Preseason coaches polls are stupid...and other random musings

- The first USA Today Coaches Poll was published last Friday...four weeks before any actual games have been played.

Long time readers of this blog (all four of you) know that I have made my feelings about preseason polls clear in the past. I understand Lindy's, Athlon, Phil Steele, etc. publishing them...they drive conversation and (presumably) increase magazine sales. The difference with this one is that this poll actually makes up 1/3 of the BCS formula. That is absurd.

Look, the Coaches poll is stupid in its own right. Coaches know their own team, and maybe the ones on their schedule. There is no way they are familiarizing themselves with the rest of the teams in the country, at least not enough to be ranking them intelligently. And, yes, I know that head coaches aren't actually filling out the ballots (which raises a whole other argument)...but I don't think assistants are really paying that much more attention. They're just voting for whomever Herbstreit, Corso, and May tell them to (I don't think anybody is paying attention to who Dr. Lou wants them to vote for...if they were, Notre Dame and South Carolina would play for the MNC every year).

But...a PRESEASON poll? Seriously? And not only a pre-SEASON poll...in many cases, it's a pre-PRACTICE poll! As of the time this poll was published, the Dawgs had not had a full-contact practice yet, and we were one of the first teams to start practicing. How in the world is ANYBODY supposed to rank teams at that point, especially coaches who obviously have their own team as their focus? Who knows which freshmen are going to step up, or how teams are going to adjust to new coaches and schemes, or how badly outgoing players are going to be missed?

Again, if the poll was just for fun then I don't care...but this is ONE THIRD OF THE FORMULA THAT DECIDES THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. And, unfortunately, where you start can have a lot of bearing on where you finish. Take Boise State, for instance...they start this year ranked 5th. They start the season with Virginia Tech at a neutral site, and then for the rest of the year they play NOBODY. Because they are starting the season ranked so high, they only have to win their one real game, and they are virtually guaranteed of a spot in the championship game. For that matter, since they are ranked so high, they could conceivably LOSE that game (the only one on their schedule), run the table the rest of the way, and be sitting at 12-1 at the end of the year with the idiots at ESPN touting them as real contenders for the national championship.

I'm not a BCS-hater...I'm not a playoff proponent (the only way I want a playoff is if it's GUARANTEED to be no more than 4 teams). But something has to be done about this 33.3% of the formula.

Two suggestions:
1) Start the poll later. Wait 4-6 weeks before the first poll. By that time, we at least have SOME idea of what the landscape is. I would even support waiting later, but I know that would never happen.

2) Take the coaches poll out of the equation, for all of the reasons I stated before. I would support replacing it with the Legends Poll, which is voted on by a group of former coaches. Every week, they send DVDs to all of their members of all of the games played by teams who are likely to be ranked. After they watch the games (supposedly...hey, no system is perfect), the voters get together on a weekly call and rank the teams. They also publish how they voted every week, a bit of transparency that you only get in the final week of the USA Today poll.

Some other quick musings...

- I was originally going to talk about how it's been almost exclusively good news out of fall camp. Then...today happened. So never mind.

Smith and Samuel being out for any length of time is especially worrisome...as we are installing Coach Grantham's new defense, every possible contributor on defense needs to be getting as many reps as possible.

I hate fall practice.

- It was great to have LIVE football on my television last night, even if it was a crappy NFL preseason game. Congrats to Geno Atkins...former Dawg picked up 6 tackles and a sack. That's how you make an impact!

- If you are looking for a great Braves website, check out TalkingChop.com. Superb content, updated several times a day...and rather than the idiotic commenters you get on AJC blogs (First!!), you get stuff like this, from "Lennox" in celebration of J-Hey's 21st birthday:

Did I ever tell you about the time Jason Heyward took me out to go get a drink with him? We go off looking for a bar and we can’t find one. Finally Heyward takes me to a vacant lot and says, “Here we are.” We sat there for a year and a half and sure enough someone constructs a bar around us. The day they opened we ordered a shot, drank it, and then burned the place to the ground. Heyward yelled over the roar of the flames, “Always leave things the way you found ’em!”

Something about the image of that last sentence had me cracking up all day...

Speaking of the Braves, they seem to have righted the ship in the last week or so. They are really reminding me of the early 90's Braves...ridiculously good pitching, and just enough timely hitting to get by. I still wish we would have gotten one more big bat at the trade deadline...I think we're one bat away from being a real World Series contender.

But, these days, all I really ask from the Braves is that they keep it interesting until fall practice starts, and they have certainly done that. Anything more than that is just gravy.

- If you were wondering why so many (myself included) started turning on Brett FaRve even before he started waffling like John Kerry every summer...look no further than this post.

- Summer TV continues to be TONS better than it was when I was growing up. Now that LOST is gone, Friday Night Lights and Mad Men are the best two shows on television, in my opinion (coming from someone who, for some reason, has never watched Breaking Bad).

