Ole Miss' return to acceptability hit hyperdrive Saturday night in Austin, Texas, as the 25th-ranked Rebels whipped Texas, 44-23 to improve to 3-0 heading into a Sept. 28 date with No. 1 Alabama. Here are 10 thoughts (and maybe a little more) from the weekend:
1. Prepare for two weeks of hype. Freeze is too smart to fall into the trap. Instead, he'll use the big stage and take a page from Nick Saban, preaching the importance of the process and not focusing on the immediate results.
Alabama serves as the ultimate measuring stick in college football these days, having won three of the last four national championships. Ole Miss played the Crimson Tide tough last October, and the Rebels will almost certainly do it again in 12 days. Assuming Alabama beats Colorado State Saturday (if it doesn't, by the way, forget football and begin preparing for the apocalypse), the two teams will be undefeated when they square off at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Ole Miss will be and should be a prohibitive underdog, but the Rebels are beginning to make waves. Freeze is smart enough to use the national stage he'll receive over the next 12 days to build even more recruiting momentum. He'll be able to show current high school stars the success freshmen such as Laquon Treadwell, Tony Conner, Evan Engram, Laremy Tunsil, Austin Golson, Robert Nkemdiche and Quincy Adeboyejo are having at Ole Miss. Freeze's hope, obviously, is the lure of playing an immediate prominent role in a fast-rising program will be too much for elite national prospects such as Jamal Adams, Nyles Morgan, Clifton Garrett and other to turn down.
It can't be said enough: Recruiting is where programs are rebuilt and revitalized. Freeze has clearly displayed what he can do with one influx of talent. Give him three of four such infusions and it's difficult to doubt his ability to produce a championship.
Freeze is also savvy enough to use the pulpit he'll be given over the next couple of weeks to send a message to a fan base that is understandably growing woollier by the day. In the immediate aftermath of Saturday's win in Austin, Freeze walked out of a joyful locker room and into his postgame press conference. Some five minutes in, he began laying the groundwork.
"We're still a young team," Freeze said. "We're going to get better. We're going to get them better. We're going to coach them and they're going to get better. I think you just see us growing up a little bit. We're still playing a bunch of young puppies back there."
2. Freeze isn't alone in the message-shaping business. Late Saturday, both Ross Bjork and Michael Thompson tweeted "We Are Ole Miss," a clear attempt to put a positive connotation on a saying that has long been a sarcastic and self-depricating moniker Rebel fans leaned on to assuage disappointment.
"Our players & coaches proved tonight that We Are Ole Miss & made Rebel Nation proud. Thx for the great showing in Austin all around," Bjork tweeted. In the past, when the Rebels caught a bad break or suffered an inopportune injury, fans would say, "We Are Ole Miss." WAOM became almost an excuse for ineptitude and apathy. Frankly, it was a bit pathetic.
Bjork, Thompson and the rest of the new, young Ole Miss athletics administration are reclaiming an expression with limitless marketability and without saying the words, sending a message that subtly screams, "That was Ole Miss. It's a new day."
It doesn't seem like a big deal, and in many ways, it's not. They are four simple words. However, there's no way those tweets late Saturday were coincidental. By refusing to accept the negative and use excuses, Ole Miss' new leadership is trying to shape a new way of thinking and shift the paradigm. Championships are won and earned. Ole Miss hasn't failed to achieve them in the past due to bad luck or curses; the Rebels won't luck their way into titles, either.
3. Saturday was my first game ever at Darrell K. Royal Stadium, so it's hard for me truly gauge how many Ole Miss fans were in attendance. My guess late Saturday was 9,000 or so, and that might be conservative. If Internet message boards and social media were reliable indicators, secondary ticket markets were littered with Ole Miss fans snatching up tickets from disgruntled Texas fans.
The point: Saturday's turnout in Texas' capital city came just 16 days after some 20,000 Ole Miss fans showed up in Nashville for the Rebels' season opener. Bowl representatives noticed. Late Saturday, at least one prominent Cotton Bowl official was hanging out with the Ole Miss contingent. Ole Miss played in _ say it with me, Houston _ back-to-back Cotton Bowls following the 2008 and 2009 seasons, and Rebel fans swarmed Dallas (and drank every drop of liquor in the city, but that's another story for a different day). The Rebels still have work to do to get an invite back to the Big D, but a 3-0 start has them on the radar.
