Random thoughts

Another year is about to come to a close and we are full of lists about the greatest things of the past decade. It gets a little tiring. "Greatest books of the decade", "Best 1B of the decade", "All-Decade AFC Team", "Best latte of the decade". Ok, so I made the last one up but you get the point. I am not going to give in to the list mentality. I shall simply forge ahead has I always have and treat this like any other post - giving you my thoughts about events since the last time I posted.

- BC could have won that bowl game. As a BC fan it was disheartening to see the team play so well offensively in the second quarter only to revert to the terrible team in the third. Fumbles and interceptions became the norm and they bowed to the Trojans. Everyone wants to point to Shinskie's interception in the 4th quarter that ended any hope of a rally but Montel Harris' fumble after the great interception by Bowman was the turning point in that game. BC had all the momentum going into the locker room and the early pick kept that going. Had BC been able to even put a field goal on the board and take the lead it would have been a huge morale booster and put the Trojans behind to a team everyone expected them to beat. I truly believe that a touchdown in that situation would have been enough for BC to ride to victory. But I suppose that's why they lost 5 games this year in because of the inexperience on offense. I take some positives from this game in that they were able to hang tough with USC. They should be a much better team next year.

- The Bruins need Milan Lucic back. Too many games are being played without the energy and killer instinct that Lucic brings to the arena. They are losing too many games 1-0, 2-1 to teams they should be pasting. Though close it looks like Lucic will not be back for the Winter Classic. Here's hoping he is back for Monday's game against the Rangers.

- Speaking of the Winter Classic. The latest forecast, rain. And lots of it. How will that affect the playing surface with constant water falling on it. When the game was in Buffalo and there was snow it was OK as they just swept the surface every once and a while but rain can be a whole different animal that could affect puck movement and cause potential puddles on the ice. It will be interesting to see how they handle this on New Year's Day. As it stands right now, the BC v. BU game on the 8th is looking to have a little better luck. It will be colder but no precipitation is called for as of yet.

- Jason Bay signed with the Mets. The chances of him coming back to Boston died the minute they signed Mike Cameron. The owners do not want to become the Yankees and pay the luxury tax which is what they would have had to do in order to sign Bay with Cameron, Lackey, and the newly returned Mike Lowell still on the roster. I don't think this means the Sox are done dealing. If they can trade Lowell to someone else at a discount they may still sign Adrian Beltre. They may sign Beltre anyway and just get rid of Lowell after he recovers from surgery and proves he can still play. The Sox still need something else in that lineup. As it stands right now replacing Jason Bay with Mike Cameron does not improve their offense and with question marks in Lowell, Ortiz, and Drew there is a potential huge power hole after Youkilis and Martinez. Pitching will only carry them so far but the rotation looks very deep, especially if Dice-K can have a rebound season.

- The college hockey season got back into the swing last night with a mini-slate of game highlighted by the Great Lakes Invitational and other holiday tournaments. Losses by Quinnipiac, Union, and Cornell shook up the Pairwise rankings and after the hot start Quinnipiac is 14th and in danger of falling out of the tournament field. Sometimes success can be a bigger killer of your season than adversity. Not only did the Bobcats lose last night but they lost to a very bad Harvard team who won just their second game of the season. It will be interesting to see if the Q can pull it together for a second half run and get themselves back into a #1 seed.

- BC is nearing the end of their grueling streak of 9 out of 10 games away from Kelley Rink. So far they are 6-0-1 in the first seven games (8-1-1 in their last 10) and have vaulted themselves to #2 in the PWR. It's still early but the energy and scoring ability of this young BC team has surprised me (they have scored 3 or more goals in all but 2 games this season). The sophomores have been contributing nightly (led by early season surprise Cam Atkinson's 8 goals and 15 points) and Parker Milner (4-0-0, 2.25GAA, .905 save %) has proven to be a solid backup for still recovering John Muse. The pieces are there to make a run and should super-freshman Chris Krieder find the scoring touch he seems to be using in the World Junior tournament, the Eagles should be a player in the national picture come March.

Going bowling

Despite all the deservedly low expectations for the BC program this year, they will still be bowling. Granted it is a crappy bowl but 8-4 and going to a bowl game considering all they have had to endure this year with transfers and injuries, this season is a success. But as a mark to a truly wacky season, BC will be playing perennial powerhouse USC as the Trojans have just had a disaster of a year. Typically when BC has been stuck in these lower-level bowls they have faced off with some decidedly unheralded opponents (Toledo, Colorado State, and Boise State in pre-BCS winning incarnation all come to mind). To be playing the day after Christmas and facing USC is not exactly the script one expects. This game has all the makings of a Trojan blow-out as they take out a season of frustrations on a young, inconsistent BC team. But USC has certainly had their share of inconsistency as well.

