A few observations from this week:  1) The guest picker was Arizona alum and Olympic gold medalist Amanda Beard (yes, she picked AZ)  2)  Jenn Brown was back yet again with an interview with Jim Harbaugh.  3)  The Washington State flags made it once again, which makes this the 88th straight broadcast they have been present.  This time there were actually three flags rather than the usual two.  You can find more details on this tradition HERE.

Now let’s move onto the best signs of the day.  With Arizona playing Oregon there was obviously a lot of duck humor.  Countless Duck Hunt signs, ‘I’m eating Duck for Thanksgiving’, etc., but I only posted a few because if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all:

Quick back-story on this sign…the Arizona Wildcat mascot (Wilbur) used to have a gun in a holster, and the University banned this a few years ago:

One of the main things I was looking forward to was seeing the plethora of LeGarrette Blount signs:

"LeGarrette Blount you SOCK"

"Arizona Smoking Blounts"

"E.S.P.N. - Who is LeGarrette Sucker Punching Next?

As always, my personal favorites are signs that deal with the GameDay crew, and Corso always seems to get the most attention:

"Lee Corso is Hot!"

Just in case your clueless on this one:

"Corso goosed me"

"Corso is still a penis"

Lee “Darth Vader” Corso is Mike Stoops’ dad?:

"Stoops, I am your father" with a Corso head on Darth Vader's body

"Lee will you be my Grandpa"

"Herbstreit is prettier than ASU girls"

As shown in the sign above, even though Zona isn’t playing Arizona State, it’s never a bad time to make fun of your rival.  I didn’t know it but I guess Arizona State students need Hooked on Phonics:

"If you can read this sign you don't go to ASU"

"ASU students can't read this sign"

Obviously there needs to be references to “Quack” [Crack]:

"Quack is wack!"

"Don't do quack"

"Say no to quack!"

More random Arizona fans talking smack to Oregon:

"Oregon? More like Boregon!"

"I'd rather have the swine flu than go to Oregon"

"Tucson: Where ducks come to die"

"Next week...Thanksgiving. This week...SPANKSgiving."

Will making fun of Kanye for his VMAs incident ever get old?

"Yo Ducks, I'm really happy for you Imma let you finish but Arizona has the best team of all-time"

In case you didn’t already know, it is illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon (yes, I’m serious, look it up):

"We pump our own gas"

I couldn’t get a shot of the full sign, but I had to post this one anyway.  In case you didn’t know, Oregon never wears the same uniform combo in the same season:

"Oregon has a bigger wardrobe than Paris Hilton"

Is “Duck” now being considered as a curse word?

"Duck Oregon"

I couldn’t get  a full shot of this one either, but this was definitely one of the better signs of the week so I’m posting what I got:

"Can't spell _umb F____ without Ducks!"

"Phuck the ducks"

Oregon QB Jeremiah Masoli should be scared to play this week after these signs…Arizona has injured Oregon’s QB the past couple times they’ve played in Tucson:

"2005, Kellen Clemens, broken ankle. 2007, Dixon, torn ACL. 2009, Masoli, you're next"

"2005, Kellen Clemens, Check. 2007, Dennis Dixon, Check. 2009, Jeremiah Masoli, You're next"

Is Jeremiah Masoli a gay fish?  Hmmm, learn something new every day I guess.  [See Urban Dictionary post for insight]:

"Masoli likes fishsticks"

Even the Arizona fans like to make fun of their own QB’s hair:

"Foles' hair throws TDs"

YouTube “Flowbee Haircut” if you don’t get this one:

"Nick needs a flowbee"

Anytime someone shows love to Chad Ochocinco, I’ve got to post them:

"Child Please"

Don’t we all…

"All I want for Christmas is a BCS playoff"

A Louisville fan made the trip to protest head coach Steve Kragthorpe…check out the website BagKrag.com:

"Free Louisville, Bag Krag"

Have you heard about all the former players complaining about the Kansas coach being too abusive?:

"Mangino doesn't abuse 'em, he eats 'em"

Last but not least, the best of the rest:

"Hey mom, I may be failing college but at least I'm on ESPN GameDay"

"Don't Hassle the Hoff!!"

"SEC out-of-conference schedules...so easy a caveman could do it"

Another brilliant performance by Lee Corso at the end:

That’s all the signs for this week, be sure to check back in the next couple days for the poll to vote for your favorite sign of the week.  I’ll put together a survey at the end of the year for people to select the  best sign of the year.  If you didn’t vote for last week’s sign yet, you can do so HERE.

1)  Penn State vs. Indiana:  W, 31-20  (107,379)

2)  Ohio State vs. Iowa:  W, 27-24  (105,455)

3)  Georgia vs. Auburn:  W, 31-24  (92,746)

4)  LSU vs. Louisiana Tech:  W, 24-16  (92,584)

5)  USC vs. Stanford:  L, 55-21  (90,071)

If I missed something let me know.  This is the sixth week in a row that a Big Ten team has been first on the list.  All of the games were fairly close except for the beatdown that USC got from Stanford.  This weeks cheerleader offering has to go to Stanford for their performance vs. the fifth largest crowd in the country!

I’ve allowed you to vote for multiple signs in case you can’t pick just one.  I’ll keep a running track of the most popular signs throughout the season, and have a final vote at the end of the year for the best sign of the year.  If you didn’t vote for your favorite sign from the Air Force GameDay, click HERE.  As of now it looks like “Please B-Spikes, I need my eyes to be a pilot”, “Spikes 4 H”eyes”man”, and “Study hard or you’ll end up at Army” are moving on to the sign playoffs so far.  Don’t forget to send in your That Fan Fantasy Gameday contest submissions…you can see my favorite entry so far HERE.  Rock the vote!

A few observations from this week:  1)  The guest picker was former Heisman trophy winner Desmond Howard…wait a minute, isn’t he on every week?   2)  Jenn Brown was back again with a story on Stanford RB Toby Gerhart.  You can see the video HERE.  3)  The Washington State flags made it once again, which makes this the 87th straight broadcast they have been present.  Read my article for more details on this tradition HERE.

Now let’s move onto the best signs of the day.  TCU fans are still bitter over the Big 12 passing them over for Baylor:

"Hey You, Big XII, Regretting that Baylor decision yet?"

We have to have the usual Utah smack talk:

"God blessed Texas. Utah?"

"Who? Tah"

"We pity Salt Lake City"

This next sign showed that Jordan Wynn and Clay Aiken may be twins (see for yourself HERE and HERE):

"Clay, Jordan. Coincidence? EPIC FAILURE."

"The Utes Eat Poop"

What would College Gameday be without a reference to Twilight?

"Kyle Whittingham loves Edward Cullen"

"The Utes winning is like me graduating on time...not going to happen"

"You can't spell uterus without Ute"

"Joke of the day: Utah"

"Utah...LoLz"

I thought we got all of our Mormon humor out of the way after the BYU Gameday…apparently I was incorrect:

"Utah Utes...Mormon Fruits"

Clever use of the Utah logo:

"Useless"

Apparently Utes are a breakfast food of choice:

"We eat Utes 4 breakfast"

"What is the difference between Cheerios and the Utes? The Cheerios belong in a bowl"

A personal favorite of mine is when the crowd mixes in the Gameday crew into their signs and TCU did not disappoint.  Corso looked to be the most popular:

"Corso the Frog Prince"

"Defense that can knock the pencial out of Corso's hand"

"Lee Corso sits when he pees"

The TCU mascot reversed roles today and put on the Corso head rather than vice versa:

"Hey Corso! Superfrog picked you!"

Corso picked TCU to beat BYU a few weeks back…would he do it again?

"Poster: $3, Marker $4, Corso putting Superfrog's headgear on twice: PRICELESS"

TMI:

"Corso likes it Froggy style"

How nice of the TCU fans to give Lee direction on how to make the TCU Horned Frog hand gesture:

"Hey Corso, this is how it's done"

"Corso wears TCU boxers. Salute your shorts Corso"

Here is another sign about Corso and his former roomate Burt Reynolds.  If you didn’t see the sign from last week click HERE to check it out, along with the back story.  Also, if you don’t know what an ‘Eskimo Brother’ is, just check it out on Urban Dictionary:

"Lee Corso & Burt Reynolds are eskimo brothers"

I’d be willing to bet that Desmond checked the “no” box:

"Desmond, can I have your Heisman? Yes/No"

Kirk looks like he may hit up the tanning bed once or thrice a week:

"Kirk Herbstreit brought to you by: Planet Tan"

Jerry Hughes is obviously a popular guy at TCU:

"Even Chuck Norris is afraid of Jerry Hughes"

"Jerry Hughes is my Facebook friend"

"Game Recap: It was over when Jerry Hughes was born!"

