College, Football, News

Crib Sheet: Late Valentine

Leave a comment

Back again and were in love.   The Crib Sheet today reminds us that every single thing, including the offseason lull, makes up the whole of our love for college football.  Now, I’m not going to get all smushy and corny, but I will say that if college football was a person, I would hand it a candied heart that says, “Don’t Stop.”  Now on to the Crib Sheet:

College, Football, Mascots

Mascot Monday: Mr. C

1 Comment

Another week of Mascot Monday sees us head down to the Southeastern Conference and paying a visit to Vanderbilt’s Mr. C.  Now their football team isn’t much to talk about compared to some of the other titans of the SEC.  Today we’ll find out with Mr. C why Vanderbilt deserves their stake in the best (it hurts to say) football conference in college.   Along the we’ll see Mr. C’s accolades as well as get a visit from an unlikely jokester.  Buckle in and get your old school military gear ready, it’s Mr. C time!

Continue reading Mascot Monday: Mr. C →

College, Football, News

Crib Sheet: Winter Calm

Leave a comment

We’re still tucked away with snow here at KCCGD headquarters and it’s time to finally wind things down, college football wise.  Spring practices and the draft is coming up, but that won’t be for a couple of months.  This week’s Crib Sheet surely reflects that.  Now I could waste a couple items with arrests and dismissals, but that happens every couple of weeks anyway.  So grab yourself some hot cocoa, sit right back, and enjoy a nice little Crib Sheet:

College, Mascots

Mascot Monday: Paydirt Pete

Leave a comment

This week’s Mascot Monday brings us back down to Texas as we take a look at Conference USA’s UTEP Miners and their foam faced fella, Paydirt Pete.  The UTEP mascot’s been going through some changes but the latest iteration brought some success.   We’ll take a look at that as well as UTEP’s somewhat up and down football program.  I’m getting back into the mascot swing of things and digging deep into Paydirt Pete will show it.  Don’t take that out of context, however.

Continue reading Mascot Monday: Paydirt Pete →

College, Football, News

Crib Sheet: Signing Hype Day

Leave a comment

It’s national signing day!  Okay, so it’s not that exciting, but we have some Big 12 updates flying in and I don’t want to take away from the exciting coverage.  Usually half the kids that are worth something don’t pan out anyway.   It’s a good thing that ESPN covers this overhyped event in the only way that ESPN can over hype.  Now on to the Crib Sheet:

College, Football, Mascots

Mascot Monday: Alphie and Wolfie Jr

Leave a comment

Yes we’re back with the 2011 Edition of Mascot Monday!  I gave long and serious thought to quitting this here weekly ditty, but a quick check to the logs revealed that Mascot Monday is one of my more popular items.  So here I am forging ahead.  I was gonna kick off the year with a BCS bang, but then I realized I already profiled the mascots for all of the BCS Bowl teams.  So the next best bang was the one given to Boise State at the hands of the Nevada Wolfpack.  We’re going to over the history of the Pack as well as their fluffy mascots. Also, we’ll point out agin why baseball is not covered here.

Nevada showed up athletically around the 1890s and were referred to as the Sagebrushers or Sage Hens.  That sounded limp so they were called the ‘Sage Warriors’ in the local newspapers.  As with alot of the cool mascot names, a local newspaper described the team with what was to become the actual team name and mascot.  In 1921, a writer called the team as a ‘pack of wolves.’  Football wise, they had a program around the 1890s but there doesn’t seem to be much hoopla around it, except for the Cal game that ended in a 0-0 tie.  Well, that and last year’s rise to a national ranking.

As for the costumed critter, Wolfie showed up in the 1970s.  Since then, there’s been changes left and right with the mascot get-up at Nevada.  A Wolfette pranced around in 1986 and Wolfie sported a big old ‘N’ top hat sometime after.  Then of course was more familial changes.  This site describes it best.  Wolfie’s cousin Alphie replaced him in 1999.  Wolfie Jr, popped back into the scene in 2007.  So we have cousins and sons and I guess a true ‘Pack’ of wolves.  It’s still confusing.  Was Wolfette Wolfie’s wife or relavtive?  How did a Wolfie Jr come about?

