Jay GreesonFrom Matt
I was listening on Press Row and had to go, but did you guys say there was a poll that had more than 60% of people saying they would not go to a sporting event unless there is a vaccine? Was that number right?
Thanks and thanks for still doing the show – it’s much appreciated in a time when we need the diversion.
Matt –
Yes, and the numbers are all over the place.
We talked about a Seton Hall poll that had as high a number as 72% of the 762 people polled saying they would not attend sporting events without a vaccine and 61% of those in that poll who identified themselves as sports fans saying the same thing.
It was an eye-opening talking point.
And while he’s hardly as scientific as the Seton Hall School of Business, controversial sports talking head Clay Travis offered a similar poll question on the also unscientific Twitter.
Travis asked: “Would you attend a sporting event this summer or fall without a coronavirus vaccine existing?”
Yes, his audience is, like a lot of the fan bases of a lot of media stars, more choir than contemporaries. But his numbers were overwhelming yes, with almost 78% saying they would attend a sporting event without a vaccine.
And, because of his popularity, Travis, as of Friday morning, had more than 79,000 votes, which is well more than 100 times the polling pool of Seton Hall’s 762.
Simply put, and more focused – would you crowd into Neyland, or Rupp, or Sanford or The Swamp before a vaccine has been found? Because know this: The vaccine is months, if not years away, even still.
From a lot of you
What are your thoughts on the Wisconsin decision to not give spring semester seniors an extra year of eligibility?
Gang –
As always, you guys and gals are always, Always, ALWAYS all over things like this. Thanks for that, and for pulling up a screen around these parts and a chair on Press Row these days. You’re appreciated now more than ever before.
Man, it’s a scary time for all of us, right? Who knows what’s next and who knows when whatever is next will be positive?
We can wrestle and ponder with what the oft-described “new normal” will be. But it’s impossible to know, and still quite difficult to guess.
I offered up a couple of guesses last month that have now become talking points. Handshakes will go the way of the dodo bird and movie theaters will become a campy trend spot with like 50 seats and one screen and beloved movies like “The Godfather” or “Jaws” or whatever and alcohol available.
I also think there is a real chance that this will be a redirecting moment for the college sports model. Hold that thought.
As for the question, Wisconsin telling its spring sports seniors that their careers are done feels somewhat callous, right?
The questions about money are real – and magnified because of the unknowns of the fall – in terms of scholarships and roster spots. Yes, we ache for the seniors who through no fault of their own were robbed of their final meaningful sports season.
So, feeling like Wisconsin is the villain here is understandable and debatable.
One thing that is not debatable, though, is whether Wisconsin will be the only one doing this. You have to believe smaller schools like UTC and Group of Five schools like Memphis and UCF are leaning in similar directions because of the economic factors.
But behind that, there will be several if not dozens of Power Five schools who take the same position as Wisconsin. (And this goes back to my original criticism of the NCAA for a clear lack of leadership and decisiveness in the original ruling about the extra year of eligibility. Stupid Mark Emmert. In a time of furloughs, layoffs and professional and work-place worry, how is Mark Emmert still gainfully employed?)
Because even if everything was completely back to normal but we just lost our spring sports, the money is tight for college sports programs.
According to the NCAA findings on the most recently tabulated fiscal year, there were only 29 Division I athletic departments that turned a profit in 2018, and the 65 Power Five schools lost an average of $2.6 million in 2018. Repeat: Lost an average of $2.6 million. (Heck, the rest of Division I athletic departments – ones without the monster TV deals in football – had median expense outpacing median revenue by $22 million. Repeat: Outpaced by an average of $22 million.)
And that was without any concerns of the cash cow that is football being limited, threaten or potentially out-and-out cancelled.
Which leads us to the spending model of college sports. There have been a lot of folks – be they regulars around here like utcmocs or callers to Press Row like BCR – who have consistently wondered whether the model is sustainable.
It almost assuredly is not, especially when the unthinkable is now potentially possible in that football could be fewer games and maybe even just conference games.
Because the optics before us now are downright undeniable.
We have college officials and coaches – grown-ups making millions – talking about plans and options in which 17-to-23-year-old football players (uncompensated, mind you) could cram as many games into as little time as possible (what happened to player safety concerns, again?) to make sure the rest of the trains at the athletic department run as close to fiscally on time as possible.
But these college presidents – as they stare at eight-figure shortfalls without football season – will have to start putting away for rainy days, right?
Yes, LSU just won a natty, but the multi-million-dollar cryochambers in each locker for the football team and paying three assistants seven figures will be under even more scrutiny. And yes, LSU is one of the 29 that made a profit from athletics in 2018.
And why? Because of football, which pays not only for all the sports in Baton Rouge or Tuscaloosa or Athens or Auburn, but for a lot of sports around the entire landscape of college sports. If the college football season is stripped down to only conference games, how is Georgia State going to make up the million-dollar check it will not get for playing Alabama on Sept. 12? Or Will Healy and Charlotte not getting that million-dollar check for playing UT to open the season?
Every sporting league – other than the NFL, of course – is hemorrhaging money right now. All of them.
But the realities for college sports leaders if football is greatly impacted – and that includes attendance, too – are harsh and depressing and dark.
Way darker for way more athletes and fans than Wisconsin saying no to its spring sports seniors.
From Lisa
The NBA is playing H-O-R-S-E this weekend.
Will you watch, and if you could pick any player in history to bet on to win a game of H-O-R-S-E, who would you pick?
Lisa –
Such a great question and one that normally would deserve a Kiper-McShay type of draft breakdown. I live the draft. You know this.
