Retweet of the Day - November 20, 2014

Reigning Heisman Trophy winner and defending national champion Florida State University quarterback Jameis Winston is a lightning rod. He is also talented without limit on the gridiron. The FSU signal caller pulled the Seminoles through in the 4th quarter to a come from behind 30-26 win at their in-state ACC rival, the University of Miami.

The dramatic win extended the Seminoles' winning streak to 26 consecutive games. Florida State secured the ACC Atlantic Division title last Saturday while the loss put Miami's chances of an ACC Coastal Division championship on life support. Jameis Winston has never lost a game as a starting quarterback in college football.


BLAME JAMEIS

Of course, nobody walks on water and football fans outside of Tallahassee and not connected to FSU would just as soon dunk Winston in a tank of water. Winston, talent notwithstanding, is a knucklehead. The rap sheet is well known: accused of sexual assault (though no charges were ever filed), involved in an air gun fighting incident, shoplifted soda from a Burger King restaurant, shoplifted crab legs from a grocery store, and was videoed standing on a table in the Florida State student union shouting a vulgarity.

His off-field antics have drawn backlash from his fans and supporters at Florida State. The "#BlameJameis" Twitter phenomenon arose from all the repeated extensive media coverage of Winston's antics, most of which (save for the sexual assault accusation - which never warranted any charges) are typical of post-adolescent collegiate foolishness, albeit with increasingly unsettling frequency. In the #BlameJameis paradigm, anything wrong in the world is Winston's fault.

Today's retweet, by Cee Bee (@CoryBarry_) is sweet and simple and could be on the Mount Rushmore of #BlameJameis inspired tweets.

"Jameis Winston was responsible for 9/11"

I just KNEW Lee Harvey Oswald was just a patsy!

Image from barstoolsports.com 

Retweet of the Day - September 12, 2012

This is not the first time, and I doubt it will be the last, that NOT SportsCenter ‏(@NOTSportsCenter) is the author of today's retweet. As you may have heard, the University of Notre Dame has elected to leave the Big East high and dry (like everyone else) and join the Atlantic Coastal Conference in every sports except football, maintaining its long standing independence. The Fighting Irish will play a minimum of five ACC opponents per season in football.

With that foreword, here is today's Retweet of the Day:


"Notre Dame joins the #ACC in all sports but football. As a result, Lou Holtz has predicted Notre Dame football will win the ACC this year."

Poor old Lou Holtz....

Image from www.sportable.com

Death of the NCAA

Who among us likes to hear someone, correctly, tell us, “I told you so,”? None of us, I would presume. Even when the person reminding us of how wrong we were all along is a trusted friend or a family member, at best, the statement does little more than beg to original question. Often, that expression serves of a source of annoyance and a reminder of the downside of our stubbornness.

The NCAA appears to be very close to a point which its members, fans, and business partners can tell it that. For years, fans, journalists, and countless other people have called for a playoff system in college football. The NCAA has insisted upon not implementing a postseason tournament for football. Every logistical excuse is available. The bowls are rooted in college football tradition. There are travel considerations. There is not a clear set of fair criteria.

I have witnessed sports journalist after sports journalist, over the years, come up with a logistically sound playoff system including as few as three and as many as 16 playoff spots. I always found such columns to be interesting, creative, and fun to read. I also thought often, “This will never happen.”

I probably wouldn't mind hearing "I Told You So" directly from Carrie Underwood, but that may be the only exception. 1

DEATH BY A PAIR OF CUTS

Over this past weekend, Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh announced their intentions to leave the Big East and join the Atlantic Coastal Conference. The ACC accepted. Within the past month, Texas A&M University announced its plans to leave the Big XII and join the Southeastern Conference. Rumors have already surfaced that the Big XII (which is already down to 10 teams) is in danger of losing two more big names in Oklahoma and Texas. These schools are rumored to be eyeing a move to the Pac-12.

Meanwhile, schools such as Texas Christian University, who recently announced its intention to join the Big East Conference in 2012, may be left holding the bag for several years. TCU joined the Big East, in part, as an effort to improve its status for Bowl Championship Series bowl games and greater access to an opportunity to play for the BCS National Championship. With the exodus of Syracuse and Pittsburgh, in addition to rumors swirling about a possible departure by the University of Connecticut, the Big East appears to be following a similar road as the Big XII: major-conference extinction.

The super-sized expansions of the Pac-12, Big Ten, ACC, and SEC are setting up the stage for a college football world with four super conferences and a playoff system revolving around those conferences. The NCAA appears to have zero say-so or influence on conference affiliation. It has made no effort, whatsoever, to set up a college football playoff system and has elected to allow the bowl system and the media to dictate an unofficial champion of its most popular sport. If the NCAA has so little influence or concern about the structure and postseason of its member schools in football, then what, exactly, do these four super conferences need the NCAA for?

Like I said, TCU may be left holding the bag. 2

PEACE OUT

The NCAA has drowned its member institutions with rules, regulations, sanctions, and probation for every possible misstep imaginable, and some that one could not have imagined before reading about it in the news. I would wager that the organizing body is very unpopular among college football fans and that major college football program institutions would prefer the absense of an environment in which non-compliance is an inevitability, considering the number of people, directly and indirectly, connected to a big-time college football program.

This thought crossed my mind last year when the first wave of conference musical chairs, involving TCU, Utah (Pac-12), and Nebraska (Big Ten) began last year and has only been reinforced by some of the recent speculation I have heard on sports talk radio: Once the super conferences are formed and finalized, those members’ football programs will secede from the NCAA and form their own body, their own rules, and their own playoff system in football.

Ten years ago, such an idea would be inconceivable, to the point of laughter. As it stands, the NCAA has neutered itself in football to the point where member institutions are unilaterally deciding membership alignment. I think, barring an intervention or compromise, that it is only a matter of time before the NCAA is plucked from the affairs of major football programs. Once that happens, what is to stop those institutions from doing the same with their revenue-neutral and loss-leading sports such as basketball, baseball, and track?

I am sure this could make an interesting historical attraction one day. 4

I TOLD YOU SO

The NCAA has come under fire for decades for failing to take steps to draw a fair and definitive conclusion to its college football season for major programs. The conference shuffling of heavy hitting, major schools, is the beginning of a massive power shift in college football from a confederation of major conferences, mid-major conferences, bowl committees, and the BCS to four super conferences possessing the lion’s share of the decision making in college football.

The NCAA deflected, rationalized, and compromised on a means of deciding a champion in college football while being heavy handed with institutions failing to dot “I”s and cross “T”s properly. If it does not act very quickly, decisively, and in a manner that is friendly and accommodating to member schools and fans, its day of reckoning will come sooner than later. The NCAA could be on a road to becoming part of the past of major college football and possibly the past of major college sports altogether.

I wonder how Mr. Finebaum really feels. I doubt he's alone. 3

Don't forget to vote in the fan polls!

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Must See Sports - Second Weekend of March, 2011

Have you ever wanted to witness a special milestone? Today is your luck day, then! This is the 100th edition of The Daily Hat Trick. Thank you so much - each and every one of you - for reading and making my one time collection of rants into something that dozens of people around the world, apparently, consider worth their time to read every day. With your continued support, that figure will be "hundreds" in the near future. Thank you. Thank you.

Without delay, here are this week's "Must See" events.

Thursday, March 10


Los Angeles Lakers at Miami Heat

Folks, I do not think I need to do much explaining about why this game is “Must See” and important. Unless you are just a causal fan of the NBA, you know that the Heat need a win…any win…in the worst way and a win over the blazing hot Lakers could be a regular season defining moment for the Heatles. I just don’t see that happening.

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. Relax, the crying will continue! 1

Ordinarily, if you have followed “Must See” on The Daily Hat Trick for any extended period of time, you know that I try to give a little background on the teams and some key players and any statistics that stand out. Do I really need to talk about who the key players are for the Lakers (Kobe, Pau, and Lamar) and Heat (LeBron, Wade, and Bosh)? No. Do I need to tell you that the Lakers need every single win they can get to get a grip on the #2 seed in the West and keep their razor thin hopes of catching the Spurs alive? No. Do I need to tell you that the Heat are in the midst of a terrible, and highly publicized, tailspin, threatening to derail everything they have worked for this season, with no losing teams in sight on their schedule to stop the bleeding? No.

Advantage: Lakers


Friday, March 11

Let’s just hope the officials that called the Rutgers-St. John’s game are not involved in any future Big East Tournament games (or hope that the games are not close). The following are my best guesses as to who may advance in the tournament by Friday and Saturday and are not worth the paper you could print them on. Regardless, if you like college basketball, I think you will be very entertained by the final rounds of this conference’s tournament, regardless of the participants.


NCAA Men’s College Basketball
Big East Championship Tournament - Semifinals

Hat Trick Probables:
Pittsburgh Panthers (1) vs St. John’s Red Storm (5)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2) vs Louisville Cardinals (3)

EVENING UPDATE (10:00 pm 3/10/11) - Syracuse Orange (4) vs Connecticut Huskies (9) - So apparently it is a good thing you did not listen to me. Kemba Walker of Connecticut had ice in his veins, draining a clutch, game winning basket in the final seconds and Syracuse was able to out physical and outlast the Red Storm. Connecticut's win would be "shocking" to me were it not for the fact that this is the Big East. Those of you that read regularly have heard me ramp up my observation of the unpredictability of this powerful and talented conference. Today's upset by UConn over Pitt is a continuation of that unpredictability. My gut tells me that UConn coach Jim Calhoun and Walker have the hot hand and Syracuse...I never know which Orange team is going to show up. Don't bet the farm (or even a patch of grass on the farm) on this one.

Advantage: Connecticut

Saturday, March 12

Listening to me could be a bad idea if you associate with tools like this guy. 3

I am not a gambler, nor do I play one on TV. If I did place wagers, though, I would lean in the following directions.

NCAA Men’s College Basketball
Big East Championship Tournament – Championship Game

Hat Trick Probables:
Pittsburgh Panthers (1) vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2)

Advantage: Pittsburgh

UPDATED PROBABLES:
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2) vs Connecticut Huskies (9)


Connecticut's carriage turns back into a pumpkin and the Irish stake their claim to a #1 regional seed in the Big Dance.

Advantage: Notre Dame

Sunday, March 13

As I said, my predictions are worth the paper you can print it on, but I don’t think I am making headlines by expecting Duke and UNC to be in the championship. Assuming that this third meeting between these two teams happens, put this in BOLD PRINT: “GAME OF THE YEAR”

“But Eric, didn’t you say that last Saturday’s Duke-Carolina game was the ACC regular season game of the year?” Absolutely…. This is post season; this is this biggest game, regardless of conference; as the season wears on, the stakes rise and there is possibly a #1 regional seed at stake, in addition to a conference tournament championship. How many marbles could be missing from this bag? The answer: none! This game is for all of the pre March Madness marbles.

2

NCAA Men’s College Basketball
ACC Championship Tournament – Championship Game

Hat Trick Probables:
North Carolina Tar Heels (1) vs Duke Blue Devils (2)

Advantage: push


Monday, March 14

San Antonio Spurs at Miami Heat

I am one of the people in the minority that, in general, is rooting for the Heat. My NBA fanhood, for the longest, has been 1) Hornets 2) Lakers and then the rest depends on who is facing whom. And I certainly do not want to see a Southwest Division rival of the Hornets win an interconference game. So I do not say it lightly when I say that the Heat appear to be going down in a ball of flames (pun intended) with zero relief coming from the schedule.

