Flipping through the Sunday paper, I couldn’t help notice how light it seemed. Not just the whole paper, but specifically the comics section. I remember back in the day there were at least 8 full pages of colorized comics to pour through. Being a kid at the time was great. Nowadays it may be four and many of the classics moved aside to make room for the ‘parents with a newborn’ comic copycats. What does this have to do with mascots? When researching some candidates, I discovered that this week’s inductee just happens to be inspired by a classic comic strip. After reading some more on Peter the Anteater, I knew we had to tell this mascot’s 3 paned story.
So some news outlets are saying that May is the black hole of news for college football. We here at the KCCGD are diligent in digging up interesting news and actually found enough to fill a column this week. We’ll weather this storm together and hopefully ride out into June when practices start. For now let’s do our best to ignore all of this lame-o baseball, weak basketball and hockey playoffs, and a post NFL draft hangover. Here’s this week’s ration:
Holey Toledo! Some football players including some basketball players from the University of Toledo were indicted on point shaving charges. Nobody likes to see players go at it light. Especially if they are getting paid for it. Okay, I give in. I just wanted to say Holey Toledo!
The Big 12 coaches decided to keep the tie breaking rule. Huh? Bo Pelini goes on the comment about how no matter what the 3rd team left out will get the shaft. Okay, that’s understandable. Is there a better way to break the tie? We say rock, paper, scissors.
It looks like the Utah Attorney General is trying to push for a Senate run with his latest comments about the BCS. Let’s look at it from a point of view perspective. An undefeated team in football and no national title. They have the right to be upset. The way they are going about it? Mmmm not so much. A more clever way would be to rally support from all the non BCS conferences and begin to push as a whole on the BCS conferences. If you really wanted to shake their boots, don’t schedule games with them. Play outside of the BCS. The BCS conferences would then freak becauces of the lack of weak team warm ups at the beginning of the season.
Sam Keller, a football alum from Nebraska, is suing EA Sports and the NCAA for using the likeness of athelets to make money off the games. This is a hard one to call. More and more the argument is growing for student-atheletes to be paid for promoting the school through sports. While there is a pandora’s box of enabling that, surely the least they can do is up the stipend in terms of the scholarship and toss in a couple of Xboxes to boot.
ESPN blogger Tim Griffin takes us on a trip to the past and review a lesson taught to us by Mark Mangino of Kansas. The old quote talks about how Mangino wanted to keep the spirit of the rivalry in tact. Now that the tables are turned it seems that maybe this rivalry will be alive an well in Manhattan this year. Snyder and Mangino go at it again. I was at the game last year and as a Wildcat fan it stung hard. Now there’s a fresh start and we hope that at the very least it is competitive because Kansas is the definite favorite.
So someone is selling a 2005 Rose Bowl ring belonging to former Texas Longhorn lineman Austin Sendlein on eBay, including his 2004 ring. It looks as though he left it in the hotel room he was staying at in Columbus, Ohio to watch his brother play. Seems that Buckeye fans don’t take to kindly to Longhorn folk. Although he did goof and leave it in the hotel room. Linemen are supposed to be smart.
The whole family’s here this week as we dive deep into the rich lineage of the Nebraska Cornhusker’s mascots. From the various large headed and skinny legged characters to the current duo, we can see that in the state where college football is a professional and state wide spectacle, the spirit that drives the spectacle shows up in the form of some tacky looking mascots. There is some redemption involved toward the end of this ride, but we still ask, “Do they allow art in Nebraska?” Let’s take a long hard look at Herbie Husker and Lil Red.
For some reason this week people are scared of the swine er h2n1 flu. It’s a flu, usually if you are really young or super old it will hurt you bad. The oncoming pandemic only points out that yes, the United States is a clean nation. Thanks to all of the pump bottles of disinfectant gels pushing out the very lifeblood of our safety, we can be fully prepared for a Real American Flu. Not some cheap Mexican knock off. So I say, lick and finger everything is sight! It’s okay! And while you’re at it, suck on this week’s Crib Sheet:
Looks like LSU head football coach Les Miles will be a Twittering away on the sidelines this year. He says it’s for a straight up recruiting hit. That make sense. The kids these days with their tweeting and twatting. My guess is this time next year Twittering will be banned for coaches.
Not to be completely hypocritical, but Congress last week rolled the BCS to tongue bath them in absurdity, trying to intimidate them to change the system for playoffs. Many, and we mean many, articles splashed across the net talking about this one. Here’s the gist: It’s about money and Congress doesn’t have time to do it. Even if they did, they would break current contracts. This of course was in between all the politiking and grandstanding.
Maybe while they’re down there, they can figure out why they play only 22.9% of their non-conference games against teams from other BCS conferences, the lowest among BCS conferences. Oh wait, most of the coaches in the league come from the Bill Snyder trunk of coaching. And Bill Snyder is back. Looks like weak schedules are here to stay. It’s really all about the conference competition. Seriously.
Back again this week for Mascot Monday and we just got done finishing off our hankering of curly fries and thickburgers from Hardee’s. The Western Bacon Thickburger is back and the tears of joy from it are still drying off. So when we were coming up with a mascot for the week, we combing the Western and the curly fries and came up with Idaho. Joe Vandal is the man in potato land and we’re gonna take a look at what a Vandal is, where this guy came from, and just why he’s the double for a 1970s Al Pacino. Plus we give tips about growing the greasiest, stringiest mustache out there.
It’s a draft frenzy this week for the Crib Sheet. Weeks after signing day, college football rosters and chopped down when the big ole NFL axe comes to cut away talent for the next level. Not many surprises in this year’s draft. We didn’t get caught up in the fanfare this year and all we really did was thumb through the pick run down. Maybe next year something crazy will happen but for now we’re happy that it’s one more milestone away from the holiest of holy seasons that is college football. Here’s this week’s news:
Looks like Greg Paulus will land in Syracuse next year. It seems the hometown team exhibited more interest than the Michigan Wolverines did. So when he lines up for the Orangemen next fall and then fall flat on his face, remember that we called it here. He should have a shot in NBA when he’s through. But wait! There’s more! Lincoln Journal Star reporter Brian Christopherson says Paulus might drop by this week to talk to Huskers.
The Topeka local tv station put a post previewing the Kansas State Football season. The run down pretty much talks about Josh Freeman leaving and some movement of positions for some players. They have a long way to go and we won’t see them bowl bound for a good 4 years.
Colorado QB Tyler Hansen broke his throwing hand thumb at the Buffalo spring game. He traded snaps with the coach’s kid Cody Hawkins last year. Whether or not it will affect him later this year we don’t know. What we do know is that it will affect a Colorado turn around next year.
The swell is starting to bubble over on the “Will Bill Snyder turn it around, again?” question in the sports media. They’ll review is mutant work ability and then wonder aloud what kind of clean up they have to do after Ron Prince. Already, the scheduling knock is coming with rumor of Kansas State wanting to bail on their home game against UCLA in 2010. So for the story to happen again, they need a weak schedule and that’s getting lined up. But they also need another 6 years from Snyder and he does not have that in him.
The NFL Draft was last weekend and ESPN’s Tim Griffin has a nice run down on his Big 12 blog. The big news around the area is that Mizzou had a record number of players to go, Josh Freeman from Kansas State was nabbed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Kansas was skunked. Out of all who got drafted, I think Jeremy Maclin will do the best.
Are we feeling teh Twitter storm yet? Apparently big time college football coaches are. It seems the likes of Ron Zook and Pete Carroll have signed up on the new online trend and are looking to nab some college ball players the ole internet fashion way. T-minus 1 year before they ban this as well. If you want to know what the hub bub is follow us at twitter.com/kccgd.
Cody Glenn just admitted the suspension he got last year at Nebraska was not for selling tickets. He won’t give it up but he must’ve done something naughty to keep it quiet between him and Bo Pelini. We’re not sure if the Washington Redskins care so much after they just drafted him.
Over the weekend in professional land (NFL), they held the draft and Matthew Stafford gained the honor of being the number one pick for the Detroit Lions. Stafford’s recently former school is the Georgia Bulldogs so this episode of Mascot Monday will take a peek at the dynamic duo of Hairy Dawg and Uga. Uga has a rich history and following. Hairy Dawg is relatively new compared to Uga, but he’s just now turning the corner of mascot-dom. Whether these two will be the number one pick in a mascot draft, we’re unsure of. But word from Kiper tells us they could go top ten.
In case you didn’t notice, the professional baseball season is under way. Isn’t that great! Just like what Beano Cook says, it just means that the football season is getting closer! We here at the KCCGD do not cover college baseball but we’re sure it’s really exciting. If the major leagues didn’t draft all of the real talent first, we’re sure it would be better. This is the same problem basketball suffers from. Which we don’t cover too (yet). At some point, once the staff gets filled out, we’ll cover the more important college sports for the Kansas City area. Until then, here’s this week’s college football news:
The vaunted, Charlie Weiss led, Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football Head Coach, er, Charlie Weiss confirmed that we was thinking about leaving the program. He asked his family about after weighing options and a major lumping from USC to close out last season. Last year, they were 7-6. If they can bump that up a win or two and win the bowl, he should be safe. If he dips, he’s a goner.
Michigan was offering Greg Paulus a chance to vie for quarterback this year. Paulus, who didn’t even toss a ball around when he was visiting the campus, now has the option to join the graduate program and the football team. This is turning into a crazy situation. Is Rich Rodriguez desperate? Or does he see a golden opportunity. This story wasn’t done, however. Paulus skipped the Wolverines and now is visiting both Nebraska and Syracuse. Good luck to whoever wastes their time on the guy.
The Big 12 comes in at number 3 in terms of attendance broken out by conference last year. It’s a 3% jump whereas number 1 SEC grew by about 2% and number 2 Big 10 dropped by about 1%. It looks like that trend may continue next year, which will keep this writer happy and bring hope to eventually passing the Big 10 in attendance.
Oklahoma can’t surf the internet as much, due to NCAA voliations and a new policy from the administration. If you are an Oklahoma Sooner, athlete or alumni, this site is safe to use. Tell your friends and family. We are So0ner friendly. Kinda.
Colby Whitlock from Texas Tech gives major props to wrestling, as Tim Griffin writes. As a former high school football player/wrestler I can attest to how much more an athlete can gain by participating a wrestling. Balance, speed, and endurance will raise up, which is important for the the fat middle guys like myself. The actual wrestling part I didn’t like, but the condition part was great.
Hey hey hey! Some mascots practice in the off season to get their moves right. Some study film tapes hard to make sure they are entertaining to the highest degree. Then there are some mascots, like the University of Dayton’s Rudy Flyer, who just chill out and surf the web. Cruising around the internet hitting up social media sites is what he does and when he has to bust a move, he’ll drop it like it’s not. This week we are cruising on autopilot with Rudy Flyer. You are now free to move about the blog.
We were starting to get worried here at the Crib Sheet that this week’s news would be weak. Wednesday rolled around and we were totally saved. Perhaps Easter had something to do with the slow news over the weekend. This week we sift through some practices and look at some red tape a danglin’ around. Here we go:
Bo Pelini is spitting out chewing gum again in Lincoln. He’s fired up after a bad practice and is telling everyone on the block about it. It seems to work fine up there as Nebraska is turning the corner and it’s nice to see some passion from a coach when you’re living with the Pinkel/Mangino/Snyder non speak on a daily basis.
Mike Leach is a definite oddball and his practice tactics are proving it. Making players study on the field in the snow and some high balancing is unique enough. Still I’m not sure if it will work this year after losing Michael Crabtree.
Glen Winston is going to jail for 6 months for kicking the tar out of fellow Michigan State athlete A. J. Sturges. I thought hockey players were supposed to be tough? I guess not. Then again, he was up against Winston and Michael White from the football team. Two football players > one hockey player.
Texas is trying to lure the College Football Hall of Fame away from South Bend, Indiana. Both Dallas and Arlington have put together proposals to build a hall as well as convention center in support of the move. Traditionally Notre Dame is king for football but recent years have shown the Fighting Irish’s prominence waning. Now is a good time to snatch the hall, especially in a state where people eat, sleep, and crap football.
Other universities are interested in Kansas Atheltic Director Lou Perkins and the Jayhawks are willing to pay up to keep him. That makes sense. The guy produced a national champion basketball team and built and honest to goodness football team down there in Lawrence. So another $750,000 goes to Lou. I’m sure it will eat into Mark Mangino’s Ho Ho fund.
Bill Snyder still has no clue who’s gonna quarterback the Kansas State Wildcats. It’s a tough job to replace the overrated Josh Freeman. Chances are we’ll see all three start next season and the one who does a better job with the option will get the nod.
Legal documents stuffed in the AP’s pocket show that the Missouri Tigers officials and staff failed to follow proper steps to keep Aaron O’Neil from collapsing and eventually dieing back in 2005. The director of sports medicine for the athletic department apparently even rejected suggestions from concerned players to check up on O’Neil. Yet another example of the Tigers dropping the ball, off the field even.
