It was a weekend college football and its fans would just as soon forget.
I had planned to spend a good bit of my rare Saturday off watching some games, enjoying a few beverages and not feeling sympathy for my colleagues around the country who were soberly writing until midnight about games that I had enjoyed from the comfort of a couch.
I ended up sitting on the patio of Proud Larry's (more on that in a bit) with my brother, Tim, fairly certain I wasn't missing anything of importance.
Earlier in the day, I had counted on college football to give me an easy eight-mile run. So I climbed on the treadmill, set the speed at 6.7 miles per hour and hoped I would submerge my mind into a game.
No dice. I tried Vanderbilt at UMass. Horrible. I flipped to North Texas at Georgia. Worse, actually, in some weird way. Tulane was playing somebody. Really, that got on televison? I ended up sweating to the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees playing an interleague game in late September (which still feels wrong, by the way). I love college football, but Saturday wasn't the poster child for the sport.
The show goes on, however, thankfully to a weekend that promises far more drama and much more entertainment. Regardless, here are my 10 thoughts from the weekend that was:
1. I don't have an Associated Press top 25 vote (I almost did, but I got vetoed by an AP higher-up still hung up in the old days when people still read newspapers for information), but if I did, I'd vote Alabama No. 1. I'd keep the Crimson Tide in that spot until someone beat it, but I've watched Nick Saban's club a few times this year and I'm fairly certain of a couple of things. First, if Alabama wins the national title again this year, it's an indictment of the sport. Secondly, this Alabama team is nowhere near as good as the last couple of teams hailing from Tuscaloosa. Unlike those clubs, this one has some weaknesses. This Alabama team is shaky up front, not quite as clutch on third down, doesn't seem to possess the outside speed-rush threat of past Tide teams and is less reliable in the back end on defense. In short, it's more vulnerable than past Alabama teams. This Tide club is damn good, mind you, but it's beatable if a team plays its A-game on a night Alabama struggles. Saban has sent dozens of players to the NFL over the past few seasons. This fall, for the first time, it seems to show ? albeit just a bit.
2. All that said, Alabama's path to the national title isn't all that difficult. That fact is an indictment on the Southeastern Conference. I'm going to type this sentence and then duck for cover. Ready? Here goes: The SEC isn't very good this year. Can I come out now? Seriously, it's true. Several teams are average. More are bad. Look at Alabama's remaining schedule. The Tide plays host to No. 21 Ole Miss Saturday night in Tuscaloosa and then entertains LSU later this season at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Other than the Rebels (a 17 ½-point underdog) and the Tigers, no team on the regular-season slate has a puncher's chance. Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee appear to be different degrees of pathetic. Mississippi State would dominate Conference USA, but is inconsistent (that's being nice, for I'm a nice guy) on offense. Auburn is a cute story, but the Tigers got exposed in Baton Rouge by an LSU team lost interest once it went ahead 21-0 early. An SEC East team, presumably Georgia, awaits in December in Atlanta should Alabama prevail in the West, but the number of real obstacles in the Tide's path is far too small.
3. After Saturday, I believe LSU is the best team in the SEC. The Tigers are athletic, explosive and play with a swagger. They toyed with Auburn in Baton Rouge and looked like the complete package during the segment of the game in which they devoted their total attention. Zack Mettenberger looks terrific at quarterback, Jeremy Hill is a force at running back, there are multiple weapons at receiver and the defense is fast and scary. Still, LSU's path to a title is riddled with potholes. The Tigers play at Georgia Saturday, at Ole Miss next month and at Alabama before closing the regular season at home against Texas A&M. Should they survive that gauntlet, they'd likely have to beat Georgia again in Atlanta to play for the national title. There aren't many good teams in the SEC, but LSU will have to face them all.
