Dewsweeping

Yesterday Will and I played nine holes at Candler Park.

I picked him up just after seven.

The sun was coming up just as we were teeing off.

First hole: teeing off into the mist.

I hit two decent drives, both right, but both in bounds.

It was the first time I had hit a golf ball in over a year.

View looking back from the first green back toward the clubhouse.

I also hit a decent approach,

and my chip landed an inch from the cup.

I also hit several cruddy shots.

Second hole: hit my tee shot out of bounds.

Dropped a ball and hit an eight iron onto the green.

Decent lag putt.

View from the second green looking back at the tee.

Although there was dew on the fairways,

greenskeepers had removed the dew from the greens.

The third hole, a short par three.

Both Will and I hit tee shots just short of the green.

Third hole,, looking back at the tee.

Will's chip shot rolled just past the hole and stopped at my feet.

Fourth hole, a longer par three.

This is where the improvements to Candler Park really show.

The trees behind the green and to the left didn't used to be there.

The area was open to see the playground beyond the green to the right, and the fifth tee to the left.

My tee shot rolled off the hill on the right down next to the green,

leaving a short chip shot onto the green.

At the fifth tee a road race was about to begin,

starting on the street running adjacent to the 5th and 6th fairways,

then making a left onto the trail running next to the 6th green, 7th tee, 8th green, and 9th tee.

Sixth hole: my tee shot was short, but in the fairway.

View from the fifth hole looking back at the tee,

and the runners preparing to start the race.

Sixth hole: a small lake has been added to the left of the tee box.

Just my luck to finally hit two tee shots low and straight.

in other conditions they might've rolled to a decent position,

but both found the water. My third mulligan went far, but right.

Sixth hole looking back at the tee.

I did hit a dent approach shot and chip,

but made several poor shots as well, of course.

Seventh hole: view from the fairway looking back at the tee box.

Trees have grown up to block the view of the drainage ditch.

Will's tee shot hit the tree to the left, and mine hit the tree on the right.

Fortunately mine rolled out on the fairway.

Seventh hole: view from the fairway looking at the green,

with the first fairway and green in the distance.

I did hit a good approach, but poor chips and putts.

I forgot to take pictures of the eighth hole.

I did make a good drive and approach.

Below is the view from the ninth tee,

with runners jogging past to our right.   

 An accidental snapshot.

Camargo > Frazier

I pulled some stats a week or three ago. Last off-season a legion of impatient, ignorant fans lobbied for the Braves to sign free agent third baseman Todd Frazier, despite the fact rookie Johan Camargo had batted over .300 for most of the 2017 season. Frazier would’ve commanded a large salary. The Braves balked, and instead the former Red signed with the Mets. 

Instead the Braves traded injury-prone outfielder Matt Kemp to the Dodgers for starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy and utilityman Charlie Culbertson. McCarthy ate valuable innings during the first half of the season while younger pitchers readied themselves for the bigs. Culbertson was a sensation, winning games with his bat and playing all four infield positions, some outfield, and even pitching in relief. The corner outfielder the Braves didn’t trade, Nick Markakis, had a career year, leading the league in hits.

In hindsight, should the Braves have signed Frazier? The stats speak for themselves: Carmargo outperformed Frazier at the plate and in the field. Frazier does seem like a nice guy. And he pulled off a switcheroo, getting an out after dropping the real ball after diving into the stands, picking up an unofficial ball, showing the ump, then tossing the contraband back into the stands.

..G...AB...R...H..2B.3B.HR.BI..BB.K

093 342 48 079 16  0  16 53 36 90 TF YTD

115 392 52 108 23  1  15 65 44 89 JC YTD

 

avg.OBP.SLG.OPS

231 308 418 726 TF YTD

276 354 454 808 JC YTD

 

.G…AB..R..H..2B.3B.HR.BI.BB.K

32 116 18 30 08  0   6  21 09 32 TF post all star

43 162 21 51 12  0   6  26 11 39 JC post all star

 

avg.OBP.SLG.OPS

259 323 483 806 TF post all star

315 367 500 867 JC post all star

 

Plus an update on the rookie of the year race. Acuna has pulled ahead of Soto with his tremendous post all star game surge.

