Thursday, July 31, 2008

More on Jarboe's Rap

A couple of commenters on a my last post (darn near a new record) indicate an alleged media coverup about Jarboe. I have to disagree. His initial arrest was well covered. The places I get my sports news (espn.com, wizardofodds, edsbs.com and other sports sites and blogs) gave it plenty of coverage. Later came the stuff about "he's misunderstood, everything's ok, etc.". I don't intend to do the due diligence on that, but I'm guessing that started at ouinsider.com, which is generally an unofficial mouthpiece for Stoops' and the Sooners. It helps them get "inside information". Or it's that OKC paper, whose publishing family has dumped some pretty serious coin into the OU School of Journalism and the football stadium.

Personally, I'm all for giving a kid a second chance on screwing up. We've all erred in some way, shape or form. Some of these kids have little to no positive influence in their life (read Silent Thunder, by former Sooner Eric Thunander, for example) before they get to campus. I believe we should be optimistic about a kid getting to a university, expanding his world and becoming a better person. They can take advantage of the collegiate experience and make a positive impact (Lee Roy Selmon, JC Watts, Lynn McGruder) or they can allow themselves to be abused like a rented mule and leave campus in the same shape - or worse - than when they started (Jamelle Holieway, Stanley Wilson, Buster Rhymes). Charles Thompson is a tweener, because he left campus for prison, but he's paid his dues and is now a positive influence in the OKC area.

Back to Jarboe. He's a kid. Now he's screwed up twice. First time a crime, second tremendous stupidity. I think that's enough. I don't need to wait to see if he was just being stupid about a rap, or if he really values human life so little. Primary reason for me involves a story...I am proud of my Sooner heritage, by birth and by education. I graduated OU in 1988 and moved to Dallas, TX. I worked hard to get a college degree, and my parents sacrificed a lot to support my desire to get a degree. I moved to Dallas after graduation, and within eighteen months we had rape, shooting, cocaine distribution by the starting QB and NCAA probation (for which the FB team was unrepentant at the time). Those events made me embarrassed for awhile to be a Sooner. Switzer often cited "I can't parent 100 kids" or something to that effect.


Gary Gibbs found a way. I don't recall the name of player, but shortly after Gibbs took over the Sooner program, a Dallas area Sooner FB player had a mild run in with the law. Gibbs dismissed the player from the team. It was a long time before another Sooner showed up on the police blotter. Though Gibbs didn't have as much won-loss success as a head coach as I'd have liked, he represented the university with class throughout his tenure, something we sorely needed at the time. More recently, our neighbor and rival to the south, Mack Brown, took a get tough policy with his Horns after a terrible stretch last summer, and we've not heard any more peeps from Austin or Travis County about his players. (Even thought it's great fodder for the blog.)

I think rapping about the glorification of shooting people is not to be taken lightly. I believe Jarboe has the right to rap about shooting people. I understand there's a culture out there where this is common. I believe OU has the right to expect him to conduct himself in a way as to not embarrass the school that honored his scholly after his arrest back in March.

Many a college student-athletes drink to excess and do stupid things as a result. They get suspended for a game or two, or get to run laps until they puke every day for a week, etc. If they continue down the undisciplined path, they discipline becomes more severe. This is not a case of a drunk 19 year old. Jarboe appears completely sober during his rap, and it's the second time he's made the national news in a less than positive scenario. Should this sort of behavior not be curtailed, I fear the Sooners will be showing up on the police blotter with more frequency.

Typically, Stoops handles these disciplinary matters internally. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Bob meted out some extreme strength and conditioning work. If Jarboe is to be suspended, it may be a moot point, as many frosh will redshirt anyway. Last year Ryan Broyles went from likely being on the field to redshirting as a result of some gasoline theft followed by a practice related injury.

Maybe Stoops will redshirt him and require him to take a poetry class so he could learn some better rhymes. For Jarboe's sake and the university's sake, whatever the punishment is, I hope it works.

Josh Jarboe - Rap Musician

JJ continues to get in trouble. Gun charges were reduced earlier this year, so now he's in the great state of Oklahoma. However, he had this nice rap video posted on the internet this week, now it's making the rounds of the internet.

One of the least offensive lines is "I'll shoot ya --- up like a ---- pool table." Really? You're supposed to shoot a pool table? I'm just not with it.

Anywho, I'm done with this guy, and he's not on the field yet. His second chance was letting him come this way after his gun charges. He can grow up / be a risk at some other program.

