Big 12 Conference was established in 1996. Big 12 has 12 members, 6 each in Big 12 North and Big 12 South . Big 12 north is member of NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) in Division 1.Its football teams play in Football Bowl Series and are headquartered at Irving, Texas. The area covered is Central United States with members from Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. The conference is split into two divisions – a South Division consisting of Oklahoma and Texas School and North Division consisting of balance six. The conference sponsors championship in baseball, basketball, cross-country racing, golf, swimming &diving, Tennis, Track and Field events ( both Men & Women); baseball, football, wrestling ( Men only) ; gymnastics ,soccer, softball & volleyball ( Women only). Many universities do not participate in all the events.
Teams play football on eight conference games per season; five from the same division and three teams from opposite division. Inter divisional play is a “Three –on Three –Off “System. Since 1996, the Big 12 Championship between the champions of Big 12 North Division and Big 12 South division is being held at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City. This year (2009) it will be played at Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Big 12 Conference
History of University of Alabama Football
Alabama Football has a rich history that dates back almost 70 years. They have been dominant program in college football during that time frame. They have won the most championships of any NCAA football team in the history of the game with twelve. Football is a religion in Alabama and the “Roll Tide” is at the center of attention on any given Saturday.
Alabama came into national prominence when the program was taken over by head coach Wallace Wade. Wade was a Brown alum who took over a program that had struggled in recent years. However, with Wade’s coaching prowess and the help of his athletic director, the school was bringing in athletes from all over the country and not just Alabama. This is a trend that became very popular with schools across the country and a trend that continues today. Wade led the school to two national championships during his eight years as head coach at Alabama, however it was the first championship in 1926 that put the team on the map and they have remained ever since. After Wade left, it was almost a revolving door of coaches; however, they managed to win four more national championships with Athletic Director George Denny, for whom the Alabama stadium is named after, at the helm over the football program.
Alabama struggled in the early fifties and were starting to lose credibility as a college football powerhouse, however that all changed in 1958. In 1958, Paul “Bear” Bryant took over this struggling program and turned them into arguably the most successful football program in the history of NCAA football. Bryant would coach the team for 24 years before retiring in January 1983. During his time as head coach the Alabama football team seemed almost unbeatable. They won 6 national championship and 13 conference championships during his time as head coach. His Alabama teams won 232 games during his 24 years as head coach. Bryant retired following the 1982 Liberty Bowl as arguably the greatest college football coach of all-time. Ironically enough when asked what he would do now that he was retired; he said that he would probably croak in a week. Four weeks later Bryant died of a heart attack. However, the legacy of Bryant still lives today and all Alabama coaches have been compared to him.
Since Bryant left the Crimson Tide there have been many coaches that have tried to create the greatness that he brought to the Alabama program, however in the 27 years since his departure they have only won one national championship and two conference championship, with no national titles since 1992. However, with the hiring of Nick Saban in 2007, the school has a newfound confidence not seen since the days of Bryant. The Crimson Tide still remains one of the most respected teams in all of college football and probably will because of the impact Bryant had on the program
Writer and editor, Freddie Brister, is a former high school football coach of 25 years. His love of the game of football is reflected in his words and memories of growing up in the South and playing football in the back yard with his brother, cousins and neighborhood friends. His biggest thrill is watching former high school players he has coached play at the college level. His favorite pastime is watching college football on tv and attending the games in person every chance he gets. Freddie Brister is a huge fan of the SEC and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Check out his Alabama Merchandise or his Alabama Crimson Tide Swimwear
Arizona Cardinals
All football fans have their pre-game and post-game foods, like pizza and wings with beer. A tradition at Arizona Cardinals games is for the fans to eat their teams’ colors for the tailgate parties. Among the more popular dishes are the Sonoran Desert Dog – made of a spicy sausage topped with red pepper and a yellow corn relish, or a red tortilla filled with chicken and cheese. As for desert, our Cardinal fans prefer a yellow or black tortilla baked and coated with cinnamon sugar served with red-colored fruit salsa and whipped cream.
