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Introduction To The House of Carr
Introduction To The House of Carr

Sports

It's Over

I looked back at some of my posts this time last year and noted that I had much to say about the state of Cincinnati Basketball. Compare that to this year as I'm not sure if I've even brought them up this year. I felt I should at least make a note of it as the Bearcats season came to an end this afternoon in West Virginia. There will be no postseason tournament. Nor did they even qualify for their conference tournament. Calling it a rough season would be an understatement. This rebuilding year brought the program's worst season since the early 80's and featured the longest losing streak since 1924. Just two players returned this year: one who would've come off the bench of a good team and one who might have [emphasis: might] been able to walk on if he went to a local high school. It was miraculous that Mick Cronin got them to double digit wins this year.

Still, almost two years later, there are those in town reeling of what went down with Bob Huggins. These people are going to regret if they don't get back on board with this team. This season's struggles will be the seed for a program on the rebound. Kids will want to play for Mick in Cincinnati; they're a Big East team in a nice-sized market with excellent facilities. I wholeheartedly believe that this team has a bright future. So now we can put this past year and the many thrashings behind us.

At least for the Bearcats, next year starts tomorrow.

Whose Big Game Is It?

I find it a tad disconcerting that while we're in March, with college basketball approaching its apex and baseball preparing to start its season, that ESPN still leads with NFL stories. I wish they would take a breather and allow us to enjoy some other sports for at least a couple of months. Maybe the following story will encourage us to get over the NFL.

It seems that the NFL is trying to trademark the phrase "The Big Game."

Apparently they aren't content with shutting down churches' parties. They're now going to shut down anyone who even wants to acknowledge that the game exists. Talk about the No Fun League. I understand trying to protect a trademark, but the league needs to get over themselves. But it might be done for them.

The Cal/Stanford college football rivalry has been known as The Big Game for more than 100 years. While the NFL claims it wouldn't take issue with their usage of the phrase, the colleges have begun litigation to fight the trademark request.

It should be noted that I am in the process of trademarking the following words:

  • a
  • an
  • the
  • is
  • cheese
  • formulamatic

If you're good to me, I might ignore your trademark infringement.

SKCUS RACSAN

Allow me the opportunity to disrespect my southern roots. What the crap is up with NASCAR? Isn't this sport the biggest sham going?

They penalize numerous teams for cheating before the Daytona 500 so that all the other teams get the message: cheating is bad. Then they run the qualifying for the pole position and Jeff Gordon wins. But in a post-race inspection they discover that his quarter panels were too low. NASCAR officials admit that it probably happened accidentally during the race, but still he went from first position to last position to start Sunday's race. Makes me want to watch cars going in circles really fast.

Gordon was cool about it, though. Remember that Jeff is hated by true NASCAR fans because he's the sophisticated, educated racer. His interview after being penalized shows his intellectual depth:

"It was nice to get out there and just go racing. I've been glued to the TV as much as anybody else over all this stuff. Between that and Anna Nicole Smith, I couldn't pull away."

NASCAR and Anna Nicole Smith: the working man's cocktail.

The whole thing is backwards, if you ask me.

S**** Bowl

I don't have to preach today, so I thought I'd drop a little wisdom down here on the ol' blog. Topic: Church Super Bowl Parties. If you haven't heard by now, the NFL dropped a "cease and desist" this past week on an Indianapolis church who was going to show the Super Bowl at their church. The mistakes made by the Falls Creek Baptist Church were many:

1) They used the copyrighted term "Super Bowl" all over their website/advertising. 2) They advertised that they would show it on a huge projection screen . 3) They were charging admission to the event.

When the Baptists attempted to renegotiate, the NFL said, "talk to the hand." Inundated by complaints, the NFL finally did a 360, saying as long as the image shown is less the 55 inches, they're fine with it.

There are a ton of great angles on this one, but here are six I'd love to point out:

1) The fifty five inches limit will probably be challenged soon. This is supposed to be in effect for all private and public viewings. But now that they're making a whole slew of flat panels over sixty inches, I'd say they'll have to reexamine this.