You might have to think about this one for a second:

"TCU has a mighty D and a Hughes sack"

What would a TCU Gameday be like with out several references to being Horny?

"Horny for life"

I don’t know if this old man was trying to get the cheerleader’s attention or what, but it was kind of creepy (by the way, can anyone interpret the yellow sign?):

"Horney forever"

"Horny 4 life. We score more than U"

These guys all came out of the closet on national TV:

"We love our men in purple"

TCU fans doing some trash talking to the Texas Longhorns:

"Horned Frogs > Horned Cows"

"Silly cows, horns are for frogs"

Congrats on winning the bet…in case he didn’t see it live tell him to come to That Fan and check it out (and don’t forget to give us our cut):

"My bro bet me $100 that I wouldn't get on ESPN. Pay up bro!

These last few are some of my personal favorites from the show:

"With the iFrog, there's a sack for that"

TCU unveiled a new set of uniforms on the show.  The Kansas head coach doesn’t deserve this…does he?

"Mangino ate our old uniforms"

Did anyone hear about Texas Tech’s coach calling his player’s girfriends fat?

"Coach Leach, my girlfriend's not fat, she has a thyroid problem!"

A little red-hed humor for Jordan Wynn:

"U can't catch me! I'm the ginger-hair man!"

That Fan supports breast cancer awareness:

"Save my tah-tahs, not U-tahs"

"Dad, I'm broke, please send BEER"

I guess someone actually does pay attention to the person who runs on the field to grab the tee after each kickoff:

"The football tee getter has my heart"

Lastly, Lee did another one of his patented fakes, and ultimately picked TCU.  Check it out:

That’s all the signs for this week (although there were probably another 50 that didn’t make the cut).  Be sure to check back in the next couple days for the poll to vote for your favorite sign of the week.  I’ll put together a survey at the end of the year for people to select the  best sign of the year.  If you didn’t vote for last week’s sign yet, you can do so HERE.

Lastly, I want to remind everyone that I am starting a contest where those of you who couldn’t make it to Gameday can still show off your signs to fans around the world.  Here is the best sign submitted this week by reader Nate:

Use the template below and photoshop or edit your message.  Click HERE to learn more details on how to enter the contest!

College Football Hotties 2009 – Volume 5 (needs no further introduction) [Big Papa Daddy’s Sports Rag]

Sports Illustrated’s cheerleader of the week from Minnesota…she’s a looker:  [SI.com]

The Alabama fan missing a pinky finger has been all over the internet this week.  I can’t decide if it’s wrong or not…you decide for me! [Friends of the Program]

If you ever want to be That Fan of the Month, take a page out of these fans’ book: [Sports by Brooks]

The University of Arizona did an ‘Undie run’.  Why don’t I live there? [AZ Daily Wildcat]

A little discussion on arenas built with the fan’s taxpayer money:  [Sports Fans Coalition]

What terrible football organization will you be protesting this week?  [Deadspin]

This is not the way to treat a fan of the first place Cincinnati Bengals! [No Guts, No Glory]

College Football Super Fans:  Week 10 [SI.com]

The Brent Musburger drinking game! [Fanblogs.com]

To learn more about the Fantasy Gameday Sign contest, click HERE.  Send a great sign and I’ll post it!

So who is Tom Pounds you ask?  Let me walk you through how I found him…when I started this blog about a month ago, my goal was to write about a side of sports that you can’t get elsewhere, the sports fan.  You can go to a million sites to talk sports, but where can you visit a site that focuses solely on fans?  One of the best scenes of amazing fans is on Saturday morning College Gameday broadcasts.  I’ve always watched College Gameday, but only after starting this blog did I start watching it in extreme detail, including all of the scenery in the background (signs, flags, hand gestures, etc.). 

As I started covering the show for That Fan, I noticed I was seeing two Washington State flags at every broadcast.  It didn’t matter what school the show was at, those flags were there.  I was completely fascinated by this, because let’s be honest, Washington State hasn’t really had a great program lately.  I mentioned the flags on a few of my posts and thankfully a reader pointed out that there was a fan out there who had been organizing this to happen.  I immediately did my research, found out the tradition was started by Tom Pounds, and reached out to him for an interview which he agreed to.  This weekend will mark the 87th consecutive broadcast that the Washington State flags have been flying on Gameday, an amazing accomplishment.  I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed doing it.  My goal is to get this amazing story out for all fans to read!

