Back By Semi-Popular Demand

June 4th, 2009. The day Tobacco Juice Sports was put on life support. There were no signs of life. It was being kept alive only by machine like Ted Williams or that lady that caused all the ruckus a few years back. From that day until this day, I was like one of the relatives visiting the comatose patient less and less until it was almost completely forgotten about and never spoken of again.

Fast forward (or is it re-wind or push play?) to today. December 7th, 2009. THAT COMATOSE SUNNUVABITCH WOKE UP!!

I'M BACK BABY!!

I'm fairly certain nobody missed me and I'm fine with it. Let's recap what's happened since I decided to drop off the face of the blogosphere.

• I lost the Fat White Guy Challenge due to pure laziness and indifference.



• I played a lot of golf.



• The Tigers blew a 7 game lead in the division and watched the assholes from New York win the World Series.



• Brandon Inge got hit with a pitch with the bases loaded and was not awarded 1st base.



• The Wings didn't re-sign Hossa and lost Kopecky and Hudler to free agency or Russia (there were probably others but those are the three that hurt me, and them, the most).



• The Lions are bad...but I have completely reversed my opinion of Matt Stafford.



• The Pistons are still my least favorite thing in the world....



• Tiger Woods banged a bunch of hot chicks because he's Tiger Woods and you're not and he can do that sort of thing except he got caught and his hot wife got pissed and a shitstormbomb exploded.



• The Tigers are in the midst of what is being called "Not a Firesale"



• And finally, The BCS covered its own ass by scheduling Boise State and TCU to play against each other in the biggest goddamned copout in the history of anything.
  

Now that we're all kind of caught up with the random things I pulled out of thin air that may or may not have happened, let's get to the matter(s) at hand and talk about things that really piss me off because, unlike the Hulk, people tend to like me more when I'm angry.

First of all, maybe it's just me but I don't think that Tiger Woods crashing his car at the end of his own driveway after running from his freakishly strong and ridiculously hot Swedish wife after she found out he's been doing what every superstar in the world has been doing since Ty Cobb tagged Anne Margaret and that's going around banging hot chicks in various cities around the world, is worthy of CNN dropping everything and sending a helicopter to his house. Last I heard, Tiger's real name is not Eldrick "Tiger" Christ. The dude is human and he did what most of us dream doing. Travel the world, make gazillions playing golf, and bang random hot chicks. Enough is enough. (Yes I realize the man has a family and he probably shouldn't have been such a retard about it but c'mon, he's been perfect and polished his entire life...a controversy like this was bound to happen.)

Speaking of random hot chicks...Carrie Underwood is on my TV wearing what appears to be some sort of leather pants. Ho-ly-Shit.

Anyways, what was I talking about? Oh right...things that piss me off and other random nonsense.

After listening to 97.1 the Ticket for the better part of 3 and a half consecutive hours while running an errand to Lake Orion and back (don't ask), and the main talk on the Valenti and Foster show was how the Tigers were essentially having a fire sale after not making the playoffs this year. I wouldn't exactly call it a fire sale as much as a cost reduction tactic. Think of it like this. Right now, the Tigers are a chick with a huge rack. It's nice to look at, but for them, it's pretty uncomfortable, so they're gonna go ahead and have a reduction so they still look nice, but they're more comfortable with what they have. If they have to trade Granderson and/or Jackson and/or Cabrera and/or Barry Badrinath (Gerald Laird for those who don't think he looks like said character from BeerFest and if you haven't seen the movie it's time to move out of your cave) so they're more fiscally comfortable, and potentially younger, deeper, and more talented, then I'm completely on board. Look, things are tough right now, but if the Twins can do it with a reduced payroll, why not the Tigers? Hell, I'd rather they do it that way. It's much better than buying a championship like the Yankees have been doing, or trying to do, for the last two decades. Keep the faith Tigers fans, everything is gonna be fine.

As for Matt Stafford...click here and tell me you're not a fan. If you claim to be a football fan and say that after watching the video you're not a Matt Stafford fan and supporter, then you my friend...are an asshole. This is exactly what the Lions have needed since the days of Bobby Layne. A blood and guts, whatever it takes, follow my lead and we're gonna win, type leader at the quarterback position. Are the Lions still 2-10? Yes but c'mon people...there are 22 positions not counting special teams on a football team. Being able to say that you're set at two of them (QB and WR Calvin Johnson is the real deal folks) is not going to help you. We need to at least be shooting .500 and have 11 guys that are halfway decent before we are gonna win. We have a great coach and a mildly better front office...things are gonna change in the next few years I can feel it.

