It doesn't matter how you play the game, it's whether you win or lose, and even that doesn't make that much difference. ~ Coach Finstock ~

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Georgia's 2012 Schedule....Gift?

It has been stated now through the SEC Presidents that Mizzou will be a part of the SEC East in 2012 and that there will still only be 8 conference games. Currently each team plays the 5 teams from their division, 2 from the other division and 1 designated rival from the other division. With the league not adding another conference game in 2012, the teams in each division must now play the 6 teams from their division, 1 from the other division and keep the 1 designated rival. Here are the current designated rival games:

Alabama & Tennessee
Arkansas & Kentucky
Auburn & Georgia
Florida & LSU
Ole Miss & Vanderbilt
Mississippi State & South Carolina

To keep this simple, its assumed that Missouri and Texas A&M will be the designated rivals for each other. The other discussion was making Mizzou's designated rival Arkansas and having A&M designated to South Carolina. I personally like the second option as Mizzou and Arkansas are located close together. The advantage currently for the SEC East is big here with the power shifting to the SEC West for the past few years, so this would take one SEC West team off of the Eastern division teams next season.

Being a Georgia fan, here is what their schedule currently looks like for 2012.

9.1 Buffalo
9.8 @ South Carolina
9.15 Florida Atlantic
9.22 Vanderbilt
9.29 Tennessee
10.6 @Alabama
10.13 @ Kentucky
10.20 Open Week
10.27 Florida
11.3 Ole Miss
11.10 @Auburn
11.17 Georgia Southern
11.24 Georgia Tech

The belief is that Georgia would lose their road game at Alabama and add Missouri in that spot, that makes Georgia's schedule much more manageable, similar to this year. The toughest road games would be early on at South Carolina and towards the end at Auburn. I am all for this schedule change, this also means you would rotate the SEC West schools every 6 years.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Faces of the 'Hood (Dallas/Ft. Worth)

A while back I started a "Face of the 'Hood" with the five most recognizable active sports faces in Atlanta. So I wanted to get back to this and figured I would start with my other hometown, Dallas/Ft. Worth (Metroplex). It was tough for me not to include Mark Cuban, but he has been out of the spotlight recently, so he would be #6 at this point for me.

5. Ron Washington - While this may be a weird one, I would say after his off field issues a few years back to taking the Texas Rangers to the World Series two years in a row he is definitely in this top 5. They even named a dance move for him called "The Wash." He has help to revitalize baseball in this market and the Rangers should continue to be a tough out for years to come. They could be the Braves of the 2010s, hopefully they win more than one 'ship if they make it to numerous series.




4. Josh Hamilton - For the same reason as Washington, Josh Hamilton has become a superstar in Texas. He won the AL MVP last season and his life story is now public knowledge. I still tip my cap to the team when they win for having a celebration with ginger ale so Josh can participate, shows you how much respect he gets from his ballclub. Hard to find these days!!


3. Dirk Nowitski - After finally winning his first championship, Dirk has etched his name into a being a sports God in the Metroplex. He took the Mavs on his back again last season and finished the deal this time, it is guys like him that you want to win. He goes about it the right way and never shies away from the media, win or lose.


2. Jerry Jones - This is sad really, if he was not always looking for the cameras and always ready with a quote, he would not be on this list. Being a Cowboys' fan I appreciate everything Jerry has done since buying the franchise in the late 1980s, but sometimes take a step back and let someone else come in to be the GM, please!


1. Tony Romo - Whether it is warranted or not, Tony Romo is by far #1 in this market. Does not hurt being the starting QB for the Dallas Cowboys. Tony takes all the heat for their losses and none of the credit when they win. He gets heat for everything no matter how big or small. I would say he has one more year before Jerry will make a big move to bring in another QB to lead his team.


Did I miss anyone??

Monday, November 14, 2011

Deep South's Oldest Rivalry.....5 of 6

Georgia played the best game they have played in maybe 3 seasons Saturday against Auburn. Auburn was probably the best team Georgia has beat on their 8 game winning streak and by far the best opponent since they lost to South Carolina. The game started with each team scoring on their first possession and then the game took a turn after Georgia went up 14-7. First though, Michael Bennett is turning into a playmaker for Georgia at receiver and is only a RS freshman. Crowell had one of his two fumbles at mid-field and then on the next play Auburn returned the favor fumbling it right back to Georgia. From there Georgia ran away with the game and this one was over at halftime 35-7. I thought Georgia being favored by 13 to start the week was crazy, but I guess there's a reason why Vegas keeps making money. I know a lot of people put money on Auburn to cover that. Georgia should open as a 15-20 point favorite this week as well, but this game always scares me. Do not overlook Kentucky to get ready for the state championship at Georgia Tech.



