Magby's Sports Review

[Ryan Magby]

Ryan here for my first ever sports review page, but real quick before I start I have to say, whoever sent in the rumor about me needs to stop spreading lies. I am with one person and one only.

Muggle Sports

I want to start off with the sports that I grew up watching in America. As we are now a week into March it is a very interesting time for sports in the states, with college basketball heading into the big national tournament rightly named "March Madness", Baseball is now in Spring training and getting ready to start the season, and basketball and hockey seasons are winding down. I will start with baseball. Now I am a hometown person and I was born and raised in a town that has a pro baseball team and they suck. Every year you can hear me complaining about how Tom Hicks doesn't know a single thing about sports and that the Texas Rangers need pitching bad. Now when the entire state is yelling that we need pitching, what do they do? They go out and spend well over 100 million dollars on OUTFIELDERS! Now for people who have no clue what baseball is I will tell you right now that outfielders are in no way like pitchers, but I will save the rest of that rant for later issues because I will have alot more to talk about as the season starts. Speaking of Tom Hicks not being a good sports owner, that leads me into my next segment called "WHY?"

WHY?

This is where I will take something in the sports world that I just had to stop and ask why, and I will talk about it some. This one I read last week and confused me to no end. Tom Hicks (Owner of Texas Rangers, Dallas Stars, and co-owner of Liverpool) went in with a partener last year to buy one of the huge soccer(or football to most of you) clubs in the world, Liverpool. Now I am a supporter of Liverpool and when I heard that Hicks bought them I said "crap". From what I have heard, everyone hates that two American's own the team and the team until recently had been doing poorly. The thing that made me question why is that someone offered 800 million dollars to buy the team that the two Americans paid 435 million for and Hicks said no. WHY? Why say no to making almost a 400 million dollar profit on a team that you have no time to actually be with and be a true owner? I say that Hicks should sell all three of his teams and go on living his rich little life somewhere else.

Im sorry if this wasn't the best issue ever written but i will do better I promise. Next week I will go more in depth on some spring training notes, I will try to have another "WHY?" segment, and also I will do some Quidditch and even some Rugby possibly. If you have any ideas or comments please send me an owl. See you next week.

[Ryan Magby]

((Im guessing just to put my next issue on a new post here so here it goes))


Welcome back for my second issue of Magby's Sports Review. I will cover a couple of things this week. Won't be as big as some of the others will be because sports have taken a backseat this past week to some other things. Hope you enjoy.

Muggle Sports

The biggest thing that has been going on in the muggle world right now is March Madness. It is the college basketball tournament of 64 teams to declare a national champion. The 64 teams were announced today, with two of my favorite schools making it in. The University of Texas is ranked as the 5th best team in the tournament at a number 2 seed. For those who don't know how the seeds are here is the explanation. The 64 teams are broken down into seeds 1-16, 4 of each seed. Texas had a chance to win their game today and be a number 1 seed but they couldn't keep up with the quicker and deeper Kansas team, which got a number 1 seed. My other favorite school in the tournament is a number 8 seed, The University of Nevada at Las Vegas. Now the way I see things going is the UNLV will lose in the second round, sadly, to Kansas, but I believe Texas will go all the way, beating Kansas in the Finals, winning their first ever National Title. Another thing that I liked was that making it into the tournament for the first time ever was The University of Texas at Arlington. I grew up and live in Arlington so that was a nice thing to see. Although they are a number 16 seed playing a number 1 seed. No 16 seed has ever beat a number 1 seed.

Quidditch

I was lucky enough to go to the Sweetwater All-stars game. It was a very fast paced game that Sweetwater won with ease 320-40 over the Dallas Magpies. The thing that I am looking foward to the most is the USA Cup. All 50 states will have a chance, with 32 states in a tournament to determine the best state in the country. It is only the 3rd time this has been done. The front runners are Texas, California, and Oklahoma. I will be rooting on my homestate of Texas hoping they can pull out a win.


I don't have a "WHY?" segment this week so this is where I will end it. I hope you enjoyed reading and I will try to make it longer next week, hopefully there will be more to write about. Next week I will probably write about the first round of the college basketball tournament, the start of the baseball season, and more.

