Monday Morning Quarterback-ing

1-9

No, that's not one through eight. That's the record of wins and losses for the Saint Louis Rams. Blah.

I will say this for my Rams. Since trading our star middle linebacker, Will Witherspoon, to the Philadelphia Eagles, our defense has actually improved. So far, we've managed to hold two teams with excellent post season potential, the New Orleans Saints and the Arizona Cardinals, to just 21 points a piece. With the return of a healthy Marc Bulger, we've managed to at least start competing again. However, we still aren't winning. And with that, I plead again that we draft Sam Bradford. There are now only two other teams that are 1-9...the Tampa Bay Bucs and the Cleveland Browns. Tampa Bay has their future in a strong armed young player by the name of Josh Freeman from Kansas State, and I don't know about Cleveland's plans but they have someone who they believe can be their franchise player in Notre Dame's Brady Quinn. Oakland and Detroit, both 2-8, should finish with better records than St. Louis, and only Oakland will be in the market for a QB, provided that Toledo's Bruce Gradkowski doesn't continue winning.

Steven Jackson is a great running back. But at the most he's got 4 more good years in him. We need to start winning and start winning soon.

6 year drought

Dear, dear me. Mighty Michigan, the winnigist division - 1 football program in history, has now finished back-to-back losing season, and is in the midst of the worst losing streak to Ohio State in history. It's a pretty awful feeling. But like what I saw from Auburn this year, Michigan is in the midst of a transition to a spread offense, and some of the pieces are in place. There are flashes of brilliance in both teams, and moments when you really believe these teams are legitimate. The key difference between Michigan and Auburn is the decision to start the incoming freshmen stars.

Michigan, lacking a scholarship quarterback this season, had no choice but to play the star Freshmen Tate Forcier and DeNard Robinson. They have combined to throw nearly 20 interceptions this season and only 5 wins. They started 4-0, transitioning between the true spread run by Forcier and the Wildcat captained by Robinson. Thus, while the blame cannot solely be placed on one QB, the fragile mental state of these two young talents may have be compromised by starting their careers 5-7.

Tyrik Rollison, the hope of the Tiger Nation, on the other hand, has redshirted and spent an entire year learning a system and learning from the mistakes of players like Kodi Burns and Chris Todd. With another recruiting year to build the talent around him, and a lack of pressure to save a team from obscurity, Rollison appears to be in position to take over and lead this team to the promised land. One can only hope that Gus Mahlzon and The Chiz know what they're doing and can replace the terror of Ben Tate. Oh, and improving our defense would be GREAT.

The Bungles

Just when I thought the Bengals were ready to become a professional franchise, turnovers against the Raiders turn us back into a mere over-achieving team. The Steelers are having an off year again, which negates the value of our domination of our division. Not to mention Cedric Benson, the resurgent Texas Longhorn, is injured. Bah, I say, bah! My only hope is that the Tigers of Auburn can pull some miraculous upset over the Mighty Crimson Tide and save my second awful season in a row. You'd think with me being a fan of four different teams, I could eventually pick a winner. Bah.

A Letter to No One

Dear No One

Hello! It's been a while since you and I last had a chat. While I believe that it's probably for the best, you still seem to be making me part of your life. Now, I'm sure you'll disagree with that statement. However, take a step back and look: all that you've done since I decided to part ways is try to communicate with me both directly and indirectly. There was a moment where you and I almost resolved things, and in typical fashion I screwed it up. You and I had always had trouble communicating, and once you no longer believed I cared about you it was easy to take anything I said to the opposite extreme. I had a moment of selfish indulgence; You claimed that I hurt you, that every moment together was causing you pain, and yet I was not allowed to be hurt and need time to heal. To this day, I don't think you could admit how much you hurt me and how much pain I felt because of our parting. And I can understand this: someone has to be the bad guy. If there's no one to blame for what happened, it's harder to reconcile and make peace with yourself and the facts. And, of course, in everything you know about relationships and how dysfunctional they can be, it's always the man that walks out and ruins everything.

Indirectly, you've been pretty courageous hiding behind your keyboard. When you don't have to face someone and you're free to slander my name and my character through your snide remarks, it's easy to talk about how your moving on and making things better for yourself. But let's get real: when you're still talking about me 5 months or however long it's been later, you clearly haven't moved on. And it makes me sad. In talking to some of your 'friends' it has become very clear to me that you've got some problems that aren't being addressed by either you or these friends. It makes me sad, because I am realizing more and more that I really did leave you high and dry, which still hurts. That was never my intention.

