It’s a huge week of news on the Crib Sheet so let’s get cracking:
Category Archives: Football
Mascot Monday: Marco the Buffalo
Here we go again rolling on through another Mascot Monday. Oh and we are rolling alright. Some say we may be thundering. That’s right, this week we will take a look at Marshall University’s mascot, Marco the Buffalo. Now I’ve covered live buffalo mascots before (Ralphie anybody?) but this is the first time we’ll see it represented in costume format. How does Marco stack up against his live counterpart? More importantly, does Marco live up to the school’s nickname, The Thundering Herd? We’ll find out about that as well as how mascot are marketed to kids so let’s rumble on through.
Crib Sheet: Pop Open Your Windows
It’s that time of year. It’s time to pop open the windows and enjoy the weather a bit. Summer is just right around the corner and I’m happy that I’m not breathing recycled air at night. It’s a good time of the year for college football, too. The bones inside the players, the coaches, and the fans are just starting to itch. Warmer weather means practice is getting closer and games are not that far off. It’s especially exciting with the prospect of being the only kind of organized football on in the fall. Tune in later this year but in the meantime, hit up the Crib Sheet:
Mascot Monday: The Speedy Geoduck
So yesterday I was hanging out at the pool and was stuck trying to figure out just who should I profile for this week’s Mascot Monday. I figured, “Well, hey, I’m at the pool. I might as well do a mascot that’s water based.” You know what? There’s hardly a college mascot out there that is water based. Sure, pro sports has plenty of Sharks, Dolphins, and Devil Rays but at the college ranks, there’s hardly a mollusk. So for this week, I will talk about the only mollusk mascot and one of the only water based mascots in college, Evergreen State’s Speedy Geoduck.
Crib Sheet: Deep in the Heat of Texas
Welp I’m finally settled down here as the KCCGD Express is powered down and unpacked. You know, people were saying that the heat is bad down here but I don’t mind it so much. It’s not July yet, but mid 90s in late April/early May is a new thing for me. And I love it. People were meant to wear less clothes. Now on to this week’s Crib Sheet:
Mascot Monday: Rocky the Bull
Another week of Mascot Monday is bearing down and I’ve got another costumed character to pass judgement over. You know, it isn’t as bad as it sounds and we’ll prove it with this week’s mascot. A couple of weeks ago we featured a mascot by the name of Rocky and we are continuing that trend by looking at the University of South Florida’s version, Rocky the Bull. A school that’s up and coming in football has the same feeling for this steed so let’s check him out.
Crib Sheet: Saddling Up and Settling In
I’m sure you’ve seen my previous post about the major move down to Austin yesterday. Yeah I’m still pretty shocked myself and I’m the one that knew about it for over month. Never fear, we’ll still chug along and it continues today with this week’s Crib Sheep:
- Missouri players get together and bond by paintballing. I’ve never done it myself but I imagine pelting someone square in the chest with a faux bullet brings some sort of joy.
- Even though there’s a contest at quarterback this spring for Kansas State, Collin Klein shoulders all of the expectations going into next season. Meanwhile, Bill Snyder 2.0 is trying to use that competition to blow the steam off of former #1 recruit Bryce Brown.
- They already are bucking tradition by introducing a championship game, so it makes sense that Big 10 Commissioner Jim Delany is trying to push for later start times on games. Everyone knows the Big 10 starts mega early, with the Big 12, so why go and change it? I want to maximize my football watching day.
- Speaking of the Big 10, Nebraska lost its AAU membership. Ho man that just made my week. One of the strong points for Nebraska to move was its AAU membership. Now both the Cornhuskers and the Big 10 look dumb.
- Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tubberville offered his viewpoint on the whole ‘birthers’ debate. It’s few and far between when football comments on politics. I’d rather have that then the other way around.
- The BCS set the dates for the bowl games next year, but they have to wait until the NFL cleans up its mess before they can lock it down. I’m not sure how long they will wait, as the NFL can bump a month and still have a full season.
- It looks like being a part of the big boys for Boise State means having a couple of NCAA violations attached to their program. Its secondary so they won’t suffer too much. Welcome to big time, guys.
