RUWT?blog

Wow. What a year it has been for sports.

The Super Bowl, March Madness, Tiger and Rocco in the U.S. Open, Nadal and Federer at Wimbledon, heck, even Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest went into overtime. A dog-off, if you will.

This week though, is quite special a special one. With the MLB on the All-Star Break, we have two of the slower days in the entire sports year. Unless you’re into the WNBA, a lot of you that use the RUWT? Sports Toolbar are staring at “We couldn’t find any games that match all of the options you selected.” No, it’s not a bug, it’s just that there were a whopping three games on Tuesday. One WNBA game, and two minor league Arena Football games. Today? Not much better.

But all is not lost, kids. First, we had Josh Hamilton completely own Yankee Stadium (and the fans), relegating Morneau to completely forgettable, anticlimactic winner status, and a marathon of an All-Star Game last night. And the best part? It’s only gonna get better from here.

College Football starts in a short six weeks, and I’m already starting to see television ads for Fantasy Football leagues. Things always get slow in the summer (even I’ve been slacking on my blogging duties), but there are a bunch of great games and great RUWT? developments on tap for the Fall, just around the corner.

And just like that College Basketball is about to leave us. It’s probably unfair, but it’s hard not to compare the craziness of the College Football season to College Basketball’s season. I had a feeling that the universe would restore balance and have tons of chalk to counteract the Football upsets, but who knew we’d have four #1s?

I think I’m still in mourning that Curry and Co. couldn’t continue the run, but I’m holding out hope that top seeds will make the Final Four more exciting. Eh. I’m skeptical.

3 games left, and they all count for double points. Get those picks in!

Member		Correct Picks
	bigsexy	49
	senorpepr	47
	lpickrell	47
	Militia	45
	DDrake	45
	alamowx	45
	BIGDAWG	43
	sparticis	43
	McTool	43
	bigbelly	43
	Nuno	43
	SuketoKetchi	42
	shopgirl	42
	colguy	41
	jemurray	41
	anorexicivan	41
	kosukeson	41
	bouch	40
	SOLRAC	39
	coolguy	39
	OICU812	38
	flynnwt	38
	mark	37
	jo36	37
	klong3	36
	FRUITCAKE	35
	FOOTBALL	34
	virgilm	34
	razor	32
	Dodge298	31
	SUPERMAN	30
	Heavymeddler	30
	Pizznerkins	30
	redsoxfan2133	28
	DaSaintFan	27
	RubberSoul	24
	cos5000	24
	Pasta2000	24
	mack788	24
	420fire	23
	KNOWLEDGE	22
	mrman226	21
	QUICKPICK	20
	katieb	19
	creede1	19
	Brother	17
	marcman9	17
	LionO	17
	bones	16
	schin101	16

Happy New Year everybody. I hope you all had a quality day in front of the TV and are looking forward to the Hawaii vs. Georgia game as much as I am tonight.

Not only is this a National Holiday, but it’s also a RUWT? holiday because it was a year ago today that I flipped the switch on this crazy idea. 12 months, a few thousand users, and a couple radio interviews later and we’re still alive and kicking.

Thanks for coming along for the ride. It’s been a blast so far.

I left the house for the first time in a few days today—if you don’t count the trips to sports bars this weekend.

You see, I missed the classic Tennessee vs. Kentucky 4OT game and the epic Arkansas vs. LSU 3OT game the day after.

What? You didn’t know about the game? You’re kidding right?

Well I knew the games were on, but each time I was either driving to or from San Antonio to catch a Spurs game. As much fun as watching the Spurs crush the Grizz in a complete mismatch was, even with the contstant possibility of Timmy and Joey coming to blows, I was kicking myself after getting the Severe alerts while stuck on I-35.

So I took some learnings from all my time watching TMZ and did what any self-respecting celebrity would do…and checked myself into rehab. Didn’t know that there was rehab for sports fans? Oh yeah. It’s all the rage. I spent a few days getting my mind right and have been strapped in and in front of the TV pretty much ever since. Man, the Ravens were close tonight.

