Premature Jock-ularity

Saturday, November 18, 2006

   Week: 13-7. Season: 134-66.

   It's a big football weekend, so why not a doubleheader?

   * When I was a kid, I thought foul-weather football was the coolest thing, particularly in the days before Astroturf when football was still played in baseball stadiums without the infield being sodded over. Ah. those Thanksgiving days in the late sixties when the Lions played at Tiger Stadium and Mother Nature brought the deluge, or the wet snow. If you're an ESPN Classic junkie and ever saw "This Week in the NFL" for Thanksgiving weekend 1969, you won't soon forget the Lions-Vikings footage.

   And I applauded Bob Kraft's commitment to green grass. I was glad he stuck with it for Gillette Stadium. And would the '01 Raiders playoff game on that white January night have been the same on a rug? When Antwain Smith was mediocre in the first half of the season, we just waited for the November rain and December snow, when he became a Hall of Fame mudder.

   Reality intruded. The grass didn't really take root. By the end of the first quarter, the field looked like I had tried to golf on it all weekend, it had so many divots. And it bore a heavy load this year, between Patriots and New England Revolution soccer games,. concerts (Rolling Stones fans probably tried to smoke it; Kenny Chesney fans probably just wanted to take souvenies home), and movie shoots (the field's condition hit Rock bottom after our favorite pro wrestling icon was through with it).

   Kraft shelled out $250,000 to have the thing returfed for the big Sunday night game wioth Indy, and it held up well that night. But last Sunday, it rained, and the field became as big a quagmire as Baghdad (think of the IEDs the Shiites could hide under the divots).

   Patriot Nation would be welcoming Da Bears on nature's messy carpet next Sunday, except for two things: Tom Brady slipped twice, resulting in sacks, after the Pats had moved into field goal range early in the fourth quarter, and Kevan Barlow looked like the second coming of Jim Brown, assisted by unusually shoddy tackling. Oncethe Jets departed Foxboro with the upset, Kraft got on the horn to the FieldTurf folks, and laid out the seven digits to have three installation crews working around the clock. The result: Pats-Bears will be played on a rug next Sunday, the first-ever in-season installation of a rug in a major pro or college stadium.

   Okay, Brady can now dump the ball when the pass protection leaks. And anything that enhances Laurence Maroney's ability to cut has major benefits. But damn, I'll miss those muddy jerseys.

         

   * There's been enough hype about this year's Game of the Century without a college football legend giving his life to bump it up another notch (or blow the server on the Web site of punk band the Dead Schembechlers).

   Yeah, Ohio State-Michigan was a great rivalry before Bo came jamming into Ann Arbor in '69 and inherited a Wolverines squad that held the soon-to-be national champions to 50 points the year before. The 24-12 upset that spoiled OSU's perfect '69 season and sent Michigan to the Rose Bowl...yeah, it could be called monumental. Woody Hayes may have had the abuse of officials, equipment and opposing players angle covered, but Bo could bring the crazy with the best of them. In 21 years of coaching Michigan, Bo won outright or shared 13 Big 10 titles - that's crazy success.

   Boi's career as an administrator (as athletic director at Michigan and GM of the Detroit Tigers) was a brief one, but long eought for him to set the standard for righteous anger and take-charge attitude. After basketball coach Bill Frieder found more filthy lucre at Arizona State before the 1989 NCAA tournament and mad ethe mistake of thinking he could still coach the Wolverines in March Madness, Bo quickly disabused him of that thought with the immortal line, "I want a Michigan man coaching Michigan."

   Earlier this week, somebody mentioned the Dead Schembechlers to him in an interview, and he found it pretty funny. A hardass who could laugh at a reference to his demise...that is the stuff of legend.

   It would be just like Bo to check out today as a motivational tool for the Maize and Blue (but even the biggest of hearts give out). Given the emotion in Ohio Stadium tomorrow, that game will not disappoint.

   Tomorrow:

   OHIO STATE 20, MICHIGAN 17: The Buckeyes have answered every challenge, and they're good enough to take Number 1 wire to wire.

   BOSTON COLLEGE 21, MARYLAND 20: I'll be hearing the tailgate tales at my sister's house Thnaksgiving Day. The Eagles get to bowl somewhere a little warmer than Boise this year.

   WAKE FOREST 23, VIRGINIA TECH 16: Yeah, Florida State's hurting, but after the demolition job the Demon Deacons did in Tallahassee, I'm a believer.

   USC 38, CALIFORNIA 20: The Trojans can smell the BCS title game.

   On to the pros:

   NEW ENGLAND 30, GREEN BAY 15: Mediocre in Foxboro, dominant on the road.

   PHILADELPHIA 29, TENNESSEE 12: Not what the Titans need after blowing a 19-point lead at home.

   BUCCANEERS 16, REDSKINS 14: From '05 playoff matchup to '06 WGAF Game of the Week.

   BEARS 24, JETS 14: The J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets! haven't exactly been invincible at home, either.

   DOLPHINS 17, VIKINGS 10: The Miami second-half charge is under way.

   RAVENS 20, FALCONS 14: Inconsistency, thy name is Atlanta.

   PANTHERS 27, RAMS 17: Get the feeling Carolina has another gear it hasn't used yet?

   SAINTS 31, BENGALS 27: Google "Cincinnati self-destruction." I'm not sure Pete Rose comes up first anymore.

   TEXANS 16, BILLS 8: Break up the Texans!

   BROWNS 22, STEELERS 20: Something's happening in Cleveland. Slowly, Romeo Crennel is turning the mother around.

   CHIEFS 24, RAIDERS 10: Trent Green's head is clear, and the Raiders are left foggy.

   CARDINALS 27, LIONS 23: Because Arizona's gotta win another game somewhere.

   SEATTLE 31, 49ers 13: The Seahawks are getting healthy again. You had your chance, NFC West.

   COLTS 37, COWBOYS 28: Indy plays to the level of the opponent.

   BRONCOS 17, CHARGERS 16: Yes, I'm picking against a team that rang up 42 points in the second half last week. Sue me.

   JAGUARS 21, GIANTS 13: Injuries are catching up with the Jints.

  

  

  

  

     

  

  

  

  

  

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