I always talk about how this time of year is my favorite. Baseball's pennant races roll into football season. Now I'm getting even more specific. This is one of my favorite week's of the year as the MLB playoffs get started and the value of college football games become astronomical for those with serious aspirations. Oregon can't think Rose Bowl if they can't win at the Rose Bowl. Gotta cop to being a tad concerned with the knee injury to Jeremiah Masoli. I view Nate Costa as a very capable backup but you can't feel he cranks it up to the level we've seen from Masoli, at least not right away. USC has the week off and the other huge Pac 10 game sends Stanford with that killer running attack to Corvallis to face the revived Beavers off that rarest of wins down in Tempe.
How about the SEC? Two games, featuring four teams who are either currently or earlier ranked among the nation's top 4 teams. The 5 o'clock game has #4 LSU hosting the #1 Gators of Florida who are hoping their top gun, Tim Tebow will be available for service after getting concussed in the last game versus Kentucky. Then you have Ole Miss, now dropped to #20 after getting bounced by South Carolina, taking on Alabama. Much talk about the Tide defense, but they'd eclipsed the 30 point mark in each of their 1st four games for the first time in nearly 90 years & then hung 38 on Kentucky for another convincing victory.
The term "overrated" is usually applied to college teams but it's safe to say it exists at the NFL level as well. The 0 & 3 start by supposed Super Bowl contender Tennessee had been attributed to a killer schedule and a few tough breaks. The opening night defeat against the Steelers went to overtime, they coughed up a punt to cost them the Jets game, but nothing explains last Sunday. They went to Jacksonville to square off with this allegedly rebuilding Jags squad and got hammered 37-17. Their defense made David Garrard to Mike Sims-Walker look like Montana to Rice. Doesn't get much easier as now the red hot, high octane Colts come calling and get this, they travel to New England next. Ouch!
Buffalo was another team thinking big with the acquisition of Terrell Owens. They blew the first game against the Patriots when their kick returned Leotis McKelvin made a bonehead decision and fumbled. Their lone win is against hapless Tampa Bay. The countdown to the next T.O meltdown has begun.
On today's show, we'll begin to take a peek at what to expect from baseball's playoffs. Lot of talk about the revival of the Yankee dynasty. Sorry, I might be a long time fan, but they are far from a lock with a questionable rotation behind ace C.C Sabathia. Plus the bullpen before Mariano Rivera comes in to shut the door is not overly reliable. The Angels have an offense that packs a wallop and a pretty decent defense, but I have no faith in their bullpen, especially erratic closer Brian Fuentes. When the season began I figured the Red Sox were the best team top to bottom but they revealed holes. Josh Becket has the reputation as an elite money pitcher, but he's looked ordinary in recent weeks struggling with back spasms. They'll throw Jon Lester in the opener against California which speaks volumes about his status.
We'll cover the National League on this afternoon's show as well.
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