Catching a bit of Mike Riley at Pac 12 Media Day. We always hear about how quickly things move. Twitter, social media and other technological advances have shrunk the world and served as the foundation of this information age. I still say it's not even close about the speed with which a college football program makes it near the top compared to falling on hard times. The misery comes much quicker. Take Oregon State. In both the 2008 and 2009 Civil Wars they played the Ducks for a trip to the Rose Bowl. In 2010 they had a potential bowl birth on the line and 8 months ago it was for pride as they won just 3 games. That circumstance hadn't existed since 1997. The Beavs are picked last in the North, even behind Washington State who won 4 games last year after a grand total of 5 the previous 3 seasons. Riley is calling for 18-hundred rush yards this season despite a horrifying 2.8 yards per carry in 2011 against D1 competition. Always liked & respected Riley, but if the Beavers pull a no show and can't improve on last year and set the stage for hope in 2013, his seat will be hot!
I don't care about your feelings for USC football. No way can we take for granted they're back in the mix as one of the nation's elite. I'll be interested to see what happens with Urban Meyer and Ohio State as far as the ability to bounce back from sanctions and vie for big prizes. I think some are etching in stone that Southern Cal will have an excellent defense though last year they showed some serious vulnerabilities. Arizona State put up 43 on em. Arizona scored 41. In 3 ot's Stanford racked up 56 and in defeat the Ducks rang up 35. I think the pass defense will be key. They suffered limited losses in the secondary and return a ton of talent. If they can overcome the loss of their top pass rusher, Nick Perry who went in round one to the Packers, I'm buying them as legit to win the whole shooting match with that offense.
I am not sold on the Yankees picking up Ichiro. I get it from the Seattle side as he's 38, mediocre at best and the contract is up at season's end. Teams like New York, Boston and the better hitting clubs have that Sabremetric approach. Make the opponent throw a ton of pitches, see the value of walks and don't be afraid to hit with the count in the pitchers favor. Ichiro is the opposite of that. He's kind of selfish and over the past two years which includes just over one-thousand at bats, his strikeouts are double his walks and his on base percentage is a paltry .300. Color me skeptical!
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