What is Wrong with the Colts?

This has been a wacky season in the NFL. For one, the Pittsburgh Steelers, last year's Super Bowl Champions, are not even going to make the playoffs. The Seattle Seahawks, who played Pittsburgh last year in the playoffs, are stumbling at 8-5, having lost to the lowly Arizona Cardinals last week. Given, the Seahawks have played all but two games with two hobbled superstars in Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander, but I'm still surprised. Did you know that since December 2005, eight players on the Cincinatti Bengals team have been arrested? Those orange and black stripes are beginning to look white and black. Some other wacky things include Brett Favre and Eli Manning. Brett is almost 65, still has a rocket for an arm, and refuses to quit. Eli is still underperforming and I'm still not convinced that he'll ever come close to his brother in talent, leadership, mechanics, or making good commercials. How about the Chicago Bears? They are quite possibly the worst-best team ever. They continue to win, but the critics refuse to lay off of them. Then there is the Cowboys, finally somebody got some sense in them and realized that Drew Bledsoe is not a winner. Did Parcells forget why the Patriots won three Super Bowls after he left? Yup, it's because they benched Bledsoe. Tony Romo is turning into another Tom Brady, in talk that is. I don't think he'll ever win a Super Bowl in Dallas. It's been a while since I've sang, "When the Saints Go Marching In." Reggie Bush is the #1 decoy in NFL history, and Drew Brees is playing like a champ. I bet the Texans kick themselves everyday for having drafted Mario Williams instead of Reggie Bush. The Texans claimed that they didn't need a running back because they had Domanick Davis. Now that Domanick Davis is out for the season, the boo birds are out in Houston. Amongst all of these headlines of 2006, the wackiest thing in my mind is how the Colts cannot put together a decent defense to save their lives. Last week the Colts allowed 375 yards on the ground. 375! In one game! And that's not to mention the return yards that Jacksonville tallied, which was 178 yards! Albeit, Peyton Manning's offense only scored 17 points, but I believe that defense affects offense. The weight of the game is on the shoulders of the Colts offense every game and it is beginning to show now that they have lost 3 of their last 4 games. Maybe this is a sign that the Colts are going to win the Super Bowl. In years past, The Colts have been a totally different team during the regular season than in the playoffs. They have been awesome in the regular season and lousy choke artists in the playoffs. Hmmm.......I think Tony Dungy is on to something!

Paul Millsap NBA Rookie of the Year?

Have you ever heard of Paul Millsap? A lot of people outside of Louisiana (where he played college basketball) and Utah (where he now plays for the Jazz) have not, but he is the early selection for rookie of the year. Click here to read John Hollinger's rookie rundown on ESPN.com.

Politics Run Wild in College Football

Troy Smith is going to win the Heisman, Ohio State and Florida are playing in the National Championship game, and only one "student athlete" from a mid-major conference, Colt Brennan, is even being considered for any hardware. I find glaring problems with all of these situations, and I blame it mostly on politics. Reality is what a person's perception is. The press and media have a huge impact on peoples perception of reality, and that largely dictates the polls. The media and press have developed the whole idea of a "major conference" and a "mid-major conference." How Duke, Baylor, and North Carolina are in a major conference is beyond me.
Since week one of the season, they have told us that Troy Smith is the best quarterback in the nation. While Troy Smith has done little to dazzle, he has not disappointed. However; there are a plethora of quarterbacks in the nation who have comparable, if not better statistics than Troy Smith and they aren't even being talked about. You may say, "Well, Troy Smith and the Buckeyes played harder teams." Well, that's what they would have you think. And why is it that people made a huge deal over Reggie Bush's parents possibly receiving free housing and gifts from USC last year, yet nobody has even made mention the factual truth that Troy Smith was suspended by Ohio State for a year and has even spent time in the slammer?
I looked at a rundown of all the student athletes being considered for the postseason hardware and well over 75% of them play for schools from Texas eastward. There is somewhat of a tunnel vision where all the media sees are teams in the east, and USC. Have you ever heard of Eric Weddle? I didn't think so. He plays for the University of Utah and has been the most dominate player on defense I have seen and plays both sides of the ball. However, Eric Weddle plays for a now Urban Meyerless team, so of course nobody knows about him. What about John Beck? He is perhaps the best kept secret in the west.
So, it's going to be #1 Ohio State vs. "#2" Florida in the National Championship Game! Does this really surprise anybody? It didn't surprise me one bit, when USC lost and Florida won, it was eminent in my mind. I wanted Florida to play Ohio State, just to further prove what a load of BS the BCS is. How can a team that is #2(Michigan) after losing to #1(Ohio State) by 3 measly points, be idle for two weeks and be passed up both weeks by teams below them? It's quite simple, because the BCS voters said so. Why is it that Notre Dame (the most overrated team in the nation, just a little ahead of Rutgers) gets an automatic bid if they are in the top 8 of the BCS standings? I know they are considered by some to be "God's University," but the deal they have with the BCS is unchristian. Well, I guess there is a lot of mercy involved, which is a good Christian value.
Having a rematch with Michigan and Ohio State just couldn't happen. Firstly, if Ohio State won, then people would complain that it's ridiculous that a team has to beat another team twice in order to win the National Championship. Secondly, if Michigan would have won, then people would complain that each team won one game, but the team that won the second game is the National Champion. To add to it, Ohio State won the conference and both teams would be 12-1. So, to avoid all that mess, they opted to pit Florida against Ohio State. Florida played the "hardest schedule" in college football, and they won their conference. I hope that Florida wins, then the people in Michigan are really going to go wild, yelling shirtless in the streets of Ann Arbor, "We could have beat Florida!" Well, given they beat USC in the Rose Bowl they'll be saying that. In conclusion, college football is the greatest sport, until the season is over and politics, not the athletes or the teams, decides everything.