Over-Rated: Lost Highway Edition

by | Oct 26, 2023 | Sports | 105 comments

HOW THE WEEK WENT

Not today, Saban!  Well, yes, Saban….or, anyway, last Saturday in the second half.  Tuscaloosa (motto:  try our biscuits!) is a nasty town with bad biscuits.  Saban is from West Virginia, a fact, like his height, that is not remotely his fault, but at least he doesn’t wear lifts.  Hiram Williams was from Mount Olive, Alabama, one of his grandfathers fought on both sides in the Civil War, and he was a goddammed genius.

I’m a rollin’ stone, all alone and lost. For a life of sin, I have paid the cost. When I pass by, all the people say There goes another boy on the lost highway.

Just a deck of cards, and a jug of wine And a woman’s lies makes a life like mine. For, the day we met, I went astray I started rolling down that lost highway.

I was just a lad, nearly 22 Neither good nor bad, just a kid like you. And now I’m lost, too late to pray Lord, I paid the cost, on the lost highway.

Now boys don’t start to ramblin’ round On this road of sin, are you sorrow-bound? Take my advice or you’ll curse the day You started rollin’ down that lost highway.

 

After a month away from golf, I carded a 13-over round, so at least one thing went fairly well with my Saturday.

Sorry:  there is very little news this week.

 

Duke ain’t 21st,

and got doubled up by Free Shoes U; they fell, but only to 20th.

Oregon State ain’t 16

and was off for the week.

North Carolina ain’t 17th,

lost to 1-5 Virginia….at home….and plummeted to……….  17th.

Utah ain’t 12th

but outlasted USC, so now they’re 13th.

UCLA ain’t 24th,

but they stomped Stanford, so now they’re 23d.

 

BIG MISS INCUBATOR

Florida State sure as shit ain’t 4th,

or so I thought:  they dispatched Duke.

Oklahoma ain’t 18th,

and they barely survived Mickey and Minnie U at home, so they fell to 6th.

Washington sure as shit ain’t 8th,

and somehow they narrowly escaped 1-5 Arizona State.  For this BS they get to sit at 5th.

Michigan ain’t 2d,

but they bulldozed Sparty (I know, I know:  they got nothing this year) for a fourth blow-out in a row.

Missouri ain’t 20th.

They’ll get schooled soon, but not by SCAR:  they rise to 16th.

 

 

 

NEWLY OVER-RATED

Air Force ain’t 19th.  This is so dumb.

Tulane, the cream of the Uhmerican Conference, ain’t 22d, but that doesn’t mean it will get proven and voted that way this year.

James Madison is well-named but should not be rated at all.

OLD NEWS IN OVER-RATED

There are not nine twelve eleven ten eight teams better than Alabama:  but, even if there are, Tennessee ain’t one of them..

 

EVEN MORE USELESS OPINIONS

best one-loss team:  Bama (honorable mention:  Penn State)

best two-loss team:  LSU (keep trying, Irish!)

best three-loss team:  Texas A&M

best four-loss team:  Texas Christian

best five-loss team:  Texas Tech

best six-loss team:  Arkansas….which is better than any five-loss team

best seven-loss team:  Sam Houston State

best eight-loss team:  Wofford

 

That’s all, folks:  no news to speak of this week!

 

Addenda

 

 

 

 SPECIAL PRIME SECTION

Colorado ain’t 22d, and they took the week off. 

 

TOLD’JA SO INVENTORY

we wish to hear their names no more

but no new hides were hung on the wall today

Tulane ain’t 24th

Colorado ain’t 22d

Texas ain’t 3d

Miami ain’t 20th

Florida shouldn’t be ranked at all

Missouri shouldn’t be ranked at all

Fresno shouldn’t be ranked at all

Ole Miss shouldn’t have dropped five spots for losing to Bama

Washington State ain’t 23d

Louisville ain’t 14th

Kansas lost at Stillwater and is now unranked

 

About The Author

Don escaped Memphis

Don escaped Memphis

all my exes live in Texas

105 Comments

  1. DEG

    Ahhh… music links. Queued up for later listening.

  2. RBS

    best eight-loss team: Wofford

    Go Terriers!

    • Drake

      They tried to recruit my son at linebacker. Wasn’t interested. He kind of lost interest in football and started doing MMA instead.

