College Football Quiz: Bob Boyles and Paul Guido have been compiling the ultimate College Football Encyclopedia and now it’s sponsored by USA TODAY. I say this every year, but for football junkies this is a must have…so buy it! Support your writers!
Anyway, since 1953, what five programs have the best record? I’ll give you No. 6, Texas. Bonus Question for a Premium Lager: Who has the best bowl record since ‘53? Answers below.
J-E-T-S…JETS JETS JETS!!!
Your editor was in attendance, thanks to Pete M.’s season tickets (Pete also being a Pats fan, ironically), and, yes, your next Super Bowl Champions backed up their talk in defeating New England and pretty boy Tom Brady. Oh, the Meadowlands was rocking.
"The crowd was the difference," defensive end Shaun Ellis said. "We needed them."
"Our fans were huge in this victory," Coach Rex Ryan said. "In fact, we\’re giving the game ball to our fans; it\’s going to be up in our trophy case."
And let me tell you, guys…the Jets’ Flight Crew is top notch!!! In fact, picture having seats down below on the 10-yard line for 30 years, wishing you were on the 50, but then discovering that the team’s new cheerleading outfit, the aforementioned Flight Crew, is stationed between the 10 and the goal line! Can you say jackpot!!
Also, special thanks to Pat and his daughter for hosting us at the tailgate. Guys, you need to get yourself a Thermos collapsible grille like Pat had. Awesome. Check out Wal-Mart for a good deal.
College Football Report
USC coach Pete Carroll kept warning his team not to let down after their big win against Ohio State, but for the fourth straight season USC lost to an unranked team…this time Washington, 16-13. USC was 0-for-10 on third down. Washington had lost ten straight Pac-10 games and was 0-12 last year. Your editor is furious because it takes a lot of shine off the Oregon-USC game I’m attending in Eugene on Halloween.
So I gave Shu and Mark R. 27 points in the Elon-Wake Forest contest and Wake won 35-7…err, 28. [Yes, brilliant.] Shu thus owes me barbecue and Mark a six-pack of premium. Shu also passed on that former NBA and Wake player Rodney Rogers was on hand, Rogers confined to a wheelchair following his ATV accident. That\’s encouraging.
Meanwhile, mighty Rutgers defeated Florida International 23-15 after besting Howard the week before. That’s one tough schedule, sports fans. And they play Texas Southern in two weeks. At least Wake played Baylor and Stanford before relaxing against the Elon Phoenix (who have a very cool logo, by the way).
How would you like to be a Maryland student, having lost to Middle Tennesse State, 32-31, after barely beating James Madison in OT the previous week? Talk about embarrassment. But thankfully for the conference, Virginia Tech prevailed over Nebraska, and Florida State put a whooping on No. 7 BYU, 54-28…one week after FSU barely defeated Jacksonville State. Go figure.
And I have to note the outstanding performance by Cal’s Jahvid Best who had a school-record five touchdowns against Minnesota. Best is a legitimate Heisman contender.
Speaking of which, can we talk? There are a ton of facets of today’s society that truly suck and it’s no wonder that many of us yearn for the good old days. Take college football’s three superstar quarterbacks; Florida’s Tim Tebow, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, and Texas’ Colt McCoy, all three of whom could have entered the NFL draft but opted to come back and seek a national title.
“In the era of Twitter, Facebook and Deadspin.com, being the big man on campus no longer means being the life of the party. For all the images of marching bands, cheerleaders and raucous student fans associated with college football, the romantic notion of a quaint campus life for star quarterbacks like (Tebow, Bradford and McCoy) has all but disappeared, killed off by a combination of cloying fans and new technology….
“McCoy said he called the police when a man was screaming outside his apartment in the middle of the night. Tebow said that he could not go on a date because pictures would be on the Internet in 10 minutes. Bradford, who has been sidelined recently with a shoulder sprain, has had contentious encounters with professional autograph seekers. Each of the players passed up a potential multimillion-dollar NFL contract to return to college. While hanging out with their friends and competing for a national title, there are awkward moments.
“At a restaurant recently, McCoy said, a woman in an adjacent booth appeared to be talking on her cellphone but was actually using it to record video of him. He said that he was frequently filmed while walking to class and that he was cautious when people asked to have their photographs taken with him.
“As Kent Bradford, Sam’s father, said, ‘You don’t know if you’re actually having that picture made with a known gambler or a known prostitute or a known drug dealer.’”
1. Florida…tough 23-13 win over the Tennessee and their jerk coach, Lane Kiffin (he of the hot wife, however…but I digress)
2. Texas
3. Alabama
4. Mississippi…I just love seeing the Rebels this high
5. Penn State
6. California
7. LSU
8. Boise State!
9. Miami…zero to 9 in two weeks!
10. Oklahoma
*Florida has been hit with the H1N1 virus, it would seem, as has Ole Miss.
