collegefootballtopten.com

Bowl Champ. Series Top Ten

1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. Cincinnati
4. TCU
5. Florida
6. Boise St.
7. Oregon
8. Ohio St.
9. Georgia Tech
10. Iowa

Well, actually, it’s probably the rain.  It has been raining this evening in Fort Worth, Texas.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I am beginning to smell football in the air!

It’s the smell of cut grass.  It’s the smell of a late summer rain shower.  It’s the smell of pigskin.  It’s the smell of media days.  It’s the smell of Phil Steele.  It’s the smell of Dave Campbell’s Football (in Texas).  It is the smell of preseason previews and predictions.

Football is in the air!

I spent a little time today watching a couple of games from last year on ESPN U.  My college football juices began to pump, and I jumped in the air for joy!  Not really, but I wanted to.

I started to talking to a guy at work yesterday about the spread offense, and I began to get going just a little bit.  I became excited none the least.  Speaking of which, the yearly football display is up at Borders in Fort Worth where I work.  Come by and check it out if you are in town.  There will be new books out in the coming weeks, and they will be up when they come out.

Books Coming Out
Probably the book which will get the most publicity is Game Day by Craig James.  James, the former SMU star and ABC/ESPN commentator has been apart of ESPN’s Game Day for several years now, and he has the stories to share with you and me.  You can pre-order it at my bookstore.  It comes out September 22, 2009.

The Long Snapper by Jeffrey Marx
Marx is the author of Season of Life, and he is coming out with this book on September 1.  It should be very inspirational.

Our Boys by Joe Drame
This is another book about a small-town football team who was extremely successful.  This book is set to be released August 18.

Gift for Ron by Everson Walls
This is the inspirational story of how Everson Walls decided to give a kidney to his friend and former teammate Ron Springs.  This book is set for a November 3 release date.

First Star by Lars Anderson
This is another book about the great Red Grange.  I became impressed with Red’s life story after reading the book about him by Gary Andrew Poole, Galloping Ghost (which I still recommend!).  This is book has a December 29 release date.

I have been contacted by a marketing firm who is conducting a survey for Versus.  They are trying to improve their coverage of college football, and we can help!

Many of my readers are TCU fans who plays in, of course, the Mountain West Conference.  The MWC puts several of its games on Versus.  Do you remember the TCU/ Utah game?  Well, that game was played on Versus.

Fans are always looking for the chance to impact the big picture.  Here is our chance!  Just follow the link below and take the survey.  The survey takes about 5 minutes, maybe.  The questions are pretty simple to asnwer, you won’t hurt your brains!

Hopefully, for MWC fans, and for the fans looking for the best games, Versus will be picked up by more cable companies next year.

Thanks

Survey

Merry Christmas from Collegefootballtopten.com to all my friends, family, readers and blogosphere friends.  I have decided to offer a Christmas Wish List, much like I did at Pegasus News (it will be up Christmas Morning), for some of my blogger friends.

For the Finch at Spitbloodtcu.com
A win for TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl against Boise State.  Wait, that already happened.  O.k., for rest after returning home from San Diego where you watched the Poinsettia Bowl.

John at the Nebraska Sports Journal
I wish for you a win for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Gator Bowl against the Clemson Tigers.  Go Huskers!

For my friend Thomas at the Mean Green Cougar Red blog
A win for the Houston Cougars against Air Force in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl here in Fort Worth.  I usually root for the Mountain West Conference team, but in the case I will make an exception.  I know you have had a tough year this year with a hurricane, snow a few days ago, and a family member in a major accident.  I hope you get some good cheer.  By the way, I just noticed that I hadn’t put your site on my blogroll.  I am not sure how I left you off, and I am sorry.

Brian at Inthebleachers.net
I hope that your site continues to become king of the college football blogosphere because you are all class.  Also, I hope that Penn State upsets USC in the Rose Bowl.  I would love to see that, wouldn’t you?