2) Many say the NFL takes exception to these large viewing parties because it hurts their ratings which, in turn, brings down their advertising revenue. Really, it makes no difference unless you're a Nielsen family who has a box on your TV monitoring all your viewing habits.

I have always longed to become a Nielsen family, even sucking up to my friends who work for Nielsen [Dale and Emily!] but even they have no pull here. It's a totally random selection. If I was, however, a Nielsen family, I'd probably leave my TV on 24/7, even when away from home. What Nielsen family wouldn't have their TV tuned to the Super Bowl, anyway?

3) The NFL didn't realize who they messed with. Church folk ain't anything if they're not grumpy. This move made headlines all across the Bible Belt, even locally, as people declared this a travesty. The League has long excused sports bars of this viewing rule, giving the Christians a chance to complain of an anti-family bias.

4) What's even crazier is that another Indianapolis Baptist church that sent out a press release stating they would defy the NFL's policy and show the game on a huge screen anyway. Their pastor stated, "We want to save souls by any means necessary. Football, traditional service, street ministry -- it doesn't matter." Yikes! So now showing the Super Bowl at church is a salvational issue. If you like football and Jesus, Second Baptist is for you.

5) I find it ironic that many churches chose to take the moral high road here. Across the country churches began cancelling these Super Bowl gatherings, stating they didn't want to break laws. But churches break bigger copyright laws all the time. Whether it's mass publishing photos they don't know, making copies of curriculum, or having movie nights in the sanctuary, it's just not legal. But nobody bats an eye over that.

I'm not trying to excuse the actions. I'm just saying that there are 364 other days in a year when churches are in danger of violating copyright laws and you won't hear a thing about it after tonight. If you're going to play the "it's the law" card, do it consistently.

6) In a somewhat related note, I had to laugh that a large Texas church was giving away Super Bowl tickets [including free airfare and hotel] at their services last night. Part of their defense of the gimmick was posted on the web:

"It’s all about life change. If even one person comes hoping to win a free trip to the Super Bowl and experiences something positive in their life as a result, it’s worth the effort to do this promotion."

Um, if some church had given me free Super Bowl tickets, I'd say that would be a positive experience. This kind of thing is getting ridiculous, but that's another post.

In case you're curious, we'll be showing the Super Bo . . . er, the Big Game tonight at Echo. In case you're curious, I'm going with the Colts by ten.

Admission is free and I'm bringing a tape measure with me.

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Taking Our Lumps

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You know that things have really gotten bad when I'm thrilled with UC losing by one point on the road at Syracuse. A lot of Bearcats fans are jumping ship, not sure if they want to wait until they make it back to the top of the mountain. I, however, am sticking with 'em. Again, I declare that Mick Cronin is the right man for the job. It may take awhile, but we'll be OK. We're building character here people. In a related note, we got the latest issue of Cincinnati Magazine this week. The good news is that the cover is red, heralding "Bearcat Pride." The bad news is that the mascot is posing with President Zimpher. Could've done without that.

Bend It Like Beckham's Wallet

So about David Beckham's forthcoming $25 million contract with the MLS's LA Galaxy: do I think this will change the perception of soccer in America? No.

One player a soccer team does not make. Everyone likens this move to Wayne Gretzky going to the LA Kings. Yeah, how's the state of the NHL today? They play their games on a cable network that no one knows or even gets.

I love soccer but I've come to accept that it will never be an American game. We live within two hours of a MLS city and have only attended one game.

Get Ronaldinho in the MLS now, in his prime, and I might sing a different tune.

A Bitter Pill

If you're not a college football fan, you're probably sick of my writing so much about it, but this is the last you'll hear of it until the fall. So one again bear with me. Late last night I told Kelly that I secretly thought the Buckeyes could lose that game. They were favored way too much. But I couldn't imagine that Coach Tressel would let his team come out so lethargic. And never would I have believed that Florida would take OSU to the woodshed.

That was the most dominent beat down in any type of sports championship I can ever remember. Let me know if you have any other contenders.

