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White
Flag Usually, the white flag is used to surrender. I suggest that NASCAR makes every Cup driver carry one for the remainder of the racing season. They might as well, after what Jimmie Johnson did to them at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Now that the 48 car has taken the checkered flag for the third time in 5 "Chase for the Cup" races, the rest of the field needs to pull over and quit. Maybe Dale, Jr. was ahead of the curve on this topic? Junior caused a stir at the track, when he all but threw in the towel for his horrific year. He claimed that he was "at the end of his rope". Life must be tough, for a guy that will pocket in excess of 35 million bucks for sucking all year. For the record, Junior has one win in his last 130 Cup races. Impressive. But Junior might be onto something. Jimmie Johnson now has a 90-point lead with 5 races to go, and there doesn't appear to be anybody or anything that can stop him. While Johnson continues to impress on the track, he's not helping matters nationally as the rest of the country gets interested in football and the baseball playoffs. I doubt anybody is tuning in to see Johnson's stand-up act off the track, and his dominance on it. As I say on the show all the time, you don't have to like Jimmie Johnson, but you sure better respect him. Johnson and his crew chief, Chad Knaus, have formed the most dominant NASCAR racing team since Ray Evernham and Jeff Gordon. Some people might consider Johnson and Co. the devil, given the way they torture the competition. The numbers "666" do come into play...here's why:
We're watching history in the making....you might as well pull up a chair...and a white flag, and enjoy the ride. The Panthers are on a two-game wining streak, after finding the guts to pull out a hard-fought win over the winless Tampa Bay Bucs. The streak could go to three in a row in the month of October, after the Bills show up in Charlotte on Sunday. Assuming the Panthers can find another W, they can get back to .500 before Halloween. All of this is good news, but there seems to be something missing with this team. I'm not sure anybody is going to get too giddy with the wins over putrid Washington and inept Tampa Bay. The team struggled to win both games against anemic competition. Jake is good for some terrible mistakes and bad throws....the OL has struggled, even though they were great against Tampa (who isn't?)....special teams are below average....and the team hasn't beaten a quality opponent in a long, long time. The second half of the schedule is loaded with trouble, but Carolina is trying to find some answers on both sides of the ball before it's too late. Jon Beason's comments on the radio have certainly lit a fire under Julius Peppers. The last two games, Pep has displayed the talent and aggression that fans, players and coaches expect every week. Beason can downplay the comments and apologize for making them public....but everybody that has anything to do with the Panthers deep down knows that what he said was right on the money. Nice effort, by the Tennessee Titans. You mail it in during week 6 of the NFL season, by getting throttled 59-0 by the New England Patriots? That's unacceptable. Jeff Fisher is one of my favorite coaches in the NFL, but how do you explain that effort other than the fact that the winless Titans have cashed it in for the remainder of the season? Congratulations also go out to both Kerry Collins and Vince Young, who combined for minus 7, you heard me, negative seven yards passing. My dog Chester had 7 more yards passing than these two guys. Is there a way we can schedule the Titans and the Washington Redskins in a loser-leave-town match this weekend? The first BCS Poll has been released, and already there is controversy. I have no problem with the SEC combo of Florida and Bama being 1-2, even though I like the Tide as the best team right now. I have no issue with the Texas Longhorns as the #3-ranked team in the BCS, either. But for Boise State to be ranked 4th is downright comical. I guess it was the heart-pounding performance against Tulsa last week that influenced the voters, pollsters or computer geeks. This has nothing to do with Eastern bias, or in my case, a Southern Fried slant....this has everything to do with using common sense. Boise State wouldn't be the fourth-best SEC team, much less the fourth best team in the country. I guess beating Oregon at home is all you need to do to be considered a legit national title contender.....it is as ridiculous as the blue turf they play on each week in the WAC...or is it the Mountain West Conference....or....screw it...it doesn't matter. The Cincinnati Bearcats round out the Top 5 in the first BCS rankings of the season. I've been impressed with Coach Brian Kelly's squad....and for the record, he might just be the best coach flying under the radar in college football. If only Notre Dame had hired him. I can assure you if Kelly was in South Bend for five seasons, the Irish could name at least one signature win.....ask any Irish fan to answer that one. For the record, not only is the BCS a joke, so is Charlie Weis. The big man is now an impressive 4-11 against Top 25 teams during his era, and his last win over a ranked team came in week two of the 2006 season. Leave it to the Irish to backdoor themselves into a BCS bid with a 9-3 record, only to be exposed as the frauds they are when they have to play an athletic team in a January bowl game. But back to the BCS....in the first 11 years of the system, the top 2 teams in the opening standings have reached the title game only once and that was in 2005 when Texas and USC hooked up. You might as well make it a dozen years since it will be nearly impossible for the Gators and Tide to have a rematch of what appears to be a showdown for the SEC title in Atlanta. How goofy is the ACC's Atlantic Division? This week, the Boston College Eagles are in first place with a 3-2 conference mark. How is that possible? They were destroyed by both Clemson and Virginia Tech, but somehow they are in first place by virtue of the fact that everyone else in the division is highly erratic and average. When you look at the remainder of their ACC slate: @ Virginia, UNC and @ Maryland....well, you might find BC back in the ACC title game. I'm sure the folks in Tampa have to love that scenario. Maybe the Eagles can bring 1,000 fans with them this time? It should also be noted that the Atlantic Division is now 0-6 vs. Coastal, thanks to Virginia's drubbing of Maryland. How did the Terps beat Clemson? How does Maryland beat anybody? Congrats need to go out to the Kentucky Wildcats. Their victory over Auburn on Saturday night in the Plains snapped an amazing streak. It was Kentucky's first win at Auburn since 1961. If Frank Beamer decides to bypass a trip to Atlanta, I totally understand. His Hokies opened the season and the Southern Fried Football™ Tour with a loss to Alabama in the Georgia Dome. His club suffered a major loss on Saturday night against Paul Johnson's running machine at Grant Field, in downtown Atlanta. The loss eliminated Virginia Tech from the national title picture, and it also jumbled the Coastal Division, too. Now the Hokies, Jackets and Canes are in a battle for a spot in the "Road to Tampa". For the record, it should be noted that Virginia is also 2-0 in conference play.....but I can't take them seriously enough to add them to the debate. I get the chance to see Vanderbilt for the first time on the Southern Fried Football™ Tour this upcoming weekend, in Columbia. You can read about the "probation" that is at stake for the Cocks in our game notes listed above. Vandy's appearance is significant because they are the only SEC team that hasn't graced Southern Fried Football™ since we started this thing, a dozen years ago. Steve Spurrier should be excited to know that the Commodores he faces this year are having a tough time scoring points. In four SEC games, they have scored a grand total of 29 points......and lost every game. The Gamecocks should bottle them up again this week....of course, I thought the same thing the last two years....and Vandy won both games. |
Packman
on Sports Commentary
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