Images of the season

So much of the season has already been written, yet there is still so much to be seen.  My teams are teetering on the brink of disaster, thanks Georgia and Florida, but it is quite interesting to see who will end up in the championship with LSU, Bama, OU, Wisconsin, Boise St, and even Clemson trying to get through.  With the BCS standings come out next week and forgetting to post on my blog last week, I thought I would write less, and show more because we all know how much I will vent about the BCS system next week...join me won't you!  Enjoy the pictures of what I think has summed up the season so far!

Top of Their Game

Pleasant Surprises

Heisman Trophy Winner

Uniforms

Major disappointments

Scandal

Conference, What Conference??

Anything I missed??

Now for the picks!

Mich vs Mich St-Mich
Baylor vs Texas AM-Texas AM
S.Carolina vs MSU- S.Carolina
Miami vs UNC-UNC!
FSU vs Duke-FSU
LSU vs Tenn-LSU
Oklahoma St vs Texas-Ok State

GT vs UVA-GT
OSU vs Illinois-OSU
Bama vs Ole Miss-Bama
VT vs Wake-VT
Clemson vs Maryland-Clemson
Kansas State vs Texas Tech-Kansas State
Florida vs Auburn-FLORIDA
Georgia vs Vandy-GEORGIA
Arizona St vs Oregon-Oregon

Battle of the Unbeatens

Well it's the battle of the unbeatens.  First of course we have the typical Big 12 teams with lack of schedule strength battling with Texas vs Iowa St and Baylor vs Kansas St.  Nebraska goes against Wisconsin for not only another great matchup of two top ten teams but the first time Nebraska will play in it's new conference.  On top of those four games we have up and coming Clemson on the road at Virginia Tech for Clemson's first road test to see if they are for real and Virginia Tech's first test the whole season as they haven't played an AQ BCS team yet.  And of course, we have the game that interests me the most with Alabama heading down to the Swamp to play Florida and Will Muschamp(yet again...).  What an exciting weekend. 


This is always when college football becomes the battle of who lost a better game first.  For instance, what if Florida beats Alabama, Alabama then goes on to win the rest of their games including the SEC championship, would they be a one loss team to go to the national championship over say an Oklahoma that loses to Texas later in the season??  People tell me that the BCS system works, but when push comes to shove, lose early because you will get more votes from coaches, the AP, and the mighty BCS system will throw the numbers in your favor.  Regardless of the BCS, this middle part of the season is when we finally see conference foes go after each other with win or go home mentalities and I LOVE it! You don't see this in pro football, you don't even see it in college basketball, and the only time you see it in baseball is when your team goes the whole year winning and then decides that bringing your bat to a game is a bad idea(thanks a lot Braves...).  This weekend is the type of weekend that reminds me why it is worth it to sit on my couch ALL day watching football.  Who am I kidding, every weekend is like that in college football, I am just excited that two TVs won't be enough!!

Another good week last week as I posted a 10-3 record!

South Florida vs Pitt-South Florida
Texas A&m vs Ark-Ark
Minn vs Mich-Mich
Northwestern vs Illinois-Northwestern
Miss St vs UGA-UGA
Kentucky vs LSU-Lsu
Nevada vs Boise St-Boise St
Auburn vs South Carolina-Auburn
Baylor vs Kansas St-Baylor
GT vs NC State-GT
Arizona vs USC-Arizona
Michigan St vs Ohio St-Ohio St
Clemson vs VT-Clemson
Texas vs Iowa St-Iowa St
Alabama vs Florida-UF
Nebraska vs Wisconsin-Wisconsin
UNC vs ECU-UNC

Traditions

With all the craziness that has been surrounding college football in the past year, I can't help but think about all the traditions that so many of us are accustomed to just vanishing.  A tradition like the Oklahoma/Nebraska game that even if they played it, the game would never mean as much as it did when they were in the same conference. A tradition that must be started between Colorado and Utah rather than the bitter rivalry of mascots between Ralphie from Colorado and Bevo from Texas.  As much as I don't really care about either of those teams, the tradition of both those animals was so fun to watch every year and now we only see it every now and then.  And to think, now Syracuse and Pitt will have to form new rivalries on the football field against foes such as Florida State and Wake Forest?  I think the thing that bothers me most in a conference like the Big East where they lose Syracuse and Pitt, it's not the football programs that take the hit of traditions, but it's basketball.  The passion of basketball in the Big East is one of the best and to see football cause those rivalries to mean less is just sad.  I guess it's hard to watch new rivalries attempting to be formed in football, old rivalries lost in football, and all the other sports having to deal with this just for money.

