Rudy

One of my all-time favorite Sports Movies is Rudy. I was lucky enough to recently acquire a copy of this movie. As with my other favorite sports movies, Rudy is about much more than sports, or football in this case. It is based on a true story of one kid's dream to attend and play football for Notre Dame, the mecca of College Football. From his youth he tells people of this dream and is consistently told he couldn't do it. Rudy sets out to prove them wrong by leaving home and moving to South Bend. Acquiring the dream of attending Notre Dame is only the first hurdle in his quest to play for Notre Dame. This movie has taken on a completely different meaning for me after completing college and understanding the difficulties that come with being a student. Rudy is a good clean movie that everyone in the family can learn a life lesson from.

How the BCS got it wrong

Do to lack of a playoff system, only certain teams are allowed to play for a so called Championship. The season is treated like a playoff as they would have us believe. One loss can literally remove you from the title. The Alabama LSU rematch is a joke to say the least. They mat once during the season with LSU winning a close game. Now the two teams are set to play each other for the BCS National Championship (a championship only for BCS teams). Is LSU being punished for having a perfect regular season? They beat the Crimson Tide once already and now they have to do it again to win the BCS Championship? LSU must go 2-0 against Bama this year to win it all while it is okay for Bama to go 1-1 and be claimed Champions. It appears that more and more people are crying foul, even those that are fans of BCS schools. How big will the cry be if Alabama beats the Tigers in the rematch. Will LSU fans rise and join the outcry? With all due respect to the Crimson Tide, the Oklahoma State Cowboys deserve their chance to play LSU for the BCS Championship.

B(owl) C(rap) S(eries)

I have never been a fan of the Bowl Championship Series in determining a 'National Champion.' The whole process is unfair and exclusive to the biggest school with the most power, influence, and money. Thus the term BCS Buster was introduced when the University of Utah broke the mold and forced their way into the 2005 Fiesta Bowl. BCS Busters have earned a spot in 7 BCS Bowl games, including the one previously mentioned. Only once has one of these 'BCS Busters' lost to a team with automatic qualification into a BCS Bowl Game. While this system is seriously flawed, it has the opportunity of becoming extremely worse this weekend. On Friday night the UCLA Bruins will play in the inaugural Pac 12 Championship game against the Oregon Ducks. This game is a preface for the Rose Bowl (aka the Grand Daddy of Them All) one of the BCS Bowl Games. The Ducks have earned the right to play in this game, (and the opportunity to play in the Rose Bowl) with only one in conference loss and and 10-2 overall record. The Bruins on the other hand have a much more dismal record. They have four losses in conference and a 6-6 overall record. If they beat the Ducks they will play the Big 10 Champion in the Rose Bowl on New Years Day. The Bruins aren't even ranked, but yet they have a win-or-take-all opportunity at the Rose Bowl. In all likelihood Houston will be the BCS Buster this year and Boise State will just miss out on playing in a premier bowl game. Boise State should be considered for this spot ahead of UCLA. The BSU Broncos are currently 7th in the BCS Standings and will probably be playing in a low tier bowl this year. Also, the BCS Championship Game is most likely going to feature a rematch of the Alabama-LSU game. While these two may be the two best in the country, Bama already had their shot. They lost to LSU at the beginning of the month and will probably be playing for the BCS Championship. LSU has to play in the SEC Championship this weekend while the Crimson Tide (Alabama) get the week off to rest and prepare for their rematch. How is this fair? Since when is the winning team essentially 'punished' for winning? They also have to play one more game before they clinch their spot in the big game. Because this system is so flawed, I refuse to call it a National Championship. Until all teams have a fair chance to play for the National Championship I can't call it a National Championship Game. I refer to this as the BCS National Championship or the BCS Championship Game, since only those teams in a BCS Conference have the opportunity to play in it.