Rockies, etc.

It was way past many East Coast bedtimes, but last night the Colorado Rockies finished off the Diamondbacks, 6-4, advancing to their first ever World Series. Their run of 21 out of the last 22 games speaks for itself. Absolutely incredible. The question now is, can they keep that pace going for four more games, against the AL champ? Logic says they gotta crash at some point, but I'm sure as heck not betting against them. In my mind though, there are some areas of concern:

-There will be an 8 day layoff until Game 1 of the WS. During this time, there will be all kinds of media coverage, questions about whether they're ready, and time for the fact that they are going to the World Series will sink in. On the other hand, the Indians/Red Sox series appears as if it's going deep, and the players on those teams wont be thinking about baseball, they'll be busy playing it. I think it's analogous to the Super Bowl: when there's two weeks off before the Super Bowl, the teams appear more nervous at the beginning of the game, and that's why a lot of Super Bowls are poorly played, even by the winners (COUGHXLCOUGH). However, some years there has been only one week off before the Super Bowl (for example, the 9/11 year when everything got pushed back a week). It always seems like these games are better played and are closer contested towards the end (the 9/11 Super Bowl was Patriots/Rams, which is remembered as one of the better ones). Anyways, the Rocks may be shaky in the first 2 games, especially if they're at Fenway.

-Most of the Rockies victories in this stretch have come against the Dodgers, Padres, Phillies, and D-backs. None of those teams are anywhere near as good as the Indians or Red Sox. Will they be able to step up to the level of competition?

-AL teams have an unfair advantage when facing NL teams, thanks to the DH rule. They have this advantage regardless of the ballpark they're playing in. I'll have a separate post about this closer to the start of the WS.

But what the hell, the Rockies have defied so many expectations to this point, that anything is possible. No matter who comes out of the AL, this will be a fun World Series to watch.

Elsewhere in the world of sports:

• The aforementioned ALCS also had a game last night, with the Indians beating the Sox 4-2 to go up 2-1 in the series. Luckily, there won't be much time for whining from Sox fans, as Game 4 is tonight. Senior citizens special: Tim Wakefield (who played for the 1992 Pirates) vs. Paul Byrd. Look for the knuckleball to confuse the Cleveland hitters and for the Sox to even up the series.
• The Giants beat the Arena League's Atlanta Falcons 31-10 on MNF. Of course since the G-men have won 4 straight after a horrible start, everyone is talking about how they're back, and Coughlin is a good coach now, Eli is a good QB now, they have a good defense now, etc. Everyone seems to forget that they do this every single year: start hot, lose a game around midseason that they have no business losing, and collapse down the stretch, backing into the playoffs since there's no one else in the NFC that is good. Last year, they were 6-2, were spotted 21 by the Titans and lost, and wound up 8-8. They managed to get the last playoff berth, which resulted in a quick exit at the hands of the Eagles. There's no reason to believe the same thing won't happen this year. In fact, look for the game in London, against the winless Dolphins, to be the game in which it all starts to fall apart.

Mock Notre Dame ad on SNL

Notre Dame has been the butt of a lot of late-night jokes this season. I think I heard a few weeks ago Jay Leno bumbled through some sort of joke that Notre Dame is Latin for "The New York Mets." Saturday Night Live got in on the action last weekend.

As the football turns

As I correctly predicted, we're far from hearing the last of the blossoming Austin Scott saga. The latest update was provided Monday morning in this article from The Daily Collegian.

When a Penn State Police officer first approached Nittany Lion football player Austin Scott inside the HUB-Robeson Center on Oct. 5, the 22-year-old said he knew why authorities wanted to speak to him.

Perhaps he double-parked in the HUB parking deck?

Earlier that morning, a female student came back with him to his Nittany Apartments residence, he told his lawyer. That woman, who Scott thought he was meeting inside the HUB, had called police after she left his apartment at about 4 a.m. and told them she had been raped and abused by Scott.

Oh, right. That.

