The Summer of Dev

National Boards Part 2

2007-11-05T17:19:00.000-05:00

East Carolina vs. Virginia Tech

2007-08-28T19:39:00.000-04:00

The #9 ranked Hokies begin their journey to an ACC Championship this weekend by hosting the East Carolina Pirates. The gamblers are keeping the spread around -27.5 points in this debut and I'll be honest: it has me more confused than a Miss Teen SC contestant.

I usually avoid taking teams favored by such heavy odds. But Virginia Tech has always been able to put points on the board. They put atleast 27 points on the board in 6 games last season. They beat their season opener against Northeastern 38-0 last year and then blanked Duke 36-0 two weeks later.

Then there are the intangibles..

The Polytechnic Institute has had several tragedies in the news over the past few months. A campus shooting, a carbon monoxide leak, and a black sheep have hurt a campus that, from the few of its alumni that I know, have a pride and loyalty that rivals the marines. Their home game on September 1st will be more than just a season opener, but will be a chance for a following to come together.

So what's Skip Holtz to do?

Luckily, he brings back every starter on both sides of the line and most of their 2nd string.

Unfortunately, Holtz had to suspend his projected starter Rob Kass for blowing a .19 blood alcohol test this past Saturday.

Dev's pick: The Hokies cover 27.5 in a game that begins their path to the BCS and Frank Beamer reconfirms that he's one of the best football coaches in the nation.

The Real USC

2007-06-26T16:00:00.002-04:00

It looks like the answer to the time old question of who is the real USC is about to be answered. But, before I reveal it, let's do a little research.

-California became apart of the United States on September 9th, 1850.

-The University of South Carolina (South Carolina College) was founded December 19th, 1801. We waited until 1892 to play our first football game, which we lost against Furman 44-0.

-Our alltime football record against the University of Southern Cal is 1-1. We lost to them 23-13 at their place in 1980. But in 1983 when the men of Troy entered Williams-Brice, they were outplayed 38-14.

So it seems that the University of South Carolina was founded before California was even a state. Also, even though our head to head record is a tie, Carolina was the better team the last time we played. Don't count on a rematch anytime soon, as it looks like our athletic department can only sign contracts with powerhouses like ECU and S.C. State.

Now don't yall start supporting these arguments, because the University of South Carolina athletic department has already hired a marketing team to help us. My insider in Gamecock sports tells me that this team (which consists of a few Texans and other Westerners) has taken a national survey and found that few people in the nation or in South Carolina associate the University of South Carolina with the initials USC. They have decided to relinquish all athletic ties to USC. Their decision will be going into effect shortly. So if anyone ever really wanted to own the domain uscsports.com, don't worry.. it'll be available soon.

Good People, Good Times

2007-02-15T20:28:00.000-05:00

So I was driving home from buying a Members Only jacket the other day when my car nosedived into a speed bump.

'What was that?' I wondered. I fly through this school zone all the time. Surely, the slow leak that I had patched last week hadn't fallen off.

-flashback to last week-

'Sure, we'll patch that tire up for ya at no charge.'

'Thanks. Know how long the wait is?'

'It'll be about 90 minutes.'

'I'll be at the bar across the street then.'

So 9 games of pool, 7 losses, 4 shots, and 3 buckets of beer later I had the best set of tires ever.

-end flashback-

Maybe I just hit the speed bump at the wrong angle? Two miles later I noticed I was driving on my rims. So I get out and take a look... yep, that's a flat tire.

Most people would get down about this, but not me. I actually like changing tires. Maybe it's because I like saying changing tires in that Cole-Trickle-Change-My-Tires-But-Cole-The-Race-Is-Over kinda way. The only downfall (besides the obvious flat tire) was that I had to take a leak so bad I could taste it. My dog 800 yards away probably did too.

So there I was ignoring nature's call while stuck in the middle of the street between a cop's (who recently became a father) house and a house for rent. Now I know what you're thinking, but forget it! I didn't have any water balloons in the trunk. So I decided to just change the tire.

Before I could finish slightly loosening the 4th lug nut before raising the car on my jack, a passerby pulled up next to me and asked if I needed anything. Got a fluorescent jacket, I wondered (watch the following video).

'Oh, I think I got it. Thank ya though.'

I raised the car up, removed old flat tire, placed spare tire, slightly tightened lug nuts, and was about to lower when passerby #2 stopped by asking if I need any help. He got the same response. It was when I finally lowered the car that I realized that my spare was flat too. Well, 'relatively flat' is what my urine-laden bladder diagnosed it as.

Anywho, the moral of the story is that everyone should know how to change a tire. Even you female readers of the SoD should know. If you're a guy and don't know how, then there's a good chance you probably enjoy Kevin Bacon movies. Either way, check out the following video for tips:

VideoJug: How To Change A Tyre

USC's Recruiting Class and Spring Game Information

2007-02-07T17:52:00.000-05:00

Damn, what a good time to be a Gamecock! College football's National Signing Day was this Wednesday and USC brought in 31 athletes to be listed as the #6 class in the nation (#4 according to ESPN). Momentum is overflowing right now and I'm glad it's time that we changed our goals from winning more than we lose to winning the Southeastern Conference.

This class included the #1 ranked wide receiving corp highlighted by North Carolinians Chris Culliver and Jason Barnes. Culliver reportedly runs the 40 in 4.37 seconds (to comprehend this better, know that Troy Williamson ran a 4.38 at the NFL combines). Jason Barnes comes to us from the always-talented Independence High School and towers at 6'4". I say towers, except when next to colleague Joseph Hills out of Florida who will likely end up at receiver. Suddenly the loss of #4 is a little easier.

Then there's the defensive side of the ball. I think we have finally found depth on the defensive line. Anyone who watched the national championship game should know how crucial that is and we are finally at that point. Clifton Geathers, Travian Robertson, Cliff Matthews, and redshirted Kendrick Ellis finally give us a quality depth chart.

So we beat Clemson, we won our bowl game, and we just brought in the (circa) #5 recruiting class in the nation- now what? Well, recruiting junkies can finally put their lives in perspective. But, more importantly, you can save the date for April 14th when USC holds its annual Garnet and Black Game. For the hordes of people that don't realize that this is a just an intersquad scrimmage, Hootie and the Blowfish will be performing this year.

We finished high, but still finished behind Florida, Tennessee, and LSU (all three of which are on our schedule next year). And Georgia is right behind us.

So for my two cents I'm going to go ahead and say this- With the returning starters on offense and defense, the redshirted linemen from last year, and our new immediate impact players, I'll consider it a failure for the team and Spurrier if we do not play in the SEC Championship game next year. Regardless if we're playing in Baton Rouge or Knoxville, we should be able to win every game we play next season. The culture has changed.

The Results

2007-01-16T20:08:00.000-05:00

What a season everyone! Sorry I've it's taken me awhile, I got sidetracked a few times. Louis led the bowl game challenge with 11 correct picks. But as you recall, the race for first place was between Southern Sweetheart and Will (both of them had 85 correct picks by the end of the regular season).

Well guess what? They both had 9 correct picks during the bowl game to finish with 94 so it came down to the final score of the BCS championship game to be the tiebreaker.

As you recall, Florida scored 41 points while the Ohio State only mustered 14 points after 60 minutes of play.

So..

Will- 59
Southern Sweetheart- 67

Congrats to Will for becoming the winner of the first annual Summer of Dev College Football Pick'em Contest! Your frame will be displayed until the end of March Madness and you have also earned rights to prognosticating during the contest next season!

All the Marbles

2007-01-08T18:16:00.000-05:00

After predicting Texas winning the big game last year, I'm gonna go with Florida winning by 3.

#4

2007-01-08T01:19:00.000-05:00

It looks like Gamecocks receiver Sidney Rice is declaring for the NFL draft. I'll be honest, I was pretty bummed when I first heard the news. He didn't produce as much this year, but NFL scouts are probably drooling over this 6'4" receiver whose physical play and hands naturally come down with the ball. I was pumped about this kid after watching him play in the football state championship (I say football because he also led Gaffney to a basketball state championship too). I was surprised when we redshirted him, but we have coaches to make that type of decision.

Like I said, the news got me down at first. I started wondering are we going to experience another year of 'damn, I wonder how we would have been if he stayed?' similar to this season after the early departures of Jonathan Joseph and Ko Simpson. But then I figured that USC will never really have to worry about the offensive side of the ball with Spurs calling the shots. If you follow recruiting you should know that we have a stellar receiving corp about to enroll, and a few of them are of similar height. Will they have the same type of hands? Who knows? My .02 is just that if they are ready to play, then let them. There isn't much sense is wasting a redshirt year on a skills player that will probably leave after their sophomore or junior year. Anywho, as long as Spurrier doesn't take the joint Miami Dolphins/University of Miami job then we'll be fine. Good luck Mr. Rice.

hi.

2007-01-07T22:49:00.000-05:00

Woah, yall still here?

Good to know. Sorry I've been slack.. I've been on a voyage of self-discovery (which could arguably be described as just a search for edible garbage). Plus, you guys know how busy this time of year is at the office. I'll give a brief recap of some the going-ons for the past month.

Christmas was great. I went to a handful of tacky themed parties which I had previously never attended. I guess that honor is reserved for 25 year olds and up. I didn't get dress socks like I always ask for, but did receive alot of other loot to be discussed later.

New Year's Eve was perfect and has kicked off an already-fulfilling 2007. Personally, I found 2006 a little bland. My crowning achievement was passing part one of the national boards exam, but other than that I didn't check off many items on my list of goals. I completed my 2006 resolution of not listening to the song 'Photograph' by Nickelback. I renewed that resolution for another year and also added ThatDamnRascalFlattsSong(tm) to the list.

Anyway, the pickem contest finishes with tomorrow night's BCS championship game. So I guess this place can finally get back to its abnormal self. Future topics include:

-Daddy gets a new pair of shoes
-Tripp gets a haircut
-The Educated Epicurean
-Growing up, instead of wider

The Bowl Games

2006-12-15T14:44:00.000-05:00

Alright folks, here's what you've been waiting for! The last segment of the SoD College Pick'em Contest has arrived in the Bowl Game Challenge. It's been an intense season with several changes in the leaderboard.. but now it all comes down to this. Here are the bowl games and associated spreads.

Please note that the first game is Tuesday, December 19th (5 days from now). Also, there is an added point of prognostication in that I'm asking for your predictions for the total points scored in the championship game. So if you think Florida is going to score 31 and Ohio State will only score 28, then you would enter 59 in that space. This added guess is not for a point, but will serve as a tie breaker for final standings. Any questions? Leave a comment. Good luck!

No Way Out

2006-12-14T13:34:00.000-05:00

Sometimes life can throw you a curveball..

Sometimes you paint yourself in a corner..

Watch this video all the way through.

'That's karma, baby!'

wty: For everyone, but especially JCG

2006-12-07T23:49:00.000-05:00

A little Christmas music for everyone.

Bring on the Bowls

2006-12-07T17:51:00.000-05:00

The regular season is over.. bring on the bowl games! Congratulations to Southern Sweetheart and Will who are tied for first place with 85 correct picks. In all my days of running a college pick'em contest, I have never seen one get as intense as this. But remember folks, there are still alot of bowl games to be played. I'll upload those games and spreads later.. we won't start until close to Christmas.

P.S. Feel free to check my math on the scoreboard. Stay tuned!
P.P.S. Congrats to Ritch for winning Week 14 with 8 correct picks!

Devember

2006-12-01T10:25:00.000-05:00

It's Devember, bay-bee!

Watch out!

The SEC Championship

2006-11-30T16:45:00.000-05:00

The SEC East Florida Gators match up against the Arkansas Razorbacks of the West this weekend for the conference championship. The Gators are favored by 2.5 points in this game which will take place in the Georgia Dome. I'm gonna take a look at this game by comparing how they fared against common opponents. Florida scraped by divisional rival Tennessee by a point, while Arkansas beat the volunteers by 17. The Razorbacks barely overcame divisional rival Alabama by a point, while Florida reminded UA that the only reason they made a blip of a resurrection last year was because of a healthy Prothro.

Florida fell to Auburn after defeating LSU while enduring their gauntlet of a conference schedule. Arkansas did the opposite against those teams. Just on a side note, I think LSU is playing the best football in the conference right now. I hope the BCS selection process pits them against the perenially over-rated, under-achieved Notre Dame.

'Wow, thanks for the insightful analysis.' I know.. comparing play against common opponents is a weak (albeit not useless) prognosticator. But just for the masochist in me, let's remember how each of these conference contenders fared in their win over the Gamecocks.

Both teams tallied up more than 400 yards of offense against Carolina. Arkansas attempted 50 rushing attacks and averaged 5.3 yards of each. The Gators distributed their passing game to 6 different receivers, with the formerly-injured Percy Harvin leading the way. The Razorbacks gathered the majority of their passing yards by throwing to #85 Marcus Monk.