The father of Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared C. Monti, who posthumously received the Medal of Honor, remembered his son today as a person defined by selflessness.
Monti, then a staff sergeant, was killed June 21, 2006, after making several attempts to rescue a fellow soldier wounded while battling Taliban insurgents in Gowardesh, Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan.
“I think Jared received more in his life than anybody I can think of. But he never got anything for himself, because no matter what we sent him, he gave it away,” Paul Monti said, referring to the care packages his son received in Afghanistan, the contents of which he routinely doled out to Afghan kids.
“In the end,” the soldier’s father continued, “he gave his life for someone else.”
Monti risked his life on a rocky ridge in Afghanistan, where his 16-man patrol found itself under attack by 50 Taliban insurgents. He quickly called in artillery support when he noticed that one of his soldiers was wounded and in danger. He twice braved massive enemy rifle and rocket fire in attempts to reach his wounded comrade lying on the ground some 20 yards away.
Forced to turn back both times and taking shelter behind a rock, Monti contemplated his next move. He decided to give it another try, but he was killed in that final attempt.
During the ceremony, President Obama said, “Faced with overwhelming enemy fire, Jared could have stayed where he was behind that rock, but that was not the kind of soldier Jared Monti was.”
Army Secretary Pete Geren recounted tales about Monti’s childhood in Raynham, Mass., where he is remembered for the selflessness and humility he displayed even as a young man.
“From his earliest days, Jared had a heart for the needy and less fortunate,” Geren said. “At age 17, he learned of a family in Raynham who didn’t have a Christmas tree. So he chopped one of the trees down in his own front yard and gave it to that family.”
Later, as a soldier in Afghanistan, he distributed the gifts he received from back home to the Afghan children he met. This show of generosity earned him popularity among the Afghan youth. “The Afghan kids knew Jared by name,” Geren said. ‘Mr. Monti’ they called him – and they would rush up to him whenever he came by.”
And from a story by Michael M. Phillips of the Wall Street Journal:
“During a lull in the shooting, the soldiers could hear Pvt. Bradbury calling out that he was unable to move.
“Sgt. Monti tightened the chin strap and made three attempts to retrieve the private. The distance was short, perhaps 20 yards, but the grenades and gunfire were intense. ‘I’m going to get him,’ Sgt. Cunningham recalled Sgt. Monti saying.
“On the third attempt, a rocket-propelled grenade hit Sgt. Monti in the legs. As he lay dying, he asked Sgt. Cunningham to tell his parents that he loved them. Soon after, U.S. artillery and bombs ended the fight.
“ ‘Going out there to get his soldier…instilled so much courage in me and all our guys to continue to fight,’ Sgt. Cunningham said.
“Medics eventually reached Pvt. Bradbury alive. But he and one of his rescuers died when the hoist that held them to the helicopter gave way.”
It just breaks your heart. God bless Jared Monti, Pvt. Bradbury and all those who have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“A criminally insane killer who escaped during a mental hospital field trip to a county fair remained on the run, as furious residents and officials wondered why such a dangerous person was out in public.
“Authorities believe Phillip Arnold Paul, 47, is heading to the Sunnyside, Washington, area, where his parents and many siblings live. The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office used a helicopter to search on Friday, and officers also searched transient camps along railroad tracks in the area.
“ ‘He is in a bad mental state,’ his brother, Tom Paul, told AP. ‘Why would they load him on a bus and take him to a fair?’”
Yikes. And what did this guy do once?
“Paul was committed after he was acquitted by reason of insanity in the 1987 slaying of an elderly woman in Sunnyside. He soaked the woman’s body in petrol to throw off search dogs and buried the remains in her flower garden.”
There were 31 patients from the mental hospital on this trip with 11 staff members. “They wear street clothing and staff members are required to keep each patient within eyesight at all times.”
Now how the heck is each staffer supposed to keep track of 3 at all times? Why it’s insane. But this just in…Paul was found, 180 miles from the fair grounds.
“Even in Las Vegas, apparently, there are limits.
“In July, gaming regulators slapped the Planet Hollywood casino with a $500,000 fine for its Prive nightclub’s bad behavior, including ‘topless and lewd activity’ and dumping club-goers in the casino ‘in various states of consciousness.’
“The same month, the Rio closed its Sapphire topless pool, managed by a local gentleman’s club, after authorities arrested 10 people on suspicion of prostitution and drug crimes. Over Labor Day weekend, eight more arrests on similar charges were made at the Hard Rock Hotel’s pool club, Rehab.”
Huh.
“Kanye West, who promised Jay Leno he’d lay low for a while after his bout of acceptance interruptis at the MTV Video Music Awards Sunday, is making a splash as guest stylist for a spread in Elle magazine, and we do mean spread. His girlfriend, Amber Rose, models ‘body-conscious’ fall fashions. Funny, mama always told us we can’t wear black thong bodysuits after Labor Day!
