Oct 3, 2016

Quote of Week

“You’re never too old to learn something stupid.”

MY FAVORITE THINGS

Friday nights, bright lights, and fans in the stands,

Cheerleaders, pom-poms, and large marching bands,

Kickoffs and handoffs and homecoming queens,

These were a few of my favorite things.

When the pads slammed, when the backs rammed,

When the coaches were mad,

I simply remembered my favorite things,

And then didn’t feel so bad.

Shoulder pads, knee pads, and tape on the ankles,

Tight ends, and pulling guards and lumbering tackles,

Quarterbacks throwing their passes that zinged,

These were a few of my favorite things.

Field goals and touchdowns and punts on the one,

It’s great to remember the games that we won,

Letters to wear proud, and praises to sing,

These were a few of my favorite things.

When the knees ached, when the jocks itched,

When the whirlpool swirled,

I could remember the guys that we had,

And so didn’t feel so bad.

(With apologies to Rogers, Hammerstein and Julie Andrews and the entire cast of The Sound of Music.)

FOOTBALL DOWN SOUTH

Footballs quote of the week

“When you win, nothing hurts”—Joe Namath

THE GOOD   The coach that Georgia fired, managed to remain unbeaten by leading his Miami Hurricanes to a close win over Georgia Tech. You can really see the improvement between the hedges, now that he’s gone.

LSU finally played up to their preseason hype by trouncing Mizzu 42–7. Ed Orgeron is almost as zany as the Mad Hatter, but he knows football. I hope he gets the job in Baton Rouge.

Clemson remains in the race for the National Title, after a hard fought win over a very good Louisville team. With Florida State faltering, North Carolina is shaping up as Clemson’s biggest hurdle to running the table.

THE BAD       Notre Dame wallowed around and finally beat a hapless Syracuse team. So much talent, so little result. South Carolina continued to look like the door mat of the SEC, with a totally boring loss to Texas A&M, which looked like zombies going through the motions. Purdue stunk up the stadium, and demonstrated just how far the Boilermakers have fallen. Maryland romped and stomped to a 50–7 rout.

THE UGLY     Georgia continues to find innovative ways to lose. After dominating the first three quarters, Kirby Smart’s defense fell apart. Yes, the game winning play was great to watch, but the potted plants should have put Tennessee away when they had the chance. The 2016 version of the Bulldogs might need to be repotted.

AND WHO CARES  My Mississippi State Bulldogs remained at 2–2 in the season by surviving their long-time rival, Open Date. It wasn’t a win, nor was it a loss.

NEXT WEEK:            Things pick up a little next week. There are several key games in the SEC, the best of which will be Alabama at Arkansas. If the Tide is going to lose a game, the Razorbacks in Fayetteville might be it.

Tennessee will travel to College Station to take on A&M. The Aggies are tough at home, and the Vols can’t let them get a big lead and expect a miracle two weeks in a row.

LSU will have the opportunity to end Florida’s dream of redemption. The Gator fans drank their own bathwater and convinced themselves that they were BACK. Maybe next year.

Georgia and South Carolina will meet in Columbia in a struggle for the SEC East cellar. Both teams are coached by defensive geniuses, and are allowing only 239 points between them. Since they’re both defensive teams, we don’t expect much in the way of offense, so we won’t be disappointed.

Auburn travels to Starkville to take on my Bulldogs, and on paper it shouldn’t even be a contest. Auburn has had top ten recruiting classes forever, and if you can believe the local paper, Gus has solved his offensive problems. Mississippi State will be trying to make it three-in-a-row against the Plainsmen, and even though Dan Mullen has stung the Tigers in the past, we’ll just have to see if he can out-coach Gus one more time.

Game image (Theodore Roosevelt High School) is licensed under CC By 4.0 — linked to en.wikipedia.org

Football image is licensed under CC By 4.0 — linked to en.wikipedia.org