Really?

I don’t know how many of you still watch Saturday Night Live (it’s usually pretty unbearable), but they have a weekend update segment called, “Really?” The premise of the segment is questioning things that seem to be so obviously stupid and nonsensical that is it surprising that it has happened. Thus the response, “Really?”

An example from SNL, Michael Vick was caught at the Miami airport with a water bottle that had a secret compartment. In the compartment was marijuana residue. Really Michael Vick? You make over $100 million and you are carrying your own weed? Really? You can’t have someone mail it to you? Or better yet you don’t have enough weed in the states, so you have to have a secret water bottle compartment, Really?

So that is how the segment goes, and usually it goes on for a while, berating someone or something.

I decided I am going to do a sports version, for whenever enough stuff comes along that I have enough material to “Really?” So without further ado, the debut of “Really?”'

Remember when everyone was saying that Charlie Weis was a great hire for Notre Dame? Really? A guy who never played football in college, and probably never played anything at a high level besides competitive pie eating. Really? That’s your savior? An NFL offensive coordinator with no head coaching experience. Really? Let’s assume that Notre Dame loses to USC tomorrow, Charlie Weis will have a worse winning percentage than Ty Willingham. That’s what $30+ million buys, Really? Really Notre Dame?

The BCS. The BCS uses a combination of things to decide the rankings. One of the things they use is computer generated rankings. One of those spefic computer rankings is a formula put together by Jeff Sagarin, cleverly names the Sagarin rankings. Looking at any BCS poll you can see his rankings in the computer section under ‘JS’. This weeks Sagarin rankings have James Madison ranked 24…Really? The BCS allows a system where a 1-AA team is ranked ahead of Iowa, South Carolina, Ole Miss, among others. Really? James Madison is 10-1, with the one loss coming to…the perennial ACC powerhouse Duke Blue Devils. Really? James Madison lost to Duke 31-7. Duke is 4-7 on the year, and the BCS takes into account a system that recognizes James Madison as the #24 team? This is a good system? Really BCS?

Allen Iverson misses practice. Really? After all the talk of you being more mature and thankful for the opportunity to win a championship in Detroit, you skip practice. Really? Allen Iverson is a multi-millionaire, couldn’t he have flown his family wherever he was going to be for thanksgiving? Missing practice again, Really Allen Iverson?

That concludes the first installment of, “Really?” Another edition of “Really?” will be coming to the Shadow soon. Really? Your blog is called the Five o’ Clock Shadow? Really?