4. I don't know what Texas will do after it convinces Mack Brown to retire after this season, but if former Longhorns defensive coordinator Will Muschamp gets a shot at the top job in Austin, he should take it. It sounds crazy in the aftermath of Florida's win over Tennessee, I know, but Muschamp as Head Gator just doesn't feel right anymore. Florida is stout on defense, but the Gators' offense is anemic, and that was before Jeff Driskel was lost for the season with a broken leg. The win over a horrific Tennessee team felt empty Saturday afternoon because it was. I believed Muschamp would be able to accumulate athletes in Gainesville. I predicted he would win a national title there. I now concede I was wrong. I thought Muschamp was a perfect fit, and maybe he is, but it feels like both South Carolina and Georgia have passed the Gators on Muschamp's watch. Muschamp is still beloved in Austin. If he can get the gig, he should jump and re-start the honeymoon.
5. Speaking of the Texas job, I actually believe Saban when he says he hasn't talked to anyone in Austin and plans to remain at Alabama. I don't buy the "Terri likes it" crap or the "I'm too old to start over" stuff, but I do feel like Saban is happy at Alabama, knows it's a perfect fit and knows what everyone outside of the arrogant, stubborn people at Texas refuse to admit: Recruiting to an SEC program and recruiting to a non-SEC program are two different creatures.
6. There is just one week remaining in the Major League Baseball season, and as a Chicago Cubs fan, I've been checked out since approximately mid-April. I quit being disappointed in losses around May 1, began cheering for the Cubs to tank around May 2 and moved on emotionally before the calendar turned to June. Sometime early Sunday, I pledged to myself for the gazillionth year in a row that I won't get the MLB Extra Innings package on DirecTV next year. Then I opened my Twitter feed and saw the speculation that not only are the Cubs going to make a run at Illinois native/New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi after the season but also Girardi is "intrigued" at the possibility of running the Cubs moving forward. Damn you, Cubs. Let me go. Stop teasing me. You've hurt me enough. Our relationship isn't healthy. You use me, make me believe we're going to be something special and then you break my heart. You know I have a soft spot for Girardi. You know I'm more than a little "intrigued" by the idea of Girardi being in the third-base dugout at Wrigley Field when Javy Baez, Kris Byrant, Jorge Soler, Albert Almora and Co. finally arrive in Chicago. It's time we move our separate ways, Cubs. You know it. I know it. But if you hire Girardi, I'll believe again. I'll once again hope. I'll buy the package and dedicate more hours of my life to your pursuit of a championship, some 105 years and counting since the last one.
7. Speaking of the Cubs, congratulations to former Cub/Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, who was named the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday. Few players as great as Sandberg would beat the bushes as a minor league manager or six years, but Sandberg did. He earned this chance, and I'm happy for him. As a player, Sandberg was a class act. He's a great guy, too. Years ago, two nights before the Saints and Bears met in the NFC Championship Game in Chicago, I was hanging out/working on a story at Harry Caray's. Sandberg was in the bar, trying to enjoy an evening with his family, when I spotted him. I didn't want to bug him, but I wanted to thank him for all of the memories he had provided me over the years. I tried to say as much in a short, concise way. He engaged me in conversation and asked my thoughts on the upcoming football game. It was a cool moment. I still think the Cubs did the right thing not making him the manager of the team he spent his career playing for, but I'm happy for the guy and I hope he wins in Philly.
8. ESPN the Magazine put out its annual franchise issue late last week and four NBA franchises _ Memphis, San Antonio, Indiana and Oklahoma City _ topped the list. It's a testament to the NBA, to smaller cities and to those individual organizations. The shame, however, is the new collective bargaining agreement, one that was designed to help organizations such as the Grizzlies, Spurs, Pacers and Thunder, is actually preventing them from keeping their top players. As the NBA season approaches, one can't help but wonder what Memphis would look like if it could have afforded to keep Rudy Gay or what the Thunder would look like had it been able to retain James Harden. Instead, franchises such as the Clippers and Nets fly by the luxury tax threshold, knowing lucrative TV deals will pay the penalty and give them a better chance at winning a title.
