Kickin' Haiku

Auburn fans break wind
Tailgating Central is back
War Memorial.

Letters to Ramon

A round-up of more recent comments from e-mail...

I admit that I was drinking a little too much of the 'Kool Aid'... boy it was sweet!!! I left before the 4th quarter started and told folks either way (win or lose) I was already disgusted. I also told all my friends that folks are going to wish Houston Nutt was still around here after we get our heads bashed in throughout the season. It is going to be the days of old were we are out of the game by the end of the 1st quarter. I know I may be going a little over-board on the other end of the spectrum, but I did not like what I saw on the field, at all.

- they dominated us on both lines all day, I thought our O-line would be awesome....
- our secondary has a long way to go and we got no pressure at all, even with a blitz I don't recall much pressure
- no run game whatsoever
- players did not look like they were ready to play... fumbles, dropped balls, missed tackles, missed assignments, etc.

If we don't grow up in a hurry with both our youth and understanding of the new system, it will be an ugly season with 1 maybe two wins if we are lucky.

AND this was freaking W. Illini!!!!

-- D Romeo


"I will never pick Nuttless. That sorry SOB!" -- Joe C.

"F'ing Clemson." -- Robb O.

Razorback press clique turns flak for Petrino

I stopped listening to Sports Rap on KARN one year ago this month. Listening to Wally Hall and Jim Harris gush over who hated Houston Nutt the most was more than I could take. The hate Nutt mob was rolling, and here was an outlet on the radio where it was not only encouraged but pretty much mandatory to follow the lead of the hosts.

They were even having these goobers from Hogville join in on the air and claim that all viewpoints were welcome on Hogville, which the many people who have been banned or deleted on that site for typing something contradictory to the party line can tell you is pure BS.

Fast forward to a year later. After Saturday's near loss to Western Illinois, suddenly I thought listening to Sports Rap this week would be entertaining again (boy is it).

So who is the first person I hear on the air? Mike Irwin, the TV sportscaster from one of those NWA stations who found sudden popularity on Hogville for posting completely unobjective, hate-filled, and malicious stuff about Houston Nutt. (Wally later discovered the same scam.)

Can someone tell me what business an NWA sportscaster of marginal note has on a Central Arkansas sports talk show? It would be one thing if the guy had something to offer, but he doesn't, other than being Beck Campbell's favorite mouthpiece. So here he is on KARN coming to the defense of poor Bobby Petrino like some hired PR flak. It was frankly embarrassing to hear.

Irwin is not the only guy to flak out in defense of Petrino after Saturday's game. Virtually all of these Razorback press clique guys who climbed the hate Nutt bandwagon are doing it this week. Jimmy Dykes was a guest on Bo Mattingly's radio show and again provided another example of our embarrassing sports media.

Why do these guys feel so compelled to come to the aid of Petrino after one near loss? You would think they have some stake in it.

Oh wait, they helped push Nutt out the door, so yes the successor better work out. Otherwise they will look like all those geniuses who cried for Nolan to be fired and then proclaimed Stan Heath as the savior of Razorback basketball. And we all know how that one worked out, don't we, Dudley.

Letters to Ramon

Some comments from recent e-mail...

"FYI, I was too drunk to put postage on my envelope this weekend. My $10 is going out in today's mail. Lots of upsets this weekend... wish I had the foresight to have taken advantage of more of them. Please keep Clemson out of future pools... they are just too much of a heartache to bet for or against!!!" -- Greg Bizzy B

"I can't believe I went 2-3 this week. I never did that even once last year!! What's with the TN q-back? I might have been able to do a better job. disgraceful....." -- Beth Shields

"Mr. Wells teaches an Oaklawn class? Why I should abuse my position in the media and pass along that valuable nugget to one Harry King. I think King, who is also the lord and master of Oaklawn, would find that column worthy." -- Jeremy Peppas

"I stumbled out of the gate last season and never recovered. 2008 will be different. Arkansas is going to have a tough year this year, I fear. And it will be insult added to injury if Ole Miss has a stand-out season. I don't harbor ill will toward HDN but he sure left the program in shambles, and did not get far enough away from town to avoid some angry stares and glares. Go State! Beat Ole Miss!" -- Glenn B.

This week's games

Thursday alert: Please note that there is a Thursday night game this week, so that means you need to turn in your picks before that game starts. All picks must be turned in at the same time, so don't send a pick for Thursday's game with a promise of more to come later. If you miss Thursday's game, you can still send in your picks for the other four.

It's an all-bonus-game week, including a couple of underdogs worth four points if they win. Will Vanderbilt, which beat South Carolina last season, deliver the upset again? Will Boston College continue its quest to be as unpredictable as Clemson? Can Skip Holtz keep the wins rolling for East Carolina? And could Houston Nutt possibly pull out an upset against Wake Forest? The Nutt haters who pick Wake in this game probably won't be too happy if he does.

The games for Week 2 follow. For $800 and the pretigious Ramon Escobar Trophy, select your winners and e-mail them back to me by 5 p.m. Thursday.


