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annependleton.com

Wednesday
23Jul

Recycler: Talk, Talk and More Talk

Big 12 Media Days 2008 / Credit: ETSU_1956 Flicker CC

What did we learn yesterday?

  • The worst kept secret over summer is officially out. A.J. Steward is a tight end now. I had high hopes for A.J. at the QB spot, but this moves makes sense with the QB depth and open competition at tight end. Looks like we'll see him on the field this year.
  • The KC Star still loves the Cats. That's nice.
  • According to the Star, Mark Mangino is 0-6 versus Tech, OU and Texas. Please print more things that Mangino and KU haven't done. Big, bold headlines if possible.
  • Will August 30th ever get here?

***

Everyone likes to focus on the KU players lost from the 2007 squad. Back in the day, there used to be a simple predictor for success on the field. A returning QB and a defense with experience. KU has nine starters back on defense and the interior offensive line intact. Maybe Todd Reesing didn't do enough last year to convince the country that he is here to win?

So, last summer was spent discussing how Mangino would be on the hot seat and the KU football program was going to collapse. Then media days came and a few sportswriters took note that Mangino was oddly confident. Then people started looking at the early schedule. Get past CMU and hey, 6-0 is achievable. All of the sudden KU becomes the trendy dark horse pick despite starting a relatively inexperienced QB, the loss of Cornish and three offensive linemen. Sure why not -- go against the grain.

Okay, back to the present. We've spent all offseason hearing about how 2007 was a fluke and now that mighty Texas is on the schedule KU should be grateful if they find a way into the International Bowl. Can I go ahead and make a prediction?

Since there are roughly nine million college football sportswriters out there and since they get a little bored, we'll start to see a few describe KU as the non-dark horse dark horse around mid-August. I can see it. If you get past USF, you get an extra week to prepare for ISU and could maybe get one there. Colorado is at home. You could go to Norman 6-0. That would be a big-time game and these two guys know each other (Mangino is going to get one against Stoops at some point) Plus, OU will play the Red River Rivalry the week prior. Will OU really be up for "just a fluke" KU? Yes, Lloyd Christmas -- I'm saying there's a chance. 

Tuesday
22Jul

Ultimate Recycle: Big 12 Media Days

"Sports talk radio will rot your brain."--Thomas Jefferson

The Big 12 Media extravaganza kicked off today which means my four-month vacation from local sports radio sadly has come to an end ...

Things started off well with a great bit a discussion from Danny Clinkscale and Kevin Kietzman on whether or not Chase Daniel has grown an inch.


KU fired up today and I'll refrain from snagging quotes from the LJW site. The link is here: http://www2.kusports.com/blogs/conference_chatter/2008/jul/22/day2/

The media release from the school is here:
http://kuathletics.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/072108aab.html

It's just not going well for KU and t-shirts lately. Barack Chalk Jayhawk? Re-open Larry's case.
http://www.kansascity.com/166/story/714567.html

Is Jon Cornish ready to get some more carries up north?

He busted off a career-best 48-yard gain in the fourth quarter, after gaining a total of 30 yards in his rookie year -- albeit on two touches."It felt pretty good," smiled Cornish, 23. "I felt like if I hadn't been running up and down the field on special teams prior to that, I would have been a little faster. My speed really tapered off towards the end and I really wasn't too happy about being hauled down.
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/sports/story.html?id=c065be9e-19ab-4d6e-b0e6-2d5ec061f3ec
Monday
21Jul

2008 KU Football Wish/To Do List

I sold the team a little short by posting a 2007 KU Football Wish List last year. Seems foolish now to call it a wish list, since it was clearly just a to do list. What are the targets for 2008? Read on.
  • Big 12 Championship
  • Charles Gordon is avenged on November 15, 2008
  • A full house for opening day (borrowed from 2007)
  • The team properly channels the nationwide "just a scheduling fluke" media campaign and comes into the season with the exact right amount of focused anger/adrenaline
  • Clint Bowen solves the spread offense
  • Maxwell Onyegbule gets to Chase Daniel ... every down.
  • Mike Rivera gets to Chase Daniel ... every down.
  • RJ Jr and Darius Parish erase my fond memories of James McClinton
  • Todd Reesing 2008 exceed TR 2007
  • Dexton Fields and Dezmon Briscoe both go over 1,000
  • Ed Warriner blows my mind by staying ahead of the Big 12 with further innovation to last year's scheme
  • Find a confident punt returner that can be a threat
  • Jeff Spikes lives up to the hype
  • Marcus Herford becomes a legitimate Big 12 wide receiver threat (last chance man)
  • Jake Sharp -- 80 yard TD run at any point in the conference season or in the state of Florida
  • 40,000 plus Jayhawk fans wearing blue at Arrowhead (adjusted down from 50k for our "home" game last year)
  • 60,000 plus Jayhawk fans wearing blue at Arrowhead one week later
  • 14 wins
Saturday
19Jul

Memo to Google: Bleacher Report Is Not Real News

It's time for someone to put a bullet in the "Open Source Sports Network." The internet has given everyone a voice. Fantastic. What have we learned? I liked most of those people a lot better when they were silent. Thank you Lisa for revealing the secret to the 2007 Jayhawk football campaign:
"But if you dig a little deeper, it looks like the Jayhawks' record was a product of the system—the system of cupcake scheduling."
Congratulations, you are our one-millionth customer! What do you win? Probably a job writing for ESPN.

How about a national like Pete Fiutak doing the occasional drive by on your team acting as some sort of authority? Even a casual KU football fan had to bail on Fiutak halfway through this inaccurate, illogical mess. Great scott, the typical KSU or Mizzou fan could probably spot the issues in this one.

Maybe you're asking -- how does this low-life "KU blogger" come off taking a swipe at Fox Sports and someone like Lisa Horne that's probably just trying to make a name in the sports media world? I guess in this sense -- most of the guys out here blogging the teams are fans. We're throwing out our take, maybe putting some charts or stats analysis together and taking the occasional photo (or mashing up the occasional PhotoShop piece). We'll lob a few bombs at our rivals, but the reality is we're at the games and we know our teams. When we're on, you'll get a fresh angle that is based on experience from the game environment. From the nationals, you get a superficial view from outer space and everyone is supposed to act all charged up that the sports machine has turned an eye toward our little football program.
Final summation -- actually I'm not sure, but it appears as though the Hawk Digest editor is grumpy. In fact, I've listened to a whole off-season of KU football bashing and I'm feeling like it may be time to take up the fight. Stay tuned to see how much longer I can keep my cool.

By the way, if you want to lower your IQ, read through the comments on the Horne article.
Friday
18Jul

Todd Reesing On College Football Live Next Week

From the Awful Announcing blog:

http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/2008/07/espns-college-football-live-returns.html

"ESPN’s College Football Live, a weekday afternoon studio show dedicated to college football which debuted last year, will return Monday, July 21, and will now be aired year-round. Brent Musburger will host the first two shows live from ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn.

"... guests starting next week including but limited to: Jim Tressel, ABobby Petrino, Bobby Bowden, Les Miles, Rich Rodriguez, Pete Carroll, Phil Fulmer, Mark Richt, Tim Tebow, Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell, Pitt RB LeSean McCoy and Kansas QB Todd Reesing."