WSU is a bit of a "unicorn." (1) A fairly well respected research university, that (2) doesn't compete athletically at the D-1 level and (3) is a commuter school with a lot of 1st & 2nd generation undergrads, a lot of students who have less "$$$ and support that provides a back-stop against failing" (for lack of a more eloquent way to put it).
Out of the 107 Carnegie R1 schools, only 7 don't compete at the D-1 level. Wayne, UC-Santa Cruz, Colorado Mines, CU-Denver, City University of New York, UT-Dallas, and Alabama-Huntsville.
I honestly think there's a good argument to be made for rolling WSU up into the U-M system (making it MUCH more like a CU-Denver or UT-Dallas). That will never happen, though, there are 1000 different political blockers for that.
No matter what, though, I don't think they should ever move up to D-1. The marginal extra viz that D-1 athletics would give them isn't worth it.
One can quibble about the definition of "flagship", but the MI State Constitution certainly DOES consider U-M, MSU and Wayne State as different and "above" the 12 other public universities in the state --- e.g., state-wide election of the Board members.
My "get off my lawn" comment: every state should have ONE license plate, and that's it, no exceptions. Make a design that is iconic for the state, and that's that.
Of course, I get why states have different license plates. To make $$$.
When I lived in Colorado --- Colorado's standard design is the best in the country (green and white with the mountains in the background). But they also had 75 other versions of the license plate. Barf. At one point, Colorado and New Mexico were literally suing each other as regards each other's alternate "Chile Pepper" license plates.
Anyway, my 5 favorite license plates: Colorado, New Mexico, Hawaii, Vermont, Oregon.
What??? No. What could possibly happen anyway, the helmeted players are going to start head-butting everyone?
Seriously - this reads like a "bad winner" post. Give your opponent the benefit of the doubt, they didn't do anything to prove otherwise. Michigan won and has a very good team that will be a tough out in the NCAA.
Worth calling out: Notre Dame can sell that it's a "tough schedule" because they only have 6 home games (most schools have 7 or even 8), but at the same time they only play TWO TRUE road games outside the state of Indiana:
At Texas A&M on opening weekend.
AT USC the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
They are at Purdue, but that's of course in Indiana.
Their game vs Georgia Tech got moved to the Falcons Stadium (more seats for ND fans).
Navy is in East Rutherford, and Army is at Yankee Stadium.
Anyway, if they can get by A&M in the opener --- it will be interesting to see if that game gets scheduled to be in the hot late August sun or if it is at night ---- there's no reason they wouldn't be 10-1 at worst going into the USC game. Like it or not, they will be in the CFP talk.
Agree that if U-M had beaten Rutgers, they'd be well-positioned for an at-large. Rutgers isn't even a bad team or a bad program, but as loss #6 it probably was a tipping point. I checked, nobody in the 2020s has been an at-large with 6 losses.
Lacrosse is a fun sport, I've enjoyed getting into it the last few years (I flew out to Philly for the 2019 Final Four when PSU made it)! Thanks for your posts, even if they miss tomorrow U-M's program has definitely turned the corner.
PSU beat Maryland 19-9. Even with a loss to U-M, Penn State is 99.8% likely in the NCAA tourney.
(I suppose they could get left out, if the committee didn't want 4 B1G teams in the tournament - it's only a 17-team tournament and JHU & MD are locks. But yikes, they'd be leaving out an 11-4 team with a 3-2 record against Top 10 schools. The B1G has a bunch of legit good teams, as they often do).
So, Michigan is playing a team that may have somewhat less motivation. Michigan is definitely win-or-out.
Preds fans throwing Catfish on the ice has always felt lame to me. I mean, I get it, it was started by folks in Nashville in direct reponse to Red Wings fans, but it's a blatant rip-off of the octupi.
Get your own thing Preds. And go Canucks tomorrow night, end this series (they should have ended it the other night, but blew it).
A cool piece of Presidential trivia: Obama gave 4 High School commencement speeches during his 2 terms --- one at Kalamazoo Central HS.
I always thought him making a point to do HS commencements was cool. Between the 4 Presidents that book-ended Obama, 2 to each side, they only combined for 1* HS commencement address (Bush 43 in Greensburg, KS, on the exact 1-year anniversary of a terrible tornado that tore through the town).
---
*Technically 2, but I can't really count Clinton giving the commencement speech at his daughter's own HS graduation ceremony.
+1. I'm not begrudging you and your success ---- I'm not. And hopefully I don't sound bitter.
But your post speaks to another thing: simply getting admitted to an Ivy makes one less likely to experience the pain of struggling or even failing and realizing your dreams aren't necessarily achievable. Graduate from an Ivy, and those prestigious and powerful jobs, the networks of folks you meet, the connections, they are there for you throughout life.
I suppose that's what draws many folks towards sports. In the long run, it is so MUCH MUCH MUCH more of a meritocracy than other segments of life. If you're the son of a $400MM net worth Yale legacy and you dream of getting into business, your future is fairly assured. But if you're the son of a $400MM net worth Yale legacy and you dream of playing in the NHL, that doesn't mean anything at all if you can't skate well enough.
Yep. WAY back in the day, the 10-team B1G did that as well (Michigan/MSU were travel partners, OSU would play Michigan on a Thursday, IU would visit East Lansing, and then they would flip-flop for Saturday/Sunday).
If you look at today's announcement for other schools, every Eastern school is playing at either USC/UCLA or Washington/Oregon.
As recently as the late 1990s, when I graduated HS: I had a 3.85-ish GPA, a couple AP classes, not a ton of extra-cirrculars and something like 10th-15th ranked in my graduating class (from one of the big Detroit area Catholics). A good resume but hardly elite.
It was a GIVEN, a given on-par with expecting the sun to rise in the east tomorrow, that I'd get accepted to U-MAA, which I was.
Nowadays --- that's likely not good enough. It's a different world, 1 generation later.
Yep, great post and great solution. Legacy preference is terrible IMO.
To their credit, there ARE some elite private colleges --- Amherst, MIT, NYU and JHU among them --- that have recently eliminated legacy preference. And legacy preference is beginning to get SCOTUS scrutiny too (the scrutiny coming from both ends of the judicial spectrum).
But the Ivys, unfortunately, are only going to go down that road kicking and screaming.
The Ivy League schools in particular --- they have the resources and expertise to double or even triple their enrollment (could we not have a branch of Yale somewhere in the Midwest - and the South - in addition to New Haven?) if they wanted to. They couldn't do it overnight, but they could do it in a generation.
Will that ever happen? I doubt it. And that goes into a whole other discussion - why don't they do it? I'd argue it's because they prioritize exclusivity, pedigree and prestige more than they prioritize more true attempts at leveling the societal playing field.
I'm sorry, not meaning to get political, but the private elite schools, I feel they could do a lot better. The more elite public schools (like U-M), they walk the walk more in this regard.
-------
(on a side note, but tangentally related: there's some crazy fact that almost EVERY recent Supreme Court Justice in the last 30-50 years is either a Harvard or Yale Grad. Damn near all of them!)
Yep. What they call "downtiering" --- I call "monetization." A way to get more revenue, while adding minimal incremental value.
I saw a news item yesterday that Dave & Busters is introducing a gambling component to their in-store app. So that they can get a cut (while providing literally NO value) when a couple folk bet a few bucks on a game of Skee-Ball. Good God, I don't begrudge people making $$$, but folks should at least TRY to provide value for that $$$. So many corporations don't even try anymore!
There's still TONS of runway left, IMO. Business-men-and-women don't use the language, they couch it in more bengin terms, but "predatory monetization" is a business strategy that continues and continues to grow. Increasingly back-handed ways of opening a pipeline from your/my/our wallet into theirs.
All the in-game gambling ads and segments. Making your sports teams increasingly difficult to watch, across dozens of different networks such that you lose track of which ones you're even paying for. Video games, the increasing selling of "live service games" versus stand-alone complete games. Mobile video games in particular, the way they target your emotions in an attempt to get you to buy some stuff. All predatory monetization.
In the Diamondbacks case --- Bally literally stopped producing Arizona's games. MLB stepped in because there was no producer.
For the Tigers (and about 10 other teams in this current situation) --- Bally Sports will still be producing their games, like the Cardinals game this AM. It's just that it won't be distributed by Comcast.
I don't think there's much for MLB to do here. Unfortunately. Waiving the MLB.tv blackout rules is a non-starter. It's something Manfred actually wants to do, but it's definitely against the current legal agreements and the networks/TV folk would go crazy the second they even considered it.
I prefer listening to baseball on radio, but that's just me ........
But beyond that tangent, fuck all of these guys. Comcast, Bally, Sinclair, WBD, Disney, Amazon, NBCUniversal, Yahoo, and whatever 30 other networks I missed. All these corporate goons get in these fights over whose net worth increases from $250MM to $350MM, and it comes on the backs of the sports fans who are seeing their overall bills increase.
Even MLB.TV isn't a real option here (unless you live out-of-market, and then you weren't getting Tigers' games on TV anyway) because of their blackout rules!
But, for those who postulate "maybe the sports bubble is about to break!", there was yesterday's news about how the NBA TV rights are likely to double, with Amazon entering the picture and NBC possibly replacing WBD. The bubble isn't breaking, but rather bills are just going to increase.
Well, on October 1, 2021, Iowa visited Maryland for a football game. Brian Ferentz was the Iowa Offensive Coordinator for that game.
Iowa scored FIFTY-ONE (51) points in that game, admittedly helped by 7 (!) Terrapin turnovers, while racking up 428 yards of total offense and never turning the ball over themselves.
In 2015, Iowa also played Maryland - Brian Ferentz was on the Iowa staff though not yet Offensive Coordinator. Iowa won 31-15, they didn't quite gain 300 yards but it wasn't a putrid offensive performance - Iowa had 1 turnover total in the game (Maryland had 4).
The reason I point out those 2 games --- that's the only 2 times in his career Locksley has coached against Brian Ferentz on the opposing sideline. If one is solely going by those 2 data points, he appears like someone associated with a fairly effective and efficient offense. So, shoot, hire him!
20 years ago ......... folks like Lewan simply disappeared into the ether once his football days were done.
But now we have social media and podcasts! The perfect platforms for an aspiring influencer and/or professional troll! And he can also take on a side job as a JumboTron mascot at Nashville Predators' games!
We're going to be hearing from this guy until 2050! Joy!
Good post --- +1. A few questions/thoughts on the Angels and where they could move.
Is the Inland Empire really mostly Angels fans? My feel is it is pretty split (SB County leaning Dodgers, Riverside County leaning Angels).
To me, Tustin/Irvine seems like a better landing spot than either Long Beach or the IE (Riverside). Tustin would be marginally more difficult (vs. Anaheim) for IE folk to get to. But there's a ton of people in the OC, a lot more $$$ in the OC versus the IE, and at their core the franchise is an OC team. Net: keep it in Orange County.
This isn't totally off --- Dodger Stadium does have all those parking lots but it's also surrounded by Elysian Park, which is nice enough (it does have some issues w/ trash and homelessness, Echo Park a mile to the W-SW has cleaned up better). And it's close to downtown. I do wish it were more walkable from downtown - there are currently some (rather crazy) proposals out there for a series of gondolas to connect Dodger Stadium and Union Station/DTLA.
Anyway, Angel Stadium --- I haven't personally seen the "personality" you have, I've mostly just seen views of (1) parking lots, (2) the Ducks' arena and (3) the Orange Crush (for the uninitiated, what is literally the most complex/complicated freeway interchange in America), with a fan-base of mostly utterly dispassionate uninterested OCers. Dodger Stadium has a vibe. Angels Stadium, I've never seen it at all.
