Blessed peace

Things will be looking up this fall when I watch college football, it seems.

BREAKING: Jim Connor, who spent the past several years playing football fanatic Larry Culpepper in Dr. Pepper commercials, has told me that the company will not feature Culpepper in commercials going forward. Connor says the decision “Rocked my world” and was “An incredible gig.” pic.twitter.com/an0DJBKO0w

— Adam Carriker (@AdamCarriker94) May 21, 2018

Now if they would just get that “dilly, dilly” crap off the air…

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Had to make sure

This one boggles my mind.

Ousted KU AD Sheahon Zenger hired Charlie Weis … and then spent another 6+ years on the job https://t.co/swwgIjwTVh

— Paul Myerberg (@PaulMyerberg) May 21, 2018

Kansas, it took you more than six years to figure out how incompetent this guy was?  Sheesh.

When did ‘Bama fans get so whiny?

I’m not even sure I understand the complaint here.

Alabama fans feel terrible about the Jalen/Mac/Tua drama. And nothing has even happened yet.
Clemson and Georgia are dropping 5-star QBs like a dirty towel and…*crickets* https://t.co/f3mvP0rps8

— Roll Bama Roll (@rollbamaroll) May 21, 2018

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UPDATE:  Paul Myerberg points out that ‘Bama dropped a five-star quarterback in Blake Barnett, too.

Five of the eight 5-star QBs (per 247) in the 2015-17 recruiting classes have now transferred: Hunter Johnson, Shea Patterson, Jacob Eason, Kyler Murray and Blake Barnett. That leaves Josh Rosen, David Mills and Tua as those who have stuck around.

— Paul Myerberg (@PaulMyerberg) May 21, 2018

Say it with me now… *crickets*.

History repeating

Dawg fans will hear a familiar echo, echo, echo in this piece.

The next wrinkle in conference expansion?

There may be gold in them ‘thar sports books, pardnah.

The NBA and Major League Baseball are already pursuing the so-called integrity fee, a percentage of the amount bet that’s cloaked as payments to maintain integrity and oversight of their sport in each state.

“Neither the NCAA or any conferences have joined them,” Rodenberg said, “but perhaps they will.”

Of course they will. There’s too much money at stake, not to mention too much existing debt and too many escalating costs.

And because the Power Five control college football, not the NCAA — thank you, SCOTUS — they could be free to pursue their own integrity fees just as they cut their own TV deals.

Imagine each conference collecting one percent of the total handle (i.e., amount wagered) on football games in states throughout its footprint.

(Also think about the potential impact on realignment: Smaller schools in big-handle states could become more desirable. By 2030, Buffalo just might be a member of the SEC.)

Dunno about Buffalo, but I’d keep an eye on what the Big Ten may reap from Rutgers and a potential New Jersey integrity fee over the next few years.  If that pans out favorably, I can’t imagine Greg Sankey’s willing to leave that kind of money on the table for too long, even if the SEC gets to dip its wick in Mississippi’s doing something similar.  If not, there’s no telling where the SEC goes.

One thing ESPN is good at

Is there anything more quintessentially Mickey than this pot-stirring piece on the totally irrelevant (at least for 99% of the sports-viewing world) Alabama-Central Florida national title “debate”?

The sad thing is that I doubt it’ll be the last time the WWL touches on it.

“I’m fairly critical of the Pac-12 organization.”

This is one helluva story.

The beginning of one of the biggest Pac-12 football games of last season was preempted by a NASCAR truck race. When it became apparent the Lucas Oil 150 was going to run long, FS1 delayed the Stanford-Washington game by 15 minutes to 10:45 p.m. ET.

It wasn’t enough of a delay. Even though the game was shifted to little-seen FS2 and the Fox Sports app, thanks to the trucks — and Fox’s commitment to them — most viewers missed the entire first quarter.

“That was unfortunate,” Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said recently. “I was not happy about that. … There were definitely [people] upset about that.”

Scott is proud to say such an occurrence will no longer happen. The Pac-12 was assured by Fox officials a couple of weeks ago that, were there to be a future conflict, conference games will be shifted to … Fox Business Channel.

Man’s a genius.

The header quote, by the way, is from the chancellor of the University of California, one of (presumably) Scott’s bosses.  Last time I checked, Larry Scott is still the highest paid conference boss, which means the chancellor is as big a talker as Scott is.  Everyone out there deserves each other.

Musical palate cleanser, so let us not talk falsely now edition

I’ve currently got a Warren Zevon mix playing in the car, so I went looking for something to share this morning and found a cover I’ve never heard before, of his doing an acoustic “All Along The Watchtower”.  It’s pretty much what you’d expect, which is to say eerie and intense.