The Circle of (Football) Life

We’ve all heard “it’s the circle of life” whenever a beloved family member or pet passes away.  Obviously, this phrase implies that people and animals are born and soon or later they die.  Could the same phrase imply to college football programs and conferences?

Take, for example, Baylor University.  In the ‘70s, Baylor was one of the top football programs in the Southwest Conference.  Overtime, Baylor was put through a series of poor coaching and unable to obtain spectacular players thus becoming one of the bottom feeders of the Big XII.  Then along comes Robert Griffin III and Art Bryles.  By RG3’s sophomore year, Baylor has their first bowl game in years.  By RG3’s junior year at Baylor, he was lighting up the skies with spectacular passes and torching the grass with his speed.  With his spectacular video game like stats, RG3 slid into the Heisman race.  He would go onto win and become Baylor’s first Heisman winner.  RG3 then led Baylor to their second consecutive bowl and pulled out a win in an arena football style game.  With RG3 gone, the future is unclear for the Baylor football program.  One thing is for sure, Baylor is no longer the unknown team of the Big XII anymore.

If you think Baylor was a fluke, what about the University of Florida?  In the mid 2000s, Tim Tebow shared playing time with senior quarterback Chris Leak.  Florida went onto beat Ohio State for the National Championship.  During Tebow’s sophomore season, Florida lost 3 games and ended up playing in the Gator Bowl.  Despite not making any BCS bowl, Tebow became the first sophomore to ever win the Heisman.  After suffering an upsetting loss to Ole Miss, Tebow and the Gators began to stomp every team in their path into submission on their way to another National Championship victory over Oklahoma.  Tebow’s perfect senior season was cut short by the Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC championship game.  After Tebow left, Florida dwindled into a middle of the pack team.

Not every program’s circle of life is bad.  The University of Alabama was at one time the most dominant football program in the country.  However, after the NCAA put the program on suspension and limited their scholarships, Alabama became a border line bottom dweller of the SEC.  After firing Mike Shula, Alabama hired Nick Saban.  Saban was former National Champion coach with LSU and then floundered in the NFL.  After superb recruiting and game planning, Saban has led Alabama to two National Championships giving the Crimson Tide a historic total of 14 National Championships.  

So, the answer to the question is yes, there is a circle of life in college football.  However, unlike in natural life, the life of a college football program is determined by circumstances such as the coming and going of NFL caliber players and winning coaches.  The life span of a college football program is determined by factors as well.  These factors include how well a coach can recruit players and win games with those players, if a program can follow the guidelines set by the NCAA, and how long the coach stays with the program.

Currently Alabama, LSU, and Georgia are the top dogs of the SEC.  However, there will come a time when these three lives will come to an end and new top dogs will rise.  The same could be said for the SEC as a whole.  The SEC has been the king of college football for years.  However, just like the programs in this conference, the SEC’s life will come to a temporary halt and a new conference or conferences will become kings.  The point of a circle of football life is to never lose hope in your team because eventually your favorite program will have their moment in the spotlight.

The True Cancer of America

There is a cancer amongst our culture.  It’s not gay marriage, gun control, abortion or illegal immigration.  The true cancer of the United States of America is the two party system.  It has caused us to fight for centuries.  The two party system, in a way, led to the Civil War.  Even today, Republicans and Democrats divide this country in two over every issue.  

As comedian Christopher Titus said, if you’re so far left you believe that you deserve a job, citizenship, and a free heart transplant, you’re mentally ill.  On the other hand, if you’re so far right, you believe that anyone who isn’t a citizen and doesn’t have a job should have their heart cut out and sold on E-bay, you’re mentally ill.  

This country doesn’t need another puppet president.  America doesn’t need a president who is going to do as his party asks him no matter the cost.  What the USA needs is a man or woman who will do the right thing even if costs them popularity points within their own party.  We need the same style of leaders we had when this country was founded.  Leaders who fought, scratched and clawed their way to victory in order to see a free country.

