Texas Tech Red Raider Notes for 07-23-07

by Seth C on Jul 23, 2007 5:52 AM CDT in Football Comment 1 comment

DTN News:

I don't know if this is good news or bad news, but my wife is borrowing my parents' TotalGym. She's got some back problems and she thinks that the TotalGym will help solve the problem. That's great, but now I'll be able to start working out with the TotalGym. For those of you who don't remember, Chuck Norris is the spokesman for the TotalGym, which means that instead of shaking hands with people, I'm liable to just roundhouse kick them in the jaw. I apologize in advance if you are a roundhouse victim.

I wondered out loud a week or so ago, What Exactly Is ESPN's "Who's Now"? and now T. Kyle King wrote the definitive piece on the downward spiral of what has become ESPN

Texas Tech Football:

I'm sure all of you are aware that no Red Raider made the preseason first team all-Big 12. I'd like to have a lot to say about that, but I don't. I certainly think that some Texas Tech players could have made the team and could argue that perhaps Joe Garcia, Louis Vasquez, Alex Trlica, Graham Harrell, Danny Amendola as the punt returner, etc., would all be good choices, but perhaps all of these guys go into the season with chips on their shoulders, with something to prove.

SEN's Tim Griffin has his Big 12 Insider, which has been on hiatus for what seems like 2 weeks. It's good to have Tim back. There's not much Texas Tech information, but it's still a good read.

This morning, Tim muses that the Big 12 is too top-heavy, with Texas and OU dominating, but Phil Steele, football god, believes that the Big 12 is improving:

"I think the conference is going to be better this season because of all the players they have coming back," said Phil Steele, whose preseason magazine is considered among the most credible in the industry. "The rest of the conference will be coming closer to Texas and Oklahoma. I expect that every team in the conference has a good shot at a bowl this season except for maybe Iowa State and Baylor."

DMN's Chip Brown asks 5 questions about this upcoming Big 12 season ranging from who will be the quarterback for OU to who will win the North Division. One interesting note in Chips article that I didn't know before, Graham Harrell had the 4th best sophomore season in NCAA history.

FWST's Wendell Barnhouse has a nice primer on college football in general. Lots of stuff, from ranking the conferences, to story lines for the 2007 season, to his Heisman picks.

With the Big 12 Media Day starting today, I thought I'd pass along some main-stream-media folks who are doing this whole "blogging thing". I'll start with my new favorite:

The Columbia Daily Tribune's Dave Matters, Behind The Stripes. I like him because he wants to know what Mike Leach is thinking and anyone who wants to know what Captain Mike thinks is a friend of mine.
The Lubbock Avalanche Journal's, The Sports Guys. There's no one else that covers the Red Raiders better.
The Dallas Morning News' College Sports Blog. The DMN usually has pretty well-rounded coverage.
The Houston Chronicle has two blogs, Longhorn Sports with Joseph Duarte and Texas A&M Sports with Terrance Harris. Obviously very focused on the respective teams, but still good for Big 12 information.

Texas Tech:

Padraig Harrington celebrates the 136th British Open in Carnoustie by supporting his Texas Tech Red Raiders (university colors) and getting his guns up. Congrats Padraig, I owe you a Guinness.