Okay, freshly back from a wedding in California (not MY wedding), I’m now ready to actually talk about the BCS title game and the year that was college football. We’re going to talk about the game that could’ve been, the season that was bookended by injuries, and some other interesting notes that popped up over the season. So, while this is a little late, sit back and enjoy us on your little trip through college football memory lane. Please keep your arms and head inside the windows.
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.
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:
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.
This week finds us in the middle of Johnson County and at a neat little place called Scoreboards. We’ve been there before the blog started off and we’re pretty sure it’s a good time. There used to be a Scoreboards in Manhattan but we don’t think it’s the same bar. Sometimes sports bars survive on their own without a website, but we think these guys could use one. It was super hard to find a pic or logo of the place. Maybe we can open up a KCCGD hosted space for bars around the area. Or post some ideas for Scoreboards below and we’ll talk to the manager Saturday.
Some weeks, you don’t know what you’re going to run into when you pick a place you’ve never been to before. So when we strolled up to Birdie’s Pub and Grill, we weren’t expecting much. They didn’t have a website and the only information we got about the place was on Google Maps. Walking in, however, things turned completely different. Yes, it was bigger, but for some aspects it wasn’t necessarily better. The goal of the week was to watch some Nebraska vs Virginia Tech and head to a BBQ. We accomplished the mission. Here’s the report.
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.
Wow, we’re still feeling the effects from last week. As a matter of fact, last week’s festivities led to a nasty little cold. That’s better than some of the after effects some college football players ran into last week. Never fear, the Crib Sheet remedy is here! We’re dropping this in some Sprite and popping some NyQuil so hold on and go for the ride. Hopefully we’ll be 100% next week.
In the descendant department, Joe Montana’s kid Nick tackled some scholarship offers from Alabama, Flordia State, and Notre Dame. The son of a qb who’s a qb too might get better luck if he goes somewhere other than the Fighting Irish. The shoes would be too big to fill and so far the quaterbacks coming out of dome town aren’t living up to the past. Nick Cool doesn’t work, how about Nick Sweet?
Somehow Columbia, Missouri landed in the top 10 on Forbes list for top college sports towns. Well I guess Lawrence was too pretentious and Austin is more of a party town. Manhattan doesn’t even come close. I guess it’s cool that they are on the list, but they need to win a championship somewhere to deserve top 10 status.
The Bryce Brown saga continues after a couple of swerves. The NCAA is investigating Brian Butler, the mentor for Brown, to figure out if he’s more of an agent than a mentor. The former rapper has been representing Wichita football players and pimping them on his website. Not sure there’s much mentoring there. Meanwhile, some rumor mongering points to Oklahoma being on the sweepstakes for Brown. I’m not sure they’ll pull him in late, but the fact that Kansas State is on the list still is laughable. Maybe Brown will lose so much cred out of this that he’ll walk on to Wildcat territory, only to regain his rep. In my dreams. In my dreams.
Speaking of Wildcat territory, it seems some old friends are coming back to Manhattan to help Bill Snyder 2.0 out. Jonathan Beasley and Joe Gordon are coming back to fill out some spots left open by some movements. Thankfully, Bill is going to former players to help rebuild the tradition (however small it may be) of the Kansas State Wildcats.
So a Division II school in Newberry dropped their mascot name, Indians, under pressure from the NCAA. That’s fine and all, but where is the pressure for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish? If the NCAA is going to go with regulating names then it needs to be consistent across the board. Now Illinois dropped it, but Florida State got the write from Indians to use it. So is it really worth going after, or is it a PR stunt to make everyone feel good about themselves?
Let me tell you somethin’ dude, the Kiffster is gonna run wild over you! Well, maybe not that but one of the tactics he’s using at Tennessee is encouraging his coaches rip off their shirts a-la Hulk Hogan. So whatcha gonna do? WHATCHA GONNA DO?
What’s up with all of the footballplayersbeingarrestedin theoffseason. Yeah they’re young and in college, but they’re the leaders of the campus. There’s a time to party and a time to get ready for some football. The way I see it, the only players that can party now are the ones from Florida.
So we finally figure out why Andy Ludwig left Kansas State after 2 months to go back to Cali. His family all lives on the coast out there. I would call shenanigans if Tim Griffin didn’t point out that he’d be eating some salary in the deal (cost of living wise). Oh well.
