Bleacher Report - Articles by Eric Clingersmith

WWE Judgement Day: Jack Swagger vs. Christian (c) Preview

Eric Clingersmith — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:49:58 -0400

Jack Swagger vs. Christian (c) for the ECW Championship.

I can start off by letting all of you know that Jack Swagger needs to win this match. A Christian win leaves him with a title that he doesn't need, on a brand that he's on to fill the role as "ratings draw" (see: Matt Hardy, Bobby Lashley, CM Punk).

Christian is not set to be on the Sci-fi Network for the long haul, rather as an upper midcard name that will bring the "bastard" of WWE programming (I'm looking at you, ECW) decent ratings.

The feud between these two has seemed forced from Christian's first night back in the WWE when he made fun of Jack Swagger's unfortunate lisp. As the storyline goes, Christian came to ECW to get the big silver belt.

Incidentally, Swagger happened to be the guy holding the hot potato at the time, so they were tossed together. Their matches haven't been terrible, and their promos have actually been pretty decent.

The problem with this program is that as a fan, I see no reason for Christian to want the ECW Title. In all actuality, Christian's ECW debut and subsequent title win is an effort by Creative to make ECW look like the place to be.

They're expecting every mark at the arenas to say something like this: "OMG, Christian choose to go to ECW... ECW rulz!" Sadly, the Internet wrestling community sees it as the following: "Vince hates TNA, and is making one of their top draws fight for the title that nobody cares about".

Prediction: They hotshot this belt every two months, Christian won it last month, so he still has approximately 30 days left with the hunk of silver known as the ECW World Championship. I'll say Christian wins via DQ (Swagger gets caught cheating).

My ideal outcome for this match would be Swagger hitting a German Suplex, but Christian getting his shoulder up right before three, while Swagger's stay on the mat. That ending would make Swagger look strong, while Christian holds the title and looks like a crafty veteran in the process.

Similar Match from a Judgement Day from the past: The 2006 King of the Ring Final had an established star (Booker T) defeat a young up and comer with an amateur wrestling pedigree (Bobby Lashley). Eerily similar circumstances make this the comprable match from the past.

At the end of the day this show needs to stop bringing in midcarders from the two main brands and pushing them to the moon. The best chance ECW has of breaking out of it's mold as the "C" Show would be to push it's homegrown talent over already established talent that are just stopping by.

Terrell Owens: Buffalo Bill

Eric Clingersmith — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 02:35:33 -0400

Just let this sink in for a second. Terrell Owens, the most controversial, vilified, and scrutinized player in the NFL is now playing in Orchard Park. Oh, and did I mention, he’s one of the best receivers of all time?

That being said, there is sure to be some backlash, simply because of who Owens is; it may be small, but it will be there.

On the surface, it may look like bringing in a guaranteed locker room cancer is about as good of an idea as sticking a lit cigar up your ass, but the unique circumstances in Buffalo appear to create a very favorable situation for Owens and the Bills.

First off, the contract is only a one-year, $6.5 million one. He is making substantially less this year than Lee Evans (approximately $9 Million) and would have to be considered a vastly superior receiver. So, the Bills have managed to land one of the greatest receivers to every play, for a pittance; I’d say that constitutes a good move.

However, it’s not just the money, it’s the length—one year. It always seems to take a year or two for Owens to properly ferment into the bubbling cauldron of crazy that he inevitably becomes.

The biggest factor in all of this may simply be geographic location. Buffalo is the NFL equivalent of the ice planet Hoth. (Marcus Stroud is the Wampa) This may be frustrating to the Bills' faithful, but it could be perfect for Owens.

Without the intensity of the spotlight from insane Philly fans, or the continual verbal love most of the media gives the Cowboys maybe, just maybe, Owens will have less pressure to be “the show.”

I know that sounds kind of crazy, considering Owens is a well-known attention whore, but perhaps, the fans themselves can provide the attention and emotional catharsis he so obviously craves.

