Fanhood Fued - Favre, the BCS, and Lakers vs Celtics

The Daily Hat Trick has been giving you the breakdown on the different cliques of sports fan all month long. The fanhoods that we will look at today have been around a long time. For most sports fans, there is very little middle ground on these topics. These are values to sports fans. The factions are as much a part of a sports fans' identity as "Democrat" or "Republican" are a part of the identity of a politician. This week, we look at Brett Favre Apologists vs Brett Favre Exhaustees, Pro-BCS vs Pro-Playoffs in college football, and the 1980s Lakers Fan vs 1980s Celtics Fan.

Brett Favre Apologists vs Brett Favre Exhaustees

If you ever want to get a conversation started with a guy at a bar, there is not much lower hanging fruit than all things Brett Favre. Love him or hate him, people will talk about him. The more passionate one is about sports, the closer one will lie to one of the far ends of a pole with a #4 football jersey on one end and a Brett Favre tombstone on the other.

Brett Favre apologists love all things Brett Favre. Rule number one is that the Ol' Gunslinger can do no wrong. Rule number two is that when the O.G. does something wrong, see rule number one. His annual ritual of announcing whether or not he will play the following season, which will be the eighth such edition in the 2011 offseason, is like Groundhog Day or the start of spring; no year is complete without it. The man just loves to have fun playing the game!

• His NFL record for interceptions thrown in a career? He's just a gunslinger; he's thrown the most touchdowns, too! It's a product of experience. 
• His move attempting to muscle the Packers into either sitting starter Aaron Rodgers just days before 2008 training camp or trading him to the arch rival Minnesota Vikings (which ultimately happened via a trade to the New York Jets)? Capitalism....
• Claiming to be "retired" until the day after 2009 training camp broke, then signing with the Minnesota Vikings? The spoils of having paid his dues....
• Having Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress pick him up from the airport? Leverage....The Jenn Sterger controversy? Just a man being a man, a victim of political correctness and a gold digging young woman....
• Brett Favre really DOES wear Wranglers! So do I and SO SHOULD YOU!

Brett: "Hey y'all. Watch this!"
Jenn: "Uhnnn uhmmm!" (that's supposed to be a "no" with an "uh oh" cadence).
1

Brett Favre Exhaustees are, as the name implies, exhausted from all things Brett Favre. Many a portable radio has been smashed, many a television has been thrown out of the window, and many a laptop has been broken in two from the never ending flow of inescapable, ubiquitous stock market ticker-like Brett Favre updates. He is careless with the football when the game is on the line and takes foolish, excessive risks that are not worth the rewards. He selfishly put the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers in a precarious, lose-lose position with Packer fans and the media. He is a drama queen with a greater appetite for attention than a teenage girl on MTV's "My Super Sweet 16". On top of that he is a perv, a married, near 40 year old man who was trying to diddle a 25 year old girl.

The Daily Hat Trick is: I love watching Brett Favre play. It reminds me of what is good and fun about the game. Regardless of whether you like him or not, there is no denying that he is a warrior, starting 297 consecutive games in a sport in which some of its biggest stars never play all 16 games in a season. He makes players around him better and he is a leader of men in the trenches. I do believe that it is finally time for Favre to hang it up after 2010, but it will be a sad day for me, personally, as a football fan, when the first season without Brett Favre kicks off.


I'm not saying Brett should have done it, but I UNDERSTAND! 2


Pro-BCS vs Pro-Playoffs in College Football

The BCS is the product of a series of efforts, dating back to 1992, to match up the top two teams in college football in a bowl game. The idea was that by getting the major conferences to agree to place its champions in specified bowl games, college football could produce an indisputable champion. This would eliminate the politics and controversies, such as split national championships, of media polls such as the Associated Press poll.

Nineteen seasons and two split national championships later (1997, 2003), the controversy has only grown. Issues such as the exclusion of schools from non automatic qualifying BCS conferences (or "mid-major" conferences) have only fanned the flames of disagreement among college football fans and journalists. Proponents of a tournament-style playoff system have grown louder and have increasingly gained public support over the years. Recently, billionaire Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA, announced that he would attempt to finance a playoff system in college football, once and for all, to settle the matter and produce one true champion of college football each year.

The pro-BCS faction loves the tradition of bowl games. The holidays are not the same without getting comfortable on the couch or in the recliner with a stiff cocktail or a cold beer, tuning out the chatter of children and family, and watching bowl game after (meaningless) bowl game. There cannot be enough college football on television in December and early January. They also believe in tradition. Fix the BCS system, but do not scrap the beloved bowls. Otherwise, many men may actually have to listen to what their visiting relatives have to say.

The BCS: At least it is responsible for the "FUSC" fad. 4

The pro-Playoff faction is sick of the politics of the BCS and its predecessors and the media polls deciding a game that is played by athletes on the field. There is an NCAA tournament in basketball and a College World Series. Football Championship Subdivision (smaller, less competitive) schools have a playoff system. How can the NCAA fail to provide a fitting conclusion for its most popular sport? If we can put a man on the moon, then we can find a more fair and equitable way to crown a champion in college football. Too many individual entities with too much to lose are ruining college football for everyone.

The Daily Hat Trick is: C'mon man! Show me one person, not a broker of power in the current college football system, who does not want some type of playoff system and I will show you a contrary person or someone who would have resisted the transitions from leather helmets with no face mask and someone who thinks the use of instant replay is a bad idea. I am probably describing someone who would like to bring "tear away" half-cut jerseys from the 1980s back to the college game. The lack of a playoff system in college football causes my level of interest to plummet drastically after my school, Louisiana State University, is eliminated from the hunt. Like most schools, the end is usually apparent in November, creating a 6 to 8 week "lame duck" period of sorts for most college football fans.

Pro-BCS people probably think college football should return to the look of "The Boz" 3

Lakers Fan vs Celtics Fan - Circa 1980s

In my opinion, this was the greatest rivalry in sports during the 1980s. The intensity, theater, and sportsmanship of this (what felt like almost an) annual clash of all time greats for supremacy on the hardwood is largely responsible for the soaring popularity of the National Basketball Association today. Larry Bird versus Magic Johnson...Kareem Abdul-Jabbar posting up Robert Parish...Kevin McHale and James Worthy playing the role of "X factor"...this was what symbolized the true golden age of NBA basketball.

Magic vs Bird in the 1979 NCAA Championship Game: Timeless 6

Lakers Fan came in two varieties - the glamor fan and the urban fan. The glamor fan either lived the glitzy, decadent L.A. lifestyle associated with the excesses of the 1980s or wanted to live as such. The urban fan looked at Magic and company as new era basketball players who played the game the way they did at the playground...and won! Either way, this fan set the early weeks in June for Showtime in the NBA Finals. They loved the fast-break, no look passes from Magic. They never ceased to be amazed by Kareem's sky hooks. Jack Nicholson's place, on game nights, was courtside.

Timeless 5

Celtics Fan was or closely related to the blue-collar middle American. This fan group spoke often of (lame and boring) "fundamentals" and "team play" (I am sure you know where my fanhood is already). Larry Bird's face could be Photoshopped in place over that of Jesus and many a Celtics fan would be none the wiser. They hi-fived every time Larry Bird hit one of his (then) team record 71 consecutive free throws. The sharpshooting, fundamentally sound dribbling and passing style of Bird and his teammates endeared Celtics fans all around the country.

The Daily Hat Trick is: Lakers all the way. Football is my favorite sport, but basketball was my first love and the Bird-Magic rivalry is reason number one why I loved basketball as a small child and love following the sport today. I was a Lakers fan. Magic was eye-popping and Kareem's consistency and quiet dominance was inspirational. Growing up, I hated Bird and the Celtics, but, upon reflection years later, no contest is as fun as it can be without a villain. Bird and his era of Celtics are as much a part of the fabric of my personal enjoyment of sports at this time as the Lakers were. The game became premium sporting entertainment because of them. The Lakers and Celtics of the 1980s are missed. 

Timeless 7

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2) Image from cbsnews.com
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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

Fire Brian Kelly Tonight!

Terminating the employment of any person from any job at any business for any reason is a serious situation. Firing a fast food worker, earning minimum wage, is not a matter that the operators of the business should take lightly. There are always costs.

If the person being let go is being fired for cause, there is already some net loss, short term or long term, the business has incurred due to the deficient performance of the employee which, directly or indirectly, can be tied to a dollar amount. If the person is terminating employment, voluntarily or involuntarily,and will be replaced, the business will incur the costs of recruiting, hiring, and training the replacement. If that person is being laid off due to economic constraints, a business is losing a qualified employee, an asset, production capacity, and is placing economic turmoil on that person, his or her family, and the economy as a whole.

Those costs are applicable for any person being terminated, even a person earning less than $8.00 per hour. When the person being considered for termination is being paid over a million dollars per year, and the costs to terminate that individual could total several million dollars, it is a decision that should be taken extremely seriously. There will be very substantial costs to the organization making that decision. Terminations should never, ever, be made prior to serious consideration of the impact and evaluation of the circumstances leading to such a decision. With that being said, I would like to make this suggestion to the Athletic Department at University of Notre Dame: FIRE BRIAN KELLY TONIGHT!!! 

As almost all savvy followers of sports, and many casual and non-followers, are aware, The University of Notre Dame endured a senseless tragedy when 20 year old student videographer Declan Sullivan was killed on the football practice field after the hydraulic lift he was on toppled over in winds in excess of 50 miles per hour on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 27, 2010. Notre Dame Head Football Coach Brian Kelly made a decision to hold practice outdoors, in spite of the high winds. Nobody prohibited Sullivan from getting on the lift and video recording practice.

As serious and potentially costly as a decision to fire a person as powerful and important as the head football coach at, arguably, the premiere institution in college football is, the Notre Dame football program will stand to gain by firing the head football coach. It is the proper ethical decision. Notre Dame will stand to gain in future recruiting efforts, as I believe Coach Kelly's credibility with parents, expecting the coach to care for and act in the best interests of their children, has been irreparably harmed. Due to the net gain in future recruiting talent by firing Coach Kelly, Notre Dame will enjoy a net gain in future revenue from its football program by maximizing its ability to compete and therefore maintaining the support of its fans, sponsors, and boosters.  

