Yankees 1, Toronto 0

There were 34 bowl games last year.  Two more have been added for this year, and there was much speculation that the additions would prove to be too much. It didn't take long to proved that to be the truth; the International Bowl in Toronto has passed on to bowl heaven.

The new Pinstripe Bowl, set in $1.6 BBBBBillion New Yankee Stadium for the coming year, needed a Big East team for its matchup and got one.  The International Bowl had a Big East team and lost it.  As a result, there will be no International Bowl any more.

Who's next? If the International Bowl has gone to bowl heaven, which remaining game is bowl hell?  While there are a few other candidates, the one that immediately comes to mind is the game staged in the nation's foreclosure capital.  Detroit will hold on to the Motor City Pizza Devil's Night Foreclosure Bowl, but I've gotta think that it's on the endangered list.

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Just a short trip for the Mrs. and me, but long enough to justify a short-short posting today.

Six and Miss Kitty (the doberman feline) have remained at Stately PFOS Manor to look after things.

I hope...

Look Out for the Bulls

In 1995, Jim Leavitt went to work for the University of South Florida as the school's first ever football coach.  His teams rose to the BCS level quickly, and the school joined the Big East Conference in 2005.   Leavitt's teams have recently enjoyed ranked status, getting as high as #2 nationally during the 2007 season.  During a game this past season against Louisville on the 21st of November, Coach Leavitt apparently roughed up one of his players at halftime.  The school investigated the incident, Leavitt didn't exactly come clean, and the coach and his 95-57 lifetime won/lost record were sent packing on January 8th.  Leavitt was two years through a $12.6 million dollar, seven year contract.

Six days later, Skip Holtz was hired as the second-ever head coach of the South Florida Bulls football team.

Holtz left behind the head coaching position at the University of East Carolina, where his teams were 38-27 over five seasons.  At USF, he has the opportunity to transform a strong program into a mega-program.  So what are his credentials?

He spent two years at a junior college before transferring to Notre Dame, where he played little.  Bobby Bowden gave Holtz his first job as a graduate assistant in 1987.  Two years later, Skip became the receivers coach at Colorado State, leaving after just a year to coach the receivers at Notre Dame, working for his father.  He coached the receivers for two years, then became the offensive coordinator for three years. 

From 1994 through 1998, Skip Holtz was the head coach for then Division I-AA University of Connecticut. His teams were 34-23 during those five years.  He left to become the Offensive Coordinator at the University of South Carolina for 1999, once again working for his father.  Father and son were successful once again, but things fell apart in 2004.  Lou retired and Skip was not retained.  He landed pretty well, that being the East Carolina job that he's just abdicated.

Holtz is taking over the top job at what might be the biggest sleeper (if you can call it that) in big time football.  USF is a huge school in a big market that sits in the midst of a geographic area that churns out football players.  Look at the USF roster from 2009 and you'll find three players out of 80 or so who are NOT from the state of Florida. 

It's not all roses: USF football has been academically challenged, though the situation improved in 2009 (they're still in lowest 20% of college football programs). On the field over the last few years, the teams have been successful against weak non-conference opponents but have been less than spectacular in the Big East.  Still, they have gone bowling every year, though last year it was the International Bowl in Toronto, a game that's not much to get excited about.

This could be the marriage that unlocks the potential of the school and the coach.  This coming season will be very revealing.

Marketing Decisions for a Tired Brand

I make no secret of the fact that I'm not a fan of Notre Dame football, or for that matter, the Notre Dame community (I exempt several alumni from my dislike: my daughter and about five friends/business associates. Bleccchhh to the rest).  I thoroughly enjoyed the reign of Charlie Weis and all the angst that was a product of those years.

The rancor with which I regard the USB clan is rooted in the smugness that they generally display.  It is summed up in this, one of my favorite little taunts: 
     Question: How can you tell if someone went to Notre Dame?
     Answer: Just wait. They'll tell you.

New coach Brian Kelly added ire to my fire when he fairly flew out of Cincinnatti, simply abandoning his team scant days prior to the Sugar Bowl and their defense of their undefeated season, eager as could be to respond to the beck and call of the sanctimonious siren call from South Bend.  Cincinnatti soldiered on and got pounded by Florida while Kelly got a head start on becoming acclimated to winter in South Bend,  a mind numbing series of gray, cold, snowy days interrupted by...nothing.

The recent discussions, speculation and suppositions regarding the potential expansion of the Big 10 and whether those expansion plans might (again) include Notre Dame have been most interesting. Joe Paterno, when asked for his opinion on the prospect of Notre Dame being invited to join the Big 10, responded "They had their chance".

Way to go, Joe.

The loyal followers of Notre Dame tend to reflexively respond to this speculation with "why would we want to join a conference".  The usual company line is that Notre Dame cherishes its "independence", independence being a code word for "we can make more money without a conference".  Historically, they have done so.  History, however, like ND's dreams of football excellence, is not relevant to the future.  The past is not prologue here.

The bedrock for their ersatz independence has been ND's television contract with NBC, a deal that requires sharing money with nobody.  These guys have never embraced the concept of sharing.  The same situation applies to bowl game revenue.  They don't have to share.

The financial equations are changing rapidly, and the aversion to sharing may preclude embracing evolution, which is actually rather consistent with the mission out there.  Notre Dame hasn't been very good for a while.  They love to reminisce, the ND faithful do, but that's a pretty threadbare cupboard of memories they're drawing upon these days.  The Big 10 regularly sends 7 teams to bowl games, and they bring home big checks that they share with the rest of the conference.  If ND doesn't bowl, it doesn't earn. In unity there is strength...and earning power.