So who wins? Well, I'd prefer the Gators to win this one. Even though they're recruiting rivals, I would hate for conference champs to have lost to Southern Cal by 36. Regardless if they were without McFadden and Dickless at the time, that's just embarassing for a conference which prides itself on defense. Unlike Tyrone Nix's approach for the Gamecocks, if the Gators just put together some type of defensive gameplan that eliminates Monk on predictable 3rd-and-long plays and their 2 minute drill then Florida will win due to the fact that they have a more balanced offense. Also, nobody has been able to stop Tebow. Obviously, I'm going with Florida. Do they cover? Yep, I figure they'll win by 6.

Clemson Facility Upgrades

2006-11-30T08:52:00.000-05:00

Even though it's only been a few months since Clemson unveiled their completed West End Zone project, Dr. Terry Don Phillips, current athletic director for Clemson University, has recently approved renovating the South and North end zones as well. Here's a preliminary sketch of the future upgrades:

wty: Bowl Projections

2006-11-28T19:50:00.000-05:00

The bowl picture is much clearer now, with most teams having a fairly good idea of where they are headed. With just the Conference Championships left to play, here's where I see the SEC and ACC teams going:

SEC:
Sugar: Arkansas
Rose: LSU
Capital One: Florida
Outback: Tennessee
Cotton: Auburn
Chick-Fil-A: UGA
Liberty: South Carolina
Music City: Kentucky
Independence: Alabama

ACC:
Orange: Georgia Tech
Chick-Fil-A: Virginia Tech
Gator: Clemson
Music City: Maryland
Champs Sports: Boston College
Meineke: Wake Forest
MPC Computers: Miami
Emerald: Florida St.

Week 14

2006-11-27T21:31:00.000-05:00

Here are the games for Week 14.

Congrats to Southern Sweetheart for winning for the third straight week with 8 correct picks. Contestants, we have one last weekend of football left before the bowl challenge begins.. get on it.

31-28

2006-11-25T17:49:00.000-05:00

Go Gamecocks!

wty: Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T12:00:00.000-05:00

From all of us here at SoD, we'd like to wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving. We hope today is spent with people you love, or if not, family members. As for me, here are a few things I'm thankful for in 2006:

1. Steve Spurrier.
2. Not having to study for exams over Thanksgiving break.
3. Tervis Tumblers.
4. My high school friends who own a bar in my hometown.
5. Steve Spurrier.
6. Blake Mitchell, Sidney Rice, Syvelle Newton, Cory Boyd, Kenny McKinley, Mike Davis, Jasper Brinkley, Fred Bennett, and all the other Gamecocks who are going to kick the piss out of Clemson Saturday.
7. The Salty Nut Cafe/The Publick House/Willy's
8. My 14-year old dog who still acts like a puppy.
9. Borat.
10. Steve Spurrier.

We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday. Happy Thanksgiving!

Time for a Rant

2006-11-20T22:50:00.000-05:00

Goodness gracious.

It's rivalry week folks. Yep, no doubt about that. This weekend will showcase some of college football's biggest rivalries including (but not limited to) UNC at Duke, Virginia Tech and UVA, and Florida International at Florida Atlantic. But there's another intense rivalry that will take place this weekend when USC takes on (#24) Clemson. The 4 million people in South Carolina could care less about environmental issues, worldly affairs, or anything else outside of the state line, which leaves plenty of time for introspection on the big game. The Hatfields and McCoys probably clashed less than garnet and orange. Think that's an exaggeration? It is. But not by much. In just one day into rivalry week, rumors and allegations have flown saying:

-USC's Head Coach Steve Spurrier is likely to leave the team after this weekend's game to coach at the University of Miami. I believe the exact quote was that the University of Miami had targetted Spurrier as a possible candidate. Personally, I'd be scared to be targetted by The U under any circumstance. Think that's callous? Keep reading.

-USC commited recruiting infractions when a stud defensive end was illegally contacted and driven to campus by one of his family's lifelong friends. A nifty detail here is that the friend was not a gamecock booster at the time nor did he graduate from USC. Maybe the orange spin would be more understandable if the recruit had been driven to USC on a jetski?

In other rivalries, (#1) Ohio State beat (#2) Michigan 42-39 this past weekend. Interestingly, the infallible BCS poll kept all of its top 5 teams in the same position afterwards. 42-39? Did two national contender defenses really allow that many points? Don't get me wrong, I think last year's 41-38 Clash of the Titans was the best championship game I've ever watched. But I also could care less if major league sluggers juice because watching those balls fly out of the park makes the game more enjoyable. Obviously, I'm not that big of a baseball fan.

But for the sake of the game, do we really want a rematch? As much as it pains me to say it, but if (#3) Southern Cal beats (#5) Notre Dame and then can beat UCLA then I think they should get a chance to play against the Ohio State payroll.

What about (#4) Florida? Well, Florida only beat lowly South Carolina by one point. And they only managed to do that because Jarvis Moss can get really high..

..and block field goals.

Week 13

2006-11-20T15:26:00.000-05:00

Here are the games for Week 13. Keep in mind that ACC powerhouses BC and Miami will be squaring off this Thanksgiving night.

Congrats to Southern Sweetheart, wty, and Brian for picking 9 correct games this week. Also, congratulations to all participants this week who averaged an amazing 7.6/10 as a whole!

Giving Praise

2006-11-16T18:03:00.000-05:00

We've been covering alot of football here folks. We've done our fair share of speculating and prognosticating the future. But I'd like to take a second and congratulate the Citadel (El Cid?) Bulldogs on their recent crushing defeat (48-21) of rival military college VMI. The Citadel has suffered through a a very tough schedule, one which included Texas A&M and Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, there was nefarious activity going on at this past weekend's showdown. Here's a video:

And in case you missed some of the action, here's a picture:

The Citadel may have won the ballgame, but the VMI cheerleading corp left with that cadet's pride (and possibly his hat too).

Week 12

2006-11-14T15:01:00.000-05:00

Here are the games for Week 12. Remember there's a huge game for the state of Ohio this Thursday.

Congrats to Southern Sweetheart for picking an amazing 9 out of 10 for the second time this season! Check the scoreboard though, there's still alot of football to be played.

When it rains

2006-11-12T13:49:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you get thrown a curveball..

.. and then you're made aware that it can get worse..

.. and then you get to the point where you need electroshock to function in society.

What a weekend.

wty: First Look at Bowl Projections (Part 2)

2006-11-08T15:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we took at look at the SEC and how its bowl picture might play out. Today it's time to look at the SEC's stepchild, the ACC. It's best to start at the top and try to figure out who's going to be playing in the ACC Championship Game (ACCC). Georgia Tech, at 5-1 in conference and games remaining against UNC and Duke, is a gimme to get into the championship game as the Coastal Division representative. As far as the Atlantic Division, both Wake Forest and Maryland have tough games ahead. Maryland finishes the season hosting Miami and Wake, with a visit to Boston College in between, while Wake goes to Tallahassee before hosting Virginia Tech and ending their season at Maryland. I don't see either team winning out, with Maryland's most likely loss coming in Boston and Wake's most likely loss coming against Virginia Tech (remember how much Clemson ran over Wake?).

I started working on all the possible outcomes for the Atlantic Division, but my head started hurting. Simply put, both Wake and Maryland control their own destinies. BC still has a shot to win the division, but they would have to beat Maryland and have some other things happen that are beyond their control. Having said all this, I think Maryland will win the Atlantic Division.

Teams Bowling: Wake Forest (8-1), Georgia Tech (7-2), Maryland (7-2), Boston College (7-2), Virginia Tech (7-2), Clemson (7-3).

Teams on the Cusp: Florida State (5-4), Miami (5-4), Virginia (4-6).

Florida State and Miami should both get their 6th win in two weeks. I'm projecting UVA to miss getting to 6 wins, leaving them out of a bowl game. That makes 8 teams eligible for bowl games. I don't think you'll see rematches between Carolina-Clemson or UGA-Ga Tech, because bowl officials won't want a state of SC rematch and the only way UGA sniffs a bowl as good as Ga Tech's is by buying tickets.

As for the bowl games, here's how I see them shaking out:

Orange Bowl (ACC Champ): Georgia Tech
Chick-Fil-A Bowl: Virginia Tech
Gator Bowl: Maryland
Champs Sports Bowl: Clemson
Meineke Car Car Bowl: BC
Music City: Wake Forest
Emerald Bowl: Florida State
Poinsettia Bowl: Miami (as the at-large team--there is no ACC tie-in here)

On these projections: Wake Forest probably won't bring a lot of fans, hence their drop to Nashville. Clemson, by virtue of traveling well, could jump up to either the Gator or Chick-Fil-A bowls, but they will probably have to win their last two games to have a shot. A loss to either NC State or Carolina will almost assuredly send them to Orlando and possibly Charlotte for the Meineke Bowl. Va Tech, if they win out, will be a perfect candidate for a 10-win team that the Chick-Fil-A officials really wants as they try to raise the bowl's profile. Maryland and West Va. will not face off again in the Gator Bowl (they played September 14), so if the Gator Bowl chooses West Va, they will likely choose between Boston College, Wake Forest, and Clemson. In this scenario, even if Clemson loses another game, they may find themselves going to Jacksonville.

All in all, there is a lot of football left to be played before all this gets straightened out.

TV: How I Met Your Mother

2006-11-07T18:22:00.000-05:00

I haven't had much time for television lately, but a new show that's caught my attention is How I Met Your Mother (Mondays at 8PM on CBS). I guess it would fall under the category of a romantic comedy, but it's told through a series of flashbacks like The Wonder Years. One of the five stars is that detestable, talentless Alyson Hannigan (American Pie, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc) but I'm actually a fan of her character on the show. Another one of the main actors is Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, M.D.) who plays a similar role as he did in a trip to White Castle. Anyway, it's a 'love story told in reverse' that has storylines and dialogues written for people in their midtwenties. Check it out.

Now this post might not seem like the typical SoD rant, but Carlos Thomas isn't covering receivers very well. In fact, if Ron Cooper and Tyrone Nix don't start making adjustments (like having someone over 5'10" shadow opposing 6'6" receivers) then I'm gonna start dishing about this season's Grey's Anatomy.

wty: First Look at Bowl Projections (Part 1)

2006-11-07T16:11:00.000-05:00

Since the calendar has turned to November, we're less than a month away from the cash-cow championship games and a final determination of the bowl picture. This seems like a good time to have some projections and thoughts for the SEC and ACC bowls. I'll start with the SEC in Part 1, since that is where any conversation regarding college football should start:

Teams Bowling: Auburn (9-1), Arkansas (8-1), Florida (8-1), LSU (7-2), Tennessee (7-2), Alabama (6-4), and Georgia.

Teams on the Cusp: South Carolina (5-4), Kentucky (5-4), Vandy (4-6).

The SEC championship game outcome, and to a lesser extent, who represents the West in the Game, plays a huge role in deciding who goes where. The easiest way for the SEC to get two teams into the BCS is to have Arkansas either win out or lose only one of their three remaining conference games (vs. UT, at Miss. St., vs. LSU). This will put Arkansas in the SECC versus UF, with the winner likely going to the Sugar Bowl. Florida still has a chance to make the BCS championship, but that looks less likely since Louisville has jumped to #3 in the BCS. The loser of the SECC traditionally ends up in the Capital One (don't call it Citrus anymore) Bowl, but if Arkansas were to lose, you might see them in the Cotton Bowl, since they would bring a much larger crowd to Dallas than Orlando.
*One MAJOR point here, though: If Auburn wins out and makes a BCS game, Arkansas beats UT and LSU and loses to UF in the SECC, Arkansas will almost have to go to Orlando, based on the rule the Capital One Bowl has regarding team records--that is, the Capital One Bowl can take a team other than the team with the best record, but only if that team is within one win. Thus, with Auburn and UF gone, Arkansas would be the best available with no team within one win of them, requiring them to make the trip to Orlando.*

Now that I've got you thoroughly confused, here's how I think it shakes out:

Sugar Bowl: Florida
BCS At-Large: Auburn
Capital One: Tennessee
Outback: LSU
Cotton: Arkansas
Chick-Fil-A: South Carolina
Music City: UGA
Liberty: UK
Independence: Alabama

Now, a few things about the list. There are clearly two tiers of bowl teams in the SEC. The top tier includes UF, Arkansas, UT, LSU, and Auburn. The lower tier is USC, UGA, Bama, and Kentucky, all teams who look right now as they'll finish around 6-6. As it stands now, these lower teams could end up in any of the lower bowls. I think if any team can get to 7 wins, they may be a shoo-in for the Chick-Fil-A Bowl this year.

