As we sit on the eve of Christmas Eve and come ever closer to the close of 2008 and the entrance of 2009, it’s time to look back at the year that was…or is it?

Maybe this is a time where we put sports aside for 2 days and enjoy the family and friends that surround us.  A time where the television or sports seems to be the furthest thing on people’s minds.  A time where family comes together to cook a big Christmas dinner, where kids wake up on Christmas morning to find the gifts they “always wanted” under the tree and a time where we all realize how important family is to all each and every one of us, sports fan or not. 

So as you spend time with your families this Christmas, remember what’s really important and put aside your love for whatever team you plan on watching or rooting for and enjoy being with the people that mean the most to you during this holiday season.  I know, for me personally, I can’t wait to spend my Christmas with two amazing families, both of which I’m spending the holidays with for the first time and I couldn’t be more excited. 

I know there are bowl games coming up, I know there’s the Super Bowl to look forward to at the end of January, but enjoy the holiday season and all it’s meant for, whatever that is to you.  Sports will always be here and we’ll always be here to give you our opinion, but for the next few days, enjoy the people you have around you because who knows when you’ll get to have this much fun again. 

Merry Christmas to you and your families and here’s to a very prosperous 2009. 

Happy Holidays!

San Diego Padres’ GM Kevin Towers met with the media today and says the deal to send Jake Peavy to the Cubs is off.

According to Towers, Cubs’ GM Jim Hendry pulled the deal off the table and will move on.  A few obstacles to this deal was how the Cubs were going to unload Jason Marquis and the numerous calls they received about the availability of 2nd baseman Mark DeRosa.  Hendry had said before that they were not willing to trade DeRosa, but due to the number of phone calls from interested teams he’s received this week, he may have to re-think his position.

At this point, the Padres could rekindle talks with the New York Yankees, who were said to be interested, as well as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who really could put together the most attractive package for the Padres.  Could they possible include names like Jared Weaver, Nick Adenhardt and Brandon Wood?  Towers met again with team CEO Sandy Alderson as well as Peavy’s agent, Barry Axelrod, to discuss their position and if they are going to keep Peavy on the trading block or pull him off and start the 2009 season with him on their roster.

Other news…..

Speaking of the New York Yankees, they have apparently come to an agreement with the Milwaukee Brewers that sent Mike Cameron to the Yankees according to Kevin Baxter of the L.A. Times.  But another report from Joel Sherman of the NY Post reports that the possibility of a deal is “remote.”  The Brewers were reportedly interested in Ian Kennedy and Melkly Cabrera.

Angels have offer out to Teixeira

According to Mike DiGiovanna of MLB.com, the Angels are reported to have offered a 7-year deal worth in the neighborhood of $160MM to 1st baseman Mark Teixeira.

December 8th has been a date a lot of us baseball fans have looked forward to since the conclusion of, not only the baseball season, but the recently concluded GM Meetings a few weeks ago.

As the meetings get underway in Las Vegas, it means the beginning of very long days and nights of GM’s around baseball.  It means baseball fans sitting on the edge of their seats as trades are made and free agents are signed, those same fans clicking ‘refresh’ on their computers every five minutes, on every baseball website they can find, to see if there is any breaking news on their team. 

With the start of the Winter Meetings, it also means a list of concerns each team has to address.  Who needs pitching?  What positions do they need to fill?  Do they have the money to sign a big free-agent or do they need to think spreading the money out and signing several players?  Can they re-sign any of their own free-agents?

These and many more questions may be answered this week in Las Vegas, so put those fingers to your keyboard, type in your favorite baseball rumor site or any of your favorite baseball sites and hang on tight, this might be a fun week.

Has there ever been more of a jumble of great teams in college football than there are this year?  Here’s the most staggering number for the teams in the Top 10, the combined record of those teams is 103-8.  Three of Top 10 teams are undefeated (Alabama, Utah, Boise State), six of the last seven have just one loss (Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Texas Tech, Penn State, USC), the last of which being Ohio State who rounds out the Top 10 with two losses on the year.

Still, with all that said, the BCS has yet another problem.  We talk about this every single year, and yet we still don’t have a playoff system in place.  So, let’s start with the National Championship game.  At this point, you have to have Alabama in as the #1 team in the country, I don’t think you can dispute that at all with impressive wins against Clemson, Georgia and LSU, all three of those games were on the road.  But they still have their showdown against Florida looming next weekend.  Alabama wins that game and there’s no way you can’t tell me they’re the best in the country. 

