The Big 5 College Football Games of Week 14

Honestly you can't really get a better weekend to close out the college football schedule. You get the normal three conference championship games from the ACC, SEC, and Big 12 plus you get psuedo title games in the Big East and Pac 10.

5. Army Black Knights at Navy Midshipmen
I could go with the ACC title game, but that seemingly lacks appeal each year when the blimp pans over an empty stadium. Thus, I choose Army vs. Navy which is always fun when competitive. Unfortunately the Naval Academy continues to be in a different stratosphere than the Black Knights. The Pick: Navy by 18

4. Pac 10 Title Game: Oregon Ducks at Oregon State Beavers
So who had the Pac 10 coming down to a battle between Oregon vs. Oregon State on a Thursday Night in December? Me, that's who*. The Ducks are a better team than the Beavers but the Beavers have homefield advantage. The Degrees are leaning Beavers but I'm going with the Ducks and Masoli.The Pick: Oregon by 3

3. Big East Title Game: Cincinnati Bearcats at Pittsburgh Panthers
Could this be Brian Kelly's final game for the Bearcats? Could this be the game that catapults him to the National Title Game? If the Longhorns get upset by the Cornhuskers than the battle should come down to TCU vs. Cincy and I think I'm coming out on the Cincy side of the equation. Regardless an undefeated season for the Bearcats awaits with just the Wannstache and his choking in the way. The Pick: Bercats by 3

2. Big 12 Title Game: Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Texas Longhorns
It's Colt McCoy's last attempt to secure the Heisman Trophy. It's his last attempt to get the Longhorns to the title game. I think he succeeds on both accounts even though I will be pulling for a Longhorns loss and a BCS debacle. The Pick: Longhorns by 13.

1. SEC Title Game: Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Florida Gators
This is obviously the biggest game of the weekend and quite possibly the biggest game of the season. Many, many, many people believe that Alabama and Florida are the best two teams in the country and with the SEC winning the last three BCS Title Games who is to argue? This game comes down to whether or not the Bama can control the ball and control Tim Tebow. I don't think they accomplish both. The Pick: Gators by 6

*Completely lying.

Numbers On Steroids: Mickey Mantle

Numbers on Steroids is a look at baseball players during the 90s to see if anything screams out at you. This week it's throwing a curve ball and looking at All Time Great Yankees. Players that we know did not take steroids to see if this gives a defense to any of the players 'convicted' by Numbers on Steroids. Time to look at my dad's favorite athlete of all time, Mickey Mantle. Averages Say: What's with the mysterious dip at 27 and then the uptick? At Bats Per Home Run Says: That's a mighty jump from 22 to 24 Explaining As If It Was the 90s If you take a look at the numbers there are two time frames which in the 1990s would be questioned. First would be the incredible leap he took from his first year in the big leagues to his first MVP season in 1956. His batting average jumped 50 points. His slugging percentage jumped 90 points and he hit 15 more homers than his previous high. This wouldn't merrit a conviction nowadays though because the young age he...

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This Is Why the New York Mets Can't Win Anymore

It's pretty simple why the Mets can't win games anymore and are morphing into the second worst team in the National League, they can't score runs. The below chart shows exactly whats happenned to their offensive output since each of the major devastating injuries. The blue line shows runs scored for each game through out the season. The pink line shows the average runs the Mets scored when they had everyone, the yellow when they were missing Delgado, the light blue when they were missing Delgado and Reyes, and finally the purple when they were missing Delgado, Reyes and Beltran. In the abscence of Reyes, Delgado and Beltran the Mets are averaging barely over 3 runs per game. In stark contrast, with everyone on the roster the Mets were scoring just over 5 runs per game. That's a wholesale difference and why their roster now equals a lot of losses and a day by day progression further out of a playoff spot.

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