Given the excitement around the Ole Miss program and the visible evidence of a fan base willing to travel and spend money, several bowls could be jockeying for position to nab the Rebels in December.
4. Five leftover observations from Ole Miss 44, Texas 23:
1. Serderius Bryant knew he had let his team down when he was suspended from the Vanderbilt game for a violation of team rules. Denzel Nkemdiche went down in that win over the Commodores. Bryant has stepped in without so much as a hiccup. He's playing with relentlessness and physicality, stepping into a leadership role at a time when Ole Miss absolutely had to have him.
2. Treadwell, Engram, Ja-Mes Logan and Donte Moncrief have emerged as ultra-reliable pass-catchers for Bo Wallace, but what goes unnoticed is how well those big bodies have been utilized in the Rebels' running game. Ole Miss' receiver corps had some huge blocks Saturday at Texas, helping Jeff Scott and others get extra yards. It's the little things that win close games, and the next month or so will likely include several nail-biters.
3. Ole Miss tried a flea-flicker of sorts in the first quarter Saturday. Tunsil lined up as a tight end in an off-balance set and the Rebels sold a run look. Instead, Treadwell got the ball on a reverse and stopped to throw to Moncrief, who was running a post route. Treadwell's throw was too long, but the ball was remarkably well thrown. It's a look future opponents will have to prepare for and Treadwell's arm is now a weapon opposing defenses will have to worry about.
4. It gets buried in the story, but Andrew Ritter's 52-yard field goal on the final play of the first half was huge. Texas had dominated the final 18 minutes or so of the first half and led by just six points after Ritter's kick. There's a huge psychological difference in being down one score as opposed to two.
5. C.J. Johnson and Issac Gross are finally getting healthy. Charles Sawyer should be back soon, if not immediately. Denzel Nkemdiche should return sometime next month. Conner is quickly becoming the impact player he was recruited to be, and Mike Hilton played a stellar second half Saturday at cornerback. In other words, there's reason to believe Ole Miss' defense could be on the verge of a major improvement. If that happens, the Rebels could be a very tough out in the final two months of the season.
5.CBS' "Johnny Cam" had 163 close-ups of the reining Heisman Trophy winner Saturday, one less than the total close-ups of A.J. McCarron, Nick Saban and Kevin Sumlin. In two games against the Crimson Tide, Manziel has completed 73 percent of his passes and thrown for 907 yards and seven touchdowns, all the while converting 16 of 26 third-down situations against one of the nation's stingiest defenses.
I'm as guilty as the next guy of focusing on Manziel's antics and off-field behavior. However, it's difficult to begrudge Manziel this: Dude is a baller. He makes plays, extends plays, wears out defenses and flat-out competes. In the third quarter Saturday in College Station, Manziel could have been forgiven had he conceded and/or faded. Instead, he almost single-handedly led the Aggies back into the game and within one score of Alabama. Manziel made several big-time throws, and he clearly has the wheels to be dangerous. His stature will scare off some NFL teams, but all he needs is one franchise to believe in him. The NFL is a copycat league, so if Manziel is smart, he's cheering for Chip Kelly in Philadelphia. Manziel would fit a system like that, and if the Eagles are successful over a full season running Kelly's package, you'll see more NFL teams install some variation of it, at the very least.
It's time to give McCarron credit. All he does is win. McCarron was 20-for-29 passing for 334 yards and four touchdowns. Alabama's final scoring drive, one that gave the Tide a two-touchdown lead late in the fourth quarter, was Big Boy stuff.
In three seasons as a starter, McCarron has lost just two games ? a 2011 loss to LSU and last season's defeat at the hands of Manziel and the Aggies. Alabama's offensive line was dominant Saturday in College Station, and McCarron has a loaded arsenal of weapons to choose from. McCarron hardly ever gets mentions as a Heisman candidate, but he's as valuable as any player in college football.
A fellow journalist was watching the fourth quarter Saturday on one of the press box TVs in DKR Stadium and said, "You know who he is, don't you?" I said, "Who, McCarron?" He said, "Yeah, he's Tom Brady." The comparison just might be a good one. Brady isn't necessarily flashy, but he is coldly efficient, possesses a fiery leadership style and makes a modicum of mistakes. I'll be fascinated to see how his NFL draft stock rises or falls after this season, but it's difficult to ignore McCarron's ability to engineer the single thing NFL teams crave the most ? wins.
6. It's difficult to feel sorry for a multi-millionaire who has achieved nothing but greatness throughout his career, but I've caught myself having some sympathy for Peyton Manning recently.
In the ESPN Films 30-for-30 documentary, "The Book of Manning," the storyteller recounts how Peyton would lay in his bed night after night, listening to old radio broadcasts from his father's college games at Ole Miss. While Cooper marched to his own beat and Eli forged a close relationship with his mother, Archie Manning was Peyton's hero.
In the documentary, Peyton admits he would have gone to Ole Miss had his dad encouraged him to or if Cooper hadn't been diagnosed with spinal stenosis, a condition that forced the Mannings' oldest son to give up football. What goes unsaid in the film, however, is the likely reality that if the stewards of Ole Miss' football program and athletics department hadn't been negligent during Peyton's formative years, he probably would have matriculated to Oxford regardless.
Peyton and his dad took a lot of heat from a lot of people when he committed to Tennessee in January 1994. That heat was misdirected. As Bjork and Co. are showing today, when you're passionately committed to competing at the highest levels, it's obvious. When you're not _ and Ole Miss wasn't at that point in time _ it's impossible to hide. Peyton Manning obviously did the right for his future when he chose Tennessee, but it's not much of a stretch to think he longed to and would have loved to walk in his hero's footsteps had the opportunity come at the right time.
7. As you've probably discovered by now, I'm quite the partier. On Friday, after arriving in Austin following a sleepless Thursday night, I just wanted to sleep. For reasons beyond my understanding, the people at my hotel must not have recognized my name or been watching RebelGrove.com previews and instant analyses, for they did not accommodate my request to check in almost three hours early.
So what was I to do in Austin at just after noon on a Friday? Oh, yes, the partier that I am, I decided to go to a movie. Turns out it wasn't a bad call. I went to a Flix Brewhouse to see "We're the Millers" staring Jennifer Anniston playing the role of a stripper and some other people doing other things (admit it, you stopped reading after "Jennifer Anniston" and "stripper").
Anyway, I digress. The waiter, who came to my seat in the theater to take my order, asked if I'd like a drink. I felt like he was pressuring me to order a beer, so I did. I ordered a home-brewed Satellite red ale and a sandwich and started watching Jennifer Anniston dance, er, the movie.
The theater concept is brilliant. The movie wasn't. For a movie with such a strong cast _ the aforementioned Anniston, Jason Sudeikis, Ed Helms, Molly C. Quinn, Emma Roberts, Nick Offerman, among others _ deserved a better script.
Here's the movie info, per RottenTomatoes.com:
David Burke (Jason Sudeikis) is a small-time pot dealer whose clientele includes chefs and soccer moms, but no kids-after all, he has his scruples. So what could go wrong? Plenty. Preferring to keep a low profile for obvious reasons, he learns the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished when he tries to help out some local teens and winds up getting jumped by a trio of gutter punks. Stealing his stash and his cash, they leave him in major debt to his supplier, Brad (Ed Helms). In order to wipe the slate clean-and maintain a clean bill of health-David must now become a big-time drug smuggler by bringing Brad's latest shipment in from Mexico. Twisting the arms of his neighbors, cynical stripper Rose (Jennifer Aniston) and wannabe customer Kenny (Will Poulter), and the tatted-and-pierced streetwise teen Casey (Emma Roberts), he devises a foolproof plan. One fake wife, two pretend kids and a huge, shiny RV later, the "Millers" are headed south of the border for a Fourth of July weekend that is sure to end with a bang.
Maybe I was just tired, but outside of a few funny scenes, the plot was ridiculously predictable. It was good for a few laughs, and made tolerable by the pushy waiter who kept coming back to force beer on me. And I got to see Jennifer Anniston strip. Good times.
8. Chip Kelly's up-tempo offense was the toast of the NFL after the Eagles whipped Washington in Week 1. On Sunday, however, San Diego beat the Eagles, 33-30, in large part because the Eagles' defense wore down and enabled Phillip Rivers and Co. to rack up 539 yards and control the football for more than 40 minutes. Philadelphia is probably the better team, but Kelly's preferred pace might take some time for the Eagles' defense to get adjusted to.
