Last Football weekend of ROCKTOBER

I lament how quickly the season is flying by, but I also will feel less guilty about the time I spend watching football when it ends. I do not obsess like this with other sports. Friday night was very cold at the FCS game, and the opponent was not up to the challenge. One sided games are not really much fun for either team. Lest I forget, the Middle Tennessee finish against Marshall Thursday night was a thrilla. MTSU scored a TD on the last play of the game. Worth staying up a few minutes past my self imposed bed time. Saturday started out by PLAYING football (2 Saturdays in a row!) with guys from work. It was just foolin around playing 3 on 3 touch and 2 of the guys even had their sons out there with us. Still, the competitive nature in me produced an unkind me. I made critical comments about one guy that I should not have. He did not run – at all – or even try. So me and the other team mate were trying keep up with guys faster than us. I got frustrated, but I know most of the frustration is at my inability to run anymore. I was never super fast, but I could have certainly ran with these guys, even 5 or 6 years ago. Now I limp run. Anyway, I wasn’t nice and I feel bad. Somehow I will find a manly apology that spares both of us further embarrassment. On the way home from Hendersonville, I listened to Vandy get their teeth kicked in by A&M. I pull for Vandy and it was hard to listen too. The upset of Georgia last week did not help in College Station. When I got home and put ice bags on both knees, I watched Minnesota beat Nebraska. I’m not a big Gopher fan, but I do pull for conference under dogs, and I love to pull against Pellini’s Cornhuskers. The other very fun game to watch the end of, was Duke’s victory over Va Tech. David Cuttcliff is absolutely one of the best coaches that gets little credit. He does the most with the least. Duke does not have the talent in football, but they now compete well in the ACC. Miami pulled out a W against Wake. I saw it coming and it is fine with me, as it sets up the showdown next Saturday night in Tally, with Game Day stirring up the excitement. I saw the early line today at 21 points. That alone should indicated just how over rated the “U” is. FSU is smoking. They destroyed NC State, going 35-0 in the 1st quarter. Not fun to watch, but the Alabama beat down of Tennessee was equally one sided and over before everyone was comfortable in the seats. Texas Tech and coach Dreamy finally had their bubble burst, by the Sooners. Still a good story. Will be interesting to see how Baylor, OU and OK St resolve the big 12. Oregon had a tussle with UCLA for 3 quarters and then (as they do) opened the floodgates and pulled away big in the 4th. The best game of the day was South Carolina at Mizzu. Mizzu is good and they controlled the game for the 1st 3 quarters, until the ole ball coach put Conner Shaw in the game. Conner was en fuego and the game went to double OT before the Gamecocks came out on top. Mizzu will likely lose at least one more SEC game, so Carolina is back in the drivers seat for the East. Now IF Mizzu can beat A&M and Tennessee (and I think Ole Miss) then I will have to retract my position.

While South Carolina and Mizzu were playing free football, the World Series brought some high drama too. St Louis won the game (despite stranding a few hundred base runners) on an “obstruction” call that you don’t see very often. I’m glad. Our ticket stubs from August 10th will be quite the keepers when the Cards win it all. Florida had a bye this week. I hope like heck they found a little Offense because this Saturday afternoon in Jacksonville we have the Cocktail Party, and Georgia will not have any sympathy for the Gators. I read today where one of the bowl projections has Auburn in the Sugar Bowl. How is that for a turn-around under Gus! 0-8 in the SEC last season and possible BCS bowl this year… I’m killin it today in both my Fantasy leagues…yeh we bad...Megatron rocks. Matthew Stafford culminated the Lion comeback (Cowboy collapse) by sneaking the ball over the goal line when EVERYBODY thougt he was going to spike the ball to stop the clock. Way cool. Oh, and Crestview mercifully had a bye week…painful season for my Dawgs. Titans had a bye week too, and well, I missed them playing. Guess it is happening… Finally, my nephew Christian scored a touchdown for his flag football team! Way to go CDJ!

