My wife Nancy and I picked up our hobbled friend Joe Henning for supper on Saturday evening. We tried Touchdown Sally’s, the new sports bar/restaurant on the westbound service road north of Interstate 30 in Benton, where Weng’s was located for the past few years.
(Joe was struck by a truck while walking to the Benton Public Library a couple of months ago. He’s recovering, but it’s been slow.)
It was fun and the cheeseburgers were good. We watched the Razorbacks run up a 42-0 halftime lead over Eastern Michigan on one end of room while waiting for the rain to stop before Game 3 of the World Series on the television at the other end.
Our server Brandon was dressed all in black on that Halloween night with a U.S. postage stamp cut from felt glued to his shirt — blackmail! It was clever, but his attractive wife, Hayley, who was seated nearby, had to tell us what he was supposed to be.
It’s a comfortable, family-style atmosphere and Mike Robinson and his partners have done a great job of getting the place off to a good start.
We figure that the place will be rockin’ tonight with former Razorbacks pitcher Cliff Lee of Benton pitching for the Phillies against North Little Rock native A.J. Burnett of the Yankees. With New York up three games to one in the World Series, it’s a must-win situation for defending champion Philadelphia.
Party on, Benton!
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A rather embarrassing 30-17 loss by the Arkansas Razorbacks to the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday in Oxford has limited the talk by Hogs fans about “cheating” officials in the Southeastern Conference.
Such complaining was all the rage in the Natural State/Land of Opportunity/Wonder State after the gallant effort by the Hogs of Bobby Petrino in their 23-20 loss to top-ranked Florida on Oct. 17.
The fact that Ryan Mallett and the Razorbacks offense were inside the Florida 40-yard line three times in the third quarter and came away with three points didn’t seem to interest the whiners and moaners as a possible reason for the loss. It was all about “those SEC officials.”
When league “suits” admitted the mistaken call against a Razorbacks linemen who whistled for a personal foul during the Florida game, the glee almost could be felt from Piggott to Foreman. Later in the week, when the SEC suspended the crew for its Arkansas-Florida performance, it was like tossing a bloody arm in a tank of sharks. Think “frenzy.”
But this Monday … officials, as in the black-and-white-shirted variety, aren’t so much a topic of conversation.
With their beloved 22-year-olds losing soundly to a team coached by Houston Dale Nutt, who had fled these environs, Woo-Pig-Soooie-ans were a bit close-lipped. Could be that their jaws were tired from producing hot air for referee flambé or could be that they mouthed off too much to Ole Miss fans on message boards, once they got around to remembering the Mississippi game … long about Friday.
Whatever the reason, Hog Central Station is a bit quiet this Monday night.
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The announcers for this Arkansas-Mississippi football game in Oxford (for the so-called SEC Network) act as if they arrived about 15 minutes before game time.
I don’t know who they are and I don’t think they’ve favored one team or another, but the play-by-play guy has already confused his quarterbacks, calling Mississippi’s Jevan Snead “Ryan Mallett” during that opening drive. He has on numerous occasions mentioned that the ball carrier gained “two yards or maybe up to the line of scrimmage.”
I would rather he get it right by waiting another second than guess badly and then change it within the same sentence. … Maybe it’s just a personal thing, but if he’s reporting what’s happening to me, I would rather he get it right.
One more thing, why do so many announcers think they have to jump on the bandwagon when someone “creates” a cute word for another perfectly good term such as a receiver “runs well in space” instead of “runs well in the open.” It strikes me as just trying to show that he’s “cool” or “with it.”
Oh, they now have reminded me that the play-by-play announcer is Dave Neal and the color commentator is former Heisman Trophy-winner Andre Ware.
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The first drive in the 11:21-start football game between the University of Arkansas and the University of Mississippi at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss., leads one to believe that the Razorbacks defense possibly thought that because the Hogs nearly beat Florida last week the Mississippi offense would just lie down before them in this game.
It turns out that Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead and his crew didn’t believe the Arkansas press clippings and went on a long opening scoring drive for a 7-0 lead. Two drives later, it looks they’ve done it again. Ole Miss 14, Arkansas 0.
If this goes the way most Razorbacks comebacks go, they fall behind early, then fall just short.
That strategy Hogs fans had of “teaching Houston Dale Nutt a lesson” isn’t working out so well so far.
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Nancy and I spent a cool but calm weekend at the lake. (Our dog, Daisy, a Lhasa apso we keep cut short, also came along.) The leaves are starting to change colors and Ouachita is up to its upper banks. No TV, no Internet. Beautiful.
It was almost a blast from the past — we listened to the Arkansas-Florida football game Saturday afternoon on the radio, via a sports station at 96.3 FM out of Fort Smith, then switched to the American League Championship Series between the Angels and the Yankees on XM Satellite Radio. We worked in a DVD of “Friday Night Lights,” the movie, in between.
It was nice. We didn’t get involved in the “blame the referees” stuff about the Razorbacks game because we couldn’t see if they were bad calls or not. The radio announcers (Chuck Barrett and Keith Jackson) said there were some bad calls, but both of those guys DO work for the University of Arkansas, so what do you expect?
I know that the Razorbacks were much-improved over previous games this year, yet they had three chances to score from inside the Gators 40-yard line in the third quarter and managed only three points. So, yes, we scared the top-ranked Gators, but we had chances to win and didn’t — we lost 23-20. That’s it. Whine all you want, but if you want to be Hog-crazy, worry about the Ole Miss game.
The rest of us will get on with our lives or continue to watch the baseball playoffs — football doesn’t really start until the World Series is over. That’s what matters to me, after my family.
Meanwhile, it’s back to work in the midst of some wonderful fall weather.
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A Razorbacks-Red Wolves-Redbirds (St. Louis Cardinals) fan had to make do with the Cardinals’ Saturday night win to clinch the National League Central Division for any sports-based happiness.
The loss to Alabama just shows how far the University of Arkansas has to go in recruiting to compete in the Southeastern Conference. Bobby Petrino is a good coach. He’s not the problem. The Hogs were outmanned on both sides of the ball and have not yet mastered blocking and tackling to the extent that they can be successful in the SEC.
Arkansas State played well against a good Troy team, but couldn’t close the deal in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams. The Red Wolves rallied from a 23-10 deficit to take the lead in the fourth quarter, but fumbled a punt late in the game that could have kept the ball from the Trojans when they scored their winning touchdown. Now the Wolves go to Iowa City on Saturday to face the Iowa Hawkeyes, fresh off their upset of Penn State.
St. Louis is now in that strange no-man’s-land of what to do to get ready for the playoffs after a team has clinched its spot. Yes, having the best record would help with home-field advantage, but lately the Cardinals have played better on the road. Do you rest the regulars for a few days to heal bumps and bruises, or do you take Monday’s day off and then play your regulars and their alternates to remain (or become) sharp for the playoffs that start Oct. 7?
Tony LaRussa will surprise fans in some way with his choices for the postseason first-round roster. He always does. But he has the Cardinals back in the playoffs after a two-year absence that followed the surprise 2006 world championship, so we’ll just have to trust him.
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The announcers for this Arkansas-Mississippi football game in Oxford (for the so-called SEC Network) act as if they arrived about 15 minutes before game time.
I don’t know who they are and I don’t think they’ve favored one team or another, but the play-by-play guy has already confused his quarterbacks, calling Mississippi’s Jevan Snead “Ryan Mallett” during that opening drive. He has on numerous occasions mentioned that the ball carrier gained “two yards or maybe up to the line of scrimmage.”
I would rather he get it right by waiting another second than guess badly and then change it within the same sentence. … Maybe it’s just a personal thing, but if he’s reporting what’s happening to me, I would rather he get it right.
One more thing, why do so many announcers think they have to jump on the bandwagon when someone “creates” a cute word for another perfectly good term such as a receiver “runs well in space” instead of “runs well in the open.” It strikes me as just trying to show that he’s “cool” or “with it.”
Oh, they now have reminded me that the play-by-play announcer is Dave Neal and the color commentator is former Heisman Trophy-winner Andre Ware.
Tags: Andre Ware, announcers, Arkansas, Arkansas-Mississippi, college football, color commentator, Dave Neal, football announcers, former Heisman Trophy-winner, Jevan Snead, Mississippi, Ole Miss, Oxford, quarterback, quarterbacks, Razorbacks, Rebels, Ryan Mallett, SEC Network, University of Arkansas, University of Mississippi