Syracuse - Louisville - Official Idiotic Predictions

You know your team sucks when writing a dumb three sentence prediction is a chore. Of course predicting the outcome of a game that is basically decided before it has even been played is pointless - which neatly sums up Greg Robinson's four years in Central New York. I'm rambling now, let's get to the picks.

Champ

This is a full weekend. Friday night I'm taking ChampBaby trick or treating, Saturday going to the Cuse-Louisville game, and on Sunday traveling to Albany to take my son to a Wiggles concert. Thanks to Greg Robinson, this weekend's game ranks a very distant third on the list of things I want to do. Yes Greg, even the Wiggles kick your ass.

There used to be no better feeling than going to a big night game at the Dome. Miami, VaTech, Michigan, and the post 9/11 Auburn game all bring back great memories. The electricity of a packed house made the Dome no better place to be. For all 13,000 attendees, you'll witness Louisville avenge the "How in the World Did We Just Lose That Game" loss from last year.

Final

Birds 37
Orange 10

Russianator

Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe channelled his inner Lou Holtz earlier this week and proclaimed that Syracuse is very, very well coached in all three phases of the game. Using the Kragthorpian theorem, that makes Texas very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very. very,very, very well coached in all three phases of the game.

Once we get past Steve's absurd statements, we get to the game. Last year Syracuse stunned Louisville, mainly because last year the Cardinals defense made the French army look formidable. New defensive coordinator Ron English has remedied the problem and this year Louisville is only giving up 23 points per game. Combine that with the fact that the SU offense is getting worse as the season goes on (although they're very, very well coached) and Hunter Cantwell can put points and the board and we can dismiss any thoughts of a repeat performance.

Final

Louisville 41

Syracuse 16

Bonus Prediction - Sunday at 3:47 pm Dr. Gross has a press conference announcing Greg is done, but will coach the team until the end of the season.

Bonus Prediction 2 - Greg still says he sees improvement in the team.

Boss

Still...........................

Seriously, if anyone in Maryland has seen a grown man that goes by the name "Boss" - tell him to drop us a line.

Ebay Item of the Week

This week's Ebay Item of the Week really should have an asking price of $40.

Rachel's "Miami" episode was a hit with the Dirty Birds.

Cody, we hardly knew ya.

Remember QB Cody Catalina? The strong-armed QB prospect was one of Greg Robinson's "big catches" out of Pennsylvania. Well QB Cody gave way this year to special teams Cody. And now according to Donnie, say hello to TE Cody.

Position changes aren't anything new in college football, but does anyone else get the feeling that the house is on fire and Greg is worried that the beds are made.

Joe Fields, a Mr. Catalina is calling for you on line #1.

Random Rants and Gear Grinding

Hey, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well, but there are a few things I need to get off my chest. Here's what's annoying the hell out of me today:

- Lane Kiffin's name. He's already a hot commodity in coaching circles and that's fine. I personally think he's got a bright a future, but what's pissing me off is that people can't spell his name. It's K-I-F-F-I-N. It's not that hard people.

- Saved by zero. I hate this f*cking commercial and it was on about 100 times during the NFL games on Sunday. If I see anyone that works for Toyota in the next two months I'm kicking him or her in the crotch, no questions asked.

- Donte Greene stories. Donte Greene is like the hot girl you dated in high school. She was everything you wanted on paper, but in real life it didn't quite work out. Now, every time her name comes up, it's a huge issue and people make mountains out of molehills. It's over - let's wish everyone well and JUST MOVE ON.

- Plaxico Burress and Kellen Winslow. Both of these clowns need to shut the hell up and play football. That or get sent to live in a house with Mike Singletary for a week. That would be awesome.

- Geno Auriemma. The fact that this man breathes is annoying, when he opens his mouth, he only confirms he's an a-hole. If you disagree, you can always book him as a speaker at your next event, just don't invite me, or you are getting the Toyota treatment.

- The weather in Philadelphia. It snowed here in Albany today, it wasn't much better in Philly - let's get this World Series over with. And let's go Phils.

Mr. Kenny Stole Joe Blanton's Hat

It's Tuesday and for those of you too lazy to head over to FingerLakes 1 or to YouTube, we've got you covered because it's time for Kenny's Two Pennies. In addition to sporting a hat that even filthier than Joe Blanton's, Kenny, like most Orange fans, has shifted his attention to the SU men's basketball team.

He's got some sweet moves, a new shirt, and a new habit of calling everyone Mister. He also mangles Arinze Onuaku's name and fake chugs a beer......so enjoy. And let's consider taking up a collection to get the dude a new hat.

Coaches Say the Darndest Things

Most professions -- unless you work as an anarchist -- have sets of rules and sets of unwritten rules and the coaching community is no different. One of the unwritten rules is "no matter what the circumstances, thou shalt never criticize the opposing head coach." Now, like all rules, this is broken from time to time. John Chaney trying to strangle John Calipari comes to mind, but for the most part coaches will never say anything bad about the guy standing across the field from him.

For practical purposes, this makes a lot of sense. There's no point in provoking your opponent, distracting the team, and giving both professional media members and jerk-off bloggers like us something to write about. If you know your opponent is poorly coached, the polite thing to do is talk in cliches and tell the press your opponent can beat anyone and your team needs to be prepared.

I'm perfectly fine with this approach, however, Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe decided to kick it up about 10 notches today - as he went way overboard in his praise of Greg Robinson, culminating with this absurd quote:

"I think they're very, very well-coached in all three phases of the game."

Now, to be fair, one of Greg's two conference wins (in 4 years) did come at the hands of Kragthorpe when SU pulled off a stunning upset of Louisville last year, but COME ON. Very, very well coached in 3 three phases of the game? Are you f*cking kidding me???? Everyone with a set of eyeballs knows how bad this team has been since Robinson showed up on campus.

It's pretty apparent Steve hadn't even bothered to watch much film of the Orange, noting that starting quarterback Cameron Dantley can "make plays with his feet." Even Dantley would tell you he's not much of a runner, as evidenced by the -32 rushing yards he's racked up so far this year. He hasn't even proven adept at keeping plays alive in the pocket with his feet, but don't tell Krathorpe that.

By Steve's reasoning, here are a few other things that went really, really well:

- The last Hindenburg flight
- New Coke
- OJ's latest defense strategy
- The 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- The Delorean
- Speedos on men

I could go on and on, but you get the point. However, it would be a perfect bit for Seth Myers and Amy Poehler and their "Really" bit on SNL.....

Not Bad Mike - Not Bad at All

All three idiots (or maybe all two idiots, depending on whether or not Boss is still alive) love press conference melt downs. These tirades are little gifts from heaven. It simply doesn't get any better than grown men losing their sh*t in front of the free world all because of a game. They are so great I even wrote about them over at Hugging Harold Reynolds.

