The real Flag Day

Given the endless debate on what constitutes a patriot these days, we may be drifting into dangerous water here, but so be it.

Today is the real Flag Day.

The calendar says the holiday is in June. But it's really not. That's the Flag Day of fifth grade civics books. The real celebration happens to coincide with the opening of the college football season.

Look around. Short of the Fourth of July, when have you seen so many flags? On my block alone wave the banners of Tennessee, Clemson, Va Tech, West Virginia, and yes, Alabama.

The license plates run the gamut . . . LSU, Georgia, Florida, Auburn, Notre Dame, both Carolinas. Ohio State plates are like kudzu -- an invasive nuisance that shows signs of taking the neighborhood.

As I sit here early in the countdown to kickoff of Georgia/Oklahoma State, it strikes me how absurd it is to write off Charlotte as a "pro town," whose sole gridiron obsession is the Panthers. That's the business of Sunday. And for anyone who thinks the college games don't matter, I invite them to streets where the burnt oranges and purples and crimsons have sprung up like fall flowers.

Flag Day has rolled back upon us. Celebrate the holiday in your own way. Here's mine. Roll Tide.

-- Michael Gordon

Weekend picks: Who ya got?

After one game, the score is SEC 1, Rest of the Universe 0. Even though Steve Spurrier may have strangled the entire USC offense with his visor by now.

The real festivities begin Saturday, with 10 more SEC teams in action, plus Ole Miss on Sunday. It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Our picks:

Michael Gordon (0-1 on season)

Charleston Southern at #1 Florida
Compared to what Mayer and Tebow will unleash on the South Carolinians, Gen. Sherman would qualify for the Nobel Peace Prize. 66-3

#5 Alabama v. #7 Virginia Tech (Atlanta)
While most SEC teams feast on munchkins, the Tide and Hokies go medieval on each other in Atlanta. Alabama brings a couple more chainsaws. 20-17, Tide.

#11 LSU at Washington
Loud crowd -- for a half. Hot sauce goes good on dog meat. LSU. 31-13.

#13 UGA at #9 Oklahoma State
It's all on the backs of Joe Cox and the Dawg D. Snap. 24-20 Pokes.

Kentucky at Miami (OH)
Big game for the Big Blue. Do they have a QB who can make plays? Just enough. 24-17 Cats.

Western Kentucky at Tennessee
The Big Orange’s band of merry coaching gentleman, and Kiffin needs to win big. He wins, but not big enough to offset the whippins’ that lie ahead. Vols 35-10.

Jackson State at Mississippi State
Spread? Spread thin is more like it. MSU 20-3.

La. Tech at Auburn
Duel of the snackfoods: Mudbugs vs. Cheesesticks. Burp. Auburn 17-7.

Missouri State at Arkansas
Nobody really wants to play Arkansas this year. Hogs: 44-20.

Western Carolina at Vanderbilt
Catamounts vs. Commodores. Alliteration wins. So does Vandy. 24-7.

Ole Miss at Memphis (Sunday)
Rebs got the target on their back. 35-13, Ole Miss.


R. Trentham Roberts (0-1)

Charleston Southern - Florida -- This one's on Fox Sports South. You'll only have to endure it for an hour before Bama-Va Tech starts on ABC. There is a god in heaven. Mount Tebow Missionary Baptist Church 63, School Formerly Known as Baptist College 3.

Alabama - Virginia Tech -- Just think ... to be the person who came up with the word "slobberknocker" ... Bama 13, Tech 11.

LSU - Washington -- Message from Les Miles: "The team is ready to play." The kind of insight you can only find on Twitter. LSU 41, Washington 17.

Georgia - Oklahoma State -- Tomlinson invited all of us over for the game. Said bring a dish. Covered or satellite? Georgia 35, Oklahoma State 34.

Kentucky 24, Miami (Ohio) 13.

Western Kentucky 10, Tennessee 30.

