I don't entirely agree with you, but a couple things I do think:
Private golf clubs --- particularly in California, thanks to Props 6 and 13 --- often get some rather absurd property tax breaks. LACC, where the US Open was held last year, pays about $300K in property taxes a year. This on land where the true value is more like $5-10B! It's the same thing for all the other elite SoCal country clubs, and no doubt has a bit a factor in inflating housing prices throughout the entire LA Metro (it also, in theory, costs both LA and California hundreds of millions of dollars annually in tax revenue).
The US Open should never, IMO, be held at a private country club. It's our national Championship, it should always be held at a course accessible to all Americans. No Oakmont, or Oakland Hills or the like --- the PGA can hold their Championship there but the USGA should skip them entirely.
I don't know the solution ---- they can't really eliminate it because their property tax base is so low ---- but Detroit's city income tax is a significant drag on the city's longer-term potential. Most US cities don't have an income tax.
The tax isn't as high as NYC, Philadelphia, or DC (where it's 8.5%!!!!), but 2.4% for residents and 1.2% for non-residents is a good bit.
The scheduling --- yes, it 100% should be moved back to August. It was still the "4th Major" in August, but it was still a major, in the still heat of summer, and against little other sports competition.
Nobody pays attention to the playoffs, be they in September, August or any other month of the year. The problem with the playoffs isn't the NFL, it's that it's contrived and low stakes. The Ryder Cup does absolutely fine in September going up against the NFL - because it's not contrived and low stakes.
I suppose you're flexing on MSU, but EVERY B1G team x Michigan & Nebraska has scheduled a road/non-home game against a MAC team at some point in the last 15 years.
That includes Ohio State playing Toledo in Cleveland in 2009 - Toledo controlled the gate and $$$ for that one.
U-M won't do it, I get it. $$$ rules all these days. Shoot, NC State cancelled a 2025 road game at App State just this morning. But it does make college football more interesting, IMO, and it isn't something I look down upon.
Gottlieb got kicked out of school and apologized for the whole thing.
Now, fair enough if you don't believe that's genuine. And maybe you personally know the guy. But that's quite a statement --- one wouldn't be completely wrong to classify it as "holier than thou" in its own right --- to say Gottlieb "has shown no personal growth whatsoever" over the last 28 years.
My Mom tells me that I did that as a 4-year-old once. She told me it was on backwards, I said "no it's not!" and threw a tantrum. So she let me wear the shirt that way the entire day, took me to the grocery store and all.
One can do that while also forgetting/forgiving an act 28 years ago that he's both paid a price for (getting booted from ND) AND apologized for numerous times over the years.
Again, fair enough, but I think the credit card thing is a cheap shot and completely played out joke at this point. He's not OJ, his crime wasn't one w/o a statute of limitations. Simply call him an "obnoxious prick."
Even 28 (!!!) years after the fact. I really don't get it anymore, but fair enough.
The meme ought to change to "SHORTS ON BACKWARDS." Yes, when he was at OK State, he played the 1st 8 minutes of a game with his shorts on backwards. The Kansas crowd --- and Roy Williams too, even as recently as a few years ago --- have definitely got on him about that.
I don't have an issue with athletes making crazy amounts of $$$ --- but I do wish some of them would acknowledge how blessed ... and frankly, LUCKY ... they are to have the particular gifts that they have. And give back and bless other folks from time to time too.
I'm not trying to pick on Tom Brady, but he's been in the news recently --- he reportedly got paid $30MM for that NetFlix Roast the other day. $30MM to sit on a couch and listen to jokes. $30MM to do ZERO actual work.
Fair enough, there would have been no NetFlix Roast for NetFlix to make $$$ on without him. So in that sense, he "deserves" the $30MM.
But what's he going to do with that $30MM? Pile it into the bank account and investments, watch his net worth go up further? Or turn that "gift" of $30MM he got and make it a gift for others?
I don't think it's unfair for us to hold athletes accountable --- asking them to be a gift toward others when they have been gifted with SO much themselves.
You probably know, but for others not aware, the Kelloggs CEO was on CNBC recently. He was questioned as to why cereal is outpacing inflation by so much, and he channeled his inner-Marie Antoinette by saying "the answer to inflation is for Americans to eat more cereal for dinner."
In other "college football TV news" --- the NFL is going to stick a tripleheader on OTA TV (CBS/FOX/NBC each getting 1 game) on Saturday 21-December. E.g., the same day as 3 of the 4 games in the 1st round of the CFP playoffs.
Teams TBD, the full schedule gets released Wednesday. But I suspect the NFL is also going to put at least 2 of DET/PHI/PIT/CLE/CIN in those games. And at least 1 of DAL/KCY. Go after the B1G markets while also putting on popular teams.
Kind of shitty by the NFL, IMO, not ceding the Saturday to the CFP in the least. But that's the NFL, they're going to do whatever they want.
But ..... in the weeks prior to the game when it became apparent the Twins were going to be making the playoffs, Lloyd Carr said "We're not going to play on a Friday night. That's pretty simple."
Ultimately, U-M and everyone else can request, but that's it.
We'll find out soon --- but I'm very dubious that Michigan's request on Friday night away games* will be acceded too going forward.
Friday night B1G games weren't a thing prior to 2017: U-M first made the Friday night request w/ the package starting in 2017 and, yes, it has been adhered to.
