The NFL season has reached the midway point, and the Packers are perfect at 8-0.
The NBA lockout has already lost the first month of the season as the owners and players haggle over a $4 billion split. Owners want to drive down expenses and get the NBA players to agree to a hard salary cap and 50-50 split in gross revenues. NBA players were at 57-43 in the last deal when owners opted out, claiming to be losing $300 million annually. The NBA owners are playing hardball with the players; if the players don’t agree soon, the first quarter of the season could be lost.
College football celebrated the first match-up in the regular season of unbeaten No. 1 LSU and unbeaten No. 2 Alabama from the powerful Southeastern Conference. The game was a defensive stalemate: LSU survived 9-6 in overtime as Alabama missed four of six field-goal attempts.
The fact that college football has no playoff system and allows the BCS to determine who they believe is No. 1 and No. 2 has flaws. Alabama, as good as they are, lost on their home field and slipped only one spot to No. 3 behind 9-0 Oklahoma State.
Oklahoma State moved up to No. 2 ahead of 9-0 Stanford at No. 4. Oklahoma State has a date with No. 6 (8-1) Oklahoma upcoming. If Alabama and LSU win out, which is quite likely, and Oklahoma beats Oklahoma State, which has happened in the past, we are looking at a rematch in the BCS National Championship game with LSU vs. Alabama.
Clearly the BCS, putting Stanford at No. 4, believes that Alabama is better than Stanford even though they are unbeaten at 9-0 and winners of 16 straight. Stanford has a game with No. 7 (8-1) Oregon in two weeks. Last year Oregon lost the BCS Championship game to Auburn.
The SEC champion has won the last five BCS National Championships. The Big Ten does not even have a team in the BCS Top Ten. Penn State is 8-1 and ranked 12th.
The Packers (8-0) have established that they are the team to beat. As the defending Super Bowl Champion with red hot Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, they impress every week. Rodgers has thrown 24 TDs and just three interceptions after eight games.
The Vikings, after a disappointing 2-6 start, are moving forward with rookie Christian Ponder at quarterback. They play at Green Bay next Monday night and will get another shot at the Packers. Green Bay won round one 33-27 in Minnesota in Ponder’s first NFL start.
Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and on WDGY-AM 740 Monday-Friday at 12:17 pm and 4:17 pm; he also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2), and you can follow him on Twitter at FitzBeatSr. Larry welcomes reader responses to info@larry-fitzgerald.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.
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