Buckeyes Assemble! Man they really do hate Michigan.

Packers spotlight Hunter. He’s always looking to get better.

Over/under for App State. Good call on the Elon game. And congrats on the blog.

No JMU love for the expanded playoffs. A potential sixteen-game season is gettin’ kinda out of hand.

Perfect for your Dear Samford letters. Welcome to the SoCon.

Who makes how much. App State athletic revenues rank 219th among 339 schools. Wha?

App State makes recruit’s Top 7. But can we make his Fave 5?

More whining over FBS scheduling. This is getting sad. Again, do the Pats complain about playing the Dolphins?

The ‘Whee breaks bad. There’s a new sheriff in town, and he’s cleaning house.

Time to stir the Battle Royal pot.

The Bleacher Report presents an analysis of the recent record of Tigers’ coach Les Miles. Yet for some odd reason, the author decided to ignore one game in particular.

His 2005 game against Appalachian State has been omitted in keeping with the policy of only analyzing I-A competition.

The post then goes on about winning percentage, points scored, points allowed and other data during the Miles era, leaving open the suggestion that including that one lil’ I-AA foe would unfairly skew those numbers.

They would - against Miles. As I pointed out a few months ago.

Let’s step into the WayBack Machine and visit the 2005 LSU schedule, which ended at a stellar 11-2. The Tigers won four games by 30 or more points - at Mississippi (33 pts), at Mississippi State (30), vs. North Texas (53) and in a bowl game against no. 17 Miami (37).

Meanwhile, lil ‘ol future 3-time national champion App State only lost to LSU by 24. A shutout yes, but a Tiger offense averaging 33 points a game was limited to 14 in the first half. The other 10 came in the fourth. Note that LSU scored more points against Georgia, Tennessee and Arizona State - all ranked - than it did against a “shameful” 63-scholarship I-AA App State.

Yeah, we lost. Yeah, we were shutout. Yeah, no big deal.

But App State gave LSU a helluva better game than most I-As. And in T-minus 59 days and counting, they should get another one.

I don’t like seeing obvious ABC commercials embedded in SportsCenter. I hated “Who’s Now.” And I cringe whenever the “ESPY”s come around. Never liked them. Never will.

That said, Jerry Moore has a seat in this year’s crowd. App State is up for an award. Guess I’ll be tuning in. (Can’t be any worse than this show, can it?)

Best Upset:
Appalachian State over UM, Da’Tara, NY Giants, Fresno State (CWS)

Feel free to drop a vote or 100 for the All-Time Upset.

A few thoughts -

- But I thought THIS was supposedly the biggest ‘upset’ of the year? (Actually, no I didn’t).

- I personally don’t define Giants over Cheaters Patriots as an ‘upset.” Both are professional teams comprised of high dollar athletes performing within a league often described as the epitome of parity. Great win, no doubt. Stopped mass migration to Perfectville. But an ‘upset’?

- Can you really have an upset in an individual sport? Especially one involving a horse? Sure, Da’Tara was the longest shot in the field, but favorite Big Brown was running lame, the hype was drunkenly overdone and .. really … horse racing? Seriously?

- Fresno State winning the College World Series makes a strong case. Lowest seed in any NCAA team sport to make a championship game. Second NCAA title in school history. Down 1-0 in three game series. Yeah, I can see this one.

- Omitted from this ‘upset’ list - Danica Patrick winning a race. How odd.

Photo stolen from bthesite.com

App State great and near-perfection breaker Daniel Wilcox loves his Baltimore Ravens. Almost as much as he loves his woman, Shauna Chin.

So when it came time to tie the knot, well, two great fates go great together.

On Saturday the two were married on the 50, arguably the biggest score in recent M&T Bank Stadium history.

It was something that just kind of happened. We were looking for venues and couldn’t find anything, so we ended up going to the Ravens to work out a deal,” said Wilcox. “To me, Baltimore is home. I’ve got a lot of love for the city and love for the Ravens, so getting married at the stadium means a lot to me. … I work my butt off there on Sundays.”

Despite being held where giant men sweat, swear and slam into one another on Sunday afternoons, the unconventional wedding turned out to be beautiful. “When they were looking for places, I kept saying ‘Why don’t you do it at the stadium?’ and they looked at me like I was crazy,” said Sandra Zabaneh, Chin’s mother. “It ended up being fantastic.”

There’s no truth to the rumor the wedding party wore game jerseys. It’s been done. But there were horses!

As the sun was beginning to set, the bride arrived in a horse-drawn carriage, matching the ceremony’s fairy tale theme of “Strickly [purposely spelled that way to reflect Wilcox’s family name of Strickland] Destiny.” Her dress evoked the style of many fairy tale princesses, complete with a 15-foot train. Wilcox looked peaceful in his ivory suit as he read his heart-felt vows.

Upon completion of the ceremony, the handsome couple rode around the sidelines of the field in the carriage. Friends and family viewed Daniel and Shauna’s first kiss as husband and wife replaying on the Smart Vision Board.

Bout time people left M&T Bank Stadium happy. Especially with Colts running loose there .. again.

Oh, and as cool as the wedding was, the proposal was even grander. Wilcox has the moves which make the ladies groove.

A few months later, Wilcox took Chin to see his alma mater, Appalachian State in Boone, N.C. He decorated a condo with a trail of roses and handwritten notes that led to a balcony overlooking the mountains. When she got to the last note, Wilcox dropped to a knee — a three-point stance if you will — and popped the question. “I didn’t think he was going to propose,” she said. “I was crying. It was beautiful.”

That man could teach a young Bunn a thing or two.

Congrats!

Let’s try this again, with less snark

Lil’ Sammy Samford University officially joins the SoCon today, becoming the league’s 12th member and filling the ETSU void. The school is located in Homewood, Ala. and has an enrollment of 4,500 students.

Other fun facts.

- Samford has 17 varsity teams, including football, softball, baseball, volleyball, women’s soccer and gender split squads in tennis, golf, basketball, cross country and track and field (in/out).

- The school boasts a 5,000-seat bball arena, 6,700-seat football stadium and 1,000-seat baseball stadium.

- With regard to athletic spending, Samford ranks 11th among the 12 SoCon schools.

- Among 242 D1 football teams, Samford was 216th in last season’s Sagarin rankings (The ‘Whee was 186th).

- Samford was a combined 51-46 in football, men’s bball and baseball last season. (Only baseball had a winning record at 33-23).

- The school is 358 miles from GSU, 469 miles from CofC/Citadel, 499 miles from Elon, and 150 miles from UTC.

- Samford comes from the Ohio Valley Conference, where it claimed the league’s Women’s All-Sports Trophy in 2004, 2007 and 2008.

- Football coach Pat Sullivan won the 1971 Heisman at Auburn.

- Famous alumni include FSU coach Bobby Bowden, 2005 Miss America Deidre Downs and Byron ‘Buster’ Bluth.

Attention! Attention! Everyone! I have an announcement.

/dings wine glass with fork

Everyone, today is a great day. Our family has grown by one. /nods to Bulldog in white

You look lovely.

/fawning smile

/General rolls his eyes

/glasses raised

To the SoCon and Lil Sammy, may the love you share today be one day seen as small as Seibert Stadium, compared to the love you will feel ten years from now when UNC Pembroke has joined the league, or fifty years from now when you finally win a conference title.

May you two continue to grow in love as with the speed of the travel budgets within this grand league. If love is a highway, every away game to Homewood will be a porno. Every marriage should have such regular screwing.

So cheers. Love. Peace. And happiness. We welcome this automatic W to our league.

/Chugs glass. And another. And another

/Motions waiter yet another

/Forgoes glass, grabs bottle

Chhhhh-ear…shhhs …..

Suggested t-shirt for the inaugural SoCon FanFest - My top basketball team made me millions and all I could think of was this event.

After posting this pop quiz last week, I found comments from the commish on the origin of that ‘big’ August party - Davidson. The D-Cats NCAA run made the league $4.5 million in never to be seen again unexpected revenue. With all that new money laying around, the league brainstormed how best to spend it.

Web enhancements. More televised games. Sounds good. Then, eureka!