Vandy has to win their last two games at UK and against UT, and that's not going to happen. I don't see UGA beating Auburn or Georgia Tech, leaving them at 6-6. Likewise, Alabama has games remaining at LSU and hosting Auburn, likely leaving them bowl eligible with only a 2-6 conference record. Kentucky is interesting, though. With games remaining against Vandy, Louisiana-Monroe, and UT, Kentucky is looking at a solid chance to go 7-5. Finally, Carolina will visit Florida and Clemson, with a game against Middle Tennessee in between. If Carolina beats Florida or Clemson (or both), they will play in the Chick-Fil-A bowl. If UGA loses to Ga Tech, I don't see the Chick-Fil-A bowl beating down their door to take them over a South Carolina team with a better record and who will bring fans to the area for a longer time. I'm not sure that the Chick-Fil-A bowl would take a 7-5 UK team over UGA, USC, or Bama. Finally, since Bama is out of the SEC West, I think they'll end up in the Independence Bowl.

All of the above, of course, is predicated on the SEC getting two BCS teams. If Arkansas stumbles and does not win the West, there is a strong likelihood of only getting the one team in the BCS. If this happens, everybody shifts down a slot, leaving a team searching to take another conference's tie-in.

In Part 2, I'll take a look at the even more confusing ACC race.

Week 11

2006-11-06T17:45:00.000-05:00

Here are the games for Week 11. The Big East undefeateds square off again this Thursday.

Congrats to Louis, Will, and Brian for leading the pack last week with 7 correct picks.

All Hallow's Eve

2006-11-03T11:15:00.000-05:00

Well, like I've said before: Charleston takes Halloween very seriously. That's fortunate for me because it's one of my favorite times of the year. The costume parties, the ghosts, and nefarious activities are all right up my alley.

I went through 3 costumes again, but I must say that I could wear that jester attire everyday and be happy. Nobody would take me up on paying Alice a visit, but I did get to top off this Halloween season with having a home cooked meal made for me and watching The Exorcism of Emily Rose, a movie which I highly recommend.

By popular demand, several picture albums have been uploaded.

Crummy: West Virginia at Louisville

2006-11-02T00:50:00.000-05:00

I won't go into stats and figures about these two teams because they will have little to do with the result in this contest. As many could probably predict, I am a longtime West Virginia fan and will give the edge to them this Thursday. In order to show I do pay attention to the actual teams and am not just going by my personal bias to pick this game, I will lay out the key actors in the drama that will unfold at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium on Thursday night. There are the sterling sophomores from West Virginia. QB Pat White and RB Steve Slaton are the key to the entire Mountaineer team, not just the offense. I anticipate that these guys will rush the ball often. If Slaton is contained then White will run and vice versa. There is a possibility of some passing, but that is definitely not White's strength.

Next we have QB Brian Brohm from the U of L who has missed four games this season but is likely to have finally knocked the rust off coming into Thursday's game. Since the injury to RB Michael Bush in the first game of the season, the Cardinals have a running game by committee. The committee seems to be effective.

The game will come down to who can stop the other from scoring. The 'eer defense is pretty weak and it lets up quite a bit in the air if it can't put a lot of pressure on the quarterback. This is my biggest concern for the game because I have heard that the Cardinal defense can stop the run effectively. However, to stop White and Slaton from running you have to do more than be good at stopping the run, you simply have to be faster than those two guys. Well...that's all I'm going to say about that. I have a feeling this will be another great football Thursday.

Week 10

2006-10-30T18:16:00.000-05:00

Here are the games for Week 10. Note the game that's being played this Thursday.

Congratulations to Erin and SoD contributor wty, esq., for leading the pack with a whopping 5 out of 10.

Crummy, Esq.: wty, Attorney at Law

2006-10-28T11:53:00.000-04:00

Congratulations are in order for SoD's own wty as he is now licensed to practice law in the state of South Carolina!

wty: Crummy, Esquire

2006-10-27T12:22:00.000-04:00

Congrats to SoD's Crummy, who is now officially licensed to practice law in Ohio. Way to go Crummy!

wty: The Cocktail Party

2006-10-24T21:00:00.000-04:00

Well, it's that time of year again. Clemson is deluding themselves into thinking that they have a chance to win the ACC (note to everyone: Clemson can't even win their division without some help, so please stop calling them the best team in the ACC), while in Columbia, Carolina is once again positioning themselves to play Florida for the SEC East title. Before that can happen, however, UT comes calling on the Gamecocks and Georgia meets UF in Jacksonville for what can only be described as a spectacle: rednecks clad in black & red or blue & orange, all wearing jean shorts and drinking copious amounts of natty lite. It is quite a scene.

As for the game itself, Georgia is playing some pretty awful football right now. If this play continues, UGA will find itself in the same shoes UT wore last year. Since beating UAB 34-0, UGA has struggled to beat the likes of Colorado, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State (a combined 5-19) by a total of 9 points. Meanwhile, UGA has been embarrassed in home losses to UT (a blowout 51-33 loss, which UGA led by 17 at the half) and Vanderbilt.

I personally wish that UGA was coming to Williams-Brice this week instead of when they did, because I honestly believe it would be a 10-14 point victory for Carolina . Similarly, UF will have no problem dispatching of UGA this weekend. I would have picked UF to win this game at the beginning of the season for a variety of reasons, not the least of which are that UF owns UGA and that UF is a more talented team this year.

Therefore, I'll certainly pick UF to win this game, though I think UGA has too much pride to get completely blown out. UF wins comfortably and the game is never in doubt, but the Gators won't beat the nearly two-touchdown line the oddsmakers have put down.

Raaaaaa! [UPDATED]

2006-10-24T16:37:00.000-04:00

i have a drinking problem.

his name is boz.

he turned 27 today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Feel free to leave your birthday in the comments section so we can kick some shoutouts when it approaches.

Can't see it? Click below.

Is there something on my face?

Can Myspace become Your Reality?

2006-10-23T17:00:00.000-04:00

Social networking sites have been the biggest buzz on the internet for over a year now. Gophers, Usenet (which should date my internet existance), instant messaging, and (recently) blogs can't even sniff the popularity that these sites have generated. The leader in this wave of communication is MySpace. This website has finally accomplished what so many other sites (AOL, Yahoo, Google, MSN, etc) have tried to do since their inception- it's an internet portal. Interestingly though, MySpace hasn't implemented a legitimate email system, which is how most of those aforementioned sites gained popularity. Anyone remember the OldDays when you'd be amazed that someone had a guestbook on their personal webpage? Well, MySpace has a guestbook too.

The website has about 56 million unique users and gets more hits than both Google and AOL, ranking second only to Yahoo in the US. MySpace was acquired by the media conglomerate News Corp (which also owns Fox Broadcasting) for the measely price of $580 million. Rupert Murdoch got a steal on this one. The site is a incubator of people itching to spend their money. It's not just kiddy change either since over 42% of the site's users are between the ages of 35-54. And with the introduction of Myspace Records, Myspace Films, and Myspace TV there will be plenty of opportunities for capitalism. That's enough of my Datelinesque intro.. now for some personal thoughts.

The Good:
The best feature MySpace has is the obvious one- catching up with old friends. There's that kid who moved away in the 6th grade. Woah, that fraternity brother has a kid now? etc. 6 degrees of separation? It's more like 2, at the most. The music, videos, and occasional MyspaceMiracle are just gravy. I'll even admit that the SoD staff frequently uses its messaging as a way to keep things moving.

The Bad:
Like anything social and relatively-anonymous, MySpace has attracted a fair share of the dregs of society ranging from pedophiles to politicians. I'm gonna place social networking in this category too. Don't get me wrong- I fully believe that the best way to maximize life is to share it with as many people as possible but a site like this should always be someone's accessory and not their crutch. When kids go home to check their comments instead of riding bikes or when a Friendster poke means more than a smile and a handshake, well, then I think that will create a culture that's a little more superficial. Maybe that's the (older?) generation in me talking, but I feel that a happy birthday call will always be more sincere than an email or comment.

...and the SoD hits 10,000.

penny: gameday

2006-10-23T16:25:00.000-04:00

in case you live under a rock you heard we are getting gameday again this week. i for one am excited, not because kat reniged on giving me her ticket to the game, but because i will finally get to meet the lone cougar fan. i for one encourage everyone to find the guy with the washington state flag and buy him a beer. why? because he has been at every gameday location throughout the year which means he a bigger college football fan than you or me. ladies, it also means hes rich and single. and if not, will be divorced by the end of november.
for pics this week i would say no way wake doesnt cover. no need to go into stats here, but north carolina is anemic at best and with a victory here and a VERY possible upset of clemson by the hokie's, the tigers will fall in the conference behind boston college (with a w over florida state) and the deacons. and so for nothing more than spite i again stand against the danny ford nation.

Week 9

2006-10-23T12:43:00.001-04:00

Here are the games for Week 9.

SoD contributor Penny has won the braggin' rights for a record-setting 3rd time. The scoreboard's been updated. There's still alot of football left to be played. Sorry for the previous google/blogspot/gmail difficulties, but they look to be resolved.

The Night That Wouldn't End

2006-10-17T17:44:00.000-04:00

So I attended an engagement party honoring a handful of recent fiances this past weekend. Apparently, I had previously volunteered to do the cooking. That was fine by me, I didn't mind cooking 6 lowcountry boils.. especially since I had a cooler within reach the entire time. There's nothing like watching water boil and drinking beer. While I'm thinking about it, let me share some Beaufort Stew truisms:

You can never use too much Old Bay.

You can never use too many onions.

And contrary to popular opinion, you can have too much shrimp.

After feeding scores of people, my sidekick and I ventured inside to meet two of our favorite party guests: Jack and Jose. Jose didn't stick around long. (12:00 PM) Jack left soon after. (12:30 PM) So we decided to leave and stop by a hotspot before last call. After I parked, a bum knocked on the window.

'Hey don't worry about your car. I'll make sure it won't get towed. Can I get a dollar?'

Knowing how that situation ends up, we gave him a dollar and 45 cents in pennies. After milking last call, we returned to this site: (2:15 AM)

It turned out the tow truck was jackin' the car parked behind me.. but in doing so he blocked me in. The towed-to-bes walked up around the same time. They were a bunch of pizza-laden kids in their midtwenties. They looked to be a wedding party. The groomsmen had their disheveled tuxedos and the bridesmaids were draped in the typical Cha-Cha-Slide-induced perspiration-soaked ugly dresses. As you can imagine, this formerly-picturesque gang went rabid upon finding their out-of-state SUV in shackles. They let out every obscenity in the book. Their knowledge of Constitutional Law was impressive. We watched this comedy unfold while sippin on some cold ones.

After they cooled down a bit, I tapped on the tow truck driver's window.

'Hey man.. I don't really care about the car your about to tow. But do you think you could move a little so I can get out of here?'

The tow truck driver responded by saying I should call a cop. Now there's a dilemma: On the one hand I wouldn't mind being able to leave so I could visit Sharifa at the Waffle House. On the other hand, I'd like to avoid as much interaction with the police as possible. That's when I smelled the buffalo-tangy goodness. I closed my eyes, stuck my nose in the air, and followed the trail.

'Who the freak are you,' asked the chicken-laden groomsmen.

'Chicken wing,' were the only words I could muster.

...and then the police arrived. That's when we decided to go grab a few slices of pepperoni and feta. When we returned, the drama had intensified. (3:00 AM)

A fifth party of formerly-towed women were now on the scene. They were screaming at the tops of their lungs.

'BUT WE GAVE THAT BUM $2!!!!!'

As it turned out, the police officer helped the wedding party and tow truck driver come out to a fair price that they all agreed upon. Unfortunately for everyone, the mediation session took so long that the tow truck's battery died in the meantime. That left the tow truck immobile, the wedding party in shackles, and most importantly- we were still blocked in.

Luckily, it only took 30 minutes for the tow truck driver's colleague to arrive and give him a jump.. and we all went on our happy way. (3:45 AM)

Week 8

2006-10-16T22:55:00.000-04:00

Here are the games for Week 8.

The scoreboard has been updated for both week's 6 and 7. Sorry for the delay. Congratulations to SoD writer wty for 2 consecutive leading scores of 7.

Crummy: A Small Look at the ACC

2006-10-11T20:57:00.000-04:00

Looking to this game I was thinking that the ACC head office would most like NC State to lose so that it would no longer be the only team without a conference loss and one of its "powerhouses," let's say Clemson chuckle, can lead the ACC pack into the second half of the season. Looking at the line, Vegas wants it to go the other way. My opinion is that NC State will lose this game. I understand Vegas' point, NC State did narrowly defeat Boston College AND Florida State. But, I disagree with the national hype given to every defeat of Florida State. I might be alone here, but let's pretend for once that in order to be a good team you actually have to prove yourself in any given year. Now, tell me how good the Crimi 'Noles are this year. As is probably clear, I give Wake the win.

Oh yeah, the Bucks will roll this weekend in East Lansing, after all "I don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan, 'cause I'm from O-Hi-O."

