My opinion

Everyone wants to know my opinion on the NCAA pairings. I heard from people I don't normally hear from asking, "So, did BC get screwed?" "Shouldn't UNH have had to travel?" SO its time to get on the horse (or the keyboard as the case may be) and tell you what I think.

The answer to both of those questions is "No". Which is also the answer to other questions like, "Shouldn't the committee have split up Denver and North Dakota because they are so good?" and "Would you change any of the pairings?". No and no.

The pairings actually came out perfect with little or no need to fiddle with the final Pairwise standings to adjust for conference match-ups and the like. UNH gets to be in Manchester. The NCAA needs butts in the seats to keep the revenue going and make these tournaments viable. Having UNH play in Manchester is essential to that. Do I wish BC could be in Manchester? Of course. I would love to watch the boys play another one or two close to home. And I'm certainly not thrilled about them going back to the House of Horrors that is the ScottTrade Center in St. Louis (the name Abdelkader still causes involuntary head shaking and sadness) but that is the way life works. They have a tough road against the best #4 seed and arguably the toughest bracket in general (perhaps it could be called the Group of Death if this were World Cup soccer). And of course, if they make it out a potential date with North Dakota looms.

It's a tough draw but at this stage nothing should be easy. Even Yale's opening tilt against Air Force is not to be taken lightly as the Falcons have a history of playing up to their competition and making waves in the national tournament. At least Miami is on the other side of the bracket so there should be no homefront strife until a potential national title meeting between the two clubs in St. Paul as one analyst at ESPN predicts will happen. I will not be attending any Manchester games, though Mrs. Pike and Nurse K will be chanting a little "Love and Honor" for the boys from Oxford.

I wish them luck, but I must admit I am rooting for the Warriors of Merrimack come out of the bracket. Coach Dennehy and the boys deserve a Frozen Four out of this season as they will probably lose Stephane De Costa to the pro ranks in the off season which will knock them down a peg next year. Saying that won't get me any favors at home but I have to be honest.

As always, I am looking forward to the tourney. No matter what happens. I hope Gibbons, Atkinson and the BC boys bring home their third title in four years but it should be exciting no matter who wins.

One thing

Today I have just one thing to say - Tommy Cross...

Thank you...

Please be sure to tip your waitress...

Merry merry

As we roll into the final days before Christmas, I find myself very happy with the state of Boston athletics. The Celtics have won 13 in a row (including 2 with Rondo on the shelf), the Bruins are 5-2-2 in their last nine and have solved the Savard/Sturm salary issue without disrupting the team chemistry, the Pats look like they can beat anybody right now even when they have a lackluster performance (thank you Dan Connolly) and sit at 12-2 with games against lowly Buffalo and Miami remaining.

BC sports has good news of its own. After a disastrous 2-5 start, the football team is once again bowling (though Colin Kaepernick may make them wish they weren't come Jan 9), the hockey team seems to be pulling it all together after an uneven start and sit in a three way tie for 3rd in the Pairwise (see sidebar). (Just a note - in the first edition of the PWR I put on this blog, BC was lined up with Miami. I know there are only 16 teams and the odds are pretty high but its creepy how that keeps happening). Nothing but good news on the basketball front as well. The women's team is off to their best start in history at 11-0 with four more winnable games before getting into ACC play against North Carolina on Jan 9 (is that an omen?) and the men's team is a surprising 9-2 with a win over a good Texas A&M team and a competitive loss to a decent Wisconsin team - they too have four more winnable game before getting deep into ACC play. Things are looking up. Now on to some Monday musings (with my wish list for some sports figures):

- To Geno Auriemma - May Santa bring you a reality check. Geno, you are getting the attention your team deserves for breaking an impressive record that can never be duplicated in the men's game again. How do you do it? You are able to keep players like Maya Moore and Tina Charles for 4 years. No men's program will ever be able to do that in the modern NBA era. So take your attention and keep your mouth shut. People don't disrespect you because you are women. They disrespect you because you are an ass. People don't like you. If Stanford or Baylor or Tennessee were accomplishing the same thing I would be happy for them. But I don't like you and that's why I root against you. And there are many others who feel the same way.