[Ryan Magby]

Back for another issue here and I will say that the past week or so has not been good for me as a sports fan. I am a hometown person so I tend to be a fan of all the Dallas teams. In basketball, the Dallas Mavericks have lost something like 5 of thier last 7 games and are in jepordy of not making the playoffs. In hockey, the Dallas Stars have lost 8 of their last 10, but they have clinched a playoff spot and are trying to get the 4th spot in the conference. The one that I have been talking about since I started this was baseball. The Texas Rangers started their 2008 season on Monday by losing the game 5 to 2. They came out last night in a great ending winning it 5 to 4. My dad yesterday made the prediction that the Rangers would not spend a single day either tied or in sole possesion of first place in the division (which has 4 teams) and 1 hour after he made that predicition he was wrong. They are in a 3 way tie for first with a record of 1-1 with 160 games to go.

I will go somewhat away from sports now into sports entertainment. I will admit I am a huge fan of wrestling and the WWE. This past sunday was the big event, WrestleMania and I must say, Floyd Mayweather needs to stick to boxing. For those who don't know any of what I just mentioned let me explain. Floyd Mayweather is a boxer. He holds belts in 3 or 4 different weight classes and is considered by most boxing anaylists as the best pound for pound boxer in the world. His most recent fight was against one of the Brits best boxers, Ricky Hatton. It was an amazing fight that ended in Mayweather knocking out Hatton(which was dissapointing). Mayweather then decided to try wrestling and set a deal with WWE to fight at wrestlemania against the 450 pound Big Show. Now I know that wresteling is staged (not fake..... they really do alot of those things, they just know whats coming and who is going to win) but it can be very hard. I was able to see some of the clips from the Mayweather fight and heard alot of backstage news and I heard that his matched had to be heavily scripted, much more than others, because he wasn't any good. For the most part he looked bad and sloppy to me and he should stick to boxing. Also I have heard rumors of a possible rematch between Mayweather and Hatton next spring, to which I must say that I hope Hatton beats his ass ("There's only one Ricky Hatton!").

Even though this is a sports collumn I will now start ending this collumn with a countdown until the U.S gets better by getting rid of the worst administration in the history of the country. As an example of how bad this has gotten, Vice President Chaney, when told that 70 percent of the people in the country oppose the war in Iraq and want us to pull out he said "So". This is supposed to be a Democracy, but it is no longer anywhere near that now.

Days until 2008 presidential election: 216
Days until 2009 presidential inaguration: 295
Days since "Mission acomplished" declared in Iraq: 1198

[Ryan Magby]

It has been a fun week in sports, with baseball underway as well as America's excuse for a soccer league starting. The one big news story from Major League Soccer was David Beckham scoring his first ever MLS goal with the Galaxy. I saw the goal, it was pretty routine, nice goal none the less but definantly not close to his best stuff..... In other muggle sports in the states, the college basketball tournament is down to its final 2 teams, Kansas and Memphis...... Kansas is the school that basically started college basketball in this country 70 years ago, and they are trying to get back to the status they used to be at but to do that they will have to beat a team that has only lost 3 games in the past 2 calender years, only 1 of those coming this season.... My pick is that Kansas wins but I will not be suprised if Memphis pulls it out.....

Quidditch

As I mentioned before here in the states there is a US open starting to determine the best State in the country at Quidditch..... 10 states automatically qualified for the 32 team tournament (Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oregon, California, New York, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, and Maine), while the other 40 states will play a small 5 game season to determine the other 22 teams.... The favorites to win the tournament are Texas and Oklahoma.... I will be keeping tab of all the games from qualifying to the actual tournament and keep updates on here



Days until 2008 presidential election: 212
Days until 2009 presidential inaguration: 291
Days since "Mission acomplished" declared in Iraq: 1202

[Ryan Magby]

Well like I promised in my first few issues here comes the complaining about the Texas Rangers. After a very impressive first week road trip that ended with a record of 3-3 against two teams that are expected to be the ones fighting to win the division at the end of the season, the Rangers since that have gone 2-5 and the dissapointments are starting to show. The now 5-8 Rangers have lost 4 games in a row, 3 of which had very good starting pitching (which has been the problem for 30 of the last 37 years). Now I am still a little upbeat about the season because part of the problem so far has been the hitters not coming through with big hits and runs, which will change. The Rangers are always top 5 in scoring when the season ends so that I am not worried about. I am just hoping that the pitching can hold up as we continue on through the season. Before the season started I made my prediction for the sesason, 76-86. Now after seeing this start and knowing that the bats will come through I am bumping that up to 80-82 for now, with my final prediction to come in two weeks.

