Ah yeah, the Big 12 is back baby! Oh well, it didn’t really go anywhere. Compared to last year, this offseason was a walk in the park. Why is that? Well, we have some new faces in the mix and some old faces hit the road. I think truly for the first time in the last 3 years, there is some stability here. That makes me happy. What makes me happier is the new season so let’s see how this conference shakes out. Continue reading A Better Big 12 For 2012
Yes! Christmas vacation starts today for me! I remember back in the day how Christmas vacation lasted way longer than just a week, but I’ll take what I can get. Back in the day I used only a couple of crib sheets and you’ll be seeing one today. The news is not as light as I would like but I’m forging on. Bowl season and the holiday season is upon us so it’s time to celebrate! On with the crib sheet!
Continue reading Crib Sheet: Christmas Balls Will Be Ringing
Well, it’s certainly been a recovery week now, hasn’t it? We’ve got one more week of college football and I’m still wiped out from last week. I guess it’s time to go on a diet. Or at least a flash one. I’ve got about three weeks to slim back down and it’s going to be rough. The diet starts today with the Crib Sheet. Most of the news out there is just hype over the SEC, so I’m not going to waste your time on that. There is, however, some small tasty nuggets of news that you are all welcome to bite into. But after that I need 20 push ups. And… GO!
It’s been awhile since I had to get up for the early college football game. Last Saturday was the reprise and I’m thankful that the Lavaca Street Bar had a bloody mary bar to kick things off. There was alot of talk about Midwestern sensibilities in the last week and I was surprised at how the Lavaca catered to that. Speaking of the Midwest, it was Sunflower Showdown weekend and I had a front row seat, without actually being there. Did Lavaca Street Bar handle spectating well, or did I leave sucking on some cheese curds? Let’s find out.
Walking in, you wouldn’t suspect that Lavaca Street Bar was a big sports bar. It’s another in a long line of sports bar that look tiny up front but huge in the back. All around the bar, televisions lined the place. In the back room there is a huge projector screen television as well. The Direct TV made sure I was able to watch my team up on there. The wireless internet is free but they had some kind of weird sign up page that made things hard to login.
The best part of Lavaca Street Bar has to be the games. They have all the games that you need. They have Big Buck Safari, Golden Tee, a hard punch game, Pop-A-Shot, Skee Ball, and what I think could be a pool table. I see cue sticks but no table and I think it’s because of the bloody mary bar. At any rate, back to the Skee Ball. It’s a rare sight to see Skee Ball in any bar, let alone a sports bar. If you want to set yourself from the back, get a game like that in your bar.
The service was rather sparse. There was essentially two bartenders for the whole joint. The female one was rather cute and the guy, well, was a guy. We had to get up from the back a couple of times to order food and drinks. They did come out here and there though. The guy was nice enough to setup the whole back room for my games so I can’t dog them too much. He also turned the light on for me when I was getting my bloody mary because the place is real dark. Like go to sleep dark.
Now on to the beer pairing. Lavaca touted some Midwestern specials like cheese curds and brats. Guess what I got. The cheese curds were good but not northern Iowa good. I think the ones I make are better. I chose to have Wastach Brewery’s Pumpkin Seasonal Ale with the bratwurst. I wanted to do an Oktoberfest type ale but that was the closest thing they had on tap. I’m so glad I chose it. It has to be the best tasting pumpkin beer I’ve ever had. The brat itself was tasty but everything around it was average. The mustard, bun, sauerkraut, and even the basket was very low rent. But hey, that’s part of the appeal.
The Sunflower Showdown was the main event for the weekend for me. For some reason I was real scared about Kansas. Boy was I ever wrong. Kansas quarterback Jordan Webb has the 2nd highest passer rating in the Big 12. He did a good job, but the rest of the team was terrible. Meanwhile, on the other side, Kansas State’s Collin Klein put up all star numbers. He ran for 4 touchdowns and actually threw the ball pretty well. It helps when you are playing one of the worst defenses in FBS. Methinks Turner Gill’s job is in serious trouble right now.
The other games were a little more competitive. I got to watch was Missouri and Oklahoma State duke it out in Columbia. Seeing as Missouri no longer thinks they are Midwest material, it was nice that the Cowboys beat them down. Well, it wasn’t a beat down so to say, the Tigers kept it nice and close. I missed out on LSU vs Auburn because I was busy Halloween shopping. I also missed out on most of the action in the evening because I went and watched White Denim at Stubb’s. So the first big Hail Mary of the year that put Michigan State over Wisconsin was not to be had for me. Thanks to a lightning delay, however I watched the end of Texas Tech upsetting Oklahoma.
It has begun. The undefeated teams are starting to drop like flies. I still don’t know what to think about the weekend. I certainly didn’t expect Oklahoma being the team with losses going into this weekend’s game against Kansas State. Lavaca Street Bar had a super sweet setup, even though it was too dark and you had to try real hard to get service. The food is almost food truck level, which can be real tasty but lacking on the presentation side. I’d recommend this place to just about anyone if they want to duck in and see some great football. They have reserved areas for alumni groups like LSU and Wisconsin so be careful when you go.
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 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:
Continue reading Crib Sheet: Coaches Poll Leaves No Surprises
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:
Yes, it’s the 2010 edition and first ever annual KC College GameDay Year End Reviewards! What’s a revieward? Welp, it’s a half assed attempt to round up the year in review and then dole out some nameless awards out to who or what I think mattered in the year of college football. It applies to the regular season only as I really don’t want to come back to this. At any rate, I’m shooting from the hip so all you midgets our there better watch your heads.
This is another Monday where I get to talk about a game I saw on Thursday night. Last time was in Manhattan and this time it was in Lawrence. Things could not have turned around on a hard 180 degree twist for the Kansas State Wildcats. For the Kansas Jayhawks, unfortunately, things remained the same. I didn’t get a chance to take in the Lawrence like I did Manhattan, but the town and the game was great none the less. For a quick road trip in and out of Memorial Stadium, I can say that the memories will last a long time.
Continue reading Sunflower Showdown Didn’t Slow Down the Wildcats
We are knee-deep in some serious day job related stuff but fortunately we build the Crib Sheet piece by piece, day by day. Here ya go:
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.
Man what a crazy roller coaster of an offseason for the Big 12. Who would’ve thought a year ago that the Big 12 would be rocked to its very knees and survive probably one of most weirdest advances in college football history. It was like a whacked out game of Axis & Allies. Welp Germany didn’t win and neither did the Big 10. So here we are going into what is the last season we will ever see for this 12 conference league. Who will come out on top? Roll dice to find out (er read below).
The beating heat of the summer is getting to us. We’re producing an inordinate amount of swass underneath while compiling this week’s very beefy Crib Sheet. We’re going for some lemonade and to air our sweat regions. Here’s the Crib Sheet:
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.