So, while Mike Singletary's first post-game press conference was not the stuff of legend, it was a great start and a pre-cursor of many fantastic things to come. Judge for yourself, but I'd like to formally request that all the 49ers continue to do everything in their power to antagonize Mike. Since they all suck, this shouldn't be too much to ask.

Another One Bites the Dust

The coaching carousel of death spun one stop closer to landing on Greg Robinson today with the dismissal of Ty Willingham at Washington. Washington was 11-32 under Willingham's watch with the latest game being a 33-7 loss to his former employer Notre Dame on Saturday night.

In a situation that a lot of Syracuse fans will relate to, things got so bad after the last loss that some were calling for the retention of Willingham, just so the University would have to live with the consequences.

Washington was one of only two teams in Division I without a win, North Texas is the other. It's not hard to argue that Syracuse would have joined the list, if not for scheduling I-AA Northeastern earlier this year.

As bad as Ty has been at Washington, he's won 3 more games than Greg Robinson, including a 42-12 ass-kicking the Huskies put on the Orange last year.

As Donnie Webb wrote on Sunday, the end is near for Greg, hopefully Syracuse fans get a similar announcement next Sunday after Robinson engineers another loss. For those that want more on the story, here's the ESPN video.

News Flash: The Big East Football Conference Sucks

It was another wild weekend for the Big East Football conference -- if you define wild as every team is mediocre.

The weekend got off to a pretty good start for the conference with West Virginia beating Auburn 34-17 on Thursday night. The win was enough for WVU fans to let Bill Stewart off the hook - for a week anyway.

So with the pre-season number one team in the conference finally getting on track, Saturday's slate of games once again turned the conference upside down again. Yesterday, the following happened:

- Rutgers scored 54 points and Mike Teel threw 6 tds as the Scarlet Knights blew out 17th ranked team Wannestache 54-34. In case you were unaware, Mike Teel isn't any good.

- South Florida found a way to lose again - this time 24-20 to Louisville. Even writers in Tampa aren't putting the Bulls in the top 25. You have to wonder what the hell is going on down there, that team has too much talent to keep piling up the WTF losses.

-UConn, with Randy Edsall rumors swirling, came out and took down the Cincinnati bearcats, using their 3rd string quarterback.

- And Syracuse didn't lose which is good news for Greggo.

So who is in the driver seat to win a conference without ANY legitimate top 25 teams? Right now it's the Mountaineers, who are 2-0 in conference. Never would have guessed that a month ago - then again, who knows what will happen next week.

Edsall this and Edsall that, Daryl Gross is still not liked

The soup-de-jour on the Hill appears to be UConn coach Randy Edsall. Donnie contemplated on Friday if the door would be open for the alumn to return.

Also on Friday, Donnie reported that Coach Edsall has denied being contacted for the Orange vacancy.

What really caught my eye in Donnie's "Deny" piece was this scathing comment on everyone's favorite athletic director by Syracuse.com poster "Crosswave1."


"Daryl Gross ? You folks asking about Daryl BBQ Sauce Slurpin, Mumblin Stumblin Gross the phoney flim flam from USC ? Here ya go .. Mike Garrett became increasingly isolated in an athletic dept he ruled primarily through fear w/ Gross at his side in the late '90s into 2000.

For much of the late 90s the athletic dept was in the red & needed loans from the Univ. The athletic dept was also subject to Dept of Educ discrimination investigation because of widespread Title IX violations. The school was also sanctioned by the NCAA for an academic scandal that came on Daryl's watch. Garrett never went anywhere w/out Daryl. The joke among the beat writers was that if Mike stopped suddenly, Daryl's nose would have to be surgically removed from Garrett's rear. At least one paper referred to Daryl as Garrett's valet or butler. I remember being on the football practice field in '97 & Garrett telling Daryl, "go get my car."

Garrett & Gross had this pattern of firing coaches while mistakenly assuming their desired candidate would be willing to take the job. This happened when they fired basketball coach Charlie Parker middle of '95-6 season. They thought Paul Westphal would take the job. He didn't. After George Raveling basically turned the college coaching community against Garrett & Gross they had to settle for Henry Bibby. They thought about firing John Robinson in '96, a yr after USC went to the Rose Bowl. They also planned to fire the baseball coach the yr he went on to win the College World Series. The next yr they did fire Robinson, something like 19 days after the season was over. They were convinced Lou Holtz would take the job. He passed. When they couldn't talk him into it, Gross pitched Hackett & originally Garrett was against the idea. But when they were turned down by other candidates w/Xmas approaching, Gross pitched Hackett again and he was hired. As you may know, he failed.

When Robinson was fired, the paper received more than 200 emails, letters, faxes about how it was handled. Over 2/3rds were critical of Garrett & Daryl. On the Carroll hiring, I know Daryl was "involved" w/ Erickson & Bellotti. It was a running joke among OSU assistants about Erickson's playing Daryl while he got his staff raises. Daryl has told me he delivered a job offer to Erickson but denies delivering a similar offer to Bellotti, which is disputed by people in the Oregon athletic dept.

While this was going on, Carroll, unemployed at the time, was on the USC campus to watch his daughter play volleyball for USC & walked into Heritage Hall and asked to talk to the politburo about the job. USC's 1st choice was Mike Riley, who couldn't get out of his contract w/the San Diego Chargers. Again, Garrett + Gross found themselves stuck, so Carroll was hired. Not a genius for sure. More like dumb luck. Football staff was Carroll's choice. Ed Orgeron, the D line coach + a top recruiter, was retained. Whether that was Pete's choice or Garrett & Gross' is not clear. Other assistants were either guys that Carroll had worked with, played w/ at Pacific or knew. Lane Kiffin was hired because his dad gave Pete his 1st real coaching job. Norm Chow might have been hired at the urging of Garrett. Make no mistake Pete Carroll runs the football prgm. Carroll should also get most credit for the 2-yr old USC basketball arena. Without his success, alums never would have written the checks for it.

How much influence Daryl truly had is hard to tell. He was constantly going around saying "Mike & I like...." "Mike & I have concerns about...." They were never apart. But he was also viewed as largely a self-promoting joke by others in the athletic dept while also feared because of his relnshp w/ Garrett. The main fundraiser & guy that basically kept the athletic dept afloat during a really rocky period was Assoc AD Don Winston, who Garrett inherited from the previous regime & couldn't get rid of because he was close to the boosters. The current Sr Assoc AD Steve Lopes is basically the detail guy & has been for several yrs. D

aryl took a lot of credit for scheduling but I've been told a lot of that was actually Lopes. Lopes is the guys who manages budget & finances and has since at least '96. In terms of football facilities, I don't know how much influence you could say Daryl had. Not actually something you would want to brag about. USC's facilities, especially for football are next-to-worst in the Pac10. The stadium is run by the LA Coliseum Commission, a gov't agency. It's a dump. Football gear, equip'mt, most of that is pretty much dictated by USC's contract w/Nike.

I know when Daryl was hired by Syracuse there were some people pretty high up at USC & in the athletic dept who felt the resume he provided Syracuse did not accurately reflect his "accomplish'mts" at USC. I haven't seen what he provided Syracuse but would be curious to see what indeed he said. USC folks feel like Syracuse did a "Palin-esque" check into Daryl. Daryl's "relationship" w/ his current wife while she was working at USC & he was @ the 2nd reporting level in the athletic dept troubled many people. Daryl was pretty much viewed as a joke at USC & among people covering the team, a lightweight who would stop at nothing in promoting himself. It was always funny to see some Hollywood celebrity or former USC star on the sideline at games & Daryl would always manage to be in the TV shot when the network went to the sideline.

His last season at USC it was brutal how he would always be right behind Carroll as the final 2nds of a victory. One final thing--from at least '96, Daryl tried to get an ADs job & couldn't. Even Oregon State, at the time at the bottom of the Pac10 in just about everything, wouldn't hire him."

Excuse me Flo, what is the soup-de-jour?

Midnight Madness

Did you miss midnight madness last night? Well if you showed up at midnight you certainly did, since it started at 8 pm. That aside, here's a video report courtesy of Palestra.net.

Loving Greg - and Toilet Accessories

Greg Robinson is an inspirational figure. A leader of men. A man who rouses passion of fans everywhere. Over at the the Love of Sports, they've penned a love letter to Greggo that all fans should read. I think my favorite line is:


I love you for making Paul Pasqualoni look positively like Joe Paterno, and I’ve always wanted to appreciate consistent eight-win seasons with ten-win talent.


Let us know your favorite line below.


Meanwhile, some friends of the great Poncho Sinatra have created an extremely low brow and equally ingenious product called poopee targets, where you can drop a deuce on Greg Robinson. If nothing else, you really have to check it out. They even come in different sizes.

A Word From the Captain

By now many of you are familiar with the work of the Captain. He's a long time friend of the Idiots, which by default makes him an idiot. He's also a guy who has done shots of gravy and enjoyed it, which is gold in my book. Today the captain is fired up over more stupid athletes, the words below are his, sit back and enjoy.

More Big Bites out of the Stupid Sandwich

I realize that as humans, we make mistakes. We have each had one or perhaps two of those moments of trepidation -- where better judgement lost out to insanity, or occasional acts of lawlessness.

I'm no saint and to prove it, I'll throw myself under the bus and elaborate more on one of my follies that I'm sure the other idiots remember - at least they should, they were there. The episode took place at a local watering hole called The Caddyshack. The captain was young, but I paid the cover at the door and was fortunate enough get a hand stamp that indicated that I was of legal drinking age. Soon after entering we recognized some ladies (young ladies) from our school (high school). Long story short, I ended up with my tongue down the throat of a young lady that I thought was closer to my age then that of my younger sister.

It didn't take long to figure out something was wrong. Let's put it this way, I couldn't find her in my yearbook -- and I was a senior that year. So once you stop laughing and do the math, it turns out she was a little uhhh....young. Thankfully our encounter went no farther than a drunken make out.

I now have kids, kids who look up to me. I coach my son's t-ball team, all 13 of those 4, 5, and 6 year old look up to me. I know there are rules I have to live by, and I don't earn 7 figures so I'm getting a bit annoyed/tired of hearing about these multi-million dollar prima donnas who constantly screw me week after week in my fantasy football leagues..... In the past two weeks this is what we've seen:

1- Larry Johnson - assault and battery

2- Santonio Holmes - marijuana possession

3- Deuce McAllister - banned substance

4- Kellen Winslow - moody bitch syndrome

Don't they understand they have people counting on them week after week, to provide us, the common man, with bragging rights, among our closes friends/co-workers? Don't they understand I will now have to spend literally minutes on the waiver wire looking for appropriate replacements? I wish that these guys would sit down with a pad and paper, make a line down the middle, and label the sides pros/cons. Under the cons side they need to write "THIS WILL EFFECT THE CAPTAIN'S FANTASY LINEUPS". I really have don't care what else goes on the list - but these guys better straighten themselves out and make better decisions, before their actions start to influence other menial things such as, how kids look up to them, public opinion, and their respective teams . That's it... I'm done.

- The Captain

Shut the Hell Up

You go in to work and find out from a co-worker that Frank, the guy in the office next to you, is resigning to go work for another company. None of this is official as Frank has yet to tell anyone. However you decide that it is your duty to march into the break room and let everyone at your company know of Frank's plans. You even break the news to Frank's boss. Meanwhile, Frank is pissed.


Which brings me to Dick Vitale. Apparently Dick has decided that he is going to break the "Lute Olsen is retiring" story even before Lute had the chance to tell his own administration. Classy move Dick. You couldn't even let a man announce his own retirement without peeing on that parade, but hey it's all about Dick in Dick's world. Classy.



Another demerit in my book for this clown. The fact that this man is in the Hall of Fame is an absolute joke. The two most common arguments I hear is "You'll find no bigger fan of college basketball" and "He's done so much for the game." Really? Well, I like to think I'm a big fan of college basketball. When do I get to be inducted into Springfield? And what exactly has he done for the game? I know of NO ONE who turns on a game because Dickie V is doing it. In fact, I know several people, myself included, who will put a game on mute that he is doing.


Watch one of Dick's early 80's college hoops game on ESPN Classic sometime. You'll notice that the man is actually tolerable, to a certain extent. Somewhere in the late '80's Dick realized that "Dick Vitale, Inc." would be a better gig than "Dick Vitale, analyst." And so came all of the forced-fed, lowest common denominator catchphrases and shtick. And so went any shred of credibility. Entertainer, yes. Analyst, expert, journalist? Absolutely not. Dick do us all a favor and shut up.

Remind me when my wife is expecting our next child to have Dick tell my family before I get the chance.

So when am I getting elected to the Hall of Fame? Please I'm a big fan.

Robinson is Toast, Calhoun Can't Count and Gross Can't Keep a Secret

It was a busy 24 hours in the land of Syracuse sports. Big East media day went down, Daryl Gross isn't very good at hiding the fact that he's canning his football coach and Jim Calhoun struggles with math and history. Let's review:

Big East Media Day

As you've no doubt read by now, the monster that is the Big East basketball conference held its annual media day, where everyone gets together and makes useless predictions as to what will happen over the next few months. The Orange are picked to finish 8th, which immediately has some playing the "no respect" card.

I'm as excited about hoops as anyone, but Axe is correct, in October it doesn't mean sh*t if you're "not respected"-- because you've got a whole season to EARN respect. On the surface, the Orange are still young and relatively thin along the front line. Besides, Boeheim always does his best work when people aren't gunning for him - so I like where the team is positioned.

