Archive for November 23rd, 2011

WATERCOOLER CHAT: A BROTHERS THANKSGIVING, ORTON NO LONGER, STANFORD SAYS BCS FLAWED

FOOTBALL

In the NFL, we have an exciting, feel-good match-up to look forward to on Thanksgiving night as the San Francisco 49ers travel to play the Ravens in Baltimore.  But, this is an historic event.  Why?  Because it will be the first time in NFL history that two brothers play each other as head coaches.  The Ravens are coached by John Harbaugh, whose brother Jim Harbaugh was brought in to revitalize the 49ers franchise.  Jim has done a spectacular job of doing that, as his Niners are 9-1.  When asked what he thought about the battle, Jim Harbaugh said that he hasn’t even thought about it, especially given the fact that he only has a short week to focus on beating the first place Ravens.  So it’ll be a Thanksgiving Night NFL family reunion… and also an amazing game.Elsewhere in the NFL, Tebow mania is so hot right now that the Denver Broncos felt they had no need for Kyle Orton any longer.  Yesterday, the Broncos released Orton, and thanked him for everything he did for the organization.  Orton is one of the most discarded players in recent memory.  He was traded for Jay Cutler, then went on to lead the Broncos to a successful season.  Then Tebow mania started, and he was benched in favor of the more marketable starter.  Now… he’s unemployed.  But, there are teams that could use his skills.  The Texans are playoff bound, and currently have an unreliable Matt Leinart at the helm.  Meanwhile, the Chiefs are ailing, but still, oddly, in playoff contention in the  AFC West.  They could use his services as well.  It’ll be interesting to see where he lands.

Finally, in college football, Stanford coach David Shaw has come out and publicly said the the BCS is flawed.  His primary argument is that the BCS computers have Stanford ranked below both Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State.  But, Shaw Said, Virginia Tech plays much easier teams in the ACC than Stanford does and Oklahoma State lost to an unranked Iowa State team.  Stanford’s only loss came against a very tough #10 ranked Oregon team.  Shouldn’t that make them, on paper, a higher ranked team in the BCS standings?  Stanford can only get in the Pac 12 title game if Oregon loses to Oregon State this weekend, but they could still have a shot at playing in the title game if certain top-ranked teams lose.  This weekend Stanford will host Andrew Luck’s final home game against Notre Dame.  It will be a bittersweet day regardless of the outcome.

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