the tindog coffeehouse

According to this infographic, it’s a foregone conclusion that Germany will win the World Cup. Which is fine by me as long as I never have to hear another blasted vuvuzela for the rest of my life.

Source.

A couple of years ago, I commented on a great cover story in Texas Monthly about the big business of the University of Texas Athletics. Since then, it seems, that business has only gotten bigger.

According to figures from the U.S. Department of Education’s Equity in Athletics, UT’s football program isn’t just the largest grossing team in the country (at $87.5 million), it’s also the most profitable (at $65 million). To put that in perspective, that’s $20 million more in gross earnings than the No. 2 entry on the list, Ohio State ($68.19 million gross), and the No. 2 most profitable school, the University of Georgia ($45.38 million net).

The next most profitable Big 12 school was Nebraska at No. 8 ($37.29 million), which of course won’t be a Big 12 school much longer. Texas A&M comes in at No. 14 netting only a third of what their intrastate rival does ($22.29 million), OU at No. 15 ($21.84 million), and Texas Tech at a wimpy No. 33 ($9.62 million).

Just something to keep in mind the next time the UT Board of Regents wants to raise tuition.

Previously:
Longhorns Inc.

Good news, people of Waco. Baylor’s not screwed after all!

In what can only be explained as a miracle (by football-loving Baptists, at least), the Big 12 has been saved from destruction, with the ten remaining members swearing allegiance to Dan Beebe and the unnamed sports network (*cough*FoxSports*cough*) that bribed them to stay.

Who would’ve guessed that at the end of the day all of this realignment mess was really just about money? Huh.

So for now, there are no 16-team superconferences. No realignmentpocalypse. No ripping of the very fabric of the time-space continuum. Heck, not even a single punch thrown (unless you count Vince Young’s pummeling of an irate OU fan outside a Dallas strip club). In fact, Big 12 ADs would be singing “Kum Ba Yah” right now if it weren’t for the fact that they were too busy counting their enormous stacks of cash.

Where, then, does that leave us?

Big 12.

Appreciate the irony for a moment that the Big Ten now has 12 teams while the Big 12 now has ten. I wonder if they’ll trade names. Probably not, but anyway…

The biggest winner by far out of this whole deal is the University of Texas. UT, OU, and A&M get more money than the other seven teams, plus UT gets the opportunity to create their own network, which has been their end-game all along. And now that the Big 12 Championship game is no longer, UT benefits even more. Other winners include Baylor and what’s left of the Big 12 North, who would’ve been kicked to the street if the Big 12 had imploded.

But the losers? Us, the fans. Seriously, if you’re a UT fan, how can you be happy that an already weak Big 12 has become exponentially weaker. I mean, how many times can you watch UT or OU beat the crap out of Kansas and Iowa State before you change the channel? At least with the Pac-16 arrangement, there was the possibility of Texas playing some tougher teams. Now, Texas and OU are virtually guaranteed at least 10 wins every season, even with mediocre players.

Pac-10.

The only Big 12 team that the Pac-10 managed to snag was Colorado, an accomplishment that commissioner Larry Scott should probably leave off his résumé. Sure, they get the Denver TV market, but what they don’t realize is that people in Denver care way more about the Broncos and shoveling their driveways than they do about college sports. (Meanwhile, for their jumping the gun and bolting to the Pac-10, Colorado will have to pay between $6 and $8 million to the Big 12, money that they don’t have to spend right now.) There’s also the possibility that the Pac-10 could get Utah away from the Mountain West. If they do, good for them. But with USC crippled by NCAA penalties, it’s gonna take more than a decent Utah team to salvage this mess of a conference.

Mountain West.

The Mountain West picked up Boise State, but if Utah heads to the Pac-10, they’re back to square one. Still, that’s not a bad place to be. Even without Utah, the MWC is on a path to BCS automatic qualification and is certainly gaining national recognition. They’ll be fine, regardless of what happens with the Utes.

Big Ten.

All this expansion nonsense started with the Big Ten, but after all the dust settles, their only net gain will be Nebraska. They now have enough teams to have a conference championship game, but little else changes. Oh, except now the other members have to share TV revenue with one more team. Boy, for a conference that prides themselves on academics, they sure don’t understand math very well.

SEC.

