So, I've decided to do my own twist on the popular bucket list, sports edition! Throughout the series there will be different topics. For example this edition features Sporting Events. - What can I say, I was inspired by the Super Bowl ;) - Still brainstorming other topics, but I can tell you to be on the lookout for a few others: Sporting Venues (Read MLB Here!) Rivalry Games College Towns & More to come! For now, I hope y'all enjoy my bucket list of sporting events! Let's start with the obvious1. Super Bowl By now you all probably know that I prefer college football over the NFL, but every year for the past three or four years I've paid more and more attention to the NFL. The Super Bowl is just one of those unique events that, I think, most sports fans would agree is a dream event to attend. I guess the only down fall is that you miss Super Bowl commercials if you're actually in the stadium.. I think I could live with that though. 2. World Series Hello, if you don't know by now, I have an obsession with baseball and have been known to watch MLB playoff games during class, work, family dinners, or to skip stuff all together and watch the game instead.. Yeah, don't count on me being anywhere in October if my team is in the playoffs.. Anyways, the World Series, what a dream come true to be sitting in the stadium, game 7, bottom of the 9th, down a run, two outs. Sure you could see your team win or lose, but it would be LIVE! The environment inside a sporting venue cannot be topped by a family home, local bar, or following along on Twitter. To be in the seats for the World Series would just make the excitement of the MLB Playoffs that much sweeter. Side Note: If I could rewind time I'd spend all of my college tuition money on a ticket to Game 6 of the 2011 World Series. #Amazing #DavidFreeseIsStillMyHero 3. College Football Championship There are few things in this world I enjoy more than watching a college football game in a stadium. Add tailgating to that and it's REALLY hard for me to think of things that top it. - I've been a Mizzou fan through good and bad. Heck just the years I was a student at Mizzou were a roller coaster! 2012 = bad, 2013 & 2014 = SEC East Champs, 2015 = Painful, 2016 = Better? But still painful. With all things considered, I've been there to rush the field after beating A&M in 2013 and I've been there when we lost a heartbreaker to Georgia this year and an embarrassing loss to Middle Tennessee. Ya know what? I was right back at Faurot for the next home game either way! If that next game were a National Championship I can't even imagine the experience that would be! -- Now, I'm a realist and even though I have high hopes for my alma mater, I don't expect to be heading to the Natty to watch them in the next couple years. - As long as the National Championship I'm watching isn't Kansas vs Baylor or Tennessee vs Florida State, I'd still be ecstatic about being there! Now, the not so obvious.. (I think..)4. Summer Olympics Because they aren't a yearly occurrence, I think a lot of people want to attend the Olympics, but that's not my reason. The Olympics are so special because most of these athletes aren't going back to play one of the major American sports and most aren't coming back to million dollar yearly salaries. They've trained, sometimes, their entire lives for this one chance that may or may not ever happen again. Gymnasts are the ones that really stick out in my mind. One bad routine could ruin their Olympic hopes that they've trained 15+ years for. That's insane! - It's also telling to hear people like Keri Walsh-Jennings talk about her Olympic runs and what the Olympics mean to her. The passion and love for their sport is amazing. It's not just Team USA's stories that make me want to attend an Olympics, all countries have these stories and this passion. It would be really cool to see that live. 5. College GameDay Okay, okay y'all probably can tell how much I like College GameDay (and Sam Ponder), so it might not be that surprising.. but watch College GameDay and tell me that doesn't look like one of the most fun environments you've ever seen! I want to attend so bad! Unfortunately it never made it to Columbia, MO while I was here, but here's to hoping they'll make it to my graduate school during my two years with them! 6. ESPYs I used to think the ESPYs were just a night for elite athletes to continue to get praised (& hey I'm not dissing that because I praise athletes, no shame), so I didn't pay much attention to them. I could just watch SportsCenter every now and then and hear the same stuff right? Wrong. - There are athlete and team awards, yes, but the people they honor and award who have faced adversity and difficult times are what have drawn me to watch the ESPYs the last couple years. Sure it's a great place to see your favorite stars, but it would be really inspiring to see and hear the speeches after they honor people like Leah and Devon Stills, Stuart Scott, Craig Sager, and many more. 7. College World Series - Baseball We all know my love for baseball and when I remember it, I watch college baseball as much as I can. It's not the big names, but if you watch some of those names in college will be in the Big Leagues shortly (hey, hey Dansby Swanson!). Plus, it's another chance for that Cinderella to show up and win it all. What Coastal Carolina did last year was fun to watch! That left fielder became my favorite human for a couple days.. - I've heard Omaha is a great place to be during the CWS, so I'd like to experience it at least once! 8. College World Series - Softball As for softball, well I played softball for 12 years, it had, has, and will always have a special place in my heart. As much as I love baseball, I like watching college softball more. It's so fast paced, amazing defense, dominate pitching. Ah, I'm getting excited for the season to start just talking about it! The CWS has the best of the best and it seems like every May, every game played at the CWS is a good game. I watch as much as I can on tv, but I'd love to just head down to Ofor the week. Maybe some day! 9. Either Olympic Gymnastics Trials or College Gymnastics Championships Gymnasts are amazing, end of story. The athleticism and strength they have is unreal. I can just watch an entire meet and be in awe. Some may not agree, but I think watching a full day of championship gymnastics is something I want to do (at least) once in my life. 10. MLB All-Star Game.. & Home-Run Derby.. & Celebrity All-Star Game.. The MLB has a good thing going with the All-Star Game, and I pray it stays good with the, now non-existing, home field advantage rule. People actually get excited for All-Star Weekend, fans and players! The events are a great chance to see the best against the best and to see players take the game a little less seriously than they do during the regular season. I love watching the Homerun Derby and see all the players with their kids hanging out, it's a side of those guys you don't see a lot. Unfortunately I didn't make it to All-Star Festivities in St. Louis OR Kansas City so I guess I'll be traveling to a new part of the country to partake in these events! Is your bucket list of sporting events the same? What ones would you add?
Leave the comments below, I'd love to hear from y'all!
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Four teams, that's it. I know it's only the second year and starting small is usually a good idea, but there needs to be more teams in. I mean if Clemson or Washington would have lost this weekend there could have been a scenario where three Big 10 teams were in and one SEC team. I'm not saying "Oh every conference deserves a team so it's fair!", nope, I'm just saying that it would be nice to have more than four teams.. more games.. more opportunities.. So I have some thoughts & ideas, here they are: 1. an 8 team playoff would be the best fit. I mean don't get me wrong, a 10, 12, 20 team playoff would be great but with time constraints it just isn't realistic. 2. Give an automatic bid to each of the Power 5 conferences. SEC, Big 12, Big 10, ACC & Pac 12 automatically get someone in. Their conference champion would seem like the obvious choice, but then you have the situation like the Big 10 this year and, well it doesn't seem like just being the conference champ is always the best answer. So, do you give it to the conference champion or do you let the selection committee pick the team from each conference? Most of the time it'll be the champ, but at least having the selection committee pick the team would give them some wiggle room if an instance like the current Big 10 or even if they needed to think a little more about a team if, for instance, Washington would have lost to Colorado Friday. 3. Two "wild card" spots. Whatever conference, it could even be two from the same conference. The trick is how to rank them and decide? There is no way to play everyone so it's back to the strength of schedule and records. Unlike the MLB, NFL, NHL, etc. there is no way to play everyone or play people multiple times so these wild card teams would have to be selected similar to the current system. Yeah there is going to be room for error and doubt, but this current system has A LOT of doubt so it can't be worse right? 4. The name for this hasn't come to me yet, so for now we'll call it the ultimate wild card. There will almost always be that Cinderella team that is undefeated with a weaker scheduled or has a strong schedule but isn't in a Power 5 conference. Let's give them a chance to get in. Now I know that Western Michigan is undefeated this year and I know that their shot of beating a Bama or an Ohio State is really small, so even though their record is great they shouldn't be in the playoff. This spot is more geared toward a school like Houston (if they would have performed like they were expected to pre-season). Or what about a Notre Dame/BYU? There has to be a way for these teams to get in if the correct situation presented itself. If it is a year like this year, then this spot just rolls into the third wild card spot, or give Western Michigan a chance if you want! Look at what Cinderella's do in March Madness, heck Coastal Carolina won NCAA Baseball this past year. It can be done. Each of these games would be a "bowl game" that way your bowls still get their money. I don't know everything about the bowl set-up, but I know there is money there that the bowls don't want to lose and the NCAA/CFP doesn't want to lose, so they'll make it work I'm sure. There ya have it. My proposal for expanding the College Football Playoff. After this year and the selection committee clearly having no clear way of selecting, I think it is obvious it needs to be expanded and there need to be some rules.
Let the complaining about who is in and bowl game placement begin! Keep Rolling with the #1 Seed Bama!Alabama is the only Power 5 school that does not have a loss. Does anyone believe they SHOULDN'T be #1? I'd love to hear your argument.. Sure, you can say that the SEC may not be the strongest conferences this year or that other schools have had a tougher schedule, but Bama hasn't really even been in a close game thus far. LSU may have been their closest game, but even for that one I think we all could tell Bama was going to win fairly early in the second half. The other schools in the top 4 all have a loss AND they've been in close games that they've won. I just don't see how anyone can honestly argue with the #1 being the Crimson Tide. Urban Meyer, Oh I Mean Ohio State, at #2How about we take a look at their season, briefly, game by game? - The first two weeks (Bowling Green and Tulsa), yeah those were blow outs and no comment really there. - Third week they had Oklahoma and won 45-24. If we've learned anything about Oklahoma during their Big 12 schedule, it is that they don't really have a defense (looked a little better last week though). I wouldn't be rewarding OSU's offense for the 45 points in this game, but holding the Sooners to 24 is an impressive thing to add to their resume. - Week four, bye week. - Weeks five and six, again, were games they were expected to win. Rutgers was a total blowout (58-0) and Indiana was a comfortable win (38-17). - Week seven, a 30-23 win over Wisconsin. Another impressive win to add to their resume. Winning that game put them atop the Big 10 for sure. - Week eight, upset by Penn State. Granted this game was 24-21, it is still a loss and not a real positive note for Meyer's Buckeyes. - Week nine, yeah if anyone can explain to me how the heck Ohio State only won 24-20 against Northwestern that would be great! I think this game should be circled and brought up in all ranking conversation for sure! - Week ten was against Nebraska and the score does nothing to show why this performance was the way it was. OSU won 62-3, but Nebraska's QB came out with a scary (potential) injury. They weren't the same after that. So, while having a blowout over the number 10 ranked team is good, I don't think the score shows the full story. - Week eleven was a 62-3 win over Maryland. No big story here with this one. Their remaining games are Michigan State and Michigan, plus the potential of the Big 10 Championship. I don't like Ohio State in the #2 spot, but their strength of schedule is tougher than Michigan's, maybe that justifies it? Is there a Harbaugh Curse?Have y'all heard the story behind Michigan's loss to Iowa? Harbaugh was the QB during the last Michigan loss to Iowa and that same day the #2, #3, and #4 lost, just like they did this week. There was more to the story, but that was the simple version. Michigan could have, and should have, won the Iowa game. It is a huge blemish to their CFP resume, but it happened and can't go back now! Their schedule doesn't really have any heavy hitters in it except for their OSU and Wisconsin games. They did play Colorado early in the season, I believe when Colorado was ranked, but Michigan won that game 45-28. I guess my thought would be that Michigan got the #3 instead of #2 because of strength of schedule? -- Also, I'd love to point out that Michigan's QB is reportedly out for the season and I'm anxious to see how the rest of the year goes for them. I'm no Jim Harbaugh fan, but far from an Ohio State fan either. Guess we'll see how this all plays out! 3 Interceptions Don't Keep you in the #2 Spot..I'm not really sure when, why, or what has caused this, but I'm kind of quietly rooting for Clemson.. I think it's Dabo and Deshaun. I just like them. Anyways, Watson had 3 interceptions and they lost it on a late field goal. I'm trying to point out some quick stats, but they're actually shocking to me almost a week later! Watson was 52-70 with 580 yards, 3 TDs and 3 Interceptions. When I look at Peterman (Pitt) he was 22-37 with 308 yards and 5 TDs. 580 compared to 308?? 70 pass attempts?? I just don't even know what to say. Clemson has had close games throughout the season, which is a blemish on their resume in my opinion. I'm not saying they're Tennessee and should have lost 3 more games than they have, but Clemson has definitely pulled a few questionable wins. They need to be very careful with their remaining games. One more loss, or maybe even too close of a game, could ruin their chances. Good news for them, their last two games are Wake Forrest and South Carolina. Neither of those teams are even remotely comparable to the competition present for OSU or Michigan, having to play each other to finish out their schedule PLUS a conference championship game is rough. Additional Thoughts..1. Oklahoma - As you know from a few of my other articles, my dad is an Oklahoma fan and I can just see them SOMEHOW getting their way in the CFP. I like Baker, and Westbrook is a freak to watch, so I wouldn't be too upset about it. They're #9 so they keep crawling up the ladder! 2. Louisville - I just don't think it is in the cards for them. They lost to Clemson and their schedule just isn't set up to impress a selection committee. I have nothing else because I'm not going to act like a pro with a team I have only watched once. -- UPDATE: Louisville lost to Houston tonight (11/18), their chances are gone. It does present an interesting argument for Oklahoma's strength of schedule though since their loses are against a current #2 and a preseason ranked team that knocked off the current #5.. 3. I'm okay with Washington not being in. Maybe it's my indifference to the Pac-12, but I just don't feel like they are on the level the current top 4 are at. -- I especially find it hard when their fans said "We want Bama" during College GameDay.. riiiight Washington fans, keep dreaming. As always, leave your thoughts below or email me! I'd love to hear some feedback from you all!
