What a weekend ahead!

Hello all and welcome to my weekly recap, also going to be known as my weekend family pack!

If you had a pulse and didn’t enjoy this past weekend’s slate of games, you’re nuts. We had upsets, dominating performances, pathetic performances and even some sweeping.

Drum roll please…………………………………………………………………………

Family packs are meant to feed, well families. So here comes my package (yikes).
I usually like to start with some carrots before I dive into my chicken wings. Kicking things off for me will be Jalen Saunders of the Oklahoma Sooners. Saunders probably just caught another pass while I was writing this since he hauled in 15 in their game against Notre Dame Saturday. I realize that the Fighting Irish got the win, but it was nice as the son of a Sooner fan to see Saunders get into the mix and look very much like the Ryan Broyles we know and love.

Alright, I’m hungry now, so let’s dive into the meat of the family back and break down the first flavor:

We’ll start off with the hot wings. Alabama football once again rolled past its opponent, eleventh-ranked Mississippi State, and is cruising right into a heavy-weighted matchup with the mighty Louisiana State Tigers. This game has become the biggest game of the year in college football in the past couple of years as the last three meetings have decided different championship games, with the last one being the BCS National Championship. This game is heightened by a ton of outlying factors. You’ve got Nick Saban coming back to Baton Rouge, where he becomes the most hated person in the world. The Bayou Bengals are playing at night in Death Valley where they are 36-1 under Les Miles. There also may be a little bit of a personal pride thing going on as I, an Alabama fan, am friends with plenty of LSU Fans.
I’m sorry, but I will not be giving a prediction to this game, as I was a baseball player in high school and am very superstitious to certain things, like jinxing myself. But I can promise that it WILL be a great game and there will be some heavy hitting going on by the defenses.

Let’s move on to our sweet, Teriyaki wings. Notre Dame escaped Norman with a big road win for its still unblemished season. Winning the first eight games of your season is a great way to get noticed in the BCS polls (unless you’re Oregon) and the Fighting Irish are getting their recognition. However that vaunted schedule that Notre Dame plays every year has taken some major hits this year as it isn’t as tough as the fans and commenters believe. Purdue was supposed to be a pleasant surprise for the Big Ten this year, but have lost its last four games and have yet to win a conference game this year. Michigan was exposed on national television in the first week against Alabama, surrendering 41 points and only scoring 14. Stanford is in its post-Andrew Luck phase but have and explosive back in Stepfan Taylor, so they’re still solid. Miami and BYU are both down, while Oklahoma is the most impressive on the schedule. A road win in Norman is always good, so hats off to the Irish there, however I’m not willing to concede that this is the toughest schedule thus far in the season.

Now for the quick, Atomic wings, that could blow up on you any second. Like Alabama, Oregon has a lot of football left to play. The matchup with USC this weekend should show the true colors of the Ducks. Wins against Colorado, Arizona State and Washington don’t impress me as much as a win in Los Angeles would. I’m a supporter of offenses can win you a lot of games, but defenses win you championships. My thoughts are that USC, coming off its loss to Arizona, win this game. Matt Barkley throws for 300 yards and five touchdowns, beating the Ducks, 45-38, ending Oregon’s streak of 40+ points in each game this year.

Last flavor in my family pack this week is the thick but succulent, Barbeque. Marqise Lee absolutely tore up the playing field with 16 receptions for 345 yards and two touchdowns. Amassing all those yards is no easy feat, but and even tougher feat for USC was stopping the Arizona offense. Matt Scott threw for 369 yards and three touchdowns against a USC defense. Don’t expect that to happen this week against Oregon.

My French fries are nice and crispy, at least something is. My Friday night consisted of me traveling five miles down the road from my house to cover a high school football game between Fort Worth All Saints and Cistercian. To my delight there was no heater in the one room press box and the windows needed to be opened to see the field. However it was the most fun and the friendliest game I have covered in the two years working games. Thank you is definitely due to the wonderful people who made my Friday night as warm as they possibly could with their friendliness. Good luck in the playoffs!

My extra side-item this week is the beans. Everything stinks as Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee have failed once again to pick up that vaunted SEC Victory this year. Kentucky fell to Missouri, who picked up its first SEC win ever, while Tennessee couldn’t hold on to a late lead to South Carolina and the Tigers just got pounded by the Aggies (Insert Aggie animal husbandry joke here). The Southeastern conference is tough and lots of people like to point out these teams as making the conference soft, but maybe take a look at how tough it is just to get a win. Granted Auburn doesn’t help by squeaking by UL-Monroe and Kentucky beat Kent State for their only win, Tennessee has won each of its non-conference games and competed while playing in conference, just can’t end up on the winning side.

As for my dips, I’d like to dissect the four players in who I believe should be in contention for the Heisman.

Collin Klein has to lead the way as he seems like a one-man-show for the Wildcats. Throwing for 1,630 yards and 12 touchdowns isn’t much, but rushing for 624 yards and 16 touchdowns is. He is the leader of the undefeated Kansas State team and sitting atop my Heisman list.

A.J. McCarron would be my number two, but quickly gaining on Klein. He has led the No.1 Crimson Tide and become much more than a game manager. Throwing for 1,684 yards and 18 touchdowns this year without an interception, knock on wood.

Kenjon Barner is leading the FBS in rushing with 974 yards and 14 touchdowns. Barner rushed for a mere 939 yards and 11 touchdowns last year while splitting carries with LaMichael James, but is not in the driver’s seat and cruising along with the Ducks.

Finally Manti Te’o. It seems that a defensive player always jumps up into the finalists over the past couple of years. Te’o holds the edge over Jarvis Jones mainly because he has played in two more games, but both make HUGE impacts when on the field for their teams. With 80 tackles and five interceptions Te’o cuts the cake for the Irish and its solid defense, so far.

That pretty much wraps up my first edition of the weekly family pack. It may be a little longer than I imagined or you would have liked but it’s a work in progress. I am working on a 10-piece combo for this weekend and will have that up by Friday. You can always tweet me @thewingexpert or email me at thewingexpert@gmail.com.

Until then, have a wonderful day and Roll Tide!

Wing Man Out!

10-piece sports combo

Hello all!

As I stated before, I will be back more frequently and while I have said that in the past, I wanted to show you I was serious this time.

Thank you everyone for your input on how to handle my Wing Expert weekly bullet lists, I still would like to see more ideas come in however as I am constantly looking to add more witty insight into the world we live in. So keep the ideas a flowing into my in box at thewingexpert@gmail.com.

I mentioned that I was trying to decide between three different weekly updates and I may end up trying to do each of them every week to keep this blog lively and if you are subscribed to my RSS feed, then your inbox well populated.

Today is Friday and with an eventful weekend coming up in sports (when is there not one right?) I’ve decided to hit you up with my 10 piece combo to a fulfilling sports lunch.

This is designed to give you some insight while you are away from your desk (or at it, I don’t discriminate)and you’re looking for some insight to throw at somebody regarding plans for this weekend. So for the first time here we GO!


Watch out for the (I) Web.com Tour if you live in north Texas as they are at McKinney Ranch playing their annual Tour Championship. This is the last tournament on the Web.com Tour and the last chance to get into the top 25 on the money list to earn their PGA Tour Cards. (Jealous!)

Of course the World Series is moving to the motor city as the Giants have taken the first two games. Barry Zito pitched well in Game 1, while (II) Madison Bumgarner pitched his best game of the 2012 Post Season, pitching seven innings and striking out eight, allowing no runs against Detroit.

(III) LSU WILL NOT LOSE THIS WEEK! This is my lock of the week regarding college football, mainly because the Tigers are on a bye week, which makes it very difficult to lose. But I’ve learned to never put anything past Coach Les Miles.

On a more serious note, no really, there is some seriousness to this piece. (IV) Oklahoma will beat Notre Dame in Norman this weekend in front of millions. The Sooners are starting to look like the team everyone expected in the preseason while the Fighting Irish have managed through a very mediocre schedule against Big Ten teams. However knowing the Sooners and their run in the past couple of years I wouldn’t be surprised if they laid an egg this week.

Also you may have noted my (V) Roman numeral theme throughout this piece. Don’t mind it, I am just trying to create differences as I write.

