Everybody loves this game and anybody who says different is lying.

My longtime boyfriend, who will be happy to see I’m going to call him Big Cocky, has been harassing me all week with nightmare scenarios about this game. Clemson’s looking ahead to the ACC Championship, he predicted. Their minds are on Tampa, not Columbia. They’re thinking about a rematch with Georgia Tech. And the most chilling statement of all: a mediocre SEC team, which he readily admits his Gamecocks are, can beat a top-shelf ACC team.

I have to admit I’ve lost a little sleep over that last one.

OK, I’m looking forward to Tampa, mostly because I want to go but I’m so broke right now I couldn’t buy a bag of peanuts and a souvenir Coke at a football game, let alone a championship ticket. But there’s a level of fun to rivalry week that doesn’t accompany any other game. The championship game isn’t going to be about fun so much as it’s going to be about respect. But rivalry week – well, that’s like Halloween for football fans. You get to let your inner smartass come out to trash-talk the opposition.

Is it like this at other schools? I wonder – do Auburn and Alabama fans have this sort of good-natured-among-friends-but-potentially-bloody-among-strangers relationship? I feel fairly certain Georgia and Georgia Tech have a higher level of animosity than Clemson and Carolina do, mostly because the Dawgs are such frickin’ swaggering loudmouthed bullies. Who are going to get their clocks cleaned this year, by the way, and whatever I may think of Tech and the upcoming championship game, I will smile every time they stuff the ball back down Georgia’s throat. The only way I could hate Georgia more is if we played them every year.

But I digress.

I have a history with this game, because every Clemson or Carolina fan does. I was in the stands in 2000, freezing my ass off as the sun went down, to see Rod Gardner make The Second Catch and position us to win the game; I was there four years later for The Brawl, when my best friend and I stood nervously in the stands while the fight spanned the visitors’ sidelines, half expecting the ugliness to migrate up from the field.

I was there in 1984 for the Black Magic season, our first defeat in the famous Orange Pants. I was a kid, thoroughly dismayed, and as my dad and I left Death Valley, some blowhard in his 40s, who I bet I could pick out of a lineup even 25 years later, came running through the crowd, going up to every other Clemson fan like a sugar-addled kid and crowing, “We beat ‘em in the Orange! We beat ‘em in the Orange!” My dad, normally mild-mannered, clearly didn’t think much of this but refused to take the bait. He patted me on the shoulder, leaned down, and said, “You know what? Someone’s going to kick his ass.” Not ten steps later, we heard the ass-kicking begin, although Dad refused to let me stay and watch.

I think it’s mellowed a bit since then, although I’m probably biased, coming from a mixed relationship. I know a Carolina fan who cringes whenever the 63-17 game is mentioned, and after the 2006 “wide left” game (not to mention the Florida State game earlier this year), I sometimes cover my eyes when a field goal is kicked.

I want C.J. Spiller to have a great game that helps him toward the Heisman.

I want Jacoby Ford to have a great game that gets him picked in the first round of the draft.

I want Deandre McDaniel to have four interceptions, and I have faith that Stephen Garcia will help him do it.

And I want every damn Clemson fan in the stands to close out the game yelling “ACC! ACC! ACC!”

Is that so much to ask?

(On a more serious note: R.I.P., UGA VII. I may hate the team but I never hate a mascot. I bet you were a good dog.)

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As Thanksgiving draws near, so does the end of another season of ACC football.  Quite a few teams have plenty to be thankful for so far this season, reveling in the limelight and heaping praise and honor for their coach.  Other teams might not have as many blessings to count this year, but are at least content with what’s been accomplished.  And then there are those who just want their coach outta here and allow someone else to take over, hoping that the future will prove more bountiful.

Anyway, just wanted to give you all a heads up on the coming week.  I’ll be posting my Week 13 picks early on Friday morning, so I can avoid the madness taking place at the malls or Walmart.  Around Monday or Tuesday of next week, I’ll be offering my year-end “report card” for all the teams in the conference, much like what I did after Week 7.  And finally, I’ll decide whether Georgia Tech or Clemson has what it takes to win this year’s ACC Championship and a trip to the FedEx Orange Bowl or the BCS Championship (although I doubt the latter is very likely).

Whether you’re headed over to Grandma’s house on Thursday, hunting for that elusive parking spot on Black Friday, or attending one of the many ACC games on Saturday, I hope you and yours have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!  Oh yeah, be careful out there on the roads.  The life you save may be your own.  Or another ACC football fan, even if he or she is from a rival school.

