Hello, my friends,
Sorry I haven't been with you in some time, it's been what, almost a year? But in 2014, I'm going to look to get back into this blog a bit more. So it is that I come to you from a freezing, yes a freezing, Gulf Shores, Alabama. That is unbelievable in and of itself and I will touch on that in this fairly brief blog post. There will be more blog posts coming about this past year in general including some experiences I had at Reliant Stadium of all places. But for now, here are ten things I learned over the last year or so:
1. I will never, EVER, EVER badmouth someone from the South again for not being able to handle cold weather, especially for people from the South who do not know how to handle icy roads. I come from the Midwest so I saw ice and snow a lot during my youth and saw it again during college. But this ice storm that has hit the deep Southeastern U.S., well...it exposes just how inexperienced people down here are at these driving conditions. You have to feel for them honestly and you can't say anything too bad because they just don't know how to handle it. I apologize if I have ever offended any Southerner for not being able to handle icy road weather. It's tough, it really is. When this region gets even a bit of ice, everything shuts down and you can't honestly blame them.
2. There are good people in this world, very good people in fact and especially some of those within the Texans organization. My thanks to Amy Palcic and those associated with the Houston Texans and Lone Star Sports and Entertainment for giving me the opportunity to write about some events at Reliant Stadium (and not just Texans games). I will touch on that in a future blog post.
3. Officiating in football and basketball is atrocious, especially college basketball. I watched a Michigan State-Iowa basketball game recently where a team shot 40-something free throws (Iowa I think it was). That should never happen.
4. The Huskers are still mediocre as ever. Never mind the win over UGA, they still struggled to win nine games with a schedule that called for 11 wins minimum. But they lost three home games and the Iowa game especially was a huge black eye for Husker football.
5. I am not Gary Kubiak's biggest supporter, but appreciate the time he took to thank the Houston fans in a Chronicle full page ad after the Texans removed him as coach.
6. Make no mistake, the 1971 Game of the Century is still the greatest college football game ever played. Yes it was way better than that Texas/USC national title game. However, I am willing to consider the 2013 Iron Bowl in the conversation. It was a classic game with a classic ending.
7. I do not like Texas (or Texas A&M for that matter) but I think if the hotheaded Texas boosters stay out of Charlie Strong's way he will make them a winner again. He is a tough coach who will ruffle feathers but that is exactly what Texas needed. Texas did not need a yes-man for a coach, they need a tough hombre who will instill discipline and make them a winning program again.
8. Speaking of winners, Gus Malzahn capturing the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year award (irony of the day right there, a third Auburn coach winning the Bryant award) does not even begin to tell the story of what he did in ONE year at Auburn. Alabama fans better get used to losing some games to Malzahn. Auburn is for real. I also think Saban panicked by bringing aboard the lightning rod Lane Kiffin to run his offense. That is the first time I've seen Saban panic since he got to Bama.
9. My guess is that Goodell (Roger Goodell for those who don't know) will never again hold a Super Bowl in a place like New York. That whole week is more than just a football game.
10. Seattle wins the game Sunday. 34-20 I think. I am for Denver because I am tired of hearing about how great Seattle fans are but I think Marshawn Lynch and their defense win the game.
Until next time....
Erich