Speaking of LOST...as a fan of both that show and Weezer, well...this pretty much made my day.

We interrupt this hiatus to announce another hiatus...

OK, as you can tell, I have gotten off of whatever posting “schedule” that I was ever on…sorry (again) for the intermittent posts. I could give you a long list of excuses, but instead I will just say that I probably won’t be back on a schedule until after the first of the year.

Here’s what I expect will happen, as far as future posts: I will almost definitely have a reaction to whomever the Dawgs get as our next defensive coordinator. I will certainly post some sort of recap to the Independence Bowl, and hopefully a season recap as well. If any big recruiting news breaks, I will likely react to that here as well.

After that, I plan on doing the same type of posting for American Idol and Lost as I did last year…consider yourself warned!

So, here are all of the posts I have been saving up for the past few weeks to tide you over until I get off my lazy butt and start posting regularly again…I’ll warn you ahead of time to pack a lunch. Even by my standards, this is gonna be a long one.

THE TECH GAME

- Maybe the most satisfying win of Coach Richt’s tenure, at least for me. Others may have been more important (the SECCG wins, Auburn ’02, etc), but there is nothing more fun than beating the gnats when they are just SURE that it can’t happen. Add in the fact that so many of them were such turds after the passing of UGA VII, and what happened last year, and the fact that this is supposed to be THE year for them while it’s certainly a down year for us…”sweet” doesn’t even begin to describe it.

I also work with a bunch of Techies, and it’s amazing how much better I feel about having to interact with them on a daily basis now vs. how I felt for the past year. Many jokes have been made about how that win “set the universe right” or whatever…there is at least a kernel of truth in that for Dawg fans. I spent the last year simmering with rage every time I passed one of them in the hall…now we can all be friends again. Sort of. Until next year.

- And while it may not have been the MOST important game of Richt’s career, I don’t think you can overemphasize the fact that this win was definitely important. As bad as this season has gone (and a 7-5 season with a blowout loss to a mediocre UT team and a home loss to Kentucky is putrid), can you imagine what the fallout would be from 6-6 with 2 straight losses to the gnats? This game, plus the postgame decisions that showed that he was serious about fixing what went wrong this year, went a long way in restoring confidence in Coach Richt that some had lost.

- Many have asked where that team was all year, especially the running game. I think the resurgence of the running game started about 8 games into the season, and it can be attributed to two factors:

• Stabilization of the offensive line. Once Sturdivant went down in the opener, the o-line was in a state of flux until around the Tennessee Tech game. Once the current lineup was settled, things really began opening up.

• Caleb and Washaun got healthy. I think this was the biggest factor. Washaun is a true freshman who missed a lot of camp due to injury, so there was a definite learning curve. Caleb battled hamstring problems and then a broken jaw early in the season. Once these two got healthy enough to share the bulk of the carries (and send Samuel, God bless him, off to learn the linebacker position), the running game became a real threat.

- Overall, it was a best case scenario for me…we beat Tech, but it is not enough to keep from having to make changes. Which brings me to my next point…


THE COACHING CHANGES

- I let you know how I feel about the ongoing search here.

- As far as the actual move goes, I think it absolutely had to happen. There was no way to justify the steady decline in defensive output over the last four years, beginning with the Sugar Bowl debacle against West Virginia. I was still worried that Coach Richt would still find enough excuses to keep his friend around for another year, so I was very happy to see him make the tough move.

And once that decision was made, he decided to give whomever the new DC is the ability to hire his own staff by sending Jancek and Fabris away as well. This was less of a no-brainer for me, especially Fabris and his history of developing NFL-quality defensive ends, but it was probably the right move. Part of what doomed the Tony Franklin experiment at Auburn was the fact that Tubbs didn’t let Franklin bring in his own guys, and the old staff just never bought into his philosophy. If we’re going to go after a big-time DC, then I think a total house cleaning was necessary.

All that being said, I want to publicly thank all three of these guys for their hard work and efforts during their time in Athens. I didn’t always agree with the decisions that they made, but I never doubted that they were trying their best to bring a championship to the Dawgs.

- A couple of interesting notes that have come out in the last couple of days:

• Nickell Roby, the cornerback out of Frostproof, FL that I think is a MUST get for this class, expressed some concerns right after the decision was made to let Martinez go. Martinez was the coach who recruited him, was going to be his position coach, etc. Robey took his official visit to Athens over the weekend and had some interesting things to say ($), including that Coach Richt told him he was going to hire “somebody that I like”. That sounds to me like maybe Coach Richt might already have an idea who that person will be, especially since…
• Several reports out of the GALA banquet this past weekend are saying that Coach Richt “has his man”.
  

I have no idea what any of that means, especially in light of the fact that Kirby Smart was supposedly “in the building” over the weekend. I stand by the fact that I would be shocked (happy, but shocked) if Smart leaves Alabama, but the timing is interesting.

