FanNation

NCAA 09 for XBOX 360

Hey, this isn't a real blog post.

 Just got NCAA 09 for 360 and I'm trying to see if anyone has the rosters with the real names.  I know that this year you can share rosters, BUT you can only share with people that are already your friends.

If anyone has the roster with the names let me know.

LIVE Draft blog

Well it is that time of the year again.  The most overhyped sporting event you could imagine. A day that football junkies LIVE for.

To think that there are really two events that allow EVERY team think that they have a chance, a shot, maybe they have fixed what went wrong the year before. Draft day is only second to opening day when it comes to giving so many football fans hope.  Then again, when you think about opening weekend half the teams lose.  So, here's to the draft.

A Way to Level the Playing Field in the MLB

With all of the talk today centering around the Mitchell Report I thought I would tackle a baseball issue that has nothing to do with steroids.

Baseball is getting out of hand, to sign an average player these days it is going to cost you around $10 to $15 a year. Then you have guys like A-Rod that stand to make double that. While some small market teams have succeeded in breaking into the playoffs and even win a title from time to time the truth is that you have to pay to play in the MLB.

(A-Rod cashed in, just hours before the Mitchell Report)

There have been countless talks of a salary cap in baseball, and the truth is that there is already one in place. The current system basically sets a Luxury tax that teams must pay if they spend too much.  In theory it should work, the money goes from the higher payroll teams and is given to the small market teams. Sort of like a Robin Hood idea.  This is also something that the union can agree on, because it does not limit the amount players can make.  The problems have come with some teams still going crazy with the spending while the small market teams use the money given to them to line the owner's pockets.

(the MLB has been liked to money for years)

You see one major draw of the NFL is that your team is in it when the season starts. Browns fans told everyone that would listen that this was their year (no one wants to listen if you say it every year to no avail), now they are closing in on a playoff spot. Meanwhile teams that dominate like the Patriots will likely have to let a few starters go after this season, most notably Samuels or Moss. This means come next season New England's chances of another start like this one aren't as great.

(Thanks to a strict cap in the NFL players like Moss will have to choose between winning and cashing in.  Also teams like NE don't dominate for 6-7 years causing fans of other teams to lose interest)

So how do we achieve this goal in baseball? The union has stated MANY times that they are not willing to have a salary cap. The way I see it now is the best time to impose one. You see with the plan that I am about to propose not only is it fair to the players, but with the Mitchell report coming out if the players strike, people will welcome not enhanced talent. So it is a win either way.

Ok here it is...

The best way for a cap to work in baseball would be to have a two tier cap.  Basically what that means is that you have 2 caps, if you pass the first cap you will have to pay a luxury tax (similar to the system now).  The second cap is no negotiable, you WILL NOT GO OVER.  Looking at espn.com's listing of salaries from last season I would set it up like this;

Luxury cap set at- 120,000,000.  Any team over that mark will have to pay a luxury tax. (by last season's numbers this would only apply to the Yankees and Red Sox, but trust me others will cross that line very soon.)

Salary Cap set at- 180,000,000- Only the Yankees would be over this cap by last season's figures. I considered raising up to the 195 million mark to just allow teams to sit as they are, but I feel that you should EASILY be able to field a 25 man team at 18 million.

2007-08 BCS Playoffs (The Way it SHOULD Be)

A few months before the NCAA Football season started I proposed a BCS playoff system.  I did what I could to not only come out and say that we needed a playoff system, I actually gave times and dates for all of the games. This showed that a playoff system was not only probable, but practical as well.

As we have seen the 2007 season throw us for a curve week end and week out.  Now we are left with two teams that not everyone agrees with. On Sports Center they had a poll titled "Did the BCS get it right?".  48 states voted that the BCS had not picked the two best teams to play on January 7th. I will let you guess what two states thought it was right on the money.

The truth is that you can make a case for a number of teams this year, so why not playoffs?

My system is pretty simple, it is a 12 team playoff set up similar to the NFL's system. The seeding will be given based on your BCS ranking and if you won your respected conference. With the system I made earlier in the year I picked winners for each game, this time I have elected to pass, the point of this is to show a system, not to say who I fell should play in the big game.

Now, we start with our 6 BCS conference winners-

Making Some Sense of the 2007 NCAA Football Season

This season has been arguably the best season of college football in years.  The way I see it most seasons about 90% of games are over before they begin.  But 2007 let us know that would not be the case from day 1 when Appalachian State took down Michigan in the Big House.  Now we have see countless top 25 teams fall to teams that left us saying "no way", and "South Florida has a football team, that's news to me." We have watched as #1 teams fall to schools that usually would be down 60 by the third quarter of the game. Stanford took down mighty USC with their second string QB in the game.