9. While Kevin Durant was cheering for his Longhorns Saturday night in Austin, his Oklahoma City Thunder teammate, Russell Westbrook, was being pronounced the "Kate Moss of the NBA."
The New York Times wrote Sunday the comparison is "quite the compliment considering it comes from Vogue entertainment editor Jill Demling, who happens to be a sports junkie. Funny, because the Oklahoma City Thunder star, as NBA fans have come to learn over the past couple seasons, happens to be a fashion junkie.
That's why he was in New York for Fashion Week and sitting courtside, if you will, at Friday night's Rag & Bone Show with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, only the most powerful person in fashion and who seems to have taken an interest in the fashion stylings of the eclectic point guard."
Westbrook told the Times he got his eccentric yet daring fashion sense from his mother, Shannon.
"The shows, as an experience, have been amazing," Westbrook told the newspaper, noting that stepping out of the basketball scene and meeting designers "was refreshing. It was a learning process for me, to be able to see the shows from a different point of view."
When Westbrook making a move in the fashion industry is the highlight of your favorite team's offseason, it's probably not the best sign if you're hoping for a championship.
10. It's over for Mack Brown. Texas' body language in the fourth quarter was of a team that knew it was beaten, had no real hope of recovering and wasn't sure it gave a damn. I've covered a couple of those teams in my career. They never recover. They only go downhill.
The Texas job should be a great one. The facilities are impressive. The town is amazing. The resources are endless. Still, one can't help but wonder how attractive the job would've been had Texas not been so arrogant when conference restructuring was ongoing. The Longhorns needed to join the SEC or the Pac-12. Had they, I believe they'd be a national power today. Instead, they're running a distant No. 2 in their own state to Texas A&M.
It was a terrible decision to remain in the Big 12, Longhorn Network or no Longhorn Network. It will be fascinating to see which coaches play the Texas job for more money at their current gig and who truly wants the gig.
11. Here's one for the road: Texas decided not to offer a scholarship to Bo Wallace in January 2012. Bad move. Wallace, as I noted in my notebook Saturday night, is making a case to be included among the elite quarterbacks of the SEC. Here's a stat I failed to mention Saturday, courtesy of coachingsearch.com: Wallace led the nation last season by throwing an interception once every 22 passing attempts. Through three games and 87 attempts this season, Wallace has yet to be picked off.
1. Prepare for two weeks of hype. Freeze is too smart to fall into the trap. Instead, he'll use the big stage and take a page from Nick Saban, preaching the importance of the process and not focusing on the immediate results.
Alabama serves as the ultimate measuring stick in college football these days, having won three of the last four national championships. Ole Miss played the Crimson Tide tough last October, and the Rebels will almost certainly do it again in 12 days. Assuming Alabama beats Colorado State Saturday (if it doesn't, by the way, forget football and begin preparing for the apocalypse), the two teams will be undefeated when they square off at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Ole Miss will be and should be a prohibitive underdog, but the Rebels are beginning to make waves. Freeze is smart enough to use the national stage he'll receive over the next 12 days to build even more recruiting momentum. He'll be able to show current high school stars the success freshmen such as Laquon Treadwell, Tony Conner, Evan Engram, Laremy Tunsil, Austin Golson, Robert Nkemdiche and Quincy Adeboyejo are having at Ole Miss. Freeze's hope, obviously, is the lure of playing an immediate prominent role in a fast-rising program will be too much for elite national prospects such as Jamal Adams, Nyles Morgan, Clifton Garrett and other to turn down.
It can't be said enough: Recruiting is where programs are rebuilt and revitalized. Freeze has clearly displayed what he can do with one influx of talent. Give him three of four such infusions and it's difficult to doubt his ability to produce a championship.
Freeze is also savvy enough to use the pulpit he'll be given over the next couple of weeks to send a message to a fan base that is understandably growing woollier by the day. In the immediate aftermath of Saturday's win in Austin, Freeze walked out of a joyful locker room and into his postgame press conference. Some five minutes in, he began laying the groundwork.
"We're still a young team," Freeze said. "We're going to get better. We're going to get them better. We're going to coach them and they're going to get better. I think you just see us growing up a little bit. We're still playing a bunch of young puppies back there."
