Unverified Voracity Declares War On Offsides
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I wondered when someone would notice. There are a lot of games at night now. So many that it might be smart to…
Fox will have its best game of the day will be at noon every Saturday.
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) May 13, 2019
…yeah, that. Michigan should feature frequently in that slot, and as a person who likes to get home and see the end of the 3:30 games and then the night games I'm all about that. If your priority is encompassing all the madness of a college football Saturday, noon is the slot for you.
Doing the math. Numbers from the new media rights deal:
Big Ten had nearly $759 million in revenue in FY18, new federal tax return shows. That's up from nearly $513 million last year. It's also $100 million more than amount SEC reported for FY18: https://t.co/Xs4icAPcAG
— Steve Berkowitz (@ByBerkowitz) May 15, 2019
That is 13.7 million per school. Michigan could pay every one of their approximately 700 scholarship athletes 20k a year based on this jump alone. If restricted to the ~100 players on the two main revenue sports that's 140k a year.
Nico Collins under the microscope. Combining Josh Gattis with this guy could be shades of Allen Robinson and Chris Godwin:
Hail Warinner. To go from last year to this is incredible.
Here are the highest-graded returning pass blockers along B1G interior offensive lineman. pic.twitter.com/zKK66BFfsU
— PFF College (@PFF_College) May 9, 2019
Find a tackle and Michigan's set to be a lethal passing attack.
[After THE JUMP: UCLA is incredible]
What to expect from up-transfers. Since basketball is (hopefully) going to have one or two on next year's roster:
The average immediately eligible "up-transfer" (transferring to a stronger program) decreased in usage rate from 21.1% the previous season to 16.8% this season. The average immediately eligible "down-transfer" increased from 17.0% to 21.0% pic.twitter.com/jkeIVNrEe1
— Jordan Sperber (@hoopvision68) May 15, 2019
Subtract 4 usage points and you turn a go-to star into a slightly above-average guy; a guy slightly above average is going to be a role player.
Don't tell him. Teddy Greenstein is a funny guy sometimes. Here's his recruiting pitch for JJ McCarthy to Northwestern:
7. The family knows the recent history with the two programs.
Fitzgerald favors stability and loyalty. Clayton Thorson started every game for the Wildcats the last four years, and Fitzgerald declined to take a graduate transfer after Thorson blew out his knee in the 2017 Music City Bowl.
Harbaugh favors a “meritocracy” and has started five quarterbacks during that span, including three transfers (Jake Rudock, John O’Korn and Shea Patterson). Wilton Speight and Brandon Peters transferred out, and Dylan McCaffrey and Joe Milton are believed to be breathing down Patterson’s neck.
Here's an "18 things to know" article by Greenstein about Hunter Johnson, the QB who transferred from Clemson to… Northwestern. Dude is so transparent you could make windows out of him.
The LloydRod. UCLA basketball is in such a shambles that they're in danger of falling below the APR line of doom:
UCLA’s past four single-year scores under former coach Steve Alford:
2015: 942
2016: 907
2017: 977
2018: 905
Four-year average: 933In the multi-year score announced next spring, UCLA’s 942 will drop out of the calculation and be replaced by the Bruins’ single-year score for the 2018-19 academic year.
Based on the Hotline’s rudimentary math skills, the Bruins would drop below the postseason cutoff (930) if their single-year score is 928 or lower.
You may remember a period on this blog where the annual APR release was met with an image of Hitchcockian flying books because Michigan put up an astoundingly bad 880-something when the program transitioned from Carr to Rodriguez. (Who was at fault? Everybody.) That was towards the beginning of the APR regime and a bit more understandable than a major athletic department approaching the Line of Doom a dang decade later.
This has nothing to do with early departures. Kentucky has posted a perfect APR for five straight years by getting their players through a few credits worth of Banjo Appreciation before they head off to the league. It's straight up not paying attention. It's hard to believe Dan Guerrero still has a job.
It's time. College basketball seems likely to go to the international three point line. They tried it in the NIT:
Teams in the 2019 NIT averaged 23.1 field goal attempts in the tournament from behind the arc, compared with 22.8 3-point attempts in the 2018-19 regular season. The 3-point shooting percentage of teams in the 2019 NIT was 33%, compared with their regular season average of 35.2%.
