Both feet on the ground

Of course this is a FOOTBALL blog, but it is the off season, and around the world there is another kind of "futbol" that is crazy popular. In fact, soccer as we call it, and the big global tournament known as the World Cup, is easily the most popular sporting event in the world. In this brand of futbol, when you throw the ball in, both feet must remain on the ground...

I know first hand how PASSIONATE SEC football is, but check out how insane our pals in England are (our first opponent by the way) when it comes to the World Cup:


According to a new poll in England, 12 percent of those who responded said they would give up sex for a year if England won the World Cup. And 51 percent said they'd pass on an evening with Cheryl Cole if it meant England winning the tournament.

I pull mighty hard for the Seminoles and the Gators, but I have to give the award to the English - they must want to win worse than I do! :) 12 percent for an entire year! Wow

National Signing Day and the Super Bowl

Not sure why I have been reluctant to post anything lately, maybe just my way of coping with football season ending.
Today was the day where all the high school stars could sign and fax (funny) their letter of intent. The Florida Gators appear to have collected the best class, if the myriad of experts are correct. Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Auburn and Southern Cal all had great classes too. Even Florida State looks like they may have a top 10 haul.

If you have a more than a couple of birthdays, you know that many of the kids who signed today will not make it to campus, or will not last very long. Academics will be the first filter and many kids will go the Juco route. Here in the sunshine state, you can also expect a few high potential kids to get arrested before their college career ever gets started. All the negatives are there, but all in all it is an exciting time. At least it get college football back in the media.

Tebow had the flu or something last week, and did not look very good at the Senior Bowl. I'm pulling for the guy, but the critics who don't like his throwing motion have valid points...

I'm pulling for the Saints in the SuperBowl. I pulled for them against Farve and the Vikes and I'd like to see them win on Sunday night. I don't expect them too however. Peyton Manning may very well be the best professional quarterback EVER! He epitomizes the cerebral QB, but in addition to his smarts, can make EVERY pass that is needed. Manning just figures out how to adjust and beat the defense. Oh, and for the record, while he was at Tennessee, he NEVER beat the Gators :) This SuperBowl should be a shootout, because Brees and the Saints can score too. Just think the Colts and Peyton will be a little too much...something like 38-30 Colts.

Allstar Shawn

I stole this pic from cousin Mark's facebook. It was the night his son Shawn played in the big northwest Florida allstar game. Good stuff and great memories made! We haven't had a football player this good in the family since Bryan and Larry went to play for Vanderbilt and NorthEast Louisiana in the early 90s.

So Much Going On

Well, too much going on lately to keep up with. Lame leaves Tennessee for USC, which makes me wonder WHAT ARE THEY THINKING at Southern Cal? The rest of the Pac 10 has to be very excited. Not that Lame can't coach (we don't know yet) but they are already under investigation by the NCAA and now they hire the guy who has a perpetual birdie finger pointed at the NCAA?? The Vols hired Vince Dooley's son, and I admit I don't know much about him.

The Gators are having historic success with this recruiting class, and FSU is doing pretty good too. Tommy Tuberville replaces Mike Leach at Texas Tech. I liked Leach until this latest round of madness, and he certainly is making it worse by fighting a battle in the media. USF fired their only coach in history, and hired Skip Holtz. I think Skip will do very well in Tampa.

I fully intend to go back and compare my predictions against how things actually turned out, just haven't found the time yet. With 7 months to go until next season, I'm sure I'll find the time...

Yes Its Over...Call it a day...

OK, the dreaded off season is upon us, so I plan to look back at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the terrific season we all enjoyed. I should have some time to do that later this week.

The NFL playoffs will have to do for now, as will the recruiting wars and the coaching changes (USC / USF)...

Later

The National Championship Game!

It is the Alabama Crimson Tide against the Texas Longhorns for the championship of college football tomorrow night. As a "southern man" I favor the SEC MOST of the time in these kind of match ups. However, despite my mom being born in Alabama, the fact I went to college in Montgomery and close buds Roger and Owen are Tide fans, I will be pulling for the Hookem Horns! I am a big fan of Colt McCoy and that is reason enough, but another big reason for me is Don Brown. Don passed away last month. I only knew him for about four years, but from here on out, I want to be more like him. Don grew up in Kansas and as a preacher lived all over the place as an adult, even California :). Don just loved the Lord, period. Texas was "home" and the Longhorns had a big fan here in Central Florida, until his passing. So Texas, win one for Don!

