Sports: Salute to the Underdogs

One of the traditional parts of the season for any elite college football program is the first-day stomping of a hopelessly overmatched opponent, usually from some school you've never heard of. I wonder what kind of player it takes to march out on that field and get whacked and pounded for four quarters, often ending in some lopsided score that people make fun about on ESPN. These underdogs exhibit a special kind of heroics, the will to keep on playing and to be a good sport about losing, that doesn't get mentioned as much as it should.

UF pretty much followed the script Saturday, racking up 49 points before the game was stopped on account of lightning. Even with the reserves in, UF still outplayed Western Kentucky, so it was more of a practice game than anything else. Even so, it was the season opener, so I'm sure Gainesville was packed.

Michigan had the misfortune to play the 1-AA champs, Appalachian State.