Buffalo is a city whose fans will love you, as long as you produce or are a hard worker (just ask Stu Barnes). In Buffalo, I’m pretty sure you could break into a fan's house, shoot the dog, throw the wife on kitchen table, steal their life savings, and the response would be “yeah, but he scores touchdowns, and works hard.”

That kind of mindset will serve Owens's fragile psyche well; he won’t have to deal with Philly fans booing just to boo or Dallas fans who think it’s their birthright to win every game. He will have a group of fans who will adore him, even if he's the biggest ass on the planet. (Which Owens has a strong case for)

Finally, we get to the X’s and O’s of the T.O. signing, which tells you something about Owens—the actual football ramifications are last. However, Bills' fans have been bitching for years that we need another receiving threat to free up Evans. We tried to draft a receiver last year; that hasn’t panned out so far.

Now, you have a legitimate great in Owens, lining up opposite a solid No. 1 with speed to burn in Evans. You can move the highly underrated possession-specialist Josh Reed back to the slot, where he belongs.

Add Marshawn Lynch to the mix, pounding defenses into submission and Fred Jackson catching passes from the backfield, and all of a sudden, a very mediocre offense starts looking dynamic and explosive. Someone will be open, whether it’s to receive passes or gash the "D" with a long run.

So really, this signing is starting to make more and more sense to me. After all, what do the Bills have to lose? It’s not like this team was a beacon of football greatness. They have been a mediocre-to-bad team for a decade now. If T.O. destroys all team chemistry and the Bills have another losing season, who cares?

That’s just status quo in Buffalo. However, if Owens leads them to a winning record and a playoff run, well, then that’s a huge improvement over past seasons. The reward far outweighs the risk in this case.

Am I going to say this is a championship team now? God no, I’m not that delusional. I will, however, say, with confidence, that this team is much better with Owens than without—either that or Trent Edwards puts a 9mm hollow tip in his brain right in the huddle.

I Hate the NCAA Tournament Selection Process

Eric Clingersmith — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:47:02 -0400

The NCAA selection process is an absolute joke that everyone just seems happy to accept. Everyone bitches and moans all year about the BCS process but gives the NCAA basketball tournament a free pass.

Sure you get a few hours on selection Sunday of people talking abut the dwindling number of mid-major teams in the tournament, but that’s about it. Say what you will about the BCS process at least its imperfections are right there for every one to see and discuss.

The BCS doesn’t hide behind asinine statements like “we don’t look at conferences just teams” as a way to hide the underlying problems.

The problem with the above quote, especially as it pertains to NCAA basketball, is that you may not look at conferences in terms of major and mid-major, but the entire season is designed to create those defector splits.

Just “looking at teams” is assuming a level playing field in terms of scheduling it’s like the imaginary frictionless plane in high school physics, it just don’t exist.

If the smaller schools never have an opportunity to prove there worth, how can you make an objective decision on that teams body of work? You simply can’t your data is faulty to begin with so any conclusions drawn from that data must be assumed false as well.

The situation that has been created by the big conferences paranoia of losing to a small school is an awful catch 22.

You can’t get an at large bid until you’re a big basketball school, you can’t become a big basketball school without beating other big schools, but you can’t play big schools until you are already big. How does that circular logic make any sense?

I’m not going sit hear in an ivory cubicle and say I know the answer, because I don’t; I’m not nearly that pretentious. I will say that in my opinion the NCAA basketball system has more underlying serious problems then the BCS.

The NCAA has created a self perpetuating system that favors a few big conferences, if this continues the inevitable result is stagnation, and eventually boredom. Who wants to watch the same handful of teams every year, to me, varity is the spice of life.

-EB

NIT, CBI, and CIT: Why? How About Why Not?

Eric Clingersmith — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:01:00 -0400

With the addition of the College Basketball Invitational and the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, some pundits are crooning about an overcrowded postseason atmosphere in Division I hoops. If we start with the 65 teams in the NCAA Tournament, add the 32 NIT qualifiers, then add 16 teams apiece for the CBI and CIT; we are now up to 129 teams in the NCAA basketball postseason.