The Arizona Cardinals is the oldest active team in American Football. They began as a mere athletic club in Chicago in 1898, known as the Morgan Athletic Club. By 1913 the Racine Cardinals would turn pro and in 1920 they would become a charter member of the American Professional Football Association, which became the National Football League in 1922. The only two charter teams still in existence are the Cardinals and the Chicago Bears, who were the Decatur Staleys prior to moving to Chicago in 1921. In 1922 the Cardinals became the Chicago Cardinals after the league placed a team in Racine, WI to avoid confusion.
In 1925 the Cardinals won their first championship. In 1925 the league awarded the championship to the team with the best record instead of having a postseason. However, that championship would fall under controversy, and in the end would not be officially awarded to anyone. The 1925 Pottsville Maroons defeated the Cardinals 21-7, thus giving them the best record in the league. However, the league stripped them of the title after the Maroons played a team comprised of University of Notre Dame all-stars in Philadelphia, citing that the game violated the Frankford Yellow Jackets franchise rights since it was played on the same day the Yellow Jackets were scheduled to play. The league had threatened the Maroons prior to the game. The NFL had attempted to officially award the championship to the Cardinals but Coach Chris O’Brien felt his team didn’t deserve it since they had lost fairly to the Maroons. The league recognizes the Cardinals as the champions to this day despite several attempts by teams to have the decision reversed to either share the championship or fully award it to the long disbanded Maroons.
The only other championship in Cardinals history came in 1947, while still in Chicago, in a game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The same two teams would play the following year with the Eagles coming out victorious. The Cardinals have never returned to a championship game and have the longest championship drought. In fact, until 2008 the Cardinals had only won two playoff games and had never been in a conference championship game since 1947. The Cardinals moved to St Louis in 1960 and Phoenix in 1988. However, the “Phoenix” Cardinals never played in Phoenix, but instead played at Arizona State University’s Sun Devil stadium in Tempe, Az. In 1994 they changed their name to one more fitting; the Arizona Cardinals, and in 2006 finally had their own stadium in Glendale, Az.
Thomas Morgan is a SportsWriter for SportsFanTreasures.com. You can see his Arizona Cardinal Merchandise and his Arizona Cardinals Bedding.
Congrats Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter became the New York Yankees number one hit leader tonight passing the great Lou Gehrig. Both men were and are class acts. Jeter is the kind of man you want kids to look up too.
Jeter, who owns four World Series rings as well as the all-time record for postseason hits, has had that reputation since his first season in the league. The steady shortstop has cranked out impressive totals season after season, and he passed Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig on the hits chart (2,722) in Friday’s game.
Jeter, a 10-time All-Star, is a rare recipient of both the All-Star Game MVP and World Series MVP awards. The 35-year-old has done virtually everything one can do in the game, and now he’s the all-time hits leader for baseball’s most storied franchise. Amazingly, he’s still near the top of his game and showing no signs of slowing down.
Congrats Derek Jeter and thank you for being the kind of man you are.
Famous Major League Baseball Mustaches
Major League Baseball players have some of the best mustaches and gotees around. Women would feel undone without their make up on and our famous players feel the same without their facial hair. We like to watch them play and we like to know who they are if we walked past them. They look so different without their mustaches and gotees.
Eric Byrnes a Major League Baseball player has a hitting streak and loves to have fun during the season, what’s work without a little fun. If Eric was to stop his hitting streak he will also stop the growth of the mustache. His team mates Chris Burk and Dan Haren have joined in also with each of them growing a mustache. Chris Burk is growing one in support of Eric’s hitting streak wanting him to lengthen his hitting streak to as many games as he can. Dan Is growing his until they lose a game. Also coach Kirk Gibson is growing his mustache to support his team players. What fun they are all having with their facial hair and an awesome season.
