Why Go with Obo?

In the second round of the NFL Draft, the Kansas City Chiefs, have ten minutes to decide whose name, position and school will be delivered to Commissioner Rodger Goodell to announce to NFL fans everywhere. It would be redundant to state that it’ll almost certainly be a defensive player. Speculations abound as to whom that defensive player will be, so please allow me to share my own opinion of the ideal defensive pick.
I believe it would be in the Chiefs best interest to spend their first draft pick on the linebacker from Oklahoma, Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, Obo for short. The Houston Texas native first dawned the #31 crimson and cream jersey in 2014. During the 2017 season he had 75 tackles (17 for loss), two pass deflections, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in 14 games and he led the league in sacks with eight. Also in 2017, he was named Big XII Defensive Player of the Year. Obo ran a 4.77 in the NFL Combine.
The only knock I’ve heard on Obo is that at 6 foot 1 inch and just a biscuit over 250 pounds, he’ll be tested as a run stopper in the NFL unless he can build up some bulk. If Obo could put on some pounds and still maintain his strength and speed, I believe he’d be a great compliment to #50 Justin Houston.
In summation, I believe Obo has a ton of raw talent. He’s fast, enthusiastic and tougher than a two-dollar steak. All that being said, it remains to be seen if the Chiefs agree with me, or whose name, position and school will Goodell announce when he says, “With the 54th pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, the Kansas City Chiefs select…”???

Strength of Schedule.

The flowers are blooming, the birds are singing. But more important than all of that, the Oklahoma Sooners spring football game is in 24 hours!

For the first time since December, Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium will have a sea of crimson-and- cream-clad fans pouring in through its gates. Not to mention a star-studded side line of such OU greats as Trent Williams and Adrian Peterson, will be there to honor the winningest coach in college football: the legendary Bob Stoops. It is time for spring football, which means battles for positions will soon be decided and college football season is right around the corner, but today’s posting is not about the spring football game of the Sooners.

Today’s blog is inspired by an article that I read in the Daily Oklahoman. The article concerned the Sooners’ non-conference schedule for 2020. For those of you who are unsure of how scheduling works in college football, allow me to provide you with a simplified version.

If you are a team like the Sooners, or the Alabama Crimson Tide or Ohio State, that means you play in a conference consisting of perhaps 10-13 other teams. Most of your schedule is comprised with playing the other teams in your conference.

For example: Oklahoma is a member of the Big XII conference, so most of their schedule will be pitting them against their conference foes such as Texas, Texas Tech, Kansas State and others. These games are in the schedule by default, and the only thing that varies about them is the dates, times and locations (your place or mine) or a neutral site, such as the OU Texas Red River Shoot out in the Cotton Bowl.

The exceptions to this set up, would be those schools that are independents and do not belong to a specific conference. The most notable of these schools being Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish. Notre Dame usually has one of the toughest schedules in college football and have no problem filling their schedule with opponents where most of them are tougher then a two dollar steak. Annual staples for Notre Dame include: USC, Michigan, Michigan State and Stanford. Since everyone wants a feather in their cap by beating Notre Dame, they have no problem filling their schedule, however the other independents do.

When the crowds have gone home and the dust has settled on your season, the powers that be, the CFP (College Football Playoff Committee) will examine your schedule as a whole and how you performed. One of the main factors that the CFP considers is known as “strength of schedule”, which simply means, how tough the teams were that you played against and how badly did you win or lose to them.

Obviously, it can’t be held against a team like OU that they have to play Kansas every year and that is not exactly what you would call a tough game for the Sooners. And you KU fans need to cut me some slack, for I don’t think I am letting some big cat out of the bag by saying so.

When putting the teams schedule under the microscope, what’s called your non-conference schedule will be closely examined from absolutely every angle possible. This means which teams outside of your conference did you schedule to play 2 or 3 games against. I think it goes without saying, that if you schedule a non-conference game with North Western School for the Blind that might count against you when the CFP is looking at your non-conference schedule, however, there is a trick to it. You don’t want to schedule what are known as “cupcake games” where the Alabama Crimson Tide plays the local peewee football team, but you don’t want such a tough schedule that you get beat on all your non-conference games and your season is over 3 games in and that is where the balancing act comes in.

The old stand-by statement made by all coaches and athletic directors is that non-conference games are scheduled years in advance and can’t be changed - or the school shouldn’t be questioned for scheduling teams. That is, for the most part true, however, it is not completely true. Major intersectional home and home series, like OU verses Ohio State, OU verses Florida State, OU verses Notre Dame, etc., are set several years in advance.

