Chaos Part3

 Two of my weekly readings you should subscribe to via email. 

 

For College Football fans: 

https://saturdayfootball.activehosted.com/index.php?action=social&chash=7eabe3a1649ffa2b3ff8c02ebfd5659f.226&s=bd0e93ed8df70398ef08d0d5bb4ecd93

 

For Baseball fans: 

https://deadlegends.beehiiv.com/p/destruction-disco-7a74?utm_source=deadlegends.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=the-destruction-of-disco

 

Other Great Follows:

@UKcoachbrooks

@MattGinella

@FunBaseballFacts

 

LIV

Although I post many things on Twitter rooted in some level of sarcasm, this is not one of those.  Greg Norman is a destructive person (explore his background and you will find out allot of crazy stuff).  There is a difference in arrogance, narcissism and confidence and he is 100% the first two.  His goal is to destroy the PGA Tour and he has partners, the scary MFs as Righty (Phil is not left-handed so time to stop calling him lefty) stated. 

Righty, Westwood, Poulter, McDowell, Casey and a host of others are over their golf prime, and you cannot blame them for taking that kind of money to jump to LIV. These are not guys I care to watch compete unless they are on the Champions Tour, which to me is now the “fun” tour.  The sad part is, and why I do not have any respect for them, is they now choose to bash the PGA Tour and DP World Tour and without those tours we probably have never heard of any of these guys.  A Lee Westwood and Rory fight in the parking lot is something I would however pay to see.  Honestly line any of them up for Rory, the Irish are tough dudes. 

Sad thing is the Saudi’s have unlimited money and profit or charity is not something they even care about.  On its current path, unless something is worked out, the PGA Tour is likely to move down a notch because the Saudi’s are paying people for who they are, not what they accomplish.  To me this is much like why the MLB is struggling to attract the fans it once had when it was America’s game, which it no longer is at this point. 

I am a capitalist and I believe everyone has the right to go make as much money as they can or need.  Not sure that the Saudi’s is a group I would want to be involved with at any level but $$$ will often overshadow morality, something I have seen too often in my lifetime. 

Sarcasm alert, or is it…..  Guys like DJ, Rahm and Pat Perez also need a lot of money to keep up their wives’ appearances and those expenses will get greater and greater over time.  Fast forward 25 years and they will look like the Coach After Eddies wife looks now, unrecognizable as a human (Perez’s wife already in that category). 

Also good if you are a fan of LIV and want to see golf go in this direction. 

 

Ones

 

• Plays of the Week (maybe they did not happen this week but first time I saw them): 

https://x.com/KNBR/status/1734033580450521138?s=20

https://x.com/PitchingNinja/status/1611750155891675138?s=20

 

• From @FunBaseball Facts - The T-13 hand grenade used in World War II was designed with similar dimensions to a baseball. Developers thought servicemen were familiar with baseball and could throw it with distance and accuracy. It was nicknamed Beano, a reference to a beanball #mlb #baseball #pearlharborday

 

• Yankees receive: OF Juan Soto, OF Trent Grisham  Padres receive: RHP Michael King, RHP Jhony Brito, RHP prospect Drew Thorpe (No. 99 in MLB), RHP prospect Randy Vásquez (No. 13 on Yankees), catcher Kyle Higashioka – My only thought is Soto for real?  Soto had some solid time with the Nats but in San Diego he sort of flopped.  The Yankees line-up could be a tough one if he shows up. 

 

• Lost in the chaos is how good the Ducks vs Washington and Bama vs UGA were played.  Both games were great to watch.  The Bama Game was such a chess match especially the sequences at the end of the half and end of the game related to clock and time-outs.  Two great coaches there!  No disrespect to UW or Ducks, your guys are solid also.  The Milroe story is one that kids should aspire to and hats off to his parents for raising such a fine young man. 

 

• In stating my points that I felt related to the CFB I got this response from someone on Twitter, “Also since 2019 2/3 of the playoff games have been blowouts and only one national championship game has been worth watching. So the Committees think tank is failing. So instead of blaming teams for not being good fix your 💩 ass system. Maybe you should go get an education. Cause you can’t comprehend anything. Then again you can’t teach common sense.” – Wow! I believe that had Michigan played FSU they would have blown them off the field as will UGA in the Orange Bowl. 

