The holiday weekend was rough on us and we barely made it back to Kansas City in time for some prime college football. Our hair was as greasy as the fried turkey we gobbled up for meal number two Thursday. But we made in, dropped off our stuff,, and headed to North Kansas City and Chappell’s Sports Museum and Restaurant. After running the gauntlet of food and family over the weekend it was nice to dig into the warmth and surprisingly quiet Chappell’s.
Last week was the beginning of Rivalry Week and now we are fully realizing its end. We had out schedule jacked up due to Thanksgiving and we’re sure you’ve had yours as well. It’s all for a good thing, however, as we should give thanks to what we have at least once a year. So in celebration of Thanksgiving and our shortened week, we are combining our Barspotting and Pick It and Stick It posts. And without further ado, we are Barspotting at Chappell’s Saturday. Yes, we’ll be just back in town to watch the Border War between Kansas and Missouri. We’re going up to North Kansas City and watchin some football as well as checking out their collection of sports memorabilia. Thankfully, we are just in time to go over the picks too and we hope you didn’t forget to make yours on this short week.
Rivalries are abound as just about every game on the list is a rivalry. So in between the turkey and gravy and shopping and family, check out these games. Some of them sound cool like the Duel in the Desert with Arizona and Arizona State. Some of them sound goofy like the Egg Bowl with Ole Miss at Mississippi State. No matter the name, they all mean something big to the teams and offer up a tradition only seen in college football. Big 12 wise, we missed out on the Nebraska and Colorado game but that’s alright. Nebraska won and it didn’t matter. We have the Bedlam series for Oklahoma State and Oklahoma tomorrow. The ‘Pokes will get a good shot at a BCS bid provided they win and Texas does next week against said Cornhuskers. The other major game for the Big 12 is the Border War. Kansas needs a win to be bowl eligible and Missouri needs a win to get 2nd in the North. Who’s gonna win? Come on out to Chappell’s and help us find out.
So we didn’t do a post yesterday because we were tooling around multiple cities and states for about 3 turkey dinners. We are in a massive food coma. Because of that, there’s no barspotting post. All is well, however, we’ll combine the pick it post later today. We’re kinda bummed out that we didn’t get to pick the Texas and Texas A&M games yesterday. That was the best game for pros and colleges alike. Anywho, we are actually having turkey for breakfast so we’ll check in later with stats, games, picks, and barspots. Happy Thanksgiving!
It’s a short week here at the KCCGD. We gotta pack up tonight and get ready to hit the highway big time for Turkey Day. We still have some time to get pumped for college football. Usually when you think of football and Thanksgiving, it’s the NFL games with Detroit and Dallas. But, there is even a bigger tradition for Thanksgiving and college football. Rivalries are all over the place and it’s spread out nicely across the whole weekend. So while the travel may be plentiful for us and maybe you, we are guaranteed some live college football at some point. Happy Thanksgiving and here’s the Crib Sheet:
ESPN Page 2 columnist Matthew Iles talks about some of the more goofy rivalry trophies in college football. We like the Old Brass Spittoon the best. I wonder if, at the end of the game, whether or no the winner spits in it and if it makes a ba-doing noise.
Florida State barely got bowl eligibility last weekend by edging out Maryland 29 – 26. Bobby Bowden may end up being forced out anyway at the end of the year. The guy has been getting from all sides down there.
Some Big 12 coaches are jumping to the defense of Kansas coach Mark Mangino. Mike Leech and Bob Stoops are covering for him, even though they are alot like him. The surprising one was Bill Snyder 2.0. Coaches need to look out for each other and we’re seeing a pretty good case of this right here.
Jimmy Clausen could have used some defense when he was cold cocked by a fan in front of a South Bend restaurant. Not very Catholic-like indeed. Jimmy’s out at the end of the year and heading to the NFL. This incident merely sealed the deal.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg for Notre Dame. Charlie Weis pretty much said it himself when we stated that there is no surprise if the Irish can him at the end of the year. Urban Meyer keeps telling the press he’s out, signaling the start of a new coaching search for the Domers. No more vaunted, Charlie Weis led, Notre Dame Fighthing Irish.
