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College, Football, Picks

PIck It and Stick It 2011 Week 09: This Is Giving Me Chills

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It’s Halloween weekend (-ish, it’s on Monday) and the weather is finally starting to reflect that down here in Austin.  I have to get used to it being hot rolling into late October.  This weekend has a big ole cold front blowing through and I’m already feeling the chills.  That’s the sign on fall that I need and it fits right in the super creepy Halloween theme.  The action of the field and on the Pick It and Stick It is still smoking hot.  Keltron3000 is breaking away from the pack but others are hot on her heels.  Kansas State is up for the game of their lives, well more like the game of the year, as they host Oklahoma.  So grab some Candy Corn and let’s check out the picks: Continue reading PIck It and Stick It 2011 Week 09: This Is Giving Me Chills →

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Pick It and Stick It 2011 Week 08: Ready, Flick, Fight!

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It’s high time to duke it out on the field for dominance on the college football landscape.  The unbeatens will dwindle down here real soon, if not this weekend, and it’s everyone team for themselves.  Please remember, however, by fighting I mean actually playing tough football.  I do not mean actually fighting the opposing players.  It seems in the last couple of weeks some players have been confused and took to fisticuffs.  Heck 41 players are suspended because of a big brawl that happened last weekend.  Please, when you go out there fight well in terms of football, not Mortal Kombat.  Now, it’s time to go over the Pick It and Stick It and look for some fatalities.  Finish Him!

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Pick It and Stick It 2011 Week 06: Pick the Bigger One

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I have to say I’m a little giddy at the news that TCU will be accepting the offer to join the Big 12.  Yeah, I know that they turned the gravy train around from the Big East but they are a better fit and I’m sure they were a little shakey about that conference after Pitt and Syracuse decided to leave.  Yes, the Big East is in HUGE trouble, and now it’s the Big 12’s turn to take a deep breath and grab a couple of more teams.  In fact, I’d say it’s high time for the Big 12 to Pick It and Stick It!  Speaking of which, we have another exciting weekend of action on the field and on your pick sets.  Let’s go over the list:

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Barspotting, College, Football

It’s a 1st Round Draft Pick

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It’s another week of college football and I’m starting to get comfortable down here.  I had a quick detour to the Pecan Street Festival down on 6th street but after that it was all football nearby at the Draft Pick off Riverside Drive.  The week of football was a welcomed one after all of the drama that was going on for the Big 12.  There were tons of surprises but also tons of blowouts.  Let’s sit right back and take a look.

Walking into the Draft Pick, I kinda felt like I was in an office building and not a sports bar.  The architecture leading into the joint was somewhat modern and unassuming.  The inside look totally made up for the outside look. Granted, there were no patios but the inside was all football watching business.  Flat screens were all over the place, with one ginormous projection screen framing the square blocked bar.  This is a place I can hunker down and watch some games.

Speaking of games, I couldn’t find any.  Usually, a sports bar of ultimate greatness needs to have at least some Golden Tee or something, but the Draft Pick had nothing.  This may be a philosophical decision.  Their website proclaims that this bar was a project for serious football watchers only.  That means there is not time for games.  I can understand that, but please give me something to pass the time either at half or after the game.

Now that doesn’t mean the service was shabby.  In fact, it’s been about the best I’ve ever had.  The first question asked when I walked in was “What game are you watching today?”  I have never heard that anywhere else in my 4 years of KCCGD.  Color me impressed.  Now, the ladies themselves were pretty svelte, even though there were some questionable candidates.  Overall, however, it was pleasing to watch with the games.

I had the fortune of pounding a couple of drinks before the ole barspotting event so my taste buds were fully opened. The Draft Pick’s selection paired their famous All Star pizza with a little local fare from Independence Brewery called Austin Amber Ale.  First off, the pizza tasted almost exactly like the kind I’ve had back in KC from Godfather’s Pizza, except the toppings were way thicker.  That much food tossed down my gullet was massaged by the Amber Ale’s smooth flavor.  If you ever want a great beer with some great pizza, pick an Amber up and wash it all down for some creamy goodness.

Now on to the games. I got to watch just wee little bit of Georgia Tech vs North Carolina and Notre Dame vs Pittsburgh from the gym in the morning.  There’s nothing special going on there.  Notre Dame barely eked by Pittsburgh and the Fighting Irish continue to cough up the ball more than any other team in the FBS division.  Georgia Tech beat North Carolina, but they did not have a record setting performance like they did against Kansas.  I guess it’s not so much a referendum on the Jayhawks.

