{"id":201,"date":"2012-07-18T09:23:22","date_gmt":"2012-07-18T14:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.megabracket.com\/beta\/blog\/?p=201"},"modified":"2012-07-18T09:23:22","modified_gmt":"2012-07-18T14:23:22","slug":"getting-to-know-lsfl-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.megabracket.com\/beta\/blog\/2012\/07\/getting-to-know-lsfl-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting to Know….LSFL Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the LSFL Shootout<\/a> coming up this weekend, it is the perfect time to get to know a little bit about the cities involved in the inaugural Lone Star Football League Championship.<\/p>\n

Bonus LSFL Link: <\/strong>The Abilene Ruff Riders are holding an online naming contest as they rename and rebrand the team for the 2013 season. The story is here<\/a>, while you can go directly to their website<\/a> and give them your suggestions. In case you needed more reason to join in the fun, there is this from the story – “The final selection will be unveiled at a press conference in August. The winning submission will receive 4 complimentary season VIP tickets for the 2013 season, 4 t-shirts and other goodies.” Put your thinking caps on and perhaps you can come up with the next name of the Abilene squad!<\/p>\n

#1 Seed – Amarillo Venom<\/span><\/p>\n

Location: <\/strong>Amarillo, TX (population: 190,695 as of 2010 census)<\/p>\n

Established:\u00a01887<\/p>\n

Unofficial Nicknames: <\/strong>(self-proclaimed) Helium Capital of the World; The Yellow Rose of Texas, as its name comes from the Spanish word for yellow; Rotor City, USA for its V-22 Osprey<\/a> hybrid aircraft assembly plant<\/p>\n

Fun Fact #1: <\/strong>The Amarillo Helium plant was the sole producer of commercial helium in the world for several years in the 20th century<\/p>\n

Fun Fact #2: <\/strong>Amarillo is considered the regional economic center for the Texas Panhandle, the Oklahoma Panhandle, and Eastern New Mexico. About 1\/4 of the United States’ beef supply is processed in the area<\/p>\n

Fun Fact #3:The Palo Duro Canyon State Park is the second largest canyon system in the U.S. after the Grand Canyon<\/p>\n

Fun Fact #4: <\/strong>From 1968 to 1996 Amarillo hosted the Women’s NIT<\/p>\n

Fun Fact #5: <\/strong>A group of local cattlemen sued Oprah Winfrey in 1998 for her comments tying American beef to mad cow disease. Winfrey relocated her show to Amarillo for nearly a year so she could attend the trial. During the trial she hired Dallas-based jury consultant Phil McGraw to aid her attorneys in selecting and analyzing the jury. He became a regular on her show (and the complete blowhard) known as Dr. Phil. Thanks, Amarillo.<\/p>\n

Players I Recognize: <\/strong>Former Ball State QB Nate Davis<\/p>\n

Notable Amarilloans: <\/strong>early professional wrestler Dory Funk, father of Terry Funk<\/a>; professional golfer Ryan Palmer; singer-songwriter J.D. Souther<\/a>; businessman T. Boone Pickens<\/a>; actress Carolyn Jones, Moritcia from the Addams Family TV show; and professional gambler Thomas Preston, known as Amarillo Slim<\/a><\/p>\n

#3 Seed – Rio Grande Valley Magic<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Location: <\/strong>McAllen, TX (population: 129,877 as of 2010 census)<\/p>\n

Established:\u00a01904<\/p>\n

Nicknames: <\/strong>City of Palms; The Texas Tropics<\/p>\n

Not So Fun Fact #1: <\/strong>In 2011, census.gov listed McAllen as the poorest metro area in the United States<\/p>\n

Fun Fact #2: <\/strong>Commissioned in 1973, the McAllen foreign trade zone<\/a> was the first inland FTZ in the U.S. The designation offers specific cost-saving opportunities to manufacturers as products can be brought into the FTZ duty-free.<\/p>\n

Fun Fact #3: <\/strong>McAllen sits across the U.S.-Mexico border from Reynosa, Mexico, a large manufacturing center, via the McAllen-Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge<\/p>\n

Fun Fact #4: <\/strong>McAllen is positioned on the migratory path between North and South America, making it a hotspot for bird and butterfly-watching expeditions<\/p>\n

Players I Recognize: <\/strong>former NFL punter Leo Araguz, a kicker for the Magic<\/p>\n

Notables Residents of the Rio Grande Valley area (none listed for McAllen specifically): actor Thomas Haden Church (Lowell from Wings<\/a>); Chicago Bears offensive lineman Roberto Garza; musician Bill Haley (“Rock Around the Clock”); singer, songwriter, and actor Kris Kristofferson<\/a> (his songwriting and acting histories are pretty solid); former Dallas Cowboys head coach Tom Landry; professional wrestler Tito Santana<\/a><\/p>\n

Bonus Tito Santana\/Professional Wrestling Info:<\/strong> He played football at West Texas A&M with future fellow professional wrestling hall of famer Tully Blanchard, a member of the Four Horsemen. The original Four Horseman were Blanchard, Ole Anderson, Arn Anderson, and Ric Flair. Another teammate of Blanchard’s at West Texas A&M was “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the LSFL Shootout coming up this weekend, it is the perfect time to get to know a little bit about the cities involved in the inaugural Lone Star Football League Championship. Bonus LSFL Link: The Abilene Ruff Riders are holding an online naming contest as they rename and rebrand the team for the 2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,24],"tags":[62,44,61,59,60,27],"class_list":["post-201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-getting-to-know","category-mb-2013","tag-kris-kristofferson","tag-lsfl","tag-million-dollar-man","tag-terry-funk","tag-tito-santana","tag-wings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megabracket.com\/beta\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megabracket.com\/beta\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megabracket.com\/beta\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megabracket.com\/beta\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megabracket.com\/beta\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.megabracket.com\/beta\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":203,"href":"https:\/\/www.megabracket.com\/beta\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions\/203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megabracket.com\/beta\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megabracket.com\/beta\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megabracket.com\/beta\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}