The Celtics went 66-16 on their way to the team's 17th NBA title in the 2007-08 season, the first season of the team’s current “Big 3” of Allen, Garnett and Pierce. Boston went 62-20 the next year, the East’s second-best record next to the Cavs, who matched Boston’s win total from the previous season by going 66-16 (easily surpassing the best single-season win total in franchise history). The Lakers, who lost to the Celtics... Read more

The BracketBusters started back in 2003 with the intention of helping out the little guy. The theory being that mid-major schools would get an opportunity to face a quality opponent with a chance of hopefully improving its at-large status. However, in practice, the fact remains that there are very few at-large bids awaiting mid-major schools, so while the premise sounds good, few if any schools over the years have helped... Read more

The week opened with the nation’s No. 1 team, Ohio State, as its lone unbeaten at 24-0 and Centenary (Summit League) as the lone winless team at 0-25. The Buckeyes’ lone game this week is at Wisconsin (No. 13 in the AP and No. 14 in the coaches’ poll) on Saturday, which has won 16 straight home games as well as 34 of its last 35 at the Kohl Center. Coastal Carolina entered the week with the nation’s second-longest active... Read more

Duke, last year’s national champs, opened No. 1 in both major polls and remained there while stretching its winning streak to 25 games until losing 66-61 at Florida State on January 12. When the polls came out on January 17, Ohio State was the nation’s new No.1 team. The latest polls were released February 7 and the Buckeyes remain atop the two major polls for the fourth straight week, unanimously in the coaches’ poll... Read more

The Packers vs the Steelers make for quite a Super Bowl, as they comprise the first Super Bowl matchup of teams more than 75 years old. The Packers have been in business since 1919 and a part of the NFL since 1921 (hold the distinction as the only NFL franchise that is publicly owned) while the Steelers were founded by Art Rooney in 1933. Green Bay has won more championships ( 12 ) than any other team in National Football... Read more

If someone would have told me that the winning QB in the NFC championship game would have a 55.4 QB rating and that the winning QB in the AFC championship game would have a 35.5 rating and asked me to pick predict the Super Bowl XLV matchup, I would have, without hesitation (and with supreme confidence), declared Bears vs Jets. So much for that. However, we all know that Rodgers’ 55.4 rating vs the Bears on January 23rd... Read more

Only seven of the 12 teams that made the playoffs last season were back for this year’s ‘party.’ Those teams were Baltimore, Green Bay, Indianapolis (with an NFL record-tying ninth straight postseason appearance), New England, New Orleans, the New York Jets and Philadelphia are repeating their appearance of a season ago. This year’s “newbies” included Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Seattle. Of last year... Read more

More than three weeks before Auburn and Oregon will play in Glendale, Arizona in the BCS national championship game on January 10, 2011, the 2010-11 bowl season kicked off this past Saturday. I'll have much more on the Auburn/Oregon matchup in future Bowl Journals but let me point out that Oregon has never won a national championship and Auburn owns just one. The Tigers began the 1957 season on probation and were bowl... Read more

The final regular season game of the 2010 college football season is set for 2:30 ET from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. It's the 111th meeting between Army and Navy, a series which began in 1890 (wasn't there for that one). Army has lost eight straight contests to Navy, getting outscored 291-74 (36.4-to-9.3 PPG). However, the 2010 season has been a unique one for the service academies. The Black Knights... Read more

Raise your hand if anyone even remotely understands the current ruling handed down by the NCAA regarding Cam Newton’s eligibility. Here’s how the story unfolded this week. Auburn declared Newton ineligible on Monday (who heard about it?) but also immediately applied to the NCAA to have him reinstated. Being the benevolent institution that it is, the NCAA ruled that while Newton’s father violated NCAA rules, there was... Read more