How About That UCLA-Gonzaga Game Saturday!!! Wow!!

Like they said, it just doesn't get any better than this.  MAN!!!  What a game!!!

Regardless of who won.  

And, I had Gonzaga going all the way and it is from a Group of Five conference which means the lower echelon when compared to that snooty Power Five group.  And, UCLA is a member of a Power Five conference.

Normally, I would have been pulling all the way for Gonzaga.  But the road that UCLA had to go, having to play into the tournament with the Front Round and then those two games the previous weekend against Alabama (and that one, Wow!), a #2 and then a #1 in Michigan.

But, nothing prepared me for Saturday.  Talk about two great teams.  And, I found myself in the strange position of pulling for one of the Big Guys.  UCLA.

Back and forth, back and forth.  Usually the difference in scores was one or two points.  And then overtime and that shot at the buzzer from almost half court that went in to secure the win for Gonzaga.

This is why the basketball tournament is my favorite sporting event of all.

Man, Just Too Much!!  --RoadBall

JSIS: Stupid-Looking Hair Coming Out of Helmets-- Conference Championship Games-- NIU Football

JSIS--  Just Some Interesting Stuff

1.  STUPID-LOOKING HAIR COMING OUT OF HELMETS--  A couple weeks ago Liz and I saw the annual Army-Navy football game at the American Legion.  Sure was nice to see that no member of either team had hair coming out below their helmets.  I'm sorry, but that just looks stupid.  

Anytime you watch a college or NFL game it seems you see more and more of that long, funny-looking hair on both Blacks and whites.  I don't like it on any person.  Then, there is the guy on the Titans we all call Old Turd Hair.

2.  CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES--  Well, one thing nice about all the college conference championship games this year is the size of the crowds.  NIU is in the MAC and our championship games draw maybe 5,000 to 8,000 fans (but then again, who wants to go to Detroit).  Then the Power 5 games are standing room only.  This year, they are all essentially empty.  Wonder why?

3.  NIU FOOTBALL--  A sad year for Northern Illinois University football with an 0-6 record.  But, this really wasn't a real year anyway.  Too weird and strange with you-know-what.  But, the second year Joe Novak was our coach, we were 0-12 and then by the fourth year, it was all up from there as we were able to somehow keep him despite his success and the Big 10, 11,12,13,14 grabbing MAC coaches all the time.

Maybe This Is a Sign of Good Times to Come?  --RoadWin

In case you're wondering what the name of the group was that beat out the Beatles in their audition, scroll down to this months Music Deaths for David Munden.

Doing That Ol' Coronavirus Thing: Sturgis-- Schools-- MAC-- Pam's-- Indy 500

Seems to be the thing these days:

1.  STURGIS--  Well, we'll be seeing what impact having a huge number of people congregating in one area has on the spread of the cv.  250,000 folks and probably not much in the way of masks or social distancing.

2.  SCHOOLS--  Chicago has put off opening schools for awhile.  All schools should do that and don't open until a vaccine is found or the cv has run its course.

3.  MAC--  The Mid American Conference canceled all fall sports, including football, until spring.  Good move.  All college football teams should follow suit.  (Just a moment ago I saw that the Big 10,11,12,13,14 had also put off fall til spring.)

4.  PAM'S--  Saturday we went to Pam's house in Johnsburg and got together with friends who had move to New Mexico.  We social distanced.

5.  INDY 500--  The Indy 500 did the right thing and won't allow people to see the race August 23.  The friends from New Mexico and I have seen the last eight Indys.

No Indy for Us This Year.  --RoadLess

About This Super Bowl

Since neither of our two NFL teams are playing (Bears and Packers, Yep, that's right, Bears and Packers) Liz and I become free agents.  Especially since the hated New England Patriots are not in it.  Whenever that happens, we pull for the other team.  Thanks, Tennessee for knocking them out of the playoffs.

Normally, we pull for the NFC team, but not this time since Kansas City is in it.  They haven't been to the Super Bowl since IV, and it wasn't even called the Super Bowl back then.

However, San Francisco has two players of local interest on their team.  Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is from Arlington Heights, Illinois, played football at Rolling Meadows High School and college ball at Eastern Illinois.  Safety Jimmie Ward played college ball at Northern Illinois University, our alma mater.

Both played for non- Power 5 conferences which makes them playing in the NFL even more difficult.

So, we will be pulling for Kansas City to win, but Garoppolo and Ward to do well.

--RoadDog

TAX FACTS:  Nearly 300,000 trees are cut down yearly to produce the paper for all the IRS forms and instructions.

At Least We Got Through That Horrid NFL Preseason, Now We Have That Horrid NCAA Preseason

I think most will agree with me that the NFL preseason is just a big waste of time.  Hardly any regulars play.  A big who cares.

However, now sadly, we are in the NCAA preseason when the Big Guys beat up on the Little Guys.  That is, the Power Five Conferences play the Mid-Level teams and generally blow them out (as seen with Nebraska beating my Northern Illinois 44-8 last Saturday.

Taking a quick look at the Lines for some college football games this weekend:

Iowa State by 19 over Louisiana-Monroe
Ohio State by 40 over Miami of Ohio
Clemson by 41 over UNC-Charlotte
Indiana by 27 over UConn
Miami by 30 over Central Michigan
Virginia by 31 over Old Dominion
NC State by 20 over Ball State

These are ridiculous games, even though on rare occasion one of the Little Guys beats a Big Guy.

College football needs to do something about these impending blow outs.

Granted, the Little Guys get a huge payday for playing these games, but even then, COME ON!!

--RoadDog

Bears Draft Three Non-Power Five Conference Players

In the recent NFL Draft, my Chicago Bears drafted five players... and three were not from those GRB Power Five Conferences.

1st--  Mitch Trubisky, QB  North Carolina   (Let's hope this is not another Bear wasted quarterback choice.  Our track record for QBs is Very Bad!!  And that goes with our sorry qbs Cutler, Grossman and McNown.

2nd--  Adam Shaheen  TE, Ashland

4th--  Eddie Jackson, Safety  Alabama

4th--  Tarik Cohen, RB  North Carolina A&T

5th--  Jordan Morgan, G  Kutztown

I'd never heard of Ashland or Kutztown.

--RoadDog

YOU'RE DRINKING TOO MUCH COFFEE WHEN:  You can take a picture of yourself from ten feet away without using a timer.

ECU Shooting for the Highest Level of Sports Competition--Part 2

My school, Northern Illinois University, another one of those weather vane schools, has tried to rise above mid-level status, but with no success.

We were in the Mid-American Conference, but left in the mid-eighties to seek the higher levels as an independent. It didn't work out and we are now back in the MAC again.

ECU is now a member of Conference USA, but would like to rise to ACC or Big East level. The Winter 2012 East magazine of ECU devoted a whole page to this quest titled "Big enough for the big leagues."East Carolina has applied for membership in the big East and even retained former NC Governor Jim Hunt to lobby for the school.

This past fall the university debuted a fact-filled website to push its case at www.ecu.edu/undaunted. East Carolina is a consistent TV ratings power house and has a rabid fan base.

Nationally, ECU ranks #44 in average football attendance and ranked #2 among schools that don't belong to conferences that get an automatic bid to a national bowl game.

More to Come. --RoadDog