Alabama or Notre Dame?   

Crimson and white.   Blue and gold.

Any songs that will help (or hurt)?    What you got?

 

THE END.      :)

Deacon Blues!  The only song I can think of that mentions the Crimson Tide.

God Only Knows

and

Sweet Home Alabama

The White Stripes vs. Flogging Molly

Gump vs. Rudy

Crimson & Clover - Tommy James

Crimson - Alabama Crimson Tide, Clover - Luck of the Irish

When Irish Eyes are Smiling - John McCormack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgQCPifM-p8

Alabama Getaway - Grateful Dead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upwGGMqzdJ4

For some reason "Ride of the Valkyries" and the theme song from Deliverance come to mind.

This game is being billed as (possibly) the soon-to-be most-watched event in cable TV history... really?!

I'm not a big fan of college football in general, but it's hard not to find this matchup exciting.  Just saw Joe Montana on TV and he's pumped.   

GL.  

I'm settled in for the game myself, and I don't follow college football at all. I used to follow it some in my younger days, when Joe Montana used to come off the bench to rally ND. Just hope the game lives up to the hype.

42-14 Alabama

The Tide is High - Blondie

Easy to say in hindsight, but in fact I don't think anyone who follows college FB was surprised at the way it turned out.   There are only 2 or 3 teams that can hold Bama's jockstrap, and they are all in the SEC.

I offer up 'Poor Poor, Pitiful Me', by Warren Zevon, to the hapless Irish.  Couldn't have happened to a nicer collection of self righteous chumps as far as I'm concerned.

Edit: Forgot to do a shout-out to that crack team of TV announcers.  I missed their names initially, then they started getting creepy when they started going on and on about the Alabama QB's girlfriend.  So I wasn't totally surprised when they cut to the two dweebs in studio and discovered they had taken Brent Mussberger out of storage.   I'm not sure they completely drained all the formaldahyde out before wheeling him in though.  I turned off the tv and retired for the evening as soon as I saw that.

In response to Hfxsoxnut's comment:

Excellent choice.  :)

What a horrible game.

Oops...I forgot to care.  

 

Maybe it's just me, but I no longer see the relevance of such hype (and sums) for either college football or college basketball.  Why these kids aren't being paid is a complete mystery to me (though not as odd as the BCS).

And while I hate to associate all of college sports with such degeneracy, the whole Penn State/Sandusky affair - along with myriad other transgressions which I believe are embedded in the cultures of some of these schools and programs -  has thoroughly enraged me to the point of indifference toward who wins or loses.

Rant over.

 

In response to MattyScornD's comment:

I agree with you. 

i hear you, and agree.  College sports is (are?) riddled with issues and scandals, just as bad, if not worse than professional / big league sports.  It's sad.

My rant lately has to do with the PC (and other style) police classifying sports as "violent", especially football.  It's a contact sport ... and as in all sportsm there are risks (people get killed and take on daredevil risks in downhill skiing, mountain climbing, hiking (using trails that are not even legal), etc., so it is freaking ridiculous to continue to take issue with football.   I commented on an opinion piece yesterday, in fact; some of the comments were absurd, including one that suggested that the game be modified.    OKAY.   Rant over.   

It's sad re: college sports, b/c there is a lot to be said for a sports program and there are talented young athletes who aspire to play pro sports, and they should have opportunities to pursue their dreams.    Insofar as the process for "champion" level teams,  or "bests" "under-rated" , "over rated" -- they should come talk to us in the music forum.  We'll set them straight what a bunch of baloney that is.  :)

I have to block out all the issues with yoga, otherwise, I can't achieve my own personal goals.   Was reading about Moby ... HA ... I seem to agree with his stance on yoga.   Could do a lot worse, I suppose.   :)   NOTE:  Moby's music is widely used on playlists ... as you can well imagine.   And while it's not all good, it's not all bad in that context, either.  :)

I should have known better. Far too often things don't live up to the hype. That game was a complete mis-match.

Gladly, the Celtics were playing the Knicks and I kept switching to that game which turned out great. That game was intense and exciting without being hyped. That's why I still love sports. You never know what excitement it may give you and there is always the element of surprise.

In response to devildavid's comment:

Sports are one thing.  Even the business of sports is fine providing it's not too exploitative.  There's lots of room for commerce along with the thrill and glory of genuine athletic achievement.

I think the problem begins when the sport is overshadowed by interests which distort and pervert those otherwise honest sporting impulses.

The BCS is one egregious example.  Does anyone honestly think the top 2 college teams in the country played last night?  Really?!  Alabama may very well be the "best", but how can we be sure...?

 

 

In response to yogafriend's comment:

I understand your point re: PC, but football is indeed violent.  It just happens to be part of the game, like checking in hockey or sliding in soccer.  Until flag football goes pro, we're stuck with what we've got.

One difference is that nobody is trying to tackle you on the hiking trail or the ski slope.  The opponents are gravity and time.  Gymnasts might get hurt, but nobody is trying to pull the landing mat out from under them.

 

 

In response to MattyScornD's comment:

Heck, even in pro football we can't be sure which team is best because of the strength of schedule and limited number of games played. That is the weakness of football in general. I guess because it is too physical a sport to play too many games without putting the players health at risk any more than it already does.

In response to devildavid's comment:

That's very true, and weather also plays a big role.  They've managed to still be successful by the sheer number of variables but also because the pace and skill level of play has increased.  It's also highly technical by design.

Aside from the lateness of the league (and sponsor) response to head injuries, I believe they've tried to protect players as best they can through the rulebook and enforcement by defining legitimate hits, outlawing chop blocks, etc.

I would favor eliminating two pre-season games in return for two more regular season games.

However, I think weak-schedule teams usually get exposed, like Indy did this past Sunday.

 

 

 

In response to MattyScornD's comment:

Well ...

You're implying that players, in a contact sport, are setting out to *commit* violence on one another.    That is physical contact, that happens to result, at times, in very rough play on the field; you may call that an "act of violence" but I'd call it, perhaps a "violent hit" on a player.    And don't think seeing a player go down, and stay there, doesn't upset me, it does, but I also feel, in context, that it is a risk of the game.   

When I said people get killed in sports activities, I should probably have said "more" people get killed in other sports activities than they do in football, but that's anecdotal on my part, so I can't haul out any statistics right this minute.    It's cold comfort, too, and not relevant, so my bad.   People put themselves at very high risk -- pitting themselves against known, natural, territorial dangers (weather-related, ice, storms, lack of oxygen in high altitudes, landslides, etc.) which to me, is a non-human opponent, but a "known" opponent, just the same.   It's all up to that sort of chance.   

Just me, but I like to keep sports separate from discussions about violence in general.  That's probably what it boils down to.  

In response to yogafriend's comment:

I agree 100%.  There's "violence" when a player tries to take another's head off, and then there's "violence" when two players crash into each other.  Remember the johnny damon-damien jackson collision in '03?.  MY head hurt after that one.

Point being that it's wrong to conflate the two or to conflate them to something larger and more endemic.

 

[For comic relief from a heavy topic, see the Python's "Self-Defense" sketch.]