Example: when OU scheduled a home and home with Tennessee, a few years ago, they were an SEC power house. By the time the series came around, Tennessee was a mere shadow of what they once were. NOT OU’s fault. When OU scheduled the fairly recent home and home series with Notre Dame, Notre Dame had basically fallen off the map. Bad luck for OU that when Notre Dame came to Norman 3 or 4 years ago, it was the year they went to the BCS title game.

The Sooners typically try to schedule their three non-conference games with one tough team (like the home and home series between them and Ohio State in 2016-2017), a moderate team and then a cupcake game. But the Sooners standards for even their cupcake game are fairly high, so you can imagine my surprise - and very mixed feelings - when I read that OU had rounded out their non-conference schedule for 2020 with a visit from the Missouri State Bears.

*Scratches head*

I’m very much aware that I am currently residing in Missouri right now (and that the MSU campus is a mere 2.5 south from where I currently sit) with my keyboard spitting slanderous words about the Bears’ football team - but please understand, all you current MSU students, alums and just die-hard fans, I am not slamming the school. I am quite certain that it is a top notch center of academic achievement and excellence, but with a stadium capacity of 17,500 and a 2017 record of 3-8, I don’t think anyone would argue that a football school it is not. Those three wins were against Murray State, Indiana State and Southern Illinois. Their most impressive loss (if you can call it that) was against their in-state FBS rivals, the Missouri Tigers, in a game that - if you were just looking at the score - looked like a basketball game with a final score of 43-72.

All that being said, it begs the question, why a powerhouse football school - a veritable blue blood - such as OU would want to put a black mark on their strength of schedule for 2020 by playing the Bears? I do not have an answer to this question, but perhaps I can hazard a guess.

Let’s say OU already had a school scheduled for that non-conference slot, maybe a UTEP or an SMU and for some inexplicable reason, they canceled. Now OU is scrambling around, digging through the barrel, trying to fill their last non-conference slot with any school who is available. The other two slots filled by the Army Black Knights and Tennessee Volunteers. Enter the Missouri State Bears. By inviting the Bears to Norman, the Sooners sew up their non-conference schedule and almost guarantee themselves an easy win - even if it will do nothing for their strength of schedule once the CFP holds a magnifying glass to it (and you can bet they will).

So, your next question might be, what’s in it for the Bears? Why would they want to travel 300 miles just to be taken behind the wood shed for three hours?

How does 600,000 sound to you?

That’s right, the price tag for OU to host MSU is $600,000 to the visiting team. So, the Bears make the trip for what will almost certainly be the worst beating of their season, but in return, they are handsomely payed for the efforts and will take home more money than they probably make out of their home schedule in half a season and - I can promise you - there will be no home and home series between the Sooners and the Bears.

Anytime you see a cupcake team roll into a power five stadium it is a paycheck game simple as that. That team is being paid a bundle to take a beating and round out a schedule. Allow me to be blunt (and hopefully I will not be crucified for being so) but here we go:

It is humiliating that they’re playing MSU and probably just as humiliating for MSU to almost certainly travel all that way just for a beating, but OU probably had no choice. As bad as that is, they’ll have to add insult to injury by paying MSU $600,000. OU has everything to lose and nothing to gain by playing MSU. The fact that they will be playing them at all, will be a large black mark on their non-conference schedule.

If they win the game (which they almost certainly will) nothing happens. It will not be like when OU rolled into the horse shoe (after a terrible whippin’ by Ohio State in 2016) and planted a flag both figuratively and literally in the middle of Ohio State’s turf. It will be a cupcake win that will do OU no good in the eyes of the CFP. But if they were to lose, it would be dark days in Norman.

OU’s season would end there, as would any playoff hopes. So, we will have to wait until 2020 to see just what unfolds as a result from their schedule. I will bet a drink with everyone in my office that OU wins, but even if they do, I’m not sure any Crimson and Cream will feel any satisfaction at the win, and if they lose, OU’s season will be lost, and the next round is on me.

Football Food.

Football Food.

DISCLAIMER:
First of all, before we continue any further, let me say this. The point of today’s blog post, is merely to entertain, to make my readers laugh and to possibly spark lively, yet fun debates. In no way whatsoever do I want to offend, or make anyone feel as if I am alienating them with terms such as “chick food” or a put down of a food they enjoy. This is simply for fun and entertainment, nothing more.

