Week 2’s Dark Drinks, Dark Horses & Dark Thoughts – What I Learned On And Off The Field

Dark Drinks:

• I’ve got to hand it to myself; Saturday was one of those days where when I woke up…I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO BE A GOOD DAY. Rolling out of bed at 9AM and hitting Waffle House for some hash browns and eggs would provide a solid base for my day of drinking. When we walked in to Casa De Waffle, I was surprised at how awesome this place was. Not only was everyone wearing some form of college affiliated shirt, but the cooks had their own Alabama jersey with their name on the back. You can’t hide class…even off of Highway 280 in Birmingham.
• I’m not going to lie; Saturday was a clinic on how you are to drink as an adult….14 straight hours. 10AM-midnight. Averaging about 2.5 beers an hour. The drink of choice was the one and only Natty Light (which you can get delicious 30 packs of here for $13) with a smattering of Jim Beam Devil’s cut thrown in to ease me through the Carolina/Georgia game. The soon-to-be Mrs. Boss even commented on how great of a shape I was in, considering how the Gamecocks got a W in Athens 3 hours ago at the time. One thing that I can tell you all is to AVOID the Thai Curry wings from buffalo Wild Wings after 11pm. Trust me on this – your stomach and everything else on the south end of your body will thank you. A- for consistent drinking effort throughout the day. Some could call in binge drinking…I call it an all day tailgate.

Dark Horses:

• Gamblin’ Boss’ PICKS: I’m not going to lie, didn’t think I would be doing this well. 6 wins, 3 ties, 2 losses and up a solid number of units on the year. Spread the word to your friends that I apparently seem to know what I am doing. Either that, or start fading me starting this weekend.
• More than 1 TV: My apartment was a mini sports bar on Saturday. From 11AM until 11PM, we had games going on 3 televisions. This is one of those instances where more than 1 thing is a good thing. I could enjoy the ADD Sports bar world, watch what I want, and be in the comfort of my own apartment.
• Central Standard Time: I’m beginning to think that CST is the way to go. For example, the Thursday NFL game got over about 10:45; which was plenty of time to still get a decent night of sleep. Saturday was bonkers with games kicking off at 11:00AM. Gameday was on at 9, with their pregame show on earlier than that. Was it weird seeing games that early on TV? Yes…but it felt oh so right.
• Auburn: OK, I get it. People were all over Mississippi State, and how this was the year they get things done in the SEC West. I will hold judgment until a few more weeks, but when you play in a division that has LSU, Alabama, and Arkansas in it (of whom you have to still play)…it’s mighty important to win the games that you should win. This was one of them. Auburn, could you be a dark horse? Is it possible for the defending national champion to be a dark horse? I don’t know…and I guess the point of what I am trying to get to is that I can’t get a good read on them. They have talent…but again. All they have played are the likes of MSU and Utah State.
• Mark Richt: I’m going to go out on a limb and say that he maintains his job. UGA should have beaten South Carolina this past Saturday. I fully can’t put the blame on coaching because they had some pretty bad luck. Had they not been half a foot offsides, they recover an onsides kick. Had they stopped Melvin Ingram (the one man wrecking crew); they might have had a chance. Murray made some great passes and he’ll be the guy who saves Marky Mark’s job.
• Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers edition: Wow, just wow. The kid puts up 422 in his regular season debut, and tied (get this) the exact same record shared by Matt Stafford as the most yards completed by a Rookie. HE MAKES IT INTERESTING AGAIN TO WATCH PANTHER’S FOOTBALL.  I’m thinking that he will be able to get 5-6 wins for the ‘Kittens this year, but after the first week they are tied for first in the NFC South at 0-1. Keep your head up Cammy Cam.

DARK THOUGHTS:

• NCAA Football > NFL Football: There, I said it. It’s very difficult to argue against this if you are all about close games and competitiveness. The first week of the NFL had some terrible games, including Buffalo/KC and Pitt/Baltimore. BLOWOUTS. Yea, yea…I know they said this morning that last night’s SNF game with Jets/Cowboys was the highest rated SNF game ever…but let’s be real. What else were you going to watch last night? MORE 9/11 DOCUMENTARIES? Last night was the modern day “what happens when the Wizard of Oz is on one of the only three channels.” Football wins over 9/11 any day of the week.

Getting back to my point, ratings could be skewed slightly because hey…there are what, maybe 30 games on TV a weekend? The NFL has only 16, with 15 on Sundays. If you watched NCAA football all day this past Saturday, you had the early kick of Auburn/MSU turn into a last play shootout, the afternoon game of South Carolina/Georgia turn into a slugfest that came down to an onsides kick, and finally you had the night cap of Michigan and Notre Dame. 3 outstanding games that came down to the last minute, second, drive, whatever. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m not surrounded by the trash that is Redskins/Baltimore fans anymore and I can dedicate most of my time to College Football….which leads to better enjoyment overall. I’m not saying that this is 100% always the case, but it is hard to argue that Sunday was better than Saturday.

• How terrible could the ACC be this year? As stated, I don’t watch the ACC’s competitive egg toss on Saturdays that often, but checking out the scores you have to wonder how they get an automatic BCS bid. Va Tech had a close, 1 TD game difference at East Carolina. Boston College got stomped BY CENTRAL FLORIDA. Wofford about beat Clemson….AT CLEMSON. Stanford destroyed DOOK. UNC squeaked a 2 point win out over RUTGERS at HOME.  UVA had to score 11 points in a minute and a half to beat INDIANA. You know it’s bad when you have to look at FSU’s win over D2 Charleston Southern and Georgia Tech’s win over hapless Middle Tennessee State for good signs. Do you think ESPN is loading the gun and getting ready to pull the trigger on themselves?
• Alabama fans: Saturday was a social experiment in a sense for me. I had about 5-6 hardcore ‘Bama fans over to watch the games…and not one time did ANY of them stray their eyes over to the South Carolina/UGA game. Even at halftime they found themselves glued to the commercials. I kid you not. 8 minutes to go, the Tide are up by 3 scores AND THEY ARE STILL WATCHING THIS LIKE IT’S THE FIRST PLAY. I’m not saying all Bama fans are crazy, but dear Lord are they dedicated. The game is over, and you have a HUGE SEC game on, yet you still won’t watch because you want to see another score.
• Zaxby’s Chicken Finger Plate (Large): I made one large glaring error in this weekend’s food choice while drinking. When my friends left, I said “bring me back some wings!”. Little did I know that they were going to Zaxby’s after a last minute change from Buffalo Wild Wings. I lost out on Zax sauce, toast, and delicious French fries.