MMB

The weekend is over, and like you, I'm looking at a week filled with tests, work, appointments and lots of time spent doing the mundane necessities of the daily grind. I'm not really sure that I LOVE my job, but I do love being able to give you something to read on Monday mornings to get your juices flowing, hopefully, so that your week goes by just a little bit more quickly. It certainly gives me something to look forward to. On to the show....

-Typically I would start locally, but as I was driving to get some liquid refreshment from my local watering hole (aka Maverik), I was listening to All Night with Jason Smith, and he was discussing Coach Mark Dantonio's heart attack, a few thoughts came across my mind. First, I hope Coach Dantonio makes a speedy and successful recovery. The second was this; Coaches are a different breed; at their core, they are Educators and Motivators, bent on elevating and improving. They don't subscribe to the average viewpoint, which often times is what makes them successful in their field. They naturally look to make positive progressions constantly, and have a built in measuring system every week in wins and losses. I would argue that 85% or more of the coaches in Division One football are more emotionally invested in their teams than most of us will ever be in any job we hold in our lifetimes. You see coaches burn out and occasionally have health problems, but considering the stress they are under, you would expect it often. I think the reason it happens less frequently is fairly simple. Whereas we as fans generate a lot of questions and chatter as we express our feelings and search out better insight as to what is going on with a program, the life of a coach rarely deals with that. Your primary job is to win football games, but like with any teaching profession, the majority of what you do and how you coach is designed to make people better, and when a group is motivated to make each other better, it allots emotional rewards that aren't easily found in other professions. That quality of reward or reaping of benefits is hard to duplicate, and is good for the soul as well. Hard to really compare that lifestyle to anything we see from day to day.

-All heck has broken loose in Cougardom, and rightfully so. How dare Bronco Mendenhall ever have an off year. In reading some news columns and boards and such, I was half seriously considering digging a hole in my backyard and building a bunker and preparing for the armageddon. Then I snapped out of the delusion and realized, SERIOUSLY BYU FANS? I had to block the majority of the eighties out of my mind because of how horrible the Utes were, and y'all are tripping because you lost to a team that almost upset Oklahoma (Air Force) and traditional football powerhouse Florida State? With a freshman quarterback on the road? In a freaking swamp? My gosh. Can we take a deep breath for a minute and be rational? Your program is in a transitional phase, and what better year to let some players develop and take some bumps and bruises than the year before you step on the main stage. Get a big picture perspective and take a deep breath.

-New Mexico is bad. Really bad. Not quite inept, but you can just see that they almost expect things to be terrible for themselves. Not sure how much longer Locksley holds on to his job if things don't make "a complete 360" to quote Karl Malone. To the Utes, what, you couldn't hang 72 on them like Oregon? Jerks.

-I wrote a week ago that Oregon had no shot to win a national championship. I am well versed in admitting when I am wrong. That is a damn good football team. I know that they've only played Sister Mary Francis' school for orphan boys, Tennessee, and Portland State, but just the level of efficiency and the sheer explosiveness of their offense is impressive, but combine that with the type of athletes they have on defense? And the best facilities in the country? I may have been wrong to say what I said. Quackers even. Bad joke, moving on.

-Apparently all it takes to beat the Ravens is five field goals. Carson Palmer has one more week before I call him out for ineffectiveness. I know the Ravens defense is good, and that they disguise and scheme better than almost anyone, but at some point you just gotta make plays, and five field goals does not consist of making plays. Neither does going 16 for 36.

-Cowboys are 0-2. I've mentioned before that I'm not a huge Tony Romo fan, but I think their current problems go beyond that. It feels like the Cowboys lack leadership. Marion Barber hasn't been consistent for years now, and it just seems obvious that the 'Boys miss Flozell Adams. I know big Flo was getting over the hill, but the man was an anchor for that team for years, and though I'm not privy to any inside info, my hunch is his leadership is missed. Defensively, they lack that fiery motivated playmaker that teams like Chicago and Baltimore, and the Steelers seem to make a central cog every year. If things don't get much better, I'd bet the house on two things; One is Wade Phillips getting shown the door, along with Jason Garrett, and second would be Jerry Jones drafting Ryan Mallett of Arkansas.

-How sad is the coverage of the pennant race right now? Unless you're a huge baseball fan and make an out of the way effort to follow the sport, one of the closest pennant races in years has not just been overshadowed, but completely buried by football. Tell me this month wouldn't be one of the best in sports if baseball was in the midst of the playoffs right now, with six or eight teams going instead of just four? It would take some effort to design the right setup but right now Baseball is missing out on capitalizing on open space during the week between Saturdays and Sundays for football.

-Jazz sign Fransisco Elson, Rockets are limiting Yao's minutes, and Carmelo Anthony seems to be getting close to being traded before the season even starts. Yes, basketball is getting just around the corner, and while I'm still pretty satisfied by my weekend shmorgasbord of Football, no one can deny that this season is one of the more anticipated in recent history. If I have to tell you why, please, crawl out of the hole you've been living in for the last six months, shave, shower, and then slap yourself.

-I was tempted to put Ines Sainz up as our babe of the week, but thought better of it. I thought that Clinton Portis' comments were actually some of the more insightful and truthful of all the buzz surrounding her alleged harassment, but as seems to be the norm these days, everyone overreacted to what he was saying and the next day he showed up to practice with tape over his mouth. I get what people are angry about, but what I don't understand is the expectations people have for football players. You want them to be complete, refined, gentlemen off the field but athletic, testosterone charged freaks of nature on it, and be able to switch that on and off in seconds? I'd like to have a six pack from sitting around watching TV all day, but lets be honest, neither is a reality.

-Speaking of reality, how about this little article?

-Lastly, if anyone out there in readerland has a blog and would like us to put their link up on our page, we are more than happy to share the wealth. Just hit us up in the email, or on our facebook page, and we'll try to get it up asap. Keep it Fresh Y'all.