As for the corporate greed that exploits student athletes playing division 1 football in America, better known as the Bowl Championship Series. They screwed it up. That's all there is to say. I 100% agree with Texas and Alabama playing in the mythical "championship" game. Anyone who argues against that probably rode the short bus to school and I did not, so I am not arguing against that. Cincy playing Florida is fine as well. Iowa playing Georgia Tech on the other hand is freaking awful. But not nearly as awful and shady as TCU playing Boise State.

And here is why. TCU and Boise play in non-BCS conferences the Mountain West and the Western Athletic Conference. These two conferences lack the firepower (and cashflow) that the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, PAC-10, and Big East (to a lesser extent) have from top to bottom. New Mexico State would get CRUSHED by teams like Iowa State, Michigan, Washington State, or Duke (maybe) just because they simply have more money and typically better athletes because of the conferences they play in and finished near the bottom of. Since Boise and TCU play teams like New Mexico State and San Jose State, the rest of the country seems to feel as if their 12-0 records don't count and they don't deserve a shot at playing one of the big boys from the BCS conferences in a BCS game. That being said, remember 2006 when Boise State beat Oklahoma in a game where the Sooners were favored by two or more touchdowns in the Fiesta Bowl? Remember last year when Utah beat heavily favored Alabama in the whatever it was Bowl and rightfully claimed that they deserved to be National Champions? Yeah, the BCS decided to nip that little problem in the bud and let the two teams from the weaker conferences with undefeated records play each other so they didn't have to risk an embarassing loss for a BCS conference school like Iowa, Gerogia Tech, or Florida. They also didn't want to risk having potentially 4 undefeated teams at the end of the year, proving what everyone in the world already knows, that the BCS is the biggest bullshit moneymaking ponzi scheme in the history of civilization. TCU and Boise State deserve to play Iowa and Georgia Tech just to prove that just because they play shitbird teams, doesn't mean that they're shitbird teams themselves. And in my honest heart of hearts, I truly believe that TCU could beat Texas, Alabama, Florida, or Cincy. Those teams got absolutely hosed.

Speaking of college football, Brian Kelly and Jim Harbaugh are expected to interview at Notre Dame tomorrow. If Kelly is as smart as I hope he is, he will turn that job down. Notre Dame is where good coaches go to die. That and can you imagine running that pass happy offense in South Bend in November? It's cold as shit in South Bend in November! That'd be a HUGE mistake. Coach Kelly, do us all a favor, stay in Cincy and bring them a National Championship. Don't sell out like I know you probably will.

On a personal note...it's damn good to back. Maybe more tomorrow or the next day.

Oh and there's a picture of Jennifer Love Hewitt to make up for lost time. Speaking of random hot chicks...I'm gonna need suggestions again for the Official Hot Chick of Tobacco Juice Sports.

Playoffs? Don't talk about Playoffs!

Ok I would like to start this post off with a disclaimer...I don't truly believe that division 1 college football needs a playoff or should have one. HOWEVER the BCS is absolute bullshit and there has to be a different way to do this.

Personally, I think that a four team playoff is the best and most cost effective way to do it. And when you really think about it, is the #5 team ever really a national championship contender? How can the #5 team really have an argument to be in the national championship game? In reality, we should just take the top 4 teams and have a true national championship game featuring the winners of the 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 bowl games.

BUT

For the sake of argument and creativity...here is an 8 team playoff format that may work...

Why just 8? because 16 is entirely too many and anyone who thinks that #12 Cincinnati could hang with and possibly beat #5 USC is gravely mistaken. 8 teams in would mean that the playoff would only take 3 weeks to complete. As for choosing the teams...and here's where things get a little bit radical...I would keep the conference championships BUT on the national stage, they would mean nothing. I would divide the country into 4 regions and have 4 at large teams. This season it would go like this: You would have Penn State from the Midwest region, Florida from the south, USC from the West, and Oklahoma from the Plains States. As for the 4 at large teams you would have to include Alabama, Texas, Utah, and Boise State but only because they were undefeated and if you run the table, you probably deserve a shot.