Taylor Potts last week wore ‘Nick’ on the back of his jersey, now we know why. Mike Leech talks about his man love former Kansas linebacker Nick Reid. He never met him but for some reason he’s always thought Reid was the ultimate football player. We’re still trying to figure this out. It did help inspire them to a win though.
It’s a short week here as we’re are in training for Thanksgiving Thursday. We thought about calling up Mark Mangino to help us train but we don’t like being verbally abused and we most certainly don’t want him to hog all of the food. So here we are stretching and exercising for the marathon of food we get to sprint through. A couple of things to note in setting your eat order is: Do you use dark meat or white meat? Are you a gravy fan? Pumpkin or Apple pie? These answers can lead you to the top of the glutton mountain and be crowned the Feast King. Now here’s the Pick It and Stick It standings:
Finally, the KCCGD has come BACK to Leewood, Kansas! Okay, we’re not too much into old school wrestling references, but we had to set the tone on how we felt within the walls of the 810 Zone. We all aren’t wrestling fans and we don’t live in trailers. In fact we’re pretty normal. But compared the crowd out there, we certainly felt that way. Even so, we ended up having a pretty good time. Our wallets felt the pain however. So did the Kansas State Wildcats as they tried to win the Big 12 North against Nebraska. Oh the times we had.
Rivarly Week rolls up into Saturday and we want to spend some time giving homage to what could be Mark Mangino’s last football game. Rumor has it that the kids will lay down Saturday and then be up to play their last game against Kansas next weekend. Mark Mangino has been a huge butt of jokes in recent years because of his orca-fat status. Now being a former orca-fat guy myself, I can sympathize with him (no I’m not writing a Whitlock article). Being that big doesn’t excuse you from being a total jerk. If Mangino was throwing his weight around alot, then it could be very damaging. Maybe one or two incidents would be overlooked but if it’s been more and more frequent, then the whole body of work will make him more guilty. It looks as though the evidence against him is bursting at the seams and we’ll see this guy on the unemployment line next week. See you later, Mark Mangino, it was fun while it lasted and we hope to see you on The Biggest Loser soon.
This week we go back to the 810 Zone, but this time it’s the one that started it all in Leawood, Kansas. Now before we started the blog, we had a nasty television mix up at this location. Hopefully things will be better because we are there for the Big 12 North battle. Who will win in the defense match up between Kansas State and Nebraska? Show up to find out. Meanwhile, we’ll snack on some apps, marvel at the number of beers on tap, and perhaps play a game or two. It should be a kick butt time and we hope you can make it out. Consider this the make-up for missing out on alot of football from Paddy O’Quigley’s last week.
So yesterday there was a big hoopla about Kansas coach Mark Mangino and his reported abuse of players earlier this year. What’s the abuse? From what we’re read so far it’s yelling and poking a player in the chest. Okay, so if this guy gets canned over just that, then it’s an indictment on the culture that is Kansas athletics. It’s college football people. If you don’t do your job, you will be disciplined. Now if it turns out he did more, then it’s more on Mangino’s wide shoulders and his lack to control his emotions. Our take? Kansas is in a losing streak and the fair weather, bandwagon, and easy to over hype their expectations players, player’s parents, and fans have shown their true colors. What coach will want to come there to lead a football team when the everyone at Kansas University whine and cry like a bunch on babies? Oh and superstar, Pullitzer prize winning Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock says this happened because Mark Mangino is fat. Great reporting there, guy. Here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
USA Today has an article about the two biggest money making conferences, the SEC and Big 10. They fill up the media outlets. The SEC inked a deal with ESPN and they are pumped everywhere. Meanwhile, the Big 10 has their own flipping channel. The difference? The SEC is actually winning games. We’re tired of both conferences.
