It’s a tasty Crib Sheet this week as I’m packed up and ready to head to Austin for SXSW. I might stop by Daryl K Royal Stadium and give homage to the team that Kansas State has owned the last couple of years. That is if I can make it there between the haze of tech and music. The next Crib Sheet might be heavily abbrieviated. Just sayin. Here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
Tag Archives: Texas Tech
Crib Sheet: The Groundhog Lied
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:
Crib Sheet: We’re Committed
The coaching carousel is almost at a stop and now we are getting closer to signing day. Who will go where? I don’t know. But one thing I do know is the Crib Sheet will keep you updated with all of the latest commitments and decommitments:
- With TCU heading to the Big East, it seems that are also heading to the big time in recruiting. Local star, Brandon Carter changed his commitment from the venerable Oklahoma Sooners over to the Horned Frogs. Maybe the Texas kids are thinking they can shine better in the Big East than the tougher Big 12?
- Jim Leavitt is going to the big time. Not Kansas State Defensive Coordinator, but San Fransisco 49ers linebackers coach. It stinks for Wildcats fans as they were hoping Leavitt would come in and fix the defense. Maybe Bill Snyder 2.0 has something else up this sleeve? Meanwhile, defensive backs coach Keith Burns is taking his show back to Ole Miss.
- ESPN and the Texas Longhorns reached a 20 year, $300 million deal for a Longhorns Network. The school will be up for a tasty profit while the broadcast network will food the technical bills. Is this the end of the Big 12? Check back here in about 2 years.
- Texas Tech dropped TCU from their schedule last year and they are doing it for the upcoming season. It seems they need some room for the tougher Big 12 schedule.
- Speaking of the Red Raiders, a Texas judges tossed out a portion of Mike Leach’s suit against the university, only allowing non-monetary claims for the firing of Leach over Adam James’ concussion. If you’re wondering why Leach has yet to be yired, look no further than here.
- It seems Kansas is picking up the trail on the recruiting side of things. Turner Gill’s stealing recruits from neighboring states. I’m guessing his pitch is like this, “I’m a Nebraska guy that’s still in the Big 12. Kansas will be the new Nebraska of the Big 12.” That can seal some kids right there.
- Oklahoma Sooners coach Bob Stoops coached the Harlem Globetrotters Sunday. I wonder if he got to toss the bucket of confetti on the ref during the game?
- Fired sportscaster Ron Franklin is suing ESPN over the incident where he called a woman, “Sweetheart” in a production meeting. She objected and he called her an a-hole. I don’t know what to think about this. In the workplace, you can’t trust anyone when you say something because they may be out to get you canned, especially if it’s gender-related. I would say it’s safer to just be quiet and act professional. That said, “sweetheart” and “a-hole” is a pretty weak case to get fired over.
- Here’s your BCS payout sheet. So the Big 12 was on the lower tier of payouts for the 6 BCS Conferences. Not bad, but if they had 2 teams in the BCS bowls then they would’ve been up higher. Notre Dame gets a pretty good chunk for being independent. The argument against the BCS right here is that the small guys are getting the smaller piece of the pie. I will merely point to TCU and how they are moving up by winning.
- Some donors have high expectations. Take Robert G. Burton, major booster for UConn. Apparently he doesn’t like the athletic director and wants his $3 million in donations back and his name taken off the stadium. I’m pretty sure once you donate something, you can’t expect to get it back. But then again, if I had that kind of cash then I’d feel like I can run anything, too.
- Ex Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins agreed to a $4,000 fine for improperly receiving exercise equipment as a gift. This should be the last we hear of this guy.
- 12 Iowa football players were hospitalized for kidney issues related to offseason workouts. What’s going up there? Between drugs, legal issues, and now improper condition, this team is falling apart. Yet, they beat Missouri in the Insight Bowl. Just think, if all of this stuff was gone, they might have contended for a Big 10 title for real.
- Welp, since TCU is leaving the Mountain West Conference, the conference retaliated by changing the site of the Boise State game with the Horned Frogs back to Idaho. It was supposed to be at TCU’s home field. Way to get your revenge, mid-con.
Crib Sheet: Winter Break
This Purple Yeti is too busy chopping wood for the fire to bring you much for the rest of January. Look for some new giblets starting February. In the meantime, I have the Crib Sheet to you warm. Check it out:
- So ESPN’s David Ubben points us to the overall bowl record for conferences. The Big 12 finished at the bottom, tied with the Big 10. It’s pretty bad for the conference when they notch the same record as an overrated conference that needed to expand to stay relevent.
- It looks like an imminent NFL lock out is scaring at least some college players from coming out early. Oklahoma State’s Brandon Weeden and mega star Justin Blackmon are both staying behind for one more round. The Cowboys will be a tough cookie next year to chew on.
- Michigan contacted Gary Pinkel’s agent to ask for an interview. Pinkel turned it down. One dis from the Big 10 deserves a dis right back. That and Missouri already competes for the title now. It will take Michigan a couple of years before they get back on track.
- RichRod dumped about 430 maize and blue gear on the Salvation Army on his way out of Michigan. At least he did one good thing while he was up there. I wonder if he cried on his way out of the store.
- That said, things are looking up for Michigan, now that they’ve replaced RichRod with Brady Hoke. The ‘Predator’ Denard Robinson decided to stay and Hoke landed the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Greg Mattison. I swear this is the last Michigan news for a long, long time.
- The Big 10 is keeping the Legends and Leaders division name for the 2011. Dang, I was hoping they’d change it to the Losers and Lamers divisions.
- Help me out on this one: So the NCAA shut down a proposal that would stop head coaches from offering scholarships to kids as young as middle school age but they then want tougher rules against parents shopping around their kids. So, the NCAA wants coaches to bribe kids without parents getting in the way? Um, usually middle school kids need a legal guardian to represent them. This seems very contradictory. Or obvious. The NCAA wants to take full advantage of the kids and no one else, including the parents of the kids.
- Rodney Jones, a former university official, plead guilty to in his part of the $2 million ticket scalping scandal at the University of Kansas. Cue the Law & Order music.
- Continuing on our legal theme, John Lomax III plead no contest to the killing of UConn football player Jasper Howard. Again with the Law & Order music.
- Texas Tech was so impressed with Tommy Tuberville’s first year that they’ve already given him an extension. Can he keep it up? It’s doesn’t matter now because his buyout will probably be sweeter.
Crib Sheet: I’m on a Highway to Carousel Hell
The bowl season ended Monday and there was a ton of news that happened over the last week. It’s mostly who’s coming and who’s going. It’s what I like to call the Carousel Hell. So put your seatbelt on get ready to go round and round, here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
- Mike Leach’s legal battle with Texas Tech may have cost him the Maryland job. He said that he thought he was the frontrunner, but the Terps went with UConn coach Mike Edsall. He hasn’t been contacted by other schools at the moment.
- RichRod is officially out of Michigan now. Blow up the program part two. It makes me warm inside to think the same thing that happened to Nebraska a couple of years ago with Bill Callahan is now happening with another team I dislike immensely. Good days.
- It’s even better for Brady Hoke. The former Michigan alum and former San Diego State head coach is now your new Michigan head coach. They wanted a Michigan man and they got one. I give it about another 3 years before a turnaround happens.
- After showing up Michigan’s Denard Robinson and holding the team to 14 points, Manny Diaz will take his talents to Texas as defensive coordinator. He leaves Mississippi State and will be belting buckles in Austin. Let’s hope he didn’t fall for that ‘coach in waiting’ stuff.
- No surprises here. Fox has the rights to the Pac 12 Championship Game. They already show conference games on Fox Sports Net so it makes sense they do the title game.
- The Playoff PAC is looking to stir up some smoke on the BCS. They are filing a complaint with the IRS regarding a cruise the Orange Bowl put on for college athletic directors over the summer. Shady or not, this seems like arrows instead of missiles for the Playoff PAC people. If there’s going to be a change, they can’t dink and dunk it.
- Stanford’s Andrew Luck is staying behind for another year of college. This will make Blaine Gabbertt a sexier pick for the NFL Draft coming up in a couple of months. He’ll have to battle for the top quarterback spot with Arkansas’ Ryan Mallet, though. Gabbert may see his Aldon Smith in the NFL as well.
- So TCU won the Rose Bowl. Someone then paid for a billboard congratulating the team. Except it was in Columbus, Ohio. Yeah someone with big pockets wanted to rub it in the Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee’s face. He was running his mouth earlier about the mid-con teams not being worthy and now I guess he gets to eat crow.
- Speaking of the Horned Frogs, head coach Gary Patterson notched himself a 2 year extension with the program. You go undefeated in two regular seasons, you deserve that and a ham sandwich.
- Stud Oklahoma receiver Ryan Broyles will be coming back for another year.
- A Boise State assitant coach is going to big time. By big time I mean Texas Offensive Coordinator. It seems Mack Brown and company lured Bryan Harsin away from the Broncos to infuse the team with a flashier offense.
- Texas Tech told the NCAA that they texted too much. That’s alliteration. And that’s the news!
- Head BCS Honcho Bill Hancock reminded everyone that a playoff is way below in priority for the college bowl partners. He said that even the old way of bowls would be considered first. Seriously, he does a great job of stirring the pot.
- Kansas State athletic director John Currie also gets a two year extension to his contract chock full of some tasty incentives. He’s done an alright job. The goal now is to maintain it.
- The BCS Championship Game happened Monday and it garnished the best cable ratings ever. Yet, the actual viewership is down. This is what happens when the biggest game of the year ends up on cable. Seriously, why didn’t Disney toss the game on ABC instead of ESPN? Television is becoming more live sport driven than anything else. Still, until I can replicate the experience of a sports bar in my basement, I will be going out for the games.
- LSU’s Les Miles went to Michigan to talk about an open job but decided to stay with the Tigers. Listen up childrens, this is the classic strategy head coaches employ to get them off the hot seat or get a raise.
- Man we feel for UGA VIII, the mascot of the Georgia Bulldogs. He didn’t make the trip to the bowl game last week and now we know why. UGA VIII has lymphoma. Jinkies, is the team as cursed as this dog is?
- Former South Florida football coach Jim Leavitt settled out of court for some extra cash from the school. He was canned for reportedly striking a walk on student. He’s a defensive guy and because of that, the rumors are now flying about Leavitt coming back to Kansas State to take a defensive coordinator position. Tune in next week, this is getting hotter.
Bowl Pick It and Stick It: The Bowl Nine Yards
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:
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Pick It and Stick It: It’s Drippy Season
Batten down the hatches, folks, it’s getting to be cold season. The dripping and drooling will now have much more effect. I started noticing it this week. Some people had coughs and sniffles, others taking afternoons off. I, myself, have some kind of weird chest tightness going. Never fear, I just downed some Airborne infused OJ after soaking some Vitamin C Zicam. It’s pretty much the opposite of Four Loko. I suggest if you get the first signs of a cold, use that remedy. Now on to the picks.
Lazy Saturday for Lew’s
Another actual barspot and I’m keeping up on the known favorites with Lew’s Grill and Bar. I’ve been here a couple of times and have begun to become a regular here. They’ve upgraded the televisions and also the food. The day of football was long and fun, so I was glad I got the sweet spot for watching in the bar. Regarding the action on field, we saw some tight games and some surprising blowouts. It was a lazy day, but it sure was a weird one too.
Barspotting: Settling In At Lew’s Grill and Bar
This year has been reunion tour at home and new bars plus stadiums on the road. So to continue that tradition, this week’s barspot will be at Lew’s Grill and Bar in the Waldo district. I haven’t built up the courage to double pop collars at The Well yet, so I’m heading back to a comfy place that’s just right with sports watching. Since the last time we’ve been there, they’ve introduced Das Boot. Yes, the boot featured in the number one hit smash comedy Beerfest. So look for a pairing with that bad boy. There’s also some great game pairings on tap as well. Get ready to chug the football.
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Pick It and Stick It: Wiping Away the Pretenders
The BCS Standings are out and it’s time to start wiping away the competition. Oklahoma and Missouri will lock horns tomorrow to find out who will be worthy from the Big 12. We also have LSU battling Auburn for SEC worthiness. The pretenders are wiping away and it’s all downhill for the road to the BCS Championship Game. The pretenders will also start wiping away in our Pick It and Stick It challenge. Let’s take a look at what’s on the windshield for this week.
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Crib Sheet: The Road is Never Done
So I just found out today that I have at least 2 more road trips to go this year for the KCCGD crew. This year has been by far the most travelled and will be the most Stadiumspotted. It’s a nice change of pace from the last couple of years as we have begun to run out of new and cool places to Barspot. One of the new road trips just happens to be tomorrow night. Tune in tomorrow to find out here, but you won’t have to think hard if you want to guess. In the meantime, let’s catch up to the news items in this week’s Crib Sheet:
- Coach Mark Dantonio of Michigan State had his health issues and that apparently inspired a fan to postpone surgery to watch the battle for Paul Bunyan’s Trophy last Saturday. Major Hester put off getting a pacemaker installed to watch the battle. Okay, that’s hardcore. I would pick life over college football, but it would be close.
- Looks like the move to the Big 10 will support a stadium expansion for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The newly approved plan will cost about $56 million and put the capacity at around 90,000 seats. How much do you want to bet that they will try to build Memorial Stadium up to be bigger than the Big House?
- Meanwhile, the Rose Bowl has expansion plans of its own. The $152 million expansion will keep the lease going with the bowl through 2043. They have an upcoming BCS National Championship Game so they need to spruce things up a bit.
- But while the two stadiums have expansion competition going, the locker room just got better for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Ndamukong Suh donated about $2 million and as part of that, the players get iPads installed in the locker room. Man they need to put that in the toilet, not the locker. You’re not going to get much use out in the open with those things.
- Baylor receivers Willie Jefferson and Josh Gordon got busted with pot after they were found passed out in a Taco Bell drive through. The whole 4th meal thingy from the Bell targets potheads anyway so it was a no brainer that these guys were found with weed. They’ll more than likely miss a couple of games.
- Neither of those two were involved last week in one of the shortest kick returns in history. Texas Tech hit an onside and it didn’t go 10 yards. Terrance Ganaway nabbed it and ran 38 yards for a touchdown. It wasn’t the shortest, but it was awesome to see the special teams fail on the Red Raiders.
- Don’t dump on Texas Tech too much though, they are getting kick ass camouflage uniforms for a game against Missouri in November. Any kind of camo works for us as we miss the old Army ones. If you want to dump on uniforms, check out Texas A&M’s refresh. It’s almost exactly the same. Yawn City.
- Floida quarterback John Brantly played with broken ribs and thumb against LSU last Saturday. That’s pretty tough, especially for a quarterback. You know what’s tougher? Virginia Tech offensive lineman Greg Nosal didn’t realize he lost the tip of his pinky in his glove and continued to play the game until it was out of reach. His pinky tip was on ice and was reattached after the game. Football is tough, real tough.
- This bit of news is confusing so bear with me on this. A former agent said an agent friend of his, Gary Wichard, used ESPN’s Mel Kiper, Jr. to recruit college players. Kiper’s released statement says he talked to players by going through agents. I’m having a hard time finding where the fault is. I think it’s the fact that agents are pushing players to Kiper and his Big Board. But I don’t know it’s players after college or during. This does smell fishy.
- College football is cyclical. Power programs come and go and the traditional ones always swing around back into power. Much like the seasons, power programs have summers and winters. For Penn State’s winters, that also includes the usual cries for Joe Paterno to retire. This guy is going to die on the field, in anything to fulfill my prediction. He’s not going to retire and Penn State will be good in a couple of years.
Pick It and Stick It: The Mourning After
The big game last night didn’t end up so well for this Kansas State fan. Hey, that’s okay. We tooled to Aggiveille and hit up the Hibachi Hit, which later lead to the vaunted Hibachi Butt. Maybe it was the mixture of great cajun food and the Carbomb we had at O’Malley’s Alley. Who knows? But it was great to see the old stomping grounds, even though the Wildcats were run over by Taylor Martinez and the Nebraska Cornhuskers. More on that with Monday’s post. Until then, we have some picks for the weekend we need to go through. The healing process begins with pickens.
Stadiumspotting: Thursday Night Lights
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.
Pick It and Stick It: A Fresh Crop of Picks
Here we go rolling into another week of Pick It and Stick It. The games are fresh this week and we are stoked about the upcoming Farmageddon happening right in Kansas City’s backyard. Kansas State is a 3.5 point favorite over Iowa State and we can imagine that Daniel Thomas is the reason for the line. Will we see the same outcome as last year? Hopefully it will be just as exciting. So far, Farmageddon delivers on quality. Here are the picks:
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Barspotting: Farmageddon At The Other Place
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.
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