Jackson State - Mississippi State -- Fact: Jackson State has as many NFL Hall of Famers as Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, MSU, South Carolina and Vanderbilt combined. Relevance: None (but a bar-bet salute if you know how many and who they are). MSU 20, JSU 6.

Louisiana Tech - Auburn -- Welcome to the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league, Mr. Chizik. (For further reading, see Tuberville, Tommy; Fulmer, Phil). Auburn 17, Louisiana Tech 16.

Missouri State 6, Arkansas 36

Western Carolina 13, Vanderbilt 27

Ole Miss - Memphis -- The question isn't whether Ole Miss is overrated (they are), or whether they can withstand the loss of NFL first-round picks from both the O and D lines (they can't). It's whether the fans can adjust to now-legal beer sales at the Liberty Bowl (they'll manage). Drink the Kool-Aid while you can, Rebs. Ole Miss 31, Memphis 20.

Courtney St. Onge (1-0)

Florida over Charleston Southern, 56-10

Va Tech over Alabama, 27-24

Tennessee over Western Kentucky, 38-14

Vanderbilt over Western Carolina, 34-7

LSU over Washington, 42-20

Oklahoma State over Georgia, 27-17

Kentucky over Miami (OH), 24-20

Miss. State over Jackson State, 35-14

Auburn over La. Tech, 24-17

Arkansas over Missouri State, 42-17

Ole Miss over Memphis, 28-16

Peter St. Onge (0-1)

Charleston Southern at #1 Florida - Tebows, 66-0 (but not 66-6.)

#5 Alabama v. #7 Virginia Tech (Atlanta) - Two offenses with some adjusting to do. Two great defenses. One is elite. Alabama, 13-6.

#11 LSU at Washington - LSU 24-7

#13 UGA at #9 Oklahoma State - Dawg fans in Charlotte will be glad they didn't get to see OSU's offense on ABC. Okie State, 27-24.

Kentucky at Miami (OH) - Kentucky 24-14.

Western Kentucky at Tennessee - Tennessee, 31-14

Jackson State at Mississippi State - Mississippi State 27-10

La. Tech at Auburn - This is a different Auburn offense. QB has a shoulder now. Offensive line is 2007 big. Auburn 27, La. Tech 17.

Missouri State at Arkansas - Arkansas 52, Mo. State 10.

Western Carolina at Vanderbilt - Vandy 27, Western Carolina 6.

Ole Miss at Memphis (Sunday) - Ole Miss not exposed yet. Ole Miss 31, Memphis 13.

Tommy Tomlinson (1-0)

Charleston Southern at #1 Florida -- At one point, Florida was a 73-point favorite in this game. I'm taking the Buccaneers to cover. Florida, 72-0.

#5 Alabama v. #7 Virginia Tech (Atlanta) -- This will not be a repeat of the Bama-Clemson blowout from last year. But I'm pretty sure the SEC #2 is better than the ACC #1. Alabama, 13-10.

#11 LSU at Washington -- LSU, 27-10.

#13 UGA at #9 Oklahoma State -- scares me to death. To. Death. But Mark Richt on the road is money. UGA, 23-18.

Kentucky at Miami (OH) -- Somebody in the SEC has to lose. Miami, 19-10.

Western Kentucky at Tennessee -- The Kiffin(s) Era begins. UT, 36-6.

Jackson State at Mississippi State -- MSU, 28-7.

La. Tech at Auburn -- Auburn, 31-13.

Missouri State at Arkansas -- Arkansas, 34-3.

Western Carolina at Vanderbilt -- Vandy, 28-3.

#8 Ole Miss at Memphis (Sunday) -- That lofty ranking comes with a nosebleed. Ole Miss, 21-20.

A bit of opening-day worry....

Washington - good apples, bad football.

LSU's opening-game opponent Saturday is coming off an 0-12 season, the worst in school history. The Huskies also have a new coach - Steve Sarkisian, formerly Southern California’s offensive coordinator.

You say lopsided, right?

Not so fast.

LSU was 8-5 last season, including 3-5 in SEC games. That's bad among Tiger faithful, so there's concern. Also, LSU is traveling the 2,500 or so miles to Seattle....more distractions.

