As promised, here is the Tuesday Edition of Monday Musings...
As predicted, USC thoroughly dominated an over-matched Ohio State squad who was without the services of Chris "Beanie" Wells. Of course, given the severity of the beating, it wouldn't have mattered if he had played. I suppose they might have found the end zone, once, but that's it.
With the Pac-10 laying the biggest conference egg is years, the path seems completely clear for the trojans to run the table and play for the National Championship. Barring season-ending injuries to half the team, I don't believe there is a team in the country that could beat them.
The Red Sox finally caught the Tampa Bay Rays for the lead in the AL East on Monday and it's looking more and more like the young Rays will have to win the Wild Card race if they want to remain in the playoff picture.
With the Twins and others fading however it seems like they will make the playoffs as long as they don't completely collapse down the stretch. A Wild Card berth would mean a meeting with the Angels in the Division Series, a team they hold a 6-3 record against in the regular season.
Keep in mind that a Wild Card team has reached the World Series every year since 2002when (DAMMIT!!!) the Angels beat the Giants in seven games.
Also on Monday the Brewers, tied for the Wild Card lead in the NL, fired manager Ned Yost. Apparently this is something many Brewers fans saw coming and welcomed, to which I say, WTF!
Is this what we've come to in the age of "what have you done for me lately" sports? Now I understand that the Brewers are in a bit of a slide and they may ultimately miss the playoffs entirely, but this is ridiculous. Here is a guy who helped turn around one of the worst franchises in sports in less than three years and for his efforts he gets fired with the finish line in sight.
After the season I could see it as Yost has had a tough time getting his young team to turn the corner on their recent success. But the timing of this baffles me and I can think of more than a few teams who should be stumbling over themselves to get Yost into their dugouts.
The Ryder Cup starts on Friday without the world's best player, Tiger Woods. Some have intimated that this might be a good thing for the United States and that not being able to lean on Tiger will raise the level of play across the board.
To that I say, whatever.
Watching the Minnesota Vikings this weekend was downright painful and I couldn't help but hearing "Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before" by the Smiths playing in my head. I won't spend much time on this as I plan on devoting an entire piece to what is wrong with the Vikes, but damn I'm glad I'm not a fan of this team.
Frustrating doesn't even start to describe what took place in the Metrodome on Sunday as the Purple fell to 0-2, which amazingly is the worst two-game start for the Vikings since head coach Brad Childress took over.
Cal's head coach Jeff Tedford should be fully ashamed of his team's performance on Saturday after they lost to the University of Maryland. It was clear from the opening kickoff that the Golden Bears were just not prepared to play and that falls squarely on the shoulders of Tedford and his staff.
Yes, they did travel across the country and played at 9 in the morning on the West Coast, but that doesn't excuse a loss to a team that just a week prior lost to Middle Tennessee State. The Bears are talented, but their youth and inexperience, combined with clearly shotty preparation, cost them big time.
Somehow the San Francisco 49ers pulled off a victory on the road in Seattle with J.T. O'Sullivan passing for 321 yards and no interceptions. I'm not willing to call O'Sullivan decent just yet, but he has been much better than I thought he'd ever be.
Like Jon Kitna in Mike Martz's offense before him, O'Sullivan will probably put up quality numbers through sheer quantity of throws. However of all the QBs that Martz has had (Kitna, Marc Bulger, Kurt Warner) O'Sullivan is by far the least talented and the Niners should be shopping for a young QB come next off-season.
Keeping it in the Bay Area, the San Francisco Giants have managed to win 9 of their last 12 thanks in large part to the influx of young players who have infused the team with energy and timely hitting. Both of which have been lacking for the Giants for the better part of three seasons.
The most impressive of the bunch has been C/1B/3B Pablo Sandoval who has done nothing but hit since he was called up in mid-August. Playing three positions and currently residing in the heart of the order, the 22-year-old Sandoval is hitting .336 with 3 HRs and 15 RBIs in 29 games.
Chances are that the Giants will struggle again next season, but with so much quality pitching in the big leagues now and in the minor leagues, the future would appear bright for Giants fans everywhere.
Last week I mentioned the breakout debut of Philadelphia Eagles' rookie wide receiver and former Cal standout DeSean Jackson. I also let it be known that I think the Niners made a big mistake by not picking him and instead passing over him twice in the 2008 NFL Draft.
Last night on Monday Night Football Jackson was staring his first professional touchdown square in the face when he proved why his nickname, "MeSean", is totally warranted when he dropped the ball at the one yard line in a rush to start his ridiculous touchdown dance.
This wouldn't be so bad if this were the first time Jackson had placed himself above the interests of the team, but how can we forget this moment from Jackson's senior year of high school in the U.S. Army All-American game:
Aaron Rodgers is a stud, that's all there is to it. Packers fans rejoice.
The Packers can go to hell!! :)
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