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:
Mascot Monday rolls on to another week and you may be wondering why I’m revisiting another mascot. Welp, you are wrong there as I am not talking about Kansas State’s Willie the Wildcat but Northwestern’s Willie the Wildcat. They have the same name, the same color, and almost the same history. It’s going to be hard to avoid comparisons but I”m going to do my best. I mean one is from the cold winds of Chicago and the other is from the Little Apple of Manhattan, Kansas. See there we go, let’s see what else we find.
Continue reading Mascot Monday: Willie The Wildcat (The Other One)
Here we are in the middle of bowl season. I got some good gear for Xmas and I hope you got some too. The bowl action was light in the last week, but we are now ramping up into the meat of the schedule. Most of the Big 12 schools will be playing this week and there will be ample action in between. Meanwhile, I Bowl Pick It and Stick It standings are out are some peeps jumping out of the gate quick. Let’s look at that first:
Continue reading Bowl Pick It and Stick It: The Bowl Nine Yards
Once a niche thing, now it seems it’s all back in fashion. What am I talking about? I’m talking about football games being played in baseball stadiums, of course! Today we have a game at Wrigley Field and we also have a Bowl game with New Era fronting the money for two teams to play in Yankees Stadium. For years I have longed to see a real sport played in these stadiums and now it lo0ks as though it finally will happen. But is it a good thing?
Okay, I’m giving JJ’s Other Place one more shot. They didn’t have power for our game last week, even though they were open that evening. So I’m going back to give them a college try for this Saturday. The morning games all suck, but once the afternoon hits we get some Top 25 clashes. Let’s hope that they will have a enough juice for the week for use to enjoy at least one of those. The backup plan, for the first time ever, is Lew’s Grill and Bar. What can I say, it’s my new favorite place. Continue reading Barspotting: JJ’s Other Place Part II
Can you believe it? Yes, it’s a barspot this week! I’m finally done with road trips and now I’m ready to sit my behind down at a Kansas City bar and watch some great games this weekend. Missouri had a historic win and this weekend I feel like I need to throw all of my support behind the Tigers and watch the game at the legendary Brooksider. They have the biggest plasma screen television around and I’ll be there to watch that and the Kansas State game. Come on out and join me in the fun while we kick old stool.
When: Saturday, October 30 2010
Time: 11:00 AM
Where: The Brooksider Sports Bar & Grill, 6300 Brookside Plaza, Kansas City, MO 64113
Games:
Notes: You know, it’s kind of light week. All eyes will be on the Big 10 and Big 12 this weekend as the night games look pretty weak. First off the road to the Big 10 title still goes through Iowa as Michigan State looks to stay undefeated. It’s their 2nd time away from home and they barely escaped Northwestern last week.K This should be a close one. The one we’re going to see is Missouri and Nebraska. One on hand you have the Tigers coming off their biggest win ever and on the other you have a farewell tour of a team bolting to the Big 10. This one should be close too. Come on out Saturday and help us spectate.
So I thought last week was chilly. Yeah it’s even colder up closer to the Great White North. Or what I like to call the Not Quite Great White North. I’m up here for other obligations and I’m excited not only for that but for being able to see what Big 10 country is like. Now, a couple of weeks ago we were up in Des Moines, but that was on the edge. I’m in Minnesota. I’m in the heart of Big 10 country. I’ve heard of and talked smack on the aura of the Big 10 and now it’s time I see what it’s like.
Continue reading GameDay: A Kansas Citian’s View of Big 10 Country
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.
The heat is on. It’s on the street. Oh Glenn Fry, you save us from the sultry steam of summer with your cool saxaphone riff and Eddie Murphy praising rock music. Yes, the heat is mos def on as we hit our first hot spot of the summer. It’s just in time, too, as the rain left us watching the Beverly Hills Cop series 10 times over, including the terrible 3rd part. Cabin fever, indeed. So we’re hitting the pool this week and dreaming of the new college football season while laying in our floaties sipping some cold beverages. Hit up the Crib Sheet then do the same.
It’s a great day for us here at the KCCGD headquarters. Later today we will wrap up out series on the Big 10 Expansion, and we are taking a look at the last real candidate for expansion we have yet to cover in our mascot playground. Not only that, but we are out of Big 12 mascots to feature. So what better way to knock out two birds with one stone, or in this case a fist, with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Leprechaun. Believe it or not, this green fella was not the original mascot way back when. Also, the mascot is one of the more unique type of mascots out there. Smack down some shepherd’s pie and pull back a Guinness, we are about to crazy Irish here.
Yesterday we laid the groundwork for the expansion drama that’s girdling up the loins of college football at the moment. Today we are taking a look at how the history of the Big 10 led us to this point. There’s over 100 years of data to go over, but we are blowing through the earliest parts and focus on the last 20 years. Expansion is in the blood of the Big 10 and they’ve acted on it. They tried many times and failed but were able to pull one team in the fold. So let’s ring up the good Doctor and fly away in the TARDIS back to the start of the Big 10.
Continue reading Magnifying the Expansion Part 2: History Lesson Time, Kids
Quick somebody get us some facial tissue and some decongestants. It’s allergy season here at the KCCGD Headquarters! We’re sneezing our heads off and we’re barely making it through the week. That’s not stopping us from delivering your favorite weekly news roundup: The Crib Sheet! It’s chock full this week with a ton of diva grandstanding from college conference officials. It’s a good thing our noses are stuffed because we think alot of that talk stinks. On to the Crib Sheet:
The Senior Bowl is coming this week and the NFL Network has LIVE coverage…..of the practices. Okay, so up to the minute updates on who practiced well and who practiced crappy is fine, but non stop coverage of weigh-ins and such? You gotta be kidding me. I guess we live in a day and age where picking through a player’s stool and reporting on what he had for lunch is considered news. Plus we have enough cameras out there to film it. Please, just read the Crib Sheet:
Finally, the KCCGD has come BACK to Leewood, Kansas! Okay, we’re not too much into old school wrestling references, but we had to set the tone on how we felt within the walls of the 810 Zone. We all aren’t wrestling fans and we don’t live in trailers. In fact we’re pretty normal. But compared the crowd out there, we certainly felt that way. Even so, we ended up having a pretty good time. Our wallets felt the pain however. So did the Kansas State Wildcats as they tried to win the Big 12 North against Nebraska. Oh the times we had.