Other news from my hometown first, the Dallas Stars are currently trying to break a bad habbit and are doing a good job so far. In the hockey playoffs there are 4 rounds. The Dallas Stars have not made it past the first round since 2003. That is 3 seasons in a row (one season didn't happen because of a lockout) that the Dallas fans have been let down early. Last Thursday when the first game of the playoffs came around alot of fans were worried that we would be having the same feeling this year because Dallas is playing the defending champions, the Anaheim Ducks. When game one ended, the feelings were a little different, with Dallas going on the road and winning 4-0 in the first game. Then saturday came around and brought game two with it. Now I had taped the game and was watching it late saturday night. The Stars took an early 2-0 lead and I was jumping all over the place basically. Then in the second period the Ducks answered with two goals late and also the Stars got a penalty at the end of the period meaning that the third and final period would start out with the Stars down a man. Things were not looking good at that point and I was getting worried. Then as I was fast fowarding to get to the start of the third, I got a call from my best friend Matt, who is the person that got me into hockey. I was about to tell him not to say anything about the game but I wasn't fast enough, and I am kind of glad I wasn't. He told me that the Stars won 5-2. In the final 15 minutes of the game the Stars score 3 goals, first one with 14:13 left, second one 55 seconds later with 13:18 left. The final goal came with just over 5 minutes left. Dallas now has a 2 game lead on the defending champs in a best of 7 series meaning that with 5 games left, Dallas only has to win 2 games, the Ducks have to win 4. Tonight is game 3 in Dallas and the Stars have a chance to basically end the series tonight. out of the 280 teams that have gone down 2-0 in the hockey playoffs, only 37 have ever come back to win the series. No team have ever come back from down 3-0 to win. The Stars are playing like they did 9 years ago when they went all the way and won the Stanley Cup. My guess for this series is that the Stars win it in 5 games.

The only other thing I have for this week I wanted to put in here just for Hells. With 4 games to go in the Premier league, Man U is up by 5 points over Chelsea and will be playing them next weekend to basically decide the league. I will watch the game (on delay since I am in America) and do a review on it but here is my prediction for the game. Man U beats Chelsea 3-1 and wins the Premier League again (sorry Hells).

Next week I will cover the U.S quidditch cup qualifying games that start tonight with a game between Maryland and Wyoming. I will also probably continue my season long complaint about the Rangers and review games three, four, and possibly five, of the Dallas Stars vs. Anaheim Ducks series.

And before I go I want to say that for anyone that would like to check out an awesome sport google SlamBall. There were two seasons in 2002-2003 and I got hooked on it. It is a combination of extreme sports, hockey, basketball, and anything you can think of. They did a tour of Europe last year to try and get some publicity and prove that it is a good sell, and right now they are doing tryouts for a third season with a draft to be held next week. I recomend this to anyone who likes to check out new things or anyone who is a basketball fan. Great sport and I can't wait for the new season.



Days until 2008 presidential election: 203
Days until 2009 presidential inaguration: 282
Days since "Mission acomplished" declared in Iraq: 1211

[Ryan Magby]

FINALLY!

After what seems like ages, the Dallas Stars finally made it through the first round of the playoffs, knocking out the defending champions in 6 games, winning the final game 4-1... It was a very hard game to watch because I knew that if Dallas lost that game, chances were they would fall apart and lose game 7 on the road and get knocked out again, and that feeling got worse when in the 2nd period the Ducks scored to take a 1-0 lead going to the 3rd and final period.... I was not feeling very good, knowing that they only had 20 minutes to get it together and pull out a win.... It didnt even take that long... 2 minutes into the period the Stars score on a beautiful goal by defenseman Robidias, and then 52 seconds later he assisted Stu Barnes and the Stars took a 2-1 lead not even 5 minutes into the period.... As the seconds ticked away desperation started to show in the defending champs as they fought for their life, but it was pretty much all taken away when the Stars scored again with just over 2:30 left in the game... The Ducks did all they could, pulling their goalie to get the extra man, but all that led to was the longest standing Star, Mike Modano, one of the few people still left from the 1999 Stanley Cup champion Dallas Stars team, and the only one still left from when the team Moved from Minnesota to Dallas in 1992, scored an empty net goal with 3.2 seconds left in the game to cap off the great series and send the stars into the 2nd round for the 1st time since 2003... Also the Dallas Stars remain the last team to go to the finals the year after they won the Stanley cup (won it in 1999, lost in the finals to New Jersey in 2000).


Normally I would rant about the Texas Rangers sucking but I think it would be too much of a waste of time and space... Point is, they suck! Everyone who follows sports knows the phrase "Maybe next year" well mine for the Rangers is "Maybe next Century."

