That time of the year

Thank God. It’s officially football season.

Sure, the pennant races are exciting in every part of the country with the exception of Queens, New York. Yes, the US National basketball team is beginning qualifying for the 2008 Olympics. And we must not forget that the fourth major in both golf and tennis are soon.

But America’s sport is now football, and so when the old pigskin begins to be tossed around, it is immediately placed at the front of the national sporting interest. Rhett Bomar gets kicked off the Oklahoma football team. Breaking news. Matt Leinart finally signs a contract. Front page of the paper. Clinton Portis will miss the entire pre-season. Leading off on ‘Around the Horn’. It doesn’t seem to matter what else is going on. If it has to do with football, it takes priority. So why should you be pumped about 2006? Here are 15 reasons why:


15--NFL rule changes
Finally, the No Fun League got it right. No more yelling at the ref for blowing the whistle too quickly. Put an end to screaming at your linebacker for not stripping the ball sooner. Because from now on, the ground can cause fumbles, which is the way it’s meant to be. If you’re a running back and can’t hold on to the ball when you stumble over a chunk of dirt on the field, then maybe running back isn’t the position for you. (Yes Rashaan Salaam, I’m talking to you.) The other rule changes, which include restrictions on tackling a quarterback bellow the knee and limiting touchdown celebrations, are all right, but I’m most excited about the elimination of the down-by-contact call.

14---Ohio St. at Texas
Take a look at the pre-season college football rankings. Just a quick peek. Actually, just look at the top two names on the list. Ranked number one you will see The Ohio State University Buckeyes, home of the most exciting player in college football, Teddy Ginn. Right underneath them is a little school in Austin, Texas that just happened to be the victors in last seasons National Championship game. Getting number one versus number two is almost impossible to do in the postseason. Having it happen in week two of the regular season is just amazing. If it doesn’t top last year’s classic in Columbus, it will surely be close. Winner is national title favorite. Loser has a tough climb back to the top of the rankings.

13---SUPER Bowl
Houston? Jacksonville? Detroit? I’m sorry, I thought that the Super Bowl had three criteria for a host city. It has to have a bunch of hotels. It has to be the home of an NFL team. And last but not least, the host stadium must be either domed or be in a climate where weather will not provide distractions the first week of February. While I guess in theory that those three cities do fit those three limits, these places are not desirable hosts for the country’s biggest party, Super Bowl Sunday. Fortunately for fans and players, the 2007 game will be in Miami, meaning the pre-game festivities have a chance to be as fun as the game itself.

12---The re-emergence of Notre Dame
I hate the Fighting Irish as much as the next non-Golden Domer. I think it’s ridiculous they have there own TV contract and that they are allowed to play in the National Championship despite the fact they are not in a conference. But even I can see that the game is better when the ND is a top team. Not only are they really college football’s only nationwide team, but I enjoy how they are like a wild card to the Big ten title race, with the Irish facing Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue in consecutive weeks. (Imagine if Duke was independent in college hoops but still played North Carolina, Wake Forest and Maryland. Those teams would already have lost to a rival before ACC play even began.) Notre Dame playing a national schedule also allows for some remarkable regular season football games. Last years USC-ND match up was game of the year 1B, and this year they rematch at the end of the season. Having the Irish as a contender again means that no matter if you bleed green or despise it, you know that college football will always be a major topic of discussion in the midwestern part of the country.

11---Young guns and the old man
My older brother is 21. Soon he will enter the working class, a group that extends from people in this country ages 18-75. Usually the people with the top jobs are somewhere between the ages of 35-55. But in the coaching ranks, it is pretty much an unwritten law that if you aren’t between 45 and 65 years old, then put down your whistle, because you are either too young or too old to do this job. But three members of the Big 10 will try to prove this theory wrong. Here in Evanston, Pat Fitzgerald, who at age 31 is the youngest head coach in Division I, will try to continue the momentum that Randy Walker built as head man of the Wildcats. Up in the Badger state, Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema, who is the nation’s second youngest coach at age 36, has the tough task of coming in after legend Barry Alverez. And on the complete other end of the spectrum is Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who will turn 80 before the season ends.

10---T.O. vs Tuna
I don’t like Terelll Owens (No respect for him). I don’t like Bill Parcells. (But I do respect him). I don’t like the Dallas Cowboys. But even I know a good story when I see one. In one corner you have the greatest physical receiver in the league that has ruined the last two teams he played for. In the other corner you have the head coach that doesn’t take crap from anyone. Eventually the bell will ring and these two will go at it. That will definitely be a must-see event.

9---September 16, 2006
Being a remote control master requires three basic skills. One, you have to know every game that is on and what channel you can find it on. Two, you have to have an in-brain timer that allows you to never view one second of commercials. And third is an ultra keen sense of the games being played, which is like a sixth sense. It’s knowing when a team will complete a 45-yard pass or return a fumble for a touchdown. Good thing for me I have these three skills down pat, because on 9.16.06, I’m going to be parked in front of my TV with a big bowl of chips, a nice cold drink and my trusty remote. Look at this lineup of games that afternoon (and what channel they’re on). Oklahoma-Oregon (ABC), LSU-Auburn (CBS), and Michigan-Norte Dame (NBC) are all at 2:30, meaning I will have to be on top of my game. Then for a nightcap trifecta we have Clemson-Florida State (ESPN), Nebraska-USC (ABC) and the granddaddy of ‘em all, Florida-Tennessee (CBS), all of which start within 45 minutes of each other. Wow. That’s six games with ranked teams facing each other. If all goes well, this will top New Years as the college football day of the year.

