Today one of my favorite sport talks shows Speak For Yourself on FS1 opened up the show with several hot topics as they always do, one being about Cam Newton. The discussion was Cam's recent video produce and released through the Player's Tribune. Several big times athletes are doing this nowadays such as LeBron James and Kevin Durant so that isn't the issue. The issue is what came from Mr. Newton's mouth. I'm admittedly a life long Panther fan and have been a fan of Cam since his computer days at Florida. Okay sorry that was low. But in all seriousness, I am a believer and supporter of Newton. However, his message about his offseason and early days as a Panther rubbed me the wrong way much like it did Jason Whitlock, a host on the show SFY. Newton repeatedly was about himself and showed some of that immaturity that Panther fans as well as critics have grown to hate. It was all about him, not about the team. Whitlock broke it down and I believe the ballpark number of times Newton said "I" was in the twenties or thirties compared to five or six times of him mentioning "we." Now, I do think that he doesn't mean anything bad when he talks like this, but at some point I as a fan cannot get over how he keeps backtracking on his road to mature, Hall of Fame QB status. A man who just recently embarrassed himself in a press conference after also being embarrassed on the field in the Super Bowl needs to show growth. Not boast about personal accomplishments and goals. Newton is a great talent and the reigning MVP. He is the best player in football, but instead of feeling himself, he needs to keep proving himself. Who knows? Maybe I am jumping the gun and looking too far into the situation. And no matter what I say or feel, it has no affect on Cam and will not effect his play whether he is underachieving this year or continues to produce. It is something worth being concerned about. One way or the other. I'll just hope for the Panthers sake and for Cam's sake this was a marketing ploy to further his brand and doesn't effect the organization in anyway.
Some food for thought, though!
Keep Pounding! Go 'thers!
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
College Football Preview
Unless you live under a rock or literally puke at the thought of sports, in which case I am sorry for you, then you just like myself and everyone else are preparing for the start of the NCAA football season. Along with the beginning of what will be another season filled with surreal endings yet more moments that embed themselves in history, you also have the hot takes from every analyst, coach, and fan there is. So why not join along?
The popular preseason topic are the preseason rankings and whether or not they are hurting college football or not. I absolutely have my "hot take" on that, but first I want to discuss some other takes I have going into this season. For starters, let's go with the premature Heisman race. According to CheatSheet.com the odds-makers list the top five in this order Deshaun Watson (9-2), Leonard Fournette (5-1), Christian McCaffrey (7-1), Dalvin Cook (14-1), and a three way tie at the 5th spot with Mayfield/Kelly/Barrett all at 16-1. Not bad. I have to be logical in making these picks because so many scenarios go involved. I thought the old Heisman voters had finally gone away from the old ways in selecting the best player on best team as the Heisman, but as we all know Derrick Henry won last year and quite frankly it was very disappointing from a fan's view.
Anyways, going off the notion that the best player on best team will winit again this year then I believe the Clemson vs. FSU match up is HUGE. Whoever loses that will not be in Final Four thus eliminating either Watson or Cook and yes, I know Watson is the media darling and they have all but etched his name of the trophy. That game just has so much riding on it this year per usual. McCaffrey is great, but Cook is arguably the best back in college football which might I add is LOADED at the running back position this year. Watson is the overwhelming favorite and rightfully so, but something tells me Clemson loses to FSU this year. Fournette is great and I don't mean to be underwhelming or disrespectful to him, but him and Cook are neck and neck. LSU is on the hype train this year again, but unless a formidable QB emerges I think they fall short of expectations again this year, thus hurting Fournette's chances. My final option is McCaffrey unless McCaffrey 2.0 emerges from a cinderella team those are your four contenders. Miss me with Mayfield, Kelly and Barrett because that isn't happening. Listen, McCaffrey should've been the Heisman last year, no questions asked, it was honestly poor on the Heisman committee and all of college football voters to have not had him take his rightful crown. Which could very well have been his only chance. He still plays on the west coast, so half 2/3 of America will have to see him on the highlight reel the next morning before NFL Sunday starts. And can this man really top what he did last year? I mean go look at the stats for yourself, college football hasn't seen that type of impact player on both offense and special teams in years. I don't know, anything less will just come off as poor which will not be the case because he could still have Heisman numbers. Plus Stanford has to be good, they have to make Final Four or at least a big bowl. So after going back and forth I came up with this as my "Final Four" for the Heisman trophy. Again, wins and losses play a huge factor.
4- Fournette (I trust him, just not his supporting cast, cough cough...QB play)
3- Watson (He probably will win it, and I love him as a player, but I think FSU beats Clemson as well as runs the table in the ACC)
2- McCaffrey (He has another great year with eye popping plays/numbers, but he plays on the West Coast and Stanford doesn't win Pac 12 or have enough wins)
1- Dalvin Cook (Cook is a Seminole and I love the Gators so this hurts, but it's just life. Cook and FSU will run the table because of Cook and defense and make it to Final Four. They must go undefeated for him to win though otherwise I think Watson wins it.)
