College Football: Week 2 in Review

This week's entry is going to be much shorter because most of my Saturday was consumed by the Toledo/Ohio State game and I didn't get to watch the volume of games I did in Week 1.  The entries will be much shorter and there won't be any from the Toledo/Ohio State game.

Most impressive performance: Iowa State over Iowa
Neither team had high expectations coming into the season, but Iowa has dominated this rivalry over the past eight years.  The game was close throughout and Iowa State made some excellent plays in the overtime sessions to outlast the Hawkeyes, despite committing 11 penalties and three turnovers.  It was impressive to watch them continue to somehow find a way and overcoming the mistakes.  The overtimes sessions were fun to watch.

Least impressive performance: Oregon State so far this year
Wisconsin is very tough this year and with Russell Wilson, they are a threat to run the table in the Big Ten.  That said, Oregon State could not find the end zone, even after Wisconsin called off the dogs.  Last week, Oregon State lost to a 1-AA team that was barely .500 last season.  The Beavers knew the Rodgers brothers couldn't stay forever and so far it looks like they have done little to build for the post-Rodgers era.  It's going to be a long season for the Beavers.

Most impressive individual performance: Denard Robinson's fourth quarter
Robinson's first three quarters were forgettable to say the least, but wow, that fourth quarter was pure insanity.  I have watched a lot of college football in my life, but I have never seen anything like that fourth quarter.  Robinson didn't come close to the 500+ total yards he had last year against Notre Dame, but he took advantage of every advantage the Irish gave him on Saturday in the fourth quarter.  It was fun to watch.

Least impressive individual performance (tie): Rob Bolden and Matt McGloin, Penn State
It's Penn State and the best they can get at QB is this steaming pile?  Seriously?  I guess when your "head coach" sits in the press box without wearing a head set, the rest of the team will follow that lead.  If the leader of your program isn't paying attention or caring, then why should the on-field leaders?  These two were awful against a bad 1-AA team in Week 1 and were even worse against one of the best teams in the nation.  If Penn State continues to get nothing out the signal callers in Week 3, Temple will crush them.

No loser award for this week.  Temple "only" beat Akron by 38 points, Akron shockingly scored three points, and Rob Ianello didn't scold Steve Addazio, so I guess he didn't think the Owls were running it up.  Maybe 40 points is his running it up cut-off point.

Anyway, this week I'll be going to my first college game of the year.  I'll be at the Glass Bowl behind the Boise State bench cheering on the Rockets.  No other football trips are scheduled for me at this time, but I'm seriously considering the Toledo/Temple game in Philadelphia on Oct. 1st.  We'll see how it works out.  Enjoy this week in college football and I'll be posting a Week 3 review when I return to Charlotte next Sunday.

A close loss is still a loss

Lots of programs would be pleased with staying within a touchdown of a top-flight program that brings in superior talent year after year.  The program at Toledo cannot be pleased with the outcome of Saturday's game. Mistakes killed the Rockets in a game where the execution was excellent and superior to the Buckeyes.

Let's start with the bad parts of the game.  Toledo committed 14 penalties.  Most were legit calls and the number of unforced penalties was aggravating.  The fact that Toledo committed multiple illegal formation penalties on punts is inexcusable.  How hard is it to line up correctly for a punt?  Just stand where you are supposed to stand.  It's too simple.  When one of those illegal formations led to a re-kick and an Ohio State touchdown on that re-kick in a game decided by five points, everybody naturally wonders what could have been.

Speaking of punting, the punting strategy was awful.  Not only could Toledo not actually line up for a punt, the punting style resulted in easy returns or short kicks out of bounds.  There is a reason why the rugby style punt has never caught on in football, IT DOESN'T WORK!  Toledo struggled mightily in special teams last year and it was no different yesterday (illegal formation penalties, missed field goal, dropped snap by the holder, terrible rugby kicks, allowing a return touchdown, nearly missing extra points).  Ultimately, special teams errors cost Toledo this game.

It wasn't all bad for the Rockets yesterday.  Eric Page had a usual phenomenal day with 12 catches, 145 yards, two touchdowns, and a two-point conversion pass.  Adonis Thomas did a great job moving vertically on rushes and receptions for 158 total yards and a touchdown.  Outside of Terrance Owens' interception, the Owens - Austin Dantin duo played smart football.  The blocking on the screen passes was very crisp for the Rockets.  The Ohio State defense could not stop the screen plays.  If the Buckeyes can't stop this lowly Mid American Conference team.

On defense, the Rockets' defensive line looks the best it has looked in years.  The last time I can remember a line this strong, Chester Taylor was playing.  After the opening drive, even the secondary looked strong for most of the game.  The absence of Dan Molls was felt big time.  He is an excellent tackler who moves well laterally and he will be needed for the Boise State and Syracuse games.

The reaction to this game has been funny.  The Official Ohio State Newsletter made it sound like the persecuted Buckeyes were underdogs against Toledo.  The Plain Dealer ripped Ohio State's offense (a cardinal sin in Ohio) and didn't use the persecution by the NCAA as an excuse.  We can expect their press credentials to be revoked at the next home game.

There were a lot of positives in this game and I'm looking forward to my trip back to Toledo for Friday's game against Boise State, but this is not a moral victory.  This is a loss in a game that Toledo played well enough to win.  It's disappointing.

Top 5 Meaningless Holidays

Photo courtesy Associated Press.
People march to celebrate people who go to work. Yippee!

In honor of Labor Day, a meaningless holiday, here are the worst of the worst.  In order to make this list, the holiday must be a federal holiday and cannot be a religious holiday.  The federal holiday mandate eliminates arguably the most meaningless holidays like Flag Day, Valentine's Day, Patriots' Day, Sweetest Day, Secretary's Day, and The Day After Thanksgiving (which my company treats like a real holiday).

With those simple rules set, here we go:

5. Labor Day
It's a holiday created by labor unions to honor the "social and economic achievements of the American workers." What?  Every day an American worker is employed without being fired honors their achievements in society and the world economy.  Every time an American worker is paid, they are being rewarded for their achievements.  Labor Day perpetuates the fallacy that having a job is a right and not a privilege.  Our nation's current economic condition only magnifies that.  Hey, at least it's a day off in a warm weather month.

4. Washington's Birthday/President's Day
Seriously, who cares?  Yes, Washington was an American general and the first president, but what we know about him is more fiction than fact.  This day (not even celebrated on his actual birthday) also lumps in honoring all of our distinguished presidents.  Why should we be forced to honor terrible and corrupt crooks, like Warren Harding and Richard Nixon (worst of those who got caught)?  Also, it's in the middle of February when the only fun thing to do is ski and it just gives ski lodges an excuse to jack up rates.

3. New Year's Day
File this under things I just don't get.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good New Year's Eve as much as anybody (or a good night's sleep, depending on my particular mood on that holiday), but why do we go apeshit over the beginning of a new year?  January 1st is no different than December 31st.  The only differences are the numbers contained in the year portion of the date and the fact that you are one day closer to your death.  Why would I want to celebrate either of those things?  Why must I be forced to celebrate those two things???  Also, the price gouging in every restaurant/club/hotel/airplane around New Year's Day is the worst of the year and it comes in the dead of winter.  Thanks a lot jackasses.

2. Christmas Day
No, I am not violating my own rule on no religious holidays, but I'm listing it here because there are no religious aspects of Christmas any longer.  Christmas is all about radio stations playing special music starting the second week of November and people trying to out-do each other with gifts.  It's disgusting and is treated the same by many people and companies (mine included) as The Day After Thanksgiving.  Christmas does not celebrate the birth of Jesus, it signifies the day Frosty the Snowman gave an outcast reindeer some crack, which turned his nose red and led Santa Claus through the fog so he could deliver toys to all non-homeless children.  That's what all the songs and commercials tell me.  Also, the ugly sweater parties are stupid as hell and if you ever see me at one, you'll find a suicide note in my pocket.

1. Columbus Day
Christopher Columbus is the least significant historical figure in the history of the United States.  Do you know how significant he was to the exploration of the United States?  He never even set foot into what is now the United States.  So why do we honor him?  For pure political reasons.  Benjamin Harrison simply wanted votes from the ever increasing immigrant Italian and Catholic population.  Harrison's desperate move for votes did so well that he lost to the guy voters had just voted out of office a couple years before.  Now, we have to spend multiple days in grade school learning about an explorer whose best "exports" were disease and slavery, instead of learning about Native Americans or explorers who actually shaped the United States and our nation's history.  Why not have a Ponce de Leon Day or a Lewis & Clark Day?  Since it's such an important matter in the Columbus Day proclamations, the powers that be can keep the Catholic vote by honoring more worthy explorers Jolliet and Marquette.  It just doesn't make any sense to be forced to honor Columbus.  Even though he brought us some great movies (and some bad ones), he doesn't deserve his own holiday.

College Football: Week 1 in Review

Most impressive performance: Boise State over Georgia
This game was a big question mark for the Broncos.  This offseason, they dealt with NCAA sanctions, the termination of their athletic director, and the suspension of multiple players.  Georgia was under .500 last year, but with consistent recruiting, they have built a strong talent base.  Georgia has a lot of young talent, but Boise flexed its muscles in an impressive victory.