Crazy Day... It was a crazy day for me to miss watching college football yesterday, but I want to go back to Friday night first. Friendship Christian beat Donnelson Christian 52-49 on a cold night and another LONG high school football game. FCS must get the new scoreboard clock sorted out! The game was insane. On 4th and goal from outside the 20, AJ Long tossed up a desperation pass which Michael Hawk managed to come down with. 2 seconds were left on the clock...so exciting! On the way home from the game, I was able to listen to the end of UCF beating Louisville :) The Knights have given me two upset specials this season (Penn St). On to Saturday where I was off to Camp Taylor in the middle of beautiful no where Kentucky. It rained in the morning, but we played football for about an hour and a half. SO MUCH FUN! It is true that walking was not easy for me last night and a painful delicate process today. The knees, hips and lower back did not get to vote on my decision to play football with the youth group. They just had to deal with the pain and instability of the aftermath. I love the College Hills youth group. Johnny Markham is the best and Youthreach is examplary. After each session by Seth Madaris, and the subsequent discussion break out, I would slide out to the Veracruz and hit the XM radio. I was able to hear Tennessee finish off South Carolina, Vandy take down Georgia and Mizzu crush my Gators. Seth, by the way, grew up on Panama City and his uncle Chuck was a rock star counselor at Camp Wiregrass when I was a camper in the mid 70's! Seth is 30 and runs like Denton, which means super fast. He ran one team in the big football game and I led the other. Did I mention how much fun it was? Somebody help me up... In the afternoon, Auburn beat A&M at College Station. The War Beagles are way ahead of schedule this year. Gus has em improving every week. A&M's defense is like Florida's offense = HORRIBLE. Then, Ole Miss beats LSU. Something was out of whack yesterday!

THE GAME finally kicked off in Clemson. I was getting update texts from Roger and Cousin Mark. I was also guilty of checking my ESPN Score center app during Seth's night session. We FSU fans could not have written any better script for that game! WOW! So the new rankings/polls come out today. FSU bolts up to 3rd behind Alabama and Oregon. Mizzu is #5 in the AP. Wow. Ohio State is 4th, but WAY over rated. Miami is the other fraud. Undefeated yes, but seriously over rated. The Sunday Night NFL game is about to kick off. Peyton's return to Indy :) Still have Monday Night Football to go, but I'm way ahead in both my Fantasy match ups so far. I can't imagine next weekend being as exciting, but one can hope!

I crossed off another bucket list item yesterday. Jason and I visited the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. We were up there on business, but were able to find a couple of hours to do the tour. Excellent visit, although I am a “one foot in” guy, seeing all the pro’s from my childhood all the way through last year’s Super Bowl was a lot of fun. The BIG game this weekend is the ACC Championship. In the same way that the SEC Champ game last year was the actual national championship, the winner between FSU at Clemson, should spank whoever comes out of the other side of the ACC – probably the over rated Hurricanes or Va Tech. FSU is somehow favored by 3 AT Clemson. I have been trying all season not to get my hopes up, but Famous Jameous and the Noles have been outstanding. They have played up to their potential so far. Alas, I am Charlie Brown and will fall for Lucy’s promise not to jerk the ball away when I run up to kick it…FSU always seems to flop in a game they should not, under Jimbo. Beating Clemson at their place, at night is so hard. Georgia couldn’t do it when they were healthy. Don’t think anybody in the country could 99% of the time. Maybe Oregon or Alabama, but Clemson is very good and even better at home. I will not get to watch the game…as I will be a chaperone on a youth retreat with church…I’ll be pulling for Florida State in abstentia… Florida goes to Mizzu, who just roughed up Georgia. It continues to eat at me that UF wastes one of the nation’s finest defenses, but having a completely inept offense. Muschamp simply has to find someone who can generate some offense. The SEC (and FSU) are too good to just rely on defense alone! Auburn goes to Aggieville – should be a high scoring shoot out. I’m tempted to pick the war beagles, but JF at home w the 12th man…too much. The upset I am picking is tonight, as the Knights of UCF will take down Louisville. UCF is good. Louisville is very good, but also over rated. Gonna catch Friendship Christian vs DCA tonight, another crisp cool Friday night for football in Tennessee. Back home in the Panhandle, Crestview hosts Tate, for a playoff slot. Niceville will win the district and possibly the 7A championship in Florida, but a playoff game for the Bulldogs would be progress… I’m tied for 1st in the LP Fantasy Football league with Rick Frazier. We have a showdown this weekend, but he is projecting at 152! uh oh... Baseball is wrapping up the League Championship Series and I'm pulling for St Louis only because Johnny loves them so much.