Auburn was one dimensional so Georgia could sit back and only defense the pass, and without a running game Auburn could not get anything going offensively. Gary Danielson mentioned it on the broadcast, but Georgia has great athletes and an attitude on defense that has been missing for long time on this team. Whether players or coaches wanted to admit it the game from last year definitely was used for motivation for this team. The game last year turned ugly and Georgia wanted to come out and return the favor. Aaron Murray is slowly becoming one of the best UGA quarterbacks in the school's long history. Georgia now has their chance to play back-to-back games in Atlanta with a win over Kentucky this coming Saturday in Athens. That makes 5 out of 6 now for Georgia in the series, but I would take Auburn's one win right now, as there win helped them continue towards winning the National Championship last season. Great picture below! Come on Dawgs get two more then make your trip to SEC title game worth it.

http://www.georgiadogs.com/photogallery/gallery_index.html?school=geo&sport=&

To make the night better, Boise lost to TCU, so that should eliminate the Boise to National Championship discussions. Not sure who watched that game, but I must say that TCU was called for pass interference on a 4th down play for Boise that was one of the worst calls I have seen to keep a game going this season in college football. I found it odd too that TCU is leaving the conference at the end of this season. I realize that's crazy to assume as the game moves too fast, but nonetheless Boise missed a FG, so there is a football god watching over.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oeSTLPD1H34" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Friday, November 11, 2011

Replay...Get It Right

It is hard to believe that there was time when the NFL got rid of replay for a few years. Replay in football is absolutely necessary and more college and pro sports need to follow their lead. The only complaint I have is the NFL and NCAA should take the best of their systems and use one replay system moving forward.


Here is how I feel the system should work.

From the NFL game, take the following, referee looks at the play in a replay screen on the field and makes the call. The referee is supposed to control the game so he should be responsible for the replay calls, not the guy in the replay booth like in the college game. From the college game it is a no brainer to review every play and the booth can stop play if more time is needed to get the call right. It does not make sense to limit the number of times a play can be challenged. Every call should be reviewed, cannot have these games determined by a bad call because you do not have any challenges left. Also, the coaches still have the right to challenge any call they do not agree with. The argument is always that is slows the game down, but the numbers do not prove that at all.


Again the goal has to be to get the calls right, all of them!!

MLB, time to adopt replay on plays on the bases to go along with reviewing home run reviews. Too many plays at 1st or homeplate that determine games, a bad call should not cost a team a win, ever! NBA uses replay when it is needed and for them they probably use it the only way they can, assuming the NBA ever plays again.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Protecting Our Borders

Everyone can now relax when it comes to protecting our borders, Steven Seagal at age 59 is protecting the border between Texas and Mexico. He was sworn in recently and is a part of the team patrolling 98 miles on the border. Do not know if he will ever have to use his martial arts moves from his good ole days, but it can't hurt. He called up a few months back itching to take on this new role. He will start his new duties as Deputy Seagal in January.


There was a buzz that this was a publicity stunt or another reality show idea, but all reports say this is real and he wanted to do anything he could to help the country. He definitely isn't do it for the money. So border runners beware, Seagal is on the job to stop you from coming over to work hard and do the jobs that most lazy Americans do not want to do.


He also cut off the ponytail finally......

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Doc Review: A Football Life

It is hard to top the ESPN 30 for 30 or HBO sports documentaries, but the "A Football life: Bill Belichick" on NFL Network was one of the best I have ever seen. It was the first of a series for them, I have only caught the Reggie White/Jerome Brown one and it was good, but nothing has compared to this one so far. Their "A Football Life" for Tom Landry debuted last week, appointment DVR for sure. I was surprised that Bill allowed the access that he did, but this two part doc allows you to see the Coach for more than what you see on Sundays.

By far the best two parts of the doc are Bill talking trash to Derrick Mason when he played for the Ravens, telling Mason to shut to f$#k up numerous times and to look at the scoreboard. The other is him tearing into his team during a meeting about sleeping in meetings. This documetary gives you a perspective to respect Belichick for the great coach he is and what it takes to be a great coach in this league. He eats, sleeps and breaths football 24/7. Too bad he is the coach up there in Beantown or I would even say I liked him. It is not a stretch to say he is the Vince Lombardi of our era.



For this documentary I give it a 5 out of 5 beers, it is a must see!! So look for it on-demand or keep an eye out as no doubt the NFL Network will release them on DVD, probably for the Christmas season upcoming.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Welcome to Mediocrity

The University of Missouri was unanimously accepted into the Southeastern Conference this past Sunday. This move was a formality as it has been known for a while that Mizzou was most likely going to be the 14th team added to the conference.


For the SEC this move makes sense it gives them another large TV market to move into, as the St. Louis market is the 21st ranked market in the US. Giving the SEC their second highest behind Atlanta which is in the top 10. Missouri's facilities will matchup as well as they have spent some money over the past few years continuing to improve their football facilities. The big question left for the conference to answer is where to put Mizzou. It was assumed when Texas A&M joined the SEC a few months back that they would be in the SEC West for obvious reasons, however it might not be the case for the Tigers. There has been discussion as to whether Auburn would move to the East and Mizzou would join the West, but I believe that the conference will put Mizzou in the East that way they just simply added one team to each division making it simple. The last question will be how many seasons the SEC will wait to have 9 conference games per season?

For Mizzou this moves could hurt them in the long run especially in the sport that matters, football. In the first few years I could see them being successful as most other teams in the SEC currently only see one other team with a passing game like theirs and that is Arkansas. That could catch SEC teams off guard, but the defense could be their downfall as they give up a lot on that side of the ball. In the other sport that makes money, Mizzou could compete in men's basketball immediately and raise the level of play in the conference overall.


