Before college football, I would never make it out of bed before 10 AM on Saturdays. Nowadays, I’m up and around at the gym before 10 AM so I can squeeze in a workout before the games. Does getting older mean getting up earlier to be able to watch more football? Or is it just the fact that there’s so much football, they have to cram it in between all the cracks of the non work schedule? Any way I look at it, I know I will slugging down more coffee to keep up. Getting older is fun.
I’ve been hearing for the last week or two about “Which #1 will go down this week?” Do you really hear that in any other sport? Sure, you may in college basketball, but you don’t in the NFL, MLB, or even golf. The reason why is simple, college football is a playoff every week. If we go to an actually off-season playoff, this will go away.
With the Eric LeGrand injury as well as the big fines being dropped in the NFL, I figured I would take some time to talk about violence and football. Ever since I was a kid, the mantra of football has been to hit the other guy harder than you. Not only does it provide a physical advantage, but also a mental one. With the way things are going, the physical part of the game will go away. I don’t think the sport will be the same.
I played little league football and I was pretty good. No, I wasn’t quarterback, but I was big enough as a lil ‘un to plug up holes and do a decent job of blocking. The best coach I ever had was from little league and he always said to hit the guy harder than you. That’s the battle on the line of scrimmage. If you push, you will win. That’s the way it’s always been. Once the other team knows that, it starts to wear them down emotionally. It’s the spirit of the competition.
In high school, I moved up to varsity during my sophomore year and eventually started both ways a year later. Hey, I got real big. There are two moments I remember. The first one was hitting a guy so hard in practice that he bounced a yard back from me and quit the team the next week. The other one was in a game. It was 4th and goal, the run was coming my way, and I was looking right across to the guy I had to block. Before the snap, I knew instantly that I was gonna blow the guy up. I did and we scored. There is no better feeling on the field when you beat the other guy that way.
The last couple of weeks once again shone the light on just how violent football is as a sport. In terms of collisions, it’s right up there with boxing and maybe MMA. I knew that going into little league, I knew it in high school, and I know it today. I’m okay with it, too. The risk was there from the beginning and will still be there in the end. That’s why the latest rounds of attention doesn’t mean much.
Every couple of years, a football player gets hit the wrong way and ends up paralyzed. What usually follows is about a month of attention from the media and the sports media about how football is too violent. After about a month, the attention goes away. Even with the science of concussions and hits maturing into a full study, I can tell you that we won’t remember it a month from now.
Both sides are filling the airwaves with crap and the quicker it goes away the better. On one side, you have people who’ve never played football talk about how the sport should be banned. There may be an actually ex-footballer in they’re talking about how serious a hit can be. The rule of thumb with those guys is that the more mainstream the show, the more they abhor the violence. I’ve heard on TV how terrible it is and I’ve heard on podcasts how it’s just the flavor of the week.
The other side of the talk are employed football players. You’ll see some guys say sorry, but you’ll see other guys talk about how they don’t know how to do it differently. James Harrison even said he might retire because of the recent changes. With football players, you’ll hear about how they don’t want to change and how it will turn into Arena football if they make more big hit changes. While rule changes may tilt things that way, it won’t fundamentally change football. It’s just a matter of two sides claiming the extreme until people get tired of it.
So when you go out and read about how concussions kill or that they are putting on a pink dress, since there are already pink gloves, on football. Just sit back, relax, and take a breath. Football isn’t going to change for the worse and no one is going to die on the field. The only time to really be worried if there ends up being enough push to ban football. Even then, it’s alright because there’s always MMA. We are wired to enjoy violence without killing anyone and we’ll get our fix eventually.
While I was chilling out at Memorial Stadium Thursday night, I couldn’t help but think for a moment about the Colorado fans storming the field against Georgia a couple of weeks ago. Kansas State was well on its way to a victory and not once did you see any fans for the Wildcats try to storm the field. It seems nowadays, however, that storming the field is the easy thing to do after a victory. I want to take this time to talk to every student, fan, or objective observer. Stop storming the fields. Just stop it.
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.
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.
Continue reading GameDay: A Kansas Citian’s View of Big 10 Country
So I woke up this morning to a cool and crisp chilly Iowa morning. Yeah it’s football weather. I love it when people say that. It usually means it’s getting colder and there’s potential for rain or snow. You never hear that with any other sport. I guess that is part of what makes football so manly. You look forward to playing in terrible weather. Let’s just hope the powers that be don’t screw that up.
As some of you may know, I do a Mascot Monday post ever week in the offseason. What I do is an introspective into the many mascots that parade the sidelines during the games. Some of them are live animals. Some of them are costumed. And even some of them are real people. There isn’t a massive ranking list like the football teams, but I do tell you if the mascot is worth watching and if the school really cares about its spirit. Welp I saw something yesterday that made me think about the state of mascots.
You now, when I started this 3 years ago, I never imagined that I would still be doing this today. It all started as a goof. I took to the time throw something up and started writing. Now as I’m heading into my 4th year, I’m not really sure how much longer I’ll be doing this. I love college football and I love the pageantry that surrounds it. But every weekend comes and goes and I end up places where my friends aren’t just get a peek at some new venue. Is it worth it?
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!
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.
Ah, yes the Sunflower Showdown. I was at the game last year and it was a blowout. I’m heading to the game this year and it’s a homecoming in a way. I make no bones about being a K-Stater and while I do my best to be objective, the Purple Pride eeks out ahead. So when I go to the game today, I will be reliving the days of past when I was a student. I will also be going back to the source and inspiration for this website.
No no, we didn’t forget you today on this all Hallow’s Eve. We just want to spook you out even more with today’s Game Day post. We’re a big fan of the macabre on top of football so we though it would be fun to match up the Big 12 coaches with various members of the Addams Family. If you remember the TV show and if you remember their New Yorker comics then you’re just too damn old. At any rate, most of these guys fit in nicely with each character and you’ll be ghoulishly laughing all along the way. Anything to take the thumping that the Big 12 South is putting on the Big 12 North off of our minds.
Today is the first road trip for the KCCGD crew and we’d thought it would be good to go over a few pointers and needs for a pre game celebration. In the interest of full disclosure, the tailgating this year will be provided from a corporate sponsor/donor for the Kansas Jayhawks so we’re not bringing much. That said we do have a few expectations riding up to the game. It should be a good one with Oklahoma at Kansas and we’ll hopefully be watching it with a full belly and a great smile.
So when listening to the hype leading up to this week’s Red River Rivalry, I couldn’t help but think that it used to be called something else. There’s whispers of it on the web now, but I could swear that it used to be called the Red River Shootout. Is that right? Pictures and images tell us of this but more and more it’s a rivalry and not a shootout. Did they change it? Why? Well we know why, and it kinda sucks.