Week 6 - The calm before the storm

With Mother Billy and his son Joey in town we patronized the incomparable grounds of San Jose State once more. Since Tailgating has been relegated to a John Steinbeck like dust bowl with only a few hardy fans partaking, we opted to pre-game at Stanley’s sports bar across from the stadium.  A brilliant blue California sky and the golden hills of San Jose formed the perfect backdrop for yet another late afternoon picturesque South Bay game. The Spartans would take on their in-state rival from the (559) Central Valley, the Fresno Bulldogs.  Two of CFB’s bottom dwellers put on an entertaining contest that kept us in the stadium until late in the fourth quarter. Although San Jose woke up and played a spirited second half, they fell to the Jeff Tedford led Dogs 27-10. The halftime show had the Spartan band dressed in hippy attire performing a tribute to the counter culture movement in California from the 1960s.

Around the country - I have begun filing the paperwork for my #2 to leave the plains of Oklahoma after the Sooner's demise against the Cyclones Saturday. I am looking into Alabama and Clemson as my top two choices. She has let me down for the last time. In Annapolis, the mighty Midshipmen won a thriller in the last seconds against the Falcons from Air Force Academy. It was reported that not one person was caught kneeling in the stadium during the National Anthem. In Ann Arbor in front of 112,000 fans, Harbaugh stained his mom pants once again by being bested by the Spartans from East Lansing. On Thursday night, NC State knocked out Louisville from ACC title contention and Lamar from repeating as the Heisman winner. Coach Ogre got back on the winning track with the Bayou Bengals taking a bite out of the Florida Gators. Coach O was part of a hit song last week after his LSU team lost to Troy. Take a listen and enjoy:

In Fort Worth, the Horned Frogs shot down the Mountaineers by 7 points in a hard fought contest. Down South Beach way, the Hurricanes chopped down the Seminoles 24-20. The Crimson Tide had their hands full in College Station but were able to leave victorious. Bryce Love and the Stannerd Cardinal continued their winning ways in the Wasatch range by taking down the Utes. In FCS news, My Dad’s Columbia Lions improved to 4-0 for the first time since Christ was a Corporal. I would be remiss in my duties if I did not mention that the Monte Vista High School Junior Varsity advanced to 5-0 by winning their homecoming game against Dougherty Valley.

 

The Rogers Clan at Kentucky and the Maddalons in Boulder

The Millings and friends in Jordan Hare

Carlucci Jr and Pals in Miami and the Deutchkis at South Carolina

The Donnelly siblings and friends in Annapolis

The Bodners at College Gameday in Fort Worth

Bieber – I have bit my tongue long enough on this one, but the “Idiot Brother” Mike Stoops, Oklahoma’s Defenseless Coordinator takes this week’s accolades. Now with the air cover of brother Bob gone, “Screaming Mike” has been left to his own devices, and let’s just say they aren’t functioning correctly. It was bad enough two weeks ago when the Sooners gave up 500 yards to lowly Baylor and almost lost. Now with the loss to the Cyclones, Magic Mike has been exposed like a flasher on the world stage. His pass defense schemes look like something out of Pop Warner at best as his DB’s get burned more times than 2 AM toast at a Waffle House. As Mike’s men continue to get embarrassed on the field, he proceeds to scream the entire time in his coach’s box from up above. If you don’t prepare your troops for battle before the action occurs, you have no right to scream at your soldiers. To add insult to injury, OU kept him instead of Brent Venables, Clemson’s DC and the best one in the country. Screaming Mike, you will lose your position but you have new Bieber hardware to scream at.

Next Week – “The Tailgate will take its talents to the Cotton Bowl” for the Red River shootout. This will be the first of three road games in a row and four out of the next five weeks. The Tailgate is tanned, rested and ready for the challenge.

Happy Tailgating!