Author: Andrew Rosenberg

One of my favorite proverbs that I’ve heard successful sports figures like Coach K at Duke and Pat Riley of the Miami Heat use is, “you’re judged by the company you keep.” This phrase came to mind yesterday as I read a fascinating, yet tragic tale of where Allen Iverson is at in his life right now.  Iverson is essentially broke, having blown $150 million he earned via several NBA contracts.  Iverson is a pretty serious alcoholic, a recluse from society and a deadbeat father to his kids.  This got me asking the most logical question: how did this happen? Allen Iverson grew up in a pretty rough and tough part of Hampton, Virginia.  After a few seasons at Georgetown University, he went on to have a hall of fame type of career in the NBA.  Throughout his NBA career, no other player in the NBA stayed true to his roots than Iverson.  His image didn’t change.  His swagger stayed the same.  Dress code?  No thanks.  Clean, conservative haircut?  Not his style.  Iverson became a stylistic icon to kids all across the country.  Long shorts, one armed sleeve, tattoos, and dare I say, a disdain towards “practice.”  “We talkin’ bout practice?!  I’m the MVP!” So how did a guy so revered by so many hit rock bottom so fast?  I would first take a look at who was in Iverson’s social circle during his time in the NBA.  What value did they add by being in his life?  Iverson was notorious for being too generous with his friends.  It’s not easy to blow through $150 million dollars; unless you are surrounded by people that are sucking you dry of cash, cars, gifts and trips. Flash forward to life after basketball.  Iverson spends much of his time floating around various bars and clubs in Atlanta.  I’ve seen him hanging out in Buckhead at a hotel bar (Shula’s 357 inside the Marriott) drunk, in extra long basketball shorts and a white tee.  Keep in mind he’s 37 years old not 22 anymore.  Sadly, his life is spiraling out of control.  His circle of friends never evolved and its clear Iverson has no older, mature figure-head in his life to provide a voice of reason….well at least none that he will listen to.  That’s what is so frustrating. It doesn’t have to be this way for Iverson.  This is a young man that was coached by guys like John Thompson, Larry Brown and George Karl.  Three men that would gladly offer to be a father-figure to Iverson or at the very least be a voice on the other end of a phone call to provide stability, advice, and genuine concern.  Brown and Thompson have expressed concern for Iverson’s current lifestyle.   As Coach Brown said in a recent article in the Washington Post, “he deserves a better ending than he’s getting.” “Deserves” seems a bit strong.  Allen Iverson created this mess.  Only he can change how things will end for him.  It’s not too late.  When he turns 55 he is owed $30 million from Reebok (of which half will go to his ex-wife and mother of his kids).  He’s 37 years old today.  That money is still 18 years away.  Can he survive until then?  I believe he can, but it all starts with the man in the mirror and then changing the company he keeps.   The Washington Post article on Iverson’s struggle with life after basketball: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-04-19/sports/38666036_1_allen-iverson-sixers-nba-s  

Webster’s dictionary defines ‘ELITE’ in a number of ways.  Two definitions are: the best of a class or a group of persons who by virtue of position or education exercise much power or influence. This word ‘elite’ is thrown around so cavalierly in sports that the lines of who is elite and who isn’t sometimes gets blurred.  Take the NFL quarterback for example.  When I say “elite” what names come to your mind?  Brady, Manning, Rodgers.  Want more?  Drew Brees?  Fla……should I say it?  Ok….Flacco.  Is Joe Flacco elite?  This brings me to my next point.  How does one define elite? If an elite quarterback is measured by his bank account – then yes, Joe Flacco is ‘elite” with a capital “E”.  Flacco as we all know just signed a 6-year/$120 million contract to stay with the Ravens, of which $52 million is guaranteed.  I’d say that makes Joe Flacco’s agent elite.  But seriously, for Joe Flacco, timing was everything.  Playing in the final year of his contract, Joe Flacco went on a run for the ages and won a Super Bowl.  A Super Bowl ring, wait a minute, is that considered “elite”?  Hmmm, Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl…never mind.  Brad Johnson in Tampa.  He might be considered elite in St.Pete, but that’s about it. So let me answer this question myself – NO Joe Flacco is not an elite quarterback, but what he is to Baltimore is stability and security.  Locking up Joe Flacco for another six seasons allows the Ravens franchise to not have to worry about the most important position in the game for awhile.  You know what that $52 million guaranteed bought the Ravens?  Peace of mind. Which brings me to the Atlanta Falcons (doesn’t it always seem to come back to these guys?)  Matt Ryan.  Not elite.  Matt Ryan is a free agent after next season.  Matt Ryan’s bank account will be elite even if he doesn’t pull a Flacco and go on a miracle Super Bowl run this upcoming season.  Why?  Stability.  You know what stability means in the NFL?  It means you won’t become the Dolphins, or the Chiefs.  A revolving door seemingly every other season at the quarterback position, just waiting, wondering, is this next guy going to be the savior? History has shown that even when you draft an NFL quarterback the odds are 50/50 at best that he becomes a special player.  In 2011, the first round quarterbacks drafted were Cam Newton, Blaine Gabbert, Jake Locker and Christian Ponder.  How many of those guys will get a second contract with their current organization?  Cam Newton probably, everyone else gets a maybe.  You cannot afford to blow it with a first round draft pick at the quarterback position.  If you blow it at nose tackle, you can perhaps recover, but at quarterback, it can set you back 5 years as a franchise. This goes back to my point on why a guy like Matt Ryan is going to get paid.  He panned out.  Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff nailed it with Matt, if for no other reason he is someone you can bank on for a decade.  Like Flacco in Baltimore.  These guys aren’t elite, but they are consistent and stabilizing forces at the most important position in football.  The Dallas Cowboys have a major decision to make with Tony Romo.  Not elite by any stretch and a question mark in the stability column to boot. So the next time you get into a debate with your buddies about which quarterbacks in the NFL are elite, just remember everyone has their own criteria.  It may not be about Super Bowl rings or Pro Bowl appearances, but merely a sense of comfort you feel when Sunday rolls around and you realize, “thank God we aren’t the Chiefs!”

As sports fans we love our stars.  They are larger than life to us and we marvel at their talent.  However, this often leads to us placing these athletes on a pedestal.  We look at them as flawless human beings that can do no wrong.  Here is my advice to most sports fans: treat sports like Hollywood.  Look at these professional athletes as actors in a really, really, long movie, that lasts anywhere from 7 to 10 years.  Why?  Because it will enable you to process things a lot easier when they screw up off the court/field.  Athletes are actors being paid a lot of money to entertain us.  You know their work.  LeBron James plays “King James” on the court.  Deion Sanders was “Prime Time”.  Alex Rodriguez is “A-Rod”. So what happens when the actor screws up?  It damages your view of the character they play.  Take Oscar Pistorius.  Oscar plays the character, “Blade Runner” and his movie set is the track.  Watching his performance at the Olympics this past summer was an inspirational tale of overcoming life’s adversities.  His performance was so moving, you might even say it was worthy of an “Oscar” (Ok that was cheap and easy).  The world fell in love with the “Blade Runner”.  Yet, do we really know the actor that plays him?  Evidently not, if he is capable of firing 4 bullets into his bathroom door while his girlfriend is standing on the other side.  I can process “Blade Runner”.  He has the great smile, the charming personality and wonderful story.  What I can’t get my arms around is how the guy who played Blade Runner could commit such a heinous, violent crime. Tim Tebow, another great character the sport of football has provided us.  He is the ultimate competitor and tough as nails.  Tim Tebow is kind of like the Iron Man movie franchise.  Each year the popularity grows, so they keep trotting out a sequel because quite frankly it’s making money for the production company (insert team name here).  Tebow is America’s darling.  As bankable a character in the NFL, or is he?  Now that the NFL season has wrapped, the actor that plays ‘Tebow’ decides he wants to go speak at a church in Texas that is anti-gay and anti-Semetic.  Say what?!  That can’t be the same Tebow we’ve known all these years?  He is righteous and innocent.  He would help an old lady across the street and Sportscenter would have a one-hour special on it.  Ahhh, but that Tebow is merely a character playing a role in a big football production.  The actor that plays him is clearly different when the cameras are off. Did you guys see the “Johnny Football” movie last fall?  It was a huge hit.  A small indie production filmed mostly in College Station, Texas.  The star of the film was a young freshman that made his mark nationally when he defeated Goliath (Alabama).  His performance in that game essentially earned him Best Actor in a major college program – and he took home the Heisman Trophy.  Johnny Football became more popular than Johnny Bravo.  However, once his movie wrapped, the actor who played Johnny Football, Johnny Manziel, developed a larger-than-life complex.  Johnny Manziel didn’t want to attend class anymore.  He felt he was too much of a distraction.  Instead he has opted to take online classes from home.  Yeah, because you are the first Heisman trophy winner to ever go back to school the next semester.  Last I checked, Herschel Walker, Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, and on and on and on, had to either finish up their Spring semester, and in some cases, returned for another year of school.  Get over yourself Johnny Manziel.  You are an actor playing quarterback in a small town in Texas.  I think you can survive a 50 minute English class. There are certainly many more, from Ryan Braun and A-Rod to Mike Vick and Kobe Bryant.  Our favorite athletes – are they the same people we see when the lights go off?  Use caution my friends.  These athletes are masters at their craft, the best actors in the world.  Yet, the reality is we are all actors when we leave the house and head to work every day.  Think about your current job.  How do you portray yourself amongst your peers?  Life is one big movie.  Job interviews are casting calls.  The only difference is with professional athletes, the stage is bigger and the exposure is greater.  Tebow, Blade Runner, Johnny Football.  Lights, Camera, Action!

Ok, now that theNFL season is over, it’s time to focus on the second half of the NBA season.  We are approaching the All Star break and in case you haven’t paid attention, I will give you my recap of the first half of the season as best I can.  I may not know much, but I do know this…. The Los Angeles Lakers are a train wreck.  Shame on you Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak – your choice of coaches this season have been as bad as Mike Vick’s choice of hobbies while with the Falcons.  Mike Brown.  Mike D’Antoni.  Is this Mike on?  Oh, it’s on.  You are just getting horrible feedback.  Dwight Howard needs to find the yellow brick road in Los Angeles, because that dude needs some heart.  I honestly don’t believe that guy has the passion and desire.  The game is fun to him.  Kobe doesn’t do fun.  Kobe does intensity. As for the other team that plays in the Staples Center, the Los Angeles Clippers – they are clearly the deepest bunch (and bench) in the league.  Their second unit is filled with guys that would undoubtedly start on most of the bottom feeder teams in the league.  Any time you can bring in off the bench a Jamal Crawford, Eric Bledsoe or Lamar Odom, you have a chance to outlast and outscore your opponent.  Makes you wonder how different things would be in Los Angeles today had David Stern not blocked the Chris Paul trade to the Lakers. Up the coast in the Bay Area, the Golden State Warriors have become one of the league’s pleasant surprises this year.  The future is definitely bright with a young core nucleus of guys like Steph Curry and Harrison Barnes.  Mark Jackson is a helluva coach too.  Keep an eye on this team, as they are a lotta fun to watch. The Spurs are the Spurs.  Fundamental.  Smart.  Greg Popovich is the best coach in the NBA.  End of discussion.  The Spurs are the Dick Clark of the NBA.  They don’t ever age.  They have the best record in the NBA as I write this column.  This team reinvents themselves more than Betty White.   It’s as impressive as anything we’ve seen in the NBA the last 15 years, considering they never end up in the NBA lottery.  By the way, is “Hot in Cleveland” still on the air? Oklahoma City continues to roll.  Kevin Durant is 1A right now to King James.  Sure, Russell Westbrook is good for a stinker game once every 10 days, but his killer instinct is what makes him so dangerous.  He will keep shooting until he gets out of a slump.  If they end up with home court throughout the playoffs, it might be a wrap out West.  That arena is the closest thing to a college atmosphere in the NBA. Let’s head out East where the contenders can be counted not on one hand, but one finger – The Miami Heat.  They will be in the NBA Finals again.  The only question is who in their conference will aggravate them by extending a series past five games. The Knicks are a nice story, but I’ve seen this Mike Woodson movie before.  Good regular season, can’t get past the 2nd round in the playoffs.  The Knicks are filled with more one-on-one guys than any team in the league.  And I don’t mean that in a good way.  Carmelo has a tendency to play selfish and go for volume of shots over quality.  JR Smith – kind of reminds me of the old Keyshawn Johnson book, “Just throw me the damn ball.”  Yeah, they have had the Heat’s number during the regular season, but come playoff time, come crunch time, I fully expect the Heat to brush the Knicks aside. Over in Brooklyn, it’s been mixed results.  Fancy new arena, hats and jerseys flying off the shelves.  Jay-Z creating an entertainment experience for the fans.  And Joe Johnson.  Take a giant balloon and insert pin.  The Nets wanted to bring in a star for their new season in their new arena.  Unfortunately for the fans, they got Joe Johnson instead.  16 points per game.  3 rebounds.  3 assists.  You know who averages 16 points per game?  Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors.  Who?  Exactly.  How about Arron Afflalo of the Orlando Magic?  Yep.  There are rumors the Nets want to make a push for Atlanta Hawks forward, Josh Smith.  Yeah, that combination is about as dumb as ketchup flavored ice cream.  Good luck you wacky Russian billionaire.  Ask Daniel Snyder how things turn out when you run your franchise like you’re in a fantasy league. Final quick hits: Kyrie Irving is the best player in the NBA nobody sees play. Toronto is better today than they were yesterday by getting Rudy Gay.  Good trade. Kemba Walker is quietly averaging 17 ppg and 5 assists in Charlotte. The Indiana Pacers are well coached by Frank Vogel.  Roy Hibbert – horrible contract. Since John Wall has returned, the Wizards are playing respectable ball. The Celtics are old and have been winning in spite of Rajon Rondo. The Bulls are doing their best to hang on until Derrick Rose returns. I haven’t seen 2 minutes of Anthony Davis this year in New Orleans. If you haven’t seen Damian Lillard play in Portland, please do so.  Hands down Rookie of the Year. What happened to Tyreke Evan’s blossoming career? I don’t know who coaches the Orlando Magic or the Utah Jazz. Doug Collins needs to do us all a favor and go back into broadcasting.   That’s all I have right now.  Enjoy the second half of the season.  My prediction is we see an NBA Finals rematch between the Heat and Thunder.  LeBron and Durant for a 7 game series?  Yes please. Heat win it again and Ray Allen puts his 2nd ring on his middle finger and shows it to Rondo. Follow me on Twitter: @kidcue

Randy, please stop the madness.  You are not better than Jerry Rice.  Just let us remember your career as a very impressive, accomplished, 15+ year run.  You were a great receiver in your prime.  What you aren’t, however, is the best receiver of all time.  That moniker belongs to one Jerry Rice. In case you missed it, at Tuesday’s media day at the Super Bowl, current San Francisco 49er Randy Moss said, “Now that I’m older, I do think I’m the greatest receiver to ever do it…I don’t really live on numbers, I really live on impact and what you’re able to do on that field. “ So let me get his right?  Numbers don’t matter?  Which numbers?  Touchdowns?  Yards receiving?  Pro Bowls?  Super Bowl Rings?  Because Jerry Rice just happens to have you beat in every one of those categories. Randy: you have 15,292 yards receiving to Jerry’s 22,895. Randy: you have 156 TD’s to Jerry’s 197. Randy: you have 982 receptions to Jerry’s 1,549. Last but not least, JERRY RICE HAS 3 SUPER BOWL RINGS.  YOU HAVE NONE.  Jerry Rice is the ultimate winner, the ultimate teammate, the definitive professional.  In 2010, Randy, you played for three teams alone!  The Patriots got tired of your act, then the Vikings, and finally the Titans.  Your disposition in the locker room and on the sidelines left many teammates shaking their heads.   You became a, “Is he worth the risk?” guy your last 5 years or so in the NFL. Even more offensive about your statement of being the greatest of all time is you said it while wearing a San Francisco 49er jersey!!  Guess who the one player on the planet is that is synonymous with the 49er jersey?  Ummm…Jerry Rice, the greatest of all time.  (That loud noise you heard yesterday was the collective laugh of an entire city by the Bay). If you must really know Randy, a guy by the name of Terrell Owens has more career yards receiving then you and has caught about 96 more balls over his career then you have. Randy, don’t get us wrong, we think had a fantastic career.  You are definitely a future Hall of Fame player.  In your prime, there wasn’t a better deep threat in the game.  But please, let’s keep it in perspective.  You are not better than the greatest of all time, Jerry Rice.  You are not better than the player voted the #1 FOOTBALL player (not wide receiver), FOOTBALL player of all-time according to NFL.com. Numbers matter.  Winning matters.  Character matters.  Advantage – Jerry Rice.

