Miscellaneous

The Heisman, Gameday and the 'Horns

By Chris Stevenson

1. So Mark Ingram won the Heisman.  I'm a bit disappointed that Colt didn't win it, but not surprised.  The regional aspect of the voting has really eroded the credibility of the award, in my opinion.  Now it's just like any other national political contest.  Basically, McCoy lost because Suh was from the same region.  Granted, Tebow took some votes from Ingram since they were both from the southeast voting region, but not as many as Suh took from McCoy.  Suh probably wouldn't have even been a finalist if it wasn't for the monster game he had against the 'Horns.  That game was definitely his "Heisman Moment."  The fact that Colt had a poor game statistically probably was as much of the reason he didn't win as anything.  So, really, the Texas offensive line lost the Heisman for Colt because they allowed Suh into the picture and didn't allow Colt to shine.  I wonder if Mac McWhorter has trouble sleeping at night?  The ESPN production of the telecast was horrible.  Fowler always manages to do a good job, especially considering everything he does is live, but all of the lighting and sound mishaps were just bad.  If I was Herbstreit I'd be pissed.  Corso is hard to watch these days.  He gets confused and loses his train of thought. 
2. Speaking of Fowler, Herbstreit and Corso - I think Gameday, which I've loved, has jumped the shark.  Not only is Corso's mind gone, but his schtick is just old.  The pencil, donning the mascot's head, the catchphrase.  It was cool the first few years, but now it's just tired. They're bringing in a celebrity guest to make picks at the end.  I saw Teddy Bruschi, Matt Millen and Drew Brees.  Bruschi was okay, but Millen is braindead and Brees had a wardrobe malfunction trying to put on a purple blazer to show the love for LSU.  I love listening to Fowler and Herbstreit still, but Corso is way, way past his prime.  He's a major live TV liability and even though the other two guys cover for him reasonably well - a credit to them - it's still obvious.  I also don't like the addition of Desmond Howard.  I cringe anytime a former-player-turned-sportscaster starts any sentence with, "When I played..."  He's a fairly likeable personality, but his commentary is forced and mostly unnecessary.  They need to find a new third, for sure, but Desmond Howard ain't it.  What they need, to fill the black guy role (Howard) and the coach role (Corso) is a black former coach.  I wonder how well Sylvester Croom tests?
3. So, Ingram.  In truth, any of the finalists (Except maybe Tebow) could have won without any public outcry.  It was a close race.  The closest ever, in fact.  Watching his emotional speech and his sincerity, I was happy for the Mark Ingram.  It was also cool to see the former winners standing behind him offering words of encouragement when he was trying to control his emotions to be able to speak.
4. I'm generally not in favor of an hour long special for something that should take five minutes.  It's all hype and bullshit.  That's why I was taking a shower during the middle part of the show.  I just wanted to see the frickin' announcement.  So I initially missed almost all of the player bios and that Tebow/Colt date that they set up.  I saw it later on a replay of the broadcast when I was eating dinner at a pub, but I couldn't hear the sound, which was probably more interesting.  I don't like Tebow and I can't say exactly why.  But I will say this:  his main impact at the NFL level should be as the first openly-gay active quarterback in the league.  Prolly won't happen with the John 3:17 and whatnot, but any dude who is a physical stud and a 4-year starter at a major FBS program and is a purported virgin...well, I don't have to spell it out for you.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  And the dude was making eyes at Colt over those ridiculously built sandwiches.  (Inedible presentation of food is one of my pet peeves, BTW.)  Plus, Tebow never ate anything.  (Just like a chick on a date.)  Colt ate, for the record.  One more thing:  when you type in "Colt McCoy girlfriend" into Google, you get this.  She sits with his parents during games.  When you type in "Tim Tebow girlfriend" you get a bunch of pictures of chicks who are NOT Tim Tebow's girlfriend.  I'm not sayin'; I'm just sayin'.
5. The 'Horns really scared me with their play in the Big XII Championship game.  If the O-line limits Suh to half the game he had I think we win by two touchdowns.  And Suh would still have had a monster game.  Bama's got Terrence Cody.  Not as good as Suh, probably, but if he's even close then we're in big trouble.  Texas hasn't done well against all of their top-level competition this year.  Barely beat a severely wounded OU team.  Barely beat a schizophrenic A&M team.  Barely, barely, barely beat a Nebraska team with inferior talent that should still be a couple of years away.  Bama's going to be better than all of those teams.  Based on that, I don't expect us to win.  But, we've got equal or better talent at every position and if the team plays up to their capabilities we certainly can win.  Needless to say, on the evening of Jan. 7th if you hear a guy screaming at Earl Thomas to run! run! run! that interception back for a touchdown - that might be me.  I've already taken off Jan. 8th from work.

Full post as published by Cursed With Ambition on December 13, 2009 (boomark / email).