My Football Weekend

            I mentioned last week that I would experience my first full weekend of football for the season and so I decided to “do it right” and check in on some – – not all – – of the pre-game and post-game studio shows.  On Saturday, I naturally checked in on College Game Day and it was all I could do to stay and watch for more than about 30-40 minutes.  Maybe I am just a crochety old codger – – actually, I am indeed a crochety old codger – – but the screaming people behind the cast of this “entertainment feature” do not add to the telecast.  In fact, they are maximally annoying; enthusiasm and supporting the team are one thing; mugging for the cameras is a significantly different thing.

Rece Davis is not only a saint for putting up with that [bleep] every week, but he is also a broadcast professional who tries to keep the show on a constant and marginally steady course focused on the game(s) for the day.  Whatever he is being paid is well earned money.  Moreover, he gets only the slightest bits of help from his partners in crime:

• Lee Corso is Lee Corso.  What you see is what you get; over the course of about a half an hour, I got a little from him.
• Kirk Herbstreit is solid.
• Desmond Howard tries hard to be informative and/or entertaining.  Generally, he is neither.
• Pat McAfee makes me wonder if there is such a thing as “adult-onset Level 3 autism” because that would make the program much better.  [Note:  I am not wishing that for McAfee; but either that or a ball-gag would be a welcome addition to College Game Day.]
• Nick Saban looks like his fondest wish would be to bolt the set when the cameras are pointed elsewhere and go fishing with his old coaching buddies.

The venue last weekend of course was Tuscaloosa, AL where the Alabama/Georgia game would happen.  Let me just say that the game was far more exciting than the presentation of College Game Day.  See below…

On Sunday, I sampled randomly the pre-game programming and came away with some general commentary:

• ESPN NFL Countdown:  Mike Greenberg is good.  Rex Ryan seems to be auditioning for a career in stand-up comedy – – except he isn’t funny.
• CBS NFL Today:  I think I am going to like Matt Ryan as a studio host/analyst a lot.  And Nate Burleson keeps getting better and better.
• FOX NFL Sunday:  Howie Long and Michael Strahan do the heavy lifting here.  Terry Bradshaw and Jimmy Johnson are past their “sell-by dates”.

And then in an act just short of self-disembowelment, I tuned in Football Night in America.  This program is strikingly awful; it makes College Game Day look like 60 Minutes.  The program lurches from person to person each of whom presents “analysis” or “news” or “whatever” in 50 words or less.  It is the audio version of torture by strobe light.

There was a time when this program was hosted by Bob Costas, and it was both informative and entertaining.  Those days are past, and those days will not – – cannot – – return with the current cast of characters.

It is the case for all the other pre-game shows that the host/moderator is the glue that tries to hold the thing together and all four of the other hosts do good work.  Such is simply not the case for Football Night in America.  Call me a racist misogynist if you want, but I think Maria Taylor is terrible in her role.  The only way I will watch any more of that program is if I happen to tune in to see Sunday Night Football and turn the TV on 5 minutes early before Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth take over.

I mentioned above the Alabama/Georgia game from last Saturday.  Alabama raced out to a 28-0 lead early in the second quarter; it looked as if the rout was on – – until it wasn’t.  Add in a safety by Alabama and the Tide led 30-7 at halftime and 33-15 at the end of the 3^rd quarter.  Then Georgia scored 3 TDs in about 7 minutes to take the lead 34-33 setting up the game for a Hollywood ending.

• Trailing by a point with about two-and-a-half minutes left in the game, Alabama took possession at its own 25-yardline.
• On the first play, a 17-year-old freshman – – Ryan Williams – – caught a pass from QB Jalen Milroe and outran the Georgia defense for a TD to put Alabama back in the lead 41-33.
• Georgia took possession at its own 25-yardline and marched to the Alabama 20 with less than a minute to play when Alabama defensive back, Zabien Brown, – – another freshman by the way – – intercepted a pass in the end zone to seal the victory for Alabama.

The two teams combined to generate a total of 1066 yards of offense.  If I knew that the two teams would put on a show like that again, I would be happy to see a rematch somewhere down the line.

Finally, a revelation by Dan Jenkins:

“My favorite sport, frankly, is college football. I’m a college football junkie, even though I’m associated with golf and like golf and have played it all my life.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………