A Nebraska 30 for 30? Careful What You Wish For

Over the last few years, Nebraska fans have been asking for ESPN to produce a “30 for 30” documentary on the “glory years” Nebraska teams of the mid 1990s.  I lost track of how many times I saw this idea come up on radio shows, message boards, or Twitter.  Finally, those requests have been heard as a film covering the 1994 and 1995 teams is being created.

Just be careful of what you’re wishing for, Husker fans…

On the surface, I understand the appeal.  The majority of 30 for 30 films are excellent.  They provide a great insight into people, places, and moments in time that make up the sporting landscape.  The unprecedented success of Nebraska between 1993 and 1997 (three national championships, with a missed field goal and a team wide flu outbreak standing in the way of five titles in a row) is certainly a memorable time for many college football fans.

What if I told you…

Then there are a personalities from that era:  the consummate winner Tommie Frazier, the beloved backup Brook Berringer, the passionate leadership of Grant Wistrom and Jason Peter, the hard-working in-state walk ons, the list goes on.  And never forget legendary coach Tom Osborne transforming from the guy who couldn’t win the big one to one of the greatest coaches in college football history.

In the eyes of some fans, the documentary would (if not should) be a 90 minute love fest for all things Nebraska.  It would be like those silly hype videos K-State used to produce after they beat Nebraska – just with better production values.

But that assumption is wrong.

There is no drama or national interest in exploring why NU’s walk-on program and a large crop of in-state players were a vital part of that run.  Any discussion of how the 1995 team shut up Steve Spurrier and the ESPN talking heads would probably be left on the digital editing equivalent of the cutting room floor.  Yes, the 1995 team is likely the greatest team of all time, but don’t expect to watch a highlight video.

Instead, a Nebraska 30 for 30 will likely focus on the things that darken that period.  Lawrence Phillips.  Christian Peter.  Tyronne Williams.  Riley Washington.  The tension between Tommie and Brook.  Tom Osborne becoming a “win at all costs” coach.  CBS reporter Bernard Goldberg.  Scott Frost campaigning for a title after Osborne’s retirement.  Where Scott Frost was rumored to be the night Phillips was arrested.  The decline of the program after Osborne left.  Who knows what other skeletons and whispered rumors may come to life that would cast a permanent shadow over an era that Nebraska fans consider sacred?

In 2014, BTN produced “Unbeaten: The Life of Brook Berringer“, a beautiful and moving documentary on the life and playing career of Brook Berringer.  I’m guessing that film inspired a lot of the desire for a 30 for 30 film.

Best case scenario, the documentary is made by a film maker with Nebraska ties or who bleeds Big Red.  The film is a 90 minute highlight reel of the championship teams, with little to no mention on the player arrests during the championship run, and fades to black as Tom and Nancy Osborne walk out of Memorial Stadium the day after the 1998 Orange Bowl.  But do you really think ESPN would make that movie – let alone air it?  I don’t buy into the perception of an ESPN bias against Nebraska, but that film probably goes straight to the Watch ESPN app.

More realistically, expect a 30 for 30 on the 1994 and 1995 Nebraska Cornhusker teams to open with the embarrassing losses to Miami and Georgia Tech, and Osborne’s realization that he needed more speed – especially on defense.  Nebraska gets those players – by taking advantage of Prop 48 rules and taking guys with questionable character.  The film likely spends a chunk of time on Phillips and Osborne’s decision to reinstate him while trotting out the old narrative that Osborne was focused more on winning than helping a troubled kid.  The arrest records of other Husker players are discussed, possibly with more information coming to light on how things were swept under the rug.  Who knows what other skeletons will be found in the closet when people go in with bright lights and high def cameras?

Remember:  a lot has changed in the last 20 years.  The influence of Osborne and the football program – both within the University and in Lincoln – no longer exists in college football.  Crimes by athletes, especially those against women, are handled differently – and usually much harsher – than they used to be.  Things that we accepted as a price of success in 1995 may seem outrageous in today’s climate.  The average viewer is likely to come away from the film thinking “Wow, Nebraska was a great program – but at what cost?”

Will you and I watch it?  Absolutely.  Heck, ESPN will probably never have better ratings in the state of Nebraska then when this thing airs.  Will some fans be upset or disappointed by it?  I’d bet on it.  Will it be a good reflection of Osborne, the program, the University, and an era that fans consider sacred?  Your guess is as good as mine.

Bottom line:  You asked for a 30 for 30, and you’re getting one.  I just hope you know what you asked for.

Dear ESPN, Nebraska should NOT return to the Big XII

On Wednesday, Oklahoma’s president said the Big XII “should strive for” a 12-team league.  Since it is the end of June, when you’re more likely to see snowflakes than college football news*, several outlets pounced on the story and began speculation on who teams XI and XII might be.

*Or at least, college football news outside of recruiting and arrests.  Those two topics know no off-season.

