Not a fun time of year…

Okay, I’m already sick of NBA basketball and hockey being the only sports on tv in the past couple weeks. Of course we also have the ’scintillating’ hot stove baseball stories to keep us going, NOT. I think I’m going to go into a very deep depression once Super Bowl Sunday has come and gone. I don’t want to wait another 8 months for games to start up again.

Here’s a bit of what my life is all about right now: I ended up watching Australian Open tennis last night (Serena Williams vs. one of those ugly, annoying Russians). Good thing was Serena was down 7-5 after one set, but came back to win 7-5, 6-1 after that. Bad thing is,  I really enjoy watching Serena, except for it’s not football, so that part sucks.

It’s your turn to vote for Titletown, USA

Okay, so yesterday was supposed to be the first day of voting for ESPN’s  Titletown, USA.  However, each time I went to the website, nothing was updated for votes to be cast. Today, though, I was able to vote and so can you.

In case you’ve been under the covers for the past few weeks, here are the 20 nominees:

Green Bay (WI), Lawrence (KS), Pittsburgh (PA), Knoxville (TN), Chapel Hill (NC), Los Angeles (CA), New York (NY), Palo Alto (CA), Louisville (KY), Chicago (IL), Boston (MA), Gainesville (FL), Valdosta (GA), Detroit (MI), San Francisco (CA), Williamsport (PA), Ann Arbor (MI), Columbus (OH), Parkersburg (WV) and Massillon (OH).

I must admit I voted 10 times this morning for Parkersburg, WV, as it is just 10 miles down river from my hometown. The sports heritage in Parkersburg, a town of just over 30,000, is rather astonishing. 192 state championships in 17 different sports have come home to the city’s three high schools: Parkersburg High, Parkersburg South and Parkersburg Catholic (one of my alma mater’s primary rivals).

I just wish we could have maybe annexed my hometown into the Parkersburg entry for Titletown as we have also garnered a number of state championships (of which I used to be a plaque carrying member…long story, just ask Matt). That would have easily pushed the total titles up to well over 200 in all between the four Wood County, WV, high schools.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go check it out and vote!

Happy Fourth

And here’s a look at some of the famous football folks who served with honor. It’s just a small sampling, but serves to illustrate the sacrifices and freedom we celebrate this July 4th.

Tom Landry – former head coach, Dallas Cowboys
Landry made it through just a semester of college before entering World War II where he became a flyer and an officer in the Army Air Corps (there was no Air Force yet). He was a co-pilot on a B-17 who flew 30 missions. He survived a crash landing in Belgium.

Roger Staubach – former QB and graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy
This guy was drafted out of Annapolis in 1964 as the Heisman winner in the 10th round because he had to put in his military service first. He served from that time until 1969 when he entered the NFL as a Chris Weinke-aged rookie. Staubach could have filed for homeside duty, but chose instead to spend a year in Vietnam before returning and serving the rest of his time in the U.S.

Tom Fears, Former Rams player and first “wide receiver” in history
I had a Tommy Fears football card growing up. Probably still have it someplace. Fears was drafted into World War II. Wikipedia says that his father was a POW under the Japanese and Fears sought transfer to become a fighter pilot in the Pacific theatre, but was instead sent to Colorado Springs to play football for the Army team. Isn’t that how MASH the movie got made? He gets credit for trying, and I betcha he wasn’t too happy about the transfer.

Otto Graham, HOF Quarterback and graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy
Yup, I not only looked at the Coast Guard Academy when I was in school, I went so far as to make a campus visit. All thanks to Otto. Unfortunately, a little thing called height and weight had other plans. He served two years during World War II and was interestingly being paid by the Cleveland Browns of the AFL. Paul Brown was such a believer he signed him to a contract while Graham served that promised $7500 per season, a $1000 signing bonus and $250 a month for the duration of the war. ESPN quoted Graham: “Old Navy men say I rooted for the war to last forever.” He went on after his playing days to coach and was the longtime athletic director at the Coast Guard Academy.

Lou The Toe Groza, NFL Kicker Extraordinaire
Groza was drafted into the Army after one season at The Ohio State University. He served on some of the toughest fronts during the war in the Philippines and at Okinawa. Once again, Paul Brown – who was his coach at OSU – approached him about joining his new AFL franchise after the war. Sweet Lou went to Cleveland where he’s stay and play for 21 seasons. Lou’s grandson is currently serving in Afghanistan according to Wikipedia.

Where is TitleTown?

Valdosta, Georgia?

Parkersburg, WV?

Columbus, Ohio?

Those are three of the names on ESPN’s TitleTown list.

ESPN has nominated 20 towns and cities nationwide.  During July they’re visiting those towns to see the atmosphere and then they’ll decide what town is titletown.

It’s an interesting list.  You have towns known for high school sports like Massillon, Ohio and Parkersburg.  Towns known for college sports like Lawrence, Kansas and Columbus, Ohio.  And Towns known for pro sports like Boston, Mass.  NY, NY, and Green Bay.

Click here for the complete list, and let the decision begin – where is TitleTown, USA?

(Hint… it’s not in Michigan or Wisconsin…)

Is it football season yet?

Well, well, well. It’s June 23, 2008, a date that will surely live in infamy. Yes the Matt vs. Matt blog is now up and running. Instead of sharing any history up front (I’ll let the other Matt share some of that if he wants), I’m ready to rock and roll with my first blogging of the summer of ‘08.

Just for anyone actually reading this (this far away from football season), I went ahead and jotted down (for myself) the start dates of the NFL and NCAA seasons. Figured I’d share some news/notes regarding the opening weeks of college and pro ball.

First off, the college football season premieres on Thursday, August 28th with a slew of off-beat match-ups that if they were played on a Saturday in November, no one would care. But since these games are the first of the ‘08 season, well, still mostly they suck, but football fans will still be pumped for some pigskin and will watch what is on TV. I’m guessing out of all the games lined up for that opening Thursday, the only three games that initially could matter at all will be Wake Forest at Baylor, Oregon St. at Stanford and then the NC State at South Carolina game which I am predicting will be the ESPN Thursday night season opener in a decent ACC/SEC opener. I know you are curious, so you can check out the other games scheduled for 8/28/08 on http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/schedules

As for the NFL opener, most die-hard fans already would know that the Redskins open the 2008 season with a Thursday night tangle with the Jints (NY Giants for those not affiliated with NYC football). The date is 9/4/08. This game is a continuance of what started 3-4 years ago and naturally will feature some annoying pop or rap singers spouting out rhymes on the streets of NYC and all the Ryan Seacrest-led annoying fanfair leading up to kick-off. The opener is followed with a full slate of NFL games on 9/7/08 and then lastly on 9/8/08 we have the Monday Night Football doubleheader with the Vikings/Packers in the early game and Denver/Oakland in the late game. You can check out the full schedule here: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/schedule

Well, this post is running a little lengthy, so I will stop here. I’ll be back with a new segment soon. Very soon.

I’d like to give a big shout out to Matt for getting this all jumpstarted and soon enough we’ll be starting the 2008 seasons!!