I hope everyone enjoyed celebrating America's birthday this past week. Be sure to recognize that the 4th of July is about more than grilling out, waterskiing, and shooting fireworks-though if you did either, we hope you had a good time.
We are now inching closer to fall camp and the 2013 football season. This will be the most anticipated football season since 2008 for our Tigers who have the talent and schedule to make some major waves on the national circuit. In addition to the ACC schedule, Clemson will get opportunities against SCar and UGa who are both highly thought of preseason.
Fortunately for Clemson football, there is still about a month until the big programs start their drills and practices. This means there is still ample time for more Georgia players to go out and get arrested prior to the season opener in Death Valley. As everyone knows, Georgia will likely be without their starting kicker against our Tigers due to an off-the-field incident that occurred last week.
Recruiting-wise, Clemson got a nice commitment in Artavis Scott as predicted by some of our guys who are much more knowledgeable about the topic than I. All reports and film indicate this guy has wheels and is both quick and fast. The combination of the two is important and shouldn't need to be elaborated upon here.
I saw on the net that the ACC has a commitment to now play in the Military Bowl against the American Athletic Conference. The American Athletic Conference?!? My first response is, "What the hell is that?" After a little bit of looking, it became even more obvious bow little I care about (or care for) the Big East Conference (or the Conference formerly known as the Big East). So that you don't have to waste your time looking for an explanation of how this thing breaks down, I'll save you the time. The "Catholic 7" schools of the former Big East inherited the name "Big East" as of June 30. This conference does not sponsor football. The rest of the former Big East formed its own league, the "American Athletic Conference." These schools consist of the Division 1-A football playing schools of the old Big East. East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa will join the conference in 2014 and Navy will play football there beginning in 2015. Hopefully, you were as unimpressed with that explanation as I was. I only wish they still had Syracuse.
Speaking of which, we are very unimpressed here about (A) Syracuse joining the ACC and (B) ‘Cusefan rolling over talking trash prior to even competing in the ACC. We don't care that your football stadium also doubles for your basketball arena which also houses all the other sponsored sports. I also don't care that you share a mascot with the Florida Citrus growers.
For the tennis enthusiasts out there, you are fully aware of the action going on at the All-England club. I'll point out that I am no lawn tennis expert but do respect the game played over there. Grass courts combined with all the traditions make this an unavoidable sporting event for all-even the non-tennis connoisseur-to monitor. Friday's semi featuring Djokovic/del Potro was epic. I don't believe anyone really thought an ailing del Potro could hang with the #1 seed but the Argentinian hung in there for five sets in the longest semifinal match in Wimbledon history. The crowds were impressive pulling for Andy Murray as well. There were lines of folks just to sit outside the main court and watch the action on a big screen TV. There was no doubt they were 100% behind their countryman. As I write this, Andy Murray is up two games to one in the first set. My dog, who would typically rather lick his balls than watch TV, has been intently watching this tennis tournament (I believe he enjoys watching European Golf and Tennis but won't complain if an old football game pops up on the screen). I am pretty sure that Freddy is an Andy Murray fan...
The really cool item I like with the tennis is their use of technology. That little replay item is cool and very useful. You would think that other sports would implement similar systems to assure that the proper call is made. Major League Baseball really needs to pay attention to what these guys are doing and begin utilizing such technology to at least validate or discredit disputed homeruns. Instead, MLB forces the manager to trot out, dispute the call, and then get permission from the home office prior to the umpires being able to even initiate a review. It is a huge ordeal. Also, during the Murray semi match, the folks decided to close the roof for the final set. While a dome that can be opened and closed is nothing new, I always think it is cool to see one open/close.
All these commercials about expensive timepieces have me wanting to drop this in:
Down in Daytona, the 48 was King this year. Impressive feat in pulling the sweep...I didn't realize it hadn't been done in 30+ years. I guess when you look back and realize Earnhardt had such a time winning the 500 but won everything else, it makes a little more sense. Somehow, though, it just seems odd that Jeff Gordon didn't pull the double back when he was winning everything on the Winston Cup Series.
The TOUR is up in West Virginia for the Greenbrier. I'll admit, I am on the Bill Haas bandwagon if, for no other reason, he played golf at the same school as the King. Otherwise, the most pimp-ass photo-op on tour must be the leader Johnson Wagner. The stiffs up at SBN Corporate have lectured us over and over about proper use of pictures, so you'll have to click on this link to see this guy just being a badass.
On one of those side notes, my wife commented that the Great Clips lady left me with what is/soon will be a mullet. I have no problem with the business in the front/party in the back cut. The Aiky Braiky Big Mistakie. The Tennessee Waterfall. The Kentucky Mudflap. The 10/90 (10% in the front, 90% in the back). The Riverside cut. The Destination Daytona cut. The Camero Crash Helmet. The LPGA. The John Daly. The Davie Crockett. The Rocky Top. The Soccer Rocker. Hocky Hair. Niagara Falls.
Anyway, there is no way I could have planned it better. The wife would never commission or consent to a mullet. Now I can easily argue that I need an '88 IROC Camero if this thing indeed gets to mullet status...and fulfill a lifelong dream to have a headshot similar to Dave Treadwell/Rodney Williams circa 1987...though I will need to find one of those Templeton "Faceman" Peck ties and avoid pissing off Mr. T.
I will also say this: Rodney had the best quote after beating Oklahoma, "I think I could have played better, but I didn't need to play better"
Well, maybe a close second to The Wagon talking to Chris Morocco "You are pretty good but not as good as Rodney." And CM responding "Yes I am!"
Last PANIC fix for a while, we are moving into football season and I'll move ahead with other tunes:
And obviously I can't end this mini-Panic series without this one: