‘LeBroning’ Might Be The Best Thing To Ever Happen To The Internet

“Tebowing”… soooo 2011. “Griffining”… soooo 2012. 2014 is the year of “LeBroning.” It’s what all the crazy kids are doing on Vine nowadays. LeBron James, aka the face and identity of the NBA is known to exaggerate his body in order to get a foul called, otherwise known as “flopping.”

Flopping- The art of de-masculating yourself and contorting your body in such ways to gain attention of the referee in the hopes of getting a foul called against your opponent.

Teenagers and pathetic adults have taken to the popular social media platform, Vine, to post their own renditions of “LeBroning.” Forgive the piss-poor YouTube clip, but you should get the picture. If the YouTube post doesn’t do the art of “LeBroning” any justice search Twitter or Vine under the hashtag #LeBroning and you’ll get it.

 

 

What If The NCAA Playoff System Looked Like This?

It’s officially now been over a month since the last update on The Meat Locker, to those other than my parents that read this blog regularly, I apologize for my lack of effort. At least my man Dave Myerson, and frequent guest-writer felt the need to step up and bring you another great read. Check out what Dave has to say in regards to the ending of the BCS and how he thinks the playoff system should be set up. 

2013 has been a great year in college football. As we officially come to a close of the BCS era, and look ahead to the 4-team playoff, I can’t help to wonder, what’s so different? The 4-team playoff is a Band-Aid, and everyone knows it. Whether it’s a year or 10, this new system will be replaced with a full-fledge playoff. The fans want it, and it’s a shame the decision makers keep kicking the pebble down the road.

There are many views on how a FBS playoff should look, but in my opinion, everyone is missing one key point. If you win your conference, regardless of conference you should automatically qualify for the playoff. I know all you fans of the teams from the power conferences are shaking your head right now, but I’m a firm believer of this. It’s absolutely absurd that you have teams in FBS that work their butts off for months, and aren’t given a fair chance to compete. The competition in the five power conferences is much tougher, and this proposal will definitely take that into consideration, but the remaining 60 plus teams in FBS cannot be forgotten.

ESPN recently just broke a story that the power conferences are trying to use their power to get the NCAA to give them more advantages! That makes me shake my head. If you want more advantages, then create a new division. I would have no problem with this. That way the smaller schools have something to play for. If the power conferences, and the non-power conferences don’t want to split, then they really need to come up with a way to allow everyone to compete on an equal playing field. A FBS playoff is doable in responsible way to keep all parties involved happy.

The Field

The field will consist of 16 teams. Every team will have to join a conference, and independents will be eliminated (sorry Notre Dame fans). Each conference has to have at least 12 teams, so they can have a conference championship game. A few teams will have to be pulled up from the FCS ranks, but that’s ok. The winner of each of the 10 conferences automatically qualifies for the playoffs.

The remaining six slots will go to six wild card teams. The wild cards shall be the six highest ranked teams in the final BCS rankings that did not win their conference. There won’t be any restrictions on how many teams a conference can have in the playoff. This way stronger conferences are rewarded for having quality teams. Also, you keep in play the ranking system, which is a huge point of contention with people who are resisting change.

The rankings will also play an important part into how the teams are seeded. The winners of the 5 power conferences will be seeded 1-5, based off the final BCS rankings. They will play the winners of the 5 non-power conferences in the first round. The highest ranked non-power conference winner will play the #5 seed, and the lowest ranked will play the number 1 seed, etc.…

This way teams that win their conference are “rewarded” for doing so. More often than not, the winners of the non-power conferences won’t be as quality of an opponent as the six wild card teams. Teams from power conferences should be rewarded for winning their league, and this proposal is a fair way to give the smaller schools a chance, while still accomplishing this.

The six wild card teams will then face off against one another in the first round. They will be seeded 1-6 in order how they appear in the rankings, and the top three shall play the bottom three. The wild card teams will face a tougher test in the first round because they didn’t win their conference.

Moving forward in the playoffs, the highest remaining seed will face the lowest remaining seed. The six wild card teams will be considered higher seeds than the five winners from the non-power conferences. This is so the highest ranked conference winners continue to get the most favorable match ups, as higher seeds should.