At the end of the day this makes sense for one reason only, it is all about $$$$$. This should allow the SEC to go after more money in their tv deals with CBS and ESPN as well. So welcome to the best conference in America, hopefully you can raise you play above where Kentucky, Vandy and Ole Miss are currently! Just what the SEC needed another freaking Tigers mascot in the mix.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Not So Fast My Friend

So this Saturday has come and gone and the game of the century ended up being the game of who has the best FG kicker. LSU beat Bama Saturday night in Bryant-Denny 9-6 to prove to all why the SEC still is all about defense.


However, the other top 10 SEC matchup of the night took place in Fayetteville as Arkansas hosted South Carolina. A game which Georgia fans were watching closely, because with a South Carolina loss Georgia took sole position of 1st place in the SEC East. Funny enough there must have been a lot of Georgia fans watching this game, because during the CBS broadcast of LSU/Bama they had a feature called "at&t Buzz" to text in about your favorite team and Georgia was #12. Arkansas should have won this game even bigger than they did, but thanks to dropped passes the game was not over until mid 4th quarter. Arkansas won 44-28 to the joy of Dawgs' fans.

What nobody seems to be talking about and definitely did not talk about leading into the big game, is Arkansas now can win out and most likely play in the SEC Championship winning the SEC West. They still play LSU so Arkansas was pulling for the Bayou Bengals to win this game and they did. Arkansas plays in Baton Rouge on November 25th, the Friday after Thanksgiving. If I was an Arkansas fan or player I would love not being in the spotlight and just be lingering around in the background. Arkansas matches up pretty good against LSU's defense especially with WRs being Arkansas' strongest weapon. It is not easy to matchup against that much speed and skill . A lot for Petrino to use at his disposal. If Arkansas can pull that off then Arkansas, Bama and LSU would all be 7-1. Click here to see the tiebreaker, to say it is complicated would be an understatement.


So here's to an interesting month of November to see who will be playing December 3rd in the Georgia Dome. Georgia has two SEC games left at home against Auburn and Kentucky, they win those two they are in. The West will not be won until the last week of the regular season, my gut tells me it will be LSU, but do not sleep on the Razorbacks!! How do you not love the SEC?

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Occupy?

So across the US there have been protests where they "Occupy" Wall Street, Atlanta, etc. The one thing I still do not quite understand is what they are protesting. I get the greed angle and that they have been robbed by the investment banks or Wall Street, but what is the purpose of you occupying Piedmont Park in Atlanta? If you ask them they are all over the place with their reasons why. I can google the "Tea Party" right now and they have a wikipedia page that explains to me what they are fighting for and their purpose for meeting. Just cannot seem to find that for Occupy. I just do not understand if you are protesting greed why would you waste a city's tax dollars for police protection. The city of Atlanta for the last protest spent $450K on extra police presence. Maybe that money could have been used to buy computers for schools or expand buildings to get out of temporary classrooms. Probably should not preach about greed either when you have celebrities who make millions and define the word greed as well. Don't get me wrong I have no issue with celebrities who can make millions, I would do the same. Just do not know if they help the occupy casue, whatever they may be. They also do not follow the law, so they got arrested. You cannot camp in the park and they attempted to do so. Best part was they did not know why and they were calling the cops pigs, even though those cops would be the only thing protecting you should the protest get ugly. One thing for sure from looking at them they need to occupy a shower.

I felt Triumph the Insult Dog got it right on Conan recently, check this out.



The beauty of this great country is you can protest anything, even if you don't know what you are protesting!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Memphis....Deserves What?!?!?!?

The Athletic Director R.C. Johnson from the University of Memphis was recently interviewed by a local tv channel and the subject came up about conference realignment. When asked about moving here was his answer. "Ultimately we would like to be in the SEC. That's where we think we belong geographically. We think we deserve to be." Even typing that just now I almost laughed until I cried or fainted not sure which. I do agree with one thing he said, geographically it makes all the sense in the world. They have been mentioned in talks with the Big East which is their best hope if they hope to change conferences. The conference moves are all driven by football and Memphis, while they have a program, would never be invited to the SEC.


Other than having a basketball program that has made some noise over the past few years, there has not been a lot to cheer about at Memphis. Their athletic facilities are depleted and are in bad need of upgrades, again other than basketball where they play in the FedEx Forum where the Memphis Grizzlies play. The Liberty Bowl is run down and has lost its luster. There have been talks about upgrading the stadium, that is a must to move up to big boy football. This program can be good if the school took it seriously and put money here like they did for basketball. There are plenty of good football players in the Southeast to go around if they started to have some edges in recruiting. Mr. Johnson look at the blueprint from TCU on how to reinvent your program, they have proven it can be done. Here are some stats over the past few years for this 'storied' program:

-2 bowl games since 1980
-131-222-6 record since 1980 (worse than Vanderbilt)
-8 times with winning seasons since 1980
-Never won a Conference USA division since joining the league in 1996


Do we really need another Tigers in the SEC? Between Auburn, LSU and maybe adding Clemson, there are plenty of Tigers to go around. Not only do they not deserve to move to the SEC, they probably do not deserve to go anywhere other than Division I-AA or FCS.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Georgia Does It Again....Is the Hype Necessary Though?

