Category Archives: Football

Pick It and Stick It: Letting It Run Down

Another Friday and another day after for me and some Stadiumspotting.   Last week didn’t go to well for me but this week was the complete opposite.  The college football season is full of ups and downs and it can change every week.  With this weekend, we will be about halfway through the football season.  The time is running down for more great games and for even more great picks.  The field’s thinning at the top and the clock is starting to run down.  Let’s go over this week’s Pick It and Stick It to see how the downs can turn into ups:

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Stadiumspotting: Thursday Night Lights Part II, Lawrence Edition

We said we had one more trip left in us and I was wrong.  We have at least two!  So tonight starts another familiar trip out west to Stadiumspot.  We’re not going all the way to Manhattan, however.  We are heading to Lawrence to watch the Sunflower Showdown.  Kansas comes off a beating from the Baylor Bears of all teams while Kansas State said goodbye to Nebraska by getting their asses kicked.  Both teams need a win and there’s nothing like notching a rivalry win to pick things up.  I don’t know who’s going to win this one but I hope that it will at least be competitive.

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Crib Sheet: The Road is Never Done

So I just found out today that I have at least 2 more road trips to go this year for the KCCGD crew.  This year has been by far the most travelled and will be the most Stadiumspotted.  It’s a nice change of pace from the last couple of years as we have begun to run out of new and cool places to Barspot.  One of the new road trips just happens to be tomorrow night.  Tune in tomorrow to find out here, but you won’t have to think hard if you want to guess.  In the meantime, let’s catch up to the news items in this week’s Crib Sheet:

  • Coach Mark Dantonio of Michigan State had his health issues and that apparently inspired a fan to postpone surgery to watch the battle for Paul Bunyan’s Trophy last Saturday.  Major Hester put off getting a pacemaker installed to watch the battle.  Okay, that’s hardcore.  I would pick life over college football, but it would be close.
  • Looks like the move to the Big 10 will support a stadium expansion for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  The newly approved plan will cost about $56 million and put the capacity at around 90,000 seats.  How much do you want to bet that they will try to build Memorial Stadium up to be bigger than the Big House?
  • Meanwhile, the Rose Bowl has expansion plans of its own.  The $152 million expansion will keep the lease going with the bowl through 2043.  They have an upcoming BCS National Championship Game so they need to spruce things up a bit.
  • But while the two stadiums have expansion competition going, the locker room just got better for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  Ndamukong Suh donated about $2 million and as part of that, the players get iPads installed in the locker room.  Man they need to put that in the toilet, not the locker.  You’re not going to get much use out in the open with those things.
  • Baylor receivers Willie Jefferson and Josh Gordon got busted with pot after they were found passed out in a Taco Bell drive through.  The whole 4th meal thingy from the Bell targets potheads anyway so it was a no brainer that these guys were found with weed.  They’ll more than likely miss a couple of games.
  • Neither of those two were involved last week in one of the shortest kick returns in history.  Texas Tech hit an onside and it didn’t go 10 yards.  Terrance Ganaway nabbed it and ran 38 yards for a touchdown.  It wasn’t the shortest, but it was awesome to see the special teams fail on the Red Raiders.
  • Don’t dump on Texas Tech too much though, they are getting kick ass camouflage uniforms for a game against Missouri in November.  Any kind of camo works for us as we miss the old Army ones.  If you want to dump on uniforms, check out Texas A&M’s refresh.  It’s almost exactly the same.  Yawn City.
  • Floida quarterback John Brantly played with broken ribs and thumb against LSU last Saturday.  That’s pretty tough, especially for a quarterback.  You know what’s tougher?   Virginia Tech offensive lineman Greg Nosal didn’t realize he lost the tip of his pinky in his glove and continued to play the game until it was out of reach.  His pinky tip was on ice and was reattached after the game.  Football is tough, real tough.
  • This bit of news is confusing so bear with me on this.  A former agent said an agent friend of his, Gary Wichard, used ESPN’s Mel Kiper, Jr. to recruit college players.  Kiper’s released statement says he talked to players by going through agents.  I’m having a hard time finding where the fault is.  I think it’s the fact that agents are pushing players to Kiper and his Big Board.  But I don’t know it’s players after college or during.  This does smell fishy.
  • College football is cyclical.  Power programs come and go and the traditional ones always swing around back into power.  Much like the seasons, power programs have summers and winters.  For Penn State’s winters, that also includes the usual cries for Joe Paterno to retire.  This guy is going to die on the field, in anything to fulfill my prediction.  He’s not going to retire and Penn State will be good in a couple of years.

Pick It Standings Week 06: Part Design Part Luck

This week’s standings are in and we are still figuring out just how to work the angles.  Starting out, it made sense that we made the picks a little more hardcore.  Picking just one team over the other seemed way to simple to the kind of fans that lurk around these parts.  Oh, we’re glad we set it up the way we did, but we sure are reminded today that we can’t fall asleep at the wheel.  The weekly picks by design are supposed to affect the overall but it doesn’t seem that way.  Much like Les Miles crazy fake field goal that eventually put LSU over Florida.  Pick It and Stick is part design, part luck.

