College Football Week 2: Lace up the shoes

Photo courtesy of zimbio.com. Will the return of starting quarterback Caleb TerBush (pictured above) help propel Purdue to a huge victory over rival Notre Dame? Don’t count on it.

By Josh Kramer

Week 1 ended up providing a little fun.  As is typically the case though, it was littered with blowouts.  Even the “marquee” matchup (Alabama vs Michigan) ended up being a butt-whipping.  Unfortunately, Week 2 doesn’t get a whole lot better.  Blame the current BCS system (which will not be around that much longer) for turning non-conference play into mismatch play as teams look to pad their resumes with lopsided victories.

Here are the marquee matchups:

Purdue at Notre Dame:  Fighting Irish by 10

Headline:  Fighting Irish “outfight” Purdue for the Shillelagh Trophy.

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Throwback Saturday Part IX

Photo courtesy of kimoracochran.com. President Obama (pictured above) has proven that he really knows his hoops finishing in the 87.4 percentile of ESPN's Bracket Challenge last year.

By Josh Kramer

We have entered the third month of “Throwback Saturdays” For those of you who are unfamiliar with the routine.  This is a day where I look back at my posts on this date one year ago and two years ago.  Then we can decipher how spot on I was with my thoughts or how miserably wrong I was.  Typically, it is the latter scenario.  So what was happening on March 17, 2011?  How about March 17, 2010?  Let’s find out.

Nearly one year ago (March 18, 2011)..

Madness Highlights Thus Far

Here is a snippet..

No predictions today.  I will let my bracket play out a little.  But I wanted to check in and let you know my initial thoughts of this year’s edition of March Madness.

-Number one, I only went 11 of 16 in Round 2 (Round of 64).  That is not too good.  Shows how much I know.  President Obama went 14 of 16 and at the end of Thursday was in the 99.7th percentile in the ESPN Bracket Challenge (over 5.9 million participants).  Our President definitely knows his hoops.

-The Louisville game was by far the biggest shocker of the day.  I realize there were other upsets, but the Cardinals going down to an in-state Morehead State team?  I guess Louisville could technically be considered the 3rd best team in the state of Kentucky now?

-What a start to the first few games of the tournament. 4 of the first 5 contests came down to final second shots.  The tournament lived up to all of the hype and more in the first few hours of play.  And it is a good thing it did.  Because outside of the Michigan St./UCLA game, the nightcap was very weak, featuring multiple blowouts (To finish reading this post, click this link).

Wittry’s March Madness Predictions

Photo courtesy of zimbio.com. According to our guest blogger Andrew Wittry, John Calipari (pictured above) will be a happy man on the night of April 2nd as he finally gets the monkey off his back and brings home a national championship.

By Andrew Wittry

Andrew Wittry is a senior at St. Xavier High School who literally eats and sleeps sports.  He is looking forward to college and avidly pursuing a career in sports journalism.  Andrew has an already well- established blog called Sports.Eat.Sleep.Repeat., where he posts new content regarding both professional and collegiate sports a few times each week.

Which month would you give up to have more March? While Buffalo Wild Wings jokingly uses this phrase in their recent March Madness advertising campaign, in all seriousness, I would willingly give up a few days of each month to be able to have more of the NCAA Tournament.

After coming home on from practice the other night and looking at the bracket, I could not have been more pleased with the field. When the biggest complaint about a team being left out is Drexel, a team out of the Colonial Athletic Association, who did win nineteen of its final twenty games, but did not have a single quality win out of conference, the committee did an excellent job.  Though Drexel’s amazing late season surge in which they reeled off 19 wins in their last 20 games was highly impressive. I was very excited about how well the local teams fared as Xavier’s run in the A-10 Tournament earned the team a 10 seed and Cincinnati claimed a six spot.  UC’s six was due in large part to giving #2 Syracuse its second loss of the season.

Here are my initial reactions from Selection Sunday:

Is Kentucky’s road to the Final Four too tough?

Throwback Saturday Part VII

Photo courtesy of zimbio.com. Last year at this time, everyone expected Ohio State to be cutting down the nets when the "Madness" was done. Can Sullinger (left) and Kraft (right) shock the world and lead OSU to a title this time around?

