If you're one of the five people who've read my posts so far here on Stadium Drives (hi mom!), you might have noticed the occasional soccer reference. The truth is, I'm completely obsessed with the game. But, at the same time I'm relatively new to the whole thing. World Cup 2006 got me on board and I've been scouring message boards and comment threads ever since. I've learned a lot in the past four years, and it seems only appropriate to pass on my knowledge. And if I get called queer by Cohron a few times in the process, so be it.

In case you didn't know, the World Cup is less than four months away. I'm so excited I just peed a little bit writing that last sentence. With this, my first post in a series leading up to the Cup I'm going to answer some questions from the SD crew.

Why does everybody care so much about the national teams? (me) Good question, Gage! Those of you with Olympic fever (get well soon) don't need an explanation here, but it comes down to is national pride and tradition. Soccer was invented in the 19th century in England and some of the very first organized matches were between England and Scotland, so it goes way back. The one other factor that I really love is how none of my favorite players can ever change teams. Money dominates soccer in the leagues and players change teams constantly. But, your favorite countrymen can't and never will never play for a rival country. So, when Landon Donovan takes a leak on the field in Mexico, you know he means it.

Does the USA have a legitimate chance of winning?
No, nope, not a chance. If you can't get over that, you're not going to be able to enjoy the World Cup. I certainly hope I'm wrong, but the US team is improving every year, but still not quite ready to challenge for the title. In future posts the line I'll get into the players, strengths and weaknesses to make it more clear.

Okay, besides USA, who else should I root for? (mlb)

(Click Read More..)

It's no wonder Tiger Woods has mystified his fellow golfers for so long on the course. The guy is harder to read than a 75-foot downhill putt.

To be fair, I don't know what I expected out of Tiger's Friday press conference. But I don't think I expected to feel an contradictory mix of both sympathy and cynicism for a man who literally turned the sports world on its ear three months ago.

Now in the realm of sports apologies, it certainly wasn't the worst. Tiger owned up to his mistakes, never blaming anyone but himself for his infidelity. He used the words "I'm sorry" repeatedly, apologizing to everyone from his family to his sponsors to his fans. He admitted he felt entitled by his fame and fortune, and confided in the gathered audience that he felt like the normal rules of society didn't apply to him, a refreshingly honest admission by an athlete in today's world.

Yet, despite all of this, there was still a voice in the back of my head, wondering "Is this real?" Perhaps its the cynic in me that has grown jaded from years of watching athletes and celebrities abuse the rules and then have their secretary or lawyer issue a press release to explain their behavior. But the entire time I listened to Tiger, I never believed that he was ready to fully embrace the consequences of his actions.

Of course, my doubts started with the press conference itself, which was essentially a handpicked group of media members and supporters, none of whom were permitted questions. This enabled Tiger to say what he wanted, without being sidetracked by inquiries or details that may have conflicted with his story. Thus, he comes off as apologetic, without really releasing any information that wasn't carefully planned and plotted out long before. If he truly wanted to clear the air and put this issue to rest, he failed miserably. When you go to great lengths to control the information released, it implies that there is information you don't want to be released, which only enhances the speculation about what it could be.

FWP (Fearless Weekend Predictions) is a (hopefully) weekly post that we used to run at our old site every Friday after college football season. It gives one of your favorite StadiumDrives writers a chance to look into the crystal ball, or the bottom of a beer bottle, to see what the forthcoming weekend holds. It's also another post that will utilize the efficiency of bullet points. As always, please take all picks as novelty and do not gamble your rent check on them, unless you feel really strongly about a certain one.

The UK Wildcats travel to Nashville tomorrow to play Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium (not to be confused with Memorial Coliseum in Lexington where the Wildcats used to practice). Vanderbilt is home to a bunch of nerds who now think they are cool because everyone else at the school was a nerd in high school as well. You should really visit there sometime to see them "tailgate" before a football game. Imagine lots of pastel-colored shorts, lots of crocheted belts and many bar hats. For the most part, the girls aren't attractive (except you baby... you know who you are), but might be worth baby-trapping because they'll probably be rich later in life. Plus, if they're at Vandy, daddy probably has some money. Alas, I digress. I don't mean to rip on nerds, I mean to rip on Vandy's ridiculous gym setup. I used to run a youth basketball league. For kids ages 6-9, we would play cross-court, so we could have two games going on at once. Because of this, we would set up the team benches under the goals for space reasons. If you've ever seen a game played at Vanderbilt, you also know that Vanderbilt also sets up the benches under the goals. Do you see what you've done, Vandy? You have set up your gym to resemble a mediocre youth basketball league run by a hungover 22 year-old college kid. Is this what Cornelius Vanderbilt had in mind when he started your university? Is it? Is it??? Put your benches on the side of the court like everyone else in the world and come back and talk to me. Now, I'll tell you what the weekend holds.

