The Exciting Finish in the MLB Season

The hunt for October is over. This was an exciting year for Major League Baseball. We saw new records, such as Barry Bonds breaking the home run record, but what made the season great were the teams competing for the playoffs. We saw teams pull off a magical season and saw teams blow a lead into the playoffs.

What would it have been like if the New York Yankees did not make the playoffs? This year we will not find out because for the thirteenth consecutive year the New York Yankees have made the playoffs. On May 29 the New York Yankees were 21-29, which is unbelievable for a franchise with high salaries they pay for their players. After that beginning of the season, people said that Joe Torre, the manager of the Yankees, would be, fired. The Yankees also at one time were in pitching trouble with having 10 different starting pitchers in its first 30 games of the season. After beginning 21-29 on May 29th they became the hottest team and went 70-38. They finished with a record of 94-68. This was one of the biggest stories of the season because the Yankees were 9.5 games out of the AL Wild Card. Then at the end they won the AL Wild Card to finish off a great story for this team. Alex Rodriquez, who had 54 homeruns, 156 RBIs, and143 runs, leading in all categories in the MLB helped make this happen. Although, they had a struggling pitching year, the Yankees offense was amazing. They lead the AL in homeruns and lead the MLB in RBIs, batting average, runs, and hits. The Yankees high powered offense helped them to be a great offense in the MLB.

Another exciting race that happened was in the NL East, which included the Philadelphia Phillies coming back to win the NL East and the New York Mets choking at the end. The New York Mets had a great record through May 31st by going 34-18, but they went 40-42 from June through August. With only 17 games left, the Mets had a 7 game lead over Phillies. The Mets lost 11 out of 16 games towards the end of the season. Even though the Mets, lost at the end of the season, the Phillies still had to play well. They went 12-3 towards the end and the two teams were tied with only one game to go. The Phillies beat the Washington Nationals 6-1, and the Mets lost to the Florida Marlins 8-1. Due to Mets lose the Philadelphia Phillies won the National League East. The Phillies were able to win as they had, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Jimmy Rollins, who all had a terrific season. The Phillies led the NL in batting average RBI’s, runs scored, and was second in homeruns. The Phillies and the Mets help made the National League East an exciting race.

Probably the greatest story to come out of the playoff race is the Colorado Rockies. Many Rockies fans believe that it was a magical year since the Rockies have not made the playoffs since 1995. The Rockies were the hottest team in September, going 20-8. The Rockies won 13 out of 14 games at the end including 11 games in a row. The team set a franchise record going 90-73. The Rockies had the best hitting average in the NL, led by their NL MVP candidate Matt Holiday. He had the best hitting average and the most RBI’s in the NL. The biggest reason why the Rockies are still playing in October is the teams fielding. They have the fewest errors in MLB and setting a record with the best fielding percentage all time in MLB with .989.The San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies played a tiebreaker to see who would get the NL Wild Card and get to play the Philadelphia Phillies. After a long game in Colorado, the Padres had the lead in the bottom of the thirteenth 8-6 with their ace closer Travis Hoffman. This is when the Rockies would rally tying the game 8-8 with Matt Holiday on third. Jamey Carrol would have a sacrifice fly and Matt Holiday would score, which many fans have argued over whether or not he was safe. The umpire called Holiday safe and the Rockies would continue on with their magical season into the playoffs after beating the San Diego Padres.

Now that the playoffs have started who will win the World Series. Unfortunately, the playoffs have not been as exciting like the end of the regular season; three teams got swept and most of games were blowouts. With the divisional series over close to being over, the question is who will win the ALCS, the Boston Red Sox vs. the Cleveland Indians/New York Yankees, and the NLCS, the Arizona Diamondbacks vs. the Colorado Rockies. All we can hope is that these playoffs get more exciting like the end of the regular season was.

Preseason Polls Need to GO

After last week's "Separation Saturday", in which five of the nation's top 10 programs lost to unranked opponents, and this past weekend's monumental upset of #2 USC by 41 point underdog Stanford, this has been the most exciting first month of a college football season in my lifetime. I am not taking away anything from Stanford's massive victory, but was USC really the second best team in the country this season? They barely beat the University of Washington, a .500 team, last week, and beat a vastly overrated Nebraska (who was manhandled by Missouri this past Saturday) by two touchdowns. Now I know that USC has clearly been the best team in college football over the past 5 years, but it is obvious that their dynasty has come to an abrupt end with this past weekend's monumental collapse.

USC is my prime example as to why preseason polls and national "experts" opinions are absolutely irrelevant until the 7th week of the season. As my favorite college football columnist, Stewart Mandel, talks about in his weekly Saturday observations, for USC, the #2 team in the country, to lose as a 41 point favorite at home against a team that has a 1-3 record and only drop to #10 in the rankings is absolutely absurd. Just 5 weeks ago, then ranked #5 Michigan lost at home to a 1-AA and completely dropped out of the poll. How can any voter justify dropping Michigan over 20 spots when they lost to the defending 1-AA champions and have USC fall 8 spots when they lost to a team that went 1-11 last year and had its backup quarterback starting the game?!?

