IT'S A 'U' THING

@DieselCane22 @TerryDunlevy Yeah, I stopped watching their programming around 20 years ago in the "Around The Horn" / "PTI" era back to back. About the time that fat pig Michael Wilbon shit-talked the late, great Sean Taylor, I shut all that shit off and never went back. Fuck 'em.

@TerryDunlevy I only watch live sports there nothing else

It’s sad what has happened to ESPN it really is. They literally invented the tv sports medium. They were loaded w fun, talented personalities who made sports fun and was basically appointment tv for any sports fan. Then they just willfully destroyed their own product from the inside out, a slow death by 1,000 self inflicted paper cuts.

Agree that they went off the rails, but the world and culture changed as well—and as a result, so did their business model. MTV stopped playing nothing but videos after a while and went to reality TV and other content, as there was no marketplace for spinning videos 24/7 after a while—and with social media being what it is, we no longer live in a world where people are turning on ESPN and 10:00 pm on a Tuesday night for an hours of sports highlights and commentary, with a bunch of commercials. You can scroll your feed and see all your teams and all the sports reporting and highlights you need. ESPN is owned by Disney and everyone knows that woke agenda there and what that parent company is pushing behind the scenes ... this didn't happen in Bristol by accident. These clown-dick talking heads aren't riffing—it's scripted and they're pushed the take the positions they take. The only one with any autonomy is Pat McAfee because his numbers are huge, so he can be his own brand and personality and do what he wants as he generates a shit-ton of revenue. The rest of them are spineless, paid hacks. We'll never see what we saw again; that original SportsCenter era and late-'90s culture ... same for where music and movies were at that time ... MTV with TRL Live in that era as well (personally preferred the '80s era as I'm full blown Gen X, but culturally New York City was popping with TRL back then.) Waking up in college and tossing on SportsCenter at 6:00 am and just leaving it on for six hours it repeated all day until lunch ... what a time to be alive.

I just rewatched “The Sopranos” for the third time in two years and restarted “Billions” with the wife as she never saw the final seasons last go around. Saw something on social media weeks back about Breaking Bad; tossed on the final seasons for the hell of it. Grateful to have married a woman who doesn’t do reality TV (and who watches all her “How To Kill Your Husband” shows on her own time)—and a big believer in going back to the classics. You don’t have to watch “new” because it’s new and you don’t have live in a world where you watch the same trending shows that Netflix, Hulu or Apple TV put in your feed. “You digging on any new music lately?” Absolutely fucking not. Got in a Rush phase again weeks back when I saw they were touring and doing their tribute to Neil. Relearning some David Gilmour solos so cranking a bunch of Pink Floyd. Van Halen is always fun summertime music; so is a lot of old hair metal, so threw some Ratt, Dokken, Skid Row, old Def Leppard, Tesla, Ozzy and Queensryche on a mix. Constantly adding to a massive Blu-Ray collection and watching classics there, too—picked up the Criterion Collection editions of “Defending Your Life” with Albert Brooks as well as “The Game” with Michael Douglas, as I hadn’t seen either in years … and on my last flight weekend ago I watched “The Bad News Bears” (original, of course) on the first leg and “Saving Silverman” on the next. Long story longer, don’t be afraid to look backwards for what to watch (or listen to)) as “new” isn’t always the best option. Signed, An Old-Head Gen X’er

@ABLichtenstein Never heard of it. What streaming service or channel is it on? Will check it out

World Cup over. What am I supposed to watch between now and college football season?

@CollegeFBonX @juustinscott is gonna raise hell on Miami’s defensive line this year while @NotoriousJ103 is gonna show that there’s more in the receivers room than just them household names the media keeps hyping. @CanesFootball ‘bout to raise more hell this fall.

Who is a player on your college football that had had very little or no playing time so far in his career that people need to look out for this season?

@ThrillaRilla369 A morning full of cartoons and bowls of sugary cereal.

When you were young, what was the best reason to wake up early on a Saturday?

Danny fast changed his tune and was sitting up there praising Miami and banging the drum for weeks that the Canes belonged in over the Irish; usually the only one on that CBS panel saying that, while all other performative talking heads gushed over Notre Dame. Kanell is a good egg and is proving to be a solid analyst—can’t take him to task for projecting last summer (when Miami hadn’t proven much in years)—and the seeing what the Canes looked like and fast-changing CB is take. Props.