That said, it is understandable why Alabama is the favorite. Their brute strength approach to football is hard to stop. They have a mountain of a nose guard and the Heisman trophy winner for cryin out loud!

HOOKEM! :)

Happy New Years BOWLING

Well, FSU sent Bobby out with a win in the Gator Bowl :)

Auburn and Northwestern played in an overtime shootout, with Northwestern's fake FG foiled to preserve the War Beagle victory. LSU lost to Penn St in a quagmire of a turf at the Citrus Bowl, and Ohio State surprised me by pushing Oregon around in the Rose. All good, except I picked the Ducks as my highest level of confidence (34 points) in one bowl pool...

Now the Gators are making Cincinnati look like Umatilla High School! Tebow is passing lights out and it is 30 - 3 at the HALF! Maybe it will not be too stressful a night for Urban Meyer :(

There are 6 more games tomorrow, and then the rest of the BCS games on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights...

:)

Bobby Bowden

I have been a little burnt out and slacked on the blog lately, but just now, the Seminoles took the field for the Gator Bowl and Bobby drove the spear into mid field. I just cried.


It is way past time for him to retire, but wow the impact he has had on college football and on Florida State. He arrived in Tallahassee when I was in high school, and he retires today and I am now 49 years old...We moved to Tally in 1987, which was the start of the 14 year dynasty of top 4 finishes. I have enjoyed TOO MUCH Seminole football as it has been hard to keep it in balance.

I don't know if the Noles can beat West Virginia today (it would have helped to have Ponder), but I will soak up every minute of it.

FL Outlaw

Bowling ...

So, some of the bowl games have already come and gone. In fact it is halftime of the Pitt vs North Carolina Meineke? bowl right now. You might think I would learn because every year, underdogs kick butt in the bowl games. The smaller the conference the more motivated they seem to be. Exhibit A is that the Mountain West is 3-0 this bowl season already, punching the Pac 10 upside their head.

Here in Orlando, we get Miami vs Wisconsin in the Champs Bowl and then on New Years, Penn State and LSU play in the Capital One game. I think the SEC is the strongest conference (10 of 12 teams bowling), but we will get to see how they match up against some of the other leagues. The SEC has 2 games against the big 11, 2 games against the ACC, 3 games against the Big East and 3 games against the Big 12, which includes the title game with Alabama vs Texas.

I think LSU is far more talented than Penn State, but I expect the N Lions to win the game. Auburn should beat Northwestern, to allow the SEC to break even with the league that cannot count. Kentucky is well coached, but probably will struggle to contain CJ Spiller and Clemson. This might give the ACC a misleading braggin right against the SEC, but I do think that Va Tech will squeak by Tennessee. SEC vs Big East: Florida & Cincinnati...Gators defense SHOULD prevail, but the Bearcats have been nasty explosive and have a SERIOUS chip on their shoulder with Brian Kelly bolting for South Bend. If the Gators don't bring the A game, they will get beat. South Carolina SHOULD beat UCONN, but again, they have to play like they WANT to be there.
SEC-Big12. I like Georgia over Texas A&M comfortably. Ole Miss & Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl may be one of the best games to watch. A toss up but I like the Rebs. Alabama is favored over Texas, and Nick Saban is as good a coach as there is in the NCAA. That said, I am going with the upset and look for Colt and the Longhorns to beat the Tide.
I'll show my ignorance and do a little preview of some of the bigger games as the dates get closer.

One foot on the court?

My bud Roger has season tickets for FSU basketball. At the Auburn game last week, it looks like the refs needed Roger's help with a few calls. This picture was in the Tallahassee newspaper (Democrat).

BYU beat the snot out of Oregon State. Bowls are so unpredictable! One of the Bowl pools I'm in uses the confidence scale. I had Fresno and Oregon State as winning with high confidence points....crash and burn!

My oldest son is snowboarding in the Hymalas (sp?), which is so dangerous (just being there) that I don't even want to think about it.

Spend the money and go see Avatar in 3D over the holidays.