But that was with a smaller (4-5 Friday games/year) Friday night TV package, and when the Friday games were always on FS1/BTN. It's different in 2024. The 2024 Friday B1G package is larger (9 games/year), and they will be on FOX (not FS1). FOX lost the WWE package to NBC, starting in September 2024, that's a big hole in their prime-time lineup and they're not just looking for filler, they want some fairly good ratings too.
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*Home games, yes, U-M won't have Friday night home games.
My brother got married that day in 2005. That marriage didn't last long!
Anyway, the era up through 2005 was pretty sweet. ABC didn't start their Saturday Night package until 2006 - night-time B1G football wasn't really a thing (outside a few one-offs*) before that!
I think ALL college football fans love those late afternoon starts. SEC on CBS became iconic. The 3:30 B1G era you talked about. I'm living out in LA now, the local USC fans are hoping their home games frequently land on NBC -- that's a 4:30 local kick for them. USC fans hated Pac-12 After Dark (10:30 ET/7:30 PT).
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*For U-M, off the top-of-my-head I can only think of 1998 NW and 2000 Illinois. For PSU, 2005 OSU. Well, plus, all those random Gophers games because of the Twins.
Yeah, it's definitely not straight-forward anymore. I do find it all interesting myself (my current job also provides me some tangential insider information on what folks are thinking).
If you had to boil the TV process down to a few key principles:
Michigan contractually HAS to be on BTN for 2 games a year. These will basically always be (1) the lowest tier home OOC game (Arkansas State in 2024) and (2) a low-tier conference game.
90%+ of Saturdays, FOX will have a Noon B1G game, CBS a 3:30 B1G game and NBC a 7:30 B1G game.
Those networks each want Michigan at least twice a year.
NBC is also going to put Michigan on Peacock at least once a year. We all know why.
FOX also had a 9-game Friday Night B1G package beginning this year. Those games have yet to be moved/announced. Michigan won't play any of those games at home, but they'll almost definitely have at least one on the road. Illinois is probably a good bet here (U-M has a bye week the week before).
So, a conjecture on how it all goes:
2 BTN games (Ark State - not yet announced but 99% likely, TBD),
2 FOX Noon (Texas/@ Ohio State),
2 CBS 3:30 (TBD/TBD),
2 NBC 7:30 (Fresno State/TBD),
1 Peacock (TBD),
1 Friday Night FOX (TBD - but @ Illinois is a good conjecture), and
the 2 other games split somehow between Peacock/FOX/CBS/NBC.
FOX has MLB at 7 PM on 7-September (FOX has a long-standing contract with MLB too, they're committed to showing games on X number of Saturdays per year and they can't just ditch that), and
when it was announced a couple years ago that 2024 Texas/U-M was getting moved to Ann Arbor (it was supposed to be in Austin), FOX getting the game was part of the deal.
It's not that they're not outsmarting themselves - it's just that there are other moving parts.
I'm not saying it won't be 3:30, but I don't think this is a clue at all as regards USC.
USC/U-M gametime is principally dependent on what FOX drafted as the 3rd week (after Weeks 2 & 14) where they get first pick of games. That week they drafted is 99%+ either Week 3, 4, 7 or 10. Week 1 wouldn't have been in the mix - it's a weak schedule conference-wide (with UNC/Minnesota locked in for Thursday, there is literally NO B1G team hosting a power-conference team).
For the record, the MLB record for most consecutive walks issued in a game is seven (7). It was done twice ....... most recently when the pitching team was the Pittsburgh Pirates!!! 1983 game against Atlanta. The last 4 (edit: I initially said "necessarily" but that's not the case, if a WP/PB is in there) were all RBI walks.
For the record, it went (in order): Double, Single, Pitching Change, Strike-Out, Strike-Out, HBP, Walk, Walk, Walk, Pitching Change, Walk, Infield Single, Rain Delay w/ a Pitching Change, Walk, Walk, Line-Out, Inning Finally Over, 7 Runs In.
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In 2017, I was at a Cubs/Reds game. Blake Wood (Reds) starts an Inning and walks 3 straight guys on 13 pitches. Everyone starts screaming "throw strikes!" So he does: 3 consecutive 1st-pitch singles! So stop throwing strikes! Very next pitch: wild pitch! He finally strikes out the next guy (none other than Javy Baez!!!) and he gets a standing ovation. Sort of reminds me of that.
Ohio State announced they were self-imposing scholarship reductions on themselves (as regards their failure to monitor Booster Robert DiGeronimo) literally the day after Paterno was fired!
Give Gene Smith credit for this --- he knows how to take advantage of people looking at something else.
Sure ..... but myself, living in LA, it's virtually guaranteed some of the Lions' CBS/FOX games won't be on the local OTA network. So I'd need NFLST if I want to watch.
The consolidation in the streaming market --- WBD, Disney and Hulu just announced a bundle, of course, the other day. Plus, WBD, Disney and FOX's sports package announced in the winter. But they're just announcements, the devil will be the price point and in revenue distribution.
I'm dubious on those bundles actually occurring --- they play well in the press but I think the involved entities will squabble to much on rev distro. Disney may even try to buy WBD outright at some point.
If, of course, you're favorite team is the local team. Not so for me (and millions of others).
