Tim Tebow – Florida

Mark Sanchez – USC

Colt McCoy – Texas

Matthew Stafford – Georgia

Jimmy Clausen-Notre Dame

SCOTT JACOBS

Bill Laimbeer was one of the elite centers in the NBA in the 1980’s, and one of the nastiest players as well.  He was aggressive, hard nosed, and relentless, and he played every game like his job depended on it.  Laimbeer may have been a  mean, ruthless player on the court, but he’s a class act off of it. He talked to us for fifteen minutes, but we had more questions, so we continued our candid conversation a few hours later.

All in all we talked about 25 minutes, and I came off very impressed by how honest and easygoing he was to talk to. He may seem like a mean cuss on the court, but off of it, Laimbeer is one of the nicest and most respectful athletes I’ve ever spoken with.  So here in it’s entirety is my entire conversation with the Laimbeer.  It’s a Juiced Sports exclusive.  Enjoy!

Juiced Sports: You went to Notre Dame, but flunked out as a freshman.  How did flunking out your first year change your perception on things, and drive you to work harder at a technical school for one year so that you could rejoin the Irish and show them what you could do?

Bill Laimbeer: As a freshman I admit that I didn’t like going to class. You had to go to class to get the grades you needed to play, and I didn’t.  I learned thorough the experience about having more discipline in my own life.  You had to do what was asked, if you wanted to play the game.  I had to do what was asked of me if I wanted to participate.

JSB: College Basketball is huge today, and the NCAA Tournament is like a national four day holiday the third week of March, but you played when the game was not always on center stage.  In fact, there was no ESPN during most/if not all of your college years.  What’s it been like for you to see college basketball’s explosion from well kept secret to one of America’s national past-times?

BL: No question that TV has created the explosion.  It spread the talent out.  There are great players now spread apart on more and more teams.  The number of teams that can compete for a title has increased dramatically.  It draws more fans in, and it’s great for the players, because not everybody is going to play pro basketball (the majority won’t), so it gives them recognition that may help them one day in a business career.

JSB: You were drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers, but they took so long to offer you a contract that you decided to go to Italy instead.  Was that a really difficult decision to make?

BL: No, Italy gave me a guaranteed contract of $40,000.  {So I guess times have changed, huh?} Yeah, Times have certainly changed.

JSB: You got dealt to the Detroit Pistons in 1982 who were not very good.  Every athlete seems to have a comically bad story from their days playing on a hapless team; Any memories that stick out for you?

BL: Isaiah Thomas didn’t like practice one day, and Coach Scotty Robertson told him that he we very serious about practice and asked Isaiah if he was serious.  Isaiah said no, so Roberson told him to leave.

JSB: In 1989 and 1990 the Pistons repeated as champions.  Which championship was sweeter: the first or the second?

BL: Winning the first one was a relief.  Finally we could say we won something!  We believed we’d win the first one.  The second one was fun, and you could enjoy it more.  We didn’t believe we were going to repeat, we knew!

JSB: Now a lot of people probably forget that you were one of the NBA’s Iron Men at one point during your 12 year career.  You played 685 games in a row.  How did you do it?  Were NBA players tougher back then compared to the more pampered stars of today?

BL: I would have played over 1000 in a row had it not been for suspensions.

JSB:  So Cal Ripken would’ve had nothing on you!

BL: (Laughs) NBA Players were definitely tougher then.  The competition for jobs was stiffer.  You couldn’t take any nights off, because this was the pre-expansion era and because of tht there was less teams.  There were much deeper teams back then, and I made sure I played hard every night to keep my job.

I think I hold players respect by what I accomplished in my playing days, but that only goes so far.  I am honest, I say what everybody else is thinking, but they’re afraid to say.  Team comes first, before me, them, or any star.

JSB: Did you ever feel threatened that you might loss your job?

BL: No, I played hard every night, so I always kept my spot in the starting line up.

JSB: Do players today take their starting jobs for granted?

BL: Definitely, I think players take their starting position for granted. Not everybody does, but a lot of them.

JSB: You were not exactly the most beloved player by any means, due mostly to your physically rugged style of play.  But players respected you.  Do you think that if you played in the NBA today, where the game has become more about quickness and finesse that your style would be just as effective?