Plus, the Tigers have a quarterback (Jordan Jefferson) who didn't play much last season.

The defense wasn't a strong point last season.

I got worries....but I'll stay up late Saturday (10:30 p.m. start), and hopefully ring in the new season in a sweet way.

LSU 43, Washington 7

-- Cliff Mehrtens

Wake Forest-Baylor? Really?

Here is Exhibit A of why we started this blog. An astute reader, in the comments to our USC-NC State post, mentioned that Charlotte will NOT be getting the Georgia-Oklahoma State game at 3:30 on Saturday.

We had not checked the TV schedule, because we had not fathomed this would be possible in a fair and just world -- especially one featuring an SEC-Big 12 matchup between two top-15 teams.

What game do the football fans of Charlotte get instead?

Wake Forest-Baylor.

We confirmed this with WSOC-TV. Here's the official ABC coverage map, where you can see that the only places getting Wake-Baylor are a stretch of ACC country, plus Waco. (Note to ABC: If your game is not big enough to show in 99 percent of the HOME STATE of one of the teams, it's probably not a big game.)


Now then. Nothing against Wake Forest -- they've been fun to watch the past few years and I always root for them to pummel Florida State. As fellow expat Steve Harrison says, if it were Wake-Nebraska, or even Wake-UNC, maybe.

But Wake-BAYLOR? UGA-OK St is the second-biggest game of the weekend (behind Bama-VT), and I suspect the number of SEC football fans in Charlotte is bigger than the number of Wake football fans.

Not to mention that UGA's starting quarterback is FROM Charlotte, and is known to use his secret skills on all who oppose him.

We live, thank the Lord, in a wired world now. It looks like we'll be able to buy the game on ESPN GamePlan (which I haven't used before -- any tips from users?), or just head to a sports bar. But while we're having this long national debate on universal health care, isn't it time to address the basic human right of free SEC games for all?

It's like turning on the TV to watch Cirque du Soleil, and finding out all you can get is a dog catching a Frisbee.

-- Tommy Tomlinson

USC-NC State: Who ya got?

South Carolina and N.C. State kick off the college football season -- and, more important, the SEC season -- tonight at 7. Here, now, our picks.

Michael Gordon: The ACC could beat the SEC 90 straight and would still be an inferior league. That objective comment aside, for tonight's game, I like State's coach a lot more than I like Carolina's, and Russell Wilson gives the Pack something Spurrier has lacked for more than a decade -- a killer QB. That gives The Visor a 10-year head start on Charlie Weis for the most overrated genius of the new millenium. Chickens make a nice late-night meal. State, 28-17.

Cliff Mehrtens: N.C. State wins, let's say, 27-13. Not much time for analysis, especially for this warm-up game between lower-echelon (codeword) teams....gotta clear time and sofa space for the LSU at Washington game Saturday night.

R. Trentham Roberts: It's not about the quarterback. Except when it is. SC has made a habit
the last couple of seasons of starting fast and then flaming out.
They'll need to take a new route to 6 wins this year. Pack, 28-19.

Courtney St. Onge: Unconvinced by the Russell Wilson hype. If he were that good, he'd be at a football school. S.C. wins 27-24.

Peter St. Onge: Over/under on number of times Spurrier's face folds into that Danny-could've-made-that-throw grimace: 6. In the first half. N.C. State, 24-20.

Tommy Tomlinson: N.C. State appears to be a 5-point favorite (FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY) in tonight's game. Excuse me, but didn't South Carolina win 34-0 last year? And doesn't South Carolina still have Spurrier (albeit Spurrier 2.0 -- The Tired Years) on the sideline? And isn't it true that South Carolina has a starting tight end who is also the son of a newspaper columnist? (Newspaper columnists are not known for their breathtaking athletic ability. Although we rule at shuffleboard.)

Yet another occasion when ACC hype meets SEC reality. One day, they'll learn. South Carolina, 28-17.

Coming tomorrow: Predictions for the weekend games. Who ya got?

The curse of the vomiting baby

First off, I did not trash-talk the baby.

Instead, mine was a caring voice of wisdom sharing essential truth: that, in the end, the little boy in front of me would be a happier and healthier adult IF he made peace with the fact that his school, unfairly assigned him at birth by his unhappy and unhealthy parents, would always play second fiddle to mine.

His team: Auburn; mine, Alabama. Enough said.

What I call truth-telling must have struck a higher power in a different way. The unhappy events that descended on the Alabama football program following my heart-to-heart with 6-month-old Joel St. Onge clearly indicate that I crossed a line, that some fragile Karmic rule, likely established by sensitive types most often found at T-ball games and in the University of Michigan locker room, had been violated.

Cub fans, the saps, blame a goat. Red Sox insufferables yap on about the Bambino. Alabama, I’m here to reveal, suffered for six years from the Curse of Vomiting Baby. And I guess I’m to blame.

As always, Auburn started it. The kid’s parents, Courtney and Peter, who post on this site, showed up at my house for the 2001 Iron Bowl with baby Joel wearing a tiny tiger suit. I remember his adorable little feline tail jangling about as mom and son watched the the game standing up. And at the very moment Santonio Beard crossed the goal line for the first of a long afternoon of Alabama touchdowns, Courtney must have sent a bolt of energetic horror racing into her first-born’s body. For when the zebra’s hands went up, Joel threw up. Projectile vomiting had replaced the PAT.

It was during the cleanup that I offered the boy the wisdom of my years. Tommy Tomlinson, a mediocre columnist who, like all Georgia people looks really precious in black, heard what I said, misconstrued my motives, then accused me of talking smack to a toddler.

Charge levied, the curse revealed itself soon after.

Who knew that the NCAA penalties, handed down in the coming months for the Fat Albert Means fiasco, would be twice as bad as anybody expected?Who knew that Dennis Franchione, who looks like a weasel, would turn out to be one?Who knew Mike Price would make headlines in Sports Illustrated not for football, but for his X-rated pillow talk with B-level skanks off the Redneck Riviera?Who knew Mike Shula . . . ? Really, who knew?

Worst of all, who could have guessed that Alabama would lose six straight to the people who spawned Bobby Lowder and dress their small children in hideous tiger suits? That Tommy Tuberville's smirk, impossibly, would grow wider than his ears. That the Auburn coach would moonlight as a proctologist? That each year would bring another invasive digit? That those fingers would become a fist? Then a fist with a friend?

After the 2006 rectal, I approached Joel's parents about making amends. But there was something in their neighborhood covenant banning animal sacrifice. We were stuck. Shula was fired. Who knew who would replace him? When would the torture end?

But it did end, and normalcy began to emerge when Mrs. Rich Rodriguez said no. She refused to leave West Virginia for Alabama, even though her husband had accepted a job that would double his pay. Since she wouldn’t move – it’s been medically proven that repeated contact to couch-burning fumes clouds judgment – neither would he.

From that snub, the karmic tumblers fell back into place. The football deities decided that Alabama football, which had been blessed so often, had been punished enough.

The ship soon righted, so fast it resembled the Poseidon Adventure in reverse. The great Saban took charge. Last year, he even managed to beat Auburn, and badly.

That brought my record against Joel to 2-6, and don’t think both sides aren’t keeping track. As a diplomatic overture, I’ve been meaning to ask his folks if I should send over some Pepto-Bismol.

Michael Gordon

Where athletics and academics meet (and there's video to prove it)

The SEC brethren (along with ESPN, always known to carry the banner for higher learning when it doesn't get in the way of ratings-slash-revenues) have launched the SEC Academic Network, a Web site dedicated to the notion that member institutions not only set the standard for football factories, but for football R&D as well. Click here and marvel at the benefits to mankind when Florida's finest take a big ol' bite of erudite: Gatorade and air-cooled shoulder pads.

-- R. Trentham Roberts