College Football Bowl Games

The college football regular season has ended, which means it is time for the postseason. Of course, in FBS football, this does not mean a playoff, which is what everyone wants.

It means College Football Bowl Games. There are a lot of good ones out there, but other than the national title game, the best one looks like the Fiesta Bowl, which has Oregon taking on Kansas State.

Both teams will enter the game with one loss. Oregon fell to Stanford, while Kansas State lost to Baylor. They are both 11-1, 8-1 in their respective conferences. Oregon is coached by Chip Kelly, who is expected to become an NFL head coach next season. They play a fast-paced, run-oriented offense that has been the darling of college football the past few years. They are the most explosive offense in college football and can score from anywhere on the field.

Kansas State's head coach is Bill Snyder, who is in his 70s and already retired once. If they win, they will need a big game from Collin Klein, who was a Heisman finalist. He is a dual threat QB in the mold of Tim Tebow. He is a power runner, and can throw just well enough to keep defenses honest.

It should be a fascinating by two teams that employ a spread offense, but they will look a lot different than each other. I think Oregon will win a high scoring game, but it will be one of the most exciting college football games of the season.

Miami Heat Are the NBA Title Favorites

For years, NBA fans have been asking the question, “When will LeBron James win an NBA championship.” He had clearly made himself into the best basketball player in the world, and had MVP trophies to back that up. However, the one glaring thing missing from his resume was that he did not have an NBA title to his name. That all changed last June, when the Miami Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games to capture the championship.

That brings us to the current year, where there are no shortage of contenders for the NBA title, which brings up interesting decisions if you are doing online betting (click here) at TopBet. If you look at last year’s NBA standings, you see that three teams – the Miami Heat, OKC Thunder, and San Antonio Spurs looked like the main contenders. This year, you can add the Los Angeles Lakers to the mix as well.

The Heat have to be considered the favorite because they still have LeBron. He is the best and most talented player in the league, and makes everyone around him better. In addition to Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the Heat also picked up Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen, which should make their offense even more dangerous. Now that they have embraced some small ball with James playing the four, they are tough to beat.

The Thunder will be the top challenger, as they were a threat to win it last year, and should be even better with another year of experience. Kevin Durant is the second best player in the NBA, and he has some talented guys alongside him. The Lakers look to be their main competitors, after the addition of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash. They may have the most talented starting lineup in the league, but it will be interesting to see if they can fit all of the pieces together, and whether they will have enough depth to win it all. The Spurs are another team that people always want to count out, but they always seem to be in the thick of the race.

It will be an exciting NBA season, with more legitimate contenders and elite teams that I can remember heading into a year. The Heat are the favorites, but it will be a great year in the NBA.

Who Will Win The Super Bowl?

The Super Bowl has become the biggest event in American sports, as good is the new American past time. As a result, everybody has a prediction about who is going to win the Super Bowl. But who do the oddsmakers project as most likely to win the Super Bowl? You can find some odds here.

The Green Bay Packers are the Super Bowl favorites, and it is easy to understand why. They had the best record in the NFL last year, and looked like the team that was going to win the Super Bowl before their shocking defeat to the New York Giants. They have the MVP of the NFL and its best player in quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who is playing at an extremely high level. With some great receivers, the offense is explosive. The defense struggled last year, but they took steps to make that better heading into this season. That makes them the favorites.

The New York Giants also have to be considered one of the favorites, simply because they have shown they can do it. They made a surprise run to win the Super Bowl last year, and that was the second time it had happened in the last five years. The core of their team remains, including quarterback Eli Manning and perhaps the best pass rush in the NFL. Nobody will be taking these guys lightly in the playoffs.

New England seems to be a mainstay in the Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck Era, and this year will be no exception. They have even more weapons offensively, as they added deep threat Brandon Lloyd. Along with tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, they can hurt you in a lot of ways in the passing game. Defensively, they have invested some high draft picks, and it looks like it may pay dividends. They will be hungry after losing a close game in the Super Bowl last season.

A popular pick this year is the Baltimore Ravens, who were so close to making it to the big game last season. Joe Flacco is a year older, and if he takes the next step and becomes an elite quarterback, the Ravens might be the most complete team in the NFL. Ray Rice is the best running back in the NFL, and the defense should again be very good. They will be an interesting team to watch.

As always, we are in store for a great NFL season. Who do you think is going to win the Super Bowl?

"Stillpower" by Garret Kramer Review

This Stillpower book review is also posted over at Reed Reads. 