• People will strangely be drawn to watch the Winter Olympics. I don't know what it is, but people love them. I have maybe watched 4 minutes combined and was bored out of my mind. Maybe it has to do with the white glare off the TV from the snow/ice. I just flipped the channel to see Russians and Americans deep in a curling battle. Please tell me how this is entertainment. Nevermind, just found a hot Russian curler. I'm hooked. (Sidenote: There are timeouts in curling? What the hell?)
• Tiger Woods will be the focus of the national media. Was the best game of the NBA season played last night? Yes it was. Are there tons of great college basketball games being played all weekend long? Yes there are. Are pitchers and catchers reporting right now? Absolutely. But, we'll be focused on a guy who hasn't participated in his sport in months, gave us no new information today and sounded like a robot for 13 minutes. Sounds like a plan. I'd be more interested if the Perkin's hostess had a press conference.
• Purdue, Tennessee and North Carolina will all win. Purdue is playing as well as anyone in the country, just ask Gage. Also, Illinois just isn't very good. Tennessee appeared to have South Carolina's number when they played in Knoxville and as well as Devan Downey scores, I don't think he can erase 26 points. North Carolina will be helped by the return of Tyler Zeller, although he would help more if he could play point guard. They'll be helped more by the fact that Boston College isn't very good.
• Josh Howard will become the hero of some. ESPN has a story that Josh Howard sat out a Mavs game last month because of a hangover. Let's face the facts, most of us have called in to work or skipped class because we had a few too many the night before. I've even sat out a rec-league basketball game because things got wild the night before. Lots of people will crucify Howard for his reasoning. I know a few people around these parts that will like him just a little bit more.
• You will remember how hot Jen Lindley from Dawson's Creek is. She appears to be the leading lady in Shutter Island which opens this weekend. Remember her in Dawson's Creek? She was super hot at the beginning of the show, got really unattractive towards the end and then got really hot again after the show ended? This picture was obviously taken in one of her hot stages. But, she's not even the biggest star of the movie, and neither is Leonardo DiCaprio. Jackie Earle Haley is in the movie!!! Kelly Leak from The Bad News Bears!!! Kelly Leak is an all-time movie character. How about when he goes to the fitness class and starts hitting on all the cougars? "I got a Harley Davidson. Does that turn you on? Harley Davidson?"
• Vandy will beat UK. I know. I'm not happy about it either. I already detailed the stupid gym setup in Nashville. Kentucky has a young team that needs to be coached on both ends of the floor. I predict they struggle on offense in the first half and defense in the second half. You know, when Cal will have to pull a Bruce Pearl and walk to the free throw line to try and yell down at his team. Vanderbilt isn't awful and they play really well at home.UK seems ripe to get beaten before they (hopefully) make a run at the end of the season. They'll fare better for the rest of the season, because the NCAA Tournament doesn't have any venues that have their gyms set up like that. What the hell, Vandy 79 UK 75.

Turn on ESPN any night and you will hear "expert" analysis on college basketball.  These analysts repeat many phrases over the year.  They talk about how certain teams rebound well, some teams shoot the three well, and quirky teams seem to do all the little things.  What they always seem to come back to, when doing general analysis, is how hard it is to win on the road.  In particular, this talk reaches a fever pitch during conference season.  The question remains, is it really that hard to win on the road in conference?

Our eyes tell us yes.  We watch our favorite team lose to a less talented team on the road, and everything we've heard on the analyst's shows rings true.  We lose a bet when a sub-par team holds serve at home against a quality team.  We're continually bombarded by talk of road victories being very hard to come by, but we have to be careful when listening to our eyes some times.

The bottom line: is it all true?  Well, fortunately we can look at the numbers and make a reasonable argument one way or another.  To do this, we'll look at the conference home records of the six major (BCS) conferences for the 2009-2010 season (through 02/17).  Here are the home winning percentages, by conference, for the season thus far.

In this case, the statistics tell all.  Looking at the home win percentages we see that five of the six major conferences are right at, or above, 65% in home winning percentage.  This says in a college season that sees about 8 conference games at home, the average team can expect to go 5-3 or 6-2 in these contests.  That's a pretty solid figure, and it says that it is truly difficult to win on the road.

It is interesting that the Big Ten stands out with the 58% home winning percentage.  What does this say about the Big Ten?  Well, the teams are, on average, pretty evenly matched.  In addition, watching one Big Ten game is like watching every Big Ten game all season.  The pace of play in Big Ten games is typically slow, grind-it-out type play.  Case in point, Wisconsin-Minnesota is on in the background and the score is 14-8 with 12 minutes to go in the first half.  If that held up, there would be a 47-27 finish.  Yes, I know that's a ridiculous leap to make, but most of the Big Ten games you see are played in the low to mid 60's.  This results in games that are close at the end, allowing a road team to make a couple of key shots, or get a couple of key stops, and escape with a victory.

The analysts seem to be right this time.  In the major six NCAA basketball conferences, the home teams have a combined 65.8% win percentage at home in conference.  With over 400 games played, we can assume this is a significant statistical figure.  If you bet the home team to win every conference match up you could expect to win two of every three bets you make.  More importantly, what this really tells us is that when your team goes on the road an secures a win in January and February it should be a cause for celebration, no matter the opponent.

You wouldn't think it, but we get hundreds (if not thousands) of emails a week from StadiumDrives.com readers. Some of them tell us how great we are, others how bad we are. Often, we'll get tips of stories. Sometimes, sites will even let us know that they stole our work, it was a hit on their site and thank us. Others just write in for advice or have questions about their life. I decided to give the old inbox a cleaning and pick out some of the best (and worst) emails.*

Do you not get the message? I haven't called or texted you back in months. Please, for the love of everything that is good and holy, leave me the (expletive) alone. - (Name withheld) (Location irrelevant)

Oh... um, how did that get in there? Moving on.

Some of my friends keep telling me I'm cheating at Words With Friends because I use websites that tell me big words to play and tell me where to play the move. I'm not cheating. I can't cheat... I'm a man of the cloth! - Richard G., Lexington, KY

Look, Mr. Minister, you are cheating. It must be your incessant need to never lose that's making you cheat, but if you use anything other than your own mind to get a word, you're cheating. Sure, Words With Friends lets some very questionable words in play, but those are the rules. At the very least, we can live by an honor system that we won't use the internet to aid us. Also, while we're on the subject, here's a little Words With Friends etiquette. If you make the last move in a game, you automatically start the new game. If you won the previous game, you let the loser go first, it's just the right thing to do. Don't be the guy who beats the hell out of someone and then takes the Double Word score on your first play. That's just not nice, especially if you're a man of the cloth.

The refs stole the gam from us! I through a Coke at one of em and almost got him! (Expletive) the Wildcats and (same expletive) Demarkus Cusins! - Randy Randall, Starkville, MS

Good job! For your next trick, you should do the world a favor and throw a full bottle of Coke at your penis as hard as you can. Keep doing this until you pass out from the pain. Hopefully at that point, you will have done enough damage so that you can't ever have children and there will be one less mouthbreather in the world.

More emails if you follow along after the jump.

Last night the nation witnessed one of the worst displays in sports, and it's a real shame. The game was hard fought on the court and the stage was set for a great college basketball atmosphere... until the Mississippi State crowd got involved.

I suggest MSU Athletic Director Greg Byrne writes a letter of apology to the University of Kentucky basketball team, each individual player, every UK fans and anyone who subscribes to ESPN apologizing for being unable to keep his crowd under control.

Why? Basic human decency!

There's a certain expectation when an opposing team walks into an arena as visitors that they will be kept safe and not subjected to angry mobs wielding airborne projectiles.

The MSU fans should be ashamed of themselves. It's one thing to taunt players, yelling at them from the stands, but to throw full water bottles onto the playing surface is disgraceful and should never be tolerated. Blame the loss on whatever you want, but no MSU fan should get angry before taking a long, hard look in the mirror today.

