The World Series, NFL and ESPN/SEC Bias

Just a few thoughts while I have them on a Monday night....

Regarding the World Series, I know it's hard to count out the Royals, but I think the Giants are in good shape. Before we go anywhere else with this, let's be real: Bumgarner is absolutely nasty. Kershaw may have been baseball's version of Sandy Koufax during the regular season, but Bumgarner takes it to another level in the playoffs. The Royals had no chance last night.

As far as the last two games, as I said, the Giants are in good shape. However, I think the Giants best chance would be in game 6. If you go to game 7, there may be too much karma at the K for the Giants to handle. Keep in mind also that there have been nine teams to go home down 3-2 in World Series since 85...seven have won the title. And no team has won a seventh game of a World Series on the road since 1979.

Texans game thought: Zach Mettenberger learned a valuable lesson. When you're making your first career start, against the most fearsome defensive player of our time, you don't show off your selfie habit. That's just fuel for JJ Watt's fire. JJ Watt made that quite clear when he clowned Mett during that game. I think Mett has talent, but he learned a very valuable lesson.

As bad as those games in New York and Pittsburgh were, the Texans are in decent shape at 4-4, still with a playoff spot within reach especially since they play Jacksonville twice and Tennessee once, and that Baltimore and Cincinnati still come to Houston. 9-7 at least is a very good possibility. I don't trust Fitz and that is well known but he's got a good team around him. Should never have lost in Pittsburgh though.

Arizona is for real...might be the best team in the NFC. Like I've said all year, that is a physical, nasty, vicious football team. And the once interception-happy Carson Palmer is making plays and not throwing picks...eight TDs and one INT for the season. The only bad thing about the Cards is that ESPN is going to tell us for months on end that no team has hosted a Super Bowl in their home stadium...this year, Arizona has it. Yes, we know.

Oh the Dallas Cowboys...America's biggest sports soap opera takes another turn. Romo gets dinged and they lose to Washington in OT. Cowboys are pretty funny. Every time I think they've turned a corner (Seattle win), then they go lose a game like that to a third string QB. I get that it's the NFL, but that's so very Cowboys. I was reminded of that tonight. Now they get Arizona coming in...very possibly a second loss in a row. Then again, Jerry had eyeballs on his team tonight, so I guess he wins again, right?

Big win for the Saints Sunday night. Take a look at their upcoming schedule...at Carolina Thursday then three straight Dome games where they just refuse to lose. A win in Carolina might put them at 7-4 after the next four games. This isn't as good a Saints team as they've had, but they're still in the mix.

Don't look now, but Tom Brady is probably the best quarterback in the league right now and Gronk is healthy. Chicago can certainly attest to that. And what do you know, it's just in time for another Manning/Brady showdown on Sunday afternoon in New England.

I get that the focus in Kansas City for right is that the Royals are two games from a potential World Championship and rightly so, but Andy Reid is very quietly doing a good job at Arrowhead this year. Derrick Johnson, out for the year. Jamaal Charles...been hurt. Alex Smith, dinged up the last game but will probably go Sunday, not to mention all the other injuries they've had and yet they are still 4-3 and have beaten some of the best in the league.

Hell, if you really think about it, they're the team that won the game against the Pats on Monday night that started Kansas City's giant killer run (and since that point, the Royals and Chiefs have slain Moneyball, the team with the most wins in MLB, a powerful Orioles team, an explosive San Diego Charger team, and are two wins away from denying San Fran a third World Title in five years). They not only beat the Pats in that game, they embarrassed them.

The Raiders might be the second team to go 0-16 for a single season, the first being the 2008 Detroit Lions. Seriously, I see one game on the rest of their slate that they might win...at St. Louis. The rest, chalk em up as losses. I'm no Raider fan, but we've already seen 0-16 before. I've seen that movie once in 2008 and I don't want to see it again. I hope they can find at least enough courage and effort to grab one win.

