Rutgers and Washington State expected to meet in ‘14/’15

With the announcement of the 2014 and 2015 Big Ten schedule, Rutgers had been missing that final piece when it came to looking for another non-conference opponent. Well look no further as the Star-Ledger is reporting that the last addition to the schedule is set to become official when Rutgers plans to play a home-and-home series against Washington State of the Pac-12 conference.

The game next season will take place in Seattle, assuming it being at CenturyLink Field and not in Pullman, Washington which is where the Cougars play their home games. The game will be the season-opener for Rutgers. The following season in 2015, Rutgers will play host in Piscataway.

Below is the 2014 schedule for the Scarlet Knights, assuming the series with Washington State happens:

Date / Opponent

TBA at Washington State (Seattle)

Sept. 6 HOWARD

Sept. 13 PENN STATE*

Sept. 20 at Navy

Sept. 27 TULANE

Oct. 4 MICHIGAN*

Oct. 18 at Ohio State*

Oct. 25 at Nebraska*

Nov. 1 WISCONSIN*

Nov. 15 INDIANA*

Nov. 22 at Michigan State*

Nov. 29 at Maryland*

Dec. 6 Big Ten championship game (Indianapolis)

* Big Ten game

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Cincinnati Bengals expected to be featured on Hard Knocks

It is expected to be announced during this week that the Cincinnati Bengals will be starring in HBO’s annual Hard Knocks. The show is one that goes behind the scenes of NFL teams to give an inside-look of what goes on during the grueling days training camp prior to each season. This will be the Bengals second time doing the show in the last five years.

The news first hit headlines when Paul Domovitch of the Philadelphia Daily News tweeted the news. He eventually deleted the tweet but Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer confirmed it.

An official announcement of the #bengals being this season’s team on Hard Knocks is likely to happen next week. Two weeks at the latest

— Joe Reedy (@joereedy)

Back in 2009 was when the team last starred in the show. Previously the team had the likes of Carson Palmer and the then-Chad Ochocinco, but now there is a new nucleus at the helm with Andy Dalton and A.J. Green leading the way. The Bengals are coming off back-to-back seasons that included playoff appearances.

Hard Knocks does a great job every season with this show by showing the intensive meetings and practices, along with the comedy that a camaraderie of NFL players can bring to one another when stuck with each other for five weeks.

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Mets calling on Cougarlife.com to vote for David Wright

With the MLB All-Star game in Queens this year, the New York Mets are hoping to send as many Mets players as possible with the biggest name being third baseman David Wright — who is currently about 200,000 votes behind San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval. Sandoval is now on the disabled list due to a foot injury and this may help Wright in making a rebound in his voting.

Apparently the Mets have been asking Cougarlife.com for help in that regard. Just recently the site named Wright the “hottest cub”. Now the Mets want to take advantage of this audience and help make a push for Wright to start the all-star game.

“Cougar Life voted David Wright as the hottest cub,” said the Mets said via a statement. “In our effort to expand All-Star balloting to wider audiences, so as to increase votes, we did reach out to Cougar Life. Last year there was a big swing of votes at the end that cost David the starting job. We decided to do everything to make sure that doesn’t happened again this year.”

I actually think this is a smart move — but how effective this campaign will be is beyond me. I think with Sandoval being on the DL it will help Wright make that final push, and Wright has arguably put up better numbers while on the inferior team.

Wright was named the Home Run Derby captain for the National League and there is no doubt that he is going to the all-star game, regardless of being named a captain.

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