Nick Fairley's cheap shots nearly cause a brawl vs. UGA

I am an SEC girl. In general, when UGA isn't in the mix for a BCS Championship or bowl (which unfortunately has been the norm as of late), I then will channel my cheering efforts towards the SEC team that has the best chance. It really hurt when I had to cheer for Florida a couple of years ago, but I know in the end that the dominance of the SEC in bowl games will help my team in the future. The SEC is clearly the most dominant conference in college football. The players are bigger, stronger, and faster. That said, this year is a down year for the SEC. Florida is reeling from the loss of Tebow. Alabama lost half of their defense to the NFL. Georgia- well, Georgia is a mess. Tennessee is really a mess. LSU doesn't really have a quarterback. I have no doubt that things will turn around in the next couple of years. I am even hopeful for Georgia. Aaron Murray is the real deal and has a bright future ahead of him. But this year could be different. No one is dominating. The top SEC schools do not look as scary as they have in the past and this could be the first year in awhile that the crystal football trophy will not be headed down south. A one or two loss SEC team is not getting into the championship game this year. There is still one hope for the SEC faithful- Auburn. Auburn is undefeated in the SEC, which is typically a shoe-in for a berth in the national title game. All they have to do is win two more games and they are in. The SEC Championship game seems like it will be a win for Auburn. South Carolina has improved all year, but Auburn has beat them once and I think that they can do it again. Next week is what Auburn needs to be more concerned about. Alabama despite its two losses, is still Alabama and now they are angry. All of the sudden, Auburn is getting all the love and attention in the state. I don't think that the Crimson Tide like that very much. Alabama's season is essentially over. They have nothing to play for... except to ruin all the hopes of their arch-rival. If I were Auburn, I would be worried. Tuscaloosa is not going to be a friendly place to play and both teams should be reasonably well-rested (Auburn is off, but Alabama is only playing Georgia State) so their is not a real advantage there. This may be more information than most people need or want to know, but it all leads up to the simple fact that if Auburn wants a guaranteed trip to the championship game, then it needs to beat Alabama and to do that it needs to be at full strength.

So why am I telling you all of this? Due to the behavior of some of the Auburn (and yes some of the Georgia players) in the Auburn-Georgia game last weekend, Auburn will already be down two defensive linemen: Michael Goggans and Mike Blanc. Both were ejected from the game last weekend for throwing punches in a fight late in the fourth quarter and therefore automatically cannot play against Alabama. What is shocking to me is that the SEC is not going to punish the real culprit at all. Nick Fairley (defensive lineman for AU) should be sitting on the sideline with his teammates in Tuscaloosa. There have already been grumblings of this player for driving quarterbacks into the ground all season. Last Saturday, the refs lost control of the game, and in my opinion they lost control because they did not penalize Fairley enough. From the beginning of the game, Fairley was after Murray's head. I realize that this is the job of a defensive lineman, but they have to do it within reason. As long as the quarterback has the ball, you can hit him, and hit him hard. But you can't hit him in the head, with the crown of your helmet, in the knees, or pick him up and drive him into the ground. Throughout the game Fairley continued to drive Murray into the ground. Then in maybe the dirtiest play of the year, Fairley not only hit UGA quarterback Aaron Murray well after the ball was thrown ("late hit" does not even describe), but hit him from behind, in the back, with a lowered head so that the crown of the helmet was used. It was ugly. It was lucky that Murray wasn't seriously injured. With only a couple of minutes left in the game, Fairley hit Murray late again this time in the knees and Murray went down. One could argue that he was pushed into Murray, but Fairley's reputation precedes him and frankly, by that point the UGA players had had enough. The offensive line went after Fairley and then all hell broke loose. The fight was caused by the culmination of Fairley's actions throughout the game. Check out the link if you need a nice synopsis of how the game went.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xljcMJxJZg

The refs flagged Fairley for a 15 yard personal foul for the first late hit, but is that enough? The NFL doesn't think so. In the NFL Fairley would have at least received a $50,000 fine if not a suspension. The SEC should be ashamed of itself. It cannot fine players, but it surely can suspend them. And why wouldn't they suspend him? Apparently the line is that because he received a personal foul penalty, that he does not need to be suspended. Get real SEC. No one believes that. It looks questionable to me. I am not a person that usually believes in conspiracy theories, but this does not send a good message. Even if the SEC isn't ignoring this because they want Auburn to win, that is what it is going to look like to its players. Don't worry about playing dirty, if you're good enough and the SEC needs a win, you can get away with it. Do better SEC. I am calling you out and it hurts because I love you. Oh, and you probably just created a fight in the Iron Bowl because while you seem to have overlooked Nick Fairley's behavior, I guarantee you that Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide have not. I'll be watching to see how soon Alabama sends a "message" to Nick Fairley.    

What should be the Heisman criteria?