@btrembly @dannykanell I mean he's a Seminole, so there's that.

Remember when @dannykanell’s hot take was that Miami would miss the playoffs and then we were one throw away from the natty??! Football season is 6 weeks away 🙏🙏🙏

@CollegeFBonX An actor playing a dean at Hillman College, located in Virginia—the legendary university that served as the backdrop for Dwayne Wayne, Whitley Gilbert, and Denise Huxtable's college journeys.

Tremain Mack with the blocked punt at West Virginia in 1996. Miami was down 7-3 late in an ugly game; starting quarterback Scott Covington was out with pneumonia / collapsed lung and Ryan Clement started with a separated throwing shoulder. Miami was 4-2 coming off of back to back losses and No. 12 West Virginia expected to knock off the 25th-ranked Canes, but that defense came to play. With around :25 left the Mountaineers punted deep in their territory, Mack came off the corner, blocked the punt, Jack Hallmon recovered, handed off to Nate Brooks as he was getting tackled and Miami stunned the shit out of a lot of hillbillies in Morgandump. Those shitkicker fans were throwing shit at the Miami bench all night; a trash can hit linebackers coach Randy Shannon and he still has a scar—while fans outside tried to tip over the ambulance taking Danyell Ferguson to a local hospital mid-game when he dislocated his hip. Epic play and such a “fuck you” to a trash fan base. youtu.be/ggZVO4Rzxx0?is…

What is your favorite special teams play of all time?

Miami versus No. 2 UCLA on December 5th, 1998. Throwing out bowl game status and it being a regular season game, it not only restarted the Canes' next dynasty—but the subplots and comeback were insane. Miami got boat-raced 66-13 a week prior at Syracuse (by Donovan McNabb and crew) for the Big East title—so this game was an afterthought on championship weekend; rescheduled from September 26th due to Hurricane Georges. UCLA would've been 2-0 and No. 4 in the country that weekend; instead they came into the Orange Bowl with a 10-0 record, a No. 2 ranking and with a win they were headed to the Fiesta Bowl to play in the national championship game. ESPN even famously set up camera in the apartment of some Arizona players, as they were going to the program's first-ever Rose Bowl if UCLA reached the Fiesta—so camera kept cutting back to Trung Candidate, Keith Smith and other dudes whooping it up when the Bruins went up on the Canes. Nobody expected Miami to win that football game; Canes were -9.5 at kickoff and the over-under was 67.5 for that throwaway showdown. Miami miraculously led at the half as UCLA's defense was Swiss Cheese and running back Edgerrin James was having a day—21-17 at intermission. The Bruins stormed back with 21 points in the third quarter and the Canes were down 38-21—Najeh Davenport rumbled in to make it a 10-point game with a few seconds left third quarter. Brian Poli-Dixon fumbled opening play of the fourth quarter, after a catch where the late, great Al Blades chased him down and punched the ball out—and a minute later Scott Covington went deep and hit Santana Moss for a 71-yard touchdown to cut the UCLA lead to, 38-35. Cade McNown led a resilient comeback drive and punched it in to extend the head to 45-35 with 6:54 remaining in the game—Miami stormed back with another touchdown drive; Covington to to tight end Mondriel Fulcher for the 29-yard score and a 45-42 ball game. UCLA tried to bleed the clock and with 3:34 remaining Brad Melsby and the controversial fumble (in the no replay era) on 3rd-and-8—Miami recovered on their own 26-yard line and set up for a game-winning drive. James was hit with a five-yard loss on one play during that drive. so he ended his day with 299 yards (after getting up to 304 at one point)—the running back punching in the go-ahead score with :50 left on the clock, 49-45. UCLA got it to midfield and McNown launched a hail mary to the right side of the open end zone—opposite end zone from where Doug Flutie found his magic 14 years earlier—and the ball hit the ground; game over ... ESPN cameras cutting back to that sad apartment in Tucson as the Wildcats were now headed to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, instead of Pasadena (to date Arizona as still never played in a Rose Bowl.) Even crazier; the sparse crowd as it was a throwaway game; Miami was 7-3 after the loss at Syracuse and many even questioned why this rescheduled game with No. 2 UCLA was even necessary—but the Bruins wanted to play it and expected to roll into the Orange Bowl to kick the Canes' ass ... not so fast, our Bruins friends. Miami went on to roll North Carolina State in the Micron PC Bowl, 46-23—finishing the season 9-3—setting up for a solid 9-4 run in 1999 (with an upset of No. 9 Ohio State in the Kickoff Classic) and by 2000 Miami was back; going on a 34-game win-streak, winning a national title in 2001, having one stolen in 2002 and getting snubbed of a shot of playing for one in 2000. No. 6 UCLA wound up in the 1999 Rose Bowl and lost to No. 9 Wisconsin, 38-31 to finish the year 10-2. No. 3 Kansas State looked to be the biggest benefactor of No. 2 UCLA getting upset at Miami—until Texas A&M upset the Wildcats, 36-33 in 2OT in the Big XII title game—which ended up sending Florida State to the Fiesta Bowl to take on undefeated, No. 1 Tennessee; the Noles idle that week and backing in with UCLA and Kansas State both choked. Tennessee went on to knock off Florida State, 23-16—who was on third string quarterback Marcus "Rooster" Outzen for that title game—starter and future Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke injuring his neck in the season finale against Florida. No. 1 Florida State went undefeated in 1999 and knocked off No. 2 Virginia Tech (with Michael Vick) behind Weinke and crew, getting their revenge for how 1998 played out. But yeah, longer story longer ... No. 2 UCLA at Miami was arguably a "better" all around football game — but that 2007 Fiesta Bowl had the best five minutes late, with the 4th-and-18 and the Hook-and-Lateral and then the Statue Of Liberty two-point conversion—but as a whole, the entire game wasn't epic. I am admittedly a Miami homer and Canes fan since going to my first game at the Orange Bowl in 1979 ... so if I remove that bias, I can admit that the 2005 Rose Bowl between No. 1 USC and No. 2 Texas was arguably the best game ever ... and had refs gotten the 2003 Fiesta Bowl call right and it's 24-17, Miami—for back-to-back titles—then I'd vote that game.