Oh, and also…somebody needs to take Twitter away from David Pollack. If you are following him, you know what I am talking about.

- One more quick note on the Dawgs…the Outback really screwed us by taking Auburn. If not for that, we would most likely be in either Atlanta or Nashville, instead of 5PM on a Monday on ESPN2 in Shreveport.


NON-DAWG SPORTS STUFF

- Did the Falcons build their training facility on some sort of Indian burial ground or something? We are rapidly approaching having to hear for ANOTHER year about how the Falcons have never had back-to-back winning seasons.

How has this promising season gone wrong? Let us count the ways:

• Matt Ryan, Michael Turner, Harry Douglas, Harvey Dahl, Sam Baker, Jerious Norwood, Todd McClure. All offensive starters, and all have missed significant time due to injury.

• John Abraham has been MIA all season.

• Jason Elam has Steve Sax Disease (or Mark Wohlers Disease for you whippersnappers who don’t remember Steve Sax).

• The defensive secondary is atrocious, just like we all knew it probably would be.

Add all of that up, and what do you get? Probably 8-8, and that’s fairly amazing when you take another look at that list.

- I have no idea what the Braves are doing in their bullpen. We have replaced Soriano and Gonzales with Wagner and Saito…basically the same amount of money, but about 20 years older combined.

Wagner, in particular, concerns me…he’s 38 years old, coming off of Tommy John surgery. It always concerns me when these tiny little power pitchers start having arm trouble. They just have to produce so much torque to get the velocity that they are used to. Would not be at all surprised to see his arm fall off about halfway through the season. Maybe Lowe becomes the closer if we can’t find a taker in the trade market?

Still think the Braves are one big bat away from being contenders, but blowing up their bullpen really doesn’t help.

- I know most of you probably don’t care, but the Hawks are really good, and tons of fun to watch.

It looks like the light has finally come on for Josh Smith…he no longer fancies himself a three point shooter, and is instead going to the basket, attacking the offensive glass, and will probably make the All-NBA defensive team this year with his shot-blocking and skill at getting his hand into passing lanes.

If Jamal Crawford continues what he’s done so far, he will walk away with the Sixth Man award. Seems like he puts up 20 points off the bench every night. And we got him for Speedy Claxton and Acie Law?!?! BWAHAHAHAHA!!

Speaking of things most of you don’t care about…

NON-DAWG, NON-SPORTS STUFF

When I do get back on a regular posting schedule, I will be in all-TV, all the time mode. In fact, many of you who may have found this blog via various Dawgs football sites will probably have a whole different opinion of me once the winter TV season starts.

In that spirit…

Top 5 favorite returning shows I have been watching:

1) Mad Men. I’m counting this one even though the season is over now. Terrific storytelling, amazing writing, perfect acting performances…if you have not been watching this show, do yourself a favor and find copies of the first two seasons and enjoy television as an art form. This season was probably not as fantastic as season 2, but still better than 99% of what else is on.

2) The Office. Still makes me laugh harder than any other show, but can also pull off an episode like “Niagara Falls” that has as many heart-tugging moments as laugh-out-loud funny ones. The best ensemble comedy since Cheers.

3) Fringe. The “weird case of the week” stuff gets sort of pointless and monotonous sometimes (although no show has more cool gross stuff on a weekly basis), but when this show does shows like last week where they focus on the “big picture” story, it’s really superb stuff. Not to mention the fact that those episodes usually focus on the Emmy-worthy performances being turned in by John Noble as the heartbreaking and eccentric Dr. Bishop. Plus, it’s always good to have Pacey around, isn’t it?

4) Big Bang Theory. I just picked this one up about halfway through last season, but I have gone back and watched the entire series. Just when I thought the three camera sitcom with a laugh track was dead, this show comes along and consistently cracks me up. The only drawback is that the laugh track is overused, and it’s a little distracting. But the writing and acting more than make up for it, and Sheldon Cooper is in my top 5 favorite TV characters right now (the others, in case you were wondering: John Locke, Benjamin Linus, Betty Draper, and…Ryan Seacrest).

5) Dollhouse. I know we should consider ourselves lucky that we even got a second season of this Joss Whedon production, considering the abysmal ratings. But the geniuses at Fox really outdid themselves by pairing it with “Til Death” on a Friday night. Regardless, this season (especially the last few episodes) have been television at its best: funny (Topher Brink is hilarious), thought provoking, action filled. And the cast, especially Olivia Williams (Adelle), Enver Gjokaj (Victor), and Fran Kranz (the aforementioned Mr. Brink) have been amazing, along with superb guests Summer Glau and the always fantastic Alan Tudyk.

Honorable mention: The Mentalist, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, Amazing Race, How I Met Your Mother


Top 4 favorite NEW shows I am watching:

1) Glee. Now THESE are my people. I watch this show feeling like I am watching home movies. As I’ve said before, I grew up a performing arts geek, and so much of this show is dead-on.

This show doesn’t feature great writing, subtle plot development, or any of the stuff I normally look for in a television show. It’s just FUN. Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester is…well, I can’t think of an adjective that would accurately describe my love for Sue Sylvester. It’s also fun to watch this cast of virtual unknowns (most of them had little to no prior television experience) get a chance to show off every week. And, man, do they show off…the musical performances are outstanding and are prominently featured on my MP3 player.

2) Modern Family. Best new comedy of the season. By FAR. I’m still cracking up about Fizzbo the Clown three weeks later. (People are GOING to stare. They’re not used to seeing only one clown in a car).

3) V. I was looking forward to this show more than any other one besides the very frustrating FlashForward. So far, so good, other than the incredibly annoying and clichéd “Teenage Moron” storyline. Alan Tudyk shows up on this one, too, and is his usual awesome self, as well as Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet from Lost) and the perfectly cast Morena Baccarin as the stylish, sexy, slightly murderous and evil leader of The Visitors. Tons of good stuff here, with nods to philosophy, religion, psychology, fascism, etc, etc. I think this one is going to get really good once it comes back from the long winter break, at which point it will be paired with LOST on the ABC schedule.
4) White Collar. Continues a great run of new shows on USA (Burn Notice, Psych, etc). I love how the shows on USA have a kind of “network TV in the ‘80s” feel to them. This is just another fun little show that they are getting really good at producing…likable characters, witty writing, nothing too challenging. The perfect show to tape on Friday night and then watch over breakfast on Saturday.

(Dis)honorable mention: FlashForward. This one has been a big disappointment, but still I keep watching. I feel like maybe the concept is too big to handle on a TV show. I keep thinking of all the ramifications of a blackout wherein the entire world gets a glimpse of the future, and all the cool things they could do with that, and instead...I am just waiting for something to actually HAPPEN. Not to mention that the lead is played by Joseph Fiennes in one of the most excruciatingly boring performances I have ever seen.


- On a semi-related topic, have any of you been watching Sons of Anarchy? If so, would you recommend going back and watching the first couple of seasons?


- One more note…if you are looking for a good book, and your tastes lean towards the slightly geeky (as mine obviously do), I strongly recommend the “Song of Ice and Fire” series by George R.R. Martin. There have been four written so far, and I am about halfway through the fourth one. I would describe it as either Narnia for grownups or a slightly more modern Lord of the Rings.

There is also production being done on a possible HBO series based on the books that I think has the potential to be phenomenal, so by reading the books you can actually be ahead of the curve!


OK, and with that…I am probably gone until the Dawgs DC is hired, unless something comes up that I REALLY want to write about.

Merry Christmas to all of you, and thanks for reading!

See?

Told you I was busy...sorry, but the real world is taking precedence right now.

Real quick thoughts:

- Happy with almost all reports out of Dawgs fall camp so far, except that the injury bug is biting us a little right now. Still no major injuries, and virtually all of the walking wounded should be back by week one. This is pretty typical fall camp stuff, nothing major.

Feel free to peruse the blog list to your right...David Hale and The Red and Black have done a phenomenal job with newsy news, and Bernie, The Georgia Sports Blog, DawgSports, MikeinValdosta, Rex Robinson, et al are here to fulfill all your opinion and blogging needs.

- I'm afraid to mention the local baseball team, because every time I do they go in the tank. So...SHHHHHH...

- In TV news, Mad Men starts Sunday night. I don't know what else I can tell you about this show, other than if you're not watching you're missing one of the greatest shows of our era (apologies to Tebow, the GPOOE).

My schedule doesn't get any better for the next couple of weeks...once the season starts I plan on being a lot more active in the blogosphere.

GO DAWGS!!

Some quick thoughts on a very busy day

Don't know how much I'll be able to update today...work will be occupying most of my thoughts and time.

- First of all, I don't know if I've actually mentioned it here yet, but Dawgbone is back with a vengeance. Make sure you stop by there at least once a day...it is the one-stop shop for all Dawg updates. New address is http://www.thedawgbone.com/, so update your bookmarks accordingly.

I also would like to thank them for adding me to their blogroll and updates...after consistently seeing about 50 visitors a day for as long as I have been tracking, my visits jumped to 400 yesterday. So welcome to any new readers....hopefully you will be entertained by my ramblings and rantings enough to stick around.

- FINALLY the offseason is over, as practice officially starts today. There are several great reads from the usual suspects as to what to expect as practice starts....feel free to peruse the links to your right, being careful to avoid my geektastic TV tastes.

(Although, guys, I might suggest checking out Shan's latest contribution...they just don't make secretaries like they used to)

- And now that the offseason is over, I can finally talk about how smooth an offseason it was without feeling like I might jinx it. Not a single arrest and every recruit except for one is on campus and starting practice today. The players and coaches are all saying the right things, demonstrating both a team-first attitude and a general sense of being wholly unsatisfied with last year's results. There's no overwhelming preseason hype this year to distract both players and the fanbase.

All in all, I think things may be setting up for a very special season. I am most excited to see what Joe Cox is going to do with his opportunity. I have been a huge supporter of Matt Stafford, but I am already more of a FAN of Joe Cox. I love the guy's attitude, his swagger, how much he obviously loves to be a Bulldog. Check out this pic, my favorite one of The Celebration...look how pumped up he is, and this is when he knows there is almost no chance of him even being able to see one snap on the field:

And I think people forget that when he came out of Independence High in Charlotte (as an undefeated quarterback, by the way) he was the #7 rated pro style quarterback in the country, according to Rivals. He has skills...not the off-the-chart tools that Stafford has, but he's not Tereshinski, either. I think he will at least be able to throw an out pattern.

And another thing...I think his skill set actually sets up BETTER for Mike Bobo's offensive philosophy. Think about what kind of quarterback Bobo was...accurate passer, good decision maker. Wasn't asked to do too much other than put the ball in the hands of his playmakers in a position where they can make plays. If Bobo can just design an offense around Cox's skillset the way Donnan did with him in '97, I think our offense can be very effective.

- It's always a conundrum for me once fall camp starts...I'm jonesing for news and I can't wait to start getting practice reports, but I'm also terrified to read any news. You almost never get any really GOOD news out of training camp. Only thing I want to read is that there are no injuries, and the execution looks sharp.

- And now for the Braves post mortem....stick a fork in this team, they are dead. At least they stayed relatively competitive until football practice started.

I don't think this team is far away from being a real contender. I think the offseason focus should be to bring one more big bat to the lineup...I think that was truly all we were missing this year. The pitching has been great, for the most part, and there are a lot of good hitters in the lineup. There was just nobody who provided any consistent power, nobody in the lineup who scared the opposition.

Hopefully, Wren will be given the financial support necessary to make one big move...I would love for the Braves to be a contender at least one more time before Chipper rides off into the sunset.

All right, that's all I got for now...I'm going to be really quiet this afternoon, hoping to hear the sounds of pads popping, coaches yelling, and players puking. Ahhh...the sounds of the first day of practice.

GO DAWGS!!!!

Something else to help pass the time till kickoff...

Season 3 of Mad Men, one of the best shows on television, starts back on August 16...here is a piece that Yahoo did (pulled from Basket of Kisses, THE site if you are a fan of the show) on the Top 10 most shocking moments of the first two seasons.

Obviously, spoiler alert, but if you haven't been watching this show, go now and watch the first two seasons (both available on DVD)...watching this piece just reminded me of how incredible the first two seasons of this show have been:

Countdown to Season 3: The 10 Most Shocking Moments from 'Mad Men' @ Y! TV

h/t to Basket of Kisses

Somehow, I've always known I was special...

This week, I found out that I share a birthday with both Chuck Norris and Don Draper.

Why do I suddenly feel like Danny Devito's character in Twins? The one who all of the leftover DNA got dumped into?

What I've been watching

Well, we have reached the midseason break for TV, and there is NOTHING on now, so now is as good a time as any to deliver on the long ago promised TV report, I guess.

I am actually listening to the latest LOSTcast on ODI right now as I type this...less than a month to go before LOST comes back!!

I watch a LOT of TV (thank you, DVR!), so this is going to be a long one...

So, without further adieu, here are my thoughts on what I've been watching this season, organized by what night the show airs...feel free to chime in with comments!

SUNDAY:
The Amazing Race: I've been watching this show for about 6 seasons now, and I was pretty disappointed with this season. It was kind of boring, I thought.There weren't really any teams that I absolutely HATED...although I did despise one half of the Terrence/Sarah matchup. Any of you who watched could probably tell me which half...Terrence. What a needy, whiny, childish little twerp. Constantly had to be told how good he was doing, while doing nothing but criticize Sarah, continually telling Sarah to SLOW DOWN so they could be together...hey, dude, you're in a RACE!!! Ugh. They did provide one of my favorite moments of the season, though, with this little Freudian exchange:

Terrence: Who's my girl?
Sarah: You are...I mean I AM!!

HA!

Only other team I really didn't like were the Divorcees, but they at least provided the fun of trying to figure out how they were going to royally screw up every week. I've never seen a team have such a hard time READING THE FREAKING CLUE. Every week, they would start out saying, "We learned on the last task to take the time to read the clue and really pay attention," and the next thing you know they were bumbling off in the wrong direction again.

Speaking of bumbling...how 'bout those "Frat Boys?" First of all, they unfortunately were like most of the "frat boys" that I've known...the fact that they had to keep referring to themselves as "Frat Boys," and talk about how manly they are, and how much beer they drink, and how they can't do "girly" tasks like ironing or dancing, etc...gee, guys, overcompensate much? By far the worst team to ever make the Top 3, at least as long as I have been watching. Every week they seemed to benefit from some other teams mistake and squeak by, never more so than in the next-to-last episode. We've seen a lot of huge mistakes over the years, but losing your money and passports in the middle of Russia the way Toni and Dallas did has to rank as the biggest and most fatal.

In the end, Nick and Starr ended a DOMINANT season by winning the $1M in the most unsurprising ending since the Yankees swept the Padres in the '98 World Series. At least Starr was hot.

Desperate Housewives: Yes, I watch this show...what of it? I pretend it's only because my wife makes me, but I actually enjoyed this season, after totally losing interest last season. The writers made a great decision to shake things up by moving ahead five years. It really made some characters and situations interesting again that had grown stagnant. Let's break it down couple by couple:

Gabby/Carlos: Consistently my second-favorite married couple on TV (behind Coach and Tami Taylor on Friday Night Lights). The Carlos-is-blind story could have been really dumb and over the top, but I think they have done a good balancing act with it...there have been some humorous moments, but they haven't lost sight of the tragedy that losing your sight would be. Plus, Eva Longoria is hot, no matter how hard they tried to convince us otherwise.

Bree/Orson: Orson is the star of this pairing, in my opinion...he steals every scene he's in.

Susan/Mike/Jackson: Blech. I can't stand Susan, and I try to avoid any scenes that involve her. Annoying, selfish, immature, nagging hag.

Lynnette/Tom: One of the most realistic couples on TV. They go through a lot of conflicts/arguments, and I don't CONSISTENTLY agree with either of them...from week to week, they take turns making sense, and I think that's pretty much the way it works.

Dave/Edie: Kudos go to Neal McDonough...it's been pretty obvious for a while now where this storyline was headed (he's here for revenge on Mike/Susan for the car crash that killed his family), yet he has still managed to create a compelling character that can give you the creeps and invoke sympathy at the same time.

Mad Men: Look, I can't say it enough...WATCH THIS SHOW. Here, I even found a great deal on season one for you. This show is pretty close to perfect television. Superbly and subtly written, wonderfully acted, and on top of everything else, very beautiful to look at. This past season, Matt Weiner did a masterful job at adding layer after layer to the main characters, especially Betty Draper (January Jones). So much fun watching her become her own woman after being a doormat for all of season 1.
And Don's backstory...well, this quote pretty much sums it up:
"I have been watching my life. It’s right there. I keep scratching at it, trying to get into it. I can’t."
Wow.
Seriously...WATCH THIS SHOW. Have I steered you wrong before?

MONDAY:
Chuck: Sure, the primary storylines of Chuck as the reluctant spy/agent and the "Will they or won't they" romance between Chuck and the gorgeous Sarah are entertaining. But it's the ensemble cast that make this one of the most consistently funny shows on television. Morgan, Lester, Jeff, Captain Awesome, Anna...all hilarious, well-defined characters. I think this show really hit its stride this season, after a strike-shortened season 1.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: This show even manages to make Brian Austin Green cool again. I am a huge geek for the Terminator universe, so of course I love this show. I just wish John Connor would start acting more like the savior of humanity and less like a typical whiny teenager. Summer Glau, on the other hand, is a gorgeous killing machine. She does a good job of portraying the human/robot duality of the Terminator models, and her delivery is pitch perfect.

I wasn't on board with the "Riley" storyline until the twist at the end...now I'm interested.

Heroes: Ugh. Where to start? First of all, I love this show, and I really WANT it to be good. But this season has been a trainwreck of epic proportions. I often find myself wondering if the writers are actually WATCHING the show. I have no idea what the motivations are for ANY of the characters any more, and I don't see how the actors can either. One week Sylar is evil, the next he's just misunderstood, the next he's PRETENDING to be evil, then he's back to evil again. All with little to no explanation as to why, at least not one that makes sense. I mean, was it Angela's idea to pretend to be his mother? Then why was Arthur going along with it from the minute Sylar showed up at Primatech? Would it not have better served his purposes to let Sylar know that Angela was lying in order to turn him against her? How come the first time Sylar tried to kill Elle, her electricity knocked him out, but the next time he was able to pull it off without a hitch? Once Hiro went back in time and took the catalyst himself, shouldn't that have created an alternate timeline in which Claire never even knew what the catalyst was? And why did they keep saying that everybody's powers manifested themselves during the eclipse in Season 1? That is completely false...Claire has had her power since she was a baby, Nathan got his when he was driving down the road before the accident that took his wife's ability to walk, etc.

ENOUGH. I could go on and on (as I'm sure you can tell). Do they not have anybody on the writing staff who is paying attention? Don't they know that the geeks (like myself) who are their target audience are NOTORIOUS for noticing obvious gaps in story logic and continuity like this?