Barry Switzer's new career

Per the fine folks at Awful Announcing, I found out that Coach Switzer is now dabbling in acting. Curiosity led me to see if Coach has an imdb.com page. Sho' nuff, there is one. Seems Coach was a versatile ten year acting career. IMDB does not give Switzer acting credits for a) interview with Dale Hansen at WFAA-TV where he keeps punching Dale in the arm (couldn't find on youtube, unfortunately; b) NCAA investigation, 1973; c) NCAA investigation, 1988.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Reveille Files Reinstatement Papers

Reveillie VII filed reinstatement papers

and other news and notes///

Best college football schedule ever.

Finally, if you're looking for some unique coverage of the Dallas Stars, check out friend of the blog http://laughs2loud.wordpress.com.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Musings for the Day

  • Today's Dallas Morning News has an article by Jean-Jacque Taylor about Roy Williams' expected resurgence this year. I'm a big Roy fan, but I think this is probably the third or fourth year that we've had the "Roy's going to become dominant this year" article. Parcells totally misused him, and there were murmurings of his release earlier in the summer. About that same time he seemed to be whining a lot about role and playing time, etc. I hope JJT is right this year.
  • Yesterday's Daily Ok had a nice article about Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford. McCoy is one of those kids that makes the college game great...he'll rip your heart out on the field, and very respectfully hand it back to you at the conclusion of the game.
  • Auston English had an appendectomy yesterday. He should be back by the opener against Chattanooga. Which is a croc. If he needs the extra week, I would expect we can struggle through against the Mocs.

Friday, July 25, 2008

The A-11


Saw this on Yahoo! sports and then again on Deadspin, so I thought I would give it additional exposure. It's the A-11 offense, where all players are eligible receivers, until five "set" at the line of scrimmage. The formation uses two quarterbacks.


When you combine Baylor Coach Art Briles' i) abundance of quarterbacks; ii) abundance of former quarterbacks now playing WR; and iii) deviant offensive mind, I would be surprised if he doesn't roll this out somewhere along the way this year in some sort of limited capacity. This makes the Ninja, Spread, etc. look lame.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Sooners #1 in Big 12 South


In a surprise to no one, the Sooners are my pick to finish first in the Big 12 South. This year, I think the Big 12 South is going to be down from prior highs. I sometimes look at the Sooners with a skeptical eye. They weren't that solid defensively last year, and managed to lose most of the back seven to graduation/completion of eligibility/pros. In the dark shadows of the Fiesta Bowl, I gloomily predicted a 9-3 record for the Sooners. I still think that's possible. The #3 ranked hype is all about the offensive line returning in tact and Sam Bradford returning, etc, but the defense lost Lofton, Smith and Walker, among others. Sure, there's talent back there still - they've recruited well - but it won't have much game experience. Many Sooners fans - and even more enemies of the Sooner nation - believe Stoops can't do this thing on his own. Therefore, I'm challenging Coach Stoops this year with Independence. Personally, I'm not a believer in the HeadVisor can't do it without Mike. On the other hand, I'd be bummed if we didn't hire Mike back in about 24 hours after Arizona fired him, if that happened.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Boone State Movitational Poster Winner


By a resounding margin, Listen is the Boone State motivational poster.

Also, Doug over at HeyJennySlater has a great preview of LSU by a special guest columnist. Be sure and check it out for a laugh.

Big 12 South #2


No secret if you read the last post that the Longhorns are my #2 pick for the South. Sure, they lost a lot of starters on defense (some would argue they needed to). But they brought in DC Will Muschamp from Auburn, and I believe the intensity will increase for the Longhorns. Combine the fact that McCoy's line has more experience this year with the evidence that the Horns seem to have shed the criminal justice field trips this summer, and I believe the Horns will again be a force in the conference. The Longhorn motivational poster was one of the tougher ones for me to come up with. I finally settled on this one. I'm positive it's been photoshopped a bit from an earlier OU-Texas game, and I'm sure Coach Brown doesn't want history to repeat itself.

Big 12 South #3


I have the Texas Tech Red Raiders as my #3 pick in the South. Many pundits are picking the Dust Pirates 2nd in the South, as a result of the improved defense the latter half of last year and the returning starters on both sides of the ball. In addition, I think Texas only returns four defensive starters (source: Phil Steele mag that I'm too lazy to pick up and confirm), which is another reason for increased expectations for Double T Nation. I think the Red Raiders will be an offensive juggernaut this year, but I'm still unconvinced they will leapfrog the Horns. I think the Red Raider view this year will be to Get Ahead early and keep the offensive pressure on all day.

