BCS = Big time College Stupidity

Take these facts into account, Missouri is
rated number one by the BCS with a record
of 11-1 and their opponents have a winning
percentage of 554. West Virginia is ranked
number two at 10-1 and their opponents have
a 529 winning percentage. Florida has a 9-3
record and is ranked 10th in the BCS polls,
the Holy Grail of polls, but Hawai'i who is 11-0
is ranked 12th because their opponents have
367%, or at least that's the justification that is
used when explaining why they are not ranked
higher.

You play who you play, some of these big time
time programs such as Michigan even put
Division II teams on their schedule and when
they lose it's a travesty. You may argue and
rightfully so, that Hawai'i probably wouldn't
beat a big time school. An argument I made
myself just two weeks ago. However shouldn't
they be given that opportunity being that they
may end their regular season 12-0 if they beat
Washington this week, who by the way despite
their losing record is a so called big time program?
Also keep in mind that last week they beat the
number 17 BCS ranked team in the country,
who at the time had the number three ranked
pass defense in the country, and passing is all
Hawai'i does, and did that night. Boise St a team
that got no respect for the same reason last year
did play in a big time bowl, though not for the
Championship, won the game they weren't
supposed to and managed to finish the year ranked
number three in the BCS, but in this years
preseason rankings again got no respect and were
ranked in the 20's to start an all but impossible
climb to the top.

Lastly the New England Patriots have a shot at
going undefeated this year, but perhaps they to
shouldn't got a shot at their league's crown
because their opponents have a winning percentage
of .452 and a record of 80-97, not to mention they
face the 0-11 Dolphins twice and the 2-9 Jets twice.

It's clear that either the NCAA institute a playoff
system and stopping lying to the public about the
fact that these athletes are students first or they
give teams like Hawai'i a chance to win the brass
ring like everyone else. By the way does the fact
that Division II get to play in a playoff system
make them any less studious?

Time To Point Fingers

Sean Taylor's tragic death this week raises flags
once again. Flags that have plagued primarily
the NFL and NBA, and not so much or as much
the NHL and MLB, but none the less flags.
The questions are these, where have we failed
these rich youngsters? Is it at the High School
level? The College level? or more probably in
the home, aka in the community they come from.
Do we idolize them too much? Should student
athletes be this revered and famous as they are,
and as Sean Taylor was? Though I am fully aware
that many of you may point out that this was a
possible attempted robbery, I am sure you know
that it is also possible that this was retribution,
and that this wasn't his only run in with trouble.
This certainly no time to kick a man when he is
down, or in this case dead, but let us not forget the
price that is ultimately paid for hailing athletes
for playing a game, a game we all wish we could
play and get paid to do it. We as a society really
need to take a long hard look at ourselves and
wake up, because these problems aren't about
to go away.

NFL Picks

20-10 on the season, and such mediocrity.
These picks were supposed to be locks,
and even though I understand that there
will be bumps in the road, I still hate it.

This weeks winners are:

Arizona

Cleveland

Oakland

How About Now?

The Oakland Raiders have equaled last
years win total already, with six weeks to
go in this years season, but that's where
the good news ends. They have two wins.

This week they have a chance, when they play
the Kansas City Chiefs, and after showing an
abysmal run defense vs the Minnesota
Vikings last week, to surpass last years win
total. They also get lucky this week, as they
can get a chance to make that run defense look
good at the same time, even if it isn't true .
Larry Johnson, the Chiefs leading rusher and
an NFL top back is out with an injury, and
Christmas came early for the Raiders because
the Chiefs second leading rusher and former
NFL elite RB decided to end his comeback
and retire this week. This is a perfect case
of, the door is open, now walk in.
So, "How About Now?"

Happy Thanksgiving

To all who support Mad Stork Sports,

THANK YOU !

Remember to bookmark us and pass it on.

Have A Great Thanksgiving, and remember

all you have to be thankful for.

Mad Stork Sports

Stop The Presses

NFL It's a amazing how some of the
more successful coordinators get head
coaching jobs and then can't even get
their teams to excel on the side of the
ball the were coordinators at.

Cases in point: Marvin Lewis an
excellent defensive coordinator in
Baltimore can't get his Bengals team
to stop a Pop Warner team. Norv
Turner won Super Bowls with the
Cowboys, revived the Chargers and
Dolphins offenses when he was there,
and his Chargers are grossly under
performing under his watch as head
coach. This list is longer, but I really
don't want bore you. I just wish I
could understand why. Maybe I
should ask Charlie Weiss.
NFL II / NCAA Football
I checked out the latest BCS rankings
tonight and noticed that even after
trouncing Buffalo 56-10 yesterday
and beating the Super Bowl Champs
the game before that, New England
wasn't able to crack the top 25.
I guess no BCS Bowl bid for them.
I don't get it, poor Bill Belicheck
those pols are biased anyway.
MLB Tom Glavine in essence just took
$5million less to sign a one year deal with
the Braves instead of allowing the second
year of his contract to kick in with the
NY Mets which was his option.
Things with the Mets must have been
real, real bad. Real, real bad.

NFL PIcks

OK 2-1 and last week, but I guess the Rams
had to win eventually, however that's no excuse.
The record has dropped to 18-9 and .667% is
not what I consider a "lock" type of percentage.
Marching on, here goes


Green Bay


Dallas


Pittsburgh

Dinks And Dunks

NCAA Football
After watching Hawai'i win a squeaker vs Nevada
on Friday, it was clear to me that this team was
ranked 16th in the BCS polls despite the undefeated
record of 9-0 for a reason. Even though they were
playing without their star and Heisman Trophy
hopeful, Colt Brennan, and this has been a strange
year even for teams that are supposed to win easy,
they showed me that they would be crushed like a
bug if they played a big time program like an
Ohio State or LSU. Don't get me wrong, I love
a good underdog story, I liked it with Boise St.
last year and, I'm pulling for Hawai'i this year
but if they don't finish strong against the
aforementioned Bosie St. who is going to be
their only high ranked opponent this year,
they will be no better than any other non
BCS school.

NCAA II I attended the Harvard Yale game
today, and all I can say is that only in a rivalry
game can a 9-0 team like Yale get crushed
37-6 by an opponent on their own field.
It was a great experience, but would have been
much better to see a team finish their season
undefeated.

NBA The NY Knicks are way too talented to be this
bad, and Stephon Marbury has been on way too
many underachieving teams for this to be a
coincidence. Something has to give, and I won't
even begin to suggest what.

NHL The New York Rangers have turned their
early season struggles around, and the have a
really strong choice for first half MVP, and that's
the fabulous Swede Henrik Lundqvist and his
1.71 Goals Against Average.

Correction/Addition The previous post
titled Boston (W) Tea Party mentioned many
Boston and New England teams, I did
however fail to mention that the New England
Revolution will be in the MLS Cup final on
Sunday in Soccer, and since then Harvard
beat Yale to go undefeated in the Ivy League
and win the Ivy League Championship.
Man talk about a hot, hot, hot city/region.

Scott Boras Is The Devil, Well, Maybe

This week A-rod decided to negotiate his own
contract with the Yankees after reportedly
receive some advise from Mega Trillionaire
and all around smart guy Warren Buffet.
Friday pitcher Kenny Rogers fires Boras,
and announces he will negotiate his own
contract as he is a free agent.

It's easy to that this has been a pretty bad
week PR wise for Boras, and you have to
wonder how he will survive this hit, now that
he is being treated like the plague.
Frankly it couldn't happen to a nicer guy,
sports wise that is

A-Rod vs Barry Bonds

No, I don't mean the home run chase either.
The last couple of days they have been in
a race for the headlines, intentionally or not.

A-Rod Planned or not he pushed the Devil
aka as Scott Boras aside and decided to take
the reigns in his contract talks with the Yankees.
Bonds May keep to his word and not attend
possible Hall of Fame ceremonies after all.
He may be busy doing up to 30 years in the
federal penitentiary.
A-Rod Claims that he is willing to accept a
below market offer from the Yankees in order
to show he is serious in wanting to make things
right. $275 million for 10 years, oh boo hoo,
how will he ever feed his family? Perhaps he
should ask Latrell Sprewell, or just admit that
the money he and Boras were seeking just wasn't
out there as they had originally thought.
Bonds Now that the federal charges might
actually have teeth will he still insist that his
record isn't tainted?
A-Rod Is a choirboy compared to Bonds,
but neither have been able to win the big one,
and you have to wonder if Red Sox fans
insistence that they didn't want him played a
part in his realizing that he couldn't pit the
two teams into a bidding war.
Bonds Supposedly at the time of the
indictment he was hunting. I wonder if he's
gonna pull a Dick Cheney and accidentally shoot
someone in the face?

