I’m in fully Memphis planning mode getting ready for the Liberty Bowl trip. One thing I’m really focusing on this year is eating at some of the top places that Memphis has to offer, especially in terms of BBQ. Last year I was able to hit Corky’s and Rendezvous, but this year I want to hit much more! High on my list for this year is Commissary BBQ, Interstate BBQ, and Gus’ Fried Chicken. Bonus points if I can also get in Central BBQ, Huey’s, and a return trip to Corky’s!

I’ve been working on a travel document for our group, but that I’d share the food portion of it for others. The base was a post on the Rivals UCF forum and I then compiled additional information that may be helpful to other Knight fans going to Memphis as it includes address, phone, holiday hours, and ratings info for many top choice food stops!

My Memphis Eating Guide

Tags: Football by jay
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Add A-10 to the list of top conferences which UCF has defeated on this young season! It wasn’t a pretty game, but we sure are learning how to win in a variety of ways. Marcus Jordan appeared to be on his way to missing the game due to injury but talked Donnie into inserting him with about 15 minutes to go in the 2nd half and then he never came out. It was great to have his calming presence in there!

For those that missed, here are highlights of the game from the UMass Athletics site on YouTube:

Tags: Basketball by jay
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Earlier this year the UCF football team became the first to ever be ranked at UCF, well the basketball team followed suit today as they were ranked #24 in the AP Top 25! UCF now has both major sports ranked in the Top 25 which is something that only 5 schools in the nation can claim, none of the others being from Florida. Additionally UCF can surely claim State Champs in Florida for basketball considering they’ve beaten UF, Miami, and USF among others.

Obviously this is creating some great national publicity for the team, and here is a nice article that is on the front page of CBSSports.com

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What a great year for the Knights, winning their 2nd C-USA Championship on a beautiful sunny Orlando day. Not just a great overall year, but an incredible week when combined with the basketball victory over UF…it’s a week that likely could be considering the best in UCF Sports history!

In the Championship game the defense, lead by Bruce Miller and Josh Robinson, played their best game in well over a month to help deliver us back to Memphis and this time for a New Years Eve Bowl Game! Ironically the Liberty Bowl will pit the two best Freshman QBs against each other with Jeff Godfrey trying to lead us to our first bowl victory and Aaron Murray trying to lead the Bulldawgs to a winning season.

Here are a few pics from the tailgate and some crowd shots at game

Additionally here is a not so great video mash of Fox 35′s Jim Van Fleet catching Knight Fever & giving us some love the day before the game and then some celebration clips I took at the end of the game. Sorry for the crappy sound at the start.

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UCF’s Marcus Jordan escapes the shadow of his father

When word got out that Michael Jordan’s son was going to play basketball at the University of Central Florida, the news spread quickly around campus. But very few students knew what he looked like, which allowed Marcus Jordan to enjoy a sense of anonymity he had never experienced in Chicago, where his NBA legend father is still considered royalty.

He remembers sitting on a bench outside a classroom last fall, overhearing people talking about Marcus Jordan, not realizing they were sitting right next to him. He smirked. Those days are over.

The UCF Knights are 8-0 for the first time since the school went Division I in 1984, Jordan is a big reason, and he can’t hide anymore. There is a buzz on campus, and crowds of 6,000 fans (including Michael Jordan) are showing up at games.

Continue reading here…

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Nothing special but maybe some folks who didn’t make it to the game would care to watch. This is the 9 sec timeout and then a little bit after the game. What a great moment for UCF fans! Thanks so much to Donnie Jones and the entire basketball team for putting in the hard work to make this happen!

Tags: Basketball by jay
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While my computer was taking a vacation and the football team was busying dominating C-USA, we’ve had a pleasant surprise with the basketball team so far! They are 7-0 to start the Donnie Jones era with big wins over past, current, and future rivals with Stetson, USF, and then #16 Florida. That is how you generate buzz and build momentum within the fan base!

As someone who was a huge supporter of Kirk Speraw I was not thrilled with what happened last year,but Donnie has made me a believer with his incredible recruiting pickups, up-tempo style of play, and most importantly the wins on the court. This team is a blast to watch and if Marcus Jordan keeps going at his current pace he’ll likely replace, or at least join, Daunte and Kevin as the face of the UCF sports program. He is helping us get love from national media that our basketball team has never seen. In case you live in a cave here are the two plays that have generated the greatest buzz so far:

Two looks at the drive vs the Gators, the top video I think shows the best angle:

Then there is the play I’ll refer to as “The Dunk & Salute” vs Stetson:

Tags: Basketball by jay
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Wohoo! So I had to replace my home desktop with a new PC as it went rogue on us and we off course that is the PC I use to update the site in terms of pictures so I’ve been a little out of luck. Finally got the new desktop ordered and running and I just uploaded a swarm of pictures since my last update. Here are some back logged football pics:

Southern Miss (final regular season home game)
http://www.ucfpride.com/pictures/2010/FB-USM/index.html

Tulane Road Trip (Nawlins fun!)
http://www.ucfpride.com/pictures/2010/FB-NewOrleans/index.html

It’s been an incredible run this year with the Championship, 10-3 record, and Top 25 standing. Looking back at these pictures the USM game was a real disappointment, but to be honest I had a bad feeling going in. Hopefully the team learned a lesson from that game about remembering what it took to get them to that ranking in the first place.

The trip to New Orleans for the Tulane game was an absolute blast. Nawlins is absolutely one of my favorite cities in America! Sure Bourbon St is good times, but I love what we found beyond it! We hit two new major things on this trip with the live music on Frenchman St, which was simply brilliant and then we also hit the WWII Museum which was one of my favorite museums ever.  Can’t wait to make it back to both those places, not to mention the delicious Cajun food! Never hurts when your team wins by 47 either…

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