Although I'll give the nod to the Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday season being the most wonderful time of the year, Super Bowl Week has to be in the conversation for the most entertaining second fiddle. I mean, what other major North American sporting event draws as much fanfare and drama as the Super Bowl before the 6:18-ish Sunday kickoff? Maybe NBA All-Star Weekend in its heyday, but it still ain't the Super Bowl. While it's rare for me to ever tell my readers to overlook any of my posts, please treat my earlier post about Super Bowl duds like a quarterback who threw an interception on his last drive. Let's get to five Big Game Sunday Studs, i.e., my top five Super Bowls of all time...
Jeff Fisher can credit himself with starting a trend: when you're an average or putrid head coach, teams aren't waiting until the end of the season to relieve you of your duties. If any of my fellow football fanatics think or feel anything like I do--especially if your name is Eric Dickerson--then you were thrilled at the news early last week of the Rams cutting ties with Mr. "7-9 Bullsh*t". In five long and painful years, Fisher amassed a grand total of 31 wins, 45 losses and one tie and not one of those seasons was above .500. In fact, with a lifetime record of 173-165-1 (.512) and without a winning season since 2008, he had the opportunity to break the all-time record for losses held by Dan Reeves (190-165-2, .535) had he stayed one more week in the position because the Rams lost that game, too. (Surprise, surprise.) Despite helping to build a reputable defense with Aaron Donald, Michael Brockers, Alec Ogletree and Robert Quinn, the Rams have trotted out one of the most putrid offensive units over the past five years--being no better than 23rd, residing in the bottom five for four years straight, being the worst offense since last year and averaging 18.3 PPG during his tenure. Perhaps NewsOne Now's Roland Martin kept it the most candid: "If y'all wanna understand White privilege, how does Jeff Fisher still have a job? He's had six winning seasons in like 22 years...they gave him a two-year extension, and how does he reward them? They go out there and get blown out 42-0!" Speaking of blown...
I came into Week 2 of NFL regular season action on a high from a solid Saturday in NCAA football. Although all three of my favorite teams won big--including Michigan storming back from being down 14 points in the first quarter at home to beat Colorado 45-28--my favorite game of the day was between two unranked teams, Maryland vs. Central Florida. After UCF QB McKenzie Milton lost his third fumble of the game in the second overtime in a tie game at 24, Maryland freshman QB Tyrrell Pigrome had the daunting task of filling in for the injured Perry Hills. However, there are few plays better in someone's first snap than to get a 24-yard TD run to win the game 30-24 in double OT and push your team under your first-year head coach DJ Durkin to 3-0. Yeah...seeing another one of my favorite college football teams win in dramatic fashion definitely got me ready for football on Sunday. So enough about the kids and let's talk about the grown man's game...
