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→
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.
Oh last year was such a treat. Nebraska and Colorado decided to leave and the rest of the league was all arms together in solidarity. After a bumpy season and a dramatic victory for Oklahoma over Nebraska in the last ever Big 12 Championship Game, we are on the cuff of another great season. Well, not so fast. Texas A&M didn’t like how Texas threw their weight around in the off season and are about to leave. It’s a good thing none of the ginormous scandal affected any of the conference schools. Whether they leave or not, the Aggies have to play this year. Let’s see where everyone ends up. Continue reading Big 12 Preview 2011: They’re Coming And Going And Going And Coming And Always Too Soon→
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.
Okay yeah there’s not that much change around here. For those of you that don’t know, I moved from Kansas City to Austin earlier this year. I’m finally getting on my feet here but this blog is one of things I need to settle now. The whole point of this blog was to go around Kansas City and find the best sports bars to watch the best sport, college football. Well life changes can jack things up a bit so now I’m unjacking this part. I thought long and hard and decided to keep on doing what I’m doing.
Only this time it’s smaller. Presidential hopeful Rick Perry open his mouth and pulled a Jay Nixon by saying that there are talks between Texas A&M and the SEC for a big move. Next thing you know, the whole damn college football world is on fire. Red fire! I’ve chosen to stay out of this one over the weekend. If I learned anything last year, it’s that nowadays rumors are 95% of the ‘reports’ out there and the other 5% has a shred of truth to it. So as of right now, the SEC is staying chill, The Texas A&M president has power to explore realignment as well as take his time, the NCAA may get involved, and Rick Perry now says he doesn’t expect Texas A&M to leave. If you’re asking me what will happen, I’m saying that A&M is out at the end of the BCS contract (2014). Why? The Big 12 will blow up after the restructure of the BCS and somehow, sadly, Texas finds the vacated ‘Notre Dame Automatic Bid’ and dumps the conference. The rest of the teams fill out the Mountain West, Big 10, and SEC.
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:
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:
Another fat week of the Crib Sheet. I know you haven’t had enough. Media Days have finally kicked off so it will be another month before real football kicks off. Bask in the light, people, and let’s start ramping up for another season. First, the Crib Sheet:
Two things this week made me realize college football is right around the corner. First, Phil Steele’s College Football Preview for 2011 went on sale yesterday. Second, the Crib Sheet has over 15 news items this week. It’s coming, so get ready. But first the Crib Sheet:
I’m recovered from Memorial Day, thanks to some fresh water and aloe vera. I did my part in taking a day of rest to recognize all of the great things our troops have done for America for its young history. I hope you did the same. Now I didn’t rest too much as the Crib Sheet must still keep chucking along. Here’s week’s edition:
It’s that time of year. It’s time to pop open the windows and enjoy the weather a bit. Summer is just right around the corner and I’m happy that I’m not breathing recycled air at night. It’s a good time of the year for college football, too. The bones inside the players, the coaches, and the fans are just starting to itch. Warmer weather means practice is getting closer and games are not that far off. It’s especially exciting with the prospect of being the only kind of organized football on in the fall. Tune in later this year but in the meantime, hit up the Crib Sheet:
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:
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 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.
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.
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.
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