Oh wow let me see how I remember this. It’s a new year of barspotting and the first notch on the Austin belt is Doc’s Backyard. Most of the bars I will be to this season will be the first time that I’ve been there, except for Doc’s. It’s close enough to my new place and has some decent reviews. So how did it fare Saturday? The atmosphere reflects back onto the experience. Continue reading Doc’s Backyard Made Me Feel At Home→
The Bronx Salute. Everyone remembers it, or at lease they should. If you don’t, just think back to last year’s inaugural Pinstripe Bowl and Adrian Hilburn’s ‘salute’ to the fans after scoring a touchdown and moving the score to 36-24 and a 2 point conversion. He was penalized and the Wildcats had to go for 2 from the 18 yard line. They didn’t get it and lost the game. You could blame some poor play before, but I will point out that the NCAA changed rules in the off season due to this. So now it’s the 2011 season. I’m not asking if they will recover from that loss of the Pinstripe Bowl, but I will be asking about the loss of Daniel Thomas. And what I will see is Brown.
Media days are about done and that means practices are right around the corner. I’m almost ready to ring the cowbell for a new season. In the meantime, here’s this week’s Crib Sheet: Continue reading Crib Sheet: Ramping Up For Another Year→
Welp I’m finally settled down here as the KCCGD Express is powered down and unpacked. You know, people were saying that the heat is bad down here but I don’t mind it so much. It’s not July yet, but mid 90s in late April/early May is a new thing for me. And I love it. People were meant to wear less clothes. Now on to this week’s Crib Sheet:
I’m sure you’ve seen my previous post about the major move down to Austin yesterday. Yeah I’m still pretty shocked myself and I’m the one that knew about it for over month. Never fear, we’ll still chug along and it continues today with this week’s Crib Sheep:
Missouri players get together and bond by paintballing. I’ve never done it myself but I imagine pelting someone square in the chest with a faux bullet brings some sort of joy.
They already are bucking tradition by introducing a championship game, so it makes sense that Big 10 Commissioner Jim Delany is trying to push for later start times on games. Everyone knows the Big 10 starts mega early, with the Big 12, so why go and change it? I want to maximize my football watching day.
Speaking of the Big 10, Nebraska lost its AAU membership. Ho man that just made my week. One of the strong points for Nebraska to move was its AAU membership. Now both the Cornhuskers and the Big 10 look dumb.
Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tubberville offered his viewpoint on the whole ‘birthers’ debate. It’s few and far between when football comments on politics. I’d rather have that then the other way around.
The BCS set the dates for the bowl games next year, but they have to wait until the NFL cleans up its mess before they can lock it down. I’m not sure how long they will wait, as the NFL can bump a month and still have a full season.
It looks like being a part of the big boys for Boise State means having a couple of NCAA violations attached to their program. Its secondary so they won’t suffer too much. Welcome to big time, guys.
The Pac 12 will get a mega buck deal from Fox and ESPN, much like the Big 12. Except it’s the biggest deal in history. Too bad they have 2 more teams to split up the costs with.
No more new bowls for the next three years. The NCAA will review the licensing process in that time to determine if enough is enough. Three years is plenty time for the FBS to expand so that the bowls can expand without leaving the chance of a school with a losing record in on the fun.
With tornadoes blowing down south and southeast, wildfires burning all of Texas, rain and hail pelting the land, and Missouri levees falling apart, it seems like the whole world is falling apart. But it’s merely weather changing bits and pieces of the land. There can be bigger changes afoot across the land. I have one coming up very quickly. But first let me spit out a kind of late Crib Sheet. Take notes and then take cover:
ESPN’s David Ubben talks about the quiet action taking place at Kansas State. Bill Snyder 2.0’s all quiet about the major transfers they have coming into the season. I’ll talk more about the kids later. David Ubben should know by now that Snyder is a master of saying nothing while talking alot. Hey, he did a pretty good job covering the new turf that’s going up at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
UMass will pull an upgrade in the football program and join the MAC starting in 2012. There’s plenty of room at the big boy table if you have the cash to pay the entry fee.
Here’s a couple of numbers regarding the unequal TV distribution of Big 12 money. It seems it’s a lot closer than disparate and if you look at profit of the athletic departments it’s about the same as the Big 10 (who has equal TV revenue distribution).
Big Mo at Missouri is need of a face lift and the fraternities in charge are asking for help to replace it. I suggest a giant drum machine instead so they can rock out some hip hop chants.
The hammer is falling down hard on Ohio State’s Jim Tressel and the NCAA is bearing the handle. They are rebuking him big time for withholding information about known violations and what not. Could he be out of the job by the start of the season?
9 of the 11 members of a panel who will review the Fiesta Bowl’s status in the BCS went on paid for junkets by the Fiesta Bowl in the past. Methinks that Fiesta Bowl should get off, right? People will complain about this but they will forget pretty soon.
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:
Another person involved in the Kansas ticket scandal, Charlette Blubaugh, plead guilty in court. Her husband will soon plead guilty as well. It looks like legal system works in the case of these folks.
ESPN’s Erin Andrews is kind of a freak of media exposure. By exposure I mean the nude video taped in the hotel room that begat her appearance on Dancing With the Stars. Now, she’s taking that controversy and lackluster sideline reporting to Reebok. Some journalists are complaining that this throws the ethics out the winder but I’m afraid they forgot that Andrews is more of a pretty face than an actual sports reporter.
Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder looked great in the Senior Bowl as he led the South over the North in a 24-10 victory. Texas A&M’s linebacker Von Miller had the defensive tops as well.
USA Today talks about the trend of colleges oversigning players. Schools will dole out scholarships only to revoke them later for someone else or make kids ‘greyshirt’, which means have them enroll in January instead of the fall. Florida president J. Bernard Machen agrees that greyhirting blows. They talk about how the kids are the victim of this. It looks like one more reason to pay the kids that play big time ball to me.
A bunch of Missouri players sold tickets to former footballs players in 2009. So the current players got a cut of the kickback for them. That’s a secondary violation for the NCAA. Yet another why the NCAA is useless.
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:
Jim Leavitt is going to the big time. Not Kansas State Defensive Coordinator, but San Fransisco 49ers linebackers coach. It stinks for Wildcats fans as they were hoping Leavitt would come in and fix the defense. Maybe Bill Snyder 2.0 has something else up this sleeve? Meanwhile, defensive backs coach Keith Burns is taking his show back to Ole Miss.
ESPN and the Texas Longhorns reached a 20 year, $300 million deal for a Longhorns Network. The school will be up for a tasty profit while the broadcast network will food the technical bills. Is this the end of the Big 12? Check back here in about 2 years.
Speaking of the Red Raiders, a Texas judges tossed out a portion of Mike Leach’s suit against the university, only allowing non-monetary claims for the firing of Leach over Adam James’ concussion. If you’re wondering why Leach has yet to be yired, look no further than here.
It seems Kansas is picking up the trail on the recruiting side of things. Turner Gill’s stealing recruits from neighboring states. I’m guessing his pitch is like this, “I’m a Nebraska guy that’s still in the Big 12. Kansas will be the new Nebraska of the Big 12.” That can seal some kids right there.
Fired sportscaster Ron Franklin is suing ESPN over the incident where he called a woman, “Sweetheart” in a production meeting. She objected and he called her an a-hole. I don’t know what to think about this. In the workplace, you can’t trust anyone when you say something because they may be out to get you canned, especially if it’s gender-related. I would say it’s safer to just be quiet and act professional. That said, “sweetheart” and “a-hole” is a pretty weak case to get fired over.
Here’s your BCS payout sheet. So the Big 12 was on the lower tier of payouts for the 6 BCS Conferences. Not bad, but if they had 2 teams in the BCS bowls then they would’ve been up higher. Notre Dame gets a pretty good chunk for being independent. The argument against the BCS right here is that the small guys are getting the smaller piece of the pie. I will merely point to TCU and how they are moving up by winning.
Some donors have high expectations. Take Robert G. Burton, major booster for UConn. Apparently he doesn’t like the athletic director and wants his $3 million in donations back and his name taken off the stadium. I’m pretty sure once you donate something, you can’t expect to get it back. But then again, if I had that kind of cash then I’d feel like I can run anything, too.
Ex Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins agreed to a $4,000 fine for improperly receiving exercise equipment as a gift. This should be the last we hear of this guy.
Here we are in the middle of bowl season. I got some good gear for Xmas and I hope you got some too. The bowl action was light in the last week, but we are now ramping up into the meat of the schedule. Most of the Big 12 schools will be playing this week and there will be ample action in between. Meanwhile, I Bowl Pick It and Stick It standings are out are some peeps jumping out of the gate quick. Let’s look at that first:
Yes, it’s the 2010 edition and first ever annual KC College GameDay Year End Reviewards! What’s a revieward? Welp, it’s a half assed attempt to round up the year in review and then dole out some nameless awards out to who or what I think mattered in the year of college football. It applies to the regular season only as I really don’t want to come back to this. At any rate, I’m shooting from the hip so all you midgets our there better watch your heads.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Happy holidays from KC College GameDay! It’s bowl season and I’ll do a couple of recaps in the next couple of days as well as run down some bowls I’m in to. In the meantime, we have a fat Crib Sheet so let’s get to it:
Meanwhile, the Nebraska Huskers suspended defensive tackle Baker Steinkuhler for getting a DUI last week. He’ll be out of the Holiday Bowl and the Husker’s rematch against Washington.
Even though I think Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany is evil incarnate, I do agree with him on holding back the college football playoff. His reasons come from a wealth of ego. Delany says that the Big Ten sacrificed enough by letting other conferences play in the Rose Bowl. There’s enough ego around other commissioners that there would be no way a playoff would bubble up.
Let’s take a look at how some Big 12 coaches voted in the final coaches poll of the year. Interesting stuff here, especially the one where Bo Pelini ranked his Cornhuskers #8 even though they lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game.
Speaking of coaches, the USA Today has a break down of some interesting contract provisions for some of the coaches out there. Bill Snyder 2.0 gets a free ride and tickets to basketball games. If Mack Brown resigns, he’ll be reassigned to another a part of the school. Mike Sherman gets a cool $100K for appearing or being named a national champion.
Keeping with Bo Pelini, he had to shoot down rumors of taking the Miami job that’s up for grabs now. Usually, when rumors like that happen, it means that something is ticking. It makes sense, too. Miami got rid of an upstanding Randy Shannon because he wasn’t winning games. Shannon did turn around the program in terms of class act athletes. Bo Pelini coaches the opposite way.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The second version of Farmageedon this year found itself happening last weekend and we were there to witness of the bloody glory. This year we decided to head back to one of the few Iowa based bars in the Kansas City, The Other Place. The first time we were there, we witnessed the rivalry between Iowa and Iowa State. This time, we watched Kansas State take on Iowa State at Arrowhead in Kansas City. Yes, Farmageddon. Not only was a great game, but The Other Place withstood the blast, leaving it a shaky place to patron.
It’s been almost a year since we’ve been to Johnny’s Tavern and it took the rest of the season for us to decide that it was the best Barspot for last year. So, as tradition calls, we found ourselves back at Johnny’s Tavern at the Power & Light District to enjoy the first full Saturday of college football. The bar hasn’t changed much but just enough for us to take notice. The food specials knocked us out but the games were kind of so so. Read on as we go over Johnny’s Tavern and recount the action on the field.
