#23 Vanderbilt

The Vanderbilt Commodores have been the perennial doormats of the SEC. Last year, the Commodores brought in a young, new head coach in James Franklin and he changed the attitude of the program. They finished the season with a tough loss to Cincinnati in the Liberty Bowl, but still had a lot to build on for 2012. 

Offensively, they return eight starters including quarterback Jordan Rogers and 2nd Team All SEC Running Back Zac Stacy. The offensive line returns three starters and the wide receiving corps will be one of the most experienced in the SEC. This season will be one of the few times in Vanderbilt history that the offense will be the strength of the team. If the offensive line can form a solid cohesive unit, Zac Stacy has potential for a dark horse Heisman campaign and 1st Team All SEC honors. The Vanderbilt passing offense was tied for 97th in the NCAA and Jordan Rogers will need to progress as a passer to help relieve the pressure on Stacy.

The defense returns a lot of experience on a unit that was ranked 18th nationally in total defense. Vanderbilt will need to replace Casey Hayward at corner and Chris Marve at mike linebacker. These two gentlemen were the heart of the defense and each made 2nd Team All SEC. Casey Hayward was a huge playmaker on defense that led the team in interceptions and force fumbles. Marve was a field general for the defense as well as their leading tackler. Another key loss for Vanderbilt with be defensive end Tim Fugger. Fugger led the team in sacks. This defense needs to replace these three statistical leaders if they wish to be another Top 20 defense. 

Vanderbilt's schedule is very front loaded with the three toughest teams from the SEC East in their first five games. If they can manage to beat South Carolina in their home opener, they will hav a great shot at winning the SEC East. The non-conference schedule is rather easy with the only challenge being a trip to Northwestern. The toughest stretch of the season has trips to Georgia and Missouri followed by consecutive home games against Florida and Auburn. If they can emerge from that stretch 2-2 or even 3-1, they'll be on the path to consecutive bowl games for the first time in school history. Vandy avoids the big three from the West and get Ole Miss for their permanent foe. Vanderbilt should at least go 6-6 again., but I think that this will be an eight win Vanderbilt team. If Vanderbilt reaches their potential, it will be due to a total team effort.

Looking Forward to a Finale

I have been a Braves fan for my entire life. I remember the rotten years of the 1980s when all we had was Dale Murphy rocking his mullet and nothing else. Then in 1991, the Braves started to become a dynasty in the National League with back-to-back pennants and World Series heartbreak. 1993 brought disappointment back to the Braves Nation. If not for the strike of 1994, we would have seen the Braves' consecutive division titles streak snapped by the Montreal Expos.

In 1995, a 23-year-old switch hitting third baseman was given a full time spot with the Braves. That man was Larry Wayne Jones, Jr., or "Chipper" as he would be known for the next 18 seasons. Chipper won the NL Rookie of the Year Award and helped lead the Braves to their first World Series Title in Atlanta. I loved watching Chipper play because it always looked like he was having fun. His smile was seen almost constantly that year and would become a trademark. Baseball wasn't a job for him; he was able to play for a living and have fun at it.  And to a thirteen-year-old Braves fan from Kissimmee, Florida, he was a hero.

My mom bought me a white t-shirt emblazoned with a picture of Chipper's Upper Deck trading card and took me to the downtown Kissimmee sports memorabilia shop to seek out his Topps Trading Card. I never missed a Braves game on TBS or ESPN, so I could always see that switch hitting marvel. I despised the Mets and loved when Chipper would go to Shea because I knew he was going have at least two hits that night. Chipper loved playing the Mets because he knew he was in every single one of their pitchers' heads. In fact, he later named one of his sons Shea after the now defunct Shea Stadium.

Now I know that Chipper is only human and not a perfect person. I overlook the fact that he cheated on his first wife with a Hooters waitress and ended up knocking her up with his first son. Over the years his body has taken a beating, and I have to wonder if it was due to bad genetics or steroids.  I will always give Chipper the benefit of the doubt because I am his fan. I still own a Chipper Jones 10 jersey that hangs proudly in my closet. I wear it every opening day and to pretty much any Braves game I attend. I even wore it to the first night of my film class in college, where it helped me make a really nice first impression on my now wife. I have watched many a Braves game on the West Coast into the wee hours of the morning while they trailed in the 9th inning knowing that Chipper was coming up and would knock in the winning run. (And more times than not, he did!)

