Allen Trieu noted that Edmond's height, weight, and length are verified and that Edmond "has also timed well in the forty and shuttle", presumably at some of the camps he attended. However, I have been unable to find any 40 times from those camps, or any 40 times of Edmond at all. So I guess we have to take Trieu's word for it .
JAMES FRANKLIN SHOULD HIRE BRIAN FERENTZ AS HIS OL COACH!!!
Ferentz, for all his issues, is generally respected as an OL coach/run game coordinator. Iowa did good (for them) when they had a different OC, and Ferentz is the run game coordinator. He's got NFL experience with TEs...And PSU needs a better OL.
OPI should be 5 yards and loss of down. On 1st and 10 from their 3 ECU chucked the ball down the sideline, their wide receiver chucked Mike Sainristil out of the way, and got flagged for the obvious offensive pass interference. Penalty assessed, their next play: 1st and 11 from the 2. I hate rules loopholes where cheating is incentivized.
I get it, the penalty essentially results in a "do over" for the offense. So what happens on this situation? I see two possibilities:
2nd and 11 from the 2. So loss of down and half the distance to the goal.
Safety. (Like it is for holding in the endzone)
Another question: Should loss of down be a standard part of offensive penalties, like holding too?
I feel like there is a nuance to add here. A coach can have a "sound scheme" but if a team fails to execute enough it would seem that is also a coaching issue too. If a coach routinely asks their team to do something that they have not shown that they can do, maybe it is time to change the plan.
It like, I know how to teach calculus, but if I give a calc test to a first grade class, when they all fail it is on me.
A different thought experiment: The Big Ten gets rid of divisions and The Game II is played this weekend in Indy.
I think that the conclusion is that Conference Championship games are dumb, and get even dumber with a 12 team playoff, because hypothetical 2-loss OSU is still in the 12 team field.
So, does this mean we can go back to the mindset we had when, “Oakland is still in play” was a joke in these parts? I hope so. People are going to recruit against Michigan by saying that this is Harbaugh’s last season in Michigan until he retires, but people will tell an 18 year old anything.
Play 2 periods that are 7:30 in length with 4th quarter clock rules. Each team gets 3 time-outs per period (to allow for a 3rd drive in the period if the first drives are short) Have team A kick off to begin OT#1 and team B kick off to begin OT#2. Declare a winner here if the score is not tied.
Each team gets 5 two-point conversion attempts, alternating back and forth. Declare a winner here if the score is not tied.
Repeat step 2 until the tie is broken.
I don't know, it's kind of like the current college system (at least in step 2), but has the benefit of being regular football (Special Teams are still important) for the first phase rather than the red-zone fiesta implemented in CFB.
Note: The NCAA runs the distances tracked by World Athletics. Here is a link to the 2021 indoor track NCAA championship schedule. They run a full mile (and keep records) for indoor track. But they do the 1500 in outdoor. I think that they use distances that make metric sense in general. So once we get above the sprint events (60m, 100m, 200m, 400m, and [arguably] 800m), the numbers become more even when expressed in km:
1500m -> 1.5k (ok...still a half integer, rather than a tenth of an integer) -> 3.75 laps
3000m -> 3k (flat indoors, and with steeples outdoors) -> 7.5 laps
5000m -> 5k -> 12.5 laps
10000m -> 10k -> 25 laps
So, the only other distances run are the mile and the marathon. They've simply decided that not all distance events should be an even number of laps around the track.
I guess we are all humblebragging our mile PRs...So I ran a 4:48 back in HS during the last millenium at the lovely track at Algonac HS during the regional meet my senior year.
Let's just say that I wouldn't quite double that if I tried it today. But, to be fair, I'm not in track shape anymore...
JJ may be the starter next season, which I will assume for the rest of this post, but is obviously a TBD prospect. Still, I am not sure that means that Cade will transfer.
Cade's NIL deals may require him to be at a program of Michigan's status. Does he still get that Brady Brand dough if he transfers? https://www.si.com/college/michigan/football/michigan-wolverines-jim-harbaugh-cade-mcnamara-tom-brady-big-ten-cfp
JJ will get bumped and bruised. Having a backup of Cade's caliber will be important for the season. Jalen Hurts stuck around for the season after Tua passed him.