For Doug at college football walk on
I hope that you are able to get enough nominations for the walk-on award so that we can get that first award out to a deserving kid.  Keep at it, it is a worth while award.

For Seth at Double T Nation
I hope that you keep on doing your stuff.  You may have one of the best school-centered blogs I’ve seen.  Also, here’s to hoping that Mike Leach teaches Houston Nutt how to run an offense.  “Guns up!”

Eddie at The Red Zone Report
Your site/blog may be the most comprehensive, mega-site I have ever seen.  I hope that you keep it going and are real successful.

To Josh at BigPurpleNation.com
Josh does a real good job of covering all things TCU.  Josh is also a stand-up guy.  My hope for you is that you can keep it up.  I also hope for continued success.

For Harry at GoMeanGreen.com
Keep up the good work Harry.  You guys do good work and you are really dedicated.  I hope that the dedication pays off in a successful football season next year for UNT.

For my readers like Lee Cochenour, and all of you who played in the DFW Pickem, have a very Merry Christmas!  God Bless and a happy new year!

I just want to follow up on a post that The Wiz wrote the other day about the lack of attention Turner Gill is getting for some of these marque coaching jobs.  Gill’s Bulls upset Ball State in the MAC Championship

game and has absolutely turned around one of the most horrid programs in the NCAA.  Gill would make a fine hire for some of these BCS teams looking for new coaches.  They should give him a look.

As for other African-American coaching candidates, I propose Charlie Strong.  He will be coaching in a national championship game for the second time in three years at Florida and he is up for the Broyles Award.  Not too bad.  Oh yea, I am biased because he is from my hometown of Batesville, AR.

Some may remember Dr. Fitz Hill, the former San Jose State football coach.  Well, Dr. Hill has been following the madness in the coaching carousel the past couple of years on his blog, Crackback.  Check out his blog.

Saturday, December 13th, Dallas Cowboy pro bowl TE Jason Witten will be signing autographs at Gameday Connexion in Fort Worth.  Witten is the do-everything TE from the University of Tennessee and has

developed into one of Cowboy QB Tony Romo’s favorite targets.  The autograph session will begin at 12:30 PM at the Fort Worth store which is located in Ridegmar Mall just around the corner from The Rave Movie Theater.

The prices for the signing range from $59 to $79 depending on what you bring to sign.  Of course, if you don’t have anything for Witten to sign, you can pick something up at the store.  Gameday Connexion is the best place to get memorabilia with items such as mini-helmets, jerseys, photos, etc.

In addition to Witten, Cowboy rookie TE Martellus Bennett will be at Gameday Connexion to sign autographs.  Martellus has been a very good addition to the Cowboys this season catching TD passes in each of the last three games including the game winner against Redskins.

That’s right!  You can Christmas shop right here from Collegefootballtopten.com.  Until January, I will have a page up which can direct you to the gifts for the college football fans in your life.  You can shop for tickets to games, by jerseys, books, etc. You can also get CFTT Gear from our CFTT Shopppe.  There are tons of different gift ideas that you can come up with simply by logging on to our Christmas Shopping page.  Plus, you will be supporting your favorite college football website.

Just visit the Christmas Shopping Page at Collegefootballtopten.com.

I think that this might become an annual event.  Maybe people will even make a big deal about it.  Oh well, it is a lot of fun to do.  I have my ten things together, and some will be similar to last year’s post.  So, here they are.

10.  Technology
Technology allows us to do what we do on the internet.  My job is much easier with technology, computers that is.  We use cell phones, watch TV’s, listen to music, and surf the internet because of technology.  My wife even baked Thanksgiving pies because of technology.

9.  Christmas Season
Last year I mentioned autumn.  I do love autumn, but I like the Christmas season too.  We celebrate Christmas on December 25th, but the season lasts about four to five weeks.  In fact, Friday will be the first “official” shopping day for Christmas.  Many of you will be out trying to catch those deals.  We get to hear Christmas music for about two months, listen to Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and see some of the best movies like It’s a Wonderful Life.

