Tuesday, September 23, 2008

...

Wow Benjamin we really do suck at picking 'em...can I just say though that both my NFL fantasy teams are 3-0...Oh and Granger IS passing up season ending surgery so he'll most likely be back in several weeks (not that its really gonna make that big of difference). Thats all I gotta say for right now...gotta get back to studying for two quizes and a test. Catch you all tomorrow night at 8...its gonna be a good one!

OUT,

Steve







Monday, September 22, 2008

The results are in.....

We dont know squat about football.

Results:

NCAAFB:
Week 2
Steve:3-2
Ben: 3-2

Cumulative:
Steve: 5-5
Ben: 5-5

NFL:
Week 2
Steve: 2-3
Ben: 0-5

Cumulative:
Steve: 4-6
Ben: 3-7

Locks:

Week 2
Steve: 0-2
Ben: 0-2

Cumulative:
Steve: 1-3
Ben: 2-2

Pathetic.

Random ramble:
The boys in blue are a force to be reckoned with. Other than garbage time, Dallas pretty much shut down Green Bay. I'm real excited for the rest of the season. Not as excited about missing next week's Washington game.

U.S. Ryder Cup was sick.

4 of my 5 fantasy teams' fate lie in the toe of LT. If he scores 3 points, one team will win... up to 22 points and all 4 teams win. The other of my 5 teams... I already won. So lets go Chargers!

Finger roll:

Stay Classy,

Ben

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Picks and Podcast Info

Radio Show was a huge hit tonight. Here are Steve and I's picks:

College:

West Virgina -3 at Colorado: Ben and Steve take West Virgina covering
Florida -7.5 at Tennessee: Ben and Steve take Florida
Boise St at Oregon -10.5: Ben thinks this gets ugly and takes Oregon. Steve takes Boise
Georgia -7 at Arizona State: rebound game both of us take Georgia big.
LSU -3.5 at Auburn: Ben takes the champs laying the points. Steve takes the team with no offense.
Locks: Steve takes Auburn; Ben takes Fresno State laying 7 against Toledo

NFL:
Arizona at Washington -3: Both take Arizona's high powered O.
Tampa Bay at Chicago -3: Both take the Bears
Carolina at Minnesota -3.5: Steve takes AD, Ben bets against his boy Gus
Saints at Broncos -6: Both think Broncos win big
Dallas -3 at Green Bay: Steve stays loyal and takes the boys, Ben thinks 6 days isnt enough to recover from Philly game

Locks: Steve says Broncos -6, Ben takes over 42 points in AZ vs. Wash

Why the hell did we not pick the Pitt Eagles game? We overlooked that....SORRY.


Ok so I figured out how to do podcasts. Here is the Pat Forde interview and it should show up on the right Podcenter toolbar for at least the next few weeks.



Stay Classy,

Ben

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Romo = Retarded?

Here are the updated rankings between Steve and I:

College:
Ben: 2-3
Steve: 2-3

NFL:
Ben: 3-2
Steve: 2-3

Locks:
Steve: 1-1
Ben: 2-0


Looks like I have the early lead.

Monday night thoughts....

The Dallas secondary is in trouble. Pressure was sufficient from the d-line, but the secondary struggled mightily. I fear there may be several shootouts this year. Luckily, our offense is sick. Good luck stopping our passing attack. Very interesting to see if Sunday night vs. the Packers is another shootout. My dad goes to that game.... lucky.



Alright, Steve and I will post our picks for this weekend tomorrow night.

Stay Classy,

Ben

Saturday, September 13, 2008

BCS a Mess?

So everyone wants a playoff system for college football...right? Well with the system we have in place, I think that there are just a few adjustments that would drastically change the landscape of college football.


Before I get into this adjusted system, I am going to assume (because this should happen) that the Cotton Bowl is added as a new BCS site. The Cotton Bowl will be moved to the new Texas Stadium in the next 5 years.

Ok here we go:

A) All BCS conferences should have conference championship games.

