If the Steve Alford Era Begins at UNM and It's Not On T.V. to See It.. Did It Really Happen?

Just a couple lines to rant about the debut of UNM men's basketball starting the season at Colorado. 

In case you haven't heard, this game will not be televised.  The only way to see it is to drive up to Boulder and buy a ticket.  This is the first of four UNM road games that will not be televised.  If the Mtn wants to be considered a big-time conference and sports network, they need to have every game on t.v., no matter who or where.  In the words of new head basketball coach Steve Alford, "I came from the Big Ten and I was on t.v. no matter who we played or where we played."  For those wanting to see a couple plays of the game, we are efforting highlights at 10pm.

The Latest on the State Soccer Controversy

Ok, here's the latest on the high school World Cup matches soccer mixup.  Boys soccer coaches from Cibola, Las Cruces and Hobbs each appealed to the NMAA this morning as to why they thought they should be the one to advance to the state soccer semifinals.  Each school ended with a 1-1 record in pool play and there was some confusion as to the tiebreaker.  The NMAA appeals committee ruled the entire Pool C needs to be replayed.  They would replay the matches in Pool C this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  The boys Class 5A semifinals and finals would be delayed one week.  The ruling must be voted on and approved by the Board of Directors later today.  Stay tuned for more details.

5 Reasons Why I Don't Like the NMAA's World Cup Matches

Let me start by saying I think 99% of what the NMAA does is good, positive and vastly improved over what the organization used to be, but this World Cup format for the state soccer tournament is silly!  Yes, there were more games (24 each day).  Yes, the NMAA says there were over 1,000 kids participating each day and over 5,000 paid spectators.  But if it's about more games and money, let's just let everyone in to play.

1) It doesn't make much sense that a top seed can fail to advance even though they don't lose a match (see Sandia Prep boys).

2) You just played 3 days of soccer and still can't decide who should advance in Pool C in Class 5A!
3) Out of town teams like Hatch Valley, Socorro, Farmington and Los Alamos must make "2" trips to Bernalillo in consecutive weeks for postseason matches (I don't know the dollar amount, but I'm sure it's not cheap to put the team up in hotels and feed them while they're away.. not to mention the extra time they miss from school).

4) The top seeds were not really rewarded in the best way possible because some pools were tougher than others.
5) Any event when your parents/fans don't know if you advance (even after the match is complete) must be changed.

I know there is NEVER going to be a system to make everyone happy, but when you tinker with the format to make it into something not many fans can understand you make it more of a mess.

*Also, the finals in boys Class 4A and 5A are scheduled for 7:30pm on Friday night.  Having games end at 9pm at night in November isn't very spectator friendly.

NMAA World Cup Match Ups and Scores (Girls-Thursday)

I guess the soccer seeding committee got it right for the NMAA World Cup Match-Ups in round one.  The better seeds on the girls side outscored their opponents 39-5 with only one upset and 10 shutouts in 12 matches.  Here are Thursdays girls scores:

GIRLS
ST. MICHAEL’S   7
REHOBOTH                0

SANDIA PREP     4
SANTA FE PREP   1

HOPE CHRISTIAN  10
POJOAQUE                0

BOSQUE SCHOOL   1
SOCORRO         0

ST. PIUS                4
FARMINGTON      0

LOS ALAMOS      1
MORIARTY                0

ACADEMY         3
DEL NORTE               0

AZTEC           2
GODDARD         0

LA CUEVA                1
ALAMOGORDO      0

LAS CRUCES              1
HIGHLAND                0

RIO RANCHO      4
CIBOLA          0

ELDORADO                1
SANDIA          4

Kobe Bryant... keep quiet and play!

Let me start this off by saying I'm a Laker fan.  I grew up in Southern California and remember the Magic Johnson-Paul Westhead feud.  Talented, high-paid players fighting management or coaches is nothing new.  That being said, Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA, period.   But even head coach Phil Jackson questions Kobe's committment.  "Obviously he hasn't thrown his heart and soul into performing on the floor," Jackson told reporters after practice Saturday.  Consider this, Kobe wants to leave behind one of the best coaches of all-time to be surrounded by more talent (you mean like a Shaq?) and win another championship (like the three you won in L.A.?).  It doesn't make sense.  Bryant has four years, worth $88.6 million, left on his contract, but can terminate the deal in two years.  It wouldn't make much business sense for the Lakers to trade away the face of the franchise.

Kobe, you signed a contract, you helped drive off Shaq.  You got just what you wanted.  You wanted to be "the man", now be one and honor the contract, play like a champion and consider your options when you're a free agent again.  End of story.

MNF Fantastic Finishes

After Brett Favre threw an 82-yard TD toss to Greg Jennings on the first play of overtime Monday night (sorry Bronco fans), I started thinking about some of the best Monday Night Football finishes I've seen.  Here's my list:

(I needed to go back and check the dates)
5) Colts beat Bucs 38-35 in overtime on October 6, 2003 (Indy was down 35-14 with 4 minutes to play and still pull off the win)

4) Bears beat Cardinals 24-23 on October 16, 2006 ("The Bears are who we thought they were!"..After the Cardinals were up 20-nothing at half, Brian Urlacher and Devin Hester mount a huge comeback in the desert)

3) Cowboys beat Bills 25-24 on October 8, 2007 (Dallas scored 10 points in the final minute)
2) Jets beat the Dolphins 40-37 on October 23, 2000 (New York was down 30-7 in the 4th yet rallied to win.. and I stayed late at the station to watch the rest of it)

1) Chiefs beat the Broncos 31-28 on October 17, 1994 (I remember this one for two reasons; it was a classic between John Elway and Joe Montana with Montana throwing the winning TD with :08 left and I watched it while I was on my honeymoon.  I knew at that moment I married the right woman!)

Looking back, it's kind of weird these all happened in October.

Now THAT'S Scary!

In honor of Halloween, here are some sports stories that are REALLY scary...

The Detroit Lions might make the playoffs this year. Now THAT'S Scary!

The quarterback who's 2nd to Tom Brady in touchdown passes thrown this year is not Peyton Manning, Eli Manning or Tony Romo... it's Cleveland's Derek Anderson (you could dress up as Derek Anderson for Halloween wearing a jersey with a sign reading "I'm Derek Anderson, quarterback for the Cleveland Browns" and people still wouldn't know who you were).

After 17 years in the league, 38 year old Brett Favre is STILL one of the best quarterbacks in the NFC (the NFC is the conference that's scary... scary bad!)

Alex Rodriguez, who's the best player in baseball but has NEVER won a World Series title, will ask for $30 million a season.. and probably get it! That's scary only for the couple teams who have the money to pay it.

Re-runs of SpongeBob and Hannah Montana still get better ratings than the NHL. Now THAT'S Scary! (you get bonus points if you can name the channel that carries the NHL this year)

My Top 5 "Scary" Movies:
1) Scream (I loved how they played off of "other" scary movies and I went to high school with Matt Lillard)
2) Silence of the Lambs
3) The Shining
4) Saw (the first one.. the others just get bloody for the sake of shock)
5) Jaws (seriously, did YOU want to go in the ocean after seeing that?)
Honorable mention:
Psycho, Poltergeist