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The Send Off Was Beat Down at Bill Snyder Family Stadium

The drive down to Manhattan last Thursday was fairly quick.  The more than likely last ever game between Kansas State and Nebraska took place and it was not all I hoped to be.  But the electricity from the radio on through the fans as well as the pageantry leading up to the game made the trip more than worthwhile.  There’s nothing like revisiting your old stomping grounds and enjoying everything great about what it was like to be there.  The whole day fittingly ended Nebraska’s presence in Wildcat Country.

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GameDay: Road Trippin’

I’ve been on a ton of road trips the last couple of weeks.  Wichita, Des Moines, Minneapolis, and Manhattan all were recorded in the log book.  I’ve noticed some things on the road and want to share it with you.  From what to eat to how to beat the casino, these tips will help you get more out of your college football road trip.  I’ve heard of people road tripping every week for football and dismissed them as being crazy.   The last month’s events just made me a little crazy for the road.

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Pick It and Stick It: The Mourning After

The big game last night didn’t end up so well for this Kansas State fan. Hey, that’s okay. We tooled to Aggiveille and hit up the Hibachi Hit, which later lead to the vaunted Hibachi Butt. Maybe it was the mixture of great cajun food and the Carbomb we had at O’Malley’s Alley. Who knows? But it was great to see the old stomping grounds, even though the Wildcats were run over by Taylor Martinez and the Nebraska Cornhuskers. More on that with Monday’s post. Until then, we have some picks for the weekend we need to go through. The healing process begins with pickens.

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Stadiumspotting: Thursday Night Lights

This will be the first off day stadiumspotting for us and we’re super excited.  Kansas State hosts Nebraska for probably the last time ever and they are both undefeated.  The electricity will be huge in the Little Apple and we will be there to cover it.  Chances are we will make our way back to a bar Saturday but we’ll go ahead and tweet the location when we decided where.  Until then, it’s half day action at work then a split time of driving and football watching.  This Purple Yeti is more than pumped for the biggest game of the year for the Wildcats.

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Crib Sheet: Ready to Ride I-70

A very special lady sprung on me some tickets to the Kansas State and Nebraska game going on tomorrow.  So we’ll do some Stadiumspotting there as well get you stoked for this week of football.  First thing is first, though.  This week’s Crib Sheet goes over some of the hottest news items of the last week.  We have some spicy giblets ready to feed ya and then we’re gonna get the car ready for the impromptu road trip.  On to the sheet:

Pick It Standings Week 05: Feeling Beefy

Conference play opened up over the weekend and we are getting into the beef of the schedule.  Sure, the potatoes of the non conference fed us well, but we wanted meat and now we are getting it.  Speaking of getting it, some of our pickers got it hard both on the weekly pick set and the creeping up of bad picks from weeks gone.  Some teams as well missed the chicken piece mark and had to eat the gravy sandwich.  It somewhat gets complicated from here on out so grab your meat and hold on.

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Tailgaters Sports Cafe Shuffled Us In and Out of Minneapolis

Okay so this will be a lil weird.  Barspotting found me outside of Kansas City again Saturday for the second week in a row.  This time, I was in Minnesota.  Minneapolis to be exact.  So prior obligations held me up north and by some crazy chance I was able to stumble into a sports bar up there to catch at least one football game.  Among the lessons learned on this trip was that regional football coverage can sometimes cramp your football watching style.  Well that and onion rings alone can be pretty tasty.

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GameDay: A Kansas Citian’s View of Big 10 Country

So I thought last week was chilly.  Yeah it’s even colder up closer to the Great White North.  Or what I like to call the Not Quite Great White North.  I’m up here for other obligations and I’m excited not only for that but for being able to see what Big 10 country is like.  Now, a couple of weeks ago we were up in Des Moines, but that was on the edge.  I’m in Minnesota.  I’m in the heart of Big 10 country.  I’ve heard of and talked smack on the aura of the Big 10 and now it’s time I see what it’s like.

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Pick It And Stick It: Gopher More

Okay so in case you’ve heard we are heading up north.  Yup, it’s gonna be chilly but hopefully not as chilly as some of the picks we have this week.  There’s only 25, our lowest of the year so far, and we’re feeling the pinch of lower confidence points.  Pick well, every one.  Dig down deep and go for more.  You’ll need to be spot on for this set and probably the rest of the sets.

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Barspotting: The Twin Cities Beckon

You know, I don’t know what it is with the travelling all of the sudden, but here we go again on our own.  Going down that only road that, well, leads straight from Kansas City to Minneapolis/St. Paul.  Otherwise I-35.  I’ve been (unofficially) down I-35 to Austin, Texas and now I’m heading up north to check out Minnesota.  Prior obligations find myself out there and I’m hoping to get some football down while I do it.  A little birdie told me that Minnesota is hosting Northwestern for homecoming so I might check it out.  Otherwise, it might be a great sports bar in town or more than likely Hooters at the Great Mall of America.  God I hope it’s the homecoming game.

