stuff is cool

So, seeing that my friend Brett is doing so well with his “other” (non-personal) blog, The Cranking Widgets Blog (a Getting Things Done/productivity-centric blog), I thought I’d try one out as well and see how I fared. Much like he’s filling a niche that he saw, I’m going to try and do the same.

Oddly enough up until about 8 or 9 years ago I was really not much of a sports fan at all, yet here I am introducing Bayou City Sports Blog (BCSB), a blog I’m going to maintain which will report on news items regarding Houston-area sports and also have opinion pieces strewn about. Really right now I haven’t seen anything that fits that niche. There are some of the Chronicle columnists’ blogs, but those are pretty poorly structured and often only focused on one or two teams.

For now the layout is only so-so, as I just threw a theme on WordPress that seemed halfway-decent and made some very minor tweaks. I’ll work on making a logo and fixing up the layout a bit more, though mainly I’m going to focus on getting a good stream of content going and getting the word out. So, tell any Houston sports nut fans you know about it, and if they want to help write for it, have them drop me a line (there’s an email address on the “About” page on the site).

I know I haven’t been posting every week like I said, but I have been keeping my NFL power rankings each week, so fear not:

Rk(Prv)	Team			W-L	Score	Wk 17		Chg	Sc Chg
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1(1)	San Diego Chargers	14-2	 271.92	W v ARI		--	+32.06
2(3)	Baltimore Ravens	13-3	 248.05	W v BUF		+1	+38.98
3(2)	Chicago Bears		13-3	 205.82	L v GB		-1	 -5.70
4(5)	New England Patriots	12-4	 197.51	W @ TEN		+1	+41.99
5(4)	Indianapolis Colts	12-4	 192.37	W v MIA		-1	+26.23
6(7)	Philadelphia Eagles	10-6	 106.18	W v ATL		+1	+26.77
7(6)	New Orleans Saints	10-6	  92.85	L v CAR		-1	-10.34
8(8)	Dallas Cowboys		 9-7	  51.86	L v DET		--	-26.01
9(12)	New York Jets		10-6	  51.50	W v OAK		+3	+15.70
10(10)	Jacksonville Jaguars	 8-8	  47.62	L @ KC		--	 -1.64
11(13)	Kansas City Chiefs	 9-7	  42.32	W v JAC		+2	+13.87
12(9)	Denver Broncos		 9-7	  35.59	L v SF		-3	-18.07
13(15)	St Louis Rams		 8-8	  28.97	W @ MIN		+2	+26.21
14(11)	Cincinnati Bengals	 8-8	  27.07	L v PIT		-3	-17.54
15(16)	Pittsburgh Steelers	 8-8	   5.16	W @ CIN		+1	+18.07
16(17)	New York Giants		 8-8	  -3.42	W @ WAS		+1	+13.58
17(23)	Green Bay Packers	 8-8	  -6.51	W @ CHI		+6	+34.93
18(19)	Seattle Seahawks	 9-7	  -6.57	W @ TB		+1	+19.37
19(14)	Tennessee Titans	 8-8	 -15.64	L v NE		-5	-29.14
20(24)	Carolina Panthers	 8-8	 -20.99	W @ NO		+4	+22.24
21(18)	Atlanta Falcons		 7-9	 -37.77	L @ PHI		-3	-19.51
22(21)	Miami Dolphins		 6-10	 -50.92	L @ IND		-1	-15.27
23(20)	Buffalo Bills		 7-9	 -53.09	L @ BAL		-3	-22.15
24(22)	Minnesota Vikings	 6-10	 -64.83	L v STL		-2	-24.87
25(25)	San Francisco 49ers	 7-9	 -79.29	W @ DEN		--	+14.72
26(28)	Houston Texans		 6-10	-110.99	W v CLE		+2	 +2.76
27(26)	Arizona Cardinals	 5-11	-121.56	L @ SD		-1	-18.40
28(27)	Washington Redskins	 5-11	-137.39	L v NYG		-1	-34.18
29(29)	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	 4-12	-199.48	L v SEA		--	-35.04
30(30)	Cleveland Browns	 4-12	-210.44	L @ HOU		--	-43.68
31(31)	Detroit Lions		 3-13	-218.60	W @ DAL		--	 +9.18
32(32)	Oakland Raiders		 2-14	-284.45	L @ NYJ		--	-41.95

The top 9 teams all make the playoffs, and 11, 16, and 18 join them. Perhaps not surprisingly, 16 and 18 are from the NFC. First round playoff predictions according to the rankings have Dallas knocking off Seattle, Indy over KC, Philly over the Giants, and New England over the Jets.

