Gators and Tide Roll in Warmups

So much for the term rivalry game. Florida and Alabama dispatched their rivals with ease Saturday, picking up where Ohio State left off in their trouncing of Michigan a week ago. This sets up a dream matchup in the SEC. The undefeated and top-ranked Crimson Tide against the seemingly unstoppable offense of the red hot Gators. While this is technically a precursor to the national title game, it may be more hotly contested than college football's biggest game. Alabama is merciless in the trenches, imposing their will with a physical style of football reminiscent of old school Big Ten battles. Florida, even without Percy Harvin, is the fastest team in the land. They make offense look easy and their defense is still very underrated. While these teams occupy the top two spots in the AP rankings, it's clear to me who the top dog is.

I've been touting Florida as the #1 team in the nation for weeks, and they've done nothing to change my opinion. Thankfully, the story will be told on the field. Alabama hasn't had to play from behind this year, and their schedule is pretty underwhelming despite coming from the nation's "superior" conference. While their schedule looked daunting at first, wins against Clemson, LSU, and Georgia (only Georgia is currently ranked) are much less impressive now than they were after each victory. Florida's only loss came against #22 Mississippi, and they dispatched rival Florida State, who came into yesterday's matchup ranked, without much effort. Florida also beat LSU and Georgia, though much more impressively than Alabama did. If the Gators get off to their usual quick start and put Alabama down early, the Crimson Tide will realize that John Parker Wilson is their quarterback and they will be in big trouble. I'm not saying the game will be a blowout, but I think Florida will prove, convincingly, they are the cream of the crop in the SEC.

OSU Chokes Away Rose Bowl Bid

If your favorite team had to win one game to go to the Rose Bowl, they had already beaten USC, and the game was at home, you'd probably feel pretty good about your chances. Enter the Oregon State Beavers, who allowed nearly 700 yards of total offense against rival Oregon in a 65-38 embarrassment at Reser Stadium. Where was the defense? All of a sudden, a defense that had given up 28 points or more ONCE in their last nine games, folded like a deck of cards. It was almost as if they had no idea what was on the line.

Now, instead of a Rose Bowl bid, they will get the luxurious opportunity to play in the whogivesashit.com bowl or one of similar stature. It's too bad, because this was an intriguing team, especially when Jacquizz Rodgers was healthy. Beating a USC team that has been allergic to allowing touchdowns is beyond impressive, and the fact that they made it this far strengthened the story. But this kind of performance makes you wonder where the passion went. The USC win was no fluke, but they laid an egg against the Ducks, and their dreams came crashing down on their home turf, much to the delight of many in Columbus.

Horns Hooked by the BCS

Now imagine your favorite team beat its most hated rival and main conference competition on a neutral field, plus you've beaten the best team on the other side of the conference. Again, you'd probably feel pretty good about your chances to play for your conference title with a shot at the national title. Enter the BCS, and you have the top screw-job of the 2008 college football season. The purpose of the BCS is to put the two best teams into the national title so that we can find out who the best team in the nation truly is. It was created to solve the problem of the best teams not playing each other. But we already know who the better of these two teams is. The battle between the Sooners and Longhorns has been decided the best way it can be, on the field. Texas won, and that should be that. Screw the computers, screw the dummies who put Oklahoma ahead of Texas in the polls despite identical records and the result of their head-to-head matchup. We shouldn't even be talking about this.

Bob Stoops would argue that Texas lost to Texas Tech, but in my mind, that was about as close to a win as you can be. They came back on a great offensive team, on the road, shutting them down in the second half. Colt McCoy showed the mettle and heart of a champion in leading his team to the brink of victory. Then, with the game on the line, a ball floated tantalizingly into the air, headed straight for Texas freshman Blake Gideon. Had he caught the ball like a football player should, we wouldn't be having this discussion. But he didn't, and instead we got the Harrell to Crabtree touchdown that we've all seen a hundred times. Despite the "win" over Texas, Tech isn't a part of the discussion in my mind. They should have two losses, and the one that they do have was an embarrassment. This travesty should not stand. If there's any justice in the college football world, Oklahoma will somehow lose to Missouri in the Big 12 title game, and Texas will sneak in without having to play the extra game. But if we know anything about the BCS, justice is rarely served.

AC/DC Is Awesome? Are You Sure?

In non-sports related news, I've been hearing a lot of AC/DC lately. I don't know how or why, but they seem to be in my ear drums far more often than I remember. And the more I hear of them the more I wonder, what is so good about this band? I remember seeing a VH1 countdown of the greatest hard rock bands, voted on by various people, including legendary rockers. To my surprise and dismay, AC/DC found its way into the top five, ahead of vastly superior rockers Metallica. I thought it was a joke, but when there was nothing to indicate that at the end of the show, I realized the sad truth. There was no reversal coming. People actually believe that AC/DC is a better and more influential band than Metallica.

So I thought about it a little bit because hard rock legends couldn't be wrong about their peers, right? But going through everything I know about the two bands, most importantly their music, I came to one of two conclusions. Either I'm an idiot, or the rock community doesn't know what they're listening to. I understand that Metallica isn't very radio friendly because their songs are often complex and lengthy, but does that make them inferior to a band that pumps out four-minute songs with sexual innuendos in half the titles ? Hell no! Enough with AC/DC.

"Back in Black" and "Hells Bells" are fantastic songs, and it's because of those two songs that the Back in Black album is credited as a rock milestone, but let's take a look at the rest of the record. "You Shook Me All Night Long" is a song everybody knows, but boy does it stink. I've never once wanted to listen to it, and if it's on the radio already, I'm just as likely to change the station as sit through it. Is that what rock is about? Bar anthems? Leave that to Journey and Bon Jovi.

And some of the other titles on the record, "Givin the Dog a Bone" and "Let Me Put My Love Into You" are so reminiscent of overrated rock burdens Kiss that it hurts my insides. I get it, you're referencing sex. Good one. Are these really songs included on a legendary rock record? The Back in Black record has 10 tracks, filling an incredible 40 minutes of the alloted 78 on a CD. I'm sure they wanted to save the rest of their genius for later. When Metallica puts out a record, it's complete. It's not ten 4-minute pop songs. If that's what rock and roll is supposed to be, then I guess I missed the point.

Certainly there is a place for AC/DC in the rock landscape, and their millions upon millions of records sold shows that. But to say they have better records and are more influential than Metallica is beyond me. Pick up "Master of Puppets", "...And Justice For All", "Ride the Lightning", "Kill Em All", or even "Death Magnetic" if you want to hear what hard rock is all about. AC/DC a top five hard rock band? Hell no.

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Nick Meyer2 said:

	totally agree, they are pretty damn overrated, metallica just gets a bad rap from people who doesnt understand hard rock/metal from an older generation. ac/dc is so onedimensional and predictable...
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December 10, 2008
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Nick Meyer2 said:

	people who dont
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December 10, 2008
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