- Former Packer O-coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski was "fired" from his position as the Boston College football head coach yesterday, after refusing to not interview with the Jets. Apparently UW-Whitewater alum Jagod failed to tell his AD that he was talking with the J-E-T-S, and that didn't sit too well with his boss. And the Globe reported some informal agreement that Jagod would not pursue other jobs for the first three years as BC chieftan. So there. But what a wacky way to get fired, eh? "If you do not-very-outlandish thing A, I'll can you!" "Alright, well I'm doing it." "You're canned!" That's a pretty quick trigger. And can Boston College really afford to be so choosey? It's not like the goofy Wisconsin native hadn't gotten BC (the smallest school in the ACC) to the ACC title game two straight years. Oh, wait. (I guess they did just gift Vandy its first bowl win in 50 odd years.) Anyhoo, Jagod is a friggin' weirdo. If you don't like recruiting 16-year-olds and want to go back to the NFL, just quit already. Further proof that you just can't trust a Warhawk. They're shifty.- So, awesomely, UW men's basketballers totally pounded Northwestern last night. What a contrast to the PSU game on Saturday. NU had been doing quite well so far this year (they were in the top 25 in Pomeroy's ratings), but UW carved up their defense and forced miss after Wildcat miss. The dominant final score (by 29 points in a 62 possession game), jumped UW 15 slots in the Ken Pom ratings. Awww, yeah. Number 34, bitches! Whoop!
- Seriously now, UW sophomore forward Jon Leuer is getting smoother and smoother on offense, and his rebounding and D really have picked up. Or they at least looked excellent against NU's nearly all-white frontcourt. (It's like being back in Minnesota!) Sadly, fellow soph Keaton Nankivil continues to start but play less than Leuer. The young Madisonian just keeps looking a bit timid, though he has bursts of effectiveness. (What is it with these Madison Memorial alums? Are they all nancies or is it just me?) Hell, lower ceilinged walk-on Kevin Gullickson got about the same number of minutes as Nankivil last night. And don't get me wrong, I effing love kids like KG who are academic badasses (Academic All-Big Ten two straight seasons with a "business finance" major) and have multiple drinking citations. That is doing Wisconsin proud, my young friend. But schollie sophs should be earning more minutes that walk-ons, regardless of how bad ass they are. Can I blame the math teacher/head coach at Memorial for stunting the Nanker's development?
- Also, third soph Tim Jarmusz ran about the ugliest fast break I have ever seen last night. He bricked a mildly contested one on one lay up. The Leuer missed a tip, then Krabby missed a tip, then the ball got knocked out of bounds, I think. Yeesh. I thought Tim could shoot. There were a couple of ugly fast breaks last night-- there was another where Pop missed a lay in, Bohannon tipped it back up, and it was goaltended. Bizarre. Apparently, NU is the only team unathletic enough that Wisconsin can run on them (or is unafraid of the consequences of trying to run).
- Last UW basketball note: I'm convinced that UW's kick ass offense against NU was partly due to the fact that NU is the third straight team UW has played who primarily plays zone defense. (Michigan and NU are 1-3-1 teams, and PSU plays a lot of 2-3.) Meaning they just finished their second straight week of preparing to play against zone Ds. This has me worried they're going to be out of practice for the pressure man to man D Purdidn't will throw at them this weekend, and accordingly are going to look ugly on offense. Whatever. Number 34! Whoop!
- I have no idea who the Packers will hire to replace now deposed D-coordinator Bob Sanders. I do like, a lot, this line from a Journal-Sentinel article about the search. "McCarthy, a source said, wants someone who could adapt to his talent and not be tied to one way of doing things." Exactly. If you need perfect personnel to coordinate an effective defense, you're going to be in trouble, because people get old and incompetent and/or get injured quite quickly in the NFL. Hire somebody who makes decent lemonade.
- Getting back to college football, I will not be watching this evenings faux-national championship game as I have more interesting and important crap to do. In addition, I have opted to not even Tivo the game, as Grey's Anatomy and 30 Rock hold more allure than watching two "schools" try to run up the score on each other. (How can a team be seen as a formal representive of a school, if less than half of said team actual matriculates from said school?) Plus, Florida and the Pope should win by double digits. OU got into the championship game by losing early in the season (thus resulting in being higher ranked than Texas Tech and Texas, which was the tie-breaker for getting into the Big 12 Championship game), and by running up the score. Karma is a bitch. As is the fact that the Big 12 has gotten exposed this postseason. True, Nebraska managed to beat a terribly quarterbacked Clemson team, and Kansas bombed a floundering Minnesota team as predicted but Mizzou needed overtime to beat friggin' Northwestern, top ten team Texas Tech got pounded in Dallas by Ole Miss, Oklahoma State got burned by Oregon, and Texas needed all sorts of help to barely squeak past the Ohio A&M. Not looking so strong there, El Grande Doce. Plus, Florida actually has a defense and an offense, and Bob Stoops has laid several BCS eggs since winning his national championship eight plus years ago. I say the Pope, his balanced team, Tim Tebow (and his remarkably built ladyfriend), win by two touches. 30 something to 20 something. Predictable, cheesy and boring, especially with Fox's awful production values. (ABC does the Rose Bowl so much better, it's not even funny.)
Watching the lady from Knocked Up debate the moral dillema of her illicit affair with a dead boyfriend's ghost (worst plot development ever) on Grey's Anatomy will be far more entertaining. Or maybe not. Well, if it's a good game it'll be rebroadcast soon enough anyway. - In all seriousness, not watching that game is actually an effective way you can show your displeasure over the stupid BCS system. If the ratings start to suffer, the university presidents (whose hands must be chapped from all the rubbing together they do at the thought of the financial payout from the current deal) may start to come around. Either that, or we'll have to wait for them to all die off. Or at least for Big 11 commish Jim Delaney to die off.
- Finally, UW running back PJ Hill and his prodigious posterior have opted to try to take his game to the next level. Good luck to the young man. Despite assorted injuries, PJ has been a fine college back, and is actually third in career rushing yards at UW, behind Anthony Davis and Ron Dayne. In addition, PJ has always seemed like a good teammate and an amiable young man. (For example, I didn't see him grumble or sulk a bit after John Clay started getting more carries this season.) As far as his decision to leave "early" goes, I can't blame him a bit. He redshirted after breaking his leg in preseason camp as a frosh, so he's been here for four whole seasons. He doesn't have much left to prove, and Clay (and Zach Brown and Montee Davis) would have been champing at the bit behind him next season. I don't know where (or if) he'll be drafted, but he has always been great at getting yards in tough spots, maximizing what he can get after contact. He'd make a solid short yardage back, I'd wager. Godspeed.
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