I'll say this for MLS. 90%+ of their broadcasts are now produced by Apple+ and don't have local announcers, but if you're an MLS fan, you get every game (even the ones aired on FOX, MLS still has an OTA/Cable package they've sold to FOX) no matter what on the Apple platform.
MLB is actually my favorite professional sport. They're still in this "RSN Limbo" era, as witnessed by this Bally/Comcast/Sinclair mess. But I think their future is bringing the production of all 2430 regular-season games in-house, selling the MLB.TV package without ANY blackouts EVER, regardless of geography or IP address, while also selling rights to individual games (using the MLB production, if they wish) to OTA/Cable networks as they wish to buy. MLB is already producing ARI, COL and SDP games, FWIW.
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So I'm not double-posting --- ESPN+ has rights to 1 International NFL game a year. Last year it was Falcons "at" the Jaguars. That's a pretty miss-able game, but I'm sure ESPN+ (and everyone else) is politiking for the best games they can get.
Maybe it's just me ---- but shoot, I wish something like this happened at my graduation. 95%+ of commencement speakers are BORING, boilerplate and forgettable. At least these guys have a story.
I obviously wasn't around for it, but at my parents' wedding reception they hired a band, the drummer got real drunk, passed out, smashed his head against a cymbal and had to get 45 stiches. My parents weren't thrilled at the time, but at a distance of 40+ years, my Mom now finds the story absolutely hilarious.
PSU is getting ZERO say on game time for OSU. Whatever network gets 1st pick of games that week - they are going to have a number of theoretically good games (including Oregon @ Michigan) to choose between and they're going to wait to see how the season plays out. They won't choose before late October.
It is what it is. I think the "officially branded PSU WhiteOut" (TM) is a bit played out, given folks wear white to basically EVERY PSU home game. But PSU wants to have an annual WhiteOut (TM) game, they want the WhiteOut (TM) at night and they want to preannounce the WhiteOut (TM). So I'd guess, much like 2022 & 2023, the WhiteOut (TM) will be a more "mid" game (like UCLA/PSU) where none of the networks particularly care if it's preannounced for 7:30.
That's a long way of answering your question --- the schools don't have much say anymore.
I don't think they're contractually obligated. There were 3 weeks last year where FOX had a 3:30 B1G game and no Noon B1G game. Week 5 (U-M/Nebraska) was one of them.
But I think it's going to be significantly more rare. Last year, CBS only had rights to broadcast 7 B1G games and they still had the SEC package. So they had only had 2 3:30 B1G games (1 was UNLV/Michigan). This year, CBS has rights to broadcast 15 B1G games and of course the SEC package is gone. So they're almost always going to have a 3:30 game now.
Add that to NBC having a nearly weekly prime-time B1G game --- and FOX would basically have* to have a Noon game to avoid competing against the other networks.
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*CBS/FOX could theoretically flip-flop: a CBS game at Noon & FOX at 3:30. But it would have to theoretically benefit both networks. It's tough to imagine too many scenarios like that. CBS wouldn't want to be completely dark at 3:30, and they have no other rights besides the Mountain West. The Big XII losing UT & Oklahoma makes it a lot tougher for FOX to put a great Big XII game at Noon and a B1G game at 3:30.
Today is the day the networks (FOX, CBS, NBC) are having their "draft" as to which weeks they get first pick of B1G game.
The "rules" of the draft: FOX has the 1st, 2nd and 3rd picks ... then the order is either CBS/NBC/FOX or NBC/CBS/FOX for all weeks following.
I'm sure some leaks will come out eventually. But about all we can safely say for now:
FOX will definitely choose Weeks 2 and Week 14 among their first 3 picks. And elect to show Texas @ Michigan (already announced) and Michigan @ Ohio State at Noon both weeks.
FOX's 3rd week? Can't say for certain. But it's probably either Week 3 (Alabama @ Wisconsin), Week 4 (USC @ Michigan) or Week 10 (several pretty good B1G games, but not sure at this point which one will be better).
If FOX chooses Week 4, then USC will undoubtedly be a Noon game. If FOX doesn't choose Week 4, then USC will very likely be either a 3:30 game (if CBS gets it) or a 7:30 game (if NBC gets it).
In other words ----- I just told you that "USC @ Michigan" could be at either Noon, 3:30 or 7:30. E.g., I broke no news. :-)
Beyond that ...... who the heck knows. We'll just have to wait for the leaks.
Schmeling was hated by most Americans in 1938. But the historical record has shown he was a pretty decent guy. Refused to fire his Jewish manager, despite Hitler's request, sheltered some Jewish children in Germany in the late 1930s, and eventually became good friends with Joe Louis and financed his funeral.
And as a boxer, he took on ALL comers. He wasn't afraid of competition. Credit to him for that.
He was used as a political pawn during the 30s and 40s. Like so many others, unfortunately.
He did it all with a bruised tailbone too, serious enough he struggled to touch his toes while bending down --- he banged it up 5 days prior during some campus prank!
I feel most folk know the story of Owens at the Big Ten Championships and the 1936 Olympics. Less folk know the story of his struggles in America following the 1936 Olympics. Even the President of the US wouldn't even acknolwedge his accomplishments or even him as a person. Owens struggled to find anything beyond menial jobs for several years before Willis Ward (a U-M grad and fellow competitor in collegiate and national-level track events) got him started and involved in civil rights affairs in 1942.
Even then, most (not all, but most) of the acknowledgments and honors of Owens have occured after his death --- which was in 1980, a full 44 years after Berlin. It took a long long while.