When the line was moved before the 2008-09 season, the distance went from 19 feet, 9 inches to 20 feet, 9 inches. The percentage of 3-point shots made during that season compared with the previous season declined from 35.2% to 34.4%. The percentage of made 3-point field goals steadily increased back to 35.2% in Division I by the 2017-18 season.
It's good to keep the value of a three pointer around 1 PPP since ventures inside the line return about that much. Keeping the line where it is threatens to drain variety out of offensive possessions.
They're also going to reset the shot clock to 20 after an OREB, which is fine.
Let's try to do the bare minimum to stave off legislation. It's plan A in the NCAA's rulebook. And after a smattering of state-level bills and one federal one that seek to restore name and image rights to college athletes, the NCAA is grudgingly looking at heading those off at the pass. This panel is literally called the "oh no legislation" group:
The NCAA president and Board of Governors appointed a working group to examine issues highlighted in recently proposed federal and state legislation related to student-athlete name, image and likeness.
The NCAA Board of Governors Federal and State Legislation Working Group will be made up of member representatives from all three NCAA divisions.
They've got a tricky path if this is their goal:
According to the board, the group will not consider any concepts that could be construed as payment for participation in college sports. The NCAA’s mission to provide opportunity for students to compete against other students prohibits any contemplation of pay-for-play.
They'll have to construe payments for participation that come from car dealerships and the local Piggly Wiggly as something else.
The real question everyone wants an answer to. ESPN is aware:
Does this put college sports video games back on the table?
Bob Bowlsby, who's on the commission, offered up some wishy-washy quotes about it:
"There, again, depending on the architecture, they might be able to be answered successfully and in ways that would favor student-athletes. On the other hand, dependent upon the structure it could be that it's not going to be.
"I don't think it's possible to answer the question with any precision right now. Those are certainly topics that will get discussed."
On the surface it is insane. EA wants to make the game. People want to buy it. Presumably the players want to get paid for it. But because the NCAA is what it is, nobody gets anything.
The likely opposition here is that if the compensation doesn't go through the NCAA either EA has to individually negotiate with every player they want to put in the game—impractical—or go through some umbrella organization. That umbrella organization is going to collectively bargain for its members and then all of a sudden the NCAA has a union.
So, no, video games are probably not back on the table.
It's a movement! Yes. It spreads. The Athletic's Dom Luszczyszyn on changes he'd make to the NHL:
5. No offsides (on zone entries)
Those who have followed me for a while know I’ve been a staunch supporter of the End Offsides movement. If it’s a no to 4-on-4 hockey (having both would be overkill), then the next best solution toward freeing up space is allowing players to enter the zone freely without the puck. Again, I’ve written about this before for The Hockey News, and I think the positives far outweigh the drawbacks. Offside was created in 1930 to counter the forward pass, but all it does now is clog up the neutral zone (something no one but the coaches like watching) and limit offence. It hinders creativity, and taking it out would give players much more space with the puck. It’s an archaic rule that serves no beneficial purpose to the modern NHL.
Worries about cherry-picking are ill-founded since the two line pass still exists and would prevent someone passing from the defensive zone to the offensive zone. Offsides does nothing to improve the game.
Etc.: Mike Danna might be good. The Beilein era visualized. Didn't take long for the Big Ten to change its tune on playoff expansion.
All quiet on the bball coaching front it would seem.
Meanwhile, here in Cleveland, Beilein made news for calling each of the Cavs players personally to introduce himself and local media think the reason he left was due to the uneven playing field in recruiting and the NCAAs unwillingness to deal with it.
So the NCAA is like the Kaiser and The Media is the Sykes-picot agreement, the players are the trench troops there for the slaughter, Brian cook is the Manchester Guardian, MSU is Britton, OSU is France, the SEC is the Ottoman Empire and MIchigan is ‘Merika
i got that right?
Coach K is the Czar. Izzo is Rasputin.
The NCAA deals with it by not policing anyone which makes any unevening of the playing field self imposed.