 

.G…AB..R..H.2B.3B.HR.BI.BB..K.SB

44 170 36 56 11  1  16 31 19 40 9 RA

43 152 31 45 09  1  07 26 35 42 0 Soto

 

avg.OBP.SLG..OPS

329 404 688 1.092 Acuna post all star

296 428 507 0.934 Soto post all star

 

.G…AB..R..H..2B.3B.HR.BI.BB.K..SB

87 339 60 98 22  1  23 50 31 96 11 Acuna YTD

94 328 63 98 20  1  16 54 68 83 02 Soto YTD

 

avg.OBP.SLG.OPS

289 355 563 919 Acuna YTD

299 419 512 931 Soto YTD

.196 < .197

 

Last night Julio Teheran (who’s teetering on being left off the postseason roster) just set the Braves single-season record for lowest opponent’s batting average at .196, breaking Greg Maddux’s .197 in 1995. Teheran won far fewer games and gave up many more walks and home runs than Maddux, who won the Cy Young Award that year. Maddux went 19-2 with ten complete games in 28 starts. He only walked 23 batters in over 200 innings, less than one per game. A 1.63 ERA and three shutouts.

 

.W.L...W%..era..GS.CG.SHO.IP…..H…R..

19 02 .905 1.63 28  10   3 209.2 147 39 GM 1995

09 09 .500 3.94 00  00   0 175.2 122 80 JT 2018   

 

This year Teheran set the team record with a slightly lower batting average against, but compared to Maddux walked almost four times as many batters, and allowed over three times as many home runs. In only this one category are the two seasons comparable. In literally every other category Maddux had a superior season by far. I would say move Teheran to the bullpen, but he does so bad the first inning he’s out there.

 

HR.BB..K.HBP.BLK.BF.WHIP

08  23 181  4     0  785 0.811 GM 1995

26  84 162  9     3  724 1.173 JT 2018   

 

HR9.BB9.K9

0.3  1.0 7.8 GM 1995

1.3  4.3 8.3 JT 2018

Maddux played for the Padres in 2007 and part of 2008, winning 20 games and walking only 51 batters in 60 games / 351 innings.  

 

Freeman and Markakis are both on track to play in all 162 games this year. Both have missed starts but appeared as late game pinch hitters (Like Freeman last night). In new York the Braves dressed the rookies as elves.

Would be nice to have another chapel choir reunion. But hopefully not on a Saturday afternoon during the college football season!

 

Fact: GT does not have the same talent as UGA, Clemson, Bama, Auburn, FSU, Miami, Virginia Tech, NC, Syracuse, and many other schools they play. They don’t have a QB as talented as Fromm or Fields, a kicker as good as Blankenship, backs as good as Fields or Holyfield, or an offensive line as good as Georgia’s. UGA’s receivers are faster, taller, and more talented than Tech’s. Compare Micol Hardiman to Tech’s Bryant. NO COMPARISON. UGA’s defense is light years more talented than Tech’s.

 

For anyone to say otherwise hasn’t been watching both teams. Ask a Tech fan how many players they can name from schools other than Tech. Not many can.   

 

Same with Clemson and Tech. Last week Clemson could’ve put up whatever score they wanted against Tech. The Tigers were more interested in getting playing time for everyone.

 

From what I’ve observed at Tech games the past 40 years, just because someone is a Tech grad, and/or season ticket holder, that doesn’t make them an expert on sports. So many look like they’re at the game just to be seen, and to socialize. If they’re attending Tech games that means they’re not watching other teams – so how could they know Tech has talent equal to other schools? But when Clemson and UGA beat GT eight out of ten, and Duke and UNC beat GT nineteen out of twenty in basketball, you have to conclude those other teams are more talented than Tech.

 

BUT: Tech does have one of the better punters in the nation. But lots of teams have good punters. Some schools (like Auburn) order a punter from Australia. UGA has a good punter, but they don’t have to punt much. Pressley Harvin (#27) is Tech’s punter. Originally he was a traditional two step straight ahead punter. At one point the coaches ordered him to perform the running rugby style punts, which didn’t go so well, like last year in Miami. I thought he had ditched that style – I hadn’t seen him do that this year, but I haven’t seen many punts. The running punt is a coach’s decision, to give the coverage time to run downfield. May be employed against dangerous return men – or against more talented teams. See what I did there? 

 

There were lots of comments about the trial on social media. Teachers who must get off earlier than me as well as the usual all-day long commenters. Sometimes at work you can sneak peeks but I wasn’t doing that yesterday. I caught several clips when I got home last night.

 

Thursday: worked until six. Ceil made her favorite dish: spaghetti, this time with meat sauce. Also tossed salad. Watched “Saving Mr. Banks” – Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney trying to convince the author of Mary Poppins to sign over movie rights to him, while she sits in with the songwriters writing “Spoonful of Sugar” and other songs from the movie.

Mellow Mushroom for lunch today. Tonight we’re going over to a friend’s house for…pizza. Saturday hopefully we’ll watch the Tech and Clemson games at noon, and GA/Tenn at 3:30. 

 

The Republican candidate for governor has a plan to increase teacher pay. I wonder what my Democratic teacher friends think of that. Charles Baugh and Missy are huge liberals on social media. Ricky Glover is completely on the other side. I’m sure Ricky’s comments and posts drive them crazy. 

 

I still say all this conflict and division in our country is the handiwork of George Soros, in his effort to destroy America. He’s bankrolling protests and making sure the divisive stories are getting out in the media. And millions and millions are being sucked in like lemmings. Even Sports Illustrated has become more about protests and “change” than sports. They’ve mentioned Acuna and Albies in passing, but not one article about the upstart Braves all year. But sure, they’ll write about the Nationals and Oakland A’s.

Cokes for Sale

I have a bunch of old Coke bottles, mostly from the 80’s and 90’s. Couple of years ago I did a little research and tried to sell them on Craig’s List. Hard to sell on eBay cause they’re so heavy and hard to ship liquids. All the collectors seem to have most of the Coke bottles already, few are really rare. Tried to sell my entire lot for $100.00 but got no offers. Need to try again. Every now and then I’ll see various Coke bottles at thrift stores. I’m sure the six packs in the cartons with all six bottles full are more valuable, unfortunately I’m not sure exactly how much they’re worth, since all the collectors already have them. Got any from the 60’s or 70’s? Those might be more valuable.

The kids might want a UGA bottle but little else. Anna has one in her room in Athens. I have one or two bottles given out to 1996 torchbearers, that are relatively rare. Brought back a six pack of NBA all-star game from Phoenix back in 1997 that is rare in these parts. Bought one when we went to Graceland. At least eight different Olympic bottles. Falcons. Several Braves. Smoltz. Peachtree Road Race. All six packs. Got a few special six packs of cans as well. And more.

 

Got a few of the old bottles with the name of a city on the bottom of the bottle. Remember when you used to get a Coke, and the game was to see whose bottle was from the furthest away? Kids today wouldn’t know what I was talking about.

The potato bar: reminds me of when I used to work with the Suggs. Once a week we’d eat at the Western Sizzlin at the corner of Buford Highway and Oakcliff (a stone’s throw from where Dock grew up). We’d get the potato bar, and load that tater up with all the fixings: cheese, sour cream, bacon bits, chili, etc. Grilled onions and peppers would’ve been good but back then I didn’t eat that.

 

Also at least once a week we’d eat at the Pizza Inn buffet on Buford Highway. We all had our plastic Pizza Inn soda cup we’d take for free drinks. The inside of the cups were brown from all the use.

 

 

Worked until 5:45 on Tuesday. Had to get gas on the way home. The way I parked so I wouldn’t stick out in the way of other cars made me have to stretch the gas hose. Left RaceTrac and was stopped at a red light, and someone honked at me. Wasn’t sure why. Stopped at a thrift store and bought a casual shirt with an old-timey baseball print. Also a Braves t-shirt.

 Left there and was on the way home. Another car honked at me and pointed. I had left the gas cap dangling. Had to stop for that. Later I stopped at another thrift store.

 

Ceil cooked chicken stir fry and broccoli. Cleaned up. Watched The Voice, This Is Us, and a new hospital show. Also kept tabs on the Braves.  Woke up early and walked/ran this morning. Need to do this every day.

 

Lunch meeting Wednesday, catered by Jason’s Deli. Had a BBQ brisket sandwich with onions, chips, and chocolate chip cookie. Worked until six. Ceil cooked a quesadilla with chicken, rice, beans, tomatoes. Also tossed salad. After cleanup we watched Chicago Med, some of the Braves, not sure what else. This morning I walked/ran two miles. Legs sore. Mexican soup for lunch.    

 

The old blog hasn’t been getting much traffic lately. Only nine or ten or eleven views a day. Drives me crazy because the content is better than ever, right?  I could share posts on social media, but really don’t want to. Actually with work busy and other things taking priority, I try to spend as little time as possible on these daily blog posts. You can’t tell, can you?

