(REUTERS/Paul Darrow)

I would love to know, Sidney, how it was you were able to run through the streets of Halifax gripping an Olympic Torch with those mittens!  Because I’m thinking there’s more practical handwear for that kind of activity out there.

Just a thought.

It’s Friday! Here’s hoping you’re not spending it in a movie theatre line getting tickets for New Moon.

TCU's Jerry Hughes would like a word with you.

It’s kind of weird to be an alum of a “football school” in a year when said school is …not that good at football, or at least not as good as we usually are.  For the first time in a while, no amount of computer poll weirdness, upsets, or bizarre tiebreakers are going to get my Sooners in a BCS bowl.  And we’re not the only ones in this boat (Hi, USC!).

As of this week (and for most of the season, really), the top contenders for the BCS Championship game are Texas (hate, for obvious reasons), Florida (hate, for last year), and Alabama (hate, for Nick Saban).  So I thought I’d look at the “underdogs” still in BCS contention — underdogs here not necessarily meaning a non BCS conference school, but a team that isn’t (or hasn’t been in the BCS era) a football power.  And of course, there are pictures.

Texas Christian (10-0)

Current BCS rank: 4

Big Wins: at Clemson, at BYU, Utah

Chance at Championship: Better than you might think.  Easily the best of the non-BCS schools (sorry, Boise State fans), if TCU wins out and either Texas, Florida, or Alabama slip up (the Florida or Alabama loss would have to come before the SEC Championship game, though), TCU might just sneak into a top 2 spot.  But more likely, they’ll wind up as this year’s undefeated spoiler, taking on the SEC Championship game loser.

Watch For:

Horned Frog quarterback Andy Dalton, a junior who is not afraid of contact …

…and has the most lovely red hair.  (I’m a sucker for redheads.)

And also, as featured at the top of the post, defensive back Jerry Hughes.

Cincinnati (10-0)

Current BCS rank: 5

Big Wins: at Oregon State, at Rutgers, West Virginia

Chance at Championship: Kind of the same as TCU, with the added complication of also needing to jump TCU somehow.  A win at current no. 9 Pittsburgh on Dec. 5 and the human polls’ preference for BCS conference schools could help them out there.

Watch for:

The Bearcats have an odd QB situation, in that last year’s starter, senior Tony Pike, is returning from an injury but his backup, sophomore Zach Collaros, is not too shabby himself.  In last week’s win, Collaros handled the bulk of the drives…

..and Tony came in for red zone plays (resulting in the weird stat line of  2-4 passing with 2 TDs).

If you aren’t into the 2 QB system, look for sophomore running back Isiah Pead.  He’s fast and pretty.

Georgia Tech (10-1)

Current BCS rank: 7

Big Wins: Clemson, North Carolina, Virginia Tech

Chance at Championship: Virtually none, at least not as long as there are still undefeated teams (or, let’s face it, one loss SEC teams) ahead of them.  But winning out could result in an entertaining match up with an at large team (or even one of the above underdogs).  I mostly included them because the only thing I think about when I hear “Georgia Tech football” is “George O’Leary“  and I felt like I should rectify that.

Watch for:

Junior QB Josh Nesbitt

and Junior RB Jonathan Dwyer, who just last game went over 3,000 yards for his college career.

If your team is having a down year, like mine, or if you just need someone to root for in the BCS, now at least you have some options besides the Tebow/McCoy/Saban media darlings.  I’m leaning towards TCU for my dark horse championship favorite, but I’d be okay pulling for any of these teams to win a little extra hardware during their semester breaks.  We’ll see how it all shakes out over the next few weeks.

There is a statistically-inclined rant after the jump that I think you all need to hear.

Health is a skill. It’s why Barry Zito is as valuable as Rich Harden. It’s why Dan Haren is more valuable than, uh, *thinks*… Brandon Webb! (Haren is also a better pitcher than Webb, but that’s not totally the point.) Are there exceptions? Yeah, sure. Like Joe Mauer, who’s very close to being the most valuable position player in the AL even with that time he missed because of his injury (his defense might put him ahead of Zobrist, but I haven’t looked at the BtB end-of-year catcher fielding stuff yet). But basically, even if one’d try to make the argument that if Mauer can do it, Carpenter can, you still have to look at the fact that Lincecum averaged 2.2 RAR a start to Carpenter’s 1.8. Even if Carpenter had made 32 starts this season at that level of production, he still comes in 13.5 runs behind Lincecum, which is a little more than one win. At their current per-start RAR, you’d have to have Lincecum make only 23 starts to get his total RAR as low as Carpenter’s. Carpenter would have had to make 40 starts to match what Lincecum did in 32.

Wainwright averaged 1.5 RAR per start, which is nice for him I guess, but his total still put him… here, I’ll just give you the top NL RAR from Fangraphs:

1. Tim Lincecum, 71.1
2. Javier Vazquez, 58.7
3. Dan Haren, 55.5
4. Adam Wainwright, 52.3
5. Ubaldo Jimenez, 51.8
6. Chris Carpenter, 50.2
7. Josh Johnson, 50.1

And because RAR isn’t the only good indicator of performance (le gasp!), here are the top few in K/BB:

1. Dan Haren, 5.87
2. Javier Vazquez, 5.41
3. Ricky Nolasco, 4.43
4. Ted Lilly, 4.19
5. Cole Hamels, 3.91
6. Joel Piniero, 3.89
7. Tim Lincecum, 3.84
8. Chris Carpenter, 3.79

Wainwright (3.21) is 12th on the list. Oh, and here’s the geometric means of the K/9, BB/9, and K/BB ranking out of qualified starters (45 is the best, 1 is the worst) for the 5 pitchers I’m taking seriously at this point:

1. Javier Vazquez, 278.6
2. Dan Haren, 267.0
3. Tim Lincecum, 206.8
4. Adam Wainwright, 175.0
5. Chris Carpenter, 169.2

So basically the RAR is Tim Lincecum and then a whole bunch of other guys, and the K and BB stuff still puts Wainwright and Carpenter at the bottom of who we’re looking at voting for. My ballot would be Lincecum-Vazquez-Haren (and if there were 4 spots then Wainwright would make it on there), and if I could give a 2.5 spot to both of them at the same time, I would.

People, do whatever you want with spots 2 and 3, as long as Lincecum’s first.

We Ladies are equal-opportunity oglers.  That is, we don’t discriminate when it comes to sports hotties, young or old.  Some of you may consider today’s HDH to be on the old side of the spectrum, but some of us here think he’s quite handsome.

Brendan Shanahan announced that after 21 seasons in the NHL, he was finally hanging up his skates.  What better way to honor his impressive career (Can you say 19 playoff appearances in 21 seasons?) than with a hump day hottie post chronicling his career in hot pictures?

Follow me after the jump for a trip down memory lane.

Rookie Card love

3-Time Stanley Cup Champion with the Red Wings

Spending some time with Sid the Kid and the Canadian team

Shanny spent some time in NYC

And finally…I love a hot hockey player out of uniform!

A big stick tap to Lady Bee for suggesting Brendan! And apologies for being so late with this post.  First off, I was totally stumped until Ms. Bee passed along the retirement link, and then my computer and wordpress decided that they weren’t speaking today, so I had some technical difficulties!  Enjoy!

One of the great things about the ladies assembled here is love and fandom spanning all spectrums of the sporting world.  The majority of these ladies however, know something that I did not, hockey rocks!

Last Friday I had the immense pleasure of attending my first NHL game. The Caps faced the Minnesota Wild.  Sadly, Ovechkin wasn’t returning for this nights match-up… but I’m not complaining.

I consider myself pretty well rounded when it comes knowledge of a wide range of sports and the rules therein… but hockey… I’m clueless!  I was close to, “Who’s winning the match Pa?” on more than one occasion!

I always said that the two legit sports I could never get behind were soccer and hockey… for different reasons, but still, there they are.

I mean, you invest in a game, watch, watch, watch- look away for a second to pound your giant chili cheese nachos and sip on a beer, and bam! GOOOOOOALLLL!!!

That happened precisely like that, but luckily The Caps scored three goals, so I caught the other two.

The things I was appreciating about hockey include, but are not limited to, the rowdiness of the crowd, the sick video montages on the jumbo screen, two opportunities to replenish your beers without missing any game, players names that are unpronounceable, the juxtaposition of graceful skating to slamming someone’s head into the glass, and certainly… the Zamboni!!!

Ever since Brandon Walsh and his Zamboni loving ass introduced me to hockey in the 90s (really it was NHL 94) I’ve been obsessed with driving one of these things!  Today that desire lives on!

The verdict- where several are gathered for the common goal of getting inebriated, comatosed on food, rocking jerseys and cheering their team to a win… I’m IN!

You will be catching me at several more Caps games this season… but not until I pick up Hockey for dummies!

What the hell, Bud Adams?

Ok. So lets review.

1. You flipped off…Buffalo fans at the end of a game, nay, the end of a quarter where your team just scored 24 points. Ok. The fans were egging you on, weren’t they.

2. You’re too old to be doing such silly crap. Aren’t you someone’s grandpa? Great grandpa?

3. Your team ultimately WON 41-17. Were you mad? Could anything really upset you at that point?

4. UM, YOURE F*!@#!&ING OLD, DUDE!  If you were any other old, crotchety, angry, disgruntled fan, then people would let it slide or the crazed Buffalo security guards might waggle a finger (no pun intended). I’m sorry, but no excuses here. You’re rich. You’re one of the more watched figures at this game. You should be setting an example of sportsmanship, class, southern charm, something. Instead, you’re apparently threatened by some silly drunk chunks a few rows ahead of your luxury box so with several dozen cameras flashing and rolling, you start flipping the fans off like a Texas gunslinging? Dude. Your team may have won, but even TO isn’t that lacking in the class and people-are-watching-you mentality.

I welcome anyone who wants to defend him, but I stand by my position that his actions were really just plain stupid, no matter what age. At least the $250,000 fine should shut him up. Hah who am I kidding. Why not next time just cheer like all the other drunk imbeciles that get “caught up in the excitement of a great day”? Chill out. No one, not even the Bills or Bills fans, get that carried away.

That being said, Bud is now on my shit list. Respect no more. Regardless of whether there was any or not. And it could have been against any team and I would have called him a silly old idiot with terrible judgement. But NO ONE disrespects my fellow fans, gramps.

Two weeks ago I brought you some college hockey playing cuties and now it’s time to keep it going. Today, we’ll look at the second half of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association – St. Cloud State, Colorado College, Minnesota State, University of Minnesota-Duluth and Michigan Tech.

Since college hockey is a bit of a niche sports, follow the jump to get a quick primer on how it breaks down.

There are six college hockey conferences – WCHA, Hockey East, Atlantic Hockey, CCHA, CHA and ECAC.

College hockey does not use the same conference alignments as the rest of Division I sports. Schools that aren’t able to field top-tier teams in sports like football and basketball are actually some of the biggest powerhouses in college hockey. Teams in the WCHA range from Colorado College, with it’s 2,011 students, to Minnesota with it’s 50,883. Six WCHA schools have the rest of their athletic programs competing in Division II, while one even competes in Division III.

First college cutie up is Ryan Peckskamp, a senior forward from Sauk Rapids, MN, with his pretty, pretty baby blues

Repping for Colorado College is Mike Testwuide. A senior forward from Vail, CO, Mike’s brother J.P plays at Denver. Makes life a little difficult for mom…

Next up is Minnesota State-Mankato’s Ben Youds. A junior defenseman from Maple Grove, MN, Ben is not just all looks and hockey – he was a WCHA All-Academic selection, so he’s got the brains, to boot! He also pulls off the scruffy look rather well…

Minnesota-Duluth has given us Chad Huttel upon which to stare. The 5′10″ junior defenseman from Hermantown, MN has made me start to re-think my stance on hating Minnesotan hockey players on principle…

Last, but certainly not least, is Michigan Tech’s Brett Olson. A sophomore center from Superior, WI, Olson has the added bonus of having just recently recorded his first hat-trick. Congrats, Brett. I’m sure plenty of the readers would love to help you celebrate!

It’s time for me to care about hockey again! As you may have heard this week, new members were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame (you can be forgiven if you didn’t – after all, it turned into another ridiculous edition of the Gretzky Show.) Brian Leetch, Luc Robitaille, Brett Hull, Lou Lamoriello, and the handsome former captain of the Detroit Red Wings, Steve Yzerman. Hall of Fame, Olympic Gold, Stanley Cup rings: the man has it all! Well, except his own Friday Fellow feature. Watching him during pre-game shenanigans in Toronto the other night, I decided this had to be remedied.

Join me after the jump for a trip down Hottie Memory Lane.

I forgot how cute he was in his rookie year (Photo: Getty Images)

A native of Cranbrook, BC, Steve was drafted 4th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft after two successful seasons with the Peterborough Petes. Yzerman’s arrival could not have been more perfectly timed, as the Wings were stinking up the Norris Division badly in the early 80s. He had a terrific rookie season, leading the team in points with 39 goals and 48 assists. He would be instrumental in turning around Detroit’s fortunes, leading them back to playoff action and eventually, Stanley Cup glory (‘97, ‘98 and ‘02) I was never a huge Detroit fan, but I couldn’t have been happier to see a guy like Stevie Y. hoist the Cup that first time.

Steve hung up the skates in 2006 after 21 seasons and is ranked 6th all-time in scoring. His best season was in 1988-89, with a 65 goal-155 point season, the year he won the Lester B.Pearson Trophy for most outstanding player.

Steve was also on Canada’s gold-medal-winning mens’ hockey team at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, easily one of the happiest sports moments of my life. He’s heading to Vancouver’s winter games, too – this time as Executive Director for Team Canada.

Ok, ok…on with the pictures.

Shanny and Steve (sigh...)

Hey, Steve! Show me your Cups!

And more proof that Steve gets cuter with age…

Ooooohhhh Canada!

In 1997, Brian Sims helped lead his high school (and, in the interest of full disclosure, mine) to the Pennsylvania State AAAA football Championship. In 2000, he was named an All-American defensive lineman and helped lead Bloomsburg University to its first ever national championship game.

Somewhere along the way, he became the first openly gay college football team captain.

Brian’s since graduated from law school and has become a practicing lawyer in Philadelphia who serves on the Board of Directors for Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia. Since first telling the story of playing football as an openly gay man to OutSports.com, Brian’s received thousands of emails from both out and closeted athletes, all wanting to talk about the terrifying concept of not only coming out, but doing so in arguably the most macho setting possible.

And really, it’s hard to downplay how intimidating and downright discouraging it must be for a gay athlete to even contemplate coming out to their teammates. For every Brendan Ayanbadejo (a vocal supporter of gay marriage equality) there’s Larry Johnson. For every survey that finds that nearly 3/4 of professional baseball players would have no problem with a gay teammate, there’s bigoted assclowns like Todd Jones. (Seriously. Ugh.)

So how did Brian Sims’ teammates handle it? By not giving a damn.

“I knew it was going to happen, I just didn’t know how or when,” Sims said. “I feared it would change the dynamic in the locker room. You’re spending four or five hours a day with your friends, and that’s what I played for. I cared that my team would still be comfortable around me. I was concerned that in the locker room guys would be uncomfortable around me.”

Despite the fear, Sims told them he was gay. They spent much of the rest of the night talking about the revelation, mostly making sure that Sims was in good shape emotionally.

Not only did his teammates not denigrate him for his sexuality, they actively supported him. From the OutSports.com article:

Sims remembered one night when he was on a date. They were sitting in the back of the room at a candlelit table enjoying a quiet evening. Several of his teammates came in and were sharing some drinks at the bar. Out of Sims’ earshot, one of the other patrons apparently made a comment about the two fags on a date.

“Three or four guys on my team literally picked him up and threw him out the door,” Sims said.

Many of his teammates came to him over the coming months, pulling him aside to privately apologize for anything they may have said over the years that offended him. He specifically remembered a 6-foot-3, 350-pound teammate “crying his eyes out” thinking he may have offended Brian in the past. “It was very affirming for me,” Brian said.

I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty damn awesome. What’s even more awesome is that those teammates who didn’t care back in 2000 are now adults helping to raise a new generation of kids to not give a damn whether their teammate is gay or straight, so long as they’re a solid teammate.

Until the day that next generation of kids grows up, though, Brian Sims is there. He’s there, speaking at colleges and high schools, talking to large assemblies and small team gatherings about tolerance, and honesty, and acceptance. He’s emailing faceless strangers from around the world who are using his courage and honesty as an inspiration. (One 15 year old wrestler recently sent Brian’s story to his teammates as a vehicle for his own coming out to his teammates.) He’s working day in and day out to help people recognize what a gay athlete looks like and why that’s really no big deal at all.

We apologize for this step away from our usual Ladies…frivolity, but we wanted to bring Brian Sims, his efforts, and his pretty damn awesome teammates to your attention. Please take the time to read the profiles of Sims. We think it’s worth it.

“Luckily, I have a very good message,” he says. “And the message is: It’s not wrong to be a gay athlete, and here’s why.”

There are so many reasons he can’t even count them all. For one, he maintains most college students, even conservative ones, don’t consider a person’s sexuality to be an issue.

“Ten years from now,” he says, “this conversation will be pointless.”

It’ll be pointless because of the efforts of people like Brian Sims and his teammates, and we salute them for it.

(Plus, let’s be honest. He’s quite the cutie.)

This week's theme is not: colds, tissues, or edgy hipster bangs

Theme Thursday makes a triumphant return because, well, because I have a cold and I wrote this one down when I thought of it a while back just in case my head was ever to be stuffed so full of mucus that it impaired my ability to write about sports.  As we haven’t played in a while, I’ll remind you of the rules: first person in the comments to guess what these three athletes have in common gets to suggest a theme for a future post.  Ready? Set?

Go!

Paul Pierce

Kobe Bryant

Jeff Foster

What do these basketball players have in common? (And no, it’s not that they are basketball players.)