Fenway vs Wrigley ........ Wrigley is under-the-radar a dump that hasn't been kept up well (while Fenway has). Another big thing, and admittedly plays into my consideration:
Boston fans are passionate, care about baseball and are knowledgable on it. And they want to win
Cubs fans are mostly there for the beer and the party. If they lose, they're not passionate about it anyway. Ask Lee Elia* and Marty Brennaman what they think about Cubs fans!
When I lived in Cincinnati (2008-2016), Cubs fans would invade town when they played the Reds. Oh wait ... that didn't happen ALL the time. It only happened from 2008-2010 and 2015-2016. Those middle years when the Cubs stunk, you could barely find them. Front-runners.
--------
*Actually, today is the 41-year anniversary of the Lee Elia rant!!! It's classic. April 29, 1983.
One of my old Direct Reports (at my 2020-21 job) was a dead-ringer for Hunter Dickinson. He and a few other co-workers joked about that when I was at that job. I still keep in touch with them and we'll joke about that --- last year the consensus was "wait, he's still playing college hoops?" The reaction is going to be even more so next season!
Many folks don't know, but Neale was coach of the Red Wings for part of one season ---- the Dead Wings season of 1985-86 where they 2003 Detroit Tigers/2008 Detroit Lions level terrible. Last in the league in goals for and goals against, but first in the league in penalty minutes (Bob Probert a rookie and Joey Kocur in his 2nd year).
Anyway, he went to CBC immediately after that. And he truly found his second calling. GREAT sense of humor!
Who in the hell is Mel Kiper anyway? He’s never ever put on a jock strap, he’s never been a coach, or administrator and all of a sudden he’s an expert. Kiper has no more credentials than my neighbor, who is a postman that doesn’t have season tickets to the NFL.
I'll believe Denver building a domed staIdium when I see it.
I used to live there. Much like many other NFL cities, they seem rather attached to their non-domed stadium (which sits right next to the old Mile High) and outdoor weather games. It's a part of their culture.
I've never lived in Cleveland, but from the outside they strike me the same way. An indoor Dawg Pound?!?!? That seems like sacrilege. It doesn't really compute.
This is a bit of a tangent --- but even with the brave new world of our new 12-team playoff, there are A LOT of logistical things that haven't been figured out. For instance, the other day there was a news story about PSU changing their fall graduation date from Saturday 21-December to Sunday 22-December. They're doing that because of "the possibility of another large-scale event on campus that Saturday."
Doesn't take much to figure out what that possible event is!
Now, some folks went with the "PSU is arrogant, assuming they're going to host a playoff game angle!" when they heard this story --- but honestly, they have to plan and there are FORTY or so schools that should be thinking about this sort of thing. Michigan's graduation is on 15-December, so they're safe, but I can't imagine every school doesn't have graduation scheduled for the 21st.
Promotion sounds great ---- but there's not a single Power conference school which supports relegation.
It's a miracle that European soccer's promotion/relegation structure both (1) began in the first place and (2) has become well-entrenched. If it wasn't so well-entrenched, it certainly wouldn't begin in the modern day.
Witness MLS teams going bat-shit crazy when anyone even remotely talks about a promotion/relegation structure with the USL. San Diego didn't pay $500MM (!!!!!) for an MLS expansion franchise for relegation to ever be on the table.
Promotion/relegation is a complete non-starter in the modern day :-(
Not a fan - I think the G5 schools add some good flavor and stories to FBS college football. I've always wished there were a TRUE tournament where their best teams got a legit chance at the Championship.
But I suppose this is probably how it's going to be --- and crazily enough, right when we actually are getting to that tournament (the 4-team CFP was more of an "invitational" than a "tournament").
Late 1990s Marshall, Early 2000s Fresno State, Mid 2000s Miami University (when Big Ben was there), Late 2000s Boise State, mid 2010s UCF, early 2020s Cincinnati ....... there have been a number of teams from "lesser" conferences that have been able to legitimately compete with the big boys.
Are they going to be forever excluded now? Will schools like this even have a potential avenue to the Top if this goes through?
Even the likes of Penn State, Florida State and Oregon --- which most would list among the 15 programs with the most structural advantages in modern day college football --- they were nowhere near the Top as recently as the 1960s (PSU), 1970s (FSU) and 1990s (Oregon).
I'm not sure if it would work (it would probably bring its own unanticipated set of issues) .......... but my solution would be (1) NCAA runs the tournaments while also (2) setting overall rules & regulations (e.g., number of years of eligibility, minimum academic requirements, etc).
And then it's the conferences that (3) investigate and (4) enforce*.
At least the conferences are much smaller than the NCAA. They're only managing ~ a dozen schools, as opposed to the ~ 1000 under the NCAA umbrella.
---------
*Independent schools still exist, of course - so I guess the NCAA remains the investigation and enforcement entities for them.
3 of the last 10 College World Series champions weren't B1G or SEC teams (I'm counting UCLA in 2013 as a B1G team here).
10 of the last 10 men's Final Four champions weren't B1G or SEC teams.
6 of the last 10 women's Final Four champions weren't B1G or SEC teams.
10 of the last 10 Frozen Four champions weren't B1G or SEC teams.
3 of the last 10 Women's volleyball champions weren't B1G or SEC teams (I'm counting Texas as a SEC team here).
8 of the last 10 Men's lacrosse champions weren't B1G or SEC teams (thank you Maryland).
Now, yes --- the last 17 (!!!) wrestling National Champions were B1G teams. But for everything else --- and those are pretty major sports I'm listing above there --- how can you credibly call a "B1G + SEC Champion" a "National Champion"?
One benefit of NCAA membership for Michigan (and any other B1G/SEC school) --- an NCAA National Championship is universally viewed as a credibleNational champion - because it's truly on a National level.
A break-off from the NCAA could work --- but it would have to be ~ 60 schools, at minimum, and all at once.
Even if the SEC and B1G broke off --- that's not enough. Take away football, which operates their Championship outside the NCAA framework anyway, and there's no sport --- not even wrestling, baseball or hockey --- where a "B1G + SEC champion" would be viewed as a legitimate "National Champion."
Sure --- but could you, or anybody else, do it as effectively and efficiently? THAT is the question.
The NCAA brought in ~ $1,170MM ($1.17B) in revenue in FY 2023. Most of that from selling TV rights, the other big chunk coming from the Championships themselves (ticket sales, clothing sales, etc).
It "only" cost $283MM for the NCAA to actually run and adminster the tournaments. NCAA management expenses + distributions to D2 & D3 schools were "only" $215MM. So there's a lot left over - namely ~ $670MM left over. That $$$ all gets distributed back to the D1 schools.
The $670MM is a LOT of $$$. Folks can complain about the NCAA, but it's a fact that the member schools do receive a lot of benefits from their NCAA membership. Namely (1) that they actually organize the tournaments, (2) adminster them, (3) sell TV & marketing rights and (4) run the business such that a lot of $$$ is left over for the membership.
If you're going to propose eliminating the NCAA --- if you're going to say "you can run the tournaments too" --- if you're going to call the NCAA "irrelevant" --- then that's the standard you have to prove you can beat. Make the D1 schools more than $670MM.
I know, I know, people will bring up the "why are we playing college hockey regionals in the middle of nowhere in front of nobody, that serves nobody!" --- but the NCAA isn't the exclusive determinant of tournament structure. The member schools and member coaches also have a hand there.
Running the tournaments, though, is primarily the NCAA. It's a lot of tournaments, when you think about it (~ 20 sports across 3 divisions and 2 genders --> that's about 120 a year, all of them occurring from November to June, an 8-month part of the calendar). And they generally go well.
I suppose this is only one data point, but it's arguably the most prominent data point in recent history. As regards "my" school, back in July 2012 Penn State signed the NCAA consent decree and didn't go to court. Many PSU fans wanted the school to fight the NCAA, but I disagreed and felt cooperating ("cooperating" = "not fighting the consent decree" in this case) was the right decision. And the sanctions did wind up getting reduced a couple years later.
Like it is in 1000 other aspects of life. Cooperate with folks and things tend to go easier.
As for the NCAA and their relevancy --- until someone else creates an organization that runs National Championships in 30+ sports (there never HAS been an official NCAA tournament for D-1A/FBS Football, of course), their relevancy is fairly assured. I'd argue the NCAA does a fairly good job running the vast majority of National Championship tournaments across the sports & divisions.
If the Kansas City ownership ever starts acting like the biggest asshats in the land ----- in other words, like Dan Snyder when he was still in the NFL ----- this will become more of a question.
It was past due for the Washington NFL team to get a new nickname, and perhaps it is for KC too (though I'm less certain on them). But Snyder being a grade-A jackass certainly contributed to the immense social pressure.
Past isn't necessarily prologue --- but an interesting stat I read in an article the other day: in the last 20 years, ZERO of the 19 tight ends taken in the first round have ever been named all-pro (even once).
Dallas Clark in 2003 was the last 1st Round TE pick who became an all-pro.
The stats from the 15 years before 2003 aren't dramatically better either.
Anyway --- Brock Bowers may be the one to break the trend. But it does strike me as interesting: a sign it's particularly hard to transition at that position from college to pros.
Bo Nickal is a world-class wrestler, no doubt about that. But he's also a clown half the time - HE is the one who actually started this nonsense.
Burroughs' comments during the NCAA Championships about "targeting" Starocci's knee --- they weren't malicious at all. Nobody even batted an eye. Burroughs wasn't advocating someone take a freaking tire iron to his knee. But Nickal took offense, then it becomes a kerfuffle, now Starocci is mad at Burroughs.
With Nickal, honestly it just feels like he's auditioning for the WWE as his next career move, 5 years down the line (he's currently doing UFC). He and Gable can be tag-team champions there!
The US team as a whole (I'm assuming that Zain Retherford and Spencer Lee qualify --- they won the US Trials but still need to go through another tournament to qualify for the Olympics themselves): it's not impossible for the US team to go 6-for-6 on medals. 5 of the 6 Trials winners have won a medal at a World Championship in either 2022 or 2023. The 6th is Spencer Lee and if he can stay healthy, he's a good bet to win Gold.
Aaron Brooks beating David Taylor is definitely a changing of the guard. Coming into the Trials, 1 loss in 6 years and probably the best P4P Freestyle wrestler in the world. But Brooks beat him twice in a row.
With Taylor --- he's gotta figure out his next step in life. He's 33, keep competing at the elite World level, try to make another run at 2028? Or open another chapter? I doubt it happens, but there's a non-zero chance Iowa brings him in to replace Tom Brands. That would be an 8.5-level seismic event in the NCAA wrestling world.
Before the season, FOX selects 3 weeks where they are guaranteed the 1st pick of game*. They are, of course, going to pick first the last week of the year. And given they're guaranteed (per the deal that made this game in AA) Texas @ U-M, they're picking first September 7 too.
FOX already has MLB slated for 7 PM ET on Saturday September 7. So that rules out a night game.
FOX is contractually obligated to show a Big XII game weekly at 3:30 (new TV deal). That rules out 3:30 too.
As for the 3rd week FOX will choose to get 1st pick --- that's a little more up-in-the-air. But it's probably either September 14, September 21 or November 2. September 14 has Alabama @ Wisconsin: a fairly rare chance for FOX to get Bama. September 21 has USC @ U-M. November 2 has both OSU @ PSU and Oregon @ U-M: a multiple option week where FOX could wait to see what teams are better/worse. All the other weeks are lower quality. October 12 theoretically has 2 appealing games but they're both West Coast.
FWIW, September 21 is one of those Saturdays where FOX does not have evening MLB.
If I had to predict: FOX takes November 2. Which opens USC @ U-M to be an NBC (7:30) or CBS (3:30) game. Net, Texas & USC, both high-profile games of course, won't both be in the Noon September sun.
