Trash Regurgitated

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Okay, I am going out on a limb here and moving trash up in the queue until tonights game, and any afterbirth, is over. Then either Marcy or I will return it to the bottom of the barrel where it was rescued from! Mostly, I wanted to post up this wonderful Norman Rockwell image, because it represents the greatness that is America!
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THE BCS sucks, but it has a literal monopoly on major college football. It operates with the blessing of the NCAA, yet serves as a giant restraint of trade upon NCAA member schools and to the virtual exclusion of those schools which are not fortunate enough to have already bought their way into the six “BCS Conferences”. The single premise justifying this infernal setup has been that the BCS formula results in a true national championship between the two truly top teams and the best lineup for the four “BCS Bowls”, the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange.

The lineups for the games have never been necessarily that great though and, although much of the time the championship game seems to have the right two teams, it has certainly been nowhere near consistent in that regard. Friday and Saturday night blew it all to shit. First, Oklahoma State, the number 2 BCS ranked team got got beat by a very mediocre Iowa State. Then number 3 Oregon got licked by Tommy Trojan and Oklahoma got the RGIII treatment from Baylor. BOOM! The BCS rankings are in shambles, the nation is looking at another putrid rematch of that pitiful 9-6 LSU/Alabama game from earlier in the year and no telling how crappy the four named bowls will end up. There is even growing talk that the weak sister of the poor, Notre Dame, should be given a BCS bowl berth; which, although providing absolutely shitty football, always is a moneymaker.

Please, make it all stop. Now. This is the one place where I would be happy to have the idiots in the US Congress intervene. Go to it boys. End. This. Madness. Now!

Oh, hey, a shout out to Gulf Coast Pirate’s Houston Cougars, who ran up another big win against SMU to move to 11-0 for the year and will try to make it 12-0 with a season closing win over Tulsa. The Cougars deserve a nice BCS berth, they are exciting to watch. And, under protest, must also mention the confounded Wolvereenies, who actually looked competent on both sides of the ball in a big, really huge, win over Nebraska. This Brady Hoke may be the right guy in Ann Arbor, and residents/former residents there should thank the nice folks in San Diego!

On to more pleasant things where every team has the the option to play the games to win the games and take their chances in the playoffs. The NFL. Going to open the discussion with Cincinnati at Baltimore. The Bengals may not have won against the Stillers, but they sure held their own, as did rookie QB Andy Dalton. But they get another smash mouth perennial playoff division opponent today in the Ravens. Both teams are playing great defense and have competent, but far from flashy offenses. Like with the Stillers, look for the Ravens to win, but could really be a great game. Sheriff Ed Reed, meet Duelin Dalton. But in Duelin’s favor today, one cat he will not be meeting is Ray Ray Lewis, who, as Marcy commented, hasn’t missed a game in almost a Favre. But the Ravens still have Terrell Suggs and Reed, and that is a lot.

Bolts at Bears may well be the best game – potentially anyway – on the schedule this week. The Bears are clicking, the Bolts are hurting; but this is the time of year San Diego usually pours it on. Also interesting again is Carolina at Kitties. Can Cam shaft the Lions? Detroit has really fallen back to earth and one of the huge reasons has to be the nearly complete absence of a running game without Jahvid Best. Detroit should win this, but I dunno. The Iggies go visit the Gents in the “meh” game of the week, although I suppose Philly could open the door some for Dallas if they knock off Eli. Oh, and the ‘Boys are at the Skins where Sexy Rexy is baaaack. Grossman does give Washington the best chance to win (also best chance to implode), but hard to see that they have anything for Dallas at this point.

Oh, and the CheesePack tries to stay undefeated against the Buccos. Go Pack Go!! Don’t you just love the Little Jets Whiner?!

Well, there is a lot to discuss even though this is a football only Trash week, so get to jawing.

Jets, Pats & Other Pro Trash

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I promised new Trash for the NFL Sunday slate, and dammit I’m gonna deliver. Plus a certain Ms. Wheel is just dying to predict the Jets, Jets, Jets are gonna whup up all over the Patsies. And who am I to deny the forum for that? So buckle up for takeoff Wheel pilots!

In all seriousness, the Pats in New Yawk, er New Joisey, is really the most interesting game of the week for several reasons. There is the conference rivalry, the fact it really may determine the conference champion, the whole Bill Belichick/Jets tension from long ago, and the fact that both teams are in a way weaker posture than they figured to be and are desperate for some street cred. Frankly, the latter may, shockingly, apply even more to Bieber and cohorts than the Jets at this point; even the invincible Pats offense is looking like it is missing a couple of cylinders lately. And, say what you will about them, the Jets have firmed up the backbone and Revis Island is gobbling up ground again. You all know the players by now (except Bill Bel sent Fat Albert Haynesworth packing to TB), so no need to go through that again. I have no idea how to call this one, but am excited to see what happens. It is the Sunday Night Football game, so we all get to watch together.

