Look ahead to Cal

The California Golden Bears and the Texas Longhorns will face off this season in the Holiday Bowl. Though this is not the bowl game I was hoping Texas would get it's still better than no bowl game. After finishing 5-7 last year the Longhorns were not bowl eligible. 

The game will be played on Dec 28th in San Diego. Cal and Texas both have 7-5 records and 4-5 in their conference. 

This game will come down to Texas's offence against Cal's defense. If our offence shows up then we have a chance at winning this game. Our defense is good enough to hold them under 10 points. That means the offence only needs to score 11 points, which we might struggle to do. 

FREE DAVID ASH!!!! For this game I want the Longhorns to start David Ash as their quarterback. He has a better arm than Case which opens the deep ball to Marquise Goodwin. Although McCoy is more accurate, you can't really teach arm strength, but you can always get more accurate. Unfortunately I doubt Mack Brown will want to start Ash after McCoy beat A&M. Many people feel he deserves to finish off the season. 

Hopefully Alabama wins in a boring 3-0 game that went to 6OT, to cause even more controversy so that the NCAA will create a playoff system. 

Image from photopedia.com

For more info click here

By: Nepali Boy

The Flawed System

The recent controversy caused by have two SEC teams in the National Championship has gotten people talking about a potential change of how to organize bowl games in college football. The problem of having two SEC teams in the National Championship game stirs great displeasure. Many people feel that Oklahoma State University got cheated out of a chance at being national champion because they have had the same record as Alabama and Alabama had already a chance at beating LSU and they lost. 

This has been the case for recent years. As teams prove to be better than the teams that they play against, they get winning records. Many times, those winning records have been the same as other teams. The system has that the overall top two teams in a bunch of polls and the BCS rankings go to the championship game. For example, a team who went 12-0 but played against easy teams and blew all the easy team away be surpassed by teams who went 12-0 and played against very good teams but barely beat all the tough teams into the Championship Game if the BCS rankings and the polls favor the second team. Is that fair? I think it is but some people argue that the other team could be better but could show it because they only played inadequate teams. This has been the case over the past couple of years with Boise State and TCU. Boise State and TCU have proven that they are championship caliber team with wins over Oklahoma (2006) and Wisconsin (2010) respectively, in bowl games, and both had perfect seasons in those seasons, an argument that says they might have been Champions if given the chance.

All this controversy should shed light on the flawed system, but it is still very unlikely that the
NCAA will change it. This is because the current system has brought in more money and is likely to bring in more money in the future, than a playoff style system or any other system. The industry is all about money, so the NCAA chooses money over fairness.

Because of the flawed system two teams from the same conference who have already played are playing for the title game.

 Image from: Flickr

For more reading go to: this site

by chopsticks freak

NBA Season is Back

The owners and the players union have agreed on a deal to end the NBA lockout. The season will start on December 25th. Free agency and training camp will start on December 25th. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement will last for 10 more years, but both sides have an opt out clause after six years, which would cause another lockout. 

Because of the new CBA, teams now have an Amnesty clause, which allows them to cut one player on their team, allowing them to get rid of their salary. Teams must use it wisely because they can only use it once. 

Free agency is going to be awesome. Teams will be scrambling around to find the player that they need to win the championship. The Miami Heat will yet again sign old aging players to one year contracts to fill up their roster, trying to win off of LeBron, Wade, and Bosh. The Boston Celtics need to get younger. Their so called "Big Three" is not getting any younger. The Celtics don't have much time to win the Finals with the group of players they have right now. The Lakers are coming off of a disappointing playoffs, which saw them getting swept by NBA champions Dallas Mavericks. The Lakers need to find a point guard who can fill in for an aging Derek Fisher. The Lakers want both Chris Paul and Dwight Howard. Hopefully this does not happen. They would be unbeatable with a lineup that consisted of Chris Paul(PG), Kobe Bryant(SG), Metta World Peace(SF), Pau Gasol(PF) and Dwight Howard(C). 

I am most excited about what my favorite team the Detroit Pistons will do. The Pistons desperately need a center. After drafting Brandon Knight in the 2011 draft, and Greg Monroe the year before that the Pistons have good young players to build on. Hopefully the Pistons use their amnesty clause on Charlie Villanueva. He has been a huge disappointment and only likes to shoot three pointer even though he is a Power Forward. The only big man who should be allowed to shoot three pointers is Dirk Nowitzki. 

All is all this will be an awesome NBA season. I kind of want the Heat to win so people stop talking about Lebron not having won a championship. It will be the Heat winning 4-1 over the Lakers. 

Photo from Flickr

For more info click here

By: Nepali Boy

Hey, how're the aggies doing?