Georgia had a press release yesterday afternoon approximately 30 minutes after Mark Richt's weekly press conference stating that 3 players had been suspended for the upcoming game against New Mexico State on November 5th. Those three players were all running backs (Isaiah Crowell, Carlton Thomas and Ken Malcome). This is extra painful due to the other running back, Richard Samuel, having ankle surgery this week and is not expected to return for four weeks, if at all this season. After this was released the speculation began to fly about whether Richt or McGarity knew last week, why didn't Richt address in his press conference and why was it mishandled.


First let's look at the timeline.....Towards the end of last week there were rumors that Crowell would not play and it was due to a drug related offense. Never heard anything about the other two, only Crowell. However, it was announced Friday that he would play and that was the end of that.

Tuesday, Mark Richt has his press conference and when asked about Crowell's injuries and Malcome being ready to play, he was short and sweet and said they were both healthly and knew the playbook. 30 minutes after the press conference the press release comes out about the 3 players being suspended. Local media members and other on the Georgia "beat" were upset and wonder why it was not discussed by Richt during his press conference. My opinion here is simple, he does not owe you anything if the press release has not been finalized and if you do not ask the question about suspensions or follow up to your initial question than shame on you. You're there to report and ask questions, so do just that report and ask questions!


The other issue was it came out from a source that they all failed a drug test and also through a source it was discovered that the test were administered last Thursday. So then there was uproar whether or not Georgia knew and still let them play against Florida and it is coming out this week since they are playing a lesser opponent. Wednesday Georgia released another statement that they did not have knowledge of the violations until Tuesday morning and therefore the players are suspended for the next game on the schedule. It also came out again through sources that the test were administered Thursday and the results were known Tuesday morning. I am not sure why there are so many leaks or sources, but that is today's society so assume what you wish. Media members were asking about this as well, now that this is known I have no doubt they will want more, even though they got the answer to this question.

Mark Richt and McGarity could have prevented some of this by doing simply this, during Richt's press conference read the following. "Crowell, Malcome and Thomas have been suspended for this week's game against New Mexico State for failure to follow team rules. That is all I will say about this issue. Thank you." This would have eliminated some of the questions and more importantly handled it as other programs would have, they do not divulge more information than that. If there is any issue that creeps up annually now is the off the field issues for this program, that could end up being the downfall for Richt more so than play on the field. So in summary with this issue Mark Richt or McGarity has not given anyone reason to believe they were lying about the timeline here. The bigger issue here is the players not making the right decision. They are no longer kids at 18-22 years old, they are adults who have to make the right decisions. They cannot watch and see everything they are doing, might need to change who is coming in to get back to players with integrity. You have to take risks so Georgia might be a no win situation here.

Another little item that came out today was that Georgia is the only major program in the SEC that suspends players for a game after their first drug related offense. Other major programs (Florida, Arkansas, etc) do not suspend players for any game time until their second offense. So for those fans of these or other teams that want to throw stones at Georgia for this issue need to step back and worry about your own damn team!!

The biggest issue for me here is can Crowell be counted on as Georgia pushes forward, this is now two issues in 9 months with the program. Might need another "Dream Team" recruiting class with some running backs in the fold.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Movie Review: Paranormal Activity 3

As I mentioned in a post last week, Stacy and I went to see Paranormal Activity 3 (@TweetYourScream). Since the first movie the next two have been prequels. This one went back to the two girls as kids living with their mom and her boyfriend. As with the other two movies there are some corny lines, but there are also some jump out of your seat moments. Any time there are kids involved it adds a different element to scare the hell out of you, they play on that no doubt. The only disappointment was the ending, the tv commercials kept saying that last 15 minutes "would change your life." Well it was cheesy at the end with the storyline to say the least, I will leave it at that and let you decide for yourself. The other thing that stood out was there are a lot of things in the previews that were not in the movie, especially the house burning down, never happens!

Overall I give this movie 3 out of 5 beers. Here is the trailer for your enjoyment, especially for those that will never see this movie, Kirn.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

November BOM & Rant

November's Beer of the Month: Guinness Black Lager. I was surprised that Guinness put out another beer due to the success of their staple. I really enjoyed this beer, it is not at all what you expect. It is a smooth beer that is not as heavy as original Guinness, so it does not weigh you down after one. It has a barley flavor that is unlike any other beer I have sampled. I recommend anyone who likes dark beers to give it a shot. Click on the Black Lager logo on the left to learn more.

Something happened last week that finally led me to wonder why people are so stupid. I was traveling home down I-75 at 75 MPH when a car on a donut (spare tire) passed me on the right and promptly blew the tire. Why in the hell would you get on the interstate travelling that fast with a donut, those tires are meant to go 40 MPH tops and that is even stretching it? Shocker it was a female driver. Use freaking common sense people, it will get you further in this world.


Would you want to rely on this tire to get you anywhere on the interstate???

Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween...Not So Scary This Year

Did you know?.....a cockroach can survive 9 days without its head before starving to death.

