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Post by ExcitableBoy on Jun 19, 2007 14:44:07 GMT -5
In terms of finals ratings: If the racism explains why the predominantly black NBA got bad ratings, what explains why the predominantly white NHL got historically bad ratings for its finals?
In terms of the NBA's "Image Problem:" One specific impediment to the NBA improving its image is that the fans are extremely close to the action and the players are huge (and therefore pretty intimidating). What's more, rather than being dressed in pinstripe uniforms, goofy breezers and helmets, or tight pants and huge shoulder pads, NBA players wear clothing that allows the fans to see just how massive (and therefore pretty intimidating) these guys are. NBA players are arguably the most intimidating in terms of size because it's very easy to compare them to their surroundings. In contrast, NFL players don't look as big because they're not standing directly next to the fans. Hate to break it to you folks, but size does matter in this case.
What I'm trying to say is that the NBA's image problem should not necessarily be attributed to a group of racist white men. Rather, there are sport-specific traits that create a more intimidating look to NBA players--white or black--that ensures that anything negative (off court, but especially on court) gets blown way out of proportion. Think about sitting rink side at an NHL game watching two hockey players get in a fight. Not only are they heavily padded, they are also separated from you by a pane of plexiglass. Contrast this with sitting court side at an NBA game watching two NBA players fight. While the fight would also certainly not be as extreme, the fact that the players aren't wearing any pads and also that they are not separated from the fans by boards or glass makes the fight much more intimidating to the fans (and therefore the media who can parlay this intimidation into a story for the next three days).
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Jun 13, 2007 8:50:19 GMT -5
I just like how HiFi gives us the old high and mighty schpeel about how he isn't above criticizing his own program, then immediately responds to his own post and rips on the police methods used to catch these two gators.
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Jun 8, 2007 16:54:09 GMT -5
Our skill positions are the most dangerous group I think I've ever seen at the college level. Hyperbole much? How can you claim that immediately after saying you have no idea how good your quarterback is?? |
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Jun 7, 2007 14:16:50 GMT -5
Florida isn't a football or basketball school, it's just a school with an athletic department more awash in money than most other schools. You do realize that next year FU will be paying Donovan almost nine times what JTIII earned in 05.
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Jun 7, 2007 14:08:41 GMT -5
I don't think they have officially announced the terms of the agreement yet, but all of the rumors are that the agreement contains a non-comp type of clause whereby Billy can't coach in the NBA for the 5 years that he would have been under Magic contract. As for the money angle, I would expect them to charge Billy for both sides of the legal fees. Aside from that I really don't know. As for your suggestion of a 1 year suspension, do you really believe that or do you just say it because you don't like the Gators and would like to see anything that damages th program? In all honesty, the Magic could have played hardball with Billy and made enforced the contract but why in the hell would they want to make someone coach who didn't want to be there. That would be akin to cutting off their nose and both ears to spite their face. Another option would have been to hire another coach, but to keep Billy under contract. That wouldn't make any sense either and would only make their coaching expenses twice as high. The only real option was to reach a settlement. What good would it do to make Billy sit around for a year not coaching? Aside from giving him a vacation and not benefitting either the Magic or the Gators it would accomplish very little. What good does it do to make recruits sit out a year when they transfer or even (gasp) back out of a LOI!!?? I'm sure we would be spouting off the same excuses if JTIII had pulled this kind of stunt, but the fact of the matter is the system is extremely one-sided. What's more, its one-sided against the very constituents it was set up to protect--the student-athletes. |
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Jun 1, 2007 12:05:08 GMT -5
RDF, as to that angle I am uncertain how much that played into it. Colin Cowherd in his pompous way, said this morning that he heard 2 weeks ago from a really good source that Billy D. was close to a deal with the magic and more importantly that he was irritated that Florida remained a "football school" even after 2 national titles. Colin mentioned that Florida drew 4 times as many people for the spring game as they did for the Championship celebration. Well, that is true, but that doesn't tell the whole story. The Orange and Blue game is a big event and is scheduled a year or more in advance. Secondly it is held at the Swamp which seats over 90,000 people. The Championship celebration was thrown together in four days and started at 6:30 pm on a Friday night at the O'Dome which seats about 12,000. Furthermore, they opened the doors at 5pm and they closed them when it was full and didn't allow anymore people in. I got off work at 6pm and went straight over there with my son and got there by 6:10 and it was full. They wouldn't even let people in as people came out. The backup plan was to show it via closed circuit across the street at the football stadium, which is what my son and I did. There were several thousand more people there as well, but it isn't the same as being there "live." The point in all this is that I don't think there was any type of lack of support for the celebration at all. Personally, I think Colin was just trying to blow his own horn. If you need to defend the fact that 4 times more people showed up for an intersquad practice than showed up (by whatever definition) for a basketball national championship celebration, you are a football school. |
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mj2
Apr 27, 2007 10:20:24 GMT -5
Post by ExcitableBoy on Apr 27, 2007 10:20:24 GMT -5
The article says "Georgetown athletic spokesman Mike Carey says only one walk-on has made the team in the last two years." Who walked on in the past two years? |
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Apr 5, 2007 12:50:08 GMT -5
I can see the next Bill Simmons article including some sort of rant about how they are 'tanking' to try to get into the Oden/Durant sweepstakes. |
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Apr 3, 2007 10:27:56 GMT -5
I was kind of worried about JTIII being wooed by Michigan. Say what you want about their arena and the difficulties of recruiting against Michigan State (which, by the way, shouldn't be as big of a handicap as some make it out to be), but they are a program that could have shelled out big money to JTIII.