There was a lot of talk that the SEC would invite Texas A&M, but nobody could ever explain what the Aggies brought to the table. Instead, they’ll stick with the teams they have now, which is the smartest decision to come out of this entire process. The SEC is the most dominant conference in the nation, both in athletic success and TV deals. They don’t need to expand, and they knew that all along.

So there you have it. After months of rumors and speculation, theories about how the entire face of college sports was about to change overnight, the end result was a total of only 3 or 4 teams changing hands. That’s not to say there won’t be more changes next year, but for now, the status quo has largely been maintained.

Only with more money.

Previously:
Speculating on conference expansion rumors
Longhorns Inc.

I’ve largely stayed away from all the various NCAA conference expansion and/or realignment rumors floating around the interwebs the last few months because, well, they’re just rumors. One day you hear the Big Ten is going to steal the University of Texas away from the Big 12, the next you hear Texas is going to the SEC. One day the Big 12 is imploding, the next it’s expanding. Publicly, athletic directors declare their undying love for their conferences, but then they’re supposedly working vigorously in the shadows to broker a million other deals. And all the while, state legislators are trying to influence the process for their own particular benefit.

Is this college sports or As The World Turns?

The latest rumors have the Pac-10 asking Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, OU, Oklahoma State, and Colorado to be their new BFFs, thus elevating the Pac-10 to a 16-team superconference and completely decimating the Big 12. That would leave Baylor out in the cold, a result that doesn’t sit well with Waco’s state senator, David Sibley, who is apparently now fighting to have the Bears superglued to the other Texas teams. Meanwhile, the Big Ten, which has been rumored to be courting everyone from Texas to Nebraska to the North Dakota School for the Deaf, is supposedly focusing its efforts on Notre Dame. And Boise State, which was a lock for the Mountain West, is putting its plans on hold to see how everything else shakes out.

And of course, everything in the previous paragraph will be null and void by the time you finish reading this post.

Personally, I’m fine with the UT et. al heading to the Pac-10. I would prefer that to them going to the Big Ten or SEC; I just think it’s a better fit. What I would hate to see is Texas and A&M separated from Tech and OU. Those rivalries are just too good to relegate to non-conference status.

If the Pac-10 does expand to 16 (plus-or-minus Baylor or Colorado), the Big Ten and SEC would almost certainly follow suit, probably gobbling up Nebraska and/or Missouri or other Big East or ACC teams. The result would be three superconferences plus a handful of wannabes. Can you imagine how much griping about the BCS there’d be at that point? Yikes!

As far as Baylor is concerned, though, as I tweeted yesterday, I think they’d be better off in the Mountain West, where they’d face their old Southwest Conference rival TCU every year in addition to Utah and Air Force. Strictly looking at football (which is where all the money is, and let’s face it, that’s what’s driving all of this), the Bears have a much better chance at success in the Mountain West than they do anywhere else. They’ll never win a Big 12 championship, and they would certainly never have a chance in the Pac-16. Which is why I wish Sibley and his buddies in Austin would stay out of it. It was Austin politics that got Baylor into the Big 12 instead of TCU 16 years ago; we don’t need to repeat that same mistake this time around. (And understand, I’m not bashing Baylor. I like Baylor a lot, which is why I want to see them be successful.)

One thing’s for certain, though. Change is coming in college sports. With so much money at stake, it’s undeniable. It may be a complete shake-up, or it could just affect a handful of teams, but something is eventually gonna give. I just hope fans don’t get lost in the process.

Update, June 9:
Orangebloods.com is now reporting that Nebraska has unofficially accepted the invitation to the Big Ten, which pretty much guarantees the Big 12 South teams will bolt to the Pac-10. And yes, that will include Baylor and not Colorado. If UT has any say over the matter — and they absolutely do — there’s no way they would choose the Buffaloes over the Bears. First, Waco is just up the road from Austin (and conveniently directly between Austin and the Red River Rivalry game in Dallas). Second, there is a huge amount of history and tradition between the two SWC schools, something both Mack Brown and Darrell Royal highly value. And third, there’s always the political factor, which shouldn’t be ignored.

Of course, there’s always a chance UT could decide to keep the Big 12 intact, gambling on its attempt to form its own TV network. But I don’t think that’s gonna happen. There’s no loyalty in Texas (both the school and the state) to the Big 12 North, so there’s little incentive in Austin to keep this sinking ship afloat.