I think that the, "if you have 2 QBs, you have 0 QBs" conventional wisdom is not so wise in an NIL/transfer portal era.
I'll elaborate on #3 a bit. At most, college players will be there for 5 seasons, assuming a Redshirt and similar things. Development takes time, even for the 5-star wunderkinds. Teams aren't trying to build a dynasty like they can in the NFL, they are trying to build a team for this season, and then reload talent for the team next season. So every team needs a "QB in waiting" in order to stay on top of their league/compete for the CFP on an annual basis. Until the playoff expands, to get in you need to (1) win your league AND the conference beauty pageant (2) Be Alabama or Georgia and have only one loss (or maybe two...I don't know if hypothetical 2-loss Bama gets in over 1-loss ND ...). To win the Big Ten, you need a QB who is ready from day one, not someone who will learn on the job.
Yep...just like all of us under 100 reading this here blog are in our first century. Always remember to zero-index your arrays if you are coding in Python.
As someone who enjoys consuming free content for free...I'd like to recommend a B1G championship week Opponent Watch if the right team is playing in it.
Don't think about it like rooting FOR OSU. Think about it like rooting AGAINST MSU. Or (even better?) think about it like rooting for Michigan to be able to control it's own destiny.
Going to point out that the "Basketball and Football have switched souls in this rivalry" needs some investigation. According to Wikipedia (re: Basketball):
Michigan and MSU basketball have (about) the same all-time winning % (0.611 for Michigan, 0.612 for MSU) All time records are (UM) 1,658–1,056 and (MSU) 1,754–1,114
Michigan is winning the H2H all-time series 95-86 (Although MSU is ahead in Big Ten games 69-57)
So, Basketball is a bit of a coin flip ... IDK ... Hot take is hot?
I think that all the refs should have a hot mic. And that the broadcast should just go to the refs during reviews and conferences on the field. Each team can have the coaches listen in on the conferences too, but not participate (unless there is a discussion with the coach).
When a former ref says things like this:
Even’s Fox’s rules analyst could sense the refs were trying to rewrite the play after the fact, stitching together a narrative that what everyone had just seen hadn’t happened because a shin was slightly more perpendicular to the ground in a split second.
...it's probably because he's seen it happen many times (and/or been a part of it).
Also, reviews should last 30 seconds, and the refs involved should vote. If the decision is unanimous, overturn/uphold as appropriate, if not, "Call stands" and move on. If you can't tell in that amount of time, there's no "indisputable" evidence. Also, if reviews are broadcast live, the ref can be, "yep, we're going to overturn it, and now we need to get the exact spot and time right, so..." And everyone knows.
I rarely see a review that's overturned correctly when they take forever on it. And it is so annoying to stop the game while the refs spend eons examining three frames of video only to come out, shrug and say, "Call Stands."
Perfection isn't a reasonable goal. But transparency can be.
Meta: How do you get your data? Do you have some sort of scraping script? Or do you just download from NCAA.com on the regular? I'd love to see some sort of Github gist...
There were some questions raised last week (like, "Why didn't they throw more?") that don't have the same weight this week. Last week, it was all, "our defense is better than Western's!" I don't believe that to be true this week. I do want to see our WRs against some future NFL corners. I want to see Cade try to dissect a secondary that has future NFL players in it. There will be defenses that can stop our run with a single high safety. How are we going to deal with that? Who is (or who all are) going to step into the roles that Ronnie Bell had in this offense?
The long version...is probably worth a diary which will not be written by me. There are a couple of places this was discussed here, also here (kind of), and elsewhere.
I for one enjoy the free content, so I'll keep coming back as long as the writing keeps being this interesting. This blog has changed much in the years that I've followed it, and will continue to do so.
I don't care if they "establish the run" as long as they have the same definition of what a running play is as Urban Meyer. Specifically, that includes the P in an RPO, as well as the flare route to the back side of the zone read.
I know, the backup QB is good now. And Tua (nope, not going to try to spell that name) sat behind Jalen Hurts until he didn’t. But nobody was calling Mack Jones a world beater that season. As far as OSU goes, they are supposed to be our biggest rival. So I think it is fair to use them as a measuring stick.
I think what troubles me too is the lack of preparation in some of these games and the lack of execution. Yes, the other team is on scholarship too, but mental mistakes were all too common. And the fire has been gone. Where is the equivalent of this story (Coach O after beating Bama) from Michigan?
Who’s got it better than us? I’ll let the reader decide.
Texas is the top ranked team to make the CWS. That being said, they lost a close one to Mississippi State, who's currently in the driver's seat in that bracket.
Vanderbilt probably has the two best pitchers in (NCAA) baseball right now. (Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter [son of Al Leiter for all the old guys like me who remember that name] are both projected to be drafted in the top 5 of the next MLB draft.) That being said, they (Vandy) will have to go 2-0 vs. NC State to get to the championship series.
ANNOUNCER RANT: So I keep hearing announcers saying things like, "The first game in a 3 game series is SO IMPORTANT because they win the series 77% of the time!" And I go..."so the teams are (about) evenly matched because math."
Most of these games are on ESPN/ESPN2, so have at it!
I'd like to see conference champs seeded above all the at-larges, or at least have the conference champs be guaranteed a home game (if they don't get a bye). We want the regular season to mean something, right?
Some of this is also the lack of parity in CFB--which has been heightened, not reduced by the current CFP format. There is no normalizing mechanism in CFB at all, like there is in the NFL (I'd argue that the draft is an inefficient normalizing mechanism, but it does exist). Right now we have:
Alabama/Saban dominating the SEC - (Although, Alabama is a historically elite program)
Clemson/Dabo dominating the ACC, and performing at levels out of step with their history (0.899 win pct since 2014, 0.617 all-time win pct [120 seasons])
OSU dominating the B1G (there's no Big 2-little 8 dynamic anymore...)
And these three teams account for 27/42 = 64% of the CFP games...and 11/14 = 79% of the CFP championship game slots. So if I'm a 5 star who wants to play for a (no longer mythical) national championship, I've got 3 schools to choose from...
So if they want to change that, I agree that conference champs need to get in. If there are at large teams in the field, let's not stack the deck like they do in the NCAA Baseball tournament (Did you realize that 6/8 of the super-regional host sites are in the SEC?...5/8 if you don't want to count South Carolina since they aren't playing.) If there are some games at host sites, mandate that they be played at a conference champ's home field.
Also, while we are at it, let's not make all of the games at warm places. Can we get a NC game at Ford Field? (lord knows the Lions season will be done by then...) Or Yankee Stadium? Let the bowl games be about tourism (and football), but let's actually have some neutral sites...Wembley Stadium anyone?
I'm down for some Notre Dame bashing, but this seems a tad off:
They’re in a really tough regional: host Notre Dame might be the worst team.
I mean, they won all of their games by double digits. Nobody else did that. Texas came close (winning games by 11, 7, and 10). Otherwise...nobody was even close.
Which position group would I choose to be elite? The weakest one...
I'm not sure it's QB, even in the NFL, especially given the nature of the salary cap and the fact that QBs are so goddamn expensive. There are exactly 2 SB wins shared by the top 10 paid QBs right now (Mahomes and Wentz), and neither of them won the SB while on a list of the top 10 paid QBs...
Uh, this feels like the university faculty/administration just doing their elitist thing. Bacon, while popular among the fanbase, doesn't have traditional items in his CV that most academics crave--according to his profile page, his title is Intermittent Lecturer in Educational Studies. Also, the fact that he doesn't have a PhD would disqualify him in the minds of some (admittedly arrogant) faculty from participation in such a high-profile committee.
This is a standing committee, not an ad-hoc panel. They advise the president on all issues related to university history, not just the (re)naming of athletic facilities. Everyone has a PhD and is (or was) tenured. Half of them have named titles. It is a valid criticism to say that faculty are often "living in ivory towers" rather than dealing with the reality. But educational elitism is real (and not limited to university faculty).
That being said, this committee has some optics issues.
It is all faculty. Can't we get even some token student representation?
The members mostly present as white (7/8 based on profile pics and my cursory glance).
There is a small gender imbalance (3 present as female, 5 present as male based on profile pics/names)
I will point out that the Houston Astros play home games in July and August. Some of them are even day games. I think Omaha will be managable in July. And...I'll point out that, effectively, the stadium in Omaha is MLB quality. I'm thinking they probably have air conditioned clubhouses.
An additional thing that I think is helpful, is the schedule. Most schools are in session in February, but not in late May/early June. So moving games from February to that time period is better for the students academically because they will travel less.
I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not sure that there is a good example. (And, to make things even more complicated, I think it is fair to say that what is "good" to one person is not to another...see the disagreement between Brian and Ace as the genesis for this article.)
This might be where my comparison of institutions built to further institutionalize racist politics breaks down. There are many reasons that institutions may wish to decry racism, some of them out of genuine anti-racist motivations, while others could be more cynical. After all, state funding formulas being what they are, universities are incentivized to grow our enrollments, and, often, focus on lower-income populations. The fact that we are using this moment in history to remove racist figures/confederate statues can be viewed as a synergy between both of these altruistic and cynical viewpoints. For example, in North Carolina, Charles Aycock, Governor in the 1890s-1900s who ran on institutionalizing the "Grandfather Clause," is disappearing all over the state. And his statue in the Capitol's statuary hall is being replaced with Billy Graham's.
I struggle with Seth's, "put a plaque on it" idea. Going back to Rupp Arena for a second. I'm just not sure a plaque (or even a plaque near every entrance) stating something like, "Adolph Rupp was a well-known racist, as is easily seen by the fact that UK was one of the final teams in the SEC to integrate Black players," sends the same message as some hype video screaming WELCOME TO RUPP ARENA, HOME OF YOUR KENTUCKY WILDCATS! Nor do I think would changing the name to "(Racist) Rupp Arena" would be viewed favorably by UK donors. Not to mention, I doubt Calipari would like to recruit players, telling them that they get to defend a home court with "racist" anywhere in the title.
It's a hard thing to balance, and tribalism, I think, makes it all harder. I mean, should we revise Ufer's description of the Big House, "The hole that Yost dug, Crisler paid for, Canham carpeted, and Schembechler fills every cotton-pickin' Saturday afternoon..." to add "while looking the other way while a sexual predator abused his team." Does that inspire fandom as it was intended to? Maybe we should, maybe we shouldn't. But, not many (none?) of the names listed in that quote would bear modern scrutiny. Should we take them all down? Should we name our campus buildings after lakes in the state (goodness knows we have enough). Or should we acknowledge that all humans are both sinner and saint and choose to celebrate our iconic figures in spite of that duality?
I know I asked more questions than gave you answers. Maybe that's a good thing? Raising awareness and having these sorts of discussions is productive too.
Recent Comments
Does this mean his forty gets 6 FAKEs out of 5?
College football has always been about perception. That's the whole idea behind the CFP committee.
JAMES…
#HotTakeCandidate -
JAMES FRANKLIN SHOULD HIRE BRIAN FERENTZ AS HIS OL COACH!!!
Ferentz, for all his issues, is generally respected as an OL coach/run game coordinator. Iowa did good (for them) when they had a different OC, and Ferentz is the run game coordinator. He's got NFL experience with TEs...And PSU needs a better OL.
OPI…
I agree in principle:
I get it, the penalty essentially results in a "do over" for the offense. So what happens on this situation? I see two possibilities:
Another question: Should loss of down be a standard part of offensive penalties, like holding too?
Also, what about on the other side of the field and defensive penalties? I'm looking at you, Buddy Ryan's Polish Goal Line Defense.
Logged in to +1 and say this:
...is the correct answer.
I feel like there is a nuance to add here. A coach can have a "sound scheme" but if a team fails to execute enough it would seem that is also a coaching issue too. If a coach routinely asks their team to do something that they have not shown that they can do, maybe it is time to change the plan.
It like, I know how to teach calculus, but if I give a calc test to a first grade class, when they all fail it is on me.
A different thought experiment: The Big Ten gets rid of divisions and The Game II is played this weekend in Indy.
I think that the conclusion is that Conference Championship games are dumb, and get even dumber with a 12 team playoff, because hypothetical 2-loss OSU is still in the 12 team field.
The counterpoint is this: Georgia Bulldogs' defense breaks NFL draft record with 5 first-rounders.
Travon Walker isn't walking through that door. Jordan Davis isn't walking through that door...
PENN STATE WOULD WIN THE SEC WEST.
(Or the Michigan-centric version)
MICHIGAN HAS A BETTER RESUME THAN GEORGIA, AND SHOULD BE RANKED #1.
Damn, is that a game from the G-League bubble?
Are they singing the song of angry men?
WE WANT MUPPETS!!!!!!
So wait, are you saying that Oakland is not in play?
Go ahead, close this tab, you'll be back. :)
So, does this mean we can go back to the mindset we had when, “Oakland is still in play” was a joke in these parts? I hope so. People are going to recruit against Michigan by saying that this is Harbaugh’s last season in Michigan until he retires, but people will tell an 18 year old anything.
I hope so.
…
When in doubt, copy soccer?
I don't know, it's kind of like the current college system (at least in step 2), but has the benefit of being regular football (Special Teams are still important) for the first phase rather than the red-zone fiesta implemented in CFB.
NFL rules are a tad anti-climactic to put it mildly. The team winning the coin toss wins far too much - The team winning the coin toss is 10-1 in playoff overtime games since 2010 when the current rules were put in place. Even if we eliminate the 7 games where the first team won by scoring a TD on the opening drive, that's still a 3-1 record for the team winning the coin toss.
Note: The NCAA runs the distances tracked by World Athletics. Here is a link to the 2021 indoor track NCAA championship schedule. They run a full mile (and keep records) for indoor track. But they do the 1500 in outdoor. I think that they use distances that make metric sense in general. So once we get above the sprint events (60m, 100m, 200m, 400m, and [arguably] 800m), the numbers become more even when expressed in km:
So, the only other distances run are the mile and the marathon. They've simply decided that not all distance events should be an even number of laps around the track.
Link for an article about the sub-2 hour masterpiece.
I know it's "cheating" for World record purposes...but damn...He's also in a class by himself right now on the elite marathon stage.
I guess we are all humblebragging our mile PRs...So I ran a 4:48 back in HS during the last millenium at the lovely track at Algonac HS during the regional meet my senior year.
Let's just say that I wouldn't quite double that if I tried it today. But, to be fair, I'm not in track shape anymore...
JJ may be the starter next season, which I will assume for the rest of this post, but is obviously a TBD prospect. Still, I am not sure that means that Cade will transfer.
I'll elaborate on #3 a bit. At most, college players will be there for 5 seasons, assuming a Redshirt and similar things. Development takes time, even for the 5-star wunderkinds. Teams aren't trying to build a dynasty like they can in the NFL, they are trying to build a team for this season, and then reload talent for the team next season. So every team needs a "QB in waiting" in order to stay on top of their league/compete for the CFP on an annual basis. Until the playoff expands, to get in you need to (1) win your league AND the conference beauty pageant (2) Be Alabama or Georgia and have only one loss (or maybe two...I don't know if hypothetical 2-loss Bama gets in over 1-loss ND ...). To win the Big Ten, you need a QB who is ready from day one, not someone who will learn on the job.
Yep...just like all of us under 100 reading this here blog are in our first century. Always remember to zero-index your arrays if you are coding in Python.
This is such an excellent compliment to the game column this week.
As someone who enjoys consuming free content for free...I'd like to recommend a B1G championship week Opponent Watch if the right team is playing in it.
Let's do it!!!
Don't think about it like rooting FOR OSU. Think about it like rooting AGAINST MSU. Or (even better?) think about it like rooting for Michigan to be able to control it's own destiny.
Going to point out that the "Basketball and Football have switched souls in this rivalry" needs some investigation. According to Wikipedia (re: Basketball):
So, Basketball is a bit of a coin flip ... IDK ... Hot take is hot?
I think that all the refs should have a hot mic. And that the broadcast should just go to the refs during reviews and conferences on the field. Each team can have the coaches listen in on the conferences too, but not participate (unless there is a discussion with the coach).
When a former ref says things like this:
...it's probably because he's seen it happen many times (and/or been a part of it).
Also, reviews should last 30 seconds, and the refs involved should vote. If the decision is unanimous, overturn/uphold as appropriate, if not, "Call stands" and move on. If you can't tell in that amount of time, there's no "indisputable" evidence. Also, if reviews are broadcast live, the ref can be, "yep, we're going to overturn it, and now we need to get the exact spot and time right, so..." And everyone knows.
I rarely see a review that's overturned correctly when they take forever on it. And it is so annoying to stop the game while the refs spend eons examining three frames of video only to come out, shrug and say, "Call Stands."
Perfection isn't a reasonable goal. But transparency can be.
This one's good too:
Meta: How do you get your data? Do you have some sort of scraping script? Or do you just download from NCAA.com on the regular? I'd love to see some sort of Github gist...
And a bigger fan of Michigan stealing their opponent's lunch :)
This is the first time Michigan has won in Camp Randall Stadium since I got married.
I think he needs to ease up on Shea...
We have a passing game that is effective against the MAC. Ask again after the Wisconsin game.
There were some questions raised last week (like, "Why didn't they throw more?") that don't have the same weight this week. Last week, it was all, "our defense is better than Western's!" I don't believe that to be true this week. I do want to see our WRs against some future NFL corners. I want to see Cade try to dissect a secondary that has future NFL players in it. There will be defenses that can stop our run with a single high safety. How are we going to deal with that? Who is (or who all are) going to step into the roles that Ronnie Bell had in this offense?
The short version: He resigned.
https://twitter.com/AceAnbender/status/1403019898557808643
The long version...is probably worth a diary which will not be written by me. There are a couple of places this was discussed here, also here (kind of), and elsewhere.
I for one enjoy the free content, so I'll keep coming back as long as the writing keeps being this interesting. This blog has changed much in the years that I've followed it, and will continue to do so.
I don't care if they "establish the run" as long as they have the same definition of what a running play is as Urban Meyer. Specifically, that includes the P in an RPO, as well as the flare route to the back side of the zone read.
I always pronounce it "Blue in South Bend..." :p
I know, the backup QB is good now. And Tua (nope, not going to try to spell that name) sat behind Jalen Hurts until he didn’t. But nobody was calling Mack Jones a world beater that season. As far as OSU goes, they are supposed to be our biggest rival. So I think it is fair to use them as a measuring stick.
I think what troubles me too is the lack of preparation in some of these games and the lack of execution. Yes, the other team is on scholarship too, but mental mistakes were all too common. And the fire has been gone. Where is the equivalent of this story (Coach O after beating Bama) from Michigan?
Who’s got it better than us? I’ll let the reader decide.
There's one more trend to consider here. The last time Michigan won their last game of the season was 2015. Since then, we've seen:
What happened to attacking each day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind?
Yeah, I feel like Argentina just doesn't have the horses to race with Team USA.
Texas is the top ranked team to make the CWS. That being said, they lost a close one to Mississippi State, who's currently in the driver's seat in that bracket.
Vanderbilt probably has the two best pitchers in (NCAA) baseball right now. (Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter [son of Al Leiter for all the old guys like me who remember that name] are both projected to be drafted in the top 5 of the next MLB draft.) That being said, they (Vandy) will have to go 2-0 vs. NC State to get to the championship series.
ANNOUNCER RANT: So I keep hearing announcers saying things like, "The first game in a 3 game series is SO IMPORTANT because they win the series 77% of the time!" And I go..."so the teams are (about) evenly matched because math."
Most of these games are on ESPN/ESPN2, so have at it!
I'd like to see conference champs seeded above all the at-larges, or at least have the conference champs be guaranteed a home game (if they don't get a bye). We want the regular season to mean something, right?
Some of this is also the lack of parity in CFB--which has been heightened, not reduced by the current CFP format. There is no normalizing mechanism in CFB at all, like there is in the NFL (I'd argue that the draft is an inefficient normalizing mechanism, but it does exist). Right now we have:
And these three teams account for 27/42 = 64% of the CFP games...and 11/14 = 79% of the CFP championship game slots. So if I'm a 5 star who wants to play for a (no longer mythical) national championship, I've got 3 schools to choose from...
So if they want to change that, I agree that conference champs need to get in. If there are at large teams in the field, let's not stack the deck like they do in the NCAA Baseball tournament (Did you realize that 6/8 of the super-regional host sites are in the SEC?...5/8 if you don't want to count South Carolina since they aren't playing.) If there are some games at host sites, mandate that they be played at a conference champ's home field.
Also, while we are at it, let's not make all of the games at warm places. Can we get a NC game at Ford Field? (lord knows the Lions season will be done by then...) Or Yankee Stadium? Let the bowl games be about tourism (and football), but let's actually have some neutral sites...Wembley Stadium anyone?
