Outside the Lines: The Grayshirt Market

By Bob Ley
ESPN.com

The high-stakes world of high-school football recruiting has always been a tense battleground for college football's elite coaching staff. Having to negotiate the dangerous game of recruiting doublespeak, depth chart engineering, and public relations while tiptoeing the ever-delicate line between success and NCAA violation is a daunting task. In the past, coaches relegated much of these risks by adhering to an unspoken code of recruiting conduct. Today, with football and personal fortunes reaching dizzying heights, that code is facing its strongest test yet. It's called poaching, once almost unheard of within the coaching fraternity, and is the ethically questionable practice is fast becoming de rigeur among top programs. With another special report for FireMarkMay, Outside the Lines joins one such coach as he hunts for prospects.

Coming off a national championship, recruiting should come easy for Florida University coach Urban Meyer. Unable to rest on his laurels, driven by a burning desire to succeed, he relentlessly searches the open plains of the college football landscape, stalking his next prospect. Outside the Lines was offered an exclusive look at this process, and I, for one, was shocked with what we saw.

Meyer stalks his latest prey.

The morning started early. Waking up at 3:30 am to catch a flight out of Gainesville, FL, we catch a flight to central Africa, specifically the Winabi region of the Serengeti. Tipped off that a local recruit is wavering on his verbal agreement to the Crimson Tide of Alabama, Coach Meyer quickly arranged for a home visit, hoping to sway the recruit to join his already highly-ranked recruiting class. To the victor goes the spoils, as the saying goes, and he is looking to make the most of his recruiting advantage. Over the course of 12-hour trip, we discuss various plans of attack and it is decided that Urban will focus mainly on the level of talent being amassed at Florida as well as the openness of the depth chart to allow starting time at almost any position. After checking in with his assistant coaches via BlackBerry and his trusty laptop, Meyer's talk quickly turns to which caliber sidearm he will travel with, as well as final tranquilizing preparations.

At first, I was confused. Then, after a short trip with our local guide, Urudu, I finally realized why such precautions were being taken. We met up with the recruit, 5-star athlete, Albert "Stampy" Stampson, at his family's watering hole, just north of Harambi on the western grasslands. We approached quietly as not to startle him, and Coach Meyer made his case quickly with a 12-gauge dart gun and a following volley of blowdarts from Urudu. Stampy was immediately convinced and was lashed to our Land Rover's elephant hitch for easy transport, another commit for Florida in the bag.

On the flight home, I questioned this ethically gray practice while Urban removed Stampson's resplendent ivory tusks. I still had my issues with the practice, but I will say that I found the experience hauntingly beautiful.

Bob Ley is FireMarkMay's journalistic street cred. He plagiarizes no man.

Photo courtesy of Blue Gray Sky.

Dept. of Rumor and Innuendo: Lloyd Carr out?

By Blooregard Q. Kazoo
Staff Figment

In between marathon sessions of NCAA (Cornell-Hofstra, SLAUGHTER!), 72-hour social drinking adventures, the Senior Bowl, and the desperational viewing of actual NBA and NHL regular season games, I'd say it was a full weekend here at the compound. Not enough to sate my crippling ADD and ADHD, mind you, but enough to keep me going between sugar-filled binges and death-defying, near-diabetic crashes. Thanks to modern advances in Japanese Super Happy Ancestral Power go Wisdom Drink Yankee Cola!, I'm the first one up and about in the office today, and considering I've procrastinated long and hard for too far long, I decided to roll up my sleeves, get a post in, type a few run-on sentences, and coast until our inevitable recruiting day crunch.

Luckily, a juicy rumor based on a earlier juicy rumor surfaced today thanks to The Wizard of Odds. Apparently, our lovable droopy dog up there coaching the Canada's Alabama Wolverines, Lloyd Carr, may or may not, or possibly will be, headed towards the old dusty trail of a cozy desk job at the end of the season. While that may make some of his detractors rejoice in song and other poncey celebrations of gaiety, I, for one am a little, well, blue about it all. Consider, for a moment, the comedy gold that will forever be relegated to joke about athletic department foibles, olympic sports hirings, revenue streams, and whatnot.

Sigh... I guess it's just going to have to be more of this.

Bloo is FireMarkMay's resident imaginary friend and social director. He instituted Margarita Fridays.