Watching the PGA Tour’s Grand Slam of Golf this week on TNT, (shoutout!) I watched an interview with Padraig Harrington’s wife, (VI) Caroline Harrington, talking about when she and her husband discussed going to Bermuda and wondering if it was worth the trip to only be there two days. Puzzling since Harrington made $1,546,272 this season on tour according to www.pgatour.com.

I’m starting to get hungry myself and I think on this fine Friday I would like to offer some eating advice for those dining near and around Arlington, Texas. (VII) Al’s Hamburgers may be one of my favorite joints to grab a quick bite to eat throughout the day. Of course you can grab a hamburger, but they also can slam down a salad that will rock your world. Al’s is located on the corner of Collins and Green Oaks in Arlington.

I’ve got a (VIII) high school football game again tonight as I’ve done throughout the season. In the past two years covering these games I have grown to appreciate what they do for communities and kids. They offer a place to play football to the best of your abilities in front of a big crowd that didn’t have to pay $40 to see the game. If you haven’t been to a high school game lately, take my advice and find one tonight.

The world’s (IX) largest bra is to be auctioned off for breast cancer awareness according to the Huffington Post (Link Below). Usually I am not drawn to such a scandalous story, but I enjoy seeing that all proceeds shall go to cancer awareness, take a note NFL.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/23/worlds-largest-bra-auctioned-breast-cancer-awareness_n_2005578.html

Finally I would like to appreciate what (X) Marco Scutaro has done in the last month for the Giants. I realize that I’ve already touched on the World Series but it really is a good story to see a veteran who hasn’t made a World Series start to hit everything that is pitched to him. I’ve turned the amount of attention towards him into a joke recently but I’m starting to buy in. Also I can’t help but wish I had a moment like this after winning game seven of the NLCS.

The fries in my ten piece combo today are plentiful as Alabama plays host to Mississippi State this week as both teams come into this matchup undefeated and playing at their teams’ peaks. It will be a nervous night for this Bama fan and hopefully they can pull out the victory. However don’t expect the Bulldogs to lie down like each of the Tide’s previous opponents.

That’s all I’ve got for today’s grub, but I want to keep hearing from you followers on what you would like to see/ hear about. Keep sending me your ideas and I’ll sort through them on here with all of my loyal followers.

Until then,
Wing Man Out!

I'm back!

Here I am followers, back as I told you, but not as soon as you or I would’ve probably liked. I am wiser in my days however and have decided to install a weekly fixture that will keep me posting junk for you to read while I vent on my problems going on in the sporting world.

I want to begin a weekly segment, but am not sure what to call it. I ask you blog followers to help me name my weekly dropping of knowledge. I’m trying to keep to the Wing Expert theme, since that’s the whole premise of this site. I was thinking along the lines of these:

1. Fifty thoughts in my family pack.
2. 14 points before they’re hot and fresh.
3. 10 piece combo to a fulfilling sports lunch.

Those are all I’ve come up with so far but I ask of my creative followers to help. Send me your ideas or let me know if one of those three is exactly what you would like to see each week. You can get in touch with my through email at, thewingexpert@gmail.com or you can tweet me @thewingexpert.

My first installment should come early next week as I am going to try to either get this out early in the week or late in the week to preview upcoming weekends.

You can believe me that I am trying to get back into things here as I know you are checking in frequently to make sure I’m still alive, which I thank you for.

In the meantime I’ll be awaiting your responses and hope everybody is doing well and is ready for some weekly entertainment from yours truly.


Wing Expert Out!

Life goes on....

I know... I know... I told you that I would be keeping in touch more but I've had an interesting couple of months recently. I have moved out of the cave and into an exciting casa with my boy Papa Bear. It's been almost a month since we moved in and we haven't killed each other yet, despite him having ample supplies to pull it off. It's a cozy little two-bedroom place with a backyard and a strange man living in the ceiling. You'll definitely learn more about Carl as I continue to write and provide you with some undesired advice from a Wing Expert. I realize that I have moved on from my position as the Wing Expert, but know that I carry those traits and skills with me everywhere that I go. I have grown so much since that first day of taking orders and learned so much from the people. I want to offer a site were they can come to for advice or even just a site to check on for some simple laughs while you manage your day. So sit back and relax as I will dive into multiple varieties here for your entertainment. Wing Man Out!