By Josh Kramer

Welcome to the 7^th edition of “Throwback Saturdays.”  What was going on in the wide world of sports on March 3, 2010?  How about March 3, 2011.  Ironically, on “TheSportsKraze,” the news centered around the Scarlet and Grey (Ohio State) both times.  Maybe we should just declare March 3rd a “Buckeye Day” on “TheSportsKraze?”

One year ago..

OSU/Wisconsin Preview

Here is a snippet from the end of the post..

Jared Sullinger made it clear to ESPN’s Dana O’Neil that he wants no part of splitting the Big Ten title. “It’s like sharing your girlfriend or your husband,’’ Sullinger said after OSU’s 82-61 win over Penn State Tuesday night. “You wouldn’t want to share your husband, would you? We don’t like to share.”

Furthermore, a win would further enhance coach Thad Matta’s squad chances of claiming the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament.

One would be hard pressed to say OSU isn’t the best in the country. The two teams to topple OSU this season, Wisconsin and Purdue, haven’t lost at home this season.

Kansas lost at home to Texas and got dump-trucked at Kansas State. Texas has six losses, including dropping three out of four. BYU also has two losses, but the Mountain West isn’t the Big Ten or Big East. Pitt would probably make for the best argument, but they’ve lost twice in the city of Pittsburgh. Duke isn’t a title threat without Kyrie Irving.

Come Sunday, it’s strictly business for OSU…with a personal touch (To finish reading this post, click this link).

College Football Bowl Picks Week 2

Photo courtesy of zimbio.com. Kellen Moore (pictured above) is looking to cap off his remarkable college career with his 50th victory.

By Josh Kramer

The first few college bowl games surprisingly went out with a bang. I will be the first to admit that the first week of bowl games were not half bad.  They were actually very good.  Granted the majority of America did not really care about the outcomes, but guys like Tyler Tettleton (OU QB) and Brett Baer (Louisiana-Lafeyette kicker) are now heroes in Athens (Ohio) and Ragin’ Caginville.  I think it is safe to say that Brett Baer might be more beloved than the “Waterboy,” Bobby Boucher (regardless of what mama says). in Lafayette. Two of the three games on Saturday came down to the wire.  The Monday evening game provided a very surprising outcome, as the Thundering Herd “scampered” their way past a decent Florida International team.  Now the fun really begins (sort of) with seven games between today and next Wednesday night.

Thursday:

Arizona State vs Boise State (MAACO BOWL LAS VEGAS)

–Broncos by 14

Headline:  Kellen Moore vents his frustrations of missing the National Championship yet again on a struggling Arizona State team.

Week 11: Will all of the kickers please stand up?

Photo courtesy of http://www.tri-cityherald.com. Boise State freshman kicker Dan Goodale (pictured above) has officially become the new Kyle Brotzman.

By Josh Kramer

The “Game of the Century” was in the rearview, but that did not affect the caliber of play this week.  Great games from start to finish.  The excitement began on Thursday night with a great ACC battle that lived up to the hype and ended with the marquee event of the week in Palo Alto, where LaMichael James “sprinted” himself back into the Heisman consideration.

Do not underestimate the significance of the kicking game

“OSU/Wisconsin Preview”

It feels like OSU Senior David Lighty (pictured above) has been in Columbus for an eternity. Well he will partake in his last home game come Sunday. And you better believe he wants to go out with a victory.

Tonight we are in for a special treat.  We have yet another new writer out of Columbus. His name is Grant Freking and he is a certified “Sports Freak.”  Grant will serve as our Ohio State correspondent from here on out.

Grant Freking is a Lantern (OSU Newspaper) sports writer. Ology magazine managing editor. OSU football featured columnist for Bleacher Report. High school football reporter for Newark Advocate.  You can follow him on Twitter @GrantFreking.

To borrow a Godfather axiom, Ohio’s State game Sunday against Wisconsin is not just business, it’s personal.

“Weekly Nickel”

I got the 22-year-old scoring machine Kevin Durant (pictured above) bringing home the All Star Game MVP on Sunday.

It is yet another Monday in the sporting world.  And things are as good as ever. Basketball is at full blow in both the Collegiate and the Professional ranks.  The hockey ice is beginning to heat up.  And Spring Training is upon us!

Lets take a look at this week’s top 5.