It's very obivious to me Mr. Gallo, besides being very young, obivious is getting WV comfused with other basketball states and does not know the history of WV Football, but that's okay, a lot of people write articles or post blogs that they are not educated on, and this is just another case. Since you don't know the history, Mr. Gallo, at least watch the games this year. You will see three of the fastest football offensive players in Pat White, Steve Slaton, and Noel Devine. Pat White can throw the ball and WV does have a defense! They can play with anyone in the nation, no doubt. So get over it and watch some real football Jan 7th.
Duh....

I'm writing in regard to the incredibly asinine columns in the "On 2nd Thought" section of the Sports page this week. What particular qualifications do Mr. Gallo, Mr. Nieto, and Mr. Eggers possess in order to be published in The State Hornet. Not only are they grossly misinformed as to the relative merits of the teams involved in this year's BCS (granted those are subjective views that can be debated), but also, and more disappointing, is their lack of understanding of the way the college football system even works. I'll get to that in a second.

Let's take Missouri (currently ranked no. 1 in the BCS and AP polls), your columnists claim that the best teams won't be playing in the national championship this year, yet rivals.com selected five Tigers to their All-American team. That equaled Ohio State's total for the most of any school. That's one way to measure talent at least, but what's more is that Mr. Nieto says he would like to see the best teams face off against one another for the title. Presumably he's referring to the two and three loss teams of USC, LSU, and Florida (he mentions those clubs); surely we can measure teams by their numbers of wins and losses. Should the NCAA simply allow those 'traditional' powerhouses exclusive access to the crown no matter what type of year they have? Does the regular season mean nothing? I agree with the columnists that the system is not a good one, but for right now, it's what we have--and its certainly better than the system (or lack there of) that was in place before (see the split national titles of '90, '91, '97, and '03).

So, perhaps that's all just a matter of opinion, as I mentioned before; still, the columnists don't even understand how the system they are criticizing works in the first place. First, Mr. Gallo suggests that 'the rest of us' will be watching USC and OSU in the Rose Bowl instead of the national championship. Someone should inform him that the not all of the bowls are played on New Year's Day anymore (nor have the been for several years). I think 'the rest of us' will be able to watch both games given that they will be played six days apart. Secondly, Mr. Nieto states that West Virginia and OSU will 'sadly' face off in the national championship. Does he not realize that MU is no. 1? Did he look at the polls before writing his column? Sure, they could lose in the Big 12 championship, but acknowledgement of the fact that they currently have the inside track would be prudent. Finally, Mr. Eggers writes that a loss by MU in the Big 12 championship game would end the Tigers chances of playing in the Fiesta Bowl. No kidding? Again, he doesn't even know how the system works. The Big 12 champion, unless ranked no. 1 or 2 in the BCS, automatically goes to the Fiesta Bowl; so, that's right, a MU loss would send the Sooners to the Fiesta Bowl. But guess what...if the Tigers win Saturday, they won't be going there anyway; instead, we will all have to 'suffer' their presence in the National Championship game.

Next time, let's have a commentator that actually know what they're talking about. Relying on convenient wisdom and misinterpretations from a few ill-informed sports writers doesn't make for good content.

Sincerely,

Jeff Brown

Man, West Virginia blew it. Man, Missouri blew it. Man...wasn't everyone wrong on this one?

That's just how this year goes. Unless, of course, you were like me and said, at the start of the year, "I want Hawaii to go undefeated so they can have a combined 150 point game with some SEC team in a BCS Bowl."

My wish should come true. I just wish Hawaii got the chance to have their Arena Bowl styled showdown for the _championship_ this year...Boise State should have gotten the chance last year, but nah. We get to deal with Ohio State getting crushed by SEC powerhouses Georgia or LSU instead.

Yeah, I'm a sucker for the "underdog," although with these two loss teams with all the closing speed one would expect from a well funded front-runner, maybe the out of breath big conference champs should attract my sympathy.