College football kicks off tonight, so now seems like as good of a time as any to bring back TUP's weekly college football column, The Hybrid. This column was started last year to replace the Big Ten Rambler column from 2007... and the rest was real history. But enough bio, let's do some quick hits on some of the storylines I'm thinking about the most going into the 2010 college football season...

The Top 5 teams are all strong but have different flaws: I'll save these five thoughts for my ranking quick hits. But let's just say this: the top five teams all have a weakness -- some flimsy, some not -- which keeps any of them from immediately getting recognized as thee absolute pre-season title threat.

Notre Dame is BACK, like, MAYBE: They lost Clausen and Golden Tate but gained a "better" coach, and, as it usually is with the Irish, people are buzzing. What is this team's ceiling? How much of an impact can Brian Kelly truly have on this squad? People seem awfully confident in a team with an unproven QB, which I really don't understand. But who knows. Where there's talent, there's potential.

USC sanctions: I know most casual fans hate USC because most casual fans are against warm weather, fun, dominance, and beautiful women, but man, I am going to miss The Dynasty. I really am. The best case scenario is they go undefeated this year and make it really awkward when they aren't allowed to play in the title game. Did you see the Matt Barkley interview after USC got sanctioned? He was on the verge of tears, saying how they'd just have to just go undefeated without getting a chance to play in the post-season. I felt so bad for him... all because Reggie Bush had to be cool and take sweet money. Such a shame. As for the current players? The upperclassmen could just go pro or transfer, but as a true sophomore, Barkley is basically locked up with this team -- for better or worse -- until his senior year, when they can actually compete for the national title again. Stay patient, young man.



John Brantley, do we hate you?: What are we supposed to do with the new Florida QB? Are we to rejoice this team's potential regression without Tebow? Are we to hope he plays well so people forget about Tebow? I'm so torn. This is the plan...

We have to root for him to either a) suck, or b) be historically outstanding.

No middle ground here. He's got to either ruin this team's season or break all of Tebow's records. So yeah, just do one of those.

Michigan. Michigan.: This is a Bobby-centric thought, but man: this season could decide the next three to five years of the program's success. If Michigan loses too many games and the idiots fire Rich Rodriguez, the setback could be devastating. Especially because they'll probably hire a pro style coach, negating all of the spread recruiting Rodriguez has done over the past few years. It could be a travesty. So, I mostly spend my the bulk of my days thinking about this man...


Denard Robinson. He who decides my future. Denard's one of the fastest quarterbacks you'll ever see, but last year, his rawness as a passer kept him from being a true threat. After having one of the most legendary spring games you'll ever hear about, all signs point to him being Michigan's starter in a potentially threatening three quarterback platoon. I'm trying to talk myself into it, but they very well could lose to UConn this week.

Have I begun illegally downloading full games from Michigan's 1997 season as a way to prepare for some sort of season long mental breakdown once the losses start to weigh on me? Well yeah.

Just know this: I care more about this season than any season for any other team I've rooted for, ever. More than Bulls '96 or Pats '07. Those teams were great. They didn't need me to care. This Michigan team is flawed, and they'll be in all kinds of trouble of things turn sour early. I'm terrified in every way possible. Especially because the '96 Bulls could have probably fielded a better secondary than this year's Michigan team.


Bobby Loesch is the assistant editor of Tremendous Upside Potential. He can be reached at bobbyloesch [at] gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @bobbystompy.

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I was digging deep through TUP's Google Analytics account the other day and noticed something peculiar: the most popular result from this site in a Google search is this picture of a doberman.


The artist formerly known as BobbyStompy posted it in a 2008 article on the Redeem Team. The picture -- if you don't already have vintage Stompy posts planted in your cerebral cortex -- comes from a Kobe Bryant quote in which the Lakers guard nicknames himself "The Doberman", a reference to his role as Team USA's marquee perimeter defender.  

Now seems like a perfect time for that dog's reign atop TUP's Photo Power Rankings to end.

