Author: jcalvert

How does a team like Colorado go down to a 1-AA opponent? In this case Montana State embarrassed Colorado 19-10. You expect Duke to falter against the 1-AA teams, but Colorado? I think not. Not that I am a fan or anything. For that matter I never understood what was so great about Hawkins. Boise State won a lot of games under Hawkins, but come on, the competition was inferior. What a mess in Boulder.

How about Rocky Top? I called that one the first week in August. I never understood why everyone thought Cal was so special. I am not going to say, “I told you so” � well, we all know the SEC rules.

The reality of the situation is that Dawg fans should thank their lucky stars that we were not playing a real opponent, or it could have been very scary. At this point I still think that Georgia has enough on offense and defensive to win a close one against the ‘cocks, but the 296 total yards gained today against Western Kentucky has to look mighty scary to Bulldog Nation.

Tereshinski was garbage. Nothing personal, he just did not look sharp. Cox did not look like he knew what was going – ‘just for giggles, I think I will throw it up for grabs.’ Good grief! Stafford? He looked fairly sharp, but the game was well in hand by the time he saw playing time. Controversy? Going to be an interesting week.

While I did not expect a lot from the Georgia QBs, I expected a lot more from the HBs. Ware had a nice day (67yds on 6 carries, including a 40+ yard TD run), but after that Lumpkin (5 rushes for 27yds, 1 TD) and Brown (10 rushes for 25yds, 1 TD) did not look like great backs. Maybe some of this can be attributed to suspensions, youth, and depth problems on the o-line. Next week will be telling.

More to come later. Go Dawgs!

Go Dawgs! There, I had to get that out of my system!

And before I get started, Chris better not put up any Aggie crap! Navy I can live with, but not A&M.

Technically I am a few days late, but that could not be helped. As a wizard once said, “I was delayed.”

I would have picked the fighting chickens over Bulldogs of Mississippi, but it would not be fair for me to take such an easy win after the fact. You know the ‘ol ball coach has to be seething about his team’s offensive output, which was pretty pathetic. Not as bad as the ‘dogs, but still awful by Spurrier’s standards.

Washington State – (4) Auburn
The Tigers will struggle early, but will easily pull away. Look for a stingy, undersized defense to quickly take control of the game. Not sure how good Auburn will eventually look on offense, but I think they will sputter along today; defense and special teams will keep setting the Tigers up for score after score.

(6) USC – Arkansas
I love to hate the hogs. My dad instilled some proper values in me, but they are so easy to dislike. Word on the street (at least what my dad showed me and what I have ready) is that Arkansas thinks they have something for Trojans. Nope. Not going to happy. USC reloads, not rebuilds. USC may not put up 70, but this one is not going to be pretty for the hog faithful.

Southern Miss – (7) Florida
Southern Miss is one of those underdogs that you always pull for, but they will not come close to matching Florida’s superb talent. It may be close for a while, but I could see the Gators winning by 17+.

Louisiana-Lafayette – (8) LSU
Why bother? Better competition than what the Dawgs will face, but this one is not going to be close. The Tigers will put up 50 (or more) points; while the Ragin’ Cajuns will struggle to muster 20.

(9) California � (23) Tennessee
One of my early season predictions a few weeks ago was that California is not a Top 10 team; at least not yet. Rocky Top is poised for a comeback, so I can see this one being an upset special. There I said it; I do not think the Volunteers are all that, and I do not want to pull for the Bears, but I am going to go for Tennessee on a last second field goal.

Vanderbilt � (14) Michigan
Ouch. This one is going to be a serious miss match. I think the Commodores may be respectable early, but they will not be able to hold up to the smash-mouth Big 10 style of football.

Hawaii � Alabama
Early bowl game? Alabama has much to prove after the disappointment of not being ranked in the preseason polls. The Tide has a wonderful defense, so even if the offense does not figure out how to Roll, Roll, Roll, ‘Bama should have a fairly easy win.

Memphis – Mississippi
This game could be the SEC Shame of the Week. Memphis will pull off the “upset” – but it really is not because Ole Miss basically stinks; there is still a lot of rebuilding to be done. Flim fam bim bam? Hotty Toddy, I think not!

Kentucky – (13) Louisville
The Wildcats are the other choice for the SEC Shame of the Week. This one will be done after 15-minutes; Louisville in a laugher.

Western Kentucky � (15) Georgia
Another laugher, and probably the worst SEC game on the Week 1 plate. Still, the reason to watch for Dawg fans is how soon we get to see the QB situation play out. 35-3 or something like that; in other words, not even close.