So there you have it, my shot-in-the-dark picks for the final Heisman rankings. Didn't go to far out on a limb and there are so many reason for that, the media being the biggest one.
Next lets talk about rankings, conference winners and Final Four. The AP Top 25 from ESPN.com is as followed:
Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, FSU, LSU, Ohio State, Michigan, Stanford, Tennessee, ND, Ole Miss, Michigan State, TCU, Washington, Houston, UCLA, Iowa, UGA, Louisville, Southern Cal, Oklahoma State, UNC, Baylor, Oregon, Florida. This issue in preseason has been how these rankings are bad for college football and I agree to an extent. We need a starting point but I think the voters should completely wipe the slate clean and vote on a new one 3 weeks before conference championship games take place. Do not update the rankings week to week, stop showing rankings on the screen beside the team name, professional sports don't it, neither should the NCAA. Do all the power rankings you want I don't care because I've never really understood the point in those, but eliminate rankings until the last 3 weeks of the season, so that bias from preseason rankings can be thrown out the door. Okay? Yeah, sounds logical to me as well.
Quickly here are my winners by conference and Final Four pool, with the WAY TOO EARLY champion. No worries I'll follow my plan and give you a revised decision with 3 weeks left in season.
ACC:
Best two teams are in the Atlantic which sucks. So I go FSU to win Atlantic. Coin flip between UNC and Miami in the coastal, think UNC finds way to win Coastal again.
FSU beats UNC easily to win ACC
Big 12:
Thank god the Big 12 finally gets their title game back next year, but until then I will reluctantly pick a winner. Baylor will be awful, don't even understand why they are ranked. Texas will be better but still not relevant. Comes down to OU, OSU, and TCU. Want to see what Kenny Hill does with his second chance at TCU, but I think OU wins, but with a loss.
Big Ten:
I want to like the Big Ten, but until they realize that restructing the divisions within the conference is okay if it means it brings your fans and viewers a better product, I can't get on board. You can keep it the same in basketball and other sports, but having Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State all in the same division is bad for business. They can still play each other. Anyways, love Meyer, but he lost A LOT, still think OSU is top 15 team. MSU lost a lot as well still think they are top 25. Michigan wins the East and Harbaugh strips on the field after beating Ohio State. Umm, the West stinks, but I'll go with Iowa. Michigan beats Iowa. Harbaugh is in Final Four.
Pac 12:
LOVE the balance in this conference. Great races in each division, but I go with Stanford out of the North and its a three way race between Utah, USC and UCLA in the South, but I go with Utah. Utah beats Stanford in a close game to win conference title.
SEC:
Bama wins the West. Sorry, I gotta see it happen to actually go against them. LSU is hyped up, Ole Miss doesn't have enough. I think it comes down to UT vs UF in the East. Crazy that a game the fourth week of the year will probably determine the division winner. UT WILL NOT beat Bama, UF WILL NOT beat FSU. UGA will eventually be good under Smart but not with starting a true freshman in the SEC. UF beats UT to win East. Surprising from me right? Bama beats Florida by 10 to win SEC title game.
Final Four:
Bama
Michigan
FSU
Utah
First two out:
Clemson
Stanford
Championship game:
Bama vs. Michigan
Bama wins, Saban retires after season, Harbaugh wins in it 2017
Cant wait to see how wrong this is! Thanks for reading!
The popular preseason topic are the preseason rankings and whether or not they are hurting college football or not. I absolutely have my "hot take" on that, but first I want to discuss some other takes I have going into this season. For starters, let's go with the premature Heisman race. According to CheatSheet.com the odds-makers list the top five in this order Deshaun Watson (9-2), Leonard Fournette (5-1), Christian McCaffrey (7-1), Dalvin Cook (14-1), and a three way tie at the 5th spot with Mayfield/Kelly/Barrett all at 16-1. Not bad. I have to be logical in making these picks because so many scenarios go involved. I thought the old Heisman voters had finally gone away from the old ways in selecting the best player on best team as the Heisman, but as we all know Derrick Henry won last year and quite frankly it was very disappointing from a fan's view.
