Okay, so I don't know for sure if it's rigged, but I'm throwing it out there.  You can be the judge after tonight.  Everyone is watching this season for one reason; Kimbo Slice.  The first episode we saw him announced as a special fighter who comes out after everyone.  That's a little suspect on its own.  Dana White has previously said he'd never have Kimbo in the UFC and then he for some reason changes his mind and makes the stipulation that the only way he will get into the UFC is to win the Ultimate Fighter.  I have no problem with him changing his mind and making it seem like he really has to fight his way in, but we know that Kimbo is the moneymaker of the show.  He is the staple on the show that brings the viewers in.  Kimbo is everywhere; from trailers for his box office bust/straight to DVD release of "Blood and Bone" to basically being on commercials for commercials for the Ultimate Fighter.  There just has to be something more to it than just being a gimmick for UFC.

Now here's where I'm really coming from.  The first two weeks of the show had Rampage in control of the fights.  Now of course everyone is going to think that he will setup the perfect fight for Kimbo in one of the first two weeks, but instead he pulls the better maneuver for the show and uses up one of the best wrestlers on the show the first week and one of the better fighters on the show the second week, which then limits who Kimbo could face in his first round matchup.  At the end of last week Rashad gets control of the fights and puts Roy "Big Country" Nelson up against the one, the only, Kimbo Slice.  Now I know Roy is probably the most experienced there, but this has to be the best fight for Kimbo.  If there's someone you want Kimbo to fight it would be the fat guy.  Kimbo will probably knock him out tonight and if not then Kimbo can easily out endure him.  It just seems a little too obvious that this would be the setup fight from the beginning and airing it week three gets the viewers to watch for a couple weeks and then finally get what they want.

Only time will tell if my inkling is correct or not, but I wouldn't blame Dana White if it was.  I don't think the fights are rigged, but the matchups could easily be setup.  The UFC has a large fan base, but I don't think they've really found the next way to expand.  It seems like every pay-per-view they are getting about the same buy rates and they also seem like they are having a problem building up new superstars.  Brock Lesnar is a huge superstar because he came from WWE and then turned into a champion.  Other than him there really aren't many new, up and coming fighters that semi-fans of UFC would recognize.  UFC needs someone to be another face for the UFC, someone who people will want to see, and someone who is recognizable to more than just UFC fans.  Kimbo Slice is that guy; and I think that guy has his trail mapped out to at least be in the finals of the Ultimate Fighter.  Either way, I'll be watching!
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I didn't want to get involved in the repetitive arguments for college football getting a playoff system.  We know the BCS is here and will be here for awhile.  Unfortunately for the 90% of us who want the playoff system, we probably want get it anytime soon.  Either way I think I have to try and get the other 10% on board because anyone who really believes the BCS system is the best thing for college football shouldn't even be considered a sports fan.  I don't know if these people just like to go against the grain or they believe that their all high and mighty because their traditionalists who want to stick with the old ways of college football instead of doing what's right.  I've written about how the college football rankings are complete nonsense and their only purpose are to provide a facade for media markets to conger up hype for upcoming games.  We've seen this year that the hype hasn't lived up to expectations and most Top 10 teams seem about as legit as Lamar and Khloe's wedding.  The only fair way to get a legitimate national champion is to have a playoff.  This is why I'm going to list the Top Ten Pro BCS Arguments (and Why They're Wrong).

#10 - Students Need Time To Study for Finals
Can people finally come to grips that these players are athlete students and not student athletes?  Let's just think of the travel schedule as an educational field trip.  Other students travel abroad to further their education, which in turn, furthers their career outlook.  Players can do the same thing by gaining more exposure and traveling with their teams.  They will still have a chance to study and if they're like most students then they won't study until the week before anyway.  There's so many ways to rectify this issue that it should really be a non-issue.

#9 - A Playoff Would Leave Legit Teams Out
Every playoff is going to leave some teams out that people would like to have in.  That's the nature of having a season and being on the cusp.  The difference is that at least multiple teams would have a chance and it would truly be a national championship and not a two-team championship.  Currently teams benefit if they lose early on and are punished if they lose towards the end of the season.  There's a reason it's called a season and not called survivor pool.  Teams will be left in, but the majority of the correct teams will be in.

#8 - The Season Would Be Too Long
I haven't heard any athletes say that playing a maximum of three or four extra games would be too much for them.  Most these athletes are well prepared for a long, enduring season and adding additional games wouldn't cause as many problems as people think.  Yes, there is the chance of more injuries, but that's a risk for any sport.  Are any NFL teams complaining that they make the playoffs because their players are more at risk for injury?  I don't think so.  These players can handle it.

