2010-11 College Football Bowl Travel Guide

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

For those traveling to see your favorite team play in a bowl game, please take a look at all the great information the OGS travel editors have compiled for you below. Even if you've already booked a hotel, take a gander anyway because this was about 20 hours of research and your patronage would be much appreciated.

And if you haven't booked a hotel, make sure to ask about bowl-game discounts when you make your reservations. Special-event rates often apply if you just ask.

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Now if you're wondering what resources/criteria we used: Google, Yelp.com, UrbanSpoon.com, 10best.com, Citysbest.com, dartboard, personal experience, 10 percent guesswork and advice from friends. Also, bowl and local tourism websites offered a few recommendations for out-of-towners. And we tried to recommend hotels that were mostly in downtown areas and offered rooms for fewer than $200 a night. If you're on a tighter budget than that, like I am, there's always hotels.com. But if you're on a tight budget, why are you traveling to see your 6-6 football team for the holidays?

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The 6 Biggest Debates In Sports

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Sports fans love lists and sports fans love debates. So how 'bout we make a list of the best debates in sports?

Here they are, the six most-argued topics in sports:

1. Should there be a playoff in college football? I used to support the plus-one model, but then I wrote this last week, touting an 11-team playoff. Anyway, those who say no like to claim college football has the best regular season in sports. True as that may be, how precisely does that matter? Fix the postseason so you can crown a true champion.

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2. Should college athletes be paid? On the surface, it sounds like a good idea. But everything involving money goes far beyond the surface. I'll let Bill Plaschke's excellent recent column explain why college athletes should not be paid.



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Black Friday Special: The Best & Worst Black Uniforms In Sports

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

These aren't entirely black, because, well, dressing monochromatically has never been cool regardless of the occasion. But here are the five best uses of black in sports uniforms:

1. Pittsburgh Steelers — With the exception of the font type of the white jersey numbers, their home uniforms have stayed the same through the years. As much as I hated big, bad Pittsburgh as a kid, the black-on-gold has long been synonymous with success in the Steel City, at least during football season.


2. Oakland Raiders — Sure the Raiders aren't what they used to be, but their uniforms are. Even if Oakland's next playoff contender is a finesse squad, there will still be an intimidation factor, and you can credit the silver-and-black scheme that reminds us of those rugged 1970s and 80s champions.

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3. Cincinnati Bearcats basketball — Under Bob Huggins, the Bearcats changed

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10 Things You Hate About ESPN

He's baaack. Ramzy Nasrallah, star contributor at Bucknuts.com, told me he couldn't participate in last week's OGS Best & Worst of ESPN survey because he had far more than just a few votes in mind. So here's a full-on, very entertaining, anti-WWL rant that Ramzy was nice enough to cook up exclusively for One Great Season readers.

By RAMZY NASRALLAH
One Great Season

Everyone hates ESPN.  Everyone needs ESPN.  The Worldwide Leader is basically the dentist, except you go there daily instead of every six months. You don't necessarily hate ESPN's televised poker, bland radio shows like "Mike & Mike" that have no value or Colin Cowherd because ultimately, they're all avoidable. Out of site, out of mind, right?

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The Best & Worst Of ESPN

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Welcome to the first annual Best & Worst of ESPN. I recently asked some writer friends to give me a list of their favorite on-air people at the WWL, as well as a list of those they like the least.

There were no restrictions, really; voters could pick "SportsCenter" anchors, in-studio analysts, game analysts, color commentators, sideline reporters, any on-camera personality. Even Jenn Brown got a vote, and this wasn't even a bikini contest. (It was a "worst" vote, by the way.)

So without further adieu, after the jump you'll find a look at our ESPN favorites, with a quote or two from our voters:

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The Top Nine Brands Of College Football

By STEVE SUSI
One Great Season

With the first full spate of NCAA 2010 games in the books, I'd like to celebrate the return of the world's greatest sport by combining my professional and personal obsessions: branding and college football.

But why top nine and not 10? Because, as a massive Ohio State fan, it's only fair I exclude my Buckeyes from the list (otherwise they'd win hands-down and that's hardly objective). I could extol the virtues of the Buckeyes brand for hours, but it's also fun and enlightening to discuss other successful programs too.

So instead of replacing Ohio State with another school, I leave one spot vacated in its honor. Kind of like the Heisman Trust is about to do with the 2005 Trophy.

To read the rest of this story and to see the list of the Top Nine Brands Of College Football, visit BrandSpankingNewYork.com.

Click here for Steve's bio and an archive of his previous stories.

College Football Pub Crawl: Where To Drink & Watch In 83 Cities

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Remember that World Cup Pub Crawl that you thought was so fantastic with its 35 cities?

Well, the One Great Season research crew (huge thanks to every one of you!) has labored the last few weeks to compile this list of the best bars for college football merriment. Here's where you can drink and watch in EIGHTY THREE U.S. cities! And if you feel we left your town off, or if you have a different opinion on things, suggestions are always welcome here:

Albuquerque
Coaches Sports Grill
1414 Central Avenue SE | (505) 242-7111
Website | Google Map

Ames
Welch Avenue Station
207 Welch Avenue | (515) 292-2334
Website | Google Map

Ann Arbor
Scorekeepers
310 Maynard Street | (734) 995-0100
Reviews | Google Map

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College Football Preview: Bookmark These Sites

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

I'm certain that I'll be leaving some sites off this list entirely by accident. This is my first college football season with the new laptop, and I told myself six weeks ago, when I started to plan the OGS college football preseason section, that I didn't want to import my Favorites from the old computer; I wanted to collect a great group of sites a little more organically.

Obviously, many of the sites listed below weren't new discoveries; overall, these are many of the best sites in college football. In addition to the regular five-star sites, however, I did stumble across a few new gems ... and I keep going back!

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Updated List: The 32 Best College Football Tweeters

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Getting ready for a new college football season? Considering that 58-inch flat-screen, planning to watch at a friend's house, assuring your friends you'll make the chili the night before?

You may think you've got all the bases covered, but have you checked your Twitter account lately? Are you following the right people? I promise that if you start following these great college football Tweeters, your life will get better immediately.

And if your life stays better for four straight hours, please consult a physician:

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College Football Preview: The Best Game Of Every Weekend

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

If I had to do the One Great Season tour all over again this year, here are the games I would cover:

WEEK 1
Boise State vs. Virginia Tech — Boise has been a bowl-season darling; let's see if the Broncos can begin a season with a high-profile win over a powerhouse.

WEEK 2
Miami at Ohio State — Heisman campaigns and national championship cred are on the line at the Horseshoe.

WEEK 3
Georgia Tech at North Carolina — A huge early season showdown in the ACC Coastal Division, which is almost as deep as the SEC West this year.

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EXTRA: College Football Preview Section

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WEEK 4
Alabama at Arkansas — Speaking of the SEC West, Bobby Petrino and Ryan Mallett hope to derail Alabama's quest for another national championship in Fayetteville.

WEEK 5
Texas vs. Oklahoma — Last year's renewal of the sport's second-best rivalry was a clunker. This time around should be much better.

WEEK 6
LSU at Florida — It's time for Les Miles to crush the hot-seat talk and get a huge win at The Swamp.

WEEK 7
Texas at Nebraska — Think Nebraska wants to avenge last year's controversial Big 12 championship-game loss? This site should do some convincing.

WEEK 8
Wisconsin at Iowa — Wisconsin comes into the second-most critical game of the Big Ten season after playing Ohio State in the third-most critical game the previous week.

WEEK 9
Oregon at USC — When was the last time you heard about USC looking for revenge in the PAC 10?

WEEK 10
Alabama at LSU — Under the lights in Death Valley. Does it get much bigger than that?

WEEK 11
Cincinnati at West Virginia — Cincinnati, West Virginia and Pittsburgh look to be the class of the Big East once again, and the trio begins a crucial November round robin with this game in Morgantown.

WEEK 12
Ohio State at Iowa — The last time the Hawkeyes took a perfect Big Ten record into the second half of November was in 2002, when they didn't have OSU on their schedule. The Buckeyes won the league ... and the national championship. Marbles, anyone?

WEEK 13
Auburn at Alabama — Many feel this year's Iron Bowl will determine the winner of the SEC West.

WEEK 14
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati— If these teams can manufacture only half the magic that last year's game produced, this will still be the best game of the day, especially if a Big East championship is at stake again.

List: The 30 Best College Football Tweeters

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Getting ready for a new college football season? Debating getting a new TV, planning to watch at a friend's house, assuring your friends you'll make the chili the night before?

You may think you've got all the bases covered, but have you checked your Twitter account lately? Are you following the right people. I promise that if you start following these great college football Tweeters, your life will get better immediately.

And if your life stays better for four straight hours, please consult a physician:

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List: Great Non-Conference Games In The Near Future

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Call your old drinking buddies, mark your calendars and plan those reunions. There are some serious heavyweight tilts on the way in college football.

And here's a tip: With America's greatest sport trending toward superconferences, the marquee non-league matchups we've grown so used to every September could be headed toward extinction. So listen to me now and hear me later: Get those trips inked soon before the wife locks your balls in the jar every weekend.

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College Football Preview: The Best Games Of 2010

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Here it is, the OGS annual list of the season's best college football games. Sixty-five in all:

WEEK 1
Saturday, Sept. 4
Oregon State vs. TCU (at Arlington)
LSU vs. North Carolina (at Atlanta)

Monday, Sept. 6
Boise State vs. Virginia Tech (at Landover, Md.)

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The 5 Most Memorable Sports Moments Of My Life

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Being a Cleveland native means I don't have a long list of championship celebrations under my belt. Perhaps if the time comes, I can hit up a few Pittsburgh friends who've enjoyed Steelers' Super Bowl wins or Cincinnati buds who followed that great wire-to-wire season of 1990, and they can tell me the do's and dont's of parade etiquette.

Until I get to enjoy an Indians World Series triumph or a Super Bowl win by the Browns, mostly all I can do is look backward at the five best sports moments of my barely 40-year-old life (not in any particular order):

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The 5 Hottest Players Left In The World Cup

By CAT SUPERNAVAGE
One Great Season

I probably won't be shattering any stereotypes by saying I like watching the World Cup because the guys are hot. The sport is fun to watch, sure, but when all the players are international men of mystery, young, buff and fighting for national pride? And at the end of each game they exchange jerseys? Yes please!

Here are the guys I'll be watching once the quarterfinals begin on Friday:

5. Holger Badstuber: Defender: Germany – If "Gossip Girl" ever does a soccer episode, they should cast Badstuber as the coach.

4. Diego Lugano: Defender: Uruguay – Lugano is the Jim Halpert of the World Cup: tall with an adorable mop of hair, he has the good-looking nice guy thing down. He can stop by my desk anytime.

3. Rafael Van Der Vaart: Midfielder: Netherlands – Blonde and beautiful, I’d learn Dutch for this man. Though talking would probably ruin it.

2. Kevin Prince Boateng: Forward: Ghana – This guy is intense. Dark brow. Goatee. Neck tattoo. Every girl’s dream meets every dad’s nightmare.

1. David Villa: Forward: Spain – That flavor-saver soul patch and faux-hawk is the "dirty hot" reason girls study abroad.