Survivor and More Bowls

I’ve never been a fan of Survivor. I always thought the show was stupid and brought out the worst of humanity. This season, I actually started following it a bit (thanks to my in-laws), and I was actually intrigued. I’m watching and I see this roughneck type of guy, Russell, who looks to me like he could be Satan’s right hand man the way he’s working the contestants. Dumping canteens, burning socks, playing on everyone’s emotions, all while being a cocky [insert your own name-calling word here] in front of the camera. I knew early on that he’d make it to the end, but there was no way the jury would give him the million.

No way. Ever!

In Sunday’s finale, Russell makes it to the final tribal council with two of his tribe buddies, Mick and Natalie. Russell repeatedly says that he thinks he has it in the bag if he makes it with those two, as he considers them to be weak. That’s especially why he aligned with Natalie early on. His assumption is that the jury would see it as he has. Well, we know what happens when you assume…
So the council begins, and Natalie plays up her “underdog/under the radar” story, and Russell proceeds to annoy the entire jury by telling each one why he undercut them and had them voted off to try to prove that he played the best game. At that point, I was thinking to myself that I like Natalie’s chances.
So who ends up winning the million as “sole survivor”? Natalie.
What’s surprising about the whole thing is the crowd reaction. So many people are actually infuriated that Russell didn’t win. Some of the lines that I read from various forums discussing the end result (taken from ew.com and tvguide.com):

“Natalie won because of a “sour-grapes” jury.”

“I've had it with reality shows. This ending was a completely travesty. Can we say "jump-the-shark"?”

“Natalie is one of the more undeserving winners ever – Russell should have received the votes hands down for the game he played.”

And this one takes the cake (from someone who labels as an Ex-Survivor fan):
“This was the dumbest bunch of people (with the exception of a few) to date on survivor. Clearly these people don't have a clue as to the game play. Lying, manipulation and deceit are a huge factor in this reality show…that is how you "survive".”

And you wonder why I had never watched the show.

While a lot of people thought that Russell played the best and boldest game and should’ve won that way, they forgot to consider social politics. If you burn every bridge on the way to the end, you’re ultimately going to fall. Russell burned every bridge in his quest to the final.

This adds to the underestimated brilliance of Natalie’s plan. Throw the innocent dumb blonde stereotype out the window: this girl was successful in pharmaceuticals. She’s got a head on her shoulders. Early on, she had to have known that Russell would be one of the major players. She also knew that Russell wouldn’t play nice in order to win. So when Russell comes to her to form an alliance, she had to have thought: “Hey, I can ride this guy’s tail to the end and win by default because the jury will be ticked with this guy. Yeah I’ll be your buddy!” She understood that you still have to play nice. Who said the jury had to vote based on certain criteria. All they would do is vote for who they thought deserved it.

So what if you win by default? You still get the million dollars.
Brilliant!

As for Natalie’s thoughts on Sunday? “I love it when a plan comes together.”


Bowl Games

So I still have a lot of bowl games to predict. That’ll come soon. A couple thoughts on the weekend’s games:

1) Congrats to MTSU for getting their first FBS win in their history. Dwight Dasher was quite the stud yesterday, breaking Vince Young’s Bowl Record for most rushing yards by a QB.
2) Never thought Wyoming would beat Fresno State. The Mountain West is now 11-4 over the last four years. Not bad. Are you taking notes, ACC? Big Ten?


Predictions, part II

Las Vegas Bowl
#18 Oregon State (Pac 10) v #14 BYU (Mountain West)
Dec 22, 7 pm CST

Ivan Maisel ranked this as his #7 most interesting bowl game a couple weeks ago. This should be a big time matchup, in spite of the potential disappointment of the bowl placing for both squads. Oregon State was one win away from the Rose Bowl. BYU had aspiring BCS busting implications until that nasty Florida State game. It’s Pac 10 #2 vs. MWC #2 as the Mountain West continues to try to earn BCS legitimacy. As this will be Max Hall’s last game as BYU QB, look for the Cougars to be motivated.

Oregon St. 21
BYU 24


Poinsettia Bowl
#23 Utah (Mountain West) v California (Pac 10)
Dec 23, 7 pm CST

In a somewhat related note, it irks me that all the Mountain West bowl games happen well before January 1st. The only way a Mountain West team plays in January is by crashing the BCS. And they have been, thanks to Utah and TCU. Speaking of Utah, the last time they lost a bowl game, AOL was relevant. With Jahvid Best not playing in this game, I like the Utes’ chances.

