CFB Playoffs, Lakers

I probably won't do a post every couple of days, but since I just started I wanted to post another one. So let's get started.

College Football Playoffs:

What if in some alternate universe the college football playoff system started this year and we had to pick the top 4 teams to play in the semi-finals? The top three seem obvious to me: 1. Florida State, 2. Auburn, 3. Alabama; but the controversy is who the number 4 seed would be. For me it would have to be Michigan State. They have momentum, a conference championship, just proved they can beat better talent, and the old adage of defense wins championships is on their side. So what if in an even crazier universe we had a 8 team playoff? Well then the top 4 would of course stay the same but my bracket would look like this:

1. Florida State
8. Oregon

4. Michigan State
5. Baylor

3. Alabama
6. Stanford

2. Auburn
7. Ohio State

The controversy for 8th seed is just as intense as the 4th seed. The teams I chose from were UCF, Oregon, Oklahoma, Missouri, and South Carolina. This was a really hard choice, UCF won their conference, if you can call that a conference. Then do you really want to punish Mizzou for going to the conference championship game and losing to a red hot Auburn team? But then South Carolina beat Missouri straight up, albeit by a field goal off the upright. They also beat UCF. For Oklahoma I just couldn't get over the beatings by Baylor and Texas so they were the first team eliminated for me. Ultimately, it just came down to choosing a team that I thought had a chance to win the whole thing, and with Oregon's offense they were that team. There could be some controversy for Ohio State but their only loss was to the 4 seed in this bracket and 2 losses compared to 1 is important to me. However, for UCF the conference they play in, and the close games against bad teams, that let Oregon jump them.

Lakers:

The two things I wanted to cover here are Kobe's extension and the possible line-up next year. Before I start in I want it to made clear that I am a Lakers fan, and an even bigger Kobe Bryant fan. So the remaining parts of this post are going to be extremely biased. Glad that's covered. Now I have absolutely no problem with the Lakers giving Kobe the 2 year north of 48 million they gave him. It does make him the highest paid player in the league, but I believe Kobe when he says that he made no negotiations and accepted the only offer they gave him. People are saying he owes the Lakers, owes them what? We have seen over the past 17+ years is that he has gave the LA Lakers his body. He also took a 23 percent pay cut but no one wants to mention that. The other reason I have no problem with this deal is that the Lakers are setting a business model. If you play for LA and become Magic or Kobe (a star) they will reward you. This will make every young star want to go to LA because if he can win them a ring, they will make him the highest paid player. They will still make money off of this deal, and they could have given Kobe another max contract and they would have still made money off of it.

The 2014 Lakers is what everyone is worried about with Kobe's extension, but I say don't worry. With the free agent class this could potentially be the Lakers starting line up next year:

PG Eric Bledsoe
SG Kobe Bryant
SF Wesley Johnson
PF Pau Gasol
C Greg Monroe

Bench:
Jodie Meeks, Steve Blake, Jordan Farmar, Xavier Henry, Nick Young, Shawnee Williams, Robert Sacre, Ryan Kelly, Draft Pick

Now that is what is possible, Pau would have to take a pay cut (~50%) and we would have to be able to sign two restricted free agents (Monroe and Bledsoe) to reasonable contracts (~ 12 million). This includes using the stretch provision on Steve Nash and waiving him. Sorry Steve but you have the back of an 80 year old. Maybe if he can't get healthy this year, he just retires. This team would cost around $75-78 million if everything worked out and I do think if Kobe can be his usual Black Mamba self then that team can compete for an NBA championship. Also, that total would be close to what the Lakers are spending this year.