Why is Everybody Pickin' on Me??

It seems as though all the talk of college football is about the Cam Newton scandal. Of course most people have already counted him as a thief, cheater, and a selfish guy after he stole a laptop, supposedly bought a paper off the internet, and asked for each school who recruited him to pay $200,000. I am not going to refute any of this happened, but what I am going to refute is the NCAA and what they pick and choose to care about. We have been through the UNC scandal this year where half of the team was dismissed or suspended, Reggie Bush lost his Heisman trophy for similar allegations that are against Cam Newton, and Michigan had to self impose punishments on their football team for working out too long. What about all the arrests that have taken place? Isn't LaMichael James from Oregon in the running for the same Heisman trophy that Cam Newton is up for that talks about how important integrity is to the voting panel yet he has admitted guilty to physical harrassment? James was only suspended for ONE game this year and the NCAA stayed out of it! Wasn't Carlos Dunlap from Florida arrested for a DUI last year but the NCAA still didn't step in? How many arrests have there been this year alone yet besides the law of the land stepping in, the NCAA has stepped aside?

My point to all of this is that the NCAA can't control everything. Agents will always have power and former players that still have friends on the team will always pay for a friend to come and visit. Alums from the school will do whatever it takes for the highest recruit to come to their school and they will still give extravagant gifts once they get there. Should their be regulations, ABSOLUTELY! I don't think that the college football players should be paid regardless of how much money they bring into the school, but I also don't think the NCAA should have as much power as they do either. Do I think agents and alums should give money, absolutely not, but at the same time do I think it is going to stop, probably not. Here is how I look at the NCAA-they are like our government. The Government seems to have too much power with their rules and how they spend their money, but when they delegate that power to each state's government, more seems to get accomplished. So do I like the SEC stepping in on the Cam Newton situation, absolutely YES! Each conference should concern themself over the internal happenings of each school. When the problem takes them outside of their conference, that's when the NCAA should step in and help. The NCAA can still make their rules and regulations within reason but with the help of each conference, I feel like they will get a lot more done and I truly believe there will be less problems like the Cam Newton sitauation.

PICKS of the WEEK Last week's record- 12-5

Miami vs GT-GT
Ole Miss vs Tenn-Ole Miss
Michigan vs Purdue-Michigan
Kansas St vs Missouri-Kansas St
Utah vs Notre Dame- Utah
Georgia vs Auburn- GO DAWGS
Penn St vs Ohio St-Ohio St
Texas Tech vs Oklahoma-Oklahoma
Virginia Tech vs UNC-GO HEELS
Texas A&M vs Baylor-Baylor
Miss St vs Bama-Bama
South Carolina vs Florida-GO GATORS
Oklahoma St vs Texas-Oklahoma St
USC vs Arizona-USC
Clemson vs FSU-FSU

What the Heck was I thinking??

You know that new segment on college gameday, "What the Heck was I thinking?" Well I think that segment is genius. For example, the first segment on the first show was Kirk Herbstreit saying "What the Heck was I thinking saying Notre Dame would win ten games last year??" Needless to say, I thought I would do a similar segment looking at how the year has shaped up so far and maybe this can be your chance to tell me What the Heck was I thinking?

What the heck was I thinking putting Florida and Texas in my preseason top ten??

What the heck was Cam Newton thinking throwing a laptop out the window and forcing him to leave Florida??

What the heck was I thinking when I was excited to hear that Marvin Austin and Robert Quinn had decided to come back for one more year??

What the heck is the BCS thinking giving the Big East an automatic bid??

What the heck was Jeremiah Masoli thinking when he got in trouble and was forced to leave Oregon??

What the heck is Nebraska and Colorado thinking by leaving the Big 12??

What the heck is going on with Auburn being the best in their state right now, Michigan State being the best in their state as well, three non automatic qualifiers are in the top five, a 6-1 LSU wants their coach fired, Texas is probably the fourth best team in their state, Steve Spurrier lost to Kentucky yet can possibly be in the SEC Championship game, and the BCS is still around??

It has been one crazy year. Great coaches are on the hot seat(Mack Brown and Mark Richt to name two), schools who were once second tier in their states are now national contenders, and Republicans have taken back Congress. What else will happen this year??

