Sports fodder for a Friday morning ... When you are an upstart football program from a non-Bowl Championship Series conference (like the Nevada Wolf Pack) it's only a matter of time before the national media starts to tear you down. It has already started with the Pack. ESPN.com published an article this week that labeled the Wolf Pack as a "Pretender" when it comes to getting a BCS bowl berth. While that may be true because the BCS is a biased, unfair, close-minded system created to protect the big boys, is it really necessary to start attaching hurtful labels like "pretender" to schools? The national media should be celebrating schools like the Wolf Pack who overcome great odds to jump into the national spotlight and not trying to turn that spotlight off the moment it begins to shine.
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What are the Pack's chances of getting a BCS bowl spot this year? Well, it's definitely not a sure thing even if the Pack beats Boise State on Nov. 26 and runs the table. The best chance the Pack has of getting a BCS spot is to be ranked somewhere around No. 15 and have Boise State no worse than No. 5 on the night of Nov. 26. A win by the Pack that night should then vault them into the Top 12, the magical cutoff point for non-BCS league champions. It could happen.
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Wolf Pack quarterback Colin Kaepernick needs a couple huge games this month to get back into serious Heisman Trophy conversations. ESPN.com, that well-known mouthpiece for the BCS conferences, doesn't even list Kaepernick in their list of the top nine Heisman contenders. Now, we're not saying that Kaepernick is the front-runner right now. He hasn't even passed for 200 yards or rushed for 100 in each of the last two games. Michigan's Denard Robinson clearly deserves the Heisman favorite title right now. But there is no way Kaepernick shouldn't be in the top nine.
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The Wolf Pack men's basketball team met the media for the first time this season on Tuesday. It's a new team, a team with a ton of questions. But there is also a ton of talent. Talent, though, doesn't win championships. Team chemistry (mixed in with some talent) wins championships and it will take this team a while to figure out if they have any or not. A reasonable expectation for this team is about 18 victories. The Western Athletic Conference lost a ton of talent off last year's rosters so the Pack picked the right year to rebuild.
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Does anybody really want to see another New York Yankees-Philadelphia Phillies World Series? Well, you can bet the Fox network wants it. There's nothing that boosts TV ratings more than large eastern markets. If the Texas Rangers get to the World Series expect a column on ESPN.com telling you that they don't deserve to be there because they are not from a BCS conference. I'm rooting for a San Francisco Giants-Yankees World Series. And this time Willie McCovey's line drive will get past Bobby Richardson in Game 7.
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Please, stop comparing Roy Halladay's no-hitter to the no-hitter thrown by Don Larsen in the 1956 World Series. Not all postseason accomplishments should be treated equally. The NLDS is not the World Series. It's time major league baseball stops lumping in Divisional Series and Championship Series records with those in the World Series.
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Expect JaVale McGee to have a huge, breakout season with the Washington Wizards this year. The former Wolf Pack center started and scored 13 points with six blocks, seven boards and two steals in 27 minutes in the Wizards' pre-season opener this week against Dallas. McGee and rookie point guard John Wall will get the Wizards to the playoffs this year.
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Don't give up on the San Francisco 49ers just yet. Yes, they are 0-4 but all is not lost. First of all, they are just two games out of first place and five of the next six games are at home. If the Niners just win four of those six (very likely), they'll be 4-6 and probably in first place in the horrible NFC West. They might win all six and have a two-game lead.
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