I got the chance to get an early copy of the book Stillpower: Excellence with Ease in Sports and Life by Garret Kramer, and I have to say that I enjoyed it. It was not my favorite book, but I think it is worth reading for athletes and coaches on the chance that they are able to glean one or two insights from the book that will really help them out.

The book talks all about recognizing that motivation is internal, whether it is in sports or in life, and we cannot seek external motivations. If we do that, it will be fleeting, and we will soon find ourselves performing worse. If we look to things happening to us as getting us down or up, we are not relying enough on the internal factors of performance. One story that I enjoyed from the book which talks about being motivated and satisfied by the right things was a story about former Argentinian golfer Robert De Vicenzo. The story from the book goes:

Robert De Vicenzo, the renowned Argentinian professional golfer, once won a tournament with a substantial cash prize. After receiving his check and smiling through interviews and photos, he went to the clubhouse and was prepared to leave. Sometime later, as he walked to his car in the parking lot, he was approached by a young woman. She offered well wishes on the victory and then told him that her baby was seriously ill and near death, but she had no money to pay the doctors' bills and hospital expenses De Vicenzo was so moved by her story that right on the spot, he took out a pen and endorsed the winning check over to the woman. "Make some good days for the child," he said as he pressed the check into her hand.

The following week, De Vicenzo was having lunch at the next tour stop when a PGA official approached him. "Several members of the parking lot crew told me you met a young woman after the tournament last week."

De Vicenzo nodded. "Well," said the official, "I hate to tell you, she's a phony. She has no sick kid. I'm sorry, my friend, but that girl fleeced you."

De Vixenzo responded, "You mean there's no dying baby?"

"That's right."

"That's the best news I've heard all week," De Vicenzo responded.

I can only imagine how most people (myself included) would have responded to that situation if I was De Vicenzo, but reading about him response and his clarity (the world is better if there is no sick baby compared to if there is a sick baby), it is easy to see how he was a person with his priorities and life in order.

At the end of the book, Kramer gave his ten reminders that will "point you away from external quick fixes and toward your own natural understanding" :

1. Only when you feel a sense of cooperation with your teammates, coaches, and even your opponents will you be mentally prepared to compete to the fullest extent possible.

2. Struggles only occur when you are not operating from a clear mind-set. So when you attempt to solve problems from this state of mind, your performance will only get worse.

3. A coach's words are much less important than the state of mind from which the words are spoken.

4. A coaching methodology that focuses on behaviors is mentoring after the damage has already been done.

5. Recognize the difference between your life situations and your life.

6. Keep goal setting in perspective.

7. Without the free will to choose, you will lack the resources to draw upon personal insights and move through errant emotions.

8. The opportunity always exists to move through any situation successfully, no matter how challenging it might appear.

9. Understand that no matter what you are thinking at any moment in time, there is nothing you actually have to do.

10. You will perform to the best of your ability from the ease, simplicity, and peacefulness of stillpower.

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Is Stillpower worth the read? It depends. If you are an athlete or coach, I think you could get something out of this, because obviously even one insight that improves your performance will make it worthwhile. In addition, it is a quick and easy read, which should make it a relatively easy book to get through.

Who Is The Third Best Team in the Big Sky?

This was originally posted on Big Sky Basketball.

From what I have seen, read, and know about the Big Sky, Weber State and Montana look like they will be ranked 1-2 in the conference this season, and in my mind, they look like the favorites. But the race is wide open for third. Ranking from (in my opinion and subject to change!) least likely to most likely:

- Shttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifacramento State - It will be a tough season for Coach Katz. They were one of the worst offensive and defensive teams in the country last year, and I'm not sure there is a lot of reason to be more optimistic this season. Dylan Garrity looks solid, but there are simply not a lot of impact players on the Hornets roster.

- Idaho State - By all accounts Joe O'Brien is almost definitely on the way out after this season, so he will try to make it count. He shouldn't expect any miracles. He lost his two best players, and while there are some decent players back, the cupboard is not too well stocked right now. A lot of their hopes will rest on how quickly Melvin Morgan can become the leader of the team.

- Northern Arizona - In my opinion, spots 3-7 are all pretty close, and things could go any direction. I wouldn't want to bet against Mike Adras, but NAU did lose some good talent off a team that finished 4th in the conference. Gone is Cameron Jones and Shane Johannsen, with no clear replacements for either. Gabe Rogers will be called upon to be the star, and he does have the talent to the an All BigSky performer. Perhaps the biggest key will be the development of Danny Cheek, one of the top incoming recruits in the Big Sky. If he can be productive early, NAU will be very competitive.