Bonus Missouri Valley Coverage

In doing research for the Mizzou motivational poster, I found some info for an Illinois State Redbirds poster. In fact, I found two.


Red Dawg, here they are:

The Winning poster is from the Redbirds near upset of Kansas State in 2006.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

OverAnalyzing the Big 12 Media Picks

Media picks Mizzou as #1 North team, unanimously. I went ahead and did some assumptions on trying to back into how many people picked each team for each slot. Here are my assumptions:

a) Kansas was not picked lower than 3.
b) Mathematically, it's evident not everyone picked Iowa State last. I presumed the 8 voters that chose Iowa State 5th chose Kansas State last.

This means 21 voters picked KU third. Also means they had to pick Nebraska or Colorado as that third team. My estimates say...
  • Nebraska was picked 2 (11 times); 3 (15); 4 (20) and 5 (4). If Nebraska finishes the season in 2nd place in the North, they should write a book about Bo Pelini.
  • Colorado was slated as follows: 2nd (10); 3rd (15); 4th (17) and 5th (10).
  • K-State got 14 4th place votes and 29 5th place votes to go along with 8 last place votes.

Now, for the South. I'm assuming Texas was never picked lower than third.
  • The Sooners were picked 1st 49 times and must have received 2nd place votes from the other two voters.
  • Texas received the following votes, 1 (2); 2 (22); 3(27).
  • Texas Tech received 2 (27); 3 (20) and 4 (4).
  • Four voters rated the Pokes as the third place team; the 47 voters who were not under the influence awarded 30 fourth place votes and 17 5th place votes to Boone State.
  • Texas A&M was picked 17 times as fourth, 33 times as 5th and once as last.

While I can't confirm this at this time, I have to believe someone gave President Red Andrews a ballot, and that he voted the Bears 5th and the Aggies 6th. If not, let's keep in mind that this same voting bloc chose TE Brody Eldridge as an All-Conference fullback last year.

Reveille Part of Incoming Frosh Class

Read this yesterday and meant to post it. A&M hopes to have a new mascot "that will turn up as part of the school's incoming freshman class". I would give you a link to the Bryan College Station Eagle site that ran the story, but apparently they didn't pay the bill on the domain name. Rumor has it that the lead candidate for the mascot role is presently taking an SAT prep course to improve her test scores, but may not be done in time for Fish Camp.

Big 12 South #4


I pretty much tipped my hand - and nearly spilled my Mountain Dew - yesterday on my #4 pick. I expect the Cash Machine Aggies to top the Boone State Aggies in the standings at the end of the season. I think what really separates Texas A&M from Okie State this year is the intensity that Coach Sherman brings, so that's their theme.

Trotter Regains Focus, Plays Video Games

Daily Oklahoman writer Jake Trotter showed remarkable focus and determination yesterday - on a par with Pete Rose putting his legal troubles behind him to manage the Cincinnati Reds, or Barry Bonds pursuing the HR record while the size of this head and the allegations of his drug use both increase - and was able to resume writing duties after the tragedy invoked by James W. Conradt, aka Darth Husker. Trotter and the Daily Oklahoman filed suit on Monday as a result of the "harm to the journalistic reputation" (see page 7) of said reporter and the Daily Oklahoman.

Trotter published an article on the newsok.com web site yesterday where a simulated season was played out om EA Sports NCAA 09 college football game and OU was proclaimed champion. He also participated in a video game against the Boone State beat reporter for the paper.

There is some debate as to what causes more "harm to the journalistic reputation" a) internet satire, mean spirited as it may be; b) or playing video game contests between beat writers and publishing the results. I would even argue that Berry Tramel's video tirade, proclaiming message boards the equivalent of porn sites, to be a greater harm to the journalistic reputation of the newspaper.

Trotter, presumably exhausted from these events, was unable to cover Jenna Plumlee's arrest for allegedly stealing cosmetics from Wal-Mart. Why wouldn't Jenna just join Carol Stoop's Mary Kay pyramid. Surely she could get some free product in the starter kit?

Finally, if you link to the documents filed in the lawsuit, the entire article that Conradt allegedly posted is there. The fake story also states Manuel Johnson was arrested in June after taking a handgun to an elementary school, and d lineman Alan Davis and Cory Bennett were arrested after "an alleged carjacking incident". I have yet to hear any complaints from Johnson, Davis or Bennett, their families or their lawyers.