Owens deserved much better while he was living in his home country ........ SOOOO much better.
I was reading a severe weather message board* this morning ------ yes such things exist ----- and a poster there said today's setup looked A LOT like May 13, 1980. Which is when Kalamazoo got hit by an F3 tornado.
That dude absolutely nailed it with his forecast and the historical analogy.
You don't get higher-end events in Michigan often, only about once a decade. But they can occur. The Grand Rapids and Flint metros have both been hit by F5 tornadoes in the past.
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*my undergrad degree is in Meteorology, though I don't do anything Meteorology-related at all professionally. Thus the interest.
He completely fabricated something (hanging out with 2 former MSU players while they watched a Final Four semifinal together) that simply didn't happen.
Besides --- even if Richardson and/or Cleaves DID wind up attending the game, all the quotes Albom got from them would have been from their phone conversation a couple days prior. Albom wouldn't have been hanging out in the stands with them (as he implied) as the game occurred simulatenously.
Albom never hung out in the stands with Richardson and/or Cleaves at the 2005 Final Four, and the current Governor of the "Mount Rushmore State" never met with the leader of North Korea either. They are both bald-faced liars. And thus, IMO, unworthy of being in a high-profile position of trust.
I said what I said. Yes, I didn't proffer an answer to the "should Doyel be punished?" question. I said I CAN SEE both sides of the "should he be punished?" argument.
I know public discourse these days often demands folks to take an intractable and definitive position on every single topic while refusing to acknowledge the existence of the opposite opinion. I get that. But regardless of that, I'm not offering an opinion to the "should he be punished?" question.
But as for the IndyStar's wishy-washiness, yes I DO have an opinion on that. Their management is acting like an indecisive, wishy-washy "leader" with this punishment. They aren't leading, they are being a wimp.
If the IndyStar is going to punish Doyel (and I can see both sides of the argument, "yes he should be punished" and "no he shouldn't be") --- a 2-week suspension and not covering Fever games for a year isn't really much of a punishment.
He's probably on vacation as we speak, he still has his CBS gig, the Fever will still be a thing next year, and there's still plenty other sports to talk about in Indy (Pacers, Colts, Auto Racing, Purdue, IU).
Feels a bit like the Mitch Albom thing 15+ years ago. Albom absolutely should have been fired, IMO, but the paper just suspended him for a slight bit.
No you're not. Nearly everybody's current opinion on Franklin is "high floor* but limited ceiling" head coach.
The last 8 years, PSU has finished the season ranked 7, 8, 17, 9, NR but weird COVID year, NR, 7, 13. Given that context, a pre-season rank of #9 is not some wild outlier.
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*Outside the COVID year, Franklin has gotten every team he's ever coached, including 3 Vanderbilt teams and his first 2 PSU teams that had some structural roster and number issues post-sanctions (that's not an excuse, it's a reality), to at least .500 and Bowl eligiblity. That's not a completely worthless accomplishment in its own right.
WSU is a bit of a "unicorn." (1) A fairly well respected research university, that (2) doesn't compete athletically at the D-1 level and (3) is a commuter school with a lot of 1st & 2nd generation undergrads, a lot of students who have less "$$$ and support that provides a back-stop against failing" (for lack of a more eloquent way to put it).
Out of the 107 Carnegie R1 schools, only 7 don't compete at the D-1 level. Wayne, UC-Santa Cruz, Colorado Mines, CU-Denver, City University of New York, UT-Dallas, and Alabama-Huntsville.
I honestly think there's a good argument to be made for rolling WSU up into the U-M system (making it MUCH more like a CU-Denver or UT-Dallas). That will never happen, though, there are 1000 different political blockers for that.
No matter what, though, I don't think they should ever move up to D-1. The marginal extra viz that D-1 athletics would give them isn't worth it.
One can quibble about the definition of "flagship", but the MI State Constitution certainly DOES consider U-M, MSU and Wayne State as different and "above" the 12 other public universities in the state --- e.g., state-wide election of the Board members.
My "get off my lawn" comment: every state should have ONE license plate, and that's it, no exceptions. Make a design that is iconic for the state, and that's that.
Of course, I get why states have different license plates. To make $$$.
When I lived in Colorado --- Colorado's standard design is the best in the country (green and white with the mountains in the background). But they also had 75 other versions of the license plate. Barf. At one point, Colorado and New Mexico were literally suing each other as regards each other's alternate "Chile Pepper" license plates.
Anyway, my 5 favorite license plates: Colorado, New Mexico, Hawaii, Vermont, Oregon.
What??? No. What could possibly happen anyway, the helmeted players are going to start head-butting everyone?
Seriously - this reads like a "bad winner" post. Give your opponent the benefit of the doubt, they didn't do anything to prove otherwise. Michigan won and has a very good team that will be a tough out in the NCAA.
Worth calling out: Notre Dame can sell that it's a "tough schedule" because they only have 6 home games (most schools have 7 or even 8), but at the same time they only play TWO TRUE road games outside the state of Indiana:
At Texas A&M on opening weekend.
AT USC the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
They are at Purdue, but that's of course in Indiana.
Their game vs Georgia Tech got moved to the Falcons Stadium (more seats for ND fans).
Navy is in East Rutherford, and Army is at Yankee Stadium.
