So, Let's Compare

So, Mizzou joined the SEC and blah blah.  Does it really matter?  The major networks (*cough*ESPN*cough*) and other rich dudes will soon find another money making scam within the world of college football, thus sparking another round of changes.  At least, that's what the optimist in me says.

Also, RIP 120 year Missouri-Kansas rivalry because of, you know, egos.  It's not like college athletics are about tradition or anything.  This is funny, though.  Bravo, Kansas.

So, because no one is totally full of BS, how about we look at the difference between the SEC's premature press release and real press release welcoming Mizzou to the conference.

SEC Press Release

SEC "fake" Press Release

Jump for colorful pictures.

College Football Defined

This.  No matter what your loyalties are in sports, this.

The best camera angle turns bad when the crowd goes ballistic and the stadium shakes.  When the official puts his arms in the air signaling touchdown, the stadium erupts and 70,000+ people become one booming noise of excitement and chaos.  And as a fan, you live for these moments of chaos.  Bravo Michigan State.

Okay, This Was Cool Wisconsin

Thank you Wisconsin for:

1. Not sucking as bad as I once believed
2. Whipping Nebraska
3. Knowing the words (for the most part) to "Build Me Up Buttercup" by The Foundations.  I'm a sucker for old R&B sang in unison at football stadiums.

You have made America proud.  Also, I'm a real big fan of cheese, so keep up the good work.

Video from field level:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnYCdKDI5hk

How To Throw A Bitchin' Celebration

Prior to Saturday's Iowa-Iowa State in-state rivalry game, much ado was made about the new trophy depicting a farmer presenting a family with corn, because, you see, Iowa has corn.

So, since that was stupid and had nothing to do with football, or was not retro or vintage enough to be considered charming or cute, the Iowa Corn Association (?) scraped it and created an interim award.  And after the game on Saturday, they will need to find of a replacement again soon.

Iowa State, having only won the game twice in eight tries since 2003, won the game and threw an awesome party on the sidelines.  Now, I'm not a huge proponent of students rushing the field after marginal victories against decent rivals whom they have been competitive against in recent memory (i.e. Arizona State after beating Mizzou on Friday), but if a mob rushes the field and wrecks shit, then by all means enjoy yourself.  Click here to see the new interim trophy ripped in pieces and lost to history at the 1:50 mark (please disregard the stupid questioning by usually tactful Jim Knox.  That wins a nomination for the Lisa Salters most douche question award).

(Manipulated headline photo via)

Tales From Middle-Earth: The Sprint Center Just Wants To Be Loved

...and with just twenty cents per day, you can provide it with shoes and clean water.

Ah, the Sprint Center.  For those of you not familiar with the cereal bowl of dreams, allow me to enlighten you:  In the mid-2000s, some people more or less decided that Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri was not doing all it could to attract a third (or fourth!) major professional sports team to Kansas City (what with all of the professional wrestling deaths and failing surrounding infrastructure).  So, a new arena (the Sprint Center) was imagined, designed, and built with help from the dream makers at AEG Imagineering with the intention of attracting large events to town and a NBA or NHL franchise. Since its opening in 2006, the building has hosted a multitude of events and is one of the most popular arenas in the United States.  But....it still remains that the NHL and NBA do not have teams here, as promised (or assumed, or said in passing-- I'm not a lawyer).  With the recent lockout of the NBA and the relocation of the NHL's Atlanta franchise to much smaller but hockey crazed/starved Winnipeg, Manitoba, the Sprint Center and Kansas City have come up in the almost bi- to tri-annual "Why is the Sprint Center and Kansas City so worthless?" discussions.  But really, it's not so worthless, and Kansas City is not as much of a shithole as some power line licking, nomadic, lonely, previously unemployed 'sports' writers would have you believe.