If you didn’t know, the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic is an annual college basketball tournament that takes place at Madison Square Garden. Every year, New York sports fans are treated to matchups featuring a handful of the best teams in the nation. Syracuse won the 2009 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic by defeating North Carolina. The brackets for the 16th edition of the tournament were announced on Monday and guarantee another set of thrilling games.
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All eyes may be focused on the NFL Combine today but that won’t be the case for Aaron Ross. The Giants defensive back is in Texas for his wedding. Today, he’ll get married to his long-time girlfriend Sanya Richards.
If you didn’t already know, Richards is quite the athlete herself. She has two Olympic gold medals to her name along with four golds at the World Championships. The couple has been dating since 2003 when they met at the University of Texas. I’m glad they’re finally getting hitched. Because I can’t wait until they produce a super-athlete child.
Recently, Richards was at Bridal Reflections on Fifth Avenue for her final fitting in her wedding gown. She also had a film crew with her as the wedding will air on WEtv’s “Platinum Weddings.” You can read more on Richards’ wedding plans here.
Tags: aaron ross, football, girlfriends, married, new york giants, NFL, platinum weddings, sanya richards, university of texas, wedding, wives
Colt McCoy may have lost a big football game but he continues to win at life. The former Longhorns signal caller is about to embark on the next stage of his professional career. But before that, he also took the next step in his personal life.
Word out of Austin is that Colt McCoy proposed to his long-time girlfriend Rachel Glandorf (see more of her here). Glandorf rose to prominence after cameramen included her in shots of McCoy’s family. After that, she became an internet sensation and had to request that Deadspin take down pictures of her. She got so much buzz in that period that even Rick Reilly threw his creepy two cents in to the mix — calling her “hotter than shrimp vindaloo.”
Earlier in the week, Colt took Glandorf to dinner at a restaurant called Santa Rita Tex Mex Cantina and proposed to his long-time girlfriend. Colt’s father Brad called Glandorf a “wonderful young lady” and said that the pair had a great relationship. In other news, their unborn child has already verbally committed to play football at Texas.
While you may not have a chance with Rachel anymore (not that you ever did), at least you can see her in the stands in future NFL games. With Kurt Warner retiring, we’re going to need a new hottie other than Brenda Warner. That was a joke. And hey, maybe Tim Tebow can find a girlfriend now that he’s going to the NFL. Or maybe not…
UPDATE: Apparently Colt actually proposed to Glandorf on the University of Texas football field…
MORE ON RACHEL GLANDORF
Colt McCoy Scores Nicest POA in NCAA [BigLeagueScrew]
Colt McCoy’s Girlfriend Rachel Glandorf Now On-Court VIP, Posing With UT Cheerleaders [BustedCoverage]
Colt McCoy’s Girlfriend, Rachel Glandorf, is Having a Much Better Evening [TheBigLead]
With the BCS National Championship coming up tomorrow, the Longhorns made their second trip to Los Angeles in the past few years. The last time they were in the Rose Bowl, actors including Will Ferrell and Matthew McConaughey attended the event. You might think that McConaughey, a Texas alumnus, would be the team’s favorite actor. But McConaughey didn’t even tally a single vote when the team was polled.
The University of Texas sports information department runs the incredibly informative TexasSports.com site. The site includes player profiles, highlights, and a number of other great features. For the football team, they even list facts about themselves and some of their favorite things. Most of the football team was asked who their favorite actor is. While Will Ferrell managed to secure the runner up spot, he was still absolutely crushed by Denzel Washington. Denzel racked up an impressive 20 out of 71 total votes. Will Ferrell was also appealing with 9 votes followed by Will Smith and Jamie Foxx at 7 votes each. The only other actors that tallied multiple votes were Eddie Murphy, Chris Tucker, Mel Gibson, and Katt Williams. Only 14 players voted for an actor other than the ones previously listed. The same groupthink was evident in the female part of the poll as well. Halle Berry amassed 9 out of the 35 total votes with Jessica Alba (7), Meagan Good (4), and Angelina Jolie (3) receiving votes. If you were curious, the Longhorns’ star quarterback Colt McCoy did pick Denzel Washington but listed his favorite movie as Gladiator. Coincidentally, Denzel has attended the Rose Bowl before — but only when USC was playing.
They also asked some of the players about their favorite movies. Bad Boys II cleaned up while Gladiator, Will Ferrell movies, and football movies got a lot of votes as well. You might think that the players would pick Denzel Washington movies as their favorites — but nobody did. It’s not so surprising to me that so many players picked Denzel Washington. However, it’s almost shocking that he didn’t have a role in Bad Boys II.