Some thoughts on the BCS pairings:

- The BCS came a few minutes away from having Clemson, Nebraska, and Pittsburgh all crash the party. Luckily for the BCS (and television ratings everywhere), Georgia Tech staged a rousing comeback, Cincinnati took full advantage of a muffed hold on an extra point, and Texas used their excellent field position from an out-of bounds kickoff to all win their respective conferences this weekend. One can only imagine the chaos that would have ensued had all three underdogs pulled the upset. "And tune in on January 7th as the storied Alabama Crimson Tide take on the ... (wait is this right...TCU?....really??...OK, if you say so)... Horned Frogs of TCU!" The worst Orange Bowl in history pitting 4 loss Clemson against Iowa without Ricky Stanzi. The Gator Bowl would actually have two teams that deserve to be there (more on that in a moment) as they could not have forced Georgia Tech to a lower bowl. Chaos. Not that I would have minded at least Nebraska to have won to see TCU get their shot.

- Speaking of TCU's shot, in one of the worst showings since the BCS has been in existence, TCU gets paired with Boise State at the Fiesta Bowl. Nevermind that they just played each other in a bowl game last year. These two teams should not be facing one another. Let's give these "outsiders" a chance to prove themselves against the big boys. Utah has done it twice, Boise State has done it as well. Are the BCS conferences so afraid of someone else crashing the party that they don't want these teams to prove it on the field? Are they afraid that a TCU win over Florida for instance or a Boise win over Georgia Tech will reopen the discussion on expanding the BCS to include the Mountain West? This pairing smells of backroom deals and trying to keep the little guys from really having a piece of the pie. Don't get me wrong, I think it will be a great game of Boise's high-powered offense against the stout TCU defense and last year's game in the Poinsettia Bowl was a classic - but the BCS should have given the college football fans what they want to see and that is to see if these teams can really beat the best or if their records are all smoke and mirrors against weak conference teams.

- Backroom deals is exactly what got Florida State to the Gator Bowl. I understand that Bobby Bowden is a coaching great and that he has a place in the history of the game that deserves to be honored - but this is not the way to do it. Florida State is a couple a breaks away from not even being bowl eligible and they get the #2 ACC bowl? They leap-frogged Clemson, BC, Miami, and Virginia Tech. All teams with better conference records and better overall records. Not to mention the fact that they lost to three of those teams and probably would have lost to VTech if they actually played them. Bowls are supposed to be rewards for programs that perform on the field. Clemson turned a bad start to their season around, made the ACC title game and came close to winning that game and making the BCS. Their reward, a Dec 27th bowl and a much smaller payday. Bowden's retirement should not buy Florida State a bowl game they did not deserve. I hope West Virginia beats them by 30.

The Pairwise

I know its ridiculously early but I discovered the early season Pairwise Rankings have been released and the top two seeds for Detroit are... Quinnipiac & Bemidji State. The Q has quietly put together a 12-1-0 record to start the season and it has given them some house money to play with early here for their tournament hopes. Bemidji State has gone from last season Cinderella to a legit power this year owning roads victories against Miami and Minnesota along with their domination of their own conference. I would be shocked if the Beavers are not back in the national tournament this year and the way they are playing early they could even get an at-large berth should they be upset in their conference tourney. A couple other notes on the early PWR:

- Hockey East has 4 teams in the tournament and while having UNH & BC in is no shocker, adding Massachusetts and UMass-Lowell with BU not even in the "Next Four Out" is a surprise. Compounding that is the Wildcats berth in these ranking being based on the fact that they lead the conference and not because they have at-large berth credentials.

- Naturally BC is locked up with North Dakota. Pretty sure you can't have an NCAA tourney that features these two and not have them face each other. One of the better non-conference rivalries out there in college hockey today.

- WCHA is the bigger winner early with 5 entrants (6 if you count Bemidji), CCHA and Hockey East have 4, CHA, Atlantic Hockey, and ECAC each have one. However, looking at the Next Four Out we see 3 CCHA teams knocking on the door. Not good news for the ECAC that standard bearer Cornell can have the 5th best record in the country yet only manage #19 in the PWR - that is usually the type of stat you see for the CHA or Atlantic Hockey leader and that will probably happen to Bemidji as they get deeper into their conference schedule and all those wins against bad opponents pile up.