College Football Week 6



Courtesy Dallas Observer Blogs

 Ok, let's assume these young ladies were very happy with Les Miles and the LSU Tigers after Saturday night....Is LSU the 2010 edition of the Iowa Hawkeyes?...In case you missed it over the weekend--Michigan State Coach Mark Dantonio has as many conference wins in Ann Arbor as Michigan Coach Rich Rodriguez----and----Name the four coaches who have won as a visiting coach at Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State? Hayden Fry, Barry Alvarez, Glen Mason and Ron Zook.....Is Dallas the new neutral site for Big XII games? A week ago the Red River Rivalry was held at the Cotton Bowl, only to be followed up with Baylor and Texas Tech this week. At new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington Arkansas and Texas A&M battled. Maybe the Big XII is looking for Jerry Jones to finance their new post-Nebraska conference.....A special shout out to the people in charge of renaming the new conference series between Iowa and Nebraska, The Farmageddon. Shirts are being printed for the inagural game. Here's hoping that the game isn't moved to black Friday .... And isn't there someone in your life you wish you could go for two against?

Finally, this tweet sparked a nerve late Saturday night:

PeteThamelNYT Pete Thamel

RT @ChrisGalippo: Football is only a game. I'm just glad I'm not 1 of those miners still trapped. Think they care bout USC-Stanford?

Pete Thamel is a well-respected college sports writer for the New York Times and his tweets have been insightful since I've been following him last season. But let's not try place the tragedy of the Chilean miners with that of a college football game in California. We are all praying for the safe return on these miners, but based on the recent news, and video coming from Chile, the miners seem to be in good spirits and are close to returning to their loved ones. And in fact they may not care about a Pac-10 battle that went down to the wire, they did care about their national team play Ukraine a month ago. Judging by the linked video, their spirits were high and health appeared good.

Football, and sport in general is only a game, but it does lift the spirits of a community, region or country. Tell the people of New Orleans that the Super Bowl was only a game. Still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, the Saints World Championship lifted the spirits of Louisiana. Would the American hostages being held in 1980 Iran refer to the Olympic Semi-Final Hockey match-up of the USA and USSR say it was only a game? That victory provided a nation with a sense of pride it had been missing for years.

So, Mr. Thamel, the Chilean miners probably didn't care about USC - Stanford last Saturday night, but why would they? But don't dismiss Football as "only a game." And while you didn't originate the tweet, your supported it by re-tweeting it. Sport brings pride and relief like no other event in our lives.