Quidditch

As I said I would post the scores from the US cup... I didn't attend any of the games but I plan to make at least one in the next set of games and give a good report on it, but for now here are the scores from the first set of games and the rankings... remember the top 22 go on to the tournament.

Its kinda hard to read the scores but here is how

Team-score
Team-score

The games are side by side so its hard to read

Scores

Maryland-70 Montana-70 Delaware-340 Tennessee-80
Wyoming-160 Nebraska-270 Arkansas-230 Montana-220

Alabama-330 New Jersey-220 Illinois-260 Idaho-320
Arizona-180 New Mexico-130 Alaska-110 West Virginia-140

Colorado-200 North Carolina-320 Utah-170
Conneticut-70 North Dakota-180 South Dakota-20

Ohio-30
Pennsylvania 170

Hawaii-240 Rhoad Island-190 South Carolina-240
Indiana-90 Virginia-20 Minnesota-380

Vermont-260
Massachusetts-40

Louisiana-150 Washington-20 Michigan-220
Missouri-0 Wisconsin-170 New Hampshire-80

Iowa-100
Mississippi-230

Standings

# Team-pts-W-L

1 Minnesota-380-1-0
2 Delaware-340-1-0
3 Alabama-330-1-0
4 North Carolina-320-1-0
5 Idaho-320-1-0
6 Nebraska-270-1-0
7 Illinois-260-1-0
8 Vermont-260-1-0
9 Hawaii-240-1-0
10 South Carolina-240-0-1
11 Mississippi-230-1-0
12 Arkansas-230-0-1
13 New Jersey-220-1-0
14 Michigan-220-1-0
15 Montana-220-1-0
16 Colorado-200-1-0
17 Rhoad Island-190-1-0
18 Arizona-180-0-1
19 North Dakota-180-0-1
20 Wisconsin-170-1-0
21 Utah-170-1-0
22 Pennsylvania-170-1-0
23 Wyoming-160-1-0
24 Louisiana-150-1-0
25 West Virginia-140-0-1
26 New Mexico-130-0-1
27 Alaska-110-0-1
28 Iowa-100-0-1
29 Indiana-90-0-1
30 New Hampshire-80-0-1
31 Tennessee-80-0-1
32 Conneticut-70-0-1
33 Maryland-70-0-1
34 Montana-70-0-1
35 Massachusetts-40-0-1
36 Ohio-30-0-1
37 Virginia-20-0-1
38 Washington-20-0-1
39 South Dakota-20-0-1
40 Missouri-0-0-1




I will come back with more on the quidditch games, maybe some soccer, and alot on all the dallas sports and how I am mad at all of them except the Stars next week.


Days until 2008 presidential election: 195
Days until 2009 presidential inaguration: 274
Days since "Mission acomplished" declared in Iraq: 1219

[Ryan Magby]

Just an update... I know its been a while since I posted.... alot of stuff going on lately, calming down now though.... I will make a post sometime this week, I want to let the Dallas Stars series to finish and also I want to write about the Champions League final.... So I will make my post either Wednesday night or Thursday

[Ryan Magby]

IT'S A MIRACLE..... for the first time in over a month I have a sports segment up. Alot of sports stuff has happened since I last wrote. The hockey and basketball seasons have ended, and the title winners were the expected ones.... The Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley cup in Hockey, and the Boston Celtics won the NBA championship. Now comes some of the most interesting months of the year, offseason.... Don't know what is going to happen with my hometown teams but I'm sure it will be interesting.

The Texas Rangers have been doing so-so as of late... Now offically half way through the season they are 41-41. If they play the 2nd half of the season the exact same as the 1st half they will end up 82-80, which would be one of their best records in 10 years, but would be no where near good enough to make the playoffs. The problem still remains to be pitching, as it has been all 16 years that I have been watching Texas Ranger baseball. With the exception of the fact that from 89-93 we had the greatest pitcher of all-time on our team (Nolan Ryan, now the President of the Rangers) we have lacked a completly solid pitching rotation for years and it is very frustrating.

I will wrap this post up with talk about Euro 08. Later today is the final between Germany and Spain. My pick is Spain wins 2-1. Although seeing as my 2 picks from the begining, Portugal and Italy, didn't do too well I could be wrong. I have been able to watch almost every game of the tournament so far and the team I had the most fun watching was Turkey. 3 come from behind wins, one against Croatia in which I was in the middle of telling my mom the rules of extra time and explaining that croatia had just won when Turkey scored and I was speechless. But the best one was 3 goals in 15 minutes to win 3-2 over i cant remember who it was now. And my last thing said will be this, Ronaldo, STAY WITH MAN U!

