Good morning, y’all. My morning crisis is a huge sixty foot pine tree that has tipped over due to the recent winds and rain. Although it is dead, the pine beetles have done their worst, it still has enough weight to it to crush a trailer like a tin can. A tree leaning against a tree is beyond the scope of my lumberjack abilities and I’m going to have to find a professional willing to work on the holiday weekend. Fortunately, I can keep watch on the tree from the Rec room while I’m catching up on some football. That’s just me, I’m always looking for the silver lining.
Speaking of silver linings, I’m seeing ads for a new movie called “Concussion” that looks like it’s going to cost the NFL a few dollars to make go away. From the plot they’ve given away, a doctor who was performing an autopsy on Mike Webster, the former Pittsburgh Steeler All Pro center, discovered that Webster had severe brain damage. It was the kind of brain damage brought on by repeated blows to the head, which a center is going to get. Now, I remember Webster, he was about as tough a nut as you’ve ever seen, and apparently his willingness to play hurt, as you’re expected to do, led him to compound his injuries. Webster was not given enough time to heal from one concussion before he received the next one. Webster died at age 50, from dementia. He was living in his pickup truck at the time. I hope the movie is a box office success and is successful in changing the culture in the NFL.
Switching over to the college game, we’ve had a few fun bowl games this week while we get warmed up for the extravaganza next week. I’ve already mentioned Georgia State’s good showing in their first bowl game ever. Not to be overlooked, Georgia Southern trounced Bowling Green in the GoDaddy Bowl, 58-27. It does my heart good to see the Southern boys acquit themselves so well on national TV. Erk would be proud.
Speaking of “Southern” boys doing well, did you catch the Duke game? I gave up on the game with about ten minutes left to go when Indiana went up by two scores. Mulva had made turkey hash and I didn’t think there was any way the Blue Devils could come back, so I went on to supper. Boy, was I wrong. The Dukies took the Hoosiers to Over Time and then Duke hit their field goal and Indiana didn’t. There seems to be some controversy as to whether Indiana’s kick was good or not, but the striped shirts called it a miss, and that’s how it will go down in the record books, 44-41.
Another barn burner was Virginia Tech and Tulsa. The Hokies outlasted the ‘Canes from Tulsa in a true defensive struggle, 55-52. (Ha Ha). The Hokies gave immortal coach Frank Beamer a victory in his last game, a fitting send off to a beloved coach.
Mean time, we all await the latest news from Athens. Every time we turn around it seems that we’re losing a favored staff member and replacing them with an unfamiliar name. It appears that the bowl game will be coached by assistant coaches, and maybe the drum major from the Dixie Redcoat Band. I don’t ever remember this much disarray, and I’m an old man. My fervent hope is that the upheaval we’re seeing now will result in a much more stable environment in the future. I’m kind of likening it to a bad storm that hits New Orleans that does no structural damage, but washes the streets clean. I’m hoping this house cleaning gets rid of all of the rot, and black mold, and catapults our program to new heights. Right now it looks like the chaos theory in practice, but hopefully Coach Smart lives up to his name.