Tech V. SMU... Meh...

I know that college football officially started Thursday, but I decided to pass on those games for a good reason. And at certain points I was wishing I had passed on the Tech game last night.

I know that I have told people that first game off the bat is a bad way to judge a team, wait till you come up against some one that is a real contender and see what happens.

Am I glad Tech won? Sure. I hated that after a touchdown SMU started rolling over and dying. Both literally and figuratively. 

However...

With all that said, there were a few things that we learned about the Red Raiders and the Big 12 conference as a whole. Which is why I enjoy and really despise watching Big 12 football all at the same time. And just further proved that Johnny Manziel and A&M are the perfect love child of two very different, but when used properly, amazing forms of football that are unstoppable.

Let me start off by saying I know that a lot of eyes are on Kingsbury with Brewer being on the injured list and a true blue freshman walk on leading the Red Raiders in the charge. If you tell me that you aren't watching to see what Kliff does with this kid, to see if he has "the Heisman Touch", I will call you a liar to your face, cause lets face it, this is a familiar situation for Kliff... And if I'm correct the situation didn't turn out too badly.

Watching Mayfield was interesting last night. Initially I was very worried that this was a typical Big 12/ Texas Tech/ Pass Play Offense mistake that always gets made... No depth, none. It happens all the time. Let's hang our hat on this kid and pray to the great football gods above that he doesn't get hurt. 

Well, never mind then... The football gods have spoken. As soon as Brewer was injured in practice.

So Mayfield was initially lacking what many young QB's were lacking and SMU's Gilbert even had a hard time with this one. One thing that poses as a problem for QB's with no sight is the fact that they don't see the holes.

However, Gilbert got his field sight before Mayfield did and exposed a huge defensive weakness for Tech when he scored a touchdown right up the middle. Some adjustments are made, but this huge flaw is gonna kill Tech if we come up against any decently mobile QB, heck SMU scored a TD that they shouldn't have. I think Tech should seriously be considering something to defend against a ground game of sorts.

Now I will say on the plus side it was great to see Mayfield start connecting with receivers and starting to move the ball. Which makes me hopeful for a solid season coming from Mayfield. 

But based on last nights game there is nothing earth shattering about Tech this season. Its just good ole Tech at this point, but I will keep watching to see what happens.

And that is this sports junkie's opinion.    

Week 1

Woohoo! College football season is officially upon us my brothers! It is time for us to indulge in all the greatness and glory that consists of the college gridiron!

Okay....

Maybe I got a little carried away, but none the less this is the time of year that I live for. In my last post I said that I would be presenting my team picks along with the great female logic that goes along with it. If I pick a team based solely on team color and QB cuteness factors I will say so.

However...

This week is what I like to call my bye week on game calling.

Its the first week of the season come on! I'll watch and see what happens this week so that I can start making informed decisions the following week, besides the good stuff doesn't happen till mid season. And let's face it the first games of every season are pretty much gimme games with some rare exceptions.

So college football junkies kick back, watch, and take some notes. They might pay off in the end.

On a quick side note...

Who thought that Manziel wouldn't be sitting out during the important part of the season?... Oh yeah this girl. Manziel's slap on the wrist is sitting out half of the Rice game.... the Rice game!

To my friends who still think I know nothing...

The Tata's-1
You- 0

Enjoy the first weekend folks. We will reconvene afterwards.

Break!

Long Live the Female Sports Junkie

Funny, thought provoking, and oh so very true. This also offers a great start to my most recent bout with being female and a sports junkie.

Last week I was riveted with a profound (not really) revelation provided by my higher ups at work.

Some back story...

The great thing about my job is that if something doesn't work you have to fix it. No if's, and's, or but's about it. So when we got some news that told certain people that something about their performance needed to be changed, we all sat and started looking at what needed to be changed as a whole and then at their level as well.

Here is one thing that I love about media in general. I love that you have to constantly be up on trend, its hard and frustrating, but it keeps me on my toes and causes me to keep learning, which I don't mind at all. Which is also a reason that I love sports so much.

In a profession where I have to constantly change and evolve the way I'm reaching an audience I love that there is something out there that remains so unchanged (almost) that nearly everyone can relate to it. I like to think of sports as the great equalizer. Are their varying degrees of sports junkies? Of course. But it all starts with a passion for a sport, its that simple.

Now I have been told by more than one person (men mostly) that I am not a "normal" girl, when it comes to sports. I however am that awesome girl that you want to take to a game and hang out with (woohoo! Hello Friend Zone, I've missed you). But the fact of the matter is this I'm not the usual girl, and I know that, but I still feel that I can relate to women. My main reason for this argument is that I still posses a pair of bodacious tata's. I think that kind of gives me a edge on the whole relating to women thing.

Here is my case in point... This change that I think needs to happen is that we need to bring on more information when it comes to sports. I don't care about the funny little kitschy things you do unless you can provide me with the things I want, which are stats, and real tangible information. I have limited viewing time on Saturdays during college football season and I need to take advantage of every second of it.

Now with that said I'm the abnormality.... Or so I'm told. I've also been told this is why my guy friend like to argue sports with me, because I know what I'm talking about.

But that is neither here nor there.

My colleague who agrees with me tossed the suggestion of putting some real sports info out there for the audience and she was completely dismissed, because she "isn't the norm"... I get it, but let's face it in a college town where football is king, everyone has a working knowledge of the team and the sport that goes beyond who has a the better looking tight end in their football pants (catch that play on words). What cracked me up was the fact that my higher up said that his wife could care less about all of that stuff... I literally laughed, because in my part of the country a woman who doesn't care about sports, football in particular needs to turn in her Southern woman card. And probably her Texan card now that I think about it.

I consider my self a Southerner second and a Texan first. I have all the allures of a Southern woman, with the drawl, independent nature and a couple of other key Texan only things.

But what got me is this, I found it, almost ignorant to think that women don't care about the biggest social events of the season. Let's face it, on the most basic level, football is a great reason for women of the south to get dressed up and have some fun with friends. Tailgating and football games are the ultimate social scene in the south. Period. End of story. Choosing what you wear to a football game can be a more daunting task than finding a dress for a black tie event.

But what do I know? I'm just a woman... Heaven help us!

What I do know is that I love watching stunned men, when myself and another woman start to weigh in on games and what we think seasons are shaping up to look like for more than one team... Yes, smart women are well versed on the important teams, their standings and the players to watch.

Actually what is better is the ridiculous look that men get on their face when myself and another woman start talking sports all by our lonesome, no prompting from a man. Actually some of my better sports debates have come at the hands of another female.

But what do I know about what women want?... I guess nothing (yes, I'm being sarcastic).

What I do know is that according to recent surveys and statistics is this almost half of the viewing audience for large scale viewing opportunities when it comes to sports are women.

Here are a couple of articles (older yes, but I'm sure the stats have just grown):
ESPN W
The Sports Women Watch According To Forbes
TV by the Numbers

*Just a quick note on the Forbes article, you know these guys are all about knowing what certain demographics are watching. Its a business magazine that is created with the purpose to give business men/ women the capacity to reach their target demographics to sell their goods and services. They put out the money for the research.

Men that read this, which I'm sure are few and far between, do me a favor and don't dismiss women's opinions on sports. We have spent time educating ourselves on the sports, and the teams that we love, and more than likely your teams too. And men if you are some of the lucky ones that have the type of women that you know can help you out (and probably have) with your fantasy teams, make sure she knows that you appreciate her "abnormality"...

Point is gentlemen, if you have one of the rare breeds of women that understands what the last 5 minutes of a football game really looks like, or knows the difference between a first down and a touch down, count your lucky stars; cause that woman was brought up right. And you need to make sure that this well educated woman that has graced your life needs to be respected in the same way that you respect her.

On a minor side note, this season I will not be standing on sidelines, so that means this sports junkie is gonna have weekly picks and follow ups all season long.

Lock in for a fun and wild ride this season ladies... and gentlemen.