It's that Russian education. They invented English, you know...
I'm down for some Notre Dame bashing, but this seems a tad off:
I mean, they won all of their games by double digits. Nobody else did that. Texas came close (winning games by 11, 7, and 10). Otherwise...nobody was even close.
Which position group would I choose to be elite? The weakest one...
I'm not sure it's QB, even in the NFL, especially given the nature of the salary cap and the fact that QBs are so goddamn expensive. There are exactly 2 SB wins shared by the top 10 paid QBs right now (Mahomes and Wentz), and neither of them won the SB while on a list of the top 10 paid QBs...
Only if you express his site revenue in boliviano...?
Uh, this feels like the university faculty/administration just doing their elitist thing. Bacon, while popular among the fanbase, doesn't have traditional items in his CV that most academics crave--according to his profile page, his title is Intermittent Lecturer in Educational Studies. Also, the fact that he doesn't have a PhD would disqualify him in the minds of some (admittedly arrogant) faculty from participation in such a high-profile committee.
This is a standing committee, not an ad-hoc panel. They advise the president on all issues related to university history, not just the (re)naming of athletic facilities. Everyone has a PhD and is (or was) tenured. Half of them have named titles. It is a valid criticism to say that faculty are often "living in ivory towers" rather than dealing with the reality. But educational elitism is real (and not limited to university faculty).
That being said, this committee has some optics issues.
Link to a story (Detroit News) about the baseball proposal.
I will point out that the Houston Astros play home games in July and August. Some of them are even day games. I think Omaha will be managable in July. And...I'll point out that, effectively, the stadium in Omaha is MLB quality. I'm thinking they probably have air conditioned clubhouses.
An additional thing that I think is helpful, is the schedule. Most schools are in session in February, but not in late May/early June. So moving games from February to that time period is better for the students academically because they will travel less.
About the only group that stands to lose are the summer baseball leagues for NCAA players.
I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not sure that there is a good example. (And, to make things even more complicated, I think it is fair to say that what is "good" to one person is not to another...see the disagreement between Brian and Ace as the genesis for this article.)
This might be where my comparison of institutions built to further institutionalize racist politics breaks down. There are many reasons that institutions may wish to decry racism, some of them out of genuine anti-racist motivations, while others could be more cynical. After all, state funding formulas being what they are, universities are incentivized to grow our enrollments, and, often, focus on lower-income populations. The fact that we are using this moment in history to remove racist figures/confederate statues can be viewed as a synergy between both of these altruistic and cynical viewpoints. For example, in North Carolina, Charles Aycock, Governor in the 1890s-1900s who ran on institutionalizing the "Grandfather Clause," is disappearing all over the state. And his statue in the Capitol's statuary hall is being replaced with Billy Graham's.
I struggle with Seth's, "put a plaque on it" idea. Going back to Rupp Arena for a second. I'm just not sure a plaque (or even a plaque near every entrance) stating something like, "Adolph Rupp was a well-known racist, as is easily seen by the fact that UK was one of the final teams in the SEC to integrate Black players," sends the same message as some hype video screaming WELCOME TO RUPP ARENA, HOME OF YOUR KENTUCKY WILDCATS! Nor do I think would changing the name to "(Racist) Rupp Arena" would be viewed favorably by UK donors. Not to mention, I doubt Calipari would like to recruit players, telling them that they get to defend a home court with "racist" anywhere in the title.
It's a hard thing to balance, and tribalism, I think, makes it all harder. I mean, should we revise Ufer's description of the Big House, "The hole that Yost dug, Crisler paid for, Canham carpeted, and Schembechler fills every cotton-pickin' Saturday afternoon..." to add "while looking the other way while a sexual predator abused his team." Does that inspire fandom as it was intended to? Maybe we should, maybe we shouldn't. But, not many (none?) of the names listed in that quote would bear modern scrutiny. Should we take them all down? Should we name our campus buildings after lakes in the state (goodness knows we have enough). Or should we acknowledge that all humans are both sinner and saint and choose to celebrate our iconic figures in spite of that duality?
I know I asked more questions than gave you answers. Maybe that's a good thing? Raising awareness and having these sorts of discussions is productive too.
Wrote the above before I heard the discussion about Yost in the podcast...