XIV. Only Interesting to Moi

1. SPORTING PLAYOFFS
Chicago Fire eliminated... from getting first place in the east. The Fire is 13th on the combined table and that has only happened just now (3 games left).

1a. William Hesmer made a funny when he commented on the MLS playoff format, "..instead of it taking 5 seconds to say 'we are in 5th and need to get into 4th' - it takes 30 seconds to explain how you get in."

1b. The NHL is struggling with conferences / divisions / playoffs as well. They kept Columbus in the West. That ensures a poor record. I see that Detroit and Nashville are in the West as well.

1c. NFL doesn't necessarily get it all right, but they get the game time stuff right. Sunday afternoon? Fall? Game is on TV.

1d. Finally, MLB. They are looking at splitting it in to two conferences and scrap divisions. If they go then expect the rest of the domestic sports to follow.

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2. BUCKEYES
When I went to bed they were winning by a couple touchdowns. Woke up and caught up on the twitter feed. Reading the events that way was like watching that part in every war movie when the audience and characters know there just isn't anyone coming back from that last mission, but they gotta go.

Strange out here in Buckland these days. Scandal, bad team, questionable coaching and a rotten Athletic Director.

What this area thinks they need is some gritty vet to turn around, face the camera, pump his shotgun with one hand and say, 'come on you apes, you want to live forever?!!' just as the forgotten 80s metal song blares. Roll credits.

A: It's not going to happen.
B: it's not the right thing for the University.

Take you medicine, OSU. The sooner you do? The sooner you can get epic movie music.

2a. I've been paying close attention to OSU Coach Luke Fickell, not only because he looks a little like my brother but because he is around my age. He is certainly getting a crash course in, well, whatever coaching the football team of the largest university on the planet is. I don't know what you call that title. The position Fickell holds is too big for anyone. Because of the fans, it has become a mystical/shaman position that can only be filled by a mythical legend. King Arthur? Odin? Woody Hayes?

Because of Fickell's age I also find myself playing the "what would i do in that situation" game. I've come to the conclusion that there is nothing he can do, really. He was on Tressell's staff and knows too many dirty little things that could destroy his future career.

So, advice for Mr. Fickell:
- is roll out the school pride,
- prepare the fans for a long 2nd half of season
- say some good things about Woody
- Announce you are a one yr steward for the university, winning comes 2nd
- get your young family the hell out of dodge before the new year.

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3. FIFA, GEARS, MW3, UNCHARTED
What I'll be playing the rest of this year.

3a. FIFA 12 is very fun.

3b. Fitting in Gears of War 3. Not as good as 2, but okay for what it is and better then the other future/space soldiers/shoot stuff/ games.

3c. Modern Warfare 3. Because having kids yell at you gets me though the Ohio winter and it looks like the next Ghost Recon is stalling.

3d. Uncharted 3. The first two were a couple of the best games I've ever played.

3e. Betcha Luke Fickell doesn't have time for video games right now. But he may next year if he doesn't GET. OUTTA. DODGE.

How Southern Boys Play Football

Or looking at football scores in a different way. More interesting way? probably not. Grab some coffee and pull up a chair and observe as I spiral down a mathematical hole of which you nor I have any business going down.

28 bowl games played, 56 total teams.

Data can be very misleading but here goes; The traditional South (for my definition of that go HERE) has fielded 22 of those 56. Here is the breakdown:

22: South
16: West
11: Mid West
07: North

Here are the Records by region:

13-9: South
8-8: West
3-4: North
4-7: Mid West

So how about match-ups? Say... North vs. South? They had 12 head to head.

South 8 wins, 4 losses. Average margin of victory? 22 pts. When Northern team wins the margin was 14 pts.

I found something interesting here in terms of point margins; That being when one school from a particular region plays another region it is a blow out (one way or the other). For example: when the a Northern team travels it either won by 21 or lost by 16. But when a Northern School plays another school from the North, the margin is only three points. Same thing in a South v. South match up (4.8).

Southern teams didn't do well in their 2 games against teams not in the North. Two losses (and loosing bad) by an average of 17.5 pts. An aggregate of 35 pts.

I got turned on to soccer more this year so lets look at Goal Difference, oops, I mean point difference in North v. South:

South: +74

HA HA! Suck it Yankees!

When it was North v. Other:

Other: +24

How about variance. What is the distance between a win and a loss for each region:

12.4: Mid-West (good)
15.6: South
18.1: North
18.5: West (bad)

Generally speaking, this tells me is that Mid-western teams are scoring more in a loss because the winning team, no matter region is scoring around 35 pts. It's pretty predictable that the teams out west have all this variance. From what I've heard, they don't play defense out there.

What's strange is that mid-western teams have the worst record out of the bunch. I first thought that there isn't enough data points (11 games) for them, but then again, that 20% of the games played. So what's with this region? Some sociologists may stay going from a colder region to a warmer one (most bowl games are in warm climates) to play and the kids may treat it like a vacation and not a game. Football analysts in the know will probably say that it is because cold weather teams are built for a slower game (run and defense).

Let's put that last part to the test. Points per Game by where the school is from in terms of weather (generally):

26.3: Warm (Western teams, Deep South, California)
25.1: Cold
24.3: Moderate Temp (Mid-Atlantic, Maryland, North Carolina)

Here are the winning %:

56%: Moderate temp
46%: Warm
45%: Cold

One very important note; I took Oklahoma out. That state has been very successful this year winning all three of their games and I don't know how to classify their weather.

