FanHouse

Boston College: Hire Charlie Strong or Die

Brian Cook — 2009-01-07T16:27:00+00:00

by Brian CookSo you're a moderately successful ACC program in a state where the college football prospects all wear skates and drop their Rs. You've just fired a guy for having the temerity to interview with an NFL team. You're about to hire your third head coach in four years and the last two left because your athletic department just can't get along with folks. Recruiting already sucks and is only going to get worse.

Meanwhile, Charlie Strong finally came out and said what everyone's whispered about for years: he can't get a job in the South because his wife is white. He's been a college coordinator for a decade. He's a college lifer. And he's probably not going anywhere anytime soon. You want a guy who will stick at BC. You want some positive press after this debacle. You want a guy who's proven over the past ten years that he's one of the best defensive minds in college football. You want Charlie Strong.

Or do you want to promote some guy named "Spaz"?

There's no comparison between the two: Strong's fifteen years younger -- BC DC Frank Spaziani is already 63! -- and has just as much coordinator experience. Both men became DCs in 1999 and have remained at that post since. Strong's defenses have, on average, been better. He's supposed to be a better recruiter. And, critically, he's not two years from social security. The only way you could possibly justify a Spaziani hire when Strong is sitting out there, superior in all ways, is by claiming "familiarity with the program."

That may or may not be racist -- I won't throw that bomb -- but if it transpires as rumored, it would definitely be stupid.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Joe Paterno's Statue Is More Realistic, Less Hallowed Than You Think

Brian Cook — 2009-01-06T08:51:00+00:00

by Brian CookWhat's your instant reaction to this bit of hijinks?

COACH Joe Paterno's glasses are classics in their own right, and now somebody has taken the glasses from the Paterno statue at Beaver Stadium.

University police reported the disappearance between Jan. 2 and 3 and are investigating it as a theft and criminal mischief.

Is it "holy crap, you can take the glasses off Joe Paterno's statue?" I think it should be, because I think of statues as large pieces of metal that you can't disassemble without a blowtorch, not fancy mannequins.

Joe Paternos Career

Joe Paterno's statue, which was erected outside Beaver Stadium in 2001 when he set the all-time wins mark for college coaches, lost a bit of its identity recently when someone stole the glasses. Click through to recap Paterno's storied career.

Pat Little, AP

Paterno, seen here in 1965, began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Penn State in 1950. He initially thought his coaching career would be short and he would enter law school.

Paterno became Penn State's head coach in 1966. He took the reigns from the retiring Rip Engle, who coached Paterno at Brown.

Penn State went 5-5 in Paterno's first year, but the school became a national powerhouse with perfect seasons in 1968 and 1969 and 11 straight bowl trips from 1973-1983.

The Nittany Lions won their first national championship following the 1982 season, beating Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. They repeated the feat in the 1986 season with an Orange Bowl win over Miami.

Paterno celebrated his 324th victory in 2001. The Lions topped Ohio State at home, 29-27, to make Paterno the winningest coach in NCAA history.

Jamie Squire, Getty Images

Paterno relinquished the lead for career wins to another veteran, Florida State's Bobby Bowden, for a stretch, but holds the record once again. Paterno also owns the record for career bowl game victories.

Jamie Squire, Getty Images

Paterno was a living legend by the start of this decade and his old-school image became stronger than ever. A string a mediocre seasons from 2000 through 2004 prompted questions though about the veteran's ability to coach in the modern age. He responded with an 11-1 record and a Big Ten title in 2005.

Jacqueline Larma, AP

Paterno suffered a severe knee injury while on the sidelines during a game at Wisconsin in 2006. He was forced to coach from a skybox for a stretch afterward.

Morry Gash, AP

Paterno, who turned 82 in December, signed a three-year extension that same month and will be on the Penn State sideline through at least 2011.

Carolyn Kaster, AP

Can you remove JoePa's shoes? His jacket? His shirt? Can you sensuously trail your finger down his chest as you reach for his belt, feeling his rock-hard bronzed abs slip past? Should I stop this train of thought about four sentences ago?