What is usually a rough Halloween weekend or Monday after, is less painful this year with Georgia finally beating Florida this past Saturday. Actually might be a decent Monday for sports talk in Atlanta with Tech beating #5 Clemson as well. The pessimist in a lot of people will say that Georgia struggling to beat a bad Florida team cannot happen, but I say Georgia had to beat Florida by 1 or 20 points, either way it is a win and you just have to start winning this game to make it a true rivalry. The game was definitely ugly and the special teams issues were the worst I have ever seen under Richt. He said after the game, they are "mostly average to scary." They have a lot to clean up, but bottom line is to keep winning, no matter what. The defense however is playing lights out, giving up one first down and 32 total yards in the second half. This has been the one constants since the South Carolina game.


While it is great to talk about Georgia still having an edge in the overall series and how they dominated until the early 1990s, the recent history has been painful. It is time to string together a few wins and not let Florida have 3-4 years in a row of winning.


So now Georgia must keep on winning, especially in the SEC East. They have four games left on their schedule and need to run the table to keep the fanbase from jumping back out of their holes and firing up firemarkricht.com. They have homecoming this weekend against New Mexico State and then two home SEC games against Auburn and Kentucky, before finishing the regular season in Atlanta versus Tech. The Kentucky game scares me more and more, as they seem to have that one game a year they struggle against a bad team, hopefully that tide has turned.

Georgia now has become Arkansas fans this week as South Carolina plays at Fayetteville this weekend. South Carolina looked mediocre at best this past Saturday in Knoxville, beating Tennessee 14-3. However, none of this matters if Georgia does not worry about themselves and beat Auburn and Kentucky.

Hope everyone has a safe Halloween, if you are in the Atlanta area you should check out Atlanta Zombie Apocayypse.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Bryant Gumbel.....Where is the outrage?!?!?!?!?!?

For those that actually care the NBA has been locked out now for well over 100 days. In the past few weeks the NBA and the NBA Players' Association (NBAPA) have been meeting to work on a new collective bargaining agreement. As with most strikes or lockouts there are two sides to every meeting where both sides feel like the other side is not living up to their end of the bargain. To be honest with you, I am not sure most Americans or fans of the NBA know the feeling of a million  dollars so to hear them arguing over millions of dollars and how to best to split it up is exhausting so I choose to not pay attention.

It came back into my line of sight last week when I read about Bryant Gumbel's comments on the show "HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel." I have seen this show numerous times and like other HBO documentaries or sports shows it is put together well and is an entertaining show. However, this time Gumbel has gone to new heights and I am shocked that there is not been more outcry asking for him to step down or make an apology.

On the show from Gumbel stated that Stern is "eager to be seen as a modern plantation overseer."  The one thing that should not surprise me is the media members and others who have come out defending Gumbel and saying it was taken out of context and that he is not trying to say anything about slavery. How about coming out and saying that his words were unacceptable and that we cannot throw race into every argument, because it is the easiest thing to do. The video below is the ending of the show where Gumbel makes his comments about the commish.



David Stern, who is considered one of the best pro sport commissioners, has done tons for the NBA with its mostly African American player base. He fought to bring in African American ownership and more coaches and assistants. He strives to have the offices reflect the product on the court and he has gone a long way to get there. He has some of the highest paid players in any sports most of which are African American. So what he is a white man operating a sport that is dominated by black athletes, it has not seemed to be an issue during the numerous other lockout or strike negotiations, why is it an issue now..............

I tweeted about this recently and received a note back that "whites do not have the right to complain about racism." Well I tried to respond to that message, but it was deleted before I could. Not only do I not agree with that statement, but let's move forward with this argument. If the roles were reversed and a white media member had a race related negative comment about a black sports commissioner, Jesse Jackson and the whole crew would have been out in front of this leading the charge for that white media member losing their job and wanting a public apology. Whether Gumbel meant it that way or not is irrelevant, he said it and must pay the consequences for his actions, period. Hasn't Gumbel always been criticized in the black community as well for acting white.....

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Let Them Race!

Why a lot of people who may read this do not care about NASCAR, there is something that has been getting worse recently and I thought I would finally bring it out.

A few years back NASCAR made changes to the car introducing the "Car of Tomorrow" which is in full use now and has been for few years now with a few minor tweaks along the way. Another recent change was making rules changes that affecting the cars at restrictor plate racetracks, Daytona and Talladega. This change made it to where the big packs of cars that use to run together, similar to the picture below. With the new changes to the cars there are two car packs and everyone is split up, not to mention that you cannot stay nose to tail too long of your car might overheat.

After this weekend's race in Talladega there is a growing negative feeling for this type of racing from the drivers themselves. It cannot be fun at all. With the old way they ran if you had a good car you could make moves by yourself and actually drive the car, you definitely needed the draft, but you were not so reliant on another car to succeed. Now you must have a partner or you are left out to dry, it would suck if they were an odd number of cars at the end of the race up front, because someone won't have a dancing partner. The other issue I have here is it is making NASCAR more like F1 and IndyCar than they ever should want. The team orders to not help another car or make it ridiculous. I thought it was all about winning and doing the best for yourself at the end of the race.