As aptly-named commenter "oh shit" pointed out in yesterday's Manny post, Jay Cutler has a new girlfriend and it's the very blog-worthy Kirstin Cavallari of MTV's "The Hills" fame.

As always, E! Online provides the meat and potatoes.

According to a Chi-town source, the footballer, 27, has had a longstanding crush on K. Cav, 23, and arranged a meeting with the reality star after his pre-season game against the Arizona Cardinals Saturday (her ex's Matt Leinart's team!).

"They really hit it off," the source tells E! News. "He's crazy about her and she thinks he's cute."    

I wonder if they talked about that almost-cool "Hills" finale. 

The Trib's Brad Biggs, probably our favorite newspaper-man in the city, even asked Cutler about this and invoked the name Tony Romo. JC's answer is funny if you imagine him saying it with a frown.

We asked Cutler Tuesday if he's ready for the Tony Romo-like spotlight. "I won't get into that stuff like he does. That's going to be ... all of that stuff is on the backburner," he replied.

But, a Bears QB and a Hollywood reality star is huge news, right? His enigmatic response: "It'll be interesting."

So, what's left? A photo gallery? I suppose that could be worth everyone's time.

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Deadspin: "The dreary business of discussing politics is for people who don't get to run around and play baseball all day," writes Will Leitch in a decidedly vintage Leitch column on Tony La Russa and Glenn Beck at Deadspin.

Fanhouse: Shoals goes to D-League fantasy camp.

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Ndamukong Suh attempts to literally rip Jake Delhomme's head and neck from his shoulders.

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Run of Play: Brian Phillips, editor of the soccer blog Run of Play, is quickly turning into my new favorite writer on the Internet. Check out this post he wrote a couple weeks back titled "Is Pele Underrated?".

After all, even if the "child" narrative retains its appeal after a person grows up, there's a good chance that it will never feel as immediate or as dramatic as the "adolescent" narrative. You smile at fairy tales, but the songs you loved at 16 are with you for life. And in the aftermath of their playing careers, it's not just Maradona but also Cruyff, Best, Garrincha, Zidane, and a lot of other great players who seem more complex and compelling than Pelé. If a player's style is of interest in part as a window into his personality--into a corner of human character--then doesn't it stand to reason that we'd read an athlete's later life back into his playing career and promote him or demote him accordingly? That is, if Maradona has revealed himself to be utterly defiant and insane, doesn't his game start to seem like an insight into a fascinatingly disturbed psyche, and doesn't it gain in excitement from that?

Any chance something like this could ever happen to MJ?

ESPN: NFL news to make you nostalgic for the very recent past: Rex Grossman could start the Redskins' season opener against Dallas.

Shanahan said the leg is too sore for McNabb to play Thursday against the Arizona Cardinals, but McNabb likely wouldn't have played in that game anyway because the coach prefers to rest his starters and some of his top backups in the final exhibition to avoid injuries. No. 2 quarterback Rex Grossman said he won't play this week either, leaving John Beck and Richard Bartel to take the snaps against the Cardinals.

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CSN Chicago: The Big Hurt gets his day at The Cell.

Chicago Breaking Sports: "Jay Mariotti was and is a pissant," says the increasingly more likable Jerry Reinsdorf.

CSN Chicago: Jay Cutler was sacked four times, got hit six times, and threw two interceptions in Saturday's loss to the Cardinals in the Bears' third preseason game. He sounds like a man who doesn't totally trust his offensive line.

"We had some protection issues last game," he said. "There might have still been some little effects from that, just trusting the guys up there." Then he added, "But they're doing a good job for me."

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Fantasy football's pretty solid.

BOBBY: Sure, in a lot of ways, it's like major league baseball and college basketball: shitty, flawed, unfair, white people -- you know, the usual. But it's mostly pretty great. The old adage about how the NFL starts when training camp starts almost needs to be revised. It doesn't feel like football to me until I hear Simmons and Berry yappin' about sleepers and duds, and I find myself organizing or joining a few leagues.

