Bleacher Report - Articles by Jay Sanin

We're Poppin' Champagne Like We Won a (Conference) Championship Game

Jay Sanin — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:52:07 -0500

As we all know, last week was the most ridiculous weekend of playoff football maybe ever. Sure, there are plenty of explanations for what happened (like throwing five interceptions won’t win you a playoff game or that having Eli Manning as your quarterback in a windy stadium automatically eliminates you from playoff contention).

But that was then and this is now, so let’s waste no time in getting to the Conference Championship picks. And for those of you scoring at home, I went 2-2 for the second straight week (making him 4-4 in the playoffs).

Philadelphia Eagles at Arizona Cardinals (Sunday at 3:00, FOX)

Remember just a week ago when the NFC Championship Game was guaranteed to be a rematch of that epic Panthers/Giants tussle from Week 16? Don’t remind me. I haven’t been this disappointed since…oh wait; I’m a Knicks fan so I’m disappointed all the time. Forget I brought that up.

Either way, I don’t think anyone could have predicted this as the matchup for the NFC crown. The nine win Cardinals, who before the playoffs hadn’t any resemblance of a defense or running game, will be taking on the nine win (and a tie) Eagles, who before the playoffs hadn’t any resemblance of a running game either.

Oh wait, they still don’t.

I just can’t see the Eagles doing just enough to get by in this one like they have in the previous two. It isn’t entirely difficult to stop Tarvaris Jackson, and it may be less difficult to stop Eli Manning at Giants Stadium in a playoff game.

This time around they have to stop Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, and Anquan Boldin. That is a much taller task. Not to mention the fact that the Cards’ Hightower and James combination has been working more effectively this postseason than anyone could have imagined.

This being the first real test the Eagles’ defense has to face in the playoffs, I see Warner picking them apart like he did the Panthers last week.

On a much less serious note, the Cardinals have defeated the Seahawks twice this year; beat the Falcons in the Wild Card round and now have an opportunity to beat the NFC’s final bird-themed franchise in the Eagles.

How in the world am I supposed to pick against that? In addition, I happen to have received an Anquan Boldin jersey for Christmas. You know I’d love to wear it in celebration of not having to hear another two weeks of “You know, ever since Donovan McNabb was benched, he’s played some inspired football.”

I like the Cards, and their raucous home crowd, to take the NFC.

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers (Sunday at 6:30, CBS)

This game features the only team that was expected to be here before the playoffs started: Pittsburgh. They’ve managed to avoid falling into the traps of the other top seeds by playing the same tough defense that got them there in the first place. The Ravens have made it this far by doing the exact same thing.

This is the second straight week that we see the Ravens locked up with an eerily similar team on the road.

Not going to lie, I really can’t say that either team has an advantage offensively. Both sides have solid running games and feature fairly young quarterbacks that won’t win you games, but won’t lose them for you either.

Even the receiving corps are similar in the fact that both quarterbacks can look for one veteran receiver (Ward for Pittsburgh and Mason for Baltimore), a solid deep threat (Washington and Baltimore’s Mark Clayton), and a superior tight end (Heath Miller and Todd Heap).

However, this game has nothing to do with the offenses.

While Pittsburgh surely has the superior all-around defense, the Ravens are more or less the only unit on the same level.

Baltimore’s defense has forced eight turnovers in the playoffs thus far, which has helped their less than stellar offense gain a much needed advantage in opportunities and field position.

I see this game unfolding just like the Tennessee/Baltimore game did last week. Like I said last week, when you see a game with two nearly identical teams, you take the one who has something outside of the game itself going for it.

In this case that something is the Ravens and their apparent playoff karma. The game will be evenly matched through three quarters, until the Ravens steal the game late.

Knicks Midseason Awards: If Only There Were Any to Give Out

Jay Sanin — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:31:03 -0500

I was e-mailed a request by Rory Brown to do a mid-season awards piece for the Knicks. As some of you may have read in an earlier piece of mine, I had pronounced the Knicks dead until 2010. That's right folks, the New York Knicks are dead to me until July 2010 when they are almost sure to find a way to botch the signing of LeBron James.

