Alabama spent over $3.4 million to bring the crystal ball home
The cost of bringing the crystal ball home to Tuscaloosa was anything but cheap for the Crimson Tide.
According to the bowl expense report obtained by AL.com, the trip to the national championship game in Miami this past January ended up costing Alabama $3.4 million. When you factor in the football bonuses the University paid out, the Tide spent around $4.9 million, making it the most expensive national title of their past three trips to the big game.
That's some serious dough.
AL.com also put together an interesting chart detailing the Bama's last three trips to national title game, and their expenses, which can be found below. Pretty interesting numbers in the chart, including how many people were accounted for on each trip, and the money it took to help bring the trophy to Tuscaloosa.
(H/T to AL.com for the well done chart)
If you're looking for a vacation home, Saban's place is for sale
The guys over at DeadSpin got ahold of an interesting real estate listing recently. As it turns out, Nick Saban has put his North Georgia vacation home up for sale.
The price tag for the 9,609 square foot house, sitting on 11 acres, is just $11 million.
According to the information that DeadSpin gathered, the property has 700 feet of waterfront footage, and includes 6 bedrooms, 6 full bathrooms and 3 half baths. The house also includes a custom boat house, four car garage, and a Cape Cod style lighthouse.
Yes, a lighthouse.
Since Saban and the Tide show no signs of slowing down when it comes to winning national titles, it's time someone else enjoys this gem. Take a look at the impressive property below, and for a complete list of the specs, take a look at the original article.
The only Ohio State video you'll need to see for the next few months
We're just over 113 days until college football season kicks off again, and once we came across this Ohio State / Nike promo video we knew we were watching something special.
Trust us when we say that this is the only Ohio State video you'll need to watch over the next 113 days. Save it and play it over and over, because this one has it all; history, tradition, Urban, Woody, highlights, nostalgia, and plenty of famous faces of Buckeye past.
Enjoy!
Texas high school is looking to add $1 million scoreboard
Weslaco ISD's Bobby Lackey Stadium is looking to add the largest digital scoreboard of any high school stadium in the country, and if they do, it's going to be a sight to behold.
Their current scoreboard would be dwarfed by the one that they're looking to add. The current screen is 14 feet x 18 feet and the new screen will be 27 feet x 48 feet. Both Katy and Carthage high school have 43 foot screens, and Humble ISD has a 50 foot screen, but Weslaco's would still be larger in terms of square footage.
The Valley Morning Star points out that the scoreboard would take 10 years to repay, and Steve Valdez, Weslaco's director of instructional television, estimates that they can make over $105,000 in annual advertising revenue on the new screen. That would mean that the marketing revenue generated over a decade would pay for screen by itself.
The largest high school scoreboard in the country is currently at Humble ISD's Turner Stadium (pictured below), so if Weslaco ISD can get the plans approved for the 27x48 board they'll take the crown and have fans, and opposing teams, in awe for years to come.
Or at least until another Texas high schools decides to upgrade and steal the crown.
Excellent off season high school workout video
The staff at Timberland HS in Wentzville, Missouri holds their off season workouts at 6am. Holding workouts that early means that there is no excuse for their kids to miss, and the staff has seen some impressive results when it comes to attendance.
In just his second season as the head coach, Edward Gilreath and his staff averaged 70 kids at their early morning workouts, including four separate occasions where they broke the 80 kid mark. That's pretty impressive.
Take a look at what they're doing before most of their competition rolls out of bed. These guys make the most of the space that they have, and most of their drills revolve around competition.
Arizona reveals 13 new uniform combinations
After a brief teasing last week, Arizona released their new look for 2013 today.
13 new and improved uniform combinations in all, including helmet colors of Cardinal, Navy, White, and of course Copper. Pictures can be seen below the video (and a few more pictures can be seen here).
What are your thoughts on the new look?
Video: Peyton Manning's chalk talk with the Tennessee staff
From preparing for the upcoming season to pranking teammates, Peyton Manning has had a busy off season.
Add a nice chalk talk session with the Tennessee staff to that ledger.
You can tell that the coaches were grateful and appreciative of the opportunity to listen to Peyton break down the game. Excellent move by Butch Jones getting Peyton back on campus to talk ball, and spend time with the new Vols staff.
Ohio State has a new 'toy' in the weight room
ESPN did an interesting article this morning on a new toy in the Buckeye's weight room. The strength staff recently added a new reaction based machine, and coaches have seen the results translate onto the field almost immediately.
The new device (pictured below), by Dynavision, is a large black square covered in small lights, and the object is for players hitting the most black dots in a 60 second span. Even after grueling practices, players are running to the machine to try and beat the high score.
"“It’s kind of like a video game, so they’re into it, the object is obviously to decrease reaction time from the time they see a light sensor to the time they hit it." strength coach Mickey Marotti explained.
"The theory is when you see a ball or just [improve] the awareness of what’s going on around them, they can speed that up a little bit. It’s good because it’s competitive, and they’re fighting back in that room to see who can get the high score. They’re charging in here all the time trying to get to it. It’s good...that’s what we want.”
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see why corners coach Kerry Coombs wanted to get the Dynavision machine, and ESPN's article explains the type of results that Coombs and the coaching staff saw in action on the field.