Fast-forward a week and Scott is now charged of four felony counts -- rape, sexual assault, and two counts of aggravated assault -- and three misdemeanor counts -- two counts of indecent assault and simple assault.

I guess he wasn't scouting out criminal lawyers last week for fun after all.

And what does Austin Scott have to say for himself?

"He's absolutely devastated," defense attorney Joseph Amendola said. "He's in a state of disbelief."

Isn't that the same guy who insisted he hadn't been retained as Scott's attorney? Oh yeah, him, the one I told you would end up being his lawyer. How about that.

I'll spare you the details, but if you want to check it out, the police report is reviewed in full detail in the article. Basically, Scott and "this girl," as he so affectionately calls her, met outside a local bar and walked back to his apartment. She told him she wasn't going to have sex with him, he asks to at least "cop a feel" (she refuses), she later falls asleep only to wake up a few hours later underneath Scott, who is attempting to initiate intercourse. She's too scared to refuse and tells him that he's hurting her. That's the basic gist of it.

Clearly this case is far from over, and we'll be keeping an eye on it. However, I'll call your attention to this part of the article:

Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira said he questions Scott's judgement; the football player should have honored the woman's wishes from the beginning of the evening to the end, he said.

"She said, nothing is going to happen tonight. That's a no," Madeira said. "Do you need to be told no twice?"

I will note that this is the same district attorney that charged and vehemently ripped into six Penn State players over the summer for trespassing and assault, only to have charges dropped against four of them and a seemingly shaky case against the other two that will eventually go to trial in December.

But this case is obviously far more severe in magnitude.

Week 7 College Football Casualties

So I have this small pocket of time, small enough not to break out the books, but just long enough to get out a blog post (since McDonati seems to be craving them!). Time for a quick look at two casualties in the college football world in Week 7...

Nebraska AD Steve Pederson was fired today after the once-ranked #14 Cornhuskers were handed the worst home loss since 1958 by Oklahoma State in a 45-14 shlacking. Bill Callahan's crew is now 4-3 after losing to Missouri and Okie State by a combined 86-20 in the last two weeks. Callahan's head isn't on the chopping block, according to Nebraska's chancellor. We'll see. Nebraska's final five games, you ask? How about Texas A&M, at Texas, at Kansas, Kansas State, and at Colorado. Woof.

And breaking news from the Patriot-News of Harrisburg that Penn State redshirt sophomore DE/outside LB Jerome Hayes is out for rest of the season after tearing the ACL in his right knee against Wisconsin Saturday. Ouch. Hayes played in all seven games of the season thus far, registering 17 tackles and two sacks.

Of course, how could we leave out the lovable Austin Scott? Oh, he'll get his own special article later on.

Uhh...

Guys. Srsly. After the past 3 weeks in college football, after PSU's destructive win over Wisconsin, after 3 number 1's in 3 weeks, in the midst of what may be one of the wildest and most unpredictable college football season's ever, in the middle of the baseball playoffs and one of the greatest runs by the Rockies in baseball history, in an NFL season in which there are two teams that could go undefeated (one after they play each other), what are we talking about on this blog?

Naturally, we're arguing about who is the best team in the MAC East.

Personally my vote is for Buffalo, but c'mon, being the best team in the MAC East is like being the most intelligent Spice Girl.

Looks more like MAC pretender

Nah, on this whole Temple in the MAC East issue, I think it comes down to Miami-OH and Buffalo. Having seen Buffalo play, I think they have shown great improvement from where their program was even just a year ago. Sure, maybe they caught Penn State in a look-ahead game, but they were able to put up 10 points on one of the nation's top-ranked defenses and then another 14 on the second string. It'll probably come down to a date in Oxford on November 3rd between the Bulls and the RedHawks.

Sure, the RedHawks have to play the Owls in Philly, but can we really call that home field advantage? Do a lot of people go see Temple football games anyway? I know the Penn State game is sold out, but I attribute that to PSU alumni in Philadelphia more than anything else.

MAC Contender???