So, in your most recent attack, you've sent out a warning. And that upsets me. I'm ok with you talking about how awful I was to you; you're right, I didn't do everything right, I gave up on us, and I got tired of trying. But you need to shut your mouth when you're talking about the nature of my character. I'm in a great relationship with a girl that loves me and understands and knows everything about me and still wants to be with me. She has turned my life around and reminded me that I deserve to be loved and I deserve to feel happy and that I deserve to enjoy my life. I don't want to take this time to bash you, because I think there are a lot of good things about you, and if there was ever something you needed I would be there to help you. But I cannot let you say things like this from behind your little keyboard and get away with it. If you have a problem with me and want to fight it out, come challenge me face to face. Most of all, attack the relationship, but how dare you attack me like this and once say you loved me.

That's all I've really got to say. Get over me and leave me out of your life. Oh, and I would really like my #12 Auburn jersey back.

Sincerely,

Ben

Find Your Voice

So for the first time in a while, I think I want to approach a more philosophical topic. So much of what we say and do is influenced by other people, whether we admit it or not. There are the people who teach us, the people who inspire us, the people who we despise, and the people we love. They have all played a part in making us who we are. Take me for example.

My high school Track and Football coach, Kenny Simpson, taught me so much. He taught me how to keep trying, and how to deal with life when you know you've not reached your full potential. He taught me how to lead, not by the words I say but by my work ethic. And he taught me economics. That last one may not seem deep, but the skills I learned in his class helped me land my job last summer, and I'm sure will keep me from ever investing money in the stock market.

There are a lot of famous people who's careers I want, but a person who really inspires me is Johnny Depp. I watched his interview with 'Inside the Actor's studio' and learned a good bit about his life and how he got there. It certainly wasn't by what could be called conventional means, but he got their by being true to himself and doing the things he loved. If I can say that about my life at the end, it won't matter if I've won a Tony or spent my life living in a cardboard box. Whenever Nathan or Sawyer or any of my friends ask me how Auburn is going, I simply reply "Living the dream". Because amidst all the madness, self doubt, self pity, and fear, I am doing what I love and making a difference in the lives of my audiences, and that's all I could ever want.

There's not a long list of people I despise, but I have a list. However, everyone on that list has still taught me a great deal about myself. They've taught me how to soldier on when people start piling lies onto you. They've taught me that not everyone will believe in me or who I am, and that it is ok for someone somewhere to think I'm awful. I don't think I'm getting this out right, but I'm just trying to say what I feel. That old saying about fooling some of the people some of the time fits pretty well here, in its own way. Or one of my favorite sayings that I picked up from a commercial: 'No rain, no rainbows.' Even the people we wish weren't in our lives or that we had never met have taught us to survive, be strong in ourselves, and remember that sometimes you just can't make people believe.

Finally, there's the people we love. Love is an overused and misunderstood word in our culture. What exactly is love? Now, any 'christian' will start quoting Paul and his whole list of traits. But, let me take a line from Pirates here,

"What is a ship? It's not a sail, or a keel, or a hull; those are things a ship needs. But what a ship is, what a ship REALLY is....is freedom."

Love is NOT patient, love is NOT kind, love does NOT not boast; those are things love needs. But what love is, what love really is....is freedom. The freedom to be yourself with someone and know that you are safe. The freedom to be open to so much pain it might destroy you and going on. And, perhaps most important of all, it is improvisational. It is in the moment, just like good acting. You can talk the talk and prep all you want, but you still have to be active and present in the moment with your partner.