Anyway, if they can get by A&M in the opener --- it will be interesting to see if that game gets scheduled to be in the hot late August sun or if it is at night ---- there's no reason they wouldn't be 10-1 at worst going into the USC game. Like it or not, they will be in the CFP talk.
Agree that if U-M had beaten Rutgers, they'd be well-positioned for an at-large. Rutgers isn't even a bad team or a bad program, but as loss #6 it probably was a tipping point. I checked, nobody in the 2020s has been an at-large with 6 losses.
Lacrosse is a fun sport, I've enjoyed getting into it the last few years (I flew out to Philly for the 2019 Final Four when PSU made it)! Thanks for your posts, even if they miss tomorrow U-M's program has definitely turned the corner.
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I don't entirely agree with you, but a couple things I do think:
All I know, I want Jim Nantz to refer to this in his canned line if Scheffler winds up winning:
"From Green Jacket to Orange Jump Suit to Wanamaker Silver! Halfway to a Grand Slam!"
I don't know the solution ---- they can't really eliminate it because their property tax base is so low ---- but Detroit's city income tax is a significant drag on the city's longer-term potential. Most US cities don't have an income tax.
The tax isn't as high as NYC, Philadelphia, or DC (where it's 8.5%!!!!), but 2.4% for residents and 1.2% for non-residents is a good bit.
The scheduling --- yes, it 100% should be moved back to August. It was still the "4th Major" in August, but it was still a major, in the still heat of summer, and against little other sports competition.
Nobody pays attention to the playoffs, be they in September, August or any other month of the year. The problem with the playoffs isn't the NFL, it's that it's contrived and low stakes. The Ryder Cup does absolutely fine in September going up against the NFL - because it's not contrived and low stakes.
Chicago Cardinals (NFL) as well. (not nearly as many years as the Bears though)
Is there money in your wallet? Any at all? Even a lonely single dollar bill?
If you answered yes, the NFL intends to get it. All of it.
I suppose you're flexing on MSU, but EVERY B1G team x Michigan & Nebraska has scheduled a road/non-home game against a MAC team at some point in the last 15 years.
That includes Ohio State playing Toledo in Cleveland in 2009 - Toledo controlled the gate and $$$ for that one.
U-M won't do it, I get it. $$$ rules all these days. Shoot, NC State cancelled a 2025 road game at App State just this morning. But it does make college football more interesting, IMO, and it isn't something I look down upon.
Gottlieb got kicked out of school and apologized for the whole thing.
Now, fair enough if you don't believe that's genuine. And maybe you personally know the guy. But that's quite a statement --- one wouldn't be completely wrong to classify it as "holier than thou" in its own right --- to say Gottlieb "has shown no personal growth whatsoever" over the last 28 years.
I'll leave it at that.
My Mom tells me that I did that as a 4-year-old once. She told me it was on backwards, I said "no it's not!" and threw a tantrum. So she let me wear the shirt that way the entire day, took me to the grocery store and all.
Then just call him an "obnoxious prick."
One can do that while also forgetting/forgiving an act 28 years ago that he's both paid a price for (getting booted from ND) AND apologized for numerous times over the years.
Again, fair enough, but I think the credit card thing is a cheap shot and completely played out joke at this point. He's not OJ, his crime wasn't one w/o a statute of limitations. Simply call him an "obnoxious prick."
Social media loves bringing this up.
Even 28 (!!!) years after the fact. I really don't get it anymore, but fair enough.
The meme ought to change to "SHORTS ON BACKWARDS." Yes, when he was at OK State, he played the 1st 8 minutes of a game with his shorts on backwards. The Kansas crowd --- and Roy Williams too, even as recently as a few years ago --- have definitely got on him about that.
I don't have an issue with athletes making crazy amounts of $$$ --- but I do wish some of them would acknowledge how blessed ... and frankly, LUCKY ... they are to have the particular gifts that they have. And give back and bless other folks from time to time too.
I'm not trying to pick on Tom Brady, but he's been in the news recently --- he reportedly got paid $30MM for that NetFlix Roast the other day. $30MM to sit on a couch and listen to jokes. $30MM to do ZERO actual work.
Fair enough, there would have been no NetFlix Roast for NetFlix to make $$$ on without him. So in that sense, he "deserves" the $30MM.
But what's he going to do with that $30MM? Pile it into the bank account and investments, watch his net worth go up further? Or turn that "gift" of $30MM he got and make it a gift for others?
I don't think it's unfair for us to hold athletes accountable --- asking them to be a gift toward others when they have been gifted with SO much themselves.
+1,000,000 to all of that.
You probably know, but for others not aware, the Kelloggs CEO was on CNBC recently. He was questioned as to why cereal is outpacing inflation by so much, and he channeled his inner-Marie Antoinette by saying "the answer to inflation is for Americans to eat more cereal for dinner."
He makes $17MM a year for that sort of shit.
Assuming 19 games/season (2 playoff games/year):
I get it, the NFL has a ton of demand --- millions watch. But yeah, that's a LOT of money.
In other "college football TV news" --- the NFL is going to stick a tripleheader on OTA TV (CBS/FOX/NBC each getting 1 game) on Saturday 21-December. E.g., the same day as 3 of the 4 games in the 1st round of the CFP playoffs.
Teams TBD, the full schedule gets released Wednesday. But I suspect the NFL is also going to put at least 2 of DET/PHI/PIT/CLE/CIN in those games. And at least 1 of DAL/KCY. Go after the B1G markets while also putting on popular teams.
