Thoughts on the madness that is College Football

I watch college football, not to with religous fervor that some do. That said, I have to pull out my hanky and wipe my brow before I give you my thoughts on the current season as this has been one of the most tumultous, unpredictable, insane college football seasons in recent memory. If you had of said to anyone following college game. "Hey South Florida, Kansas, Cincinnati and Kentucky will all be ranked ahead of Michigan, Florida State, Wisconsin, Alabama and Penn State you might have been subject to a random drug test or a breathalyzer. There is the requisite weeping and gnashing of teeth by the so-called experts and pundits that the big boys like Miami, Notre Dame, Florida State, UCLA and Nebraska are nowhere to be found in this championship equasion. The big media whines about the "watering down" or the "parity" in the ranks and wonder aloud is it wise and good to have such madness in the college game. I say YES, YES, YES!!!
With no apologies to these whining wonks who can't get a handle on the situation. I have something more to say GET OVER IT!!! I for one am enjoying the unpredictablity of this season. Unlike last year where until the Ohio State-Michigan clash and the madness in the rankings afterwards there seemed to be an inevitiablity to matters, this season is all over the place. After just 7 weeks of the season: The #1 team has been beaten twice, USC took a galling loss to Stanford in Los Angeles Michigan took a shocking loss to Applachian State, the source of my first posting Teams like the aforementioned South Florida, Boston College and Kentucky have barged to the front of the line in the rankings. The latter having upset the previous #1 team LSU in a thrilling triple overtime game. Elite teams like Florida State, Notre Dame and Nebraska are regarded as so much also-rans. Especially galling to their fans they are nowhere close to even being in the same time zone of a national championship discussion. Given the seasons of the latter two its laughable to even mention in the teams in the same context of a national championship. The wonks try to explain it away and say that the coaches of these teams need to prove themselves at bigger schools, and I say why? Coaches like Greg Schiano of Rutgers, BC's Jeff Jagodzinski, Kansas' Mark Mangino and Cincy's Brian Kelly are good right where they are. The media wonks dont want to have to do the research on the lesser known teams and want to have their dominant football played at the well known big boy schools. So where do we go from here? If you're like me, you sit back and enjoy it. Though I have a feeling that sitting back won't last long as the competition keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Ok, now that I'm off my soapbox and will debut another weekly feature. Its called Phat Dap/Head Slap. In my neighborhood if someone does something worth shouting about, you give them phat dap. On the flip side, when I was little and did something dumb or mouthed off when I should have kept my mouth shut and minded. My grandma (who still watches over me) would slap me upside my head. She did that even when I was grown. So I've decided to give out these awards to those that do right and those that do wrong or do things that make you wanna ask what were you thinkin'???
To quote DJ Jazzy Jeff from the 1991 hit Summertime "DRUMS Please!"

Phat Dap
I have to give the first phat dap to former Bills TE Kevin Everett, who you remmeber suffered a career ending spinal cord injury a few weeks ago. Reports out of Houston have Everett is moving his legs and can take a few steps with the help of a specialized walker. Here's hoping that he can make a full recovery. I'm confident that he will and I know I speak for a lot of people who have him in their thoughts and prayers. I'll be the first to give him dap on that.

Head Slap
Maybe I shouldn't kick a team when they are down (No I'm not picking on Notre Dame for once) But I have to give the weeks head slap to Nebraska. The week that they brought a host of players back from their alleged 1997 national championship team. I say alleged because they claim that they were the national champs after going unbeaten on a cake schedule, while Michigan ran the table in 1997 with a much tougher schedule. But anyway, Nebraska brought the players back to honor the 10th anniversary of the unbeaten season. How does the 2007 team play that day??? They got taken back of the woodshed and were beaten 45-14 by Oklahoma State. Nebraska has literally fallen off the map in football talent and competitveness. I won't go so far as a comment I read that said that Notre Dame could now go to Lincoln and lay a beatdown on Big Red. But lets just say that Huskers Coach Bill Callahan will be looking for work at season's end. I'll take a look at the state of affairs in Red Sox Nation and Friday will feature the suddenly world famous NFL picks. Until next post Fellow Sports Fans!!!