Yes, yes I should. All I know is that if I see a headline along the lines of "Paterno statue's pants, honor taken" I am going to be very, very disappointed in State College, Pennsylvania.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Gene DiFilippo: Worst AD This Year, or Worst in the History of Ever?

Brian Cook — 2009-01-05T12:34:00+00:00

by Brian CookThe hottest new trend of 2008 and 2009 appears to be a diseased athletic department. See: West Virginia, Rich Rodriguez, and Bill Stewart or Auburn, Tommy Tuberville, and Gene Chizik. You can add Boston College to the list, too, as they've declared they'll fire Jeff Jagodzinski if he dares to interview with the Jets.

In a word: bats. Jagodzinski has been good, not great in his two years as BC's head coach. He's highly unlikely to get an NFL head coaching gig off the back of a Music City Bowl loss. But he's been successful enough for Boston College to hope there's some later date at which he'll have the resume for an NFL head job. So you're basically firing a guy good enough to get interviewed by the NFL but not good enough to get hired, which is the exact profile of coach you should be looking for at a school like Boston College.

Add in the strange departure of Tom O'Brien, who made an at-best lateral move to NC State for no apparent reason, and you've got the makings of a power-mad or incompetent athletic director with no idea how to maintain stability at his program. One incident is strange. Two is a trend.

How are you going to hire a promising replacement when you've just fired a coach for daring to interview somewhere else? How are you going to recruit when you're on your third coach in four years and the previous two left suddenly? You won't, and you can't.

Congratulations, Gene DiFilippo: you've managed out-dumb the rest of the country in a year in which a special teams coach from Mayberry and a 5-19 Iowa State coach were hired.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

The Gene Chizik Hire Through the Prism of Lizard Consumption

Brian Cook — 2009-01-02T15:31:00+00:00

by Brian CookOr: Youtube videos as modern-day editorial cartoons.

Somewhere in the four-minute video below of an ample Auburn fan being goaded into eating a ketchup-dipped lizard is a parable for all folks liable to say "War Eagle" every fifteen minutes.

You don't want to eat the lizard at first. Who would want to eat a lizard? But by God you've got to eat something and it's the only thing available that's not disconcertingly colored. So you try. And you can't. And you try again. And other southern college football fans start mocking you. And then you're handed a Mountain Dew -- which would be helpfully labeled "Malzahn" if this was actually an editorial cartoon -- and finally, finally manage to choke it down. You're not exactly proud. But you're on board.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the latest headline at Track 'Em Tigers as of 3:36 January 2nd, 2008:

Chizik Is Quietly Gettting It Done

Mmmm. Ketchup.

(Via Fire Perno Blog.)

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Rage, Rage Against the Slight Shortening of College Football Games

Brian Cook — 2008-12-19T13:45:00+00:00

by Brian CookIn the offseason the NCAA decided to change its clock rules for the third consecutive year, implementing a 40-second clock a la the NFL and allowing the clock to run on an out-of-bounds play after the ball is ready to snap. There was due outrage. The rules committee claimed games would be no shorter; I thought this was plausible.

What actually happened? Survey says:

G Plays/G Time/G Pts/G
2005 717 140.71 3:21 52.61
2006 792 127.53 3:07 47.53
2007 792 143.42 3:23 55.37
2008 770 134.73 3:11 52.78

Breaking it down:

2005 and 2007 were "normal" years with the clock rules from time immemorial. There were 142.1 plays per game on average in those two years.
2006 was the Hated Rule 3-2-5e Year. Games were 10% shorter than they usually were that year, and Bret Bielema kicked off 1000 times in a row. Or something.
In 2008 games were 5% shorter than in normal years.

So, yeah, the NCAA rules committee was full of it when they tried to sell their clock changes as benign. They were not. But the reason is not what everyone claims it is: the 40 second clock had little impact on the length of games. The real culprit was the change in the out of bounds rule, which is likely responsible for the vast bulk of the decline. That thing should get repealed lickety-split.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Places You Can Catch the BCS Championship Game in 3D

Brian Cook — 2008-12-18T09:32:00+00:00

by Brian CookSo there's some company that's producing sporting events in 3D, and they've picked the BCS championship game for one of their first major test runs. Should be interesting. The halftime feature on Tim Tebow's adventures in Filipino circumscision will be worth the price of admission by itself, and maybe they'll play Captain EO in the pregame.

