So, the first three games of the 2008 season are on PPV at $30 apiece. Barry Trammel at the The Oklahoman ranks all the Big 12 games, and he puts our three PPV games at #75 (Western Michigan), #81 (San Jose State), and #84 (New Mexico State) out of all 96 games being played by Big 12 teams this year.
I know how to rational the cost - it's less than the price of a ticket - or in my case, much less than the cost of a ticket plus travel back and forth to Lincoln. While I'm not denying happiness at being able to see the games, I feel a certain amount of resentment at paying $30 for lousy football even if I have a near-psychotic addiction to it. The question keeps bugging me - why do we keep paying more for less of a product?
The Big 12 will not be standardizing injury reports, why should they? As the main KU man Mangino says:
Well, bloggers want to know about injuries too but we're not mentioned..... unless you realize that I'm clearly one of those undesirables he's talking about.
It's clear that Mangino has a huge list of things he finds desirable, from moldy pizza to cornerbacks that tackle well, but certainly not me, gamblers, or opponents.
Perhaps I should head back to counseling for the self-esteem problem I've always had. Or better yet, perhaps something cheaper and more effective..... something that would make me more desirable to Mangino.....
The start to Danny Woodhead's NFL career has not gone well. Woodhead apparently experienced a serious knee injury when practicing with the New York Jets, and has been placed on the waived-injured list. That sucks.
I think this year I'll be paying more attention to Kyle at our Georgia blog Dawg Sports because Georgia will garner a lot of pre-season #1 rankings. Kyle has posted a 2008 blogpoll for feedback and he has Nebraska ranked at #21 above both Texas Tech, #23, and Kansas #25. For the rest of the Big 12, he has Mizzou #4, Oklahoma #6, and Texas at #11.
I suppose I'd better start figuring out my blogpoll as well. I doubt I'll be ranking Nebraska. I think we have a lot to prove before we deserve a ranking. I echo Kyle's sentiment that Kansas is overrated, but I'm not sure about Texas Tech. Tech is the Mizzou of last season - always on the edge of success but never quite there. That changed for Missouri in 2007, can it change for Tech in 2008?
I will be basing my poll on the 'Power Poll' concept, mostly because I'm not going to look at statistics, resume ranking sounds too, well, boring, and I can come up with a suitable argument for any team I rank when using the power method. BTW, if you think ranking teams is easy, try it for a while. When you get into 20-25 it's pretty darned hard week by week.
Matt Hinton, who wrote the Opponents preview for "A Sea of Red 2008" and is the Sunday Morning Quarterback is leaving SB Nation to become the Yahoo sports college football editor. Congratulations on moving up the ladder, Matt. We'll be watching you at Yahoo, ready to pounce on every single error you make... as if.
Hinton is an excellent, entertaining writer who knows his subject extremely well.
Speaking of 'A Sea of Red' - the guys at Big Red Network - who contributed to the yearbook - are giving away four copies as part of a contest. Hurry, it ends soon!
I have a request from someone who is looking for the 1978 Nebraska-Oklahoma game. They'd like to get a copy of it on tape or on DVD, and they are willing to pay for it. If you have it and can help, please contact me via email, and I will put you in touch with the interested party.