Bleacher Report - Articles by Liz Soteros-McNamara

The Rose Bowl: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Liz Soteros-McNamara — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:23:57 -0500

With all the winter holidays coming drawing to another year’s end, I await the final holiday to share with family and friends.

I’m not just talking about New Year’s Day. I’m talking about the Rose Bowl.

The Rose Bowl was as memorable event in my teen years as even Christmas Day itself.

The Rose Bowl got me talking to my then-college aged brother during high school. We didn’t have much in common except our ears (it’s true!) but every year from the time he was in college we could come together on Jan. 1 and have something to discuss.

I was amazed at how my brother could explain a game to me that I never played and didn’t bother to understand before. He was always good to explain the teams and the expected outcome.

During my brother’s time as a UCLA Bruin, the stadium was turf for home games. I was always kind of jealous when I went to a smaller college that we didn’t have the same kind of iconic structure for our sporting events.

He attended USC for graduate school, our mother’s alma mater. And that gave the games some extra fun for us while the university competed twice during his time there. USC’s four continued years at the Rose Bowl have been a bonding experience for my brother and I.

Last year’s game against the Fighting Illini lacked a punch, but my brother and I still had talking points to exchange. This year’s game, USC-Penn State promises more.

My brother is out of grad school now and moved to another state a couple of years ago. Time changes and work schedules leave a great deal of our communication to social networking, but one thing remains the same.

I know where I will be on Jan. 1 at 5 p.m. ET. Which will be 2 p.m. for me and 3 p.m. for my big brother. And even with out being able to sit on the same couch, we’ll have something to celebrate as a family.

Happy New Year!

Cal—Stanford: Facing the Big One

Liz Soteros-McNamara — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:33:29 -0500

They come from dorm rooms, first-class flights, and crowed economy cars to ascend upon UC Berkeley for the 2008 annual football game between UC Berkeley and Stanford University.

Students and alumni alike descend upon Berkeley, California this weekend for the annual 111th “Big Game,” the nickname for the competition between the two highly respected universities. Next year, a similar crowd can be expected in Palo Alto, California.

The neighboring northern California schools have a tradition of competition in the annual football game dating back to 1892. Now the competition extends beyond the football game, with an award for the university with the greatest number of wins in various campus athletics.

The game’s winning team gains possession of the Stanford Axe, in accordance with the tradition between the two schools.

Now both schools stand at the threshold of making some new history for their respective university. Both have something to gain, depending upon the 2008 game result.

Stanford comes into the 2008 game with recent losses to USC and Oregon. Stanford already played 11 games in the 2008 season, resulting in just four victories, against Oregon State, San Jose State, Arizona, and Washington State.

UC Berkeley also recently lost to USC, and another Beaver State competitor, Oregon State. They have played ten games this season, with six victories, Michigan State, Washington State, Colorado State, UCLA, and Oregon.

Stanford leads the current record with 55 wins, compared to Berkeley’s 44 and the additional 11 tie games. The 2007 season marked the first victory by Stanford after five-consecutive wins by Berkeley.

Berkeley now stands to have the opportunity to beat its own personal record, with the potential to have seven season victories for the seventh season in a row.

A Stanford victory provides the Cardinals with the last win they would need for chance to play for a bowl since the 2001 game against Georgia Tech.

Saturday’s game begins at 12 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley.

It’s history in the making. There is a serious rivalry heating up the otherwise cool day ahead.

Tim Lincecum Doubters Have an Argument? Not If Statistics Are Any Indication

Liz Soteros-McNamara — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 06:22:26 -0500

A great deal of the coverage given to Tim Lincecum for his 2008 National League Cy Young Award focused on how he defied the odds to receive the award.

Despite the difference in physical appearance, Lincecum has the one characteristic shared by all National League Cy Young Award winners: a No. 1 placement in the Top 25 League Pitcher Review during the same year.

Although the National League Cy Young Award is determined by the judgement of a 32-person panel, the recipient has earned first place in at least one category of the Top 25 League Pitcher Review every year for the past decade.

Herein lies a tradition of excellence on the part of the pitcher beyond the subjectivity of the panel’s vote. Each award recipient has demonstrated success by not only a popular vote but also in all the totals earned by each particular player.

“People have been doubting me my whole life. It's nothing I hold against anyone. Let them watch and doubt and see what the end result is.” Tim Lincecum to the San Jose Mercury News after receiving the 2008 Cy Young Award.

The sports-reporting community all had its own opinions on the probability of Tim Lincecum walking away with the 2008 National League Cy Young Award. Despite some concerns that the San Francisco Giant’s lack-luster season (72-90) would be any indication of Lincecum’s ability to earn his own place in history, he received the majority of votes for the award.

Looking over just the past five years of National League Cy Young Award winners, Lincecum, Jake Peavy, Brandon Webb, Chris Carpenter, and Roger Clemens, recent history shows a trend of talented players coming from teams that did not always rank well that particular year.

What failed to be fully demonstrated by critics was the potential of the individual player surpassing any team-particular expectations. Each of these players held at least one record in the Top 25 of the National League the year he received the award, and the majority held more than one.

Lincecum makes history as an individual award recipient and also as one of the Cy Young winners from a less than stellar team. During this most recent season, Lincecum earned the greatest number of strikeouts (265) and the winning percentage (.783) in National League pitching statistics. The San Francisco Giants still ended the season without a solid home-run hitter.

Peavy made first place of the 2007 Top 25 with his 240 strikeouts and 19 wins. That same season left the San Diego Padres out of the postseason after losing to the Denver Rockies. Webb tied for both the records of three shutouts and 16 wins in 2006. Webb’s award came during a season that ended with the Arizona Diamondbacks trading several players.

Rounding out the last half decade, Chris Carpenter earned the top winning percentage (.808) and tied for complete games leader with a total of seven. Roger Clemens joined the 2004 ranks of the National League Top 25 with the winning percentage (.818).

The list goes on. Each National League Cy Young Award winner for the last decade placed first in at least one National League Top 25 ranking the year he received the award.

The “end result” of the last decade of National League Cy Young Award is recognizing a player that had the performance on the field to warrant the title.