Monday, January 4, 2010

First Monday of 2010

Where Have I Been and What Have We Missed?

You know – I have been living life! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you! I hope it was great and Santa gave you everything you wanted…So far, I have not heard that the top 10 defensive recruits de-committed and signed with Michigan, so I guess Santa is still working on my list….Seriously, it was a great holiday and it went by way too fast.

I am not going to do a bowl re-cap this year. Why? I didn’t see them all and the ones I did sneak a peek at, I didn’t see in their entirety. I know, what was I doing? Did you see them all? Didn’t think so….but I will comment on the ones I glimpsed in Idle Thoughts…

And I figured the BIGGEST news story I would have to comment on returning from a long lay-off would the the Urban Legend Resignation – Leave of Absence – I’ll be on the sidelines in September trilogy that lasted all of about 48 hours. But I am sure that was long enough for most of the diehard GatorLand fans out there to drink hemlock, find a stomach pump, and then try to guess what exactly in Gatorland is going on…

Quick analysis: Ole’ Urb had his first major health scare. Kind of like that first time you’re told you have a minor cancer, high cholesterol, or have some other very serious but manageable health condition. You panic at first, take a long look at your life and everything that you haven’t done but want to do, and then you decide if you have the bucks in the bank to call it a day. I am sure that after a long, grueling season and a loss to Alabama, Urban was mentally shot. Then he has to go recruiting – I am sure a 45 year old’s most joyous moment is to go to some kid’s home who may or may not pan out at the college level and tell him how great he could be if he works hard, yadda, yadda, yadda. Anyway, Urban decides that maybe he was a little hasty and wants to see what 3 months of R&R does for him before officially hanging up the whistle…Not that big a deal…

However, the Leach thing came from out of left field. This one was interesting in that:
The kid is Craig James kid and he has the ESPN pulpit to preach from
Leach totally pissed off EVERYONE at Texas Tech last year by shopping himself around to a high bidder, only to find out that character counts and nobody really wanted a loud mouth, “My way or the high-way” guy that managed to win some games at Texas Tech.
The fact that if he was still coach on January 1, he would get $800,000.

Anyone watching that didn’t KNOW that Leach would get canned on December 31st was either a moron, an idiot, or both. You don’t piss off an administration, hold their feet to the fire for big bucks, have a mediocre season, and then give them a reason to can you. It’s too easy for the administration. My guess is this wasn’t the first incident and we’ll hear more. But it’s interesting to watch none the less….

I could comment on some of the other minor stories, but suffice it to say that most of you probably already know what you want to know after gorging yourself on football and ESPN for the last 4 or 5 days..

Idle Thoughts From the Weekend

1. Ding-Dong, Tebow’s Gone! (Sorry Caryl – but I am glad we don’t have to hear his name anymore in the collegiate game)
2. Seriously, maybe it’s just the news and information society we live in today, but was there EVER a college player who’s name was ever mentioned more than this kid’s?
3. There were some good games on New Year’s Day…Where were the rest of the games?
4. I guess the days of gorging yourself on college football on New Year’s is truly over…My watching was done in the middle of the 1st quarter of the Sugar..
5. Okay, I clicked back twice to see that Cincinnati had managed to score…and that was about it. 6. Tonight is TCU and Boy’s State (Alliteration Heaven: Patterson vs. Peterson) in the Fiesta…I will take a nap and hope for a close game.
7. Capital One Bowl needs the turf…That game was painful to watch with players tripping over chunks of turf…
8. Best Game so far: IMHO – Northwestern – Auburn
9. Biggest Surprise: Cornsuckers destroying and blanking Arizona….
10. 2nd Biggest Surprise: Laters Beating Jimmy’s Cardinal…
11. 2nd Best Game (that nobody saw): Bowling Green vs. Idaho in the Humanitarian…I caught the 4th quarter…Great game…I wish it had been on New Years. PSU-LSU was good, also…
12. 3rd Biggest Surprise: Navy 35 – Missouri 13.
13. Feel like everything at this point is a let down?
14. Would a play off keep things alive a little longer?
15. News from Bama and Texas is so quiet, I almost forgot they’re both in the big game..
16. Rose Bowl was actually pretty good, with the exception of the winner…I know, I should root for the Big 10, but damn, I hate THE OSU….
17. Sparty should have beat Texas Tech with everything going on there…
18. Va Tech beats WVU…Another one I missed – but saw parts of.
19. Suh number 1 in the NFL draft? Really? Didn’t somebody try that before with a defensive lineman only to have it flame out?
20. What about Eric Berry from the Cremesicles? Charles Woodson showed Sunday that he can still play….
21. Is the sanity of this many bowls logical?
22. My daughters wanted to know how many I was able to get to 28 out of the 34 before I ran into a dead end…Forgot New Mexico, St. Petersburg, New Orleans, Eagle Bank, Music City (thought this one had died), Armed Forces and International….
23. And know, I didn’t name all the fruits and call them bowls…I named legitimate bowls.
24. You try it next year from memory…It’s not as easy as it sounds…
25. Should I continue to do this through College Hoops Season?
26. Do you people follow college hoops?
27. Hot Seat is redundant in College hoops, so that isn’t necessary…
28. We did beat Ohio State, which is nice.


The Hot Seat

It’s still Erin…Here She Is!




Add Leach to the list…I don’t know if I should start a list for next year yet or not, but I can tell you that Rich Rod will be on a lot of Pre-Season lists…And when he loses his first game, look out.

What’s Left

Fiesta – TCU Boys State. Go…TCU? Do I care?
Orange – Iowa vs. Georgia Tech…Go Iowa!
Championship – Can’t Stand $atan…Go Shorthorns! Beat Bama…

GMAC – refuse to watch these flea bag affairs. Just kidding - I will root on Central as it’s close to home and should be a good game.

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