The Rivalry

I could do the research, but I'd rather cheat and use theirs: Things To Know About The Golden Hat

Hook 'Em

The Comments that Weren't about Les Miles

My favorite purple coach is at it again.   You may have heard, about a week ago that Gary Patterson was in the news for apparently slamming Les Miles' decision to play Jeremy Hill in the LSU season opener against TCU.

Hill, LSU's leading rusher was let back onto the team after 1) the LSU team voted him in to play and 2) the judge presiding over his sucker-punch-probation-violation case chose not to send him to jail. 

This puts Hill in the starting lineup for the the Horned Frogs season opener against Miles' Tigers.   When asked about it on August 7th, Patterson told the Fort Worth Star Telegram:

“I’m sure if it was some opponent they’d beat by 100 points (the players) wouldn’t have a vote. It’s not my worry. I’ve got to play whoever they put on the field,”

 

The funniest things about that statement are the assumptions that A) Miles wouldn't stoop that low for any win, which I personally think he would and B) LSU couldn't beat TCU by 100 points.   I'm not saying they could hang a Benjamin on TCU (and they didn't), but on any given Saturday, any team can lose by 100 points.  You've just got to have the perfect storm.  It takes a pretty cocky man to say otherwise. 

 

Speaking of storms, did I mention that TCU's Big XII Defensive Player of the Year Devonte Fields was on the bench during the TCU/LSU game?  Back in May, TCU stated in a press release that lineman was suspended for the first two games of the season "due to a violation of university and team policy."

 

Here's where it starts to get sticky for Coach Jerkface Patterson.  When word got out he'd made comments about Coach Miles' decision to lift Hill's suspension, (such as):

 

“My whole team would vote Devonte (Fields) to be back on the team because they all want to win,” Patterson said. “That doesn’t teach life lessons.”

 

suddenly he recanted, and insisted he wasn't talking about LSU at all:

 

“I know what I said. I didn’t mention Jeremy Hill. I didn’t mention Les Miles,” Patterson said after Thursday’s practice. “It was more about Devonte Fields. If they want to make something up so they can get all fired up… I can get the same thing when I go home. Everyone can stand in line.”

"I must not tell lies"

Patterson is claiming that every person in the world who read those comments put the wrong dots in the wrong order and stretched his words out to make it seem like he was implying something he wasn't.

Right.  And Voldemort never came back.

He even sent Coach Miles a doctored transcript of the press conference, just to prove he wasn't being bossy pants.  Yeah, Patterson.  You may not have said their names, but who exactly were you referring to when you spoke to the press about "playing whoever is on the field" and "the players" not having "a vote" if it was "some opponent they'd beat by 100 points"?

 

Contrary to what Gary thinks ("Anybody who knows me knows that’s way outside of character, so why would I do it now?") I think it was completely in character as I've pointed out here, here, here, here and here. 

Also, did I mention I'm a psychic-ish?

That's okay, Gary.  You sit on your high horse and...oh, wait! What?  Have you and Kevin Sumlin been hanging out lately....?  Because what's about to come out of your mouth sounds alot like what Sumlin tried to feed us last year regarding suspended players when his season opener was rescheduled.

 

"Steven Jenkins and Howard Matthews were suspended for the first game. As a matter of fact, last week, neither guy was involved in our preparation for Louisiana Tech and that'll remain the situation," Sumlin said. "As a matter of fact, Howard Matthews played scout team wide receiver last week. A lot of things have changed because of that since the storm and they will still be suspended for the Louisiana Tech game. That won't change."

 

Wait. What?!  I digress.

The TCU press release said Fields would be suspended for the first two games.  Suddenly, Patterson is saying the suspension is his call.  That could absolutely be true.  But why bring that up?  Because suddenly Fields is listed at the top of the depth chart.  And all of a sudden, we hear that TCU's Campus Life Organization voted (voted?! gasp!) to lift Fields' suspension even before the LSU game.   And suddenly, sitting a player out for two games is dangerous!  And it leads to "an opportunity to get hurt."

(Play Film Noir music in your head here.)

And, even though the suspension was ALL GARY, ALL THE WAY, if the TCU Chancellor approves, Fields will probably play the next game.

You know, so he doesn't get hurt.  Granted, TCU probably doesn't need Fields to beat SE Louisiana, but it sure would be nice if Fields had a little playing time before the Texas Tech Big XII opener next week.  But has Fields has suddenly learned his lesson, or, contrary to his earlier comments, does Patterson believe that sometimes life lessons DO take a backseat to wanting to win.