Kevin Youkilis another Major League Baseball player with one of the thickest gotees around. His gotee fits his face as like he was born with it. He is one of the best defensive players in MLB and he is big and bold and that is the way he likes to play. His gotee is just another attribute to his game. To see a picture of him without his gotee would make you look twice to see if it is really him or not. His fans love the big bold player right along with his big bold gotee.
Sal Fasano’s has been seen with and without a mustache. He has also been seen on the video board during a game with a drawn in mustache with a black marker. Seeing himself as he likes gave him the energy to play one of the best games of the season so far. He has re grown his mustache as he feels more like himself with it and is playing like he knows he can. The more his mustache grows back in the better his game is becoming. If he shaves it off again he can always ask for the video tech to put his picture back up with the drawn in one.
Jason Giambi is another off again on again mustacher. When he shaved the face he also shaved off his average. It started out as a joke however he grew his mustache back and he because another player his average sky rocketed. Is it just supper station or is it facts? We see the proof in his average and his love of the game. He can look good and hit good that what the fans want.
Jerry Barone is a sports writer for www.sportsfantreasures.com. He would like to invite you to check out their New York Yankees Merchandise and Boston Red Sox Gear online today!
Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech, also known as the Georgia Institute of Technology, is home to the Yellow Jackets collegiate teams, represented by an ornery yellow bee called Buzz, who also serves as the team’s mascot. They have a second mascot in the car dubbed the Ramblin’ Wreck, which is actually an old Ford Model A.
Georgia Tech competes in the Coastal Division of the NCAA’s Atlantic Conference, with fellow conference teams Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, the University of Maryland, the University of Miami, the University of North Carolina, North Carolina State, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest.
Georgia Tech’s biggest rival is with cross state rival the University of Georgia, who play in the Southeastern Conference. The rivalry is most notably present in men’s football and baseball, but carries over into all sports. The rivalry is strong even outside the sports arenas, but it’s inside them where it gets kicked up a notch. The rivalry even has a nickname, being dubbed Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate, also the name of a book on the subject.
The two sides generally excel against each other at specific sports, making individual sports records look lopsided, with the overall records very similar. Georgia leads Georgia Tech 59-39 in football matches, with 5 draws, as well as a 194-147 mark in baseball, with 2 draws. Georgia Tech turns the tide in basketball with a 101-84 record.
Georgia Tech thrives in numerous sports, and while the men’s football team gets most of the spotlight, their baseball, basketball, and golf programs have actually been just as successful, if not more so, at creating professional calibre players. The football program has won 15 conference titles and 22 bowl games, and produced such stars as Dorsey Levens, and Marco Coleman. Georgia Tech is also infamous for having the most lopsided victory in college football history, a 222-0 drubbing of Cumberland University in 1916, thanks to an incredible 32 touchdowns.
The basketball program, while not as successful statistically as the football squad, has seen stars such as Stephon Marbury, Chris Bosh, and former player turned broadcaster John Salley don their uniforms.
The baseball program has perhaps been the most successful at creating future stars, which includes Nomar Garciaparra, Kevin Brown, Jay Payton, Jason Varitek, and Mark Teixeira. Varitek has his number 33 retired by the school, only the second number ever retired thus far (the first being the 44 of baseball coach Jim Luck). Georgia Tech has been to 3 college world series, most recently in 2006, and finished 2nd in 1994.
Not to be outdone, the golf program is one of the top ones in the nation, and was voted as such by Golf Magazine in 2005. World class players like former world No.1 David Duval, Masters champion Larry Mize, Matt Kuchar, Stewart Cink, and the legendary Bobby Jones all came from Georgia Tech.
Georgia Tech has hundreds of deserving members in its athletics hall of fame, from a wide range of sports. Georgia Tech produces a quarterly magazine on their sports teams and athletes called The Buzz. The school also keeps an up-to-date Twitter page to keep fans informed on sports happenings around the school.
Denise Brown is a Sports writer for SportsFanTreasures.com you can check out her Georgia Tech Merchandise and Georgia Tech Bedding
New York Mets
On May 1st the New York Mets won the series opener against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizen Bank Park 7-4.