Awful Announcing has a list of all the places you can catch this novelty for the low price of twenty bucks. Ironically, this is the only place in Oklahoma you can get the full Tebow:

STILLWATER
Carmike 10
(405) 372-0349

This... is not the best planning.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Urban Meyer Sort of Retracts Notre Dame Dream Job Comments

Brian Cook — 2008-12-17T16:06:00+00:00

by Brian CookA couple weeks ago Urban Meyer sent a couple fanbases into a tizzy when he said Notre Dame remained his "dream job" and that he could see himself coaching there down the road. Naturally, this made everyone crazy, and Meyer was -- and probably is -- going to be barraged with questions about it until he dies or takes the job.

But this should come as a relief to Florida and Michigan and USC fans everywhere:

In an emphatic effort to clear the air, Florida Coach Urban Meyer twice said on Tuesday he plans to be in Gainesville a "long, long time." ...

"Our staff has given our life to Florida football for four years," Meyer said. "We plan on giving our life to Florida football for a long, long time."

Word, Urban, word. You stay far away from any program Michigan plays on a regular basis and we're buds. You go to Notre Dame and I'll have to give you the evil eye, and neither of us wants that.

Of course, this does mean that over the next twenty years Urban is going to have to live through five separate Notre Dame coaching searches; he's going to rue those comments for a long time.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Surprise: Gary Danielson Upset at Tebow Diss

Brian Cook — 2008-12-17T13:30:00+00:00

by Brian CookRaise your hand if you saw a Gary Danielson hissy fit coming after the Tebow Child was inexplicably passed over for the Heisman by a guy with 18 more touchdown passes than he has. Okay, that's everyone.

Cue fit. Danielson is talking about Tebow losing the award despite being first on the most ballots:

Well, because it's a strategy ...That's exactly why it's done. That's why I gave up my Heisman vote about four or five years ago. I just thought this thing is a joke and I don't want to be a part of it. And by the way, I resigned from the Davey O'Brien award this year for the same reason.

The Davey O'Brien wanted me to vote for the outstanding quarterback in college football and here were my choices: Colt McCoy, great player, Sam Bradford, great player, and Graham Harrell, great player. But how can all three of the great players be from the same league? I mean come on, if you're going to have an award, you got to have Tim Tebow on that award this year don't you?

Danielson used to have a semblance of balance in his reporting until such point as he was hired by CBS, at which point he turned into a shill. I have heard the man credit a fumbled exchange to the sheer intimidation power of the defense. I have heard the man praise horrible pass interference penalties, horrible interceptions, and horrible blocks in the back. Nothing ever goes wrong in the SEC anymore, other stuff just goes more wonderfully right.

Also, please note that all four quarterbacks mentioned here run the spread, which Danielson declared dead all year to anyone who would listen. Danielson: always incorrect, always pro-SEC, no more worth listening to than your average houseplant.

I tire of this man. Someone put him in a box and ship him to Mongolia. I offer a shiny quarter for this service.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Humanitarian Bowl Ticket Sales In The Dozens

Brian Cook — 2008-12-15T14:26:00+00:00

by Brian CookNo, seriously.

Buried at the end of a positive article on the Humanitarian Bowl "hoping for a big turnout" that matches the whopping 26,000 that showed last year is this stark reminder of what happens when your bowl game is played in Boise, Idaho:

As of Monday afternoon the University of Maryland says it's sold about 16 tickets to the game. The University of Nevada says it's sold 8 so far.

"About" 16 tickets? How can the word "about" ever be followed by the number 16? If I worked in the Maryland ticket department I would at all times have a completely accurate number of tickets sold in my head: 16.

It will remain 16 until the game, at which point it will remain 16 for all time. If I run in to someone who worked at the Maryland ticket office in 2088 I will immediately query them about the number of tickets sold to the 2008 Humanitarian Bowl and if I do not get the answer "16" I will pull the mask from their face, revealing the supposed Terrapin to be a googly-eyed alien invader. This, I predict, will save the planet.

You're welcome in advance.

(HT: ONBUG)

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Everybody Hates Gene Chizik

Brian Cook — 2008-12-14T12:30:00+00:00

by Brian CookAt right, Track 'Em Tigers reacts to the Chizik hire. It's been clear that the people running Auburn's athletic department were kind of petulant little babies for a while now -- ever since the Petrino planegate fiasco -- but the extent was unknown until Tommy Tubberville was fired or forced out or resigned or whatever and Auburn didn't immediately hire Brian Kelly or Paul Johnson.

Submitted as a rule: if you're Auburn and you're going to can a guy who's won six of seven versus Alabama and has the kind of record Tubby has, you had better reel in an exciting head coaching candidate. A 5-19 record is not exciting, and Auburn blogs know it. A sampling of the reaction out there follows.

The War Eagle Reader:

I wanted my life back.
I got kicked in the balls.

... the balls of my Auburn heart.

Some random guy pissed off enough to stalk Auburn AD Jay Jacobs to the airport and heckle him:

Freshman Iowa State receiver Darius Darks:

"I understand business is business, but this man lied. At a team meeting, he was sitting there saying 'I told your mother, Jerrod Black, and I sat on your auntie's couch, Darius Darks, and I told her I would take care of you while you was up here at Iowa State.' Where's that n---- at now? Auburn University."

And, finally, the Joe Cribbs Car Wash:

It doesn't seem real. It doesn't seem like they could possibly be so shortsighted. I'm going to spend tonight trying to figure out how to react. That, and drinking.

Right now, my reaction is to really hate the Bill Stewart hire last year because this prevents me from claiming this to be the worst hire in at least eight years. (Bobby Williams, if you were trying to connect the dots.) The Stewart analogy is apt: both WVU and Auburn had successful long-term coaches that seemed happy where they were. The coach's unexpected departure was a symptom of a diseased organization, and the hire made in the aftermath is a definitive diagnosis.

(Heckler via the Georgia Sports Blog.)

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Pat Devlin Leaving Penn State

Brian Cook — 2008-12-11T11:14:00+00:00

by Brian CookPat Devlin never seemed that enthusiastic about Penn State in the first place -- he originally committed to Miami only to decommit when Larry Coker was fired -- and now he can be unenthusiastic somewhere else:

Multiple sources have told FightOnState.com that redshirt sophomore qurterback Pat Devlin has left the program and intends to transfer to another school.
As of this report, the destination was unclear, though sources indicate he is looking to transfer to the Football Championship Subdivision (DI-AA).

This is relevant: Devlin came off the bench and led a scoring drive in Penn State's win against Ohio State, and his departure leaves that guy with an extremely Italian last name (Paul Cianciolo) as the only other scholarship quarterback on the roster. If Clark gets knocked out of the Rose Bowl it could get ugly.

"Ugly" also seems a good word to describe how the transfer went down:

According to a source close to Paterno, Devlin, along with his parents, Mark and Connie, visited with the 81-year-old coach on Monday to express their displeasure over their son's situation. The Devlins brought with them a list of issues they had about Penn State's handling of their son.

By the end of the meeting, Pat Devlin had informed Paterno that he was leaving, the source said. With one game to play, however, Devlin's decision over whether he would play in the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl against Southern Cal was left dangling.

Yesterday, according to another source close to the team, Paterno asked Devlin if he had reached a verdict. The sophomore said he had not. Paterno made the decision for him, and by the end of the day, Devlin's locker was cleaned out.

GO AWAY FROM PENN SHHHHHTATE!

More worrisome for Penn State fans is the eligibility situation. Cianciolo is a senior, Clark a junior, and Penn State's recruiting class currently contains zero quarterbacks. Penn State is playing with fire here.

(HT: Black Shoe Diaries.)

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Sounds Like Tommy Tuberville Is Coming Back

Brian Cook — 2008-12-02T15:11:00+00:00

by Brian CookAt right: happier days.

Nothing definitive on this yet, but Tommy Tuberville has met with the men in charge of the Auburn athletic department and it sounds like he will return in 2009:

"President Gogue, Jay Jacobs and Coach Tuberville did meet Monday to have their annual end of the season meeting. Further conversations between Jay Jacobs and Coach Tuberville will take place in the following days to discuss Coach Tuberville's plan to make improvements for the program moving forward under his leadership."

That seems to mean "Tubby will be back but his offensive assistants should get in touch with a real estate agent." Most of the speculation around the Auburn job has focused on the need to boot the Tubs friends/cronies (depending on your point of view) on the offensive side of the ball and bring in someone with full reign to install his offense.

A quick survey of the Auburn blogs indicates they're sort of supportive of giving Tubby 2009 but mostly ambivalent. He's #1 on the hot seat going into next year unless Notre Dame holds on to Charlie Weis

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

This Week In Schadenfreude: *The 'eers Are Wicked P****d Off!!!*

Brian Cook — 2008-12-01T15:39:00+00:00

by Brian Cook

scha·den·freu·de -noun

satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

[Origin: 1890-95; < G, equiv. to Schaden harm + Freude joy]

On This Week In Schadenfreude we explore the sputtering rage, gibbering condemnation, and resigned ennui of the college football fan who has recently undergone humiliating defeat. Because even in your darkest hour, someone else is suffering too, and probably worse than you. Unless you are a Michigan fan who has just finished watching the Appalachian State game.

Oh, West Virginia. It's not like anyone expected Bill Stewart to be anything other than the second coming of Larry Coker, but even Larry Coker couldn't screw up the talent he was handed in his first year. WVU is now 7-4 after a loss to Pitt, and this week all you need are the titles of threads posted with whole words in caps with multiple exclamation points on WVU's Scout message board:

FIRE STEWART NOW!!!!!!!!!! SICK OF THIS MORON!!!!!!

THAT WAS HORRIBLE!!!!!!!

No wonder Jim Grobe let JEFFY BOY GO!!!

WES LYONS FINALLY MAKES A MEANINGFUL BIG PLAY!!!!*

FIRE Stewart!!!!!

STEW NEEDS TO GET MEANER!!!!!

WE ARE PRETTY SPOILED!!

Mike Leach COME HOME!!!!

*(not going out of bounds with 15 seconds on the clock.)

Country roads, take the Tears of Unfathomable Sadness to the place they belong.

The week in spleen after the jump.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Auburn's Slide Is Longer Than You Think

Brian Cook — 2008-11-25T23:55:00+00:00

by Brian CookTommy Tuberville will be firmly on the hot seat going into 2009 -- if he even makes it that far -- after a season in which one of the finer moments is a 3-2 win over Mississippi State. This is taken for granted. But what are the chances Tuberville turns it around? As recently as last year the Tigers were winning a fairly prestigious bowl once named after a fruit. Surely Auburn will bounce back?

Eh... not so much, actually. The Joe Cribbs Car Wash brings forth a stat that will be harrowing to Auburn fans: yards per play differential. To calculate, just take your averaged yards gained for every snap on offense and subtract yards allowed. And then, if you like Auburn, cover your eyes:

2004: +1.8 (6.4/4.8)
2005: +1.0 (6.0/5.0)
2006: +0.6 (5.5/4.9)
2007: +0.3 (4.8/4.5)
2008: -0.2 (4.6/4.8)

That is five years of steady decline, and this offseason the Tigers will be searching for a new offensive coordinator. Again. Who will install a new system. Again.

Even if Tubby gets another year, the writing is on the wall here.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Is Les Miles To Washington The Dumbest Coaching Rumor Ever?

Brian Cook — 2008-11-25T15:30:00+00:00

by Brian CookCoaching searches are crazy and a lot of crazy stuff gets said during them, but come the heck on here:

Another rumor making the rounds is that the Huskies might be interested in LSU coach Les Miles, who interviewed at UW in 2004 when Willingham was hired.

That's right, kids: the Seattle Times is speculating that a guy coming off a national championship at a powerhouse SEC program and getting paid one dollar more than Nick Saban who turned down his alma mater last year will leave for Washington. Which is 0-12. And has no particular connection to Les Miles whatsoever. And is still 0-12.