Let’s take a look at the alpha of the pack, Alphie. The standard head to toe fur covers Alphie while he sports a football jersey to cover up his naughty bits, Disney style.  Back in the day, they changed his look from a fierce one to a more kid friendly one.  Fair enough.  Woflie Jr. is a spitting image 0f Alphie.  There’s not much difference except for clothing style.  You know, if Nevada tries hard to keep a family tree together for the Pack, they need to make sure that each member is a little more distinguished.

That’s what it comes down to me for Alphie and Wolfie Jr.  I like how they look, but they look too much the same.  They need to take lessons from WCW’s version of the Wolfpack.  That’s right, we’re talking NWO Wolfpack.  Even though they wore the same colors, each member had their own style.  Macho Man Randy Savage had his fringy attire while Konnan went the ethnic hispanic route.  Heck even Scott Hall and Kevin Nash made sure that one wore the regular shirt while the other wore a tank top.  Seriously, Nevada, take a lesson from these guys.  They’re just. Too. SWEET!

I can’t take away the big victory from Nevada last year, however.  They were the ones that finally toppled the mini giant in the Boise State Broncos.  Sure it took a major choke job from the Broncos kicker, but the Wolf Pack stopped the Broncos in their track and garnished a tasty victory in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl over Boston College.  So even though Alphie and Wolfie Jr could use a serious makeover, we should celebrate them.  Just make sure they don’t dance too hard and fall over themselves again.

College, Football, News

Crib Sheet: We’re Committed

Leave a comment

The coaching carousel is almost at a stop and now we are getting closer to signing day.  Who will go where?  I don’t know.   But one thing I do know is the Crib Sheet will keep you updated with all of the latest commitments and decommitments:

College, Football, News

Crib Sheet: Winter Break

Leave a comment

This Purple Yeti is too busy chopping wood for the fire to bring you much for the rest of January.  Look for some new giblets starting February.  In the meantime, I have the Crib Sheet to you warm.  Check it out:

College, Football, News

Crib Sheet: I’m on a Highway to Carousel Hell

1 Comment

The bowl season ended Monday and there was a ton of news that happened over the last week.  It’s mostly who’s coming and who’s going.  It’s what I like to call the Carousel Hell.  So put your seatbelt on get ready to go round and round, here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:

  • Mike Leach’s legal battle with Texas Tech may have cost him the Maryland job.  He said that he thought he was the frontrunner, but the Terps went with UConn coach Mike Edsall.  He hasn’t been contacted by other schools at the moment.
  • RichRod is officially out of Michigan now.  Blow up the program part two.  It makes me warm inside to think the same thing that happened to Nebraska a couple of years ago with Bill Callahan is now happening with another team I dislike immensely.  Good days.
  • It’s even better for Brady Hoke.  The former Michigan alum and former San Diego State head coach is now your new Michigan head coach.  They wanted a Michigan man and they got one.  I give it about another 3 years before a turnaround happens.
  • After showing up Michigan’s Denard Robinson and holding the team to 14 points, Manny Diaz will take his talents to Texas as defensive coordinator.  He leaves Mississippi State and will be belting buckles in Austin.  Let’s hope he didn’t fall for that ‘coach in waiting’ stuff.
  • No surprises here.  Fox has the rights to the Pac 12 Championship Game.   They already show conference games on Fox Sports Net so it makes sense they do the title game.
  • The Playoff PAC is looking to stir up some smoke on the BCS.  They are filing a complaint with the IRS regarding a cruise the Orange Bowl put on for college athletic directors over the summer.  Shady or not, this seems like arrows instead of missiles for the Playoff PAC people.  If there’s going to be a change, they can’t dink and dunk it.
  • Stanford’s Andrew Luck is staying behind for another year of college.  This will make Blaine Gabbertt a sexier pick for the NFL Draft coming up in a couple of months.  He’ll have to battle for the top quarterback spot with Arkansas’ Ryan Mallet, though.  Gabbert may see his Aldon Smith in the NFL as well.
  • So TCU won the Rose Bowl.  Someone then paid for a billboard congratulating the team.  Except it was in Columbus, Ohio.  Yeah someone with big pockets wanted to rub it in the Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee’s face.  He was running his mouth earlier about the mid-con teams not being worthy and now I guess he gets to eat crow.
  • Speaking of the Horned Frogs, head coach Gary Patterson notched himself a 2 year extension with the program.  You go undefeated in two regular seasons, you deserve that and a ham sandwich.
  • Stud Oklahoma receiver Ryan Broyles will be coming back for another year.
  • A Boise State assitant coach is going to big time.  By big time I mean Texas Offensive Coordinator.  It seems Mack Brown and company lured Bryan Harsin away from the Broncos to infuse the team with a flashier offense.
  • Texas Tech told the NCAA that they texted too much.  That’s alliteration.  And that’s the news!
  • Head BCS Honcho Bill Hancock reminded everyone that a playoff is way below in priority for the college bowl partners.  He said that even the old way of bowls would be considered first. Seriously, he does a great job of stirring the pot.
  • Kansas State athletic director John Currie also gets a two year extension to his contract chock full of some tasty incentives.  He’s done an alright job.  The goal now is to maintain it.
  • The BCS Championship Game happened Monday and it garnished the best cable ratings ever.  Yet, the actual viewership is down.  This is what happens when the biggest game of the year ends up on cable.  Seriously, why didn’t Disney toss the game on ABC instead of ESPN?  Television is becoming more live sport driven than anything else.  Still, until I can replicate the experience of a sports bar in my basement, I will be going out for the games.
  • LSU’s Les Miles went to Michigan to talk about an open job but decided to stay with the Tigers.  Listen up childrens, this is the classic strategy head coaches employ to get them off the hot seat or get a raise.
  • Man we feel for UGA VIII, the mascot of the Georgia Bulldogs.  He didn’t make the trip to the bowl game last week and now we know why.  UGA VIII has lymphoma.  Jinkies, is the team as cursed as this dog is?
  • Former South Florida football coach Jim Leavitt settled out of court for some extra cash from the school.   He was canned for reportedly striking a walk on student.  He’s a defensive guy and because of that, the rumors are now flying about Leavitt coming back to Kansas State to take a defensive coordinator position.  Tune in next week, this is getting hotter.
Bowls, College, Football, Picks

Bowl Pick It and Stick It: Final

Leave a comment

Last night’s BCS Championship Game will almost hit classic status.  Auburn beat Oregon on a last second field goal.  It wasn’t the offense that made the noise but the defense.  The only really exciting play offensively was Auburn’s Michael Dyer crazy run on attempted tackle that ended up a flip.  I watched that from my blocky streamed Palm Pre last night.  Sprint TV saved the day for me as I have no cable in the house and a snow stormed kept me from heading out for the game.  My predictions were just as blocky so let’s see the final standings for the Bowl Pick It and Stick It:

Continue reading Bowl Pick It and Stick It: Final →

College, Football, News

Crib Sheet: Coaches Go Right Round In the Bowls Baby Right Round

Leave a comment

It’s the middle of the bowl season and we’ve had some great games so far.  What’s cool about this time right now, is that coaches are making jumps left and right, either to the NFL or back down from the NFL.  Players are also declaring their intentions for the big time as well.  So while we try to keep up with who’s going where and who’s staying, we get some great bowl action left.  Well, at least through Monday.  Until then, here’s the Crib Sheet: