 Screw You, ESPN
So this morning I woke up at around 2:00 and, realizing that the USC-Hawaii game was probably still going on, I turned on the television to see just how badly the Trojans were beating down Hawaii. So I turn on ESPN--their usual score/clock display was off, but the Warriors were driving and Bob Davie was acting like it was the greatest game he had ever seen.* I watch a couple of minutes, and then the display comes back on--34-16 Hawaii, with a couple of minutes left to go in the third quarter.
Needless to say, as a Tennessee fan, this score intrigued me, even though I thought I remembered hearing the score at 20-3 on Sportscenter. Well, maybe the touchdown got taken off the board for some reason.
As Hawaii continued its drive, that score just made me happier and happier--if Hawaii could take a couple more minutes off the clock, maybe get into the fourth quarter, maybe score another touchdown, they would be up 25 with less than 15 minutes to go, and maybe the Kiffin era would start with a colossal upset.
Then the display went off the screen again, only to come back a couple plays later, corrected to give the real score: 34-16 USC. While this made a lot more sense, especially given the fact that no matter how big a douche the coach is, teams don't generally lose points over the course of a game, it was still a punch in the gut.
All in all, I was surprised that Hawaii made the score as close as they did, and I think it bodes well for people who hate Lane Kiffin (i.e., the entire state of Tennessee, northern Californians, and anyone else with a soul); if an otherwise completely overmatched Hawaii team could stay within reasonable shouting distance for most of the game (once USC went up by 19 in the fourth, it was pretty much garbage time thereafter), what will happen when they have to play good opponents?
In closing, while this is usually implied, it's sometimes useful to state things directly: Lane Kiffin can suck it.
Dennis
*-Not that ESPN's analysts are ever masters of nuance (although I like Mark May and Rod Gilmore, and Spielman's usually pretty good), but what was up with the announcers last night? Bob Davie made a touchdown drive in an 18-point game sound like the Miracle on Ice, and near the end of a game in which he went 16-23 for 198 yards and no touchdowns (although he ran for a couple), Jesse Palmer spent about five minutes raving about how Stephen Garcia "came of age before our eyes," as though someday all the viewers would tell their grandkids about watching a guy beat up on Southern Miss.
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09-03-2010
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