 

Racist comment of the day: I suppose the migration of immigrants to the US is similar to the old days when boatloads came over from Ireland and Poland and such. I guess back then it was just as hard (or harder) to acclimate themselves into society and American culture. As the generations passed it became easier. These days you hear stories of immigrants learning English from TV, watching cartoons. Like then, these days first-generation immigrants cling to their families and those from their same countries, working in ethnic restaurants and shops. The language barrier makes it harder to immigrants to succeed in jobs in larger companies and corporations. With the unemployment rate so low its becoming harder and harder to find employees who even understand English well enough to follow directions.

Week 4 Total QB Rating

Heisman voters looking to split hairs between quarterbacks leading highly ranked teams can do no better than checking these ESPN Total QB Ratings. Tua, Haskins, and Grier top the list with Jake Fromm not far behind. Further back are Trace McSorley and Jake Browning, with media darlings Khalil Tate and Brandon Wimbush bringing up the rear. Wimbush has already lost some playing time, and is in danger of losing more.

 

The GT/Clemson game was a tale of four QB’s: both young backups earned TQBR’s more than double the senior starters. Let’s hope both coaches come to their senses. Each week starters Bryant and Marshall perform worse and worse. It may be time to add Clemson’s Lawrence to the Heisman watch lists.

 

Now Lawrence has been named the starter – for Saturday’s game against Syracuse (the team that took an early lead, then knocked Bryant out of the game, and ruined Clemson’s undefeated 2017 season). Though Dabo maintained Bryant would continue to get playing time, and ESPN announcers reported each week that both QB’s got along swimmingly, the demotion has caused Bryant to announce he’s transferring. So much for being “all in.”

 

A much different situation than last year at Georgia. Sophomore Jacob Eason lost his job to freshman Jake Fromm, but spent the season on the bench, rehabbing and working on his game. Only after the season ended did Eason announce his plans to transfer.

 

Some team will surely grab Bryant, perhaps even a SEC school like Auburn, Florida, LSU, or Arkansas (Georgia Tech could use him as well), but a change in scenery won’t help him throw the tough routes more accurately, help him spot his second and third options, or improve his woeful QB rating.  

 

01. 97.8 Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama starter

02. 96.4 Justin Fields, Georgia true freshman backup

03. 95.6 Kyler Murray, Oklahoma

05. 93.7 Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State

06. 91.2 Will Grier, West Virginia Heisman contender

09. 87.2 Trevor Lawrence, Clemson freshman starter

 

17. 83.0 Kellen Mond, Texas A&M

18. 82.4 Drew Lock, Missouri senior

19. 81.8 Tobias Oliver, Georgia Tech redshirt freshman backup

24. 79.6 Jake Fromm, Georgia sophomore starter

31. 77.7 Shai Werts, Georgia Southern

49. 70.1 Trace McSorley, Penn State Heisman contender

52. 69.4 Jake Browning, Washington Heisman contender

54. 68.0 Joe Burrow, LSU

55. 67.1 Alex Hornibrook, Wisconsin playoff contender

56. 67.1 Jake Bentley, South Carolina

62. 66.4 Eric Dungey, Syracuse

63. 66.4 Jarrett Stidham, Auburn

71. 64.7 JT Daniels, Southern Cal true freshman

74. 63.6 Kyle Shumur, Vanderbilt

78. 62.5 Malik Rosier, Miami

79. 62.4 Anthony Brown, Boston College

82. 61.0 Josh Jackson, Virginia Tech

86. 59.6 Jarrett Guarantano, Tennessee

92. 55.8 Khalil Tate, Arizona pre-season all-America

95. 55.2 Brandon Wimbush, Notre Dame

 

104. 52.9 Feleipe Franks, Florida

112. 48.7 Jalen Hurts, Alabama backup

116. 47.5 Dan Ellington, Georgia State

126. 43.2 Deondre Francois, Florida State

136. 39.6 Kelly Bryant, former Clemson starter

157. 29.5 Taquon Marshall, Georgia Tech starter

Amazon's Jack Ryan

Worked until 5:30 Friday. Stopped by Wendy’s for a single cheeseburger, crispy chicken sandwich, and small Frosty. Took the dogs out. Watched a little Braves and a couple more episodes of Amazon’s Jack Ryan. Also played on my laptop and deleted emails.

