ESPN.com Writers

[Vbsiena]

As some of you probably know ESPN.com doesn't seem to like me. I've been temp banned 2 times. I actually stopped posting on there and just post on here now. And facebook but that's different.

But I like some things about ESPN.com They are pretty decent with reporting the news when it happens.

They also have some decent articles. I've come to the conclusion that even though I don't dislike any of their writers I only like 2 of them.

I like pretty much anything Bill Simmons writes even though he's a HUGE Boston Homer, and I like Gregg Easterbrook's TMQ article every week (even though I missed the last few). They both are entertaining and informative reads that back up how the writers feel with the appropriate stat lines.

Check out TMQ for today:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/080108

[Vbsiena]

There's a betting tip in his article for Walter or any of you:

"But if you're making a harmless $5 workplace bet on the NFL playoffs, take the home teams this weekend. Home teams in the NFL divisional round are the surest thing in sports. Since the current playoff format was adopted in 1990, home teams in the divisional round are 53-15, a .779 winning figure. Usually, the reason the home teams are at home is that they are better than the wild-card teams. Equally important, in the divisional round, the home teams have spent a bye week relaxing in hot tubs while their opponents were out in the cold being pounded. Home teams dominate the NFL divisional round, so checkmark them in your office pool. You don't even need to know which team is playing!"

[Matt McGuire]

lol Walter was saying exactly the opposite of that last week when we were debating.

[Vbsiena]

This is something good he wrote too that has been argued about alot around here,

"If there were a Plus One system of an extra college game following the bowls -- this seems the most realistic possibility for an event that's at least similar to a college football championship -- today it would be announced that USC will meet LSU. No wait, today it would be announced that Georgia will meet LSU. Georgia is second in the final Associated Press poll, but many football purists would rather see USC again. Regardless of whether the Plus One event was USC-LSU or Georgia-LSU, the game would be roundly censured as not the best possible pairing.



This is one of the reasons TMQ thinks a Plus One wouldn't accomplish anything beyond creating an extra interesting game: in most years, a Plus One would be unlikely to generate a true, consensus champion. Given that the Rose Bowl television contracts with ABC run till 2014, on a practical basis, converting Division I to a seeded-brackets playoff formula couldn't happen till then. But because the other BCS bowl television contracts with Fox end in 2009, the current apparatus is likely to be renewed before Rose Bowl participation can be addressed, and barring an act of Congress or sending in Tony Blair as a special emissary, it is hard to see the solution to this problem. Anyway suppose there was a Plus One format. That would have meant that after USC won the Rose Bowl last week, its team would have continued to practice, in hopes of a Plus One invite. Georgia would have continued to practice after its Sugar Bowl win. Wait, Missouri would have continued to practice too, pointing to the margin of its bowl victory. West Virginia would have continued to practice, just in case. A custom might develop in which numerous teams continue to practice after playing their bowl, theatrically insisting they deserve the extra bid. It could get silly pretty quickly."

[Walter]

There's a betting tip in his article for Walter or any of you:

"But if you're making a harmless $5 workplace bet on the NFL playoffs, take the home teams this weekend. Home teams in the NFL divisional round are the surest thing in sports. Since the current playoff format was adopted in 1990, home teams in the divisional round are 53-15, a .779 winning figure. Usually, the reason the home teams are at home is that they are better than the wild-card teams. Equally important, in the divisional round, the home teams have spent a bye week relaxing in hot tubs while their opponents were out in the cold being pounded. Home teams dominate the NFL divisional round, so checkmark them in your office pool. You don't even need to know which team is playing!"

That's a misleading stat. While home teams tend to win, they usually don't cover. Try 2-6 against the spread the last two years, and 5-11 against the spread the last four.