New information released today indicates that there may be audio tape recordings that might provide incriminating information on this matter. These tapes were made by the agent who allegedly provided benefits to Bush and his family in order to secure his investment.
You realize, of course, that the Super Bowl will see two NFL coaches who are African Americans, and that the Pittsburgh Steelers just hired an African American head coach. Of course, the NFL's numbers are actually down; with the firings of Denny Green and Art Shell, there will be 6 next year (3 in the AFC Central alone).
But, like we learned in math class, 6/32 is a lot better than 6/120. Just sayin'
Michigan State- Hire: Mark Dantonio (no) Iowa State- Hire: Gene Chizik (no) North Carolina- Hire: Butch Davis (no) Cincinnati- Hire: Brian Kelly (no) North Carolina State- Hire: Tom O'Brien (no) Miami- Hire: Randy Shannon (yes!) Arizona State- Hire: Dennis Erickson (no) Stanford- Hire: Jim Harbaugh (no) North Texas- Hire: Todd Dodge (no) Tulane- Hire: Bob Toledo (no) Louisana Tech- Hire: Derek Dooley (no) Boston College- Hire: Jeff Jagodzinski (no) Idaho- Hire: Robb Akey (no) Florida International- Hire:Mario Cristobal (first Cuban-American head coach in 1A) Air Force- Hire: Troy Calhoun (no) Alabama- Hire: Nick Saban (no) Central Michigan- Hire: Butch Jones (no) Louisville- Hire: Steve Kragthorpe (no) UPDATE: Minnesota- Hire: Tim Brewster (no) Tulsa- Hire: Todd Graham (no) ironically, Graham left 3 days after signing a contract extension at Rice UPDATE: Rice- Hire: David Bailiff (no)
In a section about coaching salaries, you read this quote:
Colleges continue to ignore that "players are generating the money," said David Berri, an associate professor of applied economics at Cal State Bakersfield and a co-author of "The Wages of Win," a book about modern sports. "The money for coaches is coming from players. When you put it that way, it really is a reverse Robin Hood effect — rob from the poor, give to the rich."
Great article, and good to see that others are thinking about this as well.
Still following the NCAA Major coaching carousel to see if the ranks of African American head coaches grows.
Michigan State- Hire: Mark Dantonio (no) Iowa State- Hire: Gene Chizik (no) North Carolina- Hire: Butch Davis (no) Cincinnati- Hire: Brian Kelly (no) North Carolina State- Hire: Tom O'Brien (no) Miami- Hire: Randy Shannon (yes!) Arizona State- Hire: Dennis Erickson (no) Stanford- Hire: Jim Harbaugh (no) North Texas- Hire: Todd Dodge (no) Tulane- Hire: Bob Toledo (no) Louisana Tech- Hire: Derek Dooley (no) Boston College- Hire: Jeff Jagodzinski (no) Idaho- Hire: Robb Akey (no) Florida International- Hire:Mario Cristobal (first Cuban-American head coach in 1A) Air Force- Hire: Troy Calhoun (no) Alabama- Hire: Nick Saban (no) Central Michigan- Hire: Butch Jones (no) Louisville- Hire: Steve Kragthorpe (no) UPDATE: Minnesota- Hire: Tim Brewster (no) UPDATE: Tulsa- Hire: Todd Graham (no) ironically, Graham left 3 days after signing a contract extension at Rice UPDATE: Rice
Thanks again to everyone who played- it made the awful bowls a lot more interesting.
Here's where it all ended up- As I mentioned, Janie Shike won our points division: While the picks championship went to yours truly: Upset Specials- Cat was the only person who correctly chose Kentucky over Clemson, and Aaron and Michael both picked the Gator championship. These last two are hearby banned from any future leagues- and you wonder why I always pick against my team in big games :)
The points/correct pick percentages looked like this: Great job, Joe- each correct pick got you 21 points. Nothing at all to be depressed about.
For those who played both this and the regular season league, this is how things turned out for our points: And for the picks: I guess Steve-O is the man to beat for next year... Just think- only 8 more months until next kickoff!!!
Today comes an article in the New York Times (!) that echoes these sentiments: Looks Like A Business; Should Be A Business. This article points to the Saban hire as being yet another piece of proof that the NCAA is not about academics, but about money (at least in the "major" sports).
Great quotes:
What kind of a skewed market makes these demands? First, the players are not allowed to be compensated. Instead, the coaches walk off with the value produced by the “student-athletes.”
Second, athletic departments have no shareholders who seek dividends or increases in stock value through higher reported profits. That is, these departments face no market pressure to turn a profit. Money finds a way to be spent in such a circumstance and costs bloat.
Third, athletic departments benefit from privileged tax treatment. Perhaps most notably, boosters can give money to the program and procure the privilege of buying some choice seats on the 50-yard line. Tax laws allow a booster to deduct 80 percent of such a donation, which in practice is little more than a personal seat license.
Fourth, it is in athletic directors’ self-interest to up the ante on coaches’ compensation. Their worth increases along with their coaches’ pay.
But the real point is that college athletics are not supposed to be run according to the rules of the marketplace. They are supposed to be run according to the norms of the university.
Athletic departments should not be able to have it both ways: either they are part of academia and are treated as nonprofit institutions, or they are professional enterprises, whose players are paid a salary and covered by workmen’s compensation, and they pay taxes like other business entities.
Well, after a long night (ah, the 'dark night of the soul'), here are some thought regarding the BCS Championship game:
Florida played perfectly. It was a great game, a great scheme, and nothing should take away from that. Chris Leak played like Troy Smith; no turnovers, very smart. Defensively, the coaching staff found a way to pressure the Buckeyes and still cover the receivers. All due respect and congratulations.
That being said, here are a couple of other observations:
1) Ted Ginn must have been a huge part of the game plan. I say this because once he went down (on the TD celebration?), our offense shut down as well.
2) Offensively, we had no clue and seemed to have no desire to find one. The line was losing the battle up front all night; unable to block Florida's front 4 in pass protection, unable to open holes for the running game. For a very good bunch of linemen, this was just awful. It lead to...
3) Coverage excellence: the WRs could not get open against the Gators. This was due, in my opinion, to Florida's willingness and ability to play man/free- coverage on the WRs, and let Reggie Nelson play center field to pick up any loose trash. It's the scheme that UF ran all year, and it was surprising that tOSU wouldn't see it coming. Of course, losing the deep threat of Ginn impacted this some, but still. Because of #3 and #4...
4) Troy Smith looked like Brady Quinn. Actually, to be honest, he looked worse- no rhythm, no "pep", no time to throw the ball. We still love him, but wow.
5) Defensively, I've never seen the "Silver Bullets" so passive in my life. I personally believe that this is just reality catching up with them- they've been able to scheme around weaknesses all year, relying heavily on zone to survive. Shoot, if Michigan could hang 39 on them, I'm surprised that Florida didn't hit triple digits.
6) People have speculated that tOSU was afraid to play man coverage with the speedy recievers of Florida. I think that this is not true- they had no problem going man/man with Texas and Michigan (different, I know, but stay with me here). I believe that the defensive scheme, which included 10 yard cushions for the corners and deep drops for the linebackers, was geared to take away the multiple movements of the Florida spread option offense. The plan seemed to be to not get beat by the big play, which led to getting destroyed by a lot of 7-10 yard passes. If I had a dollar for every third down that Florida converted by dragging a reciever underneath the LBs and just past the yard markers, I could buy a house in Malibu (although I could probably get one cheap this morning).
7) In that vein, the entire world knows that Chris Leak has a history of folding under pressure. So, where was it? They seemingly only rushed 3/4 most of the night, checking out of blitzes over and over again in response to Gator motion or formation changes. Did tOSU not see this coming? Or was Florida's o-line just that good?
8) Oh, and guess what? When Tebow's in, he's going to run the ball. Really. Sure, there was the one pass, but everyone in the SEC knows that this is what he does. Again, we could have had 15 people on the field, though, and still not stopped him- I don't know where our front four was most of the evening.
9) Flat. Flat, flat, flat, flat. I noticed it coming out of the tunnel, I noticed it when Florida drove down and scored their first TD, and I noticed it as soon as they went 3 and out on their first series. Uninspired. It was the unimaginable- a Jim Tressel team giving up midway through the 2nd quarter. Because of that, I agree with the 4th and 1 call- you've got to get some momentum going somehow. But I also think that at this point, the Bucks had stopped playing, which doomed Wells' run from the snap.