Now I know that the BCS no longer uses the AP poll as criteria for voting, but these preseason polls leave such a bias in everyone's mind that it always gives teams that were ranked in the preseason top 25 a chance to climb back in. There are only 15 teams currently ranked in the AP 25 that started the season there, and that includes schools like Texas (who started #4 and is now #23) and Wisconsin (who started #7 and is now #18). Does a team like Tennessee, who finally came back into the top 25 after beating a "ranked" Georgia team who already lost this year? I know that I am talking about the bottom of the polls and no real team that has any national championship expectations after losing 2 games already, but what about if/when college football institutes a playoff bracket featuring let's say 16 teams? Since the current BCS formula only accounts for the USA Today poll, does a team like Cincinnati, currently ranked 17th and is currently undefeated having beaten 2 ranked teams, not make the tournament because the defending national champion Florida Gators, who already have 2 loses, are ranked 14th? I know that many people would argue the SEC is much stronger than the Big East, or if Florida played Cincinnati they would win by 5 touchdowns, but what I've learned from this season so far is that any team can beat any other team on any given Saturday, AND teams off to a great start should not be penalized because they were not ranked before ever playing a game

The end for Clemens?

A yankees fan since birth, I have become accustomed to seeing them in the playoffs year in and year out. Even when they started the season slowly, there was an assumption they'd get there act together and win the AL East. And once they signedRoger Clemens , they did indeed get their act together. And while Clemens has been less than stellar in his season of work, his presence contributed to the yankees having the best record in the second half. But tonight, the Indians vs. Yankees game, in which Clemens could not get out of the 3rd inning, may be the end for the hall-of-fame great. He left with a hamstring injury that has bothered him all season. If this is the end for Clemens, which I suspect it is, he will go down in history as one of the greatest pitchers of all time. No other athlete has accomplished anything close, and despite his subpar season, was worth the 18 million to come back. At the same time, is there room for a 46 year old Clemens in the Yankees 2008 rotation? Probably not, as his health has become more and more a concern. Hopefully the Yankees can send him off with one more world series ring, and allow to retire for the 4th and final time.

The BCS MESS

Last weekend was upset central in college football. Yet, Miami still remains unranked. Oklahoma who was #5 when we got beat down, is still ranked after losing to an unranked Colorado team and somehow Florida remains in the top ten after losing to an unranked Auburn team that has 2 losses.
The Bottom line is the BCS is backwards in my opinion. Its beyond my comprehension how a Virginia Tech team that has been mediocre at best, is ranked #14 with one loss. I know the argument, it goes something along the lines of: "the influence of the previous season has a significant impact on the BCS rankings for the next year". But to my recollection, Clemson ( presently ranked at #22) didn't have the most stellar of seasons with 4 regular season losses yet they make the top 25 and we don't.
BCS has been backwards since its inception and will remain so until it blows up in their face again when there is a 3 or 4-way tie for contenders looking to go to the national championship. If and when it does happen, maybe they'll get it right for the next go-around and at least add a playoff system.

-Ara Basmajian

College Sports Integral in Admission Rates

A college sports team is the most powerful marketing tool a university can have in increasing freshmen applicant rates. College sports fans have proven that their interest in a team's athletic prowess often leads to their decision to apply to that respective university. A recent article in the Boston Globe (here) showed that since joining the ACC, Boston College's admission rates from the 6 ACC states (FL,GA,MD,NC,SC,VA) have shot up 30%. In addition to this recent surge, BC saw a sharp rise in applicants after Doug Flutie won the Heisman trophy in 1984, commonly dubbed "the Flutie effect. " (see link for other positive affects sports teams have on colleges). Through their involvement in the conference, BC has a much larger footprint in this part of the country than it ever did before," states one resident of NC, and graduate of UNC Chapel hill.

Theres more too this correlation, however, than the assumption that these students want to go to BC, or any other school just to watch sports games. Theres a psychology behind it that when a student watches an athletic team dominate on the sports field, they believe that carries over into the classroom. Michael Lovagliaa (University of Iowa), has studied the topic in depth: "There's a halo effect," he says. You think about them, so you assume the school must be good. But you may have thought about them only because they were beating your favorite team." Students take pride in their respective institutions accomplishments around the country. Sports, with its national TV and media coverage, is such a large part of that accomplishment. University of Miami's string of national football championships has been largely responsible for putting the school on the map, especially in far away areas, like the northeast, where the school draws an incredible amount of applicants each year.