The irony of all of this is that for the past few years I have been complaining about the BCS system and how they will never go to the playoff system, one of their biggest arguments is the "tradition" of the bowl games.  I absolutely LOVE bowl season.  January 1st is like Christmas to me when football is on from 11am until midnight.  But I also realize that it IS UNFAIR to teams like Boise State who go undefeated even if their schedule is weaker that they don't even get a chance.  I can tell you coming from someone who played in a playoff system, it isn't always the best team all year that wins the tournament, it's the best team playing at that point in the season that wins.  It just annoys me that because of traditions and money, the BCS system won't change, yet all the conferences will realign and take away what little tradition was left in the eyes of the students and alumni of that particular school.

What I don't understand is that I come from a generation where we are constantly changing.  Social media is the best outlet for breaking news and the news feed on your home page is completely different 20 minutes later.  I come from a generation where tradition is something we frown upon because we think it keeps us from ever being innovators and creating a better country to live in; so we keep moving forward.  Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook is from my generation.  Food trucks are run by 20 and 30 somethings and are the new rage for a restaurant because as soon as a neighborhood is "so five minutes ago," you just pack up and move to the next trendy place.  We don't like to stay in one place and I truly believe that my generation along with a few others will truly change the world(and that goes way beyond college football).  It's just interesting that we want to change college football to a playoff system to seem progressive, yet all this conference realignment just makes us cringe.  We see it all as a play on money and taking more steps backward rather than forward because the people who run these conferences just want the money.  It's plain and simple to me and my generation, yet everyone is afraid to talk about it(ironically probably because they get more money not to say anything...). 

I just love college football tradition.  That's why I love college football so much.  You play with an added passion for the sake of your school and the rivalry that has been formed for decades.  Alumni go back to school to look at pictures of them playing their arch rival while cheering on the new generation to beat the same school they played 45 years ago.  Where has that passion gone? Will it return? I sure hope so.  I can adjust, I don't particularly like to change, but I can.  I just hope college football(and all the other sports affected by this) will do the same.

OK, enough venting.  Hopefully I didn't overstep any boundaries ;)  I made up for the last time I picked with an 11-2 record.  Let's hope I keep that up!  It's gonna be a fun Saturday

UNC vs GT-UNC
ND at Pitt-ND
Ark vs Alabama-Bama
Ok State vs TAM-TAM
Florida St vs Clemson-Clemson(without EJ I just dont think FSU can do it, maybe he will play?)
Vandy vs S. Carolina-Vandy
UF vs UK-UF
Florida Atlantic vs Auburn-Auburn
Missouri vs Oklahoma-Oklahoma
LSU vs W.VA-LSU
USC vs Arizona St-Arizona St
UGA vs Ole Miss-UGA
San Diego St vs Mich-Mich

Early Season Guesses/Remarks

Now that we are two weeks into the season, it has been fun to listen to some of the critics go ahead and put their Heisman front runners out there.  Robert Griffin III from Baylor, Denard Robinson from Michigan, and Landry Jones of Oklahoma have been the players that I hear the most.  Well, what about Andrew Luck from Stanford and Trent Richardson from Alabama?  You could even put a Kellen Moore in there from Boise State which I am guessing most people will by the end of the season.  While I heard those three names I mentioned first be put in the Heisman frontrunner position so soon in the year, I thought I could make some outlandish and quick remarks that with only two weeks of judgement, I will allow myself to feel like a real critic. 