Now, if you are a college football fan (or just a football fan in general) and you didn’t stay up to watch what looked like Boise State’s drubbing of Oklahoma, you missed at least the best game of the Bowl season so far if not the best college bowl game in quite some time, probably topping Texas/USC last year, though obviously not as meaningful; though it might not be quite as good as the Miami/Ohio State game from 2003, but it’s probably more fun to watch.

For you sports fans who haven’t heard about it yet, it goes something like this. Boise State is up 28-10 well into the third quarter, with no real sign of stopping though Oklahoma did start to slow them down a bit. Oklahoma scores 18 unanswered points to tie the game with 1:26 left in the game. Already the game was shaping up to be a very interesting one, with Oklahoma’s offense finally putting things together. Boise State gets the ball back and on the very first play Oklahoma intercepts the ball and runs it back 34 yards for a touchdown to take the lead 35-28 with just over a minute left (1:02). Oklahoma had held Boise State scoreless for the previous 22 minutes of the game, so they had to be pretty confident that they could hold for one more minute.

Boise State started from their own 20, and immediately struck with a 36 yard pass deep to the left side, getting them into Oklahoma territory. Then, Oklahoma’s defense stepped it up, sacking Zabransky for an 8 yard loss, followed by two incomplete passes. It was 4th and 18 from about midfield, and less than 20 seconds on the clock. Even if they converted, they’d only have time for one or two more plays after that at best. Oklahoma was playing “soft” to prevent Boise State from getting the first down. They’d gladly give up a 12-15 yard play as long as it meant that Boise State wouldn’t break it for a long play. Zabransky took the snap and sent a pass 15 yards down the left sideline to Drisan James, a couple yards shy of the first down. Several OU defenders immediately close on James, ready to take him down and win the ball game. Knowing that this meant the game, James cut back looking like he was going to try to beat all of those defenders, and as he cut towards the middle of the field he turned and lateraled it to another receiver, Jerard Rabb, in full stride who at least had the speed and position to get the first down and get out of bounds further down field. But, instead he had a running lane and took it to the house. Tie game, 35-35. We head to overtime.

Boise State as the visiting team got to call the coin toss. They win the toss and, as most teams do, elected to go second. Oklahoma’s drive ends almost as soon as it begins. Adrian Peterson immediately runs the ball in 25 yards for the touchdown on the first play of OT, and Oklahoma converts the extra point to take the lead 42-35 in the first OT. Boise State begins their drive by getting stuffed, and then getting a small gain to set up 3rd and long. Zabransky got the first down on a 9 yard dump pass across the middle, saving the game for now. With first and ten now, Boise State ran it twice and got it to 3rd-and-1 (to get the 1st down they had to get to about the 3 yard line). Their RB Ian Johnson tried to pound the ball up the middle but got stuffed for a 1 yard loss, setting up 4th and 2 from the 5. Boise State WR Vinny Peretta lined up alongside the QB Zabransky in the backfield and then Zabransky went in motion wide left (and arguably should have been called for illegal forward motion as the ball was snapped, but that’s somewhat irrelevant). Peretta received the direct snap and Oklahoma collapsed in on him but Peretta lofted the ball over the top perfectly to WR Derek Schouman for the touchdown. Instead of kicking the extra point to tie, Boise State decides to go for two to win it. Zabransky took the snap, transferred the ball into his left hand, faked a screen pass to the right with his right hand while holding the ball back behind his back for Ian Johnson to run it in to the left side for the 2pt conversion and the game.

And to top it all off, Johnson not only scored the winning 2pt conversion for Boise State, he then proposed to his girlfriend, the captain of the cheerleading squad, on national television.

Unfortunately, I haven’t found a good video of the highlights of the end of regulation, but here’s a Google Video link with the OT highlights: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=163885453571558914

See it on YouTube or watch it below:

Found this thanks to an email sent to the Houston Ultimate mailing list. Thought I’d share with my blog readers who are unfamiliar with ultimate. It really is a real sport!