Kind of shitty by the NFL, IMO, not ceding the Saturday to the CFP in the least. But that's the NFL, they're going to do whatever they want.
Yes, it was. :-)
But ..... in the weeks prior to the game when it became apparent the Twins were going to be making the playoffs, Lloyd Carr said "We're not going to play on a Friday night. That's pretty simple."
Ultimately, U-M and everyone else can request, but that's it.
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2003/08/21/michigan-refuses-to…
We'll find out soon --- but I'm very dubious that Michigan's request on Friday night away games* will be acceded too going forward.
Friday night B1G games weren't a thing prior to 2017: U-M first made the Friday night request w/ the package starting in 2017 and, yes, it has been adhered to.
But that was with a smaller (4-5 Friday games/year) Friday night TV package, and when the Friday games were always on FS1/BTN. It's different in 2024. The 2024 Friday B1G package is larger (9 games/year), and they will be on FOX (not FS1). FOX lost the WWE package to NBC, starting in September 2024, that's a big hole in their prime-time lineup and they're not just looking for filler, they want some fairly good ratings too.
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*Home games, yes, U-M won't have Friday night home games.
My brother got married that day in 2005. That marriage didn't last long!
Anyway, the era up through 2005 was pretty sweet. ABC didn't start their Saturday Night package until 2006 - night-time B1G football wasn't really a thing (outside a few one-offs*) before that!
I think ALL college football fans love those late afternoon starts. SEC on CBS became iconic. The 3:30 B1G era you talked about. I'm living out in LA now, the local USC fans are hoping their home games frequently land on NBC -- that's a 4:30 local kick for them. USC fans hated Pac-12 After Dark (10:30 ET/7:30 PT).
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*For U-M, off the top-of-my-head I can only think of 1998 NW and 2000 Illinois. For PSU, 2005 OSU. Well, plus, all those random Gophers games because of the Twins.
Yeah, it's definitely not straight-forward anymore. I do find it all interesting myself (my current job also provides me some tangential insider information on what folks are thinking).
If you had to boil the TV process down to a few key principles:
So, a conjecture on how it all goes:
It's not that they're not outsmarting themselves - it's just that there are other moving parts.
I'm not saying it won't be 3:30, but I don't think this is a clue at all as regards USC.
USC/U-M gametime is principally dependent on what FOX drafted as the 3rd week (after Weeks 2 & 14) where they get first pick of games. That week they drafted is 99%+ either Week 3, 4, 7 or 10. Week 1 wouldn't have been in the mix - it's a weak schedule conference-wide (with UNC/Minnesota locked in for Thursday, there is literally NO B1G team hosting a power-conference team).
For the record, the MLB record for most consecutive walks issued in a game is seven (7). It was done twice ....... most recently when the pitching team was the Pittsburgh Pirates!!! 1983 game against Atlanta. The last 4 (edit: I initially said "necessarily" but that's not the case, if a WP/PB is in there) were all RBI walks.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL198305250.shtml
There was ALSO a hit-by-pitch in that sequence!
For the record, it went (in order): Double, Single, Pitching Change, Strike-Out, Strike-Out, HBP, Walk, Walk, Walk, Pitching Change, Walk, Infield Single, Rain Delay w/ a Pitching Change, Walk, Walk, Line-Out, Inning Finally Over, 7 Runs In.
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In 2017, I was at a Cubs/Reds game. Blake Wood (Reds) starts an Inning and walks 3 straight guys on 13 pitches. Everyone starts screaming "throw strikes!" So he does: 3 consecutive 1st-pitch singles! So stop throwing strikes! Very next pitch: wild pitch! He finally strikes out the next guy (none other than Javy Baez!!!) and he gets a standing ovation. Sort of reminds me of that.
Ohio State announced they were self-imposing scholarship reductions on themselves (as regards their failure to monitor Booster Robert DiGeronimo) literally the day after Paterno was fired!
Give Gene Smith credit for this --- he knows how to take advantage of people looking at something else.
Tigers (and everyone else, x the ESPN Sunday Night game) are free this weekend, an MLB.TV promotion.
Which means literally everyone except people in MI w/ Comcast can watch them. Absurdity.
Sure ..... but myself, living in LA, it's virtually guaranteed some of the Lions' CBS/FOX games won't be on the local OTA network. So I'd need NFLST if I want to watch.
The consolidation in the streaming market --- WBD, Disney and Hulu just announced a bundle, of course, the other day. Plus, WBD, Disney and FOX's sports package announced in the winter. But they're just announcements, the devil will be the price point and in revenue distribution.
I'm dubious on those bundles actually occurring --- they play well in the press but I think the involved entities will squabble to much on rev distro. Disney may even try to buy WBD outright at some point.
If, of course, you're favorite team is the local team. Not so for me (and millions of others).
I'll say this for MLS. 90%+ of their broadcasts are now produced by Apple+ and don't have local announcers, but if you're an MLS fan, you get every game (even the ones aired on FOX, MLS still has an OTA/Cable package they've sold to FOX) no matter what on the Apple platform.
