A Few Site Updates

It’s been awhile, so I’m going to give you a few pieces of news:

1. I was under the mistaken belief that I could continue to blog while spending three weeks on the beaches of South Carolina. Obviously, I was wrong. Expect a return to regular posting when I return January 8th.

2. Marco of Just Call Me Juice fame has allowed me to write articles at his relatively new digs, Storming The Floor, an exclusively college basketball site. Expect regular (weekly to bi-weekly) posting there as well.

Until next week, enjoy this picture, which explains the crazy college football season we had in 2007.

Double Live-Blog: Oregon-Arizona St. 2nd Half/LSU Alabama 4th Quarter

Oregon-ASU updates in regular font; LSU-Bama updates in Italics.

8:16 pm: Alabama is forced to punt, and LSU will get the ball back with a chance to take back the lead.

8:20 pm: Byrd gets another catch deep downfield, and LSU is inside the 40 yard line.

8:23 pm: LSU is forced into a fourth down, but Colt David nails the 49-yard field goal to tie the game, 27-27. LSU was given a potential knockout punch, but they’ve gotten right back up. What a game.

8:28 pm: Parker-Wilson manages to scramble out of the pocket and get a first down on third and 4. What’s worse, Chavis Jackson is called for holding, anther LSU penalty. The Tigers now have 12 penalties against them, costing 111 yards.

8:30 pm: What a catch by Matt Caddell! Parker-Wilson throws a deep pass, and Caddell dive to make the big catch inside the 20.

BUT…the replay booth reverses the call! It’s ruled an incomplete pass. Looking at the replay, it could have gone either way, but its a big blow to the Tide, who now face 3rd and 19.

8:35 pm: Bama goes conservative on 3rd and long, opting for the screen. Dorsey chases Jonathan Lowe down, and the Tide will have to punt.

8:39 pm: After Oregon kick the opening kickoff out of bounds, Arizona is driving the ball efficiently to start the second half.

8:40 pm: LSU is forced into a fourth and inches. You know exactly what Les Miles is going to do next–give it to He…whaaa?? LSU is called for a false start, and now they must punt. In addition, the Tigers are called for a personal foul.

8:43 pm: TOUCHDOWN! Javier Arenas takes the punt, and he finds a huge seam up the middle of the field, going practically untouched into the endzone on the punt return. Alabama takes a 34-27 lead off of yet another big mistake by LSU. You know what? I’m now rooting for chaos. MAO!

8:46 pm: Arizona State kicks a field goal. Oregon’s lead has shrunk to 21-16…but they’re in position to score after a the ensuing kickoff brings the Ducks near midfield.

8:48 pm: Richard Hickson is open in the middle again, but he drops the ball this time, Second down for LSU.

8:49 pm: Arizona State takes over from their own 6 yard line, from what I think is an Oregon punt. I’ve been engrossed in the other game, so I honestly don’t know.

8:51 pm: LSU is forced into a 3-and-out, giving their opponent good field position…

8:52 pm:…and so is Arizona State.

8:54 pm: TOUCHDOWN! What a run by Johnathan Stewart! He broke through an arm tackle, and he outran everybody before busting through one more tackle for the end zone. Oregon takes a 28-16 lead.

8:55 pm: LSU will get at least one more chance, with the ball and less than five minutes left.

8:57 pm: LSU is driving the ball to midfield, thanks to two big catches by Brandon Lafell.

8:58 pm: Early Doucet gets a good pass from Flynn, but the defensive back strips the ball out for an incompletion.

8:59 pm: On 3rd and 5, Flynn finds a receiver on a quick slant for a first down.

9:00 pm: Chris McGaha has had a big game tonight. He catches another big pass, this time down the middle, and Arizona State is driving again.

9:02 pm: TOUCHDOWN! Early Doucet makes the catch on 4th and 4, and he shake off the entire Alabama secondary to waltz into the end zone. The game is now tied , 34-34, with 2:49 left. How amazing is this?

9:04 pm: Oregon gets the ball back, but…on third down, a receiver drops the ball again. That’s his third dropped pass today, and the Ducks must punt.

9:06 pm: John Parker Wilson is sacked for the 6th time. The Tide now face 3rd and long.

9:07 pm: FUMBLE! LSU runs the all-out blitz, Wilson fumbles the ball, it rolls down inside the 5 yard line, and LSU recovers. What a turn of events. Mr. Wilson, you must secure that football. Don’t hold it so far from your body when being tackled.

9:12 pm: TOUCHDOWN! Jacob Hester dives into the endzone for the score. LSU now takes a 41-34 lead with less than 90 seconds left. Truly insane.