Tired of seeing Ohio State finish playing football on November 15th and then waiting 3 weeks to slide up the polls into the national championship? Me too! PAC-10, BIG-10, and the BIG-EAST must add conference championships. How fantastic would it be to have a Friday night double header of conference championship games and then FOUR conference championship games on Saturday. uh....awesome? Yaaaa. This needs to be done. It is unfair for teams in the brutal SEC and tough Big 12, and sometimes competitive ACC to have to go through maybe their most challenging game of the year just to qualify for a BCS game. While the other three conferences don't have to face that tough test. Make it fair across the board.

B) Two AT-Large teams **(Credit to Aaron Brenner who helped me with this idea)

I like the BCS rankings. I think 95% of the time, it gets it right. One gripe I have with it, is that the human pollsters are so dumb I wonder sometimes if they watch football. I believe in last years last poll, 10 coaches put Missouri ahead of OU, even though OU beat them twice? It's a joke and its not just my OU bias. Other teams rankings were just ridiculous. Florida with 3 losses ranked #1? Several coaches had that. But overall, keep the BCS rankings.

The two BCS at-large teams will be: 1) The highest ranked BCS team that didn't win its conference; and 2) A non-BCS team selected by a play in game. The play-in game will be played on the Thursday night of the conference championship weekend. It will be between the two highest ranked non-teams. Should be exciting, no?

C) Rank the teams according to BCS rankings and place them in the BCS bowls.

Best ranked against the worst ranked. Second best ranked against the second worst etc.... For example, if USC is #1 and the Big East champion is ranked #22 and thats the worst ranking... they play in game one. The way the bowl should be selected is by proximity to the best seeded team. There will be 4 preselected locations (out of the 5 BCS bowls) and proximity to the best seeds is how the games are placed. So obviously is USC is #1 they are playing in the Rose Bowl. But if USC was #6 and they were playing Oklahoma who is #4. They play in the Cotton Bowl. Get the gist? So fill the 4 quarter-final games by proximity. By using proximity, it guarantees fans filling the seats which equals money and that has been the biggest gripe with a playoff (Sponsors losing money).

D) Winners face off in 2 more BCS bowls at repeat locations.

The BCS locations for the semi-finals should be preselected locations. The bracket is not re-seeded between rounds. Simple.

E) National championship is played during the weekend between the conference championships and the Super Bowl in the NFL.

This will be played in a preselected BCS location. There will be one location that did not host a quarterfinal and a semifinal games and this is where the championship will be. It will be a yearly rotation, so each location gets to host the National championship. Some years they only get a quarterfinal game. Some years you get a quarterfinal and a semifinal.

F) The schedule will work with school.

Quarterfinals: First week after school is out. (Weekend before Christmas)
Semifinals: (New Years week)
Championship: (Between AFC and NFC championship and Superbowl)

So I think i covered it. BCS makes more money, fans are happy. Less people will be upset because:

If you win your conference you are in the playoff. If you lose your conference but play in a tough conference (i.e. Missouri) you still have a good chance of making the playoffs if you are highly ranked. At large teams have a legit shot at making the playoffs and wont always be the last ranked team.

So this should sum it up. I know the bowl locations is kinda confusing, but it works. I'll do a what if for you:

If the season ended after week 2 and we will pretend the AP is the BCS standings it would be:

10. Wisconsin
9. Auburn
8. LSU
7. Missouri
6. East Carolina (lets assume they dont lose a game all year)
5. Ohio State
4. Florida
3. Oklahoma
2. Georgia
1. USC

Big 12 champ: Oklahoma
Pac-10 champ: USC
SEC champ: Georgia
Big-10 Champ: OSU
ACC champ: Wake Forest ranked #12
Big East champ: South Florida ranked #15
Fresno State is ranked #14

Here are the games:

Play-in game: East Carolina beats Fresno State

Quarters:
Rose Bowl: USC vs. South Florida
Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs. Wake Forest
Cotton Bowl: Oklahoma vs. East Carolina
Orange Bowl: Florida vs Ohio State

Semis:
Rose: Georgia vs. Oklahoma
Sugar: Florida vs. USC

Championship:
Fiesta: Oklahoma vs. USC

Again bowls will rotate every year.