I will leave the door open for a possible Miami win on two fronts. The Heat are at home, not in San Antonio, where victories have been impossible for Eastern Conference teams this year. Also, conventional wisdom would dictate that guard Tony Parker returned from his calf injury at less than 100%, indicated by the number of minutes played in his first two games back. However, his performance against the Pistons last night would throw that assertion to the wind.

Advantage: Spurs

♪ Every-body hurts! ♫ 4

Orlando Magic at Los Angeles Lakers

The Magic have closed within striking distance of the Southeast Division leading Heat. Two weeks ago, this seemed all but impossible. However, thanks, in part, to Dwight Howard living up to his “Superman” moniker and, in part, to the Heat choking on their own press clippings, lately, Orlando has a chance to regain first place in its division.

I don’t think those chances will be helped much on Monday night, though. The Lakers, at the moment, appear to have tightened all of their loose ends and are playing like two time defending champions. They are also in the Staples Center for this match.

Advantage: Lakers

Good luck finding the Magic to charm this snake. 5

Wednesday, March 16

Oklahoma City Thunder at Miami Heat

I will not keep beating the dead horse about the Heat’s tailspin. In fact, I think this matchup may be their best opportunity to snap out of it. The Heat are at home. Thunder center Kendrick Perkins has yet to suit up for OKC, missing the last seven games with a knee injury. The Heat are weakest in the middle and, whether Perk plays or not, they will not face the force they would face if Perkins were completely healthy right now. The Thunder are a good team, but can be beaten, even on their best night. The Heat have to snap out of it at some point. Distractions or no distractions, The Heatles are simply too talented to keep losing indefinitely.

Advantage: Heat

Thank you for a great first hundred editions!

Don't forget to vote in the fan polls!


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Even the BCS Can't Smoke a Cuban

Do you like sports (probably so if you are reading this Pulitzer worthy material)? Do you enjoy following a sport all the way through the end of a season? Do you like to know who the champion of a sport is? Do you like college football? Were I on the radio, this would be the point at which you would hear the giant needle scratch and the music coming to a sudden halt. There is no champion of college football.

Sure, there are bowl games. There are multiple media polls, ranking the top 25 teams in FBS college football at the conclusion of each season. There has been a Bowl Alliance, a Bowl Coalition, and, of course, the ever-so-popular Bowl Championship Series, or BCS. However, there is no NCAA Championship in Football Bowl Subdivision (i.e. major schools) college football. It is a MYTH!

The end result is that politics, relationships, and business heavyweights in media and sports sponsorships ultimately decide who can and cannot have a seat at the dinner table in Club BCS. In 1984, Brigham Young University, quarterbacked by Heisman Trophy finalist Robbie Bosco and coached by the legendary Lavell Edwards, won the mythical consensus National Championship (Associated Press Poll and United Press International Poll). Proponents of the BCS view the arrangement as progress. Yet the 1984 BYU Cougars, under a BCS-like arrangement, may have never had an opportunity to be considered for the BCS Championship because of its membership, at that time, in the non-automatic-qualifying Western Athletic Conference.

Since 1984, schools such as Tulane, Utah, Texas Christian University, Boise State, and Auburn (member of a BCS conference) have posted perfect records (more than once, in some cases) yet never had an opportunity to play in any the mythical championship games. College football fans should consider this to be unacceptable! We watch, we attend games, we follow our schools, many of us follow other schools with compelling stories, and we get shafted with this corporately orchestrated production at the conclusion of each season. We deserve more.

Enter Mark Cuban

I have been an outspoken critic of billionaire Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. I perceive him as egotistical, inwardly focused, obnoxious, and megalomaniacal new money, having earned a fortune, and cashing out in time, during the dot com 1990s. I think he gets too involved in the day-to-day basketball operations of his team. I think words come out of his mouth far too often during games while he is seated courtside, instead of in an owner's box. I think that Mark Cuban is EXACTLY what college football fans need.

They should have never given this dude money. 3

For all of my criticism of Cuban, 52, there is little doubt that he is a smart businessman who knows how to take care of the people that work for him and give the fans a superior quality sports entertainment product. He is a visionary. In other words, he knows how to give people what they want for the purpose of achieving his desired ends.

