BILLJACKSON.ORG

Let’s just tell it like it is.  The game isn’t eve over yet and Wake is stomping my ‘Noles like a narc at a biker ralley.  LSU won, but not by the margin, nor score I predicted.  What can I say?

It’s been a long week.

Florida State plays host to the twenty-second ranked Demon Deacons of Wake Forest.  The ‘Noles disappointing 5-4 season thus far as caused some problems for St. Bobby in Tallytown. The Tribe will redeem themselves this week by upsetting Wake.

Prognostication: FSU 21 – Wake 17

Watching the bowls leading up to the Rose Bowl have really started to make me hope that Fox gets their sports thing together and gives ABC/ESPN a run for “roses.” Can I please enjoy a game without being inundated with how important the Rose Bowl is. Disney, the parent company of ABC/ESPN is basking in the financial sunshine of the added revenue from the recent increase in fees to cable/satellite operators, who in turn passed those new fees on to you the “cable” customer. In return for your kindness, ABC and ESPN have flooded us with an over abundance of horribly executed self promotion, including the In Justice series that looks like a yawner, and the superfluous hype for the “game of the century.” Is the USC/Texas game important? Sure. The hype to attract viewership is has gotten more fake than Anna Nichole Smith’s … ummm… intentions when marrying a man over the age of seventy. USC going for “three” national championships, ABC? Hype… You love touting the “home of the National Championship Game,” yet selectively single it out as the BCS National Championship Game to suit you needs. The AP and its self serving ways, are not much better. The whining in pulling out of the BCS format saying that they “report the news, not make the news” is complete bs. The fact that the AP has had a poll with their name on it makes news. If their intentions were true, they would have canceled their poll and reported on the BSC poll. This situation is setup for USC to “make history.” Frankly, I am hoping for Texas to win. Just so I can see who is intellectually honest and doesn’t look for excuses as to why USC lost and even more excuses as to why Texas won. Who ever wins, it will be because one team scored more points than the other. So it is triple overtime. What a great football gave that has been overshadowed by incessant banter about USC and Texas.

Penn State defeats the Noles’ with a storied field goal kick. This was a game that included two great coaches and two football teams that left it all on the field. Well coached teams with classy coaches. This is what football is all about. No one gave FSU a chance, especially with the recent legal issues for one of its players. Yet, that team pressed on.

Many LSU fans can’t stand Bobby Bowden. That is because he used to beat LSU way more often than not. He is a class act! This game was a class act. This telecast was less than classy.

I am one who believes in promotion and even self promotion. You can over do it though. ABC didn’t even do it right and over did it wrong. Let’s ignore the over-selling of the Texas/USC game. “The romance is back?” Is that what ABC wants to promote during a football game? No wonder their ratings are in the crapper. In Justice? This show is going to stiff. And over selling these mistakes does nothing but turn viewers off. There is such a thing as over doing it. ABC and ESPN have been overdoing it since the start of bowl play. Look for more of the same as ESPN starts airing the NFL next year.

Come on Fox and NBC. Step up and shut these guys up.