Welcome back to The Rival Rundown! If you’ve always wanted to give props to your school on CC, now’s your chance! Shoot us an email explaining what’s awesome and unique about your school (or what stinks about Rival U) at rivalrundown@collegecandy.com!

I live in New York, where suddenly it has gotten really. effing. cold.  (I wore my winter coat and a scowl over the weekend.)  So naturally I’ve been dreaming of what life would have been like had I gone to school in a more temperate climate where you can tailgate in tank tops and flip flops.  Such is the way things go in the Sunshine State, where the University of Florida and Florida State University have, quite literally, one of the hottest rivalries around.

1. Mascot Match-up

Florida – Call them Gator Nation, Gator Country, even Alberta and Albert (who won Sports Illustrated On Campus’ Best Mascot award); the Florida Gators are more than just a local species.
Florida State – The Florida State Seminoles, named for the Native Americans who first inhabited the area, are perhaps most famous for their war chant, which is among the most immediately recognizable songs in all of sports culture.

Three credits to: Hands-down, it’s Florida State. It’s the college chant at it’s absolute finest (and so simple, even babies can sing it)! Read More »

Look who's on top of the world now, Oprah!

The International Olympic Committee’s votes are in, and despite the best efforts of Americans—including Oprah and President Obama—Chicago will not be hosting the summer games in 2016. Instead, that honor is going to Rio de Janeiro.

Let me repeat that: the International Olympic Committee snubbed Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama, probably the two most powerful people in the United States—maybe even the world. Chi-town got knocked out in the very first round of voting. What the hell, IOC? Who turns down Oprahbama? (On the flip side – why didn’t Oprah give the entire committee “A NEW CARRRRR!!” to sway their votes?)  Unless Rio somehow hypnotized the judges by having a bevy of hot Brazilian models stun them into submission, I cry shenanigans on this whole thing.

Okay, maybe it’s a little ridiculous that the Olympics have never taken place in a South American city. And I guess it hasn’t been very long since the US last hosted an Olympics in 2002. But come on. Salt Lake City, home of approximately four zillion Mormons and not much else, gets the Winter Games, but Chicago, the third-largest city in the nation and the birthplace of life-changing inventions like softball and deep dish pizza, gets the shaft? And for Rio de Janeiro, land of perpetual Carnival? The athletes are going to be too hung over to even compete! Read More »

Regardless of whether the summer Olympics actually occurred that particular year, my friends and I always held our own version. The long days were filled with events like Marathon Skip-It, Cartwheel Competitions, and random interpretations of Presidential Fitness tests. However, while we Americans were seeing how many Oreos can fit in our mouths, some Russian chick was spending 13 hours a day training for her own special event…which is vagina strength (just like the real Olympics…sort of).

Tatiata Kozhevnikova, a 42-year-old Russian woman, is the proud holder of the world’s strongest vagina.  The mind boggles with questions.  How do you go about strengthening your vagina?  Are there specific vagina weights?  A vagina class at your local gym (um, THAT’S an awkward, sweaty hour…)?  Maybe there are secret vagina workout DVDs that I never knew about… Read More »

The hits keep coming for Micheal Phelps (haha hits- get it?), who has been suspended from competition for three months by USA swimming after his run-in with a bong.

I may be alone here, or I may not,  but give the kid a break. He won like, what, eight-zillion medals (give or take) for us ; if he wants to celebrate with a little pot, let the man celebrate! Yes marijuana is illegal, and yes he is a role model to millions, but you know what? Role models have to unwind too!  Not to mention the fact that it could have been alot worse. There was no DUI, no snorting coke in the bathroom, no gay hookers or pornography scandals…

He got stoned. And drank some beer. At a college.

Visit any dorm in America on a Friday night and tell me if you find anything different.

But what bothers me most is that he didn’t violate any rule! There is no rule saying what he can and cannot do in his off-time. The only reason he is being punished is because A) he has to be or his sponsors/league will look bad, and B) he supposedly disappointed so many people. I wasn’t disappointed. In fact, everyone I talked to about the situation wasn’t disappointed (including my professor, just in case anyone wants to say I hang out with a bunch of young, irresposible pot-heads). In fact, we were all a little proud; he smokes pot AND broke world records? He can obviously keep his work life separate from his personal life and hasn’t let one effect the other thus far. Good for him. Read More »

So, the Super Bowl is on Sunday.  Do you know who’s playing? I do, but that’s only because the Today Show is playing in the background and they can’t stop talking about it. It’s not like I don’t care about football – I actually sorta love the sport – it’s just that I prefer those college kids playing for glory and not the pros playing for millions.

