The Mid-Morning Dump - 7/1/14

BIG XII REBRAND DAY. That's right, the Big XII has finally went through with their rebrand with a new, more modernized(?) logo and everything.

MATTE IS THE NEW BLACK. It's been a long time coming, but Iowa State has finally jumped on the matte helmet bandwagon.

INSIDE BILL FENNELLY THE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM. Cyclones.tv takes a look at the 2014 edition of the women's basketball team.

SENECA WAXING. CycloneFanatic has a great interview with Seneca Wallace and he talks about everything from Jack Trice Stadium to the Mark Mangino hire.

PAY ME MY MONEY. For whatever reason LeBron James is seeking the max contract for next, and future, seasons.

GREAT DATABASE, POOR CONTROLS. The Astros built an impressive database to keep track of all their trade talks, and then let it get hacked.

SAD STORY. As someone with multiple concussions this story about former Colts TE Ben Utecht frightens me, but good on him to try to do something about his memory loss.

CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT. Today is also conference realignment day as Rutgers and Maryland join the B1G and Louisville heads to the ACC.  Catch up on all the moves with this handy cheat sheet, and be sure to read how realignment has affected recruiting since it began four years ago.

SOCCER SIDE DUMP ALERT. Here comes a deluge of soccer links dumped right into your lap.  First, USA vs Belgium, 3 PM CDT.  Leave work, lock yourself in a room, do whatever, but find a way to watch because....'Merica.

MONDAY RECAP. Here's what happened on Monday, where both games went down to the wire and then some.

ALL THE PREVIEW YOU NEED. The mothership has their preview of today's game right here.

ALL THE HYPE YOU NEED. Looking for a hype video?  We have that too.

ALL THE BELGIUM HATE. Here are five reasons to hate Belgium.  There's also Waffle House giving us a great picture of American waffles, and also an explanation of the difference between American and those terrible Belgian waffles.

I BELIEVE. Some may think the "I Believe" chant is worn out, but watch this video of kids with cancer doing it and have your opinion changed.