RAWRCATZ! + 1: Michael Curtis

Over the weekend the RAWRCATZ! got even mightier with the addition of IN OL Michael Curtis. Curtis, who plies his trade in Mishawaka, becomes the 7th new prince of RAWRing for the 2011 class.

Curtis, who is currently unranked by Rivals and Scout, says that the RAWRCATZ! will start him out at tackle but will play both tackle and guard eventually. Hopefully once he gets on campus he will be turned into the mountain moving death merchant that RAWRCATZ! have come to expect out of their O-line.

Now is the Time for RAWRCATZ! to Rise!

This feels more like the RAWRCATZ! I know.

2010: The year of the RAWRCATZ!

Wipe the spit from your whiskers, wipe the Motor City tears from our eyes.

Frank doesn't cry, he feeds.

(Click the image for a larger version, you know you want RAWRCATZ! desktop wallpaper)

RAWRCATZ! + 1: Jacob Welter

Earlier today the RAWRCATZ! picked up their newest commitment in OL Jacob Welter. Welter is a 3 star guard who currently plies his trade for Monte Vista HS in Danville, California. While it appears that the RAWRCATZ! were his only offer he was receiving interest from a number of BCS level programs including Cal, Michigan and Nebraska.

Welter becomes the sixth member of the 2011 class (the things RAWRCATZ! miss while they go down for a long summer's nap) but the first non-JC player to commit from outside of the state of Ohio. Starting a runnin' RAWRCATZ! pipeline to one of the more talented HS football states sounds like a good plan to us, and we are happy to see some more kids from out west make their mark in the green fields of Athens in the years to come.

Update: In Which We Get NSFW

RAWRCATZRAWR! hopes that you all had a solid weekend. Me, I spent the weekend looking for a place to live and clawing the jugulars out of criminals. The streets are safer with RAWRCATZ! around.

So, a bit of news popping up on the interwebz on another happy Sunday in the land of RAWRnia. It seems our RAWRCATZ! are experiencing a bit of a QB duel, to which RAWRCATZRAWR! says: Good.

This seems like it might be a bit of a media hype job, seeing as how Phil Bates is trying to out duel Man Amongst Boys Boo Jackson (MABBJ? RAWRCATZ! love acronyms) for the starting position. However, we enjoy the spirit of competition. That is why we watch football, is it not? You see, Frank Solich hands nothing to no one. And while prying something out of the cold dead hands of someone who will never die is impossible, if you work hard, and practice hard, we believe in rewarding the guy who earns it the most. Or the guy who makes us the best (NSFW or children) spaghetti.

The nitty gritty about the QB race is that Boo Jackson is an amazing talent that is coming off of a gruesome injury that let Phil Bates get a lot of important reps in the spring. That being said, RAWRCATZRAWR! fully expects to see Boo get his reps this year. Bates is a solid player, and a solid option, but there's only one MABBJ (yeah that doesn't work) and if he's ready to go, we see a lot of good things on the horizon. You know, MACtacular things. And in a MAC that promises to be wide open, the best team in the state of Ohio knows that good things on the horizon are top notch.

Updates: In Which I Hypothesize Serial Killings

Pardon our rust while we yawn and stretch out after our hiatus. You see, RAWRCATZ!, if anything, enjoy a good nap. While slipping into a summer long coma was not in the cards, you'll forgive us if we take a little bit to get back into the face-clawing.

So, news of note since we've been AWOL:

- Taylor Price was drafted 90th overall by the New England Patriots after what is the culmination of one of the most decorated RAWRCATZ! careers of all time. He finishes 1st all time in receptions, 2nd in yards and 2nd in touchdowns. He'll probably displace Randy Moss as the go to guy in an offense that is full of them. By week 10 they'll be calling him "Touchdown Taylor Price" up in Beantown.


He'll look good in Foxborough, but not as good as he did rocking the dead sexy Green and White of his yesteryear.

- The mighty RAWRCATZ! basketball team won not only the MAC tournament title, but then eviscerated #3 seed Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Nobody gave the hardcourt RAWRCATZ! much of a chance, but a pregame speech by none other than Frank Solich (we presume) spurred our claw-toed brethren to victory over the HoLOLyas.

- However, with his spate of legal trouble we are not surprised that Armon Bassett not only declared, but stayed in the draft, despite the fact that Chad Ford had him rated as the 93rd best prospect in the draft. Lesson, oh mighty RAWRCATZ! - Don't punch bouncers in the face. A) They are paid to hit back B) You know someone is going to catch it on their cellphone C) RAWRCATZ! are better than this. We prefer to think that Mr. Bassett was tainted by his time spent at Indiana, and that the more distance he gains from the incident, the better off he will become.