So I say all that to say this. We live and learn. That's the beauty of being human, we have a chance to wake up and start anew everyday with everything you learned yesterday. As we age and mature, we are constantly seeking our own voice in the midst of all this. We yearn for the chance to be heard, for our opinion to matter, and to make a difference. We strive to make an impact in the lives of everyone; our teachers, our mentors, our enemies and our friends. Above all, we want that pat on the head. We want to be told that we are right and feel that we are right and now that we are right. And that is something that we seldom get. More often than not we are riddle with doubt, and curiously searching for that special something that will make our lives whole. Little did we know it's been there all along! Your voice, your heart, your life are all made up of the parts of the people who matter most, the people who you want (or want not) to be. Your voice is everything you want and nothing you don't. It is YOUR truth, and in this world that is the only thing you really have. There is so much we're not told, so much that we can't and won't know (if you want an example....think about Mongolia. How much do you know? How much will you ever know? But how much of it influences our world? Or think about how much our government doesn't tell us that we take for granted). In the wise words of the character Gregory House, "I choose to believe this life is not a test."

Believe in who you are and what you do...because the things people believe about you will change faster than the weather. You, however, will always be you. And someday, if you're lucky, you'll find someone to spend your life with for whom you is enough.

Monday Morning Quarterback-ing

Hats

I love them, if for no other reason than they cover up my frequently terrifying haircut. And, with Brighton Beach looming on the horizon, my hair cut is particularly frightening. It's a 1930s comb-over cut that requires a lot of gel....but, since I'm not that type of guy, I just cover up the entire upper half of my head. But I digress.

Chris, Joe, and I went to Nashville this weekend (which, if you're a devoted reader, you already know!) And we decided to hit up the galleria before we left Nashville. They had a cool NFL shop, and I was hoping that in such a Bastion of sports paraphanelia, I might finally find what I was looking for: A St. Louis Rams hat!

Sadly, I was again denied. But on the bottom shelf, I did find my back-up team: The Cincinnati Bengals! It was a great deal, I payed around $10 for a $25 hat. Chris got himself a Tennessee Titans hat, so everyone was happy. Well, almost. I really REALLY wanted to buy one of the Vick jerseys....sadly, my political sways don't cover $80 investments that might get covered in red paint by angry members of PETA....

BOWL GAMES!!!

As much as I HATE the BCS and all that it stands for, championship-wise and economically (but I won't get into that), some great things happened regarding post season play: Notre Dame lost, finally putting the nail in the coffin of their chances to get into the BCS and re-earn the prestige they just don't deserve. Auburn won their 7th game of the season, all but guaranteeing that we will be in some sort of bowl game. It may be the papa john's bell south army-navy charles schwabb insurance bowl, but after last year, a winning record is great. Finally, Oregon lost of Stanford, weaking Boise State's case, as well as insuring that the Pac-10 will only get one representative and USC will be enjoying the holiday bowl or something. I'm not usually one to cheer for people losing, but when teams with two losses are getting conversation about going to a BCS game without any marquee wins, or a strong schedule, it makes me cringe.

Unbeaten, but not unblemished

This is the proper time of the year to talk about unbeaten teams. Take Iowa, for example. This is the part of the year where the schedule, injuries, and length of the season separate the champs from the chumps. (Well, except Boise State, who always seems to handle their tough late WAC schedule). Texas, Florida, and Alabama have all managed to push through some tough tests (with a little help, but the game is never won or lost on a single play), but so has Cincinnati. Not to mention the Saints and the Colts have also pushed through (But both teams have shown weaknesses). However, thanks to some Key losses...the championship conversation is narrowing by the week. All I can hope is that if 'Bama and Florida reach the championship undefeated, the loser gets a crack at the bearcats and has a chance to prevent another two-undefeated bowl season. And, as we all know, it is almost impossible to go through the NFL season undefeated, but it would be great to see New Orleans win a championship and finished unblemished as champions. The great thing about sports is how far they reach off the field. There, that was my deep, cheesy part of the blog.

In conclusion

I just have on thing to say....my second team, the Cincinnati Bengals, have beaten the Ravens twice and are leading the NFC north! WHO DEY!!!!!

Wednesday Forum

Here's what is rocking my world this week.