Now all of this is based JUST on the first two weeks of the season...just wanted to remind you of this...
-Mark Richt is fired
-Brian Kelly is fired
-Based on how Auburn won the national championship last year, Michigan will win the national championship this year
-Boise State will get locked out of the national championship again
-Florida State leaves the ACC
-Texas becomes this year's Ohio State
-The argument of whether the Big East should get an automatic bid will push more teams into super conferences
-Miami may not have a football program...
-It's LSU vs Oklahoma in the national championship game
-Robert Griffin III wins the Heisman and Baylor wins the Big 12 or whatever that conference is...
-Arkansas wins the SEC
-Arizona St wins the Pac 12
-Wisconsin wins the Big 10
-Florida State wins the ACC
-Notre Dame doesn't make a bowl
-West Virginia wins the Big East

So how close do you think this will be by the end of the season???

Now on to the picks...I was an abysmal 6-4 last week so I need to make up for that!

West Virginia vs Maryland-Maryland
Auburn vs Clemson-Auburn
Coastal Carolina vs UGA-UGA
Washington vs Nebraska-Nebraska
Michigan St vs Notre Dame-Notre Dame
Tennessee vs Florida-FLORIDA
Texas vs UCLA-Texas
Virginia vs UNC-UNC
Arizona St vs Illinois-Illinois
North Texas vs Alabama-Alabama
Ohio St vs Miami-Miami
Oklahoma vs Florida St-Oklahoma
Stanford vs Arizona-Stanford

Herschel

So last night I sat down to watch the new series on ESPNU called SEC: Storied.  It was on one of my favorite athletes and one of the greatest college football players of all time, Herschel Walker.  The man was and still is a beast.  Most of us know all about how when he was younger he would do around 5000 push ups and 5000 sit ups a day.  There have even been rumors that he lived on 12 snicker bars a day.  He still to this day does 1500-2500 push ups and sit ups a day and most recently ran a 4.39 40 yard dash as a 49 year old.  Can we say comeback??

What I didn't know, and I bet most people didn't realize this either, was that Herschel suffered from multiple personalities disorder.  When he was younger, he was bullied and he vowed it would never happen to him again.  As a sort of coping mechanism, he imagined himself becoming a sort of "superhero" type person.  When he was young, he figured it was a normal kid thing to do to imagine that you could one day be superman.  But when he grew up, he began to realize that becoming superman wasn't a fairy tale to him, but reality.  He was able to fuel his anger and aggression through football, but as soon as football was over for him, life became difficult as his anger became dangerous.

I have been thinking a lot about this as I have reflected on this amazing story of a man that overcame psychological issues to become such an gifted athlete.  I can only imagine that something like this was very difficult to deal with everyday.  So many athletes talk about how physically prepared they are because of all the hard work they put into practice, but what separates the good from the great is the mental toughness.  To hear about this unbelievable young athlete to succeed at such a high level with this disorder is nothing short than amazing.  It was really cool to watch Herschel reflect on his career and see how much more he enjoys his life now since he has gotten complete control of his psychological disorder.  I really admire a man like him to come forward and talk about it, but also to embrace his problems and make the most out of life.  It was also really nice to watch a Georgia team win and get to the national championship three straight years.  Where has that team been these past two decades??

Now on to picks!  I was 11-2 last week which is probably my best week ever! It's going to be another fun week

Missouri vs Ariz St- Missouri
Oregon St vs Wisc-Wisc
Miss St vs Auburn-sorry auburn...Miss St
Rutgers vs UNC-UNC!
Alabama vs Penn St- Bama(accidentally put penn st but I def DID NOT mean to)
South Carolina vs UGA-UGA! i beg you to win please!
Charleston South vs FSU-FSU
BYU vs Texas-upset special-BYU
UAB vs Florida-UF!
Notre Dame vs Michigan- Michigan

GAMEDAY!!

It is finally here.  A day I have been looking forward to since Auburn held up the National Championship trophy in January.  It's a brand new year.  It's a brand new season for my favorite teams and I must ask myself some questions before it all begins.  Will part of my season be over on Saturday night when Georgia faces Boise State? I always walk into a new season with high hopes that Georgia or Florida will make it at least to the SEC championship, much less the national championship and if UGA loses to Boise, part of my excitement will flicker.  Even with a #19 ranking, can they show that a lower ranked SEC team can still beat a team like Boise State or will BSU finally make some noise to the BCS analysts?  If they lose to BSU and the following week lose to South Carolina, will Mark Richt get fired mid season?  If they win one of these games does this mean he has saved his job one more year?  Do UGA fans still want him as coach? I know I do, but I haven't heard many good rumblings down in Athens....Is the freshman phenom running back, Isaiah Crowell, going to pull in numbers like Lattimore of South Carolina?

Will Muschamp and the Gators surprise people? Will Brantley finally get his due?  How different will UF look with Weiss, Brantley, and a genius defensive minded head coach? Will Gator nation like the change?  How soon will Urban pull a Spurrier and find a new team to coach?

Can Everett Withers pull the Heels together? Since we still have Butch's recruits, can we still win?  How good/bad will the ACC be this year?  Will the UNC students still come to the games since the last few years we all bought into the Butch Davis regime?  Will I look at the first date of basketball season before the third week?

And lastly...why is it every year the college football analysts pick a Big 12/ Pac 12/ Big 10 team to win the national championship while the SEC keeps on winning?  Is it because they are just tired of the SEC winning all the time or do they truly believe it? Oh and can the conferences please stay the same...if college football is all about tradition, i.e BCS/Bowl games, then why do we take away the tradition of the conferences and put teams in new ones?  I guess there isn't such a purity with tradition in college football after all. Maybe we should try a small playoff at the end of the year since tradition has just been thrown out the window.

Now it's time for me to start a brand new season of my picks.  Once again my dad beat me in our college football picks so I will try and do better.  So now it's time to grab my nachos, grab a seat in the middle of my couch, turn on Beth Mowins doing the defending national champions first game(with a Briarwood alum at QB!) and enjoy my day of sitting in front of the tv all day and only  getting up to cheer!

Thurs game:
Wisconsin vs UNLV-Wisc
Fri game:
TCU vs Baylor-upset special...Baylor
Sat games:
Akron vs OSU-OSU...but barely...
Utah St vs Auburn-Aub
Kent St vs Bama-Bama
South Florida vs ND-ND
Minn vs USC-USC
James Madison vs UNC-UNC!
Florida Atlantic vs Florida-FLORIDA!
Richmond vs Duke-Richmond
Oregon vs LSU-LSU
Boise St vs Georgia-GEORGIA!
Mon game:
Maryland vs Miami-Maryland

disclosure-i know i havent included all games but these seemed the most interesting to me...

Awww...college football

I guess it is that time again folks. I have been out of commission with soccer and broadcasting where I haven't said much about the college football season. Here I am again though, hopefully not annoying you with my love for college football. The problem with my love for college football is the fact that right now, I barely know who is in the top ten. I barely know the heisman candidates. All I know right now is how corrupt college football has become. And who do we blame for that?? Do we blame the media? Do we blame the NCAA? Do we blame the colleges? To be frank, it's hard to blame one person. The media obviously wants the "drama." The NCAA wants the power. The colleges want to win. Is there a way that we can combine all three in a manner that is civilized? Would this mean the teams of yesteryear, like Army and Navy, finally get back into the National Championship scene? Or would this mean we resort to paying these so called college athletes, yet by paying them we make them professional athletes on a much smaller scale? I have heard so many arguments one way or the other, yet I am a purist(except when it comes to the playoffs). I want to see the best athletes coming out of high school, play the game of football and appreciate a free education(a type of payment if you look between the lines...). I guess I would hate to see these specific college athletes getting paid when basketball has yet to be paid and of course no other athlete gets paid in college. I know, I know, you can make the case that college football brings in all the money, but it is just sad that all the money goes to the athletes, yet all the scholars are told they must pay more to the college so "athletes" can make more....


Ok, OK...I am done with that, I just want the games to begin. Who will finish #1? Is Florida State is the real deal? Will Oklahoma actually make it out of the easiest conference and win a BCS bowl game? Will the SEC win again?? Is Auburn really a #3/4 pick in their division? Will the PAC 16 truly be a competitive conference? Legends and Leaders, really?? Does the Big East deserve an automatic bid? Which coaches will get fired? Which coaches will get fired from more NCAA violations? Which athletes will pull a "Terrell Pryor" and leave early because they broke NCAA rules? Will there be a non BCS conference national champion? So many questions, and there may be even more to come, but what excites me most is on September 1st, college football begins. We can put away the drama that all of us hate and we can finally get between the lines and play football. This is the only part the NCAA, the universities, and the media can come together and be at peace.

Here are the guys of the Blue team after a great dinner in Augsburg! Luke, Prince, and Carsten
I love seeing all the sights. It's such a different perspective when you aren't playing. I've been to Germany four times before, but this is the first time I have really gotten to experience how great Germany is!

Our first game! Japan vs New Zealand. It was a great start to team Blue as Japan beat New Zealand 2-1 in a great game!





Soo cool to see Japan walk around with this banner. What a terrible time for this country, yet these women are representing their country well

A lil celebration in Frankfurt!

Picks!!

Since I normally do a weekly pick for the college football teams, I thought I would do the first round games for the Women's World Cup. I will do the quarterfinals and beyond once we reach that stage, so for now I am keeping it to the first round. Let me know what you think, whether I am right or wrong!

Nigeria/France-France 2-1
Canada/Germany-Germany 3-1
Japan/New Zealand-Japan 3-0
England/Mexico-England 1-0
Colombia/Sweden-Sweden 4-0
US/North Korea-US 2-1
Norway/EQG-Norway 3-0
Brazil/Australia-Brazil 2-1
Canada/France-Draw 1-1
Germany/Nigeria-Germany 3-0
Japan/Mexico-Japan 2-1
New Zealand/England-England 3-1
North Korea/Sweden-Sweden 2-0
US/Colombia-US 3-0
Australia/EQG-Australia 3-0
Brazil/Norway-Brazil 2-0
Canada/Nigeria-Canada 3-1
Germany/France-2-0
England/Japan-Draw 1-1
New Zealand/Mexico- Mexico 2-1
North Korea/Colombia- North Korea 2-1
Sweden/US-Draw 2-2
Australia/Norway-Australia 2-1
Brazil/EQG-Brazil 4-0

Guess this was a sign-"Women's World Cup starts TOMORROW! Stop playing pickup soccer and get to work!" We are hoping the ball makes it in time for the Canada/Germany match tomorrow night in Berlin.

Playing pick up with some guys in Germany...let's just say they were impressed with our team consisting of Brandi Chastain, Alicia Ferguson, Monica Gonzalez, Adrian Healey, Beth Mowins, and myself.

Kate trying to read the specials at dinner...she did take one full semester of German...
Just a nice picture of all the advertisemens in a beautiful downtown Frankfurt
The set up in downtown Frankfurt for people to watch the game and festivities along the Main River(that big ball lights up real nice at night!)
Brandi, Julie and Monica "getting ready" for our first production meeting

Women's World Cup

Since I am in Germany and getting ready to commentate on the biggest event of the summer, the women's world cup, I have taken a new step for this blog. I am going to do some entries all about the world cup and what I am up to! Before I go one step further, did you even know there was a women's world cup? If you did, do you think that it is being covered enough by any other outlet other than ESPN? If you didn't know there was a world cup, that's just sad. I mean, even ussoccer.com's focus is on the Gold Cup! No offense, MNT, but the gold cup just isn't as big of a deal. You had your summer last year, and now it's time for the women.

Remember how amazing last summer's world cup was to the American public? People were in a bar watching the games way before work, but we all knew it was five o'clock in South Africa! Do you remember the big let down for England when their keeper let a floppy shot slide right on by him? Do you remember where you were when Landon scored the goal to push us through to the next round? Do you ever wonder what has happened to that referee that so awfully called our second match? Do you remember Spain hoisting the trophy? Who were your breakout stars? Landon? Xavi? Mueller? Forlorn? Someone else?

Now just think that the same thing could happen this summer if you just pay attention! Germany is the host country and is doing an amazing job so far. They have almost sold out the whole tournament, they have made each team feel first class, and all of their fans want to know what the German team is doing. Every newspaper has them at least on the front of their sports section. It is so fun to be over here and experience such an amazing event. Soon I can be asking you questions like where were you when...you just need to watch. I promise you won't be disappointed. I promise that this world cup will be the biggest event of the summer and I hope that it will be even bigger than 1999(for women's soccer sake). ESPN looks at it like they want to make it bigger, the athletes know they are ready to make it bigger, the only piece missing is you. Please watch the greatest soccer players in the world compete for the World Cup title. It will be worth it. So watch it with me and when I come back to my blog, we can talk about how amazing all of this was!