From a slew of you
What do you think about the Big Ten announcement?
Gang-
It was striking. And surprising.Not the announcement, but the quick-trigger timing of it.
And the more I think about it, the decision must be viewed through a multiple array of prisms that offer varying perspectives.
There is the flexibility prism. The Big Ten will have almost 14 weeks to play 10 conference games. With quick-spreading outbreaks possible, those extra dates will almost assuredly be needed, and even then there could be forfeits.
There is the health prism, and this one starts to get cloudy. Are we to believe that COVID-19 can only be spread in nonconference games? Seriously, COVID is the one the thing the NCAA has control of in terms of cross-conference transfers? (Thank you, try the veal and tip the wait staff.)
If I am a player - or a player's parent - this decision admits that the Big Ten realizes that a) that there is a serious threat here and b) we have to do everything possible to exploit your health to make enough money to keep the other programs rolling and our million-dollar budgets and six-(plus)-figure salaries funded.That is not being discussed enough. And it leads to two other thoughts, both fiscal more than physical.The decision to cut nonconference opponents also limits spending in a lot of ways and circles the wagons to keep the money in Big Ten, because playing Kent State is more or less dangerous in terms of Corona than playing Iowa how exactly?
The financial threats are very real. For Pete's sake Stanford, which is as well funded as any school on the planet, just cut almost a third of the athletic department. (Granted, there are very credible theories out there that Power 5 cuts made at this point were already in the works on some level, but the cover of COVID gives the perfect backdrop.)
The absolute need of the TV dollars and any type of sponsorships from big-time football like the Big Ten are truly vital.
For the leagues. For their TV partners. For the towns in which those schools play home games.
It's a billion-dollar question, and the players are carrying the threat.
Anyone want to debate that college football players should be paid now?
The other angle about the finance of this is the NCAA as we know it will not survive this. We have said for years that the Power 5 would eventually break away, and the most likely scenario would be when the next College Football Playoff TV contract comes due.
But now, the timetable is much quicker.
The Power 5 are no longer going to be so flush with cash that they are glad to pay millions to little brothers across the state and the country. (Side note: Speaking of Kent State, as college football expert David Paschall noted on Press Row on Thursday, Kent State likely will lose three huge money games - Penn State, Kentucky and Alabama - and the $5 million in payouts that came with them. Kent State already was told to cut 20 percent from its $29.5 million athletic department budget. How is this not a program killer for Kent State? And side question about the side note: Funny how the Corona morality changes the prism, because if you want to discuss safety, is it truly safe for the Kent State running back to try to gain yards against an Alabama defense so his school's athletic department can cash a $1.75 million check?)
Anyway, as for the NCAA, well, how many of the smaller schools' programs are going to be around in 10 years.
And considering the need for leadership and the way the NCAA has shrunk in the moment, well, why do we need the NCAA anyway?
Wow that got long. Let's move quickly.
From Lisa
You wrote about my favorite actor Tom Hanks' birthday. I think he would be a great president. Since we have elected celebrities to office before, what celebrities would you vote for?
Lisa-
Thanks for this question.
Wow, not sure if I can come up with one that has demeanor and likability of a Hanks.
I will not expect Kanye to make much hay in the 2020 election.I could see Oprah running. I know the Rock has been listed on some betting boards too.
Is Mark Cuban a celebrity? If so, I could see politics in his future.
From Sam via Twitter
@jgreesontfp at the risk of you being ripped by your listeners, is your decision to vote for Trump at minimum more difficult this go around? Just genuinely curious how folks who are not "he can do no wrong" are feeling. Don't hear the entire show, you may have talked about it.
Sam-
My life is filled with risks of being ripped by listeners and readers. It's my comfort zone. (Sorry, I know I have been delaying a full version of hate mail, but I'll have to post them around lunch. Today got crazy. Alas.)
Fair question, Sam. I have voted almost exclusively Republican in almost every election since I started voting with Bush I in 1988. (Side note: I also am very proud of the fact that I have never missed a chance to vote in my 32 years as a voter.)
I am completely undecided four months from the presidential election.
Trump's mistakes are piling up - highlighted by his asinine Tweets and that awful bunker decision when our country needed someone leading rather than holing up - and they are well-documented.
Speaking of hate mail, I have as much from pro-Trump folks who think I have 'betrayed' them or been turned to the liberal media - and way worse - as I do from people who like to call me a racist Trump-lover.
And that's fine.
But I first and foremost vote with my wallet. Period. And Biden's socialism leanings scare me - not as much as Bernie Sanders would, mind you - and the unknown Biden VP choice scares me more. Because I believe there is no more important VP pick in history, because Biden is starting to turn the corner in terms of every poll you see, and more importantly in the betting odds that are available and is a clear favorite at this moment.
