Define Blowout

Today marks the 97 year anniversary of the biggest blowout in NCAA History, and it’s not even close. Georgia Tech and Cumberland played a game on October 7^th 1916 where Georgia Tech won the game by a score of (yes this is real life) 222-0. So with this day, I will officially claim it as National Blowout Day as there couldn’t be a better way to describe a blowout. Think about it, 222 points? You couldn’t do that in a video game if you tried, and if you were playing in the park I’m sure if you scored 100 points the other team would forfeit. How is this possible? Well factor in the popularity of American Football in the 1910’s and there is your answer. It wasn’t on Americas radar in terms of popularity and with the amount of people that went to go watch the game back in those days, you might as well have a club rugby team trout out there to attract more followers. The National Football league wasn’t even a thing, and baseball was in its dead ball era as Ty Cobb was racking up benchmark records for modern day players to marvel at. 222 points? Even Peyton Manning couldn’t score that many points against my old University of Puget Sound football squad who is a division III bottom dweller. That should give you the perspective of this game and understand how ridiculous 222-0 should be. Since this is the day of the blowout, let’s look at some blowouts of the week to celebrate the momentous occasion.

Brian Hoyer blew out his ACL after only a couple starts of sheer brilliance as he seemed to be the savior for the Cleveland Browns. Granted, it was only a couple starts, but the way he powered this team to a 3-0 start after the Trent Richardson trade, is truly Tom-Brady-like. Unfortunately, a blown ACL will have to hold him back from taking the top off the terrible franchise the browns have put together for the past 20+ years.

A blown call was heralded as well as Dee Gordon of the Dodgers was called out in the 9^th inning a clear steal of second base. He was trying to get himself into scoring position as the Dodgers were down 1 to the Braves. This was one of those calls that clearly irked instant replay to make an appearance ASAP and it was a real gut turner if you are a fan of the dodgers. Every play is critical in the postseason in Major League Baseball, and for this to happen was another travesty to the sport, but it does celebrate the Blowout because of the blown call.

Now the conventional celebration of the blowout has to be the Florida State/ Maryland matchup in college football this past weekend. A matchup of two top 25 teams and Florida State made sure Maryland never sniffed the top 25 for the rest of 2013. 63-0. It’s definitely not 222-0 but can we be clear that when one top 25 team does this to another, it’s a clear sign that maybe national attention is not quite ready to step foot in Maryland anytime soon. What a gutless performance by the Terps and I hope they recognize their performance was on par with the 1916 performance of Cumberland.

 There is also one game on the horizon when it comes to blowouts we need to discuss quickly before I go back to watching Postseason baseball. The Denver Broncos might actually put up 100 points on the Jacksonville Jaguars this weekend and I honestly don’t think it’s that out of the question. The overall line for the game is -28 heading into the beginning of this week and that could cause a stir for becoming the biggest spread in NFL history. To be honest, if you don’t take the points, do you really think the Jaguars can score 30+ points against the Broncos, because I honestly think 70 is an automatic for the Broncos offense that is definitely scoring 600 points this season (which would be the most in NFL history by a long shot). If you think the Jaguars can score more than 30 points this upcoming weekend, then maybe you need to be checked out into a mental hospital, or maybe you just played for Cumberland back in 1916 and for some reason are an old fart still living at the age of 120.

I’ll see y’all next week! And remember to embrace the blowout!