Top 25 Eastern Rankings

Out of curiosity I wondered what was Syracuse's place in Eastern football after this horrible decade called the two thousand aughts. I guess people warning of Y2K were right. But now that the decade is over, hopefully we move back to where we should be.

So where is that? I wanted to use just the modern era but when did that start? I decided to use the time period from the D1 split into 1A and 1AA. That is 32 seasons (1978-2009) and seems like a good starting point. The game was played a lot different before that. And teams where fine playing several smalls schools who ended up in 1AA. By the late 80s most teams had removed those teams totally from their schedule.

Ok now which teams are Eastern? I decided to use Big East teams (including former BE member Temple), ACC teams, Army, Navy, and Penn St. Since that was 24 teams I decided to throw ECU in there as well to make a 25 team field. I took into account overall record, number of winning seasons, Bowl games, Bowl records, national titles, conference titles, Top 25 finishes, and Top 10 finishes. Using that I ranked the 25 teams.

So I have SU as the 8th best program over that period. The point fives indicate a shared title or ranking in just one poll. If the is a 0.5x that means the team had more than one shared title or half ranking with the number after point five being the number of times that occurred. For USF and UConn I only included their records since joining 1A.

How I'd fix the NHL

It wasn't too long ago that there were only 21 NHL teams (1990-91). There are now 30 teams. How can a league expand by 9 teams (or nearly 43%) and expect to have a good product? You just can't. The talent is spread too thin. On top of that the NHL expanded to cities who just aren't that into hockey (mostly the South). So I think the NHL should scale back to 20 teams. That allows 4 five team divisions. And it also allows you to bring back the Wales and Campbell conference names as well as the Patrick, Adams, Norris, and Smythe division names. Those made hockey original, lets bring them back.

So who gets cut? Well first off the 8 expansion teams of San Jose, Tampa Bay, Anaheim, Florida, Nashville, Atlanta, Columbus, and Minnesota. There isn't must history lost there. I do realize that Anaheim and Tampa Bay have won the Stanley Cup but so have the two time champ Montreal Maroons. I don't think that losing those cities would hurt the NHL. I do think that Ottawa should be spared. First hockey is a Canadian sport, so I believe that no Canadian teams should go. Second while this Ottawa franchise has no Cups, the original Ottawa Senators did win 4. Plus having them makes it easier to form divisions.

Well that now leaves 22 teams so who else goes? Well Carolina kinda sticks out all alone down South. So despite having an NHL title they get cut. The other team to go would be Phoenix. No titles and being in a desert doesn't fit my NHL. Which now brings us to the divisions.

Wales Conference

Patrick
NJD
NYI
NYR
PHI
WAS

Adams
BOS
BUF
MON
OTT
PITT

Campbell Conference

Norris
CHI
DAL
DET
STL
TOR

Smythe
CAL
COL
EDM
LAK
VAN

Dallas kinda sticks out. Ideally I think it would be better if they move back to Minnesota. Although you would lose a big market. As to schedule I would have them play 2 times vs teams from the other conference (20 games), 6 times vs teams from the other division (30 games), and 8 times vs teams from the same division (32 games). For the playoffs I would only take 4 teams per conference. Having 16 of 20 would make the regular season meaningless. Also baseball gets by fine having only 8 of 30.

So based on this year (which wouldn't be totally accurate):

Wales
1. WAS vs 4. BUF
2. PIT vs 3. NJD

Campbell
1. CHI vs 4. LAK
2. VAN vs 3. DET


I think with less teams and a lot more talent per team it would bring back the NHL.

How we watch the NCAAs

Cuse Cast XXXVI

The Nova addition. Tiger style, as in if you want a beef then bring the ruckus, the Cuse Cast aint nuttin to F with (not Mr Woods). Cuse Cast forever.

See College Gameday:



See how far the crowd stretches:



See the crowd that was behind the curtain:



See the crowd waving towels up in the air like they just don't care:



See the D make a stop and Wes almost hit a reverse:



See the Orange close out the game:



Hear the crew as they start their trip to the Cuse. They give pregame thoughts and as usual the mush Cuseman picks SU to lose.

Then hear them as they enter the terrible state of PA, the home of Nova.

Most importantly hear King Otto sing Cuse State of Mind as it comes on the radio. Also note the text messages the Cuseman receives that ruin the recording.

Hear them as they enter NY state and review for Cuse State of Mind.

Hear them as they arrive in SYR but have to take a detour due to 81 being closed.

Finally hear them after the game at Tullys of Mattydale as they give a recap of the game.

BTW after the game the ViceBlogger was telling everyone to "Shut it Down." One woman replied back "Oh yes we gonna shut it down honey." As we pulled away we noticed she had PA plates. Hmmmmm.

Length about 17:15

Club Four Four Review

I had the privilege to check out the new Club Four Four at the Louisville game. Above is a pic from the inside looking at the court.

Here are my random thoughts:

-Coat check = AWESOME. No more having to worry about where to put your coat or having someone spill beer on it. Almost worth the price of admission.

-No private bathroom = sucky. How can you not have an ultra VIP potty? I expected a mens room where you went pee into a wall water fall like at Tao.

-Food = yuck. Poor selection, small portions, and pricey by NYC standards. I mean $16 for 3 sliders? No wings or mozzarella wedges?

-I tipped and both the waitress and bartender accepted but when I got the food bill it said no tipping, which is weird. Ultra VIPs dont penny pinch. And dont you want your workers to be happy and have a reason to work hard?

-Staff = too old. They were nice but a place for ultra VIPs should have failed model/actresses as staff. If there are none in CNY then import them from Europe.

-Service = good and bad. I got my sliders in like a minute. That was great. What wasnt great was that I got my drink well after. And going to the bar after the game took a awhile as well. Definitely not the NYC style pace. They may need a bigger and more experienced staff.

-The place was kinda empty. Now this may have to do with it being the weekend. That is more family time at games while mid week is more adult time. Also being Valentines day may have hurt. Not to mention it was Sunday and you cannot sell beer till noon. But I think it is the cover charge. There is plenty of room for more people. The $1500 per person for a year or $500 per season is just too much. You dont want everyone to have access but you also dont want it to be empty. I think if they cut the price in half it would be perfect.

-It seemed like half the people there were kids. Seriously what kinda ultra VIP lounge has kids there? It should be adults only. This should not be a family place. That is what the Orange Club tent is for. Sure you may lose some customers but I think you add to the atmosphere and keep the people who will drink ($) coming back. Kids do not add revenue.

-Speaking of the OC tent I wonder if that will be phased out or limited. It really is competition for Club Four Four. Why pay a crazy cover charge at the Club when you can go to the tent and get free food, drink, and beer? It would probably be a good idea to move the free apps into the Club and remove beer from the tent. Limit the tent to free soda, water, popcorn, nachos, and Dome dogs. It is something nice for the donors but not so nice to draw people away from Club Four Four.

-I liked the look of the place. I think I would add more lounge chairs as there is plenty of space. Also the music was ok and not too loud.

-The TVs had ESPN on. Before the game it was SportsCenter so no biggie. But after it was bowling. Someone needs to be on top of that and change the channel. And maybe add a few more TVs.


See for yourself:




Overall I liked the place. Although I thought that atmosphere was kinda dead. That needs to be fixed. Can it? Or is Club Four Four not a right fit for CNY? That and the crazy cover charge need to be worked out. If it is then I think it will be a success.