The Mets opened the scoreboard in the first inning with a homer run by Daniel Murphy driving in Alex Cora who’d walked in the previous at bat.
Carlos Beltran and David Wright walked, prompting a couching visit to the mound before Ryan Church grounds into a double play to move into the second half of the frame.
The Mets cushioned their lead 4-0 in the second. Fernando Tatis singles to open the second inning before Omir Santos doubles on the next at bat.
Mike Pelfrey pops a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Tatis. Another Sacrifice fly by Jose Reyes sends Santos over the plate.
New York adds one in the third on a sac fly by Santos before the Phillies come back in the bottom of the half to narrow the deficit to 5-3.
Shane Victorino singled and Pelfrey walked Utley and Werth to load the bases. After a vistit to the mound Rual Ibanez smacks a two run single to drive in Victorino and Utley. Pedro Feliz singled on a grounder to send Werth across the plate.
The Mets rebounded in the fifth to regain the lead as Beltran doubled to open the frame, then score on Wright’s single. Wright was caught stealing second. Fernando Tatis doubled before Cho Han Park intentionally walked Santos.
Chad Durbin replaces Park on the mound, allowing one hit in 1.1 frames. J.A. Happ and Clay Condrey closed out the game allowing no hits for the last three innings.
Park pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing seven runs on eight hits, and walking six for the loss.
“I’m not ready to say that Chan Ho Park is not going to get any more starts or anything like that,” Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said following Friday’s 7-4 loss to the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park. “I’m not ready to say that.”
Pelfrey singles to drive in Tatis, leaving Santos on third with two outs. Reyes grounded out to close the top half.
During the sixth inning, The Phillies made a costly mistake that prevented a potential rally when Mets short stop threw a wild toss to third, allowing Cost to reach third safely. But Greg Dobbs kept coming, forcing Coste to try for home where he was put out by Santos.
“It was a mistake,” Manuel said. “We messed up.”
Philadelphia added an Utley home run in the seventh but were unable to rally for the lead. The next two innings remained scoreless on both sides.
Mike Pelfrey has happy with the win though he wasn’t satisfied with his performance. He tossed 5 1/3 innings allowing three runs on seven hits and walking four. “My command wasn’t where I wanted it to be,” Pelfrey said.
Pedro Feliciano pitched 1 2/3 innings after relieving Pefrey in the sixth and JJ Puts and Franciso Roriquez pitched the eighth and ninth. Rodriquez picked up his fifth save of the season.
Johnny Gant is a sportswriter for SportsFanTreasures.com check out his New York Mets Merchandise or his New York Mets Ornaments
Florida Gator Football
After finishing 3rd in last years Heisman race he has compiled over 44 points which is six points ahead of Texas Longhorns Colt Mcoy and ten points in front of last years Heisman winner Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, so Tebow is on track to win his second Heisman as a Florida Gator and many are predicting that he will win back to back National Titles. Tebow was actually listed at first or second place on all ten ballots so the possibility of a second Heisman looks more than promising… GO GATORS!
In Saturdays wipeout the Florida Gators trample all over CSU with a 62-3 victory. I thought the Gators showed a lot of class and respect for this CSU team as the outcome….well… could have been a lot worse.
Did I mention that Tim Tebow spent most of his pre-game with a 7 year old that was confined to a wheel chair? Tim Tebow is a class act and a great role model for children and atheletes of all ages. Tim let the kid participate in some pre-game drills, gave him a handoff and even took him to the locker room to meet the rest of the team and to get some autographs… We salute you Tim Tebow!
Here are a few highlights from Saturday’s season opener:
-Jeff Demps put the first points of the season on the board with a 8 yard TD run, up the middle and untouched…. Props to the O-Line! Setting up the TD was wide receiver Riley Cooper’s 68 yard catch… Riley is a true athelete… funny side note… Riley also threw up on National Telivision.
-Tim Tebow scored his 44th touchdown as a Florida Gator. Tim had a amazing day as he went 10 of 15 passing for just under 200 yards.
-WOW, the Gators finished up the day with 624 total yards, including 369 rushing.
-Brandon James returned a kickoff and took it to the house! James was the first Gator to house a kickoff for a TD since the 1999 season.
It’s obvious that the Gators could have put up as many points as they wanted to, but we thought they showed their class by not doing so. The didn’t waste the day and got in a bunch of reps with the future starters and saw a lot of promising talent out of these guys. Saturday was a very productive day for the Gators. The only people that could possibly be upset with the Gators (besides CSU) are the people down in Vegas as they were a 73 pt. favorite going into the game.
I’m sure you didn’t notice but the Gator D was missing 3 key players that will certainly make a huge difference in the upcoming weeks. It’s hopeful that we will have these defensive standouts back on the playing field for the TROY game next week, Dustin Doe, Janoris Jenkins and Jermaine Cunningham are all expected to play against Troy next week.
College Football 2009 Week 1
Tennessee and Lane Kiffin dominated the Western Kentucky team. 63-7 and they looked like a Tennessee team of old. Jonathan Crompton threw 5 td passes. It should not look at as the national championship but it should be looked at as Tennessee trying to get back moving in the right direction. UCLA is next Lane Kiffin and his father did a great job.
Kentucky went to Cincinnati and Rich Brooks. Kentucky opened it up with Mike Hartline leading the charge. Kentucky finished the game at 41-0 against Miami of Ohio. They have an open date next week then take on Louisville in a rivalry game.
Joe Cox at Georgia didn’t look like a man with the flu. But Oklahoma State came back was the one team to win against the SEC. Oklahoma State sealed the win by recovering a 4th quarter fumble by Joe Cox to complete a 12 yard touchdown pass from Zac Robinison to Dez Bryant. Cowboys win 24-10
Ohio State barley beat Navy 31-27 may need to look at their rankings. Ohio State ran a 2 point conversion that would have tied the game back to put them up by 4 in the final minutes of the game.
Iowa just barely got by Northern Iowa 17-16. Northern Iowa gave them all they wanted.
Michigan over Western Michigan. Quieted down a lot of the naysayers
JoPa was back on the sideline as Penn State wupped up on Akron 31-7 holding Akron to no 1st downs until the 3rd quarter. They held them to only 187 yards total offense.
Minnesota defeated Syracuse 23-20. Syracuse played really well. They had a new coach and a new quarterback. Polus came off the hardwood to lead Syracuse at quarterback.
Georgia Tech defeated Jacksonville State. 37-17
Notre Dame looked good as expected (or hoped) 35-0 over Nevada
North Carolina handled the Citadel 40-6
Mississippi State with new head coach Dan Mullin man handled Jackson State. They looked really good in the process. Made some 1st game mistakes but looked much better than last year when they lost to La Tech in the opener.
USC started out shakey but then took off
Michigan did a great job against a much weaker opponent
Florida was picked to win by 70 but you can bet they will play well and do their best not to win by 70. Way too much class in town for that. The final was 62-3 and could have been worse but thank you Lord for the class of Florida.
Kansas beat N Colorado 49-3
Oklahoma was the story of the day losing to BYU ranked number 20 and sure to move up. Sam Bradford getting hurt and then losing the game had to be the shocker of the day. After coming off a season of having Sam Bradford win the Heisman Trophy and playing in the National Championship game expectations were high for the Sooners. The injury to Bradford doesn’t look to be season ending but his return may be too little too late as BYU defeated OU 14-13. BYU’s quarterback Max Hall was 26 of 38 for 329 yards and two touchdowns. Hall is the nephew of former Dallas Cowboy Danny White.