Of course everyone reading, even Rory, must know that I am going to do nothing even close to praising any members of the Knicks organization at this time. I am here, however, to claim this season the single least interesting season in recent Knicks history.

The season got off to a promising 6-5 start. Mike D'Antoni and his famed "Seven Seconds or Less" offense quickly became the talk of New York. The young players such as Chris Duhon and Wilson Chandler were starting to come into their own. Besides, in the Eastern Conference, a .500 record would surely be good enough for a playoff spot. All was right with the world (and its most famous arena).

Then, it happened: November 21, 2008. The day Donnie Walsh drove the New York Knicks off the proverbial cliff by trading leading scorers Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph to the west coast for Al Harrington, Cuttino Mobley, and Tim Thomas (I prefer to refer to the three of them as "The Expiring Contracts"). Everything, from that point on, went downhill.

It was the most blatant salary dump in the history of basketball. The Florida Marlins and their fire sales thought this was over the top. Sure, management said that this was for a good cause due to the group of free agents available in 2010, headlined by LeBron James. They're correct in that assertion (have you seen the list of free agents in 2010? My fourth choice would be Dwayne Wade, that's how loaded it is).

However, telling your fans that you have absolutely nothing to look forward to until July of 2010 could not be more depressing to the fan base. In fact, I have refused to watch one Knicks game since the destruction of the roster. I will read the newspaper the day after a game to get my information, that is all.

Our scoring leader to this point in the year is Al Harrington (who was acquired from Golden State in one of the two fire-sale deals). His total? 21.1 points per game. That's 0.2 points per game more than Jamal Crawford is scoring for the Warriors right now! Fantastic!

Oh wait, we also traded for Tim Thomas (9.8 ppg) and Cuttino Mobley. Yes, that's right, Cuttino Mobley: the man who we knew was going to retire due to a heart condition! At least we didn't trade anyone of value for those two. Oh wait, yes we did. We traded away Zach Randolph, a man who happens to be scoring 22.0 points per contest.

So the organization dealt 41.9 points per game away for 30.9. For a team that averages a -3.27 margin per game, that's a pretty substantial dropoff.

But maybe it would have been difficult to trade those two any later than Walsh did. That's a logical explanation. Except for the fact that there would have been plenty of teams looking for proven scorers around the trade deadline. So you would have had the opportunity to see if you could compete, THEN decide whether or not you wanted to start shedding salaries.

I know the team wouldn't have been on the level of Orlando, Boston, or Cleveland, but something to look forward to would have been nice. That's all I'm saying.

If you were looking for mid-season awards, I have one question for you: why? This has clearly been the most depressing season in recent memory. There hasn't been one reason for optimism since that fateful November day. At least with Isiah we TRIED to keep our talent in an attempt to compete. That's right, I said it: I was happier and more enthused as a Knicks fan during the Isiah Thomas era.

How else am I supposed to feel after being told to wait a year and a half to watch a competitive basketball team in my city? Maybe the Knicks should give Jerome James Quentin Richarson's No. 23 and let him trot out in that, for the time being. Either that or throw every game in an attempt to draft Stephen Curry or Ricky Rubio. Maybe then I'd have a reason to tune in. Just maybe.

The Morning Buzz: NFL Edition

Jay Sanin — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:47:04 -0500

I’m writing the column early today for a few reasons.

First of all, I’m going home later today and I would like to spend every waking moment of the next few days with friends and family. Second of all, I fell asleep by halftime of the Saints/Packers shootout, so I’ve already put in about eight hours of sleep, which is enough fuel for me to write this before my 12:30 bus (hopefully).

While I’m not talking sports for a few seconds, I’m also looking for some fresh ideas to spice things up in the blog once in a while. I was thinking about a mailbag, where you guys could email me questions, and I could answer them right here.

I was also thinking of doing a video segment one week—suggestions would be just fantastic. Now, without further ado, I’m just gonna be running straight through the big stories in the NFL after a great Week 12.

Obviously the big story of the week is the Tennessee Titans failing all over LP Field against the New Jersey Aircrafts. Although the Jets’ victory wasn’t completely unexpected, such a huge margin of victory was.