The bigger games of the day saw LSU heading to West Virginia, Alabama taking on Arkansas, and Clemson battling with Florida State.  I watched the LSU game at home and in between my naps, I realized that LSU may just be the real deal.  It was a close 1st half but they pulled away easily in the 2nd.   Nice night cap there.  Alabama continued to take care of business against Arkansas.  When LSU and Alabama fight, it will have national repercussions.  Finally, Clemson continues to wear the up and comer jacket by knocking off reeling Florida State.  Their head coach’s name is Dabo Sweeny.  That’s a cool name.

Big 12 wise I only really got to watch the exciting Texas A&M vs Oklahoma State game and my Kansas State Wildcats heading to Miami.  Both were on at the same time so I got to watch just a bit of the A&M and Okie State game.  From what I saw, Texas A&M had a major meltdown in the 2nd half and Oklahoma State pulled it out at College Station.  I guess their exit from the Big 12 may be a bumpy one.   Kansas State, on the other hand, surprised everyone including myself by showing up against Miami.  Not only did they show, but beat them!  Collin Klein and company pulled ahead big in the first half and then held off Miami, culminating in a 4 down goal line stand late.  Good job Wildcats!

And good job Draft Pick.  The square box design of the place didn’t leave much to be impressed architecturally, but because they slapped televisions all over, it can be forgiven.  The lack of any kind of games is worrisome but again, they went all out on the watching experience.  The food was tasty and they have a decent knowledge of craft beers.  I had issues logging on wirelessly but service staff gave me all the information I needed.  If you need to hunker down and just watch football, chose the Draft Pick.

College, Football, Picks

Pick It And Stick It 2011 Week 04: Sticking Together

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Whew!  Another close one for the Big 12.  I swear, the Big 12 is the greatest thing since MTV’s The Real World.  If you want to talk about the best conferences, then the one with the best drama factor definitely is the Big 12.  Yeah, they are staying together but we really don’t know for how long.  So while they hold hands again and tell everybody that things are cool, let’s focus on some actual football.  This week’s Pick It an Stick It kind of reflects the noise off the field.  Like the Big 12, most of the great games are stuck together around 2:30 Saturday.  That’s fine for me and my barspotting trip, but how will it fare for the picks? Continue reading Pick It And Stick It 2011 Week 04: Sticking Together →

Barspotting, College, Football

Barspotting: Draft Pick

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Last week was such a treat, let’s see if we can keep  it going.  It’s funny how the business side happens early in the week and the games get played later in the week.  Now that everything has calmed down over conference realignment, it’s high time I thought about the pros and made a Draft Pick.  They’re all business when it comes to football watching and I’ll be ready to do it.  There’s a good block of games going on at the same time and I fully intend on watching all of them at the same time.  Fortunately, they have a decent draft selection for me to sample from. Continue reading Barspotting: Draft Pick →

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Pick It and Stick It: Sticking With The Crowd

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It’s the hustle and bustle of college football.  At the beginning of the year, everyone is tied 0-0.  Slowly and weekly, the winners bubble up and the losers peter out.  We’re getting into week 3 and it’s still crowded.  We haven’t yet hit the real bubbling point.  Apparently it’s Road Test Weekend so we’ll more than likely get the cauldron cooking real quick.  Speaking of being crowded, I’m planning and surfing the flesh at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Granted I have Sunday tickets so it won’t be too bad, but Saturday’s at Third Base Sports Bar.  Let’s hope people don’t bubble up vomit and I don’t peter out.

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Barspotting, College, Football

Barspotting: Thirdbase

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Alrighty welp I’m back for another week of actual Barspotting.  Kansas City was nice and all but I’ve been to all the good bars up there and now I’m ready to hit (or find) the good bars down here in Austin.  This week I’m going to try to get to Third Base.  Hopefully, I can play my cards right and get there to brag about it all to you on Monday morning.  From the looks of things it’s a hot spot to be at so I know it’ll be crowded with others when I get there.  Come on and join me!

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PIck It and Stick It: Fling It Home

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That’s right, I’ll be on a plane shortly but I want to get the picks up for the week.  It’s hard to stay focused with the Big 12 in legal gridlock.  You know, I thought professional wrestling was soap opera for guys but now I know that college football realignment is the real deal.  No offense to the WWE, but this stuff is way better than the scripted stuff I used to watch.  So as the conference turn, get your picks in and hope for the best.

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Barspotting, College, Football

Barspotting: Kicking Off A New Town of Barspotting at Doc’s Backyard

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Alrighty, football is here and you know what that means: Barspotting!  For those of you not familiar with how Barspotting works, I basically tool around town and find places to watch college football then rate whether it’s worth it to check it out yourself.  This year will be different because I’m in a whole new town.  So I get to find a whole bunch of new bars review and also get the added benefit of finding my way around town.  The first ever Austin edition of Barspotting will feature Doc’s Backyard in Sunset Valley, well, because they are real close to me.  Not only that but they have a supposedly real tasty Chicken Fried Avacado.  Let’s check out Saturday’s lineup. Continue reading Barspotting: Kicking Off A New Town of Barspotting at Doc’s Backyard →

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Throwing Darts in 2011: Prediction Time

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Here we go on my annual predictions for the upcoming college football season. I peer into my crystal viking horn and blow out what I think will happen for the year 2011.  From the BCS Championship Game to what color socks Oregon will wear in week 10, I throw it all on the board and see what makes triples and doubles.  So what do I think will happen?  Let’s find out:

  • Going big, the BCS Championship Game will be between Alabama and Oregon.  Alabama’s avoided the NCAA cartel but Oregon hasn’t as much.  I’m taking a risk on Oregon, but I don’t see any other team outside of the SEC that is title worthy.  Sure there’s Oklahoma but man I’ve been burned by them before.
  • Texas A&M will leave the Big 12 to go the SEC.  The SEC will poach and ACC, probably Florida State.  The Big 12 stays in Texas and nabs either SMU or Houston.
  • Mike Leach will show up in a pirate outfit on Halloween.  I’m not sure where, but it will be damn scary.
  • The NCAA hires enough people for them to actually do their job.  This is a big guess.
  • The first ever Big 10 Championship Game will feature new member Nebraska and current NCAA crosshairs, Ohio State.  Ohio State wins it and causes everyone to freak out.
  • Like I said before, Oregon will win the inaugural Pac 12 Championship Game against Arizona State.
  • Tyler Gabbert will not be a starting quarterback.
  • In my Big 12 preview, I picked Oklahoma to win the Big 12 but they will not be undefeated and will choke against somebody.
  • Super recruiter Willie Lyles will be paid even more money by selling recruiting tapes of a young breakout by the name of Hershel Walker.
  • I have no friggin’ clue who will win the Heisman this year.  Probably LaMichael James, he was a finalist last year.  Yeah, so was Andrew Luck but I’m picking the Ducks over the Trees this year.
  • Notre Dame gets on the winning track this year by displaying a tall video tower at the end of the opponents field for each home game.  They may, by the grace of God, make a BCS bowl this year.
  • Penn State head coach Joe Paterno will NOT die on the field this.  I’ve tried hard with this in the past but I need my prediction average to go up.
  • Kansas fans will start asking about basketball season after the 1st quarter of the first football game this year.
  • The Longhorn Network will not be successful to begin with.  Texas finishing in the middle of the Big 12/10/9 will force ESPN to dump a bunch of infomercials on it.  Hook ‘Em Horns Turbo Snakes anyone?  There’s already Snuggies.
  • TCU will step on Boise State’s neck the only year they are together in the Mountain West Conference.
  • This whole mess with players not getting enough resources to go through college will stop.  We’ll see at cost scholarships show up so the players can get a stipend to pay for laundry and lap dances.
  • One of the Brown brothers will do good, the other one will be mediocre for Kansas State.  Still, the Wildcats make a bowl.
  • Craig James will still be a douche.
  • Erin Andrews will get bumped off the top sideline hottie list.  At least there’s naked pictures of her online.
  • The Ivy League, after limiting collision practice and targeting head injuries, will be the first conference to go all flag football.  No one will care.
  • And finally, I will get used to being in a different town.  Kansas City was nice and Austin is turning out to be pretty cool.  I also predict that I will not miss the snow but will miss the snow days.
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Crib Sheet: Coaches Poll Leaves No Surprises

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The ESPN/USA Today coaches preseason bowl came out and there’s no surprise with Oklahoma notched at number 1.  That happened a couple of years ago and they lost their first game.  Yup, it doesn’t matter who’s where right now, but what matters is that it’s the horn blasting the announcement that the college football season is ramping up for real now.  Another thing to note, the Big 12/0  has half of their teams in the Top 25.  Usually they have 6 but since a couple of teams left, they can only muster 5.  Fair enough, on to this week’s Crib Sheet:

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Crib Sheet: Media Day Menagerie

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Oh yeah lot’s of squawking and a talking this week.  Media Days are here and the Big 12’s focus this year is the Longhorns Network, not the impending doom of the conference.  Although some would say that the network is the started of a long doom for the conference.  This week’s Crib Sheet delves into that as well as the usual news items that comes across my desk.  So let’s dig in:

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Crib Sheet: Giant Chocolate Egg

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It’s warmed over, too.  This week’s Crib Sheet celebrates Easter by dropping news eggs all over the place.  Grab your basket and find them buried in the grass of the Crib Sheet.  Don’t get your fingers messy:

  • It looks like Texas new defensive coordinator’s had a weird upbringing in coaching terms.  He’s been at ESPN first, then a video guy at Florida State, and then on to coaching positions.  It also looks like he takes inspiration from other sports, too.  Will this shake things up enough for the Longhorns and turn the defense around?  We’ll find out.
  • The Big 12 Conference announced a mega-deal with Fox for broadcasting rights.  Dan Beebe was right.  They reportedly negotiated a $90 million a year deal through the next 13 years.  The big plus?  Every home game will be on some form of television starting in 2012.  Well that and each school has a the chance to kick up their own network.
  • The officer who shot and killed the Pace University football player, Denroy Henry Jr., received the Officer of the Year Award from the police union where he works.  Their reasoning is that the officer showed bravery through that time and all of his time working for the department.  This angered alot of folks.  It depends on who you believe on what happened.  I just don’t like that it’s a union that gets to dole out the award.
  • Not to be outdone by fellow conference fashionistas Oregon, Arizona State unveiled their new uniforms for the year.  They will be changing colors left and right.  On top of that, their helmets are new, with big giant pointy tridents.  The Ducks did this and they won but they also hired the right coach.  That’s the kind of makeover the Sun Devils could really use.
  • In another case of me-too’s, Auburn will build statues for their Heisman Trophy winners, like what Florida did.  The only difference is that there’s a darker cloud hanging over Cam Newtan than there is hanging over Tim Tebow.  I wonder if they’ll add that to the design.  Oh, and Nick Saban had his own statue erected, too.
  • There will be even more Blubaughs in prison as Tom’s wife, Charlette, will get 57 months in prison for her role in the Kansas ticket scandal.  I didn’t know women’s prisons had Blubaughs too.  Maybe they should make a movie about it.
  • Dennis Dodd of CBS has an interesting article on 7-on-7 leagues in high school.  It seems they are the AAUs of football.  Jay Paterno is correct about how coaches can’t tell if a kid can take a hit.  I hope something gets down soon about these because I don’t want football to turn into a ballet.  We could use a couple of big hits in a game.
  • Now that the Fiesta Bowl is in trouble, they are scrambling to get money back from lawmakers who took the kickbacks from them.  If it’s anything related to government, then it will take a long time before the Fiesta Bowl sees a dime.
  • A couple of rule changes are coming down the pike for next year.  The NCAA approved more stringent below the waist penalties and gave the option for teams to run 10 seconds off the clock on penalties within the final minute of the half.  Nothing earth shattering but an improvement indeed.
  • Notre Dame released the investigation report relating to Declan Sullivan’s death earlier this year.  They found the no single person was responsible but there was a lax in safety.  Apparently the weather data was out of date.  This does seem kind of fishy,  I hope the school pays tons of money to parents of Sullivan to avoid a lawsuit.
  • There was a tussle online about the Boise State’s AD, Gene Bleymaier, and his fiery words about the BCS.  That’s just talk.  What’s more important to me is that the school trademarked the blue turf and will protect the likeness of the field in FBS terms, while allowing it to happen to divisions below.  Since when is a blue field trademarkable?  That seems a little too much to me.  At least one coach in the Mountain West Conference, sees it as an unfair competitive advantage as well.  San Diego State’s Rocky Long hates it and I suggest the Aztecs change their field to candy striped or fractal like patterns.
  • So while the NCAA is busy messing up student athletes and their lack of scholarship funding, they find time to make some even dumber team name penalties.  North Dakota passed a state law to keep the Fighting Sioux nickname but it will not stop the NCAA from administrating penalties because of their perception of the name.  The NCAA considers it offensive and will take money away from the school.  The deeper issue is that two tribes in the area are split over the decision.  Why is the NCAA trying to influence an issue that clearly doesn’t involve them?  Let the tribes and the state figure it out and get out of the way.
College, Football, News

Crib Sheet: Signing Hype Day

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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: