Mascot beginnings come in all shapes and sizes. From local attractions to student voted, the origination come from all over the place. This week we’re going to find out about one of the coolest mascot origins. No, it’s not Wolverine (as in X-Men), but Oklahoma State’s Pistol Pete. We’ll also talk about the late to the race live mascot aptly named Bullet. So strap on in pardner as we’re about to mosey on down memory lane and make a stop at Stillwater’s favorite ‘Poke.
The Crib Sheet returns! Now that we’ve finally shaken off basketball, congrats North Carolina, we can start focusing on college baseball. Psyche! We’re still talking football. This last week saw some interesting cruft float by. Springs practices are going on and we’re starting to get some news trickle out about who’s doing well and who’s tanking. But more on that later. Here’s what else that happened in the past week:
You know, we here at the KCCGD figured that the college football off season would be dank with news but after this last week, we can say that there always something to talk about. We’ve got contract negotiations, run ins with the law, rule changes, and even where are they nows (or end ups). The biggest of the bunch being the Mike Leach contract talks. But we will never, ever talk about the Nebraska spring practice game. Here’s what happened in the last week:
This week’s Mascot Monday takes us to the deep south of the Big 12 and the Baylor Bears. We’ll go over what keeps the weakest team in the South going spirit wise while taking a peek back at the history of the mascots. It’s not B.J. and the Bear or Hardcastle and McCormick, but Judge and Bruiser! Not really as seen on TV but close enough. Just don’t sit too close to the screen or you’ll ruin your eyes.
It was a big week of news and the Crib Sheet is back this week to tell you what mattered. It was Signing Day last week and the ouija board nearly broke from producing signatures sprinkled out across the whole nation. There were some surprises, but most of what was expected came to be true. We mixed in some political goobery and a little bit o’ smack talk to keep things fresh. My guess is the next couple of weeks are going to be dry news wise, so let this be the spike before the long lull. Here’s the crib:
Congratulations go out to the Florida Gators as your BCS Champion! I’m a little bummed out because this Yeti was going for Oklahoma Sooners. It could have been worse. The game could have been a complete blowout. At least the Sooners kept the game close until the last couple minutes of the game. Also, congratulations go out to Wharfrats for picking smartly and going against the Sooners for the Bowl Pick ‘Em title. It was a let down Thursday night, but JJ’s Other Place kept me warm.
Continue reading Gators Chomp on Sooners and The PurpleYeti Chomps on Bar Food
To quote Keith Jackson, “WHOA NELLY!” What a game Monday night! Apparently a month of planning from Coach Tressel can help the Ohio State Buckeyes make a game against the Texas Longhorns. The McCoy/Crosby connection toward the end of the game reminded me of the Harrell/Crabtree connection made from Texas Tech earlier this year. The Longhorns eeked out of the Fiesta Bowl with a win and the Ohio State Buckeyes go home a BCS bust (again).
Continue reading BCS Title Game Makes Me Race To JJ’s Other Place
We’re running into the last stretch of big games and we are getting ready for the final 3 games of the college football season. The last week brought us some upsets, some blowouts, some intrigue, and some fatter bellies and stinkier rooms. Bowl season so far has proved to be, well, anticlimactic but we’re geared up for Florida vs Oklahoma. The other two games landed on nonplussed for our feelings.
The vaunted, Charlie Weiss led, Notre Dame fighting Irish played hard for their coached and blew the heat off of him by blowing out Hawaii in the, you guessed it, the Hawaii Bowl. The Pac-10 quieted all detractors by going undefeated in their bowls year, topping it off with a USC blowout of the somewhat Paterno led Penn State Nittany Lions. Speaking of the Big 10, they are 1-5 in bowls this year with one game left to go. The Purple Yeti loved the finish to the Kentucky and East Carolina game when Kentucky’s defensive lineman Ventrell Jenkins stiffed armed East Carolina’s Partrick Pinkey after picking him off and tumbled into the endzone for the winning score 25-19.
But that’s not all that happened. The Big 12 so far has a decent showing going with Missouri kicking it off and barely chugging by Northwestern. The Tigers should’ve lost the game but the found a way to come out on top. I was in the gym when Oklahoma State was up 17-7 over Oregon at half and dang near dropped my jaw to the floow when I saw the final score later, Oregon 42, Oklahoma State 31. KU handled Minnesota rather easily, which worked out well for the evening as Wii Sports were to be had. The best game of New Year’s Day happened to be the Gator Bowl where Nebraska came from behind to beat the Clemson Tigers. Too bad Texas Tech couldn’t make a case for being in the title chase when Ole Miss handed them an Ole Whuppin 47-34 in the Cotton Bowl.
