Warriors thumped the Rangers 34-20 in the semi-final, which apparently wasn’t that close (wasn’t there, I’m in the USA at the moment). Vic Bowl 26 now is the Bucs vs Warriors. Bucs have swept the series but have never won a Vic Bowl as Seniors. Can they cap off a fantastic season, or will the Warriors remind the league why they’re the winningest program in GV history? We’ll find out Sunday…
And now for the main event…
Rangers cruised 36-6 in a dead rubber in miserable conditions. Were they that good or were the Warriors that bad? We’ll see next week when the two teams rematch for a Vic Bowl berth.
Bucs also cruised 24-0 over the Miners.
Tough sledding ahead for the Rangers though, as they lost Steven Cupido for the season with a knee injury. The loss didn’t hurt them on the day, but the question will be whether it’ll matter in the semi-final and grand final if they get there. The Rangers also lost another player in the game, but it’s uncertain whether it will keep him out for the semi as well. Bucs have a bye to rest up and get ready for the Grand Final, but will certainly be scouting their potential opponent this coming weekend.
And now the picture is complete.
The Rangers secured home field advantage throughout the playoffs (despite being the #2 seed) by beating the Western Crusaders 20-0. The Warriors, in what could be a Vic Bowl preview, got punished 41-15 against the Bay City Buccaneers.
So now, with next weeks’ games effectively dead rubbers (no team playing for anything of value) we’ll have one super dud game (Warriors v Rangers) and one that could be somewhat more inspiring (Miners v Bucs). The Bucs will be looking to keep players healthy for the Vic Bowl, the Warriors and Rangers though will likely do a whole lot of nothing, as neither team wants to show too much as they’ll be playing off the following week in the semi-final.
Bucs are heavy favorites at this stage to win their first Senior Vic Bowl ever, but the Rangers and Warriors are always dangerous teams and may still have a bit in the tank after they plow through each other.
At last, the playoff picture is complete.
With a convincing 41-13 win over the stunned Crusaders, the Monash Warriors cruised into the finals. They’ll face the Rangers in the semi-final, who clinched with a 19-6 win over the Miners. The Rangers now have to win out to secure home field advantage throughout the playoffs, and potentially becoming the first team ever (?) to have a home Senior Vic Bowl. A loss vs the Crusader though, means they’d have to win against the Warriors in the last week of the season to secure home field.
In the early game, the Warriors and Crusaders were only 2 scores apart midway through the 4th when the Cru elected to punt rather than go for a 4th down attempt at mid field. On the ensuing play, Lincoln Decker took the handoff for a 70+ yard scamper to put the game away. Nods go to Decker, Warriors quarterback Kieren Dwyer and Adam Gotsis, who had at least 3 sacks in the game. Top players for the Cru were Tyson Garnham, Kriss Guidotti, and their QB #9 (name unsure), who did admirably filling in for the injured Lucas Elliston.
In the second game, a depleted but valiant Miners bunch of 16 kept the game against the Rangers competitive. In the end though, it was too much strength in numbers, as the Rangers earned their spot in the finals for yet another year.
One more week down, 4 more to go, and it’s down to the wire for the last 2 playoff spots. The Bucs clinched the minor premiership and first ever Vic Bowl apperance with an 8-7 victory over the Rangers. The Cru kept their hopes alive, narrowly beating the Miners 12-0.
This brings up the equivalent of a playoff game this weekend when the Cru take on the Warriors, tied at 8 points each. The Warriors have 2 games left after next week, so a loss doesn’t eliminate them, but it does make life much harder. The Cru on the other hand have only one game left after their clash with the Warriors. Lose, and they’re out.
Meanwhile, the Rangers control their own destiny. One more win clinches a playoff berth. While they’re favored to do just that this weekend against the Miners, stranger things have happened and there’s no guarantee. The Miners have been playing pretty decent football recently, and if the Rangers give them a chance, they might live to regret it.
So who makes the final 3?
One more round in the books, and now the playoff picture is coming into focus.
The Bucs smashed the Crusaders 33-0 in the early game, in a game that secured the Bucs a playoff berth. Now at 8-1, the Bucs need just one more win over the Rangers next week to secure the #1 seed and their first Vic Bowl appearance.
In the later game, the Warrriors outlasted a small but spirited Miners group 20-6. The Miners had a 6-0 lead in the first half thanks to a Andrew Nixon to Rick Brown TD pass, but the Warriors put the game on the ground and out of reach, scoring 20 unanswered points in the 2nd half.
The Warriors win sets up a mini-playoff game on Aug 22nd. Whoever wins that game between the Cru and the Warriors basically clinches the 3rd spot. If the Warriors win, they’re in outright with a 4 point lead over the Cru but 2 head to head wins. If the Cru win, the Warriors then would have to beat the Rangers and Bucs in successive weeks, while hoping the Cru lose to both the Rangers and Miners.
Interesting times ahead.
Was out of town for this weekend’s games, but the scores were Bucs 21 Warriors 15 and Rangers 14 Crusaders 12. The Bucs have clinched a playoff berth with their win, while the Warriors, Cru, and Rangers are all still mathematically eligble for the finals.
Rumor on the street is that Terrell Owens may be headed to St. Louis. And why not? On paper, it makes perfect sense. TO is still a darn good receiver. The Rams lack offense playmakers besides Steven Jackson, who may or may not die after this season. TO fills the need for a productive, veteran wide receiver that can help the younger players like rookie Mardy Gilyard learn the ropes of the big leagues and gives Sam Bradford a reliable 2nd or 3rd receiving option.
Except games aren’t played on paper and there’s a reason TO is out of Buffalo.
