Oklahoma to the Pac-12?

According the ESPN there is a lot of leadership at Oklahoma that is still interested in moving to the Pac-12 from their current conference the Big 12.  They are also reporting that Texas officials met with Oklahoma big wigs and they left Norman feeling very doubtful that Oklahoma would be staying.  What does this mean for the Big 12?  Well there are a whole lot of situations at this point the worst one of which being that both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State move over to the Pac-12.  That would leave the Big 12 in a very bad position.  Texas has already made it clear that it would not consider a 7 team Big 12 viable.  We all know what has happened since last year when Colorado and Nebraska decided to go elsewhere.  Now Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State are all looking elsewhere while everyone else in the conference minus Texas is talking possible lawsuit against everyone leaving the conference.  If you are a Texas fan like us, you are just sitting and waiting for everything to unfold. Lets be honest with each other, short of a death penalty there is not a whole lot that could really hurt Texas athletic program.  Texas A&M will not get in if there are

Bobby Bowden had Prostate Cancer?

If you are wondering whats up with the title, I can tell you right now that former long-time Florida State coach Bobby Bowden came out today to say that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer back in early 2007 and was treated for it during the off season that same year.  He is supposedly in remission now for four years but wanted to keep everything a secret so that it would not affect recruiting or take away from the rest of the team.  This was probably the smart way to go if you consider all of the distractions that have been going around College Football these days.  Entire programs are being destroyed by distractions.  USC has not been the same since the Reggie Bush era.  With the story coming out now (after he was given the boot from FSU) not only does it leave very little distraction for FSU, it shows how much Coach Bowden truly does care about the Florida State program.  When I think of some of the greatest coaches of any sport, I fully believe Bobby Bowden deserves to be in every discussion.  I am pretty sure he is your coaches favorite coach.  All in all, I have to say that I am quite surprised that this new came out, but at the same time, not at all surprised that they kept this a secret.  I am just glad the man is in remission. 

Cowboys Pulled a Romo

The Dallas Cowboys are the only team that I know of that can give up a 14 point lead in the last quarter of a football game.  That is exactly what they did tonight.  Not only did they blow a 14 point lead in the fourth quarter but they ultimately ended up losing the game to the Kicker they let go during the off-season (Nick Folk).  Slowly but surely the Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets came back into the game.  They managed to do it with a 26 yard pass from Mark Sanchez to Plaxico Burress early in the fourth and then with five minutes left, Joe McKnight blocked a punt that Isaiah Trufant returned 41 yards into the end zone.  This was all capped off by a Tony Romo interception with just a minute left in the game and then a mishandled snap by Romo at the end of the game to pretty much seal the loss in writing.  I think this game shows the inadequacy of the Dallas Cowboys at this point and does not really bode well for the rest of their season. 

 

Here are some videos of Tony Romo messing up games in the past:

 

Cowboys looking good through 3 quarters against Jets

So far so good for the Dallas Cowboys. They are winning a hard fought defensive match against the New York Jets right now.  They may only be up by one touchdown (24-17) but that’s still way better than Vegas was giving them credit for. There is only 12 minutes left in the game and Dallas will have the ball with the momentum with the Jets right now.  Hopefully the Boys can’t get er done in tne last parts of this game.

Peyton Manning out for the season?

We have been getting reports over the past couple of days and have just been confirmed that Peyton Manning will not only be missing the first game of the season, but that he has had yet another neck surgery a couple of days ago and will now be out for at least half the season. This leads me to believe that the Colts are going to be pretty insignificant this season with Kerry Collins. Just a couple of weeks ago, the guy was retired and no one can run the complicated Colts offense like Peyton Manning. I feel as if this could be the first season in a while they do not make it above .500.

