A Long Weekend...

After something of a long week, thanks to the Sean Taylor situation, the weekend contained more ridiculous drama than should be allowed in a year.

We start with the simple (and happy...for me, at least). Indiana's basketball team did something that it just hasn't been able to do for several years: go on the road, against a ranked opponent, and win. No wonder it's cold outside, Hell must've frozen over. Since I'm feeling lazy right now, I'm not going to bother trying to find out the last time the Hoosiers beat a ranked opponent on the road, but I can tell you it's been a pretty long time. A little execution and a lot of defense made the difference for the Hoosiers, with the Salukis' game being symbolized by Randall Falker's airballed free throw in the first half. This was a great warmup for Big Ten road games and I have a lot more confidence in this team going into Big Ten play.

Also in the happy department, the Football Hoosiers have officially punched their tickets to Tempe, AZ, to play Oklahoma State in the Insight Bowl. Now, I really don't know much about Oklahoma State apart from this: they are 6-6, and 4-4 in the Big 12; they have Kellen Lewis' long-lost twin at quarterback, since this fellow has the same throw-and-run abilities as the Hoosier QB; their coach can become very angry when provoked sufficiently. I know I'll be in Tempe come December 31 and I'll be wearing my Cream and Crimson.

In more sour news, the Washington Redskins still stink more than a pound of limberger. I have a sinking feeling that the defining play of this season for the 'Skins will be Joe Gibbs calling an illegal second timeout in an attempt to ice Buffalo's kicker -- a decision which resulted in a fifteen yard penalty which moved the Bills from a 51-yard field goal to a 36-yarder. This will be the play that ends Joe Gibbs' head coaching career, which is something that I ultimately think will benefit the team. Joe Gibbs is more of a personnel guy and a businessman at this point, which makes him a perfect candidate for the general manager position -- a post Dan Snyder has refused to fill up until now. Gregg Williams, whose defense is so utterly brilliant even without Sean Taylor, has proven himself as a decent head coach when he had zero personnel in Buffalo. Al Saunders, who seems to have not gotten a decent chance to put his insane offense on the field because of Gibbs' intervention, needs to get full control of the offense so they can have a set system and a reduction of confusion.

In the more ridiculous, yet entirely obvious, the BCS is still the worst thing that ever happened to the world of collegiate sports. I pretty much entirely agree with the fact that LSU and Ohio State will be playing for the national championship, because those two teams play the best defense in the country. Everyone will say that Ohio State, who has not played in two weeks, doesn't deserve to be #1 because, well, they didn't play. Not playing turned out to be the reason Ohio State got in because you can't lose a game when you're not playing -- every other top-ranked team in the nation fell victim to the post-thanksgiving football game. My one surprise was that Virginia Tech, who came into the weekend ranked higher than LSU and also won their conference championship game, got shafted by the human polls and placed behind LSU.

Now, you may hear a noise coming from I-70 East between St. Louis and Indianapolis. That would be the sound of really, REALLY pissed-off Missouri fans marching on the NCAA headquarters with torches and pitchforks. How in the name of all that is good in this world did Mizzou get beat to the BCS bowls by Illinois and Kansas? Oh, by the way, Mizzou beat BOTH of these teams on neutral fields in very convincing fashion. Now, I can maybe understand Illinois, who have turned their football program around in huge fashion, getting put into the Rose Bowl because the folks in Pasadena absolutely love that annual Big Ten-Pac 10 matchup. But Kansas, who lost in Kansas City to Mizzou just a week ago and is ranked BELOW Mizzou in the final BCS poll, has absolutely no right to be in the Orange Bowl. Instead, while Mark Mangino eats every orange and grapefruit in the state of Florida (along with a few immigrant children or something), Missouri is sitting in Dallas saying, "What the hell?" The worst part of this whole deal for Mizzou is that the Big 12 has two teams in the BCS bowls and wont defend them in the same fashion as the SEC when Auburn was shafted out of the title game in 2004. The other worst part of this deal is that there aren't any computers to blame this time around -- the rankings got it right this time around. This is entirely the fault of the representatives from the Orange Bowl and the folks in the BCS offices who said, (Person A) "Well gee, Missouri lost this week and Kansas didn't." (Person B) "Wait, Kansas didn't play because they lost to Mizzou last week." (Person A) "You're fired."

That's my rant. Stay tuned for a preview of IU vs. Kentucky on the hardwood and the Insight Bowl. Later, folks.