Saturday Afternoon Open Thread

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Blog Related
Posted on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 06:23:24 PM EST
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Open Thread+. I'm still not thinking much about politics. Besides the World Cup and a critical Game 5 in the NBA Finals, the most intriguing story in sports is conference re-alignment in college football.

The Big Ten started it all when its commissioner Jim Delaney declared that the Big Ten would expand last December. Why would the Big Ten expand? (Understand that this is all about money and nothing else. One of the funniest aspects of the story is all the talk about "academics" being a consideration. Yeah, right.) Two words - Notre Dame. The Big Ten has coveted Notre Dame forever and in fact, Notre Dame is a good fit for the Big Ten. And with its Big Ten TV network, the Big Ten now actually offers Notre Dame financial advantages (Once upon a time, Notre Dame's NBC deal was the envy of college football, not anymore. All Big Ten and SEC teams make more TV money than Notre Dame. Delaney wanted Notre Dame. But what he got was . . . Nebraska? Not seeing the money in that one. More . .

In theory, the Big Ten was also aiming at Texas. Texas is a great market and every conference would want it. But Texas has little brothers that you have to take care of - A&M and Texas Tech. The Texas legislature demands it. And Oklahoma goes with Texas too. The problem was the Big Ten has its own TV network and Texas wants to form its own. This conflict made Texas plus little brothers to the Big Ten always unlikely.

But the Big Ten persisted in trying to pressure Notre Dame. They had a willing partner in the pressure - Missouri. But it appears there were snags for Mizzou in the Big Ten (Illinois?) And then Tom Osborne, the Nebraska AD (and legend) had had enough of being pushed around by Texas. Nebraska started talking to the Big Ten.

Then all hell broke loose. The PAC 10 jumped into the fray. And made Texas a huge offer - we'll take all of your siblings and let you have your own TV network to boot. Texas sat upand started their moves.

Problem crops up - what to do with Baylor? The PAC 10 did not want Baylor but the Texas politicians wanted Baylor, a private Christian school in Waco, taken care of too. But there were only 6 slots to give- and they were already taken - Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado.

Texas thought - no problem - dump Colorado. Colorado said, oh no you don't, I'll sign my deal with the PAC 10 first. And they did that last Thursday. So, no Baylor.

Not complicated enough for you? Well, it turns out Texas A&M was not so keen on joining the PAC 10 and his been exploring joining the SEC instead. (Welcome back Baylor? Uh no, I'm thinking the PAC 10 is thinking.)

Still not complicated enough for you? What about Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri? Left out in the cold? Kansas is a hallowed name in college basketball, but college basketball is not a cash cow (though Final Four appearance are nice money.) Kansas State is attractive only in the sense that Kansas pols would want them to go with Kansas. But no conference really wants even Kansas.

Missouri is an interesting story. Remember how they figured in the beginning of this tale of avarice? Their interest in the Big Ten. Well, Missouri is not particularly attractive either. St. Louis and Kansas City are nice TV markets, but these are not college football hotbeds. So where can Missouri land? I do not know.

To complete my review of these developments, the least controversial part of this story is that Boise State is going to the Mountain West conference, improving the likelihood that the MWC will get an automatic BCS bid. IF there is still a BCS after all this.

Which may be the most interesting development of all. All of the naked greed exhibited by everyone in this story really puts the lie to all the objections regarding a college football playoff system. Because all of these realignments make a mockery of the concern about missing class time, tradition, bowl games and all the rest. Now they admit it - it is about money.

And the one thing we know is that the one sure fire way for college football to increase its revenues to the tune of at least $500 million is by instituting a playoff.

It's time. Long time.

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Saturday Afternoon Open Thread | 32 comments (32 topical)

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And congrats to Red Sox rookie (5.00 / 2) (#2)
by caseyOR on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 06:45:01 PM EST

Daniel Nava. Today was his first day in the big leagues. In his very first at-bat, Nava hit a grand slam HR.

I am not generally a Boston fan, despite a soft spot for Ellsbury, but way to go, Nava.

How great! (5.00 / 1) (#11)
by ruffian on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 08:47:25 PM EST

We may never hear his name again, but he will be in the record books. That's what I love about baseball. He gets his 'best day ever'.

As a fellow Cubs fan I guess we appreciate the little things!


One less little thing for us (none / 0) (#13)
by caseyOR on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 08:53:29 PM EST

to appreciate came about today when Carlos Silva's perfect pitching year went by the wayside. The Cubs lost to those Southside boys, the White Sox. : (


: There's a team on the south side? (none / 0) (#15)
by ruffian on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 08:54:33 PM EST

As a native of Holyoke MA, and a 10 year boston (5.00 / 1) (#27)
by seabos84 on Sun Jun 13, 2010 at 09:26:05 AM EST

resident, and ... oh, my retired school teacher grand mother who'd have EVERY thing in the house turned off to save money, except the red sox on the radio -

YEAH Nava!