I think this works. Very long explanation. So, whats your take?

My picks












I'm about to go tee it up in Dallas. Trying to beat that damn hurricane. Without further ado:

Picks from the show:

College

OU over Washington +20
USC over OSU +11
Georgia over SCarolina +7.5
Kansas over USF.....lost that one
Michigan over ND +2.5

My lock DOMINATED LAST NIGHT! Baylor over WashU

NFL:

Eagles cover 7 against Cowboys
Pitt covers 6.5 over Browns
Patriots beat Jets
Broncos over Chargers
Colts over Vikings
Lock: Giants cover 9 at St Louis


O'll let you know how the Hurricane man handles me on the course...

Stay Classy,

Ben

Friday, September 12, 2008

Predictions


Ooooooook here we go...my top five picks and predictions are in for this week's college football and NFL. I hope everybody had a good week (hope Nick is still alive in Reno and Ben hasn't contracted a disease from the male hitchhiker he picked at that rest stop.) I thought my very first radio show went pretty good and I know that it will only get better and more comfortable. I'm lucky to have a co-host that knows his stuff (thanks for carryin us last week Ben.) It was a good opening year show (minus the tech difficulties.) We had some strong guests and got to talk a lot of in depth sports. Anywaaay, getting back on track...

My 5-game college fball are:

1. OU (beat cincy 52-26) @ Wash U  (lost BYU 28-27) – OU wins by 24

2. USC (bye) @ OSU (beat Ohio  26-14)– USC BIG!

3. Georgia (beat C. Michigan 56-17) @ South Carolina (lost to Vanderbilt 24-17) – Georgia by at least two tds

4. South Florida (beat UCF 31-24) @ Kansas (beat L. Tech 29-0) – Kansas by a td (crazy how on recent ESPN.COM online poll, of 13,593 votes, it is exactly 50%-50% on who the winner will be.)

5. Mich (beat Miami Ohio 16-6) @ ND (beat San Diego State 21-13) – Mich  wins by 14

My Lock of the Week

USC big over Ohio State-  USC has 2 weeks to prepare. With Beanie looking doubtful and USC's air attack and power defense, I see a little "who's yo daddying." Be sure to watch for the nation’s two best middle linebackers: USC’s Rey Maualuga and OSU’s James Laurinaitis 

NFL:

Eagles (beat St. Louis 38-3) @ Cowboys (beat Browns 28-10) - Cowboys win by 10

Pittsburg (beat Houston 38-17) @ Browns (Lost to Cowboys 28-10) - Steelers win by 14

Patriots (beat KC 17-10) @ Jets (beat Miami 20-14) - Patriots win by 10

Chargers (lost to Panthers 26-24) @ Broncos (beat Oakland 41-14) - Broncos win by 7

Colts (lost to Chicago 29-13) @ Vikings (lost to GB 24-19) - Colts win by 13

My Lock of the Week

Pit over Cleveland


Quote of the day-
"TMI? Too Much Information. It’s just easier to say 'TMI'. I used to say "don't go there", but that's lame."
Michael "The Office"




The S-Train has left the station

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

RADIO SHOW TONIGHT!

Shaving Points with Ben and Steve debuts TONIGHT at 8PM CDT. Please tune in.... we have several guests:

Josh McCuistion from Rivals.com talking college football
Jason Sobel from ESPN.com talking Ryder Cup.
My good friend Aaron Brenner who writes for the paper in Madison, Wi. He will preview OSU vs. USC.

Its gonna be awesome. Steve and I will post our NFL and CFB picks. We will not be wearing pants in the studio, so feel free to come take a peak at the Oklahoma student union.

Listen at Wire.ou.edu... email us at shavingpoints@gmail.com

Stay Classy,

Ben















These tools will be running the show.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Hello World!

Just to give everyone reading this a quick mental image of me: I just woke up and am sitting at my desk in my blue monkey boxers and birthday cake socks (what is that smell??)

I want to start by thanking Ben for asking me to be on the show with him. I'm actually kind of surprised he asked me to be on his sports show due to some bitterness I thought still existed from when I used to kick his ass in 3rd grade basketball practice. I am however very excited be a part of this and I think it’s going to be a great show.

My name is Stephen LEVIN (no 'e' at the end...BEN!) I am a Super Senior at the great University of Oklahoma. I'm not quite sure when I'll be graduating (changed my major about the number of times Tavaris Jackson threw an incomplete pass last night.) I sort of view myself as an almost as but not quite as cool or attractive “Van Wilder.” I even have a bulldog named “Goldberg” with gigantic…well if you’ve seen the movie then you know what I’m talking about. I guess all I need now is a decked-out golf cart for class and a personal assistant Indian man.

On a brief NFL note, I watched Monday Night Football and was a bit disappointed in my two favorite players. First off, kudos on a pretty exciting Packer-Viking game (Denver not so much.) Although the game was sloppy at times and a bit frustrating (thanks to Tavaris who makes me want to rip my eyes out and pour Freebird’s fire sauce in the sockets…for cryin out loud just hand the ball to AD every freakin play!!) it was a pretty good game that came down to the wire and seeing Rogers do his first Lambeau Leap made the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

I was a little disheartened with the play of Jared Allen (who is a beast of man) and Adrian Peterson (the god of beasts of men.) Allen had 0 tackles or sacks in last night’s game which really surprised me. I realize he was double teamed a lot, but I was looking forward to see the rabid animal he was in a Chiefs jersey. Now I know on paper Peterson’s stats aren’t bad at all (103 yards and a TD), but lets face it, die hard AD fans, none of us are happy unless he’s breaking either the 200 yard mark or a d-backs leg (that hit on Al Harris was pretty good though.)

Anyways, I'm stoked to be a part of the show, it’s my first time on radio so hopefully I can catch on quick and don't forget to listen from 8-10 on wire.ou.edu!!

OUT,

Steve

Quote of the Day:

“Half this game is ninety percent mental.”

-Yogi Berra




adrianpeterson.jpg

my man crush

Monday, September 8, 2008

Back from the future

Well I'm really just back from a long hiatus. I'm sitting in class right now and decided now is as a good a time as ever to talk sports.


My radio show is BACK. Starting this Wednesday night from 8-10 central time... and we are starting with a bang. At least two main stream guests including but not limited to Jason Sobel from ESPN.com to talk Ryder Cup. Also Josh Mccuistion from Rivals.com will talk college football, specifically Oklahoma football. Its gonna be great.

I have brought in a new co-host this year. Times didn't work with D No, so my boy Stephen Levine will be joining me to form "Shaving Points with Ben and Steve." I am giving him permission to blog on here, so this will be a Shaving Points blog. He will introduce himself later tonight or tomorrow.

Be sure to tune into the show WEDNESDAY NIGHT FROM 8-10 CDT at WIRE.OU.EDU

Moving on to actual sports talk. My teams.... have been impressive. The OU football team looks awfully strong. I see us surpassing 500 points of offense this year...EAAAASY. We should average 45 points a game. The Big 12 defenses are weak this year. However our defense looks good. Our linebackers were a question mark, but Travis Lewis answered the call. Beast! Our secondary was a big question mark.... and they have looked pretty solid. Dominique Franks has big play ability but could get burned now and then. Brian Jackson just looks like he could shut down an entire side. My overall grades after two games: Offense A; Defense B+; Special Teams C-. The kicking game is good except for kickoff coverage.....AWFUL. God we need a special teams coach.

Moving on to my boys. That is the Dallas Cowboys. Our offense looks good. Our defense looks scary good even with Terrance Newman out. I see us having trouble scoring in a game or two. 12-4 will be our final record. Marion Barber needs to stay healthy, that is a big concern of mine. But our rookie back ups, Tashard Choice and Felix Jones look real solid. If the Cowboys stay healthy... they win 11 games minimum and will be playoff bound. Now if only we could win a playoff game.......this is the year baby!!

Ok, I should pay attention to some of my lecture. Tune in to the show Wednesday night!

Stay Classy,

Ben

RIP Tom Brady