There are a total of 347 schools in D-I, all of which can qualify for these 129 spots in the postseason. With some quick math, it can be said that 37.1 percent of teams will qualify for the postseason this year. This number is opposed to the 113 teams (32 percent) last year and the 97 teams (27.9 percent) in 2007.

The numbers of postseason qualifiers (129, 113, and 97) sound a lot worse than they are when taken out of context. The closest way to put this into context is to compare NCAA basketball's postseason to that of the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision.

There are 34 bowl games in the FBS, which naturally means that 68 teams qualify for the postseason. The FBS has only 120 members to fill those 68 spots. An astounding 56.6 percent of teams qualify for a postseason bowl game. For those with fears of math, thats more than half of the teams that qualify for the postseason in NCAA football. All of a sudden, college basketball doesn't look so bad.

The other gripe about the three secondary tournaments is that they're just there as consolation for those teams who have their NCAA bubbles burst and in turn the teams don't even care about them.

This isn't true: Ask the players who get to play another game (especially the seniors), ask the student sections, ask the coaches who use it for recruitment, and ask the TV networks who don't have to use bull riding as a filler.

I went to Niagara's NIT game in 2004 against Troy State and everyone was loving it. Niagara's home NIT game on St. Patrick's Day this year sold out in five hours. I think people care about this thing. Maybe it's a letdown for the schools from major conferences or the former NCAA Tournament "bubble teams," but given the choice between playing and not playing, these teams are picking play every time.

To those who say that there are too many teams moving on to the postseason, I ask: Under what logic?

By percentage far fewer make it in basketball than football. If everyone takes these postseason tournaments as what they are, it is easy to be seen that they harm nobody.

Yes, it's clear that the NIT is the second most prestigious tournament by a longshot. The CBI and CIT have some jostling to do to see who comes in as the third most prestigious postseason tournament, with the CBI currently holding the lead due to seniority.

These extra tournaments hurt nobody, while giving the players and fans a chance to experience at least one more game. March isn't just for 31 conference winners and 34 at-large teams, nor should it be.

I say that we should let them play. If you don't like it, don't watch it or read about it. The talking heads don't need to stand on their soapboxes and whine about the dilution of the NCAA postseason. Let these student-athletes savor one more game.

NIT: NU and RIT by the numbers... Info on Thursday's Liveblog Project

Eric Clingersmith — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:20:00 -0400

Rhode Island @ Niagara University - Taps Gallagher Center - 7pm

Broadcasts:
TV:
TWBuffalo - ch. 13
TWRochester - ch.98

Radio:
‘The River’ 105.1 FM

BY THE NUMBERS:
1: This is the first NIT game held at the historic Taps Gallagher Center on Monteagle Ridge.
2: URI came in 2nd in the Atlantic 10, though picked to come in 7th in the preseason.
2: Niagara finished 2nd in the MAAC, though selected to come in 4th in the preseason.
4.5: Niagara is favored by 4.5 tonight, which in my eyes is a bit high.
10: Niagara was ranked 10th in the Mid Major top 12, URI was unranked.
12: Niagara was one of 12 teams with 26 wins.
15: Niagara lead the nation with 15 wins away from home.
16.3: Tyrone Lewis' leads Niagara with 16.3 ppg.
17.1: Jimmy Baron leads the Rams with 17.1 ppg.
20: URI has had 20 wins both this and last season.
49: Niagara's RPI rating
68: URI's RPI (say that ten times fast)
68: URI's Sagarin Rating
75: Niagara's Sagarin rating

My Prediction is a 73-70 Niagara win... Either way, the winner is likely on to a tough game at Penn State.

This Thursday starting at Noon "The Greatest Night" will be collaborating with the Goose's Roost on a NCAA liveblog. Starting an noon the Liveblog will be simulcast both here and at the Goose's Roost. Please come visit! We'll be blogging both the early slate starting at noon and the late games starting at 7 Eastern.