Harem of the Goddess post: Walker Sports with AFC North preview

Football fiends, friend of the Gridiron Goddess Walker Sports is back to share his views on the AFC North with us.

Walker-Sports AFC North Preview

In our ongoing effort to cover the entire NFL we pick up our coverage with the focus on the AFC North. This is perhaps the most confusing division in the league. Confusing because teams go from worse to first in seemingly no time, and the fall from the top is just as quick.

Pittsburgh Steelers: Always consistent, always in the mix, always there. It seems like every year these guys are ready to make a play and be a contender. This year is absolutely no different. They have all the same weapons back again. Big Ben, Hines Ward, Willie Parker and company are locked, loaded and ready to bring it. A big addition during the off-season was drafting Rashard Mendenhall as a running back. While he won’t be a superstar this season, he will be able to provide Willie Parker a break, which will keep his legs fresh especially coming down the end stretch of the season. A big key for the Steelers will be the health of their defense. Mainly the health of Troy Polamalu is the big concern. Last season Troy was in and out of the lineup with injuries, and it hurt the overall continuity of the defense. Much like Bob Sanders in Indy, Polamalu is a key part to the Steelers defense. His ability to be at the line of scrimmage at the snap and then drop back into coverage and not miss a beat cannot be emphasized enough. If he can stay healthy and remain on the field then the Steelers will once again find themselves in the mix.

Cincinnati Bengals: This has to be one of the most difficult choices I’ve had to make so far. There are plenty of underlying issues with this team that could easily tear it apart well, before they ever take the field. Obviously I am talking about Chad Johnson who is currently at camp but not participating because of his bum ankle. The relationship between Palmer and Johnson’s has to be considered strained at best and the same could be said with Johnson’s relationship with Coach Marvin Lewis. What the Bengals do have going for them is T.J. Houshmandzada who has become one of the best receivers in the league and his numbers will continue to be up there next season. The problem with the Bengals offense is in their backfield. The two headed monster of Rudi Johnson and Chris Perry has failed to produce at the exponential rate that makes them a true threat.

Oh yeah… they still can’t stop anyone on defense either. So expect to see another 56-48 shoot out with the Browns.

Cleveland Browns: A lot of people have the Browns as the breakout team of 08. I see them playing more like the 49’ers did in 07 in the wake of a great 06 season. Bottom line is there will be a let down. The Browns will play a tougher schedule this season (the NFC East), and the rest of the league knows what to expect. Derek Anderson had a phenomenal year last season and established himself as the starting QB. However, he will have to continue to play at an exceptional rate if he wants to keep the job. Brady Quinn is still lurking in the shadows and you can bet that as soon as Anderson begins to flounder, that the fans will be chanting Quinn’s name. The Browns added Donte’ Stallworth at wide out, but he has largely been an underachieving player even in New England last season. It will be interesting to see if getting the paycheck will inspire him to play at the top of his game or will he continue to be lackluster. The Browns defense has undergone little change over the summer, and so they will continue to struggle there. Last year was a great story and this was a fun team to watch, but it’s just asking too much to have them repeat.

Baltimore Ravens: The Ravens are in a rebuilding process so one cannot expect much from them in the upcoming season. A New head coach, probably a new starting QB (by week 5, I’m guessing) and some new faces on the O-Line. Not a good combination for one of the traditionally worse offenses in football. Add to that the Ravens defense is an aging group. They have added a couple young players over the past couple seasons, but unfortunately their talent level is not to the level that the Ravens are used to. If the Ravens want to avoid the disaster they experienced last season they will need their defense to play closer to their 01 level than 07. Also getting Flacco up to speed as quickly as possible will be in the team’s best interest.

ARCHIVES: What we mean when we say “Fight On!” or “Roll Tide” or “War Eagle” or…

Hello Fellow Football Fiends!

(This post originally ran on September 20, 2007)

This is gonna be a different kind of post for Gridiron Goddess. It focuses on the intangible feeling alums of certain universities get when they say “Roll Tide” or “War Eagle” or, of course “Fight On.” So read on, I hope you enjoy it and WAHOO Another weekend of football is nearly upon us. Oh, and I happen to think this picture of all the USC fans doing their Fight On thing here is a beautiful, sacred thing.

Some people have a security blanket. Some people have a teddy bear.

I have a security sweatshirt.

On Saturday morning, er, almost afternoon actually, as I crawled out of bed close to noon and grabbed my white hooded USC sweatshirt, it suddenly occurred to me just how many events in my life that particular sweatshirt has been witness to.

In February 1987 my father and I went on a road trip. It was my Senior Year of high school and we were off on the obligatory father-daughter bonding college campus trip. We loaded up the banana mobile (a yellow Oldsmobile station wagon that was the bane of my existence until I embraced it for its gigantic 8 cylinder engine) and set out for Southern California.

On our agenda: University of Southern California, California State University Long Beach and the University of San Diego, where one of my best friends was a freshman.

First up was USC, being the closest. It was also not a school I intended on attending. We got lost. We got lost in such a bad neighborhood that when we got to USC, its neighborhood seemed good. Anyone who knows about SC knows this is so far from the truth that it is laughable.

I wanted to go to Long Beach and major in Art. LBSU has a great art program. And if not there, to USD where Didi was and Jodi was going to go. USC was a VERY distant third.

Until I stepped foot on campus. Just seeing the carved rock entrance signs that say University of Southern California gave me chills. And they still do. Seeing the red brick campus and all the students and everything going on there— it was what college was supposed to be. At least to me. So I marched us to the bookstore and bought a sweatshirt. A white hooded sweatshirt with USC on it in Cardinal and Gold.

And it was this moment that I knew this was where I was going to college.

It was this sweatshirt I wore to my Long Beach State visit. It was this sweatshirt I wore to my USD visit. It was this sweatshirt I was wearing on the drive home when we got snowed in at Mountain Pass and had to backtrack to Baker to find a room for the night. And wore to bed because there was a hole in the window, the heat did not work, and the advertised cable television out front that we were so relieved about—well, every time the lobby TV changed channels, so did the one in our room. My Dad and I laughed and laughed and laughed that night.

It was this sweatshirt I wore to nearly every football game of my collegiate career. It was this sweatshirt I wore on every break home—just so that everyone knew I no longer lived there, that I’d gotten out and was going to a fabulous school.

It was this sweatshirt that was at the ready when my parents told me they were getting divorced. It was this sweatshirt that was there when nine years later, they remarried each other.

It is this sweatshirt I am wearing in my first ever picture with my newborn niece. She is now 15 and looking at USC in her future.

It was this sweatshirt I wore when I moved to San Diego. It was this sweatshirt I wore when I moved back to LA. And nearly every weekend for twenty years. It’s been to Chicago, to Las Vegas, to New York, to San Francisco, to Phoenix, to Tucson, to D.C., to Orlando, to Hawaii, to Philadelphia, to tiny Ely, NV; to Paris, to Cabo San Lucas, to St. Thomas, Antigua, Anguilla and St. Martin.

It was this sweatshirt that I wore when I went thru the not changing my clothes phase of breakups with the most serious and loved of my exboyfriends.. It was this sweatshirt that I again turned to when I made the difficult choice to leave The Philly Fan because it was healthier for me. It is this sweatshirt that until recently, I did not even realize had been such a witness to my life. And such a talisman of comfort and home and family. When I chose USC, I took the first step into my adult life. And it is fitting that this first purchase at my school would become my oldest surviving and still in use and most beloved sweatshirt.

Linus ain’t got nothin’ on me with his blanket.

FIGHT ON!

-Your Gridiron Goddess, who will replace this picture tomorrow with one of her in that aforementioned 20 year old sweatshirt. When I am not, you know, drunkity.

shake your Booty!

It is 38 days, roughly 23 hours and some minutes until USC kicks off their season against Idaho. So let’s talk Heisman trophy, shall we?

Now I know y’all are at least as football obsessed as I am and so talking Heisman in JULY makes perfect sense to you, as well. And by the way TRAINING CAMP IS HERE! TRAINING CAMP IS HERE! And the Pittsburgh Steelers have made my fellow Trojan alumnus Troy Polamalu the richest Steeler in history with a 4 year, $30.9 million contract. WAY TO GO STEELERS! Locking him in before free agency next year is the smartest move by any NFL organization so far this year.

But back to that venerable old trophy, the Heisman.

Oddsmakers both in the blogosphere, offshore online type betting sites and in my hometown of Las Vegas have USC QB John David Booty as the 2007 Heisman trophy winner. I can live with this. hee. Just as I was thrilled to live with the fact that we won in 2002 with Carson Palmer, 2004 with Matt Leinart and 2005 with Reggie Bush. All in all, USC has 7 Heisman trophies–1965’s Mike Garrett (SC’s current Athletic Director), 1968’s OJ Simpson, 1979’s Charles White, and 1981’s Marcus Allen round out the seven. Only one other university has as many as we do — Notre Dame. Together USC and Notre Dame lead the pack. For the record- UCLA has one. Back in the 1960s. hee.

I think Booty has a great shot at winning the Heisman this year. His chances, however, more so than other candidates, ARE tied to USC’s record. Lose a game (or two) and his chances plummet. This is not so much the case for a candidate such as the University of Hawaii’s Colt Brennan. Heisman voters will expect more out of a candidate from USC, that is just a fact. It would be the same for Notre Dame.

Booty has 303 career completions (8th all time at USC). He has 3,764 career passing yards (10th all time at USC). He has 3,690 total yards of offense (14th all time at USC). He has 32 career touchdown passes, has thrown a TD pass in 15 games; including 9 times with at least 2 TD throws and 7 with at least 3 TDs. He has thrown for at least 200 yards in 11 career games. He wears the number 10 and is 6’3.

I’m going to do a little predicting here my friends and fans. My picks for the five players who will be invited to NYC in December for the presentation of the Heisman Trophy are: John David Booty, QB USC; Brian Brohm, QB Univ. of Louisville; Steve Slaton, RB University of West Virginia; Darren McFadden, TB University of Arkansas; and Colt Brennan, QB University of Hawaii.

I think I’ve got a pretty good shot of all five making it. But definitely at least three of my picks will be sitting on the stage at the Downtown Athletic Club in December. And hopefully USC will be adding an 8th Heisman trophy to the display in Heritage Hall.

-Your Gridion Goddess