Damn near as good, ought to be the old time Black & Blue Division match between the Lions and Bears. This one is at Soldier Field and, believe it or not, Cutler and Da Bears have been very solid of late. When Cutler can stay on his feet, and is not being an idiot, he is very good and so are the Bears. Detroit has the line to put the sometimes Jello Jay on his ass though, and they better if they want a chance to win. Make no mistake, the Lions need the win, because they have the Packers twice, Chargers, Raiders and Saints left on the schedule. Not a piece of cake from here on out. This will be a real good test of where Matt Stafford, MegaTron and the Boy Named Suh are.

Also in the first rate category is Giants at 49ers. Good Eli has been prevalent of late (of course he always beats the Pats), and the Gents have looked mean. But next to the mercurial Cheeseheads, the Niners have been far and away the most consistent NFC team this year. Again, another great test heading into the final stretch of the year. We will learn a lot about San Francisco; if they pull out another win, then they really are legit.

Saints at the Dirty Birds in Hot’Lanta also shapes up to be a very good game. New Orleans has not been very good on the road this year, and Atlanta can be a tough venue. Stillers at Bengals is yet another tell tale matchup. I was a little shocked Pittsburgh did not dispatch Baltimore last week, so how they bounce back on the road in Cinci will be a good measure. Also be interesting to see how the so far unflappable rookie Andy Dalton holds up against the Steel Curtain. Good times await!

Honorable mentions this week go out to the Bills at ‘Boys and Tebows at the Chefs. Also the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but it will be over by the time anybody sees this, unless you are up very early in the morning (if you are, tune in to Speed TV, Abu Dhabi is a nice circuit).

Prepare for takeoff! By the way, I saw the tour, and indeed maybe the exact concert if that is Pauley Pavilion, the video above was taken from in 1976. It was completely killer.

Carrier Classic, Veterans, Lions and Huskers Trash Talk

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Alright, as you may have heard, there has been a bit of excitement in college sports this week. We first hit on it last Saturday as we slid into another seemingly routine weekend of trash talk. But it has indeed mushroomed into an oxygen consuming goliath and, quite frankly, it has that level of significance in many respects. Marcy has done a couple of very good posts on the background and why Penn State is special in her life and that of so many others, and a more detailed post on timing and charging details. There is a little of my input in the latter, but I will be along, in a separate post, with some thoughts and observations on the legal status of the overall Penn State matter.

I will also be along with the college football rundown for the weekend as an update to this post in a little bit and, likely a separate post for the NFL Sunday slate, because there are some great games, including Jets and Pats.

But, for now, the first ever Carrier Classic is starting on ESPN and, I have to say, this thing looks freaking cool. They have a first rate court set up, with stands and all the hoopla, on the USS Carl Vinson, a 1,092-foot-long, 244-foot-high floating battle city. It is still on the water though, and it is outdoors in the port at San Diego. That is going to affect the shooting and play of the teams a little, just how much we will see. Oh, and Mr. and Mrs. Obama are there. It is a really great gig for Veteran’s Day. Gotta love it.

Tonight’s classic pits the Spartans of Michigan State and Tom Izzo against the Tar Heels of North Carolina and Roy Williams. Seriously, college basketball does not come much more steeped in tradition than that. Carolina has owned MSU lately, winning seven of the last eight and the Heels are pretty much a consensus preseason number one in the land. Hard to pick against them. But never count out any team coached by Tom Izzo, even though the Spartans are looking at a rare rebuilding year. Magic Johnson, Mr. Sparty himself is in the house as is the Tar Heels’ Big Game James Worthy. Guess Michael Jordan is too busy trying to screw current players now that he is ownership in the NBA.

Anchors Aweigh mateys! See you in comments and will add in college football later tonight, but feel free to trash on any, and all, subjects you can think of. Drink sailors!

Saturday’s College Football: Okay, the Carrier Classic was pretty cool and the shots looking out over the court and off into the ocean sunset were simply stunningly beautiful. But we are on to football. The Gulf coast Pirate’s Houston Cougars have already done their work and moved to a remarkable 10-0 after rolling up 73 points on woeful Tulane; the Cougs need to be rewarded with a substantial bowl game. Similarly Virginia Tech has already dispatched the Rammblin Wreck of Georgia Tech and looks good for the ACC championship game.