The Jets outgained the Titans by 128 yards in total, and a whopping 147 yards on the ground (192 yards for the Jets, 45 for the Titans). They were able to get both Thomas Jones and Leon Washington (who scored two touchdowns) going, all while locking up Chris Johnson and LenDale White.

This forced the Titans to try to win the game with Kerry “Yes, I’m Still Alive” Collins and, simply put, he was not able to make up the deficit.

Despite this dominating performance over a previously undefeated team, I still don’t want to hear that the Jets are the class of the AFC yet. Call me a hater if you’d like, but the AFC is just too wide open at this point.

The Titans are still 10-1 and were dominant before their one slip up on Sunday. Pittsburgh is at 8-3, despite losing Willie Parker and Ben Roethlisberger at different times in the season.

Even the Colts and Patriots, who were both looking to be dead in the water early on, are both at 7-4 and looking to grab playoff spots. Once again, I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to forgive me for not wanting to pick against three teams that have won Super Bowls this decade and a 10-1 team at the moment.

If the AFC West just gave up like it should, this conference would be more fascinating than the NFC right now.

Unfortunately we’re all going to have to sit through the 7-9 AFC winners getting pummeled by their opponent on Wild-Card Weekend...great.

Another big AFC game this week was the Patriots at Dolphins, a game in which the Pats sought revenge for their game earlier in the year where the 'Phins unveiled their now-famous “Wildcat” offense.

The Patriots, of course, got that revenge in the form of a 48-28 win. It’s been very intriguing watching the Patriots change before our eyes this year. Once Brady went down, we thought we were in for a slew of 14-10 games (and that’s what we got at first), until Matt “King of the” Cassel started to dominate.

He’s thrown for 400 yards in two straight games and has the Patriots at 7-4. He’s finally made a connection with Randy Moss (the two hooked up for 125 yards and three touchdowns in Week 12) and Welker, also.

Remember way back when, when I said I just couldn’t count the Patriots out? I believe I made a good call.

Anyway, if you want my honest pick right now in the AFC, I would go with the Colts. I know it sounds a little out there, but I think they’ve finally got their act together. They’ve won four straight after an atypical 3-4 start.

The offense has been playing very well, scoring enough to beat the Patriots, Steelers, and Chargers in three of their last four games. The defense hasn’t given up more than 27 points since their win streak began, which bodes well for them, considering the fact that their offense is one of the most lethal in the game right now.

Throw in a remaining schedule against Cincinnati, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Tennessee, and the Detroit “Not-Tryin’s” (all the credit in the world goes out to my dad for coming up with that nickname), and they definitely have the inside track to a wild-card berth.

Seeing any Manning in a playoff game is now a scary thing for the opposition. What is this world coming to?

Speaking of the Manning clan, the younger Manning helped the Giants get to 10-1 with a win over the Arizona Cardinals. Despite not having Brandon Jacobs or Plaxico Burress, the Giants were able to put up 37 points and make Kurt Warner’s 351 yards passing completely irrelevant.

Without Plax, Eli managed to find Domenik “President Richard” Hixon six times (Hixon also threw in 60 yards per kick return on special teams), Kevin Boss four times (including a touchdown), and Amani Toomer four times (with yet another touchdown). Even Madison Hedgecock had a touchdown reception.

Have I mentioned that I love this Giants team? Every week, it seems as if they’ve faced some kind of obstacle or distraction, and every week they completely disregard it and simply continue winning. They get the most out of guys like Hixon and Hedgecock when they are needed, and no player can guarantee that they won’t be called upon on a given week.

To go on the road against a team who could have clinched their division with a win, without your two best skill players on offense, and to pretty much be in control for most of the game, is an accomplishment.

With the Titans’ loss, I think it’s safe to say that the Giants are the best team in the league, even though I think they were already.

(And for the record: I really want to have something bad to say about the Giants, so I don’t come off as nothing more than a mere Giants fan. I really want to do some Giant-bashing just to show a little neutrality. However, they won’t let me because they don’t lose. Sorry, everyone.)

The other big NFC East news was the benching of Donovan McNabb during Philly’s 36-7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. McNabb was 8/18, for 59 yards with two picks and a lost fumble after the first half.

This led Andy Reid to make the move for Kevin Kolb, who proceeded to throw two more picks of his own (one of which was returned 108 yards by Ed Reed, breaking his previous record of 106 yards for the longest interception return of all time).

