Red & Blue Sportsball- blog relaunch!
So I've been out of the writing game a bit longer than I ever should have been. Once I got a "grownup job" where I have to write for a living and research a lot of dry topics, I didn't feel like doing this as much. I figured an easy way to at least get back in the habit of writing somewhat creatively would be in talking about something I find less dry: sports.
If anyone's found their way here that doesn't already know me, I'm a 28-year old alumnus of the University of Oklahoma, with a BA in Journalism. I do writing, research and QA for a training company in OKC, and I spend most of my free time doing my best to keep myself entertained.
Sports have always been interesting to me, even though I've never been much of an athlete. (I did attempt to play football in my freshman year of high school, but that didn't pan out nearly as well as I'd hoped.) Part of it is the typical vicarious experience of being a sports fan, but the history and context behind sporting events and in the surrounding culture at the time have always piqued my interest.
Going through high school and college, I always fancied myself to be the next Hunter S. Thompson, or at the very least, the next Bill Simmons. I never got to get to that point, at least not yet, but now that I'm comfortable with a full-time job that I know I can do, I feel like it's time to at least start trying to develop my skills, or at least distract me for a couple of hours a week.
To this end, welcome to Red & Blue Sportsball. I picked this name because it represents the primary colors for my favorite teams: the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers (red), the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning (blue), the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder (blue), and my alma mater's football team, the Oklahoma Sooners (technically crimson, but it's a shade of red).
If you decide you enjoy this blog, you can expect to see a lot of self-deprecating humor, angry hot takes (#FireMikeStoops is something you'll see the rest of this OU season at least), memes and observations about the surrounding sports world.
Some quick notes:
As I type up this blog, the Thunder just finished off the Chicago Bulls to improve to 7-7 on the season. It's OKC's third win in a row, and it's good to see, but the Bulls are on pace to be the worst team in the NBA this season, so I don't know if this tells us much. OKC travels to San Antonio on Friday to take on the Spurs, and that'll show where the #OK3 are really at. (I still hate that nickname for PG, Russ and Melo, by the way.) Still, it's only 14 games in, and there's still a long way to go before the playoffs.
The Lightning (also referred to as the Bolts) are the hottest team in hockey right now, starting the season 14-2-2. They're 3 games up on Toronto for the Atlantic Division lead, and 1.5 games up on St. Louis for the best record in the league. If this team stays healthy, it might be my best chance as a fan to celebrate a championship this season. Just like the NBA, though, the playoffs don't start until April, so still a ways to go. Their next game is tomorrow night in Tampa against the Dallas Stars. Since Stars games actually get broadcast on Fox Sports, I can actually watch a Bolts game live tomorrow. So I got that going for me, which is nice.
The Bucs are still not a very good team, sadly. A win over the Jets on Sunday brought them to 3-6, but they're still well below expectations for the year. If the victory permanently rights the ship, head coach Dirk Koetter might be able to save his job. If not, though... Jon Gruden may be waiting in the wings to try to win us yet another Super Bowl. I'm not sure how I feel about that possibility; I just hope Koetter hasn't lost the team.
Finally, a quick recap of the College Football Playoff rankings. I'll link the full rankings here, but most important to our purposes:
Auburn flattened Georgia, the previous #1 40-17, and forced their way into the #6 spot, setting up a showdown with #1 Alabama next week in Auburn after they eat some FCS cupcake teams this week. Mmm, cupcakes. Gotta love the SEC. /sarcasm
Wisconsin is in a decent position to make the CFP along with Alabama, OU and the ACC champion, but they have to win out, probably playing Ohio State for the Big 10 title. That's not an easy ask, and the Badgers keep getting dinged for their weak strength of schedule, but they still more or less control their own destiny to get in.
I'll finish up this post with previews of Big 12 action in college football, and one or more games that might be relevant to Sooner fans:
#4 Oklahoma (9-1, 6-1) at Kansas (1-9, 0-7)
Saturday 11/18, 2:30 PM CT
Line: OU -37.0
I feel bad for Kansas, to be honest. Unlike, say, Baylor, they don't deserve ridicule for being a bad team. If it's any consolation to the Jayhawks, I don't see Sooners' head coach Lincoln Riley being inclined to run the score up all that much. Also, that line is massive. Whew.
OU 52, Kansas 17 (Kansas beats the spread)
Kansas State (5-5, 3-4) at #13 Oklahoma State (8-2, 5-2)
Saturday, 2:30 PM CT
Line: OSU -20
As long as they're not playing in Bedlam, I generally will root for the Pokes in most cases. They're not out of contention for a rematch against OU in the Big 12 Championship, but they need to win out and hope TCU drops a game. Kansas State and the Wizard of Manhataan are coming down to Stillwater from Oz, and they can be sneaky. As long as Mike Gundy remembers he has Mason Rudolph at QB, I think they'll win.