But we went way, Way, WAY too long on the Wisconsin answer.
So, my first instinct was Larry Bird because a) dude was the ultimate competitor. But then I thought, well, if dunks become part of this, do we lean toward someone like MJ or a young David Thompson?
But then clarity happened, and I realized who I want.
Pistol Pete Maravich, which allows me to tell one of my favorite stories.
Don Wix was a friend of my parents in Smyrna when I was growing. Don played at Georgia and his career overlapped some against Pistol Pete. He saw Pete in Atlanta during Maravich’s time with the Hawks and spoke to the LSU legend.
Wix: “Pete, we played against you in ’68?
Maravich: “How’d you do?”
Wix: “Pretty good. Held you to 44.”
Which is actually true, because the following year, Maravich scored 59, which is still the most points ever scored at Stegeman Coliseum.
From Paul
I watched the Texas-USC Rose Bowl because, well, we all miss sports right?
Do you think if Vince Young had been 10 years later he would have had more success, and which QB would be better in modern football?
Thanks for all you do, and I need the 5-at-10 now more than ever.
Paul –
Thanks for playing along with the silliness, and it’s my pleasure. The 5-at-10 is part of life now.
Interesting question, for sure.
Coming along 10 years later would have helped Young’s career for sure, because more freedom is given to now athletic QBs and the NFL playbooks have become more pliable in maximizing the strengths and skills of running QBs.
But the stories of Young’s immaturity and questionable decisions still would limit his success, if I had to guess.
There are three names that come to mind when wondering who would have been absolutely unstoppable in the modern NFL offensive awakening.
We’ll start with a couple of honorable mentions with guys like a Joe Hamilton from Georgia Tech or if, with more open offenses, the NFL was able to get Charlie Ward away from the NBA.
No. 3 on my list would be Randall Cunningham, who had a very good career but would have been scary good with more QB runs.
No. 2 on my list is Steve Young, who was a Hall of Famer but would have been on the short list of all-timers if the RPO was a recognizable acronym in the 1980s and 90s.
No. 1 of course is Mike Vick, because Lamar Jackson was an MVP last year, and Lamar Jackson will never have the arm strength or the speed that Mike Vick did in his prime.
Great question.
From JTC
Sad for the Masters and just hope the November date sticks. Also sad for the kids in the Chip, Drive, Putt thing being cancelled. Hope they get their chance next year. What will be noticeably different in the course other than maybe azaleas not in bloom?
JTC –
Well, Augusta will figure it out and make it beautiful, and as someone noted this week, there’s a real chance the full fall foliage will be in its full glory in mid-November.
But considering the Masters resources, if they want to have pink blooms along the fairways, they may ship all the plants from Australia up here just for that week.
I wonder if they will install the “Leave Rule” this year? Probably not.
Better yet, how many grounds crew people will be standing in the pine straw with hand-held leaf blowers with silencers on the end ready to pounce between each group to make sure the leaves are not seen?
I just hope we have a chance to see it, even without the colors of spring or with the hues of autumn.
From Spy
The “Celebrating the Masters” on Golf Channel has its moments (love the retrospect on Ed Sneed and losing a five-shot lead on Sunday). But every other segment is Tiger-centric. So pass.
NBA logo has to be up there. I know there’s been a push to change it but the dribble logo (featuring Jerry West) is still money.
The old B.C. Open had a great logo – the comic strip character B.C.
And come on, you knew the Missouri school would call back to Cam and re-offer the job. Love the set-up as to how the coach who got the job got ousted (that is something I can see happening, actually). It was a good, not great, finale. Wound up being a touch predictable. But it was sweet and touching.
Think about Ed O’Neill – great run on “Married With Children” and then another decade-plus with “Modern Family.” Dude has killed it in two long-running sitcoms. Better run in two series – Ed O’Neill or Kelsey Grammar?
Spy –
Such a good question, but I will give the edge to O’Neill if for no other reason than he played two entirely different dudes. Grammar played Frasier Crane twice to historic runs.
Which got me thinking – yes, dangerous I know – of the Rushmore of TV stars who had multiple runs as multiple all-time characters.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is far left with Elaine and “Veep.” Ed O’Neill has a spot on there with the two Spy mentioned.
I have more thoughts, but anyone want to play along? (And I think this is amazingly tough because of the names – Mary Tyler Moore, Michael J. Fox, Larry Hagman, Newhart, Ron Howard, Andy Griffith, Carroll O’Conner, Bea Arthur – still on the board.)
Which brings us to this week’s Rushmores
Rushmore of movies set in a newsroom (we intended newspaper, but the valid suggestions from TV newsrooms merit a second version) – “All the President’s Men,” “The Paper,” “Absence of Malice,” “Spotlight,” “Anchorman,” “Broadcast News,” “Network,” “The Insider.”
Rushmore of TV sitcom kids (Jules, Alex P. Keaton was one of my all-time favorites, too, but we went under high school)- Gary Coleman as Arnold Jackson on “Dif’rent Strokes,” the Olsen twins as Michelle Tanner on “Full House,” Bart Simpson as Bart Simpson on “The Simpsons,” Ron Howard as Opie Taylor on “The Andy Griffith Show.”
Rushmore of Twins – The Olsen Twins, Kirby Puckett, Arnold and DeVito as “Twins” and, as a fat kid growing up, gotta go with Twinkies.
Rushmore of Merle Haggard – “Mama Tried,” “Today I Started Loving You Again,” “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down,” “Are the Good Times Really Over for Good.”
Great week, friends.