There is a lot of talk swirling around about Auburn QB Cam Newton. Although, more information could always come out, right now it seems to me that it is a lot of hearsay and not a lot of actual evidence against the guy. With that said, there is no doubt in my mind that he has not necessarily been an exemplary student in the past. So what's new in SEC football? I don't think that there is enough evidence of anything that is going to make Newton ineligible to play, so Auburn fans take heart. However, there is a chance that all of this will very much affect his chances of winning the Heisman trophy. After the Reggie Bush fiasco earlier this year, voters may want to be more careful when choosing a player. All of this made me start to wonder, what do we really give the Heisman award out for? Is the award for the best player in college football? The nicest player in college football? The most valuable player to his team in college football? It seems that you either have to be a quarterback or running back to win the award, so is it really for the best offensive player in college football? Maybe it is given to the player who is a little bit of all of these. The problem is that some of these seem to often contradict each other. Being a good person and being the best player in football don't always seem to go hand in hand. I realize that many would argue that Tebow was an example of this. Let me just say this... hey Gator fans... Tebow is not Jesus Christ. He did not walk on water unfortunately never turned any of it into wine either. I'm not saying that Tebow isn't a nice a guy (although since I am a Georgia fan, it pains me to admit it), but at the very least he is a little cocky and arrogant. I am not even sure that Newton is that bad of a guy. I mean the getting paid $200,000 thing is a little sketchy.... if it actually happened and I am not sure that it did. Nobody really knew who Cam Newton was a year ago. He was a f*ck up. A has been. A guy who bought a stolen laptop and apparently cheated on tests. And oh yeah, he was playing behind some guy named Tebow. Nobody really cared who Cam Newton was. So, I find it a little unbelievable that Auburn would be willing to pay six figures for a maybe. I seem to remember a CBS game telecast earlier this year where they showed the Auburn Football program for the year and Cam Newton's picture wasn't anywhere to be found on the cover. Wouldn't that make you believe that Auburn had no idea what they were getting with this guy? I am sure that the school was hopeful. That they saw potential. That they prayed that he would be good. But did they or anyone else ever imagine that he would turn out to be the beast on the football field that he has become? So I take the whole asking for money thing with a grain of salt. The cheating on tests, however, I totally believe. Come on people, this is nothing new. Top athletes have been spoiled and coddled their entire lives. They are passed in classes they shouldn't be and of course people help them out. I am not saying that it is okay or it is the right thing to do, but if anyone thinks that Cam Newton is the only Heisman candidate that has done a little of this, you're crazy. I find it laughable that now Florida is happy to talk about all of this cheating. Hmm.... if Newton were still playing for Florida (and you know that Urban Meyer wishes to God he had the kid right now) do you really think that Florida would be talking about this? If Meyer knew that Newton was going to be this good, there is no way that Newton would have had a chance of being expelled. I mean really, Florida has a guy that threatened to kill his girlfriend playing for them. I think a little cheating problem would have been swept under the rug.

So back to the question, what should the criteria be for a Heisman? To me, it should be the best player in college football that has made the biggest difference for his team this year. I'm not saying this is only Cam Newton, but let's think about what he has done this year. Auburn sucked last year. They were irrelevant. Nobody really cared about Auburn except Auburn. This year we are two games away from the SEC Championship and Auburn is undefeated and vying for a National Championship bid. Seriously? Oh, and Auburn plays absolutely no defense... hell, Chattanooga scored 24 points on them so they are winning games on the offensive side of the ball. Newton has already led several comebacks. Of course Auburn is a team so there is more than one player contributing (they have a very nice running back), but there is no doubt that Cam Newton has been willing this team to victory. Sounds pretty Heisman like to me... whatever that is.

But if I am Cam Netwon, maybe I don't give a crap whether I get the Heisman or not. Call me young and bucking on tradition, but I really don't care that much who wins (although I have been ranting for awhile about it). Most of these guys in college have NFL ambitions. Cam Newton certainly does. So isn't that his ultimate goal? Also, doesn't winning a National Championship matter more? I think you could ask most athletes and they would agree, but I know that when I was playing sports I would rather be winning championships instead of awards. I am sure that Peyton Manning would trade a couple of those MVPs for a couple more rings, don't you? Winning a Heisman doesn't necessarily get you either of these things. In fact, a Heisman award has kind of been a bad omen for NFL success. Not many Heisman winners do much of anything in the League. Let's see who has one the Heisman in the last ten years:

(2000) Chris Weinke- FAIL. He started one season for the Panthers in which they went 1-15
(2001) Eric Crouch- FAIL. Couldn't even cut it in the CFL.
(2002) Carson Palmer- Did you see him play last night? He has his moments, but overall, is just average.
(2003) Jason White- Who?
(2004) Matt Leinart- FAIL. Released by the Arizona Cardinals this year.
(2005) Reggie Bush- Wait, they took his away...
(2006) Troy Smith- Hasn't done anything yet, but he did win a game for the 49ers last week, so maybe there is hope for him.
(2007) Tim Tebow- We'll see. He couldn't really throw in college, I'm not holding my breath in the NFL. I think that he will be a "gimmick" or wildcat player in the end.
(2008) Sam Bradford- Too soon to tell, but so far has looked pretty good with the Rams.
(2009) Mark Ingram- Still in college.