Security Alert: ND Nation alertness raised

By Muppet Newscaster
ESPN News

This site is enacting the Emergency Blogging System. This is not a test.

FireMarkMay.com, in voluntary cooperation with the Federal Communications Commission and federal, state, and internet authorities, have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency.

Rumors have surfaced that 5-star DE commit, Justin Trattou, has reversed his soft verbal to Notre Dame and will instead attend Florida University. Sources are strong to quite strong that he will be a full commit to the Gators at this time, but nothing is truly confirmed. The 18-year old could not be reached for comment.

This message is for all users in the Notre Dame Nation and surrounding areas. Please leave your homes. For your own safety and the safety of those around you, do not attempt to use the relevant internets for at least two full days.

This site has been authorized to notify all members of the area that the local security alert has been raised to Orange, indicating a High risk of meltdown.



This has been a message from the Emergency Blogging System. This is not a test.

Muppet Newscaster is a certified transmitter of the EBS. He is working on his ham radio license.

Molders of Men: Tyrone Willingham

By Trev Alberts
formerly of ESPN.com

Criminy! All day! Everyday, with this "Bear Down" business! Kid, you get that memo I sent you? BEARS! Did you wash Bloo's rain slicker? BEARS! Kid, go to the Krispy Kreme! BEARS! He's slipped into his fake Chicago accent and sworn to fast until the Super Bowl. Remarkable. I've got a site to not run here! Who's going to do it? You, Johnny 5? You, muppet guy who's name I forget? NO! Trev's gotta keep the Trev ship running, slowly but semi-surely! You can do this, Alberts!

*UPDATE: This was supposed to go up yesterday, but I don't know what I'm doing. I think I broke the internets!

Name: Lionel Tyrone Willingham

Known aliases: Ty, Chauncey Gardiner, @#$@%!-ing Ty!

Current position: Head Coach, University of Washington 2005-Present


Previous notable position(s):
Head Coach, University of Notre Dame 2002-2004
Head Coach, Stanford University 1995-2001


Hobbies: Golf, driving range practice, miniature golf, cutting 5th year seniors

Current hoopty: Standard Club Cart for discreet traveling, definitely not as flashy as [name redacted].


Playing Style: Undetermined until offense is installed. This process usually takes 4 years, so it should remain a mystery. Coach Ty has also outlined several goals for his program:

"My goals for this program are to be a championship football team," he said. "I expect them to do all the things necessary to be a champion. That includes the weight room, film study, classroom, all these things.

"I want them to be the best they can be. I want them to be championship people, and I want these young men to have fun the right way."

Playing Time?: Like the playbook, any determined roster remains a mystery, but considering his trademark lack of roster depth, there is always room for scads of walk-ons and transfers. Having 15 players at one position and 4 at another is also a very real possibility.

Coaching Style: Cool, calm, collected. Ty reacts to all game situations, from throwing into triple coverage to busted screens, with the same courageous stoicism.

Recruiting philosophy: I'd say any where from +3 to scratch depending on the course.



Trev Alberts is an analyst for CSTV. He is currently having his internet tubes fixed.

Pardon my interruption...

Bears. That is all.





-irishoutsider

Molders of Men: Joe Paterno

By Trev Alberts
formerly of ESPN.com

Considering the long, brutal offseason, I've devised a comprehensive list of some of the changes that I would like to see administered by my administrators and other middle-management types, mainly the kid, in the hopes of creating an overall leaner, meaner, more proactive interaparadigm experience for my loyal legions of partially amused readers. Most of these changes involve modeling the site after one of my favorite shows, the Mickey Mouse Club, and creating themed days of blog-u-tain-ment value. Suggestions include the traditional "Anything can happen day" (Currently in effect everyday-IO) , "Music Day", and "Random Cowboy Singalong Day," but I think we can do better than that!

Being the humble man that I am, I want to bring this latest Trevovation to the people! Feel free to comment in our bountiful comments section on this very topic.

Moving on, today is Odinsday, after the father of Norse mythology and my favorite reason to go to the non-Norse, but close enough, Brewhaus for definitely non-lutefisk based meals and ales. Somehow, this ties in to covering another Molder of Men. So, without further delay, today's Molder of Men is also as old as many mythological beings...