That Fan:  How did you become a Washington State fan and how long have you been cheering on the Cougars?
Tom Pounds:  I am a WSU alum from the class of 1981.  I have been a fan since I was a kid.

That Fan:  What was the first time you had the WSU flags present at a Gameday and why did you decide to start the tradition?
Tom Pounds:  The first time I did the College Gameday show was Oct 4, 2003.  I knew the show was going to be in Austin that Saturday and I was going to be there visiting relatives.  2 weeks later a Coug fan in Minneapolis asked me to ship him the flag and he drove 300+ miles to the show in Madison, WI.  A week later a guy in Olympia, WA volunteered his daughter to do the show in Bowling Green.  After that, I just kept finding people to ship the flag to, week after week.  From Madison, on, it has been 87 shows in-a-row (as of 11/14/09).  Why?  There is a phrase known to WSU fans and alums alike, “It’s a Coug thing”.  We WSU fans and alums have been known for some crazy things on campus.

That Fan:  Has anyone from College Gameday ever contacted you about the streak and what you do?
Tom Pounds:  Several Northwest newspapers picked up on the story in 2003 and 2004 — I had several interviews. USA Today did a story on the flag last year.  ESPN also interviewed me on camera last year:

That Fan:  I’m sure you’ve seen the WSU flag commercial for Gameday (shown below), did they contact you before they did the commercial? What did you think when you first saw it?

Tom Pounds:  Yes I’ve seen it.  Several Coug fans got to see an advance copy of the promo a week before it supposedly aired.  A friend of my brother says he has seen it on-the-air, but I haven’t seen it except on Youtube and in the advance-viewing.  I didn’t have anything to do with ESPN making the promo, but I absolutely love it!

That Fan:  College Gameday’s Twitter account said a new Washington State flag commercial would be unveiled this week at College Gameday.  Do you know anything about it that you can share?
Tom Pounds:  I don’t know anything about a new commercial, nor have I seen any advance viewings of anything new.

That Fan:  Do people travel to each site or do you typically find someone who lives in the location of where Gameday is being taped?  
Tom Pounds:  Typically fans and alums live within 50 miles of where the show is being broadcast that week.  This year, the exception has been the show at Penn State.  The WSU grad/Penn State grad student who was there, had graduated.  New York city and New Jersey Cougs had to drive 250 miles to cover it (my Pittsburgh guys were nowhere to be found either).

That Fan:  How do you find people in other cities?  For instance, if a school is getting a broadcast for the first time, do you have to track someone down or will people reach out to you wanting to do it?
Tom Pounds:  Back in 2003 and 2004 finding people was difficult.  Other than the first 2 weeks in-a-row (as mentioned before), I used a network of Coug alums and fans from the Scout.com sports board: Cougfan.com.  It was strictly by word-of-mouth and through Cougfan that I found people to do the shows.  Some people had to drive hundreds of miles to get to the shows.  Eventually I got a ‘critical mass’ of WSU alums and fans on my list but even in 2005 some weeks I was ‘sweating it out’ on late Thursday (deadline to ship overnight to Friday).  Last year and this year WSU fans are e-mailing me ahead of time wanting to wave the flags on the show.  I now have (at latest count) 134 people on my list in just about every city ESPN normally goes to.  Sometimes the WSU alumni office will assist in finding someone, but that’s rare that I have to ask for help.

That Fan:  Are the flag carriers always Washington State fans or are they people who have agreed to help you out?
Tom Pounds:  I’d say 90% of the flag-wavers are WSU alums. Certainly the other 10% are *fans* of what we do.  Some regular flag-wavers are actually alums of other schools.

That Fan:  Are you ever worried someone is secretly a Washington fan looking to sabotage you?
Tom Pounds:  Back in 2003 and 2004, sabotage was always a concern.  Through 2005, 2006, and 2007 not so much, as I had my crew of regulars doing the shows.  As the effort gained popularity and more people asked to be put on the list, I started to worry more about sabotage, again.  The WSU alumni office will verify anyone claiming to be an alum and I have used this service many times.  Other fan websites (scout.com, rivals.com etc. — for the school hosting Gameday) will always post about the CGD show coming to their school.  Reading those threads is very telling.  I have read posts of host school fans plotting against the WSU flag, but in every case they are chastised by the majority of the others on that board.

