Well, I finally got around to it.
I wanted to get this done way back in January, but lots of circumstances (including my joining the creative community Stage 32) took precedence.
So did a change from using Lance Haffner Games' old 3-in-1 Football to Dave Koch Sports' Action! PC Football. (Don't worry...all the games I played using 3-in-1 still count.)
Folks, without further ado, this is how the coulda-shoulda-woulda 2018 NCAA Division 1-A football playoffs shook out (seeding in parentheses):
FIRST ROUND: Appalachian State (9) 20, Northern Illinois (24) 14; Boise State (16) 38, UAB (17) 21; Louisiana State (20) 38, Army (13) 28; Cincinnati (12) 26, Kentucky (21) 14; Utah State (14) 28, Penn State (19) 21; Syracuse (22) 42, Fresno State (11) 34; Washington (15) 28, Buffalo (18) 14; Washington State (10) 35, North Carolina State (23) 30
SECOND ROUND: Clemson (1) 44, Appalachian State 38; Michigan (8) 45, Boise State 10; Oklahoma (5) 42, Louisiana State 31; Cincinnati 24, Central Florida (4) 21; Ohio State (6) 21, Utah State 16; Notre Dame (3) 33, Syracuse 17; Washington 31, Georgia (7) 28; Alabama (2) 31, Washington State 17
QUARTERFINAL ROUND: Michigan 28, Clemson 27; Oklahoma 38, Cincinnati 21; Ohio State 38, Notre Dame 17; Alabama 31, Washington 3
SEMIFINAL ROUND: Oklahoma 33, Michigan 7; Alabama 16, Ohio State 14
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Alabama 31, Oklahoma 24
This set of playoffs resulted in the second straight season with an SEC team in the driver's seat...and just the second shoulda-coulda-woulda title for the Crimson Tide (the first one took place in, surprisingly, 2014).
And it made an MVP out of the Tide's field general, Tua Tagovailoa.
Well, that's it. Time to go back and see how the current season shakes out...so that a 24-team field for 2019 can be determined.
I'm Jim Boston, and thanks for reading this blog!
Every time I get up these days, I can't help thinking about this current winter...one of the worst and most severe we've had here in the United States in a long time.
This weekend, here in the Omaha/Council Bluffs/Bellevue area, we're slated to receive more frozen precipitation. (Sorry...I don't feel like using the "S" word that rhymes with "crow.")
Through yesterday, according to WOWT (the local NBC affiliate),
the Omaha Metro has picked up 48.0" of the frozen stuff. (Last winter, through 2-27-2018, 14.6" had fallen around here...an area in which the average had been 21.0".)
The local record for frozen precip for one winter: 67.6", which took place around here in the winter of 1911-12.
Lots of demoralized people around here right now.
Let's face it: I'm one of them, too.
When it comes to why the winter of 2018-19 has been so brutal, with its frequent blizzards teaming up with long stretches of bitter cold, some people will tell you it's all cyclical (and that we were spoiled around here the previous two winters).
Others tell you that it's all because America is paying for its sins.
Still other folks chalk it up to climate change.
After all, the fact that the world's average yearly temperature has risen- with most of the twenty warmest years in the world's history having taken place since 2000- has made storms (winter and nonwinter alike) more frequent and more violent.
With all that, and humanity's role in bringing about climate change, atmospheric forces (according to some folks) have told us that the bill is due.
What's your take on all this that's going on outdoors?
First of all, I apologize for getting this post out this late. [This year's been one of so many life events...from a biopsy to my car's starter needing replacement to me needing an MRI. (By contrast, I got the chance to go to a high school reunion.)]
But, anyway...I finally got the chance to find out which teams would populate the 2018 version of an NCAA Division 1-A football playoff (that is...if Mark Emmert and Co. actually conducted such a sports event instead of leaving it up to the people who run the five biggest revenue-producing collegiate conferences).
Without further ado, here's the 24-team field, with each club's record as of 12-15-2018 (just before the bowl games):
1. Clemson (13-0; ACC champ)/2. Alabama (13-0; SEC champ)/3. Notre Dame (12-0; independent at-large)/4. Central Florida (12-0; AAC champ)/5. Oklahoma (12-1; Big 12 champ)/6. Ohio State (12-1; Big Ten champ)/7. Georgia (11-2; SEC at-large)/8. Michigan (10-2; Big Ten at-large)
9. Appalachian State (10-2; Sun Belt champ)/10. Washington State (10-2; Pac-12 at-large)/11. Fresno State (11-2; Mountain West champ)/12. Cincinnati (10-2; AAC at-large)/13. Army (10-2; independent at-large)/14. Utah State (10-2; Mountain West at-large)/15. Washington (10-3; Pac-12 champ)/16. Boise State (10-3; Mountain West at-large)
17. UAB (10-3; C-USA champ)/18. Buffalo (10-3; MAC at-large)/19. Penn State (9-3; Big Ten at-large)/20. Louisiana State (9-3; SEC at-large)/21. Kentucky (9-3; SEC at-large)/22. Syracuse (9-3; ACC at-large)/23. North Carolina State (9-3; ACC at-large)/24. Northern Illinois (8-5; MAC champ)
Some surprises jump out right off the bat.