Continue reading Bowl Pick It Standings: Two Minute Warning and the Marching Band is on the Field
With the Christmas portion of the holidays over, it’s now time to gear up for the Bowls. It’s a weird time of year. The bowls have started but it still feels pretty empty from the downtime between the end of the regular season and now. There’s been 11 games already but it feels like no one’s really played. That will change tomorrow night, however, but more on that in a second. First, here is the Bowl Pick ‘Em update:
| Rank | Pick Set | Points | Correct Picks |
| 1 | i choo choo choose you | 108 | 6 of 11 |
| 2 | Crazy Train | 102 | 5 of 11 |
| 3 | Bowies In Space | 95 | 6 of 11 |
| 4 | Hokey | 92 | 8 of 11 |
| 5 | Sasquatch Willy | 91 | 5 of 11 |
| 6 | Wharf Rats | 83 | 5 of 11 |
| 7 | B-Nutz | 78 | 4 of 11 |
| 7 | M I Z – Z O U | 78 | 7 of 11 |
| 9 | I Win! | 46 | 4 of 11 |
| 10 | I Heart Bill Snyder’s Perineum | 37 | 2 of 11 |
| 10 | Pat’s PIcks | 37 | 5 of 11 |
| 12 | Snyder for President | 31 | 3 of 11 |
| 13 | Goobersinmynose | 28 | 4 of 11 |
| 14 | keltron3000 | 17 | 4 of 11 |
| 15 | Sometding else to kill time | 15 | 3 of 11 |
| 16 | Hit it and Quit it | 0 | 0 of 11 |
The confidence points skews the actual picks as Hokey (the Yeti’s other alter ego) and MIZ-ZOU are 1 and 2 with the total number of correct picks. Since the confidence ranking kicking in, i choo choo choose you is number one with a Simpsons bullet. We’re getting into the meat of the Bowl schedule this week so look for some major movement coming from the top and bottom of the standings.
The Yeti is still recovering from the month long pig out fest from the holidays, but will unloosen the belt and mosey on down to JJ’s Other Place to watch Missouri take on Northwestern. It’s a curtain call for Chase Daniels and we’re hoping that the Tigers can kick off the Big 12’s bowl season with a victory. I’m not too up to date on the Northwestern Wildcats, but they are from the Big 10 so that’s all this Yeti needs to know. Go Tigers!
With the regular season over, we need something to do between the various holiday events. So why not watch all of the Big 12 bowl games? Fortunately we have five days straight of bowl games that feature a Big 12 team during the last week of the year. How is the KCCGD staff going to handle the load? We don’t know. Chances are we’ll post in the morning where we will go and then talk about the game later on that night. If we go out to all of the games. It’s gonna be hard and crazy for sure. The BCS National Championship game will be spotted somewhere, but we’ll build up to that when the time comes. For now, here’s the Big 12 representation of the bowl schedule (thanks espn.com):
| BOWL | LOCATION | DATE/TIME | NETWORK |
| Valero Alamo Missouri vs. Northwestern |
San Antonio Alamodome |
Dec. 29, 7 p.m. | ESPN |
| Pacific Life Holiday Oklahoma State vs. Oregon |
San Diego Qualcomm Stadium |
Dec. 30, 7 p.m. | ESPN |
| Insight Kansas vs. Minnesota |
Tempe, Ariz. Sun Devil Stadium |
Dec. 31, 4:30 p.m. | NFL Network |
| Konica Minolta Gator Nebraska vs. Clemson |
Jacksonville, Fla. Jacksonville Municipal Stadium |
Jan. 1, 2009, 12 p.m. | CBS |
| AT&T Cotton Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech |
Dallas Cotton Bowl |
Jan. 2, 2009, 1 p.m. | FOX |
| Tostitos Fiesta Ohio State vs. Texas |
Glendale, Ariz. University of Phoenix Stadium |
Jan. 5, 2009, 7 p.m. | FOX |
| FedEx BCS National Championship Game Florida vs. Oklahoma |
Miami Dolphin Stadium |
Jan. 8, 2009, 7 p.m. | FOX |
Missouri, after falling back to earth this year, tries to do to the Big 10 Wildcats what they did with the Big 12 version in the Alamo Bowl. The Oklahoma State Cowboys will be shooting ducks against Oregon in the Holiday Bowl. The Gator Bowls marks a New Year’s Day return for the Nebraska Cornhuskers as they take on Clemson. Ole Miss tries to outshoot the left out Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Cotton Bowl. The Texas Longhorns look toward the Ohio State Buckeyes to take out their frustrations in the Fiesta Bowl. Finally, the Oklahoma Sooners circles the wagons for the Florida Gators in the BCS National Championship Game. That’s one heckuva lineup and this empy week and a half of hype does little to pass the time on our way to Bowl Season.
