Finishing touches

 

Ahhh!  It’s Thursday, August 30th and the college football season starts tonight! Look at this menu of appetizers to tantalize your taste buds:  (all times Central)

6:00 p.m. No. 9 South Carolina at Vanderbilt   (Gamecocks are solid!)
6:00 p.m. UCF at Akron         (George O’Leary takes his Knights on the road)
6:00 p.m. Eastern Michigan at Ball State      (MAC Battle)
6:00 p.m. SE Missouri State at Central Michigan   (compass point schools battle it out)
6:00 p.m. Towson at Kent State    (name those teams’ conferences)
6:15 p.m. Northern Colorado at Utah     (Utes padding their record)
6:30 p.m. Massachusetts at Connecticut   (Huskies too much)
6:30 p.m. UCLA at Rice       (Watch out for the feisty night birds!)
6:30 p.m. McNeese State at Middle Tennessee     (The battle of the M-Schools)
7:00 p.m. Sacramento State at New Mexico State    (On TV?  Really?)
7:00 p.m. Southern Utah at Utah State     (Utah State is better than people think)
8:00 p.m. Eastern Washington at Idaho    (Vandals tough at home)
9:15 p.m. Washington State at Brigham Young    (Mike Leach involved?  I will be watching)
9:30 p.m. Northern Arizona at Arizona State    (hmmmm)
10:00 p.m. Minnesota at UNLV   (Late night snack)

And don’t forget Boise State at Michigan State on Friday night in a match of two Top-25ers.


And Down the Stretch They Come
Take a look at the shot above of Amon G. Carter Stadium’s west side, taken this morning.  The crews are working hard to get the finishing touches put on the Frogs new $164 million stadium.   This time next week, the stadium will be dedicated and tours will commence at 1 p.m. on Thursday, September 6th.

Thoughts on New Orleans
I can’t help but think that there’s a hurricane magnet buried somewhere in the French Quarter.  New Orleans can’t catch a break and to think that the storm hit on the 7th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.   My other thought as I watched stranded folks say they didn’t know it was going to be that bad is:  If the National Weather Service tells you a hurricane is coming and you have 36 hours to get out of town…..GET OUT!   As the lady on the Chiffon Margarine commercials back in the 1970s used to say, “It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature!”

'Tis the season ... pre-kickoff thoughts

After a summer off, it’s time to tee up Extra Points again. I hope you’ll savor these as much as I enjoy supplying the food for thought.

Summer is winding down and I hope all of you had a great one. It seemed to go by fast, didn’t it? Now we find ourselves on the lip of the college football cup, about to fall in to all that the great game has to offer between now and the end of December. I can’t wait!

College football isn’t all that’s going on with TCU Athletics. Women’s volleyball and women's soccer teams are off to hot starts. If you can, get to a home match for both teams. The environments are great and the Big 12 schedules for both these teams bring the best in the nation to the TCU campus. Not to be missed.

The new Amon G. Carter Stadium is nearing completion and it is a football palace. The great thing about it is that the stadium’s in the same place, but it’s not the same old place. It’s impressive and your chance to get a preview comes next week on the afternoon of September 6 for the ribbon-cutting and dedication.

I can’t stop thinking about Neil Armstrong. The First Man on the Moon died earlier this week and what a childhood hero he was to guys like me.  I was 7 years old and heading into second grade in the summer of 1969 when Armstrong and his Apollo 11 crew made history and effectively settled the space race.  When he took his “One step for man, one giant leap for mankind” he held the world spellbound and fulfilled John F. Kennedy’s promise of putting a man on the moon by the end of the 1960’s. My entire family watched the shadowy images over the narration of Walter Cronkite on July 20-21. It was special. I don’t know about you, but I never have to work for the answer when someone mentions Apollo 11 and the first man on the moon. I can recall Neil Armstrong’s name as if he’s a family member or a neighbor. That’s how big Armstrong is to me. What are your memories?

That’ll do it for today.  I’d love to hear from you.  Send in your comments and ideas, and I’ll take a swing at ‘em.

Kick ‘Em High!