Posted: January 1, 2009 – 12:02 pm
Don’t throw away that phone number of Theodoric of Yorick. There’s more bloodletting on the horizon. My sources tell me there are still other NFL coaches who shall find themselves in the unemployment line by the end of the month. Jerry Jones will get back to us as soon as he has just one more itty bitty face lift.
My sources also confirm what NFL guru Peter King has reported. Which is that the flavor of the month Bill Cowher will more than likely pass on the Jets job. As well as any other. I’m told he wants to sit in the TV studio one more year before heading back to the sideline. My sources do indicate that Cowher may be wavering a might more than King’s do. So who you gonna believe, Peter King who has every NFL source on speed dial or some schlepper with a computer and a broadband connection in the Cherokee Triangle who knows a couple o’ guys with season tickets?
– Seedy K
Posted: January 1, 2009 – 11:56 am
It’s a new year, my fellow followers of The Schnell’s siren syntax. And whom (or is it who?) more than him (or is it he?) to give us our first breath of mirth on the first 24 of the spanking new annum.
Now that FAU’s season is over, the Pigskin Poet is left to muse over his second greatest win ever — last week’s Motor City Bowl victory tops his own personal list. Most others would consider it Miami’s national championship W over Nebraska in the ‘84 Orange Bowl. When asked to reminisce, the Gourmet Schnell savored it thus: ”I’ll never get sick of it. That would be like getting sick of bratwurst and wine.”
Howard was in a mood for romantic remembrance: ”That game always comes up. The Orange Bowl, before all the BCS bowl crap, was the most fashionable and most pleasant and most exotic of all the bowls in the United States — unless you were from out West and you thought it was the Rose Bowl. That game was the linchpin of the dynasty that UM had and could continue to have.”
Always one to set his body of work apart from others, The Schnell couldn’t help but gig the other schools in the Sunshine State: ”I like to say that the University of Miami taught the other schools in Florida how to win the national championship. I just didn’t realize the others were so hard-headed that Miami had to do it four times before they learned how to do it themselves.”
– Seedy K
Posted: December 31, 2008 – 10:28 am
Well, despite the reality that I correctly prognosticated 6 of the last 7 bowl games, I’m still a few places behind the leader in Joey The Vig’s Bowl Pool. So, thankfully, Joey’s cousin, the inimitable Slice, has moved on. It wasn’t too bad having him around for a couple of days. He mostly sat on the back stoop and whittled . . . menacingly.
He asked me a bunch of questions about my connection to The Schnell, never seemed to believe my answers, spent a bunch of time on his cellphone with Joey The Vig and whittled . . . menacingly. He left suddenly yesterday afternoon.
Not surprisingly, before the last round of games, Joey The Vig was perched on top of the standings of his very own enterprise. Imagine our surprise. Who knew he even entered his own contest? Not that Joey The Vig would rig it or anything.
Anyway, my fortunes today ride with Pitt, BC, Kansas and Georgia Tech. I think I’m in trouble. But Joey The Vig will be happy, and, for health reasons, that’s a good thing, even if it hits the pocketbook.
And, hey, Joey The Vig, the most heartfelt New Year’s wishes to you and those comely “nieces” of yours you always hang out with.
– Seedy K
Posted: December 31, 2008 – 10:17 am
Lots of rumors floating about that Edgar Sosa, bummed over lack of playing time in the Cards win over UAB, will transfer away. Fuhgettaboutit. I’m told it’s not even a consideration. Pitino truly believes the kid can be a major contributor, but The Rick is frustrated that it’s taking Sosa so long to mature on the court.
– Seedy K
Posted: December 31, 2008 – 10:14 am
In case you surfed right over it on the home page, I wrote a little perspective on that game coming up Sunday. You know, Cats vs. Cards. You can read it here.
– Seedy K
Posted: December 29, 2008 – 9:16 pm
. . . is alive and well. Georgetown’s dismantling of UConn is evidence enough that U of L has a mighty ways to go to become competitive in the Big East. The Hoyas take no prisoners. Thompson the Younger’s teams are as tough as Thompson the Senior’s were. Except for one thing. They do it quietly. And without any look at me chest thumping.
Georgetown’s performance tonight in Hartford is the most impressive I’ve seen so far this season.
– Seedy K
Posted: December 29, 2008 – 9:06 am
Now that Howard Schnellenberger’s 2008 football season is over, we’re soon going to have to bid a fond adieu to the ol’ quotemeister, his syntactic gloriosity and quaint folkisms. But this is to let you know I’m gonna drag it out as long as I can, which is as long as The Schnell makes public utterances.
