Monday, January 30, 2012

Paying College Athletes

I just thought of something the other day that may be a stretch, but could it hold water for a short while?: The big conversation is about paying NCAA athletes and that the NCAA makes a ton of money off their athletes yet "all they get is a full ride scholarship."

What about this: Without the NCAA, what exposure would these athletes be getting? They are on TV every single weekend and talked about in every form of print media. Look at all the other levels of college sports. Division II, Division III, NAIA, Junior College, etc. What exposure do those levels get compared to the D-1 athletes? Nothing even close. Which in turn makes a big difference in their chances of making big money as a pro, let alone even getting recognition to have a shot at the next level.

Would some of these players be getting $100 million contracts if the NCAA wasn't as big as it is? What's easier for a pro scout? Seeing Andrew Luck every Saturday night on TV, or traveling 1000's of miles looking at a mid-major prospect?

Car of the Day Series

Great series you have going. Any possibility (without adding too much extra work) to throwing on a price tag to some of these sleds? I'm way out of touch on the expense of these 2000 lb. bullets.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

?

Would anyone be interested in getting league t-shirts for the 2012 fantasy football season? The idea occurred to me after poking around TeeFury.com, which sells limited run geek-oriented t-shirts. That doesn't actually help here, it was just an inspiration. Anyway, there's another website, Custom Ink, that let's you design your own t-shirts. Here's a quick example:


Or one more:


Something like that would run about $13 (shipped) for 12 shirts. I'm sure there are other places that offer similar services, this is just the first I found and it allowed me to find a ballpark price. Anyone interested?

UPDATE: One more, with custom art:

Car of the Day: Alfa Romeo Zagato TZ3 Stradale

Friday, January 27, 2012

Ouch

I'm going to have to throw a flag on Spartan AD Mark Hollis for unsportsmanlike conduct, illegal blow to the wallet after the announcement of season ticket price increases. Of course the University would claim the price of most season tickets aren't increasing, they're just adding a mandatory contribution to the Spartan Fund. I don't think my bank account will appreciate the distinction as my tickets are increasing 30%. Or maybe decreasing 100% if I abandon them completely, which seems more and more likely.

I also have to observe that it is pretty galling to read (in the email announcement to season ticket holders): "To reach our ultimate goals, it will take a championship effort from all of our stakeholders: our coaches, administration, alumni and fans." I don't seem to remember anyone apologizing for a less-than championship effort previously, not that this season was technically a "championship effort" either. I certainly resent the insinuation that anyone who doesn't pony up the cash is less than a true Spartan.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

9 Years, $214 Million

Prince Fielder is exchanging bratwurst for Little Caesar's Pizza, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick. You can buy a lot of pizza for $214 million.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

FF Top Scorers '11

Here are the top scorers from the fantasy football league. This will be updated weekly. * denotes current record holder for the year. All-time is based on '04 on, which I have records for. The scoring was changed for the '05 season to include points for receptions, and then in '07 to reduce points per yard for the QB. The highest team score in '04 was The Living Legend (Bader) with 206.95 pts. The highest team score from '05-'06 was Battletoads (Stack, '06) with 232.40 pts. See the '05 data here, the '06 data here, the '07 data here, the '08 data here, the '09 data here, and the '10 data here.

Week 1
Top Player: Tom Brady, 48.15 pts
Top Team: Show me ya TD's, 126.25 pts

Week 2
Top Player: Tom Brady, 39.45 pts
Top Team: Life is Good, 151.80 pts

Week 3
Top Player: Wes Welker, 38.80 pts
Top Team: Thunderstruck, 160.65 pts

Week 4
Top Player: Aaron Rodgers, 58.00 pts*
Top Team: Thunderstruck, 142.30 pts

Week 5
Top Player: Ben Roethlisberger, 39.40 pts
Top Team: Thunderstruck, 141.55 pts

Week 6
Top Player: Aaron Rodgers, 33.00 pts
Top Team: Cantthinkof one, 117.35 pts

Week 7
Top Player: Drew Brees, 46.25 pts
Top Team: Show me ya TD's, 151.05 pts

Week 8
Top Player: Cam Newton, 33.80 pts
Top Team: Thunderstruck, 142.05 pts

Week 9
Top Player: Aaron Rodgers, 41.55 pts
Top Team: Third and Long, 147.75 pts

Week 10
Top Player: Aaron Rodgers, 38.60 pts
Top Team: Show me ya TD's, 131.25 pts

Week 11
Top Player: Matthew Stafford, 42.95 pts
Top Team: Life is Good, 135.95 pts

Week 12
Top Player: Drew Brees, 48.95 pts
Top Team: Game Changers, 127.60 pts

Week 13
Top Player: Aaron Rodgers, 43.65 pts
Top Team: Third and Long, 169.40 pts*

Playoffs
Week 14
Top Player: Tony Romo, 40.05 pts
Top Team: Cantthinkof one, 152.65 pts

Week 15
Top Player: Drew Brees, 49.00 pts
Top Team: Cantthinkof one, 144.05 pts

Week 16
Top Player: Aaron Rodgers, 45.95 pts
Top Team: VICKtorious, 132.15 pts

Car of the Day: Lexus LF-LC


(Via Supercars.net.)

Upside Down

MSU football has beaten UM football four straight times. UM basketball has beaten MSU basketball three straight.

Monday, January 16, 2012

"Not one bit."

I'm in total agreement with Coach Izzo on Michigan: "Do I like them? Not one bit."

Car of the Day: Ford Fusion (2013)

?

Is anyone else really hoping for a 49ers-Ravens matchup in the Super Bowl?

Friday, January 13, 2012

?

Did anyone seriously think Denard Robinson wasn't going to return to Michigan? Sure, the guy has some real athletic ability, but he's never even managed to have stranglehold on the position in college. NFL secondaries would eat him alive. He can probably be an NFL player, but not an NFL QB.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Reflections on the College Football Season

-I didn't watch any of the national championship game. As far as I was concerned the season ended on Jan. 2 and I just couldn't bring myself to care about the game.

-I really noticed during bowl season that the sports media seemed to latch on to a narrative and ignored any inconvenient facts that did not match it. Andrew Luck didn't win the Heisman, a national championship, a conference championship, or his bowl game? Not worth mentioning, he's still the best QB ever! MSU (Big Ten) beat Georgia (SEC)? Well, that doesn't really count, I mean it was a 3OT game and since when is kicking really part of football anyway? Again, not worth mentioning, let's talk about how a mediocre Ohio State team got beat instead.

-Despite all the issues with college football, I've never become very disillusioned until this year:
1. The Penn State scandal. 'Nuff said.
2. The $ugar Bowl. Multiple deserving teams (not MSU) were passed over in favor of two teams that the organizers thought would make more money. I get that, but the BCS bowls are supposed to have a higher standard, or at least not be blatantly money-grubbing. The national championship selections through the BCS have been satisfactory to me, but this was rotten and really makes me question the entire system.
3. The polls. I wrote about this before and it bears repeating. The blatant bias a lack of seriousness evident in the polls is appalling, especially considering how important the polls are to the final results of the season. You might as well have fans do the official voting, at least there's enough of us that we'd cancel each other out.

-I think both MSU and UM could be better teams next year and do worse. Wisconsin though is screwed.

-I do think UM was ridiculously overrated, an opinion that, as far as I can tell, everyone who doesn't wear maize and blue or work in sports media seems to share.

-Boise State is going to be a nerve-wracking way for MSU to start the 2012 season.

Monday, January 09, 2012

My Favorite Phrase

I'll never forget that morning of my senior year in Mrs. Tuckey's government class. It was during our weekly mandatory reading of newspapers on a Monday morning (or that's just what we did every morning during lecture). Heath, who just got finished filling out college applications to Arizona State on a basketball scholarship, was reading an article where a fan told New York Knick Patrick Ewing "to do something anatomically impossible." I remember Heath audibly asking "what does anatomically impossible mean?" Stack pondered for a moment and said, "I've heard that before and I think it basically means 'go ______ ________.'" We all then paused and "Ohhhh yeahhhhh"-ed together.

I've always wanted to use that phrase. Well, today I got my chance. There was a 6th grade student in my PE class who was talking while I was. I paused and looked at the student for a long time and finally kindly/quietly asked him to sit over by the wall. It should be mentioned that this student is very, very highly emotional and doesn't know how to control himself. It is a problem he's apparently had for many school years and documented. He's been doing much better this year, but still has his moments. He's basically a normal, competitive kid, just can "blow up" at times.

He doesn't like to get into trouble, especially in front of classmates, so when I carefully asked him to sit by the wall, he started crying, got up, and ran out of the gym. However, as he was leaving the area, he was able to get off this blast: "GO SCREW YOURSELF!"

Thankfully I'm always on my toes and without hesitation, calmly responded with "That's anatomically impossible."

And yes, the class was quite amused.