Kentucky goes in to Starkville tonight to battle the home team Bulldogs.  Here's what to watch for in a late Tuesday night game.

• Kentucky will break a three game losing streak to MSU.  Let's get the prediction out of the way.  Mississippi State has a lot to play for tonight.  They were expected to run away with the SEC West and thus far they have not played quite up to expectations.  MSU is 6-4 in conference, putting them at the top of the West with Arkansas, but many believed them to be in contention for the overall league title in the preseason.  Look for MSU to try to take a step toward that goal by knocking off first place Kentucky tonight.  I don't see it happening and think UK pulls off a close 78-74 game on the road.
• Jarvis Varna(r)do will block several shots but not foul out.  Every time Kentucky plays MSU I hear the same things from fans.  "If we can get a couple early fouls on Varnado we'll be okay."  This has not been the story in Varnado's previous games against Kentucky.  Varnado is possibly the greatest shot blocker to ever play college basketball and this is because he is tall, long, and has unparalleled timing.  This last point is why Varnado doesn't typically get into a lot of foul trouble.  The first two aspects give him the ability to stay on the floor until the last moment.  His height and length put him in a position to play the shot and not the possibility of a shot.  Most shot blockers anticipate the shot, time their jump, and then go after the ball aggressively.  Varnado has the luxury of sitting back and waiting for the shot to come out before getting off the floor quickly and altering its trajectory.  This is why he doesn't get in foul trouble as early as most big men.  It also means head fakes are not as successful as they are against other bigs.  Kentucky would do well to give it to Cousins early to try to draw some body fouls against the big man.  If that fails, getting Wall and Bledsoe to drive and dish at the rim could be their most effective weapon.
• DeMarcus Cousins will rebound from his 5 point performance and shut MSU fans up.  Even with Varnado guarding Cousins, I think he will have a big game tonight.  Varnado dominates a lot of post players by giving them space.  This allows him to use his length to avoid body fouls and still reject several shots.  Cousins is relentless in drawing body contact on the inside.  While I doubt Varnado will allow Cousins to use his body to draw a lot of early fouls, I think that Cousins will be able to use his body enough to keep Varnado out of good shot blocking position.  Also, look for Cousins to try to use the spin move to get to the other side of the rim to finish (the penetrating guards will use this technique as well).  When you go across the rim for the finish you effectively put the defensive player "in jail" (as Rick Pitino would call it) and do not allow him to come get the blocked shot.

So there you have it.  Just a couple of keys to the game.  Look for MSU to shoot a lot of threes and look for Kentucky's guards to have big rebounding nights.  If UK doesn't control the defensive glass on the long rebounds my 78-74 score may not hold up; or it may end up being in the Bulldogs' favor.

FWP (Fearless Weekend Predictions) is a (hopefully) weekly post that we used to run at our old site every Friday after college football season. It gives one of your favorite StadiumDrives writers a chance to look into the crystal ball, or the bottom of a beer bottle, to see what the forthcoming weekend holds. It's also another post that will utilize the efficiency of bullet points. As always, please take all picks as novelty and do not gamble your rent check on them, unless you feel really strongly about a certain one.

Most people are freaking out because there's no football this weekend. Alas, my friends, there is more going on than most of us know what to do with. First off, the Winter Olympics start tonight!!! Okay, no one gives a shit about the Winter Olympics. But, it is NBA All-Star Weekend, which is a favorite of Bru and I. The Daytona 500 is on Sunday, which just happens to be Valentine's Day. Nothing says love like warm Budweiser and the smell of exhuast. Most importantly, ESPN and their Gameday crew are descending on Lexington for the UT/UK game tomorrow night. With the allegiances of most of the writers on this site, this is an absolutely huge game. I guess the #12 and #2 teams in the country is also big on the national scale, but we pride ourselves on being myopic at StadiumDrives.com! I'm pretty sure the word myopic was used for the first time on the site, so I'm going to head on to the prognosticating.

• I'm going to do the John Wall Dance all weekend. Hell, I do that every weekend, that's no surprise. But, it's a great way to put a pic of John Wall up and still make you read this whole thing to see my prediction on the UT/UK game.
• People at Gameday will be bored as hell. Have you ever gone to watch a TV show being taped? Yeah, me neither. It sounds incredibly boring, which is why I won't be going to Rupp tomorrow to watch Gameday. It's going to look a hell of a lot better on a plasma screen than it will from Section 32 and there will be something to do during the commercials. Good for all you people going though, you obviously have less going on than I do.
• US Soccer nerd should feel compelled to watch the Olympics. Granted, no one cares about the Winter Olympics. I'd rather watch Gameday from the rafters in Rupp Arena, but follow me here. The argument that I get all the time from soccer nerd is that I should be watching (and supporting) US Soccer. It doesn't matter that they suck, are irrelevant and are boring; soccer nerd says it's unpatriotic of me not to. Well, soccer nerd, use your same logic on the Olympics. No one cares about the luge team, but you should be supporting or you're unpatriotic. And, for the record, I'm cheering for Cameroon in the World Cup.
• Gerald Wallace will win the Slam Dunk Contest. You may not know Gerald Wallace, but this dude has been balling all season long. He's getting 19 points and 11 boards a game, and was named an All-Star for the first time. He's also leading the Bobcats to the NBA Playoffs for the first time, which is about as rare as a soccer nerd getting laid. All that will pale in comparison to winning the Slam Dunk Contest Saturday night.
• NASCAR will blow its load the first weekend of the season (again). Yes, the Daytona 500 is Sunday. The Daytona 500 is the biggest race of the year. The Daytona 500 is the first race of the year. This makes no sense. I heard Tony Stewart on the radio the other day explaining this. He said that the race being at the beginning of the season is better because the racers weren't as tired as they are at the end of the season. He didn't appear to be kidding, but he would have made more sense if he was. Who cares if you're fresh or not? Was Drew Brees fresh after being tackled for 20 straight weeks by 400 lb. linemen? No, I'm sure he would have rather been DRIVING A CAR EVERY WEEKEND. Give me a damn break. NASCAR needs to move the Daytona 500 to the end of the season, if for nothing else but credibility's sake. For the record, I'm picking Jimmie Johnson to win because he wins everything.
• Wolfman will make you really confused. Have you seen these previews? I saw a few and kept wondering, "Why the hell is Tommy Chong starring in this movie?" Apparently, it's not Tommy Chong, but Anthony Hopkins. That makes a little more sense, but I do wonder when Tommy Chong and Anthony Hopkins started looking alike. Please look here and here and tell me I'm not crazy. Also, check out Emily Blunt in this movie. She's super hot and is absolutely the "Hot girl in movie coming out this week that is getting her picture up on FWP." (Good job, Jim from The Office.)
• UK is going to beat UT. I watched both teams play on Tuesday night and they both appeared to be looking ahead to this game. Neither team played very well, but UK got a win against an overmatched Alabama team while UT ran into a Vanderbilt team that desperately needed a win. It should have been expected that they both play poorly the game before the game that's getting the most hype of any game on their schedules. The entire nation will have its eye on Lexington Saturday night. Which team will respond? I say Kentucky. Tennessee seems like a team on the brink to me. They looked completely out of sync Tuesday night. If UK can get up early, say 12-3, Tennessee is a prime candidate to completely implode. What the hell, UK 89 UT 77.

Over the past two years people have talked (at length) about which sport has the most athletic players.  Recently, the talk generally spirals into a discussion of how Lebron James would be a Pro Bowl tight end.  I can't argue against that after the success that Antonio Gates has had in the NFL.  Lebron is much more athletic than Gates, and has the type of frame that any GM would love to have lining up in the slot against NFL linebackers.

Professional sports are one thing, but let's take the talk down to the NCAA level.  Further, let's assume that there are no time constraints on your players.  Classes don't take time out of their day (not so far from the truth) and let's allow that practices and functions required for a player to play two sports would be workable.  So the question is, who on your favorite college basketball team would you put on the football team and who would you take off the gridiron and place on the hardwood?

At the University of Kentucky it's a hard choice to decide on a player to move from the football team to the basketball team.  The major reason being that the basketball roster is absolutely ludicrous now that John Calipari is the head coach.  But this is just a hypothetical, so let's give it a shot.

My first thought was Aaron Boyd.  The sophmore stands 6'4", weighs 210 pounds, and is a tremendous athlete.  He also played 5 years of varsity basketball in high school at Henry Clay.  Boyd was All District and All Region while also earning honorable mention for All State and being a McDonald's All American nominee (which actually doesn't mean as much as it sounds).  The only problem I have with Boyd is the same one I have with him on our football team.  Aaron was hyped coming out of high school as a huge recruit for Kentucky, but he has yet to produce on the field.  This is mostly due to his lack of playing time which has been cited on more than one account to work ethic and attitude.  I would like to think this is only because the young man is still maturing, but as much of a distraction as he could be on a large football roster he could potentially be a larger one on a small 15 man basketball squad.

The player I would take from the football team to the basketball team is also a tremendous athlete.  No surprise there, but the reason I would take this player is the exact reason Boyd didn't make the cut.  If I had to transpose one player to the UK basketball team it would be Randall Cobb.  Cobb would be an odd position player.  Standing only 5'11" and weighing in at 190, Cobb would likely need to play point guard or some spot duty at shooting guard.  Randall was an All District basketball player as a high school junior in Alcoa, TN and ran multiple races in track.  He's got the athleticism to compete on a basketball team, but he gets the nod because he's a tremendously hard worker and finds ways to get things done on the football field.  Cobb is not the biggest or faster player on the field in football, but he always makes plays in the clutch and has a knack for being in the right spot when he needs to be.  This transitions extremely well to basketball where a player that will fight for the ball, play good defense, and know where to be at all times can be very helpful to a team full of star players.

With all the gifted basketball players on UK's roster it is hard to pick one to take over to football.  Many would possibly say John Wall, citing the Freshman's 6'4", 195 pound frame and lighting quickness as ideal for a wide out position.  Eric Bledsoe could similarly take over a position at wide out for the Cats football team, but the guy I would love to see on the grid iron is DeMarcus Cousins.  At 6'11" and 260 lbs., Cousins would be a beast going over the middle off the tight end position.  He may not have tremendous speed to blow past even linebackers, but just the fact that he could go up for a high ball over the middle, using his tremendous frame to shield the defender off, would make him useful on short third down plays and on the goal line.  DeMarcus has also shown amazing footwork and spectacular hands in his Freshman season for the Cats baskeball team.  Both of these things are important for a good tight end.  Cousins seems to have attitude problems at times; however, as it has been previously stated, this is less of an issue on a 60 man roster. 

So there you have it; my picks for pushing players back and forth between the major sports at the college level.  They may not be ideal, but it is interesting to think of how players would transition to another sport.  Have thoughts on your own favorite teams switching players?  Sound off in the comments.

Tired of reading Super Bowl recaps? You've come to the right place...

Here's the dilemma: think of your team's biggest rival. Whether it's in-state or a border rivalry, it's always the first game you find when the schedule is released, it's the one or two games every year that have the ability to salvage an otherwise crummy season. But, what happens when your biggest rival hits the skids for a few years and falls off the national landscape?  It's happened to Michigan/OSU (sorry Cohron), it's in danger of happening to Kentucky/Louisville (unless we're competing in translucent white suits) and it's definitely happened to my alma mater Purdue's biggest rival: Indiana.

For twenty years (1980-2000) Purdue/IU was dominated by two personalities. Gene Keady and Bobby Knight roamed the sidelines and did their best Spy vs. Spy routine for the entire time. Keady won 7 Big Ten coach of the year awards and Knight won 6 (albeit three of them before Keady ever came on the scene, ahem). One memorable moment included this inspirational speech including "I'm tired of f***ing losing to Purdue!" which I certainly can't get enough of.

But, in the last decade hit and things took a turn. Knight was out at IU, the Kelvin Sampson "era" happened and Keady retired, handing the reigns to former player Matt Painter. Painter gets a massive 2007 recruiting class and every player with a pulse flees Bloomington as quickly as possible.

Purdue took down the Hoosiers in a tough game on Thursday night. But, that was to be expected. A home game against your in-state rivals for this IU team was the biggest game of there season. In the end, the talent on the Purdue sidelines was just too much (despite their efforts to blow it) and the Boilermakers won in Bloomington for the first time in a decade. There's no feeling better than beating your rivals, but there's something sort of hollow about it. So, here's the question:

Do I want IU to be competitive again?  (more after the break)