Thoughts from the weekend

Late Saturday afternoon was a sports junkie’s delight as the 4 big networks all had dramatic games. For the most part, I was riveted to USC – Notre Dame on NBC. I am not a Notre Dame fan and never have been, and the fact that they have their own TV contract with NBC only fuels my dislike. Also, I’ve become a USC fan in the last few years probably because I want to see Pete Carroll do well after what he had to endure in New England while he was the Patriots’ head coach. Now that I’ve set the table so to speak regarding my allegiances, I was quite focused on this game. Some thoughts:

· Even with the loss, Notre Dame fans have to be happy about Charlie Weis directing the football program. The ND offense looked awfully familiar to me and no one has really shut them down this season. It pains me to say it, but I think the Irish are going to be contending for national championships in the very near future.

· Matt Leinart never looked the same after he threw a block on a running play and someone fell on his back. Also, he doesn’t throw the ball with much zip. Watching his passes on Saturday reminded me of former Miami Hurricane QB Gino Torretta. Even though Torretta won a Heisman, you knew he wouldn’t make it in the NFL because he had a weak arm. He looked good at Miami because his receivers were so athletically superior to the competition that all he had to do was throw it out there and his teammates would go get it. I think the Trojans receivers are in that same category, but Leinart did place that 4th down pass perfectly to get SC into ND territory.

· There was a lot of talk about Leinart’s run for the goal line in which the ball was knocked free thus stopping the clock. The announcers, and other analysts after the game, kept saying that if the ball wasn’t knocked out of bounds that time would have run out and USC would have lost. Did anyone happen to notice where Leinart landed after he lost the ball? In the end zone!!! If he had held onto the ball, USC would have won the game.
· Reggie Bush – wow! I could not believe how fast this guy was on Saturday. He was running past DBs like they were in slow motion. Without him, USC wouldn’t have been in the game.

· Charlie Weis must love the name Brady because Brady Quinn ran his offense a lot like Tom Brady of the Patriots. Many experts thought that the Irish defense wouldn’t be able to stop the USC offense. What no one anticipated was that the Irish’s best defense was an excellent ball control offense that dominated time of possession. Who says Weis can’t coach defense?

Thoughts on other games over the weekend:

· The Penn State – Michigan ending rivaled the USC – Notre Dame one. ABC’s Bob Griese was correctly exhorting Wolverine Quarterback Chad Henne to throw the ball in the end zone as time on the clock was running out. When he finally did, it worked and Michigan pulled off the upset.

· Georgia was the latest team to help me in my quest to not have to attend a bowl game with Vanderbilt participating. The Commodores fell to 4-3 on the season and with only one potentially winnable game left on the schedule (Kentucky), they’ll probably end up 5-6 and out of bowl contention again.

· If Chicago ends up celebrating a World Series victory this fall, I’m glad it will be for the White Sox and not the Cubs. I wonder if 80% of the city will be pissed off because the team from the South Side won it. First 1918, and now possibly 1917. Is 1908 next?
· The end of regulation of Giants-Cowboys was just as exciting as the previous day’s college football endings.

· I’m hoping that the Astros beat the Cardinals in the NLCS. That franchise has been close to the World Series a few times and it would be nice to see their pitching staff match up with the White Sox pitchers. Also, I don’t like the Cardinals and I think their pitching is overrated. They were totally overmatched in last year’s World Series and I think the same will happen this year if they make it.