Big Ten Preview

Big Ten football is a lot like American Idol. It may be good, it may be bad, but whatever it is, a lot of people are going to watch and talk about it. Last year, the conference sent two teams to BCS bowls, two others to New Years Day bowls and produced the number one pick in the April NFL [read more...]

The Brain Leak

The Brain Leak (Week of 7/21/08 - 7/27/08) My friends, I must apologize for robbing you of an intro last week. It's outside my realm of understanding how I could let something like that happen. My lackluster effort becomes all the more reprehensible when I begin to contemplate how the first paragraph of each column I write does wonders for the content [read more...]

Feeding the Football Fix

My calendar tells me it's mid-July, the dog days of summer. In the sports world, that means baseball's trade deadline is right around the corner, NFL training camps will be popping up any day now, and the Olympics begin in only a few weeks. We just finished watching a historic NBA Finals, a classic Wimbledon final, and a never-ending MLB [read more...]

Party tips for sports fans

Well, as usual, I have some really bad advice for any of the loyal lima bean disciples out there who have been following along. Just depending on how twisted of an individual you are at heart, this could be really important knowledge to carry with you in the quest of the perfect party. I just thought I would offer [read more...]

West Virginia fan still hoping Rodriguez gets mysteriously mauled by pack of hungry Wolverines

A little known fact: A Wolverine is in the Weasel family. When the Serious Sports News Network reported in January claims by West Virginia University indicating former head football coach Rich Rodriguez was an illegal alien, I knew Mountaineer fans were not messing around in the least about their hometown hero turned prodigal son. The only problem with that gridiron [read more...]

National Signing Day 2008

Remember the time you were a high school senior, and every day you received phone calls from Pete Carroll, Urban Meyer and Mack Brown asking if you'd made up your mind about what college you were going to attend? Or when Joe Paterno, Jim Tressel and Charlie Weis swung by your house to inform you that by choosing their school, [read more...]

Bounce for the Buck

The story is an increasingly familiar one. Facing criticism from fans, alumni, boosters, and the media class, an athletic director capitulates to the most superficial elements of the peanut gallery, snow-jobs the president and the budget director, and makes a budget-busting hire that has glamorous curbside appeal.Down The Rabbit Hole Just as there is a certain species of American clown who [read more...]

Regular Seasoning

A college football season just ended, with two different prevalent trains of thought regarding who should be crowned national champion. Some would make a case that LSU, the team that won the official BCS title, is the best team because their performance over the course of the season. The Tigers were 7-1 against teams in the Top 20 of the [read more...]

In Need of BCS Healing

It's a love that wouldn't last. The slow death is over. The 2007 college football season came to an "exhilarating" end this week with the LSU Tigers claiming the BS - I mean, BCS - championship over the always seemingly powerful "Big Eleven" champion Ohio State Buckeyes. Man, I didn't see that coming…Actually, I have to give "The" Ohio State [read more...]

The (NC) Academy Awards of Football

Almost every major recreational genre has an end of the year awards show. The best TV shows win Emmy's, Grammy's go to the best in music, and the top theater performances are awarded Tony's. Even sports have one, if you count the ESPY's as a valid award show. But there's no doubt the most famous of all these honorary ceremonies [read more...]

Champion-chips on Their Shoulders

The upcoming BCS National Championship game means many things to many people. For instance - college football's biggest stage provides an opportunity for SEC fans to compile further evidence that their conference is the crème de la crème, which would force the rest of the universe to trudge through another off-season of their pompous drivel.On the other hand, Big Ten [read more...]

Hart Surgery: In-Vince-able

I am drained. Ever since Matt Leinart's last-second pass brushed off the fingertips of Dwayne Jarrett, allowing the clock to run out and secure Texas' first national title since 1970, I have been putting this column together in the back of my mind without really knowing how I was going to do it. There is so much to say: about the [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Rose Bowl Bound

This is it. In my entire life as a sports fan, I have never made it this far. I have been to a Final Four, seen the last game of a World Series, and seen Tiger Woods fist-pump his way around the U.S Open, but today is a new experience.I am on my way to Pasadena to see my beloved [read more...]

Septuagenarians Unite: Bowden vs. Paterno

Despite countless deep-pocketed boosters begging for them to walk off into the sunset, two 70-something football coaches will lead their teams into battle at the FedEx Orange Bowl on January 3rd in Miami. With kickoff scheduled for 8pm, perhaps Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno can meet at The Fish House on Miller Road in Dade County and enjoy an early-bird [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Big 12? More Like Big Two

There is a lot to be happy about these days if you are a Texas fan. The baseball team won a national title in June. The basketball team is ranked #2 to start the season and is a popular Final Four pick. Heck, even the softball team can claim to start perhaps the world's best hurler in Cat Osterman. You're [read more...]

The Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party: Pt. 1

Say what you will about baseball being known as the national pastime, but it's a no-brainer that football has taken over as the top face on the American sporting totem pole. The NFL may be king across this great land of ours, but south of the Mason-Dixon line, an old-fashioned tailgate party on a college football Saturday is just as [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Long(Horn) Suffering

Five years ago, as I left what to that point was the most miserable sporting event I'd ever been to (Texas-OU), I made a statement to my friends: "As long as Mack Brown is on one sideline and Bob Stoops is patrolling the other," I began, "We will never beat Oklahoma." That day we had come into the game undefeated like OU, [read more...]