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Crib Sheet: Working Hard to Play this Weekend

We are knee-deep in some serious day job related stuff but fortunately we build the Crib Sheet piece by piece, day by day.  Here ya go:

  • Much of the details of last week’s agreement between the Big 12 and outgoing schools Nebraska and Colorado came out.  Dan Beebe talked about why Nebraska has to pay $9 million and Colorado has to pay $6 million.  Also, don’t look for expansion anytime soon.   They haven’t decided on how to divvy out the cash, but chances are it will be the same formula used for the revenue sharing in general.
  • Irish eyes will be smiling when Notre Dame will play Navy in Ireland 2012.  We’re not sure where they will play but more than likely there’s a good chance they’ll all go out together after the game and get drunk.
  • In preparation for last week’s game against Boise State, Oregon State coaches had their practice field painted blue.  That’s some great thinking there.  It’s almost like using loud speakers to emulate crowd noise except messier.
  • Communication issues have tormented Turner Gill and the Kansas Jayhawks.  His solution?  Yanking cell phones from players the day before the game and then giving it back in the locker room after the game.  How will the players wake up in the morning or talk to their mothers?  I guess that’s what computers are for.  We wonder how many more losses it will take for Gill to yank computer privileges too.
  • The NCAA leaped to action regarding the issue of sports agents and collegiate players by writing a letter.  A letter.  They asked for cooperation.  Nothing else.  Just another reason the NCAA needs to upgrayedd or just disband.  These guys are getting real irrelevant.
  • The Playoff PAC, the special interest group formed to blow away the BCS and instill a college football playoff, will file a complaint with the IRS regarding the tax status of the Fiesta, Sugar, and Orange Bowl.  They used a load of lawyers and one accountant to pick apart the tax returns and public documents of the BCS bowls and found that some loans and director salaries were just too much.  Whether the IRS will remove the tax status, we won’t know.  But we do know that the Playoff PAC is digging into every crook and cranny to blow away the BCS.
  • Meanwhile, the PAC 10 is thinking about having their title game in Las Vegas.  Okay that’s a little crazy as there is no team in the Pac 10 from Nevada.  It is centrally located, but they need to have it in California.
  • Texas is signing up another (somewhat) tough opponent in Maryland  for the 2017 and 2018 season.  Will this be the game on the Longhorns Network?
  • Because of past troubles, USC will be barred from playing the Pac 10 Championship Game in 2012, if they are good enough to get there.  Bide your time Trojan fans.  Once Lane Kiffin blows up your program and you rebuild, you’ll be able to enjoy the fruits of the title game.
  • It seems Landry Jones of Oklahoma will have a higher calling after he is done calling plays.  Jones says he’s 98% sure that he wants to become a pastor after football.  Just goes to show you all walks of life come to play football.  We wonder how many Hail Marys he’s tossed compared how many he’s recited.
  • He’s just hanging with Tim Brewster.  He’s not going for the head coaching job.  That’s what Minnesota is saying after Mark Mangino was spotted on the sidelines of a game, supporting his buddy.  Minnesota should’ve gotten right out in front of this.  There is no way no one would not recognize Mark Mangino hanging out on the sidelines.  The nose bleeder seats would’ve been able to see him.
  • Apparently along with the no cell phone rule for players, Turner Gill’s Kansas Jayhawks can’t be with the ladies after 10 pm.  That’s a harsh rule.  It’s on any night.  Do mothers count?  Like as in visit and talk to.  Keep your mind out of the gutters, people.
  • Nick Saban said his Alabama team should be set to face Michigan in the Jerry Jones Super Mega Cowboys Stadium Dome in 2012.  It sounds like more college games will be played there than pro games.  It’s good for Dallas we suppose.
  • Looks like Kansas backup, and former starter, Kale Pick will be out a couple of weeks with a leg injury.  Not sure if he will ever see a snap again.
  • Bill Snyder 2.0 is starting to look alot like the first version.  The Wildcats snagged a top ranked junior college quarterback Justin Tuggle from Blinn, much like another former one by the name of Michael Bishop.  This looks to be the next year.
  • The NHL’s Stanley Cup showed up at the Notre Dame game last week.  It will be awhile before the Fighting Irish will see another title of any kind down in South Bend.
  • Strange things are afoot for Missouri.  First off, cornerback Munir Prince left the team due to the transient quadriplegia he suffered in the preseason.  If he plays anymore it could get permanent.  Next up, senior safety Jasper Simmons has been suspended indefinitely from the team.  He had knee surgery after the Illinois game.  Are they just trying to drop a scholarship or something?  At any rate, some very unusual things are going down in Columbia.