Yesterday, Cuban stated, during a sports radio interview on the Dan Patrick Show, that he would invest his personal fortune into creating a playoff system in NCAA FBS football and eliminating the current BCS system. There is a fine line between madness and brilliance. Getting on nationally syndicated radio and stating that you single handedly plan to dismantle an institution that has controlled college football's postseason with hundreds of billions of payout dollars to conferences for over a decade, in spite of being very unpopular with fans, may sound like madness. When you are a relatively young billionaire with a proven track record of success, often through unconventional means, it may be brilliant.

Show Me The MONEY!!!!

I do not pretend to know the finer details and politics of sporting event financing. I have written, helped produce, and sold media. At the end of the day, the message is always...ALWAYS, "Get the money!" GET THE MONEY. Guess what? Mark Cuban has the money to make more money. The BCS pays out approximately $110 million to athletic conferences and universities for participating in a BCS bowl. 1 

Cuban has guys like this shaking in their boots. 4

Having a net worth of $2.3 billion 2, Cuban has the resources to fund the BCS payouts himself, possibly with his Christmas money. I am also quite confident that Cuban is well acquainted with other super-wealthy individuals. I have little doubt that Cuban, between his own wealth and his contacts, is capable of arranging the financing necessary to lure the six major conferences (SEC, ACC, Big East, Big XII, Pac-12, and Big 10, which also has 12 teams - that's logical) away from the fascist BCS. The mid major conferences need little inducement to follow and its member universities may all award an honorary doctorate to Cuban should he succeed in his mission.   

Cash is King; Television Is It's Prince

Tickets sales and other stadium revenue are an important source of income for universities. However, the power brokers, the conferences, the NCAA, as well as university athletic departments, earn their bread an butter through the media, particularly television. I have read countless estimates of the amount of annual television revenue projected to be generated should college football implement a playoff system, upwards of $1 billion. Cuban and any investors he should choose to embark on his playoff mission need to reduce the risk and increase the profit potential for conferences and television networks.

If you buy into my premise that people want a playoff system in college football and do not like the current BCS system, then it follows that more people will support a playoff system (TV viewing, tickets sales, travel, etc.). If there is greater demand for a playoff system, then advertisers and sponsors will pay more to have placement in the playoff events. If sponsors will pay more for placement, then television networks will pay more for broadcasting rights for a playoff system. If there is more revenue available from broadcasting rights, then Cuban, et. al. can afford to invest more in payout money than the BCS currently offers to its member conferences. The details may be complicated, but the numbers are fairly simple. Cuban can make this happen, financially.

Common sense Always Wins in the Long Run

A true playoff system in college football: the fans want it; the coaches want it; the players want it. So why has it not happened? The decades-long legacy of the fragmented political structure of major college football is a perverse system in which the whole is equal to less than the sum of the parts. What does that mean, exactly? Each of the individual power brokers - the BCS itself, the bowl committees, the athletic conferences, and individual universities - have a good, profitable arrangement in place. To date, not enough of those power brokers have received enough inducements to offset the risk of scrapping the current system. Make no mistake; the BCS, as it is, is a gravy train for the BCS conferences and all of the other stakeholders in the BCS. And the axiom, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." is the gospel truth to these entities. It will take cold, hard cash, a bunch of it, to encourage the necessary stakeholders to act.

Cuban has the vision. Cuban can arrange the cash. Cuban has the people that make college football's profitability possible, the fans, on his side. The BCS is on borrowed time. Cuban may emerge as the ultimate "BCS Buster". Good luck, BCS. Because in America, it is very difficult to smoke a Cuban.

Don't forget to vote in today's fan poll!

Getcha popcorn ready! 5

1) Source: collegefootballpoll.com
2) Source Forbes.com: April, 2010
3) Image from cncpal.com
4) Image from orangejuiceblog.com
5) Image from thenextweb.com