8.  Work/Job
It might not be the absolute best job in the world, but I have one.  It provides me with a paycheck and health insurance.  We also get to talk to customers about books.  I also have some pretty cool co-workers.

7.  Stories
I love stories.  People have stories to tell.  Currently, I am reading about the story of the great Red Grange, the The Galloping Ghost by Gary Andrew Poole.  I have read a lot of stories in the last year, and I enjoy hearing other people’s stories.  Most of the time.

6.  Serafina

My cat serafina

She’s my cat.  She is pretty entertaining, and she gives good hugs.  She usually roots for tigers, lions or wildcats when we watch football.

5.  Football
My site is a football site, right?  Well, I enjoy watching it.  Mostly, I enjoy watching college, but I watched a couple of high school games this year for my friends who play at Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth, TX.  I’ll even watch the Dallas Cowboys play.

4.  Coffee
What would I do without coffee?  I would probably be much better off.  Coffee that keeps me going include Seattle’s Best Coffee, Peet’s, Community Coffee, and Aduro Bean Coffee from right here in Fort Worth.  Check those guys out.  They do a great job, and they roast their own beans.  They will ship to you or you can arrange to pick it up if you live in Fort Worth.

3.  Writing
I have done more of it in the past year than in a long time.  I have written here at Collegefootballtopten.com, Pegasus News and the Nebraska Sports Journal.  Word is that Sports Illustrated is looking to replace Stewart Mandel with me (not really!).

2.  Blogger Friends
I have made some blogger friends in the past year.  Let’s take an inventory.  When I really got going in the Spring, Brian from Inthebleachers.net was very helpful.  He answered all of my emails and added my site to his blogroll.  Thank you Brian for being the class of the college football blogosphere.  Next, I met Kevin from Fanblogs.com.  Kevin too has answered all of my emails.  Then, there is the Wiz who has also answered my emails.  He gave me credit for two poster schedules that I sent in giving me a lot of visits.  Then I met Eddie at The Red Zone Report.  He helped me with my Texas Tour.  Then there was Doug at Collegefootballwalkon.com.  He is establishing an award for college football walk ons.  Locally, I met Josh Harvey from Big Purple Nation, theFinch from SpitbloodTCU.com, and Harry Miers from GoMeanGreen.com.  I am sorry you guys from UNT didn’t have more to cheer about this year.  Finally, I made friends with Seth from Double T Nation, Thomas Gray who runs Mean Green Cougar Red and John who runs the Nebraska Sports Journal.  Thanks guys!

1.  Family/Wife
How does one make it in life without his/her family?  My wife goes to all of my surgeries, and puts up with me.  She probably endures way more than she is allowed to.  My mom and dad are pretty cool living in Conway, AR.  My brother and his wife have three beautiful kids.  His oldest, will be the next great Razorback quarterback, right?  Or maybe slugger on the baseball team.  Great family!

Friday is known as “Black Friday.”  Of course, as all of us retailers know, that signals the first “official” day of Christmas shopping on the day after Thanksgiving.  So, you had better be done with your thanking, because the mad rush to buy the whole world Christmas gifts will be on.  (I know I am not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition).  Anyway, why don’t you come up with a gift from the Collegefootballtopten.com Gear Store.

While we don’t have every item you might need, we do have some good stuff.  Who wouldn’t want a new sweatshirt.  O.k., somone living where the weather doesn’t get cold.  But that’s o.k., we have T-Shirts and even stuffed bears!  There are a lot of neat stuff with the Collegefootballtopten.com logo on them.

And hey, I’ll even give a portion of whatever profit I make between now and Christmas (say 50%) to the Red Cross.  This year’s disaster relief fund has dwindled down due to the many disasters this country has faced.  My home state of Arkansas was hit multiple tornadoes and floods, and Texas, of course, had a damaging hurricane.  So, go ahead, make a purchase at the CFTT Shoppe.

Coming in 2009

A new player in Dallas/Fort Worth.