Plus, Fields was sad:

 

“I think he was physically hurt that he was in that situation and he couldn’t help,” Patterson said.

 

Literally, physically hurt. 

And instead of telling us the lessons Devonte learned, Patterson brought it all back to Patterson, and how the mean old media is so mean to him:

"That reporter over there.  He was being mean to me."

 

“As far as all the blast I get about not getting a pass rush, nobody said Devonte Fields was gone,” he said, although most reporters pointed out Fields’ absence. “They just said we didn’t have a pass rush. No matter which way you look at it, you still get hammered. As a football coach, you get hammered one way or the other, it doesn’t make any difference.”

 

Yeah, I know how you feel buddy.  Nobody talked about how we lost the National Championship to Bama because Colt McCoy was gone.  Oh, wait.  That's all anyone talked about.  Never mind.


 

 

(It Ain't About) The Money, Money, Money....

Last night I watched my favorite movie for the 198th time, Pitch Perfect.  If you haven't seen it, go watch it on Itunes.  I'll wait....Great! You're back!  Tell me that wasn't hilarious and one of the best 90 minutes of your life.  I dare you. 

Don't tell me you can watch this without getting
choked up over the Breakfast Club Song...

 

During one of the scenes in the movie, an a capella team covers a song by Jessie J called Price Tag, with the lyrics being "It ain't about the Money (Money, Money), We don't need the money (Money, Money)"  This, of course, got me thinking about college football. 

 

Because everything makes me think of college football.

 

If you don't know yet about the whole "Johnny Football paid for Autographs" ordeal yet, then why are you reading this blog?  Go, get out into the world and read the hundreds of articles on the subject!  Do your duty, ye fan of college football.

 

People on Team Johnny Cash Football, as opposed to people on Team NCAA, are spouting off about how the NCAA has to prove that money changed hands in order to bring down a suspension of Mr. Manziel.  I have to disagree....according to the NCAA bylaws:

 

12.5.2 Nonpermissible

12.52.1 Advertisements and Promotions After Becoming a Student-Athlete.

 

After becoming a student-athlete, an individual shall not be eligible for participation in intercollegiate athletics if the individual:

(a) Accepts any remuneration for or permits the use of his or her name or picture to advertise, recommend or promote directly the sale or use of a commercial product or service of any kind; or

(b) Receives remuneration for endorsing a commercial product or service through the individual’s use of such product or service.



"Wait?  Those 1500 Autographs weren't
just for your kids?"

Am I crazy, or does this rule seem to indicated that it doesn't matter if money changed hands?  To me the rule states that if a player know the use of his name is going to be sold, he's in violation.  Don't they have video of him admitting he "did a signing" with the brokers?  Is Johnny Football so stupid that he doesn't know that the business of an autograph broker is to sell photos?  And that over a thousand items are probably not for personal use?

I know it seems like a grayish area, but let me tell you my theory...on how this is going to go down.  Alot of times the NCAA doesn't want to issue suspensions....even if they think they should.  So if a school is willing to suspend the player, I think the NCAA is going to be more willing to go with that punishment and let it go.  But!  With all of the national attention this story is getting, I believe that if Texas A&M chooses not to take pre-emptive action, the NCAA would deal a harsher punishment simply because they feel they have egg on their face.  If I was A&M, I'd pop him for two games then let him play against Alabama and take my chances.

But I just write blogs, so whatevs.

The Investigation

Here's the deal.  I really want to weigh in on this whole Johnny Manziel thing.  But I'm waiting.  The
"thing" I'm reffering to is the current NCAA investigation into one Mr. Football for allegedly taking money from an autograph broker to sign mememorabilia.


This picture, taken the same weekend as the BCS National
Championship Game where the alleged violation happened,
can not be used as evidence.  

I have much to say about this whole topic of Johnny Football and the investigation.  But not now.   For now what I will say is that the burden of proof is with the NCAA to prove that money actually changed hands, or that Manziel knowingly did something in violation of an NCAA rule.

The most damning evidence would be an "alleged" video the broker in question recorded that was shown to (and reported on by) ESPN in which Manziel makes statements that imply he was doing something he knew he shouldn't be.

ESPN declined to buy the video from the broker, when he asked for payment.  Because the broker does not intend to cooperate with the NCAA, there is only ESPN hearsay that the video actually exists.