#7 - Conforms to Other Sports
Numbers seven, six, and five on this list kind of coincide together, but each is their own issue in separate ways.  Yes, college football is different than any other sport.  There's a reason it's different, because the people in charge are idiots.  No other college sport or professional sport doesn't have some sort of playoff.  Division III?  Playoff.  Division II?  Playoff.  Division I-AA?  Playoff.  So how can anyone contend that the issues above are actual issues when the same sport, just different division has a playoff?  The issue isn't about conforming it's about what's doing what's best for the sport anyway.

#6 - Ends Tradition
Here comes the traditionalist rally cry.  A playoff system would end traditions like the Big Ten champ playing the Pac-10 champ at the Rose Bowl.  First of all, the tradition has already been broken with the BCS because anytime a Pac-10 Team or Big Ten team is playing for the national championship then it may not be against the Pac-10 champ and it usually isn't being played at the Rose Bowl.  Secondly, I don't think anyone of either fan base would rather see a meaningless Rose Bowl matchup then have a chance for their team to try and get to the national championship.  Do you think USC was excited to be playing Penn State last year and not be in the national championship?  Traditions are great, but new traditions can be formed.

#5 - A Playoff Messes Up The Bowls
Not many people care about the smaller bowls anyway unless your team is involved.  I'm sorry; I just don't care to watch the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl or the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.  I care about the four BCS games and the national championship.  Even if you have an eight team playoff then that causes seven games to be humongous draws.  There's always a shot at an upset and it will make you want to watch any of those seven games.  The rest of the bowls can still be around for traditions sake or for Notre Dame fans to be happy that they finally won one after going 6-6.  Either way, it will only increase audience viewership and become better for the bowl sponsors.

#4 - Money From Bowls
The bowls are about money; actually everything's about money.  Some BCS fans think that having a playoff system would end sponsorship to other bowl games.  That's not the case at all.  Anytime football is on television, people will watch; when people watch, sponsors will come.  Now I'm not sure if rates would stay the same, but until there is a playoff in place then you can't really determine if viewers will drop or not from other games.  I do know that viewers will increase for the playoff games, which would allow the NCAA to charge even more money for sponsorship of all the playoff games.  Most conferences split the money from bowl games anyways and this would just increase the money coming to the conferences because the further you go along in the bowl games then the more money for your conference.  Some proposals for a playoff system were said to increase revenue by at least double of what it currently is.  I don't think money is a problem in this debate.

#3 - Fan's Won't Travel
I can't believe people actually think that fans won't travel to the playoff games.  They will.  The best scenario would be to place the highest ranked seeds and have them play at the closest location.  This would be similar to what college basketball does in the first couple rounds of their tournament.  A playoff system would be a major event, similar to what college basketball has in respect to hype before the tournament.  Many of the tickets would be purchased by corporate sponsorships and the remaining tickets would go to the schools.  The stadiums would be filled and people will attend their team's playoff games no matter where they are at.  Once again, there are playoffs and tournaments in other collegiate sports and fans travel all around for those events.  This would be much of the same.

#2 - Cupcake Schedules
People think having a playoff would make teams more likely to have cupcake schedules just so they could get into the playoffs.  I differ greatly with this opinion though.  Currently there are cupcake schedules because you can't lose a game.  By allowing a team to still have a chance with a loss, teams would be more likely to have better opponents on their schedule because one loss wouldn't be as damaging to them.  If there's a playoff system it's still going to ultimately come down to winning your conference first and then there would be some at-large bids so people would boost their out-of conference schedule to help them in their seeding later on if they win their conference.

#1 - Every Game Matters
The #1 argument that I disagree with the most is that every game matters in college football.  This is ridiculous on two accounts.  In the current state of college football if you lose a game then your chance at a national championship is basically over.  This means that after the first week of the season 171 different programs seasons are basically over.  You can't tell me that every game matters when if a team loses the game then the season is basically done.  There's a reason it's called a season.  You need to play through the ups and downs to see who the best at the end is.  There is basically no reward for winning your conference if you have a loss other than going to a BCS game that at the end of the season means you still don't have a shot to win the national title.  I guess every game matters until you lose one game.