The most important game today is not the Penn State game against Nebraska; no, the most important game is the Oregon Quackers at the Home of the Tree, Stanford. Stanford is number 4 in the BCS and Oregon number 7; the implications are simply huge for both the national championship picture as well as the North division berth in the Pac-12 championship. Both teams have good defenses and fast, wide-open offenses. Both have extremely good ground games (nobody notices this about Stanford, but they really do). Everybody knows about the Duck’s LaMichael James, but Sethfan Taylor is a killer too. There are going to be a LOT of points scored here, but Stanford is at home in Palo Alto and I will take Andrew Luck over Darron Thomas; a hard fought win for the Tree is the prediction.

TCU and Boise State is always a good game, but TCU is not the team it has been the last few years, the Broncos should roll again. Auburn versus Georgia will be a great SEC game; I’ll take Georgia this year. Oklahoma State is in Lubbock. Texas Tech has had an up and down year; here’s hoping they get it together for an upset of OSU. Florida at South Carolina will also be a pretty good game. I would have taken the Gamecocks easy before Marcus Lattimore went out for the year, but now it is a tossup.

That leaves the game that will, for mostly all the wrong reasons, hold the nation’s attention today, Nebraska at Penn State. Obviously there is a situation going down in Happy Valley. It is not so happy these days. Comments discussion in Trash Talk is always wide open, but I am not going to go into substantive analysis of the facts and legal analysis here in this main post body. There are already three substantive posts where we have done that (here, here and here) and I will likely be along with something more later today or tomorrow.

But the game itself is very notable as the Nittany Lions are 8-1 and undefeated in Big-10.2 play. Their last three games of the year are, however, starting today, Nebraska, Ohio State and Wisconsinl the last two on the road. Both have pretty solid defenses and spotty offenses. Despite being without Paterno and the assistant coach who was effectively offensive coordinator, Mike Mcqueary (who claims to be in protective custody and double fisted drinking), my guess is the team is way more focused and motivated under interim coach Tom Bradley. Bradley has been there a long time and can run the team just fine, in fact he was already doing a lot of that when Paterno was still there. McQueary may actually be more of a loss during the game. But it is Senior day and the last home game these players will play at Penn State. If Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin, who was very close to Paterno, can put together a decent game, then I think the Nittany Lions surprise a whole lot of people and pull off the win. Say what you will about the mess roiling PSU, the kids on the current team did not do that; I will be rooting for them today.

There you have the rundown. Lots to jaw about today, we will do a separate post for the pros and tomorrow, and there are some good games there too. Let the trash flow!

Notice of Errata: Um, I actually did mean to mention the Mighty Ephs versus the Jumpin Jeffs. Yes, today it is the official “Biggest Little Game In America” and they will be playing for all the NESCAC marbles. Amherst rolls in undefeated at 7-0 and Williams right behind at a respectable 5-2. The Lord Jeffs are led by super running back Evan Bunker, while the Ephs seem to have a last minute question at QB between Chris Cleary and Adam Marske. This is gonna be a real barnburner humdinger as Keith Jackson would say!

Tide, Tigers and Other Pro Football

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ESPN tells me that the BIGGEST COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAME EVAH is being played today between Number 1 LSU and Number 2 Alabama. Got a pretty tough hill to climb to beat the Stanford/USC game last weekend though; we shall see. No question about these two teams defenses, they are both big, tough and fast. The game is at fabled Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, so the home turf factor certainly goes to the Tide. But the Tigers have the Honey Badger X-Factor. The Honey Badger is LSU cornerback/roving hit man Tyrann Mathieu. Both teams have competent QBs, although neither Jarrett Lee nor AJ McCarron have really been tested so far in a situation where the game depended on their arms, so their stats are a little misleading. Really so far, it is basically a wash and the teams are pretty similar. Except Alabama has Trent Richardson, who is simply a punishingly good running back; by the end of the game, that may well be the difference.

A week or two ago, I might have thought #14 Kansas State could give #3 Oklahoma State a run for the money; but not now, and not in Stillwater. A third late game of note is #9 South Carolina at #7 Arkansas. Marcus Lattimore’s season ending knee injury cost the “Cocks maybe the best all around RB in the nation, but his fill in, Brandon Wilds has been picking right up where Lattimore left off. The Hogs just kill SC every year, but I am going to go out on a limb and say the Gamecocks get the upset. The fourth key game is yet another late game, with ASU traveling to the Rose Bowl to take on UCLA. Hard to believe, but if the Bruins manage a win, they would be in the lead for the Pac-12 Southern Division berth in the conference championship game. The Bruins have rebounded from a lousy start to the season, but I don’t think they have the horses to match points with Brock Osweiller and the Devils.

