Go Bears!!

On September 1st this fall, my favorite team will be the California Bears for approximately 4 hours, give or take:

ABC Sports announced today that it will televise Tennessee's season-opening contest at California Sept. 1 in prime time to kick off the second season of ESPN on ABC's Saturday Night Football. The telecast will kick off at 7 p.m. and be offered in high definition on ABC HD. Since 1997, UT's season-opener has appeared on national television every year except 2005, when the Vols' game against UAB was broadcast regionally by Jefferson Pilot Sports. UT has won its last 12 season-openers.

Tennessee last appeared on ABC in 2003, when the 18th-ranked Volunteers defeated sixth-ranked Miami 10-6 Nov. 8. The Vols have only appeared on ABC 11 times since 1995, but Tennessee has been victorious in nine of those contests. The Big Orange fans have traditionally traveled well to the West Coast. Tennessee expects to sell all of its 7,500 ticket allotment. The Vols opened the 2006 season with a 35-18 win over California at Neyland Stadium.

Sorry to make you revisit your painful past, Coach Bando, but The Tennessean brought it up, not me. ;)

Colt loves GQ, too

There's nothing so painful as unrequited love. Coach GQ is happy to learn that his lovefest with Hawaii QB is not a one-way relationship. Brennan decided yesterday to return to Hawaii for his senior season.

"I know what I'm passing up," Brennan said at a news conference. "My heart lies right here in Hawaii."

I think I just saw a tear in GQ's eye.

Oh no, Coach GQ!

Colt Brennan is likely headed to the NFL.

See ya later, say Gators

Coach Rob's Florida Gators thumbed their noses at conventional wisdom (and ESPN's SportsNation) by thumping Coach Bando's Ohio State Buckeyes 41-14 last night in Glendale. We now know that the Gators own the trophy, Rob has claimed the FP title and Coach Woody has reluctantly accepted the dreaded hat. After last night, we also know that:

• Friends of the FP Jason and Krista have a beautiful home, complete with pool, arcade games, a widescreen TV and a dojo.
• We already knew this, but Woody makes some mean homemade ice cream.
  
• Wearing team shirts backfires, unless you don't have a dog in the hunt. (Rob with Texas 0-1, Bando with OSU 0-1)
• GQ has a future in desktop publishing.
• Arkansas is ranked higher than Hawaii, but Coach GQ finally has a second wife, Bobblehead style.
• Rob still has pinkeye.
• Woody can't wait until August.
• The matchup combination of Bando's first pick, Rob's third pick and a game featuring Ohio State located in the state of Arizona does not bode well for Bando.

It will be a long spring and summer as usual for the FP, but draft day will come. I am pleased to announce that Coach Rob is on the clock. Here's to another fun year ahead for the FP in 2007!

It's (almost) time!

It all comes down to one game for the FP Championship. Coaches Bando and Rob are ready, and we'll see whether the Gators and Buckeyes are shortly.

If you get bored during the game (hopefully you won't), you can now bet on every single play:

BodogLIVE will give you the opportunity to bet on every play (whether it be Incomplete Pass, Complete Pass, Rush, or Turnover), every drive (Field Goal, Touchdown, No Score) and every kick off (Over/Under 20-plus yards).

SportsNation is picking the Buckeyes, but we'll have to wait and see who wins:

1) Which team will win the BCS Championship Game?
35.1%	Ohio State in a blowout
33.1%	Florida in a close game
23.4%	Ohio State in a close game
8.5%	Florida in a blowout

I don't know German...

...but sometimes I can translate. Here are my takes on excerpts from this blog post about tonight's BCS Championship Game:

Urban Meyer gilt als ein Offense-Guru der keine Scheu hat, Trickspielzüge auszupacken.
Urban Meyer is good. He likes trick plays.

Das Laufspiel gilt als anämisch und das Schießen von Field Goals als Schwachpunkt (4 von 13 durch Chris Hetland, 1 von 7 bei 30-39yds!).
Florida must always go for it on fourth down.

Headcoach der Ohio State Buckeyes ist Jim Tressel, ein Vertreter seiner Zunft, so konservativ, dass es schon an Weltfremdheit grenzt.
Jim Tressel makes Joe Paterno look innovative.

Das Sportereignis das heute in den USA alles in den Schatten stellen wird, ist das “Meisterschaftsspiel” im College Football.
College football should have a playoff.

Child abuse

This is not for the faint of heart. I'm resisting the urge to vomit. It is sad to see the indoctrination and brainwashing begin so young.

Dudley Field

Here's a great history page with details about Dudley Field. The photo above looks a lot different than the current view from West End Avenue. Wow. Go Dores!!

All Vandy wants for Christmas is...

Here's one Commodore's take on Vandy's Christmas wish list. I wholeheartedly agree with number one (below), a renovated and improved Dudley Field, because it is sorely needed and will help with number two:

We don't need a huge stadium. We need a stadium that is state of the art and comfortable for both fans and players. Let's renovate Vanderbilt stadium and make it second to none in quality and appearance, like the rest of the university.

