Progress

The Cotton Bowl today made official their attempt to reinvent their bowl game. As has been rumored for the last month, the Cotton Bowl board of directors voted to move their game to the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington, effective in 2010.

The Cotton Bowl will now attempt to crowd into the BCS bowl rotation. It is one of the traditional New Year's Day bowls, but suffered in recent years from a decaying and decrepit stadium. The game was in danger of being passed up by other cities in the pecking order of Big XII and SEC teams.

The new Cowboys stadium would be a great place for a BCS bowl game, and a national championship game. It would also benefit the Big XII, as the Big XII often finds itself playing in a hostile environment for national championship games (see Orange Bowl-OU vs. Florida State, Sugar Bowl-OU vs. LSU, and Rose Bowl-Texas vs. USC).

I am excited that the Cotton Bowl has made this move. I hope that OU and Texas follow suit and move the Red River Rivalry to Jerry's Palace on Johnson Creek.

UUOTD-Sunday

We're still going back in time, but only to the 1990's.

In 1996, the Kentucky Wildcats were kings of the hill, winning another national championship. Rick Pitino could have been elected governor, before taking off to coach the Knicks. This was a great team.

The Cats normally wear a classic royal blue. The blue is synonymous with a basketball tradition that takes a back seat to no one.

Someone was not thinking straight at Converse, when they designed this denim uniform. I love denim, but it does not go on a basketball uniform, especially one for a traditional powerhouse like Kentucky. Kentucky had a great blue road uniform. They did not need to throw it away for this.

Thankfully, this uni was thrown on the ash heap of history, and the royal blue uniform was brought back. The Cats will gladly keep that national championship, though.

Ugly Uniform Of The Day-Retro

We're still going retro, and we're still on the time machine. The time machine takes us to Atlanta, and 1971.

The Atlanta Hawks wore one of the ugliest uniforms in the history of the NBA. At the time, I'm sure it was considered groovy. However, it was tasteless. All that are missing from this uniform are the flowers and the flourescent Volkswagen bus.

The great Pete Maravich is shown in the home version. They wore lime green with blue, with stripes down the side of the uniform. On the back, the player's name was listed under the number. Maravich was simply "Pistol". Notice the knee-high socks, also. The Hawks really sullied his greatness with this uniform.

The Hawks changed their primary color to red when they moved to the Omni in 1972. They've had some bad looks in the last 30 years, but none as bad as this.

And, to think the team has chosen to wear this as a throwback this year. Ugh!

A Good Story

A good friend of mine has recently become a newspaper editor in western Nebraska. I was scoping out his paper's website yesterday, and came across a great achievement.

I do not keep up with high school girls basketball. I know of a handful of good teams in Texas, mostly at the class 5A level. I do remember, though, from my days in Oklahoma, that the best show is at small school tournaments, especially the state tournament. The small school tournaments there are the best attended, and the passion for hoops is greatest in tiny communities where there is nothing else.

Sioux County High School is located in Harrison, Nebraska (population 279), in the far northwest corner of the state, near the borders of Wyoming and South Dakota. It is 48 miles from the nearest Wal-Mart. According to the Nebraska School Activities Association, Sioux County is the second-smallest school in the state, with an average attendance of 24. The school's website shows 30 students. There are 16 girls in the school, and 12 play basketball.

Last night, the Sioux County Warriors qualified for their first ever girls state tournament, defeating Maywood by a score of 43-32. They now advance to next week's state tournament in Lincoln. I know nothing about Nebraska girls basketball, but I wish them well.

The Warriors now get to ride a big yellow school bus 503 miles to Lincoln (according to Mapquest). I don't think they'll mind. If they're lucky, maybe someone could spring for a charter, or at least a nice minibus. Either way, it's a really, really big deal.

UUOTD-Thursday

UUOTD remains on the time machine, and we go back to 1979.

We're not in Cleveland, but we go down the Ohio Turnpike/Pennsylvania Turnpike down to Pittsburgh, where the Pirates won a World Series.

These were the "We Are Family" Pirates, who adopted the popular disco song by Sister Sledge. They were a good team, led by guys like Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, and Bill Madlock (pictured). I was for Baltimore in the '79 Series, and was mad when the Pirates won it.

The Pirates also wore uniforms worthy of the disco era. They had some of the ugliest uniform combinations, and never wore the same thing two days in a row. They had both black and gold caps, in the 1890's style, with the flat top and horizontal stripes. The caps also had stars, given to players as a reward by the captain, Willie Stargell.