So.... the best NFL player (clearly Reggie Bush) out of the last decade of Heisman winners had it taken away. Sam Bradford may very well be the real deal... we'll see. My point is that winning a Heisman doesn't get a guy anything extra in a professional career. My advice to Cam is don't worry about it. Worry about winning. However, if I have it my way the Dawgs are going to stomp on your face this weekend (I can't even type that with a straight face).

Holy Sh*t, Michael Vick is Coachable!

Yesterday was one of the wackiest NFL days I have ever seen. Several overtime games, a massive Minnesota Viking comeback led by Favre, the continued meltdown of the Cowboys, the Browns punishing the Patriots, and even not one, but two substitute kickers for extra points (props to Wes Welker and Ndamukong Suh). Perhaps one of the most interesting of the story lines to me though was the fact that Michael Vick may have outplayed Peyton Manning yesterday. Being from Atlanta and a pretty huge Falcons fan, I witnessed firsthand the rise and then demise of #7 Michael Vick. I have seen just about as many Vick snaps as anyone. Not to upset too many people, but the truth is that Michael Vick is probably the best thing that ever happened to the Atlanta Falcons. Before people's heads explode, hear me out. Vick brought a lot of excitement and more importantly fans and revenue to the Falcons that the organization had never experienced before. I realized that Vick ended up being an epic disaster, but think about what we have gained since. Not only did Vick make Atlanta a lot of money, his demise started the chain reaction of all the good things that we are enjoying now. If Vick had stayed in Atlanta, we might still have Bobby Petrino as our coach and Rich McKay as our GM. Now we have Thomas Dimitrov, Mike Smith, and Matt Ryan. Most importantly though, we have stability and consistency. Arthur Blank finally realized the need for this after the Vick fiasco. Watching Vick play possibly his best game ever yesterday though made me think, what if Vick had had that stability, especially in the coaching position. Clearly, Andy Reid is a great coach. Hell, he out-coached the Falcons just a couple of weekends ago, but the difference in Michael Vick yesterday and what I saw in Atlanta for years is amazing. Vick was always kind of lightning in a bottle to me. He was really exciting at times and at other times he was terrible. Although, I found him very interesting and fun to watch, I never really thought that he was going to be able to lead the Falcons to consistent greatness or a Superbowl win. He just wasn't stable or smart enough on the field. Most people thought that it was just the price you pay with Michael Vick... it went against his strengths to try to keep him in an organized system. Clearly, that is not the case. Andy Reid and the Eagles have a pretty complicated and intricate offense and Vick is excelling. He can be taught! This makes me think about how bad of a coach Jim Mora, Jr. really was. Not only did he not help Michael Vick grow as a quarterback, he also didn't help him grow as a person. It kind of makes you think, if Dan Reeves had stayed in Atlanta or if his replacement had been of a higher quality than Mora, what would have happened to Vick. There is no doubt that Vick's attitude probably changed since spending some time in prison and I am sure that it has had an effect on his play as well, but I think that we are all kidding ourselves if we ignore the coaching that is going on. I am totally happy with how things have turned out with the Falcons. We are a much better team than we were 4 years ago and we have a bright future. With that said, I wish Vick the best of luck. It's a pretty great comeback story.

Throws Like a Girl Begins

This is my first post, and let's be honest it could be a total disaster. Or more likely, it will not be a disaster at all because no one is ever going to read this. With that said, I feel the need to have an outlet for my sports discussions because no one has the stamina or interest to listen to me anymore. Yes, I admit, I am a freak. A sports freak. This would be bad enough if I were a guy, but I am a 28 year old woman. I don't know where I got my sports obsession from. My parents don't even like sports that much. My father will watch a little bit of football, but really it is just an excuse for him to take a nap in his recliner on Sunday afternoons. My mother, being the supportive parent that she is, put up with the obsession as long as she could, but finally gave and declared with some exasperation that I would watch a game of Tiddly-Winks if it were televised. I think that this is a bit of an exaggeration... Chess maybe, but Tiddly-Winks I think is going to far. Seriously though, I watch sports all the time. My favorite of course is the NFL (whose isn't really when we are all being honest), but I will watch pretty much anything. I am from the South and a Georgia girl, so College Football is a must (although is has been a painful season, hopefully Uga VIII will bring us better luck). I also live in Atlanta, so the Braves are huge for me. Basketball is always highly entertaining in both the NBA and college. Who doesn't love a Grand Slam tennis match? And yes, I watch Soccer.... and I love it. I watched every game of the World Cup and am now anticipating the Women's World Cup next summer. The EPL (English Premier League for all you non-soccer people) is always an enjoyable watch. Basically, I can fill up an entire week with sports watching. Sad, I know. As you can see, the obsession is real and may be bordering on a problem, but I accept who I am and at 28, it is probably too late to change it anyway.

Because people are getting tired of listening to my analysis and rantings I have decided to write a blog. Probably no one will listen to me here either, but at least I can pretend. I came up with the title "Throws Like a Girl" because my uncle once said that and then I nearly took his head off with a baseball, and that saying has had a forever different meaning to him. Therefore, readers of this blog beware, yes I am female, but I probably know more about and watch more sports than most of you. So, we'll see how this goes, but I hope that you enjoy it if you read it!