I also like the fact that very shortly there will be SU games being played I'll be excited to watch.

Lions, and Tigers and Consultants Oh My.......

Pete Thamel is a reporter for the NY Times......and he's a good one. Editorial content aside, the Times still employs some of the best people working in the business. Pete Thamel says Daryl Gross has hired a consultant to feel help hire his next football coach.

Gross summarily denies the claim, but no one is fooled by it. There isn't a person with a heartbeat that believes Robinson will be back next year and that includes his wife. Frankly I understand why Gross would deny the claim, until there's an official announcement that the coach is toast, he has to -- but he BETTER have someone on retainer, because after the Robinson fiasco, I don't trust him to make the right call.

We can chalk the incident up to another embarrassing endeavor for the athletic director. Whether it is making unsolicited phone calls to ESPN to defend himself, the weird circumstances surrounding the whole "Mike Hopkins is my next coach" issue, or getting allegedly caught hiring a consultant to hire a new coach - the man is a public relations disaster. The good doctor must believe in the old adage there's no such thing as bad publicity.

Calhoun-a-nomics

I found this story from Big East media day rather amusing. In a story discussing how good the Big East will be this year, UConn coach Jim "the coaching box does not apply to me" Calhoun talks about how the Big East is even tougher than it was in the early 90s. Mike Waters notes in the article that in 1992, the Big East sent 7 or its 9 teams to the NCAA tourney.

Armed with this information, Calhoun went into full pre-season coach mode, claiming that this year will be even tougher than it was back then. It's a defense mechanism all coaches automatically slide into call "job preservation." If you talk about how great everyone is before anyone's played a game, there's no such thing as a bad loss. Just ask Jim:

Calhoun said the Big East had some quality teams in the early '90s. The Big East sent seven teams to the 1992 NCAA Tournament when it was just a nine-school league. However, Calhoun said the teams at the bottom of the Big East back then were much weaker than those holding up the league today.

"You had three teams that weren't very good so you got six wins out them," Calhoun said of the early '90s Big East. "Life was a little bit easier. It's a very honest fact. Now, there isn't a bad team in the league. There's not a team you can just show up and beat."

Ummmm Jim......call me crazy but if only 2 teams missed the tournament in 1992, you weren't chalking up an automatic 6 wins a year. I'd be willing to bet if anyone went back and looked, back then he was telling anyone who'd listen those bottom 3 teams were great. Nice work Jim, keep those "honest facts" coming.

Ebay Item of the Week

When the Daryl Gross episode of "Cribs" hits the airwaves, you'll see this beauty in his living room right underneath the Scarface poster.

Suck it Hasheem Thabeet

The Post Standard is reporting that Syracuse University has received a commitment from Senegalese Center Baye Moussa Keita, who is currently enrolled at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia.

Keita, a junior, stands 6'10" and is expected campus in the fall of 2010. While you wouldn't expect his high school coach to say anything negative about him, Oak Hill coach Steve Smith claimed Keita may be the best in a long line of players from Senegal to come through Oak Hill, saying:

"He's a legit 6-10, he runs like a deer and he's very skilled. He's going to be a very good player."

Syracuse has been very successful recruiting wing players and guards, so this is great news and keeps the team on very solid footing for the future.

While we are all more than happy that Keita will be wearing Orange, his Oak Hill Profile is projecting even bigger things for him, as they list him at 6'11." For those of you too lazy to click on the link, a few other facts you need to be aware of - he loves a good burger, Michael Jordan is his idol and oddly enough, the Utah Jazz are his favorite team. They'd move up my list if longshot Gerry McNamara somehow makes the team.

This Week in Syracuse Football Through The Music of Bruce Springsteen

Photo: Frank Ordonez, Post-Standard

This too shall pass Orange fans. As the Russianator pointed out, only 5 more games. This too shall pass.

"Lonesome Day"

Hell's brewin' dark sun's on the rise

This storm'll blow through by and by

House is on fire,

Viper's in the grass

A little revenge and this too shall pass

This too shall pass,

I'm gonna pray

Right now all I got's this lonesome day

~ Bruce Springsteen

Random Rants and Ramblings

How's everyone doing? Kind of a slow day in the world of sports, here's what's running through my small brain as I try and figure out where I can order a 20 pound cheeseburger.

- If you don't know who to root for in the World Series, here's a reason to root for the Phillies. The Tampa fans don't deserve it. These people can't be bothered to support their team all year, there's no way they should get to enjoy a championship. It would be like rewarding Plaxico Burress for not showing up to practice.

- And here's one more reason to root against the Rays - if they win we'll be subjected to even more Dickie V than usual. Although I do give him credit, he's a diehard, having supported the team for years.

- I think Greg Robinson should dress up as Scott Linehan, Lane Kiffin, or Mike Nolan for Halloween.

- Keeping up with technology is impossible.

- Jim Boeheim says he's going to play nine guys minimum this year. If this turns out to be true I'll be happier than Curt Schilling in a room full of microphones.

- You know how when you were a little kid and your mom told you that you could be anything you put your mind to? Well Jose Canseco proved she lied to you. Some people are just too stupid to be anything they want to be.

- Joba should have just punched these dudes in the mouth and then called a cab. Remember kids, when you are faced with a choice, always chose violence over DWI - it will make you feel better.

- And I'll leave you with some subdued words from Kenny. The SU football team is so bad they've robbed him of some of his trademark passion.

Yesssssss!

Dear Artists Formerly Known as Devil Rays,

Thank you!

Sincerely,
T3I

PS- Boston Sucks

The SU QB Shuffle - Like Everything Else, Fans Will Have to Wait

The 2008 college football season was officially a lost cause for Syracuse fans the minute the Northwestern game ended. It was abundantly clear that Greg Robinson and not Greg Robinson's evil twin was still on the sideline and the Orange were doomed. The lack of a goatee should have been the tip off.

Fast forward to October 20th, the Orange sit at 1-6, 0-3 in the Big East conference and there are again questions about who should be playing quarterback. When the move from Andrew Robinson to Cameron Dantley was made after the Northwestern game, I was supportive. While Robinson had a fine sophomore year, he was a work in progress. He struggled with his accuracy, especially on deep balls and tended to hold onto the ball too long. So when he struggled mightily against Northwestern, making a move to Dantley made sense.

Cameron had, to use a Greg Robinson term, had shown flashes of ability in a back up role to Robinson last year. He has a big arm, and he wasn't afraid to push the ball down the field. After six games as a starter and a 1-10 second half performance against South Florida, we now have a good idea of what we have in Dantley. Like Robinson, he's a decent, but flawed player. He's good enough to be functional, but not good enough to put a team on his shoulders and carry them.