Name a college football game better than this one

@CollegeFBonX Can’t it be somewhere in between? It’s nowhere near the best anything … but that doesn’t make it overrated. It’s blue turf for a football program that was cool for a minute and then got brought back down to earth.

Which is true? Boise State’s blue turf is the best field in college football? Or Boise State’s blue turf field is overrated

@LakersCanes305 @BrandedBills @CanesFootball Thanks pal; hiding out in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho for summer and counting down to kickoff! 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽

@ItsAUThingBlog @BrandedBills @CanesFootball Photo of the week

Went all in with @BrandedBills for a new @CanesFootball season—best lids in the biz these days. 🙌🏽🇺🇸🙌🏽

@HunterMaher20 @canefilms Yup. Vaughn and Wingo gonna make some noise, too. That receivers room is loaded and there are deep threats and guys this year that Miami just didn’t have with Marion and Daniels last fall. Gonna be fun.

@canefilms Him and Jacobs gonna eat over there

6-foot-4, 215 pounds. He played in all 16 games as a true freshman and finished with 17 catches for 210 yards and two touchdowns. Miami already has Malachi Toney and Cooper Barkate demanding attention, which gives Moore a chance to see the cleanest coverage of the three. His role can be simple. Isolate him to the boundary, let him work slants, glance routes and back-shoulder throws, then use his frame when the field compresses in the red zone. Miami has plenty of receivers who can move around and create after the catch. Moore gives the room a true size profile on the outside. That becomes a coverage tax. If a defense tilts toward Toney or uses leverage to take away Barkate, Moore gets a corner without much help. Moore can be a player who prevents defenses from treating Toney and Barkate like a two-man problem.

And by this rationale it’d have been Miami playing Virginia in last year’s ACC title game, not Duke—which means Canes roll the Hoos and get in to the CFP as an ACC Champion, which puts Notre Dame in as an at-large and James Madison would’ve been out. Had the ACC and Jim Phillips not screwed this up, you’d have seen: No. 9 Miami at No. 8 Oklahoma - Vintage rivalry from the ‘80s where titles were on the line; would’ve been first meeting since a home and home in 2007 and 2009. No. 10 Alabama at No. 7 Texas A&M - Aggies played the bottom tier of the SEC all season; would’ve been good match-up against SEC title game runner up. No. 11 Notre Dame at No. 6 Ole Miss - Irish rolling into Oxford would’ve been light years better than a rematch with Tulane. No. 12 Tulane at No. 5 Oregon - Tulane gives Oregon a better game than undeserving James Madison; the only dog of a play-in type game, instead of the two we got.

