On Broadway: Buckle up and hold on tight
Like Moses and the Israelites wandered through the wilderness, so have college football fans stumbled about aimlessly through the offseason, rutterless without direction.
Well my friends, your suffering has come to an end, and you may now enter the promised land. Today is the first day of college football season. Sure, the FCS and other divisions may already be blowing and going, but today's the true blue shotgun start to 2015's season in my eyes. There are even a couple of solid - if underrated - games tonight in the form of North Carolina - South Carolina, Michigan - Utah, and TCU - Minnesota. And yes, that's obviously just the first course salad for this weekend, especially if your favorite team will put foot to pigskin sometime on Saturday. That includes all of you, Red Raider fans.
It's undoubtedly been the longest, pain-staking offseason in quite some time, and it's created a cloud of doubt and uncertainty that's lingered much closer to kickoff than I thought it would.
We as sports writers, analysts, and journalists spend the whole offseason breaking down numbers, weighing stats and performances, looking at depth charts and experience, attempting to project the upcoming season through our various almanacs and articles to try and give you guys as fans a better idea of what to expect over the 12 to 15 games in the fall. But, despite our best efforts, predicting sports is about like predicting the weather: You just don't really know until you know.
But, isn't that what keeps us coming back for more? You can throw as many numbers and stats into machines as you want to, look up and down at the talent variations in matchups, but once you add the human element into it, the whole process gets wrenched. Emotions and humanity change the game entirely.
It's why a team as talented as Alabama doesn't win the national title every year. It's why Michigan loses to Appalachian State. It's why Ohio State can go on an incredible run at the end of the season and win a national title despite being pretty average early on, losing two starting quarterbacks in the process, and come home the victor.
We watch because we don't really know what's going to happen. Sure, we have a general idea of what's expected, but we never truly know. And that's why we love college football. The emotion, the memories that tug at us and bring us back to timestamps in the past. Think back to the 2008 Tech-Texas game. Think about that day and the memories you made. Pretty vivid even seven years later, right?
Well, what would that game have meant if you just have a box score with numbers? Not nearly as much. Not even remotely close.
At the end of the day, it's not solely about the results. It's about the journey that gets you to the results, whether they're good or bad.
So, Red Raider fans, I simply say this in regards to this upcoming season: Just sit back, buckle up, and cherish the ride. It could be a fun one.
Link Me, Bro
Here's an interesting look at the dynamic between Tony Romo and Dez Bryant by Grantland's Kirk Goldberry.
Stephen Spielberg believes that the superhero movie genre will likely go the way of the Western sooner than many may realize.
Here's a look at some of the risers and fallers in fantasy football from the preseason so far
So...... apparently RGIII got a standing ovation at a Redskins event this week. So, yeah....
This week in Florida Man: Florida Man huffs spray paint, passes out at KFC
Power Rankings: Sports not named football
As sports fans, we all have certain sports that we gravitate towards. So, I figured I would share with you guys which sports I really get into and watch the most when college football and the NFL aren't on my screens...
5. Tennis - While I don't watch a ton of Tennis, I will certainly tune in for a good match. In fact, I'd argue that a really good, extremely competitive match is hard to beat. It's up there near the top of my favorite things to watch in all of sports.
4. Baseball - Some of you will likely think it's blasphemous that baseball is this low on my list. Well, it's just not something that I love to sit and watch as much. And, my complaints are the same as many with where the sport sits right now: Stuck in the past. Don't get me wrong, I love playoff baseball and the intensity of every pitch. It's fantastic. But, the regular season just doesn't feel like that at all. With 162 games, it's hard to.
3. Soccer - This has certainly skyrocketed up the list for me over the last five to six years. I couldn't have cared less about the sport half a decade ago, but after deciding to really invest and learn about soccer, I can say that I now thoroughly enjoy it. A tightly contested match where anyone could score and change the game in an instant on a defensive slip up, great move, or highlight reel kick? Sign me up.
2. Golf - Like soccer, my love for golf didn't really grow until I got in college and started playing quite a bit. I think watching golf just isn't the same unless you've played, as you don't really appreciate just how good the guys on the PGA Tour are. Watching them make decisions with clubs, wind speed, angles, and velocity is so fascinating to me, and the cerebral battle pulls me in here.
1. Basketball - Without question, if I'm not watching football in the late fall, I'm probably watching an NBA game or good college basketball game. Hoops is the king sport when it comes to last-minute heroics, and the rapid momentum shifts make it pretty fun emotionally. A great college or pro basketball atmosphere is really, really hard to beat, even by football's standards.
Off The Reservation: A milestone birthday
I had a birthday earlier this week, but the number that's staring me in the face is the truly significant part of this year's celebration. Being 25 is something I've thought about for a while, and my friends all made sure to give me a good ribbing about being an old man, getting up there in the years, etc.
But, on my birthday, I've got to say: That number carries some weight to it now that I've hit the milestone. 25 years might be a speck on the cosmic timeline, but it's at the very least a quarter of our lifespan, and likely a third for most of us as men. That's a sobering thought for me, but it also makes me think back on what a great first 25 years I've had, filled with wonderful memories and experiences with friends and family.
So, with that being said, I look forward to the next 25 years with a smile, as the memories and experiences to be had will make it great, too.
