Week one fearless picks.

Vanderbilt(+7): Outright. QBMullet is gone and Latimore is unimpressive. Vandy comes out swingin, leaving the ol ball coach to throw some visors.

NC State(+3): Outright. Mike makes Hokie fans wish THIS was the Glennon we had...enroute to the Atlantic title.

Michigan State(-7): No more hide n seek for the Broncos. Sparty rolls on the ground, for Whom the Bell Tolls.

Auburn(+3): SEC, duh. (um, it won't be 70, but it won't be a win for the paws either.)

Alabama(-13): Denard LOOSES the Heisman this weekend. 5 turnovers will do that for ya, ya know. Saban will roll Tide this week, then hit a wall on his way to 3 losses this year. You can fake a lot of things, but not QB in the SEC (Jamarcus, I'm lookin at you!)

Virginia Tech(-7.5): And easy cover by 18!!!!! Taking the Techmo Bowl is the first step. First step....Logan will truck everything in his path this Monday. They can't call it Labor Day without specting him to go to work!

Fearlessly Guessing...

A new football season. A new hope for 120 teams. A new, clean slate for everyone. A fresh start for my predictions....

Here goes nothing.

ACC:
Virginia Tech beats NCSt in the champ game. Mike Glennon makes Hokies wish THIS was the Glennon we had. Looking forward to a Thursday night in Blacksburg against the Noles. LT3 (Logan Thomas to translate) is the next Michael Vick. He's no Cam Newton cause we didn't pay for him!

Big 12?:
Oklahoma rolls through this one, with Jones and Whaley leading the way. Btw, the 'Eers will have a luke warm welcome to their new digs, despite Tavon Austin looking all-world.

Big? East:
Um, Louisville? Who cares, it's not big, it's not going to be east, it's falling apart, and they need basketball season, now.

B1G:
Nebraska will make their presence known this year taking the title over Wisconsin. Monte Ball will dazzle, again. Denard will loose the Heisman week 1, but try, try, try to get it back the rest of the year.

Pac something:
USC is back, brining home hardware (legit Heisman) and conference title. The quack attack will be dynamic, but won't be able to finish all games...

$EC:
Ah, can they make it 7 for 7? No. Arkansas beats Jeorgia in the title tilt, and LSU and Bama are crying foul. They could get 4 BCS invites, but will only get 3....with another rematch of Bama-LSU: 4th time in 14 months.

BCS:
Here's the fun part...
Oklahoma, undefeated, over USC.

Magic or Bird

With the Olympics just ending, the football season cranking up, and the Dream Team vs the 2012 team debates, it has brought me to think about who is "better?" There are several either-ors that can be debated over the years.
One of the biggest ones now is to pitch or not to pitch Stasburg.
Should Penn State play football this year?
Would this Olympic basketball team beat the Dream Team?
Eli or Peyton?

Going back a few years: Barkley or Mailman?
Hakeem or Robinson?
Kobe or Shaq?
Montana or Aikman?
Bonds or Griffey?
Mussina or Glavine?
Lemieux or Hull?
Roy or Hasek?

This is what makes a backyard bbq or just a 30 second passing so great. So, now, let's debate.

Agree or disagree.
Believe or dismiss.
Care deeply or hear and move on.
Either way, by now you know what occurred at Penn State with the worse-than-death sentence they received. When I first heard the list, the item that jumped out the most was the $60million "fine." I have since heard this will go to fund an abuse program, which is where the money should be going.

The vacating of the wins means nothing to anyone, other than the NCAA. Penn State, their players, their fans, JoPa knows who won those games. And what occurred with that barbarian had absolutely no affect on the outcome between the sidelines. Making PSU vacate wins was a paper tiger way of NCAA saying they do have power. This meant nothing in the realm of the infractions or decision. (Other than Eddie Robinson and Bobby Bowden move up a rung.)

Which leads me to the line in the sand and moving forward.

A. Penn State has been a model of known fact for decades when it comes to the uniforms. Every spring when the new collection was unveiled, you were 99% accurate on your guess. The only question would be if there would be a blue stripe on the sleeves or not. Well, given this fact, lack of change, stick-in-the-uddiness, it's time for a change. Drastic change. Complete change. Maybe not going to green and purple change, but the entire set needs to be altered. Leave the past in the past. Forgo the white helmets. Make them blue with a white logo. Change everything. Forget "maybe a stripe." Put piping on the sides, around the neck, on the legs. Wear white shoes after labor day. Complete overhaul!!! This will send shock waves through the tried and true Penn Staters, but that plain white is associated with what you have been branded to be. Draw a line, change everything, and prove that you are not that. (And don't act like you deserve to wear all-white after this...)

 B. The big conferences, and those looking in on them, must make a move in the next 10 years. Conferences have realigned. Schools have put in notice, put in notice and pulled it, not put in notice and just left, sued their old conference and had to have an uncomfortable farewell tour, or just sat on the sides hoping someone would ask them to dance. Here's time to simply put 64 teams in four 16-team conferences. Play your division every year, and 4 from the other side every other. There's 11 games. Forget the conference championship game. Take the winner of each division...8 teams. Playoff. Forget the NCAA. Forget the BCS.

 Forget the remaining sports and the "we all need to be in the same conference" thought. There is absolutely no reason why women's volleyball should travel from Fort Worth, Texas to Storrs, Connecticut for a match on Tuesday just because of football. Let the BIG 64 have at it. With their own sanctioning body. With their own playoff. With their own tv contract that will benefit all other sports at the school, and those conferences. 4 conferences...East, South, Central, West.

Things change, morph, grow, just as the college game has over the past 20 years. Well, that is, except the NCAA and those 3 little letters: BCS. Time to get with the new millennium and pull the trigger on this. Set a date: 2020. That gives all teams, schools, coaches, bowls, fans, AD's, TV networks to figure out that the past is dead. And beginning in 2021, there will be a new college football system. By that time, the NFL will have figured out some of it's issues with draft eligibility, the concussion issue, collective bargaining. Tie it all together. Make it happen. Just make sure Penn State isn't wearing all white.

Logan Thomas is ready to Keep on Truckin this year! 38-0 Bro!

Masters Week

It's Masters Week. It's the end of winter. It's the beginning of spring. It's the kickoff of the majors season. It's time for some golf!



The Masters Golf tournament is special to casual golf fans and golf enthusiasts alike. It signifies that we should awake from our winter slumber and get spring started. Kinda like the Daytona 500, it too could be compared to the Super Bowl of the Golf Season. And this year, there's a chance that the tournament, specifically the back nine on Sunday that will finish in prime time, will rival the greatest ever. Of course, ever year has that billing, and last year when Charl finished with a birdie flurry on the last 4 holes was something to behold. But this year sets up for what Mr. Robert Tyre Jones, Jr. intended for the Invitational when he dreamed up the plan for converting a 365 acre nursery into the cathedral it is now.

This year, unlike any year in recent past, the top players in the world are on top of their games. 6 of the worlds top 9 have won on the PGA Tour this season, and that doesn't include Phil. (He's 14th...) Johnson Wagner (#61) and Kyle Stanley (#47) are the only players outside the top 26 that have won an event on tour this year. That's 10 players inside the top 26 that are coming to Augusta with a W in the past 3 months. Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy have each taken over the #1 spot in the world by winning that week. Phil won at Pebble. Mahan has won twice. Tiger won 2 weeks ago. Stricker won in Hawaii. Previous week collapses have been vindicated the following week by Kyle Stanley and Brandt Snedeker. I can't remember another Masters (or even Major) where as many of the top golfers in the world have had this much momentum going to the first tee. Here's hoping for a tournament worthy of its excitement and anticipation, and maybe even a few twists and turns along the way. No matter, I will be watching Sunday afternoon despite the absence of azaleas.