- Sticking with the theme of bummers. Melvin Payne was suspended from the team in early June for reportedly breaking into a house and getting himself all cut up on a broken door. We wish to hold true to the old adage that all are innocent until proven guilty, and will reserve judgment until everything unfolds.


- Hey, let's end on a happy note, shall we? The Sporting News has named LaVon Brazill (the ball of dynamite seen above) to its 3rd team All-America. This is great news because you want to see RAWRCATZ! in these types of scenarios, and now I won't have to rip Phil Steele's heart out (2nd team AA from him) and send it to press release style to reporters like the Zodiac killer.

I know what you're wondering, and yes, I'm far too young to have actually been the Zodiac killer. Geesh, ye have little faith. Now shut up and get in the basement.

There's a Thunder in our Hearts, and our Moves are Like Lightning

It's the power we feel when we get our taste of the glory.

Last year RAWRCATZRAWR! took you on a Homerian journey through the landscapes of MACland. Wherever RAWRCATZ! were RAWRing, we were there. Through the long and arduous winter known as the offseason your humble (and ultimately quite timid) narrator sought refuge in the comfortless comforts of academia. Attacked by Chinese spambots RAWRCATZRAWR! soldiered on, never wavering in its confidence that one day, I would return. And though it does not need me to retain its brilliance, I return once more to the base of the mountain that is RAWRCATZ! glory, with tales yet to be told, and a season of memories to incorporate into the annals of glorious e-time. So, brave RAWRCATZ! of Athens, please allow me to once more establish myself in your presence. Let the sun shine on your field of gilded artificial turf, and let RAWRCATZRAWR! be your home on the internet.

The Frank-Train is coming. Time to lay the tracks.

I Keep Bumping Into Days, and Waiting For Them to End.

Grad school, amongst other things, has a propensity for sticking daggers through fun. It lingers around corners and screams obscenities at your grandmother. It is not pleasant. If you are thinking of grad school, especially in English lit, I would dissuade you. Mostly because I hate competition, but also because it is a bitch-mother. When I started this blog back midway through last football season I had a plan that started with blogger and ended with world domination. Conquering the blogosphere in the name of RAWRCATZ! would be not only incredibly easy, but the apex of my life. I'm fairly sure that I had dreams where Frank Solich came to me and yelled, not because he was mad, but because he is one loud dude. He told me that my digital endeavor was an honorable one, and that I would one day establish myself in the pantheon of RAWRCATZian heroes. I'm also fairly sure that I was happy.

But then the pressures of my scholastic life intervened. As anyone who has typed in our web address hoping for an in depth look at our incredible MAC tourney run, and the culmination of our mighty RAWRCATZ! hoops force in their drubbing of Georgetown in the NCAA tourney has noticed, we were ominously silent. Fear not, your intrepid blogger took great joy in these moments. But he also had term papers to write, professors to coddle, and a pantheon of literature to overcome. Literature, not fat people or mother-in-laws (oddly enough), is the bane of all existence. And in the long run the weights of academia and the reality that I am not worthy to carry the e-Banner of Athens, forced me to reconsider the future of the site. And the future, it seems, has reached the fate of so many others in Blogfrica, it has come time to say goodbye.

I hope that all the RAWRCATZ! RAWRing across the countryside found a brief home at RAWRCATZRAWR! I know that exposing DeKalb as the post apocalyptic shitpit that it is, and watching Theo Scott make murder of MAC defenses has been the highlight of my e-Life, and will shine radiantly in my memories. And you can be damned sure that when I am filling out apps for my PhD that RAWRCATZRAWR! will be at the top of my list of accomplishments. No, don't look at my thesis, check out this blog I had. Yeah, I knew you'd let me in. It was only a matter of time.

But, my greatest hope is that King Solich would be proud. If he stopped by, on one of those sleepless nights where he is plotting the demise of yet another tasty MAC morsel, if he perused these pages, that he would be entertained. I know he wouldn't smile... Frank never smiles. But I hope that he would look upon the pages contained within and think, just for a second, that he doesn't want to kill me with that steely eyed glare of his. You know, the one that kills nations and Turner Gill's career with a single look. And though I will miss him most of all, I will also miss RAWRjuiceboxRAWR's immaculate photoshoppery (see above). I will miss our legion (read 3) of readers who read these rants, sent their emails, followed us on Twitter, and had words of encouragement. And I will miss having a place where RAWRCATZ! are in a perpetual state of RAWRing. Never have we RAWRed as proudly as we have this season, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have shared in the revelry with you.

So it is with a somber heart, and a hearty sigh, that I say farewell. Wherever you may roam, make sure you are RAWRing!

-RAWR CATZ