BL: I think so.  I rebounded, set good screens, hit open shots, and I was a good teammate.  Those are traits that never go away.

JSB: You were called the Prince of Darkness, amongst other things, and collected some of the most unique nicknames in NBA history.  Did you get a kick out of all the nicknames people gave you, and what’s the best one someone ever called you that few people know about?

BL: It was funny to read a lot of the stuff that people would say and write.  I didn’t mind it because I knew we were doing something right.  You have to laugh at all of them.  It’s no big deal.  The best one was Prince of Darkness.  That would be my favorite

JSB: You played the majority of your NBA career with just one team.  It seems rarer by the day with free agency, the salary cap, and luxury taxes for a great player to play the duration of his career with the same team; Is this a trend that we as the sports fan just need to get used to?  Is loyalty dead?

BL: Yes, fans need to get used to it.  The trend will continue.  There is loyalty, however there is money.  Salary caps and players wanting bigger contracts cause moves to be made, as well as trades.  That’s business.

JSB: What was it like playing with Dennis Rodman?

BL: Rodman was great.  He was a great teammate; he worked hard, knew his responsibility, and did his job very well.

JSB: Were there any antics with Detroit?

BL: There were no antics during his Pistons years; we would not have allowed it.  When he started to go that route, he was traded.

JSB: Were you upset when he was dealt or was it something that needed to be done?

BL: It was something that needed to happen.

JSB: In 2003 you took the WNBA’s Detroit Shock from worst to first in just a single year.  What was that experience like for you?  Is there anything more rewarding for a coach than to lead a turnaround that remarkable and that quick?

BL: It was a great experience.  We rode an emotional wave that year.  It was a great reward to have that quick of a turnaround and to cap it off with a championship.  That’s a rare feat.

JSB: You’ve won three WNBA titles since taking over the reigns in Detroit in 2002, including last year’s title over the San Antonio Silver Stars.  Clearly you’re doing something right.  So my question to you is what makes you such a great coach?

BL: I think I hold players respect by what I accomplished in my playing days, but that only goes so far.  I am honest, I say what everybody else is thinking, but they’re afraid to say.  Team comes first, before me, them, or any star.

JSB: A lot of people disrespect the WNBA, some even say that it’s a joke.  Does that bother you?  Do you just laugh at people who make those remarks?  As a coach who’s had a chance to see these girls year in and year out what would you say to that?

BL: Those that disparage it have not watched it.  Ten years ago the WNBA was average basketball, but today it is great basketball.  It bothers you, but you have to laugh about it, because they’re just naïve.  Once they watch it, we’ll get many more fans.

JSB: How much longer do you plan on coaching?

BL: I don’t know.  There is no timetable, and I enjoy what I’m doing.

JSB: You’re promoting Coke Zero’s Taste the Madness, which is a very cool interactive site for college basketball fans.  If you could tell all of our readers a little bit about the contest and the site that would be much appreciated.

BL: Sure. Coke Zero is a huge sponsor of the NCAA Tournament.  They want fans to send in videos of their crazy rituals, traditions, fight songs, etc. and the more bizarre and wild the better.  You upload it at www.tastethemadness.com and every video is posted.  Judges will judge every last one of them, and the winning videos will be shown during the title game on CBS.  Papa Johns will even throw all the winners a pizza party.

JSB: How’d you get involved?

BL: They asked me to.  Previous experience in the Final Four with the Irish was a big reason.

JSB: So I take it when it comes to the Coke versus Pepsi debate you like…

BL: Coke.  I am a big Coke supporter.

JSB: Mr. Laimbeer, thanks so much for your time.  You may have been a Bad Boy and a rugged hard nosed player on the court, but you are a hell of a nice and cordial guy off of it.

BL: Thanks very much, I enjoyed talking to you.

Photo: AP by Eric Gay

SCOTT JACOBS

I’ve bashed Notre Dame mercilessly this year.  I’m not afraid to say it.  They get star treatment for things they accomplished 20 years and even further back ago.  They are the only team in the country with an exclusive TV contract with a major channel, NBC.  They are always treated as the star child, even if all the other kids are running laps around them, and they get into bowl games most of the time they don’t deserve to be in.

But this year is different.  Notre Dame is 6-6, they’re coming off a bad loss to USC, and an even worse loss to Syracuse.  Charlie Weis’ seat is so hot, he might self combust if Notre Dame does anything but win this game.  Seriously, if the struggling Irish can’t beat a mediocre Warriors team from the WAC than they have bigger problems that go beyond their coach.  If Notre Dame can’t beat Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl, then maybe, just maybe, they’re no longer a top tier program.  Maybe, just maybe, they’re not even a second-tier program. I don’t know, I’m not a doctor.

But I do know this:

It’s put up or forever shut up (at least for this decade) for Notre Dame if they don’t win this game.  No pressure, none.  They should probably just go home for a little while, and maybe take a few years off of vacation.  Then when they regain any semblence of pride, they can try starting over.  Losing this game would be rock bottom.  Last year was awful for the Irish, but this year, with a team that had a little experience under their belt, failing to beat one team with a winning record would be a real drag.  In fact, I’d argue that it’d be quite pathetic.

You’re Notre Dame, and you can attract top recruits from all across the country.  You have Touchdown Jesus, you have history, you have all the greats on your side, and you have way, way, way too much attention paid to you.

Do something Notre Dame!  Prove to me that you’re no longer a joke.  Prove to the nation that you have it in you to put together a good team on the field, one that won’t wilt amongst the absurd expectations put upon it.

Look!  I’m not saying Notre Dame has to blow out Hawaii.  They just have to win.  They have to end this nine game losing streak that they have in bowl games.  Because one day, if they continue on this anemic path, they won’t be the draw they once were.  Bowl games will pass on them.  Big names will look elsewhere.  NBC will move on.

I’m not saying that will happen overnight,  but over time things change.  People move on.

So consider this a warning Notre Dame: win the game, cause you’re not going to like what happens if you don’t.

SCOTT JACOBS

My confidence in the bowl system was never super strong, though when I was younger and less knowledgable I think I appreciated bowls more, because it was just a lot of football games with cool logos at mid field all across the U.S. of A.  But now that I understand the system, now that I see the many and disturbing flaws behind it, I am quickly losing much of my interests in bowl games.  Now I understand that most bowls like the new Congressional Bowl are simply out there to give teams a happy little extra game. It goes back to an interview I did earlier in the year, when a bowl founder told me, “the university, their team, their fans appreciate the opportunity to play in these post-season games.”  That was what Marie Rudolph, one of the founders of the Congressional, I mean EagleBank bowl told me a few months back. “As long as teams are bowl eligible there will hopefully be a bowl to host them.”

That’s it?

So the bowl system is basically like little league, where everyone gets a trophy just for playing?  Of course, some trophies are prettier, but the idea is that everyone feels ’special.’  Well the hell with that.  This is college football, not second grade.  If you’re 6-6 or 7-5 you don’t deserve to be in a bowl game.  Simply put!  Notre Dame, that means you.  USF that means you.  I’m fed up with these hometown team bowls.  The idea seems to be that if you put a bowl in St. Pete, USF will always have a place to play if they make the mediocre cut.  I cry foul!  I cry foul that teams like Boise State can go 12-0 and end up playing in one of the earliest bowls., against a team that they’re superior to.

I hate these stupid conference affiliations.  Half the bowls look empty to me anyways.  Why not say, hey Boise State went undefeated this year, although we don’t have a BCS spot for you, here’s a ticket to the Gator Bowl, or the Cotton Bowl, or the something of relevence bowl.  Nah, instead the system goes as following: play your cards right, affiliate yourself with a power conference, and watch a ludicrously undeserving team like you Clemson and you Nebraska get a New Year’s day bowl game.

Are ya freaking kidding me?

But that’s where we stand.  Iowa and South Carolina are looking at the Outback Bowl?  How?  That how especially goes to South Carolina, who finished 7-5 and finished the season getting thumped by Clemson.  Body of work for South Carolina: a win at Ole Miss and a 4-4 conference record.  You can’t possibly look me with a straight face and tell me they’re a New Year’s day bowl team.

But then again, what is a New Year’s day bowl team?

When I was younger my dad would tell me how there were six bowl games, that ranged from one on New Year’s eve to five on New Year’s day.  Six!  It was one whole day of dynamite action.  That was it.  There was no BCS.  When January 1st ended, the season was over.

Now, when January 1st ends, well games on January 2nd and so forth start…

This year, there are FOUR games, not including the BCS Championship game or the Sugar or the  Fiesta.  In fact, the BCS isn’t even the same.  When it first started, there were two BCS games on New Year’s day, one the next day, and the championship either a day or two later.  Now we’ve got games on January 2nd, January 5th, January 8th.  It’s getting pretty ridiculous!

I’ll leave you with this: the Independence Bowl played on December 28th in Shreveport, LA is supposed to feature the Big 12’s No 7 versus the SEC.  Guess what?  Neither conference has enough bowl eligible teams to fill those spots, because they’re both getting two teams in the BCS.  So what does that leave us with?

La.-Lafayette* (Big 12 No. 7) vs. Louisiana Tech* (SEC)

Game over man.  Game over.

MITCHELL BLATT

Lou Holtz was interviewed for a 2006 book about investing called Finding the Next Starbucks. Written by investing professional Michael Moe, Moe interviewed investors and CEOs throughout the book, and he interviewed Holtz in one section ostensibly because of Holtz’s motivational abilities.

Holtz mentioned that Weis was a real winner:

MM: What does it take to win in sports and life?

LH: You have to have a passion for what you’re doing. I believe Charlie Weis is going to be exceptionally successful at the University of Notre Dame, cause he has the passion to be there.

Weis had gone 9-3 the previous year.

Also in the book, a chart showing the top investment banks ranked by revenue per employee. Two of the banks listed were Lehman Brothers and Bear Sterns.

Not exactly what you want in a book on investing. Weis, Lehman, and Bear Sterns. Now that’s a portfolio.

SCOTT JACOBS

Before we get to an exciting and pivitol weekend of key results, I first want to point out that if Notre Dame gets into a New Year’s bowl game with a 6-6 record, I will never forgive college football.  If the Irish make it into even a decent bowl game after blowing a 23-10 fourth quarter lead against the woeful 3-8 Orangemen, the system is a joke.  After Notre Dame inevitably bows out to a USC team that is good enough to be in the national title picture, but not good enough to control their own destiny in the Pac10, the Irish will be left a .500 team.  That’s what happens when you lose 24-23 to a team that just fired its head coach earlier in the week.  The irony?  Syracuse’s quarterback, Cameron Dantley, the son of one of Notre Dame’s great basketball players, threw an 11 yard touchdown pass with 42 seconds left to beat Notre Dame.

As they say in Dodgeball: Ouchtown population you Notre Dame!  (I added in the Notre Dame part)

Okay, got that off my chest, onto the chaotic BCS:

The Nittany Lions eliminated any Big 10 suspense early as they steam-rolled a Michigan State team that didn’t look like they even belonged on the same field.  Penn State led 28-7 at half, and never looked back as they coasted to a 49-18 pasting of number 15 (soon to probably be unranked) Michigan State.  The win locked up the Big 10 title for the Lions, who tied with Ohio State, but won the tiebreaker because of their head to head win earlier in the year. The win also means that Penn State (who is still technically alive for a National Title spot) is going to no-less then the Rose Bowl.  Congratulations to Joe Pa and his team, who clinched Penn State’s third Rose Bowl berth, and first since 1994.  The Lions have won the Big 10 two of the last four years, and could have been in the driver’s seat for one of the two BCS Championship game berths had it not been for that devestating defeat in Iowa.

Their opponent in the Rose Bowl?  Well, it’s starting to look more and more everyday like Oregon State.  The Beavers went into Tuscon and pulled out a nail-biter 19-17 on Justin Kahut’s 24 yard game ending field goal, keeping Oregon State’s improbable Pasadena hopes very much alive.  As amazing as it sounds, the Beavers control their Pac10 destiny, and will secure a berth in the Rose Bowl with a win next week over bitter rival Oregon.  OSU (8-3, 7-1 in the Pac10) hasn’t made the Rose Bowl since wait for it, wait for it… 1965!  So even though USC is shredding up their opponents, and well on their way to a BCS at large bid if they beat Notre Dame, it could be the Beavers who claim a spot usually reserved for mighty USC.  Who would have thought that back in late September, when OSU stunned USC (#1 at the time) that it would propel the then 2-2 Beavers to a 6-1 mark in their next seven.  So OSU knows what it needs to do.  And for once we’re not talking about Ohio State.  But it won’t be easy: the Civil War as its called is always a crazy game, and next week at Corvallis expect no different.

The wild ACC scramble to find a pair of teams who want to play in the conference championship is finally becoming simple (mathematically that is).  First we begin with the Atlantic, where Boston College’s surprising come from behind win on the road against Wake, left it in control of its own ACC destiny.  The Eagles can wrap up a trip to Tampa on December 6th next week with a win against Maryland.  However, should the Eagles lose at home to the Terps, Florida State would win the Atlantic, after it ran over Maryland 37-3.  It’s the first time the Atlantic situation is finally clear.  As for the team that BC/FSU would play: it comes down to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech.  This is also simple.  If Virginia Tech beats Virginia, they claim the Coastal.  If they lose, Georgia Tech would win the division.

And JSB’s ACC fun fact of the week: All three ACC teams ranked in the ESPN/AP top 25 poll lost this week.  In fact, the ACC’s three best teams (NOT!) were outscored get this– 119-36!  You do the math– the ACC has to be the most inconsistent conference I’ve ever seen.  You can call it parity.  I call it major mediocrity!  And yet, next week, when its all said and done, it could be FSU-Virginia Tech facing off for the ACC crown, the same two teams who played in the first ACC title game back in 2005.

Florida continued to manhandle its way into the national title picture, as they overwhelmed The Citadel (your school never has a chance when its recognized as “The”) 70-19.  It was the sixth consecutive game that UF’s dynamic offense put 42 points or more on the board, and it was more of a cameo appearance then anything for Tim Tebow who threw for three touchdowns, and then called it a day.  Florida scored a touchdown on its first seven possessions, en route to their 10th win of the season.  Next week UF takes their offensive clinic to Tallahassee for an enormous noon showdown against FSU.  If the Gators can win at Doak, a win in the SEC title game against undefeated Alabama would likely secure them a spot in Miami for the BCS National Championship game. But they’d be wise not to overlook the incredibly inconsistent Noles, who they themselves could be celebrating a spot in their conference’s title game by mid-day.  Needless to say FSU will have a lot of fans in Norman and Austin.

Utah ran away from BYU and into a BCS berth with an impressive 48-24 win in the Holy War.  A Holy win is more like it for Utah, which completed a perfect 12-0 season, and now awaits where they end up.  The Sugar Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl are the two most likely spots for the Utes, who won the Fiesta Bowl in dominant fashion over Pitt in 2005.  The win also eliminates any realistic hopes that Boise State could return to the BCS fold, even if they complete an undefeated season of their own.  Only one non-BCS conference school that is ranked in the top 12 of the BCS is guaranteed a BCS berth, and it’s very unlikely that the BCS would select Boise State, even after their epic Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma a few years ago.

And then there’s this…

The forgotten Big East is on the verge of sending Cincinnatti (yes, the Bearcats!) to the Orange Bowl after they clawed their win to a 28-21 victory over Pitt.  The win leaves the 9-2 Bearcats, 5-1 in the Big East a win over Syracuse away from cementing their first Big East championshp since they joined the conference.  One more note: the Bearcats clinched their first consecutive nine win seasons in team history.  Kudos to Cincinatti, but beware of the ‘Cuse.  They’ve got nothing to lose, and a whole heck of a lot to spoil.

Don’t worry, we didn’t forget the Big 12.  Oklahoma’s shocking, stunning, absolutley unbelievable whitewash of previously unbeaten Texas Tech was so impressive we’re still searching for ways to describe it.  In fact, I’m still trying to figure out how high the Sooners should jump after winning by 44 over number two Tech.  I think, and I know the folks in Gainesville or Austin won’t like this, but the Sooners should be number two after their thorough beating.  As for Texas Tech?  Well, goodbye Heisman to Graham Harrell, and hello front runner to Sam Bradford, who threw for 304 yards, four touchdowns, and no picks. The loss marks a stunning fall for the Red Raiders, who were three wins from the national title game.  Now, Tech will not only not get to Miami, they won’t even win the Big 12 South.  Incredibly, they’re actually looking at third place in arguably the greatest division in college football history.  With the loss Tech is probably heading to (no joke) the Holiday Bowl.  Dreams sure can turn into nightmares quickly can’t they Tech?

As for Texas, well this is where things get really complicated.  They beat the Sooners, but how can Oklahoma not be number two after this win?  I know it’s not fair, but the system is flawed, and Oklahoma still has one more test left: a trip to Stillwater.  I know the Cowboys got crushed in their last showdown against a top five power, but that game was on the road.  This one’s in their own backyard.  And if this season has proved anything, it’s that crazy things are prone to happen just when you think you’ve got things figured out.  Am I predicting the upset?  Not quite, but I think this will be a very, very close game.

SCOTT JACOBS

It sure must be nice to be Notre Dame.

Bowl eligible at a far from mind-blowing 6-4, the Irish are in prime position to nab themselves not only a decent bowl, but a very, very respectable bowl.

Set aside the fact that their best win came against Navy, and that they’ve lost nine bowl games in a row, and I still can’t stay calm about the current bowl system.  It’s a popularity system where the best team becomes victim at times to its lack of fanfare.  Notre Dame comes with national notoriety.  A much better team like Oklahoma State comes with well, a well known booster.  And the beat goes on.  Notre Dame is expected to beat 2-8 Syracuse this weekend, before getting beatdown against USC, which would leave it 7-5.  Yet, bowl games are lining up as if the Irish were undefeated.

It’s part of the territory that comes with the popularity system, the good guy gets pushed out of the way for the has-been with the strong following and even more well known history.  Notre Dame lives off of its glorious past, and doesn’t ever get penalized for it’s very mediocre recent present.  Bowl committees flock to them as soon as it becomes apparent that they will get into a bowl.  So a team that under a fair system would land in one of the very early bowls, is instead a hot candidate for a mid-day New Year’s Day bowl.

The Sugar Bowl or one of the other BCS other bowls would probably bite too, but that would come with scrutiny beyond belief.  So instead, they leave the Irish to the tier two bowls.  Bowls like the Gator Bowl.  Bowls like the Cotton Bowl.  Well respected bowls, that see the crowd the Irish will bring as bowl execs salivate at the possibilities.

Forget the game.  The game is just a setup.  Because if it was just about the game, Notre Dame wouldn’t have a prayer.  But this isn’t about fair, or about who belongs.  This is about reputations, and a big catholic school that plays the field and not the other way around.  It already aggravates me that Notre Dame is too cool to be affliated with a BCS conference, but each year, when I see the uninmposing Irish choke in another big bowl game that they have no right to be in, it just annoys the crap out of me.

Notre Dame is not even a top 25 team, probably not top 35, but they have a brand.  They have a national broadcasting TV partner in NBC, and they have Lou Holtz, who nauseausly pushes for their rise to prominence even when its clear that there is none on the horizon.

I’ve never liked the Irish, because I think of them as the spoiled, undeserving rich kid that gets whatever he wants.  The Irish are like the high schooler who pulls in straight C’s and gets rewarded with a Lamborghini.  They get rewarded for mediocrity.  They’re the popular kid.  They don’t play by the same rules as everybody else.

Instead, when the bowl pecking order comes about there they are.  Navy is much higher ranked in SI.com’s power rankings, but they’re looking at a glorious date at the brand new Congressional Bowl the first day of bowl season.  The Irish are looking at a spot reserved for someone who should be far better then they.  But it doesn’t work like that.

The Irish have played the system, and they’ve got bowl organizers by a string on their finger.  They’re the puppet master and the bowls are the puppets.  I think I’ve made my point clear.  When Notre Dame wins seven games, it’s like nine.  When Oklahoma State wins nine game, it’s like they’ve won seven.

So when the inevitable happens, and the Irish get invited to what is considered a respectable bowl game, I’ll be the one sitting there, not the least bit surprised, but not happy either.  It’s a popularity game and Notre Dame is number one where it really shouldn’t count.

Since I began watching sports in 1987, I have seen the magnitude that a single crippling-loss can have on an organization, institution or individual performer. Sometimes a gut-wrenching failure can unhinge an athlete or team and instantly make their days of glory a thing of the past. In lieu of the New England Patriots (18-1*) timely demise in Super Bowl XLII, I have decided to list five lone defeats since the end of Reagan’s second term that ultimately derailed a once championship-caliber team or an elite performer.

1) In March of 1990 in Las Vegas, IBF Welterweight Champion Meldrick Taylor (24-0-1) was beaten by WBC Welterweight Champion Julio Cesar Chavez (66-0) via TKO in the bloodiest battle since Antietam. With Taylor winning on every judge’s scorecard entering the final round, Chavez landed a vicious barrage of punches that floored Taylor with 13-seconds remaining in the bout. Taylor was able to make it to his feet before being counted-out. But, Referee Richard Steele decided to put a halt to the contest with 2-seconds left in the fight because he believed that Taylor’s health was at risk. Although extremely controversial, Steele likely made the correct decision. Taylor suffered several fractures in the contest and the damage that was done to his kidney caused the former Olympic gold medalist from Philadelphia to urinate blood for a week. Taylor was never the same fighter or man after this donnybrook. In the aftermath of Ring Magazine’s “Fight of the Decade,” Taylor went a pedestrian 14-8 before retiring in 1992 and today he speaks with such a jumbled and slow voice that many theorize that he suffers from pugilistic dementia. Taylor lost more than a fight that night in “Sin City.” Taylor lost a piece of his life and being.

2) A week after defeating Florida State University in the “Game of the Century” to earn the number-one ranking in the nation, Notre Dame lost at home in November of 1993 to the mediocre Boston College Eagles 41-39. The Irish have never once been atop the polls since that devastating loss 15 years ago and their program has never truly recovered from the sting of the defeat. Largely because of this game, like Jeffrey Lebowski, “I hate the fucking Eagles, man.”

3) In the men’s 1991 NCAA Final Four, the Duke Blue Devils defeated the indomitable UNLV Running Rebels 79-77 en route to winning the first championship in their program’s storied history. The Rebels, who entered the game as unblemished defending champions, were expected by many pundits to trounce the Blue Devils in a similar fashion to the way they slaughtered them a year prior 103-73. This loss ultimately led to the ouster of the Rebel’s much maligned and scandalous Head Coach, Jerry Tarkanian, and it started a descent that stripped the Rebel’s of their billing as one of the elite team’s on the collegiate hardwood.

4) In the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, the University of Miami lost in overtime to the Ohio State Buckeyes 31-24 in an upset that still reverberates to this day around South Beach. Since the loss, the Hurricanes fired Head Coach Larry Coker and in 2006 they played in the MPC Computers Bowl. The once proud and dominant Miami Hurricanes played in the petty MPC Computers Bowl only four-years after being considered one of the greatest college football teams in the annals of the sport. Enough said.

5) The New York Yankees lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-2 in game seven of the 2001 World Series to shatter their dream of a historic four-peat. The men from the South Bronx lost when the snake’s resident juice-head, Luis Gonzalez, flicked a lucky single into the deep-portion of the infield which allowed the game-winning run to cross the plate for Arizona. Following New York’s demise, their owner, George Steinbrenner, decided he couldn’t accept a one-year championship drought and he began spending more lavishly than ever on undeserving free-agents and he entirely abandoned the Yankees blueprint for achieving success in the late-90’s. Despite the fact that the Bombers made the World Series 2-years after this loss, they have not been the same organization since that night in the desert and one needs to wonder when they will recapture the magic that made the Yankees the most successful franchise in the annals of North American sports.

Needless to say, this is a very subjective article. The Patsies are run with steely precision and they have one of the greatest quarterbacks ever still playing for them in the prime of his career. I am confident that New England will field very solid teams in the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, I don’t envision any more Lombardi Trophies making their way to Foxboro for quite some time and I contend that this will be the direct result of their collapse against the New York Football Giants last month. For arguments sake, only time will tell. But, in the meantime, I would be interested in hearing feedback from some of my readers. What loss do you believe negatively altered a franchise or individual that I didn’t mention? I look forward to your opinions and input.

Thanks for taking the time to give me some of your time. Without your readership, I would have absolutely zero cause to write.