Picks of the week. I was 8-5 last week...I went for too many upsets. I hope to do better this week

GT vs VT-VT
NC State vs Clemson-NC State
Illinois vs Michigan-Illinois
Florida vs Vandy-GO GATORS
Baylor vs Oklahoma St-Oklahoma St
Idaho St vs UGA-GO DAWGS
Chattanooga vs Auburn-Auburn
Washington vs Oregon-Oregon
TCU vs UTAH-TCU
Hawaii vs Boise St-Boise St
Alabama vs LSU-Bama
UNC vs FSU-GO HEELS
Northwestern vs Penn State-Penn State
Oklahoma vs Texas A&M-Oklahoma
South Carolina vs Arkansas-Arkansas
Missouri vs Texas Tech-Missouri
Arizona vs Stanford-Stanford

Starting a Petition

This year has been a very disappointing year for me, not just because my football teams have been sub par or involved in major cheating scandals, but also because my favorite Pacific Life commercial has been taken off of TV. I want to start a petition to get this commercial back as I have a theory that when it came on, my team's momentum would normally change in a good direction(I also have a special dance for it that only a few special people have had the unfortunate opportunity to see!). Anywho, who's with me?? It's the best commercial ever-doesn't it make you think of life insurance...?

Tail Slaps (Music Only - Pacific Life Fight Song)

My Least favorite College football weekend!

So this is the weekend I hate every year. Last year I talked about the best things of the greatest cocktail party on earth and this year, it is going to be one painful game to watch. Not only are these teams struggling more than they have in years(and may I add what an incredible change Mark Richt and the Bulldogs have done since my last blog post!), but they have very similar records and very similar motivations. Both Florida and Georgia can play for the SEC championship despite their dismal records. Florida is in the driver seat and controls its destiny, while Georgia basically needs to win out and get another loss from South Carolina. Regardless, they both have a chance which means, who has a slight advantage of me cheering for them this year? Lately, the Tebow factor gave the Gators a slight edge over Georgia, plus Florida was having an opportunity to play for the National Championship. When David Pollack was with Georgia, they had a slight advantage, and so on.... Literally this year is going to be a celebration and despair on each play. Quite a bittersweet feeling when these teams are both your favorite. If you think it is hard on me, ask my parents! They can't really even watch the game together as one must watch upstairs and the other downstairs. Honestly, my dad has played a lot of golf on this day so we shall see if he decides to actually sit down and watch the game this year. Oh well, at least I get to eat nachos and a chick-fil-a biscuit in celebration of my first weekend home with Robert! I do love Saturdays in the fall regardless of what awaits for me at 3:30pm on CBS!

Picks for the week! My last picks I was 9-4 so I hope to keep this nice streak going!

FSU vs NC State-FSU
Miami vs UVA-Miami
Tennessee vs South Carolina-S. Carolina
Michigan St vs Iowa-Iowa
Missouri vs Nebraska-Nebraska
Florida vs Georgia-???
William & Mary vs UNC-GO HEELS
Auburn vs Ole Miss-Auburn
Stanford vs Washington-Stanford
Vandy vs Arkansas-Ark
Kentucky vs Miss St-Kentucky
Baylor vs Texas-Baylor
Oregon vs USC-USC
Michigan vs Penn St-Michigan

Georgia, Keep Richt one more year please!

All of you out there probably know I am a Georgia fan and not only that, I am a Georgia fan that loves to win. It has been a pretty good last couple of years. In this Richt decade ('01-'10), Georgia has been ranked number one, won the SEC Championship twice, won seven bowl games(and only lost two), won two BCS bowl games, 16-11 versus the big three rivalries(Florida, Auburn, and Georgia Tech), and almost every year has been in the top ten in recruiting. Yes, the list goes on and on, but the only thing us Georgia fans are looking at right now, and let me tell you, it is BLARING right in my eyes, is the 1-4 record, 0-3 in the SEC and the embarrassing loss to a terrible Big 12 team that is about to be a PAC 10 team. So you are probably asking this Georgia fan who always likes to win, why do you still want to keep Richt??

Well I say to you, this man is a great man. He does know how to win, he is just in a black hole right now. If one fumble here, one bad call there, one player playing in the first four games, and this team gets one of those SEC wins and they have confidence again. It's a young team that goes into a stadium expecting to lose and surprised if it wins. I know what it's like to be in a black hole of losing and it's not fun, but I also know what it's like to come out of the hole and you need a leader like Richt to do it. I want him to stay. I don't want another Bobby Bowden(and I know Richt doesn't compare to Bowden) fiasco where Richt leaves a beloved school and doesn't want to come back because of how he was asked to leave. I want a great man like Richt to get one more year, see how the recruits and confidence can change next season and see how Richt can lead a pretty down team this year. If Richt does make some strides and the team gains confidence, it could be an amazing run(and the run must last into next year)!

OK, on to the picks. It's a big week of games and I am so excited, as always! Even more excited because I am going to my first ever Notre Dame football game! My record was 11-4 last week, not too shabby!