“According to the article, obtained by New York magazine, Rose’s and West’s fashion sensibilities often clash. West wanted her to wear a formal gown to a Metropolitan Museum of Art gala, but she opted for a thigh-baring wrap dress. She says, ‘I didn’t want to wear a long gown. So then we get to the Met and everybody has a long gown. I was like, great. I didn’t know what the Met was!’”
Omigod. Is it possible that Amber Rose, previously unknown to your editor until about a month ago, could capture the “Idiot of the Year” award? Talk about upset city.
–From the New York Times’ Michael S. Schmidt:
“A three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, in Minneapolis, last week upheld a lower court ruling that prohibited the NFL from suspending two Minnesota Vikings players who violated the league’s anti-doping policy, saying they could contest their suspensions in state court. The ruling was a victory for the players because Minnesota state laws – and laws in about half of all states – are considered worker-friendly and say that an employee cannot be penalized for an initial positive drug test.
This really stinks, folks. It’s so bad that as Michael Schmidt reported, the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which oversees testing of Olympians, filed a friend-of-the-court brief, as did the other professional leagues, supporting the NFL’s position.
This throws everything up in the air. Then again, as Mark Levinstein said, “Maybe the NFL should decide to test those players more in light of the state laws.”
—Arnold Palmer’s grandson, Sam Saunders, 22, played his first professional golf event this weekend on the Nationwide Tour but missed the cut by three shots, shooting 71-71.
–Sprinter Tyson Gay ran a 9.69 100 meters on Sunday in Shanghai, tying Usain Bolt\’s time from the Beijing Olympics…the second-fastest ever. Bolt then did 9.58 the other month.
–We note the passing of former Detroit Lions coach Monte Clark, 72. Under Clark the Lions were 43-63-1 and made consecutive playoff appearances, 1982 and 1983, which makes him a Hall of Famer when compared to other Lions’ efforts, though they did lose both playoff openers. Clark was also on Don Shula’s staff during Miami’s perfect season in 1972 and was head coach for one season at San Francisco.
–And Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary died. She was also 72. Teaming up with Peter Yarrow and Noel “Paul” Stookey, the folk trio mixed music and liberal politics. “If I Had A Hammer,” for example, became an anthem for racial equality. “Blowin’ In The Wind” became the anthem for the wind turbine industry. Actually, this last bit isn’t exactly true, but work with me…I was not a big fan of these folks. I did like “Leaving On A Jet Plane,” though, which was written by John Denver, who, looking back, should have titled it “Leaving On A Jet With A Full Load Of Fuel.”
–Say, do you think you have what it takes to be a NBA referee? Here’s your chance. The league has locked out the refs as negotiations on a new contract have reached a stalemate.
The referees have agreed to about $2.2 million in concessions and accepted a virtual wage freeze in 2009-2010, with a modest increase the following year. In return, the NBA agreed to a shorter two-year contract, which the refs requested because they’re betting (oops…poor choice of words) that the economy will recover in time for the next deal. Severance and the pension plan remain key sticking points.
–Here’s a real jerk for you; 57-year-old Douglas Jones of La Quinta who was arrested for excessive littering of Joshua Tree National Park. Specifically, he tossed up to 3,000 golf balls in the desert, hurling them from his car, as well as taking all the park literature and scattering it around. He told officials the balls were to honor golfers who had died. It cost over $9,000 to clean up the guy’s mess.
–I missed this one last time, from Paul Rodgers of the Irish Independent:
“A Maori legend about a giant, man-eating bird has been confirmed by scientists. Te Hokioi was a huge black-and-white predator with a red crest and yellow-green tinged wingtips, in an account given to Sir George Gray, an early governor of New Zealand.
“It was said to be named after its cry and to have ‘raced the hawk to the heavens.’ Scientists now think the stories handed down by word of mouth and depicted in rock drawings refer to Haast’s eagle, a raptor that became extinct just 500 years ago, say the authors of a study in The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.” [I don’t subscribe to this one.]
It seems a re-examination of skeletons using modern technology says the bird would deliver a killing blow as it dived at speeds of 80 kph.
“With a wingspan of up to three meters and weighing 18kg, the female was twice as big as the largest living eagle, the Steller’s sea eagle. And the bird’s talons were as big as a tiger’s claws. ‘It was certainly capable of swooping down and taking a child,’ said Paul Scofield, the curator of vertebrate zoology at the Canterbury Museum.”
Had I been around in the day, I would have been quaffing my grog indoors…that’s for sure.
–Ripped from the pages of High Plains Journal… “Roadrunners not too fast for AgriLife researcher.”