9. The New York Yankees began saying goodbye to Mariano Rivera Sunday with a 50-minute ceremony in the Bronx, complete with Metallica appearing to perform "Enter Sandman," the walk-on song the greatest closer of all-time has employed for most of his brilliant career. Barring a miracle, the Yankees won't make the playoffs, meaning Rivera's career will end in a week. I'm not a Yankees fan, but I love Rivera. He's a class act, the epitome of what a professional athlete should be. No one is better than Mo. As Girardi said Sunday, "He's mastered his craft as well as anyone I've ever seen." It's sad to see his career end. I'm just happy that one day I'll be able to tell my son and my grandchildren that I once watched Mariano Rivera work. I watched him close out the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium one night, and I was in the moment enough to know I was watching someone special do his thing. In a week, the Sandman will exit. Baseball will march on, for that's how life works, but there won't ever be another Mariano Rivera.
10. On Saturday afternoon, while we drank a few black and tans and my brother tried to see if he could embarrass me ("So, how long have you been swinging," he asked loudly enough for several other tables to hear), we watched a guy pull his corvette into a pair of parking spaces in front of Proud Larry's. We laughed, as it was obvious the car was the guy's prized possession and he wanted to make sure no other vehicle encroached on its territory. Then the guy got out of his car, his hair spiked just so and his orange and white shirt and orange shorts matching his orange-clad date/wife/whatever. I would've doubled my bar tab for Oxford's finest to have ticketed the giant tool and his dumb car, but I have to give him credit. Watching the guy come back to the vehicle repeatedly over the next hour and then parade all over Oxford in the his-and-her orange-striped regalia was entertainment in and of itself.
11. A week ago, when Wisconsin lost to Arizona State thanks to odd officiating in the final seconds, Jen Bielema, the wife former Badgers coach, tweeted "#karma." Awesome. On Saturday, however, when Jen's husband's new team, Arkansas, lost at Rutgers, Twitter revenge was handed out swiftly. Another Jen, Jen Vrabel, the wife of Ohio State assistant Mike Vrabel, tweeted, "Congrats to future Big Ten rival Rutgers. Big win today over SEC opponent. #karma." More awesome. I say we let them square off in the ring, preferably one filled with jello or something, and settle this thing once and for all.
I had planned to spend a good bit of my rare Saturday off watching some games, enjoying a few beverages and not feeling sympathy for my colleagues around the country who were soberly writing until midnight about games that I had enjoyed from the comfort of a couch.
I ended up sitting on the patio of Proud Larry's (more on that in a bit) with my brother, Tim, fairly certain I wasn't missing anything of importance.
Earlier in the day, I had counted on college football to give me an easy eight-mile run. So I climbed on the treadmill, set the speed at 6.7 miles per hour and hoped I would submerge my mind into a game.
No dice. I tried Vanderbilt at UMass. Horrible. I flipped to North Texas at Georgia. Worse, actually, in some weird way. Tulane was playing somebody. Really, that got on televison? I ended up sweating to the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees playing an interleague game in late September (which still feels wrong, by the way). I love college football, but Saturday wasn't the poster child for the sport.
The show goes on, however, thankfully to a weekend that promises far more drama and much more entertainment. Regardless, here are my 10 thoughts from the weekend that was:
1. I don't have an Associated Press top 25 vote (I almost did, but I got vetoed by an AP higher-up still hung up in the old days when people still read newspapers for information), but if I did, I'd vote Alabama No. 1. I'd keep the Crimson Tide in that spot until someone beat it, but I've watched Nick Saban's club a few times this year and I'm fairly certain of a couple of things. First, if Alabama wins the national title again this year, it's an indictment of the sport. Secondly, this Alabama team is nowhere near as good as the last couple of teams hailing from Tuscaloosa. Unlike those clubs, this one has some weaknesses. This Alabama team is shaky up front, not quite as clutch on third down, doesn't seem to possess the outside speed-rush threat of past Tide teams and is less reliable in the back end on defense. In short, it's more vulnerable than past Alabama teams. This Tide club is damn good, mind you, but it's beatable if a team plays its A-game on a night Alabama struggles. Saban has sent dozens of players to the NFL over the past few seasons. This fall, for the first time, it seems to show ? albeit just a bit.