Alabama and Virginia Tech were in a dog fight. Playing in the Georgia Dome. The Tide prevailed with a 34-24 win. Ingram rushed for 150 yards which was the most he had ever rushed for. He had 2 forth quarter tds. McElroy threw for 230 yards. The tide held a 498-155 lead in total yards but had to rally in the 4th quarter for the win. There was the normal opening game mistakes with penalties and special team mistakes. It was Virginia Tech they were playing not some of the other so called division 3 teams on the other ranked teams schedules. Saban actually bragged on his team saying they had actually played better than the score reflected that they had responded well to adversity and don’t you know it that is what football is all about, responding to adversity
LSU struggled to defeat Washington 31-23. Jordan Jefferson threw 3 td passes to lead the tigers passed a much improved Washington Husky team its 15th consecutive loss
Vanderbilt beat West Carolina 45-0
#12 Cal beats up on Maryland 52-13
Arizona State punishes Idaho State 50-3
Clemson defeate Middle Tennesse State 37-14 but Starting Running Back Spiller was injured
Missouri didn’t seem to miss Chase Daniels as it defeated Illinois 37-9
Fresno State beats up on UC Davis 51-0
Arizona beats Central Michigan 19-6
Coach Chizik’s much anticipated debut was a success at Auburn as they defeated Louisiana Tech 37-13
San Diego beats Azusa Pacific 24-12
UNLV defeats Sacramento St. 38-3
Arkansas looks better as they defeated Missouri State 48-10
Connecticut defeated Ohio 23-16
Old Dominion beats Chowan 36-21
South Florida put it on Wofford 40-7
Louisville defeated Indiana State 30-10
Idaho defeated New Mexico State 21-6
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins lost the rubber match in the series against the Kansas City Royals 7-5 on May 3rd in front of 31,845 fans at the Metrodome.
Denard Span scored off of a Justin Morneau single in the bottom of the first, and in the fourth Michael Cuddyer doubles on a grounder to score Jason Kubel.
In the sixth, Morneau scores on a single by Cuddyer before Cuddyer stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error by Royals catcher John Buck, then crossed the plate on a Delmon Young single to cushion the lead 5-0.
After six innings of no-hit pitching by Scott Baker, the twins were unable to hold the lead.
“Obviously, we were riding on cruise control for the first six innings with no-hit baseball and then, bam, it changes on you,” said Michael Cuddyer. “As a young team, you have to realize that you have to always continue to put the throttle down. Today we kind of let up a little bit.”
Baker gave up five runs on five hits in the seventh inning, allowing Kansas city to take the lead, and Minnesota never recovered.
“It just looked like he couldn’t make a pitch after he gave up the one hit,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “A tough day. Baker threw the heck out of the ball. He was going as good as you can throw it and all of a sudden, boom, there it is. That’s how the game comes up and bites you.”
The top of the seventh opens on a Willie Bloomquist single. Mark Teahan singles on the next at bat before Jose Guillen smacks a two RBI homer. Mike Jacobs and David Dejesus both single to prompt a pitching change.
Luis Ayala relieves Baker and his first pitch resulted in an Alberto Callaspo double that scored Jacobs and Dejesus for the 5-4 lead. Callaspo is put out at third.
Willie Bloomquist blasts a triple off of R.A. Dickey in the eighth followed by a Teahan walk and an RBI double by Guillen.
“[Baker] had real good stuff, sharp stuff, early on especially,” Bloomquist said. “It kind of flattened out a little bit there in the seventh inning and we were able to get a better look at it. He was tough for six full innings, that’s for sure.”
Kansas city added one in the ninth as Callpso scored on a sacrifice fly by Coco Crisp.
Denard span contributed a run in the bottom of the ninth, but Minnesota was unable to rally for the win.
R.A. Dickey pitched the last two innings for Minnesota allowing two runs on four hits, walking two and striking out one.
Gil Meche pitched six innings, allowing four hits on four runs, striking out three and walking two to pick up the win. Joakim Soria recorded the save pitching the ninth innings with one run on one hit.
“I think these guys are good hitters,” Baker said. “The whole game, they were hitting the ball right at guys. The fact that they didn’t hit one at somebody, it happens.”
Frank Jones is a sportswriter for SportsFanTreasures.com check out his Minnesota Twins Merchandise or his Minnesota Twins Ornaments