All-Time Great Prefaces

From David Halberstam's "The Breaks of the Game"

"Fame," O.J. said, walking along, "is a vapor, popuularity is an accident, and money takes wing. The only thing that endures is character."
"Where'd you get that from," Cowlings asked.
"Heard it one night on TV in Buffalo," O.J. said. "I was watching a late hockey game on Canadian TV and all of a sudden a guy just said it. Brought me right up out of my chair. I never forgot it."
-- From an article by Paul Zimmerman, Sports Illustrated, November 26, 1979, on O.J. Simpson.

The next (and final) line in the Zimmerman piece:

"The character of O.J. Simpson will endure. It will be his legacy."

And who's on the cover of that issue of SI?

The Heat is On

If you thought Michigan fans were dissatisfied with Lloyd Carr going into this season, then get ready for a virtual bonfire tonight and the rest of this week after a 34-32 loss to I-AA Appalachian State (while Division I-AA is now known as Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), it is still light-years from BCS/I-A; the phrase "former I-AA school, Appalachian State" implies that the Mountaineers have moved up to the main division, rather than merely a re-naming of the division).

What is amazing about the victory is that the Mountaineers blew a two touchdown lead (28-14, late in the first half), put a two-minute drill together in the fourth quarter to re-take the lead at 34-32, and then blocked a field goal (for the second time in the fourth quarter) to preserve the win.

The last big-time coach to lose to a I-AA school (Jack Crowe of Arkansas, after a loss to The Citadel in 1992). Carr had best defeat Ohio State in November.

College Football Preview and Countdown (Cont V)

More from the college football countdown:

#6 - The Ohio State University (currently #11 in the AP poll)



Key game: as always, Michigan on November 17th. This group of Buckeyes has never lost to the Wolverines.