South Carolina-Vanderbilt
7:30 p.m., Thu., ESPN
Line: South Carolina by 10
* Underdog worth four points in this game

Georgia Tech-Boston College
11 a.m., Sat., Raycom ACC
Line: Boston College by 7
* Underdog worth three points in this game

BYU-Washington
2 p.m., Sat., Fox Sports Net
Line: BYU by 10
* Underdog worth four points in this game

Ole Miss-Wake Forest
2:30 p.m., Sat., ABC/ESPN2
Line: Wake Forest by 8
* Underdog worth three points in this game

West Virginia-East Carolina
3:30 p.m., Sat., ESPN
Line: West Virginia by 8
* Underdog worth three points in this game


Good luck.
****#****

Pilgrimage to Razorback Stadium

Thought I'd share some random thoughts from my annual pilgrimage to Razorback Stadium this past Saturday to see the Hogs play the Leathernecks. My two brothers and I along with my four year old(Jack), made the trip. We left around noon and the drive up was pleasant. Stopped at Whataburger for a bite to eat, saw too many state troopers(boy they have nice cars), took a short nap and arrived at Lot 56 around 4 p.m. My brother Dan's company has a nice tailgate that we invaded and grabbed a couple of pops. There space is in that new picnic grounds. I think Lindsey and/or Tyson had something to do with it. It's a nice space. Lined with E-Z Up tents and kids playing in front of a stage where a live band is playing rock favorites. It was Arkansas hot and humid, but the shorts and t-shirt helped keep it cool. Jack made instant friends with another boy and ran around until he turned red and was about to pass out. Finally made our way to the stadium around 5 p.m. and ran into a group of Leathernecks waiting for the shuttle bus to the stadium. Had a nice conversation about the school and the team. For those Marines, the Western Illinois Leathernecks have obtained permission to use the name. Something about an act of Congress to allow it. I don't know if I believe about that, but we'll let it slide. The stadium was alive. The crowd was enthused. Definitely not a football crowd. Too many families and kids with texting devices. We took our usual seats in the top row of the east side, just prior to the luxury boxes. The sun was directly in our face and a woman, her 10 year old son and 15 year old daughter sat in front of us. The girl immediately pulled out her IPhone and started texting. Not five minutes after they sat down, the mother stood up and said, we're leaving, it's too hot here. We never saw her again. This phone phenomenon is something I haven't paid much attention to, but I remember BR pointing it out in his weekly column. I think he calls it the Bentonville Princesses playing Tetris. Well let me tell you, the Princes play it too. The kid next to me and his dad were playing Brickbreaker during the fourth quarter as the Leathernecks went up by 10. I couldn't believe it. I tried to shield Jack, so he wasn't confused about why we attend a football game. Luckily, during the fourth quarter comeback, my brother Pete's enthusiasm, enlightened Jack into calling the Hogs and cheering them onto victory. We even got some cold air falling out of the sky boxes from time to time, to make it somewhat comfortable. To the lady who left early, you missed out. I hope your daughter got through to her friend to relay the fact she saw Tammy buying a Polish Sausage at the concession stand. That girl, so doesn't need a Polish. I say every Princess and Prince needs to pick up a Polish, drop those IPhones and root them Hogs. Later.

Pool insider: The first standings

So you see yourself in the standings tied with many others at 7 (3-2) and wonder why you have been placed at the bottom of this group rather than the top. This is a common question I get at the beginning of every season. You're not at the bottom because I have something against you.

Rather than go with alphabetical order, which I've always thought was a kind of boring way to organize since having to sit in front of Eanes all those years, I've organized the standings by order of entry. So if you are tied with someone right now and they are placed above you in the order, it's simply by who entered the pool first. It seemed like a fair thing to do.

But that pretty much only lasts for Week 1. After this week, everyone gets jumbled around and the weekly score comes into play in ordering participants who are tied.

Just as a bit of completely unnecessary trivia, Mike Beranek was the last person to enter the pool this year. So that's why he sits at the bottom of the 4 (2-3) list.

On another note, I have been waiting years for Mike P.'s wife to enter the basketball pool so that I could give her a certain nickname in the standings. Well, she finally entered the football pool. So enter The LZA.

Week 1 standings coming soon

I've got the picks from Week 1 scored, but I'll be a little delayed sending out the standings because of the late-finishing overtime game between Tennessee and UCLA on Monday night. So be patient. The standings are coming. I'll give you the spoiler: Only one person got a perfect 5-0 (worth 12 points with the two bonus points), and he's a certain English teacher of well-renown at Catholic High who can school anyone on Oaklawn.

A number to remember

Centerpoint Energy — After hours emergency
800-844-7440

Sunday morning
"Hi, I live at [redacted] and I don't have any gas coming into my house."
What's your account number?
"I dunno know"
Okay, give me your social security and your address.
"Okay. [Redacted]
You don't see to have any problems with your account. Are you in the house?
"Yes."
You are!?! Sir, you need to get out of your house immediately. You might have a gas leak.
"What."
Get. Out. Now.
"Umm, okay."
Have you called the fire department?
"No"
We'll have someone over immediately.


And let me tell you, Centerpoint's response was like the second coming of Jesus.
The best part? No gas leak. They had been doing some street work or something and had shut the gas off, but it wasn't logged or recorded anywhere.

'Petrino: Run game will improve'

Now there's an irony in the headline of Monday's sports section.

After all the complaining about the passing game under Nutt from the crazies out there who want more passing primarily because they want to be entertained rather than an actual concern for doing the best thing to get a win, now suddenly after almost having another Citadel game the problem is the running game.

Calling a rushing play only 16 times in the entire game is going to get you crushed in the SEC. It almost got you crushed in the Missouri Valley Conference. You get what you ask for, fans.

By the way, nice pants.