This may be what happens when you've had the type of season that OhioState did- when you win so easily, you forget that great heart and effort are required to do so. I'm not questioning the heart of the players, I'm just reflecting on the 2002 team- they won so many close, come from behind games that they knew how to keep fighting. On January 8, 2007, the Buckeye team did not.
Yesterday, I said that a win would be the icing on an extremely tasty cake. I still feel that way, but right now it's like the icing went bad and I've got food poisoning. After a while, things will get back to normal... but now, it's just ugly. And what makes it worse even than this is that OhioState was supposed to be there.
To the Florida Gators and their fans. What an amazing performance, both offensive scheming and the play of the Gator defense. Great team, great game... I can honestly say that I agree with my brother- I never thought I'd see the day that a Tressel team would just quit.
Congrats to, to Janie Shike- the winner of our bowl picks league. I'll have a more thorough evaluation, including a picks percentage breakdown later.
I haven't said much about the game this evening... I don't really know what to say. A lot of smarter people than I have come up with overviews- "google" if you want that type of thing.
I've thought all along that #1 was optimistic, and I've always felt that my favorite squadron could go 1-11 if they beat that school up north. So, I was committed to not thinking about the game tonight... a win would just be icing on an extremely tasty cake.
But here we are. I don't know if it's because of the above, because of the 51 day layoff, because it's a wweek after New Year's, or because of the lack of coverage (since the BCS moved to FOX, I haven't had it crammed down my throat like ESPN did last year); but in any case, I find myself not all that emotionally involved... perhaps that will change come gametime.
Ironically, I'm the guy who always picks against my team in our college picks league- this year, I went with them for one point. If they lose, I finish in second; if they win, I finish in 15th or something.
To be honest, the only thing that concerns me is the Florida offense. Not because of their "speed" or talent, but because it is an offense that is based on misdirection. If you watched Utah with Alex Smith back in the day, you know what is possible with Urban Meyer's playbook.
That being said, Chris Leak is no Alex Smith. He makes too many mistakes, and is a better pocket passer in an option offense. The Gators' running game is not fantastic, solid, but not fantastic.
Plus, there's Troy Smith. And that's all I'm going to say about that.
But, as Boise State proved in the University of Phoenix Stadium last week, anything can happen.
No matter what, it's been a great season. How this game ends up does not change that.
“We’re not anywhere close to where we need to be in football. I’m encouraged that coaches of color are appearing as finalists for positions, but seven out of 119, that’s just too darn low.”
Huh. Wonder if he's been reading about what we're watching... Nah. He's probably just blowing sunshine to keep Congress off his back.
With the "National Championship" game seeing a team from the midwest facing a team from the south, we've been hearing more and more about the SEC/ACC "Southern Speed". I'd like to look at this a bit...
Other sites have done a great job dispelling the idea that one area of the country or conference has faster athletes than another, based both on recent trends, history, and just pure speculation. So, with that covered, I'd much rather look at this from another angle.
See, I think that the "southern speed" idea may be rooted in racism.
Personal story- I coached D3 ball at a small school in the midwest. During recruiting season, our coach would always talk about the need to find "some athletes". Interestingly enough, whenever we talked about players who were "athletes", they were African American. After two years, when I challenged coach on this, well... let's just say the conversation didn't go well.
I wish this had been an isolated situation, but at coaching clinics (locally and nationally), "athlete" seemed to be synonymous with "African American". This was even reflected in the oft-heard phrase "We need to go down south and find some athletes".
Put it this way- When was the last time you heard about a quarterback being "smart"? What ethnicity was he? When was the last time you heard a quarterback being labeled "athletic"? What ethnicity was he? For perspective, look at Rush Limbaugh's comments about Donovan McNabb or all of the controversy about Vince Young. Were these concerns present with Ryan Leaf? Even this year, as Troy Smith won the Heisman the talk was as much about him not running anymore as it was about his ability to lead the team.
So, with that in mind, all of the discussion of "northern power and strength" and "southern speed" really makes me wonder if this whole thing might be a vestige from our less than glorious national history. Perhaps what people are subconsciously saying is "There are more African Americans in the south, and African Americans are fast and athletic, so teams there must be faster."