Good news is that Bryan Fuller is coming back to the show later this season...maybe he can inject some sort of order to the writer's room. This season started with a bang, but every week since then has seemed like the writers are just throwing as much random stuff on the screen as possible and saying, "How about THIS? This is cool, right?" Well, yeah, it is...it just doesn't make any sense.

***UPDATE****
This is from TelevisionWithoutPity.com...a more detailed version of my rant:

Peter: I hate to say it, but Peter was one of the most consistent characters this chapter. While many of the choices he made were moronic -- deciding that the only way to stop his brother from making a decision in the future was to murder him in cold blood; deciding that taking Sylar's power was the best way to help the world, which resulted in him murdering his brother in the future and almost doing the same to his mother in the present -- he was focused on preventing the future from containing millions of people with artificially-given powers, and, in pursuit of that end, stopping his father once he turned up. But the self-righteousness combined with the "acting"? Tough to take.

Nathan: Ugh. First off, a technical point I've mentioned before: I assumed, when Linderman appeared after Nathan miraculously recovered from his mortal wounds, that he was responsible for the mysterious happening. Only later we learned that it was Maury projecting an image of Linderman, so how did Nathan recover? Leaving that aside, Nathan was the most irritatingly wishy-washy, spineless character this season produced, as he allowed himself to be led around like a dog on a leash by both Tracy and his father who TRIED TO HAVE HIM KILLED AND WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS WIFE'S PARALYSIS. And it looks like he's going to be the biggest player in the next chapter, so I hope he at least commits hard to evil, because otherwise? Zzzzz.

Angela: Oh, Lord. So this episode reveals that she knew Sylar wasn't her son, but she thought she could manipulate him into doing her bidding. Let's think about that. For one, what did she need him for? Just to be a Company agent? She didn't even know about Arthur at that point, so it hardly seems worth it. On top of that, let's recall, she sacrificed an innocent girl just to feed him. At the time, it seemed like she did so out of desire to care for and protect her son, but now we know it was just a cold-blooded murder. Not only that, but she didn't know that Sylar would learn to control his "hunger," so how many people would she have ended up feeding to him? The season wanted us to believe that Angela was leading the righteous party here, when in fact she was the most awful stealth villain of them all. Great job!

Hiro: Could effectively have stayed out of the season altogether. First, out of boredom, he managed to single-handedly cause not one but both halves of the formula to fall into Pinehearst's hands. Then he stabbed Ando with a fake sword, did a drug trip that distracted NeoIsaac enough to get him killed, turned into a ten-year-old, and lost the catalyst inside of five minutes after he took it from his dying mother. Yes, this episode finally gave him something positive to do. What was the first twelve's excuse?

Arthur: Would have had more depth if he'd been drawn by Looney Tunes. But this episode brings up an interesting point: Knox and Flint rebelled because they didn't want tons of other people to have powers, which would make them less special and less relatively powerful. Why wouldn't Arthur, a paranoid murderer, share that sentiment? And what had he told Knox and Flint to get them on his side originally? I realize I'm looking for meaning from a character who made Peter and Mohinder's line readings look good by comparison...wait, that's it! I've stumbled on the point of Arthur!

Sylar: Ye gods. So Sylar takes Angela at her word and believes that she and Arthur are his parents. Let's think about all the ways this turned out not to make sense. First off, in the future Peter saw, Sylar still believed they were brothers. Surely in four years he would have discovered that wasn't the case. Secondly, when Sylar showed up to Pinehearst, the first thing Arthur did was to tell Mohinder that Sylar was his son. Do you grant that in that very short period and with all the chaos of Peter running around that Arthur read Sylar's mind and decided to roll with the lie that Angela told him? I think it's highly dubious, especially since an attractive alternative would simply be to tell Sylar of the lie and turn him against her once and for all. But that's not the biggest problem -- Arthur teaches Sylar to be empathetic, but then Elle gets him to kill a random civilian who didn't even have powers; Sylar has sex with Elle, but when Bennet tells him he's not a Petrelli, he kills her, and not because of the "hunger," since he knew how to control that and also already had her power anyway. I mean, he was less boring to watch than Nathan, but no more consistent, that's for sure. Speaking of which...

Sylar's Power: First off, another technical point. Sylar lost a bunch of his purloined powers when Hiro stabbed him back in Season One. Fine. At the beginning of the chapter, he attacked Claire with his telekinesis and took her regenerative power, which restored him to full health. You'd think that would have restored those powers as well, since he learned how they work and all, but no. So the logical conclusion is that the sword blow permanently erased the powers he had stolen and left him only with his original ability -- except telekinesis wasn't it. It's true he was telekinetic at the beginning of the series, but it's this vague ability to "understand how things work" that's his power -- as "Six Months Earlier" showed us, he stole the telekinesis from that guy Brian in the watch shop. On top of that, though, there's the "hunger." We learn from the past that Sylar was able to control his "hunger" when he was feeling warm and fuzzy for Elle. Then he was able to control it when he thought Angela was his mother. Then he was able to turn it into something else entirely through empathy. (Remember Arthur had Sylar's power too, or should have, from Peter, and we never saw him afflicted by the "hunger.") Then he became a killer again anyway. On top of that, Peter took his power because he thought "understanding how things work" would help him save the world. But that power is complete and utter crap-- Sylar didn't know jack about how things work, or he might not have been used as a pawn by Arthur, Angela, and even Elle.