KSU 24, OSU 38 (Kansas State beats the spread)
#12 TCU (8-2, 5-2) at Texas Tech (5-5, 2-5)
Saturday, 11 AM CT
Line: TCU -7
The Horned Frogs still control their own destiny as far as the Big 12 Championship goes, but Texas Tech can score. TCU's got a good defense, but not even they could contain likely Heisman winner Baker Mayfield in Norman last week. Gotta think Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury is watching film.
TCU 28, Tech 20 (TCU covers)
Texas (5-5, 4-3) at West Virginia (7-3, 5-2)
Saturday, 11 AM CT
Line: WVU -3.5
So is Texas back yet? Because so far it looks like they're on the same 5-7/6-6 pattern they were on under Charlie Strong. They need to either win this one or at home against Tech next week to even get back to a bowl game. They might catch WVU looking ahead to their game in Norman after Thanksgiving, but I think the Mountaineers have the horsepower to outrun them.
WVU 24, Texas 14 (WVU covers)
Iowa State (6-4, 4-3) at Baylor (1-9, 1-6)
Saturday, 1:30 PM CT
Line: ISU -9.5
Baylor's long year of pennance for their bad behavior on the field and even worse conduct off it continues. Matt Rhule may be able to get this program off the mat eventually, but they still haven't come down with final punishments for Art Briles' scandals. Meanwhile, Iowa State seems to be tapering off from their fabulous pace, having lost two in a row since beating TCU in Ames. It's still one of their better seasons, though, and I think Cyclones fans are still enjoying it.
Iowa State 31, Baylor 14 (ISU covers)
#24 Michigan (8-2, 5-2) at #5 Wisconsin (10-0, 7-0)
Saturday, 11 AM CT
Line: WISC -7.5
The only game of the weekend between two ranked teams could be interesting. Michigan still has a shot to win the Big 10 East if they win in Madison this weekend, then finally beat Ohio State next weekend, but that's a tall order. Wisconsin beat a solid Iowa team last weekend, but this will probably be their last real test before the Big 10 title game.
Wisconsin 17, Michigan 13 (MICH beats the spread)
That's about all I've got for you guys tonight. Should be a quiet week before we all gorge on sports and turkey and stuff next week. Hope you enjoyed reading. If you want to follow my sportsball complaining in real time, hit me up on Twitter at @lansdallius.
-AJ
If anyone's found their way here that doesn't already know me, I'm a 28-year old alumnus of the University of Oklahoma, with a BA in Journalism. I do writing, research and QA for a training company in OKC, and I spend most of my free time doing my best to keep myself entertained.
Sports have always been interesting to me, even though I've never been much of an athlete. (I did attempt to play football in my freshman year of high school, but that didn't pan out nearly as well as I'd hoped.) Part of it is the typical vicarious experience of being a sports fan, but the history and context behind sporting events and in the surrounding culture at the time have always piqued my interest.
Going through high school and college, I always fancied myself to be the next Hunter S. Thompson, or at the very least, the next Bill Simmons. I never got to get to that point, at least not yet, but now that I'm comfortable with a full-time job that I know I can do, I feel like it's time to at least start trying to develop my skills, or at least distract me for a couple of hours a week.
To this end, welcome to Red & Blue Sportsball. I picked this name because it represents the primary colors for my favorite teams: the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers (red), the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning (blue), the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder (blue), and my alma mater's football team, the Oklahoma Sooners (technically crimson, but it's a shade of red).
If you decide you enjoy this blog, you can expect to see a lot of self-deprecating humor, angry hot takes (#FireMikeStoops is something you'll see the rest of this OU season at least), memes and observations about the surrounding sports world.
Some quick notes:
As I type up this blog, the Thunder just finished off the Chicago Bulls to improve to 7-7 on the season. It's OKC's third win in a row, and it's good to see, but the Bulls are on pace to be the worst team in the NBA this season, so I don't know if this tells us much. OKC travels to San Antonio on Friday to take on the Spurs, and that'll show where the #OK3 are really at. (I still hate that nickname for PG, Russ and Melo, by the way.) Still, it's only 14 games in, and there's still a long way to go before the playoffs.
The Lightning (also referred to as the Bolts) are the hottest team in hockey right now, starting the season 14-2-2. They're 3 games up on Toronto for the Atlantic Division lead, and 1.5 games up on St. Louis for the best record in the league. If this team stays healthy, it might be my best chance as a fan to celebrate a championship this season. Just like the NBA, though, the playoffs don't start until April, so still a ways to go. Their next game is tomorrow night in Tampa against the Dallas Stars. Since Stars games actually get broadcast on Fox Sports, I can actually watch a Bolts game live tomorrow. So I got that going for me, which is nice.