- To Austin Collie - May Santa bring you a new brain. After getting his third concussion of the season Collie needs to reassess what he is doing on the field. Once or twice is an accident but this many this quickly seems to suggest to me that he is putting himself in a bad position on the football field. May you have a relaxing holiday and I hope 10 years from now you remember what the word football even means.

- To Miami University - May Santa bring you a head football coach who actually wants to be there. Only two years into his tenure and after bringing the program a MAC title one year after going 1-11, Mike Haywood took his talents to Pittsburgh (thank you LeBron for bringing this lovely turn of phrase into the sports lexicon - its so versatile - I guess your hour long ego boost was worth something). Not that I blame him, the call to coach in a crappy conference where a team with 4 losses can make the BCS probably is more alluring than toiling in the MAC but having a coach of any kind for so short a period can really cause great turmoil for a program. Here's hoping the next coach stays long enough to see one of his recruiting classes graduate.

Finally - if anyone has a chance to watch the ESPN 30 for 30 "Pony Excess" about the rise and fall of SMU football in the 80s, do so. It's worth it. Great story and great look into how bad things were back then. Though SMU was the most notorious because of the "death penalty" everyone was doing exactly what they were. Priceless moment - Craig James and Eric Dickerson talking about how Dickerson will never reveal what swayed him to go to SMU over A&M after A&M gave him the gold Trans Am.

Anticipation

Very soon the first PWR rankings will be released and the talk of national championships shall begin again. Last year, Quinnipiac took the initial number 1 ranking and then failed to even make the tournament in one of the worst second-halfs I've seen in years. Early guess is that Yale will be the initial number one sporting a robust 10-1-0 record its hard to argue against. For BC, their fortunes should be high as well. Despite have 5 losses, only one of those is at home and they currently have 2 road victories over a highly ranked Denver team and 2 victories against highly-ranked Maine as well. Early season road wins against a top-tier opponent can carry serious PWR weight, just ask Vermont.

I like what I'm starting to see in this BC squad. It appears that the loss to Vermont a couple weeks ago may have awoken the beast. They have now won 5 of their last six and those 5 wins were by a combined 28-8 (including the 5 goals allowed chaos on Friday night). The reuniting of Whitney-Gibbons-Atkinson has paid immediate dividends as Gibbons boasts a six game point streak and Atkinson has a 5 game streak. When Kevin Hayes rejoins the line-up after Christmas that should give BC two top lines capable of scoring multiple goals every night. If Hayes-Hayes-Kreider clicks the way one would expect two first round and one second round NHL draft pick to click this could be the deepest scoring BC team since 2001 (Lephart-Eaves-Gionta and Kobasew-Kolanos-Voce). It should be a great second-half to the year.

Falling off the bus

Since the beginning of the season everyone has talked about the Boise State bus. I was a happy rider of that bus believing that if the Broncos finished the season as one of two undefeateds they should have a spot in the BCS national title game. I still believe that. Unfortunately for Broncos fans, two missed kicks means no undefeated season. That sting will last quite some time and it looks more and more like BC may be the team taking the brunt of that sting should both teams end up in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (I swear they are just drawing names out of a hat now for these bowls) as many predict.

But then yesterday, Boise got another kick in the teeth (all apologies to Kyle Brotzman for the "kick" reference). TCU is moving to the Big East starting in 2012. I'm not going to go into the idea of a team from Texas being a part of the Big East as geography has ceased to matter in conference affiliations for a while now (Louisiana Tech is in the Western Athletic Conference?? Seriously??). But for Boise this is a disaster.

Going into this season, the Mountain West was on the cusp of attaining auto-qualifier status for the BCS. They had Utah & TCU, two teams that have been to BCS bowls and, in Utah's case, won twice. Another team in BYU which has had stellar seasons in its long history with a legitimate chance to make a BCS bowl in the future. Boise State looked to add itself to this hearty resume and push the Mountain West over the top. But then, Utah leaves for the Pac 12, BYU decides it should be independent and now TCU has left for the Big East. With Nevada and Fresno State coming with BSU to the Mountain West, it has essentially just recreated the WAC. The level of competition is mildly better (Air Force & San Diego State step up every once and a while) but Boise is still going to be kings of a second-rate conference and come no closer to the legitimacy they were seeking by joining the Mountain West to begin with.

So next year will be another year of touting for the Boise bus - complete with new kicker.