No, seriously. I’m disengaging from football as much as I can at this point, because quite frankly this year has done nothing but add to my general store of angst and despair. Consider:
* Cal is circling the drain and now has lost the starting QB for good thanks to a shredded ligament. Kevin Riley’s career with the Golden Bears is done.
* Vandy’s best player, running back Warren Norman, broke a wrist and is out for the season, with Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Wake yet to play.
* As it stands right now, the Furd is in a position to potentially make the Rose Bowl.
* Auburn is on the inside track to a national championship appearance, despite the new Cam Newton scandal flowering in Alabama.
* The Redskins are in utter disarray, thanks to their highly overrated coach whose only accomplishments have been inheriting John Elway, putting guys behind the dirtiest line in football, and being a golden child of the NFL re: officiating. Now he’s benched his QB for reasons that defy logic (and which have changed with every press conference) and the city is in an uproar, and rightly so.
Basketball starts in a week or two, and I will be off to that like a shot. Meanwhile, the postmortem:
Vandy has a first-year coach and is, well, Vandy, so this is about as good as you could expect. I think Tennessee and Wake might still be doable, for all the good it does us. Bama will be fine; even if they don’t beat Auburn they may still luckbox into the Sugar Bowl if Auburn makes the BCS simply because they will be the second-best team in the SEC (the SEC East is beneath pathetic this year). As for Cal, this is the beginning of the dark age. It will last through 2012 unless Tedford can do something amazing in AT&T Park, and at a minimum he needs a new offensive line coach. If they can’t pass-protect any better, it won’t matter which of half a dozen candidates goes under center next year. I don’t really want to go to any more Cal games this year, just because the losing is going to be miserable in every particular. Maybe the UW game because it’s the last game in Old Memorial, and the only reasonable possibility for a home win left on the schedule. And the Redskins? Well, I’ll probably want a trip or three to Dan Browns, and I’ll want to listen to Sonny and Sam on the ridearound because you never know how much longer they’ll keep the team together (and I’ve been fortunate to have them out here for 4+ seasons I never expected to get).
But it’s time for cold weather and hot gyms and my Commodores doin’ work. Break out the rugby and strike up the band.