Please hear me correctly: I am not saying that people who talk about the speed of student athletes from the south are racists. I am also not saying that there isn't some truth to the fact that some teams have more talent/strength/speed than others. I'm also not saying that Southern teams don't have advantages (as do California teams- great weather for high school football practice year round, the great climate to go to college really helps recruiting).
What I am doing is asking a question- might there be something else to this? Listen closely to the commentary or the play by play; read the fan blogs and sports pages and all, and ask deeper questions; both about the words chosen, the perceptions of those involved, and the presumptions that might be behind these.
Just something to think about as you watch the millions and millions of dollars being made while 17-24 year old young men play a game on Monday.
Ok, it's all done but one. (yes, I know that there are two other games this week. January games with MAC schools are not "Bowls", no matter their title. Unless, of course, it's my dad's favorite- "Toilet Bowl").
Like I was saying- it's all done but one. AND (no surprise to anyone), I watched parts of most of these. Well, except the ones on the NotFor Long Network.
So, in the spirit of the New Year (and as a way to keep myself from an ulcer thinking about the game on the 8th), here are my quick thoughts about all of the games. And, because I'm that type of guy, I'll even include pre-game thoughts for the participants of the two Toilet Bowl games.
San DiegoCountyCredit Union Poinsettia: TCU 37, Northern Illinois 7 Both of these schools resolve to work to go to a bowl that has less than six names in its title. Sure makes tOSU’s efforts against NIU look suspect, don’t it?
Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas: BYU 38, Oregon 8 Nothing says Vegas for the holidays like crowds of Mormons. Oh, and for 2007 Oregon resolves to shoot Phil Knight next time he recommends a uniform change.
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: Troy 41, Rice 17 We learned that R+L equals 8 letters total for the names of the Universities playing. And only twice as many fans.
Papajohns.com Bowl: South Florida 24, East Carolina 7 Both teams vow to go to a game where the sponsor can actually provide gifts. South Florida now gets to play the winner of the Central Michigan/Middle Tennessee game for the NCAA Directional Schools Trophy
New Mexico: San JoseState 20, New Mexico 12 Did you know that this bowl doesn’t have a sponsor? Yup, just an ESPN created game for more air time. And the home team still lost… Maybe it could be the Ron Mexico bowl next year.
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces: Utah 25, Tulsa 13 You would think that one of the teams from the Service Academies would be in this, wouldn’t you? Nope.
Sheraton Hawaii: Hawaii 41, ArizonaState 24 Just once, I’d love to see Hawaii in a bowl not in their home stadium. Nevertheless, Hawaii’s QB is amazing… more amazing, though, is to see the formercoachingstaff of the Houston Oilers and Atlanta Falcons on the Hawaii sidelines.
MotorCity: Central Michigan 31, Middle Tennessee 14 More directional football. For me, the directions were “turn off the TV, we’re going shopping”.
Emerald: FloridaState 44, UCLA 27 Lots of issues here: UCLA couldn’t replicate their magic from the USC game and couldn’t win a game in California; FloridaState is in the Emerald bowl (Oh, how the mighty have fallen, part 1), and (held in a baseball stadium) one team had no fans/stands behind them. Odd.
PetroSun Independence: OklahomaState 34, Alabama 31 Highlight of the game? The backward pass to the offensive tackle for a TD. Lineman unite!
Pacific Life Holiday: Cal 45, Texas A&M 10 Wow. For all of my Aggie friends, I can only say, “I’m sorry”. Felt like being at San Diego's Sea World, didn’t it?
Texas:Rutgers 37, KansasState 10 On the NFL Network, so nothing really to say here. Still chopping wood, I imagine.
GaylordHotelsMusicCity: Kentucky 28, Clemson 20 Hee hee… “Gay Lord”… Sorry, I was just so surprised that Kentucky won that I reverted to being a third grader. Wow, Kentucky made a bowl game? AND beat a Bowden?
Brut Sun: OregonState 39, Missouri 38 One of many games with fantastic finishes, this one highlighted by a 2 point conversion with time running out. Who could have guessed that it would be the second greatest 2 point conversion of the bowl season?
AutoZone Liberty: South Carolina 44, Houston 36 Refused to watch this, for Spurrier purposes. Just sayin'
Insight: Texas Tech 44, Minnesota 41 (OT) Those of us who know and love Glenn Mason are not surprised that he allowed his team to choke away a 31 point lead. We are surprised that he was fired- mostly because it should have happened a long time ago. Speaking for the rest of the Big T1e1n- how did the Gophers make a bowl game?