By the way, I play with the guy who slides into the trash can near the start of the video

Other than that my favorite part is right after the two-minute mark, where it slows the video down for a bit. A few guys are going for a disc in the end zone and it gets tipped out of bounds but one guy leaps from in bounds, flips it behind him with a no-look (known as a “greatest”) and his teammate catches it for the score. There’s another greatest in the video later on but we don’t see if it gets completed.

edit: for some reason the YouTube “post this video” thing isn’t working. I’ll try and figure it out so you can just watch it here on this page instead of having to click the link. FIXED

I need to start writing things between these so it doesn’t look like this is just a football blog

But here we go, some shakeups a-brewing:

Rk(Prv) Team			W-L	Pts	Week 11		Move	Pt Chg
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1(2)	Chicago Bears		9-1	127.22	W @ NYJ		+1	 31.28
2(1)	Indianapolis Colts	9-1	120.38	L @ DAL		-1	 -1.99
3(4)	San Diego Chargers	8-2	101.96	W @ DEN		+1	 29.64
4(3)	Baltimore Ravens	8-2	101.37	W v ATL		-1	 27.62
5(6)	New England Patriots	7-3	 67.09	W @ GB		+1	 24.21
6(5)	Denver Broncos		7-3	 57.92	L v SD		-1	 -0.76
7(10)	Dallas Cowboys		6-4	 52.54	W v IND		+3	 27.70
8(11)	Jacksonville Jaguars	6-4	 39.21	W v NYG		+3	 22.66
9(12)	Kansas City Chiefs	6-4	 30.33	W v OAK		+3	 14.28
10(7)	New York Giants		6-4	 26.86	L @ JAC		-3	-13.87
11(16)	Carolina Panthers	6-4	 20.24	W v STL		+5	 16.79
12(18)	Cincinnati Bengals	5-5	 12.63	W @ NO		+6	 21.07
13(9)	Philadelphia Eagles	5-5	 10.39	L v TEN		-4	-14.54
14(8)	New Orleans Saints	6-4	  8.91	L v CIN		-6	-16.18
15(14)	Atlanta Falcons		5-5	  7.80	L @ BAL		-1	 -2.31
16(15)	St Louis Rams		4-6	 -4.10	L @ CAR		-1	 -8.52
17(13)	Seattle Seahawks	6-4	 -7.86	L @ SF		-4	-22.00
18(17)	New York Jets		5-5	-12.87	L v CHI		-1	-11.13
19(22)	San Francisco 49ers	5-5	-17.21	W v SEA		+3	 16.00
20(23)	Miami Dolphins		4-6	-25.86	W v MIN		+3	 10.58
21(19)	Minnesota Vikings	4-6	-29.61	L @ MIA		-2	-14.12
22(23)	Pittsburgh Steelers	4-6	-29.73	W @ CLE		-1	  3.20
23(25)	Buffalo Bills		4-6	-35.41	W @ HOU		+2	  5.56
24(20)	Green Bay Packers	4-6	-41.05	L v NE		-4	-19.37
25(28)	Tennessee Titans	3-7	-53.47	W @ PHI		+3	  8.59
26(24)	Washington Redskins	3-7	-59.68	L @ TB		-2	-19.51
27(26)	Cleveland Browns	3-7	-65.74	L v PIT		-1	-19.79
28(30)	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	3-7	-69.96	W v WAS		+2	 -1.99
29(27)	Houston Texans		3-7	-70.57	L v BUF		-2	-18.70
30(32)	Arizona Cardinals	2-8	-82.41	W v DET		+2	  3.90
31(31)	Oakland Raiders		2-8	-91.85	L @ KC		--	-22.36
32(29)	Detroit Lions		2-8	-92.72	L @ ARI		-3	-30.10

The Cincy/NO game proved huge for both of them as Cincy went up 6 spots and NO went down 6. At first I thought that was a bit much but then it turns out NO was kind of teetering where it was at #8 anyway and just got passed by everyone below them.