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Ma uit pe alocuri la Timisoara – Dinamo si se joaca extrem, extrem de prost. Umbla vorba ca managerul lui WBA a venit sa-l urmareasca pe Gabriel “Sprit” Tamas. Brasoveanul nu joaca nimic, n-a mai jucat ceva de la Euro si totusi englezii vin sa-l vada live. Asa ar trebui sa procede orice echipa din Romania, da’ n-ai cu cine…
Remarc profesionalismul clubului englez si al managerului Roberto di Matteo, nepasarea lui Tamas si comentariul gretos al lui Vochin…

Im thinking “no”.

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Approximately six weeks ago the Chargers were looking at a 2-3 record, sitting amongst the mediocre of the NFL. Hope was dim, the Broncos were 6-0 and looked to be a legit Super Bowl contender. What made it worse, ESPN the Magazine had selected the Chargers to win it all this year. Tomlinson still looked old, the defense was softer than wet one-ply tissue paper, and Chambers looked like he wasn’t fitting in. During that time, the ESPN comments were along the lines of “The Chargers are finished, have fun watching us in the playoffs”. Ouch. Fast forward to today, and the Chargers are sitting in first in the AFC West riding a 5 game winning streak, while their Denver counterparts are wondering what has all gone wrong. It was time to exact revenge to all those stating the Chargers were done, there was no way they’d catch the Broncos, the Bolts should be playing for a draft pick, you know, all that lovely fan banter. In the midst of the ESPN comments something caught my eye. A user (who will go unnamed) that frequently supported the Broncos brought up a point why it didn’t matter if the Broncos didn’t make the playoffs. It seemed as though it was simple for him, the Broncos had two Superbowl wins, and the Chargers had zero.

I suppose this argument makes sense if you’re trying to determine who has the best franchise, but the best season this year? How does a Superbowl win ten years ago have any relevance to what is going on now? This seems to be a common “you are but what am I” comeback for fans that have lost their only trump card…winning. When teams begin to falter and slide out of playoff contention, fan reaction becomes more and more irrelevant. Winning is everything in the NFL, the NBA, NHL or any other professional sports organization, and if you’re losing now, you’re a loser. It’s that simple. Is it safe to say, using the “I have more rings than you” logic, that the Redskins are better than the Broncos? Rams are better than the Saints? Just because you won something ten years ago doesn’t mean your team is good now. Players, coaches, training staff, hell even the ball boys change during that time. Winning more championships may make you a better franchise, but it certainly doesn’t make you a better team. At the end of this season, we’ll know based on how people finished who the better teams were, and more importantly who was the best team this year.

SOS Plea: Please stop using aged victories as a crutch to try to elevate your team now, when they are not doing as well as you would like. You’ve won in the past, but as we all know sports teams use the mantra “what have you done for me lately” and for some of you, it’s a whole lot of losing.

But as a sports fan, I spend a lot of time watching ESPN Sportscenter. So I want to give a shout out to Jimmie Johnson, who accomplished an amazing feat this weekend.

I appreciate excellence, not matter what the endeavor. So congratulations to Jimmie and his team — I’ll be watching with passing interest next year to see if he can make it five in a row.

I promise the next post will be pest management related.

Jimmie Johnson has created a new standard among NASCAR drivers. (Photo: Peter Andrew Bosch / Miami Herald Staff)

With the conclusion of the Ford 400 today at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida, Jimmie Johnson created a page of his own in the NASCAR record books. Four consecutive Sprint Cup championships. With the advent of the Chase playoff system, Jimmie has played the system to perfection, capping off the decade by destroying and pulling away from the rest of the field in his two latest triumphs. The dominance the 48 team has shown in the last few years has been breathtaking. 47 career wins since his rookie season in 2002, four championships in eight years…this man has been rightly named “Superman”.

With a 108-point lead ahead of teammate Mark Martin coming into the day, all Jimmie had to do was finish 25th or better to clinch. Starting on pole, he led the first lap to gain five bonus points, meaning a 27th-place finish would suffice to clinch. The Lowes team played it cool all race long, with the exception of a few tense moments when Clint Bowyer wasn’t giving him much room to pass, irritating Johnson enough to complain about Bowyer.

Jimmie cruised to a fifth-place finish, ahead of Mark, who finished 12th, to land 141 points ahead and with the Cup in hand, celebrated into the night.

