As we mentioned this morning (and as you probably saw this weekend), Houston took down Texas Tech - their second Big XII victim in as many games - and sent the Red Raiders into a Tweet-filled tailspin. On the other sideline, though, the mood was decidedly different; this is usually the case whenever one team wins and another loses, according to our resident expert Dr. Obvious.

(Bigger fan FAIL: the thefts, or that fake-tattoo-armband of the Cougar logo?)

But Houston fans - or at least a couple of them - have a strange way of showing their support for the program. Ordinarily, after all, one doesn’t make the mental connection between “I am going to run onto the field because I am so proud of this team for whom I’ve spent a substantial sum of money on tickets” and “I am now going to steal very important things from this team while I am on their field.” But as you might imagine, these are not ordinary times in Houston, and now coach Kevin Sumlin is asking all 645 of his Twitter followers for a little help.

Read more…

[UPDATE: According to the ASSOCIATED PRESS, in the least surprising coaching move ever, Mike Leach has banned his players from using Twitter. Expect this to be commonplace before the season is through.]

It’s pretty easy to have a certain amount of sympathy for Texas Tech after last weekend. After all, despite being an unranked team on the road against ranked Houston, the Red Raiders were still only one-point underdogs to the Cougars. It was a game for the taking, and Tech nearly did so.

(via TWELETED, which is an evil little website.)

Nearly doesn’t cut it, though, and Tech lost, partly due to Mike Leach’s questionable (yet ever-Leach-like) playcalling. 4th and goal at the 1 with a chance to put his team up by two scores in the fourth quarter? Best believe Leach is taking it. Unfortunately, the play failed, Houston took over only down five points instead of eight, and the final score was 29-28, Cougars. Whoops.

So the Red Raiders lost, and angry football player smash whenever that happens. The players’ decision to involve Twitter, however, likely spells the end of that privilege.

Read more…

For past two seasons, the once-mighty Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry has been mighty crappy. There was ND’s 35-17 wipeout of the Wolverines in South Bend last season, and then there was UM’s 38-0 a$$-whooping of the Irish in Ann Arbor the season before that. So you’d figure that today’s matchup in the Big House would be a big bore.

Big mistake to assume that. Like two aging heavyweights whose glory days appeared to have been behind them, Michigan & Notre Dame traded punches all afternoon (figurative, not literal) as the score see-sawed back & forth. But it was the Maize & Blue who managed the final knockout blow, as Tate Forcier tossed a 5-yard TD pass to Greg Matthews with 11 seconds left. So Hail to the Victors in a 38-34 thriller.

(Time to get those Charlie Weis-bashing billboards back up.)

Speaking of knockouts, another top-5 team from the Sooner state took another tumble on the field in an upset loss.

Read more…

This is probably the most amazing sports fight video I’ve ever seen; not because of the ferocity or even the number of people involved, but just because it’s so freaking weird. First of all it’s lacrosse, where you never expect a fight to break out; I always assumed that lacrosse sticks doubled as butterfly nets.

But look at this thing (video below). You’ve got small groups of players duking it out, then you’ve got guys pairing up for their own private fisticuffs away from the main action. And this happens four or five times with different players, with fat guys in black shirts watching like professional wrestling referees. Most surprising of all: No one is using their sticks. Read more…

If you needed any proof of just how much of a business so-called “pure” college sports is — well, the mere existence of bowl games. But also check out the salaries of the athletic directors at big sports schools - some can top a million dollars a year. Remind me again why the athletes aren’t getting a piece of this pie?

BLOOMBERG NEWS, by filing public records requests, published a list of the AD’s pay at most major public schools, and the numbers are eyepopping. Jeremy Foley at Florida makes a base salary of $935,000, not including benefits or bonuses. Joe Castiglione, his counterpart at Oklahoma, only makes $700,000. I wish I had known this information before wagering on the game. (More fun facts and figures that’ll just piss you off, after the jump.)

Read more…

Shane Bacon at FANHOUSE cites a report from something called the INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES that indicates U. of Houston wide receiver Patrick Edwards may sue for damages after his horrific injury last night.

Edwards suffered a compound fracture of his left lower leg after running into an equipment cart behind an end zone during the Houston-Marshall game.

No lawsuit had been spelled out in initial reporting on the story. So the report from the Times is the first indication that Edwards could be interested in legal action. Read more…

Tuesday night Houston played Marshall on ESPN. Like you, I didn’t much care about the result of the game.

I care even less after seeing this gruesome injury. The HOUSTON CHRONICLE has the sad details after the jump, along with video. Read more…