-----
*They also have other weeks where they get 1st pick, but it's a draft - NBC & CBS get to draft weeks where they get 1st pick too. FOX gets picks 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 12 in this draft (I forget which is which, but one of NBC/CBS gets 4, 7, 10 and the other gets 5, 8, 11).
Recent Comments
In other words ....... The busiest airport in America, and a tall college-aged kid wearing Michigan gear was traveling through said airport.
WSU is a bit of a "unicorn." (1) A fairly well respected research university, that (2) doesn't compete athletically at the D-1 level and (3) is a commuter school with a lot of 1st & 2nd generation undergrads, a lot of students who have less "$$$ and support that provides a back-stop against failing" (for lack of a more eloquent way to put it).
Out of the 107 Carnegie R1 schools, only 7 don't compete at the D-1 level. Wayne, UC-Santa Cruz, Colorado Mines, CU-Denver, City University of New York, UT-Dallas, and Alabama-Huntsville.
I honestly think there's a good argument to be made for rolling WSU up into the U-M system (making it MUCH more like a CU-Denver or UT-Dallas). That will never happen, though, there are 1000 different political blockers for that.
No matter what, though, I don't think they should ever move up to D-1. The marginal extra viz that D-1 athletics would give them isn't worth it.
One can quibble about the definition of "flagship", but the MI State Constitution certainly DOES consider U-M, MSU and Wayne State as different and "above" the 12 other public universities in the state --- e.g., state-wide election of the Board members.
My "get off my lawn" comment: every state should have ONE license plate, and that's it, no exceptions. Make a design that is iconic for the state, and that's that.
Of course, I get why states have different license plates. To make $$$.
When I lived in Colorado --- Colorado's standard design is the best in the country (green and white with the mountains in the background). But they also had 75 other versions of the license plate. Barf. At one point, Colorado and New Mexico were literally suing each other as regards each other's alternate "Chile Pepper" license plates.
Anyway, my 5 favorite license plates: Colorado, New Mexico, Hawaii, Vermont, Oregon.
What??? No. What could possibly happen anyway, the helmeted players are going to start head-butting everyone?
Seriously - this reads like a "bad winner" post. Give your opponent the benefit of the doubt, they didn't do anything to prove otherwise. Michigan won and has a very good team that will be a tough out in the NCAA.
Worth calling out: Notre Dame can sell that it's a "tough schedule" because they only have 6 home games (most schools have 7 or even 8), but at the same time they only play TWO TRUE road games outside the state of Indiana:
Anyway, if they can get by A&M in the opener --- it will be interesting to see if that game gets scheduled to be in the hot late August sun or if it is at night ---- there's no reason they wouldn't be 10-1 at worst going into the USC game. Like it or not, they will be in the CFP talk.
"Directionally correct" --- it works in corporate too. :-)
Agree that if U-M had beaten Rutgers, they'd be well-positioned for an at-large. Rutgers isn't even a bad team or a bad program, but as loss #6 it probably was a tipping point. I checked, nobody in the 2020s has been an at-large with 6 losses.
Lacrosse is a fun sport, I've enjoyed getting into it the last few years (I flew out to Philly for the 2019 Final Four when PSU made it)! Thanks for your posts, even if they miss tomorrow U-M's program has definitely turned the corner.
PSU beat Maryland 19-9. Even with a loss to U-M, Penn State is 99.8% likely in the NCAA tourney.
(I suppose they could get left out, if the committee didn't want 4 B1G teams in the tournament - it's only a 17-team tournament and JHU & MD are locks. But yikes, they'd be leaving out an 11-4 team with a 3-2 record against Top 10 schools. The B1G has a bunch of legit good teams, as they often do).
So, Michigan is playing a team that may have somewhat less motivation. Michigan is definitely win-or-out.
Preds fans throwing Catfish on the ice has always felt lame to me. I mean, I get it, it was started by folks in Nashville in direct reponse to Red Wings fans, but it's a blatant rip-off of the octupi.
Get your own thing Preds. And go Canucks tomorrow night, end this series (they should have ended it the other night, but blew it).
It's kind of a shame that's so rare.
A cool piece of Presidential trivia: Obama gave 4 High School commencement speeches during his 2 terms --- one at Kalamazoo Central HS.
I always thought him making a point to do HS commencements was cool. Between the 4 Presidents that book-ended Obama, 2 to each side, they only combined for 1* HS commencement address (Bush 43 in Greensburg, KS, on the exact 1-year anniversary of a terrible tornado that tore through the town).
---
*Technically 2, but I can't really count Clinton giving the commencement speech at his daughter's own HS graduation ceremony.
+1. I'm not begrudging you and your success ---- I'm not. And hopefully I don't sound bitter.
But your post speaks to another thing: simply getting admitted to an Ivy makes one less likely to experience the pain of struggling or even failing and realizing your dreams aren't necessarily achievable. Graduate from an Ivy, and those prestigious and powerful jobs, the networks of folks you meet, the connections, they are there for you throughout life.
I suppose that's what draws many folks towards sports. In the long run, it is so MUCH MUCH MUCH more of a meritocracy than other segments of life. If you're the son of a $400MM net worth Yale legacy and you dream of getting into business, your future is fairly assured. But if you're the son of a $400MM net worth Yale legacy and you dream of playing in the NHL, that doesn't mean anything at all if you can't skate well enough.
Yep. WAY back in the day, the 10-team B1G did that as well (Michigan/MSU were travel partners, OSU would play Michigan on a Thursday, IU would visit East Lansing, and then they would flip-flop for Saturday/Sunday).
If you look at today's announcement for other schools, every Eastern school is playing at either USC/UCLA or Washington/Oregon.
As recently as the late 1990s, when I graduated HS: I had a 3.85-ish GPA, a couple AP classes, not a ton of extra-cirrculars and something like 10th-15th ranked in my graduating class (from one of the big Detroit area Catholics). A good resume but hardly elite.
It was a GIVEN, a given on-par with expecting the sun to rise in the east tomorrow, that I'd get accepted to U-MAA, which I was.
Nowadays --- that's likely not good enough. It's a different world, 1 generation later.
Yep, great post and great solution. Legacy preference is terrible IMO.
To their credit, there ARE some elite private colleges --- Amherst, MIT, NYU and JHU among them --- that have recently eliminated legacy preference. And legacy preference is beginning to get SCOTUS scrutiny too (the scrutiny coming from both ends of the judicial spectrum).
But the Ivys, unfortunately, are only going to go down that road kicking and screaming.
The Ivy League schools in particular --- they have the resources and expertise to double or even triple their enrollment (could we not have a branch of Yale somewhere in the Midwest - and the South - in addition to New Haven?) if they wanted to. They couldn't do it overnight, but they could do it in a generation.
Will that ever happen? I doubt it. And that goes into a whole other discussion - why don't they do it? I'd argue it's because they prioritize exclusivity, pedigree and prestige more than they prioritize more true attempts at leveling the societal playing field.
I'm sorry, not meaning to get political, but the private elite schools, I feel they could do a lot better. The more elite public schools (like U-M), they walk the walk more in this regard.
-------
(on a side note, but tangentally related: there's some crazy fact that almost EVERY recent Supreme Court Justice in the last 30-50 years is either a Harvard or Yale Grad. Damn near all of them!)
Yep. What they call "downtiering" --- I call "monetization." A way to get more revenue, while adding minimal incremental value.
I saw a news item yesterday that Dave & Busters is introducing a gambling component to their in-store app. So that they can get a cut (while providing literally NO value) when a couple folk bet a few bucks on a game of Skee-Ball. Good God, I don't begrudge people making $$$, but folks should at least TRY to provide value for that $$$. So many corporations don't even try anymore!
There's still TONS of runway left, IMO. Business-men-and-women don't use the language, they couch it in more bengin terms, but "predatory monetization" is a business strategy that continues and continues to grow. Increasingly back-handed ways of opening a pipeline from your/my/our wallet into theirs.
All the in-game gambling ads and segments. Making your sports teams increasingly difficult to watch, across dozens of different networks such that you lose track of which ones you're even paying for. Video games, the increasing selling of "live service games" versus stand-alone complete games. Mobile video games in particular, the way they target your emotions in an attempt to get you to buy some stuff. All predatory monetization.
Ugh, I'm getting depressed here.
In the Diamondbacks case --- Bally literally stopped producing Arizona's games. MLB stepped in because there was no producer.
For the Tigers (and about 10 other teams in this current situation) --- Bally Sports will still be producing their games, like the Cardinals game this AM. It's just that it won't be distributed by Comcast.
I don't think there's much for MLB to do here. Unfortunately. Waiving the MLB.tv blackout rules is a non-starter. It's something Manfred actually wants to do, but it's definitely against the current legal agreements and the networks/TV folk would go crazy the second they even considered it.
I prefer listening to baseball on radio, but that's just me ........
But beyond that tangent, fuck all of these guys. Comcast, Bally, Sinclair, WBD, Disney, Amazon, NBCUniversal, Yahoo, and whatever 30 other networks I missed. All these corporate goons get in these fights over whose net worth increases from $250MM to $350MM, and it comes on the backs of the sports fans who are seeing their overall bills increase.
Even MLB.TV isn't a real option here (unless you live out-of-market, and then you weren't getting Tigers' games on TV anyway) because of their blackout rules!
But, for those who postulate "maybe the sports bubble is about to break!", there was yesterday's news about how the NBA TV rights are likely to double, with Amazon entering the picture and NBC possibly replacing WBD. The bubble isn't breaking, but rather bills are just going to increase.
OK, rant over.
Perhaps --- but I don't think that's been 100% proven quite yet.
Moving to Seattle is a good career move for him --- and will provide more data on the question.
Well, on October 1, 2021, Iowa visited Maryland for a football game. Brian Ferentz was the Iowa Offensive Coordinator for that game.
Iowa scored FIFTY-ONE (51) points in that game, admittedly helped by 7 (!) Terrapin turnovers, while racking up 428 yards of total offense and never turning the ball over themselves.
In 2015, Iowa also played Maryland - Brian Ferentz was on the Iowa staff though not yet Offensive Coordinator. Iowa won 31-15, they didn't quite gain 300 yards but it wasn't a putrid offensive performance - Iowa had 1 turnover total in the game (Maryland had 4).
The reason I point out those 2 games --- that's the only 2 times in his career Locksley has coached against Brian Ferentz on the opposing sideline. If one is solely going by those 2 data points, he appears like someone associated with a fairly effective and efficient offense. So, shoot, hire him!
20 years ago ......... folks like Lewan simply disappeared into the ether once his football days were done.
But now we have social media and podcasts! The perfect platforms for an aspiring influencer and/or professional troll! And he can also take on a side job as a JumboTron mascot at Nashville Predators' games!
We're going to be hearing from this guy until 2050! Joy!
Yep.
I've never gone through a divorce --- but man, A LOT of them get brutally ugly.
Choose your life partners wisely.
Good post --- +1. A few questions/thoughts on the Angels and where they could move.
Is the Inland Empire really mostly Angels fans? My feel is it is pretty split (SB County leaning Dodgers, Riverside County leaning Angels).
To me, Tustin/Irvine seems like a better landing spot than either Long Beach or the IE (Riverside). Tustin would be marginally more difficult (vs. Anaheim) for IE folk to get to. But there's a ton of people in the OC, a lot more $$$ in the OC versus the IE, and at their core the franchise is an OC team. Net: keep it in Orange County.
This isn't totally off --- Dodger Stadium does have all those parking lots but it's also surrounded by Elysian Park, which is nice enough (it does have some issues w/ trash and homelessness, Echo Park a mile to the W-SW has cleaned up better). And it's close to downtown. I do wish it were more walkable from downtown - there are currently some (rather crazy) proposals out there for a series of gondolas to connect Dodger Stadium and Union Station/DTLA.
Anyway, Angel Stadium --- I haven't personally seen the "personality" you have, I've mostly just seen views of (1) parking lots, (2) the Ducks' arena and (3) the Orange Crush (for the uninitiated, what is literally the most complex/complicated freeway interchange in America), with a fan-base of mostly utterly dispassionate uninterested OCers. Dodger Stadium has a vibe. Angels Stadium, I've never seen it at all.
Fenway vs Wrigley ........ Wrigley is under-the-radar a dump that hasn't been kept up well (while Fenway has). Another big thing, and admittedly plays into my consideration:
When I lived in Cincinnati (2008-2016), Cubs fans would invade town when they played the Reds. Oh wait ... that didn't happen ALL the time. It only happened from 2008-2010 and 2015-2016. Those middle years when the Cubs stunk, you could barely find them. Front-runners.
--------
*Actually, today is the 41-year anniversary of the Lee Elia rant!!! It's classic. April 29, 1983.
Somewhat related ----- the Carolina Panthers are the only NFL franchise that has never drafted a Clemson Tiger.
For those who remember, Carolina actually played their 1st season in Clemson's stadium!
Slowly encroaching on Evan Eschmeyer territory!
One of my old Direct Reports (at my 2020-21 job) was a dead-ringer for Hunter Dickinson. He and a few other co-workers joked about that when I was at that job. I still keep in touch with them and we'll joke about that --- last year the consensus was "wait, he's still playing college hoops?" The reaction is going to be even more so next season!
Many folks don't know, but Neale was coach of the Red Wings for part of one season ---- the Dead Wings season of 1985-86 where they 2003 Detroit Tigers/2008 Detroit Lions level terrible. Last in the league in goals for and goals against, but first in the league in penalty minutes (Bob Probert a rookie and Joey Kocur in his 2nd year).
Anyway, he went to CBC immediately after that. And he truly found his second calling. GREAT sense of humor!
Who in the hell is Mel Kiper anyway? He’s never ever put on a jock strap, he’s never been a coach, or administrator and all of a sudden he’s an expert. Kiper has no more credentials than my neighbor, who is a postman that doesn’t have season tickets to the NFL.
Doesn't look great --- but I'm pretty sure Nick isn't the only one on the GameDay set who dyes his hair (cough cough Desmond).
FWIW, I don't care if men dye their hair. Doesn't bother me, many men look better with it.
I'll believe Denver building a domed staIdium when I see it.
I used to live there. Much like many other NFL cities, they seem rather attached to their non-domed stadium (which sits right next to the old Mile High) and outdoor weather games. It's a part of their culture.
I've never lived in Cleveland, but from the outside they strike me the same way. An indoor Dawg Pound?!?!? That seems like sacrilege. It doesn't really compute.
+1 to all that.
This is a bit of a tangent --- but even with the brave new world of our new 12-team playoff, there are A LOT of logistical things that haven't been figured out. For instance, the other day there was a news story about PSU changing their fall graduation date from Saturday 21-December to Sunday 22-December. They're doing that because of "the possibility of another large-scale event on campus that Saturday."
Doesn't take much to figure out what that possible event is!
Now, some folks went with the "PSU is arrogant, assuming they're going to host a playoff game angle!" when they heard this story --- but honestly, they have to plan and there are FORTY or so schools that should be thinking about this sort of thing. Michigan's graduation is on 15-December, so they're safe, but I can't imagine every school doesn't have graduation scheduled for the 21st.
IMO, absolutely. The "pull back" to the "Don't Walk" sign* was the clue to me.
As in --- don't walk Karen --- RUN!!!!!!
----
*I tried to embed the screen shot, but not working. :-(
Promotion sounds great ---- but there's not a single Power conference school which supports relegation.
It's a miracle that European soccer's promotion/relegation structure both (1) began in the first place and (2) has become well-entrenched. If it wasn't so well-entrenched, it certainly wouldn't begin in the modern day.
Witness MLS teams going bat-shit crazy when anyone even remotely talks about a promotion/relegation structure with the USL. San Diego didn't pay $500MM (!!!!!) for an MLS expansion franchise for relegation to ever be on the table.
Promotion/relegation is a complete non-starter in the modern day :-(
Not a fan - I think the G5 schools add some good flavor and stories to FBS college football. I've always wished there were a TRUE tournament where their best teams got a legit chance at the Championship.
But I suppose this is probably how it's going to be --- and crazily enough, right when we actually are getting to that tournament (the 4-team CFP was more of an "invitational" than a "tournament").
Late 1990s Marshall, Early 2000s Fresno State, Mid 2000s Miami University (when Big Ben was there), Late 2000s Boise State, mid 2010s UCF, early 2020s Cincinnati ....... there have been a number of teams from "lesser" conferences that have been able to legitimately compete with the big boys.
Are they going to be forever excluded now? Will schools like this even have a potential avenue to the Top if this goes through?
Even the likes of Penn State, Florida State and Oregon --- which most would list among the 15 programs with the most structural advantages in modern day college football --- they were nowhere near the Top as recently as the 1960s (PSU), 1970s (FSU) and 1990s (Oregon).
OJ has had a great couple weeks.
First, his ex-wife's murderer died, and today, he can indirectly claim credit for Reggie getting his Heisman back.
I'm not sure if it would work (it would probably bring its own unanticipated set of issues) .......... but my solution would be (1) NCAA runs the tournaments while also (2) setting overall rules & regulations (e.g., number of years of eligibility, minimum academic requirements, etc).
And then it's the conferences that (3) investigate and (4) enforce*.
At least the conferences are much smaller than the NCAA. They're only managing ~ a dozen schools, as opposed to the ~ 1000 under the NCAA umbrella.
---------
*Independent schools still exist, of course - so I guess the NCAA remains the investigation and enforcement entities for them.
Now, yes --- the last 17 (!!!) wrestling National Champions were B1G teams. But for everything else --- and those are pretty major sports I'm listing above there --- how can you credibly call a "B1G + SEC Champion" a "National Champion"?