*First of all, maybe the biggest surprise is how Dabo Swinney's Tigers jumped ahead of Nick Saban's Crimson Tide to snare the top seed in this year's "shoulda-coulda-woulda" D-1-A playoffs.
Clemson earned 680 quality points this time around, while 'Bama totaled 670. (The figures include the 55 bonus points each unbeaten team gets.) The difference: The ACC's best team played eight teams that ended up with winning records, and the SEC's kingpin took on (as things turned out) seven winning squads here in 2018. And Alabama's Division 1-AA foe, The Citadel, had a 5-6 season (same as in 2017!)...while Clemson's single 1-AA opponent, Furman, came in at 6-4 this time around.
Now's a great time to tell you how this point system works. For starters, a Division 1-A team earns 50 quality points for defeating a 1-A club that had a winning record and 45 points for stopping a 1-A squad that played .500 ball or worse. If the 1-A team beat a winning Division 1-AA entry, that's 40 quality points. If the D-1-AA member had a losing (or .500) campaign, that means 35 points.
A team in Division 1-A can lose quality points, too. If a club loses to a winning D-1-A squad, 50 quality points are subtracted. Had a nonwinning 1-A team administered the defeat, our contingent loses 55 quality points.
What if our 1-A team lost to winning 1-AA one? Well, the 1-A team surrenders 60 points...while the 1-A team coughs up 65 points for losing to a 1-AA foe that faced a .500 campaign or worse.
*Well, this version of a 24-team playoff includes four SEC clubs...in addition, the ACC, Big Ten, and supposedly inferior Mountain West each contributed three entries. And in this cycle, the only three leagues with one squad apiece are Conference USA, the Sun Belt, and- that's right- the Big 12.
*Speaking of Conference USA and the Sun Belt Conference...their champions were involved in tiebreakers.
And both won out!
In these playoffs, the first tiebreaker involves the number of wins a club's Division 1-A opponents racked up. And here in 2018, UAB's 1-A combatants won 68 games to Buffalo's 1-A opponents' 65.
Even more startling is how Appalachian State beat Washington State to the ninth seed. The 1-A teams that played the Mountaineers won 67 games while those that took on the Cougars racked up 66 victories. (And, yes, Louisiana-Lafayette- Appalachian's SBC championship-game victim- counts twice on App State's schedule. Conference title games count in this tiebreaker...even if they're rematches of regular-season tilts.)
*Fresno State and Cincinnati were involved in another tiebreaker. The Bulldogs bested the Bearcats because Fresno's Division 1-A opponents won 72 games to the 62 wins picked up by Cincy's 1-A foes. Jeff Tedford's club took on Boise State twice (losing to the Broncos in the regular season, then beating them for the MWC crown)...but if you count just one Fresno State-Boise State game (ending up with a 62-62 tie when it comes to 1-A opponents' wins), the Californians still beat the Ohioans because Fresno's 8-1 conference mark topped Cincinnati's 6-2 AAC showing.
Had Luke Fickell's Bearcats taken on Fresno State, the head-to-head competition would've taken precedence over conference marks.
If the tied teams' conference records are the same, point differential is examined, first in head-to-head competition, then inside the conference(s)...then in all games.
Just in case all else fails, it all comes down to a coin toss.
Well, at any rate, I can't wait to play these games! I'll be using trusty ol' 3-in-1 Football, from Lance Haffner Games (and it'll all be computer vs. computer).
Wishing you all the very best in 2019 and beyond...and thanks for reading this blog!
Well, yesterday, I did it.
Finally got it done.
At 12:20 PM (Central time), I walked inside Dundee Presbyterian Church (52nd St. and Underwood Ave.) to cast a midterm ballot.
Took me 25 minutes to go through the whole procedure...from giving the Election Day attendants my name all the way to filling out a two-page ballot.
And once it was all done, I was able to join millions of other Americans in scratching an itch that had been festering for two years.
Two long years.
Two excruciatingly long years.
Two years of- let's face it- this country's Republicans setting the stage for full-fledged fascist rule, what with the Elephants dominating all phases of government...from the national level all the way to (in too many places) the local level.
Speaking of local level...it seemed as if Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert (she's a Republican) and her staff were determined to make it difficult for folks in the precinct around Dundee Presbyterian (and people living in the precinct centered by nearby Brownell-Talbot School) to get to their respective polling places.
Roadwork along 52nd Street gave the game away.
So...I ended up parking on Webster Street and walking across Happy Hollow Boulevard to get to the church.