He's not very mobile, also tends to hold the ball too long, and struggles with his decision making. Basically, while they are completely different players, Robinson and Dantley are essentially the same guy - quarterbacks who, if they were on a better team, could manage a game and deliver some wins. Sadly, they aren't on a better team. They also don't have a lot of eligibility left, as both will be seniors next year.

So with the season lost, now is the perfect time too see what someone else can do. SU has two redshirt freshman quarterbacks waiting in the wings in Cody Catalina and David Legree. Catalina, anxious to get on the field, plays on the kick coverage teams. The kid is raring to go and is willing to knock some heads around while he's waiting his turn behind center, you have to respect that. Legree hails from Brooklyn and if reports on the internet are to be believed, has a big time arm. He certainly passes the look test.

While the receivers have been less than stellar this year, inserting either young QB into the lineup would give the team and the fans a much needed boost. It would give us an idea of what these guys bring to the table and get them some much needed experience. More than anything, it would give this program something that's been missing for a long time - hope.

Sadly, I don't expect either of them to see the field this year. Robinson is operating under the delusional premise that the team will win its last five games and qualify for a bowl. In other words, he thinks he's going increase his total number of career wins at SU by more than 50% in the next month. He's coaching for his job - when everyone on the planet knows he's deservedly lost his job already. Hell, he couldn't even manage to get Andrew Robinson in the game on Sunday because he was distracted coaching the defense.

For SU football fans it's just more waiting. We wait for Robinson to get fired, we wait to see who the next coach will be, and we wait to see if any of the young talent can give us hope for the future. More waiting for people whose patience is already worn out. SU football, get on the Express - to nowhere.

Gored by the Bulls

First, let me apologize for the lack of posts this week, I was out of town for work. I offer up a hearty golf clap to Champ for the fine work, there's nothing better than starting off your Saturday morning by reading about dropping a deuce.

As you are well aware by now, the USF Bulls routed the Syracuse Orange 45-13 today under warm skies in Tampa. As someone that's been a Syracuse fan since before I could ride a bike, what kills me the most about the Greg Robinson era is that I simply don't care any more. Watching Syracuse games almost feels like an obligation instead of a passion.

At no point before or during the game did I ever feel like SU was going to win. Never once did I scream at the TV or feel any emotion at all. I know I'm not alone, which means Greg Robinson has committed the ultimate sin to the fan base, he's made us not care. With that being said, here are some observations.

• I don't have any proof, but I'm pretty sure that during halftime the coaching staff kicks back, cracks open a 12 pack of Red Dog, eats Cheetos and watches Days of Our Lives reruns. The second half dominance of the Bulls was astounding.



• Speaking of the second half, the Orange looked awfully tired in the 4th quarter. Makes you wonder how hard the staff works this team. If I had to guess, it's not hard enough.



• Lavar Lobdell is simply not a good football player. He's a wide receiver with terrible, terrible hands.



• Speaking of bad hands, official wide receiver of the T3I Chaz Cervino finally had a ball come his way - it hit him right between the numbers - and he promptly dropped it.



• Mitch Browning should get credit for improving the offense, but it still isn't good. The second half play calling in particular was far too conservative. Then again, there aren't many players on this team who can catch a ball.



• Another game, another outstanding effort by Curtis Brinkley. It's a great story to see him putting together such a nice senior year.



• The other bright spot on the team is Patrick Slim Shadle. He's probably the best kicker to play for SU since Olindo Mare. You can bet your ass UConn wishes they had him right now.



• We've seen what Andrew Robinson can do. We've seen what Cam Dantley can do. Both can make a few plays, but both are limited. Robinson struggles with accuracy - especially deep balls. Dantley struggles with decision making and holds the ball too long. It's time to see what one of the redshirt freshman can do. They don't have anything to lose by giving Cody Catalina or David Legree a shot. I don't expect either of them to get a chance - but one of them should get on the field.



• There is some good news, we are only 5 games away from the end of four of the most miserable football seasons any of us have witnessed.

To sum this up, this game was exactly what I expected it would be, another one sided SU loss. I work in public relations and have done a lot of crisis communications work. One of the most important things to remember when communicating during a crisis is that facts are your friends. In Greg Robinson's case, the facts are damning. No one can save him or put a positive spin on his era. Five more games people, five more long, painful games.

Ping pong, Raef and Dropping a Deuce

(Photo: Lauren Long, Syracuse.com)

My fellow idiots can attest- I can't stand the NBA. However, last night Champwife, our tailgating crew, and I ventured up to the Carrier Dome for the Nuggets-Suns NBA preseason game. It was something to do on a Friday night in CNY. Exhibition NBA--- can't you just feel the excitement?

For those of you not in attendance here are some quick observations:

Going to the game the Harrision/Adams Street exit off of 81 was closed. I don't know who was responsible for this brilliant move but we ended up having to park at Manley and take the bus to the game. My buddy Joe brought up a good point--- we had to settle for a University owned parking spot rather than a private garage on the Hill. Joe also brought up that it might not be a bad thing, as long as all that money was going to find a new football coach.

I was amazed at the number of grown adults who own and wear NBA gear. There was a guy in front of me, had to be pushing 50 wearing his Suns hat and a vintage early 1990's Suns Pro Player windbreaker.

Lots of "A.I." jerseys in the crowd.

Best jersey I saw, some guy in a Raef Lafrentz jersey:

At halftime, Jimmy B played some "fan" in a ping-pong...I mean table tennis match as a Coaches vs. Cancer fundraiser. In a WWF-like move, the "fan" removed her sweatshirt and pants to reveal her pro table tennis gear. Turns out she is a legit professional ping pong...I mean table tennis player. Jimmy looked like the guy who is really good at rec games at family reunions.

Reason #2341 I cant stand the NBA: The last five minutes of game time must have taken 45 minutes to play.

I swear I had The Sports Guy sitting behind me. This guy behind me apparently was another big Suns fan (they really do exist????) and could name EVERY player that came off the Phoenix bench and what role he was going to play this year. For the record, names I recognized that played last night:

Shaq
Raja Bell
Melo
Rueben Patterson
Juwan Howard
Grant Hill
A.I.
Anthony Carter
Matt Barnes
Dahntay Jones

A whole lot of other guys I didn't recognize.

Reason #1943 I can't stand the NBA: The Dome tried to make it an NBA-like experience by playing piped-in music/sound effects during play.

At halftime they showed a replay of Pearl's half court shot vs. BC. They brought out three contestants to try and duplicate it. First guy...swish. Pretty cool.

The "shoot a basket from a recliner" contest from Cuse games was present last night. Some dude nailed his second shot from his La-Z-Boy.

Best non Raef Lafrenz jersey fan apparel: A guy a couple rows ahead of me had on his Interstate Batteries Racing jacket along with his Tampa Bay Rays hat. Big fan.

