Tuesday, January 8, 2013

end of football season 2012-13 (also, Brent Musberger)

I watched the BCS Championship game between Alabama and Notre Dame, and - as you may have heard - Alabama destroyed Notre Dame, 42-14 (you can argue that last ND touchdown was someone from Alabama being nice).

I don't have feelings one way or another about either team.  It's cool to see Nick Saban earn his 3rd National title in 4 years, and I was glad Notre Dame was back as a serious contender in NCAA football.  But I think this absolute rout of The Fighting Irish will be putting some questions around Notre Dame's unique position as a team without a country/ conference, and that their schedule may be a wee bit lopsided as they milk their TV contract.

It was a fun year for football, and I wish I'd had a less hectic schedule and could have enjoyed more of it.  Even when UT is doing poorly (and we ended up with 9 wins, so as bad as it felt, it's still a decent season), it's something to do.  I still like watching Big 12 teams and a few, random other teams when I can.

Between you and me, I can't stand commentator Brent Musberger.  He certainly knows the sport, but he's still wishing it were 1975.  I like a little fake impartiality in my hosts, and Musberger chucked all that years ago.  Sometimes he's right, sometimes he's wrong.  But having had listened to his nonsense as he's called (and constantly dogged on) UT games over the years, I just sigh when I realize he and Herb are on commenting duties.


Like most of you who are not UT alums, Musberger has a chip on his shoulder about UT for no particular reason than that they were good for a couple of years there in the mid-00's.  And in the 2010 game, he seemed positively put out that UT had even showed up and he had to do this thing.*

He doesn't single out UT.  On many of the games he calls, he seems less than objective or even open-minded, right up until the last whistle blows and he's proven wrong, and then he either goes quiet or back-pedals for the wrap-up.  I find it unseemly for someone in his position to not give the same players he insists on referring to as "youngsters" the benefit of the doubt until the game gets away from them completely.  And even then, it's not his job to pile on.

If I ever found Musberger smarmy, tonight sealed the deal as he leered at Alabama Quarterback AJ McCarron's girlfriend repeatedly throughout the game and post-game.  Apparently, Musberger just don't give a damn no more.  The Twitters, however, seemed to take notice.  Can't wait for Brent to find out what "Twitter" is tomorrow when he gets the reprimand from Mickey Mouse.

Alas, another football season has come and gone.  In 8 months we'll start all over again, but for now we wait until the recruiting reports and spring training reports fill our heads with false promises and the local news crews begin all but fizzing like pop rocks predicting This Year.

Until then, I guess we'll have some baseball.  Maybe a little hockey and basketball.




*nothing like Berman's high school ranting that UT shouldn't show up for the game during the 2006 championship game, as they would just embarrass themselves.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I totally agree. I hate Musberger too and he did chuck his impartiality years ago. However, it's all relative and he rides whatever teams/players are hot.

If you don't believe me, pop in the A&M/Texas games from 2008 and 2009. There was no dogging of Texas, only A&M.

He gushed over Mack Brown, Colt McCoy, and Jordan Shipley like a high school crush. He was all about Texas and their greatness.

Did you know that Colt and Shipley were roommates at Texas? He only mentioned it 50+ times during broadcasts. He dogged A&M mercilessly back in those days. Even the 2010 game which A&M won, the love fest for Texas and Mack continued.

Go back even further and break out Vince Young games too, and you will find him stroking Vince, Mack, and Texas like they were the second coming.

Reed

The League said...

I totally believe he did that. MUSBERGER! So grating and unnecessary. I guess it was mostly Berman and some other guys who were slinging poo at UT during their run up to the 2006 game.

Congrats on the Cotton Bowl win, btw. I'm guessing if A&M can keep everyone healthy that they'll be in the BCS championship game in 2014. They look superhuman right now.

Anonymous said...

MUSBERGER!!!

Thanks for the congrats. A&M had lost their last 6 Cotton bowls and A&M owed Stoops and OU a lot of thumpings so it definitely felt good to return the favor and cap off the best A&M season that I have personally witnessed in the last 22 years I have followed A&M and College Football closely. I know I'm the only Aggie on your web site so I won't bore everyone with all of the history and the number of monkeys that jumped off of A&M's back after this year, but I will expand a little on 2014.

We lost our best offensive lineman and our best edge pass rusher so I don't know if we will be able to beat Bama again (btw, 9/14/13 at Kyle Field) and compete for the BCS championship, but the sleeping giant has finally woken. I have been waiting for close to 15 years to get the program rolling again. All we needed was the right coach, some momentum, and the brand differentiation from Texas with the move to the SEC. It just seemed like every opportunity we got, we stubbed our toe.

When I was at A&M in the early and mid 90s, A&M dominated recruiting in the state and beating Texas became routine. I didn't see us lose a home game until '95 (or lose to Texas) until the last SWC game when Texas won 16-6 (Ricky Williams' freshman year) and the fights broke out on the field. I never thought I would see Texas dominate A&M the way they did with Mack in the early 2000s.

Manziel is unbelievable and the 2013/2014 classes that Sumlin is bringing in are top 5 to top 10. Sumlin has the #1 and #2 rated prospects in Texas for 2013 and 2014 so don't get me wrong, we will be good, but I don't know about BCS championship good.

Mack and Stoops flipped the recruiting in Texas when they came in '98 and '99. Now, with Sumlin, Manziel, and the SEC, A&M has flipped the state back.

There are many parallels in Sumlin's first season to Mack's first season. Both came off of a disappointing seasons with previous coaches. Both did inherit some talent. Both had Heisman trophy winners and both tore the lid off of recruiting.

It's funny, two Thanksgivings ago, when I saw A&M lose to Texas 27-25 for the last time in person with your brother, I was absolutely devastated especially considering that I thought A&M had the better team.

Now, looking back on it, it was truly a blessing in disguise. If A&M wins that game, I think Sherman keeps his job, goes into the SEC on the hot seat, and we win 6-7 games. Sherman actually preferred Showers over Manziel so who knows if he even gets the start.

However, I'm still thankful for Sherman's time here, he rebuilt the program from the hole that Fran put it in and was an incredible evaluator of high school talent.

Don't take for granted UT's success. I did when I was at A&M. When 9 wins is a down year, that's saying something to where the program is.

Also, congrats on pulling out the Alamo Bowl win over Oregon State. I know it's not a huge bowl, but I thought Oregon State had UT dead to rights. Great comeback win by the Horns. Oregon State didn't know what hit them.

Gig 'Em
Reed