Honorable mentions go to Texas A&M/Sooners; potential upset there, but it is in Norman. In early action, Iowa is Hawking all over the Wolverweenies so far as are the Longwhores over the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Oh, and in the sick news of the week, legendary ex-Penn State Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky has been indicted on 40, count em 40, counts of various deviant sexual assault of minor boys over a fifteen year period between 1994 and 2009. Sandusky retired from PSU in 1999, but the current Athletic Director and a second school athletic oversight official have also been charged in the matter with perjury and failure to report. JoePa has been left out, presumably because he did report when he supposedly first heard of Sandusky’s conduct (which was in 2002 after Sandusky had left PSU), but it sure doesn’t look like Paterno did much in the way of followup when he had to have known nothing had come of his report. Pretty bleak day in University Park.

In more positive news, the fine folks in Deetroit have organized to try to unsuck the Lions’ home games. From the Free Press:

A petition to dislodge Nickelback from the Detroit Lions’ Thanksgiving Day game has turned into a whole mess of petitions.

Rolling into its second day, the Great Nickelback Debacle continued to generate heated Internet chatter and international headlines, as the original fan campaign against the rock band closed in on 35,000 signatures.

Now THAT is a worthy effort; here is the petition. Nickelback?? You gotta be fucking kidding me. Deetroit Motor City, what the hell were you thinking??

UPDATE: Aaaaannnddd here come the “other pro-football players”, the ones that work for money instead of Escalades, free tattoos and money. I get the choice of 49ers at Skins or the Jets Jets Jets getting Circled By Wagons. I am kind of watching both, but am more interested in the Bills. Say this though, Frank Gore is an animal. Dude is really good. San Francisco is not a fluke, they can play. Hey, look, Sanchez is on the ground getting dirty near his own end zone already! Fancy that….Hey, wait, the Sanchize drove the Jets all the way down to the Bills endzone ….. and was promptly intercepted with a 20 yard runback.

Actually, now that I look at the schedule, Skins/49ers may be the second best early game; yuk what a lousy slate. Tampa Bay and Saints might be interesting, but it is in Nawlins, and Le Bon Temps Roulet there. The late slate is much better with Bolts/Cheesers, Pats/Gents, Bengals/Titans, and Baby Jesus at the Black Hole all being pretty interesting matchups. This is the kind of weird game the Bolts often somehow win, but for the life of me, I cannot see how they are gonna stop the Cheese Offensive. I don’t think the Pats could stop Bad Eli, much less Good Eli. Isn’t this where the famed “gelling of the young Belichick defense” is supposed to be happening? No signs of that so far this year.

Most unfortunately, I will be watching none of those games, because I get the extra pleasure of being given the Rams and Cardinals as my only late afternoon game. That is a fair fight. Of losers. Oh well, the Sunday and Monday Night games are both superb this week. Big Ben and the Stillers are back in form, and they might just have some payback in the offing for the Ravens. And Flacco and the Baltimore offense are regressing. Bears at Philly just depends on which Bears show up. But it seems Vick and teh Iggles are starting to click finally, so Philly looks good here.

Crack open a cold one and shove some chips and salsa in yer maw and let’s rock.

It’s A Great Football Weekend Charlie Brown

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The St. Louis Cardinals are your 2011 World Series Champs, and man game 7 sure was a big letdown after the scintillating game 6. But now it is on to football and Formula One, where the heart of this blog truly lies. And Charlie Brown has more than the Great Pumpkin going for him this weekend, there is absolutely great football too.

Let’s start with the NCAA. Perhaps the most interesting game is tonight’s matchup of the Stanford Tree visiting USC’s Tommy Trojan. The Tree is 7-0 and 6th ranked, but the Trojans are an under the radar 6-1, and the only loss being to ASU in Tempe, which is nothing to be ashamed of. Andrew Luck is all world, and they are even letting him call some of his own plays tonight ala Peyton Manning. Matt Barkley is no slouch either though, in fact his stats are a near match with Luck’s. The difference really is, surprisingly, that Stanford has a far superior running game to the Trojans, who are usually known for that. USC is also weaker in the D-secondary. Those two factors should provide a win for the Tree, but it should be a good game and USC has the potential for a big upset here if Monte Kiffin can coach up the Troy defense beyond expectations.