Last thing, since a lot of my Nebraska peeps are spouting stuff about the SEC these days, I want to comment on this. For my readers that don't necessarily follow Nebraska, Husker coach Bo Pelini was asked in his press conference last Monday about ESPN and its relationship with the SEC. For those who may not be aware, The Four Letter and their Disney cohorts recently unveiled a new network devoted to not just SEC Football, but SEC Athletics in general. Considering what a lot of college football fans outside the southeast think of that conference, you can imagine the feathers that were ruffled when that happened.

Anyways, Pelini was asked about ESPN's relationship with the SEC and he said, and I quote, "I don't think that kind of relationship is good for college football, but that's just my opinion."

But, oh, did that set off a firestorm between Big 10 fans and SEC fans, and even between the Four Letter and Pelini. Chris Fowler, whose work I greatly respect, came out on Twitter and said that nothing would be better for ESPN than Big 10 success. He even got a little defensive on College GameDay when talking about the alleged bias ESPN has towards the SEC.

Keep in mind, you're reading the blog of a guy that wanted Bo Pelini gone after the Iowa/Nebraska game in 2013 and I stand by how I felt at the time, but that's besides the point. If ESPN isn't biased towards the SEC then why does Chris Fowler feel the need to get into this? Why does he feel the need to be so chippy if the Big 10 is such an irrelevant conference and Nebraska lacks relevance themselves (and for the record I think we have a good team this year). If it was nothing, then he would have said nothing or disagreed with Pelini's opinion and kept moving. He should be better than that.

Instead, he and the rest of the folks at the Four Letter like Paul Finebaum have to rip into Pelini themselves during their shows. My message to the folks at the SEC Network, Fowler, Finebaum and the rest of SEC fans who may stumble across this: Mind your own damn business and we'll mind ours. Pelini was just responding to a question, no need to be so defensive about it. Oh and one other thing: Nebraska won the last time they played an SEC team, not even a calendar year ago. We'll see what happens if Nebraska meets an SEC team this January.

Until next time....

15 Predictions - Friday, October 10

Wasn't in last weekend, mainly because I wanted to let last football and baseball weekend simmer down a bit with all the upsets, and with the Royals advancing. But I think today's a good day to offer some predictions for how this weekend is going to go. So...off we go. As per usual, my predictions are for entertainment purposes only.

15. First, baseball. I'm going with the Royals in 6 and the Giants in 7. In the AL, I think the Royals can win tonight with Shields, win two in Kansas City (three and five probably) and then go back to Camden Yards and close things out. The reason they are here is because they are peaking at absolutely the right time and their best players are playing well right now, when it matters. I think they carry the momentum. In the NL, I'm going with Houston's old friend Bruce Bochy and his Giants...even numbered year magic.

14. Captain Obvious, but without Todd Gurley Georgia will not beat Mizzou this weekend. If you haven't heard, Gurley was suspended indefinitely while an investigation takes place into whether Gurley signed autographs for cash. In games like this, you need players like Gurley and without him I don't see Georgia winning on the road. A Mizzou win may well lock up the SEC East although I guess Kentucky is still in the mix.

13. Speaking of Mizzou, I will also predict that with the Tigers, Royals and Cards playing back to back to back tomorrow, there will be some heated discussions in some bars in Columbia when the baseball teams are playing. Could we see an I-70 Series? As I said I'm picking the Royals and Giants (would be the second all-Wild Card World Series, the first also involved the Giants in 2002), but an I-70 rematch of 1985 is very possible.

12. Texas will play Oklahoma closer than the experts think. What is the spread, like 14.5 or something like that? Weird stuff happens in this emotional rivalry (see last year when Texas demolished an OU team that went on to beat Bama). I don't like either team but if I were going to Vegas, I'd pick Texas to cover that point spread. Wouldn't be surprised to see this be a swing point game for Charlie Strong even though they may not win.