I just started an office job a little over two months ago, and one of my key responsibilities has been organizing the office league. I'm legitimately excited. You spend so much time with the people you work with, so I'm really anticipating fantasy hitting a whole new level for me this year. It's almost like living in a dorm in college; you're around your co-workers all the time. Might as well make it a little more enjoyable by trying to beat the crap out of them in stupid fantasy football. Almost seems like a no-brainer.

But before I continue, a few gripes...
1) I've never, EVER, EVER had the first pick. Or the second pick. Or the third pick. It kinda sucks.

2) I've never had the last pick either. I really think I draft between seven and nine every single year. You don't get the top tier guys, and you don't get to make the sweet back-to-back picks when the draft snakes back around. Mega shitty.

3) I hate running backs. Running back is the worst position ever. I'm trying to think of the best fantasy running back I've ever owned, and not one name is coming into my head. The few times I've drafted ones in the first round, it's been guys like Larry Johnson or B. Jacobs, and it was always the season where they fell off the cliff. Because of this, I usually reach a few picks back and take an elite level QB. It's probably always a bad decision, but it's comfortable. I think I've had Brady as my fantasy quarterback, like, seven times. Running backs just aren't worth it to me. Just one bad hit, then BOOM, ACL tear.

(Did I own Brady the season he tore his ACL in the first half of the first game? Yes.)

4) I have never won a league, ever. I've been playing since prolly around 2002. I'll underestimate and say I've played in 15 total leagues. Despite missing playoffs once (twice, tops), I've yet to win a title. I've finished second at least three times. Just awful. At this point, I want to win for pride more than I want to win for money. I really think if I win a fantasy title, I'll either a) retire, or b) scale it down to just one league each year. Either way, something sorta drastic. Ah, dreams.

But yeah, fantasy football -- especially in the pre-season when your team hasn't sucked yet -- is in a pretty good place right now. This is the first NFL season I'll have a smart phone, and I imagine it's going to cocaine-ize the process. No more lame-ass print outs. No more having to guess who's on my .500 team I barely update. No more thinking I played a guy who did awesome only to find out I'd benched him an hour before the games started. Kick. Ass.

Questions: What's your fantasy history? Any hardware? ... Anything you care to hate on? ... Are you a 1st round RB guy? ... Any go-to drafting strategies/funny staples of Rickhouse fantasy football playing? ... Have you ever played in an auction league?

RICKY: I did a little LOL'ing over "white people" getting singled out so soon in this R-B. I mean, you know it's a lock to appear every time, but the question is WHEN? Today, you clocked in at just 19 words. Record time. SEC speed, even. If our commenters were cool, they'd set up some sort of over-under for the first time "white+people" appears in any edition of Ricky-Bobby and bet big money on it. This may have been the first time ever the 'under' would have won. Big day.

Naturally, I also have a personal connection when it comes to white people/fantasy football. They really are the PB and J of our generation.

-- Fantasy football actually helped lay the seeds for my anti-white people stance. True story.

I went to a Catholic high school in the suburbs that featured a lot of kids who aligned their tastes with cowboy hats, Kenny Chesney, and Confederate flag belt buckles. Spoiler alert: this wasn't a very diverse school. I remember there was a league maybe sophomore or junior year, and one of the kids only drafted white players. Like, Shockey in the first round, Joe Jurevicius in the second, and probably fucking Favre in the third. This actually happened: some unfortunate and confused 15-year old literally threw money away and sabotaged his teams chances just because he thought it'd be funny to only draft Caucasian players. Groundwork: LAID.

It's kind of funny that we're both in similar situations job-wise: I also just started a new office job, my first time ever doing the 9-5 thing. I work with about 50 people, and a good 85 percent of them are older women. All very nice, mind you, but it's not actually like I can talk to them about Wolf Parade or Jermichael Finley on our lunch break. One of my first thoughts after a couple days at this job was "man, I really wish someone here played fantasy football". 

Internet lore tells us that talking about fantasy football in public is adjacent to talking about your kids. No one cares how you got screwed into a loss last week, man. I think Drew has written about this a few times.  But isn't talking about fantasy football really nothing more than just talking about football? And isn't talking about football kind of great? I'm jealous that you're setting up an office league. I'd love to do something like that. 