I completely admit that today's blog topic is probably just me grasping at straws for something to talk about. Either way, it is an important topic of discussion that needs to be addressed. Let me ask you this:

What is it that makes football Saturday or Sunday, truly the day it is supposed to be?
Of course, it would be a great, competitive game, but what is the one thing that must go hand in hand with a great game? The football food of course! Whether a game is good or lousy, you’ll have some perfect football snacks, to enjoy your victory with, or take out your anger on.

This will come as no surprise to you, but I am rather opinionated on this topic, (the Blind Quarterback? Opinionated? That’s a shock!) As I have stated before, this is because I grew up in a household where during the fall, “football food” - as my father called it - was just a main staple on the menu on Saturdays. I grew up around football food, not only that, but I have listened to my dad rant about what is and is not football food.

When I was a small child, all the way up to when I moved out, a fall Saturday was football day and our kitchen counter tops and stove tops were covered with chips, queso, little smokeys, crackers with sliced cheese and beef stick, sometimes bean dip or chili, all hand crafted by my mother.

What makes food worthy of being “football food”?

In my opinion, most of all great football food is also finger food, this is because you don’t want to have to exert to much concentration while devouring your football snack of choice, if you have to look down, your taking attention away from the game, therefore, it’s not a football snack.

I absolutely love steak. On most days, no food makes me happier than a perfectly cooked, juicy and succulent piece of steak with a loaded baked potato, however, I do not think a steak and baked potato constitutes as a football food. There is too much cutting and maneuvering of silverware.

So, unless my wife will just let me pick up my steak and baked potato and eat them like a caveman (which I may or may not have done at one point in my marriage), I’m afraid it’s delicious, but not football food. As I stated before, a good football food needs to be something you can cram into your mouth with great gusto - either at your leisure or at ramming speed, it’s up to you.

Highlights: Best Football Foods Over the Years:

Here is a list of just some, but certainly not all, of the great football snacks:

• Chips and Queso
o Salsa and bean dip are perfectly acceptable substitutions
• Buffalo wings
o or chicken wings of any flavor, bone in or boneless (I, myself prefer boneless)
• Loaded Nachos
o My boss suggests it include not just cheese, meat, beans, jalapeños, sour cream, guacamole and many other varieties
• Little Smokeys
o tiny hot dogs, smoked and usually covered in some kind of sauce
• Crackers with sliced cheese and beef stick
o it is best to have all three of these together and on the same platter or plate for easier access to all three at once
o Also you can even make little sandwiches with them
• Pizza
o a large or extra-large pizza recommended
o accompanied with bread or cheese bread sticks (or wings of course)
• Fried Chicken
o Not baked (too healthy) but greasy fried chicken
o preferably with ranch or some kind of dipping sauce
• Hot dogs and hamburgers
o Bratwurst are also acceptable (as are hot links)
• Guacamole
o this goes hand in hand with chips (and as my boss mentioned: nachos)
o Side note: My wife makes an incredible 7 layer Guacamole dip)
• Tacos and Burritos
o pretty much anything wrapped in a tortilla including but not limited to deli meats, cheeses, cream cheese, etc.
• Chili
o the exception to my “no use of silverware” rule
• Potato skins:
o must be “loaded” to truly and properly be enjoyed, otherwise, it’s just a hollowed out potato with no delicious football appeal
o Must contain (at least) cheese, bacon and sour cream
• Barbecue:
o This includes many different varieties including but not limited to, ribs, brisket, beef sandwiches, burnt ends, BBQ beans or even BBQ Lays potato
o all dishes must be absolutely drenched in BBQ sauce (except maybe the chips, or the chips to if you feel like it, it’s your “football food”)
• Brownies
o or other easy to eat desserts
o This includes but is not limited to: football-shaped brownies, football-shaped cupcakes (with your teams colors as icing), football-shaped cakes, and football-shaped cookies (“What do you know... they're little footballs” to quote from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective)

I am sure I have left many things out, and as always, feel free to respond and comment with your favorite football food or anything I left out.

Of course, you have to be able to wash all that “healthy” food down with something - I do not really have a list of good drinks for a football game – (because it’s pretty much soda or beer). Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love ice tea, but I think that is pushing it.
Football food must include football drinks:

I believe a football drink needs to be carbonated in order to lead to good, loud, healthy belching, but nothing stronger then beer if it’s going to be beer, may I recommend you select the beer that is brewed in your city to best represent your football team of choice.
For example, if you’re a Chiefs fan (such as myself) you would select the Kansas City brew known as Boulevard, it comes highly recommended by yours truly, The Blind Quarterback.

