Monday, September 12, 2011

The Scorecard #1

High School: The weekend started out quite well with City High routing West High to keep the Boot on the East Side (Where it belongs, of course). Regina followed this up by choking Wilton. That was the headline in the Press-Citizen: Regina Chokes Wilton (As in 'Catholics gonna choke a b**h?' Seems a little strong to me. Just saying.)

College: We all know what happened- 3OTs and a loss to Iowa State. I'll be honest kids, I had a little tickle in the oxipetal about this one- this was, after all, an Iowa State team that went to Texas last year and beat them. In Austin- and I don't care how shitty Texas is, that should have served notice on us that Iowa State was better than we thought.

Plus, there was the little matter of Tropical Storm Herky that blew through last weekend. It's hard to get a readout on how good the defense looks when there's a tropical monsoon in the way. But let's not despair yet: Vandenburg has one helluva an arm, we've got experience wide recievers and Coach Ferentz seems to relish moments like this as they just demonstrate just what exactly we need to work on. Namely defense- and mobile quarterbacks... (did anyone else have bad flashbacks to the Ohio State game last year while watching Saturday? ISU may have a QB with a porn star name and he was about as slippery as one Saturday but all I could think about was that 4th and 10 at the end of the Ohio State game where all we needed was one, tiny, stop and nobody could lay a finger on Pryor.)

Fun bonuses for college football: If Gloria Steinem wasn't smiling Saturday, she should have been- because Toledo played Ohio State the full 60 minutes and came very close to upending the Buckeyes at home in Columbus.

Pros: The Vikings had a brilliant start to their 2011 season as Percy Harvin went 103 yards with the opening kickoff for a touchdown versus San Diego (in the 'We'll Be In LA Soon' Bowl). San Diego went 3 and out on their posession and pinned Minnesota back deep- and his first snap as Vikings QB, McNabb... threw an interception. It kinda went downhill from there. But the Vikings, although managing to piss away a 10 point lead at the half and lose, did not look horrible. McNabb brings a welcome sense of confidence to the QB position- and a low interception percentage to boot and Adrian Peterson means that you have to take them seriously. Unfortunately, the NFC North might be the toughest gig in football this year, so if they want to make the playoffs, they'll need to improve.

Bonus: I watched Rugby on Sunday as well. Yes, that's right kids, the Rugby World Cup is popping up here and there on American television and in their opening match against Ireland, I have to say the United State acquitted themselves fairly well. I think they're still considered a 'Tier 2' country in the world of rugby and they looked a little out matched from tme to time, but they made the Irish earn it. If people are paying attention, it could go a long way to improving the standing of the sport in the United States. And hopefully by the time this wraps up, I'll understand just exactly how rugby works. (I think I've got most of it- but those lineouts and randomly kicking the ball out of bounds? Weirdness.)

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