- The Pac 12 will get a mega buck deal from Fox and ESPN, much like the Big 12. Except it’s the biggest deal in history. Too bad they have 2 more teams to split up the costs with.
- The tornadoes last week missed me while I was driving down and it missed Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Crimson Tide’s long snapper Carson Tinker was injured, however. Auburn is even reaching out to help the area recover from the nasty storms. Just goes to show that heated rivals will always team up against mother nature.
- No more new bowls for the next three years. The NCAA will review the licensing process in that time to determine if enough is enough. Three years is plenty time for the FBS to expand so that the bowls can expand without leaving the chance of a school with a losing record in on the fun.
- ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit is taking some time out from Twitter because his Ohio State homies are bashing him for being fair. The Internet is a cruel place, Kirk. A cruel, cruel place.
Mascot Monday: Big Blue
This week’s Crib Sheet will not leave you blue, in fact it should leave you pretty happy. If you get anything out of this week’s mascot, it’s that it may take almost 100 years for a school to get something right. Utah State’s Big Blue went through many a transformations before landing on the current costumed character we see bouncing down the sidelines today. We’ll learn about how to treat a live animal, and your personal property, along the way. So cheer up, folks, Big Blue’s coming and he’s coming to turn your blues into a warm, happy yellow.
Crib Sheet: The Winds of Change
With tornadoes blowing down south and southeast, wildfires burning all of Texas, rain and hail pelting the land, and Missouri levees falling apart, it seems like the whole world is falling apart. But it’s merely weather changing bits and pieces of the land. There can be bigger changes afoot across the land. I have one coming up very quickly. But first let me spit out a kind of late Crib Sheet. Take notes and then take cover:
- ESPN’s David Ubben talks about the quiet action taking place at Kansas State. Bill Snyder 2.0’s all quiet about the major transfers they have coming into the season. I’ll talk more about the kids later. David Ubben should know by now that Snyder is a master of saying nothing while talking alot. Hey, he did a pretty good job covering the new turf that’s going up at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
- UMass will pull an upgrade in the football program and join the MAC starting in 2012. There’s plenty of room at the big boy table if you have the cash to pay the entry fee.
- It’s video fun time! Check out Iowa State’s Paul Rhoads throwing a haymaker a the Wally World moose. When you get done with that, check out the promo for the new EA Sports NCAA Football game.
- A website is offering $1 million dollars to Cam Newton to pass a lie detector test about his involvement with alleged payments or money searching by his father and Auburn. Um, I’m not sure Cam is going to bite after this week’s NFL Draft.
- Here’s a couple of numbers regarding the unequal TV distribution of Big 12 money. It seems it’s a lot closer than disparate and if you look at profit of the athletic departments it’s about the same as the Big 10 (who has equal TV revenue distribution).
- Big Mo at Missouri is need of a face lift and the fraternities in charge are asking for help to replace it. I suggest a giant drum machine instead so they can rock out some hip hop chants.
- The hammer is falling down hard on Ohio State’s Jim Tressel and the NCAA is bearing the handle. They are rebuking him big time for withholding information about known violations and what not. Could he be out of the job by the start of the season?
- Kansas football recruit Adonis Saunders showed off his speed by winning two gold medals at the Kansas relays. He will bring needed speed the Jayhawks come next season.
- 9 of the 11 members of a panel who will review the Fiesta Bowl’s status in the BCS went on paid for junkets by the Fiesta Bowl in the past. Methinks that Fiesta Bowl should get off, right? People will complain about this but they will forget pretty soon.
Mascot Monday: Scrappy
What a long crazy week (and month) its been. It’s been so much fun that I haven’t had the opportunity to blast out another sweet tasting Mascot Monday. Welp, have no fear, I am back now ready to rock in full swing with another entrant into out mascot menagerie. Oh what? You want to know why I’ve been all weird and stuff? Welp, my only clue I’ll give you now is within this week’s mascot, Scrappy. North Texas is more than just Mean Green and Scrappy here is out to prove it. Can a mascot survive a school nickname that’s different and still be relavant?