 

• FSU looking like they may be headed to the B10, hope that works out for them. 

 

• From the Internet: “Brady Quinn, in a debate with Kanell, brought up a similar scenario in 1993 (that FSU was in at that time), but that’s not something Kanell wanted to hear. He argued that the Seminoles haven’t been paying attention to the history of the Playoff and college football, listing off Kanell’s 1993 Florida State national championship team. The Seminoles jumped an undefeated West Virginia team in the polls and beat Nebraska in the national championship” – That is some Karma right there!  Look it is simple the committee seeded the teams, #1’s get in #2’s still get a good bowl game.  It is that simple!  The biggest slight to me is still UGA not FSU. 

 

• From the internet: “In Tallahassee, Joe Tessitore of ESPN, who called the ACC Championship, was the keynote speaker at the Tallahassee Quarterback Club in a previously scheduled event. For the Florida State fans who bought into some kind of ESPN conspiracy, Tessitore was red meat. One person asked, “Do you think it’s appropriate to use a players’ injury just to accomplish a predetermined goal that included the SEC champions into the playoff?” Tessitore replied, “Come on man. A predetermined goal? I don’t know what to tell you. The process is the process. I get a paycheck from ESPN. I work for my wife and two kids. That’s who I work for.” – Nice retort Joe.  Did someone at the top of ESPN make the four picks?  No they did not!  Did they have any influence in the room that Sunday?  Only the people in the room can answer that question. 

 

• Still listening to the Album Some Girls quite often lately.  Interesting to read the history behind this album.  Woods first official album with the band and the song “Some Girls” reached number one in the US which I did not know.  I was 14 when I first heard it upstairs at Mad Dog Shelton’s house on 8^th Street in my hometown.  Sure sounds different now!   

Some Girls - Wikipedia

 

• Way more information you need on the Tyler O’Neil trade:

Analyzing the Return from the Tyler O’Neill Trade - Viva El Birdos

 

• Some Seinfeld for you:

32 Phrases Seinfeld Introduced To The English Language (yahoo.com)

College Football Chaos V2

 

Chaos - complete disorder and confusion

 

Chaos!  Ladies and Gentlemen, we are on the brink of it starting today in College Football have chaos. The most compelling weekend of College Football ever, period, end of story brought us Chaos at the highest level.  This College Football Playoff was built for this type of disaster, and it happened. 

The guest on SEC Now yesterday summed it up by saying, and I agree, there was no way to get this right.  You have 5 Power 5 conferences and 4 slots; it was going to happen. 

Look, FSU “deserved” to get in, no question but this ‘thing’ was flawed the entire time, not just this year.  This was bound to happen, but damn they almost made it without this level of Chaos! 

Despite what Danny Kannel thinks, no one has ever liked this “invitational” format.  Not even sure it was/is better than the BCS but way better than a coach’s poll and a media poll deciding after the bowl games (College Football used to crown their NCs through the polls before any bowl games).  As for Danny’s rant.  He got some of it right but not all of it.  The 12-team format is going to do the trick though! 

It is wrong that Florida State did not get it and it is just as wrong, not more or less, that two-time defending champ UGA, after winning 29 straight is not in or why the Buckeyes, with just one loss to the #1 team, is not in this invitational.  The system sucks and it blew up one year before the 12-team playoff. 

FSU should be mad at UGA, first & foremost and now they can take it out on UGA!  Will they? 

Some things I find interesting related to all of this:

• Apparently, the ACC is the reason there is not a 12-team playoff this year, they were against it which means they also shot FSU in the foot
• Do not discount Kentucky beating Louisville (which shows how weak the ACC was overall) because had the Chickenheads not lost, they are a top 10 team vs. FSU & trying to play their way in vs. now playing in the “Opt out Bowl"
• It clearly states in the committee by laws they could penalize FSU for having a key injury and in the end they did.  Same for strength of schedule

In the end the “Chaos” is really all those things everyone says it driven by the huge dollars that do pay for a lot of things on these campuses.  I am going to enjoy the bowl games, just like I do every year, and move on to the 12 Team Playoff next year. 