Indiana vs Ohio St-Ohio St
BC vs NC St-NC State
Tennessee at UGA-GO DAWGS
Alabama vs S Carolina-Alabama
Arkansas vs Texas A&M-Arkansas
Michigan St vs Michigan-Michigan St
Virginia vs Georgia Tech-Virginia
Clemson vs UNC-GO HEELS
Oregon St vs Arizona-Arizona
Auburn vs Kentucky-Auburn
LSU vs Florida-GO GATORS
Florida St vs Miami-Florida St
USC vs Stanford-Stanford

PICKS!! (finally)

Georgia vs Colorado- GO DAWGS
Florida vs Alabama- GO GATORS
UNC vs ECU-GO HEELS
Oregon vs Stanford-Oregon
NC State vs VT- NC State
Notre Dame vs BC-Notre Dame
FSU vs UVA- FSU
Vandy vs UCONN-Vandy
Miami vs Clemson-Clemson
Tenn vs LSU-LSU
Auburn vs LA Monroe-Auburn
Penn St vs Iowa-Iowa
Wisconsin vs Mich St-Mich St
Oklahoma vs Texas-Oklahoma
Michigan vs Indiana-Michigan

Big Weekend

I am still a little rusty with my blog since I had it put away for the eight months college football wasn't on tv, so this post is all about my picks. I do have to say I am so excited about this weekend as so many great games are going on around the country. What's the most exciting part is a lot of the games are between teams that have a major history amongst each other, but we haven't had the pleasure of them going against each other in the bowl games in awhile. For instance we have the much anticipated Penn St versus Alabama where two very storied universities go against each other for the first time in the regular season in over twenty years, Florida State and Oklahoma who in the late nineties and early 2000s ruled the BCS championship games, and a new rivalry possibly brewing between Miami and Ohio State. We also have old rivalries going against each other like Notre Dame and Michigan and Georgia and South Carolina. I need eight tvs just to make sure my saturday is done right! Plus the Washington Freedom has a HUGE game this Saturday and if we win we are in the playoffs, so Saturday September 11th is going to be a great day...I hope!

UGA vs S Carolina-DAWGS
Duke vs Wake-Wake
S Florida vs UF-GATORS
Florida St vs Oklahoma-FSU
Mich vs Notre Dame-Mich
Miami vs Ohio State-OSU
Penn St vs Alabama-Bama
Oregon vs Tenn-Oregon
LSU vs Vandy-LSU
Virginia vs USC-USC
Stanford vs UCLA-Stanford

Picks for the week

Here are my picks for the week...have I mentioned how excited I am about the season starting??

Southern Miss vs South Carolina- S Carolina
Pitt vs Utah- Pitt
USC vs Hawaii- USC
Miami(OH) vs UF- GATORS
Samford vs FSU- FSU
Louisiana-Lafayette vs UGA- DAWGS
Purdue vs Notre Dame- Purdue
Louisville vs Kentucky- Louisville
UConn vs Mich- Michigan
Richmond vs UVA- UVA
Oregon State vs TCU- TCU
UNC vs LSU- HEELS
Boise St vs Virginia Tech- VT

Preseason TOP TEN!

Hello everyone! Wow it feels good to write on my blog again. The main reason it feels so good is because this means that college football is back! I do have to admit I am going to be sad to watch Florida Tebow-less, but I am still pumped that the season has begun! I wanted to start by giving my preseason top ten. Let me preface this post by saying this is not how I think the season will end, but based on the fact that none of the teams play in preseason games, we can only assume how teams will be based on last year. (Just another reason the BCS is not a good system as no one really knows anything about teams but the preseason poll is applied to the BCS calculations! ha) I have to give mad props to the non automatic qualifiers for making it into my list. I will probably write about the non AQs because I still don't believe they would necesarily make it into the national title game with a hard schedule day in and day out, but I do believe they deserve a top ten ranking for now.

I am so excited about this upcoming year. I don't feel like there is a team that will run the table, which means this season will be full of upsets and crazy game winning field goals to save the season. I am ready to be stressed!

TOP TEN
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Florida
4. Boise State
5. TCU
6. Texas
7. Iowa
8. Nebraska
9. Virginia Tech
10. Oregon

What should I write about next? Any suggestions? I am going to try my best not to scream at the BCS, diss the Pac 10/12, and I will keep my Tebow mentions to a minimum!

Realignment-REALLY??