The league will hold an inaugural Southern Conference FanFest this summer in Birmingham, Ala., largely to welcome its newest member, Samford, which officially joins July 1. But Iamarino expected future gatherings to move throughout the SoCon’s five-state footprint.

Nice try, but really, come on. Do they expect anyone from outside the greater Birmingham area to actually make an effort to attend such an event .. on a TUESDAY? Is this the best SoCon marketers could come up with???

Quick idea, off the top of my App State educated head. How about a SoCon FanFest at Carowinds? Anyone coming to the park on a particular Saturday wearing a SoCon team-themed shirt gets in half-price. Assign each school a tent/table/area and schedule a fight song free-for-all during the afternoon. (Loudest chant gets free “SoCon SO CAN!” t-shirts). Free burgers and hot dogs. Signage all over the park. Mascots on the Drop Zone! Cheerleaders in the water park! Armanti and Curry with the Nick Toons! What’s not to love?!

Maybe they thought of that and couldn’t work it out. /shrugs

But come on, there’s gotta be a better FanFest idea than a Tuesday at Lil’ Sammy, no?

It’s been three years, so 3Peat Nation should know the drill. When thinking ahead to the annual App State Bowl FCS National Title game in the Dirty ‘Nooga, you must:

1) Reserve lodging ASAP
2) Purchase tickets the day App State (fingers crossed) makes the playoffs
3) Brainstorm your great sign
4) Decorate your wheels

Time to add one more item to the to-do list - pack some heat. That, or some quality Kevlar.

Judge’s orders.

General Sessions Court Judge Bob Moon said Friday that crime in Chattanooga “has become so rampant that it is no longer possible for the police department to protect our citizens.”

He told a woman who had been pulled from her car and beaten in the head that she or her mother needed to “purchase a weapon, obtain a gun permit and learn to protect yourself.”

Yikes!

The incident occurred in Coolidge Park, which is roughly two miles south from Kidd Brewer West, or about as far as Armanti can throw.

And before you ask, yes they do make bats in Black and Gold. Don’t visit the Dirty ‘Nooga without one!

Tonight is yet another edition of The Bunn and The Bachelorette. Prior to the big sleep-over night is a ‘reunion’ of the booted - those desperate brave men who have been shown the limo. Among those wounded lovers is former App State point guard Graham “The Man with Abs and A Hot” Bunn. /chokes back tears

Last week’s sad, sad farewell will be revisited, only this time with even more DRAMA!

DeAnna and Graham will both be put on the hot seat for a revealing question and answer session with Chris Harrison. Then the Bachelorette and Graham address each other for the first time since his painful rejection. Tempers flare as they argue over her decision to send him home, and Graham also shares the details of what he wrote in a secret letter he left for DeAnna.

(The first time I read that I thought it said Q&A with Chris HANSON. Now THAT would be must see TV.)

Since his booting, Graham has spoken to the media a bit about his time on the show. All these many weeks we thought he was the ultimate plah-ya. Yet he indicates the incredibly desperate hot DeAnna Pappas was the ultimate “on the rebound-ah.”

She has commitment issues — she was one of two women dumped by Brad Womack in the final round of a previous “Bachelor” season.

Bunn said she mentioned Womack often in their private talks.

Tip for the ladies - no matter how good you look in a bikini, nothing turns a man off faster than pining about the one that got away.

In another Q&A, Bunn inadvertently reveals the real reason he ‘lost’ on the show.

Q. How did you end up on the show?

A. Graham Bunn, (The Bachelorette): They were casting in my bar and asked me if I wanted to be on the show. I went in for an interview and they ended up offering me a spot on the show.

Don’t mamas always say you can’t find a good man in a bar? They’re nothing but trouble.

T-Cats loss included deja vu. Richie Williams comes off the bench to ‘trigger a touchdown.’

LSU may be short one speedster. Holliday looking to Olympics.

Flipping for some flops. When trends combine.

Why Radford left VaTech for App State. They wanted to make him a defensive back.

The Human Blur hits ebay. Well, his first pro trading card did.

Champs turn teachers. See the gold. Be the gold.

Rockhold again a champion. Express take division title, now look to playoffs July 3.

Former App pitcher gets first save. Sherrill has a 9.64 ERA with the Helena (Mont.) Brewers.