Delta Fair, Slider Inn, Football

The Delta Fair & Music Festival kicks off on Friday and continues through September 11th.  This event continues to add strange attractions every year. This year's new events include sumo wrestling and "pig wrastling." For those not into the freak shows, there is pretty respectable music line-up as well. Best bets for the festival: The Fabulous Thunderbirds and Sister Hazel.

Finally had the chance to stop by the Slider Inn this week. There is a ton of potential for this new Midtown restaurant owned by Aldo of Bardog Tavern fame. Its pretty obvious they are working out the kinks, so be patient. Give the lobster roll a try on your next visit.  

For many sports fans, it's this week is the most wonderful time of the year. College football kicks off another season Thursday night. One of the games on Thursday night will be Mississippi State visiting Memphis at the Liberty Bowl.

One way to build up the Memphis football fan base is to continue to have quality opponents at home, like the Bulldogs. Future home games against BCS AQ conference teams include games against Duke, Missouri and Miami. Schedule them and they (the fans) will come.

The only negative to Thursday night's game will be the constant ringing of cowbells and the "Go State, Go State" cheer. Thank goodness the Liberty Bowl sells beer.

Here's the picks for the first week of the football season.

Mississippi State over Memphis
Tennessee-Knoxville over Montana
Illinois over Arkansas State
BYU over Mississippi
Oregon over LSU
Boise State over Georgia



Pre-season Liberty Bowl Projection: Houston vs Auburn

With Case Keenum back at quarterback for Houston, the Cougars could win Conference USA over East Division Champion Southern Miss or UCF. Many are expecting Auburn to have a down year after winning the National Championship last season. 

College Colors Day, Cafe Society Deal

With the opening weekend of college football just ahead of us, school spirit is in the air. College Colors Day seems like an easy way for employers to allow employees the opportunity to wear apparel of their favorite teams. Here a few groups from Memphis that have officially signed up to participate this year - Arlington High School, Richland Elementary, ServiceMaster's Payroll Department and Sheffield Pediatrics. Get your office or school to sign up today.

If you can't find gear for your favorite school, check out CollegeFootballStore.com .

Today's Living Social deal for Memphis has a great offer for Cafe Society. Sounds like a the perfect incentive to try out some of their new menu items.

Midtown Ranks High, WSP, Thursday Fun Stuff

Midtown Memphis, specifically zip code 38104, is ranked 18th in the nation for affordable fun, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. Maybe next time they will get a better picture, instead of the 38103 image.

Tickets for Widespread Panic's 25th Anniversary show at FedEx Forum on Saturday, October 1st go on sale this Friday (August 19th) at 10am. WSP typically puts on a great show, so this should be fun. Looks like this might be a bad week to quit listening to jam bands. 

If you are looking for something to do tomorrow, don't forget about 3rd Thursdays at Main & Peabody. Live music and food/drinks specials might be a great way to beat the Memphis August heat.

Another solid option is the "Rock For Love Five" concert at the Hi-Tone tomorrow night at the Hi-Tone. Star & Micey, The Near Reaches, Bryan Hartley Industries, Grace Askew and DJ Lady Problems will be performing at this benefit for the Church Health Center.

Here's a little Widespread Panic for your listening enjoyment.

Yosemite Sam's Closing

Owners of Yosemite Sam's have confirmed they are shutting their doors after selling the property to Loeb Properties. The karaoke bar is set to close on August 27th. There are conflicting reports as to what Loeb plans to do with the property. Although Loeb has not made a formal statement, Yosemite Sam's owners told The Commercial Appeal that Loeb plans to restore the property. Other sources have indicated the Loeb plans to take down the existing building and develop it as a parking lot or add a new building. Loeb also owns several properties on and around Overton Square and it leading a charge to develop the area into commercial/retail center for Midtown.

Late night weekend drunken karaoke will be missed on Overton Square. Speaking of  karaoke, the Midtown Blue Monkey is getting some pretty good crowds on Thursday night for karaoke. Great people watching.

Memphis Lagniappe's Fabled College Football 2011 Pre-Season Playoff Predictions

Memphis Lagniappe's Fabled College Football Playoff Predictions will return for another college football season. Now its sixth published season, click here to see last season's final mock playoff field.

Memphis Lagniappe's Fabled College Football Playoff Predictions are published weekly on Monday afternoons to show a possible college football playoff format. Similar to the NCAA basketball tournament, 11 conference champions receive automatic bids. 5 additional spots are available for at large bids.

Round 1 games would be hosted by the higher ranked seeds. Rounds 2 - 4 would incorporate the bowl system with host cities/bowls bidding to host the games. The "Big 4" BCS bowls would be permanent playoff hosts on a round-rotating basis (Championship, semi-finals and 1 round 2 game).

The pre-season playoff field for the 2011 season is:

1. Alabama (SEC Champion)
2. Oklahoma (Big 12 Champion)
3. Oregon (PAC 12 Champion)
4. Boise State (Mountain West Champion)
5. Florida State (ACC Champion)
6. LSU (At Large SEC)
7. Stanford (At Large PAC 12)
8. Nebraska (Big 10 Champion)
9. Texas A&M (At Large Big 12)
10. Oklahoma State (At Large Big 12)
11. Virginia Tech (At Large ACC)
12. West Virginia (Big East Champion)
13. UCF (C-USA Champion)
14. Troy (Sun Belt Champion)
15. Ohio (MAC Champion)
16. Hawaii (WAC Champion)

Number Of Teams by Conference:
Big 12 (3), ACC (2), PAC 12 (2), SEC (2), Big 10 (1), Big East (1),  C-USA (1), MAC (1), Mountain West (1), Sun Belt (1), WAC (1), Independent (0)

Match ups round by round assuming higher seeds win.

Round 1
(16) Hawaii at (1) Alabama
(9) Texas A&M  at (8) Nebraska
(12) West Virginia at (5) Florida State
(13) Central Florida at (4) Boise State
(11) Virginia Tech at (6) LSU
(14) Troy at (3) Oregon
(10) Oklahoma State at (7) Stanford
(15) Ohio at (2) Oklahoma

Round 2
(8) Nebraska vs (1) Alabama
(5) Florida State vs (4) Boise State
(6) LSU vs (3) Oregon
(7) Stanford vs (2) Oklahoma

Round 3
(4) Boise State vs (1) Alabama
(3) Oregon vs (2) Oklahoma

Championship Game
(2) Oklahoma vs (1) Alabama

2011 Memphis Area College Football

The 2011 college football season has officially started in the Memphis area. Late last week, Memphis Tigers players reported to camp looking to improve on their less than stellar 1-11 record in 2010.

Many Memphis fans were ready to fire head coach Larry Porter after his first year. After two recruiting classes, Porter's team should better, but this year will not be the year for Memphis to compete for the Conference USA championship.

The often forgotten college football team in Memphis is at Rhodes. The NCAA Division III Lynx, should be competitive in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference under new head coach Dan Gritti.

2011 Memphis Tigers Football Schedule
Best Home Game - Mississippi State (Thursday, September 1)


2011 Rhodes College Lynx Football Schedule
Best Home Game - Austin College (Saturday, October 22)