 

Random: 

A discussion I heard made this pop in my head, greatest US Sports Venues, IMO (not in any order): 

1.     Ebbets Field
2.     Old Yankee Stadium
3.     Fenway Park
4.     Wrigley Field
5.     Boston Garden
6.     The Forum
7.     Chicago Stadium
8.     MSG
9.     Lambeau Field
10.     Augusta National
11.    Cotton Bowl
12.    Pebble Beach
13.    Rose Bowl
14.    Cameron Indoor (I will get hammered for this)
15.    The Palestra

Ones:

1. In the end FSU “deserved” to get in and Bama played their way in by winning the SEC.  The strength of schedule this year worked in Bama’s favor and beating who many thought were unbeatable at this point.  The ACC was not the ACC of the past five years this year and Louisville proved that point.  
2. Not so sure the ACC is dead yet.  I think with the 12 team FSU and Clemson might see they best stay put vs. a jump to the SEC.  
3. Each conference needs to play conference opponents 10 games each year.  It is up to the school who they play in the other two games but no longer can they play FCS Teams. 
4. St Louis signed a couple of older pitchers.  I do not think any of them will post Warren Spahn after 30 type numbers.  If you do not know about those look him up, damn amazing what he did after age 30. 

College Football Chaos

 

Chaos - complete disorder and confusion

 

Chaos!  Ladies and Gentlemen, we are on the brink of it starting today in College Football.  As I have told people the last 48 hours, this is the most compelling weekend of College Football ever, period, end of story! 

 

Sit back and enjoy the long football weekend and we will see what we get from here with this potential chaos.  Three chaos scenarios to chew on: 

 

#1

Bama beats UGA,

FSU, Texas, Washington, Michigan win

 

#2

Bama beats UGA, Ducks beat Washington

FSU, Texas, Michigan win

 

#3

UGA beats Bama, Ducks beat UW

Texas wins, Michigan wins, FSU wins

 

What the committee is hoping for:

 

UGA wins, Washington wins, Michigan wins, FSU wins.

 

So many other scenarios if Michigan were to lose and FSU were to lose.  What about Ohio State, what do they need to happen?  In the last year of the post BCS era, we could have complete disorder and confusion everyone always wanted with this format!

 

I am not a fan of the upcoming 12 Team Playoff but the "Gang of 8" as I call them would be one of hell of playoff this year and in any year.  Even Dick Van Patton knew “Eight is Enough” but twelve it is starting in 2024. 

 

The Conference Championship Games, moving forward, to me become more relevant as they will be for seeding or for a team on the bubble to slip into the mix or out of the mix.  Hold on, I see the excitement intensifying, more people paying attention, all great things for CFB overall and the schools (just do not forget the players)! 

 

With one week to go, if it were 2024 only an Iowa upset of Michigan, Texas loss to OK St or a FL St loss, the 12 would almost be set.  Ole Miss & Penn State are on the outside looking in for a peek and here is still the Tulane & Liberty argument if both are undefeated.  I believe one gets in, if it were 2024 as I am not sure what the set-up is for next year (at this point to lazy look it up) so my scenario ends here. 

 

I will be glued to the TV starting Friday night for the weekend!  The most compelling weekend of college football in my lifetime and I am not going to miss the action.  My predictions:

 

UGA beats Bama

FSU beats Chickenheads

Oregon beat Washington

Texas beats OSU

Michigan beats Iowa

 

Who get’s left out?  Hard to leave out a conference champ but I believe Texas would be out in this scenario.  Fair?  Unjust?  What about Buckeye’s?    

 

One’s:

-      I did not see Kentucky beating U of L but I think that shows the weakness of the ACC in 2023.  Louisville dodged Clemson, UNC and FSU in regular season, doubt that happens again.  10 win Louisville is much like 10 win Kentucky the two years they were able to achieve that goal.  10 wins much easier in ACC though, undeniable but many will try. 

 

-       Myself, I believe Mark Stoops was going to Texas A&M.  Stoops is probably only one of a few coaches who would have stayed at Kentucky this long with the overall success he has had with the UK program.  Hands down, 2^nd greatest coach for the program.  In the end he is where he should be but he is still overpaid, IMO. 