MLB is actually my favorite professional sport. They're still in this "RSN Limbo" era, as witnessed by this Bally/Comcast/Sinclair mess. But I think their future is bringing the production of all 2430 regular-season games in-house, selling the MLB.TV package without ANY blackouts EVER, regardless of geography or IP address, while also selling rights to individual games (using the MLB production, if they wish) to OTA/Cable networks as they wish to buy. MLB is already producing ARI, COL and SDP games, FWIW.
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So I'm not double-posting --- ESPN+ has rights to 1 International NFL game a year. Last year it was Falcons "at" the Jaguars. That's a pretty miss-able game, but I'm sure ESPN+ (and everyone else) is politiking for the best games they can get.
Actually it's ELEVEN platforms. I missed Peacock.
In my defense, it's easy to lose track.
Gotham Knights, Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat 1, Suicide Squad.
Great timing (and awareness of the 22.3 year rule) by Brady then! We only recently crossed the 22.3 year "boundary" for 9/11 --- December 29, 2023.
Maybe it's just me ---- but shoot, I wish something like this happened at my graduation. 95%+ of commencement speakers are BORING, boilerplate and forgettable. At least these guys have a story.
I obviously wasn't around for it, but at my parents' wedding reception they hired a band, the drummer got real drunk, passed out, smashed his head against a cymbal and had to get 45 stiches. My parents weren't thrilled at the time, but at a distance of 40+ years, my Mom now finds the story absolutely hilarious.
PSU is getting ZERO say on game time for OSU. Whatever network gets 1st pick of games that week - they are going to have a number of theoretically good games (including Oregon @ Michigan) to choose between and they're going to wait to see how the season plays out. They won't choose before late October.
It is what it is. I think the "officially branded PSU WhiteOut" (TM) is a bit played out, given folks wear white to basically EVERY PSU home game. But PSU wants to have an annual WhiteOut (TM) game, they want the WhiteOut (TM) at night and they want to preannounce the WhiteOut (TM). So I'd guess, much like 2022 & 2023, the WhiteOut (TM) will be a more "mid" game (like UCLA/PSU) where none of the networks particularly care if it's preannounced for 7:30.
That's a long way of answering your question --- the schools don't have much say anymore.
The Chuck Norris thread is over there. ----------------->
I don't think they're contractually obligated. There were 3 weeks last year where FOX had a 3:30 B1G game and no Noon B1G game. Week 5 (U-M/Nebraska) was one of them.
But I think it's going to be significantly more rare. Last year, CBS only had rights to broadcast 7 B1G games and they still had the SEC package. So they had only had 2 3:30 B1G games (1 was UNLV/Michigan). This year, CBS has rights to broadcast 15 B1G games and of course the SEC package is gone. So they're almost always going to have a 3:30 game now.
Add that to NBC having a nearly weekly prime-time B1G game --- and FOX would basically have* to have a Noon game to avoid competing against the other networks.
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*CBS/FOX could theoretically flip-flop: a CBS game at Noon & FOX at 3:30. But it would have to theoretically benefit both networks. It's tough to imagine too many scenarios like that. CBS wouldn't want to be completely dark at 3:30, and they have no other rights besides the Mountain West. The Big XII losing UT & Oklahoma makes it a lot tougher for FOX to put a great Big XII game at Noon and a B1G game at 3:30.
Today is the day the networks (FOX, CBS, NBC) are having their "draft" as to which weeks they get first pick of B1G game.
The "rules" of the draft: FOX has the 1st, 2nd and 3rd picks ... then the order is either CBS/NBC/FOX or NBC/CBS/FOX for all weeks following.
I'm sure some leaks will come out eventually. But about all we can safely say for now:
Schmeling was hated by most Americans in 1938. But the historical record has shown he was a pretty decent guy. Refused to fire his Jewish manager, despite Hitler's request, sheltered some Jewish children in Germany in the late 1930s, and eventually became good friends with Joe Louis and financed his funeral.
And as a boxer, he took on ALL comers. He wasn't afraid of competition. Credit to him for that.
He was used as a political pawn during the 30s and 40s. Like so many others, unfortunately.
He did it all with a bruised tailbone too, serious enough he struggled to touch his toes while bending down --- he banged it up 5 days prior during some campus prank!
I feel most folk know the story of Owens at the Big Ten Championships and the 1936 Olympics. Less folk know the story of his struggles in America following the 1936 Olympics. Even the President of the US wouldn't even acknolwedge his accomplishments or even him as a person. Owens struggled to find anything beyond menial jobs for several years before Willis Ward (a U-M grad and fellow competitor in collegiate and national-level track events) got him started and involved in civil rights affairs in 1942.
Even then, most (not all, but most) of the acknowledgments and honors of Owens have occured after his death --- which was in 1980, a full 44 years after Berlin. It took a long long while.
Owens deserved much better while he was living in his home country ........ SOOOO much better.
I was reading a severe weather message board* this morning ------ yes such things exist ----- and a poster there said today's setup looked A LOT like May 13, 1980. Which is when Kalamazoo got hit by an F3 tornado.
https://stormtrack.org/threads/2024-05-07-event-in-oh-mi-il-ky.32715/
That dude absolutely nailed it with his forecast and the historical analogy.
You don't get higher-end events in Michigan often, only about once a decade. But they can occur. The Grand Rapids and Flint metros have both been hit by F5 tornadoes in the past.
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*my undergrad degree is in Meteorology, though I don't do anything Meteorology-related at all professionally. Thus the interest.