They also had gold, black, and white jerseys and pants. The white jerseys had gold pinstripes, with a small black trim on the pinstripes. The pants matched the jerseys, but the pants were not always worn with its matching jersey. So, there were all kinds of combinations of uniforms for these Pirates.

It was quite the clash during that World Series, when the Orioles chose to wear their orange jerseys with the white and black hats. The disco era was quite colorful, pun intended.

My high school had the same colors as the Pirates, and the baseball team wore imitations of the Pirates' uniforms in 1980-81-82, with gold jerseys and black pants with gold pinstripes on the pants, and the black flat-top cap with stars.

At least the Bucs didn't wear powder blue on the road, like a lot of the other teams of that era did.

Oh, what a difference 28 years makes.

A Train Wreck?

NBA All-Star Weekend has turned into more of a party than a game. The game is usually pretty bad, and comes at the end of a long weekend of partying.

A lot of the time, I find Jason Whitlock to be a big blowhard. Other times, I agree with him. He opines here that bringing the All-Star Game to New Orleans next year is a bad idea. I'll let him say these things, because: 1) he's a better writer than me, and 2) because he's black, and there are things he says that I wouldn't be able to write.

Mayhem Main Event at NBA All-Star Weekend

Now, we have another reason why Mark Cuban doesn't want to bring the All-Star Game to Dallas.

Ugly Uniform of the Day

For today's UUOTD, we remain in the Great Lakes. That area has been a center for bad taste in uniforms.

The NBA, the 90's, and the city of Cleveland have provided plenty of fodder for this blog in recent days. Now, they all converge for one UUOTD.

The Cleveland Cavaliers changed color and uniform schemes with their move into Gund Arena (now Quicken Loans Arena) in 1994. They changed to this black, orange, and baby blue uniform. There is a splotch of baby blue across both the jersey and the shorts. It looks like a kid spilled blue paint on a black uniform. The orange trim does not help at all. This was bad, bad, bad. The Cavs wore these for four years, before keeping the colors and removing the splotch on a revised uniform, which they wore for five years before moving to their present uniforms.

Once again, the NBA tried to get too cute. Somewhere out there, there is a uniform designer who is the object of much ridicule. The league may not design all uniforms, but they do approve all uniform changes. The uniform czar at the NBA was asleep on the job in the mid-90's.

Don't worry, though. These will come back as throwback jerseys in another 10 years or so.

For what it's worth, the Cavs are wearing their late 80's-early 90's orange jerseys Thursday night, in a throwback promotion. They are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the beginning of their run of quality teams, which played third banana to the Pistons and Bulls of that era.

Ya gotta look out for CLE.

It's Big Business

The 2000's are becoming known for the ballooning budgets of collegiate athletic programs.

Kyle Whelliston, at his blog, The Mid-Majority, has lists of every Division I athletic program, in order of student enrollment (total, undergraduate & graduate), athletic budget, and a lot of other information on all 338 Division I schools. It is quite interesting.

Some interesting facts, from the 2005-2006 school year:

Largest school: The Ohio State University, with 50,995 students. Minnesota and Texas were close behind, with both having an enrollment over 50,000.
Smallest school: Centenary, 1,040 students.

Largest school with no football program: Long Beach State, 33,479
Largest school in Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA): UC-Davis, 29,210
Largest school not in BCS conference: Central Florida, 42,465

Smallest school in BCS conference: Wake Forest, 6,504
Smallest school with football program-Bowl Subdivision: Tulsa, 4,174
Smallest school with football program-Championship Subdivision: Wofford, 1,177

Largest athletic expense: Ohio State, $101,804,848
Largest athletic expense, non-BCS conference: TCU, $37,111,424
Largest athletic expense, Championship Subdivision: James Madison, $23,024,778
Largest athletic expense, non-football school: St. John's, $24,363,808

Smallest athletic expense: Wofford, $2,240,193
Smallest athletic expense, Bowl Subdivision: Louisiana-Monroe, $7,191,179
Smallest athletic expense, BCS conference: South Florida, $24,340,060
Smallest athletic expense, non-football school: St. Francis, N.Y., $3,054,035

This begs this question, among others: What is Wofford doing in Division I?

UUOTD-Tuesday

We remain in the Great Lakes, but cross the border into the Great White North of Canada for today's UUOTD.

The Toronto Raptors came into the league in 1995, while the movie Jurassic Park was popular. I thought that was a questionable and goofy team name at the time. The uniform was even worse, as modeled by Vince Carter (above).

