Texas Done!

Another brutal week. In addition to finishing the Texas book late Friday night, I also had a nasty case of bronchitis, which is still lingering around a bit. Pretty much all I want to do is sleep, although at this point I think that's more from the antibiotic I'm on than anything else.

Yuck.

I kind of wish I had the same "What, me worry?" look as Bevo here, but I did manage to get through the week without having to use a sick day. Of course, that means this next week is going to be rough.

Oklahoma this week, then, finally, Alabama for the home stretch.

Ohio State Done!

What an unbelievably brutal week. In addition to National Signing Day and the first of two deadlines on the Huddle Up series, I also had to try and keep up with getting the next one done.

Ohio State is now officially signed, sealed, delivered.

That leaves Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and Auburn to go, and then I'll be looking like Jim Tressel here only without the sweater vest.

By the way, the first four editions (Tennessee, Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame and the New York Giants), totaled 205,264 words. That's a lot.

Special delivery

It's 1 a.m. Wednesday night, oops, Thursday morning, and I have somehow managed to survive both National Signing Day (which is an absolute nightmare for sportswriters in the Deep South), and the first of two deadlines in the Huddle Up series.

As I sit here and sip an adult beverage in celebration/relief, I'm happy to report that I turned in four editions (Georgia, Tennessee, Michigan and Notre Dame) on time, and an extra one as well (New York Giants).

I'm on target to finish Ohio State during the next day or two, and will then get started on the two Big XII versions, Oklahoma and Texas. Unbelievable, but I'm thrilled to get past such a huge hurdle, and can't wait to finish the whole thing.

P.S. For those of you who are doing "25 Random Things" on Facebook, here's one I missed on mine, I had a relative (I believe it was my great grandfather) who rode for the Pony Express.

This just in ...

For some reason, and I really don't know how or why, nor do I really care, there's been a bit of a mixup and my publisher was expecting an Auburn handbook for next season instead of Georgia. For those of you who have been following this blog I've already completed the Bulldogs version, so I'm going to be turning it in anyway.

The bottom line is that I'll be doing another edition of Huddle Up for 2009, which means March is going to be nasty for me. I look at it this way, the first school I was going to pitch to add for the 2010 season was Auburn, so I'm just getting a jump on things. Now that status goes to Florida.

New York Giants: Done!

Oh my.
I just finished up the New York Giants edition, and I have to admit this one was brutal. Maybe it's because the layout is a little different, it's the longest of the nine handbooks that will come out in the summer, or simply that I had to travel a couple of days this past week and have yet to fully recover.

Whatever the reason, this one was tough to finish and I'm glad to be done with it. FYI, the final word count was somewhere around 48,000 words. My last book, "100 Things" was around 70,000 words.

My guess is that the entire project will be somewhere around 300,000 words. Yuck.

Ok, next up Ohio State. Four to go, and four weeks to the final deadline.

Georgia: Done!

Usually when I end up in the doghouse, it means something else ... but that's another story, this is a good thing.

The Georgia handbook is thankfully done, which means I'll be hitting my February deadline with the first four editions of the Huddle Up series, and have five to finish before March 1.

It's kind of fitting too, because I'm actually heading to Athens tomorrow night.

The big question for me right now is do I move on to Ohio State, or make a detour and finish the pro edition on the New York Giants.

Choices ...

Notre Dame: Done!

Crud, another late night, but my friends will be happy to see me not carrying abound a Notre Dame media guide or records supplement for a while. Because I found some really good last-minute information, this one took a lot of out of me to finish and bumped up the size to 42,776 words. To put that into perspective, most normal-sized books I've done have been between 100,000 and 125,000 words.

I hope for my sake the next one isn't as bad, but I have a feeling the Fighting Irish guide could be one of our best sellers out of the original nine.

So now I move on to Georgia, which is kind of fitting because I'll be making a trip to Athens next week (a great college town to visit). At least I saw the Bulldogs play in person this year, so I'm more familiar with the material.

This isn't going away soon

From the Associated Press today:

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Barack Obama says he still believes there needs to be a playoff system to determine country's major-college football champion.
Obama, asked what he thought about Florida's 24-14 victory Thursday night against Oklahoma in the FedEx BCS National Championship Game, congratulated the Gators and said he'd sent a message to a friend whose son plays for the team.
At the same time, he said, "If I'm Utah, or if I'm USC or if I'm Texas, I might still have some quibbles."
Obama said: "That's why we need a playoff."

Michigan: Done!

It's 4 a.m. (almost), and I just wrapped up the Michigan edition, which was probably the hardest of the nine to do. For some reason, a lot of the preliminary work took a lot longer than then rest, I had to dig a little deeper for some of the information, and it was a little tougher writing about a team that just had a horrible season. I guess that's why I wanted it to be one of the first, because from here it will hopefully get a little easier.

Right?

Next up is finishing Notre Dame, followed by, I think, Georgia. That will get me to the four I need to turn in around February 1. Overall, two down, seven to go.

Survey says ...

Our friend Tommy Hicks of the Mobile Press-Register (who does not look like anyone from Hogan's Heroes) occasionally polls media about certain things in college football, and with the national championship game on tap I thought you might be interested to see his latest offering.
Oh, and not to out anyone, but the “beef” line was mine.


1. Will this season produce a split national championship? Results: No: 18, Yes: 3.
Comment: "With No. 1 playing No. 2 (in the BCS title game) I don't think there's enough sentiment to push USC or Texas to the top of the writers' poll,'' one participant said.
2. If there is a split national championship, what team will share the crown with the BCS title game winner? A. Utah: 9, Texas: 5, USC: 1. Comments: "Anyone who wants to look closely at the facts could make a case for voting Utah No. 1,'' one voter said. "Texas has the biggest beef (no pun) for simply not getting the chance to play for the national championship.'' Another participant noted, "Utah is unbeaten and no one with a piddle of sense believes anyone would beat USC on a neutral field for the title.''
3. Who will win tonight's BCS national championship game? A. Florida: 16, Oklahoma: 5.
Comment: "Florida's defense is better and Oklahoma's special teams are worse.'' Stat: Those participating in the survey were asked to offer a final score for tonight's game. The average score of those provided was Florida 34.6, Oklahoma 29.1.
4. Among this list, which head coaching hire is the biggest surprise: Gene Chizik to Auburn? Terry Bowden to North Alabama? Barry Hoke to San Diego State? Lane Kiffin to Tennessee? Bill Snyder back to Kansas State? A. Chizik to Auburn: 14, Bowden to North Alabama: 4, Snyder back to Kansas State: 2, Kiffin to Tennessee: 1. Comment: "I've never seen such an unpopular move and a coach rewarded after having such a dismal record. This could be disastrous for Auburn, which has set itself up for a huge fall,'' one voter said of Chizik's hire at Auburn.
5. What bowl result has been the biggest surprise thus far? A. Utah's win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl: 15, Vanderbilt's win over Boston College in the Music City Bowl: 2. (Notre Dame's Hawaii Bowl win, Ole Miss' Cotton Bowl win, Iowa's Outback Bowl win and LSU's Chick-fil-A Bowl win received one vote each.
6. Should Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford and Florida QB Tim Tebow enter the 2009 NFL draft? A. Bradford: Yes: 16, No. 5; Tebow: No: 18, Yes: 3. Comments: "Bradford is ready and Tebow's not,'' said one voter. "Both should go before the rookie salary cap (is put in place),'' said another. "Bradford can make all the throws but Tebow could use another year as a pocker passer to help him (in the draft) next year.'' commented one voter.
7. What was the best overall coaching hire made in recent weeks? A. Mississippi State hiring Dan Mullen as head coach: 6, Monte Kiffin hired as Tennessee's defensive coordinator: 5, Ed Oregeron hired as an assistant coach at Tennessee: 2. (Those receiving one vote include: Gus Malzahn hired as Auburn's offensive coordinator, John Chavis expected to be hired as LSU's defensive coordinator, Bill Snyder's return to Kansas State, Dabo Swinney named permanent head coach at Clemson, Barry Hoke hired as San Diego State's head coach, Terry Bowden taking the North Alabama job, Texas keeping Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator/head coach-in-waiting, Steve Sarkisian named Washington's head coach.