One of those pieces came from ESPN’s Jake Trotter, who broke down 12 possible additions from most likely (BYU, Memphis, Boise State, Cincinnati, etc.), less likely (Florida State and Clemson, or other defectors from a Power 5 conference), down to the least likely:  Nebraska.

You’re reading that correctly:  somebody at the Worldwide Leader made a case for Nebraska going back to the Big XII.

Now, before I rip his rationale to shreds, it is worth mentioning in Trotter’s defense that he considers North Dakota State* – a current member of the FCS – a much more likely addition than Nebraska.  Whether or not this improves Trotter’s credibility is up to you.

*Be sure to give Trotter credit for this spectacular factoid about the Bison:  “They actually have as many wins against the Big 12 as Kansas does in the last five years.”  

But let’s face it:  at best, suggesting Nebraska as a “new” member of the Big XII is an ignorant pipe dream.  At worst, it’s click-bait trolling.

So where is Trotter wrong in his assessment?  Let’s go line by line.  Trotter’s words are in bold.  My responses are not.

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Put a truth serum in many Nebraska fans, and they would probably admit their realignment to the Big Ten hasn’t been what they hoped it would be.

Okay – so Trotter actually comes out of the gate with an ugly truth.  I think there are many of us who expected an easier time than a combined 22-10 conference (counting the 2012 championship game) in football and expected dominance in other sports (i.e. baseball) has not materialized.  There are lots are reasons for this, but that is an entirely separate discussion.  But four seasons is a little quick for buyer’s remorse.

Also, it’s worth remembering that in my “State of the Husker Nation” poll last November, 58% of the nearly 6,000 respondents said the decision to join the Big Ten was not a mistake.  Only 18.5% said it was a mistake.

The Huskers have fallen into second-tier status in the Big Ten.

 

Agree to disagree here.  Yes, the NU brand is not as shiny as it was in the inaugural Big Ten season of 2011 (again, an entirely separate discussion).  But to say NU is second-tier is ludicrous.

B1G tiers off the top of my head:

Top-Tier

1. Ohio State.  The class of the conference.
2. Michigan.  Even after Rich Rod and Hoke, the Wolverines are a top-tier program.  Period.
3. Michigan State.  If you got that truth serum back out, how many Husker fans probably would trade straight up for MSU’s roster, coaches, and especially their recent success?
4. Nebraska.  Yes, Wisconsin has owned Nebraska, but I cannot (will not?) say the Badgers are the better program.
5. Wisconsin.  A top-tier program in any Power 5 conference.

Second-Tier

1. Penn State.  If not for the sanctions (and the tarnish to Paterno’s legacy), they are securely in the top-tier – and they may get back there soon.
2. Iowa.  The case could be made that Nebraska joining the Big Ten helped to knock the Hawkeyes to second-tier status.
3. Minnesota.  They’ve crept out of the dregs.
4. Northwestern.  At serious risk of falling out of the second-tier.

Bottom of the Barrel

1. Maryland.  Need to prove something to earn a promotion to second-tier, but they’re close.
2. Illinois.  Like Missouri in the 1980s and 90s – the potential is there.  The plan is not.
3. Indiana.  Is it basketball season yet?
4. Purdue.  Look!  We have a big drum!
5. Rutgers.  Still a head-scratching decision by Jim Delany.  You know you would mock to the Big XII if they took a school of Rutgers’ caliber.

They’re in the division opposite Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State, which reduces their number of marquee games.

Two things here:  1) Before the additional of Maryland and Rutgers, Nebraska was in the same division as Michigan and played an annual crossover game with Penn State.  Yes, the new geographic divisions have the marquee schools in the East, but remember:  2) In the old Big XII North, the marquee teams (Oklahoma, Texas, A&M) were in the opposite division.

Nebraska once played one of college football’s most storied rivalry games against Oklahoma. Today, Nebraska’s big rival is Iowa, which barely moves the needle in Lincoln, much less the rest of the country.

“Once” is the key word here.  For me, the NU-OU rivalry officially ended in the second year of the Big XII play – 1997 – when the two storied programs played their final annual contest before moving to the “play two years, take two years off” format that all North and South schools shared.  Had NU-OU remained an annual game (which was something OU did not want, by the way), I firmly believe it is much more difficult for NU to leave the XII in the first place.

As for Iowa, Trotter is correct that the game barely moves the needle in Lincoln.  But, surely Trotter would agree that it takes more than four seasons to build a strong rivalry (even if it does come with a generic, nondescript trophy sponsored by a grocery store).  Give the Iowa series a little more time before we declare it a dud – even if I believe that the Wisconsin game will likely surpass Iowa as NU’s hated rival.

Nebraska left the Big 12 primarily over its frustrations with the leadership at Texas.

That is a very oversimplified (if not completely inaccurate) statement.

If you were to ask me why NU left, Texas’s leadership doesn’t make the top three:

1. Nebraska needed stability, and Texas (among others) were not looking to commit to the Big XII.  Back in 2010 the conference was a sinking ship and every school was racing for the lifeboats.  Texas had a life yacht, but had not interest in sharing it with others.
2. The Big XII lacked leadership.  Dan Beebe was a bad commissioner who did little to strengthen the league or build unity.  (A cynic might note that the new leadership at Texas is a veiled reference to new conference commissioner Bob Bowlsby).
3. Money.  Nebraska had the opportunity to make more money in the Big Ten than the Big XII.

But since Nebraska’s exit, the Longhorns have hired a president, a new athletic director and a new football coach.

So?  That pompous jerk  you hated in high school may have a new wife, a new job, and a new house, but the odds say he’s still a ______ that you don’t want to associate with.  Is the implication here that since Nebraska struggled to beat Mack Brown teams, they should come back and take a shot at Charlie Strong’s squads?

If the Huskers completely soured on their Big Ten experience, maybe they would be open to reconciliation.

What would have to happen for NU to “completely sour” on the Big Ten?

Let’s say Jim Delaney retires and is replaced by Dan Beebe 2.0.  Ohio State assumes the role of Texas, leading coalitions to block any idea, policy, or rule that Nebraska supports.  The rest of the Big Ten West starts giving Nebraska the same beat downs as Wisconsin.  All Husker games are locked into an 11 am kickoff on BTN.  Would that be enough to make NU look elsewhere?

Personally, I think that even if NU’s B1G adventure went to hell, Nebraska would stick it out for two reasons:  1) Pride, and 2) the check Big Ten schools will get from the next TV rights deal.

One thing is for sure: The Big 12 would welcome them back with open arms.

Oh Jake.  Remember how you started strong?  You could not be more wrong here.

Intentionally or not, Nebraska (and Husker fans) burned a lot of bridges on their way out the door in 2010.  Do you think it is a coincidence that no Big XII team has scheduled Nebraska in football or basketball since NU left?  I can’t find a link, but I remember reading that Nebraska has called Big XII schools looking for basketball games, and has been refused by all.

You could make an argument that the only folks in the Big XII land who would truly welcome Nebraska back would be the hoteliers, restaurant owners, and barkeeps in Ames, Manhattan, Lawrence, and other Big XII towns.

Otherwise?  The only open arms Nebraska might see would be from a spurned rival preparing to put a “kick me” sign on NU’s back during a feigned embrace.

 

Intentional Ingestion (i)

In a perfect world, people would think twice about the garbage they willingly allow into their bodies.

There are two segments* of the population that willingly ingest some of the most toxic garbage on earth:

Cigarette smokers and cable news viewers.

*Okay, there are more than two segments of the public who put crap in their bodies day in and day out – notably, an obese elephant of a third group taking in a sizable serving of sewage through GMOs, drive thru windows, and other partially hydrogenated pre-processed crap.  But, let’s just say that I am in no place to criticize the dietary habits of my fellow Americans, so I’ll selfishly choose to focus on the two groups I identified  My blog, my rules!

I struggle to understand why anybody born after, say 1990 (if not earlier) would start smoking.  The addictive nature of nicotine and the multiple health risks associated with smoking have been widely accepted for over a generation.  Besides, with all of the clean air acts in place across the country, in many states it is impossible to find an indoor* public location where one can smoke.

*Want some anecdotal evidence of how addictive cigarettes are?  Check out the number of people outside smoking during the heart of winter when the wind chills are well below zero.  You can give me a song and dance about how you “like smoking”, want the social interaction of a cigarette break, or anything else, but those answers are complete bull when it’s 10 below with a gusty north wind.  At that point, you are an addict.

As for the cable news junkies, I can understand wanting to hear national and international news delivered by somebody who shares your world view.  But I have little time for people who blindly assume what they hear on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News or others is the gospel truth.  Scholars can argue over when “journalistic integrity” ceased to exist on 24 hour news channels (it probably happened during some trumped-up “scandal”), but one should no longer assume that the content (and especially the commentary) you’re receiving from a 24 hour news network is fair or balanced.

In many ways, most cable news shows remind me of ESPN’s “First Take”:  two argumentative people rant and rave for an hour, passionately debating topics they probably don’t care about, all while displaying overblown emotional responses (“he’s the greatest of all time”, “she’s the worst person in the world”, feigned outrage, compassionate sadness, etc.)

In a perfect world, we would snuff out cigarettes and the windbag cable shout fests for our own good.

Also, in a perfect world, I would have the courtesy to post these A-Z updates in alphabetical order.  However, I’m a) not yet done with H, b) not wanting to fall farther behind, and c) not wanting to post six things on one day.  So I’m going out-of-order to keep things moving along.

My apologies if that triggers and OCD tendencies within you.  As I said above:  my blog, my rules.  You can always use the master list on my A-Z page and read the posts in alphabetical order.