Days until 2008 presidential election: 128
Days since "Mission acomplished" declared in Iraq: 1888

[Ryan Magby]

And another one now.... It is now my favorite time of the year.... The American football season is starting up, college football started this weekend, with my favorite college, Texas, winning their first game 52-10.... Pro football starts this coming weekend, and I am ready... There was a special on HBO, which is a national movie channel, about the training camp of my favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys.... They are known as America's team, so they got their own special... It was pretty fun to watch and get to know some new people to the team... Most experts are already picking the Cowboys to win it all this year, but that hasnt happened since 95 and they havent even won a playoff game since 96.... I am hoping this is the year though because I am young enough to not really remember the 95 season so I havent personally experenced a Cowboys super bowl win, even though they are tied with 2 other teams for the most super bowl wins ever with 5.... Well one sad thing for me is that the Texas Ranger season is coming to an end.... there is about 25 games left, and they are not going to make the playoffs... maybe next year (I keep saying that every year)... I am getting ready for the big game of the year in college football, Texas vs. Oklahoma.... These two schools have been playing since 1900 and it is a huge rivalry, and since most of my family is from Oklahoma then its big for me cuz if Texas losses then I hear about it for a long time... I know that the premier league started a few weeks ago but I havent been able to follow it so far... I am sorry that I am falling off my duties but I will pick it back up and do another one very soon


Days until 2008 presidential election: 65
Days since "Mission acomplished" declared in Iraq: 1921

[Ryan Magby]

And I come back again with some more sports news... First things first, I know that Man U played chelsea and I don't know who won... I just know that Man U was up 1-0 at half... let me take a quick check on the internet, and I see that it was a draw 1-1... Man U is having a less than impressive start here but I think things will pick up soon.... Now to the huge amounts of American sports news...

The End of a Era

I am meaning this in 2 different ways, both about the same team... for those that are in America and follow sports you will know what Im talking about... The New York Yankees are the most historic baseball team of all time... They have been to the World Series 39 times and won 27 times... Name most of the greatest players in baseball history and they probably played on the Yankees at one time... They have been playing since something like 1902... They have been at Yankee Stadium since 1923, but not anymore... They have now built a new stadium that the team will move into next season and the last regular season game at Yankee stadium was played last night, with New York winning... now most people thought this game wouldn't have been such a big deal because the Yanks have made it to the playoffs every year since 1992, well that won't be the case this year... Boston leads New York for the final playoff spot by 6.5 games... The Yanks have 6 games left, Boston has 7.... That means that in order for New York to make it, Boston has to lose all 7 and New York has to win all 6... now they play each other 3 times in that mix... I can tell you right now, there is now way either of those things happen, and I am very happy that New York will not make it, because they are nicknamed the Evil Empire, the team that everyone hates.... In other baseball news, the Rangers suck... Ive said that alot on here and Ive said it every year since I was 3... They were looking pretty good near the end of July, and then something happened and everything went to hell, like the weather..... with 6 games left they are 75-81.. so in order to pull out a decent season with a .500 record they have to win all 6, aint gonna happen... hopefully the front office will finally realize that they need pitching (something that ive know since i was 2) and get some... now i think i know where it all started... When I started watching the Rangers as a kid the owner was someone that everyone on here knows, even if you don't live in America... Bush... He was worse as the owner of the Rangers than he is as President of the U.S if you can believe that...

Our Football

Ok so Ive gone all this way and still havent talked about the biggest sport going on right now, American Football... All my teams are doing good, both in college and pro... a rundown of my teams...

College:
Texas:3-0
TCU:4-0
UNLV:3-1

Pro:
Dallas:3-0
Green Bay:2-1 (only loss was to Dallas last night)
Tennessee:3-0

So as you can see my teams are a combined 18-2 and one of those losses was because my two teams played each other last night... The Dallas Cowboys are in the same spot somewhat that the Yankees were in this year because they are also moving to a new stadium, and I am very excited because the stadium is in the city I live in, Arlington (Dallas Cowboys have never actually played in Dallas, the play in Irving right now)... Many experts have picked the Cowboys to win the super bowl this year which is bold since they havent even won a playoff game since 1996, but I agree... They are the best team in the league and the most talented... I am said because I recently found out that because of my involvement in the school play Dracula (Im helping with set right now and working lights during the show) I will miss 2 Texas Longhorn games... now this is a tragedy for me in any case but the games that Im missing make it even worse.... The first one is the biggest game every year, Texas vs. Oklahoma... The Red River Shootout... It is during Tech week and I will be up at school all day long, and Oklahoma right now is ranked #2 in the country, Texas is #7, and that is out of 119 teams.... The other one is the next week, which is the last day of the show... Texas vs. Missouri.... now normally this wouldn't be a big deal but this year Mizzou is ranked #5 in the country... Those are the 2 biggest games of the year for Texas and I will have to watch them on tape and make sure no1 tells me who won before I watch it.

