Hey! I’m back this week and I end up actually spending most of my time on Johnny Football. Okay, well more like how he quit Twitter and how you should use the social service yourself. Trust me. I’m an epxert. I also BS my way through news like Sun Belt, Idaho, New Mexico State, Big East, Tulsa, Western Kentucky, Conference USA, and Cowboys Stadium.
Another year of Kansas State football is upon us and there’s some weird mixed feelings going on. Maybe not in Manhattan, but certainly down here in Austin and in this Purple Yeti’s abode. You see, part of me wants to believe that Kansas State will improve upon its amazing record from last year, but another wants to believe in the negative hype the so called sports media jams down my throat. Is everyone writing off Kansas State too easily, or will reality hit hard for the little Wildcats from the Little Apple? Continue reading Kansas State Football Preview 2012: Always The Underdog→
I breeze through this week’s Purple Yeti Roar and enjoy a relaixng bevarage while doing it. Let’s talk Kansas, Notre Dame, Texas, Alabama, dorm room recordings, Jerry Sandusky, Baylor, Texas A&M, and the BCS shall we! I’ll go get some more refreshments from the fridge. Continue reading Purple Yeti Roar 10: Light and Refreshing→
Another week of barspotting and I’m going for the trifecta. It’s been 2 great weeks of college football watching and I need one more joint to make me believe that Austin is serious about sports bars. The last two weeks were easy because it was close to downtown. Now it’s time to throw Austin for a loop and go for that ‘remote neighborhood family bar’ joint. Well, I’ve found down south in the Backspin Sports Bar & Grill. Saturday I’ll find out if the remote locations of Austin bring the game like the places closer to the heart of the city do. Continue reading Barspotting: Laying up to the Backspin Sports Bar & Grill→
Spring is in the air and unfortunately, some of it stinks. Now I could be talking about the Fiesta Bowl scandal or perhaps the NFL lockout. Nope, it’s none of that. It’s the fact that I have to suffer through another summer of baseball before the real American pasttime takes the stage. Fortunately for me I have the Crib Sheet to keep my occupied. Oh and thank you Beano Cook for being awesome.
A former Texas A&M coach said that Willie Lyes, the same guy who was paid $25,000 from Oregon and is under NCAA investiagion, approached him and stated that he had beat $80,000 for a star recruit. With all of this money blowing up and flowing around college football, it was onlya a matter of time that recruitment services looking to get a cut of the pic made moves like these.
The Pac 10 is open for business and they’re letting the world know it. The exclusive negotiating rights for Fox expired and now it’s time to shop the conference across all of the television networks. Oh, they’ll get bank. It’s the big time now.
ESPN filed suit against Conference USA for dipping into the FX deal for prime time football games. It’s always cute when television stations and football conferences fight.
Soslan Gagloev was a Russian in Japan’s waters and kicking it sumo style. And he was winning. But he was busted for weed and now he’s playing some college football at Webber International Univeristy. Defensive back he ain’t. That said, sumo and any other kind of wrestling requires leverage work and that applies fantastically to line work in football. He should do alright.
Here’s a shocker: drug policies across all facets of college sports completely varies in policy. I think the AP suggests to streamline the whole process.
Colt McCoy’s younger brother, Case, is looking to take the reigns for the Texas Longhorns. He had a stellar spring practice. Who knows? Maybe that magic can happen again.
Speaking of Texas, their new network will be called the ‘Longhorn Network.’ There’s no deal for satellite deistributors but I’m guessing that it will blow up once they annoucne a couple of football games on the network.
Spring practice is kicking up the mud hidden from under the snow but I’m not finding it too exciting. I could talk about the NFL Combine but it would be all about the Wonderlic Test. So on this week’s Crib Sheet, I will talk about the Groundhog. I remember him saying something this year about an early Spring. Then about 5 inches of snow dumped on me. I’ve got the grill ready, somebody bring me the Groundhog. That will make things warm real quick. On to the Crib Sheet:
It looks as though the NFL cracked down on concussions and big time hits, doling out suspensions for head on collisions now. What does this mean for college football? Probably the same type of suspension. I’m not sure they will completely lock down like they do in the NFL. I’m guessing that this sport may be going away in the next 15 years, or at least it will turn into more of an arena style of play. Even for the colleges. Now check out the Crib Sheet:
Looks like Kansas State’s leading receiver Brandon Smith is out for the year with a broken leg suffered from last week’s Nebraska schilacking. Chris Harper will have to step up to fill the role. We’re going to wait and see about the Oregon trasnfer.
