Are You Ready for Some Football?

Ok, so I’m not exactly a Swami/Dali Lama/Elijah and I tanked pretty hard on some predictions (well, not so hard, I only went 2-1 this week), but there was plenty of good watching this weekend in the world of football. The NFL kicked off with some pretty fun match-ups and a slow week in the college game ended up with some interesting outcomes.

On the NFL front, pretty much everything went according to plan. The good teams won and the not-so-good teams lost (with the minor exception of the trash bath of Denver vs. Cincinnati). The best match-up of the week was the first, which I covered last week. Steelers/Titans were by far the most evenly matched teams. New Orleans/Lions, Seattle/St. Louis, and tonight’s New England/Buffalo are the most lop-sided matches of the week. All you fanatasy fans had better have started Drew Brees, throwing for 6 touchdowns and 358 yards, he had the biggest opening game in NFL history and tied a Saints' in game record. In the Patriots/Bills game tonight, expect T.O. to have a couple of catches tonight and not much else from the Bills. Tom Brady’s first regular season game back will have a few bumps, but for the most part will be overwhelming for the Bills’ underwhelming secondary. Other than the Kansas City Chief’s surprising decent offense, the 49ers upset over the NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals, and Indiana’s lack of scoring, the rest was pretty much a normal day at the office.

While anticipating the 2009 NFL season, the drama of college football was inciting a bang. The two big punches came from Ann Arbor and Stillwater, Oklahoma. The 18th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish came into Michigan’s “Big House” in Ann Arbor thinking that this Wolverine squad was the same team that lost to Appalachian St. last year only to find a 2nd year coach starting to turn his program around. Several experts (including Lou Holtz and Beano Cook) thought Notre Dame was returning to their former glory just because they aren’t in the stink pot this year and predicted an undefeated, national championship season. Even though they don’t have any ranked team on their schedule besides USC, there’s no way this team will even make it to a BCS game now. We definitively learned that Notre Dame is not the national championship team so many would have loved to believe.

Stillwater, OK. 5th ranked Oklahoma State hosts heavy underdog Houston. The Houston Cougars got out early and it was just too much for the Cowboys to catch up to until they finally took the lead in the 3rd quarter. The fourth quarter became a quick shooting match until the Cougars pulled away in the last 7 minutes of the game. This game was as loud of a wake up call as you can get. Oklahoma State's defense needs some serious work. When it comes time to face Texas, Oklahoma, and even Mike Leach's newly renovated Texas Tech offense, they'll be in serious need to fix some holes. This loss is surely a devastating blow to the Cowboys, but it's also a major blow to the Big 12. With two top 5 losses in the first two weeks for the Big 12, it will take several weeks to bring back legitimacy to their strength of schedules.

As far as the USC/Ohio State game goes, I either drastically overrated USC’s offense, or gave no credit whatsoever to Ohio State’s defense. I haven’t decided yet which is which. Admittedly I put no weight on the power of the 12th man on the field for Ohio State: the crowd. With the Horseshoe filled to capacity at over 102,000, I greatly underrated their influence. USC’s top offensive line was completely neutralized, evening out the mighty Trojan running game. Whether USC’s front five just didn’t show up to play or Ohio State’s defensive line was really that good is difficult to say. One thing’s for sure though, USC did everything they wanted to do the last drive of the 1st half and the last drive of the 2nd half (thanks to Joe McKnight [left]). As far as Ohio State’s offense was concerned, their match up with USC’s spectacular defense was pretty close to what I expected. With the exception of a fluke safety, Ohio State only scores one more field goal than anticipated.

So we’re officially underway. NFL and NCAA are both in full swing and as the top teams try to keep their eyes on the prize, we all keep our eyes open for upsets. We’ve been blessed so far with 3 or 4 big ones in the first few weeks, but don’t get too excited. The best teams always rise to the top. Well… usually.

Brett Farve: Vain or Indecisive?

Now that Brett Farve is back (again) and happens to be playing for his former team’s division rival, many questions were raised about his once again waffley flip-flop return. Is he just drawing this out because he just loves the attention? Did he sign for the Vikings out of some unquenchable spite against Green Bay? Or is he just some confused old man?

This 39 year-old superstar may be in his 70s in NFL years, but he still has a cannon who could probably still blast the ball 60 yards if he needed to. After all of the injuries and surgery, he could be the $25 million dollar man, rebuilt better and stronger. Brett Farve, Quarterback. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Brett Farve will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster. Regardless of bionic capabilities, he can still play. Maybe not as well as he did 10 years ago, but he still has mileage left in him, and he certainly makes the game more interesting when he’s taking snaps.

Whether he acts from a spirit of vanity is another question and one that only Farve could answer. From the public eye, it could certainly appear so. But whether you love, hate, or are just plain tired of Brett Farve being in the news, it’s undeniable that he loves to play the game. This Southern boy has a heart for the game more than almost anyone and simply cannot deal with a life on the sideline. His flip-flopping doesn’t have anything to do with being in the limelight, he wants to play, but doesn’t know whether he can withstand the rigors of making it through an entire season. If you think about it, any professional goes through the same process. Any CEO loves the perks of their job, but doesn’t want to deal with all of the meetings, traveling, and grunt work that goes along with being successful. When it comes time to retire, it’s very easy to let those perks entice you to stay longer than you should, but in the end, it’s your decision on whether you stay or go. That’s where Farve is now. He wants the perks, but not the pain. So he holds out and is able to miss training camp. Farve: 1, Brad Childress & Vikings front office: 0.

In the end, the Vikings are a better team with Farve on the roster. Are they a better team 3 years from now? We’ll have to see how the ball bounces in terms of upcoming drafts and trades because once Farve leaves, they’re going to be in the same seat they were a month ago: without a leading quarterback. Farve will probably waffle again in two years (or possibly even next year) about staying or playing. We might even get a heart-felt, tear-laden delivery on Sports Center, which he will probably sincerely mean. But Farve really won’t be content playing golf on a Sunday in November until he has to use a walker to get there. He’ll be playing until his body won’t let him anymore, and then maybe he’ll try for a few more games after that. So let’s all just be prepared to see Brett Farve in a jersey until he’s old, tired, and grumpy wearing Velcro shoes.