I am all for safety, but slowing them down to where this is the type of racing is not the answer. NASCAR needs to continue to look for ways to get back to the racing from 3 years ago at these two tracks. The fans will start to stay at home if this keeps up too much longer.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Studio Movie Grill

This past weekend we celebrated my wife's birthday. This year she wanted to do something different and just relax and maybe see a movie and have a nice dinner. So on Saturday I made plans for us to go to Studio Movie Grill in Alpharetta. I have been skeptical of other theaters in the past that offer the eat, drink and movie combination, but after reading the reviews on Yelp and Urbanspoon I thought we would give it a try.


Let me start with this story. The theater offers an online ticket option, where you can buy general admission or reserved seats for each movie prior to arrival. So on Friday I went online and thought I had purchased tickets to the 8:40 PM of Paranormal Activity 3 for Saturday, but somewhere in my rush to knock this out, the screen reset and I purchased the 8:40 PM showing for Friday. Luckily I noticed this prior to us leaving the house on Saturday night and per Stacy's suggestion, called the theater and left a message for the manager. Zach, one of the managers, called me back within an hour and asked if we still planned on coming to the 10:40 PM showing. After a brief discussion he said he understood our issue and wanted to make it right so he reserved seats for us and said to ask for him when we arrived. So once we arrived we asked for Zach and he walked us past the long line for the movie and had two reserved seats for us. Just for that I will for sure be coming back, it is hard to find customer service anywhere you go these days, but for him to go above and beyond will earn them a few return trips for sure. More about the movie in a later blog.

First off, the actual theater itself was not a big place and had a more intimate feel to it than most huge theaters you go to these days. It had a modern trendy vibe to it. The theaters were smaller than most and there were two types of seat options. They had certain rows with desk top seating were you sat in a office chair and then other seating options with two chairs with a tray in front of you.


The menu was actually pretty extensive for a theater and they had a full bar with unlimited options. To order you just hit your red order light and someone would come and take your order. Here is the menu.

The only downside to this theater was there seemed to be more noise coming from the crowd than normal. It could have just been the movie we were seeing or the fact that you are eating while at the movie. Either way that was the only negative I can see with this place. Overall the Studio Movie Grill gets a 4 out of 5 beers from me.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Hulk...So It Ain't So

In Hulk Hogan's (@HulkHogan) ex-wife's (Linda) book, "Wrestling the Hulk: My Life Against the Ropes," she claims that Hulk and Ed "Brutus Beefcake" Leslie had a gay fling. I can honestly say nothing surprises me anymore at this point when it comes to the Hogans. From the wrestling, to the reality show, car crashes, so-called music careers, etc. nothing is off limits.

However, the timing is weird for sure. The book came out this past summer and she never brought this up during their public, messy divorce. I will say it would not surprise me if it was true, as there are not a lot of professions that require you to wear a thong, tights, boas and makeup. Not to mention rolling around with oily guys while both wearing what amounts to a speedo. Here is Hulk on Howard Stern talking about it.



For all of the mess I will prefer to remember Hulk from my childhood days back when I was a Hulkamaniac and he was wrestling Andre the Giant and being interviewed by Mean Gene, brother!! Hulkamaniacs lived by the three demandments: training, saying prayers and eating vitamins. By the way, he is not doing too bad with his new girl.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Conference Shuffle: Big XXII

I will try to keep this shuffle post down to a minimum as the SEC one got a little long winded. As with the other blogs regarding this topic, there has been a lot of potential news over the past few days. The big news for the Big XXII being that they invited TCU to join next season and they have accepted. Good thing for TCU, because going to the Big East never made sense for way too many reasons to list and geographically they belong in the Big XXII.

I believe the Big XXII will at some point have 12 teams, which in turn will make their conference name the only one that still makes sense. With that being said here is what the Big XXII looks like this season, remember due to them only having 10 teams they no longer have divisions.

Current
Baylor
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Missouri (in my model leaving for the SEC)
Texas
Texas A&M (leaving for the SEC)
Texas Tech

With the addition of TCU and the eventual departure of Mizzou, the Big XXII will need to add three teams to get to 12 for the 2012 or 2013 football season.

Here are the teams I believe will be coming to a Big XXII stadium near you:

1. Louisville. They add a market that helps to extend the branding of the conference, as well as, top notch athletic facilities. This move unlike others will also help to strengthen the basketball competition in the conference.

2. BYU. This year was their first as an independent and with all of the conference shuffling it is going to be harder and harder in years to come to remain independent. BYU has said it is interesting in the Big XXII and recent reports have started the conference is starting to show interest in adding them as well. Again this expands the conference's footprint.

3. West Virginia. Even though I believed that they would end up in the SEC, stories keep creeping out that the SEC is not interested at all and the Big XXII could be their landing spot.

4. Boise State. While on paper this move makes sense, most of the BCS conferences have not approached or even thought about adding BSU. I think this is mostly based on athletic facilities and that football maybe the only power moving forward. Personally I would love to see the Broncos in either the Pac-12 or Big XXII.

So here is what I think the conference will look like in 2-3 years once the mess is cleared up. For argument's sake I am just going to call them the North and South conferences like before, even though they are going to create some division system that does not make sense like the ACC probably.

