Biggest Disappointments of 2008 season

[Adelpiero]

go?

I have Chase"chubby"Daniel as one, kid believed his own hype. During spring drills, and after, while everyone else was working in gym and getting better physically, fatboy was at the pool, all day. chuggin hawaiin punch and finishing it off with a tasty booger.

Georgia they lost some lineman, but they were a complete fraud, Stafford is extremely overrated. When does Richt start getting on the hot seat?

Illinois brought back a ton of players from Rose Bowl season, but Juice was loose, instead of steady in pocket. Zook proving me wrong, i actually thought the florida hype(him not being able to coach), was just sour grapes, but Zook is just completly lost out there if his athletes cant win the game on their own.


??

[Adelpiero]

Didn't Chase win the Pillsbury Doughboy Award?

no, but dont you think its embarrassing the way he let himself go. does a leader come into his senior year that fat? not phat, but KC paulie fat.


seriously mace, why would someone with everything to prove(wont be nfl qb, last season was a fluke, cant win big game), and comes out fat and had no zip down field, he couldnt throw the ball 30 yards dowfield, without the WR having to com back for the ball. You dont lose zip in 1 season.

[Van]

Ohio St. They returned something like 19 starters, including their QB, from a BCS title game team. Their O line was supposed to be the strength of the team and their D was supposed to compete with USC's for being the best in the country.

Tressell talked up Boeckman, big time. He was supposed to be the experienced, steady hand that would lead a very experienced OSU team to the Promised Land.

They were in everybody's pre season Top 5 and in many instances people were saying they were poised to finally get the job done in their third straight title game.

By no means was this supposed to be anything like a rebuilding year for OSU. They were supposed to roll fuckers. Pryor was merely supposed to provide a little extra spice to the mix, a la a freshman Tebow alternating with Leak in '06 for Florida.

They started off inexplicably flat against a couple of nobodies and then they got rolled by USC in a game where they put up only a token effort. It was like they'd already conceded the loss just because one RB wasn't there.

Newsflash, folks. Beanie ran for 150 against LSU and OSU still got rolled. A running back by himself isn't going to beat a well motivated USC team in the Coliseum, which this USC team certainly was on that day.

Georgia was obviously also a huge disappointment, especially defensively. The injuries hurt their O line but their D was wildly vulnerable.

Arizona St, too. Much was expected of them this season and they flat lined it almost from the start.

Missouri, too, obviously. Some people actually had them playing in the BCS title game, pre season. They just plain never showed up this year. I feel sorry for Maclin and Coffman, they deserved better.

The Pac 10's regular season was a huge let down too. Way too many injuries to way too many QBs killed them. I don't know that I've ever seen more stories of third and fourth string QBs having to play key minutes. In WSU's case they were supposedly even holding tryouts on the campus...for the QB spot!

The conclusion to the Big XII South race was a debacle and then the Big XII South's performances in their bowl games was also very disappointing.

LSU completely shit the bed this year. Doesn't speak well to Les Miles either, considering he won his "title" with Saban's players. Elite teams aren't supposed to lose five or six games, ever, much less following a title year. That's unheard of, even with Perrilloux's boneheaded departure. A team like LSU is supposed to have more in the cupboard than what they showed.

Far and away though the biggest disappointment of the 2008 CF season though was the fact that the seaon ended with nothing resembling any finality, in terms of achieving a champion. Just can't have four teams with a nearly equal argument, not unless you're prepared to accept that this whole thing was an unmitigated failure.

[Dinsdale]

Arizona St, too. Much was expected of them this season and they flat lined it almost from the start.

"Much was expected"... by idiot pollsters.


Remind me again, when was the last time ASU wasn't in the preseason top 15?

And when was the last time that gaudy early ranking didn't leave the "in the know" PAC fans scratching their heads and saying "WTF are they talking about -- they're returning 2 good players?"


But there's some unwritten rule that says only complete idiots get poll votes. You'd think that a reasonable pollster would reevaluate their SEC-Free-Pass mentality... but they won't.


Nope. Next August, Arizona State and Michigan will once again be top 10 preseason picks, along with any SEC team that won more than 4 games this season.

It's business as usual... but I still don't understand why it's always "this is the year for ASU."

