Just Not Tickling...

Just Not Tickling My Fancy

U-Dub upset a top 10 team the other night, in primetime, and on ESPN.  I should be thrilled about college football but I'm not.  Today I have to admit I didn't watch a single game.  Not sure if that's ever happened and the night's not completely over.  I could check in on WSU vs Oregon later but really why?  And let's be straight here I love football.  So a college game will most likely be on in upcoming Saturday's.  And I know a lot of people out there will disagree with me and say how much they like college football more than the NFL.  To those people I invite you to respond to this post and tell me why.  And don't say the love of the game compared to the NFL money-seekers.  There's still plenty of NFL guys who play for the love to root for.  To this sports nut there's just a few things about FBS (one of them) college football that drive me nuts.  Here are seven reasons why college football is just not tickling my fancy.

1. West Virginia plays in the Big 12, Boise State is joining the Big East, Colorado plays in the Pac-12...the conference juggling is insane.  I mean I understood when Boston College went from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference.  Boston College is located on the Atlantic Coast!!!  But the current state of conference movement just makes no sense.  I've always thought Louisiana Tech playing in the Western Athletic Conference was stupid but now college football has taken their stupidity to a whole upper echelon.   

2. Washington stinks...I know they beat Stanford Thursday and I know they've improved dramatically since Sarkisian has been there but in the long term what can a fan expect?  Not a national title.  Even if they were good enough they wouldn't be high enough in the rankings.  Probably not even a Pac-12 title as long as Nike is pouring in millions of dollars to Southern Oregon.  A double digit win season?  Yeah I guess it's do-able but what's the point in that.  When you tasted the sweet sugar of Rose Bowls as a youngster a 7-6 season is kind of like cauliflower for dessert.

3. Oregon is consistently good...I'd love WSU to outscore Oregon.  The Ducks are the equivalent of Pateros with Jason Crawley.  You wanted to beat them so much but knew you didn't have a chance.  Or maybe Manson football.  Good luck.  Might as well just mimic the coaches at halftime right Michael Brandt?  Oregon being great may be worse than Washington being mediocre.  But eventually Phil Knight will die and Nike will lose it's relationship with Oregon and Washington will beat them again every year.  Maybe when I'm 50 I'll take this one of the list. 

Vomiting while I post this caption.

4. The SEC has produced the last 6 national championships...what's so fun about knowing who will win the championship every year?  We all knew the Colts would be good every year with Peyton Manning but that only guaranteed them one Superbowl victory.  Who would've thought the Giants would defeat the Patriots?  With college football lately it's just too predictable.  And last year was the worst!  Two SEC teams in the championship?  Makes a lot of sense.  And isn't college football the one that makes so big of deal out of the regular season?  Well LSU defeated Alabama in the regular season and yet were able to play them again in the championship.  Funny.

5. The Scandals...this isn't funny.  You know what's sad is try thinking of a solution.  Let's see...how about integrity and character.  Did John Wooden cheat?  If he did he's the biggest hypocrite in history considering his legacy is built on the Pyramid of Success.  To be fair, college basketball has their own share of corruption, but this just adds to the disdain of college football.  Who's cheating?  Better question...who's not?  Let's hire an NCAA official to monitor all universities.  Really?  Have we come to that?  Can't people just do something right?  Sad.  And I know, the NFL isn't perfect either.

6. No Playoff System...no one really wants this rant do you?  Anyone that knows me within the last five years has heard it already.  Oh I know in two years we'll have a 4 team playoff until 2025.  I guess that's a start if you consider a COW fast off the starting blocks.  Sheesh.  At the moment there are 5 major conferences in college football, not 4.  And really, there is always at least one extra team outside the top conferences deserving a chance to play for a title.  Plus what about the team that improves throughout the season after losing a couple games in the first few games?  But the regular season should mean something...tell that to LSU last year.  I've heard all the excuses why we can't have a playoff and about the only one I like is tradition.  Just makes no sense to me.

7. Realignment is impacting college basketball...Syracuse will not play Connecticut, Georgetown, Villanova, Seton Hall, St. John's, and Providence.  Ridiculous!  Kansas will not play Missouri.  That's like Washington not playing Oregon in football.  Please people, Just Fink About It!

Monday Night Mystery

Tonight's MNF game ended in controversy like never before.  Was it a TD or interception?  From my basement luxury box I thought it was simultaneous (after offensive P.I.) but heard Steve Young say after the game it was a clear INT.  I'll defer to him since he was 10 feet from the play.  The bottom line is that call was one of many botched calls again in one prime-time game.  All of America is seeing how ridiculous it is to be playing pro football without pro-fessional officials.  You can't duplicate the experience NFL officials have.  Jerry Austin, a former referee, was wearing the white hat alone for 27 years.  Maybe as fans we're crazy to even expect anything but pandemonium.  Now it's up to the NFL to get a deal done with the real refs.  But, it's gonna cost the NFL a lot more money than it would have before the regular season.  So it may not happen quite as soon as we would all like.  And if it doesn't there may be some backlash from some owners.  You have to know the coaches and gm's are in the owners ear about the replacements and consequently the owners are in Roger Goodell's ear. 

What's all lost in the referee mix up is how ugly the Packers are playing.  A very far cry from last season's record setting offensive juggernaut.  Rodgers had no time to throw and yet more passes kept being called until after halftime.  Big mistake!  And the last play?  Jennings, the DB, should've knocked the ball down.  That's the rule in that situation, that's what you're coached to do, period.  Complete lack of execution there.  Now on a short week they travel home to play the winless Saints.  Who would've predicted that scenario.  New Orleans is either going to be sitting at 0-4 or both teams at 1-3.  For all you people that Rodgers has completely disappointed fantasy wise don't sit him this week.  He will absolutely have at least 3 TDs in the game and Brees won't be far behind. 

Finkbeiner basement luxury box

The Hawks didn't look great either tonight, at least on offense.  Wilson is a nice addition but I'm sorry he was no better than Tim Tebow tonight.  You can see the poise he possesses which is very impressive for a rookie though.  Seattle could easily be 3-0 but they will have to score eventually and I don't see them just grounding and pounding effectively over the course of a 16 game season.  Defensively they no doubt are tough.  Not too much to dissect there.  The secondary is very good and that's why the front 4 is able to put pressure on the QB.  Teams will have to run the ball vs Seattle to open up some passing lanes.  In a wide open NFC west the Hawks do have a legit shot.  SF looked horrible yesterday and Arizona still has plenty of weaknesses like a non-existent run game and QB inconsistency.

At the end of the day the NFL needs to get their pro-fessional officials back out there.  And if GB or Seattle wants to make the playoffs they will both need to play much better offensively.  In the meantime let's just expect bad calls all around and enjoy the Belichick pushes, Fox tirades, and Jim Harbaugh doing what he would no matter who was officiating.

Kieth       

My Big Brother Ken

Been a long time since I've posted and I know there is a lot going on sports but I just wanted to take a few minutes and spotlight my big brother Ken Finkbeiner.  Here's why...the guy stepped up last year and decided to jump into the fantasy football world.  Now some of you know Ken pretty well, some of you knew him at one time, and some have no clue.  So here's a quick overview of the living legend of Ken Finkbeiner.

He's five years older than me and when I was in grade school throwing footballs all over the place and shooting basketballs onto the garage roof Ken was doing math and science.  The guy is border line genius, but not necessarily because he is super talented but because he worked his ACE off in school.  He was doing math until 1-2am in high school taking college credits while I was sleeping away dreaming of Young-Rice.  His eye sight is about as good as a bat's.  I think they have horrible eyesight.  While he grew up in a sports oriented town and did play, it was never his "cup of tea."  But, he was always supportive of me, especially when I started growing up and not throwing balls around in his room while he was studying.  So you get the picture?

Well last year, with the support of my nieces, nephew, wife, and brother in law we started a family fantasy football league.  Ken was invited and took part.  He did amazing out of the gate with Tom Brady in the first round of our draft and shocked the world with Neil Rackers in the 2nd round.  Long story, but he had his reasons.  And you know what, there was logic behind it and that's the kind of guy he is people.  His inaugural season started okay, but fizzled late and ended up disappointing even in his eyes.  But, he didn't quit.  In fact he's got renewed energy and this year went Shady McCoy, Cam Newton back to back in the draft.  However that may have not been his best decision.  He drafted RG3 later on!  After losing week 1, Ken or should I say OH KCIC (his team name) won week 2.

• Ken's Team
• QBs- RG3 and Newton
• RBs- McCoy, Peterson, Spiller, and Wells
• WRs- Jennings, Dez, Malcom Floyd, and Stevie
• TEs- Vernon D. and Tamme
• DEF- Ravens and Packers
• K- Gostowski and Bailey 

So in conclusion, I am super proud and pumped for my bro Ken.  Feel free to give him a little advice on his team if you'd like especially when it comes to his QB situation.  I have my own thoughts, but I'm in the league and that's just too complicated.  Hope all is well everyone!

Fink

NFL Preview 2012

Well the season is literally about to start.  So I better get my predictions out there.  Who knows what will happen but the last two years I've picked at least one of the Superbowl teams.  Of course I picked the Packers to lose and they won.  And I picked the Patriots to win and they lost.  What about this year???

Regular Season Standings: 

AFC:

East:  Patriots 14-2, Jets 11-5, Bills 11-5, Dolphins 3-13

North:  Ravens 11-5, Steelers 10-6, Bengals 6-10, Browns 2-14

South:  Texans 11-5, Titans 6-10, Colts 5-11, Jaguars 2-14

West:  Chiefs 9-7, Chargers 9-7, Broncos 8-8, Raiders 8-8

NFC:

East:  Giants 10-6, Eagles 10-6, Cowboys 9-7, Redskins 3-13

North:  Packers 12-4, Lions 11-5, Bears 11-5, Vikings 4-12

South:  Falcons 10-6, Panthers 8-8, Saints 8-8, Buccaneers 7-9

West:  49ers 10-6, Seahawks 7-9, Cardinals 6-10, Rams 4-12

Playoffs:

Wild Card Round:

Lions 38 Falcons 35, Giants 20 Bears 9, Ravens 23 Bills 10, Chiefs 17 Jets 12

Divisional Round:

49ers 19 Giants 15, Lions 28 Packers 27, Patriots 34 Chiefs 3, Ravens 17 Texans 16

Championship Games:

Lions 24 49ers 13, Patriots 28 Ravens 6

Superbowl:

Patriots 34 Lions 31



Some crazy picks I know but also some easy ones as well.  Obviously I like the Lions.  They have made great progress over the last few years and I believe that will continue.  The Patriots have knocked on the championship door the last couple years and are only getting better.  There's a lot of young talent on both sides of the ball for them.  Unfortunately I don't see the Niners getting it done without a better offense.  Same goes for the Ravens.  While the Pack are great I think another great regular season is what I see out of them.  And why aren't the Broncos in the playoffs?  Well, I just don't see them winning a bunch of games with their schedule.  If Peyton is of old then I'm wrong, so we'll see.  While I like Houston, I truly believe they missed their championship chance by not signing Peyton.  He would have completed them.  And finally what about the defending champs???  Trust me I have all the respect for Eli and the rest of Coughlin's group after their postseason run last year.  So it wouldn't surprise me to see them win again in January.  However, there are a ton of great teams and the last team to repeat was in '04.  It will be sad to see but I believe that the Eagles will miss the playoffs and Reid will be fired.  He deserves better.  The Cardinals are just a couple pieces from a big season I believe and could challenge S.F. if Skelton gets the job done at QB.  The Seahawks will come on at the end of the season but their opening stretch is brutal.  The Jets have an easy schedule and I believe that Rex will get his guys to play for 10-11 wins.  The Bills schedule is soft too so I think they can sneak in to the dance but don't be surprised if they flop as well.  I completely respect Pittsburgh as well but just feel that they may not have enough to make the playoffs this year.  And the Saints...I can't see even Brees carrying this banged up ship into the postseason. 

Okay, there you go...the thrown together at the last minute thoughts and picks.  Enjoy the season and maybe I'll write some more observations as the season progresses! 

Fink