The AAFL: recreating the total college football experience

This has the potential to be awesome:

… Also attending the event will be prospective AAFL head coaches Jackie Sherrill, Bill Bates, Jim Donnan, Bob Pruett. RC Slocum, formerly the coach of Texas A & M, has indicated that he is quite interested in coaching the League’s Texas team.

Jackie Sherrill? Jackie “if you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin'” Sherrill? How effective a coach can he be if everyone is paying the players?

I wonder if Donnan will be allowed to hire his son as the QB coach.

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Make room for Flutie.

ABC/ESPN does its seemingly annual broadcasting shuffle:

ABC

– Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, & Lisa Salters (primetime)
– Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire, & Bonnie Bernstein (top afternoon game)
– Ron Franklin, Ed Cunningham, & Jack Arute (Big XII)
– Dan Fouts, Tim Brant, & Todd Harris (West Coast)
– Terry Gannon, David Norrie, & Jeanine Edwards (select games)

ESPN

– Mike Patrick, Todd Blackledge, & Holly Rowe (ESPN Saturday Primetime)
– Chris Fowler, Doug Flutie, Craig James, & Erin Andrews (ESPN Thursday Primetime)
– Mark Jones, Bob Davie, & Stacey Dales (ESPN2 Saturday Primetime)
– Dave Pasch, Andre Ware, & Erin Andrews (ESPN Saturday Noon)
– Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman, & Rob Stone (ESPN Friday Primetime)
– Pam Ward, analyst, reporter TBD (ESPN2 Saturday Noon)
– Rece Davis, Mark May, Lou Holtz, & Todd Harris or Rob Stone (ESPN mid-week games)

ESPNU

– Clay Matvick & Kelly Stouffer (noon)
– Doug Bell & Charles Arbuckle (afternoon)
– Dave Armstrong & Mike Gottfried (primetime)
– Charlie Neal & Jay Walker (HBCU Thursday)
– Larry Coker as an analyst on select games

The whole concept of putting Paul Maguire on ABC’s prime afternoon game and relegating my man Ron Franklin to Big XII  telecasts, where I’ll rarely hear him, just ain’t right.

Speaking of Franklin, his ex-partner Mike Gottfried continues to sink deeper into the mirk.  I think the only level below ESPNU is The Ocho.

And it looks like none of the other kids want to play with Pam Ward.

ESPiNheads

As rants go, this one’s pretty much world class.  (h/t Losers With Socks)

It’s about time.

Georgia finally cracks into ESPN’s Top 100 college football moments of all time…

#40 is entitled “Great Scott”.

(courtesy UGA Sports Communications)

#36 is called “Walk To Remember”.

(courtesy UGA Sports Communications)

There’s a video clip of Walker’s run.  It’s really strange watching it without hearing Munson’s call.

By the way, it’s not a Dawg moment, but ESPN’s #27 is my favorite college football play of all time:   Rice’s Dicky Moegle being tackled by a guy coming off the ‘Bama sideline while he was running for what would have been a 95 yard touchdown run in the 1954 Cotton Bowl (the refs awarded him the TD, anyway).  There’s a video clip of this, too –  watch the Rice cheerleader finger the guilty party.

Maisel has done such a good job with this, it’s not worth quibbling about the selection order.  Take a few minutes and look at ’em.

Physician, heal thyself.

God bless The NCAA and Miles Brand.

From USA Today, December 7, 2006:

Compensation for college head coaches — especially the fast-escalating deals for football coaches — is becoming an increasingly significant issue for NCAA schools, association president Myles Brand said Monday.

During a session at the annual Street & Smith’s Intercollegiate Athletics Forum here, Brand and other panelists were asked what they thought would be the most important story to follow in the upcoming year.

…

“Coaches’ contracts,” said Brand, who added “agents have the upper hand” now and schools may need outside help negotiating these deals. Antitrust laws bar the NCAA from setting salary limits.

“The salaries take your breath away,” said Hartford President Walter Harrison, whose school does not have a varsity football team but plays Division I basketball. “We all want the best coach we can afford … but individual presidents have to start looking at all these costs and say, ‘Can we really afford this?'”

From today’s Indianapolis Star (h/t The Wizard of Odds):

NCAA president Myles Brand, whose organization has been scrutinized by Congress over the past year for its tax-exempt status, received compensation of more than $895,000 in 2005-06, according to public tax records released Wednesday.

University of Hartford president Walter Harrison, whose term as head of the NCAA’s executive committee ended in April, said Brand is doing a “spectacular job.”

 

“The job is incredibly challenging in a way most people wouldn’t recognize,” Harrison said. “Most people think of the major headlines — congressional inquiries, overseeing academic reform, the controversies of the day. But there are lots of other things, like how one keeps the peace among numerous constituencies. And, he’s running a $500 million organization.”