And I should note, before I get too far, that we watched the game by ourselves last night. If I were with other people they would've called the Price Hill Church of Christ to rescind my ordination certificate.

So why did the Buckeyes lose so horribly? My thoughts . . .

  • First, it wasn't because of speed. That's the dumbest thing I've heard repeated over and over in all the sports shows today. Florida wasn't that much faster. I'm sure if you looked at the 40 times of all these players, there wouldn't be that many differences. So we should just stop the stupidity that wants to laud the speed of the SEC champs.
  • What people interpreted as speed was actually the result of the inept defensive scheme that Ohio State used to match-up against the Florida offense. It was pathetic. The Bucks played the deep zone to keep the Gators from going over the top on them; they didn't want to get beat on the long ball [which Chris Leak really can't throw that well anyway]. So all they had to do was go five wide and eat up the zone with underneath passes. Do you remember how the Colts hammered the Bengals on Monday night a few weeks ago? It was the same thing. Florida never had the huge play. They just ate them up.
  • Offensively, the Buckeyes didn't get the running game going early. I'm pretty sure they went three straight passes in their first offensive series. A consistent running game has allowed the Bucks' passing game to open up. Then, when they were in the hole, the offense panicced and never got settled. Florida's defense took full advantage. Of course losing Teddy Ginn hurt, but I'm not sure he makes a winning difference. Speaking of which
  • That kick-off return might have been the best thing that happened to Florida. It made Ohio State even more over-confident [I let my pride get the best of me and made two phone calls after the fact] and it let Florida know that they could really play with reckless abandon. Florida came right back and never let up.
  • But overall, it came down to coaching. Tressel's staff was outworked by Urban Meyer's. Going for a fourth and one in the second half on your own twenty yard line? Gutsy if you make it, but it ended up foolish. Not changing up game plans at half-time when you're getting hammered? Unthinkable. I've said before that this team wasn't nearly as talented as last year's and this game exposed it. That being said, I'll be interested to see how the program recovers from this. That was a generational kind of loss.
  • But disregard all of these reasons because you can't explain away this fact: overall, Florida just flat out wanted it more. They came out ready to play.

Unlike many Ohio State fans, I've seen Florida play numerous times this year. And it must be said: that team never played so well. They were lucky to end the regular season with one loss; they should've lost three more games but those teams they were playing choked. They were consistently inconsistent, making foolish penalties and turn-overs. They were not better than USC this year. They were not better than Michigan. And they were not better than Ohio State.

Last night, however, they played flawless football- something they haven't done since the Spurrier days. But with no playoff, you don't have to be the best team. You just have to be good enough to win that one game. And last night Florida did it.

THE Ohio State Fascination

Let me explain myself to yourselves. There's been a lot of discussion locally the past few months about Ohio State bandwagoners- those who have cheered the team only since Coach Tressel reinvigorated the program. I'm thinking it could be true because the Cincinnati media have covered the national championship game much more this year than the 2002 title and we saw a ton of OSU gear in Hyde Park this afternoon.

I have no academic affiliation with THE Ohio State University, but if I only followed my alma mater's programs my life would be pathetic [nothing impresses sports aficionados like an NCCAA Division 2 championship appearance . . . in soccer]. During my development years I assembled my sports loyalties and have stuck to them rather religiously. In case you're scoring at home:

  • MLB: Reds . . . from birth. In the late 1980's, as the Reds were acquiring their many second place division finishes, I developed an affinity for the Red Sox.
  • NFL: Bengals . . . likewise.
  • College Basketball: UC . . . late 1980's, coinciding with Huggins arrival. I'll admit I liked Xavier better, that is, until Huggs arrived.
  • NHL: NY Rangers . . . late 1980's, my neighbor took me to an exhibition where I became a fan. So this was a few years before the 1994 Stanley Cup.
  • Soccer: Manchester United- mid 1990's, after the US hosted World Cup, I thought Eric Cantona was awesome.
  • NBA: Except for loving to watch Jordan play, I've never had a favorite NBA team.

Which brings me to college football. I always liked the sport, but growing up in Cincinnati, there wasn't much to cheer for here. So it was in the late 1980's that I declared my allegiance to Ohio State; I figured I lived in the state of Ohio, so that's good enough. I would watch them play every Saturday on the black and white television in the basement; no one in the house wanted to watch it, so I was relegated to the dungeon.

In junior high I proudly purchased a Starter jacket [remember those] that was a shiny gray with the letters "O-H-I-O- S-T-A-T-E" stitched to the front. It was awesome. I would watch players like Carlos Snow, a local product who went to a Cincinnati Public School dedicated to athletes [how was that ever legal]. I cheered for Kirk Herbstreit, an average quarterback who became a great football analyst. I saw an endless supply of incredible players come through the program: Chris Spielman, Joey Galloway, Terry Glenn, Eddie George, David Boston.

Those teams were coached by a wonderful man named John Cooper. He could recruit football players better than anyone in the country. Unfortunately, he never figured out how to get them to win the big game. As many of you know, the last game of the regular season the Bucks always play Michigan. In thirteen games against the Wolverines, his teams won twice, lost ten times, and tied once. Coopers first victory against UM salvaged and average season. His second victory was on the cusp of a loss to Michigan State, costing them a national championship.

Being a Buckeye fan at the end of last century was brutal. Three times in the 1990's OSU was undefeated until the Michigan game, in line for a national championship, and lost. Every year while in college I would bet a guy in the dorm [a devout Michigan fan] a pizza on the game. I bought him a lot of pizza.

Then . . . came . . . Tressel.

He knew both how to recruit and how to win. After being hired he appeared at the OSU/Michigan basketball game at halftime and stated, "I can assure you that you will be proud of your young people in the classroom, in the community and most especially in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan." And he's never looked back.

So tonight, as I'm preparing to celebrate a second national championship in five years, I'm confident that I've never been off the bandwagon, so there was never any need for me to hop back on. I know who Earl Bruce is. I hate Desmond Howard. I even lived a summer in Columbus. So there's no need to question my loyalty.

With the Reds, Bengals, and Bearcats struggling, at least I have the scarlet and gray to rely on.

Go Bucks.

They Dey

First, let's be honest: the best off-season move for the Bengals happened yesterday when Bill Cowher retired. I hate all things Pittsburgh but admit to having a soft spot in my heart for old Iron Jaw. He is a fantastic coach and always made the most out of the least amount of talent [see last year's Super Bowl team]. Cowher owned the Bengals in his sixteen years with the Steelers. Of all current NFL coaches, he's the one guy I would want in Cincinnati without a doubt.

Speaking of Bengals coaching, I've remained silent since the devastating loss of a week ago. This past season was an enigma; I saw things this season that I never have seen before in my life: Justin Smith's bogus roughing the passer call against Tampa Bay [cost them the game], a blown 21-point lead against San Diego [cost them the game], Rudi Johnson's fumble and the botched PAT against Denver [cost them the game], last week's missed field goal against the Steelers [cost them the game], not to mention the numerous arrests [cost them more than they'd like to admit].

This season had messed with my mind more than that of any other Cincinnati sports team. The only thing I can compare it to was Ohio State under John Cooper: you knew they had national championship talent but they never acted like it.

The thing that's ticked me off is the way that many fans have turned on Marvin Lewis. They complain about three 8-8 seasons in three years, but they've quickly forgotten how sucky we truly were. Just look at the stats during Marvin's tenure.

  • 2003 [8-8] Jon Kitna was our quarterback. We played a cake schedule. If that team had played this year's schedule, they go 3-13.
  • 2004 [8-8] Carson's first year. Another average schedule for a below average team. That season the last game was against a Super Bowl bound Philly that mailed it in. They should've been 7-9.
  • 2005 [11-5] Average schedule. Team takes advantage of it and wins their division. IF [play along] Carson doesn't get hurt this is a Super Bowl team. Unlucky.
  • 2006 [8-8] Toughest schedule in the league. Of course, they still could've made the playoffs, but the defense absolutely kills them this year.