When asked how often they thought Philly should throw the ball from now on, quoth the Ravens: “Nevermore.” Okay, maybe that didn’t happen but that was truly an awful performance by the Eagles. The only thing worse than the way they played was the way the media jumped all over the McNabb benching after the game.

Since when are quarterbacks such legendary figures that you can’t take them out of a game? That’d be like pulling a relief pitcher to get a lefty-lefty matchup and having the media talk about how he can never play in that city ever again.

Let’s be honest here, America, quarterbacks are football players, too. No matter how much they’re treated like celebrities, that’s the simple truth. When a quarterback turns the ball over three times in 30 minutes of football, I see no problem with shutting him down for the day.

If the coach lets him go out there and start the next game, I see nothing wrong with that either. If I’m not mistaken, a coach’s goal is to put the team in the best position to win. Reid felt like Donovan wasn’t helping them win on Sunday, but he feels like McNabb can help them win this Thursday against the Cardinals.

Although Reid is an awful coach, and will probably be gone after this year, I think he’s making the right move here.

Wow, so over the course of this column we’ve discovered that the Manning’s are not people you want to see in the playoffs AND that Andy Reid made a good move. I think I'm getting delirious, I need some sleep.

R.I.P. New York Knicks (2008-2010)

Jay Sanin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:45:12 -0500

You know when things are going well for you, and you’re kind of skeptical but you buy into it because everything has been so horrible over the years that you jump at the first chance to believe in something?

Then, that something comes back to make you regret everything you’ve endured throughout the entire process, making you wish you had never been involved with the offender in the first place?

Well, I’m afraid The Armchair Quarterback has fallen victim to such a fate. The offender, of course, is the New York Knicks who have successfully broken his heart by trading both Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph in the same day. While I wipe my eyes (again), let me first run down the rest of the world of sports.

First of all, the NFL (well, FOX) took my advice last Sunday and did the unthinkable: they switched games during a blowout. They shifted audiences from the beat down Green Bay was putting on Chicago to the more competitive contest between the Vikings and Bucs.

My hallmate Jeremy ran to my room, knocked on my door and notified me right away, seeing as though I was busy watching the Giants (who I will get to in a moment). It was a monumental occasion as far as I was concerned and I hope to see networks to it more often.

Now that I’ve mentioned the Bears, I figured I’d mention what’s been going on with Devin Hester lately. The Bears have been putting defensive back Danieal Manning back for kick returns since Hester is now a “wide receiver.”

Chicago Bears, you have BROKEN MY MIND with this move. Hester is the most prolific return man in the history of the game. In two and a half years he’s returned ELEVEN kicks for scores. That’s two shy of the all-time record set by Brian Mitchell over the course of thirteen seasons.

I’m not a math major or anything, but at the pace Hester was going he would have been on pace for around 40 return scores in that same amount of time. I guess it’s a better idea to use him as a mediocre wide out though.

The big two in the NFL won again last week. Tennessee improved to 10-0 with a 24-14 victory over Jacksonville and the Giants moved to 9-1 after defeating the Baltimore “Quoth the” Ravens 30-10.

The Titans were down 14-3 at the half and were looking as if they were going to suffer their first loss, before ripping off a 21-0 second half behind three touchdown tosses from Kerry “Yes, I am still alive” Collins. I really don’t see them losing in the regular season with their remaining games being at home versus the Jets, Cleveland and Pittsburgh and road tilts with Indy, Houston and the Detroit 0-16’s.

Even on their worst days they find ways to win, and they really haven’t even broken a sweat doing it. What does bother me though is the undefeated hype that I already have to sit through. They have their own section on ESPN’s bottomline, I have to hear the same “They play smash mouth football, but Collins can throw also” comments from every analyst.

I’m almost glad the Giants lost already, because the media really makes undefeated teams as hate able as possible. Then again, they made 18-1(*) that much more enjoyable.

As for the Giants, they thoroughly dominated a Ravens team who were being pumped up by so-called experts as a team who could give the Giants problems. The best rush defense in the league saw the G-Men rack up over 200 on the ground, something the Ravens hadn’t allowed since 1997.