I'm actually usually pretty good at fantasy football. Remember, I'm a former fantasy football blogger at a major newspaper! I absolutely forgot that ever happened.

My resume: I had Shaun Alexander his record-breaking year, and Tomlinson for his. Of course, I also had Brady the year he got Pollard'd, but I feel like my luck usually sides with "good". Last season I had a powerhouse team captained by MJD and Ray Rice -- your consensus 3-4 picks in the first round this year. I lost in the championship. Even still, I've won a league or two in my career. I don't think I've ever actually gotten paid though, which I blame on being short.

How are you feeling about fantasy football this year? My draft is a week from Wednesday. Got any cool sleepers? Still going to reach for a QB? Do you feel the need to legitimize your NFL knowledge by showing the office who's boss? Let's talk about football. 

BOBBY: Ah yes, MJD. I think I may have owned him during one of his stellar seasons. It's good to know that it's happened once.

I'm one draft down, probably two more to go. I used to hate having more than one team because of the whole 'players you own conflicting with other players you own' thing, but I stopped caring about that a while ago. For one, if one of your teams sucks, you've got an immediate insurance plan. For two, it's the NFL: it's always going to be awesome. The more horses I have in the race, the better -- even if they conflict with each other.

My absolute favorite part about fantasy football -- and I mean it, I love this part more than all other parts of fantasy times five -- is checking out the box score of a current game the Monday morning after and figuring out who has who and who needs what going into Monday Night Football. I'd almost rather be losing the game with the potential of a few guys winning it for me than winning the game going against two guys potentially overtaking me. The MNF experience is a microcosm of fantasy: you've got players and teams you may not necessarily have cared about before suddenly meaning everything. It really works. You just have to be careful to not get wrapped into the "well, the Bears won, but my fantasy team lost wahhh" sad sack mentality. You can't win in everything every time. Expecting that to happen is just nuts.

I have no cool sleepers. I usually never do. I was on the Welker bandwagon the year he blew up. And I really do think we can expect big things from Brady this year. Aside from Moss and Welker, Edelman and Brandon Tate have looked great in the pre-season, and both rookie TEs have looked spectacular. But can you really call Brady a "sleeper" and call yourself a person? I say no. So my answer is... no one. I'd love to see big things from Arian Foster, though. /fingers crossed

Do you remember when leagues didn't have live scoring? It's easy to say it totally sucked, but it was kind of cool having to add up your stuff and guessing what it would be. I remember waking up and having to refresh the browser every Monday waiting for it to update. For someone as bad at math as I am, the results were exciting. The downside is I remember once or twice paying X amount of money for the live-scoring upgrade, which seems downright stupid and laughable now. Ah well.

In summary, I will probably always, always reach for a QB. It's just who I am. I don't think winning or losing to my co-workers would prove or disprove my NFL knowledge. Well, unless I went undefeated and just destroyed everyone. I think you'd need to do something extreme like that to get some respect.

Lastly, screw Shaun Alexander. Maybe my least favorite running back of all-time. So overrated it hurts.

RICKY: I'm with you on conflict being stupid. I also play in a big money A.L.-only fantasy baseball league (nerd alert) with my buddy Phil. There was a point when Phil was hesitant to do this because he never wanted to be put in a situation where his beloved White Sox would be facing one of his fantasy team guys. "Who would I root for!!!???," Phil probably said, with just as many exclamation points and question marks in his voice. My take: who cares. Root for the White Sox, if it works out both ways somehow, that's just gravy. I think people forget sometimes that their rooting interests actually have zero impact on the results of a professional sports game.

I'll one-up you on the live scoring: when I was in grade school (can't pinpoint the exact year), my dad and I ran a fantasy football league SANS INTERNET. Oh yeah, exciting times. I remember every team was given an index card that had their team on it and they'd have to turn it in to my old man or I after every week. Results were added up through, get this, box scores we found in the newspaper. So old school. I think Emmitt was the first pick that year.

