USA Today is somewhat bullish on Cougar Football

Good morning. Good afternoon? I’m sorry this article is later than normal. I’m sure there were precisely zero of you who woke up, checked the website, and began to panic because my usual Sunday posting of vapid ramblings wasn’t available for consumption yet. Full disclosure - we took the kids for one last Disney weekend and met up with a couple of Mrs. Kendall’s college friends. Add in Basil Hayden and boom, late column.

It doesn’t help that WSU content is about as plentiful as monsoons in the Sahara at this point. We were able to stumble upon one oasis, however, in the form of everyone’s favorite topic - power rankings! This time, it was Paul Myerberg’s turn to take a swing. Paul stopped doing his annual “I preview every team” routine a couple years back, but he still produces a lot of useful fodder.

Myerberg is more bullish on the Cougars than many have been during the preseason, saying in part:

The offense will roll, since Mike Leach’s offenses always do, and the Cougars’ stretch of home games in the second half could lead to a strong close to the regular season.

That is an optimistic opinion in my view, because there have been more than a few games in the Leach era when his offenses did not exactly “roll.” That could be exacerbated this year, largely due to the turnover at quarterback and offensive line.

Myerberg is far more optimistic about Utah than I am, slotting the Utes at third, ahead of both USC and Oregon. Either way, this time next week we’ll have something a little more tangible to chew on. Let us rejoice and be glad.

Football

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No league outside of the Atlantic Coast Conference seems to have such a clear-cut favorite. In Washington, the Pac-12 has a team more than capable of making a return trip to the College Football Playoff.

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2018 CFN Five-Year Program Analysis: Bad Losses Rankings No. 1-130
Who had the most bad losses over the last five years? The 1-130 rankings of the teams with the most-to-least bad losses - the real clunkers.

Beer

Best beer I had this week: Maybe not so much the taste of the beer, but the setting and the name put this one over the top. There’s a Shake Shack not far from Disney World, and we made sure to eat there on Saturday. If you haven’t eaten at Shake Shack, think In-N-Out but way better (and I love In-N-Out). Why better? Well, among other things, they sell beer, so I tried a Crooked Can McStagger Imperial IPA. It went surprisingly well with the Smoke Shack burger, fries, and mocha cookies and cream shake I also consumed. Why did I consume all of that? Because America, that’s why.

Stale beer? Sam Adams owner plunges on weak sales and poor outlook
Boston Beer, the owner of Sam Adams, said beer sales remain weak. The news comes a day after Budweiser owner Anheuser-Busch InBev also reported a drop in US sales. Molson Coors may not do much better.

Non-Sports

Inside the Radical, Uncomfortable Movement to Reform White Supremacists – Mother Jones Indiana has long been a hotbed of white supremacist activity. In 1923, Kokomo hosted the largest KKK rally in US history. Two years later, half the city’s residents were Klan members.

This Week in Parenting

The six year-old is a bit of a fraidy cat when it comes to rides that take place in the absence of light. Sunday morning, he braved his way through both the Aerosmith Rock n Roll Rollercoaster (in which dad’s hat flew off and drilled the guy behind us), followed by the Tower of Terror. For that, he was rewarded. May we never forget the uncommon valor that was displayed on this small patch of overpriced ground.