[RadioFan]

Van not posting as much.

[Van]

Van not posting at all.

FTFY

Good to see you again, RF. Truly.

Dins, you and I both know it had to do with the good will ASU built last year with the successful return to the Pac 10 of Dennis Erickson. That, and the fact that Rudy Carpenter was expected to be the best QB in the league and both their O line protection and their entire D was supposed to be much improved this season.

The Georgia game was supposed to be their "break out" game.

Then they went out and lost to UNLV, the week before the Georgia game. Season Over troll, indeed.

Oh, and how can we be forgetting DickRod's inaugural season for Big Blue? Any time a coach oversees an historical level of failure of the type experienced by Michigan this season or Notre Dame these past two seasons then that coach always has to deserve a mention as well...

[Terry in Crapchester]

Any time a coach oversees an historical level of failure of the type experienced by Michigan this season or Notre Dame these past two seasons then that coach always has to deserve a mention as well...

Sadly, six loss seasons are no longer uncommon at ND. Off the top of my head, you have 1981, 1985, 1986, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, and last season as six or more loss seasons. If my math is correct, that's seven of the last 12 seasons in which ND lost at least six games.

Nine-loss seasons, OTOH, are a different story . . .

Glad to see you back, btw, Van. Sorry to hear about Susan, and hope she gets better.

[Van]

Terry, it's not just confined to last season. We've also seen some "two seasons combined for ND" records of futility fall under the Weis regime...

Any way you slice it Weis and ND would also have to be included on any list of CF disappointments, including the 2008 season.

Breaking their bowl losing streak is now the single positive thing Weis can point to when comparing his record at ND with that of just about any other coach they've ever had...

[Terry in Crapchester]

Breaking their bowl losing streak is now the single positive thing Weis can point to when comparing his record at ND with that of just about any other coach they've ever had...

I have somewhat mixed emotions about breaking the bowl game losing streak. On one hand, it's definitely good to get that particular monkey off our backs, and to take one particular talking point away from ESPN (although it wouldn't surprise me if, next year, we see a scroll from ESPN of schools with a bowl win since ND, to include the winners of the 27 bowl games played after the Hawai'i Bowl this year, along with any other team that wins a bowl game before ND's game next season). OTOH, all things considered, it might not have happened absent our complete tailspin in November.

I never put as much stock in the bowl game losing streak as ESPN did. A number of factors come into play. Coincidence, of course, being one of those. How many people from the ND team that lost to Colorado in the '95 Fiesta Bowl are still with the program? One -- Ron Powlus, then the QB and now the QB coach. Of course, he left for awhile in between.

There's also the disconnect between the bowl game and the regular season. Depending on the school, you generally have 3-7 weeks between your last regular season game and your bowl game, with finals coming in between. Yes, that affects everybody. But throw in ND's traditional approach to bowl games (didn't play them at all until 1970, some members of ND's fanbase would prefer that we returned to that policy, although those types are now beginning to die out) together with expectations at ND (anything less than a national championship is ultimately a disappointment), and the end result . . . how up can ND be to play in what is essentially a glorified consolation game?

Another is the fact that we are ND. Let me explain. Because we are ND, we occasionally wind up in a better bowl game than we deserve. As we all know the bowl games are about maximizing revenue, not about merit. And ND still sells -- in fact, ND is, at least arguably, the only program that sells on a truly national basis. This year, of course, things happened differently. Our late-season tailspin cost us a 7-win season, and six Big East teams reached that mark. As a result, ND lost out on the Big East bowl package, and only had the leftovers available. So this season, we didn't get a better bowl than we deserved.

All things considered, though, this season was a disappointment. We lost three games that were definitely winnable (North Carolina, Pitt and Syracuse). Which would you rather have: a 9-3 season and a Gator Bowl loss, or a 6-6 season and a Hawai'i Bowl win? Personally, I'd rather have the former. But then again, ESPN apparently has convinced the unwashed masses that bowl game wins are the be-all and end-all for college football teams, so perhaps I'm in the minority.