So, here's my question.  Why hasn't some A&M or SEC hating Richie Rich just purchased the video and send it to the NCAA?  I actually find it incredible that this hasn't happened yet.

I'm interested to see how this all turns out.  In the meantime, a new home has gone on the market in College Station.

The Transfer

It would appear the news today is that another quarterback bites the dust....
Redshirt QB Conner Brewer has left the Texas program and it seeking transfer to another program, though he was not specific about which one.  Considering he had 14 offers, I'm sure someone will be happy to have him, but I hope he doesn't follow in his swimmer sister's footsteps and transfer to USC.

Though I guess Lane Kiffen can have our sloppy seconds if he wants them.

Does this mean that Jalen Overstreet will be taken out of the receivers corp and popped back into the quarterback rotation, or will Ash, McCoy, and Swoopes be enough?

The Hand Horns

Here at Adventures of a Football Blog, other than subliminal endorsements of random booze, I've never just flat out endorsed a product. 

Get Ready.  Put your Horns Up.

Your Hand Horns.

That's right, I said Hand Horns.  Today I came across this kickstarter project and literally wanted to kick myself for not having discovered it sooner so I could get in on the initial run of them in time for the 2013 season. 

Brilliant. 

I don't know when they're going to hit the streets, but when they do, find them, buy many of them and, as Walter Cronkite would say "Get your Horns up."
  
Your Hand Horns.  

The Stupid Research Project

According to Ivan Maisel:

Two University of Texas researchers, writing in the Journal of Sport Management, conclude that alcohol sales at college football games should be limited to premium seating areas. The researchers looked at an unnamed public university’s financial data from 2008-10, wrote that by the time the concessionaire took its cut, the increase in revenue from general admission sales wasn’t worth the social and ethical costs. However, the availability of alcohol in the club seats helped drive demand for them. 

FOR SHAME!! 

"Damn it feels good to be a gangsta..."

Stupid researchers and their stupid facts and stupid statistics.  

Ethics, Schmethics!   It's much more ethical for me to buy beer at the game than it is for me to sneak liquor to my seat inside in my boot! 

I can promise you if I want to be drunk at a game I'll do it...might as well make money off of me.  Especially the University of Texas, which in addition to being The Devil has been hailed as a Money-Grubbing-Scroodge-Face.

FOR SHAME!!

Booo you, University of Texas researchers.  I hear by strip ye of your burnt orange flasks and coozies and banish you to Utah.  Or if the Cougars won't have you, to prohibition times...how quickly you would fold under the gangster rule of Bonnie, Clyde and Steve Buscemi.

  

The Pants on Fire

In a report by Christopher Wilson at Yahoo! Sports, here's what current Ohio State Coach and former Florida Gators Coach Meyer has to say when asked what troubles Hernandez had at Florida:

"Relatively speaking, he had very minor stuff. He was questioned about being a witness (to a shooting), and he had an argument in a restaurant (in which Hernandez allegedly struck an employee in an argument over an unpaid bill), and he was suspended one game (reportedly for a failed marijuana test). Other than that, he was three years a good player. That was it." 

That's right, Meyer.  A slow clap is due.

Minor stuff, you know.  Like a traffic ticket or an MIP ... or ... being somehow involved in a shooting, doing drugs, stealing from restaurants and assault.

The most interesting part about the article is Meyer skirting the question of the failed drug tests by saying  

“I just received an email from a friend where there is an accusation of multiple failed drug tests covered up by the Univ. of Florida or the coaching staff,” Meyer wrote in a text to The Sun. “This is absolutely not true. Hernandez was held to the same drug testing policy as every other player.

That's kind of a non-answer, no?  Since the Boston Globe, Sports Illustrated, two Florida staff members and Hernandez himself are reporting that he failed "4 to 6" drug tests while at Florida it's weird that Hernandez was only penalized for, and Meyer is only recognizing, one. 

I smell a fire.  Pants! Fire! 

Meyer trying to play that his programs are run so clean is laughable, especially considered the estimated 34% of the 2008 Championship Team were either arrested while in school at Florida or in the 5 years since.  

Clean.  Soapy, soapy clean. 

If Ohio State is looking to clear up their image of cover-ups in the football program, I fear they may have picked the wrong guy...

The Painting

Coach Kliff Kingsbury bragged on twitter this week about the new painting he had commissioned for his fancy head coach office.