2. All that said, Alabama's path to the national title isn't all that difficult. That fact is an indictment on the Southeastern Conference. I'm going to type this sentence and then duck for cover. Ready? Here goes: The SEC isn't very good this year. Can I come out now? Seriously, it's true. Several teams are average. More are bad. Look at Alabama's remaining schedule. The Tide plays host to No. 21 Ole Miss Saturday night in Tuscaloosa and then entertains LSU later this season at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Other than the Rebels (a 17 ½-point underdog) and the Tigers, no team on the regular-season slate has a puncher's chance. Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee appear to be different degrees of pathetic. Mississippi State would dominate Conference USA, but is inconsistent (that's being nice, for I'm a nice guy) on offense. Auburn is a cute story, but the Tigers got exposed in Baton Rouge by an LSU team lost interest once it went ahead 21-0 early. An SEC East team, presumably Georgia, awaits in December in Atlanta should Alabama prevail in the West, but the number of real obstacles in the Tide's path is far too small.
3. After Saturday, I believe LSU is the best team in the SEC. The Tigers are athletic, explosive and play with a swagger. They toyed with Auburn in Baton Rouge and looked like the complete package during the segment of the game in which they devoted their total attention. Zack Mettenberger looks terrific at quarterback, Jeremy Hill is a force at running back, there are multiple weapons at receiver and the defense is fast and scary. Still, LSU's path to a title is riddled with potholes. The Tigers play at Georgia Saturday, at Ole Miss next month and at Alabama before closing the regular season at home against Texas A&M. Should they survive that gauntlet, they'd likely have to beat Georgia again in Atlanta to play for the national title. There aren't many good teams in the SEC, but LSU will have to face them all.
4. I don't know what Texas will do after it convinces Mack Brown to retire after this season, but if former Longhorns defensive coordinator Will Muschamp gets a shot at the top job in Austin, he should take it. It sounds crazy in the aftermath of Florida's win over Tennessee, I know, but Muschamp as Head Gator just doesn't feel right anymore. Florida is stout on defense, but the Gators' offense is anemic, and that was before Jeff Driskel was lost for the season with a broken leg. The win over a horrific Tennessee team felt empty Saturday afternoon because it was. I believed Muschamp would be able to accumulate athletes in Gainesville. I predicted he would win a national title there. I now concede I was wrong. I thought Muschamp was a perfect fit, and maybe he is, but it feels like both South Carolina and Georgia have passed the Gators on Muschamp's watch. Muschamp is still beloved in Austin. If he can get the gig, he should jump and re-start the honeymoon.
5. Speaking of the Texas job, I actually believe Saban when he says he hasn't talked to anyone in Austin and plans to remain at Alabama. I don't buy the "Terri likes it" crap or the "I'm too old to start over" stuff, but I do feel like Saban is happy at Alabama, knows it's a perfect fit and knows what everyone outside of the arrogant, stubborn people at Texas refuse to admit: Recruiting to an SEC program and recruiting to a non-SEC program are two different creatures.
6. There is just one week remaining in the Major League Baseball season, and as a Chicago Cubs fan, I've been checked out since approximately mid-April. I quit being disappointed in losses around May 1, began cheering for the Cubs to tank around May 2 and moved on emotionally before the calendar turned to June. Sometime early Sunday, I pledged to myself for the gazillionth year in a row that I won't get the MLB Extra Innings package on DirecTV next year. Then I opened my Twitter feed and saw the speculation that not only are the Cubs going to make a run at Illinois native/New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi after the season but also Girardi is "intrigued" at the possibility of running the Cubs moving forward. Damn you, Cubs. Let me go. Stop teasing me. You've hurt me enough. Our relationship isn't healthy. You use me, make me believe we're going to be something special and then you break my heart. You know I have a soft spot for Girardi. You know I'm more than a little "intrigued" by the idea of Girardi being in the third-base dugout at Wrigley Field when Javy Baez, Kris Byrant, Jorge Soler, Albert Almora and Co. finally arrive in Chicago. It's time we move our separate ways, Cubs. You know it. I know it. But if you hire Girardi, I'll believe again. I'll once again hope. I'll buy the package and dedicate more hours of my life to your pursuit of a championship, some 105 years and counting since the last one.
7. Speaking of the Cubs, congratulations to former Cub/Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, who was named the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday. Few players as great as Sandberg would beat the bushes as a minor league manager or six years, but Sandberg did. He earned this chance, and I'm happy for him. As a player, Sandberg was a class act. He's a great guy, too. Years ago, two nights before the Saints and Bears met in the NFC Championship Game in Chicago, I was hanging out/working on a story at Harry Caray's. Sandberg was in the bar, trying to enjoy an evening with his family, when I spotted him. I didn't want to bug him, but I wanted to thank him for all of the memories he had provided me over the years. I tried to say as much in a short, concise way. He engaged me in conversation and asked my thoughts on the upcoming football game. It was a cool moment. I still think the Cubs did the right thing not making him the manager of the team he spent his career playing for, but I'm happy for the guy and I hope he wins in Philly.
8. ESPN the Magazine put out its annual franchise issue late last week and four NBA franchises _ Memphis, San Antonio, Indiana and Oklahoma City _ topped the list. It's a testament to the NBA, to smaller cities and to those individual organizations. The shame, however, is the new collective bargaining agreement, one that was designed to help organizations such as the Grizzlies, Spurs, Pacers and Thunder, is actually preventing them from keeping their top players. As the NBA season approaches, one can't help but wonder what Memphis would look like if it could have afforded to keep Rudy Gay or what the Thunder would look like had it been able to retain James Harden. Instead, franchises such as the Clippers and Nets fly by the luxury tax threshold, knowing lucrative TV deals will pay the penalty and give them a better chance at winning a title.
9. The New York Yankees began saying goodbye to Mariano Rivera Sunday with a 50-minute ceremony in the Bronx, complete with Metallica appearing to perform "Enter Sandman," the walk-on song the greatest closer of all-time has employed for most of his brilliant career. Barring a miracle, the Yankees won't make the playoffs, meaning Rivera's career will end in a week. I'm not a Yankees fan, but I love Rivera. He's a class act, the epitome of what a professional athlete should be. No one is better than Mo. As Girardi said Sunday, "He's mastered his craft as well as anyone I've ever seen." It's sad to see his career end. I'm just happy that one day I'll be able to tell my son and my grandchildren that I once watched Mariano Rivera work. I watched him close out the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium one night, and I was in the moment enough to know I was watching someone special do his thing. In a week, the Sandman will exit. Baseball will march on, for that's how life works, but there won't ever be another Mariano Rivera.
10. On Saturday afternoon, while we drank a few black and tans and my brother tried to see if he could embarrass me ("So, how long have you been swinging," he asked loudly enough for several other tables to hear), we watched a guy pull his corvette into a pair of parking spaces in front of Proud Larry's. We laughed, as it was obvious the car was the guy's prized possession and he wanted to make sure no other vehicle encroached on its territory. Then the guy got out of his car, his hair spiked just so and his orange and white shirt and orange shorts matching his orange-clad date/wife/whatever. I would've doubled my bar tab for Oxford's finest to have ticketed the giant tool and his dumb car, but I have to give him credit. Watching the guy come back to the vehicle repeatedly over the next hour and then parade all over Oxford in the his-and-her orange-striped regalia was entertainment in and of itself.
11. A week ago, when Wisconsin lost to Arizona State thanks to odd officiating in the final seconds, Jen Bielema, the wife former Badgers coach, tweeted "#karma." Awesome. On Saturday, however, when Jen's husband's new team, Arkansas, lost at Rutgers, Twitter revenge was handed out swiftly. Another Jen, Jen Vrabel, the wife of Ohio State assistant Mike Vrabel, tweeted, "Congrats to future Big Ten rival Rutgers. Big win today over SEC opponent. #karma." More awesome. I say we let them square off in the ring, preferably one filled with jello or something, and settle this thing once and for all.