It’s about Dr. Dean Ransom and how he tags roadrunners to study nesting habits, home range and such.
“We have documented them traveling as much as 6 miles away from their natal home range,” said the good doctor.
But a little harder to measure is the size of a roadrunner’s territory. “Smaller than the home range, a territory is actively defended against intruders, including other roadrunners.” Now get this….
“ ‘We witnessed a five-bird brawl that lasted about 90 minutes in 2006 – ultimately the resident pair was triumphant,’ Ransom said.”
“Bear in Japan injures 9, shot dead at tourist area”
TOKYO – A bear injured nine people at a highway rest stop in central Japan before being shot dead in a souvenir shop, a firefighter said Sunday.
The black bear seriously injured four men Saturday afternoon in Nyukawa, a small mountain town about 140 miles west of Tokyo.
The 4-foot bear first attacked people at a bus parking lot then entered a lodge where it was trapped in a souvenir shop and shot dead by a hunter.
No one suffered life-threatening injuries in the attack that lasted about an hour, reports said. [An hour?!]
A photograph from the scene showed the bear mauling a prone person in a parking lot while a man attempted to scare it off.
–Brad K. passed along the story of Cammie Colin of South Carolina. The hard-ass cheerleader (I saw a picture of her) “was out hunting in a swampy area with family and friends on Saturday night and shot a 353-lb., 10-foot alligator with a crossbow after luring it close to their boat.”
My word…I mean here we’re talking about Megan Fox in “Jennifer’s Body,” but that’s a movie. Cammie Colin is real life. A crossbow? Expect Cammie on the big screen shortly.
[I see that "Jennifer\’s Body" bombed at the box office this weekend. Surprising.]
–You know who’s a real jerk? The Yankees’ Jorge Posada. After being suspended for his idiotic fight the other night, Jorge said “We got carried away.” We? It was YOU, Jorge.
–And here’s another jerk, albeit a rather dangerous one…the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Delonte West, who always struck me as a total thug (for you casual fans, he’s the one with tattoos covering every inch of his body). Officers pulled him over for speeding on his motorcycle and discovered two loaded handguns and a loaded shotgun in a guitar case! What the [heck]?
“Police said a handgun was found in his pocket, another in his pant leg and a shotgun in a guitar case strapped to his back.”
West was arrested in Maryland, where he lives, and it’s illegal to carry concealed weapons and transport loaded guns. West has previously had problems with depression and a “mood disorder.”
I don’t see how the NBA can afford to let this guy stay in the league.
—Henry Gibson died. While he’s had a recurring role on “Boston Legal,” and appeared in some Robert Altman flicks, including “Nashville,” most of us will remember him best for “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.”
Reading an obituary by Dennis McLellan of the L.A. Times, though, I can’t help but note John Wayne’s takeoff on Gibson’s signature poems for “Laugh-In.” Wayne came on, holding a flower, and delivered “A poem, by John Wayne.”
Turns out Henry Gibson was one of the first environmentalists, using his fame to contribute op-ed pieces. Gibson was born in Germantown, Pa., and attended Catholic University. And who was his first roommate in New York City, as he struggled to make it as an actor? A fellow Catholic University student; Jon Voight. Henry Gibson was 73.
—Ken Burns has a new documentary series coming out, Sept. 27, focusing on the national parks. It’s ten years in the making and sounds terrific. 12 hours, filmed in 53 parks.
–I watched the last five minutes of “America’s Got Talent,” waiting for Leno to come on, and is Nick Cannon awful or what?
Top 3 songs for the week 9/23/78: #1 “Boogie Oogie Oogie” (A Taste Of Honey) #2 “Kiss You All Over” (Exile…not if she has swine flu…know what I’m sayin’?) #3 “Hopelessly Devoted To You” (Olivia Newton-John)…and…#4 “Three Times A Lady” (Commodores) #5 “An Everlasting Love” (Andy Gibb…forgot what a catchy tune this was…can’t get it out of my head now) #6 “Summer Nights” (John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John) #7 “Don’t Look Back” (Boston) #8 “Hot Blooded” (Foreigner) #9 “Hot Child In The City” (Nick Gilder) #10 “Reminiscing” (Little River Band…great one)
College Football Quiz Answer: Top five records since 1953.
1. Ohio State, .7612 [470-143-13]
2. Oklahoma, .7535
3. Nebraska, .7375
4. Penn State, .7367
5. Michigan, .7190
6. Texas, .7141
7. Alabama, .7106
8. USC, .7052
9. Auburn, .6860
10. Tennessee, .6851
13. Florida State
14. Arizona State
67. Wake Forest, .3709…ughh
Bonus Question: Best bowl record….WAKE FOREST!!!!!! 5-2, .7143. Next is Boston College, 12-5-1. Worst is Northwestern, 0-6.