Is anyone else confused by the CFP rankings? Anybody else wondering how the Pac-10 doesn't have a team (Washington) or how the Big 12's first team doesn't show up until #12? Better yet, how in the world did A&M get the #4?? Well here's my take on why and my opinion on the rankings. #2 Clemson: This one is a little different for me. I know that they are undefeated, and I know that they are a really good team. With that being said they have had some close games. Some close games that probably should not have been close. Although when you look at #3 and #4 of this ranking, one of them has also had some close games that shouldn't of been and one has a loss. On top of that, I've watched Clemson in the final minutes of a close game and they don't panic. Watson just carries on and gets the job done. It is impressive to watch and is something that comes to my mind when thinking about their rankings. In the end, I'm okay with the #2 ranking. #3 Michigan: Again, they've had some close games that shouldn't of been close, but they won. Wins are ultimately what matters and they've done that. They've still got Ohio State on their schedule and even though Ohio State's struggling a bit, that isn't an easy game by any means. Coach Harbaugh has done a job that's for sure. It isn't over but if they get past OSU and the rest of their schedule they're on their way to the CFP for sure. If they lose that OSU game, things get interesting.. #4 Texas A&M: This. This one makes ya scratch your head a little. After thinking about it what I've come up with is this.. 1. Their only loss is to #1 Alabama. Okay, can't hold that against them too much. 2. The Pac-12 isn't that strong. Washington's schedule isn't setting them apart from the rest so give it to a team that has a stronger schedule. 3. It's the SEC and sometimes, it appears, they are held a little higher than other conferences. Right or wrong, that is how it looks sometimes. It could be strength of schedule and how many ranked teams the SEC has, which I do understand, but others don't view it as fair.. those people probably aren't SEC fans ;) Now to counter those three points, here is why I don't agree with it. 1. Why is a one loss team ranked above a Pac-12 undefeated? 2. A&M nearly lost to Tennessee. If this was preseason Tennessee that everyone thought was going to win the SEC East, give Bama a run, and make the CFP then okay, but it isn't. This isn't that Tennessee at all. This Tennessee has won lucky game, after lucky game, then fell to A&M, fell to Bama, and fell to South Carolina! As I mentioned earlier, a win is a win, and ultimately the win against Tennessee is a win and that is what counts. I just can't help but think, is their one loss to Bama and near loss to Tennessee better than an unbeaten Washington or a one loss Ohio State? After A&M at #4 the rankings go #5 Washington, #6 Ohio State, #7 Louisville and #8 Wisconsin. The Big 12 doesn't show up until #12 with Oklahoma, not a surprise. There is lots of football left and I can't wait to see how it all plays out! In the meantime the selection committee surprised a lot of people with their rankings and I think they all can be both justified and questioned. In closing, who votes the College Football Playoffs need to be expanded?!
There NEEDS to be more than four teams! #TeamExpandtheCFP :) To be fair there were only a few games I watched or paid attention to, which were NC State vs Clemson, Oklahoma vs K-State, Mizzou vs Florida, Ohio State vs Wisconsin, and Alabama vs Tennessee. Needless to say, all games won't be addressed! 1. GameDay was at the Ohio State vs Wisconsin game, which originally I wasn't sure was the best place for it, but I was wrong! What. A. Game. -- Overtime football is always welcomed! :) 2. SEC East, Total Mess. Florida looks like they are going to win the East... somehow. Tennessee really got the worst SEC West schedule they possibly could this year, although after the way they've performed I think they've been incredibly overrated the whole time. Then there's Georgia, who somehow let Vandy beat them. On second thought, is anyone really surprised by that? Their UNC, Nicholls, and Mizzou games were lucky wins for them, how they remained ranked for so long is a mystery. 3. SEC West, well it looks like Bama is as dominate as their #1 ranking suggests. After their win against Tennessee it appears they're still a notch above the rest, BUT they get A&M next weekend and I can't wait to see how that one goes! Will it be Roll Tide or Gig'Em?? 4. The score bounces back and fourth the entire game, it's tied at the end of regulation because the kicker misses a field goal attempt in the final seconds, game ends 24-17 after a touchdown in overtime. Very brief synopsis of how the Clemson vs. NC State game went. Except it's probably also important to note that this game was between the #3 ranked team and an unranked team, AT #3's field, ON homecoming. Clemson escapes, but barely. Dabo falling to the ground as NC State's kicker misses the field goal is something we all should watch a few times though. 5. Oklahoma and K-State went about as expected. DeDe Westbrook had some impressive stats, but Mayfield wasn't nearly as excited after TDs as he was last week against Texas (seriously, go look up those videos!). OU has Texas Tech next week and then Kansas, they may have the Big 12 on lock looking at the rest of their schedule.. Other opinions or noteworthy games/plays? Leave them in the comments!
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