Denny Hamlin won his personal-best fourth race of the year at Homestead, which leap-frogged him to fifth in the final year-end standings. Him and the #11 FedEx team have shown in the last third of the year that they are the team looking to upset Jimmie’s championship winning streak, as they have consistently been able to run with the 48 team. If not for some bad racing luck in the Chase, Denny might have been the one celebrating a title tonight.

While the magnitude hasn’t quite yet set in, the historic implications of this event will be the standard all drivers will strive for. Jimmie has set the bar very high, and it ranks up there with some of the best marks:  a record seven titles only two men have achieved, an untouchable 200 career wins, seven Daytona 500 victories…the list goes on.

The most interesting story of the night aside from the historic achievement was Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya’s set of run-ins. Running side-by-side on lap 116, Stewart forced Montoya down the track on the backstretch, which cut Juan’s tire and sent him into the wall. After making repairs in the garage, Juan got a shot at Tony about 50 laps later, punting him out of the way on the frontstretch, relegating Stewart to a 22nd-place finish, and ultimately finishing sixth in points, while Juan finished 38th in the race and eighth in points.

- Jeff Gordon started 20th and made some progress early, and stayed rather constant throughout the race. He ended up sixth, one position behind Jimmie, and ended up 3rd in the points overall, 179 markers behind Johnson. The season has been a frustrating one, as Jeff recorded only one win (Texas in April), and one pole (Texas in November), but he was very consistent all year.

The problem with Jeff is that he isn’t the young superstar racer he used to be. Marriage and a baby girl have really stunted his growth in the win column. He’s become the cool, savvy veteran like the drivers he used to race against as a young adult. This lack of aggressiveness has cost him on the track, especially with the introduction of double-file restarts. He doesn’t take chances, and it is that quality that produced only one win in 2009, and zero wins last year.

Match #4: The Undertaker def. Big Show and Chris Jericho to retain the World Heavyweight Championship

Undertaker won by making Big Show tap out to Hells Gate

UP NEXT: Team Mickie James vs. Team Michelle McCool

I’d be remiss if I didn’t congratulate my second favorite driver, Kyle Busch, on winning the Nationwide championship yesterday.

All he had to do was show up to clinch it, but he also won the race.  The last time that happened was 1983 when Sam Ard did it.

Carl Edwards made it close http://www.nascar.com/video/busch/2009/11/21/nns.hom.high.final.nascar/index.html but in the end, Kyle beat him in an entertaining last couple of laps.

The real drama came from the on-going feud between Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowksi.  Last week in Phoenix, after Keselowksi spun Hamlin, Hamlin promised he’d get even with him.  This week at Homestead, Hamlin made good on his promise and spun Keselowksi on Lap 35.

After the race, Keselowksi told a reporter that Hamlin “has a lot of problems on and off the racetrack” and didn’t think Hamlin would feel good about the spin.  When told of Keselowksi’s comments, Hamlin laughed and said he felt pretty good about it and that it was worth it.  He added ominously, “The weekend ain’t over, either.”

Even though Jimmie Johnson’s fourth Sprint Cup championship is all but assured today, the drama between Hamlin and Keselowski might be worth tuning in to the potential snooze fest.

Congrats to Kyle and his team!

Roy Keane stops a press conference to confront a journalist and his mobile phone…

All good things must come to an end, and so here we are, entering the 36th and final race of the 2009 NASCAR season, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida, not far from where the season started, at Daytona. It has been a surprising season, with start-up team Stewart-Haas leading the points with Tony Stewart, who has won four races this year, and Ryan Newman. Both made the Chase. Jimmie Johnson has been “Superman” in the Chase, and is on track to win an unprecedented fourth-consecutive title. Old news.

Homestead is a 1.5-mile variable banked speedway, with anywhere from 20 to 24 degrees of banking in the turns, which allows competitors to run side-by-side more easily. This race has also been the final race of the year since the 2002 season, and usually we see non-championship contenders win, as the driver(s) racing for a title are playing it conservative in hopes of staying out of trouble and scoring a decent finish.

Homestead-Miami Speedway has become synonymous with Jimmie Johnson winning the championship. (UPI Photo/Jeff Daly)

Jimmie Johnson kicked off championship weekend right today in winning the pole. His lap of 173.91 mph (31.049 sec.) knocked rookie Scott Speed off the pole. Speed will start second, with Marcos Ambrose behind him in third. Points runner-up Mark Martin will start fourth, in hopes of catching Jimmie Johnson for the championship. He is currently 108 points behind Johnson, and the most points a competitor can make up on another guy in one race is 161.

Here is the scenario: If Mark were to gain maximum points (lead the most laps and win the race), all Jimmie has to do is finish 25th or better to clinch the championship. While it’s not likely that the #48 team will slip up, it has happened before at this track. In 2005, Jimmie was second in points, chasing Tony Stewart, going into Homestead, but crashed and finished 40th, while Mark Martin finished second that day. That was a swing of  132 points.

Nonetheless, history will be made. Not only will Johnson probably win his fourth championship, but Rick Hendrick is guaranteed to win his 12th owners championship, which is a record.

Roush cars have won the past five races here, so that team will most likely run strong come race-time. Greg Biffle won three in-a-row from ‘04-’06, Matt Kenseth won in ‘07, and Carl Edwards pulled off a fuel gamble to win last year. Edwards’ average finish at this track is also 6.4, so if he is to snap his winless season, this is his last, best chance to do it. In fact, this is the last chance for a couple guys to stave off  a winless season: Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle, Juan Montoya, to name a few.

- Jeff Gordon will start 20th on Sunday. Homestead-Miami is currently the only track in which Jeff has not won a Cup race at. He has a Busch series victory there in 2000, but nothing in the win column in the Cup series. That’s usually because he ends up racing for the championship most years, so he races conservatively to gain points, instead of going all out for the win. Right now, he’s 169 points behind Johnson, ineligible for the title, so he needs to win on Sunday.

• Joey’s pick to win: Kurt Busch, who has been coming on strong these last few races of the season. He starts 12th, and I expect him to be good on this intermediate oval, which has been his strength all year.

Barnsley Vs Cardiff

There should be plenty of goals in this one. Cardiff have scored 10 goals in their last 3 away fixtures, including a 3-2 reverse in the derby against Swansea while their hosts have scored and conceded with regular occurence at Oakwell. Barnsley are of course a much improved side under Mark Robins and they can count a home win against West Brom as a notable scalp. I’m convinced the Tykes will be a mid-table side this season and should stay clear of the relegation zone as they create plenty of opportunities home and away. Meanwhile in Cardiff it will have been a long two weeks. The loss at Swansea was preceeded by a lacklustre display at home to Forest and the team will be desperate to get back on track. The break might just have allowed Dave Jones men to re-group and start another push towards automatic promotion. They welcome back top goalscorers Michael Chopra and Peter Whittingham for a fixture where Cardiff are unbeaten in 8 games, winning 6. It could be the case that the Bluebirds might feel the extra pressure in their brand new stadium so a trip to Oakwell might be just what they need.

1pt Cardiff to beat Barnsley (7/5 Coral)

Middlesborough Vs Forest

Forests away record reads like this, played 8, won 2, drawn 6. Surely this run cant go on? There are reasons to think it might do this weekend against an out of sorts Middlesborough side. Gordon Strachan has resided over 2 one nil defeats since he took over and its possible he has spent the last two weeks in training making sure Boro’ become harder to beat, keeping a clean sheet will no doubt be a priority on Saturday. I always think part of the problem is the lack of atmosphere at the Riverside, Boro’s away record suggests they enjoy playing away from home where they have scored over twice as many as they have at home. Forest on the other hand are a side on the up. Billy Davies knows this league inside out and there will be no side better prepared than a Forest team who have drawn their last 5 games at Middlesborough. Unbelievably 9 of the last 12 matches between these two have ended honours even so prices around the 12/5 mark might represent some value. If this game was played 2 weeks ago I would be keen on Forest to go and get all three points but the break might just have allowed Middlesborough to get their act  together to get a draw.

1pt Boro and Forest to draw (12/5 Coral)

Good Luck with your bets this weekend, I’ll be at the Ricoh hoping City can turn the corner. Let me know your best bets this weekend by posting a comment below.

7th in a new series of posts being featured in Diddlyi Magazine. The series will cover my Irish dance training for the 2009 Western Region Oireachtas.

Click here to read it

19:45 20th November 2009

The cursed Manager of the Month award for October went to Local rival Dave Jones, the Cardiff Manager and hey presto – as should be engraved on the trophy itself, he lost his next game to Swansea.

Winning Manager of the Month is like doing a deal with the devil; instantly gratifying but ultimately he has you by the balls!

It really is hard to see any other result than a Swansea win. Under Paulo Souza the Swans are doing what birds do – flying. With Darren Pratley and Nathan Dyer bossing midfield, the South Wales team are unbeaten in 10 and in their last three games, all against top five teams, they have won their last two and drawn the third making them (along with QPR) the team that West Brom and Newcastle should be looking over their shoulders for.

Should Garry Monk (calf) miss out, Alan Tate is most likely to fill in as both captain and central defender, winger Mark Gower (back) is also struggling to make it after a similar setback. Fede Bessone should keep his place as left back after a great performance in the Cardiff game.

Derby County took a break in Holland last week, losing to Den Haag and have a few players back from injury, they may be scraping the odd win at home but they are very poor on the road with losing 6 from 8 in the league. However, Swansea have scored just 14 goals in 16 league fixtures which is the lowest of all Championship teams and if Swansea continue their home run then a win should be within reach but they have been drawing at half-time in 7 out of 8 home league games this season. As they will win this game, and probability dictating that pattern has got to stop at some point, I’m plumping for a Swansea goal in the first half.

With a win and other results going their way, The Swans could be third in the league, their highest position since John Toshack was manager. You heard it here first.

Er, maybe not.

I think it’s fair to say that there are few less popular characters in football at the moment than Newcastle owner Mike Ashley.

Having headed a Tyneside regime that has brought the club to its lowest ebb in many seasons, I think I’m also correct in saying that the renaming debacle of St James’ Park, whilst intensely embarrassing for all at the club, is really in keeping with the modus operandi of those in charge.

It’s a relief then for their supporters that, while things appear shambolic off the pitch, on it, the Magpies, under manager Chris Hughton, look genuine contenders for the Championship.

At the moment, the Championship, at least in terms of the top two positions, looks the most clear-cut of all the English domestic league competitions.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the automatic promotion spots, while not necessarily signed, sealed and delivered, are looking more certain than they have at this point for some years.

After dismal relegation seasons last term, the impact made by both Newcastle and West Brom so far has been impressive.

Given what a graveyard the Championship can be for former Premier League teams and the ever increasing financial gap between the top two rungs of the ladder, the concern shown by relegated clubs grows greater by the year.

Multiply that with the off- the-field chaos and uncertainty that we’ve seen at St James’ Park, and few would have been that surprised in the summer if Newcastle’s time in the Football League turned into an extended stay.

So, credit to Hughton, but also to West Brom’s manager Roberto Di Matteo, who seems to be doing well after taking over from Tony Mowbray following a particularly miserable relegation campaign.

The current winner market makes interesting reading if, like me, you believe that it’s already a two-horse race.

I’m more than aware that we’re only just over a third of a way through the season but the fact that backers can get 11-4 about either side makes my ears prick up a little.

In Outlook Index terms the superiority of both clubs over the other Championship challengers is clear.

Newcastle have stalled a little in the Index Trend department, but their current rating of 840 is a fair distance clear of third-ranked Leicester on 812 and, while West Brom are only marginally behind the Magpies on 833, they do have a slightly more progressive Trend figure of +2.

The question, therefore, is whether any of the sides below them are capable of catching them.

Beneath them is a very typical Championship picture, with the next ten sides separated by just three points in the current league table.

The compressed nature of the competition is manifest in Index terms with ten teams, from Leicester down to Blackpool, separated by 11  points and, to put that in context, 11 Index points represents a difference in playing strength of less than two-tenths of a goal between the sides in question.

While you couldn’t viably put any of those teams in the top half of the table out of the play-off picture, it looks doubtful that any of them could snatch one of the top two places, particularly if you look at how easy it is to discount many of the sides based on their current form.

I think we can safely reject Sheffield United and Middlesbrough on account of their horrific double digit negative Trend figures.

Of the sides that do have a positive Trend figure, only QPR and Forest have a number that appeals.

Even so, I’m easily persuaded to ignore both as alternatives to either WBA or Newcastle even if, for the moment, they remain within striking distance of the top.

As usual, I turn to my end- of-season forecasts for the final word.

The forecasted superiority of the current front-runners at the end of the season is clear, with Newcastle scheduled to finish on 84 points and West Brom on 82.

Both are down to finish well clear of third-placed Leicester, who are currently forecasted to finish on 73.

With the current odds of around 11-4, we can back both at around 1.37.