So where does that leave the other five Big 12 North teams? The most logical choice for Colorado would be the Mountain West, and probably for Kansas and K-State as well. If the MWC goes through with their plans to add Boise State, that would go a long way toward acceptance as an automatic qualifier for the BCS. Plus, Kansas and K-State both bring a lot to the table in basketball, so that would be a huge win for the MWC.

As for Missouri and Iowa State, they’re probably out of luck, at least in the short run. The Big Ten doesn’t seem interested in Mizzou any more, instead focusing on Notre Dame and then probably looking east to Rutgers and maybe Pitt. I suppose one or both teams could go to the Mountain West or Big East, but that’s probably the best case scenario.

Then that leaves the SEC. So far, they haven’t shown much interest in expanding, and really, they have no reason to from a financial standpoint. But with a 16-team Pac-10 and an expanding Big Ten, I think they’re gonna be forced to keep up whether they want to or not, at which point they’ll probably target teams such as Miami and Virginia Tech in the ACC.

It’ll most likely take a few years for all the dominoes to fall, but the momentum is definitely picking up!

Previously:
More March Madness is, well, madness
Legislating a playoff system isn’t the answer
The BCS: ‘Communistic’ or not?

Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow was known for printing Bible verses on his eye black before each game, but now such messages have been banned by the NCAA. Philadelphia Daily News writer Tom Mahon puts the ridiculous new rule in perspective:

Guess there’s no place for religion in college football but plenty of room for those orange Gatorade containers, and all those jerseys featuring the Nike swoosh.

Previously:
We need more Tebows, McCoys, and Bradfords

Sports columnist Ray Melick predicts that if the NCAA goes through with its plans to expand its men’s basketball tournament from 65 teams to 96, that within a couple of years, it’ll expand again to 128:

My guess is the only reason NCAA officials limited their current thinking to adding just 31 teams was to fit every­thing into the current CBS broadcast window. No sense walking away from $2 billion in today’s economy until you’re absolutely sure some­one is going to give you more. …

If ESPN bought the rights to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, and decided it could afford to go head-to-head with The Masters — par­ticularly since the final week­end’s games would avoid going up against Sunday’s fi­nal round — instead of adding one more day of tournament basketball, it could add an en­tire weekend’s worth of pro­gramming and commercials.

I have no doubt in my mind that Melick is right. If there’s more money to be made by doubling the size of the current tournament, then that’s what they’ll do, regardless of fans’ objections or what impact it would have on regular season games (not to mention the grades of the players, almost none of whom will ever play in the NBA).

But why stop at 128? If Melick is right and history has proven that the tournament will keep expanding and expanding, then why not just do away with the regular season altogether? I mean, if it’s already pretty much worthless with 65 teams, how much more irrelevant will it be at 96 or 128?

So here’s my suggestion: Make the entire season one gigantic tournament that includes every college in America. Colleges that currently don’t have a basketball team will be required by law to start one. (Not unreasonable considering how big of a basketball fan President Obama is.) According to one source I found, there are 2364 four-year colleges in the U.S., which doesn’t fit well into a 4-region bracket, so we’ll throw in most junior colleges, online universities, automotive schools, and a few culinary programs until we get to 4096.

At that number, there would be a total of 4094 games played through 11 rounds until you end up with the 2 remaining teams that would face off for the championship. If the tournament kicks off in mid-November when the regular season normally does and runs through the end of March, that’s about 136 days. We’ll throw out a few days for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years and round it off at 130, meaning on average there will be 31.5 games running every day of the week for four and a half months straight: a veritable goldmine for any network willing to pay for the rights to broadcast it.

Meanwhile, players would only play a maximum of 12 games per season, leaving them plenty of time to go to class, study for finals, and enter the NBA Draft.

But perhaps the greatest benefit of such a move would be that finally — FINALLY! — the NCAA would be satisfied that it had expanded enough.

That is, until it adds a bunch of high schools to the mix and grows again to 8192.

Previously:
More March Madness is, well, madness

Kansas, you’re dead to me.

After picking you to win the National Championship, what did you do? You went out and lost to Northern Iowa, a school that I’m pretty sure is fictional since no one has ever heard of it.

