FOOTBALL

In college football, with teams fleeing the Big East left and right (including Pitt, Syracuse, and what soon looks like UCONN), the Big East is forced to rebuild.  This is not always a bad thing, as there are a number of high-profile mid-major teams out there who have been walloping their current competition.  Joining a major conference like the Big East at least gives them a chance to prove they have what it takes to compete for a National Championship.  Plus, if they win the Big East, that could score them a birth in a major BCS Bowl (and that’s good money for the school).  So, yesterday, the Big East announced plans to invite Navy, Air Force, and Boise State for football only, and SMU, Houston, and Central Florida for all sports.  Sure, those aren’t exactly geographically ideal, but it would make the Big East interesting again and give those 6 schools stiffer competition from year to year.  We’ll see if those school accept the invite.

And, in the NFL, the Raiders are coming off a bye week with a new quarterback at the helm:  Former Bengals star Carson Palmer.  Palmer may be a bit older, but many think a fresh location and, more importantly, new organization (as it was reported that Carson was very unhappy with the Bengals management — after all, he opted to retire as opposed to taking money to show up), could breathe new life into Palmer.  This could also reinvigorate the Raiders passing attack, which would then open up their vicious running-game headed by Darren McFadden.  In order to help Palmer, the Raiders have signed one of his former favorite targets in Cincinnati:  T.J. Houshmanzadeh.  These two definitely had a great chemistry for a few seasons, and putting T.J. in the mix could help the Raiders pick up some key first downs.  Remember, the Raiders are still in playoff contention, and once you get in, there’s no telling what could happen.  It will be interesting to see how the Palmer experiment works out.

GOLF

Golf Magazine has named Rory McIlroy, not Tiger Woods, player of the year.  Clearly, Tiger wasn’t even in the running considering his poor performance on the courses this year.  But McIlroy was a beast out there.  McIlory is clearly golf’s “It” kid right now.  In fact, his quick ascension is reminiscent of Tiger Woods early success.  After all, McIlroy is only 22-years old, and already has a U.S. Open victory under his belt.  On top of that, he nearly won the Masters tournament, before slipping up at the end.  Of course, McIlroy is one of those golf prodigies who had a club in his hand at 2 years old, and, reportedly, hit a 40 yard drive as a toddler (the mythology begins).  It’s clear that this kid is only set for big things.  The main question is:  Can he continue winning now that he’s got the spotlight on him?