Does anyone remember a Labor Day sports weekend more, well, delicious than this one?
For the Arkansas Razorbacks, who rarely play any longer in the capital city, a Little Rock opener is something to savor. Even if the Razorbacks can create attention more by losing or playing exceptionally ragged football against Western Carolina. The Catamounts, their campus nestled nicely within the Great Smoky Mountains off Interstate 40, are assured a large participation fee rom Arkansas, which has played one game at War Memorial Stadium in this decade -- a fact that stings some for whom the Great Stadium Debate between Little Rock and Fayetteville never died.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the Razorbacks' last opponent within WMS in 2021, kicked off Thursday at Tulsa, which UA fitted into its schedule for decades but not so much in recent years. Arkansas State, a 2025 Little Rock opponent for the Hogs, goes to Oklahoma, a future UA lodge brother (along with Texas) as the Southeastern Conference expands to 16 teams.
Not many college coaches need a win more than ASU's Butch Jones, whose defense, like Arkansas', was not of championship caliber last year. While at Tennessee, Jones developed a reputation as an ace recruiter, though his teams could not beat Alabama or Florida. Time will tell about the 2025 game with Arkansas, what kind of expectations will each team have and whether it, like few games lately, draws a big crowd to the Markham Street home away from home for the Razorbacks.
The first saturation of college games is this weekend but you'll excuse this SEC-centric observer for pinpointing only selected league opponents. Georgia and Alabama, the new SEC pecking order, have easier-than-usual first games. A Sept. 9 date in Tuscaloosa should tell much about Alabama and Texas, Nick Saban taking a Pravda-like approach toward disseminating information about his 17th Crimson Tide squad. Texas fans await the rematch with Alabama -- which won a tingler in Austin last year -- for clues about whether the Longhorns are, indeed, "back" in the national discussion.
This is the last weekend for months without National Football League games. Aaron Rodgers, in case you haven't heard, no longer plays in Green Bay or Tom Brady for any pro team.
The Dallas Cowboys, ESPN motormouth Stephen A. Smith's recurring target, start another season in which the national media is sure to wrangle over whether they are a Super Bowl contender or not. Who knows what Jerry Jones thinks these days -- everything getting late for the team's Arkansas owner, who yearns for the club's first Lombardi Trophy (world champion) since Bill Clinton occupied the White House?
To that end, what does it say when the Cowboys, whose Dak Prescott makes slightly less per year than a Texas oilman, trades for a backup quarterback? Trey Lance comes over from San Francisco, which curtailed the Cowboys' 2022 season in the second round of the playoffs. For that matter, how much will America's Team miss Ezekiel Elliott, among the running backs with whom NFL clubs played lowball in the offseason?
Kansas City, with the league's top quarterback in Patrick Mahomes, goes for its third Super Bowl title in five seasons. The New York Jets, starved for a championship since Joe Namath's time, turn to Rodgers, who can be the league's marquee player and most polarizing figure in the same year. The Jets will challenge the Giants for newspaper coverage in the nation's largest city, where no postseason baseball is likely to be played in October.
Meanwhile, in Queens, they're hyping a dream U.S. Open final between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic like Patton and Rommel are going at it again in north Africa. A church friend says her undying support pulled American Coco Gauff through a first-round women's match -- gee, I thought Barack and Michelle Obama, pictured in the stands, were equally responsible?
Just the same, I miss Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Andre Agassi and John McEnroe more than ever. Has it been 32 years since Jimmy Connors, feeding on the New York crowd, stopped our hearts -- and Aaron Krickstein -- on Labor Day in the Big Apple?