Some events are just better live

There are some sports that are better watched on TV (Football, some basketball) and others that are better enjoyed in person (hockey, other basketball). After the most recent Thanksgiving, I now believe there re some other events that fall into those same categories. Parades on TV are lame. Going to parades in person is way better. Let's list the reasons in bullet point form, but we can call each point "post floats".
- You might get candy while actually being at a parade.

- None of the floats in local parades "interpret" anything, and if they do, you don't have to have Kevin Frazier explain it to you. (Kevin Frazier isn't the problem. Float explanations are the problem)

- Local parades have fire trucks

- Marching bands keep marching, which means you don't have to listen to them for very long. The camera can fix on Big & Rich on their Golden Corral (r) Buffet sponsored float while they sing their latest country hit.

- Nobody is actually watching the parade when it is on TV. If you have a handful of horses feet from your face, you are going to pay attention.

Next summer, when the 4th of July or your town festival comes around, go to the parade with your family. It will be a good time, and worth talking about for a while. Nobody remembers a parade they watch on TV.

The NFL playoffs are pretty much set

I know that injuries can and do happen in the NFL, and those can really throw things off, but a look at the playoff picture about halfway through the season doesn’t really reveal too many weak spots, does it? It looks to me like all the teams in the playoffs right now are still going to be there when January rolls around.

The cream of the crop has been pretty well established, and it is the four teams with byes, if the season ended today – The Saints, Rams, Patriots and Chiefs. The other in playoff position have either played very well of late, have distance between them and the next team up, and otherwise lack any particularly glaring deficiencies. Take a look at the NFL playoff picture:

Oh, shoot. Yeah, I forgot about the Bears. Sorry about that. They’re definitely not making the postseason.

Following the Compass round up

This only post at the Rhino and Compass site intermittently strategy means that the close overage of Following the Compass (adopting 2 teams a year, then keeping close tabs on one of their games in a season) has been lax. Both games for the 2018 calendar have been played, and the teams for next season have also been selected, so let’s just chat about all of it.

The first game this season featured the Texas Tech Red Raiders football team. They’ve recently been very good, and a very fun team to follow, thanks to a high flying passing game. It started with Mike Leach, but now his former QB Kliff Kingsbury is at the helm and continuing that strategy. This year hasn’t been a standout for the Red Raiders, as they have only gone 503, but they’ve had a big win against Oklahoma State and TCU.

One of the games that they won was their non-conference home game against Lamar, from Beaumont Texas. It was a complete whitewashing for the Red Raiders. They failed to score only once after throwing an interception, while Lamar was held scoreless. The final was 77-0, and was far more out of hand than even the most optimistic Texas Tech fans had presumed.

On the other hand, Syracuse, the other selection for the 2018 calendar, is ranked in the top 25 for the first time in over a decade. They’ve defeated Florida State and North Carolina State, while remaining competitive against Clemson The game preceded the FTC game against Pitt, played at Heinz Field.

Pittsburgh is not having a great season, however they aren’t a poor team, on the level of the Lamar Cardinals, and they gave Syracuse a game.The Orange seemed to have some momentum leading to the half, but a long weather delay at half time really threw things off. The Panthers made a hard charge to make a game of it.

Eventually, they did tie it up and sent the game to overtime,a very long time after the game kicked off. The Panthers scored on their first possession, but the Orange looked lost when they took control, despite having put up 37 points already, and were unable to put the ball in the end zone, allowing the Panthers to steal victory form a superior opponent.

Next year, things will be entirely different. Instead of two college football teams from major conerences, we'll be following two college basketball teams from minor conferences. One of the schools is one of the most prominent mid-majors from the last decade or so, switching conferences from the SoCon to the OVC in a hunt for greater challenges. The Belmont Bruins are one of the preeminent teams to rise up through the small conference ranks in recent years. Located in Nashville, the Bruins are going to be traveling to Cape Girardeau, Missouri on March 2nd in their regular season finale, taking on one of our old Following the Compass sides, Southeast Missouri State.

The other team has had some small conference success in the past, but have recently been overwhelmed by the influx of teams from the Dakotas in their conference. Frankly, though, I think most people know this Oklahoma school because of the strange namesake. Oral Roberts University in Tulsa is the second game on the calendar. Unfortunately, the game we selected, #10, will be a part of the 2019-20 season, so we will need to wait until late next fall to figure out exactly who and where they will be playing. They play a fairly regional schedule, including teams from the Dallas area, Oklahoma and Missouri, but also have one big neutral site tournament in Michigan. This season, game 10 for Oral Roberts is against SMU in Dallas, if that gives you an idea of what the game might be. Game 10 will likely fall in early December next year. . 

It's been since 2015 since I drew two college basketball teams in the same year. The fact that those teams are everywhere, though, can make it so much more fun. 

You aren’t paying close enough attention to college football

I am speaking to the college football fans, who often come to me to talk about the game and the news of the world. If you don’t like football, this isn’t for you. If you are a college football fan, you definitely should have mentioned this to me.

Kentucky is actually good this year? I never thought I would see the day that anyone outside of Alabama, LSU, Florida or Georgia would ever have any kind of resurgence, but now the Wildcats are ranked 13^th or 15^th depending on the poll you choose, and are 5-0, including a win at Florida and at home against Mississippi State, who was ranked #14 at the time.