The ACC updated their tiebreaker policy that determines the ACC title game teams 👀 Last year, 8-5 Duke beat 10-3 Virginia to win the ACC title game.

@CollegeFBonX That orange and green pops hard off the white when Miami rocks it; looks great back in the day and solid all through last year’s CFP run as an underdog road team in every game.

What team has the best all white uniform look in college football?

I'm 52 years old and I literally started going to games in 1979 at the Orange Bowl. It has never been half (or more) Florida State fans there or at HardRock. Yes, Noles fans show out big as there are 5-million people in Dade and Broward and with Florida State University as a state school, there are a lot of Seminoles alum in South Florida ... but you are absolutely full of shit that it's half. When both teams are good, the split is around 70% Miami / 30% Florida State. When FSU is good and UM is down, the split is around 65% Canes / 35% Noles on average. When the Canes are up and the Noles are in the shitter, it's a 75% / 25% split. I've been to a dozen Miami / Florida State home games in my life—between 1980 and 2018—including the Noles winning five in a row at HardRock (2008-2016); there have never been more FSU fans in that stadium than UM fans. Stop gaslighting.

@ItsAUThingBlog @CFBKings When playing FSU, Hard Rock is over half Seminole fans.

Top 5 home field advantages in the ACC heading into 2026 🏟️

Yup. The simpleton college football fan (who knows nothing about Miami) will just point to Rueben Bain and Ahkeem Mesidor leaving—without realizing the stockpiling that's been going on . It's been a minute since the Canes were in reload-mode, but that's where this thing is at. Bain started playing as a true freshman, had his sophomore slump and blew up as a junior in 2025. What do people think is going to happen with Marquise Lightfoot, Justin Scott and Armando Blount this year? All were 5-Star talents and can't-miss products who are all going into their junior years, under Jason Taylor and Damione Lewis (as well as Bain and Mesidor bringing all those guys along and leading by example.) Hayden Lowe is another 5-Star going into his sophomore year—while Ahmad Moten returns and Miami brought in Damon Wilson from Missouri; future first-rounder. The loss of Bain and Mesidor will hurt experience-wise; but talent-wise Miami is loaded—and gets four games out the gate to get their footing. Real season starts in October with Clemson and Florida State—and by November, these guys are in playoff-mode for Notre Dame. Anybody sleeping on this line doesn't know ball.

@CIApiFL I think our '26 D-line will be better than '25. Four 5⭐ DL entering JR/SR years. Moten anchors the group. Add Lowe, Pickett, Davis, Carter, Scroggins, and others. Elite talent + elite depth

BIG YEAR loading for Lightfoot dawg!!! 🧡💚💣⏳️♟️

I mean the college football world—and even the biggest Miami hater—can't deny that there is a country mile between the Canes current success (and where the program sits under Mario Cristobal) and the dumpster fire at Florida State, another rebuild at Florida and the chasm that will always exist regarding the wannabe programs like Central Florida, South Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, etc.

CB Donte Wright - No. 4 Overall WR Nick Lennear - No. 28 Overall EDGE Jaiden Bryant - No. 30 Overall CB Ai’King Hall - No. 39 Overall QB Israel Abrams - No. 44 Overall Show me another state of Florida school doing this? #gocanes 🧡💚

@BabyPacino__ @TrintonBreeze @CanesInSight Lofton isn't "ass"—he has been injured almost non-stop—and he's not a traditional tight end; a Swiss Army Knife-style player that needs to be put in the right positions to succeed, which hasn't always been the case.

@TrintonBreeze @CanesInSight Lofton is ass. He just doesnt get the job done. He has all the potential but he just cant seem to put it together. I pray we have someone who takes his job this season

Miami football is less than two months away, and these 3 Hurricanes could be ready to make a major impact this season. 🔸Joshua Moore 🔸 Marquise Lightfoot 🔸 Elijah Lofton Who are you taking? 🗞️: canesinsight.com/articles/three… #GoCanes

Feels like Lightfoot is the most-impactful name on the list. Moore will ball, but have a hard time believing he outshines Toney, Barkate or even guys like Vaughn and Jacobs—while Lofton will get his touches, but it's a crowded wide receivers room, five stellar running back—and it feels like Miami wants to bring Gilbert and Mueller along in a more-traditional tight end role, barring both get their shit down as bikers. Lightfoot is due to breakout big.