8---Flexible schedules
Unfortunately, I’m a big time football fan. If there are 22 men on a field, I’m pretty much forced to watch. Which means last season, I watched a lot of ‘Monday Night Football’, despite the fact that many of the games weren’t close at all. I watched a 48-3 win by the Ravens in week 15 that made Kyle Boller seem like a pro. Two weeks earlier I saw the Seahawks stomp the Eagles 42-0. And in week six, Peyton Manning and his crew of Colts took it to the Rams, 45-28.The point is, I saw a lot of ugly games in primetime, and it shouldn’t be that way. This year, that should all change. The primetime game of the week has changed to Sunday night, and the NFL has awarded NBC a flexible schedule for weeks 10 through 15 of the season. Now games with playoff implications will be on national TV, and I won’t be forced to sit through three hours of blowouts and butt-whoopings.

7---A non-Trojan Heisman winner
Let’s take a look at the last four Heisman Trophy winners. 2002 was USC quarterback Carson Palmer, who is now an NFL stud (See #6). 2003 gave us Oklahoma QB Jason White, who then came back to school and is now working at a Norman IHOP. ’04 was Matt Leinart’s year, and he also came back to USC and almost won it again last year. But 2005 belonged to running back Reggie Bush (See #2), Leinart’s backfield mate at Southern Cal. But this year, USC has no star QB or RB. They don’t have anyone who is gracing the covers of national magazines or at the top of ESPN’s Heisman rankings. So now somebody at some little known school like Ohio State or Notre Dame can win the most famous trophy in sports.

6--- QB’s coming back
Three quarterbacks, all returning from different problems. Ben Rothlessberger ran his motorcycle into a car and broke his face. Carson Palmer had his knee completely torn up in the playoffs last season and had to have multiple off-season surgeries to fix it. And Brett Favre suffered through his worst season ever, a 4-12 season in which the future Hall-of-Famer threw for nine more interceptions then touchdowns and was sacked 24 times. So how will all three respond to their respective setbacks? For Big Ben, I doubt his crash will affect him too much on the field. Favre’s struggles won’t matter, since he’ll retire at the end of the year and end up in Canton in five summers regardless of his 06 campaign. The big question is with Palmer. Last season he threw for over 3,800 yards, 32 touchdowns and led Cincinnati to the playoffs. But returning from a shattered knee is no easy task, and can be easily re-injured. The Bengals entire season relies on Palmer returning at 100%, and it will be very interesting to see how he does.

5---The beast in the East (Make that the South-East)
This kills me to write this, since my beloved Florida Gators are in the SEC and have the toughest schedule in the nation. But you have to just drop your jaw in awe when you see one 12-team conference that has eight of Sports Illustrated ‘s top 38 teams. Talk about depth from top to bottom. LSU, Auburn, Florida and Tennessee have all won all or part of a National Championship in the last ten years, Georgia is the defending conference champs, Alabama is the most prestigious school in the SEC and South Carolina has one of the league’s all time greatest coaches. Add in dangerous Arkansas and tricky Ole Miss, and the SEC is must-see football every Saturday.

4---Madden 2007
Are you serious? Did you really think that I would create an entire list of stuff I’m looking forward to and not include the release of the new Madden? This year’s game will be fantastic as usual, because EA Sports puts out nothing but the best in terms of video games. I’m excited for multiple features in this season’s game, including the Hall of Fame mode and being able to control run blockers when pounding the rock. (By the way, I feel that the day Madden is released and the opening Thursday and Friday of the NCAA Tournament should be National Holidays. How can a boss or teacher expect somebody to pay attention when this type of distraction is out there? Honestly, it’s impossible. Just close the schools, send all the workers home and let everybody enjoy these three magnificent days.)

3---New B.C.S.
Unfortunately, the new B.C.S. still stands for Bowl Championship Series and isn’t actually a Baller outta-Contol playoff System. It’s still the same format, combining the coaches and Harris polls as well as the computer poll averages. The only change is now there is an extra fifth B.C.S. game, played a week after new years. This is good for two reasons. One, it gives a greater opportunity to other teams to play on college football’s grandest stages. Teams such as TCU, Oregon and Virginia Tech would be able to shine on national TV and get the exposure they deserve. And the second reason is because it’s another marquee football game being played in the first week of the New Year, making those seven days even greater then they already are.

2---President Bush
No, not W. I’m talking about President Reggie Bush. Maybe you didn’t see his Barry Sanders-esque 44 yard run last weekend. Or the multiple ankle breaking’s he put on defenders last year in college. Don’t worry. They’ll be many more to come. I expect Bush to average around 120 yards a game for the Saints by getting about 60 rushing yards on ten attempts, somewhere around 40 yards receiving on a few dump off passes and then close to 20 yards on a couple of punt returns. His coaches say that as a rookie, he’s probably going to get about 20 touches a game. I’m guessing that those will be the 20 most exciting touches of each Sunday.

1---Title’s up in the air
Ask ten so-called ‘experts’ who the Super Bowl favorite is and you are likely to hear at least ten different answers. One would probably say its Peyton Manning and the Colts’ time. Another would give you the defending NFC champion Seahawks. Maybe you’d hear it’s the Patriots again, or the Panthers, or any team in the NFC East. And don’t forget the one’s with the trophy, the Pittsburgh Stealers. The point is there is no obvious pick to hoist the Lombardi Trophy this season. And that’s a good thing. Everybody looks forward to the year with great optimism, hope and a dream.


The same applies to college football. At least ten teams have a legitimate shot at the crystal trophy, and there are maybe 15 more could do it if they get some lucky breaks. The usual names like Southern Cal, Texas, Michigan and Miami are of course contenders, but so are many new up and coming teams, such as West Virginia, Iowa, Cal, and Louisville. Last season had as many close, down to the wire games as any, and it all ended in the ultimate title game. It will be tough to match that this season, but be prepared for anything.