this man is happy

Before this weekend, Roger Staubach was the quarterback for Navy the last time they had beaten Notre Dame. That was 44 years ago. To put that in a little perspective, back in 1963:

- Color television was only 10 years old
- There was no such thing as the Super Bowl
- Segregation on the basis of race was still legal
- "Sugar Shack" by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs was a #1 song
- Al Gore hadn't yet invented the Internet

Needless to say, the world is pretty different today. And Roger Staubach is not rolling in his grave anymore.

Here are some other thoughts I had on this weekend's college and pro action:

- Anyone watching the Colts/Patriots game noticed that, on the first play in the 4th quarter, the artificial crowd sound track got stuck for a couple of seconds. This confirms what many of us have suspected, that the Colts pump in fake crowd noise, which is both illegal per NFL rules and gay. I'd suspect they're not the only team that does it, but something about the Colts doing it bothers me more. I think it's because 1) Colts fans are, relative to other teams' fans, generally not all that loud on their own, and 2) they play in a dome, so the fake crowd noise is that much more enhanced. The good news is that, undoubtely, Roger Goodell noticed this, and if there's anyone in America that will do something about this, it's him.

- As for the game itself, I didn't have any particular rooting interest, despite what I have no doubt are thoughts to the contrary by happy ninja. I'll admit I'm no longer a Peyton Manning hater as I once was, but I'm also not an apologist. Also, I don't like how the Patriots have been running up the score like it's a video game, so I wasn't pulling for them either. I just wanted to see a good game, and I did. I expected the Patriots to score on that final drive and they did. I think they're still in the Colts' heads, despite the fact that they'd never admit it.

- I fully expected Florida State to give away the game to Boston College on Saturday, but I was pleasantly surprised, and now thankfully we can all go back to ignoring Boston College. They weren't the 2nd best team, everyone knew it, and everyone outside of the New England area is happy now that they lost. I'll still have LSU as my #1 with Ohio State at #2. I predict some in the media this week will start to talk about how LSU keeps playing "too many" close games, and so they're probably not all that good, but rather lucky. That's both dumb and untrue.

- I think every crowd in the world now is singing along with a series of "oh's" to this song, and it SOUNDS RE-TAR-DED. (Ed. note: To hear what this sounds like, click on almost any other "Kernkraft Zombie Nation" youtube video besides the one I linked. Then make sure no puppies are in the room, as you will likely feel a strong desire to punch one in the face.) It's a techno song. It is not made to be sung to. I can't possibly be the only person who thinks this. (Zincke, back me up on this.)

- Somehow, in only 8 professional games, Adrian Peterson is once again a man among boys, as he was in college. He will go #1 in some fantasy leagues next year. Yes, even ahead of LT.

- The Cleveland Browns have won 3 in a row for the first time in 6 years... I don't really even know how to respond to that.

- Bill Callahan, go ahead and clean out your desk.

UPDATE: The NFL has cleared the Colts of any suspected tomfoolery in yesterday's game. I say hogwash and balderdash. Anyone that's watched a lot of football can just hear it in the Colts crowd noise. In my estimation, it's simply too perfectly sustained. The disparity between how it sounds when the Colts are on offense and on defense is just astounding. Plus, I stand by my statement yesterday that Colts fans are just not that raucous a bunch naturally.