Former Duke basketballer Greg Paulus, after trying out for the Green Bay Packers, sat down with Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez to explore the possibility of using his one year of eligibility to play college football. So the Rich must be feeling the heat already because even the Duke football doesn’t want him. Both Paulus and Rodriguez are starting to look a little silly here.
Mascot beginnings come in all shapes and sizes. From local attractions to student voted, the origination come from all over the place. This week we’re going to find out about one of the coolest mascot origins. No, it’s not Wolverine (as in X-Men), but Oklahoma State’s Pistol Pete. We’ll also talk about the late to the race live mascot aptly named Bullet. So strap on in pardner as we’re about to mosey on down memory lane and make a stop at Stillwater’s favorite ‘Poke.
The Crib Sheet returns! Now that we’ve finally shaken off basketball, congrats North Carolina, we can start focusing on college baseball. Psyche! We’re still talking football. This last week saw some interesting cruft float by. Springs practices are going on and we’re starting to get some news trickle out about who’s doing well and who’s tanking. But more on that later. Here’s what else that happened in the past week:
Rugby is making its presence known in college football with the Texas Longhorn’s punter Justin Tucker. Last year he tried some rugby styled punts and it proved successful. So this year they are asking him and the rest of the punters to try it again both right and left footed. It’s a little dizzying indeed, but it’s great to see some innovation come out of a kicking meme that’s been around forever. Now all Tucker needs is some knocked out teeth to fully bring the rugby pain.
Tim Griffin reports that a top quarterback recruit from the Wichita area, Blake Bell, has committed to Oklahoma. This stings a little more because he’s right in K-State’s backyard. Oklahoma is the mean machine in the Big 12 so why not go there.
The New York Times has a piece about Army’s new football coach Rich Ellerson. Apparently his orders are to win now. Seems easy, right? I watched Army play Navy last Thanksgiving and their camoflague uniforms were tight. That’s the only reason I’m rooting this guy to succeed. It sounds kinda gay so don’t tell Rich.
Chase Daniels looks good as a coach. He was hanging out at the Mizzou practices helping out the new offensive coordinator, Dave Yost. He’s not really gonna make it in the NFL so coaching would be the next best thing for Chase. Just don’t teach them how to eat boogers.
The Texas Longhorns assistant coaches feel like champions today. They pocketed an extra bonus for the Big 12 Championship, even though technically Oklahoma won the title. Apparently the athletic director talked the school president into the pay. Mack Brown didn’t dip into his bonus. They are sounding a lot like Utah when it comes to titles and championships and such.
We lucked out in picking the University of North Carolina’s Rameses as last week’s Monday mascot. The Tar Heels made it to the final game and they will face Michigan State in their almost home court of Ford Field in Detroit Michigan. So, in celebration of the underdog Big 10 making it this far, we will take a look at their mascot, Sparty. Good luck to both the teams tonight as we look forward to getting basketball out of the way in preparation of football. But for now, here’s Sparty.
It’s a slow slow week for the Crib Sheet and we’re scrambling to come up with something interesting. Basketball is all over the place so the college sports attention is clearly focused on that. We here at KCCGD are also .seriously resisting the urge of playing along with April Fool’s Day festivity. We almost expected to see something about Utah seceding from the Union and declaring war on the United States for allowing the BCS to continue. At any rate, here’s the news:
From two Heismans to a national title, Tim Tebow has already accomplished so much. Now a speech he said last year will be engraved on Florida’s new football facility. If he runs for president and wins, I’m leaving the country. He’s already being talked about becoming the new leader of the Republican Party.
Nick Sheridan for Michigan is out for the rest of spring drills due to a broken leg. Looks like the battle for QB up there is hobbled. Will it be enough competition to get the Wolverine offense ready for the big season two Rich Rodriguez turnaround?
Welcome again to Mascot Monday and as we weather another week of March Madness, we must say it’s disappointing that no Big 12 team is in the Final Four. We’ll try to fogoe those woes as we take a look at one of the surviving participants mascot. This week we will look at the University of North Carolina’s Rameses. We learn a little bit about tar, a little bit about rams, and all about why you shouldn’t walk on highway shoulders. This one’s for the KU (and Roy Williams) fans.
