College Football Returns!!!**

Well, it has been over 8 months since the last college game. The wait for real football (not spring games, recruiting, or NFL exhibition games) is over. I am very excited about it. College football is my favorite sport these days (once this was major league baseball). Sadly, the two teams that I am interested in watching are playing "directional" schools, so they will not be on television.

I gave you my reasons for hating soccer last week, so this week I will give you my reasons for loving college football.

Debates -- The system of determining a champion in college football's highest classification is so screwed up that it actually encourages debates about "Mythical National Champions". For example, invite an Alabama and Arkansas fan to your next party and ask them who won the 1964 National Championship. I bet they have different answers. Arkansas's argument is so legitimate that the AP changed their rules after that season.

Teams You Love To Hate -- To about half of the population of college football fans, the Fighting Irish are a symbol of all that is wrong with our country (entitlement, elitist, etc.) while the other half believes that Notre Dame is the best team on the planet. My list of teams that I want to see lose every Saturday includes Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, Miami, Oklahoma and Texas. I would likely throw a big party if all were to lose on the same day.

Irrational Fans -- These are the guys that lurk on message boards for the faintest hint that a 17-year old from Timbuktu who runs a 4.3 40-yard dash has included their school in his final three. It is kind of sad that their weekends can be ruined because the whims of a teenager didn't include attending their favorite school. These irrational fans include my dad who begins EVERY season with the expectation that the Razorbacks will lose at most 2 games because, "The Hogs are good, but you know how stout the SEC is. You KNOW that they would win any other conference."

Rivalries -- Michigan/OSU, USC/Notre Dame, Texas/Texas A&M (the BEST ONE!), etc. Sure, I know the Yankees and Red Sox don't like each other, but you will see the players that play for both teams during their career. The same goes for the Bears and Packers. In college football, they play 3 hours for 365 days of bragging rights that can't be escaped until the next clash with that rival. You will find strange and humiliating wagers associated with these games.

So, if you are wondering my plans for weekends over the next few months, I will be trying to find someway to watch football on Saturdays. If fate is kind to me, the Aggies will be on TV. If not, I will be re-living the last two Fridays after Thanksgiving. I have bragging rights until that day. That's when they go up for grabs in the Lonestar Showdown.

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**Cross Posted at the Minimum Publishable Unit

Post Summer Days

Well, it has been a fantastic 2008 season for 7-on-7 football in Arkansas. Here are just a few highlights:

• The Lake Hamilton Wolves, led by QB Phillip Butterfield, took two-thirds of the Arkansas Triple Crown (the Sonic Air Raid and the Shootout of the South).
• Watson Chapel, LR Christian, and Searcy put in good showings at the Sonic Air Raid.
• Rogers, Shiloh Christian, Hot Springs Lakeside, and Fayetteville all performed well during pool play of the Shootout of the South.
• The inaugural VYPE Select 7-on-7 Tournament on the campus of the University of Arkansas was an excellent event.
• The Pulaski Academy Bruins (with standouts Spencer Keith and Neal Barlow) showed that they can compete with the elite teams in the state as they took home that title.
• Smaller schools put on some fantastic tournaments.
• Hoxie hosted 14 teams at its first tournament.
• Gravette hosted 8 teams for its 2nd annual event.
• Fountain Lake also hosted 14 teams in the 13th edition of the state's longest running 7-on-7 tournament.
• Four teams from Arkansas (Shiloh Christian, Springdale, Springdale Har-Ber, and Lake Hamilton) competed in the Select 7-on-7 National Championship tournament.
• Springdale Har-Ber brought the National Championship back to the Natural State once again.

We realize that the focus will now shift to "real" football, but we will have some things to check out during the high school season. Here is what we plan to provide you until 7-on-7 returns next summer:

1. More installments in the "Why 7-on-7?" series.
2. A new "Coaches Corner" section where we discuss the teaching opportunities presented during these 7-on-7 competitions.
3. In our "Shootout of the Week" series, we will pick the game that we feel will be highest scoring high school football game.

So, we suggest that if you want to know when we put something new up, use the "Subscribe" button below the "Sponsored Links" to the left. If you have never used an RSS feed reader, the Google reader is pretty awesome. Let us know in the comments (or at ArkansasFootballBloggers@gmail.com) if you need an invitation for a Google account.

We wanted to take a couple of seconds to thank all of you that stopped by over the past three months. Here is how we have grown since starting back in May:

• May 2008: 1,570 page views
• June 2008: 3,655 page views
• July 2008: 5,193 page views

Finally, if you have ideas, suggestions, or comments, PLEASE let us know in the comments or through our email (ArkansasFootballBloggers@gmail.com). We want to provide you with information that you want when you stop by to catch up on Arkansas football (7-on-7 or otherwise). Coaches and players, as the next season approaches, send us your schedules, tournament plans, and players to watch. We will get them posted so that as many people as possible can make it to your events and increase the exposure for your outstanding players to a wider audience. Again, THANK YOU! for a great summer of 2008 season.