So this morning when the story broke that Chipper was going to retire, I felt sad, but I knew it was going to be a finale worth remembering. We had an end in sight, and he wouldn't become a problem for the Braves the way Favre became for my beloved Packers. Chipper would get the farewell tour around all the NL parks the way Bobby Cox did. Maybe the Braves can capture lightning in a bottle and claim a World Series title for Chipper like the Broncos took Elway out on top. I will probably be a very tired individual during the season, because I will watch every game that Chipper plays this year. I don't want to miss any potential homeruns, RBIs, and especially any of those Chipper smiles after big hits and great catches.

While it is always sad to see a hero retire from the game, it's good to know that he will have played for 18 seasons with the same team and will go down as one of the greatest Braves of all time. We won't have to see him finish his time up with the Phillies and Colorado Rockies wishing he'd hang it up and not tarnish his legacy any more. Chipper will put everything into this season and will hopefully keep his career batting average above .300 and get to 475 homers. I will head to the Ted as many times as I can this year to see Chipper have some of his magic Chipper moments, and hopefully, that great smile.

The Football Messiah Heads to the Big Apple

After a whirlwind 48 hours, Tim Tebow is headed to a team that is more dysfunctional than Jon and Kate Plus 8 and more publicity-seeking than the Kardashians. I am a Tebow fan. I was one of the few Alabama fans who sincerely felt bad for him after Bama stomped him in the 2009 SEC Championhip Game. I wanted Bama to win of course, but I wanted it to be a good game. I admired how he tried to rally the troops for one last run at Bama and how he was a gracious loser. Then the story came out the next week how he prayed with Mark Ingram at the Heisman Ceremony to try to give Mark peace, and that caused me to like him even more. I bought into his rah rah speeches and emotional leadership. I thought he had the "It" Factor that would allow him to become a great quarterback in the NFL, and I still do. But I do not think he's walking into a good situation in New York.

The Jets are led by a blowhard in Rex Ryan and have a very dysfunctional locker room with no true leadership.  The team lacked cohesion, and all of their bravado was gone when they finished the season on a three-game losing streak. Santonio Holmes quit on his team in the middle of the final regular-season game, which the Jets needed to win to have a shot at making the playoffs. AND HE'S STILL ON THE TEAM! Shortly following the season, anonymous criticism came out against the eggshell-tough quarterback Mark Sanchez. This led to owner Woody Johnson and center Nick Mangold defending Sanchez's work ethic and trying to portray that the problems were being handled.

Then the entire offseason dance with Peyton Manning went down, and everyone knew that Tebow's days as a Bronco were numbered. After the Jets flirted with Manning, they gave Sanchez a 3-year contract extension to try to salve the wound of Sanchez's ego. Then, last Friday, the Jets signed career backup Drew Stanton to a one-year deal to be Sanchez's backup putting three quarterbacks on the roster. To the surprise of everyone on Wednesday the Jets were able to pull of the trade that landed them Tebow. The camps were mixed with the Jets as to whether this was a good move or not. Antonio Cromartie tweeted out that Jets didn't need Tebow. (What a way to welcome a new teammate!) He later backtracked on his statement and tried to say he wanted the Jets to spend money on more weapons for Sanchez. No player on the Jets has come out (as of 3:16 p.m. Central Time today) to support Tebow. A lot of people suspect that Rex Ryan made this trade so that the Jets can stay in the spotlight of the NFL while the Saints are being punished and the Broncos are welcoming Manning. A trade for the sake of publicity does no one any good. The Jets circus was about to be cranked up to 11.

Now there are some upsides to this trade. Tebow will probably at first be used exclusively in the Wildcat formation. Tony Sparrano utilized this during his head coaching days with the Dolphins and was the first in the NFL to do so. Tim has shown that he is very adept at running this package with the Broncos when he supported it by making some throws down the field. Tim had trouble doing that on a consistent basis though, and that allowed opponents to stack the box against him and slow down or stop the spread option attack. Tim will have to work on being more accurate with his throws, but he has shown that he is willing to do whatever it takes to be an NFL quarterback.

So now Tebow comes to the biggest media market in the world as one of four quarterbacks on the Jets roster. He has a starter ahead of him whose confidence is shaky at best, a locker room that is splintered and fighting with each other, a coach who drops the f-bomb the way I down Coke Zero, teammates saying they don't want Tebow there, and the pressure of the expectations of his ever-growing fan base. The situation seems like one that is doomed for failure. But call me crazy, I think Tebow has what it takes to succeed here and make a mole hill out of a mountain of obstacles.

If Tebow could pull that miracle off, we may be able to convince atheists and agnostics that there is a God.