BC's Line was Offensive - No BCS

After watching a slew of college football bowl games over the Holidays, it is a shame that the Boston College Eagles did not make it to a BCS bowl game. Earlier in the year they were undefeated, had a Heisman trophy candidate, a senior team, and were ranked #2 in the polls but then everything went south and instead we were forced to watch an over matched Hawaii team and a barely above .500 Michigan team play on New Year's Day.

With all the accolades that have been thrown towards first year BC Coach Jeff Jagodinski this past season, why hasn't anyone mentioned the ineffectiveness of the offensive line? Sure Coach Jags brought a Favresque looseness to the offense this year but his major impact was to to slim-down the lineman in an effort to make them faster and more productive in his new zone blocking schemes.

In the past, BC was known for their large, dominating offensive fronts. A line so big that they would wear down the opposition in the second half of games. This year not only were they giving up a multitude of sacks but they were the ones wearing down in games often forcing Matt Ryan to roll out of the pocket and throw or run for his life.

I appreciate Coach Jags enthusiasm but one could argue that if it weren't for his offensive line tweaks and schemes, Ryan may have had a lot less INTs and BC may have had an ACC Championship, another Heisman trophy winner, and a BCS bowl bid.

So long Johan…

It's time for the Boston Red Sox to just move away from the whole Johan Santana trade option. The Minnesota Twins and new GM Bill Smith are holding things up and I get a sense that they would rather trade him to the National league or hold on to him all together before dealing him to the Sox. First the Twins wanted positional players, then pitching, and now it seems they want a whole farm system for their prized pitcher. Enough already! They have tried to pit the Yankees against the Red Sox in negotiations but now even the Yanks have lost interest and so should the Sox. Even David Ortiz doesn't believe his good friend Johan will be with the Red Sox next year.

We just won our second World Series Title in four years, have a great farm system, and a manageable payroll. We don’t need Santana and as long as the Yankees don’t get him we should move on. At this point we need to focus on moving Coco Crisp and rounding out the rest of the roster before its too late.

New Celts Beat Knicks by 45!

I finally got to watch the new Celtics last night on TNT. I'm not entirely sure if the Celts are really this good or the New York Knicks are just that bad but either way it was nice to see the hometown team in a blowout. However, I was a little miffed at what happened at the end of the game.

The Celtics had the ball with 26 seconds left in the game and like true sportsman in a lopsided contest, they did not take a shot at the basket and instead choose to take the 24 second violation. The Celtics took this approach a couple of games ago and in appreciation the opposing team just inbounded the ball until the game-ending buzzer sounded. Last night the Knicks' Nate Robinson chose another approach and instead heaved the ball and effectively nailed a 3-point shot at the buzzer. I don't care what the score is, I thought this was totally unsportsman-like and was surprised no one called the Knicks on it. Had the Celts known the Knicks were still so eager to score, why doesn't the Celts' Rajon Rondo just pass the ball to Robinson?! I guess this unpredictable action by the Knicks does support the Patriots and Coach Belichick's statement about scoring whenever and wherever you can, but just remember one thing New York...karma can be cruel.

The Red Sox can resign Mike Lowell

At age 32, Jason Varitek (now 35) came off a year in which he hit .296 with 18 HR and 73 RBI in 2004. Going against their formula, the Sox signed him to 4 year extension at $10 mill a year because they realized how valuable he was to the orginization.

Mike Lowell is now 33 and one could argue that with his leadership, defense (11 errors this past season was an abberation), clubhouse personality (bridge between Spanish and American players), his offense and the ability to play both in Fenway and Boston, he may be almost as valuable as Varitek to this team right now.

Also, hopefully the Red Sox are finally understanding that you can spend tons of money on the Renteria's and JD Drew's, but you never know how they will perform in this environment until it's too late. If the Sox can give JD Drew (31) a 5 year $70 mill deal and Julio Lugo (31) a 4 year $36 mill deal, then they cany pony up at least a 3 year $13 mill a year deal for Mike Lowell.

Salary coming off Sox Payroll:

• Schilling $13 mill


• Clement $9.5 mill


• Gagne $6 mill


• Hinske $5.7 mill (half paid by Blue Jays)


• Tavarez $3.1 mill


• Donellely $1.4 mill

We are the Champions!?

It's been awhile but these truly could be the best of times for a Boston Sports fan.

ESPN's Mike Greenberg (a New Yorker) in talking about the recent success of the Boston sports teams this morning;"It makes you want to throw-up!"

1985-1986:

• Red Sox go to World Series
  
• Patriots go to Superbowl


• BC Football finished ranked #19


• Celtics win Championship


• Bruins make play-offs
  

2007-2008:

• Red Sox win World Series


• Patriots undefeated


• BC Football ranked #2


• Celtics are favored to win division


• Bruins have best start in years

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