Crib Sheet: Giant Chocolate Egg
It’s warmed over, too. This week’s Crib Sheet celebrates Easter by dropping news eggs all over the place. Grab your basket and find them buried in the grass of the Crib Sheet. Don’t get your fingers messy:
- It looks like Texas new defensive coordinator’s had a weird upbringing in coaching terms. He’s been at ESPN first, then a video guy at Florida State, and then on to coaching positions. It also looks like he takes inspiration from other sports, too. Will this shake things up enough for the Longhorns and turn the defense around? We’ll find out.
- The Big 12 Conference announced a mega-deal with Fox for broadcasting rights. Dan Beebe was right. They reportedly negotiated a $90 million a year deal through the next 13 years. The big plus? Every home game will be on some form of television starting in 2012. Well that and each school has a the chance to kick up their own network.
- The officer who shot and killed the Pace University football player, Denroy Henry Jr., received the Officer of the Year Award from the police union where he works. Their reasoning is that the officer showed bravery through that time and all of his time working for the department. This angered alot of folks. It depends on who you believe on what happened. I just don’t like that it’s a union that gets to dole out the award.
- Not to be outdone by fellow conference fashionistas Oregon, Arizona State unveiled their new uniforms for the year. They will be changing colors left and right. On top of that, their helmets are new, with big giant pointy tridents. The Ducks did this and they won but they also hired the right coach. That’s the kind of makeover the Sun Devils could really use.
- In another case of me-too’s, Auburn will build statues for their Heisman Trophy winners, like what Florida did. The only difference is that there’s a darker cloud hanging over Cam Newtan than there is hanging over Tim Tebow. I wonder if they’ll add that to the design. Oh, and Nick Saban had his own statue erected, too.
- There will be even more Blubaughs in prison as Tom’s wife, Charlette, will get 57 months in prison for her role in the Kansas ticket scandal. I didn’t know women’s prisons had Blubaughs too. Maybe they should make a movie about it.
- Dennis Dodd of CBS has an interesting article on 7-on-7 leagues in high school. It seems they are the AAUs of football. Jay Paterno is correct about how coaches can’t tell if a kid can take a hit. I hope something gets down soon about these because I don’t want football to turn into a ballet. We could use a couple of big hits in a game.
- Now that the Fiesta Bowl is in trouble, they are scrambling to get money back from lawmakers who took the kickbacks from them. If it’s anything related to government, then it will take a long time before the Fiesta Bowl sees a dime.
- A couple of rule changes are coming down the pike for next year. The NCAA approved more stringent below the waist penalties and gave the option for teams to run 10 seconds off the clock on penalties within the final minute of the half. Nothing earth shattering but an improvement indeed.
- Notre Dame released the investigation report relating to Declan Sullivan’s death earlier this year. They found the no single person was responsible but there was a lax in safety. Apparently the weather data was out of date. This does seem kind of fishy, I hope the school pays tons of money to parents of Sullivan to avoid a lawsuit.
- There was a tussle online about the Boise State’s AD, Gene Bleymaier, and his fiery words about the BCS. That’s just talk. What’s more important to me is that the school trademarked the blue turf and will protect the likeness of the field in FBS terms, while allowing it to happen to divisions below. Since when is a blue field trademarkable? That seems a little too much to me. At least one coach in the Mountain West Conference, sees it as an unfair competitive advantage as well. San Diego State’s Rocky Long hates it and I suggest the Aztecs change their field to candy striped or fractal like patterns.
- So while the NCAA is busy messing up student athletes and their lack of scholarship funding, they find time to make some even dumber team name penalties. North Dakota passed a state law to keep the Fighting Sioux nickname but it will not stop the NCAA from administrating penalties because of their perception of the name. The NCAA considers it offensive and will take money away from the school. The deeper issue is that two tribes in the area are split over the decision. Why is the NCAA trying to influence an issue that clearly doesn’t involve them? Let the tribes and the state figure it out and get out of the way.