North
*Boise State
*BYU
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Oklahoma State

South
Baylor
*Louisville
Oklahoma
*TCU
Texas
Texas Tech

If West Virginia ends up in the Big XXII, I believe Clemson will be on the move as well to the SEC and Rutgers will go to the ACC........

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Food Review: Big Tex Cantina

Needless to say we have established with numerous trips that Fox Bros. is the best BBQ in Atlanta, with that being said we finally made our way to their other restaurant, Big Tex Cantina (@bigtexcantina), in Decatur. There tag line is "Texas Style Comfort Food & Fellowship."


As far as the actually layout and restaurant, it is a open set up with concrete floors, a big bar area, as well as, a back game room with a pool table, video games and skee ball. They have a pretty good size porch wrapping around two sides of the corner spot they are in. There is a lot of Texas related memorabilia on the walls all around the entire joint. Another good thing is they are open later than a lot of similar spots, 'til 11 on weekdays/Sunday and midnight on Friday/Saturday. They even serve a brunch on Saturday/Sunday at 10 AM which may be worth a visit too!


They had a wide variety on their restaurant that made me feel like I was back home in the Lone Star State. They had a lot of different style apps, with a few must haves. We started with the queso and chips, a lot of folks in these parts will not like it since it is made with yellow cheese, but it was really good, enough to where we had to get a refill on the chips. Definitely want to try the Texas Poutine or Nacho Sliders on my next visit.


As far as your main dish, they have everything from salads, sandwiches, enchiladas, tacos, other Mexican favorites and a good selection of sides. A good part of the menu is they use the brisket and pork from Fox Bros. I went with one of my favorite dishes, chicken fried steak (not country fried steak) with mashed potatoes/gravy and roasted corn. The steak was done perfectly, the potatoes were fresh and reminded me of my mother-in-law's during Christmas and the corn was probably the best corn dish I have had at a restaurant. They even had an option to try the cfs with queso on top instead of gravy. My buddy went with the West Texas Stacked Beef Enchiladas, which looked incredible and according to Jason were even better than they looked. Cannot wait to go back to dig into their tacos, looks like a can't miss.



The only thing we could not pull the trigger on was dessert, but cannot wait to go back to try the Dr. Pepper chocolate cake.


Big Tex definitely is a must return to in Decatur and gets a 4 out of 5 beers from me!!

Take a peak at their menu, click here.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Steadfast, Probably Not Even Close, No Doubt About Them....Picks of the Week

So after being perfect last week I figured we would give it another shot. I will say however that my scores were way off which is an inexact science, but gonna try to be better this week. So here are the marquis games and SEC games.

South Carolina @ Miss. State. (12:21 PM EST, SEC Network) With all of the turmoil around the Gamecocks with Garcia finally being dismissed from the team this week (not sure how many chances you should get), and Spurrier calling out a reporter at the press conference Tuesday, I think SC could be in for a fight in StarkVegas. Miss. State badly needs an SEC win and I believe they will find a way in this game Saturday, not to mention it is a 11:21 AM local start.
Gamecocks favored by 3
O/U 48.5
Bulldogs 27 Gamecocks 26

LSU @ Tennessee (3:30 PM EST, CBS) LSU is playing great right now and Tennessee lost its starting QB in the Georgia game last week. However, this was the game last year that Tennessee had won and ended up with 13 men on the field when they made their defensive stand and stormed the field. This game may be close in the 1st half since it is being played at Neyland, but I expect LSU to wear down Tennessee and pull away in the second half.
LSU favored by 16
O/U 43.5
Tigers 38 Vols 10



Alabama @ Ole Miss (6:00 PM EST, ESPN2) Not a lot to say here, Ole Miss is really bad and Bama is hitting on all cylinders. All that is left to decide in the West is who will win the game between LSU and Bama on November 5th in Tuscaloosa. Bama big!!
Alabama favored by 25.5
O/U 45
Tide 48 Rebels 9

Florida @ Auburn (7:00 PM EST, ESPN) Florida continues its stretch of tough games with its next stop at Auburn. Both teams have shuffled QBs in the past few weeks, but Auburn is more stable at that position with Trotter. This could be an ugly game. I think Auburn will find a way to win coming off a beating last week at Arkansas, with Florida's defense still trying to figure some stuff out.
Florida favored by 2
O/U 50.5
Tigers 34 Gators 24

Michigan @ Mich. State (12:00 PM EST, ESPN) Michigan finally runs into their match in only their 2nd road game of the year. This week Denard Robinson will have a turnover that costs them the game.
Michigan State favored by 2
O/U 47
Spartans 37 Wolverines 31

Georgia Tech @ Virginia (3:30 PM EST, ESPNU) Tech struggled greatly last week against Maryland at home and always seem to play bad in Charlottesville. Tech has begun the season undefeated and if they keep winning they are headed towards a top 10 matchup in Atlanta against Clemson on October 29th. Tech wins big here with their powerful offense. Virginia is really, really, really bad!
Tech favored by 7.5
O/U 55
Jackets 42 Cavs 19