Nash and Stoudamire- DNP. Shaq did play for a about a quarter.

Late in the 4th quarter the crowd started a "We want Melo" chant. Melo with a tremendous fake out on the crowd--- with about 2 minutes left he got up off the bench and started walking towards the scorer's table. The crowd was loving it, until he promptly sat right down on the bench.

Dome was selling lots of #15 Nuggets gear.

Awkward moment of the night....a Suns player was shooting 2 FT's when the PA announcer broadcasted, "(Insert name here) shooting a deuce." Lots of moans and "Did he just say dropping a deuce?" comments in my section.

Announced attendance of 21K. Easily the best non-Penn State crowd of the year this fall in the Dome.

Terry Porter (Head Coach), Dan Majerele, and Bill Cartwright make up the Phoenix staff. Wow, I'm getting old.

No Suns or Nuggets dance teams in Syracuse.

Jimmy B was in the front row. Saw lots of Cuse players in the Dome signing autographs and posing for pictures with fans.

There was an enormous crowd swarm at the end of the game towards Melo's path back to the locker room.

It was officially 22 years since my last NBA game. In '86 my Dad took me to see the Nets vs. Cavs in Pearl's homecoming at the War Memorial. NBA, I'll see you again in 2030.

USF: Official Idiotic Predictions

The end of the week has arrived, beer me. I'll be headed out to the Dome Friday night to watch Melo battle Carousel Mall's Customer of the Year. On Saturday, I'll suffer through another chapter in the GRob saga.

You are getting 2/3 of the usual idiotic predictions, since none of us have heard from Boss in a while. Our next step will be putting his picture on the back of milk cartons.

Let's get to the predictions:

Russianator:

Jim Leavitt is to Greg Robinson as 7-11 is to Walmart. Frankly the Bulls run an offense SU can't defend. The improvement and effort lately have been great, but we needed great effort and improvement 4 years ago.

USF- 34

SU - 13

Champ:

So the kids at USF are going to burn Otto this weekend. Does this mean Syracuse is relevant again?

Answer: no.

USF- 28

SU- 12

Boss:

Every Mall Has A Radio Shaq

"No Hooters? I'm out of here."

Shaq Leaving Carousel Mall on Thursday

Photo: Mike Greenlar, Post-Standard

What do Shaquille O'Neal and Auntie Anne's have in common? Well they both could be found at Carousel Mall this week. The Diesel and his crew are in town to take on Melo's Nuggets in the Dome Friday night.

Per the article, the Suns team rented out a theater to watch "The Express." Apparently, Kazaam 2 isn't out yet.

Forget Tony Danza, Shaq's the boss:

Ebay Item of the Week

Times are not good for the former heavyweight champion of the world, Evander Holyfield. At 46 the "Real Deal" is hoping to weasel his way into a title match with WBA Champ Nicolay Vualev.

Fans of Evander, here's your chance to learn some lessons from the former champ with this week's Ebay Item of the Week.

Here at T3I Corporate Headquarters we were able to gain a sneak peak at this literary classic. We particularly recommend the following chapters:

Slurring Your ABC's

How To Blow Through $200 Million in 10 Years

Condoms Are For Losers

Iron Chef Mystery Ingredient: Human Ears

You Didn't Think It Was Possible to Run up a $500K Landscaping Bill Did You?

A Word From the Captain

As you may have noticed, we've all been pretty busy lately. So for your reading pleasure we will now interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for a segment we're calling "A word from the Captain." Today he's pretty fired up over everyone's favorite Dallas Cowboy, Adam PacMan Jones. The words below are his - we thank him for his efforts.

No more quarters....GAME OVER

The red ghost Speedy - played by Roger Goodell - just gobbled PAC MAN's last life, there are no free plays, no quarters left....game over.

Is it so much of a shock that Adam "PAC MAN" Jones is in trouble again?? As most of the sporting community knows, PAC has made yet another poor decision in his young, and once promising , NFL career.

People in the NFL and the Cowboys organization have publicly stated this wasn't an "if" situation, but more of a "when." I wonder if Jerry Jones is thinking the decision to sign him was a good thing now? What's more of shock than the incident is J.J's politicking to the NFL that he doesn't believe that PAC needs to be suspended.

People like PAC MAN can not be helped until they make the decision to help themselves. I know this sounds preachy, but a fact. How many times can a person CHOOSE to make a poor decision (I.E. getting drunk to the point that you brawl with a TEAM ASSIGNED BODYGUARD). It is astonishing to me the laundry list of poor choices a person can make before he/she gets it.

Here's a free tip for Pac Man, "If you cant handle your liquor, don't drink." I don't think that Adam is the type of person who has the capability to make a good decision. He was on probation, (for a million other offenses he committed) and he goes and gets into trouble again. Good choice you ass.

Well, he'll have a little time to think about that now as he's been suspended indefinitely (min. of 4 games). If Goodell walks the walk, he shouldn't play again this year. He and Larry Johnson would be a blast at an all you can drink ladies night at a local watering hole. Pac could fight the bouncers, and LJ could smack the ladies around. Classy guys, classy.

There is a perfect storm brewing in Cowboy land. Pac Man - Out. Romo - out a min of 4 weeks. Punter - fractured leg. TO - bitching as usual. This should make an interesting rest of the season for the silver and blue. Everyone enjoys looking at a good car wreck so lets roll the windows down, this is shaping up to be a doozie.

- The Captain

On the other hand...

It's been a long fall. Besides being a Syracuse football season ticket holder, I'm also an Oakland Raiders fan. Al Davis' latest buffoonery has me on the ledge ready to jump. Add into the mix another fall of the Boston 86ers in the sans-Yanks baseball playoffs and I'll just ask you to pass the Labatt's.

You can look at the glass have full or have empty (cliche alert). I'm not going to turn into the bitter old man who yells at kids to stay off his lawn...just yet. Although another season of Greg Robinson and I'll drive around my hometown and yell at any kid on any lawn. Here are a few things from the sporting world that put a smile on my face and that I can take solace in during another yucky fall:

• the inside of Tom Brady's knee looking like pulled pork (thanks KC)
• The Express
• the Mets duplicating their September of '07
• Rutgers returning to being Rutgers
• Tony Romo's pinkie injury (insert own joke here)
• Bill Stewart and Greg Robinson, separated at birth?
• the announced attendance of Dome home games this season
• Kenny
• Coming soon: Cuse hoops
• Greg Robinson's press conferences
• $80 million coming off the Yankees payroll
• The "who will be our next head coach" rumors...it's fun to dream

Mmmm...pulled pork.

