Anatomy of a punking.

Changes on the way

Fair warning to all who comment: I am switching my comments to Haloscan later today as soon as I can save all the old comments.

I have been debating whether or not to switch to Haloscan since I've been surfing other blogs. Most bloggers I saw had Haloscan, but I needed another reason to do it besides "everyone else is doing it." And with Blogger's comment feature, I could get people's comments e-mailed to me so I could respond.

So I asked around to other bloggers, and they raved about Haloscan. Here's a summary of the feedback I got:

• "It was very easy to set up" (points)
• "You can delete/edit posts and ban posters." (points. Not that I really need this feature, I prefer to let the world see idiot Longhorn or Aggie fans for what they are, but OK)
• "It lets more people besides Blogger subscribers comment." (more points)
• "It gives you trackback, so you can see who's linking your posts." (bonus points)
• "It's free" (major bonus points since I have a job that pays squat and not much else)
• "No spikes in spam mail." (1up!)

Word of warning, however, you won't be able to email me through the comments section anymore. While I liked getting the e-mails, as I get more hits and comments, it would have just cluttered my inbox and there's no way I could have personally responded to everyone. Sorry.

I'd like to thank Paige of "Paige Six," Steve "The Holywriter", Sporting Fool Corey, and Amy from Dallas for answering my Haloscan questions and putting up with the incessant questions of a novice blogger.

One of the greatest college pranks ever

This story comes to Cheap Seats courtesy Yoni Cohen's blog and "Doyell's Dribbles" blog. According to an independent Maryland student newspaper, Duke fans were tricked into razzing their own team last Wednesday during the Duke-Maryland game.

Duke fans are notorious for passing out cheat sheets before every home game, cheat sheets that contain all kinds of dirt on the other team. Included on this week's cheat sheet was the following item: that Maryland forward Nik Caner-Medley's girlfriend Myra had the pet name of "Piggie." So the Cameron Crazies started chanting "Pig-gie!" and making oinking noises at Caner-Medley.

Turns out "Piggie" is not Myra's nickname, but the last name of a crack dealer who once gave a "thousand-dollar handshake" to former Duke player Corey Maggette. (For those not familiar with U.S. college sports, extra benefits other than a scholarship are a no-no and can get a school in serious trouble). This tidbit was provided by a Maryland student, who managed to pass himself off as a Duke grad student on Instant Messenger.

By the way, Dookies, how did you not see this "factoid" as bogus? The fact that "Piggie" was in reference to someone's girlfriend should have raised a red flag. No guy calls his girlfriend "Piggie," "Fat," or anything sounding like "Fat" unless he wants an instant breakup. Your average SAT score is in the 1200s, surely you are smarter than that.

Maybe the cheat sheet authors were single.

It's good to see Duke fans' arrogance work against them.

Kansas 90, Texas 65

In the marquee Big XII game last weekend, Kansas beat Texas severely. As in "Texas's worst Big XII loss ever under Rick Barnes" severely. Granted 20 turnovers, a 37.4% shooing percentage and going 4-23 from 3-point range are not going to get it done against anyone, but it shows that they are sliding fast since P.J. Tucker's suspension. They need to get it together quick if they want to salvage a tournament berth.

Kansas, however, deserves a few boos for sticking the ESPN crew down in what looked like the basement of Allen Fieldhouse. Seriously, Jayhawks, put Rece, Digger, and Gottlieb on the court. It doesn't take that much to tear down a pregame show set.

More College Notes

• The Red Raiders rebounded from their defeat against the Longhorns with a lopsided 84-68 win against Nebraska. At least my Raiders are beating bad teams badly, but they need to beat more good teams if they want to get in the tournament.
• The most impressive thing about Boston College's Saturday home win over Georgetown? BC actually sold out.
• Attention Hoosier fan: Steve Alford is not coming to IU anytime soon. Get over it.
• Overlooked because it was a regional FSN broadcast: Arizona played flat and lost to Wazzu.
• Pittsburgh beats Syracuse. Proving that in Pittburgh, Chevy is better than Ford.
• Arkansas almost pulled off a big upset over Kentucky
• The Hokies get a dose of ACC reality.
• The Huskies go down hard against Notre Dame

Arenaball, it's fan-tastic.

Making its season debut this weekend was the Arena Football League. Unfortunately, the hometown Austin Wranglers were punked in front of a national television audience by the Philadelphia Soul(Jon Bon Jovi's team) in the league's season opener. Credit former Falcons' benchwarmer Tony Graziani for shredding Austin's excuse for a defense, but the offense really failed to show up.

The disturbing thing about the game, I thought, is that an unsportsmanlike conduct was called for an end zone celebration during the first quarter. I thought Arenaball was supposed to be the anti-NFL in that it didn't stifle celebration and fun the way the NFL did. I hope this isn't a new trend.

The other disturbing thing about the game: Finding out that Jon Bon Jovi is still considered a "rock star" in some circles.

Super Bowl Item of the Day

In what may be a case of trying to make one move too many on Super Bowl week, the Eagles are giving key offensive player Brian Westbrook the punt return duties on Sunday.

Tomorrow: Cheap Seats' Super Bowl Preview (Part 1) and Illinois' quest to stay undefeated against Michigan State.