I love this group. They’re the most motivated team out there right now, besides maybe Tennessee and even that’s up for debate. Every question the players are asked is answered with confidence, a “we’re going to destroy our opponent” attitude, and it’s all done without a shred of arrogance.

This week gives them a matchup with the 7-3 Arizona Cardinals (try saying that for me. Tell me that wasn’t the weirdest sentence you said all day). This is yet another matchup that could give the Giants problems, considering the Giants secondary has trouble matching up with most receiving corps let alone the dynamic duo of Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, in a matchup that brings the Giants back to the venue in which they won Super Bowl XLII.

In the college pigskin, Texas Tech faces off with Oklahoma in a game with huge BCS implications. Texas Tech can clinch the Big 12 South with a win and with it a spot in the Big 12 title game. I love these Saturday night Big 12 games that we’ve been treated to as of late.

Anytime two top five teams face off and there is potential for a classic game like we saw when Texas fell to Tech, I am interested. Of course if the BCS wasn’t a complete joke, and every undefeated team was able to compete for the title, I would be a little bit more interested. Just thought I’d throw that out there.

Anyway, back to the Knicks. I was sleeping all afternoon, so imagine me waking up with ESPN on TV to find out that the two leading scorers of the Knicks were being traded for Al Harrington, Cuttino Mobley, and Tim Thomas. I mean, obviously this move was a clear salary dump in order to land Lebron in 2010, but really?

This was the first time the Knicks were looking like a competitor in like seven years. D’Antoni and his system had the offensive minded stars playing with a little gusto for the first time in a long time. In a conference that still only requires about 40 to 45 wins to qualify for the playoffs, would it have been that bad to wait until at least midseason to give up the next two years of your franchise?

It’s not like the Warriors or Clippers would have refused to make these deals later in the year. Crawford and Zebo are two legitimate scorers who would be sought after around the trade deadline anyway. If you really wanted to make a deal then, you could do it just as easily. Walsh decided to commit a two year suicide instead.

I feel betrayed. Donnie Walsh just pulled the plug on the first good thing the Knicks have shown me since the miraculous season in which they went to the finals (only to completely implode once Patrick Ewing went down with an injury towards the end of the Eastern Conference Finals versus Indiana).

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad if D’Antoni didn’t completely refuse to play the next best player on the roster in Steph Marbury. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if Eddy Curry was physically fit enough to play for extended periods of time. Unless Jerome James is going to play substantial minutes, it’s looking like David Lee is going to be the starting center for a while. I’m watching him get abused by Andrew Bogut right now.

Don’t get me wrong, I adore LeBron James. I would love nothing more than to see him in a New York Knicks uniform in 2010 and to see him make New York basketball matter once again. But to give up on a potentially playoff-caliber team when you could have just as easily made these deals once you had a better idea of what the team was going to be like is idiotic.

Is it wrong of me to still want to blame Isiah for this? Well, I guess I could look at the bright side: at least they haven’t traded Gus Johnson from announcing their games. I’m also not a Seattle sports fan, meaning my teams are staying where they are. That’s always good, I guess. This isn’t working, I just want a hug.

Jay Sanin's Birthday Wish List: Sports Edition

Jay Sanin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:59:52 -0500

Finally, it’s happening. Yours truly, Jay Sanin, is turning eighteen years old. No longer will he be one of the few college students under eighteen, and while that doesn’t fix the fact that he wasn’t able to vote in the recent election, it’s a good feeling.

How am I going to celebrate, you ask? Well, since I’ve been blessed with a Wednesday birthday, I’ll probably celebrate by doing what I do best: going to class, sleeping and eating. What do I want? Well, I could tell you I want cash, clothes, or anything else a typical college kid would want.

But, I’m the Armchair Quarterback, so I have a much better idea. I’ll take one for the team and dedicate my birthday wish list to the world of sports because, let’s be honest; there are some serious areas for improvement. Stick around for that, but first let me recap the week in the NFL and NBA.

The Tennessee Titans moved to 9-0 this week with a 21-14 victory over the Chicago Bears. Normally known for their relentless rushing attack, the Titans were held to just twenty yards on the ground and needed 289 yards, two touchdowns and no picks from Kerry Collins to escape the game with their undefeated record intact.