And I do not believe that Biden physically or mentally will be able to make it through four years in the White House, to be honest.
Yes, finding someone to truly believe in and want to support has been a difficult proposition in presidential politics for a while now.
And I've said it before and sadly will be forced to say it again, but for far too long in the kist important job in our country, we're not voting for who we want to win as much as we are voting against who we want to lose.
From Chas
Jay-Please include my question in Friday's bag (Is fall football a 50-50 proposition?). Stadium's Brett McMurphy says only 22% of Power 5 ADs believe that the season will start on time. 45% believe the start will be delayed and only conference play will happen. Only 10% of ADs believe that a 12-game season will happen but with a delayed start. Eight ADs believe a college football season will NOT happen.
Also, does $400,000 sound about right for Zion?
Chas -
Second part first: As to be expected in the age of college sports in which the players get fractions of pennies on the dollar compared to the millions in buyouts schools pay to fired and failed coaches, that's barely a third of what Zion was worth.
And maybe even less. Think about it this way:
If Zion was 10 years younger and the NIL (name, image and likeness), he would have had an eight-figure sneaker deal BEFORE he was done in high school. So, $400K. P-shaw. Coins. Mere coins and trinkets on his value.
Because if I had to offer my Rushmore of regular-season college basketball memories, I'd likely go Lenny Bias in the Dean Dome, Jerome Lane breaking the backboard much to the delight of Bill Raftery, Kentucky coming back from down a million at LSU and Zion blowing out his Nike vs. UNC.
Think of the greatness of all those moments and then Zion shredding a sneaker. That was the star power of Zion, and the market for star power is untapped.
And while we are here, to make a short answer long, as if college athletics programs needed more worries about revenue streams in a time of a pandemic, that Nike and other apparel companies - as well as everything from Golden Flake to Golden Carrol - can go straight to the stars, why pony up to the programs that are not UK and Duke hoops and the 15-to-25 power football factories.As for 50/50, I was a little north of 50/50 before Thursday's Big Ten announcement, truthfully. Because, as I said before, the added flexibility aside, are we to believe the only way to be safe from Corona is to a) wear a mask, b) wash hands regularly, and c) Only play conference games?
What kind of sense does that make? Because playing Kent State is more or less dangerous than playing Iowa how exactly?
From Don
Have you seen any of Yellowstone this season yet? I've been disappointed with the first three episodes but the previews for next week looked better. Hopefully the preview wasn't the whole episode.
Don-
I wanted to make sure you saw my response, Don, and for those who have hopped on the Yellowstone bandwagon around these parts.
I have liked the three episodes of Season 3 so far. Have they matched the break-neck intensity from the end of Season 2? No, but few could.And considering they gave us the conclusion we wanted rather than rolling the drama into the first part of this season, I'm OK with the slower start.
And as I said earlier this week here and on Press Row, we had to meet the Duttons' new challengers and foes, so I expected some of the set-up we've worked through so far.
But, as you said, the trailer for Sunday looks awesome. And reading this interview has my hopes high for the rest of the season.
Also in that interview is a very interesting discussion about how they are going to film Season 4 in a make-shift bubble at the Month ranch they have used. Which brings us to the very real thought that we as a society are about to run low on new TV, movie and entertainment options, and we're about to do it very quickly.
Which will make the possible absence of college football even more impactful.
Rushmores
Rushmore of 1980s TV Reboots - I would put Family Ties here, but that would be impossible. Roseanne already did it and was amazingly successful until Roseanne got on the Twitter. Laverne and Shirley was Milwaukee and poor Friends, no? Premises that I think could work these days with some intriguing results include Night Court, Cheers (hey, drunks and barflies are still fair game in our PC world), Doogie Howser, and WKRP in Cincinnati, which was wicked underrated. (And while we're here, think of the 1980s sitcoms that would have zero chance to be remade, and if I started with Three's Company and river of gay jokes made by Mr. Roper and later Mr. Furley, what else would you add? Because the Dukes of Hazard is also on that list.)
Rushmore of Kevin Bacon movies - Animal House, Mystic River, Footloose, Apollo 13.
Rushmore of 7s - 007, Lucky 7, the movie Seven and Mickey Mantle.
Rushmore of Sly Stallone (beyond the Rockys) - Cop Land, Victory, First Blood, Expendables. (And side note: Sly's rotten Rushmore is maybe unmatched - Oscar, Stop or My Mom Will Shoot, Rhinestone, Over the Top - all-time.)
Jay Greeson