This week’s standings are in and we are still figuring out just how to work the angles. Starting out, it made sense that we made the picks a little more hardcore. Picking just one team over the other seemed way to simple to the kind of fans that lurk around these parts. Oh, we’re glad we set it up the way we did, but we sure are reminded today that we can’t fall asleep at the wheel. The weekly picks by design are supposed to affect the overall but it doesn’t seem that way. Much like Les Miles crazy fake field goal that eventually put LSU over Florida. Pick It and Stick is part design, part luck.
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.
Okay so this will be a lil weird. Barspotting found me outside of Kansas City again Saturday for the second week in a row. This time, I was in Minnesota. Minneapolis to be exact. So prior obligations held me up north and by some crazy chance I was able to stumble into a sports bar up there to catch at least one football game. Among the lessons learned on this trip was that regional football coverage can sometimes cramp your football watching style. Well that and onion rings alone can be pretty tasty.
Okay so in case you’ve heard we are heading up north. Yup, it’s gonna be chilly but hopefully not as chilly as some of the picks we have this week. There’s only 25, our lowest of the year so far, and we’re feeling the pinch of lower confidence points. Pick well, every one. Dig down deep and go for more. You’ll need to be spot on for this set and probably the rest of the sets.
You know, I don’t know what it is with the travelling all of the sudden, but here we go again on our own. Going down that only road that, well, leads straight from Kansas City to Minneapolis/St. Paul. Otherwise I-35. I’ve been (unofficially) down I-35 to Austin, Texas and now I’m heading up north to check out Minnesota. Prior obligations find myself out there and I’m hoping to get some football down while I do it. A little birdie told me that Minnesota is hosting Northwestern for homecoming so I might check it out. Otherwise, it might be a great sports bar in town or more than likely Hooters at the Great Mall of America. God I hope it’s the homecoming game.
It’s amazing to think how long we have been doing this blog. Three years. That’s dedication, homes. One of the very first places we barspotted was The Other Place. It was a great time and now it’s time again to head back over there. What better place to watch Farmageddon other than Arrowhead than deep into one of the few Iowa/Iowa State bars in the area. Yeah, we could go to Kite’s or Lucky Brewgrille for the Kansas State side of things but The Other Place is so much better and it’s been a long time since we’ve been there. So let’s re-live some good times and meet us out there Saturday to watch Farmegeddon blow us away.
Alrighty, welcome to the first standings update for the Pick It and Stick It of 2010. We’re going to switch things up a bit this year. Last year, we broke the design of the site and our fingers trying to just map out what happened each week and who did what. In the end, we realized that most people just cared who was winning and didn’t care about anything else. So we’re blowing away the Weekly Picks and just reporting the standings. If you want to check out the full stats, click on the ‘Standings’ link and it will take you to our group. If you want to see more, please sing up and play along too. No worries though as we’ll still touch on the highlights of the weekend’s picks and events. So here’s the Standings:
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.
Alrighty, I’m about halfway through my scotch and water, I blasted out another Crib Sheet, and I’m jacked up for some football tomorrow night. It’s prediction time! The offseason sucked. Period. Being in Big 12 land was not easy on this college football lovin’ Yeti and especially not easy on Kansas City. We weathered the storm and now we are here ready for some pigskin play. What will we see in this year’s volume of football? Let’s take a look in our crystal ball shaped glass full of scotch and water.
Mike Leach will lose his CBS announcing job for making Gus Johnson stand in the bathroom with no light.
Mark Ingram will not be a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, thanks to the fresh knee injury.
The Oregon Ducks will win the Pac 10, both for best dressed and actual gold.
Colorado loses a bunch of games and Dan Hawkins stays on because the school is too broke to fire him out of his contract.
Caoch Brian Kelly will talk NBC into going into commerical breaks for opposing teams’ offensive drives only. Oh and the Fighting Irish will make a bowl.
Missouri will win the North, only because Nebraska’s ego and farewell tour will fall flat.
Daniel Thomas will be a Heisman finalist, thanks to a solid offensive line and the fact that he will get his yards with the whole defense keying on him. Thanks, Carson Coffman.
Boise State will go undefeated and not make the dance. People are saying its the weak schedule, but it will be because of an undefeated team in the Big 10 and one other conference. Look for Orrin Hatch to have an aneurism over this one.
This will be Lee Corso’s last season for ESPN College GameDay. It’s been a hell of a ride, Lee, just please don’t put on the Grim Reaper’s head when it’s your time to go.
This will be the fastest season ever for the Kansas Jayhawks. By fast, we mean the fans will be ready for basketball season about 2 games in. Turner Gill’s rebuilding starts this year, he’s got at least 3 before some magic happens.
Iowa State will be in the bottom of the league again, but they will get an upset some big team because of a massive rain storm. Hey their practice field flooded over the summer, they should be ready.
Texas just missed the mark in the Big 12 South. Not because of the competition, but for the cliffhanger they want to leave for next season’s Longhorns Network debut. Stay Tuned! Same horn time! Same horn channel!
Big Game Bob goes to a BCS game but will not be game as the Sooners bob and weave from some other big team beaming game time bashings. Probably against Virginia Tech and Frank BEAMER.
The Big East has a seasson. No one really cares.
RichRod makes a valiant effort and gets the Wolverines into a bowl game. It will be the weakest one from the Big 10 and it will be enough to get him fired. He will then go on and make real estate deals with everyone in the Ann Arbor region.
USC doesn’t get close to a Pac 10 championship and Lane Kiffin leaves after just one season. The Kiffin world tour moves on!
Florida misses Tim Tebow and will miss being in the running for the SEC. Urban Meyer gets sick and dies from the piss poor play on the field.
Kansas City sports bars will stay the same this year. No one will get 3D TVs because the mixture of 3D and beer will make everyone puke. Some new bars will crop up and the KCCGD crew will eventually puke in those anyway.
We’re going back to our 2008 prediction about Joe Paterno dieing on the field. Now that Bobby Bowden is out, this one should get much easier. Or will he be in the booth this year?
Okay, we called the BCS National Championship game two years ago with Florida and Oklahoma, we were halfway right with Texas last year in the big game. What will happen this year? Well, the trend says we will get it all wrong so there’s nothing to lose. I’m thinking the offseason hype for the Big 10 will lead a team to a title contention. Since the only team that’s worth a damn up there is Ohio State, then that’s our pick. Chances are the SEC will be mega tough again this year and barring any late push by an Oregon or a Big 12 team, we are going the easy route and picking SEC. Whose turn is it? Let’s go LSU. Why not. Can you say 2007 rematch?
Apparently there’s still some fallout from the NCAA’s investigation of schools regarding sports agents and football players. Read all about it below. Our take on the whole thing? The times they are a changing and much like any other huge organization, change comes slow. This week’s Crib Sheet points out that while the NCAA is running around doing investigations, they are cutting drug testing budgets. We think the NCAA needs to lean down more and seriously reconsider just how sports are played today. On the Crib Sheet:
It looks like alot of big name players are going down at Nebraska and Missouri. Mike Smith broke a leg for the Cornhuskers and Jerrell Jackson broke his left wrist. Will this potentially blow open the Big 12 North? The bigger injuries usually happen during the season.
Well well well, it looks like Bryce Brown IS coming to Kansas State. That is, until Derek Dooley releases him from his scholarship at Tennessee. Brown’s had some trouble there and decided to bolt after Lane Kiffin did. Bill Snyder 2.0 should help clean him up after this blows over.
As more and more reports of paid trips come up, Nick Saban closes camp to scouts and then grabs some of his buddies on a call to the NFL regarding ways to stamp out the rampant sports agent issue. It’s alright that Saban is trying to clean things up now, but we’re thinking he’s getting ahead of it to take advantage of it later on down the road.
New Mexico football players can’t tweet. Now we loves the Twitter and we see no harm in kids doing the same thing socially that their peers are. If DeWayne Walker was smart, he would cryptically recruit via Twitter.
Playboy picked Ohio State to win it all. Is Playboy even relevent anymore. They used to have it big but now it just seems they are a glorified New Yorker. Even the nudity isn’t intriguing anymore.
So the media circus that was Mike Leach is now replaced with a reality show. Yup, Texas Tech decided that the pirate attention was not enough and will document the team throughout the season in a reality show. Hard Knocks this won’t be. But hey it already sounds better than Jerzey Shore.
Sprint’s Football Live app now does college football. Yes, all of you smartphone subscribers out there will now get a chance to watch ESPN college football games as well as the Notre Dame home games. Very nice indeed.
The NCAA is cutting costs related to drug testing. Gone comprehensive tests, Ephedrine, and advance notice to schools. What stays are the high risk drugs and an easier path of get away with taking performance enhancing drugs.
The #7 Florida Gators from Phil Steele’s Preseason Top 40 rankings are the next victim in mascots we haven’t covered yet that make the list. The gender appeasing dynamic duo of Albert and Alberta welcome our wagon as we tool on down to Gainesville and check out how these Gators chomp. Last year, the Gators were led by one of the greatest college football players to ever live, Tim Tebow (yeah that’s right, we said that). This year, they are without him and are looking to fill the huge void left. Will the emptied spirit of the once very inspired Gator football team be rekindled with the help of these two costumed carnivore’s? Let’s find out.
It’s time to go camping! The teams are gearing up and we geared up for our own camp adventure last week. :
The two biggest movers and shakers from the off season’s expansion bonanza might actually play each other. There was the talk of Notre Dame and none other than Texas will play each other in a couple of years. Good for both programs. If the Longhorns end up with an exclusive television station, this game might only be played on Longhorns TV and NBC.
Assistant coach Bruce Walker from Missouri was arrested last week on a DWI. The coaches and some of their wives were coming back from a trip to the Lake of the Ozarks. Now we’ve been down there many times and we can say that more than likely you will be coming back drunk from down there. A cab was called, he should’ve taken it. But hey, Missouri’s used to making bad choices, right?
Meanwhile, in Ames, Iowa State defensive back David Simms plead guilty to the credit card fraud charge. He sits out the first game against Northern Illinois. See kids? Crime doesn’t pay (kinda).
Not only does Kansas have to deal with Holden Tharp’s year ending injury, but now they have to change the fight song! Colorado and Nebraska are somehow featured in the song and since they are high tailing out of the conference, new words must be had.
So while Boise State’s head coach Chris Peterson banned Twitter use for players, the player who incited the haymaker from LeGarrette Blount spoke up and let us know what he said. “How ’bout that (expletive)-whuppin?” So Blount was talking smack before the game and this guy threw it in his face afterward.
The Bill Snyder 2.0 magic is in effect. The Kansas State Wildcats reported record contributions for the last year. It also helps that a very public blunder by Bob Krause fed the anxiety of said contributors.
The USA Today Top 25 pre season poll is out! Top five in order are Alabama, Ohio State, Florida, Texas, and Boise State. Yes, a mid major is up there and TCU is not far behind. Big 12 wise we have Oklahoma and Nebraska at 8 and 9 respectively. How much will this change in the next couple months? We can’t wait for the season to get here.
UCLA is falling apart right before Kansas State’s eyes. The middle game is gone with two season ending injures and an academically ineligible tag. We think Daniel Thomas is drooling just a little bit more at this rushing opportunity.
Okay the holidays are over and we are in the middle of summer. College football is so close right now we can taste it. You know how we can tell? We have a buttload of news to go over in this week’s Crib Sheet. So enough jibba jabba, here’s the sheet:
Speaking of the one time rivalry, Nebraska removed the end part of the video they put out earlier this year for their fan video. It said “Beat Texas.” The smack talk is already beginning and it’s not even the start of training camp yet.
Dontavius Jackson will be transferring from Georgia after summer school following his DUI arrest. Goes to show folks, don’t get caught breaking the law if you are a football player. You might get your scholarship dumped.
The two Kansas dudes who were indicted last week have plead guilty in court for the ticket scandal they covered up. Hopefully for Jayhawk fans, this will blow over and they can start focusing on rebuilding for the football season. Or focus on the start of basketball season.
We’ve been trying for the last couple of days to come up with something exciting to attach to the release of EA Sport’s new NCAA College Football 11 game. It’s out. That’s it. Nothing exciting here.
Bob Krause, former Kansas State Athletic Director, described in a deposition how he got duped by Ron Prince at the last second, which then gave Prince a tasty buyout from his contract. So Krause was out of his league big time and now we see why.
Ex Florida Gator Maurkice Pouncey was the subject of an investigation that addressed and allegation that he took about 100K from a middle man to an agent. If the investigation finds it to be true, Florida could lose the Sugar Bowl victory last year. It doesn’t matter to Pouncey because he is in the NFL right now. It seems agents have found a loophole to exploit kids in their senior year. The kids get paid and leave before any repercussions. Kinda like pulling a Pete Carroll. Stewart Mandel points this out and we just found out from Nick Saban that Alabama is investigating its own issue too.
Missouri linebacker Tyler Crane was kicked off the team for violating team rules. Neither Crane or Missouri will say just what he did. It seems like he was a back up so it shouldn’t affect the Tigers this year that much.
11 Notre Dame athletes were arrested for underage drinking at a party last week, including Joe Montana’s son Nate. Doh! It’s nice to see the Fighting Irish are with the times in terms of off the field troubles. This tells us that they might be competitive this coming year.
It seems an investigation will open in Arizona to see if current and former Fiesta Bowl employees made campaign contributions to politicians whom supported the bowl. The major issue is not the contribution but the reimbursement from the bowl. Ya, that’s a no no.
Okay, we talked about the Big 10 expansion with all of the goodbits on the business side of things, but what about us? What about the fans? How will the average stool jockey be affected if and when the Big 10 decides to expand out beyond its current bounds? From the Trojan sporting LA type to the gator chomping tanned Floridian, the effect could be small. Or it could be big. The closer the proximity to the Big 10, the more the fans will experience change, especially right here in Kansas City. Let’s see what can happen as we narrow the focus down to right here at the KCCGD headquarters.
For the first time in about 6 months, the KCCGD headquarters opened up the windows to let the weather in. The first signs of warm weather and great tempatures can mean only one thing. No, not the start of baseball, but the start of spring practice. The recruits are signed and the players that can practice are on the field. Start the clock, we have about 5 months to go before the start of another football season. In the meantime, check out this week’s Crib Sheet:
Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez was named in yet another lawsuit involving home deals. This shouldn’t affect his on the field coaching much this season. He’s still avoiding the hot seat, but if he turns out another poor performance, then these kind of lawsuits will be used as ammo against him.
Meanwhile, the grounds crew and security detail for the Big House needs to get its act together. Someone broke into the stadium and lifted a big chunk of the ‘M’ in the middle of the field. What would you do with that? Make a jacket?
Urban Meyer is back to Florida and is already spitting fire. He lashed out at Orlando Sentinel reporter Jeremy Fowler for reporting the comments that Deonte Thompson made about exiting quarterback Tim Tebow. It’s nice to see the fire is back so quick for Meyer, let’s hope he doesn’t drop 20-30 pounds because of it.
Kansas coach Turner Gill is open to positions changes for the new football season and about 9 players have taken advantage of it so far. It’s time to rebuild the program and what better way to do so than with kids playing the positions they want. At least they’ll be more motivated.
Another football player was stabbed to death. This time it’s Kendall Berry of Florida International University. This, of course, was a result of an argument and retaliation. Hopefully, they will find the guy that did it. When will players see enough of this and not get involved with off campus thugs. And a suspect has been arrested in the case.
After much fanfare and celebration, the loved International Bowl is closing up shop. Well, there were really only around for about 4 years. The Big East team that ran over the MAC opponents will now face stiffer competition in the Yankee Bowl.
