Regular readers of A Free Man may know that one of my life long quests, much like Superman, is fighting for justice and pointing out inequity when it crosses my path. For example, the fact that Dr. O’C has celebrated two Mother’s Days in her first year as a Mother and I have had no Father’s Days. Zero. This is due to the byzantine wanderings of our family,different holiday calendars and the universal plot to screw me. Well, dear readers, that’s all going to change on Sunday because it is Father’s Day in Australia. And I am in Australia. And I am a Father. So, time to pony up, Baby Z. A matching “World’s Best Dad” coffee mug and T-shirt are always a nice gift. Or maybe some Georgia Bulldogs gear…

Odd time of year for Father’s Day as I will be spending at least the first part of the day waking up ridiculously early to listen to American football games on the internet. As week 2 of the NCAA football season kicks off, I feel like I need to rectify something. As a couple of my grad school friends never fail to point out, I have a tendency – in my undying loyalty to my undergraduate alma mater – to forget about the institution that gave me my Ph.D. and thus current career, the University of Missouri. I’ve written about why my devotion is focused on the Dawgs, but with Mizzou starting the season in the Top 10  as well and with a win over No. 20 Illinois last week, I really should share the love a bit for the school that added the Dr. to my name and several thousand dollars to my annual earning potential (not to mention provided me with a mate). So from this week on, I will give the trials and tribulations of the Missouri Tigers at least a little bit of time every week. Roughly equal time for almae matres (nourishing mothers). As for showing support, I’ll make the same deal I did for Georgia gear: send us some Z sized Mizzou gear and we’ll reciprocate with some Antipodean styles for your little Tiger.

Both the Dawgs and the Tigers are going to have it pretty easy this weekend. Despite an easy win over Southern last week, Georgia dropped to the two spot in most polls. This is actually a good thing as it’s number 1 that everyone guns for, so let them go after the Trojans rather than my boys. Takes the pressure off for a tough season. A bigger loss than the ranking was the loss of starting D tackle Jeff Owens, who is out for the season with a “freak” knee injury. First Sturdivant, now Owens – we can’t keep losing the big guys and win a championship.

We’ll be OK without them for this week as Georgia welcomes the Central Michigan Chippewas into Sanford Stadium on Saturday.The Chippewas are back-to-back MAC champs and are thought to have a good chance of winning that conference again this year. They’ve also got a dark horse Heisman candidate in QB Dan LeFevour. (As an aside, I thought all NCAA teams were supposed to jettison their Native American nicknames. What’s up with the Chippewas? Is Central Michigan racist or something? All the more reason to beat them up on the gridiron.) At any rate, we all saw what the Dawgs can do to teams from upstart conferences with hot shot quarterbacks. This game should be largely the same. I think Central Michigan will hang with the Dawgs for a bit and may put some points on the board, but Georgia brings it home in a rout: Georgia 45, Central Michigan 24.

Mizzou’s win over the Illini (Another racist team?) last Saturday was kind of a bittersweet one. The Tigers’ offense was spectacular, putting 52 points on Illionois. But they had to do so because the D gave up 42. With a defense this porous, Mizzou’s time in the Top 10 is likely to be pretty short-lived. The good news is that they’ve got a patsy to work with this week in Southeast Missouri. The Redhawks of Cape Girardeau, Missouri represent the Div I-AA Ohio Valley Conference and are riding up the road to Columbia to collect a check. No real contest here, just the question of how many points Tigers’ Coach Gary Pinkel piles on – Mizzou 55, SEMO 20.

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Your Number 2 Georgia Bulldogs host the racist Central Michigan Chippewas for a 3:30 p.m. Eastern (5:00 a.m. Sunday in Adelaide) kickoff. The game’s available on internet radio or ESPN’s Gameplan.

And the hapless Southeast Missouri State Redhawks have a date for a thrashing with Your Number 6 Missouri Tigers in Columbia at 7:00p.m. Eastern (8:30 a.m. Sunday in Adelaide). No options for international fans I’m afraid.

Hurray, hurrah! Mizzou! Mizzou!

Sic ‘em Dawgs!

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Green Day’s “Warning” is available from Green Day - Warning.

 
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