Indy falls off their perch and Chicago takes over again, though Baltimore and SD are breathing down their necks. After that, nobody’s even close. On the other end of things, Oakland and Detroit are essentially sharing last place with the Lions losing at Arizona.

Rk(Prv) Team			W-L	Pts	Week 10		Moved
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1(1)	Indianapolis Colts	9-0	122.37	W vs BUF	--
2(2)	Chicago Bears		8-1	95.94	W at NYG	--
3(3)	Baltimore Ravens	7-2	73.75	W at TEN	--
4(4)	San Diego Chargers	7-2	72.31	W at CIN	--
5(5)	Denver Broncos		7-2	58.68	W at OAK	--
6(6)	New England Patriots	6-3	42.88	L vs NYJ	--
7(7)	New York Giants		6-3	40.73	L vs CHI	--
8(8)	New Orleans Saints	6-3	25.09	L at PIT	--
9(13)	Philadelphia Eagles	5-4	24.93	W vs WAS	+4
10(12)	Dallas Cowboys		5-4	24.84	W at ARI	+2
11(9)	Jacksonville Jaguars	5-4	16.55	L vs HOU	-2
12(10)	Kansas City Chiefs	5-4	16.05	L at MIA	-2
13(15)	Seattle Seahawks	6-3	14.15	W vs STL	+2
14(11)	Atlanta Falcons		5-4	10.11	L vs CLE	-3
15(14)	St Louis Rams		4-5	4.43	L at SEA	-1
16(18)	Carolina Panthers	5-4	3.45	W vs TB		+2
17(19)	New York Jets		5-4	-1.74	W at NE		+2
18(17)	Cincinnati Bengals	4-5	-8.43	L vs SD		-1
19(16)	Minnesota Vikings	4-5	-15.49	L vs GB		-3
20(21)	Green Bay Packers	4-5	-21.68	W at MIN	+1
21(24)	Pittsburgh Steelers	3-6	-32.93	W vs NO		+3
22(25)	San Francisco 49ers	4-5	-33.21	W at DET	+3
23(26)	Miami Dolphins		3-6	-36.44	W vs KC		+3
24(20)	Washington Redskins	3-6	-40.17	L at PHI	-4
25(22)	Buffalo Bills		3-6	-40.98	L at IND	-3
26(28)	Cleveland Browns	3-6	-45.95	W at ATL	+2
27(30)	Houston Texans		3-6	-51.88	W at JAC	+3
28(29)	Tennessee Titans	2-7	-62.07	L vs BAL	+1
29(23)	Detroit Lions		2-7	-62.62	L vs SF		-6
30(27)	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	2-7	-67.97	L at CAR	-3
31(32)	Oakland Raiders		2-7	-69.49	L vs DEN	+1
32(31)	Arizona Cardinals	1-8	-86.31	L vs DAL	-1

No movement in the top 8 and movement in general is sort of settling down as one might expect later on in the season. The biggest mover is Detroit who dropped 6 spots after losing to a bad team at home to fall amont the bottom 5 teams in the league. The Texans, in spite of beating what was a top 10 team twice now, are still the worst 3-win team in the NFL which kind of surprises me, but then I remember that they lost to Tennessee and that sort of tempers my surprise a little bit

Pro teams:

• Houston Rockets W over defending NBA Champion Miami Heat on the road, 94-72
• Houston Texans W over Jacksonville Jaguars on the road (they were undefeated at home this season prior to this game and we were winless on the road for the past two years), 13-10
• Houston Dynamo W over New England Revolution in the MLS Cup in Frisco, TX to take the league championship in the club’s first year in Houston, 1-1 (4-3 PK)

College teams:

• University of Houston Cougars W over SMU in Dallas, 37-27
• Rice Owls W over Tulsa on the road, 41-38 in OT

Given the relatively small amount of overlap between the football and basketball seasons with the soccer season I imagine that was the first weekend that these teams all won simultaneously. What’s more, these wins were all on the road, though you could say that the crowd at the Dynamo game likely heavily favored “La Naranja”.

