TicketsOnly three more days until players report and four days until the Bearcats officially open practice.
You can feel it now. Well, that might be my body going into preemptive shock anticipating the 100-degree heat index at Higher Ground, but feeling something, regardless.
As for the official countdown, 30 days until Austin Peay at Nippert.
Let's eat...
--- In case you haven't seen enough interviews with Coach Butch Jones lately, here's CBJ with Andrea Adelson as he answers the "what did you learn from last season question" for the 543th time.
--- Does the Big East need a dominant team to garner more national respect? Probably. I've seen this commentary pop up in numerous outlets.
The AP wrote this story about the lack of a heavyweight in the conference.
I understand the importance of perception in college football, particularly in regards to your image in recruiting. But in what way does West Virginia dominating or Pitt putting together a dynasty run empower the Big East, except in the eyes of writers?
It doesn't.
Will the league have more "respect" if West Virginia went undefeated and won the Orange Bowl? Maybe. But what does that really mean. Does the league image really affect the bottom line of whether or not a team in particular would make a BCS bowl? If a breakout team goes undefeated, like UC did in 2009, they aren't going to be held out of the national title game because of image. If the Texas field goal doesn't go through, UC would have played Alabama for the title. It was 12-0 and not this image of the Big East that made it possible.
At the end of the day, as much as we talk about subjective polls and rankings, wins and losses seal your fate, even in college football. Just ask Auburn and Oregon.
So, no I don't buy that competitiveness within the Big East is a bad thing. They need to prove they can compete with other BCS conferences by beating them consistently in regular season non-conference and bowl games. That will float the argument the Big East isn't the red-headed stepchild of the BCS. It will bring more validity to winning conference games and BE championships.
Most importantly, you don't want your conference wins devalued. A perfect season by WVU wouldn't accomplish that for a school like Cincinnati.
--- Athlon Sports must be a reader of the Breakfast since somebody finally listened to me in listing Derek Wolfe as a breakout player this season.
--- Cleveland.com asks if readers remember DJ Woods and talk about him being "one to watch." Apparently they haven't watched him rack up 1,538 receiving yards with 14 touchdowns over the past two seasons. Also, the headline wizards used Woods like, you know, the forest, and even placed a bear reference with it. You see what they did there?
But, a story on Woods' roots nonetheless.
--- I linked you guys the Lance Stephenson update story from the Indy Star yesterday, but Adam Zagoria added to the news, reporting that Lance will be headed to play overseas during the lockout.
Love this move for him. Gets him away from any lingering bad influences and will allow him to focus on his game in a fundamentals-heavy Euro environment. Here's hoping it all works out.
--- Look! It's a scatterplot of basketball/football school outlooks by attendance fig.....zzzzzzz.
--- Preseason soccer training begins next week. Tommy G caught up with Hylton Dayes.
--- Less practices and no two-a-days make sense for the NFL and let's hope some colleges adopt the philosophy as well. Sporting News Matt Crossman points out the craziness of pushing it too far in the August heat.
--- Some randomness...
--- Today's Breakfast tip: When you play the "bury me in the sand" game at the beach, you don't need the hole to be deeper than six feet. That's excessive.
--- Are you on Google+? Apparently everyone else is. I don't know that I can handle another social media platform.
Sidenote: Stop checking in. Nobody cares.
--- To all the Lost fans out there who have been shaking in the fetal position due to withdrawl for the last year and a half, here's JJ Abrams talking about the finale.
--- That...is one magic loogie.
--- With Sir Paul McCartney invading Great American Ball Park tonight, it would only be fair to post one of his greatest hits up on the blog. Here's Back in the USSR from Wrigley Field on Monday. Have a great time tonight for everyone headed to the concert. And eat as many stinkin' brats as you want.
You can feel it now. Well, that might be my body going into preemptive shock anticipating the 100-degree heat index at Higher Ground, but feeling something, regardless.
As for the official countdown, 30 days until Austin Peay at Nippert.
Let's eat...
--- In case you haven't seen enough interviews with Coach Butch Jones lately, here's CBJ with Andrea Adelson as he answers the "what did you learn from last season question" for the 543th time.
--- Does the Big East need a dominant team to garner more national respect? Probably. I've seen this commentary pop up in numerous outlets.
The AP wrote this story about the lack of a heavyweight in the conference.
I understand the importance of perception in college football, particularly in regards to your image in recruiting. But in what way does West Virginia dominating or Pitt putting together a dynasty run empower the Big East, except in the eyes of writers?
It doesn't.
Will the league have more "respect" if West Virginia went undefeated and won the Orange Bowl? Maybe. But what does that really mean. Does the league image really affect the bottom line of whether or not a team in particular would make a BCS bowl? If a breakout team goes undefeated, like UC did in 2009, they aren't going to be held out of the national title game because of image. If the Texas field goal doesn't go through, UC would have played Alabama for the title. It was 12-0 and not this image of the Big East that made it possible.
At the end of the day, as much as we talk about subjective polls and rankings, wins and losses seal your fate, even in college football. Just ask Auburn and Oregon.
So, no I don't buy that competitiveness within the Big East is a bad thing. They need to prove they can compete with other BCS conferences by beating them consistently in regular season non-conference and bowl games. That will float the argument the Big East isn't the red-headed stepchild of the BCS. It will bring more validity to winning conference games and BE championships.
Most importantly, you don't want your conference wins devalued. A perfect season by WVU wouldn't accomplish that for a school like Cincinnati.
--- Athlon Sports must be a reader of the Breakfast since somebody finally listened to me in listing Derek Wolfe as a breakout player this season.
--- Cleveland.com asks if readers remember DJ Woods and talk about him being "one to watch." Apparently they haven't watched him rack up 1,538 receiving yards with 14 touchdowns over the past two seasons. Also, the headline wizards used Woods like, you know, the forest, and even placed a bear reference with it. You see what they did there?
But, a story on Woods' roots nonetheless.
--- I linked you guys the Lance Stephenson update story from the Indy Star yesterday, but Adam Zagoria added to the news, reporting that Lance will be headed to play overseas during the lockout.
Love this move for him. Gets him away from any lingering bad influences and will allow him to focus on his game in a fundamentals-heavy Euro environment. Here's hoping it all works out.
--- Look! It's a scatterplot of basketball/football school outlooks by attendance fig.....zzzzzzz.
--- Preseason soccer training begins next week. Tommy G caught up with Hylton Dayes.
--- Less practices and no two-a-days make sense for the NFL and let's hope some colleges adopt the philosophy as well. Sporting News Matt Crossman points out the craziness of pushing it too far in the August heat.
--- Some randomness...
--- Today's Breakfast tip: When you play the "bury me in the sand" game at the beach, you don't need the hole to be deeper than six feet. That's excessive.
--- Are you on Google+? Apparently everyone else is. I don't know that I can handle another social media platform.
Sidenote: Stop checking in. Nobody cares.
--- To all the Lost fans out there who have been shaking in the fetal position due to withdrawl for the last year and a half, here's JJ Abrams talking about the finale.
--- That...is one magic loogie.
--- With Sir Paul McCartney invading Great American Ball Park tonight, it would only be fair to post one of his greatest hits up on the blog. Here's Back in the USSR from Wrigley Field on Monday. Have a great time tonight for everyone headed to the concert. And eat as many stinkin' brats as you want.