Anyways, going off the notion that the best player on best team will winit again this year then I believe the Clemson vs. FSU match up is HUGE. Whoever loses that will not be in Final Four thus eliminating either Watson or Cook and yes, I know Watson is the media darling and they have all but etched his name of the trophy. That game just has so much riding on it this year per usual. McCaffrey is great, but Cook is arguably the best back in college football which might I add is LOADED at the running back position this year. Watson is the overwhelming favorite and rightfully so, but something tells me Clemson loses to FSU this year. Fournette is great and I don't mean to be underwhelming or disrespectful to him, but him and Cook are neck and neck. LSU is on the hype train this year again, but unless a formidable QB emerges I think they fall short of expectations again this year, thus hurting Fournette's chances. My final option is McCaffrey unless McCaffrey 2.0 emerges from a cinderella team those are your four contenders. Miss me with Mayfield, Kelly and Barrett because that isn't happening. Listen, McCaffrey should've been the Heisman last year, no questions asked, it was honestly poor on the Heisman committee and all of college football voters to have not had him take his rightful crown. Which could very well have been his only chance. He still plays on the west coast, so half 2/3 of America will have to see him on the highlight reel the next morning before NFL Sunday starts. And can this man really top what he did last year? I mean go look at the stats for yourself, college football hasn't seen that type of impact player on both offense and special teams in years. I don't know, anything less will just come off as poor which will not be the case because he could still have Heisman numbers. Plus Stanford has to be good, they have to make Final Four or at least a big bowl. So after going back and forth I came up with this as my "Final Four" for the Heisman trophy. Again, wins and losses play a huge factor.
4- Fournette (I trust him, just not his supporting cast, cough cough...QB play)
3- Watson (He probably will win it, and I love him as a player, but I think FSU beats Clemson as well as runs the table in the ACC)
2- McCaffrey (He has another great year with eye popping plays/numbers, but he plays on the West Coast and Stanford doesn't win Pac 12 or have enough wins)
1- Dalvin Cook (Cook is a Seminole and I love the Gators so this hurts, but it's just life. Cook and FSU will run the table because of Cook and defense and make it to Final Four. They must go undefeated for him to win though otherwise I think Watson wins it.)
So there you have it, my shot-in-the-dark picks for the final Heisman rankings. Didn't go to far out on a limb and there are so many reason for that, the media being the biggest one.
Next lets talk about rankings, conference winners and Final Four. The AP Top 25 from ESPN.com is as followed:
Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, FSU, LSU, Ohio State, Michigan, Stanford, Tennessee, ND, Ole Miss, Michigan State, TCU, Washington, Houston, UCLA, Iowa, UGA, Louisville, Southern Cal, Oklahoma State, UNC, Baylor, Oregon, Florida. This issue in preseason has been how these rankings are bad for college football and I agree to an extent. We need a starting point but I think the voters should completely wipe the slate clean and vote on a new one 3 weeks before conference championship games take place. Do not update the rankings week to week, stop showing rankings on the screen beside the team name, professional sports don't it, neither should the NCAA. Do all the power rankings you want I don't care because I've never really understood the point in those, but eliminate rankings until the last 3 weeks of the season, so that bias from preseason rankings can be thrown out the door. Okay? Yeah, sounds logical to me as well.
Quickly here are my winners by conference and Final Four pool, with the WAY TOO EARLY champion. No worries I'll follow my plan and give you a revised decision with 3 weeks left in season.
ACC:
Best two teams are in the Atlantic which sucks. So I go FSU to win Atlantic. Coin flip between UNC and Miami in the coastal, think UNC finds way to win Coastal again.
FSU beats UNC easily to win ACC
Big 12:
Thank god the Big 12 finally gets their title game back next year, but until then I will reluctantly pick a winner. Baylor will be awful, don't even understand why they are ranked. Texas will be better but still not relevant. Comes down to OU, OSU, and TCU. Want to see what Kenny Hill does with his second chance at TCU, but I think OU wins, but with a loss.
Big Ten:
I want to like the Big Ten, but until they realize that restructing the divisions within the conference is okay if it means it brings your fans and viewers a better product, I can't get on board. You can keep it the same in basketball and other sports, but having Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State all in the same division is bad for business. They can still play each other. Anyways, love Meyer, but he lost A LOT, still think OSU is top 15 team. MSU lost a lot as well still think they are top 25. Michigan wins the East and Harbaugh strips on the field after beating Ohio State. Umm, the West stinks, but I'll go with Iowa. Michigan beats Iowa. Harbaugh is in Final Four.
Pac 12:
LOVE the balance in this conference. Great races in each division, but I go with Stanford out of the North and its a three way race between Utah, USC and UCLA in the South, but I go with Utah. Utah beats Stanford in a close game to win conference title.
SEC:
Bama wins the West. Sorry, I gotta see it happen to actually go against them. LSU is hyped up, Ole Miss doesn't have enough. I think it comes down to UT vs UF in the East. Crazy that a game the fourth week of the year will probably determine the division winner. UT WILL NOT beat Bama, UF WILL NOT beat FSU. UGA will eventually be good under Smart but not with starting a true freshman in the SEC. UF beats UT to win East. Surprising from me right? Bama beats Florida by 10 to win SEC title game.
Final Four:
Bama
Michigan
FSU
Utah
First two out:
Clemson
Stanford
Championship game:
Bama vs. Michigan
Bama wins, Saban retires after season, Harbaugh wins in it 2017
Cant wait to see how wrong this is! Thanks for reading!
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