Tag Archives: Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl

Bowl Pick It and Stick It 2011: 6 and 8 Split

Yes, it’s bowl season and I’ve got a hankering for one more Bowl Pick It and Stick It.  This time bowling is more exciting for me outside of the BCS Bowls.  Part of it is the fact that Kansas State got jipped out of an appearance at the Sugar Bowl, but the other part is that the line up BCS wise is just not interesting enough.  The Sugar and the Orange are lame.  The BCS National Championship Game is a rematch of boredom.  The Fiesta and Rose look good but the overall product leaves me underwhelmed.  That’s what I’m stoked for the Cotton Bowl.  It’s non BCS and has a top 10 BCS match up with Kansas State taking on Arkansas.  SEC vs Big 12.  Hell yeah.  Click on through for the Bowl Pick It and Stick It information.

 

Pick It and Stick It Link: http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/bowl/group/2195/invitation?key=8648873bde407264
Group: 2195
Password: gobig12

So here’s the rest of the bowl line up:

Bowl Location Date/Time Network
Gildan New Mexico
Temple vs. Wyoming
Albuquerque, N.M.
University Stadium
Dec. 17
2 p.m.
ESPN
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
Ohio vs. Utah State
Boise, Idaho
Bronco Stadium
Dec. 17
5:30 p.m.
ESPN
R+L Carriers New Orleans
San Diego State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette
New Orleans
Mercedes-Benz Superdome
Dec. 17
9 p.m.
ESPN
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s St. Petersburg
Florida International vs. Marshall
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Tropicana Field
Dec. 20
8 p.m.
ESPN
S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia
TCU vs. Louisiana Tech
San Diego
Qualcomm Stadium
Dec. 21
8 p.m.
ESPN
MAACO Las Vegas
Arizona State vs. Boise State
Las Vegas
Sam Boyd Stadium
Dec. 22
8 p.m.
ESPN
Sheraton Hawaii
Nevada vs. Southern Miss
Honolulu
Aloha Stadium
Dec. 24
8 p.m.
ESPN
AdvoCare V100 Independence
Missouri vs. North Carolina
Shreveport, La.
Independence Stadium
Dec. 26
5 p.m.
ESPN2
Little Caesars
Western Michigan vs. Purdue
Detroit
Ford Field
Dec. 27
4:30 p.m.
ESPN
Belk
Louisville vs. NC State
Charlotte, N.C.
Bank of America Stadium
Dec. 27
8 p.m.
ESPN
Military Bowl Presented By Northrop Grumman
Toledo vs. Air Force
Washington, D.C.
RFK Stadium
Dec. 28
4:30 p.m.
ESPN
Bridgepoint Education Holiday
California vs. Texas
San Diego
Qualcomm Stadium
Dec. 28
8 p.m.
ESPN
Champs Sports
Florida State vs. Notre Dame
Orlando, Fla.
Florida Citrus Bowl
Dec. 29
5:30 p.m.
ESPN
Valero Alamo
Washington vs. Baylor
San Antonio
Alamodome
Dec. 29
9 p.m.
ESPN
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces
BYU vs. Tulsa
Dallas
Gerald J. Ford Stadium
Dec. 30
Noon
ESPN
New Era Pinstripe
Rutgers vs. Iowa State
Bronx, N.Y.
Yankee Stadium
Dec. 30
3:20 p.m.
ESPN
Franklin American Mortgage Music City
Mississippi State vs. Wake Forest
Nashville, Tenn.
LP Field
Dec. 30
6:40 p.m.
ESPN
Insight
Iowa vs. Oklahoma
Tempe, Ariz.
Sun Devil Stadium
Dec. 30
10 p.m.
ESPN
Meineke Car Care of Texas
Texas A&M vs. Northwestern
Houston
Reliant Stadium
Dec. 31
Noon
ESPN
Hyundai Sun
Georgia Tech vs. Utah
El Paso, Texas
Sun Bowl
Dec. 31
2 p.m.
CBS
AutoZone Liberty
Cincinnati vs. Vanderbilt
Memphis, Tenn.
Liberty Bowl
Dec. 31
3:30 p.m.
ABC
Kraft Fight Hunger
Illinois vs. UCLA
San Francisco
AT&T Park
Dec. 31
3:30 p.m.
ESPN
Chick-fil-A
Virginia vs. Auburn
Atlanta
Georgia Dome
Dec. 31
7:30 p.m.
ESPN
TicketCity
Houston vs. Penn State
Dallas
Cotton Bowl
Jan. 2
Noon
ESPNU
Outback
Michigan State vs. Georgia
Tampa, Fla.
Raymond James Stadium
Jan. 2
1 p.m.
ABC
Capital One
Nebraska vs. South Carolina
Orlando, Fla.
Florida Citrus Bowl
Jan. 2
1 p.m.
ESPN
Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl
Ohio State vs. Florida
Jacksonville, Fla.
EverBank Field
Jan. 2
1 p.m.
ESPN2
Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio
Wisconsin vs. Oregon
Pasadena, Calif.
Rose Bowl
Jan. 2
5 p.m.
ESPN
Tostitos Fiesta
Stanford vs. Oklahoma State
Glendale, Ariz.
U. of Phoenix Stadium
Jan. 2
8:30 p.m.
ESPN
Allstate Sugar
Michigan vs. Virginia Tech
New Orleans
Louisiana Superdome
Jan. 3
8:30 p.m.
ESPN
Discover Orange
West Virginia vs. Clemson
Miami
Sun Life Stadium
Jan. 4
8:30 p.m.
ESPN
AT&T Cotton
Kansas State vs. Arkansas
Arlington, Texas
Cowboys Stadium
Jan. 6
8 p.m.
FOX
BBVA Compass Bowl
SMU vs. Pittsburgh
Birmingham, Ala.
Legion Field
Jan. 7
1 p.m.
ESPN
GoDaddy.com
Arkansas State vs. Northern Illinois
Mobile, Ala.
Ladd-Peebles Stadium
Jan. 8
9 p.m.
ESPN
Allstate BCS National Championship Game
No. 1 LSU vs. No. 2 Alabama
New Orleans
Louisiana Superdome
Jan. 9
8:30 p.m.
ESPN

