Indiana 70, Illinois 72

FIRST HALF:
Despite the best efforts of the refs to make this game suck in accordance with the Big Ten Game Stylesheet, the Hoosiers and Illini are having one heck of a battle in Champaign. And I almost went to this game. Damn!

The Jordan alley-oop (to Paul?), Verdell Jones getting on a roll, Demetri McCamey looking like the best point guard in the conference, Jordan Hulls nailing treys, and that Devan Dumes steal and halfcourt make as time expires? Awesome.

It's 36-36 at the half as we return to The Other Assembly Hall. God, I hate having that much ugly orange on my TV, but if this game keeps up, it's worth it.

Orange, pink, and Crimson = TV overload. My eyes are on fire.

SECOND HALF:
Well, at least it was a good game. Indiana lost on a last-second runner by McCamey that cancelled out Hoosier heroics.

Somebody in the Big Ten studio suggested that Watford should have slid over on the last play and tried to take a charge. I say that's nuts. No way you put yourself in that position, knowing that if the Illini guard goes to the line, he's going to hit at least one and end the game for sure. No, the Hoosiers did their best and were foiled.

That McCamey shot, by the way, was eerily reminiscent of the one he hit last year against Northwestern which spoiled a monster effort by the Wildcats. Same freakin' heartbreak.

Anyway, Indiana's now 9-11 (3-5). It's a good time to try and remember that this team is still better, by leaps and bounds, than last year's.

Classic Super Bowl Commercials

Found this link to some classic Super Bowl commercials. My biggest question, where did Michael get his outfit for the McDonald's commercial.

Bill Simmons wants to write like Noffke

Isn't it interesting that the Sports Guy puts out his tortured fan article a week after Noffke puts out his? If I didn't steal so many of his ideas, I'd go after him for plagiarism.

Bulls Make Trade at Center

It is being reported that the Bulls have traded Center Aaron Gray to the New Orleans Hornets gaurd Devin Brown. Brown is a 6-5 Guard who will add depth to the Bulls perimeter.

I know this isn't the major trade most Bulls fans are hoping for, but even though he never played, I liked Aaron Gray. The Bulls will now be looking for a new end of the bench guy to high five players as they come off the floor.

Knox Goes Bowling

It's been annouced that Johnny Knox will be in South Florida this week to particpate in the Pro Bowl. Johnny Knox will officially replace Percy Harvin as the return specialist for the game. Even though he is listed as kick return specialist, look for Knox to get a lot of playing time at wide receiver as well. Traditionally the stars don't want to play very long and will let the younger guys play a greater number of snaps. This used to happend to Bears special teamer Brendon Ayanbadejo who would rarely play a snap at linebacker for the Bears, but would play linebacker for 40 or 50 plays in the pro bowl because no one else wanted to play.

Congrats to Johnny, who will be the first Bears rookie since Hester to make the Pro Bowl, hopefully he can win the MVP trophy for a nice little bonus.

Trivia: Super Bowl Style

I have a few of Super Bowl related questions for everyone.

A personal favorite of mine. Can you name the three teams have won a Super Bowl, but have a losing record in the Super Bowl?

Which team has been to the most Superbowls and how many?

How many times has a team making their Super Bowl debut won the Super Bowl and which was the last team to do this?

How good is Adrian Peterson?

Upon watching the NFC championship, I wondered to myself, "How can somebody who fumbles as much as AP be considered so great?".

So being the curious fan that I am I decided to break it down by the numbers. Over the past three seasons, AP has had 4,484 rushing yards on 915 carries (YPC 4.900546 [after all it is a game of inches]). He has also had 40 rushing TD's and 20 fumbles over the same span. However, this data all by itself means nothing.

I chose to compare this to a halfback who hasn't had the blessing of a great o-line to run behind, Jones-Drew. Over the same time span (the last three years), JD has only 2,983 yards but only on 658 carries (YPC 4.533434). Even though he had a significantly lower amount of touches, he scored almost as many TD's with 36. One might expect that if AP is really the best that JD would also have about as many fumbles, however, this is not the case. JD only had 10 fumbles in the 3 year period. So according to my stat sheet even though we see AP setting records on Sportcenter and running all over the NFC north, there is no eveidence to say that he is any better than sombody else in a different situation. In fact I would even be as so bold to say that most any starting halfback in the NFL would do an equally good if not better job in Minnesota.