Which conference will rule the Bowl games? I try to sort it out later.

State Championships and bowling

OK, I have been a slacker with the blog lately. Last night me & Petey went to the 6A championship game at the Citrus Bowl. Deland, who totally shut down high powered Apopka last week was taking on Miramar from Miami. Miramar completely dominated the Bulldogs from Deland. However, I did get home in time to watch Abilene High play Katy for the Texas 5A D2 championship. As much as I love high school football in Florida, it is even more big time in Texas! Abilene beat Katy in the dome in San Antonio, which was a high caliber as many college games.

The college bowls got going yesterday, with Rugters beating UCF and Wyoming upsetting Fresno State in OT. Tonight is another low interest caliber game...I will be back with more BOWL posts in a day or so.

Hypesman and HIgh School champs

I'm in Texas this week and should be paying attention to the instructor right now...

Congrats to Mark Ingram for being the 1st Alabama player to ever win the trophey.

I went to the Deland @ Apopka game Friday night and was very impressed w/ the Deland defense. The Bulldogs owned the 2nd half. Huge upsets were the headline, as St Thomas Acquinas was upset by Bradenton Manatee, and Plant shut out Lakeland.

This Saturday I'll go to the Citrus Bowl for the 4A championship game, as Niceville squares off against PB Dwyer.

Out in Texas, Abilene High won and will play KATY for the 5A title this weekend. In Georgia, Camden County beat WR Northside for the large classification prize.

This weekend, we will start looking at the Bowl games.

Hypesman Trophy

Well, I don't get to vote for the Heisman Trophy winner, which will be announced on Saturday night. IF I did get a vote here would be my take.

I would like to see Colt McCoy win the award. That statement is based on my appreciation for what he has done as QB at Texas and to be honest, his family affiliation with Abilene Christian University.

If my vote had to go to the player who had the best season in 2009, it would come down to: Toby Gherhardt, CJ Spiller, Mark Ingram, Colt McCoy or NDomankung Suh (I don't know how to spell his name, but he is the BEAST for Nebraska). Suh is the most dominant defensive lineman I have ever seen in college football. IF a D lineman were to ever win the award, this would be the guy. Let's be honest though, the HYPESMAN does not go to defensive lineman. It goes to quarterbacks and running backs, and once a decade or so a receiver or DB who also returns kicks and punts for touchdowns. Suh is a great player but he would not get my vote.

Mark Ingram will probably win it. He is a terrific player for Alabama, and not only is the Crimson Tide the media darlings this year, but no Alabama player has ever won the trophy. IF Ingram did not have to share carries with Trent Richardson and even the 3rd RB, his impressive stats would be even more so. He is a great player, but he would not get my vote.

CJ Spiller did not make the list of 5 finalists. He should have. He should have made the finalists and Tebow should not have. I am a huge fan of Tebow, but this season he had not had a "GREAT" season. He has been the media darling for FOUR years now and makes for great tv coverage. Tebow would not get my vote. Spiller has almost single handed carried Clemson to the ACC championship. He runs the ball, catches passes and returns punts/kicks. CJ will be a rich man come April and the NFL draft.

The guy who would get my vote is the kid from Stanford. Gerhardt has better stats than Ingram or Spiller, but plays in the Pacific time zone. Stanford was not on many "national" broadcasts and so he has not received the publicity and coverage that the other guys have. He runs like the wind (white boy!) and runs over people on almost every carry.

Come Saturday night, I expect Ingram, will pull for McCoy and would have voted for Gerhardt!

Roll TIde :(

Alabama kicked some Gator butt this evening and now get to play for the National Championship next month. QB Greg McElroy was outstanding, but really, the Tide won both lines of scrimmage. Florida will have to pull together mentally to fight off a scrappy Cincinnati team (if that is who they play in the Sugar Bowl). The Bearcats rallied in a thriller against the Pitt Panthers.

Its all good! At least Roger and Owen are celebrating tonight, even if Gator Nation is bummed.

FL Outlaw

SEC CHAMPIONSHIP!

