Wednesday, November 24, 2010

E. Gordon Gee Decides OSU's Fate


After this interview, and the angry response from the presidents of Boise State and TCU (Gee is the prez of Ohio State, if you weren't aware), I'm pretty sure we are guaranteed an Ohio State vs. Boise State matchup in one of the BCS games, and one of the juiciest storylines of all of bowl season.

Sweet.

Gee said that Big Ten and SEC schools go through a "murderer's row" every single week, whereas Boise and Texas Christian basically play the "Little Sisters of the Poor," and should therefore not be in consideration for the national title game.

Ya know who else can't be happy about that, is BSU's opponent this week, No. 17 Nevada. Hmm. It's not like the prez of a huge university to stir the pot like that. Good work, E. Gordon.

SIDE NOTE: What an EPIC comeback for the Bulls tonight. I gotta admit, I was listening on the drive up I-65 to Chicago, but I gave up after two and a half quarters and switched to the iPod. BIG mistake. Especially after thoroughly enjoying Chicago's last ultra-gritty win over the Mavericks. Derrick Rose, Bulls, Tom Thibodeaux: I believe in you.

SIDE NOTE DEUCE: Yes, my recounting of the Wrigley Field Bloodbath is forthcoming. As soon as I piece the memories back together.

Vic Oladipo Has A Gift

...he may not be too consistent yet, but man can he hit buzzer-beaters!

How different this year is...

I saw this picture and had to post it as it sums up how odd this year has been in the NFL this year. I think because it has been so I I have enjoyed it so much. The way to read the chart is clockwise the score underneath each team is the score that they beat the team to their right.


So this kills any college like reasoning of why 1 team is better than another.

Looked at the rankings today and the playoff picture would be fun. Jets and Ravens would get the bye in the AFC with Kansas City and Jacksonville winning the other two divisions and Pittsburgh and New England being the Wild card teams. This is especially interesting because I would think that the wild card teams would roll through that first round but who knows (refer to above chart).

On the NFC side of things the Falcons Bears Eagles and Seahawks all win their divisions with Philly ad Atlanta getting the byes. The two wild cards currently are Green Bay and Tampa Bay. If I did my playoff picture correctly this sets up a third Bears Packers match-up with higher stakes than usual. This also illustrates the importance of the game this weekend because its essentially a huge stepping stone for a first round bye.

With that go Bears and whoever is playing green bay, tampa bay, new york and philly.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Wrigleyville Classic Day 5

I just got back from my walk around Wrigley and here is what I saw.
Shefield is closed down and they are making it into Wildcat Way.

Lots of tents with merchandise, food and drinks. They also have a stage and a large tent set up. Good news for those wondering, you can buy beer in Wildcat way, It's still undertermined if you can buy it in the stadium.


Here's walking up to the set of game day. See that little black thing in the sky on the right. that is going to have a camera mounted on it tomorrow to give overhead shots of the fans. It doesn't look like there is going to be a lot of room for fans to cram in there, so if you want to go to GameDay, get there early. I asked a security gaurd if he knew if they were closing down Clark, he said he didn't think they were, so I am unsure where the people will go if they can't be in the McDonalds parking lot.
Here is a picture of the video board not all the way up yet and the bus


Gameday was filming some pieces. All parties were wearing nice pants behind the desk, but Kirk and Desmon were both wearing sneakers.

After they were done shooting, Erin Andrews walked right by me, I said Hi and she said hi in response. I did not take her picture as she was walking towards me cause I thought that would have been rude.




Here's the stadium in all it's purple glory



The Team Trucks were already there. At this point I was walking through a parking lot I cleary was not supposed to be in, it was blocked off in every direction except where I walked in. Some crew guy and I talked for a sec, and then I left. No issues.




Here's a picture of the light trucks I was talking about yesterday



Lastly, the scoreboard has the other Big Ten games listed on it. I tried to get a picture of it, not sure if they really came out.




It's been a fun 5 days writing about Wrigley leading up to the event. Since I am not gaurenteed tickets, I will leave the gameday write up to the man who is going to the game, ACSS Sr Write Mark Fodor.Like I said before, if you got tickets you need to go, because unless they change the outfield, you will not see a game in Wrigley ever again.

Wrigleyville Classic Becomes Backyard Football

It was just annouced that the Illinois vs Northwestern game at Wrigley Field will feature a unique twist. Each team will be heading West and West only. Safety concerns about the right field wall being too close to the east endzone have turned this game into a game of backyard football. Each team will head the same way, which is to say, crazy.

I know I posted yesterday that Ricketts wants to do this every year, but without moving the right field wall, I see no way this game happens again. I hope you have tickets cause this could truely be a once in a lifetime moment.