Champs Sports: Maryland 24, Purdue 7 Remember what I said about the Gophers? Double that for Purdue…
Meineke Car Care: BostonCollege 25, Navy 24 Another big comeback and fantastic finish- kid kicks a game winning field goal; he had never even played football prior to this season. I guess there is a purpose for soccer after all.
Alamo: Texas 26, Iowa 24 The “We bothgot hammered by OhioState” consolation game. Much closer than I imagined, but the reality is that Iowa scored most of their points in the first part of the game and then went into coast mode. Pity, that.
Chick-fil-A: Georgia 31, Virginia Tech 24 Surprising that Georgia won (They’ve had that type of season), but I need to be honest in confessing that I didn’t watch much of this… It makes me bitter that we don’t have a Chick-fil-A near here.
MPC Computers: Miami 21, Nevada 20 Smurf Turf!!! And Miami (Oh, how the mighty have fallen, part 2) at the end of the Coker era. There are lots of "Coker" and "snow" jokes I could make, but they're too easy. Let's just say that no one deserved to be in Boise on New Year's Eve than the Hurricanes... I'm surprised Idaho hasn't seceded from the Union and surrendered to Canadia.
JANUARY 1
After much reflection, I've decided that the New Year's Day games before the Rose Bowl were absolutely perfect. If you 'celebrated' a bit much, and were hung over, these would be just boring enough to make the transition back to reality a gentle landing.
Note- these reviews would be a lot more interesting, but FOX and ESPN are scrubbing YouTube of the highlights. Oh well, we've lived without Napster.
AT&T Cotton: Auburn 17, Nebraska 14 Well, it was interesting until halftime. If, by 'interesting', you mean "Nebraska moving the ball at will to the tune of 28 points (14 for Auburn)". After the "inspiring" halftime speech, we had three total points. Yup, that's pretty much a summary of both team's entire seasons. I wonder if there will be another apology...
Outback: PennState 20, Tennessee 10 Jo Pa in the booth, Big T1e1n over the "superior" SEC. Not that anyone at all would be proud to claim either of these two teams.
Capital One: Wisconsin 17, Arkansas 14 This is what happens when a team with no quarterback plays a team with no personality. After the first series, the Wisco defense shut down McFadden... but Felix Jones averaged 10.7 yards per carry. Yet another Big T1e1n victory, this time with our #3 beating the SEC runner up.
Toyota Gator: West Virginia 38, Georgia Tech 35 FINALLY a game worth watching. Calvin Johnson finally made his selection as the nation's best wide receiver make sense. Oh, and it showed just how overrated Reggie Ball is... he should have stopped going to class a couple of years ago. West Virginia mounted a great comeback, and proved that it's possible to win a game with coaching and preparation, even if you don't have the greatest athletes on the field. We'll revisit this thought later.
Rose Bowl presented by Citi: USC 32, Michigan 18 Look, I'm really torn about this. It was yet another "I hope the ground opens up and swallows both teams" game for me, but I was ultimately pulling for the Big T1e1n team. I never would have guessed in a bajillion years that Michigan would be unable to run the ball. They looked as good as advertised on defense (great against the run, atrocious against the pass), but I was confident that they would have more success with Hart. Shows what I know.
A friend of mine from Battle Creek said, "If there is ever an opportunity for Llllloyd Carr to be out-coached, it will happen." With no half time adjustments at all, looks like it happened again. To be fair, this proves something about Michigan as an educational institution- they recognize that mistakes happen, and don't just demand changes; choosing instead to allow for learning to hopefully take place. Other colleges, well, let's just say that they see thingsdifferently.
USC looked great, and should easily be a preseason favorite next year. Are they superior to the teams playing on Monday? Probably, with the exception that they weren't disciplined enough to play to win in all of their games.
Two frustrations: 1) There is already talk of a quarterback controversy at USC next year. Yup, the guy who just passed for 500 yards in the Rose Bowl may lose his job to a freshman (if he can stay out of jail). This is why USC has great recruiting classes every year- Carroll has no loyalty, and tells incoming students (correctly) "yup, you'll play". As a former football player (note that I did not say "athlete"), this frustrates me... There has got to be a sense of loyalty to the guys who have sacrificed for the team over the course of several seasons. Nope, it's the American way- we'll push aside the old if the new seems to be better, as long as it helps us meet our purpose.