He completely fabricated something (hanging out with 2 former MSU players while they watched a Final Four semifinal together) that simply didn't happen.
Besides --- even if Richardson and/or Cleaves DID wind up attending the game, all the quotes Albom got from them would have been from their phone conversation a couple days prior. Albom wouldn't have been hanging out in the stands with them (as he implied) as the game occurred simulatenously.
Albom never hung out in the stands with Richardson and/or Cleaves at the 2005 Final Four, and the current Governor of the "Mount Rushmore State" never met with the leader of North Korea either. They are both bald-faced liars. And thus, IMO, unworthy of being in a high-profile position of trust.
I said what I said. Yes, I didn't proffer an answer to the "should Doyel be punished?" question. I said I CAN SEE both sides of the "should he be punished?" argument.
I know public discourse these days often demands folks to take an intractable and definitive position on every single topic while refusing to acknowledge the existence of the opposite opinion. I get that. But regardless of that, I'm not offering an opinion to the "should he be punished?" question.
But as for the IndyStar's wishy-washiness, yes I DO have an opinion on that. Their management is acting like an indecisive, wishy-washy "leader" with this punishment. They aren't leading, they are being a wimp.
If the IndyStar is going to punish Doyel (and I can see both sides of the argument, "yes he should be punished" and "no he shouldn't be") --- a 2-week suspension and not covering Fever games for a year isn't really much of a punishment.
He's probably on vacation as we speak, he still has his CBS gig, the Fever will still be a thing next year, and there's still plenty other sports to talk about in Indy (Pacers, Colts, Auto Racing, Purdue, IU).
Feels a bit like the Mitch Albom thing 15+ years ago. Albom absolutely should have been fired, IMO, but the paper just suspended him for a slight bit.
Sure, normally. But PSU's 2014/2015 teams, 2014 especially, DID have roster number limitations.
In 2014, 6-6 was a qualified success (IMO). It was a limited-talent team that easily could have gone 3-9 or 4-8.
No you're not. Nearly everybody's current opinion on Franklin is "high floor* but limited ceiling" head coach.
The last 8 years, PSU has finished the season ranked 7, 8, 17, 9, NR but weird COVID year, NR, 7, 13. Given that context, a pre-season rank of #9 is not some wild outlier.
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*Outside the COVID year, Franklin has gotten every team he's ever coached, including 3 Vanderbilt teams and his first 2 PSU teams that had some structural roster and number issues post-sanctions (that's not an excuse, it's a reality), to at least .500 and Bowl eligiblity. That's not a completely worthless accomplishment in its own right.
WSU is a bit of a "unicorn." (1) A fairly well respected research university, that (2) doesn't compete athletically at the D-1 level and (3) is a commuter school with a lot of 1st & 2nd generation undergrads, a lot of students who have less "$$$ and support that provides a back-stop against failing" (for lack of a more eloquent way to put it).
Out of the 107 Carnegie R1 schools, only 7 don't compete at the D-1 level. Wayne, UC-Santa Cruz, Colorado Mines, CU-Denver, City University of New York, UT-Dallas, and Alabama-Huntsville.
I honestly think there's a good argument to be made for rolling WSU up into the U-M system (making it MUCH more like a CU-Denver or UT-Dallas). That will never happen, though, there are 1000 different political blockers for that.
No matter what, though, I don't think they should ever move up to D-1. The marginal extra viz that D-1 athletics would give them isn't worth it.
One can quibble about the definition of "flagship", but the MI State Constitution certainly DOES consider U-M, MSU and Wayne State as different and "above" the 12 other public universities in the state --- e.g., state-wide election of the Board members.
My "get off my lawn" comment: every state should have ONE license plate, and that's it, no exceptions. Make a design that is iconic for the state, and that's that.
Of course, I get why states have different license plates. To make $$$.
When I lived in Colorado --- Colorado's standard design is the best in the country (green and white with the mountains in the background). But they also had 75 other versions of the license plate. Barf. At one point, Colorado and New Mexico were literally suing each other as regards each other's alternate "Chile Pepper" license plates.
Anyway, my 5 favorite license plates: Colorado, New Mexico, Hawaii, Vermont, Oregon.
What??? No. What could possibly happen anyway, the helmeted players are going to start head-butting everyone?
Seriously - this reads like a "bad winner" post. Give your opponent the benefit of the doubt, they didn't do anything to prove otherwise. Michigan won and has a very good team that will be a tough out in the NCAA.
Worth calling out: Notre Dame can sell that it's a "tough schedule" because they only have 6 home games (most schools have 7 or even 8), but at the same time they only play TWO TRUE road games outside the state of Indiana:
Anyway, if they can get by A&M in the opener --- it will be interesting to see if that game gets scheduled to be in the hot late August sun or if it is at night ---- there's no reason they wouldn't be 10-1 at worst going into the USC game. Like it or not, they will be in the CFP talk.
"Directionally correct" --- it works in corporate too. :-)
Agree that if U-M had beaten Rutgers, they'd be well-positioned for an at-large. Rutgers isn't even a bad team or a bad program, but as loss #6 it probably was a tipping point. I checked, nobody in the 2020s has been an at-large with 6 losses.
Lacrosse is a fun sport, I've enjoyed getting into it the last few years (I flew out to Philly for the 2019 Final Four when PSU made it)! Thanks for your posts, even if they miss tomorrow U-M's program has definitely turned the corner.