 

-       My guess is many TVs were broken in Alabama on the punt drop and those people did not even see the end of the game.  What a crazy game and Pick 6 is no mas after that, canx it out.  #RollTide

 

-       Navy has a chance to finish 500 in their first-year post Ken.  Coach Newberry has stepped in and done a nice job.  Based on what I have read, there will be some new wrinkles added to the offense, but it will still be option based moving forward.  Keenan Reynolds would have had different numbers with some RPO mixed in but now I digress. 

 

-       Inequity and frustration drive PGA Tour veteran Chris Stroud to play LIV Golf qualifier, "The Tour doesn’t care about you if you’re not in the top 30," he said. - ….and there is that whole play better thing!

 

-      The PGA Tour and LIV have turned into a joke at this point.  What will be the final punch line when it is all said and done.  Sad that Phil did not have a sit down with Tiger before all this BS started and worked out exactly what to do to take care of the players in a way that still rewards great play.  I guess Phil needed “that” money more than he did continuing to play the PGA Tour and becoming legendary on the Champions Tour! 

My Current Basketball Fandom Explained

On this day 41 years ago UK Legend and Lexington native led the UK Wildcats to the NCAA Championship.  Jack was a key plyaer for UK's 1975 Championship run (when the Cats defeated undefeated IU in the regional final), where they lost to UCLA.  

Jack led UK to the NIT Championship in 1976 when it was still a big deal (only 32 teams made the big dance back then and the cats played short handed that year with Robey out with an injury) and a regional final in 1977 when a legendary coach called Rick Robey a "Cheap Son of a Bitch."  You can read that here.   

https://www.kentucky.com/sports/college/kentucky-sports/uk-basketball-men/article44531160.html

I have the 1978 game on DVD and I will likely watch it over the next couple of days, hell might even do that tonight.  

Fast forward to today.  It is interesting that people assume that my declined interest in College Basketball and the University of Kentucky Basketball program that I am now somehow against the UK program, want them to lose, etc. 

Fist and foremost I am a Cal fan.  I think there was no other coach that Kentucky could have hired, Barnhart should have hired him instead of Clyde, and I go back to several of the things that Cal said at his opening press conference related to history of the Kentucky program which demonstrated he was the right guy.  I also think he will be hard to replace.  Something that some people disagree with me on is he is not a great in game coach and if he were, he would have two to three more championships.  

I have taking some snippets from a recent article from Saturday Down South to provide some insight: 

John Calipari is finishing his 10th season at Kentucky. He revived a sleeping giant, winning an NCAA title in the process.  Only one team in the country has won more games since he arrived. He did it his way, too, one freshman-to-lottery pick at a time. Innovator. Motivator … Top Cat.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — In the beginning, there was … not much in Lexington.

Yes, Kentucky basketball has long marketed itself as, to steal a phrase from Jim Nantz, a tradition unlike any other. But the Wildcats of Ralph Beard, Dan Issel, Rex Chapman, and Jamal Mashburn were ghosts. But before John Calipari came to town, the Kentucky Wildcats had become the team of Lukasz Obrzut, Mark Coury and Ramon Harris.

There were four SEC Final Four teams in the 2000s — the Florida Gators three times and LSU once. In the last four full basketball seasons of the decade, Kentucky went 84-52, with an SEC record of 38-26. The Wildcat won 2 NCAA Tournament games in those four seasons.

BC – I totally agree with this statement!  The fact that in one-year Cal could take that program from such low point, not as low as when The Coach After Eddie was hired, to immediately be one of the top teams in the country is a truly amazing accomplishment. 

But more than wins and losses, Kentucky basketball had lost any kind of cultural relevance. Tubby Smith had become “Ten Loss Tubby.” A recruit named Tyrone Nash chose to spend a year in prep school rather than commit to Kentucky. In basketball.

BC – “Ten Loss Tubby” is accurate.  It is also accurate that Tubby was no longer the guy for the job (people will start calling me a racist here for that statement which is false).  Tubby won a National Championship and had multiple shots to win others (a bad match up in the 2^nd round one on year, but no excuse to lose, cost him one and a high ankle sprain to Keith Bogans likely cost him another). 

Imagine where Kentucky Basketball would be had Tubby won that second title or even a third which he was capable of doing?  Tubby was a great coach, a great person but he was not the right fit for the job in the end, not because of coaching ability but because he did not want to be the face of the program.  He just wanted to be a basketball coach and there is nothing wrong with that except you cannot do that at UK.  Also, to note Tubby was the right guy when he was hired, in my opinion the only guy! 

Billy Gillispie was brought in to quench the fire of UK fans to again be relevant. A basketball-workaholic who allegedly lived on peanut butter crackers and Dr. Pepper, Gillispie alienated his own players, his fan base, the national media, and ultimately just about everyone except the 8th-graders he recruited. Yes, Gillespie took a commitment from an 8th-grade shooting guard during his two years at UK.

BC – How Mitch Barnhart kept his job after the Clyde fiasco is beyond me. 

That began a brief era during which Kentucky’s Big Blue Nation actually watched a live stream of a door, apparently at the Memphis basketball offices, from which their next head coach was expected (hoped for? prayed over?) to emerge.

The door stayed closed, but nevertheless, after a fevered search from UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart, entered Calipari, a man who, in the words of one of his first recruits to Lexington, Alabama guard Eric Bledsoe, came to “get s—t right.”

Calipari came to Kentucky as a coach who had a reputation of 1) signing great recruits and 2) getting programs on NCAA violations. His defenders pointed out that he was not implicated in the NCAA troubles at UMass or Memphis. His detractors wondered if he could stay on the right side of the NCAA law long enough to turn around Kentucky’s program.

BC – I recently was involved in a discussion while vacationing in Florida.  A guy wearing a Villanova shirt showed up at the bar where we were watching UK and UT play basketball, with several UK fans.  This guy immediately stated, “Cal is a crook, he is paying players like he did at the other schools, blah, blah, blah, blah.”  I immediately engaged him in a conversation:

• Why was UMASS put on probation?  His answer was Cal is a cheater

• I asked again why was UMASS put on probation?  He had no answer.  I then explained to the gentlemen what happened at UMASS with Camby, Cal’s role in the investigation (do the research if you do not know) and how Cal was not associated or charged with any violation
• I asked why was Memphis put on probation?  He said because Cal is a cheater and they were paying players.
• I then explained to him that was not true and the player in question was first cleared to play, then not cleared to play then cleared to play and then a month after the season was over was declared ineligible (Cal did nothing any other coach would not have done and played the player).  
• Then he pulled my favorite, the “I know him” line and “He is a scumbag”.   Cal is not a scumbag!  You may not agree with things he does but all you have to do is look at his family to know he is not a scumbag.   
• Then he said, “Well his players do not even finish the semester” which I explained to him that all but one of Cal’s players who left early, one is a very small percentage, has finished the Spring Semester and that several have continued to taking classes in the summers.
• Then he said well “Their GPA sucks and they do not go to class” so I asked what is their GPA?  He had no idea. 
• I then attempted to explain to him about APR and he literally had no idea what APR was and continued to rant and rave about Cal being a cheater.
• I then punched him full fist straight in the chest….  I did not, but I did close my conversation with it must be embarrassing for a school like Villanova to have graduated such an ignorant person as him and he tucked his tail and then the boys from Pikeville let him have it. 

Cal by the numbers:

• 302 wins at UK
• 26 first-round picks
• 4 Final Fours in 5-year span
• 1 NCAA championship
  

BC – This is just nothing but solid.  I do think Cal let two Championship get away and I think in both instances coaching decisions during the games critical moments were costly. 

I do not give a rat’s ass about how many first round NBA picks he has had or will have.  I do also think that you can say with all this talent he has somewhat underachieved because he does not have multiple championships.  Underachieved purely from a Championships won perspective. 

Calipari unveiled his own blueprint, talking about servant leadership, compiling vast amounts of talent, and then insisting that his job was to help those players realize their dreams and goals — and if he happened to win a lot of basketball games on the way, that would be OK too. He hung out with Drake, he dropped the mic at press conferences. He was fun.