Another late game, Clemson at the Ramblin Wreck of Georgia Tech also looks to be quite good. Clemson and star QB Tahj Boyd have been a real surprise this year. Tech (along with South Carolina later) is one of the few remaining obstacles between the Tigers and a legitimate shot at the BCS Championship game. I have a hard time believing it, but I think that just may happen and they start the push tonight by edging out Tech. The other game to keep an eye on is Baylor v. Oklahoma State. OSU is 3rd ranked and an offensive powerhouse, but Baylor and their mad good QB Robert Griffen III have some juice too. If this game were in Waco, I would smell upset; but it is in Stillwater, so OSU should prevail. Honorable mention games are Boomer Sooner at Bill Snyder’s Kansas State and the on a roll Spartans of MSU at the Cornfuskers.

It is also a fine slate of games in the pros, headed up, of course, by the TEBOWL! That’s right, any game Tim plays in IS the TeBowl. Sunday’s version involves the Deetroit Kitties coming to meet Baby Jesus at Mile High. Kitties are smarting from two losses in a row and need some steam heading into next week’s game against the Bears. But Stafford has a bad ankle and the running game is hurting without Jahvid Best. The Lions should win this, but they better get down on one knee and Te-Bow in prayer they do. The real top game is, of course, the Patsies at the Stillers. Bieber v. Big Ben. One shaky defense versus another suddenly shaky defense. Both teams have superb passing games and solid enough running games to get the job done. So, it comes down to the D’s. This would normally be a gimme for Pittsburgh, and indeed their passing defense is still somehow top rated in spite of other cracks in the Steel Curtain. But Tom Brady owns the Stillers and Bill Bel has had a bye week to coach up his defense. Bieber wins another tough game. Honorable mention to ‘Boys at Iggles and Skins at Bills.

Oh, I want to mention one little piece of schadenfreude lost in last weekend’s bender, the debut of the new super duper coaching staff member for the woebegone Indianapolis Colts. Yep the ‘ole Cheatin Sweater Vest himself, Jim Tressel (Photo Credit to NBC sports via SportsByBrooks screencap). The Vest worked his usual magic in helping the Peytons to a hard fought 62-7 not-quite-victory.

Also on tap is the inaugural Grand Prix of India. Qualifying went off very early this morning, with Sebastian Vettel taking his 13th pole of the year. Dude is just too good and his equipment is superior to boot. Vettel is followed by WEbber, Alonso and Button on the starting grid. Hamilton was fast in qualifying, and would have been P2 but for a 3 spot penalty for his assholey driving in previous competition. I got my first look at the course during the qualifying. Looks like a fast and possibly interesting track, but fairly ugly surroundings. We shall see after the first real race. By the way, in some stunning F1 news this week, our old buddy Chris Christie has helped lead an effort that has resulted in F1 coming to the streets of New Jersey. This could really be a fun setup done right. Credit where due.

Alright, let’s rip this joint; trash er up!

A Great World Series Arises From The Ashes

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So, I fully apologize for letting one and all down in the heavy Tebow content department last weekend. It was inexcusable, and I do know how important it is to you all to get THE FULL TEBOW. Well, I am here to make amends. There is one hitch in the giddyup though; it turns out the biggest sports story in the land is the World Series, where the St. Louis Cardinals rose uppa from the meek earth last night – like TebowChrist would – and pulled off a miracle. This leaves us with a deciding game 7 tonight.

In all seriousness, the game last night between the Texans and Cardinals was not particularly well played defensively, nor well pitched; however, it is one of the best WS games I’ve ever seen. Wow. And that sets up the last waltz tonight for the crown. Remember when pundits were laughing at MLB and Selig because there was no Yankees, Sawx or Phillies in the Series and how it would be TV ratings scum? I do, and it has turned out quite nicely thank you very much. Best Series in a while actually. But, because Emptywheel is ALL TEBOW ALL THE TIME, when Bob Schacht asked for early WS coverage, I made it conditioned on a Tebow tie-in. Bob really came through too:

Tebow, schmebow. We’re talking about the World Series!

Anyway, if you insist: Didn’t Tebow just lead his team on a series of late game scoring drives to win a game everyone had given up on?

Same deal with the Cardinals. After screwing up for most of the game, and their bullpen giving up 4 runs in the late innings, the Cards kept coming back, tying the game twice in the late innings and then winning in the 11th inning with a walk-off homer by David Freese. Freese has had a great series, and is a young player, like Tebow. I believe Freese also committed a stupid error earlier in the game, dropping an easy fly ball at third base, so we have a redemption theme going, too.

Besides the 3 errors, the Cardinals made some great defensive plays, as well, managing to turn a bunt into a double play.

Series heros so far for the Cards: Youngster Freese, and old guy Lance Berkman, who just happens to be hitting over .400 for the series, and is cavorting around the field like someone 10 years younger.