He reflected on his program at Florida Atlantic in the sunshine of his sixth bowl win without a defeat. Our main man morphed Papa Schnell, referring to former schools where he coached, Miami and Louisville, as “adopted children,” then:
“At Florida Atlantic, we had to be the father, uncle and pastor of this football team. The accomplishments we had here are with what I would compare with my children. These are blood children of us. We were there for the conception and birth and confirmation and bar mitzvahs. National championships and bowls and all those things will live with me forever but it doesn’t quite compare to when your little boy goes out and wins his first game.”
– Seedy K
Posted: December 27, 2008 – 11:41 pm
It is the yin and yang of life. The Schnell’s FAU Fighting Owls snag the Motown Bowl. I’m the only player that gets it right with Joey The Vig. So, being a skeptical sort, not to mention a fellow who likes to keep all the lettuce, Joey The Vig wonders what I knew that nobody else, including himself, did? He calls to congratulate me and asks a few probing questions. There’s an edge in his voice. That’s only the beginning.
Pat White leads West Virginia back over Carolina. I had it.
Florida State dismantles the Badgers. I had it.
Cal holds on when Miami’s frosh QB self destructs in the 4th quarter. I had it for a sweep of Saturday. Not the kind of run that puts a smile on Joey The Vig’s memorable face.
Then comes a knock on the door. At the same time Joey The Vig calls and wonders if I’d be so kind as to put up his “cousin” for a day or two while he’s visiting in town. Joey The Vig doesn’t take no for an answer.
When I asked my new guest’s name, the fellow says, “Just call me Slice. You got anything to munch on in the fridge?” He pulls out a blade from his coat to carve some leftover steak from a visit to Jeff Ruby’s. When I ask him what brings him to town, he mumbles something that sounds eerily like “just slicin’ and dicin’.”
When I try to make conversation, he advises “Joey’s got some questions to which he’d like some answers. But I’m tired. We’ll talk in the morning. Where’s the shower? I need to clean up before bed.”
I think I’ll try to get some sleep myself. Fat chance.
– Seedy K
Posted: December 27, 2008 – 9:47 pm
Didn’t see much of the Cats squeaker over Florida Atlantic. Apparently UK was down in the first half, but held steady and took care of business in the second. I did see the name Landon Slone for a moment on the screen and it didn’t immediately ring a bell. Then I remembered the kid’s a walk on from Paintsville. He got 25 minutes of playing time. So, my guess is the Rupp Arena faithful have a spanking new home grown favorite. The spirit of Li’l Richie lives!
The downside for the Cats was their shooting from beyond the arc. Two for 18 ain’t gonna beat many good teams. On the plus side, there were only 7 Big Blue TOs. The Cats’ final tune up before U of L is against the other Motor City Bowl participant, Central Michigan. Who is scheduling these games, Rich Brooks?
As for the Cards, well, The Rick was true to his word. E5, McGee and Sosa all began the game sitting on the bench. Jared Swopshire and Preston Knowles joined Smith, Williams and Samuels as starters. On the surface it worked. U of L cruised by 20. On the minus side, Clark looked unfocused at times and the team committed 17 turnovers. The positive: the team hit the boards, Samuels is learning how and when and where to pass and the team (and home crowd for the first time this season) were full of energy. The Cards’ New Year’s Eve tilt against UNLV should be a more than legit test, heading into next weekend’s rivalry grudge match.
What’s up with Samardo’s shin guard?
It was somewhat startling to see that UAB coach Mike Davis remains as loose a cannon emotionally on the bench as he was at IU. He actually walked out onto the court during action — sound and look familiar? — when he was arguing that one of his players had been mugged on a drive to the hoop. He had a legit complaint. The flip side is that his guys had just perpetrated a similar injustice at the other end to a Cardinal, and that hadn’t been whistled either.
– Seedy K
Posted: December 27, 2008 – 9:08 pm
One can only assume the greatest bowl coach in college football history — Need I spell out his name, Howard Schnellenberger? — had his FAU Fighting Owls believe to the core of their souls that a victory over Central Michigan’s Chippewas in the Motor City Bowl would change their lives, his life and that of all the FAU faithful forever and always.
And so it came to pass.
Final Tally: FAU 24, Central Michigan 21.
Thus The Schnell was short, to the point, emphatic and unequivocal in his seminal post victory comment: “This will certainly go down as the most meaningful game we have had in our history at Florida Atlantic University.”
Okay the Pigskin Prophet couldn’t stop without morphing some into the Poet Schnell with his eyes focused on the future: “Not so much that we held on to win this game against a very powerful and talented football team, but because of the things that led up to it and the things that will follow. This is the top of the ascending spiral when you start playing good football and you start getting bowl invitations.”
– Seedy K
