Yessir, it’s the last regular season week of college football!  We have tons of conference championships, but we also have a fairly stacked Big 12 schedule.  I’m sure that won’t happen as soon as they conference actually goes back to 12, but it’s nice to enjoy Farmageddon and Bedlam while the title games are going on.  Bedlam is bigger, though, and I’m pulling for a major breakthrough for Oklahoma State so they can go the BCS National Championship Game.  Much like I’m pulling for a miracle in the picks this week.  I’m not asking for much, just for third place.  So let’s find out what the picks are:

Continue reading PIck It and Stick It 2011 Week 14: The Final Flingdown →

Another week of barspotting and I’m going for the trifecta.  It’s been 2 great weeks of college football watching and I need one more joint to make me believe that Austin is serious about sports bars.  The last two weeks were easy because it was close to downtown.  Now it’s time to throw Austin for a loop and go for that ‘remote neighborhood family bar’ joint.  Well, I’ve found down south in the Backspin Sports Bar & Grill.  Saturday I’ll find out if the remote locations of Austin bring the game like the places closer to the heart of the city do.
Continue reading Barspotting: Laying up to the Backspin Sports Bar & Grill →

So the deed is finally done.  Texas A&M and the SEC made it official.  Now last week, we found out that the Big 12 was staying together.  We also found out that Dan Beebe resigned, at the request of Oklahoma and some others.  Connected sports guy Chuck Neinas was setup as the interim Big 12 Commissioner.  What else?  The 1st and 2nd tier television rights are on the table.  That’s fine for Texas because the LHN is 3rd tier, noinch!  The athletic directors all met and were saying they are committed to keeping the Big 12 alive.  Although, it seems Missouri’s foot is still out of the door.  Worse yet, the reason Oklahoma wanted the Big 12 to stay alive was because they couldn’t swing a deal with the Pac 12.  So is it safe?  I guess it is for now.  I’ll be certain of it when somebody actually joins the conference instead of leaves it.  Until then, here’s another installment of the Crib Sheet: Continue reading Crib Sheet: Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself →

It’s the hustle and bustle of college football.  At the beginning of the year, everyone is tied 0-0.  Slowly and weekly, the winners bubble up and the losers peter out.  We’re getting into week 3 and it’s still crowded.  We haven’t yet hit the real bubbling point.  Apparently it’s Road Test Weekend so we’ll more than likely get the cauldron cooking real quick.  Speaking of being crowded, I’m planning and surfing the flesh at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Granted I have Sunday tickets so it won’t be too bad, but Saturday’s at Third Base Sports Bar.  Let’s hope people don’t bubble up vomit and I don’t peter out.

Continue reading Pick It and Stick It: Sticking With The Crowd →

Alrighty welp I’m back for another week of actual Barspotting.  Kansas City was nice and all but I’ve been to all the good bars up there and now I’m ready to hit (or find) the good bars down here in Austin.  This week I’m going to try to get to Third Base.  Hopefully, I can play my cards right and get there to brag about it all to you on Monday morning.  From the looks of things it’s a hot spot to be at so I know it’ll be crowded with others when I get there.  Come on and join me!

Continue reading Barspotting: Thirdbase →

That’s right, I’ll be on a plane shortly but I want to get the picks up for the week.  It’s hard to stay focused with the Big 12 in legal gridlock.  You know, I thought professional wrestling was soap opera for guys but now I know that college football realignment is the real deal.  No offense to the WWE, but this stuff is way better than the scripted stuff I used to watch.  So as the conference turn, get your picks in and hope for the best.

Continue reading PIck It and Stick It: Fling It Home →

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Another fat week of the Crib Sheet.  I know you haven’t had enough.  Media Days have finally kicked off so it will be another month before real football kicks off.  Bask in the light, people, and let’s start ramping up for another season.   First, the Crib Sheet:

Continue reading Crib Sheet: Media Days Are Upon Us →

While I’m battling record heat here in my first summer in Austin, it seems college football is battling an offseason of corruption.  At least that’s what it seems like.  I think it’s more that the year before we all thought conferences (including the Big 12) were gonna blow up.  Now everything is safe, things are going back to normal.  That includes kids and coaches breaking rules.  Let’s break on over to this week’s Crib Sheet and find out some more:

Continue reading Crib Sheet: A Hundred and Ten in the Shady Offseason →

Apparently there’s still some fallout from the NCAA’s investigation of schools regarding sports agents and football players.  Read all about it below.  Our take on the whole thing?  The times they are a changing and much like any other huge organization, change comes slow.  This week’s Crib Sheet points out that while the NCAA is running around doing investigations, they are cutting drug testing budgets.  We think the NCAA needs to lean down more and seriously reconsider just how sports are played today.  On the Crib Sheet:

