An Un-believe-a-"BULL" Theory

(Picture from Chicago Tribune)

I've got a theory. A theory that could change the NBA in Chicago for the next several years. This theory is a complete personal opinion, one that is to early to judge, but seems plausible. This theory is straight from the Doc Rivers Management hand book. A theory so terrible, so nasty, so foolish, yet it just might work. I think the Chicago Bulls might be tanking.

P.S. Post: Adrian Clayborn

(Picture from gazetteonline.com)

Every week we have a post that contains a hypothetical letter to any given person. This letter contains 100% of our personal opinion, so please don't take to much offense (but if you disagree please comment). It can be a mean letter (like all of the companies that support Tiger Woods are receiving from angry feminist groups) or a nice letter (like the letters Ron Artest is receiving from the company that makes Henessy). Whatever the subject, whatever the point, WE fully expect that the person the letter is directed too, will never read it (but if any of you out there happen to read this, and can in fact pass it along, like a blog post man, WE would greatly appreciate it).

Dear Adrian Clayborn,

Oh what a year it has been, but I'll be honest with you Adrian, (can I call you Adrian?). I miss joking about how you are the Iowa Hawkeye version of Predator, looking at the quarterback as your next meal. I miss seeing you do half assed calisthenics. I miss seeing you shake your dreads back and forth while you pump up the team before the game. I miss watching the linemen in front of you shit his pants. I know what your thinking, you have another stalker, but I assure you, that is the opposite of what I am. I am a student at Iowa, and a Hawkeye fan. Adrian I have a goal and intent with this letter. That goal may seem over my head. It may seem outlandish, selfish, and impossible. But it is a goal, and I will try to do my best to accomplish it.

Your Daily J: 12/10

(courtesy of moondogsports.com)

We are officially two days away from the 2009 Heisman Trophy ceremony and the talk is starting to heat up all over the national media. Now, we don't want to beat this thing over the head, but we would like to take a little bit of a look at it, albeit from a different perspective. Not too long ago, we did a little statistical comparison of the front runners and asked who everyone thought should be the winner. The overwhelming response was......... well, no one. Essentially none of you cared enough to comment on who should be the Heisman winner this year. So here we are again to give you a brief comparison of the candidates, as well as to let you know what's been on our minds regarding the race, and trust me, it's not necessarily all about the numbers. As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts.

The five semifinalists that will be travelling to New York on Saturday for the ceremony are listed below in alphabetical order, along with a little info. courtesy of ESPN.com.

Piece of Mind: 12/10

(Illinois Representative Bobby Rush with ex-Governor and convicted felon Rod Blagojevich courtesy of cbsnews.com)

Yesterday, the United State House of Representatives passed a bill that would essentially require the NCAA to move to a playoff system.  The House Energy and Commerce Committee subcomittee (a subcommittee in the House of Representatives) passed a bill by voice vote that would ban the NCAA from promoting Division I game as a national championship unless it was the result of a playoff.  There is currently no version of the bill in the Senate and there will be steep opposition when the bill goes in front of the bull committee.  During the voice vote, there was one clear "No" vote from Representative John Barrow, of Georgia, according to ESPN.com.  Barrow was quoted after the vote as saying:

"With all due respect, I really think we have more important things to spend our time on."

Subcommittee chairman, Representative Bobby Rush, of Illinois, fired back by saying:

"We can walk and chew gum at the same time."

It's clear to me why a representative from Georgia would be against this (with a team that could be in the running every few years), but I don't really know why Rush is so excited about it (it's not like Illinois will benefit from any of it).  Either way, I must say I can see both sides of the argument.  I am in full support of a playoff system and I think it would be both manageable and extremely profitable for the current bowl sponsors if the playoff was done properly.  On the other hand, I certainly believe there are far more important things for our elected officials to deal with (like say, a health care bill or double-digit unemployment).  I completely believe that we elect our senators and representatives on political platforms and promises, almost all of which do not include pushing for our interests in the sports world.  I am all for a playoff and punishing steroid users, but I think those matters should be left to the powers that be in those respective sports and the bigger issues should be handled by our elected officials.  But who really cares what I think.  We want to know what you think.  Give us a piece of your mind!

"Covered in Spread" Week 14

(courtesy of 101tees.com)

(Note: While Rex is no longer a Bear, we both expect more of this Sunday)

After two weeks, our "Covered in Spread" contest is all tied up.  The score is one to one with 4 weeks left in the regular season, so this little bet is getting intense (we both want no part of Chili being poured on our heads).  So as always, we pick what lines we would bet in real life (we may or may not actually do this) and the person at the end of the week with the better overall record against the spread wins that week.  We do have a poll on the top of our page (or on the side depending on when you read this) so feel free to vote for what "spread" you would like to see the loser covered in.  So NFL fans, Gambling Fans, or Manchise Fans here is our official start to Week 14 in the NFL.

Thursday Night:

Pittsburgh Steelers (-10) at Cleveland Browns (+10):
Jonah- Pittsburgh has looked like garbage lately, especially against really bad teams.  On top of that , Cleveland actually looked like a football team this week.  I just can't bring myself to do it.  I'm taking the Steelers.

