2011 In Review

I would first like to say Happy New Year to all of my readers, I hope you all have a fun and safe night, and keep every resolution you attempt to begin tomorrow.

Now, let's review this past year and what all went down in sports. I started this last year, and know that everyone posts their cheesy lists, but I cut the cheese and get straight to the point.

So, without further adieu, here are my Top 5 moments of 2011.

Number 1: World Champions
We finally did it. I've watched the Mavericks since they seemed to go 0-82 back in my elementary years, and never thought I'd see the day. But I finally did, and Cuban hoisting the trophy paired with Dirk raising the MVP trophy was the best image of 2011.

Number 2: The Rushing of the Field
I was moving between the press box and the roof of Boone Pickens Stadium for the Bedlam game (December 3), and it was incredible. I got to sit back and watch everything and soak it all in, and it was the craziest atmosphere I had ever seen. Then, with four minutes to go in the game I moved down to the walkway between the field and Gallagher-Iba arena, and watched as the sea of orange flooded the field like a tsunami of fanatical, long-awaited happiness. I saw them tear down the goal posts and move them through the crowd as people hung off of them, everyone rejoicing in the schools first ever Big 12 Championship. Then, we went to Washington Street afterwards, home of "The Strip" and witnessed the celebration there as well. Incredible night.

Number 3: Back to Back American League Champions
Highlighted by Nelson Cruz' boomstick, the Rangers raised another AL Championship trophy and another AL Championship banner. Unfortunately, they couldn't finish it off (again) in the World Series, but it was another great year and another huge step taken towards being a major MLB power.

Number 4: Pack Attack
Before 2011, Aaron Rodgers was only known as "The quarterback who fell really far in the draft." He is now known as World Champion, and led an injury-stricken Packers squad to their first Super Bowl in a long time.

Number 5: The Rise to Dominance
Not exactly a moment, but the entire year was incredible for Cam Newton. He started it off by winning the National Championship in January, then followed that up by being the first pick in the NFL draft. Now, he has broken two rookie quarterback records (One held by Peyton Manning) and is becoming ONE OF the best quarterbacks in the leagues (YES, I said it!). Cam is a star and a role model, and the NFL needs him to do exactly what he's doing. Imagine what he would be doing if DeAngelo Williams was having a year like he did in '09. Can you say "Playoffs"?

Happy new year, hope it's a safe one!

Tebow

Tim Tebow is now 7-1 as a starter.

Brace yourself for the eighth straight week of Tebow mania on ESPN, as well as every radio station you come across... But I can't say I don't love it.

Let's get this out of the way... Tebow isn't an elite quarterback. He's not Aaron Rodgers (The best, period), Tom Brady or Peyton Manning (The second best in my opinion), but what do all four of these players have in common?

Their job is to win football games.

Tebow has won 7 of them in his last 8 games.

Yet people are still looking for arguments to debunk the Tebow-Mania that has ensued on everyone's Twitter timeline...

"But Brendon, his defense is playing incredible! That's the reason they're winning!"

Sure, the defense is playing great. I'll give that to them. But aren't they supposed to do that? The defense's sole job is to give their offense a chance to win the game (I go to Oklahoma State, I know this better than anyone).

Guess what? The defense is doing their job, and Tebow is doing his.

"But Tebow didn't kick that field goal in overtime, the kicker won the game!"

This is the funniest. Tebow's job isn't to kick the field goal. Overtime rarely ends with a touchdown unless it comes from 25+ yards away (on a long play). Any time a team gets within 30 yards of the endzone, they run the ball a few times and kick a field goal.

Tebow's job is to get the ball inside the kickers range, that's EVERY quarterback's job in the NFL. The kicker's job is to kick the field goal.

The kicker did his job, Tebow did his.

All in all, the only reason Tebow gets talked about is because there are so many people who want to throw him out as a quarterback. That's what Skip Bayless, ESPN's most controversial analyst, thrives off of. Someone says something, and he goes against it, THAT'S why you hear about it. That's what the national media does, and that's what you tune into when you turn on ESPN or the radio.

Tebow is not a quarterback. Fine. I'll give you that. But he's doing every job a quarterback is supposed to do, and doing it well.

Tebow's job is to give his team the best chance to win. Moving the ball inside of field goal range in overtime is the job he was handed, and he did it.

That's the same job Rodgers, Brady, Manning, Romo, Flacco, Alex Smith and Roethlisberger all have. That's the job you have as a quarterback.

Tebow does his job.

If I had a vote...

If I had a vote in any of these, this is how I would be voting.