Anyways, this may be the biggest sporting event of the year, but that doesn’t mean it’s my biggest event of the year. Or yours. This week, I asked the CollegeCandy writers to tell us what their “Super Bowl” is every year; their big event, their day to sit around eating guacamole and 7 layer dip. Ok, maybe not the last part, but you get the idea.

What is your Super Bowl?

Amanda – Wagner: Any big celebrity scandal feels like the super bowl to me. When Britney went after the paparazzi with an umbrella… oh my god, I bought every tabloid and read them all in one sitting.

Ashley Elizabeth – CU Boulder: That one day when you get all dressed up and that boy finally notices!

Marissa – High School Senior: The first day of summer. Summer solstice kicks off the season of no school, my birthday, the beach, warm weather…did I mention no school?

K – GWU: Definitely going to a rave. Best flipping time of my entire life and I want to epically return once a year.

Madison – Puget Sound: The post-Christmas sale week. You know, when everywhere from Target to Nordstrom has everything that you wanted (but didn’t get) for Christmas, but for super cheap. Amazing. Read More »

The top 10 moments of the Olympics (though ours include more Speedo).

OMFG! Gossip Girl returns next week! If only we were invited to the party…

A post-workout Starbucks run could be good for your body.

In an effort to Go Green, colleges dump the lunch trays.

Dear Heidi Montag: You are NOT Olivia Newton-John. Love, CC.

Considering a student loan? Think long and hard.

A 4th judge for American Idol?

What does Madonna think of John McCain?

A surprising benefit to the sky-high gas prices.

The endorsements Michael Phelps didn’t choose…

Is Biden the right choice? Let’s see what frat boys have to say…

Confession time: I’m an introvert. It goes deep. I can’t stand parties. Gatherings of more than four people (myself included) terrify me. I don’t like to pick up the phone. I’d be absolutely fine if I didn’t talk to anyone for days at a time.

So on most weekends when all of you are out clubbing or hitting up the bar while hitting on hot guys, I’m curled up on my couch in my pajamas, watching the Olympics or reading a really dorky book and eating a cookie (or three).

It doesn’t bother me. In fact, I LOVE it.

Perhaps you’re intrigued by my reclusive lifestyle. Maybe you even want to take your own Introventure on an upcoming Saturday night, but you’re just not sure how to even begin. Well, you’re in luck! Look no further than this handy-dandy…

Introvert’s Guide to a Saturday Night in: Read More »

The list of the 25 Best Colleges is out. Is your school on it?

Gwen Stefani: Mama 2.0 Even Olympians get sexiled.

The 10 most popular over-done tattoos.

Worst baby names of all time.

MTV promotes eating disorders.

You are invited to Miley Cyrus’s Sweet 16!

It is a sad world when the only place women are in control is on some crappy reality show. On Fox.

Forever 21 is ruining society as we know it.

Fashion designers hate fat people women over a size 6.

This makes us laugh.

Should these really be considered Olympic sports?

I watch the Olympics every night in awe. Here I am sitting on my couch – MacBook on my lap, ice cream sandwich in my hand – as the world’s best athletes compete.

These are people who have sacrificed so much and worked so hard to be the best in their sport. These are people who have given everything they have (and then some) to get to this point in their athletic careers. These truly are the best of the best on the planet.

It is really something to think about.

And then there is Michael Phelps who is not only the best guy in the pool this year, but ever. Ever in history. 8 gold medals in a single Olympics. Pretty freaking amazing.

It was actually watching Phelps win his 8th medal that got me thinking about all of this. Yeah, watching a 48 year old woman win the Olympic marathon was pretty sweet, but Phelps really hit home for me. After all, he trained at Michigan; we walked the same streets, ate at the same restaurants and, if I ever even knew where it was, could have swam in the same pool. Read More »