Thank You

Sometimes we forget to offer thanks. We are all guilty of it, we take advantage of the ones we love. We don't tell them how much we care, or how much we appreciate what they do for us. I'm as guilty of that as anyone, besides, it's tough to shoe horn in a thank yous when I'm busy calling everyone under the sun a douchebag.

With that said, it's been a busy couple of days in the world of sports, so I thought I'd take a few moments and offer up some thanks. It's the least I can do.

First and foremost I'd like to thank the rest of the NFC East for losing games they should have won this past weekend and keeping the Eagles squarely in the race for the division championship.

I'd like to thank the Arizona Cardinals for breaking Tony Romo's pinky and Matt McBriar's foot.

I'd like to thank TO for starting to melt down weeks ago. A few weeks from now, after Brad Johnson and his chicken wing arm bounce balls at his feet, he should explode in a truly spectacular fashion.

I'd like to thank Pac Man Jones for getting suspended indefinitely.

I'd like thank Eli Manning for throwing three picks and then injuring his chest last night. The David Carr era can't get here fast enough.

I'd like to thank Shane Victorino for being freaking awesome, for eating spam, and for having an awesome nickname.

I'd like to thank B.J. Upton for hitting a bomb that still hasn't landed.

I'd like to thank the Syracuse football team for continuing to play hard under trying circumstances.

I'd like to thank Bill Stewart for screwing up the West Virginia Mountaineers and giving hope to the rest of the conference.

And lastly, I'd like to thank Greg Robinson for continuing to dazzle us with his verbal prowess.

The Harpers are an Angry Bunch

They take their college football seriously in the South - and when you have the last name Bowden, the expectations run pretty high. With that mind, Tommy Bowden was shown the door today at Clemson.

While the ACC has been down the last few years, college football is huge in South Carolina and Bowden's 10 year run was uneven at best, finishing with an overall record of 72-45. While it would take Greg Robinson 35 years to rack up 72 wins, Bowden was never able to get the Tigers to the place of prominence their fan base demanded....does that sound like any former SU coaches you know? After preseason number 9 ranking, the Tigers flopped out of the gate, starting the season 3-3. The final straw was an ugly 12-7 loss to Wake Forest.

Bowden is the first head coach to get the ax (note - ax doesn't look right unless it's got an 'e' at the end of it) this year and for teams that will be in the market for a coach, like Syracuse, it bears watching what the Tigers will do. While Clemson and SU most likely won't be competing for the same coach, the ripple down effect will be interesting. And just remember Tiger fans, for every Gary Pinkel, there's a Greg Robinson.

For now, someone by the name of "Dabo Swinney" will take the helm at Clemson. In the near term, the most interesting part of the story is the classless response of the Harper family.

In response to Bowden's dismissal, benched quarterback Cullen Harper offered these thoughts:

"It's what he deserved," Harper said. "Dabo Swinney is a fine man and will do an excellent job."

Harper was the starting quarterback until Bowden benched him. At this point I could chalk up the comment to a kid who wasn't very media savvy popping off at the coach who benched him. Not smart, but it happens. Of course, then you read a little farther down in the article and learn where Cullen gets it from - his dad Jeff.

In his response to the firing, good old Jeffy had this to add:

"I'd call it karma," he said. "I thought it needed to be done. I think anytime a head coach or someone in a leadership position starts to place blame on his coaches and players, it weakens their respect on the team. His past experiences have shown he's done that."

Look, there are always going to be people happy or upset when a coach loses a job. For every starter, there's a back up, that's just the way it works. If you don't like it, bitching about it to the media isn't going to solve anything. I have no idea what benched quarterback Andrew Robinson or his father will say when Greggo is eventually canned, but I'm pretty sure it won't be "he deserved it." At least we can hope so.

An Idiot Goes to "The Express"

Sunday night I caught "The Express" with ChampWife along with her sister and husband. After several weeks of reading blogs and message boards I went in last night understanding that Hollywood had taken some artistic license (phantom road '59 WVU game, Jim Brown's recruitment of Ernie) in their telling of the Ernie Davis story. That aside the producers of "The Express" gave me two hours of enjoyment and escape from the current shambles that is SU football.

"The Express" isn't going to win any awards and, sorry Daryl, is by no means the greatest sports movie ever. This movie is however a must-see for any Syracuse fan. There is a whole generation of kids growing up right now that only know Syracuse football as an absolute joke. We were national champions and we had a Heisman trophy winner. These are things as Orange fans we have to hang our hats on in the Grob era.

Go see it. You've suffered enough.

Random Thoughts on a Wild NFL Sunday

I have a confession to make, I didn't watch the SU game on Saturday. I was in Boston with the girlfriend. I followed the game on my blackberry and through text messages from Champ. I've got the game on the DVR, not sure if I'll watch it or not, but it is a good sign that the players are still fighting hard. At this point, all we can hope for as fans is that the team continues to work hard and gives the next coach something to work with.

With that out of the way, what a crazy day in the NFL. The Rams won, the Patriots got routed, and the freaking Cardinals shocked the cowgirls. Here are a few thoughts on the action:

- If Correll Buckhalter got to play every game against the 49ers they'd be getting a spot ready for him in Canton, he was great on Sunday. The Eagles win over the Niners, combined with Redskin and Cowboy losses made it a productive day for Philly (football wise).

- The Falcons beat the Bears because the Chicago squibbed a kickoff and gave up an inexplicable sideline route in the span of 11 seconds. There's no way I'm doing the math, but what percentage of kickoffs are returned for TDs? Honestly, it has to be under 5 percent, yet at the end of games coaches insist on squib kicking the ball and giving life to opponents. It's mind boggling - NFL coaches are terrified to lose, a lot of the time they end up losing because of it.

- Tony Romo can play some football, but he turns it over way too much.

- Jim Haslett gets into an argument with a Washington player and then guides the Rams to win over the red hot Redskins - I mean WTF? That's why the NFL is so great, anything can happen.

- If you didn't see the Andre Johnson catch to keep the Texans game winning drive alive on 4th and 7 - go to NFL.com and find it. It's like every reception Tim Lane ever made, except the opposite.

- Every time David Akers lines up for a field goal, I cringe. As an Eagles fan, that's not good.

- The Seahawks hit the wall harder and faster than Rene Russo.

- If anyone can figure out Carolina, send me an e-mail. Getting blown out by the Tampa? You'll never convince me the Buccaneers are any good.

- We are two games away from a full blown Terrell Owens meltdown - luckily it's warm in big D, so he can do crunches in your driveway late into the season.

- Joe Flacco - not the answer this year. Matt Ryan, he might be.....

- That coaching change in Oakland.....uh, not the answer. The only thing that would make the Raiders interesting this year is if Al Davis took over as the head coach - think of how amazing that would be. I'd watch every minute of every Raider game for the rest of the season.

- Say what you will about the Dolphins, but they are entertaining as hell. This is what I don't get about the NFL, if you know you have inferior talent, why aren't more teams playing like this? Take some chances people, there can't be 32 great teams.