These two are getting real boring, a real Paris
Hilton, Lindsey Lohan headline battle of the
chumpions, but I had space to fill and this is the
best I could come up with. The truth is, whether it's
Alex or Barry, Lindsey or Paris, this is our fault
for giving them so much importance in our day
to day lives. Time to wake up and smell the
$5 latte. We're being hoodwinked !

Boston (W) Tea Party

Since the start of the World Series the
Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics have a
combined record of 19-0 and even if
you add in the terrible records of
Boston College (8-2) and the Boston
Bruins 8-6, that's still 35-8.
Life in Boston is Good !

Snap, Crackle, And Pop

MLB
After looking at the numbers of the top four
vote getters in the AL Cy Young race, it was
amazing anyone could make a decision.
It was so close. They were all deserving and I'm
surprised a tad bit that Carmona and Lackey
didn't at least pick up one first place vote,
they all had merit in one aspect or another.


CC Sabathia
W-L ERA K Walks
19-7 3.21 209 37
Josh Beckett
W-L ERA K Walks
20-7 3.27 194 40
John Lackey
W-L ERA K Walks
19-9 3.01 179 52
Fausto Carmona
W-L ERA K Walks
19-8 3.06 137 61


NFL
Pac man Jones gets a plea deal, I'm sure the
guy who wound up in the wheel chair is thrilled.


MLS
With Ruud Gullit taking over as coach of the
LA Galaxy, it is certain that David Beckham will
soon be more comfortable and involved in a
more suitable style of play for him.
This is also the first sign that the latest LA Galaxy
is the 21st century version of the NY Cosmos.


NASCAR
Another reason why I find NASCAR so absurd reared
it's ugly head today. As I watched ESPN News and
the headline ticker informed me that Jimmie Johnson
needed to finish 18th or better to clinch the Nextel Cup
Championship. 18th or better??? Championship???
C'mon ! ! !

ESPN News
I can't see how Lipscomb beating Fisk by a score of
123-22 is "Breaking News", do you?

NFL Picks

After back to back miserable weeks of 1-2
In will no longer be referring to picks as
"I don't want to pick the easy ones",
because there are no easy ones.
I now intend to add to my 17-7 record.

New Orleans

Seattle

Pittsburgh

3-0 here I come!

World Champions?

Today I saw a headline on the internet that
former major leaguer Jim Lefevbre will be
coaching China's national team in the
Beijing Olympics. So that made me wonder.
Bobby Valentine manages pro baseball in
Japan, and the KC Royals newest manager
Trey Hillman did as well, the NBA is full of
foreign players, and Major League baseball
has been for much longer than that, though
Asians are only now starting to really make
their presence felt. Hockey aside from the
Canadian influence is full of foreigners, and
Soccer needs to be in order to survive, at
least in this country. It seems that the NFL
is the only "Major" sport in this country that
has been able to elude true foreign influence,
and that may stay that way for awhile, though
some foreigners have been sprinkled in during
recent times.

I guess the whole point of this is, Is any team
truly a "World Champion" if they only face teams
based in this country/continent? The Stanley Cup
in name alone does not pretend to name the
"World" Champion, and neither does the "Super
Bowl", and I guess the NBA Championship gets
a pass as well, but is it time to change the title
of "World Series"?, or is it even fair to say that
the others should not be considered "Champions"
of the "World" as many athletes often like to say
soon after winning their respective titles?
Remember theses leagues began in a time where
travel by bus was considered rapid transit,
so it is understandable that you couldn't really
face opponents from other countries, let alone
incorporate them into your leagues, and that
was probably an even better reason not to be
considered world champs.

It is fair to say that it might now be time to
get the Champions of the best leagues around
the globe to face each other to decide the
best of the best. Soccer does something similar
in Europe with it's Champions league tourney,
and even beyond that. The World Cup of Soccer
goes beyond that to show National supremacy
ala the Olympics, but a little more interesting
because the names are more familiar. Other
World Cups don't seem to draw the same amount
of interest, with the exception of Rugby in other
parts of the world. Let's face it, the money will
be made, and American audiences will certainly
get into something like this if you can package
it right, and hopefully not water it down with
glitz and glam. The World Baseball Classic was
a nice start, but this was like the Olympics with
pros, now we need something with club teams.
You know like the Detroit Tigers vs the Yomuiri
Giants for the whole ball of wax. Then their
will be a true "World Series"

Blow To The Head

Eric Lindros very quietly and without much
fanfare retired today. He was once one of
the NHL's mega stars, the next Next One.
But like Steve Young and many countless
others, including his younger brother a
player for the NY Islanders, concussions
did them in.