Well hello, that is Tebow like! Apparently Bill Belichick has been wearing a Tony Larusa Cards jersey around lately. Don’t know what to make of that, but it is powerful stuff.

I find both of these teams kind of compelling and am conflicted as to who I am rooting for; mostly just for more kick ass baseball. Matt Holliday is out for the Cardinals, and the WS MVP up until now, Mike Napoli, has a pretty badly sprained ankle. Napoli played through it last night, but tonight may be a whole nuther matter, although he intends to play. Pitching will be Matt Harrison for the Rangers and Chris Carpenter for the Cards. This should favor Carpenter, but he is coming in off of a goofy schedule and only available because of the rain day interjected into the equation. It may be that both teams use a lot of pitchers.

I have no idea how this game will go, but it is always hard on a team that had it wrapped up like Texas did, twice last night they were one strike away, and who let it slip away. And, of course the game is in St. Louis. You have to think the Cards have the edge here.

Batter Up!

Tebow Christ Superstar!: Wash Yer Hands & Seal The Fishes Fate

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Welcome to TebowWheel. We are done with that national security and legal shit; we’re going ALL TEBOW, ALL THE TIME baybee! Now, I hear Rosalind is fixing to riot this place or something because she can’t find a Trash post to trash up. Fine, riot away, just PLEASE do it very quietly, mmkay? Cause I gots a little severe head trauma going on here. Aspirin doesn’t help. Excedrin doesn’t help. Tylenol and Advil don’t help either. Freaking vicodin doesn’t even help. I am currently looking for a guillotine delivery service. That might work….

Okay, sorry about being so tardy here but things happened starting about happy hour time yesterday. Bad things; very bad things. Here are a few things I either learned or remembered the hard way during the ramble through the bramble:

1) I’m too old for the kind of party expedition work I used to easily do.

2) No matter how much mescal seems like a good idea at the time, it just never is. (after four decades, those worms are still nasty).

3) So, it turns out there is a bar in Scottsdale that has live singing and dancing midgets. The Britney Spears midget was every bit as nasty as the fucking mescal worm.

4) I may have to rethink that propofol shit Michael Jackson mainlined, cause nothing, I mean nothing, works for shit. Just blinking my eyes causes unimaginable excruciating pain.

5) Falling asleep on the pool diving board is not a sound plan. Don’t think I was there that long, but then the sun started coming up. Damn near rolled into the pool.

Okay, I’m a gonna post this now cause that uppity Wheel woman is bugging me. She called my telephone this morning. That was rude, sounded like a freaking air raid siren rattling in my head. Then she started asking me questions and stuff; that didn’t work well. So, Sparty just ran off about 16 points and took the lead against Russell Wilson and the Wisconsin Badgers. Great game so far. Except that grounding in the endzone crap. That wasn’t good. Aw ferchristsakes, freaking Sparty just blocked a kick and recovered the ball in the endzone for another touchdown right before the end of the first half. Jeebus.

So, MORE TEBOW to come. I’ll bet Baby Jesus could cure my head.

Put Down The Ducky Trash

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Is another fine Saturday with a host of great college football games on tap. It’s hard to get anything past the king of sports, ESPN, and they have chosen Autzen Stadium, home of the Oregon Ducks, as the site of their ESPN Gameday. Now there may be a few other college football games going on today, for instance there is a rumor that there is such a game up there in the big mitten of Michigan. But we’ll get to those also-rans in a minute.

The game of the day, in this case actually night, is the University of Oregon versus Arizona State University Sun Devils. Oregon comes into tonight’s game ranked Number 9 in the country and the Sun Devils number 18. I Have said it before, but if you’ve never been to a game at Autzen Stadium, you just don’t know. The place is freaking crazy and loud. They do it right up there in Eugene. The Ducks are the enemy for a Sun Devil fan, but I can honestly say I’ve never been to a more fun, and wild, stadium for college football game. Today, the Ducks have a wounded wing in tailback LaMichael James being out. James is killing this year and had three straight games of over 200 yards rushing going. But today his cleats will likely be filled by super freshman DeAnthony Thomas. The Ducks’ only loss this year is to LSU in the opener, so do not be fooled by their record, they are still big, bad and can flat out fly on the field turf in Autzen.

ASU, so far, has been a curious team. The Devils started the year with absolutely a ton of promise, but have been literally decimated by injuries. The hardest hit has been the secondary, led by stud All Pac-10 corner Omar Bolden. The Devils have an inconsistent ground game, which makes QB Brock Osweiller, who is tall and very good, a target. If the Devils linebackers can contain the Ducks just a bit, and ASU can get a halfway decent running game going, they have a real shot. Those are huge “ifs” though, and I just don’t see it; look for the Quackers to roll. But it would look to be a very entertaining game to watch, and since it is the late national night game on ESPN, everybody in the country can. Go Devils, put those Duckies down!!