Also gone is No. 2 Villanova, who lost to tenth-seeded St. Mary’s. That’s also pretty embarrassing, but at least no one expected Nova to win the South region. Besides, with two small Catholic schools playing each other, it’s just clear that God liked St. Mary’s better. (Although the word on the street is that the Pope had Nova by 10.)

I’m still sticking with K-State to make it to the Final Four, and my other 2 picks, Kentucky and Duke, are still safe. As for the Midwest, it’s definitely living up to its nickname, “The Group of Death”. I would say at this point that Ohio State looks like it has the best shot at winning the region, but you never know. At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Issaquah School of Interior Design won the whole thing!

Previously:
March Madness: First-round results
March Madness 2010: My picks

It’s only the end of first round of the NCAA tournament, and my bracket is already pretty bruised. Out of the 32 first-round games, I missed 9, giving me a percentage of 72%. Ouch.

Biggest upset: Murray State’s win over Vanderbilt, who I’d picked to make it to the Final Four. Seriously, did anyone in America pick No. 13 Murray State to pick off No. 4 Vandy? No, of course not! Not even the mother of the Murray State coach. Other big upsets: No. 14 Ohio over No. 3 Georgetown, No. 12 Cornell over No. 5 Temple, and No. 11 Old Dominion over No. 6 Notre Dame.

Upsets I actually got right: No. 11 Washington beating No. 6 Marquette and No. 9 Northern Iowa beating No. 8 UNLV.

Closest call: No. 2 Villanova’s 3-point overtime victory over No. 15 Robert Morris. Others: BYU’s double-overtime win vs. Florida, Tennessee’s 3-point win vs. San Diego State, and Michigan State’s 3-point win vs. New Mexico State.

Not even close: Kentucky’s beatdown of East Tennessee State, 100-71.

Biggest disappointment: The Longhorns’ 1-point loss in overtime to Wake Forest. Not that Texas would’ve made it past Kentucky, but it would’ve been nice to win at least one game. It was, though, a fitting end to what has been a miserable season. As one sports commentator put it, “From No. 1 to one-and-done.”

Prognostications: No. 1 seeds Kentucky, Kansas, and Duke looked pretty solid, but Syracuse was a little shaky. As a result, I’m thinking Kansas State may be the Final Four choice for the West region. And if Villanova makes it to the Elite Eight, I’ll be shocked.

Alright, bring on Round 2!

Previously:
March Madness 2010: My picks

Last year, I posted my picks to win the NCAA men’s tournament while admittedly not knowing enough about the teams to make even a reasonable guess. And of course, I completely blew it. (Thank you, Pitt.)

But I’m trying again this year, a little more educated and a lot more hopeful. OK, so I really don’t know how hopeful I am, but who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky.

Breaking it down by region:

Midwest. aka “The Group of Death.” The Midwest is tricky because there are a lot of wildcards, teams that are probably seeded too high (Ohio State), and others that are probably too low (Tennessee). I think the Buckeyes will make it past Oklahoma State, but the Vols will knock them off to make it to the Elite Eight. No. 1 Kansas should survive, though, and win the region.

East. As a huge Texas fan, I would love to pick the Horns here, but they’ve completely blown it this season. And a result, they have a horrible spot on the bracket. They can probably make it past Wake Forest, but they won’t survive Kentucky. As for most of the rest of the region, there will probably be a few upsets, but it’s still going to come down between the Wildcats and West Virginia. Look for Kentucky to go to the Final Four.

West. The West seems like a weird region to me, chock full of great teams, any of which could be spoilers but none of which strike me as national champions. Pitt let me down last year, and though they should make it to the Elite Eight, I’m not confident they can go any further. I’m calling an upset of No. 1 seed Syracuse by Vanderbilt, who’ll go on to win the region and make it the Final Four.

South. I’m really rooting for Baylor, and I think they can hold their own for a couple of games. But I think Villanova will probably beat them to face Duke in the Elite Eight. But I’m gonna have to play it safe and pick Duke to win the region.

Final Four. Will three of the four top-seeded teams make it to the Final Four? Yeah, that’s me hedging my bets to some degree. Last year, I predicted some bigger upsets and got burned pretty bad. The Jayhawks will beat Vandy, and Kentucky will hold out to beat Duke.