So I ask you, commenters of FanHouse: has anything dumber ever been suggested? Did a newspaper ever claim that the corpse of Bear Bryant would be reanimated and take over at Auburn? Because that's all I got as far as more outlandish scenarios.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

This Week In Schadenfreude: Cue the Crying Leprechaun, Then Watch Him Explode

Brian Cook — 2008-11-25T14:52:00+00:00

by Brian Cook

scha·den·freu·de

-noun

satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

Despite the author's proclivities, TWIS tries to remain balanced in its coverage of the misery inflicted on fans by the teams they love, and attempts to avoid spotlighting one team too heavily before the jump. The Tears of Unfathomable Sadness try to move around.

But, well... it's Notre Dame again, and with good reason. Notre Dame needed a win to get sucked up into the Gator or Cotton Bowls where they would be beaten into oblivion by someone like Texas Tech. Instead, they lose to a 2-8 team with a fired coach. Afterwards, David Bruton cries like a baby and even I, Michigan fan extraordinaire, feel sorry for the guy.

In the aftermath, people go on toaster-throwing fits of rage :

I want to pound my fingers through someone's skull, but I don't know whose. I want to break something, but I don't know what. I want to break into someone's home and take a dump in an inappropriate place, but I don't know whose house and whether to lay chocolate sausage in their fireplace or on their kitchen counter.

The Tears belong to whichever fanbase provides the most vicious burst of rage in the aftermath of humiliating defeat (and, every once in a while, humiliating victory). And, uh... yeah...

This season, I have attempted the following:

Exercised feverishly, gone for a run and done push-ups. Result: short-term release, rest of weekend still ruined.

Put on some Indigo Girls and ironed shirts. Result: even more angry and now slightly gender-confused

Kicked a laundry basket down stairs and punched some pillows. Result: short-term release, and the futile sight of a laundry basket rolling down stairs just saddening.

Slapped the hell out of a wall and pounded my foot. Result: A strange awakening to my own insanity. Appendage throbbing.

What is wrong with me?

What is wrong with them?

Notre Dame, they're yours.

The rest of the week in spleen after the jump.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

This Week In Schadenfreude: LSU Descends Into a Maelstrom of Self-Hatred

Brian Cook — 2008-11-17T18:44:00+00:00

by Brian Cook

scha·den·freu·de

-noun

satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

I don't think a winning team has ever pulled down the Tears of Unfathomable Sadness award, but we have history this week. LSU fell behind against the Troy Trojans of Troy (We're From Troy!) 31-3, causing a mass exodus from Death Valley and a truly epic message board war. This is the nuclear bomb:

At this point LSU fans just need to STFU. We are largely irrelevant, living off past glory, full of self-congratulatory bluster. Even now, some tard (sorry PJ) is on my radio talking about Nick Saban. Saban ? We don't believe in our team, we don't believe in our coaches, it's not important to us anymore to even stay at the stadium. We have made second-guessing an art form and have a juvenile view of reality. We bitched our way through a National Freaking Championship and now we are sniveling through a 9/10 win season. THAT IS WHO WE ARE. Snivelers. Whiners. Crybabies. With a ridiculous sense of entitlement.

I'm not blaming us or even asking for change, I'm just acknowleding the Truth.

Uh. Wow. And then you've got the first response:

It was either leave or kill the wife to stop the whining and there were too many witnesses to do the right thing.

Yes, what they say about LSU fans is true: they smell like corndogs and are complete lunatics. (Just kidding LSU fans! Please don't dip me in batter and fry me!) The rest of the week in spleen after the jump.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

BCS Games Headed to ESPN

Brian Cook — 2008-11-17T17:34:00+00:00

by Brian CookI think most people will be happy with the way this bidding war turned out:

Fox Sports declined to match an offer from ESPN to televise Bowl Championship Series college football games from 2011 to 2014, the network announced Monday.

Fox still has the rights for the next three years.

The Fiesta, Orange, and Sugar bowls will now reside on ESPN; the move also triggers a clause in the Rose Bowl's contract with the Disney/ABC/ESPN hydra that allows said hydra to move the Granddaddy to ESPN.