Other games of note:

North Texas – (3) Texas
If this was an NCAA 2007 Football game, North Texas would win, but it is not, so the Mean Green will go down hard and fast. My dad’s Alma Mater (and my usual NCAA Football team) vs. his favorite team. Will be fun to watch for a few minutes before the Georgia game starts, but this is just a tune-up for Texas to get a QB ready for Ohio State.

(2) Norte Dame – GA Tech
I keep reading and hearing that this is going to be a great game, but I have no idea if Norte Dame is really *that* good (too much hype for my liking). If Ball can get the ball to Calvin Johnson several times, and the bumblebees play their typical stingy defense, I smell an upset. I do not like Tech, but I hope they put the Irish on their collective happy ass.

(11) Florida State – (12) Miami (FL)
Does State have a QB? If the answer is yes, they will run the table this year, but if they do not, it is going to be long season for the Seminoles. I can also see Miami having another “down” year; at least by their standards. This one will be close, but no wide left (or right) nonsense this year.

Before I forget,

The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
All the livelong day.
The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
You cannot get away.
Texas Fight, Texas Fight,
For it’s Texas that we love best.
Give ’em hell, Give ’em hell, Go Horns Go!

Finally time for some proper football!

Go Dawgs! and Hook ’em Horns!

So WTH is wrong with US basketball? We have great individual players, but not a great team. Why?

I am not much of a basketball fan these days, but how does the US lose to Greece in basketball? I was not in a position to watch TV the last few days, but I would have assumed we would win out, even if we had a close call or two in the final games. As everyone but me knew by now, we still have no concept of team play, no concept of half-court defense, and we try to make up with it with great individual skills. Oh boy, another 360-windmill-behind the back-reverse-dunk. Yeah, baby! That will bring home another bronze!

Will have to wait to tell more …

Speaking of maiden victories, how about Marco Andretti at Infineon Raceway? Dude is so young he could not have Champaign in Victory Circle. Hats off and all that!

Congratulations to Felipe Massa on his maiden victory at the Turkish GP. I think the Alonso/Schumacher battle may have overshadowed Massa’s victory, but you have to give hats off to Massa for a very tidy victory. Just a couple of years ago Massa was considered an erratic mess who had speed, and now he takes Ferrari to the top of the podium. On to Monza in two weeks to see if Schumacher can cut into Alonso’s 12-point led, and to see if Ferrari will make their countrymen proud at the Italian GP.

The Falcons looked decent last night, but that is not saying too much considering the opposition was the Titians. Still, I was looking forward to a few things – could the Falcons establish a rushing defense, was Norwood up to the task (considering the Duckett trade), is Vick ready for the season, and finally would Shockley lock up the 3rd string QB spot? And of course I wanted to see Young in action.

Atlanta’s rushing defense looked solid, only giving up 50 or so yards on the ground. Norwood looked impressive, especially on his 62-yard TD scamper; he put in a nice tidy 100 yards on the ground. Surprisingly, Vick looked solid in the short passing game. He could have done better if his receivers helped him out; Crumpler dropped a pass in the endzone, and there were a couple of other drops including what would have been a nice gain in McCrary held onto the ball. I feel asleep before while DJ was in the game, but he ended the day a respectable 3-6 with 42 yards passing (and no INTs). Looks like DJ led a nice 14 play 60 yard drive for a FG. All in all, what I saw of the Falcons was encouraging, and what I did not see looks good for DJ fans.

I only saw Young for a couple of series, so not much to say except it is going to be fun to watch the kid develop into an NFL QB. I bet he is starting by game nine, because the Titians are going to suck this year.

Bristol under the lights is always a lot of fun, but I feel asleep with about 150 laps to go, which means I missed out on all the fun. From the looks of things the race lived up to expectations, and I have to admit that I like the new angry Jeff Gordon:

“Scott Riggs scored a season-high fourth-place finish and was followed by Jeff Gordon. The two exchanged heated words after the race, apparently disagreeing over the way they raced each other in the closing laps.”

Not sure what the flap is about, but fisticuffs makes for exciting off the track fun.

Refusing to watch the kids play, I just noticed that Columbus beat the team from Oregon 7-3, claiming the title of best little league team in the US. How many times have I mentioned that I played baseball during my formative years at Northern Little League? 🙂

I guess I will have to break down and watch the Championship game tomorrow. What the heck, you have to like the kids from Georgia!

In Istanbul Massa captured his first poll, and inside the next hour, the circle bunch are going to kick it around Bristol, which happens to be one of my favorite NASCAR events. Nothing like Bristol at night!

Several weeks old now, but there was a great NFL training camp article in the August 14, 2006 Sports Illustrated titled “Game of Survival” by Peter King that really shows what a cutthroat industry the NFL is for the middle class players. Only a couple more weeks until the NFL kicks off, and seven more until UGA takes the field! I cannot wait.

No stuffs today, just the straight poop on the weekend. As seems to happen a lot lately, work has taken on a life of its own, which usually sucks because game time is thrown out the window. Boo-hiss.

The Northern Little League team, from Columbus, GA is one win away from the championship. Did I mention that was my home league? And did I mention that I hate the idea of the Little League World Series being on TV? If Northern wins today, I may have to break down and watch the next game.

Looks like Chris is having a joyful experience trying to get us converted to OOTPB 2006. Me? I am just trying to figure out what the hell to make out of the new game. Not enough hours in the day to figure this one out.

The Falcons get to take on the Titans tonight. I cannot wait to see Young in action, but it looks like Ashley Lelie will not play. I hope this turns out to be a good trade for the birds, but I am a little nervous because Dunn always gets banged-up, and Lelie seems to be a malcontent.

Speaking of Young, there was an article in today’s paper where Vince said he was not like Mike. Unlike Vick, Young looks to throw the ball first. Pretty funny stuff.

We will wrap this one up on a cheap beer note. Picked up some Miller Lite last night; Chris is turning up his nose right about now. Just for grins, I saved one can of High Life Lite, so I can do a taste test to see if I can tell the difference in cheap beers. More to come on this later.

I am working like a dog around the house. Mowed the lawn, setup a small flower garden area (and transplanted some bulbs), planted some grass runners in a bare area of the side yard, dug up some left over construction mess from the renovation, and painted a couple of bookshelves. It is only 1PM and there are still a ton of chores left to do today. You better bet your sweet cheeks that it is Miller Time.

Happy weekend!

Every once in a while we have to talk about beer – it is sort of the American way. It has been an extremely long week. In fact, last night I found myself ordering Domino’s Pizza for the crew at work, which was sort of a strange feeling because the last time I ordered pizza for a late night was the week my dad passed away. Anyway, strange how things like that stick with you.

So I found myself wanting a beer after work last night; a quick stop at Mr. B’s and I found myself with the “champagne of beers” – Miller High Life Light. I am not sure if I have ever had a regular High Life; if I had, it has been years past, and I have never had the “light” version. The price was right – under $10 for a case of 18 delicious cans – and the taste is refreshing for cheap beer. Not sure if I can tell the taste between Miller Light and HLL, but as I said, for cheap beer you cannot go wrong with The High Life Light.

I do not really care much for the Little League World Series, or at least what goes on as far as TV coverage these days, but I do have to pull for the Georgia team, the Northern Little League team, from Columbus, GA. This is not only my home team, but my home league. Way back in the day, I made the All-Star team as an alternate, but we did not advance past the state tournament. Glory days and all that.

This article focuses more on New York, but Georgia won the game 3-2 in 7 innings.

Go Northern All-Stars!

I ran across a reference to the “man in the arena” in a recent issue of SI, and I just had to look it up. What a great quote by Teddy Roosevelt

It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly…who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

After dealing with the crap that I do on a daily basis, I figured it was appropriate to throw up those words of wisdom in the ‘bin. So many people think they have it all figured out; how much easier is it to criticize a problem instead of offering up a solution. (stepping off of my soap box, and putting it away for the night)

Why double dip, when you can triple dip? I already have The Lord of the Rings regular edition movie editions, and of course I had to purchase the super secret, and oh so special, platinum special editions, but do I really need a new “limited” edition with new commentaries? Sure, the fan in me wants this, but do I really *need* yet another edition of this great move? Talking about capitalism at its finest.

I came across this one at Curmudgeon Gamer.

Basically some quack claims that 40% of WoW gamers are addicted. I will never know if this is true because I do not currently spend any free time with crack, or WoW, but you would never know it by searches that after produces hits on this site, often with references to “crack.” Hmmm.

Back on topic … the quack basically states that Wow is gaming crack:

“She points out that MMORPGs typically use what is known in psychological circles as variable ratio reinforcement. Variable ratio reinforcement is the idea that the best way to optimize the desired behavior in the subject is to hand out rewards for correct behavior, and then adjust the number of times the subject is required to exhibit that behavior before a reward is handed out. For instance, if a rat must press a bar to receive food, then it will press faster and more often if it doesn’t know how many times it needs to press the bar. An equivalent in World of Warcraft would be purple (epic) loot drops: you never know when they are going to happen, but that just increases the anticipation of getting them.”

I never thought that Chris was a rat, but there is a reason I stay away from this crack. Of course I have not seen Chris post recently on WoW, so maybe it is rather pass�, or maybe the rat is tired of the cheese.