I know it has been forever since my last blog post, and to be honest I thought I wouldn't be posting too much during the summer as not much happens in college football during this time, but I couldn't help but post something about all of this realignment talk. As of now nothing has happened, thank goodness, but I just don't understand why anybody would want to go to another conference. I know the main reason why so many teams could be realigning is money, and well let's face it, money seems to rule a lot, but it just doesn't make sense. Here is my take behind the real reason people want to go to another conference....

To preface this paragraph, remember that I am extremely biased. Needless to say, I truly believe the reason that these teams want to go to another conference is because they are sick and tired of hearing that their conference is second to the SEC. If Texas and Oklahoma were to enter the PAC-10, then they have an incredibly good argument that they are the toughest conference. Would this then make the SEC try and get other teams, say from the ACC or the Big East? It just seems like a total domino effect for all of these conferences and I just don't see the real advantage to any school. What I DO understand are teams like Boise State or even Notre Dame looking at going into a different conference because this would make getting into the BCS national championship game a lot easier. What I DON'T understand is why Texas and Oklahoma would want to separate from their conference and rivalries like Nebraska and Missouri.

What attracts me to college football more than the NFL is the tradition. When Tebow went to the Broncos, I had to research who the major rivalry was to the Broncos(because now I am a HUGE Broncos fan!). I don't much care for USC as I have expressed before, but I do know there rivalries are with Cal and UCLA. I don't just know this because of the football rivalries, but because of the soccer, water polo, and volleyball rivalries. Why change something that is obviously working? What if the SEC comes after North Carolina(especially after we beat LSU on the first weekend of the season next year) and they don't go after Duke. The SEC doesn't care nearly as much about basketball as the ACC, but they would offer a lot of money to UNC if they really wanted them and it would be a hard offer to turn down. Would this separation of UNC and Duke take away from one of the greatest sports rivalries ever? Probably. Texas versus Nebraska? I won't be as interested. Money does rule a lot in sports, so if this realignment does happen, it will be a sad day for college football and it will be a very sad day for me!

Draft Time!!

With the draft starting tomorrow, and may I add I am pretty excited that it is primetime, I am very excited about finding out who is going to pick whom. More than ever, I am going to watch this NFL draft. The obvious reason I am going to watch this draft is to find out which team I am going to be cheering for these next few years(wherever Tebow goes, of course!). Secondly, I am excited to see how the trades that have happened or are going to happen will affect the draft. While I don't really care THAT much about the NFL, I do care about how the Steelers are going to deal with Rothlisberger, or will Terrell Owens and Donovan McNabb be teammates again, or will anyone pick up Pacman Jones(oh wait, I REALLY don't care about that!) Needless to say, with all of the drama that has happened this offseason, I am guessing Chris Berman and his crew will have plenty of filler while we wait FOREVER for each team to make their pick!

As promised, I am going to give my top five draft picks. Now, this is who I think is going to be taken first, not necessarily who I think are the top five best players!

St Louis-Sam Bradford
Detroit-Russell Okung
Tampa Bay-Eric Berry
Washington-Ndamakong Suh
Kansas City-Gerald McCoy

How wrong or right do you think I am???

It's Springtime!

While I sit here watching the opening day of Major League Baseball(watching the Braves beating up on the Cubs, for now), I can't help but think of what a wonderful time of year it is. I love spring time for so many reasons. Like I said, MLB has begun and for the first time in a long time I am excited about the Braves, thank you Jason Heyward. Living up in DC allows me to enjoy the cherry blossoms that make the Potomac look like a clean body of water for a couple of weeks.... The opening day for Women's Professional Soccer is this weekend, Go FREEDOM! And of course, there is spring football!

Being a Tar Heel normally makes the spring time a sadder time of the year compared to say, SEC schools. We are normally on the end of the celebrations on Franklin Street after winning the national championship or at least beating Duke at Hansborough Indoor Stadium, but unfortunately, this was not that year. Instead, all I hear about right now is people planning on tailgating this weekend for the UNC football spring football game. I remember back to my freshman year and going to what was then the "infamous" spring football game. I walked right into the stadium and amongst the hundreds(mostly family members) I sat down and wondered if there was a possibility of making it to a bowl. I don't even think they were selling concessions that day.... Now with all the commotion about our spring football game, I am hoping for more than just a bowl, I want an ACC championship! Is it too much to ask for on April 5th? Is it too much pressure to have the game being televised(thank you ESPN) and the predictions flying off the experts tongues that maybe this will be UNC's year? Let me just say two words...Marvin Austin! He's like a skinnier mount Cody that can run faster but still scare the living daylights out of any running back or QB. I say bring on LSU on opening day and bring on the ACC! I wish I could be at the spring game, but I do know I will be watching. If it can't be autumn for regular season college football, then I say let it be spring so I can go ahead and start scouting and getting excited for what is going to be another fun-filled football season(well at least I hope so, and probably so do all the UNC basketball fans)! Plus, my WPS season will fill the void of a college football-less summer so I am pretty excited about the spring, especially April 10th!


