Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Football is Paradise Part 1(Long)



The Summer was a very long one for sports fans. The headlines were dominated by dismal stories of dog fighting, NFL player suspensions and a crooked NBA ref scandal. Baseball's climatic moment, Barry Bonds breaking Henry Aaron's Home Run record, was marred by the media's constant pounding of the steroid storyline of his accomplishment.

Even Arod's monster 07 season seems diminished due to the fact his own fickle Yankee fans spent the off season solely blaming him for their recent playoff futility and even openly booed him at every chance late last season. The Yanks struggled out of the gate and ESPN's typical Yankee/Sox intoxicating coverage seemed more out of place than usual for your average baseball fan.

To make matters worse, Sports fans suffered through ESPN's putrid month long "Who's Now?" segment on Sportscenter. LT or Tiger? Who Cares? Is this a sports channel or VH1? I actually have switched over to ESPN news for my sports highlight needs and they are far more reliable than Sportscenter anymore. Sad but true days for the good Ole Big show that I grew up on.

I love baseball but if your favorite team is out of contention, of course my Orioles always are, the dog days of summer can seem longer than Tommy Lee's G unit. That could be what the MTV VA fight was all about.

Preseason NFL games and the opening of college practices start to satisfy your football taste buds. Both of those, particularly the NFL preseason, reminds me of the feeling you get when you leave a gentlemans club. Sunshine, who winked at you all night, was being dishonest about you being her only special friend.

Your wallet is much lighter and this wicked case of blue balls now overcomes your body.This cheap feeling is how preseason football leaves me, highly teased but never truly satisfied.

This shallow brief arousal finally ended with this past stellar sports weekend. Second Week of College Football on Saturday and Opening Day of NFL on Saturday.

Throw in the US Open tennis Final, a Brazil/USA soccer match at Soldier Field and another Tiger domination of a final round of golf and it was like all the summer futility never took place. One of the best sports viewing weekends of the year so far.

I watched at least over 25 hours of football over the past 3 days. I have 3 TVs going, all the packages from Direct TV and a no commercials allowed rule with a quick trigger finger. People think I am nuts, YES, sir, may I have another!

Aside from my obvious contributions to bottle recycling and liver decay, I feel like giving back to my 8 readers by recapping my thoughts here on Mac Gs World every week about the games I viewed.

I will try my combination of couch potato humor, drunken kill the coach crazy fandom and buck fifty worth analyst skills. Feel Free to rip on me all you want, I encourage it.

Week 2 of College football contained some of the same story angles of Week 1.

  • Michigan and Notre Dame both still suck. OU/LSU looked fast, hungry and dominant.
  • Michigan Head Coach Lloyd Carr post game quotes sounded like a defeated man. 4 games ago, Carr's undefeated team was playing Ohio State for a spot in the BCS title game and now he is dead man walking in Ann Arbor with his coaching career pretty much over. Crazy how quickly things can change. "Boy that Escalated quickly!"
  • My Hawkeyes Crushed the Cuse 35-0 and my home state Huskers escaped Wake Forrest with a W. I would go in to further detail but I will save those comments for Hawkeye/Husker blogs and message boards.
  • I love watching West Virginia play and their lethal spread offense. More teams should copycat their style and raid Rich Rodriguez's coaching staff. Slaton/White is the best 1/2 running punch in America and the new true frosh RB is legit. The question mark is whether they are able to stop anyone on defense.
  • Washington Huskies are 2-0. Hey, Golden Domer fans, Ty Willingham might not be such a bad coach after all. Fat Chuck Weis is now 0-2 with starting QBs not with Brady in their name. Coincidence? Jimmy Clausen, welcome to Major D1 football and this is not small school California High School ball anymore.
  • Does Hawaii QB Colt Brennan play real football or his own video game version? His weekly stats are SICK!
  • The Big Ten is going VERY slow out of the gate as the Suckeyes had 3-2 lead for WAY too long over Akron.
  • SEC appears its usual force but had a few slip ups with Auburn and UGA upset losses. I am sucker for a Southern Poon Bell. Ring a Ding, Ding!
  • Pac 10 will be its typical overrated self. Aside from USC, name me one Pact 10 school that has won a major BCS bowl in the past 5 years? I think Cal maybe won a Holiday bowl but I could be wrong.
  • The Big East could be better than the ACC.
  • The most entertaining game I witnessed was the Fresno St/Texas A&M, triple OT thriller. Fresno has a squad this season and A&Ms defense looks VERY shaky.
  • Miami/Florida St have still lost their edge as premier programs and both of their offenses look very pedestrian. Bobby Bowden's time is up. I am convinced that Paterno and Bowden are both destined to coach until the other one croaks.
  • ESPN College Gameday Crew still brings their A game every week and continually prove to be one of the few things right about the 4 Letter. A blog giving Props to ESPN? STOP THE TUBES! My Boy Tree Rat provided me with his pix from Baton Rouge and Blacksburg.
I will write my NFL recap on a new post. I still love Poon POON, and more Poon!




Mac Gs World

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