Two point Oh chat

Moving out of mom's basement

The Meaningful Collateral has moved.

Our new URL is http://www.themeaningfulcollateral.com

Please come visit! We just put our LeBron James fathead up and we're dying to show it off!

NFL Week 3 preview podcast

Segment 1 - 16:04
Segment 2 - 22:27

Cast: Galen Clavio, Scott Caulfield, Sean Bartel, John Koluder

Straight facts: Our first-ever NFL preview podcast, as we break down all 16 games on the docket for this week.

If you're too careful, your life can become a funckin' grind

(The following post is courtesy of Love Without Nagel, who's currently busy subduing 1,000 hungry cannibals with a green talisman and a copy of Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises")

Randy Shannon is not my hero.

Randy Shannon is not in a coaching situation I want to be in.

Randy Shannon is not Jimmy Johnson, Butch Davis or Larry Coker. Randy Shannon is a coach I want to hate.

Randy Shannon is a not necessarily a hard luck coaching guy that I want to give credit to, but I can respect him. Typically a guy like this leaves Miami for a better job. By better I mean, the Assistant Head Coach of Big Ten North. Instead, the Miami brass identified him as the new head man at Miami. I felt a twinge of anger/ulcer when this word came from Donna Shalala (who, by the way, sounds like a Gloria Estafan/Miami Sound Machine back up singer).

I called his team out in my latest column on my other wildly popular website, smokeymctrees.com. Now I feel like Mike McDermott driving Kinish's truck for extra dough after I lost it all against Teddy KGB.

Randy Shannon is different from all the other Miami coaches in his era. He is neither white, nor privileged, nor arrogant. What he is, however, is a true grinder. A man that can actually bring Miami some respectability. A man who seems to have the judge's game clocked after seeing half a hand.

I was not so sure about this, since his team got waxed by a good Oklahoma team, but I am certain about it after seeing his team destroy an up and coming Texas A&M team.

For those of you not in the know, Randy Shannon has had some hardships. Shannon lost his father via murder at age three, and his sister and two brothers are dead from AIDS. These are not hardships anyone deserves. He has been a member of the 1987 Hurricanes National Championship team, and a member of the Dallas Cowboys (barf). His loyalty led him back to Miami, when he was hired in 1991 by D. Er and rode it out until becoming defensive coordinator in 2001.

Shannon, after the 34-17 pasting of A&M, can now feel like Mike McD picking up Worm from the joint. He paid his dues; they are all square. He has the Miami program moving in the right direction. Believe me, it angers me to say it. I even mocked him earlier in the year when he not only banned names from the back of those ugly jerseys, but also banned rap songs from certain dormitories and, above all, guns owned by players.

No, no, no, don't get me wrong; I will not root for Miami and their privileged fan base. What I will do, however, is root for a man who is not expecting a biased edge from big brother (the NCAA). After the Texas A&M win, Randy Shannon seems to be a man who has a never-ending string of boats against Teddy KGB, and he plays it straight up.

The Weekend Taser

We like simple math here at TMC. For instance, the following equation:

Out-of-control Florida State football player + article containing a quote such as "I'm going to get your (expletive deleted)" + overly aggressive cops = Good Blog Entry


WHEN BROADCAST RIGHTS ATTACK: Looks like Fox sports reporter Jay Glazer, who aired an unedited copy of the Patriots-Jets "spy tape" last week on Fox NFL Sunday, could be fired by the network unless he reveals his source. Why, you ask? Well, the NFL never authorized the leak, and now they're leaning on Fox and their billion-dollar investment. We're officially extending Jay Glazer an invitation to join TMC as a regular contributor if Fox fires him.

YOUR TARGETING IS OFF, SIR: New York Post writer Phil Mushnick takes off on ESPN's Ron Jaworski. I can't say that I'm as sold on Jaws as many other SBA writers are, but it boggles my mind that one could smack around Jaworski's commentary and never say a word about Tony Kornheiser's weekly fish-out-of-water performances.

The Game They Shouldn't Play - Week 4 UPDATE!!!

As a (so called) wrtiter who relies on a passion for sports and a cynical view of the world for inspiration, it is nice to know that people are taking time out of their hectic schedules to read The Meaningful Collateral. I especially apprecate SI.com's Phil Guidry for going Stephen Colbert on my analysis of the San Jose State/Utah State Game of the Week. This only further proves that TMC is the first place you should visit for any and all of your weekly sports fix.

TMC Thursday Night Podcast

Segment 1 - 15:20
Segment 2 - 7:48

Cast: Galen Clavio, Scott Caulfield, Sean Bartel, John Koluder
Topic: College Football preview