The night in the bar in Valdosta in
2010?
Irrelevant.
Mom working in the football office?
Meaningless.
Growing up as a fan and now on the
opposite sideline?
Trivial.
All the yapping the past week about
Zach Mettenberger playing at Georgia has been exhausting because it offers
absolutely nothing important about the Georgia-LSU game. TVcompoops yammer
about it, and fans follow, wasting time and energy and precious - reeeeeally precious for most - brain
cells on a topic that can't be less relevant than which shoe he'll tie first.
Mettenberger will be more nervous
before the game than usual, but good players are always nervous.
It's a road game. He'll be harassed.
This is the SEC. This is not new.
He's played at Auburn, at Florida, at College Station. You know, on the road in
the SEC. It's mostly interchangeable.
And there's more pressure starting
at home - especially with some baggage - and getting home fans behind you than
playing on the road after having established yourself and gotten those home
fans behind you.
Players do what TVcompoops and fans
never do: move on. Mettenberger is a Tiger, and a pretty good quarterback.
Living in Baton Rouge as a good LSU quarterback ain't a bad life.
He's thinking more about winning a
game so LSU can stay alive for a national championship. Period. Before the game
and after the game, he'll think some about the opponent, the colors, the
stadium, and the greenery, and that'll be about it.
The stuff people think players and
coaches worry about is hysterical.
Mettenberger is worried about
football. Reads. Not getting picked off.
If he struggles, it will have
nothing to do with the other stuff, it'll be because A) he's human; B) Georgia
made adjustments. Period.
The winner does so because of fewer
mistakes, and not compounding mistakes. Anybody gets a decent lead, can't let
up for a second.
This is like the UGA-Clemson game:
two top-10 teams that are pretty even overall, with strengths and weaknesses.
Georgia miiiight be better, but LSU can win by more.
But whatever happens has nothing to
do with a bar in Valdosta, a mom in the football office and growing up in
Watkinsville.
LOUGHDMOUTHINGS
Folks wouldn't hurt themselves to be
less, oh, whiny and juvenile and offended and whatever by the accomplishments
of a team that they've never been on.
Good gawd, people, grow up. It's not
the sign of a small one to offer or admit respect.
You don't have to go crazy, but,
hell, grow up a little bit.
It's like the simpletons who spaz
out because David Pollack is, ya know, an adult and professional and takes his
job seriously and says things that aren't ignorantly glowing about where he
went to college.
He, you know, got older and all.
Calling him a traitor is about as
immature as a hissy fit because you can't watch cartoons. Actually, it's
more immature, because we expect hissy
fits from 4 year olds. ...
Today's picks, version 1: What the
hell has happened to West Virginia in the past 11.5 months? Oklahoma State 54,
WVU 30. (Update: pick was at kickoff, WVU is playing big).
What the hell happened to South
Florida? The Bulls are 0-1 against the Southland Conference. Miami 47, South
Florida 24.
Oklahoma is 1-9 against Notre Dame,
which is really an odd record among national powers. It'll get a little better.
Oklahoma 27, Notre Dame 20. ...
ESPN sure does love them some Urban
Meyer, who's really good at, um, what it is that he does when ESPN loves him. I
kinda think a few hunnert people in Gainesville laugh/smirk/regurge when they
watch some of this.
Of course, then they get misty-eyed
for the old days of, uh, four years ago. ...
As of 12:30, ESPN's schedule shows
563 tickets remain for Troy at Duke. In football. Only 563? Are they playing in
Cameron? ...
Duck Dynasty and a golfer on the
Gameday set for predictions. This November: Miley Cyrus and The Three Tenors.
...
Am still waiting for actual evidence
of Mark May's obsession with Georgia, which has one national championship and
one Heisman winner in the modern era.
Taking ESPN so seriously is pretty
idiotic. ...
The best shots of Saturday's are the
aerial views of a campus, especially when it's sunny and blue-skied, like
today. Couple shots of Athens are mighty nice. ...
It's likely to be ugly at Mercer in
the Pioneer Football League debut.
The weather's nice, so no Southern
advantage there. And finally, the Bears play somebody above NCAA Division III.
Now that Mercer is playing on its
level, the physicality will start making a difference the rest of the year.
Instead of being just nicked up and a little sore after playing other startup
programs - most of whom will be fairly regular opponents - the Bears will be
sore throughout the week and players will miss practice.
Then depth - an issue for
century-old teams - comes into play, and Mercer doesn't have much.
The Sagarin spread is about 30
points, and that's pretty reasonable.
Mercer is the lowest-ranked PFL
team, and next-to-last in Division I. The PFL has six of the bottom 10 teams.
...
Today's picks, version II:
I'm smelling the same thing that
leads people to believe Ole Miss will give Alabama some trouble. The Tide
aren't as good this year, but still No. 1. Let's not be surprised when they're
humanized. Still, Alabama 27-21.
The PFL gets its first automatic
playoff bid this year. Drake is a contender. It won't take it easy on Mercer. Drake
47, Mercer 21.
Again, Mettenberger's connections
and history don't matter in the least. He's played in front of large crowds on
the road. Players don't hear crap from fans or see signs. A fundamental play or
two is the difference and there will be some ugly play.
Georgia 38, LSU 35. ...
High on the list after winning a
lottery:
Buying Chris Berman's contract out,
and instilling a no-blathering-on-air clause for 800 months. Lou Holtz's
contract is right after that. ...
And the grief continues for
Jacksonville's NFL entry, as per Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel:
Texas Senator Ted
Cruz spoke nonstop for 21 hours and 19 minutes in an effort to block
Obamacare. This is believed to be the biggest waste of time since the last Jaguars
game.
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