Lost in the hysteria of the #1 and #2 teams losing was the stunning victory Temple pulled off. Trailing 20-3 on the road heading into the 4th quarter, Temple pulled off an incredible upset over the Zips, winning 24-20. The win puts Temple at 2-2 in the MAC, 1.5 games behind East Division leaders Miami (OH) who sit at 3-0. Who does Temple play next week? None other than those RedHawks. Another upset and Temple can find themselves in the thick of the race for a berth in the MAC Championship Game. They'll still have to leapfrog Buffalo in the division (who beat Temple 42-7 earlier in the year) but hey, crazier things have happened this year. They're no USF (they're barely a Duke) but Temple is on the rise, no doubt about it.

I don't mean to toot my own horn but...

Beep, beep. OSU is now your #1 team in the country courtesy of choke jobs by LSU and Cal. You heard it heard first (or at least see that first place vote in our poll) that OSU was #1...for now at least.

2007

And you thought it couldn't get any crazier.

5 minute college football preview

Rutgers at Syracuse: After losing two straight at home, the Scarlet Knights look to regroup at the home away from home for Big East teams: the Carrier Dome.

Georgia Tech at Miami FL: Yawn.

Illinois at Iowa: Illinois is the new Iowa and Iowa is the new Illinois.

Central Florida at South Florida: The Bulls better watch out, as the Knights gave Texas a heck of a game when they were in the Top 10.

Purdue at Michigan: The most intriguing game the Big Ten Network has put out so far.

Wisconsin at Penn State: Ugh. I'm just glad that football will be played so we can forget about rape and road rage.

Boston College at Notre Dame: The fact that Notre Dame could be like Appalachian State or Stanford shows how far they've fallen.

LSU at Kentucky: Letdown for the Tigers. Depends on which Andre Woodson shows up.

South Carolina at North Carolina: Ugh.

Connecticut at Virginia: Cmon Huskies, back up why I've been putting you in the Top 25.

Georgia at Vanderbilt: The Commodores won last year in Athens. The Bulldogs aren't really that good. Upset alert!

Louisville at Cincinnati: A month ago, a Cincinnati win would be a shocker. Now, it's expected.

Indiana at Michigan State: Can the Spartans continue to lose games they don't have any business losing?

Auburn at Arkansas: Which Auburn team will show up? Will Arkansas complete a pass?

Colorado at Kansas State: Two confusing teams.

Washington at Arizona State: I'll either be drinking or sleeping by time this one ends.

It's Official

Austin Scott is toast. Currently its a headline on CNN.com, cbs.sportsline.com, ESPN.com. What awesome publicity our team has been getting lately.

***Update...still a headline on CNN.com as of 2am Saturday...been up since about 4pm Friday...***

He was officially charged with "rape, sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault." So much for a potential "misunderstanding" as his mother put it. The whole story seems kinda fishy nonetheless. He apparently met the woman at a bar that Thursday night (which is apparently breaking a rule in the first place because he was at a bar 48 hours before kickoff) and then the whole incident occurred. As is the case in all these occurrences, the Scott camp is claiming it was consensual. Who knows what the truth is but the fact that he would put himself in a such a situation is downright despicable. You're the starting running back (well, kinda) and you go out a couple days before the Big Ten home opener and get trashed (it was apparently alcohol influenced) and do something stupid. You don't deserve to play for Penn State.

To quote Colorado coach Dan Hawkins, "This ain't intramurals!" If you play for a big time football program, you gotta be dedicated. Austin, apparently, was not.