9:15 pm: The insanity continues…Wilson barely escapes the pocket, but he then gets a huge run to bring the Tide to midfield. 1:11 left.

9:16 pm: Jonathan Xenon comes thisclose to ending the game with an interception, but after another incomplete pass, Alabama face 4th down anyway.

9:19 pm: Keith Brown gets his hands on it…but Steltz jars the ball out! It’s an incomplete pass, and LSU escapes again!

Let me say this about the LSU win: In this stretch of four games, the Tigers have had every reason to lose each of their last four games, but no one told them that, they stood up to theses challenges, and they came back from three of these games to steal a win–and make no mistake, they have stolen these games against Florida, Auburn, and Alabama–and they now have a pretty clear road to Atlanta. LSU wins, 41-34.

Now..we can finally return to Oregon-ASU.

9:24 pm: Oregon scores again to end the third quarter. As we enter the fourth quarter of play, Oregon has taken a 35-16 lead. The Ducks have shut down the Arizona State offense in the second half.

9:27 pm: Arizona State, desperately in need of a score, goes three and out again. Oregon is taking control of this game.

9:33 pm: A potentially game changing series of events: Dennis Dixon is injured, and has been (at least temporarily) taken out of the game.

9:36 pm: Brady Leaf comes into the game, and he promptly goes three and out.

9:37 pm: Arizona State pinned back near their own endzone, but Michael Jones makes a huge catch 30 yards downfield. Arizona State is now in the hurry-up offense, with ten minutes left and in need of three touchdowns.

9:39 pm: Oregon is called, rightfully, for defensive holding, and the Sun Devils have a first down in Oregon territory.

9:42 pm: After three incompletions, Arizona State goes for it on fourth and 10…and Mcgaha gets big catch and an even bigger run afterwards to get a first down insode the 20.

9:43 pm: INTERCEPTION! On the very next play, a miscommunication leads to Carpenter throwing the ball into a crowd of 3 Oregon players. A receiver must have completely missed his route.

One of the things I don’t understand: both teams have excellent, speedy running backs, but both teams seem to have abandoned the run.

9:45 pm: Brady Leaf is still in the game, but now he’s handing it off to Johnathan Stewart, as the Ducks are trying to waste some clock.

9:49 pm: UPSET WATCH: Florida State 7, Boston College 0, Halftime.

9:53 pm: On the first play for Arizona State’s drive, Michael Jones catches another deep pass, and he runs to the 11 yard line. Another insane catch by Jones.

9:54 pm: TOUCHDOWN! Carpenter finds his tight end in the end zone. Rudy Carpenter now has 334 yards passing. Oregon leads, 35-23 after ASU takes the extra point, instead of the two point conversion that would have reduced the deficit to a TD, two pointer, and field goal.

9:56 pm: 5:10 remaining. Brady Leaf is still in the game.

9:59 pm: Oregon throws three passes, but two incompletions force a punt for Oregon. What was Mike Bellotti thinking? Oregon needed to eat up clock.

10:01 pm: What is possibly the most insane play of the game. Rudy Carpenter throws a deep pass under pressure, throws into triple coverage, and his tight end makes a spectacular leap for the catch, runs after the catch, but then fumbles as he’s brought down inside the Oregon 30, and the Ducks recover. That almost certainly seals the game for Oregon.

10:08 pm: The Ducks have managed to run the clock down to 21 seconds, ending any hope ASU had in this game.

10:10 pm: The game fittingly ends with a sack, as Oregon wins, 35-23. With this win, Oregon controls their Pac-10 destiny, moves to at least #4 in the nation, and ends Arizona State’s title hopes (barring, of course, an even more insane final month to the season. A good game, but the LSU game stole the show in another great day of college football.

Phase 1: Double Live Blog. Phase 2: ?. Phase 3: Profit!

Today’s UNC-Maryland game is ESPNU today, which is God’s way of telling me “Mike, do not watch this terrible game.” What his means for you is that Digital headbutt will have not one, but Two Live Blogs today.

First, we will cover #3 LSY at #17 Alabama at 5:00 pm ET. Nick Saban will be facing his former team for the first time, the winner will have sole possession of first place in the SEC West, and today is, quite possibly, the last time that LSU will truly be on upset alert until the SEC Championship game.

Overlapping that game will be a game with even bigger implications, #5 Oregon hosting #4 Arizona State at 6:45 ET. With USC and Cal out of the Pac 10 championship picture, the winner of this game has the inside track toward the Pac 10 championship, and perhaps even the BCS Championship game. The Ducks have been impressive all year, and would be undefeated if not for an ill-timed fumble against Cal. Meanwhile, Arizona State’s surprise run in Dennis Erickson’s first year could be their best chance for a national title before the inevitable Erickson departure/massive NCAA probation.