Tags: 2010, bad boys ii, bcs, Chris Tucker, college football, denzel washington, Eddie Murphy, football, halle berry, jessica alba, Katt Williams, Mel Gibson, national championship, rose bowl, texas longhorns, university of texas, will ferrell
Matthew McConaughey loves Longhorns’ football. The movie star had previously attended numerous Texas football games including the 2006 Rose Bowl. McConaughey also made the trip to last year’s Fiesta Bowl where Texas beat Ohio State 24-21. But will he make it to Pasadena this year?
The actor who played Wooderson in Dazed and Confused has been pretty busy with family life lately. McConaughey’s daughter Vida was born early Sunday morning and that may keep him from making the trip. Though, it might not matter since he already made a visit to the team earlier this year.
Word out of Austin is that McConaughey hasn’t contacted UT official about acquiring a sideline pass. The actor attended the University of Texas as an undergraduate and is set to star as Thomas Magnum in the upcoming Magnum P.I. movie.
Looking to attend this year’s BCS National Championship Game at the Rose Bowl? It’ll cost you. A lot. There are really only three ways to acquire tickets: buy them from the school, buy them from a sports travel agency, or buy them from a scalper. The schools each gets 19,000 tickets and around 53,000 are sold by the Tournament of Roses or given to sponsors. So if you’re not sponsoring the game, we’ve detailed what you’ll have to do to get tickets.
The participating schools, Texas and Alabama, are taking slightly different approaches to doling out tickets. Alabama, with an allotment of 19,000 tickets, took pre-orders that only went to boosters, students, employees and “others associated with the University.” They took 5,000 orders and will no longer accept requests. The tickets were sold at $200 each.
Texas is using economics to solve the problem of supply and demand. The school received 32,000 requests for a little more than 14,000 tickets. The university allotted about 4700 of the 19,000 tickets to students, the band, football team family members, sponsors, and UT officials. The remaining 14,000+ tickets will be sold through the Longhorn Foundation. The tickets are also being sold for $200 — but wait, there’s more. In order to have the right to buy the tickets, you must “donate” $1500 to the Longhorn Foundation. For the 2005 Rose Bowl, Longhorns fans had to donate $650 for the right to buy.
There will be a public sale for tickets starting on December 15th at 11AM eastern. The tickets will cost $275 plus Ticketmaster fees. But you can be sure they’ll be sold out in minutes. Good luck with that.
The remaining options to purchase tickets are both through the secondary market. Currently, tickets can cost anywhere from $899 each for two tickets in the upper end zone to a cool $111,062 for a suite. If you’re looking for less hassle, you can go the sports travel agency route. The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer outlined those options:
Karen Griffin, an agent at Elite Travel in Decatur, Ala., has packages costing $1,599 apiece for double occupancy including end zone tickets, ground transportation and two nights in a hotel. The packages, she said, “are selling like hotcakes.”
She estimates she’s sold 10 packages on her own and demand hasn’t slowed yet. The $1,599 does not include airfare and finding flights in and out of the Los Angeles area is the hard part as of Wednesday afternoon, Griffin said.
There was one offering on the online classified site craigslist.com that solves that issue. For $8,000 per person, Alabama fans can get a seat on a private plane, stay one night in a hotel and sit in lower-level premium seats.
Sportstraveler.com still was offering packages to those sold by Elite that also include round-trip airfare, three nights in a hotel and end zone tickets for $2,905. Take out the tickets and packages cost $2,200.
Ticketmaster had similar offers, but the option to select packages out of Birmingham that were listed Tuesday was not on the Web site as of Wednesday evening. There are still packages marketed toward Texas fans with flights leaving Dallas and three nights in a hotel for $2,295.
Even the official Web site for the BCS Championship and the Tournament of Roses had limited options and a link to its own ticket resale Web site with seats priced no cheaper than $1,000 apiece. Packages similar to those sold by Elite Travel were available on the site tournamentofroses.com, starting at $1,900 for double occupancy.
Still, finding and paying for tickets doesn’t actually mean that you’ll get them. If you’re actually thinking about buying tickets, it’s probably best to avoid craigslist since many of those listings are scams. Here are some tips to makes sure you aren’t victimized by a scammer.
At this point, the best options are probably hoping you can luck out with the public sale or buying a package through a sports travel agency. Though, waiting for the public sale almost guarantees that travel costs will have gone up by then. If you’re bold enough, you could even book your travel and try to buy tickets on-site. That could work out, but remember to review the tickets to ensure that they’re real. It’s much worse to be screwed by fraud than price-gouging.
So if you were trying to come up with a way to drop a few G’s on an evening, the BCS National Championship Game is a good option. Maybe next time around you should just earn yourself a ticket to the game like Colt McCoy and the Longhorns. Yeah, that was a joke.
Tags: alabama crimson tide, bcs national championship game, college football, longhorn foundation, rose bowl, scalpers, stubhub, texas longhorns, tickets, university of alabama, university of texas
Colt McCoy and the Texas offense didn’t get much done on Saturday night. But it was enough to earn an invite to the BCS National Championship Game. The Longhorns will face an Alabama squad that may be peaking after stomping on Florida this weekend.