I'd love to see Dudley downsized to about 35,000 and those awful metal benches replaced with plastic seatbacks. I'd also love to see the pressbox and stadium exterior covered in brick. Here's hoping 2007 is a banner year for Vanderbilt, especially football.

Tomahawk chopped

Dismayed at his university's role in earning Coach Woody the dreaded hat this season, Florida State President T.K. Wetherell is boycotting the Seminoles' next game, the Emerald Bowl against UCLA:

"I'll watch it on TV like everyone else. It's kind of making a statement," Wetherell said. Asked if he'll be criticized for not standing by the team, he said, "If you go, you're damned if you do. If you don't, you're damned too."

OK, he's not really boycotting, but it's still interesting to see how many FSU representatives will not be making the trip to Seattle.

Airport strikes Heisman pose with Smith's trophy

No word on whether the Buckeye QB was allowed to bring a Coca-Cola or a pair of tweezers on board:

Troy Smith's Heisman Trophy was shipped home because airport security would not allow the Ohio State quarterback to take it on the plane Tuesday.

Take a wild guess

This media report isn't talking about the Iron Bowl or the BCS Championship Game. Care to take a guess, coaches, before you take a look?

We have a game that's scheduled and we're going to play it. We have good people and I think everyone understands what happened can't happen again. The game will be played.

Re-ti-re...

...please.

Joe Paterno arrived at Beaver Stadium in a wheelchair Thursday to talk about Penn State's trip to the Outback Bowl and was greeted by photographers snapping pictures...

And he's got no plans to step away from coaching. He turns 80 on Dec. 21.

"I'm not looking for it to being a problem. If it turns out being a problem, then obviously I'll back away and re-evaluate my situation," he said. "Right now, I'm planning to do exactly what I planned to do before I got injured."

Sigh.

Mike Stoops to Miami?

This would be a good move for the 'Canes, if you ask me:

In his third year at Zona, Stoops brought the team to 6-6 with signature wins over Cal and Oregon. He has signed back-to-back top 25 classes for the Wildcats, who have played second fiddle to Arizona State for a while.

Arizona has shown improvement each year under Stoops. The Wildcats won three games in 2004 and improved on total defense by more than 100 yards a game and cut 10 yards off its scoring rate. They won three games again in 2005 including an upset victory over UCLA before jumping up to six victories this season as Stoops' recruiting began to make an impact.

Off the field, he has helped raise attendance at Arizona games by more than 8,000 fans a game to over the 50,000 level.

Albom on the non-rematch

Here's a couple segments from the Mitch Album column this morning. Mitch always does a good job about keeping things unbiased, and I agree with a lot of his points in the entire article, not because I selfishly want to see Michigan in the title game. If voters think Michigan is #2, then you HAVE to put them in the BCS title game. If they honestly think Florida is #2, then fine, I don't have a problem with that and they should be in the title game. However, I do have a problem if people ONLY voted UF #2 because they didn't want to see a rematch, that's wrong. The BCS (as much as people don't like it) is to put the #1 and 2 teams together.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061204/SPORTS06/612040363/1048/SPORTS

"You can spin this thing any way you want. It was strictly about fresh versus familiar. In the end, Ohio State will play Florida on Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz., because people with votes want to see that game more than they want to see a rematch of Michigan-Ohio State. This was all about the line of thinking that says: "Give someone else a chance."
But if the system were about giving everyone a chance, they wouldn't call it a poll, they'd call it a donkey ride."

"Michigan, having not touched a football in two weeks, has to wonder why it was dropped -- while Florida was vaulted. Michigan has to wonder how losing on the road to the only team ranked ahead of it -- and losing by three points -- is somehow less worthy than Florida losing by 10 points to Auburn, a team not even in the final Top 10."

Speaking of donkey's, that's what I think of Gary Danielson and his announcing of the SEC game. I thought announcers were supposed to be biased during a game. I was about to scream if I heard Gary say one more time why voters had to vote Florida ahead of Michigan.

So now, who do I pull for in the title game? Dare I say it, but Ohio State IN A BLOW OUT. Come on Buckeyes! I don't care if it costs me an extra $10.

FP Finale

According to several sources, Coach Bando's Ohio State Buckeyes will face Coach Rob's Florida Gators, not Coach GQ's Michigan Wolverines, in the BCS Championship game on January 8. Let the hype begin.

Woody lands the hat

In a gut-wrenching emotional roller coaster of a finish, Coach Bando's West Virginia Mountaineers have eked past Coach Woody's adopted Rutgers Scarlet Knights 41-39 in triple OT. Your 2007 hat bearer is Coach Woody.

GQ, let us know who wins the Coltfest. Good night, coaches!!

West Virginia answers

We're headed to double OT, a first for the FP. Oh, the humanity!!

Rutgers holds

The Scarlet Knights have held the Mountaineers to a field goal. West Virginia and Bando now lead 26-23, but Rutgers and Woody have the momentum and the ball.

O, wow!

That's "O" as in OT. For the second time in FP history, the deciding game for the hat bearer hasn't been settled in regulation. Rutgers missed a go-ahead field goal with seconds left, and both teams (and coaches) are still alive in their quests to escape the hated headgear. Rutgers has won the toss, but who will win the game??