The Daily Howler

Some of us liberal types sneak a peak every so often at the Daily Howler, a Web site ran by Bob Somerby. Pretty good on politics, he occasionally weighs in on sports.
Yesterday's was led with a discussion of SEC football.

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh120606.shtml

A sample paragraph
By the way, there may be a good reason why Auburn played such cream puffs. In 2002 and 2003, the program had made a mighty mistake—it had opened with Southern Cal each year, getting its ears pinned back each time. In 2003, Auburn had been top-ranked in some pre-season polls—until the Trojans came to town and ground them into their state’s red clay. (23-0—at Auburn.) By 2004, for whatever reason, Auburn had become more reality-based. Instead of playing the mighty Pac-10, the War Eagles played three honey-dip doughnuts—then created victim tales about the way the dastardly Yankees wouldn’t allow them their shot at the title. Indeed, Michael Wilbon is still so upset that he suggested, in Monday’s column, that the SEC might have left the BCS if they’d been done that way this year. “There’s no question the SEC is the best league,” Wilbon typed. But then, he types that every season.

He also had an earlier column on the same subject.
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh120506.shtml

More is promised for today, it just isn't posted yet.

 

I wish the SEC would get pissed and leave the BCS. Then the whole sham would fall apart.

 

The Howler is my favorite site, going back to the 2000 election, but this anti-SEC thing he's got going, for the second year running now, is just strange. He might have had a case last year, but, for me, this argument was settled in Week One when Tennessee took Cal apart.
And there was no major team in any conference this year that was worse than Stanford.

 

considering its commissioner runs the BCS, that seems unlikely

 

Dammit! They have every base covered.

 

I thought he made a good point with the eight conference games/four non-conference games format vs. the nine/three split.
It does allow the SEC some additional cream puffery, I'm even an SEC fan but some of the games that are played, they are complete jokes.
And I'll see your Tennessee beating Cal and raise you USC's whipping of Arkansas.

 

The Daily Howler is a rag compared to the much bigger Daily Prophet

 

I think the BCS actually rotates the BCS Coordinator gig these days, although former SEC Commish Unkel Roy Kramer was the original "creator" of the thing.

 

But, at the time, Cal and Tennessee were reckoned to be equals. By contrast, USC was supposed to do what it did to Arkansas, a team that was still better than either team in Washington, either team in Arizona, one of the teams in Oregon, and as good as any of the California teams except USC.

 

If that's so, then how do Oregon State and UCLA manage to lead virtually the entire game while defeating USC, which kicked the ever-lovin' crap out of Arkansas by five touchdowns, in Arkansas?

Once again, as has been the case the past four years, USC had a much tougher time winning in the Pac-10 (2 losses, 3 wins by a touchdown or less) than it did in non-conference, which this year included an SEC championship-game finalist (Arkansas, crushed), a Big 12 championship-game finalist (Nebraska, dominated), and Notre Dame (game over in 2nd quarter).

 

i don't remember anyone saying cal and tennessee were equals -- cal was 9, tennessee was 23

usc was no. 6, arkansas was unranked

i will say arkansas was going into that game with an unsettled qb situation and a new offensive coordinator -- they got a lot better as the season went along. i think cal did, too, fwiw

 

Until Arizona, one of the "cupcakes" on LSU's schedule, beat them (Cal).