What happened on Monday, January 12, 2015?

  1. Ohio State is the national champion: Yesterday in Dear Sports Fan’s preview of the national championship game, I wrote “My guess is that it takes a little while for the offenses to settle down. That might be enough to give Ohio State a chance to keep up with Oregon and squeak by them for victory in a relatively low scoring game.” If you had, for some incomprehensible reason, used my wild guess as betting advice, you would have won handily. Ohio State beat Oregon 42-20 and the combined score was comfortably below the over-under of 74. I’m a genius! Or at least, I make lots of predictions and only ever point out the ones that come true. The question for sports conversation today will be whether the first ever playoff system really helped us figure out the best team in the country. Ohio State was the third ranked team coming into the four team playoff, so proponents of the system will say that, because the eventual champion wouldn’t have even had a chance to play for the national championship without a playoff, the system succeeded. It’s equally easy to say that this year’s results only show that single-elimination playoffs are susceptible to chance and that it’s completely possible for a slightly weaker team to get lucky twice and win the national championship.
    Line: This system is waaaaaay [better/worse]!
  2. Flyers feel-good win: One of the nicest stories of the NHL season so far has been the NHL debut of 33 year-old Flyers goalie Rob Zepp. He was first drafted by an NHL team in 1999, 16 years ago, but played his first game in the NHL this year after years of playing in minor and European leagues. He won his second game last night in a 7-3 rout of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
    Line: Can you imagine sticking with a dream for 16 years and finally having it pay off? That’s great!
  3. Pistons are amazing: The Pistons have been taking us through quite a set of changes this year. First they were terrible. Then they cut a player from their team and their season took off. They went on a winning streak. For the first few games of it, it was easy to say, “yes, this streak is freaky, but they’ll fall back down to earth soon.” Now, they’ve moved into, “maybe it’s time to take them seriously” territory after winning their ninth game in their last ten last night in a close contest against the Toronto Raptors, 114-111. The Raptors have the best record in the Eastern Conference, so beating them is a strong statement.
    Line: Maybe it’s time to take the Pistons seriously.

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