The A&M Logo from Flickr

 Well, it’s almost that time of year again, when NCAA football comes to a close. For the Aggies, all rivalries and memories will be forgotten, while new ones will be made; as A&M moves to the SEC. It’ll be great for them, but let’s look at this football season.

 The Aggies started out the season win two wins against Southern Methodist and Idaho. Then they lost two very, extremely, deeply, important and crucial games against Oklahoma State and Arkansas. They continued to lose games (Excluding TEXAS TECH!!!, Baylor, Iowa State [Who almost everyone beat] and Kansas). They were defeated horribly though by Missouri, Kansas State and especially Oklahoma (41-25 OUCH). Then came the final Texas game, where they LLLLLLLLOOOOOSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTT with a field goal by Texas.  

Overall, they’re season was decent, with an OK record of 6-6. The Aggies have had better seasons though. Actually, they’ve also had much worse seasons. One was in 2003 where they lost 8 games and only won 4. That year, Texas beat them 46-15 and Texas Tech beat them 58-29. Later in 2008, they had the same record as 2003, and lost to Texas 49-9 and Texas Tech 43-25. But now this will never happen again, due to their moving. Oh well… For more information about the Aggies go to Texas A&M. com.   

By The Way, I don't mean to be biased, it's just my job. Sorry if I offended any Aggies. 

LSU and Alabama. Again!

Then number one ranked LSU won the game of the century against then number two by three points in overtime in a quite dull game, at least in offensive production terms. In that game, both LSU and Alabama could not find the end zone and the teams had a combined total of 543 yards. The only scores came from field goals and even then, Alabama had trouble scoring making just two field goals out of the five attempted, that is a 40%. All this attributed to a disappointing game of the century, but both teams have another chance at atoning for their bad offensive performance.

After an Oklahoma State loss to a (6-5) Iowa State, the two best teams were indisputably Alabama and LSU and the polls and rankings reflect that. Both are again ranked number one and number two (LSU ranked number one, Alabama ranked number two). Both again are set up to play each other, except this time, there is more at stake, the NCAA football title. This time, expect both teams to show more than just field goals. Both teams will play with a passion that is unmatched by any other game. Both teams will be deadlocked in score throughout most of the game. Both teams will play with a reason, LSU with a chance to prove that they are number one and are unstoppable and Alabama with a chance at redemption and revenge along with a second title within two years.

What to expect:

Expect both teams to come out with scoring drives.

Expect Alabama having a better field goal percentage.

Expect both teams to be deadlocked in score for the majority of the game.

Expect more passes from Jordan Jefferson from LSU.

Expect Trent Richardson to have a great game.

My Pick: Alabama 22 LSU 24

photo Curtsey of Flickr

 The tiger will once again grapple with the elephant.

For more reading go to: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1192640/index.htm

By: Chopsticks freak

leads and nut graph

For Holly Howell, a normal day consists of playing with her dog, teaching Kindergarten, and being one an Extraordinary soccer Coach. “I coach English style. As they say it, they “Put is on the deck”. Basically, play simply to feet direct, play the way you face, and never force the ball. If the ball’s not on, pull it back, recycle and try a different avenue.”, she says.

She coaches a girls soccer team at soccer zone south and is very good at it. She herself has been coaching soccer for 3 years and is an excellent soccer player, as she has been playing for 21 years. She says about her players, “In a quality soccer player, I find dedication, play from the heart, have desire to want to be there.” Her team is called the cupcakes and is very good. “Last year, we did well. We were league champs, and our players got a t-shirt and bag. The good thing is that they don’t always give a trophy but stuff that can be used, which makes them work harder because it’s tangible, gives sense of pride.”, she says.

Nepali Boy's Lead and Nut Graph

Alberot Salazar once said “An athlete who tells you the training is always easy and always fun simply hasn't been there. Goals can be elusive which makes the difficult journey all the more rewarding.” Jacob Young has been through a tough journey being a collegiate athlete. “A typical football day started at 6 am, and we would lift from 6-8. Then we went to class from 8-2, and then practice started at 2 and went till six. And then from 6 to 8 or 9 was my time to eat, take a shower, and do what I needed to do. Then I would go back up to the studio and work from 9 till 11,midnight, one o’clock in the morning. Then I’d go to bed and do it all over again. There were several times when I was thinking ‘What the heck was I thinking”

Jacob Young grew up in a small town called Fairfield Texas, a rural town that consisted of 3,000 people. Jacob spent most of his time there, going to Elementary, Middle and High School. “I grew up in a farm working cows and bailing hay.” Jacob Young then went to A&M to purse is passion for landscaping and architecture. Jacob studied at A&M from 2001 to 2005. After focusing on his studies for his Freshmen year he gets bored and decides to walk on the football team, where he was the starting punter for his Junior and Senior years.