 "Just got my "Suns up, Guns up" painting finished for my office!! Incredible work by my friend Dave Grizzle" he tweeted Monday.

David Ubben, ESPN's Big XII blogger retweeted with the hashtag #FindTheCrabtree.

Obvoiusly, the big point in this picture is the Crabtree interception that led to a win over the Longhorns, forcing a three way tie in the Big XII between Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech.  Oklahoma ended up winning the conference that year, the #7  Red Raiders would go on to lose their bowl game against #25 Old Miss.

Good job Kliff, immortalizing Tech's single win over the Longhorns in the last decade.  

The Good Deed

On May 20th, deadly storms, including a tornado over a mile wide, swept through Oklahoma, devastating an area just outside Oklahoma City.  Dozens of people were killed and countless people lost their homes and businesses, with estimated damage to the town of Moore totalling over two billion dollars.

In times like these, when it's hard to watch the news and hear about the devastation that has occured not too far from home, I like to think about Mr. Rogers.  He once said:

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'” 

 This simple reminder that you can always lend a hand to a neighbor makes me feel like many small acts can help make a difference. 

Last year in April, when 22 tornados touched down in Dallas, Texas Tech football players boarded a bus filled with toiletries and clothing and headed to the town of Lancaster, outside of Dallas to help with the clean-up and render help where possible.   Likewise, after a tornado hit Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 2011, stories of not only Alabama players and Alumni taking part in clean up and recovery came out, of athletes from Notre Dame, Auburn, Mississippi and Texas lending a hand.  

 

Kenny Mossman (@Kenny_Mossman) posted this picture and tweeted:  "Apparently Bob Stoops showed up at a site and blended in for about 30 min before they figured it out (left)."


And even I, with my fierce feelings about rivals, can admit that it was pretty cool of Bob Stoops to go to Moore, without press or cameras to lend a hand in the reflief effort. Along with Stoops, the Kansas and West Virginia Basketball teams raised money and gathered supplies for the victims of the tornado. Even the TCU baseball team lent a hand at a local shelter.


Still - a little hint for Coach Stoops...next time you want to go incognito, wear a hat instead of your visor.

The First Game

Just read this little gem.

"On Wednesday, TCU head coach Gary Patterson suspended the best defensive player in the Big 12 for the first two games of the 2013 season because of a violation of team and university policy."

 

"Yes, it does stink he will miss the season opener Aug. 31 against LSU at Cowboys Stadium, but it could be worse. He could miss Big 12 games."

Now, in and of itself, a star player arrested and suspended isn't the biggest deal -  I mean, it sucks, but, it happens. 

Still, because I'm spiteful, I'm really hoping that something really specific happens:  I hope there is an ice storm/hurricane/act of God (that doesn't hurt anyone), but that delays the TCU/LSU game - the TCU season opener.  Just to see what happens.

The Cell Tower

Look, I'm sorry if it seems like I'm making fun of Darrin Moore.  But this article made me laugh. Darrin would have been better served by this article not existing, as it just comes off like awkward PR from a middle school newspaper.

**Alert.  The pizza in the cafeteria is now being cut into squares!**

I hope Moore can show he has what it takes at Cowboys mini-camp, though I can't say I wish being a Cowboy on anyone...

So many things about this article are perplexing, but here is the takeaway I gleaned from this article about Darrin Moore's draft day:

“Come to find out, one of the Sprint towers was down near my house,” Moore said, relating Saturday’s events. “I couldn’t receive calls or make any calls. Even if a team did call me, I wouldn’t have got it. That’s stressful if I missed out on a call.”

“I feel like I’m just as good as a lot of players who got drafted and players who signed free-agent deals,”

Hmmm...if only Texas Tech had someone in charge of making things ring... Wait, they do!  It's this guy!

It's not exactly a Sprint commercial, and I'm still not buying.

For some reason it made me think of Matt Leinart being interviewed after losing the BCS National Championship game to the Longhorns in 2006, and he insisted that USC was still the better football team that night.

Guns Up!

The #Rule

The NCAA has been working hard to solve all of college football’s biggest problems. Most recently? Banning #hashtags on fields and endzones at college stadiums. Rogers Redding, the national coordinator for college football officials explains the ruling by saying “If they have stuff on the sidelines, or on the walls around the stadium, it’s OK. The idea is to preserved the integrity of the field and not open it up to other kinds of advertising.


So, what they’re saying is that a college can’t #advertise its own program with a #hashtag on the field (as Mississippi State most prominently did in 2011 with #HAILSTATE) but the NCAA logo, conference logos and the names of commercial sponsors still get top billing on the turf?

The NCAA has just reinforced their #reputation that they don’t draw the line when it messes with #sponsormoney. I guess schools can get around this rule by creating new official logos, which are allowed on the field and incorporating their #hashtags. Though I hope it never comes to this.

Of all the rule changes over the years, I certainly don’t think this is the #dumbest. In fact I usually support the rules that outrage the masses.

For instance, in 2010, the NCAA banned messages and logos from appearing in players’ eye black. Reggie Bush would famously have 619 (native area code) scribbled into his eye black, but most people were outraged because Tim Tebow would no longer be allowed to put bible verses into his. The amount of people that called this rule discriminating really surprised me. There were tons of people outraged that it was “censorship” and what about “freedom of speech and expression.”

But let’s think about this people. If it’s okay for Bush to tout his area code, what about the satanist who displays “666” on his eye black. Think that would upset anyone?

Apparently this upset people:  http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/tebow/n13335/

Where do we draw the line? What stops a player from using that space to advertise? Or write profanity? The simple fact of the matter is, when you join an organized sport, you’re bound to a uniform, eye black an extension of that.

Hell, let’s just let players wear whatever they want on their jerseys. I can’t wait till a kid runs out with “PINK” written across his rear!

"I"m Expressing Myself!"

The Validation

Let's face it....my readership isn't what one would call "wide spread," so it's entirely possible that the message of this post will not reach it's intended recipients.

What is this message, you ask?

"Nanny Nanny Boo Boo!"

No, no.  That's not gibberish.  It's an age-old saying, often shouted by children who are taunting other children on school yards.  Or, in adult terms, it would be something along the lines of:

"Stick it!"

Ray Liotta, the second scariest man alive will demonstrate.

Look, I know this isn't the classiest thing I could be saying to all of those people who aren't even reading my blog but who are the intended recipients of my message.  But!  For the last two years, I've been telling everyone that asks (and, let's face it, some people who didn't ask) what I think the problem was with the Longhorn Offensive Line....aside from the fact that I found their inability to close ... well, offensive.

What was my diagnosis? 

The offense needs to simplify.  How?  By having a playbook full of plays that don't require players to be running on and off the field between each snap.  Why?  Well, it's freaking chaos and wasn't working, for one.  Not to mention that doing this gives the defense clear cut clues as to the next play we're running, and also gives them time to rest up...cause now the offense has to huddle and wait until the last damn second to snap the ball, since the player package was a rotating mess of players.

Every time I brought this up I was met with opposition and told firmly that this was not the problem, and that if I had played football, I too would find my opinion stupid.  "Obviously this is not the problem, the problem is much more complicated" they would say.  "Coaches who don't understand offenses don't get to this level."  And my favorite "Harsin did {ok} at Boise State.  I think he knows what he's doing."

{FYI this indicates sarcasm}.

Each of these comments was paired with a patronizing tone and a different, and really technical - the kind of technical that can only be gleaned by one who has physically played football - opinion of why the offense was terrible.  Because I couldn't possibly know.  Because I never played football.

To all you people and your patronizing tones I say "Stick it!" 

Ah, if only you were reading.

"Texas football coach Mack Brown seeks to speed up the Longhorns' pace of play" is how the Fort Worth Star Telegram put it.

"We want to run a similar offense, but do it form no-huddle and try to keep the same personnel on the field" is how Mack Brown put it.

Mack also said  "We changed so much personnel over the last couple of years that we fell like it gave defenses a chance to match with us in packages." 

Coach Applewhite said "We are trying to get a group on the field and keep them on the field and run a lot of different plays and formations from the same players so the defense cannot rest."

The Extreme Blogging Hiatus: Addendum A

 

                                                  

 

Look, I'm not going to lie.  A small part of me died when we lost to TCU.  Maybe a bigger than small part of me, but whatever.

 

So that, in addition to a wedding (not mine), an engagement (not mine), Christmas, New Year's and Valentines Day (where I was required to hole up like a hostage to avoid being seen alone in public) has kept me away from my blog. 

 

Also, once football season is over, there's not so much for me to write about.

 

But I'm back.  Ish.  Let's ramp up to the new season starting right now.  Well, starting with my next post.