Coach Brain Kelly is ultimately responsible for this tragedy. Coach Kelly is the CEO of the Notre Dame football program. What he says goes. There are a number of individuals under Coach Kelly who could have also prohibited Declan Sullivan from boarding the lift. While I do not know whether or not someone under Coach Kelly suggested that the lift not be used to record practice, I do know that Coach Kelly chose to conduct practice outside, in very windy conditions, and should have been aware that the videographer, recording while on the lift, would be in extreme danger. The buck stops with Coach Kelly.

I personally believe that the danger of the tropical-storm-like wind conditions were ignored by Coach Kelly and those below him. Major college football programs are in an extremely competitive environment in a game that is often decided by inches. I think that, without the benefit of hindsight, the possibility of the lift tower crashing was not considered or thought of as very unlikely and Coach Kelly and others thought that the benefit of video recording practice outweighed what were thought to be minuscule risks.

The negligence demonstrated by Coach Kelly and his staff was egregious. The windy weather, in and of itself, was accompanied by danger for anyone who was simply outside. Living in Louisiana and having endured dozens of tropical storms and hurricanes, I would like to offer the following news flash to Coach Kelly: wind at the velocity experienced last Wednesday at Notre Dame is capable of picking up objects. Those objects are MISSILES. Missiles can injure and possibly KILL people.

Second, I do not believe, for one minute, that nobody noticed that there was a young man being lifted high into the air, starting with the lift operator. I do not believe, for one minute, that the thought never occurred to anyone, other than Declan Sullivan, that there could be life-threatening danger for anyone on the lift (or on the ground near the lift). Sullivan expressed reservations and then fear, through his Twitter account, of doing his job in what would turn out to be fatal weather conditions.

Finally, I do not believe, for one minute, that Sullivan believed he had any choice but to execute his job duties until relieved. The position that Sullivan held is the opportunity of a lifetime for any college student, especially a film student like Sullivan. The Coach of the Notre Dame football team is larger than life. The coach uses practice video to do his (seven figure) job. If Sullivan would not get on to the lift, Coach Kelly could find a replacement willing to do so, next time, as easily as blowing his nose. In addition, Sullivan was a student and an adult (a full-grown, mature, responsible adult) should have been supervising any endeavor involving heavy machinery and heights that are potentially lethal in the event of an accident. For Declan Sullivan to have spoken up, alone, and refused to record the practice would have been tantamount to risking being dismissed from a dream job that could help launch his future.

Notre Dame has some fundamental interests that it will protect by firing Coach Brian Kelly. The football program, the most storied in all of college sports, has a pristine reputation to maintain. Coaches that are so hyper-competitive that they would sacrifice the life of a student in exchange for not missing any practice footage do not fit that reputation. The football program is a reflection of Notre Dame as an institution and one of its most powerful marketing tools. Notre Dame's action or inaction in response to this tragedy will frame its image in the future. Finally, as cold as it may sound, but is nonetheless relevant, Notre Dame may be able to mitigate some of its inevitable legal liability in this tragedy by taking immediate steps to demonstrate a response to Sullivan's death that will punish the poor judgment leading to the accident and help prevent a senseless loss of a young life from this type of negligence from ever happening again.

Coach Kelly will carry a stain from this incident for the remainder of his coach career. That bell cannot be un-rung. Kelly is an offensive mastermind at the college level, by the accounts of many, and has enjoyed success at every stop he has made in his coaching career. However, he is not the only uber-talented up and coming coach. His stain from this dark incident in the annals of Notre Dame football history taint his legacy and, in my opinion, make the next rising star in the college coaching world more valuable to Notre Dame than Kelly. And here is another news flash: plenty of very talented coaches would line up and dive in to the Notre Dame Football Head Coaching position faster than one can say, "FIRE BRIAN KELLY TONIGHT!"

1990-2010

     Image from foxsports.com

Reggie Bush is NOT Kunte Kinte

This is a stand-up triple for Jason Whitlock as, once again, I find myself either really agreeing or really disagreeing with him. (Click here to read Whitlock's article)

I only differ with him in that, Bush made it to the North. He posted a picture of his Super Bowl ring to his Facebook page and there are at least 130 "likes" and about 50 comments of encouragement. Who cares WHAT they do at USC?

They gave his Heisman back...so what? Reggie still shines up his Heisman when he gets home and if The Heisman trust has the gall to ask for the trophy back, to quote Tony Soprano, "You send a couple of guys to my house...see how that works out!"

At the end of the day, we all know who won the Heisman in 2005, we all know USC won the BCS in '04, Reggie has a REAL (not a mythical) championship ring, he's rich, he's got paid in college, he's going to continue to get paid, and the only party suffering, at any tangible level, is USC with its bowl ban and lost scholarships.

So, no, Reggie is not Kunte Kinte. He's the one that got away!