Preview 2014: Wrap, Hype, Hope

Hello. You have made it to the end. This year's edition checks in at 43,424 words.

THE STORY

Memories Of Butter. Let's punch a cow until it gives us butter, because it's hard to remember the right way to do it.

OFFENSE

Quarterback. Protect this man for great profit.

Running back. Emerge from the swamp and claim your birthright.

Wide Receiver. I will not compare Devin Funchess to Megatron… okay maybe just a little.

Tight End And Friends. Waiting for Budot.

Offensive Line. The catch.

5Q5A, Offense. The madness of last year and leaving it behind.

DEFENSE

Defensive End. Secret Agent Clark is the key to the whole thing.

Defensive Tackle. We have the meat. We have the ogre. Unleash the meatogre.

Linebacker. Four starters for two and a half spots. I like 'em both.

Cornerback. In ur face jammin ur doodz

Safety. In this solitary case, Nickelback does not suck.

5Q5A, Defense. Making the case that this is the year to kick ass.

MISCELLANEOUS

Special Teams. Hagerup leg cannon returns.

Podcast 6.0. We may still be recording this, it's that long.

Heuristics and Stupid Prediction. I say 9-3.

THE HORROR II

Previewed by Ace.

ELSEWHERE

MGoVideo on the Salvadorean marching band that saved the 1998 Rose Bowl.

One of my favorite annual pieces is always Orson's season kickoff post. He outdid himself this year. I had the fortune to read it in my feed reader, which meant the GIFs embedded in the post just ran; on SBN their normally very wise GIF-handling software only runs them when you mouseover the image. This is unfortunate, as the gifs give the piece a wonderfully haunted air.

I wasn't really prepared for the last one.

Oof.

I know I've been pissed off you guys about the increasingly aggressive moneychangers in the temple, but goddamn that is heartstopping. I want to go there again. I want to see the mountains in the background as the sun sets in the third quarter and feel that awe and privilege that this place exists and I have a reason to be here.

And now I feel like there is still something sacred out there, and that is why we all gravitated to this thing in the first place. The bowl goes up and up and it is just impossibly full of people. The thing in front of us is happening right now and I will remember this as glory or death until I've forgotten my own name. The thing is still in there. You just have to look a little harder these days. Rummage around. You'll find it.

Go Blue.

[Eric Upchurch]