Years ago the wizards of smart decided that the 100 year old name "Red River Shootout" for the college football game between Oklahoma and Texas sounded too violent. They neutered it and began referring to the game as "Red River Rivalry" (which sounds totally gay). Next year they are retiring their new name and taking a step back toward condoning wonton violence by calling it the Red River Showdown.

Oooo... what's the world coming to?

This pic apparently is NCAA football recruit Kenneth Page who ditched UNC at the last minute in favor of Clemson. I wonder what changed his mind.

I've got Verizon Fios. Since they and the NFL Network are making me pay $12 a year whether I want the channel or not, I'm watching the Packers-Cowboys game in hi def.

I've got to hand it to them, the picture quality is superb. I think it looks even better than ESPN HD.

But could Bryant Gumble be any more cold and rigid? Gumble has got to be the worst play-by-play announcer I've ever heard. He actually has me longing for Dan Dierdorf. He manages to make the game boring and hard to watch. And he insists on calling a quarter of football a "period". This isn't a metric sport Bryant, they're called QUARTERS and HALVES!!

Collinsworth is trying hard to make it interesting, but Gumble is sucking the life out of him too.

If I can find it on the radio, I'm gonna mute the sound and go with that. Go Packers.

I haven't spoken much about the whole Michael Vick dogfighting scandal. Problem is that whenever I do mention it I always come off sounding like I'm defending Vick. I have pointed out to others, with limited success, that people were more concerned with Vick's ties to dogfighting than they were with other professional athlete's ties to murder, robbery, cheating, etc.

And that brings me to Patriot's coach Bill Belichick. Belichick and the Patriots were caught spying on other teams and the NFL swiftly levied fines and penalties against the team. I realize we're talking team versus individual behavior, but Michael Vick's indefinite suspension seems harsh contrasted to Belichick's $500,000 fine. Vick is left to wonder if he will ever play again and effectively being fined millions of dollars in lost salary and bonuses, for an off-field incident that occurred during the off-season.

On the other hand, Belichick was pretty much caught cheating. The actions of him and his team have a direct affect not only on the outcome of football games, but on the league as a whole. Is the message here that cheating is not as bad dogfighting?

Or could it be that liberal thoughts and mindsets are playing out? I mean Vick was alleged to have killed poor defenseless doggies. (Nevermind that the SPCA and PETA do this every day.) The dogs have no choice in the matter and are poor dumb animals.

It's ironical, because pit bulls used to be canina non grata, having been the subject of bans, confiscation, and breed specific legislation throughout the U.S. In fact, the City of Denver not only banned the dogs, they started rounding them up and exterminating them. They took good dogs out of loving homes.

But I digress. Belichick is also a victim. He's a victim of a win-at-all costs society. Before the football season even started, the Patriots were the favorite to win the Super Bowl. With that kind of pressure, he had no choice but to cheat. He was forced into it.

At least that appears to be the mindset of the NFL, who opted against suspension in favor of a team punishment.

I'm not trying to defend Vick or what he did. I hate dogfighting and think they should throw the book at him. But the punishment should fit the crime. Using RICO statutes to go after a life sentence, or destroying his NFL career for an off-field incident seems a bit extreme. Especially when there are other athletes who seemed to get away with murder.

Stewart Mandel is spot on when he says that the one-game suspensions meted out in the FIU-Miami game are grossly inadequate.

This was one of the worst displays of sportsmanship in the history of the sport -- and for that the players are going to miss one game? Against Duke??

Let's stop and think about this for a second. When Clemson and South Carolina had a similar incident in their game two years ago, the schools voluntarily banned themselves from their bowl games. Yes, the players only missed one game -- but they also missed the entire week of festivities that go with it, not to mention for the seniors it would have been the last game of their careers. Do you think Miami's players even care whether they get to play against Duke? Some of them are probably thrilled not to have to make the trip. They get a weekend off to relax at home.

For years Miami has had a reputation of being "thuggish". Lots of schools have trouble managing their image, especially when it comes to players off-field antics. And it's not like the NFL players give them very good role models either. But as a college football fanatic and booster, I would like to have seen bigger punishments handed out. Especially for the way ejected Miami players smiled and gave thumbs up to the crowd as they were being escorted off the field. And the entire Miami team celebrated after the fight, jumping up and down with their helmets in jubilation.

To their credit Miami has said it's not finished handing out punishments, and that Reddick has been suspended indefinitely for using his helmet as a weapon.

In case you were living in a hole this weekend and missed the bench clearing brawl, check out any of the numerous you tube videos.

UPDATE: Lamar Thomas, the former Miami player and color commentator who cheered on the fight from the broadcast booth was fired by Comcast. Then again, the CSS general manager is Mark Fuhrman.