Utah 32
Cal 21


Hawaii Bowl
Nevada (WAC) v SMU (C-USA)
Dec 24, 7 pm CST

There are worse places to be on Christmas Eve than Hawaii for sure. SMU has to be very excited to be here playing a bowl for the first time since the death penalty in the 80s. Nevada? Not so much, but hey? It’s Hawaii. Nevada should have the upper hand in this game, but motivation also has to be considered.

Nevada 21
SMU 19

Last week: 2-1
Overall: 2-1

Bowl Season

I love a lot of sports, like MLB, NFL, NHL, pro football, college football and basketball, and golf and racing on occasion. I also enjoy the Olympics. But when it comes to my one favorite sport, it's college football, even with more boring seasons like this one (but I was still overly excited to see BYU beat Oklahoma this year...too bad OU was actually a very mediocre team). With bowl season on the way, I will be making my picks on the games as they get closer.

This week, I'll start with three games that will happen this weekend. So here.we.go...

New Mexico Bowl
Fresno St. (WAC) v Wyoming (Mountain West)
Dec 19, 3:30 pm CST

In the rooting pecking order in college football, I pull for 1) BYU, 2) Tennessee, 3) The Mountain West Conference. As the Mountain West tries to gain respectability in the BCS system, little games like this go a long way. Sadly, we're talking about Wyoming here. The same Wyoming that barely beat Weber State (not an FBS school), barely beat Sun Belt doormat Florida Atlantic and was pounded by TCU, BYU and lowly Colorado. Meanwhile, Fresno State had a respectable year, losing only to Nevada, #6 Boise State, #3 Cincinnati (by 8) and #25 Wisconsin (in OT). Given the opponent, does Fresno State forget to show up to this game? I don't think so.

Fresno St. - 42
Wyoming - 17


St. Petersburg Bowl
UCF (Conference USA) v Rutgers (Big East)
Dec 19, 7 pm CST

I've gotta be honest here...I've hardly watched any action of either team this year. In fact, I haven't watch so much as a highlight of UCF football. I did watch Rutgers take South Florida to school earlier in the year and was impressed. UCF did beat Houston, and their only losses came to Southern Miss, #2 Texas, East Carolina and #15 Miami (all bowlers this year). As for Rutgers...they lost to #3 Cincy, #17 Pitt, #16 West Virginia (respectable for all 3) and then what? Syracuse? Yuk! This looks like one of those games you wouldn't dare lay money on (luckily, I'm not a gambling man). Still, this will not be one of my more confident bowl picks this season. Should make for an interesting game, though (and isn't that why we have bowl season?)

UCF 24
Rutgers 28


New Orleans Bowl
Southern Miss (C-USA) v Middle Tennesse St (Sun Belt)
Dec 20, 7:30 pm CST

Secretly hidden in my rooting order is MTSU, where I got my first two years of post-secondary education. The last time MTSU had this good of a year was 2001, when Wes Counts was QB for the Blue Raiders. They beat Vanderbilt that year for the first time (and continued to do so until Vandy had enough and went to the FCS to find their cupcakes). They also gave Ole Miss a run for their money and swept through the Sun Belt except for one game...North Texas, who got to go to the inaugural New Orleans bowl with a 5-6 record. I still get irked over that to this day. While MTSU has yet to go to a bowl as the Sun Belt's conference champ, they do get to come here in their 2nd bowl appearance since joining the FBS. As for Southern Miss, they've looked pretty pedestrian this year, losing to Kansas, Houston, UAB, Louisville (yikes) and East Carolina. MTSU's losses came to Clemson, Troy and Mississippi State. I'm going for the upset special and say that the Blue Raiders win in a close game for their first bowl win (hey, crazier things have happened).

Southern Miss 21
MTSU 24


Record 0-0

Welcome to the life of Fergie

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the great life of Fergie. I would be Fergie, though most know me as James. On this blog, you'll find my opinions on a lot of stuff, but I'll mainly focus on these spots:

• Sports (and sports, and more sports)
• TV
• Travel and Food

They say that the best place to start is somewhere, so here we go. Enjoy the ride! I know I will.