Now to finish this off by talking about something other than sports real quick... We are just 43 days away from electing a new president and the first debate is on Friday night... I suggest that everyone should watch this because it will be very interesting to see if Obama can show how much McCain has been lying so far... Anyone that lives in America, and they might even show it in England for all I know, please watch some of this at least because this is a huge election...

So keep watching sports out there and check back for my next issue... HOOK 'EM HORNS

[Ryan Magby]

I give you this post and will most likely give you another one Monday morning (US time).

As I am being swamped with tech work on the school play, Dracula, I have been trying hard to keep up with sports, but I have only been able to follow what is shown on ESPN which doesnt include and UK sports.

RED RIVER SHOOTOUT

It is finally here... After so much waiting and thinking it is here... For those who don't know what I am talking about (probably most of you), the Red River Shootout (or rivalry which it is called now to make it sound less violent : is the college (American) football game between the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma... the Red River is the river that borders the states of Texas and Oklahoma.... This is probably the biggest game for these 2 schools every year, this years game is the 103rd game in the series in which Texas has won 57 games, Oklahoma 40 games, and they have tied 5 times (which can't happen anymore)... this year both teams are undefeated at 5-0, and in the polls, Oklahoma is ranked #1 in the country, Texas is ranked #5... It is the 10th time in the history of this game that both teams are in the top 5 when they play... Now history shows that Texas has owned this series but in the past 10 years Texas is 4-6 against OU and in the past 8 years they are 2-6... Last year I was extremely lucky and got to go to the game which is held at a neutral site in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas... It is half-way between each school and it is in the middle of the Texas State Fair, which is going on.... Last years game was a very close game, OU won 28-21 but I believe that Texas should have won the game and that if Jamall Charles wouldn't have fumbled the ball on the 2 yard line that Texas would have won... but it didn't happen. This year, just like last year, no one is giving texas a chance.. Last year ou was favored by 10, the experts said it would be worse than that, Texas only lost by 7.... This year ou is favored by 6.5, to the experts credit they are saying it will be very close this year which i agree, but i have not seen one expert pick Texas, and actually I kinda like that, because when Texas wins on Saturday morning it will be a shock and maybe we will finally get some respect. Now I am upset because the game starts at 11 am.... I have to be at school to work on the show at 9 am, and I will be here til 5 pm.... but I am taping the game on my DVR and I will be watching it the second I get home... And now so that if i get it right I can brag about it later, here is my prediction for the game:

Texas-35
Oklahoma-28

And now i will end this with the lyrics to the Texas Fight Song, modified for how it is at the Texas-OU game....

"Texas Fight, Texas Fight,
And it's goodbye to A&M.
Texas Fight, Texas Fight,
And we'll put over one more win.
Texas Fight, Texas Fight,
For it's Texas that we love best.
Give 'Em hell, Give 'Em hell,
OU SUCKS!

Yea Orange! Yea White!
Yea Longhorns! Fight! Fight! Fight!
Texas Fight! Texas Fight,
Yea Texas Fight!
Texas Fight! Texas Fight,
Yea Texas Fight!

The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
All the livelong day.
The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
You cannot get away.
Texas Fight, Texas Fight,
For it's Texas that we love best.
Give 'Em hell, Give 'Em hell,
OU SUCKS!"

