But you can’t be any geek off the street…

Read it, don’t read it, I don’t care…just needed to get some things off my chest.

In no particular order of chronology or importance…

On the clock.  Work to do, and have to pack for DC.  Plus, I am on a plane for 3 plus hours tomorrow, meaning whatever I don’t cover tonight I can cover on a classic airplane rant.

Let’s turn and burn.

1)  South Carolina lost to LSU Saturday night, meaning my real team, UVA, sucks AND my closet team is no longer in the championship picture.  Well, too soon to say that, actually.  They DO play in the SEC, and one loss might work with the parity of odd, not complete teams at the top these days.  But, it DOES put a damper on their run.  As I said going into the weekend, winning at LSU, no matter WHAT year it is, is NO picnic. UVA definitively sucks though.

1a)  South Carolina was down 23-14.  On a fourth down late in the fourth quarter and in field goal range, Spurrier went for the first down.  It ended up being a good move and they scored, but MAN, was it a gutsy call.

2)  The Tigers are up 2-0, WITH Justin Verlander set to pitch Game 3.  Wow, that must be a nice feeling.  My Game 1 notes (I was watching football during Game 2):

-Curtis Granderson is sucking pretty much these days.  It must hurt worse being an ex-Tiger going against his ex-team.

-I think one of my new favorite guys in baseball is Yanks pitcher David Robertson.  I have no idea why.

-In the extra innings, did anyone else hear that Yankees fan in the background?  For three straight innings, all you could hear besides the announcers was “Let’s go Yankees” over and over at the top of his lungs.  It was kind of hilarious.

-Yes, they lost, but know the Yankees are never out of it.  They have ALREADY scored ELEVEN runs in the 9th inning or later.  Crazy.

-Extra innings are nice, and I suppose it is better than occurring on a school night, but those extra innings on Saturday ruined my Saturday night.  I didn’t even leave my apartment until after 11 after the game.

-Raul Ibanez has THREE home runs in the ninth inning or later.  That is already a postseason record.  And he isn’t even an everyday player still at this point, although that might change.

3)  They might not always be at the top together, but when you are talking defensive consistency, you are talking the Ravens and Steelers.  There is ONE running back in the NFL playing now that has 100 yd games against BOTH of them at this point.  Arian Foster.  That is it.

4)  Ray Lewis has a torn tricep and is out for the year.  Shame.  He is older, he might tell us something different, but this might be the end.  Whatever happens, his stats are riveting.  When you talk about middle linebackers over the years, you talk about only a few who might border on legendary.  Dick Butkus.  Ray Lewis.  Then, I would throw in Mike Singletary and Jack Lambert.

4a)  Shame he is out too, because if the Steelers and the Ravens give it another run this year, I would prefer the old school guys like Ray Lewis being IN the lineup.  I want to beat teams when there are NO excuses.

5)  Bama and Florida are at the top of the new BCS standings.  For every team chasing, I think they can feel pretty damn good that at least ONE of those spots will be vacated in the next few weeks.

5a)  I am talking about Florida, by the way, people.

6)  Some dude named Jamal wouldn’t play pool with me at my watering hole the other night.  First of all, that might be the first time someone didn’t want to be on MY team in pool, and second, he used an odd explanation as his excuse.  He said “that would be like bringing John Wooden to the basketball court.”  Ummm.  I didn’t ask you to MANAGE my game.  I asked you to PLAY, Jamal.

7)  As expected, I woke up Sunday morning with the blue screen on the tube, and the Rounders DVD in the machine.  I am pretty easy to predict sometimes.  I laughed, because during my viewing, for some reason I picked the odd line “that is like 11 bets” to put on my always nearby blog list.  No hook here.  I am not sure where I was going with that one when I jotted it down.

8)  Silva KO’s Bonnar in UFC.  Dude, you one of the best still.  I know it is hard, but step away.  Ride off into the sunset being one of the best ever.

9)  For late viewers on Saturday night, anyone check out that 59-57 A&M Lousiana tech football game?  That thing was CRAZY at the end.

10)  Djokovic beat Murray in the final of whatever tennis tournament is going on presently.  I guess things ARE still the same.  Murray beat ONE of the guys he usually loses to, but then gets regulated in the next match.

10a)  I suddenly want to pop in my Warren G CD.  Oh wait, I have too much going on already.  Football.  Baseball.  Blogging.  Laundry.  Packing.  I better stop there.  Music would throw make it all go haywire.  It IS the best rap song ever, I think.

11)  US soccer player Abby Wambach will get free burritos from Chipotle for the rest of her life.  Not sure HOW she got this award, and unfortunately I don’t care enough to look it up.

12)  I LOVE Cris Carter’s “Where you at” segment on pre game on Sundays.  He almost gets into a rant, and I chuckled out loud when he showed the pictures of the Cowboys offensive line in a fishing boat at one point.  Good stuff.  Gone Fishin’.

13)  ESPN Mag had a great article on top teams since the BCS was invented.  Pretty interesting reading, lots of stats and memories galore, and Lindsey will be glad to know that OU got #1 overall.  That being said, the stats might support it, but ONE championship with all of the high quality teams they have had?  They could have been a Spurs-like, spread out, semi dynasty if they would have won some of those other championship games.

14)  Useless fact that is alarmingly amazing, and somewhat unknown.  Tommy Tuberville, whose team waxed WVA over the weekend, is FIVE and 0 against top 5 teams in his career.  Tell your friends.

15)  I don’t know what wide receivers are using to cheat in catching passes these days, but someone give Dez Bryant some.  Give him AND Kenny Britt some.  Hey, guys, you are RECEIVERS, and using that word as your purpose in work life, you are supposed to CATCH the balls thrown your way.  Dez dropped a couple big ones the other day.

16)  I think that if my name wasn’t already Mark, that I would choose D’Brickashaw as my first name of choice.

17)  Everyone was moaning that the Falcons ALMOST lost.  In winning a lot of games, with a team that is very deficient here and there, you are going to have those games.  Survive and advance.

18)  Was the South Carolina kicker wearing GLASSES?  Ughhhh.  You guys get ENOUGH heat for not being football players.  Mix in some contacts or at least Kurt Rambis specs, dude.

19)  Did anyone else see the Michigan State football team have 14 players AND a coach out on the field, THEN have only 9 players out there with the play clock running down?  Painful to watch.

20)  That is it.  Tune in tomorrow for an airplane rant I would assume.  I hope you enjoyed. Will I blog tomorrow?  That is a CLOWN question, bro.  Peace.  Off to DC again.