Oklahoma is the new number one and the bowl schedule is set. Some say Texas got bushwhacked in the decision making process, and I’m not sure if the argument is there. Yes, head to head was a Texas win on a neutral field. But with the provision in the Big 12 stating that it goes to the BCS rankings, Oklahoma is on top. You’re gonna see that rule changed shortly after the end of the season. Maybe even shorter if the Sooners lose and the Longhorns win. But what about Texas Tech? They were in it as well. The argument was base off head to head but the Red Raiders beat the Longhorns. Where is their say? I think people forgot. Which is why the head to head argument is weak when its three teams. So the BCS rankings take the role but the Big 12 should’ve been consistent and had the rule the other leagues had. Hopefully the decision proves right for this year and both Texas and Oklahoma win their BCS Bowls. In the meantime, here’s the Pick It Standings:
| Rank | Pick Set Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Total |
| 1 | Cabbottmtf | 17 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 139 |
| 2 | Krizzou | 16 | 12 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 119 |
| 3 | Purple Yeti | 14 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 113 |
So Cabbottmtf had the Virginia Tech Hokies winning over Boston College in the ACC Championship game and that was all he needed to win the week. Krizzou is still on vacation but narrowly averted a late comeback from the Purple Yeti. Here’s your final standings for the Pick It and Stick It league. Congratualaitons to Cabbottmtf as he earned himself a picther of beer the next barspot he makes out. Pick It’s not over yet, as details about it will come out Friday. That’s right, Bowl Pick ‘Em. Get ready as there is a gajillion bowls and Yahoo! will keep track of all of them. We’ll post standings and so forth and probably lob up another pitcher as the prize. Good luck! Speaking of luck here’s the final BCS Standings:
Continue reading Pick It Standings Week 15: Final Final BCS and Pick It and Stick Title
The last regular season barspot brought us to the Granfalloon. The Big 12 Championship game pitted Missouri versus Oklahoma and we wanted to celebrate the pagentry with the lights of the Plaza. It was a cold evening and traffic was a holiday shopping nightmare, but we braved the conditions and made our way in. It would take a Christmas miracle for Missouri to win and we felt the mojo would be had at the Granfalloon.
Continue reading The Fools Stayed at the Granfalloon
This week, we’re making a quick pit stop the Granfalloon. The only memories I remember of this place is being a crowded multi room bar. After further inspection on their website, it seems like they have a pretty good amount of HD flat screens for barspotting. So why not give it a shot. The Big 12 Championship is at 7pm so hopefully we squeeze on in there. This is the last barspot before bowl season, so we hope it’s a good one.
When: Saturday, December 6th 2008
Where: The Granfalloon – 608 Ward Pkwy Kansas City, MO 64112
Time: 7:00 PM – for the only real game of the weekend
Continue reading Barspotting: Making a Grand Fool of Ourselves at the Granfalloon
Following up on the Skybox barspot review, Oklahoma beat up Oklahoma State to make their case for a trip to the Big 12 title game. Not to jump the gun, but the Sooners made it to number 2 and they are heading to Big 12 Championship game. So the Standford stalwart in Ivan Maisel has pointed the finger of shame at the Big 12 for the latest BCS/Big 12 confusion. Basically since it was a 3 way tie at the top of the Big 12 South, the conference rule is to go to the BCS rankings. The Big 12 is the only conference that doesn’t have a provision where it says that if the teams are within 5 spots of each other, they revert to head-to-head matchups. In that case, Texas would go to the conference championship.
In keeping with the need for consistency in the BCS, the Big 12 should enable that provision. Then after that, the Pac 10 and Big 11 should have a conference championship game. Until that happens, we just have to deal with the setup this year. That said, I think it’s a good thing for Texas. Oklahoma has another chance to choke and Missouri has a great opportunity to save their season and go to a BCS bowl with a win. With all of the noise about Texas getting screwed in the last week, the upset should see Texas penciled in for the BCS title game for the second time in Longhorns history. Sheesh, the drama almost writes itself. Now on to the picks:
| Rank | Pick Set Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Total |
| 1 | Cabbottmtf | 17 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 135 |
| 2 | Krizzou | 16 | 12 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 119 |
| 3 | Purple Yeti | 14 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 110 |
So Cabbottmtf needs to head down to Ameristar Casino and hit up the slot machines because he’s been showing all 7’s for the fifth straight week now. I would say that luck came into play for the picks, but it all comes down to him being the better betting man. Krizzou on the other hand is securely holding 2nd and laughing the whole way at the Purple Yeti because of the weak pick set in the upcoming week. Okay, so the standings are pretty much locked in and now all we have to do is play out the next week. If anyone has any ideas about what the Yeti should do bet wise at the title game, drop a comment below. Here’s the wrap up of the BCS standings:
Continue reading Pick It Standings Week 14: Pulling Apart the BCS and Big 12 Entanglement
Riding back in the car Sunday, while it shuffled through the snow sprinkling down in the Ozarks Sunday, I started going over just what kind of weekend I experienced. It was food filled, family and friends filled, and just enough football filled. We saw a true Border War this weekend and we were thankful for a great time. But before I jump on the recovery treadmill, let’s do a flyby of Skybox.
Continue reading Holiday Football at Skybox Left Us Wanting Seconds