Crib Sheet: Weeping Willows

We’ll get to the big story of the week in the Crib Sheet, but first I wanted to preface that by saying, ‘Huh?’  I can understand that tradition is the lifeline of college football.  I get that.  I’m just having a hard time imagining why there’s all of this hooplah surrounding the first news item.  I mean when I went to K-State, we used to toss spray painted chickens on the court before the Kansas again.  PETA was all up in arms and that was it.  It seems like everyone in the world is sad about this latest stunt.  Read on for the story:

  • The traditional oak trees at Toomer’s Corner at Auburn University were poisoned and are not going to live.  That’s a way to take a rivalry up a notch.  The only problem?  Auburn still won the BCS Championship and they can always cart in new oak tree to take their place.  The guy who did it, Harvey Almorn Updyke, was arrested for the tree-murder.  He’s an Alabama fan, what a surprise there.  The attorney for Updyke had to withdraw because he had Auburn ties, as well as another one.  Meanwhile fans had a tree hugging rally at Toomer’s Corner.  Am I the only one that thinks it’s not a big deal?
  • So there’s this Pittsburgh Steelers song that ran around the Super Bowl talking about ‘Black & Yellow.’  Fast forward to last week when Oklahoma safety Tony Jefferson release his ‘Boomer Sooner’ version of the song.  Both are really terrible.
  • Mark Cuban created a company by the name of Radical Football and hired a former Notre Dame P.R. guy to drum up playoffs on top of the current bowl system.  That’s totally tubular dude.  I can’t wait to see the title game alternative on VS network and then have some pizza with the rest of my ninja turtles.  Seriously, how much money will he dump in this before he realizes that it’s not going to happen?
  • In the wake of last week’s steps, the Fiesta Bowl will be doing a self audit to see if they received any naughty contributions.  Yikes, they’re getting their house in order fast.  I don’t know if the IRS can be paid off like the NCAA so let’s wait and see what happens.
  • Jake Trotter talks about duplicate numbers on football teams these days.  It does get confusing but I guess it’s been around for awhile.  I think they should put letters on top of numbers instead.  “Bob Johnson is number D3.”  I can live with that.
  • Some teachers, who took pay freezes, are mad that Tommy Tubberville got a raise after his first year at Texas A&M.  Well duh.  It’s Texas and it’s college football.  Even after that, there’s always been this teachers vs coaches feud going on at colleges.  I think teachers forget that the athletic side of the school is really the advertising side.  Exposure on television mainly comes from sports.
  • The Oklahoma Sooners have to give players a week off of workouts this offseason due to some violations related to offseason workouts.  Defensive Tackle Stacy McGee should use that time not getting stoned.  He got busted this week for the weed.