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Week 10 2012: Gameday review #saturdayselections

Posted on November 3, 2012 by gamedaycole

Its about noon here and we are in the middle of the morning slate of games, and that means we’ve put another edition of College Gameday in the record books. Today the show was broadcasting live from Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the huge matchup between #1 Alabama and #5 LSU. While LSU has a ridiculous winning record at home (something like 36-1 in their last 37, forgive me if I’m wrong), it is the Alabama Crimson Tide who are about an 8 point favorite going on the road. We opened this morning with Chris Fowler welcoming us to the show and doing some quick clerical duty running down the day’s schedule before handing off the hosting duties to Samantha Steele. Samantha Steele tweeted this morning that she went to Chik-fil-a and witnessed a toddler fight in the playplace as well as a girl fight in the bathroom regarding Alabama. Sounds about right for Baton Rouge. Today her outfit was another FABULOUS one according to Jennifer. She said she would like to have this shirt. However, one must bring up the question: WHY ARE YOU WEARING WHITE AFTER LABOR DAY? I MEAN COME ON, IS THIS AMATEUR HOUR?

samsteelewk102 — Week 10: Samantha Steele

This morning we got a good bit of BCS Guru Brad Edwards breaking down potential scenarios based on future wins and losses. He did a segment on both the early hour on ESPNU as well as the main show on ESPN later on. He seemed to think that aside from Alabama, Kansas State is in the drivers’ seat as far as making the championship game (should everyone in the running win out). The Big 12 is #1 in the computer rankings, so the KState strength of schedule is giving them the edge. Notre Dame may have a pretty good resume on paper, but most of their tough games are behind them. Oregon’s strength of schedule is peaking at the right time, but with Oregon State and USC losing, the Ducks winning out might not be enough to jump an undefeated Kansas State. We are assuming a lot here. Can’t wait to see how it ends up.

We got a replay of the De’anthony Thomas/Black Mamba/Snoop Dogg/Snoop Lion piece from about a month ago as filler material this morning. Snoop discovered Thomas at one of his football league games and gave him a nickname: The Black Mamba. The best morning segment today for me was when David Pollack and Samantha Steele were joined by GIGANTIC HUMAN BEING TREVOR MATICH. They were breaking down matchups between the defensive line and offensive line in todays’ games. David Pollack looked terrified pretending to go up against someone the size of Trevor Matich. Keep in mind that in the picture below David Pollack is 6’2”.

trevormatich2 — Trevor Matich: Large human being

Coming back from commercial we got some great video of local Louisiana residents doing whatever boat things they do in the swamp. You can tell I know what I’m talking about here. The highlight of this quick segment was footage of someone who they said was a former Louisiana Tech quarterback from a while back. Seems about right.

To close out the first hour on ESPNU, we got some picks from Desmond Howard and David Pollack. They both went with Bama over LSU to some nice booing from the crowd. You can generally tell how live the crowd is each week based on how much they boo these two. As the main show kicked off on ESPN, Fowler and the crew sent Samantha Steele to the bus and David Pollack to use the internet and tweet at the rubes. This week Pollack arrived to the internet in the Batmobile. I wish it had been the 1960s Batmobile.

pollacinternetwk102 — Pollack likes Batman, likes internet

Early on in the show we got a breakdown of the big game today: the Battle for Myron Claxton’s shoes. They just couldn’t wait til the end of the show to break down the Occidental/Whittier matchup, and neither could I. The predictions were unanimous with Corso, Herbie and Des all picking Whitter over Occidental. I think that’s a solid pick. Before we get to the signs of the day, I do have to ask the question: Where were the Alabama fans? Every time they showed the crowd it seemed like a sea of yellow and purple. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention, but I wonder what the crowd will look like for the game tonight. Anyways, the highlights of the signage today include the LSU “If we lose do we get a re-do?” sign, the “Miles eats grass taller than Saban” sign, and the “Saban is a Keebler elf” sign. Today’s runner up was the “Alabama claims Lance Armstrong’s Titles” sign. This might have won, except that it was too late. Texas A&M already claimed those titles.

signofthedaywk10b2 — Sorry, A&M already claimed the titles

Today’s official sign of the day has to be the following, presented without comment once again.