Week 7

2006-10-10T12:49:00.000-04:00

Here are the games for Week 7. Note that the first game is this Thursday.

Due to technical difficulties, the results of Week 6 won't be posted until later this week.

Oklahoma at Texas (-5.5)

2006-10-05T17:23:00.000-04:00

After playing a variety of instate games, the Texas Longhorns (4-1) host the Sooners in the Red River shootout this weekend. Freshman Colt McCoy (10 td, 2 int) will be slinging the ball for the Longhorns while Paul Thompson (8 td, 3 int) will be starting as Oklahoma's quarterback. Looking at this game statistically, I see the quarterbacks as being equal. The receivers are just as close when looking at Longhorns Sweed/Cosby versus Sooners Kelly/Iglesias. The running game slightly favors Oklahoma employee Adrian Peterson, who will be playing against the nation's #2 ranked rush defense.

Like the Carolina/Wofford game, this matchup is too close to call.. but since it doesn't cost anything I'll just say the defending champs will be playing loose in Dallas and cover the spread.

penny: jayhateme

2006-10-05T10:30:00.000-04:00

theres been lots of talk recently about how much the ACC sucks this year. well...i cant help but agree. perennial powers florida state and miami have been on the skids for 2 years now, and virginia tech has already proven they arent that great without a vick in the backfield. and so, despite a 2-2 record, chuck amato's boys find themselves undefeated in conference play and sitting atop the leaderboard with wake in the atlantic division. IF wake pulls the upset against clemson, and IF the pack pulls out a W, clemson will sit with 2 losses in conference play and still have the yellowjackets and hokies on their schedule. and so i cheer on the wolfpack for no other reason than my hatred for clemson. and honestly, they have a shot at this game. fsu's offense hung 55 points on rice, but they've looked anemic the rest of this season. amato knows fsu football; he was an assistant under bowden for years until he took the job in raleigh. add to that fsu lost a starting corner and linebacker last week and suddenly the pack is facing a banged up defense.
will the pack cover? sure. will they win? *beware:maddenism ahead* if they can pull it out in the trenches and get a couple key turnovers then anything is possible

Crummy: West Virginia at Mississippi St.

2006-10-04T14:22:00.000-04:00

West Virginia should be able to beat Miss St. in this game, but covering the 22 point spread is probably another matter. The Bulldogs have a pretty good defensive front 7 which will make it hard for WVU's Pat White and Steve Slaton to run up big yardage. The Bulldogs have not shown an ability to put up much on offense and will once again struggle against a decent Mountaineer defense. Sylvester Croom is trying his hardest to make Miss State a contender in the SEC, but is struggling mightily again this year. I say the big question in this game will be whether Mountaineer QB Pat White can put the ball in the air successfully. In the ECU game two weeks ago he was able to go to the air for 217 yards and two TDs when Slaton was out with cramps for the middle of the game. Yeah, WVU may have barely pulled out the win against Skip Holtz's Pirates, but they are solid team that wins.

wty: Tennessee at Georgia (+2.5)/Fry that Chicken

2006-10-03T10:13:00.000-04:00

UGA has been sleepwalking through games as of late, almost costing them wins versus Ole Miss and Colorado, two of the worst teams in major college football. This week may mark the return of Joe Tereshinski, their senior QB, but it also marks the return of UGA fans to reality. UGA isn't a top-10 team, and they won't be able to luck their way to a victory this week. I'm not sure whether Tennessee is too tough or UGA just isn't good enough, but the Dawgs are not playing good enough football right now to win this game. I'll call UT by 6.

On a side note, has everyone seen this?

Week 6

2006-10-02T17:43:00.000-04:00

Week 6 is ready to go. There are alot of key interconference matchups this week. Please note that Florida State and N.C. State play on Thursday, October 6th.

And from all of us at the SoD: thanks for playing so far!

Congratulations to Ritch, as well as to repeat winners Will and Southern Sweetheart for coming on top last week with 7 correct picks. Look for a leaderboard to be published later this week.

penny: once upon a time...

2006-09-28T09:55:00.000-04:00

...in the town of orlando, there lived a young lad named nutso. now some of yall may rememeber bit and pieces of our excursions to middle florida, including 'the bare winch project', nutso's crazy hot sister, new years on church street, and of course 'the bare winch project', but i ask who remembers the humanitarian bowl from the 2000 season. yes, we all sat around bitching about getting the only ugly hooters waitress as we forced down the worst wings in town....all while watching clemson v. la la tech unfold on the blue tundra of boise state. that game found the tigers favored by 4ish, and they won by something like 25. and so we find ourselves several years later, with the tigers a 33 point favorite. forget that tech hung in with the aggies for a half, and forget statistics, tech cant stop the run. period. as much as i cant stand james davis he's going to have some HUGE numbers by the time this one is over (and may start gaining fans on the way to heisman voting). clemson covers

Part Three

2006-09-26T14:24:00.000-04:00

Man, you guys are obsessed with college football. Put down the stats for a second. Stop obsessing about every prognostication the ESPN Gameday crew gives. Here's a little secret- practice reports tell very little about an upcoming game. So kick back and enjoy a story from a life less ordinary.

I know I told yall the story about the bottle of wine. I told yall about the sequel too. Well it turns out that this storyline is a trilogy.. who knows, it may even become a TV series.

So I was buying some beer the other day and went through the normal routine of waiting in the checkout line. I read the tabloid headlines. I judged the people in front of me based upon their grocery purchases. And that's when I began the final step of my grocery line protocol: I began perusing the impulse items. There, nestled amidst the batteries and Snickers bars, was a bottle of Fat Bastard. Sold!

The bottle gathered dust over the weeks. Days began and nights concluded and there it sat. Until one day after a buffoonery-laden weekend capped off with fajitas- the bottle made its move. So we get back to my place.

'What do you want to do?'

'I don't know. Whatever.' Of course you don't know. Why should you know what you want to do? I assume I should know what you want to do. Well let me give you a little hint about us- I could probably read Mesopotamian cuneiform on crumbling papyrus before I could ever read you. Want to know what I want to do? No. You don't. Wanna know why? Because all I want to do is strip down, eat a block of cheese, and watch cartoons.

'How about you go pick out a movie while I go open a bottle of wine?'

So I enter the kitchen and begin what will become an epic battle with the Fat Bastard. After about 2 minutes of working with the bottle, the corkscrew breaks. #@$*!

Did that really just happen? I'm gonna guess the bottlers used an oversized cork on this one. Maybe the atmospheric pressure is off. No big deal.. I'll just wedge it out with some scissors.

(self-explanatory)

'What's Suicide Kings about?'

'Great choice hun! It has Christopher Walken in his prime and is one my favorites. Keep looking though, there are plenty of choices.' That should buy me some time.

It broke my corkscrew and my scissors. Let's see how it fares against the screwdriver and vice grips. So during this 15 minute battle I must have used a bit too much force which then broke part of the bottle and subsequently cut my thumb. Odd. This scenario sounds familiar. I just can't place it. Screw it. I'll hammer this knife through the cork. That should relieve the pressure like draining an abscess.. in theory. Unfortunately, all it led to was wine spraying me in the face. No big deal, that will just have to be my Red Badge of Courage then. So I take the vice and tug on the cork and it doesn't budge one bit (except that some of the broken glass that wasn't embedded in my thumb sank to the bottom of the bottle).

'Is everything ok?'

'What? Oh. Yep, everything's good. Just doing some cleaning.. want a beer? I'll be done in a second.'

Time to step into the ~~arsenal~~ garage. Well hello there Mr. Power Drill. So I drill into the cork. I loosen the periphery. I even find the broken piece of the corkscrew in it. After about 20 minutes of fighting, I take a break to rest. That's when I noticed how quiet it was. She had fallen asleep. I guess this way I won't have to concede defeat. So I took a seat and watched my cartoons.

Week 5

2006-09-25T20:02:00.000-04:00

The games for Week 5 have been uploaded. Please note that a key ~~sucker bet~~ matchup is Thursday, September 28th.

Congratulations to SoD writer Penny and Sod reader Matt D for leading the pack last week with 7 correct picks. The average for all challengers was an even 4.0. Good luck.. there's alot of football to be played.

Alabama @ Arkansas (-1.5)

2006-09-20T20:54:00.000-04:00

I don' have a whole lot of time to write this, but Bama wins this game straight up. I can't believe Arkansas is giving 1.5 points.

penny:bc v. nc state

2006-09-20T11:05:00.000-04:00

i mean cmon chuck, losing back to back games against akron and southern miss? in an attempt to stop the bleeding amato will start a new quarterback this week, daniel evans, as the wolfpack head into their acc opener. evans did well in relief against brett fava, favara, favre's alma mater, but cmon, we could field a summerofdev team that could light up a conference usa prevent defense.
on the other side of the ball, bc comes in after back-to-back double overtime wins against clemson and the mormons. they sport an airbourne attack led by matt ryan and are averaging 31.7 points per game. the eagles are 29-0 since 2000 when they score over 30. you do the math. eagles easily cover the spread...course this is coming from a guy who only hit 4 games last week. on a side note, i encourage everyone to start looking over sweetheart's shoulder as she's filling out her picks

Upon Further Review

2006-09-19T18:02:00.000-04:00

So I made the trip to Florida State's Bobby Bowden field at Doak Campbell Stadium this past weekend. Parts of the campus lived up to its reputation, although other aspects were severely lacking.

Impressive:
1. Doak Campbell Stadium- The stadium's appearance is amazing. It's the largest red brick structure in Florida and the rest of the buildings on that campus follow the same theme. There aren't levels to the seating which allows people from the very top row to travel all the way to the bottom. The grounds surrounding the stadium are littered with monuments and sculptures. I wouldn't rank their stadium high on the fear factor though.

2. The Food- Tallahassee has some authentic grease pits. Leaving a bar Friday night, we ended up at Guthries. I had a Gutbox which was basically a Zaxby's meal.. but at 3 AM! I didn't get to finish it though because my coleslaw went airborn through the restaurant. Another late night eatery was Super Perros, which is a Colombian restaurant. I had their Mix Burger which is basically a hamburger patty on top of bbq and all of it is smothered in mozzarella cheese. Oh, and it comes with tater tots.

Unimpressive:
1. Northern Florida- Northern Florida = Southern Georgia = all of Alabama.
We had to take a pitstop on the way down to pick up some more refreshments. So we stop at this gas station and as soon as we walk in there's a huge display of shotgun shells. Following it is a display which housed the entire Mossy Oak catalog. I thought the GreaserYanks(tm) had overtaken Florida.

2. Florida State's Secondary- FSU's secondary is a travesty to its defense. Their front seven are probably the best in the nation. Buster Davis should be in the NFL. The secondary had such terrible coverage that a LouHoltzCoachedTeam(tm) could complete passes against. This defense as a whole, though, will be the only reason that the Seminoles will be able to compete with quality opponents. Luckily for them, they don't play a quality opponent until the Gators come to town.

Indifferent:
1. The Chicks- I was told I would never see as many hot, trashy girls in one place as the ones in Tallahassee. That wasn't a lie. The bar we hit up the first night was kind of dead. It was fun riling up the FSU fans with Clemson cheers. It was fun heckling the Clemson fans with the Warchant. Then it was fun confusing everyone with the occasional 'Steve Spurrier's the man!' Anyway.. back to the chicks. Potbelly's is the place to be though. This bar had a good bit of chickies in it, but they all had this kind of 'sticky' look to them.

2. The Tailgate- The Seminoles have a long way to go in the football tailgatin' business. The liquor stores were empty at 9 AM. The town didn't start to show signs of life until about 1, which is when we needed to reload on bloody mary mixes. I think the downside to an extremely on-campus stadium is a lack of focus for the pregame.

...picture update!

Week 4

2006-09-18T17:02:00.000-04:00

Here are the games for Week 4. Please note that Georgia Tech plays Virginia on Thursday, September 21st. So take a guess as to when your picks need to be submitted.

The scoreboard has been updated. Congrats to Southern Sweetheart and Will for earning top scores of 7 picks. For everyone else, don't be too bummed- the average for all contestants was 4.57 for Week 3.

Crummy: Michigan at Notre Dame

2006-09-15T19:04:00.000-04:00

It's no secret that the #11 Team Up North hates #2 Notre Dame and vice versa. These two teams essentially recruit the same area and the Wolverines actually taught the game of football to Irish. This weekend will make the teacher into the student as the South Bendies will come out on top over the poor Ann Arborites.
Both teams have some big dogs in the fight. Again, Brady will be giving the ball to Darius and throwing to Jeff. Last week appeared to show that the Irish are talented offensively after they put up 41 on Linebacker U. We all know that the maize and blue is always a solid team on both sides of the football and they have plenty of offensive experience behind QB #7 and RB #20. Up to this point they have gone up against pretty weak opponents in Vanderbilt and Central Michigan and are relatively unproven this year. The Irish were tested in Week #1 by GT and then came out firing against a supposedly revived Penn State. This game will be played in the trenches like it always is, but Notre Dame will be the "Victors."

