Two Things

'Tek

Read the tea leaves folks. The Sox offered Jason Varitek arbitration which basically says take our one year deal or we'll see you later. Varitek - and Scott Boras too - will not take arbitration because they want a longer term contract than just one year. Yes, the Sox and Varitek can still negotiate a contract down the road but the guess here is that Varitek is as good as gone. Who knows what Tek will think of the arbitration offer but my gut tells me he takes it as a slap in the face. "After all I've done for you, you won't even personally negotiate with me?! You'll let a judge decide?! Screw you, I'll find my multi-year deal elsewhere!"

Personally, two things strike me about this.

One, it is a classic Sox PR move of them being able to say, "see we tried to reason with The Captain but he wanted more than we were offering so we had to part ways." And two it now allows the Sox to get a first round compensation pick for him if he is to sign with another team. Truth be told, I think this is the real reason they are doing this. They probably figure that they will sign another Type A Free Agent at some point this winter and by letting one walk they will then not lose a draft pick in the deal. Consider this move to Varitek a move to cancel out a future loss.

And hey, if they get Varitek on a one year deal that is not too bad either. As long as they keep him in the neighborhood of 300 ABs.

So that is that. It looks like the Varitek Era could very well be over. Sad because now the only leftover vestiges from 2004 - that played any type of major role at least - will be Papi and Wake. Still, the time is now to cut the chord with Captain 'Tek. The A-Rod mauling is one my and millions of other Sox fans all time favorite moments. And the supposed, "we don't throw at .260 hitters"....beyond classic.

A great run indeed.

College Football

I really got a kick out of Pricing Boy's little blurb. Mainly because he is commenting on being temporarily thrown into college football country while I live right in it. Seeing as it seems like approximately 95% of Northern Virginia went to VA Tech and 95% of DC and Maryland went to Maryland you get a lot of intensity from those factions. Factor in the smattering of southern transplants with deep-seeded school loyalties from growing up plus all of the people around here who attended ACC and SEC schools and I think you can get the picture.

Oh, and did I mention that my wife and her father are season tickets holders at the University of Tennessee?

So, since being inundated with all of this has there been one set of fans that have stuck out from the rest and made me say to myself, "you know what, from here on out I am adding Team X to my Notre Dame and Duke Short List" AKA teams that I will ALWAYS route against no matter what. Yes, actually! Virginia Tech, come on down.

My reason for disliking them is quite simple. The team is consistently above average but for whatever reason their fans have decided that they should be considered and treated as National Championship contenders every single year. Not only that, but if they win then it was a foregone conclusion anyway and if they lose then woe is the world. Whatever though. If their goal is to finish every season ranked 15th in the final polls then they are winners in that regard.

So yeah, I'll have extra-ammo in routing for BC this weekend. Not like I am a die-hard fan of them or anything but they are the one college football team I have consistently rooted for for as long as I can remember. Glen Foley Era baby.

You may think from all this that I dislike college football. Far from it. I have actually taken more of a shining to it in the past few years. Because of that and understanding full well that most of the readers around these parts have probably paid the college football season passive interest at best to date, I'll give a real quick primer to prepare you for the major bowls.

SEC

Don't get fooled by the big name schools in the conference. Currently there are three teams ranked in the Top 25 from the conference (Alabama, Florida, and Georgia). Of those three teams, Alabama has beaten a whopping one team in the current Top 25 (Georgia) and Florida has beaten two (Georgia and Florida State). Again, those wins look good on paper but Georgia is currently ranked 16th and Florida State is ranked 24th. Remember this when one of these two teams is going up against Texas or Oklahoma in the National Championship Game.

As for who wins the big AL-FL showdown on Saturday I am really not sure. My money would be on Florida but with their best playmaker, Percy Harvin questionable I could see anything happening. My gut though says Florida in a romp.

Big 12

This is the money conference this year. To me, Texas and Oklahoma are the two best teams in college football and whichever one of these teams is in the title game should be and will be favored. Again, Florida and Alabama have beaten a combined 3 teams in the current Top 25 while Texas and Oklahoma have 8 wins against current Top 25 competition between the two of them. The Big 12 is the bet this year folks.

And that is enough college football talk for today. I'm only margainally qualified to talk on it and I think I got my point across. Don't fall for the big names in the SEC. Go with the Big 12. Unless the SEC is playing the ACC or Big East. Because those conferences are pretty mediocre too.

....and I'm out!