Because I need to stay alive for another week in order to turn the Emptywheel blog into ALL BABY JESUS TEBOW, ALL THE TIME, I will also report there appears to be another big rivalry game today; in fact, it just started. That, for those scoring at home (and even if you are alone) would be Michigan/Michigan State. Yep, the Wolvereenies are gonna visit Sparty in Lansing. Big Blue is 6-0 and Sparty 4-1; but Michigan has run into the Green Machine looking good the last few years and gotten taken to the cleaners, thus starting a downhill spiral for the remainder of the season. But the Merlots are helmed by Brady Hoke now, and even though this is in Lansing, it just feels like it is Michigan’s year in this grudge match. The Big Blue defense is gelling a little, although still giving up big points. On the other hand, it is pretty windy, which could turn some of Denard Robinson’s floating passes into sitting ducks. Michigan is also hobbled by Brandon Herron and Marvin Robinson being out for the game on defense. Kirk Cousins is a lot better suited to pass in the wind than Robinson. Close game, but I think the Bo Merlots pull it out and move to 7-0.

I am going to add some more content on NCAA and a pro section in a bit, but this will get folks going for now.

Okay, a few additional NCAA games of interest. Texas A&M is up 24-14 on Read more →

Big Kitty Cats On The Prowl & Talking Trash In Detroit Motor City

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[Hi there Kitty Kat fans!! The tigers are tied with the Rangers in the 9th and the Lions coming on soon. Time to Prowl, so Trash has been moved back up to where it can be found – bmaz]

The big cats are on the prowl, and they are growling right on down Woodward Avenue. Los Tigres are Looking For Love and they’re Making Thunderbirds.

And they are not the ever lovely Watertiger kind of kitties either. Nope, these kittehs are big, bad, lean, mean and will Fuck. You. Up.

Detroit Motor City is happenin baybee; seriously happening, and here is hoping there is no Detroit Breakdown.

First on the catwalk are the Tigers. Los Tigres dispatched the evil empire of the NY Yankees. Fittingly, the game, and series, ended with a strikeout by Mighty Casey LeBron Rodriquez, aka “Mr. April”. Congratulations pinstripe pushers, you have 6, count em six, more years of this joy at the low, low price of only $27 million a year. Worry not though, while he has already been through Kate Hudson and Cameron Diaz, you still have the ARoid and Gwyneth Paltrow hookup to look forward to. So you got that going for you, along with you new number one starter, AJ Burnett, after CC Sabathia bails. Red Sawx cognoscenti feast. As to everybody else, ponder whether there is enough Justin Verlander to slow down Josh Hamilton, Michael Young and the Rangers. Say what you will, these are, at this point, the two best teams in the American League.

In the Senior Circuit, my local kids, and they are kids since they are the youngest team in MLB, came up just a bit short tonight against the BrewCrew. Awesome game five, and awesome series. Both teams just had so much personality and good vibe, it was hard to root against either one. But someone had to win, and in extra innings in the win or go home game, Milwaukee did. And Albert Pujols and the Cards shocked the mighty Phillies, in Philly, to make the unlikely advance to the NLCS. This is almost certainly not the NLCS matchup FoxTV hoped for. Too bad, both teams earned it, suck on that Fox.

In the college gridiron type of sporting activity, a couple of has beens like Texas and Oklahoma are playing. If only they both could lose. Then the better and more appealing team, the Boise State Broncos, could move ahead to the rank they deserve in the standings. Especially after dropping 57 points on conference rival Fresno State Friday night. The most exciting team in the country as far as supposed first tier conferences go, the sharp toothed Wisconsin Badgers, have a bye week.

Next on the beautific catwalk are the Deetroit Lions. These too are some slinky cats.

The Chicago Poo Bears are going to mosey into the Lion’s Den at Ford Field, where the Kitties hope to say “Suh you later”. So far, so good, Matt Stafford is still healthy and leading the Lion offense. Stafford’s resume is spotty because of injury, but when healthy, he has clearly demonstrated he is a top-flite quarterback. Javed Best is a nice back, but the Lions might want to invest in another back at some point to insure the future that seems so bright. As good as the Lions’ defense has been so far this season, they have been playing without what many considered the best athlete in the draft, Nick Fairly out of Auburn. Dude has the potential to be another Suh. If he is even close, it is hard to imagine what it will mean to Detroit, and he may make his season debut against Da Bears.