[Ryan Magby]

I will start off with one of the headlines from Yahoo sports

No. 5 Texas beats No. 1 Oklahoma 45-35

In what was one of the top 5 college games I have ever seen, the Longhorns come out on top after trailing several times like 14-3, 21-10, 28-20, and 35-30... But Texas never gave up and kept coming back before finally putting the game away with a 2 yard touchdown run with a just under 5 minutes left... Now I watched this game about 3 hours after it finished and my parents already knew that Texas had won but they did a good job in not letting anything slip... I was very nervous about this game and I am extremely happy that the Longhorns came out on top... Texas has now won this game 3 out of the last 4 years... My honest hope is that Texas runs the tables and at the end of the season they are the only undefeated team left, because if they are and If Oklahoma doesn't lose again, I think they could end up playing each other again in the National Title game which would be a hell of a game to watch... Overall I would say that both teams are really good and both are in the top 5 in the nation, if not the top 2.. Before this game, even though I am a hardcore Longhorn fan, I am also a realist, and I knew that the Longhorns weren't the best team in the country, I believed USC (southern California) was, but now I believe Texas is right there with them, and If they beat Missouri next week they are the best team in the country by my standards... I also got to hear my favorite football chant near the end of the game "Overrated!" I love that chant.... once again I will end this with the end of the Texas Fight song... GIVE 'EM HELL, GIVE 'EM HELL, OU SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ryan Magby]

Justice

Ok so since my last post of Texas beating Oklahoma alot has happened... The next week Texas dominated then #11 Missouri, 56-31... After that they held on against a very underrated Oklahoma State team 28-24.... This week they tired to do something that had only been done once in the 130+ year history of college football and that was in 1963, beat 4 teams ranked in the top 12 in a row... Oklahoma was #1 when Texas beat them, Missouri was #11, Oklahoma State was #6... This week they played #7 Texas Tech.... In the first half, Texas did not play like the #1 team in the nation, they didn't even play like the #100 team in the nation... They trailed 22-6 at the half but it should have been alot worse... The 2nd half was a completely different story.. Texas decided to step up and play, and they took their first lead of the game 33-32 with 1:29 left in the game.... That ended up being just enough time though for Tech to come back and score the game winning touchdown with 1 second left to win 39-33... I was silent, disapointed, and heartbroken.... I was positive that because of the lack of respect for Texas, that they would fall in the rankings below Oklahoma, even though they beat them just a few weeks ago.... In the BCS rankings, which is what decides who plays in the title game at the end of the season, Texas was ranked #1 and Oklahoma was #4... Then yesterday, 2 of the 3 components of the BCS rankings came out, the 2 human polls... The USA Today poll had Oklahoma ranked #4, Texas #7... The Harris poll had Oklahoma #5, Texas #6... It was looking like I was going to be right.... Then at 7pm the BCS rankings came out and they showed the top 5 starting with number 5..... #5 Florida... At this point I was thinking "Ok, so Oklahoma stayed at 4 and we fell out of the top 5"... Before I could finish that thought they moved on.... #4 Texas.... I was shocked.. I have been following college football pretty much religously for the past 7 years and I though I had it all figured out, but I was wrong.... Now I mentioned that there are 3 parts to the BCS, and I told you the 2 human polls.. The other part is the computer polls... 6 of them are used, out of those 6 they drop the highest and lowest ranking, leaving 4, and then those are averaged up.... This was the saving grace for Texas, one computer poll still ranked Texas #1, and as an average the comuters ranked Texas #3....... The top 2 teams in the BCS on December 7th will play in the National Title game, and since the rest of Texas' games are fairly easy and they will be favored in all 3 of them, there is a good chance for Texas to still make it... All they need is 2 of the 3 teams in front of them to lose, which I believe will happen, maybe even this week


Outside of sports there is a huge thing going on tomorrow.... Tomorrow is election day for the next president of the USA.... From every poll that is being taken right now it looks like Barack Obama is going to be the 44th president and the first black president... I have already voted and I am looking forward to tomorrow night when the numbers start coming in and I am looking forward to seeing history made.

[Ryan Magby]

So recently I have only been writing about college football, well dont expect that to stop because it is about the only sport i am able or willing to watch right now... baseball is over, the Mavericks suck in basketball, the Stars aren't doing to well in hockey, and the Dallas Cowboys are not living up to the preseason hype, so I am just watching college football.... So with 3 weeks left in the regular season here are the top 5 in the BCS standings right now:

