Bleacher Report - Articles by Joe Sturzl

College Basketball: Who Will Take the Big Ten?

Joe Sturzl — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 08:22:31 -0500

This year, the Big Ten has been one of the most competitive conferences in college basketball. With four teams with a chance to grab the conference's top spot, theres no telling who will pull it off.

Wisconsin's only losses within the conference have been to Purdue. However, they have had a couple nail biters. One ended with an unlikey Brian Butch three pointer to edge Indiana, 68-66, and a 60-54 win at Iowa. Their final tests should be Michigan State and Ohio State.

The Michigan State game could determine the regular season conference champion.

Purdue ripped off an 11-game winning streak, earning themselves a national ranking and a top spot in the conference before falling to Big Ten foe Indiana.

With an Ohio State match looming on March 4th, that will be their big make or break as far as the conference title goes. But if they can recover from that Indiana loss, they'll be a tough team to beat in the Big Ten tournament.

Indiana just came off that big win against Purdue, showing they can outlast a team that won 11 straight. They also proved they have the will and endurance to stick around in a close game. Even with the Kelvin Sampson controversy, this team has enough talent and leadership in Eric Gordon and DJ White to rally the troops to a big win, even if Sampson is fired.

Once again, Ohio State is another team that could ruin the chance for top rankings within the conference. With Michigan State right after Ohio State, they'll have to be team players if Sampson doesn't make it that far.

Michigan State is the team with most to gain out of the top four in the Big Ten. They play Wisconsin, Indiana, and Purdue, along with Ohio State. If they can beat Ohio State and Ohio State can beat the other three they will have a chance at the regular season title.

But with four conference losses already compared with two for everyone else, it may be too little too late for the Spartans of Michigan State, and may have to wait until Conference Tourney time to prove that they are the best.

However, anything is possible, and Michigan State has just as much of a chance as the other three.

Ohio state is out of any chance to win the regular season title. However, they have to play all four of the top four. With victories over any of these teams, confidecne and momentum will be plenty. More than any other team, this team has control of the final standings.

The Big Ten tournament will be a great one to watch. With four nationally ranked teams (as of 2-22-08, Wisconsin No. 10, Indiana No. 14, Purdue No. 15, Michigan State No. 17) in the mix and playing each other as well as a wild card toward the end of the season, the tournament will determine who is really the best out of these four. But there is still a lot of basketball to be played, and anything can change. If the most competitive, well rounded, most interesting games interest you, the Big Ten is your best bet from here on out.

Congress Needs to Focus on Country, Not Sports

Joe Sturzl — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 09:42:01 -0500

With SpyGate and the Roger Clemens hearings behind us, the last thing we need is more time being wasted on steroids and cheating in sports inside Congress.

What did the testimonies from alleged steroid takers a few years ago in Congress tell us? Nothing. What did the Mitchell Report do? A little more. What did Roger Clemens do? Embarrass himself.

When Henry Waxman stated "I'm sorry we had the hearing. I regret that we had the hearing. And the only reason we had the hearing was because Roger Clemens and his lawyers insisted on it," that's when the line was crossed.

If that statement is in fact true, that means that sports figures get to have these hearings whenever they feel necessary, and our Government doesn't have time for that. We gained nothing out of the hearing, except more arguing and "did not, did too" rubbish.

With an upcoming election, and more issues to deal with than ever before, what are we doing mixing sports and government? Shouldn't we be protecting our country from terrorist instead of cheaters in a game? Should we be saving lives instead of sthletes we think are on steroids so that they can hit a ball further? What have we come too?

The NFL, MLB, NBA, and other sports leagues need to deal with their own problems like other industries do, like normal people do, and stop wasting the valuable time and money of the government that could be used for better things, like education and decreasing poverty.

So a message to all the commissioners: Deal with your own problems, and let congress fix America's problems, not your own.

Will a $100 Million Lawsuit Make People Forget the New England Patriots' Dynasty?

Joe Sturzl — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 09:23:49 -0500

Today, in the US District Court Eastern Division in New Orleans, one Rams player, along with a Rams seat license holder and two Super Bowl ticket holders, filed suit against the Patriots for a nice little sum of $100 million.

What could the Patriots have done that's worth that much money in damages? Apparently, there is a lot of things they could have done.

Willie Gary, a former St. Louis Rams player, has decided to act on behalf of all the Rams players and ticketholders of Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002, based upon allegations of the Patriots taping practices and the the Final Walk-through before the Super Bowl, as well as this year's signal stealing during the season opener with the Jets.

The suit covers $35 million in damages, Super Bowl Rings, bonuses and endorsements of other Rams players, and $400 tickets of the approximately 73,000 fans in attendance.

All this aside, will the sheer number of $100,000,000 just blow everything out of proportion? Will it make everyone forget how good the Patriots were over the last few years?

If this lawsuit goes through, it will damage the credibility of everything Bill Belichik has ever done, and it will question the honesty of every member of that organization. Will the dynasty title disappear?

Hopefully, this will stop all cheating in everything, because that's a lot of money to be paid, no matter who you are. I'm sure its not the money that will prevent this fiasco from ever happening again. It is the thought of guilt that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Super Bowl XLII: Pain for the Patriots, Peace for Everyone Else

Joe Sturzl — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:43:13 -0500

As a Packer fan living in Maine, this is the last thing that I wanted.

I was tired of listening to everyone bragging about their "perfect Patriots" and how they’re going to win it all. It was like they were taking everything for granted.

As for the Giants, they had just upset my Packers in the NFC Championship Game. So what was I to do?

Take the Giants' side of course.

Sure, I was fumed when I saw Lawrence Tynes hit that field goal after missing a couple easy ones, but this was a matter of who I thought was better. This would be a war between those chatty New England Fans and everyone else, no matter who your team was. I just happened to be a Packers fan.

Most people wanted the Giants to win, just to see an upset or the Patriots' shot at history blown to bits. I wanted peace and quiet, and for Patriots fans to realize they aren't the rulers of the sports world.

With the Celtics and Red Sox on top as well, this was needed in a bad way. The feeling of sports immortality needed to be extinguished, and it was.

So as Eli Manning and the crew made their march down the field, friends and family in the room, yelling our ears off at every exciting play (you should have been there when Tyree made his helmet catch) and a cell phone in one hand talking to my poor friend who had to work that night, excitement was in the air.

When Plaxico Burress made that catch in the end zone, there was a real feeling of accomplishment.

We weren't going to take the Patriots' bragging anymore.

When Tom Brady finally threw the last incomplete pass, I went onto my Myspace, Facebook, and messenger, and basically gave everyone a big "IN YOUR FACE."

The next day, and every day from then until now, there has been peace and quiet, as their mighty team lost.

And with SpyGate opening up more and more, I have a feeling these Patriots fans won't be talking for a long time either.