And of course the fans were cheering them on too.

The NCAA's bigoted ban on Native Americans has hit the William and Mary "Tribe", reports the Ass. Press:

William & Mary will be allowed to keep its "Tribe" nickname, but can't use it in NCAA championship competitions and also is barred from holding NCAA events.

The NCAA also said that William and Mary won't be allowed to cure cancer or solve global warming.*

* I've been waiting to use that line since it was used to describe the NCAA football sanctions against the U. of Kentucky for postseason play.

Stewart Mandel opens up the mailbag an talks about what he thinks are the most significant college football games in recent history.

Guess who, made number 1 (albeit for a loss):

1. Florida State 46, Virginia Tech 29, Sugar Bowl, Jan. 4, 2000: While the Seminoles won the game, Michael Vick's epic performance was the single biggest impetus to the influx of athletic-style quarterbacks we see today. It's not that there weren't "mobile" quarterbacks before Vick, but coaches rarely gave them the freedom to improvise. Vick helped convince any remaining cynics of just how big an impact such a player could have on a game if properly unleashed, a la Vince Young in this year's Rose Bowl.

What I remember most about that season is how few people had heard of Vick prior to the Sugar Bowl. Having had the pleasure to catch a lot of the games that year, I knew first hand about Vick's talents. I remember sitting on my seat for a total of about 20 minutes during the game. As soon as I'd sit down, I'd have to jump back up to see Vick on the run again.

It wasn't until Tech made it to the Sugar Bowl that people started to take them seriously. (And because of the convoluted BCS formula they were almost kept out.) The greatest compliment Vick received that day came from Bobby Bowden who, when asked about Florida State's performance during the post-game interview, said something like: "Did you get a load of that Vick?!"

Washington is playing Washington this weekend in the divisional football playoffs. Countertop reports that Seattle reporters have been told that the Redskins Moniker will be verboten, lest they risk offending Native American Indians.

CHEAP SHOTS: To avoid insulting native American heritage, the Seattle Times decided to limit severely the use of the term Redskins in the paper -- even if a team with that name will dominate news coverage this week. The Times will not use the moniker in headlines or captions. Reporters can use it only once, as a first reference, in all stories. The Redskins will be referred to almost exclusively as Washington -- which could get a little confusing for local readers who also live in that state.

And the push to ban Native Americans marches onward.

After it was revealed that he had yet another run-in with the law, Marcus Vick was dismissed from the team at Virginia Tech. Apparently he's now fucking up at the professional level, because he's declared eligibility for the NFL draft.

"I still think we're a better football team. They just made the plays in the end." -- USC Quarterback Matt Lienart after losing the National Championship Rose Bowl to the University of Texas.

It's that time of year again. As football programs wrap up their seasons, the coaching carousel begins.

The University of Miami lost three games this year if you count their 40-3 Peach Bowl drubbing to a tough LSU team. In the past five years, Miami has lost a total of 9 games. That's unacceptable by Miami standards, and head coach Larry Coker fired four of his assistants, one of which had been there for all five of Miami's National Championship teams. I guess when it comes to Larry Coker, the buck doesn't stop there. Only time will tell if the blame really lies with Coker's assistants.

Meanwhile in the NFL, five head coaches were fired on what the media calls "Black Monday".

Four coaches were let go on "Black Monday," the day after the regular season ends and the traditional day for firing coaches. Martz, Capers, Mike Sherman of Green Bay and Jim Haslett of New Orleans were canned.

Mike Tice of Minnesota didn't quite make it to "Black Monday". He was fired Sunday night.

And speaking of hiring and firing football coaches, USA Today trots out the annual complaint that there aren't enough black coaches. They won't say what number is the right number, but they claim the NCAA is grossly under-represented.

College football's record is the product of the subtle biases and outright racism that permeate the hiring process While it is difficult to point to a single university decision and argue that racist attitudes were pivotal, it is impossible to look at the aggregate numbers and conclude they were not.

I'll admit that 5 out of 119 coaches seems like a low number. But to chalk it up to outright racism in the hiring process seems a little oversimplified. As if 114 collegiate Atheletic Directors attend an annual klan rally to discuss not hiring black coaches. And it's hard to believe that anyone in athletics would think that blacks are genetically inferior to whites.

Then there's this stunning admission:

Half of all college players are black. Many enter the coaching ranks, but few are given the opportunity to lead. The tier below head coaches - offensive and defensive coordinators - had only 12 blacks in Division I-A when USA TODAY counted the numbers in 2002. No one has a current tally, which says something about indifference.

Indeed it does. If USA Today cares so little about the issue that they don't bother to repeat their census for four years, why write the editorial?