2. Freeze isn't alone in the message-shaping business. Late Saturday, both Ross Bjork and Michael Thompson tweeted "We Are Ole Miss," a clear attempt to put a positive connotation on a saying that has long been a sarcastic and self-depricating moniker Rebel fans leaned on to assuage disappointment.
"Our players & coaches proved tonight that We Are Ole Miss & made Rebel Nation proud. Thx for the great showing in Austin all around," Bjork tweeted. In the past, when the Rebels caught a bad break or suffered an inopportune injury, fans would say, "We Are Ole Miss." WAOM became almost an excuse for ineptitude and apathy. Frankly, it was a bit pathetic.
Bjork, Thompson and the rest of the new, young Ole Miss athletics administration are reclaiming an expression with limitless marketability and without saying the words, sending a message that subtly screams, "That was Ole Miss. It's a new day."
It doesn't seem like a big deal, and in many ways, it's not. They are four simple words. However, there's no way those tweets late Saturday were coincidental. By refusing to accept the negative and use excuses, Ole Miss' new leadership is trying to shape a new way of thinking and shift the paradigm. Championships are won and earned. Ole Miss hasn't failed to achieve them in the past due to bad luck or curses; the Rebels won't luck their way into titles, either.
3. Saturday was my first game ever at Darrell K. Royal Stadium, so it's hard for me truly gauge how many Ole Miss fans were in attendance. My guess late Saturday was 9,000 or so, and that might be conservative. If Internet message boards and social media were reliable indicators, secondary ticket markets were littered with Ole Miss fans snatching up tickets from disgruntled Texas fans.
The point: Saturday's turnout in Texas' capital city came just 16 days after some 20,000 Ole Miss fans showed up in Nashville for the Rebels' season opener. Bowl representatives noticed. Late Saturday, at least one prominent Cotton Bowl official was hanging out with the Ole Miss contingent. Ole Miss played in _ say it with me, Houston _ back-to-back Cotton Bowls following the 2008 and 2009 seasons, and Rebel fans swarmed Dallas (and drank every drop of liquor in the city, but that's another story for a different day). The Rebels still have work to do to get an invite back to the Big D, but a 3-0 start has them on the radar.
Given the excitement around the Ole Miss program and the visible evidence of a fan base willing to travel and spend money, several bowls could be jockeying for position to nab the Rebels in December.
4. Five leftover observations from Ole Miss 44, Texas 23:
1. Serderius Bryant knew he had let his team down when he was suspended from the Vanderbilt game for a violation of team rules. Denzel Nkemdiche went down in that win over the Commodores. Bryant has stepped in without so much as a hiccup. He's playing with relentlessness and physicality, stepping into a leadership role at a time when Ole Miss absolutely had to have him.
2. Treadwell, Engram, Ja-Mes Logan and Donte Moncrief have emerged as ultra-reliable pass-catchers for Bo Wallace, but what goes unnoticed is how well those big bodies have been utilized in the Rebels' running game. Ole Miss' receiver corps had some huge blocks Saturday at Texas, helping Jeff Scott and others get extra yards. It's the little things that win close games, and the next month or so will likely include several nail-biters.
3. Ole Miss tried a flea-flicker of sorts in the first quarter Saturday. Tunsil lined up as a tight end in an off-balance set and the Rebels sold a run look. Instead, Treadwell got the ball on a reverse and stopped to throw to Moncrief, who was running a post route. Treadwell's throw was too long, but the ball was remarkably well thrown. It's a look future opponents will have to prepare for and Treadwell's arm is now a weapon opposing defenses will have to worry about.
4. It gets buried in the story, but Andrew Ritter's 52-yard field goal on the final play of the first half was huge. Texas had dominated the final 18 minutes or so of the first half and led by just six points after Ritter's kick. There's a huge psychological difference in being down one score as opposed to two.
5. C.J. Johnson and Issac Gross are finally getting healthy. Charles Sawyer should be back soon, if not immediately. Denzel Nkemdiche should return sometime next month. Conner is quickly becoming the impact player he was recruited to be, and Mike Hilton played a stellar second half Saturday at cornerback. In other words, there's reason to believe Ole Miss' defense could be on the verge of a major improvement. If that happens, the Rebels could be a very tough out in the final two months of the season.