 The TV deal with NBC is becoming comparitively less compelling as The Big 10 Network matures and generates profits for the members of the conference.

When all is said and done, I don't think the Big 10 really wants them, and I don't think ND can handle sharing... the money or the spotlight.

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Ducks rap sheet update from Dr. Saturday click here. Pathetic.

It Just Doesn't Add Up for the Illini

Universtiy of Illinois head coach Ron Zook recently made statements in a Sun-Times interview that leave me shaking my head.  If you read all the statements attributed to the coach in the article, it represents a great deal of frustration.  The statement that starts the head shaking is this:

‘‘Sometimes I think as a university and as a group of fans, we shoot ourselves in the foot. The negative recruiting, it all stems from us, from our own people. Rather than getting behind the program, they want to start lambasting it.

‘‘The negative recruiting was the worst I’ve ever seen it this year. But a lot of that is our own people. There’s not enough people that believe this program can be where it can be. You’re changing attitudes. You’re changing beliefs. ‘There they go again. They can’t sustain it.’ When you go back and look at what’s happened the last 25 years, it’s going to take a tough son of a [gun] to get through that. "

There's a lot of churning thought and emotion in those two paragraphs.  Here is an unemotional contrast, the Illinois football team's record over the last 10 years, beginning with the final four years of Ron Turner's teams and the most recent six being the Ron Zook years.

         Overall      Big 10         Finish
2009      3-9           2-6             9th
2008      5-7           3-5             6th
2007      9-4           6-2             2nd
2006      2-10         1-7             10th
2005      2-9           0-8             11th
2004      3-8           1-7             10th
2003      1-11         0-8             11th
2002      5-7           4-4              5th
2001     10-2          7-1              1st
2000      5-6           2-6              9th

I have met Ron Zook just once, and that was very brief.  He's not a particularly lovable kind of guy; that's not a slam, it's just a fact.  He's a big time football coach, a million dollar a year guy with a lot of desire to succeed.  The teams over which he has presided have had some spotlight moments, but his and his predecessor's overall body of work over the past decade isn't very inspiring, and that's the problem I have with the statements Coach Zook made.

Fans need hope, and they need an identity to embrace.  If the Illini displayed an indication of a consistent performance level or trend, there would be something for fans to embrace. 

What recent history has offered instead is a once every few years good team overshadowed by a lot of bad seasons. A great example is the just completed Juice Williams and Aurelious Benn years, years that were a lot of hype and a lot of unmet expectations.  The team has no sustaining identity other than Coach Zook, and the not-so-lovable-guy thing lands with a "thud".
So, if I was directing P.R. here, I'd suggest that the coach reach out to the loyal fans and compliment that there's a lot of them in Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoons, year in, year out, who keep wanting to love their team despite stubborn arithmetic that says they're likely to be disappointed.  'Cause when there's enough disappointment built up, resentment and anger and outcry follow, and there's usually another "thud" that follows that.

Then comes the moving van and the next guy.

The Duck Pond is a Mess

The Oregon Ducks have been one of our favorite teams over the last few years.  They've shown us great team speed, they've displayed the most imaginative array of uniforms and combinations of uniforms, they've played really exciting football and they've been a profitable pick for us, many times.  Now, as OU sits at the forefront of the power rankings for the PAC 10, things have gotten out of hand in Eugene. 

The turning point, more appropriately the point at which the problems began to be public, started with running back LeGarrette Blount.  That very public embarassment, it turns out, was merely the tip of the iceberg.  Boise State had beaten the Ducks (you may recall seeing the video of the post game)  when a Boise State player taunted the defeated Ducks as the two teams crossed paths.LeGarrette Blount responds by smashing his right fist into the face of the Boise kid, dropping him like a bad habit, then rages on until he's shepherded off the field.  Blount was suspended for the regular season and reinstated at the end of the year, in time for bowl season.

In January, quarterback Jermiah Masoli and receiver Garrett Embry were accused of stealing laptops and some other stuff from a frat house.  They weren't charged, but Embry has been dismissed from the team.

Later in January, two more players got hooked up in a big bar fight. Mike Bowlin and Rob Beard, both kickers, were the combatants.  Beard is being charged with assault.  Another Duck, a kid named Matt Simms, apparently went to even the score with the person he thought was responsible for beating up Beard and apparently is facing charges.  Sims and Boland have both left the football team.

This past weekend, sophomore linebacker Kiko Alonso got popped for DUI and no insurance. He was suspended for the upcoming season. 

Next came LaMichael James, who smacked around his girlfriend, assault charge.  LaMichael was the replacement for LaGarette when LaGarette was Laserving his Lasuspension.  La-la-la...

Next up, receiver Jamere Holland, who decided to tweet his unhappiness with the way the coach was handling things and his disenchantment with white folks.  Really not too bright, using the hottest public forum to share the love.  Chalk up another directed departure from the team.

Finally, thanks to the ever vigilant Dr. Saturday, comes the news that one of the high school seniors who committed to the Ducks this year has been found to be ineligible--not for college, but for last year's high school season!   Turns out this kid went to high school for a year back in Ohio, then did four years at St.Bonaventure in California.  His high school team had 11 wins last year and a championship.  The high school has now forfeited all that.  As for the kid, looks like he'll fit right in with the rest of the high character cast of characters on the University of Oregon football team.

The Duck pond is a mess.