Random Questions: The Sports Edition

It's a new year, and i'm bringing back Random Questions! (Think the Count's "The View From My Ass" editorials) We're in the middle of some of the best weeks in the sports world, and already some guys are making waves - most of them for all the wrong reasons, and I'm here to call 'em out. I'll have more to say tomorrow, but for the moment, enjoy and don't forget: you can comment on my questions as well.

- Even if you're joking, why would you bring a gun into an arena and pretend to threaten a teammate over gambling issues? By now, you know the tale of Washington Wizards point guard Arenas, the idiot that brought guns to the locker room, knowing that he was violating NBA rules about bringing in firearms into a stadium. Now the story gets worse: Arenas drew a handgun at his teammate, Javaris Crittenton, over gambling debts. Not only was the gun loaded with a bullet, but the guns he brought into the arena were unregistered as well. Didn't athletes learn from Plaxico Burress' mishap to not carry firearms on their person? For fuck's sake, you are a wealthy athlete, if you feel that your celebrity makes you a walking bullseye, then hire a damn bodyguard! Adding insult to injury, this jackass make a joke about his incident during a warm-up to Washington's game against the Philadelphia 76'ers in the form of mimicking his fingers for guns and pretending to shoot them. This ignorant dumbfuck deserved what he's got: an indefinite suspension without pay and a soon-to-be trial, and what he might receive - jail time.

- Why do you brag about crashing the party when you have virtually no business being there, and then saying you're hot shit, when all evidence suggests otherwise? Rex Ryan and the New York Jets are in the NFL playoffs at a record of 9-7 and are seeded fifth in the AFC postseason bracket, courtesy of coach Jim Caldwell's decision that going for 16-0 didn't mean squat to the Indianapolis Colts as a squad, and the Cincinnati Bengals shutting it down after capturing the AFC North crown and dealing with the sudden death of wide receiver Chris Henry. Most people would call that being really lucky and coming through the back door, but to coach Ryan, it means New York should be the favorite to win Super Bowl 44. Give me a break. The only reason you're in is because the Colts and the Bengals took out their starters and game 'em a freebie after both teams locked up everything they wanted. Sure, you've got the league's no.1 overall defense and the league's no.1 overall running game, but you also have Mark Sanchez. A rookie quarterback who thrown 20 int's this year - the second-most of any quarterback in football. And with the offensive firepower Indy and San Diego have, there's little chance the Jets will be able to stay stride for stride in the next round. I will, however, give credit to how the Jets won today, it was an impressive playoff road win, and they are playing like what they are: underdogs trying to turn heads. Rex, your team are the underdogs. Embrace this role. Don't mouth off that you're team is swinging the biggest dick when it's really only 4 inches long.

Edit From The Count:

Nebraska started their conference portion of their schedule today in basketball with an 11 point loss to Texas A&M. Now I can't say that was a total surprise because A&M was thought of a better team and it was at A&M. As the game wore on it became apparent that this was a game that Nebraska had a shot of winning if they only played smart basketball. They didn't. In fact they folded down the stretch quite badly. Despite the fact that NU was 12-3 coming out of non-conference play most people thought they would struggle to win 7 or 8 games with a conference record of 5-11 or 6-10 being more realistic. This is do to the fact that many of their non-conference games were against "directional" schools that Jonathan, ET and a few of our friends could have beaten. There will not be another gimme on the schedule from this point on and road wins will be few and far between. They could have "stolen" one tonight quite easily but they didn't make the plays down the stretch to get it done. I hope this game doesn't come back to bite them in the ass.

I am a dinosaur in many ways with my tastes and beliefs so it should come as no surprise that I am one of the remaining few against a playoff system for college football and I think the fact that the NFL playoffs are giving us 3 rematches of last weeks game is a prime example of why I hate playoffs for College football. How many teams either out of playoff contention or with their spots already secured just didn't bother to show up last week? Do you really want this for College Football?

However this does not mean I think the Bowl System is flawless. Especially the scheduling of bowl games which I think is absurd. Though never a totally strict concept it use to be the later you played the better your team and your bowl was. We should get back to this concept again. Now it doesn't have to be to the letter strict, in fact that would almost be impossible, who is to say the Gator Bowl most years is better or worse than the Holiday Bowl? However it should follow some guideline of common sense. Troy playing Central Michigan in the GMAC bowl in Mobile should not be January 6th. Arkansas playing East Carolina in Memphis should not be on January 2nd. New Years should be reserved for high end non BCS games. Cotton, Gator, Capital One ETC starting January 2nd the BCS games should start. There could be a game on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and then have the National Championship game on the 7th, 8th or 9th depending on the schedule. Playing January use to mean something for a college football team and it should again.