Speaking of Boise State, they are now selling stock in their program. Yes, a big time college program needs to generate money by offering shares in their program. Do you see Texas or Florida doing this? Nope. That’s because they actually have a fan base.
Ole Miss chancellor Dan Jones banned their fight song at games because the students typically chant “the South will rise again” at the end. While the intent is to remove the stigma that the Rebels have regarding racial insensitivity, students chanting that the south will rise again seems a little small compared to other methods he could employ. Banning the use of the rebel flag (which they have) makes just a little more sense than banning the fight song, especially when it comes to recruiting players.
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:
Okay, so the few of you out there that actually read the blog may be wondering, why so late today? Welp doing some freelancing on the side left this guy knee deep in a bunch of cables and computer parts. No worries, however, as we are coming in close to the deadline to talk about our tiny little trip out to Paddy O’Quigley’s to watch a little football, celebrate a 30th birthday, and jam out to some peeps belting out face melters on karaoke.
Last year, the Big 12 was a flutter with big time scoring led by big time spread offenses. This year, it’s more of a sputtering of offense here and there. Sure, there have been big scores but it’s mainly been in the form of blowouts. Shootouts are rare this year as we’re seeing scores like last week’s 10-7 barn burner in Lincoln. Where did the offense go? Did the defense show back up? A couple of factors help lead into why we are seeing such a down turn in offense this year.
We’re in a good mood this week. Thanksgiving is coming up. The bowl picture is settling up. We even have a local team in the running for the Big 12 North title. Even though we are inching closer to the end of the season, it already has met expectations for entertainment. We have a little pep in our step. We also have some games coming up tomorrow that should keep us hopping. So whistle while you work and check out this week’s Pick It and Stick It:
This week we passed over the voting in lieu of celebrating a friends birthday. Granted some of us must work this weekend and can only squeeze in some night game, but that’s okay. Why? We are heading back to Paddy O’Quigley’s but we are doing down in south Leawood. The last O’Quigley’s was a bland and boring experience and since then it has closed down. We are hopeful that Saturday brings us a better event. It doesn’t matter really because a 30th birthday will be had. Come on out and help us celebrate!
The line for the BCS title is thinning as the number of undefeated teams are going down week by week. Last week it was both Iowa and Oregon that lost their ticket. Who will go down this week? We don’t know. But that question singularly defines what college football is and how unique it is to other sports. It truly is a complete playoff system. Now some others may not grasp it, but when you look at it year by year, the best teams usually bubble up. So tune in and see who goes down this weekend. Until then here’s this week’s crib sheet:
Brandon Spikes was already suspended for one half of the Florida vs Vanderbilt game, but now he went and suspended himself for the other half. It’s a good thing it’s Vanderbilt because they probably didn’t need him. Kudos to Spikes, even though it is a big PR move.
Dez Bryant’s appeal to the NCAA was rejected and now he’s going to the NFL Draft. This kid got the shaft big time. If the NCAA was to make an example out of someone, do it to someone who actually did something wrong. From now on the NCAA will be called the NC-SS.
Jahvid Best suffered a more serious concussion last weekend in a touchdown dive for California. This first one happened the week before and this lost him consciousness. Sit him for the rest of the season, coach. Let him recover.
Welp, it took being ranked 4th in the BCS Standings for TCU to sell out a home game. Granted, it’s against top 16 ranked Utah, but this is first time since 2006 that they had a sellout. This is why mid-cons don’t get respect. The fans need to show up for the games to help support their teams. Then they can get the big tv time and respect. At least they got some cool new uniforms.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz tells us that Ricky Stanzi is out until bowl season. This is a big blow to Iowa as they had BCS title chances before he went down and now they are just struggling to make a BCS bowl. At least there will be no Big 10 team in the title hunt this year.