5.CBS' "Johnny Cam" had 163 close-ups of the reining Heisman Trophy winner Saturday, one less than the total close-ups of A.J. McCarron, Nick Saban and Kevin Sumlin. In two games against the Crimson Tide, Manziel has completed 73 percent of his passes and thrown for 907 yards and seven touchdowns, all the while converting 16 of 26 third-down situations against one of the nation's stingiest defenses.
I'm as guilty as the next guy of focusing on Manziel's antics and off-field behavior. However, it's difficult to begrudge Manziel this: Dude is a baller. He makes plays, extends plays, wears out defenses and flat-out competes. In the third quarter Saturday in College Station, Manziel could have been forgiven had he conceded and/or faded. Instead, he almost single-handedly led the Aggies back into the game and within one score of Alabama. Manziel made several big-time throws, and he clearly has the wheels to be dangerous. His stature will scare off some NFL teams, but all he needs is one franchise to believe in him. The NFL is a copycat league, so if Manziel is smart, he's cheering for Chip Kelly in Philadelphia. Manziel would fit a system like that, and if the Eagles are successful over a full season running Kelly's package, you'll see more NFL teams install some variation of it, at the very least.
It's time to give McCarron credit. All he does is win. McCarron was 20-for-29 passing for 334 yards and four touchdowns. Alabama's final scoring drive, one that gave the Tide a two-touchdown lead late in the fourth quarter, was Big Boy stuff.
In three seasons as a starter, McCarron has lost just two games ? a 2011 loss to LSU and last season's defeat at the hands of Manziel and the Aggies. Alabama's offensive line was dominant Saturday in College Station, and McCarron has a loaded arsenal of weapons to choose from. McCarron hardly ever gets mentions as a Heisman candidate, but he's as valuable as any player in college football.
A fellow journalist was watching the fourth quarter Saturday on one of the press box TVs in DKR Stadium and said, "You know who he is, don't you?" I said, "Who, McCarron?" He said, "Yeah, he's Tom Brady." The comparison just might be a good one. Brady isn't necessarily flashy, but he is coldly efficient, possesses a fiery leadership style and makes a modicum of mistakes. I'll be fascinated to see how his NFL draft stock rises or falls after this season, but it's difficult to ignore McCarron's ability to engineer the single thing NFL teams crave the most ? wins.
6. It's difficult to feel sorry for a multi-millionaire who has achieved nothing but greatness throughout his career, but I've caught myself having some sympathy for Peyton Manning recently.
In the ESPN Films 30-for-30 documentary, "The Book of Manning," the storyteller recounts how Peyton would lay in his bed night after night, listening to old radio broadcasts from his father's college games at Ole Miss. While Cooper marched to his own beat and Eli forged a close relationship with his mother, Archie Manning was Peyton's hero.
In the documentary, Peyton admits he would have gone to Ole Miss had his dad encouraged him to or if Cooper hadn't been diagnosed with spinal stenosis, a condition that forced the Mannings' oldest son to give up football. What goes unsaid in the film, however, is the likely reality that if the stewards of Ole Miss' football program and athletics department hadn't been negligent during Peyton's formative years, he probably would have matriculated to Oxford regardless.
Peyton and his dad took a lot of heat from a lot of people when he committed to Tennessee in January 1994. That heat was misdirected. As Bjork and Co. are showing today, when you're passionately committed to competing at the highest levels, it's obvious. When you're not _ and Ole Miss wasn't at that point in time _ it's impossible to hide. Peyton Manning obviously did the right for his future when he chose Tennessee, but it's not much of a stretch to think he longed to and would have loved to walk in his hero's footsteps had the opportunity come at the right time.
7. As you've probably discovered by now, I'm quite the partier. On Friday, after arriving in Austin following a sleepless Thursday night, I just wanted to sleep. For reasons beyond my understanding, the people at my hotel must not have recognized my name or been watching RebelGrove.com previews and instant analyses, for they did not accommodate my request to check in almost three hours early.
So what was I to do in Austin at just after noon on a Friday? Oh, yes, the partier that I am, I decided to go to a movie. Turns out it wasn't a bad call. I went to a Flix Brewhouse to see "We're the Millers" staring Jennifer Anniston playing the role of a stripper and some other people doing other things (admit it, you stopped reading after "Jennifer Anniston" and "stripper").
Anyway, I digress. The waiter, who came to my seat in the theater to take my order, asked if I'd like a drink. I felt like he was pressuring me to order a beer, so I did. I ordered a home-brewed Satellite red ale and a sandwich and started watching Jennifer Anniston dance, er, the movie.