If he goes to STL, it would be TO’s 5th team, 3rd in 5 years. There’s a reason for this. San Fran, Philly, Dallas, Buffalo – he wore out his welcome in all of them. Whether it was due to on field or off field antics, he just wasn’t the player his teams needed him to be. Contrary to popular belief, good receivers don’t have to be loud-mouth braggarts. Confident? Yes. Talented? Absolutely. But count the number of rings for Ochocinco, Randy Moss and Terrell Owens: 0. Now count the rings of Hines Ward, Torry Holt, Reggie Wayne: 4. Sure, the teams around them account for some of that, but these guys were class acts that knew their role and how to help the team at all times. The other guys, well, they’re more concerned with marketability it seems than productivity.
Bradford is a rookie. Assuming he starts (which is a big if considering he’s not even signed), he’ll have to quickly learn the offense, how to read NFL defenses, and start earning the confidence of his teammates. TO will undermine this confidence immediately. It won’t be overt – that’s not his style. Every time he’s moved teams he’s managed to show how “he’s a changed man” – and people drink the Kool-Aid each time. And yet, slowly but surely, he starts to complain. Starts to make jibes and comments and the like. Questions about Jeff Garcia’s orientation. Getting in Donovan McNabb’s ear. Accusations about Tony Romo and Jason Witten conspiring against him. “I don’t call the plays” in Buffalo. His previous pattern of behavior speaks for itself. Why would anyone sane think different?
There’s a reason TO has been unsigned this long, and if anyone in the NFL has any sense at all, it should stay this way. Please STL. You’re bad enough as it is. Don’t make this season any worse. Don’t sign TO.
In one of the best games all season, the Warriors outlasted the Croydon Rangers 21-13 on Saturday afternoon. The Rangers had built a lead of 13-7 in the first half on the strength of two Kit Ng touchdowns and looked like they had all the momentum, but the Warriors, who hadn’t looked much like the team of two previous Vic Bowls, came storming back in the second half. Forcing two interceptions, including one that was originally ruled a Rangers TD, the Warrior defense shut out the Rangers in the second half, allowing the come back.
Bucs 32 over Miners 6 in the second game.
And so, the Reggie Bush saga ends at USC. After getting hammered with NCAA sanctions for rule violations, USC has chosen to vacate all wins during Bush’s playing career and give back his Heisman trophy. What sanctimonious nonsense.
This of course brings up the tried and tired argument of whether college athletes should get paid. For Bush, his answer was obvious – yes, and how much? Many people out there, mostly those people who never touched a football field in their lives, will say that college athletes shouldn’t get paid because they already get a free education, room, and board (approximate value $40-$120,000 depending on the school), and that’s payment enough. Every time I hear this argument, I laugh hysterially. I laugh even harder when they say these players will eventually get paid when they reach the pros.
I’ll dispel the second argument first: No they won’t.
The NCAA has 119 Division 1 teams, with 85 scholarship players, give or take. The NFL has 32 teams with 53 players. That’s over 10,000 filtering down to 1700. Approximately 17%. This of course doesn’t include the additional 50 or so I-AA teams, II and III players, plus the low turnover due to entrenched veterans. It’s more like 5%. And even then, the average career is less than 4 years. Oh, and we haven’t even considered the possibility of debilitating career ending injury happening while playing in college. Even players of Bush’s caliber are a long-shot to have long, prosperous careers in the NFL. Case in point – Rashan Salaam, Ki-Jana Carter.
Now for the second argument:
The current Pac-10 deal pays each university roughly $9.6 million annually. In 2 years, when the deal expires (and the Pac-10 jumps to 12 with the recent additions of Utah and Colorado), they’re likely to make closer to $12 or $15 million – EACH YEAR. Combine that with the revenue of 100,000 tickets worth an average of $55 each 7 times a year , plus sponsorship, and you’re looking at an average income of $50 million dollars. And you’re going to tell me that the player should be thankful the school has graced him with a free education? There’s a word for people who work incredibly hard and don’t see any of the profits of their labor. They’re called slaves.
Now of course, what the players do is optional. Unlike slaves, they’re not forced to play football. It’s more like indentured servitude. And yes, they do get a free education – but it’s not like they’re just “given” the degree, they have to earn that too. Not that they shouldn’t like all students, but it’s a bit disingenuous to tell a player – here’s a free ride to the school, but you have to practice every day, travel on weekends, oh and study as well (assuming the coach even cares if the player graduates). What’s worse is that if the player loses the athletic scholarship, they lose the education, but if they’re not good at school they don’t risk the athletic scholarship (so far as I understand it, but I may be wrong). So in reality, they’re there to play football. What they do with the “educational opportunity” is up to them. Nevermind that collectively as a team, players at top football playing universities make squillions for their school, without seeing a dime put in their pocket.
Reggie Bush was no fool. He knew USC was making money off him and his teammates. Hell, he made the cover of NCAA 2007 (which he was paid for), but when people were controlling #5 in 2005 and 2006, Bush didn’t make a cent, even though USC sure as hell did. Bush got whatever he felt he deserved, and paid the price for it – eventually.
Do I feel sorry for Reggie Bush? No. Did he knowingly break NCAA rules? Yes. I feel more sorry for his teammates, who may or may not have gotten paid under the table (likely not nearly the same degree), and now have to live with the ignomy of knowing their wins didn’t count. This same habit of punishing the program and not the people responsible should sound familiar to anyone following the Melbourne Storm situation. Still, this wasn’t the first, and won’t be the last time we hear of a rules scandal in the NCAA (anyone remember the saga of former Oklahoma QB Rhett Bomar?), and it will keep on happening until the NCAA accepts reality and allows college athletes to be paid.