For moment, I thought the No Offsides rule was talking about football.
Noon games translates to 9:00 AM out here in the Pacific Time Zone. What kind of beer goes with an egg white omelet?
I used to be a staunch supporter of maintaining amateur status for college athletes. With Beilein jumping to the pros, I say fuck it, pay them. Pay them their money...
The Michigan bar in Seattle serves 9 a.m. pancakes and pitchers. Nothing better.
"What kind of beer goes with an egg white omelet?"
A Bloody Mary.
I miss watching noon games from the West Coast. Set the DVR, snooze until 10:30, wake up and start watching, skip all the commercials, catch up to the game in real time before it ends. Have lunch, and your whole day is now free. Need to mow the lawn? You've got time. Kids want to go to the mall? Not a problem. Want to imbibe college football until the Pac 12 After Dark concludes? There's still football on until Midnight local time. College Football Saturdays out West are great. The only downside is the locals don't care about football (though that can be a good thing after an embarrassing loss). And even then, there's always enough Michigan ex-pats around to find a good watch group if that's your thing.
Bloody Mary. Brilliant!!!
Founder's Breakfast Stout, of course...
But then, Thrillist apparently tried to come up with a serious answer.
Omelette
The beer pairing: Stiegl-Radler Grapefruit
"When it comes to drinking beer first thing in the morning, there are a number of important factors to consider. What am I eating? How is the weather? Do I have to be productive for the rest of the day? For omelettes, my breakfast beer is Stiegl Grapefruit Radler. This beer is low in calories and alcohol; it's unfiltered with bright, citrusy notes, and is perfectly refreshing on hot summer days. It complements the weather and the meal -- and since I have a three-year-old to keep up with, it's appropriate for the productive day ahead." -- Angela McMaster, beer & wine specialist, Whole Foods Market Albuquerque (Albuquerque, NM)
What kind of beer doesn't go with an egg white omelet?
Bud light. Bud light doesn’t go with anything except 20 more bud lights
Throw in a bad mullet and a rusty bass boat and you've completed the picture.
While we're at it, I'd get rid of offsides in soccer too. That sport needs more scoring for sure and who wouldn't want to see a fast break on the pitch?
I understand why it will never happen (reduction in revenue in seating) but going to Olympic sized rinks fixes 90% of hockey's ills.
Plug for the IIHL games this week, and that wide open ice.
I am also a big fan of Olympic rinks Hadn't given much thought to the offsides rule but I'm in favor of that as well.
Is your avatar Al Swearengen?!
Fucking Al God Damn Swearingen, you mean?!
You'll have to wait for somebody who has the time to dig up the supporting info, but no, Olympic sized rinks don't fix anything. They just push play to the perimeter which result in nothing more than bad-angle, crap shots.
Well if nothing else, Olympic sized rinks should result in easier zone entry. Maybe if you remove offsides then some of the Olympic rink benefit is gone?
Wait, what? Two-line pass? That's been out of the NHL since the 04-05 lockout.
Exactly, unless you reinstate the rule cherrypicking is definitely a thing. Even if you reinstate the rule then it restricts movement out of the defensive zone, unless you also lose the center line or call it a three-line pass rule.
I wouldn't mind the NHL doing something like what the NCAA does with the NIT, and have some sort of preseason group of games where they implement some silly set of rules just to see the impact on the game. When the NHL took out the 2 line pass rule, the thought was that it'd drastically effect the breakouts with stretch passes neutralizing the left wing lock/trap schemes, but it ultimately didn't do much to the game. Eliminating offsides would almost assuredly have a significant effect, but it wouldn't necessarily be a positive one (unless literally all you care about is increased scoring). I'd still like to see it implemented in a meaningless game just to see how bad it would be.
I remember, I want to say the 2006 season, Michigan played an exhibition against one of the Canadian universities and they had a "once you enter the zone, the blue line effectively becomes the red line" rule, and it was actually kind of interesting. I don't think I'd want the rule to become that, but it was cool to see some new ideas for the game being floated.
Seriously, and Brian is a hockey season ticket holder. Good news is I no longer feel the need to debate his idiotic hockey ideas. He's not paying a lick of attention anyway.
