October Outlook

1. Georgia. For the first time since my freshman year here ('01), Tennessee should be the clear favorite for Saturday night. This is probably a good thing. Since I'm already assuming the "built-in" loss we'll have against Florida, we need the upset this weekend. The last time we played the Vols here at night, Brian Friedenberg got on Sportscenter while hanging from the east endzone goalposts. While that probably won't happen again, Charlie Webber is coming up so things ought to still be interesting. He says he plans on wearing his Klu Klux Klan costume up here so he can offend the 9 black people that live in Athens.

2. BC. Even though the Cadets will be demolished by 4th-ranked Thomson this Friday, they still have a decent shot at making this a winning month. Hephzibah, South Effingham, and Richmond Hill all make for relatively tolerable opponents. As usual, the Homecoming game on the 27th against the Wildcats is required attendance for all members of BMBS nation. While the Herndon Honeymoon may be over, and things haven't gone as pleasantly as seasons have under previous first-year BC coaches (think Walsh in '70, Brackett in '95), this team may still be poised for a small turnaround.

3. Midterm Elections. Gas prices have dropped a considerable amount since August, but they probably won't drop much more. Bush is back in the 40s because of renewed focus on terrorist threats and the cheaper gas, but it's virtually impossible for him to get any higher with Iraq dampening everything. The economy is the best it's been in years, but it's not reported on the front page. If failures in Iraq and emails to 16-year old boys dominate the headlines for the next 5 weeks, which they likely will, we're screwed. At this point the best bet for Republicans may be to cut out the photo immediately above, make copies, and use them as Halloween masks.