We’ve heard of backups on the field, but backups for mascots? That’s what Georgia had with “Russ” when UGA VII died unexpectedly. Welp last Saturday saw the return of the starter in UGA VIII. He’s officially registered as “Big Bad Bruce” but he’ll be UGA VII for everyone here on out.
Right before his potential start in the NFL, Colt McCoy will have his jersey retired at Texas. He’s the sixth player from Longhorn country to get his jersey retired and it may be the last one for awhile. Even though the guy never won a national championship, he has won more games in 4 years than any other in college football history. That deserves the rub.
Your new Ole Miss mascot is: The Rebel Black Bear. Okay, so it was from a William Faulkner story and he went there so it makes sense. We can’t help but think that Admiral Ackbars would’ve been a better fit. Oh, and there is some controversy with the name still.
Another coach banned Twitter for his football players. This time it’s Butch Davis and North Carolina. He needs to ban them from talking to sports agents. While he’s at it, he needs to ban assistants from talking to sports agents, too.
Get your claws ready, Missouri Tigers fans, ESPN College GameDay is heading to Columbia. Did you know it’s the first time they’ve been there? It’s about time, too, as I think they’ve been to Manhattan and Lawrence before.
Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LeGrand was left paralyzed from the neck down due to a tackle he made against Army last Saturday. It really sucks when this happens but players have walked again from this kind of injury. Let’s hope he can get up off the chair real soon.
Pace University football player Danoy Henry was killed by the police in a freakish accident. The police were saying that Henry tried to escape the police and ran into another officer, which led to officers firing into the car and killing him. The other side says that the cop jumped on the hood and fired. We may not know whatever happened and this is certainly a tragedy.
This will be the first off day stadiumspotting for us and we’re super excited. Kansas State hosts Nebraska for probably the last time ever and they are both undefeated. The electricity will be huge in the Little Apple and we will be there to cover it. Chances are we will make our way back to a bar Saturday but we’ll go ahead and tweet the location when we decided where. Until then, it’s half day action at work then a split time of driving and football watching. This Purple Yeti is more than pumped for the biggest game of the year for the Wildcats.
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.
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.
It’s the year of FCS upsets so far. The first week saw North Dakota State upsetting Kansas and Jacksonville State putting one on Ole Miss. Then last weekend, James Madison beat ranked Virginia Tech. It just goes to show you that the competition can be heated on any given Saturday. If a team gets too big for itself, it may overlook another opponent. That’s just enough to tilt the victory meter away from them. We are always humble with our conference powerhouse that is the Crib Sheet, so check it out:
We’re heard of strange injuries before but having a ‘bowel injury’ takes the cakes. That’s what Arkansas Razorback Dennis Johnson had that left him out of Saturday’s game against Georgia. We hope he can plug it up for next week.
What two better teams to play in Jerry Jones’ Cowboys Stadium to kickoff the season than LSU and Oregon. Huh? That’s right, the ‘Cowboys Classic’ will be held by two teams not in the Big 12. Doesn’t make sense at all.
Oh by the way. The lawsuit between former K-State coach Ron Prince and the university will be moving back to the courtroom. It looks as though both sides want an immediate judgement. Not sure if it’s gonna happen. We’ll keep you posted.
All signs are pointing to Colorado joining the Pac 12 in 2012. They wanted to move earlier, but the stars couldn’t align just right. Maybe after the California whupping put on the Buffaloes pushed them back a year.
The plane carrying McNeese State had to make an emergency landing on the way to the Missouri game. Apparently, a tire blew out on take off. That would scare the heck out of me. No wonder those kids didn’t fare to well against the Tigers.
The New York Times points out that the Big 1o makes its money because of the fans. And the fans who would pay a massive premium to see the Big 10 games. So the Times points out what we know already: control the college sports in the conference and you can make some major bank.
It looks like Villanova is looking over an invitation to the Big East. This would be an upgrade in the football program as they were FCS last year. They are a part of the Big East in virtually every other sport. We hope this helps keep the conference together for a little bit longer.
One of our favorite football people, former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach, will get his own radio show on Sirius. He’s doing that and CBS. Will he ever be back to the sidelines? Maybe after these gigs pay off his lawyer fees for his suit against Texas Tech.
A bunch of Missouri football players formed a rap group. The Kentucky Boulevard Boys look to take over the scene like they take over the football field. Yeah, whatever. Call me when they get a recording contract. Oh, and try to focus on the playbook and not your lyric book for the next couple of weeks. We know it’s a cakewalk schedule but you need to be getting better now, not in a month.
