College Football
BCS Bowl Games Bring in the New Year with a Bang!
The 2011-2012 college football regular season has come to a close, which means one thing: it’s time for bowl games galore. This is arguably the best time of the college football season, and it happens to fall around arguably the two best holidays, Christmas and New Years. Starting on December 17 and ending on January 9, teams are competing all across the country in different bowl games. As stated before in our College Championship Article, the BCS is a computer selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division 1 conferences, including... Read More...
Holiday Gift Favorite: Football Scarves From Flora’s Finest!
Angel Flora of Flora's Finest Looking for an unique holiday gift for your favorite female football fan? Look no further than FlorasFinest. Owner Angel Flora Bolton offers a selection of colorful, fringe scarves to match the colors of favorite college and professional football teams nationwide! Check out her site on etsy.com and our Q&A with her below. http://www.etsy.com/shop/FlorasFinest How did you get started? I have been knitting for years and was experimenting with using 10+ yarns to knit in each scarf to add textures and colors, however, the scarves were heavier and more for jacket wear. So back in 2009 I came up with the... Read More...
December Brings Snow, Christmas and Conference Championship Games
The NCAA (National College Athletic Association), has numerous conferences filled with different schools, mainly based on their geographical location. There are 12 Division 1 football bowl conferences. Of those 12 conferences, five of them have conference championship games: BIG 10, ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference), SEC (Southeastern Conference), PAC 12 (Pacific 12) and MAC (Mid-American Conference). All of these five conferences are split into two sides, and at the end of the regular season the team with the best record from each side plays each other in a conference championship game. When a conference expands to a large number of... Read More...Dressing Up for Southern College Game Day: A Religion
Getting ready for a football game does not mean breaking out the jeans, T-shirts, and football jerseys for young women attending southern universities. These southern belles take game day attire to a whole different level as they strategically combine pearls, sundresses, and cowboy boots in anticipation of these Saturday afternoons. Female students at the University of Georgia (UGA) are no exception to a long-standing, unwritten rule of the SEC(Southeastern Conference), women dress up for football games. “It’s all about tradition,” said Priscilla Pruett, a junior from Danielsville, Georgia. “I grew up wearing red and black to the games, and as a child... Read More...
Back to School, Back to College Football!
Tailgating season is just around the corner with the start of college football season almost underway! College football draws in hundreds of thousands of fans every Saturday cheering on their team in person or from the couch at home. ESPN hosts a show, College GameDay, at a different school every Saturday. They travel around the country from school to school giving highlights, recaps and predictions of all the games going on, as well as the game of the week, which is the host school that Saturday playing one of their rivals.
This year the top five teams in the rankings are: the Oklahoma Sooners, Alabama Crimson Tide, Oregon Ducks, Louisiana State Tigers, and Boise State Broncos. You can catch these teams as well as many others in action for the first time over Labor Day weekend!
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Part 2 of 2: Get Ready for Some Football…and Get Dressed for the Weather!
By Carolyn Todd Let me add a few things that have been essential to survive snow, ice, or extreme cold: --L.L. Bean silk long underwear (some readers have recommended UnderArmour brand performance underwear to me) --Thin sock liners under rag wool socks, both purchased from L.L. Bean --L.L. Bean waterproof Maine hunting shoes (low-cut) with thinsulate lining --Gray wool lined pants (also from L.L. Bean but any brand will do) --Heavy boiled wool navy blue sweater purchased in Scotland a few years ago --Eddie Bauer waterproof Goretex/insulated parka with hood– temp rating -20 F --Wool navy blue felt hat with a brim to keep my glasses... Read More...Part 3: “I do” to 100+ Games
It became a routine to organize our lives and annual commitments around the Penn State football schedule.
Why do we continue to do it? Simply put, it’s much more engaging to watch a game in person than it is to watch it on TV. It gets back to the experience of being there. And the fact that you miss a lot of action on the field when you rely on the TV monitors and sports-casters to tell you what’s happening.
Plus, there are the bragging rights of having been there, both for frustrating losses and for incredible turn-around wins. During freak October snowstorms or torrential New Year’s day rain.
Last year, as I was approaching my 100th game in a row, I decided that perhaps it was time to write a blog about the fan experience of following Penn State football.
Follow me this fall by visiting my blog at www.viewfromstands.blogspot.com.
Or look for occasional guest columns on Football101Women as we prepare for and enjoy the coming football season.
I will enjoy getting to know you and learning about your passion for football.
Read More...Part 2: “I do” to 100+ Football Games
For the first ten years of our marriage, we lived in Easton, PA. I worked as a marketing director for a high-technology firm in central New Jersey.
That’s where I learned the value of following sports and being knowledgeable about sports. It helped me professionally in terms of being considered “one of the guys” as a female in a male-dominated high-tech workplace. As we all know, in the workplace, easy-going informal relationships can lead to formal work opportunities. And they did.
Every Monday morning, there would be a string of co-workers in my office, mostly male, to talk about Saturday’s college football games. There were a number of co-workers who loved Penn State, including some alumni. But there were also Michigan, Ohio State, Northwestern, Rutgers, USC, and Notre Dame fans.
Our common bond was football. The banter was constant about who would win each week. It was a great deal of fun to be in the center of all this discussion.
My co-workers were clearly admiring of the fact that I actually attended Penn State games. They were quite envious of me as I traveled to watch Penn State play.
While others watched games on TV, I had the bragging rights of having been in the stands.
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College Football 101: The Bowl Games
As it has for the last 120 years, the Rose Bowl will start off with The Tournament of Roses. Originally run by Pasadena’s Valley Hunt Club to showcase their new home’s mild weather and blooming flowers, the parade has evolved into a sell-out attraction with floats, equestrians and marching bands.
In 1916 (after a failed attempt in 1902, when the football game was replaced with Roman-style chariot races!), the Tournament of Roses added to the day’s festivities a football game – the first post season college football game ever held. Nowadays, the parade features high-tech computerized animation and exotic natural materials from around the world. And floats can take up to a year to construct. Now, THAT’s a football game in my book!
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