JoePa does not commit Road Rage

Ok I feel bad after reading this story which said that JoePa was "angered by rumors -- which first surfaced on Internet message boards -- calling the incident 'road rage.'" My apologies JoePa. Now that the story becomes more clear, I regret my headline of 'JoePa Road Rage!' (but you have to admit, it does sound kinda cool). Apparently he was just getting out of his car to yell at someone who ran a stop sign. Heck, those people piss me off too! They're all over State College and this person (judging by the story) probably did it at the intersection of Curtin and Bigler. For those non-Penn Staters, that's probably not an intersection you want to run a stop sign at. I almost want to ask JoePa for the license plate number of that car (which he claimed to have) and tell the husband and wife that were driving myself. And then after I tell them, I'd like to slash their tires and bash in their windshield for calling the cops on an 80-year-old man who was telling the driver how shitty she (it was the wife that was driving) was. If an 80-year-old has to tell you that you're a shitty driver, then there's a problem. Quite a serious one at that. She probably called the cops on him because she was embarrassed and he owned her husband via the "(She's) your problem" comment. Either way, I'm all for making JoePa an honorary campus police officer. He knows what's up.

P.S. Is it weird that this incident makes me feel more confident that he can still coach at this old age? I mean, he's an old guy ripping into people who can't drive correctly. You know Lloyd Carr or Joe Tiller would have just stayed in their car.

NFL Hot 12 Updated

The AFC continues to dominate and the top two teams remained unchanged. Indianapolis continues to lead New England by 15 points (295-280). Overall the AFC sits in 4 of the top 5 spots. According to our voters, the AFC South (3 teams in the playoffs) and the NFC East (3 teams in the playoffs) are the strongest divisions. There seems to be definitive tiers of teams. Indianapolis and New England are elite. Pittsburgh and Dallas are amazing. Tennessee, Green Bay, and Washington are great. Jacksonville, Seattle, San Diego, and NY Giants are good. Tampa Bay, Houston, and Arizona are average. The rest are blah. Now that's scientific.

JoePa Road Rage!

This story speaks for itself. For the record, I wouldn't have called the cops, I would have bowed instead.

More on the Austin Scott case

Demetrius Jones and Jim Harbaugh aren't the only ones creating drama in college football these days. College football has found a new drama queen in Penn State tailback Austin Scott.

Scott, the hot-tempered, butter-fingered running back, was reportedly kicked off the team just prior to the Penn State-Iowa game in Happy Valley ... or was he? Rumors swirled at tailgates the morning of the game. Many, including a few media outlets, said Scott was booted by Joe Paterno, but I find that hard to believe if Paterno's giving us game-by-game status reports on if Scott will be playing or not. Scott is actually still on the roster, officially listed as the third-string running back. But all we know right now is that Austin Scott broke a team rule and is now paying the price ... somehow.

Rumors also ran rampant about what rule Scott broke. The Daily Collegian, Penn State's campus newspaper, ran the Scott suspension story concurrently with a story about a reported rape in the vicinity of on-campus apartments. Discerning tailgaters put two and two together and bam -- Austin Scott raped somebody at the apartments. At least, that was the talk. One of the program vendors even went so far to announce that Scott was being arraigned that Saturday afternoon on statutory rape charges. However, since the Iowa game, there been no charges nor any arraignment.

So what happened? Well, let's consult this article in the Daily Collegian for more details. Scott is apparently scouting out some attorneys.

Attorney Joseph Amendola said he has not been officially retained as Scott's lawyer. Though, he added, after speaking with Scott's family friends, he also spoke with the player himself, but only to "say hello and introduce myself."

Say hello and introduce himself? Isn't that what new neighbors do? Did he bring a jello mold? I find it hard to believe this guy won't be Austin Scott's attorney. But I digress. The point of this whole dissertation is listed later in the article.

Amendola said he was told by family friends that the team's coaching staff says the 22-year-old broke team policy by visiting a bar last Thursday night, fewer than 48 hours before the Iowa game. Instead, they argue Scott only went to the bar briefly to pick up a female friend, he said.

So, okay, maybe he didn't rape anybody. But hey, he broke a rule and JoePa rules with an iron fist. Now if only Lloyd Carr would implement some discipline at Michigan, maybe they wouldn't have lost to App State. (Either that, or implement a defense that can handle the spread, but I'm digressing again.)

Even more confusing is the following...

The family friends were concerned about Scott's suspension from the team, Amendola said, but he did not elaborate on why Scott would contact a criminal attorney for team curfew violations.