I'm done. I have work to do.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Boone State Cowboys - South #5



Boone State is my prediction for the 5th best team in the Big 12 South Division. Basically, I think Sherman is a good enough coach at Cash Machine U and Fran brought in enough talent that the combo will leapfrog the Pokes into the much coveted fourth spot in the Big 12 South. I've a bit of a dilemma on my hands in regards to the Boone State poster. I present to you my three choices for the Boone State motivational poster. They all have the same picture, but the title and saying are different.Vote in the poll to the right, and we'll keep progressing with the rest of the South tomorrow.

God Bless Mrs. Lepak

This article brought a smile to my face. My bus law professor while I was at Oklahoma was Linda Lepak. I recall her talking about her days in college (the Selmon era of the early-mid 70s) when someone would bring a sign to the stadium saying, "God Bless Mrs. Selmon". I recall Mrs. Lepak saying she wanted to have boys that played football for the Sooners, and have someone bring a sign to the stadium saying "God Bless Mrs. Lepak."

Looks like we may have that opportunity in 2009.

Lawsuit Filed Against Darth Husker

Yesterday the Oklahoma Publishing Co filed a lawsuit against James W. Conradt regarding his fake story implicating Sam Bradford and Landry Jones in a drug bust.

I'm very interested to see how this plays out. Conradt appears to have went too far in using Jake Trotter's name, and allegedly using several copyrighted images off of the newsok.com web site. I thought the whole thing was mildly amusing, but am admitting that I am not related to Bradford or Jones. Conradt poked the turtle, as one of my good friends would say, of a widely read state newspaper that has the Gaylord Family as significant shareholders. Being as their name is on the football stadium and I believe the School of Journalism bears the family name - or the building, let's now slow down this post for me to check my facts - Conradt picked the wrong paper lampoon.

Conversely, the due diligence done by the radio stations that "broke" the story is appalling. Was anyone really getting their news off of www.darthhusker.com?

newsok.com writer Berry Tramel has an embarrassing video comparing internet message boards to porn sites. Still don't get that analogy. Plus, the newsok.com site allows readers to comment online at their site, where you get insightful reader comments like this one by Justin, posted recently on the article referred to above "Todd, you sir, are an idiot." The next one will probably be, "Jane, you ignorant slut."

With newspapers struggling, I could see this as the newspapers using what muscle they have left to attempt to narrow the landscape of blogging and message boarding via incidents like this one. While I'm not a media expert, I do believe that using the courts to inflict pain on foes that threaten your monopoly is not a good way to stem the tide of decreasing readership and ad revenue. The lawyers, however, will make out like bandits.

As a history professor told me in college, after I told him I was an accounting major, "In the battle of Armageddon, they'll need lawyers and accountants to bayonet the wounded." Come to think of it, Bayonet the Wounded would be a great blog name.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Big 12 South #6


Today we kickoff our previews of the Big 12 South. We're avoiding actual facts and stuff and previewing using motivational posters created with the tools at diy.despair.com, and pictures commandeered from the internet.

We'll start off the South Division with the Bears from Waco, Texas. They've got a new coach, a little bit of Weed, and a five star QB on campus, as well as a murderous schedule. We know at Baylor, they pursue Excellence. And sometimes they touch it.

One Year Anniversary

A mere one year ago today I started decompressing from work with this little diversion. Thanks for reading along.

Dead Battery Derails Sooners

The Sooners Collegiate Bass Fishing team's national championship dreams were laid to waste this weekend after a dead battery lead them to be disqualified at the end of day one. The team was unable to make it back to the way-in station by the appropriate time. A strong showing on the second day wasn't enough to get the Sooners back into the title chase. Cash Machine U's fishing team, which apparently was able to pool enough gas money to participate, and ended up second in the tourney.

Arkansas-Little Rock won the tourney.Final result are here.

College bass fishing is an evolving sport. There is 1) College Bass Fishing, which is sponsored by Under Armounr and is a partner with ESPN outdoors, and 2) Collegiate Bass Fishing, where the Sooners won their Big 12 Championship; and 3) National Collegiate Bass Championships, which is the National Championship that Cash Machine U won last year.

I think this is like AP and Coaches Polls in college football. Only different.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Big 12 North #1 - Missouri


Mizzou returns a lot of offensive firepower in 2008, with Southlake Carroll Dragon Chase "Booger" Daniel returning for his senior season. Jeremy Maclin returns for his sophomore season in addition to others that I'm too tired to research. The biggest concern for the Tigers coming into the season is how the legal system will effect their on the field performance. If it weren't for Jimmy John's superhuman performance for the Crimson Tide, the Tigers would be leading the Fulmer Cup standings over at edsbs.com. Missouri also has demonstrated the good sense not to sell the KU game to the fine folks in Kansas City. The game will be in Columbia, and should propel Gary Pinkel's club to victory. Then they can turn their attention toward the Big 12 championship game, where they'll need to focus.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Big 12 North #2 - Kansas


This is not your father’s Jayhawk team. Perhaps your grandfather's Jayhawk team. The last time a Jayhawk football team returned to the field after a one loss season was 1948, when they went 7-3 under Jules Sikes. Sikes followed George Sauer, who parlayed an 8-1-2 record in 1947 at KU into the HC job at Navy. (Sauer is in the College FB Hall of Fame, probably because he managed to have a winning record at Kansas AND Baylor). Even though Mangino has put his house up for sale, he returns for the 08 season. The Jayhawks have not won an outright conference championship since 1930, and these ladies are getting impatient.

Sign in the Switzer Center


Whew! That was a close one.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Big 12 North #3 - Nebraska


Nebraska – the Huskers will be rejuvenated this year by the absence of Bill Callahan. Unfortunately for the faithful Husker fans, if Pellini does a bangup job and gets them to 7-5, he will be a hero. Frank Solich, who looks like a better coach with every passing season, was run off for 9-3. If they go 8-4, this football fan may become distracted and forget to vote. Which may not be a bad thing.

Big 12 North #4 - Colorado


I feel like this Buffs fan is going to need this finger again this year. The Buffs showed improvement in 2007- including an upset over the Sooners. Dan Hawkins is staking his Colorado coaching era on his son Cody as QB. Having a coach’s child involved in the program at Colorado is a long-standing tradition, dating back to the late 80s when Sal Aunese knocked up Coach McCartney’s daughter. McCartney won a national championship a couple of years later. We’ll see how Hawkins approach turns out.

Jason White Seeks Return to Gridiron

by Senior Editor Joe Huff
Norman, OK (LTP) - Sources close to both parties indicate that Sooner great Jason White has indicated he wishes to come out of retirement and return to the gridiron in 2008.

A person close to the situation spoke with Coach Bob Stoops earlier today about Jason’s desire to return to the Sooners. The Sooners were very pleased with how Sam Bradford performed last year, and are hesitant to disrupt Bradford’s continued development by welcoming the legend back to the program. White has been out of football for several yeas now, and the Sooners offense has evolved around quarterbacks that can get from the couch to the refrigerator without aid from a roommate or spouse. Coach Stoops is on vacation, and intends to speak with Jason when he returns.

Several media outlets reported Jason sent a text message to athletic director Joe Castiglione this weekend expressing interest in coming back.

White would not respond to numerous interview requests for this story. Many close to the situation say he looking to improve upon his legacy. Although the Sooner fought back from debilitating injuries to both knees, and holds most Sooner passing records, many Sooners are quick to forget about his Oklahoma pedigree, the Heisman trophy and gritty determination. Those same fans are quick to remember his 0-2 record in BCS national championship games, capped off with a three interception, two touchdown performance in a 55-19 loss in the 2005 Orange Bowl.

Jason has completed an application for job as window washer at Big Red Sports and Imports, which is a formality in the process for Sooner footballers to be reinstated to the program. Big Red Sports and Imports indicated an application was provided to the Sooner legend, but receptionist Jarrod Reese indicated it has not been returned to the Human Resources department for consideration.

If Jason is to take this pivotal step toward his return, the Sooners will be faced with a public relations and strategic dilemma. Their options appear to be: a) clear room in the graduate program for Jason to pursue his PhD in kinesiology, where his thesis would be. “Knees, Overrated”; b) discourage White from pursuing his doctorate; c) release him from his scholarship, which would free Jason up to pursue his PhD at another university.

One of the Sooners biggest fears is that should they release him he would return to the field as an Oklahoma State Cowboy, taking advantage of the new athletic facility funded by corporate raider Boone Pickens.

One unconventional scenario the Sooners are rumored to be considering is bailing Jamelle Holieway out of jail in Eufaula, bringing him to Norman to dine with Jason, and getting both of them arrested. Some Sooner insiders believe this would be enough to discourage Jason from returning to the program for a seventh year.

