NCAA Bowl Schedule Released, No New Year’s Day Game

If you’re like me, you’ll plan on sitting around New Year’s Day, fighting off a hangover and wondering where your car is while crashing on the couch and watching some Bowl games.

Well, not this year. The NCAA has released its 2011-12 Bowl schedule and because New Year’s Day ends up on Sunday there will be no bowl games. That day is reserved for the NFL which may or may not have a season this fall.

My guess is there will be a season for the NFL but if not that makes the first time I can think of with no pigskin on New Year’s Day.

That means five Bowl games will be moved to Jan. 2 — the Gator, Outback, Capital One, Ticket City and Rose. Overall, there are 35 Bowl on the schedule which will be played over 23 days. They all kick off with the New Mexico, Humanitarian and New Orleans bowls on Saturday, Dec. 17.

Here is the complete Bowl Schedule.  Hope you have ESPN. [via]

Sat., Dec. 17	2 p.m. ET	New Mexico Bowl	Albuquerque, N.M.	ESPN
Sat., Dec. 17	5:30 p.m. ET	uDrove Humanitarian Bowl	Boise, Idaho	ESPN
Sat., Dec. 17	9 p.m. ET	R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl	New Orleans, La.	ESPN
Tue., Dec. 20	8 p.m. ET	Beef ‘O’Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg, Fla.	ESPN
Wed., Dec. 21	8 p.m. ET	San Diego Co. Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl	San Diego, Calif.	ESPN
Thu., Dec. 22	8 p.m. ET	MAACO Bowl Las Vegas	Las Vegas, Nev.	ESPN
Sat., Dec. 24	8 p.m. ET	Sheraton Hawaii Bowl	Honolulu, Hawaii	ESPN
Mon., Dec. 26	5 p.m. ET	AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl	Shreveport, La.	ESPN2
Tue., Dec. 27	4:30 p.m. ET	Little Caesars Pizza Bowl	Detroit, Mich.	ESPN
Tue., Dec. 27	8 p.m. ET	Belk Bowl	Charlotte, N.C.	ESPN
Wed., Dec. 28	4:30 p.m. ET	Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman	Washington, D.C.	ESPN
Wed., Dec. 28	8 p.m. ET	Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl	San Diego, Calif.	ESPN
Thu., Dec. 29	5:30 p.m. ET	Champs Sports Bowl	Orlando, Fla.	ESPN
Thu., Dec. 29	9 p.m. ET	Valero Alamo Bowl	San Antonio, Texas	ESPN
Fri., Dec. 30	12 p.m. ET	Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl	*Dallas, Texas	ESPN
Fri., Dec. 30	3:20 p.m. ET	New Era Pinstripe Bowl	New York, N.Y.	ESPN
Fri., Dec. 30	6:40 p.m. ET	Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl	Nashville, Tenn.	ESPN
Fri., Dec. 30	10 p.m. ET	Insight Bowl	Tempe, Ariz.	ESPN
Sat., Dec. 31	12 p.m. ET	Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas	Houston, Texas	ESPN
Sat., Dec. 31	2 p.m. ET	Hyundai Sun Bowl	El Paso, Texas	CBS
Sat., Dec. 31	3:30 p.m. ET	AutoZone Liberty Bowl	Memphis, Tenn.	ABC
Sat., Dec. 31	3:30 p.m. ET	Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl	San Francisco, Calif.	ESPN
Sat., Dec. 31	7:30 p.m. ET	Chick-fil-A Bowl	Atlanta, Ga.	ESPN
Mon., Jan. 2	12 p.m. ET	TicketCity Bowl	Dallas, Texas	ESPNU
Mon., Jan. 2	1 p.m. ET	Capital One Bowl	Orlando, Fla.	ESPN
Mon., Jan. 2	1 p.m. ET	Gator Bowl	Jacksonville, Fla.	ESPN2
Mon., Jan. 2	1 p.m. ET	Outback Bowl	Tampa, Fla.	ABC
Mon., Jan. 2	5 p.m. ET	Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO	Pasadena, Calif.	ESPN
Tue., Jan. 3	8:30 p.m. ET	Allstate Sugar Bowl	New Orleans, La.	ESPN
Wed., Jan. 4	8 p.m. ET	Discover Orange Bowl	Miami Gardens, Fla.	ESPN
Thu., Jan. 5	8:30 p.m. ET	Tostitos Fiesta Bowl	Glendale, Ariz.	ESPN
Fri., Jan. 6	8 p.m. ET	AT&T Cotton Bowl	Arlington, Texas	FOX
Sat., Jan. 7	1 p.m. ET	BBVA Compass Bowl	Birmingham, Ala.	ESPN
Mon., Jan. 9	8:30 p.m. ET	Allstate BCS National Championship Game	New Orleans, La.	ESPN
TBA	TBA	GoDaddy.com Bowl	Mobile, Ala.	ESPN

*The 2011 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, hosted in Fort Worth, Texas, is being played in Dallas due to stadium renovations.