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(Author’s note:  Wondering why there is a random letter in parentheses in the title of this post?  Not sure how this post corresponds to the daily letter in the April A to Z Challenge?  Like clicking on links?  These questions are all answered here.)

Husker Hot Takes – 10/22/2014

A heaping helping of hot takes to get you through until Halloween…

Bo Pelini thinks the ESPN / SEC relationship is “bad for college football”.
I won’t argue Bo’s point, as it remains to be seen just how much ESPN’s love affair with the SEC impacts the game.  But I hate to see the coach give fuel to the message board conspiracy theorists who believe every announcer hates Nebraska, and ESPN disrespects the Big Ten and every other conference north or west of Columbia, MO.

Look:  You and I may sometimes forget it, but I guarantee that ESPN always knows the “E” in their name stands for “Entertainment”, not Ethics, Equality, or anything else.  ESPN wants viewers (which leads to higher cable fees and more ad dollars).  They get those viewers by promoting and talking about winning teams.  And right now, the SEC (as a whole) is widely viewed as a winning team.

This is nothing new.  Before their love affair with the SEC began, ESPN fawned all over USC.  And Texas.  And Boise State.  And other top programs before that.  As some of those teams have fallen on hard times, ESPN quickly moves on to the next big thing.  For the most part, this is decided as much by the results on the field as it is by any financial implications ESPN may see from a team or conference’s success.

Remember, ESPN has a big, big stake in Texas’s Longhorn Network, so if the “ESPN only promotes what they own” conspiracy were 100% true, we’d hear a lot more about Texas than we do.  But since Texas is 3-4, and is far from the dominant team they used to be, ESPN’s focus is elsewhere.

I realize all of this gets confusing when SportsCenter is passed off as a news program employing traditional journalism like you’d find on the evening news.  In reality, SportsCenter is little more than highlight packages and talking heads providing their own opinions (or, for the tin foil hat crowd, the opinions given to them by ESPN executives) under the branding of Coors Light, Lowe’s, or some new movie.  SportsCenter is a news program much like The Daily Show is a news program:  Some of the things they say may be news to you, but you’re going to get a heavy dose of opinion and commentary that is anything but impartial.  It’s up to you to determine what is factual and what is not.

As for Bo, he’s perfectly fine in his opinion, and I respect him for speaking his mind and reminding everyone that the SEC is closer to the rest of college football than some would have us believe.  Pelini can continue to do his part by repeating what his team did in January:  beating an SEC team in a bowl game.  That is what will sway the perceptions of the SEC’s dominance and the B1G’s ineptitude

Dougie McWildcat’s Appearance Angers Some Fans

Former Creighton standout Doug McDermott appeared in a video wearing a purple Northwestern shirt at the battle for NU.  McDermott said he .had taped the thing a couple of months ago, and was not aware that it would be shown during the Nebraska game.  He also said he was rooting for Nebraska in that game.  I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on both of these (even if I think he should have expected the video to be shown when Nebraska came to Evanston).

Personally,  I don’t really care if McBuckets wants to support Northwestern, Notre Dame, or North Dakota State.  He was born in Iowa, went to college at a school without a football team (insert Jaysker joke here, if you wish), and now lives and works in Chicago.  He is under no obligation to support Nebraska because he went to college within our borders.  If he wants to, great.  If not, I won’t lose sleep over it.

But as a fan of all* Husker teams (and not just the winning ones), I love that he appeared on-screen at the Nebraska game in Wildcat purple.  Let’s face it:  there are Nebraska football fans who root for Creighton instead of Nebraska basketball.  These folks have a variety of reasons for doing this (Creighton alums, Omaha residents, like a beer with their hoops, want to watch a winner, attracted to Jesuit sports, whatever) but those really aren’t important in this context.  My point is these fans exist, and their existence rubs some Husker fans the wrong way.

*Admittedly, “all” is an exaggeration.  While I do want all Husker teams to be successful, to say that I am a diehard cross country fan or longtime supporter of the swimming team would be a lie.  That said, I do actively support NU teams beyond football and men’s basketball (notably, baseball, volleyball, and women’s gymnastics) – even when they are not competing for championships.  For me, it’s more about supporting the team and the university more than it is about identifying myself as a fan of a successful team. 

By having McDermott appear at a Husker event, in the colors of a third school, the folks who root for Creighton and Nebraska had to be a little conflicted, and possibly feel a little awkward.  I like that.  I’ve never understood the idea of a la carte fandom, picking teams from different schools to fit my needs.  So I like that some of these people – call ’em “Jayskers” if you wish – may have been a little uncomfortable during that video.  Kudos to Northwestern for realizing that red + blue = purple.