BC – This is the issue I have with Cal.  Why can’t it be his is at UK to win Championships and also help guys realize their dreams or NBA dreams?  After the loss the Wisconsin in the Final Four when he had a shot at an undefeated season he clearly stated that it is about more than championships.  I think that was him trying to downplay to himself how much that loss stung him. 

There are multiple guys who went early to the NBA and have not realized their dreams and should have stayed in school to either get better or more important obtain their degrees.  Nothing wrong with having a degree to give you a good foundation vs. being a one or two and done player, play two to three years in the NBA and then be reliant on playing in Europe, China, Greece or Israel, who all have formidable pro leagues but that is not the NBA. 

The list of guys who should have stayed at least another year:

Isiah Briscoe

Jarred Vanderbilt

Wynand Gabriel

Brandon Knight

Marques Teague

Dorian Lamb

Archie Goodwin

James Young (If Young stays four years I think he would have been a UK Legend, he had that much talent)

Trey Lyles

Dakari Johnson

Andrew Harrison

Aaron Harrison

Tyler Ulis

Skal Labissiere

Bam Abeydo

At the end of the day I am not a fan of what college basketball has evolved into (a tryout for the NBA).  I do not like the roster turnover (all schools effort to do this now) and I do not like that like the NBA, College Basketball has become just a perimeter game. 

I liked the college game that relied on stellar inside and outside play and there are several things that CBB can do to correct many of the issues (NBA has to fix the one and done).  In trying to watch the first and second round NCCA Tourney games my wife and I turned several of them off or quit watching because it was nothing but teams jacking up threes (move the line back to 23 feet and they will actually have to play basketball again). 

As for Cal he is one of a kind and he was the right guy for the UK job and still is today.  Cal said two things that really turned me off on UK Basketball (Matt Jones and his posse did not do them any favors either as it relates to my fandom).  

• At the draft one year he said this is the biggest day in Kentucky Basketball history…  Sorry not even close.  
• It is not about Championships, we have a bigger mission here at Kentucky… I do not even think he believes that.

For people who are still UK Basketball fanatics I salute you!  I hope Cal wins another Championship and I hope that UK continues to be a Basketball Blue Blood.  I also hope that they fix college basketball by getting rid of the one and done and move the three-point line back to 23 feet and then I might come back to the game.   

shag    

My College Football Fandom Explained

These quotes help to sum up the significance of what I witnessed that day in 1971:

The cerebral types... will keep playing it into the ages and wondering whether it was the greatest collegiate football battle ever. Under the agonizing conditions that existed, it well may have been - Dan Jenkins

They can quit playing now, they have played the perfect game - Dave Kindred

Oh, man, woman and child, I never thought I would live this long to see this kind of a football game. - Lyell Bremser

It was Thanksgiving Day, 1971 and we were at my Great Grandmother’s, Alma Sellars, for Thanksgiving as was our tradition. 

After a large meal the “men”, as was the tradition at the time (sorry femes) to tune in some football.  Somewhere in that room laid my Dad, my grandfather, my Uncle Wally, my brother and Mr. Gibson who was my great grandmother’s boyfriend at the time. 

I would be seven years old at the time and we had moved to town, as us country boys called it, two years earlier.  The significance in that is although I remember some things when I was younger than five, it was like when we moved into a neighborhood with other families and other kids it seemed liked that is when my life truly woke up. 

Being in a neighborhood with other kids you naturally start doing things neighborhood kids did back then.  We rode bikes, played ball (football, basketball, baseball, whiffle ball, kick-ball), had some awesome hide and go seek games at night time, played kick the can and freeze tag.  The neighborhood was alive and vibrant, and I cherish those memories. 

So back to Thanksgiving Day 1971.  I am sure I had watched football games I just do not remember any games before that day (I do remember watching the 1971 World Series and a fleeting outfielder name Clemente) but on that day in 1971 Nebraska played Oklahoma, it was the 51st edition of the rivalry and one of several labeled as a "Game of the Century."  I have no idea how many actual games that were played have a Wikipedia Page but this one does:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Nebraska_vs._Oklahoma_football_game

This is excerpts from the Wiki page:

The teams combined for 17 of 22 first-team All-Big Eight players. Nebraska had the nation’s top-ranked defense. Oklahoma had the nation's most productive offense with their wishbone averaging over 472 rushing yards per game, a NCAA record.