If we were to apply this proposal to the current season, the playoff field would look like this:

 

1. Florida State vs. Louisiana- Lafayette		2. Auburn vs. Rice
3. Michigan State vs. Bowling Green		4. Stanford vs. Fresno State
5. Baylor vs. Central Florida		WC 1. Alabama vs. WC 6. Oklahoma
WC 2. Ohio State vs. WC 5. Oregon		WC 3. Missouri vs. WC 4. South Carolina

 

 

The Schedule

Many people argue that a playoff would take too long, and be too many games for the kids. There would have to be some minor adjustments to the schedule, but nothing major that can’t be accomplished.

From the opening weekend of August 27^th until the conference title games on December 7^th there were 15 weeks in the college football season this year. Auburn and Michigan State for example, played 13 games in this 15-week period, eight league games, four out of conference, one conference championship game, and had two bye weeks.

The adjustment would be to lower the regular season games from 12 to 10. Keep the 8 league games, and have 2 non-conference games, but make a rule against teams from FBS playing FCS teams. The occasional upset, such as North Dakota State beating Kansas State this year or Appalachian State’s big win vs. Michigan a few years ago, wouldn’t be possible, but to get a playoff it’s worth it to miss out on the blowout that occurs almost 100% of the time. Keeping the 2 bye weeks, there would then be a 12-week regular season, and the conference championship games would be in week 13, which this year was November 23^rd.

A 16-team playoff would take 4 weeks of games to complete. There should be a week off between the conference title games and the first round of the playoffs, which would start on December 7^th. A week between the semi-finals and championship game would put the title game on January 4^th, the exact same timeline as the current season, so no one can complain about the season running too long.

The final tally on number of games played is 15 for the teams that make it to the title game. Currently, for teams that win their conference and play in a bowl game, they play in 14 games. One extra game is not make or break for these teams, especially if it gets everyone a fair playoff.

Bowl Games

The biggest barrier to an expanded playoff is the current system of bowl games. There is hundreds of millions of dollars generated from bowl games that get paid out to all the different conferences. Many against change cite this as the main reason not to do a playoff. I say why can’t we have both?

As a college football fan, I love bowl season. It’s very exciting seeing some different match ups that one doesn’t typically get to see. That’s why we keep the bowl games, and still have a playoff.

The bowls will act similar to how the NIT tournament works for college basketball. All the teams that are bowl eligible, which don’t qualify for the playoffs, still play in bowl games. The bowls and conferences keep their historical alliances, and the fans still get to see some great match ups. Obviously, since 16 teams are being removed from the equation there might be a couple less bowl games, but that is a fair price for a playoff.

The schedule for bowls can stay the exact same, since the championship game is still set for the same time. The bowls will still generate the revenue they need. Fans of those teams will travel, television networks will stay pay to broadcast the games, sponsors will still pay to sponsor the games, and companies will still buy add time on air.

To make up for the loss of the big time BCS bowl games, the semi-finals and championship game of the playoffs should be played at neutral sites. Currently the 4 team college football playoff is slated to use a 6 site rotating schedule, and I have no problem adopting what the NCAA has already agreed to, since the powers at be seem to be happy with the set up. The first 2 rounds of the playoffs will be played at the home site of the higher seed.

A college football playoff that is fair to every single team in FBS is within our grasp. The NCAA needs to stop punting the issue down the road, and make this happen for the good of the game and it’s fans.

Danica Patrick Is NOT Amused By Jay Mohr

It comes with the territory. When it’s understood that a comedian is headlining an award show, expect a few curve balls in the opening monologue. When you’re Danica Patrick, you should be sure that your “people” pass along them memo to take any jokes in stride. If you’re the boyfriend of Danica Patrick, currently it’s fellow driver Ricky Stenhouse, you should also be prepared to not be such a “Sensitive Sally.”

Comedian Jay Mohr hosted the NASCAR Sprint Cup Awards Banquet and fired a few zingers in Danica’s direction. It’s safe to say she didn’t take too kind to his jokes. No smiles were cracked and little Ricky was none too pleased himself.

After seeing Patrick’s obvious looks of disapproval and most likely a barrage of Danica supporters via twitter, Mohr made sure to commend Patrick for her accomplishments in a sport dominated by men.

But seriously, relax Danica and take a joke.

 

 

Alex Rodriguez Reacts After Storming Out Of Hearing (Video)

After New York Yankees third baseman, Alex Rodriguez stormed out of today’s grievance hearing in regards to his alleged steroid use/suspension. He appeared on the Mike Francesca show afterwards and expressed his disappointment in commissioner Bud Selig’s lack of presence at the hearing. Rodriguez felt that since Selig has led this witch hunt, he should be involved in the process that will potentially be shutting the door on his career.