"As anyone that's potentially a suspect in a criminal case, they talk to attorneys," he said. "At this point, I have not been retained."

Scott is not facing criminal charges. Amendola said he spoke with the Centre County District Attorney's office yesterday and was told that no plans have been made to take action against Scott.

It is slightly curious as to why he's calling up a criminal attorney when all he did was "go to a bar after curfew."

Methinks, much like the Demetrius Jones saga, we'll hear much more about this in the coming days and weeks.

NFL Hot 12...

...will be released tonight. Check back after 5.

A Letter to New Pirates Management

Dear Frank Connelly (new president) and Neal Huntingdon (new GM):

You fired manager Jim Tracy. I don't think he was really the problem, but when you finish under 70 wins two straight seasons I can understand if he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt. Now that there's a vacancy, there's a guy that may be looking for a job soon.

Do it. I don't care how much it costs. Do it. You saw what hiring Leyland did for the Tigers. This guy won 4 World Series out of 5 years, and has led his team to some ridiculous amount of postseason appearances in a row, the past few years with a pitching staff older than Paterno. He brought his team back from a zillion games out this year to win the Wild Card. If he's not good enough for the Yankees, damn it he's good enough for the Pirates. This is the city where an 81-81 season is a success, and a postseason appearance would incite a riot. If you want to send the message to your players and to Pittsburghers that you are serious about winning, hire this man. Please.

Love,

Steely McDonati

Oh no...my bank account reads $0....

Since the Phillies and Yankees have now been axed from the playoffs, their fans probably don't want to think about baseball for a while. Since my team's season unofficially ended on July 23rd (the day Steelers training camp begins), I can pick up the slack here. That's one of the nice things about rooting for a perennial loser - once the postseason comes I can enjoy it stress free. That, and tickets are cheap and available.

Anyways, the division series have all been wrapped up, and it was a little underwhelming, with 3 sweeps and another 4 game. Thank goodness for Johnny Damon or we would have had all sweeps. When the winners go 9-1 against the losers, that means one thing for the LCS round: all four teams remaining are on fire. Seriously, I cannot find one good reason to go against the Diamondbacks, Rockies, Red Sox, or Indians. But somehow, two of them will lose, and then one more will lose. I think it's a safe bet though that this round will be much more competitive than the last.

First, a recap of the four division series:

Rockies 3, Phillies 0: Rockies were the better team.

Diamondbacks 3, Cubs 0: Diamondbacks were the better team.

Red Sox 3, Angels 0: Red Sox were the better team.

Indians 3, Yankees 1: The Indians had the better pitching staff. (and team)

That was simple. On to the LCS predictions. For the record, I was 2-2 in the first round, nailing the AL but whiffing on the NL. The only series I predicted to sweep was the only one that didn't sweep. So hopefully I can do better this time. I'll be breaking the series down by what I feel are the four most important roles on the team: leadoff hitter, cleanup (or 3) hitter, ace starter, and closer.

NLCS: Rockies vs. Diamondbacks:

Leadoff: Kaz Matsui (yes, that Kaz Matsui) vs. Chris Young (not the Padres pitcher)

Chris Young gets overshadowed by the Rockies' Tulowitzki and Brewers Ryan Braun for Rookie of the Year consideration, but he may be just as worthy. Matsui, well ask Mets fans about him. Edge: D-backs

Cleanup: Matt Holliday/Todd Helton vs. Eric Byrnes/Connor Jackson/I'm blanking on his name but he's a lefty 1B Tony Clark!

Easy choice. MVP candidates/face of franchise vs. people that I had to think long and hard of their names.

Edge: Rockies

Ace: Jeff Francis vs. Brandon Webb.

Tough one, both are solid and pitched lights out in their DS Game 1's. If I had to pick one though, right now it would be Webb.

Edge: D-backs

Closer: Manny Corpas vs. Jose Valverde

Not gonna lie, don't know much about either of those guys. But I sure as heck ain't betting against this guy.

Edge: D-backs.