1. Alabama, 10-0, .981
2. Texas Tech, 10-0, .972
3. Texas, 9-1, .880
4. Florida, 8-1, .864
5. Oklahoma, 9-1, .844

Those are the teams that are fighting for a spot in the National title game, and in the final BCS standings on December 7th, the top 2 will make it.... So the next games of these teams are important... #1 Alabama (or as I will call them if i mention them again, bama) plays unranked Mississippi State... Should be an easy game, but they havent beat Miss. State in 3 years and havent scored an offensive touchdown against them since 2004... #2 Texas Tech (or Tech as i will call them) doesn't play this week, but their next game is huge and I will get to that later... #3 Texas plays at unranked Kansas, should be an easy win but it also could be a trap game... #4 Florida plays #23 South Carolina... #5 Oklahoma (or OU) doesn't play this week... This is where I come back to Tech, their next game is next weekend at #5 Oklahoma, and sadly I have to become a fan of my team's biggest rival, but in order for Texas to have any chance at the title game, Tech has to lose.... here is the huge key to that game, it is in Norman, Oklahoma (that is where the Univeristy of Oklahoma is).... Since OU head coach Bob Stoops took over 9 years ago, OU is 59-2 at home!! I have believed for several weeks now that OU will beat Tech, and I still do... Now if that happens then things get interesting (If you have a headache and have to stop reading I completly understand lol).. If OU beats Tech there would be a 3 way tie for first in the Big 12 south, and both teams have 1 game left... If it ends like that, there are tiebreakers in place to pick a team to go to the Big 12 championship game against the winner of the Big 12 north (Missouri)... There are several tiebreakers but it would all stay tied and go to like the 5th one which is, the team that is the highest ranked in the BCS on November 30th... If Tech loses, they fall behind Texas (which, I hate to say it, they shouldn't because they beat us), so it would depend on if OU jumps Texas (which they souldn't because we beat them), but they probably would because Tech is #2, that is a big win, and their last game is at #12 Oklahoma State, another big game... So that would put Oklahoma against Missouri in the Big 12 title game, if OU wins, they play for the National Title, if they lose, Texas does... All that took me about 10 minutes to work out with my best friend matt, who is a bigger Texas fan than I am... This is why they need a playoff system!

Another big thing happened this weekend with Texas. This past weekend they played at home against Baylor and won 45-21... It was the 829th win in school history, dating back to around 1885... The reason that is big is since Notre Dame lost this week, they stay at 829 wins, making a tie for 2nd all-time... Michigan is 1st with 872... This is the first time since 1939 that Michigan and ND were not the lone top 2 in that list... My guess is that Texas gets win 830 this week, and ND doesn't... The other big thing about the Texas win is that they went to 9-1 on the season, making this the 11th straight season with at least 9 wins.. That is the longest active streak right now, and tied for 4th all-time... The most is 33 by Nebraska (1969-2001).. If Texas wins one more game it will be their 8th straight season with at least 10 wins (also the longest active streak) and it would tie them for the 2nd longest streak all-time, just proving my statement that Texas is the best!

So now that I have made this really long I will end it now, I hope I didn't cause any major damage to anyone with this post, and I will probably have another one just like this in 2 weeks.



Days until President elect Barack Obama gets sworn into the White House: 70

[Ryan Magby]

Still No Respect

Well I will be talking about college football and the BS.. I mean BCS rankings that came out today. The Big 12 conference is the conference my favorite college, Texas, plays in. The conference is divided into the North and South divisions, Texas is in the South, with Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Baylor. The winner of each divison plays in the Big 12 championship game next Saturday. Missouri won the North division, and in the south there was a 3-way tie between Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma. There are several tiebreakers but none of them worked because all 3 teams have only 1 loss, and they are to each other... Oklahoma lost to Texas (HOOK 'EM), Texas lost to Texas Tech, and Texas Tech lost to Oklahoma.. The 5th tiebreaker is what it came down to, the team that was ranked highest in the BCS standings that came out today won the Big 12 South... Final standings for the 3 teams: Texas Tech-8th.. Texas-3rd... Oklahoma-2nd........ So Oklahoma gets the tiebreaker because of computers... There are 3 parts to the BCS, 2 human poll and computers... Last week Texas was #2 and OU was #3... The human polls both had OU ahead of Texas, the coaches poll had OU ahead by 42 points (which is quite a bit) and the Harris poll had OU ahead by 22 points... The computers had Texas ahead by a good enough margin to keep them #2... This week the OU lead in the coaches poll fell from 42 points to 1 point.. In the Harris poll Texas actually jumped OU and led by 6 points... But the computer went in OU's favor and big time... Last week the overall lead for Texas in the BCS was .008 (The best you can have is 1.000).. The computers swung so much that this week the OU lead is more than that, .012.... Even though Texas beat OU on a neutral field 45-35!. Some Texas students made a website to try and sway voters, the site is www.45-35.com... This is just one of the many times where college football has screwed something up.... Well Im done ranting, now I just hope Missouri beats Oklahoma next week.