But, I’m excited for all of these teams. I’m glad to see the Rockets performing well in spite of McGrady having yet to really find his stroke (Yao Ming is the early-season MVP candidate if you ask me). I’m ecstatic that the Dynamo took the Cup and Meg and I absolutely need to go to several more games this coming season, and would love to go with friends and family if interested. The Texans have more wins already this season than they did all last season, and while I’d like to see them beat someone other than Jacksonville, at least they’re playing better especially on the defensive end. Sadly, the two Conference USA teams in town are only likely to get more attention locally because the Texas Longhorns lost to Kansas State this past weekend and effectively kissed their BCS Championship hopes goodbye. I think it’s crazy that Rice has a good shot at going to a bowl game this year after a one-win season last year, but of course crazy in a very good way

In sadder news, Trinity’s football team lost to Millsaps this weekend, meaning that Trinity will not be the SCAC champions this year, ending a 13-year streak; and Trinity men’s soccer lost in the 2nd round of the playoffs, handing them their only loss this year (they finished 19-1-1); and Trinity women’s soccer also lost in the 2nd round of the playoffs for their only loss of the year, finishing 16-1-2. Unfortunately, while it was a great weekend for Houston sports it was a notably bad weekend for Trinity sports.

So, for any of you pro football fans out there, here are my handy-dandy power rankings for Week 10 using my not-so-patented formula (which I may write a post about soon after this):

Rk(Prv) Team			W-L	Pts	Week 9		Moved
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1(1)	Indianapolis Colts      8-0	108.48	W at NE		--
2(2)	Chicago Bears           7-1	 71.40	L vs MIA	--
3(4)	Baltimore Ravens	6-2	 64.42	W vs CIN	+1
4(5)	San Diego Chargers	6-2	 56.22	W vs CLE	+1
5(7)	Denver Broncos		6-2	 55.36	W at PIT	+2
6(3)	New England Patriots	6-2	 49.26	L vs IND	-3
7(6)	New York Giants		6-2	 45.68	W vs HOU	-1
8(9)	New Orleans Saints	6-2	 34.77	W vs TB		+1
9(12)	Jacksonville Jaguars	5-3	 29.93	W vs TEN	+3
10(16)	Kansas City Chiefs	5-3	 23.49	W at STL	+6
11(8)	Atlanta Falcons		5-3	 21.47	L at DET	-3
12(11)	Dallas Cowboys		4-4	 12.33	L at WAS	-1
13(15)	Philadelphia Eagles	4-4	 11.24	  bye		+2
14(10)	St Louis Rams		4-4	  9.11	L vs KC		-4
15(17)	Seattle Seahawks	5-3	  9.11	W vs OAK	+2
16(14)	Minnesota Vikings	4-4	  0.37	L at SFO	-2
17(13)	Cincinnati Bengals	4-4	  0.18	L at BAL	-4
18(18)	Carolina Panthers	4-4	 -7.68	  bye		--
19(19)	New York Jets		4-4	-12.94	  bye		--
20(22)	Washington Redskins	3-5	-23.80	W vs DAL	+2
21(20)	Green Bay Packers	3-5	-32.04	L at BUF	-1
22(25)	Buffalo Bills		3-5	-32.86	W vs GB		+3
23(28)	Detroit Lions		2-6	-41.65	W vs ATL	+5
24(21)	Pittsburgh Steelers	2-6	-42.24	L vs DEN	-3
25(29)	San Francisco 49ers	3-5	-43.38	W vs MIN	+4
26(31)	Miami Dolphins		2-6	-45.81	W at CHI	+5
27(23)	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	2-6	-47.94	L vs NO		-4
28(26)	Cleveland Browns	2-6	-52.83	L at SD		-2
29(24)	Tennessee Titans	2-6	-53.20	L at JAC	-5
30(30)	Houston Texans		2-6	-59.53	L at NYG	--
31(32)	Arizona Cardinals	1-7	-61.17	  bye		+1
32(27)	Oakland Raiders		2-6	-61.67	L at SEA	-5

Kansas City jumps quite a bit, taking out what was the top-ranked 4-3 team from last week, jumping into the top 10. Oakland’s dismal offense drops them below even the Cardinals, and the Dolphins get off the cellar door by taking out the Bears. The Ravens continue to do well in spite of a somewhat suspect offense (though Jamal Lewis seems to be coming around, perhaps), though their defense is so good just about any old offense will do. They’re sort of the anti-Colts.

I’ll publish these week-to-week for the rest of the season.