Jerry- Why do I want to take the Browns?  Why do I believe in Brady Quinn?  Why am I going to sacrifice my week before it even starts?  Because I'm an idiot.  I think the Browns can cover against a Pitt team that is suffering.

Your Daily J: 12/9

(Tennessee hostesses (?) courtesy of hottestgirlsofcheerleading.com)

Oh Rocky Top, you sure do know how to make a recruit, uhh, excited (in more than one way). You have an electrifying new coach and a proud tradition. Today, we learned that you also have a bunch of girls lining up to greet prospective players. The University of Tennessee football program is currently under investigation by the NCAA for its use of "hostesses" to help in recruiting. Now, to be fair, the use of hostesses to help with recruiting is both legal and widely used around college campuses. However, it is against NCAA regulations to have hostesses tied to the university travel off campus to help recruit athletes. The investigation is young and it's not yet known for certain whether this was the case, but I know a couple of guys who find it hard to believe the University of Tennessee (or any other public university for that matter) would ever sign off on having university "hostesses" travel several hundred miles to prospective football players' high school games to hold signs. Kind of makes you wonder what else these "hostesses" have been doing for the good of the cause, and just who has been putting them up to it (interesting side note: Tennessee has been charged with 6 recruiting violations in the 1 year since Lane Kiffin took over). Beyond that, it's had us wondering: If there were no recruiting rules, how would the landscape of college football be changed?

Your Daily J: 12/8

(Picture from 1.bp.blogspot.com)

For the first time in the history of the NFL, there are two teams at 12-0. The Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints have both had fantastic seasons to date and much of their success can be attributed to their quarterbacks. Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are both already in the talks for MVP. Brees has many nostalgically discussing the glory days of the Rams and the Greatest Show on Turf, while Manning has some comparing him to the all-time greats. This past weekend, we saw the Saints get a scare from the Washington Redskins while the Colts rebounded from their own scare a week ago (at the Houston Texans) with a win over the Tennessee Titans. To date, Manning has thrown for 3685 yards and 25 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Brees has gone off for 3536 yards and 29 touchdowns. These tremendous numbers have us wondering: Who is more deserving of the MVP, Peyton Manning of Drew Brees?

Week 13 Recap

(Picture from NFL.com)

Tons of excitement this week in the NFL.  The Saints nearly lost their perfect season to the Skins (not gonna say we both thought it would be tight, but we both thought it might be tight), the Colts held off a surging Titans team that saw it's 5-game winning streak come to an end, and the Oakland Raidas came up big in Pittsburgh.  On Monday night, the Pack came up with an ugly (yeah, I know two guys that didn't watch the whole thing - but really, can Monday Night Football compete with Pawn Stars?) 27-14 win over the Ravens to close out the week.  Just as a reminder, we are going head to head to see which of us is better at picking games against the spread.  We will be going all the way through the Super Bowl and whoever loses the most weeks will be covered in whatever "spread" you all vote on.  So be sure to cast your vote for what you would like to see dumped all over the loser.  The poll is down the right side of the site.  A video will be made of the ordeal and will be posted both to the site and to youtube.com. So, without further adieu, we give you a recap of our Week 13 Covered in Spread.

For Week 13, Jonah went 8-6 (not great, but hey, it's over .500) while Jerry had, well, a down week, going 5-9 against the spread.  To add insult to injury, Jonah's Rams covered against Jerry's Bears, losing by only 8 points (line was 9).  That means we are all tied up at one week a piece and Jerry's ego is hurting.  Overall, Jonah has a record of 17-13 (Week 12: 9-7, Week 13: 8-6) while Jerry is 15-15 (Week 12: 10-6, Week 13: 5-9). You can see a recap of all our weekly picks by clicking the label "Weekly Lines" below.  Be sure to check back tomorrow when we post our picks for Week 14.

Your Daily J: 12/7

Some big names in sports have had some pretty interesting developments over the last week or so. Ron Artest claims to have sipped on Hennesey in the locker room while with the Bulls from 1999-2002 and Tiger Woods was involved in a now infamous "car accident."

Word of Artest's halftime ritual came from an interview with The Sporting News, in which he claimed:

"I used to drink Hennessy ... at halftime. I [kept it] in my locker. I'd just walk to the liquor store and get it."

(Ron Ron using his head, courtesy of ngngsports.com)

According to the story, Artest is referencing his time with the Chicago Bulls from 1999-2002. This raises not only the question of why would you be drinking at halftime of an NBA game (I have to believe that would make you feel sick), but how did nobody notice? First, the guy has to sneak in a bottle and hide it in his locker, which I'm sure is not always closed when people are around, and then the guy has to actually drink the stuff at halftime, with the entire team and staff in the same room. Once he's done getting his fix, how does nobody notice the alcohol on his breath when he's huffing and puffing up and down the court and sweating cognac from every pore on his body? Whatever the answers to these questions, it paints Artest, the Bulls and the entire NBA all in a bad light.