The Bucs are still not a very good team, sadly. A win over the Jets on Sunday brought them to 3-6, but they're still well below expectations for the year. If the victory permanently rights the ship, head coach Dirk Koetter might be able to save his job. If not, though... Jon Gruden may be waiting in the wings to try to win us yet another Super Bowl. I'm not sure how I feel about that possibility; I just hope Koetter hasn't lost the team.
Finally, a quick recap of the College Football Playoff rankings. I'll link the full rankings here, but most important to our purposes:
- Alabama (10-0)
- Clemson (9-1)
- Miami (FL) (9-0)
- Oklahoma (9-1)
- Wisconsin (10-0)
- Auburn (8-2)
Auburn flattened Georgia, the previous #1 40-17, and forced their way into the #6 spot, setting up a showdown with #1 Alabama next week in Auburn after they eat some FCS cupcake teams this week. Mmm, cupcakes. Gotta love the SEC. /sarcasm
Wisconsin is in a decent position to make the CFP along with Alabama, OU and the ACC champion, but they have to win out, probably playing Ohio State for the Big 10 title. That's not an easy ask, and the Badgers keep getting dinged for their weak strength of schedule, but they still more or less control their own destiny to get in.
I'll finish up this post with previews of Big 12 action in college football, and one or more games that might be relevant to Sooner fans:
#4 Oklahoma (9-1, 6-1) at Kansas (1-9, 0-7)
Saturday 11/18, 2:30 PM CT
Line: OU -37.0
I feel bad for Kansas, to be honest. Unlike, say, Baylor, they don't deserve ridicule for being a bad team. If it's any consolation to the Jayhawks, I don't see Sooners' head coach Lincoln Riley being inclined to run the score up all that much. Also, that line is massive. Whew.
OU 52, Kansas 17 (Kansas beats the spread)
Kansas State (5-5, 3-4) at #13 Oklahoma State (8-2, 5-2)
Saturday, 2:30 PM CT
Line: OSU -20
As long as they're not playing in Bedlam, I generally will root for the Pokes in most cases. They're not out of contention for a rematch against OU in the Big 12 Championship, but they need to win out and hope TCU drops a game. Kansas State and the Wizard of Manhataan are coming down to Stillwater from Oz, and they can be sneaky. As long as Mike Gundy remembers he has Mason Rudolph at QB, I think they'll win.
KSU 24, OSU 38 (Kansas State beats the spread)
#12 TCU (8-2, 5-2) at Texas Tech (5-5, 2-5)
Saturday, 11 AM CT
Line: TCU -7
The Horned Frogs still control their own destiny as far as the Big 12 Championship goes, but Texas Tech can score. TCU's got a good defense, but not even they could contain likely Heisman winner Baker Mayfield in Norman last week. Gotta think Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury is watching film.
TCU 28, Tech 20 (TCU covers)
Texas (5-5, 4-3) at West Virginia (7-3, 5-2)
Saturday, 11 AM CT
Line: WVU -3.5
So is Texas back yet? Because so far it looks like they're on the same 5-7/6-6 pattern they were on under Charlie Strong. They need to either win this one or at home against Tech next week to even get back to a bowl game. They might catch WVU looking ahead to their game in Norman after Thanksgiving, but I think the Mountaineers have the horsepower to outrun them.
WVU 24, Texas 14 (WVU covers)
Iowa State (6-4, 4-3) at Baylor (1-9, 1-6)
Saturday, 1:30 PM CT
Line: ISU -9.5
Baylor's long year of pennance for their bad behavior on the field and even worse conduct off it continues. Matt Rhule may be able to get this program off the mat eventually, but they still haven't come down with final punishments for Art Briles' scandals. Meanwhile, Iowa State seems to be tapering off from their fabulous pace, having lost two in a row since beating TCU in Ames. It's still one of their better seasons, though, and I think Cyclones fans are still enjoying it.
Iowa State 31, Baylor 14 (ISU covers)
#24 Michigan (8-2, 5-2) at #5 Wisconsin (10-0, 7-0)
Saturday, 11 AM CT
Line: WISC -7.5
The only game of the weekend between two ranked teams could be interesting. Michigan still has a shot to win the Big 10 East if they win in Madison this weekend, then finally beat Ohio State next weekend, but that's a tall order. Wisconsin beat a solid Iowa team last weekend, but this will probably be their last real test before the Big 10 title game.
Wisconsin 17, Michigan 13 (MICH beats the spread)
That's about all I've got for you guys tonight. Should be a quiet week before we all gorge on sports and turkey and stuff next week. Hope you enjoyed reading. If you want to follow my sportsball complaining in real time, hit me up on Twitter at @lansdallius.
-AJ
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