So that's D-backs 3 out of 4. I still think the Rockies will make this an interesting series, with the Coors Field and what top to bottom is probably a better lineup. But the biggest Cinderella story will run out of gas to the second biggest Cinderella story. D-backs in 6.

ALCS: Indians vs. Red Sox

Leadoff: Grady Sizemore vs. Pedroia?/Lugo?/Crisp?

The fact that I cannot not name the Red Sox leadoff hitter means they lose this category

Edge: Indians.

Cleanup: Travis Hafner/Victor Martinez vs. David Ortiz/Manny Ramirez.

No offense to the duo by the lake, but Papi and Manny are the standard come playoff time.

Edge: Red Sox.

Ace: C.C. Sabathia/Fausto Carmona vs. Josh Beckett

This is a tough one. Beckett is as good as they come in the postseason, but behind him is Dice-K, who looks very shaky thus far. The Indians have two legitimate aces in the front of their rotation. You also can't forget about Curt Schilling, who you know will come up clutch whenever he's called upon.

Edge: Push.

Closer: Joe Borowski vs. Jonathan Papelbon

This is where I'm afraid the series will hinge. Papelbon has yet to be playoff tested, but if his first two regular seasons are any indication he should be solid. Borowski, on the other hand, is a disaster waiting to happen. Despite leading the AL in saves, he had an ERA over 5.00. Tonight against the Yankees, he gave up a bomb to Abreu and another near bomb to Posada that just went foul. Most of his outs have been fly balls. That is not gonna be good news when you're trying to shut the Sox hitters down in Fenway. Indians fans will be having nightmares about Borowski for years to come after this series.

Edge: RED SOX RED SOX RED SOX.

So total, the Sox have a slight 2-1 edge, but with one being a huge one. Of course, the Indians are hot and also will not go down easily. But in the end, we all know that Cleveland doesn't deserve to win championships.

Red Sox in 7.

Kirk Ferentz on the Hot Seat?

Iowa's 27-7 loss in Happy Valley added to an already staggering statistic. Not only has Kirk Ferentz's squad extended its losing streak to four (Iowa State, Wisconsin, Indiana, Penn State), but it is the eighth straight conference game Iowa has dropped. Eighth straight? Those numbers are downright Zookish. (Well, they used to be Zookish.)

But if you take a look at Ferentz's last three seasons with the Hawkeyes, I think you'll see that the honeymoon is clearly over in Iowa City. He used to be the hot up-and-coming coach, but my, has the sky fallen. Since the start of the 2005 season, Iowa is 15-16 overall and a surprising 7-12 in Big Ten play. He is 0-2 in his last two bowl games (2005 Outback and 2006 Alamo). It's amazing that a team with a 2-6 conference record can still play in a bowl.

After a shaky 4-19 start in 1999 and 2000, Ferentz started to pull things together, taking his first bowl win in the 2001 Alamo Bowl vs. Texas Tech. From 2001-04, Ferentz rattled off a 38-12 record. He went 3-1 in bowl games, with the sole loss at the hands of USC in the 2002 Orange Bowl, Iowa's first BCS berth. But here we are now with a 2-4 Hawkeye team that's 0-3 in Big Ten play, with Ferentz's consecutive bowl streak (currently at six) in jeopardy.

Does Kirk Ferentz deserve to be fired? No. Is his seat heating up? You better believe it. Eight straight conference losses. That just leaves a bad taste in your mouth, doesn't it? And I think we're all aware that we're no longer in the Joe Paterno age of job security. (Just ask Glen Mason.) Even if you win a National Championship at your school, your job is not nearly set in stone. (Just ask Larry Coker.)

In an age of instant gratification for athletic directors, any streak as egregious as this will not go unnoticed. Kirk Ferentz better right this ship soon or else the whispers are going to going to get louder soon.

The Bills are officially the worst team in the NFL

Even the Jets are better now. The Bills got 5, count 'em, 5 INTs off of Romo, returned 2 for TDs, returned a kick 103 yards for a touchdown...and lost. At home. Wow. How does that happen?