Maybe they should have asked the AOL's Black Voices, the "premiere site for African-American culture and community". Back in September, they put together a Top 10 List for Division 1-A black assistant coaches. Not only did they profile 10 black assistant coaches to watch, they gave another 14 honorable mentions. Even if they included all of the black assistant coaches in Division 1-A football, that would mean the 2005 total was at least 24. That's a 100% increase over USA Today's 2002 figure of 12.

But I have a feeling the actual number is much higher. USA Today says the 2002 count of 12 coaches is Offensive and Defensive Coordinators. Black Voices list includes Assistant and Associate Head Coaches as well.

Not counted on either list are the position coaches (ie: Quarterbacks Coach, Wide Receivers Coach, etc.)

I hate to sound anti-corporate, but this shit really pisses me off.

Atlanta's permanent bowl game is in its last year being known as the Peach Bowl. Next year the game will be called the Chick-fil-A Bowl, following a new $22 million deal with the fast-food chain.

Not by me it won't. I'm a football purist, and I try my darndest not to ignore corporate sponsorships. I still refer to Fedex Field as Jack Kent Cooke Stadium (and I'll kick Daniel Snyder in the nuts if I see him on the street). In my book, the Orange Bowl will always be the Orange Bowl, and the Peach Bowl will always be the Peach Bowl. Sponsorships are usually mutated into something non-flattering like the Weedwhacker Bowl for Poulan-Weedeater Independence Bowl. The Chicken Bowl should be easy enough to disparage.

And no amount of corporate sponsorship has ever made me run out and buy their products.

After last week's loss in Indianapolis, Steeler fans are accusing Indy of artificially creating crowd noise.

Steelers Insider, Post-Gazette writer Ed Bouchette reports that something else was going on Monday night.

He reports that a Steelers source tells him that the colts actually amplified the crowd noise during Steelers offensive snaps.

"The Colts were pumping in noise, I can tell you that," Bouchette said. "They had extra microphones spread around the stadium and they took that noise from the fans, put it back in through the PA and that's why it was so loud.

Last week Senator Arlen Spector suggested the federal government should force the Eagles to start Terrell Owens. He suggested that Congressional hearings should be held on the Eagle's starting lineup.

Apparently he didn't realize that football is already regulated, by the House of Representatives. They plan to look into how the much maligned Bowl Championship Series (BCS) selects teams to play in college bowls.

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, charged with regulating America's sports industry, announced Friday it will conduct a hearing on the BCS next week, after this season's bowl match-ups are determined.

Regular readers of this site know that I'm no fan of the BCS system, but Congressional interference is not the answer.

Okay, so my Hokies seriously tanked it to a mediocre Florida State team. Yeah, I'm disappointed but they still had a pretty good year and have the best record in the ACC; even if they aren't the champs.

Of course the silver lining is that I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance a trip to Miami. Had they gone to the Orange Bowl, it would have cost me at least $1500 for plane tickets, rental cars, hotel rooms, bowl tickets. Considering it's also time to renew our Hokie Club* membership, buy presents, and maybe even fly out to Kansas to spend Christmas the holiday with my sister, December was looking to have serious negative cash flow.

The Hokies will now likely play in the Peach Bowl. They just played in Jacksonville, so the Gator will probably go to Miami. Just as well, I'd rather see us play LSU in the Peach which is what SI is predicting. If all my friends hadn't moved away from Atlanta, I'd probably make the trek down there. We'll see how the month goes.

*Hokie Club = Paying for the right to buy season tickets.

UPDATE: Tech was picked for the Gator Bowl after all. Not sure why the Gator wants us coming back to Jacksonville again. Frankly, I'm sick of going to the Gator Bowl. It's a nice bowl, but we always went there as Big East runner up, and I've been there several times already. I may go to the game, but I doubt it.

Frank Beamer won ACC Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. And to think, the ACC originally didn't want the Hokies.

Virginia Tech travels to Jacksonville to defend their ACC Championship Title against FSU this weekend.

Senator Arlen Spector, R-PA, thinks the federal government should regulate football. He claims the suspension of NFL loudmouth Terrell Owens is unfair, and suggested that he might want to bring the issue before his own antitrust subcommittee.

The senator said the league and the Eagles had effectively blacklisted the all-pro wide receiver by forbidding him from playing and by banning other teams from talking to him. He called such treatment "vindictive and inappropriate."

"It's a restraint of trade for them to do that, and the thought crosses my mind, it might be a violation of antitrust laws," Specter said. "The NFL can have whatever rules it wants on authorizing suspension or keeping you on the team for the balance of the year, but they can't violate the law."