That Fan:  Is there anything else in it for the flag carriers other than knowing they are a part of the streak?  Do you pay them or do they get to keep the flags?
Tom Pounds:  Everyone who does the show and waves the WSU flag is a volunteer.  An organization called the Ol’ Crimson Booster Club, a grassroots organization of WSU alums and fans collects money to pay for shipping costs, but if someone has to travel more than about 100 miles we will pay for their gas.  Doing the show is a great experience.

That Fan:  What is your typical week of preparation like in getting the flags there for Gameday, starting with when you find out where the show will be located?
Tom Pounds:  My typical week for getting the flags on the show starts with reading the ESPN site late Sunday afternoon to find out where they will be the following Saturday.  Keep in mind — even the ESPN producers do not generally know where the show will be more than 6 days in advance.  Once I know where they will be, I look on my list to see who is in that city (or geographic area) and I send out e-mails.  Sometimes I will make a phone call, too.  Usually, by Monday I have a name of someone who is available to do the show.  Back in 2003 and 2004, “Usually”, was Thursday — talk about stress!  Once I have a name (and address), I simply pass that information to the person who has the flags.  This comes as a standard set of instructions for how to fill out a FedEx Airbill, complete with the account number.  The flags usually arrive at the next person’s home by Friday afternoon and they take them to the show the next morning.  FedEx hasn’t failed us, yet.

That Fan:  I think I read somewhere that you make the flags, is that true?
Tom Pounds:  Like I said before, the first flag was hand-made by my mom (visiting at the time).  All the rest of the flags have been hand sewn by my wife, Syndie (who passed away last January).

That Fan:  How many sets of your flags are out there?
Tom Pounds:  There is one set of flags, only: a burgundy/crimson nylon flag, a white nylon flag, and a commercial nylon flag (donated by the WSU book store in 2003).  In addition there is a cloth flag for autographs.  Some of the past flags have been retired but replaced with newer identical ones.  3 have been lost in transition — 1 off the back of a pickup truck; two fallen out of a broken shipping tube.

That Fan:  How much money do you spend on doing this?
Tom Pounds:  Back in 2003 a non-profit corporation was set up in Washington to raise money and distribute funds for this effort.  WSU fans have donated thousands of dollars over the years to keep this thing going.  Our annual budget is approximately $2,500.00.  That includes all shipping costs, things like new flagpoles, material for new flags, and paying for some people’s travel expense.  Remember that guy who volunteered his daughter to go to Bowling Green? He’s the one who set up the corporation — the Ol’ Crimson Booster Club.

That Fan:  You seem to be quite the Washington State celebrity. Does anyone from the school administration ever reach out to you?
Tom Pounds:  The WSU AD asked me to speak at 2 fundraisers earlier this year.  I also spoke at a fund-raiser in 2004.  The athletic department wants me to help set up a web site with information on the flag.

That Fan:  How long do you envision keeping this going?
Tom Pounds:  My immediate goal is to see the flag present at 100 CGD shows in-a-row.  This will happen next year. After that I would like to see ESPN bring the show to Pullman, WA.  Even then there isn’t any real reason to quit.  I might have someone else take over if I get tired of doing the organizing.

That was a great interview.  If any of you have additional questions for him, let me know and I will try and get them answered.  If you’d like to donate money to the cause you can find more info HERE.  I’m looking forward to seeing if a new WSU flag commercial is unveiled this week on Gameday. Tom – you ‘da man!

1)  Penn State vs. Ohio State:  L, 24-7  (110,033)

2)  Michigan vs. Purdue:  L, 38-36  (108,543)

3)  Texas vs. UCF:  W, 35-3  (101,003)

4)  Tennessee vs. Memphis:  W, 56-28  (94,636)

5)  Georgia vs. Tennessee Tech:  W, 38-0  (92,746)

If I missed something let me know.  This is the fifth week in a row that a Big Ten team has been first on the list.  The top two both lost their games, so my picture love this week goes out to the Longhorns.  Hook ‘Em!

My team of choice (as I’ve previously said, they haven’t shown enough on the field this year for me to reveal who they are yet) plays an early afternoon game so signs will have to come Saturday evening, so be sure to stop by the blog and check them out.  If you will be at Gameday this weekend, please send me pictures of signs and I will be sure to post them and give you credit.  I will also be holding another contest similar to the contest ran last week for any fan that can give That Fan a shot-out on a sign this weekend.  Can’t make it to Fort Worth?  Make your own sign and send it to me so I can post them (click here for more details)!