“I can’t wait to see Gray”

Those are the words spoken by Dave Brown several months in an audio clip.  The full quote was, “”We’re going to follow the great players in the state. Obviously a kid like Johnathan Gray. I know people [Longhorn Network subscribers] are going to want to see Johnathan Gray, I can’t wait to see Johnathan Gray.”  Jonathan Gray is the senior running back for the Aledo High School Bearcats and so far this season has almost 600 yards in rushing with nine touchdowns.  He is also the kid that’s literally in the center of this whole (College Football Conferences completely shifting) debacle.  Ok, let me try to explain to you why this high school senior, in this writers opinion, has unknowingly sparked a forest fire that will change the face of College Football for the lifespan of the sport. 

Dave Brown is actually the Vice President of the Longhorn Network.  This prompted an NCAA investigation which led to them ruling that “School Networks” could not play high school games on them.  By the time the ruling came down (August 11, 2011) Texas A&M had already gone ballistic over everything because they felt that Texas was getting multiple unfair advantages by not only having their own TV network but they were going to be able to play Texas High School football games.  Once A&M overreacted to the situation and they had let it slip they had wanted to move away from Texas for a while now (August 10^th, 2011).  With A&M leaving the conference other Big 12 schools have been looking at moving out of the conference.  This is potentially dangerous for the rest of football…or really cool depending on whom you ask.  It looks like we will be headed towards super conferences light years before expected.

NFL Preseason Picks – 2011-2012 Season

With the NFL season upon us its time to come up with out Preseason NFL Picks for the playoffs.  We take these pretty seriously as we also will be posting predictions throughout the season on a weekly basis.  I picked the Patriots to win and I think Chad Ochocinco gets his first championship. With the lockout over we are eager to see how the NFL is going to run things this season.  I am already pissed off over the few rule changes that were made (especially the new kick off rules).  I mean come on, you guys pretty much changed NFL football…Anyways, here are my picks for this seasons playoffs and Super Bowl:

NFC North -Green Bay Packers

NFC South -New Orleans Saints

NFC East -Philadelphia Eagles

NFC West -Arizona Cardinals

AFC North -Pittsburgh Steelers

AFC South -Houston Texans

AFC East -New England Patriots

AFC West – San Diego Chargers

Super Bowl – Eagles vs. Patriots

Lake Travis “Drive for Five” State Championships

Lake Travis takes on Aledo High School this Friday in a clash of the titans according to yours truly.  They may have lost a close one against Stephenville (lost 48-47), but I feel as if their early rankings were worth the fuss because they just punished Weatherford like there was no tomorrow.  Aledo has won two straight 4A Division II championships while Lake Travis is looking for their fifth straight 4A title (the past three being in Division I) .  These two champions meet tomorrow night at Aledo which SidelineBlog will have people in attendance.  We will try to get as many pictures and videos as we can for you.  With both on championship runs this season, this should make for one of the most interesting games in the nation this weekend.  We could not pass up on an attempt to see two great teams grit it out. 

With Texas almost completely on fire, this will be a great release for some of the anger, sadness, and stress.  Our thoughts and prayers are obviously on the residents of Central Texas today.  Aledo’s first test was Stephenville first game of the season and while they might not have come out with a victory, they certainly came out with some experience.  Aledo’s senior quarterback was interviewed by the Dallas Star-Telegram and was quoted as saying, “We’ve been practicing all summer for this. After losing to Stephenville, I can’t wait to play them again.  I’m sure Lake Travis is feeling the same way against us.”  He is going to have his hands full with a Lake Travis team that is coming off a 43-14 win over Pflugerville Hendrickson even with 4 starters out with injuries. While some would argue that Westlake was Lake Travis’ first test this season, I would argue that Westlake is not the Westlake (Austin) of old and their program has really slipped lately.  Aledo’s Running Back Jonathan Gray comes into the game with over 550 yards of rushing and 9 touchdowns and Lake Travis’ Quarterback Matthew Bishop comes in with 142 yards on the ground and 531 yards passing with 9 touchdowns.  Watching these two players go head to head will be something to watch if you ask me.  Our prediction is that Lake Travis comes out with the win 35-28.  Hope to see you at the game!

Here are some clips of the recent rivalry:

2011 NFL Picks Week 1

Week 1 Picks are the most important picks that we can make.  We are hoping to get off to a great start as there are some great games to start the season out with.  We may not make the best choices in the beginning of the season so please do not hold us to our picks.  The best that we can hope for is to stay above average.  Average is about .500 in the leagues that we run around in.  We try to bring the best information to our users as quickly after it happens as possible.  Let’s just see how we will do.

Saints @ Packers – Saints
Eagles @ Rams – Eagles
Titans @ Jaguars – Titans
Steelers @  Ravens – Ravens
Colts @ Texans – Texans
Cowboys @ Jets – Cowboys

Texas Longhorn Men’s Basketball Schedule 2011-2012

The Longhorns ended their season last year in the third round of the Men’s Basketball Championship against Arizona by one point.  One point separated them from possibly going all the way to the National Championship.  One point and a lot of bad calls.  All of that is in the past though.  We have the future to look forward to now.  They ended the season with less than 10 losses which hadn’t happened since their last run with Kevin Durant.  This team will be nothing like that team having almost no height at all on the team this season.  With Kevin Thomas not qualifying academically, we are going to have our eyes set on the run and gun. 

*****I have updated the schedule as of 1/9/2012 with the updated times and TV channels the games appear on.  I hope this pleases everyone who has been emailing Sidelineblog.   It looks like the Longhorns have had a rough start to the season but can make up for it during the conference stretch.  Hook em’*****

Texas Longhorn Men's Basketball Schedule 2011-2012

Date	Opponent	Location	Time/Result
11/13/2011	Boston University	Austin, TX	W (82-46)
11/15/2011	Rhode Island	Austin, TX	W (100-90)
11/19/2011	Oregon State	East Rutherford, NJ	L (100-95 OT)
11/21/2011	North Carolina State	East Rutherford, NJ	L (77-74)
11/26/2011	Sam Houston Sate	Austin, TX	W (56-40)
11/29/2011	North Texas	Austin, TX	W (73-57)
12/03/2011	UCLA	Los Angeles, CA	W (69-59)
12/06/2011	UT Arlington	Austin, TX	W (80-62)
12/10/2011	Texas State	Austin, TX	W (86-52)
12/13/2011	Nicholls State	Austin, TX	W (93-40)
12/17/2011	Temple	Austin, TX	W (77-65)
12/21/2011	#6 North Carolina	Chapel Hill, NC	L (82-63)
12/31/2011	Rice	Austin, TX	W (73-59)
01/04/2012	Iowa State	Ames, Iowa	L (77-71)
01/07/2012	Oklahoma State	Austin, TX	W (58-49)
01/11/2012	Texas A&M	Austin, TX	8:00 PM ESPN2
01/14/2012	Missouri	Columbia, MO	12:00 PM ESPN2
01/18/2012	Kansas State	Manhattan, KS	8:00 PM ESPN2
01/21/2012	Kansas	Austin, TX	3:00 PM
01/24/2012	Iowa State	Austin, TX	8:00 PM Longhorn Network
01/28/2012	Baylor	Waco, TX	12:00 PM
01/30/2012	Missouri	Austin, TX	8:00 PM ESPN
02/04/2012	Texas Tech	Austin, TX	6:00 PM Longhorn Network
02/06/2012	Texas A&M	College Station, TX	8:00 PM ESPN
02/11/2012	Kansas State	Austin, TX	1:00 PM ESPN
02/14/2012	Oklahoma	Norman, OK	7:00 PM
02/18/2012	Oklahoma State	Sillwater, OK	3:00 PM
02/20/2012	Baylor	Austin, TX	8:00 PM ESPN
02/25/2012	Texas Tech	Lubbock, TX	3:00 PM
02/29/2012	Oklahoma	Austin, TX	8:00 PM ESPN2
03/03/2012	Kansas	Lawrence, KS	8:00 PM ESPN
03/07/2012	Big 12 Tournament	Kansas City, MO	TBA
03/08/2012	Big 12 Tournament	Kansas City, MO	TBA
03/09/2012	Big 12 Tournament	Kansas City, MO	TBA
03/10/2012	Big 12 Championship	Kansas City, MO	5:00 PM

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