- I'll never understand why New England thought they could get by with Matt Cassell as their back up. If I'm ever an NFL GM, I will institute a strict policy that my primary back up QB had to have been a starter........in college.

- Dallas fans are taking the loss hard. Here are my grades for this kid:

Production Values - D (at least Kige has dopey props)
Sincerity - B - I thought he was going to cry at least twice
Hyperbole - A
Accuracy - C
Enthusiasm - F
Odds he replays this game a 100 times on Play Station 3 - off the board.

Another Saturday at the Community College

17-6 'Neers. What people are saying:

• Syracuse.com
• Donnie, Dave, and more Donnie
• The Daryl Gross Propaganda Machine

What an idiot is saying:

The Russianator and I were both way off with our predictions. We really should have seen this coming however. I learned this weekend why some many WVU fans are livid with Bill Stewart. Some of that WVU playcalling gave me flashbacks of George DeLeone. In full disclosure, I'm stepping out of my glass house as a Syracuse fan when calling out the playcalling of another team. I know-- no Pat White. But there is NO WAY that 'Neers team should be fighting for a win at home against the Orange.

Wannstedt, Grob, Bill Stewart....not exactly Mount Rushmore. The Big East has become the Community College for Head Football Coaches. Can we see if these guys were anywhere near the Stock Market last week?

Some other quick College Football Saturday thoughts:

On one end of the fun-to-watch spectrum was Cuse-WVU. On the other was Texas-Oklahoma. Helluva game to watch. I had picture-in-picture going during the 2nd half.

It pains me to say it, but I'm starting to drink the Joe Pa Kool-Aid.

Rich-Rod, Toledo...seriously? BCS schools don't lose to MAC schools (another glass house alert).

Calling out Tim Tebow, not a good idea.

Enough "Notre Dame is back" talk. Have you looked at their schedule? And Irish fans, don't tell me you were jobbed at the end of that game. UNC had an INT stolen away from them.

Lots of one-loss teams (OSU, USC, Florida) are smiling tonight.

Juice Williams (Illinois): 462, 2TD; Sam Bradford (Oklahmoa): 387, 5 TD; Joe Ganz (Nebraska): 349, 2 TD--- big numbers from three guys who didn't win on Saturday.

You have to put Texas #1

Phil Fulmer, get that resume ready.

Syracuse - West Virginia Official Idiotic Predictions

Picking Syracuse games has become about as interesting as predicting Soviet era elections. Everyone knows who will win, only the margin is in doubt. While it seems pointless to continue this exercise in futility, we committed to it at the beginning of the season, so we soldier on. Well two of us soldier on, I haven't heard from Boss yet, but I can't say I blame him.

So, after a much needed bye week, we are back with another round of official idiotic predictions. Let's get to the picks.


Champ


The biggest long-shot of the gambling year had to be Greg Robinson surviving the bye week. The second biggest long-shot would be Syracuse covering the spread on this game. Don't hold your breath Orange fans.


WVU 45
Cuse: 10


WVU fans...please save the couches for a worthy opponent.


Russianator


Coming into the season, Bill Stewart's career record as a head coach was 9-25. One of those wins was the Mountaineers emotional Fiesta bowl victory over Oklahoma, in which his official title was interim coach. So its not really surprising that with credentials like that, things haven't really gotten off the to start that West Virginia fans were looking for.


Botched clock management, losses to East Carolina and Colorado, and a 24-17 win last week over a bad Rutgers team have fans a little less than supportive this year.


Luckily for WVA fans, the Greg Robinson Farewell Tour comes to town, and that's a show that can cure all ills. In fact, Greg is so bad that anything he goes against is sure to get the best him. If we are really serious about curing cancer, Johns Hopkins medical center should just hire Greg to try and make every strain of cancer stronger and deadlier. Within weeks he'd have that disease so screwed up that cancer wouldn't kill anyone ever again.


West Virginia 38
Syracuse 16


Bonus prediction 63-7 the score if Rich Rod had stayed - thanks Bill Stewart.

Random Rants of the Week

How's it going people? As you may have noticed, things have been a little slow around here, I don't know if that's going to last or not, but then again I just took a job that requires me to work 10 times harder for the same amount of money - so I guess I don't know a damn thing. It's time to get a few things off my chest. Here's what's on my mind.


The Syracuse football season is 5 games old and I'm f*cking exhausted with all the talk about who will be the next coach. I don't even care anymore. Personally I think it should be Donald Duck. You know why? He's a bad ass. He doesn't wear pants and doesn't give a shit. Pant less or not, Donald Duck is going to do what Donald Duck is going to do - and you're not going to stop him. Pac Man Jones doesn't have any eligibility left, so there's no need to worry about him taking out the Donald in the bathroom.


While it would be incredibly cruel to the long suffering Syracuse beat reporters - who presently have to listen to Greg Robinson talk for hours and say nothing -- imagine how much fun those Donald Duck press conferences would be? Plus, Donald-isms could be take that Nunes feature to a whole new level.


I love this photo that the Big Lead uses every week for college football - love it. It almost makes me want to move to Oklahoma. Then I think about the poverty, rednecks and dust and decide NY is just fine.


What is the point of harness racing? How is this joke of a 'sport' still around? I mean if you are so addicted to gambling that you have to bet on fat guys being towed around a dirt track by animals that will be glue next week, do use all a favor and go swallow some anti-freeze. But hey, for the 12 of you left in America that are still into it, don't forget to buy this.


Speaking of fat, Andy Reid is getting on my last nerve. For 10 years he's been saying he's got to put players in better positions to be successful. It's been 10 years - by now you've had time to use more positions than Jenna Jameson. However, thanks to Greg Robinson, I'm OK with Andy still be around because I'm terrified of what the next coach might do. The way things are going the Eagles will end up with Rich Kotite Jr. and be 1-15 next year.


Let me say this - the Giants look awfully good, but other than the Redskins, the teams they have beat suck donkey balls. Cincinnati, St. Louis and Seattle have ONE win between them. Settle down giant fans - settle down.


Good thing the Phillies are still playing, otherwise things would be ugly in Philadelphia right now.


I wonder if Joe Torre wakes up every morning and thanks Hank Steinbrenner for cutting him loose? Let's see, he gets to live in great weather, manage in a weaker league, and he gets a motivated Manny Ramirez handed to him for the stretch drive - knowing full well that he won't have to put up with his bullshit next year. Seems like a good deal to me.


Speaking of which - keeping Brian Cashman was the right move - unless they unload a bunch of the young kids this off-season and deplete the farm system.

Martin Gramatica is not Patrick Shadle ladies and gentlemen - so SU fans, we've got that going for us. OK, I'm off to get a beer - you go do the same.