Seahawk Raheem Brock Arrested Over $27 Dollars?

The NFL Lockout has shutdown the multi-billion dollar league and adjusting to going from huge paychecks to nothing at all is hard.

The lifestyle that the NFL Players are used to is changing.

No more long nights in the club making it rain while sipping expensive champagnes and dancing with the most beautiful women before jumping in your custom SUV and bouncing home.

But some players are still struggling with the adjustment in financial changes.  Take Raheem Brock, the Seattle Seahawks free-agent who got busted for pulling the oldest trick in the book and that’s drinking up a huge tab at a bar and skipping out.

Either NFL free-agent Raheem Brock is having serious financial struggles or he had a little too much to drink last night because he was arrested for walking out on a $27 dollar bill.

After he left Copacabana, he was questioned by police before they got into a “minor struggle” leading to Brock’s arrest.

Ouch.  Wait, $27?  What the hell.  Couldn’t he sell some of Matt Hasselbeck’s autographs to pay for that Awesome Blossom?

Notre Dame, Michigan Unveil Night Game Uniforms

Notre Dame and Michigan will square off on September 10th for the first time in over 20 years in primetime for a game dubbed “Under the Lights.”

As you can guess the marketing department for the game to be broadcast on NBC thought long and hard about what to call their night game.

This fall history will be made as Michigan Stadium hosts its first ever night game when the teams square off on Sept. 10 at 8 p.m. In a nod to the historic event, both teams will wear retro uniforms, the designs which were released on Friday.

While neither uni is retro per se, each contains elements of past uniform looks.

“The compilation of elements from different eras of Michigan football makes this a unique and special uniform,” said Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon during Friday night’s announcement. “Our players have seen other schools and professional teams wear throwback uniforms and will now have an opportunity to showcase our tradition in a melding of styles.”
[via NESN]

Michigan is keeping their maize blue but moving the numbers on the front of the jersey up near the shoulder. A large “M” will take the primary spot on the chest of the jersey. The most notible addition are the shoulder stripes which I’m not sure about right now. They might look good on TV but for now it’s kinda odd to see Michigan in anything other than a solid maize jersey.

Kudos to Adidas for the old-school logo.

Notre Dame will take the field in their ‘retro’ white jerseys. There are some new changes to make the fanbase ponder plunking down almost $100 on a new jersey. Like the Michigan jersey, there are stripes on the shoulders and the helmet now features a sweet clover.

Paying homage to the rich football tradition of Notre Dame football, the Irish “Under the Lights” adidas uniform includes a white jersey with Kelly green lettering and two Kelly green shoulder stripes, old gold-colored pants, white socks with green stripes and white shoes. A large shamrock logo appears on the traditional gold helmet for the first time since the early 1960s. The years the Fighting Irish won National Championships are listed inside the bottom hem of the jersey.
[via UND.com]

Bills Unleash New Uniforms….Finally

The Buffalo Bills are scheduled to unveil their new uniforms June 24th and I, for one, am grateful. The Bills have had a horrific performance over the last decade and their fate in New York remains in doubt. Now officials in Toronto, Ontario have made it very clear they would like to take control over the team and move it to Canada.

In the meantime Bills fans are anticipating a new announcement for the new look for the team.  The team will unveil the new uniforms for fans June 24 at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Ugggggggly! And so is the uniform! Oh, Snap!

Personally, I hate the current Bills uniforms.  The mishmash of multiple blues with the helmets is just ugly.  There’s just too much going on there.

Thankfully, the Bills always have their throwbacks to lean on which are pretty sweet.  The simple colors and old school bison on the white helmet is sharp.  Almost as good as the powder blues from San Diego.  And when the Bills rolled them out, fans noticed.  The old school unis were well received and many asked for them to become permanent fixtures.

Much Better. The unis, not the QB. He still sucks

Now the organization is changing things up.  There have been several leaks circulation about the possibility of the Bills incorporating the old throwback style of uniforms with their newer logo which have me curious. A few images put the new Bills uniforms as using similar jerseys as the old versions but keeping the white helmet and using the new logo.  Cool.

