Fiesta Bowl Turmoil: Jerry Jones' Dream

The Fiesta Bowl is in turmoil, firing its 30 year CEO John Junker, who had guided the bowl from its infancy to BCS-welterweight status. Jerry Jones must be salivating...

It's all part of the plan

Fiesta Bowl CEO Junker allegedly reimbursed employees for campaign contributions:

"The reimbursements, listed as at least $46,539, are an apparent violation of state campaign finance laws and the charter that allows the Fiesta Bowl its nonprofit status. The Arizona attorney general's office is conducting a probe of the matter."

While the Fiesta Bowl only dates back to the 1970s (and was originally modeled after the Peach Bowl), there is another older, historically prestigious bowl waiting in the wings to assume BCS status: The Cotton Bowl, which dates back to the 1930s and is soaked with history and cachet, which is practically currency in college football.

Right now, the BCS is in the middle of a TV contract with ESPN, locking in the BCS lineup until 2015. However, rest assured that Jerry Jones, Cowboys owner and the co-captain of the joint 1964 Champion Arkansas Razorbacks, is already blowing up the phone lines trying to line everything up. After all, the BCS Chairman has previously stated that he is willing to discuss the Cotton Bowl joining the BCS lineup with Jones.

The Cotton Bowl's prestige largely fell off due to the Southwest Conference's downfall, driven by recruiting scandals, as well as the 'Pony Express'/SMU Death Penalty in 1987. Additionally, until 2010 the game continued to play in the equally historic Cotton Bowl at the Texas State Fairgrounds, which is outdoors and not as modern as the ideal bowl site would be (ironically enough, SMU's downfall equally contributed to the Cotton Bowl Stadium's disuse, as the Mustangs had used the stadium as their home field until their attendance suffered post-Death Penalty).

With the right publicity and the ripe opportunity, no need for the Cotton Bowl to wait for the bowl system to change to a +1 bowl format or for the BCS to break up the rotating MNC game among current BCS locales. As the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association originally envisioned in their announcement, moving the game to Cowboys Stadium makes BCS membership ripe for the picking.

Plaque for the Alternates...

On August 26, 2009 the Bubba N Earl team established an elite pool for the top one percent of its readers. Its purpose was to provide a place to demonstrate the lost art of college football picks and to insure that the handful of men & women who participated were the best college football fans in the world. They succeeded. Today, many people call it just a college football pool. The readers call it: The 2nd Annual Bubba N Earl Pick'Em

So don't screw around with me. Y'all are a hell of an instinctive bunch of readers, maybe too good. I'd like to bust your butts but I can't. I got another problem here, I gotta have more people from this blog SIGN UP! I gotta do something here, I still can't believe it. I gotta give you your dream shot! I wanna send you up against the best. Every week you'll be competing against other hardcore SEC football fans. Just remember gentlemen, there are no points for second place...well, sort of. If you win enough points, you will be able to compete for the Top Gu...I mean BNE Trophy (actual trophy may vary). But just remember, if you screw up just this much, you'll be watching football with a bunch of rejects over at Florida State! So don't forget to sign up!

Oh...the plaque for the alternates is down in the ladies room.

Three Days Left

Well folks, we're now 3 days away from the first game of the college football season. This Thursday we'll see the Cocks of South Carolina of take on the Wolfpack of NC State. If you haven't already registered, please take a moment and visit our friends at funofficepools.com and sign up for the 2nd Annual Bubba N Earl Pick'Em.



Don't forget, your picks are due before the first game on Thursday!


Come join the competition and remember to enter your picks before the first game Thursday. For information and registration, visit http://www.funofficepools.com/joinpool.php?Passed_Pool_Key=6c1a4a42bc8

Bubba Says...

Kirk Herbstreit, you are a tool and for no other reason than I said so.

Yes, you do in fact wear too much self tanner and we know, you played QB at the Ohio State University.

Just so everyone remembers, you were not very good:

Yes, that nice Michigan man fell on you and it probably had something to do with the fact that he also thought you were a tool. Perhaps he was jealous that you were the 1988 Ohio High School Player of the Year for football and couldn't handle your greatness. I don't know.

Bubba doesn't have all of the answers, but he does know that you are a tool.

*This article was in no way meant to offend or harm the feelings of his toolness, Kirk Herbstreit.

The Deep-Fried Red River Heart Attack

This weekend brings us the great fall tradition of the State Fair of Texas and the Red River Shootout (not to be confused with the Red River Rivalry that title sponsor AT&T wants you to call it). This annual meeting between the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma is just as unique as “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” and I’d put the shootout on the same level if this game wasn’t played at 11AM central time every year.

The game promises to be intense and we will get into the on-field merits of the Longhorns and Sooners as well as the rivalry and the fans later. First, let’s focus on the State Fair of Texas’ seemingly never ending selection of deep-fried food. Every year “Big Tex” offers up some oddly developed and oddly delicious concoctions that could only conceived in a cauldron of hot Texas Crisco.

1) Fried Coca-Cola: Being a UGA Graduate raised in the thriving Southwest Georgia metropolis of Americus, how could this not appeal to me? I mean, we are basically talking about deep fried dough made with one of God’s great gifts to society, Coca-Cola. Add some “Coca-Cola syrup” and whipped cream and you’ve taken the funnel cake to another level.

2) Chicken Fried Bacon: Battered, deep-fried, peppered Bacon that is served with Honey Mustard or Ranch dipping sauce, say what? I will have 6 please. Seriously, I know some people hate it, but thank you Texas for Chicken Fried stuff. Think you could get this stuff on a cheeseburger? Better idea yet, a Chicken Fried Bacon Cheeseburger, yum. Honorable mention here would have to go to the Chocolate Covered Bacon served at the Arkansas State Fair. See, Texas didn’t think of everything.

