From Jon
Did you see the ESPN story about college football in 2020? Super long read but I would be curious on your thoughts.
Jon -
I did see that story, and you're correct - it's long.
But, and credit to ESPN's reach and rolodex, it's good and detailed. (ESPN has put together a couple of these monster possibility pieces - or as Lester Bangs would suggest to William Miller to tell Ben Fong-Torres, "Here's what you do... Tell him it's a think piece about a mid-level band struggling with their own limitations in the harsh face of stardom." - for all the sports.)
It's hard to imagine a fall without college football. But the imagination of every sports fan has been tested and stretched to places we never expected or never believed possible.
To that end, the month of April was the second month since 1946 - the year the NBA was founded and all big four sports leagues were operational - that there were zero big four sports games. (The other was July 1981 during the MLB strike.)
The details in that ESPN story are layered, which makes sense. This problem has no singular solution, because of the waves in which it arrived and the varying impact it has had in so many locations.
In fact, the collective refrain of "we're all in this together" is noble and inspiring. It's also a misnomer.
We're not all in the same boat; We're all in mini boats in a vast sea facing the same turbulent storm. And college football may be the most layered conversation and difficult puzzle to solve in terms of coming back.
Consider all the line items and details on the checklist:
> College football has to happen, simply put, or college sports won't happen. The fiscal impact is simply too great.
> Playing without fans really is not an option for most of the college football world. Yes, the SEC would do it because the TV revenue along would be better than no revenue at all, but without fans even a league as big as the Pac-12 would lose money.
> With the players not being paid, how much risk can we expect them to take?
> Is there any way to have student-athletes playing if the schools are not willing to expose student-students to this thing?
> What happens if the SEC - in a warm-weather, more politically conservative region - is ready to roll but the Big Ten is not? What if all the SEC save Missouri and Arkansas are ready to roll?
> What is the worst-case scenario this side of cancelling the season?
Maybe that last bullet point is the starting place. No season is worst-case, and would be crippling to so many programs it's difficult to fathom.
Starting the season and taking a break when/if the second wave of this thing hits seems like all of the officials' worst-case scenario. Or playing an eight-game regular.
So there's some real steam to pushing the season to the spring. I'm holding out hope that this fall will happen. Maybe I'm overly optimistic; maybe I am downright whimsical; heck, maybe I'm foolish. (I've been called worse.)
(Side note: The conversation about the NFL playing Saturday and Sundays if college football moves to the spring are intriguing. And of all the moving pieces for sports leagues navigating this storm, there will be some real innovations and changes that stick. Question for the group: Could football moving from fall to spring be a permanent thing, and would you be OK with that? It would give us meaningful football from September to Memorial Day. Discuss.)
My biggest takeaway, Jon, is the very real possibility of getting to Labor Day without knowing when college football will come back. I know that's a real scenario, and it's something that I never dreamed of in early March when this thing started.
Yep, beyond the imagination, indeed.
From Tony
Please talk about ESPN's release of college football tiers (Tuesday) - love your opinion.
Tony -
Hope all is well with you and yours, my friend. Here's the story Tony referenced. It's behind the ESPN+ wall.
The gist is the writer, David M. Hale, puts the current state of college programs into a class system with the tiers named for all-time great TV shows.
Understandably Clemson and THE Ohio State are in the top group, which is called "The Wire Seasons 1-4."
First, The Wire is the perfect call for the top group, and leaving off season 5 makes sense. (Hey, season 5 was very good but the first four were art, especially 1 and 4.)
As for that top tier, I'm sorry, but Alabama is a must in the top tier of any ranking of college football, regardless of the metric.
Hale puts Alabama with Georgia and Oklahoma in 1a (The Wire season 5). I'm fine with a 1a but there's no way Alabama's not in the top group, and regardless of last season ended, Alabama is the top of the top group, too.
The next group is LSU, Oregon, Penn State, Auburn and Florida. Is that too low for LSU? Too high for Auburn? Probably.
Thanks for passing it along Tony, and the writer's list of TV shows may be more informed and complete than the college football tiers.
Side question: One of the names of the third tier was "The Walking Dead." Question for anyone who has watched, "The Walking Dead" - friend or foe?
From Mike
Settle something between my wife and I - we love your column and your radio show.
Best potato chip? She says Doritos; I say Ruffles.
You're the tie-breaker.
Mike -
Wow, forget the layers to the COVID-19 fight, this one right would leave Einstein, Newton and Jefferson throwing things and cursing each other.
The best chip. Of the two you offered, I would say Ruffles, especially for dipping. This is not to disparage the Dorito by any means. But the simplicity of a Ruffle is excellent.
Side question: Is the Cheeto a chip? Discuss.
That said, my Jordan in this category is Sour Cream and Onion chips. It's a hill I am prepared to fight on.
Hope that helps, and thanks for playing along with the silliness.
From UTCmocs
NBA still wants to play a complete playoff. With it stopped so long why not try something different? How about basically a one and done elimination like March Madness? Seed them by record and conference and let them go at it...every game would be win or go home....that would make for very intense games...thoughts?
