Rusty’s Blog

He will maintain his Mr. College Football blog through the end of the 2008 season.

A number of you have written very kind notes about the upcoming change in my working relationship with the AJC. That change will still take place in late September. But I want you to know that we’ve come to an agreement to continue the Mr. College Football blog through the 2008 season. That’s a tribute to you. Together we have built this blog into something that is really fun and (hopefully) very readable. I’m excited about this new development and appreciative for the opportunity to continue Mr. CFB for one more season. Thanks again for all your support.

This is good news for the AJC, because it means there’s something I will read in its sports section this fall.

Jeff Schultz is a fine writer, but his columns are mostly about the Braves and Falcons. I haven’t been able to muster up a whole lot of enthusiasm for either the past few years. Though I did have fun going to a Braves game the other night. Maybe if he sticks around another year or two I’ll start reading his columns again.

Furman Bisher was rumored to be included in the most recent round of buyouts, though I’m not sure that actually happened. Doesn’t really matter to me anyway because I don’t read his column very often and it’s not like he’ll be around that much longer whether he took the buyout or not.

That leaves Mark Bradley and Terence Moore. They are two of my least favorite columnists not just in the sports section, but in the entire paper. I hold them both in the same esteem as Jim Wooten, which is not very good company.

I came very close on my last blog to doing a “My Morning Bradley” series sort of like Griftdrift’s My Morning Wooten series where I fisked his columns relentlessly. I don’t have a nicer way to say this: his columns are idiotic link-baiting drivel.

Terence Moore has a magical way of making a conflict that isn’t racially-motivated about race. He reminds me of all the people who say Toby Keith was singing about lynching black people in Beer for My Horses. He hears what he wants to hear, no matter how far-fetched a scenario it may be.

Shorter version: the remaining line-up of AJC sports columnists will be pretty sad, save for Jeff Schultz, once Barnhart leaves.

In the second episode of Sub-Optimal Beer, I join host Tony and panelists Garrett, Griftdrift, Seth, and Thomas at The Highlander to discuss Walmart and Target, a.k.a. Embev Light and Miller-Coors Lite, a.k.a. Bud Light and Miller Lite. We try valiantly to find something interesting to say about these kings of marketshare.

Thankfully, Tony shows greater editing restraint than I would have, choosing to remove a tangent on NASCAR that cuts the length down to a pretty reasonable 25 minutes. I was buzzing pretty good by then, so I don’t quite remember most of what was said about NASCAR, but I do remember a part that went something like:

Me:I only really watched NASCAR for about a year once. I had a guy who lived next door to me who was a huuuuuuge Dale Earnhardt fan. So I rooted for Jeff Gordon just to piss him off. I used to ask him, “how many races has Earnhardt won this year?” He hadn’t won any, of course. Then I’d say, “Yeah, Gordon won like seven already.”

Griftdrift: You deserve to have your ass kicked.

For the uninitiated, Earnhardt fans and a lot of other fans view Jeff Gordon as an effete, rich pretty boy who only wins because he can buy the best team, not because he’s the best driver.

You can listen to what did make the cut by clicking here or using the player below. You’ll just have to listen to get the absolute Zima reference from the title.

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Maybe when we record the third episode tonight (about hipster/douchebag beers) we can talk about Toby Keith.