I've been in Seattle for 20 years, and the Red Sox band wagon yahoos are getting as bad as the Yankee band wagon yahoos - neither 1 knows that the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are on different parts of the EARTH, nevermind where the hell boston is, or new york is, in relation to the west coast.

In hte good old days, when the red sox were in town against the mariners, and you went to a game, and you asked someone wearing a "B" hat where they were from back east, they didn't tell you Bellevue or Redmond. yuck.

rmm.


Actually, it wasn't only his first ML at-bat (5.00 / 1) (#29)
by scribe on Sun Jun 13, 2010 at 11:48:30 AM EST

but also the first major league pitch he'd ever seen.

Wish him well....


There's a great backstory too (5.00 / 1) (#30)
by rdandrea on Sun Jun 13, 2010 at 02:30:57 PM EST

He didn't make the team in college. Too small. Was the equipment manager. Transferred to Junior College to play, grew a bit, transferred back to college on scholarship. Went undrafted by the pros, signed himself up in the Independent Golden Baseball League, was cut, called back.

Sox signed him for $1.

Story here.

This kid wanted to play ball.


: Another generation's David Eckstein. (none / 0) (#31)
by oculus on Sun Jun 13, 2010 at 07:06:45 PM EST

: yea (none / 0) (#32)
by CST on Mon Jun 14, 2010 at 08:50:24 AM EST

this wasn't some rookie phenom everyone expected to make it big. This was his one chance in the big leagues and he blew it out of the park. Awesome.

Not a Boston fan either (none / 0) (#3)
by nycstray on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 07:15:54 PM EST

but props where props are due ;) And his parents were there.


Agree (none / 0) (#5)
by Zorba on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 07:23:25 PM EST

I'm a life-long St. Louis Cardinals fan, but I have some fondness for the Red Sox, since Mr. Zorba and I went to grad school in Boston, and so did our daughter. As you said, props where props are due. And this has only (now) happened four times in baseball history.


Ah Zorba (5.00 / 0) (#18)
by Maryb2004 on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 09:07:47 PM EST

the jealousy of the misguided cubs fans is amusing isn't it?

I have a misguided sister who moved to Chicago and became a Cubs fan. Poor thing. ;)

Now, back to this horrible AZ/Cards game. This west coast trip has been a killer.


: LOL! (none / 0) (#19)
by Zorba on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 09:17:17 PM EST

Very true, Mary. I feel sorry for your sister. (And I have relatives in Chicago, whom I love dearly, but we don't talk about baseball.)

: I'll admit to bitter (none / 0) (#20)
by ruffian on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 09:50:51 PM EST

Jealous? Not really.

Down with the Cards (none / 0) (#7)
by caseyOR on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 08:23:02 PM EST

says this lifelong Cubs fan.

I still remember walking into taverns in my central Illinois hometown and seeing on one wall a picture frame with "CUBS" spelled out in pennies. On the opposite wall was another frame, this one with "CARDS" spelled out in pennies. The rivalry was bred into me.


Booooo Cubs! (5.00 / 1) (#8)
by Zorba on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 08:35:32 PM EST

Sorry, Casey, I'm sure you're a perfectly fine human being, but the Cubs suck! ;-)


: HEY (none / 0) (#9)
by Jen M on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 08:41:22 PM EST

don't diss the Cubbies!
Ok, so they suck, big deal.
We may be the only fans that go "wait till next year" in April but we aren't like the Braves fans that pack the stadium after a win and leave the place half empty after a few losses.

: Don't want to highjack (none / 0) (#10)
by caseyOR on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 08:45:55 PM EST

the thread, but, seriously, Cards Suck!
This is not meant as a personal comment about you, Zorba. I'm sure that you, too, are a perfectly fine human being, albeit, one with seriously misplaced baseball loyalties. : )

My misguided brother (none / 0) (#12)
by ruffian on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 08:51:05 PM EST

married a Cardinals fan. Did not last long, but he got the last word- their daughter grew up to be a beautiful true blue Cubs fan and lives near Wrigley.


My father's second wife was (none / 0) (#16)
by caseyOR on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 08:58:06 PM EST

a huge Cards' fan. In the interest of matrimonial harmony he switched his colors from Cubbies' blue to Cardinals' red very quickly. Not that we needed it, but during my late teen years that switch gave us one more thing to argue about.


: Wow, that surely would have done it (none / 0) (#17)
by ruffian on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 09:00:56 PM EST

for us kids too. Especially after all the moaning about the Lou Brock deal we endured as small children!

BCS death spiral (none / 0) (#1)
by caseyOR on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 06:41:20 PM EST

And it cannot happen soon enough. By adding Texas and all its sibs, the Pac-10 divides into sub-conferences. And that makes a conference championship necessary. So, if the Pac-10 has a champ, and the Big-10 has a champ, and the SEC has a champ, and the Mountain West has a champ, and whoever else has a champ, well, national championship game here we come.

Larry Scott, the Pac-10's new president, was hired to jack up the athletic $$$$, and get a better TV contract. He is, it appears, good at his job.

Academics taking a back seat to major athletics? Nothing new. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

About F'ing time (none / 0) (#4)
by nycstray on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 07:18:32 PM EST

BP told to get their a** in gear and move quicker on the spill containment/cleanup. 48 hrs . . . . let's see what they do . . . .

I'm kind of hoping... (none / 0) (#6)
by Jerrymcl89 on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 08:02:11 PM EST

... that the Big East survives the feeding frenzy. Not that it's a great football conference, but if Syracuse and/or Pitt leaves it would greatly reduce the basketball conference. If the Big Ten wants Rutgers to get into the New York TV market, that would be another story.

great breakdown BTD (none / 0) (#14)
by ruffian on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 08:53:52 PM EST

Very helpful!

I think it's time to drop the pretense about academics, and let the NFL finance the colleges as their farm system.

Nice write up (none / 0) (#21)
by Makarov on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 10:41:33 PM EST

One thing I don't understand is why the Big 10 would be so enamored with Notre Dame today. Fifteen years ago, sure. Today each Big 10 school earns more annually on just their Big Ten Network (BTN) revenue share than ND does with NBC. Those teams also earn additional revenue when ESPN/ABC picks up their game. Schools also see some additional revenue from basketball.

BTN has a nationwide footprint now. It's in the basic digital tier of most cable subscribers, and it earns the conference just under $1 per subscriber per month.

There is no nationwide demand for a Texas College Sports Channel, as much as people in Austin would like to believe otherwise. To me, that's why I think UT was crazy to not jump at the chance to join the Big 10. It would help the BTN a little with ratings but it would help UT more. UT would be free to schedule A&M and any other team it wishes on the out of conference portion of its schedule. Would anyone care if they dropped them? Ask Nittany Lion fans how much we miss Syracuse and Pitt. Within a few years, the new arch rivals were OSU and Mich (and Iowa after the last two seasons). Fans get over it.

There are also academic benefits in terms of joint research projects and grants as well, I've been told. Of course, these are secondary considerations for college administrators today.

Back to ND. They renewed their contract with NBC 2 years ago through 2015. It's smaller than the early days (instead of all games, it's the home games and 1 away), but it's still there. Unless there's an escape clause in the contract for the university, and I doubt there is, now is not the best time to add ND to the Big 10.

on the academics and research front (none / 0) (#23)
by Makarov on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 10:54:03 PM EST

there's this:

In the Big Ten, the Longhorns would, for the first time, be in a conference with all like-minded academic institutions.
And they would have the benefit of [b]the Big Ten's Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), which claims to receive 12 percent of all federal research funds for its members, totaling $3.5 billion in 2006-07[/b].
That relationship, for example, has helped [b]Penn State soar past Texas in research money[/b] -- a $200 million lead -- since joining the Big Ten two decades ago, according to The Sporting News.

Like I said, UT is crazy to not join the Big 10.


: link (none / 0) (#24)
by Makarov on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 10:54:41 PM EST

link to above -
http://www.ydr.com/ci_15284943

Also, great post (none / 0) (#22)
by Makarov on Sat Jun 12, 2010 at 10:48:07 PM EST

about the PAC 10 expansion here:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/405083-conference-expansion-was-a-trojan-horse

It's not about expanding the conference, it's about diverting attention from the fact USC is banned from bowl play for 2 years.

This is a more intriguing tale than (none / 0) (#25)
by oculus on Sun Jun 13, 2010 at 12:17:48 AM EST

Polanski and Van der Sloot combined.

Showing the class (none / 0) (#26)
by NYShooter on Sun Jun 13, 2010 at 01:19:41 AM EST

we Yankee fans are famous for, a Bronx cheer & heartfelt congrats to Daniel Nava.

And if Past is Prologue may he go 0 for 90 forthwith.

lol

Congrats to UF (none / 0) (#28)
by john horse on Sun Jun 13, 2010 at 10:25:19 AM EST

on going to the College World Series. They were good but they were also lucky in that game with Miami.

-an FSU fan