Remember it’s a straight up pick but you can rank your confidence from 1 to 35.  What other bowls are interesting you ask?  Well, let’s start with the Big 12.  Baylor and Washington look good for the Alamo Bowl, thanks to Robert Griffin III’s Hesiman win.  Oklahoma playing Iowa for the first time in forever in the Insight Bowl sees Sooner head coach Bob Stoops head to his alma mater.  What other games look good?  How about the Outback Bowl with Georgia taking on Michigan State, another version of the BCS snub bowl.  That’s about it for me.  The others are decent but they just don’t jump out to me.  Come back every Monday from here on out, though and we’ll go over the picks.

Mascot Monday: Alphie and Wolfie Jr

Yes we’re back with the 2011 Edition of Mascot Monday!  I gave long and serious thought to quitting this here weekly ditty, but a quick check to the logs revealed that Mascot Monday is one of my more popular items.  So here I am forging ahead.  I was gonna kick off the year with a BCS bang, but then I realized I already profiled the mascots for all of the BCS Bowl teams.  So the next best bang was the one given to Boise State at the hands of the Nevada Wolfpack.  We’re going to over the history of the Pack as well as their fluffy mascots. Also, we’ll point out agin why baseball is not covered here.

Nevada showed up athletically around the 1890s and were referred to as the Sagebrushers or Sage Hens.  That sounded limp so they were called the ‘Sage Warriors’ in the local newspapers.  As with alot of the cool mascot names, a local newspaper described the team with what was to become the actual team name and mascot.  In 1921, a writer called the team as a ‘pack of wolves.’  Football wise, they had a program around the 1890s but there doesn’t seem to be much hoopla around it, except for the Cal game that ended in a 0-0 tie.  Well, that and last year’s rise to a national ranking.

As for the costumed critter, Wolfie showed up in the 1970s.  Since then, there’s been changes left and right with the mascot get-up at Nevada.  A Wolfette pranced around in 1986 and Wolfie sported a big old ‘N’ top hat sometime after.  Then of course was more familial changes.  This site describes it best.  Wolfie’s cousin Alphie replaced him in 1999.  Wolfie Jr, popped back into the scene in 2007.  So we have cousins and sons and I guess a true ‘Pack’ of wolves.  It’s still confusing.  Was Wolfette Wolfie’s wife or relavtive?  How did a Wolfie Jr come about?

Let’s take a look at the alpha of the pack, Alphie. The standard head to toe fur covers Alphie while he sports a football jersey to cover up his naughty bits, Disney style.  Back in the day, they changed his look from a fierce one to a more kid friendly one.  Fair enough.  Woflie Jr. is a spitting image 0f Alphie.  There’s not much difference except for clothing style.  You know, if Nevada tries hard to keep a family tree together for the Pack, they need to make sure that each member is a little more distinguished.

That’s what it comes down to me for Alphie and Wolfie Jr.  I like how they look, but they look too much the same.  They need to take lessons from WCW’s version of the Wolfpack.  That’s right, we’re talking NWO Wolfpack.  Even though they wore the same colors, each member had their own style.  Macho Man Randy Savage had his fringy attire while Konnan went the ethnic hispanic route.  Heck even Scott Hall and Kevin Nash made sure that one wore the regular shirt while the other wore a tank top.  Seriously, Nevada, take a lesson from these guys.  They’re just. Too. SWEET!

I can’t take away the big victory from Nevada last year, however.  They were the ones that finally toppled the mini giant in the Boise State Broncos.  Sure it took a major choke job from the Broncos kicker, but the Wolf Pack stopped the Broncos in their track and garnished a tasty victory in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl over Boston College.  So even though Alphie and Wolfie Jr could use a serious makeover, we should celebrate them.  Just make sure they don’t dance too hard and fall over themselves again.

Bowl Pick It and Stick It Standings: New Year’s Resolutions and Bowl Settings

It’s the last week of college football and we’ve had enough drama to fill up the entire bowl season. Happy 2011 to everyone out there and I hope you survived any New Year’s Party you decided to attend. New Year’s day saw my annual tradition of going over to Jolly’s parents house and planting myself in one spot for 12 hours of college football. It was a good day for me as the overrated Big 10 went 0-5 that day and the Big 12 went 2-0. That and the left over ham from the New Year’s Party served us well in between meats, cheeses, and crackers. Beefy indeed. Here’s this week’s standings going into the last week:

Continue reading Bowl Pick It and Stick It Standings: New Year’s Resolutions and Bowl Settings