Duke jacket, and New York Yankees hat.  From the  encouragement from a few buddies, and a few beverages, I asked the man if his favorite football team happened to be the Dallas Cowboys.  He glanced at all of his apparel, noticed he was not wearing any Cowboys clothing, and with a puzzled look on his face, he asked me how I knew that.  I told him that I just had a good feeling about it.

Offense #4- You have multiple favorite teams in the same sport.

   The best part of having friends who like sports, is rubbing it their faces when your team is doing well, and by far the worst part is when your buddies rub it in your face.  This is increasingly difficult when your friends claim to like Tennessee, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, and Ohio State football.  Two of those teams are bound to win on any given weekend, how are you ever supposed to brag on how good your team is?  One sport, one team, that's now officially the rule.

     One rule I think one people subscribe to is that you should only like a college sports team if you went to that college.  This is not a rule.  Getting accepted into a college with a top sports program is as hard as ever.  You should not have to have a 4.0 in high school to enjoy college football.  I recently signed up to be a small-level athletic booster for my favorite college team, and the director of the program told me that 40% of the donors were not alumi of the university.  I promise they enjoy the donations of their non-alumni supporters.

     So, here are my big rules.  Have a look at them, and decide how much sports fan credibility you still have.

   

Not exactly an expert...

     My name is Phil, and I am addicted to sports.  Most of my free time and money are spent on sports, and after years of ignoring social norms in order to watch more sports, I feel like I have a lot to share.  I have my favorite teams in most sports, and following each one of them takes up a solid amount of each year.  My wife every year looks forward to the day after the Major League Baseball All-Star game, the one day of the year when there is guaranteed to be no sports.  We call it Shannon Day.

     I have a feeling that my story is not too different than most crazy sports fans, but I think my interactions and experiences through sports have given me a unique perspective that some people might be interested in reading about.  I will never pretend to be an expert about sports, after all, no one likes talking to an expert about sports.  They think they know it all, you think you know it all, and it can be a real annoying experience when two know-it-alls won't shut up about how great their team is.

     Also, I have a job.  I am currently a 6th grade math teacher, which means I don't get to spend my whole day analyzing sports.  The only sports I will watch are the ones that keep my interest.  In other words, I will only watch a sporting event because I want to, never because I have to.  So, if you are looking for in-depth analysis of Pac-10 basketball, this probably isn't the site for you.

     I will be posting here often, whenever I think of something cool, something funny, or something annoying that I want to talk about.  I hope you check back often and share your thoughts and opinions as well!