The cover of Sports Illustrated (November 22) prior to the game included photographs of Nebraska linebacker Bob Terrio and Oklahoma running back Greg Pruitt, nose-to-nose, beneath the headline: "Irresistible Oklahoma Meets Immovable Nebraska."

The Husker "Blackshirts" defense included seven first-team All-Big Eight selections, four players who would earn consensus All-America recognition during their careers and two Outland Trophy winners.  That group were joined in the starting lineup by end Willie Harper a two-time All-American.  

The Sooners' record-setting wishbone attack was led by All-American QB Jack Mildren who rushed for over 1,000 yards but was also a very good passer.  His weapons were Heisman candidate HB Greg Pruitt, who averaged a stunning 9.5 yards per carry and speedy split end Jon Harrison. Future College Football Hall of Famer Tom Brahaney was the anchor at center.

The Husker offense was led by junior flanker Johnny Rodgers, a future Heisman Trophy winner, senior quarterback Jerry Tagge, and bullish senior tailback Jeff Kinney; the latter two were first round picks in the 1972 NFL Draft. The Sooner defense was anchored by all-Big 8 defensive tackle Derland Moore, a future All-American and NFL Pro Bowler.

ABC-TV broadcast the game nationally to an estimated 55 million viewers (at the time the largest television audience ever for a college football game).

Conference game
Nebraska Cornhuskers Oklahoma Sooners (10–0) (9–0) 35 31 Head coach: Bob Devaney Head coach: Chuck Fairbanks AP Coaches 1 1 AP Coaches 2 2
1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 7 7 14 7 35 Oklahoma 3 14 7 7 31
Date	November 25, 1971
Location	Norman, Oklahoma
Favorite	Nebraska by 1 [1]
Attendance	61,826

As you can see the hype was unreal and if you read about the game, not just on the WIKI page but find the writing that was done by multiple sportswriters the game lived up to all the hype and to this day is one of the greatest college football games ever. 

https://dataomaha.com/huskers/history/game/1971-11-25-oklahoma

https://www.huskermax.com/game/1971-oklahoma-football/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97dEAb4KJ-Q

So, for me do I remember every play?  I do not, but what I saw and remember was a guy, Flanker Johnny Rodgers, run back a punt 78 a yards for a TD early in the game (he finished with 4 rushes for 27 yards and caught 5 passes for 61 yards.  That play, Rodgers play the rest of the day and refences to position players as Flankers, Tailbacks and Split Ends along with seeing the Wishbone run to perfection by the Sooners had a major mark on me from that day forward.  I was officially a College Football Fan and my team was Nebraska.  I do remember at that point when I was pretending to play football when by myself or playing with my friends for about a year I was Johnny Rodgers. 

It came to pass (or run)

Which leads me to the next part of the story.  Now I am a fan and from that point forward I am enamored with College Football.  In 1971 Bear Bryant installed the Wishbone offense at Alabama.  This is detailed in the link below.  In the 2^nd and 3^rd link is information on the historic USC at Alabama and how it led to integrating college football in the South (something Bear knew would be the result of this 1970 game). 

https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/news/20130910/bryants-100th-birthday-the-wishbone

https://news.usc.edu/106234/the-usc-alabama-game-that-changed-college-football-and-more-in-the-south/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnOpZvEulvY

It is now 1972, I am eight years old and sports is really starting to register in my young mind.  I am an Oakland A’s fan the next three years, really loving baseball also (playing Pee Wee League), and a Red Sox fan the next three (see a pattern here for a young kid).

As for football, for the NFL I am a Dolphins fan starting w/ their Super Bowl loss to them Cowboys, get a Bob Grise Jersey and Dolphins uniform for Christmas and ride that train through the 1974 season and I discover a guy named Stabler.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Stabler

I cannot say I was still a Nebraska fan at that point, I am now 10 years old, I just do not remember.  I do remember that two things happened around that time, Stabler led me to on a path to be an Alabama fan and I started realizing there were allot of players who played for the Crimson Tide in the NFL.  I have also at this point discovered the University of Kentucky football program and a running back named Sonny Collins from Madisonville, KY (41 miles south of my hometown) and of course was a fan of the Cats also (at this same time I am exposed to UK Basketball who also goes on a great run from 1974 to 1984 and learn that Bear Bryant once coached at UK).   