Pelini Continues to Push for Recruiting Reforms
In addition to his previous suggestion to eliminate National Signing Day, Bo also wants schools to be able to pay for a parent to come along on their child’s visit.  I love Bo’s quote from Monday’s press conference:

“I look at it from a parent standpoint. If a 17, 18-year old kid, is getting ready to make a life-changing decision, his parents should be with him,” Pelini said. “Because most kids, there are a small percentage of kids who are ready to weed out and make their decisions for the right reasons, but you have a large majority of kids who aren’t ready to make that decision because they don’t know what’s important yet. They should have their parents with them. They should have their parents with them to say, ‘it’s not about the uniforms here, bud.’”

Yes, if you want to be cynical about it, Bo is pushing these reforms because he’s lost some talented recruits in part because Mama didn’t want them going so far away from home to play in the middle of a cornfield.  But what he is saying makes perfect sense.  Where you go to college is a big decision in a kid’s life – often the biggest decision an 18-year-old kid has made in his life.  Having Mom and Dad there to provide guidance and recognize the things that a school like NU can provide (tutoring, training facilities, mentoring, etc.) is huge.

Besides, as adidas has proved time and again, it is clearly not about the uniforms here, bud.

Back in Blackshirts
Tuesday afternoon, several members of the Nebraska defense took to the practice field as Blackshirts – the first time the coveted practice jerseys have been issued in 2014.  Not to take anything away from the strong defensive performance in the second half of the Northwestern game, but it sure seems like the timing had more to do with the increased questions about when (or if) the Blackshirts would be issued that popped up in the last week.

Personally, I’m not a fan of the Pelini method of issuing Blackshirts arbitrarily after a midseason game.  Call me a stodgy traditionalist if you must, but I believe the Blackshirts should be issued towards the end of fall camp every year, not in late October.  Period.  If they need to be yanked after an ugly performance, that’s fine, but I disagree with using them as a carrot that the team may or may not reach.

As for the number issued, I don’t have a problem with issuing more than eleven jerseys, especially if you have a handful of key contributors that technically don’t start (such as a nickel back or third down pass rusher).  But I don’t think you need to give the entire two-deep a Blackshirt either.

I’d like to see Pelini and Papuchis embrace the Blackshirts tradition more, and make it a more integral part of the team.  That said, you know NU is having a good season if the logistics of issuing Blackshirts is a topic of conversation.

Husker Baseball gets a jump start on Halloween
The baseball team wrapped up the fall Red/White intrasquad series with all of the players and coaches in costume.  I could describe the awesome variety of costumes, but some of them really need to be seen to be appreciated.  Besides, how often do you get to see somebody in an inflatable Stay Puft Marshmallow Man outfit get an at bat, hear the announcer say “now pitching, Thing 1”, or see a group of costumed baseball players recreate the De’Mornay Pierson-El to Tommy Armstrong, Jr. trick play (with Superman playing the role of Armstrong)?

I love the idea.  The players looked like they were having an absolute blast.  Ditto for the coaching staff – although I’m sure Darin Erstad had to be roasting inside a full Chewbacca costume on an unseasonably warm and sunny day.  It was fun to see the guys show off their personalities and put on a good show for the several hundreds diehard fans who came out (as well as those of us who work downtown and were able to take in a couple of innings over the lunch hour).

Plus, these are the types of things that help a program gain positive national exposure and help make Nebraska look good to recruits.  I hope this becomes an annual tradition.

Rejected LeBron James “Decision” Ideas

The speculation on where NBA All Star LeBron James will go has been heating up ever since he opted out of his contract with the Miami Heat.  Rumors have him going to Los Angeles to become a Laker, back home to Cleveland, or even staying in Miami with a retooled lineup.

But with LeBron, the destination is only half of the equation.  Once he decides where he is going to go, how will LeBron announce it to the world?

Not how I would pick a team, but what do I know?

Arguably, he will not do another installment of “The Decision” – the one hour, live on ESPN special, where LeBron managed to piss off and alienate almost every person in America when he famously chose to “take (his) talents to South Beach”.

In announcing his next team, there are several different approaches that James can take.

Dear Soccer Fans (from a non-fan)

An open letter to fans of soccer and the World Cup,

Dear Soccer Fans,

I apologize for the lateness of this letter, as you are probably already enjoying the start of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.  But before you get too far into the month-long tournament, my non-soccer-loving friends and I would like to come to an agreement with you, our futbol-loving friends and neighbors.  Think of it as an agreement of mutual respect to get both of us through the next month.

World Cup (image from Wikipedia)

Here is what we propose:

• We, the non-soccer fans, promise to respect that the month of your life is going to revolve around soccer, if you, soccer fans, promise to respect that, for us, this next month is the sporting equivalent of having your mother-in-law perform dental work on you.
• We promise to let you call it “football” without telling about where the “REAL football” is played on America, if you promise to not correct us when we refer to your sport as “soccer”.
• We promise to not call you a douche, if you promise that only fans of Latin descent should say “futbol”.
• We promise to go easy on bashing soccer and pointing out the lack of scoring, the flopping, and the weird rules if you promise to limit the breathless descriptions of how the “beautiful game” was played in a 1-0 match.
• We promise to not judge you when you tell us how you’re rooting for some country you have no affiliation with, if you promise not to judge us when we jump on the U.S. bandwagon should they win a match or two.
• We promise not to unfriend you or block you on Twitter, if you promise to take it easy on the social media updates.  Surely there cannot be 50 tweet-worth items in a 2-0 match.
• We promise to be accepting of World Cup-themed promotions, commercials, and marketing, if you promise to not cite a Coke can or McDonald’s commercial as proof of soccer’s growing influence in America.

In general, we promise to stay of your way and let you enjoy the Cup if you promise to allow us to ignore it completely.  We won’t bash on soccer like we usually do, but we ask that you don’t try to make us care.

Because we really don’t.

It’s nothing personal.  Soccer just isn’t our cup of tea.  We know this puts us in a vast minority amongst the world’s population, but we’re cool with that.  Please, enjoy the World Cup.  All we ask is to be left alone.

We feel these mutual agreements are in everybody’s best interests as you would certainly like to enjoy the world’s biggest sporting event with billions of other fans, and we want it to be over quickly so ESPN will spend more time talking about NFL training camps.

Sincerely,

People who don’t care about soccer

My Life Without TV

When I was growing up, my TV choices were limited.  We had the three networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) in Omaha, PBS, and on a clear day, a second CBS from Lincoln.  It was a big deal when the local Fox affiliate started as it greatly increased our TV options.

We lived out in the country so cable was not an option.  Our house was in a wooded area so one of the old school satellite dishes wouldn’t work.  In short, if I wanted to experience the magic of cable TV (MTV!  HBO!  ESPN!  Nick at Night!  Baseball games from Chicago and Atlanta!  Random 80’s movies!) I needed to go to a friend’s house in town or wait until we visited my Grandma.

By the time I went to college, I was more than ready to experience life with more than five channels.  Over time, I came to accept cable TV as a necessary part of my life and watched a variety of shows across many different channels.  The introduction of DVR only strengthened that bond.

But along the way things changed.  My monthly bill for cable and internet climbed past $150.  Our DVR queue was a mix of reruns, crappy faux-reality shows, and old series we were watching for the first time.  Last July we hit the tipping point:  the adoption of our youngest daughter meant that we needed to cut some expenses.

The cable boxes went out and Netflix (streaming over our DVD player) came in.  A few months later, we added Hulu Plus and a Roku box.  Nine months later, and the majority of our family has never looked back.  My wife loves being able to plow her way through her favorite shows episode by episode, season by season.  The kids like the variety of animated movies and their favorite PBS shows.  We were getting most of our TV entertainment needs met for a fraction of what we were paying.

But cutting cable has been hard for me.

It’s not that I can’t find things to watch; I’ve also worked my way through some very enjoyable series.  And it is definitely not because I miss giving $1,800 to Time Warner every year.

It’s the sports – or more appropriately, the lack of sports.  I miss being able to watch a game.

As a fan of the Kansas City Royals, I’ve grown accustomed to watching many of their games on Fox Sports Midwest.  It really stunk that the Royals started playing some of their best – and most successful – baseball in a decade after we dropped cable.

College football season was brutal.  I loved being able to watch the big games on Saturday and catch the highlight shows at night.  This year, when my beloved Huskers were playing on the road, I had to work an invite from one of my friends so I could watch at their house.

I’m not a big NFL fan, but I’ll often turn a game on for background noise while cleaning the kitchen or folding laundry.  But not this year.  We did watch the Super Bowl by streaming the game over the laptop*, but it was a herky-jerky mess without most of the good commercials.

*You may be saying to yourself, “But Dave, most Sunday NFL games and the Super Bowl are aired on the (free) networks.  Couldn’t you watch sports on those?”  

My initial response would be:  “Good question.  Our TVs do not have digital antennas built in, so I bought one the week of the Super Bowl.  It was a complete failure.  I bought the best antenna I could find that did not involve me climbing on the roof.  This supposedly got me a 35 mile range, but there were two downsides:  1) not all of the networks have a tower within 35 miles of Lincoln, NE, and 2) I couldn’t get the antenna properly aligned without having to go through multiple interior walls which, according to the tech support person I called in a panic on Super Bowl Sunday, greatly reduces the signal strength.  At best, we had two clear channels and one fuzzy station.”

My second response would be “Let me know if you are interested in purchasing a like-new digital antenna that Best Buy won’t take back because it is outside of their 15-day return policy.”

Gee thanks, $90 digital antenna.

My wife and I broke down and ordered the very lowest cable tier (20 channels) when we realized that neither one of us wanted to miss the Winter Olympics.  And we’re keeping those basic channels through the completion of the NCAA basketball tournament*.