The other part of this is that every game would actually matter during the season.  Every in conference game would be more and more important if winning the conference would get you into the playoffs.  Big games are still going to be big games at the beginning, middle, or end of the season.  There will still be the same amount of drama involved at the end of the season, if not more, because now teams are vying for a playoff spot and more teams will be on the edge to get in and every game will matter instead of only two or three teams really having a shot at the end of the year.
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This Monday is a tough one to get through.  Not only did both my fantasy teams lose, but the Steelers lost to the frickin Bengals at the end of the game and I had to witness Penn State get dismantled by the Iowa Hawkeyes, again!  Losing sucks!  Anyone who differs with that opinion is a loser.  Everyone wants to try and put positive spins on losing and talk about falling down and getting back up, perseverance, and learning from your mistakes.  Not me.  Alright, sorry about that, that recap of those horrific events just put me in a somber mood.  Let's lighten up a little and go over what happened in the weekend of football.

So I've been ranting and ranting and ranting about how bad college football rankings are, that they really don't mean anything and are pointless, and are just made up for television purposes.  Wow, who would've thought how far RIGHT  I was!  I mean at this point in the season I'm righter then Glenn Beck at an anti-ACORN rally.  I don't know how this year compares to year's past, and I'm not going to spend my time like the Schwab researching stats all day to figure it out, but every week the rankings seem like we just take the top 25 teams, put them in a bowl, and pick a new number.  We had #4 Ole Miss lose on Thursday to South Carolina and #5 Penn State lose to Iowa.  Everyone's bandwagon team, the U, got beat up by Virginia Tech.  #6 Cal got crushed by Oregon.  Morale of the story; rankings don't mean a team is actually good and they don't mean that the game is going to be good.  The best games of the day were Michigan/Indiana and Purdue/Notre Dame.  Last little note about college football and rankings.  Can we please just have a playoff? On my drive down to State College I heard one moron radio announcer repeatedly try to defend college football and the BCS.  This guy was speaking more garbage then Kadafi speaking about jet lag.  I'd like anyone to give me some legit reasons for not having a playoff and I'll refute them for you.

So since the whole season of college football is basically a farce let's get to the NFL.  Yesterday I told you to not jump to conclusions.  Welp, I think I'm turning into a lemming because I'm about to jump.  The Jets looked good, really good.  Those are three solid victories, with a rookie quarterback leading them, and they are getting the job done.  I was so far off on the Jets!  Congratulations to Jets fan you finally have a quarterback.  Denver's 3-0 (Still iffy on them), Vikings 3-0 (more about them later), Saints 3-0 (Offense wins championships), Colts 3-0 (never doubt them), and is Baltimore 3-0 (Flacco is a beast).  All these teams look pretty impressive.  Denver's defense is looking solid, but I want to see some better competition before I'm on the Bronco's saddle.  I mean they got the fluke win against the Bengals, who should be 3-0, then they beat the Chiefs and Raiders.  The NFL is just great this year though.  Not many teams are terrible except the Cleveland Browns, St. Louis Rams, and the Washington Redskins.  The Redskins amaze me every year.  They waste their money on these horrible free agent signings and they continuously suck every year.  They lost to the Lions!  Yes, the previous year's 0-16 Lions finally got their first win in 20 games.  The Browns might be in contention with Oakland for the worst run franchise in the NFL.  Not only do they have a horrible offense and their starting QB gets  benched after going 6-8 with one interception to be replaced by the backup who throws three interceptions, but pretty much every player on the team hates the coach and are filing complaints against him for fining them over a grand for not paying for a $3 water at the hotel.  The team should fine him for being a horrible coach.  The Steelers may be 1-2 right now after two miserable losses in the last second, but at least we get to play the Browns twice a year.

Now to the biggest story of yesterday.  The man we love to hate.  Brett Favre.  The San Francisco 49ers and Vikings game was a great matchup between two very solid and balanced teams.  The 49ers had 3-0 in their sights until the one, the only, Mr. Wrangler pulled out the trickery, snapped back, and fired a bullet down the field, which allowed Greg Lewis to make a great catch and gave the Vikings the victory with only 0:02 sec. remaining.  Can any Vikings fans even pronounce Ta-var-is anymore?  I think they made wise choice.  So far.

Another great weekend and more to come next week.  In college football be on the lookout for # who cares Ohio State vs. Indiana, LSU/Georgia, and the late game, Oklahoma versus Miami.  On Sunday we get to watch Baltimore versus New England and then the game of the weekend New Orleans Saints versus the New York Jets.
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