Current stare of Italian soccer? Brutto.

As much as Italians were thrilled their national team's triumph in the last World Cup, they must be equally despondent about all of the problems their country's domestic league has encountered in the last 12 months.

On Thursday, Serie A received another black eye when the Italian Soccer Federation ruled that only six stadiums meet the minimum security standards that have been put in place.

In turn, officials have authorized the closing of 25 open arenas that have been deemed unsafe, which means fans in certain cities will be prevented from watching their favorite teams play on match days. The reason for the draconian decision?

A police officer was killed by a spectator last Friday in Sicily.
These are dark days in Italian soccer. For years we have heard about the financial problems that have afflicted certain clubs. But it's only until recently that the integrity of the sport itself was called into question.

Just last summer, four of Serie A's most powerful clubs — A.C. Milan, Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio — were involved in a major match-fixing scandal. Juventus, the main perpetrator, was punished by being relegated to a lower division. Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina were all docked points for the upcoming season.

Not long after the details of the malfeasance were revealed, there was a mass exodus of international stars, who weren't exactly keen about sticking around to see how this whole mess would turn out.

Ukrainian striker extraordinaire Andriy Shevchencko waved goodbye to Milan and bolted for the English Premiership. Fabio Cannavaro, FIFA's World Player of the Year, left Juventus for Real Madrid.

Long accused of being a top-heavy league, Serie A now lacks great competition even among its elite teams. Inter, which was not involved in the scandal, has yet to lose a match this season and now holds an 11-point advantage over its next closest rival, Roma.

But is anyone watching?

As most of the stadiums have closed their doors, more pages will be written in this sad chapter of Italian soccer. With no crowds cheering them on, players will run around in empty tombs. It will border on the surreal — much like everything these days that is associated with Italian soccer.

For one day, the speculation ends and reality sets in

For those who hate recruiting, National Signing Day should be celebrated. No more speculation about who will sign where. No more message-board debates about the attributes of an 18-year-old kid who is undecided about where he will attend college. No more articles hyping star athletes who still live with their parents.

Until, of course, tomorrow.

Here in the South — a region that is passionate about college football — fans seem more interested in reading about a prospect that could play for their favorite team than one who actually is.

Recruiting articles are devoured and people actually pay for access to Web sites that specialize in compiling information about high-school kids who play sports. It's a strange phenomenon. And it only seems to get bigger and more ridiculous in the digital age.

It would seem foolish for anyone to invest his time tracking teenagers who are trying to select the college or university of their choice. Probably half of them will end up competing against the school the fan supports. Some will never even play a down the next four years at any program.

Wouldn't it be more worthwhile to start paying attention to these players when they actually arrive on campus? Sure. But then fans wouldn't be allowed to indulge their fantasies. The reason why recruiting is followed with such passion is because of the hope it offers. It's why baseball junkies love to speculate about the moves teams will make in the offseason. Recruiting is college football's version of free agency. It allows programs to revamp their rosters and set a new course. And it provides the season-ticket holders the chance to dream.

We just need to sign this five-star player and we're set. If we get two top-ten recruiting classes in a row we should be competing for a national championship in no time. I can't wait to see who we end up with.


All of these are thoughts fans have during the recruiting process. Once Signing Day comes, the fun ends and reality sets in temporarily — that is until Thursday comes along. Just like that, the process begins again and hope springs anew. The new batch of prospects will be dissected and analyzed. They will be profiled. And they most certainly will be tracked.

The absurdity of it all never ceases to amaze.

Photo Source: USA Today

NCAA Tournament Projections: Week 3

Here it is – the third installment of our weekly NCAA Tournament projections. After another wild week, the projections have again been shaken up.

Just a reminder, automatic bids are given to the team currently leading the conference.

Let’s start with conferences that will absolutely be getting only one bid (these teams need to maintain their spots at the top to make the dance):
America East: Vermont
Atlantic Sun: East Tennessee State
Big Sky: Weber State
Big South: Winthrop
Big West: Long Beach State
Ivy: Yale
Metro Atlantic Athletic: Loyola (Md.)
Mid Continent: Oral Roberts
Mid-America: Akron
Mid-Eastern Athletic: Delaware State
Northeast: Central Connecticut State
Ohio Valley: Austin Peay
Patriot: Holy Cross
Southern: Davidson
Southland: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Southwest Athletic: Jackson State
Sunbelt: South Alabama

Now there are four conferences that are almost certainly only one bid conferences, assuming the team at the top of the standings now wins the conference tournament. Potential at-large teams will have to root like hell for these four teams, because if they don’t get their conferences automatic bids, they are likely to steal coveted at-large spots.