Even if he didn't want to go there, it would have given JTIII great leverage (as if he didn't already have enough) and might have cost us more money. I was glad to see Grabby grab this job.
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Mar 29, 2007 14:59:01 GMT -5
Well, any thoughts I had about playing for the Wilmington Sea Dawgs just went out the window after reading that.
One issue, though-- Chick-fil-A is only open six (6) days per week, which means that Sea Dawgs who want to use all of their free meals each week would have to average more than one meal per day at Chick-fil-A. Just sad really. Tasty, yes, but sad.
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Noah
Mar 28, 2007 15:24:17 GMT -5
Post by ExcitableBoy on Mar 28, 2007 15:24:17 GMT -5
Hifi, you are wrong. These were funny. (Also, please read the rather hilarious thread about this morning's Cold Pizza before jumping into the "good school" debate.)
What's more, I was very impressed by the quality of the photoshopping done on some of these. Apparently they have some quality graphics people at UCLA
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Mar 22, 2007 15:53:10 GMT -5
Also, how is Minnesota paying for all this? Remember this is the same school that is paying Glen Mason & Dan Monson big buyouts and wasn't all that rich to begin with.
Monson's contract wasn't even in the $1.8mil/season ballpark. I think he was comfortably below $1mil/year, right?
Throw in the new football stadium to boot and you're talking some serious cash shortages for the Marroon & Gold
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Mar 22, 2007 15:50:59 GMT -5
I saw this thread title and thought "I didn't even know the Wolves had fired Whittman yet." It honestly never crossed my mind that the Gophers could pull Smith away from Kentuky.
Beyond the obvious 'why the F would you leave Kentuky for Minnesota' question, there is the question of why he would leave a job paying $2.1 mil guaranteed for a job that pays about $1.8 mil.
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Mar 22, 2007 15:57:26 GMT -5
In all honesty I don't see why Albert would be on the list, but granted I am a might biased. Initially I thought the same thing, High Fidelity. But upon further examination, the author clearly delineates her rationale and I whole heartedly agree. Your mascot does look like he's missing about 65% of his teeth and the ones that are still around certainly won't be doing much agressive chomping in the near future. Also, he has a large fupa. Traditionally, it is more imposing if mascots don't try to hide their 48 inch waists behind the " same huge, frumpy sweater I gave to my grandpa three Christmasses ago." |
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Mar 21, 2007 8:50:03 GMT -5
Should we really be proud that the Big East could potentially descend upon the NIT semis? I mean it's better than not descending, I guess, but it's also not really something the conference can hang its hat on.
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Mar 21, 2007 8:25:00 GMT -5
My favorite part about the NIT is that it is shown on ESPN while the women's NCAA tourney is shown on ESPN2.
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Mar 21, 2007 15:21:27 GMT -5
Strange how the army has shrunk from 12 (or how ever many marched on us last year during the Cuse game) to just two this year.
I guess that's what happens when the bandwaggon empties, or maybe it was just a tough winter for the troops.
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Mar 16, 2007 10:57:46 GMT -5
It just lists TBD for all game times now.
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Mar 10, 2007 22:01:06 GMT -5
Couldn't care less.
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Post by ExcitableBoy on Mar 8, 2007 17:12:50 GMT -5
I love this rationale: "All ballots per our by-laws can be made public if requested, so we do this in order to avoid possibly singling out the one or two people who did not vote for a particular player."
If it's going to cause a commotion, don't release the freaking votes. If it requires fudging a few votes here or there, it isn't worth it. You're sacrificing accuracy for the sake of transparency. You shouldn't need to make that sort of trade off.
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