[King Crimson]

on the local scene, Darrell Scott. came in overweight and never really made much impact. had some mid-season problems with RB coach Darian Hagan that made the newspaper. some flashes here and there, but no where near the 1000+ yard rusher Buff fans expected. wasn't even the best FR running back in the class last year. way too early to say 'bust', but some people i know are starting to wonder about work ethic and "want to" from Darrell.

also, honorable mention: Dan Hawkins. another year of head scratching gameday coaching, inept play-calling predicated on a change of scheme to the "no huddle" which Hawk compared to Florida's scheme at one point, true baffling statement), and a team that showed up in Columbia, Missouri and was beaten in the first 2 minutes of the game mentally and then cashed it in. the Buffs finished 5-7 but were a lot closer to 2 wins than 7 or 8. one point home wins against ISU (decided in the last seconds) and KSU, a botched OT FG and utterly inept time management by West Virginia, and needing a big punt return and pick 6 to beat D-1AA Eastern Washington late in the 4th in Boulder....represent 4 of CU's 5 wins.

also, the ever Karmic Hawkins got a little testy with both the media at times and referred to internet fans as "scum of the earth" on his radio show. thereby, the PR friendly, "it's like when we were climbing Machu Pichu, man"...motivational speaker-cum-buddhist style Hawkins public image took a little hit, too. Although he's promised 10 wins next year, it's become clear that "the Boise playbook" Hawkins sold himself with in the first and second years is just smoke and mirrors if not total BS....he was never the OC or called plays at Boise...and this staff seems to make up O schemes and game-plans on a week to week basis.

less than 7 wins and I think Danny is in trouble and to be fair, the OL injuries were devastating and the QB situation is muddled....but, like the last two, this will be a long off-season for CU fans who will try and buoy their flagging belief in Dan the Holy Man with memories of a strong effort against Nebraska. the "youth" and "the cupboard was bare" reasoning Hawkins has been pushing the last 3 years ain't gonna fly in year 4.

[The Seer]

1. My showing in Pickem

2. Lack of competitiveness of current and former board bitches this season (with the possible exception of m2ool)

[Van]

Terry, much of what you described regarding ND's plight in bowl games is also true of many other teams as well.

Namely, the "glorified exhibition game" thing. Practically nobody would ever be fired up and play well in bowl games if everybody used the "GEG" excuse. Just about every team out there is at least somewhat disappointed in having to play in their particular bowl game because every bowl game but one means you likely didn't achieve your goal that year. For the lesser teams who never had any realistic shot at the big prize you're still looking at relative disappointments. Instead of the Gator Bowl you got the Citrus Bowl (according to Jon...or maybe I have those two reversed, I'm not sure... :doh: ) or, higher up on the food chain, instead of getting Georgia in the Rose Bowl you got Illinois.

Disappointments abound. Still gotta man up though and show up big. That bowl game represents the final game of their football careers for many seniors, most of whom will never go on to the NFL. The bowl game is the one opportunity to end the season on a positive note, which helps to fuel the fire (and those all important pre season rankings) for the following year.

So, no, in that respect ND cannot be even slightly excused for losing nine in a row. Too many other teams could've used the same excuse.

In fact, in many years that same excuse should've worked for ND. Often times teams got "stuck" playing a consolation game against an obviously undeserving and inferior ND team, and still they showed up and laid the wood to ND.

Your point about ND often (I'd say "nearly always, almost without exception") receiving higher level bowl games than they deserve, yeah, that's true. That has had a little to do with why ND so often loses their bowl games. Like Illinois in last year's Rose Bowl what do people expect when one team is habitually paired with a far superior team in their bowl games, as has been the case with ND in most years.

ND against LSU in the Bayou was never going to go well. ND against a good OSU team, ditto, though at least ND made a game of that one.

And on and on...

Still, those high level bowl games mean extra recruiting exposure and extra money in the coffers for ND so they should've at least been making lemonade with all those lemons.

Now, back to the main point. This ND team, this 2008 team, they lost at home to...Syracuse. And it wasn't even shocking. They nearly lost again to Navy. They didn't score a single TD against USC (again) and they didn't even manage a freaking first down against USC until the final play of the third quarter.

Again, historic levels of failure, as part of an all time two year period of historic failure.

You and I had a discussion following last year's season, wherein I asked you what was it going to take before ND Fan realizes Weis has to go? I mentioned to you that this just cannot stand, this blithe acceptance of losing that has taken over the ND psyche. ND lost to Navy, breaking a 38 game streak, the longest in the nation. ND got shut out at home against USC, including the largest margin of defeat in the series history.