UTCmocs -
I am OK with experimenting with almost every part of every postseason formula. (You could make the argument that the NBA is one sport that got more than 50 games in so a championship would not be completely devalued.)
I think a hybrid could certainly work, and the longterm plausibility could really work to solve an NBA issue.
A seeded tournament that includes every team with single-elimination play-ins would be a dynamic solution, but not so much a playoff solution as much as a tanking solution. And an imbalance in the conferences solution, too.
Keep the conferences for scheduling. At the end of the season, seed the top 10 or 12 teams in a 16-team bracket.
Have all the teams outside that 10 or 12 play in a March Madness bracket to fill out the 16. And then add this bonus - the four teams that advance from the playoff also get the top four picks in the next draft. If you stink, why should you be rewarded with a possible transitional player?
Also, why should said transitional player be forced to go play for the worst organization in the sport?
You think the Harvard computer engineer that graduates No. 1 in his class would be cool with a computer draft ranked by a company profile?
"With the first pick in the 2020 computer whiz draft - hey I love the draft; you know this - Radio Shack takes Johnny Genius, small programmer, Harvard.
"Texas Instruments is now on the clock."
How's that fair?
Unless the NBA playoffs are supremely time-constrained, playing a 30-team March Madness bracket simply would not be enough games to fill the postseason void.
That said, the NBA above all other leagues should embrace the chance to make a significant and meaningful change during these times. Whenever the current season wraps, this is the time for the NBA to move the start of its season to Christmas Day, with an end in mid-July.
Makes a ton of sense, no?
From JTC
Jay - agree with your view of the Last Dance yesterday. Possible mailbag - what other compelling superstar (assume not Lebron yet) could be the subject of a similar 10-episode series?
JTC -
Such a great question. And way more nuanced than just "Hey, what would make a good 30-for-30?"
To have a 10-part, 10-hour series there better be a slew of storylines and details.
And there better be a ton of interest. (Side point: While we are here, the history of SEC football on the SEC Network right now is aces too. Especially some of the details on race and the spring board that was the perfect timing of Roy Kramer's innovation and Steve Spurrier's arrogance in the early to mid-1990s.)
My first thought was all the stories about the 1980 hockey team, but with "Miracle" and a really good two-hour 30-for-30 on the Russian team, I feel like we know a lot of those stories already.
Granted, completely breaking news and uncovering new details will be impossible of just about anyone, not unlike the first four chapters of "The Last Dance." There have been some things from the documentary I didn't know, but considering my age and my day job, I'm pretty familiar with the subject matter.
OK, as for your question, here are a few and why:
Three coaches came to mind pretty quickly. Bear Bryan, Adolph Rupp and Joe Paterno could easily each fill 10 hours, and the warts and all stories of those dudes - Bear and the booze, Rupp and race (which was over-played in the move on Texas Western by everything I've read) and Paterno and his blind eye to Sandusky - would be incredibly interesting. It would be hard to get people close to those icons to truly open up, and the footage from their days would be limited, but that's a starting point. (Side note: The film crew that followed the 1998 Bulls is almost as big a part of "The Last Dance" as getting MJ to talk candidly for maybe the first time ever in an interview. That footage is what makes 10 hours of this this thing doable.)
Tiger would be amazing, but again, would he discuss the women? Same with Mike Tyson, but again, that feels like ground that has already been plowed.
I think Bill Russell and race in Boston sports would be intriguing.
Great question.
From Chas
What's the Rushmore of great opening lines?
Chas -
How do we answer that?
There are opening lines like, "Come here often?" or "What's your sign?"
There are great openings like the "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" from books like Dickens' classic Tale of Two Cities. (I'd round out that Rushmore with Anna Karenina "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." "It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking 13." from Orwell's 1984. And "Call me Ishmael" which may be my favorite from Moby Dick.)
There are great movie opening lines. "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster." "What came first, the music or the misery?" "I was 12 going on 13 the first time I saw a dead human being." "Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country." (If you are wondering that's the openers for Goodfellas, High Fidelity, Stand by Me and Patton.)
(Side note here: "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away," would be there, but it's words on the screen, not a line.)
Great question, my friend. Which takes us to this week's Rushmores:
Rushmore of side characters in sports movies (side note - we should have been more clear here and it can't be a player or a coach, and Shooter would be on it but he became a coach and won big game for 'em): Carl in Caddyshack, Annie in Bull Durham, Max Mercy in The Natural, Paulie in Rocky.
Rushmore of old-school, quarter-arcade video games: Pac Man has to be there. Space Invaders took us to outer limits. Loved Track and Field. Donkey Kong. (Kids ask your parents, they'll agree.)
Rushmore of worst NFL draft picks in the last decade: Blake Bortles, Jake Locker, Trent Richardson, Mitchell Trubisky.
Rushmore of code: Code Red, Area code, Morse code, Code breakers.
Have a good weekend, friends.
Jay Greeson