On a side note - "Muck Fichigan!"

penny: miami v louisville

2006-09-15T17:03:00.000-04:00

well, im going to have to stick by prediction here and say miami walks away with a victory. dont think miami isnt ready for this game...a wide open coastal division, in which only virginia tech has a winning conference record, still holds a road for miami to make it to the acc title game. miami has never lost to louisville, going 9-0-1 in the series history. yeah yeah, the cardinals have the number one rated scoring offense in the country right now. guess what...all those obscene numbers came at the expense of temple and kentucky. this week they face the 7th ranked defense in the country, one that held florida state to 1 yard rushing their first game of the season. watch for brandon merriweather to have a big game and make the crucial pick in the second half that quiets the crowd and insures miami's big road win.

LSU at Auburn (-3.5)

2006-09-15T15:13:00.000-04:00

Two top-ten SEC teams matchup at Jordan-Hare Stadium this weekend as the (#6) LSU Tigers challenge the (#3) Auburn Tigers. Looking back at the game through this millenia, it seems that the home team has won each time. For the past two years, the game has been won by an average of two points. But in 2002, Auburn took it to LSU 31-7 only to have LSU win by that exact score the following year. So which type of game will this be: a defensive battle or a landslide victory?

On the offensive side of the ball, the game will be pitting two of the best SEC quarterbacks against each other in JaMarcus Russell and Brandon Cox. I'll consider this a wash, but the Auburn offense as a whole is stronger and that will show against the younger LSU defense. The Plainsmen have four seniors on their offensive line and uber-talented Kenny Irons waiting to run for the Heisman behind them.

Who wins? Auburn.
Do they cover the insane early spread of -3.5? Nope.

Auburn will be heading to the SEC championship game regardless of the outcome of this game though. LSU travels to Florida and Tennessee, while Auburn gets Florida and Georgia at home. They do have to travel to South Carolina though, but that's just so Kenny Irons can grab a pair of cleats he left at Williams Brice.

You want it? You got it!

2006-09-13T16:38:00.000-04:00

The frame doesn't change because of the tie. We'll institute a new score tiebreaker starting next week to take care of that. But here are some props to Joey C in the meantime..

Florida at Tennessee (-3.5)

2006-09-13T16:04:00.000-04:00

Florida has been strong in its first two games, winning its two games by a combined score of 76-7. However, neither of the two teams the Gators beat could be considered anywhere near SEC-quality. Tennessee has an impressive win against California, but barely escaped beating Air Force last week. The closeness of the Air Force game must have been a result of UT looking ahead; if it was not, then UT may be in serious trouble this week.

Florida has a strong offense lead by QB Chris Leak. The Gators also feature several talented running backs and can win through the air or on the ground. UT's offense looks much improved over last year's version, but they have yet to face a talented defense. QB Erik Ainge has demonstrated his ability versus lesser teams, but he hasn't yet shown he can be successful against a defense that will attack. He will have that chance this Saturday. Playing in Knoxville gives UT an edge, but it won't be enough to overcome UF and the 3.5 points they're getting. Take UF all the way.

Week 3

2006-09-12T14:12:00.000-04:00

Here are the games for Week 3 of the contest.

The scoreboard link to the right has been updated for the results of Week 2. Please note that since Boston College (-1) vs. Clemson came out to a tie, I counted either pick. That helped inflate our terrible predictions. I'd like to congratulate the 3 winners of Week 2 coming in at 8/10:
SoD Reader Joey C.
SoD Reader JR
SoD Reader Kelly

Perspective

2006-09-11T10:25:00.000-04:00

Where were you?

Duke at Wake Forest (-18.5)

2006-09-08T14:02:00.000-04:00

Sorry if this post is weak, but so is the game.

I don't care how well this kid can shoot: Wake wins by 20.

penny: ive got a fever. the only cure? MORE COWBELL!!

2006-09-07T14:51:00.001-04:00

in the time i can remember watching college football, its hard to think back and name a bad auburn running back off of the top of my head. lets see...we have bo jackson, steven davis, rudi johnson, heath evans, ronnie brown, cadillac, and now heisman candidate kenny irons. you all remember kenny, he got benched by lou for dropping a screen pass and fell down the depth chart behind demetrius summers (last i heard was may when he was working on the cowboys rookie squad. any updates?). so now we watch our former recruit (who herschel walker has said is better than he ever was) lead the tigers along with a strong quarterback in brandon cox against a team who, well...you all watched the game last week.
quick update...micheal henig is out 6 to 8 weeks after we broke his collar bone last thursday....booyah. that means the same fumbling, unexperienced redhirt freshman tray rutland will take the snaps, with the teams primary wide-out serving as the back-up QB. sound like a 0-2 start for sylvester croom? the sad thing here is that he's really not a bad coach, coming in to take over this program after NCAA recruiting violations and with the caliber players he inhereted he hasnt done ALL that bad. but starting your season 0-2, in conference, when youre already on the hot seat doesnt bode well for croom. id say the one bright spot on this team is their defense, which aside from giving up a trick play to us looked pretty solid. quintin culberson impressed the hell out of me, seemed like he was in on every play in the game.
short story long, auburn wins this game. im sure they win big too, easily covering the spread and keeping the cowbelling to a minimum

Carolina vs. Georgia

2006-09-07T14:28:00.000-04:00

Penny:
and here we sit, the second game of the season...and that means its time for david pollock nightmare-flashbacks, quincy carter heisman dreams ending, and the return of flea-bitten mongrels named uga. on one hand im stoked that fred gibson is on the dolphins practice squad, but theres still that deep seeded hatred for his alma mater. we all hate georgia. plain and simple. and we always play them well (minus our athens road trip in 2003. jay got jumped, my truck almost blew up on i-i95, and lj lost our dog) but rarely come out ahead. it all changes this year. if you HONESTLY think the ole' ball coach came out firing vs. miss state youre crazy...the offense will open up this saturday night. add to that we have actually faced a real defense (unlike opening up against western kentucky) and blake should be ready to rock. we threw to sidney sparingly last thursday, expect him to make himself known as we roll mark richt right out of willy-b

Bill:
UGA's D vs. Carolina's O: For Carolina to have any success this week, the O-line must improve greatly on their effort from last week. Simply put, Carolina will not have a chance to win if the line doesn't give the running backs room to run and Blake time to pass. Georgia has a tough defensive line, headlined by all-everything Quinton Moses, but it will not be much better than the Mississippi St. line. Therefore, it is up to Carolina to play better on the line which will in turn create more scoring opportunities for the offense.

UGA's O vs. Carolina's D: UGA Coach Mark Richt said today that two quarterbacks will play Saturday. While he did not go so far as to say which two, it is a certainty that whoever is under center will be taking his first snaps in an opposing stadium. Further, last week's starter, Joe Tereshinski was unimpressive against a weak Western Kentucky team, completing 7 of 17 passes for a paltry 90 yards. True freshman Matt Stafford played sparingly and will almost certainly have the "deer in the headlights" look when he steps onto the field Saturday. If Carolina can put some pressure on the quarterback, the UGA quarterback (whoever he is) will be pressured into mistakes. The way UGA can counteract this inexperience at QB, however, is by a strong running game, and the Dawgs have the horses in the backfield to do it. Therefore, it is imperative that Carolina stuff the run early on and force UGA into passing situations.

The Call: Carolina 17, UGA 14

Dev:
I was nervous all week but I'm puttin' on the garnet shades. All I'm saying is Cocks by 3.

Ohio State at Texas

2006-09-06T22:49:00.000-04:00

The ESPN College Gameday Game of the Week.

The most anticipated matchup of the early college football season pits the defending National Champion #2 Texas Longhorns at home in Austin against the #1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Neither team has ever lost a #1 vs. #2 matchup. The second part of this home-and-home series is sure to be a slugfest.

This game is almost impossible to call. Both teams have clearly lost big playmakers from a year ago. Most notably Mr. Vincent Young and Mr. AJ Hawk. However, the Buckeyes are returning two genuine Heisman candidates at QB (Troy Smith) and WR (Ted Ginn Jr.) as well as an arsenal of other offensive weapons.

OSU Brain Trust
*source: www.dispatch.com
The Longhorns are no slouches and definitively squared away their #2 ranking following the big win over North Texas in which they conceded only a single score. The new QB in Austin is a redshirt freshman name Colt McCoy who is deemed to have shaken off any jitters he may have had as a starter by putting up 178 yards with 3 TDs passing and adding a rushing TD. The weapons appear to still be there for Texas as well.

The biggest questions for both teams will be defense. OSU lost 9 starters from last year. The talk around Columbus has been that the defense is still stacked, but last week they gave up 171 yards rushing to Garrett Wolfe of Northern Illinois. To show my bias and that of the Columbus papers, this was the result of a fresh crop of young defensive players being moved in and out of the lineup to get them some snaps.

If Texas wants to win this game the defense is going to have to stop Ted Ginn Jr. The secondary suffered a blow this week when the shut-down CB Tarell Brown was suspended from the game after an arrest for possession of mary-jane and a handgun he was holding in his lap. Will they stop the fastest man in the NCAA?

I say throw out the spread in this game and pick the winner: O-H-I-O.

Penn State @ Notre Dame (-8.5)

2006-09-06T18:51:00.000-04:00

Last Week: Both teams won their season openers, as Notre Dame squeaked by Georgia Tech 14-10 and Penn State got by Akron 34-16.

About Penn State: Penn State has a veteran defense, led by Senior Linebacker Paul Posluszny. However, he is not their only weapon, as their entire LB corps may be the best in the country. Their secondary may be suspect, however, as both corners and one safety are sophomores. The keys for Penn State's defense will be twofold: 1) Can they get to Brady Quinn like Georgia tech did; and 2) When they don't, can these young corners hold their own against ND's wide receivers? Penn State's offense starts with QB Anthony Morelli, who passed for 06 yards last week in his first career start. The playmaker, however, is sophomore WR Derrick Williams, who was the #1 player coming out of high school several years ago. Getting the ball into the hands of Williams and letting him make plays will be very important, especially if Pen State cannot improve on their 76-yard rushing effort against Akron.

About Notre Dame: Notre Dame proved last week that they can go on the road and beat a mediocre ACC team. Yippee. If the vaunted ND offense could only score 14 points against Georgia Tech's defense, they will be much more hard-pressed to succeed against a much better defense in Penn State. The key for ND here is to establish a run game early with Darrius Walker. If they can do this, the passing game should open up, as the LB won't be able to simply tee off on Quinn. The Irish defense last week held an historically streaky GT offense to 10 points by playing mostly nickel coverage (last year they ran 4-3 regardless of how many WRs the opposing team sent out on the field). If the Irish stick with the same strategy this week, they may get burned on the ground--Penn State has a talented RB in Tony Hunt, and Akron stacked the box last week in an effort to make Penn State throw the ball to win. ND must mix up defenses and coverages in order to confuse Morelli, who will be making his first road start.

The Call: This game seems like it is destined to be a defensive struggle. I think the first team to 20 wins it, and that will be Notre Dame (as much as it pains me to say it). However, Penn State covers the spread, and in all honesty I wouldn't be too surprised if Penn State won.

Week 2

2006-09-04T19:53:00.000-04:00

Here are the games for Week 2 of the contest. Same deal as before, make your pics and email it to summerofdev@gmail.com by Wednesday.

The current standings after Week 1 can be found at the scoreboard link on the right.

Chili Recipe (#1)

2006-09-01T12:52:00.000-04:00

Dev's Bowtie Chili:

-Ingredients-
2 lbs ground beef
2 (5 oz) cans of tomato paste
2 (10 oz) cans of kidney beans
20 grams of crushed red pepper
2 (20 oz) cans of tomatoes
1 can Extra Hot Rotell
1 can of sliced jalapenos
3 oz of Tabasco sauce
chili powder
1 box of Bowtie pasta

-Directions-
Put kidney beans, tomato paste, and tomatoes into the crockpot. Lightly brown the ground beef and then add it to the pot. Add the Rotell, jalapenos, red pepper, and tabasco sauce. Cook on high for two hours and stir occasionaly. Cook on low for the remaining 4 hours. Semicook the bowtie paste in a pot for 6 minutes and then add to the crockpot. Stir. Makes 6 quarts.

Feelin' cock-diesel? Proudly inform all your guests that you'll be eating a bowl everytime Carolina scores.

Carolina vs. Mississippi St.

