National Championship Bullet Points
By Blogger
I've never been so happy to be so wrong. A few days ago, Lee Corso announced that if he were an NFL general manager, he'd take Vince Young over Matt Leinart, and I took a cheap jab at him for it. If, by some monumental stroke of luck, Mr. Corso reads this... You were right. And I suck for giving in to the ever-present temptation to make fun of someone else. On, now, to the National Championship Bullet Points!
* I wasn't able to get home from work in time to see any of the first quarter, so I had my dad tape the game. When we realized how good it was turning out, we decided to tape the whole thing. Now we can watch perhaps the greatest college football performance of my lifetime any time we like. My dad rules. This also means that if you have a question about the game, I can go back and review the tape. Again, my dad rules.
* This game launched LenDale White into the first round of the draft and confirmed what sane and sober minds concluded long ago: Reggie Bush is good, but he ain't Barry Sanders. If the jump from Oregon to Texas was such a struggle for Mr. Bush, then how will he handle the jump from Texas to Tampa Bay? Not that Bush didn't do well, but he wasn't REGGIE BUSH. I'd still take Bush over White if forced to choose, but I'd worry that White's size and style will carry over better to the pro game.
* If I'm the Saints' general manager, I just about had a heart attack watching Matt Leinart's postgame interview in which he whined and pouted. When he turned around and stalked off, I could've sworn his number turned from 11 to 16. In all seriousness, if this is how he handles a loss when he and his team play well, how will he handle a loss when everybody plays badly? I think his mental makeup was already in question because he chose to return to play for USC despite essentially completing his degree and despite clearly being physically ready for the next level. In other words, I already questioned his desire to compete, and now I question his ability to handle adversity and failure.
* Dan Fouts opened the door a crack, but Keith Jackson slammed it shut and refused to say anything about his future broadcasting college football. Jackson doesn't have a contract for the upcoming season, and it only seems natural that he'd want to finish his career at the national championship game, but, apparently, he isn't ready to announce his retirement. I put Jackson up with the most hallowed of broadcast royalty: Scully, Hearn, King, Jackson. The names just sound right together. And I can think of no better tribute to The Voice of College Football than Zach's assertion that he would want Jackson to announce his funeral. Good call, dude. Very good call.
* Where does this game rank among the greatest sporting events of the past twenty years? Of the ones I can remember off the top of my head, only Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS stands out as being clearly "greater" in my gut-check overall evaluation. Throw in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series, if you like. The Christian Laettner Game vs. Kentucky. And then you've got a bunch of games that were dramatic, but flawed, such as the Rams-Titans Super Bowl (people forget that until the fourth quarter, it was pretty boring), whereas this game featured outstanding play in all facets from both sides, all the way through.
* Finally, 17 days until NFL Conference Championship Sunday. 31 days until Super Bowl Sunday. And 41 days until pitchers and catchers report for spring training.
* I wasn't able to get home from work in time to see any of the first quarter, so I had my dad tape the game. When we realized how good it was turning out, we decided to tape the whole thing. Now we can watch perhaps the greatest college football performance of my lifetime any time we like. My dad rules. This also means that if you have a question about the game, I can go back and review the tape. Again, my dad rules.
* This game launched LenDale White into the first round of the draft and confirmed what sane and sober minds concluded long ago: Reggie Bush is good, but he ain't Barry Sanders. If the jump from Oregon to Texas was such a struggle for Mr. Bush, then how will he handle the jump from Texas to Tampa Bay? Not that Bush didn't do well, but he wasn't REGGIE BUSH. I'd still take Bush over White if forced to choose, but I'd worry that White's size and style will carry over better to the pro game.
* If I'm the Saints' general manager, I just about had a heart attack watching Matt Leinart's postgame interview in which he whined and pouted. When he turned around and stalked off, I could've sworn his number turned from 11 to 16. In all seriousness, if this is how he handles a loss when he and his team play well, how will he handle a loss when everybody plays badly? I think his mental makeup was already in question because he chose to return to play for USC despite essentially completing his degree and despite clearly being physically ready for the next level. In other words, I already questioned his desire to compete, and now I question his ability to handle adversity and failure.
* Dan Fouts opened the door a crack, but Keith Jackson slammed it shut and refused to say anything about his future broadcasting college football. Jackson doesn't have a contract for the upcoming season, and it only seems natural that he'd want to finish his career at the national championship game, but, apparently, he isn't ready to announce his retirement. I put Jackson up with the most hallowed of broadcast royalty: Scully, Hearn, King, Jackson. The names just sound right together. And I can think of no better tribute to The Voice of College Football than Zach's assertion that he would want Jackson to announce his funeral. Good call, dude. Very good call.
* Where does this game rank among the greatest sporting events of the past twenty years? Of the ones I can remember off the top of my head, only Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS stands out as being clearly "greater" in my gut-check overall evaluation. Throw in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series, if you like. The Christian Laettner Game vs. Kentucky. And then you've got a bunch of games that were dramatic, but flawed, such as the Rams-Titans Super Bowl (people forget that until the fourth quarter, it was pretty boring), whereas this game featured outstanding play in all facets from both sides, all the way through.
* Finally, 17 days until NFL Conference Championship Sunday. 31 days until Super Bowl Sunday. And 41 days until pitchers and catchers report for spring training.
posted by Blogger at 4:43 AM
1 Comments:
I'd disagree a bit that the game was great the whole way through. Much of the first half was marred by unforced mistakes (most notably the Bush "fumble") and some curious officiating. The second half more than made up for it, of course, and ABC (and the BCS) should be thrilled that for once they got a great National Championship Game.
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