But, like some celebrity rehab, the problem isn’t solved. Yeah, it’s great to get an alert when you’re somewhere you can watch a game, but what if you’re travelling somewhere or on vacation? Well, that’s where what I’ve been calling the “Holy Grail” comes in. What if you could get alerts right on your TV? Or even better, what if RUWTbot could talk to your Tivo or DVR and let it know when there’s an exciting game on? “Hey Tivo! I like ACC Basketball, SEC Football, the Yankees, and the Red Wings. Anytime a game gets to Severe, just start recording. Go.”

A lot of folks ask about where the site is going, and what the plans are for the future. There is a lot of fun stuff I’m working on, but getting to the Holy Grail is always the priority. And lately it seems the question is no longer if, but when. Man, I hope it happens soon—those rehab clinics are expensive.

Hello College Football. I’ve missed you dearly. We’re back on the YouTube Tuesday train and picking the subject of today’s video was pretty simple. The only question was which video to show? Sideline reaction? Closeup of the FG being blocked? Worthy choices both, but the one below takes the cake. I mean pie.

I love baseball. I do. Most of my most exciting and crushingly depressing moments in sports revolve around my Yankees, but the summer of baseball is long. 82 days long, not that I’ve counted or anything. Thankfully though, there is a light at the end of the tunnel less than a week away. Seems like as good a YTT as any to peek in on the Tour de France. Yes, it’s as gripping as you thought it might be.

And just like that, we’re only a couple days away from Championship Week. The regular season has flown by, but at least we had a great Saturday and Sunday full of awesome games. Granted, ESPN somehow comes up with a name for every week of the College Basketball and Football seasons, but Championship Week is actually a legit one. T-14 days until #64 v. #65.

Today’s YTT clip is a PSA from George Takei repsonding to last week’s comments by Tim Hardaway…and his smooth, chocolatey head.

It’s Tuesday. You know what that means.

But I need to be honest with you. I’ll be mailing it in today—I’m still recovering from the craziness of this long weekend. We have coaches smacking players, cars finishing the Daytona 500 upside down and on fire(!), news that the Golden Boy got his n-1 preggers, and on top of it all my hangover hurts even more after running into my n-1 at my favorite hip-hop spot last night.

Seems only fitting the clip of the week is a quality rant from my new favorite Big12 coach, Dan Hawkins. Granted, I wouldn’t be able to pick him out of a crowd if he was wearing a shirt that said “I am Dan Hawkins”, but you gotsta give him points for shaking up the standard coaches rant formula and blowing a gasket via teleconference.

ericlau says:
haven’t i seen this national championship game before?
ericlau says:
but with willis mcgayhee (phonetic spelling) and that handsome young maurice clarett?

At this point we can only hope this game (ignoring that McGahee played for Miami and not Florida) is half as good as the 2002 BCS Championship. I’ll be honest, the Boise State game was too good not to be the end of the college football season for me. I’ve already shut it down folks—this game just wasn’t grabbing me. And now, at halftime, with OSU’s 10 point a game defense on pace to give up a 60 spot, and Florida’s 3 for 12 kicker booting ‘em from everywhere, I have a feeling the second half is gonna be a snoozer.

It has taken a good amount of will power not to join the masses and pile on Nick Saban and I’m quite proud of my restraint. So instead of piling on, I’ll just pass along Dan Le BAMatard’s quality attempt at ripping Saban a new one.

“The punctuation on the Nick Saban Error is greasy and greedy. You know what he was as Dolphins coach? A failure. A loser. A gasbag. And one of the worst investments Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga has ever made. He was less of a success than Dave Wannstedt and more of a traitor than Ricky Williams. There has been very little in franchise history that came with more expectations and fewer results than this hypocrite who at the end avoided the hard questions one last time.”

Nice.