College football writer N. Somnia contributed to this report.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Iowa State Poster Results


In an overwhelming vote, Effort wins over Loyalty. As a result, this poster is the motivational poster for 2008 for the Iowa State Cyclones. I would like to offer my congratulations to the opossum for winning this award, but I believe he is unavailable for comment.

Big 12 North #5 - Kansas State


Today we resume our Big 12 preview in motivational poster form. our projection for 5th in the Big 12 North is Willie and Friends - better known to many was the Kansas State Wildcats. Ron Prince returns. Josh Freeman returns. Jordy Nelson does not. Unfortunately for K State fans, Terrence Newman, Darren Sproles and Mark Simoneau are not walking through that door, either. Willie and Friends have been pretty inconsistent the past couple of years, and I see a 5th place finish in their near future. They need all the support they can get. As does this fan.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Swift Justice Demanded

I returned from the promised land today, retrieved the DMN, and went to "the library" to expel the remnants of the delicious fried pie I had on the way back. Mr. Ted Philmon of Richardson sounded off in the DMN that since Phil Loadholt was arrested for DUI last week, Stoops needed to act in a similar manner as Mack Brown did last year and suspend him for three games.

I didn't recall Mack acting swiftly on the the drinking charges, so I decided to do a little research.

Jun 1, Henry Melton arrested on DUI charge
Jun 9, Robert Joseph arrested for two misdemeanors. Joseph suspended indefinitely.
Jul 28, Sergio Kindle arrested on DWI charge
Aug 3, Dre Jones arrested, Robert Joseph turns himself in for aggravated robbery charge stemming from Jul 27 incident.
Aug 3, Jones suspended definitely. I think Joseph was also placed on "double secret probation" at this point since he was already suspended indefinitely.
Aug 5, Brown suspends Melton and Kindle for three games.

So, in summation, Henry Melton was arrested on a DUI charge on Jun 1st and suspended for same on August 5. At first, I figured Mack probably couldn't act on such activity in the summer, since summer contact with the student- athletes is limited. Plus, Mack might have been backpacking across Houston with Vince Young, and unavailable to suspend Mr. Melton.

However, one week later, the Horns were able to promptly suspend Robert Joseph for two misdemeanors.

On Jul 28, Sergio Kindle was arrested for DWI and Mack did nothing until Aug 5. Maybe he was on a summer cruise? No, on Aug 3, he was available to suspend Andre Jones as a result of his aggravated robbery charge.

Now, according to my calculations, if Bob is going to follow Mack's lead, he must wait for a couple of misdemeanors, another drinking and driving charge and two teammates working together on an aggravated robbery before invoking swift justice. Hopefully it will take longer than two months for the Sooners to accumulate that many charges.

To Mack's credit, his swift actions on the DWI and DUI were effective, as no other Longhorns were charged with DUI for the remainder of the year.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Big 12 Previews, LandThieves Style

This year's previews will not feature "facts" or "statistics". You can get those on sundaymorningqb.com or spend $10 or so on Phil Steele, Athlon's or Street and Smith. If you want "features" you can wait for SI's preview.


We here at LandThieves will be doing previews with a motivational poster we've devised for the program. Occasionally, we'll submit the motivational poster to you, the reader (s?) to vote on.


For example, our first preview is for Iowa State. I project them to finish sixth in the Big 12 North. I thought about picking them seventh. I can't name a single player on Iowa State roster, and I'm too tired to research it. I think Bret Meyer completed his doctoral thesis on "Frustrating Your Head Coach, A Tutorial" and has moved on. Dwayne Crutchfield and Sage Rosensels are gone, too. Had I watched the game where the cyclones nearly beat the Sooners, I might be able to name an Iowa Stater.



Now, on to the Iowa State motivational poster. In researching good pics that either made me think of Iowa State or included Cyclone fans, I came up with these two.

Loyalty - I just felt for this guy. It seemed like a bad use of perfectly good body paint.

Effort - my step-mother-in-law rehabilitates opossums. She sometimes spends months rehabbing a rodent that has an average life span of 18 months. Seems to me like that typifies Iowa State. You can play football there, make some progress and go 6-6 or 7-5, but eventually Kansas, Missouri, Colorado or Nebraska (depending upon the season) is going to crush you.

I'm torn between the two. Cast your vote, and we'll proceed with the rest of our predictions when I come back from the promised land on Sunday.

Watermelon's Medicinal Qualities

Reveille VII's avoiding the heat and reading the news, and has an interesting opinon on Watermelon and Viagara. Be sure and check it out over your holiday weekend.