2006-08-31T06:27:00.000-04:00

Dev:
We'll have one of the best offenses we've had in awhile, mainly due to the addition of CORY BOYD. We have Spurrier. Mississippi State won 3 games last year. Their defense is stout, but we have too many options. Luckily, our green defense will be able to contain their offense. Cocks win by double digits.

wty:
Carolina's D vs. Miss. St.'s O: Carolina lost its top 10 tacklers from a year ago, meaning there will be tons of new faces out there Thursday night. However, they will be well coached, extremely athletic, and have the ability to surprise some people this year. The Bulldogs starting QB started the last three games of the 2005 season, completing just 44.4% of his passes with 2 TD and 5 interceptions. The young Gamecock defense has an opportunity to feast on him.

Carolina's O vs. Miss St.'s D: The Bulldog defense was tough last year and returns 9 starters from the 8th-best defensive unit in the SEC last season. Carolina has nuerous offensive weapons in Sidney Rice, Blake Mitchell, Mike Davis, and Cory Boyd. Coach Spurrier has had 7 months to gameplan and is still angry about the way Carolina lost in the Independence Bowl.

The Call: Carolina 30, Miss. St 13

Crummy:
As long as the equipment staff has found Blake a better fitting helmut/facemask the offense should put up good numbers this season and especially against the Miss. St. defense. I also look for the young Gamecock defense to go out with plenty to prove. Finally, Spurrier should be in full force, a bit angry about the loss to Misery to end last season, and be ready to outcoach the SEC this year.

The Big Kahuna

2006-08-31T06:25:00.000-04:00

Who wins it all this year? Leave your answer in the comments.

Crummy: Notre Dame at Georgia Tech

2006-08-30T02:23:00.000-04:00

Certainly one of the most hyped matchups of the opening weekend of the college football season, Notre Dame versus Georgia Tech live from Grant Field at Bobby Dodd Stadium in ATL is sure to be a hard fought battle. The Gameday crew will be in attendance increasing the hype of the game, especially since Mr. Herbstreit is predicting Brady Quinn as the Heisman winner (a little hometown favoritism perhaps?).

Notre Dame goes into the game ranked #2 by the Associated Press and tied for #3 by the Coaches. Tech goes in unranked, but that means practically nothing right now and is a result of a lack of hype coming off of back-to-back losses to end last season.

From last season’s performances, it is clear that Quinn (over 3000 yards passing and 32 TDs), Jeff Samardzija (consensus All-American), and Darius Walker (1000 yard rushing) can put up some big numbers on offense. However, the big question mark is the defense. Notre Dame’s defense returns 9 starters who were a part of the team that gave up over 600 yards to Ohio State’s offense in last year’s Fiesta Bowl. The main weakness appears to be the secondary, but Charlie Weis emphasized strengthening the DBs in the off-season. We will find out if his efforts have paid off as veteran Tech QB Reggie Ball and Heisman hopeful Calvin Johnson look to pick apart the questionable Notre Dame secondary.

The key to the game for the Ramblin’ Wreck will be holding ND to as few points as possible as the offense (returning 8 starters) did not put up big scores last season. While Chan Gailey’s defense will be relatively inexperienced this year, his defenses are generally successful at getting at and sacking drop-back style passers (i.e., Quinn).

The Irish will win this game by more than enough to cover the 7.5 point spread.

wty: California at Tennessee (-1.5)

2006-08-29T18:51:00.000-04:00

The 9th-ranked Golden Bears of Cal will travel to Rocky Top for only the second time in school history to take on the Tennessee Volunteers this Saturday in Neyland Stadium. Tennessee will look to begin the recovery process from a disastrous 5-6 campaign in 2005, while Cal is looking to build on an 8-4 record in 2005.

About Cal: The Golden Bears have one of the top offensive minds calling the shots in Jeff Tedford. Aside from a high-flying aerial attack, Cal is able to run the ball extremely well, with potential Heisman candidate Marshawn Taylor leading the way. Last year Lynch rushed for almost 6.5 yards per carry and scored 10 touchdowns. Additionally, a second running back, Justin Forsett, just missed giving Cal another 1,000 yard rusher. As a team, Cal averaged just under 33 points a game. However, while Cal is known primarily for their offense, their defense also shines. In a league that is commonly derided for its lack of defense, Cal held opponents to just over 21 points per game. The defense is led by all-Pac 10 defensive tackle Brandon Mebane, who racked up 7 sacks in 2005.

About Tennessee: The conversation about Tennessee must begin with a discussion of the quarterback situation. After a successful 2004 season left Volunteers looking forward to several years of solid signal-callers, the 2005 season did just the opposite. The same quarterbacks who were phenoms in 2004 were awful in 2005, and UT struggled to move the ball and put points on the board. After bringing back Manning-molder David Cutcliffe, Tennessee is looking for more stability at the most important position on the field. Erik Ainge gets the first shot at demonstrating if Cutcliffe can still work some magic. On the defensive side of the ball, Tennessee will look to replace their entire front seven in a unit that played solidly last year.

The Game: This game may come down to quarterback play. Cal is breaking in a new offensive coordinator and starting quarterback. Neyland Stadium is far from the ideal situation for a first-time starter and I am predicting that the environment will cause Cal to make at least three mistakes. If Tennessee is to win, they'll have to take advantage of these mistakes. Additionally, Ainge must get off to a solid start to give himself, the rest of the team, and the fans confidence. Tennessee had an uncharacteristically bad year in 2005, while none of Cal's wins last year came against a team with a winning record.

The Pick: Tennessee by 3.

Southern Cal at Arkansas

2006-08-29T13:04:00.000-04:00

The remnants of (#6) Southern Cal's explosive offense will make their way to the University of Arkansas's Razorback Stadium this Saturday to complete a home and home series. Last year, the Trojans mercilessly walloped the Razorbacks in a 70-17 win.

But that was last year? LenDale, Reggie, and Matt won't be at this game. Snoop won't be singing the national anthem in Fayetteville. After experiencing a humiliating 4-7 record last season, the Hawgs are ready to let the entire nation know one thing- they have a few more games to lose before they turn it around.

Trojan's receiver Dwayne Jarrett almost scored as many points as the Razorbacks last year. The Hawgs will be playing without phenom running back Darren McFadden, oh, and Nutt's going to be Dickless. The line's at -8.5 for Southern Cal- go with your gut - they'd cover if it was -18.5.

penny: florida state @ miami

2006-08-28T10:47:00.000-04:00

well kiddos, its nearly september and that means two things...the long awaited return of college football and a hurricane is about to hit south florida. outside of boarding up houses and stocking up on dry goods everybody here is stoked for florida state vs miami.
florida states' drew weatherford is about to have a huge year, but he'll be overshadowed through the season by lorenzo booker. he put on 15 pounds this off season and has gone from scat back to running people over in spring drills. mickey andrews, lifer at offensive coordinator, has found the candidate to take over where greg jones left off two years ago. buster davis at middle linebacker hopes to anchor a back seven which returns only two starters.
on the other side of the ball, former national champion coach larry coker finds himself on the hot seat after back to back 9-3 seasons and a 40-3 ass kicking at the hands of lsu at last years peach bowl. everyone's favorite florida state drop out, jay '109 solo tackles in a season' williams, reports breaking in 4 new coches has been shaky for coker. personality conflicts and differences in opinion of team direction have flared between the head coach and personal hired not by coker, but by miami's athletic director. kyle wright is the real deal, but his favorite reciever in ryan moore and the team's top returning rusher in tyrone moss have both been suspended for the first two games of the season. keep an eye on returning all-american brandon meriweather at safety.
forget that the 'noles are dogs in this game, they not only cover but win. theres no such thing as a home team in the citrus bowl...there will be as many garnet and gold shirts as there are orange and white. lack of team chemistry in coaches and player replacements will hamper miami for the first couple games of the year before they redeem themselves 3 weeks into the season with a win at louisville.

CFB Pick'em Contest: Week 1

2006-08-27T20:27:00.000-04:00

Ok folks, so here are the games for this week's contest. Just download the file, make your selection (don't forget to save the file after selecting), and email the file back (summerofdev@gmail.com).

All entries must be in by Wednesday evening. Like I said before, the contest will be using point spreads. Here's an example for anyone that isn't familiar with them:

USC (-6.5) at Mississippi St.

That spread means that the oddsmakers believe that Carolina will beat Mississippi St. by atleast 6.5 points. So if you agree with that prognostication, then just type in USC in the cell next to the game and email it back. Good luck!

The SoD College Football Pick'em Contest

2006-08-23T14:52:00.000-04:00

I'd like to officially announce the 1st annual Summer of Dev College Football Pick'em Contest. The contest will be fairly simple. We'll announce each Sunday which 10 games we'll be covering. The contest will use the early betting lines and all entries must be submitted by Wednesday of that week. The early deadline is due to the fact that all members of the SoD firmly believe in football being played as many days out of the week as possible, so most Thursday night games will be included in the contest.

But wait, there's more..

Knowing how hard-hitting and insightful my analysis [link 1, link 2, link 3] was last season, I've decided to take it up a notch this year. Each writer of the SoD will give a preview of a certain game for that week's contest, along with a joint prognostication of USC's next game.

So what do I win?

This contest will be purely for braggin' rights. Side-bets between members are allowed (and encouraged). Also, if any other blogs think their writers can go toe to toe with the Summer of Dev staff.. I'll gladly tally individual entries as part of a group also. The scores will be published here. Each week's winner will have their picture (either submitted or one from my archives) framed on the SoD until the next round of games. In the case of a tie, no pictures will change because I'm too lazy... unless there are numerous perfect entries, in which case we'll just nail up some more picture frames. The overall winner will have their mug on display until the end of the college basketball season.

Questions? Shoot us an email.

The Jug Returns

2006-08-16T19:19:00.000-04:00

It returned for round 2.

Long has this bottle haunted me. It's been almost SEVEN years and I've avoided that 3 liter jug of the 'cheapest, driest, red wine.' So what brought it back?

Well, a few weeks ago I found myself drowning in awkward conversation. Drowning in awkward conversation in the one of the most awkward settings I can be in. I kill the silence with stories about how well I can sew throw pillows, how I like Celine Dion, and about my new talent in ironing. Realizing the picture I was painting, I decide to tell my tough-as-nails story about the Jug-o-Wine(tm).

For the ignorant, the basis of the story is that during my freshman year in college I decided to drink a bottle while listening to Dayroom's one hit wonder 'Cheap Bottle o' Wine.' (I highly recommend the previous link if you never had the opportunity to hear them.) During the binge, I somehow lost consciousness only to wake up to 'friends' advancing with shaving cream and toilet paper. Luckily, I used to carry a buck knife and somehow during the fisticuffs that ensued half of my thumb was cut off. 7 hours in the emergency room.. 6 stitches.

So.. that doesn't make you tough, just stoopid...

Well, 2 weeks and a 'script for some antibiotics later and I decide it's time to take out the stitches.. myself. Unfortunately, I used a dull pair of scissors which consequently frayed the nylon suture. The split wire then snagged random fascia and capillaries on its way out but I finished the mission regardless.

The story doesn't carry much weight anymore, so I figured an encounter with The Jug would help enlighten.

Kickin' some balls

2006-08-15T21:55:00.000-04:00

So my kickball team, Kick in da Pink, made it's debut tonight. The weather was perfect. The beers were flowing. And a score of twenty year olds came out playin'.

It took us awhile to gel. We didn't run through our kicks. We dropped easy popouts. Before we knew it, we were down 4-1 in the bottom of the ninth. There's a man on first with two outs. One of the girls is up in the kicking order. She's instructed to hit a hard ground ball towards third base and nails it. We rallied 5 runs to steal a 6-4 win.

I haven't slept since Sunday and I have two finals tomorrow.. but I think a few celebratory beers are in order after one of the greatest kickball comebacks I've ever witnessed. Go PINK!

The Trials and Tribulations of Chap

2006-08-13T22:53:00.000-04:00

So I was standing in my front door the other morning at 5 AM when the Killer Attack Wolf Dog darted between my legs into the frontier. No big deal.. I let him run free every now and then and he'll usually be back on my porch in 20 minutes. After an hour though, he's still not back. He isn't back at 7 either, which is when I started heading to class.

aight, still no big deal.. one of my neighbors will probably grab him and just throw him on their porch. Good thing I took his collar off earlier last night.

I got home around 4 expecting this issue to be resolved, but it wasn't. I go look for him in the marshes behind my house. I drive down every street in my neighborhood. I took the hunt on foot.. right in time for the afternoon showers. I looked crazy walking around in the rain yelling for my dog.

None of this worked. I file a report with the SPCA. Then I found a picture of him and went to FedEx/Kinkos to make some fliers. After Kinkos donated $30 worth of color copies to the cause, I headed back to tape them around the 'hood. I just finish taping the first copy to a stop sign when a car pulls next to me.

'Hey, you missing a dog?'

Hot diggity damn! This was easy enough.

'Yeh, I sure am.'

'What's he look like?'

Dammit. He looks like the dog in the freakin' picture on the flier I just posted. Don't waste my time.

'He looks like a mix between an Australian shepherd and a collie.'

'Oh, ok. Well if I see him I'll give you a call.'

Great, I'm glad we went over all this.

'Thanks.'

After the car drove away, another one pulls up behind it.

'Hey, are you missing a dog?'

My systolic raises. My teeth are clenched. My pheochromocytoma starts acting up.

'Yep, I sure am.'

'Ok, I think I saw a dog that looked like that this morning. He was following some lady that was walking her basset hound. I think they were on Tiffany St.'

'Thanks for the tip!'

So I jumped into the car and sped off for Tiffany St. I felt like I was playing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. I drive down the street. No signs of Chap, a lady, or a basset hound. I take one more drive through the street and I see this woman in her front yard.

'Hey lady, you got a basset hound?'

'No, but we found this lost dog this morning.'

There was Chap amidst a family of five that was showering him with attention, food, and hygiene. He walks back to me with his ears tucked back.

'He's such a sweet dog.'

'Yep, he sure is.'

The patriarch of the family of five asked for some proof that he was my dog. I pointed to the stack of missing dog fliers.

'Have a good evening.'

Nocturnal Pork Products

2006-08-08T03:42:00.000-04:00

Never

ever

begin a 5 hour glazed ham project at 7 PM, especially after getting minimal sleep for the past 120 hours. Don't feel sorry for me.. the insomnia wasn't from anything school related. I've just been getting some other randomness in during the final stages of the SoD2.

Since the oven timer was set for 5 hours, I figured I could get a quick nap. Sometime during my dream where I was staring into a terrarium while that Shakira song seemed to be on repeat, I woke up.

'Man, that was a nightmare. What day is it? Why is the living room light on? Why is the tv on? 3:30? OH NO, THE HAM!!!!!!!!!!'

Anyway, now it's 4:00 AM and I can't sleep (see picture above). Breakfast's ready!

Sweater Vests Pay-for-Play

2006-08-02T22:49:00.000-04:00

The top ten ranked Oklahoma Sooners have decided to enter the 2006 season without their starting quarterback.

A preseasoning ranking hovering around 6 and a potential Heisman candidate in running back Adrian Peterson primed the Sooners to receive media attention that could only be topped by Notre Dame. Unfortunately, they'll be getting alot of attention now for the dismissal of starting quarterback Rhett Bomar (2,018 yds, 10 td, 10 int.) due to receiving excessive payments from a known Sooners booster's company.

Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops wasn't available for an interview, but I would assume he's pretty fired up.

'First, Tressel and Phil get me to wear this ridiculous sweater vest..'

'..and now I'm losing my quarterback because it turns out you can't pay college football players. We followed their directions to the Tee and still got busted. Maybe they should stop giving advice.'

Luckily, the Sooners will have a true freshman, walk-on sophomore, and juco transfer ready to take the helm for the opening kickoff one month from now.

Gonna need some spackle

2006-08-01T10:03:00.000-04:00

This guy deserves some type of award. Maybe drunkest Elvis impersonator to attempt a sobriety test?

Click here for a larger view.

The Dart

2006-07-28T16:17:00.000-04:00

I was playing darts last night and decided to take it up a notch. I guess I was showing off a little, but I wanted to give the crowd a show. First, I threw a 10. Then I threw a six. And then..

Here's a closer look..

Click on either picture to view an album of The Dart. After accomplishing this feat, I've decided to retire from darts for the rest of the year.

Want that chilled?

2006-07-25T22:06:00.000-04:00

Here's a pic to sum up a not-so-average Monday during the SoD2. Eccentricity is part of the third year curriculum.

(Click on the picture to enlarge.)

Pay it Forward

2006-07-23T22:39:00.000-04:00

I fell asleep on the couch around midnight one night last week while watching a movie. I woke up around 1:00 when one of my roommates came home from his restaurant job. I was kinda out of it, but I remember him telling me that he cut himself while cleaning up a glass orb that goes around a candle. Remembering a certain slasher story of my own and how friends hung out with me in the emergency room for 7 hours, I offered to drive him to the hospital to get a few stitches placed. I didn't have any patients scheduled for the next day so I told him I wouldn't mind at all. I figured it could make a good story, he would owe me one, and I could possibly run into some of my favorite nurses. Of course he declined the offer.. that's human nature.

I'm gonna get sidetracked for a second, but I'll explain that last statement. I've always noticed that people can be so quick to automatically decline something that's offered to them, but if given the opportunity to take the same item.. people almost always will. Got beef with that? The next time you're making small talk during lunch offer your companion some of your meal (fries would be ideal). They'll decline. Then, go to the restroom and when you come back make note of anything missing from your plate. It's like clockwork. Anywho..

So the next day I get home from my rigorous 50 minute lecture and resume my life on the couch. It's 10 AM. I have 2 pounds of taco bell. Suicide Kings is in the dvd player. Life.. is.. good. Then I hear my roommate yelling for me to come upstairs.

'I'm sleeping.. come down here.'

'I can't.'

That's when I realized it was concerning his recent trauma. So I go upstairs to see his finger still gushing blood. Emergency! Oh no, what should I do? Call for mayday? Order a Prothrombin Time from the lab? Say 'I told you so?' Realize that the combination of running water on that wound and him watching his finger gush blood will probably make him faint any second now?

I went with the 'I told you so' but then offered another trip to the doctor for some stitches.. this time he accepted. As I spent my relaxed Friday afternoon in an doctor's office, I noticed how similar our materials and methods are.

..3.0 chromic gut suture, 1% xylocaine, and a 'script for some cephalosporins..

Anyway, it was an interesting adventure that refilled some good karma and allowed me to pay forward an old debt.

penny: gator bait

2006-07-20T14:03:00.002-04:00

some of you privileged readers have had the chance to see me in a bourbon induced rage. lately im happy to say that ive gotten control of my temper and only fight the occasional case of road rage. but i cant help but get pissed at check out lines.
i got carded today at walmart for buying grease. plain white grease. can someone help me out here? is there some kind of drug with grease in it? and since when do i have to be 18 to buy it? and with a full beard do i really LOOK under 18?
yesterday at publix i picked up a 12 pack and a sub and placed my two items on the conveyor belt three feet behind the last item of the lady in front of me. the cashier stopped scanning and made a point of putting a divider behind the ladies stuff. then he looks at me and rolls his eyes for not putting it there myself. did i not leave enough of a visual clue to show what was mine?
is there checkout etiquette im not aware of?
a little help from the readers please.

bar tip of the week...want to be noticed at a bar? a guy last night brought a two year old alligator into the bar. i didnt know that they only grow a foot a year, so at 2 feet from snout to tail it was on the cute side. weve had celebrities in our bar from arturo gatti to the swedish bikini team, and ive honestly never seen someone get so much attention. well as much as the swedes anyways.

wty: Late Night Trivia

2006-07-19T00:52:00.000-04:00

Short and sweet:

Who's the only Major Leaguer to hit a home run for a team in each division in the same season?

Crummy: Quick Trivia

2006-07-15T16:29:00.000-04:00

As a sort of follow up to a post on another blog, I have two quick trivia questions to ask.

First, Auburn is mistakenly credited with having three team nicknames, two of which are the "Tigers" and the "War Eagles" (the latter is the mistaken nickname), what is the third nickname?

Second, on his overrated and complete waste of a television show, Jeff Foxworthy had two sons who were played by relatively famous child actors. Name those actors.

wty: Getting Your Fix

2006-07-12T12:25:00.000-04:00

I spent last Sunday afternoon watching the World Cup and NASCAR and studying. While I spent more time watching tv more than I did relearning three years worth of law school, the events at the end of the NASCAR race got me thinking about the chances that NASCAR is fixed.

To give a quick update for those who don't follow racing, nobody likes Jeff Gordon. He won the race after running into then-leader Matt Kenseth's back bumper with 5 laps to go, sending Kenseth into a spin and plummeting down the finishing order. Earlier this year Kenseth rubbed Gordon out of the way at Bristol. After the race at Bristol, Gordon, while still wearing his helmet, attacked Kenseth in an act that can only be described as cowardly (Come on Jeff, if you want to be tough, take off the protection and let Matt have a swing at you).

The post-race interviews Sunday were of course full of trash talking. Even guys not involved in the wreck were adding their two cents after seeing the footage. It was like watching WWF on Saturday mornings as a child, when all the wrestlers would have their onscreen time to talk trash to other wrestlers. This led me to a thought--What if NASCAR was fixed? What if other sports were fixed? Would we ever find out?

In light of this, I present the odds of each professional sport being fixed. First, though, a couple of ground rules. By fixed I mean that the league office has a direct and controlling say as to who wins, by how much, etc. Also, I've only included professional sports in this discussion. In calculating these percentages, I've taken into account not only the difficulty of how hard it would be to determine the winners and losers, but also the near-impossibility in determining game play itself. Here's the list, starting with least likely to be fixed, with likelihood of being fixed in parentheses:

9. The World Series of Poker (0%): Fixed? Get real. Forget the inherent impossibility of shuffling and dealing the winning cards to the appropriate person. You try getting 5,000 random people in a room, charging them $10,000 each, and then saying to 80% of them, "Thanks for coming in guys, but you're as good as done. We'll come and tap you when it's your turn to leave." That'll go over about as well as somone calling Zinedine Zidane "a son of a terrorist whore."

You try telling him to wear deoderant.

8. PGA (2%): Have you ever played golf before? Has the ball ever done what you wanted it to more than 10 times in a round? Didn't think so. If golf were fixed, Tiger, Phil, and Duval would have been in the final group at the US Open this year. Think about it--Phil's riding a hot streak and an enormous wave of popularity, so he would be a given to be in there. Tiger was playing in his first tournament--not major, but tournament--since his father passed away. And Duval, left for dead several years ago after climbing to the pinnicle of the golfing world only to completely forget how to play, would be the sentimental favorite to win. What happened instead? You had Phil, Colin Montgomerie, who's the most hated European on tour, and a young gun by the name of Geoff Ogilvy battling it out. And by "battling," I mean that Phil completely collapses on 18, giving Ogilvy his first major on a silver platter. Which would you have rather watched? I thought so.

7. Major League Baseball (7%): Ok, the players cheat, yes. However, do you really think the league office determines who wins these games? Even if the front office didn't determine the winners of every single game played, but only the division, pennant, and World Series champs, it still doesn't fly. For example, take the year 2001. Yankees versus Diamondbacks in the World Series, just a few short weeks after the worst tragedy in American History. Clearly the Yankees would have been the obvious choice to benefit from a scripted Championship (see the NFL at No. 6), but the Diamondbacks won it all that year (Of course, I do remember everyone cheering for the Diamondbacks, so maybe that was the plan all along). Also, look at the Braves--they've won more division titles than God since 1990 and only have 1 World Series Championship to show for it. If baseball were fixed, the Braves would have won several World Championships or ended their string of division titles years ago. Finally, I can point to this season. Baseball, mired in a doping scandal that seemingly only gets worse, needs something to revive it. And what would revive baseball better than the Cubbies chasing a World Series title after almost 100 years of futility? However, the only thing the Cubs are chasing is Dusty Baker away from Wrigley Field.

6. National Football League (12%): It would certainly be difficult to script all the action that goes into an NFL game. However, that isn't necessary. Football games typically revolve around a few big plays--a blocked punt, a missed field goal, a turnover, or a penalty. "A penalty?" you may ask. To which I respond, "How many times have teams had a big play or scored only to have it come back for a phantom holding call, or a team get a 30-yard gift in the form of a questionable pass interference?" It happens all the time. Add on to that the fact that in early 2002, a heavily favored, high-powered team came rolling into the Super Bowl. Across the field stood a relatively unknown group, led by a second year quarterback who was taken in the 6th round (199th overall). This game was supposed to be a cakewalk, but it wasn't. A clutch field goal as time expired gave the underdogs the World Championship in a most exciting fashion in the first Super Bowl played after the 9/11 attacks. And who won that championship? The New England Patriots. No way that was a mere coincidence.

Was Tom Brady simply the

right QB on the right team?

5. Major League Soccer (16%): I'm really just throwing out a number and place here. I have no clue.

4. National Hockey League (23%): Similar to MLS, I don't really have a clue. However, I do know that they regularly have 7 and 8 seeds upset the 1s and 2s, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. You're telling me that the teams with the best records can't beat the last teams to get in a playoff that includes two-thirds of the league's teams? Something just isn't right about that.

3. National Basketball Association (27%): The NBA is easily the major sport most likely to be rigged. This year, for example, the league's two best teams don't even sniff the NBA finals. And professional sport's most unpredictable owner gets oh-so-close to the moment I was hoping would happen: Commisioner David Stern handing Mark Cuban the championship trophy. It would have been awesome. But at the same time, it leads me to being more convinced that the NBA is fixed. Had that moment actually happened--had we gotten to see a highly uncomfortable Stern hand over the trophy to a smug Cuban--the NBA may as well have just folded up shop right then. There would be no way to top that. However, now they can tease us some more next year. Plus, does anyone believe that Isiah Thomas is this bad of a GM? Is it possible for someone to make this many awful moves on his own free will without getting fired? Why did he sign either Steve Francis or Stephon Marbury, much less both of them? And who in their right mind takes Renaldo Balkman 20th overall? It simply reeks of being a script from a master penman.

