THE BAR HAS BEEN SET: RAMIFICATIONS / THE GINN MILL

Ramifications is happy to announce we have partnered with The Ginn Mill to become Denver’s CSU party headquarters. The Denver fan base has been “thirsty” (See what I did there?) for a designated meeting spot for sports and mingling. The Ginn Mill is an ideal venue that will help to usher in a “Bold New Era” for Denver’s Ram fans and generate excitement for the upcoming sports year and beyond.

ALL-TIME OFFENSIVE LINE: VOTING

We know we've been slacking on this but it is time again to continue our all-time team. We need 5 Offensive lineman to fill out our roster. We eliminated Fum McGraw and Bob Kruse on the basis that they played both ways and were known more for their defense. You have two weeks to vote on who your personal favorite maulers who battled in the trenches while leading our mighty Rams to victory. Vote wisely.

JASEN ODEN 2012 CSU RECRUIT

Colorado State continues to bring in talent for the up coming 2012 season by signing a transfer from North Carolina Tech Prep. Jasen Oden is a 205 pound defensive back from East High in Buffalo, New York. In Jasen's senior year, he earned a third-team All Western New York selection but to play for a DI school,

A LESSON LEARNED

John Marinatto apparently has teenage girl handwriting. Was not aware.

On May 7th news came out of the Big East that Commissioner John Marinatto was resigning. If you have been following the changing college football landscape recently then you would know that this “resignation” was more of a force out by Big East University Presidents. The Big East let Marinatto keep his last shred of pride and dignity by this gesture and what made the resignation worse were his comments after he resigned.

"Our recent expansion efforts have stabilized the conference for the long term, and we are likewise well positioned for our very important upcoming television negotiations," 

"As a result, I felt this was the right time to step aside and to let someone else lead us through the next chapter of our evolution." 

Love, John Marinatto

STATE OF THE UNION (Ewe-nion?)

Back-to-back-to-back... 3-peat... trifecta. These are terms generally used to describe athletic accomplishment, signifying triumph to the third power. What’s better than one championship? Three in a row. When the Colorado Rockies were earning the ‘Blake Street Bombers’ moniker, back-to-back-to-back usually meant some combination of Larry Walker, Dante Bichette, Andres Galarraga and Vinny Castilla were in the process of doubling an opposing pitcher’s ERA. In short, these phrases most often have a positive connotation.

Unless, however, you’re a Rams fan. In that case, you’re likely

TRAE MOXLEY 2013 RECRUIT

Last week, Colorado State received another verbal commit from an in-state big boy that can have an immediate impact on the make-up of this Rams football team in 2013. Trae Moxley is a 6'6" 260 pound, yeah 260 pounds, tight end from Roaring Forks High School in Carbondale, Colorado. I find it pretty incredible that a player this size and athleticism comes from a small town in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. After watching Moxley's highlights, I think you'll agree that this is a great pick up for the Rams. Talk about a human bulldozer, I just love watching this guy use his body like a battering ram. He's got soft hands and some pretty good speed for a big guy.

RAISING THE BAR

According to RAMS 5280, “If you live in Denver, you live in Ram Country.” In fact, 43,000 alumni live in the metro area. The “Bold New Era” of CSU sports includes making a concerted effort to connect with the Denver fan base. New AD “Cap’n” Jack Graham and Coach J-Mac brought spring practice to Infinity Field in Glendale and to be honest, I can’t believe this hadn’t be done sooner. It allowed Denver fans the opportunity to watch the team, connect with each other and feel more involved. But, if CSU is truly interested in connecting with their Denver fan base, there is one glaring problem that needs to be addressed: an official CSU bar in the Mile High City.

Are you an Iowa Hawkeye fan? Pub on Pearl in Wash Park or Sports Column in LoDo or

McELWAIN RANKS HIGHER THAN EMBREE

Coach J-Mac stealing the spotlight. Embree looks concerned. (RH Photo/AP)

According to the Sporting News' list of college football coach rankings, Jim McElwain doesn't even have to coach a game with the Rams to rank higher than CU's Jon Embree. You would figure it would be sort of close but, 20 spots? Damn. I would say CSU got the right man for the job. I don't know how much stock you can put in these rankings but at least you can say they are more impressive than our stadium stadium ranking.

UNDER COVER BLOW TO SAVE HUGHES STADIUM GROUP

By now, most of you have seen this under cover video. We were going to leave it alone. We were going to let the experts debate the issue. After watching it a couple times; letting the blood boil down to a simmer; stewing over some thoughts; we still can't believe their is actually people out there that are still in favor of keeping Hughes stadium as the home for the CSU Ram football team. The video only provides more ammo for supporters of a new stadium but also solidifies an ugly battle ahead for both sides.

According to the old man with sun glasses, supporter for Saving Our Stadium (SOS), CSU plans to build the world's biggest porn shop, complete with

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

The much heralded NFL draft was held last week, and being a Mountain West fanatic, I sat down to see where where all the Mountain West elite landed as they embark on their mission to continue their football careers and get paid for it. The Mountain West had 2 players selected in the first round, and Boise St. dominated the MWC in players getting drafted by having 6 players drafted. Sadly, no CSU football players got drafted although being a young team I didn't think that any would. The rest of the league represented pretty well though. In all 12 players were drafted, and another 20 were signed as free agents. Below is a breakdown of where people were taken and a summary of their opportunity.

THE MTN PULLS THE PLUG

Good Riddance to the Mountain Freaking West Channel. If they burn down the building and all the footage to past Mountain West debacles I say, here's a match. I am the one remaining subscriber to the DirecTV Sports package who actually bought the sports pack for the Mountain West. It's good to know that now I have a better chance of seeing the Rams play on any other channel. Having the Mountain West Channel SUCKED. The coverage was terrible, the picture was circa 1970, slightly scrambled where you would think I'd have to realign my rabbit ears, but no I have DirecTV, not rabbit ears. It's a widely held rumor that the Mountain West Network purchased their TV equipment from a DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) Auction. Is it true...? I don't know but my picture always looked like some crack head fell over with an expensive camera.

I will say the one thing I loved about the Mountain West was the constant replay of games over and over.... and over again. So when the Rams got shellacked once again, I was guaranteed at least 25 more viewings of that ass kicking. Oh wait, I hated that too. For a conference sports network they made a how to guide of what not to do when making a TV channel. Somehow they found a way to only have 4 hours of new content per week. They underutilized each and every aspect of the conference's sports. It probably doesn't help that when you have booming TV markets like Boise and/or Laramie where most of the people can't afford cable, let alone afford an expensive luxury item such as the Mountain West.

I wonder what the anchors of the Mountain West will do. I can't remember any of their names. I usually ending up muting them by the second quarter. I will miss "Hall of Famer Andrea" whatever who did the basketball coverage. Not because she was good, just because I loved hearing the full "Hall of Famer Andrea" whatever every single time she took the mic. I get it! You're a Hall of Famer at something, stop rubbing it in.

In parting I would like to pay tribute to the only advertiser on the Mountain West Channel. Ram Trucks. As a tribute I am going to purchase a Ram Truck, paint it with a stupid MW logo and drive it off a cliff.

TURDS OF MISERY LIVE!