Selig has enforced a 211-game suspension on Rodriguez for being a repeat offender of Major League Baseball’s steroid policy. At 38 years old, a suspension of this magnitude would allow Rodriguez to return to the game at 40 years old. At that age, it’s highly unlikely that he could be productive, nor is guaranteed that a team would be willing on to take on such a risk.

Here is the interview where Rodriguez voices his frustrations.

NFL Logos Re-Designed As European Soccer Badges

Catch a glimpse of your favorite NFL teams logo re-designed and inspired from European soccer badges. You’ll probably never see these logos ever actually hit circulation in the NFL, but it might be kind of neat if any of these teams ever designed alternate logos or uniforms with this type of inspiration. See all 32 alternative logos here, you may have even found your newest twitter avatar of Facebook profile picture by clicking here.

Brian Wilson Will Only Go Where His Beard Is Welcome

New York Yankees fans can count out any hopes that major league baseball’s bearded wonder, Brian Wilson will be landing in the Big Apple. According to Yankees beat writer, Bryan Hoch, Wilson will not entertain any offers from clubs that have facial hair rules.

After bouncing back from Tommy John surgery in 2012, Wilson spent last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers and helped anchor the back-end of a shaky bullpen. Wilson pitched 30 innings for the Dodgers last season with one save, a 5.40 ERA and 4 holds. Moderate numbers for the once dominating closer as he looks to regain his former dominance.

Wilson’s beard and unexplainable antics have managed to keep him relevant, even after he was out of the game for a nearly a whole year. Wilson knows that his beard is his golden ticket to continued endorsement opportunities, TV time and appearances on crappy blogs like this one. Wilson is playing it smart and grasping onto his money-maker, because you can’t throw baseballs 90+ mph your whole life. Expect Wilson to draw some attention from the Boston Red Sox, at least we know they’re equal facial hair opportunity employers.

 

Michael Jordan Gets Schooled In Beer Pong

Michael Jordan recently participated in a game of beer pong and was taken to school by a couple regular bros. You can’t hold it against MJ for not being the pro you expected, but you should probably expect him to be better than you at anything else in life. Pretty cool for MJ to stop in with a couple rando’s at the Ritz Carleton in Miami and have a little fun.

 

Raise Your Testosterone Levels, Naturally

The increasing popularity of Gamma-O V2 Series from Gamma Labs reflects the demand for bodybuilding supplements that naturally boost testosterone levels. Commonly realized benefits include increased athletic performance and speedier muscle recovery.

The use of naturally derived testosterone boosters can also reduce muscle pain and are directly attributed to more effective workouts, among other health benefits.

As a sought after testosterone booster, the compound known as gamma oryzanol has greatly evolved from original use in the treatment of anxiety. The testosterone boosting properties of Gamma-O stem from a sophisticated process which extracts plant sterols from the simple ingredients of corn, rice, and barley.

The health benefits of gamma oryzanol include the release of mood enhancing endorphins, antioxidants to destroy free radicals and naturally elevated levels of testosterone production.

The Gamma-O V2 Series has parlayed these factors into the all-natural testosterone booster of choice among many bodybuilders and athletes of various sports.

Dabo Swinney: Eternal Sunshine Of The Thoughtless Mind

It’s a slow sports day, why not throw a jab at the eternal, thoughtless optimist that roams the sidelines in the upstate of South Carolina. His Dabo-ism’s normally take a few minutes to digest and understand, but boy are they great material for South Carolina fans. Remember kids, “It’s only unthinkable if you don’t think it.” Thank you, Dabo Swinney.

Meat Locker Big Bro Wins At The Charleston Angler GoPro Film Festival

Congrats to big brother and seldom guest writer for The Meat Locker, Rob Carli for finishing third at the second annual Charleston Angler GoPro Film Festival. The video is filmed locally in Charleston and chronicles a few good days of fishing for some spot tail bass, aka redfish.

For the third place finish, he took home a pretty sweet new GoPro Hero3 camera and some bragging rights. Congrats again and be sure to check out this fun video. It might even inspire you to go out and participate in next years competition. If this guy can win, hell, anything is possible.