 So stay tuned for the live blogs…because we know you’ve got nothing better to do for five hours.

Mom, You Can Call Off The Bots Now

Digital Headbutt began to delve into the sports blog universe one year ago this week. Its beginnings were humble, and I was not even fully aware of the vast sports blogosphere around me until this space had been around for three months. 207 posts and 110,000+ hits later, I may very well have created a monster. The kind of monster who ventures into the realm of the unknown, for varying lengths of time, and brings back stuff like this.

Of all the posts on Digital Headbutt, these three were statistically your favorites:

Benny Feilhaber’s Gold Cup Winning Goal

The Survive-Off

(Which reminds me: Day 3 of the Survive-Off is coming…)

The Lou Holtz Pep Talk Drinking Game

I would like to thank all of the sports blogosphere, and all of the great people, too many to mention in this space, whom I would not have collaborated with, spoken to, or met without Digital Headbutt and Tar Heel Mania. You have made this worthwhile. Because dammit, they won’t let me put AdSense on this thing!

Celebrating “The Headbutt”

Exactly one year ago today, I was cheering for France to win the World Cup Final. Despite having a little Italian blood in me, I can’t bring myself to root for the single dirtiest sports team on the planet. (Unless, of course, the opponent is Duke.) It was Zidane’s final game. France had beaten perennial favorites Brazil in the quarters, and Italy had beaten their German hosts to get to the finals. Italy roughed up star Thierry Henry early in the game, Zidane scored on a penalty kick around the 20th minute, and the Azzuri responded with a header into the nett off a corner to make it a 1-1 game at halftime. The next sixty-five minutes of action was fairly forgettable.

Then came what was perhaps the most infamous moment in World Cup history, and the inspiration for this blog’s name.

There are few better ways to go out than in blazing glory. Except when you’re the captain of your national team and the world’s most important soccer match still hangs in the balance.

Previewing the College World Series Final

North Carolina-Oregon State II is about to begin tonight, so there is some info you should know before you watch:

Game 1: Tonight, 7 pm.

Starters: Alex White (UNC) vs. Jorge Reyes (OSU)
Game 2: Sunday, 7 pm.

Starters: Luke Putkonen (UNC) vs. Mike Stutes (OSU)

Game 3 (if necessary): Monday, 7 pm.

Possible starters: Robert Woodard (UNC) vs. Daniel Turpen (OSU)

Key relief pitchers:

• Oregon State: Eddie Kunz (closer), Anton Maxwell, Mark Grbavac.

• North Carolina: Andrew Carignan (closer), Rob Wooten, Matt Danford.

Key position players:

• Oregon State: Mitch Canham, C (.321 Batting average, 10 HR, 57 RBI, .993 fielding percentage); Mike Lissman, LF (.325 BA, 10 HR, 61 RBI, 1.000 fielding); Jordan Lennerton, 1B (.313 BA, 8 HR, 48 BRI, .995 fielding).

• North Carolina: Dustin Ackley, 1B (.403 BA, 9 HR, 72 RBI, .989 fielding); Josh Horton, SS (.335 BA, 9 HR, 53 RBI, .939 fielding); Tim Federowicz, C (.339 BA, 4 HR, 64 RBI, .997 fielding); Reid Fronk, LF (.319 BA, 11 HR, 56 RBI, .993 fielding).

What UNC must do to win:

• Good starting pitching. Our starting staff has spent most of the postseason being knocked around by opposing offenses; in 11 postseason games, only four times has the Heels’ starting pitcher lasted longer than five innings (the opener against Jacksonville, and their three elimination games heading into the final series). Fortunately, most of the time the bullpen has been able to pitch well enough in relief for the offense to pull off a momentous comeback, as 5 of our 11 victories have come after a deficit of 2 runs or more. In particular, Alex White has had a rough first postseason. He needs to have a decent start against Oregon State tonight if the Heels want to win.

• The bullpen must continue to play shutout baseball. Wooten and Carignan have almost always been able to stop any offensive momentum from their opponents this season. How much luck the Tar Heels have in the finals will depend just as much on the bullpen as on the starters, if not more so.

• Wake up the bats. North Carolina has been shockingly devoid of offensive power in the postseason. Then on Thursday against Rice, the Heels hit four home runs. The UNC offense is led by National Freshman of the Year Dustin Ackley, and they cannot afford him to slump like he had for the first 9 games of the playoffs.

All of the live blogs will be on Tar Heel Mania. Enjoy the series.