• It looks like alot of big name players are going down at Nebraska and Missouri.   Mike Smith broke a leg for the Cornhuskers and Jerrell Jackson broke his left wrist.  Will this potentially blow open the Big 12 North?  The bigger injuries usually happen during the season.
• Well well well, it looks like Bryce Brown IS coming to Kansas State.  That is, until Derek Dooley releases him from his scholarship at Tennessee.  Brown’s had some trouble there and decided to bolt after Lane Kiffin did.  Bill Snyder 2.0 should help clean him up after this blows over.
• The bowls are changing from this year to next, take note.
• As more and more reports of paid trips come up, Nick Saban closes camp to scouts and then grabs some of his buddies on a call to the NFL regarding ways to stamp out the rampant sports agent issue.  It’s alright that Saban is trying to clean things up now, but we’re thinking he’s getting ahead of it to take advantage of it later on down the road.
• The crash that took Senator Ted Stevens also took William Phillips, who had 3 sons that played football at three different universities.  Our condolences go out to them and their family.
• New Mexico football players can’t tweet.  Now we loves the Twitter and we see no harm in kids doing the same thing socially that their peers are.  If DeWayne Walker was smart, he would cryptically recruit via Twitter.
• Playboy picked Ohio State to win it all.  Is Playboy even relevent anymore.  They used to have it big but now it just seems they are a glorified New Yorker.  Even the nudity isn’t intriguing anymore.
• So the media circus that was Mike Leach is now replaced with a reality show.  Yup, Texas Tech decided that the pirate attention was not enough and will document the team throughout the season in a reality show.  Hard Knocks this won’t be.  But hey it already sounds better than Jerzey Shore.
• Iowa State will be a little bit behind schedule as they are busy laying sandbags and not practicing in their flooded facilities.  Last year was a turnaround type season for the Hawkeyes, but now it looks like a setback of unnatural proportions has hit them hard.
• Sprint’s Football Live app now does college football.  Yes, all of you smartphone subscribers out there will now get a chance to watch ESPN college football games as well as the Notre Dame home games.  Very nice indeed.
• Even though the conference was about to blow up, the Big 12 still leads in ticket prices for football games.  This year will be massive because of the farewell tours coming from Nebraska and Colorado.
• The NCAA is cutting costs related to drug testing.  Gone comprehensive tests, Ephedrine, and advance notice to schools.  What stays are the high risk drugs and an easier path of get away with taking performance enhancing drugs.
• TCU announced a $105 million dollar stadium expansion.  The Horned Frogs are looking to capitalize on the big time and make their stadiums tops in the country.  Because of that, the Armed Forces Bowl will move to SMU just for next year.
• Renee Gork was fired from her sports radio job in northwest Arkansas for wearing a Florida Gators hat.  Well, duh.

The beating heat of the summer is getting to us.  We’re producing an inordinate amount of swass underneath while compiling this week’s very beefy Crib Sheet.  We’re going for some lemonade and to air our sweat regions.  Here’s the Crib Sheet:

• It’s official, via text message, that Bryce Brown will not be coming back to Tennessee.  Will he land at Kansas State?  The way Daniel Thomas is looking might draw the Wichita, Kansas native back home to the Wildcats.  Tennessee will not release him from his scholarship so that will slow him down.
• Big 12 Media Days for Kansas was all about Turner Gill.  He landed a great hire at offensive coordinator and Chuck Long.  It’s a rebuilding year and they are trying to stay focused on the field and not with all the crap that happened off of it.
• Colorado’s Big 12 media day was not as exciting as leat year’s.  Oh, they’re stoked this year but we got the sense that they are distracted about moving to the Pac 10.  One thing is for sure, if Cody Hawkins starts for the Buffaloes, they will lose every time.
• Oklahoma, on the other hand, spent the day talking about the huge expectations they have.  Yes, they had a ton of injuries last year.  That means that the younger kids have more experience and more time with each other.  They should be tough, but we’re not sold yet on national title tough.
• Texas A&M’s media day was unheard of.  You’d think the cash they got in the expansion deal means that they command more respect at the podium but apparently not.
• BCS director Bill Hancock had alot to say in the last week.  First off the Big 12 change won’t affect the BCS. A playoff would kill the regular season.    Any playoff would have to start at 16 teams.  And if the appeal from USC over recruiting violations fell through, the title they won would be left vacant.  Man, that’s alot from a guy who’s been nonexistent ever since he took over.
• Texas Big 12 media days was alot like just hanging out.  Coach Mack Brown handled the alignment talk well and also took care of the Nebraska contigent in a subdued kind of way.
• The assistant coach who took a punch from head coach Mike Locksley sued both him and New Mexico for the fight.  We’re thinking he lost the actual fight and is now taking it to the courts.
• So assistant coach Mark Nelson of East Carolina resigned because of NCAA allegations that he evaluated players in off-season workout and conditioning drills.  Huh?  Coaches evaluate all the time.  That’s what they do.  The NCAA is beginning to be irrelevant and completely out of touch.
• Oklahoma running back Mossis Madu got a DUI.  He’ll probably be benched for the half of the first game.
• ESPN is going 3d!  They will broadcast a couple of college football games in the new tech as well.  Check out the list here.
• IMG bought ISP Sports and now is the mega daddy of all agencies that license pro and college sports media to outlets.  These guys will have some major pull when it comes to bringing in more bucks from the supposed holy grail of television deals for college athletics.
• Junior defensive lineman Jamie Blatnick of Oklahoma State was arrested last Saturday after getting in a fight with a former Cowboys offensive lineman Stephen Denning.  Looks like the defensive guy couldn’t take the lip from the offensive guy.
• Former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli is walking on to Ole Miss in the hopes of still playing football.  He was booted off the Ducks for burglary and weed smoking.  We all believe in second chances right?  This second chance will have a short leash.
• The Big 10 media days are a happening as we speak and commissioner Jim Delany is looking for a title game next year.  Meanwhile Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne is yapping his lip about the stability of the Big 10 being the major factor for the move.
• Iowa State defender David Simms plead guilty to credit card fraud that he originally denied.  It looks like his career might be over up there.
• Bill Snyder 2.0 goes old school with his scheduling philosophy for the Kansas State Wildcats.  They had Oregon on the schedule, but now they  are off.  The excuse was the new 9 team schedule for the conference coming up.  It was also mutual.  So will Miami be next off the list?

Another Monday and another mascot served up fresh for you KCCGD’ers out there.  This week we come back to the Big 12 and talk about the mascots for a team that’s had quite the rocky offseason.  Texas Tech’s offseason included sending a pirate of a head coach in Mike Leach to plank.  Now we’ll switch from pirates to The Masked Rider and Raider Red.  Both mascots serve their purpose on both sides of the mascot spectrum.  They, along with new head Tommy Tubberville, must help pick up the pieces and start anew.  Let’s find out where they came from and how much they can help.

Continue reading Mascot Monday: The Masked Rider and Raider Red →

We’re back this week with another round of Pick It Standings.  Not much of a shake up this weekend in terms of college football and it’s reflected in the pick set.  Really when you think about it, there was no real big upset over the weekend, unless you count USC falling down hard to Stanford.  Everybody else won as expected and they are turning to corner for the home stretch of the season.  This is going to be a tight one to the end, both for the BCS race and the Pick It race.  Here’s this week’s lap:

Continue reading Pick It Standings Week 10: Yawnster of a Weekend →

Much of the staff for the KCCGD (all one person of it) is knocked down under injury this week.  Lower back pains are not an easy ailment to handle.  Granted it’s no puke inducing concussion, but we know how limiting an injury can be.  Usually a team would be lucky enough not to have any of their stars miss a game or two during the season.  Usually you rest them at halftime or have them skip the easy games.  In this BCS culture today though now you have to play your top guys all the time, even when hurt.  So in that spirit, we achingly bring this week’s Crib Sheet:

• The College Football Hall of Fame is moving from South Bend to Atlanta.  The promised attendance was never met in Irish-land and now they are moving down to Bulldog country.  So let’s get this straight, they are moving from one program where expectations of a once great team were never met to another place where expectations of a once great team were never met?  Hey, at least they’ll avoid nasty winters.
• Michigan University will no longer allow purses into the stadium for games.  Sorry, RichRod, you will have to find something else to carry all of your crying tissues.
• The college football world gasped a big ole sigh when Tim Tebow went down with a concussion over the weekend against Kentucky.  Apparently he was aleady sick when he took a sick hit from a Kentucky player.  It’s a good thing Florida has the week off.  Not for Tebow to recover, but the for the rest of the sports media to talk about the games.  Hopefully.
• Sports Illustrated is attempting to bring playoff brackets into the mainstream with a half-cocked bracketing system to rank the top 16 teams and then place them in a bracket.  Are they bummed that USA Today has the Top 25 Coaches’ Poll, the AP has their own poll, but they have nothing?  That’s what we think.  And this is the only ink we’ll give them.
• Baylor’s hope for a rise to bowl-dom blew up in their face Saturday when Robert Griffin went down last Saturday with a torn ACL in his knee.  A veteran QB in Blake Szymanski will take over the helm as Baylor gets ready to head into conference play October 10.  It really sucks for the Bears but will make thing easier for the North teams playing Baylor this year.
• Twitter rears its ugly head again as a couple of tweets from some Texas Tech players caused Mike Leech to ban it from the team.  This was, of course, in reaction to some awesome tweets from newly suspended offensive lineman Brandon Carter and linebacker Marlon Williams.  We miss it already.
• Speaking of Twitter, Houston head coach Kevin Sumlin is using his handle to retrieve 3 helmets stolen from Cougars players while storming the field during Houston’s dramatic win over Texas Tech.  Twitter and Texas Tech just does not mix.
• Stafon Johnson, tailback for USC, had emergency surgery on his throat after a freak weightlifting accident.  I’ve seen some bars fall with very heavy weight on them in the gym and it does not look pretty.  How did it get on this guy’s throat?  We hope he turns out okay.
• New Mexico head coach Mike Locksley pulled a Buddy Ryan (or a Tom Caple) on his assistant and busted his lip.  We’ve seen some punches so far on the field at least once a week during the season, now we’re seeing it during coaches meetings.  Oh wait, football is a violent sport.  Check.
• Kansas will have condominiums in the stands in the form of seat mortgages.  So while the kids are fighting on (and off) the field, the snooty rich people will be in the stands.  Live sport spectating is becoming the privilege of the elite.  This isn’t good at all.
• Ladies and gentlemen, we present the Yankee Bowl.  The Big East #4 team and the Big 12 #7 team are signed up to meet at Yankee stadium beginning in the 2010-11 season.  Granted they still need approval, but if you have the mayor of New York and the owner of the Yankees behind it, the proposal should pass.  I for one wish that any ‘home’ team in New York gets beat.
• Missouri gets the dunce cap this week as the athletic department sold a box of old cell phones.  Without wiping them.  Hey, hook me up with an email address or phone number over here.   I want some coaches to know about the blog.

