Sports Then and Now

The Mighty Zultan Tells Football Fortunes...

Zultan, the mighty soothsayer, hibernated soundly after a glorious conclusion to Big Ten Football Bowl Season last January.

The all-seeing one remained zoned out for months after admittedly over-indulging in some exotic-looking orange punch with the kick of a kangaroo.

The Big Ten pounded its way to an impressive 4-3 record during post-season play which included wins over some very highly ranked BCS teams at the conclusion of the 2009 football season.

The action culminated with the Iowa Hawkeye’s victory over the Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech. After the Hawkeyes rolled over them, GT may still be putting their “wrecked” offense back together.

When the mighty one’s eyes snapped open this week, ready to dig in for another season of football prognostication –– low and behold, the news was delivered.  The Big Red Machine was going to be joining the Big Ten. What a blow!  After years of living in the shadow of the God Almighty Nebraska Cornhuskers, the all-seeing seer now must feel the singe of the hot poker once again––as Nebraska closes in on the neighboring Hawkeyes starting in 2011.

Putting aside his feelings of betrayal, the all-seeing one now marshals the massive skills that allow him to predict the outcome of football contests.  The Big Ten Conference will be a force to be reckoned with in 2010 along with other highly touted football contests each week.

What he wishes to know is––can you outguess him?  Do you feel lucky, well, do you?  If so click here and you can pit your puny predicting powers against the great Zultan.  If you outguess him, then he will announce that you beat him in next week’s column, plus entering your name for a prize to be awarded at the end of the season.

Read the rest of this entry →

I don’t know if it because there is a full moon tonight or what, but there has been a lot of strange things happening in the sports world.

First Night Of College Football Lacked Offense, But Not Incidents
It was very strange to watch the first night of college football and see so little offensive firepower on the field.

Given that the first game on ESPN featured the “Old Ball Coach” (Steve Spurrier) who was once known as an offensive guru, I really thought the South Carolina-North Carolina State game would be more than a 7-3 defensive struggle.

Then, the second game between Boise State and Oregon would surely be an offensive showcase since Boise State ranked 12th in the nation in scoring last season (37.6 points per game) and Oregon was even better ranking seventh (41.9).

Read the rest of this entry →