Well, it is finally upon us, the championship game of the best conference in football. It is "Sweet Home Alabama" vs "Gator Country". While you might be tempted to quickly say at least Alabama wins the song competition, remember that Skynnerd hailed from Jacksonville FLORIDA :) Me, I'm crankin the Molly Hatchet this morning (my daughter is trying to "sleep in" :)

I went to the SEC title game years ago when the Gators hammered Arkansas (bro in law John was there too!) and it as really grown into the premiere game in college football (certainly not every year, but most).

So, what will unfold just after 4:00 this afternoon? Wow, two fantastic teams, especially on defense. The Crimson Tide has quite an arsenal of explosive players, from Julio Jones, Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson and Marquees Mays on offense and Javier Arenas on D and special teams. They have Mount Cody and some NFL linebackers, and Nick Satan :) is one heckofa football coach. Young QB Greg Mcelroy is progressing nicely and is from the hotbed of QB's, SouthLake Carrol in Dallas.

On the other hand, the MIGHTY GATORS have the best defense in the country. Carlos Dunlap's suspension is painful, as he is an NFL DE and was the MVP of the BCS game last year, but I still think UF's D will play well. Charlie Strong doesn't get enough credit, because make no mistake, it is Florida's defense that is special and is carrying the team this season. That said, it is not like the have a "3 runs and punt" offense. Demps, Rainey and Manuel are terrific running backs. Riley Cooper isn't just a bad ass center fielder, but the go to receiver for T2. As for Mr Tebow, he ALWAYS rises to the big game challenge.

I don't know who will win, we can go down the list of cliche's (win field position, win the turnover battle, etc.) and most of them will apply. With little certainty, I like Florida in a close game. I can't wait!

The Oregon / Oregon State game was outstanding on Thursday night, with both teams playing lights out, before the Ducks eaked out the W.

Last night was big in high school playoffs. Apopka only scored 7, but shut out Treasure Coast to set up a showdown with the Deland Bulldogs next week. Niceville won another shootout with Lincoln and get to come down to Orlando next week to take on the Edgewater Eagles (one team of Eagles will win :)). Up in Georgia, WR Northside beat Newnan, which surprised me a bit and Camden County ended Colquit's run. Out in Texas, Abilene High routed Arlington Bowie, to move on to the 5A semi finals.

The USA soccer team got a good draw for the World Cup next summer.

Mt Dora Bible basketball beat Lake Brantley last night.

Just a couple more cool nuggets :

Life is GREAT!

Coach Bowden retires

Given the choice to take a lesser role, Coach Bobby Bowden announced that he will retire after the FSU bowl game. While he stuck around a little too long, he certainly earned all the accolades that he is getting from the media tonight. When I lived in Tallahassee, he would come to our Men's Prayer Breakfast at church once a year. While everyone wanted to talk football, Coach insisted that some time was spent on the "prayer" part of the gathering. Great man and I am very happy he did not stick around another year. Jimbo deserves a shot at building his program now. While a 6-6 team does not get the Bowls salivating, hosting Bobby Bowden's last game will come under the "priceless" category. Unless we find some defense, a "better" bowl might be embarrassing.

Does anyone remember the song "Bobby Bowden that's the coach for me, Bobby Bowden please stay in Tallahassee". I do :) Ahh, the good ole days :)

When I mentioned the Championship games and show downs coming up, I left out the Oregon vs Oregon State game on Thursday night. The winner gets the PAC 10 title and the Rose Bowl berth. Nice way to start the last weekend before the Bowl season!

THANKS BOBBY!

Football Overtime

The Sun network had a show called College Football Overtime that I loved, so they canceled it...But, this was a weekend of Overtime games. From the Apopka - Dr Phillips FIVE overtime game Friday night, to the 2 SEC games last night. Kentucky and Tennessee went into OT, before the Vols prevailed. Arkansas and LSU also played some "bonus time", before LSU won. Georgia Tech had a great comeback fall short against UGA, when the best receiver in the ACC dropped a first down pass with ~ a minute to go...

So, now we move on to CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY. Pitt and Cincinnati fight for the big east BCS birth, Nebraska and Texas duke it out for the Big 12, Georgia Tech and Clemson (who both lost to middle of the pack SEC foes yesterday) play for the ACC title in a non full stadium in Tampa, and the big one, the SEC game has #1 Florida vs #2 Alabama Saturday afternoon in the Georgia Dome.

Olathe North (Kansas) won the 6A title yesterday. Talk about a dominant power house in their state...Niceville plays Tally Lincoln this week in the playoffs. So far all 3 of Niceville's playoff foes have been teams that they played during the regular season. After Apopka's win over DP, I think they will win the next 2 games and play Miami Central for the 6A title here in Orlando.

Bobby Bowden wants to "coach" another season, and they will probably let him. Very sad. Notre Dame will fire Weiss in a day or two. Virginia gave Al Groh the pink slip and I saw where Georgia Southern hired an assistant from Georgia Tech.

I watched the Florida / FSU game with my son Josh. It has really been hard that his 4 years at FSU have been their worst in the last 30 years...We still had a good time, went a bought a slab of Holy Smokes ribs. YUM!

Good Monday Night Football action tomorrow night, as the Saints try to stay unbeaten against the Patriots.

FANTASTIC TIME OF THE YEAR!

Last big Saturday of the regular season...

OK, it is RIVALRY day in college football, but first a little high school stuff.

My dad and I went to Dr Phillips to see the Apopka 6A playoff game. Apopka won 58-52 in FIVE overtimes! Apopka has speed and quickness all over the field. Miami Central beat Northwestern, so I think it will be Central vs Apopka when the rest of the playoffs settle down to the finals.

Niceville took care of FWB and now gets a return trip to Tally Lincoln. Freeport made it to the semi finals for the first time ever.

Up in Georgia, Newnan beat top dog Grayson ( I expected it) to advance to the semi's, along with Camden County, Colquit County (Rush Probst is their coach, who was famous at Hoover, Al for several reasons...).

Abilene High beat the snot out of the #1 team in Texas - Cedar Hill :) OK, enough already.

FSU goes to the Swamp today and I don't expect it to resemble the Auburn/Alabama battle. The Gators have too much everything for the Noles. Coach Bobby did say that next year the Noles will be right up there w/ the Gators (think he is campaigning for another year?). The broadcast on CBS will probably make the "Tebow's last home game" a sickening soap opera. The over hype aside, he has been an incredible football player and leader. I hope he sticks to his spirituality, because a human slip up will be a HUGE opportunity for the media...in a very bad way.

South Florida host Miami in what could be interesting. Some great in state battles include Miss St / Ole Miss, Oklahoma and OK State, Georgia/Georgia Tech, Clemson / South Carolina, etc. Notre Dame goes out to Stanford and I think Arkansas will beat LSU tonight.

Gotta go get my chores/ honey do list done so I can settle in for some serious HIGH DEF action today :)

DJ

Rudy...Rudy...Rudy!

My son Denton wanted to know if going to the Notre Dame game has turned my "un fan" attitude around. I have to admit that the trip softened my stance some. Then tonight I watched Rudy. I had seen parts of it years ago and it did not really make much of an impression. Tonight it made a huge impression! The Rudy's out there are what are really good about sports, or about any goal that a person is after.

Crap, I kind of hoping Notre Dame gets a good coach now...yikes!


"Die'in aint much of a livin"

The fog is lifting

Shaking off the tired from the weekend. After the Notre Dame journey, I stayed up and watched the double OT thriller between Oregon and Arizona. My pulling for Arizona didn't help, so now the Ducks and the Beavers play their Civil War for the Pac 10 title and the Rose Bowl.

Among the surprises in high school playoffs last weekend, was Fort Walton Beach beating Pine Forest. NOBODY saw that one coming, as FWB lost their star QB a few weeks ago and had zero momentum coming into the game. Lowndes County lost to Camden County up in Georgia in a huge showdown. Grayson vs Newnan is the monster match up this week in the Peach state.

This week in Florida, Apopka plays at Dr Phillips and if I can talk my dad into it, we will go to that one.

It is rivalry week for colleges, as Texas and A&M square off on Thanksgiving. Alabama goes to Auburn on Friday and FSU goes to the Swamp on Saturday. Auburn has the best chance for causing trouble. I like Arkansas to beat LSU and coach "I don't know who told the QB to down the ball" Miles. Georgia Tech has no reason to take it easy on Georgia, and the Egg Bowl should go to Ole Miss over Miss State.