Hello Voyager Loo-reen!

It has been so long since I updated you I am not sure what I have told you and what I have not.  Rather than give you a score by score update (that you can get by going to espn.com) I with just comment on our favorite teams and what is going on in general.

I will start with Devin's team since you cannot get that update elsewhere on the web.  Devin's team lost their first round playoff game to Bordeaux 12-8.  They went ahead on a safety with 1:30 to go but the other team's running back got away for a long touchdown with only seconds to play and the Smyrna Bulldogs went down to defeat.  I asked Devin after the game if that guy ran to his side and he said "No Granddaddy, if he had run to my side I would have tackled him".  He was sad for a few hours and now he is on to playing basketball.

The Titans, after their 0-6 start have now won 4 in a row after beating Houston last night on Monday Night Football.  Vince Young is playing well and showing some maturity and Chris Johnson is running wild and leading the NFL in rushing.  The defense has remembered how to cover people and actually tackles.  Basically it is the team that we thought we would start the season with but some other goofy bunch took over their bodies for six games.  Now our old team is back.  No team in history has ever started 0-6 and made the playoffs but now some are talking about the possibility of the Titans winning six more and getting in with a 10-6 record.  We still have to play Indy at Indy and San Diego on the left coast plus pretty good teams in Arizona and Miami at home.  The team is playing well and will have to win out to even come close to making history in that way.  They could possibly make the playoffs with a 9-7 record and that would be miracle enough.  On a lighter note, last week when the Titans played the Bills at home and won quite handily 41-17, during the latter stages of the game, old Bud Adams was caught on somebody's cell phone dancing around in his box and double flipping off the Bills.  The league office fined him $250,000 for conduct unbecoming to the league.  He apologized and paid his money but most of the team and the fans think that it is pretty funny.  I wonder what he was drinking up there in his owner's box...

Elsewhere in the league, Indy and New Orleans are undefeated and Minnesota, with Brett Fav-ray at QB is 9-1.  The Saints play New England this weekend and most think this is where they will go down.  Indy beat Baltimore in a squeaker last weekend 17-15 when most thought that P-head and his bunch would lose but they got lucky again when the Ravens could only kick field goals...Of course Indy still has to play the Titans so they will lose at least one...two weeks ago Indy beat NE when Bellichick inexplicably went for it on fourth down at his own 30 while leading by six with a minute and a half to go.  They got stuffed and P-head promptly took the dolts in to score and Indy won 35-34.

Believe it or not, the hottest team in Music City is not the Titans but the Preds!  After a slow start the Preds have now won 6 straight and 10 or their last 12 games, including victories in the last three games over the best team in the west, San Jose, the best team in the east, New Jersey and last night they beat hockey team that shall not be named, 3-1.  As of this morning they are in second place in their division and only a couple of points out of the eighth spot in the conference.  Still very early in the season but they are playing great.  Arnott has a basketfull of goals and new guys like Mike Santorelli, Patric Hornqvist and Francois Bullion are really making great contributions.  Of course, Shea and Suter and Sully and Dumont and Erat and Legwand are also playing well.  Pekka Rinne is also standing on his head in goal on a regular basis.

In college football, WKU is mired in the longest current losing streak of any D1 team so last week they fired their coach.  Yesterday they hired Willie Taggart, who played QB for the Toppers in the 90's to be their new coach.  He will take over at the end of the year for David Elson.  Speaking of coaching change, it is rumored that Notre Dame will fire Charlie Weiss at the end of the year after the Amish lost to Connecticut this past weekend.  they also have lost to Navy for the second time in three years.  Before that, the last time ND lost to Navy was 1963 when Roger Staubach was QB for Navy.  Fear not, however, Erban Cryer has said, tearfully that he won't go to ND and will stay at Florida "as long as they will have me" (or until his little butt buddy Teblows leaves). Gag me with a spoon...

It has been a sad week in Bulldawg Nation.  Last Thursday, our beloved mascot, UGA VII died of an apparent heart attack.  He was only 4 and had been on the job for only two seasons.  At the game against Kentucky on Saturday his dog house was empty.  So, to honor UGA, the Dawgs went out and handed the game to UK.  They were leading by two touchdowns when GA had 5 turnovers in the second half, 4 in the fourth quarter including a fumble on the UK 1 yd line and lost 34-27.  A definite low spot for the program and Mark Richt's tenure.  I don't think we will fire him but he will have to make some changes on his staff and is going to be on thin ice for the near future.  We play #7 Ga Tech this weekend and if we get run out of the stadium like we did last year then heads may roll...The good news is the Dawgs may be coming to play in the Music City Bowl!  Yay, I think.

So that is the sports news here...did you guys ever get your surprise speaker?  Guess it wasn't Obama or I would have gotten a bill...

Love you and miss you,

Dad