We got another piece of beatnik poetry from Tom Rinaldi quiet-talking about the deeper meanings of a loss. He asked coaches about how they handle losses and how they eulogize them in the locker room after the game. They said lots of things about not taking it out on the players, about moving forward, appreciating the wins, and how it can be like a death. Tom Rinaldi summed it up by saying losing is worse than death because it happens more than once. Alright then.

rinaldi-beatnik — Beatnik Tom Rinaldi performing live

We also got a piece by Gene W. about Oregon’s Marcus Mariota. Apparently he grew up wanting to go to USC, but that didn’t work out. Instead, Chip Kelly offered him a scholarship to Oregon before Mariota ever even started a game. His response to Chip’s offer was “are you sure?” I’m not sure that is the response I would give to such an offer. We also got a Bald Man on Campus with Scott Van Pelt featuring AJ McCarron. Apparently when he was young he made a list of things he wanted to be as a grown up, including football player, fireman, and car man (whatever that is). The highlight of this segment was that McCarron said that when Nick Saban comes down on you hard “you feel as small as him”. Lol.

samlolo — Sam Steele & Lolo Jones just because

But let’s get serious. Its time to get down to the business at hand. It is time for picks. The experts are leaning 20 to 3 in favor of Alabama over LSU as of mid-day today. The full slate of picks can be found HERE for your reference. Today’s special guest celebrity is former LSU track star Lolo Jones who was brought in to see if she could top Ryan Lochte’s performance. She had some delightful insight including saying she could beat Denard Robinson in a foot race. Since Denard Robinson is out with an injury today, that’ll go nicely with the rest of her sprinting challenges to injured football players. I mean, she already knows she could easily beat Eric Legrand. Anyways, she had little to contribute to the football discussion other than picking Kansas State over Oklahoma State because they wear purple like LSU. Des and Dave both went with Alabama, and Herbie joined them riding the Crimson Tide. Would coach Corso go with the home crowd favorite in LSU, or the actual favorite Alabama? He had Sweet Home Alabama pumped through the speakers as he went back and forth egging on the crowd. He finally chose Alabama over LSU to an overwhelming boo. As he donned the headgear, Herbie wasn’t quite as scared as he was of live animals, but he continues to be awkward each week leaning away from Corso. Another great Gameday. Enjoy your Saturday.

Week 8 2012: Gameday review! #saturdayselections

Posted on October 20, 2012 by gamedaycole

Today College Gameday (brought to you by the Home Depot obv) is coming at you live from Gainesville, Florida for the big matchup between South Carolina and Florida. Our blog is coming to you live on the road from Jennifer’s parents’ house where we will be partying all day. I don’t have quite as big of a crowd in the front lawn as they do for Gameday in Gainesville, and the only sign someone brought was Jennifer’s sign that says “Pollack waxes his eyebrows” so that’s weird. This week’s fun facts brought to you by Chris Fowler are that Gameday has broadcasted live from a Florida Gators game 33 times in the past both home and away, and Lee Corso is 0-2 this year picking against the Gators. Take note gamblers.

We opened the show this morning with Fowler, Herbie, Desmond and David doing a slightly extended segment from their usual open. This made Jennifer crazy because she is used to Des, David and Samantha Steele running the show for the first hour on ESPNU. Since we were playing catchup on the DVR, we had to zip through some of today’s content like generic coach interviews with Will Muschamp and Steve Spurrier. I’m sure they had a lot of great insight about how our team has to go out and play hard, focus on today, establish the run and limit turnovers. Samantha Steele was looking good this morning, and Jennifer was quite impressed with the outfit today. “Best outfit of the year so far” was the consensus from the women polled this morning, i.e. Jennifer.

samsteelewk82 — Possibly outfit of the year

Samantha Steele did a live piece with Brian Griese who is broadcasting the LSU/A&M game today. Always great to get the breakdown from the only person on ESPN who is picking under 50% for the season. We got a replay of the Oregon State head coach Mike Riley piece from last week’s show. It was good last week, but this week it was fast forward time. As we closed the first hour we got the usual picks from David and Desmond. David is still the conductor on the Beaver Train. Desmond Howard refuses to pick Oregon State to win, but still gave the Beavers the kiss of death and picked Utah to lose. Both guys took Florida over South Carolina, and it was unusual to see neither of them getting booed.