So the voters spoke and we’re feeling Irish this week at J. Murphy’s.  It’s not March yet, but we have a feeling it’s going to end up like it by the time we get done here.  So let’s run down the stats on the bar.  Green decor. Check.  Beer (with Guinness).  Check.  Irish Whiskey. Check. Corned Beef and Cabbage. Check.  All football games. Check.  Looks like they meet the requirements for an Irish sports bar.  Come out with us Saturday to find out if the proof is in the Shepard’s Pie.  Erin go bragh!

When: Saturday, September 26, 2009
Time: 12:00 pm
Where: J. Murphy’s Irish Pub and Grill, 22730 Midland Dr, Shawnee, KS 913.825.3880

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Games:

• 8:00 PM CT Missouri at Nevada Friday
• 11:00 PM CT Southern Miss at No. 20 Kansas
• 1:10 PM CT Tennessee Tech at Kansas State
• 2:30 PM CT UTEP at No. 2 Texas
• 2:30 PM CT No. 9 Miami (FL) at No. 11 Virginia Tech
• 2:30 PM CT Illinois at No. 13 Ohio State (Illibuck Trophy)
• 2:30 PM CT No. 15 TCU at Clemson
• 6:00 PM CT Grambling State at No. 16 Oklahoma State
• 6:00 PM CT Louisiana-Lafayette at No. 25 Nebraska
• 6:00 PM CT Army at Iowa State
• 6:00 PM CT Northwestern State at Baylor
• 6:00 PM CT UAB at Texas A&M
• 7:00 PM CT Iowa at No. 5 Penn State
• 7:00 PM CT Notre Dame at Purdue (Shillelagh Trophy)
• 8:15 PM CT Texas Tech at No. 17 Houston
• 9:00 PM CT New Mexico State at New Mexico (Battle of I-25 for the Maloof Trophy)

Notes:  It’s a somewhat of a trap game for Missouri as they head to Nevada Friday night.  Kansas hopefully will turn their punches toward Southern Miss and not the basketball team when they host the Golden Eagles.  Virginia Tech plays another game of the week when they host newly resurgent Miami.  The Illibuck Trophy is up for grabs as Illinois heads to Ohio State and hope for an upset like last time.  Speaking of upsets, Iowa hopes to do the same thing this year to Penn State like they did last year and derail their national title hopes.  The Shillelagh Trophy is up for grabs when the Fighting Irish take on the Purdue Boilermakers.  Texas Tech takes a long road trip to Houston and look to duke it out against the newly christened cinderella Houston Cougars.  Finally New Mexico and New Mexico State meet for the 100th time this weekend in the Battle of I-25 and the Maloof Trophy.

Here’s the voting results from facebook:

This is a little embarrassing.  We’re getting all hyped up for another great year of college football and stumbled a bit in our preparation.  You see, we naturally assumed that in the last two years of this fine and dandy operation that we actually had a barspot at a Tanner’s Bar & Grill location.  This is not true.  So to make up for it, we are kicking off our 3rd season by hanging out in one of the storied sports bar traditions for the Kansas City Area.  Join us at the Waldo district to kick the season off in style and welcome to another year of KC College Gameday!
Continue reading Barspotting: We Almost Forgot About Tanner’s →