The Formula: Why didn't Primatech destroy it? I asked this in the very first episode, and it was never answered. If it could only be used for evil, why didn't they simply get rid of it? Anyone? Bueller?

Mohinder: Look, you saw it for yourself.

OK...this post is obviously going to be too long to finish in one sitting...be back later to continue!

I'M BACK, BABY!

FINALLY....the ROCK has come BACK TO THE BLOGOSPHERE!!!!

....

....

Yeah, that was lame. Sorry, I'm really rusty, considering that yesterday marked the ONE MONTH anniversary of my last post. I appreciate all the cards and letters commemorating that momentous occasion.

Real life has severely limited my blogging time...business planning season at work, and a remodeling extravaganza going on at my house.

I'll be back later (PROMISE!!!) with my thoughts on the last three games, as well as my preview of the LSU slobberknocker that will take place tomorrow in Baton Rouge.

In the meantime, here are some random thoughts that I have had over the last month:

- Mad Men is the second best show on TV, behind only Lost. (Quick note: when football season is over and the new TV season starts in January, you're going to think you wondered into a Techie blog due to all of the GeekTV posts you're going to see...all Lost/BSG, all the time, baby!). Mad Men contains some of the best writing and acting out there, and the art direction is just perfect. Both the writing and the acting are subtle, so it may take a few episodes to grab you, but do yourself a favor and pick up season 1 on DVD. Season 2 is wrapping up Sunday night, but I'm sure it will be replayed on AMC...I'll try to post the times when it starts.

- The schadenfreude factor of watching Auburn's struggles has been almost overcome by pity. The whole Tony Franklin situation was just a disaster from the beginning, and it all falls at the feet of Tommy Tuberville. I never understood the hire in the first place...Auburn has always been a rugged, hit you in the mouth, old school SEC team, and they have had a good bit of success doing so. Why, why, WHY would you decide to switch from that to some frou-frou pansy spread? My heart went out to Auburn fans as I watched their offense pull that crap where they all line up on offense, and then everybody stands up and looks at the sideline. They looked like a MAC team with that little act. THEN, after you hire Tony Franklin, who only knows one offensive philosophy, you tie his hands by not allowing him to hire his own staff, and leave a staff under him that has only known smash-mouth football. This was a recipe for disaster, and that's exactly what they got. The coaching staff never bought in to what Franklin was trying to do, which means the team never did, either. THEN, when the inevitable happens and the offense falls apart, you fire the coordinator in the middle of the season, and you're left with a mish-mash of players and scheme that keep you from running ANYTHING with any degree of effectiveness.

Bravo, Tuberville...Bra-freakin-vo.

Tell me if ANYBODY enjoyed watching Auburn get their lunch handed to them by West Virginia last night more than Tony Franklin...not only did the team/coach who may have cost you a career go down in flames, but they did so at the hands of the spread offense. I wouldn't have been surprised if the camera had panned up to the WVU coach's box, only to hear Jim Ross scream, "Wait a minute...that's TONY FRANKLIN'S MUSIC? Who let him up there? What a SHOCKING turn of events!"

- Tennessee, on the other hand...I'm TOTALLY enjoying watching Phat Phil's downfall. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. It's certainly turned the Phil Fulmer Show on SportSouth into Must-See TV for me. Few things in life bring more joy than watching Fulmer squirm as he says things like, "Yeah, we really didn't block anybody on that play...Another poor decision by Nick, he's gotta be better than that...looks like a blown assignment there in the secondary...." BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

- How about those Falcons? Regardless of what happens from here on out, you have to be excited about the future of this team. Let me be one of many to say that I was WRONG, WRONG, WRONG about drafting Matt Ryan. This guy is a future star in this league, and only the moron Vick apologists can possibly find anything to complain about in regards to his performance so far. It would be hard to have a better off season than what the Falcons pulled off this past year, which is AMAZING considering the shape they were in when the season ended. The Dimitroff hire looks great so far...a nearly PERFECT draft (first 4 picks: Ryan, Baker, Lofton, Douglas, all MAJOR contributors), possibly the best free agent signing of the offseason (Michael Turner). Love what Mike Smith and his coaching staff are doing right now...to be honest, it reminds me a lot of what Dan Reeves had going on, which is fine by me. We'll know more about the possibilities for this year after the next couple of weeks, but you can tell the foundation is being built, and I honestly believe the playoffs could be a possibility as early as next year.

More to come later...I've got a lot of stuff that's built up over the last month!