Snakes In My Pants

Week Four was an interesting week as conference play began for most schools we started seperating the men from the boys.  LSU showed that they are not ready to give up their title without a fight in beating Auburn on the road.  Alabama showed they are for real, throttling Arkansas.  Florida once again took Tennessee behind the woodshed, possibly spelling doom for Phil Fulmer.  Georgia travelled west of the Mississippi for the first time in decades and took out a decent Arizona State team.

And that’s just the SEC! Read it all..

Week 3 brought us what was SUPPOSED to be the biggest matchup of the year between #1 Southern Cal and #5 Ohio State.  Instead, an overmatched and outmanned Buckeye team got slaughtered at the hands of a Trojan team that early on appears to not only be the best team in the nation, but the best in Pete Caroll’s tenure.  Meanwhile, the arch-rivals of those two heavyweights were also locking horns.  Notre Dame and Michigan, the sports two winningest programs, renewed acquaintences in Notre Dame, IN, in what amounted to a rather lackluster matchup of two rebuilding programs.  Notre Dame showed significant improvement, but it was every bit as much Michigan’s ineptitude which led to a Notre Dame blowout.  In the least heralded matchup of major programs, South Florida beat Kansas in a thriller, potentially salvaging what has thus far been a disastrous season for the Big East.  Speaking of bad conferences, UNC of the moribund ACC laid an absolute beat-down on Rutgers in New Jersey.  The Butch Davis reclamation process may be ahead of schedule. Read it all..

Week Two was about as bad as it gets for big-time college football.  The majority of the matchuos were lopsided, with Vegas assigning 20+ point spreads to the majority of the games.  Still, there was an exciting OT game between USF and UCF, a controversial ending to BYU’s 1-point victory at Washington, Notre Dame’s lackluster opening victory against San Diego State, and ECU’s upset of West Virginia.  Read it all..

So that was pretty much pathetic.

If the Irish don’t play better going forward, you can go ahead and pencil in losses to Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Washington, UNC, BC, USC, and Pitt. 

Charlie and his players better bring their A-game against Meat-chicken next week, or his days in the Bend may be numbered.

The first 2 weeks of the college season are usually a snoozefest, and rest assured, that is intentional.  Big time programs like Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Florida intentionally schedule creampuff opponents from lesser conferences or divisions to act as revenue-creating home games that are little more than organized scrimmages.  There are/were, of course, exceptions such as the matchup between Clemson and Alabama, as well as Missouri and Illinois, but the real fun starts in week 3.

 Anyway, here is what we did learn after 1 week of college football: Read it all..

The Yankees are finally dead.  After 14 years, the Yankee playoff run is finally over.

Hmmm . . . Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia on line 2, Mr. Cashman.

Last season was objectively the worst in the history of America’s most popular college football team.  The Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish set records for losses in a season, sacks allowed, and rushing yards per game (low).  While the special teams and defense were bad, the offense was even worse, ranking at or near last in Division I-A football in most objective offensive categories.

Read it all..

Peter Gammons:  “A source close to the three-way negotiations involving Manny Ramirez says the deal is close to dead. Florida has reportedly asked Boston for a cash outlay beyond the $7M to cover Ramirez’s contract, in addition to two prospects. That essentially would add up to the Red Sox trading Ramirez, $9M and two prospects for Jason Bay.”

Well, if this is true, Epstein wold be a fool to do it. 

You’ve got to admire Florida’s stones.  “Yeah, so we’ll take the best hitter in the game, $7 Million to pay him for 2 months, and two prospects . . . in exchange for . . . Jason Bay.” 

So now we’ll just suck up Manny for two months, deal with his B.S., and win a 3rd World Championship along the way.

FWIW, every time the Sox have come close to trading Man-Ram, he’s come back like gang-busters for the rest of that season.  Here we go again!

I think Yankee fan showed his spots yesterday as frustrated New Yorkers went a little overboard in their hatred of the Boston Red Sox and closer Jonathan Papelbon.  Read it all..

While I’m invariably a fiercely loyal conference, division, and league fan, I’ll be switching sides to root for the Senior Circuit tonight.

I’m tired of the Red Sox celebrating their World Championship sweeps on someone else’s field.

With an NL win tonight, the Sox will win the trophy in the Fens for once . . .