Heisman Voting
1- UW RB Montee Ball
2- LSU DB Tyrann Mathieu
3- BU QB Robert Griffin III
4- STAN QB Andrew Luck
5- ALA RB Trent Richardson

All Big 12 Team (Second team in Parenthesis)
QB- OkSt Brandon Weeden (BU Robert Griffin III, 3rd Team KSU Collin Klein)
RB- BU Terrance Ganaway (OkSt Joseph Randle, 3rd Team A&M Cyrus Gray)
WR- BU Kendall Wright (OU Ryan Broyles, 3rd Team TTU Eric Ward)
WR- OkSt Justin Blackmon (A&M Ryan Swope, 3rd Team OU Kenny Stills)
TE- MU Michael Egnew (OU James Hanna, 3rd Team KU Tim Biere)

Top 25 Ballot
1. LSU
2. Oklahoma State
3. Alabama
4. Stanford
5. Oregon
6. Kansas State
7. Arkansas
8. Boise State
9. Wisconsin
10. Clemson
11. South Carolina
12. Baylor
13. Virginia Tech
14. Oklahoma
15. Michigan
16. Georgia
17. Michigan State
18. Houston
19. Nebraska
20. TCU
21. Penn State
22. West Virginia
23. Southern Mississippi
24. Auburn
25. Florida State
Others: Texas

Ranking the best field rushes of the recent past

Saturday was the first time I have ever experienced a field-rush firsthand.

I've rushed the court once in high school after our basketball team won homecoming in triple overtime, but rushing with 40 other students isn't the same as rushing with 60,000 like they did last night at Boone Pickens Stadium.

Although I was covering the game and was standing on the Gallagher-Iba patio to watch the madness ensue before finding my way down to the field, I must say that it was as cool as I've always thought it to be.

That being said, my prayers and thoughts are with my fellow students who were injured during the process. This type of thing is about celebration, and it upsets me that last night was probably the best night in those students recent lives up until they were unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It's always been a dream of mine to be playing in a game that big and to have the crowd rush onto me like the student section, and eventually the entire stadium, did last night.

It was awesome. My hands were shaking, partly due to it being 35 degrees outside, but also because the adrenaline to blood ratio was about 2:1 in my veins.

So, without further delay, I present to you the 5 best field rushes in recent history, being the last 3-5 years.

Criteria: I'm basing these rankings off of a few things.
#1: How fast the field was filled and how heavy the stream of students was coming out of the stands
#2: How fast the goal posts came down, if they came down
#3: How much the field was filled overall.

Number 5: Texas A&M upsets #8 Nebraska -- 2010
I loved this one. A&M was on a historic run in 2010 to lock up a share of the Big 12 south division and made a huge statement against Nebraska. The cool thing about this field rush is that at Kyle Field, only 1/3 of the students are on the field level. The other 2/3 are either a deck or two up, so the initial rush is the lower level, then in the extended versions, there are two more huge rushes that hit from the next two decks. Great effort, but not good enough to get any higher than 5.

Number 4: Wisconsin upsets #1 Ohio State -- 2010
Ohio State had just received it's #1 ranking after a loss at the top the week before, but they had to go to Wisconsin to defend it. Then it all went sour. My favorite part? Listen to the PA Announcer. "Students, PLEASE stay back!" "Students, PLEASE get off the goal posts." Shutup and let the kids have some fun man.



Number 3: Iowa State upsets #2 Oklahoma State -- 2011
This one hurts, but I had to put it up. They filled the field quickly. Didn't go after goal posts though... Why?



Number 2: Oklahoma State over Oklahoma, wins first Big 12 Championship in school history -- 2011
Finally a win. After 8 long years the Pokes got the big Bedlam W. The students attacked the field, given the 8 foot wall they had to drop down to get to it, and took out BOTH of the goal posts. Awesome. Also, notice how the PA announcer keeps celebrating instead of yelling at the students. We're adults, okay!?



Another cool video that went up on the O'Colly website after I posted this of the field rush.



Number 1: Texas Tech upsets #1 Texas -- 2008
Nothing will ever beat this field rush. Ever. Mike Crabtree grabbed a comeback on the sideline, then slipped past a defender and tip toed into the endzone. Tech students rushed with 1 second left, so half of the stadium, which was at capacity, was already on the sidelines. All they had to do was run to midfield. The greatest field rush in the history of college football. Period.

See 8:05 if you don't want to watch the game highlights.

Oklahoma State gets jipped

I'm going to do my best Kirk Herbstreit/Mark May/Craig James impression and break this down at face value.

Really?

Kirk Herbstreit and Mark May both took shots at Oklahoma State's defense tonight. Were they not watching last night?

Jamie Blatnick and Richetti Jones were ONE YARD SHORT of outscoring the Sooner offense... And they're defensive ends.

"What else do these guys have to do," Brandon Weeden asked me at the team's BCS watch party. "They just shut down the fifth ranked offense in the nation, what else is there?"

I fully agree, and the feedback after the Bedlam game is disgusting. The contest is being chalked up as OU just simply not showing up.

Really?

Give credit where credit is due. The Pokes held the Number 5 ranked passing offense (People are conveniently forgetting that detail) out of the endzone with their lone touchdown coming from the backup quarterback.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist in the least bit, but to echo Oklahoma State receiver Isaac McCoy's comments on twitter, I have a feeling that if Texas or OU were in this position, the Big 12 would have a representative in New Orleans come January 9th.

Also, if anyone has any connections at ESPN, let them know I'm available for hire. I would love to talk football with these imbecile's they put on their panels.

I think the pointless debates with my buddies on random things like who has the best batting stance in baseball are harder to win then it would be to talk football on these BCS shows.