11. Boomer Esiason was on Jim Rome a while ago talking about Andrew Luck...and said he'd be just fine even though the Colts got a scare at NRG last night. I predict Boom is right, and furthermore I predict that Andrew Luck will win multiple Super Bowls before his career is over. The guy just has "it," whatever "it" is, and a knack for making big plays when needed. Very generous of him to let JJ Watt score last night, hehe.

10. Ole Miss will not beat Texas A&M this weekend. It's too tough a spot for the Rebels. I'm not sure Ole Miss got out of the clouds by Wednesday after beating Alabama (which I was happy to see, really can't stand Bama), and if they didn't there is no way they will go to Kyle Field and win.

9. Demornay Pierson-El will be playing wideout for Nebraska at some point this season, not sure when but I think he's got to. The guy is just too explosive, too electric to keep him out of being a wide receiver. Especially with Kenny Bell week to week on whether he's going to play or not, it makes sense to put DP-E in as an additional threat. Nebraska needs players who can stretch the field with Bell hobbled every other week.

8. Dallas will play Seattle close in Seattle. Yeah, you heard me right. I think Dallas plays them close because their offensive line is great. Not good, great. Been saying that all year. Seattle will win because they are just too tough at home, but Dallas will push them provided Romo has time to throw and time to hand it off to DeMarco Murray.

7. Arizona loses to USC this weekend. Another upset special from last weekend bites the dust. Much like Ole Miss I'm not sure Arizona got out of the clouds after last weekend. USC goes there and wins.

6. The Nebraska Overreactionists will be eating their words when the Huskers earn their rematch with Michigan State in December. And this is coming from a guy who has been more than critical of Pelini and some of his losses, but that loss was not a bad loss. Team showed character in coming back and nearly pulling out the win. I respect Jason Peter's credentials and the blood, sweat and tears he gave for that program (hell I grew up in that era), but his opinion from Big Red Wrapup earlier this week was completely misguided.

The good thing is, Nebraska can see them again, and in a rematch, on turf, in a domed stadium knowing that MSU has trouble defending the deep pass I'd like their chances...a lot. Nebraska fans who thought this team was a top four playoff team just aren't living on Planet Earth. The goal is the Big 10 Championship and getting rid of that damned conference title drought...always has been.

5. NY Giants over Philly on the road on Sunday night. Philly really hasn't beat anyone aside from Indy and they needed a meltdown by the Colts to win that one.

4. LSU looks terrible right now but it's the middle of the season. Ask me about them at the end of the year. I predict they'll get better and Brandon Harris will get better as he gets more snaps. I wouldn't be surprised to see them only lose to Alabama the rest of the way with Texas A&M being 50/50 as well.

3. If Auburn gets out of Starkville with a W this weekend they will go undefeated. South Carolina is terrible and has to go to Auburn, Bo Wallace at Ole Miss is too inconsistent for me to pick them to beat Auburn, Texas A&M goes to Auburn, Georgia may still be without Gurley when Auburn comes to town which leaves the Iron Bowl...and I've long said that Auburn will win that one because Saban hates playing their offense. And if they get to Atlanta they'll hammer the winner of the East which would put them in the playoffs undefeated. That leaves this Saturday as the biggest game of the season for #2 Auburn.

2. Even if Baylor survives this weekend they will not go undefeated. Playing at Oklahoma, on grass, in November in a game that may well decide the Big 12 title...not a good recipe for the Bears. They're a turf team, and more specifically a Waco team, get them out of that environs and they won't survive. Not to mention they still have to play K-State as well....

1. O'Brien will lace into the Texans after that horrendous start last night, and I'm sure he and the team will be working overtime to get ready for Pittsburgh. Down 24-0 and the boo-birds were out. I'm not even sure it will matter that they almost came back and won, you can't start a football game like that and expect to win at that level. I'm no Fitzpatrick fan, but the team got gashed at the start of the game and didn't come prepared.

So there it is, 15 predictions for you to note....

Until next time....