Conference USA: Memphis
Horizon: Butler
West Coast: Gonzaga
Western Athletic: Nevada

Now for the rest of the conferences (total current bids in parenthesis):

Atlantic 10 (1):
In – Rhode Island (automatic bid)
On the Cusp – Xavier
Long Climb Ahead – Massachusetts, George Washington

Atlantic Coast Conference (7):
In – Boston College (automatic bid), North Carolina, Duke, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Florida State, Virginia
On the Cusp – Maryland
Long Climb Ahead – Georgia Tech

Big 12 (6):
In – Texas A&M (automatic bid), Kansas, Texas Tech, Texas, Oklahoma State, Kansas State
On the Cusp – None
Long Climb Ahead – None

Big East (7):
In – Pittsburgh (automatic bid), Marquette, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova
On the Cusp – Providence, Louisville
Long Climb Ahead – None

Big Ten (5):
In – Wisconsin (automatic bid), Ohio State, Indiana, Michigan State, Illinois
On the Cusp – Michigan
Long Climb Ahead – None

Colonial Athletic (1):
In – Virginia Commonwealth (automatic bid)
On the Cusp – Drexel, Hofstra
Long Climb Ahead – Old Dominion

Missouri Valley (3):
In – Southern Illinois (automatic bid), Creighton, Missouri State
On the Cusp – Bradley, Northern Iowa
Long Climb Ahead – None

Mountain West (3):
In – Air Force (automatic bid), UNLV, BYU
On the Cusp – None
Long Climb Ahead – None

Pacific-10 (6):
In – UCLA (automatic bid), Oregon, Washington State, USC, Arizona, Stanford
On the Cusp – None
Long Road Ahead – None

Southeastern (5):
In – Florida (automatic bid), Kentucky, Alabama, Vanderbilt, Tennessee
On the Cusp –Georgia, Arkansas
Long Road Ahead – LSU

Final Six In: Syracuse, Illinois, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Michigan State, Missouri State
Final Six Out: Arkansas, Maryland, Xavier, Georgia, Providence, Michigan

What team did I miss? What team doesn’t deserve to be on the list? We want to know what you think. Post your comments below.

Super Bowl Preview

Yeah, I know I’m late to the game with my Super Bowl preview, but I figured I’d wait until today and contemplate this match up all week. First off, I think this game is going to be closer than the roughly seven-point spread, so if you are gambling, I suggest taking the Bears and the points (I make this prediction with a word of caution – I don’t really ever bet on sports, so take the prediction for what’s its worth: my opinion).

Here’s why I think this will be a close game…

When the Colts have the ball: Peyton Manning is clearly going to be the main offensive weapon as he is every game he steps onto the field. It’s a pretty simple formula, slow down (you can’t completely stop him) Peyton and you have a shot to win the game. You might think that means Brian Urlacher has to have a ridiculous game where he is disrupting pass after pass in the backfield, but that’s just not true. Urlacher had no sacks this season, so why would he have a bunch today? Urlacher just has to establish the middle of the field as his. He can’t let Joseph Addai and Dominick Rhodes break any big runs. Then, it’s the Bears front four to establish play in the Colts backfield to be effective. Alex Brown, Adewale Ogunleye and Mark Anderson combined for 25.5 sacks this season. That is impressive. They have to continue to bring a pass rush like that today; rushing and disrupting Manning, forcing him into errant passes.

The key for the Colts offense today is its offensive line. The five up front have to give Manning plenty of time to hit his receivers, and if they do that, the Colts have a great chance of winning.

Quite simply, which ever team can control the line in this match up has the biggest advantage of the day, and the inside track to a victory.

When the Bears have the ball: The key here is the Bears ability to establish the run. Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson combined for more than 1,800 yards and 12 touchdowns this season. The Bears tandem has to establish the run to take pressure off Rex Grossman. Time of possession that comes with establishing a solid running game also means less Peyton Manning on the field and that is always a good thing for Colts opponents. Grossman probably isn’t going to be a guy who will win the Super Bowl, but with a solid running game, opening up the play-action pass, Grossman will certainly have a chance to contribute to a victory.

Bob Sanders in the Colts playmaker in the secondary. He seems to have a nose for the ball, so expect him to be around the ball quite often today. If the Colts force a couple of turnovers today, Sanders is likely to be on the receiving end of a bad Grossman pass. Shutting down the Bears running game is the key for the Colts defense. Force Grossman to win the game through the air and the Colts defense could have a big day.

Special Teams: The most exciting return man in the NFL this season and the most clutch kicker potentially in the history of the league are playing in this game today. Devin Hester returned six kicks for touchdowns this season and there is a sense that anytime he catches a kick, he could return it. That creates an intimidating threat that Indianapolis could struggle with today as its kick coverage is subpar. The Colts might be best to avoid kicking to Hester whenever the opportunity presents itself.

If the game is close and a team needs a field goal, Vinatieri is the guy you want kicking. He has proven this time and again, so there is no reason to believe it wouldn’t happen again if the opportunity presents itself.

Players to watch:
Colts Offense: Tarik Glenn, Ryan Lilja, Jeff Saturday, Jake Scott and Ryan Diem
Colts Defense: Bob Sanders
Colts Special Team: Adam Vinatieri
Bears Offense: Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson
Bears Defense: Adewale Ogunleye, Alex Brown and Mark Anderson
Bears Special Team: Devin Hester

What does this all mean? It means the Colts are going to win the game 27-24.

Photo Sources: www.nfl.com, www.chicagobears.com, www.spokesmanreview.com