I handle fantasy football research much like I handle March Madness research: I don't know anything -- literally nothing -- until about 36 hours before the draft. Then: cram. It actually has pretty good results so I don't think I'm going to switch it up. Besides, procrastination is kind of awesome. As such, I also really have nothing to add expertise-wise for FF2K10. Get back to me Tuesday and I should be good to go.

I always assumed one of the best parts about having a favorite college football team (you do, I don't), or having two favorite NFL teams (you do, I don't), is that if the Bears suck (probability of this ranges from likely to definite), maybe some of the burn would be taken away if your college/other team was good. I actually started adopting this mentality with my fantasy team last year. The Bears sucked, my fantasy team was in first, second, or third the whole year. I really felt like it made football season much more enjoyable. It's because football is so great, but it's also over before you know it. You can't let the crappy Bears ruin something that should be wholly enjoyable, you know? Really, any time you can mitigate the Bears' importance on your daily life, it's probably a good thing.

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TUP was meant to be dedicated to "Jordan Rides the Bus" today, but a late offer from a friend for "mob seats" at the White Sox game was too good to pass up. Too good because, even if we've only had one foot in baseball's lonely water all season, we should never forget that the Sox are still a totally great team to root for (still totally not the Cubs!), especially when they're in the middle of fighting for postseason things. Of course, yes, the Sox are on the fringe and fading in their good fight, but let's not count them out quite yet. We can't. TUP needs you now, White Sox. The Bears look like they could be highly unwatchable. NBA off-season season is dead and gone. And remember, the Central has reached a 163rd game each of the last two years. So yes, MJ can wait til tomorrow. This is why God created the DVR.

"Mob seats" couldn't have been a more apt description of my location Tuesday night at beautiful U.S. Cellular Field. These were probably the best seats I've ever had at a sporting event: first row in the 100 level, even with the where the grass meets the dirt. All of the players were so close, so big, it was a little impossible not to drift away from the action ("action") on the field and just take everything in. And baseball, for all of its downfalls, still knows how to put on a wonderful show. Summer is fleeting yet still around, and nights like last night help you remember it isn't October just yet. 

The Sox flirted with ruining an all-together spotless evening in the ninth by surrendering three runs and forcing a save situation when one shouldn't have existed, but Bobby Jenks, always a rock of peace and calm, smoothed rough waves and locked down a pivotal 7-5 win over the Orioles. With the Twins falling in Texas, the deficit is only 3.5 and 37 games still remain. Hope remains omnipresent, and a certain reinforcement could be on his way soon.


All of this is enough to make one wonder if the White Sox can still rescue a 2010 baseball season that may as well have never existed for this blog and maybe even for this city. There's still time, and a golden opportunity lays in front of them. 

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Disappointments all around in the Bears' 32-17 loss in Oakland on Saturday: Cutler was sacked five times in the first half, Urlacher exited early with a sprained calf, and, worst yet, the much-hyped Colt Brennan-Matt Gutierrez battle never ascended.

The most concerning issue -- coming as zero surprise -- is that the Bears still can't protect Cutler. Said the Trib's Brad Biggs...

...the Raiders' Kamerion Wimbley raced around Williams for four sacks on only 21 drop-backs.

No one had to turn to the tape to know what happened. Wimbley simply beat Williams around the corner, sometimes dipping his shoulder and going under to cut down the path to Cutler. They were one-on-one battles that Wimbley won, twice in three-man pass rushes when teams don't expect to bring down the quarterback.

Williams never looked this dominated against Julius Peppers in practice. Cutler said it's not a scheme issue, although you can bet tight end Brandon Manumaleuna will be lined up next to Williams plenty come Week 2, when the Cowboys are plotting the downfall of Cutler with their own outside linebacker, DeMarcus Ware.

But don't worry, friends: the Bears signed their Kid Cutty insurance policy on Monday. Todd Collins! This will obviously end well.









Suck. 

A matchup pitting Derrick Rose against Ricky Rubio likely needs 4,000 words from this site, but you'll have to settle for only a YouTube video and Matt's thoughts on Rose's ever developing three-point shot.

