Monday Grab Bag: Mid-July sucks

We're just under 40 days away from the Rocky Mountain Showdown! I'll cop to being mildly excited, if only because there's nothing else to draw my attention between now and then.  Fuck CSU, and all of that.

Overall, I'm cautiously optimistic about the Buffs this year. Not enough to lose me head and starting making bowl trip plans, but I honestly enjoyed the measured improvement shown in 2013, and look forward to what Coach Mac and crew have in store for 2014. Another year like last, and I may actually be able to look my friends from other Pac-12 schools in the eye from August through October.

Media day isn't for another two weeks, and fall camp won't start until August 1st, but it's important to mention that football is right around the corner.  What else do we have to think about as July slowly melts away?

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Today in the bag, I got BREAKING NEWS and a little on the British Open... Woof, it's been a quiet week...

Click below for the bag...


McIlroy wins British Open - 

If you're either an insomniac or an early riser, you may have been following this British Open this weekend. For those who favor their sleep over watching a few rounds of golf from across the pond, let me be the first to tell you that Rory McIlroy cruised to a two-stroke victory, marking the only news of actual note from an otherwise awful week of sports.

A drama-free victory for McIlroy.

McIlroy lead from wire-to-wire at Royal Liverpool, the first golfer to manage to win the Open Championship in such fashion in almost a decade.  He came into Sunday with a seemingly insurmountable six-shot lead over the rest of the pack, leaving little drama for the final round.  While that lead would slowly erode down to only two with four holes to play, McIlroy played the final stretch clean, and calmly claimed his fist grasp of the Claret Jug.  Rory now holds claim to three of the four majors, becoming just the third-youngest player to ever do so

Meanwhile, wayyyyyy back in the pack was some guy named Tiger Woods, who I heard used to be sort of good at golf.  The one-time World's #1 finished with a 75 on Sunday to settle into 69th place.  It's entirely unfair to crack too hard on el Tigre, who is only two tournaments removed from back surgery, but it's impossible not to notice the continuance of Woods as a shadow of his former self.  I don't get too caught up in the legacy of Tiger, and his slowed pursuit of Nicklaus' major record, but I look at the fallen king of the sport and struggle to reconcile the current version with the one who brought so much attention and joy to what is normally a placid landscape.  It's become a uncomfortable to watch, really.


Preseason award watchlists - 

As the calendar slowly flips toward the end of July (... dude, this month sucks), there's little news of note to pass along.  As if to drive home that there's nothing to talk about, the college football world has been hot and heavy in recent weeks with the announcement of 'watchlists' for awards that won't be decided until December.  I don't blame the assembled sports media for writing these glorified press releases up - gotta fill those column inches, after all - but the non-stop announcement of this non-news wears my patience thin.

Not to be out-done, I have some BREAKING NEWS of my own to blast!  Time to get out my breaking news alert klaxon!

I've missed Bell Guy, I should use him more.

The Downtown Boulder Twitter Club has JUST RELEASED their Local Twitter Award watchlists for the 2014-15 tweeting season.  This is totally not manufactured news, and will have a GREAT BEARING on how you will enjoy the coming year, so read this IMMEDIATELY, take it to heart, and start screaming about it to anyone who will listen.

Watchlist for the 'Foodie Award' for the most gratuitous shots/descriptions of what they're eating/cooking/drinking:

• @Phyltopia - What's for lunch today?
• @TREWHIT - Mah GAWD, the cupcakes...
• @JustDecant - Will Whelan's wine-y alter ego.  You will like wine, whether you want to, or not.

Watchlist for the 'Actual Player Award' for best tweets from an actual athlete:

• @SDinwiddie_25 - Gone to Detroit, but not forgotten
• @PRichJr10 - The fastest twitter account out there.
• @Jaron_Hopkins - The next generation.

Watchlist for the 'TMI Award' for giving out a little too much info on Twitter:

• @LovelyCorrin - Things gets weird after midnight...
• @RealMatSmith - That's a lot of re-tweets!
• @RumblinBuffalo - 'Cause you didn't really need to know how the White Sox did yesterday (lost 11-7, btw).

Watchlist for the 'Troll Award' for the most effective trolling of a local online community:

• @MonfortNation - In lieu of an actual account from a Monfort, the IRL kings of troll, I give the nod to this parody.
• @JimmyWoodCU - I may have sworn off Jimmy, but that doesn't mean he can't claim the title!
• @RealSkipBayless - Because, trolling this fine knows no regionality.

Look for these awards to be handed out sometime in the future!


Happy Monday!