The NBA trend for some teams at that time was to have a big mascot on the front of the jersey, with a logo and a small number. For the Raptors, this meant having something akin to Dino on the front, complete with pinstripes and purple. They also had a little "TR" logo at the bottom of the stripe on the side of the shorts.

Gross. At least they didn't use Barney as a mascot.

The Raptors have done better to adopt the Canadian colors of red and white. The dinosaur uniform days are over.

The question in the future will be: What's a Raptor? I don't look for them to change their name to the Mounties any time soon, though.

Finger Lickin' Good

This is from a game earlier this year between Alabama and LSU.

Alabama assistant coach Tom Asbury is caught picking his nose, then eating the booger. This is classic video, made even better by the greatness of the DVR, and the commentary on the slow-motion replay.

Enjoy...

UUOTD-Monday

Imagine this: A UUOTD not involving Cleveland or San Diego!

The 1990's were a decade where the NBA's marketing and design people were under the influence of drugs. That can be the only explanation for some of the bad uniforms and designs that the league is only now being purged of. Designs that were supposed to be cute and cool did not withstand any test, much less the test of time. There were some bad, bad looks as the league said goodbye to the great Michael Jordan.

A classic example is what happened to the Detroit Pistons' uniforms, from 1997-2001. The Pistons had a great look, with their blue and white uniforms, with red trim. Somebody in the front office, or in the NBA marketing office, got the bright idea to change the color scheme. So, the Pistons switched to teal, and this goofy horsepower logo. Grant Hill is pictured here with this uniform. A tough team from a tough city like Detroit did not need to be wearing teal.

Also, one of the worst logo designs were the alternate designs with the team initials, such as the "DP" on the shorts. That was so ghey. The Pistons were not the only guilty party on that-see the Utah Jazz and their "UJ" from the 90's.

Not coincidentally, the Pistons were struggling on the court. The team got smart in this decade, and switched back to blue and red. A championship soon followed.

Teal was a bad, bad look for the Pistons.

If At First You Don't Succeed...

Sometimes, it is for the best when things do not work out.

Two weeks ago, Norv Turner was passed over for the head coaching job with the Dallas Cowboys. Jerry Jones decided to go with a defensive-oriented coach, and chose Wade Phillips. Turner went back to San Francisco, and signed a one-year extension to remain the offensive coordinator with the 49ers.

But, the earth shook last week in San Diego, and Marty Schottenheimer was fired after a 14-2 season. The Chargers, loaded for a Super Bowl run, hired Turner as their head coach today.

Today, Norv Turner is glad that Jerry Jones passed him over. He now has a legitimate chance to make it to a Super Bowl. He's already worked with owners Dan Snyder and Al Davis, so whatever he runs into in San Diego will be a piece of cake. He also won't have Jerry Jones making football decisions for him.

Norv Turner gets to live in sunny San Diego, and gets to coach a good team. Good for him.

2007 NCAA Tournament Projections

Updated NCAA Tournament projections:

St. Louis Regional East Rutherford Regional

(1st-2nd round, Lexington) (1st-2nd round, Chicago)
1) Ohio State 1) Wisconsin
16) East Tennessee State 16) Central Conn. St.-Jackson State

8) Tennessee 8) Arizona
9) Oklahoma State 9) Virginia Tech

(1st-2nd round, Chicago) (1st-2nd round, Columbus)
5) Duke 5) Vanderbilt
12) Michigan State 12) Xavier

4) Marquette 4) Butler
13) Winthrop 13) Holy Cross

(1st-2nd round, Sacramento) (1st-2nd round, Buffalo)
6) Alabama 6) Oregon
11) Clemson 11) Texas Tech

3) Washington State 3) Pittsburgh
14) Long Beach State 14) Vermont

(1st-2nd round, New Orleans) (1st-2nd round, New Orleans)
7) Louisville 7) UNLV
10) Creighton 10) Villanova

2) Texas A&M 2) Memphis
15) Austin Peay 15) South Alabama

San Jose Regional San Antonio Regional

(1st-2nd round, Sacramento) (1st-2nd round, Winston-Salem)
1) UCLA 1) Florida
16) Weber State 16) Delaware State

8) Indiana 8) Maryland
9) Boston College 9) Purdue

(1st-2nd round, Lexington) (1st-2nd round, Spokane)
5) Texas 5) West Virginia
12) VCU 12) Appalachian State

4) Southern Illinois 4) Air Force
13) Akron 13) Santa Clara

(1st-2nd round, Buffalo) (1st-2nd round, Spokane)
6) BYU 6) Virginia
11) Kansas State 11) Old Dominion

3) Georgetown 3) Nevada
14) Penn 14) Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

(1st-2nd round, Winston-Salem) (1st-2nd round, Columbus)
7) Kentucky 7) Notre Dame
10) Illinois 10) Bradley

2) North Carolina 2) Kansas
15) Oral Roberts 15) Marist

UUOTD-Turn Back The Clock Edition, Again

We remain on the time machine, back to the 1970's, and we stay on the shuttle between San Diego and Cleveland.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have not had many good uniforms in their history. It can be argued that their current unis are the best they have ever worn.

In 1974, the Cavs left the old Cleveland Arena for the Coliseum in Richfield, halfway to Akron. When they moved, they also got new uniforms. They kept the colors of wine and gold, and began wearing these monstrosities. The colors are bad. The trim is hideous.

Cavalier legend Austin Carr is shown wearing the road version of these rags.

These are some of the worst uniforms in the history of the NBA. The NBA has had plenty of bad uniforms, but these are up there with the worst.

Eye-gouge rating: 2

Ugly Uniform of the Day

We return to San Diego for today's Ugly Uniform Of The Day.

The Padres have a laundry list (no pun intended) of ugly uniforms throughout the years. Today's UUOTD was full of good intentions, but is just really, really bad.

San Diego is a Navy town. With that in mind, the Padres wanted to honor our military on some promotional days during the 2003 and 2004 seasons. They unveiled these really awful camouflage uniforms. Never mind that camouflage is worn more by the Army, and that San Diego is full of Navy men and women. These guys look like action figures. Only thing is, G.I. Joe is a soldier, not a baseball player.

I do not want to throw the military under the bus. I respect and support our military and their mission. But even the brave men and women of our armed forces would agree: These Padres uniforms are ugly.

UUOTD-Turn Back The Clock Edition

Staying in the 1970's...

The city of Cleveland has been known to some as the "Mistake By The Lake". The 70's weren't good to Cleveland, and nowhere is that more evident than in uniforms worn by two of their teams: the Indians and the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers have one of the worst uniform histories of any franchise in the NBA. But, that is another story for another day.

The Indians wore these all-red uniforms on occasion from 1973 to 1976. They wore a blue hat, with a funky-shaped "C", and these pajama-looking red uniforms. These are some of the worst uniforms in the history of baseball. They look like tomatoes. Maybe these tomatoes went on the Padres' cheeseburgers. Nah, because there was no interleague play in those days, and both teams were horrible. The only way they saw the World Series was on TV.

Eye gouge rating: 2


I could not find a picture of Oscar Gamble in the red uniform. That's too bad. It would have been classic.

Rumbling In The Hills

From the hills of Arkansas...

It is being reported that Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles, aka "Frank of the Ozarks", is set to announce his retirement.

As they say on the East Coast: Film at 11. Or, in the blog world, more later..

Report from Channel 40/29 in Arkansas

New Blog

I have tried to keep this blog fun and informative. There are some subjects which I feel are better addressed elsewhere. I tend to be opinionated on some subjects. Therefore, I have created another blog at http://hotopinions.blogspot.com.

In the meantime, enjoy this blog!

Intramurals?

This is old news, as it happened earlier this week.

Colorado football coach Dan Hawkins was asked about an anonymous complaint from a parent about the relative lack of time off during the Buffs' offseason program. Hawkins left Boise State for the bright lights of the Big XII, and promptly went 2-10 in a train wreck of a season. He is not used to losing, and losing is not wearing well on him.

The audio of his response is here. This is classic audio. Does he mean business, or is he a lunatic?

Good stuff...

UUOTD-Turn Back The Clock Edition

We turn back the clock to 1972 for today's Ugly Uniform of the Day.

The San Diego Padres, for the first ten years of their existence, were a bad baseball team. They also had bad uniforms to match.

This 1973 Topps baseball card shows an action shot of the '72 Padres at an empty San Diego (later Jack Murphy and Qualcomm) Stadium. The Padres have a legacy of bad uniforms, but these are the worst. They look like cheeseburger wrappers. Which makes sense, since McDonald's founder Ray Kroc bought the team in 1974. The hats are ugly, the jerseys are ugly, and the pants are ugly. These are better to be forgotten, except for comic relief.

This is not the first time for the Padres to have the UUOTD, nor will it be the last.

Eye-gouge rating: Two