Brian has made this arguement several times and he gets shot down in the comments EVERY FUCKING TIME.
there's no 2 line pass anymore. Also Brian, FYI, players in the NHL are no longer allowed to play without a helmet.
Also also, there are more than 6 teams now.
On point...not sure I understand the argument about opening up hockey. It's now lightyears away from the pre-2000 left wing lock and goons roaming the ice. It's amazing, for better or worse, how much the NHL has transformed in 30 years. Most of the players that do well today may have literally, yes literally, been killed in 1980s hockey. Seeing 5'8, 160lb players excelling proves this point. Those players would've gotten destroyed by a Bob Probert, Marty Mcsorely, Chris Pronger, etc. If it's not a fast enough sport, then maybe take up Nascar?
The two line pass no longer exists.
You are entirely incorrect. There is no 2 line pass anymore. It was eliminated in 2005 to increase scoring because the Red Wings (and Devils) were so damned good at the neutral zone trap. It affected scoring ZERO (something like 0.05 goals per game increase). It also makes the game more boring. Defensemen firing a "pass" from deep in his zone all the way to the other teams blue line where the winger just deflects the puck deep and chases it.
You cannot get rid of offsides unless you bring back the 2-line pass rule. Have to have one or the other or else it's like a kids floor hockey game with tons of cherry pickers and defensive zone chaos.
Brian can keep bringing this up and it's never going to get less ridiculous.
This also annoys me about certain people that come late to a sport. There's this "I love this sport!! But you know what would make it better? Completely changing it!!" mentality.
I don't think Brian or anyone else is coming late to hockey. People have all been around it for many many years.
Were the people who came up with the forward pass in football, shot clock or 3 point line in basketball, and original offsides rule in hockey all idiots? No, the weren't, those changes were positive. As time goes on, athletes get better, strategies evolve, and the rules can and should be adjusted to make the sport better for players and fans.
Brian has said he only got into hockey once he started attending games in college. That's not exactly the same as growing up with the game.
The problem is, there's no actual evidence that taking the offside rule out would increase scoring. In fact we have evidence that the offside rule helped increase scoring, as goals per game doubled after it's adoption.
I can almost assure you it would result in coaches playing more defensively, not less.
What does it matter if he started in college? So, have you been against the 3 point line in basketball your whole life because of how it changed the game?
I have some bad news for you about CFB games on Fox...you might get home to see the kickoff of the Pac-12 late night game by the time the Fox noon slate ends...
Who doesn't love a 4.5 hour broadcast of a college football game which includes 3 hours of commercials?
That's what DVR and FF is for; also works great for Reviews, Halftimes, thunderstorms and power outages. Just make sure you tack on at least 3 hrs to the scheduled recording time.
Are you talking about DVR Michigan games ? That’s insane. I get 13 (hopefully more) games an entire year. Never have I thought they go too slow.
There could be 2 or 200 Michigan football games a year and never would I think they were enhanced by sitting through commercials & replay delays.
So, yeah, DVR EVERYTHING!
I start watching on the DVR about an hour after kickoff. That works out so that I've caught up to the live broadcast around the time the game ends.
Team Noon. Embrace the Day of Obligation in its fullness.
Here's my question on NCAA likeness profiting...
How would anyone prevent small (or large) business owner in Columbus, Athens, Tuscaloosa etc. from offering the 5-star HS recruit thousands of dollars to be their ad campaign...aka pay him to go to his school as a booster would? Technically he'd just be benefitting from his likeness. He wouldn't be getting paid by the school. But, this would be pure bag man work and completely allowed.
The good news is JH is all about playing without the rules legally, but bending them to suit your needs in ways the rule was not intended ala satellite camps, spring trips, etc. He'd run wild with this.
Nobody would prevent it....and?
Exactly so. It would legalize bagmen and allow them to collaborate with the University. I could live with that if the alternatives are the current hypocrisy/exploitation model, or finding a direct payment system that complies with Title IX. Side benefit: Olympic athletes could turn pro, and still participate in NCAA sports. It might make some of those nonrev sports into money makers.
I could live with that if the alternatives are the current hypocrisy/exploitation model, or finding a direct payment system that complies with Title IX.
Not only could I live with it, I would prefer it. I'm just not sure the NCAA has considered this unintended consequence.
I'm sure there are some minor gifts everywhere and as such probably happen at UM as well. But, I get the sense they are relatively small and more of a don't ask don't tell situation. However, I get the feeling that coaches like Saban, Sweeney, Smart, Fisher, etc. have an elaborate and deliberate system of guys paying kids that runs without coach's hands in it for plausibility deniability, but under the explicit instructions of the coach to be done as needed. I get the sense UM does not do this and this new rule would technically allow it. JH won't break rules on purpose IMO. But, he will sure as hell use them to suit his needs. So, I think this rule change would be very good for UM recruiting.
Are we somehow ignoring the fact that 3 of the top 5 pass-blocking grades in the conference belong to players from Rutgers (1, 3) and Illinois (5)??
Yes but one or two lineman does not a line make, as we know all too well. Also you can be very good at one thing and not at another. And Jonah Jackson is at Ohio State now
Two-line pass is gone.
There's something between "Get rid of offside!" and doing nothing: moving the blue lines and changing the offside rule. Push those suckers about six feet further into the zone. Then, make the rule that if the puck leaves the zone, you don't have to get back to the blue line unless the puck passes the center line.
This would expand the neutral zone (making it harder to defend) without completely changing the game (as removing offside altogether would) and allow for more creativity on offense.
FWIW, I think soccer should do something similar and add lines 25 yards on either side of the halfway line where offside would begin. Wouldn't be a hard add to any field, wouldn't turn the game into cherry-picking fest, but would open up a constrained space and allow the game to flow a bit more. It would also encourage a shift away from the current trend of getting every player behind the ball on defense, which is just ugly.
I agree that there's a ton of room between "do nothing" and "completely change the game." However, pushing the lines in that far would just clog up the offensive end, and be largely meaningless if you aren't calling offside when the puck comes outside of the zone anyway. Minimizing the neutral zone makes more sense. Move the lines out a bit and make them larger. A smaller neutral zone means less time spent in it and more openings in the offensive end.
Really though, if you actually want to increase scoring, the easy way is to mandate that goalie equipment must be made of the same materials it was in the 80's and earlier. There's a reason most guys preferred the stand up style and it took a very large goalie (Patrick Roy) to find success with the butterfly.
This is the one thing I've always found very interesting about hockey in general. It's basically the only major sport that just says "sure, do whatever you want with equipment." Like you don't see baseball saying "You want to use a composite bat? Sure, fine, whatever." Or football saying "Oh, Tom Brady wants to use a nerf ball and spiked shoulder pads? Let's do it."
Patrick Roy is 6'2". He's not "very large". Being tall is a prerequisite to play goal now. Petr Mrazek is 6'2" and he's short compared to the trees in net these days.
They have limited the equipment. Pads were shrunk within the past 5 years - legs, chest, arms, all of it.
Point being: Nobody's going back to stand-up because it sucked and it's a good way to give up a billion goals, regardless of the material your pads are made of.
I'm not talking about the size of equipment. I'm talking about the actual materials used. I can assure you, the old leather pads and stuffing discourage the butterfly because by the 3rd period those pads become as heavy as lead weights. Not saying guys wouldn't still use it, but getting up and down is a chore once those things get soaked.
I'm not being particularly serious here anyway. I like the game just fine as it is. As I said above, there's a certain fan that comes late to a sport that decides they love the game, but it would be SO MUCH BETTER if they would just make it completely different. And it gets exhausting to constantly hear about the "fixes" to the game, especially Brian and this offside thing. It's a terrible take and it's never going to not be a terrible take.
I mean, if we’re gonna make goalies use old school tech then we’d have to make the players use old school tech .... wooden sticks anyone?
You are aware a version of this was done in soccer in the States some 40+ years ago? The NASL experimented with a 35 yard line offside rule for about 10 years or so mainly in the 1970s. I have no idea if it aided in scoring or not, but I do remember some older players being happy that it put less wear and tear on their legs.
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