The most losses at home...the largest margins of defeat...consistent 30 point losses...cherished streaks ending...horrible streaks continuing...

Most damning of all though, again, is the simple fact that ND has come to accept losing. They are now rationalizing losing in ways that would've never been posited before.

ND Football may not be willing to publicly admit it in such stark terms but the fact is that as it now stands ND Football has now arrived at the point that they think of themselves as losers, inevitable losers. Winning eight meaningless games against a watered down schedule would now be seen as a Big Thing.

How can ND stand for this? They're Notre fucking Dame. This easy acceptance of losing is the single worst thing that can happen to any person...any team...any company...any endeavor.

Moreover, ND fired Willingham for much less than this. They were bad under Willingham but they weren't tearing up the record books, like they have been under Weis...who achieved his only success to date at ND with Willingham's players.

You said this year (the season just concluded) would be the year. If Weis failed again this year then he'd have to go. I disagreed with you, in part because of selfish reasons. ND being horrible obviously hurts USC. USC needs ND to regain national credibility. USC's OOC roadies this upcoming season to The Horseshoe and South Bend ought to comprise the hairiest and most ambitious pair of OOC games in BCS conference team history, but instead both teams are now viewed as pushovers for USC; especially ND.

Pretty much removes any margin for error in conference for USC, when their OOC schedule provides them with little to no strength of schedule help. A lot of that falls on ND so yeah, I have a vested interest in seeing ND regain their former stature.

In any case, you continued to preach patience. Give Weis one more year to show marked improvement.

Fine. He got his one more year.

2008 did not show marked improvement. What it showed was a very weakened schedule, including a very fortunate win over a suddenly historically bad Michigan squad. ND continued losing games beneath the shadow of TD Jesus; games they should never lose. They showed that in no way have they even begun to close the enormous chasm that now separates them from their most bitter rival.

On top of that, let's face it, you've got the image of ND to consider. Look around. Look around the college landscape. You've got your steely eyed assassin, Urban Meyer. You've got Petey literally warming up and having fun, throwing passes before each game and looking more athletic than any 57 year old has a right to. You've got your Turner Gills, you've got your Nick Sabans.

Then you've got...Charlie Weis. <insert Meds' pics and captions here> The guy is an absolute embarrassment. Period. His street cred from his days in New England is long gone. There's no way such an arrogant, ineffectual slob of a man is going to connect with today's athletes. In shining yellow mustard he has "coordinater" written all over him. Anybody can see that "head coach" is well beyond his personal make up. His "scheme advantage" which he promised when he took the gig is obviously nonexistent.

At this point all ND is doing is counting the days before they can get rid of him, in the most face saving manner possible. They're going to swallow that stupid contract one more year, just so they can say that this time, unlike how they treated Willingham, they gave Weis his five year run.

In effect they're conceding 2009, just so they'll appear "fair." Oh, plus there's that little buy out issue, which shouldn't matter a whit, considering the depth of ND's pockets.

Bottom line...

Wtf, ND?? When are you going to wake up and remember who you are?? Nebraska didn't stand for it and Bama stepped up too. Michigan WILL BE back, they won't stand for consistent mediocrity.

When will ND ever stand up for themselves again?

[MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan]

As usual, KC beats me to the punch on summing up the Buffs' disappointing season. I don't think anyone expected them to compete for an MNC or anything, but I was thinking 7-8 wins at the beginning of the year. Instead, the team actually seemed to regress from last year. Anything less than 8 wins next year, and Hawk needs to go. Period. Maybe Mike Shanahan is hesitant to get rid of that 35,000-square-foot house he just built and decides to find another job in the area. Hey, I can dream, right?

The other disappointing team that jumps out at me is the "other" CU that also lost their last game of the year to Nebraska. Clemson was a Top 10 team in most preseason rankings and their offense was supposed to be unstoppable with Cullen Harper and two ridiculously talented RBs. Instead, Bowden gets fired halfway through the season and they end up something like 6-7 or 7-6.

[Danimal]

Dang, there are a lot of good nominations here.

I don't think anyone mentioned Tenn, I'll throw them in there too. Going 5-7 including a "we just don't give a shit" loss to Wyoming is pretty sad with their talent.

I'd say Auburn gets wins the award for biggest flop considering they were in some top10's and didn't even make bowl eligibility.

In terms of having realistic expectations of playing for it alland not getting it done I'd say tOSU. They returned a ton of guys from a team that did play for it all and couldn't win the Big10.Georgia was up there too. I thought Mizzou would have a big year but couldn't see them playing for all the marbles.

[TheJON]

The Big-12 South in bowl games....

1-3 with the only win being by Texas over tOSU in the final seconds.

[minorthreat]

Biggest Disappointment of 2008:

TheJON getting beat out of the Board Bitch of the Year title.

[Killian]

Terry, much of what you described regarding ND's plight in bowl games is also true of many other teams as well.

Namely, the "glorified exhibition game" thing. Practically nobody would ever be fired up and play well in bowl games if everybody used the "GEG" excuse. Just about every team out there is at least somewhat disappointed in having to play in their particular bowl game because every bowl game but one means you likely didn't achieve your goal that year. For the lesser teams who never had any realistic shot at the big prize you're still looking at relative disappointments. Instead of the Gator Bowl you got the Citrus Bowl (according to Jon...or maybe I have those two reversed, I'm not sure... :doh: ) or, higher up on the food chain, instead of getting Georgia in the Rose Bowl you got Illinois.

Disappointments abound. Still gotta man up though and show up big. That bowl game represents the final game of their football careers for many seniors, most of whom will never go on to the NFL. The bowl game is the one opportunity to end the season on a positive note, which helps to fuel the fire (and those all important pre season rankings) for the following year.

So, no, in that respect ND cannot be even slightly excused for losing nine in a row. Too many other teams could've used the same excuse.

In fact, in many years that same excuse should've worked for ND. Often times teams got "stuck" playing a consolation game against an obviously undeserving and inferior ND team, and still they showed up and laid the wood to ND.

Your point about ND often (I'd say "nearly always, almost without exception") receiving higher level bowl games than they deserve, yeah, that's true. That has had a little to do with why ND so often loses their bowl games. Like Illinois in last year's Rose Bowl what do people expect when one team is habitually paired with a far superior team in their bowl games, as has been the case with ND in most years.

ND against LSU in the Bayou was never going to go well. ND against a good OSU team, ditto, though at least ND made a game of that one.

And on and on...

Still, those high level bowl games mean extra recruiting exposure and extra money in the coffers for ND so they should've at least been making lemonade with all those lemons.

Now, back to the main point. This ND team, this 2008 team, they lost at home to...Syracuse. And it wasn't even shocking. They nearly lost again to Navy. They didn't score a single TD against USC (again) and they didn't even manage a freaking first down against USC until the final play of the third quarter.

Again, historic levels of failure, as part of an all time two year period of historic failure.

You and I had a discussion following last year's season, wherein I asked you what was it going to take before ND Fan realizes Weis has to go? I mentioned to you that this just cannot stand, this blithe acceptance of losing that has taken over the ND psyche. ND lost to Navy, breaking a 38 game streak, the longest in the nation. ND got shut out at home against USC, including the largest margin of defeat in the series history.

The most losses at home...the largest margins of defeat...consistent 30 point losses...cherished streaks ending...horrible streaks continuing...

Most damning of all though, again, is the simple fact that ND has come to accept losing. They are now rationalizing losing in ways that would've never been posited before.

ND Football may not be willing to publicly admit it in such stark terms but the fact is that as it now stands ND Football has now arrived at the point that they think of themselves as losers, inevitable losers. Winning eight meaningless games against a watered down schedule would now be seen as a Big Thing.

How can ND stand for this? They're Notre fucking Dame. This easy acceptance of losing is the single worst thing that can happen to any person...any team...any company...any endeavor.

Moreover, ND fired Willingham for much less than this. They were bad under Willingham but they weren't tearing up the record books, like they have been under Weis...who achieved his only success to date at ND with Willingham's players.

You said this year (the season just concluded) would be the year. If Weis failed again this year then he'd have to go. I disagreed with you, in part because of selfish reasons. ND being horrible obviously hurts USC. USC needs ND to regain national credibility. USC's OOC roadies this upcoming season to The Horseshoe and South Bend ought to comprise the hairiest and most ambitious pair of OOC games in BCS conference team history, but instead both teams are now viewed as pushovers for USC; especially ND.

Pretty much removes any margin for error in conference for USC, when their OOC schedule provides them with little to no strength of schedule help. A lot of that falls on ND so yeah, I have a vested interest in seeing ND regain their former stature.

In any case, you continued to preach patience. Give Weis one more year to show marked improvement.

Fine. He got his one more year.

2008 did not show marked improvement. What it showed was a very weakened schedule, including a very fortunate win over a suddenly historically bad Michigan squad. ND continued losing games beneath the shadow of TD Jesus; games they should never lose. They showed that in no way have they even begun to close the enormous chasm that now separates them from their most bitter rival.

On top of that, let's face it, you've got the image of ND to consider. Look around. Look around the college landscape. You've got your steely eyed assassin, Urban Meyer. You've got Petey literally warming up and having fun, throwing passes before each game and looking more athletic than any 57 year old has a right to. You've got your Turner Gills, you've got your Nick Sabans.

Then you've got...Charlie Weis. <insert Meds' pics and captions here> The guy is an absolute embarrassment. Period. His street cred from his days in New England is long gone. There's no way such an arrogant, ineffectual slob of a man is going to connect with today's athletes. In shining yellow mustard he has "coordinater" written all over him. Anybody can see that "head coach" is well beyond his personal make up. His "scheme advantage" which he promised when he took the gig is obviously nonexistent.

At this point all ND is doing is counting the days before they can get rid of him, in the most face saving manner possible. They're going to swallow that stupid contract one more year, just so they can say that this time, unlike how they treated Willingham, they gave Weis his five year run.

In effect they're conceding 2009, just so they'll appear "fair." Oh, plus there's that little buy out issue, which shouldn't matter a whit, considering the depth of ND's pockets.

Bottom line...

Wtf, ND?? When are you going to wake up and remember who you are?? Nebraska didn't stand for it and Bama stepped up too. Michigan WILL BE back, they won't stand for consistent mediocrity.

When will ND ever stand up for themselves again?

Rack this whole fucking post. There isn't a single point that any objective ND fan can argue. Welcome back, Van. You make the board a better place. Sorry to hear about your personal life. T's and P's.

[Van]

Killian, allow me to come clean here a bit...

I've mentioned this to Terry before but I don't think I've ever mentioned it to you.

I admire ND. Yes, I want to always beat them, but I greatly admire them. Other than for their media deal and their tv contract I really admire what ND stands for. I've yet to meet an "ND man" who wasn't a quality person. Their football players are usually a cut above, as people.

Rarely (if ever?) do we see Thug Behavior from ND players. Their players are far less tatted up, dreadlocked, self absorbed and just plain thugged out than most other teams' players.

Does that make me culturally biased? Yes, it does. I'll take my chances banking on that cultural bias.

In so many very important ways ND is what CF ought to aspire to and if I were a dad shopping my son around to play CF I would be greatly pleased if he were interested in ND and ND were interested in him.

I'd feel that I must have done something right in raising my kid.

Then there's people like Terry, and yourself. Class. Intelligence. Dignity.

Laxplayer too, if ever he'd get off his one note song about USC. I know he's a bright guy, and a well regarded guy. He must have more to say than simply ankle biting USC at every opportunity. I'd just like to see it.

No, ND doesn't have the market cornered on quality people here. Lefty is all these same good things. MuchoBulls. Sudden Sam. Shoalzie. Danimal. Socalvansamck and Seer. 88. Mace. campinfool. Q west. Jay Duck. Moby Dick. Meds.

'Spray too, once you get past his intentional goofball shtick. He's a very good guy.

Point being, no fan base is without its quality people and its jerks.

Thing is, with ND people I just expect quality, and they rarely disappoint. There's not much of a better thing one can say about a school, is there?

So, yeah, I want ND to get back to being ND. I'll likely never be able to root hardcore for them to win but I sure need them to win and I admire the way they do things. I won't begrudge them their success whenever they finally manage to begin winning again.

I just know it won't happen while Charlie Weis is their coach. That became plainly evident two years ago. Nothing has changed for the better. It's only gotten worse.

He's probably a great guy and even after his utter failures offensively with ND I guess it would still be impossible to question the man's OC credentials.

He's just not a head coach.

Now, imagine what ND's football program would look like right now had they managed to snag Urban Meyer a few years ago.

Exactly.

ND's fans deserve better than Charlie Weis. USC and all of CF deserve to have ND back.

[Van]

I've never ever seen Rudy...or Hoosiers either, for that matter.

I only recently realized this, and I was brutally mocked for it by the person who pointed it out to me. Apparently one cannot consider themselves a true sports fan if they haven't watched those two flicks.

Admittedly though at some point I probably do need to watch Hoosiers...

[Van]

You might be the only person in the entire USA that calls themselves a sports fan who has not seen Hoosiers.

You're now the second person to say that to me. Word for word, basically.

I was told it wasn't nearly as imperative that I see Rudy but that it's flat out a crime against humanity to've never seen Hoosiers.

He then ran off a list of other sports movies but in the end Hoosiers was deemed #1 on the list of movies I simply cannot be excused for not seeing.

Fine. I'll rent the fucker.

While I'm at it I apparently also have to see the two Spaghetti Westerns I know I haven't seen, namely, Hang 'Em High and High Plains Drifter.

Does High Plains Drifter even count as a Spaghetti Western?

It was also determined that I also have to re-watch The Unforgiven, The Outlaw Josey Wales and Tombstone.

I was unsure as to whether I've already seen A Fist Full Of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More (I just can't recall any longer) but it was determined by a group vote that Hang 'Em High and High Plains Drifter would suffice for that category.

So I've got that going for me, which is nice.

[MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan]

Does High Plains Drifter even count as a Spaghetti Western?

I'm gonna say "no," since Eastwood directed it, although it definitely shares a lot of thematic elements with Leone's Spaghetti westerns.

BTW, don't feel too bad about not having seen Hoosiers yet. I still haven't sat down and watched Bull Durham start to finish, and that one usually makes any list of "best sports movies evah" too.

[Van]

I've seen Bull Durham, Field Of Dreams and Tin Cup so I think I have the Costner sports movie thing covered.

"Best sports movie evah"? That's easy.

Caddyshack

[Van]

Mace, in all fairness of course you're correct. I haven't seen Hoosiers so I should probably withhold final judgment.

Still, c'mon. Among the adult male population Caddyshack has to be one of the three or four most quoted movies ever, of any genre.

Hardly anybody ever quotes Hoosiers.

[Screw_Michigan]

ND's fans deserve better than Charlie Weis.

No, they don't. Fuck ND.

[Van]

S_M, see how easy that was?

[Screw_Michigan]

I've never seen Hoosiers and I refuse to ever watch it, out of my outright disdain and hatred for anything related to the unbecoming shithole known as the landfill of Indiana. Burning that entire state down to smoldering ashes would be a good start.

[Van]

Okay, so you hate UM and you hate anything to do with Indiana. You hate a lot of shit, obviously.

What do you actually like?

Seriously. It seems that most of the time you mainly rip on things so I'm curious as to what you actually support?

[Screw_Michigan]

Vannie, I do have to admit, there's a couple things I like about Indiana. Cheap(er) booze and no bottle deposits, which I despise. Bars and liquor stores open until 3 AM is always clutch. 32oz Amber Bock drafts for $3 at Madison Oyster Bar in South Bend is cool. And Northern Indiana does have a commuter train that runs into Chicago seven days a week, unlike the idiot politicians in Maryland who haven't made the MARC train that runs from DC to Bawlimore seven days a week.

Since you've been out of the loop for a while, I'll fill you in: I like the DC area teams, living in the District, my alma mater Western Michigan University, the Toledo Lounge in Adams Morgan, and if you ask Goober McTakesitupthePooper, I like MGMT, jizz mopping, Extacsy and working temp jobs. You should be up to speed right now.

And I enjoy watching Ray Lewis destroy opposing offenses.

[RadioFan]

and if you ask Goober McTakesitupthePooper, I like MGMT, jizz mopping, Extacsy and working temp jobs. You should be up to speed right now.