      • Sensei

        Have him talk to Bud Light they seem to be doing lots of sponsorships.

  3. R.J.

    My exes live all over the country. The lost highway is such a long ride…

  4. Rat on a train

    best two-loss team: LSU (keep trying, Irish!)
    Army nearly had them.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    Wofford?

  6. The Late P Brooks

    A term I just learned in a clickbait video: BLOOD BATTERIES! Whoever this jabbering nitwit is, he knows about child cobalt miners the the Congo.

    The video is mostly about the head of Stellantis going off the EV reservation.

  7. Fourscore

    ‘There goes another boy on the lost highway”

    Why doesn’t he stop and ask directions?

    “He’s just like his old man”

    • UnCivilServant

      If you ask for directions, the cannibals are legally permitted to send you into a trap.

  8. The Gunslinger

    Michigan sure as hell is going to win the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy. And then coach Harbaugh is going to jump back to the NFL and take the Tyson Bagent led Bears to a Superbowl victory.

    • blighted_non_millenial

      No doubt Harbaugh jumps ship. As for the rest of it, not so fast my friend!

    • Rat on a train

      I’ve been out of sports so long I didn’t realize Appalachian State is now FBS. I remember them beating #5 Michigan when they were FCS.

  9. Sensei

    Ford’s per-hour labor cost, including benefits, would be around $67 this year and rise to about $88 by the final full year of the contract, in 2027, according to Wells Fargo. That is significantly higher than the labor costs of the foreign automakers, estimated in the mid-$50s per hour, and Tesla at $45 to $50. Those companies could face wage inflation in coming years, though, partly as a result of UAW’s richer contracts. Union leaders already have vowed to organize nonunion factories.

    Well, we know that if the vehicle is comparably priced to competitors we know that’s coming out of margin or quality. I’ll let you all guess which one.

    https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/uaw-ford-labor-contract-strike-452197d5?st=xhv1vey1umabf9l&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • kinnath

      I watched the unions destroy the meat-packing industry in the 80s. It wasn’t fun then. It won’t be fun this time either.

      • creech

        Union largely responsible for Oscar shutting down its state of the art plant on Philly.

    • Sean

      I guess those $100k pick ups are gonna get a bit more expensive.

      • ron73440

        Here’s to keeping my 2001 on the road for another 20 years.

      • Sensei

        2001: A Truck Odyssey.

      • Rat on a train

        Wasn’t that a minivan?

      • Sensei

        Full of stars?

      • Rat on a train

        30 year auto loans?

      • Not Adahn

        Spending >$600 getting a wheel bearing replaced today.

    • Mojeaux

      *looks at all costs of the repairs the Ram needs*

      *pays it*

    • R C Dean

      Welp, the 2008 FJ Cruiser just broke 200K miles, and shows approximately zero signs of wear.

      The 2022 Highlander hasn’t even had its second oil change yet.

      It’s entirely possible we will never buy another car.

      • The Last American Hero

        Another car besides the highlander? I thought there could be only one.

  10. Grummun

    I like these posts, pretty funny. And informative, since I pretty much don’t follow college ball.

    • ron73440

      I like these posts, pretty funny. And informative, since I pretty much don’t follow college ball.

      #metoo

      I watch WVU when they’re on TV, they’ve had some entertaining games lately, but that’s about it.

  11. ron73440

    OT: While looking at Sowell’s latest book Social justice Fallacies, I saw this doozie as the “Top Critical Review”:

    While the book is well-written and shows the author has access to plenty of information, the sense of ‘social justice’ or the progressive position floats continuously at the author’s convenience. He criticizes the position from the 100-year-old stance of evil eugenics when it is convenient, though no one other than an arch-conservative might advocate it these days. He also sets up various red herrings, including alluding to quantitative easing and its contribution to inflation as being due to ‘government giveaways,’ that is, social programs, when the FED was placed in this position by bailing out banks and corporations that were deemed to big to fail. These are just a couple of examples, used in the first few chapters. The author evidently feels that a floating definition of social causes and tendentious selection of data is justified in order to argue for a government that is so tiny that capitalism can run amuck, even though we have seen plenty of evidence of how dangerous that is.

    So, the bailouts don’t count as government giveaways?

    What am I missing here?

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Nice editorializing (e.g., tiny, amuck, dangerous).

    • Sensei

      I don’t understand the whole word salad. I read it three times and quit.

      • R.J.

        It’s a common trait among those who think 2+2=5. Endless, pointless word salads.

    • kinnath

      Did the reviewer call Sowell a racist this time?

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        He did come close to calling Sowell articulate by saying the book was well written.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Storybook, man.

    • juris imprudent

      Speaking of something missing…

      capitalism can run amuck, even though we have seen plenty of evidence of how dangerous that is

      • Unreconstructed

        You mean “asserted without evidence”, I presume?

      • R C Dean

        Government run amuck has a 9 figure body count last century alone. What’s capitalism’s body count?

    • Gustave Lytton

      eugenics when it is convenient, though no one other than an arch-conservative might advocate it these days

      Nice smear but it’s openly advocated by a certain side and the support of one political party, despite the textbook disparate impact and institutional racism of the very organization that continues to this day.

  12. juris imprudent

    If Ole Miss is overrated because they lost to Bama, how is it that Bama is under-ranked?

    • Gustave Lytton

      Cousin fucker conference.

      • juris imprudent

        Who was that woman comedian – “I’m so southern my family tree doesn’t branch”?

    • The Last American Hero

      Because according to these articles nobody belongs in the top 10 and only a few teams are in the top 20.

      • whiz

        Yes, I still think Don should post his own top 25; his articles are akin to a critic who doesn’t have a positive solution to offer.

      • Don escaped Texas

        The article isn’t about rankings: it’s about garbage enthusiasm.

        I’ve tacitly endorsed many teams by not mentioning them; these teams are not over-rated:
        Michigan
        Georgia
        Penn State
        Kansas State
        Notre Dame
        Tennessee

        As for a top ten, go ahead and crank one out: it shouldn’t take any more time to do it yourself than to mischaracterize and carp about the efforts of others.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    I’m going to laugh my ass off if the Ford rank and file reject the contract as not enough.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    He criticizes the position from the 100-year-old stance of evil eugenics when it is convenient, though no one other than an arch-conservative might advocate it these days.

    Pay no attention to the people advocating abortion as a means of dealing with what they deem to be nonviable or imperfect fetuses.

    *I am not immune to the concept at the most extreme edge, to be honest, but this person should not make such an egregiously disingenuous assertion.

    • juris imprudent

      Abortion is no longer about population control, it is about being fully self-actualized as a woman!

  15. Unreconstructed

    Oklahoma ain’t 18th,
    and they barely survived Mickey and Minnie U at home, so they fell to 6th.

    While I’m not sure OU deserves to be 6th, I’m quite happy to see that the defense is better than it used to be. And I find it quite humorous that USC is *just now* finding out how bad a DC Alex Grinch is. You’d think watching him over his time at OU would’ve been instructive.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    I guess those $100k pick ups are gonna get a bit more expensive.

    And less reliable.

    • R.J.

      Fire is a feature, not a bug.

  17. Rat on a train

    I ran some calculations. Based on my last visit to a gas station my car gets 18.5 miles per dollar. I need to find some mpkwH ratings for electrics to compare.

    • Sean

      That sounds a lil too good at today’s gas prices.

      • kinnath

        That’s about 4 times what I am getting in my truck

      • ron73440

        My truck gets 17-18, but that’s diesel so it costs more.

        My 2005 Saab gets 27, and it’s still going strong after I put the junkyard turbo in.

      • kinnath

        I get 17-18 mpg.

        The local gas station switched from E10 to ED15 during the COVID horseshit. So I now run premium with no ethanol Currently running about $4.40 per gallon in small town Iowa.

        So, I am about 4 miles per dollar for travel costs.

      • kinnath

        ED15 . . . interesting typo old man.

      • The Gunslinger

        If you get 15″ even with ED, I’d say you’re doing okay.

      • Sensei

        So you live in corn subsidy land and can get ethanol free gasoline.

        I live in CA emissions NJ and can’t get any grade of ethanol free gasoline. Sigh…

      • kinnath

        Correct. Some stations have ethanol free regular gas. But it’s not common. Premium is usually, but not always, ethanol free.

      • kinnath

        We may live in Ragweed Country, but we don’t have smog that drives the laws to add oxidizers to all gasoline.

      • Rat on a train

        Gas is likely statewide so thanks NoVA. At least emissions tests are not required in my county.

      • Rat on a train

        If I had waited I could have got gas for under $3.

    • Sensei

      I get about 3 miles /kWh paying no mind to efficiency.

      If I cared add about 10% better.

      • Rat on a train

        That would be about 19.5 mpd at my household average, not marginal, rate.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      18.5 miles/$ sounds way too high. What kind of car are you driving? My car gets about 31 mpg and gas costs about $6.09/gallon for premium in CA. That’s about 5 miles/$.

      • Rat on a train

        Hybrid getting 57.6 mpg at $3.12.

      • Sensei

        But Toyota is evil because they promote hybrids over EVs.

      • Rat on a train

        purity spiral

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        I wish I could find gas that cheap.

      • Rat on a train

        Yikes. ~$5 in my home town.

    • R C Dean

      At $3.50/gallon for regular (pretty much what it is in Tucson for regular), that’s around 65 mpg. What are you paying for gas?

      • R C Dean

        Never mind.

  18. The Late P Brooks

    Well, huh. It’s snowing.

    • juris imprudent

      And you aren’t even in Missoula (which was on our local news last night for the 12 inches of snow that fell there yesterday).

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Abortion is no longer about population control, it is about being fully self-actualized as a woman!

    Reproductive health care. No different than taking an aspirin for a brain ache.

    • ron73440

      The Democrats seem to think it’s a winning message, 80% of their ads talk about “extreme Republicans” and their abortion bans.

      Another 10% talk about how the Republicans want to take healthcare and food money from poor people, just so they can give billionaires tax cuts.

      10% more talk about how they want to increase teacher pay, because “the best way out of poverty is education”.

      Typing all that made my brain hurt.

      • Rat on a train

        I keep getting ads from Joel Griffin telling me he will defend abortion. I’m not in the district.

      • Nephilium

        One of the mailings I received (Ohio Issue 1 is on the ballot) talked about “common sense reproductive rights” legislation for the Pro Abortion side of the mailer.

      • Rat on a train

        40 weeks is common sense!

  20. The Late P Brooks

    18.5 miles/$ sounds way too high. What kind of car are you driving? My car gets about 31 mpg and gas costs about $6.09/gallon for premium in CA. That’s about 5 miles/$.

    Really. The Element gets 20mpg; at ~$4/gal that’s five miles per buck. The Civic get close to 40mpg on a good day, which is still only ten. Gas must be really cheap where he is.

    • Fourscore

      Back in ’74 I bought a 6 cyl Mustang when gas went to .50 a gallon. Kept the ’69 Buick 225 as a family car though.

      Mustang got about 20 MPG as I remember

  21. The Late P Brooks

    Hybrid getting 57.6 mpg at $3.12.

    /em>

    Ah.

    • Rat on a train

      I bought the car when I was commuting trying to save on gas. I don’t know if I can get the data for my wife’s car.

  22. R C Dean

    Why is it that every big-time college football coach seems to be a raging asshole? Offhand, I can’t think of any exceptions (although I don’t really follow the game much any more).

    • kinnath

      Students come and go. Coaches are forever. They become the ultimate prima donnas.

      • Nephilium

        So college football coaches are the NFL wide receivers of the college world?

  23. blighted_non_millenial

    This Maine shooter is giving me Vegas vibes. Now they are looking at him escaping on a jetski (apparently owned a 2019 which is missing) and/or in a Chevy Suburban that crossed into Mass.

    • Not Adahn

      Did he escape river patrol by riding it over a waterfall, revealing a parachute with the III% logo on it?

  24. juris imprudent

    As if proof were needed that bi-partisan means the marriage of the worst from both sides of the aisle.

    Democratic authoritarian Senator Elizabeth Warren has teamed up with Republican authoritarian Senator Lindsey Graham to introduce the Digital Consumer Commission Act. As the name suggests, the bill creates a new federal commission to regulate Big Tech, or “dominant platforms” as it is known on the Hill. A dominant platform is any tech company that meets certain revenue and active user criteria.

    • blighted_non_millenial

      Here’s your Republican party Kurt Schlichter.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    A dominant platform is any tech company that meets certain revenue and active user criteria.

    Anyone foolish enough to raise his head above the parapet.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Spending >$600 getting a wheel bearing replaced today.

    Gadzooks!