Many pundits will claim that this is just more of the “BCS mess” but that’s simply hyperbole. In the preseason poll, Texas was slotted at #2 and Alabama came in at #5. Even then it seemed as if the national championship matchup could end up being the Big 12 winner against the SEC winner with Florida at #1 and Oklahoma at #3.
The “snubbed” teams including Boise State, TCU, and Cincinnati didn’t even crack the top 10 in the preseason. Boise State’s best game was its first game. Unfortunately, they beat Oregon early in the season and the game was overshadowed by LeGarrette Blount’s punch. Could Boise State compete with Texas or Alabama? Probably. But their schedule didn’t even come close to earning them a bid for the big game. You could also argue for Cincinnati but there isn’t much there. Cincy’s best three games were against Oregon State, South Florida, and West Virginia. The Beavers were nothing more than a potential spoiler. South Florida was good but not great while West Virginia wasn’t a big enough win to overtake Texas or Alabama. The success of Zach Collaros may have detracted from the luster of their undefeated season as well. An unheralded 3-star recruit should not be able to pile up stats during the meat of the conference schedule. TCU may deserve a shot but they’re being overrated because they peaked late in the season. It’s doubtful that anybody would be whispering they should be headed to the Rose Bowl if their 14-10 win over Clemson or 20-17 victory over Air Force had occurred this past week. However, in November they beat Utah and blew out three poor opponents which gave them a lot of momentum.
Bitterness aside, this is a great pairing for the title game. Both teams have as close to NFL-caliber defenses as you can get in college football. Texas seems to have the advantage in the matchups — primarily when the Alabama offense faces the Texas defense. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a very similar game to the Big 12 Championship with Alabama getting little on offense. Texas boasts the best rushing defense in the nation and it’s doubtful that Greg McElroy will light them up through the air. However, Bama has a great chance to win if Saban can create the ideal offensive gameplan. If the Tide get off to a fast start, they could easily cruise to victory. The game may even come down to the special teams matchup. Both teams have explosive return men in Javier Arenas and Jordan Shipley (plus a few others). Coincidentally, kickers Hunter Lawrence and Leigh Tiffin are 1-2 in the nation in total points.
If you ask me (and you may not have), I say Texas comes out on top — but barely. My gut says that Greg McElroy won’t be able to get much going and Bama rides Mark Ingram. Texas won’t get much on offense either and the score will ultimately be decided by a field goal or non-offensive touchdown. Let’s say 23-20 Texas. Now that you have our winner, here are the storylines that will be repeated ad nauseam for the next month:
Both Will Muschamp (Texas defensive coordinator) and Major Applewhite (Texas running backs coach) have worked with Nick Saban. Muschamp teamed with Saban at LSU and with the Miami Dolphins while Major Applewhite was Saban’s OC at Alabama as recently as 2007. Applewhite chose the Texas running backs coach job over the Alabama OC job and potential head coaching jobs elsewhere.
Texas starting running back Tre’ Newton and Alabama starting quarterback Greg McElroy both played together in high school. They won a state championship at Southlake Carroll in 2005. Their coach at the time, Todd Dodge, is now the head man at the North Texas.
In 2006, Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy was the 43rd ranked recruit in the state of Texas. He wasn’t offered a scholarship to Texas who had already locked up Jevan Snead (#8 recruit in Texas) and Colt McCoy (#73). McElroy defeated Jevan Snead and the Ole Miss Rebels 22-3 earlier in the season. Now, he’s gunning for McCoy.
Other than Mark Ingram, wide receiver Julio Jones is clearly Alabama’s most dangerous playmaker. He’ll likely draw (double?) coverage from either Aaron Williams or Chykie Brown. Texas has had great pass coverage all season and it would be surprising to see Jones break out. That could open the door for WR Marquis Maze who had 5 catches for 96 yards against Florida last week. Bama exploited the fact that Maze often matched up with a linebacker.
Alabama has two starting cornerbacks (Kareem Jackson, Javier Arenas) that should make it in the NFL. They’ll face a tough matchup against the Longhorns’ big and deep receiving corps. Jordan Shipley (6-0, 190) is Texas’ #1 receiver, but it’s likely the Horns will go to Malcolm Williams (6-3, 220) and Dan Buckner (6-4, 215) early and often. Buckner usually plays out of a flex tight end spot, so it’ll be interesting to see if Alabama puts a linebacker or a defensive back on him. Texas offensive coordinator Greg Davis might utilize more shotgun spread formations to neutralize Alabama’s top defensive backs and defensive tackle Terrence Cody.
The Longhorns have had trouble running the ball all season. They seem to be at their best when McCoy is running option read plays that allow him to either hand it off to the back or isolate backside defenders by carrying the ball himself. It will be interesting to see how they match up against a stout Alabama defense that includes behemoth DT Terrence Cody. Conversely, Texas has the #1 ranked rush defense in the nation and allows only 31.3 yards per game. Mark Ingram may have a tough time maneuvering through Texas’ monster defensive line that has a ton of depth.
A number of soon-to-be NFLers will get (potentially) their last chance to impress NFL brass. Potential 2010 first day picks include: Colt McCoy (QB), Adam Ulatoski (OT), Sergio Kindle (DE/OLB), Roddrick Muckelroy (OLB), Earl Thomas (S), Jordan Shipley (WR), Terrence Cody (DT), Rolando McClain (ILB), Javier Arenas (DB), Kareem Jackson (DB), and Mike Johnson (G). It wouldn’t be surprising to see Rolando McClain put forth an effort that made him a top 10 overall pick in April.
Texas will be without D.J. Monroe and Marcus Davis for the game. With a over a month until the matchup (including the holidays and New Years), there could be even more disciplinary action before the big game. Florida’s Carlos Dunlap was suspended for the SEC Championship which may have given the Tide a big boost.
Tags: aaron williams, adam ulatoski, alabama crimson tide, bcs national championship game, big 12 championship, chykie brown, college football, colt mccoy, dan buckner, dj monroe, earl thomas, football, greg davis, greg mcelroy, hunter lawrence, javier arenas, jevan snead, jordan shipley, julio jones, kareem jackson, leigh tiffin, mack brown, major applewhite, malcolm williams, marcus davis, mark ingram, mike johnson, ncaa, nick saban, roddrick muckelroy, rolando mcclain, rose bowl, sec championship, terrence cody, texas longhorns, tre' newton, university of alabama, university of texas, will muschamp
Texas fans were more than pleased that they beat might Louisiana-Monroe. But the biggest cheers may have come for an image that ran on the Godzillatron. I know people hate the “Kiss Cam”, but I’m fine with them coaxing college girls into some PDA. The Godzillatron ran the image of the lovely Texas fans above and the crowd let out a roar of approval. The only thing that riled up Texas fans more than coed-on-coed action was the news that BYU had dropped Oklahoma in Dallas.
Tags: college football, football, godzillatron, kiss cam, texas longhorns, university of texasWhen Colt McCoy arrived at the University of Texas, he looked like he might be a kicker. He decided to bulk up after an injury-plagued sophomore season and then looked like a baby-faced He-Man. McCoy’s junior campaign saw him lead the team in rushing and set a new NCAA record for completion percentage. Coming into his senior season, there were only three things left for McCoy to accomplish: win a Heisman, win a National Championship, and grow an awesome mustache. Well, you can cross off one of those and the season hasn’t even started.
McCoy showed off quite a mustache after a preseason camp session. The Heisman contender said that he was growing the ’stache as a part of a team unity exercise with the offensive line. Reactions to McCoy’s mustache were mixed. Defensive end Sergio Kindle said, “I think it’s a good change-up for everybody. I think it looks nice. He can pull it off. He’s doing it right now.” Colt was less complimentary of his facial hair saying, “Every time I look in the mirror I go ‘wow, gross.’ It’s coming off tonight.” I wonder what his girlfriend Rachel Glandorf thinks about it. You can see the original video with McCoy’s mustache on the Fox 7 website. Below are a few frames of the glorious ’stache to cherish before it’s gone. Speaking of mustaches, we’ll be growing ours for Movember this year. It’s a charitable cause to benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Stuff like that makes us feel less guilty about the other 11 months of the year. Look into it.
I was on the Internets today (all of them) and came across an image from the Gatorade Athlete of the Year ceremony. I was extremely excited to see that my man Garrett Gilbert was taking home the hardware. Double G should be dominating the Big 12 as a Longhorn after Colt McCoy departs for the NFL. Shortly after I broke the trance caused by GG’s ugly suit, I noticed that he was standing next to an extremely attractive female.
Garret Gilbert would be the perfect spokesman for the Gatorade "G" campaign
As I’ve stated in the past, a large minority of beautiful women come from Texas. The epicenter of this hotness hovers around Austin, Texas and the University of Texas campus. I was alerted by my buddy Paul that there were pictures of the 2009 Texas Pom Squad floating around. For those of you that don’t know, the Pom Squad is a beautiful concept. Here’s the definition from the University of Texas Spirit website:
Pom Squad Definition
Texas Pom members specialize in dance, chants, short pom routines and mainly utilize cheer technique at all sporting events and appearances. The squad performs at home and away football games, men’s and women’s home basketball games, basketball tournaments, women’s home soccer games, and other University functions. Texas Pom also makes numerous appearances on television and radio and at non-University functions as determined by the Head Coach and Associate Athletic Director.
Hook 'em, indeed.