Let the Debate Begin: Overrated vs. Underrated

We hear it all the time. Virginia Tech is so overrated this year. The Bills defense is very underrated this season. No matter what the public conception is on a certain team or player or number, there is guaranteed to be a horde of folks who think that player, team or what-have-you is better or worse than the rest of [read more...]

Willie Parker Underscores NCAA Survival Issue

Let's hop in our Delorean's, go back three years, and ask this question: Who will have the better pro career, Willie Parker or Cedric Benson? This is a no-brainer, right? Benson is busy running all over the Big 12, behind (ahem) the best offensive line in college football, and pondering an early leap to the NFL. Willie Parker is deep on the [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Recruiting Season

Wednesday was a very special day. (How special was it?) It was so special, it was Signing Day for college football, the day the incoming class of players finally got to put down on paper where they would spend their college careers. Did you catch the fever? Every year I promise myself I will write a column about Signing Day (well [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Texas Smelling Like Roses

When I look back on my columns from the year 2004, I think I was pretty successful in accomplishing a goal I had set - to not talk about Texas sports too much. I am not saying I never referenced them, but if you go back and read them all, I think you will be pleasantly surprised (unless you only [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Three Things That Make Me Mad About College Football

For those of you who read this column regularly (Hi Nana!), you may be getting tired of me complaining about the state of college football. But honestly, there is so much going on, it's hard not to do so. Thank god for instant messenger, where I am able to vent many of my frustrations to some of my like-minded friends. But since they have [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Pour Me Another

Oooooooooh boy. You know, I used to think my premature baldness was caused by genetics or perhaps sticking my tongue in an electric socket repeatedly as a boy. Now I am convinced it is because of college football. Being a college football fan these days is like going out for a night of binge drinking. Every time you do it you [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Four Down Territory

Ok, I covered wrestling a couple weeks ago (and I apologize for no column last week - I was shocked to find out people actually noticed). Now its time to discuss the only real subject that matters at this time of year (aside from Lehigh women's lacrosse): football, football, football. There are a few topics I would like to cover today, so let's do [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Master Debaters With A Vengeance

(Note: As before, Tom's remarks are in italics) You know how Republicans (or I guess, more fairly, conservatives) always complain about a liberal bias in the media? Well, I want to complain about the bias towards coaches in the sports media. Think about it. How often do you ever hear coaches criticized in the mainstream? Now, I am not advocating the [read more...]

Is an NCAA Playoff Really the Answer?

The college football Bowl Championship Series got a minor facelift this week. A fifth game will be thrown into the mix, increasing the number of participants from eight to 10 and supposedly giving smaller schools outside the major conferences a chance to make an appearance. This still brings us nowhere near a playoff system, which most fans of the game [read more...]

More Money in the Pot

Instead of dealing with the problems in the Bowl Championship Series, the University Presidents have muddied the water even further by adding a fifth game to the BCS, increasing access for schools not part of college football's most lucrative postseason system. On the surface, it sounds like a good thing because more schools would get the benefit of playing in [read more...]

Kicking a Dying Dog

University of Colorado head football coach Gary Barnett must think that the fates are kicking his football program while it's down.This week, Sports Illustrated printed an interview with Katie Hnida, a former female placekicker at UC, who claims that she was raped by a football teammate four years ago. Ms. Hnida, who has since transferred to the University of New [read more...]

Not For Long Finally Has a New Meaning

Power and control. A tough catch. Still, next to Hummer and Armani, most noted materialists still prefer the first pair.Why would the NFL or NCAA be any different? They've grasped those two for years. Thanks to Maurice Clarett, that fact has become far more evident. The NFL isn't happy, and neither is the NCAA. The two have colluded on one of [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Three things that make me mad in 2004…

It's been a few weeks since I last did one of these, and with the bounty of stories early on in this New Year, I figured it would be a good time to bring it back. Therefore, I'd like to tell you about… Three things that make me mad in 2004… 1. No, no, no - well, ok, yes. I will never understand this [read more...]

Hart Surgery: We Can Do Better

My aversion to the BCS has been well documented in this space over the years (ok, year). The system has failed again, but I feel no satisfaction. All you need to know about the BCS can be summed up in this sentence: If Texas had beaten Arkansas and lost only to Oklahoma, they would most likely have finished as the #2 BCS team - [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Let’s go…Bearcats?

Don't look now, but a non-BCS team is threatening to crash the party on the big bowls this season. As of this past Monday, TCU was sitting pretty at 9-0 and ranked 6th in the latest BCS standings. I know everyone is rooting for the underdog Horned Frogs to do the impossible and make one of the big four, but I gotta tell you…it's [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Insomnia

It's not fair. I cannot sleep. All day long I yawn, stretch, and grumble to myself about how exhausted I am. Then, like clockwork, eleven o'clock rolls around and wouldn't you know I'm wide awake. I can't explain why it happens, I just know it does. But, while I'm laying in bed, tossing and turning, a lot does seem to go through [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Sifting Through The BS Of The BCS

With two weeks left in the college football season, talk of course has turned to the national championship and the ridiculous mess that is the BCS. Let me succinctly sum up my feelings: The title should be settled on the field, not by a computer. Many reasons are given why the BCS is in place. Truth be told (and as much as I hate to [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Ready, Aim…Fire?

R.C. Slocum's firing could not have come at a better time. I think there is something that needs to be talked about in sports. You will never hear announcers talk about it on TV. It is taboo - spoken about all the time amongst fans, but rarely brought up on the airwaves. The subject of course is coaches - when do they deserve to [read more...]

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