Spector is apparently confusing football with baseball, the country's only professional sport with a legal monopoly. He's apparently never heard of the USFL, XFL, CFL, or World League. Other teams are forbidden from talking to Owens because he's under contract to the Eagles. The player's union may take it to arbitration, but the Eagles will likely be stuck with having to pay Owens for not playing. The initial four game suspension is legal under league/player rules, but Owens must be paid for any other games he misses.

The NCAA continues to ban Indians from post-season play. The Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indians, from Indiana County (PA), were told that they could not use their nickname in the NCAA post season because Indians are considered offensive under the NCAA's "hostile and abusive" standard.

...the NCAA said in a statement: "The staff committee believes that even in the absence of specific imagery, the term could be construed as a stereotypical reference to Native Americans as opposed to a derivation of either the university's name or the name of the town or county."

Collegiate Athletics is filled with lots of "hostile and abusive" mascots including but not limited to: War Eagles, Screaming Eagles, Gamecocks, Tigers, Lions, and Bears. And many of the mascots honor people rather than ferocious animals: Gaels, Irish, Scots, Saxons, Spartans, Trojans, Senators, Statesmen, Scarlett Knights, Mountaineers, Cavaliers, Buccaneers, Privateers, Pirates, Marauders, Crusaders, Vikings, Warriors, Rebels, Royals, Monarchs, Saints, Cardinals, Quakers, Patriots, Colonials, Colonels, Captains, Majors, Miners, Mariners, Mavericks, Mounties, Highlanders, Cowboys, Titans, Sun Devils, Blue Devils, Aggies, Pioneers, and Boilermakers. The only mascots that have been banned are those honoring Native American Indians.

I'm shocked, I say, shocked that some adventurous Hokies vandalized Scott Stadium this weekend. UVA's stadium staff had to feverishly scrub the field to remove the 'T' that had been added to their logo the night before the game.

This sort of behavior [snicker] should not be [snicker] tolerated.

That sucks:

Virginia Tech freshman A.D. Vassallo tipped a missed shot into his own basket just before the buzzer to give Bowling Green a 72-71 victory on Saturday in the NABC Classic and its first win over an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent since 1967.

Publicity whore and football commentator Jesse Jackson released a statement saying that the suspension of fellow prima donna Terrell Owens by the Philadelphia Eagles was too severe.

The civil rights activist said the level of punishment could have been warranted if Owens had been caught shaving points, selling drugs, carrying a gun or fighting fans without sufficient restraint.

"This does not warrant a one-year ban from the game," Jackson said, adding that the Eagles should release Owens to the open market or free agency if they no longer want to associate with him.

Ralph Nader, a consumer activist and former presidential candidate, has already called for the suspension to be rescinded.

Neither Jackson nor Nader - who (I think) were rejected as Monday Night Football hosts - made the claim that the suspension was racially motivated. One is left to wonder why they released statements at all. Jackson apparently has no comment on the suspension of defending NASCAR champion Kurt Busch (who is white) for the remainder of the season.

USC Coach Pete Carroll and tailback LenDale White pulled off a Halloween prank that had players and coaches believing White was thrown from the roof after quitting the team.

Phil Taylor wonders if Notre Dame's decision to throw bags of money at Charlie Weis after only 7 games was motivated by race.

So why invest so heavily in Weis when you wouldn't do the same for [Tyrone] Willingham? Well, that gets us thinking thoughts that we don't want to think, thoughts about how Willingham's skin color is several shades darker than Weis'. Though it would be easy to cry racism -- and it's certainly likely that race is involved on some level -- it's not quite as simple as that. It's hard to accuse the administration of racist thinking when it was color-blind enough to hire Willingham in the first place.

I don't know if Willingham's bar was set too high or not, but at the time I did think that firing him was a huge mistake.

The media consensus seems to be that Weis was considering returning to the pros, and Notre Dame wanted to secure him for the long term. Given that they seem willing to sell their soul for another national championship, this could turn out to be another huge (and expensive) mistake.

When it comes to the BCS (a/k/a Revenge of the Nerds), Tommy Tuberville says what everyone else is thinking.

Tuberville believes ESPN and ABC -- sister networks owned by the Walt Disney Company -- have decided they want Southern Cal to play Texas in the Rose Bowl, this season's BCS championship game.

He believes the networks are ensuring that scenario by repeatedly promoting those two programs to the exclusion of other deserving teams, ostensibly currying favor with voters who determine the championship participants.

ABC owns broadcast rights to the Rose Bowl...