Political Economy

Yes, I said it. Last week, our normal TA Brian was missing, so Theo, the other TA from Greece came in and lead our discussion. Aside from his awesome accent, he did a lot of things that made me really enjoy the class. For starters, he joined us in taking the mickey out on our Canadian teacher, Murray Jardine (jar-deen). Secondly, he fought to have two questions from our test that we did not go over in the lectures thrown out. Yahoo for bonus points! In conclusion, when the number 300 came up in our discussion, he totally refrenced Leonidas and the Brave Spartans. BANG-A-RANG

Hexa Elemental

For those of you with no idea what that is, I am in the process of writing a fantasy story about 6 heroes who happen upon one another and save the world. Typical fantasy-epic material. However, I really think this story is starting to have a lot of merit. Rather than continue drafting and redrafting the story over and over again, I have spent the last few month really trying to organize all my notes and get down as much specific information about the world these characters are living in as possible. This means languages, dialects, economics, complete histories, geneologies, and all sort of hoopla! It's a lot of fun to create your own world and write the history from scratch....it was Tolkien's favorite part about writing Lord of the Rings, and is fast becoming one of my favorite activities. Escaping from heavy art, ex-girlfriends, and personal troubles is easiest when you leave this world and dive into one of your own. I expect to finish a re-write of the first third of the story over thanksgiving, so ask me about it!

Guys and Dolls

So maybe it's not the best musical in the world, but I am going to see my friend Sawyer in a production of it up in Nashville this weekend. I will be getting out of the state for the first time in quite a while with this trip, and I'm really looking forward to seeing my best friend Nathan Douglas McCarty again. It's been too long. (which I define as a month or two. Back off). It's also a road trip with two of my closest friends, Chris Kelly and Joe Woddail. These guys rock out loud, and it's going to be an awesome trip to Music City. In unrelated news, the Titans and Rams both got their first wins of the season this weekend. Things are trying their hardest to look up, and if the next two weeks go according to plan, they just might turn out alright!

Monday Morning Quarterback-ing

So, in despite my attempts to turn this into a blog about philosophy and deep thoughts, I can't resist the urge to share my views about the sports world. In keeping with the statement "Hind sight is 20/20", I have decided to engage in a little Monday Morning Quarterbacking (A.K.A. diagnosing mistakes after the fact. what fun!)

Jevon Snead

By this point in the football season, everyone in the whole country knows that Ole Miss quarterback #4 Jevon Snead was completely and utterly overrated. I love Auburn. But I am also realistic, as I was at the beginning of the year. We have an over achieving team with middle-of-conference talent and a lot of heart. And we made Snead look silly. Well, in actuality, the game-plan of Houston Nutt looked silly. Down the field passing has exposed us all year long, and Nutt was content to attack the sideline and flat routes. Heisman Darkhorse? Don't make me laugh. Or, in the words of my wise father, 'Yeah, REAL dark!"

The Tigers

Bowl-eligable. Man it feels good to say those words. This time last year we were still sweating it out for a winning season (which we did not achieve). But with an all but guaranteed win over Furman, we are looking at no less that 7-5 and post-season play. The sad part is, if we had simply beaten Kentucky, we would still have an outside shot at an SEC west crown if everything fell into place and we could defeat the might Crimson Tide (Who is certainly beatable....just probably not by us). Georgia is not looking very strong, so we could finish 8-4 or even 9-3 and play spoiler for the Tide's national title hopes.

My last note...we finally saw Chris Todd play like the Chris Todd who threw 5 TD passes in one game. But, most importantly of all, our coaching staff showed the ability to adjust on the fly and match a decent team blow for blow. I've got confidence in this coaching staff and our ability to recruit good players and compete for and SEC title as early as next year.

The Rams!!!

I want a t-shirt that says 'Steven Jackson is my Home Boy' ! One of the best backs in the league, and dragged down by inconsistent QB play and poor defensive organization, Steven had yet to score a rushing touchdown on the year. But then they rolled into Detroit. After the Lions snapped their losing streak, the Rams took up the banner, with 17 losses in a row. But, with less than two minutes on the clock, #39 broke free for the go-ahead touchdown to win on the road. Now, once again....Sam Bradford has had successful surgery on his shoulder and will be a hot commidity in the draft...Seattle, Washington, Carolina, and the Raiders will all be early in the draft and looking for Quarterbacks. Tim Teabow, Colt McCoy, that guy from Houston, Dan LeFevour, Tony Pike, and possibly Jimmy Clauson will all be availible. Bradford seems to me to be the most compatible, either him or Tony Pike, with a pro-style system, as LeFevour, McCoy, Teabow, and the guy from Houston are all spread players. So...let's pick up a good defensive tackle, and good center, and Sam Bradford and see if we can't at least compete in every game we play. Any way you slice it, it's nice to finally be done with our losing ways!