Stripes, sideline reporters and Sony gift suites

With not much to report on the football front in regards to the 76th annual Brut Sun Bowl, let’s take some time for some housekeeping items. 

Men in black (and white)

First, when Oklahoma and Stanford take the field at noon Dec. 31 in Sun Bowl Stadium, the teams will have a Big Ten officiating crew presiding over them. 

Before 2009, Big Ten crews hadn’t been in the spotlight for blown calls or referee shenanigans of any sort. But this season saw the conference make news a few times. 

First came Charlie Weis’ issues with a crew in Ann Arbor on Sept. 12. The then-Notre Dame coach went off on the officials after his team lost 38-34 to Michigan.  

Most recently, questionable refereeing was part of an interesting weekend at the end of October, which saw a few tricky calls and a lot of irate fans in Iowa City, Iowa, and Champaign, Ill. 

But presumably, part of the upper echelon of the Big Ten’s crews are coming to El Paso. And Oklahomans are just glad they won’t have to see a Pac-10 crew. 

In the booth

Tim Tebow lovers Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson won’t grace us with their appearance this year. 

Instead, CBS is sending the team of Craig Bolerjack and analyst Steve Beurelein to man the play-by-play booth. 

But all you care about is who's gonna be on the sideline, right?

That would be the gender-neutrally named Sam Ryan. 

Ryan was here two years ago during Oregon’s trouncing of South Florida. 

Here's the complete bowl announcing schedule.

Free stuff

That’d be for the teams, not for you.

The Brut Sun Bowl has come a long way since being fodder for then-Purdue quarterback Kyle Orton when it comes to gift-giving. Orton took a swipe at the free goodies he received during his second trip to the Brut Sun Bowl when talking to Sports Illustrated in 2001. 

But thanks to bowlwide spending limits and a little work, the Sunnies have gotten consistently better every year at putting together some memorable packages. 

This year’s gifts include: a Sony gift suite, a Timely Watch Co. watch, a Majestic fleece pullover, a VP Sports cap, an Ogio Politan laptop pack, a Brut hair dryer and a commemorative coin. 

By comparison, the Little Caesars Bowl (Dec. 26, Detroit) is giving players a Sony gift suite, a Timely Watch Co. watch and a football. 

Participants in the Citi BCS National Championship will receive a Sony gift suite with Trek and Garmin, a Fossil watch, a New Era 59Fifty hat and an Ogio Politan laptop pack.

Find a complete bowl gifts list here.

For anyone wondering what a Sony gift suite is, it’s basically a kiosk inside the teams’ hotels stocked with Sony stuff. Players get to visit these booths and pick out what they want that totals to a set amount ($300 in most cases) and take it home. 

Not bad swag, huh?

Comments

[TJJackson]

Ah -- more air-headed sideline eye candy, I see. I have yet to hear any of those so-called sideline "reporters" -- male or female -- say anything important or interesting.

Bolerjack? Never heard of him.

Who is CBS's #1 NFL broadcasting duo (play-by-play guy and color guy) these days? And why aren't THEY doing the Sun Bowl?

CBS used to send its top NFL announcers here.

[pay per head service]

Fans should learn that kind of stuff. thanks for sharing with us. I would like to learn more about OU fans.

[Elena]

家中壞腦 本文及這個回應都是借用別人的電腦寫的 請恕在下只能簡短回應 kursk, 完全同意 匿名君 話分兩頭 1) 今次先有黃世澤說要起通寶底 後有通寶封博 但從各方敘述 通寶好像沒有解釋過封博的原因 也許他厭倦筆戰 也許他事忙 也許他像我般 壞腦 只有他才知是甚麼原因 人們指摘黃世澤的起底行為是一回事 拿通寶封博作證據 又是另一回事 最奇怪是那個 思想花園 自己無端端封博 也許又有人會入黃世澤數 2) 就黃世澤的一般 起底 行為 例如公佈持異議者的 IP address 然後聲稱拒絕他們留言 我是不認同的 不過今次通寶事件是特例 事涉應當政治中立的公務員所享有的言論自由問題 這 不同人自有不同看法 例如今天 ESWN 就轉載了 AK 的見解 然而 當我昨晚寫這篇網誌時 有關的討論實在少之又少 我唯一看見的只有電鋸於 聞 見 思 錄 內認真討論這個黃世澤開宗明義就點明的事情 因此 至少截至昨晚為止 我對指摘黃世澤的一眾博客是有所保留的 問題不是他們指摘黃世澤的 起底 行為對不對 而是他們的指摘並無真的以理服人 只是拿著一個很方便 叫 言論自由 的東西加上一個未經證實的猜想 通寶是因害怕被起底而封博 來打擊黃世澤 林忌 我是好事之徒 口痕友 寫嘢有時加鹽加醋 請勿見怪 hkriec, 是我寫得不好 我的意思不是說要每事出聲才有資格在此事上批評 而是說比起陳巧文 熊貓少女及遊K河少女這些極為明確的例子 黃世澤此例實在很弱 而眾人對他的指摘又顯得不成比例 你可以說黃世澤誤解了 公務員政治中立 的意思 別人同不同意是另一回事 因此他的行為其實仍是侵犯了通寶的言論自由 你也可以說通寶講得有道理 朱藹迪其實誤解了政府收數的合理性 因此政府並非借收數來限制朱的公民自由 這些通通都是可議的 但是當黃世澤以通寶所贊同之道還施其身 而其他人只拿黃世澤開刀 單方面視通寶為受害者 不將二人放在 equal ground 兼且無視黃所持的理由本身所擁有的合理討論基礎 即公務員的政治中立性 就向黃發難 我覺得並不妥當 不過補充一句 對黃世澤時不時作出的起底要脅 儘管是講多過做 我也是不認同的 以披露留言者的 IP address 為例 言論自由這些大題目姑且不說 若留言者用 dynamic IP address 黃此舉可能會令他人遭池魚之殃 方潤 呀 實在對不起 不過第三國成為另外兩國的戰場 是歷史上常見之事 你就看開點吧 ;-Dpaulymh: 不要動氣 見以上對 hkriec 君回覆 我也看不過眼黃世澤對你的單打 就好像說你甚麼 不誠實使用電腦 此等言詞 你實在不必放在心上 你沒有用黃世澤的激烈言詞來回敬他 這點我是相當佩服的 不過你又何必和他纏鬥呢 你不會以為他罵你土共 別人就真的以為你是土共吧 最少我就從來沒有這麼想 時間寶貴 就算是打筆戰 都要選擇戰場呀