The only question that entered my mind
as I heard the news was, how many players
in past times had concussion that were
treated as much more minor ailments?

I can't help but wonder how that drive and
ego makes these athletes dismiss health,
take steroids, and become guinea pigs for
human growth hormones, and so on.
Are we guilty for pushing them or is
it just the human condition that brings
this about? Either way it doesn't seem
as though it will end anytime soon.

Marion Jones confesses, the Russian are
accused of poison in the name of the
Davis Cup in Tennis, and the Mitchell
investigation rolls on. Kind of makes
the exploits of Pac Man Jones seem
like little more than mischievous play.

Super Hot Stove

Though it seems that the NFL has become or
may become the number one sport Americans
love, it is clear by this years post season
activities that MLB is never closed.
The Hot Stove as many love to call the
trade/free agent/ GM meetings/Winter
meetings, and all things rumoured is
definitely in high gear.

Where will A-Rod Go?
Will Glavine go back to the Braves?
Will the Yankees trade for Miguel Cabrera,
or Johan Santana? Will they be able to
resign Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, or
even Andy Pettite?
What will Brad Lidge to the Phillies mean
to the NL East?
And or course what may be a party pooper
this year, What will the Mitchell report reveal?

I could certainly go on and on, and though
it's clear that the NFL Draft Trumps the
MLB Draft by far, baseball certainly stirs
up postseason attention like no other sport.
Isn't this fun?

Stray Bullets

MLB
I find it amazing as a New York Mets fan
that David Wright won Gold Glove for
his excellence in fielding. I am as big a
David Wright fan as there is, and the way
he carries himself off the field is a real breath
of fresh air, but was the National League so
third baseman deprived that they gave a
guy with "24" errors a Gold Glove?

MLB II
All kidding aside, it's nice to see someone take
less money to stay and play where they want
to play. Curt Schilling won't starve on eight
million a year in Boston, but he could have
gotten more and worked less in the NL,
i.e. Piladelphia.

MLB III
Last week when Andy Pettite was asked whether
he'd be following Torre L.A., he responded by
saying that it wouldn't be right after the Yankees
invested so much money in him. Yesterday he
opted out of his contract, not to go to L.A., but to
either retire or of course get more money from the
Yankees. It's good to see a man of God with such
a deep conscious as he behave with integrety.

NFL
Now that the NFL has cleared the Colts on
the noise accusations made by the Patriots
following Sunday's contest. Perhaps the
Pats should consider accusing the Bills of
pumping in snow if their streak should end
in Buffalo or Eagles fans for cussing.

NBA
Now that most teams in the NBA have jumped
on the foreign player boat, you have to wonder
if the ones that haven't got the memo that some
of these guys can actually play.

NHL
Now that the NY Rangers have gotten back on
track after a slow start they have no one to
thank more than their Swedish net minder
who has four shutouts in the young season,
and an impressive 1.49 goals against average.

MLS
Bruce Arena teams dominated soccer in the
MLS early years. Tuesday he "resigned"
from the NY Red Bull. After a disappointing
National Team experience you have to wonder
how history will judge his legacy in later years.

Pot Calling Kettle, Come In Kettle

So now that the bad guys (Patriots) won
they've decided to accuse the Colts of
cheating, Ha ! They claim that the Colts
have been pumping in crowd noise to
throw off their opponents. True or not,
I wonder how it feels to fight an uphill
battle?

NFL Picks

A real letdown last week bringing my hot streak
to an end. That being said my record for the
season is still a healthy 16-5. Time to pick up
the pieces and I won't avoid the Big Game either.

Oakland

Pittsburgh

Indianapolis

Now let there be wins !

Say It Ain't So Joe

In what could be a legacy defining moment,
Joe Torre has accepted the job as manager
of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Obviously it
isn't about the money, he definitely took
less, although he didn't come cheap.
He will be under the microscope though.
Questions will be a plenty, especially by
the Yankee fans that wanted him gone,
and non Yankee fans who have always
contended that Torre success was a product
of his $200,000,000 payroll. If Joe Torre
fails to produce anything less than a
World Series appearance, his performance
will be considered a failure. Though the
Dodgers may not think so, his detractors
most certainly will, and they will dance
in the streets.

Good Luck Joe.
Way to put a bulls eye on your back.