"There are so many people (who) watch ESPN and ESPN Gameday," Tuberville said on Patrick's show Wednesday. "They do a great job, but I'm just saying the bias sometimes overcomes what I think needs to step the bounds of helping people vote. We don't have a playoff system. Therefore the way our situation works, the talent at ESPN, several people on ESPN Gameday, you never hear anything about other teams. Virginia Tech, Alabama, Georgia -- you've got a lot of unbeaten teams there. You've got to give everybody a shot."

Virginia Tech just played back to back Thursday night games on ESPN, and all week people have been asking me what the precedent is. I don't know (or have any way of knowing) if other teams have played back to back Thursday night games. But according to the Washington Post Virginia Tech is third in the number of Thursday night games, with only Georgia Tech and BYU having more. They also note that Tech (Virginia, not Georgia) has played two Thursday Night games in four of the last six seasons (2000, 2002, 2004, 2005). Last year they played Georgia Tech and Maryland on two Thursday nights in three weeks. With this week's win, Tech is now 12 for 13 on Thursday night, winning 11 in a row.

And speaking of Thursday night games:

Hokies fans proved how rabid and loyal they were when Virginia Tech beat Texas A&M, 35-19, on a Thursday night in September 2003. With Hurricane Isabel knocking out electricity to more than 1 million people in Virginia, a crowd of 65,115 still showed up at Lane Stadium and withstood a downpour and 37-mph winds.

No self-respecting football fan would let a little thing like a hurricane stand in their way. I was there, and I would do it again.

Virginia Tech Tight End John Kinzer is 6'2" and weighs 245. So you can imagine BC Cornerback Taji Morris' reaction when he came up with nothing but thin air as the big man hurdled him and ran for a critical first down.

UPDATE: By the way, to whomever chooses the uniforms, please don't wear those ugly orange sleeved things again.

Sportswriters and football coaches say that USC is #1 and Texas is #2. The BCS whirling dervish says they're wrong. Sure, they've devoted their lives to the game, but that doesn't mean that writers and coaches know anything about football.

The BCS is a system of computers programmed by geeks who've probably never even played football. They calculate who the best teams really are without worrying too much about minor things like points and who actually won the game. For instance your team can win all their games but still finish below a team that lost some of their games, because the guys you played weren't as good as the guys they played. Or worse, they guys your opponents played weren't as good as the guys their opponents played. Or if you thumped one team and they thumped another, they get more points than you because they had more first downs.

Not surprisingly, the sportswriters were a little bit upset at being included in this convoluted farce of a ranking system and threatened to sue the BCS for souring their name. This was quickly followed by ESPN pulling out of the BCS. (They didn't even bother to call the next morning.)

Not to be dissuaded, the BCS went out and got anyone who could spell the word 'football' to rank the schools and make up the infamous Harris Poll, named after actor Ed Harris who's head is shaped like a football. This new poll was filled with voters who proceeded to rank their favorite 0 and 4 teams above some undefeated teams.

I think the fact that they've managed to hijack college football with a bank of computers - who pretend to know more about football than the people who actually earn their living playing, coaching, or reporting about the sport - is the ultimate revenge of the nerds. This is revenge for every kid that was ever taunted or beat up by some dumb high school jock.

And if it just so happens that the #2 and #3 team end up playing for the so-called "National Championship" instead of the #1 team, than so be it. Computers are never wrong.

The fear of violence has gotten so bad in New York, that fans were banned from a high school football game.

Cheered only by their teammates, two rival football teams competed Friday morning in front of two dozen police and an otherwise empty stadium - a precaution sparked by the schools' worry that violence might occur.

Mount Vernon and New Rochelle school officials rescheduled the Saturday afternoon game and banned fans, although most were in class anyway.

As New Rochelle built a big lead, birdsong could be heard during plays. Police officers at the main gate permitted only reporters and school officials to enter the stadium...

Mount Vernon Superintendent Brenda Smith said there was some tension stemming from the killing of a Mount Vernon resident in New Rochelle last month, although the killing did not involve students.

"We don't like to penalize our young people," she said. "It's unfortunate. But we still have to be careful."

The company that runs the scoreboard for North Carolina State has found itself in hot water for non-politically correct joke. The company, called CanesVision because they also run the scoreboard for the Carolina Hurricanes NHL team, has issued a formal apology and reprimanded several employees.

The incident occurred during the Wolfpack's 31-10 loss to Clemson last Thursday. After several fans were featured on the video screen with titles such as "Kissing Cam" and "Fan Cam," an image appeared with the title "Mexi-Cam," according to an editorial Monday in N.C. State's student newspaper, The Technician.

The person featured on the video screen was a CanesVision employee, and company director Pete Soto has sent a letter of apology to the university, Hanlin said.

I wonder how many of the "offended" were actually Mexican.