Did Isiah Thomas really draft

Balkman with his job on the line,

or was he just following orders

from the league office?

2. ATP and WTA Tours (40%): The fact that players are seeded with little regard to rhyme or reason at some tournaments, including Wimbledon, certainly lends oneself to entertain the idea that tennis is fixed. The heads of these tournaments are able to easily manipulate the system so as to create more desirable matchups down the road. Want to see an Englishman do well on the grass? Don't put him on a collision course with a top seed until the second week. Other examples: Jimmy Connors reaching the semis of the US Open in the twilight of his career in the early 90s, every Venus-Serena match (clearly their dad told them who was to win--that is, when one didn't withdraw due to an "injury"), and Andre Agassi winning this year's US Open. Oh wait, that last one hasn't happened yet--hope I didn't spoil it for y'all.

1. NASCAR (68%): Like you didn't see this one coming from a mile away. Not only is NASCAR the most likely to be fixed, it's also the easiest to be fixed. They race over the course of nearly the entire calendar year, giving the head honchos plenty of time to create story lines, fueds, etc. They have the ability to respond to the fans' reactions as the season progresses with an ease that no other sport enjoys, and can much more easily manipulate the points standings over the course of a few weeks. Not to mention they continuously use radios throughout the race. If NASCAR wants to manipulate the racing positions, just radio down to the cars and let them know. It can be the quickest fix in professional sports. Then you have the trash talking. It's nonstop and everyone takes part, much like the WWF I mentioned way back at the beginning of this. I am still waiting on some racers to wear face paint under their helmets, so that before they put the helmet on pre-race they are intimidating to the other drivers--it's going to happen soon, I can feel it. If the above isn't enough to convince you, consider this: Dale Earnhardt crashed at Daytona during the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Later that year, in the first race at Daytona since The Intimidator's death, Dale Jr. wins the race. What a storybook ending.

Movies: Pirates of the Caribbean, et alii

2006-07-11T17:28:00.000-04:00

I caught Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest this past Sunday and let me tell ya, I thoroughly enjoyed catching up on some sleep during it. This 150 minute sequel to the Legend of the Black Pearl fell to the Curse of the Sequel. Too much time was wasted incorporating old characters. The plot was complicated. Keira was extensively clothed. It wasn't nearly as action-packed as the first part of this trilogy. Johnny Depp gave another great performance as Captain Jack Sparrow, but unfortunately he couldn't overcome the sluggish story. At one point I almost decided to walk around the theater in hopes to catch the end of an Owen Wilson "comedy." Racking up $135 million, Dead Man's Chest did break the opening weekend box office record though.

One big plus for Pirates is that this trailer previewed before it. It leaves you wanting alot more, but if that teaser doesn't get you fired up then I feel sorry for your childhood.

X-men: The Last Stand was a flop to me also. But I'll save it from a lashing since the former director of that trilogy, Bryan Singer, decided to leave the movie right before filming in order to bring us the latest Superman movie, which I'm scheduled to catch later this week in a 3D IMAX experience.

Crummy: World Cup Finale

2006-07-10T15:31:00.000-04:00

Hopefully most of you were able to catch the finale of the World Cup (otherwise known to the rest of the world as the "World's Greatest Sporting Event"), an uninspired 1-1 tie ending in a penalty kick shoot out crowning Italy champion. I have just a few comments to make about the entirety of the Cup and show a little clip of the most energy displayed by an individual in any of the games.

First, this Cup, among others in recent history, featured an extensive amount diving (see Vlade Divac) or acting. I have been extremely disappointed by the characteristic show of unsportsmanlike behavior by the world's greatest footballers (soccer players for us). One particular rising star, 21-year-old Christiano Ronaldo of Portugal, essentially gave up the award given to the Cup's Best Young Player because he couldn't help himself and dove so many times in the game against France that he was booed every time he touched the ball. FIFA needs to do something to stop this embarrassing spectacle occurring on soccer's biggest stage, not to mention everywhere else. Note: The MLS has little to no problem with diving.

Second, WHERE WERE THE GOALS? It may just be my American perspective, but I think that soccer needs more goals. This Cup gave the Golden Boot (award for highest goal scorer) to Miroslav Klose of Germany who scored only 5 goals in 8 games (which lets him join the ranks of the lowest winners with only 5 goals from 1950 and before, c'mon, they didn't play nearly 8 games back then). While this was apparently a great feat considering the low goal totals overall, I hardly think that is a good enough show. At least they didn't give the Golden Ball (award for MVP of the Cup) to a defender like the ABC commentators wanted.

Third, Marcelo Balboa sucks! Apparently a hired hand to do some bonus work for the World Cup and a US National Team hall-of-famer, can hardly tell when a good play has been made on the field from a good acting job. He made one comment that I despised when talking about Wayne Rooney of England. Rooney was in the box attacking goal when a defender slid in on him and he made a move to play the ball that he thought he could get instead of falling. Balboa says, "When he matures a bit more as a player, he will fall down in that situation [aka take a dive]." I'm disappointed.

Fourth, the greatest show of energy from a player in the Cup came when Zinedine Zidane of France (affectionately nicknamed "Zizou") decided to head-butt another player who had made some kind of grave comment to him. Personally, I'm guessing that he must have said something about his mom. Sometime this week we will be told what exactly electrified Zizou. Oh yeah, not only does Zizou have one of the coolest names of all time but he is also the captain of the French team and a three time World Footballer of the Year. One last thing, Zizou got the Golden Ball award in this Cup. Check out the video of Zizou's Head-Butt. It's in French because I thought it was funnier.

Lastly, there are rumors that sometime in the near future that MLS teams will be the home for players like Beckham and Ronaldo. We'll have to see what happens.

All we got is toast

2006-07-05T21:09:00.000-04:00

"Last call," they yelled.

"I'm hungry," he said.

"The cook never showed up, so I'll try to cook for yall," she said.

"What's it take to get some fondue around here?" I asked.

"...," the lowcuts answered.

"Let's roll," we agreed.

"The back booth at stop #2 looks good," I thought.

His elbow, the strange woman licked.

"Want to see my p _ _ _ _?" the strange woman asked.

"Let's roll," we agreed. again.

"Drive up to the first window," the intercom mumbled.

"This wait is ridiculous," we thought.

"The fourth time's the charm," we hoped.

"Are these stools taken?" I asked the familiar lowcuts.

"Want some of our toast?" they asked.

"Welp, see ya later," we said.

"Let's watch a movie," I said.

"I hope they eventually made it to White Castle," I thought while driving to class after one long blink.

The Eternian Dentist

2006-06-30T18:53:00.000-04:00

Check out this clip of Skeletor's dentist, Mo-Larr. If you like this, I highly recommend catching an episode of Robot Chicken. You can't beat PG13/R rated claymation.

Methy Grill

2006-06-27T22:41:00.000-04:00

I'm gonna revisit one of my old posts, Crystal Steph. I know I previously mentioned that crystal meth has such a cool name, but after working on a few patients that are (former?) meth users I'd like to tell my faithful readers to stay clean.

A few weeks ago I assisted another student with a patient. After talking for some time, the patient told me how he used to be heavy into drugs, including crystal meth as his DOC. Even after being clean for a few years, there were still signs of meth mouth and a lengthy list of restorations needing to be placed. I felt bad for the guy, even at the rates the school charges (about 1/10th of the rates in private practices) this guy will still be spending a fortune on teeth that have an uncertain prognosis.

Recently, I was examing one of my patients and found similar decay. He's younger than I am, admits to good oral hygiene (which I believe after the exam), and is a smoker. I didn't ask much about his social habits though. I'll be treating his extensive needs for the next two years and will eventually have to bluntly ask 'are you on crank?' I just didn't think it would be appropriate during the first appointment. It's a shame, because even with good homecare this kid could be edentulous before the next World Cup.

Anyway, I have to agree with Jodie Sweetin on this- meth ain't cool.

Reloaded Video

2006-06-25T23:00:00.000-04:00

I meant to get this published a few weeks ago, but my current epicurean-like lifestyle delayed me. It isn't as polished as animals or tailgettin, but it does feature a live, acoustic Cowboy Mouth song.

Click here for a larger view.

The Feast of Beasts

2006-06-22T16:32:00.000-04:00

So I had a dinner party last night. Wait.. dinner parties are for people that are pretentiously over the hill. I had a hell-raising cookout yesterday! The idea for it came up during happy hour after this past weekend's Sunday Beach Club. One of the chickies mentioned she wanted to have a progressive dinner and start a supper club.

I met both of those comments with a blank stare.. the hamster was running hard. So I said 'sounds like a good idea.. why don't I have a few people come over to my place for a cookout.' Well, I got boozed up at a party on Monday and after yapping all night 'a few people' became about 30 people and two dogs. And 'a cookout' became the Feast of Beasts!

My rules were as follows:

If you have facial hair... bring beer.
If you have hooters... bring a side.
If you have both... bring liquor.
And if you have neither... bring dog treats. (I personally prefer the ones that are in the shape of dogs and look like cheetos, even though they aren't cheesed up.)

The Menu:
ribs, venison tenderloin, 2 beer can chickens, beaufort stew, 4 types of sausages (venison stuffed with jalapeno cheese was my favorite), quail, and 10 lbs of bbq.

For sides, the hooters brought:
green beans, salad, 4 types of macaroni, mashed potatoes, salsa, kettle chips, and cookies.

Somehow even with all this food I managed to not eat much and instead found the bottom of a bottle of Jim Beam. And the bottom of a Cuervo bottle. It looked like a fun time was had by all and I consider this a big step towards my new 'it's time to grow up' hobby.

Blogging Reality

2006-06-19T16:50:00.000-04:00

Hi!

What's up?

aight, cool deal then..

I'd just like to clarify about wty saying that I have been doing nothing. Sure.. I haven't been curing cancer, or learning how to fly, or cleaning my garage but I have been very involved in other activities. These hobbies include, but are not limited to, spending time on the beach, drinking white russians, and creating social clubs. My excessive free time has incapacitated me. But here's the real catalyst for my recent blogless days:

A few nights ago I won a round of last man standing. But instead of sealing the deal, I involuntarily made absurd conversation which I have formerly tried to limit to the blogosphere. I can only remember bits and pieces of the conversation I was having with this poor, innocent girl. I remember talking for about 15 minutes on how I've always supported plain yellow mustard, but that's in the past ever since I stumbled onto a bottle of fancy deli mustard.

"...yep, I won't touch many condiments that lack the word dijon in their title.."

I realized how ridiculous that was a few hours later. Am I writing the blog or is the blog defining me? Sounds like the chicken or the egg debate. Sure, I was born a couple of decades before the blog (which turned one a few weeks ago).. but it could be more complicated than that. Either way, I figured it was time to take a break.. and confided in one of the few people I can always turn to: Gail. So I told her about my situation and she replied with 'well, that does sound like a tough call.. but have you decided if you want your usual hashbrowns or something different?" That said it all.

Anyway, to make a short story a little bit longer I decided to take a break but now I can guarantee to rant for atleast one more year.

wty: You Asked for it, You Got it!

2006-06-19T15:01:00.000-04:00

Here at SoD, we work hard to give our readers some form of entertainment, whether it be laughing with us or at us. So when I check out the comments on penny's post to find out that people are unhappy about the slowdown of posting, I know that something must be done. As an FYI, Crummy and myself are both currently studying for bar exams and don't have much time for blogging. Dev is doing nothing, which apparently extends to blogging, and penny is praying that this hurricane season is nicer to Florida than ones in recent summers.

I did find time this past weekend to head to my favorite place in the world, Edisto Beach. It was great to spend several days on the coast, away from Columbia and the ever-present oppressively hot days that accompany it during the summer. It was also nice to spend time on our boat drinking cold beer and listening to James Brown. Unfortunately, I'm back in Columbia for yet another week of bar review. Luckily, I'm headed back down to Edisto for Round 2 this weekend. Thursday can't get here fast enough.

penny: what a long strange trip it's been

2006-06-09T14:20:00.000-04:00

its been an amazing week. i finally finished my house, and its finally on the market. waking up every day and fixing your house gets pretty redundant. this has been one of the best days of my life. well, since i found this site, anyways.

know i promised people pictures but can't remember who, so i'll try to keep putting them up here.

fear not maxim faithful, its time for...

PENNY'S BAR TIP OF THE WEEK

want to get served quicker? stand next to the hottest girl at the bar. my eyes wonder just as much as yours. you wont get served BEFORE the hot chick, but you'll be next in line. you may even get the chance to use that line you've been practicing.