Wish I could shove this column down your throat!

Quite a weekend for sports fans - lots of interesting stuff happening. I'm having a major computer issue, so today's post will be link free and in a little different format than usual.

My visit to Athens was interesting. Wish I'd had more time to check out the town, but the football game was well worth the trip. UGA escaped with a 41-37 win, but South Carolina showed they're capable of being potent on offense and getting decent QB play from Stephen Garcia. Branden Smith is going to be a huge star for Georgia - the kid can fly. The Bulldogs could be in trouble against Arkansas this weekend, especially if LB Darius Dewberry and backup RB Caleb King aren't healthy enough to be ready to play.

FSU has got to wise up and stop playing an important game Monday and then a dog food game on Saturday. Every time they do, they wind up getting pushed to the brink before surviving against a chump opponent they should beat soundly - this time it was Jacksonville State, but Troy and others have scared the crap out of them before. Miami took their bye and is playing Thursday. If FSU wants to keep playing on Labor Day night, they need to pursue a similar situation.

Tennessee losing to UCLA cooled off the anticipation for this week's game, and UF finds itself in somewhat of a no win proposition as a result. If they destroy the Vols, they're only meeting expectations. Win by 35, and it'll be perceived as a letdown. Tennessee is not five touchdowns worse than Florida overall, but their quarterback play certainly is and then some. Gameday was coming to Gainesville, but now will go to Austin as a result of UT's loss. That's too bad, because other than possibly (and unlikely) FSU it's hard to see a game which would make sense for them to hit the Swamp the rest of the way.

Other quick weekend thoughts:

1. If I had a "pick of the week" hotline, I would have been telling anyone and everyone to take Houston plus the points against Oklahoma State this past Saturday. Houston may well be the best non-BCS conference team - they're certainly the most interesting to watch. Oklahoma State didn't know how to handle their win against UGA last week, and it showed in their loss to the Cougars.

2. Auburn is better than they were supposed to be, and with no UF game they dodge the toughest bullet in the SEC. Gene Chizik will have to show he's the right choice long term, but for the short run he'll be fine.

3. Charlie Weis's team is better than it has been, but he's still having to eat those "decided schematic advantage" remarks about being smarter than everyone else in college coaching. He will be doing that for as long as he's at ND.

4. Dan Hawkins will be fired at Colorado, the only question is when. Seriously, how does a Big 12 team lose 54-38 to Toledo and have it actually seem even worse than the score indicates?

As for the NFL, all Florida teams lost. Get used to it this season. Jake Delhomme was disastrously bad and Carolina lost - might have to get used to that too. Jay Cutler showed that getting rid of Rex Grossman didn't magically solve all Chicago's QB issues - gee, what a shame.

The title of this post is a nod to Serena Williams getting tossed out of the US Open for her verbal abuse of an official. It's one more example of how her overwhelming talent has allowed her to coast along rather than play by anyone else's rules. Had Serena really been motivated, she could have crushed Martina's records.