1) The whole Lane Kiffin-to-USC thing: wow. Maybe some of you out there expected this, but I sure didn't. With Kiffin's 1 year of experience plus the fact that USC is undergoing serious investigations, I thought that the Trojans' brass would go with someone new, outside of the Pete Carroll mold, which they could use potentially in talks with the NCAA. Not sure how it's going to look now when USC goes into their meetings having just hired a coach who has himself been investigated for recruiting violations.
On the other side of this, people need to stop with the all-out hatred of Kiffin for this move. If you want to hate him for what he said and whose feathers he ruffled while at Tennessee, then fine, but we all need to get off our high horse when criticizing him for leaving UT after one season now. If USC is where Kiffin really wants to be, then he has to take the job whenever he is offered it. What did you want him to say? Sorry, guys, USC is where I've always wanted to be, but I can't take the job because I've only been here one season? No. That would be ridiculous.
2) In the world of college hoops, there are some interesting games to watch out for this weekend. On the local front, the Heels have a big stretch coming up, with 3 of their next 4 at home and the one road game at NC State. If UNC expects to make a move in this year's ACC, it really HAS to win 3 of those games, and we should hope to win all 4. Sure, the loss to Clemson was disappointing, but that's a tough matchup for a young backcourt against that press, especially in Littlejohn, where Clemson is 10 times as hard to beat. On the other hand, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, at home, should be games that this team can win, and they really need to in order to start building some momentum.
Elsewhere in the ACC, Wake Forest has a great opportunity Sunday night to make their first in-conference statement against Duke. NC State gets Clemson at home, where the Tigers are prime for an emotional letdown against a Pack team that suddenly has life after a surprising win at Florida State. And the only currently undefeated ACC team, Virginia, has a chance at 3-0 in C'ville against an inconsistent Miami squad.
And then on a national stage the Syracuse-West Virginia game certainly has intrigue, as the Fighting Huggie Bears struggled in their last elite matchup against Purdue. At home, if WVU wants to be considered serious on the national stage, they absolutely need to knock off the Orange in that one.
3) And then there's the NFL playoffs. If the Colts were to lose to the Ravens this weekend, the criticism of Jim Caldwell this offseason will be deafening for the first-time coach. I don't personally think that's going to happen, but it certainly wouldn't be a shocker. I think my favorite right now might be the Chargers, but I don't know if I trust Philip Rivers et al to make that final step after getting deep runs in the playoffs each of the last two seasons before falling short. It's also hard not to like the Cowboys with the way they can run the ball, but everyone and their mother is jumping on their bandwagon, which probably means they're going to lose. Easily the game I'm most looking forward to is the Cardinals-Saints, because Drew Brees and Kurt Warner are two of the best quarterbacks to watch on TV, and they'll be playing on the same field. That Arizona-Green Bay game was probably the best NFL game I've seen since St Louis-Tennessee in the Super Bowl in 2000, and now they get to go against the Saints? Yessir!
If asked to pick the games, I think I'd take the Colts over the Ravens, the Chargers over the Jets, the Cowboys over the Vikings, and the Saints over the Cardinals.
I think I had 2 partners in writing this blog. Not really sure though. Boys? Any thoughts????
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