Year in Dodd: A look back at a crazy 12 months
Of all the year-in-review lists you'll read this week, this is certainly one of them.
For your viewing pleasure, here is your Year in Dodd.
January
• Georgia whips Hawaii, embarrassing the Warriors and laying a claim to preseason 2008 No. 1, not the postseason 2007 No. 1.
• Kansas parlays an All-American corner and friendly schedule into its greatest season ever.
• Ohio State plays the Washington Generals for the second consecutive year in BCS title game.
• Georgia president Michael Adams sucks the life out of LSU's post-championship celebration by proposing an eight-team playoff. No one, including the NCAA, listens.
• Mike Gundy became a YouTube sensation in 2007, but that's about it. His recruiting remains strong three months after his "I'm A Man" rant. We'll find out how strong later in the year.
February
• A bunch of us flock to Jeannette, Pa. to chronicle the college decision of Terrelle Pryor. Our bad.
• Charlie Weis shows humility in an exclusive Q&A session.
March
• How could you even consider Tyler Hansbrough as college basketball's most valuable player?
• Redemption for "The Pope of Cleveland."
• Yeah, that was me interviewing Kevin Love in the AP wire photo after UCLA clinched its third consecutive Final Four.
April
• Coach of the Year? I had it right way back in April.
• Kansas wins its first national championship in 20 years and faces the prospect of losing Bill Self. Not!
May
• A different top 25.
• Florida State president T.K. Wetherell says a lot of dumb things. This wasn't one of them.
June
• Vacation in Maui. Rubbed elbows with Alice Cooper, Dennis Quaid, Virginia Madsen and Pierce Brosnan at the Maui Film Festival. That, and we saw a 40-foot whale shark.
• President Michael Adams shows up to root on the Diamond Dogs in the College World Series. I ignore him. (See January).
• Fresno State wins the CWS immediately putting pressure on Pat Hill in football who hasn't so much as won a conference title. Fresno State in baseball? Think of Utah winning the national championship in football. Wait, that's not so outrageous.
• My series starts on the all-star coaching staff. Best at each position ending in July with the nation's best head coach.
July
• I fail miserably as an official.
• Jack's fifth-grade Cubs win the Blue Valley Mustang League championship with a 14-4 victory over the Greyhounds. In the space of five days, the Cubs clinched the regular-season title and the postseason championship winning three games, scoring 14 runs each time.
• The summer series concludes with Pete Carroll being named the nation's best coach. Surprise!
• Texas Tech's Mike Leach fails to bring his two best players (Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree) to the Big 12 preseason media days. Four 1/2 months later, The Pirate has the gall to criticize the Heisman Foundation for not inviting Harrell as one of its finalists. Harrell goes to finish a distant fourth in Heisman voting. Gee, wonder why.
• Tim Tebow is really, really good and people like him.
August
• A month-full of conference previews begins.
• Jack sees his first Bruce Springsteen concert. The Boss gets another convert.
• The season starts with me in St. Louis and Gary Parrish in Atlanta.
September
• In one of the games of the year, UCLA beats Tennessee in overtime. Then Rick Neuheisel leads a post-game pep rally.
• Is Miami back?Uh, no.
• In the first game of the century, Ohio State remains Ohio State.
• Alabama pistol whips Georgia.
October
• Jerry Palm debuts as our BCS guru. The Yankees never made a better acquisition.3
• Spent some time breaking down film with a future Heisman winner.
• Wow, Texas beats Oklahoma paving its way for a trip to the national championship game. (Sarcasm noted)
November
• A year after the Gator Stomp, the Gators stomp Georgia, then rub the Dawgs' noses in it.
• Wow, Texas Tech beats Texas paving its way for a trip to the national championship game. (Sarcasm noted).
• Down goes Penn State!
• Mack Brown calls off the dogs against Kansas. The right thing to do? Absolutely. It will all work out in the end.
• You might have heard the Big 12 South could end in a three-way tie.
• If you haven't, things are getting really absurd.
• Of course, Oklahoma deserves to win the tiebreaker.
December
• Coach of the Year? I had it right way back in April.
• Forget South Florida. The national championship game was played in Atlanta.
• It was inevitable: SEC vs. Big 12 in the BCS title game.
• A wild coaching carousel continues with white ADs and presidents mostly ignoring minority head coaching candidates.
• December 31. Let's see -- 240-odd bylines, countless blogs. Everyone is healthy. The game has never been better. Happy birthday to me. See you next year.