 

Saturday morning I worked upstairs, putting up clothes, matching socks, making the bed, etc. Took out the dogs. Late breakfast of leftovers. Had on ESPN College Gameday. Started some laundry and washed the dishes. Watched UGA/Mizzou. Went to Kroger at halftime. Got backed and cooked and ate a frozen pizza. Then during the rest of the UGA game, and during the entire GT/Clemson game I ironed dress shirts, a total of ten of them. Also watched the end of the Braves clincher, and some of the Tour Championship.

 

Saturday night I watched the remaining episodes of Jack Ryan. Good. Not sure what it really said about Islam, whether it was good or bad. Did not mention or address Christianity at all, not that it should have. Kinda weird when Jack’s Muslim boss told Jack that he wanted the same for Jack what he himself benefitted from the religion. My favorite part of the Jack Ryan was when Jack shot the Washington Nationals fan.

 

Our Sunday School uses an app to share prayer requests. I see the conversations but had yet to participate. At 2:45 am Sunday morning I had just returned to bed when my phone pinged. If someone had a need in the middle of the night, perhaps I needed to check. One of our co-teachers and his son had been in a taxi on the way to the airport to return to the United States, when the police stopped the taxi, detained the driver, and took off with the keys. They were in danger of missing their flight, and in danger with the taxi stopped in the left lane. Knowing he might not get a response, I replied and played. The next morning several people asked what I was doing up at that late hour.

 

After Sunday School I stopped by Wendy’s, Dollar Tree, and a thrift store. W&MC’s flight home was delayed. I cleaned up, watched the Falcons and Braves, and took a nap. Left at three for the airport, with Okie. As I passed SunTrust Park on 285 Will texted that they had just landed. I was still just five minutes early to our rendezvous point. They had three backpacks and two big bags. Dropped them at their apartment, stopped by two thrift stores, and by Whole Foods to see Matthew.   

 

Ceil had arrived home while I was gone. She walked Barney and fixed grits and eggs for supper. We watched a Hallmark Channel movie and a good chunk of Lions/Patriots.

 

I worked until 6:30 Monday night. M was out with friends. C had gone grocery shopping and baked a BBQ chicken. Also baked potato wedges and tossed a salad. Helped clean up.

 

Played on my laptop and watched The Voice and the premiere of Manifest, the show about the flight that landed five years after it took off. Ceil went to bed at 10:30, but it had just started getting good by then.  

 

When I started at Tull in 1987 I was an hourly employee. Salespeople got “Chinese overtime.” The more OT you worked, the lower the rate per hour was. At some point in the 90’s I became an salaried employee. Didn’t work much OT except when I traveled in the early 2000’s. But I had a boss who fought to get me periodic raises and got me to the top of my pay grade. Then in 2008 my bad boss forced me into a lateral move with no raise, into a position that required lots of overtime I wasn’t getting paid for. But a couple of years later after the bad boss was fired, my new boss (the Ogre) switched me back to hourly. That really helped. I try to not take advantage of overtime, which is now normal OT. My goal is to leave before six every day, but sometimes that isn’t possible. Sometimes I work late, but other times I leave early, for games or like last week when I was taking care of the dogs.

 

When he graduated from Miami of Ohio (alma mater of Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, and Ara Parseghian), Sean McVay landed a job as assistant receivers coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under head coach Jon Gruden. Next he worked for Gruden’s brother, then the Redskins – working his way up from assistant tight ends coach to offensive coordinator. Then the Rams named him the youngest head coach in the NFL.

Tiger is making news for his performance of the course, unlike Colin Kaepernick. Seems like Sports Illustrated has a story about Kaepernick in every issue, which is a lot considering he hasn’t played in a game since 2016. Even Michael Jordan never received such publicity. Maybe they should change the name of the magazine to Kaepernick Illustrated.

 

Sports Illustrated made a bigger deal about Serena’s US Open mid-match protest (i.e. “loss”) than it did Naomi Osaka’s victory. But overall, veteran writer S.L. Price’s recap was fair and balanced, for the most part sticking to the facts and staying away from editorializing. He seemed to quote more Serena supporters than detractors, but did list several of Serena’s past outbursts. At least Kaepernick had the decency to never protest during a game. Never did 1968 Olympic medalists John Carlos and Tommie Smith, who waited until after they were finished competing.

 

Wouldn’t surprise me to see Sports Illustrated name Kaepernick or Serena as their Sportsman of the Year, when in fact Osaka’s graceful response to Serena’s show-stealing was more exemplary of how a true sportsperson behaves.