On to the story of the week, the story everyone was talking about, but almost no one knew the details behind it. As the story continues to unfold, there are rumors that Woods was in an altercation with his wife over her discovery of his infidelity. While he maintains that she used a golf club to free him from his car, there are also rumors that the club was used more as a weapon and that she may have been the source of all the scratches and bruises on Woods' face. A few days ago ESPN.com reported that Woods was found shoeless and snoring by the first police to arrive at the scene. Since the story burst into the headlines, a handful of women have stepped forward, claiming to be mistresses of Tiger. A few claim to have hundreds of text messages and voicemails as proof. There are even reports that Tiger has paid up to $1 million to get one alleged mistress to keep quiet. As was the case with Artest, although much more in the spotlight due to the involvement of the world's richest athlete, all this news has cast Tiger in bad light and he and his family are suffering the consequences.

These two incidents, while completely different in nature and involving two entirely different caliber of athletes, had us wondering: Which of these two would be the worst PR from the standpoint of a sponsor? If you had a company looking for a spokesman, which would be worse - your guy admitting to drinking on the job, or being involved in an incident where infidelity (allegedly) resulted in what could be domestic abuse (allegedly) and a car crash? Without thinking in terms of Ron Artest and Tiger Woods, but as if it were the same guy - say Michael Jordan. Which incident would make you least interested in sponsoring the athlete?

(Tiger being a great husband, courtesy of intotherough.co.uk)

Jonah: First of all, I think it's really hard to picture these two incidents without thinking of them as actions by the two athletes. It's hard to say how different the reactions would have been if they were by the other guy. However, to look at it from the perspective of a sponsor, I think Artest's actions would probably be worse. If we look through history, fans are much less sympathetic when athletes show they are human while on the job. Think about the the Eight Men Out or Pete Rose. They were banished because of actions that would affect the outcomes of games. I think Artest's actions certainly would affect the outcomes of games he played in. Tiger, on the other hand, seems to have fallen trap to the same fault so many famous men have been plagued by. If we peer back into history for cases of men cheating on their wives (again, this is all still allegedly for Tiger), we find guys that were not banished, but beloved. Guys like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant have all been accused of cheating on their wives (key word being "accused"), but are all thought of as great athletes. Their personal lives don't affect their athletic performance and these instances certainly didn't seem to hurt their sponsorship dollars. I think Tiger will keep all his sponsors, and not just because he is so great at selling, but because in today's world, we are just so used to hearing about these types of things that we are almost immune to them (I mean how many presidents have we heard rumors about?). Now, I am in no way condoning what Tiger may have done, but I do think that as a sponsor, I would be more concerned with my spokesman admitting to drinking at halftime of his games than with allegations that my guy has cheated on his wife. Jerry?

Jerry: Tiger Woods is sponsered by Gillette, Gatorade, Buick, EA Sports, AT & T, Golf Digest, Nike, Upper Deck, and the PGA. That is simply naming a few. His infidelity is a PR NIGHTMARE for all of these companies. Imagine the emails these companies are getting from groups of women. It is going to take the the whole PGA field and all of the members of Gatorade and Nike to sift through them all. Tiger really messed up and that is putting it lightly. I am not even going to touch Ron Artest, because honestly I'm not shocked at all. That guy was the king of selling out while he was on the Bulls (and if I had Scott Skiles as a coach, I would need a drink now and then as well). But Tiger, you had everything. A beautiful wife, kids, money, and the likes of Phil Mickelson's hopes and dreams locked away in a cellar in your basement. You were one of the most recognizable sports stars ever. Now your going to have angry women standing at the 18th hole, screaming and yelling with signs calling you a "cheater". It is going to be the first time that the PGA tour actually looks like it did in Happy Gilmore, but I guarantee the noise won't help you hit a drive 500 yards. You deffinitely bogey'd on this one. This is a nightmare for the squeaky clean Tiger, but a bigger nightmare for the PR reps of again: Gillette, Gatorade, Buick, EA Sports, AT & T, Golf Digest, Nike, Upper Deck, and the PGA (just to name a few). Good luck spinning this one as a lapse of judgement. With every mistress that comes out, Tiger is going to fall further and further into the sandtrap. A sandtrap that even his beautiful smile, well thought out speechs, his "I Do Everything Right" demeanor, and a Nike sand wedge couldn't even get out of.

Miami Bound!

(courtesy of photo.net)

The wait is over and the selections have been made.  Iowa is headed to Miami for a January 5th date with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the FedEx Orange Bowl.  It's a great day to be a Hawkeye!  Here's a rundown of the rest of the BCS picture.  On New Year's Day, Ohio State will face off against Oregon in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.  A few hours later, Florida will take on Cincinnati in the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.  On January 4th, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl will feature TCU and Boise State at 7:00 PM Central.  The BCS will round out with the Citi National Championship Game featuring the Texas Longhorns and the Alabama Crimson Tide on January 7th in Pasadena, California.  A complete schedule of all the bowl games can be found on ESPN.com.

As we begin the countdown to January 5th, we will be giving updates as well as previews of Iowa's matchup with Georgia Tech and all the other BCS games.  Without getting too much into the details, here's a quick preview of what you can expect when Iowa's defence is on the field against the option attack of the Yellow Jackets (I think we all know which one is the Hawkeyes).