What food is NOT worthy of being “football food”:

Alright, here comes the list of foods that - I’m sorry - just don’t make the cut as a football food. Once again, I am not bashing these foods. I don’t really dislike any food and will pretty much eat anything, but just good food does not a football food make.

Quick funny story.

The first time I ever had a friend over to listen to football, my sweet loving wife was already thinking of a football menu (for those of you who haven’t figured it out yet, my wife is an amazing woman and I love her dearly). I happened to mention to my father that I was having a friend over to listen to football and that my bride was making up a football menu. He asked what she was making.
“Well, she talked about making up a veggie tray with some - ”
“NO!!!” my dad declared.
“You tell her that there is no vegetables during football and for her to save that ‘chick’ food for later.”
Later that day, my wife served my friend and me chips and queso, potato skins, deli tortilla role ups and Dr. Pepper. Anyway, on with the list of the “don’ts” in football food.

• Anything from Starbucks or Panera bread
• Veggie trays (I like a good veggie tray as much as the next guy, but not a football food)
• Chinese food (love Chinese as well, still not a football food)
• Pasta of any kind (way too complicated to be a football food)
• Soup (sorry, I love warm soup on a cold fall or winter day, but not football food)
• Lobster (really? What kind of football party are you having?)
• Fish: (pretty much any kind of fish or crustacean is not a football food. The exception to this rule is fried Croppy or Cat fish, but no Salmon, no crab legs, no shrimp, no calamari, no es cargot, nothing of that nature. It’s too fancy and not football food)
• Triangular-cut sandwiches (this is not a dad gum tea party! Sandwiiches are acceptable, but they must be in hoagie form, with plenty of meat. Triangular = unacceptable)
• Smoothies (uh… no)
• Wine (this is not a date. No wine)

Obviously there are loads more that do not constitute a football food, but that is just some of the ones I was able to come up with.

What does your game day meal look like?

Alright, now time for my favorite part. That is when you send me all your responses and opinions.

Please feel free to tell me whatever you want.

What is your favorite football “food”?
Have you seen something at a football party and thought - “what the heck is that doing here”
Just a story from your life about football food or what you like to have when you watch the game, so, whatever you want.

Can’t wait to see all responses.
See Ya!
The Blind Quarterback.

Its 1st and 10, with the Blind Quarterback.

Several weeks ago, I was approached at my work by the powers that be. Those powers, stated that they would like to add a little something to their quarterly newsletter. As my readers know, I am based in Kansas City, so myself, and many others at my office, are hardcore Chiefs fans. My work place has requested that I write a small sports column for their quarterly newsletter. I of course readily accepted, and have titled my column "its 1st and 10, with the Blind Quarterback"
The column will have a link to this blog, so that others will be able to read the blog as well.
So, without further due, below you will find the intro I wrote to my new column as my work's new amateur sports writer.

Its 1st and 10, with the Blind Quarterback.

Maybe you’re in the break room with your friends and coworkers, burgers and fries littering the table, or maybe you’re leaning against a post outside, taking your fifteen or waiting for a share fair ride. I can almost guarantee that a conversation will arise about a stunning win, a shameful loss, or a quarterback that should be traded, and with that conversation, will come the heartbeat of this community and indeed our fine city, the ever present Kansas City Chiefs will make itself known, but what goes on in the world of football outside of our break room discussions? While we diligently perform our daily tasks and duties, just which domino is about to fall out on the grid iron? Who is winning? Who is losing? Who is being traded and who is being cut? This sports fans, is where I come in. My name is Cameron Black, but to you my faithful readers, I am the Blind Quarterback, and if you need to know what’s going on with our boys in red, or if you’re just needing your football fix during this dry season, then you need look no further then right here in the Alpha Times Newsletter.
When the Chiefs are wheeling and dealing, trading players like baseball cards, I’ll be there. Wherever there is a thrilling, nail bighting, come from behind victory, I’ll be there. Whenever there is a heart wrenching playoff loss due to forward progress being stopped and fans are screaming about bad officiating, I’ll be there, and when the Chiefs win the Super Bowl, you better believe I’ll be there.
So if your craving football 24-7 365, Your Guru of the Grid Iron, your prince of the pig skin has you covered. So grab a drink from the company kitchen, pull up a chair next to me in the break room, and let’s talk some football.