Least impressive performance: Auburn surviving the mighty Utah State
The Tigers lost the best player in college football last year, the best defensive lineman in college football last year, and a couple trees during the offseason.  Even with those losses, this team is full of experienced talent.  Utah State has a habit of playing up against BCS competition (have been within a touchdown of Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Auburn in the last three years), yet they cannot hold their own in the mighty WAC (averaged 2.25 wins in conference over the last eight years).  Auburn is stacked with blue chippers and they got shredded by a two-star true freshman quarterback.  This season could be a long one for the Tigers and could prove the Gene Chizik doubters right.  Was 2010 Chizik's working, or did he just get what he "supposedly" paid for and let Newton work his magic?  Chizik better get on the horn with the bag man or else the Tigers will make Harvey Updyke a very happy man in 2011.

Most impressive individual performance: Robert Griffin III, Baylor
The junior quarterback shredded the TCU defense on Friday for 359 yards, five touchdowns, and no interceptions.  The most impressive stat is that he had as many touchdowns as incompletions against a defense that only gave up 12 points per game last year and surrendered only 10 total passing touchdowns in 2010.  Griffin III got half of that total in one game.  TCU was set to slide a little this year, but Griffin III looked phenomenal.  In a down year for the Big 12 (outside of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M, the conference looks rough), this could be a big year for the Bears and Griffin III.  Also, I love the use of the suffix.  If/when he makes the NFL, I hope he keeps the suffix on his uniform.

Least impressive individual performance: Andrew Luck, Stanford
Yes, he is a very talented quarterback.  Yes, he didn't have to do much playing against lowly San Jose State.  Yes, Stanford is most likely holding back so their stiffer competition doesn't see all their cards on the table right away.  All that said, the performance by the supposed best player in the land was underwhelming to say the least.  As long as he does not get injured, he will surely do better as the season progresses and the Cardinal open up the playbook.

Biggest loser: Rob Ianello, Head Coach Akron
After his team got destroyed by Ohio State 42-0, Ianello scolded Luke Fickell for not having good sportsmanship.  As somebody who watched about 80% of this game, let me tell you, Ohio State should have won it at least 63-0.  Akron is terrible and Ianello did nothing for that team.  Their schemes were awful.  Outside of his running back, the personnel he had out there was terrible, and they looked like a Div. II team (not even 1-AA).  Who is he to scold Fickell?  Ianello took over a struggling Akron program and has made them the worst Div. 1-A program in the NCAA.  Last year, the Zips went 1-11 and lost to Gardner-Webb, a program new to 1-AA who still plays Div. II teams in football.  Hey Coach Ianello, have your team player next time if you don't want to be embarrassed and be happy you didn't lose by 63 or more points.  To quote a wise man, "You are one pathetic loser."

Agree?  Disagree?  Let me know what you think.  Go Rockets!

Reply To All: Making people dumber since 1971

About a month ago, an e-mail was sent out to my entire division by mistake.  It should have gone out to people working on a certain project or something (I honestly don't know because I never bothered to read or look into the original message because I knew it didn't pertain to me), but instead it was accidentally sent to the Outlook directory for the whole division.  Ok, a mistake, no big deal.  Then, people got stupid.

A couple people decided that they wanted to tell THE ENTIRE DIVISION that they did not think the e-mail should have been sent to them.  Then it spread.  And spread.  And spread some more.  In a matter of about a half hour, my esteemed colleagues were clicking on Reply To All and telling the whole world they should not have received this e-mail (join the club idiots, nobody cares about what you think).  Some of my even more esteemed colleagues then scolded those replying to all by doing, you guessed it, REPLYING TO ALL!!!!  It was a classic case of do as I say, not as I do.  As we've learned over time, that is a terrible way to go through life.

Since I get bored with my work from time to time and was immensely entertained by this, I decided to create a couple rules in Outlook to see how many decided to use Reply To All on this particular morning.  The final count was 72 e-mails, about 90% of which came in a 20-minute span.  It was a near 50/50 split between those replying to all saying they should not have received the message and those replying to all scolding the others who were replying to all.

So kids, don't be stupid, don't reply to all.  People will either make fun of you (me), want to cause you physical harm (there were some veiled threats in the scolding e-mails), or simply lose respect for you (me, as well as most of my co-workers in my office).

Interestingly enough, nobody in my office took part in the Reply To All madness.  Honestly, I think it is because we still enjoy hanging on to our small, independent company mentality we all learned while working for HR XCEL before getting acquired.  You had a face at HR XCEL and couldn't just blend in as one of 45,000 names.  If you did something stupid like hit Reply To All and sent a stupid response like, "I shouldn't be on this e-mail..." you looked stupid because chances are you were supposed to be on the e-mail and everybody knew everybody in a small place so you can't be a faceless name behind a terrible e-mail message.