Monthly Archives: October 2011

EJSIC College Football Top 25 – Week 9

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Finally, we are only days away from the matchup pitting the #1 and #2 teams in the EJSIC poll. There were a few shake-ups this week as Nebraska jumped into the top 10 and Wisconsin fell out.

As always, if you disagree, feel free to whine about them in the comments section.

1. LSU (149 – 5)
This week: at #2 Alabama

2. Alabama (144 – 1)
This week: vs #1 LSU

3. Oklahoma State (136)
This week: vs #14 Kansas State

4. Stanford (133)
This week: at Oregon State

5. Boise State (128)
This week: at UNLV

6. Oklahoma (114)
This week: vs Texas A&M

7. Nebraska (108)
This week: vs Northwestern

8. Oregon (107)
This week: at Washington

9. Arkansas (97)
This week: vs #13 South Carolina

10. Clemson (95)
This week: BYE

11. Houston (84)
This week: at UAB

12. Michigan (78)
This week: at Iowa

13. South Carolina (75)
This week: at #9 Arkansas

14. Kansas State (73)
This week: at #3 Oklahoma State

15. Virginia Tech (65)
This week: BYE

16. Wisconsin (57)
This week: vs Purdue

17. Penn State (51)
This week: BYE

18. Michigan State (46)
This week: vs Minnesota

19. Georgia (43)
This week: vs New Mexico State

20. Cincinnati (36)
This week: at Pittsburgh

20. USC (36)
This week: at Colorado

22. Arizona State (18)
This week: at UCLA

22. Georgia Tech (18)
This week: BYE

24. Texas (14)
This week: vs Texas Tech

25. Southern Miss (11)
This week: at East Carolina

25. TCU (11)
This week: at Wyoming

Others receiving votes: West Virginia (9), Ohio State (3), Lousiana-Lafayette (1)

2011-2012 College Basketball Preview Series – The Big Ten (+2)

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After not having a team in the Final Four last season, the Big Ten looks to get back on top. However, the only shot appears to lie in Ohio State who returns last season’s Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Jared Sullinger.

Sullinger looks to help improve on Ohio State's Elite 8 finish last season.

After that, the rest of the conference is pretty much up for grabs. As always, teams like Michigan State and Wisconsin will be near the top. Even though Michigan loses Darius Morris, they will likely also finish in the top third.

As far as the rest of the conference goes, here are my predictions:

Big Ten Player of the Year: Jared Sullinger

Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Cody Zeller

Big Ten Coach of the Year: Thad Matta

Conference standings:

1. Ohio State- They return most of their core from last year and have added a few McDonald’s All-Americans to help out off the bench. They shouldn’t have any problem taking the regular season title.
2. Wisconsin- It’s always hard to count out a Bo Ryan led team when it comes to being in the upper tier of the Big Ten. It makes it even more difficult when he has a guy like Jordan Taylor.
3. Michigan- They lose their best player from last year’s team but return just about everybody else including senior Zack Novak and Tim Hardaway, Jr. Trey Burke will have to do his best to fill in for Darius Morris.
4. Michigan State- If this were any other year, I wouldn’t see the Spartans in the top half of the conference. However, it is a little weaker. They return Draymond Green and transfer Brandon Wood should come in and make an impact.
5. Illinois- I think this will be a good, clean start for the Illini. Although they lose Demetri McCamey, they were also fortunate that Jereme Richmond left early. He seemed too hurt more than help. They also bring in a transfer, Sam Maniscalco(Bradley), that will get significant minutes.

6. Indiana- The Hoosiers are one of the most experienced teams in the Big Ten. They also bring in a top-15 recruit in Cody Zeller who should help the team overall in terms of inside and outside play. Look for Will Sheehey to make a huge jump from last season.

7. Purdue- Although they return Robbie Hummel, that’s pretty much all they have in terms of scoring. They don’t return any double-digit scorers from last year and it’s hard to tell how much of an impact Hummel will actually have.
8. Minnesota- They could end up higher than this but they fell off at the end of last season only winning one of their last eleven. Trevor Mbakwe and Ralph Sampson III could lead this team, but they are going to need some support.
9. Northwestern- John Shurna is an All-Big Ten player, but after he and Drew Crawford the Wildcats don’t have much at all. If they want any chance of postseason play they need at least two others two step up and make a big impact.

10. Iowa- They return their top three scorers from last year, but those guys didn’t help lead Iowa anywhere. Fran McCaffery will have his hands full with this team but they should be able to get a few wins.
11. Nebraska- It’ll be very interesting to see how the Cornhuskers adjust to the Big Ten. They struggled in the Big 12 and for the time being I imagine they struggle in this conference.
12. Penn State- Talor Battle was Penn State basketball for the past four years. Now, he is gone and they don’t have a replacement. With a new coach and new faces, the Nittany Lions will be in the basement of the Big Ten this year. It’s really tough to even tell when they will move out of it.

Check out the EJSIC for a weekly updated on what to watch out for and what’s going on in the Big Ten each week throughout the season.

2011-2012 College Basketball Preview Series – Kansas Jayhawks (AKA: “One and a Half Men”)

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(EJSIC is previewing several college basketball teams.  Check out our writers’ takes on Memphis and Duke.)

The 2011-2012 Kansas Jayhawks will see Bill Self hit the court with just six returning scholarship players from last year’s Elite 8 squad. In addition to this core group are nine eight seven six new faces – Freshmen, redshirts and transfers – looking to contribute.

Yo dawg, are we it?

The ultra-thin Jayhawks should still, somehow, be in the mix for a conference title in what’s left of the Big XII. Tough non-conference match ups against Kentucky and Ohio State are presumable losses, and the first-time full round robin conference schedule is likely to take a toll on the young Kansas team.  They will lose games they shouldn’t, possibly win games they shouldn’t and end up winning a game or two in the NCAA tournament come March.

This season will be dominated, however, by anxious Kansas fans collectively holding their breath every time forward Thomas Robinson steps onto the floor. If he happens to get hurt, the team will be entirely on the shoulders of guard Tyshawn Taylor.  And nobody wants to see that.

I’ve Been Experienced: Chapter 20

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I Have Been Experienced, by Jose Kortez
Table of Contents
As my college career ended, I was nearly alone in my celebration. You see, between the transfer and a semester I spent doing an internship, I took 5 years to graduate. The rest of my friends from high school and friends that started college when I did had already graduated. I had some friends during my senior year of college, but they were either younger kids on campus or some of my friends from college who stuck around and got jobs near school.

Women always seemed surprised by my actions even when they had heard from friends what would happen.

Women always seemed surprised by my actions even when they had heard from friends what would happen.

I spent a lot of my senior year studying and working to make enough money to pay the bills. In my free time, I would either go to parties and try to pick up freshmen girls or go out with people from work. But, when I graduated, I saw an opportunity to get all of my real friends together. The people who I had spent the last 9 years hanging out with to some degree or another.

My friend, “Male Model,” was arguably more of a whore than I was and he also took 5 years to graduate, so we decided we’d throw ourselves a big ass party and invite everyone we knew. We even made it formal. Not in dress, but we mailed real invitations instead of just something over the internet. We rented out the pool that we both used to work at. This is the same pool where the DEA showed up 6 years earlier. The pool that gave me the confidence to sleep with girls who were way out of my league, and now the pool that was going to host a party of nearly 500 people.

All of the guests were 21, so we did this by the book. I contacted the police and let them know we were having a party. We rented the pool and assured them we’d clean up. Though the party was before the pool opened for the summer, so we didn’t have to have it clean before the place opened in the morning. We sent out invitations to pretty much every one of our friends and some of their parents. We cut a grassy area back to allow for camping. We had it all set up.

The day of the party, Male Model and his friend from college, Erin (they weren’t dating, I swear), met me up there around noon to start getting things set up. The party was due to start at 6 and we were having a pig roast and a load of kegs. We all had different tasks we had to complete and once we had everything bought, we tapped the kegs (we had 3 tapped at a time) and were drinking and setting up.

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Luke Warm Linkage

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I just found my Halloween costume.

I’ve Been Experienced: Chapter 27

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I Have Been Experienced, by Jose Kortez
Table of Contents

I have a way with women.

This expression usually translates as: “There’s something about me that women can’t resist.” While I’m not saying that isn’t the case because I do get approached by women more often than seems normal; when I say I have a way with women, the translation is different.

Women always seemed surprised by my actions even when they had heard from friends what would happen.

Women always seemed surprised by my actions even when they had heard from friends what would happen.

There is apparently something about me so infuriating that when an attempted relationship is over, the blow up is shocking and always makes for a great story over some beers while fishing with my buddies.

One story stands out above them all. A shiny beacon for the mental breakdown I am able to instigate. And what makes it better is that it happened in public. I’m sure my friends think I’m full of shit half the time, so this time, while sitting at the bar in the middle of Michigan, mouths gaping, they soaked in what I have come to understand is the normal reaction to a break up.

For some background, I had met this girl through a friend and she was pretty cool. We had hung out a few times and things were going well. We made out, went out a few times after that, and finally I decided it would be ok if we dated. We went out for maybe two months and things were crazy. We’d spend a lot of time going out to bars at night, stumbling back to my place, and usually getting it on somewhere in between.

She was kind of a hippie, kind of a wannabe psychologist. She’d always try to pry deep into my head to see what I was thinking, which, as anyone who has spent 30 seconds with me knows, is impossible. But she was also freaky and crazy and I was all about how wild things got and what she was willing to let me do to her.

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