Here is my question for the spring...we need a new pack of players that "competed" for the heisman last year like Tebow, McCoy, and Bradford. Who are they going to be? Will it be more of running back year this year as we have Mark Ingram returning as the heisman trophy winner? Will it finally be a defensive person's turn to win? Give me your thoughts and let the scouting begin!

Top 5?

With the draft less than a month away, I decided to ask some of the National team players who they thought should be the top 5 picks in this year's draft. Most of my teammates don't know college football like I do(or really anything about college football). They actually make fun of my vast knowledge of college football, but then they always come back to me if they have any questions. I thought this could be a fun experiment to see how well my team knows college football.
Disclaimer:
1. I asked them in our meal room with no internet help or outside help.
2. If they don't have a clue, I told them just to give me the football names that they know and we will insert that into their top 5.
3. Most of them only know about Tebow and it's probably because of me!

So here are the results. I have come to find out my team really doesn't have a clue and they desperately need outside help(one was actually lucky and did receive outside help). Maybe I should teach them a little bit, but I do know I am going to watch this year's draft and see how well my teammates did! We will post results after the draft...

Kristine Lilly Heavey(help via Dave Heavey)
1. Sam Bradford
2. Ndamukong Suh
3. Eric Berry
4. Colt McCoy
5. Gerald McCoy

Alex Morgan(Cal student)
1. Tim Tebow
2. Mike Tepper
3. Jahvid Best
4. Toby Gerhart

Casey Noguiera
1. Tim Tebow

Jill Loyden
the only name i know is tebow but I know he won't go high

Stephanie Cox
1. Sam Bradford
2. Colt McCoy
3. Dexter McCluster
4. Joe Haden
5. Tim Tebow

Kelly O'Hara(stanford grad)
1. Toby Gerhart
2. Colt McCoy
3. Sam Bradford
4. Tim Tebow

Nicole Barnhart(Stanford grad)
1. Toby Gerhart
2. Ndamukong Suh

Really?

Here is a little something that a Jacksonville Jaguar recently wrote about Tebow making it into the league. My advice to him would be to try and play the game better and make the playoffs so people would actually WANT to come rather than criticizing other players.

Remember those rumors, way back in the fall, about the Jacksonville Jaguars setting their sights on hometown hero Tim Tebow before he'd even played his senior season? That owner Wayne Weaver was said to be considering plucking the Tebow Child early in the draft as a sales-boosting gambit? Lately, the scorn of the scouts and his obvious struggles in the Senior Bowl haven't tempered local enthusiasm for Tebow as the draft draws nigh, but at least one member of the franchise isn't afraid to express his, let's say ... misgivings about adding Tebow to the roster, according to the Florida Times-Union:

[Offensive lineman Uche] Nwaneri posted on the Jaguars’ Web site that, while cashing a check, a bank teller started talking about how Tebow will save the Jaguars.

So Nwaneri posted his five points on Tebow, with capital letters:

"1. He can't throw, PERIOD.

2. He can't read any coverage other than probably cover 2 or man.

3. The QB Wildcat WILL NOT WORK IN THIS LEAGUE. PERIOD.

4. He doesn’t know how to take a snap from center.

5. HE CAN’T THROW, and that’s really something you either have or not."

I guess that settles it, then. Obviously, there's nothing the kid can do to help the team. Oh, and one more thing:

Nwaneri then urged fans to buy tickets because he doesn’t want to come out "for pregame warmups to a COMPLETELY EMPTY STADIUM ANYMORE."

Let's talk business, Uche: Whether or not the Tebow Child can make a successful transition to the pro game on the field, putting warm bodies in seats is obviously among the greatest of his many other talents. Give the people what they want. And even if Nwaneri and the legions of critics are right that Tebow is bound for NFL flopdom, I guarantee thousands of Georgia fans would be willing to make the drive down to the site of so many Cocktail Party aggravations for the sole purpose of watching their former tormenter operate behind a line that might not feel much like blocking for him.(Holly Anderson, rivals.com)

As for me and my thoughts on Tebow and whether he can play in the league-I agree with what Urban Meyer said yesterday- if he plays on a good team and you get someone to develop his throwing skills, then he has a great chance at making it. Also, as everyone keeps saying, the intangibles are irreplaceable. And who are these critics anyways? The same ones that told us Ryan Leaf should go ahead of Peyton Manning??