Good afternoon city of Atlanta.  So how’s the weather?  Anyone watching the new Kevin Bacon show tonight on FOX?  What’s that?  The Falcons lost the NFC Championship game?  Yes, I’m aware.  How about the Presidential Inauguration?  Pretty cool.  Say what?  The Falcons failed to score in the 2nd half?  I noticed.  Any plans for MLK Day? The fans in Atlanta are numb to losing in the post season.  It doesn’t even register anymore.  Who has the time to wake up the ‘morning after’ and be depressed and miserable?  We’ve done it so many times in this town; it just starts to get tired.  Listening to local sports talk radio this morning, I noticed most of the callers sounded calm, level-headed, and at peace with this Falcons loss.  That’s called learning from your past experiences.  Atlanta has plenty to pull from.  Let’s look at his past 12 month cycle alone: This past NBA post-season the Atlanta Hawks had positioned themselves nicely to perhaps advance to the franchise’s first ever Eastern Conference Finals.  Derrick Rose got hurt in Chicago, opening up a huge opportunity for Atlanta to make a run in the East vs. the Miami Heat.  The Hawks got to the second round of the playoffs with home court vs. the Boston Celtics.  The Hawks won game one and the Celtics lost their floor leader, Rajon Rondo, for game two.  A great chance for the Hawks to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the series, which would have put them one step closer to the Eastern Conference Finals.   Didn’t happen.  Hawks lose game two at home and went on to lose the series in six games.  Par for the course in Atlanta. Fast forward to October: the Atlanta Braves scratch and claw all season long, and ride the hot hand of pitcher Kris Medlen, who couldn’t lose in the 2nd half of the baseball season.  Braves end up having to play a one game playoff at home vs the St.Louis Cardinals with Medlen on the mound.  On the surface, you would like the Braves chances.  Ahhh, but this is Atlanta.  Post season success is about as common as snow plow trucks.  Cue a couple of Chipper Jones errors, a horrible “infield fly rule” call by the umpires, and the Braves postseason run came to a screeching halt.  Par for the course in Atlanta. Hey everybody, it looks like the University of Georgia football team has a championship caliber team this season!  Sure they lost in early October to South Carolina, but if this happens and that happens we are right back in the hunt!  This and that did happen, the Bulldogs ran the table on the rest of their schedule and holy cow, they are in another SEC Championship game!  This is gonna be the year!  They are right there hanging with the defending national champs, Alabama.  Final drive, let’s just spike the ball, stop the clock and get a good….wait, what?  They didn’t just…UGH!  They ran out of time.  Par for the course in Atlanta. That’s all in 12 months time.  So please excuse us if we woke up this morning not crying in our grits.  Losing in the post season is all we know.  Sometimes you just have to play to your strengths.  This city’s sports teams are really good at losing when it matters most.  It’s been overstated by writers in this town (including myself): one pro championship in about 154 seasons.  In college, Georgia fans are still living off the glory of the 1980 season.  Georgia Tech fans split a title in football, but people remember that as much as they remember the Ken Norman years with the Hawks. So what’s next?  I don’t know.  Lou Williams tore his ACL.  He’s done for the season.  Perhaps it will snow at Braves Spring Training and Jason Heyward will get frostbite.  That would be par for the course….

The executives at CBS Sports won’t admit it but we all know it.  The network that has this year’s Super Bowl has their fingers crossed the San Francisco 49ers beat the Atlanta Falcons Sunday in the NFC Championship game.  (It goes without saying; CBS also wants New England in the Super Bowl over the Ravens.) What do we make of the Falcons brand?  Locally, here in Atlanta, it’s probably the most respected pro franchise in town.  You’ve got stable ownership (Arthur Blank), a consistent quarterback (Matt Ryan), a smart, hardworking obsessive general manager (Thomas Dimitroff) and a coach that commands the respect of his players and peers (Mike Smith).   However, the national perception is if you throw all those ingredients into a blender you still come out with plain vanilla ice cream.  Need I remind everyone that vanilla still ranks as America’s favorite flavor? The Atlanta Falcons suffer from being, well….the Atlanta Falcons.  Zero Super Bowl titles and only one appearance since 1965.  After last weekend’s “escape” versus Seattle, most national pundits are talking like the Falcons are backing into the NFC Championship Game.  Yet over the past five seasons, the Atlanta Falcons franchise has more regular season wins than any other NFC team.  This is a league where offense sells tickets and makes SportsCenter highlights right?  Last I checked the Falcons are loaded with Pro Bowlers at all the skill positions: Julio Jones, Roddy White, Tony Gonzalez, and Matt Ryan.  Sounds like a pretty attractive brand to me.  Dare I say the Falcons have more household names on their roster then the San Francisco 49ers.  So again, what’s the problem CBS?? The problem once again is history, pedigree (or lack of one).  The San Francisco 49ers have five Super Bowl Championships from 1981 to 1994.  That’s a helluva way to build your national brand (see the current New England Patriots).  The 49ers also have legends like Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, and Ronnie Lott (to name a few) in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  The Atlanta Falcons have….ummm….well, we kind of claim Deion Sanders, even though he never won a championship in Atlanta.  That’s it. But hey, let’s think positive.  This week is the start of something special with this Falcons franchise.  Let the brand building begin this Sunday!  Getting to the Super Bowl would obviously put a lot of eyes on this franchise and these players.  Winning the Super Bowl would do even more for their legacies.  That sounds nice: ‘Falcons’ and ‘legacy’.  We all know Tony Gonzalez will be headed to the Hall of Fame one day.  The rest of these Falcons players have 8 quarters of football left to create their own; being called ‘Super Bowl Champs’ is a great place to start.  Not even CBS could ignore that.

What if Ohio State wasn’t on probation this year? What if Alabama had their first loss the weekend AFTER Oregon and Kansas State lost, instead of the week before? What if Aaron Murray (and Mark Richt) decides to spike the ball in the final seconds of the SEC Championship game to compose themselves on offense to make sure they get the right 2-3 plays called? The common answer to those questions above is:  Alabama might not be playing in the BCS National Championship game.  Sometimes not only do you have to be good, but you have to be lucky.  Timing is everything as they say.  If Ohio State was post season eligible, we are looking at Notre Dame vs Ohio State in the BCS National Title Game.  If Oregon or Kansas State lost first and dropped in the polls and then the following weekend Alabama lost, how many teams would Alabama have been behind to climb back into a top 2 slot? The only team right now that can claim they deserve a shot in the BCS National Title game is Notre Dame.   I know all you SEC elitist think nobody plays a harder schedule then an SEC school.  Although I will say Notre Dame winning at Oklahoma and at home vs. Stanford (a team I believe is playing as well as any team in the country right now), is impressive.  Some of you think a 2-loss SEC team should probably play for a national title over an undefeated Notre Dame team.  And finally, a few of you don’t think football exists outside the South. If you have a loss on your resume, your participation or invitation to the BCS Title game is up for debate.  That’s a fact.  Everything is subjective at that point.  A computer must decide whether or not Oregon losing to a highly ranked Stanford team by a FG at home is worse than Alabama losing to a freshman quarterback at Texas A&M at home by 4 points. As CBS Sports columnist Gregg Doyel wrote so brilliantly a few weeks back, “the SEC has cracked the computer code.”  The SEC has created a system by where they make the computer believe every team in the SEC is elite, so when they lose to each other, it’s a “better loss” than when a non-SEC school loses a conference game.  Pretty clever.  It’s no wonder this is the 7th year in a row the SEC gets a team in the national championship game.  It doesn’t hurt when your own conference title game is considered a semi-final game to the BCS championship.  What other conference is afforded that right? The SEC Championship game has become so powerful that if you are a team that just missed out on playing in the game, good fortune will also come your way.  Remember last year, Alabama didn’t win their division and didn’t play in the SEC Championship game.  By sitting at home and watching, they “earned” an invite to the BCS national title game.  This year, the Florida Gators didn’t play in the SEC title game, and yes, by sitting at home watching, they got invited to play in the Sugar Bowl over Georgia, who played in the SEC title game (but lost) and got sent to the Capital One Bowl. So I guess the common theme here is just be within a whiff of the SEC title game and good things will happen.  All the other one-loss teams that play in conferences like the Pac12 or Big12 will inevitably be on the outside looking in.  You aren’t afforded the “SEC mulligan”.  Don’t lose a game!  Those teams in other conferences are victims of geography, perception and propaganda by CBS and ESPN.  Just remember you can’t spell “S-E-C” without “CBS and ESPN” (I just made that up…a bit of a stretch, I know) Here is the good news – the BCS system is only around for one more year.  Then it’s on to a four-team playoff format where I fully expect two of those teams will be SEC schools, and many snobs in the South will cry they deserve three, maybe all four!  Heck why not just have a 4-team SEC tournament and the rest of America can watch in awe. It’s a vicious cycle that will only end when teams that get a crack at the SEC pop them in the mouth.  The curse can be lifted starting January 7th with Notre Dame.  If they aren’t as good as Alabama, just be as lucky.