So is it that teams in the Mid-Atlantic are balanced and can play with anyone? Man, I don't know. I'm rambling on now, but it has been fun to look at this stuff. Just a different way to look at this stuff.

Statistically speaking the only significant difference I found was in the South vs. North match-ups. All other match-ups, North v. West, West v. West, South v. anyone, Mid-West or whatever, is 50-50. So, when it comes down to it I think it comes to playing for something bigger then your school. Southern teams and Southern players have an enormous amount of pride and passion for their region, especially when playing a school up North. Combine that with the reality that schools up North probably don't care and you get a disparity.

Don't believe me about the Southland? Talk to someone from down there. Here; I'll simulate a conversation for you if no Southerner and Yankee is available to you.
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Yankee: Yeah, yeah who cares.
Rebel: Not too many, I reckon.
Yankee: Fat, lazy, backward, redneck sumbitches
Rebel: Maybe so, but we set out to win some football games, and we did. What have y'all done?
Yankee: You want me to seriously answer that question?!
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Ok, so it's not much to win a couple football games, but good enough for me.

Mini: Only Interesting to Me

Watched the Indiana University / Ohio State football game today. OSU dominated the game in just about every phase. Which got me thinking a bit about something which has been sticking in my mind for a while. Player size. In the NFL size seems pretty negligible between teams but in college it seems, just by watching the game, that one team is just... well bigger.

I read somewhere that a high school team up north somewhere just refused to to play a game because of the size discrepancy. So with that I decided to look at starting rosters on OSU and IU. OSU's defense dominated so I looked at their D line verse IU's offensive line.

OSU's line is, on average, 27 pounds heavier and about the same height. Flipped around IU's O line is 15 lbs heavier, yes, but OSU has 2" in height.

I chose to look at lines because it was/is where games are won and lost. Weight alone doesn't necessarily mean strength or skill. Just bothers me sometimes how I hear on TV during games how some of these smaller schools should be considered to be ranked higher. Yeah, there are loads of other considerations that I should take into winning and loosing. Heart being the biggest thing... Coaching right after that.

But man, if your line is 30 lbs a man heavier? You're going to win.

Only interesting to me

Peter King of Sports Illustrated has a topic buried in his Monday NFL column called "Factoid of the Week That May Interest Only Me". Love him or hate him his column is excellent. So I'm going to rip him off here and go on talking about things that I find interesting as I settle in Ohio's "gray season" (autumn and winter).

(and most of Spring).

1. JMU beats Virginia Tech in Lane Stadium? Yes!

In the world of college football it doesn't get any more embarrassing then this for the Hokies. I had lots of friends go to VT. I've visited the school a couple times. I like where it is and like that good engineers come from there... I've just never liked their athletic teams or fans. Loud, boastful, arrogant. They are always ranked high to start the season but find ways to drop down like loosing to JMU. Maybe I just don't like them because they were allowed into the ACC. They belong in that dirty conference full of "known for sports only" schools. The Big East.

Another thing I have mixed emotions about is that they enter the stadium to a Metallica's Enter Sandman like some pro wrestler. It seems to be what they are known for these days. Nice work Hokies. This VT tradition dates way back to the year 2000 when a vote was taken. It was Sandman or Welcome to the Jungle. I wish the students choose neither. But, they did.

All that meanness said; the environment this song creates out there in the mountains, especially on a cool and soggy night, has probably made a few opposing players piss their pants (note: no JMU player wet their pants yesterday. **Nor do the blue bloods over at UVA ever soil their britches**). Their entrance has it all. The song is like catnip for Hokies. I have to admit - seeing Virginia's flag run out on the field with tens of thousands of fans going nuts to a backdrop of fire works gives me the duck bites. Sic semper tyrannis!


I like how people spill onto the field. It's one of these things that blurs the line between sporting event and battle field. I know that I shouldn't, but I love that it exists.

2. Ohio State is having trouble with special teams.
2a. Terrelle Pryor is a "weapon" not a QB.

I am expecting the Buckeyes to run the table this year and meet up with a school like Alabama (if they can survive the SEC). Bama is a much better team.

3. "Let's show these northern boys how Southern Boys play football!" - McElroy, Alabama Quarterback before their game against Penn State.

McElroy of Alabama is a Rhodes Scholar applicant, Sigma Alpha Epsilon member, his father is a VP in the Dallas Cowboys organization and he hasn't lost a game he has started since the 8th grade. I stood up when ESPN rolled that quote clip of him stating the above quote. They ended up stomping Penn St in a game where they pulled up in the 3rd quarter (out of respect for Penn State, if I may be so bold).

4. I hope ESPN removes the "crawl" of sports updates at the bottom of the screen during games soon.

It's not necessary. It's a hangover from days before the internet me thinks. Also, while I'm at it employ the "less is more" theory of design with time and score graphics that are ever present at the bottom of the screen. I'm looking forward to the day when I have the option of dropping that and watching a clean feed and only pulling it up when I want it and where I want it. So called on demand statistics during games is where a sport like baseball can be become king again. It'll happen so says I.

**My thoughts on the difference between a Hokie fan and a Wahoo is thus: VT fans feel they have to win. When they don't, they get all pissed off and down. UVA fans? Pretty even win or loose.**