Like Moses and the Israelites wandered through the wilderness, so have college football fans stumbled about aimlessly through the offseason, rutterless without direction.
Well my friends, your suffering has come to an end, and you may now enter the promised land. Today is the first day of college football season. Sure, the FCS and other divisions may already be blowing and going, but today's the true blue shotgun start to 2015's season in my eyes. There are even a couple of solid - if underrated - games tonight in the form of North Carolina - South Carolina, Michigan - Utah, and TCU - Minnesota. And yes, that's obviously just the first course salad for this weekend, especially if your favorite team will put foot to pigskin sometime on Saturday. That includes all of you, Red Raider fans.
It's undoubtedly been the longest, pain-staking offseason in quite some time, and it's created a cloud of doubt and uncertainty that's lingered much closer to kickoff than I thought it would.
We as sports writers, analysts, and journalists spend the whole offseason breaking down numbers, weighing stats and performances, looking at depth charts and experience, attempting to project the upcoming season through our various almanacs and articles to try and give you guys as fans a better idea of what to expect over the 12 to 15 games in the fall. But, despite our best efforts, predicting sports is about like predicting the weather: You just don't really know until you know.
But, isn't that what keeps us coming back for more? You can throw as many numbers and stats into machines as you want to, look up and down at the talent variations in matchups, but once you add the human element into it, the whole process gets wrenched. Emotions and humanity change the game entirely.
It's why a team as talented as Alabama doesn't win the national title every year. It's why Michigan loses to Appalachian State. It's why Ohio State can go on an incredible run at the end of the season and win a national title despite being pretty average early on, losing two starting quarterbacks in the process, and come home the victor.
We watch because we don't really know what's going to happen. Sure, we have a general idea of what's expected, but we never truly know. And that's why we love college football. The emotion, the memories that tug at us and bring us back to timestamps in the past. Think back to the 2008 Tech-Texas game. Think about that day and the memories you made. Pretty vivid even seven years later, right?
Well, what would that game have meant if you just have a box score with numbers? Not nearly as much. Not even remotely close.
At the end of the day, it's not solely about the results. It's about the journey that gets you to the results, whether they're good or bad.
So, Red Raider fans, I simply say this in regards to this upcoming season: Just sit back, buckle up, and cherish the ride. It could be a fun one.
Link Me, Bro
Here's an interesting look at the dynamic between Tony Romo and Dez Bryant by Grantland's Kirk Goldberry.
Stephen Spielberg believes that the superhero movie genre will likely go the way of the Western sooner than many may realize.
Here's a look at some of the risers and fallers in fantasy football from the preseason so far
So...... apparently RGIII got a standing ovation at a Redskins event this week. So, yeah....
This week in Florida Man: Florida Man huffs spray paint, passes out at KFC
Power Rankings: Sports not named football
As sports fans, we all have certain sports that we gravitate towards. So, I figured I would share with you guys which sports I really get into and watch the most when college football and the NFL aren't on my screens...
5. Tennis - While I don't watch a ton of Tennis, I will certainly tune in for a good match. In fact, I'd argue that a really good, extremely competitive match is hard to beat. It's up there near the top of my favorite things to watch in all of sports.
4. Baseball - Some of you will likely think it's blasphemous that baseball is this low on my list. Well, it's just not something that I love to sit and watch as much. And, my complaints are the same as many with where the sport sits right now: Stuck in the past. Don't get me wrong, I love playoff baseball and the intensity of every pitch. It's fantastic. But, the regular season just doesn't feel like that at all. With 162 games, it's hard to.
3. Soccer - This has certainly skyrocketed up the list for me over the last five to six years. I couldn't have cared less about the sport half a decade ago, but after deciding to really invest and learn about soccer, I can say that I now thoroughly enjoy it. A tightly contested match where anyone could score and change the game in an instant on a defensive slip up, great move, or highlight reel kick? Sign me up.
2. Golf - Like soccer, my love for golf didn't really grow until I got in college and started playing quite a bit. I think watching golf just isn't the same unless you've played, as you don't really appreciate just how good the guys on the PGA Tour are. Watching them make decisions with clubs, wind speed, angles, and velocity is so fascinating to me, and the cerebral battle pulls me in here.
1. Basketball - Without question, if I'm not watching football in the late fall, I'm probably watching an NBA game or good college basketball game. Hoops is the king sport when it comes to last-minute heroics, and the rapid momentum shifts make it pretty fun emotionally. A great college or pro basketball atmosphere is really, really hard to beat, even by football's standards.
Off The Reservation: A milestone birthday
I had a birthday earlier this week, but the number that's staring me in the face is the truly significant part of this year's celebration. Being 25 is something I've thought about for a while, and my friends all made sure to give me a good ribbing about being an old man, getting up there in the years, etc.
But, on my birthday, I've got to say: That number carries some weight to it now that I've hit the milestone. 25 years might be a speck on the cosmic timeline, but it's at the very least a quarter of our lifespan, and likely a third for most of us as men. That's a sobering thought for me, but it also makes me think back on what a great first 25 years I've had, filled with wonderful memories and experiences with friends and family.
So, with that being said, I look forward to the next 25 years with a smile, as the memories and experiences to be had will make it great, too.