Collins was able to get on the same page as his pedestrian receiving corps, most notably tight end Bo Scaife who had ten catches and a touchdown. I think the Titans need a few games in which they can’t just hand the ball to Chris Johnson and LenDale White as the season goes on. Whether they’re clearly the class of the AFC or not, not everything is going to be as easy as it’s been so far once the playoffs come around.

In the NFC, the big game of the week was Giants/Eagles. The Giants took care of business, winning 36-31. The game wasn’t as close as the score indicated. Despite an early pick by Eli Manning that turned into a quick six and a fumble by Jacobs that led to another score (I’m sorry, but anytime a 260 pound running back feels the need to hurdle a smaller defensive back, I don’t agree with the decision. Keep your feet on the ground next time, kid).

The Giants rushed for 219 yards, 126 of which came from Brandon Jacobs (who threw in two scores). In addition, Tom Coughlin outcoached Andy Reid in just about every aspect of the game. This was on display when Coughlin called for one of the most brilliant challenges I’ve ever seen on that supposed forward pass call. Reid tried to answer by calling for challenges on consecutive plays when the Giants were deep in Eagle territory, both of which he lost.

To make matters worse, he botched the play calling on the Eagles’ last possession. Sorry, Coach Reid, but you might want to use a power back to play power football on fourth and one. Brian Westbrook isn’t a power back. Give it to Buckhalter or let McNabb handle the ball.

For some reason, the 7-1, defending-champion Giants were three point underdogs against the 5-3 Eagles. The Giants caught wind of this and used it as motivation like they always do. I’ve never seen a team buy into the “Us against the world” mentality more than this club.

Take back everything I’ve ever said about Tom Coughlin; he, Steve Spagnuolo and Kevin Gilbride have formed possibly the best coaching trio in this modern era of the game in regards to getting players to buy into their system. The players want to win the right way (as cliched as that sounds), and no one man is bigger than the team as we've seen with the Plaxico Burress saga.

I hate to say it, but it’s really looking like the Giants and Titans are destined to meet in the Super Bowl. I challenge you to name me one team that looks like they can beat them in a playoff game. Go ahead, I’ll be here.

As for the NBA, the usual suspects are off to hot starts. The Lakers are 5-0 and are winning games by 22 points per contest. The Celtics are 7-1 and have the second best scoring defense in the Eastern Conference.

Cleveland, Phoenix, New Orleans, and Atlanta are all playing good ball to this point and are looking like playoff teams once again. However, the Knicks, Heat, and Trailblazers are all above .500 and are looking like they could possibly make some noise in their respective conferences. On the flip side, Dallas, San Antonio and Philadelphia are all a couple games below .500.

It’s way too early to tell who’s going to end up having success this year, but it’s definitely looking like this is going to be a fun year in the Association.

Now, back to my birthday wishes. I’ve compiled a list of things I’d like to see changed, improved, or otherwise done in the sports world to make me happy. Here it goes:

Wish No. 1: Networks switching games during blowouts
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: when there’s a blowout going on, don’t make me sit there and watch the rest of it play out. I had to do this again this week as the only 1:00 game on in my area was Jets/Rams. The game was 40-0 at half! Why did I need to see Trent Green try to whittle down the clock in the second half?

FOX could have showed me the second half to a competitive Packers/Vikings matchup (which apparently featured a compelling final drive by Adrian Peterson and the Vikings, not that I would know), or the Seahawks/Dolphins game which also came down to the wire. Punishing fans with meaningless football when there are so many other interesting games going on is cruel and unusual.

Wish No. 2: Networks would use their best announcers for their best games
My dad and I just had a discussion about this before I started writing and I couldn’t agree more. Why don’t networks use their best announcers for big games? Listen to this call from Super Bowl XLII. This was quite possibly the best play in Super Bowl history, and Joe Buck ruined the moment for every Giants fan.

He should be imprisoned for making such a lackluster call. If Dick Stockton (the best football announcer FOX has to offer) was calling that game, that call would be emblazoned into the minds of every Giants fan and football enthusiast around. Same goes for baseball: why do I have to listen to Joe Buck and Tim McCarver call the World Series?