Sermon aside, it's time for trivia! Who was the first college athlete penalized under rule 9-2 for taunting when it was first strengthened in 1995? Answer: Terry Glenn of Ohio State on August 27 against Boston College. His transgression? He signaled "first down" after a great catch. Fast forward to today, where the entire bowl season has seen so much post play celebration that it looks like a Broadway afterparty (zing!). However (frustration #2), USC brought it to an art only previously exhibited by Miami in the Cotton Bowl.
Let's take a lookie, shall we? Here's the rule (page122/123):
ARTICLE 1. There shall be no unsportsmanlike conduct or any act that interferes with orderly game administration on the part of players, substitutes, coaches, authorized attendants or any other persons subject to the rules, before the game, during the game or between periods.
a. Specifically prohibited acts and conduct include: 1. No player, substitute, coach or other person subject to the rules shall use abusive, threatening or obscene language or gestures, or engage in such acts that provoke ill will or are demeaning to an opponent, to game officials or to the image of the game, including but not limited to: (a) Pointing the finger(s), hand(s), arm(s) or ball at an opponent, or imitating the slashing of the throat. (b) Taunting, baiting or ridiculing an opponent verbally. (c) Inciting an opponent or spectators in any other way, such as simulating the firing of a weapon or placing a hand by the ear to request recognition. (d) Any delayed, excessive, prolonged or choreographed act by which a player (or players) attempts to focus attention upon himself (or themselves). (e) Obviously altering stride as an unopposed runner approaches the opponent’s goal line, or diving into the end zone when unopposed. (f) Removal of a player’s helmet before he is in the team area (g) Punching one’s own chest or crossing one’s arms in front of the chest while standing over a prone player. (h) Going into the stands to interact with spectators, or bowing at the waist after a good play.
And here's what happened:
Unfortunately, this video doesn't fully capture the whole thing- the dancing and flexing after a sack, the taunting in the third and fourth quarters... Jarrett needs to wait until next year when he's a pro to start doing the "jump shot" thing with the ball or pointing at a DB on the way to the endzone. Yup, no penalties. I guess the NCAA loves them some USC- who else sells TV revenue on the west coast?
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: BoiseState 43, Oklahoma 42 OT Words cannot even begin to describe how amazing the end of this game was. So, onto the video:
After Peterson's 25 yard run on OU's OT posession, the folks that I was watching with said "BSU will go for 2- they know that they can't stop Peterson all night...". And, sure enough- Next thing you know, Bob Stoops is scouting out backyard football games for ideas for his offense.
Yet another great example of fantastic coaching overcoming 'inferior' talent. (more later)
People keep talking about how this "proves" that there should be a playoff... Nope. Not going to happen until someone figures out a way for all 64 (!) teams and major conferences to not loose any revenue. This has never been about having a "champion"- only about having great games that sell tickets and advertising. Why else would we have...
FedEx Orange: Louisville 24, WakeForest 13 And the scary thing? Louisville didn't have their preseason Heisman candidate running back. If Bush and Brohm both come back, UofL will be a top 5 team. If not? Well, their stadium was built by the Papa John's guy... so they got that going for them.
Oh, and Big East is 4-0 in the bowls. Of course, they collectively beat the worst ACC Champion in history, a 7-6 C-USA team, a Georgia Tech team with no defense and a back up QB, and the third team from the Big 12 north. Oh, and they have one more game to play, against the #3 MAC team. Yup, reasons to be proud.
Allstate Sugar: Notre Dame vs. LSU Remember earlier when we were talking about great coaching overcoming inferior talent? Charlie "no offensive first downs in the second half" is not a great coach. It was sad to read ND blogs today... they know, that with Quinn and Smaredgjanfwna leaving, their window has closed. Boo fricking hoo.
LSU, on the other hand, was amazing... Solid on defense, with an unbelievable QB. Look, you know how I feel about Troy- There is no way that Demarcus Russell should not be the #1 pick over all. If for no other reason, you do not want him to feel "dissed" when his team comes to play you.