As the main show opened up on ESPN, Chris Fowler took over and the main crew sent David Pollack to go use the internet. This week he was getting some grilled gator meat from a guy in a funny hat to chow down on while tweeting with all of us rubes. Jennifer noticed that many of his segments lately have been food related, so this might become a feature of David Pollack eating food as well as using the internets. I’m particularly amused from the girl in the background who is very unimpressed with this segment.

pollackgator2 — Pollack: Likes internet, likes food

The special segments today included a full Tom Rinaldi quiet talking piece about Notre Dame QB Tommy Rees. They covered his ups and downs, going from starter to backup to closer to whatever you want to call him. Its pretty amazing how far Notre Dame has come this year running the two quarterback system. I have to think this will run out of gas eventually, and whichever QB is running the show when they lose is going to take some serious heat. We also got a piece from Gene W. about Jeff Driskell and the comparisons to Tim Tebow. Apparently Driskell grew up overseas like Tebow, except it was on a military base in Japan. He can sing Silent Night in Japanese, but refused to, even with Gene W. offering him $10 to do so. Good move, as the NCAA would have immediately declared him ineligible for taking improper benefits. Other notes include Driskell being homecoming king in highschool, dating the Gators’ cheerleading captain, and he is pretty much Tebow without all of the Heismans and National Championships. Sad to say we didn’t get a Bald Man on Campus with Scott Van Pelt.

My favorite piece of the day was a segment about the traveling trophies in college football. It talked about a bunch of the rivalries between two teams, where the winning team holds a special trophy for the year. These include a big axe for Wisconsin/Minnesota, a big jug for Michigan/Minnesota, the Stanford/Cal trophy with a questionable final score from THE PLAY, OU/Texas fighting for a golden cowboy hat, and the Indiana/Michigan State rivalry winner being awarded with the Old Brass Spittoon. Obviously my favorite is the Battle of the Piney Woods, with a trophy that you pretty much might expect for two East Texas teams (source).

After that, Desmond Howard and Chris Fowler took a break to play with toys. This had something to do with Colin Klein AKA Optimus Klein.

Signs of the day included the return of the I’M ASIAN sign, complete with several gigantic heads from the Asians holding the signs. “Garcia graduated with a .2 BAC” is a close second for the day, but today’s offical sign of the day is one I’m sure everybody saw.

But now its time to get down to the business at hand. We are here for the picks, and picks we got. Here is Saturday Morning’s picks for your record. Today’s special guest celebrity picker is Florida Gator and Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte. He looked like he was lost finding his way to the set, picked Auburn when they asked him about LSU/Texas A&M, but was entertaining for sure. To nobody’s surprise, he picked Florida over South Carolina.

Herbie, Desmond and David all picked Florida as well. Would Coach Corso be the only soul to pick South Carolina over Florida? Would he fake out the crowd? Could he pick against Florida for the third time this year? The answer is no, as he threw on the Gator head and was handed a small albino alligator which Herbie was terrified of. Herbie does not like animals, and its just a matter of time until someone gets bitten by one of these animals. Corso also gave us a quick confusing FSU Tomahawk chop. Anyways, here’s how the headgear looked. Enjoy your day!

Week 7 2012: Gameday Review

Posted on October 13, 2012 by gamedaycole

If you tuned in this morning for College Gameday, you surely had high hopes. This is the first time Gameday has broadcasted from South Bend, Indiana since the USC/Notre Dame game known as the Bush-Push back in 2005. This week’s matchup was for the Stanford Cardinal visiting the Fighting Irish in another tough test for a surprisingly good Irish team this year. Chris Fowler welcomed us into the show before Samantha Steele took over the first hour on ESPNU. This week’s outfit got great reviews from everyone polled (my girlfriend Jennifer). It was “very stylish” and she said there was nothing that she would change.

We had the usual banter between Samantha, Desmond Howard and David Pollack before diving into a segment with Todd McShay to break down the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma. For anyone interested, he picked Oklahoma over Texas on Sportscenter this morning prior to Gameday. I’m sure is a big help to everyone now that the game is over. If I can give my opinion for a minute (as opposed to every other thing I write on here), I still hate that it has been renamed the Red River Rivalry. Every football analyst is still allowed to call high scoring matchups a shootout, but apparently its not politically correct to call this matchup a shootout. Plus its hard to say. Maybe I’m too traditional, or maybe I’m just a jerk, but I’ll be calling it the Red River Shootout as long as I’m hanging around. Let’s move on.

Desmond Howard had on a decent suit today, with a loud pink tie on. He got the usual spattering of boos he gets everywhere he goes, but I’d expect a little more coming from one of Michigan’s rivals. In fact, I was pretty disappointed with the Notre Dame crowd at Gameday today. They weren’t very loud, didn’t get many chants going, and had no funny signs. Apparently they don’t teach comedy at Notre Dame. The ONLY funny sign is the one I borrowed from Deadspin, which I also feature for Desmond Howard’s pink tie. As a side note, Jennifer was not impressed with Pollack’s suit. She said it looked like it was made of felt, and doesn’t like the checkered-stripe pattern.

signoftheweek7b — Presented without comment

Other things we learned in the first hour are that David Pollack is still riding the Beaver train; i.e. picking Oregon State to continue their win streak. We got a quote from Dana Holgorsen about Lubbock, TX and their matchup with Texas Tech today. He said “there’s a lot of dirt” and “it’s like landing in Iraq”. We got a replay of last week’s piece on Manti T’eo and the tragedies in his life. See last week’s review for more details. We got some early morning picks from David and Desmond, with Desmond trolling one of his rivals and choosing Stanford, while David went with Notre Dame.

As the main show kicked off on ESPN, Fowler took the reigns from Samantha Steele, and sent David Pollack to go tweet with the rubes on the internet. This week he was on the bus with Digger Phelps tweeting. Digger was writing something on a piece of paper. I don’t remember what it said but it was something generic like “Go Irish”.

Shortly into the show, we got a memorial piece for the late Beano Cook who passed away earlier this week. I can’t say that I really saw him in his prime, but as one of the original panelists on College Gameday it is still a tremendous loss to the sport. I mostly remember him from popping up randomly on Sportscenter, the Herd and other radio shows, and podcasts. He always seemed like a funny grumpy old man who knew everything about college football, and seeing highlights of his old days on Gameday was a nice treat.

After that we got a quick segment for the Gameday crew to review their national championship predictions. It was a big mish-mash of USC/Oklahoma/FSU so pretty much nobody is even in the ballpark. We got another strange Tom Rinaldi 30 second piece entitled “Golden” about the tradition of Notre Dame. These segments continue to mystify me as they seem to have no real point or story, yet we need to make sure Tom Rinaldi’s name is pasted all over it for him to get credit. The only thing I took away fro this segment was that when I see the endzones at Notre Dame and how they have old-timey striping with no color paint on it, I just imagine the Notre Dame administration is still probably mad that the field goal posts were moved to the back of the endzones in 1927. Right after the Tom Rinaldi segment, we got a visit from Irish head coach Brian Kelly. I thought this was also strange, because it seems like he might have something better to do right before a big game.

We got a piece from Gene Wojciechowski about Oregon State head coach Mike Riley. Apparently he’s a pretty nice guy and unique. He rides a bike to work every day. He doesn’t curse. He has his team do water balloon fights, tennis ball homerun derbies, and inflatable tube sumo wrestling. Looks pretty fun. Also he takes his team to In-n-out burger after wins on the road. His dad Bud Riley was head coach there as well, so he is following his dad’s footsteps and having great success, although his dad passed away shortly before the season. Great piece by Gene W.

They had the return of Bald Man on Campus with Scott Van Pelt. This week he interviewed LSU head coach Les Miles. I have to say I prefer him hanging out with the players, because Les Miles isn’t as fun of an interview. Coach interviews are always incredibly generic. We got a reminder from Chris Fowler that there were lots of fans getting an early start to the day with Louisville vs. Pitt which was kicking off at 10AM Central. Yeah, an early start if you wanted to sleep in at my house on Saturday. With about 30 minutes left on the program, the Notre Dame crowd finally woke up. They started a chant when Desmond Howard was talking, and I *think* the chant was “ROCKET’S BETTER!” Irish fans: 1; Desmond Howard: 0. The last piece we got today before the picks was Samantha Steele going to Notre Dame to play beer pong with the football team. Not really, but they play a trick shot game on Mondays trying to get a ping pong ball into a cup of water, and they HAVE to get a trick shot done before they can eat. She joined in the fun, although she never made a trick shot. I present to you Trick Shot Mondays.

But now to the business we all came for. We were reminded by Fowler that Lee Corso has never picked the Irish to win when they are at South Bend. We were then introduced to celebrity guest picker Vince Vaughn, who played a role in the movie Rudy. He had some solid insight for today’s games, and of course chose Notre Dame over Stanford. But then when it was headgear time, we got one for the ages. Lee Corso went with the Fighting Irish, dressing up in full leprechaun gear and doing a jig with their mascot. A great finish to a so-so edition of Gameday this morning.