Assuming Alabama has the first spot, who faces the Crimson Tide in the National Championship game?  Texas has a win over Oklahoma, #1 at the time, on a neutral field as well as wins over Missouri and Oklahoma State before falling 39-33 to Texas Tech in Lubbock, then a more than convincing win over Texas A&M last night 49-9.

What about aformentioned Oklahoma?  With exception to their loss to Texas, has their been a better team in college football team this season?  Like Texas last night, the Sooners made easy work of Texas Tech last Saturday 65-21 in a game that wasn’t close from the very start.  Here’s the one argument I’ll make against Oklahoma.  The Top 25 teams they did play, and get wins over (TCU, Kansas, Texas Tech) were all played at home but they still have #11 Oklahoma State coming up this weekend, that game will be played in Stillwater, OK on the campus of Oklahoma State, so their season isn’t yet over.

Moving on to the Florida Gators.  They had an impressive start to their season, outscoring their opponents 112-19 in their first three games before suffering a 31-30 loss at home to Ole Miss.  Since then, the’ve run off a 7-game win streak including wins over LSU (#4 at the time), Georgia (#8 at the time) and South Carolina (#24 at the time).  But their season isn’t over yet.  They’ve got #23 Florida State in Tallahassee coming up on Saturday and then a showdown with #1 Alabama in Gainsville next Saturday.  Win those two games, and the Gators might overtake the Crimson Tide for the #1 team in the country.

The remaining six teams (USC, Texas Tech, Utah, Penn State, Boise State and Ohio State) have to have some serious help to even sniff the National Championship game, but I just don’t see how it isn’t two of Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama aren’t in the title game in January.

With that being said, let’s assume Alabama loses to Florida and it’s less than a 10 point game and assuming then that Florida gets the top spot in the BCS, can you not make an argument still for Alabama or how about Oklahoma as dominant as they’ve been or even Texas with their win over then #1 Oklahoma on a nuetral site?  How has the BCS helped College Football?  Has there been 1 year where there hasn’t been an argument over who got the short end of the stick or who didn’t belong in the Championship game?  So, why then, is a playoff such a horrible idea?  If a playoff system were to have, let’s say the Top 8 teams, that’s 4 games in the first round, a semi-final and then the championship game.  You’re extending a team’s season by 3 games, is that really more than a player can handle?

Let’s look at the Top 8 teams and go through what a playoff would look like.

Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, USC, Utah, Texas Tech, Penn State (outside looking in: Boise State, Ohio State)

First round: 

#1 Alabama v. #8 Penn State

#2 Texas v. #7 Texas Tech

#3 Oklahoma v. #6 Utah

#4 Florida v #5 USC

Assuming no upsets, which I’m sure there might be at least one…

Semi-Final:

#1 Alabama v #4 Florida

#2 Texas v #3 Oklahoma

National Championship:  #1 Alabama v #2 Texas

You can’t tell me the ratings wouldn’t be off the charts for every one of those games.  For those of you who think a playoff is a bad idea, I’d love to hear your reason why what I just proposed is the worst idea.  The BCS needs to go, the sooner, the better.

D Fisher. The guy can hit a shot w/ .4 seconds left. The guy left a great gig in Utah, for his daughter’s illness. You feel for him, he’s one of the great clutch point guards that’ll probably help the Lake Snore, I mean show, get another ring. Yet I don’t care if you are Kobe, Lebron or even the over-passionate, yet always entertaining KG, you call the call the refs missed tonight! That’s the series. Spurs down 3-1 and have to play 2 of those on the road if they want to get back to the finals.

I told myself after the Nash incident last year and the mafia pocketed ref i wouldn’t blame losses on refs but how can I not? This was such an obvious call, that leaves me scratching my head pondering maybe I should give up my love for the NBA and switch to NCAA, where everything is more consistent. You have 2 seconds and change on the clock, Brent Barry shots a game tying shot, only to have an elbow to the head, with totally obvious contact and yet no whistle. The dude is a 36-year old veteran and he didn’t get the call. Lets reverse this. If it was Kobe shooting that shot, would there be a foul called? If Ginobli shot it, and acted with his European flopping skills, would there be a call? My Magic 8 ball is telling me, all signs point to yes for both scenarios. This is ridiculous. I hate blaming the refs but how can we ‘love this game,’ when the NBA would rather show us ‘NBA CARES’ videos than correct the ref problems that are inherent in every single playoff game so far in the post season?
-Aaron ‘Frustrated NBA Fan’ Goldstein out

Am I the only huge Erin Andrews fan?

Somehow, I doubt it, so I figured I would share this YouTube video of Erin doing a interview with some sports bloggers: