Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

How stupid are these people?

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Bleg / The Day: College Football Preview and Open Thread

The Day: College Football Preview and Open Thread

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Today is “The Day” — that special day when a Floridian who has spent months trudging through the sun-blasted hellscape of a Florida summer exits her air-conditioned home and finds that her glasses don’t immediately fog up and that there is a hint of something in the air that is, if not crispness, exactly, the hint of crispness to come.

Just because The Day is here, that doesn’t mean it won’t reach 95 degrees today, next week or even next month. It may very well be hot enough on Halloween to rot porch-dwelling jack-o-lanterns in less than 12 hours. But we still rejoice in The Day because it signals that summer has broken, like a fever. I’m sure you snow-country people experience your own version of The Day as spring approaches.

This afternoon, my siblings and I will be wolfing down BBQ and swilling beer, then taking our seats at The Swamp to watch the Mighty Gators stomp Kentucky, we hope. What games are y’all watching? Who shall prevail?

Speaking of college football, someone hacked Alabama’s site and altered the entry for Lane Kiffin:

kiffin_idiot

Tee hee.

In case you missed it last night, valued commenter Satby needs some assistance with her rescue animals. She’s almost reached her goal. You can put her over the top by donating here.

Please feel free to discuss whatever.

Reader Interactions

50Comments

  1. 1.

    donnah

    The Day came here in SW Ohio on Thursday, hallelujah! We went from sweltering humidity and pop up thunderstorms to sweet, sweet cool temps and breezy afternoons. No AC, just open windows. Aaahhhh!

    My hope is that the heat is done, but odds are against it being cool for the rest of the season. However, I welcome sweater and cute boot season with open arms.

  2. 2.

    ET

    As a Bama alum all I have to say to that hack is

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    Sometimes a wee bit of harmless mischief is good for the soul.

  3. 3.

    Phylllis

    Gamecocks at 3:30, then Vols vs Sooners this evening so hubs and I can both have a ruined weekend.

    And we’ve experienced ‘the change’ here in SC as well; love it when the humidity breaks and I can go outside without melting.

  4. 4.

    BD of MN

    it’s 38 deg here. I may have to actually put jeans on, or go with the official MN uniform of fall; sweatshirt and shorts…. haven’t quite decided yet…

  5. 5.

    burnspbesq

    No such luck here. September is traditionally the hottest month of the year in SoCal, and the tradition is being upheld. However, no Santa Anas yet, and no major fires, knock wood.

    Fuck zonal marking. Cost Arsenal two points.

  6. 6.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @BD of MN: It was in the 30s here this morning too. This evening, Mr IOL is coming home from Spain where it’s been in the 90s. I may have to put the heat on for him.

  7. 7.

    burnspbesq

    Would be easy to get excited about Duke – Kansas in April. In September, not so much. Could be interesting for passing-game geeks: Duke’s strongest unit is its WRs, while KU’s strongest unit is its DBs.

  8. 8.

    Poopyman

    How do you know that’s a hack?

    I’ll be avoiding my alma mater’s game broadcast because they know when I tune in and then try to kill me through their play. I’ll find something better to do on this cool, soon-to-be-rainy day.

  9. 9.

    JMG

    The Day in Boston is the day in March in which rain does not end in snow. That’s just bitterness talking. The real Day comes in late March or early April when a southwest wind brings warmth rather than a storm.

  11. 11.

    Tommy

    My beloved LSU Tigers are playing the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks. I honestly find this embarrassing. Look I am happy Louisiana-Monroe is going to get a nice paycheck, but outside of our opening game with Wisconsin our next two games were/are against Sam Houston State and Louisiana-Monroe.

    I get the SEC schedule after that is brutal for LSU (currently 3 top ten teams and 4 top 15 overall), but (1) I think you play to the level of your competition and (2) I want to play the best of the best, not some directional schools.

    I know, I know all the other top programs do it. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

  12. 12.

    tesslibrarian

    @Tommy: I agree: just because they all do it doesn’t make it okay, even acknowledging that a team like Troy (coming here to Athens next weekend) can pay for about 4 of their athletic programs for a year with the check they’ll get. There’s something so…primitive about the idea of a smaller school sacrificing the bodies of their student-athletes to a larger school for monetary gain.

    We have errands to run this morning before the UGA-USCe game this afternoon, including finding a cat food our overweight cat will eat that doesn’t cause issues for his skin. The Royal Canin calorie control stuff from the vet makes him dandruffy and itchy (and despite loving to be pet and cuddled, he will start to find being touched uncomfortable, which just makes us all sad), but he now refuses to eat the Orijen we’d been feeding them. His brother doesn’t have an issue with free feeding; he gets his food where his literal big brother can’t easily jump to get it.

    I’ve never had a cat that couldn’t free feed, so this is perplexing. Also the fact that we had him on calorie control for a month, essentially cutting his daily calorie intake in half, and he lost less than half of a pound. I hope the game is not as frustrating as feeding my cuddly boyo.

    edited for clarity

  13. 13.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Waiting for the contractors to come and install a patio door so we can go out on the deck. Having a deck for a month with limited access is not fun. However, these guys are over 1 hour late …

  14. 14.

    burnspbesq

    @Betty Cracker:

    They’re putting up plenty of points so far, albeit against inferior opposition. One change that the new coordinator made that has really worked out well has been to flip Blankeney and McCaffery’s roles. At 6’6″ and 220 with 4.6 speed, Blankeney is a matchup problem out wide (especially since he nearly always gets single coverage from defenses that are geared up to stop Crowder from going off). On paper, McCaffery is a little undersized for a slot receiver in Duke’s system, but he’s turned out to be a surprisingly good blocker as well as an excellent possession receiver inside.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    then taking our seats at The Swamp to watch the Mighty Gators stomp Kentucky, we hope.

    That is no way for a true fan to speak. Here, let me fix that for you:

    “then taking our seats at The Swamp to watch the Mighty Gators stomp the ever living sh!t out of those worthless scum sucking pustules from Kentucky.”

    There is no “,we hope.” about it.

  18. 18.

    Tommy

    @tesslibrarian: Yeah I am not one of those touchy feely dudes. If your t-ball team gets beat by 20 you get beat by 20. Play better next time. But when we beat Sam Houston 56-0 (it could have been way worse) last week that is just wrong. Those two teams have no business being on the same field.

    There’s something so…primitive about the idea of a smaller school sacrificing the bodies of their student-athletes to a larger school for monetary gain.

    A lot of people argue against what I’ve said here (for many reasons I might add). But they NEVER mention what you said above, which is a huge factor to me. We manhandled Sam Houston. In fact I think it is a testament to their teams training that more players were not carted off the field.

  20. 20.

    danielx

    The Day is definitely here in central Indiana….48 degrees this morning and the possibility of seeing the northern lights tonight. Every year there’s one day here where you can say yup, fall has arrived and this is definitely it, since a week ago yesterday I passed a bank thermometer that read 93.

    In other news, nice piece on the passing of a prominent resident of an ancient Scottish town….

    Small Scottish Town Says Farewell To Hamish The Beloved Stray Cat

  21. 21.

    Betty Cracker

    @tesslibrarian: Thank you. When the current streak of Florida victories over Kentucky began, my classmate Emmitt Smith and I were UF students. That’s how long the streak is. That’s how fucking old Emmitt and I are. No way am I gonna jeopardize that!

  22. 22.

    Schlemazel [was Schlemizel till NotMax taught me proper yiddish!]

    @BD of MN:
    We sat out all night near Glenwood hoping that the Northern Lights we were promised would be spectacular would appear. Nothing. Not a flash of a flicker of a blip. Even with sweatshirts & a blanket its get cold as a well diggers ankle out there after 4 hours.

    In my usual upbeat manner I was reminded of the line from “Groundhogs Day”:
    “I’ll give you a winter prediction: It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be grey, and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life.”

    We did have a good time waiting though.

  23. 23.

    tesslibrarian

    @Betty Cracker: I understand not even taking Kentucky for granted. You never know.

    I’m old enough that we started paying for our season tickets the senior year our now-offensive coordinator was QB. Every time I see him on tv, I realize how old I am, though he works in the sun, with teenagers, and has 5 kids, so his aging process, while not at this-job-is-destroying-him (aka Barack Obama) levels, it’s certainly not average. Still…damn.

  24. 24.

    Schlemazel [was Schlemizel till NotMax taught me proper yiddish!]

    @tesslibrarian:
    I assume it works the same as all big athletic conferences, it attaches a hose to its supporters and extracts as much intellect and money out of them as it can. The SEC just seems to do it better than most.

    That said I am a huge fan of a couple of college sport teams, I am just aware when they try to force me into the milking stall.

    @Tommy:
    Big or small its always about the money. The kids are interchangeable & disposable. I know I am the most cynical person here (just ask Omnes) but it saddens me to see the way universities and coaches deal with these things. They would have to be super dense not to know tht some number of kids playing days will be at least limited and probably ended in the meat grinder of these mismatches. SI wish the ‘adults’ in charge would step in but there is money to be made all the way down

  25. 25.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Today’s Fighting Fashion Nightmares report: The Cowboys of the University of Wyoming visit Tracktown. Meh, another lopsided confrontation. Pardon me while I yawn.

  27. 27.

    Josie

    That day came for us in South Texas today – rain and a break in the sweltering temperatures. What a relief. Our air conditioner had been struggling to cool the house to 78 degrees. Last night suddenly felt positively chilly.

  28. 28.

    tesslibrarian

    @Schlemazel [was Schlemizel till NotMax taught me proper yiddish!]: I know of several UGA fans who have discussed not renewing their tickets anymore, but none who actually have decided to go the StubHub-only route. If you go long enough, you get to know the people around you. We’ve watched lots of kids grow up around our seats, socialize with the guys behind us and in front of us, get to know their friends and family who go to the games. Tie up that amount of community, even for a few weekends per year, and yeah, you can funnel the money right out of people. We were lucky when we got our lower-level tickets; Donnan was coach, and things weren’t going well.

  30. 30.

    Schlemazel [was Schlemizel till NotMax taught me proper yiddish!]

    @Poopyman:
    The Mrs. saw something on FB that said it was going to be the best thing ever so we trooped out to watch. I found the NOAA site this AM, far too late. Thanks though.

    Just proves I was right when I think what the F in FB stands for.

  31. 31.

    Schlemazel [was Schlemizel till NotMax taught me proper yiddish!]

    @tesslibrarian:
    We have been going to the womens hockey games for 1 years, all of them the last 5 & I know what you mean.We have some great friends there, some we make a point of seeing in the off season. I love the way the game is played (the NHL has not fucked up the womens game like it has the mens – YET!).

    I am painfully aware that to the dear old U and to the powers that be I am just a Gurnsey to be milked. I have gotten to know a few player parents & I believe they treat the girls about as well as they can – they demand above required GPA (you sit if you don’t make it) have a great graduation rate (our fav player is headed to medical school so not a lot of dummys) and injuries are cared for above what I believe many D-I high-profile program. But I do worry since I know a couple who the U provided repairs for knees & shoulders after their 4 years were up & on star that has some sort of hip problem nobody will talk about that limped through a season & then limped through the Olympics. I worry that when they hot 40 or 50 they may regret pushing themselves the way they did.

  32. 32.

    EdinNJ

    I’ll watch fellow B1G newcomer Maryland ruin John Cole’s Saturday and then it’s off to tailgate at HighPoint Solutions Stadium for tonight’s Rutgers game against that team from Pennsylvania.

  35. 35.

    jake the antisoshul soshulist

    @Tommy:
    As a proud alumni of a directional school, you can kiss my directional ass.

    Today my WESTERN Kentucky Hilltoppers play their oldest rivals, the MIDDLE Tennessee Blue Raiders.
    WKU played its first college football game against Middle Tennessee on October 10, 1914. The rivalry is
    often referred to as “60 miles of hate”. All I can say is go Tops, beat the Blue Raiders.

  36. 36.

    benw

    The Day came last week here on Long Island. Just as the kids started school. Georgia Tech at noon. Buzzzzzzzz

  39. 39.

    lurker dean

    it’s really awesome to see people still giving to satby even though the goal has been reached, certainly a little extra for unforeseen issues or even for just a little extra wiggle room would be great. i sometimes get so depressed with the lack of humanity we see on a daily basis, it’s nice to see a concrete example of people caring about each other.

  45. 45.

    The Sailor

    Monday night should be interesting here. John Cole’s favorite losers are playing my favorite losers.

  46. 46.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @raven: What a bunch of assholes. “Protect their brand”, my ass. More Christianist shit determined to shove their idiocy on everyone…and if we don’t accept it with a smile, we’re “persecuting” them.

  47. 47.

    benw

    @raven: I purged a whole bunch of undergrad shit the last time me and the family moved. Sayonara 3.5″ floppys full of college essays! 21-7 Jackets!

  49. 49.

    jame

    Laugh if you like, Kiffin is paid $680,000 a year, with more to come in the last year of his contract. Geez.

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