- Northern Colorado - It is tough predict what UNC will do this season after losing 4 key contributors, notably Devon Beitzel and Neal Kingman. They have some talent and BJ Hill put together a nice recruiting class, but it is a team that relied heavily on Beitzel last year, so there will be an adjustment period. Who will step up and be the go-to guy for the Bears? I'm guessing even the coaches are wondering at this point.

- Eastern Washington - There are a lot of unknowns with a new coach, so it will be interesting to see how things play out for Jim Hayford (last year's first year coach in the Big Sky was BJ Hill, and that turned out ok). EWU has a lot of solid returning guards, and they have brought in a solid recruit in Collin Chiverton. If their frontcourt can produce, they will be dangerous.

- Montana State - The Bobcats will be very interesting, as they will be bringing in a ton of talented new guys, so they will be as good as the team can learn to play together and Brad Huse can find a consistent rotation. The word is that Antonio Biglow, one of their most highly rated newcomers, might not play until January (if he plays this year), which is definitely a blow. Still, JUCO wings Jamie Stewart and Xavier Johnson-Blount should be a nice duo. They have the talent to be one of the best teams in the Big Sky, but it is difficult to say how quickly Huse will be able to mold the talent.

- Portland State - Craw's Corner really opened my eyes that they could be the third best team in the Big Sky, and it seems like they now have the talent to do it. Two solid holdovers are Charles Odum and Chehales Tapscott, both seniors with a year of Big Sky experience under their belt. Lateef Mcmullan looks like he will be a nice contributor right away, Michael Harthun is ready to play after sitting out a year (after a transfer from Washington State), and Brandon Cataldo could be a big contributor if he is healthy. The Vikings are a bit of a darkhorse, but if they can find a way to improve the defense from last year, they will be dangerous.

Would love to hear thoughts on who everyone else thinks will be the third best team in the Big Sky. I also have a poll up, so please vote, and leave your reasoning in the comments. I think it could be a pretty fun debate.

Time for University of North Dakota to Drop The Fighting Sioux Nickname

Originally posted on Big Sky Basketball.

The University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux are set to join the Big Sky officially on July 1, 2012, but that may be in jeopardy.

For as long as I can remember (I am a UND graduate), there has been an intense nickname debate raging at North Dakota. The current nickname is the Fighting Sioux, and that has drawn angst from the NCAA. They have placed sanctions on the athletic programs, forced them to change their names, and it has had some affect on scheduling.

For a while, it looked like the issue was settled. Then the North Dakota legislature stepped in, telling the University to continue to use the nickname. It was seen as a short-term stopgap as they tried to continue to battle the NCAA on the issue.

All of this has come to a head though, as the Big Sky has told UND that continued use of the nickname could be an issue for the school joining the conference:

UND President Robert Kelley was told last week that continued use of the Fighting Sioux name and logo as mandated by a new state law has become a "concern" for them and could jeopardize UND's joining the conference next year.

As an alum, I love the nickname, and the history and tradition that goes along with it. But it is time for it to change. At best, keeping the nickname would keep the situation contentious and would probably still cause some scheduling issues. At worst, it could keep UND out of the Big Sky, which would be disastrous for the athletic program.

President Robert Kelley is doing what he can to change the nickname, let's hope the legislature follows suit. Otherwise, we could have one less team joining the Big Sky in July 2012.

The Story of Jimmy Butler

Jimmy Butler is a basketball player that played at Marquette for the past few years, and he looks to be drafted in the NBA Draft in a couple of weeks. But that is not what makes him special.

I read this article on him the other day, and it is amazing the things he has overcome.

"His story," one GM said. "is one of the most remarkable I've seen in all my years of basketball. There were so many times in his life where he was set up to fail. Every time, he overcame just enormous odds. When you talk to him -- and he's hesitant to talk about his life -- you just have this feeling that this kid has greatness in him."

Butler is fine with that interpretation. But there's another one that he fears.

"Please, I know you're going to write something. I'm just asking you, don't write it in a way that makes people feel sorry for me," he said. "I hate that. There's nothing to feel sorry about. I love what happened to me. It made me who I am. I'm grateful for the challenges I've faced. Please, don't make them feel sorry for me."

Pity hasn't gotten Butler anywhere in life. Courage has.

Check it out and get inspired.