3) Fernie’s All-American Fried Grilled Cheese Sandwich: The Grilled Cheese Sandwich is one of life’s true little pleasures. Get a little cheese, some good bread and griddle it with butter in a pan. The cheese melts and the bread toasts, easy comfort food right there. Now, how can we improve on that? Here is an idea, lets take the cheese and bread combination, dunk it in an egg and milk batter and cover it with light breadcrumbs. After a quick bath in Crisco you get a souped-up cheese Monte Cristo, sign me up now.

"Big Tex" is a fan of Rolaids. You should be too.

Now, there is nothing like 4 days on St. Simons and/or in Jacksonville for Georgia and Florida’s annual celebration of the repeal of prohibition. However, I believe that a few restaurants at the Jacksonville Landing serving Chicken Fried Bacon would really put that party over the top.

Seriously, this game has had major implications on the national college football scene for decades and the 103rd edition to be played Saturday is no different. Oklahoma and Texas are both very strong squads that have rolled in the majority of their games with strong QB play. The Sooners have a strong supporting cast behind Sam Bradford and look for him to make good decisions and big plays with the football. On the other side, Colt McCoy has really been outstanding in leading the Horns in both rushing and passing. Neither defense has been stretched or tested this season with the type of athletes that they will see Saturday, leading me to believe that points will be put on the scoreboard. Personally, I see Oklahoma pulling out a 31-27 victory in a hard fought, entertaining football game but this game can be very unpredictable. Just look at the 63 and 65 spot that OU dropped on the Burnt Orange in 2000 and 2003. On a side note, why does Oklahoma call themselves OU when they are the University of Oklahoma, shouldn’t they be UOK? The same thing goes for Kansas, oh well.

Last but never least, we need to mention the fans in Dallas, the atmosphere of the Cotton Bowl, and the history of the game. Texas and Okalahoma have never really been fond of each other and this is literally a ball busting rivalry. Dallas was selected as the host site for this game in 1912 because of its proximity and central location to both college campuses and the Cotton Bowl has been used as a neutral stadium since 1929. Like Jacksonville and the Gator Bowl, tickets are split 50/50 but in a far more interesting manor going down the 50 yard line.


Texas owns a 57-40-5 record overall in the series and has a 46-35-4 edge since the move to Dallas. Names featured in this game are college football royalty, including former OU QB and Texas Head Coach Darrell Royal and OU Coaches Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer. Overall, this is one of the greatest games and football atmospheres of the year. It is better than Michigan/Ohio State in my opinion and it blows that Notre Dame/USC crap out of the water. Real football is played in the south with fried food and without a guy riding around wrapped in tin foil on a big damn horse.

Tailgates, Touchdowns, and Tears: A Thank You Note to College Football

Dear College Football,

On the dawn of a new college football season, I wanted to drop you a note to thank you for the joys you bring to myself and many others. As the dog days of August draw to end, a revival in the South takes place. For the new season brings hope, because on that first day in late August or early September , everyone is undefeated. From the powerhouses of the SEC and the Pac-10 to academic schools of the Ivy League, there is only one true goal: WIN. As Georgia opens the year as the number one team, I am reminded of all the great times we’ve had and excited at the new memories this year will bring.




Thank you college football, for creating the largest outdoor family reunion six (or seven, or in Auburn’s case eight) weekends a year. Everyone is your “brother”, “mom”, “uncle” or “cousin”, and is excited to see you again. Despite the table being a fold up plastic one and the flatware being made of plastic, the food is better than most that can be found on at Thanksgiving dinner. There are plenty of hugs to go around and everyone is amazed at how good you look and interested in every little detail of your life.

Thank you college football, from reminding me to never forget my college years. In the working world, 8 AM is the start of a long day behind a desk. But in Athens on Saturday, 8 AM is the perfect time to crack the first of what will be many beers to come. Where meeting up with friends means seeing them again for the first time since last year, and even your friends who moved out west are back. They call college the best time of your life, and every Saturday in the fall brings me right back.

Thank you college football, for the pageantry that professional football can never match nor understand. Pro football cannot touch the traditions of college. Rivalry games, marching bands, cheerleader, live mascots, there is no comparison. Come this Saturday, when the Battle Hymn of the Bulldog Nation echoes over the speakers at Sanford, 92,000 fans will the be in the most exciting place in the world.

He was hungry

Thank you college football for characters that fill our airways. There are those we love (Larry Munson, Keith Jackson, Uncle Verne) and those we loathe (Mark May, anyone at Florida), but they all bring a piece of the pie that make college football the best show on television. I may have not yet been born when Lindsay Scott went 92 yards to beat Florida in 1980, but when David Greene hit Verron Haynes in the end zone to beat the Vols in Knoxville, I understood what people we talking about. I cannot imagine either of those calls without the voice of Larry Munson, the greatest announcer I have had the privilege to hear.


Thank you college football for the debates. From off-season recruiting, to spring games, to summer work outs, and finally kick-off, the conversation about who is the best, what decision the coach should have made, and who will win it all never ends. While we may have not made it the National Championship game with 2 losses in ’07, it sure was fun to make the case.

And lastly, thank you college football for the tears. Tears of joy, tears of defeat, tears of sadness, tears of pain, tears of redemption, and tears of triumph. One minute you rip our hearts out, the next you bring it right back. Few things can bring grown men to tears, but you are definitely the best.

Thanks again and best wishes in 2008,

Streit