There Are Still 7 Weeks Left and They Play on Thursdays?

So…its Sunday, which means NFL football time, however somehow I missed the fact that NFL games are played on Thursdays too.  Seriously, can’t they give us ladies a break…we have other shows to watch and don’t want to be distracted by sports 24/7.  The Thursday game thing has only occurred the past 1 or 2 years…anything to bring in more money for the NFL I guess.  This week’s Thursday game was the NY Jets at the New England Patriots.  The Jets won in overtime…just in case it comes up in conversation….

Now…if you are around some Sunday games this week…I looked around and there wasn’t anything that exciting for the week…but I have provided facts for 3 of the games….

Baltimore Ravens at the NY Giants (1pm EST, CBS)

• Both teams are going for their fifth consecutive victory
• The Giants are 5-0 at home this season
• The Ravens have won 3 of their last 5 games on the road and they have won the last 3 times that they have played the Giants since 1997
• During Eli Manning’s rookie year (2004), he played one of his worst games against the Ravens…he had a zero QB rating…I didn’t even know that was possible.  He completed only 4 of 18 passes for 27 yard, threw 2 interceptions and lost a fumble…talk about a bad game…hopefully he has forgotten about that game tomorrow for the Giant’s sake…currently they are 8-1 on the season.

 

Philadelphia Eagles at the Cincinnatti Bengals (1pm EST, FOX)

• The Bengals are awful…they only have 1 win this season against the Jacksonville Jaguars.  The Eagles are 5-4, however they are coming off a difficult loss against the NY Giants last Sunday night. 
• The Bengals are 7-3 all time against the Eagles and have never lost to Philadelphia at home.  I have to say these types of stats make it seem like the Bengals have a good shot, but they really are not good and if the Eagles want any chance of seeing the playoffs they can’t afford any more losses. 
• The Eagles have the highest Average Points per Game on the road (30.8) in the entire NFL…
• Defensive End Trent Cole is from Cincinnatti…therefore, expect a loud cheering section for the Eagles on the road.

 

Dallas Cowboys at the Washington Redskins (8:15EST, NBC)

• The last match-up between these two teams resulted in a Redskins win at Texas Stadium…the last time the ’skins most likely will have played in Dallas’ stadium.
• Tony Romo and his broken pinkie are rumored to back in action in this week’s game.  Since the game is away, chances are probably slim that Jessica Simpson will be there…but as always, be on the look-out.
• If the Redskins lose they still have a chance to make it ot the playoffs…however if the Cowboys lose, their chances of making the playoffs will be very slim
• Each team will be plaing without a key running back.  The Cowboys’ Felix Jones will be out this season with an injured hamstring.  The Redskins’ Clinton Portis will be out due to an injured knee…

Besides these three games, there are two other stats to watch out for….An undefeated team to continue their winning season and an “0fer” team continuing their devastating losing season.  The Tennessee Titans are still undefeated for the season….the last time a team went undefeated for the season was only last year when the Patriots went 16-0.  On the other side of the spectrum, the Detroit Lions have the potential to be 0-16 this season…the first time in NFL history.  They are so bad this year and their upcoming games are against decent teams…making it very unlikely that they will see a win.  Last year the Miami Dolphins were almost an “0fer” team…but wound up winning one game and ending the season 1-15.  No one likes to lose all of their games…but might as well have a stat in the books, right? 

 

Ok…all the information you needed for this weekend.  I promise to have some sort of basketball write up this week.  I just needed to motivate myself.

-sportsgirl

Do the Mascots Get a “Free Ride” at the Dermatologist?

Personally, I am starting a countdown until College Football is OVER!!!  I am told it is 3 weeks after this weekend…plus the Bowl games.  Since I am trying to “embrace” sports so that my husband and I spend any time together…I have learned that College Football Saturdays are the WORST.  College GameDay from 10-12 and then the games…all day long…past midnight sometimes.  Don’t worry, I don’t watch the games all day…but if we are anywhere near a tv that is what has to be on.  Luckily this week there are apparently no big games on…so I might not have to have my “typical” Saturday!

So…I will cover the two bigger games of the weekend in a separate post….but thought I would cover the mascots since I did have a request for that.  Apparently, like the band, the mascots are a big deal.  They typically get a scholarship for all of their hard work throughout the season.  Capital One is even hosting a contest to choose the best mascot for College Football.   They have narrowed down the field to the top 12.  I went out to the site and had a few initial reactions…First, the mascot costumes could use a fashion update…the material that the costumes are made of are awful, they look so hot (temperature hot that is).  I think a better contest would be for fashion designers to create new mascot uniforms and then we pick the winner for each school…that would get girls involved…it actually could be another reality show since those seem to be the only tv shows that don’t get cancelled (I am bitter that Lipstick Jungle got cancelled!).  My second observation is that I really hope that besides the free ride to school that these universities pick up the dermatologist bills that these mascots probably have piling up….seriously, take a look at these uniforms…if they don’t cause a breakout for the whole season, then I want these kids’ genes.  

The BYU Cougar...doesn't it look like it's wearing UGGs???