One benefit of NCAA membership for Michigan (and any other B1G/SEC school) --- an NCAA National Championship is universally viewed as a credible National champion - because it's truly on a National level.
Yep.
A break-off from the NCAA could work --- but it would have to be ~ 60 schools, at minimum, and all at once.
Even if the SEC and B1G broke off --- that's not enough. Take away football, which operates their Championship outside the NCAA framework anyway, and there's no sport --- not even wrestling, baseball or hockey --- where a "B1G + SEC champion" would be viewed as a legitimate "National Champion."
Sure --- but could you, or anybody else, do it as effectively and efficiently? THAT is the question.
The NCAA brought in ~ $1,170MM ($1.17B) in revenue in FY 2023. Most of that from selling TV rights, the other big chunk coming from the Championships themselves (ticket sales, clothing sales, etc).
It "only" cost $283MM for the NCAA to actually run and adminster the tournaments. NCAA management expenses + distributions to D2 & D3 schools were "only" $215MM. So there's a lot left over - namely ~ $670MM left over. That $$$ all gets distributed back to the D1 schools.
https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/ncaa/finance/2022-2023NCAAFIN_FinancialStatement.pdf
The $670MM is a LOT of $$$. Folks can complain about the NCAA, but it's a fact that the member schools do receive a lot of benefits from their NCAA membership. Namely (1) that they actually organize the tournaments, (2) adminster them, (3) sell TV & marketing rights and (4) run the business such that a lot of $$$ is left over for the membership.
If you're going to propose eliminating the NCAA --- if you're going to say "you can run the tournaments too" --- if you're going to call the NCAA "irrelevant" --- then that's the standard you have to prove you can beat. Make the D1 schools more than $670MM.
Both.
I know, I know, people will bring up the "why are we playing college hockey regionals in the middle of nowhere in front of nobody, that serves nobody!" --- but the NCAA isn't the exclusive determinant of tournament structure. The member schools and member coaches also have a hand there.
Running the tournaments, though, is primarily the NCAA. It's a lot of tournaments, when you think about it (~ 20 sports across 3 divisions and 2 genders --> that's about 120 a year, all of them occurring from November to June, an 8-month part of the calendar). And they generally go well.
Is that really true?
I suppose this is only one data point, but it's arguably the most prominent data point in recent history. As regards "my" school, back in July 2012 Penn State signed the NCAA consent decree and didn't go to court. Many PSU fans wanted the school to fight the NCAA, but I disagreed and felt cooperating ("cooperating" = "not fighting the consent decree" in this case) was the right decision. And the sanctions did wind up getting reduced a couple years later.
Like it is in 1000 other aspects of life. Cooperate with folks and things tend to go easier.
As for the NCAA and their relevancy --- until someone else creates an organization that runs National Championships in 30+ sports (there never HAS been an official NCAA tournament for D-1A/FBS Football, of course), their relevancy is fairly assured. I'd argue the NCAA does a fairly good job running the vast majority of National Championship tournaments across the sports & divisions.
If the Kansas City ownership ever starts acting like the biggest asshats in the land ----- in other words, like Dan Snyder when he was still in the NFL ----- this will become more of a question.
It was past due for the Washington NFL team to get a new nickname, and perhaps it is for KC too (though I'm less certain on them). But Snyder being a grade-A jackass certainly contributed to the immense social pressure.
Past isn't necessarily prologue --- but an interesting stat I read in an article the other day: in the last 20 years, ZERO of the 19 tight ends taken in the first round have ever been named all-pro (even once).
Dallas Clark in 2003 was the last 1st Round TE pick who became an all-pro.
The stats from the 15 years before 2003 aren't dramatically better either.
Anyway --- Brock Bowers may be the one to break the trend. But it does strike me as interesting: a sign it's particularly hard to transition at that position from college to pros.
Whole lot of silliness, IMO .......
Bo Nickal is a world-class wrestler, no doubt about that. But he's also a clown half the time - HE is the one who actually started this nonsense.
Burroughs' comments during the NCAA Championships about "targeting" Starocci's knee --- they weren't malicious at all. Nobody even batted an eye. Burroughs wasn't advocating someone take a freaking tire iron to his knee. But Nickal took offense, then it becomes a kerfuffle, now Starocci is mad at Burroughs.
With Nickal, honestly it just feels like he's auditioning for the WWE as his next career move, 5 years down the line (he's currently doing UFC). He and Gable can be tag-team champions there!
Parris definitely has a shot at Gold.
The US team as a whole (I'm assuming that Zain Retherford and Spencer Lee qualify --- they won the US Trials but still need to go through another tournament to qualify for the Olympics themselves): it's not impossible for the US team to go 6-for-6 on medals. 5 of the 6 Trials winners have won a medal at a World Championship in either 2022 or 2023. The 6th is Spencer Lee and if he can stay healthy, he's a good bet to win Gold.
Aaron Brooks beating David Taylor is definitely a changing of the guard. Coming into the Trials, 1 loss in 6 years and probably the best P4P Freestyle wrestler in the world. But Brooks beat him twice in a row.
With Taylor --- he's gotta figure out his next step in life. He's 33, keep competing at the elite World level, try to make another run at 2028? Or open another chapter? I doubt it happens, but there's a non-zero chance Iowa brings him in to replace Tom Brands. That would be an 8.5-level seismic event in the NCAA wrestling world.
Various logistical items on the TV front:
If I had to predict: FOX takes November 2. Which opens USC @ U-M to be an NBC (7:30) or CBS (3:30) game. Net, Texas & USC, both high-profile games of course, won't both be in the Noon September sun.
-----
*They also have other weeks where they get 1st pick, but it's a draft - NBC & CBS get to draft weeks where they get 1st pick too. FOX gets picks 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 12 in this draft (I forget which is which, but one of NBC/CBS gets 4, 7, 10 and the other gets 5, 8, 11).