SLU Billikens Set New D-I Record

I don't really take too big of an interest in the local college basketball scene here in St. Louis, but since I live here I heard about a new division one record that the Saint Louis University Billikens set this last Thursday night. They now have the new record for the fewest points scored in a game since the institution of the shot clock with a whopping 20 points.

The previous record was 21 points, and I must say that this is quite the accomplishment. The game was 25-7 at the half, and at one point the Billikens missed 23 straight shots. Seems like a pretty pathetic game to me which makes me glad I don't really care about Billiken basketball.

And this brings me to another point, what a Billiken even is. Wikipedia tells us that it was...

"a charm doll created by an American art teacher and illustrator, Ms. Florence Pretz of Kansas City, Missouri, who is said to have seen the mysterious figure in a dream."

Apparently it was quite the craze back in the early 1900s, but it's a pretty odd choice of mascot as far as I'm concerned.

Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl Miracle

I was able to watch the Las Vegas Bowl between Brigham Young University and UCLA. We didn't have it on regular TV, but we were able to access espn360 and then project it onto the ceiling. I didn't think that it would be a close game really since UCLA was playing something like their fourth string quarterback. I didn't forget, though, that it was still BYU who is notorious for choking late in the game.

The first half went pretty much as expected with BYU scoring a couple of touchdowns and holding UCLA to a couple of field goals. It wasn't until the final minute of the first half that BYU showed their true colors. Deep in their own territory with under a minute to play, they decide to run the ball of all things and ended up fumbling it. They should have taken a knee and gone in at half-time with a nice lead. They can't have thought that they would score on a run from their own 10 yard line, and if they had realistic hopes of scoring, they should have thrown the ball. But BYU did what they do best and gave up a last minute touchdown.

The second half was uneventful at best. UCLA did manage to score another field goal, and the Cougars didn't feel like scoring I guess. BYU did manage to give up a big play at the end of the game giving UCLA an easy chip shot instead of a more difficult field goal. While I'm not a fan of the prevent defense, I don't think they should have run the blitz either. The last play of the game somehow went in BYU's favor though. What should have been an easy field goal ended up being blocked/tipped. BYU should have lost the game in my opinion (even though I'm glad they won). And as for Bronco's hope of gaining credibility with the BCS, it's pretty much shot due to poor coaching.

NFL Timeouts: What's the Rule??

I've been watching quite a bit of football the last couple of weeks, and especially enjoyed the recent victory of the Dallas Cowboys over the Green Bay Packers. I did, however, wonder why some of the timeouts called were "full" timeouts and others were 30 second timeouts. I wasn't aware that there were different timeouts in football like there are in basketball so I did a little research to find out why.

Apparently it has to do with the television coverage of the game. Normally timeouts are for 1 minute 50 seconds and the coverage usually goes to a commercial break. However, if television doesn't utilize the timeout for a commercial break, the time is reduced. The mystery has now been solved for me. Hopefully this has also cleared things up for some of you out there who have also wondered about this.

Soxtober...uhhh...?

There are a couple things that I am less than impressed with concerning the second game of the World Series. First of all, I am sick of the tag line for the playoffs. Not only do I have to listen to Dane Cook talk about October, others insist on using "witty" wordplay. One Boston fan at Fenway was holding up a sign that said:

There's only one Soxtober.

I don't think I even need to say anything about this as it should speak for itself. I was also not so excited to see Troy Aikman in the stands wearing Boston Redsox gear. As you may know, I'm a Dallas Cowboys fan, but there is definitely a conflict of interest here.

Also, am I the only one who thinks that Kevin Youkilis runs funny? You should watch him sometime and let me know what you think. And finally, for the seventh inning stretch we had to listen to Boyz II Men sing God Bless America, and they weren't exactly on pitch with one another. Of course, I don't really expect much better from the Red Sox organization.

World Series Game 1... Ugly

The first game of the world series between the Rockies and the Red Sox was nothing short of a blood bath. It started out bad as the Red Sox brought 8 batters to the plate in the first inning. Another highlight of the game came when the Rockies brought in a new pitcher in the fifth inning with the bases already loaded and two outs. He proceeded to walk in three runs in a row. Simply awful. The worst part of all this is that the game isn't even over yet. It's been almost three hours now and the game is still in the sixth inning.

As much as I would love to see the Red Sox lose, I can't say that they deserve to. I understand that going up against Becket for Boston makes for a tough game for the Rockies, but you can't give up 13 runs in 6 innings and expect to win against any pitcher. All I can say is... Ugly.

Yet Another Losing Tradition

Paul and Teri Fields of Michigan City, Indiana are Cubs fans (the title of this post should now be a bit clearer). What makes this couple special, other than being probable "short bus" passengers, is that they named their new born son, Wrigley. For the less than astute among you, this makes him Wrigley Fields.

Apparently the parents have been planning the name for years, and they've had plenty of time each year during the lonely month of October when the rest of us are still watching baseball. They also must not have very high expectations for their son now that they've given him a label of mediocrity. We can only hope that he doesn't live up to his name. The parents have said though, that when he's old enough to decide he can go by his middle name, Alexander, if he chooses. Hopefully he'll overcome his parents idiocy and do so.

Texas Ranger Beat Downs

As you are probably already aware, the Texas Rangers steam-rolled the Orioles yesterday on the order of 30-3. Aside from it being a record setting game, it was done by one of my favorite teams. It makes it all that much sweeter.

But, I don't want to dwell on this one game. All the focus makes me think of other beat downs delivered by the Texas Rangers. The one that comes to mind most readily is the friendly encounter between Nolan Ryan and one Robin Ventura.

There is also the stellar outing of Kenny Rodgers in 1994 where he threw a perfect game against the Angels. The opposing lineup included Jim Edmonds and the famed Bo Jackson. If the perfect game wasn't enough, Jose Canseco knocked 2 homers and Juan Gonzalez added one of his own.

The Rangers definitely aren't going anywhere near the playoffs this year, but as I see it, there's always next year. Until then, we'll have to live with inconsistent greatness.

Honoring a Drunk Driver?

One of the biggest news stories recently here in St. Louis is the baseball player that was killed after running into a tow truck on the highway. Josh Hancock was a relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Everyone was so distraught. People were leaving flowers, cards, and other memorabilia outside the stadium to honor the player.

It has since come to light that his blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit, he had marijuana and a pipe in the car with him, and he was talking on the cell phone. Even after this information came out, they still honored him at one of the next games.

I honestly can't belive it. They're holding memorials and honoring this guy for the great competetor and team mate that he was. They shouldn't be honoring anything about this guy.

This is nothing more than a case of drunk driving and also possibly driving while under the influence of drugs. I'm just glad that he didn't kill anyone else besides himself.

Am I glad that he died? No. But the situation could have been a lot worse. I have no real tolerance for someone who drives drunk, and I definitely don't think that we should be holding grand memorials for this guy.

I'll say it again. There is no excuse for drunk driving.