 

OK…i figure that I will list the mascots for the Top 25 teams…

#1 – Alabama Crimson Tide (Mascot:  Elephant called “Big Al”)

#2 – Texas Tech Red Raider (Mascot: The Masked Rider – only allowed at home games since it incorporates a live horse…so for other games, the Red Raider is the mascot)

#3 – Texas Longhorns (Mascot:  Bevo – a “longhorn” cattle)

#4 – Florida Gators (Mascot:  Albert E. Gator…get it…”Al E Gator”

#5 – Oklahoma Sooners (Mascot: The Sooner Scooner – its an old school covered wagon pulled by two white ponies called Boomer and Sooner)

#6 – USC Trojans (Mascot: Traveller the Horse – doesn’t sound that initimadating)

#7 – Utah Utes ( Mascot: Swoop – a red tailed hawk)

#8 – Penn State Nittany Lions (Mascot: Nittany Lion – refers to a mountain lion on Mount Nittany)

#9 – Boise State Broncos (Mascot: Buster Bronco)

#10 – Georgia Bulldogs (Macot: Uga -its an actual bulldog…the most recent bulldog died earlier this year, so this year’s Uga is a brand new dog)

#11 – Ohio State Buckeyes (Mascot: Brutus Buckeye – the Buckeye is a nut…literally a nut from a tree…I can’t imagine it usually intimidates the opponent’s mascot)

#12 – Missouri  Tigers (Mascot: Truman the Tiger – named after President Harry Truman)

#13 - Oklahoma State Cowboys (Mascot: Pistol Pete…a Cowboy obviously)

#14 – Ball State Cardinals (Mascot: Charlie Cardinal…unoffical mascot is David Letterman…he went there and always talks about them)

#15 – Michigan State  Spartans (Mascot: Sparty the Spartan….not too original)

#16 – North Carolina Tar Heels (Mascot: Rameses the Ram…again, not too original)

#17 – BYU Cougars (Mascot:  Cosmo the Couger…on the Capital One mascot website…his quote is “Like any cougar, he likes his meat well-seasoned.”  From my perspective cougars are usually the ones that are well seasoned and are looking for fresh blood…so this is an interesting quote. )

#18 – TCU Horned Frogs (Mascot: SuperFrog the Horned Frog…I think Horned Frogs are some sort of lizard…not a fan of this one at all)

#19 – Florida State Seminoles (Mascot: Chief Osceola – a Seminole Indian…he rides in on a horse called Renegade)

#20 – LSU Tigers (Mascot: Mike the Tiger…he’s an actual Tiger they keep in a cage on the sidelines…I am thinking that the opponents probably don’t try to steal this mascot before big games…)

#21 – Pittsburgh Panthers (Mascot: ROC the Panther)

#22 – Cincinnatti Bearcats (Mascot: Bearcat…literally that is it)

#23 – Tulsa Golden Hurricane (Mascot: Captain Cane the Hurricane – if you decide to look this one up…you might agree that it doesn’t really look like a hurricane)

#24 – Wake Forest Demon Deacons (Mascot: The Deamon Deacon…its an old man with a top hat)

#25 – South Carolina GameCocks (Mascot: Cocky the Gamecock..its a rooster of sorts)

 

Now that I have read up on all of these mascots, I will reiterate that I think these mascots need a 21st century update…the costumes, the names, everything about them are “old school.”  And most of them are not that inimidating….

Alright, have a fantastic Saturday…I’ll be back with the NFL information for the weekend…

-sportsgirl

“College GameDay” Takes a Detour…

College Gameday is taking an interesting detour on their weekly journey through the best games in the country.   Since the schedule this week doesn’t have the typical match-ups of top contending BCS teams, College Game Day is making their first trip to the campus of a historically African-American college… the game?  Hampton at Florida A&M.  I know nothing about either school…I didn’t even know there was a school called Hampton…but it should be an exciting day for both of these schools!

Hampton & Florida A&M (1:00 EST)

• Florida A&M is located in Tallahassee, FL, more commonly recognized as the home of Florida State.  A&M was named the #1 college in America for African-Americans by “Black Enterprise” magazine in 2006, pretty impressive…  their sports teams are known as the Rattlers.
• Florida A&M’s band is a bit more famous than its football team… the “Marching 100″, as they are known, has performed at four Super Bowls, two presidential inauguration parades, and at the Grammys with Kanye West… not bad.  I’m betting they will get some air time on Gameday tomorrow morning.
• The Rattlers’ opponents are the Hampton Pirates, from Hampton University in Virginia.  Also a historically African-American school, some of Hampton’s most famous alumni include Wanda Sykes, Spencer Christian, and Booker T. Washington
• Whatever hat he decides to put on, Corso will feel right at home, since he attended Florida State right across town.  Although you probably wouldn’t guess it  by looking at him now, Lee Corso was an outstanding athlete, he starred in football and baseball during his time at Florida State.  Fun fact for you ladies to show off:  Corso’s college roomate was Burt Reynolds.  Can you imagine the stories the two of them could tell about their nights on the town in Tallahassee?

South Carolina at Florida (3:30 EST, CBS)

• As I mentioned before, there aren’t a lot of great games this weekend, but any time Steve Spurrier returns to the Swamp it makes for an interesting game.  Spurrier coached the Gators from 1990 – 2001 before leaving to take a shot at the NFL with the Redskins.   When that didn’t work out he returned to the college ranks, deciding to accept an offer to coach one of his former school’s biggest rivals in the SEC (sound familiar, anyone?  If not, you weren’t reading girlonsports.com last week!)
• Florida still has national championship hopes, and the Gamecocks will be hoping to spoil them.  The Gators are ranked #4 in the BCS and would need some help to get to the championship game, but they largely control their own destiny, since they will get to play #1 Alabama in the SEC Championship game on December 5th. 

Alright…lots of new stuff this weekend…be back tomorrow with NFL stuff.

-sportsgirl