Michigan’s Denard Robinson is your Heisman leader after two weeks and it makes real sense. He single-handedly carried the Wolverines past Notre Dame last Saturday. If he gets his wheel injured, the whole season is over for Michigan.
Reggie Bush, on the other hand, will forfeit his Heisman. It seems the pressure and guilt for playing with a bunch of ineligible players in 2005 was just too much. Vince Young, the runner-up, tweeted that he will be happy leaving it vacant, even though he said he wanted it earlier this week.
Speaking of Twitter, Miami of Florida’s head coach Randy Shannon just banned it for his players. It seems the beat down Oklahoma gave the Hurricanes was enough to warrant this punishment. Maybe the team can play their way back into getting access?
The new NCAA President Mark Emmert wants to get tougher on the rule breakers. Yet, he wants to make sure the pro sports leagues and players’ unions are happy. Let’s face it. The NCAA is irrelevant. It seems all they do is choke the players from making money so they can make more money. A free education is great for these athletes, but they are stopping adults from making adult business decisions. Someone needs to stop these guys, they are like cassette tapes.
And it looks like the WAC is suing Nevada and Fresno State so they can stay in the WAC for the 2011-2012 season. You know, with the way expansion has been handled in the offseason, wouldn’t the WAC have some sort of contingency in place? Instead of suing, why not invite a couple of Big Sky schools in? Nope, because they are a sub par conference, they will sue their way around things. This conference will die a slow burning death.
Okay it’s not as exciting as signing day or the first day of summer practice, but it’s enough to get us here at the KCCGD excied for some more college football! This week’s Crib Sheet dives into cracks and pulls up some loose change and football news. It doesn’t matter, it’s great to see the kids on the field getting ready for another season. We’re saving the change for stadium popcorn. On to the Crib Sheet:
We’re heard stories about college players getting arrested for drug and/or alcohol related crimes, but we haven’t heard the story about other players removing student newspapers that feature such crimes on the front page. Welp, it happened in Texas and the coach is backing his players for the removal. Is it suppression of free speech? Or is it a team rallying together? We don’t know, but we do that a campus full of students walked into class that morning without a crossword puzzle to distract them and that’s just wrong. At any rate, the coach later apologized.
Dan Beebe told everyone to chill about the permanent championship homes for the Big 12. At least not until June. It looks as though the rumor was Football in Jerryville, Baseball in OKC, and Basketball at the Sprint Center in KC. Maybe he’s holding out for more money from Jerry Jones, but my guess is that the Big 12 can get more from each city in the Big 12 area when putting the location up for grabs each year.
The Notre Dame athletic director, Jack Swarbrick, let slip the possibility that the Fighting Irish may have to join a conference and lose its independence if expansion happens all around them. This could be a bad thing for the Irish and a great thing for the conference that nabs them.
Coaches in Texas and Maryland get a one year reprieve from the new rule that limits successors in waiting to recruit for the team. The gates are open, boys, take as much as you can before the clock runs out!
Speaking of Notre Dame and Maryland, they will be playing each other at FedEx field in 2011. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be the home team. Huh? FedEx field is IN Maryland. Okay now we see why this independence is going away for the Irish. That’s just ridiculous.
President Barack Obama honored the Alabama Crimson Tide at the White House this week for winning the BCS National Championship. It must be be tough for a Big 10 guy to honor an SEC team, but hey, he’s a politician and he rolls with the tide.
Okay it’s Crib Sheet time and we need to talk to all of the aspiring wide receivers out there. Do not talk to Deion Sanders. The image above presents only a shrivel of evidence to support our position. Yes, he’s flashy. Yes, he preaches. Yes, he looks good in a suit. But nothing really good comes from working with the guy. Just ask Michael Crabtree. So consider this a public service announcement and please avoid Deion Sanders. Here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
Alabama linebacker Courtney Upshaw has been ordered to take an anger management course. This stems from a domestic fight with his girl friend some time ago. She has to take the course too. Will it affect his play on the field? Tune in to find out.
ESPN’s Tim Griffin writes that Texas is getting ready for the Red River Rivalry this weekend by listening to that god awful Boomer Sooner theme song over and over. That’s either going to help them tune it out or get them so angry and sick that they will take it out on Oklahoma this weekend. This could work wonders elsewhere. Possible water boarding replacement? We think so.
A walk on Southern Miss player Peter Wilkes committed suicide over the weekend. We send our condolences out to his family. Apparently his dad suffered a heart attack and died over the summer. Wilkes decided to continue school for his dad but apparently it was too much.
A female student was arrested during the Iowa and Arkansas State game for continuously yelling at player Adrian Clayborn. The student was warned multiple times and even given a restraining order. Stalking happens at both sides of the gender. Kinda funny that heckling could get somebody arrested, though.
Dan Hawkins finally benched his son, Cody. Or did he? This will be the downfall to Hawkins and will serve as a lesson to all coaches out there. Don’t let your family mix with your coaching. Bill Snyder 2.0 knew this and retired to spend time with his family. He’s back now and you don’t see any of his kids on the field, coaching or playing.
The Big 12 will play seven bowls games during the bowl season after this year. More importantly the toilet, er, Independence Bowl is off the docket. We also see the new New York City Bowl show up. Many a mediocre conference team fans rejoice in the pick of New York over Shreveport, Louisiana.
Speaking of the bowls, the Cotton Bowl will move to Jerry Jones mecca that is Cowboys Stadium and the old place will have a new one called the Dallas Football Classic. It’s nice to see they are still using it but does that put the number of bowls in Texas at about 234? Hey, the more the merrier.
This is a little embarrassing. We’re getting all hyped up for another great year of college football and stumbled a bit in our preparation. You see, we naturally assumed that in the last two years of this fine and dandy operation that we actually had a barspot at a Tanner’s Bar & Grill location. This is not true. So to make up for it, we are kicking off our 3rd season by hanging out in one of the storied sports bar traditions for the Kansas City Area. Join us at the Waldo district to kick the season off in style and welcome to another year of KC College Gameday! Continue reading Barspotting: We Almost Forgot About Tanner’s→
Hey guess what? The Crib Sheet is BACK for the regular season. We enjoyed digging up some tasty news nuggest during the offseason so much that we are going to roll it into the regular season rotation. That’s great news alone. So for those of you not familiar with the format, let us explain what the Crib Sheet is all about: We scour the interwebs for stories not hears too well and stories that are local to the Kansas City area, adding our unique twist on it. So rejoice in its return and enjoy this week’s Crib Sheet:
Indiana is cashing in big time by giving up a home game in 2010 and playing Penn State at FedEx Field, home of the NFL Washington Redskins. It looks like this trend is here to stay with college teams playing in pro football (and baseball) stadiums. I guess it will work out for schools that get major payouts, $3 million for Indiana, but it still sucks that hometown fans have to travel or miss out on games.
Tennessee running back Bryce Brown is cleared of any NCAA violations for questions in his recruiting process. Now he can focus on becoming yet another highly touted athlete with a dark, questionable past. Sometimes the news just writes itself.
So, everything is big in the new Cowboys stadium. Check. Tons of college football teams are playing there as well. Check. The Oklahoma vs BYU game is sold out. Check. $25 for outside concourse access only. WHAT? We get that the mega stadium will draw mega bucks, but when you’re not even in the dang stadium, you shouldn’t have to drop that chunk of change just to be there.
Mike Gundy’s blackout to prepare for Georgia led to an arrest for one player and another leaving the team. Doh! It looks as though locking things down loosened up the team a bit. Will they get it together before their big opener? Tune in this weekend.
St. Paul, a division II school, canceled its season opener because they don’t have helmets or pads. WHAT? It’s not that they couldn’t afford it, but the numnuts who ordered waited a little bit too late. They should put that guy in a tackling dummy and let the team try out the new gear on him.
Blaine Gabbert locked up the starting job at Missouri. Now the fight for number 2 just got easier. The other Blaine, Blaine Dalton, was booted off the team for a DUI arrest. That’s alright, though, as it sounds like the Tiger’s focus this year may be more running intensive.
Apparently Jim Harbaugh, with help from a booster, now has a $50-$70k toilet to do his business in at Stanford. So I guess when their season goes into the crapper, at least it will be comfortable and plush.
Rich Rodriguez is taking it from all sides these days. We find out that current and former players are complaining about working too many hours for the football team, even though everyone does it and they he has an ally in Ohio State Buckeye players. An investigation is coming to get to the bottom of a rule no one follows. Now we hear him getting sued in a failed deal for land development in Virginia. Notice that the piece came from the Ann Arbor news website. Seriously, wait until half the season is over when they are looking to finish the same way they did last year. By then RichRod won’t be able to fight back the tears.
