Weekend and Battle of New OrleansThoughts

NFL
Well the NFL went like clockwork save for the Giants upset of Garcia. Jacksonville stormed out to a big lead, blew it but then came back to win it. I swear their entire team is powered by something. Every single member of that team is uberstrong. Has anyone else seen Big Ben tossed around like a rag doll like that? Usually it takes two defensive ends and a team of oxen to bring him down. Meanwhile Titans made us all thankful that the Browns hadn't made the playoffs. Otherwise an exciting game might have broken out. Todd Collins showed why he's a career backup as the sad Redskins season came to an end. Over in Tampa Garcia played the same way he has the past few years after facing some pressure....like crap. The surprise was that Eli was solid and avoided any mistakes (anyone that watches Eli on a regular basis must have been waiting for that shoe to drop up to an including the post game interview). Next week the real playoffs start......

Battle of New Orleans aka BCS Championship

Well its a day off but 196 years ago Andrew Jackson became probably the first person to win a major battle (Battle of New Orleans for those that need things spelled out) after the war had ended. An impressive feat. Anyway here's a quick run down

Game Time: When's Mars fearsome blood red dot hits 40 degrees
Announcers: Ohio University's (the Ohio school without THE THE) Thom Brennnaman and Admitted Cannibal Charles Davis
Head Coaches Choice of Food: Jim Tressel a plain hamburger. Les Miles - hearts of defeated warriors
Location Sugar Dome (or the backyard for LSU)
Fastest Man on Field: LSU KR Trindon Holliday who runs a 10.2 100 meter (yes he's a trackstar)
Biggest Matchup - Glenn Dorsey v. Beanie Wells. Dorsey is the most decorated defensiveline in the land because when he has two knees. Buckeyes need to run and need to neutralize Dorsey to achieve this. My recommendation is shot Dorsey in the knee.
Matchup That Nobody is Noting: QBs. Matt Flynn v. Todd Boekman. Both have been adequate all year. Neither are what we'd call pro prospects. Can they avoid the mistake? Can they make the deep throw when needed? Can their backups do better?
Ubiquitous Vernon Gholston Comment: Fear Vernon Gholston. If he can take Jake Long he can take anyone. Oh and he's just friends with his female roomate.
Mighty's Mood: Why are we fans? The answer is different for different sports. College Football people are fans for winners. Its a tiered system based on demographics and finances. Your in the right the state with a wealthy enough school you have potential, your not and you have limited runs. Its really as close to European Soccer as the US has. While in pro sports and college basketball most people are fans of their team and the plucky underdog in college football its not the case. Ultimately it comes down to the bitch slap theory (this is more applicable to politics but thats a separate debate) where when a team gets bitch slapped they deserved it but they were inherently weaker. You don't root for the team bitch slapped, you hate their weakness. If you can't defend yourself against a bitch slap you the victim should be blamed and piled on. There's no notion of on any given sunday....outcomes are deterministic. You lose its because you and your conference have flaws. As quickly as a Meechigan v. OSU near rematch for a title in 06-07 turned to OSU didn't have a single quality win in 2007 in the blink of a Florida bitch slap. The Buckeyes and the Big 10 more generally though have been savagely beaten this year by the dumpdits of ESPN over their lack of speed, their soft conference play, in a word their weakness. The BCS game provides a duel edge sword. The Buckeyes can reclaim their and their conference pride by a strong showing close game or win. But another loss, well another heavy loss and the very long knives come out to shred them for allowing themselves to be bitch slapped again. So Mighty's mood is grim. He's not hopeful and very unsure when he'll watch sports again if there's a big time loss.......