Labor Day Blog Hits

- I had to sit on this for a minute because I needed to get all of the frustration out of my system about the end of last night's instant classic. As much as I'd like to call Jarmon Fortson "Jarmon Castillo" or "Luis Fortson", it's not entirely his fault. Lost in the drop was Jimbo letting 30-35 seconds run off the clock in confusion, on top of some questionable playcalling inside the 10 in the waning moments. Not to mention, I've never seen a Mickey Andrews defense get out-athleted like that. Sooner or later, not getting stops on 3rd down (at least two on Tha U's winning drive) will come back to bite you.

That said, I haven't been this excited about FSU football since the 2000 title game. For the first time since Old Man Weinke was under center, they have a potent offense with weapons (Taiwan Easterling and potentially Ty Jones); and for all the defensive shortcomings last night, Greg Reid is a superstar in waiting (as a freshmen no less). With 38 sophomores on the team, not only are they closer to Florida than delusional Gator fans would have you believe, they're a year away from beating them; most importantly, Shirtless Jesus the QB isn't going to have a highlight-reel boat race this year against them.

Can't wait for the rematch against Tha U in Tampa in December.

- I'm not saying LeGarrette Blount's suspension is right or wrong, but Oregon needed to do it. Chip Kelly had to make a stand in what was the first major moment of his collegiate coaching career and the university needed to be decisive in its punishment on an incident that brought negative attention to them. As for Blount, that should end his NFL prospects. Ask Marcus Vick how on-field incidents bode for your career.

- If Joe Mauer and Zack Greinke aren't your AL MVP/ Cy Young winners, then the postseason awards are officially a joke. Scratch that, it became a joke when Jimmy Rollins got the MVP in '07 because his teammates won the division for him to make him look like a prophet. My bad, keep on truckin, writers.

- Love the verses on the new Kid Cudi/Kanye/Common track. The beat? Ehhhhh, not so much. Who were the ad wizards who decided "Hey, let's take the chorus of a song that was really annoying to begin with and put it on the beat of the entire track!" Taylor Swift thinks Lady GaGa is oversaturated. Oh wait, who are we kidding?

- Anyone else find it strange that for the majority of his career, Jayson Werth was a pinch runner/defensive replacement and yet has suddenly become a 30+ home run hitter?

- Thoughts on the Rescue Me finale last week: From a comedy aspect, this was probably the most consistently funny season since the first, the storylines though were a little disappointing. Sure, seeing Lou get even with the hooker was nice, but there were a couple useless stories to go with it (Mike's band and Franco the 9/11 conspiracy theorist). Not to mention the whole "season ends with Tommy's life in question" has been done already in Season 3 when Sheila lit the beach house on fire in a fit of rage.

Speaking of Sheila; as hot as she is (and from what I've been told, TV doesn't do her or Janet justice), her over the top psycho nympho act has gotten stale.

- Like what I've seen from Josh Thole at the plate so far since his call-up. I think him and Santos as a platoon next season works very well. Jerry Manuel needs to be playing him as much as possible this month. When you have a year old switch-hitting catcher, it's best to see what you have. There is no reason AT ALL why Brian Schneider should seen anything beyond a pinch-hitting role this month. Then again, I could've said that same sentence 3 months ago.

- I was hoping to see if they would bring up Ike Davis as well. For those of you who don't know, Davis was the one of the Mets two first round picks last season and has been mashing all year in St. Lucie and Binghamton. The front office does have a dilemma, I suppose, since Davis is a first baseman and that just so happens to be the place where Daniel Murphy is finally comfortable. That leaves left field open and hell, anything is an upgrade over The Incredibly Dreadful Nick Evans.

- I can honestly say Tim Redding is in the discussion for worst Met pitcher of my lifetime. The lack of any good stuff, the fact that we wasted some of the Derek Lowe money on him, the blank expression and the incredibly hideous goatee, it's all there. Anthony Young is #1 by default with Armando Benitez 1A, Redding and John Thomson (the import of the ridiculous Jay Payton trade) fighting for next in line.

- The Bucs firing their offensive coordinator (whose last name I'm not even going to attempt to spell) isn't as big of a deal as it seems for a few reasons. For starters, it will be a 6-win season at best. Secondly, from reports, he was way over his head since joining and that his replacement was drawing up most of the plays. There was also a reported squabble between him and Raheem Morris over who the starting QB should be. If it were up to me, I'd go the old fashioned route and let Hour Glass Leftwich start the first 7 games before letting Josh Freeman take over.

As I've said since the Glazers cleaned house in January, I'm willing to sit through a 6-10 or 5-11 season if there's progress, especially with Freeman. Did Freeman show promise in the preseason? Yes. Enough to say he's a 1st round pick? Not quite. Has Raheem Morris done anything instill confidence in the Bucs fan base? Uhhhhhhhh, not exactly.

Oh well, at least we can keep watching Barrett Ruud run with the torch Derrick Brooks handed to him last season.