ON AIR NOW: IN THE BLEACHERS (NEW SHOW)

The All Access Football Radio Network is proud to announce the addition of the In The Bleachers to its Blog Talk Radio lineup. Hosted by Brian Sakowski, In The Bleachers is the longest running college football podcast in the land, now entering its fourth season. Just one of many shows to be on the lookout for during the 2008 football season.

AIRING NOW: IN THE BLEACHERS - SEASON IV.EPISODE I - THE TOP NON-CONFERENCE GAMES FOR 2008
Tune-in right now to hear the first episode of In The Bleachers On Blog Talk Radio!
LISTEN NOW

RUTGERS EXPANDS STADIUM

NJ gov starts raising money for Rutgers stadium expansion.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) -- Gov. Jon S. Corzine has started raising money for a Rutgers football stadium expansion after months of delay due to ethics concerns.

Conflict-of-interest concerns were raised over the multimillionaire governor raising money. So Corzine's chief counsel looked into the matter.

Corzine has agreed to solicit from donors that don't do business with the state or likely won't in the near future.

The university wants to expand its 43,000-seat stadium to 56,000 seats. Corzine and state Sen. Ray Lesniak said in December that they would help raise $30 million after pulling state support for the project.

Football coach Greg Schiano and Rutgers Athletic Director Robert Mulcahy sent a letter this week to 24 potential donors.

MONEY ESCALATES HOME GAMES

Money talks with college football `guarantees'.

DALLAS -- Monetary guarantees for non-conference home football games are rising at "a fairly alarming rate," according to a top athletics director, and in some cases are approaching or topping $1 million.

Ohio State, for example, will pay $1.4 million for Navy to come to Columbus in 2009. Wisconsin will pay "just under $1 million" for each of two games against Northern Illinois, Badgers athletics director Barry Alvarez said. Texas is paying $900,000 to Florida Atlantic this fall. Arkansas is paying Tulsa $850,000.

"I would say it has been building over the last five to eight years, and I think what really triggered upward mobility of guarantees was the addition of the 12th game (in 2006)," Kevin White, new AD at Duke and president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, said at the group's convention in Dallas. "I think it's just subject to whatever the market will bear. There is no way to legislate against this kind of escalation."

Major powers pay guarantees instead of giving a return game because they take in several million dollars for each home game, not to mention the impact in their towns from a crowd of 90,000 or 100,000. It also gives them a competitive advantage that could have implications for Bowl Championship Series spots.

Less-successful teams or those with smaller athletic budgets see guarantee games as a way to build their coffers and give players the chance to face a major power in a big stadium.

"You talk about coaches' salaries skyrocketing," Georgia AD Damon Evans said. "Now the guarantees are just skyrocketing."

Alvarez said Wisconsin paid no more than $300,000 for a guarantee in 2000.

Ohio State's Gene Smith calls Navy a "special situation." The payout came because another school pulled out of a deal with Ohio State, leaving a hole in its schedule. But Navy had to buy its way out of a contract to do it, and Ohio State's guarantee will in effect cover the Midshipmen's buyout.

"We've always wanted to play a service academy," Smith said. "This is our opportunity and we can afford it."

(Contributing: Steve Wieberg, Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY)

EX-PLAYERS LEARN TO EAT NORMAL

Ex-football players learn to eat like civilians to save themselves.

Many college football players, once they graduate, discover that what they did to put themselves in shape to play football leaves them out of shape for a life that no longer includes the sport.

Now more than ever, players are learning to reshape those habits. They reshape themselves in the process. Most major-conference linemen dedicate years to gaining the weight that make them valuable on the field. They lift weights, run sprints and participate in grueling practice sessions that have become a year-round staple.

That constant activity burns a remarkable amount of calories. Replacing those calories creates eating habits that border on the absurd.

"I look back on some of the stuff I ate - going to a buffet and eating nonstop for an hour - and I can't believe I did it," said former Auburn tackle Steve Goula, who played from 1999 to 2002. "It was OK then. I needed the weight. I was in shape. It's just that it creates habits that are really hard to break."

Former Auburn starting center Jeremy Ingle, who stands 6-foot-1, played the 2004 season at 295 pounds. He crept closer to 300 pounds upon his return to Montgomery at season's end and knew almost immediately that changes were in order.
Ingle sensed it.

He also heard it from his most trusted source. Kevin Yoxall, Auburn's head strength and conditioning coach, helped Ingle bolster his body enough to thrive in the Southeastern Conference.
Now Yoxall is promoting a new approach.

"A body is not meant to be 300 pounds - especially when you're talking about a guy like Jeremy Ingle," said Yoxall, now in his 10th year with the Tigers. "When you're training like they are, you lose sight of how much you're eating. You have to think about food in a different way when your career ends. If not, things get out of control quickly."

Ingle reversed that trend slowly by walking on a treadmill. He was comfortable jogging on the treadmill a few months later after losing approximately 30 pounds.

The weight loss prompted him to examine more carefully the foods he was eating. Hamburgers and fries became memories. Ingle prepared meals at home more often, minimized his portions and watched the pounds disappear.

By the summer of 2006, some 18 months after his career ended, Ingle had lost 100 pounds.

"For me, it was really more of a lifestyle change and wanting to get in shape to live a life," said Ingle. "It's basic math. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that the less calories you take in, the better chance you have to lose weight."

The benefits of losing weight extend well beyond what some players can see. Stuart Hendon, a Montgomery physician, said players who add "artificial weight" must take steps after graduation to return their bodies to an appropriate size.

He said many patients who gain weight in their 20s one day become overweight patients in their 50s.

"We all know that 80,000 people pay to see Auburn be bigger and stronger. That's just the reality of it," said Hendon, a 1989 Auburn graduate. "Taking steps to lose unhealthy weight after a player's career is over is a good way to avoid problems down the road. The tendency is to go the wrong way. It's hard for these guys to change their diet, but it's going to lead to a better quality of life."

Joe Walker knows all about it. Auburn's director of sports nutrition for football has spent the past 16 months designing new ways to educate players about responsible eating. Surprised by how few players understood food preparation, Walker now shops with small groups of players several times each semester.

He shows them the difference between regular and lean meats. He teaches them how to make meals at home that are both inexpensive and healthy. He champions vegetables. He explains why eating fast food isn't a path to greatness.

The coaching staff helps out former players in other ways as well. Goula, who lost pounds in 10 months in 2005, said he sought guidance from recipes Yoxall in cluded in the team's 2001 handbook. Ingle said the discipline required to maintain his playing weight at Auburn became a powerful element of his weight-loss effort.

He laughs at the irony. "I wouldn't trade my playing days for anything. It gave me so much," Ingle said. "It gave me a gut, too, but it was my responsibility to take it off. I worked hard at getting big. I worked harder at getting smaller. I'm glad I went through it all. I'm a better person for it."

source: Moving on Sports and Lifestyle wires.
by jay g. tatekev