 

There is one public university president and eight private university presidents who make more than Brand, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

One little side item of note: The NCAA reported revenue of $549 million on the tax form, the vast majority of which comes from the Division I men’s basketball tournament. Just think what kind of raise would be in store for Brand if D-1 football’s postseason came under the auspices of the NCAA.

Mark Richt talks (and talks).

If you’ve wondered why so many folks hold David Ching’s blog in such esteem, get over there and check out this lengthy (8,700 words!) interview with Mark Richt.

Lots of juicy bits in there about Bulldogs past and present, along with the evolution of Richt’s decision to pass the OC reins to Bobo. But the main thing that comes across is how comfortable the man is in his own skin.

Quite a read, one that’s definitely worth your time. Ching is ‘da man.

Oh, Commissioner De-lay-neeee…

You’re an inspiration. The blogosphere/media weighs in some more on your new business venture:

• This guy is ready to pony up for the Big Ten Network. The bad news is he equates it to the Food Network. Bam!
• You’ve proven yourself sensitive to women’s issues, but at least one person thinks you’re coming up short on class issues.
• Tier, schmier – just help a brotha’ out. There’s someone out there who will settle for a direct feed to his apartment.

To add insult to injury, Trev Alberts (h/t Orange and Blue Hue) is dissing your football teams in comparison to the conference with the attribute that dare not speak its name:

… I’m only looking at the top of each conference and I think it’s pretty fair to say that the top of the SEC is dominant and would dominate the Big Ten. That’s not to say the Big Ten in certain games wouldn’t be able to get a win.

 

It’s pretty easy to find some sort of statistic you want to validate whatever it is you believe in. The reality is the SEC is a far superior conference than the Big Ten. It hasn’t been forever, but it’s especially been lately. And I think it’s only going to get worse. We’re just starting to scratch the surface of domination. [Emphasis added.]

Think about the SEC East: Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina…Hello?

You had me at hello.

But Saurian Sagacity has some news for Trev: that SEC superiority isn’t merely at the top and it’s not simply a recent development.

… The 2nd Tier SEC teams have a nearly 7% better winning percentage than 2nd Tier Big 10 teams in the past 10 years. If 7% doesn’t sound significant, realize that it equals about 1 more win per team over a 13 game season.

Similarly, the 3rd and Bottom Tiers of the Big 10 have inferior winning percentages to the SEC, with the 3rd Tier SEC teams having a 3% better winning percentage, and “Bottom Tier” teams having a 4% better percentage. However, the statistics for the “Bottom Tier” are skewed by the SEC having one more team (Vanderbilt) than the Big 10. If you look merely at the worst 2 Big 10 teams (Illinois and Indiana) against the 10th and 11th worst SEC teams (Mississippi State and Kentucky), you find that in the past 10 years Mississippi State and Kentucky have a 9% better winning percentage than Illinois and Indiana.

That’s right – the MSU Bulldogs and Kentucky Wildcats have a combined 22 more wins over the last decade than the Fighting Illini and Indiana Hoosiers.

Ouch.

All in all, it’s a pretty devastating attack, especially when Mergz can compare Ole Miss to Iowa with the Rebels coming off the better for it.

No wonder it’s important to get those volleyball games broadcast.

Um, no.

Granted, there’s likely to be a lot of competition in the next few weeks, but at present I’m inclined to give this article the nod as the dumbest preseason prediction piece going.

Dude, there’s nothing wrong with doing a little hatin’ on Southern Cal…

Southern Cal is without question the most Hollywood-stylish and marketable team in the NCAA. That’s why the national sports media establishment and big-time sponsors are completely star-struck with the Trojans to the point of obsession, and that’s the only real reason they’re getting handed the No. 1 spot.

… just don’t let it cloud your judgment. Notre Dame has the kind of marketability that USC can only dream of. Southern Cal is a consensus preseason #1 because it’s loaded with experienced talent.

That doesn’t mean that the Trojans are going to win the MNC this year. But you have to question the objectivity, or maybe the sanity, of anyone who asserts that “Boise State… most definitely deserve(s) to be ranked ahead of USC.”

Not the intelligence, though…

Political posturing: the saga of Big Ten TV continues.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think it’s ever a good thing when you come to the attention of any member of Congress who chairs a committee.

I do think I know what’s making Commissioner Delany so cranky lately, though – nobody can spell his name correctly.

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UPDATE: In the immortal words of Ray Goff, this just keeps getting “buttah and buttah”.

• Maybe the Big Ten’s mistake was picking the wrong partner.
• Delany and BTN’s president are spinning as fast as they can.

There goes the neighborhood.

How’d you like to have this next door?

(h/t AOL Fanhouse)

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UPDATE:  I had no idea this was part of a Home Depot promotion.  I wouldn’t want to live next door to that color scheme, either.  Who thinks up this stuff?