[Goober McTuber]

and if you ask Goober McTakesitupthePooper, I like MGMT, jizz mopping, Extacsy and working temp jobs.

Show me where I ever said you like jizz-mopping. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.

[Vito Corleone]

My biggest disappointments are easy

1. Texas losing in the last second to taco tech after watching Colt drive the field for the go ahead TD.
2. Texas beating Oklahoma only to lose to them on a freaky 3 way tie letting the BCS chose our conference champion
3. Watching Colt McCoy blow away the completion percentage record and still lose the Heisman to a guy he beat head to head on a neutral field
4. Watching two teams Texas beat by a combined 35 points play for the conference championship
5. Watching Oklahoma play in a championship game that we rightly belonged in only to lose by the same margin we beat them by.
6. mtool still has an internet connection thus he is still able to post.
7. Being too damn busy to watch hardly any football this year.

[King Crimson]

As usual, KC beats me to the punch on summing up the Buffs' disappointing season. I don't think anyone expected them to compete for an MNC or anything, but I was thinking 7-8 wins at the beginning of the year. Instead, the team actually seemed to regress from last year. Anything less than 8 wins next year, and Hawk needs to go. Period. Maybe Mike Shanahan is hesitant to get rid of that 35,000-square-foot house he just built and decides to find another job in the area. Hey, I can dream, right?
.

gotta give to Hawk for success on the recruiting trail.....getting verbals from 2 4 star DL/DE's and 2 4 star WR's in the last week. one of the DL's a de-commit from Florida (yes, Florida). Colorado kid, Nick Kasa. if Major comes back 100% and Katoa gets his head on straight CU could be pretty salty on D in a year or so. and i think the new North heavyweight will be whoever out of KU, MU, NU, and CU can man up and play D.

[campinfool]

Biggest for me as a Horn fan is the complete lack of a running game all season. Though McCoy had some nice rushing stats, it would have been nice to have one back or the entire committee of backs break a 1000 yards for the season.

[MuchoBulls]

Did Ray ever replace that blood-soaked suit he threw in an Atlanta dumpster?

RACK!!!

[indyfrisco]

Gotta say the biggest dissapointment was trix not coming in after the fact again. That was fun last time. Guess he learned his lesson.

[TheJON]

Biggest Disappointment of 2008:

TheJON getting beat out of the Board Bitch of the Year title.

No shit, cunt. I even openly campaigned.......2 years in a row.

I can't win board bitch, Iowa can't field a better football team than Iowa State in the minds of Clown fans, and you're still a douchebag. Some things just never change. Ey, mate?

[Mr T]

Georgia
Ohio State
Missouri
LSU
West Virginia
Clemson
Auburn
Wisconsin
Illinois
Tennessee

[Cornhusker]

and i think the new North heavyweight will be whoever out of KU, MU, NU, and CU can man up and play D.

So very true. This is why I like what Pelini is doing.

From NU's Rival site: Linebackers:
"If somebody would've told me (author) Nebraska's starting linebackers in the Gator Bowl would've been walk-ons Colton Koehler and Tyler Wortman, along with Blake Lawrence, there's no way anybody could've predicted they'd help hold C.J. Spiller and James Davis to 43 yards rushing on 19 carries. Head coach Bo Pelini and linebackers coach Mike Ekeler did a masterful job of coaching this group in 2008.

Four scholarship linebackers redshirt-freshmen Will Compton, Alonzo Whaley and Sean Fisher are all expected to compete for playing time this spring. Freshman Kyler Reed has also moved from tight end to linebacker, and he could also be a factor when spring ball starts. Lawrence (soph.) Dillard and Koehler all return, and sophomore LaTravis Washington, freshman Matt Holt and May are also back, giving Ekeler at least 10 quality linebackers to work with in the spring."

I know this drival to most on this board but just from the linebackers NU's defense will be much more athletic and faster for sure.
Pelini KNOWS the secret is to play defense in a conference predicated on spread offenses and has been recruiting fast linebackers that can cover along with a surplus of corners and safeties. The real key is getting pressure with the 4 up front guys and with Suh coming back and what will be 2 excellent D-ends and Pelini's scheme, I like our chances on being really good defensively in the North.