Championship. I’m not really a Kansas fan, but they’ve been one of the most consistent and dominant teams in college basketball all year. And even if I get my other Final Four picks wrong, I still think the Jayhawks can and will win the national title.

Here is my full bracket. Click to enlarge.

Previously:
March Madness: My picks
More March Madness is, well, madness

If the Winter Olympics were run more like the BCS…

The United States, Germany, Norway, Canada and Russia will be allowed in.

But not Belarus, Kazakhstan or Liechtenstein. They’ll have to compete in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Olympics.

Unless, of course, a couple of them are unbeaten. Then they’ll play one another in the Fiesta Bowl.

I love the Winter Olympics, which may seem odd for a native Texan who’s only been snow skiing once in his life (and by “skiing”, I mean awkwardly falling down down the bunny slope while trying not to break anything).

And now (as if the games weren’t already interesting enough), Popular Mechanics has a breakdown of the physics behind several Olympic events, including:

• Alpine skiing – “Alpine skiers’ knees sustain about 110 ft-lb of lateral torque during turns and nearly 300 pounds of total force at the joint—almost as much torque as can be found in the engines of a ski resort’s snow-removal trucks.”
• Hockey – “When a player blasts a slap shot 30 feet from the net with 125 pounds of force, the goalie has less than 200 milliseconds to react to the flying 3-inch-wide, 1-inch-thick puck.”
• Figure skating – “A 45-degree jump gives skaters 0.55 seconds of air time—enough to complete all but the devilish triple axel, which requires 0.65 to 0.75 seconds and a spin rate of 420 rpm—the engine-idling speed of some cars.”
• Ski jumping – “Laminated foam ski jumpsuits are one of the sports world’s most tightly regulated pieces of equipment. The reason: Even small tweaks to surface area can add lots of lift. ‘People were tinkering with the suits and flying like bats,’ says Troy Flanagan of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. So the International Ski Federation standardized the gear. Suits can now be no more than 5 mm thick; the underwear, 3 mm. And, since airtight suits function as sails, the rules require materials that allow 40 liters of air per square meter to flow through them per second.”

Update, Feb. 13:
Like so many others around the world, I was shocked and saddened to hear last night about the tragic death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. While my original blog post was meant in jest, obviously the danger is very real for many of these atheletes, and consequently I have decided to amend the post out of respect. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and with the rest of the Georgian Olympic team during what is undoubtedly a difficult time.

Previously:
The reasons behind all the Olympic swimming records

While college football fans may be begging for a playoff system, they should probably be careful what they ask for. At least if the NCAA basketball tournament is any indication. If the NCAA and coaches get their way, the current 65-team March Madness tournament could expand to as many as 96 teams, adding up to a mind-boggling 31 extra games to the schedule. (And you thought filling out your bracket was tough before!)

BCS proponents argue that in basketball, the already-bloated playoff system makes the regular season irrelevant, and if that’s true, then a 96-team playoff would make it even more so. That alone should be reason enough not to fatten the tournament any more than it is.  But Andrea Adelson of the Orlando Sentinel points out another reason, one that would drastically affect college football as well:

One more point to consider in this story. If the tournament does expand to 96 teams, this could pave the way for superconference expansion. The idea of superconferences has been batted around for quite some time, and gained steam again when the Big Ten said it is considering expanding and could add more than one team. With more teams being allowed into the NCAA tournament, all conferences would have the green light to expand. Why? Because they wouldn’t have to worry about their teams beating up on each other and missing March Madness. Even the middle-of-the-pack teams would get in.

What would that mean to college football? It would essentially give even greater power to the traditional conferences and schools. All the non-BCS conferences, including the Mountain West and WAC, would become irrelevant because its good teams would be poached. The more powerful conferences would raid the not-so-powerful conferences. TV deals would explode, giving more cash to many programs that are already rolling in it. In essence, the face of college football would be totally changed.

To say this is all about money is of course just stating the obvious. And of course, just like with the BCS, the fans are on the losing end of the deal. March Madness is big enough already, probably even too big considering how lopsided many of the first-round games usually are. The last thing we need is to make it bigger, especially if it threatens non-BCS conferences such as the Mountain West.

Previously:
Legislating a playoff system isn’t the answer