Upside: no more tortured Barry Alvarez and the BCS games move to a network that actually cares about college football year round. It was odd to turn on a BCS game only to get some weird smattering of announcers you've never seen before and endless cutaways to the band by a director obviously used to NFL games. Dude, check out those people with the funny hats. And they've got instruments! WE MUST EXPLORE THIS FASCINATING ODDITY.

And so forth and so on.

Downside: if you don't have cable you're out of luck. (But how can a serious sports fan exist without cable these days?) And if you're a playoff advocate this is another four years of the BCS mess.

(HT: Awful Announcing.)

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Nick Saban Swearing! In Public! Woo!

Brian Cook — 2008-11-14T16:31:00+00:00

by Brian CookNick Saban's sitting in a room doing his radio show amongst a sea (ha!) of Tide partisans, discussing the upcoming Ole Miss game. He is very much in favor of a loud and rowdy crowd. And because inside we're all still 13 and get little titters about authority figures dropping swears, it's worth checking out Saban drop the impolite equivalent of "crap":

What makes it, of course, is the crowd reaction: several people go "wooo!!!" like their pig just came in first. Ah, the privileges of being undefeated.

(HT: EDSBS.)

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

This Week In Schadenfreude: Welcome Back, Notre Dame, We Missed You So

Brian Cook — 2008-11-10T15:30:00+00:00

by Brian Cook

scha·den·freu·de

-noun

satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

Notre Dame fans were okay-ish with a loss to Michigan State and upset but understanding after coin flips with North Carolina and Pitt that went against them. A 17-0 blanking by Boston College in which the Decided Schematic Advantage(tm) racked up under 300 yards of offense and turned the ball over five times? Eh, not so much:

I now consider us a Div II program
by FLBOB73 (11/08/2008 23:12:46)

...I truly believe that Navy will have their own streak begin with their second win in a row. We will lose to USC and others. Maybe we can beat Syracuse, but I'm not even sure we can reach bowl eligibility at this point. I am sick in my heart. Don't talk to me about next year, don't talk to me about learning curves and the talent that's coming. Bulls---. We're medicore and we're coached like a high school team. We play without emotion, without a plan and without any determination. We talk trash and that's it. ...

Elsewhere, Domers are offering up youtube clips of "The End" for Weis. In the eyes of the faithful, it's over: Notre Dame is dominated with discussions about the new coach. (One particularly outstanding suggestion: bring in Holtz for one year. Please let this happen.) Newly D-II Notre Dame, you are the Tears of Unfathomable Sadness award recipient.

The rest of the week in spleen after the jump.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

FanHouse

Boston College: Hire Charlie Strong or Die

Joe Paterno's Statue Is More Realistic, Less Hallowed Than You Think

Joe Paternos Career

Gene DiFilippo: Worst AD This Year, or Worst in the History of Ever?

The Gene Chizik Hire Through the Prism of Lizard Consumption

Chizik Is Quietly Gettting It Done

Rage, Rage Against the Slight Shortening of College Football Games

Places You Can Catch the BCS Championship Game in 3D

Urban Meyer Sort of Retracts Notre Dame Dream Job Comments

Surprise: Gary Danielson Upset at Tebow Diss

Humanitarian Bowl Ticket Sales In The Dozens

Everybody Hates Gene Chizik

Pat Devlin Leaving Penn State

Sounds Like Tommy Tuberville Is Coming Back

This Week In Schadenfreude: The 'eers Are Wicked P****d Off!!!

Auburn's Slide Is Longer Than You Think

Is Les Miles To Washington The Dumbest Coaching Rumor Ever?

This Week In Schadenfreude: Cue the Crying Leprechaun, Then Watch Him Explode

This Week In Schadenfreude: LSU Descends Into a Maelstrom of Self-Hatred

scha·den·freu·de

BCS Games Headed to ESPN

Nick Saban Swearing! In Public! Woo!

This Week In Schadenfreude: Welcome Back, Notre Dame, We Missed You So

scha·den·freu·de

This Week In Schadenfreude: *The 'eers Are Wicked P****d Off!!!*