I’ve got a lot of political thoughts on my mind, but the glow from a weekend of amazing football is still bright and I must bask in it a bit further.
With the conference championships looming, we are essentially down to the Final Four of the NFL. Has anyone else noticed that three of these final four quarterbacks are southerners? And I don’t mean, just happened to go school in the south, southerners. I’m talking native drawl here folks.
Philip Rivers is from Athens, Alabama and played college ball at NC State.
Eli Manning is from New Orleans, Louisiana and played college ball at Ol’ Miss.
Brett Favre is from Gulfport, Mississippi and played college ball at Southern Miss.
(A quick sidebar on Favre: 1: Why is his name pronounced FaRve but spelled with the V before the R? 2: A bit of trivia that may help you win a free drink in a bar sometime – Favre lost his final college game to?? NC State, the 1990 All-American Bowl.)
And then of course the one exception is the golden boy Tom Brady who is from San Mateo, California and went to Chapel Hill of the North Michigan.
Still, I think it’s pretty cool that most of these guys talk like I do. (and the physical similarities stop right there. ) As a breed, Southerners love the hometown boy quarterback type. The more humble, the more “aw shucks” they throw in, the better. Watching Rivers play earlier this year, I actually saw him protest a bad call and the camera caught him mouthing the words – “bull CRAP.” Who says bull crap any more? Better watch out for Philip when he gets mad, he might throw in a few “dagnabits.”
Surely one of the three southern boys can show the California Yankee up can’t they? Though I truly think that New England will beat the Chargers, Bill Cowher was on to something when he called Green Bay a “team of destiny” yesterday. (Hmmmm….an NC State graduate used the “team of destiny” reference. Accident? I don’t think so.) My fearless prediction is that Green Bay will beat New England in the Super Bowl and the American media will go absolutely ga-ga over the Favre feel good story.
Of course, if I could script the whole thing out, the Packers would play the Chargers. After a 42-42 tie, Favre would throw a touchdown pass in overtime to win it. Then, after the game he would officially pass the America’s favorite quarterback torch to Philip Rivers. Hey, I can dream can’t I?
The SMD is taking my act on the road to DC for a few days. Look for an update this weekend. The topic? Why do people hate Hillary, or think that President Bush is stupid, when few people have actually spent time with either of them? (Just ponder that, save the comments for when I blog it.)
9 responses so far ↓
Sammy Kent // January 15, 2008 at 8:12 am
As a Pack fan (both Raleigh and Green Bay) I’m rooting for a Favre vs. Rivers Super Bowl….with my boy Brett winning it all to cap off his HOF career. Philip will, I hope, have more chances to win a ring.
That Girl // January 15, 2008 at 8:52 am
I love me some Philip Rivers. He is a class act. However, I also would love to see Favre win it this year so he can retire on the highest of highs.
Redneck // January 15, 2008 at 9:59 am
There’s no way Favre is retiring this year and as a fellow Southerner I understand your point.
Though Rivers is overrated and Manning will fail in the clutch, Brady is the best quarterback in football - maybe ever. So the reality is, who cares about the other three, they won’t even make footnotes to history for this year (of course Favre will rank among the greatest of all time).
The Patriots will continue their roll and end up 19 and 0 - and push to go 38 and 0 after next season.
And, I must add, none of these quarterbacks even remotely sounds like you SMD. They have true Southern drawls - not that high-pitched North Carolina thing you have going on. And, I’m more than certain that they shy away from that crazy vinegar pig y’all call bar-be-que and stick to the Memphis/Texas variety!
southernmaledemocrat // January 15, 2008 at 10:20 am
Oh no he did-’nt!
I’ll take barbecue and drawl smack from a NE Texan about when I take football advice from a Tarhole fan!
Seriously though, the predictions are now saved and we can check back on them in three weeks.
PhoneMan // January 15, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Favre’s name gets mispronounced because nobody’s comfortable with the correct French pronunciation: FAH-vruh. Sounds entirely too pinkie-in-the-air-for-tea-time for football fans.
One alternative would have been to emulate Marylanders, who pronounce their little town on the Susquehanna Havre de Grace not as the high-falutin’ HAH-vruh duh grahss, but as Haver de grace, all Americanized.
Instead, everyone just started switching the consonants to get the simpler and less effete “Farv.” Sounds like a guy you’d pound a few beers with, unlike Fah-vruh, who would have his nails manicured.
Same thing happened to “two.” We switched the sounds (but still stick with “twice.”) Some linguist can prattle on about the whole consonant shift. But not here.
Hag // January 15, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Smd,
Good memory re: Favre losing to the Wolfpack. I was at another game where we bested another NFL QB, Donovan McNabb when he was still at Syracuse. Big upset televised over ESPN back when we would knock off a Top Ten rated Texas or Syracuse but then lose to unranked UNC or Maryland. :/ How about a Top Ten list of NFL stars that got whipped by the Pack?
Phoneman, good point about “Farv” versus “Fah-vra”. What’s up with NFL QBs having such girly names by the way? Peyton? Brett? Kerry? Oooooo! Intimidating!
southernmaledemocrat // January 16, 2008 at 11:16 am
GREAT blog topic idea Hag. Actually, that could be broadened for sports trivia regarding NC State (hey..it’s MY blog.
) For example - Joe Montana verballed to play basketball at State before he signed with the Irish in football.
Redneck // January 16, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Hag, let’s be clear - Brett is not a girlie name.
Hag // January 18, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Well, it’s not exactly butch.
Notjhing personal - a lot of folks, like me, suffering from a name like Pat, Chris, Terry, that could go either way. But ya gotta admit, “Peyton” isn’t exactly striking fear into the hearts of men.