Name: Joseph Vincent Paterno

Known aliases: JoePa, GranPa, Old Man Winter

Current position: Head Coach, Penn State University 1966-Present

Previous notable position(s):
Chronos, Greek God of Eternal Time 1600-1100 BC
Bor, father of Odin 1100 BC-1066 AD
Offensive Coordinator, Norman Army, 1066-1966

Hobbies: Strat-O-Matic Football, model shipbuilding, chasing youth from lawn

Current hoopty: '88 Lincoln Continental town car. Gets him where he needs to go.

Playing Style: Previously known for its Tecmo Bowl simplicity, the Nittany Lions playbook now incorporates 8 plays, including 4 different passes.

Playing Time?: Any recruit is eligible for starting at any position if he can correctly answer coach's "questions three."

Coaching Style: A strict disciplinarian and decidedly old-school, JoePa prefers to correct insolent team members with the traditional tools of corporal punishment, mainly a ruler or knotted shillelagh.

Recruiting philosophy: Focuses on both Eastern and Western Pennsylvania as well as the neighboring colonies.

Trev Alberts is former Nebraska collegiate football player. He's not leaving until he gets his frisbee back.

IT Soultions

By Johnny 5
Nova Laboratories, Inc.

WHOA! As soon as we hooked up that new Nintendo dealie to the media center, the whole damn compound went ballistic! We're talking about total local network meltdown, people. Small fires, halon systems, and those little airline gas masks falling out of the ceiling! (Trev's idea-IO) I'm working on a solution to getting all the workstations online, but the kid's in full NFL BEARS! mode while Trev quietly weeps in the corner from a lack of college football. Recruiting news occasionally takes him out of this not-exactly-crippling depression, but the last week or so has been especially hard around here, what with Bloo beating up on him in Madden. I guess its the reminder that there is still football, but not our football, that's getting on everyone's nerves.

On the bright side, I've come up with a list of IT-based solutions designed to get us out of the doldrums:

• Step 1: contain 95% of the small fires
• Step 2: reconnect Trev's security system to prevent further paranoia
  
• Step 3: re-institute office NCAA dynasty
• Step 4: afternoon tea
• Step 5: Get MacGyver to fix our servers.
  

Sigh, MacGuyver. The man's a genius.

For Your Consideration

We're about to head out the door for the slow weekend capping off this slow week, short of that whole Monday night blowout business, but I'd like to thank the Academy of the Blogging Sciences for nominating the site for three 2006 College Football Blogger Awards. The brain child from the fellows behind Rocky Top Talk, MGoBlog, Burnt Orange Nation, EDSBS, Dawg Sports, and countless other internet famous big-wigs have counted us among their ranks, and I just so darned proud of our one happy nation under Mr. Alberts. In anticipation of future idol worship, Trev has already had the Golden Calf wheeled out of the supplies closet and has a team of interns polishing it as we speak.


Fire Mark May, nominated for:

The Jenn Sterger's Rack Award (Best Photoshop or other gag)-
Glenn Phelps' shocking "I Hate your Favorite Team" joins an extensive list of memorable farks and satire.

Best New Blog alongside Card Chronicle, Saurian Sagacity, Corn From a Jar, Double Extra Point, and Conquest Chronicles.


"The Trev Alberts Quits to Do Construction Award" (Funniest Blog)-
We've started calling this award "The Trev." It would be fitting if it was returned, during its inaugural presentation, back "home," but there is some stiff competition out there. EDSBS and Hey Jenny Slater have forgotten more funny posts than us newcomers, and that's not even counting TheMZone and Loser With Socks! Really, it's an honor to be nominated, but Trev will beat me if we lose....

Again, internet high-fives all around. Enjoy the weekend.

-irishoutsider

Molders of Men: [Name Redacted]

By Trev Alberts
formerly of ESPN.com

My un-sincerest apology for not reacting to Monday night's humiliating National Title game. If there is any way to spin this into making me feel better about myself is that I was able to give one very special team the Kiss of Death. It's very rare when one can hold such awe-inspiring power for any brief period of time, (like late-season Texas, and again, you're welcome) and said power should be given the mad props it deserves. Congratulations to the Florida Gators, who's impregnable team speed destroyed literally hours of pre-recorded ESPN analysis. Kudos.