As for seeding, you would go by the AP Polls and get rid of any non-human method of choosing anything. So if my plan were in effect it would be a first round of...
#1 Florida vs. #8 Boise State
#2 Oklahoma vs. #7 Penn State
#3 Texas vs. #6 Utah
#4 Alabama vs. #5 USC
On paper, these are all pretty good match ups. And since we're only talking about paper let's do another round...
Florida would beat Boise State without any real trouble as would Oklahoma against Penn State. As for the rest of them, I think Texas would find that Utah and their ridiculously fast offense and surprisingly stingy defense, would give the Longhorns some trouble but Texas would still advance. Alabama, fresh off their loss to Florida in the SEC championship game would lose to USC so the semi final round would be Florida vs. USC and Oklahoma vs. Texas (again I know). Then of course Florida and Oklahoma would both win again and we'd have the exact same result we have now. BUT at least we would give everyone else who has a chance...a chance.

(notice the italics? Yeah, SarahVan just showed up...)

Wait...stop it...just stop you don't know what you're talking about.
While that is an interesting idea for a playoff. But come on, what self respecting playoff only includes eight teams? Sure, baseball does, but that is about it. NBA...16. NHL....16. NFL....12. NCAA Basketball....65. So why limit college football to just eight? It is just not fair...especially when you think about the quality of the teams across the country. Why not give a Boise State a chance to beat an Oklahoma EVERY YEAR, not just when everything works out perfectly.

Which is why I suggest the idea of a 16-team playoff. It is a great number (perfect square) and allows for the perfect amount of teams. Every one of the Football Bowl Subdivision conferences (formerly Division 1-A) gets one automatic bid. Whoever is considered the conference champion, whether there is a championship game or not, gets its conference's automatic bid. So this year, that would be:

ACC: Virginia Tech
SEC: Florida
Big 10: Penn State
Pac-10: USC
MAC: Buffalo (for real!?)
Big 12: Oklahoma
WAC: Boise State
Big East: Cincy
Mountain West: Utah
Sun Belt: Troy

Now for the at-large selections...we will take into consideration BCS standings for this exercise
Alabama
Texas
Ohio State
Texas Tech
Oklahoma State
TCU

So now that we have the teams set, now for some rules. The teams will be seeded, based on whatever. It doesn't matter that Troy won the Sun Belt...still going to be the 16 seed. Higher seed gets to host the game. Final four games will take place at one of the sites of the BCS bowls. It will rotate every year, so that each location still feels the love. The tournament will start the week after conference championships. This will then make December that much better...and we can still have our beloved New Years day games.

For the rest of the schools...let's keep the other bowls. We can get rid of the really stupid and terrible ones, like the Papajohn's bowl and the emerald bowl and the cereal bowl. ok i made that last one up. But get rid of a few insignifcant ones and call it a day.

This gives smaller schools a chance every year to pull off an upset. Granted, we will never see another awesome Boise State-Oklahoma game like we did a few years ago...but at least this gives us a chance for that to happen. Who knows...maybe Buffalo could pull off an amazing upset...who knows unless we give them a chance?!

I think a playoff is where we need to head. Granted the BCS stuff always "works itself out" but we just spent the last few weeks saying it wouldn't. and that happens EVERY year. so why not just do what i say? Because I am always right.

Not always Van, not always. 16 teams is entirely too many. Probably. Either way...In other news I have received information from my sources about the Eastern Michigan coaching vacancy. Chuck Martin, Scott Loeffler, and Fred Jackson are all interviewing with the EMU administration this week. I expect there to be another round of interviews next week as well unless one of these three guys just blows the AD and interview board away. We shall see. Oh and due to the fact that I'm an idiot (and a fiercely loyal reader pointed it out to me) I misspoke about Ball State going to the Motor City Bowl. They are actually going to the GMAC bowl in Alabama, so they won't really need a coat, but maybe just a jacket. Central is instead going to the Motor City Bowl for like the 8th year in a row. Awesome.

I would talk about the Tigers and their signings of SS Adam Everett and Catcher Gerald Laird, but if you remember, I grounded myself from writing about the Tigers in detail until after the first of the year. Sorry, it is what it is.