When football season rolls around, I tend to watch a ton of television. In fact, my first-year roommate's mother gives lectures to high school students about time management in college, and my Saturday viewing routine is one of her favorite examples of how not to control your time. With the arrival of the NFL regular season, I decided to indulge completely in all things football, watching everything from a local high school contest through the Monday night game.
I kicked the weekend off with the Patriots and Colts' wild fourth quarter finish Thursday night. If you didn't see it, Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt pulled the game-tying field goal right with 24 seconds to play. I'm confident it wasn't Mike's fault though, because I'm a firm believer in the jinx. If someone talks about something too much, particularly a streak, then there's no chance of it continuing. Al Michaels and John Madden must have mentioned Vanderjagt's streak of 42 straight field goals coming into the kick 100 times in five minutes. When he finally lined up, Vanderjagt had a better chance of winning the lottery than making that kick.
For Friday night, I headed south on Route 29 for the Nelson County versus William Monroe high school football clash. I realize it sounds sad to watch high school football on a Friday night, but the games finish early and the unintentional comedy is worth the time and effort, especially when halftime rolls around.
At the midway point of the game, they had an on-field presentation where five members of the Nelson County Governors (yes, that's their nickname) booster club donated a John Deere 4x4 Gator cart for the athletic department's use. They drove the cart out to mid-field and everything -- it was astonishing.
Moments like that were entertaining, but the people at Nelson were also particularly nice and outgoing despite their team's loss. Besides, the drive down through the mountains was pleasant and $5 will get you a drink and two hot dogs, while at Scott Stadium, $5 just gets you a watered down Pepsi in a holographic cup.
Saturday morning began with College Gameday and tailgating before the Cavaliers' home opener. Virginia fans seemed to pick up right where they left off last year, and the atmosphere was tremendous.
However, nothing struck me more than the Tar Heels' awful play calling. Sure, Virginia had a great game plan and the running game was particularly impressive, but they were greatly helped by the offensive decisions made by John Bunting's staff. When North Carolina had the ball on the Virginia two, they ran with Ronnie McGill on third down and got stopped. After the timeout they came back with what looked like the same play, and Virginia stoned McGill in the backfield. What happened to a common sense approach such as, if it doesn't work, don't run it again?
Sunday around noon I headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for the early slate of games, even though my beloved Packers didn't play until Monday night. I enjoyed the Redskins' victory against what seems to be the 2001 Oakland Raiders, and the Cleveland Browns announcing they may still have a pulse.
Unfortunately, there is a drawback to watching games at Buffalo Wild Wings -- the large contingent of Steelers fans. Anyone who has watched a game there has heard this group which seems to cheer each and every time coach Bill Cowher sticks out his jaw, Tommy Maddox throws yet another incompletion or linebacker Kendrell Bell scratches himself. I get the impression they are just yelling because they can, and have no idea what is actually going on. It's particularly embarrassing because they are cheering for a team whose second running back -- Jerome Bettis -- produced a stat line of five carries, one yard, three touchdowns. Duce Staley can't be pleased with his 91 yards and zero scores, but Steelers fans were, and everyone there certainly heard about every single play.
My weekend finished up nicely with the Packers running all over the Panthers vaunted defense on Monday Night Football. The best part about the entire weekend, despite the Steelers fans, was that I didn't have to think about Major League Baseball for a second. If we can only get through that pesky World Series, it'll be football every single night on SportsCenter.
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