Mascot Monday: Rocky the Rocket
Sometimes you need to be obvious about your mascot name. Sometimes you just have to have some dude out there instead of the actual mascot. In this week’s Mascot Monday’s case, sometimes you need both. The Toledo Rockets fly straight out of the MAC and have been piloted by Rocky the Rocket the whole time. We’ll fly into space this week and come back with a little video game nostalgia. Those in the know will know where I”m going with this. Continue reading Mascot Monday: Rocky the Rocket
Crib Sheet: It’s Starting to Get Drafty In Here
The NFL Draft is coming up quick, no matter how weird it is, and will blow by even faster. This week’s Crib Sheet is just as windy. And it’s almost as windy as the weather is outside in the KC metro area. Hold on tight:
Continue reading Crib Sheet: It’s Starting to Get Drafty In Here
Mascot Monday: Mr. and Mrs. Wuf with Tuffy
Yes, I know what you are saying, “That was my favorite TV show from the 50s!” Alas, you are incorrect. It’s this week’s Mascot Monday! Big news is right around the corner for the website in general, but before I drop the bomb on y’all I took a little bit of time to doctor up this week’s mascot. The magic finger poked its away around Wikipedia and it landed on North Carolina State’s Mr. and Mrs. Wuf with the recently introduced Tuffy. Hold on to your vows, we’ll be learning about married life and live wolves.
Crib Sheet: Spring Fever Pitch
Spring is in the air and unfortunately, some of it stinks. Now I could be talking about the Fiesta Bowl scandal or perhaps the NFL lockout. Nope, it’s none of that. It’s the fact that I have to suffer through another summer of baseball before the real American pasttime takes the stage. Fortunately for me I have the Crib Sheet to keep my occupied. Oh and thank you Beano Cook for being awesome.
- Now that the Fiesta Bowl report came out and the bowl’s CEO John Junker got canned, people are speculating about the BCS and its ties with the Fiesta Bowl, including David Ubben. It seems that the Cotton Bowl and its home, the Jerry Jones Cowboys Stadium spectacular, would be a great fit for the BCS. It is the largest football stage out there. If the BCS moves forward with Cotton, then this report and subsequent firing will also seem a little to coincidental. The real loser here is the cancelled spring retreat for the Fiesta Bowl. Well, that and the FEC complaint against the Fiesta Bowl filed by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. It’s nothing a meeting with the NCAA can’t fix.
- A former Texas A&M coach said that Willie Lyes, the same guy who was paid $25,000 from Oregon and is under NCAA investiagion, approached him and stated that he had beat $80,000 for a star recruit. With all of this money blowing up and flowing around college football, it was onlya a matter of time that recruitment services looking to get a cut of the pic made moves like these.
- Former Kansas assistant athletic director Rodney Jones gets 4 years in jail for the $2 million dollar ticket scandal involving him and some other cohorts, including Kassie Liebsch who got 3 years. I’m pretty sure he’s going to get the fluffly white color crime prison and not the dark, stank, blue collar crime prison. Still, he was all Niagara Falls during the sentencing. Yet, ticket scalpding still goes on.
- The Pac 10 is open for business and they’re letting the world know it. The exclusive negotiating rights for Fox expired and now it’s time to shop the conference across all of the television networks. Oh, they’ll get bank. It’s the big time now.
- ESPN filed suit against Conference USA for dipping into the FX deal for prime time football games. It’s always cute when television stations and football conferences fight.
- Soslan Gagloev was a Russian in Japan’s waters and kicking it sumo style. And he was winning. But he was busted for weed and now he’s playing some college football at Webber International Univeristy. Defensive back he ain’t. That said, sumo and any other kind of wrestling requires leverage work and that applies fantastically to line work in football. He should do alright.
- Here’s a shocker: drug policies across all facets of college sports completely varies in policy. I think the AP suggests to streamline the whole process.
- Colt McCoy’s younger brother, Case, is looking to take the reigns for the Texas Longhorns. He had a stellar spring practice. Who knows? Maybe that magic can happen again.
- Speaking of Texas, their new network will be called the ‘Longhorn Network.’ There’s no deal for satellite deistributors but I’m guessing that it will blow up once they annoucne a couple of football games on the network.