Chanel’s Blog

Being a huge football fan and nerd, I love it when the two actually combine. There’s no need for brawn vs brain, or jocks vs geeks. In a perfect world, they can live together. Here are some sites that I’ve found that do a great job marrying the two:

Saurian Sagacity: With a major Florida Gator bias, this blog always have an interesting way of looking at football with great stats to back it up. My favorite post is when he absolutely calls out Texas Tech, and every other team, for not having a defense worthy of stopping anybody.

Smart Football: They are the most focused on X’s and O’s of any of the sites. They really go into how and why certain formations, plays or schemes succeed. The latest post is an absolute gem detailing exactly why the Florida Gators offense is so successful. But he also p0wnz my hometown Auburn Tigers for being the exact opposite of good on offense this year.

Advanced NFL Stats: Geared towards the NFL, they always have really statistically oriented posts. This post on signal vs noise in stats and how they correlate to wins is especially intriguing.

BCS Guru: For not being very mathematically or schematically involved, this site always stay on top of the lunacy that is the BCS. This mailbag-style post really goes into the sheer wackiness of the BCS, and the Big 12 South this year.

Dr Saturday: This is the most entertaining site and also contains the best writing. This Yahoo! blog started out as the best college football blog in the world: Sunday Morning Quarterback. But like most people in his position, he decided to take more money and a larger audience and moved on to bigger and better things leaving behind his absolutely hilarious, yet informative pre-season previews. Despite not having as much of a statistical bent towards his stories nowadays, Dr. Saturday still produces great articles.

Now here’s some football music for your listening pleasure (thanks to Groovshark):

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Everybody has a favorite time of the year. Whether it’s the hot laziness of summer or the bitter coldness of winter, there are moments of the year when everything smells better, the colors are brighter and nothing can go wrong. For me, growing up as a sports crazy boy in a small, college town in “The South” was really amazing. During the fall, everything is second to Saturdays. The weekdays seem to build up to a crescendo of noise and energy that suddenly comes to an end on Sundays. Going to a college football is still one of my favorite events because its not just a game, its much more than that.

In truth, the above paragraph is overly grandiose and attributes much more to college football than it deserves. If I grew up in London, I would be talking about soccer and if it was India, I would be cricket crazy. For some reason, I gravitate towards sporting events with as much fervor as a kid in a playground. For me, the aspect I most appreciate about the game day experience, and there are indeed very many, is the sheer scale at which a big-time college football game is played.

Imagine all of the food and liquid consumed throughout the day. The gas used to transport people to and from the games… and the noise. These are all what makes college football exciting. There is a scene in the move Gladiator when Juba, the African friend of Maximus, views the Colosseum for the first time and says, “I didn’t know men could build such things.” I felt the same way when I first laid eyes upon Jordan-Hare Stadium, the on-campus stadium of Auburn University. I was such in awe and intrigued to see such a large building. Granted I was only 3 years old and “fresh off the boat” from Burundi, this event started an obsession that I have not fully recovered from since.

In summary, humanity have advanced from killing each other and wild animals for sport to watching 300 pound men smash into each other. In my opinion, everybody wins!

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