"But six of the last seven years we've started 6-0. Down the stretch here is going to determine how we feel about ourselves in the end." -- Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech Head Coach.

The Hokies are loaded, and could go undefeated this year. But there is so much parity in the ACC, that any one of their remaining games could derail their season.

Yes, I am still talking about the Hokies, even though they didn't play this weekend. You have to appreciate the class of Head Coach Frank Beamer. He knows the value of good assistant coaches, and refused to sign a contract renewal unless his supporting coaches were taken care of.

He's gotten his wish, because not only is he getting $2 Million a year with incentives for post-season play, the assistants will also get substantial pay raises and bonuses. Beamer is 58 now, and will be 65 at the end of this contract. It sounds like he's looking forward to retirement.

"I am very appreciative to the university for allowing me to finish my coaching career at Virginia Tech," said Beamer. "This is the only place I want to coach, and it's a great place to coach because of the administration and our great fan support.

"I'm also appreciative to the university for helping me with my assistant coaches. I think we have the greatest staff in the country and I want to keep them."

Beamer has coached at Virginia Tech for 19 years. Check out the tenure for his assistants:

Billy Hite, Assistant Head Coach, Running Backs Coach: 28 years
Bryan Stinespring, Assistant Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator: 12 years
Bud Foster, Defensive Coordinator: 19 years

Tech also has a few other coaches with 10 years experience, and Bud Foster and Beamer coached together at Murray State.

This year's BCS formula has barely gotten off the ground, and it's already stirring up controversy. CNN/SI reports that while the ballots are secret, it's still obvious that poll voters are being less than objective when ranking the teams.

Illinois picked up 13 votes despite being 2-2 and fresh from a 61-14 pummeling by Michigan State. Arizona got 10 votes with a 1-2 record, though maybe the Wildcats were mistaken for that 3-1 team that's two hours up the road.

But how do you explain Bowling Green, which received five votes even after a 48-20 loss to Boise State dropped the Falcons to 1-2? Or worse, Idaho, which is 0-4 and scored six points in its last two games, yet still got five votes?

Granted, the votes are minuscule and won't affect the BCS standings, which begin next month. But the geniuses who thought Bowling Green and Idaho should be in the top 25 this week will be the same ones helping decide who's playing in the Rose Bowl for the national title.

Two words: Playoff.

Mark Beech, sportswriter for CNNSI asks a question and wants help from the public to find the answer. I'm no sports guru, but half-way through the question, I already knew who he was talking about.

An interesting factoid from the Official NCAA Football Records Book: The last time a conventional (straight-ahead) place-kick was attempted in Division I-A was in 1994. There was only one straight-ahead specialist practicing his art that year, and he made 17 of 21 field goal attempts. After several lackluster tries, I've been unable to identify the brave iconoclast. Anybody out there remember?

I knew right away who this kicker was, because we went to the same school. It's none other than Virginia Tech kicker Ryan Williams. He kicked straight-on because he only had half a foot. He also was mentored by the last great straight-on kicker in the NFL, former-Redskin Mark Mosely.

After this weekend's 51-7 rout of Georgia Tech, Beamerball looks to be back this season. Virginia Tech's defense and special teams came up big.

Speaking of the D, ESPN took a look at just how good the Virginia Tech Defense has been playing:

- Allowed just 23 points in 1st 4 games.

- 13 straight quarters without allowing a TD until 3rd quarter vs. Georgia Tech.

- Virginia Tech's defense has scored more touchdowns overall than their opponent's offense this season (3-2).

In related news, the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week has been awarded to, the Virginia Tech Defense. It's the first time an entire defensive unit has earned the award.

But for those of you that are superstitious, the Hokies have risen to #3 in the AP poll. Next week they play West Virginia on the road. As I mentioned two weeks ago, there was another time Virginia Tech was #3 and travelling to Morgantown. Let's hope history does not repeat itself.

Personally, I'm a little worried about the offense. I know, they've outscoring opponents 161 to 23, but I think that's a little misleading. Some of that is defensive and special teams scoring, both of which have also set the offense up with relatively short yardage. The O-line is my biggest concern. They don't seem to be protecting the quarterback enough, forcing Marcus Vick to have to get his plays off quickly before they break down. To put things in perspective, the offense has allowed nearly as many sacks as the defense has gotten against their opponents. Tech's "award winning" defense has put up 12 sacks this season for 70 yards, where as the offense has allowed 11 for 69 yards.

On the other hand, if Tech improves their offensive blocking, I think they're unstoppable.

Rivals.com has named Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium as the toughest place for opposing teams to visit.

Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Va., doesn't blow people away by the brute strength of a massive stadium, but with knowledgeable fans that always reach a frenzied pitch at the right time, the Hokies make the most of their numbers.

Every good stadium has at least one end designed for deafening noise levels, and the enclosed South End Zone at Lane Stadium fits the bill perfectly. Holding more than 11,000 screaming Virginia Tech fans, the section amplifies noise and renders audibles useless. That's not to mention the isolation factor. With the nearest major airport nearly 45 minutes away, opponents' fans are never out in force at Lane Stadium.

"It was only Duke, but Virginia Tech's defense allowed just 35 yards of offense the entire game in a 45-0 victory. That's absurd! The Hokies have gone 9-1 in conference play since joining the ACC. No wonder the other ACC schools didn't originally want to invite them." -- Stewart Mandel, who ranked VT #3 in this week's power rankings.

Well it may only have been one week, but half the teams are undefeated.

It's still way early in the season but after all those Big Ten losses (Iowa, OSU, Michigan), Virginia Tech has risen to number four in the AP rankings. I'm actually happy that we aren't number 3.

Flash back to 2003:
#3 USC loses to Cal
#3 Michigan loses to Oregon
#3 OSU loses to Wisconsin
#3 VT loses to West Virginia

In 2004, Georgia held the number three ranking until losing to Tennessee, when Auburn held onto the ranking for the rest of the year. They ended up getting passed over for the national championship game.

Now 2005 has already proved unlucky for #3 Michigan, who lost to NBC's sweetheart Notre Dame. LSU is the current #3, but they have to play Tennessee (probably at Tennessee) in two weeks. By the way, someone over at Sports Illustrated is apparently an ASU fan.

In other news, Temple is trying to set a record for most points allowed. In 2 games, they've been outscored 128 to 16.

The NFL is going to pat down fans entering football stadiums this year for "security reasons". Also, beer prices just went up $1. Okay, I made up that last part, but that's probably as much the real reason for feeling up fans.

When Atlanta tore down Fulton County Stadium and built Ted Turner Field, the Braves tried banning coolers and outside food and beverages. This sparked outrage from Braves fans, so the team begrudgingly allowed coolers into Turner Field. But on September 12th 2001, the team announced that coolers would be banned for "security reasons". The citizens of Atlanta accepted their fate as the product of a post 9-11 world. And the price of beer really did go up $1.

Virginia Tech is picked to win the ACC and play in the Orange Bowl in Stewart Mandel's Pre-season Bowl Predictions. My [jealous] UVA friends point out that last year Virginia Tech was picked to finish 6th to 8th and ended up winning the ACC after drubbing UVA and pushing them up and down the field in the second half of the... okay, I added that last part. I guess that shows the value of pre-season picks.

In other news, the NCAA is starting to back down from their Indian ban. They're now saying that teams that have permission slips from Indian tribes *may* be permitted to keep their mascot and logo.

Speaking of the NCAA, they were being sued by the NIT for anti-trust violations with their basketball tourney. The NCAA appears to have nipped it in the bud by purchasing the rights to the NIT pre-season and post-season tournaments. How does this help them prove they aren't a monopoly? It sounds a bit like Microsoft purchasing Apple.

Say Uncle and Brutal Hugs point out that the annual Texas-Oklahoma game has been renamed from the Red River Shootout to the Red River Rivalry. Apparently 'shootout' was just too violent.

Then there's this, from George Carlin:

In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy's defensive line.

Sports Illustrated has Virginia Tech ranked number 1 in their division in the ACC Preview. Furthermore, they list the Miami-Virginia Tech game on November 5th as the game of the year. Of course if Marcus Vick doesn't get his head out of his ass, he's going to prove to be a major embarassment.

In the Top 25, Tech ranks 9th, behind conference rival Miami who placed 6th.

In other news, Florida State has vowed to keep their Seminole name and fight the NCAA Indian Ban tooth and nail.

Not that I'm a big fan of Terry Bowden, but he has Virginia Tech ranked at number 7 in his pre-season poll. For what it's worth, we're also the highest ranked ACC team (in the world according to Terry). USC is his "no-brainer" number 1.

What kind of message does this send to kids?

A baseball team of 11- and 12-year-olds have been kicked out of a league in this Columbus suburb for one reason - they're too good.

The Columbus Stars were removed from their league last month because they were humiliating opponents. In some of their last games, the Stars beat the Red Sox 18-0, World Harvest 13-0, Sugar Grove II 24-0 and Sugar Grove I 10-2.

Other teams began complaining - and canceling.

Michael Mirones, board chairman for the Canal Winchester Joint Recreation District, pulled the Stars from the league and returned their $150 entry fee. He suggested the Stars play against better teams.

This not only penalizes the successful kids for being too good, but it tells the losing teams that rather improve their game, they should just take their ball and go home.