The 3 point shot (shorter in international play, mind you) was also on display, and it'll take me a while to get sold. Rose had good form and arc, but it seems he's never truly set when taking it, usually off a dribble and drifting when he lets it fly. It almost looks like the rest of his offensive repertoire with his very difficult floater attempts...yet he can make those, and maybe will do alright from 3 as well. The important thing is at least taking a few a game to keep the defense honest.

Equally exciting in not-really-Bulls-related news: MJ's kids blew $56,000 in Vegas in one night. Cha boi A.J. Rompza got in on the action, too.







TUP favorite Jereme Richmond just endured his first day of college classes. He celebrated like any reasonably-minded person would. 

 

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Early yesterday morning, we found out Jay "The Complete Worst" Mariotti was arrested for some sort of domestic thing. All we know right now is Fanhouse is "in the process of gathering the facts" and ESPN is "looking into it."

We here at TUP are also gathering the facts and looking into it. By "facts," I mean "jokes," and by "looking into it," I mean "looking into it, comically."

These are the residual effects of being the worst person ever: people are void of sympathy when something unfortunate happens to you. Why paint this with a positive brush? Why give him the benefit of the doubt? This is the same man who's made a career of doing the exact opposite to athletes and coaches in the situation he's currently stuck in. Calling for people to be fired, calling for people to resign... for god's sake, he's the same person who said LeGarrette Blount should be put in jail for throwing a punch on the college football field.


I've got so much positive venom flowing right now. I feel like 2Pac during "Hit 'Em Up": "I don't know why I'm even on this track, You... ain't even on my level, I'm going to let my little homies ride on you..."

With Leather:

Pop some champagne and kiss a stranger on the street, because ESPN talking head and notorious asshole Jay Mariotti has been arrested and jailed in Los Angeles.

We'll have more details on Monday. Until then, we wish Mr. Mariotti a long, sleepless weekend of violent prison anal gang rape. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

With Leather Twitter roundup:

"I heard about Mariotti's arrest and instantly heard the 'clo-doink' sound effect of Tony Reali taking points off his score." - @edsbs

"I guess [Mariotti's] taste for killing and eating babies finally caught up with him." -- @mattufford

"Seeing that Jay Mariotti was arrested is like finding a bicycle made of naked women under my Christmas tree." - @MayorBurnsy

Jason Whitlock:

Innocent or guilty, can Mariotti, given his shtick, survive this arrest/allegation?

Looking for clues on Mariotti: Fanhouse has moved its "lead" columnist to the five hole on its daily rundown.

The Mariotti equivalent for me: "Jason Whitlock arrested 4 drunk driving. Police found 2 semi-automatic weapons and 50 Cent Greatest Hits."

Mariotti equivalent 4 LeBatard: "Dan LeBatard delivered keynote address at a Georgia KKK rally. Topic: Subversive end zone celebrations."

Mariotti equivalent 4 Simmons: "DNA test reveals Simmons fathered child w/LA Sparks Lisa Leslie. He's longtime Sparks season-ticket holder."

Fake Hawk Harrelson Twitter feed:

Yes! HELL YES! RT @rogerfrmchicago: @NotHawk Jay Mariotti arrested! Yes! http://bit.ly/dqRGBi

Don't worry about Mariotti. Been making him my bitch for years, he'll adapt to prison life just fine.

Rickhouse:

The whole incident reminded me of this post I wrote a while back about Derrick Rose's academic scandal.

And this part: "The whole 'major smear on his resume in basketball AND LIFE!' part is just hilarious. Because Jay Mariotti has never made a mistake before -- not even at [age] 17 -- and Rose should live his life as morally as Jay has. I doubt Rose will lose much sleep over this once the dust settles. Now? Sure, maybe a little. But this is hardly a lasting stain."

And now that piece of shit beats a woman. Sportswriters should never try to moralize anything.

Well Ricky, we don't know for sure if he's guilty or not -- we probably shouldn't rush to judgment. Actually, you know what? Let's. Let's do exactly that.

It's how Jay would have wanted it. Bitch.

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