He needs the work.

Arkansas head coach John L. Smith discloses that he is preparing to declare bankruptcy, and may do so during the upcoming season.

And here’s some wishful thinking:  “Smith said the primary reason he’s talking now is so his personal financial problems don’t become a distraction during the season.”  Good luck with that, Coach.

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2008: The Year of Living Easily

Spurrier’s constant wanking over scheduling might be worthy of more respect if it weren’t so blatantly self-serving.  In other words, where was he in 2008?

2008- Alabama: The Crimson Tide opened with an overrated Clemson team, who would finish the year with six losses, while Tulane, Western Kentucky, and Arkansas State rounded out its non-conference slate…Faced just two ranked opponents – No. 13 Georgia and No. 14 Ole Miss…Like Kentucky two years later, eight of Alabama’s 12 regular-season opponents finished their respective regular seasons with non-winning records.

And speaking of 2008, don’t forget to compare Georgia’s and South Carolina’s schedules from that season.  That lack of balance inspired crickets from the OBC.

The point is that over time, this all comes out in the wash.  Spurrier’s problem is that at this time in his career he doesn’t have that luxury anymore, so he’s resorting to his next best option:  working the refs.

“I didn’t come to Maryland to cut sports.”

Sure.  It just worked out that way.

More than six months after Maryland revealed plans to eliminate eight athletic programsas a way to overcome a multimillion-dollar deficit, Athletic Director Kevin Anderson officially announced Monday that seven of those teams were unable to raise the necessary money for survival.

Men’s and women’s swimming; men’s tennis; women’s water polo; acrobatics and tumbling (formerly known as competitive cheer); and two men’s track programs, cross-country and indoor track and field, were eliminated. Those programs did not show enough progress toward raising eight years’ worth of total costs by June 30.

Anderson still maintains Maryland’s woes are part of a bigger picture of what’s plaguing D-1 athletics – “Anderson called football and men’s basketball ticket sales “very important” to the department’s revenue strategy, but he was quick to point out Maryland isn’t alone on this issue.” – but somebody needs to take a look in the mirror.

Maryland athletics faces such a dire financial situation largely because of declining revenue from its football and men’s basketball programs. After undertaking a $50.8 million expansion of Byrd Stadium in 2006, and accruing approximately $35 million in debt as a result, Maryland saw attendance at football games fall every year until this past season.

Meanwhile, Maryland men’s basketball watched its attendance drop by more than 1,700 fans per game this past season, the steepest decline among ACC schools.

Think the $2 million buyout paid to Friedgen and the $3 million just spent on a new football field wouldn’t come in handy right now?

Current pay for past play

The steady drip, drip, drip of the O’Bannon lawsuit continues.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins ruled June 15 in Alabama that within 30 days the SEC and SWAC must provide excerpts from football and men’s basketball TV and licensing contracts since 2002. Those excerpts are limited to mentions of publicity or image rights for athletes and must identify the parties and sports involved in the particular agreement.

Chris Hellums, a Birmingham attorney working for the players, said the plaintiffs believe the documents will show former and current SEC players possess the same lack of rights to their own images as those in other major conferences.

“That is a very important concept for the next major battle in the case, demonstrating that players and former players have enough in common so that it makes sense for the trial to occur on behalf of all players, not just a few individuals,” Hellums said via e-mail.

There’s so much data for the plaintiffs to absorb, the judge has moved the trial date back another year.  I can’t imagine the conferences are happy about the plaintiffs scouring through their financial arrangements; so the prospect that the information would be made public during the course of a trial must really set their teeth on edge.  At some point, you’d figure they’d try to settle just to keep that from happening.   With an estimated $4.5 billion a year in revenues, there should be enough green to spread around.

Let Freedom Explode!

The Fourth of July, a time to reflect on our great nation and the unfettered right to be stupid.

 

**sniff** Just like the Founding Fathers envisioned it.