*Watching the tournament has really changed in the last few years.  What I once viewed as a great step forward – having every game broadcast start to finish on one of four networks – really sucks when you only get CBS.  There were several times in the first weekend that the CBS game was in commercial, at halftime, or a boring 1 vs 16 blowout, but I was stuck watching it.  How I longed for the old days when they would do the “live look in” on other games in progress, cut over to a close game in the final minute, or switch over from a blowout.

With the excellent NCAA March Madness app, I can watch any game I want.  But the definition of irony is watching a buzzer beater on my four-inch phone screen while my 46″ LED sits idle a few feet away.

After the tournament is over?  Cable will go away again, probably for another long stretch.

I may* investigate some less than ethical ways to get access to streaming feeds of games.

*Or, readers from the NSA, FBI, ESPN, or other concerned parties, I may not.  Especially if any of those methods would be considered illegal by a court of law.

Otherwise, while you’re watching that amazing Thursday night game with national title implications, I’ll be watching season three of some cop show with my wife and secretly wishing I could tune in.

My Four Year Old Daughter’s Bracket is Better Than Yours

Indulge a proud father in some bragging…

My wife and I have competed in NCAA brackets for as long as we’ve been together.  Since we’ve had kids, we’ve gotten them involved with brackets of their own.  I picked on behalf of my one year old son (straight chalk), but this year my daughter picked her own games.

The night before the tournament started, I pulled up espn.com and went through all of the games, asking her who she liked:  Oklahoma State or Oregon?  Memphis or St. Mary’s?  VCU or Akron?  With the exception of automatically picking the 1 seeds to beat the 16’s in the opening round, I did not veto her when she wanted to knock out a 1 seed in the round of 32 or took five double-digit seeds to the Sweet 16.   I entered in her picks, as she gave them to me, and we repeated the process through the entire bracket.  Then we watched kids videos on YouTube, (including the very painful ABC Rap).

So here’s the deal:  my beautiful four-year old, who earlier this year saw a basketball game on TV and called it “football”, is absolutely killing it with her bracket.  As of this writing (three days into the tournament, half of the Sweet 16 set), she is in the 99th percentile* on espn.com.  Of the seven million brackets on ESPN, only 90,445 are better than hers.

Imagine what she could do if she cared about basketball…

What makes it even cooler is this tournament has a number of big upsets:  #12 Oregon getting to the Sweet 16, #9 Wichita State knocking off #1 Gonzaga, #12 Ole Miss over #5 Wisconsin, #13 La Salle  over #4 Kansas State, #14 Harvard over #3 New Mexico, #12 Cal over #5 UNLV.

My daughter correctly picked them all.

About the only big upset she didn’t predict was #15 Florida Gulf Coast over #2 Georgetown.  Frankly, I’m surprised she didn’t pick that one as she was born on the gulf side of Florida.

I’ll admit:  I want to get my bragging in now while I can.  As amazing of a run as she’s having, I’m skeptical about her picks of Oregon over Louisville, North Carolina over Kansas, and Temple over Indiana.  But if this tournament has shown anything, it’s that the top seed overlook the lower ones at their own risk.

Her Final Four?  She has Ohio State, Duke, Florida, and Temple, with home state Florida winning it all.  You can snicker at that Temple pick, or you let me know how your bracket is doing.

Oh, that’s right.  You’re getting smoked by a four-year old girl.

The Future of Conference Realignment

(This post is also available on NoCoastBias.com)

Another week, another round of news in the ever-changing landscape of conference affiliations.  On Wednesday, Creighton University will leave the Missouri Valley Conference to join with the so-called “Catholic Seven” (DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s, and Villanova) along with Xavier and Butler to form a basketball super conference retaining the prestigious Big East name.

The Big East is coming to the Midwest (map from Omaha.com)

Meanwhile, while the buzz has have died down a little, rumors continue to swirl around North Carolina leaving the Atlantic Coast Conference for the Big Ten.  Adding Tar Heel hoops would be a big boost for the Big Ten, who is already enjoying a banner basketball season.  (Plus, it would set the stage for the addition of a 16th team, making the conference’s “B1G” logo – which has always resembled the number 16 – a visually accurate representation of the league.

As always, these big moves will likely trigger additional moves as the conferences who lose teams look to smaller leagues to fill their vacancies.

The biggest reason behind these moves?

Money.

Fox is reportedly lined up to give the new Big East schools a big TV contract.  The Big Ten’s TV deals expire in 2016, and having a stable of big name schools and schools from big TV markets would set up the Big Ten for a very big payday.

For the cash cow sports at these schools (basketball for the Big East, football in the Big Ten), the TV deals will be a tremendous source of revenue.  Unfortunately, for pretty much every other sport at a school, conference realignment is somewhere between a nightmare and a train wreck.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.  Here is how I see the future of conference realignment playing out:

We will end up with four, 16-team super conferences.  I assume the Big Ten, Pac 12, and SEC will make up three of the four.  The fourth?  Two years ago, I would have bet the house on the ACC over the Big XII, but now it looks like the ACC is the one with the shaky foundation (especially if North Carolina leaves and Florida State continues their on-again/off-again flirtation with the Big XII).