International: Western Michigan vs. Cincinnati (in Toronto) Just about the only thing interesting to watch here is that Cincy's new coach used to be at Central Michigan; so he's familiar with Western's team. It may also be fascinating to see if they play by American or Canadian rules, and if there are enough television viewers to tell the difference.
GMAC: Ohio vs. Southern Miss We have a Solich sighting! And, I'm guessing that we'll have a Favre one as well. Wonder if the folks in Lincoln will send Coach game tapes from when the Huskers played Southern Miss the year after he was canned...
Tostitos BCS Championship Game: Florida vs. OhioState
Professionals 2? With Saban "changing his mind" and going to Alabama at $4 million a year, the line between professional sports and amateur sports is getting all the more blurry. At least he didn't have any spaghetti... Wonder how that will help the NCAA answer these questions:
From the standpoint of a federal taxpayer, why should the federal government subsidize the athletic activities of educational institutions when that subsidy is being used to help pay for escalating coaches' salaries, costly chartered travel and state-of-the-art athletic facilities?
Several Division I-A schools pay their men's basketball coaches four to five times more than their women's basketball coaches. What additional educational benefit do men's basketball coaches provide beyond that which is provided by women's basketball coaches?
UPDATE: I'm not the only one who's noticed this... check out this piece from the Chronicle for Higher Education. Interesting juxtaposition:
Miles Brand, "coaches’ salaries were commensurate with other highly paid and highly recruited faculty and staff.”
Meanwhile, Alabama's president will make seven times less per year than their new football coach.
As you remember, the NCAA made a couple of little changes in the rules in order to speed things up. Of course, they couldn't have imagined some of the repercussions: Less football- More Gambling!! And Wisconsin's take:
But, it's had an impact on every game: There were the same number of plays run this year as last, but every team was eligible to play 12 games. Yup, over the course of the season an entire game's worth of plays has been lost. Oh yeah, this is a great idea. The perfect storm for me came in the Michigan/Notre Dame game: Coach Carr was informed beforehand that there would be 5 minutes of commercials between quarters.
You want to make the game move faster? Go back to the old rules, and limit the commercials. Sometime this week, I'm going back to count how many commercial breaks/commercials (including those ones where they tell you who is sponsoring the game after a commercial break) that this game had in the first half. As a point of reference, TV time stated at 5, kickoff at 5:16, and the second quarter didn't start until after 6. The worst part of it? The ESPN/ABC ticker used to tell us about upcoming ABC shows. That's like making announcements for a strip club in church- the ticker is sacred. Here are some ideas that we came up with to assist with this...
Fewer commercials, higher prices. That way, the money stays the same.
Set a specific number of commercials. Once you run out, you can't break away from the game. Heck, show the bands...
my favorite Same as above, but also limit the amount of airtime that Brent Musburger has, and make these dependant upon each other. So, if Brent goes 5 minutes over his limit, then that's 5 minutes less of commercials you can have. If Brent keeps his yap shut, then ABC can even run extra commercials. Seriously- I'm ok with commentators filling 'dead air' as long as they know what they are talking about. Brent Musburger does not.
on a similar vein Hold an event after the game where Brent has to suit up and actually go against some of the people he's been talking about. Sell commercials to that. Guaranteed to make up any lost revenue from assuming any of the previous ideas
Well, I never got around to making a complete study, but I have amazing news: Someone else did! A great Buckeye fan from the Bay area (no, not that one) did a time study of the Rose Bowl, and took it one step further. He assessed the totality of all plugs (including pregame {from posted kickoff time to actual kickoff} and in game), and came up with the following statistics:
Of the 232 minutes of broadcast time, 78 minutes (34% of the time) were commercials or ads
Of the remaining 154 minutes, there were 112 sponsored plugs
Total is 207 plugs/adds for 232 minutes of the broadcast
It's a great read, and a great advertisement for Tivo/DVR. I watched the Boise State/Oklahoma game on digital delay last night, and made it to "live" action by the fourth quarter. And, no commercials.
Although, I will say that while FOX is still struggling with camera angles, commentary, and overall broadcasting "big time" college football, I have been very pleased that they don't do the ESPN/ABC/Disney "Touchdown, extra point, commercial, kickoff, commercial" dance that drives me so nuts. We'll see if this continues on Monday.