We enter the long, cold, and unforgiving post-season with the broken hearts of jilted lovers, faithful Treviacs. Recently spurned by our object of obsession to face the wintry lean months of the football calendar alone, we look for solace and glimmers of hope. For an unhealthy number of us, that solace is found in the choices of 18-year-old boys. What a tangled web we weave. Fortunes will rise and fall in the next few weeks, and message boards across this great land will become manic, then depressive, then manic once again, sometimes in the span of a few minutes. And while none of us will ever REALLY be able to determine why Random Teen McSpeedster chose his newest baseball cap, maybe he liked the colors, but what we can shed light on are the men behind the scenes, influencing these decisions.

Who are these Molders of Men? These future father figures and football gurus that will play a key role in these boys' lives for the next four years, and perhaps irreversibly alter the trajectory of their careers? Let's take a closer look:

Name: [Name Redacted]

Current position: Head Coach, University of Illinois 2005-Present

Previous notable position(s): Head Coach, University of Florida 2002-2005

Hobbies: water skiing, polishing his guns

Current hoopty: Rolls Royce golf cart w/gold package. Possibly on 20s.


Playing Style: Defense-oriented. High energy, known to scream nonsensically.

Playing Time?: Given the current Illini roster, almost any recruit has a chance to play immediately, Zook capitalizes on this notion.

Coaching Style: "A Players' Coach" Zook has been known to sit down and "rap" with his "crew" over a few rounds of "the Xbox."

Recruiting philosophy: To truly capture the essence of [Name Redacted], one should look no further than the video he sent as Gators head coach to then Hawaii HS OL prospect, Hercules Satele, Jr.



Trev Alberts is an amateur recruitnik. He's still perfecting his hip-swivel.

Begin the polishing of the Sweatervest!

By Trev Alberts
formerly of ESPN.com

(Editor's note: We're 95% sure that we'll be chipping in with Southern Papa and a random smattering of blogger types for tonight's game. Check out his site for details, and I'll get a link up here as soon as we get things squared up.-IO)

I can't take it anymore! I give up, ok! I yield to you, oh Worldwide Leader, for this one night that is unlike any other night. How glad is everyone that this one's on FOX? Seriously, how great is it going to be to have Ohio State's (or possibly Florida's) national title dream covered in glorious HD by the same guys that cut Joe Buck a weekly paycheck. Man, I can't wait for my 200 24 promos in the first half and a surprise booth visit by that guy from Prison Break. Cross-promoting aside, I'm rooting for a 70/30 crowd shot to gameplay ratio. Ok, on to the pick, eschewing my imperfect scoreboard for the sake of time and what remains of my bowl season dignity.

BCS Bowl, Glendale AZ
Ohio State (-7.5) vs. Florida (830p 1/8 FOX)
So it comes down to this. Save an outcome similar to the end of last week's real Fiesta Bowl, this game will likely go down as Florida winning or losing as a fluke. Whether that's fair or not, it is the storyline. This is what happens when you have a coach with the personality of a piece of dry pumpernickel toast, Tressel, manning the latest edition of TEH GREATEST TEAM EVAH!!!1!!! versus a team of relative no-names, scrappy as they might be. Actually, I apologize, the first three storylines of this game is how Troy Smith could kick Chuck Norris' ass in all forms of mortal combat. Following the game, he will devise an exit strategy for the war in Iraq that gives the indigenous peoples a solid foundation of law and order while allowing us to handover power with quiet dignity. The man's a dual-threat. I want to give Florida the edge here, hoping that they can repeat the Buckeyes' original 2002 mojo over the then equally unstoppable Hurricanes. There's one slight flaw in that plan. The Gators aren't coached by Jim Tressel. Evil Genius in full effect tonight, no split pick.

Trev's pick: Ohio State

Get me the president, we're going to need the National Air Guard over most of the country. What? No! I need to speak with him now! THERE'S NOT ENOUGH TIME!

Trev Alberts does not work for FOX in any capacity. His father is the district attorney!

Scientists in awe as coaching equilibrium restored

By Muppet Newscaster
ESPN News

Louisville, KY-In a shocking turn of events, the pro-college coaching equilibrium rapidly regressed to the mean late Sunday night as now-former Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino became the now-pending head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. "On Friday, we were worried when [Nick Saban] came back to the college side," stated noted statistician, Preston Billingsley, "and there was a belief that this fundamental law of football theory would be put into question, which would be devastating. I mean, [the coaching equilibrium] theory is like gravity in our field."

The pro-college coaching equilibrium had long been taken for granted in the world of quantitative football analysis. Given the similar, but separate circles of the college and pro coaching fraternities, it was widely accepted that migration between the two would be limited and of minimal impact. Despite the number of college jobs largely outnumbering the number of NFL jobs and the high percentage of turnover in the professional league, the equilibrium holds due to college coaches having little to no success in the pros. "With the brilliant exception of Stanford's Bill Walsh, our quantitative pharaoh god of strategery," proclaimed Billingsley, "few, if any, have ever truly made "The Leap" to remain in the NFL, and the previous disparity in salaries kept all but the courageously inept from 'regressing' to the collegiate level."

In recent years, given the increasing revenues of the college game, schools have engaged in a coaching salary arms war that has brought the average salary to a comparable rate, causing the theory to be in danger of becoming obsolete. Thankfully, with Petrino's recent hubris, statisticians are certain that the pro-college equilibrium theory will hold, if only for more concrete reasons. "The money is reaching a parity between the two landscapes," Preston concluded,"While the college game has become more comparable in this respect, I believe the equilibrium will hold for the sheer fact that now there will always be a job in either circle that pays just a little bit more."

Muppet Newscaster attended City College of New York. He didn't sell out, he bought in. He bought in.

ND fandom officially declared disorder by APA

By Dr. Otto von Scratchansniff
Mental Health Correspondent

In anticipation of the glut of new patients following last night's Sugar Bowl drubbing of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has officially declared Notre Dame Fandom (NDF) as an official disorder. The move is intended to streamline diagnosis of future Irish head-cases and expedite treatment profiles in a time when such efficiency is needed most.

NDF was commonly treated as a combination of various inter-related syndromes and other overlapping symptoms, and the traditional diagnosis of patients was the laborious "Narcissistic personality disorder with bipolar and megalomanical tendencies" (NPDBMT). The new diagnostic criteria will be included in fifth and latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V) estimated to be printed by 2011, however, considering the unrelenting "pwning" of Notre Dame in recent high-profile contests and the upcoming recruiting season, the APA felt compelled to release the new classification now.

Under the new guidelines, the diagnostics from the previous NPDBMT symptoms will be combined to form one complete NDF profile. Based on the current DSM-IV-TR, the

Recently, NPDBMT had been treated with repeated viewings of the 1997-2004 Irish football seasons.

following traits are associated with the new Notre Dame Fandom (NDF) disorder:

• a grandiose sense of self-importance
• a preoccupation with with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.
• a belief that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by other special people
• requires excessive admiration
• a strong sense of entitlement
• is often envious or believes others are envious of him/her
• general arrogance
• delusions of grandeur
• a distinct period of persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood, lasting throughout at least 4 days, that is clearly different from the usual non depressed mood
• markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day (as indicated by either subjective account or observation made by others)

The APA has declared that patients experiencing 5 or more criteria should be diagnosed with NDF while those patients experiencing 8 or more criteria should also have their internet access severely limited, if not completely removed. Previous treatments of alcohol in moderation are still acceptable.

Dr. Scratchansniff is on retainer for the offseason here at FireMarkMay. We have issues.

Trevonics: We're gonna need some Hand Grenades

By Trev Alberts
formerly of ESPN.com

This crazy week of holiday shenanigans keeps on rolling, Trev believers. Just when I thought everything would be back on track, they bury a president, and the kid goes into seclusion for the Sugar Bowl. While we're at it, I'm losing my proverbial shirt and my literal appendages on the wagering action, all part of a balance scoreboard:

Bowl Season to Date:
Straight Up: 12-8
Against the Spread: 10-10

This latest edition of scoreboard is brought you by the letter L and the number 50. Maybe Wake Forest could have gotten a little more fired up if they brought more than their chamber orchestra to the game. He's not going to attack the small school, is he? YES HE IS! I know non-Texan high schools that could at least spell out "Deacons." Cripes.

Well, on to tonight's game. I feel obligated to pick and writeup tonight's Sugar Bowl match up if I have any hope of seeing our beloved editor ever again.