Today, none of these leagues are currently at 16 teams, so they’ll get to that magic number by picking off the pieces from the conferences that don’t survive (Big East and potentially the ACC) as well as taking the upper tier of C-USA, Mountain West, MAC, WAC, and other smaller conference schools.  This leads us to the second prediction:

TV sets trump geography, history, or anything else when it comes to conference expansion.  We’ve already seen this with the Big Ten’s addition of Rutgers and Maryland.  Neither school is particularly close to the Big Ten’s geographic core, nor does either school do much to enhance the football prestige of the conference.  But they were added because they represent entries into large TV markets.   there will likely be some head-scratching choices made.

What does that mean going forward?  Instead of the SEC going after a seemingly natural fit like Georgia Tech or Clemson (good programs, geographically central, great rivalry with an existing SEC school) I would not be surprised to see the SEC expand into MAC or Big East country, pulling a program that lacks the prestige of Tech or Clemson, but one that opens up a new region of viewers.

I know this is starting to sound like a doomsday scenario for a lot of schools and conferences, but here is one of the key predictions:

Schools will belong to multiple conferences.  I really only see the super conference affiliation being in effect for revenue producing sports (i.e. football and men’s basketball).  For them, being in a league with a fat TV contract is a smart move to maximize their potential revenue.

But for the smaller, non-revenue producing sports (i.e. pretty much everything else), realignment is a potential fiscal fiasco.  Look at Creighton:  all of their MVC foes are within 600 miles of their Omaha campus.  In the Big East, Creighton’s soccer, baseball, and other Olympic sports teams will now just one conference opponent (DePaul) within 500 miles of home.  Instead, they will be making multiple trips to the East Coast to play their new Big East rivals.

At some point, college Athletics Directors are going to wonder why they are throwing money away (and pulling student-athletes out of class for days on end) to travel halfway across the country to compete with schools they have little in common with – especially when there are other programs right in their own backyard.

I predict that in addition to the football/men’s hoops affiliation, schools will also belong to smaller, regional conferences for Olympic and other non-revenue sports.  These conferences will greatly resemble the old leagues we grew up with (Big Eight, Pac 10, Southwestern Conference, etc.) where geographical proximity is a primary consideration.

It just makes financial sense:  Schools can dramatically cut travel costs and operating expenses for sports that already lose money.  TV networks don’t get burdened with a bunch of lower end TV rights for volleyball matches, wrestling duals, and gymnastics meets that the average fan does not want to watch.  If there is an audience for SEC baseball or Big East lacrosse games, the smaller leagues can sell those rights independently.

Yes, it may be a little confusing for fans who have always identified their school with a single league to have to familiarize themselves with two different sets of conference rivals, but it sure beats cutting the baseball team because your new conference foes up north don’t play or losing the gymnastics team because it is too expensive to fly them all over the country for meets.

The one thing I don’t know is when schools will start breaking their sports out into multiple conferences.  I would not be surprised if it happens in the next few years as university budgets continue to tighten, and athletic departments realize the insanity of driving through the campuses of two former conference rivals to play a school that nobody cares about.

Regardless of what happens, the next few years will continue to be an exciting time of conference upheaval.

Rejected Winter X Games Events

The Winter X Games are now underway.  Depending on your point of view, Winter X is either a celebration of hip, alternative culture with tattooed, Red Bull-fueled adrenaline junkies doing crazy tricks in the snow, or something ESPN does to break up the monotony of the college basketball season, and pass the time before the Super Bowl.

Regardless, the Winter X Games has a lot of super cool events that involve snowboards, skis, or motorized vehicles (snowmobiles, dirt bikes, etc.) going really fast, doing flips, and/or achieving “big air”.  To make it seem extra cool, an “X” is usually attached to the name.  The result is some glorious high-def television, some overly excited commentators, and a lot of epic crashes.

But the folks who run the X Games are always looking for new, exciting events to liven things up.  Being such a huge proponent of the X lifestyle, as well as a huge fan of snow, I was happy to contribute.  Unfortunately, these events were rejected by rad hipsters and the ESPN suits in Bristol, CT.

• Snow Angel X
• Starting a Snow Thrower at 5:30 am
• Saucer Sled X
• Dressing in Layers
• Walking Across An Icy Wal-Mart Parking Lot
• Overuse The Word Snow In A Blog (current record holder:  Me)
• Dog Sled Big Air
• Passing a Drug Test
• Yellow Snow Eating Contest
• My Daily Commute After A Snowstorm
• Ultimate Snowman
• Synchronized Shoveling
• Shot-Ski (sponsored by Red Bull and UV vodka)