But don't think the idea that college athletics has the ultimate say in whether or not a student attends the school. Its really other factors, primarily academics, that persuade students to matriculate. University of Miami doesn't fall short of this standard either, ranked 52nd in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. I know that personally, while I enjoy attending UM's sporting events and being a 'Cane, coming here wouldn't have been an option without its commensurate academic reputation. This stands true for most students--it starts with the sports team, which then leads to a campus visit thats sparks even more interest by showing a complete picture of what a school has to offer. After all, UM has much more to offer then just good sports teams.

South Florida Is For Real

When I was in high school I used to attend a team football camp every summer at the University of South Florida headed by Bull's Head Coach Jim Leavitt. At that time, they were just a small team in Conference USA that few cared about. If you were to ask me if there was any chance of the Bulls being ranked in the top 25 within the foreseeable future, I would have laughed in your face. If you were to ask me if the Bulls were going to be ranked, with the Miami Hurricanes NOT ranked in the polls, I would have told you to check-in to a mental hospital. Well, not only are the Bulls ranked and sitting on top of the Big East Conference, but after No.18 South Florida's 21-13 victory over powerhouse No. 5 West Virginia in front of a national television audience, the jokes are over for South Florida.


ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel was telling Bulls fans to act like they've been there before, before quickly realizing the school has never "been there" before. In front of a sellout 67,018 fans at Raymond James Stadium (their first in school history), the Bulls pulled off the biggest victory in their schools short football history.

As St. Petersburg Times writer John Romano says, this will be remembered as the game that introduced South Florida to the world.


South Florida's fast defense kept them in a sloppy ball game, with a total of 10 turnovers, 6 coming from West Virginia. The Mountaineers came into the game averaging 357 yards on the ground in their first four games, with talented players in QB Pat White, and RB's Steve Slaton and Noel Devine. Against South Florida they were only able to muster 188 rushing yards. On offense, Bulls Quarterback Matt Grothe and tailbacks Jamar Taylor and Mike Ford did just enough to take down the Mountaineers for the second year in a row. Last year when the Bulls won in Morgantown, it was called a fluke. With a win in back-to-back years over the Mountaineers, and an early road win over Auburn in week 2, South Florida has a chance at not only being in BCS bowl discussion, but even National Championship discussion.


But the person who definitely deserves most of the praise for this win is Bull's head coach Jim Leavitt. At that same football camp I mentioned earlier which I attended six years ago, I had the chance to learn from the Bull's only coach in school history. At that time he knew that his program was on the rise, and hoped that one day would reach the top of college football.

Well, Jim, with you new ranking this week at No.6 -- your well on your way.

Is 27 a slap in the face?

With week four's AP and USA Today poll making its debut the Hurricanes are (for once surprisingly) not in the top-25. With this past Thursday's win, it seems to me that the U deserves a little bit of respect. No only did we seriously beat up on a team that was No. 20 at the time but our defense held them to 38 yards in the first half. If you ask me, the 27 ranking we have after this week is ridiculous. The only loss we have this year is to the now No. 3 Oklahoma team who have a better than good shot at playing for the national championship. Still ranked are Nebraska who lost to a lowly Ball State team, Penn State who lost to an unimpressive Michigan Team, and Alabama who lost to a Georgia team who although may be formidable opponents, have a loss and have had much closer games with ranked (and unranked) opponents. Up until the last quarter this game was all Hurricanes. Kyle Wright played one of the best games he has ever played completing almost 81% of his passes for 2 touchdowns and no picks. The defense did more than their part as usual and for once the 'Canes offense looked like a Division 1-A powerhouse rather than a pop-warner team from the suburbs.

Against the Hurricanes, the Aggies' high powered offense, who have scored at least 38 in every game until their loss to the 'Canes, were held to 240 total yards. Even more surprising (or not) is that the trio of rushers that the Aggies have been using rather effectively thus far (Stephen McGee (quarterback), Mike Goodson, and Jorvorskie Lane) were held to only 21 yards in the first half and 69 rushing yards for the whole game. This should be a wake up call to the Hurricanes Defense; if the d-line can stop the run and force a team, especially one like A&M to throw the ball, their secondary will back them up. Some people may be talking about the apparent melt down that the Hurricanes suffered in the fourth quarter, but maybe the defense was just not used to playing so late in the game with so much energy because the offense actually gave them a chance to rest.

Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione was quoted in an ESPN article as saying "We just got beat, got beat by a better team." If a coach of a top 20 school can see that the Hurricanes are indeed a better team then why cant the AP and USA today? Down the line the Aggies play 4 now ranked teams, including Oklahoma in early November. We will really see what the Aggies are made of when they are playing ranked opponents down the stretch after pleanty of practice time.

This victory on the last Thursday the 'Canes will ever play in the Orange Bowl was only the second in the past 9 games against ranked opponents. After a victory like this and the only loss being to a contender for the national championship, there is really only one question that a Miami fan can ask; what the hell is wrong with the ranking system. Just as I stated earlier, there are so many teams that are ranked that do not deserve to be and the coaches know it. I think that more of the country should listen to A&M's coach and realize that this is the U and we are on our way to a comeback.