I understand there may be other games of both the student and professional athlete variety, but if they ain’t from Detroit, you will have to supply your own analysis in comments. Because this is Motor City Madness Weekend!

Well, okay, maybe we will get to non-motorcity talk because, if nothing else, there is some shit going down in Suzuka. And if you know squat about F1, you know there is usually wet, and corresponding wild, in Suzuka. That’s just the way it is. Vettel was off pace in practice, but was fast and took pole in qualifying, with Jenson Button of McLaren in P2. Lewis Hamilton hung on for P3 followed by Mass and Alonso in the Ferraris. True to form, qualifying was off schedule due to rain. We will see yet what the conditions are for the actual race, but I have always found the wet to be a good thing at Suzuka as it seems a bit pedestrian of a track without it. The race goes off at 2:00am EST and 11:00pm PST and is being carried in the US by Speed TV. If Vettel finishes anywhere in the points, even with the minimal single point, he clinches the Drivers’ Championship, and that is a pretty safe bet to occur.

As you may have noticed, this is a VERY heavy music Trash post. But, if there is one thing Detroit is known for other than American steel on wheels, it is music. I didn’t roll with the common Motown motif, and I did not fall back on old friends that used to be from Detroit, but now are here in the desert. If you are a music nerd, check out the enantiomer MC5 version of Motor City Is Burning. Not sure exactly what the deal is, but it is clearly, whether intentionally or unintentionally, a reverse print if you look at all the right handed people flipped opposite. Weird. Probably not many people remember the MC5, but they were one of the early foundations of straight up hard rock, and they were dead nuts killer.

So, that is it for the Motown Trash. Burn it down!

Taking Back Wall Street Trash Talk

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Well we are a little late getting started on the trash talk this weekend, I apologize about that. I have been fixated on the Anwar Awlaki scenario and, today, the Occupy Wall Street effort. In honor of the citizens trying to take back the Street in New York, this week’s music is by Jimmy Cliff; you can get it if you really want it. But, you must actually try.

That, folks, is what is meant by the term “a democracy, if you can keep it”. The people still have the power, the people still have the vote; but they must have the information, and they must have the desire to exercise their power. Our friends and colleagues at FDL, via Kevin Gosztola, are doing great work covering the protests. And, if you have seen what I have on Twitter, it really appears to be something significant starting to form in the Big Apple. I am told about 400 people have been arrested; let’s hope they are replaced by 4,000 others.

Quite frankly it is a rather lackluster day in college football, the only 2 games I really had my eye on are Nebraska at Wisconsin, and 13th ranked Clemson at 11th ranked Virginia Tech. The Clemson game is already over, with the Tigers laying an unheard of whipping on Frank Beamer and the Hokies in Blacksburg. Not so for the Badgers however, the Cornfuckers are in Camp Randall right now with the Huskers up by a point 14-13. The rest of the game should be something fun, and the quarterback for Wisconsin, Russell wilson is really a special kid.

On the pro end of things, it is really not a very enticing slate of games on tap. Seriously there are like three games worth watching. The first is the Stillers at the Texans. Normally, this would be an easy call; but Pittsburgh has not settled in yet this season, and Houston has a fine team and is at home. That is a pickem. The second decent tilt, and maybe my most anticipated game, is Deetroit at Dallas. The Kittehs are THE hot team this year, and Suh is gonna be Romo rib hunting. But the ‘Boys are a little tougher than people think, and are at the JerryDome. I am leery of this, but am still going to go with the Lions. The other game tomorrow of interest is the Pats at the Black Hole to visit those nice Raider chaps. Darren McFadden got a bit nicked up in his huge day against the Jets, Jets, Jets last week, but looks good to go tomorrow. Marcy smells a Rayduhs upset here. So do I. Honorable mention to the Jets versus Ravens on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. It’s in Baltimore, gonna go with the home team there.

Lastly, it is October baby. Reggie Jackson time! and playoff baseball is in full swing. Unless the game is at Yankee Stadium, in which case it is in full swim. Tampa Bay just clocked the Rangers behind 22 year old rookie sensation Matt Moore to open the series, but Texas is up 7-3 in the 7th inning tonight. Oops, Eva Longoria just hit a three run tater to bring it to 7-6. Rays are like butter. On a roll. Diamondbacks got freaking smoked by the BrewCrew today in game one of the NLDS. Arizona has the youngest team in baseball and has been on a great run this year, but still may be a year and another starting pitcher away from being serious contenders. Never count out Kirk Gibson though, and the DBacks are Gibby’s team through and through.

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