The theater concept is brilliant. The movie wasn't. For a movie with such a strong cast _ the aforementioned Anniston, Jason Sudeikis, Ed Helms, Molly C. Quinn, Emma Roberts, Nick Offerman, among others _ deserved a better script.
Here's the movie info, per RottenTomatoes.com:
David Burke (Jason Sudeikis) is a small-time pot dealer whose clientele includes chefs and soccer moms, but no kids-after all, he has his scruples. So what could go wrong? Plenty. Preferring to keep a low profile for obvious reasons, he learns the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished when he tries to help out some local teens and winds up getting jumped by a trio of gutter punks. Stealing his stash and his cash, they leave him in major debt to his supplier, Brad (Ed Helms). In order to wipe the slate clean-and maintain a clean bill of health-David must now become a big-time drug smuggler by bringing Brad's latest shipment in from Mexico. Twisting the arms of his neighbors, cynical stripper Rose (Jennifer Aniston) and wannabe customer Kenny (Will Poulter), and the tatted-and-pierced streetwise teen Casey (Emma Roberts), he devises a foolproof plan. One fake wife, two pretend kids and a huge, shiny RV later, the "Millers" are headed south of the border for a Fourth of July weekend that is sure to end with a bang.
Maybe I was just tired, but outside of a few funny scenes, the plot was ridiculously predictable. It was good for a few laughs, and made tolerable by the pushy waiter who kept coming back to force beer on me. And I got to see Jennifer Anniston strip. Good times.
8. Chip Kelly's up-tempo offense was the toast of the NFL after the Eagles whipped Washington in Week 1. On Sunday, however, San Diego beat the Eagles, 33-30, in large part because the Eagles' defense wore down and enabled Phillip Rivers and Co. to rack up 539 yards and control the football for more than 40 minutes. Philadelphia is probably the better team, but Kelly's preferred pace might take some time for the Eagles' defense to get adjusted to.
9. While Kevin Durant was cheering for his Longhorns Saturday night in Austin, his Oklahoma City Thunder teammate, Russell Westbrook, was being pronounced the "Kate Moss of the NBA."
The New York Times wrote Sunday the comparison is "quite the compliment considering it comes from Vogue entertainment editor Jill Demling, who happens to be a sports junkie. Funny, because the Oklahoma City Thunder star, as NBA fans have come to learn over the past couple seasons, happens to be a fashion junkie.
That's why he was in New York for Fashion Week and sitting courtside, if you will, at Friday night's Rag & Bone Show with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, only the most powerful person in fashion and who seems to have taken an interest in the fashion stylings of the eclectic point guard."
Westbrook told the Times he got his eccentric yet daring fashion sense from his mother, Shannon.
"The shows, as an experience, have been amazing," Westbrook told the newspaper, noting that stepping out of the basketball scene and meeting designers "was refreshing. It was a learning process for me, to be able to see the shows from a different point of view."
When Westbrook making a move in the fashion industry is the highlight of your favorite team's offseason, it's probably not the best sign if you're hoping for a championship.
10. It's over for Mack Brown. Texas' body language in the fourth quarter was of a team that knew it was beaten, had no real hope of recovering and wasn't sure it gave a damn. I've covered a couple of those teams in my career. They never recover. They only go downhill.
The Texas job should be a great one. The facilities are impressive. The town is amazing. The resources are endless. Still, one can't help but wonder how attractive the job would've been had Texas not been so arrogant when conference restructuring was ongoing. The Longhorns needed to join the SEC or the Pac-12. Had they, I believe they'd be a national power today. Instead, they're running a distant No. 2 in their own state to Texas A&M.
It was a terrible decision to remain in the Big 12, Longhorn Network or no Longhorn Network. It will be fascinating to see which coaches play the Texas job for more money at their current gig and who truly wants the gig.
11. Here's one for the road: Texas decided not to offer a scholarship to Bo Wallace in January 2012. Bad move. Wallace, as I noted in my notebook Saturday night, is making a case to be included among the elite quarterbacks of the SEC. Here's a stat I failed to mention Saturday, courtesy of coachingsearch.com: Wallace led the nation last season by throwing an interception once every 22 passing attempts. Through three games and 87 attempts this season, Wallace has yet to be picked off.