What I'm saying is this: schedule does indeed make a difference. The Raven benefited this year because they sucked last year. In the Bengals last Super Bowl appearance, their schedule was an easy one. But you can't blame it all on who they had to play this season.

Truth is, it pains me to admit this, the team isn't that good . . . yet. I really believe they're on the verge, but they desperately need some kind of defensive help to make it to that next level. But many fans are eager to jump off the Marvin bandwagon without looking at the big picture.

I say, give it another season or two. I'd be shocked if they're not a playoff team again next year.

We still have one of the best quarterbacks in the league. It's amazing that he bounced back to play like he did this year [see Dante Culpepper]. With Carson at 100% again, a team that was truly humbled this year, and an easier schedule, it'll all be good.

In Marvin I trust.

Yikes! [UC basketball edition]

Painfully, I endured UC's first half against Memphis on ESPN. Don't think I can watch the rest of it. In two network games this year [kudos to ESPN for shoving the unviewable ESPNU down our throats for the Crosstown Shootout] the Bearcats have gotten waxed. I fully expected this performance this year. A hastily recruited team decemated because of Bob Huggins' firing a year and a half ago meant that Coach Cronin really didn't have a chance this season. But I didn't expect it to feel this embarrassing. They might not make network TV next year at all.

I still think Mick is the right guy for the job, but it'll take another rebuilding season until they make the tourney again. It's just unfortunate that the Enquirer decided to run a front page story yesterday about how the team had a scholarship taken from them because of poor academic performance. The real story here is that the NCAA truly sucks, doesn't care about the students, and is penalized UC because a coach was fired at the beginning of a season. When Huggs got canned six non-seniors left early and it hurts UC's academic standing.

So now not only does Mick have to coach a mid-major level team in the Big East, but his hometown paper is rubbing in the fact that their academics are in trouble too. Ain't it wonderful? Doubt that the fact that this year's team had a 2.88GPA the fall quarter with no one failing a class will make the front page.

Any-woo . . .

UC's more likable in the underdog role. It'll take a little while, but they'll get there.

Postscript 1: if you notice in the new Kaelyn video I'm wearing a Kansas State t-shirt. It's not that I'm one of those die-hard Huggins supporters; it was a present from my father-in-law for Christmas. Xavier sure did take care of K-State last night. Maybe I jinxed them. Good gift, though.

Postscript 2: I did watch part of the second half. It got so bad that they cut away to a Pac-10 games. Yikes, indeed.

How Big Is Steeler Hatred Here?

From the Cincinnati Cyclones marketing department:

Big Ben Helmet Safety Night is Tonight!

Tonight’s game (Dec. 15) is Big Ben Helmet Safety Night. The Ohio Dept. of Public Safety will provide information on motorcycle safety to all in attendance, along with $50 gift certificates to The Plastic Surgery Group--with a grand prize winner getting a $500 gift certificate. The first 1500 kids will receive Cyclones foam goalie helmets and two lucky ticket holders will receive Pocket Rocket motor bikes (complete with helmets, knee pads and other accessories).

Yikes.

Beit Carr Publicity

My neighbor Dustin is a beat writer for Xavier basketball and wrote an article in today's paper about ESPN's hijacking of the Crosstown Shootout. The game has been relegated to ESPNU, which Time Warner Cable does not provide because of the exuberant cost of the channel; this means the majority of Cincinnatians won't be able to watch the game in their homes. He solicited a bunch of quotes for the article and used some words of mine for the article. Apparently I said:

"Honestly, I'm not willing to pay the extra money just to watch my team," UC fan Steve Carr of Walnut Hills said. "Chances are, I'll be at a sports bar watching the game. And if I miss it, I can read about it the next day on the Internet for free."

Not my most eloquent work, but it's the opinion of an average Cincinnati basketball fan.

I think that makes the fifth time I've received pub in a Gannett local paper this year. I had a letter to the editor, a Cin Weekly article, an Echo Church article, a mention in the Mayor's Cabinet, and this one.

I am taking over the city, one sound-byte at a time.

BCS Hangover

Hate to say, "I told you so," but I did predict on Saturday that BCS voters would feel guilty and put Florida ahead of Michigan. They couldn't help themselves; this system is totally flawed. Allow me to cite an example of how ridiculous the BCS system is. Jim Walden, former coach of Washington State and current TV analyst for the team, votes for the all important Harris Poll. On Saturday night he filled out his ballot and ranked one loss Florida #1 ahead of the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes. His reasoning:

"In my heart of hearts, I believe that neither Ohio State or Michigan could get through Florida's schedule with only one loss."

So he cast his all important vote based on a hypothetical situation. Walden's vote didn't determine the OSU/Florida match-up, but his reasoning was indicative of a system that is totally objective. More wisdom from Walden:

"In my opinion, not only has Florida proved themselves No. 1 through the season, they had to play the winningest teams to get there. Look at their schedule: Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina. Even the team with one of the worst records, Florida State, is still Florida State. "

If Walden forgot that this was 2006 and thought it was another decade, then this reasoning is defensible. But this year's SEC was incredibly top heavy and not as impressive the further down you go. The whole "The SEC is the toughest conference in America" stigma is totally subjective. I watched a lot of SEC games this year and it wasn't pretty. Seems to me like Walden wasn't even watching college football this year.

Oh, I almost forgot to ask. Coach Walden, as an informed voter, how many games did you watch Florida play this year? His response:

"I haven't seen Florida play. But I used to be a Miami Hurricane. I hate the d*mn Gators,"

Brilliant. I'm glad the NCAA uses such an air-tight system to protect the integrity of their sport.

Doesn't really matter to me. I'm stoked about buying more OSU National Championship gear anyway.

Bomb Alert

Recipient: The Bowl Championship Series Now that USC lost to UCLA and Florida isn't going to blow-out Arkansas it looks like we're in-line for the epic Ohio State/Michigan rematch. While that's good news to the school up north [RIP Woody] as well as good news for Buckeye fans [getting to smack Michigan in the mouth twice in one season AND win a national championship? Too good to be true] it really sucks for the BCS. Nobody outside of Big Ten land cares to see this and it could finally bring about the playoff we've all been longing for.

But here's my prediction: the powers that be will manipulate the system so that Florida will go to the title game, even if they squeak by the Razorbacks. It's the only way to save face.

Wear your kevlar, just in case.

Let Subjectivity Reign

Regardless of the Bengals poor play, I've been rather disgusted by the NFL this year. Officiating has been absolutely abysmal, so much so that it's ruining the product. I just flipped on Monday Night Football to see a unnecessary roughness call against a defensive lineman who barely touched Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselback. What drives me crazy is that coaches are held responsible for their team's record but officials who can dictate the outcomes of the game are untouchable. There's been no rhyme or reason to some of the calls this year; Cincinnati lost a couple of games that were decided by unexplainable penalty markers. The league better take this issue seriously or it'll bite them in the arse.

Oh, and NFL Network is a dumb idea too.

Kevin "Freakin'" Kaesviharn

I know he's on our team, but it kills me that he's putting up these great stats in a contract year. You still have to let him walk at the end of the season, no matter how well he does [sorry, Emily]. In light of today's victory I just had to drop this stat tonight:

The last time Cincinnati had a shutout was December 3, 1989, also against the Browns. Reagan was President, I was in junior high, and the Cold War had just ended.

So you might say it's been a long time.

Thursday will be huge. A victory against the Ravens means a Bengals play-off trip.

Today Is The Day

A 3:30 kick-off won't come soon enough. This is a battle for the ages. Will the passing of Bo Schembechler inspire the Wolverines to victory?

[In a related note, how dumb do you feel today for naming your band The Dead Schembechlers?]

I'll admit, I'm a tad nervous because Michigan has an awesome defense this year. If the Buckeyes win, my distant Uncle Lloyd Carr won't lose his job but he will officially have to refer to Jim Tressel as "daddy."

Forget the BCS, tomorrow is the national championship game.

Having people over to watch the game tomorrow so if you're in the neighborhood, stop on in. Bring snacks.