Grids, Charts & Fun!

The moment has arrived.  Bracket-mania 2011.

You may remember last year Bracket-mania was started so my friend Lane & I could keep up our daily conversations about college football after she moved to Atlanta.  We succeeded.

Lane would consider year 1 as a success since she walked away with the jackpot.  Pretty sure my dad & I both see it as a failure.  Pick the sure winner, or go for the upset? That IS the question...

Sooooo, here are the rules.  Some modifications from 2012 + some improvements:
- Every week you'll pick the winner of the games played by the Top 25 teams.  For every game right, you earn 7 points (Touchdown!)  For every game wrong, you lose 3 points (Field goal by the other team) and if you pick all 25 games correctly, you'll get an added 2 points for the week (Safety)
Please Note: In 2010, no one got a safety throughout the entire season.  Something to strive for.

- You also have to be a follower of this blog in order to sign up.  (Probably should have started with that, no wonder I only have 14 followers..........)

- You also have to be serious.  For real, you'll get kicked out.  We've done it before.

Action items for YOU:
1. Look to the right and click on "Join this site."  Do it now.
2. Either comment on this post or email Lane or me if you want in.
3. Wait for the most exciting email of your fall to come around August 15 in preparation for week 1.
4. Pay in. Easy.

Another one bites the Dust

You can't make this stuff up, people.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/6769894/ncaa-places-georgia-tech-yellow-jackets-four-years-probation

 *Credit: espn.com

The dog days are overrrr

Umm, is there going to be college football anymore?  I'm starting to think that all of it is so out of control that they're going to just remove all programs from all schools and start from scratch.

On top of the disaster going on with Ohio State, ESPN is reporting that they're still investigating Auburn from last years' Cam Newton situation.  This means we're looking at another potential forfeit of a National Championship.  OSU already forfeited the Rose Bowl from last year (along with all of their wins, which includes a win over Michigan.  That hurts Buckeyes...maybe more than anything)

Maybe I'm over-reacting, I'm just really starting to wonder what is going to whip these schools and programs into shape and bring this sport back to the glory that I know it can be.

That's all from the podium.  Look for Bracket-mania 2011 rules and regulations to come out in the next week or two.  It's going to be bomb this year!

ESPN Classics

Last year when I moved in with best roomies ever, we were appalled at the fact that SOAP Net wasn't part of our Cable plan.  How else would we watch 90210 reruns on repeat Saturday & Sunday mornings?!?  Then one night, the Verizon Fios Fairy came and we woke up to "Breakfast in Bed" - the greatest invention since Saturday morning cartoons.  Now we can get our fix of Brandon, Brenda & the gang every week.

If I could ask the Verizon Fios fairy for one more thing, it would be to grant us ESPN Classics.  Why isn't this part of the normal cable subscription?  It's a channel dedicated to playing all of the GREATEST games of all time! All....day......long!   Instead, I have to sit at home in jealousy while my dad emails me about everything I'm missing.

This past weekend, while celebrating this amazing country I love so much, I heard the the familiar sound of Kirk Herbstreit's voice.  I rushed into the family room to see what this could be.  Oh, just the 2010 National Championship game.  Auburn vs. Oregon in all its glory.  Don't most families sit around watching old National Championships together? No? Just mine?  

Want to know what came on after that? The 2009 Rose Bowl with Ohio State and Oregon.  You know the one...it's the one where all the punk Ohio State players sold their rings for money and took down their entire football program with them.  Surely this is why it is now part of the ESPN Classics programming.

It did get the wheels turning though - we're so close!  Just a month away.  But it feels like there's so much to do to prepare.  Super Fan & I need to get the 2011 Bracket up and running.  I need to decide which games I can get to this year.  I need to start researching teams to see who will be this years' upset.  

I think a personal day is in my near future...

The weather is thick, hot and stifling - Check.

Pryor is officially leaving Ohio State - Check.

Teams are starting to announce game start-times - Check.

Winding down to the home stretch before College Football season starts.

Just saw the LSU/Florida game has a 7pm start time, which means I'll see a night game in Death Valley.  

Now, what other games will I go to this year?  That's the next question to address!

And the winner is? No one.

Here it is.  The posting all 5 readers of this blog have been waiting for.  After months of controversy in Columbus, Jim Tressel resigned as head coach as Ohio State.  REM said it best people, Everybody hurts.

Where to begin....

Hopefully by now everyone knows how I feel about students & coaches accepting special benefits and not being punished for them.  I feel the same way about it when its' my own team, so I admit, they (you know, "The Tainted Five") deserve their punishment and then some.

But Jim Tressel?!???  The Vest?  Jimmy?   It hurts.  I love that man and love everything he did for Ohio State.  And the thing is, HE loves Ohio State and I have no doubt, whatever it is that "he did" - he did it for the Buckeyes.  I bet you he could tell you right now how many days there are until the Michigan Game.  He is a buckeye and always will be.

That's all I'm going to say about this.  Thanks for a great ride, Tress!

April Showers....

Contrary to popular belief, I didn't boycott my blog for the month of April simply to avoid the wrath of what is going on with the Ohio State football program.  But now that you bring it up, it would be nice if the old saying "April Showers bring May Flowers" would start to prove true.  

While at a wedding this past weekend, I was asked by a fellow avid college football (and Texas fan) what I thought of Jim Tressell.  My response was the same it has been and will continue to be until everyone (yes, EVERYONE, including those on the teams I follow) stop acting like total crooks and start taking things seriously.  College athletes are students that are getting a college education for playing sports.  It has been the same story since the beginning of time and for the love, can we just keep things innocent and right for their 3-4 years in college before they go pro?  I don't want to hear about, talk about it or think about it.

My only hope for right now is that come August everyone can begin to focus on the good things going on in this sport.  And if that means one of my teams needs to suffer with punishment, well, it is what it is.

At this point, I'd much rather continue to focus my attention on the new Duke & Dutchess of Cambridge.