2010-2011 NFL Preseason Picks

The dawn of a new NFL season is upon us and SidelineBlog is here to make out picks before the first game of the season. My picks for the Super Bowl are the Dallas Cowboys to be playing at home for the first time in NFL history against the Baltimore Ravens.  I think there is a chance for the Colts to make it because you obviously can never count out Peyton Manning.  At the same time I am just feeling what the Ravens have done with both their offense and defense in the off season.

Division	Team	Record
NFC East	Dallas Cowboys	12-4
NFC North	Minnesota Vikings	11-5
NFC South	New Orleans Saints	13-3
NFC West	San Francisco 49ers	10-6
NFC Wildcard	Green Bay Packers	9-7
NFC Wildcard	Washington Redskins	9-7
AFC East	New England Patriots	12-4
AFC North	Baltimore Ravens	11-5
AFC South	Indianapolis Colts	13-3
AFC West	San Diego Chargers	10-6
AFC Wildcard	Cincinatti Bengals	9-7
AFC Wildcard	Houston Texans	9-7

Lake Travis Ranked #8 in the Nation!

Yes, you saw that right.  Lake Travis high school in Lakeway, Tx (my biggest rival growing up in high school) is ranked in the Top 10 in both the Xcellent 25 (sports writers poll) and the Freeman Computer Rankings.  To be completely honest with you, I have never understood how the high school rankings really worked.  Last year they we never even close to the Top 25 but because they have won 3 State Championships in a row (07′, 08′ and 09′) they are now ranked in the Top 25.  What scares me though is that I really don’t think they have what it takes this season to win another Championship.  The one time they finally skirt the Top 25, they may not even stay there but for a few weeks.  If they can make it to District play undefeated, you can pretty much sew up the rest of the regular season because the only team I see stepping in there way might be Dripping Springs.  I will be reporting all future rankings through SidelineBlog if you are interesting in seeing what the future holds for these high school teams. Well, here you go with your rankings for the week.  This is a nationwide computer ranking system so if you do not see your school up there, its really not my fault.  I am open to ideas for my own High School poll if you guys want.

Freeman Computer Rankings

Ranking	School	City/State	Record
1	Shiloh Christian	Springdale, AR	1-0
2	Trinity	Euless, Tx	1-0
3	Westlake	Westlake Village, CA	0-0
4	South Panola	Batesville, MS	3-0
5	Abilene	Abilene, TX	1-0
6	Bingham	South Jordan, UT	3-0
7	Dwyer	Palm Beach Gardens, FL	0-0
8	Lake Travis	Austin, TX	2-0
9	DeMatha	Hyattsville, MD	0-0
10	Dorman	Roebuck, SC	2-0
11	Colerain	Cincinnati, OH	2-0
12	Hamilton	Chandler, AZ	3-0
13	West Monroe	West Monroe, LA	1-0
14	Grant	Sacramento, CA	1-0
15	Mullen	Denver, CO	1-0
16	Our Lady of Good Counsel	Olney, MD	1-0
17	Glenville	Cleveland, OH	1-0
18	Sierra	Gadena, CA	1-0
19	Servite	Anaheim, CA	1-0
20	North Gwinnett	Suwanee, GA	3-0
21	Highlands	Fort Thomas, KY	3-0
22	Rockhurst	Kansas City, MO	2-0
23	Catholic Central	Novi, MI	2-0
24	De La Salle	Concord, CA	0-0
25	St. Xavier	Louisville, KY	2-0

MaxPreps Computer Nationwide Top 25 Poll

Longhorns on Top of Money List Again!

That’s right, out of the Top 200 Colleges and Universities, The University of Texas at Austin tops them all in amount of merchandise sold. The Longhorns made over $10 million in the last fiscal year (July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010).  That’s almost $1.5 million more than they made last year.  This top 10 looks almost identical to a lot of the college sports top 10 teams.  I think its interesting how those two go hand in hand.  A lot of professors curse at collegiate sports like they serve no purpose in this educational system.  I say they go side by side more than you could think.  Colleges need to make money in order to update their facilities, pay their staff, and keep everything like business as usual.  Sports bring in far more money(Football in particular) than the professors do.  That’s impressive if you consider the amount of grants that professors can get from companies and individuals who support whatever research and development is going on in that field.  The point is that I am tired of hearing about how UT puts too much emphasis on sports and not enough on the education.  To me, The University of Texas at Austin is the best place in the world to go to school because not only is it one of the best public universities in the nation for education, but its also one of the best University systems for sports having teams ranked in the Top 25 in nearly all sports.  The Collegiate system out there to me also falls under the “iron law of oligarchy” in the sense that eventually the best teams are just gonna get better making all the other schools out there suffer ever more than they already are.

Top Selling Universities

Rank	College/University
1	The University of Texas at Austin
2	The University of Alabama
3	University of Florida
4	Louisiana State University
5	The University of North Carolina
6	University of Georgia
7	The University of Michigan
8	University of Kentucky
9	The Pennsylvania State University
10	The University of Oklahoma
11	University of Notre Dame
12	University of Tennessee
13	West Virginia University
14	University of Nebraska
15	Auburn University
16	University of Wisconsin
17	The University of Kansas
18	University of Missouri
19	Florida State University
20	University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
21	Texas A&M University
22	University of Illinois
23	University of South Carolina
24	Texas Tech University
25	Clemson University
26	Oklahoma State University

The Collegiate Licensing Company Names Top Selling Universities and Manufacturers