And when voting was done and I left the polling place, it felt good.
But I ended up spending most of the next ten hours on pins and needles.
I'd feared that the Republicans had retained both divisions of Congress.
They didn't.
The Democrats took back the House while the Republicans added to their Senate majority. And according to www.dailykos.com, the Elephants won 18 gubernatorial races while the Donkeys got 13 of 'em.
I didn't get everything I voted for (Kara Eastman and Jane Raybould didn't unseat, respectively, Don Bacon and Deb Fischer, while Pete Ricketts got reelected as Nebraska's governor), but I'm glad about the fact that in two months, this country's House having more Democrats in it than Republicans should help to bring checks and balances back to Washington.
And here's hoping that Nancy Pelosi and Co. investigate, investigate, and investigate.
And oh, yes...start impeachment proceedings.
Pronto.
When I'm not writing blogs or getting involved in music, I work in a plastics factory here in Omaha.
This company recently hired a new director of human resources after firing her much-appreciated predecessor, a long-time company executive.
This past Wednesday, a question the firm's new HR chief asked me got under my skin...big time.
At 4:55 PM that afternoon, I was trying to leave the break room at the plant I work at in order to resume production. A fellow machine operator of mine (a middle-aged woman) was talking with the new head of HR about trying to recover items stolen the previous day from the machine operator while she herself was in the women's restroom at the same plant.
The operator was attempting to find the culprit.
As I was trying to get back to the machine I was assigned to run, our company's new exec asked me: "Did you do it?"
I felt stunned.
Nevertheless, I answered: "No, I didn't! I was raised better than that."
WHAT THE HELL MADE THIS DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES THINK I'D GO INTO A WOMEN'S RESTROOM AT ALL...LET ALONE TO STEAL FROM ANYONE IN IT?
When I returned to the break room that night to eat dinner, I told another machine operator about the incident...and this coworker asked me to "let it go."
I WON'T!!
I'm still stunned by this question.
In fact, three days ago, I regained enough composure to write down what had happened in the break room and submit the report to the supervisor's office...then got a copy made for personal safekeeping (and to provide documented proof that this HR honcho asked me this inane question).
By the way, I learned that this isn't the first time said executive popped off like this to a rank-and-file employee.
Every late summer or early fall, the firm holds a picnic, and all the executives within the company get involved in it. (And that means the head of human resources will be there...to, among other things, help conduct an employee raffle.)
This year, I'm not going to show up.
And I'm going to continue to boycott the company picnic as long as this new HR leader is part of the firm I'm still with.
You know, all of this overlooking and letting go has, in recent decades, led America to the point where- let's not kid ourselves- a dictator is in the White House (and his fellow Republicans, especially the ones on Capitol Hill, are fighting tooth and nail to help him convert America from the constitutional republic it was founded to be into a police state).
During 2016, 231.6 million of America's 323.1 million people were eligible to cast ballots.
62.9 million people voted to turn these United States into a fascist nation. (I mean, let's face it. They're getting what they've been on their knees begging for.)
They sold out their country...and, in the process, trashed the Allies' 1939-45 efforts to keep full-fledged fascism from spreading beyond Germany, Italy, and Japan (let alone hit America's shores in a complete and total way).
In addition, according to the United States Election Project, 108.6 million citizens stayed away from the polls on 11-8-2016...but 21.0 million of them were forced to do so on account of voter-suppression laws enacted in state after state after state after Barack Obama picked up his second term of office (and because the Supreme Court ruled against the 1965 Voting Rights Act in 2013).
So...87.6 million citizens are, like it or not, just as complicit as the aforementioned 62.9 million folks in saying "yes" to the nightmare we entered into on 1-20-2017.
That's right...the self-inflicted nightmare.
After all, when you don't vote, you give the other side the choice. That's all there is to it.
Do you enjoy GOP efforts to take away more and more of your rights- especially the right to speak out against injustice? Are you okay with the Republicans' drive to capitalize on Russia's heavy hand in the 2016 US election? [By the way, do you remember when US Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Marco Rubio (R-FL) talked about how much they admired Russia's Vladimir Putin? This was just four years ago!]
You cool with families being torn apart at the border...
with the children thrown into cages?
Well, if you don't like this Great American Nightmare, all you've got to do is make sure you get out to your neighborhood polling place on 11-6-2018.
Vote to take Congressional control away from the Republicans. Today's Elephants keep proving that they don't give a crap about America.
They just care about power.
Come on now...you can't really expect a Graham (or a Mitch McConnell or a Paul Ryan or a Steve Scalise) to call Donald Trump out when they have the same basic core beliefs Trump has.
And you can't expect the heads of this country's biggest media companies to call DJT and his fellow Republicans out on the carpet when Big Media helped bring all of this garbage about.
It's up to us rank-and-file citizens to save this country.
We won't do it by overlooking and letting go.