Sugar Bowl, New Orleans LA
Notre Dame (+8.5) at LSU (800et 1/3 FOX)
I've heard the warnings. The size of LSU's defense, the speed of their offense, the fact that 100% of Louisiana's registered voodoo doctors and 4 out of 5 of their voodoo dentists are recommending a true Tiger beatdown are all for naught in the Book of Trev. Despite the intimidating odds facing the Irish, they still have their ace in the hole, a genius robot for a head coach. While Les Miles is a known dark magician in his own right (Two Potter references in one day? Geeks. -IO), his ultimately predictable gameplan is no match for the robot's trickeration. I'm immediately reminded of this year's Rose Bowl, as USC thoroughly exploited Michigan's traditionally stout base. Sure, the Irish aren't Southern Cal, that is still brutally obvious, but use that game as excellent proof that out-scheming can out-execute vanilla tactics. Best-case scenario for ND is that the Tigers' talent both overrated and under-coached. As per usual, I'm contractually bound to pimp ND, making me the ONLY sports-guy person in the COUNTRY. So, there it is.
Trev's pick: Notre Dame

We were going to do the game in Trev-O-Vision, but I'm pretty sure the kid will be in the bag by the end of the early ND-Louisville basketball game, and since it's only on the radio here, we're going to have Bloo and the interns act it out via interpretive dance.

Trev Alberts is a real-life broadcaster. He took three years of modern tap and two years of jazz.

Nick Saban to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts

By Muppet Newscaster
ESPN News

Tuscaloosa, AL- The University of Alabama filled its recently vacated Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA) faculty position today by hiring Miami Dolphins head coach Nick Saban. The deal is estimated to pay 40 million dollars over the course of 8 years, pending his own survival. The hiring is the latest in a string of transactions concerning Alabama's frequently vacated DADA job given the recent number of former employees meeting untimely demises over the years. While foul play has been suspected by both friends and foes of the Alabama program, authorities have yet to locate former DADA teachers Mike Shula, Mike Price, and Mike DuBose.

Coach Saban was coveted by the Crimson Tide mainly for his knowledge of the high-school recruiting, a relatively new field of dark sorcery, but the position will require adept-level understanding of the traditional dark arts: SEC defenses, poisons, alumni relations, unforgivable curses, and academic eligibility.

Snape, seen here plotting vengeance over his foes at Auburn.

Alabama administrators are confident that they have found a DADA teacher that will be able to weather the traditionally rough situation and, at least, remain alive through the span of his scheduled tenure.

Longtime staff member, Severus Snape, was pegged for the job by many insiders, and while he had been rumored to be headed for vacant Dark Arts positions at Texas and Miami(FL), the ultimately loyal Snape will remain at Alabama as poisons coach and co-defensive coordinator. Snape will, however, yield his position as headmaster of Slytherin House, the Tide's athletic dormitory.

This faculty search was unusually long considering the unnaturally high interest in the position. Traditionally, a vacated Defense Against the Dark Arts office is filled no later than the nearest equinox, but Alabama's athletic headmaster, Mal Moore decided that an extra fortnight of pondering and meditation was necessary. "We are certain that the extra time helped us secure the perfect man for the job," added Moore, "and, after only a few years here at Alabama, we're sure that Coach Saban will be a grand wizard."

Muppet Newscaster is a card-carrying member of the legitimate media. He once caddied for Tyrone Willingham.

Trevonics: Extended Holiday edition

By Trev Alberts
formerly of ESPN.com

In observance of today's national day of mourning, I am mourning the loss of my wagering credits. The Trevonics has started the new year out with a thud, that's all that I can say. A quick look at the scoreboard and I'm off to hide from the Germans.

Bowl Season to Date:
Straight Up: 12-7
Against the Spread: 10-9

Ok, maybe I exaggerated my fiscal losses, but yesterday was absolutely devastating. The kid stayed up way past his bed time watching Boise State run every trick in the book to beat the Sooners, so we've got little in the works of interweb trickery today, and I'll just cut to the chase on tonight's afterthought BCS game, the Orange Bowl. I like Wake Forest (+10.5) over Lousiville. I just have a feeling that the Deacons want to be there WAY more than UL, and Petrino may have other things in mind. It's got to be hard to get any sleep when your phone is ringing non-stop.

Trev Alberts is a slightly successful prognosticator. He should really get some sleep.