There’s got to be a better group for the job than those two. Honestly, I’d take the Chip Carey/Ron Darling combo over those two any day (see, Mets fans? I give credit where credit is due). It just bugs me when networks don’t make the most of their talents (or use Gus Johnson when he’s available).

Wish No. 3: That there were more competition in football right now
Sure, teams 3-32 fall under the ranges of pretty good (Falcons, Ravens, teams of that ilk) to a waste of time, money and energy (Detroit), but the rest of the league needs to get on the level of the Titans and Giants. I’m really displeased with the fact that we feel like we know who will be meeting up in the Super Bowl in the middle of November.

Even last year, when we all knew that the Patriots would be representing the AFC in the Super Bowl, we had absolutely no idea who would win the NFC and were treated with the Giants’ magical run to the championship. This year, barring a major upset, we already know what’s going to happen until February.

Come on Carolina, Atlanta, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Indy and Philly. We need you now more than ever. (By the way, there’s still a possibility of the Giants ruining another perfect season. Just thought I’d throw that out there)

Wish No. 4: That the Knicks could continue to compete
Last column, I told you that I didn’t think the Knicks would play well this year despite the coaching change. However, they’re 4-3 so far this year and playing some extremely entertaining ball in the process. Jamal Crawford has responded well to the “Seven Seconds or Less” offense; as have Zach Randolph, Quentin Richardson and Chris Duhon.

We saw in their most recent loss to the Spurs that they must make their shots in order to win, because they simply won’t win with defense. I hate to say it, but I’m legitimately intrigued by the Knicks right now. Of course, I fully expect them to still lose sixty games, but that’s why I’m making this wish.

Wish No. 5: That college basketball was interesting right away
Why do we have to sit through these meaningless out-of-conference games early in the college basketball season? Sure, we see the occasional upset early on, but 99 times out of 100 UCLA is going to beat Prairie View A&M.

Besides, losses against cupcakes don’t do a lot to affect your tournament chances like they affect teams' BCS chances in college football so there is basically zero risk involved. Instead of playing a ton of cupcakes outside the conference and having unbalanced conference schedules, teams should be forced to play their entire conference and be forced to win more games against legitimate competition.

Wish No. 6: For a playoff in college football
Come on now, enough is enough. We’ve been putting up with the BCS for way too long. It’s time for at least an eight team playoff. Not convinced? Consider this: we could see five undefeated teams this year (Alabama, Texas Tech, Utah, Boise State, Ball State), but only two of them can play for the championship.

To make things worse, Utah, Boise, and Ball State won’t even be considered for a title shot if they run the table because they don’t belong to a BCS Conference. Also, two of them might not even get into a BCS bowl game.

By rule, the BCS only has to admit one non-BCS Conference school into a BCS bowl game if they are ranked high enough to earn an at large bid. This means that they don’t have to grant the other non-BCS schools entrance into BCS games, even if they’re ranked higher than schools from BCS Conferences that they consider.

So, essentially, if you are from a non-BCS school you can run the table, be ranked in the top twelve and still not get into a game. What is the point of that? Take the top eight records in the Bowl Subdivision and let them play for the title. Use the BCS rankings as a tiebreaker if you have to. What’s wrong with that plan? A non-subjective, competitive way to decide a championship? I must be crazy. That reminds me…

Wish No. 7: Stop conference affiliation in bowl games
Why does college football refuse to just put great teams against one another in every way? Why do they need to make sure certain conferences play one another in certain bowl games? For example, what about the Rose Bowl forces officials to pit the Big Eleven (because there aren’t ten teams in that conference) winner against the Pac-10 winner?

This is the best example of this being an injustice because, let’s face it, unless a Big Eleven team is in the BCS title game they don’t deserve an automatic BCS bid. There’s no conference title game in that conference and, time and time again, we’ve seen Big Eleven teams get crushed in BCS games as of late.

You’re telling me that’s better than giving a team like Ball State a shot to run with the big boys? I don’t think so. When I’m the king of sports, I will fix this injustice.

Also, I'd like an 18-1* t-shirt, wake up calls from Gus Johnson for a year, for the Tampa Bay Rays to be as exciting as last year, and, of course, lots of cash. That is all.