Just like every American, whether they want to admit it or not, I have a set of beliefs that align with a political party or parties.  Some of my beliefs do align with the Republican party. However, I also do have beliefs that align with anarchists.  While I believe that the role of the government should be small, I believe that the government should also govern properly.  When the government fails the people, the people should do anything necessary to make the government to be for the people, by the people, and by the people no matter the cost.  

In general, I try to stay away from politics because of the division it causes.  Again, it’s not the issues that are the cancer of America, it’s the people in DC who blow the issues out of proportion that cause the divide.  This country is no longer the United States of America, instead it is the Divided States of Embarrassment.  So, when the DSE becomes the USA again, maybe politics will matter to me.  Until then, don’t bother me with what’s going on in Washington, D.C.  If you think I’ve gone too far, you can never go too far when telling the truth.

Say What You Want...

Say what you want about John Cena.  Say that he can only do four or five moves.  Say that no matter the match, he transforms into “Super Cena” and can some how come out on top.  Say that he can’t wrestle. Say that Vinny Mac doesn’t want to lose profits and that’s the only reason why he’s kept around.

Say what you want about The Rock.  Say that he only came back to promote his new movies. Say that he will leave after a small run and forget about the wrestling universe again.  Say that he truly doesn’t give a damn about the wrestling industry because he has the movie industry to supply his paycheck now.  

Say what you want about Chris Jericho.  Say that he comes and goes as he pleases.  Say that he’s not entertaining anymore and that he should retire and never come back.  Say that he sucks and can’t do anything in the ring anymore.

Say what you want about Rey Mysterio.  Say that he complains too much.  Say that he takes too long to comeback from injury.  Say that he’s not the in ring performer he used to be.  Say that he’s lucky to be in this business due to his size.

The truth about John Cena is this: he has the best work ethic out of any performer in WWE history.  He shows up day in and day out to put smiles on the fans that love him and believe in him.  No superstar has ever drawn a more emotional response out of the WWE Universe.  How many matches have we heard those five famous words “Let’s go Cena!” quickly followed by “Cena sucks!”  Did you run out of fingers? Yeah I thought so.

The truth about The Rock is this: he literally helped put WWE into pop culture.  Sure he left when it wasn’t too popular to be a professional wrestler but he’s still thought of as one of the best wrestlers in WWE history.  Without The Rock or the other guys he performed with, the WWE wouldn’t be where it is today.  

The truth about Jericho is this: he truly is the best in the world at what he does.  What other wrestlers do you know who can accomplish what Jericho has accomplished in the ring?  How many other wrestlers have recorded hit records and written not one but two New York Times bestselling autobiographies.  Jericho is one of the best and will be in the Hall of Fame one day.  Jericho has the talent to have his hands in many worlds of entertainment but the WWE schedule doesn’t allow him to do the other things that he does which is why he leaves for the long periods of times but when he comes back what do we all do? Lose our minds.

The truth about Rey Mysterio is this: his size brings inspiration to those of us who are told that we’re too small to do what we dream of doing.  He can do things many other high flyers only dream of doing.  Not only that but he can bring inspiration to nearly every single member of the WWE Universe.  The man has had about seven surgeries on his knee.  What athlete would be the same after multiple knees surgeries? That’s right; none. 

So what’s my point? Why am I defending all these guys?  Because the fans make me sick.  We all have our own opinions of who we think is the best or who should be in the main event spotlight or who should turn heel or face.  That’s the beauty of opinions we’re all right and wrong at the same time.  We demand that WWE or TNA or ROH or whatever wrestling company we follow should do as the fans ask.  Yet, we fail to realize while we want these companies to do what we want they also have business decisions to make in order to stay in the black.  

These companies are trying to do their best in order to both please us and keep raking in profits.  I do agree that the product does lack what it use to be but a change of direction is necessary in order to stay current.  This PG era WWE is in was used to draw the younger demographic in.  In both sports and entertainment you have to evolve to stay current.  Without evolution any type of entertainer whether they be actor, singer, or athlete would die out and our entertainment would go nowhere and no one likes monotony.