 

My scrapbook calendars date back to the 1980’s. Perhaps my grandkids will one day treasure those things. Actually in Monday night’s Hallmark Channel movie they discovered grandmother’s old handwritten cookbook with all her recipes, and a letter and photo from her grandson. I thought they would frame the letter and photo, but they did use the recipes. Happy Fall!

Week 4 Football Recap

Tech/Clemson: had Tech not fumbled to much, they would’ve played Clemson a closer game. Make their field goals and don’t fumble, and it’s 13 points closer, 42-27 instead of 49-21. Not that Clemson had to try hard, they played everyone who dressed out. Tech would’ve lost to just about anyone. Tech did control time of possession, and did well punting (but not defending on punt returns).

 

Same script for the #3 Tigers: two lackluster offensive possessions led by inbumbant starter Kelly Bryant before Clemson takes control of the game with freshman Tyler Lawrence under center. Lawrence threw for four touchdowns, the defense returned a fumble for a score, and the rest was history.

Going forward expect Bryant to start to least the next few games. There’s not much competition coming up. Virginia Tech was upset, Boston College lost to Purdue, and Syracuse, Louisville, FSU, NC State aren’t setting the world on fire. Clemson’s first challenge may be South Carolina, who lost big to UGA.

The one bright spot for Tech was backup QB Tobias Oliver, who shook off some early jitters to throw his first touchdown pass. The Northside Warner Robins honor grad also broke off a nifty 39 yard run. A three year starter at Northside in both football and basketball, Oliver led Northside to the state championship in his first year as a starter (below). After the game on the local CBS recap show there were conversations about more playing time for Mr. Oliver. We shall see.

Everyone’s talking about Georgia’s poor performance. The coaches knew what went wrong. Playing on the road in the SEC ain’t easy, as South Carolina found out in Nashville this weekend. What galled me was the play calling, especially down near the goal line. The Dawgs were gifted with at least three key turnovers, all of which leading to scores. Take away those turnovers and it’s a whole new ball game. Too many penalties and mistakes.

Someone bragged that Ricardo Blankenship game into the game having made every field goal and point after – and had send every kickoff into the end zone for a touchback so far this season. Then the junior’s first kickoff was high and short (though that made have been called for by the coaches), a field goal try was blocked, and 49 yard field goal was missed. Later Kirby went for it on fourth and six, but Blankenship was perfect on all his PATs.

Another UGA player flirted with disaster, dropping the ball as he crossed the goal line. The alert Mizzou defender picked up the ball and ran the length of the field to the opposite end zone, but the replay was inconclusive. Going forward Kirby should have all touchdown scorer’s bring him the ball.

The Bulldog defense, lying back ready for the pass, found it hard to defend the run. Good to have this game as a tune-up for LSU and Auburn, but the Dawgs will have to play  a lot better to beat those Tigers.  

Jake Fromm had another fine day. Replays showed his interception was actually a catch, then the defender stripped the ball and held on. Freshman Justin Fields only played one play, rushing for five yards on first and goal. The backs continued to share time. Holyfield gained most of the yards, and it seemed like started Dandre Swift got the short end of the stick. Not sure why they had Herrien in on fourth and short. On fourth and short you need a fast developing play, to have the ball carrier hit the line quickly before the defense has time to penetrate. Instead Fromm carried the ball backwards to hand off to Perrien, UGA’s smallest, least-powerful back. Should’ve had Swift or Holyfield in the game on fourth and short.

All four pickers on ESPN College GameDay picked Vandy to beat the Gamecocks, including Desmond Howard, who had previously picked SC to win the SEC East. The special guest picker was actor Tim Matheson, returning to the University of Oregon campus where his movie Animal House was filmed.  

Last in the fourth quarter with New England’s offense struggling in Detroit, Sony Michel dropped a swing pass from Tom Brady on second and ten. The Pats had to punt, and I expected Brady would remember the rookie’s miscue. We’ll see going forward how it effects his playing time.

The Falcons lost to the Saints in overtime.

Crazy how the Lions and Jets and Bears have been in so many nationally televised night games so early in the season. Good for Detroit. Looks like New England isn’t the team they used to be, especially on offense. Of course, they have a couple of months to get their act together.

 

As a high school senior, Georgia Tech-bound wide receiver Calvin Johnson was edged out for state player of the year by state champion Marist QB Sean McVay, who accepted a scholarship to Miami of Ohio. Now McVay is the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, the youngest head coach in the NFL.