In the mid 70’s I remember the USC Teams with Pat Haden, JK McKay, Anthony Davis, Ricky Bell, 

Vince Evans and Charles White, at Texas Ham, Jam and Lam Jones as they were called and guys like Archie Griffin, Leroy Selmon and Roosevelt Leaks just to name a few (allot of those names I knew from the old Bob Hope Xmas show where he had the All American Team on the show).    

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Alabama_Crimson_Tide_football_team

By 1975 I am following the Tide and I remember QB Richard Todd and remember Bama beating Penn State in the Sugar Bowl that year which was a clash of two of the titans of college football (Bama lost their opener and won all the rest of their games that season).

Move on to 1976, there is no ESPN and for college football we are getting whatever Big 10 game the local network is showing and for SEC games or national games, it seemed like Bama was on every week, and then Sunday Mornings were spent with Lyndsey Nelson and Notre Dame.  My influence now is Bear and Bama and when I am in the backyard pretending to play football, I am now Jeff Rutledge running the triple option and pitching the ball to Tony Nathan, handing it off to FB Johnny Davis or pulling out of the option and throwing to TE Ozzie Newsome.  Without a doubt the attraction to me was the Wishbone and those uniforms.  I remember watching allot of Bama, Oklahoma and Nebraska football games because they were two teams who stuck to the wishbone offense and I still love the option! 

Also in 1976 when UK Basketball or UK Football is playing, I am huddled around the radio with my Mom listening to the legendary Cawood Ledford call the games.  Listening to those games with my mom back then is still why today my preference is to listen to games on the radio vs. watch them on TV, which I still do often. 

In 1982 I join the Navy and I am gone from Kentucky until late in 1986.  During that time period I did not watch allot of college football, the focus became college basketball, and I got to see the ACC up close and personal when that conference had a collection of talent that has not been seen in College Basketball since.  I did pay attention to College Football it was just hard to be in front of a TV and see the games.  

The 1992 College Football Season was when my passion for College Football returned and it is no coincidence that Bama won the National Championship that season. In 1994 my wife and I relocated to Louisville and my fandom for College Football, Alabama and Navy Football continued to grow.  Then in 1996 Kentucky Football hired the gun-slinger aka Hal Mumme.  

Kentucky played a crazy brand of football during the Mumme days and Mumme’s imprint on college and pro football has grown over the years.  We attended a few games in 1996, 1997 and 1998 and decided in 1999 we would give football season tickets a shot (those were some fun times). 

To be clear I am in no way denying being a fan of Kentucky Football, I grew up in a UK household and I attended games there for 18 years, but for those who tailgated with me know that I always showed up at the tailgate in either my Navy Football Jersey or my Kenny Stabler #12 Bama football jersey. 

There are people who have said to me, “you just jumped on the Saban bandwagon,” which is not true, but with Saban and Bama doing what they have on the field since he arrived I can understand why people would think that about me (For my birthday in 1995 my wife bought me the NIKE sideline gear that the Bama Players wore prior to games and I still have both the hat and the jacket she ordered through the Bama Football Office) but my fandom for Bama football goes way back and has further evolved over the years.  Bama football had some rough years after Stallings left but I still followed that team (for the record I think Mike Shula should have gotten another year but if he does there is no Saban).   

So yes I am a Bama fan, have been a Bama fan for a long time and I do not see that changing.  My wife and I love SEC sports and part of retirement relocation is focused around being in the heart of SEC Country so we can travel to Tuscaloosa, Oxford, Starkville, Nashville, Baton Rouge, Athens, Fayetteville and Lexington when we want to go to a Baseball, Basketball or Football game of interest.  We will be fixtures every year at the SEC Baseball Tourney and if we move where we think we will then I will also be following Northern Alabama as well.      

There are three things in life that I have proudly become related to sports, a college football junkie, a golf junkie and St Louis Cardinals junkie.  Those things occupy allot of my free time and they are the type of things everyone needs to take that edge off in life!    

How come College Basketball is not on that list?  A story for another day…….