The countdown to college football kickoff is on!

Long live the female sports junkie!

And that's just this sports junkies opinion.  

That's What Friends Are For

So after a very long week and an even shorter weekend I spent a small chunk of my Sunday afternoon reading the latest headlines about Johnny Manziel.

Yes, I'm sure you all have heard that he is being investigated by the NCAA for profiteering. I have a few qualms with this.

So Manziel has done some stupid kid in college things. Let's face it, which one of us didn't when we were at that age in our life. That's the thing about young athlete's they are young. And I've heard it all from people before, "Well, I would think that he would be responsible enough to understand the responsibility he has..." blah, blah, blah. There is a point to all of it.

Think about it like this...

Look at your life. I will use mine as an example, because well its my blog. I spent the roughest 50+ hours dealing with total crap last week. Now I like to think that I handle myself on a great professional level, but there are times that I need to blow off some steam and unlike Manziel I didn't have someone taking time stamped photo's of the fact that I finished off a Texas tea in less than 5 minutes to post everywhere. So that the allegations that I'm a lush, or and alcoholic or anything in between could begin.

Now am I saying Manziel is a victim? No. Do I think his decisions are a little short sighted? Yes... But then again what man doesn't make super short sighted decisions (Sorry, female I had too, you know I did)?

Now the real problem I have with all of this is the fact that this is such a huge headline. Manziel isn't the first and he certainly won't be the last that the NCAA is going to get nailed for profiteering. However, I'm somewhat insulted by the fact that the NCAA looks into such matters so heavily and it is everywhere. I wonder if Manziel wasn't the first Freshman to win the Heisman, if that would make any difference. I think it would. So many people think that he didn't deserve it, but when it came down to it, the votes that mattered thought that he did. I do think that he is falling under extra careful watch, because of that, and I think that people are actually gunning for this kid to fail. Which says a lot about our society and how wrapped up we can get in a game.

And for the record I'm not pointing fingers, I'm just as guilty as everyone else. But I guess my dad did the right thing when he was introducing me to the world of sports. Don't hate someone else's accomplishment. If they are a rival. Learn from them, and strive to be better. If they are on your team, be proud and work to be on their level. If your just a spectator, celebrate then watch to see how far they are willing to take it, whether they are on your team or not.

Now I do know that Manziel is gonna have to be careful with his team bashing and such, when his team turns on him, he'll be done, and everyone knows it.

However, this is a mild digression.

I hate this thing with Manziel for the reason that its profiteering... I remember something about some football players of a certain team being accused of raping a girl before a bowl game... I could be mistaken however. Since there wasn't huge media hype about it, I'm assuming it didn't happen. That however, ticks this girl off on a whole different level, that I won't get into.

But keep this in mind, when you hear that the NCAA is investigating something, colleges hate the NCAA and they do everything to keep the NCAA out of their hair if the allegations are true, because a NCAA shut down of a program can kill it. We've seen it happen. I mean there was a reason that Mike Leech got unceremoniously dismissed from Texas Tech. Tech didn't want the NCAA sniffing around, and the only reason that they did that is the NCAA only looks into things when they think it is worth wasting their time on, for example some high and mighty former has been NFL'er turned sports broadcaster, makes a call. Do I think that there is the possibility that there is some vengeance going on? There is the possibility (*cough, cough* Nick Saban *cough, cough*)

Sorry... I had to take the dig for my uncle. He's still in denial about that loss.

Here's my thing. Instead of cheering for the kids to screw up at life, which at this point I get the distinct feeling that many of you are doing. Kick back, let them be kids. Let the powers that be do their job and then enjoy what happens on the Gridiron. Because let's face it, no matter what happens off the field, Manziel still is the youngest Heisman Trophy recipient ever and he has crazy mad skills on the field, and that will not be changed. Will his conduct off the field make him a player with staying power or a flash in the pan. In my opinion this kid is good enough I hope that a coach gets a hold of him and keeps him from being a flash in the pan.

But that's just this sports junkies opinion.