They should take a lesson from Olympic basketball, a sport that the U.S. has dominated for decades. Rather than give up, competing teams came back stronger each year. They went from suffering humiliating blowouts, to humiliating the U.S. team with fundamentals and good outside shooting. Not once did you see Olympic teams refusing to play the U.S., or telling us to go play against better teams.

The all-knowing, all-powerful BCS - who choose the college football "national champion" each year - are putting out a casting call for poll voters.

The new poll, which would be added to the BCS weekly rankings, would consist of former players, coaches, administrators and members of the media, the BCS said in a statement.

Harris Interactive, a marketing research and polling firm that operates The Harris Poll, "is in the process of contacting a random sample of individuals nominated by the conferences and Notre Dame to determine interest in participating in the poll," BCS coordinator and Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said in the statement.

Mike Tyson's boxing career is over. Again. This weekend he lost to Ireland's Kevin McBride, whom Tyson was favored to beat handily. According to the AP, although Tyson was winning the fight on the score card, the tempo had changed and he gave up after the 6th round and refused to come out of his corner.

"I don't have the stomach for this anymore," Tyson said. "I most likely won't fight anymore. I'm not going to disrespect the sport by losing to this caliber of fighters."

So, the man who intentionally bit off both of Evander Holyfield's ears doesn't want to disrespect the sport. This wouldn't ring quite so hollow if Tyson had at least fought a clean fight before giving up.

Tyson was weary by the fifth round and, in the sixth round, he was penalized two points for deliberately head butting McBride and opening a cut over his left eye. The head butt came after Tyson appeared to try to break McBride's arm in a clinch like he once did against Francois Botha and after he hit him with several low blows.

At least he's not disrespecting the sport. For his defeat, Tyson got $5 million, most of which was snapped up by his creditors. McBride earned $150,000.

After yet another BCS debacle, the AP pulled it's rankings from the BCS formula. Now ESPN has followed suit and is disassociating itself from the rankings formula. ESPN wasn't necessarily upset with football matchups being determined by complex computer formulas and popularity contests. They just wanted the voting to be out in the open for everyone to see. Since the Coaches votes will continue to remain anonymous, ESPN is taking their ball and going home.

"There will still be a coaches' poll, and it will be used by the BCS, but we don't have a comment on ESPN's decision," said Bob Burda, spokesman for BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg.

The AP poll and the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll had been the major components of the BCS rankings.

However, the AP said such use was never sanctioned and had reached the point where it threatened to undermine the independence and integrity of its poll.

ESPN had sponsored the coaches' poll with USA Today since 1997.

I'm sure this has nothing to do with ABC's losing television rights for the Fiesta, Orange, and Sugar Bowls to network rival FOX (starting in 2007). Although ABC and ESPN are both owned by Disney, I doubt ESPN would do anything to undermine the importance of the major bowls.

Virginia Tech shuffled their season tickets this year to reward the biggest donors. As a generous booster to Virginia Tech, we got to pick our seats rather than have them assigned. I piggy back off my sister's Hokie Club membership, and matched her donation to bring it up to the Golden Hokie level. Basically, I helped her double her status in exchange for the option on a pair of season tickets. Previously I only got to go to the games that she skipped out on, and had to scalp tickets for the rest of the games.

So, she sent me an email last week telling me where our seats would be this year. They're exactly one row down from where they were last year. Just think, if we hadn't pooled our money, we would have been bumped up to the nose bleed section.

Of course, after scalping those dream seats (50-yard line, Row D) for last season's Virginia game, it's going to be difficult no matter where they are. (One day when I'm rich and famous I hope to buy the naming rights to the stadium and sit where ever I damn well want.)

A female senior at Grand Junction High School is suing over her failure to make the volleyball team.

Unlike boys who play football, girls don't have the option of playing on the junior varsity volleyball team if they fail to make the varsity team, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.

Jessica Wieker's lawsuit alleges Mesa County Valley School District No. 51 discriminates against girls, which is a violation of a federal law known as Title IX that guarantees equal gender access to public education.

The way Title IX has been implemented, the girl probably still won't get to play volleyball. That's because Title IX stipulates that girls and boys programs have to be equal. While it was intended that schools across the country would start up girls athletic programs (regardless of the level of interest), the law of unintended consequences reared it's ugly head. Instead of creating girl's programs, schools simply eliminated boys programs to bring them into compliance. Lesser sports like wrestling have been decimated because of lack of interest in girl's sports. Schools don't have unlimited budgets and the less popular boy's sports are the often cut instead of investing in even more unpopular girl's sports.

Ravenwood's prediction: The boy's JV team is toast.