The guys at Pigskin Buzz have a mock up of what the new Buffalo Bills uniforms would look like from earlier this year that looks to be what we are expecting.

The style is much, much better than the previous version and it’s amazing how the old throwbacks look so simple and clean compared to these overly graphic, swooshy stuff we’re getting lately. And thank goodness there’s no piping going up and down the jersey.  Thanks Nike for over killing that trend.

The reason why that mock up is getting attention is that there is a brief screenshot of a Bills player in the new Madden 12 video game.  Since the programers there need information like jersey changes well in advance, you can bet they know better than anyone what the Bills will roll out in a few weeks.

Check out the cap below and you’ll see the mock up is pretty spot on.  Click for a bigger image or check the video below that at the 19 second mark and you’ll see the Bills player Stevie Johnson diving for the ball.

Terrelle Pryor First Big Name To Jump To UFL?

As THE Ohio State Buckeyes look to regroup from the mess that head coach Jim Tressel left the team with, one player has already made his intentions clear to leave the team and go pro.

Terrelle Pryor is the QB for the Buckeyes and one of the players in the middle of the controversy of selling their time and talents for money.  Several players are alleged to receive improper benefits as the NCAA begins its investigations that left several players, including Pryor, suspended for part of next season as well as the head coach looking like a schmuck and forced to quit.

But as the lockout goes ahead full steam and players look toward the future, Pryor may find himself on of the first big names to sign on with the fledgling summer league called the UFL.  Betting the NFL Lockout was coming, the UFL started up and pushed their season back later in the summer to help fill in the void of the potential loss of the NFL season.

A well-placed UFL source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter Wednesday that Pryor would benefit from the coaching in the league, which includes high-profile former NFL coaches such as Marty Schottenheimer, Dennis Green, Jim Fassel and Jerry Glanville. The source said he believes there’s “a decent shot” Pryor could wind up playing this year in the UFL.

The former Ohio State quarterback hasn’t yet applied with the NFL for the supplemental draft, attorney Larry James told ESPN’s Joe Schad Wednesday.

And needing big names to fill in the rosters is a key ingredient in getting fans to the seats.  Pryor might not be the biggest name out there to sign on but he will be the biggest name coming out of college to jump straight to the UFL if he decides to pass on the NFL supplemental draft which is possibly held in July if there is a season coming.

For the most part the stint with the UFL would be a practice gig for Pryor and allow him to work out on a more professional level (although I might argue he’d get paid less than at OSU) until the NFL gets going in full gear.

And as the NFL continues to draw out you can bet the UFL will be gunning to sign on some more players to draw attention to itself.  I’m looking at you Plaxico.

 

Four NFL Lockout Scenarios

The NFL season is coming closer but the prospect of actually enjoying our favorite sport looks doomed.  The league and its players are fighting in courts and boardrooms for control of the billion dollar industry and while they scrap for pennies it appears the fans, those that give the NFL its money, are going to lose out.

So will there or won’t there be an NFL season?

At this point we don’t know.  The sides could come together in the next week or just be stubborn and debate until September.  With that prospect, here are Four NFL Lockout Scenarios for the upcoming year.

Scenario 1 : Full Season

As the days tick away the possibility of a normal NFL season operating in the normal time frame is slipping away. We’re already into the first week of June with no official practices and the preseason scheduled less than 2 months away.  For this a normal NFL season to happen the two sides would need to come together within the next few weeks.

Players are locked out of the facilities and from the coaching staff so there will need to be lots of practice and work outs to get into season-ready shape.  Even it the league started up today, there would be a lot of players needing all of that time to get ready for the season.

But there is a potential solution for this issue and that is to shorten the NFL preseason but start the regular season in November, 2 months after the original kickoff date. This would push the Super Bowl one week later in February so it’s not a huge stretch for the NFL to pull off. Anything later would run into huge conflicts with stadiums.

Scenario 2 : 10-12 Game Season

If you’re going to water down the NFL season, I would rather see the preseason slimmed down and only a handful of games cut. Some reports have the NFL looking at a half season, 8 games, but that’s not really enough to make a decent season.

Keeping a minimum of 10 games, hopefully a few more, would give the NFL a schedule more like the NCAA and that’s a proven winner. That gives each team plenty of time to get into a grove and work out their kinks. Division games would be kept as well as a handful of league opponents.  Skilled players like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady need that time to get into sync and anything less than 10 games would probably not be enough time.

Scenario 3 : Half Season

This is the most likely, and my least favorite, solution. Cutting the season in half and ditching a few preseason games would get the NFL to the Super Bowl in time but a watered down season is not enough. The rumor of the 8 game season is currently making the rounds in the NFL world so don’t be surprised to see this model, or a very close simulation, pop up if the Lockout does not get resolved in the next few weeks.

But my argument is that 8 games isn’t enough as 6 of those games will be division games with only 2 against the rest of the league. If you cut the amount of division games you water down the playoff race but do we really want half of the playoff teams entering the postseason with .500 or below records?

Scenario 4 : No Season

No matter what the NFL thinks it will gain from the NFL Lockout, I will argue that having no season is more destructive than any terms the NFL would agree to with the players. Cutting out the full NFL season hurts so many people economically and in this country that’s made even worse with our current recession and alienating all of those people is just bad business.

Everyone from the workers at the stadium to the sports bars to the people that make the NFL merchandise stand aside the players as people who will have to find other means of employment. And all of this so 3 dozen rich dudes can keep their current deal.

As the fall approaches and people see no NFL season in sight they will make other plans. The NFL may believe it’s invincible and that they can survive a lockout and in some terms they are right. The NFL is the most popular sport in the U.S. and even with a huge drop in ratings, which will happen when they return, the sport is still in a better situation than most other leagues. This year’s NFL Draft lost almost 20% of its TV ratings and that’s with the prospect of a season coming.

Despite the claim the NFL can live off the guaranteed TV money, I see that backfiring on the NFL in the long run. The players are currently in court fighting that and they have a case.  The money the NFL was banking on from the guaranteed TV contract for the year, lockout or not, may be locked up in court for years to come.

The problem lies in fans deserting the league and finding other sports to follow. The NBA, NHL, MLB and MLS all would love the NFL lockout because it allows them more room on the crowded schedule of fans. In the end the NFL is big enough to survive such a loss but it will come back and work hard for the next ten years to gain back everything it lost.

Keep in mind the NFL has already started burning bridges with fans as skyrocketing ticket prices are pushing out fans.  Last season I looked for a couple of tickets in nearby Nashville to watch the Titans play and was totally shocked by the price demands.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been to an actual NFL game but even I know inflation isn’t that bad.  It was cheaper for me to grab the NFL Sunday Ticket on satellite and watch the entire season at home.

Make It Stop. Chris Johnson’s Rap Career Is….

If you ever needed a reason to end the NFL Lockout look no further than the budding rap career of Tennessee Titan’s running back Chris Johnson.  The single “Act on Deck” was released by CJ on his Twitter account, which is just how Frank Sinatra started out.

The song proves that when you give free time to athletes that they have no idea what to do with themselves.

To say “Act on Deck“  is horrible is an understatement. The CJ rap appears to be made while CJ was half asleep and/or constipated and has the artistic punch of the Shaquille O’Neal discography.  You ever had a friend say “I can do better than that” even though you know he can’t.

Well, call that friend up because here’s his chance to shine.  It would be hard to do worse that CJ on this single.  You can barely understand the dude in regular talk with all that shit in his mouth and that translates into an even worse song.

If you don’t mind hurting your ears you can listen listen here.  Or check the video below while it’s up. Just know, you’ve been warned.

Please, Commissioner Goodell.  Make the Lockout stop.  We can’t handle this!

Tim Tebow Pops Up On Daily Show

As the NFL players and owners deal with the lockout, one person keeping busy is 2nd-year stud Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos. Even though the Broncos are still debating on whether or not playing their most popular player, the young QB keeps himself busy.

This time the Tebow pops up on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” to talk about his autobiography, “Through My Eyes.”

Even though the Heisman winner has played in just a handful of games, he already has endorsement deals and an autobiography.

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

There’s no doubting the popularity of Tim Tebow but it’s crazy that this dude has an autobiography out already after only playing a few NFL games but we can’t get Todd Haley to publish his stories!  You know that guy has some stories to tell.

Redskins #1 Fan With Tooth of Proof

The Washington Redskins are holding a fan photo contest on their Facebook Page where people send in pictures proving they are huge ‘Skins fans and get to win lunch with Bruce Allen. Most fans are what you expect but there was one that stuck out. Check out this lady who had her tooth painted with the Redskins logo.

I will always be a redskin fan and the permanent crown on my tooth with the Skins logo will make sure everyone knows that I eat and sleep the Skins!! forever!!

Washington Redskins owner Dan “I’m Gonna Sue You. And You.  And You” Snyder will no doubt be having his dentist send out a cease and desist(and Yank!) order soon.  Plus, someone needs to tell her to floss.

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