The Severed Cortex

Link: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2920557&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

You're a paid writer and you don't have an idea for a column this week, what do you do? You compile a top 10 list, or in this case a top 100 list. That's what passes for journalism in this day and age. I'll bet in the old days this was what you had to turn in when you were on your one week of vacation. But, the purpose of the whole top whatever list is to get people talking about why that particular top whatever list is completely retarded.

So, I'll join in.

I would like to note that the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the story title was the Doug Flutie to Gerard Phelan pass and it shows up at #1 on this list. I wonder how many other people when asked to name a defining moment in college football mention that play. I'll bet it's a lot. I was actually watching the game on TV that day and it's like I was sitting there willing it to happen. Even though I agree with Ivan Maisel on his #1 choice, the rest is a different story. Some of these happened so recently it's hard to call them the greatest moments in college football. Things like #37 or #38 seem way more important than Vince Young scoring a touchdown. You'd also think that this would make the list too. You know ... because it was the first game ever. In general, Ivan, the first one is considered historic.

Others of note:

• #6 - It was mentioned a lot in the last Bear Bryant book I read and it is a hollywood movie script kind of story.
• #21 - I was watching this game with my dad and I said, "Holy crap dad, I think he just punched that guy". At 12 years old all I could think was He's not supposed to do that.
• #39 - This is another one of those that should be more important than #15's Boise State tricks OU in crappy Fiesta Bowl. Bellard was the head coach when I attended Mississippi State. He's not exactly the inventor of the wishbone, but he most definitely could be called the godfather of the wishbone. No one can argue that the wishbone offense put up a lot of W's for teams in the 50's and 60's. Bellard sucked as a head coach though. Everyone at State had bumper stickers that read Make Emory a Memory. Cruel.
• #51 - Mizzou fans go apesh*t crazy when you bring this one up
• #61 - You can't live in Alabama unless you know who Van Tiffin is.
• #62 - Definitely one of those moments that should be in the top 10. While Bear Bryant gets a lot of the blame for not integrating Alabama (and he should), the alumni and the state government had their hands in it too. When Sam Cunningham ran all over Alabama in the state of Alabama, everyone knew that UA football could not remain segregated. Even if the reason your average Alabama fan wanted to integrate was wrong, and I'm sure it was in a lot of cases, the moment was still a defining one in racial history.