That means that Kentucky, the football version, are ranked higher than
Michigan (every team in Michigan)
Miami (both of them, if you’re counting)

Oregon (every team in Oregon)

Texas

Colorado (all of the Colorados)

Florida

North Carolina State(Every team in North Carolina)

Oklahoma State

And those are just the few that I notice, because they (or a team similar to them) are ranked.

Looking ahead, the Wildcats will probably finish about 10-2 and end up playing on New Years Day. Teams that have a surge like that always seem to get paired with other up and comers, rather than getting the challenge they desire, so I’m calling it right now: Kentucky is playing Central Florida in a bowl game this year. By the  way, why didn’t anyone tell me that UCF was good again this year?

The new UEFA is very different, but probably better

Asia’s continental tournament is severely bifurcated, with smaller countries left with no avenue for making it to the Champions League. North America is similar, in that it mostly excludes the Caribbean. Europe has started a move in that direction, making it difficult for the smaller countries of Europe, or those with a shorter history to get into the Champions League group stages.

This isn’t as terrible or elitist as it sounds though. There truly are only a handful of Associations in Europe that just outclass the rest of the world, let alone the continent. Getting another team from Germany in there over getting BATE from Belarus year after year, only to stumble in the group stage just makes for a more compelling tournament.

Not only does this make for a compelling Champions League, but it also sweetens the pot in the Europa League, the little brother to the Champions League. There are more chances for smaller nations to get teams deeper into that tournament, and it’s not assured that the groups will be won by English, German and Spanish sides, like in the Champions League, with Turkey, Austria, Greece and Belgium all having teams charting among the top 12 in the group stage, eligible for a top seed in the Group Stage draw.

Having the best teams in Europe playing all year long, and promoting competition at the middle tier of European football (rather than simply demolition) is going to be more entertaining, and more indicative of the overall health of the game. Also, from UEFA’s standpoint, this encourages the clubs still involved to be invested, rather than feeling like they are in the loser’s bracket, as the 4^th place team from Italy, or something.

As it stands, Rosenborg is one of two teams from Norway that finds itself in the group stage of the Europa Leage, which seems about given the current talent level now in the Europa League. There was room for Dudelange to become the first Luxembourgian team to qualify for a group stage of any European tournament. They will get a murderer's row, however, of down on their luck European powerhouses, with Real Betis, AC Milan and Olympiakos all scheduled to visit the tiny enclave.

As for the Norwegian sides, the outlook is less daunting. Rosenborg will get a pair of Red Bull affiliated teams from Salzburg and Leipzig, as well as frequent European opponent Celtic, who they have played well against in the past. Sapsborg will contend with Malmo, Besiktas and Genk, surely a manageable group. 

And that's the whole point. Everyone stands to be competetive this year, regardless of the tournaments they find themselves in. Sure, you can be upset that not as many small associations get a crack at the Champions League, but this is going to make for better, more engaging soccer all the way around. 

We get it. The SEC is good

Here, after 2 weeks of college football, is a comprehensive list of the entire conference's non-conference losses.
Tennessee: Lost to #17 West Virginia
Arkansas: Lost at Colorado State
Texas AM: Lost to #2 Clemson

Now, here is a list of the major conference opponents felled by SEC teams:
Kansas State
Louisville
Washington
Miami
Texas Tech

And then, of course, there are all the mid majors that were felled by the SEC. We get it, the SEC is good.

Banging the same drum

I harp on this all the time. It’s stupid that Minnesota only has one D1 college. I’ve heard people talk about their reasons, but the simple fact is that there aren’t any good ones. There are two local events that bring this to my attention this weekend, one on the field, and one at home.

Down in Iowa, the Iowa State Cyclones are playing the Hawkeyes for the annual Cy-Hawk trophy. The game will get national attention because of the heated rivalry between the two in state schools. In Minnesota, the only in D-1 rivalries in the state are in hockey. There are no multi-sport rivalries, and hockey doesn’t have the national attention necessary to attract attention, cash and interest from lucrative out of state students.

So that irked me. Iowa has a big rivalry game, and Minnesota doesn't. And then this morning, my wife and I were discussing out children's college, when it comes time for that (only 18 years to go!), and my wife and I each reflected on our personal journey towards picking a college. 

For me, I had two goals. One, I wanted to go somewhere with meteorology program, and I wanted to go somewhere where the athletics could be a major part of the student life (AKA, I wanted D-1). In Minnesota, the only school available was St. Cloud, and the next door options (with reciprocity) were North Dakota (not D-1 at the time, and in North Dakota) and Wisconsin. So I broadened my horizons and ended up at Purdue. 

My wife had an educational that was more broadly available, and a charge from her parents that she keep it affordable by staying in state. The breadth of opportunity with her major allowed her some options in state, which was different from me, but also, if she had the desire to go to a school with division one athletics, she was in Wisconsin, and had choices like Wisconsin, Green Bay, Milwaukee and Marquette. 

The fact that the there is only one D-1 option in state, with it's finite selection of educational programs, has to force some kids to look elsewhere. It did me. Maybe it will my kids too. In conclusion, it remains profoundly stupid that the state of Minnesota can't muster a second D-1 college.