Clemson @ Maryland (7:00 PM EST, ESPNU) Clemson may have a new starter at QB with the injury to Boyd. If so, this could finally be the week Clemson loses that game they are not supposed to. Not so fast my friend, Clemson will find a way to win even with a backup QB if Boyd does not play. If Boyd does play I think Clemson scores in the upper 30s.
Clemson favored by 8.5
O/U 52
Tigers 26 Turtles 19

Oklahoma State @ Texas (3:30 PM EST, ABC) The Cowboys visit Texas coming off of their beating last week in the Cotton Bowl. The Cowboys scored 56 in the first half last week against Kansas and have one of the best offenses in the country. This game could look a lot like last week for Texas with their youth at QB, Cowboys big.
Oklahoma State favored by 7.5
O/U 64
Cowboys 49 Horns 23

Arizona State @ Oregon (10:15 PM EST, ESPN) College Gameday will be in Eugene for Oregon will most likely be with James at RB which could be a big blow. Oregon seems to start slow and then hammer down in the 2nd half, without James I think this game will be really close with the Devils pulling the upset late.
Oregon favored by 15
O/U 66
Sun Devils 41 Ducks 37

Georgia @ Vandy (7:00 PM EST, FSN) Not happy about missing our second trip in a row to Nashville, but feel good about the Dawgs visiting Vandy. Hate that I am going to miss the Vandy frat guys yelling at the Georgia players that they will work for them one day. Unfortunately for those guys its a football game not a job interview and most of the players that will be wearing silver britches will play in the NFL, you're welcome! Vandy has looked ordinary since their beatdown of Ole Miss early in the year. Georgia's defense has played great and I do not see that stopping this week. Georgia's offense is going to be without Malcolm Mitchell at WR so look for the run game to lead the way, with the defense or special teams making a play to put this away early in the 2nd half. Side note, Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay) brother, Jordan, may get significant playing time for Vandy at QB.
Georgia favored by 10.5
O/U 41.5
Dawgs 31 Dores 13

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Homeland

As with every new fall TV season there are a handful of new shows across the network, cable and premium channels. I must say that for the past two seasons Showtime has taken the prize for the best new shows. Shameless premiered this year in January and it was a great show and we are looking forward to it starting back again on January 8, 2012.

This fall Showtime premiered Homeland (@SHO_Homeland) on October 2nd and it has become appointment television in our house. The pilot had 1.08 million viewers, the highest Showtime drama series rating since 2003. The show comes on Showtime every Sunday night at 10:00 PM EST. The clip below is the preview that was shown on Showtime leading up to the debut.



The show is based on a prisoner of war in Baghdad that was captured in 2003 being found by Delta Forces during a raid on a compound belonging to a known terrorist. The show begins with CIA agent Carrie Mathison (played by Claire Danes) in the Middle East speaking to a prisoner before he is executed and tells her that an American POW has been turned by Al-Qaeda. You learn quickly in the pilot episode that Carrie has a lot of issues and was suspended following the attacks of 9/11. The POW is Nicolas Brody (played by Damian Lewis) and he returns home 8 years after being presumed dead, it is a good part of the story seeing how he adjusts to life back at home with his wife and two kids. Carrie after hearing about Brody being found is immediately suspicious of him and believes that he is the POW that has been turned and will do everything in her power to make sure another attack does not happen on her watch.

Claire Danes plays her character perfectly and is just the right amount of crazy. Damian Lewis does a great job with his character as he goes in and out reflecting back to his time as a POW. In episode 2 he does some things that make you believe that he may have turned. As with any Showtime or HBO drama series there has to be at least one sex scene per episode, actually when the wife finds out Brody is alive, she is in the act with another man. For those Criminal Minds fans out there, Mandy Patinkin plays a prominent role in the series as Carrie's old boss and mentor, Saul Berenson.

Homeland definitely gets a 5 out of 5 beers and I strongly recommend it to anyone! It is even worth getting Showtime added to your package....

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Polls.....Polls.....Polls

I have long said that there is no reason for pre-season football polls and again in 2011 there are some glaring reasons as to why the first poll should not come out until the first of October and maybe even when the first BCS poll comes out in the second week of October. While it may be picky to say anything since some of the same teams are still there, I just don't understand the need other than to hype up the season, or in some cases piss off the fan bases. The preseason poll can have a negative effect on a team that is not highly ranked and goes undefeated throughout the year. There are eight teams in the preseason top 25 poll that are not even ranked anymore. Let's just say they might have been wrong on Florida State at #6. The one on the left below is the preseason poll, the right one is the poll from October 10th.


The only other part I have never understood is dropping a team when they win, Oklahoma has done nothing to diminish what was said about them in the preseason, but they have fallen to #3 behind Bama and LSU. Another thing that people should explain to me one day since supposedly style points don't matter!

The thing I always think about as the season reaches this point is keeping teams high in the rankings that will play each other before the season is over, hoping for that top 10 or 5 matchup weekly.
-#1 LSU plays at #2 Alabama on November 5th
-#9 Oregon play at #7 Stanford on November 12th
-#3 Oklahoma plays at #6 Oklahoma State on December 3rd

What say you? Do you even look at the polls?